Nothing special. No haikus. No deep thoughts. Just 4:56 AM and feel like writing some random things just to mark 'em down. Since it's the chic thing to do I'll get my Thanksgiving and its subsequent weekend drops out the way.
1. Hope everyone had a happy one.
2. Saw half of my 4 siblings. But the two I didn't see are technically half siblings (which you only really say in explanations of your family tree to other people if you give "half" a shit about the sibling), so does that mean I saw 2 out of 3 siblings?
3. Cal didn't play so we couldn't lose.
4. Went to 3 movies with abovementioned family. "Fred Claus" is friggin' hilarious for a holiday movie, a la "Elf". Vince Vaughn is like Al Pacino. It doesn't matter what character he plays, he acts like Vince Vaughn. So of course, he's got a line somewhere, something like "I appreciate you not bringing your negative vibe to my party." If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.
5. Thinking about the upcoming week...the last week before I head out west like so many young men before me. The Milky Lactating One (you might know him as Mike) turns 30, so that should be fun. Another one enters the trey nil.
At times I feel old when I look around at my friends. Or maybe I feel too young because of where they're at and I'm not...I'm single, in career transition, moving next week with no housing of my own (but with the graciousness of those I love, who love me back, stable housing), no car, et cetera, et cetera. Grass is always greener, right? I'm cool with no car and I'm also alright being single for the moment.
But it is a bit tough when you went to the best public university in the US, kicked ass in the grades department, and proudly see all your friends around you makin' the big moves in their careers. I mean, I signed up for this, though. I had an entry level job at any of the top investment banks, accounting or financial firms in the country waiting for me, but it isn't/wasn't in me. So it's time to dig in and kick ass at whatever I decide on. It's TIME...TO...DECIDE, dude- I tell myself. Well, on December 4th begins my umpteenth New Life since 1999. In the words of my surfer buddies from SoCal...Shaka Brah! That's some gnarly shit!
P.S. do you guys really say "shaka" when you're out on the rip curls using surfspeak?
out
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Circles Are Funny Little Things
Six years ago, I had a round trip ticket from San Francisco to Accra- capital of Ghana- returning in 3 months. That would've been my first and probably never duplicatable backpacking adventure. I had plans to explore the area and places I would admittedly never know if not for the planning...Burkina Faso, Benin (the birthplace of voodoo), Togo (which had only been a sandwich shop in Berkeley up until then), and maybe getting as far west as Senegal or Mali. I had bought me a French book and started getting some key phrases down. I knew all the hotspots for monkey viewing. I had money in my bank account. Then....BAM! As that commercial says, "Life comes at you hard." So do cars. Hospital for two months, and trip canceled for rehab. By the way, to get a refund on a missed plane trip, you need a hell of an excuse and some CSI like proof. I had to send in hospital records, CT scans, MRI's, the whole nine to get that $1200 back. So after this trip, assuming I had no serious insect transmitted viruses, I was planning on going back to the area I had gone to school and loved, and putting that business degree to work, or something like that.
Plans had been changed and rocked. I know. I know. Why didn't you just go back to San Francisco as planned? By the time rehab was over, I had no cash to set up shop there. Plus, being that my very brain had been literally rocked, shit was kinda confusing and I was, to be honest, mentally and physically too tired to try anything too new. So, I got a small loan from my peops to go to Thailand. In case you ever need to know, setting up shop in Thailand only requires a pretty small pile of dough.
So two times in Thailand, once in Vietnam, once more in Vietnam, once in India, and four months bumming around Europe later, where is my most probable next stop? San Francisco. Shit just worked out that way. But, damn, where will I live? A little opening has revealed itself...with my last college roommate. Weirdddd...
and we go full circle. Now I just need the job part hammered out. Using that little business degree ain't gonna be so easy, now. Six years removed from any business experience, I wonder what the statute of limitations on that piece of paper is...despite it being from such a good school...the adventures never do cease. Am I equipped for the journey? Stay tuned for updates...
Plans had been changed and rocked. I know. I know. Why didn't you just go back to San Francisco as planned? By the time rehab was over, I had no cash to set up shop there. Plus, being that my very brain had been literally rocked, shit was kinda confusing and I was, to be honest, mentally and physically too tired to try anything too new. So, I got a small loan from my peops to go to Thailand. In case you ever need to know, setting up shop in Thailand only requires a pretty small pile of dough.
So two times in Thailand, once in Vietnam, once more in Vietnam, once in India, and four months bumming around Europe later, where is my most probable next stop? San Francisco. Shit just worked out that way. But, damn, where will I live? A little opening has revealed itself...with my last college roommate. Weirdddd...
and we go full circle. Now I just need the job part hammered out. Using that little business degree ain't gonna be so easy, now. Six years removed from any business experience, I wonder what the statute of limitations on that piece of paper is...despite it being from such a good school...the adventures never do cease. Am I equipped for the journey? Stay tuned for updates...
Friday, October 26, 2007
Blank Memoirs of the Man Canon Left Behind
I finally installed the software for my camera onto my computer, downloaded the pictures, loosely categorized them, blah blah blah. Many thinking "about time!", perhaps? Check these stats, for you photophiles awaiting pictures from my trip:
Months- 6
Countries- 9
Cities- 18
Pictures- 214 (with many being different perspectives of the same thing)
Excuses- Countless
Excuses deemed valid by most people from industrialized nations- 0, I think
To sum up why I didn't take so many pictures is because, while I met and had great times with plenty of people along the way, a la the journey of Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, many of whom I still keep in touch with...I was technically traveling alone. All but like 3 of my pictures are of inanimate objects or animals...nothing worth really showing people.
Incidentally, since most of the pictures are of buildings and such, I had to do some FBI-esque forensic analysis to remember where some of them were. Example: zoom in on signs and try to figure out if the language on the sign is Polish or Czech.
Why didn't you take pictures of these people you met, dumbass? Ok, excuses, excuses. First of all, while my camera isn't the most cumbersome on the market, 007 would surely scoff at it. Nothing ruins a great social moment for me like whipping out the ole camera and waiting while one person (waiter, friend, innocent bystander) takes a picture with everyone's camera in the group. Or now that technology is catching up, we have the "Just send it to me so it can sit on my hard drive or e-mail inbox for the next 35 years..." method of banking on the responsibility of the owners of maybe one or two cameras to receive that Kodak moment. Not to mention the choreagraphed poses that hardly capture the true feeling of the situation.
So most of my pictures were actually taken because "that's just what people do", especially on vacation. And these days, it seems like every time you gather with more than 3 people, or see something you might talk about later (like when you went to that U2 concert and got a picture of Bono on your Razr from the upper deck of Giants Stadium), it's one of those occasions.
Look folks, if I can't remember someone I met, or something I did, then it/they probably wasn't important enough to me in the first place. If you want to know about anything I did or anyone I met, then I will be more than happy to tell you stories till the cows come home. To be honest, you seeing them in a photo won't give you any better idea of what they are like than my poetic words would, which flow off my tongue like paint, forming a picture in your mind clearer than any photo ever could. With my scatterbrain, the pictures tend to be more like Dali or Picasso than the old realists, but that's part of my charm.
If anyone else out there is as scared of the fact that technology is kidnapping our conversational and social skills and holding them without ransom, then please holla at a brotha. Man, in like 10 more years, can you imagine the percentage of people we regularly communicate with that we will actually see in the flesh more than once a year? E-friends. What's the next Facebook/My Space thing (and why is My Space so passe already anyway?)? How about a restaurant that has tables for one, with a monitor in the middle of it, where you can share a meal with someone via webcam? As ridiculous as it sounded to me as I thought of it just now, I guarantee something similar to that comes out between the time OJ goes to jail and gets released. Starbucks has already teamed up with Apple for the iPhone, so that shit's probably in the making as we speak...
Months- 6
Countries- 9
Cities- 18
Pictures- 214 (with many being different perspectives of the same thing)
Excuses- Countless
Excuses deemed valid by most people from industrialized nations- 0, I think
To sum up why I didn't take so many pictures is because, while I met and had great times with plenty of people along the way, a la the journey of Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, many of whom I still keep in touch with...I was technically traveling alone. All but like 3 of my pictures are of inanimate objects or animals...nothing worth really showing people.
Incidentally, since most of the pictures are of buildings and such, I had to do some FBI-esque forensic analysis to remember where some of them were. Example: zoom in on signs and try to figure out if the language on the sign is Polish or Czech.
Why didn't you take pictures of these people you met, dumbass? Ok, excuses, excuses. First of all, while my camera isn't the most cumbersome on the market, 007 would surely scoff at it. Nothing ruins a great social moment for me like whipping out the ole camera and waiting while one person (waiter, friend, innocent bystander) takes a picture with everyone's camera in the group. Or now that technology is catching up, we have the "Just send it to me so it can sit on my hard drive or e-mail inbox for the next 35 years..." method of banking on the responsibility of the owners of maybe one or two cameras to receive that Kodak moment. Not to mention the choreagraphed poses that hardly capture the true feeling of the situation.
So most of my pictures were actually taken because "that's just what people do", especially on vacation. And these days, it seems like every time you gather with more than 3 people, or see something you might talk about later (like when you went to that U2 concert and got a picture of Bono on your Razr from the upper deck of Giants Stadium), it's one of those occasions.
Look folks, if I can't remember someone I met, or something I did, then it/they probably wasn't important enough to me in the first place. If you want to know about anything I did or anyone I met, then I will be more than happy to tell you stories till the cows come home. To be honest, you seeing them in a photo won't give you any better idea of what they are like than my poetic words would, which flow off my tongue like paint, forming a picture in your mind clearer than any photo ever could. With my scatterbrain, the pictures tend to be more like Dali or Picasso than the old realists, but that's part of my charm.
If anyone else out there is as scared of the fact that technology is kidnapping our conversational and social skills and holding them without ransom, then please holla at a brotha. Man, in like 10 more years, can you imagine the percentage of people we regularly communicate with that we will actually see in the flesh more than once a year? E-friends. What's the next Facebook/My Space thing (and why is My Space so passe already anyway?)? How about a restaurant that has tables for one, with a monitor in the middle of it, where you can share a meal with someone via webcam? As ridiculous as it sounded to me as I thought of it just now, I guarantee something similar to that comes out between the time OJ goes to jail and gets released. Starbucks has already teamed up with Apple for the iPhone, so that shit's probably in the making as we speak...
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Random Thoughts, in Lieu of Anything Exciting in My Life
I haven't written lately cause nothing too interesting has happened to me except the reunions with some of my closest friends in New York (sorry if some take offense because Brooklyn isn't really New York).
Last night I switched over to CNN during a commercial of the Patriot's romping of the Bengals and the topic was "Should America Be English Only?" I didn't watch much but I believe it was the old "sink or swim" debate about how first generation non-English speakers should be taught- either in Spanish (representing the biggest group in need) with gradual integration into English classes OR straight up English. Whatever the specific bickering was about, the following is really pathetic...
They had a poll with that question, simply YES/NO and with over 13,000 votes the split was 74% YES 26% NO. Now, you gotta assume that the average CNN watcher is more educated, and richer, than the average person watching the Bachelor (which I also switched to, to see if he gave a rose to the one with the silicone implants...he didn't). This is a fair assumption if you check out the commercials representing their viewers- investment funds, airlines' new business classes, etc.
I know that in reality, no matter how many Spanish speakers eventually are in this country, we probably won't really need Spanish. But just the attitude that this country should be English ONLY is twisted and narrow. Sure, I don't know all the minute details of the specific issue they were talking about, but in the general sense of things, it is better for international/intercultural relations if you can speak more than one language. Trust me, people really appreciate and respect if you at least try to commuicate with them in their language. But I digress, because I don't have anything else happening now.
Oh, I guess one more thought I had about the state of communication in general these days. And my love of the impact of technology upon it....just kidding....hate it. It's a sports thing. In the recent women's soccer World Cup, the coach made a bonehead move and benched our goalie for the semifinals cause the backup had more experience against Brazil (the team we played). Brazil spanked us 4-0 and the regular starter completely stabbed the coach and the other goalie in the back with some pretty harsh press conference comments. Of course, she realized later that she was a bit emotional at the time and could've handled it better but stood by her comments. So she apologized. How?....
on her MySpace page. That is so lame on so many levels. If you don't agree or want me to explain the lameness, please ask.
Last night I switched over to CNN during a commercial of the Patriot's romping of the Bengals and the topic was "Should America Be English Only?" I didn't watch much but I believe it was the old "sink or swim" debate about how first generation non-English speakers should be taught- either in Spanish (representing the biggest group in need) with gradual integration into English classes OR straight up English. Whatever the specific bickering was about, the following is really pathetic...
They had a poll with that question, simply YES/NO and with over 13,000 votes the split was 74% YES 26% NO. Now, you gotta assume that the average CNN watcher is more educated, and richer, than the average person watching the Bachelor (which I also switched to, to see if he gave a rose to the one with the silicone implants...he didn't). This is a fair assumption if you check out the commercials representing their viewers- investment funds, airlines' new business classes, etc.
I know that in reality, no matter how many Spanish speakers eventually are in this country, we probably won't really need Spanish. But just the attitude that this country should be English ONLY is twisted and narrow. Sure, I don't know all the minute details of the specific issue they were talking about, but in the general sense of things, it is better for international/intercultural relations if you can speak more than one language. Trust me, people really appreciate and respect if you at least try to commuicate with them in their language. But I digress, because I don't have anything else happening now.
Oh, I guess one more thought I had about the state of communication in general these days. And my love of the impact of technology upon it....just kidding....hate it. It's a sports thing. In the recent women's soccer World Cup, the coach made a bonehead move and benched our goalie for the semifinals cause the backup had more experience against Brazil (the team we played). Brazil spanked us 4-0 and the regular starter completely stabbed the coach and the other goalie in the back with some pretty harsh press conference comments. Of course, she realized later that she was a bit emotional at the time and could've handled it better but stood by her comments. So she apologized. How?....
on her MySpace page. That is so lame on so many levels. If you don't agree or want me to explain the lameness, please ask.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Thoughts on Traveling 2: Culture Shock
To follow up on my last post about needing a home, it's interesting that I am reading Robinson Crusoe right now. It's a boring ass book, if you cared, but much of the book is about him just wanting to get his pad tight. He's got nothing, no people, no foreseeable chance of getting back home, but he spends years building his abode and such. I don't care much about "stuff" so to speak, but whatever crap I do amass, it'll be great to have one place to put it all. As it will take me at least a week to buy a computer and get hooked up on the net, I really look forward to having someone's jaw drop when I tell them I don't have one.
I think one of the coolest things about travel is that "Wow! I'm in _____" feeling you get when everyone around you is speaking whatever language, and seeing random meat, connected to the body parts, hanging in shop windows, etc. I am not really a spiritual traveler who goes to come to a better understanding of the world we live in, blah blah blah; I trip out on the little things, like how the buses in Bangkok don't come to a full stop and don't wait until you're necessarily fully on to go. Or the old men riding bicycles on the middle of the busy highway on my way from Saigon's airport.
In my experience, there was a renewed culture shock going from Europe and Japan, at first, to developing countries- which is a true eye-opener which everyone from the "West" should do if they can. But then after living in SE Asia for about 3 years, India didn't trip me out so much. I did have some random, unexplainable moments in Bangkok, when I was just thinking "Damn, I'm living in Thailand. That's fricking weird." I have one exception...Tokyo. Tokyo is no doubt unlike any place I have been to. I would be very wary of the most seasoned traveler going there and saying that they weren't a little shocked at it.
So my point? No clue really. I think that a big part of my just wanting to go home and settle down is due to the fact that I just don't know where I would go to get that culture shock rush again. My top three, in some order, where I believe I might be wow-ed, are 1) the Caribbean- for some kind of paradise/third world vibe. 2)West Africa- just because that's the root of most of the music I listen to (and probably you, too), and wildlife, and I just think it would just be dope there 3)Israel- to see my peops. I don't see how Israel couldn't be an eye-opener. You think security at Heathrow or JFK is a bitch, I can't imagine Tel Aviv.
Well, I'll be home Monday. And yes, I am ready for some football.
I think one of the coolest things about travel is that "Wow! I'm in _____" feeling you get when everyone around you is speaking whatever language, and seeing random meat, connected to the body parts, hanging in shop windows, etc. I am not really a spiritual traveler who goes to come to a better understanding of the world we live in, blah blah blah; I trip out on the little things, like how the buses in Bangkok don't come to a full stop and don't wait until you're necessarily fully on to go. Or the old men riding bicycles on the middle of the busy highway on my way from Saigon's airport.
In my experience, there was a renewed culture shock going from Europe and Japan, at first, to developing countries- which is a true eye-opener which everyone from the "West" should do if they can. But then after living in SE Asia for about 3 years, India didn't trip me out so much. I did have some random, unexplainable moments in Bangkok, when I was just thinking "Damn, I'm living in Thailand. That's fricking weird." I have one exception...Tokyo. Tokyo is no doubt unlike any place I have been to. I would be very wary of the most seasoned traveler going there and saying that they weren't a little shocked at it.
So my point? No clue really. I think that a big part of my just wanting to go home and settle down is due to the fact that I just don't know where I would go to get that culture shock rush again. My top three, in some order, where I believe I might be wow-ed, are 1) the Caribbean- for some kind of paradise/third world vibe. 2)West Africa- just because that's the root of most of the music I listen to (and probably you, too), and wildlife, and I just think it would just be dope there 3)Israel- to see my peops. I don't see how Israel couldn't be an eye-opener. You think security at Heathrow or JFK is a bitch, I can't imagine Tel Aviv.
Well, I'll be home Monday. And yes, I am ready for some football.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thoughts of Traveling and France: Need of a Home
Well I am finally coming home after 6 months abroad. It wasn't (all) meaningless backpacking: I volunteered in India, did do some useless backing in the friendlier parts of Eastern Europe, and settled down for 2 months to consider working, if they'd give a visa to a Yank- they usually don't. It was a complete waste of time (only the French part). I haven't learned or really even practiced much French. I should've counted my losses and come back a month and a half ago.
Today's entry in a multi-blog series will be about nomadic wandering-like the lifetime backpackers, who do exist, folks. I mean, going one place, then moving, then doing the same thing for months and/or years. Possibly do some work here or there to make a little money to extend you trip. The craziest thing was when I got an apartment for a month, I unpacked all my stuff before doing anything else. It was great not to have to lock my bags up cause some tech loving backpacker would rifle through my bag looking for the newest mp3 capable Nokia v.2564738290.
So my shit is going back into its cramped duffle tomorrow, but this time it's to go home. The "travel bug" that makes people like me want to see the world so much that you feel like seeing it all at once, like getting a collection of stamps in your passport collides with my desire to have a place that I can make phat with 70's furniture, a kitchen to practice some cooking- I was told the ladies love it, etc. Since I have been playing the travel bug card for six of the past 8 years, it's high time domestic SF was given a fair shot.
I won't say it's not a bit frightening. No job and no real place to stay but with my mum and dad. It's time to have a home, I really need to be able to answer the question "Where are you from?" next time I go abroad. Well, it's the US but is it Chicago? Cali? or New Jersey? Or am I not even from the US cause I have only lived there as a stepping stone to leaving again. I haven't been in the US too much since graduation and I'm somewhere in between a flag waving patriot and government hater. I can't ever say that one country is overall better than any other so I won't say the US is the best country in the world. I will say that I wouldn't want to be from any other country than the US and wouldn't want any language other than English to be my first.
As for where I am considering living, The Bay is the frontrunner but it could be a photo finish with New York, depending how things pan out through early October. Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and maybe Miami or Hawaii (the "wouldn't it be cool to live there?" factor) are trying to slingshot out of the final turn.
out, SF
Today's entry in a multi-blog series will be about nomadic wandering-like the lifetime backpackers, who do exist, folks. I mean, going one place, then moving, then doing the same thing for months and/or years. Possibly do some work here or there to make a little money to extend you trip. The craziest thing was when I got an apartment for a month, I unpacked all my stuff before doing anything else. It was great not to have to lock my bags up cause some tech loving backpacker would rifle through my bag looking for the newest mp3 capable Nokia v.2564738290.
So my shit is going back into its cramped duffle tomorrow, but this time it's to go home. The "travel bug" that makes people like me want to see the world so much that you feel like seeing it all at once, like getting a collection of stamps in your passport collides with my desire to have a place that I can make phat with 70's furniture, a kitchen to practice some cooking- I was told the ladies love it, etc. Since I have been playing the travel bug card for six of the past 8 years, it's high time domestic SF was given a fair shot.
I won't say it's not a bit frightening. No job and no real place to stay but with my mum and dad. It's time to have a home, I really need to be able to answer the question "Where are you from?" next time I go abroad. Well, it's the US but is it Chicago? Cali? or New Jersey? Or am I not even from the US cause I have only lived there as a stepping stone to leaving again. I haven't been in the US too much since graduation and I'm somewhere in between a flag waving patriot and government hater. I can't ever say that one country is overall better than any other so I won't say the US is the best country in the world. I will say that I wouldn't want to be from any other country than the US and wouldn't want any language other than English to be my first.
As for where I am considering living, The Bay is the frontrunner but it could be a photo finish with New York, depending how things pan out through early October. Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and maybe Miami or Hawaii (the "wouldn't it be cool to live there?" factor) are trying to slingshot out of the final turn.
out, SF
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sunday Rhyme
As I promised...original sheeit...
know this girl...such a slut she
swallow more sausage than Kobayahsi
got her drunk off the Stella Artois
hooked up with Ali G, me, and Samois
not together...ran the train of course
woke up sober...b?+"#h lookin like a horse
Battle that kids. Tough to beat rhymes dropping Kobayashi and Ois in one verse
know this girl...such a slut she
swallow more sausage than Kobayahsi
got her drunk off the Stella Artois
hooked up with Ali G, me, and Samois
not together...ran the train of course
woke up sober...b?+"#h lookin like a horse
Battle that kids. Tough to beat rhymes dropping Kobayashi and Ois in one verse
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