Life is Good Award (is it?)

Olga, at Artful Nuance very kindly awarded me the Life is Good Award last week.

Olga's blog is full of photos which give evidence of her love of photography. In and around Toronto, where she lives, or on holiday, she loves snapping everyday life, close-ups and unusual angles and writing about her art exhibitions and thoughts on life.

I was quite surprised to receive this award because I'm not feeling that life is particularly good at the moment. The start to 2011 has been a tough one and, while life for many is much worse than for me, I still feel somewhat besieged by pressures. My life is what I have to deal with every day, and it's me that has to cope with what's thrown at us, being a single mother an' all.

Anyway, enough of the pity party, I'm supposed to reveal some fascinating facts about myself. This is a laugh because I'm not feeling fascinating AT ALL at the moment, so here are some really non-fascinating facts.

1. I take against things in a totally unreasonable and irrational way. Such as Macs. I had a boyfriend who was like some sort of Mac sect guru he was so devoted to the cause. Put me right off. Luckily, my TWDB is a former Microsoft consultant so I feel we are at one technically.
2. I'm heartily sick of being frugal. I seem to have been frugal forever including when married because my ex-h used all the joint account to go to meetings and conferences which, for some reason, came out of our family money. He must have been the only one to pay for his presence!
3. I'm very worried about my kids' future. I don't think they have one in France (anywhere else, anyone?). Youth employment is so low you have to look under stones and in all the unusual places to find it. Could I afford to send them to university in the UK where they'll have a better experience than the 'losers' zone that represents so much French higher education that isn't grand école or professional training (medicine, law - French law? haha!)? No.
4. I have learned that if you don't look after N°1 no one else will. Furthermore, one should not expect anyone else to look after you because they are busy looking after themselves. In this day and age, it's as much as we can do to take care of ourselves. It's good to have a prop, but ultimately when the chips are down, it's every man for himself. Unless you get something horrendous like Alzheimer's when some poor sod (the short straw drawn by your partner) is roped into the purgatory of looking after you, from being speech-less to un-toilet-trained and violent.
5. I often wonder why the medical profession persist in their perverse quest to keep us all alive when there is little investment in the care infrastructure. STOP IT, you doctors! Let us DIE dignified and not too late, please!
Bonus fact: have as little to do with the French legal system as possible, especially the appeal court. You'll be much happier (and richer) for following this advice, believe me.

So, if you're not ready to top yourselves after all that, and you've got this far, congratulations, you must be feeling as chipper as me!

I'm not going to pass it on to anyone in particular. If you feel that your life is good at the moment, do share with us down-in-the-dumps types and cheer us up. We need it!