one final down, one to go, and at 5:30pm there begins the official end of my quest of accomplishing 13 hours of coursework in 7 weeks (I'm actually impressed with myself). I have 2 A's under my belt so far (probably wont get that in ResearchMethods, blah!) but definitly should in Interpersonal (tonights exam)...MY BRAIN IS SO FRIED...(hmmm, seems like I've said that before)
I finished my research paper/report/articl/review, whatever, for methods this am around 1:30 and then shut down the (almost nightly) social gathering of brother and friends taking place on our back porch so I could get some sleep before heading to Atl at 7:30am--wew
what else...ooo...REM is releasing their next album Around The Sun, in Oct. this year...I know a few who will be happy about that...seems I heard they weren't planning to continue the synthetic sounds of Reveal, and are going back to more acoustics?...or maybe that was Dave Matthews..hmm...ah well, like I know anything, but speaking of music
I've had an emerging interest in Avril Lavine (sorry if thats spelled wrong)...her latest (maybe only) album sounds really good. Little angry punk she is. (is "angry punk" a redundancy???)
This weekend I'm headed to SC to see the fam-damily. Papa is having another hip surgery...(eek) and we have our fingers crossed it will turn out okay. His sister from the LA bayou is up here... need to see her, and THEN, mountainbiking at Tsali :) Jo and new mexicos Zach Foster (and another guy I dont know, Shawn?Sean? maybe) arrived from W.Va last night around 12am, I got a delirious phone call from Joseph letting me know they were home...anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing the pictures...they also got some video footage via digital cameras...exciting. From what I heard while they were up there it was a pretty intense experience...downhill bikes definitly necessary...in an email he told me he didn't think the Sur (my bike) would have survived...my response is I wouldn't have even taken my child (aka.mtbike) up there...(laugh) I reserve the hardtail for mountain biking, not those kamakasi downhill antics ;)
Believe also there is a hiking trip brewing...I've been doing a good bit of reading up on bear behavior...it's some scary stuff. I feel like a big dummy for not being better prepared every other time I've been to 'seek communion with the wilderness'. And I'm trying to figure out how to go to Reddick, Florida again this year to ride...maybe Labor Day holiday....welp, i'm just typing thoughts there..
gonna jet--my week-end awaits (in about 6.5 hrs)
PS. HERES THE LINK to the Dylan Glenn article I referred to in one of my previous journal entries.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _
aug4-
politics politics...I promise this is the last I write about it (hey, it only happens every four years ok)
bill clinton was on david lettermans late show last night--it was one of the best political interviews i've seen this year...he's a fantastic speaker...anyway, he discussed some issues that i think a lot of people have had questions about...and no doubt promoted himself and his wife in the process
(see, that's all i'm gonna say)
also watched one of the corniest bruce willis movie last night too...man (ok, I know he's not entirely famous for NONcorny characters/films, but you get the drift...and he is pretty hot-to-trot)...i dont know the name of it, but he played the part of a "shrink" who ended up being a big ole hero you know...blah blah blah...saving the girl..but of course i watched the whole thing...hehe...right before it I caught the end of a movie I think titled Dreamcatcher, about some secret alien fungus war on earth...weird, but, I watched all of the last of it too...(hehe) well, you know how it is...sitting in bed in a hotel, late, fed up with studying, and void of sleepiness
___________________________________________________________________________________ _
Aug3-
"study-day" here...time for finishing my research paper and cramming for the sociology exam
in the papers this morning was an update on the congressional running for georgia...I'm hoping it'll work if I make a link to the article...Dylan Glenn is "bucking decades of history in a bid to become the first black Republican elected to Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction"...cool huh? I think he's doing pretty well to be facing the resistance being dealt him...mucho props to Glenn!
Anyway, I'm excited about the upcoming 2wk break before fall semester--theres gonna be a lot of mtb riding going on. I've heard from Jo in West Va, his exact words describing some of the trails up there are "rachel, some of them are just sick"...they all wear full face helmets and body armor (a 'pro' out there yesterday busted his helmet after attempting one of the downward feats) and the three amigos attempting to tackel 5-15ft drops..rather .impressive...he says it's really muddy, they're washing their bikes after every run....I know I'm not that style rider, but I wish I was there to see it at least. I'm also gaining interst in making some ski trips this winter. Our SC house is about 2.5-3hrs from Boone, NC....if anyone is ever interested give a yell, I'm always up for that sort of trip.
Now, I'm going back to my Pearl Jams and Microsoft Word...happy Tuesday :)
_____________________________________________________________________________________ _
Aug.2,2004-
on the way to gsu this morning I was listening to national public radio--i'm not going to delve into the topic discussed, but what they were talking about made me remember the sad fact that there are people in this world who for some reason feel the need to express their own dissatisfaction with themselves by actively tearing down the lives of others...and I have a firm belief in the balances of life...surely no real good can come to people who consistently and intentionally do this...even if they live their lives the way they want to and think they're happy, their souls must be incomplete, or perhaps hollow
________________________________________________________________________________________ _
Sunday,Aug.1st-
Well, it's the first day of the last month of summer. whoa.
I finally overlapped this page, so at the bottom notice a link to the old one, there you can find everything I've written up till today.
Taking a break from writing article reviews and editing that danged research paper. APA and I have a passionate love-hate relationship.
I came across a photo by Gabriel Figueroa in one of my Architectural Digest magazines. His work is displayed at the Aldo Castillo Gallery, an international art gallery centered around Latin American artists. The title to the piece I fell in love with is "Procession." The other works at this site by Gabriel and others are equally incredible.
Also added this afternoon is a link to a page where I included an excerpt from my previously mentioned favorite psychology read by Carl Rogers. (<--Use that link to go directly there or find it later on the quotes page under "entry 2")
One more thing, this morning I read an online article about presidential candidate John Kerry. I'm finding myself in a position where I may have to side with the lesser of two evils in the upcoming election. Very torn. There are several things I know I will be able to make clear decisions on, but the most important one is a poser (say that in a british accent, think monty python), the president (for crying out loud). Ok, and I'm beginning to feel like this repeated narrowing to two politically "ugly" candidates (as seen in our last election) is unfair...to citizens of the United States who care about realistic issues and not these almost standardized superficial boasts put up by blundering politicians about war and money and ethics. Ok I'm gonna shut up there, I'm in a non-objective mode-
An email from our friends in West Va confirmed they are having a blast on the mountains at Snowshoe. (insert flurry of jealous heart palpitations here) At the time of the email they had ridden about 5 trails so far, each taking about 5-10 minutes to descend. I do maintain a level of distaste for what I call "work-free riding" I'm pro-balance of work and payoff...these trails are nothing but downhill (converted ski slopes) taking a chair lift to the top...BUT but but, this type of downhill riding is somethin else...whew...I mean, I wouldn't take my bike up there. And even if I did have a downhill bike I might not go...wait, what am I saying, of course I would.
Ok so if anyone wants to know more about mountain biking go to www.mbaction.com and maybe you can find some links to whatever you're interested in. Notice I'm promoting MOUNTAINBIKE Action magazine...root root....ok, another good one is...
well, the name escapes me right now....oh yea, DIRTRAG...dunno their addy tho.