What Would Aung San Suu Kyi Do?

As you read on my last post, I was fired 3 weeks ago. I am now in that privileged and fortunate situation, that I have 6 months with pay (but without work) to figure out what I want to do and to find a new job. I’ve sort of been in this sort of situation before. Some years back, I went with my husband to live in Princeton, New Jersey. He had a year of hard work at the University and I had a year at my disposal where I could do (well, almost) anything I wanted.

Look what I wrote on a blog back then:

With a whole year at my disposal – a chance I will hardly get again soon- I feel a colossal pressure. I have to manage it properly. What to do, what to do …

Should I write a bestseller? Get a grip on the French grammar that I never quite grasped? Paint a Guernica? Kick-start an impressive career?  The days fly by. I take long walks and come back, proud as a 4-year old, with leaves in fall colors, funny nuts and pictures of wild geese. Can you write that on your resume? What would Aung San Suu Kyi have done? How would Napoleon have managed all this time? Are there some countries I should occupy?

A year later, back home, this was my last blogpost:

That was that. A year. Time has flown by!

Before we left Princeton for the last time – 3 days ago – a new litter of wild geese reminded us that we too would be replaced – and the symbolism was cry-worthy when we saw the neighbors have a picnic on the grass in front of our apartment after we had moved out. There is something sad and at the same time comforting in knowing that life continues even when you are not there. We had the same experience two days ago when we got home. Everything looks the same. The more things change, the more they stay the same. In a strange way it is simultaneously as if we’ve been away on a long weekend and as if we’ve been away for 10 million years.

In many ways it has been an adventure. But it has also been everyday-ish. An adventurous life. It’s easy enough to get the adventure into everyday life, when you wade in exotic surroundings and experience new things every day. I believe that adventure is an attitude, something that largely comes from within. Who says that a walk in the Frederiksberg Gardens cannot be adventurous?

Nevertheless, it is time for an annual statement; time to take stock …  Sigh. Here goes:

Number of Guernicas painted: 0 but I have painted a total of 8 paintings – all rather amateurish.

Number of bestsellers written: 0

Number of books on French grammar read: 0

Number of super-careers kick-started: 0

Number of countries occupied: 0

Number of leaves in fall colors and fun nuts collected: Countless

Number of pictures of wild geese taken: Countless

Number of states visited: approx. 20

Number of Californian earthquake of almost 4 on the Richter scale, we have survived (without realizing there WAS an earthquake): 1

Number of visitors from Denmark: 12

Number of pairs of shoes purchased: approx. 30 but it includes flip flops (6 pair: “They’re so damn cheap – I must have a pair in red. Oh my God, you can get them in turquoise. Oooooo, and brown. And I’d better take two pairs in black, it matches everything… and 2 pairs what are so damn high that I’ll never wear them so they don’t really count”.)

Number of decks of cards worn out: 2

Number of times we’ve played Casino: approx. 5000

Number of times I’ve won Casino: Approx 3800

Number of times Hubby has won Casino: Approx 1200

Number of visits to the chiropractor: approx. 40

Number of visits to the chiropractor, where I have left Dr. Brian with the charged walk of a satisfied woman: approx. 40

Number of royal wedding hysterical overdrive missed: 1

Number of kilograms dropped: Do not mention the war – let’s just say that if this was a Gershwin piece, there’d be more need for Porky than Bess.

Number of times Hubby mistakenly thought he was able to “multitask” because he can read the newspaper on the crapper: Countless

Number of thunderbolt- and- lightning modes of bubbling, thrilling, perfect happiness: Approximately 30

Number of “I want my mommie” – homesickness: A couple

Number of times that Hubby has told me that I don’t sing as good as I think: 2

(Implied With a glance: 346 times)

Amount of money spent: Approximately half a million DKK.

Amount of memories: One billion

So what’s the lesson?

Time flies. I won’t worry about the future but have some F-U-N right now.

In fact, I think I’ll visit my friend in Rome. I’ve never been before. It’s about freaking time. (Getting exited!) The shoes! The food! The men!! Maybe it isn’t what Aung San Suu Kyi would do but then, she’s so busy with her things, right??

I’ll tell you all about it!! Stay posted!