My Hiatus...Extended

This is a little counter-intuitive, especially after almost a year since my last post, but I apparently feel the need to announce the reason for my (continued) hiatus to my loyal thirteen followers and any new visitors who may stumble across my blog in cyberspace.

I've needed a hiatus to finish college at UW-Madison, finish my new book Forbidden Fruit (which I plan to self-publish in the fall if an agent still isn't interested), develop a marketing plan and finish designing the cover for said book, finish the website and illustrations for Forbidden Fruit, find a job after aforementioned graduation, exercise my extrovert muscles and spend time with friends and family, and finally to relax. Blogging became draining on top of that. But never fear, I have a boatload of new ideas, new places for Waldo Wednesday, and new blog series I'd like to do. Plus if you really miss me, you can find me at The Week in Review blog over at Hennens Observer. I'm excited to continue working with them.

And just because I love Bucky Badger, here are some pictures of that great day to tide you over until next time:

Remember, come visit me at The Week in Review for Movie Mondays (writer style) and more, plus stay tuned for more updates about Forbidden Fruit. 

Waldo Wednesday: Valle d’Aosta, Italy-Shake off those Casino Snowbunnies

With a touch of France and Italy, Valle d’Aosta, Italy is the place I want to be. Technically you can drive into the region from drive into the region from Germany, France or Switzerland. It has some of the best alpine skiiing in the world, and boasts hiking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, rappelling, rafting, and kayaking. Normally, I wouldn't head somewhere with snow (believe me, we get more than enough of that in Wisconsin) but I'm also not in the mood for a beach. I want scenery and ways get personally involved with my environment.

This makes me think of The Sound of Music 

Apparently it's also home to killer wine if you're into that sort of thing. Plus it has castles. Lots of them. I took a virtual tour of them because I'm a castle fanatic.

And you can take thermal baths after breathing in all of that fresh, clean mountain/valley air.

I can take baths...outside...in winter? I'm in heaven!

The attractions to see are Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn if you are a self-proclaimed mountain man or mountain woman. Or if you just want to chill (no pun intended) on a mountain-top, these would be some prime mountains to be awed by. Also, a king decided to be generous and donate some land to make the another attraction, the Gran Paradiso National Park, which only makes it that much more appealing.

This specialty dish of the region just looks so tantalizing that I just might have to make it.
And this explains it all, even though I can't understand what it's saying because it's in Italian. This is that much more fantastic.

So even though it's fall and I'm currently freezing, I want to go somewhere even more cold in order to partake in a nice hot thermal bath and enjoy massages. I think this is excellent logic, don't you?

Waldo Wednesday: Kilkenny, Ireland-The Guiness Lucky Charms Edition

What I'm Listening To: Use Well the Days-Annie Lennox (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Bonus Sountrack)

It may not be the return of the king, but the Queen has definitely returned with a Waldo Wednesday! At this point in my senior year, I find myself wanting to reconnect with my Irish roots and high-tail it to Ireland. Beautiful, green, relaxing, and refreshing, it's just what I need. I mean look at this.




Who wouldn't want to go here???



Everyone knows about Dublin, Belfast, Limmerick, and Galway. The stereotypical "brogue" and getting a pint or a Guiness in a pub somewhere. Everyone wants to kiss the Blarney stone. But this?




 



I know, I know. You're probably why would I go see St. Patrick if I don't want to visit the Blarney Stone. What kind of reasoning is that, you ask? But I do, I want to see it all. I want to go to Kilkenny like Dave and have a wonderful time in a beautiful city.  



Especially because every queen needs her castle



Does Japan Deserve Relief or Recklessness?

What I'm Listening To: Carmina Fortuna

Scams. We see them everywhere and unfortunately many times they are connected to wide-spread disasters or large issues. There are the scams where an individual may think that they are giving clean water to kids in Africa when they are just helping a fellow American pay off a large debt. There have been scams to help people after the mudslides and wildfires in California, Hurricane Katrina, to provide aid to factions in Libya and Egypt, and most recently the tsunamis and radiation in Japan.

We fall for it every time. The worst part is that its all in the name of doing good. Some may argue that if you believe the Google work-at-home scams and get rich quick scams that you deserve to fall prey to them, but what if one were hoodwinked while trying to help in the wake of a natural disaster? Maybe there should be a Better Business Bureau certified stamp for Internet agencies who claim to give money to disaster relief. Shifting through the sea of  sites that claim to offer relief can be overwhelming especially when there is a large panic or outcry to give money and so the general public does exactly that without looking at the consequences of not investigating the source.

It is interesting that people assume that sites on the Internet are what they appear to be and take them at face value when they claim to give money to relief efforts. It is as if skepticism is thrown out of the window. Personally, I think it would be wise to  investigate a little, especially if you’re sending off a check with six zeroes to Timbuktu.

I'd Better Not See Alaska From My House

What I'm Listening To: The Rent is Too Damn High Speech

From the drumbeats outside my lovely abode on State Street; to the tumultuous school closings both at the grade school, high school, and university level; to the thousands of protesters young and old clogging the streets; to CNN, BBC, MSNBC and countless others making the fight to “kill the bill” a national and international issue–it’s been an interesting week for Madison, WI.

I’m utterly exhausted from it. And it’s only going to get worse because Madison, Wis. is about to go from having Jesse Jackson to… Sarah Palin??? From my discourse, it should be unequivocally clear that I am a Democrat and proud of it. Frankly, I can’t stand being in the same country much less the same city as the gun-toting, brash governor of Alaska who is taking it upon herself to tell union people that unions are taking advantage of them. Some are comparing this struggle to Egypt; I wouldn’t go so far as to do that.
To try to explain the situation in non-biased manner, I think that it isn’t wrong to attempt to fix spending because WI is in debt. It’s a perfectly legitimate concern. I can even understand some of the measures proposed, except when it comes to collective bargaining. I’m sure that the 40,000 people that traveled from all over the state of Wis. are upset about that hitch in the bill as well.

To be honest, I’m getting to the point where I am unconcerned. I don’t care that this is making national news and international news, I simply want things to get back to normal so that I don’t have to fight through mountains of people to get to class, where I go to hopefully get a degree from this university, and so that I don’t have to be concerned about my future. People are becoming frantic and when this bill passes on Tuesday, it’s only going to get worse. More unrest will come, and none of the press, good or bad, will end up being good.

Oh, and if you would like to read through the 144 pg bill to understand what this post is even referring to, if you haven’t been tuned into the news lately, be my guest.

O Alexandria, Alexandria

What I'm Listening To: (not) the Black Eyed Peas horrendous Superbowl halftime show

My attention is riveted on my namesake this week as Egypt is ravaged with war-torn indecision. The oppressed will always find a way to overcome a system to find their freedom. However; at what cost will this Egyptian government finally right itself? Many people know the background story to this jarring tale of a country fighting against a corrupt police system and 30-year regime from President Mubarak. I'm interested in whether the United States was justified in cautiously cutting ties with Egypt for the sake of maintaining control for our own purposes or if it were simply wrong.
I'm not trying to criticize our cabinet; this is coming from a person who just fully acquainted herself with the situation. The break with Egypt was the most recent step made, and it's intriguing to think about where diplomacy will go from here. The United States could take the approach that it always does in its need to police the world and bring democracy everywhere. I appreciate democracy and enjoy democracy, but to be perfectly honest, democracy isn't for everyone. This need to bring everyone into the light of democracy possibly stems from the fact that maybe the United States is at fault for manipulating countries, and is trying to make amends because we know that we have messed up. Yes, Sec. of State Hilary, when you say that it's too fragile for Mubarak to step down because it could ruin the transition to democracy, who says that Egypt needs democracy? They don't need totalitarianism, but there is nothing set that demands that they need democracy. They probably could care less about democracy and that is what this whole issue is about in the first place. Ties with the United States did nothing for them so our country should just let them be. But of course, things are not so simple and every single event is tied to every other where the slightest shift in policy could blow up a country (literally). They just want freedom and to be left alone. This is not the time for Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick Ideology This is time to figure out how WikiLeaks is getting all of the classified information from the higher ups and placing it out for all the world to see and to what extent the Internet block is affecting Egyptians. But only more WikiLeaks hacking and Egyptian bloggers will tell.

Waldo Wednesday: Let it Snow (Cuz I'm going to Madagascar)

What I'm Listening To: Don't Look Back-She & Him

I feel as though my song should have been this because the weather outside was frightful. Even though I don't have a delightful fire, it was still a pleasant day. Chancellor Biddy Martin gifted the university a snow day, the second one after last year's, which was the first in 20 years. My roommate and I were literally dancing around last night and listening to Christmas music. The weather was horrible and felt like this, a snowstorm which basically eclipsed ten hours or needles being shoved into my face. The whole Midwest has experienced and overflow of snow and many cities were shut down. New York was shut down for four days this past winter because of the fact that they've never gotten this much snow. The weather has decided to get really serious over the past couple of years.

That is the reason why I felt it was time for another Waldo Wednesday. Today my destination choice is Madagascar. Why is this you ask? Because if you didn't know already, I'm a penguin and penguins come from Madagascar. The cool ones anyway. It also happens to be the fourth largest island in the world, but with safaris. So technically, I could get the best of both worlds; a trip to almost Africa but with beaches and lemurs. This is a win-win situation. Maybe I'll see Zoboomafoo. I really hope not, but because of watching him when I was around 11 I still believe that having a pet lemur would be epic.Plus, I really want to go to Antananarivo because with a name like that, it's guaranteed to be fabulous.

 

Goway.com

expatify.com

  

 So who's coming with me to kidnap a lemur?