Run With Scissors!

OK - don’t really run with scissors, but be wild, do something different, step outside your comfort zone! Your imagination is your only limitation! Respect others and have fun. Laugh a lot!

Background

I spent an entire career conniving someone else to pay for me to see the world. Now retired, there are very few, if any, business class seats or drivers holding a sign with my name when I arrive in a foreign location. One thing that remained constant with my travel - I was completely entertained by experiences and by what was considered normal in other countries and cultures. Of course, that is using my redneck Texas upbringing as the measurement point. I’m pretty sure there are a plethora of international humorists out there who could have as much, if not more, fun with my normal!

Early in my travels I started writing down observations and sharing them. First through snail mail, then email, now a website. It was always the humor of the new that I saw with new venues. And the more remote the the location and difficulties, the more there was to write about. This brings about two points. First is from my favorite author, Patrick F. McManus. Patrick was a humorist that wrote short articles about his experiences for Outdoor Life magazine. One of his books was titled A Fine and Pleasant Misery. Patrick asserts it is the miserable and disastrous excursions that become funny over time and retold indefinitely with embellishment. If everything goes as a planned, that trip will be forgotten in short order. The second point was made by my wife. She said she could tell how bad my trip and location was by how funny the resulting observation emails were. If I’d ever been taken hostage by terrorists, she might have had to been hospitalized from laughing so hard at my emails pleading for my release!

One rule for reading this blog. Enjoy the differences. Or as the French say, “We surrender!” Oh wait - I meant, "¡Viva la diferencia!" It is not intended to offend anyone anywhere in any way. If something I wrote does, I apologize , but also suggest you might open your mind to new experiences, your heart to forgiveness, and always laugh more. For example, I think the written English language would be more interesting if we had some of those upside down exclamation marks like the Latin languages. Currently we only have regular exclamation marks and typing in all caps. That way, you know when starting the sentence or phrase it is going to be exciting, not notifying you afterwards that it was exciting. We do have all caps, but that is more yelling than exciting.

My name is Keith Shuffler. If you enjoy this site, please encourage all your friends to visit. If you don’t enjoy the site, then encourage your enemies to visit! Leave comments! Well, unless you’re in the later group! And come back! I’m still digging out old original emails and writing about experiences I pre-email.

And, one more note, if you were with me and recognize any of these stories, please use the comment section to confirm my facts. I have an Aunt, whom I won’t name so I don’t embarrass Aunt Sharon, that loves me dearly, but thinks I have made up most of the content in my emails through the years. One more note, if I hear from some old friends I have lost contact with as a result of my efforts here, well that makes it all worth while!

Gracious,

Obrigado,

Danke,

Shuukran,

Thank you,

-Keith