·:[ The (vast) Right Wing Conspiracy ]:·
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…time for random Family Guy quotes! Family Guy is the only thing keeping this American sane in Budapest. That and lots of alcohol - rubbing alcohol for cleaning my foot wound that is!

Always one to further American culture and policy (however I see fit: drinking, dancing, and dragging America’s way into the hearts and minds of common Hungarians), below is the box score and stats for my first and last league baseball game in Hungary.

I played right-field, struck out twice, but had no errors (which you will see is a bit of a small miracle). Obviously no Mike Cameron, but I was just happy to play. (BTW, my boy Jason Jenkins who played short and pitched is pretty good. He’ll be coming to a Boston college near you soon - like next fall).

Baseball in Hungary.

Claudio

Contrary to the hilarious depiction of the philosophers’ drink in the classic tale, Eurotrip, Absinthe does not introduce you to green fairies.

It does, however, get you a ridiculously horrible hangover (just ask my roommate-for-the-week, Paul). The experience wasn’t nearly as bad for me, however. All in moderation.

Claudio

UPDATE: After some reading around, I find that my conclusion is faulty due to the fact that I did not have “true” absinthe, only a cheap(er) imitation. It was absinthe, but not the stuff that Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway drank.

…just like that…

New York Mets 12, San Diego Padres 0

Claudio

EUROPEAN THEMED UPDATE: In honor of my European friends, who do not care much for American baseball and instead prefer to be football (no, not the real football) fanatics, I leave you all with this:

USA Soccer ranked sixth in world (better than France, UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal — all those good soccer teams - er, football clubs) and reaches North/Central American international tournament finals.

Just think: the only thing that Europeans can still say they’re better than us at is soccer — OH WAIT, NO THEY CAN’T!

Pobre cito! (Ed. — You’re in an unusually obnoxious mood today!) Why yes, I is!

Claudio

To be truthful, every single Canadian I have ever met has been really, really, really cool peoples. From my man Jean who was my Rappoteur during my tenure as Chair of the NMUN IAEA simulation to my boy Sasha who just left Budapest for Montreal, all of them have been down-to-earth and dependable friends.

Now, let us hope this trend continues.

Beginning tomorrow night, I will be housing a Canadian student who is interning with my organization here in Budapest. He will fly in from London, and come straight to the apartment. If he can deal with the right-wing rants (he will get them inevitably from me and my friend from Atlanta, John), late afternoon sunsets spent sipping some fine drink, loud music played prior to a night out, and the incessantly annoying tick-tock of my old school wind-up alarm clock, he just might survive.

I’ll keep y’all posted.

Claudio

I guessed I should’ve let y’all know that I would be outside of Budapest from Thursday until Saturday and thus unable to blog. But then I remembered: nobody cares. So keeping with that mentality, I will now ramble on about my weekend for a while before I resume normal posting.

Thursday: Feeling sick as a result of the previous night. Good time freestyle battling three Hungarian rappers. Left for the boondocks (aka: Kiralyret, Hungary) on a big bus, played with my PSP.

Friday: Did a bunch of outdoors-y stuff like building a raft from barrels, rods, and rope. Actually did pretty well - must be the effect of all the time I spend around my engineering friends (big shout outs to Seth, Andrew, Aron, Robert, and others). Got real cool with some students from Prague and Warsaw. Had Polish vodka (it has grass in it like tequila has worms - go figure). Wasn’t a bad night at all; ended up defending Bush and the War in Iraq before a table of drunk Poles and Czechs.

Saturday: Came back to Budapest, played basketball with John, my boy from Atlanta. Found a beautiful court that overlooks the city. Came home, chilled on my balcony for the sunset with John and talked politics and film. Went downstairs to Marxim’s, the neighborhood’s “Cheers.” Everybody knows my name. Met up with the Czechs and Poles, talked about New York. Exchanged emails and promises to visit. Left Marxim’s for Dokk Club: dance club with pool and jacuzzi in the center. Got crazy, jumped in the pool, jumped in the jacuzzi, jumped out and jumped into broken glass. Cut my foot badly, kept partying, went home, went to sleep.

Sunday: Woke up 6 pm. Inspected damage to foot - OUCH - blood soaked sock not cool. Cleaned wound, dried clothes. Hobbled to store, bought bandaids. Called girlfriend, called John. John comes through. Watch another sunset, talk politics. Talk movies: he now must see Lost in Translation and The Professional, I have to watch for subliminal political commentary in Starship Troopers. Watched Coming to America in Hungarian. Was still funny since between the two of us, we knew most of the lines. Mourned the loss of Eddie Murphy (how does one go from Beverly Hills Cop to Haunted House or whatever that movie was?!). Mourned the loss of Arsenio Hall (woo! woo! woo!). Received a call from girlfriend, went to sleep happy, had weird dreams/nightmares.

Now I’m back at it. Hobbling, but back at it.

Claudio

No, literally.

I am in Hungary, I cannot cook, I have no microwave, and my girlfriend is not around to feed me.

Does anyone have any really really good and really really simple recipes? Think about stuff with simple ingredients (that I can find here in Europe) and with simple instructions.

Or someone just airmail me a box of Ramen Noodles, rapidamente

Claudio

Ah, the summer. The best time of the year to crank out an ambitious reading list and then get drunk instead. Here are the books I have finished already, and will soon begin:

FINISHED:

Office Of Assertion : An Art Of Rhetoric For Academic Essay, Scott F. Crider

The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ‘89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, by Timothy Garton Ash

TO DO:

The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle

The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America, by Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait

Under the Frog: A Novel, Tibor Fischer

Masquerade: Dancing Around Death in Nazi Occupied Hungary, by Tivadar Soros

The Oxford Guide to the United States Government, some Brits

Any recommendations out there? What are yall reading this summer?

Claudio

LEARNED: Consuming a glass of vodka and Red Bull, contrary to the belief of many stateside, will not kill you. And apparently, as I am still here to type this up, consuming 7 glasses of vodka and Red Bull in 7 hours (and they were not consumed every hour on the hour, either) will not kill you, either.

Claudio

Just for laughs:

Lois: You’re drunk again.
Peter: No, I’m just exhausted ‘cause I’ve been up all night drinking.

In light of this, I must note that the constant rain in Budapest is just like the ubiquitous terror that was the reign of Adolf Hitler.

Claudio