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About Me Member Deviant of Many Talents rojMale/Canada Recent Activity Deviant for 7 Years
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The Great Adventure is over - for now.

Mon Sep 21, 2009, 11:12 AM
I'm back.

It was an utterly wonderful life experience.

Five weeks.

Six countries (Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland)

10,000Km driven (note I said “driven” - this doesn't include flights)

LOTS of cities (Sabaudia / Terracina / Ponza / Capri / Sorento / Pompeii / Como / Milan / Venice / Rome / Lugano / Cairo / Ephesus / athens / Rhodes / Mikonos / Delos / Paris)

AND...

...The Villa Of George Clooney!! (an inside joke about the visit to Como – don't ask).

Over 3000 photos shot (with a Nikon D90 and thank GOD we had the 320Gb portable drive).

Lots of utterly wonderful people.

Amazing food.

Blissfully hot weather (it hit 46C in Italy and I just ADORED it (that's not sarcasm people – I truly do love hot weather and the Italian sun LOVES me – I just keep turning more and more brown with out even using sunscreen, something I dare not do in my native Caribbean).

Cameos from the trip:

The most bizarre sight of an Arab in full traditional costume playing the bagpipes (very well I might add) at a Five Star restaurant in Egypt.

Hearling an old live Bob Marley rendition of “No Woman no Cry” on Italian radio and being told (in Italian) by a 50+ year old former waiter that he was a HUGE fan (which immediately made Italy feel right at home to this Jamaican).

Going out on to the Cupola at St. Pter's in Rome and becoming immediately aware that I'm REALLY scared of heights (funny – when I was a student pilot, those heights never bothered me at all).

Noticing that the most popular sports car in Europe is the Mini Cooper S.

Wishing that Europe would standardize on where the flusher is on toilets.

Being amazed that EVERY country in Europe that I visited has an impossible parking problem (I swear I saw SmartCars parked in trees in Milan).

The volcano Stomboli belching gas as the ship crised a mile offshore.

The Eiffel Tower gone disco (the five minutes at the top of each hour when it flashes with strobes).

The amazing precision of the pyramids

Rome at night from the hightest point in the city.

Falling completely and irrecovably in love with Italy and knowing, beyind the remotest shadow of a doubt that this is where I'll end up when all is said and done.

North America has it utterly wrong, people. Y'all live to work here. In Europe they work to live. Here there's packaged garbage in supermarkets masquerading as food, filth pretending to be fast food, stress from the artificially inflated “American Dream” which is actually a nightmare in disguise. Oh, and there's football over there. Not some ridiculous take-off on rugby played by steroid junkies who CARRY the ball and lumber down the playuing field like some ancient out-of-date advancing army but REAL football, played with the FEET, a FAST game of style, grace, speed and skill. :) :) ;)

For me it's ironic that a kid from a small island in the Caribbean should find the same cultural mindset and norms half a planet away from his origins, almost half a century after he shuffled into this mortal coil.

There will be many more trips to Italy, as often as I can engineer them.

And one day I won't be coming back.

But until then, I'm here.

And soon there will be wallpaper.

It's gonna take me a while to go through all those pics and select the best of the best but as time passes, they'll start to trickle up.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice my Italian.

  • Mood: Joy
  • Listening to: Lily Allen
  • Reading: Nothing...
  • Watching: Nothing...
  • Drinking: Pellegrino

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Devious Info

  • Current Residence: Ottawa, Canada
  • Interests: Music (always!), audio (to support the music), the Caribbean, the 'Net, Sci-Fi
  • Favourite movie: Blade Runner (if I had to pick just one)
  • Favourite band or musician: Queen / Bob Marley / Miles Davis / Thievery Corporation
  • Favourite genre of music: R&B / Jazz / Reggae / Lounge
  • Favourite poet or writer: Frank Herbert
  • Favourite style of art: Renders / matte paintings
  • Operating System: Windows XP x64 Edition SP2 (this OS actually *is* finished, unlike the mess that is Vista)
  • MP3 player of choice: iAUDIO X5 30GB / iAUDIO 7 8GB / Sansa Fuze 8Gb (no Apple or Creative Labs poser garbage here)
  • Shell of choice: Any on a Caribbean beach
  • Wallpaper of choice: It changes every 30 minutes from an extensive gallery
  • Skin of choice: Hers...
  • Favourite game: Life... NOT the board game - but then again I *am* immortal
  • Favourite gaming platform: See above...
  • Favourite cartoon character: Yakko, Wacko and Dot
  • Personal Quote: "Faith manages." - J. Michael Straczynski
  • Tools of the Trade: my mind

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Comments


:iconsupersyko:
Ive made Blu Flame a larger resolution for you ^_^

[link] Here you go.

--
I'm too weird to live, but much too rare to die.
:iconroj:
Thank you!

--
"There are things that music can do that language could never do, that painting could never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn't have to explain it. It can simply celebrate it."

- Marsha Norman
:iconforeverbigblue68:
Thank you very much for adding me to your watch list.

--
=Unknown-Artists-Club =PhotomanipulatorClub *Realm-of-Fantasy
:iconroj:
...and thank you for adding me. :) I love your work - it was like finding a treasure trove.

--
"There are things that music can do that language could never do, that painting could never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn't have to explain it. It can simply celebrate it."

- Marsha Norman
:iconelkhawk:
thanks for the fave on "The Way Home"! =D

--
"See, the problem is that God gave man a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
-- Robin Williams

WOW!!! Check This Out!
:iconroj:
You're very welcome. :)

Great work!

--
"There are things that music can do that language could never do, that painting could never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn't have to explain it. It can simply celebrate it."

- Marsha Norman
:iconelkhawk:
thanks!=)

--
"See, the problem is that God gave man a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
-- Robin Williams

WOW!!! Check This Out!
:iconkat545625:
Sorry for the delay but, thank you very much for the favorite.

--
Please check out my deviantart :)
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