the past 6 months

for the past 6 months i have been living in Cusco, Peru volunteering at a non-profit cafe called, The Meeting Place. it was a wonderful experience working here and meeting tons of new people as well as getting to know a new city. over the past 6 months one watches a lot of movies, reads new books, and listens to new music; i have kept a list of everything i watched, read, and listened to to remember this trip by. i know this seems odd but all three are such a huge part of my life and they help define me as a person so this is more for reference later in life to look back on. i also want to share the things that i plan on missing the most. so if you are interested take a peak below...

Things I'm Going to Miss About Cusco:

Meeting Travelers in the cafe

Dinner/Laundry night at the Englunds

Ken's Chili

Listening to Sigur Ros with Hippie Mike

Messing with Socks

Going to pub quiz at the Real McCoy

Chatting with Jeremy

Eating Carrie's awesome pastries & cakes

The view out from my room (best view in Cusco).

Books I read in Peru:

Bible: Pentatuch (First 5 books of the Bible)

Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne

Following the Equator by Mark Twain

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Movies I watched in Cusco:

127 Hours

2001 A Space Odyssey

2001 A Space Odyssey The Making of a Myth

A Hard Day's Night

A Serious Man

Addicted to Plastic

Alone in the Wilderness

Badlands

Battle Royale

Blade Runner

Bottle Rocket

Burn After Reading

Carlos Pt. 1

Carlos Pt. 2

Carlos Pt. 3

Catfish

Che Pt. 1

Che Pt. 2

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Crumb

Days of Heaven

Drillbit Taylor

Due Date

Dumb and Dumber

Encounters at the End of the World

Exit Through the Giftshop

Garbage Warrior

Gas Land

Get Low

G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra

Greenberg

Hall Pass

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. 1

Help!

Hobo With A Shotgun

Howl

Human Planet Series

I'm Still Here

Illusionniste

Inception & Special Features

An Idiot Abroad Series

Inglorious Basterds

Inland Empire

In Bruges

I'm Still Here

Jackass 1

Jackass 2.5

Jackass 2

Jackass 3

Lebanon

Little Fockers

Lost in Translation

Machete

Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles)

Man Bites Dog

Megamind

Mega Shark vs. Crocasaures 

Micmacs

Missing

Monsters

Monsters vs Aliens

Mr Nobody

October Sky

Pineapple Express

Rango

Red Dawn

Red Vs Blue (Seasons 1&2)

Restrepo

Rushmore

Step Brothers

Silent Running

Simon of the Desert

Somewhere

Source Code

Star Wars IV

Star Wars V

Star Wars VI (possibly)

Sympathy for the Devil

The Adjustment Bureau

The American

The Beatles Anthology (Episodes 1-8)

The Big Lebowski

The Conversation

The Darjeeling Limited

The Departed

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Fighter

The Good German

The Green Hornet

The Human Experience

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

The Informant

The Insider

The Kings Speech

The Life Aquatic

The New World

The Pianist

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Social Network

The Squid and the Whale

The Ten Commandments

The Thin Red Line

The Troll Hunter

The Vanishing

Tetro

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (5 Seasons)

Traffic

Troll 2

Twin Peaks (2 seasons)

Up In The Air

Youth In Revolt

Waiting for Superman

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Wildboyz (4 seasons)

X-Men Animated Series (5 Seasons)

X-Men First Class

Young Mr. Lincoln

Worst Movie: National Lampoon's TV: The Movie or Hobo with a Shotgun

Best Movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Best Documentary: Catfish

Favorite Documentaries: Alone in the Wilderness & Encounters at the End of the World

Most Influential Film: Garbage Warrior

Best TV Show: Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job!

New Music:

Akron/Family - Discography

Aaron Giillespie - Anthem Song

The Animals - Best Of

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism, Four Thieves Gone, The Gleam, The Gleam II

Beastie Boys - Ill Communication & Licensed to Ill

The Beatles - Complete Singles

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Cake - Fashion Nugget

The Cars - Best Of

The Clash - London Calling

Crosby Stills & Nash - Greatest Hits

Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Deja Vu

David Bazan - Strange Negotiations

Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

Dogwood - Through Thick & Thin

The Doors - Best Of

Dovekins - Assemble the Aviary

Dr. Dog - Fate

Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs

Elvis Presley - 30 #1 Hits

Faces - Best Of

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass & Living in the Material World

I Monster - Neveroddoreven

Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature, Stay in the Shade, & Veneer

The Kinks - Best Of

Led Zepplin - 4 & Mothership

Lou Reed - Transformer

Mason Jennings - Blood of Man

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew & Kind of Blue

Neil Diamond - The Essential

The O.C. Supertones - Supertones Strike Back

The Only Ones - Special View

Paul McCartney - McCartney

The Psalters - Ch.7 Tour EP

R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country

Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come

Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down & Is For Karaoke EP

Roger Miller - Best Of

The Rolling Stones - Greatest Hits

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness & Siamese Dream

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz & All Delighted People

Underoath - Disambiguation

The Velvet Underground - Loaded & White Light/White Heat

Verse - From Anger and Rage

The W's - Fourth from the Last

Wallace Collection - Laughing Cavalier & Serenade

The White Stripes - Elephant, Icky Thump, White Blood Cells, The White Stripes

The Who - Ultimate Collection

Woody Guthrie - Discography

Yann Tiersen - Dust Lane

The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle & Greatest Hits

Most Surprising Band: Akron/Family

Favorite Album: Psalters Ch.7 Tour EP & Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues

Oldie but Goodie: Rolling Stones - Greatest Hits & Elvis Presley's 30 #1 Hits

Most Disappointing: David Bazan - Strange Negotiations (needs more listening to)

Most Listened to Band in the past 6 months: Fleet Foxes 475 listens

Most Listened to Song in the past 6 months: Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues 106x

Supporting the Healthy & Discouraging the Unhealthy

came across this great article talking about taxing unhealthy foods and beverages such as, soda, sugary juices, candies, fries, etc. while subsidizing healthier foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. by doing so the revenue generated by the unhealthy foods could generate into the billions which could in affect help high health costs, go to community projects like bike trails, parks, community centers, etc. then by subsidizing the healthier foods you would be able to buy them at a more reasonable price which is great. the combination of all of the above could in fact help reduce many health risks especially diabetes. other countries and some states have already passed similar laws or are getting ready to take affect which is very exciting. if you are more interested in this article you can find it here: Tax Soda, Subsidize Vegetables

More Great Non-Profits

Found out about a couple more cool non-profits helping people around the country and around the world. First I want to share about People for Bikes which is a cool organization that is helping individuals get connected in their community as well as nationwide to bicycle groups and activism. They have some great goals and make it real easy to get involved. A few ways you can get involved is signing their pledge which helps gather voices around the nation who are advocates for biking, sending your representatives letters (they have a great stock letter that you can add to and e-mail from the site), a write up section where you can share your experience and love for biking (I wrote about my cross country bike trip!), and lots of great suggestions on how you can get involved with bike groups in your community. There are so many great advantages to biking whether it be health-wise, economical, environmentally, and even just for shear enjoyment; this is one of the other ways I can help spread the word and I ask you to just check out the site and see what you can do to help.

Because International is a non-profit that a friend of mine from college, Kenton Lee, has setup. Here are some of his words about Because International: "Because International is a non-profit organization that seeks to develop innovative solutions to long-standing social justice problems." So Kenton has lived in Ecuador and Kenya and noticed that kids either don't have shoes or they are wearing shoes that are too big or too small, so he came up with an idea of "The Shoe That Grows", it's a fully adjustable shoe from size 5 to size 12. There are some great companies that I mentioned in a previous post about that when you buy a pair they give a pair, but the one negative drawback is that kids feet don't stay the same but they grow until they become an adult so that one pair of TOMS that was donated last summer might night fit them next year, thankfully they can hand them off to someone else but in all reality they're probably going to keep on wearing a shoe that is too small. So Because International wants to get involved with donors and companies like Soles 4 Souls and TOMS to distribute his "Shoe That Grows" so they can reach more kids instead of giving limited time support. Check out their video below to learn more.

Along the lines as well as bicycles is World Bicycle Relief which is a non-profit whose mission is to provide access to independence and livelihood through the power of bicycles. This organization wants to help people around the world be more productive, healthy, independent, and less hindered. Biking saves so much time since walking takes much longer, allows people to carry more weight such as food, water, school supplies, etc., and it increases the distances people can travel in a day so they can get more done or able to take advantage of more resources such as education, water, and supplies. World Bicycle Relief is working with bike supplies to improve the design of bicycles, enhance distribution with local sourcing, manufacturing, and assembly, and partnering with other existing non-profits to help aid in their goals. They are currently working in parts of India which have been affected by tsunamis, Zambia, and other places in Africa, more specifically working with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative which provides 300 bikes in 6 countries to help specific HIV/AIDS initiatives. It's crazy how much a bicycle can change someone's life. Please check out their website and see how you can get involved.

firsties

my first cassette tape: green day dookie. my first cd: blink-182 dude ranch.