Regarding next weekend, doesn't Table Mtn. beckon? Are you really going to let it get the best of you? I think you should assemble your sherpas and make an all-out, non-nonsense campaign for the summit (if it has one).

Regarding wine and cheese, these are acquired tastes, so it's great that you weren't totally grossed out. And being a "fanatic" of either can be problematic so that's okay too. If you have a chance, find out what the locals like and bring us back a bottle! South African wines are highly regarded by some but we're not too familiar with them ...

Have fun this week and we can't wait to see you! We're counting the days.

1. You need a long run. Just run to Table Mountain, up it, back down it, and back to the campus. Just bring a few bodyguards, and if anyone gives you trouble, ask, "you wanna race?"

2. As far as I know, Miss Becca is not yet 21 and she is an American citizen. I believe that this precludes her from importing alcohol into the US, unless she declines to declare it on her Customs form. Do correct me if I am wrong.

3. So, you made a decision. Interesting.

So first i had to educate myself about a hebalist. I thought you spelled herbalist wrong.
So - what was creepy about the place?

Good point, Diana - I overlooked that little detail in my zeal.

Becca, if anything I say contradicts Diana, Diana governs of course! Note that we did achieve consensus on the Table Mountain concept however. Happy trails!

Uh, Diana doesn't necessarily govern. (Yes, I'm speaking in third person. Becca started it.) Diana might be wrong. And Diana even told Becca to lie on her customs form once (DON'T say you went to a farm!), so I'm pretty sure Becca could do it again. (If it's even illegal, and I don't even know for sure that it is; it just seems likely.)

What's going on here? I can't keep up with all these comments!

First of all, if I don't get to hike up Table Mountain before I leave (I've already been to the top, but I used the cable car to cheat), I'll just have to come back to South Africa and hike it next time.

Second of all, there are several things that I won't be declaring on my customs form, so let's hope that they don't decide to randomly check Becca's suitcase.

Thirdly, I did spell "herbalist" wrong...I tend not to proof read these entries before I post them, because I'm generally in fear that the next person who booked the PC will come to claim it. So I don't know what you found when you researched a hebalist, because as far as I know, such a thing doesn't exist.

Thanks for your comments and attentive reading!

Yeah, well, serves you right for going to bed at noon every day.

What else are you not declaring? This sounds interesting. Please elaborate.

And I looked up hebalist and couldn't find anything, except a lot of misspellings of herbalist. You still didn't answer her question of what was creepy.

Whoa! You edited out the end of Beth's comment!

(Maybe you thought no one would notice... but you underestimate me...)

What's this about going to bed at noon? I do no such thing... Although I have been getting a full 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night this semester, which has been remarkable.

What if the people at customs happen to check this post? Sounds risky to me.

The really creepy things involved such artifacts as a huge snake skin, real rabbit feet, half of a bird...you get the picture. At one point, Crystal was standing in front of me, and I just touched that back of her neck with my finger. I don't think she's ever been so freaked out in her entire life. I wouldn't have wanted any of those creepy things to touch me, but seeing as how most of them were hanging down to the level of my chin, I'm sure I inadvertantly did such a thing...

I meant noon our time: as in, you miss all comments posted past noon.

You'll just have to tell me when you get back. But you flatter yourself: They won't check it.

Now, that is some creepy detail that we all would have liked to see included in the original post. (I speak with this authority because Beth says I govern.) That was not very nice of you to do to Crystal. You should be nicer to her, especially since you're working on a final paper together.

Actually, sometimes I'm at the computer lab until 3:00 pm your time, and I don't get to bed until about 5:00 or 6:00 pm. So none of this noon talk...

Hey, you never know. What if customs has taken to Googling everyone's name as they come through? Google is, after all, a mighty fast and powerful search engine.

Crystal bites me, so instead of biting her back, I just freak her out a lot.

That's still noon in Hawaii. So why don't you comment past, say, 4:00 am if you're there until 3:00 pm?

Sure, they're going to go through hundreds of pages just to find some little thing? Note that the word "Gutwin" and the word "customs" do not appear together on any of your pages -- until now!

You lead a strange life. Do your parents know this?

You still didn't put that part of Beth's comment back in, Miss Sneaky.

I have a certain order in which I prioritize my online tasks. First, I comment and post on my blog, then I check my email addresses, then I check other people's blogs, and then I do random other things. So I am online after 4:00 am, but I have already commented on everyone else's comments by that time.

Hey, they could Google "Rebecca Gutwin" and come up with lots of incriminating evidence. You never know.

Of course my parents know that I lead a strange life. Well, sometimes I follow one, too. I consider many aspects of my life to be the definition of strange.

Why would I put it back in? I obviously took it out for a reason.