It's been a while... Where do I start really?
Well, last week I was in West Chester PA. Had a great time. Got to hang with Julie and Ryan a couple times. WC had some nice looking restaurants though I only got to one (Iron Hill Brewery). All in all, good times by all.
I just got home from work tonight and found out my dog had died earlier in the day. It was really sad. Myself, my brothers, and my sister all grew up with that dog... it's just really awkward to go back to the house and not see the crazy monster at the door anymore. It's like losing a part of your family.
Well, gonna pack it in for the night. Next week I'm supposedly off to Roswell NM :insert spooky music now:
Peace.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Friday, February 2, 2007
Travel plans forthcoming
Tenative schedule for the next few months... If I'm comin near ya let's plan something...
Feb 5-9 West Chester, PA
Feb 12-16 Grand Junction, CO
Feb 19-23 Roswell, NM
March 5-9 Mandeville, LA
March 12-16 Anderson, SC
March 19-23 Brevard, NC
April 9-13 Austin-area, TX
April 16-20 Lewiston, ID / Seattle, WA
April 23-27 Dallas, TX
Next week - updates from West Chester and Philly!
Feb 5-9 West Chester, PA
Feb 12-16 Grand Junction, CO
Feb 19-23 Roswell, NM
March 5-9 Mandeville, LA
March 12-16 Anderson, SC
March 19-23 Brevard, NC
April 9-13 Austin-area, TX
April 16-20 Lewiston, ID / Seattle, WA
April 23-27 Dallas, TX
Next week - updates from West Chester and Philly!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Ohio is NOT for lovers
Maybe. Who knows? I haven't seen any tail here. Well, except the perfect 10 that was tending bar at the Tumbleweed I dined at last night. Did I make a move? Helllllll no.... mostly cuz I am a giant pussy.
Ohio has been....well.... interesting. I flew into Columbus on Monday. Tuesday was a day off so I decided to grab a 12er of Killians for the night. Hotel was a Fairfield Inn. The room looked nice but had issues. First of all, my internet connection would not work in the hotel so I had nothing to do other than watch tv. So I decided to wander to the pool and noticed the joint had a hot tub. I am a fiend for hot tubs... love 'em! Only problem was I didn't bring any shorts, trunks, nothing. I wasn't gonna pass up a hot tub so I just went in wearing nothing but my boxers. It was great.
So I get back to my room and my shower is one of those stalls with just a curtain. Interesting. The removable spicket was neat. But the gauge only went halfway so I had lukewarm water. Not the greatest thing after burning all my skin bein a playa at da club... i mean... tub... of hotness.
Tuesday, like I said, was a clean slate. So I figured I'd head up to the NFL Hall of Fame to check it out. It was only about 80 miles from my hotel. I got about 20 miles from the HOF and wizzed by a Sherry. I knew he was gonna nab me and eventually did. Busted me for doing 78 in a 65. I love how pigs can speed, do whatever they want, get away with murder, but when somebody is going a few miles over the speed limit they all the sudden become the judge of what is wrong/right. The dickhead could have let me go with a warning... I was working, in a rental (Sebring, terrible blind spots!), and had no registration or insurance. But no. He was a typical worthless pig, wasting tax payers dollars so he can point a radar gun and sit in his car all day.
After that shitstorm I went to the Hall. It was really cool but I thought there'd be more to it. First of all, it seems like it's in the middle of nowhere. The displays were cool, and they had a lot more Bills stuff than I had anticipated. I even noticed a "Talkin' Proud" button in one display (if you know what a "talkin' proud" pin is god help you!). Of course I loved the old, historic memorabilia the most. They had some pretty sweet stuff that has survived decades of storage and years of abuse on the field... The craziest thing I saw was YA Title's NY Giants helmet, cracked down the middle, which he apparently continued to wear while playing. NUTS! The merchandise in the store is way overpriced and there isn't that great of a selection, but the Hall is a MUST for any football fan.
Today I did up a shoot and drove 200 miles North of Zanesville to Toledo/Perrysburg. The food selection has been sub-par, nothing really local mostly just chains. My hotel here tonight (Baymont) is fan funkin tastic! It's right up there with the Hampton Inn I stayed at in NC. Tomorrow is a fun filled day of work and driving. Maybe I'll go pig counting tomorrow. I swear, they're worse than NYS!
Ohio has been....well.... interesting. I flew into Columbus on Monday. Tuesday was a day off so I decided to grab a 12er of Killians for the night. Hotel was a Fairfield Inn. The room looked nice but had issues. First of all, my internet connection would not work in the hotel so I had nothing to do other than watch tv. So I decided to wander to the pool and noticed the joint had a hot tub. I am a fiend for hot tubs... love 'em! Only problem was I didn't bring any shorts, trunks, nothing. I wasn't gonna pass up a hot tub so I just went in wearing nothing but my boxers. It was great.
So I get back to my room and my shower is one of those stalls with just a curtain. Interesting. The removable spicket was neat. But the gauge only went halfway so I had lukewarm water. Not the greatest thing after burning all my skin bein a playa at da club... i mean... tub... of hotness.
Tuesday, like I said, was a clean slate. So I figured I'd head up to the NFL Hall of Fame to check it out. It was only about 80 miles from my hotel. I got about 20 miles from the HOF and wizzed by a Sherry. I knew he was gonna nab me and eventually did. Busted me for doing 78 in a 65. I love how pigs can speed, do whatever they want, get away with murder, but when somebody is going a few miles over the speed limit they all the sudden become the judge of what is wrong/right. The dickhead could have let me go with a warning... I was working, in a rental (Sebring, terrible blind spots!), and had no registration or insurance. But no. He was a typical worthless pig, wasting tax payers dollars so he can point a radar gun and sit in his car all day.
After that shitstorm I went to the Hall. It was really cool but I thought there'd be more to it. First of all, it seems like it's in the middle of nowhere. The displays were cool, and they had a lot more Bills stuff than I had anticipated. I even noticed a "Talkin' Proud" button in one display (if you know what a "talkin' proud" pin is god help you!). Of course I loved the old, historic memorabilia the most. They had some pretty sweet stuff that has survived decades of storage and years of abuse on the field... The craziest thing I saw was YA Title's NY Giants helmet, cracked down the middle, which he apparently continued to wear while playing. NUTS! The merchandise in the store is way overpriced and there isn't that great of a selection, but the Hall is a MUST for any football fan.
Today I did up a shoot and drove 200 miles North of Zanesville to Toledo/Perrysburg. The food selection has been sub-par, nothing really local mostly just chains. My hotel here tonight (Baymont) is fan funkin tastic! It's right up there with the Hampton Inn I stayed at in NC. Tomorrow is a fun filled day of work and driving. Maybe I'll go pig counting tomorrow. I swear, they're worse than NYS!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Bummer of microscopic proportions
Well, I was supposed to go to the great Pac Northwest this week, the land of trees, rain, and taters. Unfortunately the assclowns in the airline industy still haven't figured out how to skirt the pesky fog and rain that has run rampid here in the Northeast for the past 4 billion years, so I was in my office all week.
No visits to grundge city to eat massive omelettes while wearing a cut up flannel and pondering life's misery... no visits to the land that brags of it's spuds and some huge national park... and no visits to D.B. Cooper's hijacking hotspot.
I did accomplish quite a bit this week, but other than the lonely stretch of roads I've traveled far too many times to count, nothing new of note this week.
Next week it's to Columbus/Toledo and hopefully the NFL Hall of Fame. I really wanted to catch the Sabres/Jackets game in Columbus next Friday but my flight leaves earlier that day so I'll miss it... oh well.
I promise more interesting moments next week. Unless Ohio's a bore... and if it is... don't worry... as some have said -- "Freeman... ya just make things happen... you've got ideas".... yeah, I do. And now I sound like a queer talking about myself. Peace.
No visits to grundge city to eat massive omelettes while wearing a cut up flannel and pondering life's misery... no visits to the land that brags of it's spuds and some huge national park... and no visits to D.B. Cooper's hijacking hotspot.
I did accomplish quite a bit this week, but other than the lonely stretch of roads I've traveled far too many times to count, nothing new of note this week.
Next week it's to Columbus/Toledo and hopefully the NFL Hall of Fame. I really wanted to catch the Sabres/Jackets game in Columbus next Friday but my flight leaves earlier that day so I'll miss it... oh well.
I promise more interesting moments next week. Unless Ohio's a bore... and if it is... don't worry... as some have said -- "Freeman... ya just make things happen... you've got ideas".... yeah, I do. And now I sound like a queer talking about myself. Peace.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Gator tail - a delicacy?
Hey all, what's goin down on your side of town? Not much here. Just got back from my second stint in Louisiana (well, really, I got back yesterday).
This time around was far more enjoyable than the first debacle that ensued. I flew into Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing really stood out, though I did notice quit a bit of oil refineries along the Mississippi River. Needless to say the beautiful scenery reminded me of driving up the 190 towards downtown Barfalo, but it didn't end there.
My hotel was in a suburb of BR called Baker. At first glance, it seemed like a pretty desolate joint. As I was stuck in traffic (yeah, traffic jams in Baton freakin Rouge, wtf?) I noticed another yet another Barfalo reminder... the Bills logo. At first I didn't know what to make of it. Here I was, in the deep south, driving on swampland, and the Bills logo is plastered everywhere. As I cruised down Main Street I kept seeing it everywhere, along with a "Buffalo cafe" and "First Buffalo shopping center". Now my interest peaked.
After I checked into my hotel I decided to do some investigating. I went down to the "Buffalo cafe", got a table, and started my detective work. The dude hands me a menu, and the Bills logo is on the front. What was going on here? After I ordered an app. sampler and Talapia in " Cajun Buffalo" sauce I finally got the attention of the waiter, an obvious high school student miserable with his job. I asked what the deal was with all the Buffalo Bills stuff. He didn't know what a Buffalo Bill was, but explained to me that the town's high school mascot was the Buffalos and I guess they took it upon themselves to plaster everything-Bills all over the town. Fair enough. Case closed. BTW, the app. sampler at Buffalo Cafe (Main St, Baker, LA) was one of the largest I'd ever laid eyes upon. The fish, not so great. I'd give the app. an 8/10 and the fish a 4/10.
Back to the real issues. My hotel this time was a Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy. My first room had no operable tely, so I asked to be moved. They then moved me to a room with a broken shower. Moved me again to a room with the beautiful aroma of tobacco leaves. I got sick of moving so I decided to rough it out in tobacco row. But the people were nice so I'd give the joint a 6/10, but it definitely left a lot to be desired.
Wednesday was my birthday (big 25, hittin the midlife) but I had a full slate. One shoot early in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Both went pretty well, the clients were pretty up on the whole process so they went without incident which is always a good thing. After my last shoot, I hopped in my SUV rental and bolted down I-10 towards New Orleans. Operation - party hard.
I met up with my buddy Epner who was working in New Orleans for the week (Kenner, to be exact). After some chillin we hit up a local casino for some money-losin. Epdog is a pretty good gambler. I = not so great. I was able to lose $40 within the first 10 minutes. Our card dealer - Susie - had a secret crush on Epdog. I could see it in her eyes. Ep was winnin big, but Susie left and some crabby old bastard who probably has never heard of the word "fun" came onto the table. After about 5 minutes of the miserable old codger killin the mood we decided to bounce. We did get free t-shirts as a result of my birthday (thanks to some inside info provided by the shuttle driver). After that we went to few other bars and called it a night.
Thursday saw me driving nearly 300 miles North to Monroe, LA. I got to cross into Mississippi - a state on my infamous "Never been to" list. I headed up I-55 N towards Jackson... I even passed through Britney Spears' hometown (looked like a major dump). I-55 is a lonely road - worse than I-86. Much of it around the New Orleans area is built on water - with no land in site. Once land is visible, the landscape is littered with run down homes/trailers and abandoned towns. The Mississippi stretch up to Jackson isn't much to write home about either, but there seemed to be some civilization in tiny pockets.
Jackson seemed like your typical run-of-the-mill small city. I detoured off my route for a little just to scope the town out, but didn't find much of anything that grabbed my interest. After hoping on I-20 West I was now heading back towards the Mississippi River and my final destination.
I had crossed the Mississippi a few times prior, but this time I figured it might be a bit more scenic actually being in the state it's named for. I was wrong. It was nothing great, but still cool to see how massive the River is.
My hotel in Monroe was nice - Fairfield Inn. After the internet decided to start working it was just like every other hotel - except the water here was really polluted. I actually had to go buy bottled water because everything coming out of the tap was brown. Hotel was a 6/10 I'd say.
But in Monroe I had my best meal of the week. As a rule, when I'm on the road I try to eat nothing but local cuisine. I try to avoid all chains as much as possible and try something new every day. Let's face it - I an eat at an Applebees anywhere I want.
I took a chance and decided to try this place called R.J. Gators Florida Sea Grill. It looked like it might be a part of a chain but hell, I'd never heard of it so I was gonna give it a shot. The menu was badass. Basically seafood and burgers/sandwiches. One appetizer grabbed my interest - Fried Gator Tail. I had never tried Gator, nor had I a desire to, but I figured I might not get the chance elsewhere so I gave it a shot. To my surprise it tasted great - almost like popcorn chicken. After that they brought my meal out (Cajun seafood bucket with fried shrimp, fish, clam strips). This thing was massive and along with fries, salad, and bread, I could barely finish half of it. Added to that was 2 for 1 margaritas, each the size of a pint glass. R.J.'s was great and I'd def recommend trying it if you are near one. Get the Gator, you won't be disappointed. 8.5/10.
After my shoot in Monroe friday morning it was back to Baker's world class Holiday Inn Express for the night before my flight home Sat morning. As I toured the backroads of rural Louisiana I once again crossed into Miss. for a few miles. As I crossed back over the Mighty Mississippi in Natchez, something grabbed my attention. 1 - an All-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken... who knew those even existed? And 2 - a HUGE Chuck Norris "Attorney at law". At first I couldn't believe my eyes - and it's times like that which make me angry to know my digital camera no longer works. The sign ruled though, reading: "CHUCK NORRIS, Attorney at Law 'I represent injured people'". My first thought was "wow, this is the greatest sign ever"... my second thought was "doesn't Chuck Norris usually do the injuring and not the representing?". Anyways, if for whatever reason you find yourself in Natchez, MS, you can locate this sign on U.S. Route 84 Eastbound, right as you cross over the river into Mississippi.
My rental for the week was a brand new Chyrsler Aspen. I was the first person to rent it, so when I say brand new I freakin mean it mister. The whip had 15 miles on it. It took a day or two for me to get used to handling the thing, but after I did it was a nice ride. Terrible on gas, but a nice ride. Chrysler is slowly winning me over (best car I've driven was the 300).
Saturday I hopped on the 6er back to B'Lo. Flights were on time but from ATL to B'Lo I had the misfortune of being in front of the world's most uninformed chatterbox. Some lady from NT who thought she was the authority on the City of Buffalo and all it has to offer. Some dude next to her was flying up from Miami to check out potential real-estate in the area and asked her about the area. I've never heard so much misinformed crap spewed from one mouth in my life. Ah well.
Next week it's off to the land of potato's - Idaho.... and maybe a day trip to Seattle-Tacoma to catch up with some old buddies. As for today - it's dedicated to wings, bottled brewskies, and watching the New England Teddy Bruschi's lose to the hand of LT Jr.
This time around was far more enjoyable than the first debacle that ensued. I flew into Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing really stood out, though I did notice quit a bit of oil refineries along the Mississippi River. Needless to say the beautiful scenery reminded me of driving up the 190 towards downtown Barfalo, but it didn't end there.
My hotel was in a suburb of BR called Baker. At first glance, it seemed like a pretty desolate joint. As I was stuck in traffic (yeah, traffic jams in Baton freakin Rouge, wtf?) I noticed another yet another Barfalo reminder... the Bills logo. At first I didn't know what to make of it. Here I was, in the deep south, driving on swampland, and the Bills logo is plastered everywhere. As I cruised down Main Street I kept seeing it everywhere, along with a "Buffalo cafe" and "First Buffalo shopping center". Now my interest peaked.
After I checked into my hotel I decided to do some investigating. I went down to the "Buffalo cafe", got a table, and started my detective work. The dude hands me a menu, and the Bills logo is on the front. What was going on here? After I ordered an app. sampler and Talapia in " Cajun Buffalo" sauce I finally got the attention of the waiter, an obvious high school student miserable with his job. I asked what the deal was with all the Buffalo Bills stuff. He didn't know what a Buffalo Bill was, but explained to me that the town's high school mascot was the Buffalos and I guess they took it upon themselves to plaster everything-Bills all over the town. Fair enough. Case closed. BTW, the app. sampler at Buffalo Cafe (Main St, Baker, LA) was one of the largest I'd ever laid eyes upon. The fish, not so great. I'd give the app. an 8/10 and the fish a 4/10.
Back to the real issues. My hotel this time was a Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy. My first room had no operable tely, so I asked to be moved. They then moved me to a room with a broken shower. Moved me again to a room with the beautiful aroma of tobacco leaves. I got sick of moving so I decided to rough it out in tobacco row. But the people were nice so I'd give the joint a 6/10, but it definitely left a lot to be desired.
Wednesday was my birthday (big 25, hittin the midlife) but I had a full slate. One shoot early in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Both went pretty well, the clients were pretty up on the whole process so they went without incident which is always a good thing. After my last shoot, I hopped in my SUV rental and bolted down I-10 towards New Orleans. Operation - party hard.
I met up with my buddy Epner who was working in New Orleans for the week (Kenner, to be exact). After some chillin we hit up a local casino for some money-losin. Epdog is a pretty good gambler. I = not so great. I was able to lose $40 within the first 10 minutes. Our card dealer - Susie - had a secret crush on Epdog. I could see it in her eyes. Ep was winnin big, but Susie left and some crabby old bastard who probably has never heard of the word "fun" came onto the table. After about 5 minutes of the miserable old codger killin the mood we decided to bounce. We did get free t-shirts as a result of my birthday (thanks to some inside info provided by the shuttle driver). After that we went to few other bars and called it a night.
Thursday saw me driving nearly 300 miles North to Monroe, LA. I got to cross into Mississippi - a state on my infamous "Never been to" list. I headed up I-55 N towards Jackson... I even passed through Britney Spears' hometown (looked like a major dump). I-55 is a lonely road - worse than I-86. Much of it around the New Orleans area is built on water - with no land in site. Once land is visible, the landscape is littered with run down homes/trailers and abandoned towns. The Mississippi stretch up to Jackson isn't much to write home about either, but there seemed to be some civilization in tiny pockets.
Jackson seemed like your typical run-of-the-mill small city. I detoured off my route for a little just to scope the town out, but didn't find much of anything that grabbed my interest. After hoping on I-20 West I was now heading back towards the Mississippi River and my final destination.
I had crossed the Mississippi a few times prior, but this time I figured it might be a bit more scenic actually being in the state it's named for. I was wrong. It was nothing great, but still cool to see how massive the River is.
My hotel in Monroe was nice - Fairfield Inn. After the internet decided to start working it was just like every other hotel - except the water here was really polluted. I actually had to go buy bottled water because everything coming out of the tap was brown. Hotel was a 6/10 I'd say.
But in Monroe I had my best meal of the week. As a rule, when I'm on the road I try to eat nothing but local cuisine. I try to avoid all chains as much as possible and try something new every day. Let's face it - I an eat at an Applebees anywhere I want.
I took a chance and decided to try this place called R.J. Gators Florida Sea Grill. It looked like it might be a part of a chain but hell, I'd never heard of it so I was gonna give it a shot. The menu was badass. Basically seafood and burgers/sandwiches. One appetizer grabbed my interest - Fried Gator Tail. I had never tried Gator, nor had I a desire to, but I figured I might not get the chance elsewhere so I gave it a shot. To my surprise it tasted great - almost like popcorn chicken. After that they brought my meal out (Cajun seafood bucket with fried shrimp, fish, clam strips). This thing was massive and along with fries, salad, and bread, I could barely finish half of it. Added to that was 2 for 1 margaritas, each the size of a pint glass. R.J.'s was great and I'd def recommend trying it if you are near one. Get the Gator, you won't be disappointed. 8.5/10.
After my shoot in Monroe friday morning it was back to Baker's world class Holiday Inn Express for the night before my flight home Sat morning. As I toured the backroads of rural Louisiana I once again crossed into Miss. for a few miles. As I crossed back over the Mighty Mississippi in Natchez, something grabbed my attention. 1 - an All-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken... who knew those even existed? And 2 - a HUGE Chuck Norris "Attorney at law". At first I couldn't believe my eyes - and it's times like that which make me angry to know my digital camera no longer works. The sign ruled though, reading: "CHUCK NORRIS, Attorney at Law 'I represent injured people'". My first thought was "wow, this is the greatest sign ever"... my second thought was "doesn't Chuck Norris usually do the injuring and not the representing?". Anyways, if for whatever reason you find yourself in Natchez, MS, you can locate this sign on U.S. Route 84 Eastbound, right as you cross over the river into Mississippi.
My rental for the week was a brand new Chyrsler Aspen. I was the first person to rent it, so when I say brand new I freakin mean it mister. The whip had 15 miles on it. It took a day or two for me to get used to handling the thing, but after I did it was a nice ride. Terrible on gas, but a nice ride. Chrysler is slowly winning me over (best car I've driven was the 300).
Saturday I hopped on the 6er back to B'Lo. Flights were on time but from ATL to B'Lo I had the misfortune of being in front of the world's most uninformed chatterbox. Some lady from NT who thought she was the authority on the City of Buffalo and all it has to offer. Some dude next to her was flying up from Miami to check out potential real-estate in the area and asked her about the area. I've never heard so much misinformed crap spewed from one mouth in my life. Ah well.
Next week it's off to the land of potato's - Idaho.... and maybe a day trip to Seattle-Tacoma to catch up with some old buddies. As for today - it's dedicated to wings, bottled brewskies, and watching the New England Teddy Bruschi's lose to the hand of LT Jr.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Howdy ya'll!!!1
Wow, I have officially turned fag and got myself a blog. Really it was a product of the constant "where are you this week" "what is the best place you've been" "have you been raped in dark alley in Winnepeg yet?". All valid questions. After a while, though, you get sick of repeating yourself... repeating yourself... repeating yourself. So, I figure bloggings (bloggings is way more rad that saying blog) is vedy niiiiice way to - how you say - touch.... I mean, keep.... in touch.
Anywhoo... after a rough start, I'm starting to dig my gig as a paid tourist. How many peeps can say that they get paid to fly around the country and plop a video camera on some sticks? Sounds easy... it's not, but totally fun.
I must admit, though, at first it was pretty rough. September flew by and I felt like I was starting to get the hang of things, but my personal life was in the dumps and getting worse. From Oct-Late Dec I made the conscious decision to cut off all contact with almost everybody I knew. I needed to clear my head and straighten my fucking life out. I had a lot of personal garbage going on that was basically rendering my life useless. I found myself becoming more and more depressed with each passing day and nothing I seemed to do would fix things... To compound matters, I travel alone so trying to pull myself out of a never-ending downward spiral, re-starting my entire life from square one, and starting a new job on the fly - all with little or no support groupd around me - was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. It was like I was living an early-90's grundge song 24/7/365. Once I was able to completely delete every negative aspect about my life, everything changed for the better.
... and the job I almost quit quickly became a job that I am really enjoying.
I haven't gone to too many fantastic places... but for the most part, they haven't been entirely boring either. My first gig was in Western IL, out near the beautiful corn fields of scenic Iowa, USA, Planet Earth. After that, I went to Chi-town, Colorado, Louisiana, Philly, Texas, Central NJ... the list goes on.
I guess the purpose of this bloggings can keep my friends/fam informed w/o me having to call everybody for updates... plus it's a great way for me to remember all the great times I'm having seeing the good ol' US of A.
Right now I'm in Louisiana - again. I must admit, my first trip to the bayou was a disaster. Airline lost my luggage and work equipment, people were so rude I thought I was at a dickhead convention, and to top shit off I got blindsided by a dumb driver at the airport which destroyed my mind-condition Ford Clitoris, circa 1999.
But my trip to the Sportsman's Paradise this time around has been like a complete 180. Most of the people I've dealt with have been chill. My BDay was yesterday so me and my buddy Epner hit up New Orleans for some boozin, gamblin, and tom foolery. Hell, I even got a badass t-shirt for free.
Over my vast travels I've been able to rent badass whips, stay in some great (and not so great) hotels, and eat at the most random backfuckinwoods places imaginable (I just ate real Louisiana Gator - surprisingly good). Hampton Inns (clutch), Roadhouses, Steakhouses, BBQ, Seafood... all fantastic. Do I miss being home and partyin with my friends? No, cuz I'm home every weekend anyway, and it's not like I don't live the high life on my downtime on the road. Pretty soon I will have been to every state in the union (which has been a lifelong goal of mine that I'm finally able to make happen), and that's something not many people can hang their hat on.
Anywhoo, from now on expect vast reviews of random cities/towns and all they have to offer, along with the shenanigans that ensue.
Peace to yo crease.
Anywhoo... after a rough start, I'm starting to dig my gig as a paid tourist. How many peeps can say that they get paid to fly around the country and plop a video camera on some sticks? Sounds easy... it's not, but totally fun.
I must admit, though, at first it was pretty rough. September flew by and I felt like I was starting to get the hang of things, but my personal life was in the dumps and getting worse. From Oct-Late Dec I made the conscious decision to cut off all contact with almost everybody I knew. I needed to clear my head and straighten my fucking life out. I had a lot of personal garbage going on that was basically rendering my life useless. I found myself becoming more and more depressed with each passing day and nothing I seemed to do would fix things... To compound matters, I travel alone so trying to pull myself out of a never-ending downward spiral, re-starting my entire life from square one, and starting a new job on the fly - all with little or no support groupd around me - was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. It was like I was living an early-90's grundge song 24/7/365. Once I was able to completely delete every negative aspect about my life, everything changed for the better.
... and the job I almost quit quickly became a job that I am really enjoying.
I haven't gone to too many fantastic places... but for the most part, they haven't been entirely boring either. My first gig was in Western IL, out near the beautiful corn fields of scenic Iowa, USA, Planet Earth. After that, I went to Chi-town, Colorado, Louisiana, Philly, Texas, Central NJ... the list goes on.
I guess the purpose of this bloggings can keep my friends/fam informed w/o me having to call everybody for updates... plus it's a great way for me to remember all the great times I'm having seeing the good ol' US of A.
Right now I'm in Louisiana - again. I must admit, my first trip to the bayou was a disaster. Airline lost my luggage and work equipment, people were so rude I thought I was at a dickhead convention, and to top shit off I got blindsided by a dumb driver at the airport which destroyed my mind-condition Ford Clitoris, circa 1999.
But my trip to the Sportsman's Paradise this time around has been like a complete 180. Most of the people I've dealt with have been chill. My BDay was yesterday so me and my buddy Epner hit up New Orleans for some boozin, gamblin, and tom foolery. Hell, I even got a badass t-shirt for free.
Over my vast travels I've been able to rent badass whips, stay in some great (and not so great) hotels, and eat at the most random backfuckinwoods places imaginable (I just ate real Louisiana Gator - surprisingly good). Hampton Inns (clutch), Roadhouses, Steakhouses, BBQ, Seafood... all fantastic. Do I miss being home and partyin with my friends? No, cuz I'm home every weekend anyway, and it's not like I don't live the high life on my downtime on the road. Pretty soon I will have been to every state in the union (which has been a lifelong goal of mine that I'm finally able to make happen), and that's something not many people can hang their hat on.
Anywhoo, from now on expect vast reviews of random cities/towns and all they have to offer, along with the shenanigans that ensue.
Peace to yo crease.
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