Life's been good to me so far...

I've been here for about two weeks....love it execpt for absurd amount of redundancy during training. Won't really be able to update until after training. So sorry. Love you all,
Brian

Philly

Well, I'm here in the city of brotherly love for my Peace Corps orientation. Not really any time for sight-seeing, as we've spent most of our time in sessions learning the logistics of travel and getting more general information about what's going on. Despite all that, I did find time to go to the Electric Factory Sunday night to see Les Claypool. He is amazing. I've seen him a few times before and each time seems more incredible. He played with two percussionists, a sax player (Sherek), and a girl from California known as Gabby LaLa (she played the Ukelele, Sitar, and Theramon). The venue was as equally amazing as the show itself. Every place is a great place in the Electric Factory. The stage is high up for your viewing pleasure, but in case you can't see, you can go upstairs and enjoy the show on the balcony. And if that isn't good enough, you can watch the show on one of numerous screens...not typical screen though. They are designed to fit in with the decore. We are getting ready to leave the country this morning and have long times of travel in front of us (including a long layover in Turkey). Apparently it may be some time before I have time to post again, so please be patient. As I prepare for the next fews years of my life, I wanted to thank you all again for the incredible support and love. I don't know what I've done to deserve all of this, but this is a dream come true for me. I love you all! Peace, Love, and Happiness, Brian

Friends

Obviously this is a very exciting time in my life, but I'm excited beyond the Peace Corps service. I just happen to have the most incredible friends in the world--friends who make me feel like a rock star and love and support me. To these friends, I know I've probably told some of you this before, but I'm a big fan of making sure people know things, rather than waiting for it to be too late: I love and respect each of you as if you were a member of my family because you are a member of my family. Although I'm excited about my adventure, part of me cannot wait until it's over and I'm back getting hugs and planning how we all, together, are going to rock this planet. I have somewhat vague, yet somewhat specific notions of what I want to do when I get back, and you are all an integral part of it. Get excited for the future; we're going to go places we could never have imagined as children...places we didn't even know existed. Simply open your mind and follow your heart; I know you'll be there with me.

I want to give a special shout-out to my new friends I made on my trip to Bella Luna this weekend. You were all fantastic. I even made a friend, who is also interested in life of volunteering. Her name is Jess and she is absolutely amazing. She leaves for Equador with the AmeriCorps in August. Hopefully she'll be blogging and posting pictures as well (peer pressure, Jess...now you have to do it). If not, I'll make her keep me up-to-date on her situation and keep you posted as well. (Look at that: two adventures for the price of one, three if you've also been reading Anderson and Liz's adventure; you better be). You should also check out her artwork that she so kindly did on my legs (I am but the canvas). You can see those on my myspace page under the Bella Luna section of pictures (I think they are on page 3, maybe 4).

So to all my family out there: I love you and Goodnight

Peace, Love, and Happiness,
Brian

Pictures

I almost forgot to tell all of you. If you go to www.myspace.com/brianfenoglio, I've decided to put my pictures up there (at least for now; I'll let you know if I change). I currently have over 100 pictures, each with comments--begin your browsing now.

Peace, Love, and Happiness,
Brian

Heroes

When I went to Bella Luna this weekend, I took an address book so I could gather information about my friends in one, easily accessible place. Today I found a note my friend, Cat, had left me that I thought expressed a very beautiful sentiment:

"Brian-
I love you. May you find inspiration, love, and joy in this new journey. Knowledge, light, and joy always reign supreme. Thank you for being my hero.
Cat"

The following is my reply, but as I was writing it, I thought others may wish to read it as well:

"I just found the message you left in the back of my address book. Thank you so much. I feel very honored (or honoured, as the Brits might spell) that you think so highly of me. I've certainly been very inspired by my heroes in this world and if I can reflect some of what they've been teaching, then I am happy. I'm pumped to be doing Good and am excited to hopefully work at becoming an even better human being. Ever since I was really little, I've always felt it necessary that I should make sacrifices for Humanity. I was raised in the Methodist church and, while most people wanted to worship Jesus, I wanted to be like him...to give of myself in some great way-albeit, I wasn't too keen on the whole dying thing. Later in life, I took a Buddhism class that had a profound impact on me. The idea of the Boddhisatva (sp?)--one who is, essentially enlightened, but waits to go to Nirvana to stay behind and help others attain enlightenment--greatly intrigued me. In the end, I feel that my heart is bursting with love and I need only direction to help many people. I hope that this is only one small step in the Good that I do in this lifetime. "

I hope you all enjoyed this little bit of insight. And, Cat, I hope you didn't mind me posting what you wrote (if so, let me know and I'll take it out of this entry).

Peace, Love, and Happiness,
Brian