#41

where are you?

#40

My Grandfather on the debt crisis:

"Everyone is concerned about the national debt, but every civilized country in the world spends more than they receive in taxes. Government has to operate like a family does. There are lots of things we'd like to have but realize that we can't afford. Those who are smart don't spend more than their income, those who don't eventually face a day of reckoning. Entitlements have to be cut back and taxes need to be raised. We also need a fairer tax system and less spread between lower paid workers and CEO's and CFO's. I'm always amused at how the haves are ready to ask the have nots to sacrifice when they don't sacrifice themselves. A prime example is Congress: they are ready to cut everyone else's entitlements but not their own lifetime pensions after just 2 years in congress, they are not in medicare but have a Cadillac health plan that is not available to other federal workers, etc. Eventually one has to live within one's means. I think the government is learning that. A middle class is central to a democracy, and the tea party activists seem bent on destroying the middle class. That has to end."

You're so right, Grandpa. So right.

#39

My dad's response to watching "Friday" by Rebecca Black for the first time:

I thought it was pretty catchy....not as bad as some rap shit that has come out over the last 20 years...

Love

Dad

I guess he has a point.

#38

"We're usually thinking all the time, aren't we? Not that we live in order to think, but the opposite isn't true, either - that we think in order to live. I believe, contrary to Descartes, that sometimes we think in order not to be."
- Where I'm Likely To Find It by Haruki Murakami

#37

My dad's reaction to me asking if I could possibly participate in a summer program which would cost quite a bit of money...

Who knew...that my little Arielski......formerly of Wenshaw Park, North Merrick, growing up in piles of leaves and snow, all documented on VHS/Hi 8/Super 8 tapes, would grow up to bleed me dry!!!!!!!!!!!! Arghhhhh!!!!!!!

Love dad


ps send me the bill :(

Thanks, dad.

#36

"For to be ignorant about what took place before you were born is to always remain a child. For what is human life, unless that memory of olden things can be interwoven with the life of our ancestors?"
- Marcus Tullius Cicero

#35

An Update Through Photos

It's been way too long since I last updated this.

Way too long.

Things that have happened since my last update:

- I toured the Scottish Highlands

- I spent a weekend in Amsterdam

- I met Christopher Brookmyre, Scottish novelist

- My laptop broke for a week, adventures at the Glasgow Apple store ensued

- I celebrated Halloween, and it was fantastic

- My best friend from high school visited me

- I travelled to Chester for a homestay

- I attended a professional rugby match

- I came down with a cold that lasted for three weeks and ended in tonsillitis and an as yet still unconfirmed blood test

- I helped cook an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner on very short notice :)

- I attended high tea with my classy friends

- I rode on a ferris wheel at the Edinburgh Christmas Fair

- I watched the snow fall on the city, and fall and fall and fall

- I saw Frank Turner, my favorite musician ever, preform in Glasgow

- I celebrated Chanukah with many friends

- My friend from college visited me

- I have learned and grown even more into the person I will be

- I have been happy :)