I want a wombat!

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Do not watch the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape when you are home alone. Shit it is sad.
'Life is a terrible thing to sleep through.'

Running of the Bulls

Bulls are a large part of the Spanish culture... bullfighting, logo for Osborne Sherry, etc. In Puerto de Santa Maria (where I resided in Andalusia) had a huge bullring in the middle of town.

Since the bullring was down the road and a large part of the culture, we decided to see a fight. Bad idea. There were 3 fights in total. The first 2 fights were 'normal' as in the matador teases the bull with his cape and eventually kills it by putting his sword in his neck/back. Sad to watch, but it is a clean fight and thankfully a fast death. Unfortunately the 3rd fight was awful. The matador stabbed the bull several times; unfortunately in the wrong part each time. The bull got weak, fell down several times but got back up and kept fighting. It was awful to watch the bull suffer so we all started booing the matador. Eventually the bull was put out of his misery and we continued to boo. Although bullfighting is a huge sport in Spain... the matadors are only applauded if the bull is killed in the proper way. In a perfect world bulls would not be killed, but obviously that would be in a dream world! ha.

I noticed on yahoo news this morning pictures from running of the bulls.
A long time ago Kory and I wanted to see this in action... my parent's not so much. They are troopers so we all pilled in the car and drove to a nearby town to see it ourselves. The Naval base had already told Americans if they raced and got hurt they would not help. If a bull tramples over you or you get a horn stuck in your butox, tough! We did not want to participate so we met some locals and were invited to sit on their roof. Best seat in the house! We got to watch the idiots below us running get trampled by bulls, scream, cry, laugh, and we even saw a drunk bum jump into a trash dumpster to hide. Smart man! At every race a few people get hurt, and unfortunately we witnessed a woman being trampled and appeared to be injured. Perhaps she was just scared to death!
Five injured in packed running of bulls

Around the World trip reports

To keep everything in order I am going to post my trip reports with their correct date. Therefor they will appear below in the 'June' and early 'July' months. Hopefully it will be obvious, but if it's not, make sure you look below so you do not miss out! Lots and lots of pictures :)

Narcolepsy May Be Caused By Environmental Exposures

ScienceDaily (2007-01-02) -- A comprehensive review published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep finds that, as with other diseases characterized by selective cell loss, narcolepsy may be caused by environmental exposures before the age of onset in genetically susceptible individuals.
Link to Article

Back to Reality

Finally back! We had a sad flight from Anchorage back home on July 2nd. We'd love to travel 24/7 but I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed. I missed everyone so much too!
We went to DC to visit my best friend Allison (known since elementary school in Spain) for the weekend. We enjoyed floating down the Shenandoah River with a floating cooler on the 4th. It took 3-1/2 hours! Bright sunshine the first hour... then the thunderstorms began. We got absolutely drenched with cold rain water! We could do nothing but laugh and hope the end was near. The river water was warmer than laying in the tube, so we abandoned ship. Unfortunately the huge rocks/boulders at the bottom of the shallow river really really hurt the bottom of your feet. We decided to be rebels and wear flip flops instead of tennis shoes. Do'h. That didn't last long... we jumped back in the inner tubes and froze our asses off! Disasters only happen when Allison and I are together, so we were expecting it. ha ha. The rest of the weekend we were lazy... enjoyed movies, homemade Sangria, and yummy homemade food.
We are back in Richmond and back to reality. I'm going to design my web site for an online portfolio so I can snag an amazing design job!
I'm also going to finish the around the world trip report with lots and lots of pictures, so hold tight! Coming Soon!

Coldplay: Sun, Aug 3rd

I've wanted to see Coldplay in concert for the longest time. I had tickets a few years ago but was unable to go, so I sold them on craigslist. Do'h. I just bought 2 tickets for Sun, Aug 3, 2008 7:30 PM at Verizon Center, Washington, DC. Fraser will go with me if he has to, but he thinks they are a tad depressing. Understandable, but I love them! The tickets are $93.95 after taxes, fees, etc... If you want to go with me, let me know!
UPDATE: Heather is coming with me, yayyyy! :)