Crazy People

The McCloud family works for Comic Book Resources, and part of what they do is travel around the country interviewing comic artists. Recently, they've started a series of "Winterviews" that are conducted by their 11-year old daughter Winter and almost totally recorded and edited by their 13-year old daughter Sky.

Back in October they interviewed Jeffrey Rowland, author of my two absolute most favourite webcomics Wigu and OverCompensating, and a general all-around cool guy. You can watch his Winterview here.

Last week the McCloud's released a new interview with R. Stevens, author of the Diesel Sweeties webcomic (which, while not my favorite, is one that I still enjoy from time to time). You can watch it here.

Neither of the Winterviews are awe-inspiring, but it's fun to see grown people trying to figure out how to react to being interviewed by a 11-year old girl. Also, it's well worth the look into the secretive world of self-employed webcomic artists-slash-t-shirt entrepeneurs (it still amazes me that some people make most of their living by selling stuff on the internet).

I don't know if the problem lies with my internet connection or with the server hosting the Winterviews, but when I try to watch one it doesn't always load properly, and even when it does it loads slowly. Be warned, but don't let that stop you from enjoying them!

PLUR!

The Darkness

I think it's a caffeine addiction. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for it, but now I'm at a point where I simple can't go through a day without craving some kind of soda or at least a couple cups of tea. I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm in the States.

All is well.

PLUR!

Theiving the Sky (Stealing Someone's Thunder)

Today is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not technically celebrated in the UK, but there are so many Americans around most of the time, that Brits know to make a big deal about it anyway. At least, that's what I've seen.

Regardless, here's a quote from the inimitable Jeffrey Rowland about the holiday of Thanksgiving:
"Holy gosh, how did it get to be Thanksgiving already> For those who don't know, I am half-Cherokee and from rural Oklahoma and therefore consider Thanksgiving to be mostly insulting. I'm thankful for stuff everyday, I don't need a whitewashed version of The American Holocaust and a ritual sacrifice to remind me to be grateful. I'm grateful everytime I look in the mirror and realize I am basically symmetrical."

And I think that's something we should all be thankful for.

PLUR!

Drat!

Well, it turns out the District line is closed between Whitecastle and Earl's Court...and I needed to get to Earl's Court so I could transfer to the right train to get to Hammersmith and the Quaker meeting! I'm going to have to miss today...although I feel bad about it 'cause I missed last week, too (last week I stayed up 'til 4 in the morning talking with Aoife, and simply failed to wake up before noon). If I can find my mp3 player, though, I'm going to put a bunch of "sacred" music on it and go for a walk in the park. It's not quite the same, but maybe it'll still count, eh?

I've been thinking a lot about music recently. What it is, how it's ought to be, the themes and messages it should portray, and other things that go along with it. And frankly, the more I think about it the more I begin to think that nonlyrical music may be the best kind of music. You can create a full range of expression without being limited by the construction of spoken language. Of course, there are a lot of lyrical songs that are also really good, but they just seem to be so few and far between. Too often it just seems like the music of a song is just a vehicle to carry the lyrics, which more often than not simply seem to be little more than mediocre poetry.

Sorry, that's all. I promise. ( :

PLUR!

Through the Week

It is Sunday! That means only one thing: that last week is over!

Actually, that's untrue. It really means lots of things. What I said is just the most relevant at the moment.

This past week was most certainly interesting. I had a presentation for my BLC class that basically ended up with me standing in front of the class scribbling facts about the Redwall books on the whiteboard. In spite of that, my presentation was probably one of the better ones (although I think "fish and chips" wins the grand prize). I also had my first house visits this week. Since the group I'm working with for my internship focuses on childhood stammering, they do a lot of recording of kids talking - both kids who stammer and kids who don't. Since it's not always convenient for the kids and their parents to come into the lab and record, house visit arrangements are made for some of the kids, and I was assigned six to do. Last week I finished three of them. I would have taken out the remaining three this coming week, but I had to reschedule one of them because of a conflict that came up. So instead I'll have finished 5 of the 6 by the end of the week, and have one that's just going to chill 'til early in December. Word.

I was REALLY nervous about my first visit, but it went exceptionally well so I'm really glad for that. I got off at the wrong tube stop and got really lost for my second one, but with the child's mom directing me on the phone (business call?) I managed to find the right address. The third one was an interesting case. The child's mom had completely forgotten that I was coming, and so the whole thing was kind of rushed and cobbled together as though at the last minute. I had a good time at that one, though. The boy I was recording mentioned all sorts of fun stuff like how much he liked magnets, and I couldn't help but think of myself at that age. Man, I wonder what it would be like to be eight again?

This week I've got two more house visits, plus whatever else it is I'm supposed to be doing. Oh, it will probably be more annotating. Fortunately, not the same stuff I've been doing. I finished those, basically, and now Kelsey and I are doing orthographic transcriptions of the monologues. It turns out that when the original recordings were annotated, no one thought to do a "real" transcription along with the phonetic syllable and phonological word annotations! It's been a lot of fun so far. The last one I finished was all about this one kid's holiday to Disney World Paris. It sounded pretty cool.

That's all for now. Breakfast time, then I'm going to try to make it to meeting.

PLUR!

Phase II

Blogger just announced the release of their new version and is looking for beta testers. I may jump on that bandwagon, but I'm not planning to change just yet.

It's always fun to find out that just when you assumed you know where everyone's at, you find out someone you never would have expected is right out there with you. ( : Even in the midst of community there are strangers, and even in the midst of strangers there is community.

Meeting and LAUNDRY tomorrow. Presentation on Monday, and money on Tuesday. Gosh it'll be nice to have money for food again.

PLUR!

here it is (a red balloon)

Well, here ends another day where I've been right in the middle of everything, but gotten nex tto nothing accomplished. I have to say, before I met the internet I thought real-time was on the cutting edge of communications. Now there are times when I'm almost convinced it's not fast enough.

That's probably a bad thing, but I digress.

I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to live next semester when I get back to Guilford College. That's the $64,000 question for the day...

PLUR!

Here I am again

Okie-doke. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I've been quite busy the past couple weeks. It was a big transition getting into my internship, but I'm finally settled and establishing my new routine. I'm working three days a week (Wed-Fri) for the Speech Development group at UCL, a research group that does a lot of research work on causes and other things related to stuttering, especially in children. So far I haven't done anything terribly exciting at work (I've spent most of my time proofreading transcripts of interviews to make sure the syllabic and phonological word annotations are both accurate, although this past Friday I spent most of the day taking notes on published articles for a talk Pete will be giving this week), but I'm getting to know the local Subway pretty well. A sandwich with jalapeño peppers on it is a poor substitute for Mexican food, but at least it's got a bit of a kick to it. I miss proper chips and salsa, though. There's one other FIE intern working for the same group, but our schedules are different and we only work together about twice a week. Still, it's nice to have company my own age at work sometimes. The only other time I see much of college-aged kids is when I sit lectures (I've got about 12 pages of notes from speech science lectures, and that's just from the past two weeks!), and you can't exactly talk during class!
Last week I went to Parliament and had a verynice tourguide lead me around. I had to go throuugh all sorts of security before they'd even let me into the building (and apparently you can't even get in if you haven't made a prior appointment to do so. Thank goodness for field trips!), but our tour guide was a very nice man named Keith Cameron.

And that drove me absolutely mad. I know there's some politician or small-time celebrity out there named Keith Cameron, but I can't for the life of me remember who it is! It's someone current, I'm about 95% positive about that. The 5% of me that's not certain thinks that it's possible I've mixed up his name with Kirk Cameron, actor and internet evangelist. But if anyone knows anything about a Keith Cameron, please let me know.

Anyway, Keith Cameron was our tour guide, and he took us around Parliament and told us all sorts of neat things about it. All in all it was a pretty cool trip, but I would have preferred to be able to walk around on my own. In addition to the building's "functionality," there was a lot of interesting architecture and statues all over the place that I would have liked to have spent more time looking at.

This weekend (actually today, but since today is Sunday, celebrations started yesterdaay) is the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night. It's supposed to be a huge festival with lots of celebrating and fireworks and bonfires (hence the name ^_^), and I'm going to see if I can't sniff some out tonight. Some of us tried to last night, but a bunch of stuff came up, and the the mission was not a success. It's okay, though, 'cause I'm still pretty amazed that I'm even in London. I won't be too disappointed if I don't get a chance to experience every single little thing.

Apparently Guilford College budgeted for us to have a Thanksgiving meal, which was really thoughtful of them since the British don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Not celebrating Thanksgiving has some other implications, too, since it means there's no major holiday between Hallowe'en and Christmas! Literally the day after Hallowe'en, I started seeing Christmas ads up all over the place. The "holiday season" is kickin' it into high gear already over here...
I haven't listened to the radio much, but now I'm a little afraid to, because I'm afraid all I might hear will be non-stop Christmas music! I talked to mom last night, and she said that the Magic station is already doing that.
Seriously, how absurd is that? What possible point can there be to starting Christmas music almost two full months before Christmas actually happens? Sheesh...

Well, that's all for now. Now that I've got something resembling a schedule again, I'll try to update more regularly.

PLUR!

Back To Form

I am back from Budapest, and in preparation for my internship (which starts tomorrow).

I really enjoyed my trip to Hungary, even the weather. The sun was bright, and there was a crisp breeze blowing the whole time so it was fairly cool (I wish I'd packed my gloves to go with me!). The city was beautiful. Seeing the city from above and from a distance reminded me a lot of the time I visited San Francisco which, for all it's faults, is an incredibly beautiful city.

So those are a few shots of Budapest, both of them taken in the late morning/early afternoon. ( :
I spent most of the two and a half days I was there exploring the area around where I was staying, so I got pretty familiar with those few public transit routes (Budapest has busses, trams, trains, a metro, "omnibusses," and trolleys. It's a very comprehensive system, even moreso than London!) and some of the sites.

One of my favorite places to visit was the Citadella. It's on top of a small mountain called Gellért Hill, and it's the Hungarian statue of liberty. It was erected by the Russians when they came in in the 50's and liberated Hungary from Nazi occupation. It was built to face Moscow, because it was Russia that had given them their "freedom." Then, when the Berlin Wall fell in '89, the Hungarians got rid of a lot of Soviet monuments, but they liked the idea of the liberty statue so much they decided not to destroy it. Instead, they turned it around 180 degrees so that it faced directly away from Moscow, and that's how it stands today.


On the last day there, I visited a market in an old warehouse. it was kinda cool there. The ground floor and the basement were full of food (ground floor mostly produce and some meat, more meat downstairs, including several fishmongers. Lots of live fish in a basement stink the place up!). The upper level had a little pub-like restaurant in it, and the rest was devoted to tourist-y types of stuff. Little curios and puzzles and souvenirs and T-shirts and stuff like that. I did find something there that was just about perfect for Grandpa Abeyta, but he'll just have to wait 'til Christmas to find out what it is!

The Vaughans also took me out to get an authentic Hungarian goulash one evening. It was absolutely delicious. It's the kind of meal that beef stew wishes it could be. I'm not a huge fan of soup, but I think I could eat goulash for a week (not counting breakfasts, preferably) and not get tired of it.

And that's about all. I'm off to do some gracery shopping in just a bit, and I fully intend to get to bed at a decent hour tonight since I have to get up in the morning for work.

PLUR!

Wishful Thinking

It seems like every website I visit is merchadising these days! What's up with that? However, it's revealed a whole new world of stuff that it would be fun to have. Please pardon the selfish interlude, but....

First Church of Banjo: Cult of Banjulhu t-shirt
Elan and Roy on Teamwork t-shirt
A roleplaying game? That makes fun of roleplaying games? Count me in!
We all like our stuff to be better, don't we?
Gamers are silly
Rock you like a Hadoken
The movie was awful, but the legacy is legendary
I'm a sucker for mythical beasts. ^_^
Perfect for making a political statement when you don't know what to say
The ultimate refreshment
Pretty much anything here, but especially the lime shirt, the vinyl stickers, and the temporary tattoos
And lets not forget Firefly and Serenity themed stuff.


That should be all. Sometimes window-shopping can be fun. ^_^

PLUR!

Well....

I decided to get a digital camera today. I went down to Argos and spent a good long time looking at prices and everything else, and finally settled on a Vivitor ViviCam 4345. It's a 4 mPix camera with the video capture ability. Not top of the line by any means, but it should be more than adequate for my needs.

Fall break is now, and tomorrow is when I leave. I don't really expect to be able to post again 'til Saturday or Sunday, but when I get around to it, I'll let y'all know how my travels were.

PLUR!

Modular

Wow, it's going to be so weird getting used to computing with 2 hands again. I've gotten so used to using the "touchpad" mouse on my laptop that I'm going to have to retrain myself how to use a manual. It's a shame that it's so hard to modify keyboards, otherwise I'd consider switching from Qwerty to Dvorak (which is supposed to be more ergonomic and, once you're proficient at it, faster).

Also, having a USB optical mouse will be useful for the eventual day when I switch to a new system. I like my laptop (we've become very familiar with each other, and in as much as a human and an inanimate object can be, I like to think of us as friends), but I'm certain that I'll be operating on a new computer sometime within the next few years (that's my hope at least!). I'd love to get a Mac because of the good video and music suite they've got, but you just can't beat a PC as a computer "workhorse." Maybe when I do get a new system I'll turn the laptop into a "toy" and play around with it. I've been curious about Linux for a little while.

In more humanitarian news, a few of you probably know this, but others may not. The Hunger Site has been my homepage for 6-8 months, and it's a really cool site. You can click on the link once per day, and they'll register it through a Mercy Corp and America's Second Harvest sponsorship as a donation of 1.1 cups of staple food to a charity working in a third world country. Help feed hungry people through just a few clicks of the mouse. It doesn't get much easier to help out, does it?

I think that's all for now.

PLUR!

Worse, or Better?

So, it struck me...yesterday? This morning? I don't remember when, but it was sometime very recently. Anyway, it struck me that a LOT of people use iTunes. And a LOT of people use Google (and by extension, Gmail). And a LOT of people use Blogger. And there are certain other programs and services that a LOT of people use. And I started to wonder: is this simply a cultural phenomenon, or are these programs and services actually better than their competition?

Honestly, I don't know. I think there are probably elements of both, and there are doubtlessly some unique features or superior interface over competitors, but in the long run I just don't know if I believe they're that much better than the rest.

Of course, take what I have to say with a grain of salt. I'm typing up my speculations on Blogger, just days after having gotten a gmail account, while downloading an iTunes update. Tech-savvy, or hypocrite? We may never know.

PLUR!

Wishful Thinkage

It would be lovely to get this shirt. I especially like the brown American Apparel (no cruelty!) ringer shirt. Too bad it's so expensive! Well, that and international shipping....

Two-thirds done with my Islam and the West term paper....

PLUR!

Local cuisine

There is a restaurant that I pass every day on my way to and from classes called "Little India." This in and of itself (since it's WAY more expensive than I can normally afford) is of little importance, but there's something interesting about this place. The only advertising I've ever seen for it is a sign in the window that simply says, "The owner also eats here." It took me a week or two to notice it, and at least another week to appreciate it, but I think that has to be the best advertisment a restaurant could possibly have.

There's another restaurant that I really like (even though it's too expensive for me) that's a little Italian joint called Il Borgo. Whenever I pass by it, I can't help but think, "Preparare essere assimilato. La resistenza è futile," and smile.


I begin my internship in two weeks, now. Countdown....

PLUR!

Holy Swiss Cheese, Batman!

Goodness! It just struck me that John's birthday is coming up! Unfortunately, I don't have the date written down, so I can't tell exactly when it is, but will someone please give him my fondest birthday wishes?

Thanks!

PLUR!

Punch deck , break ice, jack out.

WOW. I just found out that I share a brithday with William Gibson, inventer of the phrase "cyberspace," and author of Neuromancer and other books.

I'm probably alone in my excitement, but this is big news for me! Neat!

PLUR!

Walking on Sunshine

I had my interview this morning. I've been asked to return on Wednesday for some preliminary training. I begin working in two weeks: October 25.

PLUR!

Mighty Max v. Polly Pocket

Yesterday was an absolute joy. Although we had to get up bright and early in the morning (thank goodness we had sunlight almost all day long!) to meet the bus at 8:00 sharp (the driver and tour guide did not wait for latecomers), the early morning was well worth it. We started out going to Stonehenge, which has been a longtime dream of mine. I can't remember when I first learned about Stonehenge, because I feel like I've known about it forever, and I was extremely excited to be able to go see it with my own eyes, especially after having seen the Georgia Guidestones for the first time this summer. Sadly, the monument was cordoned off, and we couldn't get any closer than maybe 15 yards away from it. I completely understand the rationale behind it, but it was more than a bit disappointing to me. After all, I would have treated the monument reverently and not just screwed around with it like some people might have. Not being able to touch the stones was pretty much my only disappointment of the day, though.
As soon as I can "steal" the pictures of I took off other peoples' cameras, I'll post some of them. I feel like I got some really good shots of the henge.
"Henge" by the way, is an ancient word that roughly translates to "temple," so the name "Stonehenge" is just a fancy way of saying "stone temple." Henges could be made of any material, though, and throughout history there have been smaller stone henges, wooden henges, and earthen henges. I suppose you could say that modern-day churches and worship centers are typically "concrete-henges," but that'd be getting a bit silly, wouldn't it? ^_^
After we spent our hour or so at Stonehenge (I would've liked to have stayed a little longer, but it was windy and cool that morning, so it was nice to be able to get back on the bus), we loaded back up and traveled to Bath.

Bath is a very old city that has been famous for thousands of years for the warm water that seeps out of the ground there. In ancient times it was believed to have healing properties. When the Romans invaded England in the early years AD, they built an elaborate system of baths there (hence the name of the city!), and Bath became a popular resort town amongst battle-weary soldiers on the northern frontier and the elite. When the Romans essentially abandoned England Bath fell into disrepair, as the Angles and Saxons who replaced them weren't terribly keen on bathing (apparently a common idea at the time was that bathing in warm water opened up the pores, and having open pores made one more susceptible to infection. Ironically, Anglo-Saxons considered bathing to be unsanitary!). In the 18th century, Beau Nash revived Bath as a resort and spa town, and helped to bring in a whole new clientele of aristocratic and moneyed individuals to the area (The 1700's saw the beginning of a powerful mercantile tradition in England, resulting in the creation of a fledgling bourgeios middle class that had money, but no aristocratic background). Now Bath is considered a World Heritage Site, and the Roman baths and the restored Nash-era city are protected sites.

After the tours, we were free to explore the city 'til 3:30, and a group of friends and I ate lunch at the Parrot and Rat Bar. I was terribly amused and commented on how it sounded like a pirate bar...then Wes pointed out a sign above one of the windows that said "Pirate Bar." Needless to say, that took the wind out of my sails. *rimshot*
The food was good, though, and relatively cheap if you knew what to get. The tavern offered a 2-meals-for-£7.50 deal, so Elise (a new friend from Marymount. She was standing next to Chelsea when we were taking pictures at Stonehenge, and I accidentally bopped her nose when I turned around once. That's how we met) and I split split that deal and both tried the fish and chips. The fish was pretty tasty, and the chips were curly fries! They tasted pretty good in the tartar (tartare?) sauce that came with it for the fish. I don't think I even used the ketchup on the table. I did play with the mustard a little, though (I know, I know...).
On the way back to the meeting point after lunch, we passed a street vendor in one of the squares selling handmade "roses" 10 for £1, so I bought some for Chelsea, since she'd given me some of her brownie for dessert. On the way back "home," I think everyone on the coach fell asleep.

After meeting this morning, I had an interesting conversation with a man named David. Hammersmith very kindly offers tea and coffee for refreshments after meeting, and I'm fairly sure they're complimentary, although they operate under one of those "donations appreciated and strongly encouraged" systems, kind of like coffee at FBC on Sundays. While I was drinking my cup of tea (complete with saucer!), David and I started talking about all sorts of things. He began by asking me some questions about my impressions of the difference between US and UK portrayals of the US, and from there we talked a bit about politics, spirituality, faith and practice, and the impact that sick family members have had in our lives. He seemed particularly interested in my ideas about things, which I guess was because I'm nearly the only person about my age at the meeting. There are "young" families at the meeting, but the parents are all older than me, and the children all younger (I'm not extremely good at guessing ages, but the oldest youngster at Hammersmith looks to be about 14). Apparently when I was sick last week, a young woman who'd just begun university visited the meeting, but I don't think she was here this week.
The folk at Hammersmith have been nothing but kind to me, though, and I've had some very interesting talks with some members over tea in the past few weeks. I'm glad I found this community to be a part of, even though it's just for a short time.

I've been thinking about lots of things recently, and I've tentatively started writing again. It's amazing how much inspiration for fiction lies in the real world.

Thanks all for now. I have to spend some time reading for class. Tomorrow is my interview. Wish me luck!

PLUR!

Bless your beautiful hide!

Bah, I don't like having to talk about myself. Something always comes up that I do a terrible job of covering, and then I think of the perfect way to describe it a while later, after it's no longer relevant.

In other news, I went to the building that I'll be interviewing for my internship today. I left at 3 pm, and got back about 5:20. It took about 35 minutes in each direction to get there and get back. The building was about three minutes from the Russel Square tube stop. So that's about an hour and 12 minutes accounted for along my trip. Would you like to know what I spent the other hour+ doing?

Well, I'll tell you then.

I was getting lost! It took me an hour to find the right street, and I had to walk down it twice before I found the right building! How embarassing! *laugh*

This evening, on a whim, I went with some friends to see Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. It was a lot of fun to see an American musical being performed by British actors. If I were to judge solely from the accents of the actors, Oregon (the setting of the musical) is apparently a territory in southern Scotland. Or maybe New England. Maybe Oregon used to live in Boston and then moved to Scotland a long time ago so that it's got kind of a weird blend of both accents. Basically, British folk trying to sing American accents was fun to hear. ( :

And tomorrow is The Day. Tomorrow, bright and early in the morning (or, you know, overcast and drizzly and early in the morning, depending on the forecast) I'll be getting on a coach bus and visiting Stonehenge and Bath (but mostly Stonehenge ^_^). I'm so excited!

PLUR!