Dedaland

I moved to a new place... I was living as happy pirate on Treasure Island... so nice, peaceful and quiet. Now I am a "ground pirate" I moved downtown... pretty interesting spot, ironically, across the street from one of my fave thai restaurant in the city.
Uhm... Pra-ram... mhhhhh. ^_^
Other than that, I have hardwood floor and a big closet in my room with a mirror, which I really needed. Do I like being a ground pirate? So far so good...
I have to say it has its comfort, I don't have to put with the buses anymore and my street is not as noisy as I thought. Last night I went to see a movie at the late show and I was at the Metreon in five minutes... wow! That was actually kind of cool... the movie was Big FIsh by TIm Burton... a very nice fairy tale.
The only bad thing about my moving was... I got a ticket form the dpt. That was not nice. Well, what's the point of giving a ticket to a U-Haul truck? Beside... little man driving the little car, if you gave a me a ticket it means that you passed by my truck twice and you should have seen there were only two little ladies doing the moving. In Italy, the DPT guy would come to you and tell you...: ladies you've been here more than you can stay already, you have to move the truck or I'll give you a ticket...
then you can talk to him and say: so sorry but you see it's only two girls and we are doing this thingy so slowly... it would be too much of a hassle to move the truck... besides, what if someone takes the spot? How are we going to do then?
So the little man would close one eye and say: fine...
and wish you a good day.
(of course in Italy they are not as kind with cars. Especially the women who work for the dpt... they are mercyless! So beware of dpt women when u go to Italy).
Anyway, I realize that people here can be very curteous but kindness is a whole other things. Sometimes Italians are rude, not too polite, and very aggressive... I thought they were pretty nervouse (when I went back home in september) but overall there's a bit more kindness.

The difference from courtesy and kindness is... in beliefs, I think.
Courtesy is something that is imposed to you by education and society and you can smile and be nice to someone and ask: how u doing (but you don't actually really care).
Kindess, somehow, sprouts form the heart. I saw kindness every time you ask: where is this place? and the person smiles back at you and says: here, I'll take you there, it's too complicated to explain... and during the walk talks to you and treats you as if you were a real human being.
Most of the time people looks at you as if you were see through.

Of course kindness is not to be confused with generosity. Generosity is an act of selfishness.