Love Charlie and the Gadabouts

jessalynclaire STUDIOS. COMING SOON!

2009-06-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

OOPS. neglect.
it's infinitely more pleasing to find a post when you've checked so many times in the past only to find an unchanged page. Alas, tis I!

I know I've made empty promises in the past but this promise is not empty and the past is over so MOVE ON!

I'm busy trying to re-adjust to the American way and open a store at the same time. (not to mention I'm broke... and finishing the beginning ain't cheap.) Once the store is open and I've got six arms you can expect a renovated blog and a wonderful little website.

Soon jessalynclaire Studios, fine art, photography and a gallery space will be open for business on N.5th and Cypress Street and EXQUISITE CORPSE henna tattoos and body art, my adjacent body art 'parlor' will be ready to see you!

Until then feast your little eyes on a few samples of my recent crafty work (you know, what i sit down and do in all of my spare time...)
Handmade greeting and post cards available for order. Either order up some copies of one that you like or order an original set made especially for you!
(The cards are decorated with nifty henna patterns, which can be drawn/painted on item of your choosing or in fine art form.)

Email me at jcm06i@acu.edu for pricing and information!

Infinitive, Present/past participles, Present/imperfect/preterit/future/conditional Indicative, Present/ Imperfect Subjunctive, & command forms.

2009-04-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well classes have officially ended. From here we have some tests and some tears and that is it. I said when I left the states that I was going to learn Spanish in four months. I'm having a hard time determining my success though. Fluent as a native spanish speaker, I most definitely am not but I do spend hours as the only native english speaker some days and hardly miss a beat. But then again I go to the grocery store and feel like I did the first week I got here. Its an ambiguous line to draw, worse to determine. I have one week left before the time limit I put on myself is up so I've been trying to get in all that I could before then.

I did realize today when I looked at the verb chart in the back of my book that I at least know by heart the formula and understand it for every tense/mood it has. Some verbs I know every conjugation. Pretty big deal since when I got here I didn't know a single verb or its tense. I feel accomplished even if I still can't always understand the lyrics to my Shakira songs. Sometimes I don't understand songs in English though...

My friends.
Mathias

Mikaela and Andi

coloring

Estefanie

Yamila

Martin

Diego, Andrea (Andi) and Martin

Brazil and Easter

2009-04-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Entrance into the falls

butterfly friends on the argentine side of the falls

one view from the Argentine side

Guarani kids learning to be guides for the Guarani village

They sang us songs to welcome us

We're not so different

you and i.

Kara and I are very mature... and I didn't eat the chocolate from the mini bar

EASTER TIME!
if you haven't watched the video on the other blog, you need to. We acted like children and i still only got three eggs. I also would like to take credit for our awesome easter baskets (which only held three eggs) Here's some pictures of Easter.

This was our first easter basket ideas...

then I was awesome and made these.

There's Ruben! That's me in my easter dress from Brazil with Ruben, the artist at church. Also, i have real hair you will note.

These are my best friends.

Here we have the winning egg. yes, thats right, i won the egg decorating contest... it made up for my severe ineptness in egg finding.

onward steady faithful stead! On to Brazil.

2009-04-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

Negligence
I'm pretty steady in this
negligence
it's only inadequacy since my
heart is in this
but it's my
negligence.

I wrote that poem to say sorry for... well, my negligence.

Tomorrow I mount my chartered chariot and ride through the night, making my way through the southern cone up to Brazil. We'll be in Paraguay by morning. The idea almost seems romantic... but I'm sure by tomorrow night it will seem tragic.

Here's a few pictures of Peru and random occurrences in my lovely Uruguayan home to tide your appetite until the next wave of sporadic and lacking posts.

the other night (after Peru) before the ballet.

My best friend Diego's mate and thermos. I'm really going to miss those three (mate, thermos, and diego) they bought me my own mate and thermos for my birthday though. sweet

Beautiful center of Cusco

Women at night

My beautiful little big city Montevideo. An old church tucked between two high risers... its a city where I've found many things in juxtaposition, for sure.

chau

Peru

2009-03-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

well if there was anyone reading my blog besides my grandmother I'm sure my silence took care of that.

Kara, Stefanie L and I went to Peru this last week. It was amazing. Unfortunately that little dream world disappeared this morning when the alarm went off. I may not live in the states but reality lives in Uruguay too. So, dealing with the real world leaves me little time to do the things I want to do (like blogging) but I do have some pictures that I would just love for you to see. I took about 1400 so feel gyped cause they're pretty cool and you only get about ten.

chau

I will post more later in the week.

creativity killer

2009-03-11T20:35:00.001-07:00

Time stiffles creativity. tonight I looked through some of my favorite travel pictures to get inspired for my trip to Peru on friday. Sometimes my lack of time prevents me from reaching my full potential with my shots. They become nominal.
A while back I tried to do a 365 series, which is a self-portrait of sorts per day for 365 days. I got to like... 30 days in and quit cause life got to be too much.
I'm going to start over friday when we go to Peru though and this time I'm going to finish even if i don't get a picture a day posted. It stretches me to be more creative, to find more ways to represent myself than a simple portrait.
I've near abandoned painting these days so I better make my medium of choice (photography) really worth it. I can't give it total blame, but my lack of time creates a mental barrier... and sometimes I just stop looking and so I don't see the world around me. ... and thats when you end up with nominal work.

Like i said, we're going to Peru friday. Lima, Cusco, Macchu Picchu (i actually don't know how to spell that still, its kinda like mississippi.)
I realize I failed to communicate properly over the past little while. I'm not very steadfast in my posting. I'd say i'll get better but we all know it's a lie. However I will promise to come back and post at least one good travel story. scouts honor.

Good things are worth waiting for... but don't hold your breath.

hasta luego.
Jess

2009-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

I'm upset. It started pouring down rain in the night and the noise drowned out my plans to let the sounds of the morning be my alarm. I accidently woke up an hour into church. :( Disappointed, I love church.

It is so strange. I'm pretty sure when we were getting ready to come to Uruguay we were told rain was out of the picture... its rained more than once every week I've been here. Just like Italy is supposed to be hot and dry in June and it rained everyday for the first three weeks that I was there. Rain makes everything feel like home.
Last summer i sat under the shelter of the entrance on the steps of the Duomo in Florence and took pictures of everyone else scrambling to get somewhere out of the rain with their umbrellas and wellies.
Another time the rain interrupted my painting in a small town that we took a bus to get to. So I sat on the ledge and watched the lightening over Tuscany from the veranda of an old Cathedral set on a hill. Rain has been my constant companion in the world... even when its was supposed to be sunny.
It's probably raining in Uruguay because of me.

mmm.. someone is cooking something. Smells like Zambia.

Mi Buenos Aires querido...

2009-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Afternoons in Montevideo are crippling. This type of heat has a way of making your body weak. No week is ordinary, this week was extraordinary. Perhaps in a day or two I can relate to you the most significant events... for now my mind is too preocupada con las cosas estuvio.... estuvio lejos de normal.
I met two important people in Buenos Aires. Maria y Rudulpho. Maria was sitting on the side of a large pedestrian street in Buenos Aires, Florida Street (calle Florida) with her sister Tamana. In the past year I have kicked myself many times for walking away from a face that I so desperately wanted, so desperately NEEDED a photo of and just didn't have the nerve to try. I've cowered my way through countries all over the world. It was either the perpetual wear and tear of the emotions that comes with traveling in groups or the unwanted responsibility of punishing myself for another missed opportunity but I resolved to never walk away again and made my companions wait for me as I dug out some small bills and approached the two. My spanish is relatively good for ordering food and most casual conversations (especially with friends) in light of the fact that in Buenos Aires I celebrated the close of my first month ever of formal spanish lessons. Hopefully this next month with prove as fruitful as the first. Tamana was older, I forget her age, and a little less interested in me as a person. She did warm up but Maria, who's dirty feet and pretty pink dress caught my eye in the first place wasted no time to alert me to the fact that she was two, and her name was Maria... and she was two... "como este." ("this many.") I've struggled with my desire to continue taking photographs lately, discouraged for many reasons including but not limited to: my fatigue of marketing shots and photos that are really good, but useless to me in regards to art and expression. My favorite thing to take pictures of is interesting people, and one of my favorite parts of taking pictures of interesting people is showing them the pictures I take. Especially with Maria because it was like a game for her which made it even more gratifying to me. I reviewed my photos as I walked away reluctantly and saw the shots and instantly denounced my waning and decided that if I got no more good photos the rest of my time in Buenos Aires, I was satisfied.

I did get another good shot. Equally as gratifying but chronologically it came later so there is a natural order of favoritism. On our last day in BA we were finally granted free time and naturally Kara and I used it to go find the bohemian craft Market (...what? don't act surprised... isn't that the point of traveling? tranquilo bohemians selling things?) Sundays are nice in South America because on Sundays, even in the big cities, you can find some amount of solitude and peace. We were walking down a street near the Pink House (not the White house, the pink house) that two days before was crowded with tourists and locals alike but this day was almost deserted. Side note: I have a severe infatuation with beards. The crazier the better. We're talking Zach Smith to Z.Z. top- I don't discriminate... and old men... old men are really cool to take pictures of... especially with messy hair and beards.

aahumm.. anyway...

There was a man. He had a beard. He was just sitting. He was dirty but he wasn't begging but I walked by and I said to Kara (again... always) "DID YOU SEE HIS BEARD?! he was so cool... I wanna take a picture. I should take a picture." But this time I did. We conversed and as I walked away I dug in my mochila to see what bills I had... the smallest one I had was bigger than I was seeking but it wasn't much still so I ran back and gave it to him and told him I forgot to get his name. The man never smiled the duration of the 5 minutes spent from beginning to end when we walked away, but his surprise at the money and gratitude was all over his person. Rudolpho, the man in the maroon shirt and the dirty hands.

my redemption cost me ten bucks.

Buenos Aires estuvio mi muerte... pero estuvio mi salvacion.

Two pictures. that's all I have for you.

of course, on the night of free chocolate mousse..

2009-02-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

Hola. I have a bit of time on my hands here in Buenos Aires because I am in the hotel instead of on the trip we were supposed to make today. Sad, i know. It's because last night at the Tango show I began to feel very queasy (a rarity for me) and ended up being sick all night (even more rare). It was pretty upsetting all around but the fact that I had chocolate mousse I didn't get to finish at the Tango show was just salt in an already open wound. However don't fear because I feel like I'm on the road to a quick recovery. Rosalinda stayed behind with me today. Kara wanted to but they felt like it was better in case I got worse and needed a doctor or something. She called from downstairs before she left and i could tell the sweet one was torn up cause it may be all day before i see her. She felt bad, but i feel like we'll meet up soon. I feel much better than I did through the night and I think we may meet up with the group later in the day. I rarely can sit still long... I'll try to sit still long enough to recover first.

Otherwise Buenos Aires has been great, with only a few minor mishaps. (it's travel.) Hopefully I won't have time to get on again until I'm back in Montevideo with 4 gigs of pictures and no time to play with them.
I do miss Montevideo...
Uh oh, sounds like someones already feeling at home

i suppose I'll go rest.

ps. I changed the colors on the blog cause that white on black made me want to throw up and i feel like I may not be the only one....oh and don't bother checking the other blog. it will be basically the same story second verse.

yo hablo spanglish.

2009-02-06T18:22:00.001-08:00

here's the thing... I started to post for today but I got caught up in (henna) tattooing a fingerbeard... (on my finger obviously...) so typing is a little hard now. Well worth it though... I now have the capacity to create numerous expressions with a slight move of the finger. Its actually a finger mustache, I guess.

Tonight we went out with a Uruguayo from the gym we joined. In particular the climbing wall (its called La Muralla.)
There have been times that, mostly because of the language barrier, our encounters are very awkward with lots of pauses and silence, but tonight the tension between us all faded quickly and we spent two or three hours at dinner conversing, mostly in spanish.
My favorite thing in Uruguay has been the people we've met, and any time we have spent in close companionship with a Uruguayo... and I realize that the conversation we maintain is typically geared towards the vocabulary that we know but when we get together with the friends we've made and we speak spanish, the progress I've made in three weeks is apparent... and I blow my own mind.

I was going to give up English & chocolate for Lent but tonight while we were at dinner Kara and I talked about it and really just decided that we should be speaking mostly in spanish not just for 40 days but all the time. So I guess its just bye-bye chocolate for Lent and (because i have a really phenominal and dedicated roommate) Spanish will be all the time. We do pretty well most of the time but hopefully we will do better.

Anyway, thats not much but its what is on my mind at the moment. When we were struggling with our conversation at dinner, Stefanie asked us why it is that when we stumble over spanish words and stay completely confused in conversations, it doesn't make us want to use spanish less, but use it more. In response I have to say that I am much more frustrated with not being able to have conversations than I am the struggle of learning. Its good I think because it give me momentum to rapidly grow. We do stumble through a lot of broken sentences and give up on a lot of failed attempts to convey thoughts but the fact of the matter is that 7 times out of 10 we are successful and can only get better. Plus, my spanglish es FENOMENAL.

chao para ahora.

2009-01-31T14:08:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a break from the computer for a day or two. With my job it just consumes some time and its time for a break.
chao. te hablas mas tarde.

Fuemos al asado a noche.

2009-01-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

(our awesome casa)

OK so I'm having a battle with my computer and the internet here. I was ready this morning to update but uploading pictures seems to be brain surgery. It takes forever then I have class for three hours and don't have time to fix it and here I'm at my days end and the post has yet to be finished. Its fine for now though I will just continue on with todays happenings. Luckily there are no pictures to upload for today (yet) and I can just write and leave the other pictures from last night to load. I would prefer to update in the morning here so that by the time you rise it will be a new post for a new day, but no such luck. I could just post without the pictures but then you might be bored. It was an eventful monday. I got up and attempted to post (obviously to no avail since here I am) but right after lab and spanish was lunch and a short break until our Latin America class at 3. Today however was no ordinary day in the life of Latin American learning for today we had a Candombe workshop. Candombe is a dance with African roots that is specific to Uruguay. Regardless of how silly we all looked, we had fun... and we all looked silly I'm sure. Right after class I went with Kara and Stefanie L and Shelly and Nathan Sanders to the mega YMCA. We were on a mission to find the rock climbing room. We found it, full of elementary schoolers. It was intimidating at first to walk into a room of u-15ers that are showing you up but we figured out (thanks to the instructor Pablo, who speaks English) that from 6-7 was the class for them and ours would start at 7. It was slow but eventually we went through the harness, belaying etc etc and started climbing. After a bit Pablo said it was time for crunches so we unharnessed and joined the group of guys (who had been monkeying around the walls (and around us) without harnesses) on the floor for a killer workout. It was lots of fun and another opportunity to make some friends. By the end there was the satisfactory feeling of having accomplished something and even better the feeling of belonging because Pablo gave the whole group a speech about how we are a team and we will be learning Spanish and climbing from them but we will be teaching them English and other things (I haven't thought of anything else I could teach them yet) as well. Now I'm going to try to find some leftovers... that is if our pirana housemates haven't devoured it all.
(end of new post)

FUEMOS AL ASADO A NOCHE! BARBEQUE TIME!

Nathan, Wimon and the chefs

(post from earlier.)
Buen dia. Hope the day finds you well. Last night we had a Uruguayan asado (bar-be-q) on the roof of our house and the adjoining church. I can't speak for everyone but I can speak for myself (and I'm going to speak for Kara) when I say that it was a fenomenal night. We gathered on the fourth floor patio and past the time by taking pictures & enjoying the company and the view. A few members of the church and Nestor the man who runs the church and lives on the third floor and his family grilled the meat with the help of the boys of the youth group. Eventually the meal was ready and we gathered one level lower at the tables prepared for us. After dinner we took the elevator up to the roof of the entire building for a bilingual devotional. It was finally dark but the clouds reflected the lights of the city enough to illuminate the faces across the circle and with the first much needed breeze we had felt all day we sang and listened as a group made mostly of teenage boys and their little sister sang, slightly off key, but without concern for anything but the words. Kara and I concurred as we sat there that in our time here we have been no happier than the times that we have spent with this group. I'll say this with the risk of sounding inappropriate but we are both in love with those teenaged boys. (we would be in love with the teenaged girls too if there were any. OK?) With the exception of Martin the oldest boy's girlfriend Andrea these boys are the only teens from the church, at least that we've been with.

anyway, it was fun. thats about it. Next weekend they invited us all to walk the rambla and watch a movie with them. I'm sure it will be fun. We utilize and learn our spanish best with them as well.

Mathias is my sweet little friend. After he burned his hand Rosalinda designated me his "nagger" because he apparently requires extra nagging. It might've had something to do with the way he followed me around and constantly ran his mouth in Spanish that was way too fast... even after I (repeatedly) said "MATHIAS. mas dispacio, PORFAVOR."

Rosalinda- nagging. :)

My "Holland face"

GUNS N' ROSES... YEAH!

2009-01-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Last night was curry night at casa ACU. awesome- thats all i need to say about that.

Somehow over dinner conversations my new found Reflexology/Acupressure practices came up... one thing led to another and Zanessa ended up doing muscle testing (I personally call it a healthy energy test) to all the non-believers while I yelled obscenities at anyone who tried to argue its validity. That's a joke, but I did get really excited cause I'm a firm believer in natural medicine. The test determines what things (specifically foods) are good for you or that your body needs. On this video we filled two cups with water and in one cup put some sugar (which isn't good for you) and did the test... I can happily say Rosalinda is now a believer. :D all in all, besides the injuries acquired during the fist fight over herbs or tylenol it was a really fun night. Tonight we're having un asado (barbeque) tonight with the kids from church.

healthy energy test from jessalyn massingill on Vimeo.

check back for more later.

don't forsake me, mi ventilador dulce.

2009-01-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

My hands always feel dirty here. My only conclusion is the constant muggy state of the air makes me feel like I have to wash it off of them just because... as if it were tepid sludge or floating dirt... but not air. As soon as I wash it off and my hands dry the feeling creeps back. Usually I keep the washing to a minimum to keep a healthy set of harmless germs running through my body. It creates a strong immune system and more importantly makes life in dirty places easier and keeps me lower maintenance. There are more important things to worry about than dirt, but here... my hands always feel dirty.
There's never a thin enough shirt or light enough skirt to satisfy my skins need for cooler temperatures. While I walk or sit in our room or in the courtyard sweat collects under my shirt and my pants stick to my legs... I could probably bare it all and the night would still suffocate. It's not hot here, just heavy.

Our internet is slow and makes our job here harder. We joke about this savage third world country (global south country- to be politically correct, ironically) and it's God forsaken internet. We joke because its the only thing to keep us from going crazy. I refuse to let it contain me to a sedentary lifestyle but I'm getting tired my dependancy.

nothing really happened today, thats why you get to hear my sweet nothings.

Ah, shucks.

2009-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you mommy and daddy for my new lens. It made my already wonderful life even more so... and it helps me take better pictures.

hmm.... voy a la playa o voy a la feria?

2009-01-21T04:22:00.000-08:00

I promised pictures and I'm here to deliver on that promise.

es muy bonita, no?

acostarse a la playa. laying on the beach

en la agua a la playa circa la casa. in the water at the beach near the house

la patio a la casa ACU (courtyard)

Morgan and Stefanie on the beach.

for more photos --> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004131&l=8f134&id=1513920039

Wednesdays are really good days for me. I have an hour spanish lab in the morning and then nothing... the entire rest of the day. Wait, no that's not true. I have to be around at 12:30 to eat the lunch that Raquel has prepared for me... silly me, where is my head today?
It puts me in a pickle though. With so much free time and so many things to do how will I ever decide whether I want to go to the beach or to go shopping... or to read in the courtyard or to go on a walk to the Ciudad Vieja (old town)... or to take pictures.. or to... you see? the list is endless.

I do plan to go to the Mega-YMCA a few blocks down and get a membership. Its huge and has an assortment of activities besides your regular gym which include but are not limited to a rock climbing wall, pool, classes, its like an extra spanish class since they only speak spanish. Also this YMCA is building what is supposed to be the biggest Rock climbing wall in the world down by one of the beaches and we are invited to help build it. We're making history here. It's even going in the Guinness book of World Records. and what's great is we have to have service hours while we're here and what could be better to do than that? Well I could think of a few things... like eradicate poverty from Montevideo but I'm an American student, not a Saint.

huwhenas ias.

2009-01-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

Buenos dias.... or to phonetically spell it the way Uruguayans say it- Huwhenasias. It's a spanish teachers nightmare.

I figure those of you back home are probably feeling like you've heard from me but you've still got no idea what's going on down here at this place, so to cause no further calamity and to set your mind at ease I will say that I am just LOVIN' this place. You can take comfort in that. I'm not crying myself to sleep at night... except for when I miss my mommy ;) ehhhemm. cough cough. Love you mom.
Do I love it more than Oxford? It's too soon to say.

-No it's not too soon, I don't, but rather with almost equal spirits to the way I love Oxford... but in a different way, and differently... and it hasn't earned its love yet. It's a new love.

I'm not cheating on you Oxford...

Also, I feel like I should tell you that it wasn't AS warm today... and really it's ALMOST cold now that it's dark. So, don't be bitter that you were freezing your tush off when you got into your car yesterday morning, I was already getting a tan and sweating... in a swimsuit... on the beach... and it made me thirsty... so I got a botella de agua at a cantina by the beach and sat under an umbrella...
And anyway today it wasn't sunny the WHOLE time I was at the beach... I would even go so far as to say it sometimes showed symptoms of being overcast.

How could I not love it here? It's warm, sunny, and I haven't started classes yet. But you never know, tomorrow is a new day.
BUT UP TO TODAY Uruguay has been a pleasant mix of Italy, Spain, Morocco and the occasional reminder of Zambia. I'll quickly detail this in a short paragraph and then try to catch you up on some of the highlights of the weekend. That way Monday I can start afresh and be up to realtime.
My first impression at the airport reminded me very much of the day we stepped off of the plane in Marrakesh, Morocco. It smelled wonderful and gave the impression of a small country's airport. It was slightly warmer than Morocco but it was a big difference from walking out of Heathrow into the world. In town the area around our house is very similar to the feeling of where we lived in Scandicci outside of Florence and riding the bus through town is like a time warp because it feels exactly the same. Downtown, closer to the beach and the Ciudad Veija (old town) it looks just like Spain.
So there you have a summary of my feelings about the relation of Uruguay to the world. Congrats. Oh and sometimes at the casa when you're not in the courtyard (because that smells like Essouria, Morocco) it smells like Zambia.

Today we went to church and out of all the wonderful things we have experienced thus far, even the beach, it was the most rewarding and it was definitely my favorite. I hope to talk more about this later but I just reviewed my post and the length is getting a little out of hand. I especially can't wait to talk about the old man named Ruban. El es muy comico.

Pictures later.

chao for now.
jess

the word of the day (for tomorrow.)

2009-01-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

click on the link to watch Kara and I talk about la palabra de dia (por manana)

Untitled from jessalyn massingill on Vimeo.

Bienvenidos Uruguay!

2009-01-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hola amigos!
Today I am tucked safely away in Montevideo Uruguay. My insufficient blogging might have left you out of the loop but yes, it is true, you can find me in Sud America until May.

Along with my already entertaining and thorough blog, Kara and I will be chronicling our trip as a part of ACU marketing. Check out our new joint blog- http://acuinlatinamerica.blogspot.com/.
Prepare to be amazed! It will be a few days before we get set up and settled into our new address in Montevideo and on the great world wide web. However, it should be up, running, and awesome within the week.

This blog will be maintained as a supplement to the new blog for all you out there who just can't get enough of good ol' me. :D
Enjoy the photos. I'll report back asap with better stories and more exciting narration as Kara and I once again unpack our bags and settle into our new home somewhere across the big blue.

chao! (that's the spanish spelling.)

jessa.

A sad departure.

The group.

Fall Preview

2008-09-04T18:03:00.001-07:00

Life is such a beast right now. Between studio hours, and on-the-side pieces I'm trying to do (not to mention make a living) I'm underwater. I'll be professional and let my personal problems stay abase.
My most foreboding deadline is the video for the Kalomo Hospital Benefit Dinner in Oct. This is just a few pictures that will be used in the video.
The focus of the video this year is on our lives after we leave Africa... an antiquated and nostalgic look at what we leave behind. The pictures are meant to convey a sense of looking back, as if they are just haunting memories that show up to compare how we live the rest of the year, how we preach about remembering those who suffering... and how we still always forget.

"Let us weep together..."

2008-08-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Bloodstained friends and enemies.
Revolutionary leaders Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de Robespierre and Georges Jacques Danton were intimate and loyal companions during the Reign of Terror. When Danton's wife died, leaving her husband the prey of grief "as excessive as were all his other emotions," Robespierre was still his loyal friend. It was on this occasion that he sent him this tender expression of sympathy and undying devotion:

MY DEAR DANTON,
If, in the only sorrow that can overwhelm a spirit like yours, the knowledge that you have the devotion and tender sympathy of a friend affords you any consolation, I offer you mine. I love you more than ever and until death. At this moment I am one with you. Do not shut your heart to the voice of a friendship which shares all grief. Let us weep together for our friends and let us before long demonstrate the effects of our sorrow to the tyrants who are the cause of our public ills and private woes. My friend, I have written these words that spring from my heart to you from Belgium. I should already have come to see you except that I respected the first moments of your great affliction.
Your friend,
Robespierre

Less than a year after this affectionate letter, the friends became enemies.

I imagine that it was right about the time I noticed myself begin to sweat, and the intense burning in my thighs from squatting and sifting through 1970's vinyls that Kallie found it. Right about the time i settled on a number she was pulling two dollar bills out of her bra and tucking the seventy year old book under her arm. Right there in the dank air is where I found the sum of my thoughts.

Barely over two years ago it was letters like these that assured me of something bigger than myself. I'm far past unsure now.

Letters. lately it's been about letters.

Ciao Euro

2008-06-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

I'm wasting time today. I'm afraid to go out and do too much because I will end up spending money, money I don't have. Tomorrow we are going to Luca and Pisa before we fly out tomorrow night. I imagine I will need the small amount of cash I have there. No use in pulling out more money now.

this post is just to put up a few of my unseen pictures from Europe and some of my favorites from the past six months.

goodbye europe.

"Jessalyn was a cheerleader..."

2008-06-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

So tonight we had our talent show. you get one picture. That is it.

We are getting ready to leave. Dad heads off in less than 24 hours and mom and Josh and the Bartees are close behind.

two days but really one

2008-06-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

I don't love Italy the way I love England. I wasn't here long enough to really let our threads intertwine, but even though its constantly hot even with the breeze coming through our patio doors I will miss the never failing songs of the church bells that float in with the heat in the evening.
I have one day left. Well, I don't count today or the day we leave (Sunday) and since today is pretty much over I shouldn't really count today, so it's like it's tomorrow and I wouldn't count tomorrow so all that leaves is Saturday. Crazy how time flies huh.

these are at a Tuscan bed and breakfast we went to for an afternoon to paint.

Roma the Great

2008-06-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Rome this weekend. I don't know if you know this but Rome is hot. At some point though we all just threw our hands up in resolve and realized that we all have sweat running down our backs. Our sweat stains weren't alone.

I realize i haven't put up many pictures of Italy but I haven't had time to mess with pictures... we're numbering in the thousands after this semester and our charger burnt up and died and so my time on the computer is limited.. not to mention I have filled up my hard drives. That will be fixed in about a week when I meet everyone in Zambia. :D
I have four days ( I don't count today or the day we leave) I am excited but as I come to the end I realize that I have been so ready to leave Europe because I know I have two more months, one month, three weeks, but as I am really coming to the end I feel a slight panic at the thought that in one month life will be normal. Do I know how to do that again? We will see. Right now I guess I don't have to worry about that because I have a very exciting month ahead of me. I guess I can start to panic again in about 3 weeks.

Here's a few pictures of Rome.

2008-06-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

I want to go home pretty badly today. It happens a number of times a week but today is worse. It's father's day, but that has nothing to do with it. I'm ready to spend a day with my dad in London, and I'm ready to see mom and Josh in Zambia. I'm ready to see Patrick and Jasmine and of course my girls in Lusaka. I'm ready tackle Kallie when the Bartees show up at Patrick's house. I'm ready to be in Africa... but of course it would be nice if I could see my grandparents and Alysa and the Lackeys before I spend another month away. I'm ready to be home to see the people I love, that love me... I've been away from love too long. I loved England... but England can't love me back. I'm really just looking forward to the 30th.

Today I'm not just celebrating my dads but males in general that exude what I see to be positive attributes.
Especially in relationships... or moreover I'm celebrating the females that they are coupled with that have healthy relationships with these males. Not relationships that neglect every other aspect of being a member of the human race. Those I will not celebrate.

So thank you dads.
..and thank you general males who are dating general females that understand the world keeps turning even though you may be the center of each others worlds.

Just because you're not on here doesn't mean you're excluded from my list.

I'm sick of Europe and everything it reminds me of and I'm really sick of this room.

As you may have guessed from my lack of blogging, I don't have a lot of words these days... so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead, but I do have pictures.

K.B.

john doyle

Grandad Jay

Klay

Patrick

Laz

joshie

Spenser

2008-05-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

We're sitting in class, but I'm getting a dirty look from Casey who is sitting next to me staring at my Mother's Day blog... I promised I was blogging last night.
My negligence is shameful... again.

I've waited long enough to blog that we are now approaching the end of our art May-mester in England. I don't guess I'm holding out too much. We paint and we take pictures. I've found my skills in watercolor are lacking.
We've been to London and Bath over the past few weeks in between days of frustrating paintings of foliage and gravestones. I don't do foliage. Painted a little bit on my own to try to boost my confidence. It helped a bit. I used some ink to help bring out the contrast and details that I fail to do in watercolor and they ended up looking slightly illustrated. oh well, it's better than big green blogs of semi-opaque water.

these are from our few days between semesters. I went with the Wiggins out to Blenheim palace before they left me. :(

Kennedy tell Lisa what is up.

Bath, England

We had a long weekend and it was wonderful. Casey and Eryn came back to Oxford from their travels to get their stuff and to see Oxford one last time. It was good to reunite with some peers from the Spring semester, we've missed all of them since they've been gone. Every now and again someone who stayed in Europe to travel for a while will pop back in to get their luggage and say goodbye. It's great to see them, but the goodbyes are drawn out and each time make it harder and harder to be left behind.
We spent some time at the Oxford 8's on Saturday. It's a the big Rowing competition between the Colleges. It was reminiscent of American sporting events, but it was no Football game.

Out to play with Casey Rogers, Casey Monsees, Sarah Boyd and Eryn Halstead. :D the old and new meet.

Rowers

The Sarah Film Strip

Happy mum's day

2008-05-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's mother's day (again... England already celebrated) Sweet Josh gave my mom a graduate, and I continue to rack up debt thanks to the exchange rate. (sort of a joke.) Happy Mother's Day--to all my moms.

Lisa insisted that they should take a picture of me in front of the gardens at Blenheim Palace for my mom.

the product of change.

2008-05-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

Well then, here it is.

the aftermath of my mid-life in England crisis.

It's after 11 o'clock, and I just woke up. It's the latest I've slept all semester. Perhaps it is because I know that this time when I get up everything in our room will be normal but as soon as I open the door all there is... is quiet. Casey sleeps, it's been a tiring semester and I don't want to wake her. But it's mostly because I know that the longer she sleeps the less time she has to spend filling the emptiness. We had to say our first goodbyes last night, and the rest followed early this morning. We'll be ok, we've got the Wiggins... but the silence is deafening.

Oxford Study Abroad Spring 08

"shh, it's her mid-life in England crisis."

2008-05-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

My negligence is disgraceful. However, I don't feel that bad about it because I just turned in a 150 page portfolio... life isn't all about blogs people.

Anyway, I am presently in a 'mid-life in England crisis'

let me just post the progression... i won't need to explain.

first round of stripping color... wow, right?

Casey and I cut two inches and bangs... it was a collaborative process.

with the bleach... looks kind of like dreadlocks. cool.

well lookie there

there it is... well until tomorrow when i get my dreads put in. Ha, oh yeah didn't i tell you? that's why I am putting myself through this... because tomorrow i will get blonde dreads.

oh and yes... this is what Casey and I did as soon as we were free... well after baby-sitting and a trip to Burger King today.. you should check out her blog to see what a gnarly experience it was.... gnarly like my fake blonde hair.

2008-03-26T03:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the address for the Ireland album!-

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002736&l=b2fbb&id=1513920039

[sorry, but you have to copy and paste it to your address bar.]
some of my favorite shots of the pretty people that surround me are from my Ireland pictures, by the way.

Sweden.
This was my thought process as we prepped to leave for our 4 day trip to Stockholm - "...what am I thinking?"

Our trip to Sweden was picked slightly at random... we have a tendency to get on RyanAir.com and search for the cheapest flights in Europe... as it were, the flight to Sweden was fairly priced but after booking our hostel and checking other prices we found that nothing else in Sweden is. So, once we figured out our pricey miscalculation we were all sort of in regret for our lapse of judgement. We knew NOTHING of Stockholm except that it was going to be really cold and really expensive... and that is what I got on the plane looking forward to.
However, turns out we didn't make such a bad choice after all.
It was expensive, which led to multiple cheeseburgers because they weren't cheap but they were cheaper than anything else.
It was cold, but I stole Grant's sweater to wear under my jacket before I left so I was protected, and it ended up not just being snowing which made it easier to swallow the cold. We haven't seen snow in Europe yet [surprisingly] so it was exciting.

Stockholm really proved me wrong. It was beautiful and worth seeing. [even if I hadn't cared about it previously] The guys described it as the prettiest man-made city we've seen. Which is true... it was the architecture and the bright colors splashed through the city of Islands that made it so appealing. Being surrounded by waterfronts didn't hurt the scene.
I haven't worked through all of my pictures but I'll get them done soon enough and I'll put a link to the album.

[Me and Daley on a bridge above Stockholm]

Tomorrow I leave for Spain. It is just me and Kara this time... we have a date with the Spanish Coast.

much anticipated writings of Morocco and Ireland

2008-03-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

[someone should let me know if those album addresses worked.]

I'm going to have to do a short summary of my trips since time slipped away and I now have two more under my belt since Morocco. I will leave Sweden till yet another day though.

I don't mean to be cliche, but even if I found a better phrase to explain Morocco than... it was amazing... I still wouldn't do any better because that's what it was. (but I do hate being so vague)
I won't brag on myself but I was really thankful pretty quick into the trip that I had learned some Arabic and I was also proud that my small french vocabulary came in so handy.
No but really... there wasn't much to brag about it was kind of pathetic.... but I sure could ask if they had that shirt in yellow (a vital phrase) or for some tea in Arabic... I do have restaurant Arabic pretty much down.
It was good practice for Paris too, less intimidating in a way but it did draw my attention to the fact that as much good as it did me to be able to understand most of the French that was happening around me (or to me) it does little good when you can't remember the verb you need.
(or when you the taxi keeps asking WHICH hotel and you are trying to tell him that you don't have a hotel you just need him to take you to ANY hotel... thats a fun story.)
lesson dually noted.

Our hostel was an exotic little place with and open courtyard in the center and the view from our rooftop was over hundreds of stair step white washed roofs with little courtyards on top and the ocean in the background. I'm pretty sure that all five of us had the sudden urge to pretend like we were Aladdin and Jump to the terrace below us... luckily none of us did though because Aladdin was a cartoon and cartoons don't have bones but I'm almost positive Jeremy and Zach do. They were of course the two that would have actually considered it... No, that is false. They are all crazy... I would have been the only one left to clean up the mess.

the view.

The first time through the Medina was slightly overwhelming. For one thing, my body is not used to sunshine anymore and my skin started to shrivel and the 70 degree weather made the world spin a bit. Just joking, the sunshine was unfamiliar but really it was ridiculous amount of handmade Moroccan shoes that lined the souks and the beads and the shoes and the iridescent fabrics and the shoes... you get the point.

We were warned (by the internet) that since we were three obviously American girls that we would probably be harassed and even pinched or grabbed. Not a fact. Some people get a little over-anxious when it comes time to note differences in culture... it was probably the same people that think British people are known to suddenly attack unsuspecting Americans on subways and force them to denounce their political views and promise to recycle (...also not a fact.) Morocco was one of the friendliest places I've been and we obviously drew some attention (we have blue eyes and Abbey was blonde) but the worst that ever happened was a passer by who exclaimed "OH MY GOD! beautiful!" Which I consider to be the appropriate response to our presence and a compliment... and I think the guys around here should take a lesson.

can you blame them? look at how well we fit in. perfect.

Our days consisted of going to the beach, walking around the Medina (fun even if you're not buying anything...which is not what I did but it was Morocco and handmade and get over it) and our second full day we added a camel ride. All in all incredible experience, a great group of people and huge relaxing blessing.

Top 10 from Morocco.
10. finally having a legitimate excuse not to brush my hair or wear make-up
9. having a break from wearing jackets. blek
8. really cheap food
7. going to the beach
6. being in africa again
5. everything and everyone was beautiful and made my pictures good without any effort or talent of my own.
4. having mendhi (henna) done by someone besides me
3.speaking and understanding Arabic and French was fun.
2. making friends while arguing that they should sell you those shoes for less than they asked.
1. I don't have favorites. I spent four days with four gnarly (and photogenic) people in Morocco. need I say more?

Irelanda (ireland.)

I have less to say about Ireland.
Surely it's understandable though. We only had about three days to re-coup from an amazing, warm, sunny, emotionally uplifting Morocco before we had to head out again to Ireland (where it was also cold. and wet.)
Everyone is allowed to have off days. (or at least I'm allowed... You can think whatever you want.) Even if it comes during a time that people might think it should be overlooked... Travel is a blessing but there are more important things in my life than Ireland.
So considering the previous exhaustion, the disinterest in being cold, and a few other unnamed factors I did have a hard time getting too excited. We went to Dublin, which I feel was part of the problem because Dublin is really nice but it is hard to enjoy being in Ireland when it just looks a lot like where we live minus my own comfy bed. It wasn't rolling grassy hills spotted with Castles, sheep and bagpipes playing in the distance, it was more like a big town with Irish pubs and landmarks. I think we assumed there would be more St. Patrick's day festivities happening throughout but there wasn't much going on. I feel like the Irish may have said "get over it" to the powers that be... "St. Patty's day in still on the 17th" and disregarded the move of the holiday. So we came a few days too early and missed most of that fun. I'm not much of a big city person when it comes to traveling like we are because with only two days to see "Ireland" or where ever we go, I would probably rather see the story book Ireland than the traveler's magazine side. We went out to the coast the first day which was beautiful and we climbed things and Kara and Adrian dangerously laid coins on the train tracks (it really wasn't that dangerous) and we took lots of fun pictures.
The second day we went out to the countryside and it rained all day and I was miserable. Physically I wasn't miserable the WHOLE time... but after about one hour my previous mental disposition (which was "unmotivated" to be there, remember.) suddenly noticed that my shoes, which were about two dollars to begin with, had become less like shoes and more like really wet, thin socks. Then it noticed that my feet weren't the only thing that were slowly disintegrating from being underwater and with every step up that big ol' mountain that my lighthearted mates happily traversed (in their shoes with soles) a rock on the rock path we climbed went through my soggy sock-shoes and eventually my physical and mental met and decided that they hated Ireland. No, they hated this trip to Ireland.

Its not a secret and I'm not really that worried about admitting it. I wasn't really doing that great before the other members of the party decided they wanted to climb the mountain sometimes, when no other options are available you do what you have to do and look forward to, not the long and moist plane ride to London or the chaffing bus ride back to Oxford, or even the bitter cold wind blowing icy through your still wet hair, but to your warm bed in your (as you suspected) empty room in the house on 10 Canterbury Road.

walking around on the first morning

this is Kara and Zach imitating ACU's beautiful sculpture outside of the campus center. Bringin a little piece of ACU with us everywhere we go...

Fog thwarted our view both days but sticking to traditional ideas of Ireland I think it was only appropriate. It also didn't make for good pictures but it didn't really matter I didn't really want pictures at the time anyway. So I don't have as many from that trip

Don't worry about my sentiments towards my Ireland trip. I have to revoke my previous statement that I hated it, I hated a lot of it but actually there was a good 18 hours at the beginning that I really enjoyed.
Sweden was much better and I intend to make it back one to Ireland day so all is not lost.

Lessons learned
-My mom plans really good trips
-5 people is just about enough
-Irish music can sound like country music
-Texas is better than Ireland
[defensive Syllogism:
Ireland is nice, but it will never love me.
[However] my grandparents will love me.
My grandparents are in Texas.
conclusion-Texas will love me.
Therefore: Texas is better than Ireland.]

-Experiences aren't everything.

Dually noted.

2008-03-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the address of two of my albums of Morocco pictures. I am about 3/4 of the way through my photos so I will probably add more photos to the second link if you check back. Enjoy! :D

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002706&l=efd69&id=1513920039

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002708&l=552e6&id=1513920039

2008-03-13T02:56:00.000-07:00

Well I managed to make it back from Morocco with few drawbacks. I leave for Ireland today though... Can I complain about the number of days between trips? Surely I can whine a little. I am still pretty tired. I promise an extensive blog about Morocco... which I'm sure will promptly be followed by one from Ireland.

I told Zach this morning that I had to listen to Tribute To Rich and the Braveheart Theme song last night to motivate myself to want to get on a plane again. He of course proceeded to make sure that I know that Braveheart was in Scotland.

Z- ... You do know Braveheart was in Scotland?
J- I'm sorry that I don't just have a bunch of Irish music laying around...
Z- I do.
J- ...weird.

what a weirdo.

I am happy I get to go... I'm just... I have my reasons for disinterest. We'll leave it at that.

I'd put up pictures... but I have to go to class

2008-03-01T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I bet you didn't know it, but Sunday March the 2nd is Mother's Day in England.

This post is in honor of this early holiday.

gosh.... two Mother's days, you lucky ladies.

LOVE YOU MOMMIE.

Oh, I have left you all wanting.

2008-02-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

Oh, I have left you all wanting.

I am finally at the point where I can focus my energy enough to sit down and complete a blog, even though I am by no means caught up with life. Will we ever be?

I have been promising my mother an itinerary of my planned trips to date but I have yet to give it to her so I am going to grace you all with the excitement and list my future trips here.

Feb 21-24
I have just managed a trip to Germany. I'll leave details of that to lie for a while, but I will say that I got to see Steve and Jamie and it was, to a degree... my saving grace.

March 5-9
1:00 A.M.- leave the bus station on Gloucester St. Oxford, approx. hour and a half bus ride to Luton Airport
3:00 A.M.- take a nap in the airport
4:30 A.M.- check in at the RyanAir desk to Marrakesh, Morocco, and go do departure gate
5:00 A.M.- take another nap
6:00 A.M.- board flight
9:35 A.M.- Arrive in Marrakesh, where we will be met with a man holding a sign that says "ZACH SMITH x 5" no really I'm joking I don't know what the sign will say, but we will then pile into two Mercedes and be driven to the town of Essouria on the Coast of Morocco

5-7th- Essouria

8th- get up and bus to Marrakesh, stay at the Equity Point Hostel/Riad thingy
9th-fly back to London, bus to Oxford

15:00h- fall fatigued, but full of joy, at the steps of 10 Canterbury Road, Oxford England, UK OX2 6LU
15:01h- take a short nap
15:30h- push in the code on our door and fall up the stairs to my bed. (avoiding all postponed homework)

Please, I realize that schedule was all you could ever hope for and more but the following dates will not be as cleverly and thoroughly displayed.

March 13-15
Dublin, Ireland

13th:
Bus to Stansted Airport, London

flight departs at 17:10
Arrives in dublin 18:25

3 days of unplanned activity

fly back at 21:55
arrive back sometime.

we have an unplanned long break March 19-23
Denmark? possibly?
(I'm open to suggestions)

March 27-29
was going to go hiking in Scotland, thanks to Zach and his obsession with Manchester United and poor planning skills it will have to be pushed to a later date.
Unplanned trip (also open to suggestions)

OOh this one is exciting...

April 5-9
Group trip to Paris.

All that really needs to be said about this trip is
James Taylor Concert
My birthday (which I rarely care about, but how can I be so indifferent having been graced with the luck of being in France for the day that I blessed the world)

Ok, so far thats it.
I intend to use the weekend to do some serious planning. Once again, I am open to suggestions. The world is at my fingertips.

heidelburg

also heidelberg

me and kennedy on a walk to the fruit market

2008-02-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

We went as a group to London on the 1st and it was as much fun as I would anticipate considering the fun group involved. This was the first trip that all (40 whatever) of us went together. Really, it was a lot of fun and i didn't even have a hard time being in a big group which is unusual. (big things are happening here in England) First we all went to the British Museum, which was interesting, but everyone was ready to see the National Gallery. I really loved seeing the sculptures that were part of the British Museum. I have a new found appreciation of the hard work that is put into sculpting. Especially sculpting in the Greek idealist sense of the word. The National Gallery was like an art nerd's heaven and we spent quite a while in there. Luckily the small group that we had ended up breaking into all fell into a similar appreciation of art and so we were all quite blissful by the time we had made it through (most of) the Gallery. Because there was such a freedom in the schedule for the afternoon the big group did naturally split into smaller groups and so Casey and I ended up spending the rest of our night with Kara, Daley, Zach and Jeremy, which is not a new group, but it is a ridiculously entertaining one. We really spent most of the rest of the night traversing London with no real agenda or purpose, which made my knee flare up and tell me it hated me but the company was worth enough for me to tell my leg to shut up.

I'm not good at dancing because I don't like to be led, I let Jeremy lead me for one of the first time... ever (besides my dad)
he promised me a dance at Piccadilly Circus

me and Holland Wiggins outside of the British Museum

Me and Casey on the train

Casey in front of the pediment sculptures from the Parthenon

Sculpture in the British Museum

This is what I got when i tried to set my camera on a timer so we could all be in the pic... not bad. Upstairs at the British Museum

We ate in London's Chinatown for dinner. How could we pass up the offer by the man at the door to eat at "Chinatown's most hygienic restaurant" ?

Since I have neglected my blog for long enough to make this post incredibly outdated I will go ahead and add pictures from the weekend trip we just took. We started by driving to Warwick Castle where we spent a few hours before getting back on the bus and driving to the coastal town of Whitby. My ancestry is in Whitby so I felt right at home. I wasn't successful in finding the house that is pictured in the book of our lineage because it's a small town, but not that small. I did pick up some rocks off of the beaches of Whitby for my grandparents. (Sorry to spoil the surprise Massingills) We stayed at a hostel that was connected to the Whitby Abbey ruins. Saturday we got up and drove to York and then made our way home by dinner.

Aren't we sweet. We sat at the back of the bus so this was one of my 3 bus partners... the sweetest one of course

The four of us just look so good together. This is the view from a tower at Warwick Castle

Sweetness on the beaches at Whitby

more pictures to come

2008-02-02T07:54:00.001-08:00

I'm always going to be one step behind. We do something and I take pictures and then by the time I get around to messing with it we've done something else and I have more pictures. SO yesterday we went to London but that will have to wait.

I'm in a class called Oxford Through the Ages. Which really just means we write a few papers and take a bunch of tours and walks around town that ACU pays for. (so sweet that ACU, letting me use 2GBPs (of my paid tuition) to pay for a tour of church buildings.) OH well I'm not complaining... too much... thats 2 GBP that doesn't leave my pocket.
Last week we took a trip to St. Michael's tower and walked around and saw what is left of the city wall. I think St. Michael's the oldest... or tallest building left in Oxford. shows how much I'm getting out of it... I'm too busy taking cool pictures.

Maybe being so high was a little too liberating...

there's KrisAnn (it was THAT pretty up there.)

just sharing some love with Kara (yellow) and Daley (red)

I know I shouldn't have... but I did.(and I'm happy about it.)

These silly girls.

Oh my goodness. I almost forgot...
One night Zach was really excited about the way he was about to shave his beard... next morning he came in looking like a Frenchman with a (nasty) mustache and... well I don't really know what it was. He says he didn't wear the sweater on purpose but I doubt it. Casey just so happened to look a bit like a French Fry herself so we decided we needed to set up a fake Gondola ride. There was a woven hat in the hall the day we got here so we donned him in it and this is what we ended up with (hilariousness.) .... an American Gothic turned french.

2008-01-31T05:10:00.000-08:00

...I'll make no excuse for my blogger's negligence... although I do have valid excuses... if ever an excuse could be valid... but I digress.

Kasey Musgrave has come and gone and I have yet to write about it. We showed up to the bus station 30 minutes after she had arrived and when we took her back the night of her bus back to London we showed up as the bus was pulling out and had to flag the driver down and we then waved goodbye as he drove off before the door was even shut behind her. We need to work on our promptness or else miss a bus or two. (the former is much cheaper than the latter option)

While Kasey was here we picnicked in the park, took her to the best ice-cream shop in town, showed her what life in Oxford is like (on a lazy weekend) and most importantly took her Christ Church to see where Harry Potter was filmed. (Her biggest request) Luckily she was satisfied with our slow pace, and staying in her hotel room by herself at night... we've only been here two weeks and the lack of alone time is no new annoyance. In fact I'm pretty sure she REALLY enjoyed being alone in her hotel... I'm led to believe there was some singing involved ;) (one misses the opportunity to sing out loud, especially in the shower, when living with 40 people)

admittance of sins

2008-01-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't figured out why we're crouching in this picture.

Is there ever anything to talk about but food?
The biggest thing that happened to Casey and I yesterday, well it of course involves food. In fact now that I think about it, everything I intend to talk about on this blog in some way or another involves food. I guess that's just how it is.

We caved. We had to, we were worn out and had to do something easy... We had a Whopper meal on Corn Market street.

I know, we're "those girls" as Casey calls it. We just haven't conquered grocery shopping yet. (we're 2-0 so far) It was a very spiritual experience though... and now that we've had fast food we won't have to indulge again for a long time. Not to mention Casey perked right up. I seriously doubt we're the first to partake... I just won't believe that. I know one of those guys in our group has snuck to McDonalds already.

how could she not be happy?

laughing at ourselves for enjoying this so much.

indulgence.

Kasey Musgrave arrived safely today, and we haven't shown her a great time so far. It's been bland I'm sure but tomorrow we're going to hit it hard... so we say.
Unfortunately there's something I've yet to admit... I believe I have already hurt myself. Well I am hurt, I take no credit. Walking back from the market on Wednesday I was hit with sudden and intense pain in my left knee. I'm positive it's because my chiropractor won't just fix me. It comes and goes and now I'm pretty certain it's popping out of place.

I've given in and decided to go to the doctor. I hope you're all happy. (i'm fine.)

casey and kasey enjoying...food.

mmm..that looks great.

2008-01-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

great news. I got the song up.

http://www.myspace.com/caseyrogersband

that is the link and you don't have to have a myspace profile to listen.
Later I will probably go ahead and put our band photos on the site and edit the band info.

see? you thought I was joking. Its a real band.

(please keep in mind we recorded in a kitchen... (we almost did it in a bathroom for the acoustics) and we layed down the instruments on one track and Kara came back over... not bad for a pathetic circumstance eh?)

by the way, the name Casey Rogers Band, which is our name now, has a long story behind it... but it's a story for later)

A tuesday, a Wednesday.

2008-01-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

I am not positive, but I think Casey might be hypoglycemic.
Haha, silly me. That is a joke because I know she is.

Its really not funny, because its not serious enough to be fatal but rather a nuisance because it is not a matter of death, but of temperament. It's slightly irrelevant because we haven't had to deal with any dangerously low sugar levels or "angry Casey" (she's been so jovial, my sweet girl) but I'm impressed and sort of shocked because even for me, minutes have turned to hours and days to weeks (and so on) and time inches by when you're hungry and have nothing to eat... and we haven't had much to eat.
It really is a by-product of my desire to save money meant for food so that I can spend it on plane ticket to far-away lands or exotic fabrics. (there's also the fact that I have about a cubic inch of space in the overcrowded fridge for my personal grocery.)

But really, I can't cook. I really have no desire to anyways. In truth, its less because of the typical American dependancy on fast food, or laziness, as it is because of my apathy towards the subject and the fact that I'd rather eat bread and cheese for a week straight than boil some water to fix a bowl of, what most definitely would be, mediocre (if not "hardly bearable") pasta. Not to mention my mere presence has been known to burn whatever happens to be in the oven or turn bland whatever is on the stove.
Unfortunately it is catching up to me and is manifested in spells of daydreams about even the most meager serving of chicken or chocolate. (its meat and sugars that are missing from my carbohydrate saturated diet.)
Its not been only once I've caught myself, or been caught by others, in a rather pathetic looking gaze and realize I'd slipped, once again, into an obsessive dream of anything but bread.

So, frugality can be expensive--dually noted.

Tomorrow Casey and I will be baby-sitting our new little friends, which is not only acceptable, but good. This is because, dear friend Kasey Musgrave will arrive in Oxford on friday morning, which means we will not be making an excursion this weekend... and I'm not sure that we won't be the only ones. Many people are leaving tomorrow for Wales, it's sad really. It forced me to serious introspection about how much I really love Kasey, because I do love Prince William.
This is of course, a joke. Though I am sad that I won't get to make the trip, I guess I'd say I'm excited to see Musgrave.
So, not only has our date tomorrow night been our saving grace when having to force Holland down to her bed while dramatically crying " but I wanna stay here and get some lovin with yooooou!!"
That's when I say, "How about thursday I'll come to your house and get some lovin with you."

I don't really know why they've taken to us as much as they have. I have always liked children, and enjoy holding and cooing over babies, but I've grown out of playing dance-monkey and overly enthusiastic baby voices to win the hearts of children.
In fact I have, in no way, catered to these girls, and they still love us. Thats not to say I don't enjoy their company... and I do allow free reign on our closet and jewelry box... which could be contradictory to the previous statements saying I haven't catered and they might have something to do with why they find their way up here daily. (perhaps they don't love me but my clothes)
Casey has admittedly said that she has no children in her life and may not know what to do with this... and to be honest sometimes watching her is funny, not because she is awkward or cold by any means to either of the girls, and loves them as much as I have come to, but the astonishment of their sudden, and flattering sentiments towards us can be seen in her raised eyebrows as they storm and bounce around the room and into Casey's personal space. (the kindergarten equivalent of "her bubble.") Not to mention going from no children to two blonde fireballs could be a system shocker.

I can't deny infatuation though, the pull of their love is strong.

Our band recorded our first cut of the demo of our first song to send in to Battle of the Bands. It's one Kara had in the works before the band was materialized. I am going to at some point either make a link or upload the song somehow. Because I know you all want to hear how naturally talented I am at the tambourine... be proud people.

be proud.

First day of classes.blah

2008-01-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

(at the moment I can't get any pictures on my blog. Hopefully I will come back and add some later.)

Classes are sort of important...but the most important event to note of (now 3 days ago) is that I am in a band. One of my oldest life goals is being fufilled- to play the tambourine in a band.
We don't have a name yet, but I figure its like a good tattoo, you don't look for it because it's looking for you and at the right time the two shall meet and bring joy to all the world. (I would like to go ahead and mention to that perfect name that I know is looking so hard for us, that we only have a few days so if you could search a little more frantically that would be splendid.)
I do know, however, that we are classifying ourselves a band in the "swamp rock" genre... (regardless of the fact that we are way too dynamic to be classified with a single genre. I mean come on, we have a tambourine.) Kara will be the Lead guitarist and vocals, Zac will be guitarist and vocals, and I will be... and this is not a joke... tambourine, could possibly be considered backup vocals and interpretive sway dancer.

... and you know what? I better not hear any talk of my vitality to the band... I am a serious asset. OK? Casey was considered the "dead-weight" of the band until we had the idea of band photos today... so I'm doing better than her. (sorry Casey, I have to put you down to build myself up.) So band photos are tomorrow we have some great ideas, I won't share until we really get it going but I feel like its going to be a real success.

We're entering a "Battle of the bands" at St. Aldates Church in Oxford. We fully expect to win and we will be receiving 300 GBP.-Zach is buying a rugby jersey and a real Oxfordian College Suit (embroidered crest and all) with his cut of the earnings, and so far Kara will be buying a futbol jersey, long sleeve... and I haven't made up my mind for certain but I think I will probably be attending a futbol match of an undetermined team or a trip to Morocco.
Anyways, this still isn't a joke and we expect to be taken seriously, even while we remain nameless. In fact I'm about to have to put my blogging on hold to attend closed band practice. (Immediate members only tonight.)

The only other really exciting thing from today was my "ninja death fall," that would have certainly led to imminent death had the huge man, and now HERO, Zach (band member) had not been there like a deeply rooted (and huge) tree to straight up CATCH me in his huge arms just before I began to plummet from 10 feet above the ground. (10 feet because i was standing on stairs above the ground that sloped downwards to the basement level but that was AFTER I slipped flew a few extra feet into the air, whiffed the side of Andy Perkins' face with my foot and THEN began my descent.)

I can act it out sometime if you're interested. It's really just a shame that no one caught it on camera because not only is it a good story but it really was as exciting and as potentially fatal as it sounds. I'd like to give repeated thanks to Zach for being huge and for his cat-like reflexes that led him to stick his arms out when I squeezed the fire out of his arm (because I was looking death in the face)... and a thanks to Andy Perkins who gave nary a flinch when I ninja-kicked an inch from his face... He only thought that he was done getting kicked in the face by girls falling and flailing from the sky after he was done with crash-crew our senior year. I gave him many an elbow to the face during cheerleading. thanks boys for doing what you do.

galavanting and fashion shows.

2008-01-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

I was just going to put up some pictures of the past few days since we've been here.

Mostly we've just wandered around through the middle part of town. We've done some grocery shopping and we went in a book store or two and this morning we had our first coffee shop experience. Casey plans to make it a once a week habit, only because we found out this coffee shop had free ice water. Apparently thats going to keep her going.
I won't lie, I bought a few things at the store we found called Primark. It's like a hyped up European version of Wal-mart clothing. If the clothes in there are low end, then I'm going to be walking around looking like an English Wal-mart... cause that stuff is CHEAP... and it is cheap so i didn't spend much. (had to get it out of my system and I needed a wallet to use instead of my mondo-travel wallet.)

Last night we spent some time with one of the professor's family. I was interrogated on my way up the stairs by Prof. Wiggin's 3 year old, Holland. So after I made them ask permisson, Holland and her 6 year old big sister Kennedy joined me and Casey. They really loved our home-made window seat and mimicking my comments about how "that is just SO CUTE." to each picture I snapped of them. After Holland found Casey's jewelry I was promptly told that Holland really thought I needed to show her a dress to wear. So I dressed them up, which meant we had to have a fashion show. We're scheduled for a tea party later this week. I'm really looking forward to it. I do love tea and scones... and crazy three year olds.

Love Charlie's world tour.

2008-01-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Love charlie and the Gadabouts is my band.

I don't really have a band. For some reason when I got my blog I had a discussion with Casey and decided that if I had a band, which I don't, I would name it that. (for multiple reasons, i guess if you're curious you can ask.) So that's the name of my blog.

After I got on the bus in Abilene my day and days after went much better than the few days before and up until we left. So if you were worried about me you can feel better. I'll admit I was a bit of a tyrant trying to get ready (If you think I'm being melodramatic ask my family or just anyone within a 5 mile radius of me.) I apologize.

I really did think that I made the wrong decision about going to Oxford and had almost decided that I should just throw my hands up, get off the bus and promise to pay my parents back for the wasted money with the jobs I was going to get during my new free time this semester. However, besides the small scare right at the first when I was the only one on the bus without a paper ticket in my hand and I was told I was supposed to have gotten my tickets from the agent in the mail, everything went smooth and I was reassured about my plans. (turned out they were E-tickets. silly me)

By the time we had made it to Baird one of the guys on the bus had already pulled out a bottle of sparkling apple cider and was passing out cups to the entire back half of the bus. By the time we made it to Putnam, he had managed to cover himself, the guy next to him, and the floor with sticky cider and we were all hurting from laughter but we did all have something to drink.

There were no problems at the airport, and even Casey made it smoothly (well... at DFW anyways) with no problems but her fear of airport staff. Casey was also pretty worried because she had the middle seat and I had the isle, and she repeatedly mentioned that she hoped it wasn't some weirdo. Well it wasn't. But it was a woman named Nanette who is now our best friend, and first good connection. Let's just say that we got about an hour of sleep that flight and the first 4 and a half hours were pretty much booked... and I know all about Nanette. But it's OK because we now have a two-page guide to Dublin, good connections, and a photography job when we get back.

Seemed like all I've talked about is Casey's fears but this one is necessary to note and she just feels insecure about airports (felt insecure, her fears were all conquered.) By the time we got our breakfast boxes Casey was already starting to panic about what we were supposed to say at Customs... and i wasn't really worried about it but I will admit they did a terrible job at orientation when it came to what we were actually supposed to say. They gave us a few ideas about what not to say and what we might, could, maybe, possibly, want to probably say, but very little about what would actually keep us from getting arrested. I wasn't worried about it mostly because I knew that we weren't doing anything wrong, and what's the worst that could happen? Interrogation? Being sent home? Most of which I believed wouldn't happen, and the others I'm too stubborn to care.
But Casey, Casey was worried. So we get in line and wait and I go first, even though we wouldn't end up in the same line, I went first to make her feel better. It's my turn and I get up to the desk hand him my passport and landing card, which I made sure Casey had open and in the proper order, had to answer more questions than they prepped for and had to pull out the letter they said we wouldn't need but I made it through... just in time to turn around and see Casey being pointed into the holding cell. At which point, being the terrible friend I am, I laughed hysterically, and between gasps of breathed tried to explain to the confused people in my group why that was so funny to me. I waited for at least ten minutes trying not to let Casey see me laugh every time I looked over. Nanette was angry, I wasn't sure she wasn't going to go get her out herself, and possibly take out the Customs officer who put her there. (and she is the type of lady who could, #1, and get away with it #2, See, really good connection.) I finally ended up going to get our luggage while Adrian Dennington waited for her... and it was still at least another 15 minutes. After she came down I was proud to see that she was no longer scared, but ticked off. Thats more like it. I really enjoyed seeing it, and hearing about how he demeaned her (and what we were doing), and the things she called him. Casey is becoming a cultured individual. We did agree that it was probably best that it was her not me who got detained, and that she's a better person because of it.
After the airport the bus ride to Oxford and everything else went smoothly.

I will say I've caught myself WAY too many times taking pictures of things because I know my mom will want to see. I'm supposed to be a college student. Anyways, things are going well. It took me long enough to get this post done that my next one will probably be about today, but I probably won't get it done till Sunday. I feel like thats just going to be how it works.

Now, on to those pictures for mother.

CoCo is not very happy with me for leaving.

Adrian and Daley waiting in DFW

Casey and Nanette

picture from the backseat of the bus in London

The bus ride to Oxford

overcast

Casey enjoying our new view (we got the best room in either house.)

this is what we see

whooohoo our rooom!

a view of the window again

front view of 10 Canterbury Rd Oxford, England.

2007-12-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

Its late and i have a stomach ache but blogspot bids me come.
That last post was not as good as it should have been (regarding the photos.) They're good but I became too anxious and uploaded the first few I did and we all know things get better with time...not to mention I came out with some portraits of grandiose proportion of both of my seniors. I should add more but at the moment I want to post some older photos with new edits. the close up picture of Casey floating is probably my favorite picture of Casey I've played with to date...but I'm tremendously fickle and its probably just the flavor of the week. (I have a plethora of Casey pictures to choose from)

call me weak

2007-11-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

I spent Sunday taking Christin's senior pictures..it took forever because we took it slow and just had fun. we ended our session when i decided to take a mud bath under the bridge that John painted for me..nothing like a little infectious water and a fool to end a senior session.
I really tried to restrain from posting any until I could get all of them finished..but theres alot and i am a weak creature and they just look so good!

2007-10-17T18:51:00.001-07:00

ten seconds to stop. play.

they're not so cool..but I had ten seconds.

2007-10-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

to be honest I feel like I'm drowning.
I like these pictures because thats what my day feels like...Its not some raging torrent that comes ripping through and pulls me under quickly, but more like an injection that slowly cripples movement from limb to torso until it seizes the vitals and

slowly I sink.

photos by casey rogers- http://www.caseylorelle.blogspot.com but i think these were my edits.

Milestones

2007-10-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my highschool art teacher, the aged take on a new light. Her expressive rants about the beauty in the new lines formed on the face as we age really set in with me and since then I've found myself drawn towards society's antiquated members. From figure drawing I understand and appreciate lines on the face, and have recently developed more of an obsession rather than an appreciation of the aged.
however, let us celebrate all the walks of life from the beginning to the end by juxtaposing the new with the old in equality and in tantamount affections..

[Jesse Charles Massingill-92, Colby Weston McBride-6 months.]

I choose to edit this one in a way that emphasizes the lines and aging in the face because i think the character of the lines adds character to the piece.

oh for the love...

2007-09-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ah, to all the devout fans of my blog and most specifically to Casey Lorelle (the only person who checks my blog) it brings me great joy to announce that the decision to try the same username and password that is to all of my accounts was a sucess and i have regained access to dearest Love charlie and the gadabouts.

a more interesting post in the future.

whooray.

safari close ups

2007-02-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Zambians

2007-02-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Edited Series of a Rocker

2007-02-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

the pretty faces that surround

2007-02-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

masquerade ballet

2007-02-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

adumbration of childlike whimsy

2007-02-16T14:11:00.000-08:00