I Escaped From Florida Too

Quite the interesting mixture of reading! That does sound like a cool book and he sounds quite avant-garde for his time, seeing that he was writing in 1915 when travel wasn't as easy as it is today ... but I'll save that tangent for another time!

What is Goethe's "Italian Journey" about? Montaigne is great, but I am a greater lover of Voltaire, and Swift.

I have a few books on the go now - one about a Quebecer named "Pierre Bourgault" [in French] and the other one Murray Bookchin's "Ecology of Freedom." I have a couple more history books to get to before I want to tackle the lives of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

I need a good biography of Tchaikovsky. I just read E.M. Forster's "Maurice" and Tchaikovsky was mentioned a couple of times, and I do recall reading some of his letters to Madame whatshername, regarding his sixth symphony. They were remarkably depressing. I'd love to read a bit more about his life.

I just read a history book, "A Brief History of Canada" by....I forget the author. It was a good overview of Canadian history. I just bought a really great single volume edition of H.G. Wells "The Outline of History", but I can't read too many of one genre at once, it drives me mad. That's why I have to read Montaigne next, then maybe more history, or some more Nabokov. You can never have enough Nabokov. I'm trying to track down some Hollobeqc in the fiction department. I've only read one of his books (an English translation by.....someone I forgot...I'm working on being able to read French gooder, though I'm also trying to learn Esperanto. So generally I'm useless...).

Goethe's "Italian Journey" is just a diary of his journey to Italy. He went there to learn to be an artist, and failed miserably. My wife actually picked it up because of that, and less for the travel parts. I'm actually interested in both aspects. Plus I've read a little Goethe and would like to read more.

Are you on your way to the Philippines? Esperanto is spoken a lot here in Qatar with many expat workers from the philippines working here. Where did you learn to read French?

I learned to read French from 4 years of Latin and a boner for philosophy. But as I said before, I can't actually read it, since reading implies a deeper comprehension beyond "I know what that noun is! This sentence is about a cat!".

I didn't know people actually spoke Esperanto anywhere. I just want to learn it because it's the international language, and it's supposed to be simple, and you can meet people from all over the world who speak it and exchange ideas or have banal conversation! I'm glad that Esperanto is actually spoken, though, maybe in the future it will be an official international language.

Sorry dude - I was wrong! I was thinking of Tagalog - yes, you are right! Esperanto is a created language for all the peoples of the world, alright, now I know what you are talking about! Haha - have you started to learn it yet?

So your name is AJ, eh? :p

Interesting fellow.

What does AJ stand for? Aggravated Juice?

It stands for "Always Jumping", but I stopped eventually, and I may be forced to change it pending the results of a class action suit.

I live in NW Miami but I commute a lot to Fort Lauderdale for college.

I wish I could escape Florida like you did....u.u

but alas...I have still three more years before I'm considered a professional illustrator with degree in hand.

I personally wanna move out of the country, where did you say you live?

I live in Canada.

The dirty little secret, though, about leaving the country (and it doesn't matter where you start and where you end) is that nothing changes. The money is a different colour, and people speak a different language, and maybe you can get arrested for different things, but people are still people, and you will still be you. Never, ever leave some place unless it's for the right reason. Or, I suppose I should say....make sure you never do it for the wrong reason. Because believing that you will be different, or that life will change simply by being somewhere else is a foolish thing.

But by all means, get out of Florida. Go anywhere else. Even north Florida, as it is basically Georgia anyway.

/rant

arollo wrote:

Because believing that you will be different, or that life will change simply by being somewhere else is a foolish thing.

Not sure I agree, different places can bring out different sides of you just like different spices can bring out different textures and tastes in food ... happiness is not only inside, it is outside of us too.

And never gauge your self-worth against that of others because you immediately place life as something that exists independently from the self.

tangerine wrote:

And never gauge your self-worth against that of others because you immediately place life as something that exists independently from the self.

I gauge my self worth as a function of internal mechanisms. This is probably why I am so God damned depressed all the time, actually.