Nadi 1.0

Alright, I have been horribly remiss in keeping up with my blog. Here’s what’s going on cliffnotes style.

I am currently on vacation in Italy. I’m staying with my brother, his fiancee, and my 11-month-old nephew. He has a backyard view of the alps. (Pics to come later). We’re in Aviano which is an hour away from Venice. We haven’t had a chance to visit Venice yet, but we’re working our way there.

Other things that have kept me occupied are two assignments. I have a 5,000-word story due and a 3,000-word critical paper due. The story is due on the 11th and the paper is due on the 9th. So far, neither is looking that good. I have a week to get references for my theories and to finish edits on my story. I’ve sent my story to one of my classmates who is supposed to get back tome on changes i need to make. that was a couple of days ago. haven’t heard back from her yet. she’s on vacation also so…you know. and i don’t know what i’m going to do about my paper. i decided that i would rather have something to turn in than not. so i’m just writing my ideas and theories and will be looking for work to back them up afterwards. it’s been really hard to find people to back up that disintermediation is a good thing for the publishing industry and why. so… there’s that.

welp, i have to go now. we’re all going to a friend of my brother’s for lunch…or something. I’ll let you know how the assignments go.

Cheers from Italy.

Yesterday, I had the joy of celebrating my first overseas birthday. And it was my 30th birthday, so it was kind of extra special for me. I went to a publishing conference that brought up a lot of questions for me about where the industry is headed. You can read my thoughts on that here.

After that I had dinner with my flatmates and some of their friends. After that we went bowling. Let me tell you, it was one of the best bowling experiences I’ve ever had. There were eight of us who bowled. Through strange coincidence the worst bowlers of the group ended up teamed together. While those who were a little better were on a team together. I don’t think were really playing each other; we were just hoping we hit something at the other end of the lane.

I was on the team of worst players, which was fitting. I tell you this though, the other team may have had a higher score, but they didn’t have David and Valentina. They’re both undergrads who attend my uni. I had no idea how much fun bowling could be until I bowled with them.

Let’s start with David. He brings the rhythm to bowling. Before and after he bowls, he dances. It is awesome. And he does this arm movement that’s like he’s trying to use The Force to get the ball to go where he wants it go. (One time it actually worked). Whether he’s successful or not, he dances. And in all honesty, he’s not a bad dancer. Which kind of makes it even better because he breaks out these dance moves and you’re just like…where did that come from?

Now Valentina. She brings suspense to the game. She mastered a way to bowl so the ball just kind of cruises down the lane. You have no idea until the very end where it’s going to go. And just because it looks like it’s going to fall down the side, doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen. One time in particular, the ball looked like it was going to go over, then it rolled the opposite direction. And I’m getting all excited watching this because it looked like she was set to strike. But the ball kept moving. And moving. Eventually, it ended up in the gutter at the other side of the lane. Without touching a single pin. I still don’t know how that happened.

Actually, that was probably my fault. I suggested she use the same ball I was using that seemed to bring some kind of luck during the first game. But I think that ball was against her. It was a really great night. I would love to bowl with both of them again.

The rest of the night great, too. We did a little dancing, ate really greasy food that wasn’t that great, and walked along the river. It made me feel really good having such amazing people around me for a whole 24 hours. I don’t know how next year’s birthday can compare with this one. But I guess I’ll find out when I get there.

Cheers