Ten Best Photos of My Trip So Far

So I realize I have like a gillion photos on my Flickr and only two of you love me enough to browse through them (hi, Craig Durkin and Dad), so I'm going to make this easy for you. Here are the ten best photos of my trip so far, in no particular order: Theron (another volunteer at Sedot Mikha), La Pantera Negra ("I am verry dangeroos") and I enjoy dessert in a Jerusalem bookstore/cafe.

Maya was another volunteer at Sedot Mikha. Here she is reading at sunset at Qalya Beach on the Dead Sea, unaware that she'll ruin her eyes carrying on like that.

Marc (the guy whose museum project I was working on for six weeks at Sedot Mikha) swimming at Ashkelon.

Me and La Pantera Negra posing under the statue I built with Marc. The photo is being taken by Melanie, another volunteer from Germany. You can see her in some of the pictures on my Flickr page, but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?

Ben at Ein Gedi Beach on the Dead Sea. His socks had gotten so gross after weeks of no washing that they would actually stand on end. You can not imagine the stench.

Ben took this one of me in Ein Gedi. So epic! Rarely do I look so statuesque.

In Gaudix, waiting for laundry to dry. There's a companion piece with Ben on my Flickr page, but really why start caring now?

This restaurant at the Alhambra in Granada had misting jets that would spray every minute or so. Made for some positively angelic lighting.

At the Alhambra. I forget the name of this particular structure, but I like this picture of it.

A dog in Spain! He was playing with another dog in this fountain (you can see pictures of that on my Fl... you know what, you wouldn't be interested) for quite a while. I think his silhouette here is really swell.

This Is What a Memory Looks Like

In the Dead Sea again.

I leave Moshav Sedot Mikha tomorrow. I`ve had a good run, made a lot of things, re-energized my creative side. Going to spend a couple of nights in Tel Aviv with friends, then I`m off to Jordan, maybe sleep out in the desert with a Bedouin... Then to Egypt. THEN.... Thailand!

Albert Gets All Indiana Jones

The day started out normally enough, with me sneaking into some place I wasn`t supposed to be. Little did I know what wonders were in store for me...

I stumbled upon an amazing, intricate system of caves. But what made these caves REALLY special is that they were dug by humans, not nature, over 2000 years ago. If you look closely at some of these pictures you can see the marks on the wall from their tools.

I found a small opening with a long winding staircase that went down, down, down into the dark...

...past a room from the mind of MC Escher...

And into a magnificent chamber where I discovered at least four priceless artifacts from another time.

More at my Flickr page.

Check Out This Saddam Hidey Hole I Made

Actually, it`s a septic tank. Corrugated concrete, rebar, and cement.

The Completely Mundane Adventures of Albert Thrower, Chapter One: Wherein Our Hero Gives Himself a Haircut

NOLTE AND ALBERT: SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

"I NEED A HAIRCUT, BUT I HAVE NO CLIPPERS!"

"BE AT EASE, MY CHILD. TAKE THESE SCISSORS AND DO GOOD WORKS."

"GOD? I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN CUT MY OWN HAIR WITH SCISSORS..."

"...BUT I TRUST YOU! LET'S DO IT!"

...an hour and a half of cutting and taking pictures of the back of my head and cutting more...

OH NICE

"WHAT'S OVER THERE? A GOOD HAIRCUT?"

"HUH? THAT WAY TOO?"

Debrief: My father warned me not to try cutting my own hair. I usually take my father's advice, but I ignored him on this one, and the results ain't bad. Definitely some strange quirks to my hair now, it isn't cut like a pro would do it, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. I would post some pics of the back, but... Nobody wants to see that. I'm still working on that technique. Taking pictures of it, then feeling around for what I think are the bits I see sticking out... Maybe not the best way to do it.