FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

I thought I'd offer some nice background music whilst (they say "whilst" here) you read today's post.
My first comment is that first impressions are useful for forming opinions, but certainly not absolute. Here is a little guide to help you understand how they stand in my reality:

My first impression of...
- My brother Andrew = probably along the lines of "smelly" but...no wait, I still have that impression...
- City of Chicago = too clean and quiet
- Australia as a visitor = a nice place to visit, and I might want to live here
- Australia as a resident = The communities have so much going on and I'm happy to be a part of it

whales

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OK, I have to admit now that it is actually April 19th and I started writing this post in January. I have no idea why there's a link called "whales" nor what other first impressions I wanted to reflect on. All I know is that I've passed that "First Impressions" stage and will probably go and edit the next section that I'd drafted: "Settling In".