ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Loyal readers (have your numbers hit double digits yet, I wonder?): as many of you may by now know, my time in Ho Chi Minh City has ended a bit earlier than expected. If I have time I will devote a future post to the whole sordid mess, but for now just know that the Saigon phase of GBB is over. I would like to continue writing on here over the next month or so as I travel around South East Asia and Japan, although as I will be constantly on the move and not always within easy reach of the information superhighway, I may not post as much as you or I would like. Or who knows, maybe it will be exactly as much as you like. We'll just have to wait and see. If you're itching for some Stephen Johnson Farrell in your life and can't wait until whenever it is you will see me next in person, head on over to my "Flickr photostream internet web-site" at http://www.flickr.com/photos/31291812@N04/, I just uploaded a mess of new pics on that there thing. So thanks to everyone who's kept up with me on here, sorry I couldn't write more often, but I kept finding myself quite busy with real life. But it's been fun. I hope to see all of you soon. Oh, and have a Happy New Year! And remember to enjoy Bacardi products responsibly.

Stay up, players.

-SJF

Let's stay together

Now usually I don't do this as R. Kelly says, but... here's a post that is short and to the point and isn't trying to make some convoluted sociopolitical argument. I gotta bicycle! That's right, it's what you might call a "piece of shit" and it cost me a whole $20 (350,000 dong to be more precise), and in the words of the guy trying to sell it to me, as translated from the Vietnamese by my roomate Khoi, "you get what you pay for." Although I'm only going to be here for another 2 months, I figured it would be a good idea to get a bike so I can ride to and from school instead of taking cabs (something I wouldn't normally do but it's so cheap here) and xe oms (motorbikes), which are usually driven by swarthy, sweaty, drunk ne'er do wells and each ride is basically a near death experience. So anyway, here is my bike, which I've christened Al Green, or technically the Reverend Al Green.

It seriously might be a photo finish as to which expires first, my time in Vietnam or this bike. These pics really don't do justice to its sorry state. BTW almost all bicycles here feature the low "step through" crossbar, so I don't want to hear anyone say that I bought a girls' bike.

Ryan got a bike too but it started to fall apart earlier today so he destroyed it.
















Also, I cut my hair.

-SJF