PLEEAAASEEE......

Justin Timberlake is totally wrong. Sexy does not need to be brought back. I've been holding sexy down since I was in underoos.
Anywho.
I suppose I must first thank--nay, bless-- all of you for the lovely package that was sent after I left. I expected to find only a dusty Nesbitt, well worn from all the reading and comprehending done to it. But much to my (at that point girlish) delight, I also had a picture of the 2006 TASPers, framed not only in a classy, minimalist frame, but in the collective love and merriment that only a summer of studying *ahem* and living together could provide. Needless to say, my eyes moisted over and I had to excuse myself from the room.
With that being said, life since TASP has been completely disappointing, not because I am incapable of parting with you all, but because everything now seems so normal, disappointing, and mundane. My senior year trip through hell (what some would refer to as a schedule) includes two semesters of PE. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you: Stupid knows no race. Much like peace and love and caring, stupid is a unique connection, an archetype, if you will, shared amongst all humans. Some choose to tap into that more than others. I usually offset my intense dislike of these people with the knowledge that my interaction with them will pass.
While I deal with stress and general unmerriment, my parents steal away to Scotland, then Paris. The 'rents new favorite word is arrondisement. I don't blame them. I'll name my first child that: Arondissement Montiel. Sounds stately.
To conclude, I was playing Cranium with a few people I did not know when one of them, a loud, obnoxious girl, mentioned, "You know, South Africa has really gone down the tubes since the white people left." This comment was suspect because of a few details, namely: 1) The oppressors were effectively toye-toyed out of South Africa like a Chuck Norris judochop to the face, 2) Her defenses included such logical gems like "When the British were there, there wasnt any GARBAGE on the street!" and "It was actually SAFE to go out on the street!!!!", and 3) As we know from Prof. Vinson, South Africa is actually coming back infrastructurally (my word). In case you didnt catch it, her defenses were largely speculation, hasty generalization, and complete bullshit. I countered with examples of trash in the streets of major American cities, the danger of walking around at night in Compton, the fact that South Africa is hosting a World Cup in 4 years, the fact that the whites in South Africa violently oppressed blacks, that this oppression led to much of the squalor she described and took as a representation of the entire country today, and that her meticulously researched contentions were "mind-bogglingly wrong". Lack of tact? I think so.
I certainly hope you all havent been as frustrated, too, by scenes like this. I also certainly hope that this comes across as cohesive and comprehensible. 'Tis late and I'm seeing 25 or 6 to 4. But, I think I'll go off for a walk. They say midnight jaunts in East LA or Compton can be particularly refreshing....thank God that it's safe to go out on the street.