Eating Noodles with Buddha: A Vienna Encounter

Things happen for a reason.

It's important to tell yourself this when you're getting screamed at. The Nachmarket vendors are very unsympathetic towards tired tourists who sit at their tables without buying things from their stands. So my friends and I were forced to take our noodles elsewhere.

We settled on a train bridge near the market and ate in silence. We had spent the past 58 hours together and believed there was nothing left to be said. After a couple of minutes we were joined by a stranger, an attractive backpacker in his late 20s or early 30s. He was also eating under similar banished-by-the-vendor circumstances and to make the proximity less awkward, he introduced himself. Name: Gregor. Nationality: German. Occupation: Musician. Status: In a serious relationship. This last detail was a slight disappointment to my friends and I, however at that time we were all going though some pretty heavy and diverse relationship issues, so it was refreshing to talk to a guy whose main intention was casual company rather than sleazy flirting. Admittedly, the reason we were so keen to make conversation with the stranger was because he was good looking. The sad but oh-so-true reality is that people are more likely to trust you if you're attractive.

The Importance of Being Earnest in My Defense of Oscar Wilde's Tomb

While wandering around Paris, my friend mentioned that we weren't far from Oscar Wilde's tombstone, and since our hopes of going into the catacombs had just been squashed by an enormous line, we were provided with the perfect opportunity to visit Mr. Wilde.

Some important things before I continue: First, The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favorite books and I have seen The Importance of Being Earnest several times. Second, as a writer I still hold on to the delusion that authors can be celebrities like Oscar Wilde (or Byron or J.K. Rowling, to name a few). Lastly, you may know that Oscar Wilde's grave is covered in lipstick, because it is tradition to kiss his tombstone.

An Apology From This Innocent Bystander

Dear Reader,

I've recieved a lot of complaints from friends and family, expressing their disappointment that I have not written a single blog post in over two months. Let me first apologize for the suspense. I hope your frustration has not lead you to give up on our technological relationship, and I certainly dread the idea that you have imagined me dead, ill, or simply too depressed to write. Quite the contrary. I have found myself so flooded with new experiences that every attempt to write them down has resulted in a disappointment in my own story telling. I find myself overwhelmed by recent events that a monstrous writers block has devoured all creativity.

Hard Times Come And Go: Making Friends Part II

Yesterday, I made my first British friend.

There are probably a good amount of my readers who will think this is no big deal. After all, I am living in London, going to a British school, and living with British students, so common logic dictates that I would have made dozens of friends with British accents and habits. Sadly, that's not the case.

I've come to the conclusion that London is a very introverted city. Having grown up in the suburbs, I have no way to know if this applies to all cities, and the fact may be amplified by the fact that I came to London on my own and have taken the time to notice the habits of strangers. London is known as a very literary and music-oriented place, but even people who forget to bring their newspapers or iPods to their respective buses and cafes would rather look at their shoes than at other people.