3 Vacation Locations I Will Never Visit (Probably)

I have a confession: I love traveling. There, I said it. As a travel addict, I have been to many different places in my short 23 years. Sadly, most of those places have been in the United States (29 states, baybay!) and Mexico, so I've got some catching up to do elsewhere around the world.

That being said, there are some locations I will not pay to visit. Were someone else to pay for me, that would be another story entirely - I love a good free adventure. Even a not good free adventure, I'm not picky.

#3: Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok got a lot of free press from The Hangover 2, and while it is said that all press is good press, I'm not sure that is the case here. The movie shows the seedy underbelly of Bangkok, which I'm sure their travel bureau is super thrilled about.

While potential visitors are assured that the crime rate in Bangkok is comparable to similarly sized cities in the world, there's still a worrisome amount of crime.

Do not get any closer.

Bangkok has huge problems with drug related crimes, including drug trafficking, prostitution, and gambling. Now, I am not an expert on reasons why tourist travel to Bangkok, but considering the ease that drugs, prostitutes, and gambling venues can be acquired/found, I'd say that's a large attractant to a certain type of tourist.

I don't really care what other people do on their vacations, buuuut I'm not looking for cheap and easy drugs, prostitutes, or gambling on a vacation. I'm looking for relaxation, warm weather, and a beach.

Bangkok also has an absurd amount of traffic accidents each year. There were nearly 38,000 accidents in 2010 alone, which resulted in 16,602 injuries and 456 deaths. I don't know how that compares to similar sized cities, but the traffic situation in similar sized cities, like London, doesn't look like this:

"Mommy, I have to go potty!"

Or this: 

"Turn left, then get in the right hand lane."

"Oh, screw you, GPS."

Aaaand one more:

"We have a dinner reservation at 8 next Thursday, sooo if we leave at 2:15 today we might get there on time."

There would be no vacation in Bangkok, it would be one long, continuous traffic jam. The horror!

#2: Guam

Guam is an idyllic little island in the South Pacific that is all of a whopping 209 square miles. That makes it smaller than the majority of the eight islands that make up the state of Hawaii. And, like Hawaii, it's a tropical paradise. 

From this distance.

The only downside to Guam, aside from the the 14 hour flight from California, is that it is crawling (literally!) with snakes. Before Guam became infested by the brown tree snake sometime around World War II, the only snake Guam natives had to worry about was a blind snake, Ramphotyphlops braminus. The  Ramph Bram (I refuse to type all of that again) is very small and is often mistaken by locals as a nothing more than a worm.

This ferocious beast is scourge of ants and termites all over Guam.

Once the brown tree snake was introduced to Guam, it essentially became a feral animal. In the thirty years since it's been introduced, the brown tree snake has managed to take out ten of the twelve native birds indigenous to Guam. If the brown tree snakes were humans, they'd be Hitler and the Nazis at the height of their douchebaggery.

"Heil Mich!"

According to several smarticle types, there are 13,000 snakes per square mile in Guam. That's two and a half snakes every square foot. I dunno about ya'll, but I don't like snakes enough to have to worry about tripping over them every step I take, even if it would be comical. 

Picture this, just with bajillions of snakes snickering at your humiliation.

#1: Ramree Island

This one is a bit of a cheat, since it's not really a vacation spot, buuut I'm running with it, dang it. Ramree Island is located in the lovely Burma, an exotic locale that was pretty consistently dissed in the King and I. Interestingly (perhaps too strong of a word to use), Siam and Burma did go to war, but it totally ended in a tie, so the King and I was just a massive piece of propaganda put out by the Siamese government...ninety years after the fact...(okay, that might just be a theory.) Granted, Yul Brynner as the King of Siam does make a very compelling argument for the Siam side of the equation. Well done, casting directors.

Even in Lady Gaga clothes Yul's stare could beat an opposing force into submission.

Ramree Island is as lovely as the rest of Burma. Visually. And from something airborne. Preferably from a distance that won't be landing on the island. If you are going to land on the island, you'd better hope cartoon physics apply and try and flap yourself away from the land part of the island.

I was looking for a more illustrative picture, but got distracted by this. So DEAL.

Why all the evasive maneuvers? Because Ramree Island is basically a swamp. A giant, island sized swamp, full of super swampy things. The island is inhabited by thousands of saltwater crocodiles, which are apparently the most deadly in the world, the salt obviously giving them super powers.

Fun fact: this croc wants you dead! 

Not only that, the island is swarmed with mosquitoes carrying malaria and venomous scorpions. You almost get the feeling that pure evil is spawned amidst this trifecta of terror. Want to know just how deadly this island is? Of 1,000 Japanese soldiers forced into the swampy areas during a battle in WWII, 20 survived. TWENTY! That's a 98% death rate! Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!

Hand-Lettering Like a Boss...ish

I have recently been working on my hand lettering skillz - and by recently, I mean the last three days. :) Anyways, I'm just exercising my current hand lettering skill set and hopefully expound them. Basically, I'm hopin' to become a professional, ya know? ;)

Here's the first one an "L".

You can most definitely see the imprint of an 'e' from the page before. :) There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the letters chosen for these, I pretty much just chose ones that I thought would look cool with the style. And because I'm super lazy and never happen to have a ruler handy, these were all done freehand.

Which is only impressive with this "H", really.

And it's not as spectacular as it could be, but it's very 3D, yeah? It reminds me of the digital Tremont T's I worked on for the football team when I was in high school. :) Oh how technology has advanced! And oh how much easier it is now! I look back and can't believe how much time I spent doing things from scratch without using any Adobe products. Craziness.

This one is an "A" I worked on. Not my favorite by any stretch, but its still part of the collection.

It's also more sloppy than the others, probably because I lost interest and so it got significantly harder to focus on being neat. :P

This "B" is probably my favorite, or at least tied with the last one I have. It's soooo....futuristic Gothic, I think. Our family has an old school German Bible that's been handed down for generations and this letter is part that lettering mixed with swirls and decals. Loves. :))

It was originally supposed to just be white on the inside with some simple shading, but it would have looked better in color that way. Since I was only using a graphite pencil and the paper, I decided to give it a 3D-ish vibe.

This last one is a "K" inspired by a Polish (I think...it could be Hungarian) artist that writes poetry out in the most beautiful calligraphy. I'm completely fascinated and want to attempt colored versions with ink!

Got some lovely little smudges, too. Gives it character! ;) I absolutely adore this style concept.

Welp, I'm off for some snooze time. Probably...hopefully. :) Nighty night!

Aby

I'm basically the next Bill Gates...

I'm feeling pretty smug right now. Wanna know why? I'll share, it's no problem. I'm smug because I am so technologically advanced that this post is coming to you directly from my iPad. That's right, people, I can post without using a computer. BOOM.

Now, I realize that many people have probably accomplished this feat already, but I don't really care. I applaud them and their technological savvy, but what reaaaally tickles me is that I have figured this out by myself!

Mwahahahahaaaa!

I would like to apologize at this time to Mr. Gates. Sir, I'm sorry I used you as my smart computery person when talking about using an Apple product, that's my bad, but I think you epitomize successful computer geek and I'm not cool enough yet with technology to basically be Steve Jobs...

Lots of linguini! Or love, whatevs!

Aby

Life After College

So, I have officially been out of college fore about six months now. It's still a surreal experience; like an extended Summer vacation that never ends with permanent "real world" responsibilities. I'm not sure I like it. I'm in this weird sort of limbo. I don't know where I belong, where I fit in. My whole life has been about school. First grade school, then middle school, then high school, and finally college. I'm good at school - excellent at school.

But this new area of not school...I'm not so good at. I don't know what to do with myself. My best friend moved to another state for her career. Even though we haven't been together every second for the four years we spent in college, that was still a hit. And it hurt. Still hurts, really. I can't call her and plan to do a movie this week. The best we can to is Skype and try to pretend that it's as good as really being in the same room, while in the back of our minds we know it's not good enough.

While in school, I had a lot of classmates that I was close to that I got to see everyday and I got my people fix. We would hang out, do activities, have fun. Now that I'm home, I find that all of my close friends from high school that I literally grew up with have all kind of gone on different paths, like I have. Some are married and live in another town, some are still in school and are busy with school things, some have moved and had babies, others have moved out of state - out of the country - for their careers.

I've spent the past few months wondering exactly how it is that I can feel so overwhelmingly lonely being surrounded by my family and people I grew up with. I see my siblings and their children everyday and I still feel like I'm adrift and alone. I hate it. Before, I never realized how much I thrived from the people I interacted with on campus. Now, I know what I had, but didn't appreciate.

I keep thinking that I need to go out and join some sort of clubs to get myself hanging out with people with like interests, or find myself a boyfriend. I've never before felt the need for so much human contact. At least, I don't think I did. Who can say? I was always surrounded by new and exciting people in a learning environment before this.

Though joining some sort of group or finding new friends is a great idea, I find myself hesitating. First, because I want to start on my career before I start putting my roots down here. It would really suck to get myself more friends only to lose them because I have to move for a job. Secondly, there is a part of me that thinks if I get new friends somehow I'll lose my old friends. I know I have the capacity to have more than one set of close friends, but a small piece of me is frightened that somehow they'll slip away.

But they're doing that anyway, aren't they? It's a natural progression. I know this. It's a reality that I completely understand on a logical level, but that teeny bit of me refuses to be rational about it. I love my friends and I care deeply about each and every one of them. It hurts me to think about how far I've let them drift, even if it is natural.

The only comfort I have from this crazy emotional roller-coaster I'm on, is that I'm not the only person going through it. I'm no crazy! Woohooo! I was talking with several of my classmates that have also graduated and  they feel the same sense of sadness.

We shut the door on an era of our lives that will never happen again. Even if we continue with our schooling, be it in a master's program or medical school or law school, it won't be the same. We're older, hopefully wiser, and we've grown up, even if only just slightly. We are no longer wide-eyed little eighteen year olds just hoping that we can fit in. We are officially adults, whether or not we choose to act like we are.

There are probably some of us still trying to hold onto the glory days of college, but seriously, it's time to man up. We can do this. Becoming an adult doesn't mean we can't still be cool and awesome. It just means we have to accept our responsibilities. Quite frankly, I plan on staying ridiculously cool and awesome until I'm super disgustingly old. :} I also plan on manning up. My life is mine to make, yeah? No one else can do it for me. Hopefully I can do my family proud and still have a rockin' time.

To the classes of 2011 and 2012, I salute you Sirs and Madames!

Good luck!

Aby

The New Plan

It's 2012! And technically it's been less than a year since I wrote last time, soooo...I'm feelin' pretty smug right now. :) Now, onto the big news:

I GRADUATED FROM ILLINOIS STATE!!!!!!!

Finally! 

.....

Alright, well, that's all I gots right now, sooo....yeah...

I'ma go.

Peace and Love, homies!

Aby