While visiting the wifey on my vacation, I came across this awesome hippie van on one of our many long walks. Now, all of my friends know my stance on hippies, especially the ones that I catch protesting outside the Reading Terminal Market. I’d like to put them in a sack, toss the sack in a river, and hurl the river into space.

But I do like hippie vans.

And this one was a doozie.

Objects in mirror…

Where The Wild Things Are?!? Amazing.

Did you know that Where The Wild Things Are is being made into a movie? Kinda psyched, especially with someone like Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) directing and Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) writing the screenplay. How can it NOT be good?

Ah hippies. Please spend more time making awesome looking vans and less time wasting your lives protesting. Thanks.

So, I’ve had off from school the past three weeks and this past week, I took off from work. I spent my vacation time in three cities. Philadelphia (mostly playing Bioshock), New Jersey (causing ruckus with friends and family), and in Albany with the little lady and our grandchildren.

And by grandchildren, I mean baby bunnies.

Adorable. They’re all quite precious, even the little angry brown bunny who likes to bite absolutely everything. The black and white speckled one is my personal favorite.

This all black bun is The Dark Lord and will be coming home with me to Philadelphia, to be adopted by my friends Tim and Megan.

I also spent a good portion of my time playing fetch with these two crazy puppies, running up and down a huge field of lush, bright green alfalfa, taking in all the fresh air I could while scoping out some seriously beautiful mountain scenery.

And of course, spent lots of time with this beautiful girl.

Semester starts soon. Writing Fiction Workshop (yay!), The History of Rhetoric (ugh), and Medieval Literature (yay!). Should be an interesting semester. Just one more after this, and I’ll have my MFA. Where does the time go?

One of the great things about living in Philadelphia is the absolute wealth of history that surrounds me everyday. I can walk five blocks down the street and find myself at the Liberty Bell. A block further, Independence Hall. Ben Franklin’s grave is six blocks away, where dumb people throw pennies on it. The man said “a penny saved is a penny earned”. SAVE your pennies, stop throwing them on him. Plus Abe Lincoln is on the penny. Want to do him justice? Throw some hundred dollah bills on him. K? Thnx.

This weekend I went to New Jersey to spend time with good friends from my former college. My pal Jon happens to live in Haddonfield, and will be moving to Philadelphia in September. The great thing about Haddonfield, is that a TON of New Jersey history resides there.

The Indian King Tavern is where, in 1777, New Jersey officially became a state. While the state’s capital, Trenton, was full of battling troops, the Council and General Assembly ratified the state’s constitution. The site happens to be the very first official historic site in New Jersey. Check out the sweet plaque on the front door and the sign hanging outside…

They were missing the U’s when the sign was made. Good thing they noticed the similiar shapes between V and U. If things got really bad, they also could have replaced S with 5.

However, hidden within the town of Haddonfield, lies another important historical discovery, that unfortunately gets overlooked by most passerbys.

The very first dinosaur discovered in North America was found here in New Jersey. The monument is pretty weak, just that little sign and a rock with a plaque describing the dinosaur (a Hadrosaurus). You can see this beast on display at Philadelphia’s Academy of Arts & Sciences (I’ll be hitting that up tomorrow). Despite how lame the monument may be, it is certainly endearing, due to the little display put on by the town’s children…

These toy dinos sit all lined up on a bench near the monument. Aw.

Read up some more on New Jersey history in your local library on Wikipedia. I will mention that Billy Crystal’s character Harry from When Harry Met Sally happens to be from Haddonfield, NJ. Awesome.

Haddonfield, NJ / Indian King Tavern

Burkey [n] bur-kEE 1. a bunny that has grown so fat that it bears resemblance to a butterball turkey.

Seriously, this is my life.

And it’s pretty good.

Summer classes are finished. I still can’t believe I read every single one of Jane Austen’s novels in six weeks. My second class, The American Short Story, wasn’t as reading intensive, but there were a hella lot of papers. I’m thrilled to just have a whole month off to relax, do some writing, and hang out with friends. I really need the time off.

I’ll be spending some of that time off in Montreal, working on a lyric book for a musical. I’m really excited about this project, and even if nothing comes of it, it’ll still be a wonderful writing experience. I’m working with an amazing composer who also happens to be one of my best friends. The story is based off a classical piece of literature, but as to what piece it is, that’s a secret.

I also plan on saving my money all month so I can buy one of these from a jewelry shop in Society Hill that apparently specializes in rapper jewelry.

Here’s to a month off.