Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

Yeah, I know. You thought this would be a sunrise picture, or a description of how great it is to wake up in Costa Rica.

Well, it *is* great to wake up in Costa Rica, and for the last several days, I've had that darned song going on in my head. But the flip side is that everything *doesn't* *always* go your way. Here are a few such items to consider.

Item 1: Several times in the last few months, I have spent the day at a friend's house painting. It is a great way for us to visit and to focus on the artistic side (one big goal for my life here). We don't have a car, and I thoroughly enjoy the bus system here. However! On this trip, the buses *never* seemed to align! They're like the stars that way, I guess. The last time I went, it took two and a half hours to get there, and then (OMG, I almost died) it took THREE and a HALF hours to get home! That's an average of three hours to go a distance of 20 miles! And this is without much traffic - that would take *maybe* an hour in a car (lots of windy roads on one end, and a few stoplights at the other).

Item 2: Rick and I usually go to the MedioDía at the National Theatre. It is a noon concert of just less than an hour, and gives you a nice taste of a performance that is often played in expanded form later that week in San José. Usually it's a nice taste. The last time we went... Well, it wasn't that the musicians were bad, because they weren't. It wasn't a bad composition either. We just didn't like it! It was too something - too modern, dissonant without relief, snippets of melodies that went nowhere... The little girl sitting next to us had her hands over her ears by the end of it - very subtly of course, since she was a Tica, but still. My compensation was that I was with Rick. And anytime I get to spend with Rick is great :-).

Item 3: I often go to the Guadalupe feria - the produce is fantastic, and the people are friendly. But one time, I had gotten everything except strawberries, and so was cruising pretty fast. A stack of strawberry bags caught my eye, and I stopped. I have gotten pretty good at testing weights, and so I pretty much know what a kilo feels like. These bags looked light, and when I asked how much, the guy said the price. Then I picked up a bag, and asked how much it weighed. He said about a kilo - I looked kind of funny I guess, and he put it on the scale. When he did this he kept his hand on the bag, and pressed on the scale - well it was pretty obvious. So I laughed, and motioned that he should perhaps lift his hand. He laughed, lifted his half-kilo hand off the scale, and - well, there you go. I said no thanks and moved on.

I'm quite sure there are other disappointments, but they do fade quickly. Because you know, we *do* have beautiful mornings here :-D

Would I let these set-backs stop me from trying again? No! (One might even be tempted to say "No way, San José!")