Jello

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?"
- Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on LiveJournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks.

If you so desire, look up "Infernal 'From Paris to Berlin'" on youtube. Its trashy in the most Euro way.

If you want even more sexually innappropriate euro videos, check out the videos for "Call on Me" and benni benassi's "Satisfaction".

If you're looking for simply trash, Hillary Duff has a winner with "Beat of my heart", great music, great video.

Simply innappropriate, Shakira's "hips don't lie", innappropriate in that "why was this performed at the world cup final?". Although great lyrics. and hips.

For some british (maybe?) trash, Morningwood - Nth Degree. Its an awesome video for a only catchy little song.

And finally, Robbie Williams - Advertising space, I actually like this oddly sentimental song, and the elvis video is kind of cool

I'll have more euro trash to share in the future, because really, everybody needs some trash in their life.

Ok, I lied, I took a few. Only a few, the intent was to take many more, but like I said, wasn't in the mood.

( Photos )

Speaking of photos, I finally printed off some of my Europe trip pictures, ones from venice, rome, switzerland, prague, the netherlands. I found some cheap frames from Ikea and I thought it'd be cool to put them up around the apartment. And it looks nice, but its depressing as well. I just looked at one of San Marco, my old neighborhood, and it filled me with the powerful desire to be back there. Not just physically, but back in time there. Good times. *sigh*

Parked by this at school one day, I'm guessing the driver was either totally oblivious or found it absolutely hilarious.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8075724674317499248&q=Jesus+I+will+Survive&hl=en

most likely seen by all, but still, good stuff. The first time I saw this was in a horrible dive bar in the city of Palma on the island of Mallorca. We only went in because some drunken soviet woman was following us around speaking 4 different languages at us. Of course she followed us in, but luckily got distracted by all the creapy old men doing the worst kareoke ever. The place was groose, the people creapy, but this came up on the tvs and it was awesome :)

New Nano!! Its like they took the old mini's and made them tini like the nano, its the best of both now made better! I think they may be even smaller now, who knows, and now 8 G as well. *dreamy sigh* If only I had money...:(

go check em out :)

random side note, Gieco used Royksopp's Remind me in one of their dumb caveman commercials. The caveman was ona moving walkway at an airport when he passes a gieco add saying its soo easy even a caveman could do it, while the music says "there's always something there to remind me". Dumb. Good song though.

I don't remember adjusting to a new place taking this long, I still wake up at night and than really early in the morning. Not at all my normal sleeping pattern. Yet so far I havn't felt tired at all during the day. I think it has to do with only having one sheet on my bed, which I usually sleep on top of. I'm not cold, but maybe covers protect you from more than just cold? Who knows. Its 6:20ish and I'm to wide awake to go back to sleep. I'll have to find ways to stay occupied until studio this afternoon. Maybe I'll do some readings.

at least I think so. Cable's all hooked up and whatnot, modem works, but claims not to. Odd, when I view my wireless connection there it is, all secure and whatnot, but claiming that I'm not connected. however when I click on it for further info, it says I am connected, even though right about that my status is "not connected".

It booted me once, my own network kicked me off for a second. I don't know whats going on.

Anyways, life is ok. Took some time away from home to come over to the apartment and get things set up. Should be heading back soon. My mom's afriad I'm not socializing enough, she wants me to call people this weekend. I socialized last weekend, saw a friend's band and whatnot. And I'll socialize next weekend, got 2 or 3 things on the schedule although I can't remember when. They probably conflict. She feels guilty when I just lie around the house, which for me is preferable to doing anything else right now. But everything is going well.

it booted me again. I did sometime wrong. oops.

......

Yeah. Life. Don't quite know what to say about that.

About a month ago, June 23rd to be exact, my family got in a car accident on route to visit the grandparents out in South Dakota. We were on I-90, west bound, in our 4 door rent-a-car when a dodge ram 2500, east bound, lost control, crossed the grassy median, and came over to our side of the interstate, t-boning us going 80 mph. While not as bad as a head to head crash, this sucked nonetheless. As the driver, I was at ground zero in terms of the impact, the truck made first contact at the driver door.

I do not remember any of this, nor do I remember any of that day save later when I came to in the hospital due to intense pain. My parents did not get knocked out and therefore were able to witness their unconsciencous son be carefully removed from a crumpled pontiac by the jaws of life. Again, so I'm told, nobodies really talked about the accident much.

Total damage, 4 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a good number of superficial cuts due to broken glass. After 9 days in a hopsital and a month to recover, I'm perfectly fine. My mother, however, is still recovering. She was in back and didn't have an air bag, so the seat belt punctured her small intestine and the wiplash broke 3 vertibra, one in her neck and two in her back. She can walk and get about pretty well, but the intestine in the slowest healing part of the human body so she's still a good ways away from being "ok". We're still working with home health care, nurses, and doctors on a daily basis. (which the insurance companies refuse to acknowledge as neccessary and therefore won't pay for, go figure, its been a lovely fight with them) The home care people has been wonderful and I've been filing in the gaps where I can. Besides that I'm working full time to keep an eye on Dad at the office, make sure he's sane and on time for mom's medical appointments and such.

So yeah, thats life. We're on our way to normality but not quite there. I think I have everything replaced that was lost, my computer got all crunched in the car and I now have a new one. Which rocks but given the situation, yeah, could have lived with the old one. I have my new apartment, got everything in it and its about 75% set up, but I'm living at home so I can help with everything. So the apartment's been vacant this past month, will probably be vacant part of this upcoming month as well.

School seems like a far off heaven, which is odd to say but true. I really hope Mom will be self sufficient by than, because if she's self sufficient than Dad will be too. He's totally lost with house stuff and cooking. But if not we'll have to figure something out between home and school.

Yeah, long post. Good news though, I'm at the coffee shop just 3 doors down from my apartment. They have free wireless :) Cool little place the coffee bean is :) There is a liquor store, Whole foods, bank, movie theater, and a variety of resturants all within a 2 block radius of my apartment. Awesome.

Thats all, back to the land of no internet for a while (home). Should return in a while.

Yup, hows that for an attention grabber? Eh? Grab you attention? Did it?

No of course not :)

Although I did get a new mouse, my old wireless one kind of sucked, it required just as much cord to operate as normal corded mice. This one takes less batteries, is more portable, and only requires a little usb plug in dealy. Yup.

I'm still living with the parents, eagerly awaiting my July 1st move-in. The place should be nice, its nothing amazing, actually its rather devoid of character. But the buildings well kept up, it has garage parking, the apartment is well maintained and has good appliances (dishwasher!!). And the location rocks, just blocks away from a grocery store, bank, movie theater, and various interesting cafes and such. Rent ain't bad either. Should be good.

Better be good, school may be hell as its my last year. I've been thinking about my thesis, building up a portfolio for getting a job, and all that other exciting academic crap that goes with finishing a masters. Soo many hopes, so little patience. I better learn to deal.

Crap, my computers telling me it wants to restart, its updating security stuff after being inactive to 4 months. thats all I had anyhow.

A bit confused. Kind of disoriented. A tad hungry. But not really. Hungry that is.

Life is bizzare, thats what I've learned. I also learned that this coming year will be more difficult than all years leading up to this point. I hopefully won't go insane, I'd like to challenge school and everything else with the same vigor I challenged a 2 euro bottle wine in Italy. (I remain undefeated against italian botltes of wine).

So I tred back to work tomorrow. Get a haircut today as well as look at an apartment. I called three places, only one responded thus far. I found a cool place but sadly the apartment will not be available until july. way to late, have to move out of parents house right now. Not that I don't like my parents, just need a place of my own. I'm looking in saint pual, the place I'll see today is in a nice neighborhood but the street its on is a bit busier than your typical neighborhood street. downside. Another place, if they ever call back, could be great depending on the placement of any availble apartment. Big set of buidings, one sheltered from busy streets and new construction in the area. So if I can find one facing a quite courtyard or the river it'll be nice, otherwise no. I can't even remember the third place, so that'll be a surprise whoever calls back on that.

Sigh, its hot here already. crappy minnesota, what with its warm and hot weather ;(

Still alive, still very much alive. And comfy. Europe is comfy, thats what I've concluded after 3 months. Barcelona moved a bit fast, but everything else has been lovely. Venice rocks, although the tourists are a pain in the ass if you want to get anywhere in any decent amount of time. My apartment here kicks ass, the coffee shops here kick ass, the gelato is simply stunning. Seriously, pistachio gelato is the best thing on earth. Sounds gross, but trust me, these hips don't lie. (shakira shakira anybody???)

Unfortunatly I must move on out this monday, schools done, my project went well, and now its time to go. To Switzerland for 7 days :) Which has been a difficult trip to plan as I can't find a tour book in english over here, they have them for italy but not other countries. Although the official Switzerland web page has been helpfull, almost too helpfull with the amount of info it has. Every place in that country sounds like heaven. I lucked out and got a cheap apartment in the town of Engelberg, which is centrally located in the Alps. I've rented a car so the basic plan is to drive to some towns I've picked out and maybe just see whats on the way. I'll pick up a tour book when I'm there, should be easier to find.

So after that heaven my family is coming over, along with my uncle, so we can go the Prague for 4 days than to Amsterdam. which should be cool. And I finally come home the 22nd. or 23rd. the flights the 22nd at least. Than its on to the apartment search for me. A friend over hear, roomate actually, gave me his places number. He actually lived just a mile east of my old place. So that might be cool, but I'll shop around as well.

sigh, I better get off and enjoy what time I have left, I'm thinking Switzerland will have intercafes too, probably with better hours than here in italy.

Uhh...get your hostel reservations canceled on you, wander the dangerous streets around the trainstation in the dark, and eventually find yourself in a 3/4 star hotel paying only 20 Euros more than you had planned for lodging. Insert a crazy cab ride including 5 people, all their excessive luggage, and the worlds most amazing Fiat and you'll have my evening last night.

So yeah, I was kind of down on Rome, what with being surrounded by shaddy pick pockets in a neighborhood that looked alot like the non-commercial part of the warehouse district. But today its sunny, warm, and we're meeting up with some other folk so things should be fine. I'm traveling with other architecture students, which is fine, I know them. But honestly, I'm looking forward to my apartment in Venice where I'll be with only landscape architecture students. I havn't known them long, but they seem about 100% more sane and reasonable. They'll probably prove me wrong, but I welcome the change.

If you're ever in the neighborhood, check out Mallorca. Its in the medditerian, off the coast of Spain. Nice place. Not quite the party place that Ibiza is, although it does have its fair share of mega clubs. Which are only open thurs-sun. Other wise its kind of a meca for middle aged germans and brits, both of which keep to their own seperate sides of the island. Lots of nice homes, hotels, other touristy crap. But it does have alot of beautiful nature spaces, little mountain ranges and rocky coastlines. I enjoyed it, having our own villa didn't hurt either, it was a nice place.

Barcelona was cool too, saw alot of amazing stuff, although I wasn't there long enough to get emotionally attached like I was with lisbon.

So yeah, 6 weeks left with the possible of two weeks after that of independent traveling. Question for you all:

Should I travel on my own for 2 weeks?

I want to, but last night showed me that traveling even in a group of 5 can be scary over here. I'm looking at Eurail passes, which depending on how much money I have in the end might be very affordable and convient. Perfect actually, they have a 15 day one. I'm going to talk to the Eurail office in venice. But yeah, I don't trust hostels any more and don't know about safety when being alone.

Alright, off to explore Rome.

In Portugal the bathtubs are much lower than the floor level, in Spain they are elevated above the floor. Making for interesting entrance and exit.

I´m in Barcelona and have been trying to notice the difference between Cataloyanian and Spanish, so far I havn´t caught the difference. And the accent isn´t nearly as strong as anticipated. The touring has been overall more relaxed, we got some new professors and sent the others back home, so thats been nice. I bought yet another watch, this one better than the previous. Other than that there hasn´t been any massive purchases as things are generally more expensive in this country. Italy will most likely be the worst for prices.

I´m debating how I´ll spend my time over here after classes are done in early may. First I thought about renting a two person smart car and driving west out of italy for 2 weeks. Sounds cool, however due to tolls and bizarre road signs and driving practices that might be a bit ambitious and dangerous. So now maybe train. Although I still don´t know about traveling by my lonesome, alot of people do it and I would like it, but it would worry the folks back home. We´ll see though.

Alright, I´m suppposed to be somewhere else right now, where I´m not sure but I best be off.

My watch died, I lack the ability to follow time. And it´s been difficult to find a new one thats cheap. And I`ve shopped, believe me.

So aside from that the only other issue I have is laundry. Typical boring traveling stuff. Tomorrow I have a full free day and depending on how things work out I`ll try to get pictures online. It`s not exactly easy seeing as I have no computer of my own and there are so few internet cafe`s in this city. Or at least withing range, I`ve walked forever in each direction and have only found 3, none of which are all that convient or good.

A free day will be good, I`ve been all over this country, bus trips every day and such. It`s been great but sleeping in one day will be wonderful. I`m also getting sick of eating out, when we finally get to Venice it`ll be wonderful to be able to cook. even if its crappy food, I`ll love it.

Without pictures I don`t know what else to say other than there`s alot of amazing stuff over here. That and half my group is deathly ill. Sickly lot they are. Hope I avoid it, I have multivitamins and have been trying to get enough sleep. Which hasn`t been hard as I almost always fall asleep the moment we get on the bus. diesel fumes.

Alright, thats all.

And yeah, its great. It feels like I´ve been here forever, which is a good thing. The foods amazing, the cities amazing, its all amazing. Its like San Fran if it had tiny winding streets. and well over a thousand years of history. I traveled through southern portugal as well, though some old walled cities that have been around since the dawn of time. The language has been the most difficult thing thus far, I can´t understand them, its like spanish gone bad. Only they probably see it the other way around.

Internet isn´t that big of a thing around here, in fact its incredibly rare in the public areas. So that along with my busy touring schedule has left very little time to talk to people back home.

So yes, I`m happy here. The shoppings been great, they´re in the middle of their end of season sales. So I better get back to that :)

They're great until something goes wrong, than I always feel stupid and crappy. Somebody hit my car today, like line drive, full on hit. I was doing errands and it was parked at the target lot. I came out and noticed something kind of wrong with the back bumper, only it didn't look that bad. So I drove off but thought better of it. Got out, looked around. It looks fine, but under the muffler is all bashing to shit and I'm not sure how the rest of the undercarrage is fairing.

Shit.

I hate cars.

I'm about to leave and I'm giving my parents a car with a messed rear, malfunctioning airbags, and a missing honda emblam. Only last year they gave me that car and it was perfectly fine. I destroy cars. And of course I call my dad and say something stupid thats a lie. I was told him and he didn't think it was that bad, so to make it sound more severe like it actually is, I said the other car left pieces behind. Which it hadn't. So I'm not even 100% sure it happened at target, I've been all over today, but now I'm stuck with that story. I talked to an autobody guy, who glanced at it and said it'd be around $1000, probably more. He was impressed by how bad it was. He was probably just trying to get extra work out of the situation.

I hate cars.

hate hate hate.

5 days until I'm gone. Maybe if I don't drive anywhere it'll be just fine.

Lovely warm Bob's Java Hut. My parents house if fridged. Which I understand, its old and big. I wouldn't want to pay for heating it either. Its funny, they worried when my apartments heat went out, which they shouldn't have. Even with no heat my apartment was warmer the the second level of my parents house at night. I've been sleeping well though.

I think I've found me dream job. Last night I went to a lecture on World Heritage sites ( I know, a lame friday night, after that I watched Numbers). Anyways, the lecturer was the director of The International Council for Monuments and Sites and he mentioned the need for a younger generation to step in and continue their mission. It would involve establishing the global importance of history and cultural sites, with internships involving world travel for young people to do the foot work research on all sorts of sites. He was just talking, they don't have anything like that in place, but damn. Nice job.

alright, back to listening to music and putsing away at work.

Which should be managable. Although my dad wants me to work next week, in fact he asked why I wasn't coming in today. Even though my schedule is MWF mornings and it ends this week. So apparantly he didn't get the memo. Conversely, he was worried I wouldn't get my schoolwork done on tuesday when I spent the morning doing my final move out of my apartment. There is a hellish deadling going on this week, but they got themselves into that, not like I can all that much to help them.

Ah well, who needs work when you have Bob's Java Hut. Praise the lord for Lyndale. Gotta love hipster/punk coffee shops with free wireless and a friendly policy towards pets. Good prices on coffee as well, they make a nice mexican mocha.

so that is all for now.