I don't have the time to make a proper posting because I am on someone elses computer, but I just wanted to give my deepest sympathy to John for the death of his mom, and also to Rob Corwin for the death of his father. I should be back online by mid July. I miss reading from you all.

Moving Day!!! I can't wait... Chris and Bridget and Sophie Lea have been extremely good hosts and have made me feel very comfortable living with them. The business has had some unavoidable delays, so things haven't moved as fast as I would have wanted them, but hey, that's life. June for me is going to be Flash, Flash, and possibly some more Flash. The company start day is now set at mid-July. Actually, although I would have liked to have been independent and rakin' in some money by now, it's probably best that things went this way. The delays have allowed me the time to practice skills, get a better understanding of the competition here and what our company's direction is likely to be, legally get me set up to do things in a proper fashion instead of under the table, and enjoy a cool oppurtunity to hang with and learn from the Lea family. I'm going to be offline for awhile until I get everything functioning in the new pad. I feel like I've finally arrived in England today.

Sorry, I know it's rude to make such nondescriptive posts like that, but I was really tired and just wanted to say something before I went to sleep for the next 24 hrs or so. It was just a psychodelic experience basically, where the dosage was just a little too high for me. My main fondness of the vacation was sitting with Rob at the cafes during the day, people watching and discussing the past, present, and future. Shrooming has been tons of fun in the past, but a gram of Hawaiian is apparently too much for me these days to handle myself out in public. I was suppose to hang with Rob until his train left, but I couldn't make it and opted for a cab ride back to the safety of my hotel room. It was probably a terrible thing to leave a friend in that condition at a train station, but it really wasn't a choice for me at that moment. Anyway, I made it back to the the hotel room safe and sound and within the hour Rob showed up again because he missed his train. I was really glad actually that he made it back because I was in major guilt from leaving him there and I wanted to say "sorry". He actually managed to reschedule his train in that condition and everything... I was proud of him because I couldn't have tied my shoes. It was a long, long night after that without any sleep at all, with voices swirling around my head in foreign languages and jumps through various memories, and a stomach that wouldn't quit torturing me. The night before the shrooms I was mugged walking home. I wasn't hurt, but my pants were ripped off from the six guys who attacked me and my wallet with everything that legally makes me, me was taken. The most embarrassing part was having to wave down a cab in my underwear and ask for a ride, even though I didn't have any money. The cabby was very generous. Anyway, I didn't think I was going to tell that part of the story, but I guess there it is. I believe that it sent my thoughts in a bad direction during the next night of shrooms which aided in my inability to handle being out in public in an altered state. The good thing is that I left my passport in my suitcase, so I didn't have any problems getting home. Last night, back in England, I woke up and there were hands reaching around the corner of my bedroom door throwing butterflies and flies into my room. It really scared me until I realized that hallucinations are part of the game with shrooms (even though it was the next day) The metaphor I guess is pretty clear to me. I hope that was the last night of shit like that though.

Well, I met up with Rob in Amsterdam. All I can really say about the trip was that it was damn good to see Rob. We chose the red pills and ended up much further down the rabbit hole than expected. It was a strange trip indeed, but somehow we survived it. Na zdorowie, Rob!

- Congrats Clint!
- Happy Birthday Liz!
- I'm glad to hear you're back to work Phil. It's always more fun to ball your meat than to let your meat loaf. (Quote was borrowed from a recent Jim S. post which was quoted from something John said I believe... anyway, I just wanted to say meat loaf too.)
-love the spicy scale, Sean. Everything hot should have to include that on it's labeling.

I'm sitting in the world's biggest internet Cafe. easyEverything! Looks like about 10,000 terminals in here. Well, as suspected I cannot find Rob anywhere. We could have done this whole thing different, but what the hell, I'm in Amsterdam and having fun by myself. Went to a few bars last night and tried to mingle with the locals. Everyone I've met so far (that's about 5 total) has been really cool. There's nothing like a trip to Holland to make you feel real unedumacated. Even the beggars speak several languages (There's quite a few of them around actually.) I gave a bum 5 G yesterday and he gave me a piece of paper with his internet site on social and economic conditions of Europe. That's http://www.geocities.com/eurodos for those interested. This is a city of beautiful young women, riding bikes. It's like finding the secret valley of the butterflies or something... They're everywhere... (women on bicycles, I mean) Well, my intention is to hit the museums today and go a little nutty tonight with some sort of self-indulgence. I'm at the Linda hotel, just in case Rob reads this.

I leave for Amsterdam in 4 hours. Cheap flights pick fun hours for travel. I'm going to be dead sleepy when I get there. The place I'd like to stay at has an internet cafe, so I should have no problem making a post or two from there. After I get back, I will be moving and trying to set up my ADSL in the new pad, so I might be offline for awhile. (my guess is a couple of weeks, but who knows.) Meeting up with Rob in Amsterdam is going to be difficult. I tried to get him interested in starting a hotmail account so we could communicate on the net, but he didn't go for it. Instead we're going with my mobile phone, but I really have no idea if it is going to work there or not. It might just be me alone for three days, oh well.

I first met Ned when I was in 7th grade. I had just newly joined Troop 131 of the BSA and I found myself sitting in a corner a little scared because I didn't know anyone. Ned came up and introduced himself and let me hang out with him. I remember being so relieved. I could easily have gone months without talking to a single person. No offense to Rob (cause I love 'em too) who was in the same troop, but he never paid attention to me at all until he figured out that I could be a dungeon master for him. It's a good first memory of Ned as being a selfless, generous person.

Well, the system prevails. My problem with dealing with the property management company yesterday was my concept of "they". When I switched from talking with the person I was dealing with to the department's manager, my situation was completely different. The manager, after my explanation of the situation, was extremely helpful and said that she would return a portion of the fee for the application and said the remainder was for their efforts in setting me up and contacts to the landlord and that she would look into checking my U.S. credit and that most likely she could wave the need for a Guarantor. Cool huh. You have to be speaking with the right person to get things done properly. Live and learn.