Switzerland is the greatest place in the world. And France is by far the stupidest most retarded country in the world. So Saturday, we hiked from Grindelwald to Kleine Sheidegg. Except we didn't get there hiking... we ended up taking a wrong turn and our 3 hour hike turned into a 6 hour expedition, going up over 1000 meters in elevation up a freaking mountain on a path described as "for well-equipped and very experienced mountain hikers only." Does well equipped mean carrying a 30 lbs backpack? Doubtful. We were hiking to our next hostel, so we were carrying everything we had. Ben didn't even know we were doing this until we got to train station. His jaw just dropped when he found out. Kinda funny. So his bag must've weighed at least twice my bag's weight. Anyway, most of the hike was over a rocky path with a minimum slope of 30 degrees, and at times probably hitting close to 60 degrees. It was crazy. So we didn't even know we were on the wrong path until we asked someone chillin on the path. We saw the town we were headed towards and pointed it out to the guy, and he just kinda chuckled and and pointed behind us up towards the mountain, the freakin opposite way of the town and told us that that was the only way to get there now. We had to stop every few minutes or so towards the end cuz our calves and quads were burning so much. So like 2 hours later, we finally reach a town... Eiger... something. The town above Kleine Sheidegg. The glacier there was freakin amazing. Through all the shitty hiking, I think it was all worth it. I went back and looked at my pictures... yeah, they don't capture anything at all. You just had to be there to experience the majesticness of the mountains covered in a blue melting glacier. We took the train down to Interlaken. No fucking way we were going to walk anymore.

We stayed at Balmer's Hostel that night. Craaaazy place. It's just like what a real college is supposed to be like. Party 24-7. Everyone there was American. They had a club in the basement. Supposedly the only one in Interlaken. You have to stay there if you ever go to Interlaken. The next day we got up bright and early to go biking. Yep, we're hardcore. Sore legs and everything. We headed up to Lauterbrunnen. Except we didn't know exactly how to get there, so we ended up going around Interlaken in a huge circle before we asked someone for directions. The paths were either asphalt or gravel. It was a pretty decent climb though, the scenery made you forget the lactose build up in your legs. It was a perfect day for riding. Absolutely clear skies, cool weather (it had just rained during the night) and we were in fuckin Switzerland. Biking next to the raging river was awesome. The water, pure glacier run off, made the air sooooo refreshingly cold. I must've been about 40 degrees F. Ok, so it took us about 2 hours to get up to Lauterbrunnen (we went in circles again on the path... took a wrong turn)... we had lunch up there and the group wanted to take the train back down to return the bikes on time. But the train wasn't leaving for another half hour, so we'd be late getting back. So we had to bike back down (damn!). I was excited... it was essentially a straight downhill. I almost fell into the river, almost slid out over a small cliff, and almost got hit by a car. Powerslides in gravel rule. The most fun I've had in awhile. So 2 hours up, 30 minutes down. How's that for a freakin ride? Everyone's asses hurt by the end though. Gravel is rough.

So then we left that afternoon for good ol' Metz. On the train from Basel, Switzerland to Strasbourg, France, Kenny and I were fined up the ass and got our Eurail passes confiscated by the conductor, aka the fat french fuck, just cuz we wrote the dates in pencil instead of pen. He claimed we were falsifying the dates. But he couldn't exactly prove it. Well, I didn't see it. It was so shady. He fined us the maximum penalty, the full fare of the ticket from Basel to Metz, and jacked our precious Eurail passes. Grr. Fine: 100 euros. Ticket: 32.60 euros. Jackass. It's not so bad for me, cuz if I had used it properly, I would've already used 8-9 days out of the 10 days the pass was valid for. But the fine kicked my ass. Remember kids: ALWAYS WRITE IN PEN!!!! Oh, but if you're doing this next year, get the unlimited pass. It's so much more convenient, and if you're travelling every single weekend, it's totally worth it. Bleh. I hate French people. And France. Stupid strikes. Another bus strike is scheduled for tomorrow. Third week in a row we've had a transportation strike. Dumb fucks.

     Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod. I'm going to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend. Yay. Two days of hiking and biking and possibly canyoning. I can't wait to do that downhill in Wengen... ahh. I hope I don't hit a tree this time...

This is awesome... exploding CD's. Apparently if you spin a CD fast enough, it will explode.

So last night was awesome. We had a beach party at Aloes with a wet t-shirt contest... except there wasn't a contest. Whatever. I was already buzzing before we got there. Jumped a fence then through a window, played some spades, drank some more (absinth!!), then headed out to the party. Man, Nick got totally fucked up again. At one point, he got up out of a chair, took 2 steps, then face planted on the cement patio and started bleeding from his nose and mouth. Not good. He's ok though. I never made it back home, didn't want to pay for a cab. So I showed up to class in my dirt covered clothes... oh yeah, that's cuz Nick and Chris decided to wrestle me at the same time. Luckily, they were drunker than I was, so I kicked their ass! Ok, not so much. Ok, yeah, I did. But some other guy walked up to me afterwards and started talking about wrestling all excited and reminiscing about his high school wrestling days and I was like "dude, I have no idea what you're talking about, I've never wrestled before..." I get so freakin' hyper when I'm drunk. I've already had 5 people come up to me saying how hyper I was last night. Anyway, I finished off the night with a yummy frozen pizza. Oh so good.

     I just learned the most random phrase in the world... the straight translation of "les canards" in French is "the ducks." But in terms of slang, it means "motherfucker." Hell yes, I'm feeling more cultured already.

I lost my drinking buddy on Monday. He moved out. Suck. So to mourn, I bought some Bacardi (CHEAP) and Cora brand coke. Cora doesn't sell real Coke apparently. I couldn't find it anywhere, but my friend said the did... I must be blind or something. They sell Pepsi, but Coke is so much better. And Pepsi is hella expensive.

Ooh... The Ogg Vorbis audio codec is making it's way into the commercial world, plans have been announced to make a portable audio device that supports Ogg Vorbis: http://www.neurosaudio.com/press/news_item.aspx?itemID=80. NeuRosetta... catchy name for the project, I like the connotations. This codec is open source, and is lauded for it's awesome sound quality at low bit rates... more efficient than the mp3 stuff. Learn more.

Going to Prague this weekend. Where they patrol the streets with AK-47's. So we're staying at Hostel Clown and Bard, the best located hostel for partying and whatnot. And the best part... if we cram 9 people into a 6 person room, we will each pay about $25 for the entire weekend. Yes. Prague... a litre of beer costs less than a dollar. Everything's so cheap there... Oh yeah, and absinthe is legal there! Oscar Wilde describing absinthe:

"After the first glass you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

     I'm so jealous... That's my friend's brand new 2003 Audi S4. I want one. Wait, I want an M3. So I can burn his ass. Heck yeah. Just playing. I have no money... especially after this summer.

     Another weekend in another country. Munich, Germany. Pics are up. Paris pics too. I FINALLY got those up. And just so you know, even though just about every picture has some form of alcohol in them, I am not an alcoholic, nor do I spend most of my time drinking. Those just seem to be the best times for picture taking. Ok, maybe Munich was an exception... first thing we did when we got there was find the largest beer hall in Munich: the Hofbrauhaus. Then we went to the Chinese beergarden. The next day, we went to Dachau, where the first concentration camp was built. It was totally overwhelming... seeing such horrible pictures and videos. Very humbling. Then that night, we went on a beer tour of Munich, called The Crawl... "the best night you will never remember." It was craaaaazy. Then a few of us finished off the night with a little clubbin' and Chinese food. Uh oh, class time.

     I had a nightmare about breakdancing last night. I kept trying to do stuff I used to be able to do, but then I'd like break something. It sucked. I was so frustrated and disheartened. I still am. I need to find somewhere to practice and people to practice with. Argh. It's been too long.

I'm going to Munich this weekend. Another 3-day. It's gonna rain. Suck. And I have 2 tests next week, one's a midterm. What? a midterm during the 4th week? Yeah, my art history teacher is on crack. Guess that's why he never majored in engineering.

Yesterday was rough. I went to my dorm to do laundry, and it took forever to get the key to the room of the single washer and dryer for the entire building. Yes, a single set of machines for like 100 people. Ridiculous. Anyway, I took the time to go downtown, hit up the Virgin Megastore, and annoy the piss out of the people at the guitar store for 2 hours. Ok, they weren't really annoyed. So I head to class, and walk into the building, only to realize that I'd forgotten my homework. I had 1 hour...usually takes about 30 minutes to go from school to the dorm... I ran to the bus stop, and luckily, a bus came within a few minutes. I got to the train station to make the bus connection, but it would've taken too long, so I ran back to my room, grabbed my hw, and ran down to another bus stop, only to see the bus fly by. So I continued to run towards school... Thankfully, another bus came as I was nearing another stop, so I caught that... made it to class a minute late, but he didn't notice. It was the 3rd day in a row I ran for extended periods of time. Monday night, I got bored, so I ran to school. As I got there, I saw some friends who were getting ready to run around the lake. I joined them for a few laps, then headed back. Then Tuesday, a buddy on my floor asked me to run... so we ran down by the river for about a half hour. Then yesterday was the frantic chasing of the buses. Whatever.

Song: Guster - "Two Points for Honesty."

     I'm fucking tired of this shit! I was typing that whole weekend story thing again, and a fuckin circuit breaker tripped knocking out the whole fucking computer lab! Goddamn fucking shoddy ass shitty European fuckass equipment.

Ok, as long as I'm pissed, let me tell you about my shitfaced turtle of an art history professor. Nothing he says ever makes any sense. Like he'll talk and talk and talk, but never makes a point. If you look around the room, every one is just totally lost. He says shit like "don't look with your eyes, LOOK with your eyes." What the fuck? Does putting emphasis on a word automatically change it's meaning into something entirely different? Fack. Oh, and yesterday, he was talking about our homework... he was like "I was at first surprised at the ... evenness in quality of the homework from everybody." What? Was me amazed at our amazingness or our suckiness?... "I'm usually more used to descriptions with more depth." Oh, he was surprised at our dumbness and lack of depth. What does he expect from engineers?

Ooh... Boy Sets Fire and Atreyu are touring Europe. Boy Sets Fire has a hot website... Someone once said they were good... Closest concert is gonna be in Lyon, France on June 24th... damnit, it's a Tuesday and Lyon is like over 5 hours away by train. Blah. I'm tired. I'm gonna go sleep in the study lounge.

     Fuck fuck fuck. I just had typed a play by play of the whole fucking weekend, typing for over an hour, and just as I was finishing up, my foot hit the fucking power switch on the fucking power strip. FUCK! So I guess I'll have to give a condensed version, since I'm way way too lazy to type it all over again, even though I have about 6 hours until my next class... so here it is, in outline form (maybe I'll come back later and add details):
took morning train to Paris
checked into Hotel Pension du Lagdanous: me, Jason, Janet, Scott, Charlie.
met huge group of 20+ people at Notre Dame.
decided to break up into smaller groups for dinner and meet up at 8:00PM at Notre Dame.
my smaller group decides to break up into 2 groups: one that wanted to hit up the Eiffel Tower, and one that didn't. we decided to meet up at 11:00PM.
Ashley offers Janet free housing at Chris's apartment with her and Jody.
Janet is indecisive.
my Eiffel Tower group leaves me behind, so I have dinner with this other group.
Janet decides to take Ashley up on her offer.
we fail to make the 8:00PM meeting due to my laziness, but still plan on meeting at 11:00PM.
we had plans to preparty before going clubbing that night, me, Janet, Charley, Scott and Jason, but most of the alcohol was in my room. and i had the key to that room.
Ahh.. ok, i'm too impatient even for this... I'll finish later.

     Check it, funniest story of the weekend: So we stayed at a hostel in Luxembourg... Saturday night we went barhopping, but Brannen and Jen cut out early. Since Harvey had put his stuff into Brannen's locker, Harvey asked Brannen how he'd get his stuff. Brannen just told him to wake him up when he got back and he'd unlock it for him. So 3am rolls around, and Harvey gets back wasted. First, he goes into the wrong room on the wrong floor to find someone in what he thought was his bed. So he's sitting there poking this dude in the ass trying to wake him up or something. Eventually, he makes it up to his real bed and finds Brannen. It goes something like this:

Harvey: "Brannen, Brannen Brannen!"
"Yeah?"
"What's the combination? I need the combination."
"It doesn't have one."
"Well where's the key? I need the key."
"I took you stuff out and put it under my bed."
"Ok... well I need the combination. What's the combination?"

Heh.

My school week is OVER! I love having only 4 day weeks. Three day weekend, all spent in Paris. I heard a pretty funny song this morning... it was an acapella group singing a song about an enormous penis or something.

The Onion does punk!

Dude... I'm drooling:

Gibson's Limited Edition Les Paul 50th Anniversary Corvette guitar. And this one...

Joe Perry's new tiger-stripe flamed maple Signature Gibson... ahh! Why is the world so cruel to me? Anybody wanna get me one (or both) for my birthday? I promise I'll love you forever...

I'm still listening to the Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music split EP. I'm telling you, it's damn good.

I added a comment box thing to the left. Don't be lazy and not hit me up with a shoutout. Please?

     I think I woke up buzzed this morning. Ahh, I hate not being able to make an intro picture for these entries. They're so plain without them. They make this seem like a blog. I miss Photoshop, my baby. Anyway, my pictures are up. Rock on.

Last night we had a BBQ followed by a preparty followed by the party. The last one of the year apparently, since the Frenchies' semester is ending. I heard from my random signals professor that they host a party every single week during the semester, usually. I hope they have a summer schedule like that... so since I partied all last night and forgot to pull an allnighter to do my hw, I need to do it now. So long, suckas.

     I like how it rained sideways yesterday. I was soaked, and still had a class to go to. Oh, yesterday in Art History, the hardcore professor asked us to take a few minutes to write down a description of a painting of a nude reclining. Then he went around asking if anyone had any problems or questions. Craig was like "I don't know how to put it into words, but her body's distorted... like that's not her ass..." Funny shit.

Party tonight in the Aloes dorm. 1 euro shots, 1.50 euro cocktails, free admission. Supposedly they have parties every week there... we'll see how that works out.

Three choices this weekend: Amsterdam, Paris, or the French Riviera. Uh... weather could possibly suck this weekend and I'm not a pothead, so I'm leaning towards Paris.

"Whatever art or music is out there for everyone, that's almost as if that's society as a whole, as an entity can only get as far as the art that helps them delve into the abyss of the unknown or whatever. It's really sad to think that shitty bands are so big." - Bobby Bray, of The Locust.

Uh oh, The Early November have posted a new mp3 on their website called Make Believe. Heck yes. Too bad I can't listen to it until I get back to the US. Fuck. Stupid lab computers. Stupid "no mp3s" rule.

“Love is with unexpected regularity accompanied by hate, and not only that in human relationships hate is frequently a forerunner of love, but also that in many circumstances hate changes into love and love into hate.” - Sigmund Freud, 1923.

Pics will be up probably by the end of today. I have some pics up, but I swiped those from Kenny's pbase.com site. I'm sneaky. Remember... www.1-moment.net/gallery/AustinEuro2003.

So like... yeah. I've been listening to the Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music split EP for the past week, nonstop. It's so damn good. Even though it's only 7 songs and just over 24 minutes long, I can't get enough. HWM's Russian Roulette, Alk3's cover of HWM's Rooftops, and HWM's cover of Alk3's Bleeder rock la maison.

     Ok, this weekend was amazing. We went to Luxembourg to catch The Matrix Reloaded in English. Apparently it's the closest place that was showing it. So we were too cheap to ride the bus there, and since the guy working at the hostel told us it was along the street a few minutes away, we decided to walk there... but he failed to relay the fact that once you got to that road, you had to walk another fucking HOUR to get to the theater. Jason's description: "it's like walking up 75 from Tech to Chamblee." The seats were incredible though, stadium seating, INDIVIDUAL armrests, cushy couch-like cushioning... HUGE screen, THX sound. Best theater I've ever been in. That movie was hot, yo.

So after the movie, we headed out to party... we hit up a few bars around the hostel we were staying at. We first hit up the Britannia Pub. It was kind of a chill older person's bar. Bartender's rocked though. They were Brits. Our first pitcher was of Luxembourg's own Mousel. It was good. Beer is sooo fucking good here. Then we had a little Hoegaarden action, but that was a little suspect-looking (like cloudy piss) and tasted strange, so we went back to the Mousel for the rest of the time. Quality. Finished it all off with a rum and Coke. Mmm. Next up, The Other Place. No, it's not a gay bar. It's a rowdy Irish-esque pub. They were blasting Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers through their PA system. My kind of place. We made a quick stop there, I killed off a pint of Murphy's. That shit's good. If you think you hate thick beers like Guinness, try some Murphy's, it has like a hint of chocolate or coffee or something. Really good. We ended our night at Pygmalion Irish Pub. That was THE place to party. Totally packed. I don't even know what the floor looked like, there were like 200 people there. The best beer I had there was Strongbow, a British cider beer. Mmm, apple juice flavored beer. I love it. It was like GTL invasion in Luxembourg... like everyone made their way up to Luxembourg. If you went to any bar, you were bound to find other people you knew there. Crazy.

When we got back to the hostel, I just passed out, I was so tired. Except I passed out in some random bed cuz there was some random kid already in my bed. Fucker. Turned out to be Jason's bed. So he went and slept in Scott's bed. Scott went and passed out in the dining room and was kicked out about 6am, after they started serving breakfast. So the next morning I woke up with all my jacket still on, my camera still draped over my shoulder, and I think I still had a shoe on. Later, I checked my wallet and realized that I had spent almost 60 euros on alcohol! Fuck yo, I need to slow down. Gotta head to class now. Peace.

     Good eats. Lunch was so good. Best meal of the day, every time. 2.5 more hours to kill until my last class.

So last night, it was cool. Me and TJ and Janet and Craig (I finally learned people's names!) caught the last bus to the Aloes dorms cuz supposedly there was a huge party going down. So last bus runs at about 8PM... We got there only to find out that the party didn't start until 10PM. And there was a 6 Euro cover charge for guys, free for girls. So then we kinda moped around for a bit talking to the French guys who were organizing the event. We eventually wandered outside where a bunch of GTL people were. That's when the party started... we migrated to Jason's room where all the alcohol was. Apparently, his entire hallway is filled exculsively with GTL peeps, so they had all their doors open and it was a big party, playing drinking games in various rooms and the common room. It was similar to Kham's infamous pre-parties, but way more people and alcohol. And we're in Europe, where wine flows like water. Mmm. Cheap-ass wine, like 2 euros a bottle is better than cheap-ass $10/bottle wine in America. WAY better. So when everyone was buzzing and the supply was running low, we headed out to the Clash Supelec... the party. It was hardcore, they had these huge smelly French dudes working as security patting us down. Security was ALL over the place. You couldn't walk anywhere without bumping into one. They played some shitty ass European trance music that had no beat, interspersed with various American hip hop tunes every so often. So at the bar, there was this one drink, Despe or something, that was incredible. It was a really sweet beer that tasted so good. You know how beer usually doesn't taste very good, like reminiscent of piss? This was nothing like that. Oh, and did I mention that it had tequila in it? Hell yes, tequila and beer, who'd have thought? Freakin genius Frenchies. Gotta love 'em. Getting up for class this morning was rough... only got like 4 hours of sleep. So I slept in the study lounge after my 8AM. They have sleeping bags and a couch in there... how thoughtful.

Dude, the greatest song of the moment: Hot Water Music - "Russian Roulette". I love that breakdown on the middle just after the chorus... it's raw, yo.

     Damn, yo. I'm soooo bored. I've been sitting in front of this computer for the past 3.5 hours. Just waiting for lunch to come... 1:20pm is the magic time. I hate having such a late lunch. I've been hungry since class let out. Hell, I've been hungry since I got here. I miss American sized portions. Maybe that's why American's are the fattest people in the world... they eat until they're actually full. And the roof of my mouth is totally cut up from the amazing crusty French bread. I love that stuff. Bread with every meal, it's so good. I got my first bottle of quality (?) French bordeaux. I'm gonna crack it open tonight. We're gonna get our wine and cheese socialization on. Oh, so last night, since we have nothing to do in our lame dorms, we walked around downtown. We found the cathedral that Metz is internationally famous for... yeah, first I've heard of it. It's freakin huge. And they're putting in millions of Euros to renovate and clean up the whole thing. It's tight, yo. Too bad I didn't have my camera. So when we walked back, we decided to take a random way back straight through the middle of downtown. Down Rue des Clercs. The most amazing street ever. First thing that catches my eye... to the right, VINTAGE GUITAR STORE! But it was about 9-10pm so it was closed. I'm definitley going back though. We made sure to remember this street. Then further down, we found a crepe place. And it was OPEN! We hit that shit up with a quickness. Dude next to me got a crepe 5th Avenue, consisting of a scoop of mint ice cream, chocolate, and fire!... cuz it was flambeed with whiskey. Hell yes. I could smell it, it was way strong. He couldn't handle it, said it was like taking a shot of whiskey with every bite. Girl next to me was like going on about how she loved whipped creme, so she got a crepe chantilly (chantilly... what a lovely word for whipped cream), but basically scraped off all the whipped cream. What a shame. So then when we got back, I was supposed to get the cheese and wine thing going with some peeps, but they were all ready for bed so it didn't happen. I almost cracked open a bottle, but I didn't want to drink alone (cuz then I'd basically be an alcoholic) so I was bummed about that, but I was tired anyway. Jetlag is a thing of the past.

     Dude, the time zone here is called WET, Western European Time. Yes! If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm in Metz, France now. And it rocks. Aside from the coldness and rain. Much better than Paris though. It's like Paris on a smaller scale, but super clean and virtually absent of sewage stench. I miss my computer already. For the music. My many many cd's i burned are already losing my interest. I don't like being restricted like this... ahh. Alk3's album is out as of yesterday. Good thing I got a copy before I left. A fake one, but whatever. I don't think it's quite as good as From Here to Infirmary, but it's still quality. And a lot happier. Well, not lyrically. Melodically it sounds happier. He still sings about death and weird situations and whatnot. This album is not a disappointment at all.

Go here for pictures of international chaos (Thanks for the hookup Mike!). Well, once I have pictures up. Meaning once I can recharge my camera battery. Meaning once I can get an adapter for my voltage converter. Meaning once the store stocks up on them again. Yes. My voltage converter doesn't fit in the recessed outlets they have here. The prongs are a little length-challenged. Sucks.

Luxembourg this weekend. To catch the new Matrix movie. Cuz that's what the European experience is all about.

I have an 8am class. I have to get up at like 6:30 to eat and catch a bus to get to my Random Signals class on time. Seems like this will be my prob/stats class revisited... It's the exact same topic with electrical engineering applications. Oh well. At least The class only has about 20 kids. And Dr. Betrand Boussert is cool. He lectures at a nice slow pace.

I like living in downtown Metz. Even though it sucks that it's about a 45 minute walk/25 minute bus ride from school, it's close to everything else. The train station is a 10-15 minute walk, the market is behind the dorm, the supermarche and ATM are each a 10 minute walk, true downtown is a 15 minutes walk. Alcohol here is cheaper than it is in the states. Even the hard stuff. 700mL of Absolut is about $15, 700mL of Bailey's is about $11. And the same amount of wine is anywhere from $2 to over $10 a bottle. I have to go and not be on a computer for awhile. Later ya'll.

      I'm home now. It's weird. First time I've spent more than 2 days at home since winter break. Yeah, I'm a sucky son. I live 30 minutes away, yet I never go home. Took us 3 days to move out and clean up. It was rough. I never knew how much I missed the familiar smells of home... smells I didn't realize were there until I was deprived of them. Ahh, it's good to be back.

Friday night, I gave in and hit up the Pink Pony to celebrate the graduation of 3 FSA members. Thats all that needs to be said about that. Saturday: pool party during the day, clubbing at night. It's kinda strange, but thiis weekend was the first one in a long time that I've been essentially sober. I was "forced" into being the designated driver. It's all good though, I had a good time. Man, I thought drunk people were funny when I was drunk. I never realized that drunk people are so much funnier when you're sober... When you're drunk, everything everyone says makes complete sense. When you're sober, those drunken phrases become sporadically meaningless and disconnected. And drunk people like to repeat stuff they say. A LOT. It was a good end to a good semester. So sad... I won't see anyone for 8 months. So if you want to keep in touch, want me to send a postcard, or wanna tell me how much I suck, email me at my old addresses or click the link for my new one for this summer: email austin abroad.

I'm sick of running away.

As promised, here's my semester in review. This semester was the first time I:

visited the Roxy.
visited the Tabernacle.
went trail riding in Georgia.
went a semester without physically handicapping myself (is my klutz phase over?? nah, couldn't be).
saw a real emergency room.
had given up something I loved to make time for something else I loved.
stopped breakdancing on campus.
started a garage rock band.
made a serious attempt at songwriting.
felt comfortable singing in front of people (only a select few though).
pulled an all-nighter on a weekend (for band practice).
have been completely single for a full semester in college.
joined a cultural organization.
volunteered for a fundraising event.
participated in a teambuilding activity.
acted in a low low budget short film (budget = $0). I got to be the "Parking Nazi".
bought an item on E-Bay.
bought a cd since high school.
bought liquor.
bought beer at a supermarket.
played beer pong.
funneled beer.
drank kegged beer.
saw a "beer depot" in a supermarket.
turned green.
cried in a fit of alcohol-induced depression.
made a serious attempt at walking halfway around the world, even over an ocean (thankfully, I was restrained after a few steps).
took shots of everclear.
woke up nauseated enough to puke.
woke up wearing a random shirt with toothpaste, blood, and dirt smeared all over me.
had a memory blackout. and second and third...
took a drag of a cigarette (i was dumb. and drunk. = dumber than usual... what? yes it is possible).
haven't been home more than once in a semester.
designed a logo for someone.
danced in a club.
went to a strip club.
experienced a lap dance (nope, wasn't at the strip club... heh).
my hard drive died.
bought anything worth more than $100 on my own.
actually wished a semester of school would never end.
didn't let school be my first priority.
lost my best friend. yes i'm still bitter.
witnessed someone having a seizure.
loved a class at Tech.
absolutely abhorred a class at Tech.
TA'd a class.
almost slept through a test.
realized an easy A isn't a guaranteed A, or even a guaranteed B.
went into a final with a D in the class.
felt the overwhelming burden of the possibility of repeating a class (x 2).
felt the overwhelming relief and sense of accomplishment of not having to repeat a class.
earned less than a 3.0 in a semester (barely).

Honestly, I have no regrets. Well, only one, but I'm keeping that to myself.

Our hanglider... yeah, success was not so hot. I miss Seattle. That picture up there is of the sun setting over an island in Deception Pass State Park in Washington, taken when my sister and mom visited me in August. My back hurts. I'm tired. It's dark outside. I watched the Lizzie Maguire movie today. I'm ashamed that I paid for the ticket. It was a good movie though, I almost cried tears of joy at the end. Not really. It rained sideways today. Last night, I went biking in the rain. I've already started packing for France. I live life a semester at a time. Life goes by too fast.

Music for the soul: Boyz II Men - "Water Runs Dry," Usher - "U Remind Me," Ashanti - "Foolish," Creeper Lagoon - "Wrecking Ball," Exit - "Worthless," Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland - "Dilemma," Gary Jules - "Mad World," Ataris - "Bite My Tongue," Salt the Earth - "End Transmission."

News Archive (04/04/03-05/01/03)...    

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