Bizi, Dave, Mari,

Thank you for your support. It sure is crummy, and it is never not crummy. Most of the time, I barely think of it -- I mean I am used to it -- but it surfaces in the most subtle ways. I am perpetually having to "slough it off".

Hmmmm... no wonder I have trouble sloughing off other emotional things... My internal slougher offer is prolly kept busy handling this cultural stuff. There, I make joke about my big sad.

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For those who don't really know my background, I'll summarize. I'd rather not be specific about locations, but it won't be necessary for the big picture.

To date, almost exactly 1/3 of my life has been spent in each of 3 different nations. I am a dual national too, but have always felt like a foreigner in both my countries of citizenship. The only place I neither felt nor was treated like a foreigner was in the US, where, ironically, my politcal status was "legal alien".

It seems I need to talk about this whole pile of crap. I will post more later, otherwise it will be overwhelming... possibly both for me and for you guys.