watch your p's and q's

So one of my friends had an interesting weekend, one that I'm sure he would rather forget as it brings to light some of the pitfalls that go along with living in a foreign country. In some places, the police and/or government are not to be trifled with and Peru is one of those places, especially for a gringo. This story all starts for me on Sunday night about 8pm when a phone call from my friend Michelle comes through.

"Hey Expat, I need your help. I need you to call Embassy Chick and see what we can do for Tim. He's been arrested by the Peruvian police and they've been holding him for a couple of hours."
"OK, I'll be happy to do so. What happened so I can tell her what's going on?"
"Tim got into a car accident this afternoon and doesn't have a valid international driver's license."
"That's not good. I'll give her a call and see what we can come up with."

I am the contact for Embassy Chick as she and I are currently dating and when the shit hits the fan, you normally call in the Calvary to bail your ass out. Embassy Chick is the Calvary and I'm the lucky man who gets to call her with this little gufaw that Tim has managed to get himself into.

So I call her and after a short conversation, I find out that the US Embassy can do nothing for my dear friend Tim. Just as the US government wouldn't want people asking favors of our police when a foreign national does something wrong, they don't get involved when it comes to something like this - you have to respect the authority of a nation's sovereignty. Regrettably, I called Michelle back and informed her of the lack of response the Calvary would be able to provide and that Tim was basically on his own. Embassy Chick suggested that we actually try contacting our school administration and see if that might grease the right wheels as they are probably better known here than the staff of the US Embassy.

To make a long story short, one in which they are multiple phone calls to me asking for the Calvary, I get to the heart and solution to the problem that Tim is in. Our Peruvian director went down to the station, bribed the cop with $100 (and the promise of a toaster oven on Mother's Day - I shit you not!) to bail Tim out of the custody of the police. He went home just before midnight, dignity shredded but ass still in tact.

I talked with Tim today, got the low-down on everything and told him why Embassy Chick wasn't able to come to his rescue. He nodded and appreciated the effort, recognizing that he got off lightly with what have been turned into a serious event. In a country where bribing the police is an every-day occurrence, you gotta be careful. My words of advice to Tim (and others who travel abroad) was this - keep your shit straight and don't ever try to pull a fast one on the local authorities (Tim had doctored his int'l driver's license and they figured it out). You never want to give them (police, military, government, etc.) any excuse to hold a gringo for whatever reason.

While you may be familiar with your native culture and customs, understand that other countries work differently and what may be a slight offense to you may not be to them. Keep all your documents in order and up to date, the more normal you appear to them, the less likely you are to be detained. Minimize your exposure to extraneous events and you're more likely to be able to walk away with everything still intact.

And don't ever forget to follow through with any bribes you may promise...

who's the idiot?

So I checked my email this morning and found that a certain Anonymous user from Yucaipa, CA had left a comment on my previous entry. With a little investigation, I see that my dear, old friend Harry Ervin (of Yucca Valley HS and Colton HS fame and notoriety) left the comment. It read -

Mr. Curry,

As a reminder, you were an idiot under my administration and today I see nothing has changed.

Really? If that were the case, I would have been in the same situation as you. Instead, I've managed to find and keep employment in various locations around the world, including one of the top schools in South America. Yes Mr. Ervin - I'm such an idiot that administrators from excellent schools around the world recognize the value of a good teacher and have not only given me a job but also write wonderful letters of recommendation saying that I am an idiot. I've managed to be such a confounded idiot that my students are scoring in the top percentiles of the International Baccalaureate program and procure spots at universities such as Penn, Yale, Cambridge, TU Delft, Vrije Amsterdam, and other slouching institutions.

Or were you referring to my leadership skills within the MTA (Morongo Teachers Association)? Those leadership skills that led to a presidency at my school in Holland where I successfully led the teachers for 2 years. Or the leadership skills that allowed me to move into a coaching position that saw my team advance to the finals of South American schools? Perhaps you were trying to compare my leadership skills yours...

Let's take a look at Mr. Ervin - in less than 2 years you were relieved of being a principal in 2 separate school districts, one were a near-riot occurred. Now you have a position at Heritage College-Ready Academy in Los Angeles. Congrats on getting another job but when I visited the school's website, I noticed a disturbing trend. Is there any particular reason why 6 of your 18, fully 1/3 of your teaching staff, is leaving the school? Do they disagree with what is happening and looking to go elsewhere? Its not like THAT hasn't happened before. I also noted earlier that the message was sent from Yucaipa - why are you still doing long commutes to your place of employment? Is there some reason why you won't live in the communities where you work? What kind of message does it send to a community about a leader who won't live amongst the people? And why exactly did you write? Its been almost 5 years since I left YVHS and fully 3 years since the events at Colton. Were you saddened to see the top Google searches of your name come up with negative stories about you? Gee, so sorry to hear that your actions have consequences.

Sarcasm aside Mr. Ervin, I am happy (truly) that you have found employment and can continue to support your family despite the adverse situations you have managed to put yourself into. I appreciate that you are looking out for the best interests of students when you do some of the things that you do. You do have good intentions and I applaud your determination to improve the lives of those students whom you oversee. However, has it ever occurred to you that while your message is good, your method of implementation could be improved? I understand that in the Marine Corps, a chain of command is good and following that CofC is important to do without reservation or hesitation. And while classrooms may sometimes resemble a war zone, it may not always been necessary to adopt a Joe Clark of Eastside HS of Paterson, NJ mentality. Beating someone over the head with an idea doesn't mean they'll adopt it any quicker. Please keep that in mind when you are dealing with people - not everyone reacts as we would like when a certain stimulus is applied.

Mr. Ervin, let it go. You don't always need to have the last word (remember that wonderful email you sent to me when I left and the response it got?) and you've moved on in your career. Accept that people will not always be a fan of you or your decisions and go about your life. You've got a wonderful family, a well-paying job, your health, and the prospect of a good future, why trouble yourself with the petty aspects of someone who thinks ill of you on another continent? C'mon man, life is too short for that. Toss back a beer, chalk it up to another life experience, and enjoy the present. If you need a way to see how your life is so good, come visit me in Peru and I'll be happy to show you places where life isn't so grand, places where you'll appreciate the life you live and the hand you've been dealt in this world. Do yourself a favor and get out of Southern California on your next vacation - see the poverty of the world and then you can complain about something...

defending a position

Thanks to Shamash who wrote a comment on my last post. I do love lively conversations and this looks like it could be a great one to discuss. I value her opinion and want to take this opportunity to answer the questions that she raised and also provide some clarification to ideas I previously posted. Her reply is in italics, my response is below that.

Hi, Expat.

I'm not sure of the qualities that the USA has for being, as you say, "the greatest nation on earth." Do you mean because we are powerful, and have more military might? How IS the USA "better" than, let's say, Canada? Or Denmark? Or Switzerland?

What I use as a premise to make the claim that the US is the "greatest nation on the Earth" comes from a few different markers.

One - economic strength. Despite the current weakness of the US dollar recently, the US economy is still the world's largest (the EU isn't a nation) and what happens to the US economy has immediate global effects. When the US markets tank, so do the Japanese, Korean, British, German, etc.

Two - military strength. In the arena of executing war, the US has no equal currently. While our exit strategies are less than optimal, the brute force of the US military is unmatched by any single nation on the planet.

Three - political strength. While there is the odd country that enjoys being the antagonist to US politicians, most of the world recognizes that having the US as an ally and maintaining good diplomatic relations with the country means that there is the possibility for good things to happen. When the US gets behind a certain political agenda, it is hard to win the counter argument, no matter how rational or legitimate that argument might be. Case in point, the Iraq War - it might not have been right and people around the world protested it (including many Americans), but the plan was still implemented.

To be clear, I didn't state that the US was any better than any other country although that is implied by my statement of being the greatest nation on Earth. I do not think that the US is better than any other place, every place has its appeal and disgrace. If I didn't believe that, I would have never left my native country to seek out the pleasure of living and enjoying other countries.



I know that being an American is important to you, and that your identity is deeply connected to your nationality.

I think everyone has some degree of nationalism in their blood. The Olympics are based nationalism (and commercialism) and the prospect of finding a common ground for people to come together - sport. In this day and age, we all belong to a country and are identified by the culture that is prevalent in that nation. I am proud of who I am - as an American, educator, and human being. Everyone's outward identity is connected to their nationality, I'm just not ashamed of mine like those whom I was criticizing in my post.


I'm of a different breed, I guess. When I look at a person, I don't see a nationality: I see a face. There are many people I know from different countries who, like you, think that THEIR country is the "greatest nation on earth", and their truth is no less valid than yours.

No arguments there. You are indeed a different breed because no one in their right mind would go for another master's degree after the perfection we shared at MSU. ;-)

Seriously, my opinion of the US being the greatest nation currently is up for debate and I gladly welcome it. I would like to hear from someone who does think that their country is the greatest nation currently and why they think so. As Shamash can attest, I am indeed open to all ideas, even if it means that I have to admit that I'm wrong.


Jingoism, though important for the armed forces and the enlisted, is actually the root for fundamentalist regimes who use the "we are better than them" ideal to rouse citizens to rally around a cause.

Once again, I couldn't agree with you more. When people start thinking that they are better than others, bad things happen. The Armed Forces do need to have that mentality for the main reason of staying alive. When you start to doubt yourself, your equipment, and your fellow soldier - the espirit d'corps goes to shit and before you know it, a lesser force rolls over your position and you're dead. If you don't believe your are the better trained fighting force, then you won't be.

To reiterate without beating a dead horse, I don't claim or believe Americans are better than anyone else - just different. Any regime that preaches they are better than another is only preaching one thing - discrimination.


Under the guise of "fighting for freedom", the war in Iraq has been about oil. Otherwise, the same military might would have helped Burma to free a leader who was elected by 80% of the vote and who, as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest. As thousands of of peaceful demonstrators, many of them monks, were teargassed and shot at, where was the USA?

Point #3 that I agree with Shamash. The Persian Gulf War and subsequent Iraq War were nothing more than a father and son team ensuring that America had oil in its immediate future. Despite the attempts of the Carter Administration to get American weened off oil with its energy policy back in the late 70's (and its idiotic repeal by the Reagan Administration), Americans are using an INSANE amount of oil. Regardless of how I think about W, I imagine that he will be viewed as the President who secured an oil source for our energy needs and America's future. The house of Saud will fall sooner or later and America is going to need another oil source if the country becomes less than friendly to the US. Until Americans stop being the energy gluttons that we are, there is going to be a high demand for oil and having Iraq and Saudi Arabia (and who could forget Kuwait!) as suppliers is necessary to keep the country running.

But what about Burma? Why aren't we there bringing democracy to a country that desperately wants it so? They have elections and still the military junta is in control, where is the US? You said it earlier - there are no resources that the US wants in Burma in the moment and as a result, it is easier to ignore such a travesty. I'm not saying its right; in fact, its completely wrong and off platform for Bush. If he really wants to show the wonders of democracy and what it can do, then he would have committed troops to Myanmar soil and returned it back to the Burmese. But no natural resources means no attention. I hate to admit it but that's what is happening with our inaction.


The government of the US, has, as "the greatest nation on earth" detained suspects without trial, tortured suspects, invaded a country under the pretenses that there were "weapons of mass distruction", and killed thousands of citizens of Iraq. Rather than spending billions on education and developing better energy sources, the US has raged an illegal war which has broken international law, and awakened anti-American sentiment across the world.

The United States of America is highly flawed at this moment in time, there is no doubting that. I feel that this comes from a lack of credible leadership in the White House and thank goodness there is an upcoming "regime change". The pendulum swung WAY to the right when Clinton (Bill) left office and the radicals have been in the driving seat too long. The Constitution implies that there is to be a separation of church and state (the First Amendment states there is to be no state religion), it has not been a practiced method for as long as I can remember. Since when did a person's ability to lead come from the fact that s/he has a relationship with God? I get scared when W says that God told him to do certain things - it makes me wonder if he truly has a brain or is a mindless cretin (enter your own "W being an idiot" joke here). I can't wait to be a part of an election where religion has no bearing on who gets elected - rather the debate on personal politics and leadership ability is the main focus.

America isn't being the moral compass that the world is looking for, we are massively underwhelming the world with how we conduct our business and I do hope that this comes from the current administration. I can't believe that the Bush Administration didn't make torture illegal (even though it is by the Geneva Convention, which we subscribe to) and still continue to do it. Its deplorable and the Administration should be held accountable for such. Clinton lied about getting his wiener polished by Monica and he almost got impeached. Bush commits the multitudes of violations of moral and ethical treatment of humans and nothing happens? I'm surprised no one hasn't tried to haul his ass off to The Hague to stand trial at the International Criminal Court. Its not genocide but it certainly is a crime against humanity.

As I said, America has a generous number of flaws at the moment but as the eternal optimist, I feel like the country can right itself and change to become the beacon we once were to the world.


Right now, I am NOT proud to be an American, and I do NOT believe that the US is the "greatest nation on earth." Instead, I believe it is the "greatest bully on earth".

I appreciate your opinion and respect it. You have reason to not be proud to be an American and even more reason to think that the Administration that runs the country is indeed a great bully. However my post pertained to the idea of not shirking your responsibility as an American and owning up to being one. Every though we are expats, we are still Americans and we enjoy the benefits of having that passport. Imagine this scenario - the 3rd world country you live is going through massive turmoil, something goes horribly wrong and you are abducted by radicals. Who do you want to come pull you out of the wreckage? I mean no ill-will towards any person, armed force, or creed when I say this - I'd want to have the passport of being an American citizen so I would know that they would do whatever it would take to get me out. If you are a captor with gringos sitting in front of you as hostages, who are you going to fear more - the Swiss, Danish, or Americans? And I don't just mean military options because we know that a lot of situations like that are resolved in diplomatic means. The eagle on our passport is clutching two items in its talons, olive branches and arrows; the head is facing the olive branches but when that doesn't work, there is a bunch of whoop-ass ready to fly. Personally, I'd want to be an American at that point in time but then again, I'm a little biased.

To wrap it up, you can be an American who has a beef with the country and a fed up with the way the country is being run or you can be an American who has a tattoo of an flag covering your entire back or you can be an American who is complacent and hasn't done anything to help the country out but just don't be an American who claims to be a Canadian, or Dane, or Swiss when its convenient. You are who you are and if you are embarrassed to be something, then change it. Whether its a personal trait or nationality, you have the choice to be whatever you want - don't be ashamed of who you are.

national pride?

While on vacation this summer (that would be North American winter), my travel partner Tim and I had a lot of entertaining and spirited conversations. One that comes to mind is how poorly America treats its veterans and how there should be some way that they are compensated for putting their lives on the line. As a veteran, I completely agree with Tim and wish that there was something that could be done to recognize my service (aside from being a member of the American Legion) to my country but I'll live without it. But this isn't the topic I wanted to deal with, at least not directly. What I really wanted to write about is the lack of pride in being an American, especially amongst travelers.

We saw a lady wearing a hat with the Canadian flag on it while hiking in Torres del Paine in southern Chile. We listened to her and tried to determine where she was from in Canada by her accent but it was to no avail. It wasn't until days later that we overheard her say that she was from Ontario and then her accent became relatively apparent. But for a few days, we suspected that she might be an American incognito and was hiding behind the Canadian flag to avoid confrontations. Being an American outside of America at this moment in time can be rather tricky and many have taken to pretending that they are Canadian to avoid any problems. Spots on CNBC have even highlighted Americans buying Canadian flags to put on to their luggage to mask their nationality.

Tim and I both find this appalling. Tim's perspective was this - being an American comes with certain rights and responsibilities. If you are an American than you get the benefit of being an American just by your birth and believe me, there are plenty of benefits to being an American. So don't enjoy the benefits of being an American just when it suits you, live up to it all the time. When a President is unpopular, deal with the burden of being part of the society that elected him but don't pretend that you are something you are not.

I served in the US Navy from 1991-1995, making me officially a Gulf War veteran. Technically I didn't serve in the Gulf when we were "reclaiming" Kuwait from Saddam Hussein but I did have a part in making sure that things didn't go pear-shaped after the ground war was over. I didn't enlist in the military for some noble reason like defending the country or something like that, I joined for the same reason as a lot of others along side me - we were kinda lost and needed some direction, the military being it. People from the ghettos of Atlanta, the farms of Decatur (IL), the fishing towns of Kodiak (AK), and everywhere in between are the ones that sign up for duty. Those who don't have very much defending the rights and freedoms of those who do have a lot. The poor defending the rich, it sounds almost like modern-day serfdom.

People who don't ask for much and get paid even less, they are the ones who put their ass on the line for us and we repay them with being ashamed to be an American? When one person believes enough in an something to die for it, that is worthy of my respect. And while I do not think that the radicals of the Muslim faith are correct in their ideas about the West, I do respect their belief that they need to die for that faith. Now as for their gullibility...

As if on cue, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" popped up on my iPod shuffled its way through the 4000+ songs that are on it and is playing in the background as I write. The lyrics are poignant as Lee sings them while I write...

I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free.
I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me.
I'd gladly stand up
Next to you
And defend her still today.
Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA.

So please, for all of those Americans who travel near and far, don't do yourself and those who died for your liberty any dishonor by claiming to be something that you aren't. You're not Canadian, or British, or whatever - you're from the greatest nation on the Earth and don't be ashamed to admit that. You're lucky enough to be from a country where questioning your leaders is not only allowed, its required. You are from a place that the world thinks is the promised land and that anything is possible. We are the example that the world looks to and sometimes we fall quite short of those lofty expectations. Even so, being an American is not easy and being a citizen can be trying at times but that's what makes being an American worth while. I'm not saying that you should be waiving the flag all the time and being an "ugly American" (which I must say there is a double standard for us, but I'll save that one for another post) when you are abroad, just live up to your birth rite.

The next time you are asked where you are from, hold your head up right and proudly (not arrogantly) state, "I'm an American."

invisible man

Guess what, its been FOREVER since I've updated on here - I'm doing my own personal impression of Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects). And from the looks of it, I'll be continuing that impression for at least another month.

I'm off for another great expedition, this time its Patagonia. I leave on the 30th of December and won't be back until near the end of February. I have a slight plan in mind but nothing too concrete - just me and a friend wandering Argentina and Chile for a month.

So while Expat Nomad is still my moniker and my website, I'm taking a little time off to enjoy the wonders of this continent while I still have the chance. More to come when I return from this adventure, stories and pictures to follow. Until then, Happy New Year and I'll see ya in 2008.

new way to wage war?

I've been a TED junkie recently, watching video after video about many interesting things that are discussed at TED. One that I watched last night really made me think about the role of the military in the world (specifically the US military) and how things could be done differently - especially considering the quagmire that is Iraq. It looks as though someone else has done a good deal of thinking on that idea as well and his ideas are pretty sound in my mind. Give Dr. Thomas Barnett a few minutes of your time and see that people do care about what we've done in Iraq and how that should be changed in the immediate future; its interesting stuff.

what to talk about?

“Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

My friend Shamash sent me a message on Skype the other day, linking me to a video of some amazing technology that is being developed. I'll link to that specific presentation some other time, but it was that video that got me interested in what I am writing about today. Its called TED and iTunes was gracious enough to put up the BMW sponsored video podcast of what happens there.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) bills itself with the tagline "Ideas Worth Sharing" and I couldn't agree more. TED is a conference where people come together to share their ideas with the world and now thanks to the internet, I can watch and absorb the ideas that people are thinking about and sharing. So I thought that I would do what I could to spread the ideas that people at TED are presenting, starting with this one.

reassuring comfort

Its been a while since I've posted on here, mainly just because of what I needed to do after the earthquake(s). While the event didn't affect me much physically, there was some mental issues that I needed to deal with before I got back to the normalcy of my routine life. The time that it took for me to process has gone and I feel like I'm back to a sense of security now that I've had the time to go through it all in my mind. Thanks for your patience.

That sense of security was prevalent today as I made my way home from school this evening. Its Tuesday and while this is usually a day for practice, today was a bit different. We were scheduled to play another local team, our first match of the year, but that match was canceled; they had some bad excuse and I just took it and moved on. So I ran a haphazard practice and then came home afterwards. Leaving school at 7:30 pm means that I'm going to be running into high rush hour and it took me waving down a few cabs before I finally got one that wanted to drive me out to Miraflores for a decent rate.

As I climbed in the back seat of the taxi, I reached over my right shoulder and pulled the safety belt across my body and locked it into place. The cab motored away and I felt relaxed in this cab as we headed off into the fray of rush hour. In a lot of cabs here, seat belts are just starting to be put in to the back seats and there are plenty of vehicles out there without belts. Its not something that I look for when hailing a cab so its kinda luck-of-the-draw as to what you get.

The comfort that this seat belt brought to me made me realize just what little things in life can do for you. It wasn't just the belt itself but the symbol it took for me at that moment in the cab. The idea of the small things meaning the most and comfort being derived from the simple and mundane made me smile - sometimes life just gives you reason to smile, and for bizarre reasons.

So here's to the safety belt that I put on this evening. Cheers for the warm fuzzy!

sense of humor

Well, I can officially say that I'm over the dread of the impending doom of continued earthquakes - at least after what happened today. This is a story that I plan on telling my grandkids.

People all have daily duties to attend to and my daily constitutional for the day was a bit later than normal. Rather than being bright and early, I made my way to the facilities shortly after 3pm local time. As I was sitting there on the throne, Mother Nature threw me a funny - one that you can only laugh about. At 3:11 pm local time, a 5.6 aftershock rumbled away from Chincha Alta (the epicenter for most of the quakes we've been having) and shook the ground quite nicely here in Lima. A nice little side to side saunter, gently massaging my posterior with the plastic seat that I was sitting upon.

Normally, this should be terrifying. Sitting down to do one's duty, pants around the ankles, and having an earthquake strike. But all I could do was laugh. And I mean like gut-busting laughter, laughing so hard you cry - its the only thing that you really can do. I mean, if you take it too seriously, you end up going insane. Instead, just laugh it off and chalk up another wonderful moment in life. Pardon my crass language but I look at it this way - I can literally say that I've experienced having something "shaking the shit" out of me!!! LOL Life is back to normal...

taletell signs

Life has the look of being back to normal here in Lima but as I talk with many people, I am finding that we are all still dealing with the stress of life. Even though we all know that the majority of the energy was released back on Wednesday, the rather frequent and powerful aftershocks still remind us of the two minutes we endured just a few days ago. I will admit, the frequency and magnitude of the aftershocks does worry me slightly, more than 4 days after and we are still having quakes in the 5.0 - 5.8 range. I expected there to be more of a drop-off than this with the aftershocks and I'm sure that the surges of tectonic plates that we are feeling right now are the main reason for the tension that hangs in the air.

As I noted, Lima has the look of being back to normal but every conversation you have is laced with an air of uncertainty and doubt as people still wonder about their safety. A friend of mine from FDR showed the pictures of her apartment (major cracks running through the interior walls) and her hands began to shake as she relived the terror of the moments she felt. It didn't help that about 5 minutes after showing those pictures, we had another aftershock (5.8) shake us again. Her signs are more visible than the rest of us, but if we were poker players right now, our tells would be quite visible.

For me, my tell is the fact that I've been wearing a baseball cap for the last 48 hours and eating like there's no tomorrow. The mood I feel at the moment reminds me of how I felt after 9/11. While the scope of this situation isn't as intense as that day was, I still have that pit in my stomach. For me, I know my reaction to mild/moderate stress is eating food - for others, their reactions are a bit different.

My friends are bonding together as friends do but we are also coming together more in small groups rather than large gatherings. Conversations still focus on the fact that there are aftershocks and the fear that cracks in walls will lead to a structural failure when the next big aftershock hits. People talk about the rescue and repair efforts in Pisco and Ica yet you can hear in their voice that they wonder if soon others will be sent to Lima to rescue us. Stories of rioting and looting in Pisco and Ica worry many here as they know that if Lima does take a hit like those towns did, there would be the same problems on a massive scale. Lima is a city of 8 million and there aren't enough police/military in all of South America that would be able to maintain the peace if a more damaging quake strikes. And those are the stories I hear from cabbies...

I started to feel a little more normal today as I helped a friend put up some bookshelves. These didn't collapse in Wednesday's quake but were ones that were going up new. For me, it was a signal that my life was back to normal and I should start living that way. It was therapeutic to not think about what has been on my mind for the last 96 hours, a chance to put my energy and focus into something else (notice how both people and earthquakes can have energy and focus?). So as I go to sleep tonight, I head off to slumber with a more relaxed state of mind. While not free of the anxiety that goes along with being in a major seismological event just yet, I feel like I'm a whole lot closer to being back to normal - thanks in part to building some bookshelves.