As if it came from my own mouth...

Today I finished a completely unremarkable book but I also ran across this passage that encapsulates some of my sentiments as of recent:

"In the course of my life I have seen people attempt all sorts of things that defied what I would have called ordinary comprehension. This has led me to the conclusion that the way you and I see the world is not at all as ordinary as we might have thought. Look at all the people who believe they have been abducted by aliens. Look at the check forgers, tax cheaters, wife beaters, retirement fund embezzlers! Do they think of themselves as deviant? Not at all. They have their way of looking at the world that enables them to consider themselves to be reasonable human beings. "Rachel Pastan

One of my biggest pet peeves has been when people ignore common courtesy (ie: letting your boyfriend live in your 4x4ft dorm room with another roommate there, feeling like your roommate can take out trash always and buy toilet paper always without pitching in, crowding the metro/tram when the doors open and not letting people get out first, walking a snail's pace 3-wide on the sidewalk, and other gems). I guess I'm just coming to realize how uncommon and ill-named "common courtesy" really is. The case is the same for "common sense" and I'm sure other instincts humans are supposed to share.

I argued my point during one of our more serious discussions in Avignon; in the nature vs. nurture argument, I have come to believe that almost everything that makes up a person is due to their environment.

Okay, done with my rant. I had a bad day, but I am now on vacation. Tomorrow I leave for Grenoble, then Monday for Lyon, and back to Nice on Wednesday. Then, I have a day until my Dad arrives!!!! Im super excited! We're going to do Carnavalesque things and then go to Paris for two days. So, needless to say, I should have a lot to blog about this vacation, so stay tuned!