Scattered, But Happy........

I have some scattered thoughts today... Reach Out And Touch Someone?: Though I hate talking for long periods of time on the telephone, I had a really lovely visit with a dear friend of mine on the phone last night. We talked about so many different topics, covering politics, relationships, poetry, and we even listened to some music together! That was really fun and all through today, I feel as though I went to their house in Tehran and visited with them, just like I did so many times over the past 10 years. My Learning This Week: Today at lunchtime my friend Kathy and I went to listen to a talk by a young and wonderful sociologist at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. (Take a look: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/details.php?ID=367) . This was a fascinating topic for me, as I studied marketing in college, and I learned how mass media can be used to affect purchasing decisions in America. To see how big broadcasting businesses are changing the structure, targeting, and results of this medium is fairly astounding. The amazing thing about America is that, according to this author, many organizations across parties and political platforms and beliefs, are coming together to fight the disappearance of local news, music, and life from radio stations across the nation. My Big News: My new appointment was announced at work yesterday! I received a lot of good wishes and warm hugs from my friends here. Though I tell them, I don’t think any of my co-workers really believe me when I tell them that this place feels like home to me and each and every one of them are like family to me. I don’t think they get it, because they don’t know how much and how desperately I needed to get a fresh start, to find myself a new home, and to be in a new environment, and this place has given it all to me. Some people really gave me a hand with this new beginning, and that has been the most important gift anyone ever gave me in my life. Confusions Continue: This has also been a strange couple of weeks, filled with continued confusing feelings about who I am, and what I want in life, wondering, all of a sudden, just how I must look to others looking at me. Relationships, which have been my strength in life, somehow allude and tease and exhaust me these days. Some days I don’t know what some people are saying to me! Is there a message I must get, which I am failing miserably? Should I ask for clarification? Won’t I look really strange and stupid all of a sudden? Looking Forward: I am so excited we will be having a “Majority Family Reunion” in Northern California at the end of February. A Majority Family Reunion is when most of us can make it to an event! Since 1968, all of my siblings and I have only managed to get together twice! Once in the summer of 1974, and once in 2004, when my father passed away. This time around one of my sisters and one of my brothers won’t be there. Anyhow, I’m really looking forward to seeing my brother, my sisters, my nieces and nephews. I am so excited!