Derelict Well, not really. It's not quite dereliction, as I've been pretty good about fulfilling my real obligations down here. I've been working pretty hard and researching a ton for two papers that are due this Friday. They're both extremely challenging and important to my grade, so I really, really don't want to mess them up. Thus my social life and this webpage have taken a bit of a backseat. Right now I'm really tired of reading about SNCC, the SCLC, Joyce, Yeats, Eliot, "Make it new!" the rise of post-modernism, and I'll do just about anything for a new study album. I've been listening to OK Computer, by Radiohead, as well as assorted Radiohead MP3's, as it's really surreal music and Thom Yorke's voice is largely unintelligible. It makes it harder to sing along if what you think you should be singing sounds the same to you as it would a Neanderthal. Effective study music, but I really need some variation.

"This one's optimistic..." -Radiohead's only intelligible line ever.

Mail: Irony Defined I left a lot of things behind that I really wish I'd taken with me. Some don't exactly fit in AirMail packages, like Liz, for example, or the Focus, so it's unreasonable to expect someone to ship them to me (though the image of either of those things wrapped up and sitting on Darlington Road is enough to make me laugh). There was one thing, however, that I annoyed myself with by leaving behind, and that was a CD that my good friend Jenn (the box jellyfish expert) made for me. Jenn and I have this competition every week called LOTW: Lyric of the Week. We each select some obscure or not-so-obscure lyric and the other person has to guess what it is without looking it up. If you don't look it up, you know the lyric, you get a point. If you are stumped and give in to the lyrical resources of the internet, you get no points. Very simple game, but a lot of fun, and, before I left, Jenn made me a CD of all the songs that had been featured in the game up to then. The CD was great, and was even, I believe, in chronological order. I liked it so much that I left it in permanent rotation in the Focus? permanent in that Amy and Mom listened to it on the way to the airport (we took separate cars) and I forgot to get it out. I've really been jonesin' for this CD since I got here, and Dad was kind enough to volunteer to send it back to me. I told him where it was (in the Focus), and a little over three weeks later, I got this nice package in the mail, Edwards & Angell mailing label and all, which engendered in me energy I didn't know I had and an unstoppable smile. I sprinted the stairs by threes, threw open any blocking door, got to my room, opened the package with one hand while I opened the CD tray on my laptop and turned up the speakers with the other. Inside, sure enough, was the case that said "LOTW Volume 1" and Jenn's funny if lazy note: "hahaha, bet you thought there would be a track list back here?sorry, noy [sic] you gotta listen to it!" I smiled again at remembering when she gave it to me and I read the note for the first time. I opened the case and was, well, surprised. It was empty. Instantly a few scenarios ran through my head, all very possible:

1. I had done something wrong and my dad had wasted $3.70 to teach me some sort of cruel lesson. || Shot down because, even though he's a lawyer, my dad's not a cruel guy.
2. Some enterprising postal worker, either in Oz or the US (or even, I imagined, in the Edwards & Engell mail room), in passing the package from one place to another had noticed that it had the feel of a CD case and had an easy-to-open and re-close metal stopper and felt like committing a federal offense. || Not easily discountable. It would, in all honesty, be really easy to do such a thing, were one so inclined.
3. My instructions were not specific enough regarding the location of the CD, and Dad had just made the easy and justified assumption that the CD was in the case, not still in the CD player. || The most likely scenario. I never did actually tell him that it was in the CD player, I just said it was in the Focus. I probably would have done the same thing.

Scenario 3 was soon confirmed and Dad, I think, Express Mailed the CD itself sometime on Friday. This may seem like a long bit of writing for something like this, but you have to take time into account and realize how sparse my physical contact is with home. I waited for a little over three weeks for this CD, a great and vivid reminder of home and the beautiful warmth of people I had been privileged to be around this holiday season, only to have my hopes dashed. I mean, the only other concrete piece of mail I've received was the postcard that Kaitlin sent me from St. Louis. The only links I have are digital: either the pictures you can see in the gallery, or email. Australia is just about as far away as one can physically get from Providence, RI, and it's easy to feel completely detached.

If you don't like the weather? According to my friend Paul, the people of Melbourne elegantly borrowed from a common London phrase. The phrase, well known and well verified by millions, is "If you don't like the weather in London, wait fifteen minutes." The phrase in Melbourne, and this is just pure Australia here, is "If you don't like the weather in Melbourne, piss off!" See the Melbournites (pronounced mel-ba-nites, also sometimes referred to as mel-bi-nahs) are fully aware of how horrible their weather is, and are tired of tourists coming in and complaining about it. I say this, not to confuse you and make you think I'm in Melbourne, but because this week could be known as "Melbourne's Revenge." It seems the days of the Bush Fire and the 39 degree Celcius heat and zero humidity are but a distant memory. It has rained Seattle-style here for almost a week. Not only that, but it's been taunting. After a few nights of hard rain this week, the skies cleared up completely, coloring the dome a perfect deep blue: the type of weather where one feels guilty for being inside at any time, feels guilty for benefiting from the invention of air conditioning, years to be outside on grass with wafting trees around or sand with crashing waves. The weather made me jealous of every free person in the world as I went to class on Friday morning. I hated the fact that I had to sit in a frigid, climate-controlled classroom and discuss relevant, interesting things when there was such a glorious day outside. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked outside into a powerful downpour and dark skies at 1:00 in the afternoon. I actually still had Leo's umbrella in my backpack, so it got put to good use. I also walked home from class barefoot, which was an interesting experience, because my Birkenstock's were getting waterlogged and really uncomfortable. As I write this, the skies have opened up again, to the point where the rain against the window is audible with headphones on and the volume high. Rain's a great thing, very calming, as long as you're inside and dry.

FMI into the Bigtime ? In the words of Bill Clinton: "Awww yeaaa??" My DJ Company, FMI, has secured it's own domain: www.fmidj.com. This is truly a great day. I have wanted a domain since I first got on the WWW way back in 6th Grade. I didn't even know this until after it had changed, but, originally, one could register a domain name for free. There was even the famous case where a journalist secured the rights to McDonalds.com, just to prove that he could. I believe he was eventually sued and forced to give up the domain. Anyway, FMI can now claim to be as cool as any other industry leading company, like Microsoft, Intel, GE, Yahoo! Be sure to check it out now and bookmark it so that when the new and awe-inspiring website is posted, you'll be fully prepared.

The Super Bowl It's so amazing, so unfathomable, to un-bloody-likely, that I really almost don't believe that the New England Patriots are going to be in the Super Bowl. Due to the god-forsaken time difference between here and the US, I'm going to be watching the Super Bowl on Monday morning, not Sunday night. That makes it a little difficult to partake in the time-honored American Super Bowl traditions (you know, like pizza?), but I'm sure we'll manage somehow. I've actually managed to browbeat and argue a decent group to go down to One World Sports in Darling Harbour for the game: Leo, Paul, Jenny, Chris (the newly arrived American that I've been hanging with quite a bit) and myself. Some friends of friends might meet us there. The only downside is that I have to wake everybody up for 8:00 or so, so we can be out of here at 9:00, at the pub by 9:30 (yes, it'll be open, we checked). I'm really psyched. I can't believe the Pats made it. As Mrs. Sawtelle points out, it's almost perfect dramatic irony that Bledsoe should come off the bench after sitting out for something like 126 days to pull out a great win that gets his team into the Super Bowl. I'm amazed. I can't wait.

I'm now off to bed so that I'll be capable of getting up at the ridiculous hour of 8:00AM. I'll write again soon, when my papers are nearing completion and I'm going to really need a break from formal writing. By the way, if you frequent this site at all, regardless of whether you love it, hate it or really couldn't care less, please do sign the Guestbook. I'd love to know who comes here, who digs it, etc.

Much love, people. Go Pats!

Brian