Version 2.022

I had grand plans for today, Memorial Day, and the last day of the long weekend: I was going to do my Portuguese taxes. Alas, I dilly-dallied and spent most of the day reading. I finished a book and started another one. Yesterday, the iPad cheered me on because I read for 27 minutes, which it said was my daily goal. If this was meant to make me feel good, it did not, as I felt like a loser. So today, I read way more than 27 minutes to teach the iPad that my attention span is slightly greater than what it had assumed. But I still need to do taxes...

Throughout the day, I thought about the meaning of the holiday and the lives lost trying to protect the country. Americans do a good job with holidays; despite all the sales and shopping, people do think about the meaning of the occasion that is being observed. At the end of the day, the neighbors and I got together and collected all the flags with which we had decorated the neighborhood.

At my place, I only have a small Portuguese flag that I keep on my desk, so I do not decorate the house for Portuguese holidays. I have been thinking about doing a random act of kindness for June 10. There is a Portuguese young man who lives in an adjacent neighborhood, so I was thinking about putting together a basket of Portuguese products and dropping it at his door. Maybe I'll even include a Portuguese book, since I'm feeling particularly generous.