B-E-A-utiful!

We now have CNN. Yay. I can actually watch the election results in real time on a television unlike the debates I had to watch after the fact on poor quality internet streaming on an intermediate at best wireless network. Also, I just wanted to take the time to make sure all of you knew about the following development…



Apple has released their new lines of iPods… iPod Photo, and the new Special Edition U2 ipod. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. They are also releasing something called “The Complete U2” It’s a digital box set that includes every album U2 ever released, plus never before released track. In all, over 400 songs. It comes out the same day as their new album “How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb” on November 23, 2004. If you are a U2 fan, I totally suggest you download “Vertigo” from the iTunes music store. It gives a great preview into the new album which they have been claiming as a “guitar based” album that the Edge had the creative direction of. After listening to Vertigo every day a few times a day for the past two weeks, I believe it, and I will be in line to buy the album when it comes out.

Also, the first Apple store opens in London, November 20th. I will be in that line too if I get the chance!

www.apple.com for more details.

Where's the Love?

I am currently reading a book Stephen Ambrose book called “Wild Blue” that follows the flight crew of the “Dakota Queen” (a B-24) through their campaign in WWII. At this point in the story, the Americans are moving into Southern Italy and setting up their airbases there. When we moved in the Italians were immensely grateful to have the American air boys there, for the food that the Americans gave them, the wages the Americans paid them (small by American standards, even out of the Depression), and even flat out overlooked the problems the Americans brought with them. What a different world we live in today. Now aide from the US is not considered as something to be grateful for, but people look on it with expectation, and at the same time, scorn. We are no longer seen as the guardian of Democracy providing hope and life for those who have no reason to believe they are even going to live through the week. The humanitarian support flowing out of America is larger now than it has ever been in history, we are liberating people of some of the most oppressive governments this world has ever seen, but only after all reasonable attempts at diplomacy have been exhausted. For all this we receive a reputation as a bully, a modern conqueror attempting the establishment of an Empire. How can we change this? We can’t remove aid because then we would be seen as even larger bully. Though, the idea of a parent taking a cookie from a child who doesn’t say thank you would be very novel here. We can’t just pack up and leave the Middle East, or Europe, or Asia, or Africa for that matter, as that would leave the entire global community in uproar and chaos. We cannot afford a policy of isolationism; the world doesn’t work that way anymore. Yet, at the same token, as an expat American, and a patriotic one at that, I catch a lot of flak for the way people look at us. I have been barraged by the British for our actions in the Middle East when it was the British that started this whole mess in the first place by creating nations out of an Empire after WWII with no respect whatsoever to the inhabitants. I have been greeted by a Greek soldier who was calling the US a “stupid” imperialist nation for trying to “conquer” Iraq.

The last time anyone ever heard of the Greek army it was because they were attempting to take over a small, uninhabited Aegean Island from Turkey in 1996. (cnn.com) Now their largest task is guarding the Olympic village from terrorist attacks, after the games are already over, and this guy is sitting here telling me that Americans are greedy, stupid, and crazy!? I don’t know what the solution is. I don’t know what we can do to restore our image internationally and have people recognize us for who and what we are, and not what their local media is presenting as the popular image. What sickens me even more is the idea that my fellow Americans now holding this image. When I’m defending our president, our country, and her actions from the most recent belligerent Brit and someone from our group is taking their side in attacking his own country for her helping people in distress, and preempting nuclear war it frustrates me to no end. Rant, done.

Prop. 4136

By being away in Greece for a week, I have been out of contact with much of the various news agencies of the world. When I got back last night/this morning and sat down to look at what I had missed, I was confronted with a deluge of pending election lawsuits. It seems that, in anticipation of another close election, everyone (not just the people running or their parties, but private individuals as well) is groping for a slip-up he or she can sue over. Moreover, Colorado has gone so far as to introduce a proposal that would split the state’s electoral votes in the event of close results. I hear more and more people calling for an abolition of the electoral college in favor of a popular vote. When I look at a map, that just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Too many people are packed into the little areas that have become a culture pad for liberalism. No, I think if we’re going to change the system, we need to do it based on something that really matters, land. Now, I’m not saying we should return to the time when only land-owning males could vote. Not at all, that wouldn’t be PC. (And you all know how I strive to stay PC) I’m saying that whichever candidate wins over the most land in the good old USofA should be the winner. The easiest way to divide the race down would be to make the counties responsible for declaring a winner in their county. Since the race is already broken down into county districts, it would be much easier to facilitate this type of change then one to a nation wide popular vote, which would have an enormous margin for error. Here’s a link to county-by-county election results from last year, tell me that you don’t agree.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/cbc/map.htm

By the way, major props to whoever can tell me where I got the number 4136

Nike, Victory, and a Bunch of Olives

Dad, in every case I was exhausted when I wrote these, and I am even more exhausted now as I post them. Just let me know about all the grammar and spelling mistakes and I will correct them. Enjoy.

The view from our hotel roof garden.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Traveling with Pepperdine most certainly has its perks. At this very moment, while writing this, I am sitting on the roof of our four star hotel overlooking the sun setting behind the Parthenon. We arrived in Athens early this morning, had a private coach to the Hotel, checked in as soon as we got here, and then got to sleep until 1pm. We then had a three-course lunch at a local restaurant, and had a private bus tour of the city of Athens. During that tour, we stopped off at the archaeological museum and had out own private tour of the museum. As a side note, the woman showing us around on these tours was quite attractive. It seems the women in Greece are one extreme or the other, beautiful, or butch. (though none really compare to Texas women) Since we are staying in a hotel that affords us the opportunity to lock up valuables in a safe, I decided to bring my laptop along. This way, I can upload my pictures to the computer and will not be limited to a 16 meg card. Over the past few moments, the sun has finished setting and I am left looking at the entire Acropolis lit up against a beautifully clear twilight. I tried to take a good picture of it, but there is no way that it can capture the absolute majesty of what I am looking at. I keep trying to imagine what this would have looked like while Paul was here doing his ministry. I can’t wait till we get a chance to go up to the acropolis tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004
This morning we got up and went strait to the acropolis. The majority of the Parthenon was covered with scaffolding, which seems to be par for the course as far as antiquities are concerned in Europe. After we left the Parthenon, we were given the rest of the day off to do whatever we wanted, as long as we saw something from a long list of sites. I was with a large group of people that went to see the Agora. It was quite large and not much of it was left. There were a lot of bases and foundations and no clearly marked path through them. The guards at the archeological grounds were constantly berating our group because we didn’t know where we were allowed to walk and where we were not. For lunch we had some Souvlaki at a café and walked around for a while. In the late afternoon a small group of us, though we were told it wasn’t worth it, took the Metro to the Olympic village. I can understand how less enterprising individuals would have not enjoyed it, because you really couldn’t get closer then a hundred meters to the actual buildings. Myself, Dap, and Elliot had a lot of fun however, the girls and other guys who went with us just found themselves constantly rolling their eyes. We got back late enough to have diner and call it a night.

Thursday, October 21, 2004
Left Athens early (8am) and took almost a four hour bus ride to Delphi. Delphi is probably the place that I enjoyed more than any other. The Temple to Apollo there was completely gone, but the theatre behind it was still in pretty good condition. When the Romans captured Greece, they added a stadium to the site, which is still in very good shape. The view from the site was absolutely incredible, it is built up in the mountains that completely reminded me of Colorado in the summer. It was cool to be able to look at the theatre and see the exact same rocks composing a cliff directly behind it. All around the site there were bases for statures that the Roman Emperors had stolen, I can only imagine what it would have looked like when the marble on the temple was gleaming white and all the gold was polished, and still there. From Delphi we got back on the bus and took another three hour ride to Olympia. In Olympia we were informed that there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the town. Our tour guide called up a club that she knew of and asked them if they would open early for us. They agreed. Of course, it wasn’t a “school-sponsored” event.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Today, we went to the site of the ancient Olympics were held. I raced the length of the stadium, which is still there, barefoot as the ancient Greeks would have. I was encouraged, however, that it would be a bad idea to do it naked, as they also would have. Next, we visited Corinth, and saw the place that Paul would have been brought to the proconsul of Rome. It was cool to sit on the bench that he would have had to sit on before going to trial. Then back to the bus for the ride back to Athens. Once back I went out for diner and then went to bed fairly early. (1am or so)

Saturday, October 23, 2004

As I write this final entry I am sitting on the airplane bound for London. Today saw a little walking around the markets of the Plaka and the Monestraki and preparations for heading back to London. All in all, it’s been a good trip. I still have trouble believing the face that I just spent a week looking at ancient ruins in Greece, it’s a very awe inspiring experience. I have to tell you though, I am looking forward to getting back to London. Greece is incredible, and I would definitely recommend a visit, but I am a little tired of traveling in a group of 40 people. I’m looking forward to taking a book and walking over to Hyde Park for a couple hours by myself. Well ladies and gentlemen (and Sawyer too,) that’s all I got. Thank you for joining me on our tour through the cities of Athens, Delphi, Olympia, and Corinth. Until next time, cheers!

It's Greek to Me

Most of you who read this regularly will already be aware that I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for Greece. My school does an “educational fieldtrip” once a semester; this semester to Greece, and next to Ireland. Below I am posting an abbreviated version of our planed schedule (The one I have is five pages long). I will also post some information about where we are staying and stuff like that. I think you will immediately see some differences between this trip and the one I just got back from in Italy, no park benches here. It’s good to travel with Pepperdine.

Monday, October 18
6:00pm – Leave for Heathrow Airport after the full day of classes.
(BA 634 from London Heathrow to Athens International departs 10.30pm)

Tuesday, October 19
4:00am – Arrive in Athens, go to the hotel, check in and have breakfast. Rest time after breakfast.
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – Afternoon Athens Panoramic city tour by coach. [Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Parliament House, Presidential Palace, Panathenian Stadium, Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Academy, the University, and the National Library.] Then we visit the National Archaeological Museum.
9:00pm – Walk to the Plaka for traditional Greek diner with folk dances, music, and floor show.
11:30pm – Return to the Hotel. [free time]

Wednesday, October 20
Breakfast when you wake up.
10:00am – Walk up to Acropolis. Visit Parthenon, Erechtheion, Mars’ Hill (Areopagus), etc.
1:00pm – Lunch on your own
2:00pm – Self-guided museum visits.
5:00pm – Free time
7:00pm – Diner/Entertainment on your own (verbatim from the school schedule)

Thursday, October 21
Breakfast
8:00am – Depart for Delphi
Visit Sanctuary of Apollo, the Treasure of th Athenians, and the Archaeological Museum.
1:30pm – Lunch in Delphi
2:30pm – Drive to Olympia, check in, spend the night

Friday, October 22
Breakfast at hotel
9:00am – Visit various museums, temples, and other sites around Olympia.
1:30pm – Lunch
2:30pm – Drive to Corinth, visit sites related to Paul’s ministry: The Agora, Temple of Apollo, Roman Odeon, the Bema and Gallio’s Seat. Also, visit the ruins of 5th Centurary Basilica in Cenchreae. Return to Athens
7:00pm – Arrive back in Athens and visit museums till close.
Diner/Entertainment on your own.

Saturday, October 23
2:30pm – Lunch at hotel
4:30pm – Leave for airport
7:00pm – Depart on BA 633
9:00pm – Arrive in London

Athens Hotel: Herodion Hotel http://www.herodion.gr/amhsetm.htm
Olympia Hotel: Hotel Europa http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=77504

I apologize for the length of the links, but I couldn’t find a more direct one. If you check them out though, you will see I’m traveling with people who know how to travel. I’ll take lots of pictures, I promise. Love all of you, and I will post another journal type entry when I get back.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

Poland 3, Wales 2; with all the scoring coming in the last 20 min of the game, just in case anyone’s wondering. The first good, solid chunk of Sport I’ve been able to watch since I got here, and I must say, it feels good. In understated honor of my little brother Jaxon, whenever someone asks me which team I root for, I have to say Man U. All that to say, I really didn’t have any stake in the game whatsoever, but it was nice to watch nonetheless. Earlier today, we went to the Saatchi Collection for art class. For those of you who don’t know what that is, and I assume that would be the majority of you as I would not have known before taking this class, it is the premier gallery for contemporary art. If your artwork is picked up by Mr. Saatchi, it means you have reached the highest level of recognition in a world that isn’t kind to modern art. Please do not think that I am criticizing the modern world for it’s lack of interest in its own art, rather after today, I would join the masses in disdain for the trends and lines being taken by today’s premier artists. One artist, Damien Hirst, has reached the pinnacle of his profession by putting a shark in a tank of formaldehyde and calling it “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.” The single most expensive piece of modern art is one that Saatchi commissioned Damien Hirst to create. It is a 20-foot reproduction of an anatomical model of a body that Hirst had a friend of his create out of bronze using one of his son’s educational toys as a model. On top of the bronze is paint commonly called “theme park paint” for its plastic-like finish. The piece is called “Hymn,” and if you’re interested I strongly suggest you look it up online and see what I’m talking about. When asked by our teacher today if this was “art,” I had to say no. My teacher countered with the fact that, especially in modern art, the emphasis should be placed on the idea more than the physical product in front of you which is really only a by-product of the actual art that lies in the concept. To that I countered with the question, “What in this was Hirst’s idea? It was commissioned by Saatchi, designed by some company who makes anatomical models, and carried out by Hirst’s friend who made the physical ‘by-product.’” The answer I got to that really just skirted the question, and didn’t address it in any way shape or form. The entire gallery begged you to consider the question “what is art?” That is a much more difficult question than it appears to be on the surface. I don’t know. I just thought I would throw that question out there for you to discuss. I know that John Deniston will chime in at some point with his cute witticisms, and I welcome them. It’s before 11 and I’m trying to go to bed a little early to get some sleep before I wake up at 2 am to see the final debate. God Bless America!

The Italian Job

I cut out a lot to try to keep these on the shorter side. I apologize for the length, but it was an eventful trip.
Cheers.

October 5, 2004 – Milan

Our trip started off interestingly enough, the professor thought we were leaving an hour after we actually were and was not very happy with us leaving, but he understood. Traveling to Milan was not a problem, well not too much of one. Once we got to the Bergamo Airport we realized that Susan didn’t bring the paper with our hotel information on it. That minor issue was soon solved because the young women at the bus ticket counter not only spoke English (an apparent rarity in Italy), but also let us use her computer to look it all up. The bus got us into Milan at about 1 am and a 30 min walk put us at the hotel. “Us” by the way was myself, Amanda, Susan, Carolyn, Dap, and Elliot. The hotel is where our flexibility was first tested. It turns out that our reservation was canceled through a miscommunication in the hotel staff. So the manager gave us a little free food and we left. But at 1 am in Milan, where do you go? We decided to get the earliest train out in the morning (5am) and found a park bench we could sleep on. Dap and myself stayed awake during the four hour interlude to make sure nothing happened, and nothing did, with the exception of a drunk guy looking for a lighter.

October 6, 2004 – Rome

The train got us in about 11am and we went strait to the hostel. The room that we had for the 6 of us to stay in was very small and included an in-room shower. (Check out my photo site at www.toad.smugmug.com for a better idea. Look for the Italy gallery) After stopping at a small street side café, we walked to the Coliseum. I hate to say it, but I was mildly disappointed. It appears that they have decided to rebuild it, which was sad to me. The structure itself is HUGE, and very impressive, but after some 36 hours of no sleep, I was tired. We all sat down and rambled on for a while before we decided to go back to the hostel, take a nap, then go find food. Diner, sadly, wasn’t all that great. We went to a place suggested by the hostel and it was small portions, and didn’t taste right. Afterwards we roamed around for a while and had a little Gelato, the first of many Gelato stops over the next few days. After a shower in the room, using my bed sheet to dry off, I went to bed, and slept hard.

October 7, 2004 – Rome

Today was much better than yesterday. That whole sleep thing makes the day a whole lot more bearable. Got up at 9, checked out of the Hostel, and jumped on a bus for Vatican City. St. Peter’s Square is absolutely enormous. I felt so small and it was effective in humbling someone before they entered into God’s church. When we went into the Basilica, Dap and I were wearing shorts. After sending the other 4 of our group in without us, we met an American tour group. They had some pull over pants and offered to let us wear them if we joined their free tour. Good deal, so we joined them, but upon realization of the loquaciousness of our guide, we offered him †10 a piece for them and went off on our own. The Cathedral is incredibly massive and utterly beautiful. I simply cannot accurately describe it further, so I will let the pictures (which are not good enough) do the talking. We did meet up with out group and moved on to the Sistine Chapel. You have to wind trough the Vatican Museums to get there, but they were impressive in their own right. The Chapel is incredible in the same way as St. Peter’s and words, well at least my words, cannot do it justice. We went to lunch after that, and that was interesting. The place we went to was a few blocks away from all the touristy things and was quite authentic, for lack of a better term. We all got pizzas, which were fairly large. I got an Italian beer with mine, the Italians do a lot of foods well, beer is not one of them. But when the bill came we overpaid by like †3. In a country that doesn’t ever tip, that is apparently a big deal. Our waitress went inside saying something to “Pappa” and came back with a bottle of some lemon liquor and 6 shot glasses, explaining that it was for us, for free. We all had a shot, or two, or three, and left. After that we went to the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish Steps. All in all, it was a good day. We’re sleeping on a bus headed for Venice.

Octover 7, 2004 – Venice

Busy day today. We got into Venice about 5.30 and it took us three hours to find our hotel. Unsurprisingly, we were told that we couldn’t check in until noon, but that he would hold our bags for us. The first order of business was food. We walked around for a while but none of the girls could make up their minds. I gave up on them and went back to a little bakery we had seen and got a cheap loaf of fresh bread. After breakfast we decided to just sit on a bench in the plaza outside of the hotel and sleep until noon when we could check in. At about 11, we sent Susan in to see if we could check in a little early and were frustrated to hear that in fact we could not check in until 2. So, we walked around Venice for a while and went back to the hotel. There were more frustrations with the staff, but it all got worked out. Where we were staying was actually someone’s apartment that they were renting out, it was really nice. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a full kitchen. Just walking around is one of the coolest things to do in Venice, it was a good day.

October 8, 2004 Venice, Milan

Today we went to San Marco’s. That is a palace/cathedral in Venice, and the home of the opening scene in the Italian Job. The Square in front of the cathedral had more pigeons then I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. There are people out there selling bags of feed for them and you can see more then one small child getting carried away by the dirty birds. I ran into Jennifer Hollingsworth while we were there. It was so good to see her. Once we left there, Dap and I ate lunch while the others took a Gondola ride. Then we took a train back to Milan. Once we got there, pretty much everything had closed except for a few restaurants. So we had diner and went back to our hotel. At the hotel, I met three girls who were staying there, doing a 10 day tour of Italy, on break from their American University, which has a program in London, a few blocks from our house. We were in basically the same position. I slept on the floor, and we had to get up at 5 am to catch our bus to the airport and get on our plane back to London.

Italy

Wow, awesome trip. I got back today and am too tired to tell you what all happened, but I did keep a journal while I was gone and I will type it all up for ya'll sometime soon. Keep an eye out. Caio

Gone Fishin

Ladies and Gentlemen:
For those of you who like to try to keep up with the revelry that I have been partaking in, I leave you a note, as I will not be posting the next few days. I am leaving for a long weekend in Italy. We will fly into Milan, spend a day in Venice, a few days in Rome, half a day in Pisa, then another afternoon in Milan before we fly back Sunday morning. Please pray for us specifically in regards to transportation. Many of the groups traveling last weekend ran into transportation issues on the carriers we are planning on taking. Thanks!

Contexts and Constructs

We have been asked to address points of vocational reflection in our journal. That is not meant to be a conscious musing on the subject of a potential future career so much as a general push to bring to the surface things one might begin to understand better about themselves or even epiphanies that one might typically downplay to lower realms of thought. For myself, I have been trying to be increasingly aware of the different contexts and constructs within which I try to define myself. These contexts vary greatly, from situational contexts such as Texas, California, and London, to personally definitive constructs such as actor, Christian, brother, and student. I have always taken pride in my ability to transfer myself from one set of contexts and constructs to another with relative ease. I have always been a person who would move from the classroom to the theatre, and then from the theatre to church; or from Starbucks’ ritzy, smug atmosphere to El Chico’s (let’s just say neither ritzy nor smug) atmosphere; not to mention from Texas to So Cal, and then London. I’ve always considered myself to feel at home and among friends, be it a group of athletes, bands, geeks, youth interns, actors, or even the occasional surfers. With the opportunity to come to London for the year, I have been exposed to many constructs that I had never considered before. More over, I have been put into very convoluted mixtures of contexts, being a So Cal student, from Texas, studying in London, on the “posh” side of town no less, surrounded by the rich and super rich, trying to “fit in” while not compromising my individuality is a very interesting place to be. To take it further, I’m a republican in a republican/American-hating-malinformed-superliberal-misunderstanding union of countries. I can take it even further then that, but I’ll spare you the headache. In the past couple of days I have been dwelling specifically on the idea of myself as an artist, which is not something that I traditionally would have characterized myself as. However, through my classes here I have been spending an ever-increasing amount of time in museums and admiring the hoards of monuments around this city. This has brought to the surface, in no uncertain terms, how much I freaking love this stuff! So, where do I fit in with this? I know that I love to explore these masterpieces and that some of them strike me very strongly, but at the same time I also know that I have no desire what so ever to be a painter, or even a “pure artist” for that matter. My art comes so often in the form of pictures, or images that I can manipulate to create a feeling, or a succession of events played out before the eyes to leave an impression you don’t really understand. For what is art worth if it doesn’t convey something greater then the image presented? How do I mix my love, and growing appreciation for the arts with this idea of vocation? There are a number of things that I also know about myself; I know I like working with good, creative people, I like working with technology, I like working with audio and video, I like changing environments, I like money. To be completely candid, I have a strong desire to make a fair amount of money when I grow up… I want my wife to have the decision of whether or not she wants to work, I want my kids to go to whatever school they want to (like I did), I want to be able to by my mom her firebird. So all I really need to do is find a technologically based, artistically inclined, creatively derived, group oriented, profitable AV position somewhere. Perfect. Haha. I really love you if you actually read this far!

Arrogant and Ignorant

In keeping with the tradition of the blog, I would like to address something that I’ve been remiss not to include before now. That, of course, would be the world of the politic. Before I get to that though, I had the best breakfast this morning. I made myself some bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. I’m putting a picture of it on my photo site at www.toad.smugmug.com under the Pepperdine Underground gallery if any one’s really interested. Okay, on to the point for this post… politics. In the past few days, especially in response to the presidential debates, there have been many political discussions around 56 Prince’s Gate here in London. In these discussions I find myself getting increasingly frustrated. What’s more, it’s not arrogant, ignorant democrats that are frustrating me. They can be made look like idiots and in that course encourage more undecideds to the righteous right. No, those who have been chapping me are arrogant, ignorant republicans! How infuriating is it to be standing there having a calm, informed discussion with someone who doesn’t know what he/she is going to do in November yet when another republican walks up and starts repeating rhetoric and propaganda that he doesn’t even understand. All I hear when this happens are the catch phrases that even the uber-liberal media have adopted such as “war on terror” and “flip-flops.” I understand that these points are valid, but they MUST be expressed in a way that makes sense to someone who doesn’t agree, and not just an angry repetition of what’s been fed to you. This has happened in a number of instances with a couple of the same people recently and I’ve had to spend so much more time doing damage control after I got them to leave. The conservative position is not the popular or cool position to hold these days, we can’t afford idiots who make it look even worse.

This is increasingly important as more people turn to the media to get their information for the upcoming election. If you believe what Newsweek is telling you then, you don’t even have to vote, Kerry’s gonna win, and Bush looked like an idiot at the debate. Even democrats who watched the debate with me said that they thought Bush came off a little better. But if you take what the media’s feeding you… we’re all screwed. For heavens sake people. THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! Pay attention to what’s going on, and don’t just follow with the fate of our great nation on the line.This is increasingly important as more people turn to the media to get their information for the upcoming election. If you believe what Newsweek is telling you then, you don’t even have to vote, Kerry’s gonna win, and Bush looked like an idiot at the debate. Even democrats who watched the debate with me said that they thought Bush came off a little better. But if you take what the media’s feeding you… we’re all screwed. For heavens sake people. THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! Pay attention to what’s going on, and don’t just follow with the fate of our great nation on the line.

Ground Beef and Eggs

Today’s been fairly uneventful. I finished my laundry, cleaned my room, added some pictures to my website, and did a lot of reading. Then when I went downstairs earlier someone was making an egg sandwich and the idea of eggs just sounded so good. So I decided to go to the little local grocery store and to my dismay they didn’t sell eggs! I had to walk about 45 min in the other direction to get to the main store to get them. By the time I got there I was so hungry I got some ground beef, eggs, bacon, bread, cheese, nacho cheese tortilla chips and some orange drink and some vanilla, chocolate chip ice cream. I got back and made myself the most beef intensive nachos I’ve ever seen, had a little bit of scrambled eggs to go on the side of that, and then ice cream for desert. I haven’t been full since I’ve been in London, and now I am. Not to mention the fact that I impressed some girls by being able to cook my own ground beef and eggs. It was a good meal, now we’re going to some club/bar, Good day.

Now Playing: I Shoulda Been a Cowboy – Toby Keith

Let's get it started (in here)

Here we go!
The ever so beautiful Verla LeBaron sent me a link to her Blog, and it got me thinking. I have to keep something of a regular journal here for one of my classes anyway so I thought, why not publish it to the web? I've also always admired the artfull way that John Deniston keeps us informed with his blog and liked his layout. So, here you go. I don’t expect many, if any, to read it, but it’s there for you anyway. Much love to you all.

For starters, I'll go ahead and post my entry from last night:

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day, and yet it saw a few interesting developments. First of all, I broke down and bought a stereo. I’ve been missing listening to music with decent quality. It might turn out to be the best L40 I spend while I’m here. Yesterday night was really what was so interesting though. A group of our girls came into South Side (the local pub for Imperial College) and told us that they were going out clubbing. I’ve been to a few parties, and enjoy the company of people who make a habit of going clubbing, but I had never really been. So I decided to go. When the group finally assembled, there were six girl to two guys. At first I didn’t even think about it, but when we got to “Yates” I realized that this difference in numbers was going to make it difficult to keep all the guys at the club off of our girls. I keep referring to the Pepperdine girls as “our” girls. That’s because in certain environments I get extremely protective, last night was one of them. Between myself and the other guy who was with us though, I think we did a pretty decent job of keeping the losers at the club off of our girls and we all had a lot of fun.