i'm a tv junkie!

i'm back in ny after my trip to boston and new hampshire. i visited a friend in nh who 21 days ago delivered her first baby. i'll post pictures of the beautify baby dara brown when i get back to mom's house and have the ability to download.

but in the meantime, i'm hanging out at a friend's apartment in "the city." i'm so tired from visiting people and go, go, going that i can't stop watching tv. i think i'm a tv junkie in the making! yesterday i easily readopted my old addiction to the food network and today i've discovered the discovery channel. i watched a show on sharks because chris isn't around and now i'm watching the designer guys, or something like that.

i'll probably go through withdrawl again when i go home where there's no tv. but that's okay because my addiction is better off curtailed. otherwise i'd get nothing done.

bean town

boston9502_01,
originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

i was going to post a picture from the michael feldman show that i saw in trenton on saturday, but i couldn't get the photo to upload. so i'll skip posting about the show (which was fabulous!) and post about where i am now.

i'm in boston! got here at about 5:30 tonight and hung out with my friend theresa's husband until she got back from the lab (she's a phd student in neuroscience at mit! smart!). so anyways, i'm hanging out w/ her and some other friends in the boston area until wednesday. fun stuff.

i'm tired. goodnight.

michaelpalooza

michaelpalooza,
originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

so the whatd'ya know? michaelpalooza visit to my mother's house was a smashing success, in my humble opinion.

after months of planning on my parents' parts, about 15 folks from the npr radio show pulled into our driveway (well, into our street b/c the bus was WAY big) at about 1:15 yesterday afternoon. here is a picture of me talking with michael feldman, the host of the show (that's my mom's friend, sharon, next to me talking with jeff hammond, the show's bassist). michael, i guess, is the "biggest star" of the group for most people. but i ended up talking with the other folks more. not that michael wasn't nice, because he totally was. the whole crew was super nice and down to earth. i'll have more pictures posted at a later date, probably after i return from my trip in another week and a half. but i thought that inquiring minds might've wanted to know, so i posted this.

tomorrow is the radio broadcast from the war memorial in trenton, nj. so check out your local listings for times of the broadcast in your area, because i would imagine that they'll talk to us on air or at least mention the visit. also, check out their website for pictures, a blog about the road tour and live video from micheal. he took A LOT of video so i hope there will be some cool shots!

NY yaa!

so i'm in ny. arrived last night after a straight shot 1 1/2 hour flight. good deal; i'll never do connections again. but i sat next to the bathroom, so the whole flight was tainted with stank, who's essence tainted me for the rest of the night.

met up with a few friends for dinner. despite the good review by city search of el rey del sol, the dinner was a complete disaster. the server was a total idiot and ignored us the whole time and it took over an hour for us to get our food. i got the "vegitarian tomale plate." the first tomale was good but a bit cold. but the second tomale had some strange contraption of stretchy non-vegitable-like substance. i had no idea what it was but it looked like a sinewy piece of meat. so i brought it to the attention of the server who was not our server but took over our table in order for us to get our food (ever). he took my tomale with his hand (no plate) into the kitchen where the sinewy substance was declaired "cheese." because he carried it with his hand i didn't get the tomale back, but still paid $10 for the plate.

the company was great though! and the restaurant played good music.
and i'm still in ny!! wooohooo!

yeee dawgies!

yeee dawgies!,
originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

or should say yeee horsies?

the horse is rio and he's paula's. she and sean so graciously invited us to ride him, aka "sit on him while he walks," this morning.

all 4 of us took turns on this magnificent, albeit slow, steed and a fun time was had by all. perhaps with the exception of rio, who wanted to eat grass, not walk and pretend he was being ridden by either A) a cowboy or B) a rider of rohan (in both cases, that'd be chris).

the end

today was my last day helping at bantu hell--- i mean camp.

no really, i actually am going to miss the buggers. 2 kids grabbed my arm as they were loading the bus, wanting me to go home with them. i found myself responding, "no. i'd love to. but no. i cannot go home with you."

"i'd love to????" what's up with that?? but the truth is, i would love to have something to do with them again in the future. but no more bantu camp! i am done with that, thank God!!

SummerSPLASH day 3

day 3: no tears! today was actually a fairly good one. we had a long fieldtrip to the park. so the kids spent most of the day outside and doing unstructured activity. it was a nice break for them and for me! 2 days to go and eventhough the kids are rugrats and driving me crazy, i have started to really like them on an individual basis and will wish to have some sort of interaction with them after camp is over. oh and, bonus. i've started to develop a relationship with the 3 adults (a mom and 2 grandmoms) who help with the camp. they have been teaching me may-maay (their language) which we all really enjoy because it allows for some sort of exchange and communication.

bantu rugrats

day 2 of me working with SummerSPLASH, the summer program for the children of the somali bantu refugees relocated in columbia. i don't really know what to say except i honestly don't know if i have the ability to make it 3 more days. seriously, dude, day 2 ended with me on the couch in tears. i hate to write such negative things but it's the most understaffed, disorganized camp i've ever been associated with, and that's saying a lot b/c i've done a lot of camps and they're always chaotic and understaffed. so i'll just leave it at that.

somethings positive...the kids are totally gorgeous and beautiful. and they have a thirst for learning. in fact the only time they behave is when they're playing soccer, watching a movie, or doing schoolwork. i'm not kidding. try to play an organized game, utter chaos. do an art activity, mayhem. give them a pen and paper and once they trade pencils a million times to ensure they've gotten the best one, they're golden. and one final positive, i'm only doing this a week. so 3 more days to go. keep me in your prayers. (i'm not kidding. i (and all the staff) need it!)

baby brown

the miracle of life! gosh! maria is my first close friend from college to have a baby. check it out. dara eliana brown was born yesterday and she's perfect. it's amazing!

i love ny

i'm so excited for my friend paula. it's her first trip to ny! how fun! which reminds me that less than 2 weeks until my trip to ny! woohooo!

so now my vacation has evolved into a cleaning spree with lots of moving of furniture, re-moving of furniture and scrubbing of floors (on my knees!). i think i'm done, though, and everything looks pretty much the same as it did a few days ago. oh well, at least i found lots of dirt and pollen under the things that i moved and re-moved. that's satisfying to know that we're dust and pollen-free....for now.

tomorrow is a trip to atlanta to visit an aunt and my grandmom. saturday, work at the farm. and next week i'll be volunteering with a summer camp for the bantu refugees in columbia. i'm sure i'll have lots to write about that because it's going to be CRAZY.

vaca

as of 3:30 PM this afternoon i am officially on vacation! so far on vacation i gorged myself on mexican food and passed out on the couch. success!

kickball!

hey y'all! we have a kickball league in columbia! did anybody know this?

the other day a good friend of mine and i were discussing exercizing, and how we hate it. well, let me be clear, we were discussing how we hate the gym, not exercizing per se. and we started brainstorming ways to get better exercize without going to the gym. (this discussion took place while getting our exercize for the day working at an organic farm .) we talked about sports leagues and such, taking walks, all that sort of normal stuff.

so after a little clickaroo on the ol' web and finding zippo in the way of fun, interesting sports leagues, i had an idea. another friend of mine is a member of a kickball league in chicago and he always posts these fun pictures and they look like they have a great time. (plus his team, james brown celebrity hot tub party, is 4-0 this season!) so i started wondering, hey how could i start a kickball league in columbia? and whatd'ya know? columbia already HAS a kickball league! yet another reason why i love it here!

anybody wanna join?

the poison ivy continues

week2.2,
originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

so, we're well into week 2 of the poison ivy saga and this is what it looks like. again, this is just a small caption of the larger picture that is covering both my legs and arms. this picture was taken last night. the weeping has stopped only to be replaced (with a vengance!) by itching.

so i'm still taking oatmeal baths, still using ivarest and now i've resorted to taking steriods. (this from a person who hates taking an asprin when i have a headache!) but it all's seems to be doing the trick because even from last night to today i can see a big difference. so hopefully i won't be grossing everyone out much longer with my detailed pictures and descriptions:)

i weep

poison ivy,
originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

i have been weepy all weekend. not weepy as in crying weepy, of course. weepy as in wounds constantly dripping yellowish substance. i couldn't resist passing along this lovely snapshot. i know, it's gross. but hey, if i have to live with it, i must share!

when looking at this picture please keep in mind that this is just one section of my legs and the poison ivy is spread from my thighs to my ankles and from my wrists to my elbows. no matter how bad this is though, at least it's not on my face and in my elbow and leg pits, because that really sucks!

but anyways, it's running its course fairly quickly with the help of several oatmeal baths daily and regular applications of calamine, hydrocortisone and ivarest. i'm hoping that the weepiness will stop tonight and it'll really start to dry out tomorrow.

poison ivy

poison ivy sucks! not that i didn't know that before. but i have caught probably one of the worst cases of poison ivy i've ever had. it's even worse than when i had it from pulling poionwood and brasilian pepper from the everglades. this time around it's from trimming the hedges at chris's grandmom's house. lesson: old ladies' houses are far more dangerous than swamps with allegators and snakes. watch out!

in mississippi

so chris and i drove 10 hours last night from south carolina to mississippi. a fairly good trip until the last few hours when we got really tired at about midnight and had to resort to making telephone calls and listening/singing along to bad music to stay awake. but it worked because we got here okay.

this is like a bonus vacation for me. i mean, i am legitimately taking sick time for "family illness"-type stuff. but it sure doesn't feel like sick time. so far i've slept in, eaten out 3 times, took a nap, sat on the porch swing in the nice weather, played on a ladder, and jumped on a trampoline! ain't too shabby! this beats work anyday!

more turtle racing

so apparently turtle racing is not just a south carolina thing. check it out!

my sister's birthday

yip yip yeeeeeeeeee! happy birthday rachel!

a thread of grace

just finished a new novel by one of my favorite authors, mary doria russell. she wrote the sparrow and it's sequel, children of god. her newest book, a thread of grace, was just as excellent a read as her other books. russell has a knack for tackling unanswerable questions about faith, good vs. evil and the meaning on "good" intentions. though i'm never quite sure if she answers the unanswerable, her books are always food for thought and fodder for questions about the meaning of life. a thread of grace is a definite read if you have the time. (it only took me a week so it's not that much time. now you have no excuse, read it!)

published!

published!
Originally uploaded by Waldie's World.

my brother's first published hardcopy book came out april 30th! (he's published books on the web previously.) it's a sweet fairytale about a love story between a young widow and a frenchman. SIKE! it's some technology woooha. don't ask me. all's i know is, he be's smart. and (and i know this is harsh) he beat my mom to publishing--and she's a writer! dag ben, why you gotta be like that!? insensitive jerk!