More of the same...

Your Star Wars Name And Title

Your Star Wars Name: Brisi Crann Your Star Wars Title: Adeora of Ffets

What Is Your Star Wars Name and Title?

Your Kisses Are Spicy and Wild

Your kisses are powerful stuff. They'll start a fire in almost anyone you kiss. You kiss with passion, skill, and endurance. Anyone who kisses you is in for a long, intense ride. You better watch out though. Your incredible kisses are likely to get you in trouble!

How Hot Are Your Kisses?

You Are the Ego

You take a balanced approach to your life. You definitely aren't afraid to act out on your desires - even crazy ones. But you usually think first. Morals drive you as much as hedonism does. You've been able to live a life of pleasure... without living a life of excess.

Are You Id, Ego, or Superego?

You Are a Believer

You definitely believe in God - and you're very unwavering in your religious beliefs. In fact, religion and spirituality are definitely big parts of your life. Religion shapes how you view right and wrong, as well as the decisions you make. It's hard for you to imagine how your life would be without your beliefs.

Are You an Atheist, Agnostic or a Believer?

Your Love Life Secrets Are

Looking back on your life, you will only have one true love. You're a little scarred from your past relationships, but who isn't? You expect a lot from your lover - you want the full package. You tend to be very picky. In fights, you speak your mind and don't hold back. You know you're right, and you can get quite angry about it. Break-ups can be painful for you, but you never show it. You hold your head high.

Your Love Life Secrets, Revealed

Your Love Quote

Life is one fool thing after another where as love is two fool things after each other.

What Love Quote Suits You?

Damn Brits

So, one major thing that I forgot to mention in my post on South Africa: driving. I'm pretty sure that I did mention that I drove from Jo'burg to Kruger. Yea, so not a big deal really except for the fact that South Africa is a former British colony and have decided to do like the Brits and drive on the wrong side of the road. So, this was a bit weird getting used to. The weirdest part at first was the fact that the steering wheel was on the wrong damn side of the car! So I was checking the mirrors incorrectly; I kept looking up and to the right for the rear view mirror not to the left. And, this was the really dangerous part, I was reading the wrong side of the lane. Like you know you look at the left line of the lane to keep you in it? I was doing that and kept sliding into the lane to the left. Fortunately, I realized I was doing it before anything bad came of it. The other crazy thing, mainly this applies when it gets down to one lane each way, is that it's legal to drive on the shoulder in South Africa. So, if there is someone going faster than you behind you, you are expected to drive in the shoulder and let them pass you. They give you a cute little flash of the turn signal lights as thanks. The big problem with this is that there are a lot of hitch hikers in South Africa, too and they just stand on the shoulders. Makes for an interesting time. Fortunately, Kruger is pretty much void of a lot of traffic, so what would have been tricky - turns - wasn't really. If I turned into the wrong lane, there wasn't really any one to crash into, which was handy because I did that a lot. Other than that the driving was pretty straight forward.

It is interesting to note that the reason the Brits drive on the left and have their steering wheels on the right is because of jousting. And now you know!

In other news, it is starting to seem like I will be in State College for the summer working for a publication called Voices of Central Pennsylvania. We'll see how that goes. It also looks like I might be lined up for a position writing at Town & Gown in the fall. Both should get me a good bit of experience which is really what I need if journalism is something to consider for the future.

Springtime in Cairo

So, with something like a month and two weeks or so until I return back to the states winter is becoming spring here. The police have switched from their heavy, blue winter uniforms to their light, white summer ones. The weather is getting warmer; even the Egyptians are starting to shed layers. And, of course, the coming of sandstorms. So far there's only been one, but the locals guarantee us more. It wasn't insane such that I couldn't see my hand before my face or something. However, I've probably lost some time off my life from breathing that in. The world gets covered in a layer of sand, but it is the high wind that is most noticeable. The beautiful thing about sandstorms is how they end; it rains and the next day is clearer than ever.

With a vengence...

What Your Favorite Color Orange Says About You:

Joyful --- Enthusiastic --- Optimistic Outgoing --- Accepting --- Confident Loud --- Unruly --- Impulsive

What Does Your Favorite Color Say About You?

Your Travel Personality Is: The Sophisticate

You're well educated and cultured, and the places you travel to reflect that. You appreciate the best art, food, architecture, and local flavor. A true traveler, you are destined to be multi-lingual and very worldly.

What's Your Travel Personality?

You Are the Middle Finger

A bit fragile and dependent on your friends, you're not nearly as hostile as you seem. You are balanced, easy to get along with, and quite serious. However, you can get angry and fed up with those around you. And you aren't afraid to show it! You get along well with: The Index Finger Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

You Are an Intense Kisser

When you kiss, it's deep and powerful You don't take kissing lightly Your kisses always have meaning And they always make your head spin

What's Your Kissing Style?

You Are a Night Person

For you, there's nothing worse than having to get up and moving early. In fact, you probably don't hit your peak until well after the sun has set. So if your struggling to make it on a normal schedule, realize it's not your fault. You just weren't meant to do anything during the day!

Are You a Morning Person or Night Person?

You Communicate Like a Woman

You empathize, talk things out, and express your emotions freely. You're a good listener, and you're non-judgmental with your advice. Communication is how you connect with people. You're always up for a long talk, no matter how difficult the subject matter is.

Do You Communicate Like a Man or a Woman?

You Mostly Fight Fair

When you fight, you tend to remember your end goal of resolving conflict. However, you can get a little too wrapped up in your own feelings. Remember that there are two sides to every argument. And even if you think you're totally right, you should take more time to hear your partner out.

Do You Fight Fair?

Your Personality is Very Rare (ESTP)

Your personality type is dominant, driven, poised, and self-aware. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 6% of all men You are Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are wise, insightful, and brilliant. Your wit is sharp and occasionally hurtful... Revealing your scorn for people with less intelligence. Underneath it all, you feel burdened by the stupidity of humanity. You know what's right in the world, but it's overshadowed by everything that's wrong. People see you as arrogant. While this is partially true, you are also very sensitive.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Your Expression Number is 7

Very intelligent, you are usually thinking, introspecting, or analyzing. You have a good mind, and you are especially good at finding out the truth. Very little ever escapes your observation and deep understanding. You tend to obsess over wisdom and hidden truths. You are likely to become a authority on any subject you undertake. Operating on a different wavelength, most people don't know you that well. Very logical and rational, at times you tend to lack emotion. So much so, that you often have times coping with emotional situations. You are not very adaptable - you may tend to be overly critical at times.

What's Your Expression Number?

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 80%

You are a total movie buff. Classics, blockbusters, indie favorites... you've seen most of them. Your friends know to come to you whenever they need a few good DVD rental suggestions.

Are You a Movie Buff?

You Were Born Under:

Fierce and courageous - you are the king of every situation. You pounce and attack, until others give you want you want. Daring and magnetic, you inspire others to follow your lead. And while you're wild at heart, you have some hidden soft spots. You are most compatible with a Horse or Dog.

What Year Were You Born Under?

Your Pickup Line Is

I love every bone in your body, especially mine.

The Magical Pick Up Line Generator

You Are More Yang

Masculine Creative Angry Spring Summer Morning Sun Space Active Wood Chocolate

Are You More Yin or Yang?

Your Mind is NC-17 Rated

You're mind is so filthy... you should should be washing every part of you out with soap. If your thoughts can go dirty, they do. Almost everything is NC-17 to you!

Do You Have a Dirty Mind?

The True You

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be together with you always, no matter when or where. With respect to money, you spend as little as possible. You think good luck might come your way, but if it does you'll be so surprised you'll burst out laughing. The hidden side of your personality tends to be methodical in your ways - with trouble adapting to the rules of society. You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked. When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

Who's The True You?

Your Brain is Blue

Of all the brain types, yours is the most mellow. You tend to be in a meditative state most of the time. You don't try to think away your troubles. Your thoughts are realistic, fresh, and honest. You truly see things as how they are. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about your friends, your surroundings, and your life.

What Color Is Your Brain?

You Are Adventurous... Sometimes

You like an adrenaline rush as much as the next person. You like your thrills in small doses. You're generally pretty calm and level headed. But sometimes you have to go wild and have a crazy adventure.

Are You a Thrill Seeker?

You are a PC

You're practical, thrifty, and able to do almost anything. Appearances and trends aren't important to you. You just like to get the job done.

Are You a Mac or a PC?

You Sometimes Hold a Grudge

You aren't exactly vengeful, but you're not going to forget when someone wrongs you. And while you'll forgive the small things, you don't hand out too many second chances to people who really screw up.

Do You Hold a Grudge?

Your Love Type: ENFP

The Inspirer In love, you are passionate and eager to develop a strong bond. For you, sex should be playful, creative, and affectionate. Overall, you are perceptive and bring out the best in your partner. However, you tend to hold on to bad relationships after they've turned bad. Best matches: INTJ and INFJ

What's Your Love Type?

You Should Paint Your Room Red

Dramatic and bold, a red room brings energy. Your red room will inspire you to try a new activity... And bring out even more passion for the things you love.

What Color Should You Paint Your Room?

You Are Somewhat Mature

You definitely act like an adult sometimes, but a big part of you is still a kid at heart. While your immature side is definitely fun, you're going to have to grow up sooner or later.

Are You Immature?

You Are Fall Flowers

Beautiful yet often forgotten.

What Part of Fall Are You?

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Romeo + Juliet

"Has my heart loved 'till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw a true beauty 'till this night."

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

My spoon is too big!!

I apologize for how long this has taken me to finally get to. Basically, I came back from South Africa and then had to write two papers rapid fire. I should have done them before I left, but where's the fun in that? So yes, South Africa with my amazing, good looking funny and altogether awesome girlfriend... go!

The trip actually started off not with Steff. I had two days by myself in Kruger National Park. Kruger is the size of Wales and is the place in South Africa to see wild animals, namely the big five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino. So, my flight on Thursday (technically Friday) left at 125 in the morning. It was an 8 hour flight so I got there at 9 the next morning, which would be perfect if I got some sleep on the plane. If. I don't sleep well on planes but I ended up getting a few winks in. The next leg of the journey was picking up the rental car then driving the 4 hours or so to Kruger. Yea. That was fun. And when I stopped, I was dead tired. I got some food, took a shower, then totally plunked out. Which was good, cause you are supposed to get up early because the animals do. They hate the heat of the day (who can blame them) so they are out mainly in the morning and in the evening.

So, I was up and ready to go the next morning at like 630 or so. Got in my car and drove all around the next day. It's really all a blur now, espeically after being with Steff, but the elephants were my favorite part. There were so many, I couldn't get away from them. It almost started to seem like every way I turned I was destined to run into (figuratively, of course, though running into a rhino was my April Fool's story to Steff... and she bought it :-*) an elephant! They are quite big and noisy eaters, but also calm and kind looking. That day I also saw: zebra, impala, crocodile, hyena, baboons, giraffes, hippos (I called them something else in South Africa), wild dogs, kudu, monkeys, warthogs, either a buffalo or a wildebeest (but, I'm going to claim it was a buffalo) and some zazou looking birds. Altogether a good day, but hardly scratching the surface of Kruger. Once again, it was early to bed for me after food and a shower as I had been in the car all day.

This morning I allowed myself to sleep in a bit, but considering how early I went to bed the night before this was hardly sleeping in. So, I got up, finished packing up a bit, got some breakfast and headed back to Johannesburg where I had to return my car and catch a plane that would be taking me to my girl in Cape Town. I got to Jo-Burg quite early to say the least, so there was a lot of waiting around in the airport. Then a weird thing happened. I saw something that looked all to familiar and out of my past, almost from a different life I'd lead before. It was Steff! "Hey, you!" didn't work too well. "Steff!" After a second (she's a little slow on the uptake) she recognized me and a big beautiful smile was pointed in my direction. Then it was time to fly out and do important things like checking in. Her flight was left a half hour before mine, so I waited with her at her gate then said a goodbye; a much smaller one than our last. Then went to go catch my flight. We got to our hotel and started to settle in and realized just how hot Cape Town was. It was humid with no AC in our hotel, pretty much killer, but a shower helped. We got some chicken from a restaurant a few blocks down and called it a night.

The next day after breakfast we decided to get all the boring and easy stuff out of the way. We went to the Castle of Good Hope, the District Six Museum and the South African Museum. The Castle was cool, though far from the water. It had originally been built right on the water's edge but at the beginning of the 20th century, they filled in some of that water to extend the city a bit. District Six was a neighborhood in Cape Town that was completely destroyed by the Apartheid government there. Once a vibrant and colorful part of the city, it was declared a whites only area, the occupants were forcibly removed to townships on the Cape Flats and bulldozed. The sad irony is that the area is still barren, nothing was really done with it. A lot of the land has been bought back by trusts and eventually the idea is to bring back those who had once lived there, but that is going to take some time. The South Africa Museum was nice, much like any natural history museum here though. It was still really awesome to hang out with my girl and just putz about. Then, the next place we went was really dangerous: a diamond factory. Yes, I dared to go there and made it out alive. For a time there, I didn't think I would see the light of day again. :-p After all of that we called it a day and went back and had dinner at our hotel and chilled for the rest of the evening.

The next day was Table Mountain and the amazing views from the top. It really doesn't take all day to 'do,' but we would just find an awesome view and a comfortable rock and just sit and talk and be in awe. Unfortunately, both our camera battery's died through the day so we don't have pictures of everything. Steff fell totally in love with the place it was clear to tell. I won't get jealous though, cause I think I did a bit, too. Both her and the environs = heaven. Oh! But I had sex on the mountain! I nearly forgot (it wasn't that good). Cocktail in the restaurant on top of Table Mountain, don't worry. That night we went to a Kurdish restaurant called Mesopotamia. For those who read who are CVers and former victims of Bej, it was a lot like Marrakesh, the restaurant where we went for our DC trip. And also the place we had to witness Bej belly dancing. **BARF!** This place also had a belly dancer and no Bej, الحمد الّه. The dudes next to me left early and gave me the last of their hookah, much to Steff's displeasure. But it was funny that I had come all the way to South Africa and yet I still couldn't avoid things that surround me in Egypt. Again, that was it for the night.

The next day we slept in a bit and then went out to the University of Cape Town because Steff had to do something academic to make up missing a weeks worth of classes to her professors. So, I sat around and looked like an idiot as she was discussing architecture with various people (not that architecture is all that complicated, but they were always like why are you here and not somewhere like a beach? crazy Americans). Then it was to the waterfront. I was free!! :-p The Victoria & Albert Waterfront was quite awesome. It's kinda fake as you can tell it's built up to be all nice and stuff. Like there is a huge shopping market there and lots of nice fancy restaurants and all. But, we found out that this is where all the night life is in Cape Town, as the downtown is empty. I think there is too great a fear of crime in the downtown. But yea, we discovered this and went back every night the rest of the time we were there. Before we went to dinner, we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was very nice. Steff flipped seeing the penguins (they smelled bad, like wet dog). I liked the lion fish and just sitting and watching the huge fish go around the predator tank.

The next day we slacked off and joined a tour. We were off to Inverdoon, a private game reserve a few hours out of Cape Town since Steff was jealous that I had seen animals in the wild. Our driver was German and kinda weird. Then the girl in front of me, also German, puked. We got there safaried about for a bit, Steff was very happy. Then we had lunch and headed back. This was my favorite part though. We stopped at a pub in the middle of no where. There was such beautiful scenery about. And the guy's dogs were just roaming about; big dogs, too (one of them is in my facebook picture now). I've always said I want to travel with my life, but if I had that, I might change my mind. Beautiful scenery, my family, my dogs running a pub. Yea, that would be nice. However, the beautiful scenery got better as we went through this gorge. Amazing. There was no real way to take pictures, sadly. I'll have to try to hold on to the memory. We got dropped at the V&A Waterfront again, ate and went back to our hotel.

Again, we did a tour and it was a good thing. Cause if we took the train to Boulder Beach we'd have no way to get anywhere else. But, yea, the day started with a coastal drive. Oh, I should mention that the Tablecloth set in and it was all kinds of windy, just in the city even. So it was insane on the coast. The first place we stopped for pictures, Steff was wanting to fall back to see if the wind would catch her. But, the day was beautiful, the scenery was matching it and with Steff there to top it off, only heaven could be more beautiful. The next stop was Hout Bay where Steff and I opted to take the boat ride out into the bay to see the seals. It was windy as I noted and the trip was more interesting than I suspect it normally is. Of course, I'm sure Steff's screaming when waves hit her alone made it all the more interesting. Then it was penguin time where Steff flipped even more. It was kinda weird to be walking around with these penguins all over the place. I think they were annoyed with us though as they just wanted to take a nap without girls yelling, "oh, how cute!!" Next to lunch and Cape Point. The lighthouse there provided an amazing view that I wish I could have gotten better in my panorama shots. We got our pictures taken both at Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Neither of which is actually the southern most tip of Africa. But, historically that was the point the sailors considered the tip and the one they were big on rounding. Next stop was Kirstenbosch gardens. It was a pretty enough place, but I think the fact that it was nearing the end of our last day was taking its toll. Again we got dropped off at the V&A, ate dinner and went back to our place where we wrote postcards and fell asleep together one last time.

The next day was hard. We got up for some breakfast and to send the postcards then to checkout and head for the airport. My flight out of Cape Town was first, but we would meet up in Jo-Burg like we had before. The problem when we got there though, was that Steff had to check in for her flight and head back, but I couldn't follow as my flight was long enough after that I couldn't check in for awhile. Well... yea....

Overall, an amazing trip! I really hope that I get the chance to go back someday. If any of you get the chance to go, then take it!! Random thoughts after the fact: I started drinking ciders down there; very nice. Egypt Air has a camera on the front of their plane that they show on their screens when taking off and landing; pretty spiffy and I've not seen it anywhere else. Steff bought me 101 Things to Do Before You Die. So I'm working on the things in there now. It's sad that the first thing I accomplish is probably going to be seeing all the movies on the list. *sigh* Oh well...

Happy Birthday and Anniversary, dearest! :-*