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September 15, 2005

Trolley Cars in DC

So, I am about a month into "grad" school, and I'm not dead yet. Although I have the sneaking suspicion that out of protest my body is trying to kill me.

Continue reading "Trolley Cars in DC"

Posted by alex91127 at 10:16 PM
View/Add Comments (2) | Category: Graduate School

August 22, 2005

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

Please someone tell me that April Fool's day came early this year . . .

liberalbook.jpg


"Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland.

From the Publisher

Would you let your child read blatantly liberal stories with titles such as "King & King," "No, George, No," or "It's Just a Plant"?

Unless you live in Haight-Ashbury or write for the New York Times, probably not. But with the nation’s libraries and classrooms filled with overtly liberal children’s books advocating everything from gay marriage to marijuana use, kids everywhere are being deluged with left-wing propaganda.

"Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed" is the book conservative parents have been seeking. This illustrated book — the first in the "Help! Mom!" series from Kids Ahead — is perfect for parents who seek to share their traditional values with their children, as well as adults who wish to give a humorous gift to a friend.

Hailed as "the answer to a baseball mom's prayers" by talk radio host Melanie Morgan, "Liberals Under My Bed" has already been the subject of coverage in The Wall Street Journal and Harper’s magazine. Written by a self-proclaimed "Security Mom for Bush" and featuring hilarious full-color illustrations by a Reuben Award winning artist, it is certain to be one of the most talked about children's books of the year."


I was made aware of this through another forum, but you can find the Amazon site for it here.

*And check out the comments section for the book that follows the publisher's note, which is acting more like a political forum than a book critique. Funny, and slightly scary, stuff.

Posted by alex91127 at 08:44 PM
View/Add Comments (0) | Category: US of A

August 20, 2005

A Disturbing Experience in Cambodia

Recounting this story for a friend recently made me want to write it down, simply because I never expected to see something like this, something this horrible.

*Warning: This story is not for the weak of heart*

While I was leaving Cambodia on my way back to Thailand, I was walking through the intense and potentially dangerous border city of Poi Pet. This is a harsh town, full of deteriorating shacks, filthy dogs and people, and trash everywhere. So much trash it was embedded in and had become part of the dirt roads. I was there in the dry season, and everything was covered with a thin coat of dirt, giving the area a dusty dirty haze. Nothing can stay clean long in such a dry and dusty climate. Close to the border is the most volatile area, where most of the pick-pockets and beggars wait, targeting the masses of people who flow in and out of the two countries in a constant stream all day.

While I was walking towards the border, many amputees were slumped up against a fence, begging. In Cambodia, I found out that if you step on a land mine and become an amputee, most times you would be considered worthless to your family, and not worth supporting. Since around half of all Cambodians are at risk for stepping on a land mind, and with a rate of three deaths per day, not even including maulings which lead to amputation, there are unfortunately many amputees. Thus these countless poor people resort to begging on the street as their only form of survival.

As I was passing all these people, I came up to one man who was slumped over and so motionless, I did not even know if he was alive. Where his eyeballs had been there now existed only sockets. Open, oozing, bleeding, sockets. It looked fresh- the blood was dripping out of his sockets and down his face. It did not look surgical at all; it looked like they had been ripped violently out of his head. Not only that, but his whole face looked like it was melting off his head. That is the best way I can describe it. His skin was in pieces, bloody, somewhat drooping off his head, and all his features seemed to be sliding off, like his face has been somehow melted off. He half lay there, slumped over, and for all I know, dead. No bandages, no nothing. None of the other beggars seemed to notice, or at least not particularly care. Everyone had their problems.

I do not write this because I want to gross people out. I walked by, and stopped for just a second in shock at what lay before me, but that image will remain in my brain forever. I have no idea what caused this man to be in such hideous shape, but I will always wonder what had happened to him. I never imagined that i would see something like that, or be in a place where something like that would go so unnoticed, would seem so . . . normal. It shocked and disgusted and horrified me. It was by far the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.

Posted by alex91127 at 10:31 AM
View/Add Comments (0) | Category: Cambodia

August 13, 2005

Moving to the East Coast

One minor car accident involving an aggressive pastry truck driver, two fights with random people, too many hours in the "Disneyland for Adults" aka IKEA, one encounter with a feisty murphy bed, one trip to the hospital and a couple X-rays later, and I am finally in DC.

Continue reading "Moving to the East Coast"

Posted by alex91127 at 11:49 AM
View/Add Comments (1) | Category: Graduate School

August 01, 2005

PICTURES GALORE

So I finally took the time to upload many (but not nearly all! Yes, I am a photo maniac) of my pictures from Greece. Now that I've finished these, maybe one of these days I'll be pro-active enough to put some Spain and more Thailand pictures on here. But don't hold your breath.

So, to start out the little feast for your eyes, here is the epitome of Greece . . .

Continue reading "PICTURES GALORE"

Posted by alex91127 at 12:23 AM
View/Add Comments (5) | Category: Greece

July 29, 2005

I Won't Be Homeless After All

So I finally found an apartment in DC, so I won't be camping out on the couch in the economics department after all . . . Yay! I would give you all my new address, but I know you all would stalk me because you love me so much, and then I would have to kill you to stop you from stealing my identity and killing me first in an attempt to take over my life. The sad but true reality.

But, if you're lucky, I might send you a post card of me and Mr. Shrub. Cross your fingers!

Posted by alex91127 at 02:55 AM
View/Add Comments (3) | Category: US of A

July 15, 2005

My Asian Culinary Education

So I am back in the states, and have been for about three weeks now, yet I continue to write on my blog when it was specifically developed for my trip. Why is this you ask? Because I still have many exciting and heart-wrenching stories to relay to you faithful readers who of course have been waiting for additional tidbits of heaven. But mostly, because I damn well feel like it.

So goes the story of my Asian Culinary Education . . .

Often you will hear jokes that include both Asian food and animals that are not necessarily common to the American palate, such as dog, but again, these are jokes. However, when actually in Asia, I came to learn that they are well-founded jokes indeed.

Continue reading "My Asian Culinary Education"

Posted by alex91127 at 04:14 PM
View/Add Comments (0) | Category: Thailand

July 03, 2005

Things I've learned while traveling: Language Barriers Defeated

When you're on the road, you might feel compelled to learn certain key phrases that might be of importance, such as, "Where is the bathroom?" or "I am allergic to shrimp" or "Who are you and what are you going to do with that extremely large automatic firearm and menacing grin out here in the middle of the Cambodia jungle where my lifeless body would sooner be eaten by the unimaginably carnivorous bugs rather than be found?" Yes, these things might seem important, but I have found that one single phrase- one simple set of words- one easily passed-over idiom- has power beyond belief and can be used as a substitute in any of these delicate situations. All you have to say are the three simple words, "I love you."

Continue reading "Things I've learned while traveling: Language Barriers Defeated"

Posted by alex91127 at 08:30 PM
View/Add Comments (0) | Category: Things I've Learned While Traveling

June 28, 2005

Back in the USSA

I got back to the states a week ago, and decided one of the best ways to get back into an American groove was to go to a good ‘ol fashioned baseball game.

Continue reading "Back in the USSA"

Posted by alex91127 at 04:14 PM
View/Add Comments (0) | Category: US of A

June 17, 2005

Things I've Learned While Traveling: Greece

I have learned that not only is it possible to ride on a moped while wearing stiletto heals, simultaneously talking on a cell phone, and smoking a cigarette, it is also cool.

Continue reading "Things I've Learned While Traveling: Greece"

Posted by alex91127 at 07:54 AM
View/Add Comments (2) | Category: Things I've Learned While Traveling
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