Wellington and Family

US Marines in Wellington

View the big trip! in a larger map

I'm not sure if I've ever been closer to my grandfather. I'm standing here looking at a memorial recognizing the US Marine's landing in this harbor before their invasion of the Japanese controlled islands in the Pacific. The first time I read the bronze letters and saw the globe and anchor design it didn't register at all. I thought about Victor and then about the Marine Hymn. Then I read it again and realized that it wasn't abstract it was personal. History. Right here, right in front of me, on a pier built half way around the world I had connected deeply with one of my ancestors for the first time. Had he stood here? Are he and I the only Bibbys to visit New Zealand?

I thought later that I would visit the United States Embassy that is located a few kilometers away from the plaque. Maybe my friendly local ambassador would walk me into a dusty room and find, from memory, a leather bound book that had my name in it. "Ah yes here it is... Joe Bibby, USMC Pt. 1st Class, May 1942". And with that I would have an intimate connection with that name that had never been possible. Instead I was told that it wasn't that kind of place and that I couldn't even get in the gates. A nice woman came down to tell me that I wanted the consulate (which my book says they are as well) but that I would be disappointed there too. I was in a good mood, so I grinned and said "Well, at least I can tell my friends that I tried to buy a United States Ambassador lunch." The guards (NOT U.S. Marines, but local Maori dudes) couldn't keep from laughing. I guess it was pretty funny. But alas, I never got to read from a 50 year old book the name of my grandfather and see physically the proof that he too was here in Wellington with nothing but time on his hands.

Was he bored? I've been bored in this city. Was he drunk? I've been drunk in this city. Was he given time to walk around? I feel like I know even the smallest streets here. Was he even allowed off of the ship he came in? Was he briefed in tropical jungle fighting tactics? On beach landings under fire? Was he told that he could not have a mohawk? (If he was, he ignored it!! Grandaddy FTW!!) Was it the first place he had landed since the States? Had he been out of the country before? Did he know where he was going? Was he quiet, did he keep to himself, afraid that the end was near? Was he happy with the equipment he had at hand? Did he have great friendships that were able to anchor reality in what must have been unreal times?

I feel a lot like him, and I think that some of the above questions resonate feelings that I have. I don't know where I'm going. I'm bored sometimes. Sometimes I feel that the world is so big that the few places I've been are inconsequential. To be clear, I'm not trying to compare my mental state to someone who is at war.

I'm not afraid. Just a little lonely sometimes. Other times I can't get alone enough. The last hostel I was in sucked. I said I was leaving town so they would give me my next night's money back. I'm going to sleep in my car (that's why I bought it anyway) tonight in a car park that I heard about from some other travelers. My car is there now as a matter of fact.

But here I am. The people are walking by. There are other plaques on this sea wall as well, but none of them as big as this one. This wall seems to be a monument to the men (and women?) who came here to resupply and then move on to either death of life. For my lineage it was life. And that's why I'm here.

LA!

My trip couldn't have started any better. LA is pretty badass.

My plane was an hour late, but whatever. Can't let that shit get me down. Thanks to a little (no pun intended) Katt Williams, the flight went by quickly.

I didn't see much of LAX except for when I was on the shuttle bus to the metro. We must have stopped at 30 terminals. I'm really glad I didn't take a taxi to my cousin's work, seeing the city like so many working class people do everyday was cool. I'm not saying I fit in- b/c I didn't at all. For one thing I had a giant backpack on and for another I kept looking out the window grinning like a moron. Also, I was the only person on the train without bloodshot eyes. I didn't get that memo I guess.

I saw the staples center, the hollywood sign and some other cool famous places along the way. Not to mention the La Brea tar pits! I totally jumped in that shit.
After meeting up with the cuz we went (in his Porche!!!!) to a hip part of town called 'The Grove' for dinner and a movie. We met one of his co-workers for some delicious Greek food. The food was almost as good as the company. The co-worker was someone I hope I meet again. Very genuine.

After dinner cuz and I went to see "I love you, man" which was full of great lines and some seriously awkward moments. Pretty silly, but worth seeing.

I got to bed at 1 local time which is 3 Texas time. I didn't feel tired at all.
Did I mention the view?



Today is tennis and lunch and whatever else happens. Not to mention an 11:30pm flight to Fiji !!

t-minus 1b

i just packed my pack for the final time. it was a lot harder than i thought. it was a total 'mind out of body" experience. before i knew it i was unpacking it again, only to have all the carefully considered contents back in the bag in a new and better order. an order that has eluded me for months. i guess it really took a certain attitude to pack it correctly. every time i've packed this bag has been a joke up until now.

now its so real. this is my last night of close contact with my friends and loved ones.

i'm looking at it right now. i don't want to pick it up. it will be too heavy and i will probably cry.
........

.....

i have to. i'm gonna put on my airport clothes and put on my bag. let's see how this goes*.

*i was going to post a picture. but i think this one will be just for me. maybe i'll share it with you in a year.

t-minus 5

here is a great picture of my dad watching Mr. Chi-City at a bar (with free wifi) in dallas. woot tipperary inn!!

never forget.

I'm really glad I was able to come see him. I'm gonna miss all my family a ton, but I don't get to see my dad enough, and not as much as other family members I'm around.

t-minus 15

15 days to go. I'm gonna try and post a post everyday until I get on the plane to Fiji.

Today I'm gonna go over my basic schedule for those of you who need it.

March 10th- goto a reflexologist. I've never been, but I don't think it could hurt. I'm feeling like these next 15 days are going to be stressful, in mostly good ways. I don't want to carry any negative energy into Fiji and New Zealand. (do I sound like the son of two hippies or what?)

March 13th- drive to my old home. Nacogdoches. Hopefully the 13th will be a reunion with all my brothers. Pretty much everyone I know will be at the party the next night, so this might be the only time I get to see Max (coming in from DC thankyouverymuch) and others for any serious amount of catch-up time.

March 14th- Gettysburg. THE party of the year. If you didn't get an invite, it means we've never gotten super drunk in Nacogdoches together. Or that I forgot, and I'm sorry. You should still plan on getting your shit done before the 14th, as the world will most likely end. All of the great parties in Nac have been theme parties, so when it came time to name my going away party, I knew I needed something epic. I thought of all the most epic and possibly destructing things in the history of people getting together and Gettysburg is up there. As my boy Kevin B said the other day, after I told him of my fear of imminent alcohol poisoning- "Just make sure you take some people out with you. Hell the party is called Gettysburg. You better not go down without a fight". True Kevin, true. But if I'm offered 12 shots by 9pm, things are looking poor in regards of me making the after party.
For those of you not on facebook, the link above won't work. The party is at Flashback Cafe, my "Cheers" of a home. 40 people confirmed, 20+ maybes. We're taking that place over.

March 15th- recuperate. Maybe drive back from hospital to Austin.

March 16th- 20th- Only a vague hint of a going away party is in the air. But that is enough for me to look forward to. This week will be mainly spent repacking boxes of stuff, moving said boxes into the attic and attempting to settle on a final pack list. I need to have everything I own in 1 backpack, as well as my messenger bag which will hold computer and other randomness. More on the pack in later days I imagine.

March 21st- Dynamo game! I've already been to one this year, but this is the season opener- and the only game I'll be able to attend of the entire season. I don't really want to talk about this. It hurts. The Dynamo have given me something to care about for the last 3 years without fail.

March 22nd- 24th- I will be sitting in my room not getting hurt or sick. I will have my pack on, keys in hand ready to goto the airport. Seriously, don't expect to see me during this time. I'll be on lockdown. Every drop of energy going to not mucking this up.

March 25th- Fly from Austin to LA where my good friend and cousin Bruce will pick me up! He lives with his partner in LA and has graciously allowed me to stay the night with him. Think about that, here's a guy who I've only met a hand full of times and he's willing to take time out of his super busy schedule to help me. When my travels are eventually done, I hope to look back on this as the first of many such altruistic acts. And I don't think I'll forget that it started with family.

March 26th- April 4th- Arrive in Fiji early in the morning. Get a ride from my host's driver (picking up the requested duty free booze beforehand). Hopefully my gracious hosts, who I met on couchsurfing.com will have some kind of ..... wait. I don't care what happens. As long as Fiji really looks like this, then I don't care what I do. After a few days with them, I'm off to begin my year long love/hate affair with hostels of all kinds.

April 4th- Arrive in Auckland NZ. I plan on spending a week in the city (NZ's biggest) and then getting the hell out of Dodge to go work on an organic farm/hostel fixing websites and picking weeds and whatever. More on that tomorrow though.

Thanks for sticking with me. If you just got the link to my blog, I'll give it a bit of an overview.
I'm not sure it is really for everyone. If you just want a post card and that's that, then drop me an email with your address and I'll do it! But if you want pictures, musings, lots of cursing and a ton of other personal insights, then this is the place for you. I'd advise that you check out a post before showing the kids. Sometimes I'll cuss of have an adult story to share. (I also make no apologies for any old posts you venture to read.) Just fair warning. Hopefully everything will be happy golucky and there wont be any need for me to brood, but alas, I doubt that will be the case. But other than a few down times, which are inevitable when adventuring, I'm going to be doing my best to share everything I can stand to post. Tons of pictures for sure! Net access will be a challenge for many reasons.

I want to leave you with my first post. The reason behind this blog, entitled 'Sean sees the world' was and is to get good at blogging, so that when I do really get out there I'll be able to communicate and share with friends and family. I think I've come a long way in 2+ years. But look! Still among my must bring list are a few things that are too familiar...

my next few weeks?

click to enlarge. i think i'm gonna work in midland and vicksburg. i hate mississippi and louisiana. so, i'm not happy about being over there. but the cash money sounds right.... i need a sleeping bag like whoa.

sweet

well, this took me 3 hours, but it will be worth it. darth jacobus's birthday is tomorrow. 

i hope he likes it.

fire fire fire fire

yeah, so my dad's house kinda burned down. soooooo that was a bummer. my room is above the destroyed room. he wasn't there and no one was hurt. his stuff is pretty much all gone. but it is just stuff.
i was feeling pretty emotional about it when i was there, but now i'm not really that excited about it, for whatever reason. i'm sure that will change when i get back to dallas this weekend.
there is a lot of stuff that i was happy to have in storage at his house. stuff that i didn't want until i was 45 or so. but i guess i'll take it now.

gogogomom

My mom is the featured purveyor at her antique shop, Uncommon Objects, in Austin.
I'm very proud of her.

and they shall know me by the trail of mirth

yes yes. happy fucking new year. now quit saying that phrase. just because you're polly pocket calender rolled over doesn't mean that i give a shit.

ok, maybe i'm just bitter because after over a week off i'm back at work. and my buddies Karl and Chrissy aren't here to share in my misery. they took vacation time so they could avoid the bitterness towards 8am that i'm currently grappling with.

in other news, i shall recount to you my 1 resolution as well as the many gifts i received.

resolutions.
1. be having sex from december 31, 2007 11:59 to anytime in 2008. just so that at some point i can say "shit. all i've done this year is have sex."

gifts.
1. juicer.
2. the Corsair (picture soon)
3. cash money and sweet gift cards
4. FIFA 08
5. nice picture of me and mom
6. jo gave me a sweet vase or something, that she made out of clay.
7. a nice shirt i'm looking forward to wearing
8. lots of venison
9. and not leastly or lastly, a picture of Malcolm.

I seriously got better presents than i deserve this year. so that was nice.

juice party pictures and updates as soon as i get bored with working. (should only take a few minutes.)

Timeline

I hope this timeline will get updated and revised as I remember things and as people tell me things.
Look for updates soon, especially about certain firsts, like first computer, cell phone, car, kiss, and stuff like that. Not to mention ages, and events relating to my immediate family and friends.

1984. Born

1985. 1 yr. old; Live at 6234 Velasco, Dallas, Tx 75214. Phone number 214-827-9445*

1986. 2 yr. old Josephine born

1987. 3 yr. old

1988. 4 yr. old

1989. 5 yr. old;

1990. 6 yr. old Kindergarten

1991. 7 yr. old; 1^st grade

1992. 8 yr. old; Leave White Rock Montessori; 2^nd grade

1993. 9 yr. old; Enter Stonewall Jackson Elementary School; 3^rd grade

1994. 10 yr. old; 4^th grade

1995. 11 yr. old; 5^th grade; Parents divorce; Split time between Velasco and 5814 Anita, Dallas, Tx 75206. Phone number 214-827-9444

1996. 12 yr. old; 6^th grade; Leave Stonewall Jackson

1997. 13 yr. old; Enter J. L. Long Middle School; 7^th grade**

1998. 14 yr. old; Enter Pegasus Charter School, 8^th grade; Paternal Grandfather, Joe Bibby dies.

1999. 15 yr. old; Enter high school

2000. 16 yr. old; First real girlfriend

2001. 17 yr. old

2002. 18 yr. old; Graduate Woodrow Wilson High School; Enter Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA)

2003. 19 yr. old

2004. 20 yr. old; Josephine Graduate Woodrow Wilson High School

2005. 21 yr. old

2006. 22 yr. old; Graduate SFA; Begin working at Digital Projects

2007. 23 yr. old; Janette (mom) sells house on Velasco, moves to Austin, Tx.

*when I first typed the phone number in, I typed the wrong number. I typed my current cell number

**for the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the middle school I went to. I had to google it. That’s why I’m making this list.

phones

i love gadgets. i'll admit it. if i splurge on anything, its gadgets.

i'm thinking about getting a 8525. i didn't like the reviews and stats of the curve.
a smart phone seems like a smart move b/c i love email, and as i stated above, gadgets. i know a few people who have the 8525 and they love it. of course their businesses pay for the service plans. bah! what's a few dollars?

i might be overdoing it with the psp, the small laptop, and a smart phone. but on the other hand, i'm not going to be happy with one of the shitty phones that you get for free or for 20 bucks. having a windows OS and basically a small computer on board seems like a much better fit for me than some bullshit java platform.

i had a good thanksgiving. the talk with grandpa really made it all fit together. i hope i can get a digital copy of what josephine taped so i can share it with the interwebs. all the driving made a lot more sense when after i got to spend time with him and with little jacob. i love sitting around with jacob and his parents. just being in austin is really good for me. i don't know what that means for stephenville. i like being there for different reasons. i feel a stronger sense of family there, but i'm not as relaxed. something to think about.

grandpa kicks butt

josephine and i just got back from grandpa's house. we interviewed him about his experiences during world war two and after. he talked for about an hour and then abruptly said that he was all talked out. jo and i had a blast. i really learned a lot of stuff that i'm not sure he's ever told us. josephine had a tape recorder. now we have all that stuff on record permanently.

some notable experiences he had:

was bombed on some tiny island for 30 days straight
saw the raising of the iwo jima flag
he saw the whole battle of iwo jima from the bottom of the mountain
occupied japanese bomb shelters (hiding from japanese bombs)
ate a monkey in thailand
he wrote letters to parents of soldiers who were kia
flew over tokyo in a plane that was dropping bombs
two legions of honor medals
was in the fucking CIA
was the american representative at the seato treaty
and he is a good grandpa.

did i mention that he's 95 and he just now decided to stop driving.

stop

today we get to stop being thankful. thank god for that.

oh! i almost forgot! i have pictures of snow in Stephenville, Tx.




isn't that weird. that's west fucking texas. today it was like 60 degrees.

right now i'm sitting at my mom's house with her boyfriend, josephine and reenie. i'm tired from driving and listening to stories about my family. i love being in austin. i can't wait to go out into the city tomorrow.

led zeppelin just came on. this is so my mom. the fireplace is crankin' and aunt reenie has a little bud going. just a total juxtaposition from being at my other aunt's house. i really like both set ups- don't get me wrong, but like i said yesterday, it seems so predictable. i wonder if i am just as predictable. and i wonder if it would insult me if i knew someone was typing that into their blog that i was. i hope not.

today my dad and i shot my aunt's .22 single action pistol. that was really cool. shooting guns is just fun. as long as you're only shooting cans. also if you can hit the cans. which my dad and i were unable to do but once.

BTH.FTF.

thanksgiving day!

Last night I was so tired. I went to sleep pretty much as soon as we got here (Stephenville). I didn’t really have a chance to think about it being thanksgiving. What am I thankful for? So many things. One of my favorite things about myself is that I often think about being lucky and blessed. I often think such things out loud and I hope people don’t think that I’m bragging or being arrogant. I just wish to express how lucky we are to be talking about our problems with which airline to fly with, or the extra 60 cents I had to spend on gas today or the fact that we’ve been eating too much.

But I think I should list the first ten things that come to me that I am thankful for. I love lists.

computers
family
good food (that I don’t get often)
my good health
my parents being happy
the fact that I can do yoga in nac
the fact that if I have been brainwashed, it has been by liberals
I’m thankful that I own my car
that I can enjoy being by myself
that I am moderately well traveled

Hmmm. That is an odd list. But, I did type out the first ten things that came to my head.

Dynamo game exploits tomorrow I promise. I’m still so excited that they won. I’m still so proud. There was a forum I saw from the NE fan group that was about how they were ashamed of their showing in DC. Fuck yeah! There were thousands of them and a hundred or so of us. We destroyed them so hard. We were so loud. They stopped singing at some points over the course of the game. Lame! We never stop! We never surrender!