2/28/10

my horse...

my bike has been well worth the $325 i payed for it from a guy in jersey.. its an old steel frame fuji from the 80s which i bought the day after i totaled my previous bike after taxicab in manhattan decided that it was ok to abruptly stop on broadway in soho.. this happend shortly before leaving for this trip.. i wanted to do a post about my bike because she is on her last leg and although now i can see some obvious problems showing up, other than flat tires, she had no issues in the first 4100 miles so far.. ill probably grab a different bike as soon as something cheap comes up in nz or aus, but i plan on riding this one 'til the wheels fall off'.. literally.. im going to need something a little more dirt road friendly when i get to indonesia anyway..
i loaded it up today with everything im bringing with me, which only ends up being about 70 extra pounds.. not bad considering its less weight than i carried here... is it dumb that 3 lbs of that is a cumbersome pool cue and case? oh well




2/27/10

goodbye... again

my two best buds, goose and leonitas, flew out to cali from brooklyn this week to see me off again.. lots of drinks, pool, chess, and some amazing SMELTS! had a great time, i really miss these guys and i consider myself very fortunate to have them as friends.. from my experience, people like these two are few and far between..

ive been running around like crazy trying to get everything done for my thursday departure.. its go time




2/26/10

S.F. STREET PERFORMERS

here are some short clips of some street performers including a contortionist, a saxatron player, a tap dancer, and an asian teen percussion band.. sorry that some of the night performers are sideways, my video editing software isnt exactly state of the art...

2/19/10

'in a dark alleyway...'

you can tell a lot about a city by it's alleys (or lack thereof).. for example if you go from chicago to nyc, nyc will seem much dirtier, which is because there are no alleys to put trash in.. everything is out in the street or underneath the sidewalk in those metal doors you walk over every 15ft.. but alleys are pretty interesting by nature.. they are located in densely populated cities and yet very few will walk through them or even acknowledge them.. they carry an eerie stigma because they are hidden from view and one could be very vulnerable, especially at night, to some sort of robbery or horrific crime..
that said theres lots of stuff going on in alleys.. if there is ever a busy bar or restaurant offering only alley or sm side street entrance chances are its a great spot.. alleys are home to many homeless people (pardon the pun), and its a safe bet that if you walk through an alley behind any urban restaurant around 11pm some of the staff is 'taking the edge off' with some pot after a stressful service (except here in california, where people seem to indulge freely on any street).. alleys can offer some amazing artwork in the form of graffiti, and behind bakeries you can probably find free bread relatively fresh around closing time.. a skateboarder can find an array of ledges, metals, and loading docks with no traffic or cops to harass them..

so i wanted to take some 'nite photos' and i figured what better place than alleyways? i went to a few different types of neighborhoods here in s.f. from industrial to posh and tried to get lots of natural light from the various florescent bulbs, the more i get into photography the less i want to use flash! i must admit that i was a little freaked out sitting in some of these alleys with a digital camera, but i feel like i know the city a little better and i will always pay close attention to these urban underbellies when exploring new cities..
please feel free to leave any alley related stories or experiences in the 'comments' below.. thx!





2/17/10

hitch hiking back to s.f.

made it 700 miles back to s.f. for $10!!! (although i offered gas money to all the drivers only 1 accepted).. my first hitch hiking experience turned out to be wonderful.. met some really interesting cool people and learned the ancient art of hitch hiking.. sitting at a rest stop on an interstate in the middle of the night with no phone and no way to leave unless someone picks you up, you develop some aggression out of necessity..
the people who picked me up:
  • somer, a spiritual healer/musician originally from alaska, but she spent 4 months living by herself in the jungle on the amazon river in brazil.. way cool chick with an awesome outlook on life
  • ted and his wife (?), nice older couple from oregon, picked me up in the rain for which i am forever grateful
  • ron, really cool guy who builds recording studios in l.a. and lives in northern california, so he is constantly up and down the coast.. ron is a great conversationalist, not overly opinionated, and a free thinker.. we rode together for a few hundred miles with no radio and discussed things like politics, religion, women, and travel.. great time
  • hakan, a very well traveled turkish guy living near s.f. selling carpets.. he has lived throughout europe, south africa, and been all over the u.s... he said to me in very broken english: 'my friend i dont know you that well, but you love adventure.. you will find more happy in more adventure countries.. here people love the money too much, and forget to live.' i thought that was interesting




2/15/10

rainy day in portland...

somehow managed to get out of bed to check out portland a little.. went to a great brewery, saw some crazy russian street preacher, and had some killer korean bbq.. i like portland, but in my hungover state i was definitely seeking some sunshine!




the legend of burnside...

burnside is a legendary skate spot here in portland.. located under the burnside bridge the locals were just ripping it to shreds.. cool stuff.. i found out that after 7 yrs i no longer possess any kind of talent on a skateboard whatsoever...



rockin' the F@#% out in portland

its been a while since ive been really intoxicated, but when in rome... went to visit duber, my buddy from pittsburgh.. we grew up skateboarding and havent seen each other for about 10 yrs.. he and his roomate jesse are bad ass musicians and since it happened to be jesse's birthday, we went out and got completely obliterated on the town.. lots of cheap beer, whiskey, and moonshine.. apparently if a bouncer feels that you are too drunk to come into a bar, and physically denies you entry it is not socially acceptable here in portland to punch him in the face... i learned this the hard way and although i dont remember making this poor decision, i woke up with no idea where i was, a seemingly dislocated shoulder, some strange facial lumps, and one of the worst hangovers known to man.. goodtimes



heading up to portland...

went up to portland for the weekend to visit an old friend, check out the city, and clear my head a little (instead i drank lots of whiskey and moonshine).. anyway my new friend diana gave me a lift up there in exchange for some gas money.. had a great ride, diana publishes text books and travels all over the place to do it so i picked her brain for a while about singapore and europe.. the 10 hr ride took a little longer cause she made some stops to show me some cool towns and rivers along the way.. beautiful snow covered mountains and scenery up there.. i love the pacific nw



2/11/10

SOMA GRAFFITI...

soma is the neighborhood im staying in here in s.f... its kinda like soho except market st instead of houston, and a lot less fashion and nyu kids.. here are some pix i thought were cool, there is a ton of great graf within a couple blcks of me.. soma is pretty industrial with mostly artists and musicians living here... think im heading up to portland tomorrow to hang, visit a friend, and clear my head a little... staying in one place this long is driving me crazy..





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2/9/10

2/7/10

S.F. LANDSCAPES & CITYSCAPES.....

so i hit the streets today after taking all of the photography classes to work on my feel and trying to utilize more natural light and really capture a full scene the way it looks to me standing there (mind you my scope of vision isnt that expansive, but i tried to get shots from end to end of that scope).. it was a beautiful day with ample sunlight.. click on the pics, there are some great details and quality.. im really enjoying taking and working on these, hope to do LOTS from the road soon..



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