Goodbyes, Taxim and Bartering like a Turk!

Tuesday was the last day for a few of our little group (Irina, Brent's girlfriend, and Lars and Simon, the Denmark guys!) ... We started out by going to a place for breakfast. I had lamachun (la-ma-joon) which is also referred to as a Turkish pizza and menemen which is a runny egg dish with vegetables. Put them together and got a little bit of deliciousness. It was a good last hangout for some of us, we did some things and then wishes both Lars and Simon farewell...

Left to Right: Brent, Irina, Lars, Simon, Michael Jordan

After hanging out at the house for a bit, I suggested we hit a Hamami! AKA a Turkish Bath...

This was a great idea. Wow! What an experience. I missed out on doing this last time I was here so I was pretty adamant about trying it this time. Brent and I went in one side, and Irina had to go into another side. We started out by getting into some fancy attirewhich consisted of a kilt-like towel. And after a labyrinth of doors we finally got to the first section, which is the blazing hot sauna. I stayed here until I found myself to be medium-well. Then a Turkish guy came and beckoned us onto our next part. Here we sat (by the way, the entire place is made out of white marble) and they scrubbed us until we left a few layers of skin on the floor. This was intertwined with a good soaping. Afterwards we laid out on big marble slabs and received massages! A cool shower followed, and then we were led to individual rooms to relax. A very awesome experience!!!

Now that I felt like a million bucks, we gathered the rest of the guys and jumped onto a ferry to Taxim to hangout for Irina's last night. Taxim is the "happening" place of Istanbul. Lots and lots of people, lots of things to do, bars, restaurants, the whole nine yards.

The guys on the ferry.

Brent, Safak, Me, David.

A street performance.

Fire dancing and a band. They were incredible. I would have bought tickets...

The night wrapped up at a restaurant. We had countless glasses of tea and good company.

Brent went with Irina to the airport and we headed back to the house.

Wednesday Brent and I slept in until noon, which felt great. I headed out shortly after to scavenge for food and soak in the city. I tried to get lost, but since I am writing on my computer at the moment, that failed! Anyway, I did run into this guy who was selling cactus fruit. That was kind of interesting, of course I had to try it, the taste was veeeery faint, but it was good... lots of juice/water, and it had hints of a lot of mango-esce fruits. Now I know how to cut open cactus fruits! They do have a lot of seeds however, apparently they were okay to eat, but if I grow a baby cactus in my stomach - I will not be happy.

The rest of the day was spent running around getting quotes and bartering with a laptop and iPhone that I am trying to sell here. It was fun seeing the game played, although my Turkish is limited, it was a good lesson on reading body language. Tomorrow we will set out in attempt to finalize some prices! Cross your fingers...

We headed to the Bosporus for sunset. It was pretty epic.

Cheers!

Beach day at Sile!

On Monday we decided to head out to Sile, a popular beach destination in Turkey. It took about an hour and a half to get out there, with a few busses along the way. But it was definitely worth the journey! During our walk to the beach area, Brent ran into a guy named Urg, who he played volleyball with a few weeks prior. Urg knew very little English and I know very little Turkish, but we managed to get across some conversation (?) about volleyball and other things. After a bit of warming up with the volleyball in which a few others joined us, we headed over to the courts. Urg and I played on a team and played very well! We took on a range of different competition and managed to fend them off successfully. It was really fun playing at a high level again! We had a small audience too, which was also pretty cool. We played for probably 3 or 4 hours, after which I was extremely exhausted and took shelter under the shaded bleachers. I then brought myself to plunge into the icy Black Sea. Immediately running out as if I was being chased by a pack of sharks.

Urg and I...

When we came back to ourselves we found this guy laying in our umbrella shade! We found out his name is "King" and he is somewhat the top-dog around these parts. There are many many dogs around the beach areas whom are stray. Very nice pooch though...

We found some nearby rocky hills and decided they would be fun to climb. They were probably 50 feet high, and had great foot and hand rock/holes. This was really rockclimbing! No harnesses though, so we had to be careful. And what did I do it in..? Of course! Rainbow sandals! (I should get paid for this endorsement) ...

Then we headed towards some other rocks we saw in the distance. This turned out to be the best idea of all! It was another secluded cove! So peaceful and the sight was incredible. There were jetting rocks all around. And I here you say, where is King? He came with us!!!

We headed a little further away to another rocky area, here I found very cool picture opportunities. I spent a good while trying to get some good shots. I think this is one of them!

At this point, we walked back to the original spot we were at to collect our things. But ended up staying because it was so close to sunset. Now, ELEVEN dogs are with us. They were especially attracted to Irina, who sent out an animal vibration, like aquaman, she was dogwoman.

You thought I was kidding? No. These dogs followed us a good mile back into the city! It was absolutely hilarious!!!! All these people had crazy looks on their faces wondering where all these dogs came from and why they are in the city! Planet of the Dogs!

A long journey back home gave way to a much needed slumber, where I actually slept more than 5 hours! Although I did get attacked by a few skeeters... bastards!

:)

Burgazada & Turkish Hospitality at its finest!

Saturday (?): After a good day of reading and having Cay (TEA!) by the Bosporus, I met up with about 10 of Brent's roommate's friends. We headed off to the volleyball courts! The best part was, as we were finishing up, the Turkish Olympic Volleyball team showed up! The #1 and #2 doubles teams played a few games which I watched very intently with a big smile on my face! Court side to some of the best volleyball players in the world. Amazing!

We went and got some food afterwards, I had meneme, which is like a runny egg dish in a bowl with vegetables and other stuff. Generally you eat it with bread. First time I've had it and it was pretty good. The night ended with myself, Safak, David (Brent's roommates), and Lars (Danish guy) going to a part of Turkey that is a big hangout. It's called the "saw-hill", it's a giant grass lawn which borders the water. Hundreds of mid-20-30 year olds drinking, smoking, having a grand ol' time. There was a lot of people playing music, volleyball, frisbee, dogs, cats, iguanas. It was a good day.

Sunday: Went to church with Brent's roommates and others... afterwards we headed out to the Islands!!! This was probably the highlight of my previous trip to Istanbul, so I was much looking forward to this.

We're off!

There are 9 islands, called the Princes' islands.

It was great, we went to the island of Burgaz. (Ada means island)...

Found a secluded little cove, and hungout for a bit.

David and I set off hiking, we climbed a rocky point to get to the other side of the island, here we found even less people and even more cool climbing areas. I was in my rainbows sandals, which are supreme for climbing. Really, they are, I didn't slip once. :) We ran into two guys on top of this hill we hiked up, chatted a bit in broken English/Turkish, David did a bit of translating as well. On our way back to the cove we decided to take a rather daring route. It was fairly steep and covered in pine needles which made traction next-to-none. Luckily it was spaced out by trees about 10feet apart. So you could slide and grab onto the next tree. Very exhilarating, and again, my rainbows held up. Unfortunately, David's shoes didn't treat him as well and he has to hook his arm around a tree to avoid tumbling very far and painfully. Leaving a big bruise and scrap on his back, underarm, and forearm. When we got to the end, we popped out of the trees about 20 feet away from our group! It was great.

I had to head back a little earlier than the rest of the group in order to be back in time for dinner at Mahir's (Brent's old roommate who I stayed with last year).

The boat was extremely backed and I ended up sitting on the back railing, these seagulls followed us the entire 45 minute journey.

A few busses later, and I was reunited with my old friend! This was truly a great night. Mahir had recently become married to Hava. I had such a good time at their house I was sad to leave! We had NINE different dishes!!! Two noodle dishes, one with yogurt, the other was a spicy sausage type. One rice dish. A salad. A tomato soup with cheese. Another soup with chickpeas and meat. An absolutely fantastic eggplant dish. A plate of fruit. And homemade Baklava (A Turkish dessert, very sweet and good!). I also indulged in numerous Cays and another homemade drink that resembled a cappuccino. Hava's food was excellent!

These types of nights are what makes traveling so great, spending time with an amazing group of people from all different parts of the world and at different points in their journeys. I enjoyed the talks and the company tremendously. Until next time, Insha'allah.

From left to right...

Irina, Brent, Hava, Mahir (Hope to see you all in India!)

It's Turkey time!

And it begins........


After an all-nighter leading to a laborious 27-hours of hopping airports, ferry boats, and trekking up cobblestone streets... I have finally made it to Brent's house. Quite the journey so far, and with a lack of sleep so severe, I have developed a grand narcoleptic condition. Falling asleep just about every time I do not have to move.

It is now the start of my 3rd day here. The first night was spent meeting Irina, Brent's girlfriend, and his roommates, Safak and David. Two guys from Denmark are also staying here, Lars and Simon. All in all, a cool group of people.

Since going to bed (or turning off lights, or turning off music, or anything of the sort) is not really considered an option until well after a sane time (we're talking 2-3am here, people). Our days have been starting a little late, but hey, gotta adapt, right? We started out by going to grab some food down the street, 3 items for 5TL (~$3), not bad! Ihad a rice dish, some soup, and egg plant / beef. I was a little worried about the options for breakfast, but it turned out to be really good and did not cause a nuclear bomb togo off in my stomach. Irina has not been here before, so we took to the main tourist parts, going to see Hayasofia and the Blue Mosque. Although I had already seen these about a year ago, of course it was awesome to see them again! This time we were actually able to go into the Hayasofia (meaning holy wisdom), it was the first center for the Christian religion, it was then later captured and turned into a mosque,and now a museum.

The Blue Mosque is just an incredible sight, giant ornate pillars support the highly domed and decorated walls. It inspires a sense of awe.

Of course, we stopped for some Turkish coffee throughout the morning adventures and talked, which is really one of the best parts about traveling that is often left out in the blogs or discussions. It would be a bit odd to talk about talking, I think, it's tough to convey the happenings of a few hours over coffee and tea. So, this stuff is usually just left out and the rough skeleton of my day is sketched!

We were feeling quite hungry at this time, so we headed towards another district of Istanbul and found ourselves in a small cafe. I had a Donor Tavuk (chicken sandwich). After we ate the custom is to serve tea, which we gladly drank over 7 or 8 games of Durrak, a Russian card game.

We decided to take the long way home, and walk along the Bosporus, it was great seeing all the lights on the water and soaking everything in. It is a religious holiday period called Ramazan right now for the majority of the Turkish people, fasting ends after the last call to prayer, which is usually around or later than 8pm. With this being said, the city gets a bit more lively after this time... We got back around 11pm and then stayed up, of course, until 3ish ;). Ah, to live like a Turk.

To the Beach!

Well, I am officially a resident of Pacific Beach as of now! I couldn't be more excited. I literally can hit a golf ball into the ocean from my porch... assuming I get a hold of one of those 300 yard drives ;). My mom came down and helped me move in, we spent a good 7 hours (or more) unpacking, setting up my room, building desks, and what not. But damn was it worth it, the finished product came out very nicely. Here is my virtual tour...

I decided to hang up this in the hallway, a very nice sight before walking into the cave!

Walk in a take a hard right, I have my hole-in-one ball and my golf ball collection up, along with signed Jim Edmonds and Kobe hats! :)

Those are 15 of my favorite pictures I have taken, put up on canvas. I like!

To the left, we have the Vitruvian man, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Here is one shot of my desk, in the far right is a cool little book shelf, computer, and what not. This thing took a good two hours to put together, and it was going ahead of the estimated time... until I realize that the damn thing was starting to turn into an L with the long side going the other way... which would have blocked my sliding glass doors! No bueno! - so I fiddled around with the legs, and we actually had to make custom holes to put the little shelf (on the far left) in! But again, worth it. There are some nicknacks and art I got from Berlin on the shelf

And that's that... Looking forward to a good year!!!

Nature

Nature. Natural. I think there is a good reason why these two words are connected. When I am in nature, I feel so natural, like I am suppose to be here. I am suppose to feel the grass under my feet, the breeze tumbling gently off the trees around me, and the aroma of the many bushes that are beckoning for my attention. It's amazing, nature, that is, it's free from all the bias and attempts to make beauty, it's free from the human alterations and "improvements", it's free from all of that - and I think just being in it gives me a little of that freedom. It's so magnificent, it really is, the best man-made structures fall short of natures wonder. I just stumbled upon a quote by the great John Muir, “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” - John Muir. Man, that guy really knew what he was talking about. Being able to harness the energy that nature offers, what peace and tranquility it can bring. It's even more than that; strength, wisdom, understanding - I think you can gain all of this from nature. The trick is being able to see it, to appreciate it. The more I have grown to appreciate nature, the more I have grown. I find myself at home there, I'm comfortable... I feel natural.

The Mind of Maslow

Maslow harped on one thing in particular that stuck out to me. Self - Actualization.

"Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is." -Abraham Maslow
Self - Actualization is another way of saying, finding and reaching your fullest potential. Maslow says there are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. The deeper the self-exploration, the closer one comes to self-actualization.
He says there are 8 ways to self-actualize.

Experience things fully, vividly, selflessly. Throw yourself into the experiencing of something: concentrate on it fully, let it totally absorb you.

Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth): Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.

Let the self emerge. Try to shut out the external clues as to what you should think, feel, say, and so on, and let your experience enable you to say what you truly feel.

When in doubt, be honest. If you look into yourself and are honest, you will also take responsibility. Taking responsibility is self-actualizing.

Listen to your own tastes. Be prepared to be unpopular.

Use your intelligence, work to do well the things you want to do, no matter how insignificant they seem to be.

Make peak experiencing more likely: get rid of illusions and false notions. Learn what you are good at and what your potentialities are not.

Find out who you are, what you are, what you like and don't like, what is good and what is bad for you, where you are going, what your mission is. Opening yourself up to yourself in this way means identifying defenses--and then finding the courage to give them up.

Just a great theory, and I thought I would share :).

What do I know?

"The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know…" - Socrates

Now there is some truth, some words that have some impact behind them. How amazing were the philosophers of ancient Greece? I can see why though, they would sit around all day and philosophize with their fellow men of thought. Through conversations and expressing ideas they were able to formulate representations of themselves and the world around them. Much of their teachings are still passed down in todays age. This quote really hit me hard, just because it is so true. The more I learn about anything, the more I realize how complex it really is. The more you learn about something, the more those basic layers are peeled back and the intricate nature is revealed. Yet, it is only when you allow yourself to be open to the possibility of something with deeper meaning that you can actually begin to find it. I found myself telling a dear friend of my "The moment you realize you know nothing, is the moment you can begin to understand anything..."

"I love...

...the feel of the grass under my toes, the sun's warmth on my skin, the breeze on my face, the sound of the trees rustling, and the smell of natures perfume." - Me

Nature is truly amazing. I cannot get enough of it. Hell, there is even recent articles claiming that if you spend more time in nature, you increase your vitality, your life. I believe it. It is so stress relieving too, picking one leaf from a tree, I can just look at it and become encompassed by its simplistic beauty. It's a fractal, like the tree, like a forest, like everything. Built on repeating patterns. The golden ratio perhaps? Hmm. Interesting. Anyway, I love everything about nature. I have become a complete nature buff. Climbing trees, hiking, rock climbing, laying at the beach all the time, wading in the ocean waves and soaking in the sun. I love it all. The end.

Destined to be Free

I was asked my thoughts on destiny the other day, which goes hand in hand with free will. This is a great question, and it's been one of the biggest philosophical questions of our times. Is there such thing as free will? Or are we just big gears fueled by our chemical and biological processes? There has been a vast array of different views on this... If you look at Sir Isaac Newton, he loved something called determinism, the idea of a physically determined universe. This is sometimes referred to as the Billiard Ball view of nature, for example, if we had billiard balls on a pool table, they will only move if acted upon. If we could measure the exact velocity and angle of the first billiard ball hitting the second, we could predict the movement of the second ball! This continues to - if we knew the exact chemical makeup of a human being, the historical and social factors he has grown up with, in effect, everything about someone, we could then predict his future actions... in that they are simply all previous experiences leading up to an acceptance or ignorance of causal factors. A good argument to look at on the other hand, is a man named Jean Sartre, his view was something called 'Existence precedes Essence" ... He was an atheist, and with this he believed there are no essences bestowed upon us, meaning pre-defined human nature, rather we have a self-conscious that allows us to define ourselves by making self-directed choices. He yearned for humans to "act authentically" in that we do not follow social norms and standards, but we take responsibility for creating our own future.

Now, I myself haven't really planted my roots into either one of these views just yet. As I am still learning! But, I am reading a book right now called "The Field". To sum it up, everything is in/part of this giant background field of energy, on the smallest level of anything, at electrons and quarks, this energy field is constantly exchanging information back and forth with them. This connects everything in the world, and universe. A view which I am quite fond of. This book attributes our cells abilities to group together and generate a leg as a leg, or our liver as our liver, to a "mold" set by this energy field. As we do not really know how the processes that this happens by while we are developing as a fetus. For example, the scientists looked at energy currents surrounding a salamander egg, they were able to measure a field surrounding the egg which took form of the adult salamander that the egg would one day grow in to!!! As if it was already fixed. So, as you can see, this poses a very interesting question. Is everything fixed? Is an act that you think is out of the normal and against your normal actions already accounted for?

It is amazing to think about all the decisions and things that have happened to make you be sitting where you are this very instant. I can think about hundreds of small choices that eventually led to a huge life change in retrospect. It is insane. So many things and decisions are constantly being made, I view the world as a giant web of decisions, we weave our way through one day to the next, in the end - I think you we sitting here because it is exactly where we were suppose to be sitting. So, I guess to answer the grand question, I do have a little hunch in me that the universe is unfolding as it should...

What Am I?

I was driving to Newport Beach the other day... I found myself both on the way there and the way back in intense thought. I wasn't focusing on driving, at one point I even texted my cousin - "Thanks for steering subconscious." Anyway, back to the good stuff, I've read somewhere that the mind does the best thinking during mundane tasks... such as driving. I kept thinking, what am I? Are we just brains? What is this consciousness and why can I think that I am just a brain? To think that, you have to have such a strong sense of self - ironically.

Aristotle said - All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

Well, is that it? Are we just big gears, chemical and electrical processes? Do we just follow these laws of physics? Or is there something more? Is there something else? Perhaps a unified consciousness or a field that connects everything in life; I can assure you that we do not know everything about ourselves, this world, or this universe.

When I look at some of the processes our brain computes daily, such as vision - here I see a tree, it is green. In a nut shell, my brain takes in the light rays that are given off in the electromagnetic spectrum, some cones in my brain are "tuned" to this medium lightwave that green gives off, and all of a sudden the color "green" is recognized and sensed! Now it is one thing for my brain to have these cones that are sensitive to light waves in the first place, it's another thing for these light waves to register as the color green, and it is another all together that something is doing the recognizing! Is it a gear driven process, that one thing leads to another and brings up this knowing of seeing the color green? Or am I the driver of my brain, if you will, someone the manifestation of all the processes at once, another level of awareness. Our brains are mostly working on the subconscious level, we don't consciously process colors, sounds, motor movements... well almost anything. This is more supportive of the Darwinian evolution theory. That all we are has been derived over time, evolving to support survival. But what is this consciousness? Neuroscience today is looking at this crucial and interesting question to understanding ourselves. In the words of Ramachandran, we are aiming to find the double helix of our brain, what makes some things conscious, where others are unconscious. One interesting case that shows the clear discrimination between conscious and subconscious is in the visual system once again, with the case of "blindsight". What happens here is one of the routes to vision is damaged, typically the V1 or visual cortex itself is damaged. This is essential to note, because it isn't the eye itself that is damaged, but a conductor to one of the visual routes. Now I say one of the visual routes, because there is another route that bypasses the visual cortex and uses other brain structures. So here I have this blindsight patient, patient X, he is unable to "see", in that if you ask him what is in front of him - he will report seeing nothing at all. However, if you were to stream dots across a screen in front of him in a specific direction, such as to the right, and then ask him to guess which direction the dots are moving, patient X will 'guess' correctly every time! Without ever actually being able to "see" the direction of the dots! This is made possible by one of the intact visual routes, and ironically, it is an older route that is utilized by most reptiles. It revolves around the processes of motion. For example, a frog can't see still things, if a fly was to perch directly in front of it, the frog would not notice the fly. Yet once the fly left that spot and moved, the frogs visual system would go haywire and the frogs stomach would have some digesting to do! Basically, this poses two things, one - that we have subconscious structures assisting us with everyday tasks, and two - since in this specific example, that subconscious structure is apparent in older species, are we merely just the evolution of it? Leaving me to pose to you the grandiose question of it all... Are we just brains?

Mr. Locke, Do You Have the Key?

My family was over today for dinner, it was great. It really was, we all caught up a bit, talked about everything under the sun (or around it) and generally just enjoyed each others company. One topic in particular we talked about has been resonating with me for a bit now. The topic of morality, it started off by discussing if humans are innately good. My view on this is pretty firm, I side with John Locke in his regard of the newly born human brain as "tabula rasa"... a blank slate. I can look at this from many angles, if you look at language development in infants, they literally have the capacity to adhere to any language. It is the language that is present around them that they end up acquiring, through a pruning process the brain is generally narrowed down to the vital neurons. Babies are extremely passive, they spend an enormous, if not all their time, observing. Through observation they start to develop a sense of things. It isn't even until later in life (2, maybe --- 5 years old) that they develop a sense of self. One experiment in particular that comes to mind regarding this says it isn't until we have a sense of self that we can form episodic (things that happen to you) memories (as oppose to semantic, factual memories). This experiment was carried out by having numerous children go through the process of looking in a mirror, then having the mothers place a red patch on the forehead without them noticing. The children now looked into the mirror again, if they have a sense of self they would reach to their own head to remove the patch, if not, they reached or pointed toward the mirror image. Now, the children were taken to a foreign room and given a lion stuffed animal, this lion was placed in the bottom drawer of a cabinet, the same for every subject. Two weeks later the children were brought back into that foreign room and asked where the lion was, it was only the children who had passed the red patch task, who had a sense of self (if you will) that remembered where the lion was! So, now that I finished that little tangent, I don't know if I agree with Locke's view completely, which is that the world will describe information through experience of the five senses. This knowledge is then reflected upon and perfected, arriving at the abstract concepts such as space, time, etc... He was an empiricist. Don't get me wrong here, I do believe much experience comes from the five senses, and it is perfected through reflection - but I am not so sure that this is the only way we can acquire knowledge. Another view point I like is Rationalism, headed by Mr. Rene Descartes, it is to believe we can acquire knowledge from thought alone, without influence from the external world. I think this is what gives us the ability to think about the abstract concepts such as space, time etc, not the senses, what sense makes us think about a god? The super string theory? Now a man named Immanuel Kant tried to combine these two views, and I like that. So running with him, he poses an argument on morality, to tie everything back to the beginning ;). I'm not saying this is my view, but he liked something that he termed "universalizability" (well, he probably didn't, he was German) this basically said that a right action is something that can be applied across all people at all times. In his echoing translated words, "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." That gives a pretty good structure for what is moral. For example... someone sent you a video link of their new movie, they ask hey did you watch the link? You didn't, but maybe in consideration of their feelings you want to say a white lie and say yes. Using Kant's morality view, in this situation, telling a white lie, if applied universally, would probably be a very bad thing. Therefore Kant would conclude that telling the white lie would be immoral. Wam-bam-thankyoumaam. Well, there is one philosophers view on one topic. I don't know if I agree with that, if morality is something to be applied universally in the first place, or is it something that each person should find for themselves. Actually, I am leaning more towards the latter at the moment. Nietzsche looks at this through "master" and "slave" morality, the former consisting of the individuals break through from the societal norm and constructing their own moral truths, the latter consisting of a herd morality in favor of the weak and powerless - he views many religions as having slave morality. I think morality is certainly a matter for discovery through self, however, I do think many people need the stability of moral rules. So here lies another situation where I will not give in to either absolute side, and I feel most things don't settle on an absolute side. Empiricism or Rationalism? Universal or Independent Morality? I don't think these are black and white questions, there are arguments and evidence for both working - and in that - one cannot be an absolute...

Welp, I'm not even going to bother re-reading this one, bed time! ;)

Mind Over Matter, and a Little Rant

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

Mahatma Gandhi Well, I think this is a pretty powerful quote. Most of Gandhi's are, he was so free, free from all the harmful things that come from loving the body. I feel this applies to me a little at the moment. I recently came down with a case of Poison Oak, and I mean, it is everywhere! Even on my face, needless to say, I don't really feel like going out in public with all these blisters shooting golden-rod pus out... sorry if that was graphic, but when I really sat down and thought about it. How lucky am I that something like this only affects my body, rather than my mind. After all, that is really all that matters. Thank god for that blood brain barrier...

It is funny how Gandhi says you will never imprison my mind. The times I feel most imprisoned is when I am in a normal setting with normal people, but no one has one thing to say that is worth thinking about. This reminds me of a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt... “Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people” How right on is that one? It is almost equivalent of a plague to sit in a room with a group of people who are in an intense gossip session. Our minds are so capable of running on such a high level of thinking, unfortunately that level is rarely achieved in the daily routines of most people. However, it is so rewarding once this level is reached. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I am anywhere near the peak of my enlightenment, but I know it's there, I know I can get there, I know I am on the path; even that small distinction from the "average" man (if you will) is exponential. I don't think we should ever stop learning, never turn your back on your curiosity, strive toward the mysterious... “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes That is in harmony with one of my previous posts about how the more I learn, the more I want to learn. This quote shows why getting out there and living, experiencing things and learning are so important. Learning is food for the mind, and that is so much more important than food for the body (sometimes :] ). I just wish I could poke people, and they would wake up, see the potential in themselves and start transforming their minds. Learning shouldn't be a hard process that is on par with taking a wheat grass shot, it should be something we exert ourselves for, fighting for every last bit of knowledge we can get...

In my opinion...

Two things

1. I love volleyball. It is probably my favorite sport, nope, it is. I am having trouble deciding it if I like it better than baseball back when I was in my prime. Maybe, just maybe. Especially beach volleyball, what's better than a day at the beach? I could go into details about all the specific things that I like about volleyball, but I don't think that is very important for you to know at the moment :P.

2. I just read an article that was trying to find the cellular processes that allow birds to flock together, fish to combine into schools and swim together, as well as other similar situations. Think about a giant school of fish swimming, they make turns, sometimes sharp turns, especially with a predator present - yet all the fish somehow stick right on each other, as if some choreographer was directing the swimming. How is this possible? Well the researchers were looking at what makes collective behavior. The study looked at Dictyostelium, which is a slime mold, they measured the chemical release of a certain part of it, finding that once this chemical amount reached a certain critical point, the cell started firing in a pulsating fashion sending more amounts of this chemical to the neighboring cells - prompting them to pulsate as well. Eventually, this lead to the cells growing in sync with each other and then the unified movement of the slime mode. How interesting is that? This research field also goes along with how humans have cells that turn into organs, how does that happen? We have clumps of cells that bind together and become our heart, our liver, our spleen. Have you ever stopped to think how these organs come into place? They definitely weren't in the sperm and the egg, somehow (probably in the way I just described) our cells come together to form them. So amazing. Biophysicists did this study, just chart that down as another field I want to tackle... gah!

So much time...

I have so much time this summer, and so much time left in life (I hope). In Edinburgh, I felt like I was always doing something, whether it was traveling or hanging out with friends, walking around the city or just enjoying the day. Lately I have been in Temecula, most of my friends are in San Diego - and Temecula is a pretty boring place to be for my age range. With all this being said, I have been watching the minutes pass until I go to sleep the next day. I need to get a job, or something. What a sad turn around from the lifestyle I just came from! But... things will start picking up soon. I have ordered three books from Amazon; "The Field" "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart and "The World As I See It" by Albert Einstein... I am going out to get an acoustic guitar today... and I am jumping on to work as a construction/day laborer for the addition to the house my Dad is doing. Hopefully all that will help me bide my time better, as now I only have my Saturday volleyball commitment. I would love to be good at the guitar by the time I move back to San Diego as well, the idea of being able to construct my own music is very appealing to me.

Now in regards to my life, I'm 20. I was telling my cousin the other day how much time we have left. He was saying he was getting old because he is graduating college. No way! There is so much left to do and experience, it's insane. Around this age range it seems we have everything planned out already, we're going to college for 4 years, grad school, get a job, get married, have kids, etc... We are always trying to get somewhere, and when we get there, somewhere else is on the list. I would like to slow it down, enjoy where I am... invest in the process, not the outcome.

Some things change and some things never change

I woke up pretty early again on Thursday, 7AM. This is becoming a routine, and I like it. I feel like I have an extra day before my day even starts! Anyway. I went and got Crystal and we headed off to the beach. Last second we diverted and decided to go to Sunset Cliffs, as neither of us had been before. It was great, we walked along the cliffs and stopped a few times to go walk to the edges of them. We ended up having esoteric conversations for a few hours, caught up a bit and just enjoyed the day all together. This was completely opposite of the conversations and things I did the day before, there is so much life and meaning when time is spent this way. I definitely prefer this over the typical San Diego State lifestyle... Unfortunately, I got buuuuurned. My shoulder is red ripe tomato color. Eh, I guess the sun was mad I didn't see him for a while.

The whole day was spent hanging out with Crystal, Ashley and then Josh came from Temecula! I had not had a solid hangout day with him in well over 2 years. It was like nothing changed, we got along great, passing jokes off of each other like we rehearsed them. The four of us went to Hooters (AND WE WILL NEVER GO BACK) ... the food wasn't the worst, just deep fried and death filled. It definitely came back to attack later. Oh well, it was a fun dinner. Later we all headed back to Temecula, to go to Evan's house, he was having a little get together. Great seeing all my friends there as well.

It is really weird, it seems the strong relationships I had before I left got stronger during the time I was gone, and the weaker ones almost vanished completely. There is no common ground for these to survive on any longer. I grew up, and out grew the lifestyle I once had.

Coming Home

I have been back for a few days now. Benjamin Button sums the feeling up best "It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you." Couldn't have said it better myself, everyone here is the same as when I left. But I have changed, it really throws my mind for a loop because the last time I remember hanging out with these people, it was so much different then presently. I've read through a few travel blogs and they all talk about this feeling when coming home, as if the world has been turned down a bit. I was constantly moving, constantly packing my bags and seeking out adventure; it seems I have now hit a brick wall. The thought that I will be in one place for such a long time seems foreign to me. I am surprised that my trip of 4 months has had such an impact on my outlook. Although many of the blogs also say that this feeling passes, it is a prominent one at the moment. I want to get away. Hopefully I can find some peace soon, because this turmoil in myself is not ideal.

Waking Life and Some Thoughts

That movie (Waking Life) is one that I feel everyone should watch. It isn't packed full of action, drama, comedy or any of those typical movie categories. It is packed with information, with ideas, with philosophical questions. The things that bring people to life when they think about them, the very things that gives us our individuality. It isn't what kind of clothes we wear, or how we wear our hair. It is what we think, who we are to the deepest core of ourselves.

I feel like most people don't even have this conscious awareness of the universe to realize how small we really are. We are the big bad humans, here to control the world. No - we are the size of 1/1000000 of a grain of sand. A very wise Cosmologist Carl Sagan compared our attempts in contacting other life forms in the universe to that of a single man, standing in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest, screaming trying to reach our civilizations on the outside. This is highly improbable. There are 250 billion known stars in the galaxy (as of 1976), with all the calculations of pressure, atmospheric conditions, temperature, the whole mix needed for life - there is approximately one million other intelligent life forms out there. Now that may sound like a lot, but that is every 1 / 200,000 stars. The closest star clusters to us are 300 light years away, that's really far away. To give you an example, if we (and we have) tried to contact them via radio waves (travels at the speed of light, which is the fastest something can travel [as we know]) it will take THREE HUNDRED years just to reach the star! Not to mention the other THREE HUNDRED years to reply! Even if there was life on the closest stars to us, we wouldn't know until the year 2600!!! That's to say if we haven't blown ourselves up yet.

Which brings me to another thing, war. I cannot stress how much I dislike the concept of this. I have found through my recent traveling around the world that a good majority of the people I talked to categorize people into races, countries, etc. I do feel this is normal, as you probably are thinking as you are reading over this. Now although it is sometimes useful when talking about select groups of people, to refer to the human species in terms of countries - or different religions, is a terrible way to look at the human species! I believe it is the sole reason that we have war in the first place, we place these categories upon people, we separate us from them. This creates differences that normally would not be there, after all we are the same species. Sure we grew up on different continents, using different arbitrary language symbols to communicate feelings and ideas. But we are one in the same, in the very essence of our humanity. Once these restrictions and classifications are lifted off people, I think a great weight will be lifted off the human race as well. We will spend less time worrying about what other countries are doing, our relationships with the other people and finally become one with them. We will strive toward a common good for all humanity, I predict this will be necessary in the near future, if not, I think our world as we know is posed with great danger. Especially with the new developments of weapon technology. The capacity to entirely destroy a civilization is harnessed with the press of a button.

The more I learn, the more I want to learn. I said these words Yesterday. I don't know why, they kind of just came to me. I couldn't agree more with myself, though. I can relate it to the example of a bunch of fish in a pond; starting with a little fish, who eats littler fish - becoming bigger, now this same fish eats more little fish or bigger little fish to grow even larger, the cycle keeps going and going. With the fish needing to eat more and more to keep growing. I relate my mind to the original fish, and all the fish I am eating are the arts, philosophy and science. The more and more I learn, the more I realize how much is still out there to learn. The mysterious is beckoning me to come explore in all of its wonder. This just brought two quotes up to mind; the first, by Gerry Spence "I'd rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief" I wish more people would hear this quote and understand it. What good is having a working mind without being able to explore the different possibilities of a situation? So often I see people firmly committed in a belief, when I question them about it, they not only fail to defend the belief with any weight, but seem to dismiss the question all together in a ' I know I am right ' kind of fashion. If you keep the mind open, you will keep learning, once it is closed, learning ceases and biases are formed. One of the biggest things I have learned in recent times is the value of an objective mind, without emotions and without bias, this leaves everything as it is ready to be examined. I have been able to look past how I feel about things personally, and view them for what they really are. This has increased my knowledge and understanding of both people and the universe tremendously. I will leave you with the second quote, by Albert Einstein "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." This couldn't be more right on, I believe, and of course we couldn't expect less from our good friend Mister Einstein. . .

Day 114

Well... It’s over. I am back in California. Thursday was a great last day… I started out by heading to the Royal Gardens with Jordan and Daniel. We talked while we walked through all the different types of trees and plant life… It actually was a huge place with some pretty great scenery. Quite enjoyable. Daniel and I met up with Dave for dinner after that. For my last dinner in Scotland, I decided to go with the traditional Scottish meal of Haggis, Potatoes and Gravy. It was good, but the concept of Haggis itself never failed to protrude in the back of my mind, making the meal less enjoyable then it could have been. Afterwards I began my packing… it didn’t take as long as I thought it was going to. Finished up by 9pm. Dave called me around 8 because he was also taking off back to the highlands, I went out and said my goodbyes to him and we went our separate ways. I can tell this is going to quickly become a depressing day. Everyone is going out to Karaoke tonight, Malcolm and I headed over around 10, the majority of the group was already there. This was great, about 20 of my good friends were at Karaoke. We sang some songs, had a few drinks, and just had an overall great time. When we left at midnight, half went onto a club and half went back to my flat. We just played a few drinking games and talked. Daniel Malcolm and Rob stayed up with me until my cab got there at 3:30am… By then, I have already parted with so many people. But this was especially impacting, leaving my two roommates for the last 4 months and one of my closest friends – and really all of Scotland. I just remember sitting in the cab seconds after it pulled away with such a feeling of isolation. The barrier in between the cabby and I, windows and doors all around me, covered with a veil of rain water… I was all alone in the back seat with essentially all I own. This amazing chapter of my life has come to an end. Even so, the things I have experienced, the culture I have breathed in, the people I met and the growth I went through will perpetuate in the following chapters with an everlasting presence. I can’t help but being a bit sad at the moment, on the other hand, it will be great to be back. I will be giving my Mom, Dad and Brother hugs in about 2 hours… be reunited with all my best friends in San Diego… feel the warmth of the sun upon my skin once again… and just continue growing and learning in myself and in general. I will continue to try and live each day to the fullest, and smile while looking onward. The promise future holds is always uplifting for me, I know great things are in store, I can feel it to a certainty.

Day 111-113

So, Monday and Tuesday consisted of playing the guitar. Hanging out with Dave and Daniel, and having some more good conversations. We also watched The Matrix, which I haven't seen since it came out when I was like 10. I had no idea it was so philosophical in that we are all plugged into pods - everything is generated through electrical signals to our brains... this whole thinking (originally from a French philosopher, Jean Baudrillard) + the action?! It is such a great movie! Anyway. Now I am set to watch the next two as well, see how the whole thing wraps up. I feel I am finally at a developed state of mind where I can truly understand the complete package of movies like this and other more mindful movies. It has given me a desire to go back and watch all the movies I call my favorites, such as a beautiful mind (did it), eternal sunshine of a spotless mind and the butterfly effect. I clearly remember enjoying them and what they had to offer back when I watched them, but now I feel I could get much more out of them. Another movie I watched with Dan in the last few days was Waking Life, which is by far my favorite movie. I was showing it to Dan for the first time and he loved it as well. This movie is purely philosophical and demands full capacity of your frontal cortex throughout the film. I tell people that you could pause this movie every 5 minutes and have a full day long conversation about what was just said. That is how much of a thinker this movie is, I can't get enough of it.

Wednesday was Cinco De Drinko, err, I mean Mayo! Well to start things off, Dave graduated around noon. So... a celebration was obviously in order. Dave and I met up with Dan at his place and had a few drinks. Then we met up with Nick at the pool hall... we played for probably 3 hours... where everyone was slightly worse due to the alcohol, I was flourishing. I felt as though I was back on my game from when I use to play every day. It was a great feeling! Anyhow, we finished up the pool, everyone temporarily went their separate ways to get dinner and changed and what not. Tonight we were celebrating, it was Dave/Nick/and my last night... not to mention Cinco de Mayo! So - I went to Dave's around 7:30, everyone else showed up around 8 and later and we started the night off right. A little later we were at a bar/club type deal that was into the festivities as well, I got myself a nice cowboy hat/sombrero as well as a Corona beer opener and backpack. Apparently they liked me. It was a ton of fun, and we didn't slow down until 3am. Now we started saying goodbye to some people, and that was definitely sad... I will miss my close friends I met here a lot. The group I have in Scotland is so diverse, it is a really great atmosphere when we all get together; I think it is because for the most part everyone is very non-judgmental and objective about the world. This leads to very accepting personalities and is great for open fun and conversations. Well... at least I have excuses to go visit quite a few different places around the world :).

Day 110

Very productive day today in terms of progression of myself... it started out by reading a little and then I headed over to Daniel's flat. Claire was over there and we all hungout for a bit. When she left the guitar lessons started, I felt like I made pretty good progress, Daniel thinks I definitely did and was impressed with how fast I was learning it. But I feel like I was learning it slowly, although it is tough to compare something like that to anything else I learn about. Where it can just be ... well ... learned, guitar involves much more of your procedure memory in that you need to train your body (hands) to make very precise and specific movements. Remembering where to put the fingers is not the hard part, I can tell you where I put them for both of the songs I learned right now, but to be able to integrate this knowledge of information to the motor movements is another thing altogether. Anyway, after about 4 hours of this, Dave came over and then the three of us headed to the pool hall around 9. We played for a few hours, definitely a fun time. From here we headed back to Dave's and were all craving some pizza - ordered 2 XXL's from Papa John's for only 18 pounds. What a deal. Chomped on those while starting some good conversation. Dave was kinda in his own world talking to someone on the computer - but Daniel and I proceeded to get into abstract conversations. As we had two sessions of good talk the day before, it was proceeding further into pure philosophical topics. Dave ended up leaving at about 2AM I want to say, to go to bed. Daniel and I kept talking, and the next thing I know, the sun is up, and it is 5am! Insane. Completely worth it though, the things you learn about yourself, and the other person in times like this are unmatched and inaccessible from any other avenue. Speaking to someone about their inner most thoughts and feelings on subjects really exposes you to who they are as a person in their core, it is through this that I believe the firmest relationships can be built upon. Daniel mentioned how our conversation covered such a wide range of topics, and that in most cases, their would be someone who let their emotions get in the way or were too stubborn on their view on a topic, causing the conversation to cease or be less powerful. That is so true, for one example, we were able to talk about religion from a completely objective point of view, and I think that is a necessary tool in itself to be able to pull your human desires out of a conversation and examine it purely from a philosophical standpoint... so important for any growth. I was telling him, that earlier in this year I mentioned to my Dad that I didn't find I had a lot of people to have these talks with. That went more than tip-toeing into the pond. That upon reflection of that talk, I asked myself why, why wasn't I having these talks? In most cases, it seems that you just have to hit the right subject, and it will develop into that. There is another way though, that I have found out and utilize to the fullest now. Start them... what a concept. I have changed the way I communicate with people now, instead of skimming along in fear of offensiveness or who knows what, I immediately desire to delve into their brains and find out how they really think about a subject. I feel that in this, I am not only more satisfied with my talks with people, but we have better conversations. This is how I feel communication should be used. Not to gossip, not to talk about the latest celebrity scandals... but to evaluate your thoughts as well as come across the different possibilities and views in others thoughts. Sure, there will always be room for talking about things that don't revolve around the creation of the universe, and don't get me wrong, these are necessary for keeping a healthy lifestyle and not becoming so detached from reality. This would be what I would term the playful side of talk, however, the philosophical side is so crucial for any growth as person. I can't stress enough how much I feel this way. I remember Daniel saying towards the end of our conversation that this is probably what Socrates and Plato did, they just talked about everything so openly and became so intelligent - it is probably exactly what they did! Another thing he said really struck me, he said he felt his brain working. That is something that people need to do more often! Exercise that thing in your skull. It is after all, you, along with every single representation of this thing we call reality. I can feel myself about to go into a three hour tangent. So I will end here. But damn, I love philosophizing.

Day 109

Today was a great day. I feel like every day is. Yet this one was good particularly because it was filled with two separate occasions of deep conversations, with a movie watching of IronMan2 in the middle.

I woke up with about 3 hours of sleep. It was now 1PM. I took it pretty easy for most of the day. I watched a few TED videos, one was on the word "simple" versus "complex" ... very interesting. The message it made was from simple things do we really make these complex things, which, because of what they are built from, can be used in a simple way. For example, a cell phone; he broke it down into the circuitry, showing that the circuit boards were nothing but a combination of simply made parts, and the chain goes on. I specifically found this related to the human body, in almost every aspect, we are a complex being made out of simple parts. If I go for one example, I would say take a look at our sight. To see boarders and edges of light alone we have something called "simple cells" which respond directly to orientations of light. These simple cells make up something called "complex cells" which respond to movement and movement direction. The complex cells make something up called "hypercomplex cells" use all of this information and respond to the length of light. Everything starts with something simple, and builds up from it.

"You know you have achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." - Karel Vredenburg.

So let me continue. After this I watched one on the computational universe by a man named Stephan Wolfram. This man is a genius. He has spent his whole life on working with algorithms and other methods of computation, in hopes he can make all data accessible and useable one day. Well, he has made tremendous progress, he has one program called Mathematica, and another called Wolfram|Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/index.html) I would suggest just going on and taking a look at the latter. It is a search engine, but it works differently than most search engines. Instead of having spiders roam the web and find relevant information, the information is pulled from large databases - for example - if you have a health based question, it will go to a health journal, guide, etc and give you related information. It can do any sort of math problems, and give you must more than just your answer (although that is given too). Very cool and handy tool for the future. He also showed how our universe could be made by a simple algorithms which is just repeating time after time. There are simple rules that can be repeated to form more complex looking patterns, but these are plainly repetitions of things. However, every once in a while, he explained, there can be a very simple rule - that produces results that are very out of the ordinary. In that, this simple rule produces very random things. It can be used to produce random event generators, and Wolfram argues that something like this rule can probably be shown one day to be the reason our universe is unfolding the way it is. There is much repetition in our universe, but it also has some deviations, something like this rule would account for those.

After I got done doing all this good stuff, Daniel had called me up and asked if I wanted to grab something to eat and talk. So we headed to the golf tavern down stairs. We had some great conversations; about life, social rules, the universe, aliens, our thought processes, past experiences, the brain, music, and more. Definitely a rewarding dinner, which was delicious as well. To get an idea of how far we were going in discussing these matters, when Daniel and I got our food, I was in the middle of explaining something. He finished 90% of his meal, before I took more than two bites of mine. Then when I was done talking, I was able to finish my whole meal while he was talking! These were giant back and forth dialogs, all the more meaningful. I feel to understand someone you really need to let them speak until they feel like they have explained it well, so constantly I see people fighting for the time to talk during a conversation. That isn't a conversation at all, it isn't some deep desire to be heard the most, it is truly for expressing values, ideas, thoughts. Going on a tangent here, there are two models to language that are largely accepted. One is a cognitive model, in which it is posed that talk is merely spoken language. It must assume 3 things to work; 1) the function of talk is to convey information, 2) the model of language is based on the syntactical rules, 3) talk is an activity of an INDIVIDUAL person. The last point is where I feel it goes a bit astray, now don't let me mislead you, this doesn't mean that they think you only talk to yourselves. It means that our brains are involved in processing what we want to say, and in hearing something, it is somewhat the same processes to tell us what people said. In that it is the activity of our brains that convey the information that is inputted and outputted (to explain it briefly and vaguely). Anyway, the other model is the social-pragmatic view of talk. This view says talk is a form of social interaction. In that the only time you talk, is in a joint-activity! Participants co-construct personal, social and cultural worlds as well as do things together when talking such as getting directions or requests. One must be good at turn-taking in order to interpret the talk, and relate it to the issue at hand. Language is truly fascinating, and I have built up much appreciation for it this year in studying it so much. Okay, tangent over, Daniel and I talked for a few hours and then headed to meet up with the rest of our crew to go see Iron Man 2 !

Shannon, Rebecca, Daniel, Rob, Benny, Kyle and myself went to go see the movie. It was definitely a good movie, lots of battles and what not. The graphics were amazing. Afterwards we the girls and Benny split off. Benny is flying to Canada on Sunday, I won't see him again until he visits the states. It is crazy to think I will be leaving all of my friends that I have built up such great relationships with here. Then again, I am sure we will keep in touch and even visit each other. Anyway, we had met up with Dave now as well, so the remaining 4 of us went back to my flat. We stayed and talked for a few hours, mostly about music to start - but this brought me into bringing up binaural beats, which I have spoken about in a previous blog I am sure. I told them about my experiences with them, Dave agreed with what I had to say, as I have got him into them as well. They are pretty amazing, well, our brains are pretty amazing. In short, everyone left with binaural beats on the mind. Tomorrow I am headed over to Daniel's place for some guitar lessons, should be good!

Day 104-108

Well, until Friday, it has been the same old story for the most part. Studying my life away. One of my exams was on Wednesday, Cognitive Psychology. I had to write 3 essays in 2 hours, this made me realize how terrible the system is to test for knowledge of a class. Here is 2 hours, write what you know about 3 topics. First off - what the hell 2 hours?! Not only was I writing as fast as I could the whole entire time, but if you want me to show my damn knowledge of the subject let me write for a longer period of time! I think I am just mad because my hand was cramped for the next 3 hours after the test. Anyway, I wrote one essay on Language, one of Speech Production and one on Speech Perception. I feel like I did a really good job, so, that's good.

Wednesday night was Marc's last night here. We had a little get together at his place and basically all of our friends came. Meaning it turned into a pretty decently sized get together. It was great and I am sure Marc had a good time. It involved lots of debauchery and fun. We had a few giant guy vs girl flip cup games, ten guys vs eight girls to be exact. These were going neck-and-neck (the guys team had some bad flip cup players)... it ended up being 2 to 2 in the series. The final game was epic if I do say so myself, I am the last person to flip to cup, called the Anchor, I beat the girl Anchor by probably .5 of a second. My cup landed flat as hers was probably at a 150 degree angle. The guys went nuts and tackled me, we celebrated like we just won the world series. Gotta love it.

(feel my pain)

Thursday consisted of pure studying. I counted, and I memorized a total of 88 different experiments (including the researchers names and years) as well as all the content I needed for the class. I rehearsed it so many times that I could still recite all I wrote down word for word right now. But when I got into that test room on Friday, and now had 3 hours for 3 exam questions. This time my questions were on facial perception, the sub-components of the prefrontal cortex, and the different routes to vision. My hand never stopped moving, I felt 100% confident in everything I wrote down. I actually put down 85 of the 88 experiments. Talk about some good referencing. Sure, I am being pretty self-loving right now, but damn I felt proud of myself when the time expired. I knew I did everything in my power to prepare and performed to the best that I could. That is how you end a solid semester of studying abroad!

Friday night consisted of celebrations. A little for myself since I just finished school, Benny is leaving on Sunday, and it was Shannon and Carlotta's birthdays! This was all going on as well as the Beltane Fire Festival, which happens once a year on top of Calton Hill... around 10,000-15,000 people show up. We went up there and it was pretty cool, it was actually a little show that this group of fire people put on. They are all naked and painted red, all this symbolism about burning/rebirth etc was in the show. We couldn't really see all of it at all times, and we showed up a few hours after it started, because we didn't know it was a show kind of deal. Still a good time though. At the very end they lit a giant bonfire, some of the red people were dancing next to it. For some reason I had the biggest urge to jump the gate that kept all the pedestrians out and then jump the bonfire, and I mean the biggest urge. So after much debate with myself - I decided to go for it. Captured on video, preserving that moment. I am 100% glad I did it, I felt free for my 1.3 seconds of hang time ;). When we left the festival we headed back to Shannon and Rebeccas flat, where everyone who didn't go to the fire festival was still there celebrating. We all united and had a great time for the rest of the night!