cancer sucks

howdy.
i recently found out that a former classmate of mine has a rare form of cancer. i set up an account to raise money because i didnt think i would be able to attend the benefit dinner he is having, nor would others.

so if anyone is interested in donating here is the link to the page!


http://youareapearl.chipin.com/david-didions-fight-against-cancer

relations

i've been thinking about this for a long time. it's a pretty good read.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2010/the-difficulties-of-being-single-vs-the-difficulties-of-being-in-a-monogamous-long-term-relationship/

2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
2011 is off to an interesting start.
2010 was a good year personally. jump started my way out of the slump of 2009. 2011 will be glorious. i feel it in my bones.

Roman Holiday.

Going through some europe pics. Here are some I have not shared yet.

This is one of my favorites. I took this at the Colosseum, in Rome.

This is the Colosseum.


Duomo at night in Florence.


yummy Italian cappuccino.


Hope everyone had a nice christmas. I am not sick, thanks to sharing food and drink with loved ones.

Indiana wants me...

Why hello there!
I've been in Indiana for about 3 weeks now. It was been quite the 3 weeks.

I was unable to go to New York AND had to pass on an amazing $400 trip to Mexico because I am b.r.o.k.e. And that breaks my heart.

I've been looking for jobs, I decided to update my blog because I needed a break from sending out my resume. I'm not sure what direction I want to take this blog now that I am back, or if I even want to keep it.I welcome any feedback you might have. But as for now it is a good distraction.

So when I returned from Portland, I moved all of my stuff out of my ex's apartment and am now living at home with my parents and my grandmother who has Alzheimer's. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! haha
It is a really weird adjustment to say the least. You never really realize how much time you spend with a single person, until you stop hanging out with them! I'm fortunate enough to have excellent parents that are willing to help me out. I know that I also help them out with my taking care of my grandma. A truly symbiotic relationship.
I think the weirdest part about it all is having to have the same conversations with my grandma at least 6 times a day. She is in good health and very pleasant, not aggressive at all, so we are all very lucky that she is able to live with us.
It's strange how she remembers people. She knows me as the girl who traveled to Europe and she thinks I am married to a man with a beard.
I never know where she is in her head, I assume is she is in the present, but she usually is not. She often thinks she is a child or will call her old home to have her husband (who is deceased) come pick her up.

So that is that. We all float on. Here are some pictures.


trekking up to Bagby Hotsprings

the best!

spouting horns

say it with me ya'll

the world is my oyster, and i am its pearl.
the world is my oyster, and i am its pearl.
the world is my oyster, and i am its pearl.
the world is my oyster, and i am its pearl.

THE END IS NEAR

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!


So i depart for America tomorrow. WOW. 3 months has flown by. The big question still lingers in the air "what am i going to do when i return??" Well, fortunately i am able to (despite all logical reasoning, but i suppose logical reasoning has never been my thing) postpone my return to the reality that is of the common world by engaging in the following activities.

1. driving to Indianapolis with my kiki la rue to see one of my favorite bands, gogol bordello!

this song is very appropriate for this time in my life.
because i want an excuse to post these pictures from their video i worked on...


the man himself. eugene hutz.

elijah wood & i hung out that day. crazy.

and here is the video i worked on.

OK ANYWAYS. BACK ON SUBJECT. Thanks for letting me relive those moments. haha

2. Immediately after the concert my brother and sister are picking me up and we are driving to Tempe, Arizona! My brother finally found a job..unfortunately i will not see him often, but it will be nice to have someone to visit out there and I'm so happy he found work. he has been searching for a while. i hope he is happy out there!

3. i decided after Tempe that i will go visit my best friend in the whole entire world, JORIE in Portland as i will be sooo close and it will only cost me 90 more to fly there for a week rather than flying back to Indiana. also, when i get situated and find a job in this crazy world, it will be so much more challenging to find the time to take off and the 500 plane ticket. so that is that.

4. then i return to Indiana for a week, and i drive to NYC for the Macy's thanksgiving day parade with my dear friend, Jayme, and we will see some of our big apple friends. This trip i am a little more nervous about as i will reaaaallly have no money. I'm considering staying there for the holidays if i can find a job, as i know i will make good money during the holidays there compared to Indiana. but i dont know. we will see about all that.

so what have i been doing since leaving Rome?

well i went to courtelay, Switzerland to visit my college buddy, neuman, who is traveling Europe as well. it was really great to see a familiar face! he was working at a home where these fantastic people lived. they were building a theater in their home and a gypsy band played that evening. it was great! all the people that lived there were so wonderful and the children were so interesting! they were learning trapeze and salsa and martial arts. so much cooler than i! they also grew all their own food and only used local products. i think it is the best way to live!

so after courtelay, i took a train to Zurich and walked around. beautiful beautiful place. but so so so expensive. people have told me before that Switzerland is expensive, but i had no idea it would be THAT expensive. we are talking 15 USD for a value meal at burger king. and the trains! ugh, i couldn't get out of there fast enough!

i took the train to Munich, which also is a really neat city. unfortunately, i was only there for the evening as i left to tour the Dachau concentration camp memorial in the morning. that was an intense experience. i had to carry my big old pack the entire time, which i think took away from the experience a little, but not too much.

it was really interesting to see how a society can turn into such a place. it was interesting to see some of the parallels of American society today. i dont think it will ever ever ever get that bad again, but there are some similarities.
of all the terrible things i rediscovered for some reason the fact that they fit 400 people into a room designed for 50 boggled my mind the most. ugh. absolutely insanity at that time.

after Dachau, i took the train back to mainz, where i started. i got in around 1am. it was so good to see malina and hanna!! the following day i did absolutely nothing and it was WONDERFUL!! it is exhausting traveling and felt nice to just relax.

we went to Amsterdam for 3 days. met up with neuman. what a beautiful city. certainly not as i pictured it in my head, as marijuana and prostitution are legal. but you would never know those things existed there if you were just walking around. very classy! the weather was gloomy, but we had a great time. i had a space cake and felt the effects for about a day and a half. it is not a comfortable feeling being elevated for that amount of time!

on our return back to mainz, we watched spooky movies, went to german karaoke, and ate a lot of delicious german foods!

i'm uploading my photos to my flickr account, so i hope to do a photo post soon.

thanks for reading! hope you are doing well <3