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Brighton and London, 12 – 20 May 2003

I took off for 10 days to visit my friend Mary in Brighton, UK.

The photos include a 100 ft inflatable sculpture of a cube-headed Pinocchio in black, courtesy of American artist Paul McCarthy, now on exhibit at the Tate Modern, as well as various city images and a somewhat abandoned building that my friend Sherry’s friends are converting to artist spaces. Thank you to Iain and Storme for accommodation at their beautiful flat in Bounds Green! Not present, but viewable elsewhere on this site, are those pictures of the condoms from Nasty Nip.

A series of stills from a train ride from Brighton to London:

Sometimes British English to American English gets lost in translation, like for instance, pork products. Of course, this is to bind into a bundle, but I’ve only heard that with sticks or cigarettes. Pork bundles?

“Hundreds of families entered the nationwide search, resulting in a nail-biting final. The Doody family from Dudley, Wolverhampton beat off stiff competition to take their place as The Faces of Mr Brain’s Faggots.”
from Hibernia Foods’ Mr. Brain’s website

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Frequent Flyer Reponsibility

Najuma made a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility. I think her and I have different approaches towards the same goal. Perhaps they can supplement each other – who knows? I’m beginning to see the tremendous potential of what I can accomplish.We left early today from class, because the guest instructor had appendicitis (!). Sanjai brought lunch for all of us, and we played a CD Robin made for our cohort. Galen and Sanjai made plans for this coming Saturday, and I just purchased a ticket (from Portland, since I’ll be there the night before) and stay through Monday. I really should just move down here now – this can get expensive. Thank God for frequent flyer miles. They help, if only a little bit.

“So, I was in San Francisco, and I was lost and everytime I asked for directions, people didn’t know where the street was, or they gave me wrong directions. And then a police car pulls over next to me and asks me if I was lost, and I said ‘yes’, and he said where do you need to go, and when I told him, he said that it was too far to walk, and he said he could give me a lift in the squad car.

As we’re riding in the squad car, he says he has to make a stop, and it turns out he’s picking up some trading cards at another precinct. They’re cop trading cards, and all the cops collect them. He goes inside the police station, but before he goes in, he asks me to hold his gun. I was really uncomfortable with that, but I did it anyway. Such a friendly city.”
Overheard

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The thesis presentation

Today was the big day. It’s all about thesis presentations in class. Marshall talked about transitional life programs for parolees – that must be inspiring work. Joe Lucas wowed us with a vibrant reading of an excerpt of his life – it was well acted and well, I had no idea about his past and his addictions. He’s come a long way. I wouldn’t have recognized him then, I suppose. Gerald talked about ‘The Pocket Anger Manager” and the cycles of depression and anger that perpetuate themselves. He has inside his head a vast storehouse of inspirational knowledge. I’m happy to know him, and now that he has a working email address, able to talk to him in the future.Man, I was nervous. I’m not usually nervous in front of a crowd, but then I’m only singing most of the time. I think because it’s a cohort of people I know really well, I know I wouldn’t be able to bullshit any of them. I kept thinking about anything that could go wrong – the Powerbook getting water all over it, the connection to the TV not working, fumbling around, boring people.

It went off without a hitch. At one point I must have been getting Someone’s attention, because thunder rumbled as I was playing a clip from the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign. I think people were initially turned off by the politically incorrect nature of the ads, but I needed only to remind them that they weren’t the target demographic – that I was working outside the left’s bubble to accomplish this. I took 40 of the 45 minutes, with 5 minutes for questions – so much for not filling up the time available.

One more day of a weekend class, until this fall. One more paper to turn in. I’m going to miss my cohort.

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Bonzai Karaoke

My thesis presentation is ready. A great cloud has lifted. Only a couple of minor website designs and a scientific reasoning paper remain. Hooah!I celebrated with Kimmay and his ex-girlfriend Jennifer, and tonight at Molly Maguire’s, we played “Bonzai Karaoke”. That means that Jennifer made all of the requests, and Kimmay and I had no idea what she would request for us. They just had to be songs that weren’t obscure, and songs we had never sung before, so as a result, I got to sing “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” by Mac Davis, and “Father Figure” by George Michael. Kimmay and I did an “All in the Family” duet – I got to be Edith this time.

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Smoking ban smoked

Wow. They’re tearing down statues of Saddam Hussein. I wonder how this will affect the protest movement. I learned today that the non-smoking ban bill in the State House was killed. Yuck. I hate cigarettes. I can’t wait to sing in San Francisco again, and keep my lungs free.

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Cleanse ends at Galerias

I’ve entered the sixth day of my cleanse, and it’s been difficult. I just sent in my checks to the IRS and my accountant, so a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m thinking of ending the cleanse this evening and having a nice dinner – I don’t know why, maybe it’s the pressure of finishing up all homework this week, but my mind is not in the place it was in early January, when a lot more is at stake. My weight has leveled off at a nice 180-181. Still, who knows how I’ll feel later tonight… I mean, it’s only one more day of a seven-day cleanse. Shouldn’t that be easy to do?Dinner at Galerias with Kimmay. Food never tasted so good.

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Crunching on Day 4

Crunch time. I have some serious work to do this week – I’m on Day 4 of another cleanse, and keeping any war news on TV and radio off, and just skimming the BBC to get updates. It’s healthier that way.

I saw my friend, Julie Cascioppo, perform at the Sorrento Hotel in a cabaret act tonight. It was decidedly mellow, as the Sorrento has a conservative clientele. It’s a beautiful space, and reminds me of what older cities take for granted in terms of architecture. Julie wowed the crowd with her sultry jazz numbers, and as it was her inaugural show at the Sorrento, she brought an entourage of friends and acquaintances. I admire her, as she really struggles for her art, and does what she can to be an artist and improve herself, without selling out.

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Media blackout

After watching some computer-animated CNN tanks heading towards a bridge in Sim City perspective, I’m imposing a media blackout on myself, except for the BBC and Democracy Now – it’s so easy to get caught up in the coverage. Today, while doing homework, I used C-SPAN as white noise as the House debated the Homeland Security budget. Dennis Kucinich and Nancy Pelosi made some passionate arguments (Dennis went so far as to attempt to add an amendment that would call the troops back home and only pay for the cost of the war so far, about $40 billion!). It’s scary to think how seriously people take Fox News – they’re taking what I believe to be a minority viewpoint in this country and lighting a flame underneath it.

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Crappy and gray

Getting back into a cleanse again seems to be a no-brainer, although I didn’t wake up until 10am today. It’s a crappy and gray, cold day – perfect for isolation, eating raw organic fruits and vegetables, and getting down to business and finishing up this thesis. And then there’s the Stephen Hawking paper – I love his plain language, filled with dry humor.