remotely disconnected.

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Living here in Paris I feel that I am significantly disconnected from american life and what is happening "au States" (as the french refer to the US). At the same time I am immensely connected. I listen to National Public Radio for two hours a day. I listen to Slate magazine. I listen to a summary of the front page of the NY Times. I listen to Public Radio International and indie music stations out of Seattle and NYC.

I know more about indie music in North America than I have my entire life. Wednesday night I went to a Malajube show an indie rock band out of Montreal. No one who reads this really knows who they are but I think a couple of you might by the end of the year. They sing in french but have managed to attain a substantial following in english speaking canada. Their music is energetic and catchy even when you don't understand what they are saying. I listen to Beirut, Okkervil River, Peter Bjorn & John, Devotchka, Arcade Fire, Tokyo Police Club and a few others. Many of these groups feel to me kind of mainstream but I really don't know if they are talked about in the US. I mean I am sure people are talking about the Arcade Fire and people should be talking about Beirut but I kinda think they aren't.

When it comes to news I often do well on correctly answering the questions for "NPR's wait wait don't tell me" which I listen to while making/eating pancakes saturday mornings. We can discuss the war between radio and television which radio lost and what that all means in relation to "This American Life." Or maybe it would be interesting to talk about religion and marijuana in relation to the court hearing concerning "bong hits for Jesus." How about dollar coins with presidents faces on it. The 2 euro coin is worth half a five dollar bill. Do the presidential races interest you? What do you think about the differences between Hillary and Obama? The differences between their speeches (Obama vs. Hillary) announcing their candidacies were interesting. How about Hollywood swinging of support to Obama? What do you think of the spoof of Hilary clinton with the 1984 apple commercial? Or what about the Republican party. Is America's Mayor really going to be able to gain the support of the Republican base especially when you bring to mind his failed marriages, his having lived with a gay couple, dressing in drag among other things. Do you think that McCain has a chance either though? Is he really the "maverick" the media pretends he might be, because he seems like more of a straight shooter? Or would you rather talk about the scandal with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales?

This last week I called and chatted (sometimes in video) with people in the US, Germany, Honduras and England. I also called and sent many a SMS to people in Paris. My NCAA March madness bracket is doing poorly at last check I had picked only 60% of the winning teams. I paid substantial attention (from my point of view) to the music festival South by South West in Austin (I listened to shows by 12 artists and individual songs from multiple other attending artists). I also went to see the Oscar winning "The Last King of Scotland."

Am I even in France? Well this morning I ate camembert while preparing the pancakes. Last night I listened to "cool parisian biker kids" talk about their full suspension mountain bikes after riding my 42/16 fixe with them up the highest hill in Paris in Montmartre. They drank dark beer with a shot of strawberry sirup in it. While I have been writing this four or five trains have gone by my apartment. Each one lasts about 6-8 seconds. The trains are the TGV which have a cruising speed of 187 mph. Next weekend I am going to Switzerland to maybe go snowboarding for two days if there is still snow. Tonight I will hang out with American, Spanish, Portuguese, Chilean, French, English, Italian, Swiss and a few other nationalities of people. Tomorrow I'll eat lunch with a Canadian, a Portuguese, two French and a Malagasy. I am watching the approach of the April 22 elections, curious about the sudden increased support of centrist candidate Bayrou while being slightly disappointed in the fall of support for the leftist candidate Royal. I am also amused that according to polls more men are likely to vote for Royal more while women are likely to vote for Sarkozey. Last week I also posted on a social network a music video for the french rapper Kamini. So yes I am in Paris.

Last year I wasn't even a quarter this connected. So by being super connected I feel just as disconnected from my old lifestyle. I don't know what issues that I hear talk about aren't being talked about by my friends. I know many of them are still as disconnected as I was which makes me feel isolated.

International service has changed since my dad was here for three years in the 70s. He only talked on the phone a couple times with people in the US and then only with family.

This is long enough.