I can't be there, but all that means is that you and your neighbors are tagged in to take my place.
Save me a t-shirt!
GO PRIDE!

I can't come up with a meaningful post. Some people churn out, like 500 words of crap a day or something. I keep having to come up with other funny things to put in my post, because I'm...well, uninspired is a nice way of putting it. Lazy is probably more accurate. I'll give you an example. Recently, I re-watched the NUMB3RS episode "Thirteen" (#4.4) -that show was so good! Freaking money-driven cable companies. In it, a crazy, religious-fanatic serial killer type starts killing people to match the deaths of the 13 apostles. He leaves crazy-cryptic messages, and these really detailed scripture-quote drawings on the walls and floors of his crime scenes. Of course, Charlie and Don catch him and all that jazz, but just to let you know, I will never do this. And here's why: I would never be able to summon up enough energy to paint all that crap on the walls. Seriously? 10 foot long quotes? I feel bored just thinking about it. If I went bonkers (and the fact that i would be living in L.A. would be a big clue) and started kickin' people off, I'd get caught when the FBI got my pattern for giant quote wall-stickers from the Kinko's. Yeesh.

In this vein, here is a book review I just made:

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is one of the 3 books I would choose to take to my desert island. I could read it a million times, and I would still love it. Connie Willis is a genius.

View all my reviews >>

It's so true...

I'm starting to feel like I'm on another one of those bloody roller coasters. You know, you look at it from the ground and you think, "Come on, it's not really that tall". You stand in line thinking, "Come on already, this is gonna be fun!". You get in the claustrophobic little seat, "Come on, woohoo!" Then suddenly you're on this track, thunking up this steep hill, and you get right to the top and you know that moment where you can feel the little latch that's holding you back give and you suddenly realize you're 50 feet off the ground on a little track about to drop at a 90 degree angle, you can't see the track you're going on, you look out onto what might as well be empty space in a tiny metal cart on rickety rails undoubtedly designed by a disgruntled engineer as a theoretical middle finger to the laws of physics and you suddenly realize, complete moron that you are, that you climbed into this mess of your own volition?
Well, that's where I'm at.

Face it. It's a dorm shower. They don't even make a pipe for the hot water.

How can you put on a meaningful drama when, every fifteen minutes, proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper?
~Rod Serling, on commercials

Well, the visa information is in processing. Assuming everything was input correctly and my fingerprints aren't burned off between now and then, I'm good to go on that front. Tomorrow: Grand Rapids.
Here's a video I found of one of my favorite raggaeton songs:



This is the song that should have been the 2010 World Cup theme song.

I am leaving for Chicago tonight. I will be at the embassy applying for my visa tomorrow morning, and I will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the annual Rotary Exchange Conference all weekend. Updates to follow!

**WARNING!!**
Contains both spoilers from the 5th season of Doctor Who, and pure awesome!
See: the entire 5th season in 2 minutes, with gestures!


Thank you, and good night.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke

I thought I would give a quick update on the situation. At the moment, my proposed departure date is 8 August. I will be departing from Indianapolis airport, and going to live in Minatitlan in Veracruz, Mexico. I will be returning sometime around June/July 2011.

There has been a lot to do to get ready, and it's not going to get any easier. At the moment, I'm on kind of an emotional roller-coaster ride, and as some of you know, I only really like certain kinds of hanging coasters, so my feelings are mixed. For example, I have absolutely no problem missing the holidays, an event many of my fellow travelers seem to be terrified about, but even though I've known since I started this that my parents were not going to just let all the empty space go to waste, now that they've said it out loud, just the thought of losing my bedroom can reduce me to tears. It may seem petty, and believe me it is, but I've wanted a room of my own for pretty much my whole life. I've only had this one about a year, and it is one of the only places on the planet I really feel at home in, so it still feels like a loss. But hey, who knows? Maybe I'll have my own room where I'm going, with an actual door, that people won't walk through and 'wander off' with my things. That could be cool!
Sorry for the sarcasm. I react badly when nervous. Anyway, there should be regular updates on this site for the coming year, and I'm looking at getting some sort of email thing set up, too.

I'd like to give my thanks to all the people who have made this possible. To numerous to count, and many of whom I don't actually know, I'll stick to the basics. First of all, the members of the local Rotary club for sponsoring me, the District coordinators for all their guidance, my friends for being so great and upbeat, and lastly my parents, for so many reasons, most recently standing in a Wallgreens for an hour and a half at 9:30pm waiting for passport pictures. Here's to a great trip. Thanks everybody.
Stay tuned.

I think Glee should be packaged with a Surgeon Generals addiction warning. The Glee Soundtrack should count as a controlled substance.
Seriously, I've been humming "Gold Digger" for six hours, and I watched that episode 2 weeks ago! And I hate Kanye West!

Yeah, pretty much the whole post was in the title. Plenty is going on with my life (mostly deadlines), but it's 10:17pm, I slept badly last night, and I have to work every night this week. So this is mostly a post to promise that I'm not dead, nor have I forgotten this site or my password. I have hiccups right now, I'm tired and thirsty, good night.