Sunday, April 10, 2011
Retracted.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
So Frustrating.
This town sucks...This part of the country sucks...
I normally don't really hate things or show much dislike for them, haha- I lie, but South Florida is one of the most UN-inspiring, unrelenting parts of the country. The people here suck, the weather generally sucks, and everything is so cookie-cutter it’s disgusting.
The people here frustrate me the most. Everyone always has somewhere to be and they will get there by any means possible as fast as they can. They think that they are better then the next guy and that everyone else should cater to their needs. You have these people that drive their Mercedes Benz's, BMW's and Bentley's that are obnoxiously big and take up 2 parking spots. No one uses a directional. Cars cut you off if there is enough room to fit a car in between you and the car in front of you and then because everyone is using cell phones and not paying attention, you see people cut over 4 lanes of traffic to get in the turn lane to go to the mall. AHHH! So frustrating.
I don't know what it is about the people here but because they were given everything growing up they think they can take anything that is available to them. It's nauseating.
The weather is generally nice here. Maybe I was spoiled by the amazing partly cloudy, 85-90 degree yearlong weather of Hawaii, but I swear it feels like I'm breathing a cup of water every time I take a breath. It is deathly hot most days and very dangerous to ride your bike for an extended period of time. #sadface.
Every house looks like the next. It looks like someone took a 'house'-cutter and just filled it with some cement, glass, tile and some random pastel-y color of pink. Vio-la! You now have a typical house in Boca Raton that you are not allowed alter due to some ridiculous homeowner association political bullshit. I really enjoy architecture, whether it is contemporary or ancient, but there is something about South Florida that just DOESN'T do it for me. Not only is it hard on the eyes, it is also very uninspiring.
A good comparison to this town is the T.V. show ‘Weeds’, the neighborhoods they live in are spot on of how it is here. I just can’t comprehend how people can live in a place like that…I just don’t.
Every time I think about coming back to South Florida to visit my family and friends I get very excited. After spending a couple days here I then remember why I actually don't like this place. If I had no connection to the people or places in South Florida, I would never come here.
Am I being too harsh or does anyone else see these things too?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Austin...Keepin' it Weird.
I showed up to Rachael and Kevin's apartment and I was greeted by Basil, their victorian bulldog. I received the once over from her and I was cleared to enter. We started off by hanging out in the apartment and catching up while we waited for their friend Shannon,who is effing crazy, to show up with her dog. We went down to TacoDeli and ordered up some tacos and mexican Coke's, and for those that don't know mexican Coke's have real sugar in it vice the high fructose corn syrup crap we drink, way better then the normal American stuff.
After a tasty lunch we walked down to the Greenbelt and went for a hike with the dogs. After getting back Kevin headed off to work so Rachael and I both took naps. 5 hours later I awoke to Basil staring at me. I was rested and was ready to start my night. Rachael and I headed downtown. We ate at Chupacabra on 6th street and then walked to one of their favorite watering-holes, The Grackle. There we met up with a few more of their friends, Brendan, Pete, and Erin. A few Lonestar tall boys through the night and I was feeling pretty good. We concluded the night with a walk back downtown to catch a cab.
The next day Rachael had to work so Kevin and I took the bus up to the North University area to a place called Spider House. Dope spot! They had a very wide selection of food from breakfast and bagels to pizza with a well-versed coffee bar. I had the Garden Bagel with a side of chips and black coffee, it was definitely above par. As the punk music played, we talked for over an hour about our military jobs, baseball, music and just life in general. After that we headed about a half mile down the street to Clown Dog Bikes. I was asked by my good old friend Cuyler Yogi to stop in and drop off some macadamia nuts and beer to Mike and Bryce, the owners of the shop. We went in dropped the goods and talked story for a bit. After a few laughs we said our farewells and they threw me a shop shirt in exchange for the goodies! Kevin and I headed back to downtown and had a few beers while we waited for Rachael to finish with work. It was Tuesday so Kevin grabbed some tickets to Terror Tuesdays which is dinner and a old scary movie at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. We met up with Evan and his girlfriend there. The Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) was playing that night. We all stuffed our face with food while we watched bee girls screw the life out of the professors of the lab they worked at. It was interesting to say the least! After the movie we called it an early night and headed home; Rachael had to draw out a tattoo that was going on me the next day and we watched Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: The Life of Norman K. Collins.
I woke up the next morning feeling better and not as jet-lagged but congested, I thought I was getting sick, but apparently cedar pollen makes peoples allergies go nuts. Just my luck. My high school friend, who I had just found out moved to Austin, was going to pick me up and we were going to grab some lunch and coffee. We went to this burger joint called Hut's. They had the widest selection of burgers I have ever seen and on top of that they had a veggie burger that was vegan, so you know I was down! After wiping the BBQ sauce off the corners of my mouth and catching up with Brittany we departed and headed downtown to walk around and get some coffee. We talked some more and in what didn't seem like any time at all it was time for me to get dropped off at Sideshow Tattoo to get tattooed.
Rachael tattooed me for 4 hours. I got a 'momento mori' tattoo which normally includes a rose, a candle, and a skull. With those 3 elements I also had Rachael include a cat. Yes for those who know me, you know that I absolutely hate cats. But, through the last few months I have been getting hurt a lot and had a lot of really close calls, seeing as much I probably should be dead. As we all know cats have 9 lives, so I felt it was appropriate to include in the tattoo.
I headed back down to the apartment to get cleaned up and take out the dog as I waited for Rachael to finish work. We headed back downtown to the Dizzy Rooster and met up with Kevin to have a few drinks. When we got there Kevin was completely wasted since he was drinking all day. I guess it didn't help that he is good friends with the bartender Justin. Drinks ensued. We were all hungry so we went to the Vegan Yacht which is a food truck in this lot of food trucks on the side, I ordered a 'freeto burrito'(veggie chili with fritos in a burrito and sorry for the crap picture, iPhones don't do well in the dark). It was the best food I had in Austin thus far...SO good! We ended the night at a few bars with a lot of drinks and a lot of people from the east coast. It seems like everyone they knew was from either NY or Philthy. Just imagine a bunch of people from the Tri-State area all drunk in a bar in Austin talking about punk rock and sports, we were loud and obnoxious to say the least but it was a blast! I went home a little early because I had to pack as my flight left early the next morning.
While in Austin I saw some very strange things and met some even stranger people. I feel like I barely scratched the surface due to the minimal time I had there and the buffer of my hosts and their friends.
On the ride to the airport I sat in silence and reflected on my 3 days in Austin as it passed by me in the window. Although I saw a lot of interesting people and experienced a lot of interesting things that I would normally not experience, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I guess thats the point of traveling right? To see friends, experience the new cultures and interact with new people you come in contact with. I will be back to Austin this summer, that's for sure.
Keep it weird, Austin, keep it weird.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Aloha `oe Hawai`i
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
It's been over a year...
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Not the usual for me...
Butttt, today is more of an update of the things that are happening/happened to me as of late.
First off I did the unthinkable and bought a fixed gear bicycle a.k.a. a fixie...
I have to admit...it is really really fun to ride and thanks to a friend I fixed it up a little bit and upgraded some parts on it...
I hated on these bikes for a while because it was a trendy thing to have... but I have now looked pasted that and I am taking it for what it is worth...just plain ol' good fun!
As for my artwork, I have been working on a few things... Here is one of them... still a work in progress so its kinda half-done.
This is going to be an anti-Obama piece... I'm really not too fond of this guy... He is not doing what he said he was going to be doing in office... the name of this piece is 'Despair' which it contrary to what this image of Obama normally says. I will keep you updated as I work on this piece more and more..
Today I went to the dentist and got my wisdom teeth pulled. Just the bottom ones, but still it effing sucks, the dentist didn't give me any pain medication either... yeah im hurting pretty good. Although he didn't give me pain medication he definately gave me these...heh heh heh
Yes and Yes...that is my used-to-be left and right wisdom teeth!
Kinda funny the one on the right looks like just the bottom part of a normal tooth that sticks outta your gums, but nope its the root and all!
And finally last but not least it was my half-birthday on February 14th! My wonderful girlfriend got me the dopest balloon ever! It says 'Have the Happiest half Birthday ever!' I couldn't be more happier! What an amazing girlfriend!
I would like to say 'Happy half Birthday' to my friend Skye who I share a regular birthday with.
Also Happy St. Valentine's day to those who believe that you should celebrate the 14th in such a way. I just think that if you love someone you should show your love and appreciation to them everyday, not just one day a year. And if you don't show your love and appreciation to those you love everyday, as my friend Chloe would say, Spread The Love!
OH! and just as a side note my good old friend Erica is coming from Florida to hang out in Hawaii for 4 days next week from Thursday to Sunday, I am soooo stoked!!!
I hope everyone is enjoying life like I am. Good times with good people make for good memories.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
It's in me...
The past week has been the ultimate challenge for me...I had to go against everything I believe in because I signed a contract almost 9 years ago.
Let me digress...
As most people do not know or wouldn't even think about is that I am in the Navy. The other day my boss came around to my department and told all of us that we had to get the H1N1 vaccination. I had been avoiding this as I had avoided the other Flu vaccinations over the last 4 years, I just kept ignoring it. This time they were for real. I didn't want the H1N1 vaccination for a few reasons...
1. It was not tested as thoroughly as the normal Flu vaccination had been in the past. Think about this...the normal Flu took almost a decade to perfect before it stopped doing more harm then help in people. The H1N1 vaccination was a knee-jerk reaction by the government because of the 'pandemic' in 2009, therefore it was not as tested as the normal vaccination and had more potential in harming you.
2. Ridiculous side-effects that will make you even more sick. One side-effect can leave you with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which pretty much is an auto-immune disease which can paralyze you.
So I ended up talking to a bunch of different people, some Navy, some friends and family, about the pros and cons of the vaccination. Of course the Navy people said that it was for the better good of the 'unit' aka the Navy. My friends, who all didn't and won't get it, all were like you are out of your mind if you get it. My father pretty much told me the best thing I could hear and later what I eventually did. I expressed to the Navy people that I was well informed of the vaccination and that it was against what I believe in as a Vegan. They came back at me with what I thought was what they were going to say is, "You wear a uniform, you signed a contract and this is a Navy-wide vaccination that everyone WILL get. If you don't get it you will be sent to captain's mast and/or court martial." Pretty much that means I would be disobeying a lawful order and I would get dishonorably discharged. If I get dishonorably discharged, I lose all of my school benefits for when I am done with the Navy in a year and more-so a DD looks bad when you want to apply for teaching positions later on.
My thought process:
-I absolutely hate everything that the H1N1 vaccination is in it's entirety, the ingredients, the possible side-effects, the lack of testing, and lastly it's not Vegan.
-I don't want to lose my benefits as I have been in the military for almost 9 years now and all's that I want is my benefits at this point; To be done with the military and go to school to be an Art teacher.
Yes, I succumbed to their scare tactics and pretty much let them run all over me, which is a horrible feeling by the way, and I got the vaccination. I feel violated, small, cheated and most of all emotionally drained. This has taken a lot out of me.
What would you have done?