1. Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie
2. Shock Doctrine - Naomi Kline

I'm an unashamed dirty TV watcher.

Current TV, almost exclusively. It is a relatively new network, with neat programs like infoMania and Vanguard. I like Vanguard the most. Young reporters dispatched around the world, reporting on social justice issues that the major networks know won't make them any money. I have an enormous crush on Adam Yamaguchi and Mariana van Zeller.

Typically, I don't watch TV. Now I often find myself turning it to Current and watching four (!) hours at at time. I have two books sitting on my coffee table, half read, glaring at me anytime I notice them. They're jealous books.

I also watch LOGO. I enjoy Rupaul's Drag Race, as well as PopLab NewNowNext.

These networks have me wishing my life were set to a clubbier version of this. Oh, and to take lots of X.

Look at the world, it's waking up.

Last weekend there was:
-Hahna
-McCoy's Public House
-The Brooksider
-Amazing microbrew
-Blood
-[almost] Hypothermia

This weekend there will be:
-Hahna & Hallie
-The Elders
-Even better beer
-No blood
-Lots of sleeping in
-Chubby's for breakfast

Approaching

How about the feeling when you just finished an amazing book, and you are utterly without the capability of doing anything afterward. Where you walk around your room, kind of fanning your face with your hands (maybe just me), and because of what you just read -you can make anything seem beautiful.

"Well and good.
How to explain, then, that, with his foot actually on the bridge over the creek, George suddenly turns, chuckles to himself, and with the movement of a child wriggling free of a grown-up -- old guardian Cortex -- runs off down the road, laughing, toward the ocean?"

I want to dance on stage with aliens, santa clause, space wo\men, and WayneCoyneWayneCoyneWayneCoyneWayneCoyneWayneCoyne.

Oh, and I really like the NYT One in 8 Million project. Especially this one.

doublechin

She makes my truck getting stolen (and slammed into a tree and two parking meters) seem less significant.

Great novel by Christopher Isherwood. Cannot wait.

I am so excited for the positive

effects my actions and attitudes

will have in people's lives.

"Every few seconds,my brother would call my name, to make sure I wasn't left behind. I could hear the sadness in his voice, and each time I answered him, my voice trembled."

"Oh, god. Your heart is beating so fast.

(deep breath in) That's awesome."

OCMS

I have waited too long for them to come to Kansas. I cannot wait. It will be even more fun since Wyatt is going to be there.

I feel like people are losing faith in me.

sad face

I don't think mega-SPRINT CENTER-types of concerts are for me. I like the standing around with a $3 dollar beer at Liberty Hall type of concert (eh hem - Avett Brothers, The Shins). However, hearing "Cold Desert" live probably qualifies as unprotected sex.

Coming Up:
State Radio @ The Bottleneck (Tom.)
Ben Folds @ Liberty Hall
Old Crow Medicine Show @ Liberty Hall

TOP 25 MOST PLAYED

Closer - Kings of Leon
Celebrity Death - Yves Klein Blue
Revelry - Kings of Leon
For My Family - The Devil Makes Three
Fake Empire - The National
The Only Moment We Were Alone - Explosions in the Sky
I Go to the Barn - Band of Horses
Meet me in the City - The Black Keys
Cold Desert - Kings of Leon
Electric Feel - MGMT
No Ones Gonna Love You - Band of Horses
Animal - Miike Snow
Mistaken for Strangers - The National
Make up Your Mind - Yves Klein Blue
The Funeral - Band of Horses
Squalor Victoria - The National
Green Gloves - The National
Badfish - Sublime
Manhattan - Kings of Leon
Brainy - The National
About the Future - Yves Klein Blue
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
The First Song - Band of Horses
When She Believes - Ben Harper
I Want You - Kings of Leon

The Noisettes are my new pleasure.

I am that child with the round, dirty face

who on every corner bothers you with his

"Can you spare a quarter?"

I am that child with the dirty face, no doubt unwanted, that from far away

contemplates coaches where other children emit laughter and jump up and down

considerably

I am that unlikeable child definitely unwanted, with the round dirty face

who before that giant street lights or under the grandams also illuminated

or in front of the little girls

that seem to levitate projects that insult his dirty face

I am that angry and lonely child of always, that throws you the insult and warns you:

if you hypocritically pat me on the head

I would take that opportunity to steal your wallet

I am that child of always before the panorama of imminent terror,

imminent leprosy, imminent fleas, of offenses and the imminent crime.

I am that repulsive child that improvises a bed out of an old cardboard box and waits,

certain that you will accompany me

My Lover the Sea Reinaldo Arenas

J'ai fini

Appreciate

I met my elderly neighbor today while walking down the street on my way to class. She asked me if I lived with "that nice young man Fielding," and if I went to school at OU. Then, I was told I could stop by anytime I like for an apple.

Really, I was expecting a Werther's butterscotch candy.

Recently Added

"What this generation needs is a score -
because we realize we can all get along but no one is willing to drop their arms.
For our forefathers have made reforms to civil rights and moral law,
but now that fewer are maligned, there's less pushing us over the line.
Oh, we really aint that far -
but somehow none of that matters anymore."

"...and cool kids.. they belong.. together."

Peter Bjorn and John @ The Granada

...and I don't care about the young folks...

Here it is. The final year (maybe). Classes start today at 10:00, but my day started at 6:30 practice. It won't be over until midnight, ugh.

Saw Andrew yesterday!

Greatest Fear

Losing someone.

A person's most valuable possession is life. We only live once; we must live so as not to sorely regret the months and years lived wastefully, not to be ashamed of the months and years lived wastefully, so that when we die we can say, "All my life and all my strength have been dedicated to the most noble goal in life, the struggle to liberate the human race."

To live is to face the storms and not to cower before them.

Dang Thuy Tram quoting Ostrovsky in her diary published as, 'Last Night I Dreamed of Peace.'

there is a hole and i tried to fill it up with money... money, money, money

The Swedish trio, Miike Snow, make energetic joy songs.

Lately --------> Yves Klein Blue, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, No Doubt.

The relationship with my bike is really blossoming, which is helping me bond with more music. I have never been able to run with headphones in, but can't get myself to bike unless I do. There has been a lot more biking than running lately. To motivate myself to fix the ratio, I am going to pick up some new running shoes. The same style of running shoe has been on my feet for over 7 years. I can remember the Asics Gel-Cumulus 4, about to buy the 11th edition. My current pair (9th edition) are totally blown out. Anime Sana In Copore Sano!

what the fuck?

Since my last post I made it to Australia and back, and made my way through another four weeks of work at the clinic. Nothing eventful to write about except for some sick music at the Abercrombie Hotel. Purple Sneakers and the fellows at Boundary Sounds = my heart. One of the best nights of my life until somone ruined it.

Yves Klein Blue has an amazing sound that goes on and on and on.

My summer project: Darkroom. I am pretty much giving up on digital photography. I like to take pictures because of the feeling, in the stem of my brain, where I know I created something beautiful. I have only had that feeling with my 35mm. Anyone want to buy a DSLR?

BYE.

brother

It's been about three years under the same roof. We can still hang, but it won't be the same. Lay-ahs.

no explanation

I am struggling to describe how I feel right now. I am writing one of my finals, and for some reason I feel like I am blowing it (even though I am writing some GOLD right now).

Is there something that I am forgetting to do? Some huge project that I have procrastinated on so much, I actually pushed it out of my brain?

What I am feeling, for some reason, is guilt. It's like I have already failed.

My attempt to make myself feel better is to be realistic. I went through every class and figured my grade and what I need on the final. Easily I can get A's in some and B's in most. There is one good chance of a C.

I feel irrationally panicky. I cannot wait for grades to come out.

MY LIFE FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS

Revisions for my Research Proposal

Paper over the Oklahoma Ottawa
World Religions Chapter Reviews
Indigenous People Written Final (10-12 pgs)
Memorize 60 Artworks
A paper on "Doing Business in Australia"
A paper on "Aborigines in Australia" (know it like the back of my hand)
A massive Ethnic Relations test

PICTURE IS FROM MY 20TH BIRTHDAY. UH.... THERE WERE LOTS OF CANDLES
AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS (WHOEVER YOU ARE), IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER.

before night falls

Passing through the exploding streets,
since the pipes are ready to give out
passing around the buildings, we need to dodge,
since they are falling onto us,
between the hostile faces scrutinizing and sentencing us,
between the closed establishments,
closed markets,
closed movie theaters,
closed parks,
closed cafés.
Exhibiting already dusty signs (justifications) occasionally,
CLOSED FOR REFORMS,
CLOSED FOR REPARATION.
What kind of reparation?
When will this alleged reparation, alleged reform end?
When at least
will it begin?
Closed... closed... closed...
everything closed...
I arrive and open the innumerable locks, run up the improvised stairwell.
There she is waiting for me.
I discover her, remove the canvas and contemplate her dusty and cold
dimensions.
I get rid of the dust and caress her.
With the slightest brushes from my palms, I clean her back, her base, her
sides.
I feel desperate, happy, at her side, before her,
I run my hands over her keys, and rapidly, everything is set in motion.
The ta ta, the jingling, the music starts, little by little, already much
faster,
now, at the greatest velocity.
Walls, trees, streets,
cathedrals, faces and beaches,
cells, mini-cells,
giant cells,
starry night, naked
feet, pine groves, clouds
hundreds, thousands,
a million parrots
piano stools and a vine.
Everything shows up, everything arrives, everyone comes.
The walls expand, the ceiling disappears and, naturally, you float,
you float, float ripped apart, swept along,
elevated,
taken, transported, eternalized,
saved, for the sake of, and
for this miniscule and constant cadence,
for this music,
for this incessant jingling.

"The Parade Ends" Reinaldo Arenas
His life shakes me to the core. In his poem (about the Cuban revolution) I especially like, "Cerrado... Cerrado... Cerrado..., Todo Cerrado..." Javier Bardem does a pretty good interp, from the movie Before Night Falls.

jai ho

Last Friday I made it to Congregation Beth-Torah in Overland Park for their Simchat Shabbat service.  'Drew had spoken about his reformed congregation a little, but I had no idea how amazing one could be.  This was my first progressive religious experience.  Rabbi Levin talked to us for a few minutes after the service, and some of the douche-bags I was with asked some pretty inappropriate questions ("so... what purpose does a Jew have if they have no savior?"  Really?).  After distancing myself from him as much as possible, I talked to Hamburg's dad who I had spotted earlier.  

This is going to be another tough week, but I did pay for the rest of Australia.  That was really worrying me.

Peace and No Worries

I HAVE 9 FUCKING LIVES. SERIOUSLY.

addendum

I am sitting here, attempting to write my paper, and I am distracted. I can't help but think how great it would be if I were standing at the bottom of my driveway, playing with my Yak Bak and wearing my Starter jacket, waiting for the bus to arrive. I would hop on and me and Kyler would start chatting away, probably planning a trip to Worlds of Fun that would never happen (or some shit).

How great would it be? Being there again when the only worry in my world was if we were having chili with cinnamon roll or hamburgers for lunch. Ah, man fuck papers.

Youth and Young Manhood

Kamero 2.5-30mm/f2.8 lens mounted on a Minolta SRT 202

On a lark I grabbed some b/w film and shot a roll over the weekend. I can't say that I am entirely happy with my work (above), but I can tell it's improving. I stopped by Love Garden and bought a Kings of Leon CD. I think I like the newer Kings compared to older.

I was a bit of a shit head with the fam. Dad wanted me to go out for coffee with him this morning (5:45), but instead I laid on the couch. I also left my grandmas early.

Now I am writing two resarch critiques, eating body of Christ leftovers, and listening to hardcore country coming from the radio of one of the housing consumers. Skipping to Travis Tritt, ugh.

focus

Fireworks. Tokyo, Japan. 2008

things are in the air right now.

india.
rda.
e.l.c.
money.
l.a.

Tomorrow is the last day of group, but also all of my paperwork is due. I ordered my sister, Jesse, and the baby a book. I can't wait for it to arrive. If you want to see a real crock of shit, take a look at this little gem (sad face).

I was bored with the old banner, so I threw up another. It's of a young lady in Jiyugaoka waiting for the train to pass. I remember it being hot as fuck and I was excited to mess around with the exposure on my (then) new camera.

Too busy, so here is what I'm reading.

Unfriendly Fire: How the gay ban undermines the military and weakens America - Dr. Nathaniel Frank

Dr. Frank paints a pretty great picture of the reality of the gay ban in the US military, including a comprehensive history of heterosexist attitudes in the armed services.

Denying Aids - Seth Kalichman

The people Kalichman writes about are a threat to public health.

We're all in this together

I missed Old Crow Medicine Show playing in Australia by a month and a half. BOOOOO. They are pretty great.

uh.... shits cute.

Oh, Brooklyn Brooklyn take me IN

Exciting new song from The Avett Brothers, heard it last night from NPR's live feed of SXSW. GREAT!

Completed MANDT training. I can officially restrain clients now, what was I supposed to do before? I guess take a hit.

59 days til' Australia then L.A., hells yeeah

oh why can't i be?

photo by Crackerfarm

oh why can't i be in austin?? I am listening to the Avett Brothers streaming live from SXSW in Austin. The festival starts this weekend and I am not there, wah womp.

There is always next year. I am making some pretty heavy plans for next year..... hmmmmmmm.

lately i have been listening to: The Black Keys, The Black Lips, Beck, The Elders, Kings of Leon, The National

BIKE RIDE IN THE MORNING

this week in review

I have never been challenged academically like I was this past week. Writing my midterm for Indigenous People was difficult but rewarding. I was able to make direct application of course content to the Inuit, galvanizing the information in my little noggin. The presentation on Melbourne for my business class was a joke. It didn't take me that long to do my portion, and I think we did pretty well. I took my world religions Midterm, I don't think I did very well since I was falling asleep due to the all night-er I pulled (how college of me). An article review for Ethnic Relations over Muslim Americans wearing hijab and its contribution to forming a contemporary blended identity. Art History... blah bla bla blaha blah.

I am ready for two days of relaxation and drinking, then hitting the HW again. Wicka wow.

booted.

Well, Erika kicked nearly everyone out of class today (Sarah didn't). No one had read the article she assigned, something like five days ago. I felt bad because my 'side' of the classroom are the ones that always read and are pretty engaged in discussion. This weekend just wasn't for me. I wasn't sitting around, I was genuinely doing homework- just didn't have to time to read the articles. But tonight is going pretty different so far. I am doing homework now (besides writing this). Good for me.

Sorry Erika!

pour mars

Well, March is here. It came in cold as fuck, hopefully I'll be in shorts and flip-flops by April.

New banner up today. This one, unfortunately, I did touch up- I couldn't resist. I don't like to manipulate pictures to much, but I decided to have some fun this time. You can find the original here.

This is the Mombasa skyline seen from the roof of my hotel, where Hallie and I stayed in our mold infested room. We woke up and our heads felt like balloons. Buuuut, damn did Mombasa have some good Chicken Tikka.

NIGELS,

for some good food and tea. Really I shouldn't go out tonight, I don't have my critique done for Research Design. Technically, just making it through the week I think I maybe deserve a reward.

We'll see.

Last night I finished America Anonymous, but now I cannot decide what to move onto next. I am wanting something light since I have a shit ton of reading for school. Hmmmmm.

Also... I think I might start posting some of the academic articles I have been reading lately. Instead of the random scattering of literature I have been accessing, I am coming to a sharper point in what I am interested in researching: Gender, Orientation, Ascribed Roles, etc.

CRITICAL POINT

Everything is coming to a head, right... now. 1K to the school tomorrow, then rent and utilities, then a passport that I should have applied for last month. fuck fuck fuck. Two papers and a presentation for tomorrow.

Either I need to get all sorts of fucked up Friday, or do the right thing and take care of all of this shit.

No Worries (I wish)

I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE

My days of procrastinating are over. This semester has been one of major change. I only drink once a week, I keep all of my work appointments, and I get my homework in on time. But there is a problem with that last one.

I am getting my homework in on time, but not at the quality I am wanting. I continue to wait until the night before to write a paper or get some reading done. That is no way to produce quality work, and I know that.

Here it is on paper (or screen?), I am renouncing my half-ass, night before, last minute bullshit. Papers are going to be at least two night projects so I can start producing work that I am satisfied with.

FUCK, I should have done this earlier.

I forgot...

how amazing this New Years was until Hal Sista posted the pics.

Currently Reading: Investigating the Social World by Russel K. Schutt (for RD&A, shit)

Currently Listening: Client at the house singing some song he made up.

A day in the life of Abbey Road

Fuck the Census

Appalachian Trail. Summer 2007

You think the government would develop a more user friendly interface for their 2000 Census data. Nope, too busy sending people into space.

Dragging on, dragging on. I almost finished my taxes today, but alas. My mother called just to let me know that she lost the W-2 Ottawa Uni. sent to the house. Fuck. So I owe the school 1K by Feb. 28th. I was counting on that cash, I guess it's back to turning tricks.

However........ I am all caught up on homework, and paperwork at the clinic. Maybe I can breathe for a few seconds.

Hey, I am needing some new music too. Anybody, throw me a bone.

Peace and No Worries

Addendum

For Tonia, Suzette, Kelly, Toni, Sarah, Taylor, and the rest of the social scientists (click).

30 MILES, not inches

Rumney, NH. 2007

Well I smoked last night, slept in this morning, then didn't go to any of my classes. To be fair my morning class was canceled, then I skipped my two afternoon classes. Of course the standard guilt crept in, but I made myself look from a different perspective.

I haven't missed a class yet, I do ALL of the assigned reading, and turn in all my work on time. If I keep this up, I am going to burn out... big time. So taking a mental health day once every two weeks isn't that big a deal, right? I tend to make things sound better than really are.

In other news Cassie is going to be in NY for a few days in September, every article of wearable clothing I own is dirty (including what I have on), I still don't know where I will live this summer, and I feel like I am losing control at work.

fuck

Currently Reading (still): The Anthropology of Religion Fiona Bowie
Currently Listening: Son The National

JR Yamanote Line

I got really fucked up last night, started wrestling with the roomie. There is a pretty big, Colt sized, whole in our wall now.

I was kind of in a bad mood starting around noon, so I went for a drive into the outlying areas of Ottawa, KS. Made it to some pretty awesome winding roads with bridges, creeks, and rocky bluff outcroppings. I brought the 35mm with me, but... NO FILM! Crap.

There was some great conversation going on last night at Rickner's about the oh-so debated gay marriage thing. The conversation ended with some salt, a shot, and a squeeze from a bottle of lemon juice (I guess we couldn't afford the real thing). I got to see Rusty and apparently tried to tackle Ryan, missed, and hit the door frame. Ouch.

WORK

So I got an email from the executive integration director today asking me "How exactly do you spend your time at the Elizabeth Layton Center?" What!? She then asked who my supervisors were. The clinic is having troubles and is making lots of little cuts here and there.

When I read the email I had a flash from Office Space where the efficiency expert comes in and weeds out people they don't need. "yeaaaah......."

Fuck this shit and fuck this day

It's so ridiculous, I had to post again.

Well.......... It all started when my World Religions class took a turn for the worst. Instead of our normal intelligent class discussions, we had three people present their own personal "Adventures in Faith." Listening to a sermon (because that is what it was) from an old wrinkly preacher is some janky shit. The doctor and social worker had some interesting insight into "compassion fatigue" since I see that at the clinic.

Then, the battery in my truck was dead so borrowed Ryan's car to go buy another. I purchased the battery ($77), then stood in the parking lot looking in the car window at the keys on the seat, desperately pulling on the door handle. Shit was locked. Called Keyman ($40), didn't have any cash so had to go into WalMart to pull money out of the ATM. No ATM. I HAD TO BUY A FUCKING PACK OF GUM, JUST TO GET CASH BACK.

Oh, and I keep getting these agency wide emails from work. Blah blah we are losing grants blah blah blah the economy is horrible, then WAM! So and So is no longer with the agency, this is not the beginning of a layoff (right).

Fuck that shit.

fated to pretend

Had an awesome night last night hot-tubbing (thanks Hahns and Nicki). I feel like things are going as they should now. The start of the semester was hard with the passing of my vehicle (RIP).

I didn't have any kind of attachment to the vehicle itself, only that it is extremely difficult to work without one. Borrowing cars to do med runs? No thanks.

In other news... THIS, and I am going to WEHO for a week after Oz to visit Kyler. Good bye Kansas, hello Barrier Reef and Santa Monica.

Currently Reading: The Anthropology of Religion Fiona Bowie

Listening to: Time to Pretend MGMT

not my image

new banner

Its a new month, and a new banner. I took this photo of some travel mate's shoes at the Lord Shiva Temple in Machakos, Kenya (2008). We had to take our shoes off to enter the inner sanctuary. People I was with were reacting very differently. Some were crying, some were taking pictures, others wanted to get the hell out of there.

I was excited to see the temple, but was unmoved. I am coming to discover that when I am traveling and happen upon a religiously significant site, I look at the monument with an anthropologists eye. I don't look back on it as terribly affecting, but educational and historical. A lot of that must have something to do with my serious beef with religion (not just Christianity).

Peace and No Worries.

"For groups, as well as for individuals, life itself means to separate and to be reunited, to change form and condition, to die and be reborn. It is to act and to cease, to wait and to rest, and then to begin acting again, but in a different way. And there are always new thresholds to cross: the thresholds of summer and winter, of a season or a year, of a month or a night; the thresholds of birth, adolescence, maturity, and old age; the thresholds of death and that of the afterlife - for those who believe in it.... Our interest lies not in the particular rites but in their essential significance and their relative positions within ceremonial wholes - that is, their order... The underlying arrangement is always the same. Beneath a multiplicity of forms, either consciously expressed or merely implied, a typical pattern always recurs; the pattern of the rites of passage."

Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage 1909

The urge (to vacate) was particularly intense tonight.

Tokyo, Jiyugaoka, 2008.

I don't know what it was about the day, the weather, the people, or me- but today was a particularly sour day in Ottawa. I am feeling stagnant and used up in this town. When I drive down the same street, grind through the same hourlies every week, and interact with the same people, I hate this place

I need to see different kinds of trees, a face I have never seen before - fuck, I would settle for a god-damn ethnic restaurant.

I live for that feeling when I am traveling- I am not thinking about the next step in my life, how I am going to pay for my next meal; or anything forward.

Those precious moments when I am traveling and I feel like I am home, are the only moments in my life, that I can speak of with any confidence, where I am content with my existence in the now.

"They, in fact, continued their hockey game."

Wow, are you serious?

Metro Station. Tokyo, Japan. Taken 2008.

"It's very hard to have a dream in Japan." Machiko Fujiwara

Frustrated

Collage of destroyed homes, N.O.L.A. Photos taken Dec. 2006

I'm all ears.

What can you tell me about Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic? I can't afford the book.

"What was he doing?"

Men's Health published Eat This, Not That this week. In it they list the 20 worst foods available in the U.S. for 2009. Take a look at Chili's Smokehouse Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing. Wow, there is grease dripping from the title (not to mention 4,900 mg of sodium).

In other news, I decided not to go to Australia... then changed my mind (still not sure). Me and Ryan roughed out a life plan last night up to age 25, lets just say there is a lot of wiggle room. My future will include what you see up top (not my photo).

I included a playlist of mine at the bottom of the screen. I was reluctant to do this since I am not going for the MySpace or Facebook feel with this blog. Buuut... I am a little maven who wants to tell everybody what he is listening to.

58 godamn hours a week

I got Benoit Denizet-Lewis' book America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of Life in the mail today. When will I get to read it? Probably not until the summer, fucking shit.

I am very happy for Cassie.
I said goodbye to Ashley. I have probably only seen her 3 or 4 times in the last year, but in these last two dinners I feel like I made a greater connection than ever.










4 Months after the storm near the French Quarter.

"...gathering clouds..."

As a preface to the inauguration, OU hosted Deric Gilliard to present his lecture "THEY Paved the Way for Barack Obama to Become President." In his lecture he quoted Sir Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men [sic] to do nothing."

In the picture, I remember feeling free. Away from people, but having that strong sense of belonging to something larger than myself. I felt the same way today. Thanks...

lets not try to figure out everything at once

Just bought this album on iTunes after seeing it on NPR's top 10 albums of the year. Also on the list were The Avett Brothers, one of my all time bands. (Saw them at Liberty with Joel, shit yeah)

I was looking through my pictures and bumped into this little gem. I saw this sunset two summers ago from the deck of my cabin in Naples, Maine. It had just rained and the intense August heat immediately turned the grounds into a steam bath.
I hope I never forget those fucking people in the Carter Notch.

Boring day. Working a shift at Pinet isn't going to liven things up either. OH Ottawa.

If they had AA for buying books on Amazon,

I would need it.

Non-Rain

I made it to a screening of this on campus today. In the film three men embark on an interfaith journey across the globe asking religious leaders and lay people alike some pretty epic questions.
Most interestingly "The meaning of life is..."

• "Too tough."
• "Absurd question!"
• "Cheers!"
• "We are a massive huge puzzle."
• "Follow your bliss."
• "Do whatever you want."
• "Understand your piece."

...and my personal favorite "The meaning of life, is to live."

OHhhhhhh say can you see...

Check this out.

can we start this over?

The break is finished and I actually did about the amount of reading I was wanting to. I got through my Australian travel book, Before Night Falls - Reinaldo Arenas, Conscious of a Conservative (Yak), Innocents Lost, just to name a few. Aaaand, it's a new semester of real classes that I am genuinely excited for. I've got Ethnic Relations, Indigenous People, World Religions, maybe I will learn something. I took the photo for my banner at the harbor in Yokohama. This couple had just gotten off a harbor tour and stopped to talk. The name of my blog is "Im not rich but lord I'm free" from a George Strait song. Sounds hokey, but I think it resonates my world view pretty clearly. I have a good feeling about the blog this time around.