oh, happy day.

ok, so when i booked my flight from germany to london, stansted, they informed me that there is a strike scheduled for that day, consequently only carry-on luggage will be allowed. ugh. so this morning ridley and i had a very interesting time sitting on, jumping on, and kicking my sleeping bag, while trying to bind it with a webbing strap. our goal was to get everything i've lived on for the last month to fit IN my one backpack (which hopefully is small enough to count as carry-on). we finally achieved our goal (after much grunting and giggling...the poor neighbors will probably be gossiping for months) and came to town to do internet. AT WHICH TIME WE LEARNED THAT THE BLOODY STRIKE HAS BEEN CANCELED!!!

why do i love something inanimate? (not like that.)

man, it was hard to leave prague. like, really hard. i walked around for two hours (this is after a half-hour adventure in which i frantically searched for bohemian bagels to use their internet and their toilet--one of these issues was far more urgent than the other)...anyways...um, where was i? ah yes, two hours of wishing i didn't have to go, thinking briefly, "i don't technically have to go", (for those of you who are a step behind: "go" is once again referring to leaving prague), then buying my ticket to the bus station. once at the bus station i had to wait a half hour for the next bus. this time was spent alternatingly resisting the urges to get back on the subway and stay another night in town, and to go into the bar for a drink (not what i need to be spending my cash on...must get to london, must get to london, must!). it's kinda hard to not spend money on something you want, in order to save it for something you don't want (ie. have a drink vs. go back to the states). sorry, i shouldn't be using the second person here. i resisted well and am now back in liberec for the night before heading to germany tomorrow for my monday flight to london. i get to see berlin one more time!!!!

"...where bones become art!"

ok. now everyone: open another window, go to google, and look up "kutna hora". it's SO creepy!!! i was there today, and DAMN!!!

also, interestingly enough, there are some better pics if you misspell it "kunta hora".

accusations

ridley takes great care to attribute my every action to one of two things. hippy-dippy-ness and/or whoopy-doopy-ness.

i qualify, in her eyes, as "hippy-dippy" because i like walden, the greatful dead, pink floyd, tye-dye, travelling disorderedly, banjos, meatless spaghetti, VWs, cycles of the moon, avoiding medication, and recycled toilet paper (which, BTW, is very different from reused).

whoopy-doopy is, apparently, something that describes things that i like, rather than me personally. the type of Mass i like is "whoopy-doopy". hey, i warned them beforehand that spanish masses have a 90% higher "whoopy-doopy rate" than normal masses. but they still came with me, and still complained afterwards that the children processing around the church with tambourines and the girl playing the guitar were "too whoopy-doopy". what can ya do?

thoughts from the road (aren't they all?)

slovakia. bratislava castle was way cool. it was the only one so far that doesn't have an admission fee, and consequently was the first one i actually entered. it was an extremely foggy day, though, so the view was not great. i walked along the Danube, crunchy thru yellow leaves, and thinking that my life is pretty darn sweet right about now. i slept off the garlic soup in one the most-appreciated beds ever, at the hostel with the HUGEST bob marley posters in the history of the world. they also have in-house pets: a cat and a dog.

i then headed budapest-wards. i was hungry for hungary. heh. heh heh. sorry.

budapest also was gorgeous, of course, but had a bit more eastern (or southern?) europe feel than any city i'd been to. the people are rather more aggressive (especially the drivers) and excitable, as opposed to the prim and proper englishmen or the intellectual and collected germans. i wandered thru the town with a new friend--from scotland--enjoying the company after 3 weeks of wandering cities in solitude.

i had planned to see krakow or vienna next, but realized the reality (i guess) that i had enough money to get to either of those places, but not away from them. so i'm checking out sights along the road back to prague, with a friend i made on the train. a friend who is supposed to be a on flight to moscow, but jumped off the train at the last minute to keep me company. good times. randomness is a virtue.

5 days. that is alot in a way, but not enough in another. i got an email from my dad, saying they have 50 days left in central america. their 50 days seems like so much less than my 5 days. odd.

hells yes.

so i wake up one morning and say to myself, "you know what? i think i'm going to go to budapest." and i do. did. whatev-ah.

earth: please swallow me up. now.

ok, i am now going to share the two most embarrassing things i have done this week...or possibly ever.

first, while walking with kim (from liberec) down to catch the bus to prague, i COMPLETELY wiped out. as in head-over-heels, on the ground. and it was the one day that i wore a skirt, consequently too much skin was bared and even more was left on the sidewalk. yay.

secondly, on the bus back from prague ridley and i made a great new friend! he is czech, but is fluent in english and spanish, and is learning german. a very cool guy. we went out for a beer together, then left him to have another by himself while waiting for his train and R and i headed home to go to bed. we were tired. too tired, apparently, since we didn't realize until way too late that we had taken off without paying for our beer. the poor guy probably thought we were the biggest jerks ever, leaving him to pick up our tab. luckily beers are only like 50 american cents, but still. ugh. is that not like the biggest social faux paux EVER??!!

a two-word description of slovakia:

GARLIC SOUP.

upon eating two spoonfuls of the stuff, i realized that i had just consumed more garlic than in the rest of my life combined. i want to purge my mouth with bleach, then roll over and die. i am seriously doubting whether i will ever be the same.

bratislava seems cool so far. i met two sweet people: one told me which bus to take, then gave me her own ticket! the other took me right to the hostel, talked about philosophy with me for an hour, then told me that i should just stay at her place. unfortunately we either had some kind of miscommunication (or she just stood me up) b/c she wasn't where we were supposed to meet tonite. oh well, i shouldn't stay with strangers anyway.

whew

i am never going to finish my germany story, so let§s just say i did 6 cities in 5 days. it was moderately insane, but that is the usual description of my life. nürnberg, salzburg, munich, hamburg, berlin, dresden, zittau, then back for a brief rest at ridley§s in liberec. this weekend we headed to karlovy vary and sokolov to chill with jedno again. it was a very giggly girly weekend, but hey! we all need those, right? now i'm back in prague for the night before i possibly start out on an even-further-eastern europe adventure. its cheaper the further east you go, and everything has been very safe so far, so HERE GOES!!!

hamburg, in 5 hours or less

ok. i think i can now finish my story uninterruptedlike. so. thinking that sleeping on the night train was a smart, cheap, and restful way to go, i booked an overnight ride to hamburg. i put on my little italian slippers that i got for 75 cents, covered up with my large scarf (that i got in the czech republic to tie around my...uh...bum area to cover up the large holes that appeared in the right cheek of my favorite pants while i was walking in the middle of london but that's another story), secured my bag, and settled in for a good night's sleep. ha. haha. to begin with, i sat near the front of the car: read, over the wheels, so everytime the brakes were employed i awoke to SSCCCCCCCRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHHHH!!!!!! ya. fun. i took my camera out of my bag and hid it next to me on the seat just in case someone did make off with my bag, but consequently had to wake up enough to move the bloody thing everytime i wanted to turn in my seat. now, my seat...i'll spare you.

needless to say, i was not in the mood to begin touring Hamburg when i got there at 7:30am. all tour books recommend getting up early and touring the city before the huge tour busses of old and/or asian people (no, i'm not biased against them) empty themselves relentlessly upon the town. it sounds ideal: the lovely town, all to yourself, the crisp morning air, the smell of bread baking wafts from the shops...and so on and so forth. reality check: it is like 2 degrees at 8am in oh-so-northern germany in mid-october. i couldn't find a bakery for anything. or a bathroom, for that matter. AND when you do find one (a bathroom, that is) they charge you like a dollar!

i finally discovered a coffee shop, and sat there writing postcards 'til it warmed up. it was there that i met my friend Aaron, who showed me around the town. i've been trying to spot americans. it's actually harder than you would think...we are all playing the "i can look like a european too" game, plus alot of the backpackers i run into are actually germans. the best way to tell is to figure out what brand of clothing they are wearing. that usually gives it away. germans and british use backpacks like CampMor and such, while americans go with REI or EMS. anyways. i had this guy pegged as a german. but i sneezed and he said "bless you". i responded, "thank you". then we both realized what happened and he said, "an american!?" we started chatting and ended up seeing most of the sights together. i headed out after lunch to go back to berlin. i love berlin. i wanna marry berlin. fact of the month: jedno was there! she helped tear down the berlin wall!!! that is too amazingly cool!

ok, once again i do not have time to finish my story. l8r.

a joke, from my 14 year old sister:


John Kerry meets with the Queen of England. He asks her, "Your Majesty, how do you run such an efficient government? Are there any tips you can give to me?"

"Well," says the Queen, "the most important thing is to surround yourself with intelligent people."

Kerry frowns. "But how do I know the people around me are really intelligent?"

The Queen takes a sip of tea. "Oh, that's easy. You just ask them to answer an intelligent riddle." The Queen pushes a button on her intercom. "Please send Tony Blair in here, would you?"

Tony Blair walks into the room. "Yes, my Queen?" The Queen smiles. Answer me this please, Tony. Your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?"

Without pausing for a moment, Tony Blair answers, "That would be me." "Yes! Very good," says the Queen.

Kerry goes back home to ask John Edwards, his vice presidential choice the same question.

"John. Answer this for me. Your mother and your father have a child. It's not your brother and it's not your sister. Who is it?" "I'm not sure," says John Edwards. "Let me get back to you on that one."

Edwards goes to his advisors and asks every one, but none can give him an answer. Finally, he ends up in the men's room and recognizes Colin Powell's shoes in the next stall. Edwards shouts, "Colin! can you answer this for me?

Your mother and father have a child and it's not your brother or your sister. Who is it?" Colin Powell yells back, "That's easy. It's me!"

Edwards smiles, and says, "Thanks!" Then, Edwards goes back to speak with Kerry. "Say, I did some research and I have the answer to that riddle. It's Colin Powell."

Kerry gets up, stomps over to John Edwards, and angrily yells into his face, "No, you idiot! It's Tony Blair!"

deutschland

i am "tearing up Germany", in the words of an american guy i met yesterday in Hamburg. after making a 5-hour self-guided walking tour of munich (2 hours of which was completely not in the pretty part of town...oops), i jumped on a night train for hamburg.

the hills are alive...blah, blah

my german rail pass covers austria too! so after being rather let down by touristy nurnberg (germany) i headed south to munich. in the midst of foreign-language confusion i missed two trains to salzburg, but finally caught the third and here i am! i guess the sound of music was filmed here...there´s a huge castle overlooking the town, and all the churchs and buildings are amazing. i sat above town (just below the castle) and ate a baguette and cheese as all the bells in town rang 12 times. crazy. after the bells stopped echoing i could hear the violinist´s music floating up from the town square. i seriously feel like im in a fairy tale all the time! now im heading back to munich to see more than the train station, then i have to find a long night train ride (free place to sleep). then back to prague (i cant stay away). i guess today must be parentheses day (or something).

glorious.

i like the czech republic. i really do. you can get the hugest, most filling platter of meat/dumpling/gravy/sludge for like $3. now that´s glorious. looking at it "glorious" was not the first word that came into my mind, but after tasting it, then filling my oh-so-empty belly with it...glorious.

prague. glorious, in a different way. the ancient buildings are covered in centuries of soot, but that just makes them all the more grandly impressive. when i go to a new city i dont go straight for the famous stuff. in fact it doesnt usuallz even cross mz mind to look at a map. i start wandering. i mean, i know where i am and how to get back, but i just take random roads in no particular order. but i found a little store that sells folk czech clothes. i watched an old man fishing. i saw all of prague, maybe all of europe from a lookout point near sts p and p! good times.

ooh, speaking of good times: we found about 30 americans (friends of friends of friends) in prague! at one point we had about 6 guitars, a banjo, two mandolins, a banjo, a clarinet, a crazy wooden drum, and vocals going. it was sweet beyond words. loads of new friends too. i am being forcibly removed from the computer by verbal abuse from ridley and jedno. more later.

*uh!*

i have officially perfected the Deer-In-The-Headlights look. i get lots of practice. for example: i happily pick out two apples at the local grocery store, put them in a little baggie, and take them over to be weighed (thats the way they do it here). the weighing-lady puts the apples on the scale, then looks at me, saying, "Czekkyghw zqwptrj bnvmswqtp?" now, usually i can roll with the punches, you know, i Smile-And-Nod as good as the next one. however, the question mark at the end of that string of consonants is what really scares me everytime. later, at the checkout counter, the cashier is beep...beep...beep, checking out my groceries, then, holding up the bag of rolls..."Qptrnbmtdsyz przytsg?" again, AHH!!! help! why me?! luckily i can usually intuit what the "helpful" person is asking. but still, there´s always a split-second of Doe-In-Front-Of-A-Semi helplessness. welcome to my life.

Ceska Republika!

it's been a bit since i've written anything, so i'd better get around to it. i think you all already read about my adventurous arrival to prague (ridley's blog, wanton and forlon). we were going to sightsee and then have a good ol' time with her buds in the big city, but we were way too pooped. after sitting in a comatose fashion in Bohemian Bagels (or something) for several hours, we decided just to head for home. the bus ride to Liberec (Lee-bear-etz) was a sweet one hour trip past tree-covered hills and old house that still spew wood smoke from ancient chimneys! so classic! once at R.'s den-of-the-very-orange-curtains, i slept for 14 hours straight. the town is a mixture of very old and fairly new architecture. the most prominant building in town is the amazing town hall. i don't know if you can find pics online, but i did take plenty. we went to the zoo the next day, and i, being who i am, took more pics of the animals than i have of the rest of europe combined. but seriously, when am i going to be 6 inches from a zebra again!!?? we met some of R's students on the walk over, and they seem very nice. she still hasn't let on to them that some of them are actually older than she is! but she's a college professor!! crazy. i've spent a couple days just chilling at her apartment to make sure i get over my cold before it turns into the full-fledged plague, but we have plans to look around more. i did find some hidden little neighborhoods on a walk one day, and got some more good pictures (i hope). i've gotten a little taste of czech food, language, culture, etc., but i will write more when i'm not sitting next to a smelly guy.

berlin, briefly

i got to berlin very exhausted and tried like mad to figure out the elusive train system. i finally just got on some random train and took a city circumference tour! the circumference of berlin isn't really that exciting, but it was cool to watch the people who got on and off the train and it also gave me time to pick out a hostel. at my stop i then had to figure out the underground train. ugh. i finally made it to the hostel, but check-in wasn't for another two hours so i rather unelegantly passed out on a chair in the lobby. around 6pm i decided to start sightseeing. i found (on recommendation from a nice australian guy) a little place that serves you HALF a chicken and a ton of fries for only 3 euros! the rest of the kids i met were then going out to party, so i went off on my own and found...A CHUMBWAMBA CONCERT!!! i only knew their one song (i get knocked down, but i get up again, lalala) but it turns out they are totally punk-rock activist people! they won my heart with the song, "Ronald McDonald: Auf Wiedersehen! Shopping: auf wiedersehen! CocaCola: auf wiedersehen! Government: auf wiedersehen! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!" they are a large band: a soprano who also plays the keyboard, an alto who also plays the trumpet, a bass player who also plays the acoustic and sings bass, the lead guitarist who is a tenor, the drum player, and three lead singers! my favorites were the songs where it was just the 4 first members doing a cappella songs in 4 part harmony! they are so good! they really put on a good show: one of the lead singers did a song on his own about a cocktail drink. between verses he actually made the drink, meanwhile doing more bar tricks than any bartender ive ever seen! he ended the song by whipping out a knife, throwing an orange high in the air, catching the orange ON the knife, placing a slice on the edge of the glass, and (just before the last chord) opening a little umbrella to put in the drink. he then gave it to someone in the audience (no, not me). the crowd was going nuts! it was a fairly small place, and i'm quite positive i was the only american there (which was kinda cool). it was a weird mix of punk kids with lots of piercings (i didn't know a person could have that many piercings in the side of his face!), and well dressed people...go figure?! definately a good time.

my observations of berlin subways:
ALLOWED:
-dogs
-bicycles
-beer
-all other types of alcohol
-smoking
-SMOKING! (the other kind)
-PDA
-not paying
-begging
-playing guitar
-playing the oboe

NOT ALLOWED:
-??? (i'll get back to you on this one)

i spent most of the next day trying to figure out how i was going to get OUT of the city, rather than enjoying the city. when i finally got that straightened out i took the train until i saw something cool, then alighted (that sound better than "i got off"). i walked around town for about 6 hours, just seeing cool things, taking tons of pictures, watching kids play at the park, walking thru neighborhoods, looking in the windows of resturants (dreaming of the days when i'm so rich that eating is not an optional activity), trying to figure out what the street signs said, etc. it was great, and i was reminded that, although it would be nice sometimes, if i were to travel with another person i would not be able to do stuff like that. the solitarity and the a-plan-a-minute meandering, and the miles and miles of walking would not be feasible. its been good. it's been really, really good. and although i actually watched Friends at the hostel, i mostly don't really miss the states. it's great here, but i do feel like one of those ugly americans who just relies on everyone else to speak english. but i am going to learn german, i am. that's my goal. i no longer have plans to see every major landmark in europe. i just want to learn some german, see some of eastern europe and more of germany, and get back to london in time for my flight. that's all.

i need a nap.

so, let's see. in the last 24 hours i've walked from piccadilly circus to the parliment buildings to waterloo station to victoria station to piccadillz circus to victoria station to piccadillz circus to victoria station to victoria coach station (which is not indeed the same thing, i discovered in the wee hours of the morning) to victoria station and back to the victoria coach station. i then rode the bus for two hours, slept on the airport floor (an apparentlz popular pastime amongst travellers, judging from the herds of people doing so) for a few hours, then flew to berlin. once in berlin (the berlin airport, that is) i had quite the time figuring out how to get into the actual citz. city. i found one track that a thought was right (i don't know about zou, but i dont exactlz read german). however it was occupied bz a freight train. hunh. the next track wasnt right either. i finallz found mz train, but figuring out the ticket machine was a whole 'nother trip. i got it though, and headed towards mz train. i stopped for a fraction of a second to see if the 3 nice australians who helped me figure it out had found the train also. well, joy of joys, the door slammed shut, almost on me, and the train took off. without me. ah well, i got on the next train over which was the scenic route or something. it went all the waz around the entire citz, but hey it gave me time to read mz guidebooks and pick out a hostel (like i should have done BEFORE entering the citz). so I'M IN BERLIN!!! it seems poorer than i expected, with tons of graffiti in the subwaz station (oh zeah, after i finallz got the train figured out i had to take the subway). but i havent reallz been out zet. im just kinda biding time until i can check in and get a nap. but i will adventure soon!

please note:

have any of you guys ever had a puppy? well, you know how when you come home and the little bugger just goes nuts, peeing on the floor and all, as if your coming home is the best thing that ever happened in the history of the world? so yeah, that's me when all y'all write comments on my blog! seriously, it makes me feel loved and wanted. ok, that's an exaggeration...i know i'm still a worthwhile human without feedback, but hey! it's fun, right?

i just gave this address to a billion new people, so NEW PEOPLE: you can write comments by clicking on the "post anonymously" thing, then just sign your name at the end of your comment!

also. the stupid z and y are switched for some reason in berlin, and i'm getting sick of deleting all the time, so from now on translate "zour" into "your", and "beryerklez" into "berzerkley". zeah, that's right.

more london adventures!

i slept most of my first day here, unfortunately. i couldn't help it. i kept trying to get off the couch, but falling back to sleep. eventually i got going. i wandered down some backstreets, looking at the little shops and taking pictures of the amazing architecture. i walked down to piccadilly circus (a central fountain/statue/turnabout). i curiously watched two men painted a phone booth hot pink. i spotted an huge, intricate tower off in the distance, and set out to see what it was. i passed tons of different statues (do you pronounce the 2nd "t"? cuz i know someone who does...), walked all thru st james (?) park, past parliment buildings, to buckingham palace. the guards at the palace stand perfectly still forever, then deliberately goosestep along the front of the building. i passed the phone booth again, and was relieved to see that the hot pink was just an undercoat for the usual red color.

i seriously don't know who named the stuff here. whoever it was definitely was a freethinker, definitely outside the box. well, you already know about piccadilly circus. also: glasshouse road, tattenham court, westminster abbey, haymarket way, shaftesbury way

after my lengthy stroll i stopped at a little diner for bangers and mash! i was incredibly full by the time i ate a third of the potatoes and one of the sausages, but felt obligated to keep shoveling it in to get my £4.50 worth. the little men who worked there were adorable! accents are so inherently cool. uh, brilliant, i mean. you know what i don't get? vegetables and fruit seem to be nonexistant here, yet i've only seen two fat people (yes, i've been counting) and i think one of them was american.

the young men here are very good looking. yes, all of them. unfortunately the only dudes who are forward enough to actually strike up a random conversation with a strange girl are arrogant american guys. eww.

i went to bed for another couple hours, then woke up to my new roomates asking, "is she still sleeping?" i'm in a 4-bed room, so i have 3 roomates. there's one girl, jessica, from san francisco, and two girls from sweden. they were all very sweet, which took care of most of my nervousness about staying in a hostel alone. i still wear my money belt under my clothes/pajamas constantly, and try not to think about how mad crusty it's going to be after a whole month. oh joy. so yeah, i think LONDON is actually the city that never sleeps. there are tons of people out on the streets, in clubs, and eating in restuarants even at 3 and 4am! i was trying to figure out how i could eat a whole pita and chicken kabob meal at 3:30am, when i realized that 3:30am is actually dinner time in Pacific Standard Time. hunh.

today i woke up in time for my "free breakfast" and realized that that consists of two oh-so-dry pieces of toast and a small cup of juice. oooh baby, way to start the day. ok, just so that we are all on the same page: me complaining is actually me laughing at my situation. if i ever sound irritated, disappointed, or down: i'm not. i just find it humorous to be sarcastic. anyways. after my hearty meal i started off on a 2nd selfguided walking tour. as i headed out of the hostel i saw that same tower from yesterday i realized that i never actually made it that far. it was quite a walk, but i made it to what apparently is another parliment building. the thing is huge...and attached to Big Ben! one of my guide books suggested that i call home from a pay phone nearby on the hour so that people back home can hear it ring. sorry guys, i'm cheap.

i crossed the River Thames on a funky bridge, walked and walked to waterloo station. i wanted to go on the london eye (a gi-normous ferris wheel thing that goes over 400 feet in the air!) but it cost £11.50 (about $22). i found a huge catholic church, and wandered thru victoria station. i passed buckingham palace again, then came "home" to the hostel.

tomorrow: berlin.

quote of the other day

man, i wish i had thought to bring my rug to the concert!

-todd, commenting on the latest style: shaggy poncho shawls!

quote of the day

giraffes, though they are so tall,
their movements are like poetry.

-owner, hotel giraffe

london is smashing, brilliant, and fantastic!

yeah, those are our three new vocab words, to be used in place of "cool" and "awesome".

i got into london early in the morning, found my bag, went thru customs (the customs lady asked, "aren't you a bit concerned that you've come all this way and you still don't know how you're getting to prague?"), and got on the "tube". as we went along the car slowly became packed with commuters. i was impressed by how stylishly everyone dressed--they all wore suits! we passed lots of schoolchildren, and they actually DO dress like that! way cute!

i found my hostel, after much, uh...sightseeing, to put it positively. london is beautiful. the buildings are all so old. and big. and i can't really think of any adjectives to convey how great it is. i'll try again later.

crud, i'm almost out of time again. well, we (a girl from the hostel and i) went out for £1 beers, then indian food!

the rest of the weekend

on saturday i met a bunch of random buddies (including Phat Philbert!) at the camp hill diner for a 2pm breakfast, just like old days! my sis and i then went to visit a family i used to babysit for--i got to know the mom really well, and she was actually one of my best friends there. well, they had 3 kids, ages 5, 4, and 2, but now have adopted a 3 yo and a 1 yo! from khazakstan! the new kids speak russian, so the whole family is learning russian!! and they're going to have a new baby next month! they are so amazingly cool. emphasis on "amazing". 6 little blond people, under the age of 5!

next we went on a tapestry hunt. i know, i know, i was going to take care of that b4 i left portland, then b4 i left Ojai, but you know me...i was in hburg before i actually did it. but we found a hella sweet one (hopefully ridley likes it), thanks to crazy todd.

since, at this point, we had not already had enough fun for the weekend, we hopped on I-81 N to check out st gregs and visit the fitzs. while driving thru hours of pouring rain i realized something about sting. i've heard him on the radio plenty of times, but never actually listened to whole album. but now i've realized that if he were to write a song about a dog, it would go, "it's a dog, it's a dog, it's a dog, dog, dog!" i'm not kidding. listen to him. first he heartily sings, "don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me, don't stand, don't stand so,..." and so on. then he sings, "message in a bottle, message in a bottle, message in a bottle, message in a bottle", ad infinitum. the rest of the cd is similar.

we went to an irish pub in scranton. they were having a german oktoberfest celebration, the highlight of which was a balding man with long socks and short shorts singing and playing the accordian. his top hit was The Who-whoo Waltz. it was a waltz on the accordian, punctuated irregularly with a high-pitched "WHO-WHO!". interesting. i took out a table with my hind end on my way by during a vigorous polka, during which soph-dog also sprained her ankle. we enthusiastically did the hokey-pokey, and the chicken dance. crazy.

so i've been working on not being one of those pissy girls who won't say what she's thinking and silently holds grudges, you know, the passive agressive type. well, i think it's gone a little too far. i now need to work on NOT saying everything i'm thinking. this decision came after two embarrassing incidents this weekend. first, on the way home from the crazy irish pub, we nearly rearended someone (no, i was not driving). mr fitz slammed on the brakes and the accident was avoided. however, being my usual helpful self, i blurted out without thinking, "does anyone need to stop and wipe before we continue?" oops. the second incident was the next morning after mass. a young man showed up at st gregs who apparently knew everyone but me. i'd never seen him before, but his name (he goes by "Beef") sounded familiar. while he greeted everyone else, i loudly stated that "i don't even know you!". no, seriously, i think even the neighbors down the road heard me. he replied politely that he did not indeed know me either, but hello. yeah, time for a li'l self-restraint.

after "chilling" for time, hiking amongst fall-colored trees, eating fall apples right off the trees, and visiting with old friends, we started off for DC. i've seen plenty of pics of the white house and the capitol, but i had no idea that like every building in the city looks like that! it's so sweet! well, then my sister decided to take me on the walk of death because "it's cool!". ten miles later i didn't really care if i ever saw another g. d. building ever again. no, it was cool. but long.

we finally made it back to the car with most of the shreds of our feet, and it promptly...did not start. after some adventures with calling policemen, talking to white house guards, and calling every boy we know who knows anything about cars, it miraculously started while i was chatting about my weekend on the phone with my friend eddie. so we celebrated by going out for cheesecake. ok, ok, we were going to have the cheesecake anyways. whatever.

well, my internet time is almost up. i did make it to london, another exciting process which involved frantic throwing of items back into my backpack, filling out my ballot in the car, and many restless hours on the plane. i did sit next to a sweet old lady on the plane who gave me gum for take-off and landing. i hope i'm going to be a nice old lady.

more later...hopefully from the czech republic!

nope, still not in europe.

i flew in late to DC, then headed for CC (catholic camp, aka christendom college). it's true. TAC is better. i realize that "better" is an ambiguous word, but i will have more time to explain it later. later, after more time has elapsed. weird, i'm in some kind of philosophical mood. anyways. in the morning i went to (and, shortly thereafter, left early from) the world's boring-est shakespeare class. we then loaded our borrowed land rover and headed north. the trip was fun, it's always good to drive new roads in new states, in different vehicles. we had the wind in our hair, the sun on our faces, and dave matthews singing in our minds...preparation for the concert.

harrisburg is an interesting town. everytime i leave, i expect never to return. but i do. it is beautiful in its own way, especially the capitol building (but why all the naked statues?!). i love the river, and the people i got to know are always glad to see me. i stopped by my old work in camp hill, and they wanted me to stay. they said D and i babied the tractors last summer, compared to the boys who "operated" them this summer. ha! now they appreciate what they had! because that IS NOT the merry tune they were singing last summer! oh no, then it was, "WHO HIT THAT SIGN AGAIN!!", and, "WHO BASHED IN THE COLUMBARIUM? DO YOU KNOW THAT THOSE MARBLE PIECES COST $5000 EACH!!!", and, "WHY DO YOU GUYS GO THRU MOWER BLADES SO FAST? YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO JUST MOW RIGHT OVER THE STUMPS!" ah yes, but now they like us and want us back! it is cool to know that they were impressed with us, and that i can always come back. security is kinda cool.

we stopped by my old coffee shop and ran into garrett, an aquaintence from back in those days. ok, now i sound old but that was actually less than a year ago. he is a ballet dancer with whom i used to have a great deal of fun thrift store shopping. on one occasion he bought a fluffy pink robe with one pocket ("that's ok, cuz i hold my coffeecup with the other hand anyways") and a mr. bubble shirt. good times.

then we met my deadhead friends, crammed 5 people in a smaller-than-small honda, and hit the road. ok, it took awhile for "hitting the road" to actually mean "drive in a productive fashion". we had to stop at the liquor store, then (since PA is a convoluted reality and these are actually different stores) we also had to stop at the beer store. then kumz HAD TO stop at the ups store, we *tried* twice to get gas, and returned to the house to get a "spare" ID. then we hit the road.

state college is an interesting town. it appears that the only inhabitants of the town are between the ages of 18 and 22, or are cops or apartment managers. and, on this particular night, DAVE MATTHEWS and his OH-SO-BEAUTIFUL BAND!!!! it was a sweet concert, despite being in the nosebleed section. they rocked and rolled, then after about 20 minutes of near-rioting they came back on again and started the party all over.

it was a great night. after deciding that the college party scene really is not cool at all, we made the trek back to hburg for a 4am BBQ. kumz's neighbors must think he's insane. and so ended friday.

lag too!

ok, that title doesn't really make sense. but i do get extra points for creativity, right? uh, right...?

anyways. stop #2 was That Anonymous College. i did alot of socializing, class-visiting, pondering and praying. three semesters. that doesn't really seem very long. but, in the last two years, the most time i've spent in one place is ONE semester.

i like thinking. and i like learning. and i like talking. so maybe it is time for school again. this school? decisionmaking is not one of my strong points. when i actually have a preference i let it be known, but usually i know i'll be happy doing whatever.

mr collins is amazing. he makes galileo fun!

oregon is way prettier than california. SoCal used to be my favorite place, but i've rekindled my love affair with the pacific nw. fog rolling off the river into the crevices of evergreen-covered hills beats brownness and deadness and hotness any day. i have the feeling that i just made up some new word. brownness?