I'm supposed to be in London, England right now with a group of my students on a one-week study tour, but the faculty member leading the study tour dropped me from the trip -- even though the students wanted me to go on the trip with them -- because the faculty member leading the trip doesn't like me.

Why this particular faculty member doesn't like me is a mystery.  I really don't care for him, anyway, especially now that I know that he doesn't like me, so I couldn't care less that he doesn't like me, but am a bit bitter that I was dropped from going on this trip.  Mainly because London is one of my favorite cities to visit and I would've totally added on a few extra days' stay after "chaperoning" my students on their study tour and visited steveuk during my stay there.

But maybe this was a blessing in disguise?  Meaning, if the man doesn't like me, then he probably would've made the trip a hellish one for me while we were there in London.

However, still, I hear London Calling.

So, this makes no sense to me and, frankly, makes me angry.

I don't consider myself a religious individual but my family does practice Shintoism and I do, to a certain extent, honor the traditions and believe in the teachings of Shinto.  Granted, Shintoism is kind of an easy-to-follow religion.  As far as I'm aware, there are no dietary restrictions and much of the teachings are based on, "Respect your elders, treat Mother Nature well, and be kind to others."

I don't like it when religion starts going into, "My religion is better than yours," and when religion has segregation policies and/or doctrines that say one person is better than another.  Isn't religion, at the end of the day, supposed to teach others to be good to one another, respect each other, and become better people for each other......?

I think it's 2015 already on the other side of the world.  We've still got about 10 hours left of 2014 here on the East Coast of the United States.

Tom and I have basically ended planless for New Year's Eve, which is, frankly, very depressing.  We were invited to a New Year's Eve party in the most peculiar way, which has left me in a foul mood.  We were told, "We'll try and make room for you so you can come to our party."  I was like, "Make room for us?  What, are we being accomodated unwillingly?  What kind of a shitty way is that to invite someone to your house party?"

It's been, what?  18 months since Tom and I have moved to Atlanta and we're failing to meet any decent people.  Like, genuinely nice people we can confidently call our friends, and I don't know what that's about.  People tell me that the South is very cliquey and people tend to just stick to their small groups of friends and they don't like letting anyone new into their cliques and don't like meeting new people.  I'm beginning to think that's true.  And, I don't know if this is just my paranoia, but I'm also wondering if the fact that Tom and I are an interracial couple with an age difference is a factor to us not finding anyone out there that seem to like us.  Like, one of the things that was pointed out to me recently is that friendship circles here in the South are Black and White.  "The Blacks have a Black circle of friends, the Whites have a White circle of friends.  If you're not Black or White here in the South, then you're sort of left and it can be hard to fit in."

I guess I've been spoiled living in New York City and Los Angeles.  I had various groups of friends that I "belonged" to and the various groups had various races, religions, and sexualities all mixed in together, which is what made my friendships all eccentric, unique, and fun.

Anyway, the point of this entry is: embrace differences.  Differences is what makes us unique.  Isn't it boring if all your friends were just like you?  And have a Happy New Year.

Ran some errands and came across what appears to be a fairly new walking trail developed in my neighborhood.  I explored......