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Nov. 1st, 2005 @ 09:30 pm
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<iframe src="http://gamercard.xbox.com/porkchizzle" scrolling="no"
frameBorder="0" height="140" width="204">porkchizzle</iframe> |
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Katie won't let me be myself. She wants me to not be a gamer. Too bad.
I am now the official video game reporter/reviwer for the UW daily!
Yeah! I have an article coming out a week from tomorrow that is a
review of my new love, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat!!!
Yes, that is it.
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So, I would like to announce that I am leaving tomorrow! Yay!...
Today I decided, yes decided (!) to get up at...... six in the morning. This wasnt just because I enjoy watching the sun rise but actually because I decided Id play a quick 18 holes in St. Andrews before breakfast. haha i rule!!!!!!!!(!)
Anyways, this was a course similar to my home course interbay, but it was very memorable. For those who dont know, St Andrews is on the sea, and the wind is remarkably hard. This course was no different- example A
I had a 310 yard drive.
B
I hit a ball "fat" that should have gone about 30 yards... It flew about 80 and roled on the hard ground onto the green... and a foot away from the cup.
Example C
I pulled out my nine iron for a 100 yard hole because the wind was strong. As I approached the ball the wind died 100%. I walked back and got my p wedge. As I grabbed it, the wind started again. As I put it back in the bag, it died again. ARGH!
Yeah, it was a blast! I birdied two of the last three holes, too! This was a very, very memorable trip (I have mucho pictures, dont worry) and I plan on going back. St andrews is one of the coolest cities of all time yo. Ok I am going to go chill and pack and then I leave at 2:30 tomorrow (that would be 6:30 am seattle time on tuesday). If anyone still wants to be friends, we could hang out on thursday or friday if Im not too tired. SEATTLE HERE I COME I MISS YOU BO! |
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So I just pain three quid to get an hour of internet time at a cafe here at st andrews and it wont load gmail. GRRRRR!
So I am here at st andrews and it is more amazing than I thought it to be. It is a little scottish town that has a crazy mix of old scottish people, vacationing americans and old money type college students. Right now I am about to go to the British Golf Museum (unless I find another internet cafe to quickly check my gmail) and then at 1 pm (in three hours) I am taking a tour of St andrews and the royal and ancient golf courses.
Yesterday I took a six hour train (it didnt feel that long) from London Kings Cross to Leuchars, (pr. lewkers) and then took a ten minute bus to st andrews. The train ride was amazing, it was on the water, and we saw all these hills and everything. Lots of sheep too!
After we arrived in our hostel I walked to the Old Course and found that there is a public trail that goes throughout the entire golfing area, so I walked for a couple hours throughout the courses- jubilee and the old and new courses (the new course was build in 1898).
Then we found a cool restaurant for dinner next to the course and I had deep fried potato skins, chili and nachos. yum!
Everything closes here early so we decided to go see The Cave at the local theater and it was terribly horribly not scary in a funny sort of way. Have you seen armageddon? Alien? Alien Vs preditor? Any other stupid movie? Yeah, then youve seen the cave lol.
Ok, well I am off to the british golf museum and I hope that you are all jealous!!!! |
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So I finished my paper at 11 last night and got to go to bed early! So nice! Now Im at the fourth net cafe and the first one thats open with a printer! I printed my paper and everything is downhill from here! My test went very well yesterday, should get a good grade! This paper is also the best Ive done for middlemarch! Im so happy. In two days.... ST ANDREWS! Tomorrow Im going to go gift shopping and go on the london eye! Im so happy! PLUS JEREMY SOLD MY V35p4! Yes! |
| » almost done! |
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So I feel bad that I am so excited to get done with the summer quarter. One of the classes, middlemarch, is just so bad! Its so bad because the teacher is a horrible teacher and a horrible human being. He teachers nothing and just basically tells us his political opinions whenever he gets the chance. He does a horrible job telling us the assignments, which results in bad grades by me. So yesterday I thought Id be a good student and email him about the prompt for the final paper. He said this:
Pat, I talked for ten minutes in class explaining what I wanted. That was the time to ask for clarification.
Yeah, hes a jerk beast. Then he gave me a "brief" explanation that was 8 lines long, lol.
Anyways, I have a paper for that class then Im done with his stupid book!
I come back next week, too! But not after I visit the holyland aka st andrews and the royal and ancient golf course aka the old course! Its going to be a blast this weekend even though its going to be pouring down rain!
Aug. 24th, 2005 @ 06:32 pm
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| » most expensive update ever |
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I am sitting here in the stansted airport paying £1 for ten minutes of internet and I have a minute left! So I am waiting to get on the plane to go to dublin and I dont really know what we are going to do, me and the five other girls :) but we will have a blast. Its raining and I am wearing sandalls! BYE!
Aug. 19th, 2005 @ 08:10 am
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| » The literary version of satan |
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Middlemarch. Argh! As if reading hard novel wasnt bad enough- my teacher gives no assistance in the understanding of it! In addition, he does a terrible job of explaining assignments.
Here is how you know a bad teacher is a bad teacher:
When people who have read the assignment make worse grades than the sorority girls who read the sparknotes.
I hate this teacher, he is so bad!!!!!!!!!!
In other news I am going to Dublin this weekend and that should be a blast! Also, I will try to go get my pics put on a cd so I can put them up on the website ok? I miss all of you! I come back in just a few weeks! I already feel that my trip is winding to an end and I dont feel sad. I feel excited!
FIrslty, I am going to ireland this weekend and by far the best part of my trip will be visiting the holy land, St Andrews next weekend when school gets out!
I am really excited toget back to seattle too! I miss so many people and if anything, I have learned why America is the best country in the world. Firstly, just the ability to think that is very awesome because so many people HATE their country because of suppression, povery and a bad government. Also, for those who havent been out of the country, America is so incredibly friendly! I was telling my dad today that in England, they talk about how nice people are in NEW YORK CITY! HAHA! Thats how unfriendly people in europe are. Except for Italy. People in italy are the nicest people outside of the west coast of america. They are so great! Even though I didnt speak their language they were just happy to have me visiting them- they are so inviting and hospitable. Ok I am going home and hoping that my homestay parents arent sleeping in the tv room!
Aug. 17th, 2005 @ 10:41 pm
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| » Where do I start? |
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Ok, so I guess that I will start with friday
I skipped the second half of the worst day of class of all time (my teacher is ignorant, cocky, rude and worst of all, massively liberal) to take the Stansted Express train to the airport. We got to the airport without a lot of time and made it to the gave about 30 miunutes before takeoff. For those who havent flown RyanAir, The Cheap Fares Airline, they sell very cheap tickets throughout europe but pack too many people in their 737s so that they can, well, be cheapoer. I cannot express how little room you have in these flights. Oh well, it was fun!
WHen we got off the flight I was pretty worried (as I would be the entire weekend) about how we were getting to the next place. We got directions to our hostel, in some piazza, and we walked for about 15 minutes till we got there. When we found the square, there was no sign for the hostel anywhere. All we knew was that it was in suite six. We found six, and on the door, among other ads, was a hand written sign saying "Pink Floyd Enjoy Hostel" lol. Someone above us was yelling Hostel? at us, so we got buzzed in. WHen we got up to the hostel they told uis that they had no room, which scared me! But then they felt so bad because we had no place to stay that they let us sleep for ten euros in their room under construction, which barely had constructed beds,- they had to assemble them for us! We went to a hole in the wall pizza place after that for basically the best pizza Ive ever had. Then we walked back to the station and found a restaurant and got some dessert and got sat next to some Americans! It was nice that night because everyone in Rome speaks english- the international language! :-)
That night was the worst sleep ever. Of all time- they were doing constuction next to our room which had too many windows and it sounded like they were driving a semi into the building!
The next day we went all throughout rome. It was one of the most fun days I can remember. We went to the coliseum, ruins, forum, vatican, st peters basilica, one of those small restaurants in the midddle of a road where the cars are still driving and miss you by six inches, and more- it was too great.
After that we went to Florence, but caught the wrong train- we got one that took 3 horus instead of 1.5, oh well. THen we caught a bus to our campsite, not a hostel but a camp site, and hung out in the big "market" area with similar people till 4 in the morning.
The next day I was worried that we wouldnt make our flight because our train time was too late, so we changed the train to a few horus earlier, and then experienced Italian Italy. THis is like the difference between New York's version of america, all international and showy, and then the true american of smaller cities. Florence was GREAT! Our site was on Michaelangelo's hill, which is the best spot for looking at the city, and then we went to the Duomo cathedral, and climbed the tower, 420 steps or so, to look at the whole city.
Then we had a few horus left so we walked a while and before we needed to go we found a guy playing italian music on accordian and then ate outside at a restaurant on the street where he was playing. Nobody there spoke american... i mean english, and it was great. All I ate was gelato!!!
We took the right train back, but when we got back to rome and spent an hour looking for the bus we found out that we missed the last one and had to take the tube to the city limits and then hopefully find a running bus. We took the subway tube thing and it took forever and when we got to the station it was totally dead- no one working to help us! Eventually, I was totally stresssing at this point and melissa was laughing at me, we found a bus that took us there and we caught our plane.
Back in London we got home so late that the tubes werent running so we had to take the night busses into the middle of the city and then find another one that went to Harrow, which I am learning is in the boonies compared to where everyone else lives. Eventually my 2 hour busride came to an end at Harrow station and I walked my last mile and a half the way home. It was great to be home and get some almost real diet coke. In continental europe they sell coke light, which is HORRIBLE! In england at least they have fake diet coke so I was happy. Now I am sitting here and Im going to eat. Pics will be up soon!
Aug. 15th, 2005 @ 12:36 pm
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| » another quick update |
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Took the wrong train to Florence last night but eventually got here and we camped at a big campground with a big parket and cafe and everything. Its good but I yesterday wore me out and Im not feeling too hot.
Rome was great and we both had a blast but I am totally sunburned! Brian I had two gelatos just for you!
Other than that I am having a good time but I am worried about getting home because melissa booked the flight that was too late and we are getting home after the underground closes! Also, we have to go change our train or we wont even make that flight!
Have a great sunday everyonme!
Aug. 14th, 2005 @ 09:30 am
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| » when in ____________ |
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so this is a quick update because Im really hot.
Skipped last half of the worst class ever to go to rome (the horrible and ignorant teacher blasphemed the holy trilogy)
Flew to rome
Landed in rome
Struggled to find hostel, found it, it is called Pink Floyd Enjoy Hostel
It is totally ghetto, no sign, just a piece of paper handwritten on the door that says pink floyd
Eat best pizza ever at a hole in the wall
Scrounge streets for tiramisu, stumble on cafe, sit next to americans, have a great time.
sit and check email in 100 degree heat in this horribly ghetto yet totally priceless hostel
have a great weekend guys!
Aug. 13th, 2005 @ 01:17 am
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| » the anatomy of a net cafe OR "kiss me" |
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So I am begining to get sick of the incredible idiosyncracies of the people that you are forced to sit next to at the different net cafes here in the UK. Currently I am sitting next to a girl laughing like crazy, obviuosly hoping someone will notice, and she is typing extra hard and saying all the words that she is spelling.
ARGH!!!
So now I hope that she doesnt notice I am typing about her.
So Tomorrrow I am going to ROME! That should be a blast. I have wanted to go there ever since I finished Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. SPeaking of Brown, I finished the Da Vinci Code on the tube just a few minutes ago, and I have to say that it was enjoyable, heretical, semi-predictable and disappointing after reading A&D. Oh well, it was a good waste of time on the tube. I need suggestions for a new book!!!
On sunday I went to All SOuls church and it wasnt too hot. Wasnt as unfriendly as Soul Survivor (they had greeters) but the band was terrible! It was a like 10 piece orchestra with no singers! The conductor mouthed out the words at the end of all the introductions.
So I got my first paper back for my middle march class and it really frustrated me today. I worked VERY hard on it and reserarched it a lot, and on my comments my teachers said "You pulled this off the top of your head." He is a terrible teacher and obviously doesnt know the difference betweem me and my friends who have just read the sparknotes. Oh well, I enjoy a challenge academically (the girl next to me just looked at my screen!) and some of my best grades have come after bombing a paper. The funny thing was that I think he gave me a bad grade (3.0) because I didnt agree with him. He even said that he didnt want quotes, and so in the section taht I summarized, he circled them saying they were unclear. Oh well,.... I go to ROME tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next weekend I am going to dublin (I got the ticket today, dad) and then the weekend after that I am going to Scotland (specifically St Andrews!) Im pretty excited for rome, not as excited as I should be, just because Im so mad at my teacher, not for the grade but just for the ignorant comment.
The funny thing is that Im not totally excited about italy or ireland because I am just so incredibly excited to get done with school and go chill in St Andrews for the weekend! Its going to be one crazy week. On that final week and half when I come back I will do the following:
0. Take a Virgin Rail traind up the coast of scotland
1. Get at two-hour tour of St Andrews
2. Tour St. Andreews
3. Tour Edinburgh
4. Tour castles at above city
5. Tour church at Roslyn (a church in the Da Vinci Code)
6. Fly back to Seattle on a 777
7. See Dashboard Confessional at Bumbershoot
8. See Keith Urban at the Gorge with Katie and her sisters
Wow, its going to be a blast! Its kind of weird and sad taht Im looking foward to the end of my trip but the thought of going to Edinburgh and St Andrews is going to be so much fun because its going to be so relaxing!
The girl next to me is driving me crazy!
Aug. 11th, 2005 @ 09:51 pm
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| » Hollywood, London |
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So last night me and my friend Corbett were chillin and decided to go see The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it was great! But it got over and we had about an hour before the tubes stopped so we decided that it would be fun to go get a late night bite. So we walked around leicester square, the most happening place in London, one would assume, and walked in to restaurants and other places and they were all closing at 11! It was horrible. So we sucked it up and went in to TGI Fridays and THEY were closing too! So we asked a staff person there if there was anything NOt closing and he said the only place was...... planet hollywood. Oh gross!!!!
So we went there and got a bite and itwas the most surreal and ironic thing ever. Here we are, traveling and sutdying abroad in London, and where do we get food? A place with a life size Terminator, playing Theres Something About Mary with Smells Like Teen Spirit all over the speakers... and the sad thing is that this is my most memorable thing about London because it was so horrible. Atleast the food was... well ok.
Today I am planning on going to the All SOuls Church in London today, so that should be fun. Dont know anything about it but my dad said that Eric Clapton went there so maybe Ill go to him and say "wait... so you ARENT God? Thats weird, I guess you cant always trust graffitti!" Im not funnny, just ask katie.
Aug. 7th, 2005 @ 02:57 pm
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| » So.... |
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so today I confronted my problems with waking up extremely drowsy. Recently, because things close so early here and I have to leave places even earlier because the tube closes early I have been going to bed around midnight every day and waking up at 8. This, for some odd reason, has caused me to be horribly tired and grumpy in the mornings. So last night I decided to stay up till 2am, which is pretty normal for me. I woke up today and felt great! And the nice thing was that I didnt have class until 12 noon, which was amazing! So I went to starbucks for a good brunch.
In my horrible middlemarch class, as I guesed, the teacher is realizing that we are not enjoying the class and that we dont really like the book. While the book is a little entertaining, the way that this teacher leads the class is the worst part of all! So today he brought up the question of if we thought the book was worth teaching again. Unfortunately no one cared because he had already lost us an hour before.
TOday I am supposed to go to a show of a band called Alfie, but I think that melissa got the dates wrong becasue their website says tha t the show was yesterday! Lame! I went to their site and they sound really good!
I think tomorrow I am going to go back to the national portrait gallery to go to the "worlds most photographed" exhibit, which should be fun. Some of my friends went to Paris this weekend but I didnt really want to go. I think a bunch of us are going to go to dublin in two weeks but next weekend... hmmm... I feel like going to ROME! Yeah!
Someone asked about my family- the olivers are great! They are very fun and nice and I am living with five other exchange students from around europe. THey are all great friends! The houses here are all old and dirty, which is kind of gross, and taking a shower is weird because the shower area is very small and dirty, oh well, kind of like my apartment!! Gross... its wansnt THIS bad though.
Ok thats about it!
Aug. 5th, 2005 @ 06:11 pm
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| » pics are up |
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so I have uploaded some pics to my photomax site, so if you would like to be invited to see them please respond to this and just type your email and Ill invite you ok?
Aug. 4th, 2005 @ 05:22 pm
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| » lunch is great |
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So I had another bacon and butter ciabatta for lunch today, its good! I am sitting in the cafe right now before we go to another mrs dalloway walk, which should be fun. The weather is getting nicer here by the day- yesterday it started out pouring but by the end was 70 degrees. It was kinda lame because we were all dressed for rain and I was VERY hot.
Thanks to all who are emailing me, its good to hear from everyone back in sea town. So now I know that I WILL be back before september 5th because Dashboard is playing at bumbershoot!!! w00t!
Aug. 2nd, 2005 @ 12:45 pm
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| » msn messenger |
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The netcafe that I am a member at only has msn messenger. My login is phatpatj@gorebels.net
I will be on at about 1pm pacific time today, monday the first.
Ok, one more thing. I am so sick of the music on the radio around britain. Its like the hits of high school in the late 1990s. Argh! THey are playing "torn" by Natalie Imbrudsfkjsdhfskdlia
Aug. 1st, 2005 @ 05:57 pm
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| » The surviving Soul |
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So yesterday I was able to go to the two polar opposites of churches. I started out by going to the most british of churches, St Pauls Church of England, which is basically catholic. Read my previous posts to hear about that. But then I WAS able to go to soul survivor, one of the cutting edge churches in Europe. Here is my story:
Well, the public transportation that is so convenient and fast-like on the week days is anything but during the weekends. Because of that I left myself almost three hours to get to church, mind you I live in the bordering city and it was just a 15 minute train trip there... so I got to the station and had a horrible time. But once I got to the first station, Watford Junction, I found out that my connection was cancelled and there was a bus planned... for an hour later.
As I expressed my dismay I met a girl named Jane who asked me if I was going to SOul Survivor! What?! Awesome! I told her that I was and then we walked there together. She told me it was a great church and that I would really enjoy it. When I got there we were about 30 minutes early and so we sat in the section for new comers that has couches and stuff. I figured that it would be a good place to meet people at, so we chilled. But the weird thing was, NO one talked to me there. Oh well...
So service started and I learned that Tim Hughes isnt the only worship leader there... they have SIX! Wow, that would be nice if they could share with northwest wouldnt it? Also, the cool thing was that they didnt have chairs! people just sat anywhere in the auditorium that they wanted. The music started and though I didnt know some of the songs, I learned easily and the band was VERY similar to the Passage Band- but we are better ;-) because we have Taylor Boyce!
Then the biggest surprise happened... Tim Hughes was preaching! It was a pretty good sermon, but because this was the younger service, it was extremely surface level, haha for me.
After service I figured that I would hang out and try to meet people, since after all I DID raise my hand when they asked if there were any first time visitors. But NO ONe again talked to me. Jane took me around with her and NEVER introduced me to anyone, they never introduced themselves to me and completely avoided aknowledgeing my presence. It was horrible!
This made me compare this church with Passage. THough I think we have complained a lot about our greeting situation and it DOES need to be revamped, it was incredible when compared to soul survivor. They had 1 greeter for only one entrance and she didnt even make eye contact with me and didnt give me a hand out! On top f that, this lady was one of 3 people over 30 at the entire service. This made me very much appreciate the multigenerational feeling of passage.
So it comes down to this: I was greeted and welcomed MORE at St Pauls with 2 thousand people than at the most cutting edge postmodern church in europe. Thats really sad. Im not sure if Im going to go back. I loved the music and loved the preaching but after service I felt so empty because I felt like I only got 50% of what you go to church for, which is not the best feeling in the world.
So now I have to work on a paper for Mrs Dalloway! Yay! Gay!
Aug. 1st, 2005 @ 04:25 pm
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| » church liturgy |
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So I went to St Pauls for church today (btw I AM going to go to soul survivor today because I dont have a group of five girls slowing me down!!!) and it was cool. There was a lot of liturgical prayer and spoken stuff and it was ALL 100% written down in the program, which was interesting. For communion I took the wafer and then drank from the same cup that about 10000000000000000 people drank out of before me and it was scary but they wiped it after each person. Meredith dipped the wafer but I went for the whole experience lol.
So if someone asks you how I am doing you can say....ummm... good? NO, I am having a good time, I am making lots of friends with the girls in my program (for those who dont know, Im the only dude) and the tour guide that takes us around has a son named Ollie and he comes with us because he saw the pictures of the girls before hand so he comes out with us now too. Ollie and are are good mates and we hung out last night in Leceister (prounounces Lester) square.
Also, I am in love with public transportation. It may not be totally fast, but it is convenient and EASY! I love the tube and the newly privatized National rail.
Tonight I am off to Watford for Soul Survivor which should be great because I wont be doing anything on stage and hopefully Tim Hughes will! Ha! I rule!
Yesterday was probably my favorite day so far becasue I went to two museums, the national gallery and the national portrait gallery and saw lots of cool things. THere was an entire Seurat gallery, which is very cool. THen I was REALLY hungry so I went to my favorite place in London, Carnaby Street (home of the Ben SHerman flagship store) for lunch and there was the Starbucks Jazz festival going on. THe band playing was the Pistacios and they were a great band fusing jazz, funk and hip-hop together. Imagine a dj spinning with old school will smith backed up by big bad voodoo daddy and you have the pistacios. Then after that I went dancing... I know, dancing... with some ladies from school and Ollie, and that was a blast!!! I will hopefully have pics up soon yall, its just taht the computers with the memory stick slots are £3/hour compared to this one which is £1/hour. Yay! Im getting ripped off left and right!
Ok, thats about it but for anyone with MSN messenger I will be online working on a paper for a long time tomorrow for the Seattle hours of about 10am till about 3 or so. So try to catch me online some time during then ok? Please send me an email also yall, its good to hear from you!
Jul. 31st, 2005 @ 02:02 pm
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| » London Bombers |
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There was a failed attempt last week to bomb the attackers again and yesterday the last one was caught... in ROME! Haha, the police here are so much better than the police in the states... except they dont have guns so I dont know what they will do here in the 'burbs...
Jul. 30th, 2005 @ 01:02 pm
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