Loss of a Friend and Mentor

2-17-11

My heart is filled with a great sadness at the passing of a friend and mentor, Mel Penn. Mr. Penn bravely struggled with lung cancer for 16 months before his passing on February 16th, 2011. Although Mel was fighting his own personal battle against cancer, he often acted as a counselor to me when I needed to talk to someone about a person in my life that was also afflicted by cancer. As I knew him, Mel was an extremely generous man with his time spent with me just listening. He was a source of strength and calm when my own life seemed turbulent, especially toward the end of my MBA program. I owe him a debt of gratitude for the prayers he said for me and for the people that I loved. My thoughts are with Mel and his family today. I hope that I can honor his memory by incorporating his kindness into my own life. I will miss you Mel and I will always remember what you did for me in my times of sorrow. You were a great man and deserving of my deepest respect.

A Scottish Farewell (amazing grace on bagpipes)

Melvin Penn

A Refreshing Evening

1-12/13-11 (Paris, France)

Every now and again you need a moment in your life to refresh the spirit, boost the ego, and just remind you that you are human. Tonight was one of those nights. Thank you Maria for hosting a wonderful birthday party. As luck would have it, the evening went exactly as needed for me. The clubs were scheduled at just the right times for serendipity to show its beautiful blond head.

If I may take a moment to reflect personally, I sometimes feel like I'm just outside of the mainstream enough to put many people off. While some may see this as a negative trait, I have found that it is extremely helpful to be somewhat eccentric because it attracts just the right kind of interesting people. Why waste your life with the mundane when there are so many people out there with logical opinions and minds worth sharing. To be frank, it is just nice to be on an ego trip and feel interesting and attractive.

Song of the night: I've got the World on a String by Frank Sinatra

Received an email from the PRESIDENT of the French classical liberal party

 2-8-11 (RM, France)

A few days ago I decided to send an email to the general inbox of a political party in France that generally subscribes to classical liberal and libertarian philosophy, basically telling them who I was and that I was looking for politically like-minded friends in Paris. Well... not only did I hear back from someone, I heard back from the president of the party. Here is a sample from the email:

"I have no doubt that your past experiences and even your insights regarding petroleum issues would be very valuable for our young political organization."

I thought that contacting the general email inbox of an organization would be fruitless, but I guess things work out for a reason. Hopefully soon I'll be able to meet some new friends and liberty-minded activists in Paris. I'm interested to see what authors people have been inspired by, especially since I have roots in classical liberalism stemming from the English and Scottish Enlightenment thinkers. I know a few French classical liberals, like Bastiat and Say, but I'm sure there are probably more to learn about. I just hope that they know who Ludwig von Mises is!

Song of the day: Tom Sawyer by Rush

 

France needs more punk rock, so let's rock this shi....

2-7-11 (RM, France)

I'm feeling quite punkish today so enjoy some classic tunes:

Eve of Destruction (cover version) by The Dickies
Banana Splits by The Dickies
Beat on the Brat by The Ramones
Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones
Holiday in Cambodia by The Dead Kennedys
Kill the Poor by The Dead Kennedys
Astro Zombies by The Misfits
Skulls by The Misfit
Faith in God by Bad Religion
Pity by Bad Religion

I've got the too-much-studying-today blues

2-6-11 (RM, France)

So I have been studying pretty much all day since I got back from the comic convention and am now getting to the point where I just don't care anymore. A terrible place to be in for sure! Oh well, this morning was really awesome and I am planning on going to the next convention in July.

Because this morning was so much fun, I decided that I wanted to find some interesting off-the-beaten-path places in Paris to visit while I'm here. I came across the Paris Vampire Museum which has a private dinner for group that includes a meal, a private guided tour of the museum, games, and discussion on vampire lore/myth. I also heard they they do tours and dinners in English. I think this would be a delightfully odd evening event!

Today I also joined a couple Meetup groups in Paris, one for adventuring and one for philosophy discussions in English. I think that these two groups will give me things to do outside of class and give the the opportunity to meet new people while I'm here. My adventure group is holding a Mardi Gras event at O'Sullivans Pub so I'm really excited to try and make a paper mache mask. I've never done this before so I am going to try and work on a mask as soon as possible to have it ready for March. I am going to attempt to make a "Bird Splicer" from the game "Bioshock" but without any of the blood splatter on it.

Anyway, enjoy these pics from the comic convention cosplay event :)

Found the Best Pub in Paris (on Friday, 2-4-11)

2-6-11 (Paris, France)

On Friday, I was supposed to meet up with the class representative from last year's PEM group. Only a few people confirmed that they were going to join us so I really wasn't keen on the whole thing. Fortunately however, O'Sullivans Pub turned out to be quite a nice place. Also, as luck would have it, the pub was full of Scottish rugby fans wearing kilts. Turns out that Friday nights are rugby watching nights at this pub. Anyway, the beer was great, the company was entertaining, and the night was a success. Wales lost to England in the rugby match, but oh well. Rugby is actually a really fun game to watch because there is constant action and movement. It has all the good parts of American football but non of the start and stop every play nonsense. It is definitely a sport that I could get into. On a side note, I met a guy that helps manage the capital assets of the British Royal Family. He gave me his name and email after we had discussed the American economy and the rise of China and India.

Most Amazing Japanese Food Night!!!! Ever!!!!

2-2-11 (Paris, France)

Just got back from what is, hands down, the best Japanese food experience of my life. Keisuke (my classmate) really outdid himself with arranging a sampling of delicious Japanese cuisine at a restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe. We started with 3 samples of sashimi (salmon, tuna, and marinaded mackeral) followed by an amazing fried ball of white meat chicken. Next we had 4 pieces of nigiri. What happened next was totally unexpected, Japanese potato dishes. This consisted of Japanese potato salad and a fried mashed potato ball. The potato ball was really impressive because of the crispy outside and mashed potato inside. Finally we had a pork meat soup with snow peas and yellow potatoes. All in all, there was so much food and it was all delicious and wonderful. To top it all off we had a few Japanese beers and some warm sake.

After eating at the restaurant we all (Francois, Valerie, Dave, Anna, Myself, Jay, Kamal, and Keisuke) we back to Keisuke's apartment to drink more beer and sake. Kamal suggested we play a party game called "Mafia" which was pretty darn fun. It was essentially the same game as "phantom" for all my starcraft 2 nerds out there only in real life. Awesome and simple game for a party. Thank you so much to all my friends for such a fantastic evening. Events like these are so much more enjoyable than going to loud music clubs, thank you!