The Giveaway Has Begun.

It's happening over at my other blog, Wabi-Sabi Wedding Day. See you there! :D

For a little background, this page is as good as it gets at the moment.

For more info on the Giveaway, this is the place to go.

Poster by Joshua Rothhaas

I would like to quickly point to #4 in Bre Pettis and Kio Stark's Cult of Done Manifesto:

Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it 

-Bre Pettis

I have no idea what I'm doing with this Giveaway. :) Something will work out though, I'm sure.

Bianca Jagger

I just wrote this post (well more than this actually) on another blog I have just created... a blog that has something to do with the Giveaways I have in mind, to be exact. I'm still not releasing any information on that, and I'm withholding other exciting news as well. When the time is right, my friends. Although I'm sure this "other blog" wouldn't be too difficult to find. ^_~

Without further ado.. here is what I have written about Bianca Jagger - a beautiful woman and an inspiration, certainly in more ways than one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found, during a search on the internet, interesting pictures of the woman Mick Jagger married - Bianca Jagger - on a website called "Fashion's Most Wanted." (Please note that I don't normally follow fashion trends, much less celebrity fashion trends. I really respect and admire the artistic aspect of fashion, but absolutely detest the "pop" aspect. Once things go "pop," everyone seems to miss the point.) I'll share a couple of pictures I found from there~

What an interesting dress!

A picture of Bianca with one of her BFFs, Andy Warhol.

Bianca at her 30th birthday party, located at her favorite hangout, Stuido 54.

She rode to her birthday party (at Studio 54) on a white horse!

One of the things I'm most interested in here at Technicolor Typecast is optimizing happiness in life. One of the ways to do that is to think outside of the box, unlimited by social labels, and simply be your authentic self. And I've noticed a lot of public figures seem to do just that - that's one of the reasons why so many of "the rest of us" are so enamored with them. It can be hard to be your authentic self, especially in our society of working 9-5 and endlessly acquiring possessions. These beautiful people - who, for whatever reason, have been able to optimize their happiness - have become something of heroes to the general populace. For the record, I'm not saying all celebrities have done this - not by a longshot!

I became curious about this woman and decided to look at her Wikipedia page. The things this woman has done and is currently doing... it took my breath away! This was the primary reason I was compelled to write this - not that I don't love sharing beautiful pictures that inspire the sort of Wedding Party I dream of. But this woman seems amazing, and instantly became somewhat of a hero to me.

Allow me to quote Wikipedia~

"Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and fashion icon. Jagger currently serves as a Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA, and a Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust. Over the past thirty years she has written articles and opinion pieces, delivered keynote speeches at conferences and events throughout the world and participated in numerous television and radio debates, about numerous issues including genocide, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the war on terror, war crimes against humanity, crimes against future generations, the Former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Central America, Iran, Iraq, India, children and women’s rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, climate change, the rainforest, renewable energy, corporate social responsibility, the ensuing erosion of civil liberties and human rights, and the death penalty.
She was formerly married to Mick Jagger, lead singer of The Rolling Stones."

I absolutely love how her marriage to Mick Jagger is such an afterthought. I could tell she was optimized. ^_~

The Wikipedia article mentions that she was born in Nicaragua, and for much of her childhood her family lived on a very small income. This furthers my personal suspicion that growing up in an environment that isn't saturated with money can create powerful, intelligent people. :) And not powerful in a greedy sense -- powerful in the sense of living up to your true potential.

Much of the rest of the Wikipedia page about her is interesting. Here is what it says about a key turning point in her life, when she started moving away from her party-goer/jet-setter lifestyle and began to focus more on Human Rights, and just issues that are important to our societies and our species in general~

"In 1981, Jagger was part of a US congressional delegation stationed at a UN refugee camp in Honduras. At one point during her official visit, the entire staff saw about 40 captured refugees marched away at gunpoint towards El Salvador by a death squad. Armed with nothing but cameras to document the raid, Jagger and the delegation trailed the squad along a river towards the El Salvadoran border. When both groups were within auditory range of each other, Jagger and the staff shouted at the M-16 equipped raiders, "you will have to kill us all!". The squad released its captives and a transformation had thus begun for Jagger."

What a beautiful person. She would be wonderful to interview someday. :)

Excerpts from the Small House Society Yahoo Group

Just thought I would post a couple of quotes from people in this thread about someone looking for other families who are interested in minimalism and downsizing in order to keep her momentum, as she doesn't know anyone doing anything like her in real life - and sometimes that can be hard. Trust me, I know. :D

the simple life

There are many other messages here, but my favorite was Kelly's:

"It's taken me about two years, but we got rid of about 80% of our stuff. Believe it or not I have another box that is going to Goodwill. Mine is also partially motivated by economics. Hubby has had two lay offs since 2007, and his current job pays a lot less money. Gone are the days his boss would hand him a big bonus, etc. It's taught me many, many lessons. We lived in the 3400 sq. ft. house, with 2 new cars, etc. We are now in about 1200 sq. ft. and I plan on going smaller in about 2 years. We have two kids, two dogs, and two cats. So many lessons. One is that hubby has a job so we are incredibly fortunate. Another biggie is that we are not any more or less happy having less money or less things, in some ways we are actually happier. The biggest of them all is that my family, their health is number one.......not a new car or a McMansion......materialistic items mean nothing to me now. I did not think they ever did, but they must have at one point since we bought that big house.


Along the way I became a green girl, and got into the environmental movement........can't pinpoint the exact date this happened. Part of it was due to my daughter being allergic to everything and me removing all perfumes, cleaners, anything toxic, etc. out of my house and us learning to eat healthier, etc. So as I became more clear about who I was, how I wanted to live, and how we wanted to live as a family well it all started falling into place. A small house and a minimalistic lifestyle are definitely our goals here."

I kind of feel like these kinds of things are obviously the best choices (although I do understand how people can feel differently), but I love reading about how people arrive at the conclusion and all the things they do!

Then Larry responds:

"I am a Dad, not a Mom. But if you are serious about living within your means,
this is what I recommend:


1) Location, location, location. Do some research and find out where the cost of
living is the lowest, and the unemployment is lowest, and utilities and housing
are lowest, and move there. Most people are grounded/rooted in one place. Big
mistake, financially. I live in rural Kentucky. I had a beautiful house built 6
months ago on 1.5 acres of land in the country for $80,000. I feel as though we
are in heaven, with a 1000 SF house, and a 400 square foot, screened in porch
overlooking the forest. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, laminate hardwood
floors, 6 ceiling fans, low-e windows, etc, etc. My all-electric bill averages
$60/month. Water is $15.00/month. Yes, I had to buy a riding mower and it is a
lot of grass to mow. But I wouldn't live in a big city for anything.


2) Develop a budget and live within it. No magic here.


3) Don't let the kids guilt you in to buying them things. Give them the basics,
and tell them if they want better, they need to earn the money. Plenty of jobs
mowing grass, raking leaves, cleaning house, babysitting, etc, etc. There is no
better lesson you can teach them as a parent than learning to earn their own
money to buy what they want.


4) Shop at thrift stores.


5) Just say NO when they want some expensive gadget that they don't really need.
In my experience, single mothers feel so guilty there is no father around, that
they overspend to try to compensate. Ridiculous. Just say NO, we can't afford
it. Stop feeling guilty."

Wow, Larry says it so well! I'm pretty sure he's the guy I often see in the group giving epic responses to everything. Although there are over 1,000 members, so I could be wrong. I don't keep up with the group often.

Someone asked if $80,000 included the land he built his home on:

"No, the $80,000 was for the house alone. I paid $20,000 for the two acres of
land a few years ago. And, I had to pay to have a septic system put in, and to
run electric and water lines. So the total cost was closer to $110,000. But the
cheap utilities and property taxes still make it a bargain.
You are right that living in the country is not for everyone. I felt very
isolated at first. But I know some of the neighbors now, married a wonderful
lady, and our neighbors all watch out for each other and wave/honk as they drive
by. I am 12 miles from work, but it only takes me 20 minutes to get there. I
only have 1 stop sign and 4 traffic lights to deal with. Some of my friends who
live in Lexington or Louisville need 30 - 40 minutes to drive 6 miles across
town because of the traffic. I just have to watch out for deer and other
wildlife. When I sit out on my back porch, all I hear is the wind blowing the
leaves in the trees, or occasionally someone mowing their grass in the distance.
I have somewhat of a hermit personality, so it works fine for me. My kids don't
understand how I can live so far from a WalMart or Pizza Hut. It just takes
planning. We have a chest freezer and huge food pantry so we are pretty well
stocked up on food. You just have to plan out things so you have what you need
on hand. You can't just hop in the car and be at Kroger in 5 minutes." 

 I love the internet. :)

Practice Your Time Management Skeelz

*This is a stream of consciousness post


Okay, so it's time to bring some order to our lives. This is really just for me but I'm sharing anyway - maybe it can help you too :D

Let's make a schedule.

totally incomplete

• Go to bed earlier! This has always been an issue with me. :)
• After the sun goes down, don't turn on bright lights so our puny human brains know it's going to be time to go to bed soon.
• Bedtime is listed at 10:00, but that doesn't necessarily mean sleeping at that time. It means no more playing, no more computer, no more cleaning. I'm done for the day - only relaxing things are allowed like taking a bath or reading an actual physical book.
• Hopefully I can start waking up before everyone else, but I'm not crossing my fingers on this one. With my "bedtime" being so early, I won't be suprised if the baby's bedtime will also be affected, which will of course affect his wake-up time. Hopefully he starts sleeping through the night on his own. Older kid does a good job with his sleeping for the most part. :D
• Start restricting my sink time on the internet. Facebook, Twitter, G+ are all going to get restricted... no more than an hour a day for all three? Not sure. That sounds like so much time. Maybe I should confine FB usage to the ipod and reduce the rest to half an hour? I don't know, this one is a toughie. 
• Figure out how much time I would like to spend working. 2 hours a day isn't going to cut it. How do I want to organize it? 

Here's some of what I have to get done:
- write blog posts
- comment on blogs
- blog maintenance etc
- make a whole NEW blog with EXCITING giveaways
- do all the stuff that that blog is associated with...
- list things for sale on ebay
- sell non-ebay items (too big etc) on craigslist or at a consignment store
- figure out some sort of craft to make things to sell, maybe
- take a bellydancing class or maybe kickboxing...

I know I'm forgetting things...

Do you use a word processor?

*This is a stream of consciousness post

It has become suddenly apparent to me that I haven't used a word processor in years. I feel kind of ridiculous writing up a blog post in Notepad, though. Restaurants without wifi FTL.

I messed around with Ommwriter for a few minutes, once. It was developed for Macs, I beleive, and only later did they come out with a Windows version. I used it on Windows and... I don't know if it just didn't match the OS or if I just didn't like the program.

I should try it on my hackintosh, though. I'm writing this on my little MSI Wind notebook.. the perfect build to make a hackintosh. It's a dual OS notebook, now. I rarely ever boot into the Mac side, though. I don't really know much about Macs... I think there's a name for this specific hackintosh, and I know the operating system has a name... Snow Leapord? Using Windows operating systems so long... it's not terribly difficult to use a Mac, but it does seem to be a little counterintuitive.

Do Macs even come with word processors? They must... it's just so funny how much I don't know about it.

Lately, though, if I feel the need to create a document, I've just been using Google Docs, which I really, really like, actually! I absolutely love the ability to share with people and the ability to access my files from any computer without having to do any extra setup or anything. Stuff like this makes me really excited about "the cloud" and intrigued about Google's new internet-only Chromebook. Have any of you had the chance to play with it?

If you love Google so much, why don't you just get a tattoo??

But when you don't have wifi access... :(

Effin Applebees

*This is a Stream of Consciousness Post


Boy, am I going to be in trouble.

It's my first day at "work."

"Work" means me leaving the house to do internet stuff. Which, I know, doesn't really sound like work.

I thought I'd start off my new "job" with a bang, and go to Applebees and get alcohol. (*gasp* OMG!) But I can't not get food, right? So why not order a salad and veggies... *sigh*

So, to recap, my "job" involves getting drunk and spending like $20 on crappily made things. While I'm unemployed and not necessarily EVER getting a paycheck from doing this.

Hence why I'm going to be in trouble. :)

In the future, I'll probably just go to a coffee place or local bar (like this one that used to host LAN parties and 360 tournaments). Applebees doesn't even have wifi. I mean what the hell.

Last time we went to Applebees we were shocked at how expensive they were. Have they increased their prices? I mean, they aren't as good as Olive Garden or anything (not that Olive Garden is that great...), why do they have the same prices? We got nachos... turns out it's really difficult to get vegetarian nachos at Applebees... and they still taste gross. I guess I just have a thing against having chips in my salt and velveeta for effin $10. We DID get a free sundae out of it, though... not that we really wanted one. Our server was nice, at least.

This time, I'm diggin the Sangria, they didn't mess up their steamed veggies... and I haven't tried the salad yet. (*edit-  The salad... totally had bacon on it. WIN for a lot of people, but TOTAL FAIL for vegetarians :/  I mean, he didn't even ask!)  But seriously overpriced. The server's nice again though. But I mean, if your server isn't nice, you should probably just leave.

I wish I hadn't ordered the food so soon though, but I feel weird just coming here to drink. I was hoping to get a buzz. Totally a noob at bar stuff, or really alcohol in general. This is only my second sangria. I effin love sangria though. Guess it's just too much work to do at home. :P

I find it cute that two other solitary women have sat to either side of me in the little bar area, though. It's like we're having a girls night out without talking or making eye contact or anything. :D Not that we're sitting *next* to each other - god forbid - no, we're each sitting at our own table... 4 chairs to each of us, lol. I must admit they are small tables, though.

I Keep Getting Ahead of Myself

*This is a Stream of Consciousness Post

Bear with me, here.

I've got so much stuff I'm so excited to do with this blog. It's hard to pace myself. I'm taking this thing seriously! Well... at least halfheartedly so. :)

I've learned in my unemployment over the last few months that staying at home with the family 24/7, especially when the majority of that is caring for a 16-month-old, is NOT desirable. 20/7 is definitely desirable though. :)

GOD DAMMIT I GOT INTERRUPTED AGAIN

(see last post)

lol

On Writing Blog Posts

*This is a Stream of Consciousness post

When I have to stop writing a post for some reason, I have the hardest time getting back into it. I suppose it's possible, but yet to be done. I spent an hour or so on the post below, but I just can't get myself to finish it or get to the point or totally re-do it. So I'll just give you the raw words anyway. I'd hate for the time I spent to go to "waste."

Without further ado...

How to Be a Woman

Yesterday I had a wonderful day at a new friend's baby shower. I'm loving that I'm finally getting to know people after living in Washington State for a few years now. Talking to strangers is totally worth it.

The first part of the baby shower was "GIRLS ONLY." Most of my life I have scoffed at "girls only" or "boys only" things. I've always thought that the genders were EQUAL, simple as that, and it just isn't fair to not include people just because they are a different gender than you.

Now part of that was probably because I've always been what is commonly referred to as a "tomboy." I've always loved sports and building things and I'm extremely competitive. I've never been much of a fan of carrying around a purse or wearing makeup or chatting with my girlfriends. But I do still occasionally wear dresses and I have absolutely adored Hello Kitty ever since I was 12. I have even have a tattoo of a unicorn on my shoulder. :D

Being a quiet person, though, I've rarely been included in playing sports or video games or grueling labor, which has only intensified feelings of being "left out." Those are things I really love to do.

So you can imagine how I feel when I hear something is only for men or only for females.

But, since I've had my second son, I've started to feel a little different. I was a single mom when my first son was a baby, and I had always envisioned that men are just as capable to care for kids as women are. And I think they are, but they seem to have a completely different way to go about it. I've never seen a guy care for a kid the way I would.

It threw me off at first, when my second son was born. I expected Nebberz to do the same things as me, because I know he's my equal. But it was SO different.

So I've been questioning this "gender equality" thing recently, and I went to the baby shower with more of an open mind.

Belly Dancing.

The first part of the babyshower was belly dancing. That pretty much explains why it was girls only, lol.

Talking to Strangers

-----
Okay first of all, I want to announce that I will (in the future) have an announcement to make, and it's going to involve giveaways. And I don't mean "sign up for (extensively annoying things) and receive a free (piece of crap)." It's actually personal. :D  So, I'm excited about that, and hopefully you are too. :D
----

So, do you normally talk to strangers?

Honestly, normally I don't. I don't like to bother people, and I don't really like talking about general BS like the weather. I'm usually kind of creeped out if strangers start talking to me, especially when they won't quit. And I want to be polite to them, so I usually end up smiling and nodding but just GETTING OUT of wherever I am ASAP. Feels bad man.

Today, Nebberz was playing D&D with his friends about 25 miles away from home. Which isn't too far, but it's far enough to be concerned about gas. Nebberz doesn't drive, so I'm the resident chauffeur of our family. Instead of driving out there and then driving home and then driving out there and home again, I often hang out in the general area with the kids for the day, and then pick up Nebberz and go home.

So I took the kids to waste some time at the mall. We go to Marlene's, our favorite health food store, to pick up some lunch, not only for us, but also to bring to Nebberz. It's still too early to bring him the food, so I decide to take what we've got to the park and eat it, then we'll head back and drop food off for him, and go to another nice park that we haven't been to in a while.

I park at the park (heehee), and our 16-month-old is asleep in his carseat. YES. I freaking love naptime!  I let our 7-year-old play where I can see him and I give him the black bean burrito he picked out to nom up.

I turn off the car. The motors in our power windows on both sides are on their last legs, so, being in Northwest Washington where it is especially rainy, having a window stuck down isn't something to mess with. I open the moon roof, but the parking lot is on a slope, so chilling with the driver's side door open is sort of out of the question. I hang up a blanket by shutting the door on it so that the hot sun doesn't blare down on the baby, although it wasn't too bad since I found some nice trees to park under. Then I move over to the passenger side and let the door swing open.

There's actually a nice little breeze, and it's really keeping the car cooled off pretty well with this method, which was pleasing.

Then some older man pulls up in the spot next to me in an old truck - you know those trucks with the covered bed that's actually connected to the inside of the truck? I don't know what they're called. They were like, pre-SUV or something, I think. Anyway, he's not an elderly man, but probably over 50.

We make eye contact and he says, "I'm just looking for some shade!" in a nice and friendly voice. I say something along the lines of "Yep!" with a big smile and a little laugh while my son's hanging out with me, eating his burrito.

I'm not really paying attention to the man, but at some point he got out of his car to eat a sandwich. He comments on how good the sandwich is that he just got from Winco, my favorite "normal" grocery store.

.


This is usually the point where I'm too uncomfortable about a stranger talking to me, especially some guy around my kid. But something's different this time. I don't know if it was just my frame of mind, the fact that I didn't want to wake up the baby, the way the strange man wasn't pushy about talking, or what.

Instead, this time, I continue the conversation. 

I talk about how the burrito my son's eating is from Marlene's, and he raves about the store -- "They have the best sea salt!"  Somewhere along the line he mentions that he's "temporarily homeless" and he's just living in his truck at the moment. After being unemployed for over 2 years, he's finally started a part-time job, so that's good. I point out that the speaker at our Self-Reliant Community meeting last night was a woman who's been living in a treehouse on Mt. Rainier for the last 20 years (who actually seemed like a really awesome person), hopefully being positive and letting him know that I totally don't think living outside of a normal house is "gross" or anything. Because I really hate the stigma of homelessness. I actually admire the ability people have to thrive while "homeless."  But, I digress.

The point is: I had conversation!!! And it wasn't awkward!! Wow.

Of course the whole time my 7-year-old is showing off (although not in an interrupting manner - thank goodness he's finally learned that), so the focus isn't entirely on me. The man is really nice though and seems comfortable speaking to kids (but not in a bad way, lol).

Finally the baby wakes up, and I start getting him out of the car so we can go play. Then my 7-year-old, loving all of this attention, invites the man to come with us. At first he sort of refuses, but I know he doesn't have anything to do with his day, so I say it's okay. He makes sure and I say yes.

And this is the best part!

We all walk around the little lake together. He knows the park really well, of course, because he often stays there. He shows us all of the hiding spots where the turtles normally are, he knows the names of all the different types of birds. They're doing construction at the park, and he knows exactly what they are building. What a great teacher for an impromptu unschooling lesson!! (Although that subject never came up!)

He had been in the Air Force for most of his life, and so he knew exactly what kind of planes were flying to the nearby military base, as they often do. He and my older son got to talking about big airplanes and how many tanks could fit into one, and my son brings up how he learned about a special helicopter that can hold a tank. So they talk about it for a while, because he knows all the awesome details.

And just then, that exact helicopter flies over us.

Weird, coincidental, even creepy... I'm used to that feeling now. I don't know if there is such a thing as synchronicity of the collective unconscious, or if things just end up happening together for no good reason -- but whatever it is, it happens to us a lot.

We end up spending MUCH more time at the park than I had originally anticipated, but we learned about birds, planes, helicopters, trees, we damn near pet a friendly little dragonfly, we spotted two turtles out sunning themselves in the middle of the lake... It was totally worth it. He even raced - and beat - my son a couple of times.

What was striking to me was the man's curiosity. He talked to EVERYONE. But it wasn't the annoying small talk like most people, he observed what they were doing and actually said something relevant, and it seemed to be refreshing for them, even though I could still see the look that people get when strange people talk to them in their eyes.

He asked the people fishing if they'd caught anything, and one guy pulled out his phone to show us pictures. He asked some construction workers what they were holding, and they were so friendly and explained what it was and why they used it. I kind of wondered if he was just getting more positive reactions since he was with us, but I hope people normally respond to him that way.

Finally we were done with our walk, and I gave him one of the business cards I had made on a whim a few months ago on vistaprint. They were actually more relevant than they'd ever been before, because I actually have time to do the odd jobs listed on them now. He mentioned he had a laptop (he mentioned he previously worked for Google, as well), so I told him to e-mail me and I'd send him information about the self-reliance and sustainability stuff in our area, hoping to help his situation a little.

So hopefully he e-mails me. He sounds like a great person to add to our suddenly growing circle of friends. :D

Ideas

I just came back from one of our local self-reliant community meetings. I'm actually hiding out in the car; I dropped a friend off at her place while Nebberz stayed at home and watched the kids.... they don't know I'm home yet. :P

But I thought I should write a blog post, and the chances of that happening once I walk in the door will decrease dramatically.

So.

Ev Bouge (I talk about him all the time on here, but really he's the biggest inspiration for me to start this blog) shared a quote from Seth Godin that resonates with me, and the reason I started this blog:

“Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death.” 

I've really felt compelled to share my ideas lately. But I'm new at it.

My whole life, I've always been the quiet person. Always nice and easy to talk to and cute, but always quiet. I really haven't had very many close friends, because I was a great listener, but I don't think people really connected with me because I never really shared ideas or thoughts or opinions. Well, I suppose I did, but they weren't always totally my own.

I've been a great chameleon throughout my life. I literally get lost in the people around me and lost in whatever job I do. I am them, or I am that job. Which can be great. I've always been there to give 100% and serve 100%, whatever anyone needs. I will totally fill that void.

But, you know, I don't think that's really the healthiest thing for me anymore.

Here I am, with a husband (who I'm not officially married to) and two kids, and I, like countless other women out there, I'm sure, have found myself scrambling to be "mom" and "wife" but also "totally awesome girlfriend" and "gamer girl" and "transcriptionist" and "cook" -- just all these different things, that are all just fine in and of themselves, but they are not "me."

So now, here I am. This is "me," trying to find my voice. Learning to share my ideas. Because I really think the world needs them. I have really, really great ideas. And, for the first time in my life, I'm sharing them.

You know, I've always believed in the butterfly effect, and just smiling at the right person at the right time can end a war or something. Similarly, sharing my ideas, whether others think they are good or bad, can potentially change the world. I mean really. Isn't it Gandhi who said-

"Be the change you want to see."

It's my responsibility, as a human being, to share my ideas. No one else has my ideas. They might have similar ones, but they don't have mine, maybe just worded a little differently, or maybe an idea that can only be thought after all of the specific events that have occurred in my life. Maybe I can make a connection somewhere where someone else hasn't.

I don't know what my great ideas are- the ones that the world needs, anyway.

Nor do I really know how to translate them from whatever language my little idea brain uses to something that makes sense in a written or spoken format. For some reason, whenever I try to share personal things, I have great difficulty with word-finding; however, when I just act as I'm supposed to, in my chameleon state, words come much more effortlessly. Perhaps that's just because things you are supposed to say are just huge memes, but original human thought actually has to be translated into English or whatever language you are speaking. What do you think?

So we'll find out - join me on my pilgrimage of idea-sharing, make conversation, and we'll see if it takes us anywhere. :)