The Blob

Shamelessly pilferred from loneraven. ( tl;dr meme )

Original plan: take a coach on Aug 15 to Las Vegas, to spend 10 days sitting in an apartment on my own until my TrekAmerica tour starts.

New plan: take a plane to New Orleans on Aug 15 for a week of food, fun, and frolics, followed by another plane (via Houston) for 3 days of Las Vegas relaxation, before my TrekAmerica tour starts.

I love having friends like neutrallized in far-flung places like The Big Easy! ^_____________^

Living in Switzerland, it was actually quite eye-opening to have felt the tangible sense of relief that swept the nation Tuesday morning when people woke up for work, turned on their TVs and saw the news bulletins from America. This election was a great step forward to Americans, blah blah blah, but so much of international diplomacy teetered on the brink of red vs. blue. Only now, despite Russia's oh-so-helpful rhetoric, is it really becoming clear.

The palpable relief that Swiss folks felt that morning was generated not by a desire to see a 'liberal'-ish US President in power (the Swiss are scary-conservative about pretty much everything but democracy itself). It was about money, that substance that makes this country so very important to world trade. Without a healthy global economy, there is no healthy Swiss economy. It's obvious that politicians, journalists, and simple folk are expecting Obama to perform miracles when he takes office, and it's just as obvious to me that they will be disappointed. The BBC repeatedly called the US the 'powerhouse' of the world economy, which to a certain extent is true - but this isn't the 1930s when the western world functioned on a complex and dangerous series of loans and reparation agreements all powered by American banks. If Obama can't single-handedly mend the global market, what does it mean for everyone else?

It means that we have to get our asses into gear to help ourselves. There are a lot of growing markets out there - China, India, Brazil are the ones that get top billing - so the opportunities exist to help ourselves. I only hope that those in power realise it before Obama takes his first tumble.

In non political news, I am 5000 words behind my NaNo wordcount but now I have private INTERNET in the house that I live in (officially, having moved in today!). It's kind of funny that Mami Boss and Papi Boss are going to such lengths to get me in as fast as possible, and asking me how I want this and that other thing when I'll be gone in 5 weeks to the day. Better book my flights! *glee*