In June of '07, I went down to Ecuador to train at an archaeological field school. I was an Anthro minor and intended to pursue a career in Biological Anthropology, specializing in molecular clocking (deducing rates of evolution through DNA base pair variation), and wanted some kind of field experience before finishing undergrad. I just googled archae field schools and picked one. It was run by a university in Florida to which I had no connection whatsoever. It was run by two profs and had two separate classes: one in archaeology (digging) and one in ethnography (meeting people and writing about them). I ended up in the archaeological field school.

Upon arriving, I met the rest of the participants. Many of them knew each other, and I was somewhat of a novelty. The first night, I managed to take the smart but prudish girl back to my room for some "Hey, I just met you, why don't we fool around" action. Little did I know what I was getting into.

She turned out to be crazy. Like top-notch, grade A, never-been-kissed, "I'll give you $100 to take my virginity" crazy. It didn't take me long to make it clear that I was not that in need of cash, and that I was not falling in love. This did not go over well, and for the first two weeks of the six week program, I had to apologize to every fucking person in the camp for subjecting them to the tears of this crazy, immature, raving girl.

However, (this is where it gets interesting) during those first two weeks, I was spending all day in the field away from Crazy, who was studying ethnography in the coastal village where we were camped about 6km away. All day, I was troweling dirt and plotting pits next to one of the hottest and most engaged-to-be-married 20 year old girls I've ever met. At first, her neutrality as a "spoken for" woman was a good haven from the rest of the crowd, who were still kind of up-in-arms about my bagging and bouncing Ms. Crazy. And so, my pit partner and I got along swimmingly, spending the grueling but relieved-from-social-antagonism days talking about this and that. Now, I gotta tell ya, I'm a strapping lad (about 2m ((that's 6'6")) and 115kg ((250 lbs))) and I was very good at the field work. There is very little that impresses women, especially 20 year old engaged-to-be-married women, like being physically excellent at something right in front of them.

Around the end of week two, I started to notice that my pit partner and I were getting all electric and stuff around each other, making eyes and whispering sweet nothings as we toiled away in our dirt hole. Things got spicier and spicier, especially when I found out that the fiance was a wannabe prize fighter who couldn't hold a job, had cheated on her, and held his crotch rocket in about as much esteem as his wife-to-be (also, he bought her a $20k ring and made her mother make the payments on it). As I clearly could not give a flying cockroach's penis about this douche, I let myself really fall for this girl.

At the end of week three, we had four days off to travel wherever we chose. As I tend to be a loner if I don't find a very, very like-minded crony, I was planning to head south to Cuenca for a long weekend of solo traveling. But, as luck/fate/coincidence would have it, I met the soon-to-be-married lady and her traveling group at the bus stop just outside the village, also planning to go to Cuenca. Their group was minus a strong leader and without much Spanish, so I hooked up with them, "and it has made all the difference."

In Cuena, the girl and I fell in love. We didn't touch each other that weekend, but luck/fate/coincidence left us alone together too many times for there not to have been meaning in it. We talked by glowing midnight fountains, got lost on a house party dancefloor, drank too much shitty beer, and stared at the stars from the rooftop we had to crawl out a hotel window to sit on. Neither of us mentioned it out loud, but only used strong suggestion and innuendo. We both knew what was happening, but weren't sure if it was going to work. As I have failed to mention, but the astute reader might already suspect, my former liason Ms. Crazy considered herself to be Soon-to-Be-Married's best friend in Ecuador. She was right there in Cuenca with us the whole time, in complete denial of what was right in her face.

We returned from Cuenca on a Sunday, and I spent Monday and Tuesday white knuckled and sweating as I worked right next to a woman I could have ripped the perfect breast concealing oversized sweatshirt off and really gotten dirty. As she was engaged and about as virtuous as they come these days, no one suspected a thing. We were headed right straight towards Affair City on our pheromone and hormone fueled freight train, and no one else even had a whiff of it.

To this day, not one of the 20 or so other students has any idea that on that Tuesday after Cuenca, as we sat on the porch of my cabin--me playing guitar and her studying for the GRE--this girl and I began one of the world's greatest love affairs. That night, we finally put into words the feelings and fears, and each one assured the other that it would be safe as long as no one knew. At a peak moment in the conversation, I must have asked something like "Well, what's next, then?" The words she answered still echo in my mind whenever I have trouble sleeping. Sultry, slow and with head tilted, she said, "You wanna test the waters?" and glided across the porch and into my lightless room. I sat thinking Oh my god. She just fucking went into my cabin. Holy fuck, I'm gonna. Fuck. Shit. Wow. Wait a sec, she's in my cabin. STFU and get in there! She had to open the door to check if I was coming before the dazzle faded from my mind. I pushed her back into the darkness.

That was nearly two years ago now, and as I write, I am putting this princess to bed in our apartment in Taipei. We carried on an illicit affair, with trysts on 1 a.m. beaches, in shower stalls and in my Pacific breeze filled cabin for a month in Ecuador, and it has lasted to this day, across four continents and literally around the world. I have never written this story down before, and I just thank AC for giving me the forum.

Hmm, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but anyone notice how the Republicans are putting all their "brown" people out there as if to say, "Look, some of are best people are not white!"

There's a few factors at work here.

No liberal believes it possible any "oppressed" person could ever be conservative. Liberal "diversity" has no room for diverse opinions outside of The Doctrine.

Republicans are not race-obsessed like Democrats and therefore don't have to shout from the rooftops every 30 seconds that B. Hussein Obama is the first BLACK President, "logically" concluding anyone opposing the scamulus must be a racist.

Either Steele changed his views or agreed to represent majority GOP principles to take the job. So? Compare him to Obama, who has been a marxist, anti-freedom radical for most of his life. He'll never CHANGE so abandon all HOPE.

Very cool, but the video footage doesn't actually show very many interesting things. The Nike commercial was more impressive.

They should have picked a better city or something... I wanted to see death-defying leaps and scaling down buildings from balcony to balcony, not *running* on top of rooftops and only a few good drops.

if jesus ran for president, i would vote from the rooftop

Make sure you bring some LSD to help calm u down for the flight

seriously though I'll never forget my first flight lesson.. that moment that the aircraft first lifted off the ground.. I looked down at the rooftops thinking omg that'll hurt like hell to fall in this little tin can if the engine gave out right now. I felt scared for a couple seconds but then I just focused on the beauty of being airborne. Just let yourself go and focus on something that makes you happy. The fear will subside.

You know we're in a different time here in USA when we hear a white man, who has as much authority and responsibility as Mr.Trumka, attack racism so clearly, and vociferously. Super. Awesome.

UDATE: If you find this video interesting, DO indeed watch the full speech. This guy is saying what sincerely needs to be screamed from the rooftops in every city in this country.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1569844277/bclid1600122369/bctid1641860319

Tags for this video have been changed from 'solar panels' to 'solar panels, photovoltaic, pv, sun, rooftop, installation, fast forward, electricity' - edited by Eklek

Also the officer face cam seems a bit unnecessary for the normal duty of a police officer. As are the rooftop camera and back-seat-handycam angles. The badge cam is a nice touch, however.

>> ^SaNdMaN:
>> ^rychan:
Very misleading / ambiguous video. What parts of that scene were CG? None except for the few overlays, right? Big deal, at that resolution and without realistic rendering we can't tell how good it is.

I'm pretty sure the whole thing up until they show "the real Emily" is CG.


And what possible reason do you have to say that? I mean, WHY do people insist on saying something that they cannot back up with ANY reason?

The part where they show the face in cg overlay... THAT'S it for what they've done to the video, overlaid a CG face onto her face after using the very video they're sampling from to get the movement. Why would they show that being the only cg part if they did everything? They'd be shouting from the rooftops if it were everything, they'd deconstruct everything in the room if it were really ALL CG.

Plus, the rest of her body etc. LOOKS more real than the face... especially the mouth.

It's still darn impressive.

But again, it shows how much more you can get away with if you surround your cg in reality.

It's quite impressive, but having all the rest being real helps it enormously

Damn....well, I always liked abandoned cars and rooftops m'sself....dress like yer going to a business meeting, as soon as you hit the streets, and you can pull it off legit for about 4 days before you need a bath......
Sorry man, no, wish you were in Texas....bummer-

Good transit system, long routes, you can catch up on sleep, and there's always shelters....

Sounds like yer freakin'.....

Ether is one of the most interesting drugs I have tried, the feeling of disassociation with your body is pretty profound plus the feeling of being extremely drunk.

Me and my friend were experimenting on a rooftop patio, I remember being totally detached from my body, watching from a 3rd person perspective as he was moving contorted around me, freezing totally once, he told me that he totally black out at that time. It a hilarious night.

I wouldn't do it too often though, its really harsh on the lungs to huff it off a cloth. But thats a good thing considering its very chemically addictive. Also if you do attain some remember to do it soonish, or keep it in a medical grade flask as it evaporates very quickly.

>> ^reiz:
As an avid gamer I hate to say this, but I won't be surprised if some kids will try to emulate this with tragic consequences.
I mean, just watching that makes me want to go run around on rooftops, and I'm an old fart with severe vertigo.


LOL yes
I am afraid that follows the same line as "But you can do that in the Matrix!"
Parkour is an interesting sport though

Also, kids, emulate....thats what kids do...

As an avid gamer I hate to say this, but I won't be surprised if some kids will try to emulate this with tragic consequences.

I mean, just watching that makes me want to go run around on rooftops, and I'm an old fart with severe vertigo.

Yeah if they get it right it will work. My absolute favourite game series was Thief, and that had rooftop jumping in first person that worked just fine.

Colin Powell said it: "You break it, you buy it". I think we're obligated now. And it's going to hurt for a long, long time. A lot of men and women are going to die because of it.

If I were a young Iraqi with a testosterone imbalance living in a repressive culture invaded by a foreign army, I'd probably be up on the rooftops with a Dragunov. You take someone's country over and they'll never ever forget it.

The arrogance and ignorance of the Neocons for putting our professional, completely voluntary forces in harms way to satisfy their avarice make me realize that I need Bob Dylan to explain how I feel...

"...You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
While the death count gets higher
Then you hide in your mansion
While the young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud...

...And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead."