Sean sees the world

great day

2012-01-09T18:13:00.003-06:00

Massively successful day today! I managed to (in no order):
do laundry
wake up in time
make lunch
clean the house
play with Beyonce and Amy
work a solid 8 hours in the field diggin holes
buy essentials (and nothing else*)

and now it is time to relax and it is only 6:30.

How was your day?

and i wore the above shirt today!

*ok fine i bought some sweat pants i didn't need.

2011-12-01T11:36:00.001-06:00

oh yeah!!

a year in the same world

2011-10-26T16:36:00.004-05:00

I've spent the last 365 days in America. Josephine picked me up in the Austin airport one year ago today. Granted, I had spent the past 20ish hours on the road in the States, but I consider my touchdown in Austin to be when I finally circumnavigated the world.

A lot has happened this year, is anything else possible in a year?

I'm not happy being so sedimentary. I pick up hitch hikers as often as I can because it gives me someone to be jealous of. The other day a couple of dudes were hitching "as far west as we can get". I've never been so jealous. They left home with $28 bucks 44 days ago and haven't had to spend any of it. They're up. People have given them hundreds of dollars in cash and even more in food, lodging and rides. At one point we were talking and one of the guys said "it changes your life when you realize you can..." and before he could finish by himself all three of us said "you can go WHERE EVER YOU WANT AND DO ANYTHING!"

That's the ticket. But that's my ticket. Most people have other ideal lives. Mine is living in a state where I know I can do anything and go anywhere.

So I'm issuing a call for like a minded person. I want a travel partner for my next adventure.

Qualifications

-passport with at least 4 free pages

-a big, sturdy backpack

-must know at least one song by heart

-map literacy

I don't care where we go, and I'm not sure when it will be. But I'm sure* it will be in less than 2 years, but in more than 6 months.

Don't get me wrong, life is good. I'm happy to be around my family and my friends. But I was happier in the world, traveling. Who is coming with me?

*I'm not sure

2011-10-24T08:55:00.001-05:00

2 days!

2011-10-21T00:23:00.001-05:00

5 more days

I rule at driving!

2011-09-21T11:06:00.001-05:00

gettin that paper!

View Larger Map

Austin

2011-07-22T11:00:00.002-05:00

Austin this weekend! I'm excited! Austin Home Brew Supply is having their 20th anniversary party!! Whooo!!!

Get ready for my first brew!

2011-05-21T01:15:00.000-05:00

I laid on a dune I looked at the sky
When the children were babies and played on the beach
You came up behind me, I saw you go by
You were always so close and still within reach.

Sara, Sara
Whatever made you want to change your mind
Sara, Sara
So easy to look at, so hard to define.

I can still see them playing with their pails in the sand
They run to the water their buckets to fill
I can still see the shells falling out of their hands
As they follow each other back up the hill.

bike or walk?

2011-03-11T10:41:00.003-06:00

in an attempt to drive less i'm creating a map of my city that will help me decide when to walk/bike or drive. anything in blue i should bike to, anything in red i might walk or bike to. anything outside f the blue i wont feel too bad about driving to.
hopefully my bike range increases gradually all the time. we'll see- maybe i'll make it to Lufkin one of these days.

check out the map here.

View bike/walk in a larger map

yeah

2011-02-25T17:40:00.002-06:00

lots of travel last month, and this month is lots of work.

let's goto Malawi.

my trip to West Texas

2011-01-16T10:07:00.001-06:00

i love going to West Texas to do archaeology. there isn't any dirt- so you don't have to dig!

pictures here!

A-1

2010-12-30T12:33:00.001-06:00

My dad made me this A-1 belt/holster for xmas!

doof

2010-12-23T21:19:00.003-06:00

food.

i love it. and i love to cook for myself. most people don't, but that is crazy.

but-

since i've gotten back from wherever, i've only had two modes of "hungry"

1. i want a hamburger
2. i don't want a hamburger (because i just had one)

i'm attempting to fix that with a nice dinner tonight.

i'm cooking rice with fresh-ish veggies and seared tuna with a lemon-pepper sauce.
(read- some rice i found in my mom's pantry, some veggies that are in the fridge, and canned tuna heated up*. the lemon pepper sauce is lemon juice and black pepper mixed in with all of it.)

it is going to be epic.

*an old standbye/favorite of mine actually.

Make like a leaf

2010-12-21T15:38:00.001-06:00

I'm taking this as a good omen for my trip back to Austin today.

Sisters house

2010-12-17T13:45:00.001-06:00

These dogs love me!

New tires

2010-12-16T13:06:00.001-06:00

Well, not new, but new to me. The ones I had were getting pretty sketch.

Roofs

2010-12-13T23:08:00.001-06:00

This is how we roll.

packing

2010-11-30T23:23:00.001-06:00

i just packed more clothes for a 5-6 day trip to nacogdoches than i had total in Africa.
ultimate (hopefully)
archaeology field work attire
business casual (for the louisiana state historical office)
post work relaxing in hotels
going out in nacogdoches
not to mention sweaters, jackets, hunter's orange, socks, underware, hats, computers, phone, camera, shovel, screen, books, ipod.

life is crazy!

today is the last of november, does that mean an end to my mustache? i supported my good friend Jamsie in his quest to cure prostate cancer! it's not too late to help him out.

http://ie.movember.com/mospace/1179048/

the mustache stays!

thanksgivings

2010-11-24T20:10:00.003-06:00

this was two thanksgivings ago-
http://seanlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-woke-up-to.html

this was last year-
http://seanlb.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-win.html
http://seanlb.blogspot.com/2009/11/cricket-thanksgiving.html

and this is this year-
my mom is having a party and that means she's making pies! (fruit pies of course, sorry rest of the world that isn't america and doesn't understand fruit/nonmeat pies)

driving!

2010-11-18T21:14:00.002-06:00

View Larger Map

this last week has been a bit of driving. from friends to weddings to archaeology work i've done over 1,400 miles! that is just about half of my african Oddesy! how nuts is that?

did i mention i'm going to houston twice next week?

maybe i'm traveling at this point because i don't know how to do anything else. it does seem weird to be in one place for a while, but at the same time i really want to spend some quality time in austin. hopefully it will mellow out... or not.

photoaday 15th

2010-11-15T17:36:00.004-06:00

oh yeah! the Maxwell machine is coming back from Alaska/DC for a Texian visit. there will be much rejoicing of the non-rememberable variety.

today's photo was taken somewhere outside of Johannesburg, during the World Cup. Max and i were driving a rental car to Swaziland and back. in a day. for no reason. in a similar vein of righteous craziness, we decided to pick up the Justin Beiber CD and listen to it non-stop throughout the trip. we sang a lot.

oh yeah, driving across South Africa was cool too.

bonus picture! me in Alaska! i hope i get to go back to AK with mabeuf sometime. he loves it and who doesn't?

photoaday 10th

2010-11-10T23:56:00.003-06:00

with so much traveling around texas this week and the last it seems fitting that today's picture should be my NZ car circa when i was sleeping in it. all that crap! i moved most everything to the front seats when it was sleepy time. wow! look at all that crap i had. when i left NZ i had next to nothing.
things to notice:
the clothes line/curtain line
the crate of returnable beer bottles
that really comfortable brown blanket

i loved sleeping in my car. it was free! so free! and like camping, it sets the tone of when you go to sleep, when you eat, when you do your leisure activities. reading. mostly reading.

photoaday- gotcha!

2010-11-08T21:20:00.002-06:00

today isn't a picture, but a movie!! woot!

does anyone know if this is a real phenomenon? or was the $2.something "tip" i gave the guy for nothing?

photoaday- gotcha!

2010-11-08T21:19:00.000-06:00

today isn't a picture, but a movie!! woot!

does anyone know if this is a real phenomenon? or was the $2.something "tip" i gave the guy for nothing?

photoaday 6th

2010-11-06T19:14:00.004-05:00

when i was in New Zealand my best friend came to visit me! Katie Hart came too. they only had a few weeks in the country, but we made the most of it with yachts, hiking, good food and beer.

today's picture was taken on the Abel Tasman trail where we did some hiking.
i'm picking this picture, because i'm visiting Hart and Katie in arlington! we've had a great time and we are currently watching our mutual favorite show, arrested development, and enjoying a food coma courtesy of Hart's porkchops. tomorrow i'm going to visit Karl in dallas, and then back to austin where i have lots of friends to see there that i couldn't squeeze in before i went to visit friends in nacogdoches. being back is great for more reasons than just cheez-its.

yay for friends!

2010-11-05T00:45:00.003-05:00

one of the most important things about my time in the world was that no one would ever be able to emulate me. well----- it turns out that that isn't true. sometimes you have to JUST brush your teeth. (in the words of bob dylan, "sometimes even the president of the united states of America just has to stand stand naked" that's a lot like REAL life. but not too much like REAL LIFE. sometimes things matter, and sometimes they do not.

2010-11-03T18:45:00.004-05:00

it's been a while since i left the states, and like most people i often remember NZ as my first destination, but it wasn't. FIJI was!

the beaches weren't as nice as some in NZ or some places, but seriously, i'm not going to be talking bad about Fiji.

what i remember is the best about my time on the islands is opening a coconut that i saw fall down. it took a few hours, but hey- its not like i had anything else to do.

photoaday monday 1st!

2010-11-01T17:00:00.002-05:00

today's picture might seem lame, but there is a story behind it. when i left NZ, i sent my laptop home and that meant that i couldn't transfer pictures from my camera to the laptop. that was a little scary because i had to get through Australia, Malaysia, the whole of Africa, Germany and Ireland without backups of all my awesome to be photos. luckily i avoided losing or deleting all my photos. it turns out that an 8 gig memory card and thousands of photos/videos is a lot for my camera to handle.

usually when i hit review it shows the last picture taken. at one point my camera couldn't handle the amount of pictures on the card and started showing the same photo no matter what. that was fine when i only had to scroll down 10 or 20 pictures to get to the relevant one, but when i hit review and was in the middle of thousands of photos, it would take a minute to scroll all the way to the current photo. luckily i found out that if i took a picture and immediately hit review, it would show the latest photo. that's what today's picture is, a quick snapshot taken to avoid having to scroll to the ones that i really wanted to see. sometimes i deleted the quick snapshots, because they were never pictures of anything, but sometimes i didn't. now they're as much a part of the story as the "real" pictures i took.

gripping storytelling again from the wide world of sean's trip.

photoaday

2010-10-31T21:16:00.003-05:00

today's photo is simple. this 1 liter pot and i spent a lot of time together. from hostels in New Zealand to remote wildernesses in Africa, i've eaten out of this bad mama jama more times than i can recall. this photo was taken in Zimbabwe at the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. i think i made noodles with onions and carrots. maybe there was a sauce that went with it? i want to say it was an extravagant two course meal.
the secret is to keep super hot coals directly under the pot and to recycle them when they burn out.

photoaday

2010-10-30T18:51:00.006-05:00

first- the greatest mustache in the world.
second- my sweet tanzanian visa.
third- the best jersey!

this photo was taken in arusha, tanzania. my friends and i were just driving through saying hi to a friend's friend who worked in the city. since where we were going was very remote, we decided to get some cash out of the ATM. there are not many ATMs around, so we waited in line for a 1/2 hour, and even then our host could only get a few dollars out of his new account, something about his card not being fully activated or something. anyway, once the 8 of us were finished at the bank, we headed back to our van. crossing the main street i noticed someone talk to my host, and didn't think much of it because people talk to us all the time "hey, give me money, give me your shirt", stuff like that. but he looks like a local so it was a little strange that this guy was hassling him instead of me. just as i thought that, the guy turned to me and said- "show me your passport".
"hahahaa" was my response. i mean- do i look like i fell off the hay wagon yesterday?
"no, really, show me your passport. i'm with immigration".
"ahhahaaha. show me your papers then dude."
but astonishingly he did have some papers. they were legit, but they were crappy looking. after my host talked to these guys, he said i should show them my passport. so i flipped it open to my visa, which you see above you, and put it so he could see it. he reached for it and pulled, but i didn't let go. i looked at him and said "no one has taken my passport from me, and one is taking my passport from me bro."
he got mad at that and started talking big. to make a long story short, he and his friend just wanted a bribe and while i told them that my visa was in order and that i had no business with him. he kept yelling at us and saying that we needed to "come down to the office and have a chat." i kept telling him flatly "NO!"

so that went on for a while and they wouldn't let up. everyone in the street was telling these two guys to leave us alone, which was really funny.
in the end, my host went with them to a police station. my friends and i felt terrible, and didn't want him to go, but he said it would work better if he did. i knew it was a mistake, but oh well. they threatened and pushed him into giving them the $40ish dollars that he had on him to pay some "fee" that they completely made up.

that day sucked. we got asked for a few more bribes which we laughed off successfully, and i think the same thing happened the next day too. white people are targets for bribery, but if you just laugh at them and tell them to move along, it usually works.

photoaday

2010-10-29T11:14:00.003-05:00

today's picture was taken in Moshi, Tanzania. that's Mt. Kilimanjaro there in the middle. the tallest point in Africa is up there. i didn't climb it, because it costs $1,000+. but i will next time.
i liked Moshi a lot, i had some good times up there. it is very touristy, but at this point i had been in Tanzania for a month or more and i was getting pretty decent at Swahili, so i didn't get harassed by the "ticks" as much as your average white dude in Moshi.

today i had my first real hamburger in 18 months.

2010-10-27T22:17:00.002-05:00

yes indeed! the rumors are true! i'm back in America. Austin, Texas to be exact. don't ask me my plans, because i don't know. between food and friends that i've missed for the last 18 months, i'm too busy to think about the future. one thing is for sure- i've got thousands of pictures and stories. i'm going to post one a day 9 (at least) for the next month!

don't forget to subscribe to my blog via the RSS system. that's the little icon that looks like this.

Tandem Live Blogging - Seinfeld Season 6 The Gymanst

2010-10-12T08:44:00.002-05:00

This blog post brought to you by Sean and JT straight from Dusseldorf! We watched an episode of Seinfeld (a great one) and made yokes. MST3k style. For more hilarious live blogs, check out JT's blog JTsGermanAdventure

JT 0:00: Is it just me, or is Jerry's voice more annoying during the stand-up bits?

Sean 0:45 - I'm nervous. Jerry and I made the same joke at the same time about George's stupidity, only he did it outloud and on national TV.

JT 1:00 - "if i could talk to the mothers and have sex with the daughters, I'd have something going." George is clearly an inspiration for Timberlake and Samberg.

Sean 2:00 - "there's always a price to pay for just a sexual dalliance" "Jerry, you should pay that price." I've paid that price.

Sean 2:40 - How many times do I think about putting my shirt back on when leaving the bathroom? so many.

JT - 3:00 a coworker of mine had a kidney stone. His wasn't as funny as Kramer's.

3:10 - "Knowing you is like going into the jungle -- I never know what I'll find next, and I'm real scared."

Sean 3:30 - Has Elaine ever had a boss with non-white hair? Have any of them?

Sean 4:00 - Kramer is the kind of person you know and tell them things like "this is why we don't have nice things" he's just rifling through these fancy paintings

JT 5:00 - One of the key improvements of later seasons was that George's girlfriends grew ludicrously hot.

JT 5:30 "Are you and your family close?" "Very close, almost painfully close" I almost never refer to my family that way.
Sean 6:10 - Gerorge see's the eclair in the trash and eats it. After being in Africa for 4 months, I would eat it too.
JT - Who could pass up a free eclair? It's on top of the magazine, so no problem.

JT 7:20 - "So... Ceauşescu. He must've been some dictator." I like to say this on dates that aren't going well.

JT 9:25 - It's sad how bottled water used to be a niche product, not an obsession in the usa. I hate bottled water.

Sean 10:00 - George, the eclair wasn't "hovering" in the garbage. It doesn't have a jetpack or anything.

JT 11:00 - I'm glad I'm no longer in the position to have to consider people's feelings.

Sean 11:00 - When has Jerry ever considered people's feelings?

Sean 12:10 - Why does Jerry continue to talk to women in his car? It never ever works out for him.

JT 12:50 - "The magical world of sensual delights that most men dare not dream of" - that's just marketing nonsense from Cosmo. The magazine, not Kramer.

JT 13:50 - The most outdated line in the entire series? "How long do I have to put in, now that..." "3 weeks". I say "an SMS"
Sean 13:50 - "2 (possibly non-consecutive) weekends"

Sean 13:40 - Look at that Diet Coke can. Those are the cans my grandma bought.
JT 13:45 - Your grandma drank Diet Coke?

Sean 14:10 - Laugh track. Classic.

JT 15:10 - Jerry's reactions to George/Biff flailing on the phone is money. "Strike two!"

Sean 15:40 - Do we ever see George coming out of the bathroom in later episodes/seasons buttoning up his shirt? I mean, come on. continuity!

Sean 16:00 - I'm glad we're not live blogging our spoken commentary. Just juvenile.
JT 16:05 - Sean means "I'm glad we're not live blogging JT's spoken commentary. Just juvenile."

JT 16:30 - The first time I saw this, i thought the riding outfit was to set up the lame joke, "I haven't been on Jenny in 3 days". Oh no.

Sean 17:15 - Jerry's wearing a suede jacket. Didn't he learn that lesson earlier?

JT 1730 - I, too, blame elephants for all the ills of society

JT 1900 - Is this before or after the jujyfruits? Either way, Elaine would much rather lose a job/boyfriend than engage in mild confrontation.

Sean 19:00 - George says maybe he'll go upstairs "just to use the bathroom". JT looks at me and says that is a money move. "It's worked several times for me," he says. "Just say you have to use the bathroom and next thing you know, you're makin' out and- BOOM you're in!"

Sean 20:40 - The whole reason we're watching this ep is for the classic demeanor george has when he walks out of the shitter with his shirt off. Delivery. Pure delivery.

JT 21:30 - The Mr. Pitt as Hitler bit is much funnier since it wouldn't be allowed in Germany.

JT 22:30 - 16 years ago! That's not recent.

*** Bonus commentary on the deleted scenes***
Sean - I see why these were deleted.

a treatise on the tubers of sub-saharan africa

2010-10-11T10:32:00.004-05:00

i'm making stew! right now though it doesn't smell/taste or look that good. the wine must have to cook down. and i probably over did it with the dog poop. but let's not get ahead of ourselves. proper stew isn't worth a damn until the day after anyway.*

staying with the JT machine has been great. all the comforts of home plus good beer.
yesterday we took a trip on the train that goes south down the Rhine. it was great. castles everywhere and lots of loud american talking on the train. there are a lot of white people here. have i mentioned that?

time passes slowly up here in the mountains.

most people know that i'm not going to miss another new years in america, but i'm still not sure when i'll be home. and if i was, i wouldn't tell you would i? just make sure that you are prepared for 2011 with plenty of Sean action.

may you always do for others and let others do for you

now that i've spent some time in Europe, South America (and the stupid Antarctic) is the only continent i haven't been to. and i've been to Mexico. that's basically the same right? that'll get fixed for the 2014 World Cup. my plan for that is to fly down to Patagonia** and grove on up to Brazil for the games. who's with me? good.

let me die in my footsteps before i go down under the ground

i haven't been taking a lot of photos in Germany. stuff here just doesn't wow me like in Africa. buildings and such are cool, but they don't make you think "holy crapola- i need a picture of that b/c i'll never be here again".
maybe that's wrong, but i know i'll be back to Europe. its just too easy. what isn't easy is thinking about going back to America. i bet there are a lot of white people there. weird.

when i get home i'm going to post a photo everyday-ish and write a little story/background about it. so i hope these last few months of non-blogging is made up for by that.

*update- it looks a lot better now!
**also a good place to venture off into the Artic waters of the southern pole!

pictures all the time!

2010-10-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

don't forget to see all my facebook photos!

http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1645422816124&sk=messages#!/photos.php?id=38702517

Not dead!

2010-10-05T10:00:00.003-05:00

after fighting off the hyenas, i had a celebratory breakfast. hopefully i can put up a cool video/picture every day this week. but the big uploading will be when i get back to america and sort out the thousands of pictures i've taken over the last year and a half.

whooo!

Hell's Gate

2010-09-28T08:02:00.002-05:00

there will be lots of posts when i'm in Germany, it is just too hard to post stuff in Africa. for lots of reasons. one is that it isn't like traveling anywhere else, you are 100% IN Africa, not just a toe here and there. it is full immersion.

post

2010-09-09T07:49:00.000-05:00

so this weekend i'm going with some friends to…. north. my final stop in africa will be Nairobi, Kenza. the CS host that we are staying with hasn't seen his mom in 6 years, so we're going to drive up there with him and his oldest child.

i guess the point of this post is to let people know that i'm going on a road trip in Africa. hell yeah!

hopefuly i can see:

some sweet lions

Olduvai Gorge

the Serengeti/Masai Mara

Mombasa

an island

hopefully i can do:

buy an AK

sleep out under the stars (ontop of the van maybe?)

i'll put some pictures up when i can. this will be the last post for a while, but that isn't news is it?

a treatise on food and food eating

2010-08-15T06:10:00.003-05:00

food in Africa is a lot different than in the states. duh. you'll be happy to know that i haven't seen a McDonald's in forever. they have a few chains, one called Steers, that are pretty lame, but no one eats there. ever.
if you want to be a rich tourist fuck, then i advise you to only eat in places like hotels, or other establishments with 4 walls. if you want to eat like an African, then you need to ditch the walls. along with any utensils. don't count on beverages either.

ever had this*? or grits? if so, then you've had the #1 staple of Southern and Eastern Africa. finely ground white corn (much finer than southern grits) is the only thing feeding most people they call it mealie maize until it is cooked in boiling water, at which point it is called-
pap- South Africa
sadza-Zimbabwe/Zambia
ugali-Tanzania**

With a giant heaping pound of this white blob on your plate, you're ready to start adding extras. the basic meal is greens and a tomatoe based sauce/tomatoes. if you're a mazungo like me, you probably spring for the meat/bean option witch will run you about an extra 50 cents. a 1/2 cup of greens (rape, spinach, cale, whatever), the same amount of gravy/sauce with 1-2 pieces of beef/chicken/fish, and if you're lucky you'll get some limes, peppers, and salt.

here's my diet for the last few days:
breakfast is the free juice and banana that comes with the hostel. sometimes i eat the bread/toast they bring. not very good.
brunch is 500 shillings, or 33 cents. beans and a delicious and chewy flatbread. this is across the street on a curb. best brunch ever. so good. they also have stomach soup with my friend mike was a fiend for.
lunch is crackers and peanut butter.
dinner is ugali and beef, usually i try to find a different place each day, because it is all so varied. i never pay more than 2000 shillings, or $1.33.

beer better not be more than 1500 shillings, or you're paying too much. a dollar a beer? ok. that's not to say i haven't payed more, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I haven't actually had a beer in Dar come to think of it. and they dont really have the corn beer that is so prevalent south of here.

my internet time is running out, so i'll have a part 2 on this subject a little later on.
in that i will include:
a. other stuff
b. your wildest dreams
c. a picture of this stuff
d. Rick James.

*i love that their official blog is called M*O*M. genius.
**spelling? other names? other places? help me out African friends.

More on that

2010-08-13T06:20:00.002-05:00

Mzungu. that's the Swahili word for 'white'. more accurately, that's what people say instead of "hey, there's a white dude! what's up white dude?" its nice for them b/c it saves a lot of time.

i also hear a lot of "hey- Diego Forlan!"
recently i was hanging out with a white dude with awesome dreds, of course he was "mzungu rasta" or some variation.

cars/bikes/motos/people all honk constantly. its kind of nice, you don't have to look where you're going in order to not get hit by a car/bike/moto/person.

what else? i'm getting stressed out about flying out of africa. i don't know how to manage that. i'd like to visit some friends in europe, but that might have to wait. but wait until what/when?

stay tuned.

train, dar, zanzibar

2010-08-12T07:10:00.002-05:00

please note that it is Ramadan, and there is no food to buy during the day. well at some fancy hotels there is, but fuck that noise. well. maybe. i'm pretty hungry.

Dar es Salaam is great, and so is Zanzibar. i've teamed up with some people and we've made a really cheap way of it for the last week or so. that being said i've spent my share of money. getting into zanzibar is expensive, but pretty worth it. life is totally different out here. the easiest thing to deal with out in the small rural towns is the lack of electricity. 3 nights and i never realized that i didnt have any. the only thing to plug in was my ipod, and i never used that either.

I've read some good books, ate some good food. Played in some great waves. Slept in some cheap places. Took some terrible public transport.

O- gotta go. The internet time is almost up. Have a hum-dinger of a day.

africa update

2010-07-08T07:11:00.003-05:00

africa. whoa. its still happening. the world cup recap is probably to big of a thing to ever really happen.

quickly though, i went to the following games-
argentina - north korea
usa - slovakia
usa - algeria
usa - ghana (doh!)
argentina - mexico
new zealand - slovina

not too bad eh?

after max and the scotts left i stayed in pretoria with some great amazing people who said i could stay as long as i wanted. it took a few days to get the bus figured out, and in the end i left earlier than i thought.

on buses.
buses are different here. they are more about people moving things than people moving themselves. with the economic crisis still a very big part of life here in Zim, the majority of goods are driven in from SA. most of them on buses or van-like taxis. this causes huge cluster f's at the borders as well as unsafe driving conditions. a lot of people die on the road in Zim, and a lot of them on buses. they are however very cheap. i got from pretoria, which is just north of jo'berg, to bulawayo for 280 rand, which is about $37. i got from bulawayo to victoria falls for 100 rand, which is about $14. well, it would be if people and businesses in Zim did actual conversions. if i had payed in USD, the 100 rand trip would have only cost $10. so that bus company ran at 10 to 1 ratio. the backpackers that i'm at is doing 100 rand is $12, or more accurately 6 beers. you can look at xe.com for the current exchange rates. but that kind of thing doesn't really matter in Zim. and since they use mostly dollars, paying in rands is a pain in the ass because you can't get USD back in change. and of course they dont have US coins. all of this is very weird and different to me. i'm not used to having two currencies in my wallet. USA money looks crazy to me. and the state of the money! crazy. i've never seen bills that are so worn and dirty. oh, and i'm going to be able to buy some 100 trillion dollar bills here too. everyone wants me to do two things when they see me on the street. first i am to give them my shirt. and second i am to buy their old Zim money. $5 for a "set". the old money has no value at all. to say that it isn't worth the paper it is printed on is a gross understatement. by about a million percent. if you had a penny and cut it into a million pieces, i would rather have one of those pieces than a 100 trillion dollar bill. well unless there were some guilible tourists around, then i'd make five bucks!

the ride from pretoria to bulawayo was very intense. during the first half hour i wanted to either- die, to kill all humans, to get off of the bus, or to cry. instead i sat there in the very back row between two big guys and wondered what the hell i was doing. like all painful things in life it now seems like it wasn't a big deal and that having that experience was worth it. being hot and uncomfortable from 3:30pm to 7:30am is a hell of a price to pay for this experience i want/wanted, but i guess that is about par for the next month or so. we spent 3 hours at the SA/Zim border. it wasn't too bad because it was an excuse to get out of the bus. the weather was nice and it didn't seem like 1am. most of the time was spent on the Zim side waiting for customs to check out luggage. they guy didn't even look at my bag. i could have had a small child in there. like i said before, so many people were bringing stuff across the border that it choked the whole system. they brought everything. it was like a dr. suess book. everywhere you looked was some crazy item being precariously transported across the border on a overladen truck. name an item and i saw it strapped to a truck.

i got to bulawayo and my CS friend picked me up. she was a nice lady, a little racist, but very nice. she's always lived in Zim, but she's traveled to india and a bunch of other places. but that was back then. now she can't leave b/c the government is screwing her, and everyone else, over. she can't afford a passport, but that is the least of her worries. in bulawayo they have power. sometimes. they have food on the shelves. sometimes. they have serviceable roads. sometimes. they have currency. sometimes. she got a check for 180 quadrillion dollars. yeah. one hundred and eighty QUADRILLION DOLLARS! that is jacked up. shortly after she deposited it the government lopped off a few zeros here and there and then it was 1,800 dollars. after that it became five US dollars. and that was months of pay. she told me so many stories about having no food, no power and no idea when it was coming back. she told me about tracer rounds and how pretty they are when they whizz down her street. she does chain smoke, and she has a car, so i suspect she is one of the better off people in Zim. but it is still a crazy place to live. i don't think i could do it.
walking around in the street was very nice. no one gave me any guff and hardly anyone tried to sell me crap. that was so weird. after being a walking wallet in jo'berg it was nice to walk around street vendors and not get offered the same old crap for the same old insane prices.

the ride from bulawayo to victoria falls was just as crazy. not to mention that it was a few days after a horrible bus crash in Zim. one of the many horrible bus crashes in Zim. my CS friend took me to the bus station and i bought my ticket. i was promised a seat in the front, but as it turns out i was lucky to get a seat anywhere. when we took the transfer to the actual bus (what? why? i dunno) i knew immediately that it was screwed up. there were too many people on the bus already and there was too much stuff. people were packing about 50 bags, boxes, bikes, and anything else they were transporting into the passenger section of the bus. this bus was crap too. just a schoolbus really. we had to wait for two hours as for the company to bring a trailer. why they didn't anticipate needing a trailer i will never know. they do this everyday right? so eventually we set off with a huge trailer tacked onto the back. about 30k's later the bus made a weird hissing noise and everyone knew that we were in for more waiting. at least the bus driver bulled over and didn't try to make it any further with no brakes. we jumped out and milled about the side of the highway for an hour or so while we waited for a mechanic. after being there for two minutes the mechanic apparently fixed the bus and we were off. i was in a great mood, but some people freaked out and hitched rides back to bulawayo. it was a really nice day and i was on the road, so i just chilled out and talked to some cool guys. i took pictures too. i can't wait to show my grandkids the picture of grandpa's broken bus in africa. greatness.
this ride was ok b/c i had an aisle seat. we didn't stop much until we got closer to vic falls, and then we stopped all the time to pick up anyone who wanted a ride down the road. the highlight of the trip came when we almost hit a pride of lions. yes. we almost hit a pride of lions. they were chillin' on the road and we almost hit a pride of lions. i only saw a couple, but the guy next to me saw six or seven. yes. i know. this came at about the time i was considering the fact that i had no idea where the hostel was and if i should walk or take a taxi. i ended up walking b/c it was only 3-4 minutes away from the bus drop-off, but that was the scariest walk of all time. it was so dark and so foreign- and so lion infested that i almost went back for a taxi. but no! i'm too brave/dumb for that. and besides, the lions don't come into vic falls. only the elephants do. true story.
when i got the backpackers it was going off. they have a bar. $1 for a beer anyone? i got my room and sat down just in time to watch uruguay and the netherlands play. great game. amazing game. i've been thinking that either of those teams will win the whole thing. now its clear that the dutch are too strong for anyone. i drank too much beer and sat by the fire talking shit with some guests and some dudes who work here. this place is great. $10 a night for a dorm bed, but since i'm so badass i'm camping in the yard for $5. my tent is so massive!
the best part of the night, besides the great game was trying the local brew. technically it is beer, but not really. a jug is a dollar and feeds at least 3 people. it is thick and foamy, sour and earthy. very good stuff, but i couldn't drink too much of it. i'll try again tonight. more to follow on the beer front soon.

a few highlights since the usa went out of the cup-

seeing lions on the road
talking to people on the buses
getting my passport stamped in swaziland, south africa and zimbabwe in less one month
losing my nalgene! nooo!
great wine in pretoria
cooking bobotie
cold showers
feeling the weather get warmer as i go north

that's all for now, but i'm here in this backpackers for a while and i'll try to write more. when the internet is working that is.

africa update

2010-07-08T07:11:00.000-05:00

a good one. lots of reading for you to do.

2010-06-09T11:03:00.001-05:00

i've just read two of the greatest books of all time. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and On the Road. One of them is more relevant to my current path, or road you could say, but i'll let you guess which one. both however are brilliant. i'm happy to think that my travels across malaysia and australia can be linked in my mind to reading On the Road (row-add. hehe) on trains. and reading Fear and Loathing during the quiet days leading up to the reunification of myself and Dr. Mabeuf before the glorious World Cup. that sounds like a good way to remember things.
both books have put me in very exploratory mind sets. i'm ready and willing for whatever gets chucked at me. i'll dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge my way clear of any obstacle. in fact- nothing frightens me. i've overcome obstacles within and from without. there is one nagging feeling however, and it is that all this will end. i know i know. i should just tell myself that there is no end! there is only another adventure. but i know two lives. the life i've had on the road for the past year or so and the life i had NOT on the road. when was i happiest? well, if you exclude drinking beer and playing video games with Malcolm on my lap, then yes, on the road wins. but a winner doesn't necessarily leave a loser. life back in the states was great, friends, money, security, dependability, and predictable weather. not bad traits at all.

i usually make fun of backpackers that keep books with them. certainly rob's obsession with his 9 hardbacks is a little crazy. but- these two light weight paperback beauties deserve a second reading, if not more. and maybe someday i'll meet someone who needs to read them. they were both hard to find at reasonable prices, but i managed. Fear and Loathing is NOT something you can pick up at a second hand store (and certainly not in Malaysia). so maybe i'll hold on to these two bad boys. any suggestions on follow up books? maybe catch-22 or something in that vein.

le sigh. maybe i'll just partake of some either and go listen to a wild bop cat blow his horn.
...oh god! the books have taken over!

Pretoria is nice. a little boring, but that is my fault no doubt. i didn't really plan anything beyond my flight here. sure i have a couchsurfing(.org) host to stay with, and a hotel with friends after that. but Beuf and i will be in deep shit when the 24th hits. unless it just works out. which of course it always does. Pretoria is working out, but it is a little dull. again, i could have planned a million things to do, but it is harder to do that now than i thought it would be. this brings me to a huge point.

travel = waiting.

that might be the biggest epiphany of the whole damn thing. sure, sometimes it means waiting in exotic places for exotic people and trains and food you've never seen. but sometimes it means boring. NO- not boring! just waiting. waiting can be good. i've learned to except it and not rush it. being impatient while waiting is a recipe for disaster. i'd rather get dropped into a random city in the world with only a twenty dollar bill than look back on a stretch of time and realize that i was rushing the waiting process. nothing good comes from doing everything at once. the only way to make this trip last is to stretch it out. to WAIT for events to unfold. similar to delayed gratification. this is delayed gratification squared. not only do you delay the specific action- you delay the event that IS the action, thus allowing the time in between the NOW and THEN to happen at a leisurely pace wherein waiting is the main activity. the pros of this system are clear: no money is burned. time seems to stretch on. the cons of course are: slight boredom. envy of those with less time and more money.

yes. less time. they squeeze everything in and every moment is a stupid sunset. but they've played their hand! ah ha! neverland only exists because the clocks don't work! captain Hook broke them all. (in this metaphor captain hook is either boredom or waiting. i don't know which. ask my attorney.) if you can't handle that, then you have to grow up! and people keep asking me, especially lately, now that my "sean sees the WORLD" title has more meaning and is more active geographically, "sean- how do you do it?!"

simple.
1. don't grow up
2. have an innate affinity for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. be able to live on less than you think you can live on a day
3. don't buy junk
4. (i wish i knew this one when i started) don't spend a thin dime your first month. get acclimated to your new life as a vagabond
5. couchsurfing.org. not only for the places to stay, but for the things you'll do and the people you'll meet. mostly those
6. travel light. you don't need all that crap
7. get used to waiting
8. wine is cheaper than beer.
9. write about every day
10. "don't take any guff from those swine"

there are more rules that i live by. rules. i guess. maybe just guidelines to be remembered when i'm feeling preachy. maybe i'll compile a list, a comprehensive list someday. but until then, you'll just have to watch in awe. or better yet, come join me. it isn't really that hard.

Malaysia

2010-06-02T11:18:00.004-05:00

I don't know what these fruits* are called, but they taste of cellary and delicious. And they are fun to eat. I've had such amazing food here. It has a hint of familiarity. As if my Indian curry, or my Malay rice have a little bit of Tex-Mex chilli in them. Maybe they do.

Little do you know, but I am actually writing pretty heavily on my doings and goings here in Malaysia and back in Australia. My journal is sated almost every night. I keep writing as if it were public, and perhaps one day I'll transcribe** the entries for your RSS pleasure. Until then, enjoy me enjoying these crazy fruits.

Oh, and did I mention that I'll be in Africa in less than two days? I don't even know what I'm going to do. But I promise you. I'm not going to do what everybody thinks I'm gonna do- and FREAK OUT!!

*i must be alone in thinking that fruit, like fish or sheep is both plural and singular, b/c no one here says anything but fruits.
**TIDES lackys anyone?

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

2010-05-16T16:56:00.006-05:00

Ok, I' know I've been putting this off. But here are 5-1 on my list of top ten things I'll miss about New Zealand. I leave tomorrow and I have such mixed feelings. It feels like leaving America at this point.

Someone said to me the other day "we miss you, but you're doing your thing. come back when you're ready".
I hadn't really thought about it like that until then. Now, if I look at what I really want, then yeah I'm not ready. If my plane was going to LA tomorrow instead of Sydney, I would be really sad. But as it stands now, I'm excited. Another adventure awaits!

Top ten - 5
The accent. These kiwis really know how to screw up a word. No matter what they're doing. You can learn too!

Top ten - 4 ("sux" if you read number 5)
Food! Specifically meat pies. Not to mention my favorite meal in NZ, and one I've cooked hundreds of times at work.

Top ten 3 -
Mullets. I can't convey how popular the mullet is over here. You see one on every other person. Young, old, rich, poor. It doesn't matter. And don't get me started on the short shorts that men wear. Construction workers, rugby players, joggers, anyone. If you're a man and you're going out in public you are wearing shorts that are shorter than my boxers. Disgusting.

Top ten 2 -
Beer. Of which there is only one clear choice. I also had some amazing micro brews. The best micro brew in maybe the world is in a pub called the Sprig and Fern in Nelson. Tasman Lager. So good. Probably more on that subject later when I leave and can't find a Speights anywhere.

Top ten 1 -
This was my first big adventure. I don't think that is a small thing. I'll never leave the States for the first time again. I bet NZ will always be a second home. I've spent 409 days, or 58 weeks and 3 days, in this country. That is a long time. I'm ready to leave, but like I said, I'm glad I'm not going home. I'm not done.

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 6

2010-05-08T01:33:00.003-05:00

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 6

Friends!

Tonight is my going away party in Dunedin New Zealand. I'm really excited, and a little sad. If you can't make it, then I hate you. Well, maybe just for tonight. It should be very epic. The party starts at 9pm and ends when I get arrested.
In all seriousness, I will miss all the friends I've made here.

Here are a bunch of pictures of awesome people that I'll miss. But the silver lining is that I'll always be friends with them, and plans are in the works, even as we speak, to reunite with many of them. Yay!

top friends

Friends- don't forget to check my blog for info on where I am and what I'm doing. Bookmark now!

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 7

2010-05-05T19:16:00.003-05:00

Continuing the top ten list of the century, here is number 7-

Making amazing food. Usually with friends. Sweet as.
I've become a better cook and general feeder of myself over this year, and I think that is the most tangible change I can see. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to make some noodles after I post this, but I don't have to.

Here are my top ten* meals.

Top ten meals

*there is a bonus picture too! there was also a glorious picture of a triple decker PB&J that didn't make the cut, but that is an old standby anyway.

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 8

2010-05-05T06:31:00.003-05:00

Top ten number 8-

Hiking/camping/tramping

I've been able to do some really great hikes in NZ. They call it "tramping" here. I don't know why. Going hiking all the time was one of my goals. I can't say that I did it enough, but I did do a lot compared to what I would have done back in the states. I've become a lot more efficient when it comes to what I need to carry on a trip. I think camping will always be a part of my life, especially going solo. The pictures below are mostly from trips when I've had the good fortune of having family and friends with me, but a few of them were trips I took on my own. Its funny how going camping over the last few months has seemed like a vacation from my vacation. On paper it seems like it should all roll into one big adventure, but instead these trips always seem like an extra-special occasion. In the next few weeks I'll be hitching around the North Island and I'm looking forward to some nights off in the bush by myself.

Here are ten great pictures from ten great tramps.

Hiking top ten

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 9

2010-05-03T04:31:00.004-05:00

The top ten list of things I'll miss about NZ number 9-

Landscapes! And here are the best landscape pictures I've taken over the last year.
Check out the album for places and maps.

Landscapes

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 10

2010-05-02T07:28:00.005-05:00

Here they are folks, in no particular order, the top 10 things I will miss about NZ.

Number 10-

The Haka.
Nothing strikes fear into the heart of foes like a real Haka. The best thing about it is how much respect it gets. Anywhere in the world you find yourself, the Haka is respected by fans, players and especially the All Blacks* themselves.
Being in a bar with Kiwis, in NZ to watch the All Blacks play was a special feeling.

More on Māori culture here here and here.

Stay tuned tomorrow for number 9.

*I saw my favorite AB coming out of a comic book shop in Wellington. It was so cool. He also walked through my pub one Thursday night. I was covering the bar for a friend who was smoking ( I was on the piss ) and these three guys walked by. Turns out they were All Blacks. I would have let them drink for free all night if I would have known. But oh well. Any New Zealander in America would have made the same mistake if Kobe, Peyton and Derek Jeter walked by. I also saw him play the Highlanders the next night. I tried to get his autograph, but he was to busy being a bad mofo for that.

1y1d

2010-04-04T19:27:00.001-05:00

i have been in New Zealand for one year and one day. fucking crazy.

i miss all of you who have not been here with me. i hope i can see you sometime before another year goes by.

update

2010-03-26T05:01:00.003-05:00

See below for the meat of the itinerary.

This just in:

May 18th:
Auckland to Sydney via plane at $100
How insane is it that I can fly across the Tasman Ocean between two countries for a hundred dollars?

May 22nd:
Sydney to Melbourne via TRAIN!!!!!
(no, I know nothing about the route I'll be traveling. But I do know that I really enjoyed my Tyler to Chicago Amtrak excursion.) Yay for the 11 hour day on the 22nd!

I'm excited. Tickets for the All Whites game on the 24th in Melbourne go on sale in 3 days.

It seems so long ago (1 year 3 months) that I bought tickets to come to this country. Now I have tickets out.

travel plans. i need more travel plans.

2010-03-22T17:23:00.007-05:00

May 11th:
Christchurch to Wellington is 189 miles. Cost $27

May 11th - May 22nd:
Hitch/bus/walk around the North Island. My goal is to not pay anything for accommodation.

May 23rd:
Auckland to Melbourne is 1633 miles. Cost- $141

May 24th:
All Whites vs. Australia. Cost $30 for game
Need a place to stay in Melbourne. Hello couchsurfing.com.

May 27th:
Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur is 3962 miles.

May 27th - June 4th:
Kick ass in KL and live on the cheap. And see those really tall buildings.

June 4th:
Kuala Lumpur to Johannesburg is 5312 miles. Cost for Melbourne to Johannesburg (9274 miles total), with 7 day layover: $953

June 4th - June 11th:
Try to find someplace to hole up and not get shanked.

June 5th:
Try to sneak/buy a way into the USA vs AUS friendly match.

June 11th - June 24th:
Stay with amazing friends in a hotel for cheap. See America win all of our games, and also try to not get shanked. And also try to convince Max's DNA that he can grow a sweet mustache like mine.

June 24th - June 30th:
Find a place to stay in SA with Max

June 30th - ?:
I have no idea for this one. Maybe fly home? But the WC isn't over until July 11th. But the cost of sleeping under a roof might keep me from being able to leave. Not to mention the cost of flying 1/2 way around the world to the USA.

So my flight from Christchurch to Wellington is about 20 cents per mile.
My flight from Auckland to Melbourne is about 12 cents per mile.
My flight from Melbourne to Johannesburg is about 10 cents per mile.
All prices in USD.

Is that right? Someone check that math.

also.

my ancient foe

2010-03-21T04:36:00.003-05:00

the first time a computer game gave me problems. finally beating this level (circa 1995-ish) is a highlight of my life. as i play C&C again i wonder if it will be easier or just as hard.

amazing

2010-03-16T22:08:00.000-05:00

2nd best part of my year.

best day ever

2010-03-16T22:00:00.003-05:00

best part of my trip so far. a friend of a friend brought me some A1. best part of my life so far.

busy day

2010-03-16T18:52:00.002-05:00

today's goals.
1. clean my room.

i need to start reducing my crap so that it can fit in my backpack.

2. plan the next 6 months of my life.

find travel to, and accommodation in Auckland
find travel to, and accommodation in _______ (Malaysia? Bangkok? Sydney?)
find travel to, and accommodation in Johannesburg

Malcolm

2010-03-09T21:01:00.003-06:00

he always got so angry when i woke him from his post dinner naps.
my little christmas miracle.

state of the union video

2010-02-20T00:20:00.001-06:00

check me out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms62cPzLCpw

today is a special day

2010-02-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitangi_Day#

i've got a few hours to kill

2010-01-28T20:25:00.002-06:00

i've got a few hours to kill. and summer has finally begun down here.

and yes mom.

new flatmates

2010-01-17T02:34:00.003-06:00

New Flatmates

Please meet my new flatmates. Charlie, Jemma, and Brenna are the coolest. And don't forget Max the cat, who you have already met. Somewhere in there is a photo of the men of the house, make note that Charlie is the man of the house and that Max and I are beta-males. Scratch that, Charlie's bed is actually in charge.

new flat

2010-01-14T00:49:00.003-06:00

new flat. i know i say that a lot....

this is by far the best place i've lived since i left texas. my room mates are friends, co-workers and great people. B-renna and i have held down the bar with some massive 14 hour shifts at times, and Jemma is just one of the most beautiful people. Jemma's son will live with us at times too, so that will be a lot of fun.

I can't say enough about Brenna and Jemma. coolest ever peeps.

kitty

2010-01-06T18:06:00.004-06:00

i have a new flat with some work mates and they got a kitten. read: i have a kitten.

Max is his name, which is a suitable name for a cat i think.

Google Map Update

2010-01-05T15:38:00.002-06:00

View the big trip! in a larger map

I've updated my Google Map to include the places that Josephine and I visited. Most places. I'm trying to find out how to add photos and video to this map, but it doesn't seem to want to work very well. Expect massive updates when I go all Digital Projects Specialist on that problem. Stay tuned for regular updates on it anyway. I'm forcing myself to add a placemark every time I check my email when it is already open. So that'll be a lot.

Josephine and I's stuff is in red.

Jealous much?
Also, I saw somewhere that my map has over 9,000 views. Does everyone have it as their homepage? B/c that is nuts.

new year's day

2010-01-01T23:57:00.002-06:00

my friends amy and wendy went to the beach on this new year's first day.

this is special for many reasons.
first, making new crazy friends is good.
second, it was beach weather yesterday!
third, i live about a 1/4 of a mile away from the beach.
fourth, its just amazing anyway.

new years day beach party!

stewart island

2009-12-30T20:10:00.000-06:00

stewart island

a break from jo's visit pictures

2009-12-28T14:00:00.003-06:00

to bring you this:

this is in Timaru, a few hours south of Christchurch. i stayed there in my sweet tent on the way to pick up josephine the next day.

jo's visit part 1

2009-12-28T05:15:00.001-06:00

tunnel beach in dunedin, and the steepest street in the world. also in dunedin.

great day in dunnas

murrrrrrraaaayyyyyyy

2009-12-09T17:51:00.003-06:00

murry is the #1 reason i'm excited for josephine to visit. this is him after a night he doesn't remember. murray is the man. i love this scott.

i win

2009-11-30T03:52:00.002-06:00

i win again fools!!!

cricket thanksgiving

2009-11-27T08:12:00.001-06:00

Cricket

!

i can't explain cricket.
and i can't explain how much i love it.
and i can't explain any of that.

thanks for the kick in the butt JT

2009-11-24T20:13:00.006-06:00

i'll be in Africa for the 2010 world cup! that is crazy. i'll be in Africa. not everyone is going to africa. my life in NZ is probably over in april, and after that i'll make my way to either Australia and then Malaysia, or straight to Malaysia. i'm not too keen on hitting up Australia to be honest. unless i get some WWOOFing gigs set up, i'm not prepared to spend $30 odd dollars on hostels.

here's a look at how money works:

things are looking good for my South African trip. note to self: start booking hostels for the world cup.* they're looking really cheap, which is good. but maybe Max has some ideas about where to stay. hey Bryn, as the only person i know who has been to the African continent, what do i need to know/do? kthx.

in other news, i'll be watching the NZ national cricket team play in Dunedin against Pakistan. !!!!! it is a 5 day test match and tomorrow will be the 3rd day. they're doing ok now with like 380 something for 9 wickets. yeah. that's right. i kinda understand cricket. BOOM!

looking back at my goals for my NZ trip:
2. get money get paid (work only when i need to)
3. blog once a week
4. take a picture everywhere i go
8. don't loose passport

i'm doing ok on about 4 of them**, with josephine's number 11 happening in 18 days and 9 hours!!!
i'll go ahead and say that watching the NZ national cricket team is going to be as close to watching the all blacks rugby team play, but the cricket team is called the 'black caps'. either way i'm pumped!
we are doing #5 when josephine visits!!! that is my x-mas present to her. well. one of them.

oo- i was going to write more, but i've been offered another shift at work. how can i say no to that? gotta make those sweet sweet rands.

*crap. i need to wait for the group stages to be scheduled.
**maybe not so great on the blogging once a week. but on average it has to be close.

new flatmates and flat

2009-11-18T03:41:00.001-06:00

OCB, or soccer/volleyball

new flat and Dunedin

what's up in dunedin

2009-10-30T18:09:00.001-05:00

been a long time bla bla bla.

don't worry, it is really for an over-abundance of things to talk about than a lack of shit going on. where to start? maybe the epic trip that Hart and Katie made to NZ? or the sweet job at the bar that i have? or maybe how the hostel i live and work at is getting so terrible that it isn't even worth free rent? or about how the NBA is kicking off and i'm again missing the fact that i could walk into FB tomorrow and have one of the tv's turned to the right channel for me? or maybe about how I'm missing a Dynamo Playoff Game For The First Time In Two Years? whoa. don't tell anyone that last one, i'll lose what Naranja cred i have left.

what else is going on? i've been to some amazing beaches here in Dunedin, and next week i'm trying to make it a little farther south to see some more of NZ.

i should talk a little about The Bowler. it is as close to FB as i'm gonna get for a long time. until i get back to the nasty nac i'd wager. the best thing about work is that at first i was always trying to get my friends to go there for two reasons, one, i have a tab there and i don't have to pay it manually. the second is that i want to improve trade at the bar and make my boss know that i'm helping out. sometime in the last few weeks all my friends at the hostel have decided to make The Bowler their "local" of their own accord. the beer is cheap, the drinks are good and so is the food. and all that happened without me trying any harder than saying "hey, let's hit The Bowler". good for me, good for them, good for everyone. last monday, at karaoke (which i DJ'd) a ton of my friends showed up to make the core of the group and it was sweet. my boss is going to give me more karaoke shifts b/c of that. besides the monday karaoke shift i also have four 9-11:30am cleaning shifts, two bistro lunch shifts, one bistro dinner shifts, and one bar shift. and those are only the scheduled ones. last week i worked those in addition to the karaoke shift, a (by myself!!) lunch bistro and mid day bar shift. last weekend was a classic piss up weekend that hardly stopped except for work. i worked 22 hours in 48 hours and only slept 4. the next night i slept 13. it was sweet. well. honestly, i'm not sure if that math is correct, but you get the drift. it was sweet. that brings me to another plus of the bar. on saturday nights, i work from 10-close; which is 3:00am. after we're done cleaning at 4ish, the bar staff and the band (yeah i party with the band) have what we call "staffies", also known as "lock-ins" until ungodly hours of sunday morning/afternoon. the best part about that used to be the free beer, but now it is the other smaller things. like two weeks ago i made about 10 orders of "chips" for the band/staff and poured them uncounted "jugs" of piss. each time i made up an order of chips i told them that it was the last one and that the frier was off. so much for that.
last weekend. or was that two weekends ago... well anyway, the other weekend i jammed out with the band until the sun came up. let's just say it wasn't pretty. but i really enjoyed pretending to know what i was doing. i think they figured out that i've never held a bass before. but maybe they'll give me a call up this weekend.
none of that would have been possible if i hadn't been down to work every shift offered to me and earn the responsibility to be the jack of all trades that i hope will continue to find me working more and more hours. on monday i worked 11 1/2 hours and was only scheduled for 2 1/2. that is $149.5 instead of $32.5. i also talked to my boss about getting a regular weekly wad of cash instead of the "hey can i get 50 bucks for groceries tomorrow?" kinda shit. they're throwing me enough money to live off of every monday, and i'm banking (read drinking) the rest of my weekly earnings. just kidding, the rest is going into a pot for me to draw out when Josephine comes to visit.

part of that money is going to moving into a flat with some dudes of the Irish and Scottish persuasions. the hard part is finding a place that will comfortably hold four dudes and doesn't want a year long lease. i mean come on. but Allah willing we should find a place for like 70ish bucks a week. that needs to happen soon b/c we are done with this hostel. i could tell horror stories of incompetence, but instead i'll just say that i nothing the owner and i'm moving out as soon as possible for mental happiness reasons.

also, to help you decipher the above, here are some words that i've added to my lexicon:
bro (brew)
flat (apartment/cheap house)
pissed (drunk)
otp/on the piss (had a night out)
pull ("talked" to a girl)
bird (cute girl)
my local (your default bar)
frosty suds (cold beer)
cheeky quiet (a beer on the way home, or a single beer, not a piss up. (see above))
chips (french fries)
jugs (pitchers of beer)

i did NOT get my eyebrows shaved off.

yup

2009-10-23T19:27:00.002-05:00

"i heard you're just too interesting"

cheez-its

2009-09-27T23:36:00.002-05:00

so good. this was the best part of my life at the time. still is.

so many pictures

2009-09-20T15:58:00.003-05:00

the trip was pretty amazing. Hart and Katie had a lot of fun and they weren't the only ones.

we took over 700 pictures and i'm not sure when they're going up, but this one is the best.

first day of (real) work in 7 months and friends!

2009-09-11T18:39:00.003-05:00

last night was my first night tending bar at The World Famous Bowling Green Tavern. it was pretty sweet. i am a 'liquor peddling demon'. i don't really think i fucked anything up, but that surely means that i did something like enter a $7.00 cocktail as aa $700.00 cocktail. We'll see in a few minutes when i swing by the bar on my way to the bus stop.

work was good. it was nice to have something to do, somewhere to be. working in the hostel isn't a big deal, mostly it is just checking and re-checking my email. but the bowler was happening. from 1-3 it was pretty busy and i had to make some crazy drinks. anyone ever had a "brain hemorrhage" ? it is a 30 mil shot that is 1/2 peach schnapps and 1/2 vodka. the sugar content of the peach schnapps causes it to rise to the top and if you look at it in the right light, you'll see that there are two clear liquids on two distinct planes in the shot glass. then you take a straw and dip it into a bailey's bottle, like you would to taste a drink or something. drop the bailey's (5 mils or less) into the shot glass in the middle. the result is a weird floating brain looking thing in the middle of the schnapps and the vodka. then with another straw do the same thing with red cordial*. the result is a brain floating in seemingly nothing with red lines falling down that look like blood. brain hemorrhage! i'm happy to say that all of those pictures look like shit compared to the ones i made. i rule. I RULE!

so now i'm headed to a bus to christchurch. that's about 5 hours away. then i'm staying on a Couch Surfing couch and then in the morning onto Nelson via bus. Hart and Katie are gonna be there when i arrive! i can't explain how it feels to even think about seeing someone that i've known for longer than 5 months. never mind 25 years. we're going to do at least these things:

one day of the Abel Tasman Great Walk
bicycle wine tour!
beer at the Sprig & Fern Tavern (the best beer in NZ and maybe the world)
go on our friend's yacht!
hug a lot
eat meat pies
go to the center of NZ
take lots of pictures?

any suggestions?

this is the last (?) time i saw the Hartster. i love this picture!

*coridal is like fancy kool-aid

Dinner So Good

2009-09-05T03:25:00.002-05:00

Stets and I rock the healthy life. Notice the lack of beer and the positivity of healthy veggies and meat that we actually cooked. Ok sure we pan fried it, but with linseed oil.

No, I'm kidding. I'm way to broke to use linseed oil. And I'm not a dumbass. The video I have not seen. Notice the old people in the background. They keep changing the radio station from this underground hip-hop station. We just change it back! BURN!

New Album 5/09/09 8:20 PM

Bowler Resume

2009-09-05T03:15:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you have to go the extra mile.

Bowler Resume

Brand New new

2009-08-30T23:56:00.003-05:00

got the new Brand New album today. i'm very excited. i'm on track 5 and i'm happy so far. it will take another 10,000 listen throughs before it reaches the level of familiarity that the other albums have.

for those of you who don't care or know what i'm talking about, here is a picture (of me listening to the new album).

p.s. tomorrow is the first day of spring in New Zealand. i'm looking forward to a great spring and a greater summer. i went from winter to winter and now i'm ready for warmth and no shirts.

Hiking near Dunedin

2009-08-28T01:16:00.002-05:00

hiking near Dunedin.

i promise to never go this long without camping again!

the other day i decided to go camping. i mean, i have a job now/soonish. i'm not gonna have all the free time in the world anymore. we took THE road out of Dunedin for 20 minutes north, turned off on Double Hill Rd and then 19 minutes later we were at the parking area for the Silver Peaks Trek. it was 4 1/2 hours in and 3 hours out. the hut is new and awesome. only problem is no fireplace. boo. we made do with a really nice cook fire down by the creek. followed that up with a few hands or cards and then a super early bed time.

the worst part of the walk in was the aptly named "Devil's Staircase". as i mention in one of the videos, it was known by many other names after we conquered it's descent. on the way up it wasn't too bad. the worst part of the walk home was the last hour of mud bath track that we had to slog through. but i thought it was fun regardless.

hiking near Dunedin

dunedin. nz

2009-08-19T07:37:00.003-05:00

i got the job!

steepest street in the world

2009-08-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

baldwin street gets pwnd by yours truely.

also, my camera is working a lot better these days.

steepest street in the world

snack attack motha fucka!

2009-08-12T07:08:00.003-05:00

old school

2009-08-08T02:38:00.006-05:00

you know how when you look at blood it looks like red liquid, but when you get in close with a microscope it turns out to be little inner-tube like blood cells, each one oxygenated and alive? well, the blood between my brothers and i isn't like that. instead it is little DVDs of Old School. oxygenated with keystone light and Big K Pink Lemonade.

Old School came out in 2003. i remember that fall semester as the semester of awesomeness- and then some. it was Old School on the TV everyday in my first apartment with drujo. it was OUR house that had everything from lan parties to hot girls. from shitty papers to epic Counter-Strike scrims.

Old School, much like the Big Lebowski before it, shaped my humor pathways in ways that are still evident today.every line is dualy rich with meaning. the line as it pertains to the movie is usually itself a classic, but add the inside jokes and the so familiar favorites of different people. dru saying "say yes" and mike jaynes echoing "you're in the back seat".

it has been more than six years since Old School came out. almost 2200 days of us being able to say "I'm here for the gangbang..."

july 3rd:

2009-08-03T15:28:00.004-05:00

making the necklace was fun. i got into Hokitika on wednesday the 1st. the jade dude, steve, had to go to his accountant's at 12, so i couldn't start the necklace then. which kinda sucks, because i could have chilled at james' in greymouth. (james is a CS dude upon whoms couch i surfed).
so here i am in Hokitika on a wednesday morning and there aint shit to do.
my normal course of action for this scenario paid off again. i hit up the DOC office and found a sweet hike that was about 4 hours in to a hut. (rapid creek hut). the old lady at the desk said there was a scottish guy who had just come in and asked about the same walk. so maybe i'd have some company. fast forward to an hour later and sure enough. me and some crazy scottish guy (there are no other kinds of scottish guys) are walking through the woods up to this hut. he was a cool guy. i like being in the huts by myself, but it is also nice to have someone to talk to. the best part of the trek was the cable car bridge thing. angus (scott) took some killer pictures that he's going to email me sometime in the next few weeks.

anywho, i got back to Hoki too late to start the jade beatdown. i was bummed out, but it isn't the kind of thing that you can rush. so i headed to the pretty bad hostel that is above a really posh jade gallery. there were two guys (one japanese guy. one english guy) when i got there, but soon 4 americans came in. and, as it always goes with americans we went out. luckily i was able to get them to help me make some jade designs. one of the girls was a graphic designer, so she helped a lot. but the main design i did later by myself for sure.

i woke up early the next morning and got over to bonz + stonz to finally begin my masterpiece. it sucks that my camera is broken, b/c i could have chronicled the whole thing step by step. but here is a more boring text version:
- finalize the design on paper
- pick out a piece of jade. it came in slabs of all kinds
- trace the design with pencil then sharpie
- cut off the excess
- grind the corners down with a belt grinder
- use a hand dremel to cut and grind the fine points
- polish
- polish
-polish
-re-polish

put in box and mail to sister.

*********
i wrote that on july 3rd. josephine finally got the necklace a few days ago. never let anyone tell you that something from NZ will ready nacogdoches in 10 days.
the first set of pictures are from three girls you'll see who were there and nice enough to hook me up with some oddly angry looking pictures of me working. i don't know why i was so angry when i was carving, but maybe jade = green = hulk?
the second set are from Malcolm. ahhh Malcolm.

josephine's birthday present

jade necklace

hostel life: penny's

2009-08-02T07:04:00.004-05:00

penny's

i miss video games. here's why:

2009-07-25T05:10:00.006-05:00

Command & Conquer
This was the first time in my life I cared about a story more than I cared about myself*, or my own story. I hated NOD and Kane. I knew that my mammoth tanks were the ultimate force on the battlefield and I trusted them more than I trusted most things in real life. Spin me around 1000 times and I can still beat the first 3 levels without losing a single rifleman. In subsequent releases they've tried to capture the same feeling, and I think they might have done it a few times, but I had grown older, like Wendy in the Hook movie, I had grown older. You can't fall in love for the first time again. I already cleared that level. I already got that one Tetris piece I needed to drop.

Heavy Gear
HG inspired me more than any other game ever has. I used to draw gears on my school books and my homework. It was a great game. Live action cut scenes and badass mechs? Sign me up. I played the hell out of this non-linear and customizable game.

Half-Life
Where to start? This game defined a generation (and is still doing so) of games. It did for games what The Dark Knight Returns did for comics. It made them adult. Edgy. More than a stupid little spaceship blowing up asteroids. This game put you in the role of Gordon Freeman. Gordon. My friend. My alter ego. Gordon and I were a team, I would protect his every ounce of health because it was my own health. Sometimes I would end the game with 95% of my ammo. Why? Because I didn't want to waste it. I said earlier that you can't fall in love for the first time again, but HL is a different kind of love. Not so ephemeral. Permanent and epic. That game made me laugh, cry and tremor.

Half-Life 2
When your favorite band comes out with a shitty 3rd album, that hurts. But when they deliver the goods, that is a special feeling. You know that you've put your heart soul and trust into a group of people that can be trusted with it. This game invented new technology. And the story??? Really? The story is more than my being is. Ask Andrew. I had a $100 bill on my wall for months. MONTHS! Just waiting for the delays and bullshit to be over so I could go and buy this game at midnight. And I did. With rabbit and Sam. Then I took the game home and played it for 24 hours straight, skipping work and class. Then I passed out only to wake up and start again. Ask Andrew.

Team Fortress (HL mod)
This was big. I remember like it was yesterday the night that Hart and I finally got to play Team Fortress online for the first time. It was free. It was against other people. Online. *WE* were playing online against other people. Hart's mom had a 28k modem and that was faster than my Dad's 26.4k. It was amazing. I'll never forget that.

CS** (HL mod)
I played Counter-Strike professionally while I dabbled in college. cs_assault is my favorite map. Including real maps. If you don't think I have the balls to come off the bridge and into the big door, then you're about to get some lead in your head.

Final Fantasy Tactics
I spent at least two summers in high school playing this game. My friends were experimenting with girls and beer, but I was playing FF Tactics***. I don't know for how long, because it stopped counting your hours at 99:99:59. So that's 100 hours. And god knows how many saved games I had. This game really formed my near-superhuman ability to save my games. I can save hit the quicksave button faster than I can remember how old I am.

Neverwinter Nights
The frozen north.
"RAGE OF THE RED TIGER!!"

Warhammer Age of Reckoning (WAR)
I tried other MMOs before, but nothing grabbed me like WAR. It was adult and it was badfuckingass. It was also big because I was trying to save money, and not go out, so I just paid $12 a month and didn't need to leave my room. This game saved me so much money, not to mention that it is to WoW as Zima is to a four horseman. They'll both do the job, but one of them will take your wallet after you pass out. And Zima is for little kids. Besides, my Chosen was fucking badass. I could tank that bitch-ass boss all day long. This MMO made me really care about titles, armor, guilds and all that. Not to mention that I got to play it with my broseph, drujo.

Watching video games
I love to watch people play video games. It relaxes me. Hart and Dru could never get why I felt like that, but they're bros, so they went along with it. Happy, no doubt, to have the controller in their hands. Watching Dru play CS was my college education. Watching Hart play Twisted Metal or Zelda, or Resident Evil was my adolescence. I miss that a lot. Almost as much as I miss being Gordon.

Runners Up:
Empire: Total War (one turn could last an hour)
Killer Instinct (first console game I owned)
Goldeneye 007 (duh)
Chuck Rock (that's for you Josephine)
Deus Ex ("I spill my drink!")

....what did i miss?... something for sure....

Video games are one of the things I really miss. My life in the states always had video games. Here it is a lot harder. They are expensive, and downloading games is almost out of the question. Not to mention that I don't have my desktop computer to run them on. My desktop machine was always my first priority. I didn't want a car, I didn't want to save my baby pictures from a fire, it was always time and money that could go into my next video card. My mac laptop will cut your face off, but it can't run some things at all, and other just not good enough. But, it is just temporary. I'll be a gamer for life. Plenty of time to run through all these games a few more times.

*that's not actually true. The Tick comic books deserve at least a tie in that role. I realized that my sense of humor was being forged with every new comic I read.
**this link and the team fortress one are kinda vague. the versions of these games that i played are so out of date that an advanced google search is required, and I'll leave that to you. i just wanted to show an overview.
*** worth it!

mount cook 2 / dunedin

2009-07-19T05:04:00.001-05:00

pictures por tu

Mount Cook 2 / Dunedin

mount cook

2009-07-17T17:33:00.001-05:00

my birfday and Mount Cook

New Album 18/07/09 9:55 AM

wanaka pictures

2009-07-17T17:00:00.001-05:00

this was about a week ago.

i promise to write some words soon.

and YESSSSSS i know how awesome my mustache was. i shaved it off despite my better judgment.

Wanaka

dunedin

2009-07-13T02:28:00.001-05:00

my birthday is in a few days, so that's cool. i've got big plans. i'm going to treat myself to some stuff i usually don't get. i have an address here at the job, but i'm not sure how long i'm going to be here. it turns out that the bosses are not that cool. on one hand, i can't really afford to not pay for a month's rent, and Dunedin is a likely place to get some paid work, but on the other hand, i'm not totally broke, and i am happier when i'm traveling. oh well. i guess sometimes you gotta settle.

heaphy track

2009-06-29T17:04:00.001-05:00

i might be able to fix my camera. oh well. sometimes amazing places are just for those who put the work in to go themselves. but i still wish there were more pictures.

Heaphy and death

what what!

2009-06-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

karamea so far

why am i still in NZ?

2009-06-26T17:12:00.000-05:00

oh man. thanks jo. good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6QaMJS1FQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHd4KewYLA8

rainbows

2009-06-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

check out this rainbow next to the Rongo sign. did I mention this place is hippied out?

Radio show

2009-06-25T03:57:00.003-05:00

Karamea Radio got rocked today. I did a set of songs that have something, at least tangentially to do with family. Here is the set list, and a download link.

download the show

i was so nervous. i have no idea what i was talking about during most of it. and of course, there is the obligatory screw up at the beginning.
the quality isn't that great, b/c it is radio that has been reformatted a few times to make it usable.

Aside from the tracks listed above, there is the sweet family matters theme song and rage against the machine's bulls on parade. Both of which I played from youtube.

Sean sees the world

great day

a year in the same world

I rule at driving!

Austin

bike or walk?

yeah

my trip to West Texas

A-1

doof

Make like a leaf

Sisters house

New tires

Roofs

packing

thanksgivings

driving!

photoaday 15th

photoaday 10th

photoaday- gotcha!

photoaday- gotcha!

photoaday 6th

photoaday monday 1st!

photoaday

photoaday

photoaday

today i had my first real hamburger in 18 months.

Tandem Live Blogging - Seinfeld Season 6 The Gymanst

a treatise on the tubers of sub-saharan africa

pictures all the time!

Not dead!

Hell's Gate

post

a treatise on food and food eating

More on that

train, dar, zanzibar

africa update

africa update

a good one. lots of reading for you to do.

Malaysia

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 6

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 7

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 8

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 9

Top ten things I will miss about New Zealand - 10

1y1d

***update***

travel plans. i need more travel plans.

my ancient foe

amazing

best day ever

busy day

Malcolm

state of the union video

today is a special day

i've got a few hours to kill

new flatmates

new flat

kitty

Google Map Update

new year's day

stewart island

a break from jo's visit pictures

jo's visit part 1

murrrrrrraaaayyyyyyy

i win

cricket thanksgiving

thanks for the kick in the butt JT

new flatmates and flat

what's up in dunedin

yup

cheez-its

so many pictures

first day of (real) work in 7 months and friends!

Dinner So Good

Bowler Resume

Brand New new

Hiking near Dunedin

dunedin. nz

update