This American Life

In my search for the 80% of life, I sometimes stumble over things that blow me away. When we lived in Sunnyvale , CA I loved public radio and spent many happy weekend hours working away in my garage shop while listening to KQED. Each Saturday noon, after "Car Talk" and "Wait, wait, don't tell me" I listened transfixed to "This American Life". Quality radio at its best. We only got TV in Africa, where I grew up, when I was 16 years old. So much of my youth was spent listening to the radio. Radio is probably why I like audio books so much.

When we moved back to Israel in 2000, I tried listening to KQED and all these shows over the net, but in truth, they made me completely homesick. As soon as I would arrive at SFO on my many trips back to the Bay Area, I would tune into 88.5FM and it was as if I never left. Listening to "Morning Edition" in the kitchen on HaNevel Street in the late afternoon just seemed plain wrong. Here in Israel my Hebrew has improved and I find I enjoy Reshet Bet, the political/talk radio station. Theres a lot going on each day, and they ask hard questions. But, Reshet Bet, like Israel is not exactly "produced", its pretty much, news and commentary as it happens (and boy does it just keep happening).

A few days ago, fresh from my joyful experiences listening to audiobooks on the shuffle while walking the Sharon Region, I tentatively tried listening to "This American Life" once again. I started with the first show (from 1995) and over the weekend listened to quite a few more while working on the guitar I am currently building. Wow, these are as good as I remembered. What is most interesting is that I can now listen to these shows with only a little nostalgia. I suppose that means I am home. Scary isn't it.