sentimental geek

Scary blast from the past: Free Speech 101 – Wartime censorship is alive and well and living on campus.(From Slate.com)

“And if I die today I’ll be the happy phantom

And I’ll go chasin’ the nuns out in the yard

And I’ll run naked through the streets without my mask on

And I will never need umbrellas in the rain

I’ll wake up in strawberry fields every day

And the atrocities of school I can forgive

The happy phantom has no right to bitch

The time is getting close

Time to be a ghost

Every day we’re getting closer

The sun is getting dim

Will we pay for who we’ve been?

So if I die today I’ll be the happy phantom

And I’ll go wearin’ my naughties like a jewel

They’ll be my ticket to the universal opera

There’s Judy Garland taking Buddha by the hand

And then these seven little men get up to dance

they say Confucius does his crossword with a pen

I’m still the angel to a girl who hates to sin

The time is getting close

Time to be a ghost

Every day we’re getting closer

The sun is getting dim

Will I pay for who I’ve been?

Or will I see you dear and wish I could come back

You found a girl that you could truly love again

Will you still call for me when she falls asleep?

Or do we soon forget the things we cannot see?

Time is getting close

Time to be a ghost

Every day we’re getting closer

The sun is getting dim

Will I pay for who I’ve been?

And if I die today

And if I die today

And if I die today

Chasin’ the nuns out in the yard…”

-Tori Amos, Happy Phantom, Little Earthquakes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEIL! Love you.

From Beliefnet: “Honor Everything: Even in the midst of overwhelming suffering, it is possible for each one of us to make a difference–by humbling our hearts…”

Okay.

Well, okay.

So here’s the thing.

I got to work this morning (a little sleepy, but happy) and Allison crooked a finger at me and said “I need to talk to you about something.” (Great. Just great. The phone computer was broke when I got to work Saturday morning and I didn’t put the numbers in the book because I wanted Melanie to get in trouble because I’m tired of cleaning up other people’s messes.) I had the whole speech worked up in my head. I didn’t want today to turn into this terrible Monday from Hell. So I followed her into the sales office and watched her pull out her little Black Book, which holds all of the vacation times and FAMs (familiarization tour for all you non travel industry peeps out there. Basically, tour operators put these out there for travel agent to get familiarized with different tours these companies operate.) for the res department.

Maybe I should explain what I do before I continue.

I work for a tour operator in New Hampshire, a highly prominent tour operator who’s been in business for 55 years. Basically, we operate tours in Asia, Europe, Russia, Latin and South America, the Middle East. When you go into a travel agency, you pick up a brochure of the operator. There’s a bunch. Kontiki, Trafalger, Talc, Globus, Uniglobe, Gateone, Abercrombie and Kent, etc, etc. There’s hundreds of them. You pick up one of their brochures and pick out the tour you want, your travel agent (AAA, Carlson Wagonlit, American Express, whatever) picks up the phone and calls us. We set it up for them (book the hotels, land arrangements, sightseeing, airline tickets) and pay them a commission for booking with us (I get paid an itsy-bitsy commission on each booking I make. Couple hundred a month, and it’s a living).

So, yeah, anyway, back to the marketing office. Allison opens her little book and says “Do you want to go to Thailand in October?” She totally said it deadpan and I had to have her repeat herself. Thailand, man. That’s a 21 hour flight from Boston. I can’t even imagine. While I was trying to fathom what she was telling me, I managed to stammer “Do I still get to go to Russia?” (I’m signed up for a FAM to Russia in November. It’s the only place I ever wanted to travel and Allison promised I could go. I was signed up last year, but after 9/11, they cancelled all the FAMs. So I didn’t get to go. Last year, right around this time, they asked me if I wanted to go to India and Nepal, but I had to choose between Russia and India. I chose Russia and the Air India flight bound for Delhi left 9/10. They were in the air on September 11th and didn’t known it happened until they landed the next morning. Imagine that.) She said yes. I asked “Do I still get all my vacation time?” (I’m going to Costa Rica in December with my friend and neighbor Lora.) She laughed and said yes.

So, I have this fabulous trip to Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the River Kwai) sitting in my lap (and I get to go with my friend Kim from work). And I’m scared to death. Three and a half hours, Boston to Chicago. Thirteen hours in a plane from Chicago to Tokyo. Six and a half hours, Tokyo to Bangkok.

Good Lord.

My stomach is full of butterflies.

I can’t be scared.

It’s the opportunity of a life time.

Why can’t I get my eyes open and see that?

“I awake to find no piece of mind

I said how do you live as a fugitive?

Down here? Where I cannot see so clear

I said what do I know? Show me the right way to go

And your feeling so bad cause you know

That the spies hide out in every corner

But you can’t touch them no

Cause they’re all spies

They’re all spies

I awake to see that no one is free

Well, we’re all fugitives, look at the way we live

Down here I cannot sleep from fear, no

I said which way do I turn?

Oh I forget everything I learn

And the spies came out of the water

And your feeling so bad cause you know

That the spies hide out in every corner

But you can’t touch them no

Cause they’re all spies

They’re all spies

And if we don’t hide here,

They’re gonna find us

And if we don’t hide now

They’re gonna catch us where we sleep

And if we don’t hide here

There gonna find us

And the spies came out of the water

And you feeling so good cause you know

That those spies hide out in every corner

But they can’t touch you no

Cause they’re just spies

They’re just spies

They’re just spies

They’re just spies…”

-Coldplay, Spies, Parachutes

The first time I listened to Parachutes, I sobbed through the entire thing. It’s hauntingly beautiful. I love it. And it still makes me cry.

I am so bored at work right now…

What revolution are You?
Made by altern_active

I just had to share this with everyone…it makes me, as a fledgling Buddhist, feel so much better (thank you, Beliefnet!) “I’m used to shopping at Nordstrom. . .” How Do You Let Go of Material Attachments?

We have finally set up the internet in the house : ).

Whoohoo.

The truth hurts: Earth Summit ends in discord

Eh.

Not much to report from the front. It’s cold and rainy here today…

I’m tired of hearing about Iraq. I’m tired of all of the news on TV that isn’t news at all.

I want to go back to bed.