The segregation cases that included Brown v. Board of Education were originally argued during the 1952-53 Supreme Court term.  The judges could not agree, and reheard the cases the following year.  According to Justice Douglas, had they ruled in 1953, the Court would have upheld “separate but equal” 5-4.  Between the terms, one of the justices died and was replaced by Justice Warren (who wrote the majority opinion in Brown, convincing six other justices to sign on).  Lawyered.

The wedding was beautiful, and lots of fun.  A few pictures taken by the father of the bride can be found here.  Davide is in town until Thursday, so I’ve been trying to balance school and hanging out with him over the past few days.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty intense.  I have a lot of catching up to do, so don’t expect to hear from me too frequently.  I’ll try to post quick updates on Twitter (see side bar), or on the site directly.

My train from Sorrento to Bari was three hours late, so Joe and I ended up missing our boat to Patras and staying in town for a night. This would have been fine if there was ANYTHING to do in that town. As it was, McDonalds was the most exciting thing we could find. After reading Chuck Klosterman’s article on Chicken McNuggets, however, this wasn’t such a bad thing. The best part about being stuck in Bari was that it forced us to take the boat the following day, allowing me to run into Jennifer Dupont while boarding. It was such a crazy coincidence, but really ended up making the whole ride easy and enjoyable. We shared pictures, talked about Friendswood, and snuck into areas of the boat that we weren’t supposed to in order to get a better look at the stars. Before we knew it the entire 15 1/2 hour ride was over, and we parted ways. Still, it was nice to see a friendly face from back home after two weeks on the run.

Greece was fun, but very low key. We spent the majority of the time sitting around, talking, or eating. While we did go to a beach one day, and climbed around the castle ruins another, we really didn’t do that much. I got burned pretty badly at the beach in Githio (pronounced Yee-thi-oh) because I foolishly thought I could cancel out my farmer’s tan by only putting suntan lotion on the area that was tan. It would have worked, but I decided to go exploring along the beach and ended up exposing my back to blistering sun for nearly two hours. To top it off, the coves I went to explore were disappointing, the rocks we had to walk on were excruciatingly painful, and I forgot to bring a camera to capture the whole event.

Now I’m back in Brussels, watching hours upon hours of the West Wing with Davide. I hung out with the Beardsleys (the family I lived with my senior year) the first night I was in town, which was wonderful. It’s bizarre to see how much the kids have all grown up; Edouard is now 6’3″!!!!!!! He has grown over ten inches in the past eighteen months! Last night we had a barbecue at my friend Sam’s house, and I was able to meet up with a bunch of kids from ISB that I hadn’t seen in years. Hopefully soon we’ll stop by the school, because I haven’t been back since graduation, and I don’t really have any pictures of the campus. I really wish I took pictures in high school as often as I have in college; I probably have less than 50 pictures from all four years. Anyway, most of my time here will be spent relaxing, so I don’t know if I’ll have another update before I return home.

Also, it’s actually really nice to go without a computer for weeks at a time. Whenever I log on to Facebook now, I always have a lot of messages, and it makes me feel better about myself. It has also forced me to read more often, which I have loved. I finished every book I brought with me, including The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Chuck Klosterman IV, and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for those of you who care. Plus, if you haven’t checked out the latest issue of Empire, it’s pretty incredible. They did thirty covers for the thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars (I got the Han Solo one, of course), and had a huge section on the thirty best characters. I’ll be in the UK before my flight, so I can try to find a special cover if anyone (i.e. Brandon) wants me too. They’re also cheaper when you buy them there…

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

	Drinking from the fountain in Rome.
	My mom and sister decided to start a huge argument at the busiest place in all of Rome. You can see my mom at the bottom, slightly left of the center in a red sleeveless shirt.
	This is Bologna from the top of the tallest tower. The church in the distance is San Luca, which we climbed ten minutes after arriving. We had to walk all the way across town, and then up the hill in order to get there!
	Saying goodbye to Lex in Bologna.
	They were shooting a commercial on Bellagio, and I got the leading lady to pose for me.
	Another lightning shot!
	Riomaggiore
	This is the couple from Texas that we met in Cinque Terre. They were awesome!
	Pisa, Italy.
	Typical tourist shot. Joe sucks at lining up his hands.
	I suck, but I’m still better than him.
	Napoleon’s residence in Elba. The bottom part was actually a decoy, and his house was the more modest home on top.
	Pompeii ruins.
	The church in Amalfi.
	Amalfi, again.
	St. Andrew, complete with a piece of bone from his chest!
	Our last dinner in Sorrento.
	Caserta Palace!
	This palace was ridiculously huge.
	We decided to walk the entire length of the gardens. They are extremely deceptive. What looked like a short walk turned into a two mile hike.
	The statue in Mystras.
	Hannah, Sarah and Taylor at the castle in Mystras.
	Action shot in front of my family’s church. My ancestors built this church, only to have it nationalized by Greece a few decades ago.
	The outline of the mountains from the balcony of the house. We think it looks like a) a pregnant woman lying on her back, or b) Thomas Jefferson. Discuss.
	The Parthenon.
	Damn we have good genes.
	Edouard is so huge!!!
	Claire and I in the entertainment room.

http://www.scientomogy.info/
This website is pretty hilarious.  Evidently Tom Cruise, true to fashion, is threatening to “sue you in England!” if Paramount shows the “Trapped in the Closet” episode of South Park over there.  In retaliation, this site edited the episode so that it only includes the scenes with Tom Cruise.  Also check out the Andy Dick video, which is hilarious.

I’m trying to decide what was the biggest load of shit in 2005: Scientology or intelligent design?  Let me know what you think.  I’d have to say that, though intelligent design was knocked down entirely by the Supreme Court in December, Scientology took a harder beating this year.  ID never really had a chance to begin with.  Scientology, however, is a rapidly growing “religion”, and the negative publicity that Tom Cruise brought to it over the past year should (hopefully) hurt it in the future.  Not to mention South Park’s brilliant exposé on the history of  Scientology.  If I could, I would give it an Emmy, Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG award (even though no one really cares about those).  I think it is also worthy of consideration for a special BMA (along with “Lazy Sunday”), but you didn’t hear that from me.

Today I plan to a) go buy a scrapbook to put my pictures of the day in and b) watch Lost and Star Trek.  I’m a loser.

Also, my friend Davide had the greatest story this week.  He went to a Nickel Creek concert up in Scotland and ended up having “Sara, the violinist with an angelic voice, eye-humping me for the last 5 songs.”  After the concert he stuck around and bought her a few drinks, which led to them hanging out all night, getting to know each other and ultimately to some lip-locking action.  Grody’s off hooking up with pseudo-celebrities while I spend my nights in the library.  I’m jealous, to say the least.  Damn you and your jew-fro!

I’ve decided anything that is re-run more than five times in one week cannot be quality television.  It can be entertaining, no doubt, but it is not something that you must see the second it comes out.  I can understand obsessing over shows like Scrubs or Lost that only come on once a week, but shows like Next! and Project Runway will give you approximately 2413523623 chances to see that week’s broadcast.  I know I stand alone on this, because everyone and their mother (literally) watches Project Runway.  I’ve seen a few episodes and it has its moments, but it’s definitely something that could be cut back to thirty minutes without losing too much.  That, and I just don’t care about fashion, or the fact that Daniel is “sooooo hot!”  I swear if I hear that one more time I’m going to repeatedly hit that person until their face is as long as his.  Okay, I’m going to stop writing about Project Runway before it gets even more violent.

Did everyone hear about merbitch?  Probably not, because most of the group is boycotting her.  Anyway, she’s going to begin taking Pictures of the Day, like the copycat that she is.  You could’ve jumped on the bandwagon back in December and actually been cutting edge for once, but no.  Every time you do something after me, it’s like going from prime rib to weird friend of prime rib.

It’s time for student government elections, and my vote is going to the Super Mario Bros.  Katie and I saw the vice-Presidential candidate speak at a UDems meeting the other day and he won us over.  He began by mentioning his parties ongoing battle with the Koopas, before moving on to his campaign promises.  1) a 100 foot statue of Vince Young.  He figures if we melt all of the Confederate statues we should have enough metal.  2) Whataburger.  Agreed.  3) Create a lazy river around campus so students no longer have to walk.  4) whore out the university to corporate greed.  Who wouldn’t want to go to the Dell University of Texas?  I sure as hell would, and that’s why I’m voting for the Super Mario Bros.

“Hermano means brother in Spanish.  As in, heeey hermano.”

Overrated: any Fox executive.  I don’t care what they’re paying you, it’s too much.  They’ve managed to cancel shows like Arrested Development and Firefly while single-handedly running the O.C. into the ground.  There is no excuse, and they’re all on notice.

Wow, all three people that read this site are probably wondering why I haven’t updated in over a week.  I’ve been insanely busy!!!  Firstly, Davide came down to visit me which was awesome.  I just wish he could’ve stayed longer and that I didn’t have to go to school while he was here.  At least we had a four day weekend….and what a weekend it was.  It all started Thursday night with our One Act play advancing to Regionals!  I’m sure Davide thought we were all crazy but it was so sweet winning again.  Huntsville here we come!  By the way, I heard that Bay City (Reigning State Champs) and their set (with enough crap to choke a T-Rex) got bunny smashed!  Anyway, after One Act we all went out to IHOP to celebrate and that was loads of fun.

Then on Friday, Melissa, Davide and I went to lunch in Houston with my uncle and then to a really cool art museum.  After that we met up with Leahanne and went around Houston for a few hours.  That night we picked up Kistie, Kelli and Eryn and went to Kemah.  Had we gone to a baseball game and raced home before my parents got back from work, it would’ve totally been Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!  Still, it was an awesome night…and the weekend only got better.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to go to the beach with Eryn’s family and that was great.  I got really badly sunburned, but who cares.  We got to bury Davide in the sand and go swimming in muddy water.  That night we hung out with Katie, watched part of SNL and then went to surprise Kelli at midnight.  You see, Sunday was NOT ONLY the day that Jesus rose from the dead, but also the day Kelli turned 18.  Granted, JC kinda stole the spotlight but it was fun nonetheless.  We bought her a cake and temporary car (until she gets a real one) and got to genuinely surprise her.

During the day on Sunday, however, Leahanne, Davide and I set out for San Antonio.  Though the weather flat our sucked, we managed to get there in two and a half hours.  It probably wasn’t safe to drive 90 all the way there, but oh well…nothing bad happened…this time.  San Antonio was awesome, once we got a hotel room and the weather cleared up.  We got to visit the Riverwalk and even watched the Sopranos at our surprisingly nice hotel.  On Monday Davide went to look at Trinity University and Leahanne and I walked around San Antonio.  Everything went great and I got the greatest toy ever made!  It is a Batman that hangs from the ceiling and when you turn it on, will fly around in a circle!  Frankly, if you don’t find this cool then you suck because it rocks!

Anyway, it was an awesome weekend.  Hopefully I’ll post pictures soon in my Pictures section.  Oh, and for those of you who don’t know, I’m dating a girl named Eryn Pendley.  Belgians, just ask Davide about her if you want to know something…he got to meet her while he was here.  Ok, I should probably head over to Senior Directed Scenes auditions now…

Davide is coming tomorrow!  That’s so awesome…I’ve missed the hell out of that kid, it’s gonna be great to see him again.  After One Act is done and my life is not hectic, it should be amazing.  Four day weekend, best friend and a car.  I’m gonna have a lot of fun, that’s for damn sure.  He’s staying until the 14th, so that gives me plenty of time to show him around Houston and San Antonio.  Ok, well I’m gonna go eat now….

Back, and I got a package!  Patricia Ramsey is an amazing friend!  She sent me pictures and my favorite candy from Belgium!  So amazing, I can’t express it in words.  Also, I got my driver’s license today and the picture is terrible.  It makes me look overweight and my hair is getting ready to annex my face.

January 24, 2004:
Boredom has struck me. For the first time since I got back I had absolutely nothing to do today. Katie, Kelli and Lisa were gone at TETA and Veronica, Melissa and Kira were gone for Speech. Jernigan couldn’t drive, Sammie was gone and I couldn’t get ahold of Steph all day. Anyway, someone please rescue me tomorrow or I am going to kill someone. And Belgians…write me damnit. I’m talking to you Geoff, Alex, Grody and Lauren.

So the Golden Globes are tomorrow and I thought I’d give my picks:

Picture – Drama: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Picture – Musical or Comedy: Lost in Translation
Actor – Drama: Sean Penn in Mystic River
Actor – Musical or Comedy: Johnny Depp in Pirates Of the Caribbean: The Curse Of the Black Pearl
Actress – Drama: I haven’t seen any of them, but it will probably be Charlize Theron in Monster
Actress – Musical or Comedy: Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation
Actor in a Supporting Role: Tim Robbins in Mystic River
Actress in a Supporting Role: Once again, haven’t seen ‘em…will probable be Renée Zellweger in Cold Mountain
Director: Peter Jackson for The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of the King
Screenplay: Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola
Original Score: The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of the King, Howard Shore
Original Song: “Into the West” From The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of the King
Music and Lyric by Annie Lennox, Howard Shore, Frances Walsh

I don’t care enough about the TV awards so I’m gonna skip the. Oh, and in case you couldn’t tell, I think RotK should win every award it is up for. It is the greatest movie ever made.

So people should call me tomorrow and we should watch the Golden Globes. Sounds good.

Today was a sad day, full of goodbyes. As bad as they are, these are the days you love and remember. They make you realize how amazing your life is and how many people care about you. Patricia, thank you so much for having that party. It meant more to me than you know…I really needed to see the old nonagon group one last time.

I can’t believe I’m leaving…it isn’t supposed to be this way. I’ve been in Belgium for one sixth of my life. I know it sounds cliche but this is quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. How have I dealt with it? Denial. I’ve kept it all inside and I shouldn’t have. After the party tonight I went home and cried. I haven’t cried that much in two years, but no one knows about these emotions because I bottled them up. Anyway, I’m not getting much sleep tonight so I figured I should say my final goodbyes.

Guys:
Davide – It’s been great dude. You took me in and remained friends through it all. Even when your Dad hated me, you stuck by. I’m sorry we didn’t get to hang out more this year. It doesn’t matter though because you’re going to Trinity damnit and we’re gonna hang out on the weekends. Anyway, you’ve always been there for me. Long live the mother fucking Raiders.
G to the eoff – Even when I was a nerd in 10th grade you made me feel cool. Thanks for always being there. Now our midnight talks are going to take like five hours because they’ll have to be online! Sorry about leaving you with no guy friends…I’m always just a phone call away though.
Krif – Four years, loads of crap. Pretty much everything I’ve done in Belgium I did with you first. You got me to start going dt and always gave me a place to crash. It’s gonna be weird not coming over to our house for a while. Anyway, take care dude…don’t fucking smoke your lungs away. [vV] for life.
Medcalf – Scouts fucking sucked, dude. Good luck in your “endeavors”…make sure to keep me updated on the prestigious list of girls. We should have a movie marathon when I get back…we can even do that thing I promised you (it’s not what you’re thinking you sickos!)
Alex – Damnit, why couldn’t we have become friends back in 9th grade when we met!!! It’s been short-lived but awesome. It’s always great to meet your twin. Keep up the comic and movie collections. We’ll have our LotR marathon at grad!

My girls: Ya’ll are my best friends. I love you so much!
Patricia – my first friend. I owe so much to you. You are a truly amazing person and I love you to death. I can’t believe how much you’ve helped me change. You helped me open up to people and introduced me to pretty much every one of my best friends. When I’m old and senile I’ll still remember everything you’ve done for me.
Alexia – my second friend. In three and a half years we have really gone through a lot together. Star Wars, Chasing Amy…moments like those sum up our friendship. Though there may be lapses in time between our encounters in the future, they will always be the most memorable moments.
Rach – I have never felt unwelcome when you’re around. You make me so happy everyday, even though it is hard to tell. I’m gonna miss you so much…you have to come to Texas this summer!
Lauren – I hate you. Why did we become friends? Just kidding….or am I? You are my best friend and I love you so much! I can’t believe I’m leaving you, especially since you’re so close now. The last two years with you have been the happiest of my life and I will never forget them. I don’t really know what to say to you because you know everything already. I’m going to miss you most of all.

Well, its 4:17 and I should probably go to bed. I’m going to miss it here so much. Living here with ya’ll has changed me so much. I love who I am now. Thank you all so much. I hope the rest of the year is amazing…I’ll be thinking about ya’ll every day. Make sure to keep in touch.

Ryan.