Eclipse..Turkish Style..

En Buyuk Turkiye!

What Makes It All Worthwhile...

Yesterday I received a letter from none other than my 2002 AIESEC Istanbul reception officer Narin Sen. Enclosed in the letter was a picture of her standing in front of the old office of where I used to work, ITO, in the heart of Eminonu. I still remember the first day of work on my traineeship, and this little girl navigating us around this chaotic city to our jobs. Haha! I was so lost and remember saying how I'll forever be indebted to her! It's hard to believe that was almost 4 years ago...

Thanks for remembering, Sister!

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

-Albert Pike

Who Me? Whitetrash?

Now those around me or those who have seen some recent pictures (see above) may have noticed that I'm sporting some sort of a comical goatee. I just got lazy after my wisdom teeth extraction and thought, "Well, let's see what happens!" It's interesting because every year I try to grow one, and every year I fail miserably..but, BUT this year it may actually grow-in! Anyway, I want to shave it off already, it bothers me...although Nick was telling me about something called a "flavor saver" and now I'm thinking I may keep it a bit longer..

At any rate, that's not why I'm writing though...I'm writing because yesterday I was crossing the street (downtown LA) and I started walking admist some heavy traffic, cars were still going through the intersection but the street crosser sign was flashing little white guy, signaling that it was "okay to cross". At any rate, perhaps I was too close to some cars but I was in the right and I just wanted to get to my car and continue to deal with the hell that is LA traffic. So, while I'm crossing the street some driver yells out his window "Whitetrash!".

Huh? I couldn't believe it! I thought for a second that Digidy had just flown in a few weeks early! I mean, I can't lie, I've been called whitetrash on occasion (maybe once or twice in my life), but out of the blue and by a complete random stranger? I thought about it long and hard for about 5 whole seconds and came to the conclusion that it must have been my goatee! They're not too popular in Cali. But, on second thought it could have been my jeans, I had holes in them. But Hollywood grunge/hipster scene is accepting of that. I had been out all night drinking with my brother (I managed to get free drinks in all 3 bars we visited..don't ask), so I must have looked hungover to a certain degree. BUT, I was showered, my hair was "combed", I was walking with Jamel, and the area was swarming with exhausted marathon runners, not exactly a whitetrash convention.

So, I wrote the guy off as delusion, thanked god he didn't shoot me or run me over, and was cool until I got home and realized what shirt I had been wearing: "Michigan Alumni".

So insulted. I mean, I could have understood had it said Spartan Alumni or especially Arizona State Alumni, or even anything that said University of Michigan (my old university has the largest whitetrash following after Nascar), but Michigan ALUMNI?

OH, MY POOR BRUISED EGO...

26.2 miles in 4:09!

Congratulatons to my brother's girlfriend who completed the Los Angeles Marathon in just over 4 hours! Her 3rd one! And no Ipod (she got to the starting line and realized she had forgotten it..the definition of disappointment!)! It was actually really inspiring to see 1000s of people running over 26 miles! Could I ever do that? Would I ever want to? Hmm. Needless to say we all felt very unaccomplished in her presence today:) Good job, Sara!

Post #300: Istanbuli Kokorec

HA

HAHAH, I love KOKOREC! Thanks for reminding everyone, Burcu! People always get upset with America and McDonalds because the food is so cheap and unhealthy but the funny thing is EVERY country has their own version of cheap/unhealthy fastfood! As an American, I've always thought it was kind of my job to find that special artery-clogging food...and I believe I did it in Turkey:) Hmm, speaking of which, I'm hungry..a trip to Turkey is in order this year...

Happy Belated Paddy's Day!

Do people really wish this to others?



Cheers to everyone over in Ireland, esp the ringleader! You rock! Colleen can be a handful..Michiganders. As for me Paddys was done in style at a friends house, someone even tried to convince me that Guiness was infact from Britain. Ah, Los Angeles. At least we have sun, although sometimes a lee bit too much:)

i need...

I need la la la la la la
I need ooh la la la la
I need la la la la la la
I need ooh la la la la.................

Playa Del Rey, CA

...took a few photos of Che and I's hood on the way home from work today...It's really amazing how just a modicum of sunset can be so relaxful to the soul. I love to see the cars parked along the beach, their drivers dead asleep while the rush-hour simmers down..I feel guilty, the beach is literally down the street from where I live and most of the time I'm too "caught up" to see it vanish under the Pacific..and wake up all the nomads on the otherside!!! TIME FOR WORK!! So it goes...

An Interesting Read...

HAHA, how lucky can one guy get? Seriously?

Marching On..

It’s a damn shame I haven’t taken more time to write while my mouth has decided not to cooperate these past few days (see: lockjaw). I can’t blame the poor guy either, after months of drills and prodding, it’s finally given up on opening. Well, at least it’s keeping me out of a lot of trouble as my mouth is finally silenced…although sometimes I think it forgets that I need REAL food! Tired of soups, straws, sauces, smoothies, snacks, shakes, and all that non-food etc,etc. I WANT SOME MEAT. And what’s the deal with all these juice joints…they’re bars for chicks (you pay as much for a cocktail) and you’re not getting drunk. Injustice says the puffy cheeked midwesterner. Wisdom teeth extractions. Think twice about it, folks. Right now the entire left side of my cheek is still “swollen”. I headed up to Beverly Hills yesterday to see my oral surgeon (think: Dr. 90210, with a view overlooking the Hollywood sign..it’s surreal) and he informed me a large blood clot had formed inside my cheek and that I should stay on my antibiotics. I’m a walking blood clot. I hope it doesn’t spread to my brain.

The only good thing about the whole ordeal was I got to do what every good Los Angelesian dreams of…driving around in the sun at ridiuclous speeds in the Hollywood Hills….and high as a kite on VicodinJ. Come on! The celebrities do it all the time! Well, maybe I was a bit more tame than that but Jam and I did have an awesome drive along the ocean and Mulholland drive. I will say that I’ve been out here for 1.5 years and am still in awe of the landscape (not the peopleJ). The palm trees agaisnt the snow-covered mountains. The excess of sun. The idiot in an accident screaming at the guy in front of me. The extended middle finger coming through a sun-roofed Mercedes (See: SoCal Roadrage) At times it seems exotic, other times you realize you’ve become numb to it all..and that’s scary, esp. when you think about moving away from the velvet sun that shines on us all here.. I think this is the best time to visit Southern California. It’s green, it’s warm (not too hot), great air visibility, etc. Digs, you’ve picked a good time to come!

Anyway, while I’m jumping around all scatter-brained I’d like to thank the wanker in the UK who has been using my credit card! $553.68 in fraud! Thank god I found it when I did! GBP tend to add up quickly in dollars. At least it wasn’t as bad as last year’s heisting over my credit card digits, but still it’s a pain. I work for the Government so I deal with bureaucracy all day at work..when it invades my personal life it makes me want to scream! I can’t win, either some pommie joker or a Turkish rat calls from China, needing my credit card information for more trips. I’ve just accepted I won’t be balancing anything soon. How stupid of a system do we have when we all can’t live without our credit cards and there is so little security in place to protect us from fraud. It’s ridiculous. It’s a free for all out here in California. I see people digging through the trash just to get some digits. It’s easy money. I CANT WAIT until some HOTSHOT loses MILLIONS from CREDIT CARD FRAUD. I think only then will we start seeing some serious measures taken.


Anyway, I’m back on the work wagon today, need to get some stuff sorted out. I probably should have stayed home for another day, but I get so restless sitting around. I’ve never spent this much time in SoCal and not had some trip planned or some event to go to. Now I just walk around, unable to speak with this huge jaw and people think I’m unemployed and feel sorry for me. That’s nice actually;)

Mmm...

Taco Town!

Down and Out..

with a bag of Peas.

Happy Birthday, Duder!

You can take the boy out of Kansas, but you can't take the Kansas outta the boy!! Peace, man..

Final Dental Update....FOREVER!

30 minutes and 500 dollars later, my jaw has been cut, all 4 wisdom teeth smashed, and my cheeks are about as puffy as a marshmellow. Sick of tasting blood, not being able to talk, and not being able to eat! It's hard for an American not to be eating;) Should have done this operation when I was 17. This is really uncomfortable and actually hurts a lot when the good ole vicodin wears off! The only happiness I'm finding is Jam waiting hand and foot on me:) I'm too lucky. ha;)


Anyway, here's some cheese with my whine, ya know, to make it worth your read:

https://home.comcast.net/~jfmelnick/fruitcakelady.wmv HAHA, thanks, Nick.

What would you do if you had a million dollars? Digs?

George Kinder and Susan Galvan -- founders of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, a California-based firm that trains financial planners -- believe the decline in savings, and by extension, a lack of long-term planning in American society, is symptomatic of a broader insecurity.
"You have to look at what the source of the problem is," Kinder said. "Why save if there is nothing to save for? What is it that people should be saving for? Traditionally, we've been saving for retirement and that sort of thing, but those are just buzzwords, they don't mean much to people.
"As a consequence, many Americans are skeptical that they are being sold something by financial advisers."
The key is finding the "enthusiasm to save" by focusing on deeper and more meaningful life goals, Kinder said.
"We found that most people do not even talk about their most profoundly important goals, even with their spouses, because they can't see how they would be able to implement them or they're afraid of having them ridiculed, dismissed or discouraged. They keep them kind of buried inside," Galvan said.
The institute's planners try to unlock those answers, Galvan said, by asking their clients three questions:
-- If money was no longer an obstacle, what would they do with their life?
-- If a doctor informs them that they have a terminal illness and have only five to 10 years left to live, what would they do within that time?
-- If the doctor then informs them, they only have 24 hours left to live, what would they regret? What did they miss in life?
Whatever the reason, the lack of savings and long-term planning is troubling at a time when so many Americans will soon retire, Wyss said. Some 78 million Americans will enter retirement during the next 20 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"A lot of us are approaching retirement and a lot of us are approaching it with much too little saved up," Wyss said. "They're either going to depend on Social Security, which is hardly a good bet given the state of the federal government's finances, or they're going to be taking early retirement at the age of 75."

From CNN's Do Americans Plan For the Long Haul

I for one do contribute to a retirement savings plan, although I must admit I do find it ridiculously far away.

Been There, Done That...

Stay in school as long as you can! Ha!

Getting Old No Rass..

Thanks to everyone for wishing me a Happy Birthday today. A special thanks to Jam and Olaf for making it an occasion my liver won't soon forget.

In Honor of the Oscars: Brokeback Birthday

Haha, that's the gayest title I've ever blogged, not that there's anything wrong with that...

On the Oscars...

"Jon Stewart: It turns out that only 1 million viewers watch Stewart's "The Daily Show" every night. After Sunday, 40 million new fans will be born."


--Top Ten Reasons You Should Be Watching the Oscars

Bono in Salvador...

A year after Digs, Nick, and friends were in Salvador for carnaval, Bono and Fatboy slim show up. I can't imagine how crazy it must have been.