Crawfordfest 2005: A hot afternoon's tale without all the bed-knobs and broomsticks

Let's say, for a moment, that you had nothing better to do on a 101-degree day on a Saturday, than to drive to Crawford and see who some of these hardcore liberals and conservatives really are. What drives men and women, mothers and fathers, indeed, veterans from across the U.S. to cry out against or in favor of the doings of the U.S. Government?

Well, to lay it out there for you, I don't really care. That is, I don't care because I already know why people come out to 'speak out' for what they believe in. The people who came to this rally, many of them, lost a loved one in Iraq, and that's brought them here. It's sad, but it's a good reason to come. What I will say, however, is that I got some great pictures from the pro-Bush/troop rally that I decided to attend this Saturday, as a information-gathering mission and, of course, to support our troops there in Iraq and abroad.

I will start off this do-it-yourself montage with a photo of an individual who felt that peace was worth fighting for. Funny enough, everyone in Crawford feels that way, they just differ in how best to achieve it and for how long.

These two people came up towards the end of the rally, and they appeared to be unrelated, but had collaborated together for the event. I'm not sure where they were from, but it was clear that people have either flown in or drove from all over the US.

The horse I just thought was funny. No explanation needed here. There were actually two of them and they were roaming about on the road in front of the football stadium. The following photo requires some more of my candid insight, however.

There were about 1,500 people there, according to journalists, and this is a panoramic (click for the actual image) of the main area where people were looking towards the stage. Speakers included mothers and fathers who spoke to the crowd, generally repeating the, to me, blatently-obvious reason for supporting the mission in Iraq: to support the troops. If you don't support the mission—then you cannot support the troops, because they are there to support the mission. It's plain to me, but of course, I dont know anything. Other speakers included, and you'll see them further down, a father with his son (in Iraq) on the phone, telling us that they needed support for both themselves and the mission, because that's why they're there. It was pretty cool.

Later on, and I'll include the photo also, was an African-American pastor who came and spoke to the crowd, telling them that the reason we can't pull our troops out is so the deaths of so many soldiers lost (around 1800) won't be in vain, given the possibility that chaos would ensue if we pulled out of Iraq. He was met with cheers from the predomenantly white crowd - but most common nationalities were represented. And just think, a predominantly white, conservative crowd cheering for a black preacher, who'd a thought? Well, it's not that surprising to me, really.

The next image is something funny I saw near the principle stop-light in the town of Crawford, some genuine Texas port-o-poddies, if that's how you spell them. I hope they can handle Texas-size...

From here on out, is the collection continued, and I save you from any more commentary, as they pretty much speak for themselves.

And last but not least...an awesome old military vehicle.

I know a lot of the big images are blurry - let's just say my camera and I have a rather tumultuous relationship.

Senior year has commenced

Today marked the first day of class for my senior year. Two days a week, my friends, that's Tuesdays and Thursdays, that I will have class, suckas, take it. A grand total of 3 classes and one independent study course. Hmm, I wonder if I'm as arrogant as I think everyone thinks I am. I don't think so. Anyway,

As I said before, I wanted to post some pictures from my new digicam. To the right appears a mary-gold that measured about an inch across. The actual picture was huge, but I resized it. The flower in the regular picture is the size of a your screen. It's quite pretty. Ok, now for some pictures that are a little less, shall we say, effeminate.

As some of you know, my dad and I drove back to Texas from Washington, D.C. through the Smokey Mountains. These are spectacular mountains that deserve as much attention as any Rockies, in my opinion, simply on their merit as having more than 3 species of trees among them. Indeed, to diffuse the impending confrontation between pro-Rockies people and pro-Appalachia people, both ranges have their pluses. Thank you.

The trip, however, was grueling. Why? Because, as you can see, it was raining the entire time we drove though the switch-backs, tunnels, and fog-engulfed peaks. Still, the beauty of a rain-soaked mountain landscape was incredible, and I will definitely return there when I have more time. This particular photo was taken from a look-out on the way up to the top, in the rain, and, unfortunately, I had never used the camera really yet, so some of the pictures turned out slightly blurry. Oh well. The last photo was taken in a quick run down into the creek that seemed to flow along the road all the way up and all the way down. It was beautiful, and so this was a semi-decent shot, again, in the rain.

And that concludes the digicam experience.

I've begun to settle down into my new life at the new apartment, but it's taking time to reorganize myself after a two-year stay in an old apartment.

And while we're on the subject of our new apartment, why are so many things broken? First of all, we can barely open the front door, because the frame is warped and the door doesn't really fit anymore. I think most would join me in saying this something pretty basic. The smoke detectors (there's two right next to eachother) don't work either, basic too. My shower constantly drips, and there's ants sometimes in there keeping me company. Twice they've said they're coming but they never come. So,

On the subject of classes, the three I'm taking will be interesting, especially the Writing for the Popular Market. I've told some of you, but I still remain undecided about a foray into the "Arts" as I call general writing, or a foray into the public sector. Within the next months, I will be forced to make a decision regarding this choice. Nonetheless, I obtained a position in the library which will require my writing services as well some creative graphic design, which will hopefully offset the exceedingly low pay of federal work-study students.

In other news, I'm still single. Indeed one wonders why this is the case given the large proportion of intelligent, attractive girls here. What exactly am I saying here?

I came across this every-guy's-dream picture the other day, and I must say it's amazing. Every guy (shoot, every girl!) deserves a 400-hp BBQ grill.

Bienvenido

Ah yes, a new me, on Blogger. Same great taste, of course, and probably a few more calories. Hopefully a lot more calories, if calories can be thought of as words in this quick little tittle. Yes, I said tittle, and a little tittle at that. A jot and a tittle.

To inaugerate my decidedly more professional weblog, I will post a couple of pictures from my new digital camera I shouldn't have purchased a few days ago. It boasts an unnecessarily large 5.0 megapixels, and a thin size (the all-too-great combination of big and small), as well as a number of features that I have fallen in love with, which are all boring and won't be mentioned here. Check it out: Casio Exilim ZX50.