Long Live the King

Since returning to my house here in the States after 4 months away, I feel like the King returned to his kingdom after exile. The past three days, I have stalked this house with a strong sense of my territory under foot, and it feels great.

In a way, coming back to my house is something of a microcosm of coming to America. The student flat I spent the past four months in was small. I had a tiny bedroom that I shared with Bryce, small bathroom, and even though I had a sizable kitchen and a decent living room, it had a cramped feel. It had plus points--a lot of light and a cool location--but after living in a large penthouse last semester it was a bit of a shock. I got used to it though, and through my travels in Europe I became acclimated to smaller rooms, minor inconveniences like sporadic hot water, and having only five television channels. I adjusted to having hard water, not having a dryer, and slow to non-existent internet connection. I dealt with it because I was living in a city I loved, having the time of my life, and there was a pub approximately 6 feet from my door, and another on the corner. Now, my house and America at large display that shocking abundance that visitors always remark on. My room here feels comparable in size to my entire flat. I have a fridge full of food. Instead of a 13" tv with five channels, I have a 65" tv with 700 channels. I can kind of understand how Europeans feel when Americans complain about inconveniences in Europe--our entire perspective can be a bit out of whack. I am starting to wonder if America's love for all that is enormous isn't a bit toxic, and if I'm not a bit tainted by it. It is the land of plenty for sure, and while I enjoy it, there was something oddly satisfying about that spartan lifestyle I left across the pond. It wasn't an ashram, but it was less that I was used to, and the minor asceticism of it appealed to me. When so much is available, do we lose those small pleasures--a pint and some good banter in a pub? Maybe I ought to scale back the luxury a bit, or at very least stop making this sound like a narrative from Sex and the City.

This is my 100th blog post--and the bizarre rantings continue unabated.

Watching: Entourage on HBO on Demand--can't get enough of it.