not sure what is on the menu today...

... as there are leftovers from yesterday that we are still stuffing our faces with... and glad we are for that too. I just finished off a plate and am quite content as I sit here and write. The flavors are still delighting my senses and triggering images nostalgic of distant times. Food does that for me... taste and smell just evoke time and place.

I was thinking about this last night when Zonthar dropped in for rehearsals. (BTW...it was a doozy and featured the presence of one Mr. Murphy... CLICK HERE to read Solitaire's account of it. LOL.) Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Zonthar and I were waxing a little nostalgic about performances and shows past that we worked on together. Yes, I have memories of my life back in Malaysia... and there are memories that I have of my life here as well. They are all rich with detail and experiences that I have appreciated having lived through. Even the not so pleasant ones have yielded lessons that have hopefully made me better.

It's funny how as we are in the moment we may not appreciate what we are experiencing... but in hindsight they seem pretty amazing. Even what may seem mundane at the time would take on a whole different spectrum... especially if the mundane then is not the mundane we deal with now.

Take for instance the fact that I am living an "expat" life now (and have been for the last 25 odd years). It is a little strange to think of myself as an expat because the conventional perception mostly involves those of European heritage living in places other than their countries of birth. Yet, I am one by the very definition of the word. And I do see the present world I live in now with different eyes. But it goes further than that. With some of the natural assimilation here that occurs over time... if I did visit the country of my birth... I would also see it through expat eyes. Not with the judgemental absolutes of good or bad or right or wrong... but just different.

Perhaps that's why I sometimes feel that I've squeezed so many lifetimes into this one.