http://www.zoomzoomlive.com/

This looks fantastic, because unlike previous years they're promoting the whole line instead of one specific car, so there will be various courses in the 3, 6, 5, Miata (new one) and RX-8. I'll probably want to do the Dallas one with Houston as a backup. Better news: it's free! Anyone from Austin who wants to come along can stay at my place in September the night before, and we can head up to the track on Saturday morning.

Who's in?

Edit: I'm going Saturday, 10/1, at 11:00 AM. Try your best to get a similar spot.

Stolen from Chloe:

the Wit (60% dark, 26% spontaneous, 16% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion. Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 67% on dark You scored higher than 3% on spontaneous You scored higher than 10% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

After what feels like ages of typing and typing, my entire journal from my trip through Spain is online on this very site. Each entry here corresponds with the original day it was written, and since this site works chronologically backwards, here are some links to get you going - click each link and then read upwards to read each entry in order. Between this diary and the photo album posted a couple weeks ago, it's a pretty good account of almost everything I did on my trip. Enjoy the story!

Prologue, May 30th

Part 1 - June 1st to June 30th

Part 2 - July 2nd to July 7th

and I get back to find that Longhorns are invincible.

Coldplay - X&Y: I finally got around to listening to Coldplay's new album, X&Y, on the way to Austin on Friday - but only after I tired of listening to Jamiroquai's Dynamite about 5 times continuously. Never before have I been so disappointed by a major-label, superstar-level band releasing a third major-label album. I should have been alert that Friday afternoon - it was a short drive to Round Rock and all the caffeine and Jamiroquai had me in a fantastic mood. Then, after passing Waco, I put on X&Y.

What a mistake.

After the truly emotive Parachutes album and the truly Coldplay-sounding Rush of Blood to the Head, I expected something between the two. What I got, as Maddox so eloquently puts it, is the soundtrack to a coma. I'd like to nominate this album's 12 tracks for the '12 worst songs of 2005' award - and I wouldn't be surprised if the Che-worshipping everything-hater gave this album the honor himself. This entire album sounds, from start to finish, uniformly uninspired, unartistic, unambitious, and entirely like a clever U2 knock-off. And yes, listening to this album on the road was a mistake - my state of alertness faded to drowsiness after a mere third of this album to the point where the textured lane and shoulder markers were jolting me back to consciousness. This should not happen to a young driver in good physical health.

First I hated Coldplay for the annoyance that was Yellow. Then I liked them for their non-annoying, unique Rush of Blood. Then I fell in love with them for discovering the rest of Parachutes and finding a powerful song underneath a very restrained, relaxed sound. Now, I'm fed up with them for cranking out a bunch of loud nothingness 12 times over and calling it one of the most important albums of the year. Guess what, Coldplay: we did loud nothingness 15 years ago; it was called grunge. And U2 did your 'new sound' 20 years ago. Now get back in the studio and *stay there* for a good 3 or 4 years before you try anything again.

Telepopmusik - Angel Milk: The second candidate for 'album of the year' in as many weeks. I'm overjoyed and almost overwhelmed by the musical goodness I've encountered in the last two weeks, thanks to this album from the electronically-inclined French trio. Most people who know Telepopmusik know it from the Mitsubishi commercial that ran 3 years ago that used the song "Breathe." The rest of the album was, well, a bit different. Ambient in places, jazzy in others, hip-hoppish still in others; 'Genetic World' was an album that had something for everyone who ever fancied anything so long as it came with a twist of eccentricity. This album takes Genetic World and makes it, oh, 10 times better. It's missing a major club hit like Breathe, but what you get in exchange is a retooling of the trademark 'tpm' sound that's more electronic, more jazzy, without the hip-hop, and much more pleasing to the ear.

Do you miss the awesomeness that was Breathe? Listen to 'Into Everything,' the new album's lead-off single. It's cut from the same cookie cutter that Breathe was, but it's still not going to be heard in any of the big clubs you visit. But for a mellowing sound that still strangely gets your heart pumping, it'll calm your senses but tense your adrenal glands. But for the real treat, skip back a track to the third one, 'Anyway.' It still uses all the same electronics that tpm has always used, but its chord progression is much more like a chilled jazz tune. From there you'll find lots of Billie Holliday-esque vocals, plenty of awkward chords and a sound that always leaves you more relaxed than when you started listening.

More essential tracks: Don't Look Back, Stop Running Away. But really, you'd be selling yourself short by not getting the whole album. It'd be like doing a half-session of therapy and quitting before you're truly better. And you will be a better person for listening to Angel Milk. Somehow your blood pressure drops, problems melt with each passing chord, and the club-styled electronics make you feel alive and alert. Who needs psychotherapy - or psychotropics - when there's Angel Milk?

My good buddy, fellow Austinite and occasional Halo clanmate Small Paul (who will be linked when he can decide on which site to use) pasted a profile done by faceanalyzer.com and it was shockingly accurate. Mine was too:

Race Analysis

27% Eastern European
13% Southern European
60% Anglo Saxon
0% East Indian
0% Middle Eastern
0% South East Asian
0% Korean/Japanese
0% Chinese

Gender: MALE
Personality Profile
Intelligence 6.9 Very Intelligent
Risk 4.3 Low Risk
Ambition 6.5 High Ambition
Gay Factor 1.7 Very Low Gay Factor
Honor 4.0 Average Honor
Politeness 5.6 Average Politeness
Income 6.3 $30,000 - $50,000
Sociability 6.1 Average Sociability
Promiscuity 3.0 Low Promiscuity

YOUR ARCHETYPE: Alpha Charmer

Personality Profile:

You have social courage and as a consequence are open and extroverted. You are seen as a well known person who is liked and is involved in many social events. You feel confident about your position in social situations and will not hesitate to say what you believe. You do not like too much responsibility, but you do not mind being in the social center. You must know everything that is going on in your greater social circle and spend a lot of time talking to others to find out the latest gossip. You tend to be friendly, but can be criticizing when you see others as thinking of themselves too much.

You prefer to work in challenging people oriented jobs where you can compete against others and rise in the ranks. Others usually like you but can sometimes be intimidated by your outspoken comments and criticisms although they do not show it.
People tend to feel comfortable around you and respect your opinion. You can use this social weight to get things done for you but usually opt not to call in favours people owe you.

Your view of other types
You tend to like Boss types and try to get close to them, as they possess the intimidating factor and confrontational attitude that you lack. You regard Academic Types as mostly withdrawn from life and too uppity to interact with. You associate with some Blue collar and White collar types, and find that these are the people that mostly want to hang around you. You see Artist types as attention seekers and are often the person to criticize them. For this reason, Artist types envy and fear you. You may enjoy the risk taking personality of Gambler types, but you also think that they are loners. You see Drifter types as social dropouts.

Other types' view of you
Boss types like you but they dont always trust you. Academic Types have very little in common with you, therefore they avoid you. Artist types tend to avoid you because you may attack them verbally due to their personality differences. White and Blue collar types like interacting with you, and they sometimes envy your charisma. Gambler types may deal with you if they think that you have something useful to offer them. Drifter types may associate with you, but they generally believe that your archetype is stuck up.

Alpha Charmer (that's me):
-More ambitious than Charmer
Expected Occupations: Corporate Executive, Real Estate Agent, Politician

Charmer:
-More fun-loving than Alpha Charmer
Expected Occupations: Sales representative, Teacher, Aesthetician, Hair Stylist, Artist, Actor, Social Worker, Manager

My take on it: Better than any personality test or astrology site, that's for sure. The only thing I see as inaccurate is the emphasis on how social I am - I am, as it says, very social, open and openly critical, but I've also got a decent amount of the Academic type in me, and as such I actually like them a lot. But for what it's worth, give it a shot.

Click the link on the right to BS, for there's an interesting new tidbit that explains a trend I find disturbing.

Machinima (a combination of machine + cinema) is a word from back in the day, when game modders hacked demo files to create little movies. After the Quake2 era, they sort of fell by the wayside after demo files weren't editable anymore. Luckily for them, Valve has brought it back! Go watch A Few Good G-Men right now for a fantastic example of Valve's 'digital actors' technology - it pays good homage to Aaron Sorkin.

Jamiroquai - Dynamite: At last, after 4 long, long years, we have a new album from Jay Kay and Co. These 4 years have been plenty of time for the group to explore some new avenues in the music, and the result is a 'New Jamiroquai' kind of sound that's revolutionary just like the new sound they had for 2001's Synkronized. Old-school faithfuls might be disappointed, but I just can't stop grooving to this album. It's wilder, louder, and in places less funky but the increased craziness makes up for it. There's sadly few other ways to describe it. There's something here to please everyone, because the album is divided as follows:

First 3 tracks: no-holds-barred, brand-new Jamiroquai sound. It's loud but unmistakably the voice of JK, even if a little different. The 'Feels Like It Should' single leads off, and it's honestly probably the weakest track on the album. Don't let it turn you off the album, because the title track follows and it's easily one of the best. 'Seven Days in Sunny June' is a teaser of old-school Jamiroquai, right before you get slapped in the face with 'Electric Mistress,' the embodiment of NeoJamiroquai. It's an 80s-infested, fast-paced, loud monster of a song, and it kicks ass. If you don't like this song, there's not much hope for you.

The next 3 tracks: A peaceful, funky return to Jamiroquai as its old fans know it. They're not worth writing home about but they're still extremely good tracks.

The last 5 tracks: Back to NeoJamiroquai. '(Don't) Give Hate a Chance' is a funkier tune reminiscent of Electric Mistress. 'World That He Wants' slows it down and shows a more serious side of the new band, but the next two tracks pick it up just in time to leave you with 'Time Won't Wait,' the badass, loud, new-sound kind of closing track.

Conclusion: As soon as this album comes out in the US on iTunes, I'm buying it. With money. It's seriously *that* good. In fact, it's the best album I've listened to since Room for Squares. And that came out quite some time ago. If you like Jamiroquai, get this album and love it. If you've never listened to the swingin' sounds of Jay Kay but happen to like some of the stuff I spin, get this album and enjoy it.

Coldplay - X&Y: Haven't gotten around to it yet. Jamiroquai's album is too good.

There's 149 of them, all right here. That collection may well change as I edit them further and take photos taken by other students, but those are the ones that came from my very own camera. Hope you all enjoy.

Very much in one piece, and I completely beat jetlag since I got home right around midnight. I'm crazy busy with various little chores, but here are some things that I've been thinking are cool in the last few hours:

-There's going to be a sequel to Sin, the baddest-ass FPS ever made, and it's going to be released in episodes on Steam, using the Source engine. I'm very happy.
-BMW's full maintenance program means for free, they come bring me a loan car while they take my car and do all the one-year maintenance stuff. Love it.

Sadly, what's not cool at all is the horrendous London attacks that went down yesterday. My original travel plans would have had me there yesterday. I think it's just as tragic as 9/11 but even more disconcerting that world-class terrorism is getting more and more discreet. I never really believed the whole line that "9/11 changed the way the whole world has to do things," but after Madrid and now London I think it really is starting to say something. In a certain sense, I kind of wish I had been there, to be a sort of ambassador of American consolation. It certainly would have beat coming home to find Sandra Day O'Connor giving Bush a judicial nomination, finding that G8 accomplished about as much as the trailer park next to my neighborhood does on a Sunday, and finding that we here still love our bold Republican leadership. My mom and I have gotten serious about it: if the Republicans are re-elected, she's going to Canada and I'll go overseas. Screw this place, Europe is the fitting place for a fella like myself.

spinning: John Mayer - Clarity

It finally clicked for me last night. Up until this point, I had been thinking about what to tell the friends and family about having just a decent time in Europe - not the time of my life, not an amazing experience, not having a trip worth some $5,000 of my own money. But last night, the real moral of the story caught up with me.

It was in the nightclub with Maria Jose and Mei Lan. All the pieces were fitting just right that night - it was effortless to dance with two women and not look or feel stupid, effortless to move through a club where the guys don't obsess about how tough they think they are or how rich they dress, effortless to make my two new friends laugh. A night like that never happens so easily for me in the States. And when I realized how easy it was for me to fit in here, that's when the trip suddenly became worth the five grand, worth the airsickness, worth the month away from my technological creature comforts. It's always been virtually effortless when it all came down to it. Sure, the language barrier and shyness probably kept me away from a few valuable experiences, but those things are temporal and (relatively) easily conquered - definitely more easily than a stomach flu. And as of last night, I had conquered them - there I was, singing along to Coti with a club full of people I'll definitely never see again. There I was, building relationships with people I've been separated from by half a globe all my life.

The moral of the story is that I had taken everything for granted - the ease of making people laugh, the cool car racing on TV, people who are well-preserved because they take good care of themselves - all things that I'll end up telling people about for years. What I had taken for granted was how easily I could fit in if I had lived here permanently. It's like some of the best things in my life, like gaming, driving and writing, they all just came to me naturally when I started. It all goes back to the numbness I felt in the weeks leading up to the trip. And now that I'm over the hill, now that I get it, I still feel numb, but in a different sense. I just saw a 50-year-old dude sunbathing in a thong - and I really wasn't surprised.

It's been a fantastic last day. I came home from the UT celebration dinner before 3am - as usualy, the others bored me - and woke up at 1pm today. Off to a good start.

The weather, however, was up to no good. It was another November kind of day, so I wrote a jacket as I went to buy candy for mom and do one last email session instead of spending the day at the beach like the 15 old tourists who were out there. On the way home, I decided to go exploring through the Matalenas park near my apartment. I climbed through a few rocks and ended up right on the coast, with the ocean splashing up on my legs. It was the only serene, meditative kind of experience I'd had here.

Returned home to my final dinner, Spanish tortilla and flan for dessert. Between that and my feeling of fluency today (random conversations are now effortless), I had a sense of accomplishment, like in 5 weeks I successfully integrated myself with the people of Santander. Tomorrow I fly home a month older, ages wiser, and bilingual. It'll be a great day to be me.

...so why the hell would I be in a cybercafe? The weather's crappy. It's very much like November in Texas: gray, drizzly at times, with a cold-ish breeze. So I could be wandering around taking pictures of the city and filling up my CF card, or chillin on the beach one last time, but it appears that won't be happening, and instead I went to a candy store and got some nice chocolate for Mom and some cookies for myself, and then I came here to do my 'last email check from Europe' one more time. But this time, it's for real: I get home in an hour or two, pack my bags, and then I get up at 6am tomorrow to fly home. I'll probably just crash out when I get home, but starting Friday it'll be a crazy schedule of hanging with A-town kids (plus Chloe, assuming she can get off work and come up to chill), telling stories to friends and family, uploading pictures, and..

My entire trip diary will be going online.

Hopefully I can get all that done before my crazy schedule of US travel begins in the middle of next week, when I'll be hitting Austin, Harlingen, and Taos. Good times ahead, and although I've fallen in love with what it means to live in Europe, I'm really excited to come home and see everyone. See you guys this weekend!

spinning: Zero 7 - Destiny

Had my final coffee with Mei Lan and Maria Jose last night. When it came time to say goodbye, I hated it, as always. Farewells are my least favorite thing in the world. It was little consolation to think of how like Lost in Translation the whole experience was - after meeting these two girls five days ago, I had the time of my life with them, lasting memories and all, and it was more bitter than sweet when I had to say goodbye against two smiles sweetly looking back at me.

Maybe they pulled some Spanish witchcraft or something in my favor, though, because today my stomach has improved. If my sickness is on the way out, praise be. Now that the awful British drizzly rain has completely cleared, I get to spend the remnants of the afternoon studying for my finals tomorrow.

Another bad day turns into another good one.

Thursday: still sick, but a new roommate, Nate, arrives. He's here for July. This day, he crashes.

Friday: I get really sick while walking to class and run home. Skip class, like everyone else did. I take a pill, relax, and feel better by evening. I walk around town with Nate, and that night we set up an outing with the chicas.

The chicas: three US students I met on the way home one night. Mei is of Chinese descent and studies law, Maria Jose studies journalism, and there's the third girl, whose name I forgot but already left for home anyway, who was an engineer. I think I met the three on Wednesday, had a coffee with all 3 on Thursday, and then last night Nate and I went out with the two remaining girls. First was an Irish pub, where I drank nothing for my stomach's sake, followed by a Spanish music discotheque called Bellini's. The place was hoppin' all night and I had the time of my life dancing with the two girls while Nate chased other girls in the place. Maria Jose was an incredible dancer, and it was amazing when she gave me lessons in salsa and reggaeton. This night was easily my best here. On the plate for the weekend, unfortunately, is schoolwork (one last paper), and studying for my finals on Tuesday. Sounds silly for a summer study abroad class, I know, but apparently our profs were furious that no one came to class yesterday. Thankfully I haven't had to set my alarm for the first time in ages and I feel much better for it.