Photos posted!

Posted an album on facebook, find them here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111132&id=8506464&l=7ca1c7456b


If you can't access them let me know and I'll try to post them somewhere else next time.  Will try to do the captions next time too so you know what you're looking at.  

Random thoughts from Togo

So a story I forgot to mention in my last blog was that I have had yet another meal where I had to watch my meat killed in front of me before eating it.  It happened during post visit on one of my last days my counterpart decided to cook lunch for me.  She asked me if I ate chicken and I said I only eat it if it’s very well cooked.  I immediately regretted it and wished I had said I only eat tofu; I knew what would be coming after I said I eat chicken.  She had me over to her place, where I saw her son kill the chicken, then drain the blood, then bring it over to us where she plucked it in front of me and then ripped it to pieces with her hand and a knife throwing the pieces into the pan on the fire.  Thankfully after preparing my lunch for me she sent me home with what she prepared so I at least could pick at the chicken and only eat what I wanted from what she gave me and didn’t have to hide any disgusted face that I might make.  The chicken was horrible, but I survived and have another fun food story to add to my list!  

So far things are going good and I’m managing to keep myself fairly busy despite not really being able to work on any projects.  I mostly just go out and meet with people just to get to know them before really starting to work with them.  So far I’ve met with the  group of women who make soap and watched them make soap, met with the group of weavers and watched/chatted with them for a while (they’ll be my main focus once I get going on projects), and met with the group of women who make shea butter and watched them make their product.  I’m returning next Monday to see the beginning process of the shea butter since I missed it this week.  I’ll then be meeting with the Social Affaires office next Monday too to discuss how I can work with them on their projects since they often do many of the same type of projects that I would do.  Then next Thursday I’m going to sit in the office of the micro-finance institution here to see how they work and see if there is anything I can do there to help.  Other than that it’s a lot of just walking around town, visiting the market, and exploring some to see what all is in my town.  Tuesday of this week I road my bike to my closest neighbor’s house, which is 15 km (9 miles) away from my house. It was a beautiful and pleasant bike ride and one I hope to do often.  Little bit of a challenge with a few hills but considering how hilly it is in my area it’s pretty flat between our two towns so that’s good.  I spent the night at her house and then hung out with her the next day and another volunteer who had come up and then hit up her market that afternoon as she has one of the largest markets in country and I can get fruit there and have more veggie options at her market than in mine.  Then rode my bike back and just hung out at home the rest of the night.  Friday I went to my second closest neighbor’s house, which is about 24 km (15 miles) away on the same road as my closest neighbor’s house and in the direction of our regional capital (Kara).  She informed me how I can set up my own compost pile and plant my own garden.  She also fed me an awesome lunch and baked me m&m cookies!  Afterwards I continued on to Kara for a meeting with other volunteers to plan Club Espoir which is a club for kids who are infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS.  Then this morning we had the club for the kids.  It’s a monthly event which I hope I can participate in often in the future.  It was really fun watching the kids play and have a good time.  

I still don’t have my furniture but hope to get some pieces within a week and a half.  I can’t wait till I have it all, especially my bed.  I don’t sleep to well on my cot, or maybe it’s the heat and strange noises, or just a combo of it all.  My time here is really going to be a test of my patience as everything is at a much slower pace here and just overall difficulties in communication with the people here.  They tend to 1. speak in generalities or be very vague, which is very frustrating at times. (Ex: The other day he came by your house and you weren’t there.  Who? When? Why????) 2. Give you a response to a question even though they have no idea (Ex: We’ll have your electricity installed tomorrow. Me: Oh really, the electrician is coming tomorrow?  Togolese: Oh I don’t know, we should ask.) 3. call us all whitey, which is really annoying coming from adults, but can be cute coming from kids.  They have the word Yovo which is the southern word for White person/foreigner and then up North they have Anasara which means the same thing.  That’s what the kids call us all and then they have their song “Yovo, Yovo, bonsoir, ca va bien, MERCI!” It’s cute coming from kids, but is rather annoying and seems more derogatory coming from adults.  But what really annoys me is when they straight up call us Whitey by calling out “La Blanche” or “Les Blancs” when we walk down the street.  I ignore those calls and refuse to respond to them. They can call out Madame if they don’t know me and want to get my attention, that I will respond to.  I’m also making the effort to stop and tell all the kids that I don’t like Anasara and that my name is Kristine or Cililo (my Kabye name).  They’re slowly catching on and starting to call my by one of my names instead of Anasara.  Hopefully with time I can get most of them to stop the Anasaras. What’s funny is they think anyone who isn’t black all looks the same and they can’t tell us apart very well.  So whoever replaces me will be called by my names for probably a very long time.  Just as I was called Stephanie when I first arrived in Tsevie, since that was the volunteer who stayed at my house before me and walked the same path I walked.  It took a while but I finally got most of the kids to start calling me by my name.  I also finally heard the story of why they call the used clothing stores (the stores that sell clothes that come from our Good Will and Salvation Army stores) dead Yovo stores. Apparently huge shipments come in, I think to Ghana, of all of our discarded clothes which to the Togolese are all in very good condition. Not understanding why anyone would give up such nice clothes and so many of them, they assume that the person who owned them must have died.  So they purchase the clothes to resell in Togo in dead Yovo stores.  This becomes more humorous as you see everyone walking around in these types of western clothing, yet what’s funny here is that they don’t understand the shirts or clothing.  So you see lots of people wearing shirts that have English writing on it that is actually really humorous on the person.  An example is that my closest neighbor Virginia one day saw a large Togolese man wearing a bright pink shirt that said “Daddy’s little Princess”.  Everyone seems to have seen these types of spottings, yet I haven’t had the pleasure of catching any shirts like that but I’m on the look out!  I do see lot’s of funny hats on people here though that have come from our discarded clothing.  Like santa hats on men working in the fields or like this week my host brother wearing a little kids hat that had puppy ears on it (he’s 24).  It usually brings a smile to my face, so I really enjoy these sightings.  Although it is also a reminder of how wasteful Americans can be and how much we really do get rid of even though it is still in wearable shape.  But at least someone is getting use out of it still.  

Well this post really just turned out to be a mess of my random thoughts over the last few months.  Moving forward I’ll try to blog a little more frequently, or at least have them written and ready to post on my computer more often so that they flow a little better!  

Officially a volunteer!

So training was pretty busy and often the network was down when I went to the internet cafe or I just chose to go play ultimate frisbee with friends or have a beer instead of getting on the super slow computers, so sorry for the lack of any updates over the last several weeks!  So as of last week I officially finished training and was sworn in as a volunteer and packed up and sent off up country to my little house in Pagouda.  I've been there a week now today and so far all is well.  I have no furniture, just my cot and my gas stove and two wooden chairs I'm borrowing from my host family.  But I have ordered all my furniture and am just waiting on it to be made.  Should have the first 3 pieces on the 30th of August and then the rest will come in Sept.  Still trying to figure out how to get electricity installed in my house, so until then I have to travel about an hour to get to the internet cafe so I probably won't come too often.  Also just because money is a little tight and I tend to spend a lot of money here in the regional capital since I can get so much here I can't get anywhere else; like white cake or chocolate croissants I discovered earlier this week!!!! 

Being in my house has been nice for controlling my eating and getting to cook for myself and eat what I want instead of depending on others to cook for me and being forced to eat what they cook.  You'll all be happy to hear I ate liver and goat at my host family's house and even tried a tiny bit of fish which if you saw the fish here you'd understand just how big of a step that was for me!  But now I'm doing my own cooking so it's a lot of tofu (yay I can get it from my neighbor who makes it at her house!), spagetti, rice, and beans (yes I eat beans now for the sake of getting protein!). I did manage to make tofu fried rice with the soy sauce I found in Lomé the other day and it came out great so I'm really excited now!  I need to start controlling my portions though, I've gotten a little out of hand thanks to how much they fed me during training with my host family!  It's also now more of a challenge to find fruit and veggies up in my village so I really need to watch what I'm eating and make sure I'm getting my nutrients however I can.  So far so good though thanks to the tofu and the bit of veggies I can find and the bananas! 

As for my house I have a fairly sizable house, 3 rooms, one large living/dining room and two bedroom type rooms.  One will be my bedroom, the other will be my kitchen/bathroom/storage room.  I have an outdoor latrine (closed in with a roof and lock) and shower, and that's the only downside really to my house. Otherwise it's very spacious and nice and now that the drop ceiling is in place I don't have to worry too much about mice or other insects coming in from the tin roof.  Will post pictures whenever I'm able to get my own computer online. 

Other than that not much going on.  I have to stay in region for the first three months and am not supposed to work really.  So I don't have a whole lot to do most days, just work on getting my house set up and getting to know the town. I'm starting to do some meet and greet meetings and just sit and watch the work that people do do. However; we're in the rainy season and no one works when it rains so a lot of times things are cancelled due to the rain. Can't wait to come back to the U.S. and explain that I can't work today because of the rain!  There's also a coming of age ceremony going on for young boys in my town that has been going on for a while. They go up to the mountain and dance all day then come down and dance through town in the late afternoon with the boys participating in the ceremony wearing big headresses with, wait for it; baby dolls or stuffed animals in the center of the headress!  I have pics and hope to post as well once I can get my own computer hooked up to the internet.  This ceremony though is another excuse of why nothing is getting down in town.  But it's all good and it's entertaining to watch. 

Well must go, hopefully my next post won't be so long from now!

La via Togolaise!

This will probably be a pretty quick post, but I have 15 mins. left so I'll try to do some sort of update! So I have arrived and it's been a lot going on since leaving DC. I was able to meet Nick for dinner in DC which was awesome, then the next morning we went and got our yellow fever shot then headed to the airport, the rest of the shots we would get in country. We had an 8 hour layover in Paris which became 10 hours after the delay. I was able to run into the city and meet Mia for breakfast which was also a really nice treat before my 2 year departure! After a 6 hour plane ride, we finally arrived in Lomé! 3 days in Lomé was just a lot of initial orientation trainings and shots and hanging around getting to know everyone. We weren't allowed to go anywhere alone or anywhere outside of the hostel or Peace Corps office so I didn't see much.

After Lomé we went to our training sites, health volunteers to Gbatope and business volunteers to Tsevie which is where I am currently. Everyone here has been so so so nice and they're really happy to have us. We get all the kids calling us Yovo, which basically is them calling us white person and they even have a song they sing for us while clapping and dancing, it's so cute! The kids are so excited to see us. My family here is so great and they too are so happy to have me. They do everything for me and won't let me do anything. We have electricity and even a tv, so I've been able to watch the world cup with the dad and my brothers now everyday. No running water, so for those of you wondering, I use a latrine, but a very nice latrine and I take bucket showers within a shower room which is not really that bad at all! My family boils water for me for every shower so I get warm showers which is so nice.

Must go now, but will write more when I can!

First Half of '08

So it looks like so far for 2008 I haven't done so well in keeping up with my blog. I had high hopes at the start of the year that I'd have more free time but of course that didn't happen :(

But here I am again, ready to update you all on my recent happenings (If anyone even still checks this). So 2008 started off right with a lovely trip to Hawaii, not a new country or even state for that matter, but a fun trip none the less. Shortly after returning my life pretty much went into chaos with a bunch of changes. I decided to transfer to our company's San Francisco office and moved up to SF permanently in April. I got myself settled in and found an apartment and thew myself into setting up the SF office. I took charge of renovating the office as well as hiring on a new employee and all the while was in the middle of a promotion.

The summer has been crazy with getting settled in, hiring on, renovating the office, being promoted, and of course many trips. I traveled back home to Texas to celebrate my friend Kimberly's wedding and of course for her bachelorette party. I went to Atlanta for training and to prepare for the promotion. Labor day weekend I will travel back to Texas one more time to celebrate my dad's birthday and retirement. The best trip by far this summer though has to be my trip back to Europe! I went to visit my friend Shari in Madrid where I stayed for about a week and then headed to Paris for a quick stop over. Perhaps I'll write a blog on that trip in my usual travel blog style for old times sake!

Oh and prior to my move to SF, I ran yet another marathon (I know I might be crazy). I signed up and ran the LA Marathon and overall it was pretty crappy. Definitely not my favorite and one I would never run again. No marathons on my horizon right now, but I am trying to get back into running. I'll do a half marathon in Sacramento in October but that's all that's on my plate for now.

Let's see, so aside from all of this as I mentioned I have been promoted. I'm now a campaign team lead and for the first time am managing employees. It only just took effect so we'll see how it goes. So far though I have been having a blast working in the SF office and have made it my goal to get this office up to full speed and am really enjoying that.

Well not much else on my mind now. Just thought I'd check in again since it's been so long. I'll try to come back again soon and see what I can do on recreating my Madrid trip for you!

I'm Still Here!

Wow so I've really dropped off the blogging scene for quite some time now. I apologize, I guess I just got busy and just didn't have much to say.

So with today bringing in a new year I figured it to be a good time to reflect back on 2007 and share my hopes for 2008.

Well 2007 started off with me running my first marathon and moving up to Campaign Manager. The marathon went well and I became addicted. I took about 2 1/2 months off of running (only running occasionaly and small distances) and then threw myself right back in and went into training for the Nike Women's Marathon which I successfully completed in Oct. Moving up to Campaign Manager was exciting but brought on a lot more stress and consumed much more of my time.

I had started the year taking Spanish Lessons but wound up stopping those since I would be gone for most of the classes during the summer. I have yet to sign up again as I seem to be way to busy with work lately. Still on my mind to get back into that, just not sure I really liked the classes I was taking.

So aside from work and running I was fortunate enough to have a few vacations during the year. I was able to go back to Switzerland for a bit and even managed a stop off in Paris for a few days where I was able to meet up with Skye, Mia, and Trudi again. I even stopped by my old office and was able to briefly catch up with everyone back there. A lot has changed at my old company since I left, it's gotten so much bigger! I was also able to spend weekends in San Francisco, San Diego, Thanksgiving week in Chester and of course went back to Houston and South Texas a few times.

Over the summer we had our official memorial/reunion for my Grandmother. My entire mom's side of the family met up in South Texas where we all got to catch up and spent the time remembering Connie before spreading her ashes in the ocean along with Timo (my grandparents dog who also had passed). It was a sad occasion to be getting the family back together for but it was great seeing all of the family, many of which I hadn't seen in years!

While one trip back home was to mourn the passing of a loved family member I did have the joy of going back home to watch two of my friends and one family member get married and start their life together. Megan had her wedding in Houston in March and Marie and Angelica both were married in August, all were very lovely occasions.

The year ended with Christmas back in Houston, of course there was a stop over in Austin the weekend before to see lolo and linlin! It was nice being back in Houston for Christmas as it had been a while since I had spent a Christmas there and seen some of my dad's family.

New Years eve was extremely uneventful and boring which was very disappointing. I was back in LA and wound up doing nothing due to last minute cancellation due to a friend falling ill that night. I don't really care that much about NYE anymore anyway I just hope that it isn't a determinant for how 2008 will go.

Well now today is January 1 and 2008 is finally here. My hopes for the new year are to get more traveling in (hopefully a few new countries will be visited), not work as much overtime, and to get out of LA. I'd also like to get back in to taking Spanish lessons and start taking some photography lessons as well as possibly some sewing lessons. I've also recently started doing geo-caching which I'm hoping to get more into in 2008 (just need to get my own GPS). I want to continue with my running, but may not do it as hardcore. Of course I also want to work on getting more fit and eating healthier since despite the fact that I run so much I still eat like crap and thus am still a little on the chunky monkey side. I also plan to really focus on my debt and work really hard at getting that cut down as much as possible. So far it seems I should make a pretty good dent in it in the next few months as long as I can control my shopping.

So I guess I'll go ahead and wrap it up for now. I hope to not neglect this as much as I did this year and hopefully will have more fun adventures to blog about in the coming year.

I wish you all the very best for 2008!

I'm A Marathon Finisher!

Yes, I did it, I finished my marathon! For a detailed look I refer you to my marathon training blog, link located on the right under my links column.

A Festivus For The Rest Of Us

So things have been pretty busy lately but I was fortunate enough to have a great christmas vacation in Lake Tahoe to give me my much needed break. Diane and I drove up there the Friday before Christmas and arrived Saturday afternoon after a nights stay in ghetto Stockton.

Our family rented a cabin on the lake which was really nice with a great view. Unfortunately though it wasn't really that cold when we got there and there wasn't really that much snow either. Over the first couple of days the snow that was there started melting and I was getting pretty upset since we weren't able to snowboard or do much. But Christmas was fun and that night our Aunt Laurie and her family came in to stay with us and it was great seeing all of them since it had been 3 years since I last saw them. The next day was pretty uneventful but our Uncle David and his family did come in which was nice since it had been even longer since I'd last seen them. I really enjoyed seeing all the family and had a really good time catching up with them.

We did finally get snow on Wednesday as a storm came in and temperatures dropped. They predicted the temperatures would rise again and it'd turn to rain, thankfully they were wrong. That Wednesday Diane and I actually drove about an hour and a half up Northeast from South Lake Tahoe to go cross country skiing at Royal Gorge which just happens to be the largest cross country area in North America. This was the first time for both of us to be on skiis and with no instruction we were given skiis and set out on the trails with only the advice to avoid the hills since we were beginners. Thanks to south park we knew enough to pizza when we wanted to slow down and with that knowledge we had a great time and walked out with only one big fall each on a rather long and large hill that we attempted. While I still don't have much desire to learn how to downhill ski I did really enjoy cross country skiing and would love to do it again. It was very peaceful and beautiful and a great way to see the mountains.

The next day we made the trek out to Mt. Rose about an hour away towards Reno to go snowboarding with Aunt Laurie and her family. However, Diane and I were rather late in leaving the house and by the time we got there they were all out of snowboards and well it wouldn't really have been worth it to go try and find a new place to rent and come back since the ski resort was out by itself. So we had a nice lunch and tried to go sleding but my hands got too cold so we only got two runs in and then just decided to go home.

Friday Diane and I made an effort to get up a little earlier and made our way to Heavenly which was just down the street to take snowboard lessons at close to the top of the mountain. This gave us the chance to ride the gondola as we had been wanting to all week and finally gave us the chance to get out on the mountain. We took a 3 hour snowboarding lesson that really helped refreash everything since it had been 3 years since either of us had done any snowboarding. The lessons were great and I made my first full S turn which I then followed with 2 full S turns in a row. Unfortunately though, after that the lesson ended and by then it was 4 p.m. and the lifts were all stopping so that was it for the snowboarding. We had some Peppermint Paddys then took the gondola back down and ended our day and essentially our stay in Tahoe.

Overall it was a great trip despite the lack of snow and snowboarding time. I would have liked another day or two of snowboarding but am determined to keep up with it this time, especially since I've finally completed some S turns.

We drove all day on Saturday and even made a stop in San Jose to visit the Winchester Mystery House. However, we were a little late and missed the last tour so we were only able to tour the gardens. It was still interesting to see and I look forward to returning one day to take a tour of the inside.

We made it home late and I was so happy to get out of the car after about 12 hours of driving. However we arrived home to a rather sickly Nina (Diane's cat). She had obviously not been eating while we were gone and was so skinny and wouldn't eat or drink. We got up and took her to the vet the next day and were forced to make a difficult decision. We decided not to put her to sleep but to go ahead and hospitalize her. So that was a bad start for New Years eve and as a result decided to stay home to ring in the new year.

I have to say, considering how crappy 2006 has been it didn't shock me too much to have one last little punch at the end there. 2006 has definitely been the worst year ever and I was more than thrilled to say goodbye to it. New Years day we went to Disneyland which I thought suiting to start off the new year at the happiest place on Earth. All I hope is that 2007 turns out better than 2006.

Well that about sums up my holiday season. So to all I say Happy New Year and wish you all the best for 2007!

Just Wanted To Share

Alright I guess I have more to talk about than I realized.

I just came across this Article that made me sad and thought I'd share. It seems that now almost two years later 513 bodies from the 2004 Tsunami are going to be buried now. 103 of the bodies have been identified but no one has come to claim the remains and the rest have still yet to be identified. I just think it's so sad that no one has come to claim or identify these bodies. I mean I imagine that for many of these perhaps the whole family was killed in the Tsunami, yet it seems that there should still be somone out there coming to claim the bodies.

How sad that these bodies have just been sitting in there for almost two years and now will go with no one to claim them.

Texas Fight?

It's been 6 years since A&M has beat UT and at this point I don't even consider them competition, yet A&M managed to finally break that losing streak this year and take a win. I'm not sure what hurt more, the fact that a team who is barely considered competition beat us, the fact that it was done on our own turf, or the fact that it comes the year after we won the National Championship. I guess it was just a combination of it all, but I'd say the fact that it was A&M who has taken us away from our bowl game is what really hurt the most. Not just because their our big rival but because they haven't been a good team in years and for the past 6 years have been considered an easy/guaranteed win for us. Perhaps it was this confidence that played a part in our loss this year.

Whatever it may be I have to say I'm a little embarrased to be a longhorn at this point and hate that this is how our year after the championship had to play out. I still love my Texas football, I just hope the boys get it together and start playing like the team I've known them to be.

Stalking The Celebrities

So Wednesday night I went to Spagos for dinner with my dad, stepmom, and sister and who did we see there??? Well first we saw Regis Philban eating dinner with his family a few tables over and then a little while later towards the end of our meal they sat Al Gore and his family down at the table next to us. I typically don't get that excited to see celebrities, but always think it's a little cool to see them and these two were especially fun to see. Later that night I went out in Hollywood to a party for Cindy Margolis, since she'll be gracing the cover of the next playboy magazine, and well got to see her too and even take a picture with her. She's absolutely beautiful in pictures but for some reason didn't seem that pretty in person, yet at looking at the pic of her and me she looks beautiful. Kind of strange that a camera does such wonders for her.

Well just thought I'd share since it's been a while since I've written anything on here and I don't have much else to talk about right now.

Be sure to check out my new blog on my marathon training which you can link to on the right hand side of this blog! Also don't forget to check out my forum from time to time. I've just updated some more in the movie section and hope to do more updating soon. I've also finallly just signed up for netflix so hopefully I'll be adding more to the movie section in the near future.

Track Star is Back!

Ok so I've finally decided to run in my first marathon! I've decided to join Team in Training and so I will be training with them and raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as well. I've decided to do the Napa Valley Marathon on March 7, 2007 and am very excited. I haven't started my trainig yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date as I do.

If you feel you are able to contribute then please visit my training site at:
http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaKDalton

Thanks everyone!

Those Places I Remember

So I think it's strange the things that can bring back memories, such as a song, a smell, a certain sound, etc.

Lately music has been doing that a lot for me. I guess because I spent so much time wandering around Paris alone with my ipod a lot of my memories from that time are tied to the music I was listening too, which was often the same couple of songs or bands. Besides just the fact that a song can bring back a memory, it amazes me how strong these memories are. They actually make me feel like I'm right back there sitting on the metro or walking through the sunday market or the Tuileries. These memories are so strong that it make me miss Paris so much, so much that it actually hurts sometimes. Then from this I start questioning why I actually left Paris, I know I had my reasons and I still remember those reasons and know they probably were best, but I still can't help but regret my decision sometimes. I do look back on these memories fondly and am very thankful for my time spent there but I just never realized how much it would hurt looking back on the memories and how much I'd actually miss it. It just amazes me how much I can miss and feel attached to a place that I only spent 1 1/2 years of my life at, especially considering I was such a stranger there. I think what I might miss the most is the anonymity a city like Paris gives; the ability to go on about your life on your own with no one else to worry about or question what you're doing with your life. I sort of felt withdrawn from the world and yet completely immersed in it at the same time. It was easy to ignore the news, the t.v and its latest shows, music, pop culture, and even what my friends and family were up to back home, yet while igorning all of this and withdrawing myself from the world happenings I was out meeting new people from all over the world, traveling around to different countries, cities or regions, taking in new cultures and experiencing what the world really had to offer. And I loved every minute of it, it didn't matter that I didn't know what had happened on the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy or what the hot new band/song was, I was out enjoying my life the way I wanted to and seeing new parts of the world and experiencing new cultures, or perhaps it was simply going to a new museum to discover that maybe I do like certain types of art. But then despite all of this, I come back to the U.S. and within a few months I've fallen right back into my old ways, no more museums, no more exploring the city, barely any new aquaintances different from me, right back to watching the hot new shows, checking out the latest music, and overall being a bum. I can't help but wonder why I fall right back into a routine I didn't want to be in once I return to the U.S. and why I can't find that same feeling of anonymity here in the U.S. Was it simply the language and cultural barriers that were there in France or was the environment more inviting to that type of lifestyle in Paris or is it something else? Is it possible it's just ingrained in me that much that I turn right back into my old self upon my return to the U.S. despite how much I felt I changed while abroad, although I still do notice some changes still in place.

I guess I'm not sure where I'm going with this post, it seems to be a giant ramble at this point, but hey that's what I do, I'm a rambler. Basically I'm missing France and am very torn between my life here and my life there.

I'm So Cool

So those of you that have known me for quite some time might remember my slight obsession/annoyance at Newscasters names. They always seem to have first names that start with the same letter as their last name and this annoys me because obviously they're fake names. Not sure why this annoys me, but it does.

Well today while watching a police chase on an LA news station I was introduced to Johnny McCool reporting from the helicopter. I'm sorry but this is ridiculous and really really annoys me. I mean come on, McCool????? How lame is he that he has to give himself the name McCool. Do you think his colleauges feel stupid saying his name? I would, I think I'd refuse to say it.

This is Delia Diamond signing out. (That one's for you Lori)

That's So L.A.

So now that I have an hour commute to and from work I've been listening to the radio a lot more and of course morning talk shows which often revolve around Hollywood gossip. Well lately two stories have intrigued me which I feel the need to talk to you all about since I now don't have to look for a job when I get home at night.

Ok so I want to start with the death of Anna Nicole's son because that is the one that is bothering me the most. What I'm most upset about is that this is obviously a very sad time for Anna Nicole and yet immediately upon hearing of his death the press start speculating that it has something to do with drugs and an overdose. Yes I know Anna Nicole has obviously done a lot of drugs, she's screwed up, I wouldn't be surprised if the boy did do drugs, but do we really need to jump right to that conclusion and start such bad rumors flowing right after she's had to go through such a tough time. Yes it seems strange that at 20 he would just die like that but honestly he's not the first healthy young adult to have a heart attack or just die from some completely random health issue that no one would have ever realized he had. And well my first thought was that since it was stated that he had jsut gotten off the plane that perhaps he got a blood clot while on the plane which then was released and pushed through his veins to his heart, thus killing him. Now I'm no doctor obviously so perhaps this is completely correct but I'm pretty sure that's a possibility as I know that's why you're supposed to get up and move around on long flights. Anyway all I really want to say is it really annoys me that everyone went straight to the thought of drugs and didn't even explore other possibilities.

Now for my second thought on Hollywood gossip of the moment. Well it's now been reported that yesterday Britney Spears gave birth to her second child and well that's it. It's been two days shy of a year since she gave birth to her first child which seemed to be quite a piece of news. But this time it's as though no one could care, it was stated on the radio this morning almost as a second thought, just a mere mention of the fact that she gave birth to a son and then moving on to the next story. And just now while googling for an article on it, I could only find a few and even those were mixed among the ones last year of her first child's birth. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not writing this to express my dissappointment in the lack of coverage of her child, quite the contrary actually. I do not like Britney Spears and I certainly don't like all the press everyone gives her, so I'm quite happy to see that perhaps the press is finally bored of her. It just still surprises me that there wasn't more coverage, especially considering we've now seen pics of baby suri thus leaving an opening in the hollywood gossip news section.

Alright well that's it for my Hollywood gossip, perhaps I should start paying attention to more important news so I can express my concerns for something a little more important next time.

Hey There Lonely Girl

So I guess I was a little late in the game, but hey I'm not a huge YouTube fan, but I've just become obsessed with this whole lonelygirl15 stunt. I kept seeing the headlines talking about it but only started looking into it yesterday. At this point it was already obvious that it appeared to be a Marketing stunt and that "Bree" was not in fact a real girl. However, I really enjoyed watching the videos, reading the comments and conspiracies, and wondering where it was going to take us. But then sadly today it was revealed who "Bree" actually is, and the entire reality of the situation was brought to our attention. It kind of saddened me once I went and looked at her cached myspace page and saw the real "Bree". Even knowing that it was probably fake before it was still fun watching the videos and wondering and guessing where it would go. Kind of wish people hadn't gotten so curious that we actually uncovered the truth. I was really wishing it was going to be the next blair witch type marketing stunt leading us up to a horror movie. I thought that would have been genius, for once we would have developed an emotional connection to a character in a horror movie, I felt like it was going to bring a whole new level to movies that are typically just there for cheap scares. Although with such an emotional connection I guess it would have not only been a horror movie but a drama as well, and maybe too emotional, hmmm. Anyway, I thought the whole idea of it leading to a movie was genius and was thrilled to see the new marketing techniques coming to play. But alas, no movie, just some wannabe film makers and actors. But hey good for them, they certainly got all of our attention and I'd guess they all have quite a future now. Although come to think of it, nothing ever did happen with the Blair Witch actors did it?

Well if you've completely missed out on it all, you can find the videos on YouTube you can also read all about the conspiracies and anything else you want to know about it at Wikipedia(pretty impressive that she got so much coverage in wikipedia) and to read how it was all uncovered you can check out this article from today.

They say they'll continue with her story, but I'm not so sure I'm that interested anymore now that my curiosity has been quelled but I will be curious to see how others react.

So This Is The Real World

Well today was my official first day at my new job and as I sat there this morning filling out my tax forms I realized this would actually be the first time I'm having to pay taxes (sort of) and that I'm actually going to have to file come this spring. This of course then makes me realize that I've officially entered the real world and while I'm happy to finally be working and contributing to society it's kind of odd to think that I've just taken the first step into what will be the next stage of my life, where I'm no longer a student but a working adult. And well honestly it kind of frightens me when I think of how long this stage is going to last (well hopefully it lasts a long time). No more summer vacations (although those were gone last year)and classes three days a week, but work Monday thru Friday for the next 40-50 years. I guess there's still the excitement of where my career will take me, I do look forward to that, but my restless side gets uncomfortable thinking that I'll be working for the rest of my life basically but I guess that's not even necessarily true so I shouldn't really think about it but it still creeps in from time to time. I think what most saddens me is the thought that my vacation opportunities are now very limited and well we all know how much I like my traveling and don't like to have those opportunities limited.

So my hope now is to one day be able to take a year off and travel around, perhaps choose a continent to explore, perhaps do a couple of different continents, not sure yet, but I've heard of people doing it so I figure if they can certainly I can too. So the first step is to get my loans paid off then to save enough and make a plan for a years worth of travel, perhaps that would help satisfy my travel bug, although I doubt it would for the long haul.

Well for now I guess I'll concentrate on my current situation and focus on starting my career. Who knows where it'll lead me...

Movie Discussions And Much More!

So a while back I added a Forum to my website, which I'm quite proud of myself for having figured it out, where you can read about the movies I've seen recently, what I'm listening to, reading, or just leave general comments. I had hoped this would make my website a little more interactive and had hoped to get some discussions going but so far no one has been participating and it seems no one has been reading it either. So I just wanted to announce it here that the forum is there on my website and so far I have a few reviews of the movies I've seen lately and a few other posts up there. Please feel free to comment on what I've already written, or add your own topic. Don't be shy people!

Mel Gibson Did What?

So is anyone else as tired as I am of hearing about Mel Gibson's crazy night out without his wife and his drunk drive home? Does this really need to be covered in such depth? And my question is why do they keep talking to the other people he was with in the bar and keep questioning why he was out without his wife. I'd think it's ok to go out from time to time without your significant other, I didn't know getting married meant you had to be together 24/7 and were no longer allowed to venture out alone. What are these other people from the bar even really contributing to the story, we get it, he was at a bar drinking, tried to drive home drunk, end of story. It drives me crazy that they continue to make such a big deal out of it, hearing about it over and over isn't really going to help, we know he did it, it was wrong, move on!

Taking A Break In Barbados

So back in May I was able to tag along on a trip to Barbados with my family for a week. It was a very welcomed and much needed break, however, it was just a little too short. We've all been to Barbados before, this was actually my 5th time there, so we weren't too interested in sight seeing but were just all about relaxing on the beach and drinking rum punch and daqueries.

We did however take a trip over to a place where they make local handmade pottery, and then we carried on to the East coast for lunch. On this drive I was able to finally try driving on the left side of the road since they drive on the left side down there since they are a former British colony. It was a little awkward at first because the roads are very small there and I felt like I didn't have a sense of the left side of the car the way you have a sense of the right side of your car here. So it was hard for me to judge where that side of the car was and if I was going to run off the road or not. However, I made it to the restaurant without any problems and even took us almost all the way back home.

On another day Diane and I took a catamaran ride out to a spot where we were able to swim with sea turtles. This was my favorite part of this trip since it was the first time I'd seen sea turtles and we were even able to go down and touch them. In addition to the sea turtles I was excited that I for once actually snorkled like a real person instead of going Kristine style with a mat. Not that I can't swim or have any trouble, it's just my fear of fish and that whole unknown part of the ocean that makes me very uncomfortable and so for some reason the mat makes me much more comfortable. However, I for once jumped in the water with the sea turtle sans mat and wasn't even that concerned. We then later moved onto a shipwreck spot and they baited the fish and the water was swarming with fish. I decided I definitely couldn't get in, but after several minutes of debating and realizing I didn't want to miss out yet again, I finally got up the courage to get in without a mat. I managed to go see some of the shipwreck, however, there were just too many fish in the water and I was just way too scared, but I did stay in until they had us all get out of the water. All in all it was a fun trip on the catamaran.

When we took the catamaran to see the sea turtles we realized that the location for the turtles was actually just down the beach from us right off the beach. So the next day we walked down to the same spot and went snorkling with the sea turtles again. We then just snorkled back home and saw some great things along the way. Throughout the whole trip we saw an enormous manaray, sea turtles, an octopus, eels, puffer fishs, little cuddle fish, and lots of other interesting fish. The enormous manaray was the most amazing as I've never been in the water with something so large. Unfortunatly I freaked out too much and wasn't able to get a photo before I scared him off due to my flailing about in the water.

We were there for a week and had lots of fun ; it was a much needed escape. However, it was still too short for me and I wasn't quite ready to come home. But unfortunatly I didn't have a say in it and I had to come home and deal with everything back here again. I can only hope that I'll be able to get back again or at least somewhere else in the Carribean fairly soon. So for all of those who are interested you can check out the photos on my website under the Barbados section. Enjoy!