Here's to You Mr. Welsh Youtube Blogger

My new hero! (i love how he's reading as he's speaking haha).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8MKbQ8fzPE&feature=related

Dear God, Please make me Popular

Just read an article in a local magazine that goes on to say, "Well it's official...atheists are flibbertigibbets." Flibbertigibbets? Whatever that means.

Thanks to trusty Wikipedia, it tells me a flibbertigibbet is

• a Middle English word referring to a flighty or whimsical person, usually a young female.
• in modern use, it is used as a slang term, especially in Yorkshire, for a gossipy or overly talkative person.
• also a historical use as a name for a fiend, devil or sprite. such as in Shakespeare's King Lear, he is one of the five fiends.

So with that being said, atheists are flighty, gossipy devils. Hmmm sounds about right.

According to the article a new study has just discovered that atheists are more likely to panic under pressure than Jesus Freaks or any other religious people. The tests were conducted in Toronto, so although it was only surveyed on a small number of people, there was still substantial evidence. The tests were conducted on people of various religions and the results were consistent across the creeds.

People of faith have strong beliefs and obviously that certitude is going to keep them more calm. I mean, if you bury your head in the sand far enough, you won't see all the horrible things going on around you. Right?

The article goes on to say atheists don't live as long, that they are most likely to die from a heart attack, and that they even don't have as many friends. How depressing. Maybe it's because God hates them?

Just like how God made lactose intolerant, even though I am obsessed with cheese. Sigh I am simply going to take a deep breath and offer a prayer and maybe all my troubles will fade away. And hey....maybe I'll make some more friends while I'm out it.

This also reminds me of a Regina Spektor lyric,

All the non-believers,
They get to eat dirt.
And the believers,
get to spit on their graves.

Come to the Rescue; Invisible Children

Recently I have been finding more and more information out about Joseph Kony. For those of you not familiar with Kony, he is the head of the LRA (Lord's Resistant Army) in Uganda who has abducted over 20,000 children since the violence began back in 1987 (my birth year). That means each week of my life since I was born on February 14, 1987, about 18 children have been abducted and engaged into violent campaign.

The LRA is a self-proclaimed Christian group that are fighting for a biblical based established of government. They want the laws to be govern through the Ten Commandments, which makes complete sense considering that they are going around murdering innocent people...and forcing children to carrying guns...


Every night, children, priests, and volunteers from outlaying villages gather to hopefully prevent children from being kidnapped and taken by the LRA.

After much hard work, in August of 2006, the Uganda government and LRA agreed to peace talks. Unfortunately, this broke off by January of 2007. Joseph Kony and the LRA still manage to rally children and continue violence.


This Saturday, April 25th, I will be "abducted" in Cardiff, Wales, along with thousands of participants in 100 cities across the world. We will stay in Cardiff writing letters, creating art projects, and seeking out media attention in an effort to petition the US, European, Canadian, Mexican, and Australian governments to develop a strategy and support existing efforts to rescue Kony's child soldiers. I will stay "abducted" at the site until I am "rescued" - this requires a certain amount of media coverage as well as the attendance of a celebrity or political leaders.



















If you are interested in learning more about this effort and have 36 minutes to spare, watch this touching documentary about three guys from California who have dedicated their lives to the effort. Invisible Children presents





http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/

Sorry, No Tonsils for Show & Tale This Time

Ever since 2nd grade, when Emily Bisbee brought her tonsils in a jar for Show & Tale, I always wanted to get mine taken out too, keep them on my book shelf next to my trophies and name them something like Franklin and Maurice. But nevertheless, it was never deemed necessary, and I am sitting here today with tonsils so swollen that every time I swallow I quince up holding my throat, making an Asian face from the sharp knife jabs in the back of my throat.
But there is a plus side. I am finally able to RELAX and settle down after a month of traveling and a week of getting my life back together in Swansea. And I have a lot to catch up on. The past month I have been doing a lot of traveling. My parents came for one memorable, crazy funny week, I stayed another week in London with my dear friend Gloria, and spent the rest of my time exploring England and Italy. From kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland to almost being "under arrest" in the G-20 protest in London, I experienced some crazy things. Like being caught in the middle of an Earthquake in Rome, to almost being arrested in Florence, and almost not being let back in the UK!

I now have time to lay in bed and catch up on my adventures. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to try to fill in the gaps of my last month.

Oh! And today I experienced the magic of a Universal Health Care System for the first time! I went to the health center on campus, waited for a mere 30 minutes reading an old British Gossip magazine from January, learning that the majority of celebrity coverage had to do with Americans, got treated and handed a prescription, in which I went to the pharmacy, picked up my antibiotic, and didn't have to pay a dime for it. It was very comforting.

who was eleanor rigby?

So my parents and uncle flew over on Friday, and I met them in London where we spent two days. (Keep in mind it's the first time any of the have been outside America) It was a hoot showing them the pound system and underground and taking them around the city. We did all the touristy things like St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, the London Eye, the changing of the gaurds, the London Museum, etc. etc.

Check out these videos.

The first one is of my mom in London. my brother and i always play this game about how many questions can my mom ask with out us answering...and it's always a lot. but never in my life have i heard my mom ask more questions (with no response) than in london...and then on top of that we lost her! luckily, i was filming her for most of the day with out her realizing to capture it all.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSoHjERqBs

and this is a video i made of our trip in london.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKZJzn8E59g

Irish Jig Offs Exhist...do leprechauns?

Although I never found a leprechaun, spending St. Patrick's Day in Dublin compares to nothing I have done so far living in the UK.

Hostel- Katie and I arrived around 6pm on the 16th and checked in to our funky little hostel, Litton Lane, in the heart of the city center of Dublin. The hostel was previously the recording and rehearsal studio for Van Morrison, U2, The Cranberries, and more, and had murals on the walls of these artists. The hostel window was also big enough to enjoy a cup of coffee on while overlooking the city.

Night Life- Katie was exhausted from the 13 hours of traveling and passed out, but I was too anxious being in Dublin so hit the streets solo style, and stopped in a Starbucks to read up on some hot spots for night life.

The Globe- Seemed to be a pretty spacious bar, minus that fact that it was full with two different crowds...young locals enjoying pints, coffee, free WiFi, tapas, newspapers, and live jazz....and then the St. Patty's tourists taking pictures and wearing green. Once it started to get later, the bar merged with club RiRi and was slammin' so I left.

The George- A really nice dance bar with a young crowd and DJs. There were statues of angels (which was pretty ironic considering it was a gay club) and greek-lookin' gods. There were chandeliers throughout the whole bar and upstairs there was a wrap around balcony overlooking the dance floor. Upstairs Also, off to the side a lounge with big red couches and a huge gold gaudy mirror the size of the wall. The club was really loud so I head outside to the back brick patio (designated smoking) and chatted up some local Dubliner's who describe St. Patrick's day "as just another day" and one of the girls claimed that she didn't celebrate, and that the only thing she did to celebrate was to drink, "but i do that everyday" she laughed. i then met a new friend drew, who of course was from America (because for whatever reasons Americans always gravitate towards each other)

St. Patrick's Day Parade- There couldn't have been better weather on St. Patrick's Day, as the sun-drenched Dublin streets were being filled with thousands of others (a reported 675,000...mostly tourists) all with the same thing in mind (securing a good spot to watch the parade). However, we were lucky enough to get almost all the way to the front (behind three guys with obnoxiously tall leprechaun hats). People were climbing trees, lamp posts, and statues to get the best view. Others watched from street windows.
After waiting for a painful two hours the parade began! The theme seemed to be surrealistic, which was right up my fantasy-pan's labrynth alley. From upside floating animals, to dancing butterflies, hippies, peacocks, creatures, and space-monkeys, the parade was widely entertaining but lacked somewhat of an Irish feel, minus a couple of floats. The parade was a lot more Global than I thought, with groups from Iceland, Germany, and high school bands from America. Overall, the parade was very creative and unique and set the day up nice for a pint of guinness (or two...or ten).
I have way more to say about Dublin, but I am staying busy and hope to continue to write more. Was in London the last couple of days with the rents and uncle and now am back in Swansea with them.

And to top it all off, Katie, her dad, Drew, and drank Guinness at a self-serve bar, and witnessed a dance off (irish jig-off). Check out the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQNR21QJDU

Leaving on a Midnight Train to... Holyhead?

Early on the morning of March 16th at 3:30 am Katie and I left for Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin!

My buddy Matt from Manchester offered to give us a ride to the train station so we wouldn't have to pay for a taxi. We were both exhausted, but andrelanine was pumping for Saint Patrick's Day and I couldn't fall asleep. But finally after riding the train for an hour (and some sleeping pills) I passed out, although that's not the best thing when you're on a train that has to transfer through Cardiff Central and Shrewsbury Station. I woke up one time and thought for sure that we had missed our stop. But we arrived in Holyhead, North Wales around 12 and we had time to explore before making our way to the ferry. Here are some pictures from the train journey and the town of Holyhead.