Tension and Release

breaking into your house/apt

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:00:16 -0500

It never really worked with apartments, I’d end up, usually drunk, ringing the doorbell or calling people on repeat. But my parents house, my current location, is a different story. Back in teenage years, I’d had a few moments, all during the summer, all easily resolved by punching out a screen. Today, due to a mixture of bad luck and my girlfriend’s decision to play around with my front door lock, I was locked out in the cold, with a house that had been sealed up for the winter - there were no screens to break or slightly ajar windows to play with. (my parents are on vacation for a week, and I left my cell phone in the house, it was 730 in the morning).

Clearly, a window was getting busted. After 30 minutes of deliberation, I went for a small window into my garage. Took a rock to it, then stood on an outdoor pot for flowers which I balanced a gigantic pumpkin on top of to get the elevation I needed to attempt to squirm through a 16 x 12 window. Success.

When you are unemployed and living with your parents, events like this are kind of a big deal…i need out of suburbia!

Seeing Phish Play MSG (once)

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:57:54 -0500

Seeing Phish Play MSG (once):

Thank you Eric Gillin from Esquire, this is what I try to tell people. Or check the visual evidence, its the experience folks, check out the link and you’ll see what im talking about.

Remember when you could win a free Coke when it said “You won a Free Coke” under the...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:55:17 -0500

Remember when you could win a free Coke when it said “You won a Free Coke” under the botte cap. I liked that.

Random night, random town

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:53:27 -0500

Im in Albany. Its Albany, you make the best of what its got. I went to the Albany Pump Station, a local microbrewery and had some good beers and food. Then I went to Legends sports bar to catch a hockey game. I met a local writer who happens to be a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, so we watched the game together. He is one of those guys who has a lot of screenplays in the works and calls CSPAN during their morning call in shows to complain about the war, he drives cabs in Albany to survive. We exchanged emails and I think I’ll stay in touch with him. Im now at the Clarion Inn, its nice for 65 bucks a night. Tomorrow I meet a judge who will judge my character and hopefully I will become a sworn in member of the NY Bar.

Nitrous tanks on 34th Street last night. The sweet glorious...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:21:00 -0500

Nitrous tanks on 34th Street last night. The sweet glorious hiss of hippie crack. Note to self “1 for 5”…..back in the day man, it was 3 for 10.

Phish is at the Garden the next three nights!!!!!!! As long as...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:45:00 -0500

Phish is at the Garden the next three nights!!!!!!! As long as they dont puke on me, the wookies like this dude are entertainment enough, the music is the icing on the cake.

I think we should have a meet-up, or are Phish and Tumblr mutually exclusive entities?

Finding a job is turning into the hardest job Ive ever had. God this blows.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:30:15 -0500

Finding a job is turning into the hardest job Ive ever had. God this blows.

“Maybe you think that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade—and that’s great if it...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:37:33 -0500

“Maybe you think that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade—and that’s great if it worked for you. But some of us have decided that when life gives us lemons, we’re going to take that lemon, bean life in the head with it, and while life’s down, we’re going to steal its strawberries and cherries.”

from a partner v. associate war of words over at BitterLawyer.

I did not expect The Dead Weather’s Brooklyn show to freeze Ticketmaster….that sucked. ...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:19:42 -0500

I did not expect The Dead Weather’s Brooklyn show to freeze Ticketmaster….that sucked. Anyone have extras?

Public message board - Auckland, New Zealand (i particularly...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:08:25 -0500

Public message board - Auckland, New Zealand (i particularly like the daytime specification)

Promise and Perils of Altruism on the Internet

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:01:05 -0500

Promise and Perils of Altruism on the Internet:

A few years ago, the artist Wafaa Bilal decided to see how many people, given the chance, would shoot him. He rigged a paintball gun and web camera so that people could log on to his website, chat with him online, and—if they wished to—aim and fire at Bilal from anywhere in the world. He then shut himself and the whirring, rotating gun in a room for 30 days. Over the course of the month, people from around the world began shooting, and then kept on shooting, with increasing enthusiasm as time went on. By the experiment’s end, Bilal had been shot at 60,000 times…..

……follow the link to the rest. The author, Jamil Zaki, is a friend of mine. If you enjoy the article, vote for it, and help him secure additional grants to research and write.

loudersoft: RIP Jerry Fuchs, drummer for !!! (Chk Chk...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:52:30 -0500

loudersoft:

RIP Jerry Fuchs, drummer for !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Maserati, and The Juan MacLean. Please don’t think it cheesy when I say that my thoughts & prayers go out to his family and many, many friends today at this absolutely tragic loss.

Jerry was without a doubt one of the best drummers I have ever seen perform. As performing drummers go, I can think of only a handful I have ever seen who were even close. Jerry’s death is completely devastating. The Juan MacLean

This is so sad, he really was a captivating drummer who I saw play with with both !!! and J.M. I feel for his family, his friends, and the Brooklyn music world in which Jerry played a large part. Here’s a link to the story, shitty Williamsburg elevators….

Of all my pics in Thailand, I got to lead with this one. Tiger...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:02:12 -0500

Of all my pics in Thailand, I got to lead with this one.

Tiger Kingdom is about 15 miles north of Chaing Mai, a major city in northern Thailand. There is ample debate among the western crowd as to whether these tigers are hopped up on xanax, but in the end, I must admit that I put the animal morality questions on the backburner for a chance to hug and hang with a few tigers. Heaven!

and it comes to an end.....

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:22:07 -0400

in the coming days, once I return to NYC and back to suburban New Jersey to look for work and get responsible I will surely inundate this page with all of the meandering thoughts I have as I sit here in Saigon on day 137 of 139. Presently the whole idea of looking back at my travels, the experiences, the people, its hard not to romanticize the journey. If I did not do it, I knew I’d regret it. And now that I’ve done it, I regret nothing and am proud of myself and happy to return to whatever life will bring me in the States.

All I can say for sure at this time is that the hardest decision I had to make the past five months was the decision to put life on hold and get the fuck out on the road. Once your life consists of a bag on your back and a ‘choose your own adventure’ situation every morning, its all very simple.

One last night in Saigon begins now. See all you NYCers soon!

The Gibbon Experience

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:30:38 -0400

The Gibbon Experience:

I’ve tried to summarize over at Travellerspoint the experience I had last week living in treehouses in the northern Laos jungle. Perhaps the highlight of my trip so far. I won’t be able to sift through the pics and videos until I get home but for now, I’ll steal this guys youtube video, it does a good job of showing the zip lines. Oh and here is a pic of the tree house….its been upgraded slightly but you can get the jist.

the good and the bad on rats in Hanoi

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:26:13 -0400

There are none on the streets. But I have inferred that extermination comes in the form of fine cuisine.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:32:30 -0400

Well I have only been here for 10 hours, but so far, I love this city.

I just saw a guy’s leg get broken in a Muay Thai Boxing match. Ringside. With people waving...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:34:56 -0400

I just saw a guy’s leg get broken in a Muay Thai Boxing match. Ringside. With people waving around money and gambling, ala Bloodsport. If you dont know what Muay Thai Boxing is check this.

My first weeks in Thailand

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:22:02 -0400

My first weeks in Thailand:

its hard to keep the blog going these days. But here is my attempt to summarize the chronology of the last two weeks. The more interesting details and my thoughts on the Thais in general will wait until I’ve seen more of the country.

random fact

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:11:21 -0400

there are 1,500 7-11s in Bangkok, and yet I cant find a fucking slurpee. I’ll chalk it up to America’s cultural superiority.