Frivilous Fop

Yesterday, my dogs were barking. I walked so much; the upside is that I get to see things and I get to get in shape. Yesterday, I went to the Greater Cairo Library in Zamalek. Zamalek and Gezira are an island in the Nile to the west of downtown. It is the nicer part of the city, where there are more rich people as well as more embassies and such. It is much quieter, a little cleaner and a alot greener. I passed by a lot of magnificent gardens and and beautiful green areas. I am really starved for green, I don't really know if I am made for city living. I think I require country.

The library itself was not too great except for the architecture. It was a palace of a queen which was later sold because she was poor. It is a beautiful yellow that shines in the sunlight. But the library is small and to my dismay and after an hour of walking I found out that you cannot check books out. I contented myself by reading 20 pages of a Tom Clancy book while resting my feet.

In some places, such as this library, the people there don't speak too much English and ask you to speak in Arabic. Stuttering and scrambling for words I often fail more times than I succeed, hopefully that will change.

I also got somewhat yelled at by a policeman for taking a picture near an embassy. I didn't see the building because I was trying to take a picture of a cat on a wall (which happened to be the embassy). Speaking of cats, AUC has a large population of strays that inhabit Greek campus. They come up to you begging for food and meowing. One tried to climb into my lap in the chair I was in by going between my leg and the armrest. It got stuck. Very funny.

It has been unreasonably cold here for the past two days. In the fifties, I think. For cairo, that is cold, although I know it has got to be warmer than at home.

I noticed a big difference but similarity about how people treat accidents on the streets. In Cairo, if there is an accident a big crowd will gather, I guess talking and arguing about what happened. I would be mortified if I was ever in an accident. In the United States, if there is an accident people slow to a crawl as they drive by. I write this difference off to the mode of transportation that the majority of people take. Cairo=feet and United States=car. But everyone still looks, oh yes they do. You know there has been an accident if there is a group of about 30 or more people on the street not moving.

Just some random thoughts...

my name is tim, your name is Tip?, uh yeah nice to meet you

Today was the first day of orientation. Got up early, went with the other American's to AUC got through checking in and such...and ate small triangle sandwhiches and apples! Though the cheese was funky and strong it was good to have cheese and apples, I am going back for more tomorrow. Love free food.

Went on a driving tour of Cairo, nice to see the places, but mostly it was watch the bus navigate the incredibly crowded streets, pass by on narrow streets clearing cars by inches. We tried to have our guide, two students explain the names of the bridges, 26th of July, 15th of May, and 6th of October. They could name the first and the last, the day of the revolution and the liberation of the Sinai.

Got approached by lots of people today. Some looking to sell stuff, others, I think, looking just to talk. Still working on how to discern the two. Yesterday, I was walking and out of a window on the second floor fell something large and made of glass. Made a big noise and shattered into a thousand nay a million pieces. Almost hit a car and some people, if I had been on the other side of the street, I would of been very close to this. Some guy came up to me and said, you see a lot of things like this in Cairo.

Also, have been noticing how my presence as an non-Egyptian and when people start talking to me as an American can still turn heads, especially out walking the streets. I have never had that experience before, in America, especially at UMBC. I will be walking and people will say something to whomever they are talking to and they will turn and look at me. Mostly, I have noticed it to be girls, old men, and some young men. It is not good or bad just different. I have never stuck out like that before.

Exhaustion has set in, I think I climed 20 some flights of stairs today and walked to and from the campus twice. Have a belly full of food (mostly unhealthy stuff), peace out

good tidings

Registered for classes finally. I write in a much calmer state; after writing the last entry, I went back and waited around. Finally got into the following classes: Arabic 202, Hist 356-History of the Middle East 1914-Present, Arab and Islamic Cultures 206-Art and Architecture of Cairo, and Hist 412-Selected Topics in Modern Egyptian History. All look very interesting, the ARIC 206 has field trips on saturdays which should be great.

Also, another good bit of news is that the water in the hotel is filtered which means no more buying water=less money spent, less trash, more good.

Watching The Firm with arabic subtitles. These cairo days just wear me out. Had more kushari today. Most excellent.

pure and utter chaos

That is how I would describe the registration process here at AUC. I have tried since registration started to get into my classes. It has not worked, emails have been slow to get replies. I understand this delay because there are a lot of students and few staff. But the in person registration today was even worse. It is in a building off main campus. You go up these winding marble but crowded feeling stairs. Enter a room meant to hold furniture and two or three people and you encounter 20 people. Some in advising and others, many others, just waiting. We spilled over into someone else's office and there we sat. We had to fill out this PCP form and I realized I could not remember my classes. So I take my chances. I run down the steps, run over to the library print out my list, thankfully on my email, and then run back up. As I walk in the door he is calling files, about two names are called and then mine comes up. I think, oh good, I am going to get to register now. Instead he takes our paperwork your files are in order, the system has crashed, and to come back later. Of course. I don't know when that will be, and I don't know if I will have to sign up on another list=more and more waiting. I figure get something to eat and then come back. Thats the plan and everything in Egypt seems to be slower paced than back in the states. So I guess I just have to get patient.

caught in the rain

Today started as any other day, [I write in the dining room as one of the hall lights flickers on and off ominously] to the sound of traffic and horns. Those horns are my curse, I cannot escape them.

I set off after a quick bite of the fiteer from yesterday (it was so sweet you can only eat small sections at a time). My goal was to find some citi bank atms. I had found the streets yesterday but the number part of the address means nothing to me and probably never will. I hoped to find the street and then walk the length of it until they appeared. Mission accomplished. I found two one in downtown and one in garden city. Downtown=Noise, fumes, lots of people, and those horns. Garden City=Quietness, less people about, trees and some grass, residential housing. I walked in garden city searching for these elusive atms, like cash dispensing needles in a giant concrete smelly haystack. I was amazed at how quiet it was and how much prettier it was than downtown. It was these winding roads, with fenced off houses some of it in disrepair, but generally pleasant.

Returning to the streets I came back to the dorm. On the way back I explored a little more downtown seeing the outside of a mosque up close, and buying breakfast. I must have had an angel watching over my shoulder today because everything seemed to go right, especially after two days ago. The atm gave me money and I was able to buy food without any problem. For those who don't know, people here don't believe in lines. It is a crowding technique that one must master to get to the front. I bought more ful and this dish called kushari. Kushari is amazing it is noodles with rice on top with chili sauce and chick peas. I didn't even get cheated out of my money! Walking home though, I got funny looks from people. Carrying a bag of ful and two containers of kushari (for my roommate though he did not eat it). I just knew something was up, and unfortunately this place of the food called Felfela, was 3/4 away from home from the university. I got back and asked my roommate was kushari a breakfast food, because someone on the street said to me, Oh, kushari for breakfast?. He said in his quiet way, no it is usually for lunch and dinner. Oh well.

Then it rained. I had planned to go to zamalek, a supposedly nice area, but these plans were twarted but mother nature. Instead I lazed around, alternating between watching movies with really bad acting, I called it a day with the tv when homeward bound 2 journey in san francisco and charlies angels came on, and reading about cairo and planning my zamalek trip.

When the rain stopped I went out. Just to note, Cairo is dirty, when it rains it gets even dirtier. My guess is the dirt and such in the air is pulled onto the ground, and the drainage here is not very good. Huge puddles everywhere that cars have to drive slowly through. I was planning to walk to zamalek. My book said the route was around 2 km. I still don't know how much that is. I tried to find the entrance to the bridge for pedestrians but it didn't look like there was one. It was also near the ghetto area I was in yesterday, and I got a little nervous.

Therefore, I turned around and decided to have an adventure, I called a cab. Enough said. Ironically, this cab ride was good, the driver though he didn't speak english was young and nice, probably not jaded and cynical like the other crazies out there who just seem bitter to me. He got me to zamalek and I paid him a fair price, and he didn't argue. It was new to me. Zamalek was much nicer than downtown. I had something more like dc in mind, but add a flair of egyptian charm and you get zamalek. Lots of quiet when away from the bridge, lots of trees and lots of pretty houses. Lots of younger people it seemed, and more foreigners. It was kind of nice to hear english from a couple of people as I passed. I wandered around, finding some of the resturants that I had read about earlier and I accidentally found the only organic food store in cario. Therefore I bought some bananas, and let me tell you I cannot wait to eat them. I decided to walk back because it started to rain. I crossed over a bridge and saw people fishing, after seeing the trash in the nile and from what I have read, I don't know why they would fish, but then again I eat stuff out of the bay in the summer so can't really say all that much against that.

Walking home I followed the bridge, and passed through a section of town not downtown, but maybe the outskirts? it seemed a little poorer but not as poor as I was before, but I don't know if I would walk there in the dark. I was fortunate to be walking right by a mosque when the call to prayer occured. It is broadcast over these horns and echoes on the streets. It happens a couple times a day, 5 to be exact, and is calming. Also this reminded me of friday with prayer. It was broadcast for a long time. Very neat listening to and calming too.

Now I am home, getting hungry, listening to American music and planning to stay in.

Bless your heart those who read these really long blogs. In arabic you would say "baraka Allahu feek."

quiet and safe again

After the previous post's described misadventure, I needed a break from the city. I am not used to city living, so three days was very overwhelming when dumped right in the middle of downtown Cairo. I slept in, well as much as you can when woken up by traffic. And once awake can't go back to sleep because of those horns.

My roommate took me to gad. It is a cheap place to eat fast food of the Egyptian variety, I guess it would be considered. We got fiteer and ful and french fries. Fiteer is a pancake sort of substance, and the kind I got was of the drenched in creme variety. The french fries were very salty and covered in grease. I am finding it hard to eat healthy here so far. After eating, we walked around to try and find a water filter for our sink so we can drink the water from our tap. We fruitlessly searched for about an hour or two. We ended up in the poorer section of town which got kind of dirty, kind of like to poor sections back home. We didn't know where the shops that sold this gizmos were since unlike in America, one shop sells one product or one type of product. Therefore, we need to walk around and discover these shops. Here is the thing that I have discovered to be true about Egyptians, and I actually read this somewhere before I think. If you ask for directions, they will give them to you whether they know or not. One guy my roommate asked said go straight, turn right, and ask again. Pretty cool.

We returned home, I feeling not overwhelmed with the city because I was with someone who was both Egyptian and spoke Arabic. I even helped us find our way back because I remembered the way that we came.

Then the afternoon was spent relaxing. We played around on our computers, watched Desperate Housewives, Friends, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in English with Arabic subtitles. We both ended up taking naps too, much needed I must say when dealing with this city. My roommate disapeared, I thought to go to the bathroom and when he didn't come back, I closed my eyes and well you know the way of it. We both slept around five or six hours. Got up, got more food at Gad this time ful and ta'amiya. I must digress and tell you the awesomeness of these two dishes. They are both served in small pita breads. Ful is beans that you can get with tomatoes and such, ta'amiya is something fried with parsley. Very good and possibly a little healthier, at least the ful.

Then talked with some folk back home and slept. Like I said easy and safe. The kind of day I needed after yesterday.

ohh..not so good

Yesterday was quite the adventure. I leanred a lot the hard way. It was half good, half bad day.

The first part of the day I spent walking around in the morning. I visited AUC and the library and just walked around the city. I was approached by a man my ge dressed very nice. He started talking to me and walked around with me. His name was Hakim and he took me to an 'ahwa and bought me a cup of tea. Then we walked around some more all the while talking and everything. He tried to get me to get in a taxi with him to the pyramids and to his bedouin village. I said no, (which was smart of me, one of the only smarat things I did yesterday) and he said well come to my cousin's shop. It was then I realized that he was not being friendly but was trying to get a sell. I was talked into getting two paintings on "papyrus" which I think is really banana leaves for about thirty us dollars. I paid too much money, and I left knowing what had happened.

I then went to a lecture at AUC with my roommate Ahmed. He took me and I rode in a cab for the first time. Cabs are crazy. The drivers are grumpy and try to take your money, and they drive crazy old cars. The alignment and tires are all off and the car leaks fumes of petrol and they smoke in the cars. It's madness or it has character whichever you prefer. But the lecture was very good. It was an American professor, who talked bout leadership and corruption in Bolivia.

After the lecture I walked back to the hotel..that is when the "fun" began. A man asked me the time, I told him and we started talking. He told me a lot of things, that he was in the military part of the equilavent of the green berets or sas. He said he wanted to show me the real side of cairo. His name was mustafa and he seemed like an upstanding gent, so I walked round with him. He showed me some of the markets in cairo at night where they sell everything. and by everything I mean everything. We walked through thousands and thougsands of shoes thousands and thousands of clothes, candles, every such thing. The most interesting and different market I saw was for meat. There was raw meat cuts and dead fish everywhere. I saw whole cow carcasses hanging by hooks, pigs feet, and many other cuts just lying in open air stalls. Blood ran across the ground and stone, children played among the market, and cats walked around looking for food I guess. He also took me to a local mosque, it was kind of used and I sat while he prayed for about ten minutes. The mosque experience was cool. I was even in there while others were praying. It had rugs on the floor, korans at the front. and a set of small wooden stairs that led to the wall. I don't know what that was for. The walls were painted and there were columns throughout the stone structure. Very different from being in church.

I then had him take me home and went to make a phone call. I talked to my brother for a little bit and went out with Mustafa again. I hd put my trust in him and he wanted to take me out to a dinner. I stupidly got into a cab with him and we went across the nile into giza. We then walked to this club or something. Let me describe it to you:

You had to walk into the building, go up some stairs, go pas the guards (I didn't relize that they were this at the time) and then through these closed doors into a closed off room with lots of tables. This room had odd odd decor. It was all dark, the tables and booths had dark table white table clothes with dark triangle patterns on top. Their were santa claus plstic faces all over the the walls, there were streamers and balloons on the ceiling for a birthday party. The waiters were all men who were dressed in black. There were women their not dressed like I had seen on the streets. They were wearing high boots, short skirts, low cut tops, and all skin tight clothing. Their job seemed to be talk to the men who were the customers. We were seated and served a platter of fruit and stella beer. It is an okay beer, light and kind of bubbly like 7up. The show consisted of a woman singing and some men playing instruments. I thought this was a really cool place to be, that I was getting to see something that only Egyptians get to see. Then the show ended and we had to pay the bill. It was 292 pounds about 60 us dollars. He asked if I could pay for it because he didn't have any money. I said okay but I only had us dollars and not a lot of pounds. He said that was ok and he would work it. He did and then said we should stay to see the next shift, we sat around for about a half hour. All the customers had left, the girls had left, and the men were cleaning. Then he asked for hashish, a joint. He got it from one of the men who worked there, and had one of the girls come over who smoked it with him. I did not partake. The girl started talking with him and me and wanted me to speak in arabic to her. I said hello and everything. Then I had to leave, by this time I knew I was getting scammed again for the second time in a day. He asked for forty more dollars to pay and then we left. He acted mad like he was getting hustled and on the street he got me a cab. He asked for twenty more dollars and then five more for a cab. The cabbie then took me back to my hotel. I tried to pay him five pounds, but he wouldn't leave so I asked for change for a twenty to pay ten and he shorted me on purpose five pounds and then drove off.

So thats how I lost 130 dollars that day. I realized it was going south after I paid the first bill, that something was not right. And I sat there for the next hour with a bad feeling in my stomach. I started to think his story was not true and that he acutally knew some of the people at this club. Oh and on top of everything else, I had to pay a protection fee, to this big chested egyptian man who flexed his muscles for me and introduced himself as "hogan". A protection fee! Thankfully I got home safe and in one piece and just learned a lesson the hard way.

I talked to my roommate afterwords and he told me that yeah you paid too much. He told me that the girls were hookers and that usually when you go to those places you pay at most 200 pounds. For those of you who don't know, that is about 40 us dollars. At that club I paid 135ish dollars. Ohh, made my stomach hurt that night.

c-c-c-c-cairo, my introduction

I rode a plane to Cairo and saw many things. The first of such are these....

My first impression of the city was from 10,000 ft. It seemed like any other city at midnight-lots of lights and quiet. Then I stepped off the plane. Immigration and customs were fine and as we walked off the plane we were greeted by men shouting out egyptian names of those on the flight trying to meet up with them. I cannot tell you how glad I was to have a ride come pick me up. When getting out of baggage pick up, men just appear out of nowwhere to ask you, I thought somewhat ominously in a low voice, "Do you need a taxi?" or "Taxi" and when you say no they disapear just as fast.

We (myself and three other students going to AUC of which I have seen only one again in passing) got into a van with our driver and took off to our hotels. I then received my first dose of Cairo's traffic and a lesson in the use of the horn. Since no one follows any road lines or such, the horn is the means of communication while traveling. You beep when you are close to a car, when a car cuts you off, when you cut off a car in response to their horn, when a pedestrian gets out of his taxi on the highway because their is a jam and he is holding up traffic, and when a pedistrian on the street crosses in front of you missing your car by inches. It doesn't matter the time nor the place, the horn is the cure all for traffic. I still have trouble falling asleep because I am not used to the noise. As we drove to the hotel, we passed somewhat deserted streets. There were men walking around, yelling, I guess preparing for the next day's work, a man taking a pee on the sidewalk, and our driver frequently got out and asked for directions. All in all we arrived at the hotels with very little problems.

My hotel was the Windsor Hotel in downtown. It is very old, has a used feel, but everyone who works there is very nice. There is an old fashioned elevator run someone who works the elevator (I don't know what they are called but it was cool to have that done.) I went to my room and it was pleasant. It was a small room maybe 10 by 8 with 15ft high ceilings as least. There was a comfortable bed and a small shower in the room. My watercloset was up the hall (totally different but equally as awesome). At two in the morning I arrived and spent a good while trying to call my parents knowing that they would be freaking out until I talked to them. I couldn't so I sent them a text message, prayed they got it and went to sleep.

I woke up real early and then couldn't go back to sleep because of the traffic so I got up showered and ate breakfast. My first meal in cairo consisted of three pieces of toast, a roll, butter, fig jam, glass of orange juice, and three cups of tea. I then used their wireless interent in their famous barrel bar resturant to assure my parents that I was not dead and had made it to my hotel.

Venturing out into cairo tested my mettle and overwhelmed me to the point where that night I retreated to my hotel room after dark and did not dare venture out until daybreak. I wandered around until I found my university (about a twenty minute walk) and then armed myself with some tasks to do in order to begin my semester here in cairo.

Walking the streets of cairo is an ordeal. I guess it will become a function of habit but not yet. I have already mentioned the traffic but their are shops everywhere. Where they aren't bursting out of the seams in the buildings they are spilled over into the alleys and side streets. Everything so far has been very cheap. My hotel was thrity dollars a night and included breakfast. The streets are covered with people going every which way, dressed from western styles of suits and such to traditional jalibayas for men and for women everything from very very conservative to women with western clothing with the veil riding way back on their head.

I don't know if this happens often to other people in cairo, but I have people come up and talk to me as I am walking on the street. So far the people I have talked to have mostly been trying to show me apartments or hotels. Their english varies in fluency and my arabic is basically nonexistent so the conversations are fun. One man helped me find my way then gave me a card to contact him for finding an apartment, his english was very good. Another who also offered me help to find an apartment was about my age spoke okay english. And then there was an old man today who I was walking behind. He turned around at looked at me a couple of times and then started talking to me. I had no idea what he was saying so we walked together for about 30 seconds and then I told him I was going to the university and then said goodbye. Communication is fun here in cairo. It really is. For those people who speak english, their accents can be hard to understand and mine is hard for others to understand.

After finding AUC and getting stuff done, I walked back to my hotel and checked out, not because it was bad but because I found out that I had been assigned university housing about a block from where I was currently at in the Windsor. This place is called the Cairo Khan and I am staying in a suite with three bedrooms, seven beds, two bathrooms, kitchenette, and large living and dining room. I have met two of my seven roommates and they and some of their friends from the university stayed up talking to the wee hours of the morning. They put my and my school friends late nights to shame as I think they do that every night, and we only do that every once in a while.

Suffering from jet lag forced me into a comatose state for six hours in the afternoon and then when I woke up it was dark. I then ate my second meal in Egypt which consisted of a fried chicken sandwhich, french fries, and some sort of white juice (very good and very sweet). I then, to my technological joy, found out that my suite was wireless and talked to both my parents and brother for a while. Reassuring them that I was okay and alive and having a good time.

One more thing before I go. I sill don't know my way around yet and know even less about ordering food so I live from meal to meal waiting until I get hungry before I go and try to order something again. I think I am going to lose wait because I am doing a lot of walking and not eating like I do at school with their all you can eat buffet.

Off for more adventures...till then, live long and prosper.

so it begins...

I am now three days (I think) into my trip. I can't really tell because the traveling over was lost in a haze of take off and landings, airports, and foreign lands all on very little sleep. I will try and recount my adventures as best I can and maybe in the future post some pictures for you all.

It started with takeoff from BWI after waiting around all day. That is what I hate most about traveling. I thinking the security procedures exemplify this the most of their philosophy of hurry up and wait. No problems at all flying into either Heathrow or Cairo nor with customs or security, thankfully.

While in London, I did the tourist thing but at speedy gonzales tempo. I had an eight hour layover which sounds like a lot of time except when you get in and through immigration and get ready to explore the city (1 hour), ride the tube both ways (2 hours), allow three hours for security (3 hours) ((ironically i went through security in about 10 minutes)). That is six hours right there so I had two to explore london.

First off, the tube or the underground. Very differen than the dc metro. I was surprised at how small the cars were and it never got old hearing the recordings saying "mind the gap." What I enjoyed most about London though was that everyone spoke with a british accent which in my mind made the men 10 times cooler and the women 10 times more attractive. I asked a young woman the time on the tube, and when she responded, I almost asked her out on a date.

London is exhorbitantly expensive. I almost keeled over at the exchange rate as well. Forty dollars got me 15 pounds. In my whirlwind tour of the city powered by a handful of trail mix and no sleep I saw many sights including Picadilly circus (and what a fine one at that but I much preferred cirque de solei, jk) and big ben and westminster abbey, the thames river, the big ferris wheel, st. james park, and buckingham palace. Sadly, because of my limited time and my utter lack of knowlege of london whenever I found a sight of the above mentioned, I stopped to take a few pictures and moved on. I relied on my wits and the touristy maps the government has conviently placed along the way (though somewhat sporadically). It was however, totally awesome to be able to stand and see big ben and all these other famous sights. I may never get to london again aside from heathrow when I return home but it was worth it to rush around and see where everything was and to know that I am privileged enough to see everything that I have read about or seen on tv. I liked the city a lot. It was very clean and the two things I was most surprised about was that I did not see any homeless people (like in baltimore, new york, or boston) and at each subway stop, there was a government employee announcing the trains.

After rushing back to heathrow, I found that I got through security in 10 minutes and then that my flight would be an hour late. Woop de doo...

The other shoe has dropped

Big revelations lately. I actually realized that I will be heading to Egypt in two days. Scares me quite a bit. I figured this out at 3:30 am last night. Not the best time to do so, I realized that I will be away from my family, my friends, and my school for many months. I will be a stranger in a strange land.

I have been asked if I had been getting nervous and so far I have only been nervous about getting through the airports. But with people peppering me with questions, it has forced me consider it. My mind I think had set up a brick wall and people managed to create a door.

This realization may have been catalyzed by my one call with a contact in Egypt. The conversation was fun. Neither his English nor my Arabic was perfect but we got along, definitely because his English was a sight better than my Arabic. I am living on time running down the clock waiting to leave. The only thing left to do now is to boldly go...stupid split infinitives.

Random Thoughts from my Head

Ripped apart by Arabic placement test-we can now blog in arabic-do you know anyone who has ever passed a seed-why can't i ever see a movie where non-Americans are the hereos-i can answer that don't watch american movies-it snowed-peace out

Eagle Scout

Today was my brother's Eagle ceremony for Boy Scouts. This is the speech I gave for him as his sponsor. I was honored to do so and I am very proud of him.

"I've watched Pete grow up to be a young man, from the little brother that I would tease to one of the brothers I look to for support in life.

Being an Eagle scout is not like winning the lottery. Peter's enrichment as a worthy individual and meaningful human being did not begin overnight. And in the context of scouting it began way back in Cub scouts.

Attaining Eagle is not an easy task. For Pete it started with Tiger Cubs and continued for 12 more years to Eagle. He worked hard on his pins and merit badges, attaining each rank step by step. He demonstrated leadership as a patrol leader, senior patrol leader, and most of all in planning and executing his Eagle Scout project. Thanks to his dedication, the church we attend has a new and beautiful bathroom and society has a strong and guided individual.

The rank of Eagle is one of the accomplishments that really shows that the trust in Peter will guarantee a return.

But the most important reflection of Peter as an Eagle scout is in his attitude and how he has touched others throughout his life. How others perceive him is a true statement of his character. Talk to his family, friends, teachers, and enemies. You will see that the tapestry woven about his character resounds of humor, intelligence, dependability, moral guidance, humility, and love.

These characteristics are a result of his upbringing and Peter's desire to follow them. I congratulate our parents on a job well done.

As odd as it seems, I do not believe the attainment of this rank to be the pinnacle of his life. Surely, it represents a big point but with the track he is on, it promises only to go up from here.

There are sides to this badge. Just as it represents the culmination of Pete's achievements so far in scouting, it elicits many requirement. Do not wear this badge lightly. Your acceptance of this badge and rank should be a constant reminder of your duty to yourself, your family and friends, society, strangers and enemies.

As an Eagle Scout you are expected to rise to the occasion, go the extra mile, and when you are tired of cliches, just to love. This will help you see the better side of people, the better side of a situation, and the better side of yourself. With this perspective of life, you will achieve greatness.

You have a responsibility to help others, to be inventive, and to be there for other people when others are not. Your skills honed in scouting and in life will help with being a leader in tomorrow's world.

This badge should signal to others the light within you, the ability to share that light with other, and most of all the willingness to share it and make the world a better place.

Wear it with honor and pride, congratulations."

This speech represents everything that is true about my brother. Please note that he is awesome.

Spider Pig

Reading a really interesting book about Iranian blogging called We Are Iran by Nasrin Alavi. Will post more about it when I finish it.

Meanwhile....Spider-pig, spider-pig.

Aikido

I have reentered the Aikido world again after a one month hiatus and the air is great. I came away from practice loving Aikido as much as I did as when I first started.

The poetry and flow of motion and energy speaks to me in a way sports never have. I feel at peace and feel free not to think or worry about whatever else is going on in my life.

Maybe one day, O reader, I will convince you to come to a class or you yourself would go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aikido

You can never really get over any person. You just kind of put a patch over that whole and move on, if you can. Sometime the patch works and you are happy other times the patch falls off and won't stay on until a long time has passed.

But since it is a patch, no matter how much it is covered over, you will always know it is there, even if no one else does.

I take comfort in that we all look at the same stars, see the same light, and know that the other person is looking at them too.

man crushes

There has been a dearth of publishing because I've been busy, so for all my eager readers, heeere's more.

I read an article about man crushes today and it said that the only acceptable man crushes were of war heroes and sports figures. I feel that is too limiting. I have no man crushes on sports figures or war hereos as great as they are. I am okay admitting that I have had and do have man crushes.

The most interesting one I have seen of another person is one of my high school teachers man crush on Rosseau. I think he even told us as well.

Apparently, most men are still teased about these crushes, but there are websites devoted to ranking their crushes anyway. I don't see the problem in having great admiration and respect for other men. If it is heterosexual then those worried about being teased as a gay man should have nothing to fear and if they think in homosexual terms as well then explore that way. The line between homo- and heterosexual is not a clear one, no matter who you are. There are different degrees of blurring sure, but not crystal straight line. It is because of the balance in us and the yin and yang. Without the other, no matter how small we have part of it in our body.

The website's , http://www.mancrush.com/, top ten are Jesus, Elvis, Barak Obama, Homer Simpson, Tom Brady, William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemmingway, Charles Darwin, Robert Plant, and G.I. Joe. Not all war hereos and sports figures.

The Sun's article is http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/altoday/bal-al.mancrush06jan06,0,4567222.story

A New Year

I've heard that on New Year's Day, the things you do will be things you will do throughout the year. Strangely, that's not prophetic because you are probably doing your routine. However, I will lay that aside and pretend it was prophetic.

1. I had a good day.
2. I hung out with many friends, both at night and during the day.
3. I spent time with family.
4. I went for a hike.
5. I ate food.

Wow, it looks to be a good year. Maybe if I actually make new year's resolutions, I will keep them.

I hope you all had a safe new years and are looking forward to a better year. Happy day.