2008...half full or half empty.

So the year is half over. After July, I always thought the rest of the months just tumble right through your hands. So, a little personal analysis. What have I done in the first part of 2008? Let see if I can answer this question in reverse chronological order.

Most recently I did my violin solo. It went well, except for the video recording of it. Somehow the wrong buttons were pressed and the violin wasn't turned on, so no golden memories were recorded. It was to your benefit. The instructor though wants to take the violin troop all around Germany to play. If I wasnt the only one in there that knows how to button, velcro, and tie shoes, I might say yes.

I bought tons of self help books from Amazon and spent a small fortune. Out of the five I bought, I only read one cover to cover and that was "How to win friends and influence people". My blog voyeurs, read this book! Cant afford it? I will send you mine, just send me an address. "What color is your parachute" is a good self-esteem boost too. As for the rest of the books, they seemed mostly garbage and barely readable.

I started reading Terry Pratchet books too--about 20 years behind everyone else I guess. Sci fi books filled sarcasm and laughs. Not bad really. Still, the funniest book anywhere is Catch-22.

I went to Chicago and so my old friends from graduate school. What a refreshing cool time that was. Great wedding, old laughs with people who get you (and can understand your language), and I met some pretty cool new people too. Some of them are still hounding me for photos--which I have to get busy on.

Meeting new family is always interesting, awkward, and then interesting again. Who knew?

A trip to the Barcelona for a World Meeting in Biochemistry. The better the city, the worst the meeting is my new understanding. Barcelona was a beautiful city. I got to see some Gouda Architecture, and even see a golothic church being built in his style. It is supposed to be done in 2050. No kidding. Its been continually worked on for the past 40 years (or more). Unfortunetly one of my friends got her purse stolen while we were there. Ladies, dont put your purses on your chair when you go out to eat. The highlight of the trip was the dinner at the La Chateau Sparkling wine cellar. Imagine a a wine cellar 30 feet across, and a half mile long. Pretty amazing sight for this ol' country boy.

Saarbrucken was even more amazing. Two weeks with grad students, post docs, and professors from Australia to Finland and every country in between. The highlight was when 40 or 50 of us took over an Irish bar and we had the great idea of everyone should sing something from there country and I heard great voices and some amazing songs. I was very surprised. When it came my turn and I had enough liquid courage, I sang "The day the music died". About the only song I think I know by heart. I also explained the tribute behind the song, the day Buddy Holly, Jiles Richardson and Ritchie Valens were all killed a plane crash. Thankfully, everyone sang along with me.


So thats my six months of 2008. In the next six months, I hope to meet some more new relatives (German ones), my old exchange student, Marco, and then some more travelling to places near and far. St Petersburg, Russia sounds....cold. We`ll see. And of course, I will keep you updated.