Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Faute de Mieux

So, perhaps you wonder where the name "Travel, trouble, music, art..." comes from. Or perhaps you don't; I'll tell you anyway. Dorothy Parker (writer extraordinaire, 1893-1967) penned a lovely poem, Faute de Mieux, and so it goes:
Travel, trouble, music, art,
A kiss, a frock, a rhyme -
I never said they feed my heart,
But still they pass my time.
For the time being, this is my inspiration- plus it sums up my desires... to write about my travels and experiences; and possibly my everyday life, which involves much music, not too little laughter, a smidgen of art, and the seldom bout of trouble. Enjoy.
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Dorothy Parker

Now, I may as well introduce myself. My name is Meg, travellingmeg, for all you here (and yes, I do know that traveling only has one l... but there is a story behind that). There is a wonderful site, known as Couchsurfing.org, and on that little site (more about it later), there is a demure little character by the name of Travellingmeg... a misspelled pseudonym stemming from late hours, too much coffee and a growing frustration at coming up with a name what would not exhibit the response "this name is already used, please choose another." I thought I would stick with the moniker (if it ain't broke don't fix it... and all that jazz, and misspelled hardly constitutes "broke" in my book), because I mostly like it, and I have no desire to come up with a new, more inventive and perhaps grammatically correct one.
Moving on, I am 24, a college graduate, and currently living in North Germany where I have recently begun working as an Au Pair (read: sometimes cook, rarely housekeeper, and most-often servant to the whims of an almost 4-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother, who does get in the occasional word- the brother, as for me, I try to just nod, agree, and keep my nose clean). Not that you should think I have it bad; by no means. I am enjoying myself, the family is fun, and if not for the only slightly over-demanding children I should be at a loss for what to do with my time. As for now, duty calls, welcome to my blog- thoughts, ideas, and so forth.