"The Die is Cast"

And so it is. How goes it, readers? Its been a while since I blogged last and honestly my only excuse is I ahve been rpetty busy. But thats not leigitamite, so I'm going to make a bigger effort to post more frequently. So, here goes my next post. I'll start by detailing our first day in the city of New Orleans.

We woke up late, because we were so close to the city we decided sleeping in would be a good thing. We eventually did get up, packed up our things, and left our little motel next to the Winn Dixie. Before we left, however, Pereira was horrified to see a hick woman yelling at him not to pour the wtaer in our cooler out and onto the ground. He did so anyway, and we left that small stone of a place behind.

We drove through the last shady remnants of Mississippi, what with its truck stops and hate crimes, and then crossed into glorious Louisiana. The welcome center was my second favorite, behind only Alabama nd its rockig chairs. They had a lot of information, which we gathered up and then continued on our way. We drove closer and closer to the city, and I dont knwo if anyone else felt this way but I thought Louisiana was much much more....civilized? then the other areas of the south we had been in, a few exceptions (Birmingham, sort of) standing. It just seemed like a bastion of civilization in the otherwise rural southland. To be honest, I'm a country boy at heart, and the farmland sort of drew me in with rapt attention. So Louisiana, while a relief to the unease that encapsulated MS, was not the same south as Virginia or Alabama was for me. Anyway, I digress...

We continue, getitng closer and closer to the city. Surrounded by pelican clad liscense plates (State bird of LA), we get onto the massive and seemingly endelss bridge that connects Slidell to NOLA, going over Lake Pochartrain. It was excellent, and itneresting, and beautiful and made me feel happy in the stomach. We listened to Ludo, of course.

We crossed the city limits and entered NOLA soon thereafter. Its an interesting city. It definetly has its slums, expeccially on the outskirts, but its probably one of my favorite cities ever. It was beautiful in the areas we were at, but ill get to that later. For now, we checked into our hotel and then decided to explore...

And as today is the climax of our southern adventure, I'll continue this post tommorow!


As for college life...


Classes are good. I enjoy them all, for the most part. I guess a breif rundown will be in order.

Age of Augustus- Rome from the death of Julius caesar to the death of Augustus Octavian. Its probably my favorite class, but I'm not so sure anymore. Classics ids are easily the geekiest kids outside of the sciences, and our professor, while awesome, shows what being a classics professor means, socially and otherwise. Hes an odd guy, but I had a fun discussion with him one afternoon about the sexual liasons of romes greatest emperors. Always fun.

Great Trials- Prolly my least favorite, but its still not bad. Just a lot f reading and then a lot of discussion. The kids in my class are all fairly intelligent, and I think one or two are probably smarter then me. I know one kid picks up ons tuff I dont even really see. But watever, I cold totally beat him up :)

Modern German History- with ym buddy prof donson, this class is a ton of work, but well worth it. Its interesting seeing how Germany grew and developed. It really is all about coal, you know... Nazism is coming up, and that should be terrifying and interesting.

Witches-Myth and Reality- This class rivals the Age of augustus for favorite, although its taught from a feminist perspective. Although I suppose theres really no other way t teach this, as the majority of people persecuted for being witches were women. Did you know that there are still withc hunts going on today? Mostly in South Africa and Indonesia. Wanna know the craziest thing? Theres a group who sit on the friggin' UN to discuss hunting witches. Yeah, that UN, the united nations....And yeah, they kill them. Pretty horrificly, as well. Like drag through lonley afican roads until the skin literally peels from you, like the soft red flesh from an overripe apple...
The discussion for this class is the best, because its me and 5 other kids with the professor, and we just have the most interesting discussions.

Deans Book- Extreamly Loud and Incredibly Close- This book is phenominal. I love it. The class is so so, but the book. The book is phenominal. I feel like a softy, but there are parts in it that force emotion out of me. Like, it makes me sad, or happy. Its beautifully written, and I reccommend it to anyone and everyone. I'll be meeting the Author next tuesday. But legit, I amost cried once while reading it. Cuz im a weirdo like that. But more on that later...

Socially, things have been good. I have been keeping pretty busy, went on a few hikes, made a few new friends. Lots of vollyball has been played. I am going to be tutoring kids from perhaps the most fiscally impoverished school system in the state, Greenfield, 2 days a week. Ought to be fun. I also get to run recess, which will definetly be fun.

I'm probably going to do this thing called bes uddies, where I hang out with a metally challenged person my age and just be a friend to them. Get to make a few friend, and do a bunch of cool stuff, so thats gonna be good.

Natalie and I have said we are going skydiving. I want this to happen, so I intend on doing it. If anyone wants to join, we can plan it accordingly, but its gonna be awesome.

I'm president of O-hill house council again.

RANT!!!! its back!!!!

Emotion from media-

Why is it that Extreamly close and incredibly loud makes me almost sob like a lil kid? Why is it I had to fight to finish Anne Frank, that reading every ew chapter was like tearing open a half healed wound? How come whenever I hear certain songs, I lose my ironlike masculinity and get all mopey? If anyone doubts the power of words, and how they can transform the way you percieve, look no futher for evidence of the contrary. Words are more powerful then images, if you ask me. Write baout a child dying, and its more real for me then a picture of a dead child. Its sort of scary how emotions can be summoned so. I'd almost go as far as to say they can be packaged. Watching a sad movie isint anyhtig other then going to experiance a unique expression of sadness, and the same is true for a happy movie, ect. For things we can't see, feel, weight, tough, trade or hold, emotions sure can be used to create powerful effect, and powerful profit. I have no doubt in my mind that through the manipulation of emotion, its entirely possible to change the course of a nation, or the world. Manifest destiny, an emotional package of glory and self right. go for it, take it all. From a different perspective, what was done to the native Americans was the worst travesty on Americas tract record (With maybe an exception in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Read the first hand descriptions of those if you want to feel real lucky to have not been there...). Its just interesting....if I could make everyone mad at someone, or happy for someone, ro sad for someone...I could definetly do something to someone.

So that was the rant.

QUOTE:

"iacta alea est" The Die is Cast - Marcus Julius Caesar.

And so it is.