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From Riches to Rags - Halloween 2008

Seeking to take advantage of some media event dominating the news in the past few months, Kate and I set out to find the best costume for Halloween.

McCain and Palin - no way, too obvious.

Batman and the Joker - we knew this would be popular

Barack and Michelle Obama - we weren't going to go there

It didn't take long to find something that would allow us to work as a team, and that we thought would be both relevant and funny: one infamous Fannie Mae and one infamous Freddie Mac. Bingo.

Once two young, wealthy entrepreneurs who had fallen on very, very hard times.

First we created the original, well-to-do versions of both characters:


These were our company id badges. Here we are in our prime, making a ton of cash selling houses to good people.

Then came the real fun. We transformed both Fanny and Freddie into two individuals who have hit rock bottom.

Fanny has turned to the oldest profession in the world - prostitution - to try and regain some of her financial stability. She is working the streets as a way to pay the rent.

Freddie has turned to the bottle and has been wandering the streets and getting into fights. He has a couple of black eyes, hit clothes are torn to shreds, and he can't seem to find his left shoe.


While we thought this would be a great costume, we failed to consider that the costumes would lose much of their gusto at our Halloween party ... in Bulgaria. When we made our grand entrance, confronted by a room full of our Bulgarian colleagues, their friends and family, and we shouted, "Fannie and Freddy...Hey!" we were greeted back by many a blank stares. Most people didn't get the costume. Although those few who did get it were much appreciated. Many just thought I was a drunk. Kate was told by more than a few people that she looked really good dressed up like that and that she should dress this way normally.

There were many other great costumes at the party - a microscope, a shwarma/kebab, a great Joker, white trash, and others. We enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun with the costumes. We hope that Freddy and Fannie do find a path to economic salvation before they end up six feet under.

YES WE DID!!

Yes we did
Yes we did: wake up at 12:45 am to watch the first results
Yes we did: make tea, eat twix and wafers too
Yes we did: all vote for Obama
Yes we did: fret and worry and fear the worst
Yes we did: slowly but surely realize that he would win
Yes we did: do victory laps and high fives for every state called for Obama
Yes we did: jump and scream in euphoria when he won
Yes we did: do a victory jog around campus at about six am
Yes we did: have a glass of victory vino
Yes we did: share a special, historic event
Yes we did: shed a tear or two
Yes we did: shake our heads and smile
Yes we did: believe
Yes we did: Obama
Yes we did

Colors

URBANIZE - Photos from an Urban Festival in Sofia

Just a cool sticker that had fallen to the pavement. It is for the local writer's shop - showing that graffiti art is more accepted in Bulgaria and, from what I've seen, all around Europe.













This is my boy from Poland. Watched him for about 20 minutes working on this piece.













Had a nice chat with him - the event organizer flew him in to paint for three days. He's a student in Warsaw, but does this as his hobby.













Here is his finished piece (well, almost).













They had a nice little skate park with about 30 kids riding and doing tricks.













Lots of young kids trickin' it out.













Eastern European skater sag.













On his way up...













Eagerly awaiting his turn.













Flying by...

















A large artists wall.












Here is an artist working on the wall.














Some of the art from this wall.

Mobbin' It in Bulgaria

Check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/world/europe/16bulgaria.html?scp=2&sq=bulgaria&st=cse

I think I'm seeing a pattern here: From one country to the next, it seems that I am steadily progressing deeper and deeper into states more and more affected by the Mafia and corruption: the United States to Italy to Paraguay and, now, Bulgaria. If this pattern holds, I suspect I will be in Zimbabwe for my next job and, then, eventually somewhere like Haiti (considered THE most corrupt country in the World).

Branch is Famous (and dubbed) on B-TV in Bulgaria

BTV, Bulgaria's national television network, showed up on our campus yesterday looking for Yankees to talk political shop. Although I told them I was one of those California hippy-socialist types, they still wanted to do the interview.

Here is a screen shot that my friend Brett took. Hopefully they send out a copy of the whole interview. The best part about it was that I was dubbed. They had audio of my voice somewhat muted in the background while someone translated my words into Bulgarian. The second best part is my name there in Bulgarian. We are looking for a full 1/2 hour of air time on BTV when we have our official Election Party. What would be more interesting than some ex-pats drinking and staying up to an ungodly hour awaiting the results of the US election, on a school night no less? I'm pretty sure we can smash records for viewership - it's like Big Brother or Real World, but cooler.