I feel better now. Looking forward to normalcy. Maybe it was all the cleaning I did (not my own) that cleared my mind.

The rain is nice right now, very calming.

Snow soon. I wish I had X country skis to get around in. Maybe some snow shoes too. Winter is not my thing, but I guess I have no choice.

Having off for Columbus Day was nice, but why the hell is this a holiday?

Now I have to get to the impossible task of understanding La Araucana.

I'm starting house cleaning again today after putting it on hold to finish painting the railing. One nightmare is behind me so I'm excited to make money again. Here is a recap. The original paint that I put on wrinkled up. Me not wanting to do a shitty job decided to remove it all and repaint. I told the woman that I didn't want to be paid for removing the paint. She has said that she paid me $230 over a length of time for my work. This $230 was mostly paid for the work I did in preparation before I painted the first time. The railing was a rusty mess! Most of the time that I was working I didn't take any money from her. If I did it would be $20 every once in a while to get me by. The entire time I paid for everything I needed to get the job done, running up my credit card. I told her at the end to pay me what she thinks is fair. Today i get a check for $40. I brought her over cake for her birthday as well as bought her dog treats and what happens to be the dogs favorite toy. It turns out that the paint was most likely lousy paint rather than anything I did wrong. I was proud of myself for not doing a shitty job, but $40 seemed like a slap in the face. This was after her daughter in law offered to get me out of it and her son told her I should be getting paid the whole time. I held my ground and said no, that it wasn't fair. $40 thanks. It would have been cheaper for me if I just paid her off and told her to get someone else to fix it. I don't know maybe it was fair my $40, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It also was stressful to her, neither of us expected this to be a several month process. Ok I'm done, its over!

Being fair is not so easy.

I just read this article on yahoo about how the Army is lowering their standards in order to meet recruitment goals. It struck me as funny. They are letting people in with lower test scores and certain people with criminal records. Still, fags with mouths can stay home. Its good to know they haven't lowered their standards too much.

It is sad and frightening that yet another nation has attained nuclear weapons. I have studied a bit about the US and their race to create the first nuclear arsenal. It makes me wonder if the workers that are developing North Korea's arsenal are also being subjected to harmful radiation. What about the innocent people who live near these plants and dump sites? North Korea believes they need these weapons for their own survival. I would assume like in our own race against time to build the atom bomb, that North Korea is no different. They will also have to deal with the nasty waste that plagues our own area for centuries into the future. When time is an issue as it was in our own quest for the bomb, little is given to proper handling and containment of waste.

Has anyone seen the first report regarding the successful test from the N. Korean News Agency? The woman who is delivering the news to the people looks like she is having an orgasm. It is sort of creepy. The North Korean army also freaks me out. Their marching is so scary.

I'm not too sure that the Bush administration refusing to dialogue with them was the best thing to do. What is so wrong with at least having talks with them. I'm not saying for sure, but maybe this could have been avoided. A deal of some sort could have been made in exchange for access by weapons inspectors into the country to provide assurance that they weren't developing nuclear arms. Now it is too late, but I still think it is time to start the dialogue. Further sanctions, maybe, but talk first. Who knows what they could do now if they are pushed further into a corner.

I just got internet back. Went with Verizon DSL sloow speed. Verizon sucks, but for my situation I had to go with them. Don't want to get into details as to why they were best for me. You know what sucks about Verizon? is that when you call to order the service you get a competent speaker of English who knows what they are doing. When you call for customer support you get someone in India that doesn't know shit and/or can understand what your problem is. This isn't an attack on India but an attack on rotten service from nasty companies. Screw you Verizon.

I thought today about not posting here anymore. Changed my mind. I hope that whoever is bothering (e:jenks) just stops it. Enough! Not that this person reads what I have to say, but just in case they did, I hope they listen. It seems like nastiness has gotten to new levels since I have been posting. That makes me very uneasy.

I'm done with the railing.

I was going through pictures of Cuba so I could find two that I have been meaning to publish on (e:strip). Also I need to find 3 of my best to submit for a photo contest. It isn't easy when you have 3,000 pics! I'll save the most intriguing for last. These aren't exactly what I think is the best, just something I had something to say about.

Here is some pics of Amanda aka mi amor! She is in Cuba right now. I miss her and need to write to her. She is a beautiful person and has amazing hair and eyes.





This one is the aftermath of one of the many hurricanes that passed by Cuba while I was there. I don't even remember which one. This entire area up to calle 23 was flooded when the sea penetrated the city.




This boy I was intrigued by. You could see him and his family passing the time on their porch from the "girls" room window. It was hard not to be seen taking photos.


I think this has to be the hottest pic I took. This was during a marathon my friend Megan and I went to see.



This is some plant at the convent where I stayed. It just seems pretty to me.


Another marathon shot.



This is Reinier. He was supposed to come and study at UB, but he never got in...his father is the embassador to North Korea. Sorry you lose. Oh he is posing next to the nuns bones from back in who knows which century. This is in the convents cript.




Finally! This is what I have been meaning to show you all. This shot was taken outside of the convent walls on calle luz.




Can you see that whitish fog in perfect form? It appears in both pictures and the dog is absolutely facinated with it.



The History of Havana is so rich, its beyond the capacity of my brain. The convent is said to still be occupied by the nuns who have long been dead. Many of the nuns were rejected family members hidden from society. Often times they brought with them a slave and depending upon the severity of their societal infraction were sometimes locked in their rooms. The slave trade actually occurred only a few blocks away in la Plaza Vieja. Infant bones have been found in most of the convents. Could these be illegitimate children?

One of the past UB students to live in the convent came face to face with one of these nuns. He was able to describe to profe to perfection a nun in the Habits that they wore at the time. He was so terrified that Profe had to secure his bed by blessing it with holy water.

Our compa�era Megan saw one praying over our other compa�era Melissa. Megan wouldn't lie, I know this. This was the only time our group saw a spirit.

I wanted to see one soo bad, but I never did. However, I have captured on camera what I believe is a spirit. In reality, I don't think I have the ability to see them. There has been only one time in my life where I sensed one, but this is the only time that I could see one with my own eyes. While our eyes can see, our brains at times don't.

Sorry (e:paul), I know you don't like youtube crap. I just can't help it because I want other people to see Cuba. These videos are much closer to reality than most of the videos filmed in this country.

Los Orishas come from a mix of African beliefs and Catholicism. It is interesting and entirely complex. This is called Santería. This mixture comes from when the slaves were forced under Spanish rule to accept Catholicism in their lives. I'm so far from being an expert on this topic. Animal sacrifices are common. Santeros are paid good money to preform ceremonies. They dress only in white for a determined length of time.

The videos of the Orishas do an excellent job of capturing both urban and country life in present day Cuba.

Cuban can be very hard to understand at times. S is almost completely dropped out of their speech pattern. In comparison Spain is much more restrictive in their Castellano.

This first video begins with some young Cubans walking through the street. These streets are the way they are in present day. Each one being an integral part of history. The party you see is in most likelihood not recreated. Sure, some parts are probably staged.
][/link]http://youtube.com/watch?v=M0foTPbJNAg

This second video is amazing. It starts with un camello or camel. Named so after its camel like shape. You wouldn't believe how many people can jam on this guagua or bus. Watch your pockets! Drums and los tambores or drums de La Habana.

I still don't know the secret to the whitest whites. They know.

Much rap about specific locations. Calle 23, el Malecón, el Prado, Miramar, etc.

Most of this I would say is not recreated.


]

The third is much more el campo, the country. It isn't like the country side here where you would think they are much more conservative. Se baila en todos los lugares. They dance everywhere.


The clouds are so beautiful. Always.

Libertad

Back to the railing from hell.

I got a lot done this weekend. Saturday I finished removing the paint and Sunday I painted. It went sooo fast with the roller instead of trying to paint the whole thing with a stupid brush. The paint that I am using is sooo much better than XO Rust, now I'm using Rustoleum. Yesterday I went to the house to get my drill cause I needed to attach a door sweep to my front door (Time to weather proof our old Buffalo homes). I had the opportunity to see my work. Everything had dried perfectly. Even the few spots that had drips dried nicely. None of it wrinkled up and got icky.

Here is tomorrow's weather forecast from weather.com. Partly cloudy high of 69 with 20% chance of rain. Maybe just maybe I can finish the damn thing. I have one class tomorrow at 1pm. That is right smack in the middle of the day. I don't want to miss the class, especially since we are going to correct in class my essay and discuss Carlos Fuentes "La Familia". If I don't finish painting tomorrow (likely), I'm not sure when I can finish it. Weather.com forecasts shitty weather for the weekend. Maybe I should go before and after class to paint.

When I'm finished I get to go to a restaurant of my choosing. Any suggestions (keeping in mind I still am not eating any animals)?

I'm going to my monthly district Buddhist meeting on Friday at 7pm. (Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism) There are some people here that may have some interest so I didn't want to leave them out. Let me know via something.

libertad

p.s. sorry the Dalai Lama (Not sure if I spelled that right) will not be able to attend.

Here is my sarcasm cause so many think that we all follow him. No disrespect to anyone, its just like saying all Christians follow the Pope.

This is a pic I took of the billboard in front of the US Interest section in Cuba.




This is what is there now.