Natasha's in India!

Uh-Oh!! - Cold Symptoms

Oh crap! I'm coming down w/ something. I had a feeling something was up...since a couple days ago I can't keep my eyes open past 7:30pm. I feel looooousy. Head aches. sour, hollow tummy feeling. swollen glands in sore throat. achey muscles, and i'm tired, and i've gotten 12 hours sleep already. noo, not me. damn, damn, damn. i wanted to leave tomorrow. now i don't know. *sigh* i hope it's not malaria. the skeeters are eating me up alive, the bites on my body look like beginning-middle stages of chickenpox. i've read that the symptoms in beginning stages of malaria are not unlike cold symptoms.

ok. to those of you who care...don't worry. i'll be fine, and if it gets worse i'll go straight to the hospital, won't mess around w/ the local docs.

Computer troubles

I brought my computer along so I could copy digital photos from the camera to the computer. So yesterday, i booted my computer...nothing. i plugged
in the chord...nothing. aaaaaaaaah! potential tragedy. i tried every key combination, reset/power button held in for 50million seconds, take out the floppy, take out the cd, blah blah. i'm curiously eyeing the underside of the computer thinking, this is a power problem, i need to open up this computer. anyway, i managed to figure out where the battery compartment/holder was and took out the big ol battery, cleaned the compartment, hit the power button and voila! boot up. i replaced the battery and now all is well again.

so no new pics, yet. i still need to do some charging of these modern devices and once done, i'll copy the photos to the 'puter. then, pics will be posted for you like some kind of trickery.

False Misery

How wholly aware I've come to realize how long I've been clinging to a false misery of my own creation. It is painfully, amusing - and slightly embarrasing. :-)

I am love, loved and loving

yesterday was an emotionally fulfilling, yet somewhat taxing day. I have touched some people of this village w/ my good heart in some way...when I tell
them I am leaving soon they pull my face to theirs and say, "please, stay, don't go, i am crying." this happened on four separate occasions today. and with tears in our eyes and steady embraces we wish each other a safe, happy, rich and full life journey.

like a deep breath of fresh air i receive these warm wishes inside my being, then exhale w/ peace of mind, knowing there is a space in my innermost being that is love, loved and loving.

Heading North....and Buddhism

I am having a great time, full of unexpected, wonderful experiences. I s'pose this is the way life should be, regardless of the time, place or where you lay your head down at night.

Today I will plan my trip northward. I am getting antsy here and a little bored. This is the queue I've been waiting for. I'll continue up the Goan beach making my way towards Mumbai (Bombay) I could make it to Bombay in half a day but there's no rush and am taking it slow. Am probably going to Calangute or Anjuna for shopping, nightlife and what not. Then Rajasthan...possibly. I have heard from everyone it's a beautiful state w/ much to see and history and of all the places I wanted to visit here my first time in India it's Rajasthan. Who knows, it may have to wait til next year. It will be tiring and so I need to figure out if I'm up to this jaunt before I fly back home and get back to the grind :-) Although, the thought of "work" doesn't really seem like a grind anymore and this will make my co-workers happy :-)

I met a German who lives in France who spends his time going from country to country seeking out spiritual "enlightment." haha. He practices Buddhism and this is tolerable because there's no guilt, no holier than thou way of thinking, no hypocrisy usually associated w/ "religion." We had many good conversations over dinner and breakfast and what not and I hope we keep in touch either here on this plane or some other :-)

Oh! I've a tempting business invitation to help someone run their restaurant/healing center here in Palolem. I love the idea but I"m afraid I'd get bored and it's often really difficult to get someone to be very specific about how these partnerships are divided...or shared. Paperwork or contracts aren't customary, only verbal understandings. Not good. It's a good thought, and who knows...mebbe someday.

Ok. That's it for now. I just downloaded the USB drivers for digital camera needed to copy the pics from it to my laptop. I can take more pics now!!

Pics...

Typical countryside....

Ciaran's Camp Area/ Hut village

The beach outside my hut...

Milish, boy i sort of adopted :-)

Starfish "footprints"

Covered woman

Nekked booty

Thriving beach economy

Fishermen working, coming in from the morning's catch of sardines (i think)

COWS!!! (on the beach :-)

Me and kids

One the count of three say, PEACE!! hehe

The days

I've only been here since Friday night (saturday, really) but it feels like a week. it's great. I get up about 5am, wrap a bedsheet around me, walk to the outdoor bathrooms, come back to my room, read or write for an hour, throw some clothes on, walk out to the beach about 30+ steps away, walk or sit on the beach, and wait for the sun to rise.

after that, anything is up for grabs...

this morning for example i went for amotorcycle ride w/ someone to a semi-secluded beach south of here i met the day before. he's a "local" and tells me all about the ways of his culture, his country, his life, etc and i listen and do the same about mine. later in the morning i took a public bus into town w/ a young shop girl i befriended for an afternoon of shopping. nothing like a women's desire to shop to bridge the cultural divide :-) came back, took a nap for a while, got up around 3, and ate slices of pineapple and bananas and tomato and cheese, toasted sandwich for dinner.

the folks at ciaran's camp and i are awaiting Andy's arrival. even tho i'm meeting lots of people and many of them wave and smile at me as i walk down the beach from place to place, it'll be nice to have a familiar person around.

finally found a computer here w/ a usb port so gonna try to upload pics now. *sigh* the internet connection is via cell phone. :-)

Peace

I'm beginning to not be able to recognize myself. the sights and sounds that captivate my attention is reminiscent of my childhood days where it was that i, raised an only child on a 20acre farm, the nearest neighbor a mile away, turned to nature for friends and/or amusement. This is a place where time, moment to moment, drifts along imperceptibly forward...a minute is like an hour, a day, like three. at another time (like over a week ago) that may have proven to be a source of mounting irritation.

while am uncertain of the exact reasons or great power that moved me so to escape to India i am aware of a persistent yet faint recognition of my mind, body and spirit mending itself in some way. i am relearning what it is to be at peace in the beauty of the moment.

Saved by the beach...and a Brit

I was really sick by the time I reached Palolem, Goa. One of those nauseating headaches where my head felt like it would explode w/ every step I took. It was 9pm, no taxis or autos and the train station is deserted. not good. My head hurts so bad I can barely see and w/ each step I thought I'd pass out. Finally saw a train station attendant and asked them to help me and they called a taxi. when the auto guy turned off his rickshaw all i could hear were the sounds of waves crashing. ahhhh! the beach! i have about a two minute walk down the beach to Ciarans Camp and when I finally get there Bart, the manager, says we're all full. By this time I'm babbling something delerious to this dog, asking it it's name and saying "oh yeah, is that right puppy" to it as it barks in response... i start walking around in circles and I finally stop and say "PLEASE, help me" he says, "alright!" in the brit accent and tells me he's got an emergency room next to his and to go up there and go to sleep and we'll suss it all in the morning. i immediately went to sleep and woke up before sunrise. took a shower, took a walk on the beach then parked myself in the sand to watch the sun rise. it's 9am (when i wrote this in my journal) and i'm sitting in my treehut looking out over the Arabian Sea, surrounded by coconut trees in a picture-perfect postcard setting. I've found a little piece of paradise here in Palolem, Goa. I am happy and probably not going to leave for a long while. Picture to come!

Just one of the guys

With one weeks travel behind me, yesterday was the toughest day I've had in India, by far. Nothing out of the ordinary (for India) happened, only the culmination of a weeks worth of poor diet (i'm not eating well), restless sleep, and constantly on the go in the worst of conditions.

Intending to stay in Mangalore one more day before moving northward to Goa I went downstairs first thing in the morning to book another night. Fortunately (in hindsight) they were distracted by god knows what and I left to do some shopping thinking i'd come back later. After a few hours my shopping experience left me empty handed and hot, tired and a little cross (the brits are making quite an impression on me) I returned to my room to phone hotels in Goa to check availability. By this time it's 11:30am. In order to make a call I have to use the "services" of the hotel operator - this is an exceedingly frustrating experience, one that left me w/out one phone call to Goa and making the decision to leave immediately. I'd had enough! In haste, I pack my stuff, check out, went to the street and flagged and auto and said "railway, train, railway station" got there at 1:00pm, bought a 2nd class ticket for Goa.

This wasn't the best idea because the trip to Palolem takes 6 hours which, once again, I'd be arriving at my destination late at night and w/out a hotel reservation. The Lonely Planet guide to India has been a blessing tho. When I arrive I simply tell the auto driver the name of a hotel in the book. It has worked every time.

So far the day was going ok. I bought my ticket and went to the platform to wait for an hour and a half for my train. I struck up conversation w/ a man claiming to work for the govt as a railway employee. We went thru the usual exchange - which country, are you married, WHY i'm not married at age 33, to which I now just say "you men are too much trouble. you "samja" trouble? (you understand trouble?) We talk and he brings up George W. Bush and that the Prez and Saddam and UBL (Usama) are best friends and I laught and say, don't forget about your good neighbor Musharraf! FInally, when my train comes he tells me he's booked me on a better car. I'm skeptical at first, but I'm observant and ask questions and come to the conclusion he's genuinely trying to help. So I get on this A/C "sleeper" train w/ 50 other men and i'm the only woman. *sigh* they all look at me and stare and i try smiling warmly or nodding and they just sit there and stare.

You know...I'm ok w/ this for the most part but yesterday I'd had enough and my head was pounding and I was tired and not thinking straight so every once in a while I'd stare back. hehe. i don't want to hear it. i bet everyone who's come to india and gets stared at does this at least once. haha. I thought back to my younger days...I can do this! You're goin down man! They all lose by blinking or looking away. But this strategy has no longterm effect and they return to staring just as soon as the games been called. I'm t hinking how utterly rediculous this little game is and try another tactic. This time, I pull my Lonely Planet guide to India out and move over to where a bunch of them are huddled. I introduce myself, show them a map of where we are and where I'm going and ask them a bunch of questions about the train, trip and so on. Next thing you know...these men become completely engrossed in this great book about their country they all forget all about me and huddle over this book for the next two hours, pouring over the pages, one by one, front to back cover. I'm feeling pleased and proud and fascinated by the whole scene and finally get a chance to sit back, out of the limelight, and watch them. Every now and then one of them would look in my direction and I'd just smile warmly and they'd smile back and return their attention to the fray that is this book. Three hours later with 3 hours to go, I am now just "one of the guys." :-)

India, an assault on your senses

India, it's a total assault on all your senses. Coming from a western country like the United States where most everything in comparison is quiet and orderly I've found my long dormant 6th sense has wakened to help keep me alive and aware.

My muscles are sore and my body aches from yesterdays 5hour long bus ride from Hassan to Mangalore. The pothold ridden road snakes through beautiful country-side scenery of coffee plantations, coconut groves and palm trees. I sat in the very back by a window on a bench w/ 8 other people. In the US we'd only make room for 5. Anyway, it was there that I learned that if someone makes the effort to tell you something out of the blue and in english...just do it. A boy had told me to "shut the window, shut the window" - I say, "why?" and got an answer i didn't understand. fortunately, the bus conductor closed the window just before a woman in the area ahead of me was throwing up out the window. then another girl did the same thing...she ended up lying her head down on my backpack which was in my lap. it was the strangest sight, most everyone on teh bus was ill but i wasn't...i was looking around and snapping pictures and reading my lonely planet guide on this road from hell. sometimes i just have an incredible amount of stamina and energy.

oh, and last night i woke up to the sound of explosions. i have to wear earplugs so not only did i wake up to the soudn but i actually felt it. i was very disorinted at first, then i looked out the window, sort of squatting down in defense position, and saw the streets competely quiet...and then BOOM! and a FLASH! right outside my window (i'm on the 5th floor) right after that i heard somechildren giggling and another blast a few blocks away....i deduced in a matter of seconds that this is India's version of fireworks for Divali celebration...small amounts of TNT.

Found fast internet and a cute guy

Internet is everywhere here in Mangalore. The Lonley Planet guide only lists two, they still exist but there are so many others to choose from. Connection speeds at various places are dubious so if I don't like the speed I get at the one I'm at I get up and leave to go to the next one :-)

I found one close to my hotel, it's fast, and this guywho works here is "helping" me.l (if you know what i do for a living you'll know i don't really need the help ;-) teehee

I am American

People are always asking me, where are you from. They'll say, which country? which country? At first I'd tell them California, or America, or USA or United States and every time the reaction was "oh" just a simple, blasse "oh". Indian's are a hard bunch to read so I decided to conduct an experiment to see if this was a dismissive "oh" or an "oh" of negativity. So for the last couple of days, when someone asked me where I'm from I told them some other country (I can get away this because no one can every really pin down my ethnicity or country of origin :-)

Q. Where are you from? A. France Response: Oh
Q. Which country? A. Canada Response: Oh
Q. Which country? A. Spain Response: Oh
Q. Which country? A. Turkey Response: Oh

And finally, today, as I was checking in to my hotel room I was playing around with the young men behind the counter and when they asked where I am from I said Pakistan. Blank stares. Then I winked and smiled and said, just kidding! I am American. Response this time was a smile and "ohhh"

The "Real" India

The number of miles I've covered is unknown to me and apparently so is the day because for some bizarre reason I thought today was Tuesday or Wednesday. I've spent the last few days traveling around by way of local buses and auto-rickshaws, a bone rattling, mind numbing experience. Every time I'm on one of these buses a local asks me why I'm not taking the "deluxe" bus. I tell them I've come to see the real India and because I have no set itinerary or plan I get my best ideas about things to see and places to go by talking to people like themselves. These conversations can be extremely tiring tho. I think I'm just about the only foreigner in India now that I've left Nicola (Nicola, don't go home, forget your work. Come to Goa! I miss you! :-) and when someone like me shows up on a public bus in the areas I've been in I get a lot of curious stares cast in my direction and as soon as I begin a conversation with one, twenty more gather round to talk, too.

In Mangalore

I am in Mangalore now. It sits on the coast of the Arabian Sea. A place where there's more in fashion than burkhas and sarees. I've just returned from seeing some pretty magnificent 1000 year old temples and statues in the very rural area of Karnataka, India...Belur, Halebeed and Shravanabelagola. USB ports are hard to come by in these parts, as is a fast internet connection, so picture uploading (or sending : thanks Art!) aint gonna happen. I just about chewed my left thumbnail off waiting in agony for the hotmail page to load and i've got acrylic layered over my nails.

Moving West, Then North

My body and mind has for the most part completely adjusted to India time and I'm now ready to proceed. I'll be catching a bus today to go west to Belur which I'll use as a base to travel to site nearby like Halebid and Saravanbelogola (or something like that). I'll prolly stay there a day, then head west again to Mangalore, then take the train, north, up the coast, to Bombay then Rajasthan.

I'll be out of contact for a while, but I'm really just ready to disappear :-) Bangalore is not the "real" India I'm looking for but it's a good place to recoup before moving forward.

Internet too slow or no space on server

Some of these pics didn't upload. I don't know if it's because the internet here is slow or if there's no space on the server. Will try again some other time, but I don't have any control over the server.

I can upload pics...finally!

"bath" bucket

The day after the "scene out of frogger" ordeal I decided to face my fears...
This pic shows me standing in the center of the road..the traffic keeps coming and coming but you have to get across...so you cross...you can see here the cars are a ways away and if I wanted to I could have crossed w/ a second to spare...Instead, I stood there, faced traffic and took a pic so you can understand what I'm talkingabout.

You can see the auto-rickshaw whizzing by on the right, swerving out of my way (I tried to stand on the white line)

This one's for Andy. I think he likes to wake up to a cup of instant Nescafe coffee. hmmm... He can see here that when he comes to India he can have someone else make it for him.

Boy who wanted his picture taken. He shook my hand afterward and ran off.

See! They don't really hate us!

Art!!

Thanks for making the time adjustment...the posts are showing up one hour later than what my watch and this computer terminal says.

Blending in with the locals

Nicola says I could pass for a pale skinned Indian from Bombay. hehe. She took me Salway Kameez shopping. this morning. It's a tunic-like long shirt over pants. They took my measurements and will sew it up this evening. They are even going to deliver it to my hotel tonight.

A scene right out of Frogger!

I ran into Nicola again, just after leaving the internet shack on my way to supper at the hotel restaurant, which was great because I was contemplating walking alone down the road to the main shopping area for supplies and whatnot, which I guess is taboo and considered unsafe. This is probably true for the rest of India. Bangalore, however, is regarded as the countries most "progessive" city.

My hotel is situated towrd the far east end of the MG Road area so a 5-10 minute walk is necessary before reaching the area which is the economic pulse of the city. So off we went - walking along a dimly lit sidewalk, chatting and laughing about the days events. As we get closer, the sidewalk sort of narrows or stops comletely and there's people coming at you and in order to get by or continue on you're sort of forced to walk on the street making your body like a vehicle merging with trafic itself. Cars, trucks, motorcycles and autorickshaws whiz by about a foot or less away and I notice my pulse start to rise a bit. This is normal, i say to myself. Walking WITH the traffic was tolerable. Crossing traffic, on the other hand, I put the brakes on.... We get to a point where we had to walk across traffic and Nicola proceeds forward and I follow along for all of about two steps before grabbing her hand, pulling her back up on the sidewalk and saying emphatically. I am NOT doing THAT!!! hehehe The cars were not stopping for us! It was the equivalent of walking out in front of a speeding car! Otherwise known as attempted suicide. This is NOT normal, I say to myself...and I'm standing there squeezing the life out of Nicola's hand, she's trying to pull me forward but my feet seemed to have planted themselves into the ground like a mule determined not to budge an inch. I'm shaking my head back and forth, back and forth - like a crazy person whose lost their mind. I'm saying NO, and she's saying Come On! I finally give in and follow her lead. The next thing I know I'm sprinting past her, leaving her behind to fend for hersellf, weaving myself in and out of this traffic nightmare like a scene out of the video game Frogger! I make it to the other side, bent over at the waist, panting and heaving and laughing sort of hysterically - like a person crazed!

Anyway, we made it. She showed me around and I got batteries for my CD player and adapters to charge the laptop and camera. yay!

We had KFC for supper :-( I know. I know. But I had Masala/Dosa for my first Indian braekfast..so nah! Nicola says you're fored to admit defeat sometimes when it comes to these things.

Gave the day away....to sleep

Caught up on sleep which is exactly what I imagined I'd do a day after arriving. I slept about the same number of hours this afternoon as I did last night; 12:30-530. I can't help feeling I've lost the day. Before I went to sleep I unloaded my packs and organized everything and repacked.

Sat w/ a British woman, Nicola, from London?, I think, for breakfast. She's here alone, working on assignment photographing the "underbelly of Bangalore" or so she put it. Very nice, charming woman who was quite frank about her experience in India so far (it's not her first time) and she entertained all of my questions. We got on quite well! (feeble attempt at British speak) and if it weren't for her suggestion to "chill out" and let things flow (as I had hoped to do already) I'd prolly feel a lot more guilt about sleeping rather than doing *something* today.

So now I'm caught up on sleep....what to do and where to go next? I dunno. I was thinking I'd go to Mysore and use it as a jumping off point to the east, south or west. I am still undecided. I like the idea of staying in one place for 3-4 days. I'll figure out tonight which place that's gonna be.

I am in India!

I am feeling very pleased with myself right now for getting to this place without a hitch. Everything went extremely smooth and according to NO real plan. I winged the whole thing basically. Take this little bit of information for what it's worth. It went easily for ME. But that is me...India is not easy. Lemme give you a taste...

Flight to Singapore to Bangalore was not problem. Just over 3 hrs long. The aiport, however, could have been a nightmare. I bet it was for some who either got bad, or glossed over advice or didn't do their research. I did A LOT of research. I breezed through immigration (snuck a photo, too) to baggage claim where I was relieved to find my backpack surviving the trip as well as I had. I'm packing really light. I've got one medium sized backpack and one small pack for my computer and other stuff. I thought I had brought too much stuff but once I got here I realize I packed perfectly. I have everything I need not provided for.

I exchanged $100 for 4400 rupees at the money changer stand while waiting for my backpack. THen got my pack, went to the green line for customs, gave the guard an unfilled out card, laughed about it and he waved me through. :-) At this point, the only thing I knew about what was to come next was solely in my imagination....so I walk past customs and immediately look for the pre-paid taxi. Thanks Anand for this tip. It's a good one. Because as soon as you leave customs you are assaulted by people offering to give you a ride...and I bet they don't go away easily if you don't speak the language. I didn't have to worry about it because the gentleman at the pre-paid taxi stand left the stand (ha) and escorted me to the place where the taxis were. On the way there I had to walk through two lines of people on each side of the walkway toward the parking lot. I felt lock a ROCK STAR! hahaha. People, people, crowding and gawking, and it was loud! Very thrilling, very exciting. Very NUTS! Fortunately, the taxi driver who basically escorted me to the taxi had words with a couple touts who sprung forward to speak to me about god knows what, because I made the mistake of smiling in their direction. That sucks. I'm going to have to use my smiles sparingly??? hmmm....we'll see.

Anyway, the taxi ride here was suicidal. The roads were wet for it had been raining earlier and the beeping, beeping, veering in and out of these three wheeled auto-rickshaw vehicles and motorcyles and more beeping. And through all this I sat in the front, face pressed to the windshield trying to see and consume everything around me.

THe hotel is great. Hotel Ajantha. THere's a internet shack close by, it's situated off the MG Road (That's Mahatma Ghandhi Road - am wondering if there's a JC Road in Israel) regular toilet, no bath (just a bucket) but decent bed, soft pillow, very clean, no BUGS and for $4/night + breakfast...I can't lose

Oh, and I got 5 straight hours of deep sleep. I feel great! Now, I'm off to get some breakfast. It's 8:35am, I woke up at 6am. THen to rearrange the stuff in my pack (you should have seen my pack job 1 hour before leaving for my flight) Maegan if you care to comment, that'd be fine. hehe. I need some more stuff and I need to unload some more stuff. Also need AAA batteries and international adapter. My camera (also purchased 2hours before departing for my flight) works Great! It's a Sony DSC-P1, very cute, very small. love it! but I haven't charged the batteries yet, so it keeps dying on me now.

Spent the afternoon downtown Singapore

Back to the free internet terminal again. What a great service. I didn't want to spend all this time sitting around here in the airport letting 15 year old armed guards with their machine guns follow me around....so I talked to the information desk (what a thought) who pointed me in the direction of the "Free Bus Tours" desk. So got a free ride downtown and back in a very fancy bus. I walked around "Little India" to sort of dip my toe in what is to come.

I am so tired. I haven't slept since...hmm...thinking is kind hard right now. Wednesday. And even then I had my first bout of insomnia getting nervous about the trip. I'm hoping I'll crash on the plane. not good choice of words...

there's lots to write about the trip so far....hope to get a chance soon. probably Saturday.

Somehow, earlier, I thought the plane left at 11pm. It doesn't, it leaves at 9pm. Two less hours of waiting. yay!

ok....off to Bangalore! I arrive at 10:30pm, Saturday, btw.

Hot and humid at Singapore Airport

19hrs of flying and stopovers and it's still not over. In fact, I'm only half way there. Arrived here at Singapore Airport about an hour ago. Stop over in Hong Kong (Hong Kong looks incredible!) Singapore seems impressive,too. It's very GREEN! :-) So mywish for a 5 or so hour stopover in Singapore to get out and see the sights while I"m here has been fully realized...and then some. It's 11hrs! And then my flight to Bangalore is 5 1/2 hrs. I haven't slept, my feet are swollen and I'm in a state of euphoria. All's well, tho. At this point I make one of two decisions...either grab a sleeper room, rest up and shower up or take my chances at the local transit facilites and see if I can get out and take some pictures.

I'm using a free internet terminal. Very cool. Thank you Singapore Airport.

Let's take this show on the road!!

There is everything before me that should not allow me to think anything, but, along the lines of inspiration. Each and every one of us has dreams, and all throughout lifes journey, dreams are realized, dreams are forgotten, dreams are shattered, and dreams inspire new dreams.

The idea to experience India! is one of my dreams....and to all of you who know me and are reading this bloggy thingy right now, each of you have inspired me in some way to realize this dream, India!

Michelle, Tim, Steve: You are the most wonderful people in the world! Maegan and I are so grateful for you and your families, and for your unconditional support, caring sensitivity, and contageous enthusiasm!

We love you!

To Art: my 5+ year long co-worker who set up this blog-thing for me on his website PIGDOGS.COM....i've changed the password you created for me "giftsforart" to something else :-) (not that i needed subtle prodding. i'll be sure to bring back to you a naked stature of *something*)

And I've left the best for last....

To my amazing daughter, Maegan: You are a beam of radiant light! Your selfless and enthusiastic support for me to pursue taking this trip is awe-inspiring. I love you so very very much. BIG KISS! WE, are going next year!

So!! I head off to a land rooted in karma in about 11 hours from now. I just hope I don't have any trouble learning how to use a squat toilet when I get there.

Alright. Enough of the sap! Let's take this show on the road!!
teehee!

check back to the blog often, i intend to write to as often as the mood strikes me and there's an internet cafe to publish from.