And Now for something a little different

a view from the countryside near Angkor Borei

Food Court at the Russian Market

A View of Angkor Archaeological Park from Pre Rup

Excitement

I am of course, thrilled that Alison is back home! It's been a long two months without her. And I am way psyched for the arrival of Jen Katz. Rich in awesome people is the best kind of rich to be.

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Also, I read a pretty good line today: No one has ever gone broke underestimating the taste of the American public. On the heels of WWE running a terrorism story line on Smackdown (and being completely unapologetic for it), and the Hot Coffee mod that adults and senators don't understand, but sure are afraid of, I thought it was a poignant remark. For those of you who don't know about Hot Coffee, it's a mod written for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which unlocks the ability for the main character (player) to have simulated, and fully clothed sex, with women in the game. At first, Rockstar claimed they had nothing to do with it, and the mod altered the game rather than simply unlocking something in it. This later turned out to be a bold face lie. In any case, parents and senators alike are outraged that this game is being bought by people 17 and old, and that parents are buying it for their kids younger than 17. The solution? Change the game rating from M to AO. Adults Only. Which nows means you have to be 18 to buy the game. That should do the trick all right.

Conan O'Brien had it right when he said, "As a result, many parents have stood up and said, 'I bought this game so my son could simulate violent car jacking, not sex!'" Funny joke, but it does get to the heart of a more serious matter. Sexuality is so repressed in the United States that people would rather see, hear, read, and endulge in violence than sexual content. What a weird country we live in.

Woo Hoo!!!

Welcome home, Alison!!! It's great to have you back in the country!

I am *definitely* in the country...Cody, Wyoming, to be specific. My dad and I are firmly into our roadtrip...we left Seattle on Tuesday, drove to Post Falls, Idaho, then the next day drove to Big Sky, Montana, and hung out in Yellowstone all day today. I'll post some pictures as soon as I upload them...lots of elk and bison and geysers (oh my!). It was supercool. Tomorrow, it's off to Rapid City, SD, then the next day, Badlands, and then finally, Sunday, driving to Minneapolis, where we will spend the night. Then he leaves superearly on Monday, and I'll have breakfast in St. Paul with my friend Serena (and her boyfriend Isaac, also known as Stefan Kamola's older brother), and then it's off to MADISON!!!

Yippee!!!

HOLY COW I AM BACK!

Hello everyone!! i am finally back in the states after almost exactly 2 months abroad. it still feels a little bit weird to be here actually. it feels a lot weird. if i didn't have over 1000 photos i'd probably think i dreamed the last 2 months. anyway, i can't wait to catch up with you guys by phone/email/in person. i've got nothing but time until school starts so hopefully i'll get some pictures up here soon. Here's one to start:

Not on a jet plane, but leaving nonetheless

So, I'm officially leaving Seattle in less than a week. Which feels crazy. I mean, not like "CRAZY" because I clearly knew it was going to happen, and it's not like I'm all up-in-the-air about what I'm doing next. And I'm excited about Boston and grad school-- I'm just so sad about leaving.

I'm also so tired of packing. OH MY GOD. I never knew how much crap I had accumulated-- it's inSANE. I've got 5 boxes of books, for pete's sake. Anyway. My goal is to finish packing up all the boxes, more or less, today, so I can ship them (hello, UPS!) tomorrow, and then I'll have Friday-day to clean up the apartment and sell the very last of the furniture on craigslist.

So, yeah. For the next week, I've got a pretty limited agenda of saying goodbye to people, going to all of my favorite places, finding a good Space Needle keychain (I'm totally going to become "Seattle Girl" as soon as I get to Boston-- wearing head-to-toe fleece, whining about the coffee, and humming Deathcab incessantly-- even though I'm really not that girl now, not even a little bit), and dramatically proclaiming, everywhere I go, that this will be "my LAST time at [fill in the blank] EVER."

In much more exciting news, however, *leaving* Tuesday means my roadtrip *starts* on Tuesday. We'll leave here around 3 o'clock, get to Coeur d'Alene that night, drive down to Yellowstone on the 20th, spend the 21st at Yellowstone, drive to Rapid City, SD on the 22nd, spend the 23rd doing the SD thing, drive to Minneapolis on the 24th, and then I'll head to Madison on the 25th. Right now, I think my plan, if it works for the Madisonians (?) is to stay for two nights, the 25th and 26th, and then I'll head down to Chicago for lunch and then on to Oberlin to have dinner with Jiom Walsh and get drunk with Daphne John on the 27th, and then drive back to Boston on the 28th.

I can't wait to see you!

Love, Jen