First Day in Paris (Part 1 of 3)

And today I will finally talk about my trip to Paris! I unfortunately, won't talk about all of it today, but I will go over some of it today, some tomorrow, and maybe a 3rd day. Maybe 1 post for each day I was there, that sounds pretty good. So, I guess we should start at the beginning; leaving Clarence Dock.

So we initially walked out of Clarence Dock. As you can see, Steven was a gentleman and actually carried our luggage for me. We walked all the way to the bus stop and took the bus to the airport. Here is myself and Steven getting ready to get our tickets. Around now is when they told Steven it was not allowed for him to take pictures. They were very funny. Then we sat and watched as the planes took off, and were generally bored until we took off. It was Steven's first airplane flight so it was bound to be super exciting for him and he could not stop staring out the window. It was super cute.

So after around 2 hours in the plane we land in Paris! And of course what is the first thing we do? We take the train to the city centre! The trains were really cool and took us about an hour to get to the city centre. Our hostel was really cool. We got to meet this awesome Canadian named Brian who was from Vancouver! This was my first hostel so I was partially scared, but it's like a simplified version of a hotel. Totally worth it, and I will totally be doing my travelling in hostels from now on. I was fortunate enough to get the top bunk. The best spot in the house. We also had reading lights so I could read before I go to bed! And that is the end of Friday since we got there so late. The next day would for sure be much more exciting!

On Saturday we ended up walking EVERYWHERE in Paris. In the end we walked a little over 20km! We did get to see some random things in the city because of though. We got to see a building that's called telephone [on right]. Our guess was that it was called telephone because back in the day it took the whole building to run just one telephone. We also saw a random cathedral [below] that I loved. Because we walked the whole day we didn't take the metro. But because we were tired of walking near the end I took a hopeless picture of the above metro in hopes that eventually we may not have to walk. At the end of the day we decided not to walk all of Paris again. It was an 8 hour walk from one side to the other; on the way back we took the metro and it only took 30 minutes!

So while walking we did end up finding the Louvre. Our main attempt was to know where the Louvre was so that the next day (when the entrance was free) I could easily find my way over there. Since I have over 60 photos to share, I will be saving the Louvre pictures for tomorrow, but there are some pictures we took from right outside the louvre. The one underneath is a picture from the louvre. You can obviously see the Eiffel tower in the background and a statue of a spider in the foreground. The picture on the right is me eating the spider. It was a very big sculpture and was actually really cool. From the Louvre we went to the Champs Elysees which again I will cover in the monday edition since there are so many pictures to go through. The Champs Elysees was beautiful though. The other picture is an arc that is in front of the Louvre that I liked a lot.

So after walking to the End of the Champs Elysees and Seeing the Arc de Triumph [below] we decided it would be fun to actually make it to literally the other side of Paris. So we walked all the way to La Defense which was another 3 kilometers away. By the end we were pretty exhausted, but we did get a nice view of the two art pieces to either side of this section. Personally, not much interested me at La Defense, but Steven really liked it and so we went there. The only part I liked was that there was a shopping centre there. I personally would have gone shopping and spent tons of money, but Steven was tired so we sat down instead. Probably better cause I may have spent all my money way too early!

On the way over to La Defense we were able to cross over a river that runs on the edge of Paris. It was very wide and partly reminded me of Leeds. I may have been homesick, but I sure as hell didn't want to go back. Also, once reaching the edge of La Defense I turned around and took a picture of the Arc from it. If you look really really closely at the picture you can see a tiny Arc de Triumphe. Thats about 1/7 of what we walked that whole day! Crazy right? If the image is too small, you can view it again here without it being scaled down. The image to the right is Notre Dame. I personally think it's very postcardesque, but thats just me trying to make myself look good.

So of course, the last thing we did that night was go and see the Eiffel Tower which was amazingly gorgeous. I personally thought I wouldn't be impressed by it, but it actually was very impressive. We actually even just sat and stared at it for a while. I really wanted to go up to the top and eat at the restaurant they have there, but Steven didn't want to so we decided not to. It was a very beautiful day, and I enjoyed our first day.

Tune in tomorrow to see what we ended up doing Sunday and Monday! I am hoping I will have time to actually put them online. This one post took me over 2 hours to complete cause of the complexity with trying to get a nice view of all the pictures, so enjoy them! I will give a link for all the pictures and some extras on Monday! Once my final installment is in, I will also update the photos on Facebook. I'll catch up with you all on Tomorrow at 8pm again!

Tired from Typing
-Aram the Garmo

What others think.

Section 1 - Mama; My Chemical Romance
Does it ever annoy you not knowing exactly what someone else is thinking?
"Mama we're all full of lies." "I could have been a better son" by trying harder to be able to understand the little cues that people give off. "You ain't no son of mine for what you have done," said mama who knew the truth. "Mama we all go to hell!' I replied.

Section 2 - No Hay Igual; Nelly Furtado
'"No quiero otro." I don't want another. You are the only son that we shall have,' she said staring balatantly at me. '"No hay igual." There is no equal.' She screamed, 'so stop trying.' This is his life she thought and I am not going to mess. He must learn on his own. "El tiempo pasa." The time passed as mama waited for me to learn my lesson. She thought, it may be too late. I knew that fact long ago as the beat went on and the dance grooved to an end.

Section 3 - Apologise; One Republic
She stared at me. '"I'm hearing what you're saying, but I just can't make a sound." "You tell me that you need me," and then you cut me off. "It's too late to apologise," so stop trying. By now you should have learned your lesson. "I loved you with a dying red," but now "I'm afraid" it's over. You haven't learned with those around you. "It's too late to apologise" for your stupidity and unwillingness to learn. I put you out there on your own and you did nothing with it. "It's to late to apologise" for not trying hard enough to learn all the lessons on your own. You wanted to be left alone, and you were. And now you know nothing of the real world.' She yelled as I stormed out the room.

Section 4 - One and Only; Timbaland featuring Fallout Boy
As I left my mind was racing. Thoughts flying. "I get over heels for someone, I that I really can't deal with. I want to block her out my mind, but I really can't do it." If only I had listened to her words I would know. The thoughts in his head would be mine. I would have learned. "I tell myself this is the last time I'ma let him do this to me. Whenever we do spend time I realise that I can't get enough of you." And it hurts to see the passion taken away. "to be despised, to be loved, to be dreamt of, to be sought, to be inside, I don't care. Right in the middle, I'm right in the middle" of going crazy. I just want to pull my hair out as I try and imagine what to do. "And everything I love about is a mess" for so does the world. "I want to be better than I am." I turn and see my reflection. Tears streaming, thoughts encompassing as I imagine him standing there. With my mother to my right a smirk appears. "Wipe that smile off your fucking face." "How could you do this to me" he said running away. Away in my mind he runs. Even my mind makes him run. I run and catch up. "why we arguing, I thought me and you were supposed to be friends. Let's chill for a minute," I yelled. But it landed on deaf ears. He was gone. And I was left, alone.

Section 5 - Stick to the Status Quo; High School Musical
And so I run off. I need my own world to live in. "If Troy can tell his secret than I can tell mine," I want to be perfect. The world to work the way I want. "stick to the stuff you know" is what I keep saying. "Intelligence beyond compare" is what they tell me, but it's all false. "Hip-hop is my passion" is what I yell, but my body does not follow, but I am sick of it. In my own world I follow the "need that I cannot deny." So, "I am ready to let it fly." I turn on the music and dance my heart out. The crowd around yells, "no no no, stick to the stuff you know." I refuse. My passion burns and I must let it out. If I can't have what I want in the real world, I'll have it in my own world. As I do a quadruple turn and land perfectly I realise what I am doing is untrue. "This is not what I want, this is not what I planned, and I just got to say, I do not understand. Something is really, really wrong!" "I have to get things back to where they belong." I leave my imaginary world, and return to the real world. "Why is everyone staring at me?" They all yell "Stick to the stuff you know." How do I do that though? What do I know? I can't read people's minds. Am I supposed to follow the dance? Am I suppoed to follow the maths? Am I supposed to teach the world everything? WHAT AM I TO DO!?

Section 6 - Seize the Day; newsies
"Open the gates and seize the day." "No on can make us." I must make myself. I must "arise and seize the day." I can't just sit and pretend others will help me. I must find it myself. But if a travel to a foreign country can't help what will. I thought I knew the world, only to be slapped in the face. "One for all, and all for one." Is that not what it's supposed to be like. All equal in the world, and yet it isn't. "nothing can break us" they scream from the streets. But I am broken. My soul not strong enough. I thought I could give in, but even the simplest things break us apart.

Section 7 - Survive; Gloria Gaynor
No, I will not let it happen. "At first I was afraid, I was petrified" looking at my broken barriers. "But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, and I grew strong, and I learned" and I built more barriers. "Go on now go, walk out the door, just turn around now, cause your not welcome anymore." "You think I would crumble? You think I would lay down and die?" Fuck that shit. I can make myself strong. "I got all my life to live, I got all my love to give." One moment of weakness will not become my downfall. "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart." But I managed and grew from it. "I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high." I will be better and stronger. With a mask pulled over my broken self I learn.

I no longer learn from the mother who never spoke, or the friends who never helped. I never learned from the books who never taught, or the teachers who never enlightened. I never grasped knowledge from myself. I was forced into the world only to fall and drown. The only way I learned to cope was to build a fortress around the moat that was already created. A castle with high walls. And in this fortress, I occasionally bring down the gate and let a human in, but no more. Each time, it hurts. The pain unbearable. The suffering immense. All because I allowed myself to fall, to open the gates and let them in. No more will it happen. I am over the whole episode. If I am to devote myself to anything it will no longer be to worldly obsessions. I will be.. and will forever be... insanity.

Election 2008

So, Steven still hasn't given me pictures from France, so the update on France is going to have to wait. Instead I am going to talk about my anger at the US media, who for some reason says that Hilary Clinton has no chance of winning this election, unless she wins by large margins. I believe she can win, and that her margins don't have to be that large.

So in order to figure this out, I used CNN's delegate calculator which can be found here. And from playing around with the numbers I have found some interesting results.

The first thing Hilary needs is a big win in Pennsylvania. The big win will do 1 of two things, 1) give her the momentum she needs to finish the race in first, and 2) give her a nice big chunk of the delegate count. Using CNN, I gave her a 61% win in Pennsylvania. If she gets the 61% and then gets a 55% (minnimum) in each of the other states, which should be easy considering that her momentum will be crazy. Then due to her experience and knowledge, she should be able to get around 61% of the superdelegates also. This will give Clinton 2014, Obama 2003. Then add in Florida and Michigan, and Clinton has won the election!

But in realistic terms, Clinton is not projected to get anywhere near the 61% vote needed in Pennsylvania. The latest polls (Feb 27) say she is getting around 49% with Obama at a mere 43%. On February 14 though, Clinton had 52% and Obama had 36%. [Link]. So the latest poll gives Clinton a 6 point lead, and the older poll gives Clinton a 18 point lead. So let's say clinton wins by 10 points. (Those who think she can't win by at least 10 points, look at the following states: Tennessee, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Massachussetts to name a few). This will give her some momentum, and she needs to use this momentum very wisely. Because with that small of a win, she needs to secure at least 60% in almost every other state, including the superdelegates to win it. If she doesn't secure the 60% but gets really close, she will again be ahead of Obama by a few points, and so we include Michigan and Florida, and we have a win for Hilary.

Now some key things that I think Hilary needs to do in order to win the votes she needs. I think the main issue is she needs to speak with the people who are voting for her. As an example look at Obama who is using the internet to his EVERY advantage. He has a blog, he is on every different social site, he is talking and corresponding with everyone he can. He replies to emails, joins groups, and basically makes himself seen everywhere. So here are the things that Hilary needs to change and in which Obama is doing better, if Hilary wants to win.

1st thing is to look at Hilary's blog. It looks dry and boring. Barack has a very sexy way of creating his blog. I looked at his blog and went, hot stuff, while looking at Hilary's I said, how boring. Some differences? Each of Hilary's posts have a large rectangular box around it, which helps with the seperation of posts, but looks dull and boring, and very much overdone. Obama on the otherhand does not use boxes and therefore his blog looks more open and inviting. Another point is pictures, people love pictures. Clinton has only pictures of her on her blog. Obama has pictures of him and his supporters. Obama has pictures of just his supporters, and him giving speeches. He gives the audience more basically. Another thing is that Hilary's blog is only connected to Digg, Technorati, and del.ico.us; Obama is connected to: Digg, Facebook, Stumble, Newsvine, and del.ico.us A much better overview.

2nd thing is the number of sites that each one has a personal connection on. Hilary is on: Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, and Flickr (According to her website). I know for a fact she is also on Twitter! Why does she not show that she is on all of these other social networking sites? Obama does! In fact according to Obama's website he is on: Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, Linkedin, Blackplanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsianAve, DNC Partybuilder. Hilary, PROMOTE YOURSELF!!!

3rd thing is that joining the sites in part 2 does not give you the votes, being friends with everyone does. I am going to use Twitter as an example. (The following statistics are taken from Twitterholic) There are 22,341 people following Barrack Obama on Twitter. He has added 22,053 as friends. This makes him look like he actually cares about people. Hillary Clinton has 2,848 people following her, while she is friends with only 1. Yes, only 1. Even Bill Clinton is having a greater time on Twitter! Another thing that is different between Hilary and Barack is that when Barack updates he talks about things he is doing. He shows what he stands for by the things that he is participating in. Example: Talked with Communications Workers of America about getting America back to work. Watch my full speech at: http://tinyurl.com/5mmlrv. So simple! He is showing that he is listening to America, that he wants to create more jobs, and also gives a link to his speech! All in under 140 characters!!! Here is Hillary's attempt to do something similar: Today on the Ellen DeGeneres Show I announced a new plan to combat breast cancer. http://tinyurl.com/5opnul. Ok, so she got Ellen, an amazing women, to let her be on her show. Good job. Help fight breast cancer? Ok, you are big on health, but everyone already knows this, talk about new things! And what is your new plan to combat breast cancer? Stab the breasts? It doesn't make sense! At least she provided a link though.

All in all, I think Hilary mainly needs to utilize the internet and make it work for her, and at least compete with Obama on a much greater scale. I think Hillary can do it, but she needs to look like she's putting effort into it.

Politically yours,
-Aram the Garmo


P.S. You know what would be really cool too. A daily podcast that is around 5-15 min about what Hilary is doing/has done and what she stands for. That would be pretty neat.

Travelling

Sorry for the long break inbetween posts. I am currently in the middle of spring break and so have been travelling and studying so I haven't had time to update you with information. Today I will be talking about my adventures from the past weeks and the big adventure coming up ahead.


One of the biggest adventures of this break has so far been going to Southport near Liverpool. It's actually a really cute city with a population of around 100,000 people. I think the best part was how small the gay community was. It allowed all of the young gays to be able to hang out with the older gays. I personally enjoyed this because it allows you to be able to communicate with more mature men that are (hopefully) not only looking for sexual relations. It also was the type of town where everyone seemed to know everyone else just by walking down the street. Even though that can be weird, Southport was also big enough that you can actually disappear in it and have no one notice you.


The reason I went to Southport was in order to visit one of my friends, Roy, and to see another city outside of Leeds in the UK. By doing this I was able to meet some of Roy's friends. Roy's friends are very awesome and I was able to enjoy myself with their presence. One of the nights we went out to a club called Underground. It wasn't my type of music but oddly enough I enjoyed the club very much. I didn't get up to dance at all, but just sort of relaxed the whole time. It gave me a very comforting feeling to be able to just sit there and relax and not have to dance the whole night away. Another one of the nights we went to a pub called the Crown. The crown had much more of my music, but again I was not really in the complete mood to dance. Although, I did end up dancing, I felt like I did it half heartadly. I must state that Southport did have some attractive men there.

When not clubbing, or sleeping, I felt like I was eating Roy's mother's cooking. She is a culinary expert and so her cooking was amazing. I felt like I could not stop eating. That could have been because it was actually true. Her cooking was very good and I literally couldnt stop. I did feel rude though by eating all of their food and so I usually stopped before I was full so that I wouldn't finish eating all of their supplies. Roy's family is also very nice and very comforting. It took me a while to get into the way they were and to be able to get the to come out of their shells, but eventually I got to really see them and they were completely amazing and I loved them.

That unfortunately was all I did at Southport. I also had forgotten my camera at home so I didn't take any pictures unfortunately. But, tomorrow something better is happening. I will be taking my best vacation thus far. I am going to Paris, France! (And yes, I will be taking my camera). So I will be leaving tomorrow for Paris. Expect a huge blog with tons of pictures right when I return.

With Great Anticipation,
-Aram the Garmo

Hidden Post