Wednesday, December 26, 2007

I stumbled across the NY Times' list of The 53 Places to Go in 2008. Lists like this make me tired of Central Illinois. I could be convinced that I should travel to just about anywhere in the world, and this list definitely puts a few ideas into my head for sometime in the distant future. Some of the entries in the list I don't understand though. I don't think my wanderlust extends to Iran or Detroit. I was excited to see Mozambique and Namibia on the list. Mozambique is high on my list of places to see while I am in Africa, and after reading this I may have to go to Namibia, if I can.

Christmas was good. I'm not a huge fan of many things that Christmas entails (the insane shopping season, 90% of Christmas music. no I'm not a scrooge, it's just that a lot of it is bad) but I really do love Christmas. A large part of our extended family came here, which was good cause I got to see them one last time before I take off. My main present was a plane ticket to Seattle to see Chris McG before I leave. I also got some money to buy some things I'll need for Zambia. Tomorrow Warwick and Ben come to town and we'll reunite for the first time in about a year, which is always fun. We were inseparable for the last two years of high school, and while we've gone our separate ways and changed a lot since then, whenever we're together it still feels like summer of 2002.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

I went to see National Treasure 2 with my family tonight. I'll admit that it wouldn't have been my first choice out of all current options in the theater, but I doubt I could convince my family that we should go see "I'm Not There" or "Juno". Citizen Kane it was not, but I enjoyed it, because it wasn't supposed to be Citizen Kane. It had no intention of being Citizen Kane. It's a fun-for-the-whole-family, mindless good natured movie, and no the plot wasn't realistic, but who cares. I'm currently watching "Blood Diamond" with my brother. I'm having trouble with it. It's an awful story, one that's all too familiar to the continent of Africa, and whether or not this movie has a happy ending, the real life story doesn't seem to have any end in sight. There are currently about ten countries in Africa with some sort of serious war or struggle going on. Many of them have been going for upwards of ten years. I'm headed to a country where two-thirds of the population live on less than a dollar a day, the life expectancy at birth is around 40 years old, and about a million people have AIDS, and all I can think as I continue to learn about Zambia is "wow, I'm lucky to be going to an African country in such good shape."
On a lighter note, everyone else this time of year takes stock of their favorite music of the last 12 months, and since I'm a music nerd, here's my iTunes playlist of the best of 2007, in no particular order:
Once Soundtrack: "Falling Slowly"
Panda Bear: "Take Pills"
Josh Ritter: "The Temptation of Adam"
Bloc Party: "Waiting for the 7:18"
Animal Collective: "Peacebone"
Spoon: "The Underdog"
White Stripes: "Icky Thump"
Jens Lekman: "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
Feist: "I Feel It All"
The Shins: "Phantom Limb"
New Pornographers: "Challengers"
A Place To Bury Strangers: "Don't Think Lover"
Arcade Fire: "Keep the Car Running" (favorite concert of the year)
Stars: "Take Me To The Riot"
Menomena: "Muscle n' Flo"
The National: "Mistaken For Strangers" (favorite album of the year)
LCD Soundsystem: "All My Friends"
Radiohead: "Videotape"
Battles: "Atlas" (favorite song of the year)

Monday, December 17, 2007

My screensaver just popped up. I have it set so that my screensaver is one of those photo collage things where your pictures randomly pop up. Pictures of Sydney Harbor, camping in Michigan, my brother's graduation, U2 in Auckland, the My Morning Jacket concert at Foellinger last year, Fraser Island in Queensland, my friend Packy's 22nd birthday party, family holidays, downtown Melbourne, views of Hobart from the top of Mt. Wellington, Cradle Mt. National Park, friends from school, the sting ray that I saw in the Melbourne aquarium the same day one killed Steve Irwin, our former dog, and so on.
When I look at my photos they make me all nostalgic for being a tired, none-too-clean world traveler with a bag on my shoulder, camera, journal, iPod and book inside. Since being back in the states for the last year my camera hasn't seen a lot of action. Taking pictures isn't something you just naturally do, and just having a camera doesn't help. It's a habit or discipline that has to be developed. I guess I leave the camera alone if I don't feel like something big is happening. When I was standing in front of the Sydney Opera House for the first time, or when I was hiking up mountains, the camera was always out. But when the most exciting part of your day isn't climbing mountains, but going to class or work, it's hard to justify capturing the memory forever. I'm looking forward to Feb., when big things will be happening again, and I'm sure I'll take a lot of pictures. In the meantime, my goal is to get used to taking pictures of ordinary things. Last weekend I went with my parents to see my brother at school, and while we were there we took a picture of us, the first picture of the four of us taken in several years. It was nothing momentous, not a life changing experience, but I'm glad we took it, because I know I'll have a picture of my family to take to Africa with me. It's those pictures that I'm sure will make me nostalgic for home in the midst of my adventures abroad.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Ok here's the deal. I'm gonna start a blog for my Peace Corps time in Zambia and the couple of months leading up to that. The catch here is that I have no idea how much access I will have to this thing once I actually am in Zambia. So it's entirely possible that this blog will last until the end of February and then die. Hopefully not, but I won't make any promises. In the mean time, I'll post important things like movies I watch and books I read, things I'm excited to do before I leave, like go to Seattle, and, occasionally, things like "feelings" and "meditations".