Neat and Clean

Um could this story be any better?

Japanese woman caught living in man's closet

By MARI YAMAGUCHI,

Associated Press Writer Fri May 30, 3:21 PM ET

TOKYO - A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.


Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."

Saturation; Evapiration

How many have felt trapped in that spot that drives them to achieve but never release themselves to move beyond that desire. Today has once again been an uneventful "relaxing" day at the family ranch in Alpine yet I feel anxious. I am almost twenty-five and wonder will I achieve anything of merit. I am not naive enough to suppose I am the first to have these desires of grandeur. Yet I look around and see people living life and pursuing goals. I see teenagers competing before nations and wonder if that is success and why can't I have that. However, then I feel ashamed because I have let "reality" TV inform me on how I should feel about my life. Then I start to wonder when did I stop living and let TV live for me. I knew I had to get outside into "the world." But then again, it was only practical, I had empty containers to throw away. I stepped outside and heard bees and wondered if I'd be tested and asked if everything tasted the same. Above me were trees being pollinated by the cheapest landscaping crew I know and if it hadn't been for I.C.E. maybe more of them would have stayed around last year. Just in front of me stands the bulk of my two years of work in the form of a black M3. It's dirty just as I'll probably always let it be. I step in front of it and gap the lid from the trash can. In you go McDonald's, Wendy's, and Costco. Your convenience was formidable but your useless leftovers must decompose. Stream, Stream, give said my conscience to me because I'm stuck in between fear and achievement, life and death, saturation and evapiration. Then when my thoughts get away from me I often notice beyond the storm something calm and clean. A cloud contracts and releases changes states into what it once was and what it will become. white, opaque, blue, success, failure, shame. When we stand out we our destined to become the same.
-this is an experiment don't be weirded out. I kind of just let my thoughts go.

you're a mean one.....

My new face book profile shot is offending everyone. I guess it could be that the picture is of a man that imprisoned his daughter and fathered children through her. To each his own. Yet this man has inspired me to make my first photo bucket slide show because he looks like a celebrity that is celebrated once a year.

Animal Rights

I just wrote this letter for one of my wildlife classes. I felt like I should share!!! It's to my brother Kenneth and dripping with sarcasm. So no angry comments. Just joking, I know no one will comment, enjoy.

The Letter:

April 22, 2008

Dear Kenneth,

Hello son of my mother. How are you? You may be perplexed by the subject of my letter but don’t immediately be put off by it. Think of it like Marlon Brando’s corpse performing in a circus. Something about the clowns is so bewildering but damn if Brando’s corpse hanging from the trapeze doesn’t make you smile a little. Actually that sounds like the plot to David Lynch’s next film. I say “film” because no Lynch piece is mere entertainment. Of course that is discussion for another time.

I can feel that the grader of this letter is probably asking themselves, “When is he going to get to the point?” Now, the answer is now, my friend. Kenneth, I am currently taking a course at Utah State which focuses on society’s relationship to wildlife. Now, before you rant and rave about me wasting my life pursuing education, I will have you know that I have learned many vital, practical skills. I have earned my small game permit. That way, when the apocalypse comes, I will be able to feed myself. Granted, I will need, most likely, to learn how to remove nuclear waste safely from a squirrel carcass.

Transitioning into my next paragraph, I want to take this time to discuss the debate we have been having in classes. The debate concerns hunting. During class we have been watching films from our Reagan’s glorious 80’s and Ford’s and Carter’s lesser 70’s. In these videos we were shown much propaganda from conservatives and liberals. That is of course if you take my view point that all hunters are conservatives and animal lovers are liberals. I do!!! But seriously this is an important issue and the reason I am writing you because in our family, you are the only one that took animal issues seriously. I am of course referring to your two year stint as a vegetarian. As I thought back through our family members I can only think of two other instances with animals. One involves the whole family and the rattle snake. We tried to tell dad that a coiled rattle snake was right in front of him, rattling, but he still stepped over it and was almost bitten. Then in paternalistic glory threw a boulder at it to protect us, his family. The other incident I refer to is you eating the ants in Idaho. I think this incident is what perhaps created the greatest shock when you announced your vegetarianism. We all thought, “But Kenneth loves meat!!! He loves meat so much he’s willing to eat ants.”

Also transitioning into this paragraph, the debate was concerning whether or not people should hunt and kill animals. As I watched these videos I found the conservatives and the liberals to both be crazy. I found myself somewhere in the middle but, leaning towards the viewpoint of liking meat. I think that it is OK to hunt but to kill responsibly, kind of like Anton Chigurh in, “No Country for Old Men.” Kill methodically, purposefully, and with a Dorothy Hamill hair cut. You could say my opinion on the matter was medium well (assuming that liberals really do have rare, bleeding hearts). I, like you during your Idaho ant binge, love meat however, cringe when I think of slaughtering my own meat. That is why I, through consumerism, pay people low wages to do it. I pay others to hunt for me (I think is typical of most people in our upper-middle-class-socioeconomic group, we are from Alpine). I have come to accept that animal populations would benefit from me being there predator in the form of low-income slaughter house employees.

There are many other issues about animals that I would love to discuss including extinction, domestication (cuddles the cat, and the sole occupant of our Alpine home, is in for an earful), and human impact on wildlife habitat. I appreciate your ear on this matter and would love to have you hear me. I am not so interested in your opinions, but then again when have I ever commie!!

Your brother through adoption and maternal genes,

Jeff Denison

Lockers Explode

Everyone Coach Monte Morgan from my alma matter is famous once again. Only this one is not for football. I saw this and wonder how many faculty members would have been suspended if more students whipped out the ole cell phone camera at high school in my day. I gotta get me a phone with a camera and start exploiting.

I was reading the deseret news and saw the top story. How could you resist a headline like this? As I read it I kept wondering to myself, why don't I know this young man? And then I wondered if this article didn't directly originate with the onion news.

BYU's 'Cloak Boy' — Student surprised by support after some objections to his folk singing

By Elizabeth Stuart
Deseret Morning News

PROVO — Bundled up in a hobbit-inspired cloak singing folk songs between classes, Nathan Langford was pretty used to getting attention from his fellow students at Brigham Young University.

"I got a lot of comments like, 'Hey, Frodo,' or 'Hey, Harry Potter,"' said Langford, a 19-year-old mathematics major from Wisconsin. "You sort of get used to it if you're singing and wearing a cloak."

But for the past few weeks, ever since BYU police threatened to cite Langford for disturbing the peace with his exuberant caroling, people greet him with a familiar "Hey, Nathan," or stop him on the sidewalk to tell him, "We support you, Cloak Boy."

Now that, said the self-proclaimed "fantasy geek," was a little more unexpected.

Langford, who said he sang to occupy himself between classes, was even more surprised by the number of students who rallied behind him after he wrote a letter to the student newspaper to tell his story. Singing, he said, was within his rights as a student.

Within a week of the incident, more than 800 people joined a "Revive Cloak Boy" Facebook group dedicated to restoring Langford's right to sing. Several students designed and sold T-shirts that featured Langford as a superhero garbed in a cloak. Some people even gathered on campus to belt out camp songs in front of the Joseph Smith Building — one of Langford's favorite spots to sing between classes — to prove their point.

"I think it's ridiculous that the police even got involved," said Cory Christensen, a 21-year-old junior from Ogden, who helped to design the Cloak Boy T-shirts. "I think if someone has a problem with his singing, they should approach him about it."

People did approach the cloaked student about his singing, Langford said. Most of the feedback he got was positive, though.

Stephanie Lee, a freshman from Alberta, Canada, said she and her friends looked forward to watching Langford sing after their Tuesday and Thursday economics class.

"It's cool that he sings," Lee said. "I say more power to him."

Officers confronted Langford in response to several reports of suspicious activity, said BYU Police Lt. Arnold Lemmon. Callers were concerned about the singer's mental health.

"In today's world, we can't just blow off people saying there's something going on here," he said. "For us the bottom line was his peers were concerned about his behavior."

Lemmon said Langford is free to sing whenever he pleases, as long as he does not disturb any classes or anyone trying to study.

Langford won't be belting out any carols on campus anytime soon, however. He's been spooked.

"Yeah, hello," he said. "Like going against authority really isn't my thing."

Politcal Protection

Sitting in the wood room(the name I've come to call the classroom I take my natural resources and society class due to the vast amount of wood paneling), I was acoustically shaken to consciousness. A few minutes previous, the professor had handed-out a worksheet comparing Victorian attitudes towards sex and politics. Which, had i not been in this class, I probably would have thought twice about this comparison. Yet, I was in a alternate classroom environment, to put it politely, run by an economics professor(shout out to all my ECONies!!). "If you were telling your little brother or sister about sex what would you tell them?" he queried.
In my mind I thought,"What the hell?" The class was silent, awkward silent. Then one brave soul raised his hand and said, "use protection."
"Wow, what does explaining the does and don't about sex have to do with natural resources," I thought.
Then as a way to connect two ideas he suggested that the same advice to us as we proceed in a political arena. O.K. So I should only "debate" with someone I love, always wear my political condom, and . No wonder political alliances are often referred to as bedfellows. They are getting intimate baby. Oh disturbing pictures entered my mind as I considered politicians I knew: Janet Reno, Newt Gingrich, Rocky Anderson, Ted Kennedy, and Nancy Pelosi. Strange Bedfellows indeed!! I almost screamed out, "There is no talking about sex in the wood room." All I know is that the next time I go to a city council meeting I'm gonna wonder, "Did I bring protection?"

a new website

I have fallen in love with the website hulu.com where you can watch shorts and full movies for free. Why do I love it because it has awesome SNL digital shorts like the one I'm posting below.

And the sin's of the mother...

Anna Nicole's daughter to inherit her mother's estate

Published: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 12:36 a.m. MST

Anna Nicole Smith's daughter will inherit her late mother's estate.

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday not only made 18-month-old Dannielynn Hope the sole heir but also set up a trust in the girl's name.

Her father, Larry Birkhead, and Smith's executor, Howard K. Stern, will be co-trustees.-this poor girl is screwed. How did Howard Stern become her co-executor? I see old man marriages in her future.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted a petition filed by Stern, who wanted to clarify Smith's intentions toward her daughter. Smith drafted a will in 2001 — five years before the child was born — that left her estate to her then only child, Daniel. However, it said the assets in Daniel's trust should be shared equally if she had future children. (from Deseret News)

A snubb

Everyone I want to voice my opinion about the recent omission of Brad Renfro in the Oscar Memoriam Video, or the I thought they were already dead or gone too soon movie? If some don't know, Brad Renfro was the little boy in the client. He was also in such films as Apt Pupil, Bully, and Ghost World. He died, a week before Heath Ledger, because of an overdose of drugs. I am disappointed in the apparent snub. The academy said he wasn't included because there wasn't enough time. 3 seconds is the average time a person gets on this video. The Oscars finished 14 minutes early this year, I think Brad Renfro could have been included. The academy messed up but they don't want to admit it's true reasons for omitting Mr. Renfro. I think it was an error or a deliberate snub. I just think it was a life regardless of how he died he was part of a profession that has certain rituals when one of their own dies and it feels wrong to exclude one from those rituals.

diving into mediocrity

i don't know how this is going to work out. lately i have been in a play at Utah State. its russian so that should give you a clue as to the mood of the production, that is if we follow cliche. in the cast there seems to be this quest as to who can deflate who to the level of airlessness. it reminds me of the who's who among american students i was lucky enough to consider myself among(even if i never replied to tell them i wanted to be in the book because i didn't want to be on there mailing list to buy their $100 book containing the names of other students who would be on their mailing list to buy a $100 dollar book of...point made). who's who among the cherry orchard cast is quite an ordeal. you are somebody if you perceive yourself as funny, perceive yourself to be a good actor, or have been in the theater department for more than 8 months. this situation has created a social void (yeah I said void) in my life at utah state. now that would mean something if my social life at utah state had been a resounding success. what's the point? i think i've reached the point of paradigm. that is it's shifting, as i type, each word acts as a kinetic force, pushing whatever mechanism moves my thought tent in a new direction. my aim is mediocrity!! to be unsmart, slightly funny, and moderate to inferior in quality.

bracing myself to a wall i try to enter into a conversation with some fellow cast mates. my mind swirls as that familiar feeling coats my stomach. how can i forget the feeling, after all i joked with people that it was my major at utah state high school. awkwardness, once again i didn't make my thought process explicitly clear, i didn't think out a statement well enough, i was too risque, i offended someone, i was unclever. clever=laughter, add an un to it and it less than or equal to slightly funny. my entire life has been this way, now i use it to my advantage in a lot of situations. in this situation it hadn't worked i was slightly funny. somehow i had decided that being funny was validation to my existence. the truth is that i should have picked something to which i was more adept. my life would have been easier if i could equate my self-worth to the ability to name all the golden girls or how many oreos i can eat in one sitting.

As i attend college i become more aware of competition amongst students. you could say i have become a student of students. my gut reaction has been mostly negative concerning class placement. were so obsessed with how we measure up to the rest. we did this in high school and i was a median student, the fulcrum of academic possibility. what does a valedictorians really succeed at doing, understanding how to work well in the system. i realize now that much of my achievement was thwarted by my desire to be an exceptional student. so exceptional that failure wasn't a possibility. sometimes, i want to emphasize sometimes, didn't because i assumed i would fail (though i was lazy too). because if i got a c or d and i actually worked i was a fool. my desire to be an exceptional student prevented me from being a student.

the problem i see around me is that we are so obsessed with the cream that we forget that we are the main ingredient. cream can only rise if there is something from which it can rise from. without the average, there is no ordinary with a little bit of extraness. if i hadn't heard william hung sing i wouldn't know how fantastic stevie wonder's voice was. had i never seen jessica biel act i would never know how dynamic Helen Mirren could be. eating a mcdonalds cheeseburger makes me understand the true beauty of a red robin burger. the average is the meal and the extraordinary the garnish.

all my life i was told i was special (thanks Mom and dad, and sometimes others), but then the past ten years i can't help but feeling like i've let this label down. special to me meant straight a's, leads in plays, acceptance into honor programs, scholarships based on merit, ACT scores above my current age, dating, and making people laugh. i felt i didn't deserve to be extraordinary (it means ordinary but with a little more....um, ordinariness) because i'm balding, i'm fat, i'm lazy, i'm ugly, and i'm inferior in quality to my peers. before i turn this into a feel sorry for me moment, i feel compelled to say that i felt the need to earn my specialness when it had already been furrowed upon. i wasn't a special person because of who i was and what i had accomplished but because i was in a unique relationship with them. i was special to my mom and dad because they made me, i was special to others because of experiences we had gone through together. i wasn't special, my relationships were. and if i'm unsmart, slightly funny, and moderate to inferior in quality, i don't mind, as long as i get to keep these "special" people in my life.

Lately, I've been looking at comments on stories in the deseretnews.com website. It is perhaps, the funniest, most bizarre thing I have encountered. Talk about polarizing opinions and values? No seriously, I am going to talk about them. I am kind of irritated by these knee-jerk responses which have no substance. I noticed the same thing going on at youtube.com. Only peoples arguments were more ridiculously. My favorite is a video about a lego bubble gum sorter which somehow lends itself to a rant about racism by the ever friendly user with the name, GAYNIGGERandAIDS. Oh, how that does my heart good!!
(link included: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiJdn6bg3fs)

My guess is that people have lost the ever popular censor gene. Anonymity does that doesn't it. Not having to combine your face with obscene comments is like ripping out the organs of a Victorian prostitute and not facing the criminal ramifications. Yes, I am making a comparison of Jack the Ripper and user driven comment boards. I guess my point is that back in the day humans interacted with other humans face to face, and there was no middleman in the form of powered silicon. When this archiac ritual was being practiced most people, for some reason chose to honor and respect others opinions. They may not have agreed with this humans beliefs but they were allowed to express them without being demoralized and vilified. Excepting, any political event or the McLaughlin Group on PBS.

Now folks, some of you will be surprised to hear that I (ONE time!!), reacted this way. I had read a report by a Denver journalist during the Olympics. This man has a reputation of inciting reaction through his articles (I.E. he is bad writer that knows how to provoke). Which apparently isn't too hard if thousands can be so offensive on youtube, I'm beginning to believe being times 2006 person of the year wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Watch out Mr. Putin, people will suddenly think your practices are undemocratic and accuse your leadership of poisoning defected governmental workers with radiation. We can only pray his reputation will go untainted. Oh no, was that last comment the type of reaction I was talking about on these user based websites. Perhaps I am guilty also, yes I am, didn't I just begin this paragraph inditing me of this problem. Maybe I better make good on my introductory sentence, this reporter talked about various aspects of Mormon culture but, what rattled me was his discussion on Mormon undergarments. So I wrote him, what I thought was a strongly worded letter, the biggest accusation I made was that his piece was not about sports but was in fact an editorial. Score for me, right? The following day he replied with a simple letter that stated he did in fact write editorial articles once a week. The piece I responded happened to be his weekly opinion driven article. Opps, was my face red!! So what does this last paragraph mean, not so sure but, I'll go ahead and conclude.

Perhaps there is a reason that for hundreds if not thousands of years people were not given a forum to respond to things in written anonymous settings, most of us are incapable on non-biase exploration. Why do people make these comments because there is a middleman and there identity is protected. They are truly anonymous and don't have to answer to there stupid insensitive rants. I believe that anonymity brings out barbarism in peoples personality
(ex: http://www.deseretnews.com/user/comments/1,5150,695242525,00.html). Kind of like this blog. Wait, did I just undermine the existence of the jdgle blog. Oh well, ignorance is bliss. I await your knee-jerking in the form of incomprehensible jabber about my, well incomprehensible jabber.

Jeff

Logan the new Provo

I am pondering this questions and perhaps I will have answers in the many years to come. Yes I have three more years of school. Thanks to the decision of majoring in environmental studies. Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject.

Losing "it"

Often times I have this insane, absurd, and swift inner monologue in my head. It's normal I suppose. Though sometimes I want to go Darren Aronofsky on my head (see the film Pi for reference). Lately, this little Cheney on my shoulder has been telling me that I've lost "it." You know that little factor that makes people think, "Does he workout?" or "Is he in the cinema?" I can only refer to "it", as what my good friends Kat and Nigel call the "wow factor." That is to say it is the unexplainable for the illiterate and optionally handicapped.
I have felt that as I grow older my humor has been diluted by time, my shape has grown with experience, and my hair has disappeared like old acquaintances. And I am reduced to ridiculous similes. So this is why I mourn. I am the designated mourner of my personality. I am the mourner of "it."

The Monkey Sanctuary and other frolicks

Right Now, I'm in MY OWN room, the first of the trip. But I am wondering if it is the small victory I had assumed it to be. I have protection on in the form of a mosquito net. Why? Because it might be just like when Pandora first opened the box of mystery. So many new disgusting and revolting creatures. The net keeps me from dying. You know; that pesky malaria? I feel now that I can empathize with the bubble boy. I was attacked by a huge moth, it flew straight in my face as I was trying to shut a window. I might have made the slightest scream, which might have sounded like a girl. My bad!! The sheet for my bed was themed after 101 Dalmatians. When I first laid down the sheets were so grimy. I wasn't sure when the last time they were cleaned and didn't dare asks. This is why I have come to lovingly refer to my bed as 101 STDs.
A Monkey sanctuary is a curious thing. The monkeys, are they sanctified? Supposedly they are the town's people's ancestors. So, the next life for the African Villagers is dwelling atop trees to provide an income for the progenitors by attracting tourists to their town. I wonder that sounds satisfying to them? I guess they wouldn't worry need to worry about food. Some dumb white people would pay money just to feed them. They're the African equivalent of the marina carp at Lake Powell. They're just searching for the easiest meal. And aren't we all?
Earlier today we hiked to a waterfall. I didn't get in because, I think for the first time, I was cold(that was short lived). It was raining a little and the water was pretty frigid. I'm told I'll regret not getting in. Will see? What made the falls distinctive was the presence of hundreds of thousands of bats to the left of the descending drops of water. While swimming in the pool of water below the falls, the girls made some unearthly noise which disturbed some of the bats and the began to move from the perched they were resting on. Our guide saw that we were intrigued and banged a bench with the side of his machete to create a greater stir in the normally nocturnal creatures. I might have messed myself at this point. The guide was pleased with our fear.

Cluster Clan

I was suppose to teach the cluster clan today but ended up taking more surveys. We are surveying the school children about their understanding of AIDS and its prevention. WE then teach them some basics about the disease and conclude our study by giving them a post survey which determines if our class has made any difference. It is eye opening to see what they believe and don't believe about AIDS transmission. For example they believe AIDS can be transfered by sharing toothbrushes or going to the same barber. Why there sharing toothbrushes is beyond me but the believe if they do they will get the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Oh and "Deep Kissing" which at first I thought was kissing devoid of superficiality but later learned it was French kissing. Beware NCMOers(or should I call you NCDKers) you can get AIDS from your pernicious actions.
Some may be wondering why they are called the cluster clan. Our teaching group; Lauren, Danny, Natalie, and myself, on the day we met our class. In the small doorless room the cluster clan we watched as the teacher told the children that they write to slow. This woman then told one of the students after investigating his notebook that he was a big boy with a small brain. The kind of positive reinforcement you'd expect if your teacher were Dr. Laura.
Today our mission was to educate the children about AIDS but instead I was called off by a teacher known to me as Kofi(the Ga name for a male born on Friday). So many events in my confrontation with Kofi reminded me of how Kathleen Willey might have felt on Nov. 19, 1993, a.k.a. violated. The conversation started out casually enough. We spoke about America and the inception of the national anthem. He then asked if I spoke French. I should have been tipped off at his motives after that question. Lets just say that the conversation included him stroking my hair and referring to the continental divide that is my hairline. He then looked deep into my eyes describing their blue beauty. I was confused but, chalked it up to the abnormal affection shown by Africans to members of the same-sex. Such as holding hands or hanging off one another. The kind of affection that in America would cause people to think there was some hanky-panky going on between the two of you. That line of thinking caused me to justify his behavior. Kofi asked what we were doing in Africa. After explaining that our group was studying community health, he asked if we teach things like sanitation. This is where the conversation took an altogether creepy route. Lets just say the highlights of the conversation were when he volunteered to shave what my mother always taught me were called "my special parts" and then later in an ill attempt at double entendre by throwing, nuts at yes my "nuts."
I felt sexually harassed but believing that Ghana has not yet progressed to this level of legal action am powerless. I have a sugar daddy in West Africa named Kofi. I never want to go back!!

The Elephant in the Room

After bargaining the vendor of shop #18, I was the proud owner of a deep mahogany elephant stool complete with white tusks. I gave the merchant my money and he handed me my prize. As he handed me the sculpture my hand suddenly dropped with weight. The manipulated timber weighed almost 30 pounds. I had seen the elephant. I knew how big it was yet I had not prepared myself to carry around this elephant for the next 30 minutes in the hot African heat. My elephant became a milestone.

Sub-Saharan Africa is like many other places in the world, distinct in geography and culture. These people have much to celebrate when it comes to heritage and history. Yet they have been struck down in the past century by the epidemic of AIDS. So serious is this epidemic that many countries have over a fourth of their population infected. This means that almost everyone in these countries are effected by this virus. Yet, in Africa very little is mentioned about HIV and AIDS. The idiom concerning an elephant in the room seems appropriate when describing the state of AIDS in Africa. It is an obvious truth ignored for whatever reason.

I began to ponder the effects of this unspoken elephant and what it would lead to. I considered the recent surveys we had given school children in Ghana. These children understood that HIV exists and can be contracted but they are still missing vital data. They don’t understand the full impact of AIDS. I actually hope they never do understand the full weight because one cannot truly understand until they experience it. I’m sure that a person’s spirit unprepared for the full load must drop under the weight of such news. This is why it is so important for us to educate the young and let them know just how heavy it is. For every bit of information we are able to get out there leads to a smaller likely hood that these children will be contract HIV and be afflicted with AIDS. Meaning there will be fewer children orphaned left to care for themselves or the children they conceive will not be forced to live a brief life of agony or that they will become stricken and die from multiple diseases since their immune system weakens and is unable to fight them off. I began to picture these children having to carry AIDS and I am glad that I can teach something that may prevent them from truly experiencing this Virus. Speaking from experience, the elephant was not easy to carry. I’m guessing AIDS would be harder to carry.

Release

So I've been in Africa for three days now. What do I have to show for it? I have the runs and nausea every time I eat and drink. Speaking of drinking I have to drink like 4 liters a day just because I sweat so much. Like I say,"I don't sweat I rain." I think I'm might be melting from the inside and out. It seems that everything that comes out my body is liquid and clear. So today I'm sleeping and seeing if I can acclimate my body to the foreign food I've ingested.
Right now is free-time. Some are at the beach or temple, I'm in a dark air conditioned room typing to you thanks to the wireless that have at the hostel. That is a perk.
Yesterday we went north into a small village to introduce ourselves to a women's group that was maybe interested in learning more about AIDS. The village was what I might expect of an impoverished area of Africa to look like; many malnourished children, wood and tin shanties, and dirt roads. What I wasn't expecting was a mixing table with DJ blasting when we arrived. The DJ spun and mixed everything from traditional African beats to The Real Slim Shady which oddly felt like a poorly attempted reach out to our culture.
Speaking of cultural mis-connect, we attempted to play a game that allowed each group to get to know one another. We poorly wrote the questions that confused the poor women. One was involving some cultural aspects of carrying objects by placing them on you head. We asked what was the most they had carried on their head. A)they didn't know and B) they found it bizzare that we didn't carry things on our head.
Oh and I have no money to buy water. This is why Africa might kill me. Where is my money UVSC?? Better yet UVSC why did I receive an email saying that my SAP had caused me to be dropped from consideration from financial aid? What is an SAP and how did I screw that up. Why does my school want me to die?

For the Blog

I am not really much of a blogger. I really don't like words, let alone constructing them in some comprehensible and or meaningful way. Yet I have received some request to update. This will teach them!!
I visited my cat's house today. She seems to be doing fine. That was until I came upstairs and noticed this distinct smell. At first I thought,"well nobody told me I smelled like a septic tank." Then I went to the laundry room; the location of my kitty's fecal pile known as a litter box, was in fact solid. At first I thought I saw a fair woman semi-covered by a veil. I was witnessing the virgin and her mystery. Then I thought, why would Mary reveal herself in a pile of...opps, my cat had relieved itself a mountain. Silly us, we didn't realize that our cat isn't completely independent. I vow to you bloggers to check on my independent kitty more often.

Blog You!!

For reasons unknown to me there is a sudden intrest in the exploitation of ourselves for the purpose of display on the internet. So i figure i should get in on that action. i've been exploited all my life and i'm not a quitter.

this weekend is my big a-developement party. i'll let you know how it ends.

j-huff