This month has been insane, crazy, tiresome, insane, ridiculous and mostly drinking. I drunk in the New Year and have done it many more times since then - certainly the worst I've ever been. So, of course, realizing this I am feeling pretty low about it. With that, I am going to put everything back on the right track and back into a "normal" perspective. It sounds as if I am insinuating that I will not drink again and that's not what I'm saying because, come on, I will drink again, it's a fact of life. However, I am done being sloshed three or four nights a week. Finished!
So, for February 2009 and beyond, though officially as of today, I'm going to be who I want to be. I've noticed that over the past few months I am becoming more and more of the exact opposite of who I want to be, but I think it is invaluable experience because along with it I've better realized who that person is that I want to be. And now, that is exactly who I shall be.
Yes, this is the psycho babbling of someone who is slightly hungover and feeling bad about the night before, but you're reading it so HA! It should be known that this is not coming as a result of one evening, because last night was a good evening honestly, but after putting much thought into all of it over the past few weeks and then hitting this "rock bottom". Now, I've a new source for inspiration and a whole new semester to look forward to. Lots and lots of newbies are moving in today and tomorrow, so it should be fun! Perhaps I will finally get a roommate who doesn't suck. If only I could be so lucky...
Anyway, last night was pretty fun. We met up around 21:30 and then went to the bar at the Starobrno brewery. Reluctantly, I had a beer, but only one. I knew that I could go out and only have one or two, no worries. This place was loud, crowded and expensive. So, it wasn't too long before we went off to a place where you can play pool... and see boobies. It's a very strange place, but there is a nice atmosphere, and NO, not because of the boobies. Czech "strip tease" bars, as they are called, aren't impressive at all. WAAAAY better back in the states. However, the women are hotter here and I didn't blow tons of money, so it evens out. Also, we played some killer pool and I had only one more beer.
We then made our way to a sports bar. Our group, of nine, sat down at a big table and they brought as nine beers as we requested. By this point, I was already consumed with desire for another beer and it was my greatest mistake to have that third beer. That is the reason I'm a bit pissed off about it all, because I didn't stop myself when I wanted too. Now, of course it doesn't matter how much I drink here because I am literally in a situation right now where I can be drunk all day, everyday and it is okay. But, that's not how I want to be, but it's how I am becoming; though not anymore.
So, after that beer was gone, the conversation was great and we had another one. It was here that I was introduced to a really nice Russian girl, but for the sake of privacy I will leave out all the details. Her, another guy from Spain and I talked about many different things: language, visa's, drinking, whatever... It was good conversation. Around this time, maybe two or three in the morning, it was decided that we should go home and get some sleep. However, one German guy and this Polish girl wanted to have another beer and easily convinced me to join them. She was kinda' hot, what could I say? No? Yeah right!
The three of us went to some really sleazy place had a beer and then headed on our way because it sucked, really bad. Then we came back here to Vinarska and I proceeded to have another three or four beers before crashing. That was about six or so... As a result, today has been kinda' sucky and really slow, REALLY slow. I just can't get myself moving, but now I must, it's about time for a welcoming dinner for the newbies and I should probably go.
When you read my next blog, have confidence that I am a whole new person, or at least working on it making a legitimate attempt! If not, feel free to come and kick my @$$ really hard and whip me into shape. PEACE!
Not too much has been going on lately, at least nothing "blog-worthy". But, in spite of it, now, I shall write a blog. It probably won't be witty or intelligent and certainly not something anyone should read, but, if you've made it this far, you might as well continue reading. Maybe it will get more interesting...
Then again, maybe not. I really got nothing! I shall just write this:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. -Abraham Lincoln
I absolutely LOVE the Penn & Teller show, Bullsh!t. First off, I agree with virtually everything they said and think. Secondly, it is pretty dang funny. If you haven't before heard of it, then it is a great loss to you. However, I have always thought to myself that there has to be something I would disagree with that they do have to say at least until I saw this:
Clearly, they present an extremely valid argument against that which I ho hold so dear. It is the complete truth everything they have said. Not only do I know it all to be fact, but I myself was a young scout when all this was taking place and remember hearing word of all this as it came to be throughout my years in scouting.
It is extremely important to say that I sill hold scouting with the highest regards. However, I do disagree with those particular policies which make them complete and total hypocrites. Also, I am not myself a supporter of homosexuals, etc, but I do feel they are entitled to their rights as well. I feel that is right for the Boy Scouts to be able to selectively choose who they want in the organization, but do not support such exclusions mentioned.
Scouting should not be exclusive for any reason of someones personal beliefs. Thankfully this is only an official position. I have never personally known this to be an issue in any situation. The only instance I can recall where someone was excluded from scouting, and in my opinion rightfully so, was because of a particular situation. There was a current and pressing issue with the law and because of that the scoutmaster prevented him from becoming an adult leader until the issue was settled. That said, scouting isn't truly an exclusive organization, though there are unfortunate "instances".
To sum it up best, the former leader who has since quit scouting because he will not stand for an organization which supports hate and discrimination says it exactly as it is. The scouting organization has steered off of its right path, the path on which it was originally founded. Truer words were never spoken in this light.
It has been recently became known that KISS has plans to release a new album in the coming year! With that, there will most likely be a tour and there are, for certain, a few dates already planned as a "warm up". Hopefully, I will finally, finally get to see them live... again! It would a dream come true to have seen the greatest rock legends all throughout my "growing up". I first saw them in elementary school, later in middle school and most recently in high school. Now that I am in college, it would complete the "quad" quite nicely!
As for the album, I do not have such high expectation based upon most recent works. Paul Stanley's album Live To Win (link) was phenomenal but not what I was expecting and therefore, for me at least, it was a bit of a let down. Still, it was a great album.
Prior to that, KISS released Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (link). On principal alone, it was a great album, but was a compilation album so there was nothing new. Then was Psycho Circus (link), another great album and certainly their personal best since 1992's Revenge (link) - a memorial album to the late drummer Eric Carr (link).
Between those two was Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (link, of course!) which had a great single Jungle but was otherwise not so great for non-KISS fans. Personally, I though it was another album by KISS and therefore was great in itself, but since then, the album has fallen in greatness as my "ear" for music has developed. Though, I still listen to this album.
All that said, over the past few years, since 1992, KISS's work has been great, but very spaced out and for the time difference has not been quite so worth the wait! This new album, 11 years since Psycho Circus, though it certainly doe not seem as if it has been so long, I simply cannot hold with the highest regards because I do not want to be disappointed. I have learned through my previous years in college, that if I keep my expectations low, then I cannot ever be disappointed and I think that in itself is the primary reason why I have my doubts.
Let's face it, KISS has shown themselves to be great over the years. Their work is always gold, literally. They have more gold records than the Beatles and Elvis combined. I'd say that's pretty tough to beat! So, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this next album is better than any to have came before (a BIG hope) and that we do not see another Chinese Democracy (link) where it takes twelve years to release the album.
In other KISS news, co-founder Gene Simmons has released to the public a replica of his very famous axe bass guitar. However, it only has a few little buttons! That's right, its for Guitar Hero/Rock Band/Etc... Feast your eyes on this beauty:
Computer: OK, now it looks like Mouse is moving around so, Monitor, will you move the pointer icon accordingly?
Monitor: Anything you ask, boss.
Computer: Great, great. OK, Mouse, where are you going now?
Mouse: Over to the icon panel, sir.
Computer: Hmm, Let me know if he clicks anything, OK?
Mouse: Of course.
Keyboard: Sir, he's pressed control and P simultaneously.
Monitor: Oh God, here we go.
Computer: *sighs* Printer, are you there?
Printer: No.
Computer: Please, Printer. I know you're there.
Printer: NO! I'm not here! Leave me alone!
Computer: Jesus. OK look, you really ne...
Mouse: Sir, he's clicked on the printer icon.
Computer: Printer, now you have to print it twice.
Printer: NO! NO! NO! I don't want to! I hate you! I hate printing! I'm turning off!
Computer: Printer, you know you can't turn yourself off. Just print the document twice and we'll leave you alone.
Printer: NO! That's what you always say! I hate you! I'm out of ink!
Computer: You're not out of in...
Printer: I'M OUT OF INK!
Computer: *Sighs* Monitor, please show a low ink level alert.
Monitor: But sir, he has plen...
Computer: Just do it, damn it!
Monitor: Yes sir.
Keyboard: AHHH! He's hitting me!
Computer: Stay calm, he'll stop soon. Stay calm, old friend.
Keyboard: He's pressing everything. Oh god, I don't know, he's just pressing everything!
Computer: PRINTER! Are you happy now?! Do you see what you've done?!
Printer: HA! that's what you get for trying to get me to do work. Next time he...hey...HEY! He's trying to open me! HELP! HELP! Oh my god! He's torn out my cartridge! HELP! Please! ERROR!
So, I remembered that I had an old blog post, from long ago where I had made a large, though incomplete, list of places/cities/things I want to visit in my lifetime. I have just looked up this old list and though I haven't made that big of a dent in it, I have done a decent job. I will now post it again denoting all those completed with an asterisk (*).
Places St. Basil's Cathedral - Moscow, Russia Red Square - Moscow, Russia Great Wall of China - China Falling Water - Mill Run, Pennsylvania *Prague Castle - Prague, Czech Republic Eiffel Tower - Paris, France Jim Morris' Grave - Paris, France Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France Louvre - Paris, France Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France Berlin Victory Column - Berlin, Germany *Big Ben - London, England *Tower Bridge - London, England *Tower of London - London, England *Abbey Road - London, England *Stonehenge - Wiltshire, England *Westminster Abbey - Westminster, England Gilwell Park - Sewardstonebury, England Sydney Opera House - Sydney, Austrailia Sydney Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia Great Barrier Reef - Australia Where the Tigris meets the Euphrates River - Iraq Acropolis - Athens, Greece Colosseum - Rome, Italy St. Peter's Square - Rome, Italy St. Peter's Basilica - Rome, Italy Taj Mahal - Agra, India *Auschwitz - Auschwitz, Poland Pyramids of Giza / Sphinx - Cairo, Egypt The Alamo - San Antonio, Texas Iguazu Falls - Brazil Christ The Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ancient Mayan Ruins - Mexico Panama Canal - Panama Independence Hall - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Redwood National Park - California Yellowstone National Park / Old Faithful - Wyoming
Cities Helsinki, Finland New York, New York St. Petersburg, Russia Washington D.C., United States of America Jerusalem, Israel Mexico City, Mexico Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
Countries Spain New Zealand Vietnam South Africa Cote D'Ivoire
Other Outer-space
It has been a GREAT and largely successful past few months. I know I will be able to knock off another one or two before I return to the states as I have every intention of making it to Helsinki before I head home. Hopefully, in the next few days I will get around to updating this list as it has grown significantly since being here and meeting great people from all over this rock we call Earth.
The internet is simply crazy - the whole concept, action and everything! Also, being able to code and see who is reading your blog is pretty crazy too. I just looked at the stats for this page and my photos page and can see who was here and when.
That said, I want to say thank you to all those who are interested enough to check it out! I'll just list a few here real quick to give an example of the broad range of the internet.
All my buddies here in Brno (Czech Republic) All my buddies in Olomouc (Czech Republic) Saara to my North (Finland) Judith to my South (Austria) A couple friend to the West (Germany) KELLY (Texas) Jeff (Kentucky) David (Spain) And some dude in the UK who I'm not sure who it is!
If you weren't listed, don't feel bad just come here more often because that was just the people (that I could tell who was) from the past day or two.
So, this has been the greatest "holidays" I've ever spent away from home. Okay, so it is the first one, but I think it will be hard to top!
After leaving my family in Cechovice, I went to spend an evening with another family in Stepanov. We exchange gifts, ate a lot and prepared to head out to the cottage. My friend, Pegi, had organized a large trip to a small scout cottage in Dulni Becva for the celebration of the coming New Year.
It was quite early when the fourteen of us met on the morning of the thirtieth in the Olomouc main station. After a transfer of trains, bus ride and short walk we were finally there by about noon. We started getting settled in and most importantly got that fire going in the stove. It was pretty friggin' cold in there! Our next, and most important, order of business was to figure out where to put the kegs of beer. Then of course, we were able to arrange the beds and tables appropriately around this. We also had to have a place to store our twenty-two bottles of liquor.
Once we got everything taken care of and settled in, the drinking began! There was also a nice Czech dinner of chelb s maslo to go with it and of course plenty of pivo, Pivo, PIVO! A few of the guys got pretty lit and sometime in the early hours of the morning we went to bed. On day two, some awoke and went cross-country skiing. The rest of us, we relaxed and then cut down a tree with which we were able to heat the cabin for the rest of the time.
That evening was of course New Year's Eve! After preparing lots of snacks and finger foods, the drinking "roulette" got started. Basically, its like roulette but instead of gambling, you simply drink whatever shot the ball lands on. It was a great way to kick things off. In the first thirty of forty minutes, we managed to get about six or seven rounds in. That's fourteen of us, by six (conservatively) shots each in under an hour. Again, a great start!
We then bundled up and headed outside to bring in the new year with fireworks and many bottles of champagne. Upon standing, after the roulette rounds, I had expected to be at least a little buzzed. Sadly, I could say that I felt comfortable enough to have driven. My tolerance is through the roof! Outside, it sounded like WWII with all the fireworks going off and being heard echoing throughout the mountains. It was fantastic! We managed to roll into bed about 6:00 that night... the next morning... whatever...
The rest of the time in the cottage was mostly more drinking, eating and playing games. Life was pretty rough for us those five times. It is not for everyone, only the strong can survive! After we emptied the kegs and all the bottles, it was time for us to pack up and head home on the morning of the fifth day. Fun was certainly had by all!
Back in Brno, I took it easy for a half a second before starting to clean up and prepare my room for my guests who were to arrive the next day. Most of that consisted of me screwing of on the computer and only thinking about cleaning, but it eventually got taken care of though it was only moments before I was to go to the train station and pick them up. As I said before, Gabby (a friend from back home in Kentucky) and her friend Claire, from Canada, were coming to stay a few days here.
It was a grand three days. We had a lot of fun, specifically last night when we got pretty ripped. After a bit of pre-gaming, we headed off to "the pub" where you pour your own beer. The tap at your table keeps track of your beer total and display it on a big screen in the room. So, basically, it becomes a huge "which table can drink the most" competition. They also show results from the same bar but in other cities across the Czech Republic.
There were five of us at our table. Gabby, Claire, two other friends of mine and of course myself. When we left, we were ranked second in the entire nation with a bit over thirteen liters of beer. At thirty crowns per half liter, it would have been a hefty bill. However, the bartender, who was drunk, had been attempting to hit on the girls all night long. He had been bringing them "free" wine from a really nice looking bottle.
At closing time, when we left, he brought the bill for 520 Kc. 450 of that was the bottle of port he was "giving" them and the other 70 we could not tell what it was for, but there was no beer on it at all. Confused, we put down 400 crowns and were discussing the rest when he just grabbed that and said that it was taking care of. In the end, after dealing with his creepiness, we got a lot of free beer and the girls got some nice wine for cheap. Life isn't always so hard I suppose...
This morning after sleeping until 11:00, we made it up and the girls had enough time to pack, shower and then RUN to their train which they still almost didn't quite make it too. Other than that, not much has been going on today, so until some other time, peace!
***Edit*** I did manage to get all the pics up from the events so check them out on the photos page!
