Monday, April 26, 2010

Just Thought of Something...



Click--> M.I.A.'s new video "Born Free" - The song I think will take some getting used to, but Mary, you will like this video in a very sick and twisted way because you are an evil person.

So someone asked me yesterday if there was something she could get to help me prepare for my trip. This is a kind gesture and I appreciate it, but what I will appreciate even more is if people send me mail when I go overseas. I will REALLY look forward to receiving mail, letters, a package or whatever you can send when I am over there. These will mean a lot to me and I will judge our friendship based on what you send me... Just kidding =) =).

Or am I....?

I am not.

Acceptable things to send are like letters, photos, CDs that I want or that you think I will want, snacks (can apple juice boxes be sent overseas? maybe I should ask my mom for that), any sort of care package (and I've seen some impressive ones looking at other volunteers' blogs), etc. You can also send yourself, but I don't expect anyone to want to visit other than my Mom and Dad.

CDs that I will want, but won't come out until after I leave include:
1. That new M.I.A joint, which is currently untitled. It comes out literally a week after I leave.
2. Whenever Amy Winehouse gets it together she will come out with a new album. And I will want it, but I probably won't be able to get it unless I get internet long enough to download it on iTunes.
3. If OutKast comes out with anything, which I think they are this year (!!), that would be nice.

That's all I can think of right now. A mix CD, that could be cool as well.

Soon I will post my mailing address for when I'm at my training site. I will be in training for the first 3 months, then I will move to my real site and my address will change. I'll post the new address after I've moved but for the first three months I'll post what my address will be.

Also, I hear air mail usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to arrive. That means you have to send it 4 weeks in advance of when you want it to arrive. So if you want me to get mail at site you might consider mailing it before I leave (hint, hint). And it has to be sent via air mail at the post office or through DHL for valuable stuff.

Training site address:

A.F. Thomas, PCT

S/c Corps de la Paix

01 B.P. 6031

Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Celebration

First, congrats to Avi on becoming Grad School student body president! Woo hoo!

Now, the bidness. There's a Peace Corps event recognizing new nominees and invitees that starts in about an hour. I'm expecting lots of nerdy white newly-grads with a zest for life. Will let you know how it goes when I get back.

Bridge leadin' to DC

Update: Now that LOST is over, I can reveal the grand mystery that was this Peace Corps event. First of all, they sent me an invite in the mail saying there was an "event" for nominees and invitees, but they didn't go into any detail so I didn't know what to expect. But it wasn't much at all they were just like "Welcome!" and I got a neat bag and luggage tag that said "Peace Corps" on it. And there was a little segment at the end where you could talk to nominees/invitees going to the same region as you. Unsurprisingly, it was overwhelmingly white, but less nerdy than I anticipated. But surprisingly, I met a girl named Takia who is going to Burkina Faso on the SAME day and is in the SAME program as me and who I already met before at a get together Sham threw last summer. This was a pleasant surprise. She is the one person I know now going into this process in Burkina now. She also brought to my attention how out of the loop I am with this stuff. Apparently there's like a Facebook group and all these networks and webrings and stuff I don't know about. Other than the Facebook group, though I don't think I will join these things. I'm already antsy about people who see my blog although there's nothing really awesome about it. I'd like to keep it private and not put it on a Peace Corps journal site, when I'm not sure yet where I fit in.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

It's Saturday


This morning, I was supposed to go to the first ever Occoquan Farmer's Market in the historic town on the water, Occoquan, which is 5 minutes down the road. But instead I woke up, took my vitamins and Allegra, ate a biscuit and threw up. Now I'm back in bed. I had long-awaited the opening of this Farmer's Market. Occoquan is a very pretty place. But I have an oversensitivity to any perceived illness I might have/get. Plus, in the past around this time of year, I've had severe allergic reactions to things I still haven't identified. Thought maybe this was one of them. Better to play it safe.


In other news, Spike Lee is a making a movie called "Brooklyn Hearts MJ" about gentrification in Brooklyn. It is based on the birthday party Spike Lee threw for Michael Jackson last Summer in Fort Greene that caused controversy with some of the newer Fort Greene residents. =). Lee has made several of his joints about Brooklyn and I have seen almost all of them so this is exciting for me. Of course I probably won't get to see it for several years but this is a great picture of him.

For more about this movie Click Here.

Friday, April 16, 2010

I Guess I've Started Updating Regularly

The reason I've put off posting a lot of stuff I want to post is because I know that I will rant and a lot of my rants would probably be considered controversial in the public domain... This is why I gave this blog link to a few friends and didn't post it on Facebook since the vast majority of my Facebook friends aren't actually friends and thus my life is none of their business. I'm thinking of making it so this blog can't be searched for on search engines. Maybe I will do that right now.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

?????


I found this on a walk through my neighborhood some time ago. If anyone knows what's going on here please let me know.

In other topics I meant to share a long time ago, people who know me things I'm excited about include using my semi-new camera and nature. Naturally, these two things were bound to converge. So at long last I give you these month-old photos of the beginnings of Spring in my yard.

This woodpecker and his other woodpecker friend come to our yard daily to peck at the bird food cake. They seem to really love it.
"Weeee!"

There's some new things going on with Steve which I'll save for next time as I continue to procrastinate and post on non-West Africa/Peace Corps-related things because posting this stuff is much easier. But I'll say this for now-- looks like Steve's come upon harder times plus he's got company and NOT from another squirrel. Dun dun DUN!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Can't Always Get What We Want...

I know you're probably expecting this blog to be about Peace Corps stuff and it is, but obviously every waking moment isn't consumed by it (or is it...). There are some far more important matters that I think deserve some discussion/blog time.

Namely this:

This squirrel won't stop stealing food from my bird feeders! I'm dead serious. You can see the food he's clutching right there in his left hand, that's MY bird food that I put out for the local birds, NOT Steve the Squirrel and his rowdy Squirrel friends!! I'm calling this squirrel Steve because I like to use alliteration when I name things, but I'm pretty sure him and at least TWO other squirrels make it their business to see who can find a way to get the bird seed out every day. So far, Steve's destroyed two of my feeders and eaten two of my bird food cakes by finding ways to open the feeder. Here's how it happened:

The first feeders I bought were a mesh sock filled with food and a cage thing that holds bird food cake. Steve immediately chewed the string off the mesh sock so it fell off the tree and chewed a hole in it to take and eat the seeds. He then proceeded to open up the cage feeder causing the cake to fall out so he could tackle and eat it. Don't believe me?

There he is opening it with his hands.
"HAHA I got you, you wretched seed cake!"

"If I creep like this, no one will see me..."

"Oh no I've been caught!"

More evidence of Steve's selfish pillaging:


We all see squirrels every day. They are a quick, skittish animal that scurries about gathering nuts and whatever else squirrels do. But when's the last time you saw one laying down just chillin'? Or sleeping even? Well it appears my bird feeders have made life so good for Old Steve, that he does just that right in my backyard.

Rest your head little baby. I know ripping your sharp, rodent teeth into my bird feeders is hard work.

I was at a nursery today and I'm pretty damn sure this latest feeder I got no squirrel could ever penetrate. EEheeeheeheeheehee!

We shall see...