whole lotta not much

its amazing how the time is flying by - before i know it, vacay will be over and will be slogging in away in the mines. em . . classroom.

so in prep for my trip to Brasov for learning and hanging was getting some stuff together. and it was FRUSTRATIN'. went to buy a replacement buckle for my backpack (did i mention that its a bit warm and i sweat profusely). the outdoor sporting good store is a bit out of my way but i convinced myself to do it. and they didnt have one - the jerk behind the counter tries to fob me off by saying that size is rarely used and thats why. LIAR!!! my other bags have used the same exact one. dont lie just admit that y'all are crap. will have to cannibalize one of those bags.

then the hunt for running shoes. went to the sport store of the 10 possible styles - they had one but can i find it in my size? nooooooooo. then i go other places and no dice. i went to 2 freaking malls but no luck. the pair i have now (reebok) ripped. my asics were forgotten at fencing practice and were found then lost again. my poor flatfooted feet need supportive shoes.

my mp3 player was liberated from my possession as i bought cucumber and tomatoes (they are the most expensive veggies i've ever purchased) so attempted to buy a new one. at the store, none have batteries and i couldnt look at the manuals. how am i supposed to know what am spending crazy amounts of money on if i cant try it out. something not appreciated by the clerks. its really frustrating as my language ability is too limited to really let loose on them. always just gotta go away with a curt multumesc.

to console myself and stoke my inner 15 year old boy, i saw the HULK movie. was really enjoyable and tim roth is crazy short. great summer movie. ever since fight club (ahhh. . .) have seriously loved ed norton and it was interesting having a bruce banner who was all kinda skinny and stuff. liv tyler's mouth frightens me. would see a sequel until i get bored. couldnt be bothered to see the spiderman 3.

love the summer movie season - or at least my inner 15 yr old boy does. never seen the mummy movies but am contemplating it as jet li is in it - and the 15 yr old loves him.

toodles

bestfest 2008

tonite i went to bucharests bestfest, the music festival held here during the summer. i like festivals cause its an opportunity to see lots of musicians that you normally would not pay high admission for. also theres the chance to see new bands. they suck cause there's always two bands you want to see playing at the same time. and my feet, my poor aching feet. spending almost 7 hours standing and dancing, my feet need some tlc. but they aint getting any. sadly the cat does not have opposable thumbs (i wish for a mutant cat daily)

was pretty good. i saw Alanis Morrisette, Unkle, and Apollo 44. all played well and i have a greater desire to listen to their music.

Bestfest is done in the middle of the city with housing nearby so they put together one of the best bits, the silent disco. you walk up and there all of these people in an area flailing around randomly. when you enter you are given a set of headphones with 2 diff channels so you can pick the music you want to listen and dance too. was pretty fun and funny when you take of the 'phones and people are just moving around in silence.

alas, am now tired. trying to psyche myself up to go back to see nelly furtado (no real desire) and stereophonics who i seriously love.

sigh. . .

la la li lai lai

do i know what this means? em, no. but last nite, with some friends, i went to a gypsy music concert and it was pretty awesome. it was modern music, so very few pipes (which drive me insane) but traditional instruments (hand drums, accordian, etc) plus electric guitars, bass, and drums. the opening act was a really good serbian group playing similar music

i swear there were like 50 people on the stage between singers and a bevy of dancers. people in the audience were dancing and i learned a few moves from me friends.

on of the funny bits was near the end when this woman in evening wear came out. the rest of the band, who apparently are pretty famous outside of romania, were wearing something close to traditional costumes. she came out threw her arms out, waiting for applause. I turn to my friends and ask if she is famous, because at the beginning of the show we had recitation of poetry by a well known romanian actress (she was also in the the Passion of the Christ- dont know, didnt see it). anyway - not famous. she sang the first verse of whitney houston's the greatest love of all then the band resumed playing music again. its like shes some's girlfriend who has convinced them to let her be on stage. cause she did it badly and at the end she came forward to screech in the microphone.

also there was a famous romanian rapper. the dancing gypsy girls hung in the back, unsure of what to do when the rapping was going on. all in all a very entertaining nite. heres a totally crappy pic.

AHHHHH!!!!!!

am soooooo bored. came back from italy which was pretty awesome, will post some year. came back home, lovely to be home and in bed and all that return home stuff. cat didnt jump off balcony again blah blah blah. now have hit the bad part of summer. havent decided what to do and am going crazy with boredom. have slept and rested up. last night after reading a book, i posted a review on amazon. at 3am. never did it before. never had the time. but apparently do now. the nite before, again at 3am i went on a kitten rescue mission (someone had dumped it and i could hear it crying 3 floors up)

gotta find something to do with self. maybe will start crocheting again.

ha,ha, ha - yay yay yay

wow its been along time since i posted.

the student newspaper did a survey at school. and i was voted the funniest teacher. yay!!! at least i didnt get strangest teacher. and i truly like the kids (except for certain members of year 9) and theyre pretty funny themselves (in a good way).

anyhoo - yesterday was the last day of school. i was almost giddy. now for a 2 1/2 month vaycay.

not too much happening this summer. on monday i go to milan and venice for a week. then i have to do some school work as we are finally (2 years late) shifting to the new campus. will be staying in romania this summer doing a language course and traveling about a bit more, seeing the bits i havent already seen. its a relatively large country so there's lots to see.

this of course if nothing changes.

but the bestest of all - am seeing radiohead in milan. am kind of in training. will be listening to lots of radiohead so can get the words just right. have been waiting for this for more than half my life. its almost like a pilgrimage.

Bibliodyssey

this is like one of the coolest things ever. This dude(?) finds old plates and rawings from books long faded into obscurity and makes them available again and links to the full text sources. BibliOdyssey

amazing photographs

visit some amazing photographs by this photographer based in asia who was in Burma right before the cyclone

voting

just like y'all in the states, its also voting time here in bucharest. cause am all knowledgeable - all i can make out are that there are some parties - they are yellow, orange, green, and red. they must have names but am far too knowledgeable to figure that out (there are a lot of acronyms and that's hard work!). bucharest is divided into 6 sectors, each with its own mayor, and there is one for the whole city. so theres a lot of this campaigning and leaflet giving and such.

the campaign style here is a bit different. was subjected to a commercial for a yellow dude at the movies as part of the preview for Iron Man. you will also find flatbed trucks with mounted speakers driving down some of the major residential roads, blaring music and the names of their people. but the kicker is the truck also has cheerleader type people on it in short shorts and tight shirts. you know, to get the issues across so you can make an informed decision when voting.

now the only ones who approach me are members of the green party. i figure they must be desperate because, one look at me lets you know that i cant vote. but still they will give me leaflets and a gift. the leaflet, in addition to letting me know this party will free us from the communists who have been running the country despite the revolution, has on the back the football playing schedule - something useful. i also received matches, again useful stuff.
i cant help but realize though that the other colors give out lighters.

totally random

just came from a christening - was a great experience - more on that later. but at the restaurant (which was part of a hotel) where the after dunking party was held had a tv on. sound as off cause music was blaring, but there was a steven segal movie on. he is one of the greatest (if you define this to a very narrow definition) actors ever. remembered the joy i used to get as a kid watching his movies and him kicking but and providing soulful (again, with limitations) insights to the human condition. mostly i loved the fighting and that the good guys always won. he shoots alot of movies in romania (mostly cause he's like fat and cant fight anymore and they all go straight to video). so anyway, not this weekend (am going to sibiu) or next next weekend (gotta give myself time to amass them) am gonna have a weekend of culture (limited) with a marathon of steven segal movies. maybe they will pass the test of time.

on being a terrorist

a couple of weekends ago as part of my easter (orthodox) holiday (or as the person who made up my school calendar calls it, eastern easter) i spent a couple of days in the UK.

when i first got of the plane, i thought SWEET! as the line for non EU passports was only 3 people deep. but alas, my joy was not to last as my actually going thru passport control was a little long.

dude (i have a special name for him in my head) passes my passport through then proceeds to ask me questions, what am i doing there? how long will i be staying? where will i be staying? etc. now usually, an american passport holder does not receive these questions and wanting of minute accounting of ones holiday plans. before the UK, i visited some friends in the netherlands and it was a wave on through.

He's getting snotty with me and asks for proof that i will be leaving the UK (like i want to illegally enter and stay in one of the most crazy expensive countries). i give him my flight info to return home, then its more questions asking for my romanian id and activities there (surprised he didnt ask about my ovulation schedule). then i am asked to wait to the side while a supervisor comes and speaks to me.

finally we get to the meat of it. this guy never comes out and says it, but its the terrorism survey, apparently because i had some many stamps from the middle east (that part he says). am all thinking, hmmm. . my people (haitians - which is says in my passport) would not make the best terrorists since most of us carry the lateness gene.

I think he took one look at me and thought maybe i decided to find my roots in the motherland or something. i can barely practice the religion ive got, let alone, during my time in the middle east, to have converted to a religion that requires so much work of a practitioner. 1 year is like over 40 lifetimes of regular (as i define it) church attendance.

after answering a number of carefully nuanced (my buttocks!) questions i was allowed to enter the country to visit museums and buy art supplies.