After riding on Marathon monday on the rickshaw im pretty beat up. this is one of the first videos i watched the morning after. arcade fire was my coachella video before i went to bed.

this is a pop duo from boston called karmin. this girl kills this track.





check out the balloon drop for wake up.

summer camp

july 7th-9th
mariaville, ny
x

rip lcd soundsystem

"So, yes, LCD Soundsystem can come back and headline Coachella in five years and maybe render our city a sucker for caring so much. But has any career ever ended like this? Traditionally in rock, the only way to go out at an absolute commercial and critical peak is with the aid of a single-engine plane, a shotgun, or a drowning-by-vomit. This is retiring with a World Series MVP trophy in your hands and champagne in your eyes and two good knees.

Instead, the last scene in the LCD Soundsystem biopic gets to feature slo-mo shots of 16,000 saucer-eyed disciples in black and white swatting at oversized party balloons. Stories just can't end better than this, and James Murphy understands a good story as well as anyone. That's how this whole thing started in the first place."

taken from spin magazine....im not ready to talk about this yet. all i can say is that i was lucky to be a part of hipsterdoms biggest party.

Lon-don-don-don-DON

holy crap.


Arriving in London on my first day I was lucky enough to sleep for a massive majority of my 17 hours in the air. My lack of sleep for the last 2 days in singapore paid off in dividends and when I landed in London Heathrow and Cristina was there to greet me at the arrivals, I was ready to carpe diem and have a great time. We took the tube back to her house and i started unfolding some of the awesome things I had done since the last time I saw her for lunch last time I visited. We got back to her house and seeing how it was such a beautiful day, spent the entire day hanging out on her porch with the hammock and the stereo and some mixed drinks. It was a perfect way to spend the day! AT night one of her and her roomates italian friends came over. Marta was a super cool italian lady and was full of energy and a spice for life.

Seeing how i hadnt made dinner for myself since i left home I was excited to cook and offered to make dinner for them all. While at the grocery store I made a consience decision to make something that had the most steps in it. I landed on tacos as that allowed me to make some rice, vegetables, meat, and chicken, along with cutting some veggies and warming the tacos. I was pumped to do it all and i think that everyone enjoyed it becuase we ate everything and i never cook too little food. it was great. I passed out HARD when i went to bed and it felt great to sleep with a blanket and a big comfy mattress.

On Monday, Cristina had taken the day off to adventure and that was super super cool becuase she rarely does that. We took our time waking up and i think we were both finally up by around noon-ish. We decided to go for a run. I had thought about going for one becuase i know cri is a big time runner but(i think she does like 30 or 40k a week) i really wanted to go for a run and do what i could to get into shape for pedi cabbing. She told me she was doing ten miles that day. Although massively intimidated ( I havent run that far since april 19th 2010) i went with it anywy. It was great to get some fresh air and have such an intense workout. I was behind her mmost of the time but it was a great way to explore her area. We made it by Wimbledon which was really cool too. It made me really miss running and training but it also made me supppper exited for riding a bike so soon. especially with all the bikes we saw around london, where bikign has risen in popularity big time in the last few years. I survived the run and we made it home. For dinner we had a little rice and vegetables and made plans to go see a movie at an art house cinema where Cri knew a guy that worked there that got us in for free-99. Super awesome. We saw a movie that i posted about after i saw it. check it out below a bit.



On tuesday I went on a citywide adventure via the bus and tube. I still had lots of rides on the card i found the first hadl of the trip so i used it to its potential by riding on random trains in random directions. fun times. I eventually made it to the waterloo station where I knew i had seen some cool graffiti last time i was in london. I made a personal mission to find it and after some hunting i stumbled upon the tunnel again.

^make that bigger...it was so awesome sit and watch these dudes create these amazing pieces.(just click on it)^



Essentially a underground tunnel, it is totally legal to paint on the walls and hundreds of people do it every month, constantly transforming an ugly tunnel into something beautiful.I made it to a few museums and the southbank skatepark and the eye (where some movie was being filmed too). Later that night I was able to meet Cri in Hyde Park after riding a bike through central london during rush hour. crazy silly but i survived.

For dinner we went to a really awesome Morrocan restuarant that cri had heard of but never been to before. The food was delicious (lamb and seabass for entrees along with an awesome app sampler) and the atmosphere of the place was great. We had some great dinner conversation and it was fantastic.



On our walk home I wanted to show cri the graffiti tunnel because she had never seen it. We found it and she was super impressed by it and i think that she'll probably paint something on it someday. While we were there though there were two guys drinking a bottle of grand Monqiua (?) straight and eating some oreos. They offered us a sip and i politely declined until a few moments later when one of them said it was his birthday. My sip opened the floodgates of conversation and we eneded up hanging out with the guys for a while. We didnt drink anymore of their stuff but instead using some pens we had in our bag, made a little picture for the guy celebrating his birthday. Happy Birthday Alex in graffiti art was really cool and the guys happiness as we drew it was worth every second of it and more. The two guys were brothers and it was the older ones birthday and he was taking a break from work to drink with his brother and celebrate. (i hate to think how ineffective he was after half a bottle of liquor at 11pm but thats his issue...) The dudes were great fun and while we easilly could have been intimidated by them when we walked in they turned out to be one of the best parts of the night. (well it was an awesome night but they were still really cool)



For my last day I woke up kind of late-ish and spent the morning cleaning the apartment up and packing my bag. I met Cri before I left at her work, and we went out for some fro-yo from a place called SNOG. check it out. this place is bomb. Sidenote: The day earlier cri had told me that all morning the day before Kate Middleton had been in her office, trying to decide on a piece of jewelry that eventually Cristina would make. Yes, the kate middleton. anyway, all morning while i was cleaning up i had this reoccurring thought that Ms. Middleton was going to be at her work again and that when i went to meet cri for lunch she wasnt going to be able to leave becuase she was busy but then i would just invite kate middleton for fro-yo because i read an article that she likes SNOG a whole bunch and they might have it for desert at her wedding.
legit i must have ran through this scenario in my head a hundred times.

it didnt happen but it was really cool to think about anyway. I said goodbye to cristina and took my bus to make my way to the airport. (sidenote" I eventually made my plane with 5 minutes to spare....my foray in the opposite direction for a cadbury nearly cost me big time:)

my time in london was really really awesome though. cristina is probably the most positive and encouraging person i have ever met and you cant help but have a good time when your around her. even though my suprise visit in feb. was thwarted by her weekend in paris with her boyfriend our 4 days in March were more than enough to remind me why i thought it would be awesome to suprise her in the first place. She is really really fantastic and every conversation we had was one of those feel good, get to know you really well, super deep and meaningful, supremely ridiculous, awesomely encouraging moments you get only so often in life. we were just lucky enough to have 4 days of them.


Although my departure from London is essentially the end of my little adventure I dont like to use the word end. Its to close minded. My entire life is an adventure no matter where i go or what I do. i love it.
Its just time to open a new chapter and see where it takes me. I look forward to stepping off the plane and seeing my friends again. A story is only a story if you have someone to tell it to!

Malaysia and Singapore.

After leaving Koh Lanta I took a full day to travel by taxi, boat, bus, bus, bus, bus, to get to Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia. I arrived into the city at about 4 am and was surprised to see the bus stop was about a half hour away from the city. Not at all what i expected I was extremely lucky to meet a nice taxi driver who took me to the cheapest hostel he knew of and for a fair price for both of us. he told me all about how he had traveled when he was younger and my worry quickly turned to excitement as he was telling me all about his hippie days. pretty cool. KL as it is so commonly shortened was a really cool place. I was able to stay at a great and cheap hostel (i think about 10 ringets)
the main market in KL. (had the best imitation crap ive ever seen...luckily i had very little money left yet.)

I had a cave of a room because they were out of dorm beds but that didnt matter much. I slept for a few hours which was probably not the best idea because when i woke up around 11 it was unbelievably hot. I went around and explored solo for most of the time. Just exploring the markets and the areas i walked all around and had a pretty good adventure. I walked across the city to see the Petronas Twin Towers, which at one point were the tallest buildings in the world. It was a pretty awesome experience and the buildings were really beautiful.



After traveling the entire day before i fell asleep at the food court of the towers as apparently i was exhausted. Later on in the afternoon I met some cool people at the hostel and had an awesome dinner from a Malaysian guy that cooked the food in clay pots on this huge fire on the side of the road. it was super delicious.. after dinner i was able to meet up with a girl named Genevieve that i met on Couch surfing. It had been a personal mission for me to meet this girl because i randomly stumbled upon her the night i booked my ticket and sent her this really long non nonsensical email like 3 months earlier. The fact that i found her online while at my house bored and dreaming of excitement and then following through with it and meeting her in her hometown was really really really really awesome. I seriously thought about it alot most of my trip and it was great when it happened. we had some food and drinks together, she showed me where she lived in the city and i got back to my hostel for the night at some ridiculous hour.

Leaving KL I had about a 4 hour ride to Singapore. I made a mistake taking a bus and ended up missing my bus and having to wait like 2 hours for another one. It was totally my fault and i felt pretty stupid but there wasn't anything i could do after the fact except take a cab to the right place and then just take the bus. I honestly think it was one of the bigger travel mistakes i made my entire trip so in reality i didn't worry about it at all because it made me think how lucky and skilled i was the rest of my trip.

I arrived in Singapore after the bus ride a few hours later than i had originally told Arno but he didnt mid too much. he was going into the city to a nice club to sell some tickets for his big party, Singatronic, but i ended up meeting him at the bar later after showering and doing a load of laundry. I had to buy one more $17 dollar pint before i left.

My time in Singapore with Arno was really really awesome. Even though it was only a day he was as expected an amazing host. Besides being an awesome host though he was extremely generous and so were all of his friends. Seeing how I had met many of them before i left they were eager to hear some stories and hang out with me. It was a really really great night that took us to a few cool bars (stereolab was a great music club) and some interesting places. Its never where you go but the company and his friends charlie, and -- ( i cant believe i forgot his name already) were outstanding. Even when Arno left around 2 or 3 his two buddies stayed out with me and showed me all around and we had a great time together.
I ended up taking the metro back early and was awoken by Arno around 11. that day and the next he was actually moving into another apartment with his girlfriend. Just across the street it was much nicer and had a pool on the rood. pretty sweet! For lunch I went to a great basement food court with Stella and FEASTED on a bunch of different foods and soups and drinks and snacks. I waited in a long line for this peanut, cucumber, pineapple thing in a honesy sauce and it was amazing. worth the 20 minutes in line.

AFter lunch we went back to their new apartment and Arno and I enjoyed some awesome time relaxing in the rooftop pool with a Tiger beer. A great way to end my trip i was packed and ready to head back to london shortly after. For dinner we went to a great hot pot restaurant that arnos girlfriend liked alot and again FEASTED on a huge assortment of stuff. I mean feasted. i like the way stella goes big or goes home with the food! fried pork, rice, vegetable soup, bacon, chicken, frog, aloe verra juice (yes), and a bunch more snacks made me more than full before i hopped in a taxi to the airport. I spent as much time in the best airport in the world before heading out for my flight that took me from singapore to frankfurt to heathrow.



I dont like to think that it was ending. but it certainly wasn't starting. :/

Koh Lanta- the island life.

this was my inspiration for my trip. its all i wanted.

pictures to be added when i can go upstairs and get my cameras card.

After picking up a bunch of snacks and goodies for the hours on the train we were off. The goal was koh lanta, a medium size island off the west coast, but we made goals of south, a ride to the coast, a ferry, and a guest house on any island were the only requisites. After we were on the train for an hour or two I made the statement that it would probably be about this time the next day when we alas put our toes in the sand at our hotel. At the time it sounded pretty wild but it eventually turned out to be true. The train wasn't nearly as bad as the last time I took it by a long shot. For one thing there were leas than half as many people on it and more importantly I had someone to talk with. Jess is a super cool German
chick. She's into alternative music and puts nirvana, white stripes, and audioslave amongst some of her favorite. She is 22 but will start university next year. She has a bunch of cool tatoos and at one point I
used the line" I can't wait to see you in a bikini to see all your different ratios" even before unsaid it I knew it sounded ridiculous but that didnt stop me. Haha. she told me all about them and there
meanings and it was pretty awesome to hear their story. She had 8 stars around her body that stood for her birthday on 8/9/88, a pinup girl on her leg, some white stripe lyrics on her ribs, and two birds on her back. She also told me about her girlfriend who at the moment was traveling in central America. They couldn’t agree where to go so one went east and one west. Wild. That's one way to counteract all the couple I have see traveling. We had great conversation on the train and both got significant sleep.
This night train also didn't have nearly as many hawkers, or at least it didn't seem like it.

When we got to Trang we had to find a bus that would take us to the island. About a 2 hour drive and 2 ferries it cost just as much as our 14 hour ticket! By the time we got to the island we were feeling a
little weary so weren't to excited at the prospect of having to find some cheap accommodations. We would have had to take a tuk tuk abiut 7km south to find a place but didn't want to pay that fare. We
started walking and eventually gave in to paying for the taxi. I hate getting nickel and dined and it's the easiest way to bleed money but it was hot and we had our bags and it was what had to happen at the time. When we told the driver where we wanted to go he suggested somewhere else. Favorably priced he also said he would take us there for free. Generally a bad idea to take advice like this but we went with it. If we did t like it, at least we were closer to somewhere else. The place he brought us to wasn't very nice and didn't have a great beach view. We thanked him for trying and hustled off down the beach to find another place. About a hundred yards down we found a sweet reggae bar and bungalow. nice views, restaurant, stereo, wifi, cheap, sold. We dropped our bags in our beachside bungalow for 350b a night and called sea culture our home for the next 3 nights.

On the island I did a whole bunch of not much. Sitting on the beach and reading a book was the main source of entertainment and for a change of scenery I would take up residence in the hammock I brought. The island was pretty nice but as would be expected was extremely touristy. So full if westerners in fact hat it was difficult to find a decent priced and tasting Thai meal. By far the most rouble I have had trying to find something to eat. A quiet first night was spent on the beach with a few beers to ring in my birthday. I walked the beach but it was relatively quiet on our little inlet. The next morning I awoke to the waves crashing on the shores and I was super nice because it hadn't
been high tide when we arrived an everything looked much much nicer with higher waters. Anyway a book on the beach was how I spent the morning until Jesse and I took the moped we rented the night before out for some exploring and lunching. We enjoyed riding along and had freshly picked bananas for lunch. (like they were hanging on the tree a few hourds ago) We rode by some poorly treated elephants on the side of the road and an interesting entertainment complex with a man made lake you could fish in. Kind of cool I guess, but your on the ocean....there should be some cooler stuff to catch than a stocked pond smaller than a football field. Regardless. we rode around on he moped for awhile and explored the island and it's multiple beaches and busy areas for half if he day For lunch we
stumbled upon his market that had some sticky rice ( a wild phenomenom I don't think I've given justice to...) with little bits of fried onions mixed in. I started with one packet but needed 2 more before I left.
I grabbed my first freshly squeezed sugar cane juice for a drink and we headed to the hostel to sit on the beach. By the time we rode back I was craving the deliciousness of the onions I had just devoured and
made the decision that I was just going to drive back and get some more. 6 little packages total (most people would have 2 or 3 with a piece of chicken and be plenty satisfied) i was sitting on the beach
with my book in hand. I had traded the Dan brown book digital fortress for an Ozzy Osbourne biography. Although highly entertaining it didn't get very personal or delve to deep into anything but just told alot of very funny stories. (addicitve though, as I finished it the next night) Before dinner Jesse and I wandered around the edge of our little cove area into another seemingly deserted beach. There were no
bars or hotels on that little patch and it was pretty cool to see such a nice uninhabited little stretch. We didn’t have our camera with us so we didn't get any pictures but a few times we took mental snapshots
that we won't soon forget. For dinner I had some fried rice (surprise) and a papaya salad with some Orange fanta. It was delicious and Jesse said happy birthday for the first time when she went and paid the bill. As we were riding back we found this coffee shop that looked like it might have ice cream
so I pulled an abrupt stop for a visit. I ordered a big ice cream sundae with chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherry. Yum yum yum is all I can say. Not an ashleys cake but a close second place. The coffee shop was really well designed and had some comfortable furniture. Apparently it was attached with a high end reality company so all around were brochures and guides selling these absolutely amazing and beautiful houses on surrounding islands. Houses that cost millions of US dollars but that would have multiple pools and levels on a cliff face overlooking the waters of Bali or some other serene location. Amazing. We stayed there until it closed looking through the phot books and before heading home for (suprise) some hammock laying and reading while Jesse used her computer. By far the most mellow and low key birthday I ever had I think I only heard the words 2 or 3 times all day. I had a great day on a beach which was all I really wanted anyway.

The next day we again spent exploring on the moped checking out the island again. We made our departure plans for the next day and did a loop around almost the entire island. At the very south of the
island we found some nice resorts that would be worth commuting to if we ever went to the island. When we got back in the late afternoon we narrowly missed a massive rain shower that poured it on for about 3 hours. Luckily the hammock was set up on the covered porch!! We were supposed to return the moped at night but the shipowner wasn't around when we went (scared off by the rain is our only guess why) that allowed us to go a little farther and explore a little bit more before we left and so a few more hours on a bike were a nice little closing time. The next morning I would be up and out by 7:30. I had a massive travel day ahead. Before I went to sleep that night though I used Jess computer to hop on facebook and see all the goodwishes everybody sent my way. That was pretty awesome and the picture Nate and Alex took on haight st. was a major highlight. So cool. It definitely made me miss alot if things and people back home but it's ok though because I am pretty ready to head back. I have alot of awesome stuff to look forward to and it starts up Boom! right when I get back..