NYE 2006
Goodbye 2006. I hate to see you go so soon as you take another year of my life with you but what ya gonna do? You weren't all that bad but you could have been better. Still, after 2005, anything could have been an improvement. You went by fast despite the lack of travel. I have good feelings for 2007, it's going to be a good year.
Have a fun and safe New Years Eve everyone! If you don't ever hear from me again, my remains can be found somewhere around Times Square, most likely trampled to death by a mob or I finally said the wrong thing to the wrong person. We all knew it was bound to happen sometime. Don't cry for me, I'm already gone. But please, avenge my death. (actually, I plan on being warm, well dressed, and laughing at all the suckers below who waited in the cold since 1pm)
Christmas 2006
"As you know, Christmas is that one time of year when the ghost of Jesus rises up from the grave to feed on the flesh of the living, so we sing him Christmas carols to lull him back to sleep." - Peter Griffin, Family Guy.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone. I'm sending out some Christmas spirit with a few tunes. such as Christmas Canon, Silent Night, Hallelujah, O Holy Night (Cartman) and Carol of the Bells (South Park).
The Year in Cities 2006
The following list is my 2006 list of cities visited:
Crested Butte, CO
New York City, NY*
Boston, MA
Oklahoma City, OK*
Edinburgh, Scotland UK
St. Paul, MN
Windsor, England UK
Keighley, England UK
Oxford, England UK
Cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
Cities that are italicized were my first visit ever to that destination.
This year started out a travel fest but dwindled down quite a bit soon after. It's been a busy year. On the other side of things, I took more photos of New York City this year than the two years before. Still, compared to 2005, 2004 and 2003 travelogue, this year was a uneventful for the most part at seeing new places. My first resolution of 2007 is to change that.
An Adventure, A Love Poem
After graduation in 1995, I decided to take some time off and fly to Australia for the first time and I had this plan where I was going to fly for free on Military Space-A travel as I was in the military reserves at the time. Space-A (Available) travel means that any military plane that is going your way and has a seat open, you are free to take it providing no one who has higher priority orders (medical, emergency leave, etc.) or have higher rank will bump you out of your slot. I made it from Oklahoma City to Honolulu, Hawaii within a day and a half and hadn't paid a dime for the travel and no problems getting the flights I wanted. I figured I would hang around Honolulu for a few days then get a plane to Sydney to start my real outback adventure. This was to be my first lesson in the downfalls of half ass planning.
Two days after arriving in Hawaii, the Pro-Bowl football game was to take place, which means many high ranking officers who were football fans would be staying in town and on base, which means, there would be no space for a brand new Lt. who was on no official orders other than just romping all over the world and seeing the sights alone. I was kicked out of my adequate hotel and too poor to afford anything off base. I wound up sleeping in the Hickam Air Force Base, Air Terminal while my bags stayed secure in a locker. I began to ask quickly for flights to Sydney.
As I would come to find out, reservists traveling Space-A travel are only allowed to fly to U.S. Territories. The closest I could get to my destination would be Guam. I was really upset about this. I tried to see about flying on my own dime from Guam to Sydney, but it was about as expensive as flying from the states and I had no passport on me. After giving up and planning my next flight back to the states, I became painfully aware that Space-A is no way to travel if you really want to get out of somewhere quickly. Planes were being grounded for maintenance and I kept getting bumped off flights by pretty much anyone else who needed to get anywhere on a military plane. I wound up sleeping in an airport for about a week with no shower or change in clothes the whole time. I saw Waikiki Beach a few times but resources were limited. Also, if you wanted that next flight going out, you had to camp out over the terminal counter. I was delirious and I was trying not to go insane day in and out of my situation. At one point I decided to do some writing to pass the time and I was talking to Paula on the phone about once every other day, my only sane contact with reality. I decided in my draining state to write her a poem. So here, ladies and gentlemen is my attempt at poetry, as recently found in the archives. I called it "Those Beautiful Eyes."
You know you're from new york city when..
There was a list sent to me recently from a fellow New Yorker of things that let you know you are from New York City if.. I thought a few of them especially related to my NYC experience more than the others so here are the ones I found to be most true:
Hookers and the homeless are invisible.
The subway makes sense.
You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.
You're paying $1,200 for a studio the size of a walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."
You've been to New Jersey twice and got hopelessly lost both times.
You go to dinner at 9 and head out to the clubs when most Americans are heading to bed.
Your closet is filled with black clothes.
You take fashion seriously.
Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.
$50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
You don't notice sirens anymore.
Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.
You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
You're not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.
You know what a bodega is.
Film crews on your block annoy you, not excite you.
Dear Time Magazine
Grow some m&^%#'ing balls. I'm the man of the year? Awesome! Wow, way to not offend anyone you punks. This from the ballsy people to once declare Adolf freaking Hitler as their man of the year (Jan 1939), thanks for giving me something in common with mein furrer, you pricks. For the next issue, why don't you make the same gutsy move and declare Chocolate as tasty?
Sincerely,
Beau Wade
Dear Nintendo
You can bite the hairiest part of my ass. Hey, lets get everyone sold on the idea of a m%*#@'ing Wii then send out like 30 to every state. Great plan, way to go Ass Wipes. After showing up in line this morning at 3am to wait for them to open to get their last shipment in and there was a sign on the door saying they will only have 3 units today (last shipments available before Christmas from Nintendo) and 5 people were already in line. This is idiotic. I am not killing myself for your system and I am not paying double the price. So to sum up in short Nintendo, blow me.
Sincerely,
Beau Wade
No more solving quadratic equations
I enrolled in an online Math class this past semester and I have to say it has been kicking my butt. I managed to go my entire college career without taking any real math class. This was because back then you could substitute a computer science class with a math class. Anyway, after stressing over the final exam, It was taken yesterday and I am pleased with the result and my overall grade. So no more set concepts, no more solving quadratic equations by factoring and by using the quadratic formula, no more systems of linear equations by using matrices, no more probability and statistics. Although, those were the two chapters I did the best on.
No more stressing about an exam over math while trying to juggle deadlines at the job. I'm glad I did it and now I am glad it's done.
the dancing man can..
You know that saying "dance like no one is watching..."
As much I was laughing at this guy, I admired him at the same time.
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, satets it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt
(tanhks cahd)
