Possible Side Effects

We are at sea today. I just corrected yesterdays post as we arrive in Haiti tomorow (Thursday) morning, not Friday. Today is our second formal dinner and its lobster night for dinner. We were just laying out on the deck, but it is so hot, and I don't want to burn so I had to come in.

On our first day I was swimming and swam into the end wall of the pool. It is submerged and then there is an area about 10'X10" which is under water for laying around on. Anyway, my shoulder is hurting and bruised so I thought I should get some Tylenol.

Back to the book; Earlier today I was reading this book, Possibe Side Effects, by Augusten Burroughs, the best-selling author of Running With Scissors. I will be buying this book when I get home. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2:

And this made me love London even more. That you could go to hospital and
be treated as a patient, instead of a suspect, like in America.

After this I watched a little CNN. CNN is very different in the United
Kingdom than it is in America. For one thing, there's more global coverage. They
even gave the weather forcast for New Delhi. That would never play in America
because people would e-mail CNN headquarters and say, "Who the fuck cares about
fucking India? Give us more missing coed stories."

I glanced at the fireplace and saw that the wall-to-wall carpeting extended into the fireplace itself, right under the log holder. Obviously, the fireplace no longer worked. But also obvious was the fact that no American had ever stayed in this room before. Because an American most certainly would have attempted to build a fire. As a rule, Americans will take everything that is offered to them. "There's a fireplace in this room, and by golly, I'm gonna use it." We're just that way. If we see it, it belongs to us. If it burns, even better.