The Christianville Spirit: The World of Music

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 22nd, 2017-TCS # 534

Bonjour, My Readers! That is One of My Favorite Greetings! In Case, You did not know, It is French for Hello. So, Boy, Do I have an Interesting Story for You! So, Imagine this with Me, Okay Folks? Imagine that You wanted to listen to The Radio but, in a more Expanded Way. You wanted to listen to More than just Radio in The United States. Until The Other Day, I had never done that before, listening to a Radio Station outside of The United States. So, Here is how it happened. I was reading My Facebook Feed over and over and, I saw a Link to an Article on a Site called “Geoawesomeness”. It is basically a Site of Maps and Charts, for those like me that are Very Geography/History/Politics-mixed together minded. So, After reading The First Article, I wanted to see more Articles with Maps and Charts explaining This or That. Then, I found one that Literally Blew My Mind! A Site called Radio Garden and It is in Google Earth format with Green Dots all Over The World. Well, Those “Green Dots” were Live Streams of Radio Stations literally All over The World! Now, The only time I used to do it, If I wanted to, was think of An Area, Find a Station there, and Listen, or Use Apple’s LONG list of what They call “World Music”. After all, It is said that Music connects us all, right? If There is a Language that Everyone speaks It is in Music. hmm, Sounds like That could be One of Popi’s (My Grandpa on My Mom’s Side) Pearls of Wisdom. “The World is connected with Music”, I am pretty sure that He would say that. He did have a Degree in Music after all. Anyway, so I tested this “Radio Garden” Site and Once it started working, I was off and running like a Dog with The Gate left open! So, I started out small, My Local Area of Dallas-Fort Worth, then Atlanta at The Peak of Rush Hour, Washington DC, New York, and Cities in between, then I was ready to Hear The Music of The World. Now, Let’s bear in Mind that When Listening to The Radio anywhere You are, The Word “Music” can mean anything. Now, I know that “Talk Radio” is not always Music, but in The Radio World, Anything does at This Point. So, I went to Many Places around The World, Listened to The Language of The Country, The Tone of Voice, What it might be that They were saying, and The Type of Music that was being played. I went as far as Thailand; to India; to The Middle East; All over Europe (London, Paris, Madrid, Prague, Stockholm, and Oslo; among Many Others); The Caribbean (Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, and Jamaica); I took a Short Visit to Costa Rica, and Yes, They even have A Radio Station in of All places; Nuuk, Greenland! It was Interesting to say the least! So, a Few Questions that I’m sure that You are Asking, Why would You do that? What did You find The Most Interesting? What was The Most Unique Experience? and, Finally, Any Favourite Radio Stations that You found? Okay, Here are Your Questions answered!

Why would You do that?: Because I was Curious and Wanted to know what Music around The World sounded like

What did You find The Most Interesting?: Actually, Lots of Things. I noticed that There is a Surprisingly Amount of “American Music” Stations, or at least Stations that played Songs that are Hits in The United States. I even found a Country Music Station in Stockholm, Sweden. Yes, Really. Country Music, like a American Country Music, in Sweden. Yes, I know The Swedes can rock to Country Music as Much as Americans can, I just found it Funny. Other Funny or Interesting Moments, were Thai Rap in Bangkok, Thailand; Trying out Indian Music in Mumbai, India; and, Listening to a Station in Puerto Rico talk about US President, Donald Trump in Spanish. It took the Words El Presidente  and Estados Unidos to Convince Me that They were talking about The President. They did get rather Passionate as The Talk rolled on. 

Most Unique Experience: It was Interesting to Listen to What People in India refer to as “Traditional Indian Music”. I will tell you though, It is rather catchy and You can dance to It if You want to, In fact They encourage it! And, Can’t forget when I went into The Middle East, There are Some Stations that have Arabic Music and Some that are in The Best and Most Respectful Way of Explaining It, It is like Islam’s Equivalent of Christian Talk Radio. 

Any Favorite Radio Stations that I found: Well, I found Two Stations that I liked. Now, One is a American/British Music Station, “Dubai 92” out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates and The Other is an American/British (International is what They called it) and Spanish Music Station, “Cadena 100” out of Madrid, Spain. I actually listened to a Good Spanish Song that I wish I had looked up The Title and Blondie played after that and That is when It got My Attention. Yes, Spanish PTLS Family Members, I did listen to a Spanish Song (Español Musica) and You would be Very Proud! 

Anyway, all in all, It really was a Round-The-World Experience to hear The Music (and, Talk) of Different Parts of The World. So, My Advice, Check out that Site and spin The Globe and Listen to The World.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Open Your Mind to Different Types of Music.

The Christianville Spirit: Meeting The Famous Deb Remix

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 15th, 2017-TCS # 533

Spread Love, My Readers! and, Shout Out to My Friend, Deb on Her Birthday! Happy Birthday, Deb! Yes, I realized that I had not written a Valentine’s Day Newsletter, due to My Excitement about My Laser Hair Removal Procedure. A Little Update on that, My Hair is growing less and less on My Chin and Face, I even have a few spots with Little to No Hair on both My Face and Chin. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! I am sure that You read the following Newsletter (which I am going to Re-run) about a Special Friend of Mine. Since I did not write a Valentine’s Day Newsletter and I also wanted to honor My Friend on Her Birthday, I figured that I would do both. So, Love. It is complicated, It has Set Backs, It can be Messy, but It is so Worth It! However, There are different kinds of Love, some that are Romantic and Some that are Non-Romantic. The Romantic Side has Soulmate Love, Twin Soul Love, Love in General, and of Course, You can’t forget Young Love. The Non-Romantic Loves are Self Love, Unconditional Love, Family Love, and The Love of Friendship. For My Friend, Deb and I, It is all of them in The Non-Romantic Category. She is a Brilliant and Very Loyal Friend and Yes, I Love Her and I Love Her like Family. So, Here is a Re-run of A Newsletter (with a Little Remix) that I wrote on September 7th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 510) to Honor such a Great Friend that Deb is on Her Birthday. Enjoy and a Very Happy Birthday to Deb!

Great to See You, My Readers! Boy! It has been quite a Busy Year for Me this year, probably more Busy that I have been in Year’s Past. Between going to Colorado to see My Brother to A Trip (along with a little Side-Trip) to Help My Grandma Honey move! Oh, Did I forget to mention that? Yes, My Grandma Honey is Moving! Pause for Dramatic Effect! Actually, by a Very Blessed Chance, She is moving One Floor Down from where She presently lives. We figured that She would not have to climb the Stairs anymore (The Worry of that, will be Gone), and We can help her if or when She needs it, and Extra Bonus! Her Friends can go visit Her now. Well, not Now at the present moment but, In a Few Weeks. But, It will benefit us all! (Update here: Grandma Honey LOVES Her New Place and It has helped her a lot in Many Ways!) 

Anyway, so on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, in My Life, I have been Blessed (A Word not to be used lightly) to have met Brilliant People in My Life. Whether They come from My PTLS Family or Somewhere in My Personal Life. As I mentioned in Previous Newsletters, Mrs. Bachman & Mrs. James, Lynee’s Sister, and Lynee’s Mom among Many Others but This Person, I feel is More on the Not Only Brilliant side but, also Extraordinary! As In People like This Woman come Very Rarely into Your Life. You only get a Few chances of Extraordinary People in Your Life that does include Your Soulmate. Now, No I can’t tell you that I met My Future Soulmate, Bridgett but, More like a Non-Romantic Soulmate. You See, There are Soulmates as in Romantic and Non-Romantic Soulmates which could be Anyone like Your Best Friend, Your Dog, or Even a Family Member could be Your Non-Romantic Soulmate. For The Record, on The Chance that Bridgett is reading this and Wondering who This “Deb” person is, You have Nothing to Worry about! Anyway, The only way that You would know that They are Your Soulmate of any kind is that You are Pretty Much on the Same Wavelength, thinking the Same thing, Having a lot in Common, or Just Understanding each other in a Special Way. Meet My Friend, Deb. Now, I have briefly mentioned her in My Newsletters a Few Times. In the “My Brothers Moving Again!” Newsletter (Refer to that Newsletter) mentions her as “My Friend, Deb” or “The Rationale Voice of Deb”. I did mention her in a Shoutout as “My Dear Deb”. So, Besides to say that She is Extraordinary, if I have to say One Thing about Deb is that She talks, like a Lot! And, That is not necessarily a Bad Thing. She is the kind of Person that You would not say “What’s Up” followed with “Not Much or Nothing” and then, Awkward Silence for several minutes before You could find something to Talk about. If You can’t think of Something, then I guarantee that She will. I am perfectly okay with that! Because when talking to Someone, You don’t want to talk to Someone in an awkward silence is Just Awkward! You pretty much stare at them until One of You two come up with Something. With Deb, it is not like that. She is One of those People that You can talk to about Anything with. So, How did I even meet Someone like Deb? Well, I actually met her via PTLS Family Member, Kristin. I refer to Her as “My Kristin” (again, I mentioned her once in a Shoutout!). Deb is The Aunt of “My Kristin”. To be Honest, It took me a while to figure all that out. Anyway, Me and Deb have been talking on Messenger since July of 2014. She basically sent Emails to My Mom wondering if She could talk to Me. At First, I think it was because She wanted a little insight to “My Kristin’s” Son, Diddy. So, Talking about General Things and about PTLS, became talking about Deeper Topics. To say the least, Deb is led quite an Interesting Life with many Great Friends along. We stopped talking in like September of that same year and in November, I started wondering “What happened to Deb?” So, I thought, The Easiest Way for Me to remember to talk to Someone on a Regular Basis was to Schedule a Time of The Week to Talk. Again, I am Very Routine oriented! So, It helped to Have talking to Deb in My Routine, after all, Deb is a Fun Person to talk to. So, We finally started talking again and Wondered why We stopped. After a While of Talking, I figured that We would have a little fun and have a Radio-like Show that I then called “The Discussions with Deb Show”, Now known as “The Conversations with Deb Show”. Our “Radio Show” is usually on Saturdays and it lasts for 3 Hours. Between Deb and I, We have realized that Even though We talk about a lot of Different Things on Our “Show”, sometimes 3 Hours isn’t enough! So, What do We talk about? Many different things like Love/Destiny, Movies, Music, Television, Whatever is going in Life, and Of Course the Funny things that occur when Her Mom comes around. So, This is Where the Story gets interesting, so Deb’s Mom who I refer to as either “Deb’s Ma” or Just simply Ma, was following along with Deb and I were building our Bond. She grew very fond of Me and The things that Deb and I would discuss. Unfortunately, because She was aging when I first met Deb online, Ma had passed away. Now, that did not stop her from Wanting to follow along with Me and Deb. I will tell you though, Ma is probably The Strongest Angel that I have met and I am sure that in Everyone’s Lifetime, They experience or should have to experience a Strong Positive Force. There was a Time when I had to go to The Doctor’s Office and The Nurse was not Very Nice, What did Ma do? She literally shut down all of The Computers in The Whole Doctor’s Office. It was kind of Funny, I have to admit! and, then, as I left Said Doctor’s Office, All of The Computers came back on. So, Yeah, She is THAT Strong of an Angel Spirit.

Every Now and Then (It still happens from Time to Time),Where I see The 11s on Every Hour, Every Time I would look up, It would see The Hour and 11. That’s not the end of it, I see 11:11 and 1:11 and 11 (or 1s) in Most Places that I look. It really is amazing! Also, There are Times when She likes to mess with My Computer, Deb’s Phone (as well as Deb’s Family Phones), The Radio, The Lights, and Anything Electronic. To be Honest, It is quite Funny to Me when It happens. 

Anyway, Back to Deb. After Two Years of Deb and I talking online, This Weekend Deb and I finally met in Person. It kind of felt as if You were in a Long Distance Relationship and You were meeting them for The First Time. Only for Deb and I, It is a Long Distance Friend-Mate-ship. I was Very Excited and Anxious to meet Her after talk online for 2 Years.

I have a hard time even wrapping My Head around that, Deb and I actually met in Person. In case You are wondering, We did part of Our Show live after We met in Person. All in all, I am Extremely Blessed that I have Deb to talk to because She is an Awesome Person to talk to!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everyone should have a Person like Deb in Their Life. 

The Christianville Spirit: Independence through Laser Hair Removal

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 8th, 2017-TCS # 532

Greetings, My Readers! So, Yesterday, I changed History as I like to say. So, Remember that Goal I mentioned at The Beginning of The Year? The Getting Laser Hair Removal, something that Who I was I kidding, I thought that I would never get or even do? Well, actually, Yesterday, I got up The Nerve to get it Done! So, a Little Background first. 

So, I am going to both Refer You to Two Newsletters that explain The Background Story as well as Share it with You.

Refer to The Following Newsletters for Some of The Background Story..

• Dents in Independence (January 2016)
• PTLS Adult Struggles (September 2014)

So, now that You have read The Background Story, I will explain The Laser Part. So, I will be The First to tell you The Honest Truth about Things, the “Dents in Independence” Newsletter was a Very Hard Newsletter for Me to Write because It basically admitted to Myself that I needed Help with Certain Things. Now, Yes, I have No Program getting help with Certain Things, but I felt that The Shaving was The One Part of Independence that I would most likely never Overcome and Something that I would always need help with unless One, I grow as My Brother refers to as a “Goatee” and Yes, In My Latter Teenage Years, I did that for a Week and It bothered Me with all the Hair, or The X Option, just Get Rid of The Hair once and for All via Something called Laser Hair Removal. Now, Being told that It was Painful REALLY did not help at all. “It is Excruciatingly Painful!”, Some of The Reviews told me and ranging to “It felt like a Rubber Band” on the more Moderate Side of The Reviews. But, I figured that If It was a Good Time to do this, It would be Now. So, Luckily, My Mom teaching to a Community College ran into a Nurse that runs a Different Segment of The Health Program that My Mom does. And, This Nurse, Ketia offered to Teach My Mom about how to do Cosmetic things like that and It would be a Way to get Me in to do Laser Hair Removal. Now, She will probably laugh at This but, When I first met Ketia, She introduced herself as Her Name but, I thought I heard pronounced like Kesha (like The Singer). Anyway, I thought that If Anything, this was My Ticket to finally get rid of The Biggest Dent in My Independence. So, She told me that She would get me in after Christmas but, due to Unseen Events in Her Family, She had to move it closer to Now. So, Monday Evening, My Mom told me that I had The Appointment in The Afternoon. This is It! I thought. The Anxiety about it had been growing because I thought it would happen The Week before. Then, after She told me, I was half Excited, half Anxious, and Half Natural at The Same Time. The Day of, of course, I was not sure if I wanted to go through with it or not because I did not know how Painful or Not Painful it would be. Due to an Event coming up This Spring, I figured that I needed to get it done now! I will honest, In My Head, I thought I was in Idiot or Stupid for Doing This Procedure. “It is an Involuntary Procedure, You don’t have to do it!” I told Myself. I thought it sounded Torturous, But, The Thing that frustrated me The Most was, that If I wanted This Dent in My Independence gone, It was either Suck It Up and Grow a Beard; Laser Hair Removal; or Waxing (which is MORE Painful). “It has to be Done, Let’s just get it Over with!” I finally said as Rationale to Myself. So, The Process, Ketia put Numbing Cream on My Face, which would really help! It is Strong Numbing Cream, so Even Better. Let’s do a Test to Show You how The Laser feels. “A Test Zap”, We will call it. After The Test, We were Set to Go, No Turning Back from Here! The Zap at first was not that Bad, until She got to The More Denser part of My Chin. “The More Dense, The Hair is in an Area The More it will Hurt but, It won’t Hurt as much in The Lesser Dense Areas”, She tries calming me down. She did it as if You were Mowing, You cut the grass in One Area and re-run it The Other Way around. and, then Repeat. Now, as She started showing her Rhythm where She was Zap up and down and Pause, then The Same again. She gave the option to pause longer if I need to, but, I figured that The Quicker We Progress, The Quicker We get Done. After We were finally Done, She gave me a Hug because I did so well. She told me many stories of People who may have not done as well. So, I finally can admit that I got it done Finally! Now, That is just Part 1, but Part 1 is the Hardest Part, Ketia tell me. “It gets less Painful as You have more Treatments” She says. Now, What is funny is that, because of The Rapid Hair Growth of Having PTLS, We don’t know If it will all be Done quickly or not. It is an Experiment to see How The PTLS Gene handles something like that. So, Is it as “Excruciatingly Painful” as They say? Well If You have Really Dense Hair Areas, then Yes. Does It feel like a Rubber Band? Well, Yes, If it is a Low Dense Area but, as a General Rule, They are Lying to You! Ketia will tell you that “It is Sightly Discomforting but, Will get better”. At least, She puts it in Lesser Way than saying, “This will Hurt a lot”, No-cebo Effect will be calming. It is Helpful that She is a Nurse (like My Mom), A Graduate Student in Psychological Counseling, and She had worked with Special Needs Adults before. So, I highly recommend her! All in all, Sometimes You have to go through a Little Pain to Gain Independence!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Determination is needed to Gain Independence!

The Christianville Spirit: The Truth about Expatriation

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

February 1st, 2017-TCS # 531

Guten tag, My Readers! Okay, that is an Actual German Greeting that means Hello. There actually is a Difference between Swiss German and Real German. Swiss German is a dialect of German, German in Switzerland is either Swiss German or “High German”, which is The German from Germany. Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, There is something that Fascinates My Geography/Politics/History Mixed Mind. Something that More People than You think Do. A Unique Life to not only Spiced up Your life, but also Open Your Mind about The World. Something known as Ex-patting (Expatriation). Okay, so There are actually Two of that Same Concept, Expatriation and Repatriation, Moving to a Another Country and Coming Back respectively. “That’s Absurd”! “There’s NO Place like America”! “America #1”!, You would hear Americans say if You said You wanted to Expat. Okay, so, Maybe I am exaggerating The American Stereotype, but I will tell you, some Americans think that way. No Offense to Anyone in The Process! Now, I will be Honest, I kind of thought that when My Mom’s Former Student and Gal Pal, Monica was Nuts (Not in an Extreme Patriot Way though!) for Ex-patting to Stockholm, Sweden back then. After Reading The Book that I told you about Last Week Swiss Life: The 30 Things that I wish I’d Known, I kind of Understand a little more about Ex-patting. So, First, about Ex-patting, There could be Several Reasons for Ex-patting to Another Country like Needing Some Adventure or Something Different in Life, Learning about Another Culture and Soaking in that Culture, Because You may not be happy with The Way your Home Country is going, Retirement, or Most Commonly, Because Your Spouse (Husband or Wife) getting a New Job Opportunity in a New Country eventually leading to “Okay, What the Heck, Let’s Do It and See What Happens!”. Respectively, Monica and The Woman in The Book Ex-patted because of Their Husband’s Job. Now, When Monica went to Sweden, They speak much Better English and Their Nation’s Official Language, Swedish as well. Switzerland, on the other hand, has Four Official Languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansh. So that means that Anything and Everything, even Work (Hiring and Firing) works in either of Those Languages and English in there too! The Writer of The Book, Chantal Panozzo explains that The Book that in fact, You could be Hired in English and Fired in German, among Many other Things about Life in a Different Country. One Thing that I picked up that was The Most Important or Notable in Switzerland (Other than The Mountains and Neutrality) is Two Things, One is that The Swiss are Very Clean and Organized, and Two that The Swiss are Very Punctual, like to The Second, kind of Punctual. Sounds like My Kind of Place, right? Very Clean, Organized, and On Time. But, Oh! When I say Clean, I mean like In The Book, Chantal mentions that If You share a Laundry Room with Your Neighbors, They expect You to keep those things Very Clean, like No Lint in The Machine at All! The Organized Segment of The Swiss is Easy though, You walk in to a Store, Say Hallo (Swiss German is Hello), Take a Number, and Make Yourself be Known. The Segment of Being Punctual, No Worries There! Chantal mentions that The Clock Tower gongs every 15 Minutes or so. That and The Swiss Watch REALLY comes in Handy. Everything is always on Time, The Planes, The Trains, The Buses, and The People. I think The Punctuality Thing is common among Northern Europeans, because Swedes are like that too! The Thing that Shocked me The Most was Something I did not think of When It comes to Expats from The US moving to Another Country. Now, For The Record, Expats come from More than just The United States, but This is about an American Ex-patting. So, Whenever Expats live in a Another Country, Their Americans friends usually ask, What They can bring them anytime that they would like to Visit. Most usually say Peanut Butter; Anything that It is only sold in The United States; A Texan would probably say Good Mexican Food (unless You are Ex-patting to Mexico proper, in which case, You are Good!); and, Maybe a Box of Macaroni and Cheese, You never know. Chantal says that She wished for Someone who spoke American English (because They speak mainly German in Switzerland), The Wal-Mart Greeter (Because in Europe, There is No Small Talk; If You ask “What’s Up” to Europeans, They will tell you What’s Up in Detail where as Americans would say “Not Much” or “I’m Fine”), and Just Talk about Nothing (The Weather, Sports, or General Things). It made me wonder, What was going on in Monica’s Head when She ex-patted. Now, would I expat in My Life if I could, Sure Why not, for Maybe 1 or 2 Years, It would be Fun! I told Myself that If I ex-patted anywhere, I would go to Europe because it fascinates Me in Many Ways. I would expat to Stockholm, Sweden, just like Monica. When I went there, I loved it, It was clean too and like I said, They speak Brilliant English, and There is Plenty of Nature Abound! Now, Friends, as I laugh at Myself writing the Following, Don’t listen to Me! I actually did convince a Friend of My Mom and Aunt’s to move from Plano to Austin because as I told This Person, “Austin is a Cool Place!” and Apparently, She listened! So, One thought that again I never thought of, It is Nerve Racking to Expat to Another Country. But, You know what is Scarier than Expatriation? Repatriation! “It’s Home”, “Good ol’ America”! You might think. But, After You have seen The Way the Country You ex-patted to Works, You might have a Hard Time coming back to The United States. Truth be told, I have read Expat Blogs, where People Ex-patted from The United States, Only were going to Expat for maybe Two Years and After being there for Two Years, Don’t want to come back here. In Fact, Some just Expat to a Second Country (and, Yes, even Third Country) once They get tired of The First Country that They ex-patted to. Now, The Biggest Struggle that Chantal mentions is with The Distance between You and Your Family (or Friends) back here in The US. Yes, Facebook Works, Skype Works, and FaceTime Works, but as Chantal says, You can’t use All Five Senses when You talk to A Loved One on Skype. It, in a way, Lacks Connection and Love that You need. Because You should be able to Hug, Touch, and Talk to Your Loved Ones. Unfortunately, That is The Thing about Ex-patting that No One really tells you about, probably because It is Hard to admit or even Say. All in all, If You are Interested in Different Places, Read some Expat Blogs to see if It looks Interesting to You.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. The World is smaller than You think. Open Your Mind to Traveling The World.