There's No Stopping Us, Pundmann!

O.K., too much to say! Must resort to bulletpoints!

*Burgess and Derek and I got to St. Louis in RECORD time
*We immediately went to Calvary Cemetery and saw Tennessee Williams' grave
*we also saw Dred Scott's grave
*then we went to the gatewy arch, but we didn't go up in it because it would have taken a long time and we had priorities
*then we went to Vitiano's on the Hill and bought tons of Italian food for one of Burgess's friends who, apparently, is a foodie. I bought a brand of instant espresso that my grandpa used to sell at his store (Medaglia D'Oro, yum).
*then we called Colibre (the NICEST co-op) and got directions to the loop, where we ate at Fitz's (yum, root beer!)
*then we went to a record store and got a copy of the soundtrack to Breakin' (the FIRST one, OLD school, FUCK that boogaloo bullshit) and proceeded to listen to it and also sing most of it for the rest of the trip.
*then we walked about for a time and Burgess bought a Kangol hat that is very becoming
*then we went to Colibre, which is BEAUTIFUL, and full of similarly beautiful people, who let us stay there and invited us to a party later on
*I then proceeded to fall into a deep, coma-like sleep on the comfiest futon of all time and slept through the party. Oops.
*then we woke up in the morning and went to South City Diner, and I had vegetarian eggs benedict (YUM)
*then we went to Mokabees, which is a really cool coffeehouse, and sat around and wrote and talked
*and then we went to the Gateway Arch and finally went up inside!
*we found a potential for nudity (that we did not explore) because if you get your own elevator going up and can get your clothes off and on within the space of four minutes, no one's the wiser.
*then we drank in the views and I have some really cool pictures on my phone that I can send to you if you have a phone that shows pictures.
*then we went in the museum for a while and got spoken to sternly by the guard for touching the statue of Thomas Jefferson (I have a photo of him, too).
*then we drove home and it was all fun the WHOLE time.

We also came up with several million-dollar ideas (even besides getting naked in the Gateway Arch), including clear ice cream, making parking ramps out of foam, and making it so that cars can drive up walls. We also saw some of the prettiest buildings ever; St. Louis is unexpectedly one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Really well planned, HUGE parks, really nice houses, really nice city-areas with tons of cool stuff to do, lots of hippie-dippy liberal radical wackos (I have come to realize that these are my people), and the people are SO NICE! People just offered to help us out. We didn't even ASK, we just looked confused and so people offered help. So St. Louis is wonderful, you should go there.

Also, something even nicer is that Burgess shared with us a hadith, which is that (to paraphrase the Prophet Muhammad) you don't really know someone until you've traveled with them. So it was nice that we all had such a good time and everyone was just as happy when they got back as they were when we left.

Also, this is not news but it's on my mind because they're on my forehead and I can see them... I cut my hair. I have bangs now. It's still long, but in the middle where my face is? Bangs. Or fringe, as they say across the pond.

Also, this has been the best three days, I have run into SO many people here and caught up with so many old friends, and God made it so that Miranda and Joseph would be in town and we could go gorge ourselves on Thai food together.

I would also like to add that ISU has come out of the tailspin that it was in for a time. I'm thinking that next semester will be FAR better than this one. I'm actually looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone which I really never dreamed I'd be able to say a month ago. So things are good!