Just NB

I'm nervous to post this 'cause it all sounds a little crazy. Maybe this is a harsh statement to make, but I'm not a positive person. It's one of the reasons I worry too much, it's one of the reasons I'm not as happy as I could be, and it's actually one of the reasons that I like/am good in my field. There's actually an old-school auditing exercise where you ask yourself, "WCGW", as in What Could Go Wrong , then all of the the possible "wrongs" are listed, and then rated them according to severity and probability. Without even thinking, I do this in my daily life. This is part of my personality, it's part of my history, and, it's part of my future. My Buddhist nun books that I'm reading highlight that everything in the world is in a constant state of change, in which this case, I'm thankful for. In 2007 or so, I read the book, Eat, Pray, Love . (I didn't watch the movie. I wanted to have that book in my head...

It's 07h21 and my day is off to the right start. A co-worker came back from vacation so he gave us each a chocolate (It's like the rule here that when you leave on vacation, you have to come back with a gift for everyone. I'm sure the spelling is off but in Malagasy it's called vondalana ). And, I got sent this picture of a recent cow sacrifice. Each province has different reasons for sacrificing zebus. Marriage, completion of construction of a house, a death, and so forth. One area I visited sacrifices zebu when there is a circumcision and incest. My jaw kind of dropped when I heard about the incest part...but when you live in such a small village...well...I guess it happens. The sacrifice was to celebrate the production of first Nickel. I think this project kicked off in 2007, so the production of first Nickel is a big idea. The same night of the sacrifice, an expat's villa was broken into and his passport/credit cards/ipad/ipod/big screen TV, etc, etc, etc,...