My Last Post? No, no, that's November 11th, and the play is on DECEMBER 11th.

OK, so many of you probably don't know what's been going on with the theatre group, and my play. Once again, I felt this summary is best expressed in cartoons...badly drawn and sleep-deprived-and-sickness-induced cartoons. *Sneeze* I will put in pithy comments after cartoons as necessary.




(Public Service Announcement: I'm technically naked in this cartoon. I'm not sure this is rated PG, but I realized my error, and every other stick Brennan will now have pants. Thank you.)





























(Here's where problem happened. We should have been collectively doing the script, but it..uh...happened to be a few people. It's a long story. With murder. And...uh...I'm sick. *Sneeze*)





(Sarah doesn't normally look this evil. I took some artistic license. Not that there's much artist going on here. But...be brave...it's almost over.)






(While Colin is tall, he normally doesn't burn down buildings. It's more of a once-in-a-blue-moon-the-script-wasn't-finished-yet-thing. We all worked together and made a plot.)










And here's where it ends. The script isn't done. That's bad. But we have a plot, which we didn't have before...which is good. So...uh...wish me luck. I have somehow became the central character of this play, which is...UM? I should be practicing???? I don't know how this happened. I mean, I make up my own plays in my mind where I'm the hero, but it's not supposed to happen in REAL LIFE. OR EVEN FAKE LIFE FOR THAT MATTER. WHAT THE HAY IN THE CLAY IN THE DIDDLY.

So, yes, we have two weeks to properly put our script together, which is in the process of being completely rewritten because the plot didn't work before and now we have an actual STORY in the end, so that's really good. However, now that a couple of people (Sarah, me, director, Colin) have sat down and hashed everything else out, we now have to present it to the group, and make them see how good it can be. Which could be bad, because everyone else is a wee bit demotivated because we have been having some bad practices. (Aka. There's no plot. How do we have a play, Watson? I don't know Sherlock, but I bet it's elementary.) I'll be doing a lot of feverent praying up until the play date, now, methinks. And a lot of writing lines for the play. My lines, specifically, of course. That's how this whole process works. *Sigh* Theatre is so confusing. How does Eva do it? She must want to go for the kill on the regular basis. Me, I just want to hang myself from the rafters by my undies.

Other than that, I was told tonight that my way of speaking is 'jiffy-wiffly.' Apparently that means I euphemize everything. JIFFY-WIFFLY???? GEEZ! SERIOUSLY!!!

Whew, blood boiling. Jiffy-Wiffly, my fanny. *grumble*

Ok, I'm ending here. I need sleep like a person who hasn't slept in 22 hours. Or something.

Yay! I love acting!

Supper and Syllogisms

You know, after I just went for supper with Sarah, and we discussed the play (since it's getting nearer and nearer) I realized that my stop word of late is 'yo.' For example, I now tend to end every sentence I say with things like, "That's totally whack, yo!" or "My peeps will call your peeps and we'll hang out at someone's crib, yo!" "I think that's a GREAT idea, yo!"

While technically this is my fault, I feel the perfectly rational thing to do in this situation is to blame Sarah. I have decided that I need to put this in proper forms and categories of medieval logic:


Opinion of Others:

Premise 1: It seems that Brennan cannot speak anything than improper English. He used to use words like "like" and "um" and "uh" as his stop words. Now, he has moved onto words like "yo" and "whack, yo" to explain his inability to grasp the idea of speaking coherently. Thus, the fault seems to be that Brennan simply cannot cognize properly, and not that Sarah is the source of his problems.

Premise 2: Other people have nothing to do with Brennan's problems. He's totally whack, yo.

Further: It seems that Brennan's inability to speak in proper nouns, verbs and adjectives is conflated by his iniability to study anything but continental philosophy, Dutch, German and French. Such a combination cannot produce anything but madness. Hence, Brennan is mad. Clearly, this argument is irrefutable given premises one and two.


Refutation: We reply that such things are not true, and we deny them vehemently...because...um....look, over there, a distraction!!!!! (Made an impressive chart while you weren't looking) And as you can clearly see from this chart right here, this proves the validity of Brennan throwing blame on Sarah. Plus, look at this duck! It's AMAZING! Very realistic.

Further: Brennan kept giving Sarah advice on how to talk like a skater girl, which is her character in the play, and eventually he started turning it into the way he talks normally. Quite problematic, yo.


Sigh.

And, that, my friends, is what happens when you study medieval philosophy late at night.


Yo.

For Dad

OK, so here's something that happened to me this weekend. The one fault here is that the scanner picked up too much blue for me to use auto correct, so it's going to be a little lighter this time around, because I'm trying to find a happy medium for scaning that doesn't involve a really soft lead pencil...for obvious save-the-scanner-plate-from-destruction reasons...so I'm sorry if it's not too dark. It's crystal clear on my page.

Gah, nevermind, I have to to darken it...there's no hope for you seeing it, otherwise. =P There also going to be small...I can't widen them properly without them pixelating like an NES game gone wild. OK, ok, My apologies.

No wait, I can fix the auto contrast! Yay! This is better!

Holy crap this is a lot of work. I need a webmaster.

Otherwise, if you don't get a joke, it's because it's very contextual...like...uh...cookies bubbling...that's the nice way of saying there...wasn't...enough.....yeah. Anyways. They turned out. Sort of. I COULDN'T THINK OF A FUNNy ENDING PUNCHLINE THAT CORRESPONDED WITH REALITY, OK??? Whew. Glad I got that out.

Holy bed time Batman.

Oooo, check this out!

OK, for anyone who has ever watched a book club show or played a video game, or done anything similarly in the realm of what people call 'for intellectuals' you should see this:

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/index.html

This show is not always funny, but I recommend the 'book club' espcially 4 and 3, (AND I would recommend you watch them in that order) and also the storm trooper and the Hogawarts video are pretty decent.

Anyhow, I'm going to go do some drawing now.

Quizzes!

This quiz rules. And perhaps the best part about it is that I turned out as Canada. That's great, eh? EH?

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous.
You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others. If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

The usual suspects

Dad, I would just like to say I love you very much, and you have a great appreciation for music. I don't know if you remember, but you got a "Rawlings Cross" CD for my birthday way back when I was younger, and I was like, "Uh....thanks?" However, I would like you to know, it is now one of my favourite CDs in my collection, and I can't thank you enough for getting it for me. (I can't remember what style of music their cover said they were technically doing, but there's a lot of tin whistle and drum, so I'm thinking Irish?) Anyways, I'm listening to it right now, and it's bringing back good memories...and sometimes you just don't appreciate how lucky you are to have people in your life like you have, or you don't understand the things your parents do for you until your older. So, Dad, thanks for giving me a good appreciation in music. I couldn't have done it without you. Even if you forget half the things I say. I know it's because your old. Don't fight it. (And I know my Dad is reading this right now. Nothing like distance to protect you from the people you love. *Grin*)


Also, I bought these candies in the store tonight, and I am SERIOUSLY horrified they sell these things...I mean, are these things legal? I feel like I'm eating child pornography.




I case you can't tell, they're touching themselves. Am I supposed to like my candy to be naked little children????? WHAT THE HECK?????

Also, I have some comics that I want to post, so I'll probably post them in the next couple days, I think, as long as my act keeps together.

Whew. Thank you SO MUCH to anyone who e-mailed me in the last little bit. You're words helped me get through today on two and a half hours sleep where I had a class, my scary seminar today, (in which the man I am absolutely petrified of deep, deep, down but try not to show by pretending to play it cool when I am really a quivering jelly mass inside hoping that he wont tear me to several pieces over the course of the two hours) which is a highly intensive class and on hard material and I also promised a night of cookie making (which, like, I couldn't turn down because, well, it's food. And I'm hungry.) which just ended about twenty minutes ago. I just got home. It's midnight. I haven't stopped all day. I had many a good laugh at my e-mails, and I also felt re-energized, and it turned the day completely around. So thank you.

And cookie making tonight was really fun. And we ordered food in for supper, and I ate a really big thing that was like a taco but different. It was good. Myabe I'll post pictures later.

OK, now I'm spacing as I type. Holy crap. I feel like I've had a few. And I have only ever had a few, techincally...uh, two? No, no, three....four. Yeah. Anyways, I'm so tired it's like I'm back home! Ah, good memories. Anyways, I'll talk to you all later, and we'll see if my medieval philosophy professor buys my interpretation of Aquinas in my essay or whether or not he'll eat it for breakfast and give me a fifty. I'm hoping for option number one.

And a good grade.

Thanks, and letter/postcard writing will resume shortly. Namely, when the post office opens again on Monday. =)

And Done!

It's 3:45 a.m. and my essay is done.

Life is good.

Time for a shower.

Randomness...

OK, I just found this through another one of my random traipses through the web. I don't know how I keep finding this stuff, but if you have ever read "To Kill a Mockingbird" you NEED to see this. It' s about five to ten minutes, so get some popcorn before you watch it.

http://www.stanford.edu/%7Escodary/tkam.htm


Other than that, my posting/e-mailing/letter writing/sleeping has been curtailed by me needing to be done an essay. That's due tomorrow. That's really frustrating...and my brain hurts.

And for any of those of you who would like to be asking why I found this on the web if I'm supposed to be writing an essay, I'll have you know this was done during one of my BREAKS, thank you very much. Check the link. =)

I recommend to anyone who likes Christian music (although there's not much to like...most of it's baloney) to check out Bethany Dillon. She's got slammin vocals, and whoever is producing her albums knows how to do it properly. Her songs actually sound inspirational when they're supposed to, and worth listening to for their own right, not just as if you feel like you've accidentally walked in on someone's private personal singing prayer session with God. And, oh man, she's just SO GOOD. I don't know how she's not chart toppin' everywhere. Anyways, a big fan, obviously. Check it out, if you think you can handle it. It's pretty tame in content in terms of Christian music.

Ah, yes. Grad school. My place really does look a lot like this right now. There's paper everywhere. And books. Books I have yet to read. So, my sporadic posting on my web log will be every two to three days, perhaps four if I have a busy week, but I've been pretty good about it. Normally I am terrible with this sort of thing. But, since my Dad has threatened to contact Interpol to make sure that I am still alive if I don't post at least every three days, I am doing my best to stay under the radar. So, please be patient with me. Please. Dad. And friends. More exciting news in a day or two!

Acting

I just realized that my last post title was a subconscious advertisement for diet coke. Curse you consumerism, curse yoooooou!

Also, I just got back from acting practice, and the director was there, and wasn't listening to anything anybody was saying, and now I feel like the play is going to go down in flames. Again.

Yay! Burning!

It's right up there with drowning.

RAZAM FRAZAM FRAZAM!

Frazam.

For the fun of it

I just got back from acting practice a little while, and I am feeling a little better. We're slowly hashing everything together so that eventually we're going to have a play. I think it will work. Before I was absolutely paralyzed by the thought that we might be floating dead in the water before we even began, but now I think the play will be finished before we have to give a performance. LOL!

I know, I know. It's been weird, but the director was gone today, and we just went about things, and did scenes, and had good ideas that actually went somewhere, and I think everyone is starting to get a feel for the plot. It's really nice. I think it will be good.

I was having so much fun tonight because we were doing actual improv tonight, and less talking about what would be good and agreeing and disagreeing, but working with what we had, and doing the best we could with a small stage and a few people. Anyways, it was really enjoyable, overall. It reminded me of why I like to do acting. The laughter, the not caring what goes wrong, the just trying again and doing it over if you didn't like it, and just having a good time. It was fun. I like the energy. It's positive. I miss that. Belgians are polite, but they're not theatre people in the way that North American people are theatre people. Belgians are polite, kind, people. But they are also fairly closed off, I think. They're not very good at letting people in the inner 'circle of trust. ' (A movie reference if any of you have ever seen "Meet the Parents.") So, theatre is a really good way to be open, and to yell and be crazy and other things that Brennan likes to do. Mostly yelling. And being crazy. And some more yelling.

Europeans are too quiet. I don't think I have ever seen a loud and laughing group of people at a cafe before. Hardly anyone LAUGHS here. They're all so serious. HOW DEPRESSINGLY EUROPEAN. Whenever I go out with my friends, we are easily the loudest people there. (Which, granted, is a North American stereotype.) But, I think this is the reason is because North American people are less subtle about their happiness. It's not drawn out. It's bursting from them at the seams. They accept the vibrancy of life in a different way than most European adults do here, I think. I see more people here with sad faces than happy faces. Their happiness seems quiet. Mine, obviously, is loud. How to reconcile? For a while I felt like I should fit into this subdued model of how to act, but I don't think I can. I feel like I'm forcing a square block into a circle hole, and I AM that square block. Hey, it's hip to be square, but nobody likes trying to break the mold and themselves at the same time. I don't think I can try to be so subdued anymore. It doesn't make sense. It's not very, well, very ME. Not that I know a lot about me, but I don't think I function well, uh, quietly. I suppose I should stop trying to adjust to people, and I think I should maybe let people adjust to me. I thought the whole idea of going to another country was about learning about how to live the life of another country. "When in Roman, do as the Romans do." But does that really make perfect sense? Don't we pave over the good parts of ourselves if we buy into this too much? I'm an international student, but I shouldn't try and give up what I like about me just to fit into the quiet Belgian lifestyle. There should be some middle ground. It should be 50-50. I am going to do some things that you think are crazy, and you are going to do some things that I think are crazy. Maybe that's as good as a middle ground as we get. Because if it's too much to adjusting we lose what we had to begin with, which was a distinct culture, and a distinct set of people, and we lose ourselves somewhere in there, too. Maybe intercultural dialogue doesn't have to be painful. Maybe it can be fun, and also good without getting rid of what we like about ourselves to try and fit in. I'm certainly going to work on being more me, and less, uh, not me. Yeah.

My tap will not. stop. dripping.

AUGH.

Movies

Hey friends!

I would just like to say that I have now seen Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds." I have never sat through a full length Alfred Hitchcock anything, but now that I have, WOHOO! WHAT A COOL FILM! It was really cool because it made you think as well as being creepy. It was really good for the philosophical thought on evil and philosophy. Why did the birds turn on everyone? What was really going on? It's interesting to think about.

But I like birds so much. It made me sad to see birds be so...well, horror monster-ish. Non-happy. But I understand that's part of the reason he used birds, I'm sure.

Now I'm sad. Darn you Alfred Hitchcock. DARN YOOOOOOOOOU!

Anyways, I also JUST found out who Margaret Cho is today! My goodness, what a funny lady. I listen to some audio clips of her stuff, and she's just a blast. I had to stop myself from buying the complete DVD series of all her comedy shows over the internet. It would have been a bad...yet good idea. Sigh. Life is hard. Margaret Cho is funny.

In other news, I am almost done doing some actual work today. MAN, I'M LAZY. Holidays are no good for getting work done.

Although, I went to All Soul's Day Mass, and it was really nice, and I went to the cemetery and I said some prayers. It was a good time. Their cemeteries here are beautiful, and I feel really calm just hanging around them. They're so...meditative? Maybe that's the right word. Although I'm not sure if it's healthy that I want to hang around cemeteries. Need to think about it.

If you would like to know the answer to whether or not music videos have regressed back into the 80's look no further than here, and watch the videos by Sean Paul and Britney Spears:

http://www.artistdirect.com/


I think it's also official given the audacity of the Britney Spears video here, that she has officially jumped the shark. Like, she chose to jump the shark. Like, she wanted it sooooo bad. You wont understand until you watch the video, but I have two words for you: Pink SUV.

Yeah, I know. Ouch majorus.

Anyways, I would like to comment that I have been having weird dreams lately. Like, I had a dream a couple nights ago where I was having some sort of huge stress that I need to go talk to someone about, and then I had this big emotional conversation with somebody like a therapist, but who maybe wasn't a therapist, maybe just a close friend of mine/family member. Anyways, I asked her something like, "But why do I feel this way?" and she said, "The reason is because you're one third Mexican." I felt so relieved once she said this, like it was some sort of big revelation or something. Yes! This explains WHY I'm so neurotic. I'm ONE THIRD MEXICAN. In my dream I actually went and examined myself in the mirror, and I had to agree that I really did look one third Mexican. It was like the answer to all my problems, racial stupidity style. Having a bad day? No worries, you one-third Mexican! Don't like Belgian water because it's too hard? Hey, you could be in Taco-home-country, mister, don't complain!

Then the dream I had last night was about some guy who kept singing and he had a guitar and was playing pretty nicely, and he had a nice voice, but I kept telling him, "No, you're still a little bit flat/sharp." Then he'd say, "Yeah, I know, I know." And try to sing again. Repeat coversation. But the thing was he was REALLY flat/sharp. It was like voice-cracking-going-through-puberty-flat. It hurt to listen to once he got going. (Thankfully he only sang a couple words and then stopped. Then I could interject. Which was why I brought up that he was flat. Rather rude of me, now that I think of it. GEEZ, I'm a terrible person...I blame it on the fact that I'm one-third Mexican.)

Also, I had a Belgian waffle with ice cream on it tonight when I met up with a friend of mine from philosophy, and it was AMAZING. Best thing I've had in a long time. I definitely ate it too quickly, though. (Especially considering it cost 2.25€)

And, now that I think of it, I really don't like the soup here that comes out of the can, because it's too salty, but think that's because I've been eating it without adding any water to it. I suppose if I read/could read the label I could sort this issue out. Hm. Maybe I'll just add water to it anyways. It'll probably taste better.

Oh heck, I can't believe I'm deliberating about this. Some life, huh?

P.S. I have been doing much too much culture-glam related stuff lately, so I think that is going to be it for a while. I know I usually find such things very boring when I come across them on other people's blogs, so I think I should try and ration them out more. Like the way I need to ration out my obsession with ice cream. And waffles. And quesidillas. I mean candy.

Night all!

P.P.S. I was going to ask you all something important in which you could give me good feedback, but now I don't remember what it is. Dang it.

Well, here's a good one anyways. Do you like the semi-deliberately lame cartoons, or would you rather see more writing, less bad artistry? Vote now! =D =D =D

Commentia

OK.

I'm doing something so incredibly crazy that I probably shouldn't.

Oh well.

Now, anyone, even if they don't have a blog, can comment on my web log.

*Cringe*

*Waiting for loads of flamer-mail, junkmail comments, and other variations of nastiness.*

*Hope the people who begged Brennan to do this are happy*

So, yes, I'll be doing a lot of deleting of comments, but I'm here to appease...I mean please. Something like that. *Grin*

Happy All Souls and Saints Day, too.

Which are national holidays in Belgium.

Now I really am asking for hate mail.

Geez.

Happy Halloween!

I would just like to wish you all a Happy Halloween.

No children came to my door.

So I'm eating all the Halloween candy I bought for anyone who was maybe going to come by. I'm eating candy coke bottles and suckers that say things like, "Happy Kids, Boys and Girls!" and has soccer balls and sunshine faces on the wrappers.

And, yes, in case you're wondering, that IS how I justified buying 10€ worth of candy.

Yay Halloween!

And props to Elizabeth who sent me the nicest Halloween card ever!

A Survey worth a look

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

What do you think? I must be a true hybrid breed. Once again, I've been finding myriads of semi-interesting stuff on other blogs. I thought I would have a higher percentage in MidWestern, or general American English. Anyways, give this a shot if you like it

The Can Opener

This is a cartoon I made to vent my frustrations I had with my can opener about three weeks ago. I would have posted this MUCH earlier, but my scanner and I are currently resolving our problemos. I am seriously crying because I don't own nor have enough knowledge to use cool programs like Photoshop, which means I had to repencil everything with a darker pencil before I scann it, so the quality suffers somewhat. Even if you don't think this is funny, this is pretty much how I felt while trying to open a can of dessert rice for breakfast one morning, and I laughed so hard, almost to the point of tears, while reviewing my work for closeness to how things actually happened in reality. Enjoy! (My hair is longer here because this is before I got a haircut and was on the serious verge of a shag.)

Procrastination

While looking for a birthday gift for Adam (even though I really did know somewhat what I wanted to get him, time was an issue) I stumbled upon this blog. For any of you who are feeling like they are behind in dayd to day tasks, read this post, and between laughing really, really hard, you'll feel better about yourself.

I know I did.

http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/06/a_day_late_and.php

What's up with that?

Two days ago, while talking with a friend of mine, my medieval philosophy professor passed us, and I said, "Hey, we were JUST talking about how wonderful your class was!" (It was the typical Brennan statement of humor, sincerity, ADD bubbliness, and a little bit of sarcasm. But only a pinch.) The professor turns to my friend and says, "Is he always like this?" And my friend Corey says, "Yeah, he is." THEN my professor says, "Oh, ok. Just checking."

Not to mention the fact that when most people start to get to know me, they usually ask someone who is standing right next to me, "Is he always like this?" I thought I would be used to it by now, but is this a really common occurence, and I am starting to worry.

Can't a guy be, uh, himself?

Ieeeeeper!!!

Yes, yes, YES, I have FINALLY gone to Ieper.

Again.

Ieper rocks.

Now, please sit back and relax while we take you on Brennan's Tourism Ride Ltd. Remember to keep your hands inside the ride at all times. Europeans are dangerous. Especially to loud people like me who keep making french jokes which people don't realize are about Quebecios french, and not THE French. My bad. This trip happened on the 22 of October, 2005.




Ieper has an ENORMOUS number of chocolate shops. It should be noted that almost every one of these shops nearly FORCES pieces of Belgian chocolate into your mouth. All the samples you can eat until you literally start bleeding chocolate. This here is a picture of a chocolate fountain. One must constantly remind oneself in situations like this that you're not allowed to bathe in public fountains, no matter how chocolately they are.




This, my friends, is the best Cathedral you wil ever see in Belgium. Well, maybe. It's the nicest one I've ever seen, and all the aaaaammmmmaaaaaazing pictures I have of the inside of the cathedral still gives me the chills like I am actually there. And, no, I'm not going to show you the amazing pictures of the inside. I forbid you to live vicariously through me--at least in this case.
This part of Brennan's Tourism Ride Ltd. only occurs in real time. And I don't do programming, so don't even try and make the obvious pun out of that one.





This is a big mouldy stone with a cross on it. We (My group of friends that went with me to Ieper) played anthropologist for about five minutes trying to decide what it was. Then we debated whether it was ok to touch the green stuff. Then we looked around at the stalls selling t-shirts and jeans for 5€. Then we went into the war museum.





This is the stone carving that was in the enterance to the Flander Fields war museum. I gotta tell ya, it was a heck of way to start off a museum. The quote, in case you can't read it, is by H.G. Wells, and says, "Every intelligent person knew that disaster was impending and knew no way to avoid it."



When you walked into the Ieper museum, you get to take a little randomized card that you put into a telescreen terminal, and it showed you a random person from the War. My guy was a kid named Alfred Caenepeel. I decided that he was too sad looking for me to read on and so I didn't wanted read the rest of his three page mini-biography. Everyone else got war criminals or famous unknown soldiers or other people who sounded cooler than my person. In the war, however, it was painfully obvious that no one was pretty. Most people looked like they had a bad bout with the Ugly Stick. Also, I have just realized that my radomized dude's is rather funny. Can-a-peel??? Yikes. That must have earned him some childhood scarring.






This was the FABULOUS group of people I went with. From the left: Sean, Sarah, Corey, and Maria. They're all absolutely hilarious people and a great bunch to be around. And, best of all, they laugh at all my jokes. How sweet is that???? I have a captive travelling audience. We're probably going to tour again sometime soon. Muhaha. More joking for Brennan. People will laugh. I pay them to do that.



This is a picture of Corey holding one of the cushions in the war Veterans museum which is in an Anglican Church. Comparitively speaking, it's certainly not as nice as St.Maartens/St.Nicholas Church (The Church in the other picture) which caused Sean to make a crack about Anglicans that was CERTAINLY non-ecumenical. I'm attributing this to the fact that Sean is from Notre Dame, the uberest of uber Catholic schools in the US. Also, he's a theology major, so...I think they all make religious cracks like that about other religions they're not studying, I don't know. I'll have to look into it. In other news, the cushion that Corey is holding is one of about a hundred or so that are present in the church, and overall it's really cool to see how many war regiments are represented in the Church. VERY cool.





This was one of the unmarked graves from one of the many cemeteries in and around Ieper. Unfortunately, the best grave site that you can see by train is located 25 kms OUTSIDE of Ieper. Rough. However, the cemeteries here are beautiful. I saw several Canadian graves, and many, many graves that were marked unknown. It was disquieting in a way, but it was certainly one of the better experiences I've had all the same. Generally, graveyards seem to me to be very good places, very calm and very peaceful. If only war hadn't happened. Hm.






And now for something completely different. No, I'm not joking with you, this is an actual waste bin in downtown Ieper. Ieper used to be famous in the Middle Ages for their "Cat Throwing Festival" where they would literally throw cats out their second story windows onto the streets below. The reasoning behind this was that cats would keep the mice at bay (Re: eaten) during the winter months, and that once spring hit and people didn't have to be cooped up inside all the time, POOF! Out the window you go, Fluffy! As we can see in this photo, the good natured citizen is throwing away poor Fluffy into her proper receptacle.

While this festival is still practiced in Ieper, they now use stuffed cat dolls instead of real cats. I suppose there's a reason behind this. We may never know.



And, that, good friends, was a short-ish tour through Ieper. I recommend you go there, visit the war museum, buy some expensive chocolate, listen to the Last Post at Menin Gate (Which I unfotunately don't have pictures of, sorry) and visit the Cathedral. All in all, it was a very good use of my travel money.

I have more stories, but I will save them for later. Keep on rockin'.

Today, while walking in the rain, I started paying attention to people's umbrellas. This did not become amusing until I noticed a tall, thin man, with punky brown hair, wearing all black and all leather, carrying a Wile E. Coyote style pink-with-white-polka dots umbrella.

I wonder if this was a statement of some sort.

Thesis Work

Here is the follow-up from the meeting I had with the professor I e-mailed earlier this week. I feel this event is best expressed in art form.





Round 1- I go in with the forcefulness of a needy grad student! Sting like a butterfly, float like a bee!










Round 2: Ack! I recieve a swift blow! The professor is requesting sabbatical next year! Brennan is down for the count! KO!







I would like you all to realize that this is the extent of my life, and possibly of all graduate students. Rejection, dejection, introspection, and...um, clandestinely wishing to be cynical without knowing how.

Life is good. =)

YAR!

*SIGH MAJOR*

OK, I was all excited because I had scanned a super cool thing to show you people, but it seems that my scanner, which converted everything into pdf files, is now not letting me access and upload things. CURSE YOU SCANNER SOFTWARE!

Anyways, I decided I would treat you all with...dun dun dun dunnnnnn....another episode from BRENNAN'S COOKBOOK OF TERRIBLY....GOOD FOOD!!! Welcome to the realm of weird, cooking style! =D =D =D


PINEAPPLE SALSA


· 1 can of pineapple ( I had pinapple rings, I kinda chunked 'em into pieces, and poured in the pineapple juice from the can as well.)
· 1 red bell pepper, (I only had a half-full bag of half frozen mixed peppers, so I poured the whole thing in. Ingenious, really.)
· 1/2 cup chopped green onion (I used about half an onion, chopped coarsely.)
· 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (I just threw the whole thing in. Two of them, actually.)
· 1/2 tsp salt (I didn't add salt, I didn't think it needed any, since my serving size was much smaller than the actual recipe.)
Combine all ingredients, let sit 30 minutes before serving for more flavor.

I am planning on using the rest that I don't use as salsa, and cooking it in with some chicken, and then having some crazy pinapple chicken. It should be good. I think this would work well with fish, too. Afterwards, I took a plate of nachos, put shredded gouda cheese on top, and white pepper, and heated it in the microwave until the cheese melted, and then put the salsa on top. It turns out too be pretty much too thick to just dive in with a chip, but if you put it on top of the cup, and then eat it, it works out fine. It was probably one of the tastiest things I made in a long time. Um..a day or two. The actual recipe, since I stuck pretty close to it, is from www.hfoods.com/genpage.php?pfriendly=1&name=foodspice&dbid=34

OK, this is my first attempt at e-mailing a professor about a possible thesis project:

Hi Prof. _____:

I am one of the many so-called masters students who are going to be knocking incessantly at your door asking if you have time to promote their thesis project. If you do, let me know, as I will commence knocking at your door during your office hours this week.

Sincerely,

Brennan Sarich


Was that perhaps too smug? Well, be who you are, I guess. Go smuggidity!

Woah. That has to be the best word I've made up in a long time.

Gold star.

I will inform you of the results.

Bonjour?

Just so you know, I check every post I have religiously to see if anyone has commented.

Mainly, so that I know whether I'm being more than a little silly. I aim to please.

So, if you leave a comment, I really like it. If you don't, it's not BAD, but it's a good way to have little convos.

Justto keep you on the down low.

And if anyone ELSE starts posting spam on my blog, like where I can buy a new microwave or something, I think I'm going to hurt somebody. (See recipe post comments for details. Also another attempt to be silly.)

Tales from Brennan's Cook Book of Terribly....Good Food! (All Rights Reserved)

This dish was an attempt to make 'Paprika Dill Chicken.' I would like to say I'm joking, but I'm really, really not. Once again, 90% of all cooking with Brennan involves me throwing out the cook book and saying, "I can cook better than any of you fools! FORGET YOUR SILLY DIRECTIONS!!!! MUHAHAHAHA!" *Lightning crashes in the background*

Well, I don't always have the lightning. It sort of comes and goes. And I don't really call people 'fools.' I'm usually the one with that label, really.

All of that aside, and in the interest of good cooking, you come out with something that actually end up looking a lot like a stir fry. It tastes QUITE good, too. Very different than anything I've ever made. Of course, that usually happens when I cook. We went through this. I only cook weird. And, um, act weird. And, uh....I recommend this. Easy to do.

Rrr-fry?

Ingredients:

1 cup of pre-cooked chicken
½ cup broccoli ( mine was frozen)
handful of chopped onion
3 cups macaroni, cooked
1 egg
¾ cup of sour cream
½ cup of chicken broth (or bullion cube mixed with water)
a couple spices: pepper (I used white), a combo spice (garlic, lemon zest, pepper) and a secret spice. (I would tell you, but I don’t know the name of it because it's in Dutch and I mistook it for black pepper, which it is certainly not. It’s tastes amazing, however.)


Steps:

1. Start cooking that macaroni if you don’t have it cooked. I’m sure you can figure this one out.
2. Take a Tbsp of olive oil, let it get hot in the frying pan, throw the chicken on to heat it up, let it fry a bit.
3. Once cooked a bit, take off for a moment, cook the broccoli and onion.
4. Throw the chicken back in for round 2, add the broth/water with bullion cube, add spices as desired. The ones I used worked well. Something with a touch of lemon, garlic and pepper is the basic idea.
5. Once the mixture is going at a hot rate with the liquid bubbling for a minute or two, crack egg, let the egg almost cook, stir it up in the rest of the mix like it's an embarassing stain on your clothing you want to get rid of. (You’ll get the super cool stir fry egg look.) I used a WHISK to make this happen in a nice uneven way.
6. Once most of the liquid has burnt off (Which should be fairly quick if your burner was on high heat like mine.) throw this all into a bowl and mix in ¾ cup of sour cream until coated. The sour cream is totally optional, but definitely worth it.
7. Throw the mix on top of cooked pasta. Add cheese or something colourful for garnish. If you like garnish. Or...if you think it's a waster of perfectly good food that could be used elsewhere, save it for Brennan's OTHER amazing dishes. Like...his Poor Man's Potatoe Stew! (Also dish ala weird.) Or his Steak Panzanella! (If Liz is reading this...I ruined your recipe. Twice.) REVOLT AGAINST THE GARNISH! DESTROY ALL WHO OPPOSE US! I mean, do it however you like. You know, I'm ok, you're ok, that kinda self-help book. Eat the pasta.


Est. time to cook on lousy burners: 40-ish minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Serves: Two medium portions

Thankgiving-Part II-The Belgian Edition

This is a picture of my bestest thanksgiving ever. =)

I had such a great time tonight, I have never laughed SO HARD in a LONG time. All I can say, is that I'm grateful for such friends as these. I have SO MUCH leftover food in my fridge it's not even funny. LOL. Which is great, since that's what thanksgiving is all about, right? Luckily, Mareka (on the left) brought the dessert, (I still have leftovers. Mega goods.) Sarah in the middle brought the bread, and Maria brought OJ, which I was super happy about, because I realized I didn't really have anything to serve as drinks. (If any of you have been to any sort of food party I have hosted, it was a typical 'Brenan is running around with his head cut off' sort of moment.)

I made perogies on my own! They were sooooo good. The best part was that I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, because I was using a different recipe than my family uses, and I had to use my baking soda container covered with plastic wrap as a rolling pin, which was amazing because a)Mareka suggested the rolling pin method, which worked perfectly, and b) I finally have baking soda, so now I can make welsh cakes! Wohoo! (They're one of the BEST recipes my friend Liz sent along with me. Best present EVER. Well, that and my laptop. Thanks, Dad.) It was fun because I was trying to show everyone how to make perogies, and my perfect triangle perogie starting getting a little too sticky, and I ended up making little pergoie balls instead of actual perogies. But no one there had made perogies before, so we all pitched in, and Mareka was our 'Belgian Dignitary made honourary Canadian citizen' for the night, and she had a lot of fun making this classy Ukranian dish. They turned out really good, even if they weren't all that aesthetically pleasing, although we made a few of them that were pretty triangular/rounded. I then had WAY too much filling left over, so we just heated that up and made that a side dish. Very tasty. I'm totally stuffed, and everything turned out well, even if the planned meal time ran a little later than I expected. Yes, once again, typical food party of Brennan's. Everyone is waiting for Brennan to finish cooking because he mixed up several crucial ingredients and ended up with a partial kitchen explosion and began to panic by running around in circles. Yes, very typical. *Sigh* LOL. I'm sure Honey (Grandma) would be proud of me. Perhaps a little embarassed at my attempt to make perogies, but I'm totally working on it. LOL. I'll work on it, I swear!

It feels nice to finally hang out with people who just like to hang out and laugh and have a good time. Hopefully I can do this sometime with philosophy people. I would like to be good friends with these people that I work with. Anyways, it was great, and I'm glad I did it. I love food parties! LOL. And...uh...dishes. Dang. Mega dang. Well, there's not that many. But only one sink. Mega dang, yo.

Happy Thanksgiving.

My favourite Book list?

I wanted to put this in my profile, but I had a large list, and I felt the need to share. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but an on the spot list, and they're not in order of which is MOST favourite, but only ones I like/recommend. I've forgotten tons of books that I've read, so keep that in mind. So, by genre:


Fantasy
1)The Finovar Tapestry by Guy Gaveriel Kay
2)The Wizard of Earthsea Trilogy by Ursual Le'Guine
3)The Sword of Knowledge by Mercedes Lackey and some other unimportant people. Read Mercedes Lackey. She roxors.
4)The Dark is Rising Series (If you haven't read this yet, you are OFFICIALLY being commanded to. Right. Now.)

--and possibly the Wheel of Time series, as long as Robert Jordan doesn't croak before he finishes it. (WRITE FASTER DARN YOU!!)

Romance/Teen and Child Fiction:
1) Bridget Jones' Diary Series
2) Anything by Louise Rennison, particularly "On the Bright Side, now I'm the girlfriend of a Sex God" and "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging" The British appendix in the back of these things will kill you. Absolutely hilarious, and a good intro to Brit teen culture.
3)The 3 NBs of Dorian Gray- I don't know HOW this book did NOT recieve every single award that children's literature hands out. Best writing I've read in a long time. It's fun to read at the beginning. A must read, in my opinion.
4)The Complete Winnie the Pooh Series by A.A. Milne. (A canadian writer that certainly deserves more recognition for how good and engaging the poetry is.)
5)A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (The movie, while beautiful and I loved it, simply doesn't do this series justice in its level of Unfortunated-ness)


Mystery
Ahem, anything NOT by Dan Brown. Thank you.
(Can't find the names of my favourite mystery authors right now, unfortunately. Grr.)

Classic-
1)Moby Dick (Although I'm not finished yet)
2)Fifth Business
3)The Canterbury Tales
4)Sons and Lovers (Although it still creeps me out)
5)1984 (Same as above)
6)Gulliver's Travels
7)Through the Looking Glass/Alice in Wonderland

Favourite Poems:
1)The Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll)
2)Hope (Emily Dickinson)
3)The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coelridge)


I invite comments on what you think I should read next. I would love to hear more about what other people are reading that is good.

Ring, ring, ring ring ring...bananna phone. Sigh.

For any of you that have ever heard William De Jong (Or any other extremely pop culturally savvy person) sing the bananna phone song, which is comprised, of, "Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring....BANANNA PHONE," you probably know that it is not a very deep song. It comes from that genre of songs like, "This is the song that never ends," made famous by the persnicky Lambchop, (who I must say, is still my hero) and the ever classic Little Rascal's song, "I got a dollar." (Which I sing quite often when I have a dollar. Not as common now, since, "I have a euro" is not quite as catchy...apparently.) However, the last two days have been a culmination of the bananna phone song, in which my bananna phone (aka. my cellular/mobile phone) has been ringing non-stop. The problem is, and it is turning into quite the cumbersome problem, is that international calls naturally, perhaps unnaturally, cut off after about fifteen minutes. So, my reception is so-so, my phone cuts out every now and then, and add in a few younger brothers whose enunciation is not exactly expertly practiced, and you get a very awkward phone call home. Perhaps even uber awkward. Perhaps mega uberawkward. There's a lot of, "What?" and "Oh, um, yeah" going on. More so than a regular conversation with my little brothers. Although the art of small talk and actually communicating with something other than fists is a skill that all three of my little brothers are developing at a rather fast rate, there is still room for improvement, I like to think. Take for example, today's conversation with Martin, my now turned 13 year old brother:


Martin: Hey Brennan.
Me: Yeah?
Martin: So when we were hunting, there were ducks on both sides of the road, and me and Clayton went down to shoot some and...no you didn't. No, I said that. Yeah I'm telling him that. No, that's not what happened. Hey, shut up. No, I'm not talking to you. Yes, that's what I said. Yeah, I'm telling Brennan.
Me: So, uh, yeah. Go on.
Martin: Yeah, so (garble from phone static) and then there was a duck coming right for me and then I went (more garble) and so then we went and got a big stick and...

And so on and so forth. I did get more out of the conversation than you think I could have, but I had to pay really close attention to what all my brothers were saying, but that's par for the course with all the tangents that they go on when you talk to them on the phone anyways. (My whole family is pretty ADD when on the phone, it seems.)

The night previous, my Kevin Dad (ie. biological father for those of you who are out of the loop a bit.) phoned me and we chatted for about 2 hours. It was over the internet phone, and finally showed him my place using my webcam once Tyler hooked up the newest version of MSN messenger. Pretty useful, that webcam.

However, there are two major issues with this whole transatlantic phoning, which are currently highly amusing and highly alarming. When talking to my Mom and Kevin Dad, both of them are aware that when they call me in the afternoon around 4pm, it is actually 12am here. What is problematic is that a)After THEM phoning ME, I get in trouble for 'staying up all night' and 'what were you doing up anyways? Go to bed' and b) is that basically any attempt I would like to have made in terms of having a regular sleep schedule is totally shot. My parents, I am sure, will be phoning me often enough that just as I will myself (And I really do have to will myself) into a real sleep pattern of normalcy, I will be waiting for an hour so that my brother can come over to my Grandpa's house and show them how to hook up their computer so that we can talk over the internet phone again. It's probably a good thing that I only have one class a day, because I am sure I am going to turn into a first-rate insomniac who sleeps for three hours a day, in random fifteen minute intervals. (Not that I wouldn't normally do that back home, but whatever. I was trying to break the mold, here.)

Secondly, I am both amused and slightly worried at how much my parents are missing me. I thought for sure, they'd want to get rid of me, have me out of their hair and all that and that it would be a nice change. However, both my Mom and my Kevin Dad talk like they miss having me around, they talk about how proud they are of me and what I am doing, (ACK! PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS! RED ALERT, RED ALERT!!!) and how they can't wait for me to come home. It's really weird because I am certainly not used to this kind of praise and encouragement. I am waiting for more of the you-deserve-a-back-hand-in-your-face-we-love-you because-you-have-a-big-head-and-that-makes-us-laugh sort of method. Where'd that go? Apparently not to Belgium. In fact, if I had had a dime for how many times my mom had said 'I miss you' in the total of the two minutes that we talked, I think I would have had enough money to cash in for a cheap plane ticket to Canada. This certainly gives me the warm fuzzies, because, hey, nothing says love like 'I miss you' (aka. there is someone to validate your existence other than the plants in your room.) but once again, where's the love-hatin' method? Because that's the everyday love, you know? The kind that smacks you upside the head because the people around you can hardly stand you but they sure like you anyways. So, I might cop out and buy a land line, have a real bananna sized phone, and get better reception, which will allow for all the awkward stuff to get out of the way, and get to what really matters. Like Tyler telling me I smell. (An older brother classic, for sure.)

Other than that, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I am thankful for a lot of things. I have a lot to be thankful for. Such as you. Thanks to you. So, to all my friends, keep it real, and I'll chat with you later. I should have some cool pictures and some cool things to tell you after this week. Talking with my family really helped put me in a good moment, where I didn't miss my family terribly, but instead got all pumped with the good vibe...I hope you can have the same experience of happiness, and I encourage good family time. It's what it's all about. You only have one family, and I guess that's what you make of it. Feel the love. =)

Two little bits of possible sources of amusement

This game is really, REALLY, fun. You should play it. Although the ethics behind this, when I think about it, are a little sketchy. Think about it.

http://www.flashplayer.com/games/infectevolverepeat..html


Also, this article will test your so-called knowledge of geekery. I would debate that anyone who does well on this is a 'geek' so called, since almost anyone can pass this with an extremely large amount of ease, but I digress. Give it a shot.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4287006.stm


More Brennan updates soon to come. Be patient. =D

More meeting and greeting and less seating

Well, I wanted to post yesterday...I was just so excited...big news...I cleaned my entire aparment! LOL. I dusted, swept, mopped, and otherwise removed gross things from my humble abode. It didn't take me that long to clean everything, which is good, but I am annoyed how things get dirty so fast. That, and I am finding my hair everywhere. I shed like a...like a...like an animal that sheds a lot! LOL. It wouldn't be so noticable, but I have hardwood floors and tile, and you can basically see every little bit of of anything that you've created in your place. Gross to the alpha major, I say.

I have also learnt, thanks to watching an American friend of mine put away garbage, that it makes much more sense for me to wash my disposable containters so that they do not smell up my kitchen grossly. (Re: the salmon filet package) Yes, I had salmon again. No, I didn't leave it out in the sun this time. Although I did manage to forget to wash the salmon packet off before I threw it in the garbage. Thus, every time I would walk into my kitchen, I would think...
"Why does it smell really strongly of salmon in here???" I looked everywhere but the garbage for the offending odour. And this is after I had been washing out everything ELSE to prevent strong smells. Yes, yes, a regular genius am I.

I also just joined the international acting troupe at Pangaea, and I had a really great time. I was a little concerned at first, because the brochure said it was supposed to be all improv, and I'm kinda sketchy at improv (no pun intended) and sometimes I get stage fright whilst doing improv. However, I had a blast. The people there are super nice, and it's funny, because all the actor stereotypes that you see on television movies of people who are very artsy...well, they were all definitely there last night. LOL. It was cool, but a little unorganized...somtimes when we were doing a skit/activity, I didn't know what was going on...and, uh, we sort of just, improvised, I guess. LOL. It was good, though. Even if you were doing something you maybe weren't supposed to, (Well, heck, half the time I didn't even know if I was doing what I was supposed to.) it didn't really matter, everyone was really just there for being into it. I enjoyed it, and we all went out for coffee to the cheapest cafe I have been to in town afterwards. (And easily one of the nicest...all the servers are super friendly. Even better, they give you as many blankets as you like if you're sitting outside and in front of the cafe. How cool...er, how HOT is that???) They also had hot chocolate, where they give you real flakes of chocolate to go with your hot milk. Very swanky. Because it was a special occasion (me joining my first real social group) I actually had a hot chocolate myself. It-was-amazing. Anyways, it was the nicest treat/drink I have had in a long time. This cafe was SO good. And so cheap. (most meal items were under 6€) AMAZING cafe. Anyways, it was really cool hanging out, meeting new people, and I will go back to that cafe to have lunch or something sometime, when I am feeling very in the money spending spirit.

I also went to a 'come see what all the activities are like at Pangaea' night tonight. It was PACKED. I thought it would be less crowded, but everyone came there to socialize. I saw a lot of people I have seen from my trip to Brugge, and also from the acting group. Very big exciting news...Pangaea is doing a trip to Ieper for 25€!!!!! WOHOO! There is also a trip to the Ardennes this month...but I think I would rather go earlier in the month/semester than later for a trip somewhere, and also I would rather go for a two day trip (which is what I get for 25€ to Ieper) compared to a one day trip (which is what I would get for 20€ to Ardennes) and besides, going to Ieper is, just by the nature of things, going to be cooler. Ieper rocks. ROXORS WITH L33T SKILZ! LOL. I would go to both, but finances are a little tight this month because of set-up costs in September that had some unforseen skips and bounces in the upward range, and I am also trying to figure out how much money I have to play with during the month once everything like electricity, groceries, and rent are paid for. I think I can afford one trip somewhere, but definitely not two. Besides, Oct 22 is WAY too close to when I need to be picking a thesis promoter, and I still have a LOT of work to do in that area. Er, yeah...I'm...uh...on it. LOL. I should get back to work. Like...now. Like two seconds ago.

Today was somewhere around15C, although the wind was cool enough to put people in fairly heavy coats. What am I wearing, you ask?

Shorts. And a t-shirt. And people stare.

Go Canada.

Good Times and...Good Times?

Well, today has been a good combo of good things.

Good thing 1: It's the weekend. I'm done my first week of class. Yay!

Good thing 2: It looks like I have to do less work then I thought for my MA. Double Yay!

Good thing 3: I hung out with someone and it was, like, having a normal person for a friend. Triple Yay!

Yeah, it's looking a lot less lonely...well, not totally, but a little less, for sure. I'm just still not understanding the cultural weirdness around here...how people seem not to do so much around here. It's totally weird. A lot of people in the program are either out at a party or not part of anything at all, which is TRES weird. But, perhaps nothing more than the normal life of a university student, waiting for someone to invite you to do something fun and worthwhile. In reality, everyone is just waiting for an invitation to do stuff. Yeah, seems that way.

Also, I had a Duvel beer tonight, and I actually really enjoyed it. (Well, about as much as I could, which is a really big step for me, since I don't drink, really.) I still wouldn't order any sort of alcohol over anything cheaper, but it was ok. I am trying to really be a part of Belgian culture, and get into it, so I will try and do that. Here's to being university student 'normal'. LOL.

Which is weird, because there was a big party, and this one guy thought I was being a big party pooper because I wasn't drinking, but I just didn't want to drink right then. I guess I am ok with having a drink when it is around friends in a very quiet atmosphere, but definitely not a big fan when it is in a party atmosphere. Besides, peer pressure shouldn't be part of a good time. And the first big bash of the year was really lame for me. You could tell people were catching up after the summer, and really getting into the swing of things, but for me, I was just getting to know people, so I didn't really feel like I belonged in such an atmosphere...but it was really fun to go watch everyone get really excited about all the Europop that was playing in the Oude Market. *Grin* I saw guys dancing and girls singing along to North American music like nobody's business, and it was really amusing to watch. Anyhow, today was a good day, and here's to every day getting a little better, and a little less by myself, and a little more in the world of Leuven.

Further Evidence that Spiders are trying to kill me

For those of you who didn't believe me. These things are babykillers. I'm SO not joking.

In other news, I had my MA orientation meeting this afternoon...and I have officially decided that I'm in a lot of crap. LOL. Thoughts are constantly rushing through my head right now...such as, "Why haven't I picked out my thesis topic, written seven drafts of it, and handed those into my sponsoring professor who doesn't even know he's my sponsor yet?" Yeah, I dunno, I just kept thinking about the extremely large amount of work I have to do for the next month in terms of personal projects...it's not very pretty. I basically need to be spending at least two hours a night, I'd say, working on my own personal research. Along with a thesis, MA's need to do a mini research paper for the first year of about 25 pages...on top of taking 5 classes and 1 seminar class per semester.

I love it. Isn't KU Leuven cool?

Once I pick a topic...because I'm wavering a little between several, and it will REALLY depend on my thesis advisor person I pick, I plan to go at it like the black death in an English public square filled with girls singing 'Pocket full of Posies'. However, until then, I'm a little scared of the unknown...mainly because I have several interests, and I am not totally sure which ones would benefit me more...augh, if only I knew the future! LOL. A problem for a philosophy student, for sure. ;) Otherwise, things here are good. I did about an hour and a half of dutch tonight, and I'm totally Dutch-fried. As the Flemish would say of me, I'm sure, "Hijs Deutsch is slecht, ERG slecht." (His Dutch is bad, VERY bad.)

Lastly, this is a big Happy Birthday to my little brother Martin, who is now thirteen, which is possibly the most awkward age of any living human being alive. We're proud of you Martin! Way to survive thirteen years without killing yourself by jumping off of bike ramps, rolling down hills, taunting people larger than you, and throwing snowballs at police cars! (Well, we're not proud about the police cars part, but we think he learned his lesson.) Happy Birthday Martin, and sorry I couldn't be there because I have to eventually get a stupid job. Sorry.

Velkim to Vrennan's Leetel Shop of 'Orrors!

In boot noomber vonne, the evil pig remains!

Yes, I found this in a can of food I ate today. This was in my generic can of beans and weiners. Exciting, no? I-nearly-barfed. At first, I was like, "Oh yeah, one of the weiners in here looks like it was quite processed right." That's putting it pretty mildly. I think I recieved an interesting combo between a pig hoof and an intenstine. I mean, it's not like I have any problems with hot dog weiners...I'm quite aware of what they are. When finely processed, it's ok. When it looked like a cross between a chicken wing and a knotty tree stump, I have major issues. Like, major issues to the maximo. However, I was really hungry, and I ate it anyways.


Just kidding.

In boot nomber doo, The sccccary web of doom!!!

OK, this one requires a little bit of explanation. In the middle of the night, I returned home from some sort of Orientation event with the university, and I put away my bike, like any other day. However, I never noticed the spider web in my face until it was all over my face. Yes, my friends, My bike rack area is inhabited by people-catching spiders. I'm not even joking with you. The spider webs are constructed in various devious places...usually where one would put one's head when one would go to crouch to unlock his or her bike. Other fun locations include: Right above the door leading outside the apartment building, right besides the door leading into the back garage area, and the list goes on and on. No, these are no ordinary spiders...these are spider masterminds, ala Pinky and the Brain style. I say that because there are now two spiders who are exibiting this distrubing habit of putting webs (And, I mean, big webs...like, slightly larger than baskeball hoop sized webs.) right above the bike racks...these spiders are no dummies. They want to cash in the big prize, and they sit in the middle of their webs ALL day. If I didn't value my blood flow so much, I would say they are amazing creatures of nature. Currently, however, my mild yet disabling arachnaphobia is ruining my life by giving me extreme heebeejeebees...and preventing me from getting my bike.

Well, other than that, today has been a fun day of first classes. It looks like a good semester, and I am excited for tomorrow, and the days after. Hopefully the awesome feeling of actually liking what I'm doing does not wear off until at least thesis time next year. *Grin*

The story of why sandwiches not ought to contain salmon, mayonaisse, lettuce and salad dressing and be let to sit in one's backpack for 10 hours.

Oh, my stomach. LOL.

I suppose I was asking for it. However, in my defense, I didn't PLAN to leave them in there for so long. Also in my defense, when I tried the night before, it tasted good, if a little weird. (We are what we eat, I suppose.) However, being left in my backpack on a relatively warmish day leaves one with relatively warmish salmon. Not entirely pleasant...but not entirely unpleasant until one has a dessert composed entirely of several handfuls of candy to make up for the lack of sleep one has had for the day. Mmm, candy. I'm eating some more right now. =D I have santicmoniously decided that getting the taste out of my mouth/system is more important than whether or not I feel on the brink of naseous for the rest of the day.

Today was my trip to Bruge! What an AWESOME city! I'm SO GLAD I WENT. Especially when I was feeling like being stingy and not going would be a better option. I had so much fun. The whole day was a blast, and everyone I was with was really nice. I met some really cool people. On top of that, Bruge has SO much to see. They have an 82m tall brick tower. BRICK. Seriously, amazing, and also dizzyifying to look at. My eyes hurt when I did for too long. That and there is ivy that grows everywhere and all over stuff, that makes you feel like you really ARE in a really old place. I also saw lots of swans! And, CANADIAN GEESE! SO AWESOME! The best part about it has to be that I got to feed the ducks by the pond...they were so friendly! I fed them parts of my apple. By the time I had fed a particularly ambitious one about half of my apple core, the rest of the ducks showed up, and I eventually had enough to start my own baseball team. It's too bad/a good thing that I didn't feed them my sandwiches. Although they might have liked them, they might have caused spontaneous growths of a third eye in the fowl population, and I wouldn't want to be personally repsonsible for that. Well, not without being able to blame it on someone else: "It was Godfried! He KNEW the ducks liked warmish salmon! HE'S the evil mastermind behind this all, I swear! I'm only doing my master in philosophy, he's doing his in engineering! It's all an eloborate framing! I'm being framed!" I'm sure I could get off on a plea for insanity if I started discussing possibilities for my master's thesis.

What's really cool, is I met someone from the U.S. who's doing HIS MA in Philosophy. What's quite funny, is that his name is Rocky, short for Rockwell, and he has the most American-esque broadcaster voice you've ever heard. What's REALLY funny, is that he's from Fordham university, where I applied for my master's. What's absolutely HILARIOUS, is that he's a very fun person to know, and he seems to have a head on his shoulders which does not bobble when he talks about philosophy, and he can elaborate on concepts to make them intelligible. Amazing. I also razzed him a bit, because he's from the U.S., and he is VERY unfamiliar with the Analytic tradition in philosophy, even more so than I, so he was kind enough to let me have a laugh about that. He's a very cool guy. We trashed analytical philosophy for a while. It was fun. It was absolutely AMAZING to talk shop in terms of philosophy. I loved it. It was like a breath of what home smells like after a long journey away. I loved being with Air Cadets for the summer, but discussing metaphysics, meaning, and ethics in political sphere was like, wow. All I could think was, "I LOVE TALKING NERDY. GIMMIE MORE." I love it, I love it, I love it I do. It's just so, ahh, wow. Philosophy rules. I love it.

Bruge had some really cool stuff. Sadly, I never had a chance to grab any tourist-y stuff. So, no postcards from this trip. However, I certainly met a lot more friends, and went for the experience of meeting people, and I had a really great time with meeting people. That made me happy. Met some insta-friends, that's for sure. Especially German people. They seem to be very friendly and easy to get to know. I can see why the German are one of the bigger minorities that gets on with the Dutch; they both seem to be very friendly people, and both seem to have a history in their countries of being under oppression of other people, and of having an uncertain national picture. Although, of course, Germany has had a strong picture of its nation in the past, but I would say, maybe on a whim, that it has had many upheavals, and maybe this has caused some national fragmentation? I'm not sure. A guess, and a bad one, I'm betting.

One tidbit that is quite funny, is that "The Lake of Love" is a misnomer in Dutch that an old Count or someone used, and the common word actually stands for 'water devil.' So, if you ever visit Bruge, remember to visit the lovely "Lake fo the Water Devil." A little less romantic title, but an absolutely beautiful waterway that is present in Bruge. Ah, to have such history.

It seems Canadians fail to have such a history...maybe they have not been around long enough. And, is it just me, or is it that any piece of really good European art began with its beginnings in the Medieval Era? This one goes out to Prof. Still. The Middle Ages rule.

Well, I should probably get on to doing other things...like eventually sleeping. I have my international philosophy student meeting tomorrow. =D I'm pretty excited for that. I hope I will get to meet everyone in my program. Maybe we'll have a party? Yeah, that'd be cool.

Another day of self-orienting

Well, today was another brand of interesting...I woke up to find a letter tucked under my door, from my landlord. Apparently I forgot to pay the rent for September!!! *Wince* Yeah, I know, it's not exactly what I thought it would be...I was having those weird fantasies people always have in the movies...like, "Could this really be a letter from the other side, from my great-aunt Flo?" or, "So that Internet e-mail thing where you passed on an e-mail and got a check for 3 million dollars really WASN'T a scam." Yeah, well, I had just woken up, so give me a little credit/leeway.

This, of course, made me hurry over to the bank to do some crazy money transferring. After which, my machine told me that it wouldn't transfer until Sept 26. Sept 26????? Yeah, I know. Anyways, I guess it takes a while for these things to take effect. As soon as I know that the transfer went through properly, I am going to send them a letter and officially apologize...how embarrassing. Totally not like me at all. I am still figuring everything out here...although I feel superior in many ways to people who have been here only a short while, on the other hand, I kinda feel like they might know just as much as me...not to mention that a lot of these people here are at least bilingual, if not trilingual as international students. *Sigh* SO much to learn. So much time. *Grin*

I met a couple new people today when I went to the sports centre. A girl named Mana...she's really nice. I keep wanting to making the joke, "So did you fall from heaven, too?" but I'm not sure she'd get it...not sure if she's religious...I'm thinking no. Anyways, I thought it was funny...even if it's not a joke I would tell. I think that one is about as tasteful as when I was getting to this guy in my English class named Denver, and I said, "Oh yeah! Like the sandwich!" He gave me one of those looks, laughed and said, "Yeah...I've never heard that before."

I also met a couple other people who were standing around with Mana, but I don't know them very well. Mana and I walked downtown and then went our separate ways. I was supposed to meet up with a bunch of people at an international party and see those people there, but I didn't find it...I had a good walk, which was nice. And, you know, you never realize how tired you are until you go for walk later in the evening, and you are falling asleep even when walking. That's only happened to me a couple times, but I guess I am just so sleepy today...mostly because I am very relaxed. It's nice. I've been reading a lot and really enjoying it. I've moved on from my survey book on ethics that Emer gave me a LONG time ago, and I am now reading a intro book on Continental phil. Although, it's more of an exposition on the historical rift between analytical and continental philosophy, which is still really good. I'm really enjoying, and in a lot of ways, agreeing with the author, even. After that book, I get to read Susan Neiman's book on evil! That'll be mega cool! GO EVIL! Um...the study of it...I mean. Yeah. That's it.

The one thing about the walk that I signed up to go on around the Heverlee campus, is that Mana and I were the only ones left there, and our guide had ditched, so this guy who wasn't very familiar with the sports centre gave the walk, and all Mana and I really wanted to see was the sports centre area and where the pool and gym was. LOL. So, it was a very short walk...which was ok, becuase I walked for a while after that, and that was good...but it was just to go home.

Overall, today was a very good day. The only thing today that was rotten was a loaf of bread that I bought from the market last week. (Which is really weird...I have a bunch of bread, and the raisin bread that I bought at the start of the month is still going strong, but the bread I bought LAST WEEK just keeled over. How sucky. *Grin*) I also have a bunch of soft tortillas....maybe I should make some tacos? That'd be pretty cool. Maybe I'll do that.

Starting 'It' up again

Well...I have finally sucumbed. I don't know if a lot of people are going to read this thing, but I thought I would start posting on this blog...maybe because I have a lot of free time...maybe because I could use a writing outlet so my english doesn't deteriorate...maybe because I'm only humourous when I'm writing over the Internet...I'm only mildly amusing in person, really. (Personally, I blame it on the fact that I don't have enough time to think of a joke and THEN say it. Ah, the beauty of editing your own material. Nothing like it.) Also, I know a lot of people have been e-mailing me lately, and I feel like I may not be able to respond to everyone to the same degree, and, also, there are some things which appear better in a blog than in an e-mail. My e-mails are more personal...usually. I sometimes can't help but send out that one forward that says, "If you do not send this within twenty-four hours you will be cursed in love for EVER!" I, of course, am strong for the first thirteen or so hours, but in a crushing tidal wave of anxiety during one of my frequent Brennanesque anxiety attacks, I undelete the forward from my e-mail trash can and send it to everyone I know except my grandmother. (Those sorts of things only provoke her...into...er, trying to set me up on dates, which usually makes my mom try and set me up on dates, which, well, no. Just NO, man.)

Anyways, I am going to try out the personal web log experience, and see how I feel about it. I imagine it will be pretty good, although I don't know that anyone will read this. Hm. I suppose we'll have to see what happens.

Anyways, it is late, and I should go to bed. Tomorrow is another action packed day of orientation for international students. I am currently not really sure what the sports tomorrow will be like...I signed up for badminiton and a walk around the campus. The other choices were volleyball (Not that good at it.) a card game (which no one signed up for.) some sort of Brazillian dance martial arts thingy (which no guys signed up for, so I'm curious what exactly it is.) and soccer (which NO WAY am I going to try and play against Europeans. Does it LOOK like I have a deathwish? I enjoy my teeth and ego where they are, thank you very much.)

Today I met a bunch of people...there are actually Canadians here studying in the philosophy program at KU Leuven! Cool! I also met this British girl named...Shalu? I think? Anyways, she introduced me, which was really nice of her. I am pretty sure I appeared really stupid to most everyone I met....I think the lack of social contact with people is eroding my attempts at social skills. Then again, did I have any???? Maybe I am just loud and obnoxious...is that a social skill??? Anyways, I went to a intro Dutch session, and it went ok, but that's because I sat beside a really smart girl who was German, Elise, I think, and we plotted together to beat the little sheets of work that they gave us, and considering they spoke in Dutch for the whole thing, it worked out pretty well. Me studying a little Dutch on my own is really helping.

What's really amusing is that two of the Canadians who are in philosophy are actually living on the same street as me! LOL. And fairly close. They're pretty cool people. Anyhow, I went back, had supper, went to go to the international party at Pangaea (the international student's cafe/building, etc.) and I ended up running into a French guy, who spoke almost no English, and I spoke almost no french and dutch and all I could think was things like, "Je'mapelle Brennan. Et tu?" or "Je comprende un petit la francias" I know I misspelled that, thank you very much. I also know that I was wishing I knew more french at the time. He was a really nice guy. He had a cold. Anyways, it was a truly international experience. We kinda hit it off, even though speaking to each other was like grinding a horse through a personal home-based food processor, but still, pretty cool. Anyways, after that little detour, I went to the party, which turned out to have already vacated to bars and cafes around the city...there were about five guys left at Pangeae playing ping-pong and speaking what I think was German...no totally sure. Anyways, that was lame, and I biked home, and read a bit, and just sort of hung out and ate popcorn...they have candied popcorn here, but no pop-it-yourself-popcorn...what's up with that??? SO weird. Anyways, I went to the corner store and the bad of popcorn cost me 2€!!! I couldn't believe it...but I was too wimpy to say I didn't want it...besides, I DID want it...I just didn't want to have to pay 2€...GEEZ.

Also, the handyman for this place came and stucco'd my walls where there were cracks in the tile...once again...knowing dutch and french would be a mega supreme asset, here. Language barriers. Darn it anyways. LOL. Well, it's coming along, so I shouldn't complain too much.