Ko Te Au O Brody

decisions, decisions

2010-12-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

the time has come for me to make some decisions, and for possibly the last time I'm going to have the option (i kinda think every time is the last time), I'm letting the planet tell me what to do. so far its going pretty well, but i'm curious-- if i'm unable to register for classes due to ridiculous oversight by the educational institution, for once, and not because of some stupid oversight on my part... should i still register?

today i'd really love to be in bishop. somehow there's a way to get paid to climb and travel, and TODAY i'd love to know what it is. yesterday not so much. tomorrow? who knows. we shall see.

this is mostly a note to let the 4 of you that i never talk to in real life know that i'm not only alive, but doing pretty good.

oh you wanna check out my car?

2010-08-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

selling a car on craigslist has been the most ridiculous experience. I've only ever sold 2 cars before, both volkswagens, and both sold (in one case given) to volkswagen enthusiasts. My feet aren't even close to wet here. So i get this idea-- i should sell my car, and buy a vanagon. good plan! I've wanted to do this for years! Why not!
Here's why. Some kid makes me meet him in San Mateo, says he has cash. Ok... He wants to drive the car "hard". Ok.
He proceeds to redline the car in all 3 gears, and then offer me $1700. The car is for sale for $2700.
Seriously? Hell no kid.

British guy wants to test drive the car. Meets me at work on my lunch break, so sure we can make this work. Gets on the freeway and immediately tries to merge into a delivery truck.
Some other idiot wants to give me less than the car is worth, and then for me to get work off tomorrow and drive the car to DALY CITY for him.
So i lose hours, time, and gas money.

Vanagon, you had better be worth it. Seriously.

Are there any hobos here?

2010-08-08T15:40:00.001-07:00

Ah... the life of a professional climber.

Working summer camp at a climbing gym is a bizarre world of useless authority, mistaken reponsibility, misplaced emotional attachment, and, ocationally, getting some serious work done. With one week left to go of my summer job-having-ness, I've already...
gone thru 2 females
solved mysterious phone disappearances (stolen, recovered)
broken up fights started by a punch to the crotch
battled ignorace and racism
met some really cool kids
prevented numberless broken bones
met some really strong kids
met some REALLY strong kids
set a couple of cool routes
set a couple of routes that started cool and then got lame
argued with parents, bosses, underlings, and coworkers
somehow been elevated to a position of responsibility, despite any compensation for this
had my job posted on the interwebs for 2x what they pay me
worked with a professional climber
had all my climbing friends jealous that i get paid to be in a gym all day while they work "real jobs"
been jealous of everyone i know with a "real job"
searched for and found the perfect van
posted my car for sale
not ridden my bikes
gone for an entire month with out climbing

after all this i realize-- the life of a professional climber is pretty much the same as mine, and that, as a gym employee, i'm also a professional climber. they sleep on couches, the bum food, rides, and money, they search for the cheapest solution to problems... and they get paid exactly what i get paid to do exactly what i do. just when they're done, they make solid gold records. or climb crazy hard. one of those.

and they're really really strong. aside from that i can't speak for all of them, but for any that worked at twisters this summer, you're super cool.

when i kid jokingly asks if theres any hobos here, and i say "not this week" i mostly just mean that in a weeks time, i may be homeless, and i may be living in a vehicle. and that i'm pretty ok with that. in the event i find this week too much to handle (you have no idea what a reality that is) and quit before it's over, at least i have a bed in a house for another week. if all good things must come to an end, hopefully all bad things must as well.
anyway, when my boss unexpectantly quit, i was glad to already have my near future figured out. beyond being the best boss i've ever had by miles and miles, he's an even better friend, and i look forward to having the opportunity to work for him again in he future. good luck bro.

...

2010-07-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Why do blogs need titles? Who cares what this blog entry is called? It just makes me feel pressured to come up with something witty to call it, and then lame when I can't think of anything. Anyway.

Why aren't more things black and white? Why do we have this massive discrepancy between right and wrong, and motives, and intentions, and all of that? When I say something, for instance, I generally mean exactly what I said. If I don't care, I'll let you know, and if I do, I'll let you know.

However, such is not the case with everyone, obviously. Some people say one thing and mean the exact opposite, and then want or need to be able to blame the discrepancy on someone who had nothing to do with it. I find myself in this situation fairly regularly, as I'm sure many other people do. My question is this: what is the correct way to handle this? When someone is purposely misunderstanding you, or purposely misleading you, what do you do?

also-- fox news just called the gym to ask about someone who died on shasta. when i told the dick i didn't know her, and wasn't going to make a statement, he got all pissy. when i told him her family probably didn't want it all over the news, or for a bunch of people who don't know the poor girl to be making comments and talking about her, he started to berate me, and then hung up.

what a cock.

two thoughts...

2010-06-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

i'm having a really hard time lately trying to wrap my head around a very simple fact-- as my life progresses and goes on, everyone else's does too. running into people i used to know and realizing they're completely different people, or that everyone i know from high school has graduated college at this point (mostly everyone that's going to anyway, myself excluded). really weird for me.

and while i won't tell the current story, i'll tell the same story that happened to me about 5 years ago...

i was in hawaii. i got myself there-- bought my own ticket, got myself to the airport, got myself to laie, and got myself some floor/grass to sleep on. i was staying for a month, attempting to find a job and get into school (how extremely different my entire life would be if any of that had worked out? who knows). this was in the same year that i bought myself a car, taught myself to drive, taught myself to drive stick, and taught myself to repair and replace the engine in a VW. i was doing pretty damn well, or at least thats the way i saw it. in hawaii, i met a 14 year old kid (who was and is gay, and at least at the time didnt know it) who was a GIANT momma's boy-- parents had this kid on a 2 foot leash for all intents and purposes.

anyway, long story short, he finds out i'm 18, and is shocked. i ask why, and he responds

"you just don't seem like you can take care of yourself"

tonight was the second or third time i've been through this situation, and at this point i can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that i DO take care of myself, and have been for a long time. i would appreciate it if people who don't, and have never, taken care of themselves, would stop trying to bring me to their level. i'm not there.

damnit.....

2010-06-04T23:53:00.001-07:00

that is all

the distant future, the year 2000

2010-05-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

dear me
this week's life clue-- the dog wants you to come outside, not just let him out. he's trying to tell you to get off your butt (and since you suspect he may be smarter than you are...)

man this week's been crazy huh? canceled transatlantic flights (for the roomies/doggie's parentals)meant a couple of early mornings and late nights, power outages at work, 9 hours of working with children straight on a saturday makes a crazy brody (at least more kids showed up for class this week, it was getting weird with just me and a 9 y/o girl...

and i started eating like crap. or went back to eating like crap. something like that.

so today i went grocery shopping. probiotic kefir? yes. organic fruit? yes. good for me/you.

in the recent past, i just found out that my time off for bishop/memorial day/mule days got approved... which means in the near future, i aims to be crushing some granite and or conglomerate and or volcanic tuff by the end of the month.

the distant future holds some magical glory as well-- high sierra music festival at the beginning of july/my birthday, backpacking in yosemite in the middle of june for my birthday as well, and as a birthday gift to myself, fat freddy's drop at the independent at the end of june.

After much ado....

2010-05-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

Despite my plans of moving to one of at least 2 different states and potentially living in 2 different countries, (a-- utah or hawaii)(b canada/vancouver or new zealand) I'll be more than likely staying in good old CA for the summer. Don't worry, I already have week long adventures planned for each month, and i'm sure tons of beaching and riding... climbing in utah and yosemite, backpacking in yosemite, festivals in the sierras... gunna be a busy boy.

SO-- since we all also know that i'm beyond stir crazy with myself and situation, this is my plan for not being bored/fat/lazy this summer

a) working out, 3x a week, every week, no matter what. recommiting myself to more push-ups cuz my triceps really need the work.

b)climbing at least 3x every week, no matter what

c) climbing outdoor! a LOT!

d) starting my trad rack.

e) i need a van. i'm thinking VW.

dear verizon

2010-03-26T00:25:00.001-07:00

i still hate you. having your manager call to "make sure i am satisfied" doesn't change anything, which i hope you've realized by me ignoring your calls. heres why

you charge too damn much. honestly, i don't even use my phone. if it wasn't ridiculous to not have one, i wouldn't. i would switch to metro, except i also hate them and then have no service when i leave the bay area, or probably when i'm in my house for that matter, and paying for a phone i really CAN"T use makes even less sense than one i hate using in the first place.

when my phone (which even you admitted shouldn't have broken, which is why it was still under warranty) you asked me if i had a old phone i could use. of course i don't, thats why i bought this one in the first place. when i told you this, you said "well if you find one we can activate it for you for a small fee until your new one gets here." which is retarded, a, and b, why the hell should i PAY to USE something i already OWN, and HAVE to use because YOU sold me a piece of SHIT?

every time i have a problem with your service and have to call in (we should all know this is the last ditch effort, because i hate using my phone) i end the call feeling like a total dickhead. why do i pay you for this?

so yes, the next time i get a call from you, i will pick up, and tell you all these things. i'd leave you except everyone else is clearly just as bad, and whats the bloody point.

sincerely, me

Van dwellers and other nonesuch

2010-03-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

(pause as i breifly realize i have no idea when my last update into nothingness was, and check to see what my last topics covered were)

Ok-- so the last week or so has gotten a little dark. Personal perspective hasn't remained in the best position all week.

Something that's really been helping me deal with the stress and all is that I've been reading a ton of blogs-- mostly from Stealth Van Dweller, JMCamperVan, and Falia Photography.

These blogs all have one thing in common-- people living in vans. FaliaPhotography, in particular, likes to rant and rave about all kinds of crazy shit (her latest post is about carrying firearms in your vehicle) but they all share another element-- the option to just pack up the van and moooove. This really appeals to me. The coolest thing about Faliaphoto is that she works a couple months a year, doing oddball shit, like picking cherries and cleaning houses, and then packs up the van and goes south for the winter. JMCampervan was on the road for a full year, touring around the country and visiting national and state parks (one wonders why he never picked up a national parks pass which allows entrance to any and all national parks for a one time fee of $80, rather than $20 per park per entrance... I'm planning on getting one as soon as 120 opens up (120 being the pass that cuts the trip from bay area to bishop from 9+ hours in GOOD weather to around 5...) but regardless, its a bunch of people talking about living in a van.

This van thing has to work out. I can't see any reason not to trade my commuter car (I don't commute) for a vehicle that provides more options and comfort on the road. In the last year, I've been to Utah 3 times, and am planning a trip next month. All of these trips would benefit from a vehicle I could park at Walmart and sleep in, as I HATE long distance driving by myself.

Anyway, good ideas, and good vibes.

looking for ideas....

2010-02-21T15:46:00.001-08:00

so i'm in need of change. like it or not, things are changing, and potentially about to be changing drastically. i'd like a new work situation, may need a new living situation, all the while looking for ways to change my education situation and more.

looking for a new job, and only looking places i really want to work. we'll see how long i can stick with that bit.

living situation-- i'd really like to not move back to my grandma's. don't want to live with my cousin, specifically, and if i can avoid it, i'd like to not live with family. considering finding a van and taking up a mobile residence. maintaining a gym membership would allow me to shower and such, and being mobile would drastically free up some dinero, along with allowing me to get the hell out of town at a moment's notice. could store stuff in a friend's garage, and am well aware of what towns and areas around here will allow you to live in your vehicle trouble free.

school.... been thinking about a student loan. i'm well aware of what this would mean, but the money would allow me to finish school without having to worry about working and all that-- so work would just be a benefit, not an absolute necessity regardless of who is shoving what down my throat for how ever little an hour.

anyway, no one reads this, but if there are ideas... post em please. i'm very willing to get creative here.

2010-01-27T04:09:00.001-08:00

hello internet. yes its 4 am and i'm not only awake but blogging. yeah.

watched (500) days of summer. how is it that searchlight actually produces good films? idk.

anyway theres a million thoughts flying around my head. about 500,000 of them are totally incoherent, and i've just realized the other half are more private than i wanna willy nilly spread on the internets.

zooey deschanel is hot enough to make me watch movies w/o knowing anything about them. i'm glad she picks good movies to act in.

bebes

2010-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

also-- having nieces kicks some serious ass. my sister's kid looks completely different every time i see her-- sometimes looking like a different kid when i leave as she did when i got there. like an hour before. my brother's kid is WALKING. and trying to TALK. its bizarre, but gotta love em all.

2010

2010-01-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

2010.

just roll that over for a minute. can you believe its bloody 2010 already?

spent new years in bishop. it was BEAUTIFUL. cold nights, perfect days. climbed the happies, the sads, and the milks. new projects-- solarium, action figure, slap happy, serengeti, mothership connection, iron man.

got on world class problems, hung out with world class people, and had some world class stunts. all this leads to the best new years ever, and a commitment to be back next year. planning on heading back to bishop in the next couple months...

oh yeah-- i got funky tut. with one mocasym and one katana.

soooooo.....

2009-12-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

since we last conveined, a lot has happened.

Most importantly, i went to bishop. bishop california.

Most of you (and by most of you i mean adeline, since no one else has the free time, or cares enough, or at all, to read this garbage) have no idea where bishop is, and therefore are asking "why the hell would you go to this place i've never even heard of?" just wait, by the end of this, you'll be wondering what the hell is wrong with me that i would put so much time, effort, energy, and stress into not only going to a town with a population of 9000 (yes, three zeros) people, but planning another trip only one month later.

So. I fly to vegas, and meet up with a friend whose family lives in vegas. she's home from school for thanksgiving, and have graciously agreed to join me in my ridiculous pursuit of rocks. we head out on a 6 hour drive west of vegas, back into california, except we get.... not really lost, but not really in the right place either. purchase of a map solves this problem.
into bishop, 7 or more hours after leaving vegas. camping in the middle of nowhere, sub-freezing temps at 6 pm, early night. EXCEPT i don't have a sleeping pad, and there is a dog in the neighboring "site" thats barking. for 3 hours. straight.

I finally have enough, and get out to go figure out what this poor pooch wants, when guess what? that poor dog suddenly has an attentive owner. one who will acost me in the morning for having parked where he wanted to make camp. dick.
Anyway, climbing in bishop is insane. off the hook. within 20 minutes of downtown bishop, there are over 2000 (again, yes, three zeros) bouldering problems, many world famous on a massive scale. i climb. and climb. and climb and climb and climb, and theres still more rocks, more problems, more solutions, and more projects, some so achingly close i can feel and taste the satisfaction that WOULD have come with their solution. nevermind, this is why i'm headed back in 3 weeks.
So yes, i have rojects in bishop ranging from v3 to v5. yes i got dropped on the most messed up, sandbagged v0 you've ever seen. yes i went planning to do a highball and then never even touched one.
yes i made new friends with 2 girls who i hitchhiked back with, in the back of one's van and sleeping on the other's couch, and yes i plan on climbing with one or more of them this month again, despite both living at least 5 hours away from me.

And yes, thanksgiving was AMAZING. its nuts how enjoyable holidays are when you're not with people just begging for an argument.

So thanks to Linds, Ryan, Shane, Twisters crew, Hayley, Alicia, AAA, Pt Cruisers, Parents who love their kids enough to rent them PT cruisers to drive home, Both of my roommates, all the dogs, all the family, all the food, and all the dead animals of thanksgiving. Seriously, it wouldn't have been anything without any of you. Much love.

dear california

2009-11-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Dear California
As you know, we have a long history, snaking back through time to the begining of the modern era (aka 1987).
We've had a lot of adventures together, good, bad, inbetween. I've been to some of your darkest corners, and you've housed most of mine. I've fought for your betterment, and you've brought about massive changes in me. It's all been very good, mutually benefitial, and I really want to thank you for that.

But in reality, you just can't afford me any more, and vice versa. With your current 32% fee hike for UC schools, along with massive cuts to both financial aid AND new students (SJSU has seen a 50% rise in applications in the last year, and just announced they were cutting another 2800 new student positions), I feel it's time for both of us to take a little break and figure out what our wants and needs are. I feel as if this will likely mean I head out of state for school, and for this I appologize. I don't mean it as an affront to you, so please don't take it that way, I just feel as if other locales may have better abilities to help me on a financial front, and I really have to look out for me these days.

However, have no fear. I am by no means breaking up with you. I'll always have a peice of Yosemite in my heart, and hope that Yosemite feels the same for me. And I do not intend to become a stranger, I just feel as if both of us should examine how we can better ourselves through our optional relationships.

I love you. When I'm gone, I hope that you'll be strong and vigilant as ever, along with keeping that slightly standoffish demeanor we have both come to love.

The humpty dance

2009-11-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

is your chance

to do the hump.

in desperate need....

2009-11-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

the other night my cousin asked me what i would buy with a billion (with a b) dollars.

seriously? whatever i wanted.

My first answer was about 100 million dollar houses.

maybe an island. a developed island... maybe just a lot of property on a developed island.

Really, the problem is that a billion (with a b) dollars is just too bloody much. what COULDN'T I buy with that much money?

I'd try to set myself up for life, doing something cool. thats right, doing something.

Maybe a dive company in central america.

maybe whoever is developing hydrogen motors needs funding.

in short, i've decided i'm in desperate need of a billion, with a b, dollars.

two posts in a day?

2009-11-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

nope, two posts in 20 minutes.that's how i roll i guess.

I've been sick for a bit. depending on how you count it its either since halloween or for about 2 weeks. I'm calling it 2 weeks. heres the story

had a super duper minor sore throat for over a week, which disappeared for a day or two, then came back with a gusto halloween night (right?).

sore throat transformed into the stuffed up head of my life, which began to clear up yeasterday.

My point in all this is as follows: I cannot BELIEVE how much snot i can house in my body. I absolutely guarantee that if it wasn't a liter, it was close. And the worst bit is that I've been coughing and sneezing it up at completely random times, which makes a job in retail rather difficult.

Coughed up a raquetball sized snot wad yesterday, and it was electric green. aside from the gross factor (trust me, it was in my mouth, I know better than anyone) it was pretty friggin cool. Wish I coulda gotten a picture of that.

cabin fever....

2009-11-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

It could be that i've got too much free time on my hands. It could be that I'm not doing much with my free time. It could be that I've got aspirations of being a dirty homeless dirtbag drifter, or it could be that I'm scared of finishing school and then "having" to move on with my life, and settle down in one place and do one job for a looooong time. As much as i hate the vaguepotentially faulty world of part time, at will employment, I love the fact that I could, at any time, quit, and have no worries about anything (dear past me of this summer, I'm pretty sure you can't come back and punch me in the face for allowing such blasphemy over my lips, you peanut butter eating broke ass).

But I really wanna get out of here. This whole needing two jobs to effectively live thing is driving me nuts. Its driving me more nuts that I actually have to look for that second job, and that people are judging me on such ludicrous things as my hair.

Anyway, a week in Bishop at Thanksgiving... I'm just trying to make it that far.

listening to Easy_Star_All-Stars

2009-11-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

A few things recently have made me realize a need in myself to be a bit more clear in my view points and statements. Particularly, a friend with a strikingly honest and open blog, a thing that i'm rather sure is very difficult for this friend.

People have called me a lot of things-- leftist, opinionated, blunt, honest... A friend of mine calls me Mr. Opinionated.

My answer to this is "be afraid of people without opinions. Everyone should have an opinion, and if you have no opinion I will generally assume you're entirely uninformed. This is, in fact, a BAD thing.

But a few other people have made the mistake of calling me anti-religious. This couldn't be further from the truth. I think religion serves a ton of different purposes for a ton of different people from a ton of different back grounds. Did you notice the recurring word in that statement? Everyone is different, and I think that most religions aim to recognize this, but get distracted, or derailed, or something more violent on the way there. My only requirement from anyone, gay, straight, asexual, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Mono-theistic, Pan-theistic, Poly-theistic, Atheist, purple, alien, whale, or tree, is to just allow everyone else to do their thing. We're all born with these in-alienable rights, right? We're all entittled to the same rights, abilities, and services from our government (supposedly) but REALLY should be able to expect this acceptance from our fellow man, whether they be your twin brother or a complete stranger on the other side of the country. So I think EVERYONE should be able to gain, and employ (or not, if they choose) the rights and abilities of marriage. I think everyone is entittled to a high quality education, funded and supported by the government. Everyone on the planet is entitled to seeing the beauty of the planet, of mankind, of nothing, and of everything.

What I'm getting at is this. You might not like everything that comes out of that. But really, that's too bad, because we're ALL entitled to these rights, not just land owning white men, or the english, or the romans, or whatever else. So every once in a while, just take a step back, and ask yourself if something actually has anything to do with you. And if you should, just maybe, shut your mouth and let people do their thing.

That, and health care. I wanna pay for your health care, and I want you to pay for mine. This is ridiculous. :D

ok seriously, wtf

2009-11-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/pages/2010-California-Protection-of-Marriage-Act/126022448457

Yes, you read it right-- that is, in fact, a fan page on facebook, devoted entirely to the "2010 protection of marriage act"

This one differs from the last act claiming to protect marriage in several key ways. Well, really only two...

1) This one is not aimed at marginalizing and black listing a sexual orientation

2) This one IS aimed at marginalizing, black listing, and then royally screwing anyone who ever decided that a decision they made in their past ended up not being the correct way to go.

Yes, in fact, this one wants to ban divorce. Ban. Divorce.

In CA, we already see marriage from a slightly different (legal) stand point from many other states. In CA, you're common law married after 7 years of living together. Also, (among other things) in CA, to get a divorce, all you need is an "irreconcilable difference". Basically, a difference of opinion, ability, mental health, or desire. Yes, this does, in fact mean, that if one of you wants a divorce, and the other doesn't, that you have grounds for a divorce.

Why am I even bothing to mention this? 2 Reasons. (lots of lists in this post eh?)

1) the last time one of these inane ridiculous ideas went across to be voted on, the offensive, demeaning, civil-rights-ignoring side "won".

2) i'm really just sick of this shit.

Seriously, what the hell does it have to do with you? Someone else's divorce is just that- someone ELSE getting a divorce. It may, in fact, impact you in some way, but theres a pretty damn good reason your name wasn't on the legal document that is required to officially start that relationship-- it doesn't bloody well have anything to do with you, your opinions, needs, thoughts, or ideas.

If you don't want a divorce, DON'T GET ONE.

If you don't want a gay marriage, DON'T BLOODY GET ONE.

You never asked me if you should buy that retarded SUV so you could sit in traffic by yourself every day and polute my air, and that actually has a LOT to do with me. Get over your stupid self, and just shut up and worry about your self. If people who get gay married and divorced and whatever else really ARE going to hell, then we'll just take into account the immortal words of some dude-- "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and "Turn the other cheek".

Even Jesus wants you to shut up and mind your own business.

EDIT: quoth one inbred hillbilly retard" Divorce is an abomination! It's against the laws of nature!"

Dear bumkin-- that's because there doesn't exist, on the whole planet, one other mammal that is monogamous. Are we a fluke? A freak of nature? Will our future be propogated by children who never get married because they don't have an out option should they decide, with their own big brains that we trust them to make some decisions with but not others, that they would like to be monogamous? only time will tell i guess.

My bike hates me

2009-10-16T12:46:00.001-07:00

In the weeks since my return to the golden state, i've ATTEMPTED to go on many rides.

here's the run down

Put my new fork on, which doubled the price of my bike. Nice fork.

Finally took off the man cassette (11-22 9 speed) and put on a Brody cassette (11-34)

Took off the 105 derailuer, put on a x7

Put my chain guide back on, ect....

First ride- Saratoga gap, one of my favorites. Stripped freehub body. Since when does a 140lb kid who DOES NOT CLIMB strip freehub bodies?

Second ride-- Skegs point, on a free wheel from a buddy (not a freewheel, mind you) Ride 5 miles to the bottom, rear hub commits suicide, i hike out 5 miles, carrying my bike most of the way

3rd ride- santa cruz, on another borrowed wheel-- fantastic ride. only had use of 6 gears, but whatever.

today, skegs again-- ride for 15 minutes max, catch a stick through my rear wheel, takes my derailuer and throws it into my wheel, taking 2+ spokes and my derailuer hanger with it.

fml.

NEWS!

2009-10-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

I have a new niece. She's absolutely gorgeous, and better than your niece/daughter/girlfriend/whatever.

Baby and Baby Momma are both doing great.

Well the 1am tuesday night freight train just rolled through the back yard, so its time for me to hit the sack. Don't worry-- the 5:45 wednesday morning train will wake me up bright and early.

Take care of yourselves and eachother

---B

2009-09-23T00:31:00.001-07:00

As a subject, english has always come pretty easily to me. as a kid, without a lot of kids in the neighborhood that i was allowed to play with, i read a lot, and thats something that has carried over into my adult life. following along with that, my vocabulary as a kid was always pretty big, and i've always found writing to be pretty natural.

for some reason though, while i've always kind of enjoyed writing, i've never taken it any further than that. i really enjoy reading other people's writing too, but again, what to do about it?

probably a large problem with my writing is that i'm pretty guarded when i write. i tend to have fairly strong barriers (although you'd never know-- its difficult to push far enough to actually reach one of my barriers. i didnt say they were big walls, just strong.)

anyway, a friend of mine has a very strikingly honest blog, and thats sort of inspiring this. good on you dude.

Yosemite climbing demo

2009-09-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

The announcement wasnt very widely spread, which played to my absolute favor. Coupled with the fact that a couple of the people putting their names in for the raffle more than likely got their tickets trown out by some divine intervention, I was basically a shoe in for the REI Yosemite climbing demo 2009. Organized by REI, this trip allows for people to get out into the valley, climb on fresh demo gear (the excuse is something like "gaining product knowledge"), meet fellow rei employees, and hang out with sales reps and professional climbers-- suckling straight from the teat, so to speak.

As an aside, no, the climbing was not super challenging. It was all toproped, and i doubt anything of the routes were longer than 60 feet. Beyond this-- it was phenominal. I've never been in so many cracks, and its been years since I had climbed in the valley at all. As a climber, (and maybe this is a totally constructed thing) I feel like the valley is a sort of climbing home land. Just driving in through those beautiful granite walls (yes, REAL granite! Not that fake Cottonwood stuff) almost brings a tear to my eye.

Offwidth cracks... they're not all fun and games, but Uncle Fanny's at the Swan Slab was one of the most fun routes I've ever climbed. I hear theres a similar OW in Joshua tree, and I plan on investigating that this winter.

The reps were incredible. First of all, to be climbing the presence of Brittany Griffith, Lisa Rands, and Lisa Gnade was inspirational. Sneak previews of the new Ken Burns series? Yes. Slide shows and shwag giveaways? Yes. Late nights, midnight bouldering, and rope swings IN THE MERCED? Yup.

Thanks to REI, BD, Patagonia, DMM, Wild Country, Petzl, Arcteryx, Scarpa, the Awahneechee tribe, John Muir, and everyone else.

Finally

2009-09-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I finally ordered my new fork. i finally get it. it was not the one i wanted-- it was the step up, for a LOWER price.

I buy a new front wheel, because my new fork is thru-axle.

I finally get my new brake on, with my new fork.

I finally replace my BAD 105 derailuer with a brand new X7 derailuer, and new shifter. For once I'm running new parts on my bike. Its gorgeous.

I show up for the first ride on my new bike today.

My freehub is stripped.

@$%&$#@#

my backyard/teenage suicides

2009-08-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Right through my backyard runs a train. this train goes from about 1.5 hours south of san francisco right to 4th and king-- the front gate of the giant's basball park.

This stretch of train tracks has more suicides per year than any other train system in the country.

Its a very effective and efficient way to off yourself. the train travels at 80 mph, and weighs (this is a complete guess) somewhere in the range of 100 tons.

Anyway, right before graduation, 4 kids (who were all about to graduate from the same highschool) tried to kill themselves with this train. 3 succeeded.

This is really sad. I'm not disputing that, or argueing, or even marginally inclined to do so.

But after its over, what can we do? Lots of people have claimed that the horns on the trains weren't loud enough.

So they moved the horns from the bottom of the train to the top, and increased the volume from 90-92 decibels to 110-114 decibels.

That is LOUD.

People have argued that the crossings aren't being obvious enough about being a train crossing, so now the bells at the crossing ring before the train is even within hearing range. They blow their horns from one crossing to the next. People said that it was too easy to walk onto the tracks, so they took down the chain link fence and replaced it with a vandal proof fence thats about 15 feet high.

All of these solutions are not really soultions at all, or rather, they're solutions to a different problem. These answers provide us a way to stop people accidentally wandering onto the tracks. The in no way stop someone who wants to kill themselves from axcessing the very effective method of doing so.

This can all be evidenced by the girl who, just last friday night, the weekend before starting her freshman year of highschool at the very same school and the last 3 (is it 4?) victims, stepped out infront of the 100 ton, 114 decibel oncoming train, by walking around the road block and ignoring the bells.

Now folks are claiming that the solution to the problem is to cut down the 15ft bushes that block view of the tracks from the street that runs paralell.

Again, this is very sad, and horrible. But the fact of the matter remains-- if someone wants to kill themself by walking in front of a train, and they've already made it to the tracks, its too late.

Talk to your kids. Talk to your parents. Talk to someone. Don't kill yourself.

A Woman worries about the future till she finds a husband

2009-08-17T20:34:00.001-07:00

A man never worries about the future until he has a wife.

...

2009-07-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

Officially lead my first lead climb under 2 weeks ago-- worked a 11a yesterday, took a ~30ft whipper from the last bolt, and couldn't finish it. Was 2 moves from finishing a 10c last week, pumped out and came down.

There is an extreme psychological toll from falling 10+ feet on a rope... I've fallen 20 feet bouldering and just gotten back up and sent the problem, but something about the rope and all really gets to me.

Anyway-- still climbing, Utah is still climbing heaven, and that still makes up for all of its other problems.

RIP John Bachar

2009-07-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

(------------------------>Notice the lack of rope? Or notice the amazing climber?<--------)
Nicest guy you could ask for, one of the furthest reaching influences in the climbing world (if you ask me anyway).
Innovator, both in the vertical world and the training world. Pushing it absolutely until his death, at the age of 51 he died doing things most people never even consider.

Thanks for Camp 4, thanks for Yosemite, and mostly just thanks for free climbing in the valley when I was 13, getting me psyched on climbing, and being a really cool guy.

damn it

2009-05-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

its been raining at castle rock for the last couple days. considering its been muggy as all hell down here the last few, it made sense when i actually stopped to think about it, but that wasn't untill we were already in the parking lot.
parking lot boulder was soaked, and while most everything else was dry-ER, it was still too wet to climb.

guess the rocks not going anywhere, and neither is my current project-- domino, v3.

unfortunatly for me, that means i;m going to have to keep thinking about it constantly.

2009-05-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Seis De Mayo
Also, for the CA heads-- isn't this weather just bizarre? it looks like its gunna pour, it never rains, but its muggy as all hell.

Anyway-- Going to castle rock, finishing my project, and after that, i just don't care.
soccer tonight probably. maybe i won't bust up and high school girls this time. oops

2009-04-21T03:12:00.000-07:00

Bikes can be trendy. Sometimes it hard to break the trend. Case in point?
Keep in mind, I only walked about half the track. But the Downhill track at Sea Otter wasn't the gnarliest trail I've ever seen. I've ridden trails in much worse shape.
And yet everyone racing was on a long travel bike.

Walking the thing, I just thought "I bet you'd ride this trail a hell of a lot faster on a hard tail"

What do I know.

bikes-- the other other white meat

2009-04-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

I love bikes. I always have. My first bike, like so many others', gave me a sense of freedom that I'd never had, and haven't been able to beat. Used to be I'd just pedal up and down the street, mashing, in all likelihood, about 95% of the time. When pops got home from work (usually on his bike too) I'd often make him take me on a ride (I wasn't really allowed off the street directly in front of my house, same block and all.)

When I learned to bunny hop, it was all over. I spent the next6 or more years on a bmx bike. When i finally got around to building my own custom bike, brand new, I new I'd never ride a store bought bike again. There is something to fresh and appealing and... intimate about riding a bike you bought piece by piece, and built in the same way. I called her Esmerelda
, mostly because i had a thing for latina chicks at the time.

Anyway, since then, I've built, loved, and fallen out of love with several bikes. MY Fixed gear bikes have often shared components, and I'm currently wrestling with the option/disaster of selling that beautiful bike.

But the one I love right now is my beautiful Santa Cruz. Named after, and built in the city I love so dearly, this bike was a score from Craigslist, and mostly (from all appearances) thrown together in the garage of it's former owner. Despite having some short comings (no pun intended, but the best example is the 80mm travel fork on a frame built for a 140mm travel fork) this bike has renewed that first bike freedom, and that first bike desire.

My favorite thing about me, and my bikes, and the interwoven love-affair bordering relationship we share, is my inability to break parts. Seriously. I'm not claiming to be buttery smooth, because a lot of the time, I'm not. But i cannot remember the last part I broke, and I intend to keep it that way. This way, once my beauties are finished, I don't have to mess with them.

So new fork is in the works, after that will be some new hydraulic brakes, and after that... maybe a seat post, but likely just....

Bliss

the deal is....

2009-03-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

i'll basically read anything. i think, in my whole life, i've only ever started 3 books i didn't finish.
havin'g said that, i've read a lot of garbage. so heres the point.
i am always in need of new material, and i bet you are too. so. go join good reads.
goodreads.com
add me.
add your books.
read more. add them too.
pay it forward.

i'm downloading hard to find new zealand reggae on itunes. the internet is kinda awesome.

suffice it to say

2009-03-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

watching a couple of episodes of lost on a nightly basis leads to weird sleep patterns, a lack of ability to wake up on time, and extremely bizarre dreams, involving very odd people.

example. dream from a few weeks ago. basic summary, myself, and other poeple i know, including mrs sweet for babycakes and mr babycakes (congrats to you fellas again tambien) set out on a hike at (i believe it was) yosemite, with jack and sayid and other fellow island mates. at some point, mr and mrs babycakes decide to break from the group, and i decide to stick with jack and (mostly) sayid.
i believe everyone made it out ok, but the main point is this. after hiking 20 some odd miles in this dream, i woke up with SORE LEGS.

this however 't seem to be stopping me.

rehash

2009-03-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

vo-v2 in about 5 days.
why, yes, i AM awesome. thanks.

climbing

2009-02-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

i've been on a climbing hiatus. the gym flooded, and as far as i knew, hadn't reopened.

2.5 weeks with no climbing is a long time. i'm getting back in, but things that would have been easy are a lot of working. i'm working too hard, and worst of all, i forgot how to use my feet.

its amazing how your first day at climbing, whether its the first one ever, or the first one in weeks, can just SMASH you.

i'm not quiting.

2009-02-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

long story short, a time off request i had forgotten about went through. despite desperately trying to plan a trip somewhere, the only place that wanted to work was tahoe. and i didn't feel like it.

so. what did i do?

i slept in. every day. i hadn't slept in since mid December. it was pouring, and i was sleeping. perfect.
i saw the new jason movie. it sucked. it was hilarious though.
one last thing.
i'll give you a hint.
4 8 16 23 42

ALSO-- the new common album sucks. how sad is that?
i'm addicted. again. season 2?

Note to self

2009-01-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

Get on planning that trip to Bishop.

I guess this means it's officially time for me to become a big boy and start planning my own camping trips.

Crap. It was so nice having everyone else do all the work.

hold up...

2009-01-21T01:29:00.001-08:00

Victory 2008.

Lets hope its remains a victory. Go on brother-- time to get to work. Lets pull ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and fix this beautiful country.

2009-01-21T01:26:00.000-08:00

you know that day that seems like its the absolute bottom of the barrel?

the barrel doesn't get any deeper, does it?

80 Degree January

2009-01-13T14:43:00.001-08:00

Dog, Hammock, Mr. Happy pointing to 80 degrees....

Nap time.

Vision Test

2009-01-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.ifc.com/film/rooftop-blog/2008/07/vision-testwes-kim-600-documen.php

So my Film Lit class is pretty cool

We Watched this short film today called "Vision Test" to kind of profile the problems with making a first person film...

Anyway, My favorite bit in this video is "Which is more American-- Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X"

Think about it, then Speak On It!

I just realized.....

2009-01-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

I only took like 100 pictures in New Zealand.

I'm really bad at this.

I just got home, and have to be at work at 8 am but...

2008-12-27T01:04:00.000-08:00

My grade just posted.
I just found out I got a 3.5 last quarter.

I'm rather proud of my self, considering that was 19 (thats NINETEEN) units.

Go figure-- I actually CAN accomplish something.

You're next math.

I'm taking no prisoners. Which means I'll either kill math, or it will kill me.

Let the games begin

2008-12-15T00:32:00.000-08:00

Typically, I kinda hate Christmas. I don't like being expected to spend money on people for the theoretical purpose of saving me from being a pagan.

But, on that note, REI Christmas this year. Which has begun.

Also-- climbing tonight. I sent every single problem in the entire gym that I had been working on. EVERY ONE! There was a problem I'd been working for over a month, and had been stuck on the same move every time. With a little outside input, I killed it. I killed a problem that was above and beyond what I thought I could do, then I did another one. And another one. Seriously did at least 2 routes I thought were completely out of reach for me (no lame pun intended). Really kind of motivational for me in a lot of ways.
Wery nice. Also, I found out there are people (Asian people at that) who honestly and truly have the middle name King Kong.
BEAUTIFUL

Math cont

2008-12-05T22:29:00.000-08:00

Also, it seems like every single math teacher at De Anza is foreign, and the interwebnets tell me they have thick accents. I have no problem with people with accents, or foreign people- all I'm saying is I'd like to eliminate as many factors as I can here.

I HATE MATH

2008-12-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

I finally took placement tests at school. I know-- I'm kind of pathetic, really.
I kicked the english placement test's ass, but... math... not so much.

Math and I have a long history. Think of me and math like... North Korea and the States. Not that I like to compare myself to North Korea, but-- math is the states. If we get in a fight, Math is going to blow my ass off the face of the planet.

I don't really know what it is. My ADHD (which I really think everyone has) only manifests in math classes. Math is really one of my true weaknesses-- it makes me feel completely stupid, which is generally not true.
ugh.
Anyway, so for the first time, rate my professor is being employed to "help" me find a math teacher that doesn't suck. All the good ones teach at night-- sorry, can't do that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH

DONE WITH

2008-11-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

this quarter. ALL of my instructors. stupid people. stupid questions. stupid assignments. busy work. being talked down to. parking, walking, traffic, garbage, lecture halls, off topic lectures, tests with information never covered, lame music, lame cars, lame people, stress pimples, being broke, having to work all the time, cats, squirels, my dog with either of those, being cold, not having snow, having to take math, having to take placement tests, radio, holier than thou attitudes, rudeness, maniulation.... oh and de anza in general.

Lets just please fast forward till next quarter, at least.

100th post

2008-11-20T22:22:00.001-08:00

sweet. how exciting.
ANYWAY-- story of the week. I got in an argument with my instructor the other day. Actually, I honestly feel stupid calling it an argument (I know this sounds cocky, but read on) I was right, and she was argueing with the truth. Heres the details
(This is a geography class too-- who woulda thunk you could get in an argument in a geography class.)Basically, we're talking about "Oceania"-- Polynesian islands, basically.
Her "point" was that, essentially, you can't grow anything on Pacific islands. Her exact words were "you'd be lucky to get some papaya, but otherwise you're just eating bread fruit and fish".
WHAT??? Hellooooo-- these islands are formed of volcanic soil. Which, in all likely hood, is the most productive soil on the planet.

So no big deal, really, who cares. I made my point, tuned her out while she restated her case, mostly because she was mean mugging me the whole time, and went on with class.

TODAY, she EMAILS me, to CONTINUE arguing!!! WITH A STUDENT! Really?

hows this one?

2008-11-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

My argument against NASA.

That's right, I'm against it. Go figure. Well... I'm not necessarily against it. I'm against the N in NASA-- so if it was ASA, I'd be all for it. I just don't think (ESPECIALLY in the current economic climate, but generally I'm still against it) that there's a) a need for space exploration at such an incredibly drastic cost in tax dollars and national effort, and b) a shortage of jobs for freaking ROCKET SCIENTISTS.
Now no, if they had to find new jobs, they might not be playing astronaut every day, but who gives? I don't get to play astronaut EVER, and chances are good that even if i was qualified (no thanks, too much math), I still wouldn't be able to land a job with the same description and benefits that NASA head pull down.
I'm not hating on these guys-- I think they probably have the most incredible jobs ever, but that doesn't mean I want their money coming out of my pocket.

This is something I never say, but LETS PRIVATIZE THAT BEEZY! Look at the benefits-- we regulate the hell out of it (think lockheed-martin/other weapons design/creation industries) and let them find their own funding. Do what you do, under government and public watch, and go nuts. Lets be honest-- you and I don't really get too much benefit (I'm talking dollar for dollar here) from the space program, other than incredible photography.
Meanwhile, use that old NASA funding to create jobs for the general public. Green energy? Public works? Health Care solutions? Thats a lot of freed up money there.

Alright, so I know this is never going to happen. So, alternately, lets put those brains to work. Get those fools working on a solution to the combustion engine-- preferably a FREE one. Make my car run on air. Or solar power. I have faith in your capabilities to do this, and SO MUCH more. Figure out something GROUND BREAKING. And if you wouldn't mind, and it's not too much trouble-- could you hurry up about it?
I know I love the ocean, but not so much i want to be neck deep in it for the remainder of my life.

Listening to the new Girl Talk album, and I really think you should be too.

Fried eggs and tomato

2008-11-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

MMMMMMmmmmmmmmm..........

Sore from climbing-- trying to figure out next quarter and gym issues, and trying to make money, all while not turning into a hermit.

Peace.

NEW TOPIC!

2008-11-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, probably a dumb move on my part to have posted that last blog-- I was just really frustrated. No hard feelings, and Austin-- I forgot to tell you-- I was wondering what ever happened to you. What ever happened to you? Hows it going?

Anyway, total change of subject-- I went climbing yesterday. Working at REI, among its millions of other benefits (free shirts, such as the one I'm wearing, sweet discount, blahblahblah) gets me into a couple of local climbing gyms for free, so I went to one. I'm still sore, but I'm feeling REALLY good about climbing. Sent a couple of sweet problems, and I have a new project-- that is, if it gets reset after the contest this weekend. I was planning on going to that contest, but I have to work. Sucks, but its really gotta get done some time.
Anyway-- Climbing is really just a return for me. Climbing was one of the first things I had exposure to that really made me feel like I was outdoors-- obviously, other than hiking, camping, biking, ect. I grew up doing all that stuff, so it's really kind of routine for me, as much fun as it may be. Our scout troop had a couple guys who had been climbing forever-- coincidentally, these guys happened to be family members of people who have been really influential in my life-- like they built me house, to start with.
Anyway, these are really hands on kind of guys-- making their own climbing gyms before there were gyms around, making their own HOLDS some times, climbing all the time. So as an early teenager, I had good access to this stuff, and it was easy for me to be climbing. Not that climbing was easy....

Anyway, fast forward-- my climbing buddy quit climbing, and so did I.

NOT SO ANYMORE!
Ha! So I'm looking for a new climbing buddy, but I can boulder without a buddy. Its good for me to climb solo (even at a gym) because theres nobody giving me hints, advice, whatever. Not that I don't want it, but its good to figure it out yourself too, and its better for my technique too I think.

Anyway-- boring post, whatever. Don't read it then!

GET OUTSIDE!

Prop 8

2008-11-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

As Molly stated, I like you, and you like me. Things stated after this don't change that, deal?
Also, I'm not yelling at anyone, or forcing or even asking anyone to read this. I'm just venting a bit.
I'm really doing my best to not be a dick about this, and I really hate that its still continuing after it "passed" but in truth, I think its just plain WRONG.
Here why--
I don't think its right that something that takes a 66% vote to repeal passes with a simple majority, ie 51 (or in this case) 52%. if it takes a 66% vote to repeal, it should take a 66% vote to enact, PERIOD. Not just for gay marriage, not just for anything, but for the constitution, ever.

I don't think its right that so much funding for this (and other) propositions came, and comes, from out of state. I just don't. theres a reason all those Utards and Texas oil tycoons can't vote in our state elections, and that should be the same reason they can't fund propositions, elections, or whatever else in our state. Also, bear in mind that if you're registered to vote in Utah, or any other state that ISN'T California, I just don't give a crap what your opinion on the matter is, just like you never asked me (nor should have) what my opinion on your state constitution was. I think its wrong how involved YOU are with our state politics. Having said that, fire away anyway.
Seperate is not equal. I thought we already decided that??? I think in all honesty, ANYONE who really and truly looks at this matter from outside their own shoes will see that its unconstitutional. It does not provide equal protection to all. Maybe thats your aim, and thats a different story. BUT, its against the constitution.
The following section has been edited to say this, and hopefully state it's point more clearly-- its not up to you, or me, or anyone else to decide how and when people can do things, really. I know thats vague, but heres what I mean-- your right to swing your fists ends at the tip of my nose, as does mine. Therefore-- your right to legislate "morality" (what a vague word) ends where my rights and abilities begin, ie, my ability to use that water fountain, vote, go out after dark, or whatever else.
So no, I don't think gay people raise gay kids any more than straight people raise straight kids. I don't think theres really any way to claim that a civil union is the same as a marriage, because by the act of giving it a different name, you give it a different meaning. The fact that they don't inherently come with the same rights and abilities... is just further proof.
Ok-- let the arguing begin. Lets keep it civil, and remember I have power of veto here-- I'll delete you if I feel you're making offensive comments, ect.

An Open Letter To Rich Wood

2008-10-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

(Rich wood WAS an instructor at De Anza)

Rich! If you actually read this, I'll be surprised, and extremely pleased. let me just first off say-- I'm really pretty sad you're not at De Anza anymore. i bet you're not too happy about it either, but then again, you could be stoked.
You taught me so much. you taught me that it was not only ok, but the best possible way to look at the planet, and its inhabitants as just what they are-- people. you taught me what kind of love there was out there, and how hate is truly a man made creation, and a difficult one at that. your incredible commitment to your craft blew my mind twice a week. 4 or 5 or evern 8 chalk boards covered in notes, mostly coming straight from your head, I'm sure. constant fact, and fact checking, and SOURCES! not that i really ever wanted to argue with you, but if i had tried.... you would have killed me I'm sure.
But not just that. you taught me what education is, and what it can be, and what it (maybe most importantly) SHOULD be.
You taught me what it means to be a teacher. not someone who gets paid to talk to a class, but someone who has wisdom and knowledge, and wants to pass it along.
You should see the notes i took on the first day i was ever in your class. I remember you canceling class 3 years running to go to the war protest, and seeing you there all 3 years. I don't know that march 19th will be the same without seeing your face on market street, but then again... If you're there, you have no idea how happy I'll be to see you there.

Amanda told me you had gone to Canada. I can't say I haven't contemplated it myself. She told me why you took off, and again, I can't say that I've not contemplated it seriously, and i can't say that the decision I made is permanent. I'm honestly vacilating between being very proud of you, and just a little bit disappointed, but having said that, I know it doesn't matter what I think about it. Amanda never said where in Canada you were, I don't know if she knows, but I'd really love to run into you some time. I'd been looking for you on campus, just to stop by and say hi, probably sit in on your classes every once in a while, and I couldn't find you.
Hope you're doing well, and peace, love, and good luck to you and yours. De Anza is a lower quality place without you, and many of us are feeling it.

Schools in for Fall

2008-09-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

I must say-- Biking to school has it's benefits.
One of those benefits would definetly not, however, be riding to school when its 90 degrees out.
Other things of not
I hate my saddle
I (for the most part) really like my classes
It's been brought to my attention that while De Anza is one of the highest rated community colleges in the country, there are still a few morons who slip through the cracks. ratemyprofessor.com , I promise to be more loyal to you and your services.
I want to run a 10k! Is that the exact opposite of everything I've ever said before? Yes!
My sweet roofing skills from my childhood have not disappeared!

I got fired!

2008-09-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

And I really wasn't even mad about it. Granted there were some moments of... not absolute terror, but serious anxiety, but then, REI called me back! Now I really already knew that i was getting that job, but it was nice to have it actually on the table and in the open.
So heres to the next couple weeks before I start working again (thats the down side), a couple weeks of riding my bike as much as possible, and... NOT WORKING AT EBAR ANYMORE!
Farewell! I promise not to miss you-- but i actually will miss a ton of people I worked with. You guys were cool You were a douche, you're cool, you're hot.... and you suck.
Schweet!

EVERYTHING IN CYCLICAL

2008-09-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

What that means, i have no clue.
But heres what I'm happy about. Fall is rolling around (no pun intended, you'll get that in a minute) Fall is when all the stars align and I feel like Bike-commuting again. (rolling? get it?)
So- I'm looking for a job that doesn't require a uniform, persay-- cuz that crap takes up way too much space in my bag to leave room for books-- and remember how school is priority number one?

News on that at the end of the week. Camping next week? I think so. Earthquakes game? Think so. Mountain Biking in Sant Cruz Mountains? Oh I hope so.

I lied a little last night, but...

2008-08-30T10:54:00.001-07:00

I'm not actually registered for 20 units. its only 19. But I'm still registered for work expirience, so thats still as many units as i can work.
So basically, the next 3 months are going to suck., but what else is new.
actually, i think its gunna be tottaly fun. take that.

2008-08-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Least motivated week ever.
Got nothing done, essentially. I think its all due to one or two things- A) I registered and paid for school this week, and B) I CANNOT find a new job, which is really demoralizing, as I'm fairly sure at least most people know.

Anyway, heres somethings.
Hopefully I'll have a new job by the time school starts, and hopefully it'll be by the NEW HOUSE.
Also, I'd really like 2 things- a Macbook, and a boston terrier.
Yeah thats about it. Heres to october, and at the very least a whole new set of questions from this month.

2008-08-11T21:39:00.001-07:00

new link added
http://tinythingsihate.blogspot.com/

GOTCHA!

2008-08-05T22:51:00.001-07:00

Oooooh i shoulda seen him coming.
My basic message here is don't be a dick. People on bikes are a good thing, be it a full carbon race ride, a downhill sled, or day laborers riding the wrong way on the sidewalk.
I get this a lot. But its usually a little different. Typically, my roadie abuse comes in one form- douches on foothill, on their weekend ride with their $4000 Cervelo.
At least this guy rides on weekdays too. And his bike was more sensible, but only slightly- S-Works Tarmac.
Riding downhill on a fixed gear goes about one of 3 ways- slowly, way out of control, or fast, in a straight line.
So taking a downhill S turn? That goes in the slow catagory. So slow I was going, when all of the sudden, despite having full use of the lane, and a wide open lane, this guys flies past me, about 6 inches off my bars.
Then he says something like "Looks like you could use some more gears!"
Its on.
So i watch. I find his weakness. He sucks at riding. That
was hard. Now, to time my attack. Oh he's going up hill. He's in his granny gear. He's dieing.
He's also about a quarter mile ahead of me.
I FLY past him- and say (I know) "Looks like you could lose some gears"

I never saw him again.

:D

2008-07-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

"A man in a (midlife) crisis buys a Corvette. A man who buys a Lamborghini HAS no crisis"
-- Rev Run

Maybe this guy IS onto something.

LIMEADE!

2008-07-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

I don't think many people know this, but I LOVE limeade. I finally made some. I sorta found the recipe online, but whatever. I mostly made it up. Don't try to follow this too closely, mostly because I only measured the sugar.

6 limes-- If you like it REALLY limey, add more. Not so limey? Less!
I can't stress this enough, roll them on a hard surface with your palm first. If you've got a good wood cutting board, I'd roll them with that. You want them as squishy as possible before cutting them.
Ok-- roll those suckers. flip em over, and roll em again. then, after you've rolled all 6, roll them all AGAIN.
Ok, nice and squishy now? Good on ya. Now, if you've got a juicer, (I don't), then lucky you. juice em! I like pulp, so I basically quartered mine, and then smashed all the fruit with my hands. Then i pulled pulp off and put it in too. I found quartering to be easier than halfing, but do it however you like.

Ok, i reckon that makes about a cup of lime juice. I also halfed a lemon and squeezed that sucker in too.
Now, put about 3 cups of water on the stove, and mix in about 2 cups of sugar. The dude online said put 3, but I only had 2, and I think its about perfect. 2.5 or 3 cups would be good too.

Now mix the sugar and the lime juice. Taste a little bit, add sugar, or make a mental note to put less sugar next time.
I threw a half a squeezed lime in whole.

Added ice cubes, poured myself a glass, and put the rest in the fridge.

Mine is quite tasty!

2008-07-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

i'm addicted to
chainlove.com
cheepandsteep.com
santacruzbikes.com

youtube videos of whistler.

2008-07-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

ON an honest level, the question isn't really about whether or not global warming is caused by humans. Two points--
1) CLEARLY the way we handle ourselves is not sustainable. Car and factory emisions aren't healthy for people.
2) EVEN if global warming isn't caused by humans, we're certainly not helping things.

Point being, Its not a question of cause. Its a question of effect. And if we can all agree that a
raise of the temperature of the planet is going to have the forcasted effects, the question becomes whether or not we can do anything about it.

Weekly bitch!

2008-07-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Many people have something quite similar to this-- Item of the week, Today's biggest news, "I'm having a baby", ect. Not being one to covertly steal ideas, I'm going to take this idea and make it my own. I've decided to consolidate my blog-bound-bitching to one solitary item a week.
ONE
This week's item is such an easy choice for me.
This week, I'll be bitching about online classes.
I've known for a long time that i hate online classes. They totally suck.
Well thats not entirely fair. How about, when you're ADHD, AND have no problem with it, and have historically NEVER had a problem with it, online classes are your worst enemy. Enter: BRODY!
Anyway. I'm taking this anthro class online because i got an incomplete in it my first semester at De Asian (De Anza). The woman who taught this class at Bonanza (De Anza) was probably the daughter of the most boring man ever. This class was TORTURE! Not only that, but in the front row of the class, every time, on one side of the aisle was a dude reading the Bible, and on the other side (I couldn't make this up if i wanted to) was a guy playing with Tarot cards. LITERALLY. Right next to each other. What this means is that there was no middle ground in this class. everyone was one extreme or the other.
Anyway-- The instructor was so boring, i dropped the class. This was well before I'd begin my development of idiot proof coping skills.
I'm taking the class online now, and its the same instructor. You're joking right?

Also-- what part of ONLINE CLASS sounds like i'm gunna have to go ON CAMPUS to take tests?

blahblahblahblahblahblahblah

2008-07-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

So i realize this is not the most interesting blog in the world. I don't have any baby momma drama, and I'm not fighting crime (in fact i passively encourage it in small/certain cases). I'm an arragoant prick when I want to be, and my opinions are a bit far flung even for my self sometimes.

Having said that, for the most part, thats the way I like it. So deal with it!

Anyway, check THIS story out.

SO! Brody James MacDonald is now a cetified Scuba diver-- Open Water Diver, to be more specific. Yes, I know. I'm even COOLER than you now. 45 feet below the Monterey Aquarium floor, there are incredible things to be seen.
While I'm sure there will be more on that later, its not the current point.
I have developed (contracted? I think its developed) PERNIO, which is a dermatological condition brought on by a bodily inability to cope with massive temperature change-- basically, my blood vessels don't like being really cold. So they tell me at the hospital, anyway. I don't quite think its true, or right, but it doesn't matter. The facts are-- I have boils on my feet, and they're
A)REALLY painful
B)Gross looking
C) stopping me from working
D) REALLY painful and REALLY gross looking.
Among other things, they're also stopping me wearing shoes, which is somewhat ironic. I'll post a picture if i ever decide to.

Offshore Drilling?

2008-06-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

HELL NO!!!
I might have a really interesting point of view on this, but so be it. Regardless, I'm right, so interesting, stupid, or obsurd,doesn't matter.
Ok-- first off, even if we drill offshore, the first oil (not even refined yet) won't be till 2030!!!!!
Thats a hell of a long wait.
Seceond--- Offshore drilling or higher gas prices? High gas prices. Most of the world is paying 2x what we're paying. TWO TIMES! It's really pretty incredible. I'm not saying that we should pay more for gas just because everyone else pays more. But we're rather stubborn in this country. Lets be honest about that-- we don't like to change, regardless of what we say. We WAN'T change, but we're really to comfortable most of the time to do anything. But how do you feel about $5, $6, maybe even $9 for a gallon of gas? You hate it, just like everyone else. And there in lies the solution--> ludicrous gas prices will lead to-- check it out-- new, and hopefully renewable energy sources. Already in the last few years HUGE leaps have been made in hydrogen cells, and last week a Japanese company announced they had made a H2O powered car-- very vague about details, but still.
So no, I won't ever support off shore drilling. The oil in Alaska, despite apparently being worth cultural genocide, would (after taking till 2035 at the soonest to harvest) only last 30 years at current consumtion rates in the States. But it's worth 2x as much overseas (remember that?) and on a world market at current consumtion rates would last THREE YEARS.

NOT WORTH IT.

2008-06-17T17:00:00.001-07:00

I understand that nerds have a (sometimes very lofty) place in this world.
I'm still glad that I'm not one.

So no, I can't ride a unicycle. And no, i won't be photoshopping myself onto a picture with celebrities.

2008-06-06T12:37:00.001-07:00

So heres my news---

I'm living in Mountain View with my sister. Its good.
I'm taking glucosamine and chondroitin for my knee. I'll need about a week before i can really say anything, but that seems to be going well.
Uh.... I'm sorta getting played right now. again, I'll need sometime before i can call anything on it.
GTA IV is awesome.
I'm going back to the Elephant Bar, and for the time being anyway, that seems to be ok...
And I'm getting a motorcycle-- probably a Kawasaki Ninja 250, but I might decide to go with something bigger, because I'm fairly confident that I'll grow out of that bike in a couple months. Also, you CANNOT find a used Ninja 250 for anything, and I think buying a new one is a total waste of money. We'll see what happens

Supply & Demand

2008-06-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

Alrighty kids, its time for a flashback.
Remember your senior year? Remember that awful class with the child molesting teacher? Economics? It's all based on a very simple concept-- supply and demand.
It goes like this. There are 10 people who want an orange, and i have 4 oranges. Even if i limit purchasing to 1 orange per person, everyone is not going to get an orange.
Now, lets take a different example. I have enough oranges to be able to sell as many as I want this year. I won't have ANY oranges at all in a few years, but people need oranges to drive their... Hoomers. Or their... Orange shooting cannons mounted on caterpillar tracks. We'll call that a Orange tank for short.
Alright, so I'm pretty well set. But now it's costing me a lot more to harvest oranges because of political instability.
Now, factor this in-- In America, I can only sell oranges by the gallon, and I only get about $4 for a gallon. However, any country on the metric system buys oranges by the liter, and I can get $2, $3, maybe even $3.50 for a LITER of oranges over seas! This is due to a lot of agreements i have with my political friends in America, but aren't held by in other countries.
Now, don't forget that EVERYONE thinks they NEED oranges to get around, and often times, that isn't far from the truth.
Also remember that a gallon is a little less than 4x the size of a liter. So, $4 for a gallon works out to about $1 a liter. So, in most foreign countries, people are paying about $8 a gallon. So we're paying half as much as other countries.
So what I'm saying is his-- quit bitching. Drive a bloody smaller car, or take the train, or ride a bike. Or continue driving whatever you're driving, and just be happy you're not paying 2x as much.
Just do whatever you're gunna do a little more quietly. It could be worse. A gallon of oranges could cost $8. And then how many oranges would you be eating?

edit: the real point is this -- a damn petition is not going to increase the amount of oil on the planet, or make it easier to gain possetion of, refine, or transport.

eco stim/season stim

2008-05-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Dude! big things happening in the states right now. totally didnt expect a ruling on gay marriage. GOOD WORK CALIFORNIA! thank you for reminding the rest of the country that we're not all morons.
economic stimulus package-- while i really and truely feel you're just a distraction from all the stupid shit the white house is doing, i cant argue with 300 free dollars. well not really free. its more like they're giving me back some of my overpayer, underthought out, and horribly used taxes, while continuing to make me pay taxes despite putting myself through school.
but hey. $300 is $300.

meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere...
should brody stay in new zealand? should he go back to the states? should he actively pursue finishing his application for citizenship by decent, or should he take it home and finish it there? should he try harder to find a job in aotearoa, and thus a reason to stay? should he go back to the states where its not only warm, its hot?
stay tuned till next week to find out! (sorry, the old school BLAM! POW! batman is on tv here, and i've been watching it.)

New Zealand Update

2008-05-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Alright folks-- i'm way too lazy to tell everyone what i'm up to. if you wanna know, you'll come here and read it. if you're reading that-- good on ya.

I'm in the northland now. Bay Of Islands/Whangarei. I've been all over on the north island, seen heaps of family, and not really had a whole moment to myself. today would probably be the exception. i think i'm heading back to hamilton this week, but whn all your family wants to stay with them and only them, it gets a bit rough to leave anywhere. haha.
much love to my whanau.
anyway, it's a little crazy being down here. the first thing that shocked me, and still continues to shock me daily, is what an influence american has on the world. not just politically, but there is deffinetly that. i'm having no trouble keeping up with the election, for instance.
more over, i have yet to hear anything but american music down here. not hardly any of my favourite new zealand reggae bands, for instance.
anyway, i'm having a blast, and i'm filling out the paperwork to gain new zealand citizenship. its by decent, but really, it costs $200, and i really feel thats worth it.
ka kite ano

I'm blogging up a STORM! rockband/anxiety

2008-04-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday i dognapped my moms dog and my little brother, and took them to my sister's house.

Mom's dog literally ran in the house, into the living room, and took a dump.

Anyway-- Lenessa and David were sort of debating buying a ps3 so they could play ROCKBAND. You know how this kind of stuff goes-- "What if Mikey became a hooker?" or "What if we waxed James' whole body?"-- you know, typical garbage that never goes anywhere.
So I left about 2pm. at 5, i got a text "we got a new roommate named Van Halen-- you might want to come over tonight".
They bought a ps3. so they could play rock band. And having seen how much rockband has been played already, i'd have to say it was not a bad call on their part. I've easily already played more than 5 hours. They've probably surpassed 10. in one day.
the real point is, i think rockband is one of those things that everyone thinks is stupid, right? because it is. you're playing a fake guitar, fake drums, and singing in a fake microphone. its like karaoke on crack. but you know what else? theres a little phrase i feel is perfect for this situation-- guilty pleasure. not even guilty pleasure. havent you ever done something and thought for the entire course of it "this is really stupid/a bad idea/at least not a good idea"? i have. tons of times. scout camp conversations in the last couple days have brought back TONS of those times. but i woulndt trade ANY of them, and i enjoy every last minute of them regardless.
also-- david is a pretty killer rock band singer. its pretty funny.
i am not a killer rock band singer.

2008-04-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

whooooooooooooooooooooooo---- today-- i realized its almost impossible to save money and have a life at the same time.
and that a little old fashioned "hey i really recognize you from somewhere" or "hey my friends are" or just plain choppin it up will really butter up someone's tipping hand.
also-- girls will inherently make more and better tips than me. $200 for nothing? thats a chick for ya.
at least if someone is chatting ME up at work, their motives are coming from a slightly narrower range. i'm ok with it.

2008-04-10T13:32:00.001-07:00

Alright, i can't keep quiet about this anymore. i really have held my tongue, but now that theres CYCLISTS involved, i'm throwing in the towel, and my $0.02 with it.

What do these three idiots have in common? yes, they're all rather vapid, and also rather useless. our dear friend robbie williams appears to enjoy playing with himself in public, as well.

not it. two of them are white, yes, but i dont think tyson is a mullato.

not it. alright, i give-- FAKE TA MOKO!

robbie williams- fake ta moko.
mike tyson-- fake ta moko!

and the winner for most offensive, most disgusting display of moronic lack of respect and forethought-- dave clinger. yes dave clinger, having horrible tattoos on your face will scare people. so you're a "bicycle warrior" huh? so you "read about it in a book?" whats that? you "didn't read it, but you saw the pictures?"

whats that? your bike team threatened to drop you if you didnt get your garbage tattoos removed? even if its going to cost YOU $10,000, after only paying $150 for the actual tattoo? (side note-- if anyone is considering getting a facial tattoo, please pay more than $150 for it)

what? everyone thinks you're a moron and would like to punch you?
A picture is worth a thousand words buddy.

2008-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

today-- was good! just all around good. nothing drastic in either good or bad directions, just a nice, tired feeling. work was long, i made some douja, hula practice with the kids-- so i got to chose to dance, not have to dance. nice.

lethal weapon 3? yeah i think so.

2008-04-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

one more sandwich isle note-- we had sandwiches from this deli on kaua'i-- it was literally the best turkey avacado i've ever had. the bread was INCREDIBLE. it was WHITE BREAD. i HATE white bread. H.A.T.E.
this was the most incredible bread ever. it even had brussle sprouts in it, which i generally feel ruin a sangwich. it was AWESOME.

also. katchafire, last night. who freaking knew petaluma was 2 hours away? not i. SO worth it. BEST. SHOW. EVER.

out.

2008-04-03T00:03:00.000-07:00

So really-- I could turn my second garage into a studio. The problem is... what do i do with the studio? I've never felt like i was in a position to be teaching people to dance, and I still don't. But one of my plans in NZ is to bring home as many new dances as i can. Some new hakas would be SO good for me, and would probably progress my dance career as well. but a couple full length mirrors on that wall would be great.

Anyway, i found some carpet out there, and at least i'll probably track down a couch or 2-- would have jam sessions out there... Put my bass out there... Maybe a guitar. Maybe even a TV. Pretty cool huh?I'm gunna work on it some tomorrow morning and see how realistic it'll be.

I'm back.... its crunch time.

2008-04-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

alright, i'm back from the sadwich isles. too bad eh?
had a great time, but then again, pretty much any trip with sa guys is one big party.
i'm talking pidgin again, which is no good for work i bet. looking for a hammock chair for the front porch to study on/jam on/chill in, and thinking about turning the second garage into a studio. not a bad plan eh?

anyway, by my count, 20 days till i leave the country. i think im screwed.

War Sucks

2008-03-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

So.... backstory. as usual.

in middle school, i met this vietnamese kid named Dung. yeah. nice kid, kinda dumb, but who wasnt in middle school. we went to highschool together. Senior year, i sat in front of him in civics. this was 2005, keep in mind. anyway, all the dude would ever talk about was how he was joining the marines, so he could go fight terrorists and support the country. he said he made the decision shortly after Spetember 11th, 2001. fair enough. a lot of people, myself included, were pretty hot on getting terrorism down after 9/11.

the problem was, by 2005, we'd already discovered that the war wasnt about fighting terrorism. terrorism was just a nice excuse to deploy troops to the corner of the world that noone knew about; the middle east. once there was already a troop precense in afghanistan, how hard was it to say "iraq is in on it too! they look simialar! lets get those Taliban bastards!"
sidebar: i think, in order for a person to ask to declare war, the person who wants to declare the war should have to give a presentation: local religion, local history, local economy, and the who what where when why and how of why we should get involved, and what impacts this will have. does george bush know anything about islam? how about white forgeign involvement in the middle east? does he know how the taliban came into power? does he understand we're pissing off the next generation of afghans, iraqis, iranians, muslims, sikhs, ect? does he even know the difference between shi'a muslims and sunni muslims? i have serious doubts about his knowledge of any of these things, let alone all of them.
anyway, continue. Dung was enlisted and in training camp before we even graduated. Dung is not a dumb guy, but at the time i understood he was also not very well versed in any of the aforementioned topics. did the marines tell him any of these things? or did they just call him a bitch and a pussy and tell him to run faster?
a few months ago, i ran into another guy i graduated with, and discovered he also had joined the marines. you know when someone just seems so incredible older that they are? not like they're mature and wise, but more like they've just seen things in their life that aged them faster? or maybe this is a better example-- the guy who you see in front of the liquor store- dude can't be older than 40, but he looks 50? that was how i felt talking to the guy. and then i asked about dung.
dung got blown to shit by an ied. but, miraculously, he was not only still alive, but essentially fine. they opperated, and they were going to redeploy him.
WHAT?
at what point have you served honorably? in vietnam, if you got shot, you were done.
i guess theres a bit of a meat shortage for this war huh? this time around, you get blow to bits, they stitch you up, and ship you back. i talked to dung. he's getting shipped back out (actually to afghanistan this time) in about a week.
i had a cousin who went on 6 tours of duty. in tour 4, his helecopter got shot down, and only him and one other person survived.
he's about to ship out for tour 7, and if he's lucky, he'll be here long enough for the birth of his 3rd child.

where is the humanity?

2008-03-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

this is kind of gross. you've been warned.

but really, no one reads this thing.

i have another zit. whats up with all these random zits?
this one is much worse than the old one, sort of.

its INSIDE MY EAR.
you know the little triagular piece of catilage in front of your ear? of course you do.
my zit is right on the little flat bit inside from there.

IT SUCKS. this thing, i'm completely sure, looks disgusting. but i CAN NOT POP IT! you can't get 2 fingers in there. at least, i cant get 2 of my fingers into my ear. maybe you have tiny fingers, and huge ear holes, and you're saying to yourself, man, if i ever get a zit in my ear, i'm totally set!
i am no totally set. so why dont you take your tiny skinny fingers and your huge ear holes and go home?

2008-03-21T12:52:00.001-07:00

But then again-- exchange rates are like free money!

30 days

2008-03-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow is 30 days till I'm in New Zealand.

I'm broke. Well I'm not really broke, but I don't feel like i really have enough money to be in a different county for 5 weeks.
I don't feel like I've got enough money for my taiaha, for my massive toki i want, for carvings, and most importantly, for ta moko.

Time to start selling stuff i guess.

2008-03-14T13:18:00.001-07:00

i have a zit right on the edge of my upper lip.

its not purple. its white, and basically looks like i have a huge peice of dead skin on my face.

and it hurts.

and im working tonight. what shall i do? i dont know. stay tuned!

Healthcare, Or Rather, My View of World Obligation

2008-03-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

In highschool, for the kids that can't write good (ha), they advise the use of a Grabber Sentace. This, if you can't tell, is a statement to reel you in, to ensure your interest in the peice of paper in your hands was solid, concrete, and would hold out for the next 1500 words. often times this was not the case. this could be due to (as i see it) one of two things-- a large portion of my highschool was made of "minorities" (although in california, white people are the minority), or due to the fact that kids in my highschool, infact, whole area, come from underfunded pathetic excuses for public education.
case in point. i got detention one time. sitting in detention, there were kids in the back, by the window, with their heads under the curtain.
they were smoking a blunt out the window.

now why is this? why are these schools so pathetically underfunded that kids can smoke weed in a classroom, and not even have the "supervisor" notice? (not that i'm starting on a marijuana talk. not even close)

could be that our education funding comes from land taxes-- essentially, the poorer the area, the less taxes get paid on the land, the less money goes to the schools. and thus begins the vicious cycle all over again.

this is, as far as i can tell, just another edition of status quo quarterly (awfull magazine).

And such are my feelings on healthcare. its pathetic that we have people who are denied healthcare because of the very illnesses that they need care for. its pathetic that we have poor beautiful children, living in the hospital for 6 months just to stay alive, and leaving their parents with million dollar hospital bills. its pathetic that we have people whose only crime is being born with a human body, and taking to the pitfalls of that human body, who will die, or be held under, gasping for air when they can, just because they're HUMAN.

ITS PATHETIC.

and so i support universal health care. i support absolute, entire, UNIVERSAL health care. i support the john edwards plan, to have it manditory. i want hobos to have health care. i want my cousin to have health care that would enable him to have a job, or go to school, or have savings, without having to hide it from the government. i support Claire in her fight against bone marrow failure, and i expect my government, and my community, and my country to do it as well.

The United States Of America, with the 2nd highest GNP in the world, is 43rd in infant mortality. and that is disgusting. lets do something about it.

2008-03-08T21:28:00.001-08:00

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

new new years resolution

2008-03-07T13:10:00.001-08:00

get scuba certified.

really. and then go diving. a lot. in monterey.

2008-03-02T18:18:00.001-08:00

oh and ps-- happy leap day, and holy crap its march already. this is when the countdown gets serious.

shows over!

2008-03-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

no offense. much love to Anela, her mom, Pumehana, the whole crew;

but seriously. thank heaven above that the fundraiser is finally over. i am so dead i cant even believe it.
now i just have to work 9 million hours so i can make some skrilla. so i can spend said skrilla in NEW ZEALAND.

i had a dream

2008-02-24T17:53:00.001-08:00

the other night (could have been as recently as last night, my sleep schedule pretty much doesnt exist anymore) i had a dream.
in said dream, i was riding my bike (which i havent been doing, cuz its been pissing rain for a week again), when i looked down at the street, and found EXACTLY what i've been looking for for my "i'm making something awesome" project.
which means i'll probably find something cool. unfortunately, i have no idea what it was. and im not really making anything right now.

2008-02-17T16:49:00.001-08:00

Talked to a good friend today-- he's got some work for me, doing internet research about products he wants to make for him. to be completely honest, im not EXACTLY sure what he'll be looking for, but he's going to have me sign a NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, so even when i figure it out, im pretty sure i wont be able to tell you. which makes me feel a bit like 007.
but even more interesting, is that im pretty sure he has hook-ups with people that can help me achieve the actual creation of all these things i've been thinking about making-- messenger bags, footwear, other stuff. a lof of it is bike related, and a lot of it is just related to me biking.
i like how that sounds but it doesnt make sense, so what i mean by it is this: a lot of these things are parts, or acessories, or various other things that would be helpful or useful in the cycling process-- things which i either don't find to be terribly avaliable, or things that i've thought of that would be cool just to say "hey i made this", or (sadly) things that i thought of, or at least partly thought of, and then saw someone else was already making, but for a BILLION DOLLARS.
the other bit (the related to me biking bit) is this: i just see a ton of things when im biking, and think, gee, i could make something out of that! or "hey that garbage looks not only usefull, but useable!"

further news on this as things transpire.

AAAGH

2008-02-16T22:34:00.001-08:00

i think in total, today probably sucked fat balls. its rough to get a gauge.
slept in-- i've decided sleeping is my favorite thing to do. period. and i dont care what that says about me.

woke up, spent a little time with the paper-- the merc sucks, but its better than the nothing i would have otherwise. i need to be more involved with my information gathering.

rode my bike to my mum's-- with my new bag. i bought a timbuk2 messenger bag-- its pretty cool, but i think it might be toooooooo big. i can't figure it out. there is one thats a size down, but its only slightly larger than my one i already had, so.... is there a point to buying the other one? i dont know, but this one is MASSIVE.
anyway, mum is sick, and my little brother has PNUMONIA. who the hell gets PNUMONIA? where does he live anyway, the 17TH CENTURY?
talked to a neighbor from mum's for a while-- cool guy, but im starting to realize i hate his politics. his dog is cool tho, and his house was built in like 1850 and its essentially exactly the same. im not even sure if he has a tv, although i think he must.

went back home, played grand theft auto some more.... waste time. went to work an hour early, got off early, and discovered the auntie's birthday party i'd meant to go to was already over, and not even where i thought it was. WASTE!

big lowlight of the day-- a certain female showed up, and made me evaluate where i think i am in life-- and it might be a miserable answer. maybe not. we'll see what tomorrow says i guess.

garbage

2008-02-13T23:45:00.001-08:00

im trying to improve my photo taking skills-- taking nine million pictures in NZ wont do me anything if they suck.

hence this sucker (shoulda turned off flash). this is one little section of my book shelves in my room-- actually my g-ma's storage room. these things are about 7 feet tall, the length of the room (probably 10 feet) and FULL of books. hard to see why i read so much isnt it?

anyway, at any point in time, i'm reading anywhere from one to (last week high) six books at a time. right now im sorta vaguely reading 4, waiting for a 5th in the mail. 3 of those are text books. i just finished the kite runner, and subsequently bought a thousand splendid suns, which i also finished. now im reading tom sawyer abroad, and the giver-- which comes highly recommended by my sister.

at the bottom, thats my new wallet-- its actually an insert for a larger wallet. 2 library cards, a kaiser card, student id, and my drivers license is actually missing. its a good size for riding, which is my main concern. riding with a too big wallet is HELL.

anyway, expect more of these. time wasters.

gay guys!

2008-02-13T23:17:00.000-08:00

so-- working tonight, i was kind of expecting a lot of couples (the more matured couples)(vintage, you might say) who wanna do something "romantic" (like the tacky-ass elephant bar will ever be romantic) but dont wanna go fight all the other morons on valentines day.

so i had these two guys in my section. and i thought they might have been gay, in which case i assumed they might be together. they were really in my section for a good while-- like an hour to 1.5 hours. and i ouldnt quite tell if they were gay, and if they were together.
i mean regardless, they were really nice, totally chill, and tipped me decently. and i dont really even bother to figure out if a guy and a girl are together (although i pretty much always assume they are too)
i dont know why i wanted to know SO bad. like i feel kind of bad about it, to be honest. we all know i dont care one way or the other-- people are people, right? and if they ARE gay, im honestly glad they were in my section instead of some of the other guys i work with, who would get all... who would think they wer gunna get gay germs or something. what do you call that? fag-a-tosis? tubercul-gayness?
anyway. i feel like i should almost feel bad about it, but i dont. so.... there you have it. work tonight in a nutshell-- i spent a massive amount of time trying to figure out if these two dudes were together.

2008-02-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

mundane attack on the human psyche!!!

sorry. im a bit bored with my current routine, and in some ways looking for a way to shake it up, and in others, just looking for a way to get back into my old routine-- ie, when i had things to do.

i wanna start playing soccer again, but im pretty much morbidly afraid of reinjuring my ankle. not like "oh i dont feel ready yet" but more like "if i ever reinjure my ankle, i'll probably kill myself". if im bored now, just imagine how bad it was when i couldnt WALK. couldnt work, couldnt ride, couldnt do anything, really. and just on a personal level, im really not ready for that.
does that mean i need to go play to face my fears? i mean, i went on a bike ride today, and while trying to do tricks, i landed pretty hard on my ankle, and didnt even THINK about it untill a couple minutes later when i thought "gee that would have killed me 2 months ago"
i really miss soccer.
the other thing keeping me from playing (not keeping me, really, but certainly not making me want to go MORE) is the fact that 2 girls, who i'm avoiding like the black plague, both play, and i really dont want to see them. another girl, who i shouldnt want to see, but kind of want to anyway, might also be playing. the three of them together would probably kill me. bad news.

sidenote-- i came upstairs today, and my grandma said she had just woken up (it was like 4:30) and i tricked her into believing it was monday instead of sunday. i told her. but have you ever gone to take a nap, and either woken up the next day, or woken up that same day thinking it was the next day? thats about the worst thing i can imagine right now-- gives me a headache and a half, and even if it doesnt, you feel like crap from either sleeping WAY too much, or thinking you slept 4 times as long as you actually did.
anyway... i want a new bike frame. :D

Come See Me Dance!

2008-01-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

Alright guys-- my hula/kapa haka group is doing a FAT fundraiser on March 1st, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. If you would like to come see yours truely dance, as well as give a tax deductable donation to a group dedicated to helping disadvantaged kids from Hawai'i go to college, please let me know. Tell your friends, your family, whatever you've got.Tickets are $30 apeice, which included dim sum, 4 (count em FOUR) groups performing on stage (show should be over 2 hours long), and over 20 venders outside the venue.Will be awesome. If you're interested, please let me know.