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December 2008
A Christmas Story - Even Better Than The Original
28 December 2008 - 18:24
WOW!!!
Christmas here in the Czech Republic is absoltely FANTASTIC! I am having one hell of a good time, really. Things could not be any better, unless of course my family and friends were here with me; I'm certainly not gonna' be home anytime soon...
The Czech Christmas traditons are very much like those back home except everyone actually does them and there is meaning behind them. It is great to see people who follow and know where they come from, unlike me who knows nothign about my heritage. I am so glad to have been spending my time here with a family I know. It would have been very boring and sucky to have spent this time all alone in that crap-hole called Vinarska. Though, it wasn't such a crap-hole until everybody left...
This past day or so, I've spent in the Jeseniky mountains in a pravite ski cottage - no big deal. Be it that I have never before skied, I took a "crash course" yesterday afternoon. It wasn't so bad, but as I have always suspected, certainly it is nothing I would do for fun. Today, all the great people I met last night at said cottage, invited me out with them to the Praded mountain - the highest in all of Moravia. Be it that they are pro skiers and I a n00b, they went there own way and left me to wonder te mountian by myself. It sounds like I got screwed, but I think it was fantastic. There's pretty much only one option when facing a mountain, and that is up! So, up I went, all the waz to the top, by myself.
On the way up, I stopped to take a photo. Beside me was someone (Czech) and his lady also taking photos. He asked me if I would take a photo of them. Having no idea what he said, I told him that I did not speak Czech. He then said "photo please" and of course, I understood that and took there photo. After, he asked where I was from, but instead of "asking" so much, he basically started speaking German, assuming I was from Germany. Obviously, this is not the case, so I told them that I was from America. They almost couldn't believe it that I was in those moutains, alone, all the way from across the puddle. We had a VERY short conversation as my Czech still isn't very good, nor was their English. However, it was a great experience in itself.
This evening, upon my return to Cechovice, the small village I am staying in for Christmas, my phone rang. Be it that all the people who would possibly call me are in their home countries, and nobody really is still here, I was quite surprised. I was even more surprised to see that it was a Czech number that I did not know. Finally, I was further suprised to hear English on the other end when I said "hello". And I was as surprised as I could possibly be to instantly recognize the voice of none other than the one and only Gabby! We had a short but awesome chat. Even better is, she will be coming to visit me in a few days. She is currently with some old friends in Bohemia and soon she will be in BRNO!!!
So, it was a pretty amazing day - no question! I hope that tomorrow is as good, if not better though it will be very hard to top. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!
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So This Is Christmas...
23 December 2008 - 12:31
So, this is Christmas, in the Czech Republic. I really thought it would be different here. It isn't, at least not so far. Things are pretty much the same. People frantically shopping at the last minute, "crap" for sell everywhere, and a few decorations strewn about. Hopefully, the actual "Christmas" I will spend with the Pečinka's will be much different, and more traditionally Czech, because so far everything seems to be resembling capitalistic America - and this is disgusting!
All is not bad, however. I am thoroughly enjoying myself here in Brno over the past few days. I spent most of the time cleaning and scrubbing the room, but even that was almost pleasant. Cleanliness is next to Godliness and if that's true, then I can now be back where I once was and not living with such scum.
In just a few minutes, I will be on my way to my train to Olomouc where I will be picked up by Jan and then it's off to Cechovice for a few days. After that, I will be going with some other friends to a rented cottage in the eastern part of Olomoucky Kraj to bring in the new year. That should be lots of fun!
Until next time, keep in mind these words by the great, late John Lennon...
*****
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over
If you want it
War is over
Now...
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Life's Lessons - Resolution
18 December 2008 - 12:26
As you can imagine, my roommate was quite pissed about being stiffed. Well, I wouldn't say I am stiffing him, I would more or less say that he is getting what he deserves. Anyway, he decided to bring it up, even though I made it perfectly clear that I did not want to discuss it. As he was murmuring on and on about his money and the I should repay him, I just kept giving him the "Yep, uh-huh..." expression that really says I'm not paying attention to anything you are saying.
During his argument, whilst trying to argue his case, he could only talk about his money and didn't really make an attempt to refute any of my claims. How could he? I wouldn't make any of that up and certainly would not say it if it were not true. Anybody who knows me, knows that. He did try to say that he isn't rude, but I wasn't basing this statement upon my involvements with him in this instance, but those of another. In one case, as a friend here has told me, they were out having dinner and he was being so rude and obnoxious that she simply told him to leave and that she would pay for his meal just so long as he left. That's not something you make up either.
The main basis for his argument, as well as his overall summary, of my "letter", was that I simply do not like him and because of that I'm trying to screw him out of this money. That isn't quite true, though I do not like him. For those of you who read my letter in the previous blog, it is obvious that I cannot stand him, but I never actually even implied that I didn't like him. I stated every reason for every penny, or crown, or whatever, that I was not going to give to him; nothing more - well, maybe an insult or two at the end (certainly not my most mature action ever). I laid it out based upon logical and reasonable facts why he was not going to be paid, just as he would do to any of us.
I eventually just told him that I wasn't going to discuss it anymore, as I had said. That pissed him off even more and then he started acting like a little kid and said, "I want my money!" every few minutes... but gave up after only three times. I've ignored him and his behavior the whole semester, does he really think that he could really affect me at all in his last three days here?
So, here is where things start to make a turn. Shortly after our "discussion", I received an email from Martin, out exchange program coordinator. So, I can tell that my roommate means business, but I think he dis something wrong. I'll let you decided. Here is the text from the email I received at 5:25PM:
"Dear Charles,
It has come to my attention you have not paid back your roommate money which you owe him. He did not contact me, but another student wrote it to me. I want students to have a good semester at Masaryk and have pleasant memories when they left. To make an enjoyable experience, you and your roommate should reach a compromise. I can\'t do any more on this matter and this is now between you and he.
Yours,
Martin"
Seems fairly serious and legit, but instantly I could tell that something seemed fishy, so I replied stating that we are resolving the issue at this very moment. Now, here is why this letter is fishy; I have five very good reasons.
---First, the time is not right. Martin has never sent an email after about noon. Now, I know that it is VERY possible for him to send an email at any time he wants, but generally, most people leave the office about 5 - the guys here in the CZ, a lot earlier most days... This fact is minor, but plays into the rest.
---Second, Martin is a native Czech and therefore not a native English speaker. His English is quite good, but his sentence structures are never quite like that. It's too good of English.
---Third, Martin has never signed and email "yours", but generally "regards" or something very similar to that.
---Fourth, the contact information at the end of the email (not shown here for obvious reasons) is always in a very small print that is purple. In this email it was normal size and black.
---The fifth and final reason, the only one I caught right away whilst reading it through the first time, is in the word "can't". Why is there a "\" in the middle of this word you might wonder? Web nerds know why already, but I'll tell those of you who don't. When programming there are special characters which always throw errors. One of the worst about this is the apostrophe ( ' ), which proceeds the "\". When developing the programming language PHP, one of the most popular used for web pages, the creators knew about the problem and threw in a fix, this "\" character. This denotes that that following character is "special" and gives a warning to treat it as such. So, when dealing with texts like emails, programmers must use a function which removes the "\" from in front of it, unless of course you are an inexperienced programmer and don't know to use it. Since, anyone can write a simple script which will create a fake email from any address of their choosing, it is clearly obvious that this has been done. I know, I've done it just messing around with friends. If you don't believe me, just say so and I'll show you!
So, I received a fake email basically telling me to pay up from a piss-poor programmer. Hrm... Martin also did not find it funny when he replied to my "response" stating that he had no idea what was going on. After, I looked back over everything and was certain it was a fake, I sent him the details and now he's looking into it. The joke is on you moron!
Then, I received a message from my roommate himself. It's bland and boring, again not arguing my claims:
"Yes, Charles. You sent that to everyone. Now pay me back my money, the money for Wicked and the money that I bought your train ticket (for 15 pounds). This is childish, not paying someone because you don't like them. People don't like people they are borrowing from, but they pay them back because that is how things work. I don't mean to be rude, but it is not acceptable for anyone to borrow money from someone and not pay them back. Essentially what you are doing is stealing $60 from me and I don't like it. It is a lot of money and so I would like it back; also, on principle. I trusted that you would pay me back the train ticket cost when you asked me to buy it on the airplane, otherwise, I wouldn't have bought it for you. I could have been just as rude as you apparently think I am and said no, buy your own ticket. But, even though you already owed me money, I still paid for it. I don't know what recourse I have--there is no way I can force you to pay. But this is wrong--no matter how much you don't like people, you pay them back. I know this is going out to everyone (sorry). As Benjamin Franklin said, "Never a borrower or a lender be." I suppose I should have listened to good ol' Ben. Additionally, as for the Wicked tickets, you still went to the show. You said you even enjoyed going. While I was the one who bought the tickets, Leah was the one who told me to. She said all the tickets should be gotten at the same time. She was going to pay, but we weren't sure if it would accept her KB card, so I paid. She is just as much as fault, but doesn't seem to care and says it is my problem, which makes me angry as well. All of you who have paid, thank you and Merry Christmas. Charles, unless you pay, I don't have words I can post online...much less on my blog, as you have done. I hope people read your blog post about this and never loan you money."
I agree, I hope that people do read my blogs and see that if douche bags loan me money I won't pay them back because they don't deserve. I can say that I've never not paid someone back, at least not intentionally. Some of my buddies back home I'm sure I owe them money, but they owe me too, so it all works out. I've never been concerned with just dollars and cents. It's just money, the worst concept ever invented.
I had every intention to pay him back from the very beginning, as I said before. He had my trust and rightly so. I am a trustworthy person. It's like my law, like I took an oath or something. However, I trusted in him that he would not be a huge jerk the entire semester and that he would eventually straighten up his act. But, he didn't so, I lost his trust and he lost mine - simple as that.
Ultimately, I have decided that I will pay him back. Not because I am weak, but because I'm too good of a person to screw him over... entirely. Since he said that he is understand of the Wicked (the musical) ticked situation, I didn't have to pay him back for that. I'll consider it a Christmas gift, since it it the time of giving! That leaves the 15 pounds for the train ticket. Once you subtract the money he owes me for Slovakia and the hostel reservation that leaves me owing him 131 Czech Crowns - or about eight dollars. Not quite the 903 he wanted - 60 dollars - but hey, fair is fair, right?
All debts are settled and, in my opinion, its more of an insult to him than not paying him. I'm sure he will whine like a little girl about it, but I won't listen to it. I can go somewhere else until he leaves Brno today FOREVER! And, its a shame that he'll never get to read this. I know he saw my last blog entry and commented on that. But, now, I have his IP and with that I can block him from seeing my page... -OR- ...I can also redirect him to Meatspin.com. Seriously, don't click that unless you want to be grossed out!
-BAMF
***Update***
Not long after posting the above, I took out 131 Kc and placed it on his desk with a note that said "131KC - Take it or leave it, I don't care". When he came in a read it he said to me, "Wow, it's like your not even paying me at all."
I said, "Yep."
"I hope you feel good stealing money from me!"
"I'm not stealing anything. It's what I owe you, but I'm not talking about it."
"Yeah, well f*** you!"
"That's basically what you've been telling me the entire semester."
"Well, you deserve it."
"I don't deserve anything. If you were to count this as something wrong then it would be the only thing I have done wrong to you."
"There are others."
"Oh yeah? Name one!"
---Silence---
I ended with a nice, "That's what I thought..."
He accepted the money so, I think it went well!
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Life's Lesson - Learned The Hard Way
16 December 2008 - 15:23
Maybe you are aware, or maybe you're not, but this semester I have had the pleasure to be roomed with the worse excuse for a human being ever. I haven't said too much about it, because well, it doesn't matter. There was nothing that could be done.
This particular tale begins just before our trip to London. One day, as soon as I walked in the door, without greeting, the only thing he said to me was, "You owe me $31." That's all he said. When I asked why, he told me it was because he bought tickets to a musical for us all to see in London. Of all the things it could have been, that was certainly the most unexpected, but whatever...
So, now I owed him this money. No big deal, but the circumstances were a little ridiculous. Anyway, while in London, he bought a ticket for me on his card so that it would be more simple than both of us doing it, so a little bit more money.
After London, as everyone was broke and a little pissed off with him, nobody bothered to pay him a cent. At the end of November, one of the girls here planned an American Thanksgiving meal for us via facebook. That was nice and fantastic, but just prior to we got this message from him:
"Dear all (except Sarah, but a gift is welcome),
Happy Thanksgiving. I'm sending this out so you all have more time to budget and everything. You can either pay me in crowns or do a fund transfer into my KB account online. I took everything at exchange values when they went through on my credit/debit cards, which is the most fair and saves you money! Thank you!
David
Layla: $31*18kc/$=558kc
Leah: $31*18kc/$=558kc
Kelly: $31*18kc/$=558kc
Charles: $31*18kc/$=558kc - 120kc (Slovakia meal) = 438kc + (15pounds*31kc/pound=465kc train ticket to London) = 903kc
Jordan: 6.30euro+2.50euro = 211kc - 70 = 141kc"
He is so concerned with his money, that he had to ruin the dinner because of this. Needless to say, he didn't see any money that day...
Now, he has begun packing his things, like most everyone else. He has also been harassing everyone about the money which not everybody had paid back yet. I am the only one, at this point to not have done so, but I thought to myself about how everything played out this semester and realized I didn't owe him a dime. Instead, this is what I wrote, in the very same thread which he sent out his message:
"You have to be out of your mind if you think you are getting a dime, a crown, or even a single pence out of me. Normally, I would pay someone back as soon as I possibly could, but I don't owe you anything. So, it doesn't matter.
It's as simple as this:
-The meal in Slovakia was 150 Kc, not 120
-You never paid the 5 pounds for the hostel reservation as did everyone else
-I feel no obligation whatsoever to pay you for that ticket because you never asked if I wanted to go. In fact, when you brought it up, you didn't even say "hello" as I walked in the room, just, "You owe me $31." That's definitely not the way to bring up the issue that you spent MY money without my knowledge.
-As for the remaining 10 pounds, I think since I've dealt with your messy, nasty, and utterly gross habits this entire semester we can call it even. I would go as far as to say you actually owe me money for that one...
Not only are you a complete slob, but you are also rude beyond comprehension, inconsiderate and disrespectful to everyone - Kelly, Leah, Layla, Me, your parents and sister (we've all heard how you talk to them on skype), people at restaurants and worst of all, strangers on the streets. Also, you have absolutely no respect for yourself of your things. Clearly, no self-respecting person could live or act in such a way!
Aside from you uncleanliness, I've also had to deal with you acting like a 6 year old all the time. You somehow always manage to leave a gallon or so of water in the floor after showering; thankfully though, that has stopped. You burn everything you try to cook which shouldn't be a problem, but you are 21 years old. You should be pretty self-sufficient by this time and not so reliant on others to feed you. Even I stopped burning grilled cheese by the time I was 8 or so... And you complain all the time about everything. Why in the hell would you even consider a study abroad if you are as un-adaptable as you are??? Not once have you had a good thing to say about anything, or anyone, here. You have no ability to hold you tongue at all.
For some reason, I also get the feeling that you really don't like me. I've thought about what I possibly could have done this entire semester that would have pissed you off bad enough for you to say that you would want to light me on fire at out Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow, I can come up with nothing. I've done nothing, even though I have considered it, to be disrespectful to you or your things. I've not once got into your stuff and borrowed things without your knowledge, and especially not without returning them. I've not left my things all over the floor, the kitchen, and the bathroom; unless I perchance forgot something and left it lying by mistake. I certainly never left my suitcase in the hallway by the door where shoes are supposed to go. The only thing I can possibly think of that bothered you is the fact that I like to go to bed at a reasonable hour and I don't see how that is a problem because I never once asked you to stop staying up so late or anything like that. So, I don't see why you could have a problem with me, though I always hear that you complain about me.
Its probably not a very mature thing for me to say, but as you are never, NOT ONCE, concerned about what you say, I would rather put my dick in hot tar and broken glass then try to rape a grizzly bear before giving you a cent which I don't owe you. And I'm sure everyone would back me on that one. To sum everything up, you can take 908Kc and shove it up your ass for all I'm concerned! Not only are you not getting it from me, I don't have. Remember, my parents haven't spoon fed me money this entire semester so that I could be beyond miserable and sit in my room every night hoping that someone would want to watch a movie with me or discuss politics.
And finally, we are not going to discuss this, not even for a second. I don't want to hear about it and just to give you the heads up, no one else will either. You can be bitter about it all you want, but if you were to just act like a decent human being with morals and respect, it would never been an issue and you would've have been paid back at the first opportunity just after our return from London. So, don't even bring it up, just pretend like nothing ever happened and hurry up and get the hell out of this place I love so much and go back to your crap-hole, cum stain on the map, state of Iowa."
I hope he can take a hint and realize that he will have to grow up someday and maybe will even learn a thing or two from this whole experience. I think most importantly would be for him to realize that if you always act like a jerk, that it will come back to bite you in the backside.
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Back In The New York Groove
14 December 2008 - 14:12
First off, that's a great song, you should check it out. Secondly, I am officially back online! I have received a loaner PC from a friend in Velky Tenec. Technically, I have had this computer since Friday evening, but I've been rather busy since then and this is the first chance I'm getting to post.
Today, since I've got all my resources back, I have been Putting all my pictures from the past month online. It has taken quite some time be it that there are 1353 of them since I was last able to update my photos page (http://pics.redhawk77.com/). That makes a grand total of 3622 photos online, after these are all uploaded. I LOVE taking some photos!
Other than that, not much has been going on. Except of course, everyone leaving! Today about five people I know are headed home, some left Friday, and many more will leave in the coming week. It is a bittersweet ending because everyone is looking forward to going home, some more than others, but nobody wants to leave behind their friends. I can certainly understand this and am very glad to be staying for a full year. Those who aren't, well, it's okay, we all knew you weren't cool enough to stay anyway ;-)
That wraps it up for me. Until next time!
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Hungary - The Land of The Magic Cube
10 December 2008 - 11:50
First off, I need to mention that my photos can be seen on Facebook, at least a few of them. Check them out:
-Hungary
-Olomouc
-Prague
-Poland
-Snow Day
-Random
-London
-Ireland
So, now that that business has been taken care of, I can continue on to Hungary. What an awesome weekend! There was only one "hiccup" at the end, but it worked itself out quite well. For the majority of the time, I was in the Monte Carlo casino learning how to play Texas Hold 'Em. Other than that we wandered the streets of downtown Budapest, has some great Chinese food and simply relaxed. It was fantastic.
I really don't feel like writing much else, so I'll leave it at that. Budapest is a great city and worth checking out the next time your in the area. Peace!
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Crazy, Crazy Nights!
04 December 2008 - 18:31
Just as KISS once said, "these are crazy, crazy nights!"
Life has been pretty intense lately; nothing to special, but things are definitely nuts. It is wonderful, I must admit, but I am getting a little tired of staying out SOOO late all the time and sleeping the day away. This problem is amplified doubly so because of the fact that the sun is gone BEFORE five... As people here are beginning to pack there things to return to their home countries, things are getting more and more insane! There is lots more drinking, if that was even possible, and a lot more good times! Life is pretty good :-) ...
Tuesday afternoon, I just decided to go with some friends to Prague for the night. They wanted some cookies and I had nothing else to do. It seemed like a good idea. The bad idea, wasn't buying the bottle of wine before leaving. In fact, I believe it was chugging the whole thing by myself. Oops! It was a fun night, for sure, but perhaps I was a little bit drunk... or some my even say that I was "wasted". Ya know, who's counting? Sorry girls for being a little bit annoying whilst intoxicated...
Since then, last night, I stayed up pretty late again. Had a beer, there was another bottle of wine, though I had to pass on that, and everything was good. I managed to accomplished all of nothing today. I only made it to exchange my for my trip to Hungary this weekend, to Tesco for some sugar so I can make some bloody sweet, tea, and did all my laundry. I really should be writing one of my three papers that are due pretty soon, but that's what next week is for, right?
Peace out!
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