All posts by Harry Underwood

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About Harry Underwood

Website designer, blogger. Columbus, GA. #LGBT #p2 #wordpress

A tribute to NWI

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Tonight, I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m emotional as hell.

NWI, or Newsworld International, probably the only reason for why we (me and my Mom) continue to keep Directv, is signing off as of 12:00 am tonight.

I found out a month or two ago the fate of this network. Al Gore (yes, the former VP) heads the group which bought NWI last year. Unfortunately, the group decided not to renew NWI’s contract, and decided to replace it with its own news channel, Current.tv. Its a news network which, expressly, will dedicate most of its content to the 18-to-34-year-old audience in the United States. Personally, considering that this is the same group to which is dedicated most of the content on the MTV Networks (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, BET, etc.), I would like to designate this demographic as the D.F. (dumbf**k)…hold…hold on a minute….

(goes to the television, does a long salute to the TV as all of the NWI staff make their last and final goodbyes to their American and Caribbean audiences)

(TV goes black………..then a show called Google Current comes on the air, with an MTV-like interface…..)

(I turn off the TV….possibly for good….the room is dark, save for the computer screen)

*sniff*

Sorry…..I’m…just feeling crappy right now.

Its over.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just witnessed the (possible) death of the best news channel on US cable/Satellite television.

I have just witnessed the demise of an era, and I am gladdened to have seen it to the very end of this network.

And the end of good American television.

*huh*…….I wonder if this is what death feels like.

I mean, shit, this is the same thing that happened to TechTV! When f**king Comcast decided to replace a good, solid and diverse TV network for those who happen to focus on things of a generally electronic nature with a sorry excuse of a channel for videogamers, I was deeply outraged, as were millions of other viewers.

I missed Unscrewed with Martin Sargent and Laura Swisher (which covered, in its own way, the 2003 recall election with such guest candidates as cult-figure/child actor Gary Coleman, porn film director Lorraine Fontaine, well-endowed adult film actress Mary Cook, and Mary Jane advocate Bruce Martin Margolin), The Screen Savers with Patrick Norton and Leo Laporte (who now hosts Call for Help on G4TechTV in Canada while operating a now-popular podcast, This Week in Tech), Eye Drops, Call for Help, TechLive, and several other programs which were as diverse in content as most shows on US televsion *aren’t* these days. F**k Comcast forever!!!

*ahem*

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Its hard to say goodbye to something which has become a part of your personal life for sometime within its 11-year tenure on American television. I couldn’t find an alternative elsewhere on US television, not with CNN, and *HELL NO* with Fox News.

NWI, during its existence, became a provision of fresh air in a nation(s) which is chock-full of sterile, biased, redundant news “coverage” which only benefits those who are in power, be it economically, politically, or socially. It based its news coverage upon a concept which has been dead on US and Caribbean television for over a decade by now, and now only exists on the Internet and Internet-based networks: “contextual journalism”.

This approach took each story in its rawest, most complex form and simply translated it into basic English (and not just within the language context, either). It never blew anything out of proportion, and it gave to the audience the least-biased telescope on the story. It broke the story down in order for it to be at least partially digestable for the common viewer, and it gave the viewer the exclusive right to taste the story for his or herself.

This approach, as different as it was from average American-made news television, had made NWI both a valuable cultural asset for Canada’s news media and an eye-of-the-storm type of asset for the US’ news media. Thus, with the departure of NWI from the scene, Canada has lost its best-possible connection to the U.S. and its citizens, while the U.S. has just witnessed the full and final passing of exceptionally-approachable, exceptionally-simple, exceptionally-intelligent news coverage from television, save for maybe PBS, which has a minimal news service of its own, but nothing that could replace NWI in its coverage of the events which have, more or less, affected us Earthlings, no matter where we may be (even the Discovery shuttle mission) for over 11 years.

I will miss Bill Cunningham, Sandra Lewis (who hosted the last broadcast), Ron Izawa, Chris Henry, Terry Glecoff, Nerene Virgin, Karen Hawryluk, Helen Mann (who hosted the very first broadcast), Henry Champ, Jordan Kerbel, and several others whose names escape me at the moment, and I will miss them all sorely.

However, as this is the month of August, which is known in the US as the “television debut month”, and given that US/American-controlled-or-sponsored media is becoming increasingly too sterile, pasty, and polarized for the tastes of many Western Hemisphereans, there are what former British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan called “winds of change” on the horizon of international media.

Next year, Al-Jazeera (the reincarnation of BBC’s Middle Eastern division), the famous news network which has brought Arab-centered news to most of the Middle East and has gained notoriety in the West for claiming first dibs on Osama Bin Laden videotapes, will break ranks with other Middle Eastern newscasters and become the first of them to bring Arab news to the West, particularly the United States (FCC permitting and Nielsen allowing, of course) and Canada (CRTC permitting as well), in English. Well this is going to be interesting, lol.

Furthermore, Telesur, which has been described as “the Latin American Al-Jazeera” and is jointly-sponsored by Venezuela, Cuba, Uruguay, and Argentina, first broadcasted its television signals last Sunday. Currently, being headquartered in Caracas, it has news bureaus in Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil (which also has its own similar Portuguese-language venture, TV Brasil International), but NBs in Argentina, Cuba, Mexico City, and Washington D.C. are in the works as we speak. By the time that it is fully operational, it will be available not only to Latin America, but also to the U.S., the E.U., and North Africa via sattelite.

You know that the folks on the Hill are having a field day with this one. And its possible that maybe NWI’s demise was timely in these regards to change in the structure of world, and US, news media.

Japan is making its presence known through its now-rather-popular-in-a-cultish-way exports to the West, particularly in anime, manga, j-pop (and the succeeding waves of k-pop and c-pop which have followed), and in the most recent game show phenomena, such as Takeshi’s Castle (known to the US as MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) and Hey! Spring of Trivia. With the offering of NHK’s Newswatch and What’s On Japan via NWI, it has probably made some inroads into American news viewers’ television sets. Thus, with the axeing of NWI upon a butcher block of greenbacks, NHK may evaluate its impact upon America, and, if all goes well, will widen its English-language horizons in a similar manner as that of CCTV, China’s state television network, to the point that it may offer its own English-language network on a full-time basis, be it through cable/satellite (with their foreign language packs and all) or, even better, on the Internet with streaming video (.asx may be preffered in that wise), since, of course, it also has Radio Japan, which broadcasts online live via Real Player. Furthermore, ITV News in Britain may have to do something of the same in order to increase its American audience and compete with BBC World. Its newscasts are extremely popular in Great Britain and, thanks to NWI, the United States as well; plus, whenever they present a graph or diagram in order to demonstrate the issue at hand in graphical terms, I’ll say that the effects are sometimes close to hilarious (particularly, if at no other time, the April general election for Parliament. 3-D graphics galore!!!).

Meanwhile CCTV (Beijing), DW-TV (Berlin), and, of course, CBC (Toronto) needn’t worry that much about their American audience: both of the formers already have their own 24-hour live streams on the web, while the latter has updated Hourly Newscasts from CBC Newsworld, plus Canada Now (which is also featured, with local variations, on the local divisions of the CBC web domain, but was never shown on NWI for some reason) and the ever-famous National with Peter Mansbridge (who, in most American viewers’ opinions, was the best alternative to Tom Brokaw, who is friends with Peter and was featured on CBC’s coverage of the elections last year). CBC may, in the light of NWI’s demise, expand its online newscasting to include the rest of CBC Newsworld’s original programming in order to accomodate American viewers. Furthermore, DW-TV’s broadcasts and documentaries are still being shown on LinkTV, which may be the last-ever bastion of community-based news and information programming on U.S. television (LinkTV also has Mosaic, a Peabody Award-winning newscast which showcases segments of daily newscasts from several independent or state-owned broadcasters in the Middle East, so you might want to check that out), while CCTV has a few Mandarin-speaking channels on most international packages for American cable/satellite.

However, nothing will be able to replace NWI by itself, since I was particularly fond of Bill Cunningham’s Special Assignment (he’s retiring this year, as well as the CBC’s Washington correspondent David Halton). I’m going to miss it’s presence on TV, and I may not turn on the TV anymore (Mom doesn’t watch TV at all, though, so its no loss on her part). Life after today isn’t going to be the same as it was before. As things have changed in this manner, it seems like, while it is necessary to move on from that which is past to that which is new or has already become an alternative, its rather hard for me to look at the world in the same way as I used to. Change, for the most part, is always like that to anyone who is easily sentimental or nostalgic. It nags and even rips at your soul, as merciless as it is. However, it is still necessary to allow such changes in order to become better people.

Yet and still, though, I do hope that Newsworld International can return to the U.S. and Caribbean, as negotiations with other cable/sat providers are still pending at this moment (as the Exec. Pro. himself explained on the last broadcast). Who knows? It may happen eventually.

But for now, as Ron Izawa always put it at the end of World Watch, “Thanks for Watching”.

The Torn-Down Soul

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Ever know of the immediate frustration to your nervous and audial systems which are caused by running your nails (if you have any) across a chalkboard?

Ever encountered slower-than-usual traffic jamming, although you may be more than personally familiar with any length of what Lagos, Nigeria natives call “go-slows”, even for your own good? Couple that with the fact that you are already late, by the way.

Or, let’s find something that is more immediate: does your computer, despite its apparent functionality and speed, slow down to a halt because of that one program that you are using? Say, Firefox, which, after using the tabbed browsing feature a bit too much, can become the dominating process of the computer, with a tendency to jump from 40,000 to as much as 200,000 K in only a couple of minutes.

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My point?

Well, when it comes to such slow, tedious grinds, I find such to be damn near unbearable.

Obviously, I don’t have patience. Of ANY kind.

I don’t have patience with anybody or anything. For any reason whatsoever.

Why? Because then, I feel a sense of denial of that which I feel has been granted to me (even when it wasn’t). That thing which I take for granted, that which I only consider for its usefulness in the present situation, that which is so present that it is always available to my disposal.

I hate it when all such has been denied me of its presence or functionality.

Or worth.

And when it has been consistently denied me again and again, I throw it away. I flatly refuse to waste my time with it.

I may return to it in the future and try it again, but then again, who knows?

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Today, my room is filled with the corpses of such things which I’ve used, misused, or abused, all of which only to abandon at one time or another because of my dissatisfaction with any or all of them.

It’s with them in plain view and hindsight that I sleep at night in my bed.

I wake up in the morning to their presence in the corners of my bedroom, waiting for me to try them again.

However, I refuse. At present, I have other things, fascinations, and addictions to spend….only to abandon them again.

I’m such a gold digger. I am such a whore.

I am such a dilapidated old house.

I am such a torn-down soul.

Volcano

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I’ll be honest….as honest as I possibly can….

I can no longer reconcile myself with what I’ve become. Therefore, I hate the both of them.

Truly, I do.

I’m trying to come to grips with the fact that, except for only a few instances, I have been nothing but a bodiless ghost, a specter of an unborn child which should have grown up to have become the image of my personal archetype.

I mean, what am I to you?

Or better yet, what are ye to me?

Ye all are like gods, the lords of heaven, earth, AND hell, to myself. Ye all are able, with the least possible effort, to create the worlds in which I would desire to live; ye all are able and willing to do the things which I cannot.

Ye all, I hold in the utmost regard, higher than even the greatest amongst the politicians and leaders of the earth. They hold no value in comparison to the likes of you all in mine eyes.

Whenever I cnoverse with any of you, I am exceedingly fearful and timid concerning what to say, how to say it, why I should say it at all, and all such other concerns.

I would never try to aggravate any of you in any sense of the word, as I would fear the sense of loss which would accompany your departure. Never demanding, never annoying, never the harbinger of any vice toward yourselves.

Ye are the artists of DeviantArt.

Ye all are the epitome of that which I, because of my shortcomings, cannot even hope to become.

I am only a lowly writer, who can only compose mere sentences into simple, written form.

I am only a lowly orator, who can only rattle off long compositions of words with the simplest of meanings.

I am only a lowly thinker, who can only rationalize his way down a long, lonely path into the darkest of darknesses.

I am nothing compared to any of you.

A day without an American gun

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Originally posted here.

Latin America, which consists of all of the former American colonies of Spain, France (sans Quebec and the Mississippi Basin), and Portugal, is a region which is steeped in history and tradition, alot of which extends beyond the reach of Columbus and his “discovery” of the Americas.

However, ever since most of these countries gained their political independence back during the 1800’s, this region has also been steeped in a mire of political and military tradition and intrigue. Guns and armaments of all possible kinds have been in almost perpetually-abundant supply and distribution for almost 2 centuries in this geopolitical region. Battles, skirmishes, crackdowns, massacres, and bloodbaths all form an integral and permanent part of this region’s historical and political constitution.

Thus, it comes as no surprise to many of us when the United States becomes involved. American arms, American training, American funding, American support, American everything-that-has-anything-to-deal-with-the-military: its all too commonplace in this region. Sure, the degree of U.S. involvement in any Latin American conflict may vary, depending of the size of that nation’s (or, for that matter, that insurgency’s) military. And usually, the side that is taken by the U.S. and its agents in that particular nation is usually avowedly politically conservative, economically bourgeois, and socially elitist.

In the midst of this perennial conflict, of course, the lives of innocent men, women, and children are bloodily sacrificed. People who wish that their livelihoods, families, and communities had no part, or played no role, in this conflict are among the first ones who are maimed, scarred, robbed, or murdered….

All for the sake of politics, economics, and history, three things over which these people have no control, three things by which these people are taken over.

Haiti can serve as a prime example of this: the coup which toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his government was backed/operated/conducted by the Miami-based Group of 184, a coalition of archconservative bourgeoisie of Haitian ancestry which had explicitly strong ties to both the Duvalier dictatorship and the former Haitian Army, which had been abolished by Aristide. Furthermore, it was supported by former members of the Tonton Macoutes and attaches who had overthrown Aristide back in 1991, the leaders of which received their military training at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, near Columbus, GA.

In fact, let’s go further on Haiti: the leader of the Group of 184, Andre Apaid Jr., is a U.S.-born businessman who owns several sweatshops in Haiti; is a longtime opponent to Aristide; had ties to the Duvalier dictatorship and the former Haitian Army; and is known for stepping up his own personal vendetta against Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party after Aristide not only imposed a national income tax, but also raised the minimum wage to US$1.50.

“It all begins with HDP’s director James Morrell, who was asked to leave the Center for International Policy (CIP), a “liberal” think-tank founded by former US Ambassador to El Salvador Robert White. The rumor on the Hill was that Morrell was forced out because of his open flirtations with Haitian right-wingers. This seems to be supported by HDP’s partnering with the right-wing Boulos family and the most reactionary elements of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce. The pedigree of this pack of interventionists can be gleaned from its guest list the night it was founded in Washington D.C.

There were notable Haitians in attendance at the Haiti Democracy Project’s grand opening held in the Brookings Institute on November 19, 2002. Among them was founding member Rudolph Boulos. Boulos is infamous for once being summoned for questioning in February 2002 concerning the assassination of one of Haiti’s most popular journalists, Jean Dominique. Dominique publicly lambasted Boulos for having sold poisoned children’s cough syrup through his company Pharval Pharmaceuticals. Over sixty children died from diethyl alcohol contamination of “Afrebril and Valodon” syrups, the deadly concoction brewed in Boulos private laboratories.”

(Quotation from The Bush Administration’s Endgame for Haiti: Part 3 of a Series by Kevin Pina, The Black Commentator, Dec. 4, 2003, Issue 67)

Thus, Haiti’s is, for lack of a better description, a case of jumping from a frying pan under Jean-Bertrand Aristide into the fire itself under the Group of 184.

Sadly, this has been the case throughout Latin America for over 100 years since the U.S. began to expand its military muscles in Latin America, particularly during the Spanish-American War.

So what, exactly, is to be done to ameliorate this utter contradiction of U.S. “values” in foreign policy?

Well, the beginning of such seems to be easy: just take the militaries of Latin America out of the picture.

The U.S., since the Civil War, has shown an inclination toward perpetually-bellicose tendencies and language (especially with the Bush administration’s rhetoric), something which has only exacerbated most political conflicts on an international scale. No wonder the U.S. had 9/11!

One of those tendencies of the U.S. foreign policy is to make the military the primary (and, too often, the predominant) factor in dealing with any country or anti-government movement whatsoever. This involved the U.S. in Afghanistan back in 1980 (with the deja vu in 2001-02); in Iraq back in the 1960’s and 1980’s (and again in the 1990’s and 2000’s); in Iran during the Iran-contra affair of the Reagan administration; in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Missile Crisis; in the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship; in Vietnam, which is self-explanatory; in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic back in 1915; in China during the Boxer Rebellion (China, today, seems to still be pissed about that sting in its ass); in Uzbekistan in the midst of the developing opposition against the post-Soviet dictatorship there; in Angola during its civil war (which pulled in several characters, such as South Africa (apartheid-era), Cuba, the USSR, Zaire (now the DRC), and present-day Namibia); and various other, innumerable conflicts.

Its amazing, though, that the U.S. government, throughout all of that time, can still manage to talk through its teeth and still condone/support this behavior.

Now let’s see what happens to U.S. influence when these same countries abolish their own armies.

Let’s see what happens to the U.S. hand in Haitian affairs when the country has finally rid itself of its army and strong millitary tradition.

Let’s see what happens when we all realize that Lady Liberty is simply a gold digging broad who is out for the blood and money, and that the U.S. is only out for all the arms in the world.

Subscription

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:flagcanada: ‘Sup folks.

Congrats to Paul Martin’s minority government on surviving a full year of controversy, Conservative pressure, and making history on Parliament Hill. Last night was a historical night for Canada. :flagcanada:
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Tonight, I have just issued my first-ever one-year subscription to DeviantArt, right after submitting a new editorial, which I’m demanding that everyone reads and comments on.

Lucky Me….

Well, I just took my OU math placement yesterday; turns out that I’m qualified for no advanced classes within the math arena, so I’ll have to take General Algebra (Math 099).

Told you all that I hated math.

Also, I’ll be heading to Connie’s place at Fort Benning this Sunday, since its her b-day (her 35th, methinks). What a coincedence: my Army sis’ b-day lies next door to the 4th of July (which, I hope, I won’t be celebrating….nah, I’ll probably be sitting on the comp, watching CBC and stuff as usual).

Oh, and to top it all off, as a byproduct of my overly-passionate political bent, I asked Mom about putting up a hit-list of the Group of 184, which is running the government down there in Haiti, but is based almost heavily in Miami (among other places).

Obviously, she said no.

*sigh*

A bag of pure, non-laced pot sure sounds nice right now…

Peace.

Wonder Showzen: What the f$%k?!

Featured artist of the week: :icontintoraneko:

Haitian-American, does a great manga, did my DevID.

“Creole maiden for company”….

Long after the thrill is gone

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I was listening to NPR the other day, while driving home from Macon. They were interviewing this one psychologist on her views about creativity and how one is supposed to react when his or her creativity has ran down to the point of nil.

She explained that, for her own personal example, one day a few years ago, she was minding her own business when all of a sudden, she had an urge to write a book. She followed that urge, and she even turned out a few books within the next four months. However, four months later, the urge that had entered her left as quickly as it came. At that point, she realized that, despite those books which she had written over that period of time, she wasn’t really a writer.

She was just someone who wrote a few books, that’s all.

When listening to that interview, I suddenly felt my heart drop like the hood of my Mom’s Daewoo. My thoughts ran back to my site at DA, my blog at LJ, my internet presence in its entirety.

Some of you who have remained here since early last year may be familiar with the small quantity of submission that I turned (or, shall I say, eked) out during the spring and summer. Come fall and winter, however, it was like I didn’t really care as much about this site as I did about others, like Livejournal, yahoo groups, and numerous others.

And now I come back from exile with an epiphany…..of sorts.

I realize now that, just because I wrote several essays and tried my hardest-possible hand at drawing stuff that I thought up in my head, doesn’t mean that I’m actually a writer, or artist. I’m not either, as I do not walk these paths as regularly as I should, neither am I known exclusively for my writing.

However, I want to be that and a whole lot more.

I want to be a writer, an artist, a computer programmer, a collegiate student, all of that and more. And I want to pursue them all on a regular basis.

Why?

Because humans are drawn, naturally, toward those who show some sort of longevity or spectrum: those who can do what they do and continue with that long after even the very initial reason for their existence has expired: those who, through their one or more professions, can show almost every possible aspect, detail, or facet of their life, even through a facade.

So yeah, I’ve decided to come back to writing and drawing stuff for this site at DA. And this time, I’m not going on any self-imposed hiatus just because I don’t feel like writing or drawing.

Nope, I’m going to continue onward, no matter how much push, pull, or shove that I may hold within me.

Because I want to continue walking this path long after the thrill is gone….

Life in the Twilight

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School of the Americas Watch

This is significant to me because Fort Benning is, of course, where Connie is stationed. But anyway….
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How’ve things been going for you all? Fine and dandy, I hope.

Well, Connie has finally gotten the house and kids squared away at Fort Benning; Wanda’s moved in with Connie; and I’m just sitting here, as usual, trying to deal with life without the kids, Wanda, or Connie. Nowadays, I’ll sleep all day, wake up with an ache in my torso and abdomen (possibly because I slept on my side without a pillow underneath the diaphragm), go on the computer, and stay on it all day, doing nothing on it except readjusting the computer, the internet settings (gee, I sure wish Firefox were the only browser that I’d ever have to deal with and that every possible program were compatible with it!), and email stuff.

Some guy named “kinghypnosis” (his YIM ID) continues to pester me with questions like “Can you hypnotize me master sir commander friend?” (he ALWAYS uses those four last words at the end of every sentence, and always uses these EXTREMELY LARGE FONTS), even when I’m feeling like “OK, now I don’t feel OK right now, and this guy continues to nag the hell out of me”. I’ve told him millions of times before that 1. I don’t know how to hypnotize people, and 2. I don’t want to hypnotize him (he’s a fundamentalist Christian who thinks that he’s been hypnotized by Jesus).

But anyway, I’m still getting myself ready for college; I’m getting ready to send my immunization records and related documents to the University. I’ve already secured my room and board, as well as a spot at the orientation on July 15.

So I guess that, in a way, these days at home are my days in the twilight. After this period, I can bid something of a final farewell to my life in Warner Robins, the life which I have led since 1992. Many things with which I have been strongly familiar and attached have entered into, departed from my life (and, even worse, from this plane of existence) in the process. I’ve gotten used to it, although not completely. In a way, I feel bitter about that sense of loss which accompanies the departure of things which have come into and become part of my life, so much so that I’d take them for granted.

I feel even worse about this tendency to not update things which I’ve started upon, especially online. My site at DeviantArt, Livejournal, IM buddies, all of them. And when these things are gone, and I realize it months afterward, its like I’ve missed something, an opportunity of sorts. Even websites which I’ve never heard of, but now miss because I’m sure that I could’ve encountered them at an earlier date.

And yet, I have to let go, relinquish that piece of history which I hold in my hand and my heart, and I move on. Why? Because if I act upon that feeling, the sense of loss and guilt which accompanies the passing of something which you either took for granted or simply didn’t know about to actually care, I may end up as something which I don’t ncessarily want to be.

Its a sad feeling, I tell you. A sad feeling….

Days of the twilight

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Well, its looks quiet over here…

Just wanted to let you all know that I’m cleaning up the site.

Obviously, I haven’t been here in quite a long time, which is because, really, I don’t know about my future direction here at DA. I’m compelled to leave it as is because this is where I started out as far as writing opinion essays (and, for a short while, doing my own art).

However, as this one psychologist on NPR put it, in one minute, you can have an innate drive to write books like crazy, continue for several months, and then, the next minute, that drive can all but disappear; that doesn’t necessarily make you a writer.

I discussed this a few weeks ago with Black-rat, who told me that, if I’m going to know how to draw, I’m going to have to practice as hard and long as I can, even after the drive has dwindled down to nil; otherwise, if I’m not serious about it, then it would have been better for me to not have tried at all.

So, in that case, I’m sorely hoping that my college roomate is an (furry or anime) artist, which brings me to another thing:

I’m going to college at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

I’ve already secured everything except for the immunization documents, after which I’ll be copletely ready for the orientation on July 15.

So if there are any Oglethorpe people at DA, I hope to meet you there in August.

Oh yeah, and a few weeks ago, we came back from the trip to Europe. It was great; we stayed in Wuerzburg for the most part, but we also went on a tour of inner-city Paris, which was fantastic.

Plus, Connie (the one in the Army) has finally moved back to Georgia (FOR GOOD!), but this time its Fort Benning in Columbus. She’s just secured her house, and Wanda (the one from Macon) has just moved in with her, since she’s looking for a job and house in the city area.

Thus, for the first time since late 2003, I finally have the whole house to myself (and Mom).

Just wanted to update you on what’s been happening with me, in case you are so lazy that you don’t even have the decency to visit my LJ blog!

To end this entry, it is possible that I may end up returning to DA and, if possible, take up art and writing once again, like the good old days of early last year. That is, if I can get that drive back when I start college.

Look for me in Atlanta!!!

I’m back, and things are as ugly as ever

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Well, we came back from Europe on Thursday, although our flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta was delayed for a few hours (Connie and her boys came to Atlanta on a separate, nonstop Delta flight). After we got to Atlanta, my oldest sister (the one who lives in Macon) picked us up and dropped us off (over two hours later) in Columbus. For the most part, we’ve been driving between Columbus/Fort Benning and Warner Robins/Macon ever since we got back, which is (partly) the reason for why I haven’t maintained any type of presence online for the past two weeks or so since I last wrote here.

Continue reading I’m back, and things are as ugly as ever →

Well, its over…

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Ladies and gentlemen, as of yesterday, I am no longer a high school student.

After a commencement ceremony that lasted over an hour, I finally received my diploma, thus bringing to a closure over 12 years of sub-tertiary education, learning, and scholastic discipline (yeah, they all mean the same thing).

Besides my Mom and two nephews, Dad was the only other member of my family that was in attendance (he drove down overnight from St. Louis). Among the gifts, I ultimately received US$295 (mmm, money…).

And now we’re preparing to take off to Frankfurt am Main in Deutschland (via Philadelphia) in the morning for the next two weeks (we’ll be heading to Wuerzburg, Paris, Prague, and Auschwitz, among other places), so I hope to have alot to tell you about when we get back.

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Oh, and before I go, check out my last submission to DA.

Peace out!!!