Rain

It's been raining for the last week. The states around Vermont are somewhat flooded, and we're under constant flood warning. I honestly don't remember a time where it's rained this much in the past couple weeks, but it's been just coming and coming. I think that it'll be gone by Monday or so. Coming into work this morning, I got soaked during the ten or so minute walk to the Y.
I've been finding that my day goes by a little faster if I bring a notepad or paper with me. During my downtimes, when there's only one or two people in the pool, or especially if it's empty, I've been doing a bit of writing. Finished plotting out a D20 Modern campaign that I've been planning to GM for some of my friends at camp, and later school, and started working on a series of essays about fandom that I've had ideas about for about a year now.

Reunions

Graduation was Sunday. I missed it. I knew quite a few seniors, and it struck me earlier today that there's a very good chance that I'll never see some of them again, which is painful, because I never got the chance to say goodbye. I stopped by the other night to say goodbye to Kyle, who's going off to Washington DC to work for the summer, and I got to find Karthik and Corey, two friends who just graduated. I'll really miss Karthik, and I was glad that I was able to say bye to him.

Sam came home on the same day, and I finally got to see him and his girlfriend, Miranda today. We spent the afternoon and evening together, talking about our trips (Sam when to Japan), things for the summer. We got dinner and watched A History of Violence. Decent enough movie. The best part of the day was the miniature Abnaki reunion that typically happens any time anyone from the camp sets foot on Church Street. The three of us went to lunch at a sandwich shop where Billy and Shane both work, and because it was a slow point, we talked for about 20 minutes about comics and RPG campaigns and the upcoming summer, as well as life in general.

Work is dull. But it pays. I might actually increase my hours to get some more money and to fill the time. I guess that we'll see.

Nodding, Ups and Downs

I slept horribly last night. Went to bed at midnight, tossed and turned for two hours before finally passing out. I'm not entirely sure why, although I have some vague suspsions that I won't go into.I now have a job. In addition to what I do at Camp, which starts in five weeks. This job involves standing or sitting for hours at a time watching people in a swimming pool, basically ensuring that they don't die. Lifeguarding, wee... But, it earns money, which is needed. I was ready for a job interview this morning. When I got there, the guy, Ted, had me fill out payroll forms and timesheets. I guess they really needed someone, fast. After that, I walked around Church Street, saw a couple people that I knew, then went to the movie theatre for the highlight of the day- Mission Impossible III. I've been a little aprehensive when I learned that they were making another one of these. It's been in the pipeline for years now, and after MI2, I was ready to write off the first movie as a one hit wonder. But then the powers to be assigned a man named J.J. Abrams to the project and it became something to be interested in. Abrams, if you don't know, is the guy who created LOST and Alias, both quality television shows. But Alias is a spy show. Thus, Abrams has experience with the genre, as well as being a new guy. This means that he's got new ideas, as well as some really good camera work to the big screen. Granted, it's got Tom Cruise, whom I don't mind too much, but he's certainly not the best actor in the world. But how much acting do you really need for a spy movie like this one? Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. The action was top notch, very reminicant of the Bourne Supremacy, which I loved, and which I was happy to see here. I would die if Abrams did the next Bourne movie, but Paul Greengrass, who directed the last one, as well as the recent film United 93, is helming it. Mission Impossible worked because Abrams was at the helm. The second one was a lot of explosions and some action scenes. Interesting to be sure, but we'd already seen it. MI3 brought an interesting plot, actual spy stuff, sneaking around, but several explosions and gun fights, as well as one helluva helicopter chase through a wind field, of all things. And, automatic baseball pitchers are great (and hilarious) distractions when breaking into a building.

Closing Out

We had our last meeting of Tactics for the year, and most likely my last meeting ever in Harmon Hall. For the next two years, it'll be renovated and revamped so that it's better, but I won't be around when that happens. We spent the entire time on a proper meeting, something that hasn't happened in a while, going over plans for the next semester, recruitment, events and games, and for once, we're on good footing, for now. After the meeting, we played Risk while watching Stargate SG-1 and Dr. Who, for a grand total of about 4 hours. No one won in Risk, although we did pinch Stuart out of Europe before deciding that we really didn't want to spend another four hours trying to dislodge each other off of our respective continents. After we finished taking over the world, we began our close out of the club room. All of our games, books, materials and even the paper from the wall listing some club things (that predate my entrance to the club) all went into my car. None of us really trust Norwich to take care of our things, given that they're ours and expensive, and the risk of losing it all is just too much. So now it's sitting in my room.
Along with the games, I'm slowly emptying my shelves of books, packing away the ones that I'll be bringing with me when I move out sometime this summer. Kyle and I signed for the lease for 46 Catamound Drive, Northfield, and I'll be out of the house, finally. Currently, I've got three boxes of books, and it'll probably be a total of five. Plus my computer, bookshelves, desk, couch, chair and clothing, and I'll be on my way somewhere else.
It's odd to come back home and to begin packing for a new one so soon. After I move into my apartment, I'll be off to Camp once again, and I'll have most of my things with me there, my computer and clothing at least.
I've picked up a couple books in the past week or so. First one is The Map That Changed The World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, by Simon Winchester. Facinating read, provides a good look at England in the 1800s, through the results of the Industrial and Agricultural revolution, something that I learned a lot about while in London. The geology part is also facinating, although I haven't gotten too far into those sections yet. The other book is Shopgirl, by Steve Martin, the actor. I've read one of his other books before, and they're quick reads, this one being no exception. Frankly, it's really depressing, none of the characters are terribly likable and it's gotten me into a sour mood. Not a bad book though, so I'll finish it later tonight. I think that I see myself and some other people too much in the characters, and that's what's gotten me down a bit.
I took a drive earlier when I dropped my sister off for some church thing that she's doing. I've found that it really helps clear my head at times. The lighting was great on the way back home, sun was just setting, and the roads were empty. Very lonely, matching my mood perfectly. I need a distraction.

Happenings

I rewatched the pilot episode of the new incarnation of Dr. Who, a very popular show in the UK. It's filmed in London, and as a result, I recognize places, which makes me miss England even more. I've awoken a couple times and rolled out of bed, having a couple minutes before it strikes me that I'm no longer living in flat 9 of 5 Doughty Street, WC1N 2PL, Greater London.

On top of that, I've learned that two of my friends are going to be going through the same program next semester. I'm wondering if I picked the wrong semester to do, and realise that I wouldn't trade my experiences in London for anything else in the world.

Living in London made me more independant. My friend Kyle and I are getting an apartment just off of campus. It's not too bad pricewise, and once it's cleaned (The owners who live there make my room look clean) it'll be a great place to live (I hope.) I got to liking buying my own food, managing my own schedule, etc. It'll be even better not being the geek-who-lives-in-his-parents-basement.

And, I have a job for the summer. Let's see if I can find one for the next 5-6 weeks. London is expensive.

Current Music: Roll On, Norah Jones / The Little Willies

I'm Back

I'm home, and already I miss London a little. I miss the streets and the friends that I made there, but at the same time, it feels great to be back to familiarity, with my family and dogs and walls.
Reintigrating back to normal life hasn't been hard at all. Nothing's changed here very much. My friends have been up to the same things, and it's like that I've never left. I spent yesterday looking at an apartment and along with Kyle to look at used cars. It was great to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in months and seeing places that I haven't seen in as long.
But despite it, I'll miss London. I think that some part of me will never leave.

I remember...

First arriving at Customs with my belongings, meeting Barbara getting out, my first taste of the packaged sandwiches, the long tube ride to central London, meeting Fran for the first time, my first visit to the British Museum and the awe that it inspired, getting on the wrong bus with Will and ending up across the city with no clue where we were, Katie Bell's visit and my first taste of Indian food, finding Gosh Comics, learning to look the opposite way for traffic, using the bus, my first solo tube ride, the visit to the Tintin Shop, seeing Tintin live on Stage at the Barbican, getting blissfully lost on numerous backstreets, meeting Sara, a former Norwich Student, Chinese New Year with Luke and my roommates, hanging out with Jason and Zach, trying to watch Galactica with Ben, meeting the Marymount students, visiting Oxford for the first time and drinking in the Eagle and Child, my first beer, the Tate Modern and seeing the ledgends, House, MD and Prison Break, seeing Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, Ben's Cookies in Oxford, The small Geology museum at Cambridge, getting lost trying to find it, seeing where DNA was discovered, calling home for the first time, My first day at the Charter School, meeting the professors, planning my trip to Scotland, the long ride up, seeing rocks for the first time and elevation, watching the Olympics, seeing Scotland for the first time and the problems finding my hostel, Hiking on a volcano, calling Rachel from my hostel and running out of change, seeing Goodnight and Good Luck and Munich in theaters, travelling to Stratford Upon Avon with the Marymount people and making friends with them, learning that I'm going to see Philip Pullman, learning to update my iPod on a school computer, then having it crash on me, Oscar season, depression, Thinking about my next trip, reading book after book after book, learning that Nate died, presentation on the Grand Canyon at Charter, meeting Philip Pullman for the first and probably last time, Booking Greece for my final trip, learning that I have a job for the summer, classwork and problems, visiting Norwich, the real one, getting drunk with Jason and Zach, Eastbourne with Katherine, discovering Green Wing, more school work, panic, Greece coming up too fast, early morning, flight, 10 hours in Munich, landing in Greece and meeting Chris, walking around and getting lost in Athens, seeing the Pantheon for the first time, meeting Heather, Emily and Meghan, meeting Chris and Todd, showing them around, visiting Marathon, flying home, meeting the Green Wing actors, Prediep's visit, showing him around the city, my last day at Charter, last trip with Lexia and sitting in front of a computer wondering what I've missed, and that there's too much to type.
But finally, the goodbyes. Goodbye to London, to Luke, Jason, Zach, Ben, Katherine, Melissa, Bryant, Mark, Joanne, Jeremy, Sara, Mr. Dean, Mr. Hand, Mr German, Mr. Henderson, Fran, Will and Barbara and anyone and everything that I've forgotten for the moment.

Farewell.

Three Important Things

邏輯, 平靜, 想像

المنطق، صفاء، خيال

Λογική, ηρεμία, φαντασία

Leaves

London's changing in the last days that I have here. Walking down the street yesterday, I noticed that John Street and Doughty Street had a different feel to them than they have all year. Looking up, I saw that the leaves were starting to come out on the trees, changing from the bare skeletons that they've been the entire time that I've been here. It's a nice change.

A friend of mine, Prediep, from Paris came to visit, and he came at a good time. The leaves were coming out, and it was sunny for most of the weekend, while I took him around to all the major sites in London. We caught up on what we've been up to since this past summer at camp. It was good to have a new person to talk to.

We visited a number of parks and walk ways along the Thames. With the sun and leaves starting to come out, it was a nice feel to the city, especially in Covent Garden and Leister Square.

Prediep's visit served another purpose, something that I didn't come across until after I saw him off on his train earlier today - It was a chance for me to say goodbye to the city. During my tour, I showed him the major sites of London: The London Eye, Parliment, Big Ben's tower, Wesminster Abbey, King's Cross, South Bank, St. Paul's and a number of others. I showed him some of the pubs, the back streets, all the while talking about the meaning of being a tourist and fitting in, among other things. During this long walkabout, I saw a number of the things in London, probably for the last time in a while, ending today with something that I hadn't made the time before to see, Abbey Road.

There will be a lot of goodbyes in the next days, as I begin closing out and packing. Goodbye to friends that I've made and the places that I've come to call home.

nostalgia

It hit me as I was on the train this morning. In a week, from that moment, I'll be on an airplane, going back home. Everything that I've known and been forced to get used to will be gone. The money will change, my friends will seperate and go their own ways and in the end, all we'll have is just the memories.
It's a bit sobering, at just how fast everything has gone past. I remember coming in very clearly. My own nervousness and self doubt even a day or so in, hoping to hell that I had made the right choice, coming out here.
So far, I have few regrets about making the trip. Now, I'm torn over returning. Now that I've lived here for four months, I'm reluctant to leave the confines of my squeaky flat, my own cooking, the city and the people around me that I've come to know and enjoy being around. In a week, that'll all be gone, and I'll be back home with familiar people and surroundings.
On the other hand, I'm eager to leave. To see my friends and family back home, to share my experiences, pictures and stories that I've slowly accumulated over the past 104 days that I've been here. To see my two dogs, my sister, my room and my own computer, and to be away from my roommate and for the near future, work in general.
Most of all, I'm aprehensive about what's coming up, I think. Living here has been a dream. I'm surrounded by things that are fantastic and different, and that'll be gone soon, and in the next year, I'll be coming up to my last year of school, and spat into the real world, something that I'm nervous about and not sure if I'm ready.
I don't have a plan, an idea or a clue about what to do next.

Work, work, work

Happy Birthday to Jason, one of the guys from below us. I daresay we'll be hitting the pub tonight with him. And most likely some more Green Wing. As Jayne has said: High-larious.

Crunch time. 8 Days until I return home, and work's kicking in. I just finished a rough draft of my Science Fiction in the UK paper, coming out at a good ten pages. I'm presenting on the paper today, and it's due next week, so I've got a bit to work on, and I'll know what to flesh out later today, so that's a plus.

2 More papers to do for British Heritage, one of which is almost done already, I just need to do the second one.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to my last day at the Charter School, which should be fun. I'll say goodbye to people that I've worked with and whatnot. I'll miss them. Friday, my friend Prediep, from France is coming to visit. He worked with me at camp, and won't be returning this year.

Now, for a presentation.

Greece!

I've returned from Greece - had a really amazing time while I was there. Some parts of it just blew my mind, leaving me dizzy with excitement at just being there. A couple times I got frustrated with my inability to speak or understand any Greek, but thankfully, those times were few.

To put things into a little bit of perspective, my interest in Greek history (Or, history from that era in general) comes from a class that I took in High School - Three Democracies, a sort of history/philosophy/logic class that was all about the Greeks, how they formed Democracy, as well as their schools of thought and military history. While I didn't do paticularly well in the class, it left a big impression.

So, my trip. Lots of fun. Very long at times. I started out at 2:55 am local time to catch a night bus with my backpack and book bag, loaded down with the bare minimum of necessities that I'd be needing. Very early. There wasn't much traffic. I caught the 38 and travelled over to Hyde Park and panicked when I got off at the wrong stop, but I found it in time for the next bus, and spent the next hour on the way to the airport. Got there around 4:30 or so, checked in to the airline and went through security, where I then waited around for a little while for my flight to board. Got on, and I was on my way to Munich, Germany for a ten or so hour layover. I fell asleep on the plane and awoke to a really bad headache - it felt like someone was driving a nail through my skull. Not fun. Got off the plane, got my first impression of Germany from their airport - neat. Went to their passport control and got out into the city for a couple hours. Nice place, although it was raining slighty. I got to practise my German a bit, which was very rusty from two years of non-use, but I got around decently, although it was extremely handy that a lot of people spoke English. Everyone I met was very nice, extremely helpful, and unlike England, they would come up to you in the street and ask a question. I was asked for directions twice, and assistance from two workment lifting a cover over a door. On the way back, I went hopping on and off the Metro and walking around at various parts of the city. Very clean and nice to walk around. I'd like to return someday.

Returned to the airport and took a nap, got something to eat and boarded my next flight to Athens. Got a heacahe again, ate something that they gave me, which was decent, and arrived in Athens at about 10 pm local time. I got my bag and went up and found Chris, the guy who owns the Hostel that I stayed at. Nice guy, spoke very good English and was very talkative. Got to the Hostel and went to bed. Turns out I'd have a room to myself the entire time, which was nice, I wasn't too worried about my stuff going missing.

Got up the next day sort of late and set out. I wasn't too sure how to get to the Acropolis, but I looked at a map and set out. Four hours later, I was nowhere nearer to it than I was to the Olympic stadium. A bit discouraged and questioning my judgement of travelling to Athens, I set back. This part of the city was dirty, and Athenian drivers are both insane and fast. Plus, the sidewalks were extremely narrow and cluttered with rubbish. But I made it back, ran into Chris and he explained (probably for the second time) that I had to take this bus, then get on the Metro. Ah, so I did. And found the Metro station, got on, found it to be very similar to London's Tube system and found my way to the Akropoli station, where the Acropolis is. Got out, walked around (it had closed by this time) and took in the sight (and site) for the first time. Very stunning. Returned to my hostel, bought a Pizza, met the three girls (Heather, Emily and Meghan) who were also staying there that night, talked with them for a couple hours, when Chris invited us up to the loft for some drinks. Greek beer is really good. Went back down and called it a night.
Got up the next morning and went with the girls to the airport, so that I knew where I'd be going when I left - extremely helpful. Leaving them there, I returned to the Acropolis and walked around there for hours. Went to the Parthenon and the structures there, all of which were under reconstruction work. The Propylaea was really cool to see, as was the Erechtheum. From there, I went to the South Slope and saw the The Odeion of Herodes Atticus, Stoa of Attalos and the Temple of Hephaestus before getting lunch. Went on to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was huge and amazing. Walked around some more before returning to the Hostel, fell asleep and met two new guys who just arrived from studying in France, Chris and Todd. There was also a couple from Spain who were staying for a couple nights and a guy from Canada, but I forgot their names. Got Pizza again with them, and the next morning, showed them how to reach the Acropolis before finding the bus station to head to Marathon.

Quick history lession - Marathon is considered the main place where Democracy was preserved from anhiliation. Greece, a democracy at this time, was at war with Persia because they supported a rebellion by a Persian colony. Persians are pissed, so they send a force of 25,000 soldiers to raze Athens. The Athenians are scared, but they mustered up 9,000 men, and another 1,000 or so from around the area, and they marched on Marathon to try and stop the Persian army. Here, the general Miltiades decided to change tactics and thinned his centre ranks, while boosting the outer ones. When the two armies clashed, the Persians broke through the centre easily, but the wings of the Athenian force came around and routed the Persians. At the end of the day, around 6,000 Persians were dead. Only about 200 Athenians were killed.

This story made a big impact for me in high school, and my geology professor, Dr. Richard Dunn, had recently done some work there, confirming some older theories on the topography at the time of the battle. I took a bus out there (REALLY cheap €2.90) Rode that for an hour, and got off when I saw the remains of the funeral pyre of the soldiers who died. It's still there after all these years, although it's shrunk over the time. Took some pictures and walked into the coast town, around where the battle was probably fought. Walked along the ocean for a while, that was nice. Got some sun and marvelled at the water. It was so blue - really cool.
I got chills thinking that I was walking where the battle was probably fought, although they're not entirely sure where the battle was fought exactly. But logically, I'd think that the funeral pyre would represent a fairly central location. I can't imagine that they'd move the bodies far. But it was awesome to visit. Walked a couple kilometers back to the bus stop and returned to Athens, where I then found the National Archeological Museum. Awesome place, but I wish that I spent more time there. I intended to the next day, but I didn't make it.

I returned to the hostel and got a quick bite to eat, leftovers from the night before. I had met up with Todd and Chris on the Metro back. Coincidentally, they were standing behind me on the same car. Weird. We hung out for a while at the Hostel, then went and got dinner at a resturaunt down the street.

The next morning, we all went down to Piraeus, the port city next to Athens, also with a lot of historical values there. Walked around a little, then I returned to the airport, showing Todd and Chris how to reach the National Archeological musuem and we parted. Got to the airport, ran around there a little, then got on my flight to Frankfurt and then on to London, arriving around 7 in the evening, reached the flat by around 8:30.

Had an awesome time. Took a ton of pictures, which you can see here and here.

It's nice to be back though. Overall, I loved the city, but I need to visit again. There's just way too much to see otherwise.

Greece!

It's come up extremely fast, and I suspect that this will be my last post in a week or so, barring computer access in Greece, which I'm not planning on using if possible. (Maybe to upload pictures...) My day's starting at 3 am tomorrow morning with an hour long bus ride to Heathrow Airport, so wish me luck.

Have a good rest of the week everyone. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Countdown

Counting down the hours until I leave. A bit nervous, but that's normal for me before setting off on a trip to somewhere I haven't been. Happened with Scotland and Eastbourne and even England. Now for Germany/Greece. But I think that I have everything together, and that's something. I've already had two friends tell me that they hate me for going to Greece. I'll send them mocking postcards.

Other than that, it's been a somewhat slow day - got a haircut and found that the cast of Green Wing, a British comedy that I really enjoy will be just down the road signing boxed sets. Me and a couple of friends will be going to do just that. Exciting!

Also updated a weeks worth of photographs on my photoblog, here. The current top ones are some of my favourites thus far. I'm thinking that when I return home, I'll be posting up a best of thing. I can't believe how fast time is coming to a close, and there's so much to do.

Oh yeah, and I found a CD/Tape player system with speakers that someone was throwing out. It makes a good addition to our flat.

Now, for more running around and getting ready.

Edit: Several Hours Later

Just got back from waiting in line to meet some of the members of the Green Wing cast. Green Wing, for those of you who don't know, is an extremely funny show here in the UK, just released on DVD and with the second series on the air now. I picked up the set after watching one episode, pretty cheaply too. Tonight they did a signing, got to have a couple of words with some of the cast members, nice guys, very happy for the fans to be there, which was a plus.

Sorry, it's kinda blurry. Fun times. Now, for food and packing.

Greece : 2 Days

Two days until I depart for Greece. In the meantime (and this is mainly for my benefit) I have to:

• Confirm my flights
• Confirm my hostel
• Write up a quick budget
• Buy a phone card and call home
• Write up a packing list
• Pack
• Get all of my information together, flights, passport, ID, money
• Change my travellers checks for Euros
• Find out the best way to get to the airport (I'm thinking the night before and just waiting)
• Get to the airport for a 7 am flight

Gaaaah...

And, from the Guardian today:

US plans strike to topple Iran regime - report

God. Say that it's not true, please, someone say something. Has anyone gotten the impression that war in one country, then a worse one in another, and now it's being considered that we're looking to go to war with a third? How the hell did we elect our current president into power.
The thing that scares me the most is that he's looking for a legacy to lead behind. That's the worst part.

Another government consultant is quoted as saying Mr Bush believes he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do" and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy".

Presidents, or anyone, shouldn't actively look for a legacy. It's arrogant and in this case, downright scary. Hopefully, the White House's response that this is overblown and untrue is true. Because this scares me more than anything else.

Eastbourne

Back from my trip to Eastbourne. Had a lot of fun while I was down there, it was great to get out of the city again and into a much smaller, much-less-touristy place. Eastbourne is a smaller town (Although citysized for VT) and it's on the southern coast - sharing the same rock formations as Dover, and it has the same white cliffs. It seemed like a pretty quiet place to live, and a bit of a retirement community, although we did see a lot of kids and dogs.
I went down with my friend Katherine, who's in my British Heritage class. Apparently her roommate and friends from her school went to Amsterdam, and because her parents are coming today, didn't go with them. So she invited me to come along. We picked a location, looked at train costs and Friday morning we got to the station, got tickets and rode the two or so hours down to the town. I paid for the train fares, she payed for the hotel, and we checked in, and went out to wander around the place. The beach was the first place that we went, found that it was all chert and rock, walked the length of that for a while, before hitting the chalk cliffs, about a mile and a half or so.

The Cliffs were really cool. I brought along my geology field book and took some notes, climbed around on them for a while and gave Katherine a lesson in geology theory and how the cliffs got there. Good to have a captive audience. We walked probably another mile down the cliffs, looking at the rocks and chatting, before turning back. Katherine got attacked by two seagulls, or thought that she did. Got a late and quick lunch and walked the other direction, through the town a bit for another couple hours, before returning. Watched some TV - she found a hilarious show called Green Wing, which was both confusing and side splitting. Really wacky british medical show - Definently have to find some more of it somewhere. Went to sleep, woken several times by drunk college students and later in the morning by a flock of insane pigeons. Got up, checked out, got breakfast and set out to find where to look for fossils. Checked at the hotel, library and tourist office, and none of them could really tell me. Checked my email at the library and found an e-mail that someone sent to me regarding fossils in the UK, and in Eastbourne, figured out where to go and we set out. To the Southwest of the town there's a large open park that runs along the cliffs. There's some paths, and some cows. We hiked along a couple miles to one point, then tried to find the way down to the beach, but we couldn't figure out where it was. Saw one of the lighthouses off in the water, then continued on to try and find the beach outlet.

Another two or three miles and we reached the second lighthouse, lots of hills later, and we turned back. Got a quick bite to eat at a pub on the road following the cliffs, then an hour or so later, we reached the town and got lunch at Pizza Express (The UK's equivilent of Pizza Hutt, but way better) then got back to the train station and back home. We were both exhaused, fell asleep on the train for a little while, then split up in the tube when we went back to our flats. I passed out for an hour, got some dinner and watched some TV before going back to bed.

Great weekend - really nice town with some good walks around it. Maybe someday I'll return. Took quite a bit of pictures - you can see them here: http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003111&l=32b29&id=70000497

Trip & Masters of Sci-Fi

Quick post because I'm off for the next day or so leaving in a little while, going down to Eastbourne, on the Southern Coast of England for the night. Hopefully getting to see the ocean, some real rocks and some fossils while I'm down there. Should be very fun.

A while ago, it was announced that ABC has green lit a new series called Masters of Science Fiction, which adapts a number of the classic authors and some of their stories into television format. There's not going to be a storyline throughout the show, just adaptations of stories, which I'm extremely excited for. Should be really cool to watch, when it comes out. Here's a blurb on it from the SciFi Wire:

The series will feature episodes based on writing by such SF masters as Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov. (ABC has given the gree light to 13 one-hour episodes.) Some are original stories; some are adaptations of older classics to attract younger audiences. The first segment, "Watchbird," will begin filming in Vancouver, Canada, in late April, directed by Michael Tolkin (The Rapture) and co-written by Michael Cassutt (who wrote for The Dead Zone and Andromeda) and J. Michael Straczynski (Bablyon 5). "One of the people I'm most excited about who is going to be involved with this [new] series is Stephen Hawking [the professor, writer and black holes expert], and I always thought that I wanted to meet him," Hyde said. "He's a visionary of our time."
Full Article

Finally, it came to light the other day that President Bush was the one who authorized the leak of an undercover CIA official's name in an effort to get leverage for the war in Iraq. Cheney's Aide is under inditment for the leak and this is just going to get messy.

Cheney's Aide Says President Approved Leak

Sorry, but things are getting over the line. You DON'T release classified information like that, especially with a CIA officer, and one that's undercover. Given that it was classified and with Bush the one who authorised the release, there's more than likely something that's been broken. This has to be looked into more closely. Someone should at least say something about it in the Congress.

New Element Discovered

Taken from Sara:

The recent hurricane and gasoline issues helped prove existence of a new element. In early October [2005], a major research institution announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium."
Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton like particles called peons. Since Gv has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Gv causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second!
Gv has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Gv is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.
When catalyzed with money, Gv becomes Administratium (Am) - an element which radiates just as much energy as Gv since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Have a good day everyone.

Carbon Leaf

Been listening to Carbon Leaf a lot lately. My all time favorite band. There's been a couple of developements lately with their stuff. On their website, which they recently revamped, they've said that they're working on a new album, which is awesome. Their past couple albums have been amazing. Every single song that they've put on those I've either liked or loved.

They just stuck some cool clips of something on their website, a sort of looping music, no singing, just drums and guitar, but it's relaxing for just about anything. I've taken to listening to it on my ipod and having it repeat for an hour or so. And, just looking over at their myspace page, I saw that they've got a fan made video for a song that I haven't heard before, called The War Was In Color, which is awesome, very good song.

Just thinking about what might be on their new album, that's the second new song that I've heard from the. So, thus the list begins: Porpoises, Texas Stars, The War Was In Color - the only ones that I've heard. This short list are some others:

For the First Time

Native America

Unknown Bride

If I Were a Cowboy

Crossroads

Back to... Norwich?

I visited Norwich today - here in the UK. I'm guessing that there's some sort of connection between Norwich Vermont and Norwich East Anglia. Norwich here is much more interesting, with a castle. They've got it decked out with a really crappy museum that's designed to interest someone about the age of five. I walked around it in about half an hour and was most amused by the castle well, which was deep. But that's about it. Big waste, which is a shame. We walked around the town, which was interesting. Cool town. My roommate missed the train, which I was thrilled at, because he seriously needs to be ego checked and brought down a couple notches. I swear, the guy's an idiot. Too institutionalised at Norwich (the university), too uncreative, unintelligent and really not that great with kids. Which is odd, because he's intending on teaching after college. Let's see how long that lasts.
It seems like a lot of deadlines are coming up. Two papers due earlier this week, an exam tomorrow, trips and my flight home. It's scary how fast everything's coming.

On another note, has anyone seen a show called Grey's Anatomy? How is it?

And finally, iTunes has added Dave Matthew's Band to their music library. I wonder what toook them so long.