So last night I was cleaning up the ID3 tags in my MP3 collection and I heard this bizarre ringing noise.  I pulled off my headphones and the ringing stopped.  I put them back on and the ringing started again.  I then realized that I was getting a Skype call. I had never been called by anyone using Skype and I was completely in shock that my PC was ringing.  I've been trying to convince my family and friends to start using Skype but it's been like pulling teeth.  So I decided to pickup and find out who it was that was calling me.  The screen name was unfamiliar, but hey we can have any name we want right? 

The person was sending me IMs first and we chatted for a few minutes and then we decided to use voice chat.  It was excellent.  I love this stuff. A totally free call between myself and some complete stranger in another country just rocks!  We didn't discuss anything of huge importance but I did learn one big thing:

Americans don't know anything about other cultures!

We don't know how they live.  We don't know how they work.  We have a vague idea about what they eat because of the ethnic restaurants we have here.  But really we all know that Mexican food in the US is very different from Mexican food in Mexico.  Why should we believe that it is any different for any other cuisine.

When I was asked how I thought they lived in KL (Kuala Lumpur) I had no idea what to say.  Visions of Apocalypse Now and Indiana Jones jungles flashed in my mind.  I saw children running through the streets in rags and no indoor plumbing.  Of course I knew that was all crap because KL is home to the worlds tallest building.  It's probably not too different from any other industrial country.  I mean a different culture but still a lot of the same crap.  So that just made me feel like a retard.  No offense to the mentally disabled or is it mentally “differently-abled”.  Whatever.