The World of Stuff .com

Full circle, gaining momentum

I spent some time planning an end-of-semester/Zamenhof Day event for my Esperanto club. The usual Zamenhof Day celebration is to have a dinner on December 15. Since that day falls during final exams, and because adulation of the creator of Esperanto is increasingly unfashionable, I decided we should have a general Esperanto-Vespermanĝo (Esperanto Dinner) at a local restaurant on Friday night. Most of the actual “planning” was trying to get local Esperantists to come, but none of the ones I contacted were able to.

As for the restaurant, I chose Tim and Terry’s, which is casual and has live music. We ate outside (pretty much the only place to eat) and chatted for a while about Esperanto and general topics. I already knew it was a cool place to hang out because the student freethought organization has had several get-togethers there. In fact, it was at Gator Freethought’s January outing that I came up with the idea to start the Esperanto club. In December, I came back with an actual club. Full circle.

Of course, we took the obligatory group photo:

From left to right, that’s Andy (Vice President), Enrique, George, Dan (Secretary), me (President), Mark (Treasurer), and I’m pretty sure his name is Trevor. I was kind of surprised by who turned out and who didn’t. These people only went to a few meetings, while the people who went to more meetings didn’t show up. One of the usual guys passed up the Vespermanĝo to go to a ballet… with a girl… who already had a boyfriend. Clearly there is room for improvement here.

For a while now, Mark has been planning to go backpacking through Europe over the summer. When our club got off the ground, he decided that he could learn Esperanto to get around and get some free lodging. Andy wants to join him, and he’s extended his invitation to me and everyone else in the club. How could I pass this up? I’ve always kind of wanted to go to Europe. There are so many things to do and people to meet. Maybe I’d even have a fling. Fine, probably not!

Anyway, it’s a lot to think about. Going to Europe for the summer means I wouldn’t be able to keep my job (unless they held it for me special?). I would also spend a lot of money, free lodging or no. And how would I blog? (Yes, I thought about this.) I would have to just hit up an Internet cafe or a host’s computer every few days. It’s doable. And it would make this blog much more exciting: The World of Stuff, Live from Europe!

I ran the whole idea by my parents, and they were supportive. I could not be much more surprised. Don’t be surprised if I evaporate out of the plans. Remember when I wanted to go to Honduras? I’ve also wanted to go to Canada and New York (shocking, the latter, isn’t it?). It never happens.

Remember in my last post when I said that a local TV station covered our organ donation event? Watch their piece on YouTube. That’s me standing behind the girl in the opening shot.

A creepy argument for banning subliminal messages: WTF, Broccoli?

For those who still don’t realize what’s wrong with the RIAA and MPAA’s bullying tactics, here’s an extended metaphor that kind of works: If the MPAA Did Handbags.