Cranberries are the Ninja Fruit

Probably one of the best commercials I've seen, a cranberry farmer claiming that Cranberries are the 'Ninja Fruit'. Unfortunently, I can't seem to find it online, but if I do, I'll throw up a link.

The Berlin Mall is definently an odd place. There's a number of interesting people that I've seen, ranging from redneck mall rats to the random guy who walks back and forth - for my entire 6 hour shift in the calander kiosk. There's a number of regulars that I see, and usually at clockwork. The people in Citizen Bank leave at about 5:30, and LenseCrafters closes pretty close to 7. And the people at Walmart are scary, not just some of the employees, but some of the people shopping there.

While on break, we had a truck pull up to take back some returns from our outlet. I helped the driver load some boxes after finishing my sandwhich. He mentioned some of his routes and 12 hour trips that he takes every week. I don't know how drivers do that. After 4-5 hours, I'm starting to go crazy.

I was able to finish Matriarch today and man, right up to the end, some surprises. Spoilers: The Isinj are at civil war, Shan and Ade, although sterilized, somehow became pregnant and which Shan aborted with a grenade (yikes), Ryhat is still annoying although starting to be a reasonable character, the Ben'zari are Nazis and now infected with Cha'naat , Vissiji blew himself to pieces, and Lindsay is a bitch. And transparent, literally. (Sarah, correct me on the names, because I can't remember them for anything.) Makes me really wish that the next book (5/6) will be coming out soon. Also got a huge chunk out of Dracula after I finished Matriarch. We discussed it in class, as being the root for a lot of the modern horror/supernatural stories, and it's really proving to be so. I'm liking it a lot, more so than Frankenstein and Dr. Jeckle / Mr. Hyde.

I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I won second place in the Lexia Photo Contest, 2006 for my picture 'View from St. Paul's'

(Click to enlarge)

It was a welcome surprise a couple weeks ago, and I only learned (probably two weeks after I got the prize money) what the photo was. I like this picture, but I didn't peg this one as one that would win a photo contest, not that I'm complaining. I liked a couple others more, that's all. Lexia has put a profile online, and I was able to see the other contest winners and submissions. Lots of good photos there.

Okay, and now off to bed.

Ugh

Finals are coming up, and Thanksgiving vacation took all my work ethic out of me for the past couple of days. I've got two huge reports that I'm working on, one on the Civil War and the other on the Congo. Not having fun writing those. And on top of that, I've been having problems concentrating on them and classwork, and I've been really forgetful about things. At least the power's on so I can work on this stuff.
Talked to Lexia today, and it's kinda scaring me at how fast the London trip is coming up. I really can't wait to go, it'll be really something to do. Trying to work out a budget for it, as well as getting a ton of small details out of the way. Gah. Over the break, I went through my music list and came up with a list of travel-related songs to listen to. Here it is:

Traveling Songs

A Thousand Miles-Vanessa Carlton
Across the Universe-John Butler Trio
Alberta Bound-The Wood's Tea Co.
Another Travelin' Song-Bright Eyes
Beautiful Day-U2
Boat Montage-Clint Mansell
Born To Run-Bruce Springsteen
Bridges-Dispatch
Canadian Railroad Trilogy-Gordon Lightfoot
Cars, Trucks, Buses-Phish
Catch Me If You Can- Eric Clapton
Come Away With Me-Norah Jones
Crazy Train-Ozzy Osbourne
Day Tripper-The Beatles
Deliverance Road-Grace Potter
Down By The Corner-Creedance Clearwater Revival
Drive-Dispatch
Drive In, Drive Out-Dave Matthew's Band
Driving Blind-Grace Potter
Drops of Jupiter-Train
Extreme Ways-Moby
For The First Time-Sara Wheeler
Free-Phish
Go Your Own Way-Fleetwood Mac
Going For a Ride-David Newman
Headlights-Dispatch
Hello, Goodbye-The Beatles
Here We Go-Dispatch
High Speed-Coldplay
Hitchin' A Ride-Green Day
Homeward Bound-Simon & Garfunkel
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For-U2
In A Foreign Land-The Kinks
In the Waiting Line-Zero 7
It's My Turn to Fly-The Urge
Last Ride In-Green Day
Long Ride Home-Patty Griffin
Long Road-Rane
Lost In Space-Aimee Mann
Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf
Nowhere Road-Fastball
Nowhere To Run-Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
On The Road Again-Canned Heat
On the Road Again-Willie Nelson
One Headlight-The Wallflowers
One Prairie Outpost-Carbon Leaf
Open Road Song-Eve 6
Out Of Town-Zero 7
Overdrive-Foo Fighters
Pedal to the Metal-Kazzer & Various Artists
Ramblin' Man-The Allman Brothers Band
Run-Around-Blues Traveler
Salt Water Sound-Zero 7
Save Me-Dave Matthews
Slave To The Traffic Light [Live]-Phish
Sweet Home Alabama-Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Engine Driver-The Decemberists
The Horizon Has Been Defeated-Jack Johnson
The Long And Winding Road-The Beatles
The Long Way Home-Norah Jones
The Road Is A Lover-Alison Krauss & Union Station
The Wanderer-Rane
The Wild Rover-The Wood's Tea Co.
Ticket To Ride-The Beatles
Traffic-Carbon Leaf
Traffic In The Sky-Jack Johnson
Truck Drivin' Man-Lynyrd Skynyrd
Walk On-U2
Walking After You-Foo Fighters
Wanderin' Around-Carbon Leaf
Water Stop-Dispatch
Where Are You Going-Dave Matthew's Band
Winding Road-Bonnie Sumerville

On top of that - anyone a fan of RENT? My brother gave me a copy of the Broadway soundtrack, and man, what an awesome musical. I really wish that I had seen it on stage. Haven't seen the movie, but it's on my to see list sometime.

Okay, back to the reports...

Wow, I'm slipping...

Okay, time for a geek moment. I'm usually on top of what's coming out in Star Wars literature. I'm usually out there the first day for a new book, read it within the week and then await the next one.

Now how the hell did I not even know that a new one is coming out next week?!

I suspect that the answer comes from being busy with Lexia, school and being fairly annoyed with the last couple of books, which are Post-NJO, and which I haven't been able to get more than a couple chapters into.
Apparently, Dark Lord, one that I was actually looking forwards to, it being released next week, the 22nd, by James Luceno, about Darth Vader just after Revenge of the Sith. Looks to be pretty good and the reviews that I've read are positive. I doubt that I'll be able to get it anytime soon, because it's a hardcover.

Okay, now off to lab.

Excitement

"Dear Diary: Today, I was pompus and my sister went crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hill folk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."

I just got home to a phone message that was waiting for me. It was the Lexia program- I've been accepted for the 2006 Spring semester session in London! I'm actually going!
I don't know what else to say, just that I'm extremely happy!
Wee!

Passport!

Had a couple welcome surprises when I arrived home this evening. First, the power was back on. Always a plus. Second, I got some financial aid for travelling abroad, and most of my paperwork is ready to go out tomorrow. Third, I got my passport, several weeks early.

Post-Camp Recuperation

I always hate the transition to real-life after camp. My sleep schedule is still out of whack, as is my food intake and daily schedule. It's tough trying to find ways to occupy my time. At camp, there are over a hundred people in fairly close proximety, where I'm able to talk with someone about something. Not so much here. However, I've been doing okay to be occupied. I took a good walk in the woods the other day, got some thinking cleared in my head and was treated to a beautiful view of the forest and a rain storm. It was refreashing. Went out with Blackwell, Sam and Eric last night to Pizza Putt, a pizza joint with miniature golf and lazer tag in the building. Together, Sam, Blackwell and I are known as the Geek Squad on camp. Eric is our off site member, and we all got together before we all go off to college for the year. Blackwell's leaving today and I'm off next week, as is Sam. Eric's going to work as a working stiff. (Sucker:-p ) . We ended up playing against another team of four guys who were there. We really screwed up the first time that we played, but did slightly better the second time around. I rode home with Eric, and we did some catching up on everything that happened over the summer.
I'm now working on an essay for Lexia, a study abroad option that my school is offering. I'm seriously thinking of studying in London, England for the Spring semester, if my finances allow for it. Let's hope...