Open House Is Fun

So today is the first time I've posted in 1 1/2 years. I am know at UPenn school of Design. Nothing has changed since my last posting. Only all the bitching about how crappy Portugal was can now be directed at Philadelphia. I still dislike Republicans and Red States as always. I am transfering back to Buffalo in 4 weeks because this school is working out the way I had hoped for. Today is open house for prospective students. I think I should just keep to myself today...
I live with 2 people in Center City and they are complete wackos. I can't stand to even be around them for more than 5 minutes. I've never seen two people so dependant on the other for happiness. They both need to be commited.

So any ways, keep it real and I'll talk to all of you soon...PS Joey and Liz suck!

Nothing to do but this...

More random shit:

1. Doesn't it say something about our culture that we can go to a war and kill over 100,000 people and have over 1000 of our own dead and another 9000 wounded, but we can't watch Saving Private Ryan on TV. So what we are saying is, "Let's go kill a shit load of people, but lets not let anyone see death because then people will not like war." If we are going to kill all these people in Iraq we should at least let people see what it is they are funding and supporting.

2. I was reading CNN.com today and there was a headline. "UN probes Congo 'sex abuse'". Holy shit, no wonder the UN didn't go to Iraq. Turns out they're probing people in the Congo.

3. Did anyone see that U2 played another spontanious concert in NYC. Hasn't this gotten a bit overdone. They did this for a video already and they did it once before. It's getting to the point where if I go to NYC I should just expect to come across a U2 concert. Bono will be like, "Hey everyone look at me. I'm from Ireland and I'm playing this concert spontaniously" People will just be walking by telling them to stop blocking traffic.

4. To celebrate Thanksgiving I'm going to slaughter a bunch of Portuguese people and take over their land.

5. Did anyone see that Vanilla Ice was arrested because his pet goat and wallaroo escaped. Dude, Ice has a Wallaroo and a goat. What the hell is that. Does he just sit around and get drunk with random animals all day. What a life. I need an ardvark and a dolphin.

Poor Poor Congolese people

Random Stuff

Tomorrow is my last day of work here. It sure is a nice feeling. The rest of the week I plan on visiting the rest of the city that I haven't seen, drinking more, and sleeping more. Should be real nice. I go to Paris on Saurday until next Wednesday. It's going to be a great time. My boss Pedro is in Paris now for 2 weeks or so, so we are going to get together there and go to dinner or something. As long as he is paying.

This weekend we had a little party for my friend Jose. He was turning 32. Yes 32. He is a really cool kid. He's from Brazil and working on his PHd here. I actually got drunk with all my roommates for the first time in 2 months. It was fun. Everyone went to bed around 4am but I stayed up by myself until 5:30. I was feeling it in the morning, or should I say afternoon.

Last week I get on the subway and as the doors are closing 2 girls come running on. I guess one of the girls bumped into the other and they started having words. All of a sudden on of the girls punches the other in the face and all hell breaks loose. One girl gets punched into me so I just push her back into the girl who punches her again. I got the assist on that one. They then start kicking eachother and one of the girls gets literally thrown right off the train. I was amazed that nobody broke it up. But the average mail height in Portugal is something like 5'6" so the guys wanted nothing to do with it. They were probably looking at me and my HUGE 5'10" frame and expecting me to do something. HELL NO...I'm not getting involved in that civil war.

If anyone has seen that movie "Secret Window", isn't it just a remake of Fight Club? A guy forms an alternate personality to act out the things that he can't. It was a fairly good movie but it would have been better if Fight Club wasn't already released. No movie will ever rival that movie when it comes to a plot like that.

I watched some movie about 9/11. It was really well done. Some fire chief had to write eulogies for his dead firefighters but he couldn't get his thoughts together so he is refered to a writer. The movie is him telling his story about his friends and her personal struggle with 9/11. Anyways, it was real good. It got me thinking about NYC and when I was there 3 weeks after 9/11. I saw the most patriotic thing I have ever witnessed. As the firefighters were leaving their shifts from groud zero, they would head uptown. While I was walking on 5th Ave, about 5 firetrucks full of ash covered, exhausted guys passed us. Everyone on the street driving and walking just stopped where they were and started cheering. All of a sudden there was more cheering on 5th Ave than a stadium of football fans. People where throwing flowers and bottled water to the guys. I just stood there watching. It really was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The people were 100% genuine and the firefighters did not feel like celebrities. You could tell that it was things like this that kept them going for 12 hour shifts. I just wish that feeling of unity in America lasted. Now there is fighting, racism, hatred, and greed everywhere. It's sad that it takes 3000 people's deaths to unite us.

Right now I'm listening to the Maroon 5 CD for the first time. Ya I know, I'm the last one in the world. It's really good. A few songs sound like N'Sync but they are OK. Number 7 is real good.

All for now. Should probably do some work here instead of doing this. See ya'll soon!

Don't feel like writing...

1. I've come to the conclusion that America is great and Portugal sucks.

2. Why do people that know nothing about politics still try to make a point. (It goes both ways, Kerry and Bush)

3. I am really sick of people that have a profile on AIM that is just an attempt to boost your ego or self-confidence. Nobody cares.

4. If you love someone you don't really need to put it in your profile...Obviously the love from that person isn't enough if you need others to see it and be impressed.

5. Inspirational sentences on profiles/away messages are just gay.

6. If someone treats you like shit, don't get back with them you idiot!!

7. Why do the people I live with suck so bad. Are all Europeans boring, inconsiderate, and lazy, or am I just really unlucky.

8. Why did they ever make that movie "Gerry"? If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

9. Why do people think I'm in Spain. Portugal is a seperate country.

10.Why do people here walk down the sidewalk so damn slow. OK asshole, the sidewalks are already tiny so lets not take up the whole thing.

As said by Keith Christopher Kotlarski (from Ohio)

OK For all of you people that belive my view of this election is a typical New York liberal stance, here is a comment left by my best friend Keith from Cinci.

"I love you Ben....Nobody says it better than you...Sorry Ohio couldn't pull it off, but we have A LOT of "hilljacks" around here who should just move over the river to Kentucky. Here is the news around Cincy..."The Republican National Commitee announced today that the Republican Party is changing its emblemfrom an elephant to a condom. The commitee chairmanexplained that the condom more clearly reflects the party'sstance today, because a condom accepts inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks,and gives you a sense of security while you're actually getting fucked."......1"

See even Ohio hates Ohio

4 more beers (years)

I have worried, bitched, been upset all because of this election, so I will keep this short and to the point because quite frankly I am very tired.
Let me describe myself and the typical Democrat. I(we) prefer speaking to resolve problems instead of fighting. We support "people" and their lifestyles. Be it gay, lesbian, straight; we are open to all unions. We wish to protect the environment instead of pawning it off to big business for a few extra bucks. We believe that you can live your life ethically without preaching from the bible, which in all reality is extremely out of place in modern society. We feel that American deserve to be protected financialy by their government. The rich are rich enough. What about Tom Dick, and Hairy? They work harder than many CEOs and they can't even pay the bills. These are the people that made America. Not CEOs and Executives. Democrats believe that the reason there are so many shootings is because there are so many guns, and everyone can get their hands on them. C'mon, who the hell uses an AK-47 to hunt deer?

So to sum it up... people that care for the environment, aren't gay haters, believe in non-violence unless it is a LAST resort, wish to push the limits of science for health reasons, care for the average working man and woman, don't base their lives on a 2000 year old book that creates an ultra-conservative society, and don't feel that shooting eachother is a good thing...are the MINORITY in America. That is fucking mind blowing. It's about time people in America really do something other than ROCK THE VOTE. With this asshole in office we are going to get to the point where we need a good old fashioned revolution. I want to see riots in the streets. What is it about American society that makes everyone carry a gun and then sit down and take it right up the ass from our government. We have become a scared little country. I believe that anyone that supports George Bush is a scared little person too. Your government tells you to be scared of everything in this world and you do it. If you support Bush because you believe he will make you rich, FINE. America is a greedy place. But don't support this guy because he tells you to be scared of everything you see. You are very weak people.

I really am hoping to see some good old rioting in the next 4 years if things in the Black House don't chnage. And by the way, for all you people that truly believe Bush is going to "start fresh" with his new term; you need to wake up. He was reserved in his first 4 years because of the fear of re-election. But now that all the rednecks and scared people put him back in office, he is going to be worse. He has nothing to lose. Plus he has even more of his Republican friends in the House and Senate. He will destroy this country even more in the next 4 years.

Like Bill Maher said,"I want so much rioting over George Bush that cab drivers are affraid to pick up white people" It's time we stand up for something. Sadly, the democratic way has not worked out too well, so lets use another tactic. But for now...4 MORE BEERS!! 4 MORE BEERS!!

*When I Republican-bash, just know that it does not apply to Zack Papis. He is an exception.
GOD BLESS AMERICA...AND NOWHERE ELSE.

Election

What happened? Further postings once I recover

No Halloween???

That's right! There is no Halloween here. What the hell is that? There is some holiday tomorrow about god knows what. Probably celebrating the new found wonder of electricity. So that means no work which is always good. I put in 60 hours last week from Monday to Sunday, so a day off is appreciated.

The project we are working on at work is due on Wednesday which is great, because I don't want to look at it anymore. The project came out really great. It's such a nice feeling to create something that really is beautiful. Of course the place we have to drop it off is 3 hours away and I don't really plan on sleeping Tuesday night so that should be a fun trip. As soon as I can I will have some pictures up of the project, but I have to wait until the project goes through judging and such.

I have made plans to go to Paris at the end of November. I am counting the days down. I am staying at a youth hostel just to save money for beer and to meet people. In found a flight for only 215 Euros which is about 275 dollars. I am really looking forward to seeing the city and get out of this country that has no personality. I will be sure to get some pictures of hairy girls and guys eating cheese and drinking wine. Stereotypes are fun! I will be there for about 5 days then I come back to Lisbon, and Big Al might be visiting because he will be in Spain for a few weeks. That should be fun. 4 days after I get back I fly back to NYC for a night and then back to Buffalo.

The election is coming up and the hype here is just as intense as in the US. It is on the news 24 hours a day and on the front page of every paper here. It really is amazing the effect we have over the rest of the world. The thing that has been bugging the crap out of me is the people I talk to here that talk about America and how messed up it is. I've been quite a dick about it. I understand we are doing tons of things wrong, but these people that have never been to the US, are wearing American namebrands, smoking American cigarettes, watching American movies, listening to American music, and working a job created because of the US economy have no right to talk about our country in any way. I can understand talking about the war but when you talk about our social behavior, our news channels, and our way of life, I get quite pissed. We truly are the most free nation in the world. I am hearing this shit from people that live in countries that had dictators in the last 3 decades. What right do you have? I've come to the conclusion that America is SO powerful and influential, that people constantly critique every little thing we do. I don't feel that people really have the right to do this in many ways. Yes, we are powerful and we influence the entire globe, but that is a good thing. I don't feel we should apologize for you and your weak ass boring country and the fact that your economy and culture are not self-sufficient, and you need to import so many parts of your life. Don't get me wrong, I know that we do have a role as a leader and many of our recent decisions in foreign policy have not been made with any intelligence, but we are the hardest working, most diverse, most powerful, and most free country in the world and do not deserve the negative criticizm outside of the War in Iraq. People here really need to see that our country's foreing policy has absolutely nothing to do with the American people and the American culture. In reality, the people here(in Portugal) might be the most boring people I have ever met. And I have made a huge effort to really get to know the people and the culture, or lack there of.

And that's about enough of my patriotic ranting. Maybe I am right in everything I say, or maybe I am just missing home and the culture I have lived in for 23 years. Either way, that felt good to say. AAAHHHHH

So anyways, On Tuesday I am going to the party at the American Institution here. My boss tells me everyone is really cool. It will be great to see Americans again. The funniest part of the whole thing is that this election is totally based on the Arabic community, and the Middle East and I decided that the best idea is to bring my Arab roommate form Algiera as my date. Haha That should make for some interesting conversations. Actually, she will fit right in. But in reality it is a Guy with some Jewish blood taking an Arabic girl to a party in Portugal to watch two strict Catholics fight. Ironic huh?

Just wanted to add that I am watching CNN right now and they just showed a new poll, which is the poll of polls. They took all the polls out there and then polled them together. How funny is that.

So anyways, I miss all you guys back home and can't wait to get back and see all of you. I have 36 hours to kill tilt he election so I guess it's time to start drinking. Love ya'll! PEATH (Gerry)