God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Merry Christmas everyone. In case you were wondering, the title for this post has the correct punctuation of the song title. So "Gentlemen" is a vocative...interesting...

As I sat in Mass tonight, I got an unsettling feeling again. Even at home I don't seem like I am at home. Maybe constantly moving around between Georgetown, London, and here makes me seem anchored to nothing. Also it hasn't really felt like Christmas since I've been back. Sort of felt like it in London at Harrod's and on Oxford Street but this season it seemed even less. Maybe because there were no finals this time around to force me to look ahead to something better beyond the hard work of finals week!

I can remember the first time I lost the Xmas spirit. It was either junior or senior year of high school. I was in the cafeteria at the end of December before break and sat down at table with Drew after we had gotten food. We were silent for a bit and then I said, "You know Drew, it doesn't really feel like Christmas this time around." He agreed and we sighed and ate lunch.

Depressing, no?

But on the bright side, I am enjoying myself, I have gotten to see my family and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve hehe. Also my Mom as hiliarious with Xmas shopping. She thought she was so smart and inegnious by ordering something through Amazon, but she asked me why it never arrived. So I checked her account, prinouts, and emails and saw that once she got to the order re-confirmation page, she thought that the order had gone through, so she never clicked submit t finalize!! Oh parents and technology! I guess little things like that make me chuckle and it's pretty good being home in all honesty, especially around Xmas. So everyone: sip the eggnog, stand under the mistletoe, and leave Santa some cookies and milk--he'll thank you later.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Christmas Song by Jethro Tull

Once in Royal David's City stood a lonely cattle shed,
where a mother held her baby.
You'd do well to remember the things He later said.
When you're stuffing yourselves at the Christmas parties,
you'll just laugh when I tell you to take a running jump.
You're missing the point I'm sure does not need making
that Christmas spirit is not what you drink.

So how can you laugh when your own mother's hungry,
and how can you smile when the reasons for smiling are wrong?
And if I just messed up your thoughtless pleasures,
remember, if you wish, this is just a Christmas song.

(Hey! Santa! Pass us that bottle, will you?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zm9RmfNZIA

Yuletide Cheer *snicker*

I wonder where I should start first: familial acrimony or Xmas shopping woes?

I think I'll go with the family. So we decide to eat on the road at Panera's and of course the conversations settles into: who are you going to vote for in the Primary? Thus the Republican identity crisis as shown in the microcosm of my family.

Let me show you the camps:

Me- Anti-government, Western Republican Libertarian - Ron Paul
Mom- Rockefeller Republican, Northeastern Moderately Liberal yet strong on security - Rudy Giuliani
Dad - GOP Partyline/muddled Neo-Con Revival - Mitt Romney

No one is impressed with anyone and everyone disagrees with everyone. No common ground at all and it turns into a free for all between the three of us shooting down each other's candidates: Paul- wacko/no will vote for him; Romney- flip-flopper and about as exciting as watching paint dry; Giuliani- family baggage, questionably conservative, and New Yorkers hate him. My Dad is in a funny state of thinking he is one thing politically, but not really knowing what he is. Sure he is a bastion of conservatism and a Republican stalwart but he despises the Religious Right and all those whack-job Evangelical preachers that show up on our TVs or in mega-churches. He tries to toe the Conservative line but aha! what is the conservative line nowadays? And so my dad is a ship lost at sea without a compass...we'll see what propaganda he latches onto eventually.

I like Ron Paul (though his foreign policy agenda is pretty bad) because we need a return to the roots of limited government, respect for individual rights, and economic freedom. Ron Paul is the only candidate in both parties who says he will deliver on all three (what candidate has come out against the Patriot Act, and the growing federal government size and budget deficit?) The Republicans need to get some sense knocked into them and turn back to the party of Barry Goldwater. Maybe if Republicans get defeated in 2008, it will purge this "Compassionate Conservatism" (fucking bullshit) and Religious Rightism from the party and get their heads back on straight. Also, I'm voting for Ron Paul, even though he is going to lose, because I need to vote my principles. If I don't, what kind of message does that send to people like Ron Paul who try to stand up for what is right? Besides, the General Election in November is when I can wring my hands and try to compromise and choose the least evil (haha that is going to be fun!)

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So now onto my Xmas shopping nightmares. My desktop, my child, my beautiful child, refuses to start up. I checked all the connections and did everything I could possibly think of, but it did nothing. So I brought it to Best Buy for them to solve. While I was trying to fix it, I had no extra parts to sub out on it, so I needed to give it in, because their diagnostic is cheaper than me randomly guessing what to buy or to buy stuff to sub out. This is a major blow for a guy who made his own computer with his bare hands and no help. The techies were looking in wonder at my computer while it was open on the table. I wonder what was running through their heads: wow, this is a beautiful piece of art put together; or damn, this thing is fucking old! (I built it sophomore year of high school!)

After I left Best Buy, I pulled out of the parking space in the Jeep and I hear this crash and I think "Great, I hit a car!" I looked in the mirrors and could see no cars or people, so it finally dawned on me it must have been a shopping cart some dirtbag left behind my car and didn't see because it was getting dark out (shortest day of the year!) I walked out and sure enough, there was the shopping cart lying on its side. Another car was waiting right nearby for my space, I wonder why he didn't warn me of the shopping cart. I picked up the shopping cart, and rather than placing it upright and moving it away, because it was too much effort and I was also pissed, I took it into my hands and threw it 10 feet into a snow pile and gave it, self-gratifyingly, "the birdy"; As I turned to get back in the Jeep, I saw that the waiting car had backed up 25 feet away! Haha! Road rage! I guess I scared him off...

Next, I went to an electronics store on Rt 20 that has good deals/prices to buy a RAM upgrade for my laptop. All the specs were right and the staff assured me I had the right RAM but I get home and it doesn't fit. I come back today and again they give me the wrong RAM!!! Luckily, I had the presence of mind to ask again while waiting, but they don't have it in stock. I guess I will have to spend more money at Best Buy for this then (what I was trying to avoid in the first place)

I made another stop but my lips are sealed as to what it was: let's say I got there too late and it was closed. Now I need to go on Monday. Hopefully it'll be ready soon...

Domestic Addendum

Despite my home/parent bashing from before, home does have its benefits. I leave dirty clothes out and magically they become clean and folded on my bed. Nice. Also, my parents don't give me trouble when I want to go places and do things. I also ate at a company lunch today: quite nice. Crème Brûlée for dessert too. Long story but that lunch was compliments of Walker Porous Pipe, Inc and Pegasus LLC. Ah, I guess I luck out because I am my parents only child; then again, they are my only parents...

"You don't miss your water, 'till your well runs dry"


On another note, tomorrow is the Winter Solstice and my desktop at home still won't start up despite me cleaning out the dust from it. I hope the motherboard didn't get fried... :'-(

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!

Sorry for the delay, I guess getting settled in and relaxing and being busy with leisure takes its toll on the blog. So now I need to fill you in on all the back story of the past 5 days. I wonder, should I give you the short or the long versions of my recent travel (near) disasters? I've probably told this story a lot so I'll give my abbreviated Heathrow story. JP and I catch the Piccadilly Line train from Covent Garden to Heathrow at 4:40. The train is packed and we barely get a sitting after some stnading. At some point past Hammersmith (Turnham Green?) the train stops, forces everyone out, and leaves. So then we need to wait 20 minutes for a replacement and it is so crowded, we barely get on, but we throw ourselves into the train because we have a flight to catch. It's now 5:45 and we are tightly cramped standing up whever we were able to clear out people by throwing our luggage into them as we leaped onto the train. We finally get to Heathrow and get on line for check-in. We got our boarding passes from a Kiosk and only had to give in our luggage. Little did we know... Our line took forever; our check-in attendant was slower than molasses and for every person she processed, the other lines got in 3 or 4. Finally we got to the counter at 7:14 and she promptly announced check-in was closed. So we ran over to emergency check-in, had to wait even more, finally got a competent person, and were on our way--at 7:32. Our flight leaves at 8:10. So we get to security and we essentially run by everyone because the gate is supposed to close any minute now. One person had the audacity to ask us in a haughty pretentious British accent if we knew we were jumping the queue...no fucking shit, lady!!! Then another asked if we were in a rush...no really?!?! Finally by the graces of God we made it to the gate, but our flight was delayed as 3 passengers were no-shows and their bags had to be removed. Then one of the crew had an in-flight medical emergency and I was praying that we wouldn't have to make an emergency landing somewhere. Eventually all things done and said we pulled into JFK around midnight.

Guess I wasn't so short in recounting that story...

More travel saga, in going to DC, my train was delayed for 20 minutes for no apparent reason, and coming back up the locomotive broke in Union Station, again delaying us. Wonderful! As the previous line probably made clear, I went down to DC for...I won't say the reason(s)...I wonder why hehe...(I'll be a tool and leave it at that)

Ah yes, I am back home, so how is that you may ask? It's nice relaxing. I've been getting a good amount of sleep, seeing friends, lounging about like a lazy sloth, listening to music, reading, being a numismatist (a what?), etc. On the downside my desktop refuses to turn on, so I need to figure out why it is doing that. Also, I have no patience for my parents and get easily irritable at them. I feel bad because they are my parents, I'm finally home, and they are doing nothing wrong (besides it's Xmas) Ahh so why am I getting all bent out of shape over them? Do I have no tolerance for their idiosyncrasies? I don't know. Do I miss the independence of not being parented, no matter how laid back and passive and nice my parents are? Maybe my mom is too intense. Who knows... Oddly haven't seen a lot of my dad around. Alas, it seems like our plans for skiing this Sunday have gone to pot as it might rain and the temperature might creep up near the 50s. I hope all the snow doesn't melt for Xmas.

Yes a tangent! I got out of the car at home and what did I find, but snow on the ground! It was a nice change as I highly doubt we will get snow in London. Also the air had this wintry crispness that is so typical of the Northeast and was missing in London. I hope winter doesn't suck over there.

One unpleasant surprise was that I came home and my desktop, my child that I built back in high school won't start up oddly. I haven;t tuched it for 3 months and the other electronics and surge protector still work. This calls for investigating...

Other LSE new: the Uni was ranked 19th in the world, but somehow dropped to 57th. Ouch. However for Social Sciences, it is still ranked 3rd behind Harvard and Berkeley, so maybe the drop was artificial as the LSE administration has been saying.

Also, Against All Odds, my radio show has been renewed for a permanent slot next term, an hour each Monday early afternoon (east coast time). We'll see what music and genres I will wield this time. I have some leftovers that didn't make the cut from my previous three shows: maybe I will make a special show out of the "lost cut" of songs.

Sorry for the long post--can't promise it won't happen again! (would say Merry Xmas though I think I will catch you again before then, I hope)

Lover's Leap

So here I go across the Pond back to my homeland of New Jersey. If the blog goes inactive, it is probably because I have had some mishap and died in a plane crash. So on that morbid note, have a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year! If I'm not lazy, I will update over break and tell how re-acclimating to the States goes.

-J

The Best Guitar Solo Ever!

I joke not. The general consensus is that David Gilmour's guitar solo in Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" is the best ever. [Well, technically it is only second best because he recorded the greatest solo for the song and everyone was awestruck and didn't speak or move for a long time. Then they asked the engineer to rewind the tape to hear it again, they found it wasn't recorded! So he had to try again and this is the solo you here in the song]

Let me turn to what I think is the superior solo. Nearly 7 minutes of aural pleasure. Steve Hackett was the lead guitarist in Genesis until he left in 1978 because he did not like how they were shifting in a commercial direction. On his third solo album "Spectral Mornings" from 1979, he closes out the track listing with the song "Spectral Mornings" I think it is his hallmark achievements and one of the greatest guitar songs ever. The guitar lines are a sublime bittersweet tragic-triumph. What player would I be in this band? Not Steve Hackett, but playing those the mellotron with those washing string lines in the background. So...

here is the song in all its full glory. It's only up for 7 days or 100 downloads, so get it while it lasts!
http://download.yousendit.com/12B3269F639B04B2

Once the yousendit link runs out, you can "watch" it here. You don't need to be watching the car racing to enjoy it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOnrpdCFHTU

Praha! and home in a week

So I survived Praha. What to tell...hmm...The main river is the Vltava and I was confused because I had never heard of it, but then I found out the German name is the Moldau, so it all made sense then. My "travel companion", Jess, and I stayed at Hostel Elf, which sounds shady but we got free breakfasts and still have our kidneys, so it was a good deal. We walked all around the city and it is amazing that consistently, everywhere the architecture was great. Really everything stunning. We hit all the big sites, the Old Town Square, Stare Mesto (Old Town), St Charles Bridge, Wenceslas Square, Praha Castle with St Vitus' Cathedral, the Jewish Quarter, and a good number of bar/restaurants.

We found a really old beer hall, U Flecku, dating from 1459 and serving the same dark lager recipe since its inception. It had a really good atmosphere and a lederhosen-wearing accordionist and tubist. The next night we went, we felt the lack of tuba impacted the atmosphere and I kept chanting, "NEEDS MORE TUBA!!!" The decor seemed really old style, like out of the 1500s. But on the first night we were there, we would have given anything to understand Czech. Next to us sat a man and woman and we couldn't tell if they were dating or married (they had no rings so marriage unlikely), and whatever was happening, their relationship was on the rocks. The woman would not look him in the face and even ripped her hand out of his hold. He must have been out of his mind because he kept playing the duo musicians to play at his table and would hum them tunes to sing and he was paying them, at the one time I saw, with a 1000 Coruna note (that's 30 quid!!!) The woman kept telling him not to and shaking her head, but he would not listen. He kept asking people for a lighter for a cigarette (by asking for 'fire' and making a lighter motion with his hand) but alas no one had it. So then after a time he gets up and the woman says 'no no' and shakes her head and covers her face. He goes over to the table behind us and then all of sudden gets belligerent and security and the waiters rush him and we think we are going to get fallen on top of by this guy and the huge bouncer and a brawl will break out! But luckily they finished their drinks and were escorted out. I really wonder why he tried to attack them if he was looking for a lighter...

The next night we tried our luck with the Green Devil: Absinthe. 70% alcohol and a mix of Anise flower, Wormwood, and Fennel. It is very aromatic and very good to drink (in sips only of course!) It had a fiery taste to it but not in an unpleasant way like vodka, gin, or bourbon. Very good, I hope to have more in the future. Also that night Jess and I discovered that between a Georgetown friend coming to London before we left and our eating habits in Praha, we had consumed 20 alcoholic drinks in the span of one week, yet were never drunk. On the way back, we got distracted and wound up severely lost and outside a police station. We asked the officer where to go to get to the hostel and showed him the map. We both had a collective sense of doom as he moved his finger quite a distance away from our destination. He said "Take taxi" We said "No, we'd like to walk which way to go?" and he said "No take a taxi get you there in good time" so then we asked "Which way to the Vltava?" and we walked it back. We ended up in Nove Mesto (New Town) because we took one right turn too many and went south instead of north.

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and we both agreed to future travels in midweek jaunts. Perhaps Amsterdam calls next?

Also I fly home the 14th. Can you dig it? This last week is going to be busy...

Edinburgh and 2 Months In

Yes I can't believe it, but I am two months in and practically 2 weeks away from coming home. Exciting times for everything. A whirlwind of events. I'll try to keep you updated but no guarantees. My emotions? Too complicated: excited and stressed. Busy and lethargic. Energized and sleepy. Maybe I should just do random word association for the rest of my blog posts and see if anyone can decipher them.

So Edinburgh was really awe inspiring and fun. As soon as I stepped out of Waverly Rail Station in the middle of the Old Town in the gully between both sides, immediately all the grey stonework and castle looking fascades and the dominating hill with Edinburgh Castle on it struck me all at once. It was really awe inspiring and I think I spent most of my time just enjoying the prettiness of it all. I would definitely go back there again, there is still so much to see. And even just walking around and taking in the atmosphere was great. I hit the Royal Mile which is the main historical street and has many sites on it such as Edinburgh Castle (which houses the Scottish Crown Jewels and Sceptre), many museums, St Giles's Cathedral, Scottish Parliament, and Holyrood Palace, the monarchs official residence in Scotland. There was also the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Centre which for 9 quid, I got a free shot of Scotch, a free Scotch connoisseur glass, and a tour/info session on the history and manufacturing of that "water of life" (what whiskey ironically means). I hope don't think I am an alcohol by this point now in my living experience in the UK.

I forgot to mention that Edinburgh (both the Old and New Towns) is a UNESCO world heritage site. The New Town was a planned city in the 1700s, to alleviate the crowding and lack of sanitation and tenements in the Old Town. All the perfectly laid out grey stone houses of Old Town is really quaint and very impressive to look at.

Besides seeing sites and museums, I hiked two hills: Calton Hill and the Salisbury Crags, culminating in Arthur's Seat the highest point in the city at 250 metres. Calton Hill I hit on the first full day right near dusk and I got some really beautiful shots of the Salisbury Crags and the Old Town. It was really great, and I lucked out being able to capture that on camera. On Calton Hill is a Nelson Monument (seems like they are everywhere; well, he with Wellington are Britain's only two military heroes!!!) and "Edinburgh's Disgrace". a monument that was not finished and is just left there as naked columns of an incomplete Parthenon.

Ah yes, the ultimate climb: the Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat. It was not too bad of a hike, though it was much steeper going to Arthur's Seat. I could be biased because I am in pretty good shape (or don't respond to pain and tire--I endure hardship like a good Slav!) The view was spectacular up there, though it was really windy and I almost got blown off Arthur's Seat a few times. Also the wind made it really really cold, I don't know how I managed to not freeze my rear off. So then I came down and puttered around a bit and that was the end of my mid-week jaunt to Edinburgh. Fun stuff, no? Next up: Praha...