Can I Kick It?

Last Day in Michigan

2010-08-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Im moving out to Portland tomorrow. But for now I am in Detroit with my Grandparents.

Last night I stayed up watching the Food Network and they have a show on there that is something like "The Ultimate Cupcake Challenge" or something cheesy like that. Its a show where they pick four bakers known for their sweet treats and put them up against each other by giving them challenges and who does the worst gets voted out. There are three challenges: A secret ingredient challenge where the judges give them a selection of ingredients and they have to use at least two of them. Then there is a Taste/Presentation challenge where the cupcake not only excites the tongue but also the eyes! The last Challenge is a 1000 cupcake display that is pretty similar to the second round but just on a larger scale. The episode I saw there was a vegan baker on it. It was unbelievable how much criticism she received and she actually won. In your face!

Should We Stop, No.

2010-02-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Im in a very weird stage of my life right now.

Im almost 24 years old and i consider myself lucky that death hasn't hit close to home yet. But today I experienced the closest, someone who I barely knew, didnt plan on getting to know, and had very very little respect for; virtually, none. But their death was close enough to knock me back for a bit. Close enough for me to dedicate almost my entire day to thinking about his death and how it has affected everyone that knew him, especially his family, and i cant even imagine what they are going through and it hurts just to think about it. To have to see a mother and a father raise and bury their child is, without a doubt in my mind, the worst thing that could ever happen. I dont know what to say, other than, life moves on. No matter what, life continues. Death is a heavy heavy thing, something that no one should accept, but we must not forget that Life is just as heavy, and with the death of one, no matter how close it is, we must understand that we still have our own life. And to become even more grateful for what life we do have. Just stay positive, inspired, strong, and you cant let death keep you from taking another step, if anything, make that step even stronger then the one before. For that is life, Moving forward and growing. Without Life there is no Death, and without Death there is no Life.

I dont know what else to say.

How about what am I getting myself into?

College, graduate school, new places, new people, new things.

Long time, No see.

2010-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ever get an album that almost forces you to keep listening to it? You try to listen to something else but you just end up wanting to go back to that one album...

Well, i just got The Tallest Man On Earth: Shallow Grave, and I can not stop listening to it.

Alot of stuff has been happening, but being busy is no excuse.

Im break dancing, house dancing, performing, speaking French, doing math, bowling, watching movies, cooking, making coffee for other people, playing games, and counting my change.

Im going to get out of this city, sooner than later.

Top Ten What Ev's.

2009-11-19T19:06:00.001-08:00

Top Ten Purchases of 2009:

Soul Step Dance Studio Multiple Class Card
Clothes from UNIQLO in New York City
Bed mattresses from Woman's Resource Center
Plane Tickets to New York City
1 terabyte external hard drive for my computer
Vegan Boots from Mooshoes in New York City
Compass from Back Country Outfitters in Traverse City
Headphones for my IPod
Synthetic Down Northface Jacket that can bunch-up into its own pocket
Fair Trade Tapestries to cover the windows in my bedroom.

Top 10 concerts I went to in 2009:

Devandra Banhart at the Ark in Ann Arbor
Binary Star at Union Street Station in Traverse City
Warp20 (Flying Lotus, !!!, Battles) at Terminal 5 in New York City
Detroit Electronic Music Fest (RJD2, Z-Trip, Afrika Bambaata, Flying Lotus, Busy P)
Burning Fight (Unbroken, Converge, Betrayed, Bane, Trial) at the Metro in Chicago
Bane/Have Heart at the Static Age in Detroit
Cool Kids/Clipse at the Intersection in Grand Rapids
Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars at the Opera House in Traverse City
Forfeit at the Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City
Flaming Lips at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Traverse City

Top 25 Concerts I went to in the past Decade:

The Advantage/Tanooki Suit at the DAAC in Grand Rapids
Planes Mistaken For Stars at the American Legion Hall in Traverse City
31 Knots/The Planet The at the American Legion Hall in Travers City
Dillinger Escape Plan/the Locust at the Intersection in Grand Rapids
Battles at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor
Tool/Tomahawk at Cobo Arena in Detroit
Cursive/the Blood Brothers at the Majestic Theater in Detroit
Girl Talk at the Eagle Theater in Pontiac, MI.
Make Believe at the DAAC in Grand Rapids
Russian Circles/These Arms Are Snakes at the Apollo in Barcelona, Spain
Sigur Ros at Calvin College in Grand Rapids
Thunderbirds Are Now/The Locust/Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Magic Stick in Detroit
Have Heart/Verse at the Inside Out Gallery Traverse City
Animal Collective/Wolf Eyes at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor
Dakota/Dakota at the DAAC in Grand Rapids
TV on the Radio/The Faint at the Majestic Theater in Detroit
The Building Press/Tanooki Suit in a garage in Traverse City
Nine Inch Nails at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit
Verse/Ceremony/Anchor/I Rise in Rosswien, Germany
Krazyfest in Louisville, Kentucky
Animal Collective in Lansing
Russian Circles/Maps and Atlases at the DAAC in Grand Rapids
Airborne or Aquatic at the State Hospital in Traverse City
Breath Owl Breath / Akron/Family at the DAAC in Grand Rapids
Bear Vs. Shark at the DAAC in Grand Rapids

Top Ten What Ev's.

2009-11-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Things that I ate at Restaurants in 2009:

Chicken Teriyaki: Soy and Sake in New York City
Steak Dinner: Chicago Diner in Chicago
Eggs Benedict: Pick Me Up Cafe in Chicago
Ravioli: Atlas Cafe in New York City
Crazy Pizza: Vinnie's Pizza in Brooklyn, New York
Burrito: Chipolte in East Lansing
Mint Chocolate Cookie: Atlas Cafe in New York City
French Toast and Scrambled Tofu: Counter in New York City
Indian Food: Wellington St. Market In Traverse City
Sweet and Sour Chicken: Soy and Sake in New York City

*Please note that all foods were vegan.

Top what ev's of the past decade...

2009-11-16T07:09:00.001-08:00

so the year 2009 is almost done, that means the year 2010 is about to start. And what does the number 10 represent when speaking in the matter of years? The end of a decade and begining of a new decade...or something. Well this one is pretty significant cause its the end of the first decade of the 2000's, the 21st century. So what comes with the end of a decade? Lists...lots of lists. Top 10, top 20, top this, top that, blah blah blah. A whole bunch of lists.

For me, this list making was started when my good friend Arron asked me to do a top 10 albums of 2009 or top 10 albums of the past decade, cause she owns the best record shop in Traverse City, Mi. that i frequently visit. And she wanted to put my lists up on their websit...awesome................

So, now i will begin to create lists:

My first one will be the lists i submitted to Arron:

top 10 of 2009:

Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Nosaj Thing - Drift
Converge - Axe To Fall
Trapped Under Ice - Secret Of the World
Benoit - Demo '09
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Finale - A Pipe Dream And A Promise
Hudson Mohawk - Polyfolk Dance EP
Soul Control - Cycles
Set Your Goals - This Will Be the Death Of Us

If you were to ask me, the year 2009 was a pretty weak year for music, in an indefinate limbo between all the different formats and media acceptance of music. Some of the best independent artist being signed to huge major labels, some of the best independent labels trying to act like they are a major label, major label artists dropping back to independent labels. Downloading, Itunes, Digital Radio, Podcasts, Videos, blah blah blah....but with all the crap and mediocre music being released it just made the good releases EVEN BETTER! So when you listened to it, within the first song you were like "Wow, this is so much better then everything else right now, already!"

Top 10 of the Decade

2000 up to 2004

Q and Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep (2000)
North Of America - Brothers and Sisters (2003)
7 Angels 7 Plagues - Jahzmynes Lullaby (2001)
the Locust - Plague Soundscapes (2003)
Planes Mistaken For Stars - Up in Them Guts (2004)
Sigur Ros - ( ) (2002)
Dilute - Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape (2002)
Converge - Jane Doe (2001)
Tortoise - Its All Around You (2004)
Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind (2004)

2005 up to 2010

Flying Lotus - Los Angelas (2008)
Modern Life Is War - Witness (2005)
Converge - No Heroes (2006)
Battles - Mirrored (2007)
Daft Punk - Human After All (2005)
Animal Collective - Feels (2005)
Burial - Untrue (2007)
the Cool Kids - Bake Sale EP (2008)
Ceremony - Still Nothing Moves You (2008)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

So, i started making a top 10 list of the decade, i had it all ready and good...and then i started thinking about the FULL 10 years. I mean, i went through almost all of junior high and all of high school through the first part of this past decade and those are filled with huge musical expiriances, loads of discovery and finding new music and everything. I worked in a record store for almost 4 years for pete' sake! I discovered so much new music that i am in fact, STILL laughing about it. So i had to split it up, early half of decade and late half of decade. And still then, they are all personal preferances. Now if you were to ask me about the more political side of these lists and have me make a lists of music that i feel benefited and expanded the entire music culture, bands and albums who pushed boundries, created new levels, and who really taught the listeners the TRUE meaning of music, then i can do that too. But what you see up there, are simply the albums that i feel benefited me. When i think back on a special time of my life, what was i listening to most? Or how can i leave an album out of the "Top whatever" lists that i listened to every single day for two years straight? You might not have listened to that album as much as me, you might not even like it, but for me...Its in my top 10 lists...But even then, if i were to sit here and make a lists of groups and bands who pushed boundries its still personal preferance, its still my opinion, your opinion probably differs from mine.

So thats the first of the music top 10 lists. Oh, and i guess i will tell you now that they are not in any particular order, there is no #1 or anything.

Rousseau and the Meaning of Life.

2009-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, this morning on my walk to class i thought of something really interesting and i was like "Hey, that would be cool to type about in my BLOG!" but of coarse, the time is now here and i have forgotten it...

So, lets try back track and start and the potential roots of what may have birthed the idea i had this morning. It had something to do with finding the meaning of life...

"Wow, Lance, what a way to start your day!"

I know i know...its just a random reoccurring thought i get every once in a while...no big deal....

But it may begin with what i was talking about in my last post: Iv been getting into alot of philosophy and currently I am reading Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract and the First and Second Discourses. One idea of his i have attached to most is his idea that WE the people are enslaved by ourselves. How are we enslaved? Well basically how we have built our society and how much we depend on other people. Just think of ONE thing that we can do without having to depend on someone else....

I'll give you a couple of seconds to think about this.....

Nothing....We depend on someone to something for us always....to fulfill simple or natural needs like going to the bathroom. Yeah, we are in TOTAL control of our own baldder...sometimes, but where are you going to go? Someone needs to do the plumbing and set up a toilet for us right? Or perhaps be a spotter while you pee behind a parked car...

Even eating, we have people make our food for us and go grocery shopping for us, and how do we do this? Cars, roads, utensils, everything made by another person who is depending on that job that you depend on him/her for so that they can put food on their table...

Do you see where i am going? Now im not singling myself out either, saying i dont depend on anyone, i mean, iv lived on my own since i was 19 or something and i still have my mom do my laundry, so there!

Very seldom are we able to complete a task without someone else hands helping us.

But, within this I have focused a lot of attention on questioning MATERIALISM. Buying things we don't need strictly to boost our appearance to others. Why do we need leather car seats when fabric does just as good? Why do we need these expensive blue jeans when all pairs of blue jeans look pretty much exactly the same? Now i dont know where im getting with all this, but its certainly something to think about, how pretty much our own worst enemy is ourselves and there is really nothing to do about it...

And that's where it all begins, the meaning of life. I dont know the meaning of life, but I'm pretty sure its probably something really close to exactly what you (WE) are doing with our own lives right now. But how, amongst all this enslavement and dependence on other people and materialism, do we get our own meanings in our own INDEPENDENT lives? I feel this is why I have chosen to be vegan or why i have chosen to be straight edge. To keep me grounded in my own life on my own world. Not as a campaign against the meat industry or anything, but its something i can hold onto, stronger then any pair of jeans i have bought or larger then any house you can buy. Its who I am. Break dancing, or any form of dancing is an expression stronger then any expression you will find printed on a t-shirt. I believe these are what give us meaning, our personal endeavors, not our personal property or belongings. And it's just too bad that there are actually people out there who are so caught up in how they appear to others that they forget the more organic importance of individualism and of life and they focus more on how they want their hair to look like.

And thats that...i guess. Take it how you want, if you take it all...

How about some more basic stuff...

Breakdancing is doing real well, we are performing at a real big halloween party at the Terminal. Its probably going to be the biggest party on hallween night, so thats good. Oh and who will we be performing with? Lyric Born...i know, no big deal really...
This performance is definatly way better then the last one too. I think i have learned more about breakdancing while practicing and running this routine than at the actual classes that Im taking. While doing this performance i have also gotten into a couple more styles of dancing, one is popping and locking, kind of like moving like a robot and stuff. The other is House dancing, i have been taking House classes for a couple months now but its becoming more of an interest now.

Just check out some of this house dancing...one of the best videos of house dancing on the net!

And then this is an awesome video of some old school kids doing some popping and locking

Alright, well, im going to end this now.

I was listening to the new Tiesto while typing some of this and I usually dont like Tiesto or techno really...but his new album is pretty cool, has a bunch of guest appearances, one of which is by Jonsi of Sigur Ros. Awesome.

Other listens have been:

Rise and Fall
Nosaj Thing
Bibio
Pivot
Flying Lotus...Ha, i just keep listing him, cause he is that good, i do always listen to him...

Things a lil different...

2009-10-07T21:18:00.001-07:00

Been doing things a bit different Priorities are changing, you know...

I think it is just the fall season....the season for change. It happens every year i think, no matter what. Its just when everyone starts going to school, moves back to the big city, starts working more, or whatever, you just automatically feel the need for change too.

Because of my "Intro To Political Theory" class i have been reading a lot of philosophy books, all different philosophers, and all of them are pretty much about governing yourself, people, and the state of the nature around you. So, with this I have been trying to find relevance and relation with this, im going to say, perspectives on life. Im trying to take a different perspective on life and try learning a few new things about myself. Its difficult, yes, but its all a learning experience, right?

I'll dive further into this in the future, but for now im tired and will keep it easy and simple.

Lately iv been doing the usual, going to school full time, trying to work at the same time. Still break dancing, iv even got another performance coming up, halloween night at the opera house, it will be an awesome awesome performance with all the best dancers in TC....oh and we will be dressed as zombies.

I went through a bunch of old clothes and i am looking to sell a bunch of old t-shirts and pants, a lot of band t-shirts that iv aquired over the years, some stylish expensive t-shirts that i bought without thinking....just a bunch of shirts, and some pants and sweaters. Most of it is pretty gal darn new too, barely worn. Selling them cause i dont wear them cause they probably fit funny, or whatever. $2, $5, 10$?? I dont know, but if YOU know, then talk to me...

Im going to Boston in a week or so....the weekend of the 16th...Edge day.

iv been making rounds at the library again, they've got a bunch of good stuff there....
so...im going to list a few things iv been listening to lately and then im going to bed....typical ending, right?

Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians
Philip Glass - Solo Piano
Flying Lotus....OBVIOUSLY!
Trapped Under Ice - Secrets of The World....This is an AMAZING hardcore album....blew me away, iv always been on edge about liking this band but once i heard this album i listened to it for a good 2 weeks straight, non stop. BLEW ME AWAY.

And currently I'm listening to Burial, to fall asleep.

Enter a new season

2009-08-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today is actually my last day of summer, and i have it off from work....tomorrow morning i start classes....but i cant log into my account because i cant remember passwords....ever. So i cant find out where any of my classes are till early in the morning....boooooo

Oh well.

The weather is awesome. Chilly and sunny...its like nice fall weather, which is what i like. I hate hot weather, i hate cold weather, and i hate wet weather....so i guess fall is my season. Last fall, i was on the other side of the world, woo, not bad huh?

This coming thursday Amy and I will be flying to New York City, yippy, im excited. I dont know what to expect....just another good time in a big city seeing good music and eating good food, right?

Alright im going back outside...

Video/Picture Post.....

2009-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Breakdance from ReMiXMuFFiN on Vimeo.

That is what I am practicing to become. If you want to see what I have become so far, I will be preforming here next weekend:

I have been working alot....

But it never seems to be enough! But thats okay, I have something to look forward too...

3 Musical Artist I will be seeing in New York City, while i am there for Labor Day Weekend....

And while I was looking for those videos I found out that THIS artist has been added to the line up...potentially making this show the most PERFECT show ever!

Unfortunatly I cant post the video by this artist, but at least you can listen to him!

And the night after that i wil be going to a party with these DJs will.

and

So thats going to be pretty fun right???

Flog

2009-07-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

Iv been busy, alright? Thats not really a good excuse i know....oh well though. WHAT EVER.

Two weeks ago Amy and I went to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival. Its a 3 day long music fest and out of all the big summer fests like Coachalla and Lollapallooza and Banaroo and stuff Pitchfork is definatly the smaller of them all. They say its like Lallapalloozas little sister or something, i dont know. But one thing Pitchfork has that all the other festivals have is the price! Woo, three full days of music for $75, come on, you cant beat that, all the other festivals are over 200 to go to! The bands who all played were awesome too, I saw MF Doom, Beirut, Matt and Kim, ***ked Up, Ponytail, the Mae Shi, the Flaming Lips, M83, DJ Rupture......and like...a ton more, so, it was an awesome weekend. Along with the awesome music Amy and I somehow aquired more free or cheap stuff than any other weekend outside of TC, it was amazing. I left to Chicago with one bag, half full of clothes, I come home from Chicago with 3 FULL, very FULL bags! AND along with all the good music and all the cheap stuff we, clearly, ate at all the awesome restaurants in Chicago. There was even one night we ate at the Chicago Diner and i had a vegan steak and mashed potatoes dish, it was great, just great....

And sometime between now and the last time i posted on this thing i signed up for classes. A full schedual, 4 classes, full time student working a part time job. Im taking Pottery, English 112, Intro to Political Theory, and Nutrition in Human Health. Full Load, Im excited. I hope I will do good in these classes...like...REALLY GOOD.

At the beginning of September, for Labor Day Weekend, Amy and I will be in New York City for a few days. Its my first time in New York City, same with Amy, and its also Amy's first time on a passenger plane....well, its the first time she will be on a plane with out jumping out of it.

We are going to NYC for a show on friday the 4th. Its a Warp Records celebration show for their 20th anniversary. We will be seeing !!!, Battles, Prefuse 73, and Pivot. Battles is one of my favorite bands ever, especially live. !!! is a band iv never seen before and iv been listening to them for SOOOO long now, and iv only heard good/fun things about their live show. and Prefuse 73, well he's a DJ and it was his beats that pretty much got me into Hip Hop and while ago. So im excited for the entire show basically. Iv never really listened to Pivot, but thats okay, the other three are already showing enough potential for being one of the best shows EVER.

We fly into NYC on the 3rd and we will leave the 7th. So we are going to have a while there, its going to be fun i think. We are also staying with Morganne. The last time i saw Morganne we were in Paris, she was flying back home the next day and I was leaving to Berlin. So, thats going to be exciting!

Oh yeah, I think its been so long since iv posted in this that i dont think Iv typed anything about me sky diving again! Earlier in the post i mentioned that Amy and I are FLYING to NYC and how its her first time being in a plane without jumping out...well, Amy, Me, and our friend/breakdancing crew member/co-worker Rachel went skydiving one day up in Harbor Springs, Michigan. And it was Amys first time actually BEING IN AN AIRPLANE! So untill we fly to NYC, she has never been on an airplane while its landing....she has taken off in an airplane, but then jumped out. Awesome. It was Rachels first time skydiving and it was my second time skydiving. It was amazing, obviously.

Alright, its a nice day outside...

Lately iv been listening to

Finale - A Pipe Dream and a Promise
Set Your Goals - This Will Be the Death Of Us
Kid Koala - Some of my Best Friends are DJs

Beans: The new cat.

2009-06-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Meatless Content

2009-06-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

So, if your reading this then you know who i am...and you know that i am AT LEAST a vegetarian, and i havent eat'n meat in such a long time that i have completely forgotten what meat tastes like and feels like. But if you dont know me, then let me give you a few fun facts about me:

Im Vegetarian, have been since i was 16 years old, so thats 7 years strong right there. But last march i decided to take my diet even further. For over a year now i have been a Vegan. In the last three years though id say i tried to be vegan at least a couple times, failing after just a few days. But the last time i tried it felt very natural to me. It was when i was coming out of a cleansing period.
When i cleanse i drink a mixture of Grade B Maple Syrup, Chayanne pepper, Lemon juice, and a lot of water. And thats it, for a week. I dont eat anything at all, i just drink that mixture. So when you start eating after a week of not eating anything at all you obviously dont want to shock your body by eating a burger or anything like that, right? Well when i was breaking the cleanse i kind of knew that it would be a good time to try a vegan diet again, so i did. I started slow with just fruits and veggies and worked my way up from there, and i just never got back into cheese and eggs and stuff like that.
So now I'm vegan. NO animal products at all, i'll do some honey, but other than that...No animal products. Its to the point where just thinking about eggs is kind of gross to me, and scrambled eggs used to be my favorite. But now, just the sight of scrambled eggs turns my appetite....OFF.

But, along with the package of this diet comes the very little ability to eat out and also what is the real thorn in the foot is the ridicule and ignorance from other people around me that i have to deal with pretty much on a daily basis. From people asking me where i get my protein to all the arguments from people seriously trying to convince me that my choice is going completely against human nature. Well, the reason why i am bringing this up is because i recently read an article that, well, proves all those people wrong who think that eating meat is just human instinct. And even though the people who read my blog might not be the ones who have a problem with vegetarianism or veganism or any of that, this is a good way to get this particular ball of information rolling around so that maybe it will roll or be talked about or read to someone who does think that humans need meat to survive. Because they dont...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

Begining of Summer, a New Age.

2009-06-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this past week, on Tuesday, I celebrated the coming of a new age and the accomplishment of past age. I turned 23 years old. I am officially in the "early to mid" twenties of my life. Certainly the age of 22 marks a lot in my life, perhaps it is an official marker of the ending of a chapter and the beginning of a new chapter. Having backpacked half of Europe on my own for a quarter of the year and overcoming a lot of confusion and emotions about the future of my life, the year of 22 was certainly an accomplishment....id say.

To celebrate my 23rd birthday i hung out with my good friend Betsy, we drove up to Suttons Bay and walked around up there after getting lunch at Mustards. Then Amy and I went to my parents house and at dinner and visited. Then my grandparents came over, which was nice. Im glad they were able to come over and get out of their house for a bit. This is when we had cake and ice cream. There were 5 candles on my cake, i only blew out 4 of them. Which is okay to me, because directly after i made the wish and started blowing the candles out i forgot what the wish was. After cake and ice cream we looked at old things my mom kept when i was growing up, everything from the bracelet that was on my wrist directly after i was born to old school work of mine through pre-school, elementary, and some junior high. So that was fun. That was my birthday.

Today i worked from 7 in the morning to 3, and it is the first day in a while where it was actually nice ALL DAY, so when i got out i walked around town for a bit and went and laid down at the open space while listening to music, which was awesome.

This weekend Amy and I are going to grand rapids to see a show at the DAAC (The Division Avenue Arts Cooperative). Its an old venue that i used to go to.....ALOT back in the day when i was putting on shows and promoting bands and stuff. The guy who ran the DAAC often did show trades with me, cause any band he would get he would tell them about TC and any band i would get i would tell them about the DAAC, often resulting in a Grand Rapids then Traverse City like schedule on their tour. It was nice. And this weekend is kind of...eh i dont know. A few old bands are playing there, ha, old to me maybe, but when i saw them and booked them they were still trying to get signed, now, a few years later, they are not only signed but going on big tours of the nation. Cool. The line up is Maps And Atlases, So Many Dynomos, Victor! Fix the Sun, and a Paschal Circus. Cool. Im excited.

Then on Wensday, i hopefully will be going back down to the DAAC cause Anchor is playing there. A swedish hardcore band that i saw when i was in Germany. They played with Verse and Ceremony. Well i got to know the vocalist pretty well there and kept in contact for a little bit, and i even talked to him at that show in germany about them ever touring the U.S. and he acted a little bleak about it. Well, now they are on their first U.S. tour, and i hope to see them. They are awesome awesome. They are a strong Vegan/Straight Edge hardcore band, and Clause (the vocalist) is a real cool guy and he is really smart and awesome to talk to. So hopefully it all works out and im able to see them!

So, that is all that is on my schedule for the next week or so. In Grand Rapids will be good vegan food of coarse which i am excited for.

Okay, well, im going to start to prepare for my break dancing class. Im going to end this on a common note:

Currently Listening to...

Mushman: Eddie Do
Snapcase: End Transmission
Flying Lotus: BBC Essentials
Rusko: Fabriclive 37

I cant get enough Rusko, he is a DJ from the U.K. and he is awesome, he is actually only 23 years old also. I dont even know how to describe his sound and style, everyone calls it "DUB STEP" but, from what iv heard of "DUB STEP", the only thing "DUB STEP" and Rusko share is the bass, but other than that Rusko has his own style that is so much different then all the other "Dubstep" djs. Flying Lotus included Rusko in his mix at DEMF and Flying Lotus also has Rusko in his BBC Essentials mix. So, he's good enough for Flying Lotus, he is good enough for me!! And Rusko was just picked up by an American booking agency, so soon enough he will be touring the states and I will go see him!

Okay, break dancing class. Bye. Maybe sooner or later i will include some pictures of me break dancing or something.....MAYBE.

Shortee Detroitee

2009-05-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

This past week has been good. Or since the last post, it has gotten better. Been spending a lot of time with the parents, this past weekend i went to Detroit with Amy and got to see a couple of my cousins. The rest of the family was gone, but thats okay, I feel comfortable enough that if i were to want to drive down there again and find their houses i could. Thats one of my favorite feelings of all, is going to a big major city, or really anywhere that you are unfamiliar with, and just explore and become familiar with it. To a point where you are able to get lost and find your way back home. Its like meeting new people, but your meeting a new city. And Detroit is a city i have been driving to and visiting my whole life and im just NOW getting familiar with it and comfortable with it....I got more familiar with Western Europe before i got familiar with Detroit, now that says a lot about Detroit right there....or maybe about me.....

Amy and I went to DEMF this past weekend, also known as techno fest, tech fest, movement, and/or the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. A lot of it was bad....im not to into techno or house or electro whatever. But the stuff that was different was AMAZING. I saw people like Busy P, RJD2, Krazy Baldhead, Glitch Mod. And then my top two favorites were Flying Lotus, a hip hop dj/producer/remixer from california. I started listening to him maybe a little over a year now, I like to think that the music he makes is kind of like a little representation of myself....like if my personality was music, it would sound like Flying Lotus....or something like that. Another cool thing about him is that his mom is Alice Coltrane and his dad is John Coltrane, both legendary Jazz artists. He's keeping the music alive and well in his family. Then my absolute favorite was DJ Z-Trip, he stole the entire festival, for sure. He is a "mash-up" DJ like Girl Talk, but better, and he is like...the originator. His big thing was taking like 70's or 80's pop sensations like Phil Collins or Michael Jackson and playing them along side with current hip hop artist like the Pharcyde or even House of Pain. He was awesome live. You wouldnt think that a dude just spinning records...not really moving much...just staying behind a table, would be that much fun live, but these dudes can do it, and its awesome when they can do it well!

But other than those people at DEMF, it was pretty much all the same...and just...blah, same beat same song...a three day long music fest full of the same sound....i dont know how they do it. Well, for the first few years the fest was free, then they started charging...i dont think there is any other three day long music festival of ANY kind of music out there that you can get into for $40...its the stuff that sounds different that keeps the people coming back, like Z-Trip or Flying Lotus.

Well...thats it for now, lets end it on common grounds:

What iv been listening too....

Currently:

Snapcase/End Transmission

Lately:

Viktor Vaughn/ Venomous Villian
Flying Lotus/ Discography
Cool Kids/ Bake Sale EP

Warning: Proper use of a blog entails in the following message.

2009-05-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is how i feel lately:

Tired
Confused
Self Righteous
Melancholy
Mediocre
Jealous
Challenged
and there is a pain in my right knee, just above the knee cap...it makes me feel like an old man.

I built my bike. I rode it around a little bit with Dave and the hole time i was riding it my knee was killing me. Then my right pedal fell apart while i was riding it and it came to me:

"Oh yeah, thats right...i'll put a lot of money into this thing and then within the first ride it will fall apart. That sounds about right to me..................................................................."

So, i have decided that i am going to put my bike up on Ebay. With the money i get from selling it i will put towards a better way of getting from point A to point B...and that will be a new pair of shoes. Nothing too special though...probably just some white pair of vans....nothing to flashy...

Lately i have been concerned with the topic of self righteousness, mainly because i feel i have fallen a victim and ultimately it has sent me into a downward spiral of confusion and jealousy.

But...thats okay, im sure i will overcome this hole and become normal again...what an exciting way to think...

Until then I will continue to feel how i feel, think of sales pitches for my bike, break dance, not do drugs or alcohol, not eat any animal products, feel annoyed when someone stares at me, be conscious of the materials i buy, take full advantage of the fixed gear trend, break dance, eat peanuts and avocado which is a totally normal way for getting protein, get annoyed when someone makes an obviously sarcastic statement about the ways i choose to live my life, and do head stands....in preparation to break dancing.

Thanks for reading my whining and ranting....isn't that what these things are for though?

Boy oh Boy...

2009-05-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

There is quite a bit of stuff thats is to be said about this past week of my life. Not just this past week or past couple days or whatever but i am giving it more importance by saying "this past week of my life".

Last Thursday, April 30th, I moved into a new house. Well, its an apartment that is in a house. Well its a mansion actually. This house is so large that it is split up into at least 5 appropriate sized apartments, with the apartment that i just moved in being the largest. It is the entire main floor of the house. There are two bedrooms, two living rooms, a dining room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a mud room. With the main entrance of the house and a side entrance. That is just one apartment right there. I am living in this place with two of my friends. Dave K., who is in the band TIGER and Alex G. who i work with at Oryana. They both get the bedrooms and i get one of the living rooms as my bedroom. The dining room is actually just a living room to us and the other living room is now called the "Break Dancing Room" because it has wood floors....and a fire a place. And because Amy and I need a place to practice our break dancing moves when we are not at the studio. Oh, and speaking of break dancing, along with moving into my new place i also had break dancing class, which i was able to convince Amy to come and also Alex. It was so awesome to see them both there having fun, but unfortunatly due to financial problems Alex cant continue with the class, but Amy can, which is totally awesome and im SOOO happy she is taking the class with me. Then after the class Amy, Alex, Katy (Alex's girlfriend) and walked to horizon to get some drinks and there we ran in to Brian and Kelly (Brian's girl friend) and they ended up coming back to our house with us to see it and hang out, which was awesome. It was nice seeing Brian and im glad to hear he is going to be here this summer.

On Friday, May 1st, Dave K. and I drove down to Detroit...well Romeo, Michigan, which is basically Detroit....its like what Grawn is to Traverse City, Romeo is to Detroit. We drove down there for a show, it was a hardcore show, featuring a local band called Louder Than Bombs, a band from Boston called Have Heart, and a band from Worcestier, Mass. called Bane. This was my fourth time seeing Have Heart and it was also the best performance iv seen from them. This venue was small and it was packed full of kids and hardcore is certainly a genre of music where the live shows arent good just because of the bands performance, but also on the crowds performance too. Its the dancing, the singing, and just the energy that is brought by EVERYONE that makes the show good. Iv heard alot about Bane show, about how they never disappoint. This was my first time seeing them, and i was blown away. They were really good, the only thing that they could have down was just change the order of their set list. They opened with their song "Swan Song" which i was kind of hoping would be a closer, because it is the closing song to their album "The Note" and i think it is the perfect song to end anything really, its an amazing song. Before i saw them, i was never really THAT into them while just listening to them, i liked them, i REALLY liked "The Note", but it just took my a little longer for me to warm up to them, unlike with other hardcore bands like Verse or Have Heart or Modern Life Is War, where, at first listen, i was turned on. But seeing Bane live pretty much set it in stone for me, I can listen to any of their albums at any time and it is perfect. After the show Dave and I left Romeo (Detroit) and drove to Grand Rapids to stay the night at his friends house, Britty. She was a really awesome girl and it was totally awesome for her to let Dave and I sleep on her couch for the night. She also had two really awesome cats, Squibs and Charles. Both black cats but one big and one small. This night, starting with the show, was the start of one of the best weekends of my life. The Bane/Have Heart show was a pre-show to the Burning Fight Book Release/Hardcore Festival that was held in Chicago at the Metro.

The next morning: Saturday, May 2nd, Dave and I woke up and left for chicago around 10:00 to get there around 12:30. We had to look a bit for parking and then it was about a two mile walk to the Metro. We got there and walked in probably in the middle of the first bands set. From then on it was two days of Hardcore/Punk rock music, with dancing, stage dives, head walking, sing alongs, speeches, straight edge, and vegan food. The metro was conveniently located near a couple of awesome vegan restaurants. The Chicago Diner and the Pick Me Up cafe. Surprisingly though i never got to eat at the Chicago Diner, tried twice, but never actually making it in cause of the wait.

Okay, so, Saturday night i got picked up after the show by my awesome friend Matt H. who i grew up with, beginning in elementary school. He went to NMC a little bit after high school but then moved to Chicago, and he has been living there for a couple years now. So, since Dave was staying in a hotel with a bunch of his friends, i took it upon myself to not pay for a place to stay in chicago and to visit an old friend...most importantly, to see an old friend. Usually whenever i go down to chicago i only see Matt for a couple hours and thats it, so this time it was awesome cause we were actually able to hang out. So, i was picked up by him and his girl friend Nikki, they then took me to the Pick Me Up cafe, i have never heard of this place before, they were just like "We are going to take you to the vegan restaurant that is in this neighborhood" and i was like "Awesome" and then we get there and i see the menu and i was like "WAY AWESOME" they had vegan mac n' cheese, breakfast foods, and then the typical burgers and stuff. So, i started my meal out with a small serving of vegan mac n' cheese and finished it with a huge serving with Pancakes with a fruit topping, yeah, sounds like a weird meal but i was excited they had vegan mac n' cheese and pancakes, so its like....i couldnt NOT get those. It was perfect. After we ate we drove around for a bit and decided that we were going to go see Fast and the Furious, which is, incase you dont know, the sequal to The Fast and The Furious, Too Fast and Too Furious, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The movie was exactly what you would expect it to be, fast cars, girls in skimpy clothes, and explosions. Needless to say, the movie met all expectations and i was not disappointed. After the movie we went back to their apartment, matt and I hung out for a bit and then we both went to bed.

We woke up in the morning on Sunday, May 3rd and we went to this vegan cafe called Atomics...or Atomix...and then it said "The Future In Coffee!". Well because of that statement i was immediately disappointed when we walked in and it wasnt an exact replica of the cafe in "Back To the Future". Actually i was just disappointed in the lack of chrome, really, because isn't chrome all over the future? Well, i had a chai and a bagel with vegan cream cheese. Bagel and cream cheese is nothing new to me, considering i eat that almost everyday at oryana. The chai certainly burnt my tongue though, which left a sensation on the tip of my tongue that lasted the rest of the weekend...so, mediocre food aside, i had a good time catching up with Matt that morning. We then walked to catch a bus. We got on the bus, the ride was maybe 15 minutes long and then we parted ways, he left to go to the recording studio that he works at and i went to the train station where i could continue my journey back to the Metro for the second and last day of Burning Fight. I sat in the train station waiting for the red line to come and i couldnt help but to reminisce back to all the times and places where i was waiting for all the different metro lines when i was in Europe, in London, Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon. I remember a time when going to the metro station in chicago i would have gotten lost pretty much just looking at the train. I had no idea how to use those things and i had no idea how to read those maps, it was just all a big mess to me. But when i went to Europe i just kinda of jumped into all kinds of uncomfortable situations like that, forcing myself to learn how to deal with tough situations, like which metro train i need to get onto....now i laugh at that...after being in a city like London or Rome, Chicago is just another city now...its just i can understand people a bit better in Chicago.

So, i get to the show after the train ride and it was perfect. I get there at the beging of the first bands set. This was the day i was most excited for in the festival. I saw Blacklisted, who has been a band iv always wanted to see, they played a good set but i wasnt exactly blown away. The vocalist said some pretty good things though, mostly about marriage, not just the typical same-sex marriage deal but about how we should be able to just marry who ever we want. Even though marriage isn't exactly an institution i strongly believe in, some of us do believe in it and because of these "laws" some people cant marry who they want to marry, and that's more then ridiculous, its straight up disrespectful. Its not so much keeping a man from marrying another man, its keeping a man from marrying who he wants to marry. If some yuppy skum bag dude can marry his "trophy" wife and expect dinner to be on the table for him and his kids cleaned up and taken care of when he comes home from his office job where he is having an affair with his secretary then i think and i believe that a man should be able to marry a man. Not for the sake of same-sex marriage but because that is who he really wants to marry.

Okay, so that was a tangent. So after Blacklisted played Have Heard played, and this was my second time seeing them in one weekend and also the 5th time seeing them all together. It was another awesome set, it seemed a little short though. It seemed like Blacklisted played a longer set and because of that Have Heart played a short set...to be honest i would have preferred it the other way around. After Have Heart was Threadbare and Split Lip. Threadbare was awesome, they were a bit different, but i really liked them. They kind of reminded me of a heavier version of Far. Then was Split Lip, who again was a bit different but good. Then came Reach The Sky, really blew me away, iv never really listened to them much but i really liked them. After Reach The Sky came the three bands i was MOST excited to see out of the entire festival. Bane came first and again, they were nothing short of amazing. Every song they played was perfect, everything the vocalist said was awesome, and the energy was amazing. Id say out of every band at the fest Bane was the band that really connected with me, from the passion, the words, the energy, everything. They even closed with the Swan Song, right when i thought they were done playing their last song, which i am pretty sure the vocalist said "This is out last one! Have fun and a good night!" they ended that song and went right into the Swan Song, which is exactly how i would of wanted them to do it. Just another reason why they blew me away. After Bane came Converge, which if you were told Bane was a hardcore band and listened to them, and then you were told that Converge was a hardcore band and you listened to them, you would still have no idea what a hardcore band sounds like. Converge, to me, coming from a i guess a more analytical point of view, would be a metal/grind band. (HERE COMES ANOTHER TANGENT) But, coming from....i dont know what kind of point of view, i understand how they are a hardcore band. Its not so much the sound of hardcore, hardcore cant be defined by the sound. Its the belief in hardcore and the aspects of hardcore. Hardcore means more than heavier punk band, its the words, and its the members of those bands. Kids dont come together and say "Hey, lets start a hardcore band" after listening to one Have Heart song. Hardcore brings the kids together and they say "Hey, lets start a band, where we can express our emotions about these topics that we feel so strongly about we will travel from coast to coast on a single dime so we can play and talk to and meet as many people as we can who share the same emotions as we do"....well its probably not like that, but lets just keep it at hardcore brings the kids together and the kids bring hardcore together. So what Converge is, is they are a hardcore band expanding the boundries of hardcore, keeping the emotion and keeping the passion but expressing them with a different sound. And Converge has been a 90's hardcore band who came with a different sound, stuck to their guns and they are still recording new albums. In fact their last album they released, "No Heroes" has been one of my favorite albums in the past 5 years and it still continues to excite me. They are currently recording a new album now. With all that said, this was my first time seeing them live and i think out of everyband i listen to iv probably seen more live videos of Converge then anyone else so i had some expectations from them and they were all met, and they were exceeded. With their closing song, i never once thought id ever hear them or see them play this song live, out of every video iv seen from them not one of them has them playing this song. The energy was different during the Converge set, it was a more darker and a more negative feel, which is what you would expect after hearing them. They have a darker sound. No one really danced during their set and there wasnt much singing along, i think the mood in general was just kind of an In Awe kind of mood, like we were all looking at a bad car accident and we couldnt look away from it. Kind of a weird comparison, but thats kind of how it was. They were amazing, their sound, everything, but that was just kind of the mood. Even with what their vocalist had to say about hardcore, it certainly wasn't as positive as what all the other bands had to say about it, but it he was just pointing out the reality side of things. People can talk and talk about how positive this was and everything but there is always another reality. And I feel what he said about hardcore was good and that it kind of had to be said.

"I dont have much to say about 90's hardcore...i certainly grew up in it, but, the fact of the matter is, i felt kind of alienated by hardcore. There were a bunch of cliques that i just didnt feel like i fit into."

What he said has kind of stuck with me. Id say, after this hole experience i can safely say im still a new comer in hardcore. Well, iv been listening to it for years and i have beliefs or ideas that certainly fit in with being hardcore for years now but i think the reason why what he said has stuck with me more than what anyone else said at the show is because i think that is the reason why i still think of myself as a new comer to hardcore, iv felt alienated by it, that just some how, i have the same ideas as these other kids, yet for some reason i just havent felt that accepted...

Now, this can be an excuse, but thats all this is. Just an excuse. I can get stuck to what he said but i can also start to think beyond it and i think thats what he was trying to inlfuence the audience to do. How he finished his speech was kind of saying like, its the people who lived past those cliques and trends who were real, who, despite everyone else, stuck to their ideas and beliefs, no matter what anyone else said. Like, being straight edge, it isnt a trend to me, its not being straight edge to me. Its choosing not to do drugs or alcohol. Being vegan isnt a trend to me, its a choice, that i made on my own, not under the influence of anyone else, but by myself. When and if these are ever trends and they pass, im going to stay vegan or i am going to stay straight edge. It was my choice to live this lifestyle and it will be my choice to end it. Regardless of any hardcore band or what anyone ever says, these are always my choices. So with that said and with me learning and looking back now on how i was feeling alienated, i call that only an excuse now because it was my fault i was feeling alienated. Because, to me, feeling alienated essentially means that you feel you are not good enough to cooperate with this other group of people. And because of that feeling you choose not to go over there and talk to them. Its not what they are doing, its what you think they are doing, and untill you go over and find out for yourself what they are doing you will continue to think like that, and you will continue to alienate yourself out of ignorance. And this pans out, more than just you against the popular crowd, or whatever. Its you against your partner, its you against, the college you want to get into, or it you against getting your dream job. Its lifes everyday struggles that you have to fight to overcome, not so much fight, but learn. Otherwise you will continue to feel alienated by these struggles. And, yeah, it may seem like i just realized that i have to work to overcome my struggles, something i should have learned a long time ago, but its more like, because of this experience, because of what everyone had to say, and because of everyone i met, i have just gained more passion in my fight and in my struggles.

And i dont think Converge could have portrayed this any better in their set, with every song and every word, untill they closed with "Jane Doe" which is an 11 minute epic that i think, in its sound, is the epitome of overcoming struggle.

So the Bane Set was perfect, followed by a perfect set by Converge, next was Unbroken. Unbroken reunited for Burning Fight. And after the Burning Fight show in California they are done. So this was kind of a big deal. Now for me though, i got into Unbroken not because of hardcore, but because of the line of bands i started to follow. I got into a band called the Locust a while ago, when i was in high school. The Locust is kind of a super group of members with long histories through punk bands steming out of California. One of which was Unbroken. None of the members of the Locust were in Unbroken, but memebers of Unbroken went on or came from bands that had members that went on to form the Locust. So with that, i got into Unbroken because i started listening to the Locust, there. And from the Locust i got into a TON of new music that wouldnt have gotten into without the Locust. So, it was cool seeing the band in this LONG line of other bands that i thought i would never ever ever ever get to see, ever. Unfortunately though, I really do feel i was able to appreciate them enough i was certainly feeling exhausted just from everything leading up them, and i think for everyone, to an extent, Unbroken kind of represented the end of a long amazing weekend.

So, after Unbroken, the show was done. Dave and I talked to Mckaig a bit (Who was on the stage taking pictures the WHOLE time!) about going to get something to eat after the show. So, after Unbroken finished, we went outside to wait for him. Eventually he found us and we were able to venture down the streets of chicago, with my second attempt to going to eat at the Chicago Diner, the wait was too long and they stopped taking names cause they were going to close. So we walked back and I ate at the Pick Me Up Cafe, again. There we joined a group of kids that we knew that were from michigan that also went to the Burning Fight festival. They joined us at our table and it was awesome meeting these kids and talking to them. Unfortunately i dont remember any of their names. Except one of them was named David, and he was actually the one i talked to the most. But they were all cool people. From the Pick Me Up cafe Dave and I were meeting up with this other kid named Kyle who was going to join us on our drive back up to Grand Rapids cause i guess he is dating Britty, the girl we were staying with in Grand Rapids. He also went to Burning Fight, but more importantly he is also the vocalist of this really awesome band called Black Teeth.

So, it was around midnight when were done at the Pick Me Up cafe and we were finally on our way back up to Grand Rapids, its just we couldn't figure how to get out of Chicago! So, we were lost in Chicago for at least an hour, which sucked. But the deal was that when we finally got out of chicago Kyle was going to drive us to Grand Rapids and Dave was going to go to sleep, and I was going to help navigate for Kyle and also keep kyle awake. Talking to Kyle was totally awesome, talking to him kind of set the weekend in stone that it was one of the best weekends of my life, with all the awesome vegan food i ate, seeing old friends, listening to all the bands, hearing everything that everyone had to say, and with all the people I met. Kyle and I talked about so much that we actually kind of got lost and we ended up taking the long way back up to Grand Rapids. We got to Britty's house at sun rise and totally crashed.

We woke up Monday morning around 11:30 and we went out to eat at this place called Brickroad Pizza, which is a vegan resteraunt that Brian has been talking about alot lately and so i was so excited to eat here. We ended up meeting some dudes there that were in a band called Dead Friends who played in Grand Rapids the night before. I looked at the menu and it all seemed kind of mediocre at first, untill i learned about their buffet, a VEGAN buffet, with macaroni salads, pastas, pizzas, salads, and cookies....all you can eat for under $7....amazing. So we were at Brickroad for at least an hour, eating and talking. It was awesome. Dead Friends was actually playing a show in Indianapolis that night with Bane, Have Heart, 108, I Rise, and Soul Control. It was kind of a post-Burning Fight show. Dave, Britty, and Kyle actually ended up driving down there that night for that show. I couldnt go cause i had to work at Oryana the next morning, there was no way i was going to make a drive down to Indianapolis and then back up to Grand Rapids in one night and then leave Grand Rapids early enough to get me to work at 11. So they dropped me off at Vertigo Records where i met up with Brian and we were going to hang out untill Mckaig came through Grand Rapids on his way back up to TC from chicago, all three of us hung out for a little bit and then Mckaig and I drove the rest of the way back up to TC. It was an exhausted drive for us, thats for sure.

And that was the weekend. the was THE weekend. Then came the week, more moving into my new house, picking up more hours at oryana, and more break dancing. I love taking the break dancing class....

okay, bye....

Really Cool

2009-04-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Breaking Sane

2009-04-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, so. I understand i am going to be here in TC for a tad bit longer than what i anticipated so I have joined a break dancing class....and i plan on sticking with this as long as i am here in TC.
A few months ago i joined a gym and i worked out....at least 5 times a week, everynight after work except fridays and saturdays. But lastnight i started break dancing lessons, and i tell you what, that was WAY more of any workout i had at the gym and i am WAY more sore than i ever was when i was going to the gym!
The class is an hour and a half long, and i kid you not, we did not stand on our two feet for the first hour of the class. It was awesome.

Im moving into my new home here in the next week and then next weekend is Burning Fight. Maybe i can show off some of my amature break dancing moves at the hardcore show...

Yippy.

Backing Up...

2009-04-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

So i just got another external hard drive. Its 1TB which equals 1000 GB. Currently, as i am typing this it is doing the duty of backing up my ENTIRE computer, every single file, every song, every picture, every movie....wait, i dont have any movies. Basically its all my music and pictures. Because, in an earlier post i informed all one million readers of my BLOG that i have completely filled up the hard drive on my computer. So hopefully with this new addition to my technology family, me and my computer can advance further together into the future with many more happy moments to come!

Alright, the moment you have all been waiting for.....I do NOT have to take the SAT's or ACT's EVER. Radical. All i have to do is get my GPA up higher. Since i have taken over 30 college credits, anywhere that i will go to next wont even care to look at SAT or ACT scores. But now my GPA is a solid 2.0 which is "base requirements"....thats what the counsler said, i dont know what that means though. All i know is that i need to get that GPA up, and if thats what i need to do, then thats what im going to do. The counsler gave me some options, he said the ABSOLUTE BEST thing i can do for myself is retake some of the classes that i dropped out of in my past college semesters and bump up the GPA here at NMC. Another thing he said, which is more up my ally, is go to the city i want to live in, live there for 6 months and get residency, then i get into the community college there and bump up my GPA at that community college and then pursue a higher college education after that. Bottom line though is that GPA has to come up. Wherever i decide to go, the main thing i will be working towards is getting that GPA up. GPA stands for Grade Point Average....its not an acronym for Grandpa.

So, as you all know.....all eighteen billion of my BLOG readers....as you all know, im not that much of a MIDDLE MAN kind of guy. I pretty much say "Lets cut the middle man out" whenever i get the chance, even if it has no relevance to anything i will probably say it just for kicks....and the way i see this finding residency and everything in a new city is kind of like the middle man. Why go somewhere and live there for 6 months THEN start building my GPA back up when i can just stay here and probably build that GPA back up in 6 months? I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want to move away from TC...like its a burning desire that has been burning for about two years now. But Iv got to fix the problem that i created myself and just get this done and over with. So I think im going to make the decision RIGHT NOW, as I am BLOGGING this, I am deciding that i will stay here at NMC and get my GPA up to at least a 2.5. But i will shoot for a 3.0. If i can get a 3.0 gpa that will open my options up a little more and make it a little bit more easier for me to get into another college or maybe even a University. If i do it this way i can get this done faster and cheaper than if i were to move away and do this. I might even be able to start over the summer and possibly be ready to leave before next summer. So....thats my one year plan i guess you can say....YUCK, dont say that actually! I dont like the sound of me staying here for one more year, thats like what iv been saying for the past couple years "Just one more year, i guess......". Just call it my plan...or call it my "MEGA HOT LAVA PLAN!!!!" I like that one more.

....so there is that. Cool, huh? Thinking about life and stuff.....

So Lollapalooza announced their line up today. Meh....probably wont go. But in honor of the line up i am listening to Tool's not so new newest cd....10,000 Days. Its been out now for a few years but iv never actually sat down and listened to it. Iv listened to it, and iv probably listened to every song on the album but never just a one on one kind of listening. So I am right now.

Okay, so, there has been a topic that i have been thinking about alot lately, mostly becuase it has been brought up at least once every day in some form for the past month or couple of years:

A Tribe Called Quest, a legendary hip hop group, once asked the question "Can I Kick It?", which, if you didnt already know, is where i got the name of this BLOG thing. They also once said "Back in the days when I was a teenager, Before I had status and before I had a pager, You could find the Abstract listening to hip hop. My pops used to say, it reminded him of be-bop. I said, well daddy don't you know that things go in cycles. The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin like Michael." And thats the lyric that i want to focus on. When he (Q-Tip) says to his father "well daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles" He is talking about history, how history repeats its self. And that has been the recurring theme through my days lately. Its almost the sign of the times....constantly, that the kids are going through one massive recycle of history. When i was working yesterday at Oryana i was talking to Chris, the produce manager, about how kids are coloring their bikes and their choice in clothing and everything and basically focusing on NEON COLORS and thats what triggered this whole thought process of history repeating itself. It seems as if we are recycling through a very bight time of the late 80's early 90's. Bright neon colors were big back then and they are getting big now. I cant help to notice that we are at the end of a decade moving into a new decade and anywhere you see large groups of kids hanging out, from ages 15 to 25, you will see at least a couple of choice bright neon colored clothing apparel. In 89' im sure it was the same exact story. Im not just talking about the colors either, but also the fashion and music too. Like hi-top shoes and flipped brimed hats and big bulky sunglasses (You know, those sunglasses that gas stations would give away free with the purchase of a footlong hot dog or something, back in 2002). Im sure that somewhere in these groups of kids, a couple of them realize they are repeating a fashion trend of the 80's, and then the rest of them are just following those kids thinking that its an awesome NEW trend sweeping through their highschool classes. You can also see the recycled history not only just in the clothes but even in music too. Especially Hip Hop. Hip Hop, in my opinion, kind of made a comeback just a few years ago with the Roots signing to Def Jam and Kanye West getting bigger and bigger with every release of his and I saw alot of smaller hip hop artists get big like Sage Francis, Atmosphere, and Aesop Rock. It seemed the comback rock of Hip Hop has been rolling for a while now. But with this bright inspiration of Neon Colors reflecting back onto the music that is being created i have taken note that even the hip hop is starting to sound like it did back in the 80's.
In the late 80's hip hop was just kicking off and getting more popular with groups like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul and Public Enemy. And back then people were saying that, like in that Tribe Called Quest lyric i mentioned earlier "It reminded him of be-bop", hip hop was kind of like a recycled new form of jazz and poetry combined. But even with the comback of hip hop happening now for a few years, its as if this comback has even taken a step back to the 80's. Just look at Kanye West, now, he is a pretty big face in the mainstream hip hop circuit, right? If you saw him in the era of his release "The College Dropout" which came out in 2004, he dressed kind of like how you would expect a "normal" hip hop star to dress. Now with his release of 808's and Heartbreaks he looks like he just got back from a vacation with Marty McFly (Main character of Back to the Future). When i look at Kanye West and listen to 808's and Hearbreaks i just see an updated "Year 2000" version of Afrika Bambaataa. Which is just one more 80's hip hop sensation thats getting recycled with bright colors.
And then there is Lil' Wayne, who is said to be the next Michael Jackson. He said it himself, he wouldnt be as big as he is now without MIX TAPES, which is just another recycled product of the 80's. Now he has been quoated saying things like he could throw a dart at a map and he'd probably have a house there. He's not contributing much to this theme of history repeating itself, BUT, mix tapes can certainly be thrown in there with neon colors and hip hop being recylced through the kids now-a-days.
Now, to talk about the group who got me thinking ALL about this whole topic. The Cool Kids, released their debut album the Bake Sale EP in early 2008. Im going to go ahead and make the assumption that if you are older than....say....28 or 29, and you never REALLY got into hip hop or "rap", but dabbled in it a bit in college. If you listened to the Cool Kids and saw a picture of them you would think that they pretty much invented hip hop right up alongside of A Tribe Called Quest. Right down to the shoes these guys wear (And dont even get me started with the shoe trend, thats a whole new story) the beats, the rhymes, the hats, the sunglasses, all of it is recycled product from the late 80's. I wonder that if you were to show a picture of the Cool Kids next to a picture of De La Soul the kids listening to the Cool Kids would understand that a mere twenty years stand between the two groups. Im sure most of them would just ask "Is this the group thats opening for the Cool Kids on their next tour?"

This whole 80's thing, Its in the music to. Their lyrics are playful and kind of back to basics, referring to normal everyday scenerios and relationships. Not so much about gang fighting and drugs and "pimping" like they were through the 90's and early 2000. Even in the beats, im not going to say they sound like 80's HIP HOP beats....but its almost as if these hip hop artist are discovering the synthesizer for the first time, I mean, it sounds like Duran Duran produced the newest Kanye West album. So its not quite 80's hip hop beats, but its certainly 80's music influenced!

But who am I to say all this? I always make claims and assumptions like this all the time as if this is actually happening all around the world just like a plane flying through the jet-stream, when really im just getting caught up in this very VERY specific sub-culture that barely 1% of the worlds population is involved in...so someone out there should be saying to me "Pffffff, speak for yo self, LANCE!"
And sure, iv done some stereo typing here, but even i can be....i guess you can say, guilty, of wearing bright colors and listening to this music. But im not saying its a bad thing, I like the color purple and I love how simple and easy it is to listen to the Cool Kids. So, im just as guilty as everyone else iv stereotyped in there.....(alright, enough if finding a safe ground)
When i was speaking to Chris at work the other day about neon colors he said "I dont know what the deal is with all these kids getting bright neon colored bikes and shirts....i was in that stuff a little bit in the 80's...but its just not my thing, i just dont get it." And i DOUBT he knows who the Cool Kids are, but he can certainly see this trend sweeping through this sub culture of kids wearing neon colors. Im just taking it a little further and....analyzing it........mmmm

Wow.....I guess you can say im practicing for my return back to english class....OR you can say i learned more about writing on my own then i EVER did when i was actually in school..............Ehhhhhh.........

Either way you want to say it. Iv definatly kept my eye on this whole "History repeats itself" theme and i just like the thought of Duran Duran getting back together just to help produce the new Kanye West album....thats a WAY more entertaining thought than Lil' Wayne releasing a rap/metal album.....

UN-BAH-LEE-VVVVV-UH-BUH-LLLLLLL

2009-04-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Thats right...the last time I BLOGGED this frequently I was on the other side of the world...whud up wit dat?

Well, i was just reading other blogs and i figured "Eh, im already on here, i might as well type something..."

So, just to warn you now i will probably lose interest in this typing pretty quick and think "Whats the point in this? im just going to go check out pitchfork......" But instead of leaving directly after that without posting this, i will fight the urge and click on the "Publish Post" button before i head to my next site.

Currently my front tooth is hurting.....i need to keep better care of these things in my mouth...if i had health insurance the first thing id do is go to the dentist....but i dont have health insurance...so im just going to go brush my teeth.

yippy.... im typing this with one hand while the other hand is busy brushing my teeth.....

.....
.....

Alright, back to business (With both hands)

Tomorrow i finish up my tattoo that i have been working on (Slowly but shirly). Dad, i'll show you it the next time i see you, probably sometime over the weekend. Either Sunday or monday. I bet your excited....

Another exciting piece of information:

Im moving out of this apartment that i have been living in since i got back form Europe and into a 3 bedroom apartment on the other side of downtown. It is HUGE, its on State st. and its one of those MASSIVE oldy time houses thats really close to downtown. Im moving in with my friends Dave K. and Alex G. Im pumped to move in with these guys and im excited to go back to living with other people rather than by myself like i have been for the past 4 months.

May is going to be a busy month. Especially the first week of May. Not only will i be moving into this new house....which actually wont be that hard at all since i literally have just 4 bags of stuff that i have kept packed for the past month. But, on May 1st I will be going down to Detroit to see the good dudes of Have Heart play a show with BANE. This will be like my hundredth time seeing Have Heart but my FIRST time seeing BANE, so i am especially excited for that. From Detroit I will be heading to Chicago for the ultra exclusive Burning Fight show. Actually im not too sure how exclusive it is, but tickets for this show sold out.....very quickly after they went on sale.

Burning Fight: First and foremost, is a song by the hardcore band Inside/Out, which is also the first band that Zach De-la-Rocha was in before he went on to form the might RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. But NOW Burning Fight is a book, this is what the site has to say:

"Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound draws upon the memories of many who played influential roles in the scene and understand what made this era of hardcore so unique in its ability to synthesize music and ideology into what for many felt like was a powerful counter-cultural movement, where change was just around the corner."

The book is going to be released May 2nd, at the Burning Fight show in Chicago. Which will be a two day long hardcore celebration featuring not only Have Heart and Bane, who i mentioned earlier, but also Converge, Betrayed, Blacklisted, Soul Control, Convicted, Damnation A.D., Reach the Sky, and reunited 108, reunited Trial, reunited Split Lip, and a very awesome reunited Unbroken who are only reuniting for this show and the California Burning Fight show....and also bunch of other hardcore bands from the 90's. Im just going to say right now, the closing three bands of the celebration are Bane, Converge, and Unbroken........all i can say to that is...well, im speechless really...so i cant say anything, but just know that im pretty excited for those three bands.

I was luckly enough to score a pass to this show from my very awesome friend Brian L. who i can not thank enough for this! Not only do i owe you $50 for the ticket, but i owe you more than that....like....i dont know, i'll make you some awesome vegan no-bake cookies....and i'll get you a book.

Another awesome thing about this book is that my good friend John Mckaig is featured in it for being a hardcore promoter and photographer.

So Burning Fight and moving to a new home, first week of may. Kind of a big deal....

Through out May i will be picking up more shifts at Oryana. Well hopfully sooner than later hopefully i will be going back to 40 hours a week. Awesome. And not just in the Cafe, i have recently been hired into the Produce department of Oryana. Yippy!! So, by a result of that, my time sitting in at the Fixed Gear Gallery/Hell Yes! retail shop will probably be coming to an end here soon. But I will continue at Porterhouse Productions because that schedual doesnt really conlfict with anything else, well...mostly because i dont allow anything else to conflict with that. My call of duty for Porterhouse only occurs when there is a show, and if iv got any free time. And i usually know well enough in advance about a show so i am able to pen it into my calender.

So....i would have liked to be able to give a better update on any education updates, but i cant. Simply because my next day off when i will be able to get to NMC isnt untill Monday...and well its been like that for the past couple months. When my only days off from all my jobs are Sunday and Monday, im forced to do ALOT of things on Monday cause everything is closed on Sunday. So, Monday, i am giving my whole day to NMC, if i have to sit and wait 3 hours to see a counsler then i will do it. But i am going to get an answer on Monday to a question i have been asking myself for a long time now, and that question is "How hard is it going to be for me to get into different college?"

......

Yikes....

In two weeks I will be working at the Ani Difranco show as stage manager. Im pretty excited for this because i understand that Ani Difranco is sort of a legend. I havent really gotten into her music too much, but i know she plays guitar and sings about power and freedom. I also know that she has been a growing independent artist for at least the past decade, with little to no help from record companies she has kind of created her own empire. So with that said, no matter how tall she is, i will be looking up to her.

So there is my take on that.....

The other night I had the idea of incorporating pictures back into my blog of just average everyday things i do through out my days. But when i grabbed my camera to take pictures of the first instullment, i quickly found that the battery was dead. I dont think iv used my camera once since iv been back from Europe...but the battery was dead. I would have documented the second creation of vegan No-Bakes, with a speacial appearance by Amy. But instead, here i am just telling you about dead batteries instead of posting pictures of the delicious vegan no-bake cookies that Amy and I made. Oh well, there will be a next time. The cookies have been turning out a bit greasy, so the next time we make them we are going to expiriment with using bananas instead of the vegan butter to thicken them up. I dont see why it wouldnt work really....we would have tried the bananas this time while making the cookies, but i guess i just wasnt feeling edgy enough...

The other day i exceeded the capacity of my hardrive on my computer. With the download of this thing called "Boxee" I now only have 1.24 gb of space left on my hardrive. And thats after i deleted a bunch of useless music out of my itunes. So, iv gotta figure out a way of opening more space on my hardrive. I have a couple ideas and what it comes down to is me getting another external hardrive and using the external hardrive that i have now as my main hardrive and transferring just about everything from my computer hardrive on to my external and then backing it all up onto my new external hardrive....This way i will have about 300 gb of more space to fill up.

Wow, it sounds like i kind of know something about computers.....

well, iv had enough of this, lets drink the juice and crack the whip, if you know what i mean.....

While i was typing this BLOG i listened to the Deftones: Saturday Night Wrist and White Pony in their entirety and i can safely say that out of everything that i listen to now, the band that i have been listening to since......EARLY junior high/LATE elementry still reign supreme. I can listen to something and be content with it but at ANY time i can put on the Deftones and be HAPPY about it. I remember when the White Poney came out, it was the summer before 9th grade....I got the normal release of it and the limited black edition of the release and i was afraid to take the wrapping off of it but i wanted to listen to the extra song SOOO bad. I also remember seeing the video for "My Own Summer" for the first time, which was also the first time i heard the Deftones, while staying up one night with my Dad watching some late night show on MTV that played like....more of the heavier stuff i guess, the stuff they didnt play during the day. I dont know how old i was...i was young though, i was also short cause i remember standing really close to the t.v. and the t.v. was at eye level.

On my ride to work and for the first half of my work out at the gym today i listened to the Cool Kids: The Bake Sale E.P. and a little bit of M.I.A.: Kala

For the last half of my work out at the gym i shuffled between songs by Job for a Cowboy, Black Dahlia Murder, and the Faceless before i settled upon This is Hell: Misfortunes

And when I came home i listend to Converge: You Fail Me

Wow, so look how far i got with this BLOG....i made it all the way....sure it was a bit of a struggle, but i was able to fight my way through.......this thing.......alright....well that killed it for me...iv had enough of this stupid thing.....

News for the Newdies....and drool for the school

2009-04-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, i have been helping my parents move into town for the past couple of weeks. Its pretty exciting knowing that they are a mere bike ride away from me now. In fact i have already ridden my bike to their house once already. I cant even describe where they live, other than its near the library. Past the Library on the tart trail. There, thats how i will describe it. So thats cool. But its wierd to think that one of these visits back to my parents old house is going to be one my last visits back to the house i grew up in. Probably in about a year i wont be able to go back there, someone else might be living there. In the house that I (imagine that I being really big) grew up in! So wierd....so wierd....

Im thinking about posting more in this thing....THINKING about it though...thats all, alright. I'll post this one, giving a brief (Probably unsatissfying) update on my life or my SO-CALLED-LIFE. Then it will be at least another month before i post another unsavory update of my so called life.

I dont even see why anyone would read this thing though either, its not like im doing anything exciting like swimming in the mediteranian sea in october or riding my nike through London and/or under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Speaking about bikes: The frames finally came in so all iv got to do is get the frame to the powdercoating warehouse and pay for it. I can pay for it whenever cause im loaded (Clearly), the hardest part is the powdercoating. Hopefully it all be done in a timely matter. Once thats done all i got to do is get a wheel set and a few odds and ends then my bike will be complete. Yippy............

I am still at the bike gallery and oryana and porterhouse.

I have currently lost interest in typing in this thing, but i am going to continue to try....

See, i only really think about typing in this thing when im sitting at the gallery, which is pretty appropriate i think.

.......

Welp, an old teacher of mine just walked into the store. She was my english teacher from highschool. Ms. Famiano. She was also one of my favorite teachers in pretty much my entire education career. If she was working as an english teacher at NMC im pretty sure id do alot better there....

Speaking of NMC and college, and education as a whole: I really do want to get back into college. I have a better idea of what i want to be and what i want out of college now. Its just due to my lack of....drive in my past school endeavors i feel i have pretty much screwed myself on all future education endeavors. Basically i just see it being really hard for me to get into a college or university outside of....NMC, also known as "NO MORE CHOICES", which holds so true to me. I never took the ACT or SAT tests, i dont know how i could have let those things slide, who ever thought that that was even just an alright idea? Because now thats pretty much what is holding me back from well...everything id say. And sure i have college credits under my name now and all but they are certainly not acceptable, for the standards i wish to be hold NOW in my life. They range between average and below average......at best. So those certainly arent going to help me get into an outside school. And with that and the no SAT or ACT scores...this is certainly a time in my life when i can safely say that Everything is going against me right now. It just seems like for me to get back into school its going to be almost impossible......

Then there are people like my sister, who has gone to school, gotten good grades and has a good GPA and has been awarded like best student or whatever and she is doing the same thing she was doing before she went to college. Its just now she is in a bigger city....working retail.....at a clothing store......in a mall.....and then i see that, and im like "oh, so thats where college gets you...alright.....".........

yippy...

But i'll admitt, after being away for sometime now and exploring my choices (knowing what i want) and boundries (knowing what i dont want) a bit more i do see the importance of college and education and degrees (i guess....) and i feel now i could benefit from them WAY more then i could two or five years ago....and im certainly ready to buckle down and take the bull by the horns and do this. But now is when the sandpaper (Reality) comes in........

So, i cant see myself trying NMC again. Its out of the question really. Basically this summer what i want to do is take my SAT and ACT. Somehow figure out how i can do that...and do it. I want to try and have a score between average and above average. That way iv got a better chance of getting into a college i want to get into. And on top of taking those tests i need to work and make as much money as i can so i can move away in the fall. To Boston. Cause thats basically a very large college town with a ton of colleges in it, so iv got to get into one of them, right? I want to get into a college, and cram as hard as i can and do my best to complete and get into a graduate school, thats when i will slow down a bit more and be able have a bit more of a specific focus. Cause what my goal is, for school is to learn everything i can about nutrition and diets and...basically everything scientifical about food and eating, i guess....not so much the creation part like culinary, but NUTRITION. And when i graduate and get out of school, well....i will just know more about food then what i do now, and thats basically the main and sole reason for why i want to go back to school. Im not thinking about a career or anything like that...iv gotta take small baby steps first.

So, for my first baby step towards getting back into school, iv gotta figure out if a 22 soon to be a 23 year old dude can take his SAT and ACT still.....and then lets go from there....

Alright, lets get out of the dreadful education hole i have dug myself into and back onto the mountain that i have built, battled, and conquered by setting it to blaze:

What i have been listening too:

Mastodon - Crack The Skye (Title track is possibly one of the best metal songs iv ever heard)
Rusko - Fabriclive
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Flying Lotus - Discography
Battles - DIscography
Bob Marley - Legend

Fresh Start? Got a haircut.

2009-03-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

I shaved my head today, and when i say shave, i mean, shave and razor...to the scalp this time....
Still trying to figure out what happened up there....

2009-03-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Baahhhhh!!!
Alright, whatever, I'll post in this thing.

A couple days when i was under the needle, I remembered i had this thing...

Whats the point in these things? Oh yeah, to keep ERR-one up to date with what im doing in my life....

Whats going on in Lance's life?

-As i mentioned earlier, I have been putting myself under the needle, working on a new tattoo...its a suprise, but if you know where to look you will be able to find it. It is pretty darn painful.

I am a pretty good example of how addicting tattoos can be. I started out two years ago with a simple circle on the back of my leg, now iv got....a few more since then.

-Im planning on going downstate for a weekend, going to see people, music, and just to get out of TC for a bit.

-Iv been working at Oryana, clearly, three days a week. Fixed Gear Gallery two days a week. And anytime i get a chance i email Porterhouse Productions to catch any updates i may need to be informed on.

- On my days off i watch the Wire, an HBO series about the drug culture in Baltimore. Pretty darn good stuff.

- I am currently listening to Oasis - (Whats the Story) Morning Glory?

I have been listening to alot of Aesop Rock, a month ago i would have said "Eh." to him, but iv finally gotten around to giving him the listen he truely deserved. Now I say "Cool."

-My bike is in the same condition as it was the last time i made a post. Only parts still, but really there is no reason to have it assembled yet, the weather isn't exactly optimal riding weather. So i am waiting for the next shipment of frames to come in, which i think is the end of this month.

- The other day there was a Barista competition at the Great Northern Roasting Company headquarters. I was there with Elizabeth (Boss), Conor (Co-worker), and Todd (Inspirational Support). We were there representing Oryana. There were the other Cafe companies there also, Cuppa joe and Good Harbor and obviously Great Northern. Well, in classic Oryana fashion, Conors and My attention was quickly side tracked with the creation of a massive and very dangerous Fire. So rather then representing Oryana in the Barista competition Conor and I threw pallets into a raging hot fire while it was a complete white out with extreme snow and wind. Its been a while since I felt the lashing of a roaring flame singe my eyebrows off. And believe me, i'll pick feeding a dangerous flame over pretty much anything, anyday, especially a barista competition!

Movies, Music, and other Blogs but mine....

2009-01-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

So what does one do during the winter when the only free time he has is pretty much from 7 at night to 10:30 in the morning? Watch movies, listen to music, and find entertainment in blogging, not in his own, but in others...oh and sleeping (losing sleep)

Lets get the easy stuff out of the way, and leave the funnest...funnest for last. Well its all fun. Its all the funnest, i mean.

So, there are two blogs i have been keeping up on daily. BSNYC: BikeSnobNYC.blogspot.com Ridiculously audacious and funny. This guy takes swings at anything and everything having to do with the bike culture. From cyclcross, fixed gears, to even recumbent cycles ( even though i think thats the reason why those things were made ). He makes fun of the parts, the prices, the clothes, and the riders, and everything in between. Unfortunatly i think this is one of those things that if your not that fimiliar with the culture you might not think its as funny as i do, i have found myself cracking up (LOLing) by myself, at my house, at 3 in the morning while reading this guy.

The second blog is Troutsandtrees.blogspot.com. This blog is similar to Bike Snob, but hits a lil' bit closer to home. Its all about Traverse City GOSSIP! woop woop, and you know me, im all about that subject, Traverse City that is, not so much the gossip.....clearly.

Gee, remember when i didnt even know what these blog thingys were?

Alright, now we get into more substance. Let me list you ll the movies iv watched in the past couple weeks.

O' Brother Where Art Thou
Batman: The Dark Knight
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Lord Of the Rings (Trilogy)
Burn After Reading
Jackie Brown
28 Days Later
Dazed and Confused
the Black Dhalia
Katt Williams
Gangs of New York
City of Men
Mash (Fixed Gear video)
Pi
Pauls Last Stop
Darjeeling Limited
V for Vendetta
Gladiator
Son of Rambow
There Will Be Blood
Sweeny Todd
Paris, Je T'Aime
Slumdog Millionare

All the movies are pretty good and the staff at Family video still cant remember my phone number...i need to start going to the library to get movies.

Next is music. With the inventions of computers and ipods, it is so much easier for me to make sure that no moment is gone in silence. The artists i have been listening to the most has been:

Benga
Whitest Boy Alive
Animal Collective
Fleet Foxes
Dungen
Architects
Beirut

Now that is what i listen to the most because i am either just discovering them or they have released something new. There are however alot more artist that i have gotten into that just wasnt able to keep me away from those artist up there^^ and i am just keeping them on the back burner....if you know what i mean, Or just artsits that have made it to my ear in the past couple weeks, could be first timers or long timers making a come back.

Grouper
Mr. Oizo
Von Bondies
Para One
J. Tillman
Delfonics
M. Ward
Victims
From Ashes Rise
Telefon Tel Aviv
2562
Erykah Badu
The Very Best
Ola Porida
Savath Y Savalas

And some more probably.

So clearly i have been a very busy boy. When i am not working at Oryana, sitting/doing reviews/testing equipment/unwrinkling clothes at the Fixed Gear Gallery, or doing promotion for Porterhouse Productions, i am either walking, listening to music, watching movies, or reading blogs, or doing a combination of any/all of those.

I have also begun to oversee the completion of my new bike, i have the crankset/chainwheel (Miche), bottom bracket (Phil Wood), handle bars (Soma Major Taylors) and bar grips (oury) so far. I already have my frame (Alien) and saddle (Soma) picked out, all iv got to do is pay for them. I still need to decide which set up i want for my wheels and pedals though, and i need to figure out the length of stem i need. I also need to find me a cheap, nothing special, seat post. Some of these things iv never really had to deal with before, like buying a seat post, most of these things i have either already had or it was just given to me, but now that i am actually having to deal with actually looking into the specs and details of this stuff, its quite shocking. I am asking myself quite often "wow, why does this small piece of steele cost so much?" or "Really, whats the differance between a $50 seat post compared to a $150 seat post?" or "Why does a seat post even cost that much?". And Im still not too sure about the seat post situation, thats why i only want something plain and simple...im hoping that plain and simple also means cheap and durable.

What to do?

2009-01-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

So Casey moved out of the apartment this past week. This is the first time iv ever had a place to myself. Its pretty wierd. I dont know what to do with myself, iv been watching alot of movies...well, not alot of movies just a couple movies but i'll watch them alot. I watched the the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy about 4 times in the past 2 weeks...didnt know i was such a big fan of the series. I watched half of Cast Away with Leah today after we went and got her nosed pierced. Then i just got done watching O Brother, Where Art Thou. Iv watched that once everyday for the past 3 days.

My sleeping pattern has been thrown off too...pretty bad. Since New Years Eve basically, i literally dont think iv recovered yet from New Years Eve! I worked at the opera house from 9 in the morning to 4 in the morning, then after that i went and hung out at Serenity with those boys for an hour.

Since this summer i have been working on this tattoo on the side of my body, i finally got it all filled in. Its a solid black line, about an inch and a half wide that goes up from my ankle to just under my arm pit. Its taken over 4 months to complete and ALOT of pain. But its done now. The reason why i did it was pretty much for self discipline. I have found that self discipline has slowly crept into my lifestyle over the past year and has made itself a pretty important aspect of my lifestyle, being vegan and straight edge and all. My definition of fun isnt going out and drinking my nights away, iv got to find better, more productive and more creative things to get my endorphins moving. I cant just go to burger king or any ol' resteraunt and order the special of the day, iv got to find food that doesnt have ANY animal bi-product in it and that includes milk, eggs, and cheese. These are all my choices that i have made and i have to follow through with them as far as i can and I do not see an end in any of choices. So therefore one of my best friends is a lil something called Self Discipline. I jumped into this tattoo on the side of body basically saying that if i can get through the pain and time of doing this then any of my future endeavors that may seem to tough or too exhausting may come to me a little more easier than what one would expect.
Now if you were to ask me though what the line meant, i would say "So i can look kinda cool when im riding my bike through downtown...naked." But thats the quick and suprisingly more accepted answer.

That was also a reason why i took on the challange of preparing my self and following through with a two and half month back packing adventure throuhg Europe.

Well enough about that.

The future is now and now is when i have to plan for...

Dont know what im doing now, or next...im just kind of chilling and trying to get back on track here...still.

In Las Vegas

2008-12-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is my second time here. I dont know what im going to do here. Im just happy that my family is all here together. Well, my sister, mom, dad and I at least. Since my sister moved out and i moved out of my parents house its fairly rare that even i get to hang out with both my parents at the same time, let alone both of them with my sister....in las vegas. My sister has been living here for....i dont know maybe a little over a year now. I really cant see how anyone could live here in Vegas. This city is....i just dont know what to say about it. Well like i said, this is my second time here, i dont know what im going to do this time.

Its warm here...well, warmer than back in the midwest, thats for dang sure. Im still a little chilly while wearing a hoodie and its raining here too. Who would have thought, rain in the middle of the desert.

Iv been thinking alot about building me a new bike, so when i get home i think im just going to go ahead and buy a new frame from Dennis and work on that through the winter.

Iv also been thinking alot about doing more travelling, going south this time. South America or Middle America...or maybe both.

Tomorrow is Christmas. Hope you people have a good one.

One and a half weeks and im on the move.

2008-12-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

So, im back. Thats pretty clear, huh?
It was pretty much non-stop busy busy busy from the second I got back, seeing people, finding a new home, meetings for work and getting ready to go back to work, cleaning up, taking care of finances, getting rid of my travelers checks, closing accounts and opening accounts, packing all my stuff, moving to a new home, selling more stuff, seeing people, working, and buying new shoes...

Its been a bit difficult to adjusting back to this lifestyle....of seeing the same people everyday, waking up, going to work, seeing people....and that's it, the small town life i guess. The time change wasnt TOO bad, really just my sleep pattern was a bit messed up, id go to bed early one day and sleep in untill 1 in the afternoon then i would stay out late and wake up early the next morning. I guess my body is just used to the messed up sleeping patterns.

Well, tomorrow im on the move again to Las Vegas to see my sister and celebrate x-mas....in the middle of the desert.

London: Last day!

2008-12-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

Chicago. Last day in America.
Bern, Switzerland. About 2 weeks into Europe
Lipari Island. About 3 Weeks into Europe.
Barcelona, Spain. Almost one month in Europe.
Lisbon, Portugal. One month and almost 2 weeks.

Berlin. One month and three weeks.

Amsterdam: Two months, clearly just gotten out of the shower.

In Brugge, Bruges: Two Months and One Week.

Luxembourg: Two Months, One Week, a couple days.

London: Last Day in Europe.

Wow...so there it is, natural hair growth at its finest. Over the coarse of Two months and a half months.

I dont even have 24 hours left here in Europe anymore. By this time tomarrow i will be off European soil, in the air, on my way home.
So tonight, Fibi and I are going to go eat at some awesome vegan resteraunt, she has been talking about it since i got here and so has a bunch of other people. So finally we are going to eat there tonight and then after we eat we are going to go see Have Heart/Cruel Hand/Carpathian at the Underworld in Camden, so im pumped. This is my last night in town and im spending it eating good good food and watching awesome music. I couldnt have asked for a better last night in London...or EUROPE!!! Tomarrow night...i will be driving home.

Like i said, depending on the weather and all that im saying we are going to be getting back in to TC around 2 or 3, its a bit late, i know. But im going right downtown and im going to be doing laps!! So, if you want to see me, haha, if your a DIE HARD FAN!!! You'll know where to find me. If i dont see you downtown the first night then no worries. I will be around town all weekend...

Wow, this weekend im going to be in Traverse City. I'll see you all there!

London: Last days

2008-12-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Well, today, i went out all prepared to start taking my bike apart, had a bag, rags, tools, i was ready, i had enough time today to take it all apart, find a bike shop and walk back home with a packaged up bike, ready for the flight, ready to go back to its REAL home. Well, thats not going to happen, my bike is staying here in London. Not because i dont want to take it home....but someone decided to show it around its new home. So, my bike was stolen. Its okay though, like i said, i was going to retire the frame anyways. Now i guess it will live on here in London. And i start all over again, new frame, new rims, new wheels, new everything. Im pretty excited actually.

I'll see you all in a couple days, really. Oh, and get ready, tomarrow is the next and final observation on hair growth, once i get home this thing on my face has got to go! Or at least get cleaned up a bit! Im going to sleep for three days straight, wake up, and shave, then i will come out and see everyone.

London 2.3...only 3 more days left!

2008-12-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

So i come home in 3 nights and two days basically! woop woop...one of these days i'll post the pics of Belgium, sorry on slacking on that. I think the jet lag is already starting to hit me!
Maybe that or im just lazy...i have heard though that the jet lag going BACK to america is much worst than leaving America...so who knows?

Tomarrow im going to start packaging up my bike...the way im going to do it is take all the small pieces off: Pedals, stem and handlebars and im going to put those in my bag, cause i do have some room in there for a couple bike pieces. Then i will take the frame and wheels to a bike shop and see if they have any left over shipment boxes left that will fit my bike. then i will just have to deal with the wheels and frame then, no biggie. Iv decided though that if it starts getting to difficult and i cant find a box or anything that will properly package my bike then I will just leave the frame/fork and the wheels here and ask the bike shop to take the cranks and bottom bracket off for me, that way i can walk away with all the parts that actually have worth. The frame is just an old Schwinn World Sport from the 70's...the only thing thats worth something on that is the paint job, which has more emotional worth than anything, i think i can get over that...although i'll never forget my first fixie being the purple fixie of Traverse City. Then the wheels, they are the Pake rim set, pretty cheap, but I'v put those things through alot, they have taken quite the beat'n and for anyone building their first fixed gear bike i would suggest that rim set, definatly. They are strong and smooth and cheap, i think i got my set for just a little over $200. Iv certainly gotten my $200 worth out of them and i think im ready for a new set up. Everything else can fit in my bag im sure. The skrews on the pedals are a bit rusty from the Paris rainfall but those are easily replacable....really, its all just a matter of getting all that stuff off alright, cause i have a feeling that after sitting outside in Paris for two months that equipment has become no less than PART of that frame. So, iv got a little work ahead of me, but i think its a good plan. My plan was to retire the frame when i got home anyways and have a new project during the winter. So maybe i just wont have a frame to hang on my wall...maybe i will though.

So today I went to the nearest bus stop, baught an all day pass and hopped on the first bus that came. The only thing i knew about it was that it was going towards Trafalgar Square...which is where all the tourist spots are or whatever you want to call them. So I got on the bus and rode it for a bit. I got in sight of Big Ben and the House of Parliment Funk, so i got off, I was only IN SIGHT of it, there was still quite the walk. But thats what i wanted.

One thing iv learned on my adventures is that you can not fully appreciate a city or town or village untill you can really get lost and still be safe and comfortable knowing that you can easily find your way home (So really are you lost at all???). Because this way you can just walk and not have to worry about getting lost, you can really take in the whole city and not only see what you want to see but see so much more, because your head isnt burried in a map all the time!

So that was my task today, to get lost. Well i got lost and clearly i made it home safe. Not only did i go see Big Ben and Parliment funkadelic but after that i hopped onto another bus that took me to a completely different part of the city. From there i went on the search for this bar that i have gone to here a couple times for these local shows here. I had no idea where or how to get there, all i knew about it was that it had tall construction next to it, so if i was able to get in sight of that, then i would be able to find it. Well I found it. Then from there i went and found this place that Simon took me to the first time i was in London, its called Red Veg, its really like Vegan fast food. This place i really had NO IDEA where it was, i just knew it was near by, well i found that too, and i ate there, it was good. Then i came home and now im doing this...

I have 2 days and 3 nights, woop woop! And Im really happy with the way things are going here in London!

London 2.0

2008-12-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

Im back in London...

So this past week has been really awesome. I started in Brugge, as you know...which was amazing, it really was like a dream like city. After Brugge i went to Brussels, and in Brussels i was couch surfing. So i stayed at this guys house, Sven, whom i have never met before. He met me at the train station , took me back to his place, he cooked for me and he gave me a small air mattress to sleep on, not too bad. He lived there with one other guy, Tom, they were both really awesome dudes and they inspired me pretty much to do one last burst of travelling before i was finished. So I arrive in Brussels at night, Sven and I eat dinner and then he takes me out for a bit in the city, gave me some history on it and showed me some pretty cool things. The next day he had to work, so it was an early night. But the deal was that he didnt want me at his place while he was gone, so i had to wake up and leave the same time he did...not a problem, that just gives me more time to see Brussels...and more. We leave his place at 9 in the morning and we are planned to meet back at the trainstation again at 7, that gives me 10 hours....i have never taken 10 hours to see one city. So i walked around Brussels...saw everything...everyone told me leading up to Brussels that you really only need a day to see it...well, it took me 3 hours....so i was bored...so i went to the train station...hopped onto a train and went to Gent. Which is a small town north of Brussels. It was amazing, i loved Gent, just as much as Brugge, but again...it was a pretty small town and the way that the town was set up they had pretty much everything worth seeing and going to all on one street, in the matter of a couple blocks...so i did that...went inside a few churches, went into some towers and such. Then at 2 o'clock...i was done with the city...i was just walking around...with hurting feet. So i went back to the station...hopped onto a train, this time heading to Antwerp. Larger city than Gent but still i think its a bit smaller than Brussels...but basically the same lay out as Gent...so, pretty much the same thing, saw the old buildings, went into some churches, walked around, talk to some locals, yada yada yada. I hopped onto a train and went to Mechelen, a REAL small town, smaller than Brugge even. But it was dark out by this time. It gets dark here around 3:30 or 4, its crazy, i dont know how it is in the States right now, but im not used to it getting dark this early. So i pretty much just walked around and talked to a couple of the locals at this cafe i found...no biggie. Then i went back to Brussels and met up with Sven. It was a great day, i literally travelled ALL around Belgium...conquering everything in my sight! So the next day...Thursday, i had nothing else to do, well Tom and Sven convinced me to go to Luxembourg, not only is it an awesome city but yes...it is also a really really really small country, so it just adds on yet another country i went to here in Europe. But another reason why i went to Luxembourg was because RAINER was there! YAY!!! He had some freinds there and he was actually able to get me a place to stay with his friends, so that was awesome. I get to Luxembourg though and it raining...wet...and cold, not good weather. Rainer met up with me at the trainstation and we just went back to his friends house, Nicholas and J.C., and we just kind of hung out there. Luxembourg was likea chill out town, it felt great actually. Nicholas came home from work and decided to take Rainer and I out into the city and show us around a bit. We go to this bar and i drink some juice while him and Rainer are drinking wine...or something. Then J.C. meets up with us and we go upstairs to this really nice resteraunt, and it was SOO good. It was great, for the short time i had in Luxembourg i had a great time there. Then, this morning...i leave Luxembourg for Paris to get my bike at 6:40 in the morning...EARLY TRAIN, wow...I get to Paris at 9 in the morning and the first thing i do is get my ticket for a train heading to London, cause i know it is the weekend and im sure they are going fast. Believe or not...they were going fast...I was hoping to get on a train leaving around 1 or 2 or 3 at the latest, that way it gives me enough time to find my way to the train station my bike is locked up at, find my bike, figure out how im going to get it back to the station im leaving out of. And in order to transfer my bike from Paris to London i have to take it to this special company and check it in with them...well the only train available for me to catch to London was at 11:13 and i had to be at the station a half hour ahead of time for check in and boarder potrol and everything. So that left me with barely a little over an hour to figure out all that stuff i wanted to get done in more of a time frame like...4 or 5 hours. So i was a bit rushed, running around the station with my big backpack on and everything. I decided the fastest and easiest way to get to my bike was to take the metro, obviously, it would take at least a half hour to walk and i have my bag and everything...it would be to difficult. Well, i had to figure out how to get to this station now, cause there wasnt just a direct line going to it, i had to transfer a couple times...thats never good. So im running around these metro stations in Paris trying to figure out what lines i need to take and everything and im sure it was all a bit exagerated for me because i felt so rushed but, i just knew i was wasting time and the way i saw it was the more time im wasting the more likely im staying in Paris for the night, having already baught my ticket to london, which even with the eurail pass is pretty expensinve and Hostels in Paris are SO expensive, and its the weekend, im sure most of the hostels are booked up. So yeah, i REALLY didnt want to stay in Paris. I just kept thinking of all the worst senerios. It got to the point where i was running through all the parts of my bike that i wanted to keep, that i wanted to salvage. Parts i could just take off and keep in my bag. I pretty much convinced myself that i wasnt getting my WHOLE bike back and that i was never going to ride it again. So i was just getting more and more frustrated. I finally get to the train station and by now it is about 9:50, i have 40 minutes to find my bike and decided what im going to do with it, and if i was going to keep the whole thing i had to get it back to the station and get it checked in. So im walking to where i locked it up, it was like i was reuniting with a best friend that i had'nt seen in ages, trying to spot my bike through the crowds of people and other bikes, trying to see little parts of my bike and all that...i was starting to get a smile, i could feel my spirits rising. I finally get to my bike and i have a big smile on my face...i see that it is all still there...intact...a bit rusty in some places but its golden...or i mean...PURPLE... I checked the tires....they had low air pressure but i knew was running late cause i spent too much time trying to figure out the metro or...i was just basically coming up with reasons to ride it...so i just hopped on, with my big backpack, in the rain, and with a big smile. So i rode my bike today...first time in over two months...it felt great. I was smiling all the way through Paris. Then when i got everything done in time, on the train, in my seat, with my bike and my bag....i was smiling all the way to London...I get to London, and it is a beutiful day, blue sky, sunny, and DRY. Im walking down the streets and hearing everyone speak english, and im seeing all these advertisements and signs all in ENGLISH...im riding my bike around London....I had a big smile ALL through London....it was a GREAT day today. And now i at my friend, Fibi's house. We met last time i was in London and she said i could stay at her place and i love it here. You wouldnt think so cause it kind of like an old old run down hotel...but its turned into a house, with a bunch of bedrooms....you know what that means right? The first time in over two months i have a room all to myself, with a bed that i can totally stretch out in and roll around in. When i wake up i will be greeted by awesome awesome people. Its great, it feels amazing being back here knowing that at this time next week, i will be home...back home, in TC.

Im actually thinking about sleeping at the plane station on tuesday night just to make sure i am there with everything on time and there is no rushing or anything...i dont want there to be any more rushing...i dont have to ride on anymore trains, and after two months of running and catching trains...im done with all of that, trains and catching...i want to be able to just wake up and be there, not have to worry about running and catching anything. The next 4 days the only job i have is to get my bike all packaged up. Once i do that...im going to the airport and just camping out i think...

I am so ready to come home and i am so ready to see everyone and everything...im really excited. Im sure a few of you may be able to relate to this but i dont think most of you understand the feelings im going through right now...cause i barely do!

Luxembourg: I am almost home!!

2008-12-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

so, im in Luxembourg right now. Just one final push untill im done travelling i guess you can say. Tomarrow I head to Paris to pick up my bike REAL early in the morning. Its the first train leaving Luxembourg at 6:40 in the morning! So i get to Paris at 8:40, i'll buy my ticket going to London later in the day. Go pick up my bike...then just kill time untill i have to catch my train to London. Then Im in London untill Wensday morning, when my plane takes off at 9:30 and i come home!!!

So im not exactly sure what time i get in Traverse City on Wensday night, i have to drive back up from Chicago, so I am assuming i will get back pretty late, probably around 2 AM or 3 AM. The first thing i am doing is running around downtown, so if you want to be one of the first to see me home or something, you'll know where to find me!! I know i would love to see everyone downtown when i get home but its a bit late. All i know is THAT is the first thing i want to do when i get home. Its been something iv been dreaming about for weeks now!

so i would type more about stories and everything but this keyboard is french and it is really hard for me to use, i feel like i am just learning how to use computers.

In Bruges....Kingdom of Magic.

2008-12-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

Im in Bruges, i took pictures till my camera died.

This place is incredible. Really. The town isnt really that big but i could walk around taking pictures for days! This place is one of the best kept medieval towns in the world.

I have seen about 5 different spellings of this place...I dont know how to spell the name of this place....oh well.

I have 8 days left. In the single digits. I cant beleive it.

Next is Brussels. Then London. Then Home....I was in Barcelona a month ago...two months ago i was in Paris...

I am In Bruges.

2008-12-01T07:41:00.001-08:00

Ever seen the movie? Maybe you should go rent it tonight and watch it so you can kind of be here with me....well, you can just say "Hey, thats where Lance is!"

Amsterdam...oh boy!

2008-11-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

So im in Amsterdam! Its definatly been quite the expiriance here in Amsterdam...This place is different, different than ANY other city iv been to here in Europe.

Iv talked about bikes in all the other cities but here, bikes dominate. They say that one of the leading causes of deaths here in Amsterdam are bikes....getting HIT by bikes. Bikes certainly rule the streets here, a car, pedestrian, tram, scooter, anything that moves, will stop moving for a bike.

The buildings here and the architecture has a very unique difference that i have not yet seen in any other city here in Europe. From here they look pretty similar to houses you would see in an old part of Paris maybe, or London, or Salzburg. But you definatly cant see the difference in this picture and i doubt you can in anyother pictures i have of the buildings but the buildings are built as if they are about to fall forward. They slant inward and they all have hooks pretruding from the top of the roof, because the stairs are so narrow and windey that nothing big get up to the top floor, so what they do is string a rope through the hook at the top of the house and like a pully system they will pull the large furniture up to the top window and they are slanted inward so that if the furniture starts to swing it wont hit any of the windows leading up to the top floor . Clever, huh?

There are canals everywhere, they are in alot of my pictures and every picture with a canal in it, just know, the canal is a different canal everytime.

Bikes

A lil' bit of home. Unfortunatly this Meijer is not open 24 hours, nor is it supermarket...it looked like a hardware store...so i dont think i will be doing any late night trips to this Meijer while im here...I'll just have to wait till i get home for that!

Bikes...A field of Bikes....

I found my place in Amsterdam! Its pretty much the only place here where i can truly feel like myself....mmmm.

Hey Betsy, look at this! This one has a spoiler though...i know...but its SO close!

Not my bike, but i found it in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

2008-11-28T06:15:00.001-08:00

I got to Amsterdam lastnight.

Frankfurt: Everything you missed from Roßwein to Salzburg.

2008-11-26T07:06:00.001-08:00

So here you have it finally. The pictures of my last week. First pictures are of Salzburg, then Roßwein the city, then the show.

In the Austrian Alps.

The Gardens of the Marbil Palace. These gardens were pretty amazing actually, im sure they would be better it they had color to them though.

Walking around some small streets in Salzburg.

More walking around.

The East side of the city.

The west side.

So i hiked up a bit of a mountain my first full day in Salzburg and i got into a little fortress and there were these things set up around the mountain, this one i went into, but all the other ones around the mountain had people living in them...so i guess i got lucky with this one.

Hiking. I kind of felt like i was in Lord Of The Rings.

This is Roßwein.

Also Roßwein.

Verse

Verse

Verse

Ceremony

Ceremony

Ceremony

Anchor

Anchor

I Rise

I Rise

So there you go, pictures. Im a little tired right now, i just got off the train and you would like to know that at this hostel their Wi Fi is set up the CORRECT way, which is free, so my first priority was to upload the pictures of the show and the city and everything, for all of you!! See, i do think of you people. Tomarrow I go to Amsterdam for the weekend.

Salzburg to Munich to Salzburg.

2008-11-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

I come home in two weeks.

Tomarrow i go to Frankfurt for a night, then to Amsterdam for the weekend....then i dont know whats after that, but on the 5th or 6th, could be the 7th, but i dont want to push it, on one of those days i go to paris to pick up my bike then to London, I DO NOT want to stay a night in a paris, so i hope i can get that all don in one big swoop. This is my last weekend traveling, what better way to spend it then in Amsterdam! Then next weekend i will be in London chillin with the dudes and gals of the U.K. getting ready to come home. Two weeks. Exactly, 14 days left.
Today i hung out in Munich, it was okay, ate some good raw vegan food. But it was SOOOOO COLD. Walking around for 5 minutes it felt like my nose was going to fall off.

So there it is. Two weeks left, then im home. Back to the daily TC grind. Woop!

Salzburg: The Sound of Music

2008-11-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

So Salzburg, Austria is where they filmed the movie the Sound Of Music. Ever seen it? I havent, not untill lastnight at least. It was really boreing and the only reason why i watched it was because if i am ever going to watch it then it should be here in the city that it is based in. So, it is cool that now i can say the next time i watch the movie that i have seen some of the places that they filmed in and around, but the next time i watch it...it will probably be NEVER.
So, since the Sound of Music was filmed here it is kind of like Salzburgs claim to fame so this hostel and every other hostel here in Salzburg will play the movie at least once a day, everyday. Which is a bit sad because they have another claim to fame which for some reason they just dont embrace as much as they do with the Sound Of Music. Motzart lived here in Salzburg, Born here and raised here. He didnt stay here his whole life but im pretty sure he was born, did some growing up and died here. So instead of playing the Sound of Music everyday i think they should just play his music everyday, all day. I would much rather listen to that for 4 hours than sit and watch the sound of music for what feels like FOREVER.
So, yesterday i walked around Salzburg, did some hiking, and watched it snowed. They have a ton of christmas markets up and christmas trees and lights everywhere. Finally, winter is here for me.
Salzburg is a really nice city but I think today i might take a day trip to the German boarder mayber and then to Munich. Then tomarrow i leave for the next city, not sure where too, but. I need to get closer to Amsterdam because i will have to be there on Thursday.

So im going to go catch a train.

Will this work??

2008-11-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

So, this is the first picture i got to upload on here, uploading one picture took over 15 minutes, so lets keep it at this one for now. I can give you a good story about this place...

I went to that hardcore show with Verse and Ceremony, and it definatly reminded me of the sweet little stay on Stromboli island. So first is my traveling TO Rosswein, Germany. No one knew where the city was, no one has ever heard of it. I had to write it down so many different times and im pretty sure i came up with about 5 different ways to pronounce it. No one, as in, even the people at the train stations couldnt even help me find it. So i just take a train that i think drops me off CLOSE to Rosswein, and it does. It drops me off at this station where the people actually recognize the name Rosswein, which is actually spelt Roßwein but its awkward putting htat little symbol in there.
So i get put onto this small small train, literally it is only two carts long. And it is basically just like an above ground metro that travels to all the small small cities between the city i was in which was called Lipzig or something like that and this other city called Meugin, or something like that...both of THESE cities were already super small, so you can only imagine the cities that this train travels to. Well, Roßwein, is one of those cities, about an hour into the ride i get to Roßwein. The train station is one track and a boarded up barn. Literally. The city is really nice actually and it was saturday, so i thought people would be out and about shopping at the cool small town shops and all and i could find a hotel or something really easily. Nope. Closed up, the whole city is like a ghost town, i saw maybe 5 people walking around on the streets. The entire ride there i was basically just trying to prioritize myself, so i figured i should find a place to sleep for the night then find the venue that the show is at cause i already figuered it was a small town and finding the venue would be a piece of cake. And it was, but finding a place to sleep though was a different story. I found 2 hotels. TWO hotels the hole 3 hours i was walking around this tiny city with backpack on and everything. Both of the TWO hotels were completely abandoned. So i was just said "there is a big show tonight, i will just ask one of the bands where they are staying cause at least one the bands is going to be staying tonight." So i went looking for the venue, found it, literally in the matter of minutes. It was right down the road from the BARN they call a trainstation. And you could definatly tell that this was a place for hardcore shows (look at the picture). So i walk up to the building and there are two guys standing out side, i ask them if it was the place for the show and they said yes. They were both american so i figured they were in one of the bands, i asked which one, and they said I Rise, one of the bands that are playing. So i started talking to them about where they are staying and they said there is a hostel right up the road that they are staying at, but they wont be using any of the beds because they have to be back on the road by at least 5 in the morning they said because the next night they were playing in Warsaw, Poland. So they were just using the hostel to shower and wash up after the show and they said i could probably just take one of their beds. So, awesome. thats nice. Then some more vans start pulling in, and it is Verse and their tour manager. I start talking to the tour manager and he is actually a really cool dude, he started even talking about how i might be able to get a ride with them to the next big city which is Dresden. Because that was another worry of mine, if it is saturday the next day is sunday, and i was afraid trains might not run on sunday and i definatlly didnt want to be stuck in this small city for another night with no where to sleep. So it seemed like everything was working out perfectly. He ended up giving me a bracelet so i could get backstage and hang with all the bands and eat the food and everything. So basically my night was set, at that point, and it was awesome hanging out with the bands and everything. I got to talk with other americans and everything and then i actually became pretty familiar with the vocalist of one of the bands, Anchor, they are from Sweden and his name was Clause and talking to him i actually learned alot about the politics and history of Sweden, so that was nice. I could keep going into that, but thats a longer story than what this already is. So yeah, i got to know alot of these guys and it was awesome. Then the night went on and the tour manager got more and more busy and also more and more drunk. By the end of the night he had pretty much forgotten about me because of all of his running around and everything. So i started talking to the guys about finding that hostel and getting a ride with them and no one really gave me that straight of an answer and there was word going around that they werent even going to be going to the hostel and just hitting the road right after the show....i saw the night slowly falling apart....i was slowly accepting the fact that i was probably sleeping outside...in about 5 inches of snow.

So the show is done, its a little past 2 in the morning, everyone is packing up and im just kind of walking around trying to figure out whats going on and still no one was giving me straight answers. I finally talk to the "owner" of the venue. The venue was kind of like the castle squat we went to in Rome, just not in a castle, but ran similarly, no rules or laws...you know, a squat. So i talked to him to just figure out where the hostel is and i was just going to walk there and get a bed myself. But he said it was probably closed and they wouldnt help me, so he just opened up this door to this room....filled with mattresses, there was at least 10 or 12 mattresses and a couple of them already had people laying on them, and he just told me to take one of the mattresses. Keep in mind this place is a squat just like the place in Rome. If anyone were to have done this to us in Rome, how do you think those mattresses would have looked....yeah...so i go to a matteress kind of in a corner so i can just like curl up and hide in the dark untill morning came. Im kind of greatful for this but after that i just kind of woke up...like this is how i slept: I lay down pull my sleeping bag out, crawl into it, fully clothed, with shoes and jacket on, curl around my back pack and then i just kind of WAKE up...and it was about 9 in the morning. I wake up and all the mattresses are taken, it turns out Ceremony and the other band that they are touring with, Never Healed stayed the night.
I wake up and some of the other guys start waking up. I basically just gather all my stuff and leave to the train station in hopes that i didnt MISS THE LAST TRAIN OUT OF THE CITY! I get there and there is already one other person waiting for a train and i ask them "Where are you goin?" they dont reply back, they clearly didnt speak any english, so i figured if anyone is going to know if a train is coming, its going to be this guy, and i dont think he is waiting for nothing. So about 15 minutes go by, more people show up and i jump on the first train that comes and the feeling i have is basically the same feeling i had when i got onto the ferry leaving stromboli island! It was great! So that building up there is the building where i saw Verse/Ceremony/Anchor/I Rise/Nver Healed at, and the building i slept in. Again, at the time it was a bit sketchy but now looking back on it, im so glad it happened!

Austria:The worst wifi internet EVER.

2008-11-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

So, the way this hostel has their wi fi set up, it restarts the connection every 5 minutes or so. Therefore making uploading pictures impossible and i will be suprised if this post even gets posted.
So yeah, Im in Salzburg, Austria now. That came out of no where. Well after Rosswein I wasnt able to use the internet at all so i couldnt book hostels anywhere or look at them or anything, all i had was this brochure that picked up at the hostel we stayed at in Lisbon for this hostel in Salzburg. So since that was the closest i had to knowing i could get a real bed under me i went with it. So all day yesterday i was jumping on and off trains all day, i think i travelled a total of 5 different trains yesterday. One good thing about Germany and this Eurail pass is that i dont have to make any reservations for any trains and i dont have to pay for any trains, so i literally just have to look at the departure boards, find the next train that gets me closer to where i want to be, catch it and jump on it. So yesterday was an adventure, as was the whole weekend really, with finding Rosswein, going to the show, meeting the guys, awkward sleeping, and catching trains.

So i will post pictures of everything when i can, which might not be untill i leave Salzburg, which is on Wensday and then i will be travelling, so you might not be able to see pictures untill Thanksgiving, when i get to Amsterdam.
So good luck.

Berlin: Wet, Snowey, Gray...and the New Year.

2008-11-21T14:36:00.001-08:00

Talking around Berlin

Walking around Berlin. What you see here in this picture may look like a remains of a bombed war zone, or something. Seems fitting for Berlin, right? Well its not a boming, they are actually tearing down a building. That deconstruction that you see there is actually quite important. It is actually history happening. I saw it with my eyes. I will get back to it later on in the post.

Walking around Berlin. Its not a very appealing city really. The word Berlin actually translates to "Swamp City" In Slovik, which was the language of Germany before it was Germany, back when it was ruled as Prussia. Berlin got its name because it was built on a swamp.

This here is the most prestigious hotel in Berlin, everyone famous has stayed here from, Tom Cruise to Barack Obama. One night here on the top floor will cost you over 12000 euros. You might be wondering why i decided to take a picture of this extremely expensive hotel. Well another person who has stayed here and actually caused quite the ruckus in this hotel was the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Although i am a bit of a fan, that is not the reason why i took this picture. THIS hotel was the hotel that he decided to hold his baby child out the window and over the balcony to show everyone how crazy and messed up he really is, remember that? Yeah, i couldnt resist taking a picture of this place!

This is the Holocaust memorial in Berlin. The next couple pictures are walking through it. It was actually quite an uncomfortable expiriance. It wasnt pleasant at all. And that is its purpose. They built it so that looking at it and walking through it, it will never be a pleasant thing, because it is not. It is a reminder of a very horrible time in the worlds history that took place in Berlin.

I went in with a group of people and before we went in i looked at it and thought it wouldnt be that big of a deal, really, like just walking through a narrow hallway, iv done that pleanty of times. But this was different. The monument was built to sink down into a bit of a hole and inside it is really kind of wavey and hilly. The colums you see, at the begining are short but the further you walk in the begin to tower over you and they arent all built going straigh up, some of them are slanted and tilted and leaning into you. It is very clausterphobic.

Like i said, i went in with a pretty large group of people. But the second you get in you are all alone. I even went in following someone, but after the first turn i lost them. You see strangers pass through real quick but just as fast as they enter your sight they leave. So you are literally walking around alone in this, what seems to be an easy walk through a hallway, but its not. From out side the monument you can see the other side of it quite easily. But as you can see in this picture it looks like the end of this is almost miles away. I started feeling really anxious like it was taking me forever to get out and that everyone was waiting for me on the other side. But when i got out thats how everyone was feeling. You walk in and about halfway you really feel the need to get out of there.

Here is one of the two bits that are left of the Berlin Wall. Directly on the other side of this was actually the SS headquarters, but when they destroyed that they decided to leave it as a ruin and not to build on top of it. So this is what the east side of the wall looked like, bare with very little graffiti.

This is a war memorial. It is a statue of a woman holding her dead son in her arms. On the right side of her is the burial of an unknown holocaust victim and on the left side of her is the burial of an unknown german soldier from world war I. Through out the different stages of Berlin it was known as the memorial for all sorts of terribal events (according to the goverment that ruled at the time). But now it is known as just a war memorial, in general, not really relative to any specific war, just all war victims and people effected by wars.

This buidling here, looks old like most monuments and buildings in Europe, but it is only a mere 100 years old. It was built in 1905. You can also see the TV tower in the background. Which you can actually see in a bunch of other pictures that iv taken, but thats the reason why it was built. So you can see it from basically all points of Berlin. It has turned into a symbol of Communism here in Berlin. It was built by the government of East Berlin during the division, the reason why they built it was to show West Berlin that they had the technology and man power to build such a thing, really, thats the only reason why it was constructed, was to boast to West Berlin and to show that East Berlin was better. When really it was not, and to me it has become a very annoying and kind of a disgusting symbol that just ruins every picture i take in Berlin.

Alright, back to this little tid bit. This is history in the making right here, what was here BEFORE this building was here (That they are now tearing down) was a beutiful palace. Well the government of East Berlin decided they didnt like the palace so they tore it down and put up their House of Pariliment. What you see in this picture is the destruction of the East Germany House of Parliment. Which to all people who live in Berlin and espcially to those who had to suffer through the wars and divisions of Germany and Berlin, THIS is a great scene. It is yet another symbolic moment that is happening all through out Berlin right now showing the rise of the People, taking over the government and demanding change, and getting what they want and need. It is the rise of the People and the fall of Communism.

This here is second piece of the Berlin Wall that is left, this is the larger piece. It is called the East Side Gallery, which is an open air gallery displaying the art and graffiti of the west side of the Berlin Wall.

I had to do it...

Another thing i did today was i went and saw the New Year. A band from Texas. I saw that they were playing in Berlin a while ago and i have been debating wheather i should go or not. I went, and i am very happy that i did go. The New Year is a band that you listen to and wouldnt think they would be a great live band, or...well you would think they would be a bit boreing to see live. But they pulled it off actually. They're preformance was awesome i thought actually. They definatly blew me away. I got to the show a bit late, two other bands played. One of which was a preformance by the drummer of the New Year, Chris Browkaw. But i missed them and got there right before the New Year played. But thats alright, i was eating an awesome vegan burrito. I'll finish this story at the end of the pictures...

The first night i was herein Berlin i walked around looking for food and i was just about to give up and just go to a kabab stand and just get some cheap falaful. But then i walked past this burrito shop, called Dolores. Burritos always sound good to me, always. And next to sushi, a good burrito is one food that i have missed a bunch since iv gotten over here to europe. I had good sushi in Lisbon and well here in Berlin i found the perfect burrito shop. They have HUGE burritos and they use organic products and they have a ton of vegan options and they are set up like a fast food place, so i get my awesome burrito quick and cheap! I have eatn there now three nights in a row, every night iv been in Berlin i have eat'n at Dolores. Tomarrow i leave Berlin and i will miss Dolores....it will be a said departure for me, not only because i will be leaving behind quite possibly the best burrito shop in the world, but also i could probably stay here in Berlin for another week and still not even learn half of what id like to learn about Berlin. The city looks like crap, but the history and people who live here are both tragically beutiful. The history is a sad and deep history. The people who live here in Berlin have gone through alot, they have been forcibly seperated from family and friends by war and horrible, inhuman, governmental practices. They have certainly learned the hard way the importance of working together as a massive force to rise up and show that the government is not here for the people but the people are here for the government. The people of Berlin have learned the importance of human interaction and they are some of the nicest people i have ever met. This is one thing that i am learning along the way in my travels, the importance of human interaction, and Berlin is definatly a city that has taught me alot on that subject, even in the short time that i have been here. But i must leave tomarrow to Roßwein, Germany to go to a show. Verse and Ceremony. Im pumped. Two good shows two nights in a row....im always down for that!

East side of Europe. Memories of Lisbon.

2008-11-19T03:23:00.000-08:00

On the other side of this picture is America.

We found this cat, it would just hop into our balcony and come into our room and just run around the hostel, it was a few days actually when we learned this cat wasnt supposed to be in the hostel...everyone liked it though and it wasnt a stray cat, so it was clean and safe, and really nice actually.

This picture is taken looking out from our balcony outside of our room at the Hostel we stayed at. At this particular moment we see a woman defying death and also trying to clean her windows.

Here we are playing cards in Neds hostel appartment. Ned has been staying in this hostel for a while now and he has been able to upgrade to this apartment deal. His appartment was the next balcony over so we would hop balconies a bit and hang out. Here i am, talking about something big. Something real big...

So there is a huge statue of Jesus in Lisbon that was given to them as a gift from Brazil to celebrate their independance. The statue is located on the other side of Lisbon. Well Lisbon is devided by a really wide river, so the only way to get to the other side is to take a ferry. Well one day, Rainer, Morganne, and I decided to go see Jesus. This here was actually on our walk to the ferry station. At the bottom of the stairs is Rainer. After this picture was taken, we lost Rainer. We got to the bottom of the steps, we looked both ways, and he was gone. Apperently he thought we were right behind him. So that was it for Ranier, we met back up with him later at the Hostel, apperently he did make it to Jesus.

This is the waiting room for the ferry. For some reason with the sun coming through the windows and the people standing there looking out the window, this particular shot reminded me alot of my favorite scene in the movie Sunshine, where a crew of scientist are sent into outer to save the world by detonating the largest nuclear bomb ever in the sun. Well on their journey to the sun they have a room kind of similar to this but instead of looking out to a ferry port in Lisbon Portugal it is an observatory room of the sun, so they can obseve the sun. There is a scene in the movie where the crew is in the room to watch Mercury eclipse the sun right infront of them. That is my favorite scene in the movie and thats what this reminded me of.

This was our walk up the hill to see Jesus.

Morganne took pictures of Jesus

I slept.
C'mon, how often to come around a park that has this thing in it that is MADE to lay on! Its not like I DIDNT look at Jesus. I looked at him before and after the nap...

This is another way to get across to the other side of Lisbon. But we dont have cars.
Yes, i think it looks alot like the golden gate bridge also.

The next day we went on this road trip with this guy from the hostel, Bruno, he gathers a bunch of people together, throws them in his big red van and then drives them around the surrounding cities of Lisbon. This palace was the first stop.

This was right next to the palace. Its a cafe, and apperently a movie was filmed at the palace. I cant remember what movie it was, but Johnny Depp was it in, and after every shoot the crew would go here to this cafe. BUT, thats not the reason why i took this picture. I took it because of the tree. Starting from the bottom it looks like a norma tree, but then the branches just shoot straight up. It was crazy. And it was Awesome.

A view of the surrounding areas of Lisbon and also the ocean.

Taking a nature hike with the boys! Imron, Rainer, Me, and Jordan (From Australia, but lives in London...no suprise there!) Jordan also has a tattoo on his back of a hand...he was really suprised to find out i have tattoos of my parents hands on my back...we took pictures together with our shirts off...and thats how i met Jordan....

This is a path leading up to a castle. The ONLY path leading up to the castle.

This is the castle. I forget the name of it, but it has something to do with rocks. Because the King who lived here and built this castle had to import trees and soil from all around the world to plant in the mountain that this castle was built on. The trees and soil we re to stop corrosion. Im sure the King could have just taken trees from portugal, at least, to transplant on the mountain, but either way, if he hadnt transplant trees the castle would have fallen over by now, so, he was knew what he was doing.

This is another castle. The nextdoor neighbor, if you will, to the rock castle. This castle was built by the arabs when they ruled in Portugal.

A great deal of this castle had tiles covering it, id say about 90% of the castle was coverd by little small tiles maybe two inches by two inches. Hundreds of thousands of tiles just covering this castle. It was crazy. And at first i thought the story of the trees was great, then i saw these little tiles.

This guy is pretty mean looking.

This is the edge of Europe. The most western point of Europe. This is the closest im getting to America in 2 and a half months.

This is looking down from where i was sitting....

Here they are, them dirty ol' shoes have made it long enough to see the edge of Europe right here.

This is the coast line of a small city outside of Lisbon named Cais Cias. I think thats how you spell it, its pronounced Cash Kaish.

"This is where everything started" Bruno told us. This here is the Lighthouse where all the boats and ships came to inorder to get to europe. This was the first port of Europe.

This is a statue dedicated to all the great navigators and discoverers of Portugal.

The sunset in Lisbon.

Walking around Lisbon.

Graffiti in Lisbon. One thing that is consistent through every city in europe is the graffiti. There is SOOO much graffiti, everywhere! But i noticed though in Lisbon the graffiti is a bit more colorful. This piece is pretty obvious to what it is refering to.

A night out on the town: Me, Keegan (peeking in there, he is from Australia), Imron (offering something, i dont know...he is from Tazmania), Corey (He has actually been to Traverse City before, he is from Buffalo), then there is Annia (pronounced like onion, thats how i remembered it. She worked at the hostel we were staying at, i forget where she is from, i think Slovenia.)

Playing cards with Olly (He is from Australia), Imron and Corey.

Not as big as this though.

Here we are saying our final goodbyes to Ned, this was our last day in Lisbon.

More Graffiti.

This is Lisbon at dusk. You can see a castel there. Pretty big castel, yeah, never went inside of it though, this was the closest we got.

So there you have it, pictures of Lisbon.

I also lied to you, i told you that the next time you'd hear from me i would be in Salzburg, Austria. Well, im not. Due to a mix up in train scheduals or something...i dont know, i was too late to buying tickets to the connection train that would take me to salzburg from a small city in france. But i could have gotten tickets to that small city in France from Paris. So i just didnt want to deal with it. Im in Berlin now. I dont think i will be able to make it down to Austria either. Oh well, that just gives me more time to explore Germany.

So, after two days of travelling, one short day in Paris and one crew member less now, i find myself sitting in a pretty nice hostel in central Berlin. Lastnight Morganne saw me off as waved good bye to me while my train was leaving the station. Morganne stayed in Paris for one night to catch a train to London this morning. She is flying back home tomarrow. Her two and a half month journey has come to a complete and now she gets to head back home with over two months of european memories behind her, and i enter into my last leg. Starting in Berlin i will just head back to the western side of europe, eventually ending with picking up my bike in Paris and then taking a train to London and spending my last 5 days there. Im thinking maybe every 3 days i will go to a new city. Maybe staying a bit longer in Amsterdam. But here in Berlin, i plan on going around and taking a walking tour tomarrow and seeing some museums. Then on saturday morning i check out and head down to Rosswien for the Verse/Ceremony show. I will probably just stay a night there and then head to Frankfort or Dusseldorf or...you know, somewhere more central germany for a couple days, then to west germany for a few days, then to Amsterdam. Then Brussels, then to Paris....

Alright, im going to say it publicly now. I dont like Paris. I didnt have much fun there and everytime i leave Paris the only thing im thinking about is "YES!!! Im leaving Paris!" The first time in Paris I had to leave my bike, the second time i left Paris i had to leave Morganne. So whats it going to be the third time, Paris? There are some cool things to look at in Paris, like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.....a some other things i guess, but, if you've never been to Paris, im just going to warn you now, its not what you think it is. There are better cities out there. Trust me, iv been to them! Rome, Barcelona, Nice ( all souther France, really), Lisbon, London...i can keep going.

Alright, thats enough. Im in Berlin now.

Lisbon: Uncomfortable Wi-Fi

2008-11-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures. The wi-fi here in Lisbon isnt that good i guess, i cant upload any pictures or anything and its hard to keep a consistent connection. But, no worries. Iv got alot of pictures and stories!

But untill i can post them i have to travel to the other side of Europe. Tomarrow i leave Lisbon to begin my journey across to Austria. So the next time i post (which be a couple more days) I will be in Austria.

London: Hair Growth. From Begining to End

2008-11-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

Lisbon, Portugal.

2008-11-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

So November 7th, that was the expected separation date for Morganne and I. Well, after our many unexpected nights in Barcelona, Morganne is still traveling with me. Not only that but we picked up a fellow from Toronto who we met in the hostel back in Barcelona, you may know him, Rainer. So now all three of us are together still when we expected to be parted a few days ago. And it looks like they are staying here in Lisbon just as long as I am. So, thats nice. I was also supposed to start my couchsurfing expiriance here in Lisbon. But that didnt work out. I looked for the guys pace and i couldnt find it, i had no way of contacting him other than internet, but walking around in europe very rarely will you ever find free wi-fi. So there was no way of contacting me. So I just went back to the hostel that Morganne and Rainer are staying at. And its just better to be in the same place as them. It would be stupid that all three of us are in the same city but we are all staying in different places. We travel together, we should stay together.
But this place, hostel and city, are great. Again, the people running and staying at the hostel are awesome and very helpful and the city is really nice so far too.
We just hung around the hostel all day, i walked around a bit, got familiar with the roads and everything around us. Then i came back and had dinner at the hostel. Thats another awesome thing about this place. Everynight there is dinner cooked by a different person that works for the hostel. Its only for 5 euro and i just have to make a little note saying im a vegan and everything is good. So tonight was a pasta with a touch of Portugal, it was great and it filled me up good. Every morning there is a breakfast too, which is awesome. Iv grown very fond of toast. We'll see what this place has to offer, maybe some fruit....and toast.
So after dinner we still just hung around and met with all the other people staying here and living here. Then we all went out to this bar where there was some reggae music playing. It was great. It was very awesome hearing them sing in portugese and everything. I had a good time.

Also....

On thursday night there is a show here. Cut Copy and Boyz Noiz are paying at this place called the Lux...apperently just GOING to the Lux is a pretty big deal here in Lisbon, let alone, for me at least, seeing Cut Copy at the Lux. So a bunch of us from the Hostel are going to go to that. I am actually really excited for that. Another good show to go to.

So we just got back from the reggae show. Had fun, but now it is time to sleep. Its been a long travelling day. We were on a train all night, sitting, and it was soooo hot in the train. I couldnt get any sleep. It was horrible, so...now im going to sleep.

Barcelona: Last Night/ unorganized pictures.

2008-11-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

So our last night in Barcelona. We went out to eat at Vegetalia, the awesome vegan place that iv eat'n at over half the time iv been here. Afterwards we went out and walked around. We walked to this square where this band was playing and a TON of people were dancing. A bunch of old people, holding hands in a circle and they were doing like a tip toe dance. I can only assume its a traditional spainish dance to traditional spanish music.

This was the band, consisted of...id say at least 15 people, all playing horns. They were really good. This was definatly an excelent event to stumble upon on our lastnight in Barcelona.

This is the stadium. Camp Nou, the official FCBARCELONA statdium. Futbol-Club Barcelona.

There were quite a few people here! Oh, did i forget to tell you that i saw THE BEST executed wave ever! From the very top row to the very front. What you see in this picture is only two rows of bleachers, the first and the second. There is another set of bleachers above the second. So from the very top of the stadium, to very bottom, ALL THE WAY AROUND...once.....no, TWO FULL ROTATIONS! Beat that america.

The game and the moon.

This game was amazing. Not only seeing a soccer game in Barcelona, but also seeing some of the best players in the world. Barcelona won 6-0 and they did it with ease. It was really entertaining watching these guys play, their foot work is incredible. And there was so much energy in the crowd, chanting, blowing horns, and doing the wave, it was all there. Iv never heard so many chants, almost every minute they were chanting something. You could really tell these people are passionate about this sport and i certainly understand why now after going to this game.

Making friends on the way. Me, Morganne and Rainer. Rainer is from Toronto, he doesnt know what he's doing in Europe, but he is here, and he met us. Now he is travelling with us to Lisbon Portugal.

Travel Buds. Morganne Montana and Lance Paul at a soccer game in Barcelona, Spain.

This was after i think his third goal.

This was a really good game. It was so much fun. Barcelona won, 6-0. Number 9 there, Eto'o scored 4 goals in the first half. He is considered one of the best players in the world. He definatly showed it. This game was amazing.

The soccer field. holds 96,000 people.

Dancing at the show.

The way they play these shows, 8 bit style: They program songs on a gameboy, using special software that they put onto any old gameboy and the songs are programed to play continuously for an entire set for shows. Then they run their gameboy through a bunch of effect processors so they can add effects and do whatever they want throughout the set.

Some pretty cool videos playing behind them.

The 8 bit show that we went to on Friday night. This is 8gb, the main guy that played.

Derek and I checkin out some pretty cool graffiti.

Me, Derek, and Rainer (Rain-yay) walking to the movie theater to see Vicky Christina Barcelona, in Barcelona.

The Sant Jordi Arago crew, From left to right: Me, Elly, Rainer, Morganne, Annah....crew minus Kat...She tends to disappear alot.

The market

THE market

So there you finally have it. More pictures of Barcelona. Pictures of places, events, and friends.
Barcelona is a great great city and i would come back here in a heart beat. If someone were to ask me if i wanted to go to Barcelona i wouldnt even question it, id be on the plane before they were. But now its time to move on. Iv finaly got that antsy feeling to travel again. But i still dont want to leave Barcelona. Its still going to hard to leave but I am definatly ready now. Up next is Lisbon, Portugal.

Now that iv entered into my 2 month of travelling, time seems to be flying by much quicker than the first month. Like iv gone from amature traveller to intermediate traveller. Iv learned the ways of packing my bag and the ways of living with only two pairs of pants and three t-shirts. Iv learned the ways of sleeping with 10 other people in the room with me. Iv learned how to get by in a foriegn country without knowing the slightest bit of their language. Iv learned how to meet and talk to strangers from different countries. Iv learned how to keep my stomach full with only very little food throughout the day. I have learned a ton about travelling and a ton about life, already. And its crazy, im onto Portugal tomarrow and when i leave on the 15th i will only have just a couple more weeks left before i come home.
I often think about my approach to counting down the days to home. Should i be doing that? Or should i be living more in the moment? I feel iv done a good job of both, because rather than sitting and thinking about home and counting down the days every single day, i think iv reached that balance of being more motivated to see more and learn more because i am running out of time. Rather than just spending my time thinking about home and everything, I can do that while on the move.

So, you have any input on that?

Barcelona vs. Valladolid

2008-11-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

Im sorry i havent really kept up on my pictures lately. But Iv forgotten my camera for the past couple nights and just had Morganne take more pictures its just we lost her chord that connects to my computer so she can up load her pictures. But tonight, dont worry. I will for sure bring my camera! Im going to a soccer game here in Barcelona. Its not even that important of a game i guess. But everyone here is pumped about it! Its pretty exciting, here i am in Europe and im going to a futbol game. Sounds pretty fitting, isnt this one of those things you "JUST GOTTA DO!" while your in Europe? Yeah? okay good.

Last night we went to this show that was an 8bit show, www.myspace.com/8gb . He is one of the guys that played. Check him out and learn about 8 bit music. Its really awesome and i am SOOO happy that i went to the show. A bunch of people making music on gameboys and old computers and dancing and everything...it was awesome. Yet another reason why Barcelona is amazing!

Okay, you must settle on this for now, i will type more and add more pictures soon, so, chill out.

Barcelona: This city isnt letting go of me...still

2008-11-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be our last day here....
Nope. Stayed out late lastnight at some cheesy club, saw Guido though. He is a really awesome guy. He was pretty much the only reason why i went out last night. This morning we woke up, a bunch of people stayed in our room lastnight. After the club we all came back here and we just chilled in our room talking, it was really nice cause the last thing i remember before i fell asleep was laughing, so i laughed myself to sleep lastnight. But pretty much lastnight we were talking at about 6 in morning about how we were going to be woken up at 10 in the morning for check out, and we just couldnt deal with that so we decided to stay one more night. Then this guy that we met from Chicago, Derek, told us there is a Futbol (Soccer) game on saturday that he was going to. The moment he said that i had already decided that i was going. No doubt. So thats on saturday, added three more nights right there in Barcelona. Then there is Sunday, Spain is reall wierd with their customs and culture and trains may or may not run on some days, and if anything they will not run on a sunday. So 4 more nights in Barcelona. We were only going to stay 3 nights here...here it is 8 nights, and we are still adding on...

What is with this place? Everyone is so nice, everything is so nice, and everything has just fallen into place here. Nothing negative has happened yet here in Barcelona. Thats basically all im waiting for. On the LIpari Island we kept adding nights saying it was going to be hard to leave. Then we get stranded on an island sleeping on the beach, the next day we did everything in our power to get off those islands. We were certainly ready! But here in Barcelona, Im not ready to leave yet. It jst keeps getting better and better. But Monday though, iv got to keep going, what ever day that is im just going straight from Barcelona to Lisbon. I have to continue my journey. I can and WILL come back here to Barcelona just to be in Barcelona, so thats when i will live this life again, but as for right now i have to travel some more. Have some fun in other cities!

Oh did i mention the hostel here is also only 13 euro a night? Thats perfect. Thats an awesome reason just right there to keep me here.

But again, i have to keep traveling, thats why i came here and thats what im going to do. Lisbon, Portugal is next!

This morning the house mom i guess you can call her, Linda, she's in her 60's im sure, was here making breakfast just like every morning. I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and went out to get more nights, Linda came out of the kitchen yelling "Sit sit! You eat breakfast! I make you all the toast you want this morning!! Im going to miss you so much!!" Then i said i was actually getting more nights and she turned up the music, some reggae music and she was like "Alright!!! Then we celebrate, you either eatin or you dancin!!" At the time i was the only one in the kitchen. But everytime someone else showed up Linda was sure to tell them the rules for the morning "You either eat'n or you dancin!!" It was quite the scnenerio to wake up to! But Linda makes some MEAN batches of toast and jam, i tell you what! With some tea and orange juice, iv come to appreciate this breakfast more than anything in the morning!!

Iv got 4 more mornings of it too. Sounds good to me.

Barcelona: This city isnt letting go of me...

2008-11-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

So tonight is our last night here. Tomarrow we are off to Madrid and then not too sure where. All i know is that by the 11th im going to be in Lisbon Portugal. Im excited to see more and to continue my journey. But Barcelona is too hard to leave. In Rome, when the day came for us to leave, i was ready. Walking to the trainstation in the rain, it couldnt have been a better day for us to leave Rome. But here in Barcelona, tomarrow is the day to leave, but it doesnt feel like im ready. I dont feel like iv gotten enough of this city. Iv seen everything iv wanted to see, but it just feels like i should stay. I could easily stay here for another week.
But I wont, it'll be hard to leave, but it will also be nice to continue on and see more places. Basically one month from today i will be back in London, half way home. Barcelona was a great place to celebrate my one month point in my journey. But now i have one more month left of travelling around Europe.

i

So we went to an IMAX theater here in Barcelona. It was my first time ever going to one, it wasnt too bad. The 3d part was really cool. There were two movies, one movie was about these guys who traveled around antarctica a really long time ago. Not to sure when, but it was a really long time ago. The second was about underground wild life and it was narorated by a turtle, all in 3D. That was cool. They were both documenteries like you would see on the history channel or discovery. IT WAS ALL IN SPANISH! We couldnt understand anything, no subtitles, all just spanish. So that is probably the main reason why i couldnt tell you what year that first, and really i cant tell you anything else about either of them, i couldnt understand anything.

Sunset at the Port

This is the Sangrada Famalia. Developed by Antoni Gaudi. An Architecht that some consider a genious. After I saw this and walked through it and read about it, i am one of those people. Everything about this place and all of Gaudi's idea derived from nature. From just basic ways of growth to the technicalities of the lines in a leaf to the crystalization process of minerals. He integrated all of it into this Temple. He spent the entire last 15 years of his life developing this temple. The construction began in 1886 and here it is, over 1000 years later and its still not finished. The projected date for completetion is 2026.

Prime example of nature. He didnt want to use the typical nightmar-ish creature for the gargoyals around the Temple, instead he went with amphibeons and reptiles.

You can see some leaves sculpted into the structure here.

Incredible.

The working area. Construction zone.

This is one part of the inside. The only part that you could walk through. The basis of the pillars and columns come from the way trees grow naturally and when a branch is broken off how the tree fixes itself from the wound. Then idea of the cieling came from a process of crystaliztion in a certain mineral. I cant remember which one it is.

All of these windows will eventually be filled in with stained glass.

Just like this.

And this

Pretty amazing looking. You can see why it can take over 1000 years to build this place. There are so many small details i on such a huge structure.

These numbers here have some kind of significance. I cant remember what it was, but they make equations and what not. I think it has something to do with the measurements of the Temple.

Reminds me of a castle you would find in Candyland or something...

I dont have much to say about these statues. Other than they are incredible. One thing i did notice though, was he choose for humans to look very inhuman, as you can see, very square. I wonder if this says something about how he viewed humans against nature.

You can kind of tell what parts are newer. See the Statues?

Barcelona: Proud to be American

2008-11-05T03:38:00.001-08:00

So lastnight I was awake untill a little bit past 3 in the morning watching the polls and refreshing web pages to keep up on the breaking news that was literally happening almost every ten minutes. Just before I went to bed they announced that Ohio went for Obama, and it was then when i was able to get to sleep and have the best night of sleep since i got over here to Europe. Once they announced that Ohio went Democratic I knew Obama won, right there.
Now, listening to his acceptance speech, there is this little person in the back of my head saying that I am actually kind of proud to be an American. I know there are still people out there who judge other people by their skin color, or their religous beliefes, or their sexual orientation, or handicap, or anything that creates a difference between us. But I now KNOW that those people, who judged the minorities, are now the minority. And I couldnt be anymore happier about that. To know that the country i live is able to elect a person of a different skin color to be our president. Its a good feeling. Its great that Obama is now our President, but we still have problems to fix and changes to be made. Lets hope that he can do it.

But again, like i said before. If you truely want change, for yourself and for the people around you, dont wait for Obama to do it for you, it is us working together that will make that happen. Working together as a community and as friends and family. There is never anything wrong with taking the initiatve and taking matters into your own hands. Participating and making small changes just for youself makes for a broader difference that you will learn how to appreciate more than anything else, more than any material that you go out and buy. I have learned so much from the people around me and from my family that this is the truth. It is your morals and principles and ideals that make you who you are, not the clothes you wear or the sport you play or the music you listen to, or even the clique of people that you hang out with. If you are true to yourself and everything you stand for, and you truely have the need for change, not just now, but always, then there should be no limitations to who you know or who you hang out with or who you are even nice to, everyone should be nice to everyone, no matter what. Everyone should respect everyone. That is when we can truely work together. No one should ever be afraid of someone else.

Barcelona: US Presidential Election Day.

2008-11-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

We are golden.

Barcelona: Second Clear Day. The cost of living.

2008-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Barcelona. This is a view from Parc Guell. A park that was designed by this Architect named Antoni Gaudi. He was pretty out there. Most of his work is done here in Barcelona but he has a couple in France. And actually one of his designes was consindered to go in where the Wrold Trade Centers once stood. But look him up, google search him or something, there is alot to be said about him and i wont even come close to doing him justice. But the man was a genious. Actually if you look closely at this picture you can see the Sagrada Famalia, which was a project of his...that is still being built. The construction of it began in 1886 and its not set for completetion untill 2026. He dedicated the last 15 years of his life to this thing, and its still not finished.
I forget the name of this building, but to sum it up, its the building where Spain was founded. It had these gargoyals going all around it, and as you can see, you can see right through their mouths. This one in particular was set right above the enterance. But, whenever there was an unruley crowd or person, or just an unwelcomed person really, they would dump hot oil through the gargoyals mouths.
This picture, unfortunatly you cant see the hole building, but trust me, your not missing much. It was built in the 70's and its rather BLAND and boreing looking. Well its an Architecture University and this drawing on the front of it was done by Picasso, on a napkin. I forget what artist it was, but it was one that he would argue alot with. Picasso would sit and drink absinth with this artist and argue about why his drawings were childish and why Picasso would put noses coming out of womans forheads. Well, this was a drawing that Picasso did on a napkin while making fun of this other artist. This school decided to put it on the front of their building.
This is a part of the Roman wall that once ran through the city of Barcelona.
Space invaders....remember, i saw this in Paris too. Who is this guy?

This is where Picasso learned his artistic craft.
If your ever in Barcelona, look for the George Orwell plaza, there is an AWESOME vegan resteraunt here. Iv eat'n here two days in a row now.

This light post was designed by Dali.

So today we hopped on a free walking tour of the gothic part of Barcelona. It was pretty cool, im glad i did it i learned ALOT. Our tour guide also spoke english! unlike the last tour guide we had before we got stranded on a desolate island in the middle of the mediteranean sea!
Our tour guide was actually from New York and our tour was her first tour and i thought she did pretty darn good. Ran us through the history of Barcelona and Spain and Catalonia, showed us some cool parts of Barcelona, told us some funny stuff about Barcelona. And I also asked her about the cost of living in Barcelona. She hasnt been living here too long and she says that living here is actually cheaper than, say, living in New York, or Chicago. In the gothic part of barcelona, which was a pretty cool part, pretty much in the center of Barcelona, you can get a room in a flat for about 500 euro a month. Meaning you have your own bedroom and you share a livingroom, bathroom, and kitchen with a couple other people. Or you can get a hole Apartment to yourself for about 800 euro. But Barcelona, in general, she says it can get as low as even 200 euro a month. So, clearly Barcelona is a city im interested in moving too.

Tomarrow, everyone, tomarrow is the day we vote, well, you vote. For a new President of the United States of America. The next President has alot of influence on our future and even the next generation of kids and the generation after that...and after that. That means, us, and the children that WE will have, and their children. The next President has alot of influence on the entire World. This may be one of those getting caught up in the moment feeling for alot of us, but this is also kind of the truth: The next President may MAKE or BREAK America. As if America isnt already broken enough, yes, it could get worst. Think of wars, between race, class, religion, friends. Think of oil prices, water prices, and the effects these will take on not only us in the country but everyone in the entire world. Think of the nature and the loss of nature. We have already done some things to this world that can not be fixed, that wont ever be what they used to be, that will forever be broken now, because of us. A lot of that part depends on us, individually, to change. We, all together, can make a huge change, remember that. Working together, as a community, and helping one another out, we can create change for the good. But our President, is who we are choosing, to represent US, the people, to the world. Our President, is who we are choosing to lead us, for change. To lead us in the correct direction for change. But again, dont forget, if WE work together, even without a President, we can create alot of change. But because of the government, that we have choose for ourselves, we elect this guy or girl, we give them a TON of power over the entire country and the world that we live in. So, in all reality, on a grand scale, it is the President, who makes the largest, most important calls about our future.

Barcelona: Celebrating one month in Europe!

2008-11-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

So these pictures are a bit backwards, starting with the end of the show, the aftermath...aftermaff, if you will, at the top and the begining of the show at the end. So, the show was amazing i though. Russian Circles played so well. I have never been let down by any of their shows that iv seen. This was also the first time I saw them with their new bassist, who is also the bassist of These Arms Are Snakes, and also ex-bassist of Botch. He was good, he added a new sound to their old songs. One criticism i have is that he never uses a clean sound on his bass, even though the rough dirty sound he has is pretty powerful and intense, i think if he switched it up a bit he could add a little more to the sound of the songs. Adding a different mood. You know? I do.
After Russian Circles was These Arms Are Snakes. Now iv seen Russian Circles probably about 10 times id say, if not more. Seeing them here in Barcelona was so amazing. As for These Arms Are Snakes though, i have never seen these guys play, and i was impressed. I havent seen this much energy braught to the stage since the first time i saw the Blood Brothers play....about 6 years ago. They're preformance was awesome, musically and entertaining.

The show was my way of celebrating my one month mark here in Europe, i guess. Really i was going to the show no matter how long i had been here, it just so happened they were playing in Barcelona the same time i was here. But officially i have been travelling away from home for one month now. I have already exceeded all expectations, expiriance, learning, adventure, meeting, seeing, everything. And I still have a little over a month left before i head back to London.

THe Aftermaph

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes and crowed.

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

Russian Circles

Russian Circles

Russian Circles

Russian Circles, as you can see, there werent to many photo opportunities for Russian Circles. They had smoke machines going pretty much constantly. Im pretty sure they were malfunctioning because i heard them joking and laughing about all the smoke in between songs and it was blowing all onto Dave and his drum set and they were trying to push the machines away from him but...it was already too late. It set the mood though, thats for sure!
Seeing Russian Circles here, for me, was quite the expiriance. Knowing that when they guys first started out, I booked them in Traverse City a couple times. Just after they started playing shows, I booked them on a whim on a sunday night, we werent expecting too many kids to show up because it was a Sunday. But I think everyone was suprised at the turn out, and everyone had a great time. So they wanted to return to Traverse City and I already had a show booked featuring a bunch of bands from Friction Records, I think it was Ari Ari, Man At Arms, Victor!, and T.Suit maybe?? I cant remember, and Im pretty sure there was another Friction band, but it turned into a Friction Records Showcase and Russian Circles wanted to be added to that show. So quickly that show turned into one of the largest shows in attendance i booked, next to the 31 Knots and The Planet The show. It had a huge attendance and every band was awesome.
So to think, these shows happened when Russian Circles were just starting out, im not exactly sure how long ago this was, 4 years ago maybe. But now here I am seeing them in Barcelona, Spain.

I plan on going to some more shows while here in Europe, actually thats the way I plan on passing my time the fastest (I hope) while im travelling alone. Its hard to explain how the time goes by, as you can already guess. Iv said multiple times, It feels like Iv been here for sooo long now, it feels like iv been away from friends and family and home for years it feels and i think so much about when i come home and what its going to be like. So with that said it feels alot like time is just crawling by so slowly, like how am i going to fill all this time here? I dont know. But then I think back and its like "Wow, it feels like i was JUST in Paris last week!" But last week i was actually on Lipari Island in Sicily, swimming and climbing volcanos, and since then iv been back to Rome and been in Nice, france for a couple days. So im both suprised at how fast time is going and also how slow it is going.
So in the next coming month i have mapped out the cities and stays by the shows i want to go to. The next show i was going to go to was going to be To Kill in Italy, on the 14th, but it looks like their van burnt down, so that show has been put in jeapordy. After that The New Year is playing in Berlin on the 21st, then on the 22nd, the night after is Verse and Ceremony in Rosswien, German, which is about an hour train ride from Berlin. Then there is Squarepusher in Amsterdam on the 28th and on the 8th of December the Locust is playing with Fanotmas in London and im giong to try to convince Simon to go to that show, im not sure if he digs them or not. But I can try...

Even though its been rainy here in Barcelona pretty much everyday we've been here, its been a great time. I really enjoy Barcelona. Its a fun city and I can actually communicate with peope here a bit. My spanish is coming back from the whole two years i took spanish back in highschool. Also pretty much everyone speaks english and they are all really nice. Its really easy getting around, walking and taking the metro. And there is a BUNCH of stuff here to see, history and new. This is definatly a place I will come back to.

Barcelona: first clear day.

2008-11-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Cool Building, pretty cool graffiti.
Street Preformer. Aliens Vs....no, not this one, this one is called: Aliens, Meet Humans. It almost looks like the Alien is nicer than the human...or is it???
So, first clear day here in Barcelona. The day after Halloween. I ended up not going out last night either. No one was ready untill after midnight and i just wasnt feeling it then. I had lost the momentum, so i just stayed in and hung out and slept. It was good, i guess. Today I woke up around 10 and ate some breakfast and did some laundry and I was out by noon. I took the subway to Las Ramblas, i think is the street name. It is the popular street, where everything is and where all the cool people go. So i went there. I walked around for a bit and went to the Picasso museum.

I have developed a pretty large appreciation for Museums over here. Its one thing seeing pictures of your favorite paintings, but its another thing seeing the actual original painting. Seeing the brush stroke, the thick oil paint that looks like smeared toothpaste, and seeing the erase and sketch marks on the actual painting. At the National Gallery in London there was a painting by Monet that he did on a beach and you could actually see sand stuck in the paint. Its amazing, im telling you. I get to see paintings that I learned about in Art classes and here I am looking at the ACTUAL painting. Its incredible. Really, you should try it! The Dennos museum is okay and all in TC but, these are incredible. One of these days in Barcelona, not tomarrow because its not open, but I will be going to the Salvador Dali museum...I cant wait.

I baught my first material good, that is a scarf. It is getting colder now, even here in Barcelona, and I dont have a jacket or even a hoodie, so i got a scarf and hoping that at one of the shows i go to i will score a hoddie or something. Untill then, i have a comfy nice scarf that i plan on being with for a long time!

Currently i am trying to make dinner. The stove in this hostel is VERY inadequet though! Its taken almost an hour now to boil some water, iv given up on the water and i just threw the noodz in...so here i am now, waiting for those things to get soft...or soggy. which ever comes first.

Tonight im seeing Russian Circles and These Arms Are Snakes, im pretty excited. Its going to be fun seeing these guys over here in Barcelona. Last time i saw them it was in Grand Rapids. So im pumped. Hopefully the noodz will be done cooking by then though, theyv got about 5 hours, so im hoping something happens with them.

Barcelona: Halloween

2008-10-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Its a bit rainy here today. So Morganne and I just kind of hung out inside most the time. We were also both a bit worn out too. Lastnight was quite the adventure. We werent even in Barcelona for a full hour before we found ourselves thrown right into the night scene of Barcelona. We arrived at about 10:30 at night and we got a taxi to the Hostel we are staying at. After paying and talking to a few people we get invited with everyone else out to this bar. So, i dont know what it was, after a full day of traveling and waiting for trains since 8 in the morning, we some how thought we were able to do this. We got ready and we headed out to the bar.

The Hostel we are at is called Sant Jordis Argo and there are about 5 of these hostels all over Barcelona. So this bar that we went to, it was all of these hostels and everyone staying at these hostels. It was cool seeing and meeting all the people from all around the world. We met these guys from Argentina and one of them stuck with Morganne and i through out the whole night and he even helped us find our way back to our hostel. His name, Guido (Gheedo) Dero.
So at the bar everyone was drinking and talking and everything. I was drinking water. After a few hours at the bar we all headed to this club.
Now, this is my first OFFICIAL club expiriance. I mean, iv been to shows where everyone was dancing (Girl Talk) and that was awesome. This expiriance was crazy. It was two levels, both levels packed with people, shoulder to shoulder, the dancing was very minimal amongst everyone but everyone was dancing, i think even if they didnt want to, people were forced to because they were stuck between everyone else who was dancing.
So we were there, time flew by and we ended up leaving around 4 in the morning. So Guido, Morganne, and I were walking around Barcelona at 4 in the morning. And suprisingly it felt safe. No one bothered us and the people who did talk to us were nice. So, it was a good time. It was a fun, long night out on the town.
Tonight is Halloween here in Barcelona, and i guess the party started lastnight and continues tonight. And then tomarrow night we are going to go see Russian Circles and These Arms Are Snakes. So, so far...Barcelona is amazing.

We did walk around a bit today during a break in the rain and we got directions to a natural foods store so we went there and got some things, hygene products and food products. One food product that i got was....Vegan YOGURT! YESSS!!!! Awesome! So that puts it in stone. Barcelona, i can see myself living here...or something like that. They got good vegan food and fun people.

So, the other night in Nice i was awaky pretty late, not as late as last night but pretty late. I decided that when Morganne and I split that i should map out the rest of my journey, so i did. After Barcelona I am no longer "Winging" it here in Europe. I found one benefit of this so far and thats the couchsurfing network. Since i know where im going to be on pretty specific dates i have been working that net work like no other. I have places to stay in Lisbon and Brussels now. Im still looking for Vienna, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Im trying to get the rest of November covered so im not having to pay for Hostels. Cause these things really put a damper on the funds, i tell you what. If i can go all of november without having to pay for them, that would be GREAT.

So the Itinarary is this:

Barcelona untill the 4th
Valencia till the 7th.
Madrid to the 10th,
Lisbon to the 15th.
From the 15th to the 16th i need to make a trek to Vienna which will take me a couple days. i will be staying on night trains for these nights.
Vienna untill the 20th
Berlin Untill the 25th
Prague untill the 27th
Amsterdam untill the 1st
Brussles untill the 5th
On the 5th, or 6th, havent decided yet i will take a day trip back to Paris to get my bike and then up to London from there.
Untill the 10th....
On the 10th i fly out of London into Chicago.

So, there it is. Thats the rest of my time in Europe. Tomarrow will be my one month point. It seems like just last week i was in Paris....but...iv been to soo many places and through so many adventures and its only been a month. So like i was saying before its like when im thinking about it, time goes by so slow, but when im actually in it, its flying by. And to think Im barely half way done...

Pictures and stuff, pretty self explanitory...

2008-10-31T04:46:00.000-07:00

I think you can guess what this is...
A picture taken as we were using the flash to get down the volcano. Inti was saying that alot of people die from walking down these paths at night because they will just walk off of a cliff. So, as this picture was be taken my life was in great danger!
The path we took on our way up the volcano.
The village of Stromboli. This picture is a picture of the MAIN ROAD on Stromboli. As you can see, its not big...
Rocks rising out of the sea on our way to Stromboli
Rocks while we were going to Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli: This is the side that the lava flows down. The village is on the other side.
Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli
View of the sea.
Stromboli eruption!
Nice, France.
Nice, France
Nice, France.

Im in BARCELONA!!!

2008-10-30T15:11:00.001-07:00

I MADE IT TO BARCELONA! MY VOTE COUNTED!

Im doin pretty good...

Nice, France.

2008-10-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

After a LONG confusing day of jumping on and off trains yesterday we made it to Nice, France.

We got on the train in Rome at 11:46 and we didnt get into Nice untill a little after midnight. Want to know the time of Midnight here?

0...zero.

we got into Nice at 0:15. We were afraid the Hostel wasnt going to be open either but it was. So...it worked out. Havent gone out to explore Nice yet but we have two days here and then we are off to Barcelona for a few days...including Halloween!!!

Last night we had a rather bizarre resteraunt expiriance. In order to get from Genova, Italy to Nice France we had to take a train that was just kind of a normal subway train that went to Ventimiglia which is just on the boarder between Italy and France and it is a very small city. We get there and find out that the train from there to Nice doesnt leave untill 11:31 at night so we had a 3 hour lay over in this small city. Well we were hungry, we hadnt eatn since Rome, thats almost 12 hours of no food. So we walked around looking for somewhere to eat. Everything was closed, even the bars were closing, it was about 8:30. We walked around a bit and we finally found this resteraunt that was open but completetly empty, no one was there, at all. We looked at the menu, pretty good prices...we walk in, and it is a SUPER nice resteraunt, it was crazy. The seats and tables were all covered in this shiney red faric with red flowers and vines printed on them. The decor of the palce was really extravagant too, gold, statues, pillars. The music that was playing was like Spanish fiesta music. It really felt like we were in a David Lynch movie. it was really Bizarre. And then the man waiting on us was the owner of the place and the lady cooking our food was his wife. and they were both incredibly nice! They were really friendly.
We were the only ones in the entire resteraunt. Yeah, it was wierd. We were able to stay there untill 11 too, the owners had no problem with us just hanging out there after we were done eating. So that was cool.

But after almost 13 hours of Traveling we finally get into Nice and it wasnt hard finding our hostel and we got in and just went right to sleep.

So im in France now.

Back in Rome And leaving Italy

2008-10-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

So I spent yesterday back in Rome, at Inti's place and just walking around. It was nice being able to relax a bit, especially after that last night on the Island...

Now we are getting ready to go to Nice, France. Im not too sure how its going to be going back into France for me, considering my last visit, even though it was Paris, it was a bit under par than what i expected. Well after almost 3 weeks here in Italy im definatly ready for a new country, new language, new food...

We will be in Nice for a couple nights and then we will head to Barcelona, for Dia De Los Muertos and HALLOWEEN! We will be there for a little bit and then we will head south. Inti told us about some places that i think we are going to, i forget what they are now, but we have them written down somewhere.

On November 1st in Barcelona, Russian Circles is playing with These Arms are Snakes. We are going. I booked Russian Circles a few times and went to alot of their shows when they were first starting out and now im wondering if they will remember me. That would be a bit of a surprise if they do remember me and they see me at their show in Barcelona.

On the move again, new countries.

Lipari: Last day...story time.

2008-10-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Have I got quite the story for you.

Morganne and I were scheduled to go to another island today, well two of them. We were going on another volcano excursion. This time to Stromboli, I've already given you some stats on it. Its a volcano rising out of the sea and it is highly active as in it erupts, basically, once everyday. But since it erupts so much they aren't very strong explosions, so its safe.

The time to depart was supposed to be 2:00 p.m.. But when we got there 10 minutes early the guy told us that it wasn't going to be until 3:00 now. So we went back to our hotel to just lounge around. As the time came again for us to leave to meet everyone i asked Morganne "Are you sure you don't want me to bring anymore money" because i knew she didn't have much and she wasn't going to bring her credit card or anything. And I was wearing shorts with no pockets. Very rarely do i wear these shorts because of this. The last time i did it was when we did laundry in Rome. Morganne answered "Well everything is paid for except for our food, so i guess if you want than bring 20 euro just in case." Okay, so i did. She then asks "Do you think i should bring my italian phrase book?" clearly because neither of us know italian. I said "I don't know thats up to you, really." She decided not to bring it. We've ordered food before without it, easy stuff. So all this stuff, we do not bring, we do not see the need for them.

So we get to the boat. Everyone is there, old people, middle aged people, and a class of kids that looked like they were juniors in high school. The boat starts, we are cruising around. The guide is the captain of the ship, he speaks no english. So we just kind of have to guess what he is saying, we aren't too good at that. He took us near a rock that was rising out of sea quite a bit and he was saying something about it and people were pretty interested in it, they were even pointing at specific parts of it, but Morganne and I had no idea what was so special about it. We cruise around the island Panarea, the captain says some things, pretty cool i guess. Then at 5:00 we arrive to Stromboli, the captain is talking, but of coarse, we have no idea what he is saying. So we just follow everyone off the boat. Some groups go this way, others that way, the class had their own tour guide, and some people had luggage as if they were staying on the island. All we know is that we head home at 9:00, that is what the program said.

The village on this island is very small, VERY small. The population of this village is about 400. There are two roads, two VERY small roads, they don't have any full size cars here, and thats full size european style, not american style. These cars are all three wheeled little scooters with car like bodies. They don't even have steering wheels. They have handlebars like scooters. So, thats how small this place is, we thought Lipari was small, this place is SMALL.

So we wander around a bit, kinda following this couple that got off the same boat we did. We get a bit up the volcano and just kind of sit and chill for a bit. We notice we are on one of the paths leading up to the top and to the side that the sun is setting on. So we figured thats what this excursion is, it is to watch the sun set from the volcano. So we walk a bit further and we stop at a helicopter landing pad and we sat and watched. The sun went down and it was pretty good. Then the volcano started erupting, with lava coming out and everything and it was awesome. We were not in harms way, it was safe still, even though we were on a currently exploding volcano. It gets dark after a bit and we start heading back. Wow, its dark, no lights at all and we are walking down a dirt winding path using Morganne's flash on her camera to light our way. We get back into town, or at least to paved roads, and there are still no lights. This village is so small that they cant even afford to have street lights. So the entire walk back was pretty ominous, no lights in the street and we thought that we would start seeing or hearing kids from the class that was with us on the boat. Nothing. We keep walking through the town, a couple locals here and there also wandering around in the dark. Its about a 45 minute walk back to the port, and everywhere that we passed looked pretty closed or empty. And it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet, so we though we were early, if anything.

So we are back at the port, nothing. Not boat. So we think "Okay, well, the boat left while everyone else was on the island so it could transport more people, right?" We weren't really sure. So we sat on the port and waited for people to start showing up. Locals again would walk up and down the port, but no one that looked familiar to us. We keep sitting and we start playing cards, we say "Well if no one shows up by 8:45 than we should think about going to get something to eat". On the way down we passed one restaurant that looked open, but it was completely empty. So we sit and continue to wait. I ask what time it is and Morganne replies "8:45". I start think that we might want to prioritize our money and maybe start thinking about bartering with locals to see if they can take us back to the island, even though it is pitch black now. 15 minutes pass, its 9:00. No boat, no body, and we aren't even close to getting back to Lipari island. We lose hope. We come to the realization that we are not getting back Lipari island, where all of our stuff is. Where everything is that we questioned to bring on this adventure before we came. Well, we just found a purpose for all of that stuff. We forget about eating, we only have 30 euros and there are only two hotels on this island. And we still have to get back to Lipari Island, and we figure thats going to cost something but we might be able to work something out. So we decide to tell the hotels we only have 20 euro. We go to the first one, the sign at least. We follow the sidewalk up to where we think the hotel is and we cant find it. We cant find anything, we were looking in windows for a front desk but I'm pretty sure we were just looking in the windows of peoples houses. So, we head over to the other hotel, its pretty nice inside. The minute we walk in i was sure it was going to be too expensive, but i still wanted to try. We ask the front desk how much it is, well no, we ask what is the cheapest room they have, actually no, we ask what is the cheapest BED that they have we can sleep on. We are desperate as you can guess. Well the cheapest they can do is $39...for each of us. Well we only have $30 total.

So here we are, pretty much worst case scenario. Stranded on a desolate island. The population: 400.
No, tonight it is 402. Two of those people only have 30 euro to get back home. Two of those people don't have an Italian phrase book. Two of those people don't have a place to sleep. One of those people, doesn't have pants.

So here it is: Tonight was supposed to be our last night at the hotel and the ladies running it have already been waking us up at 9 in the morning every morning thinking that we weren't there when we were still trying to sleep.
We were going to leave early in the morning to catch the first ferry off the island to Messina at 7 and then the first train to Rome so we could get there early and walk around a bit and do whatever, back in Rome.
We still had to pay for all the nights in the hotel.

So, we decide the most logical place to sleep is on the beach, of coarse. If your stranded on a desolate volcano island in a pretty warm climate, you sleep on the beach. We wanted to also stay close to the port so that if a boat comes, we can catch it before it leaves and try getting us back to Lipari with our 30 euro.

So, we are sleeping on a beach, on what though? Well at the first "hotel" that we tried finding we found a patio that had pillows on it. So we went back to that, i jumped into the patio to grab the pillows, well i also see two sets of 3 cushions. Perfect, basically we both have a bed with a pillow, stolen. We run down the beach, pretty far. There were a lot of docked boats that we even considered sleeping in, but we didn't want to be there when the owners came out to use that boat. So keeping that in mind, that people may be out and about around these boats we run further down the beach away from all the boats. This beach is rocky, big rocks every where, this isn't your normal sandy beach. We pick a spot, clear it of rocks, and lay everything out. It is about 10:00.

Here we are , sleeping on the beach of a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Behind us the clouds are red, lit up by the lava flowing out of the volcano (to the other side of the island). We can here the waves hitting the shore, the crickets in the bushes and sometimes even the roar of the volcano. Sounds great, well, in a controlled setting it is. This was pretty...uncontrolled. In reality we are two stranded americans on a very small italian island, we stole cushions to sleep on, and we are trying to fall asleep on a rocky beach.

We are sitting and talking and laughing about our situation, thats all we could do. When i see, where all the boats are, someone walking, with a flashlight...towards us. Well, quickly we run back up a tiny hill into the bushes behind us. While running up i fell and i must have put my hand in dog poo cause when we were hiding from this guy it smelt pretty darn bad and i couldn't see what exactly it was on my hand but i feel the smell told me enough. So of coarse, just one more problem gets added, After its safe and the guy goes away we walk back down and go to the water to clean my hand. Its salt water so i felt it was going to do a pretty good job of cleaning my hand of what was on it and the smell. And it did too, but now my shoes are wet! So, I got poop on my hand, I'm wearing short shorts, and the dead rats are a bit damp, it just keeps getting worst for me. All we brought that is relatively close to a blanket was this tiny tiny towel, basically a wash cloth. Morganne just gave it to me to cover my legs. And i just put my arms into my sweatshirt. I even remember saying right before we fell asleep (or something like that...) I hope it doesn't get any colder. Well, shortly after that, i open my eyes...not to sure what from, but my sense of time is totally lost at this moment and i am shivering cold. In the same position, with the towel still on my legs. I ask Morganne if she is still awake, she is. So i say we go back to that patio we got all the cushions from and try to find something we can use as a blanket. We go back there and i find a beach towel. Well it is only big enough for one person. Again, Morganne tells me to take it and she will take the wash cloth. I wrap my legs in the beach towel and it felt pretty good. Now i am able to fall asleep. I have a couple real short dreams, so thats how i know i got some sleep. I don't know how much though, i was in and out a lot through out the night, basically closing my eyes just to pass the time.

One of the times i open them it is actually starting to get light out, finally. I poke Morganne, pretty easy to wake her up and i tell her the sun is coming up. So here we are, safely made it through the night, now we are watching the sun come up. Now we are pretty relieved.

It is 6:00 in the morning. We get up and start walking around town, a few of the locals are already out. We find the place where you buy tickets for the ferries to the other islands. We look at the schedule and see that there is a ferry coming to the island at 7:15. Unfortunately the place is not open yet, so we cant buy a ticket or even see how much they are.

So we wait on the port for people to start showing up for the ferry. We figured that to get to Lipari island from the main land it was 15 euro each, total was 30 euro. That is from the mainland to the island, we are just traveling from one island to the other, so we figured that would be cheaper and we were pretty much in the clear and we could afford the two tickets. Its just that place still isn't open. People start arriving and eventually we can see the ferry off in the distance, we turn to one guy to ask if this ferry was going to Lipari and he said yes, then we asked if we were just buying tickets on the ferry. He seemed shocked, the ferry is now docking, scheduled to depart in 5 minutes and we don't have tickets. He told us the office is open now and that we needed to run to get a ticket quick, i was pretty much half way there already before he finished that sentence, with 30 euro in my hand. I run up to the counter and ask for two tickets to Lipari, the guy takes his time and prints them out. Total is 33 euros...we were short 3 euros....and this guy is stiff, he wants his three euros.
So now I'm running back to Morganne to see is she has any coins at all. She has one more euro, and the man that we were talking to, after Morganne explained our story to him, Frank, helps us out and gives us what we need. Im running back, with a balled up wad of 35 euros. I throw it down and the guy gives me the tickets and he takes his time...printing out the receipt....i am panting, not having to run this hard and this fast in a WHILE. Im running back to the ferry and i see the only people left standing there are Morganne and Frank, fortunately Frank convinced the Captain to wait just a couple more minutes for us. We run on, literally throw the ticket down for the captain and take the nearest seat we can find. We are on our way back, to our hotel, where everything of ours is at. It is such a relief.

In the first couple days of being on Lipari island i was saying that it was going to be hard for us to leave this island, just like how it was to leave Rome. On that ferry ride back, for the first time on this entire journey, i was ready to leave, to the next country. Im done with Italy. After a quick stop in Rome though of coarse!

Its hard to believe that it was just last night when i was shivering cold trying to sleep on a beach of a small small island in the middle of the Mediterranean. That was definitely an adventure i was not prepared for.

Lipari: First Volcano day.

2008-10-24T09:50:00.001-07:00

I went to a volcano today. On an island part of the Aeolian Islands, called Vulcano Island. It is the southern most island of the seven and it is the first from Sicily. Lipari, which is the island i am staying on, is the second, and then behind Lipari is Salina. The islands then split off in a Y direction, going east is Panarea and Stromboli and then going west is Filicudi and then Alicudi.

These pictures were all taken on the boat ride to the island

This is taken on the walk approaching the volcano.

Pretty good stuff right here...

Here is one side of the volcano. To get a perspective of the size of this thing, we are at the bottom now, while looking up you can barely see the people at the top. They look smaller than ants...they look like fleas.

This is while on the path going up the side of the volcano, alot of wash outs. From water....and LAVA!

Then i was on the moon...

Being on top of the volcano is seriously like being on another planet, it is so insane. This is the great crater in the center of the volcano. It is deep, really deep.

The gas that is coming out of the ground there is sulfer. At first arrival on top of the volcano you think "Wow, it smells like fireworks" and you know, it reminds you of the fourth of july and celebrations and fun times in the summer. Quickly after that you think "Wow, i think im going to be sick." There was a class of students on the top of the volcano when we got there, what this picture is of, is them walking through the gas.

Moon picture.

Yup, after they went through the gas, i got right in there! At the point of taking this picture i have my sweatshirt coving my mouth and nose and i am still coughing so hard and my eyes are watering. You cant breath this stuff in, your body just wont let you. Even with my mouth and nose covered up i would hold my breath but when i would lose that and try take a breath in, i wouldnt be able to.

The view from the top was awesome, at the begining of the day it was a bit cloudy, but in he middle of the day when it was sunny and clear you could see all of the Aeolian Islands except for Alicudi, which is the furthest of the islands.

Here i am again, getting right in there for that perfect picture.

Its like im working for National Geographic now, risking my body for a picture of some sulfer crystals.

It feels great.

Again, moon picture. By this time we have started our walk around the crater.

Now we are on the other side of the crater from where we started.

This picture, i am looking from Vulcano island, straight ahead is Lipari island and then to the left in the distance you see a mountain and that is the first mountain of the two that make up the island of Salina.

Here i am, my name is Lance and i am standing on top of an active volcano on an island that is part of Italy.

This is behind the volcano that i am on. It kind of looks like another volcano, it might be actually, im not exactly sure. But it is definatly a long extinct volcano that now has vegetation growing all around it.

Here you can definatly see Salina Island. It is the furthest mountain to the left.

View, we are now at the highest point of Vulcano island. You can BARELY see Panarea in this photo, unfortunatly it was still kind of cloudy at this time.

Here is the crater again. Almost straight across the crater is where the last picture of the crater was taken.

Soil.

Here we are again, walking through the gas again...

Looking down into the village while we start our decent.

You can kind of see a road down there. Thats how high we are.

So today was pretty succesful. For the first time with my own eyes i saw a volcano then I walked to the top and around the crater of that ACTIVE volcano. First of all, i never though i would ever see an active volcano in my life. Definatly not when i was 22 years old, and certainly didnt think my first volcano expiriance would be half way around the world. So, i did that today. Tomarrow we are going to Panarea and Stromboli, which is another volcano. It is basically a volcano rising out of the sea. Which is very active, as in, the last eruption was this past august and it erupts maybe once every week, and can have multiple small eruptions throughout the day. So tomarrow we are hiking up Stromboli and it will be my first time to see real, real hot magma....lava.

Pretty cool.

I added pictures to yesterdays bog from when i fell asleep at the beach.

Pretty cool.

Lipari: Day three, down time.

2008-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be our last day here, but i woke up this morning and the first thing i did was I went downstairs to schedual another 2 nights here. We went and ate breakfast at this restaurant down the road. The place we are staying at is supposed to have breakfast but for some reason they are not doing it so they are giving us these vouchers to go to this restaurant for breakfast instead. Its okay, they have this bread thing that i can eat, it fills me up, and i just get water with it. Breakfast here in Italy isnt that big of a deal anyway.
After breakfast we went down to the port to make resvervations for the guided tour to the volcano and all that, well it was full. So we are now going on Saturday to Stromboli and Panarea. Tomarrow we are going to go to Vulcano island and going swimming in the mud and jacuzzi volcano water. Since we were left today with nothing to do we hopped onto a bus and went to the other side of the island and went swimming in the Mediteranean. It was cool because in the distance we could see Panarea Island and Stromboli and we could see the steam coming out of Stromboli, it was awesome. I fell alseep on the beach and i now have a hand print sunburnt into the middle of my chest. Prety cool, right? Sunburnt on october 23rd.

We were at the beach pretty long, long enough for me to get a good nap in at least. We got there at 11 in the morning and left around 2 or 3. Got back to our room at 4:30 and we've just been chillin ever since. I took a shower and went down to the super market to buy three things things.

Water: Water here comes in two sizes, a normal 12 oz. plastic bottle and a HUGE bottle, it doesnt even say the size, its gotta be 48 oz at least. And this supermarket sells these huge bottles of water for 28 cents.
Cookies: Suprisingly, in all of italy and france, and switzerland, this one super market on a tiny island has soy products, not only that but they also have rice milk. They have these vegan soy cookies that come in bags. Two flavors: Chocolate chip and hazelnut.
Lotion: For the sunburn of coarse!

I come back and Morganne is reading and i just sit down and hop onto the computer, catching up on news: national, international, and with my friends.

We leave the doors open in our room to our terrace, because it is so nice. But the flys here are so bad, we havent had much of a problem untill today. They wouldnt leave us alone. I hate flys...

Morganne eventually falls asleep and im still on my computer. Looking through my Itunes and stuff.

Before i left to Europe, my good friend Conor told me one thing: that im going to miss country music.

What he meant in that (country) was the bluegrass and folk music that is getting pretty popular in Traverse City, with Seth Bernard and Daisy and Breathe Owl Breathe and Luke and the rest of Earthworks. And he is right. Here in Europe you dont ever hear anything like bluegrass or folk. Im sure its here but I feel that kind of music is something you have to dig a bit for, so whilst in my travels i never hear it. So the playlist that i have been listening to the most on my itunes is the folk playlist. Its all iv been listening to, with an occasional dabble in some hip hop or hardcore or something. But the bulk of my listening has been the TC folk scene.

Okay, im getting into music now, this is going to get long now. Iv been trying to avoid talking about music in this blog for so long now because i know if im going to talk about music i might as well start a music blog and not get my travel blog involved with it...BUT....

Back at home, before i left i had a HUGE cd collection, i dont even know how many i had, probably somewhere between 600 to 800 cds, i dont know. Well, I put them all onto my computer. It was approximatly 60 gigabites of music, a little more. Before i left i boxed them all up and sold them to Sound It Out records in TC ( the money from this is pretty much what is getting me through europe ) so if you want any cd's i suggest going there to their used section, i kept mine all in really good condition and there is alot of all kinds of music, new and old. But also when i got this computer i would go to the library and check out cds and put them onto my computer. And i would do hardrive trades with friends, when we would trade our external hardrives and take music from eachother. I am also dipping a bit in downloading music. All in all i have about 120 gigs of music on my computer. Which is ALOT. I wanted it to be this way so that when i am here in Europe i am not spending my money on records (it turned into a bad habit) but i am still able to go into my itunes and listen to something new everyday. Literally, its like everytime i open up my itunes its like im walking into an AWESOME record store where i dont have to buy anything!

Also a good thing that comes out of this is that when im back in TC looking for a new house to move into i dont have to worry about the 7 boxes of cds iv had to mess with in my past moves. I am actually pretty excited about that because going to Europe gave me a reason to get rid of alot of junk that i dont need, so when i head home i have it narrowed down to just a couple boxes of nick nacks and a bag of clothes that i have to move. Its pretty nice.

So along with all the Earthwork friends:

Iv been listening to alot of Bon Iver, Beirut, and Bowerbirds. Ha, all start with B, wierd, huh? They all remind me of hanging out in TC, especially with Mat and Nate, and Anthony, and Ian. Who i all miss alot. Im glad i was able to spend my last night in TC with them for Anthony and Joannas birthday party.

But when im not listening to them (the tree Bs)

I just got Modeselektor's newest album: Happy Birthday which i have been liking alot! Which also got me into TTC, which, funny enough, is a French hip hop group.

Im still listening to that new Ceremony too, it never gets old and i can listen to it real quick! Im pretty sure you can listen to their whole discography in about 20 minutes. Before i came to Europe i got into With Honor which is still ringing around here. And Inti got me listening to alot Gorilla Biscuits and Sick Of It All too.
I wish i could be there to see that Have Heart/Blacklisted show in Detroit. But thats okay because i just found that Ceremony and Verse is playing in Rosswein Germany on November 22nd, so i AM going to that, I will go to that show, i will be major bummed if i dont!

On the train between Switzerland and Rome i found myself listening to ONLY Wu-tang clan, i didnt even realize it untill i got off the train that i listened to all of 36 chambers about three times, Ghostface (Rachel, if your reading this, i found the Ghostface Killah/MF Doom collaborations!), ODB and Gza the entire ride.

So, in a nut shell thats the music thats been keeping me moving, along with the good food and people and scenes. Exactly what i want to keep me moving here in Europe.

Lipari: Day two. Picture Day.

2008-10-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Morganne and I taking a break on our walk along the coast of Lipari Island.

Lipari village at dusk

Plants and greens are everywhere on this island, its great.

Greens, on the terrace outside our room.

Looking out onto the terrace from the inside of our room. Plants are literally spilling into the room.

This is the view from our room, its awesome. Its like your still dreaming when you wake up and walk out in the morning.

We climbed that hill right there in between the trees. Those are tombs there on the ground.

Lipari Island. The furthest mountains you see there is Vulcano island. If you click on the image to see the full size image and look to Vulcano island you can actually see the sulfur gas seaping through cracks in the ground. Pretty cool.

Vines and cactus growing along the walls on the streets.

The other side of the island

The Mediterranean Sea

Morganne, jumpin the right way before she falls the wrong way.

Flowers

This truck has been here for a while. Wanna know how i know that? The vines have grown through the engine and are totally engulfing the side.

The dead rats i wear on my feet everyday.

So, wanna know our plans? Cause they have changed...again. We were going to Tunis, Africa but we have changed our minds. I have always wanted to go to Africa. Africa seems like a mysterious continent that know one really ever talks about, let alone anyone goes to. I have always wanted to go to Africa and while in Rome Morganne and I pulled out the Eurail map for the first time on both of our trips. Well we saw that there was a ferry going to Tunisia dropping us off in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia. So we got really excited, made plans to go and everything...to Africa, thats what we were telling each other. We were going to Africa. But i have been thinking alot about going and I realize that when i think of going to Africa i think of actually going to Africa, the congo, safaris, gorillas, wildlife. Not a big city, a city that doesnt even have beaches. Tunis, is a city that is quite similar to a city like Chicago, or New York. Cool cities in America, but not cool cities when you are travelling in Europe. So we have scrapped that idea. We are going to stay a bit longer here on the island, its too beutiful and relaxing to only be here a couple days. Tomarrow we are going on a tour of a couple of the islands around here. Panarea and Stromboli. It is a guided night tour of Stromboli, which is an active volcano rising out of the Mediterranean Sea. We will make a small stop in a small village on Panarea, which is an island on the way to Sromboli. We will be able to explore Panarea and get to go swimming. Since this is volcano land here there are cracks in the earth under water where steam is bursting through, all along the coasts of these islands the water is like a jacuzzi. After Panarea we will head to Stromboli, hike up the volcano to the crater and watch the lava splash through the ground and also watch the sunset. As you may be able to guess, im pretty darn excited to see this.

After Lipari we will head back to the main land of Italy back up to Rome, visit Inti for a couple of days and then head to Nice, France. Then to Barcelona for Dia De Los Muertes and Halloween. After Barcelona we will explore southern Spain and then we will seperate by November 7th. Morganne will head up north to Paris and I will head further west to Portugal.

Time, when i think about it, goes by pretty darn quick.

But to think, im a little over three weeks into my journey. Like i said when i was a week into this, it feels like iv been gone for 3 months already.

Lipari: Day 1

2008-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ever hear of Lipari?

Its a small island off the cost of Sicily. It is one of a group of islands called the Aeolian. Strombli, Panarea, Salina, Filicudi, Alicudi, Vulcano, and Lipari make up the Aeolian Islands. Lipari is the largest of the bunch, therefore it is the most popular. Pretty small city. The island itself is almost like if Traverse City was an island, and warm all year round, and was italian. It is very nice here. One of the first things i noticed about the island was that it was really quiet. No sirens, car horns, loud cars, dogs barking. Really the loudest thing here are the children playing outside and the birds.

Palermo: Last day Beach Day

2008-10-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

So i am now used to the time change. I am going to bed at a normal time and waking up at a normal time now. Rather than being wide awake at 2 in the morning and forcing myself to sleep, i am now falling to sleep around 11 or 12 at night.

And this morning i was awake at about 8:30. Perfect, free breakfast. The hostel im at has a breakfast from 8:30 to 9:30 and i had me some toast and these little gram cracker things. It wasnt to bad. Oh i also drank a lot of orange juice. For some reason i have been craving orange juice ever since i got to London and it has taken me this long to get my taste.

Morganne and I just kind of hung out and talked about our future traveling plans. She is also thinking about buying a Smart Car when she gets home. Smart Cars are little environmentally friendly hybrid cars and they are everywhere here in Europe. So we were looking at the stats on those. Pretty cool little cars.

After we finally collected ourselves we headed out to a bus station and caught bus number 806 to Mondello. A little village north of Palermo. Mondello is where the beaches are and the bus dropped us off right at the beach, it was perfect.

This beach was like the beaches you see on the commercials for vacationing in the bahamas or jamacia or something, but this is Sicily!

So i went swimming on October 20th in the Mediteranian Sea, and it was warmer water than anytime i went swimming in Traverse City this past summer. I still have sand in my hair and there is sand in my bed. It reminds me of the summer days in TC when sand never seemed to leave me.

Also, in my hair, is salt! Salt water, im not used to this stuff. I jumped in and it was not fresh water. It was very very salty water!

Here are some other pictutres of my stay in Palermo:

This is Morganne using my computer on my bed lastnight.

This is the park that i was talking about, this doesnt do it justice though, there was way more activity than this.

The beach was not down this way...

This was the Tea Room/Bar that we hung out at the other night. It was a really nice place.