The Penny...

Can't access my OWN blog

I created a blog last summer, but I didn't really figure out the whole blogging aspect until AFTER I forgot my password. I want my dashboard back. I want my URL back, the URL I meticulously created myself.

If you can hack, hack me to pieces and hit me up. Here it is: http://thestrandedfellow.blogspot.com/

I thought using the stranded blog would be more appropriate considering I'm going to be taking several flights in the next several days. And although I will not be able to update, I would like to do so when I return.

Atentamente,
A Stranded Fellow

Megs

"Hola, Jake, Katie y Megs!
We have a short connection (less than an hour) 
Then perhaps you can plead with gate agents, and tell them we're coming
Megs, when does your flight from Dallas get in?"


Jake, Katie y Megs might be the only ones who make it onto the plane. Let me sell my soul. I am assuming that I am "Megs."

Not Nevada

I am going to a country whose comparative area is slightly smaller than Nevada's.

Name the country.

hint: three different climates, located above and below the equator, or read my past two blog posts

Ante-Ecuador: 1

I am really looking forward to our dear teacher leading us through the jungle, and I could not resist sharing her words of encouragement!


Excerpts: "Hola, Viajer's!


So the word of the day is shots, which I hope you all have gotten by now. 

For the malaria medicine, we can all take these together at breakfast every morning! 

Get ready for tomorrow's word of the day: SOCKS!"

And boy am I looking forward to the discussion about socks. Get at me Army Surplus Store!

... lest we contrive jungle rot...

Response from the Jungle

...... and with godspeed did it come.

I will now be  "well-versed in a recent history of Ecuador's Indians, Oil, and Politics." 


I have a date with Joe tomorrow morning. 
Now that I have the book, I have no excuses to not read it. 

Amazon: It's guerrilla warfare

This is my rant about dealing with Amazon. No, I am not a satisfied customer. Yes, I would like to leave a review; thanks so much for asking.

Thrice this year has Amazon so greatly failed me! So disappointed am I! So frustrated am I, so frustrated that I have gone to great lengths to illegally obtain my books because what I paid for was not delivered! I don't know at what part in the system the disconnect was, nevertheless, I do not have my books. 

Yes, I would like to personally call whomever and get the break down of where the my books are. I am embarking on a journey to South America, SOON, and I need my book, BEFORE soon. 

I invested my money in you, oh so greatly-reviewed salesman, and I depended on you. I was too trusting.

It's not even a matter of where the my books are, it's when they are going to get here. Expedited shipping was paid; I paid more for shipping than I did for my book. So yes, I would say that the shipping was the key here.

I tried to send a nice note in your direction, and had I not feared the Amazonian officials busting through my front door and taking me captive due to use of profanity, I would have used it.

Ironic that I need a book about the Amazon, from Amazon?

Excerpt, probably the nicest I've sent:
"I ordered "of Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador," last week, and I paid for expedited shipping. I would like my book as soon as possible. I am leaving for Ecuador on Friday and need to have read the book for a class before I leave. I expected the book to be here by now. It did not come today, Monday, and I would like to know if it will be here before I have to leave. If it comes tomorrow, Tuesday, then my apologies about my angst; however, you must understand my thirst for paid-for expedited knowledge. Since you are the owner of the book, I am assuming that you've either traveled to Ecuador or have a particular interest in the country, as it is not just another book about Latin American history as a whole. I am looking forward to my travels; however, I would be able to enjoy my travels  a lot more if I was well-versed in a recent history of Ecuador's Indians, Oil, and Politics. I appreciate your time traveling to the post office, packing up my book, and sending it my way; I really do. And I WISH YOU GODSPEED."

PO Box #library table 23

Yes, I have been spending my life in the library. Yes, I'm okay with that.

However, I have never grown so attached to one particular table before this day.
This is the day that I have spent, so far, from 9am-9pm(but who's counting?), studying at the SAME TABLE.

I staked my claim early. I fired up the Hibachi grill. The hops have been brewing. All in preparation for the Big Kahuna, the Great Divide, the Ultimate.

Minus the short lunch, free massage, dinner, and shower break, I am here to stay. I mean business. Be quiet unless you are offering me food.

I will miss you, dear library, my fortitude.

If you need reach me, you have my table number. ode on a library table...



I was a little worried about my table being stolen, along with my things, so I left this message as a precaution...

Dear Humanity,

I would like to apologize to my library comrades for the following:
general ugliness
muttered curses
acne
urban sprawl of hogging a table to myself
ignorance of you and what should be awe
knuckle-cracking
20 cups of tea I will be re-filling
my hasty soul

If I'm not in the library, I'll probably be splashing about in the fountain - gone absolutely mad. 

15 links with detailed explanations are in this post. Read them if you need some muse.

a little populist encouragement

Yes, we went to bed at 3, woke up periodically spurting out historical trends and ideologies throughout and got out of bed at 7. But this is why....

that moment when you are reading about populism in Latin America on wikipedia and you realize that you can not only identify every president and movement listed, but you can also explain their entire history without even clicking on their links. yes, this has paid off. good feeling. to the coffee.

test me on all of it suckkkaahhhhh

Pacified by the Piano, and the Pigeons

Please listen to the Clair de Lune link as you graciously read.

All I wanted was to Clair de Lune in Reid Chapel.
As a followup from Tonality Advocacy, ...


I cautiously approached the dark, still, and quiet space. I imagined pigeons fluttering from the wooden rafters as I pried open the heavy creaking door. The cracking of the old rust and wood emancipated terse echoes, dispersing my imaginary pink-footed pigeons. I jumped about wildly swatting the falling feathers and dodging their cooing excitement. And then, just as if I had never entered, all was still. I could feel their beady eyes gleaming into mine that were squinting, anxiously anticipating their next burst of frenzy. I was, at that moment, a pigeon-bystander. Moment by moment, pigeons would join in conversation again, and the eerie thought of my commanding presence being the possible topic of conversation by the feathered council immediately drew me out of my preposterous imagination.

The piano was the same; the tune quality was not. It had been fixed, and now each of the notes played splendidly, none withholding their simple melody.

I heard the pitter-pattering of mice feet, giggles, and loud breathing of fifteen or more fellow students, identities indistinguishable, but then again, so was mine. I continued to play, but the additional body masses prohibited the notes from reaching their full potential of such grandeur in an empty wooden-floored place.

That, and they probably thought that I was going to bust them for climbing the tower.
So I sent them on their way to the last few stanzas, to my final remarks right before I turned off my small key-chain flashlight that hung over the brim of the sheet stand.

"As you wish" I yelled. The echoes carried the rest of my repeated sentiment.

The pigeons dispersed again. I closed the door. I left. And as I gazed into the starry heavens, my pink-footed messenger flew past into the dark unknown.

Pigeon: the new bird of prey.

Pigeon Attack!

Honey, the pigeon went in my mouth!

pyro-pigeon

bliss

Old-school tuppence

modern day pigeon wearer

Pull!

pigeon bed!

So hungry

pigeon porn

awkward, "mom, just take the photo already"

the cool kid, probably has a typical photo at the Rock of Gibraltar too 

PETA advocates, "protect your pigeons"

Sadly, there were no pigeons - just the thought of the clumsy winged creatures. And although it was such a weird thought, it was an iconic moment, one I will imagine again. Because, let's face it, who doesn't want pigeons to flutter from the rafters of an old church as they enter? How could you not want the pigeons of the archaic Medieval European churches to be there? As the "sole preserve of primates and humans," one ought to hope for the pigeons.

http://www.deterapigeon.com/21-amazing-facts-about-pigeons.htm

shared frustrations

Hour 34: researching my research - gah, stupid annotated bibliography
Hour 69: I just want to shout an expletive, but I just can't bring myself to it, so I'll shout in a different language. 
Hour 70: At this point, I am very livid. I don't even care what I look like, in fact, I'm going to look as terrible  as I can just in spite, because then people will have to look at my ugliness and cringe because they are disgusted.
Hour 77: Nimble fingers about to fall off
Hour 82: hungry, very hungry
Hour 82 and 9 minutes: hunger satisfied with ramen noodles, eaten dry.
Hour 400: existentialist crisis revisited
Hour 400 and 1 minute: vague familiarity with the self
Hour 400 and 2 minutes: mirror cracks when looked into via Hour 70
Hour 400 and 3 minutes: don't need the mirror
Hour 733: ...
Hour 69789: only a light-year left to go and then I'm finished.

Kentucky Derby 2012 Haiku

Kentucky Derby,

Sea-biscuit forever, ye

I'll Have Another.

I was rooting for El Padrino at first, but jockey Mario's victory speech won my heart.

A few years ago...

photographed in action. forever captured.

I can already see it, the fallout that will result from my own actions and endeavors to just be happy.

Yes, I stole a cup from the Caf, like I always do. I took some nice Herb Tea to go and set up shop in the library for the long haul. After being in the library for about 3 hours for the day already, I decided that I didn't care. Thief I may be, but I'm going to drink my tea. 

We apparently looked very studious and were asked to be photographed studying. I kept writing the same sentence over and over again because the focus level was down 500 points, and I needed to maintain my studious statuesque. Wasted time and ink. And then, the photographer asked to remove my Caf cup. "Rats, I've been caught!"

And now the salad lady is going to hunt me down. I'll never eat peanut butter, sunflower seeds, or olives ever again! You can watch this go down on the front of next year's CA book.

My studious fellow table comrade quickly hid her tin bowl of cereal that she had brought as sustenance for the camp out as soon as the photographer had approached. Had I not been consumed in my excellent paper about pseudoscience, mermaids, and a twist of Jung, I might have not-so-discreetly hidden my cup in the electrical plug outlet box in the floor...

So I sit here, with my free tea in one hand, and a bunch of nonsensical updates of self-muse in the other.

Photo credit: Cara Wilson

The Geese have flown, again.

Every morning around 7:15am and 9:20am, I can hear the geese flying right past our window. I've never heard them in the afternoon, though I'm never in the room anyways, until now.

If anyone has suggestions for providing geese food, please let me know. I've wanted to have a nice goose dinner for quite some time now, who doesn't? I just need to fatten them up a little first.

You bring the goose food; I'll capture the goose. And we'll have a nice candlelight goose dinner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZeH-cGOTRI

Tonality Advocacy

Did I just hunt down the head chair of the music department?
Did I just inform him that the piano in Reid Chapel needs some tuning up?
Did he just enthusiastically hurry off to go get the issue taken care of right away?

Was I just dubbed the "piano tonality advocate"?
Will I be returning to a tuned-up piano very soon?

Yes. 
I mean, someone has to look out for all of the pianos, and it might as well be me.
You are in good hands, my dear pianos, or should I say, at my fingertips...

Simply and Sweetly, You

It's the social interaction that we cannot live without, or rather, the social enhancement that instantaneously changes our perspective.

Oftentimes we are so consumed with our own thoughts that the running mundane dialogue in our heads denies others the opportunity to break through. If this is the case, then we cannot break the pattern alone, and we need others. Everyone is responsible for breaking the pattern, even if it is just a "hello" in passing. In fact, a hello is all we need - the acknowledgment of our presence, our existence in someone else's world.

Your breath in a greeting was not a waste my friend. You've changed my day. You've made it into a beautiful day.

Thanks for being you.
Thanks for being simply sweet.
You.

The Respite in Fountaining

In the midst of it all, we need respite. Respite doesn't necessarily mean dancing, watching a movie, or exercising. The most fulfilling respite is the one that is found in the simple things in life, simplicity, the little joys of nothingness.


I approached the fountain, as if in a zombie-like state, mesmerized by the spurting rush of water. Any passerby would have thought I was going in for good, a pursued Dolce Vita. Tossing aside my backpack full of precious notes and ideas, striping my feet of my dusty sandals, and rushing forth to greet the edge, I contemplated the possibility of completely letting loose and diving into the threshold of peaceful chaos. The thought of the water's immaculateness almost drove me mad. Instead, I perched myself on the side and let my heavy feet drift in the current. Nothing could have completed the moment more than Dean Martin's "On an Evening in Roma" song on repeat. I needed that respite in the atmosphere that I had created for myself, and it wasn't really anything that I created. It was simply a simply joy that I found in doing just that... I am satisfied.

The respite was found..... On an Evening by the Fountain, my evening, my fountain.