Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Alex's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, January 24th, 2004
10:39 pm	Not Dead... but going to hell The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell! Here is how you matched up against all the levels: Level Score Purgatory (Repenting Believers) Very Low Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) High Level 2 (Lustful) High Level 3 (Gluttonous) Moderate Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) Very Low Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) Low Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) High Level 7 (Violent) Moderate Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) High Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) Low Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 1st, 2003
4:00 pm	Back from Venice Iàve just returned from Venice to Oira for the last week of the class here. Venice was rather exciting, got to see the Biannalle or however it is spelled the bi-annual (hence the name) exhibit of contemporary art. There was a lot of pretty awesome stuff there... though also a lot of mediocrity. The city itself was quite amazing, especially away from the tourist drags. Anyone who knows of my affection for bridges and old buildings can probably imagine my glee at being surrounded by them. It is quite interesting to see how the dynamic of human interaction changes in narrow alleyways with no cars. I think it is a good thing. Hopefully this will be a productive week up in Oira, getting down to the serious art making groove. I mean, its can't all be fun and games. Current Mood: contmemplative Current Music: Afro Celt Sound System - Lovers of Light (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 23rd, 2003
11:08 am	Oira Well, the first week of the class in Oira is almost over. Its been quite amazing so far. I've not done much more than book binding and a little drawing as far as art goes, but I have been having a lot of fun getting to know my classmates and just wandering around. This place is amazing. The lifestyle that the people live here is so beautifully simple. There is a certain slowness to existance that permeates everything. It is a strange adaptation for me, to this slow life.... I alternately feel stressed and driven to work and confused about what to do next. I have been spending a few minutes each day playing with my friend the super-cute kitten Bierba. He's quite charming. The food is amazing - 3 home-cooked meals a day. We have espresso with breakfast and lunch, and plenty of wine with dinner. The time in between meals being spent binding books, hiking to abandoned villages, and just having fun swimming in the river or talking and hanging out. It is fantastic! Current Mood: upbeat.... but slightly hungry (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 16th, 2003
3:57 pm	Edinburgh! Paris! Bern! Hello! No I havn´t gotten lost in Europe and died, yet. After leaving London Nate and I headed up to Edinburgh Scotland, which was fantastic! There was a wonderful festival going on there and we had a lot of fun. It is a beautiful landscape and an amazing old city build upon a hill with a castle at the top. Paris was good fun, though we weren´t there long... it was freakishly hot. Apparently the pres. of France declared a state of emergency on the same day that we left due to the number of people dying of heat stroke. While we were there we spent an entire afternoon in the Louvre, which was suitably impressive. Lots of reallz beautiful works from civilizations all over the world. A lot of interesting Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artifacts specifically. That evening we had the most amazing dinner I have ever had in my life. A full French meal starting with champagne, and appetizyer of melted fried cheese on salad, roast duck and vegetables, dessert and coffee. The dessert was particularly of note - the creme brulle that nate ordered was quite possibly made entirelz of ambrosia. I am still in shock from its goodness. Bern is a really nice citz, sort of like Edinburgh upside down, being in a valley with a river running around it under many bridges tht link the valley slopes to the peninsula that forms the center of the city. The river is a striking color and flows with a swift current, though that does not stop people from swimming in at, allowing the current to cary them in a circle around the city center. The main part of the city is all old building - tall structures with heavilly sloped roofs. There are a lot of trolleys and bikes, and fairlz few cars. A beautiful city - I´ve not seen anything like it outside of fantasy novels. Our class in Oira starts on Monday, so we will see how often I´ll be able to update then. I´ll carry back as much swiss chocolate for everyone as I can! Those who gave me their address should expect postcards to arrive soon, also. Ciao! Current Mood: inspired Current Music: Yann Tiersen (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 6th, 2003
10:44 pm	London My second day in London just ended, and it was fantastic :) We visited Westminster Abbey and had an excellent guided tour there... it really has a fascinating history, being that many of the kings and queens of Britain are buried there along with many other important personages. It is also where the corronation ceremonies take place. After that it was the British Museum - really impressing collection of relics and historical objects from all over the world. I think I enjoy historical museums more than art museums, actually. I find it must more compelling to imagine the cultures and peoples who at one time created and used all the objects and artworks than to imagine the painters and sculptors and their lives. Its bloody hot in london, and humid. Makes it hard to think and very difficult to keep up enough energy to walk all over town. I'm surviving it, but could do with a spot of rain. The hostel we are staying at is pleasant, but our room is on the top floor and thus quite warm. There is an internet station (where I am now) and kitchen/common room in the basement. We will likely stay here for a few more days before moving on to Paris. I'm going to go find something cool to drink, I'm melting in my seat. Current Mood: excited Current Music: Eels - Last Stop in This Town (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 3rd, 2003
4:43 am	One day more... Well, I'm back in Eugene and I've just finished packing for Europe. Tomorrow I'm off to Portland again, and from there... London. I leave at 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday, and I arrive in London at 11:30 am the next day. I am quite excited... don't know if I'll get much of a chance to post, but I will be keeping a paper journal and sending post cards off to people whose addresses I know. Aside from that... I guess I'll see you all in September! Wish me luck! Current Mood: excited (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 29th, 2003
1:43 am	"Those whom the gods love grow young." Europe in a week! Exciting is what that is. I am driving back to Portland in the morning, going there for my grandparents 80th birthday party on Thursday. Today was my mom's 58th birthday, which seems older than she should be. Both my parents look so young for their age, but they are older than the average parents. I was born when my mom was 35 and my dad 37... I really admire them for waiting so long to have me though, they had been married ... what, 13 years I think? They waited until they had a stable life and sure relationship before having a child - maybe that is why I had such a idyllic childhood. Anyways, I hope to be half as awesome and happy as my parents some day. I'll be down in Eugene next weekend to pick up a video camera for the trip to Europe - I am starting to have second thoughts about brining camera and/or laptop though... expensive equipment, and will I really use it enough to justify having to guard it with my life every second I am over there? Might be better just to bring a digital still camera with extra memory cards. I want to be able to travel freely and not be stressed out worrying about these things! Thats another Wilde quote, of course. It is supposed to be sarcastic, I expect, but it is also true in some sense... at least I think my parents seem much younger than they are :) Current Mood: content Current Music: Photograph - The Verve Pipe (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 27th, 2003
12:54 pm	bridges and maps I think I'll become a cartographer, but not of the conventional sort. Current Mood: Awake Current Music: The Cure - Pictures of You (Comment on this)
12:07 am	an exchange of rings When I congratulated my cousin on being married, her first response was "You're next!" To which I replied "aghh!" and ran screaming into the night. Or would have, were I not such a reserved and calm person *cough* The wedding was a nice outdoor bit up in the hills, with rather extreme Christian overtones to my poor eclectic/agnostic ears (the priest thanked all of us "Christian friends" for coming, which made me feel somewhat excluded). The ceremony went smoothly, though there was some rain right before it started. The reception was also nice, though I was feeling a bit contemplative (especially after the "you're next" comment) so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have - I should have jumped into the dancing sooner! But I am infamously self-conscious about such things unless I have someone to drag me in and force me to get started. My mother tried to do so, but.. that just makes me feel more awkward in some respect. It was fun ultimately though, if humbling. Where will I be in three years? Ready to get married myself? Eep. After the reception Nate and I took a walk through Helena, we talked to some traveling hippies who had driven all over the US and Canada - one of them had been traveling for a year and a half - how I envy his freedom! They were selling hemp bracelets to pay for gas for their schoolbus. They were very nice, so I talked with them for a bit. The temptation to just ask them to take me with them was, I must admit, rather strong. (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 26th, 2003
11:50 pm	drink up me hearties, yo ho! It has been an eventful week in Helena. I forgot earlier to mention the escapades in the Keowees (miniature kayaks) at Spring Meadow lake. We had a massive naval battle which mostly involved Nate and I chasing Colin around the lake and splashing each other with our oars... we even managed to board him and steal some booty, or rather his shoes, which are almost boots, and therefore almost booty. After a while my dad felt sorry for Colin and joined in the fray, unfortunately in his enthusiasm he managed to capsize his ship and lose some serious treasure (his glasses) to the bottom of the sea. This happened around dusk and none of us had goggles, so we resolved to return the next day to find them. We were, at this point, all quite soaked from being splashed and diving for the glasses and none of us had swimsuits. The next day we returned with goggles and snorkeling gear. Upon putting on the goggles and looking down in the area where the battle took place, I immediately spotted the glasses and dove to retrieve them. It was a rather anticlimactic search after all the build-up, so we swam and sailed around the lake some more. I did really enjoy the experience of snorkeling, I'd never much gotten into it before - but I can see the appeal of diving. I am not sure that the sea is my natural habitat, however. I was also somewhat dismayed to find that I had less trouble staying afloat and staying warm than I used to in the water - granted it was over 100 out and the water was pleasantly around 70 degrees, but I have apparently increased my body fat since I started college, when I would have sunk like a rock without treading water. (Comment on this)
12:51 am	stormclouds and sunlight Tomorrow my cousin Sabrina is getting married. This happy event will leave me the oldest member of my generation of cousins to remain unwed, a distinction that I find decidedly disturbing. It is certain that Jarvis' wedding of last summer started me worrying about such things... yet I feel somewhat confused and behind - despite having two fairly serious relationships in my lifetime, I've never just dated or otherwise submitted myself to the random encounters of a romantic nature (I don't think the internet counts, either). I actually am starting to anticipate my trip to Europe - more for the two weeks of travel than for the class in Oira. I've never really gotten to go on an adventure before, and if nothing else, I'm sure this trip will be that. In a way, it is also a test, to see if my ideal of wanting to be a traveller proves to be true. Journeys are so often central to "coming of age" stories that I can't help but wonder if this will have some sort of profound effect on my life... some much belated change or self discovery. I think I need that more than anything, change has been gathering on the horizon of my thoughts for some time now, but has been frustratingly elusive over the past months. As a result I know that I have withdrawn from those closest to me, afraid that I will lash out in some sudden burst of emotion. I am a bit afraid of myself at times... I have not been able to fully trust my feelings since they have at times shown themselves to be far more influential than reason, which I like to imagine as one of my stronger traits. It is time to emerge, though, time to change, and time to believe. (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 20th, 2003
12:03 am	"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." I am feeling rather complacent today. I slept in until 2:00 pm and accomplished absolutely nothing all day. It was rather refreshing, actually. There is still so much to do before I leave for Montana on Tuesday, but I was in serious need of a little break. I was up quite late last night, first talking to Paul about various things, mostly culture and capitalism and consumerism. Following that I went online and was distracted by the internet until the wee hours of the morning. I even actually did some chatting with random people... it was strange to realize just how much fear and stress it gave me to establish that initial contact... I thought that I had just grown bored of that sort of thing after all the early years with Kat, but I think that may have been an excuse to cover up my fear of interpersonal interaction. I am hoping that realizing that about the net will help me overcome the similar hangups I have in the physical world. Other than that.. things are okay, I've been feeling pretty relaxed and emotionally stable all day. On a side note, heres a couple more Oscar Wilde quotes that I particularly enjoyed: "I love acting. It is so much more real than life." "Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer." "It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue." actually, they are all just too great, go check out this brief list in the BBC Current Mood: complacent (Comment on this)
Friday, July 18th, 2003
1:07 am	Last Dance Well, I'm writing from bed (yay for wireless, even if it is dial-up!). Today was long, and good. A boring day at work, but I talked to Dini over lunch a bit. I went to dinner with and spent most of the evening talking to Kat. Now, this is not unusual except for the fact that it is one of the last times we will be seeing each other before I leave for Europe, and she leaves for Japan about when I get back - so we are unlikely to see each other again until her return from Japan a year from now. It is kind of strange, to think. I don't its sunk in for either of us. I am proud of how well we are handling it really. When we were dating back oh so many years ago, every time we were in the same city at the same time our inevitable parting seemed to loom over our every moment. Now, about to part for nearly a year neither of us is concerned. Partially that is just a more mature outlook now that we are no longer high-school sweethearts desperate for the confirmation our brief days of contact provided. We also have become used to having one another available for conversation, so it does not seem like a novel experience leaving so quickly. Perhaps because of that we will not realize until a few weeks of non-contact have passed. On some level though, I know that I am looking forward to this opportunity to be completely alone. While Kat has kept me from being too lonely, I have balanced just on the edge of frustration. Lonely melancholy kept at bay by our conversations has not grown strong enough to motivate me to seek out new things, while it has simultaneously created a growing feeling of grating incompleteness. Because having so close a friend only goes so far, even if we are platonic soulmates and all that. I need a little loneliness to give me a kick out the door - to once again cast about in the darkness for something new and interesting. I think the next year will be a time of tremendous growth and change, and I am very curious to see where life has led me next summer. I can only hope it is to a place more satisfying than the one I now occupy... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 16th, 2003
12:31 am	Card of the Day 21. Completion This is the way of Zen, not to say things to their completion. This has to be understood; it is a very important methodology. Not to say everything means to give an opportunity to the listener to complete it. All answers are incomplete. The master has only given you a direction... By the time you reach the limit, you will know what is going to remain. This way, if somebody is trying to understand Zen intellectually he will fail. It is not an answer to the question but something more than the answer. It is indicating the very reality.... The buddha nature is not something far away - your very consciousness is buddha nature. And your consciousness can witness these things which constitute the world. The world will end but the mirror will remain, mirroring nothing. Osho Joshu: The Lion's Roar Chapter 5 Taken from Kat (Comment on this)
12:20 am	"The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself." A quote from the ever popular Oscar Wilde - from a page linked by bluerain, who also happens to be the author of Ozy and Millie. Ozy and Millie is one of my favorite web comics, always witty and created at an amazing pace (once a day). Also, it has furries, which is a bonus. It is far superior to any of those daily comics in the paper (read: is funny, intelligent), so I am somewhat confused as to why it isn't nationally syndicated. Perhaps it has too much of a liberal bent for your average newspaper editor, or something. The somewhat depressing thing that I have discovered from his livejournal is that he is only 26! It rather makes me feel like I've fallen behind since I am 23 and have not yet started anything so awesome as Ozy and Millie. Probably for the best that all those primary and secondary school teachers who made so much of me can't see me now. Where am I going? Maybe somewhere, but I am certainly not a successful artist yet! One may note that I have not written anything for a while. I have some catching up to do. I'll make it short. I moved to a new house, now living with Nate and Paul. Excellent to be living with a houseful of gamers - kills my productivity (as if I had any to begin with). I am graduating at the end of summer, went through my graduation ceremony already though at the end of Spring term. Real world frightens me. More on that later. Just got a new laptop - named Ozy to match Kat's matching machine Millie. Two cute litter Powerbook G4s, fully loaded. I can burn DVDs, yay! I went to the Country Fair with Kat last weekend, it was great fun, as always! Also, a week from today I am leaving for Montana for my cousin Sabrina's wedding. After that, I am going to Europe for 5 weeks, 3 of which will be spend in Oira Italy doing a class on Psychogeography taught by Leon Johnson. It should be an excellent finale for my undergraduate education. Unfortunatly, as soon as I return from Europe, Kat is leaving for Japan for the academic year. So that means almost and entire year that we shall not see one another. Sort of poetic really - fitting considering the way our saga has gone so far. It should be interesting to see how our friendship changes as a result of our worldliness and distance. I am somewhat demoralized at the loss of my wonderful intellectual partner and surrogate girlfriend. Maybe that means I'll actually have to start looking for Love oncemore. That is probably a bad thing, especially for those of you who have to read this journal. Ha! I sort of dread the possibility of bringing a hapless and no doubt wonderful person into the already confusing web of intrigue that one might call my love life (if such a thing exists). But one can only watch out for other people's well-being so much before going crazy. Current Mood: pensive (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 24th, 2003
12:32 am	Anonymous Blogging Heres an interesting link, might be useful to those wishing to send their deepest thoughts onto the internet without fear of being found out. Maybe a bit more extreme a privacy measure than most need, but a curiosity at the very least: http://invisiblog.com/ Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 9th, 2003
12:55 pm	Be afraid... Republicans want to make the PATRIOT act permanent. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
Monday, March 24th, 2003
7:19 pm	"Do you guys believe in visions?" Said some weird guy to Nate and I as he was getting off in Salem. "I had a premonition that if you go to Italy, you'll be captured by terrorists. You shouldn't go." Then he walked off the bus, bald lumpy heady vanishing before Nate and I had recovered from our confusion. He overheard us talking about Italy fairly extensively on the ride down, so he certainly was not psychic. I just wonder what strange delusion caused him to find it necessary to say that to us. Was he having flashbacks to old news stories about unrest and terrorist kidnappings in Italy from the late 70's? Was he paranoid? Perhaps he just thought it would be fun to play at the prophet. Perhaps he really thinks he does have premonitions. I must say it was a bit unsettling, but I am not going to let some bus crazy ruin this adventure with his delusions of premonitions. Not that current political unrest hasn't made me a little worried about going to Europe. I realize Americans are certainly not very popular abroad. Why should we be, with delightful foriegn policy? Bush's war isn't going to keep me from Italy - I'll just have to make sure I have "fuck Bush" stickers visible in multiple languages on my backpack ;) Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 26th, 2003
1:34 am	Fate Vibration! Huzzah! I got a $691 rebate from the school for a tuition overcharge! That made me quite happy ^^ Of course I have to pay quite a lot of it back due to the budget surcharge since theres no money for education in the state (and country for that matter) Some evil bus driver lady drove off with me knocking at the door of the bus at Eugene station. She even looked over at me and just sort of shook her head and shrugged. She hadn't even pulled away from the curb when I started ran up! The worst part is, it was during the 7 o'clock lag, so the next bus wasn't coming for 40 minutes! What an un-nice person, seriously. I hope she's behind schedule in everything she does until she takes the time to stop for someone who is in a hurry. I went and complained to the night manager at Eugene station, who said that they had been having a lot of customer complaints about some of their night shift drivers lately. Then I walked home. Walking is always good, of course, it had just been a long day at garagegames. Anyways, I've had weird luck lately. I enjoy giving myself the superstitious pleasure of linking it all together in my head as indicating that something's up. Hear those gears turning. Current Mood: fated Current Music: DMB-#41 (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 23rd, 2003
7:33 pm	The Street Fighter movie is on Sci-Fi. Yes, thats right, the movie that was so bad that it killed Raul Julia. Anyways, it is providing us with a great deal of entertainment. Agh... the pain >.o -.- On the other hand, M. Bison's crazy plans and tirades sort of remind me of George Bush -- "I'm trying to take over the world for its own good! can't you people see that?" Heh. Hmm. Depressing world politics aside, this movie is just too bad not to be entertaining. To quote Zangief: "Quick, change ze channel!" Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)