Jan 31 | Have it Your Way

Did I tell you how I managed to burn down Burger King on Sunday? No? Well let the story-telling begin.
Fire II classes began on Sunday with a lecture on how to assume command at a fire scene, especially since if one is an officer first on scene, it is generally the case that one assumes command (and talks to the dispatcher via radio) before a battalion chief or Incident Commander or someone higher up takes over upon arrival.

Jan 27 | Bottle caps and things

Poring over my engineering homework dealing with stress and strain, manipulating figures dealing with bars of steel put under tension, I realise how similar my daily life has become to that particular piece of metal- I just hope that one day I just won't reach a point of fracture.

Jan 21 | Cidade de Deus

I just saw Cidade de Deus ("City of Gods"), a striking, powerful and intense movie about the gangs that ruled (and most probably still rule) the favelas or slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Jan 17 | Snooped

It's scary and very Orwellian to think that the United States government would covertly eavesdrop on its citizens who assumed that, in making international phone calls and emails, they were entitled to their freedom to privacy from such sinister survelliance.

Jan 15 | Turbulence!

My head banging against the armrest as I lay sideways across two seats on my British Airways flight from Heathrow, I contemplated the possibilities of the plane falling apart in the turbulence that had my stomach churning like a cement mixer and my whole body feeling like a piece of jello on a rollercoaster.

Jan 12 | Cellphone

I thought she was admonishing the metal kick scooter that stood solemnly beside her- she was gesticulating wildly, her right arm flaying about like a fish without water-- until I saw that she was having a heated argument with a cellphone.

Jan 8 | Mist

I am corrupted, in a good sense.

Jan 5 | Christmas and New Years

As I flip through the thick hardcover picture book of the "100 Most Beautiful Cathedrals" bought at a Total gas station in the last few dozen miles out of Paris, I feel a mixed sense of melancholy and relief of a wonderful Christmas and New Years trip spent in the company of my family.