Well, if you're a student at many schools in Australia there'll be no more reading BME, which was just added as “banned” due to being “Tasteless/Gross”. Interesting coindence that it was allowed for eight years, and then gets banned right after my article on the education system is posted!
Playing with some joint logos for an upcoming shirt that I think should be pretty fun.
Well, I'm back of course… arrived here around noon today and haven't really been doing too much. My goal for the day is pretty minimal — just to catch up on the newsfeed (unlikely on account of bad weather), clear the bad submissions (low res images, webcam shots, etc.; done), and that sort of stuff… That is all done by bots, but they only run on my command so it wasn't getting done while I was gone. Tomorrow I'll do an experience update, add a new art gallery, and then add images most likely on Wednesday.
I've had a chance to upload a bunch of pictures from the trip (sorry it took so long, the satellite is not doing so well in the storms)… They're just quick posts; I didn't have time to pretty them up or clean them or anything like that so some may not be quite perfect, but maybe some are of interest to someone. Click the pix below to see them, and note that with the exceptions of the ones that are of Rachel or I they're public domain so feel free to do stuff with them if they're useful to you (and I'd be glad to share high-res versions if people need them):
Take a look around baby, yeah my whole crews ugly
But we still got the most game, the most money
The most hoes, the most honeys, it's so funny
How you hate my fuckin' guts but at the same time love me
From the Lincoln to the gold to the lowrinding bike
I always catch you hatin' but you know that you like
What you see is what you get, nothing more, nothing less
I'm chillin' smokin' chronic while you're chokin' on stress
It was weird getting back into North America yesterday; among other things, not that I'm not a bit overweight, but being back among truly rampant obesity is a strange experience. I can't imagine how bizarre it is for people who've lived their whole lives in a country where there's no major fitness related health issues to come to Canada or America… And the other thing you really notice coming back into North America is rudeness.
Not only does one notice that adults look your tattoos up and down in a hostile manner, but kids are afraid, and clutch at their parents when they see you, rather than smiling and wondering and wanting to touch and see what you're made of. What a sad place this is that we've lost that innocence. People in the West don't seem to care what your tattoos mean to you — all they see is what they mean to them; whatever hateful stereotype their prejudices demand… That is, when I was in the Caribbean, people didn't want to just see the world through their own hatred — they wanted to know what you were about, what you believed, and why you expressed yourself the way you did.
Thanks to “progress”, I guess we've replaced curiosity with fear.
Rachel and I (and a couple from Chicago that we met here) sailed out to the west end of the island today to a shipwreck in about thirty feet of water — the bow and stern were just barely cresting. As we sailed there we passed through immense schools of blue jelly fish… While we were snorkling we weren't in the school any more, but it was really neat to watching the few solitary ones around the wreck swimming (if that's the right word for what they do). I have to admit that Rachel's fear of being stung, and my pathological fear of a Deep Star Six-like monster meant we spent more time on the deck of the Windsplitter, but it was a really nice day.
I think my favorite thing so far though has been visiting the volcano… Honestly, if it wasn't for Rachel saying “there's no way you're making me live on an island predicted not to exist in a few years”, I'd totally love to live under the shadow of the guts of the earth!
My only complaint I think is that it's been really hard to find vegan food down here, which actually kind of surprised me — since Rastafarian culture is vegetarian I'd mistakenly assumed that there'd be an awareness of such issues. I know everyone knows that I initially started eating vegan because of concerns for water usage and other environmental factors, but I think what's kept me vegan is the spiritual factor… As more time passes I become more and more aware of the lifeforce in everything and my place in it, and I just can't bring myself to “consume pain”. I'm sure that probably makes sense to the 150 or so vegans on IAM, but must sound totally kooky to others (I know I wouldn't have taken such a claim seriously in the past).
Anyway, tomorrow around noon we're heading to the airport and will be back on the mainland by evening. I don't know if I'll be able to get “proper” computer access on Sunday, but as soon as I do, expect lots and lots of photos!
