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Oh Man! Elisha's father is gonna' be mad!

Date: 2007-07-01

I again went home this weekend. I had to get some stuff and take back some things that I don’t use (yeah, my last entry was from home, I was tired and didn’t think to recount it). On Friday, two friends and I went mini-golfing. I “found out” that I am bad a mini-golf. I did however manage to get my ball into the bucket above the well at the one hole, gaining me, umm, err, rather, losing me 2 points. I also managed to get a hole-in-one, but the rest the game was mostly holes-in-sixes. Afterwards, we went out to our favorite restaurant and the girls got this pancake with nuts, banana’s, caramel, and cream cheese between the pancakes. OMG, they let me have a piece and it was amazing.

For future reference, you guys are not allowed to take me into bookstores! I will squander all of my money. I love books so much, though.

I came back a littler earlier than I did last time I went home. After I got home and put my new books away, I cleaned up a little and started to go to Mass. As I walk to the Cathedral, I get a call from a friend that I haven’t see in a while. We talk often, but it’s been near a year since I last saw her. I picked up, and she said that she was delayed on the island for a few hours between boats and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Mass and maybe do something afterwards; the next boat started boarding at 8, and left soon after. I told her I was on my way to Mass and we met at the church. Apparently, she gets laid-over often here between boats. Mass was much, much longer than normal. It started at 6 and over just before 20 after 7. We went back to my place (I’m near the docks) and grabbed a bite to eat. We chatted for a few minutes and then I saw her off. I’ve never been on one of the boats before. I’ve always preferred the train. She got on a smaller one headed towards her home (she also lives much closer to the shore than I do at home). Before we parted, she pointed out the liner that brought her. It was much larger and Majestic. It as good to see her again.

Studying for the GRE’s is coming a long. I just wish that I was more confident in my verbal abilities. I’m not illiterate, but I don’t think that I am up to stuff compared to some of you.

Apparently, next Wednesday is the Celebration of the Slaying of the King (couldn’t they give it a more cheerful name?). When asking what this was about, I got some weird looks. Eventually, someone told me. Many years ago when Kings and Queens ruled the land, the ruler of this little island was very vicious and unforgiving. He intervened into places that the government should not go and spied endlessly on his own people, looking for traitors. Never did he find one, but many were falsely accused. The ability of the people to conduct their business with out the state being a bother had come to an end. The people then banded together. In the only secret place they could find, in the mines, they planned their coup. The day came, the Feast of the King (his birthday), when he paraded down the street in a grand parade. The bands marched an played. As the king approached a narrowing in the route, where his gaurds could not be at his side, a group of the townsmen jumped from windows onto the float and killed the king. No one knows how, really, or rather, no one agrees how. Some say he was slashed with a sword, some say shot, others that people just landed on him and broke his back, and yet other say they just tied him to the float and he died when the set it ablaze. The guards were occupied buy townsmen in the streets attacking them. Much of the guard did not resist and aided the townsmen. The town then gathered and decided to build a democracy. It was not a quick decision, as many were not educated to know of other forms. It was a foreigner who offered the idea and explained it. After deciding on it, the first declaration was the founding of the great University that I work at now to assure that everyone from now on was educated. The foreigner was declared the first headmaster. Although the holiday is only a day, officially, most people take it and the following week off. On Tuesday I guess that I will hop on a train home, again.