There's a discrepancy in the sky. Amongst the bright blue backdrop and picturesque puffy white clouds is a single, very dark cloud that peeps in and out of sight from behind the rest. It stands in sharp contrast, drawing my attention whenever it shows itself. It's somewhat dosconcerting, actually; there is a wide expanse ot a stereotypical perfect day, and my focus is drawn to the one unsightly blotch. But then, isn't that how it always works? We lose sight of the beauty that surrounds us, choosing instead to keep tabs on the things that are wrong, especially the ones that we have no control over. It's too bad, too, because it takes up such a small amount of space in the sky, and yet overshadows so many lives. Well, I for one won't let it get me down. It's a beautiful day in MY neighborhood. Are you gonna be my neighbor?

Tunes: "Pepper", Butthole Surfers; "Emily", "The Bitch Song", and "Punk Rock 101", Bowling For Soup.

I'm feeling really good. If all goes as planned, I'll be playing with the ETHS Ultmate Frisbee team this year, which will be lots of fun, plus it's just a really gorgeous day.

"Well I'm half awake and half a world away/All my past mistakes and every wasted day/Proves that I'll never change I'll always stay the same/I wouldn't have it any other way"

Gainesville Rock City, Less Than Jake

"I'm jaded stupid and reckless/Not sorry and I'll never regret/These years spent, so faded and reckless/Not sorry and I'll never regret these years/ No I'll never regret these years."

Jaded (These Years), Mest w/Benji Madden

Alright, Tripp. Back atcha.

1. How did you meet Trish? (Yeah, so I'm a hopeless sappy romantic. Sue me.)

2. Did Courtney kill Kurt? (Directly or otherwise)

3. What is your definition of hell?

4. What is your favorite Eliza Dushku movie, and why?

5. If the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42, just what IS the Ultimate Question?

*Cue Jeopardy theme*

Tripp's 5 questions for me, and my respective answers:

1. You are the son of a "famed" theologian and bloggist. How much does that bother you, really?

-To be really honest, it doesn't. Dad mentions me in his blog now and then, I mention him now and then, but the father-son relationship doesn't dip too far into the blogging aspect of my life. If anything, it gives me connections to other influential bloggers, which is just cool.

2. You just returned from Jolly Olde England. What was the best thing about the trip? The worst?

-The best thing... hmm. A few highlights there. Either performing Charles Wood's arrangement of Great Lord of Lords in St. Paul's Cathedral, growing closer to a number of my friends, or being flirted at by at least three people a day (which for me is a nice little ego boost). The worst, is that I, as a matter of principle, do not cater to the stupidity, imputence, and idiocy of certain people I was forced to accompany, and I had to hold back the pacifistic equivalent of the Fist of Death on a regular basis.

3. What is the best thing about being home-schooled?

-I'm studying at my own pace on subjects that I care about, I get more free time as a result of the syllabus being designed for the way that I work, and I get to sleep in. ^_^

4. If you could change anything about the I-pod, what would that be?

-Preprogrammed settings for individual playlists. Say, if I listened to my "punk rock" playlist, it would automatically shuffle songs, but if I chose my "RENT" playlist, the songs would play in order. That sort of thing.

5. What are you hoping for as far as college is concerned?

-Umm. Probably a small private liberal arts college on the East coast, although after the England tour Oxford's looking pretty good. It's a little hard to tell at the moment because I'm not sure what I really want to do with my life, but God or circumstance or whatever will lead me someplace eventually, and beyond that it doesn't really worry me.

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And so I'm back. Turns out that between location and scheduling, I had little to no net access for the last tho thirds of the tour. Rochester, where I made my first post from, was a pleasant little town with a beautiful cathedral, a very nice castle, and a park, called the Vines as it used to be a vineyard for said monastery, that was the local hangout, and provided a welcoming environment for the few of us who were comfortable around grungy teenaged punks. From Rochester we moved on to Oxford, where two things happened simultaneously: 1, we ended up having a mile and a half walk to Christ Church Cathedral, where we sang, and 2, we were hit by the intense heat wave that I'm sure most of you have heard about in the news. These two do not mix well, expecially when you throw in the choir uniforms, vestments, and music to carry. Apart from that, though, Oxford was great. It's a large university town, but not oppressively so, if anyone else understands that. And, in an "only-the-English" tivria note. Christ Church College runs five minutes slower than GMT, because while it is in the GMT time zone, it is located exactly five minutes east of the meridan. Anyway, we departed from Oxford and ended up in London, where we arrived to find St. Paul's Cathedral covered in scaffolds and tarpaulins, inside and out. It seems that a massive cleaning operation is underway that is scheduled to take another 18 months. It was somewhat disappointing, as those who hadn't been before weren't able to see it in its full glory, and the wrappings shaved a few seconds off of the reverb, but 8-9 seconds of reverberation is quite amazing on its own. All this time we'd been going off and seeing places of interest, and London was no exception. We took the city by storm, and encountered as much as possible before hopping a ferry to Paris, the most romantic cty in the world (at least that I've seen). Between cruising down the Seine, our one night engagement at the American Cathedral, and visiting such places as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumphe, the Moulin Rouge, the Basilica de Sacre-Coeur, and a quick road trip to Chartres Cathedral, we exhausted the last of our tourism fuel (and patience, in some cases), and managed to get everyone home intact and with their luggage, so the tour appears to have been a success.

Oh yeah, the choir sang well, too.

Before I sign off, I need to say thanks to all of my choir friends who are more than just friends, and who've made the trip infinitely more bearable and fun. So here's to Adrian, Ian, Ben, Nick, Seth, Lovik, and Jack. You guys are the greatest.

So good to be back, and hope to see most of you, my faithful readers, soon!

Woohoo! I'm writing from jolly old England, where the skies are cloudy, the internet cafes are smoky, and the keyboards are messed up ever so slightly. After a long plane trip with two movies (Loved loved loved Bend It Iike Beckham, was bemused by Agent Cody Banks), I went and spent the afternoon in the town park with a large group of grunges, the local term for goth/punk types. Made a lot of new friends that day, although most of them can't remember their own names, let alone mine. The choir is in good form, or will be once we get on the right time schedule. Speaking of time, mine here is limited, so I'll have to leave now, but I'll try and write again soon. Tata!