I've had this thing about Paris for a while now. It all started with just wanting to flee the country. I've bounced around on where to go a lot. Paris, London, just about anywhere really. The point being, not in America any more. Paris has been the high point though, the one that sticks out the most. Every time I see any documentaries, travel channel shows, or read about Paris it just seems like a good fit. I've made a pseudo-commitment to move there in 5 years. So, by April 2014 I should be in Paris. By that time I will have 5 years in at my job, possibly a B.A., and should be fluent enough in French to get by in a job. My hope is to find a web development job. So, if you are in need of a web developer in Paris drop me an email or something. Obviously, I will continue looking for jobs in Paris within the 5 years and attempt to move sooner. The 5 year commitment is simply the end of the road. At that point, if I'm not there, I'm going to do anything possible to get there. Even if I have to live in the streets, I will get there and stay there. So, why not in America anymore? Am I not a good patriot? Do I hate my country? No, I don't think so. I'm pretty frustrated with my fellow Americans though. Sky high gas prices, economy run into the ground by huge corporations that control our government and what do we do. Nothing. We have been doing nothing since Vietnam ended. Our will to stand up and scream in the face of the government has faded. Too me, that is just un-american. I don't want to be a part of it any longer. We don't fight for freedom. We take it for granted and give it away at the first opportunity. We lost so much freedom after 9/11 and we will never get it back. Americans live under a delusion of what freedom is anyway. We allow ourselves to be diluted into thinking that we have these specific freedoms and rights. I want my freedoms to be transparent. Don't tell me that I have the right to bear arms and speak when the truth is I can only do those things based on very specific rules. That isn't freedom or rights, that is a very comfortable lie. Is France better? No, I don't think so. To be perfectly honest, I don't know much about France. What I do know is that people strike, demonstrate, and when needed, they riot. France is the birthplace of the modern concept of freedom. The European Union seems to be moving forward in a direction that fits my moral goals more closely. The European attitude seems so much more in tune with my own. Regardless, it is the refuge I have chosen. Now, I just need to seek it out. I wish I felt comfortable in America. I wish I felt like more people agreed with me. I wish I was in Paris.

later,
-junc