Sick in Africa...What a Concept!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been ill this week and just started getting treated today. It was interesting going to a Ghanaian hospital for sure. I will talk more about it in my next post. Also more album reviews to come in the countdown. I wish I could get some damn pictures up. Moreover, the internet hasn't been working the last few days and the power went out at night twice this week. I'm not going to lie, even though it is inconvenient, stuff like that really adds to the experience (so does E-Coli :)...). I was asked this week to help a Ghanaian graduate student with his lady troubles by helping him find a "nice white girl". Did I mention that I'm slowly becoming a vegetarian? Sit tight, all this and more in my next post. Oh and P.S. I'm going to talk about vaginas next time too (just went to the Vagina Monologues at the drama studio) I don't know about you but my vagina is ANGRY!

-Ryan

Fela Kuti Lives!

I just went to an afro beat concert last night that was probably my best experience here so far. Fela Kuti's son, Seun, came and played in front of an incredibly enthusiastic crowd. The grooves kept going for two hours straight. I can't even begin to explain how incredible it was; the energy level was superior to almost any other concert I have been too and it made me want to start my own afro beat band. Check out Fela Kuti for more on this awesome music.

America, Where is Your Passion?

If only the United States would have as much enthusiasm for soccer (football) as the Ghanaians do. After going to my first Ghanaian soccer game yesterday, I must say that it was one of the best sporting events I have ever been to. I found myself cheering for the local club even though I had no idea who any of the players were. The stadium wasn’t filled to capacity but it sure sounded like it was. Most people would pack into the stands closest to the opposing team’s goal and throw water sachets at him. In case you are not aware, water sachets are the bagged water that everyone drinks here. The tossing of them onto the field results in a water balloon type effect and is pretty hilarious. The opposing team was made up of players from the Ivory Coast and had previously beaten the Ghana team (Heart of Lions) 2-0. To make it into the next round of qualifying for the Africa Cup, Heart of Lions had to win by at least one goal on the season total; that means that the game basically started 2-0 Ivory Coast. There was no scoring in the first half but things picked up rather quickly in the second half. Ivory Coast scored and was promptly followed by Heart of Lions. The score became tied at 2-2 and Heart of Lions scored on an incredible head ball after another player kicked the ball in front of the goal. Unfortunately, the final was 3-2 which meant that Ivory Coast won the season series 4-3 and Heart of Lions did not qualify.
A couple of sections of the stadium were filled with fans that played drums and danced the whole time giving the crowd noise a pulse. Some fans almost broke out in a fight behind us which was pretty funny. I am definitely thinking about going to another game next month, but I will have to be careful because I heard that one should fear for their life in league matches. What better sports experience can one have than nearly getting trampled? Anyways I’m sure it will not be too bad if I get there early enough and find a safer seat to sit in. Accompanying me to the game was Cephas (from the computer café) and Ryan (another ISEPer). I really owe Cephas one for telling me about the game and basically helping us foreigners get around in a ridiculously large crowd after the match was over. Another interesting tidbit to note was that there is barely a parking lot in front of the giant soccer stadium. This of course results in little to no traffic after the match is over. Everyone walks back to their place or takes the Tro-Tro back home. Cephas, Ryan and I took the Tro-Tro which is truly a Ghanaian experience. If I haven’t mentioned it before, it is a van stuffed full of people with a driver and a “mate” who yells the destination out of the window. I wish I could take pictures of it, but I feel like everyone would be annoyed if I did. Maybe I will before I leave. Not much else has happened this week, just more of going to classes and kind of hanging around. Hope everyone is doing well back home in the deep freeze.

-Ryan

#38. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

Now for something completely different.


This is an album that I didn’t even like at first listen. Repeated listens have unlocked a lot of incredible things and also has adjusted my ears to Connor Oberst’s voice. I know for all you Bright Eyes fans out there, Connor’s quavering vox is part of his charm but to me it was a little hard to get used to, but now I understand where the fans are coming from. Well, I guess I can’t go without calling myself a fan as well, now that I’m including I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning on my top 40 list. I guess I’m being hypocritical if I complain about Oberst’s voice because of my Bob Dylan obsession. Speaking of Dylan, Connor Oberst is kind of like that old fellow, his lyrics are just as ambitious and wonderful (at times much more personal than Dylan) and send shivers down my spine quite frequently. The music on this album is very enjoyable but the real achievements here are the lyrics and passionate vocals. It seems that with every new listen I find another poignant moment I hadn’t recognized before. As an English major I can’t help but love the highly poetic lyrical content. However I think that Connor Oberst’s delivery really emphasizes the importance of the words placed against the music. I truly believe that everything he says is genuine, albeit pretentious.
This album was introduced to me by my friend James Hough whom I actually haven’t talked to in a while, hopefully I will soon. I met James freshman year of college and am forever grateful to him for introducing me to a whole group of artists I now love. One of the first things I remember was talking to him about the greatness of Radiohead and certain Pink Floyd albums. Shortly after this discussion he proceeded to start talking to me about Bright Eyes (Connor Oberst), specifically this album that I am writing about. If I am not mistaken, I think he started telling me about how much he loved “Land Locked Blues” or “Poison Oak”. I know it was one of those two songs (two of my favorites on the album). I could tell right away that James really loved Bright Eyes (at the time, not sure if he still does quite as much). He gave me the album and I let it sit around for a while because I was still in my early college days listening to a lot of Nick Drake and Miles Davis. As some of my friends know, I ritualistically put my headphones on before I go to bed. On this one day I tried out I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and absolutely hated it. Connor really annoyed me because his voice was very shaky and not usually on key and the lyrics were so pretentious. I’m not sure if I’ve just become a more pretentious asshole (probably) or actually appreciate Oberst’s lyrics and style, because now I can say that neither one of the aforementioned aspects of Bright Eyes bothers me. I put the album away for a little while and thoroughly enjoyed Cassadega when it came out towards the end of freshmen year so I decided to give I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning another chance. To my surprise, by the middle of summer 2007 it finally all clicked for me. I was sitting in my room on a hot June night trying to find something to listen to while my family was away on vacation. The warm wind from outside was blowing when the words “While my Mother waters plants my Father loads his gun/he says death will give us back to God just like the setting sun” yelled from the speakers and I was hooked. That chorus from the first song “At the Bottom of Everything” is just one of the moments of a genius lyrical approach throughout. Themes of political and personal struggle mix well together and are a little more subtle than the ideas expressed on Cassadega. I also remember hearing “We are Nowhere and It’s Now” play during a scene from Knocked Up and being pleasantly surprised.
The content of this album is too hard to cover in a small review but I just wanted to briefly talk about some of the songs. “At the bottom of Everything” begins with Oberst talking about a woman on an airplane about to crash land in the ocean. She tried to speak with the man sitting next to her with no success until the plane starts going down and he says that they are on their way to her birthday party. The man says happy birthday and that everyone loves her very much. At this point the instruments start to kick in and the listener is transported into the Americana of Bright Eyes. The kind of situation that Oberst describes at the beginning of the song will either charm you or turn you off quite quickly, but trust me when I say that you should stick with it, repeated listens will change your mind. “We are Nowhere and It’s Now” is a nice duet with Emmylou Harris that I think was one of the singles. “Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)” is another winner followed by “Lua” a quiet acoustic number that recounts a night of hard living and the sobering effects of the morning after. “Train Under Water” is great, continuing with the folksy country vibe. “First Day of My Life” is good and so is “Another Travelin’ Song”. “Land Locked Blues” is choice cut (one of the best here) and another duet with Emmylou Harris. I really love the way her voice fits so well with Oberst’s uncertain vocal delivery. It is definitely something to behold. The lyrics on this song might be my favorite on the album (along with “Poison Oak” and “Another Travelin’ Song” and “At the Bottom of Everything”). One lyric in particular was memorable the first time I heard it on “Poison Oak”. “I’m just a single cell on a serpent’s tongue”, pure brilliance. “Road to Joy” finishes up the set in strong fashion. There is a cool bombastic outro that really puts a good close to such an exhilarating listen. On a side note, there are only ten tracks thus making this a relatively short listen, always good for repetition, a sign of a strong album.
Like I said before, there are so many good moments here that it is really hard to explain in a few short paragraphs, but go out and listen to this (twice at least) and tell me what you think, I’m sure one of your friends has it.

Overall Rating: 8/10
Track Based Rating: 8/10

Best Tracks: At the Bottom of Everything, We Are Nowhere and It’s Now, Lua, Another Travelin’ Song, Land Locked Blues, Poison Oak.



P.S. I want more feedback and personal opinions on the albums, so please listen!

A gift from my heart to you

After an extremely warm week in Accra, the Isep group headed out to the Asanti region of Ghana. In this region we stayed in Kumasi at the local University. Even though we were at a college we roomed at a fancy hotel type building. For two nights I had access to air conditioning in my room. For a lot of reasons it was very nice to stay in such a cool room over night. However, I think I am allergic to air conditioning and would wake up every morning with a stuffy nose and sneeze about 10 times. All of that aside, it took us about 6 hours to get there on an extremely bumpy unpaved road that caused me to get a little carsick. I kept trying to stay asleep to avoid the nausea and for the most part it worked. When we arrived in Kumasi, we pulled up along side the road near the entrance to the Cultural Center and low and behold, thousands of bats were flying around at the tops of trees. From a distance they looked like birds but as we got closer we noticed that they were hanging upside down from trees. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. Never before have there been bats let alone thousands flying around in the afternoon. After putting the bat signal away, we had lunch at the cultural center; the first of two meals that weekend served two hours after I put my order in. I learned not to eat in large groups in Ghana, because you might not get served dinner. Complaints about food aside, our group explored the Cultural Center where I met a painter named Kwaku. I proceeded to buy a very nice painting of tribal dancers from him. He was extremely friendly and sometimes comically so. He would say “yes please” before everything. I asked him “What is your name?” he replied “Oh yes please, Kwaku”. “How much is this painting?” “Oh yes please, 25 cedis”. “How about 15?” “Oh no please, 20 please”, and the conversation continued like this until he finally sold it to me for 20 cedis. I couldn’t help but smile when he was saying all of this and because he was relatively patient in trying to sell me his work. Usually Ghanaians will line up outside the bus and try to pick us off on our way to look around the shops, urging us to come visit theirs first. He kept calling me “a big strong man” even though he was clearly in better shape. I guess I should lose some weight because I’ve been getting the “big man” thing a lot lately. Anyways, after the cultural center closed we went back to the hotel and had a buffet dinner (one of only two meals that Isep covered all weekend…lame). After that I hung out with some people and went to bed. We all were discussing how weird it is that we won’t see each other again after this semester, even though it feels like freshman year all over again in terms of meeting all new people. The days seem to keep flying by at a pace I can’t keep up with. The next day we went to the Kente cloth weaving village and a local took me aside and started telling me about his travels to Chicago. I tried to explain that I wasn’t from Chicago but he disregarded that and said that I must be from Wisconsin. He showed me where the washroom was and didn’t charge me 20 pesewas to use it like others did. He probably thought that since he showed me this great hospitality I was going to buy from him; no such luck. A few other interesting things happened while we were here. I visited another guy’s shop and told him I would come back and twenty minutes later on the other side of the village he comes out of nowhere and is like “hey boss, you come to my shop, you buy from me.” I had to tell him I wasn’t going to buy but he gave me his business card and I humoured him a little bit and said I would come back…not. I wasn’t trying to be mean but sometimes Ghanaians expect unrealistic things in terms of selling their crafts. Little kids were coming up to me trying to sell me bracelets and bookmarks. It is very interesting how well they were taught by some adult about how to deal with Americans. Most of them say “I want to give you this gift from my heart. Take this gift from my heart to you” and then they put the bracelet on your arm and then try to sell it to you for 2 cedis, so much for a gift from your heart huh? Another funny thing is how they say they will give it to you for a special low price. They get right up close to your ear as if to tell you a secret and whisper “five cedis” into your ear. It is kind of creepy but funny because of how different the perception of good service is. Imagine going to a car dealership in the United States and the dealer whispering the price into your ear. Thanks, but no thanks. For the rest of the day we were mostly stuck in traffic and only got to see one other place and then we went back to the cultural center to buy more stuff. I bought a drum for 15 cedis that night. I talked the guy down from 25, so I guess bartering is pretty cool after all. One of the highlights of the weekend came shortly after three of us purchased drums. We were sitting on the curb tinkering around with our drums when some Ghanaians our age came up to us and started playing our drums and doing an impromptu song and dance performance to authentic African style drumming. Luckily I still had my drum in hand and started jamming out with them. Everyone was singing and dancing all around us, it was like something out of a movie. I wish more people would do stuff like it in the USA, we might all be a little happier. The next day we visited the wood carving village and I just got more of the same from all of the vendors. After that we finally started making our way home. Overall it was a cool weekend; I wouldn’t say it was as good as Cape Coast but still pretty good. I should be able to post more blogs now that the internet is working consistently. We will see.

-Ryan

Some pictures

#39. Dirt

Continuing with the hard rock genre, my next choice is Alice in Chains Dirt. Before I go any further, I would like to say that Alice in Chains is one of my favorite band names. The sound of the music perfectly accompanies their title; they are also number two on my favorite bands from the “grunge era” list. If there was such thing as a sound called “grunge”, Alice in Chains embodies it. They have been such a huge inspiration on modern rock music (for better or worse) and have spawned such rip offs as Godsmack and Staind. No offense to the latter mentioned bands, but I think the singing styles of both the leads are too similar to Layne Staley (R.I.P).
When I was in Seattle a few years ago, I went to the Experience Music Project museum and got to see some used Jerry Cantrell guitars on display and a piece of paper containing one of their early set lists. It is pretty amazing how something as seemingly insignificant as a set list could be so priceless. For the most part, Alice in Chains is a pretty depressing band. I think at least two members were big heroine users. After fighting addiction for many years, lead singer Layne Staley succumbed to heroine use earlier in the decade. For the most part, Dirt is all about heroine use. The sad thing is that the album lacks any hopeful messages. It is very eerie to hear Layne singing about his problems knowing what we know now, but in some ways that is what makes the album even more compelling.
The album alternates between really heavy songs, drugged out epics and a few softer songs. There are many stand outs on this record. Some of them can be heard on the radio almost daily (Rooster, Would, Down in a Hole) and others are hidden gems (Damn that River, Angry Chair, Rain When I Die). A lot of the best songs on here are the hit singles but that doesn’t mean we should count out the rest.
Before I get into the track by track review, I would like to share some personal history with Dirt. I know some of you are probably wondering how I remember some of these things but… I was going to see I Spy with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson freshman year of high school with my friend Jay after a football game. This night wasn’t memorable because of the movie (sorry Eddie and broken nose guy) but because I went to a store called Media Play and purchased Dirt. It seemed at this point in my life, I was going to a movie every week and also buying one or two CDs. I tried my best to buy CDs that I had heard were good so I wouldn’t waste my money. I was going through a “grunge” phase at this point and had heard Dirt was one of the most important of that era along with Nevermind and Ten. Later that night, we went back to Jay’s house and put on Dirt. I remember being more impressed with the first three tracks than I thought I would be and Jay felt the same. I’m not sure if we finished listening to it all the way through but none the less, it was great. Something about the album proved addictive (no pun intended); perhaps it was the face melting guitar tone of Jerry Cantrell or the harmonizing between him and Layne. Whatever it was it has kept me coming back for more ever since.
I really like how the album opens with Layne screaming into the microphone while Jerry’s riff simultaneously crushes you. “Them Bones” is one of my favorite tracks. It has a cool guitar solo and a very memorable chorus, and like I said before it crushes you right out of the gate. I think the overwhelming sensation the listener gets from the opening 5 seconds of the song is supposed to be similar to shooting up. I might be wrong but I always trust my instincts when I’m going for deeper meaning. The song is also a very good introduction to the theme of the album. It seems to encompass everything Layne is trying to explain about his drug problem in one track. “I believe them bones are me” is one hell of a way to start an album. “I feel so alone, gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones”. Lesson to take from this: Don’t do heroine. The harmonizing between Layne and Jerry start here and only get better.
“Damn that River” is an awesome hard rocking song that continues the blistering pace set by “Them Bones”. I will only state this one more time (maybe), the song is about heroine. “Rain When I Die” is also incredible. It starts out slow with some “stoned” sounding guitar and droning vocal entry. It finally breaks down with a really heavy wah-wah riff that leads into the verse.
I have come to realize that the original track listing resembles the different phases a heroine user experiences. The first two tracks are upbeat, the third is like coming down, the fourth (“Sickman”) is the beginnings of withdrawal, the fifth is more heroine use and then withdrawal for the next five tracks. Layne faces his sobriety on “Down in a Hole” and explains why he goes back to using on “Would”. I kind of like this theory, I hope you can see where I am coming from with this.
Continuing on, “Sickman” isn’t my favorite track but it is still pretty decent. I don’t really like the mellow verse/loud chorus shifts. In this song Layne’s vocals are more annoying than usual. “Rooster” is another great epic that actually is about Jerry Cantrell’s grandpa in the War but fits in with the rest of the tracks based on mood alone. I really like the backing vocals to introduce the verse. The chorus really drives it home as well. Layne’s vocals are top notch here. “Junkhead” is pretty good and details an addict’s thought process when trying to score some drugs. In some ways it is pretty terrifying to listen to. “Dirt” does a good job making the listener feel like they are in a desert full of heroine and used syringes. Cantrell’s wah riffs throughout the album are incredibly heavy.
I can pass on everything after here up until “Angry Chair”. “Godsmack” and “Hate to Feel” are more of the same and don’t really need to be there. Some of the best albums end very strong and Dirt is one of them. “Angry Chair”, “Down in a Hole” and “Would” close out the album in memorable fashion. “Angry Chair” is underrated and has a very catchy chorus. “Down in a Hole” is one of my favorite songs and probably the best on the album. I seem to always get chills when I listen to this song. The interplay between Jerry’s ethereal voice and Layne’s slightly irritated howl is at a peak here. It seems as though the two forces of persuasion are at work. I really like the lyrics and acoustic intro. Ryan Adams recently covered this song on a new EP. He, like Layne has had drug problems in the past and looked to a song like “Down in a Hole” to better express his addiction. I think that is a testament to the effect Layne’s lyrics has on the listener; an artist as prolific as Adams using someone else’s work to express his addiction. “Would” closes the album out on a high note. The song is full of doubt and uncertainty. Layne seems to think that going back on drugs is the only way he can feel right again. This song was recently covered by Opeth. I’m not sure if there were any personal reasons for covering it, but it has a sound that Opeth definitely was influenced by.
I think the production is pretty solid and sorry that I didn’t mention the bassist or drummer but I’m going to stick to who I know in each band. The rhythm section does a fine job (much more interesting than AC/DC). Everything is mixed pretty well, but I think the vocals could use some tinkering. For some reason, it sounds like Layne is singing through a thin glass window. Perhaps that is the point; I guess we will never know. Like I said before, don’t expect to be happy after you listen to this. When you are done, put on some Grateful Dead and dance like no one is watching.

Overall Rating: 7
Track Based Rating: 9
Best Tracks: Them Bones, Damn That River, Rain When I Die, Rooster, Angry Chair, Down in a Hole, Would

Week Three

Of all the weeks so far, I think that this week has been the best. I actually began classes and have been getting used to Ghanaian ways. There were a few hilarious and often awkward moments in last week’s classes that I would like to share. On Monday, I went to my 3:30 class entitled “Conflict and Society in Africa”. The title of the class seems very promising and I hope to have a better experience with Political Science this time around. However, approximately 500 students are in this class and we all sat scattered around the giant lecture hall awaiting the professor for 45 minutes, and he never showed up. Apparently Ghanaians are allowed to leave after 30 minutes without a lecturer. As I sat reading Slaughterhouse Five, I looked up to see that most students were leaving and I thought, welcome to Ghanaian classes. It is not a strange occurrence here when the professor doesn’t show up for the first two classes. I think our grades should be boosted two letters to make up for a missing professor.
Secondly, on Tuesday I went to “Contemporary Ethical and Moral Issues”. This was also a very large class that started out in a small classroom in which I had to share a chair with a Ghanaian student for the first ten minutes. Eventually we moved to a larger classroom that was more comfortable. I felt bad because I was sweating profusely when I sat next to the girl willing to share her seat. She probably thought I was a gross American. On a side note, Ghanaians are rarely seen sweating, but if you get close enough you can get a strong whiff of their B.O. So after we moved to the bigger classroom, the professor asked for class representatives. He wanted a male and female student to represent each side of a debate on abortion to be held later in the semester. When asked why she chose to be the female rep, the girl said “I think I should be able to provide my services to help out the class”. All of a sudden, a bunch of guys started yelling out “What kind of services can you provide? What do you mean by services? What is your room number, marital status?” Seemingly sexual harassment on the surface, questions like that are considered funny to the professor and he allows the girl to be harassed in front of the class. I was pretty shocked to see how many times the professor was interrupted by the students.
A third and final moment in class, was my “Masterpieces of American Literature”. The professor is pretty in tune to what students like in modern culture and she was talking about how she just watched High School Musical 3 with her daughter and knows all of the lyrics to songs by Lil’ Wayne and T.I. It is much funnier when you realize she is a forty-something Ghanaian woman who has a PhD in gender studies and literature. I’m also very pleased that we are starting the class by reading Their Eyes Were Watching God…NOT! The professor also told us all about how Zora Neale Hurston (the author of TEWWG) became a Voodoo priestess during the middle of her life. Her disregard for important secrecies of the religion left her cursed and she died as a lowly beggar somewhere in southern Florida. It was pretty intense and since Voodoo originates near Ghana, the spirits are very strong here. The professor said that her great grandmother was a Voodoo priestess. She continued to tell us that last year, students from the University of Michigan made a trip to a Voodoo sanctuary and became possessed by spirits and started speaking in tongues and dancing ritualistically. She claims that the spirits recognized some of the students as descendants of Voodoo practitioners. I guess it was definitely real and the students who became possessed didn’t have any recollection of what happened after they were released. I can’t help but be really intrigued by this whole occurrence and may look more into stuff about Voodoo. No worries, I will not become a Voodoo Priest before I come back.
Since I finished The Stand I have read Slaughterhouse Five and am halfway through Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. I really recommend Slaughterhouse Five because it is a pretty short read and it deals with post traumatic depression in a whole new and interesting way. The humor is pretty wacky but I really like it. There will be numerous hours to read during the weekdays so I hope to get almost everything read that I won’t have time for when I get back. A girl who studied here last semester and is studying here again this semester said that she read 22 books last semester. I was pretty impressed and hope to do the same.
On the weekend, we traveled to Cape Coast and visited the slave castle there. As the tour guide explained, the slaves’ living quarters were absolutely atrocious and had to sleep on a half a foot high pile of excrement in a windowless dungeon. I could feel the heaviness of the air and was very moved by the whole experience. I got some good pictures as well and will either post some if I can or show them when I come home. It was an experience that I will not forget. It was so heartbreaking that the castle was so close to such a beautiful view of the ocean but the slaves could never see it or breathe in the fresh air like the rest of us now can. For more details, ask me when I get back.
We stayed at a strange little hotel that was most likely haunted and had crocodiles swimming in the lagoon nearby. There was a little band playing in the bar and of course only played Bob Marley covers. I had some Star beer (the local favorite), which they only sell in 620ml glass bottles for 1.80. I also had a cheeseburger which was kind of a bad idea because I haven’t had red meat in almost a month. Afterwards a few of my friends from the group sat around and talked about supernatural occurrences in their lifetime and then I went to bed. I had to tell of my experience in Wilks hall last year near Halloween because it was such a good one.
The high point of the weekend came when we went to Kakum National forest on Sunday and went on a canopy walk through the rainforest. After hiking up a hill for about 20 minutes we reached the “bridge” that was constructed some odd years ago by some Canadian engineers. Some people were skeptical because it was built by Canadians but I was just in awe of how cool it was. Basically it was like a suspension bridge made out of netting and rope. The bottom was a wooden plank that you walked on. It hung over the ground and we were probably about 4 or 5 stories above the ground. It was shaking at times and I thought I was going to fall to my death, but the thrill of it all was incredible. It reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson, Lost and The Ewok forest all in one. I really want to post some pictures of it, but you might have to wait. It took about an hour to go through it all. The trees were so incredible tall and you could see the rest of the forest on the horizon. It was the first time that I had been in a really dense rainforest, and let me tell you, it was the best thing ever.
The last thing I want to mention is that I have been hanging out with the little guy who runs the internet café in our hostel. His name is Cephas and he watched season three of Lost in two days. Quite naturally he is now my friend. I missed the Superbowl last night which is one of the strangest experiences of my life, but I heard the Steelers won and I’m fine with that. Congrats to all the Steelers fans out there (are there any?). For now I think I am going to eat some more rice and plantains.

-Ryan