Working on a new post

I'm not dead. I'm working on a new post. I'm still reading the book I mentioned in this post. Just like last time, I put it down for a bit and when I picked it up again I'm reading a section that is exactly what I need to hear right now. Of course, I didn't realize how much I needed to hear it until I actually started reading it. And I didn't really realize I was like this until I got into the chapter. I was going to post about it tonight, but I'm still mulling it over in my head. Besides, I have a few pages left to read anyway.

Other news on the writing front: A while back a friend of mine gave me a spare fountain pen he had. He had not used it so there was no need to get a new nib or anything. A couple of weeks ago I won an Amazon.com gift certificate in a drawing. I ordered some books last week, and among those I ordered a Moleskine notebook. I plan on carrying these around with me and writing when I feel the urge. This will be most helpful when either at work, away from a computer, or around others here at the house who might see me writing on my computer. Hopefully it will help me improve, and possibly be something to look back at fondly years from now when I find it again unpacking a box or something.

Now for something completely different - an update on my friend at work who's family was in Lebanon (first mentioned in this post). They are back home. In fact, they got back home that first weekend just a couple of days after the evacuations started. There was even some background footage shown on CNN of his young daughter being carried onto a troop carrier by a United States Marine. He was (understandably) overjoyed.

He told me a story about the first Gulf War, shortly after he left Kuwait. Yes, Kuwait. Let me clear that up for you. You see, even though he is a Lebanese citizen, he grew up in Kuwait and left to come to the U.S. for college. A short time later, the first Gulf War started. His Lebanese friends and family in Kuwait went to the Lebanese embassy and asked for help. The Lebanese embassy person told them they could not help, and sent them home. Told them to go home and pray.

I knew he loved this country before, but he truly, deeply, loves this country now. He told me that next time his friends back home (Lebanon) ask him why he is becoming a U.S. citizen and tell him he should come back home, he will tell them this story and remind them of the Gulf War story to shut them up.

To hear him talk about this experience, and to hear the real and true gratitude in his voice for what the United States did for his family made me start to tear up. So many people hate the U.S.A. right now, but this is one thing that is definitely right about America.

Wow. This was orignally going to be a short post so people knew I was still around. Maybe this writing thing is getting easier (though not any better).