|
| Ah, ok, I tried knitting in the round a few minutes ago, on circular
needles and on double pointed needles, and I realized I can't do
either.
And this is so very not cool at all! because I really wanted to make a
hat for Steve. Why make a hat? It's the least I can do after he treated
us to lunch. Oh, best lunch in the world! He wouldn't let us pay, he
was serious about that, and even though I wanted to put in tip at
least, he wouldn't accept. How can I pay him back, I thought. Well, I
could make him a hat. That seemed pretty obvious, and I'm trying,
though, and I can't!! What the hell!
From the beginning, then.
I spent the whole day with Lin, Susan, and Steve. We met up after
senior portraits and walked all over Boston. It was so bad. We started
by taking the train to the 7-11 one stop up and getting slurpees. Then,
we headed to Copley to walk around, but a quick pit stop was in order.
The Library has free bathrooms, so we headed in. We saw Mei Li and her
brother checking out summer reading books and Lin did so as well, after
the bathroom break of course.
We had no clue what to do next. I whip out my camera and take pictures
of those cows around the area. There's an awesome pic of Lin and Susan
on one, and I'll put it up later, promise! Then, we start walking down
a street. Seriously, we have no direction in mind until Lin says she
wants to look at tennis rackets, so we go into City Sport and goof
around a little. I take more pictures (Haha, I got a nice pic of Susan
looking like she's catching something with a baseball mitt), try to
pick up the 35 pound dumb bells (bad idea, in case you're wondering)
and we leave. Then, we take a left where we walk down Berkley and see
the skinniest house in Boston, quite possibly. Yeah, just taking a
stroll where we walk towards Washington St.
We end up in South End and go to Ming's Supermarket, I wanna say, and I
buy too much candy. Lin, Steve, and Susan kept on recommending good
choices, and I have to say, they were all right, not super. Damn, I
love the lychee candy, though. So damn good.
Then the turning point of our day unfolds itself. Mr. Guy, a.k.a
Steven, leads us on a wild goose chase for this Thai food place. We
don't find it, and it's almost 6. We've been walking for about 4 hours.
Lin, Susan, and I raise up a storm about how he made us walk for such a
long time with no objective, and I, being brilliant, tell him to just
head to Chinatown for some noodles, because at this point, we're all
hungry and don't care what it is, as long as it's a bargain.
I saw Boston Medical while crossing the street and try and lead the
group. We end up on Harrison Ave, and Steve takes over again because he
knows his way around. No, I don't know why he takes over. But, hell,
how am I going to lead the way to Chinatown? We see some gorgeous
places, and everytime Susan and Lin point, I whip out my camera. I took
some nice pictures worthy of mention, I'd like to think. We make many
mini stops for rest and pictures, and all in all, it takes us another
45 minutes to get into Chinatown where we have this big dinner, all
thanks to Steven. I feel like crap now because we were kidding (at
least, I was) about making him buy us dinner. Yeah, let's just say
though that it was worth a 45 minute walk. Yeah, and he is so getting
the coolest birthday this year, I'm gunna make sure.
That, my fellow peoples, is why I'm determined to learn how to knit in the round to make him a hat.
(And this is a complete aside, totally, but Naruto, chapter
320...AAAHHHH!! WILL KAKASHI SHOW HIS FACE? I don't like being teased,
but it seems like it. Then again, it could be some silly ninja fighting
move thing [Naruto, so proud of you!] but if it is his...face...OH,
IT'LL BE SO COOL! oooo yeah, I'm a Naruto junkie)
| | |
| I really didn't think that I would get into such a funk when I came
back from Europe. But, I miss waking up in Austria, with the sun
shining in the room, and the Alps in the background. I miss the crowded
streets of Venice, and Paris with its undeniable charm. I miss Lucerne,
with its crystal clear water and swans. I miss Sirnitz, with water so
clean you could drink out of the shower. I miss, I miss...I miss the
kids I was with, yeah, because I didn't think I'd miss them too much.
But I come home with such a lackluster welcome, and I think that I'd
rather be on the bus again for 6 hours going to Rome than here. Yeah, I
have the internet and the phone, but is that really it? I can go out,
yeah, but it won't be the same. I think I have scorned Boston, I think
I'm ready to live somewhere else because nothing can ever compare to
Rome, or Vienna. My Vienna, that beautiful city with the best gelato I
ever had.
And if I had to bring people with me, I don't think it would be my
family, becsause they didn't seem too impressed at Europe. If only they
could see it through my eyes, how beautiful it really was. Sure, some
things seemed a little weird, and the natives seemed to have hated
Americans, but aside from that I'd be on the plane back to Vienna if
you told me I could go back. And it's not just the running away from
responsiblities that I liked. It's the fact that Europe had its shit
together and it looked like it wasn't even trying.
I'm going back, no questions asked.
| | |
| Everyone thinks summer is the best season of the year. Uh, no. Fall, or
spring, would be perferable to the raging, bitchy monster summer is. Is
it going to rain or shine? I'm not sure, because it's summer and the
humidity is off the fucking charts!
I've done almost nothing since the beginning of summer. I've been at
home, playing a game or taking care of my nephew. The game has gotten
me so frustrated and creeped out I'm ready to give up (I hate giving up
on games) and my nephew can get so fussy it drives me crazy trying to
figure out why he's crying. My grandmother takes care of him now,
because she's ten times better at it than I am, so one problem solved,
right? I'm just paitently ticking down the days until I come back from
Europe. At first, I was excited, but now I'm bummed because I realized
I won't be with my friends!
I'm happy to be going with new people, but they don't seem excited to
be going with me, and that makes me both bummed and angry. Giselle,
it's not only race, it's also status, ya know? These kids are so
drenched in pop culture and I'm not, and it seems to create this
invisible barrier between me and them. When I'm in Europe, I'll only be
thinking of my friends, and that's not the point of the trip at all!
I only have...5 days left. Then I'm gone for a little bit. I'm a little
worried I'll like it so much over there that when I come back I'll
scorn everything I love here.
| | |
| I'm going to Europe in about two weeks, and I'm giving everyone a
chance to give me their address if they want a postcard straight from
Europe! I have about 6 people I'm writing to, and then I'm bringing
some postcards back for myself to pin on my wall.
I'm visiting France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, so get your address in to angeldust0203@aol.com before July 18!
Hm, I don't know what else to say. What are weblogs for if you have
nothing to say? It's not like I'm very interesting or smart. I suppose
right now I'm waiting for senior year to start so that it can end and I
can be very far away somewhere.
All I can say right now is that I want to knit these gloves, but with
different colors and diffent designs:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTknucks.html
Sexy!
| | |
| Charlie Chaplin is my hero for this speech from the Great Dictator, a
movie those going into Facing History probably won't see because we'll
have graduated. But those in FHAO now, didn't it move you?! Make you
want to jump up and down?!
The Great Dictator (1940)
In which Chaplin plays the dual roles of the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel" (a direct parody of Adolf Hitler) and "The Jewish Barber" .
At the end of the movie, the barber is mistaken for the dictator and
asked to give a speech on the occasion of the invasion of a neighboring
country. The speech, in its entirety, is what follows:
"I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my
business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help
everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want
to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by
each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to
hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone.
And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of
life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has
poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has
goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed,
but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left
us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and
unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we
need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....
"The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The
very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men -
cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now
my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of
despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that
makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear
me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the
passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human
progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power
they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men
die, liberty will never perish. .....
"Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you -
enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to
think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like
cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these
unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You
are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of
humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the
unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for
liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of
God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In
you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The
power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this
life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then
- in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite.
Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a
chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they
lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free
themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that
promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national
barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us
fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will
lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us
all unite!"
| | |
|
