| 6 down, 3 to go... |
[Jul. 19th, 2005|10:20 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "death requiem" - today is the day | ] |
i'd like to thank all those who emailed me about my "bad" trip. let me clarify. i'm not having a bad time - this place sucks! things i didn't mention before re: suckiness here...
- we've had three blackouts - only a few minutes each, but still... i fell asleep to the tv last night (hard to watch futurama en espanol...), so i woke up when the power went out at 5:30 am.
- the water pressure here is a major problem. often, i am taking showers under a veritable trickle of water... and sucky showerheads on top of it.
- no air conditioning in any dining areas.
- apparently, this place sells shares in itself. i keep getting "reminders" to go to the "open house" they hold (every m/w/f at 10:00 am!). fuck them!
events of yesterday/this morning...
- after lunch yesterday, i went back to my room and lotioned up to take some sun. i was down in the chair for 10 minutes, then...
"here comes a cloud,
here comes a cloud,
that stayed for
three hours..."
(to "here comes the sun" by the beatles)
NICE. after a half-hour of waiting, i went into the pool and played a lot of volleyball - mostly helping a young girl (i think she's a daughter of the brit dude i talked to a few days ago) get the ball over the net. there are a lot of brits here. god, some "bri'ish" accents are impossible to comprehend...
- after dinner, i went back to my room to smoke that cuban! i was going to go to a bar to smoke it, but i was a bit tired. besides, there were two beers in the mini-fridge. i sat on the balcony with my ipod on and puffed away for over an hour. ahhh......
- breakfast today ok - no idiot boy encounter. distressed when i went for some fruit to find bugs crawling all over the fuckin' canteloupe. considering it's hot and all, this meal was the most tolerable conditions in the dining area. so i was surprised to go to the computer room and find such minimal a/c on that i was literally dripping sweat after five minutes in there.
well, today, i will take an early lunch, try for some more sun, maybe try the disco one last time. tomorrow, i will try to post more blogs (ok, obviously i didn't...), get people gifty things, take some pics (so you can fathom the horrors) and get ready to come back to the big BK! |
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| day 5 comes and goes... |
[Jul. 18th, 2005|11:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "remember" - skold | ] |
i just got back to my room after posting the first three days of travel-blog...
yesterday was rather uneventful. i seem to have hit a "groove" - wake, shower, breakfast, internet, read, lunch, sun & read, pool & drink, shower, dinner, read & drink, sleep... and lots of listening to the ipod. that pretty much defines the day. nothing worth blathering on about, except...
- i must be up to 20 mosquito bites. bastards!
- sunday was justin-free, mercifully. ran into him as i was reconnecting my headphones post-breakfast this morning, though. asked me, "how's the reading coming?" duh. while i have my (new) yankees backpack (really one of those pull-string deals) off to check my ipod, a worker passes by and shouts "yankees!" at me (not an uncommon occurence here), which triggers justin - "who's your favorite yankee?" - though he seems to know zero about baseball. he heard me mention matsui and thought he heard me say segui - as in david segui, who was a scrub who only hit LHP (IIRC).
- a bartender made me a virgin pina colada - next time i saw him, i said, "when you see the tattoos, get the alcohol!" no problems since... :)
- i bought a cuban cigar - a cohiba - this morning. i wish i could smuggle a bunch back. cubans are the only cigars worth smoking without modification...
- this morning, i saw that hurricane emily plowed through cancun and cozumel. ironically, when i first planned this trip, that was where i wanted to go, but i thought the prices were too high. fate is a beautiful thing, ain't it? :)
- hurricane-related... i heard this morning that emily is the most powerful july hurricane on record. the prior champ? DENNIS! (emily's predecessor, if you forgot...) no global warming, my ass! |
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| day 4's vitals... |
[Jul. 16th, 2005|12:15 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "triple corpse hammerblow" - children of bodom | ] |
HAHAHA the disco did suck ass! mostly couples - the few solos there fell into two categories: old men who wanted to watch young female asses on the dance floor, and a couple of 20's-ish women who were clearly hooking up with employees for some dominican dick. beat! i stayed for three songs - drank during the first song (minimal dancing out of the 15 or so heads), danced some of the second song, which was a slower song, so a lot of couples... and me. the third song was boomin! - and i was alone on the dance floor! how?!?! so of course i danced my fuckin ass off for about half the song, got bored of dancing and milled around for a few minutes. i considered the odds of anything worthwhile happening with my continued presence, realized better and bailed. this reminded me of that crappy fancy ass legacy place in bay ridge... lamest crowd ever. as i left the "disco," all i thought was "trust your instincts, grasshopper!"
other "highlights" of the day -
- reading is going well. finished neuromancer, working hard on guns, germs & steel now.
- that justin character is a dolt. cases in point: he finds me (again) at breakfast, asks me how machiavelli is going (from a previous convo). i tell him i'm reading 3 books right now, and didn't do machiavelli yesterday (or today, for that matter) - he says he has trouble keeping one book straight and that i must have a great memory (ha!). then... he asks about my tats - starting with my right arm (with the chinese stuff). i give him the "kill the next person who asks what it means" line, then tell him for real - and then he asks me if it is ORIGINAL or if i copied it!!! SHITHEAD!!! i gave the serious answer (took me a year to design, trinities, etc.). he then asks if the TFN tattoo is a tribal(!); i forget if i said "yeah, sorta" or "it's a gang tattoo." i stopped caring. i'm sure i'll see him in the morning again. ugh.
- played more pool volleyball - jumped in the middle of a game. my team was sucking ass. at first, i thought it was due to the blinding sun, but we were just as bad after switching sides. other team lost half their players at one point - so i defected! my now former teammates were acting shocked, so i replied "i am loyal to no one!" heh heh... anyway, my new team trounced! one dude on the old team said i was playing "better" on the other side - the new team had this one diesel dude that was wrecking house all on his own, so it helped! i pointed to that guy and said, "now i don't have to work around him!" afterwards, i was talking with one of the players about politics and other crap - dude's from england, twas an interesting conversation indeed, lots of comparing economics and politics and policies and crap like that. it's surprising to learn how people on the other side of the pond are feeling regarding quality of life, etc. funniest moment was him almost falling off the pool-bar stool when i said that bush's policies all lead to the slow extermination of america's poor.
- apparently, the dominicans make a version of moussaka (hahaha) - it was DR night at dinner. man, they do fry almost anything! UGH!
(this is the first post added on 8/3) |
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| day three's stuff... |
[Jul. 15th, 2005|11:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cranky | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "mindstream (orbital remix) - meat beat manifesto | ] |
well, three full days under the belt now. things i've learned... well, main thing is i'm not likely to come back to this joint. why?
- they print a "daily" activities paper, sure. i got my first one tonight. sense?
- all the bars seem to close ~11pm/midnite, except the "disco," which i didn't - couldn't? - know about until i got the stinking "daily" thing, and that doesn't open until 11pm! great - i wanted to fix my sleeping sked somewhat, but to do anything (OK, the one thing) that can't involve me alone (duh) apparently has to get a motor on after 11pm. i'm going tomorrow night. i bet it will suck donkey dick.
- the food gets worse day by day - OK, i am comparing to cruises, but still... they're all-inclusive, too, and their food was mad classy (even the buffets were decent). this place fries half their shit (i can eat my stepwhoremother's crap for free...)! every day, every meal, SOMETHING is done tempura (OK, not every breakfast). there are "classy" places to eat here (and only dinner), but you have to make a reservation in the morning. i may go to one before i leave, but i doubt it.
- i'm starting to think i am the only person here by myself. sucks for me, if only because when you come with a clique... what more do you need?
- one of the concierges here - this american kid, justin, maybe all of 23, first concierge i met - insists on striking up a conversation every time he sees me. OK, it's his job, whatever. my disinterest has got to show, though. one dominican employee shouts "hey, american!" whenever he sees me. WTF? like i'm the only one here.
- i realize today that there are 2 above-ground septic tanks 10 feet away from the door of my room. in between those tanks and my room is a row of about 15-20 central air units. nice. there are a lot of above-ground septics here - i smell them, believe me... nasty.
- still super-hating on the stupid bracelet thing. almost tore a nipple off while i was showering.
- there is a grand total of 1/2 a pool that goes deeper than 4 feet. sucks!
i'm kinda tired of this joint already. glad i brought a lot of big books. maybe i'll get lucky (!) with the disco shit tomorrow night. wish me luck...
by the by, karl rove and the whole republikan party SUCK! i almost threw things at the TV when i flipped to CNN to check on hurricane emily (i'm on the north side of the island - got slapped by a few small bands of rain & 40mph winds in the late afternoon). karl rove is king of the cock patrol for sure.
(more to come, this is the last post posted on 7/18...) |
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| highlights, full day #1 |
[Jul. 15th, 2005|08:30 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  mellow | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "fistful of steel" - rage against the machine | ] |
- apparently, hurrican emily is too scared to show up anywhere near here! hehehe
- got fairly red yesterday - taking a sun-break day today.
- stung by 4 mosquitoes (at least). OK, one thing i miss about NYC...
- methinks there are lots of single young women but not many single young men - good for me, i'd think. in any case - nowhere to go! saw a few groups of chicas going out - and coming back shortly after - as i sat on my "balcony" reading machiavelli's the prince. the bars were kaput when i went looking (~10pm).
- speaking of machiavelli, the prince is interesting. i can see lots of the fascist republikan bastards think they have machiavelli down. i see so much room for error - not coincidentally, so did machiavelli - so i feel uplifted that these pricks will fail - i just hope the cost of that failure is not great. i also think our "enemies" are also familiar with such principles, and know how to exploit the weaknesses inherent in such strategies. i think bush = cesare borgia - thrust into power by those with more power than he; doing everything "by the book" yet still getting fucked.
- i read a precis book on jean-paul sartre last night. quotes that stuck...
"we are alone, without excuses. that is what i mean when i say that man is condemned to be free."
"a human being is nothing else but what he makes of himself; he exists only as much as he realizes himself."
"my freedom is choosing to be god, a choice which is manifest and echoed in all my actions."
sartre fucking rocked - as a philosopher and as a person. i saw parts of myself - who i am, who i want to be - in his life and writings.
- played a lot of volleyball yesterday (beach and pool), my forearms are killing me! spoke briefly to a chick from queens who is here with her fam (her and her pop were playing pool v-ball when i was). she sounded like a new yorker the second she opened her mouth.
- there is a topless sunbathing spot here! it should be obvious to all that this is where i took my sun yesterday. sadly, the majority of ladies enjoying tittie-freedom were 40+, married, and british. *sigh*
- the food is a mixed bag here. mostly suck though.
- incredibly, my cell rang yesterday! didn't connect for long, maybe i'll get my phone turned on...
- this place is kinda maze-like. they don't give you a map in your room or nothing. took me hours to find all the necessities (topless area, beach, food, etc.)
ok that's all for day 2. more exploring to come, blah blah... fuck it! :) |
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| on the ground and ready to rock... |
[Jul. 13th, 2005|06:00 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "credence" - opeth | ] |
i'm fuckin' here! of course, the journey was eventful...
- almost didn't wake up in time (4 am!) for the car service. when i finally got my ass down to the car, we made it to my corner when i realized my ipod was still sitting in the sounddock! yes, obviously, i did go back for it. can't leave home without it, indeed! :)
- my flight to san juan was OK. nothing special, really, except being asked to swap seats so a guy and his pregnant wife could sit together. *sigh* the vagaries of modern air travel... i bought the new issue of wired before boarding and read almost the whole mag on the flight. airline breakfast burritos suck donkey dick.
- no sweat swapping flights in san juan. their airport's amenities are just as pricey as any other airport. when i got to the gate for my connect, i realized i would be on a prop plane. my parents took one to the bahamas on their honeymoon; my dad was afraid to fly for 30 years after that. i have to say the flight was quite pleasant, though the a/c sucked. had a laugh with some of the passengers during boarding - "everything is good as long as your luggage winds up in the same place as you do!" - and got asked to swap seats AGAIN; this time the woman in the offending seat (always the woman, apparently) wasn't pregnant. did the swap anyway.
- it is fucking HOT in DR... well, inland at least. it's kinda nice at the resort. took a taxi here - the driver's accent was so thick, i had trouble understanding him. many dominicans who speak english do so with such an accent. we did talk about baseball for a bit; i said "sammy sosa" and he says "yes, pedro martin[ez], manny ramirez,..." my cell phone doesn't work here. nice! :)
- resort hires some americans. nice. my room is fucking FREEZING! i swear my thermostat is in kelvin! the bed is like a rock, and the shower head is quite craptastic, but the rest of the room is nice. i have a coffee maker in my room; unlike the hotel i stayed in in chicago, it's not in the bathroom! the packets of sugar are twice the size i'm used to. the room lacks in usable outlets (2, one of which i had to move the bed slightly to access) unless you're in the bathroom (3 there). my room has a balcony, though it's slightly pointless as i'm on ground level.
- the resort is pretty tight-fisted. they slapped a bracelet (like you'd get @ an amusement park) the second they got my room info. it's my "all-inclusive" pass. yay. do you know how fucked it is trying to shower with that fucking thing?!?! anyway, they also gave me a "beach towel card" - i can get 1 beach towel per card, and can exchange towel for towel or card. come up short one or the other, US$20.
- US$1 = RD$26 (pesos), apparently. i asked for change of a US$20 (to tip the bellhop) and got back RD$520. we all know i can do math... their money looks a lot more like "the rest of the world's" money than US bills do.
well, that's it for now. i have yet to explore - so stay tuned!
(n.b. - all music will be music as i type. this actually posted on 7/18) |
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| hello from somewhere not home... |
[Jul. 13th, 2005|10:49 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "thorn in my pride" - black crowes | ] |
i've pre-dated the entry to coincide with other upcoming pre-dated entries - namely, my travelogue (travel-blog?) from the dominican republic. let's just say i'm having an OK time, not quite as good as i was hoping, but making the best of said issues anyway.
i'll have a post per day, pretty much. i should be up to date by the time i'm actually due back, so it should work out efficiently.
just chew on this for the meantime - the fact that i will be blogging from here should tell you all you need to know about the level of great time i am having...
hahahaha... laters. |
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| hooba-don't-stank... |
[May. 24th, 2005|10:06 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | bouncy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "der tod ist ein dandy" - einsturzende neubauten | ] |
last friday, i took my brother to his first concert - hoobastank and velvet revolver out at pncbank arts center in jersey.
it was a pretty good show. hoobastank is better than i've been giving them credit for - a friend of mine told me they're getting a big push and should be headlining soon. they did a solid set; a few of their songs are average, but most of the set was quality. singer's one of those running around like a maniac types, which is fun to watch. velvet revolver was pretty good too. some of their songs are kinda weak, but, to compensate, the good songs really rocked. they pulled out 2 covers each from gnr (it's so easy and mr. brownstone) and stp (sex type thing and one other i don't know the name of), plus a really crappy version of "wish you were here." scott weiland is kinda gay now... but he does a pretty convincing axl. if only they had a real singer... heh heh
my brother really likes velvet revolver - and guns and roses, apparently, as he knew the 2 songs better than i did - so he had a great time. i almost lost him once, because he didn't realize how fast he'd have to keep up with me when i move through a crowd. fortunately for him, he didn't lose his cell phone until after we found each other. probably fell out of his pocket when he was jumping around like a maniac during velvet revolver :)
quote of the post: "our most important thoughts are those which contradict our emotions." - paul valery |
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| the good, the bad, the ugly... what else? |
[May. 16th, 2005|12:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | does al franken make me come here? | ] |
what up peeps!
been a crazy weekend. worked my ass off! :)
all who know me well know that the only time i'll blow my stack is when i'm driving. some asshole did it to me saturday evening. we were trying to get on the jackie robinson parkway (it starts with 2 lanes and lots of on-ramp-merges). there was an accident at the last merge; i came in at the first (from SB van wyck). anyway, the accident was in the right lane (where i was), so i started edging over to the left, getting ready to zipper-merge around the accident. well, this one DICK in a black benz SUV with delaware plates starts honking at me like i'm getting too close to him. we're getting set to merge, and apparently i was set to merge in front of him. what does he do?...
he slams on his gas pedal and cuts me off before i can merge! i slam on my horn for a half minute and give him the finger. he responds by giving ME the finger. oh, that's it, it's on! i pulled up behind him and he hightailed it out of there. he gave good chase - i had no problem keeping up, but he kept pushing. i was really hoping he'd get off at the end of the highway like i was - i was so furious that i was going to get out of my car and say something to him - but he bailed out at the last exit before the end. i was running late for where i had to be, so i didn't follow.
why did this guy feel the need to go out of his way to be an asshole? the "zipper merge" is a courtesy all drivers are expected to show to other drivers. he could have caused another accident, whether from me cutting into him or him hitting the guy in front of him. we all have places we need to get to - be courteous to your fellow drivers, if only for safety's sake.
normally, i recall the person's plate. all i remember from this one is that it had the letters "PC" (like a plate code) before the numbers. i just assumed it meant he's a Prick Cocksucker, and everyone knew it...
it just occurred to me that the phrase "prick cocksucker" is a total dice-ism. yes! :)
the rest of the last few days as normal. work thursday. friday night's magic game was less of a success (2-1-1 with the same deck), but i got to practice out my land-lock deck a little more and was drawing crowds! a few people told me they think i should play that in a tournament. it'll have to wait a week - i'm going to see velvet revolver with andrew friday night. it's his first concert - yay!!! saturday and sunday were pretty much all about the work.
today's quote of the week was on my refrigerator for a while around new year's...
"there is a certain cowardice, a certain weakness, rather, among respectable folk. only brigands are convinced - of what? that they must succeed. and so they do succeed." - charles baudelaire |
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| i figured out why blogs are good |
[May. 12th, 2005|11:23 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | air america again - so much for taking a break | ] |
every time i start one, life begins to busy up again.
lots of work coming through on all ends brings joy and happiness, though less time to blog...
i think i figured out my vacation destination - the dominican republic! i'm not booked yet but i will be shortly. and i just got tickets to ozzfest on 7/27. july will be a good month! :)
there are people in this world who never change. i'm just glad i've been able to spot them and keep them distant from me. i saw someone last night that i hadn't seen in a few years... and he hasn't changed a bit. i don't think that's a good thing necessarily...
quote: "it is absurd to speak of right and wrong per se. injury, violation, exploitation, annihilation, cannot be wrong in themselves, for life essentially presupposes injury, violation, exploitation, and annihilation." - friedrich nietzsche |
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