(no subject)

Yesterday R and I and my mom and bro and a couple of his friends and his girlfriend who we don't call a girlfriend all went to a place called flatrock. Flatrock is located in Linn Run State park and is a big flat rock (you guessed it) that the river runs over. We all (except my mom) took turns sliding down the rock and splashing into the deeper pool below on our feet and belly and back and thighs. Twas great fun. Somehow the natural waterslide, even if smaller than the ones at waterparks, was way more fun than anything man made.

Before going to flatrock I bought plane tickets and insurance and faxed everything to the Fulbright advisor. We are leaving for UZ out of Dulles (in VA) at 5:35 pm on Oct. 2. We travel through Frankfurt and Istanbul and finally arrive in Tashkent at 1:10 am on Oct.4. I've done this itinerary before and its not so bad as it sounds. There is the added bonus of stocking up on German chocolate while en route. R is happy but pensive. He already misses his friends and family a lot and I think the depth and breadth of these travels is finally starting to sink in.

(no subject)

this article is quite frightening:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/report/executive_summary.php

I remember lots of warnings about how toxic makeup can be, but this still really shocked me.

Cosmetics and cleansers aren't under FDA regulation, it seems that they're under no regulation at all. It's like snake oil peddling all over again.