our beautiful lives

had two very mellow catching-ups with friends
m.n. rim doing fieldwork in cape town
k. wong doing phd in l.a.
the conversations were
illuminating

the latter reminded me how wonderful it is to be a student, to live abroad

we share[d] similar experiences, in terms of encountering all sorts of people, and having strange, fearful and exciting different types of relationships,
the boomboom of being wowed and impressed and stimulated by them,
and by everything else;
in terms of coming across mind-blowing and -boggling people dynamics and being thrown in awe, or bewilderment;
in terms of
dreaming and venturing,
failing and embracing failures,
being thirsty, so thirsty of new experiences,
pleasant and unpleasant ones,
being uncertain and being forced to embrace uncertainties
being bold, and sometimes regretting it and most of the time not
they call it courage, we consider it basic

and the difficulties
her 25% of attention and my 50%, or possibly her less <25% and my >50%
the less fun but still worthwhile parts,
of coming to see and live and know

her beautiful [state of] life
my quite beautiful [state of] life

thank you for being an example and giving me an aspiration

is being too adaptive and versatile a problem, that i stop wanting what i wanted and become satisfied with what i have?