closing

I closed at Domino's tonight for the first time in pretty long. This was good because I am getting a little low on funds, but it was bad because Kirksville had its worst storm in quite some time. The wind felt strong enough that I could probably have jumped into the air and spread my arms and I would have just taken off.

I started off the night getting pretty awful tips, so I wasn't the most cheery of fellas. About two hours into the night, this mood was compounded a little. I drove way past a house because I couldn't read the street numbers in the dark, so I had to run back down the street in the pouring rain to deliver this guy's pizza. As I jogged, several cars drove toward me so I decided to get off the road and onto the sidewalk I saw next to the street. Unfortunately, since it was dark, I didn't quite notice that the sidewalk was made of a ditch filled with water. My pants and shoe are still wet. But my night turned around at this guy's house, I thought, because he handed me a wad of cash and then turned away. Considering the transaction closed, I thought to myself, "Sweet action! A $4 tip is exactly what I was needing!" and returned to my car. Later, though, my respect for this generous tipper plummeted when he called Domino's saying that I had taken all his money without giving him change and he wanted me to drive all the way back out to his house to reimburse him. And I drove right past his house again without seeing it!

But all's well that end's well, and this night ended with "Penny Lane" by the Beatles, so I was pleased. Now I have sufficiently unwound, so I am going to bed.

I found a friendly message on the wrapper of a Dove chocolate heart: "Laugh until your heart overflows." So I'm supposed to chuckle until I have a heart attack? Thanks for the inspiration, Dove.

wrapping it up

"Log entry 26, Wednesday, March 15, 5:21 p.m.: David and Abbie run out of conversation." Apparently, either we are so in tune with each other that words are not necessary, or each of us is utterly bored with the other. Either way, we endured the rest of the trip in near-silence.

This post will perhaps be about most big stuff that's left about the Czech Republic, which means that later we will make a jaunt over to Rome.

Prague is gorgeous. Let me just get that out of my system. Plus, their soldiers have shiny bayonets.This is the changing of the guard at the Prague castle. It was much more enjoyable than the changing of Emma.

Praguians (is this even a word? I'm assuming it is because I am too tired to look it up) also have their own version of the Eiffel Tower. I guess the Prague planners decided to make their city more touristy so they started stealing monuments from other folks. Look for a Great Wall of Františkovy Lázně next. One thing that I learned while chilling with Abbie in Prague is that she dawdles. Everyone knows that, when walking in a city full of new and exciting things worthy of one's examination, if one isn't walking fast enough for bugs to splatter on the forehead, it is time to pick up the pace.

Here she is trying to act exhausted from racing through the streets. But we can see that she is clearly faking: note the bug-free glasses.

Another horizon-broadener was my proper introduction to public transportation. I don't know if you have ever visited Flint Hill (pop. 379), but there aren't too many subways that go through my hometown. I had basically no experience with public transit, so I would have been totally lost without my excellent guide. Abbie knew that city backwards and forwards and could even predict, to the exact minute, when a bus or tram would arrive. Simply amazing.

Unluckily, we couldn't use the tram for all of the sightseeing we wanted to do, so we spent many hours each day walking from place to place. Strolling around all evening, compounded by the fact that Prague is almost as warm as Greenland's northern coast, made us a little chilly. Only a little, though. To combat the frostbite one night, we decided to stop by a clothes store. Against my better judgment, I found myself agreeing to try out the hip European fashions with Abbie. I think we looked pretty sharp, but we ended up not making any purchases that evening.

Abbie and I also attended the Czech symphony one night. I love classical music, especially when it is performed live. The only problem is that I haven't been to a non-rock concert in 2 years that hasn't put me to sleep. My consolation is that Abbie fell asleep as well, so we blissfully wasted our tickets together.

Some other notable events: seeing the city in which Mission: Impossible was filmed, eating roasted duck, and Abbie's and my recovering of our ability to converse.

In which I use several exclamation marks

One day during my Prague trip, Abbie and I decided to make a pilgrimage to a castle about an hour outside of town. Castles are pretty cool for warfare and all, so I was pretty excited about this. Little did I know I was in for a little warfare of my own.

The town, upon our arrival, looked relatively innocent. The castle lay nestled in the mountains and shops selling crystal chia pets and other useful items lined the streets. But then, we sensed more than saw that we were being followed. Then we caught a glimpse of this kid. Look at him. Menacing. Irrational. Bad at tracking his prey. He was clearly planning on attacking us with an arsenal of mild-explosive-filled snowballs when we cleverly gave him the slip. By clever, I mean we took a left at the next street and he lost sight of us. Disaster averted!

The castle was also pretty cool as well. I might build one some day. Here are some pics.
AndAnd
That last picture was taken by some guys from Iowa. They had heard of Missouri! Yes, it is a small world.

Finally, here is some food from a store in a small Czech town. Apparently people there like to eat...I can't even come up with a funny way to describe this. Horrible funk, I guess. But if you want some, it costs less than $3!

you were lost, but now are found

Tonight as I was walking out of one of my meetings, I realized that I had only one mitten in my coat pockets. This was initially a cause of much panic, for I just received those mittens for Christmas from my often goofy sister. Then I concluded that the missing mitten had simply fallen out of the pocket in my car or in my house and I would find it waiting for me there when I returned home. Thus consoled, I continued toward my car.

As I got closer to my car, however, I noticed an object on the ground. I bet you can guess what it was. A mitten! I must have been sitting there for five hours with nobody claiming it; that is, until I decided to rescue it from oblivion. Now I can have some pie.

It snowed again today. I think it is time to leave us alone, Weather. We are about sick of you.

To wrap this up this lengthy post, I will leave you a gem of modern literature I discovered in the paper today.Seriously, who even reads Garfield anymore? Apparently I do, but I don't know why. I can't remember the last time it was funny.

Whoa. I started this post about 20 minutes ago, wandered away, and forgot all about it. But it's still here, just waiting for me. My attention span is dwindling faster than my respect for Jim Davis.

I think that the instrument poll has run its course. I have, therefore, decided to retire it. Now much gloating can ensue.

Abbie, it looks like only 22% of people are even remotely interested in accordions.

As this guy with the creepy leg knows, nothing beats a harmonica.
So, I would post more, but I have gotten pretty little sleep this week. My posts would consist, I think, of my falling asleep on the keyboard and pushing letters with my nose. But tomorrow, you are in for a treat. I don't yet know what the treat is, but it'll be good. Better than the creepy leg guy.

My favorite quote from the Eurotrip: Abbie's saying, "I'm going to have a great life."

music

Europe is infested with street musicians. These musicians sparked an argument between Abbie and myself about which instruments are cooler: the bagpipes, the harmonica, or the accordian. Somehow, despite my overwhelmingly compelling and research-supported arguments, our discussion was inconclusive.

Therefore, we have decided to ask you, dear readers, to help answer this age-old question. A nifty poll is on the left for your convenience.

craniopagus

Well, it is official. Abbie has been invading my thoughts. Or something like that.

For some time now, she and I have joked about our having twin brains, mostly because we have the same ACT score and IQ. But during this visit we just had, we uncovered volumes of additional evidence to support that conclusion.

I think at least 5 times, we both started off a conversation at the exact same time by saying the exact same thing. How creepy is that? Not very, when you consider what comes next.

While in Rome on one of our 6-hour-long hikes, we stopped by this fountain, seen below, for some pictures and relaxation. Abbie was exhaustively photographing our surroundings, including the water in the fountain, and I started idly running my fingers through the water.
Just as I was observing the ripples and surface tension of the water and thinking about how useful it is to organic life and how amazing all its properties are, Abbie blurts out, "Isn't water amazing?" Now, who in the world muses to themselves about how amazing water is? Nobody. Except both of us, apparently, which just goes to show that we should either definitely get married or break up immediately so we don't ever spawn children remotely like ourselves. I still haven't decided which course of action would be best.

Edit:
My bad. Another twin brain thing about which I forgot. This is a picture of some explanatory plaque in the Colosseum.
It turns out that my lady friend and I both have a habit of critiquing for grammar and style insignificant informational plaques in the Colosseum. I think that we should not be allowed ever to raise children together. Abbie would obviously be a bad influence.

I was snowed in at St. Louis last night, so I still have to drive back to Kirksville today. This means, unfortunately, that I am missing even more classes. On top of that, I studied the wrong stuff for my tests this week for about 14 hours on airplanes yesterday. Way to go, me.

Since I don't have much time to blog about the Eurotrip, what with trying to pack up and drive away this morning, I will leave you with this. It is a picture of where Abbie violently bit my forehead while I was visiting her. Unfortunately for you readers, this picture was taken after all the blood dried and was washed off. What a gracious hostess.

While walking around Prague before leaving, we came across a crowded square. In the middle, a bunch of old men were rocking out for the crowd. Here they are playing "When the saints go marching in." The kid in front is driving back the adoring fans.


More about the ski trip. On the train ride there, they ticket checker fella started giving us some instructions which we of course couldn't understand. After he left, this other old fella who also spoke no English decided to take us under his wing. He kept directing us where to go in train stations, babbling at us, pointing to his watch, holding up different numbers of fingers, little of which made sense. Eventually, he found out at which hotel we were staying, and he got all excited and started pointing to himself. We kept thinking, "Is this guy gonna try to sneak into our hotel room??" When we finally arrived in our town, though, he just pointed us in the right direction and headed off to his own house with his little old wife. It turns out he was just a friendly Samaritan and we should not have judged him until we realized he was not completely creepy and murderous.

The skiing and snowboarding was quite a challenge, mostly because the lady we asked for information had no clue what we were saying. I found it pretty funny when Abbie tried to mime skiing; I guess her hours of practice for mime meets paid off. Oh, I suppose it's worth mentioning that the snowboard rental guys made fun of my apparently freakishly small feet for about 10 minutes. Little did they know how close those small feet were to ninja-kicking them in the temple.

The snow at our ski resort was amazing; my snowboard cut through it like butter. Abbie was also amazing at skiing. We raced a couple times, and much to my delight I beat her the first race by about 5 minutes because she fell. Much to my chagrin, I choked in the second race and she beat me. Curses. But here I am doing one of my trademark amazing pipe grinds.

Apparently small Czech towns have nonstop blizzards often, because it didn't stop snowing all day long. While this made for beautiful scenery, I had blundered by not bringing goggles, so it was hard for a fella to see trees and cliffs and the like.


For supper, Abbie and I decided to be thrifty and make our own meal. We found this little grocery store and, about 2 minutes after we got inside, they started turning off the lights because it was closing time. So, with the need to hurry, we just started throwing stuff in a basket. In the ever-deepening darkness, I saw some applesauce and got pretty excited because, as everyone knows, applesauce is delicious. After returning to the hotel, I realized what my feeble eyes had done to me. Instead of applesauce, we had purchased baby food apricots! This was bad news because, as everyone knows, apricots in baby food form are quite yucky.

One thing I will say about this town: they like their hot tubs chilly and their chunky men in speedoes. I think that is all I have to say about that.

Brace yourself

for a long post.

This trip has been an adventure since I left St. Louis, starting with my 6 hour layover in Cincinnati. In case you have never been to the Cincinnati airport, the most exciting thing there, I think, is an escalator. Steer clear of Cinncinnati.

Paris was much cooler. It was fun being in a new country where people don't even formulate thoughts in the same language as me. I guess there's not much else to say about Paris now, except their magazines are hard to read. They are bad at spelling, I guess.

It was wonderful to see Abbie again! I felt like I had been apart from her for months, and I was a little nervous that we wouldn't even be able to hold a conversation anymore. Fortunately, I didn't even have to worry about that because we were running to and from tram stations so much that we were too out of breath even to say "Hey, good to see you again."

On Saturday, we took my first real train ride ever to this rural Czech town for a ski trip! They have snowdrifts there the size of the Grand Canyon!


Sad news, everybody. I am pretty much out of time again, because we have to catch another train in a little less than half an hour. We're going to see a castle! I suppose I will do my best to conclude this post tomorrow.

hello again

Hey readers,
Remember me? I'm sorry I have neglected you for so long. The Czech Republic is so busy, and their internet is so expensive, that I have not been able to get online before now.

Get excited about a new post tomorrow. Here is a teaser: speedoes and blizzards!

hasta lasagna

Bonus points if you know from what movie the title of this post comes. Bonus points will be paid in the form of nothing.

I have some news. Are you ready? Here goes.

I am leaving the North America area on Thursday to visit my girl in Europe. That's right, I am spending ten hopefully glorious days backpacking and hiking all across the continent. Although, my backpacking is going to take place in an airplane, and the hiking will be done by car. We're really gonna be roughing it over there.

Some potential highlights of the trip: seeing Abbie, a visit to Rome, castles!, skiing, sleeping, a symphony, sleeping.

I don't know how much I will be able to access the internet while abroad, but I will do my best to keep you updated, devoted readers. I know all 6 of you are hanging on my every post, so I don't want to neglect you. Maybe I'll include pictures. Here's one!

sleep?

While staying up until 3:30 means I am going to be absolutely exhausted tomorrow, it does have its advantages. I like staying up late because I don't really have stress; I know that I will be able to finish whatever I'm doing, so I feel free to take breaks when I want to. Also, I pretty much have the run of the house. I just jumped on the couch for about 10 minutes and nobody stopped me.

I used the word "I" a lot in this post.

studies

I have been studying for a statistics test for the last couple of hours. My teacher provided this study guide, and I have been cursing her for not providing the answers for it like she did before the first test. So after several hours of work, I am just about finished with this study guide. As I flip to page 9, I notice the heading at the top of the page: Solutions to study guide. It appears that I am dumb as a rock.




Here is a picture of some of my study area. How is a fella supposed to be efficient in the least with as much chaos as is in this room? And you can't even see the desk...I think that would give you nightmares. It's scarier than Elsa.

Good night, and good luck. On second thought, I need the luck more than you. I am keeping it to myself.

Gramps

Sarah already beat me to the punch, but I'm posting about it anyway.

About my grandpa: he is one of the hugest studs I have ever met. He has so much zest for life that it is practically spilling out his ears. Not only has he run numerous marathons over the past decade, he bikes, walks, and even goes skiing! His athleticism and drive were one of my biggest inspirations as a runner. And even when I or any of my siblings and cousins were awful runners, outfielders, or catchers, he always criss-crossed the Midwest to support our sporting endeavors. Plus, he's an amazing whistler.

On top of this, Grandpa is one of the nicest fellas around. I can't recollect a time when he has said anything negative or detrimental about anyone. He's always willing to join in on a friendly game of canasta or relax while watching a football game with you.

These are a few reasons why the news I received yesterday was so rough. It turns out that my grandpa, this amazing, spirited man, has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. If you could shoot him and his wife some positive thoughts, that would be pretty decent of you.

And Grandpa, here's to you. May the wind be always at your back.

the shakes

I just returned from mass, and it did not go well. During the sign of peace, I was focusing completely on the firmness of my grip, so I messed up the pumping of the arm on every handshake! One guy scowled at me, but luckily nobody completely rescinded their peace. I wouldn't have wanted to be forced to crack some skulls there.

Grand Canyon

Tonight, as I was leaving the house, I considered turning on the porch light so people would have some light while they were coming and going. I reconsidered, however, when I concluded that I would be the only one either going or coming, and I could easily get by with my excellent night vision; besides, electricity costs money. So I jogged through the dark to my car with no mishaps, until I hit a little snag in the form of a giant crevasse in my driveway. As I started into my graceful ninja roll which would land me back on my feet, I was momentarily distracted by the brutal irony of the situation. This caused my roll to go completely awry and I instead gracefully smashed both of my knees and one of my hands. My one comfort as I lay there was that I could use all the money I saved to pay for bionic legs. I will be rebuilt. Better than I was before. Better, stronger, faster. Here is an anticipated picture of me, post-surgery.


All of the DJs in Kirksville conspired tonight to play awful music, except for one song: "Can't Touch This." What a phat beat! I actually was too young to really get into M.C. Hammer's music when he was popular, but I certainly remember watching Hammerman. M.C. can make a path out of music notes to escape from a crashing airplane like nobody else.

physics

I just watched this movie all about quantum physics and spirituality. It was some pretty interesting stuff, all about how we create our own reality and the power of the mind is really powerful. But the coolest part of the whole movie was that the main character was played by Marlee Matlin, who some of you might know as the lip reader from The Lip Reader! She was quite a performer. I wonder how deaf people dance well.

Every time I encounter something like this movie, even if it is "pseudoscientific garbage," as some fella claims, I want to switch my major to physics. It is just so interesting! But then again, I need to have a job some day. Perhaps I am just too practical for my own good. I can at least read stuff about physics and the like and learn on my own, if that's any consolation. Thanks, it sure is.

I have been sitting here wiping some moisture off my monitor, wondering what it's source is, on and off for at least five minutes. It turns out that my tea is giving off steam. Why did I even type this? Nobody cares.

Ok, some real, up-to-date information about me. My huge paper that is due tomorrow really has been extended until Monday. This means that I have yet to start writing actual words on paper. Also, I apparently have been denied by Sprint. They never really looked at or decided upon my application so the interview day passed me by without even waving.

I should do laundry. I have a lot piled up. But somebody's laundry is in the washing machine, so I can't do any right now. I guess laziness wins out again.