This may read like gibberish...

We strive for the divine. Just look to Aristotle for a proof of that argument.
Technology is knowledge, put to use. Technos. Virtue....skill. Greek words.
Now we are building machines. Which calculate. and compute. Old gods reflected old technologies....

Deus ex machina

God is in the machine. We are constructing god. With scientific advancement. God is in the machine. One and many. Centralized and decentralized. its all there, abstractly. In what we are doing. our actions reveal god.


I think i can buy the idea of memes,

Pictures

Some pictures, from London and Amsterdam.

http://purchase.facebook.com/photos.php?id=46300994&l=97c0a

cos dead kids don't get photographed....the world's a mess and so are we

Soooo Lexy Zak and I went to Harrisburg PA today (yesterday technically) and saw The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & tra-la-la band, once known simply as a silver mt zion, as i prefer to call them. Some of you may have heard them on NPR's spinning on air last fall, although I suspect most of my young friends listen to more NPR than our elders do. Oh well, that's culture for ya. Anyway, they are a group which spun out the post-rock neo-classical sort of rock group Godspeed You! Black Emperor. ASMZ have gone through many forms in the last 6 or 7 years, but they seem to be settling into a style, and it suits them. There old songs sound magnificent with7 players, i just wish theyd add keys and samples, but then they really would just be GY!BE with vocals... Anyway, I'll upload pics and bootlegs soon.

In other news, I helped Lexy move into her new dormroom with Cristal, in the new building, Fort Awesome, a name chosen in a student lead contest. Purchase for ya.... um... I can't decide if i like it or not, truly. I can't decide much of anything anymore. Could I ever? I have readjusted to being home, only to realize I don't know what to do here now that schools over. I need to leave, I think. I really have to go. I'm going to take Morris' class at purchase, which met this morning. I'm working at starbucks, and going to the gym with lee at least every weds, hopefully more. We're working on music too, if i can find the time. I'm also writing for a soon to launch website.

My plans are much larger, however. Im working on applying for the Fulbright to teach english, altho I am rather pessimistic. I hope to start tai chi, go on a meditation retreat, plan trips to montreal, california, and florida/the DR, and take courses in greek and italian, soon. In addition, I am going to find myself either a job or internship in NYC soon, for the fall/winter. Maybe I'll work on the elections? I have the time, I guess.

Tomorrow I will begin reconstructing my summer trip, on this blog, by going through my journal, and posting pictures. I have found myself reliving the experience often enough, in strnage ways, so it's time i get this stuff out there. Some essays will appear eventually also, although I may try and shop them to someone who will pay for them. We'll see. I really have no idea how to go about doing that. I guess one just needs to try.

home

I am more or less settled in, back to work, etc. Went to a part at Trish' tonight, and saw.... Lee, Gabe, Justin, Jordan, Hanna, Jeff, Androj, and a bumch more. Talked politics, played guitar, drank beer, made friends. All in all, a good night.

Anyway, I'm settling into my new routine and my new schedule, so soon, as I said ealier, I'll have real updates, music, pictures, etc.

ho ritornato (anche)

so I'm back in the states. real structured updates soon. I'm in the process of sorting out pictures, unpacking, etc. In September, I'm going to start my official new format... which will be reviews once a week on thursdays, and editorials on monday mornings. Also, I'm working with a music online zine called the silent ballet (www.thesilentballet.com) specializing in post-rock and instrumental music. Reviews will be posted weekday. Anyways...

for now i just wanted to let everyone know i got home ok. heathrow wasnt took bad. getting my bags from ny took almost 2 hours however.

im unpacking and cleaning. beach 2moro, work sunday. good to be back.

one last entry

This will be my last entry from the road. I have managed to spend virtually all of my euros (i bough chocolate as i left belgium) and all of my pounds (i only had 25 and change) so this last pound for the internet is it. my oyster, via debbie, card is loaded. all i have to do is wake up and go to heathrow. nice and early. lookin forward to a long day of travel. cant be worse than wenezia to pisciotta, or firenze to paris. i cant wait to write out some of the stuff from my journal and tell everyone about my experiences that i have not had a chance to share yet. pictures will help. ive taken over 1000 on my digital camera, and shot maybe 4 rolls of film.

the baggage restrictions have eased at heathrow so at least i can bring on my ipod, camera, book, and journal. cant wait for ny. i feel like i just left tho. i feel like if i had a travel partner i could stay out for months and not even notice. traveling alone has been a good experience. i have learned alot about myself, and have a clearer idea about what aspects of myself i need to work on improving, and all that.

sleep beckons. goodnight. those of you i know and who are in the northeast of the us, ill be seeing you soon

on the road again...

back in london. feels good. i know where i am. i recognize places. the tube is so simple and efficient. and the girl at the hostel said 'joseph! how are you?' home 2moro... long trip to heathrow. london is so expensive! i almost forgot... it is really truly terrible. i imagine it must be nice for brits to travel tho.

bruxelles/brussel is the most bilingual city ive ever seen (it even has two names!) altho (flemish) nederlands is more common language in belgium, french is also an official language and very popular in the cuity of brussels. all the sign have both languages. often flyers are doubled. anyways. thats my quick reflection on that.


im running out of time on this computer. my entries, once i get home, will be from my journal entries, mnixed with commentary and whtvr. im gonna have music/book reviews every thrusday and 'editorial' style articles every monday i think. ok, cya in NY!

bruxelles

woohoo! going to get beer at the delerium cafe! fantastic, didnt even have to try to find it.


....

anyway, im in brussels, as should be obvious. Paris was chilly, but with sun when i left this morning.... the rain had apparently anticipated my coming here and surpirsed me by joining me on my travels. im am thoroughly cold and soaked. oh well. london 2moro. maybe a show at night. some interesting things going on in the city.

this hostel is fantastic, second only to the place i stayed at with lex in toronto.

brussel/bruxelles is a strange place. kind of low key, lots of bars, more steel/glass/concrete than i have seen since leaving ny. it seems, at first impression, to lack what makes other european cities distinctly so. as montreal/quebec city are the most european cities in NA, brussels seems to be the most 'american' in europe. little regard for preserving public space, something even london has done. i can now see why they put the EU seat here. anyways, beer time. until 2moro...

i lovve paris in the summer (when it rains all the time....)

i dont remember that part of the song. anyway, once again, i hav limited time on the computer, timer and all, and anohter strange, difficult keyboard. im sure most ofu heard about the planned terrorists attacks. well apparently they wre scheduled to happen the day i am flying home (to ny) from heathrow. they say they got the guys, but severe restrictions have been placed on luggage. heathrow is more of a zoo than usual. i leave paris today for bruxelles, and fly home from london on weds, altho theres a chance with all this bs ill get delayed/stranded. welll see.

siena was really awesome. i likebeing in once place for a while, especially a beautiful place. lexy and i spent a day in the strattons apartment in the city, so we had anight off thefarm. we went to firenze on thursday, and saw anamazing harvest moon. at 550am lexy left for roma to flyto ny and apparently got home allright. i came to paris, but couldnt get a fast overnight train so ileft AFTER lex, tranfered ingenova and then nice. arrived in paris at 11pm, and it was cold cold cold, and my hostel refused to take my reservation cos the owner listed them as dorms when they didntexist. lonng story ill write later. anyway, paris has beengreat. ill hav to come bck and spendmore timehere,preferably when its not rining.

ok, well lets hopeall this nonsense with terror dies down andi get home ok. i keep thinking why did i do this or that, fly home then, go withlexxy, reerve the train toparis inadvanxxe, etc. and i keep reminding myself that if one thing changes, everythgin would hve to change. everything reallyis interconnnected. thatis, for me to hve made a different decision, something wouldhave had to be differentt to cause my deliberations/chemical rections to end up different. and likewise something elsewouldhaveto havebeen different to cause that thing tobe different aa weell. point is, there are no mistakes. it is what itis. we are veryoriented towardslookingat the future, cos its a source of unceertainty forus,t hus we tryto havvvecontrlby pretendeing we have more control than we really do. anyway, somethings are meant to happen. everything in fact, that does haappen.

update from burxelles later today (my today not urs... or ig uess ur tomorrow...butno oonne willreadythis now anyway....ok

toscana

no time for long entry. have a lot to say about this place tho. Spannocchia, a sustainable farm in tuscany just outside siena, which is where i have been staying,... has been a lot of fun, mostly relaxing. ive read tom robbins 'villa incognito,' thich naht hahn's 'miracle of mindfullness,' (he is really incredible,) and oscar wilde's 'the picture of dorian gray.' we have spent some time in siena, but mainly just relaxing in the house, walking around the grounds, etc. it has been really nice to be able to relax in one place with friends. we go on to florence 2moro, and lex flies home, while i move on to paris for the weekend, and then on my way home. ill be back in one week. more updates soon

ho ritorno (anche) con lexy

sorry for the lack of updates. I did not have the oppurtunity to update from pisciotta, because access to the internet has strict time limits on acount of the number of students. i miss pisciotta already, as do, of course the girls. I have returned, and already left. Jamie is lucky to be able to live there for a while.

So, a quick summary of the more memorable moments.
chicken fighting domenico e gianluca.
gianluca in general.
the beach
drinking absinthe with lexy sam and rachel (70 percent alcohol) and not having that be the drunkest night of the trip (burns worse than listerine....)
the roof
the girls friends
dinner and party at the apartment
luigi li gato eating an ice cream cone. (i have pictures to prove it.)

So we left pisciotta on sunday morning and spent a few days in roma with the group. roma was great, but i did alot of the same stuff i did last time, since i was with the same program. i also got the unfortunate news that young girl many of us were aqcuanted with, a friends e girlfriend, died of a drug overdose several nights ago. i think she had just graduated highschool. its very upsetting in a lot of ways. i hope that at least my other friends and acquantances will take this as a wake up call. at the same time, traveling here and seeing a continent living in the shadow of 2 great wars, and eastern europe in the more imediate wake of the communist bloc and the wars in the balkans, it seems so overblown when we get worked up over the young dying in suburban america. it is, of course, tragic, but so is life. in the states, we have this illusion that the universe is a moral place, and that were gaurenteed long lives simply for being alive. whole generations in europe have had there lives shattered by war after war. is it any wonder there are so many pacifists?

This morning, rachel sam lexy and i all left the group, sam and rachel to venezia, and lexy and me to siena, where we are now. were very tired and have yet to meet up with lexys friends here.

ok, i apologize for my lack of updates and poorly written updates, not to mention spelling and typographical errors. the keyboards change slightly from country to country and i dont have time to find the apostrphe.

this blog has served its purpose for my travels and keeping in touch, but unforunatly i have not been able to keep up quality entries. when i get back i will upload pictures and right out longer, more analytic entries based on my journal entries i write on the road. ill be in siena for about a week, and then i head to nice, paris, brussels, and finally fly home from london. im looking forward to traveling on my own, but also to getting home. i miss being able to play guitar, record, read, shower at my leisure, and just not live out of a backpack. i also cant wait to do it again next year. perhaps ill have a job by then. ok, more updates soon. namaste!