later dudes. thanks for reading.
i'm heading to the airport in a little bit to spend the night there and then get on my 7:20am flight because i'm too cheap to take a cab and the metro doesn't open soon enough to get me there on time in the morning.
it's been fun. it's been expensive. it's been long. it's been cold and drunk. you know how it is.
i'm in seattle from well, tomorrow the 19th to january 6th. see me please. my phone is on.
i get back to san diego on the night of the 6th, right before school starts. let's have some fun.
see you soon.
-mitch
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
In Regards To:
Sweden.
I'm just going to go with first impressions here. It was big, very tall. I flew into Stockholm and then flew up the coast about an hour to a place called Umea where my friend lives. Big student city. It was very cold and very snowy. There were lots of trees everywhere and very pretty. I didn't really have any idea what to picture it being like so everything was kind of new and really just made me think of Seattle a lot. Maybe it's because I've been in Madrid for so long and a big city isn't anything like a town in the woods. Seattle isn't a town in the woods either, but maybe someone understands what I'm getting at. Thursday my friend had class to go to so I got to hang out walking around by myself for a couple hours which was alright, but it was really cold and I didn't want to get lost so I didn't wander very far. It got light around 10am and dark around 2pm, so there really wasn't much daylight. And the daylight wasn't really daylight either, I'm sure that if the clouds would have gone away the sun would have just been seen barely over the horizon in a weird sort of oval-esque loop. But the clouds didn't go and so I didn't see the sun or really the light for a while. Because of this even when it was light out there was a feeling of perpetual dusk, everything was painted very gray and foggy, and it was really neat to walk out in the woods.
Friday we walked to the city which is next to a huge river that'd been frozen over. I'd never seen such a large body of water, especially one that is usually moving having been frozen. It was neat. The Swedish Idol finals were that night, and it proved to be eerily similar to American Idol, just a lot more pale and blond. Went out that night to a bar place on the campus and there were loads of students in there and it seemed like everyone was lean, six feet tall and very blond. It was fun for a while and a healthy change from Madrid style night life where you get back at 6 in the morning, this place closed at 2.
Sleeping in Airports.
I've decided that some airports are better for sleeping in than others, and Stockholm is at the top of the "go for it" list. Comfy chairs, hardwood floors in the central shopping and eating area, padded benches, easy to find and use computer terminals for internet, and clean bathrooms all add up to a winning place to spend the night if you're so in need.
I flew out of Stockholm this morning at 8am, but had been there since 5pm the night before. The latest flight from Umea to Stockholm was at 4pm, Saturday evening. There was a train that would have gotten me there at 3 in the morning but it would have taken 11 hours and cost just as much as a one hour flight. I opted to spend some time in the airport rather than be cooped up in a train for half a day. I toyed with the idea of taking the train to the city from the airport and wasting time there, but it was over 20 euros each way and unfortunately I haven't found rich girl to give me money yet so I was stuck in the airport. I read and wrote for a bit and then around eleven or so I found myself a nice bench and stretched out on it and got myself ready for the nice long comfortable night ahead. Boo.
First off, sleeping while fearing that someone might rob your shoes and your luggage sucks. Lucky I only had my backpack but the bench I was sleeping on was too narrow to put it next to me so I had to wrap one of my arms through the straps and let it hang down next to the backpack. This position gave me the pleasure of being woken up every hour or so not being able to feel my arm and having to shake all the feeling back into it and try to fall asleep again.
Secondly, normal people don't sleep in airports. Creepy people tend to frequent airports all night long, looking for food or meth I don't know, but they're weird as hell and definitely not the same good looking normal people you see during the daytime. Putting your passport in your pants and sleeping in a protective position with your back against a wall is highly advisable.
Third up, airports never really close. The lights are always on and at some, Stockholm regrettably included, music plays all through the night. I woke up at 4:12 in the morning to heard Kelly Clarkson belting out some man-hating song and it put right in a foul mood. Thanks a lot sweetheart.
Countries in the EU that don't use Euros.
Self explanatory. Annoying.
Dogs in Sweden.
I swear to god I saw a guy walking a full grown wild wolf. Enough of these little crappy Spanish dogs, they have real dogs in Sweden. I saw three giant St. Bernaards just like Beehtoven (the movie you idiot) and at least 5 huskies. They don't mess around.
Movies I download that are in a different language than advertised.
What the hell. Sure maybe it's a funny joke to rip a movie and then advertise it as being in English to all the people downloading it when it's really just been dubbed over with an unintelligible Eastern European language. I mean I guess I see the humor in it, give those pirating bastards something they didn't bargain for. But really? Nothing better to do?
Bummer.
Heima, the new Sigur Ros DVD.
Just like one of those really surreal moments in life where everything is just stupidly beautiful and you get to stop worrying about whatever it is you like to give yourself ulcers about. Except it lasts over an hour. See it.
Being home for Christmas.
I distinctly remember a Visa or MasterCard commercial a year or two ago with triplets talking about how they each got home from their respective colleges in order to be home for Christmas and how it was such a good thing that a price couldn't be put on it. Priceless, they said. Liars. A price can be put on it. One that will make your wallet sad and your stomach empty. See me when I'm home and we'll talk about how much each additional day at home is costing. It'll be fun, you'll see.
I got nothing else. Finals are coming up and the last two days of regular class are coming and passing by Tuesday. Just three tests and 10 days and I'm home. See you then.
-Mitch
I'm just going to go with first impressions here. It was big, very tall. I flew into Stockholm and then flew up the coast about an hour to a place called Umea where my friend lives. Big student city. It was very cold and very snowy. There were lots of trees everywhere and very pretty. I didn't really have any idea what to picture it being like so everything was kind of new and really just made me think of Seattle a lot. Maybe it's because I've been in Madrid for so long and a big city isn't anything like a town in the woods. Seattle isn't a town in the woods either, but maybe someone understands what I'm getting at. Thursday my friend had class to go to so I got to hang out walking around by myself for a couple hours which was alright, but it was really cold and I didn't want to get lost so I didn't wander very far. It got light around 10am and dark around 2pm, so there really wasn't much daylight. And the daylight wasn't really daylight either, I'm sure that if the clouds would have gone away the sun would have just been seen barely over the horizon in a weird sort of oval-esque loop. But the clouds didn't go and so I didn't see the sun or really the light for a while. Because of this even when it was light out there was a feeling of perpetual dusk, everything was painted very gray and foggy, and it was really neat to walk out in the woods.
Friday we walked to the city which is next to a huge river that'd been frozen over. I'd never seen such a large body of water, especially one that is usually moving having been frozen. It was neat. The Swedish Idol finals were that night, and it proved to be eerily similar to American Idol, just a lot more pale and blond. Went out that night to a bar place on the campus and there were loads of students in there and it seemed like everyone was lean, six feet tall and very blond. It was fun for a while and a healthy change from Madrid style night life where you get back at 6 in the morning, this place closed at 2.
Sleeping in Airports.
I've decided that some airports are better for sleeping in than others, and Stockholm is at the top of the "go for it" list. Comfy chairs, hardwood floors in the central shopping and eating area, padded benches, easy to find and use computer terminals for internet, and clean bathrooms all add up to a winning place to spend the night if you're so in need.
I flew out of Stockholm this morning at 8am, but had been there since 5pm the night before. The latest flight from Umea to Stockholm was at 4pm, Saturday evening. There was a train that would have gotten me there at 3 in the morning but it would have taken 11 hours and cost just as much as a one hour flight. I opted to spend some time in the airport rather than be cooped up in a train for half a day. I toyed with the idea of taking the train to the city from the airport and wasting time there, but it was over 20 euros each way and unfortunately I haven't found rich girl to give me money yet so I was stuck in the airport. I read and wrote for a bit and then around eleven or so I found myself a nice bench and stretched out on it and got myself ready for the nice long comfortable night ahead. Boo.
First off, sleeping while fearing that someone might rob your shoes and your luggage sucks. Lucky I only had my backpack but the bench I was sleeping on was too narrow to put it next to me so I had to wrap one of my arms through the straps and let it hang down next to the backpack. This position gave me the pleasure of being woken up every hour or so not being able to feel my arm and having to shake all the feeling back into it and try to fall asleep again.
Secondly, normal people don't sleep in airports. Creepy people tend to frequent airports all night long, looking for food or meth I don't know, but they're weird as hell and definitely not the same good looking normal people you see during the daytime. Putting your passport in your pants and sleeping in a protective position with your back against a wall is highly advisable.
Third up, airports never really close. The lights are always on and at some, Stockholm regrettably included, music plays all through the night. I woke up at 4:12 in the morning to heard Kelly Clarkson belting out some man-hating song and it put right in a foul mood. Thanks a lot sweetheart.
Countries in the EU that don't use Euros.
Self explanatory. Annoying.
Dogs in Sweden.
I swear to god I saw a guy walking a full grown wild wolf. Enough of these little crappy Spanish dogs, they have real dogs in Sweden. I saw three giant St. Bernaards just like Beehtoven (the movie you idiot) and at least 5 huskies. They don't mess around.
Movies I download that are in a different language than advertised.
What the hell. Sure maybe it's a funny joke to rip a movie and then advertise it as being in English to all the people downloading it when it's really just been dubbed over with an unintelligible Eastern European language. I mean I guess I see the humor in it, give those pirating bastards something they didn't bargain for. But really? Nothing better to do?
Bummer.
Heima, the new Sigur Ros DVD.
Just like one of those really surreal moments in life where everything is just stupidly beautiful and you get to stop worrying about whatever it is you like to give yourself ulcers about. Except it lasts over an hour. See it.
Being home for Christmas.
I distinctly remember a Visa or MasterCard commercial a year or two ago with triplets talking about how they each got home from their respective colleges in order to be home for Christmas and how it was such a good thing that a price couldn't be put on it. Priceless, they said. Liars. A price can be put on it. One that will make your wallet sad and your stomach empty. See me when I'm home and we'll talk about how much each additional day at home is costing. It'll be fun, you'll see.
I got nothing else. Finals are coming up and the last two days of regular class are coming and passing by Tuesday. Just three tests and 10 days and I'm home. See you then.
-Mitch
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Spanish Drivers.
In order to get a license in this country I'm pretty sure all you have to be able to do is display above normal tendency to honk your horn. Not only that, but to honk said horn for extended periods of time. It's great, no really. Please keep honking. The only good thing about drivers here is they give you the the right away all the time even when it's obviously not your "right" of way. You can dodge out into the middle of traffic and instead of hitting you they'd run straight into a car parked on the other side of them. Haven't tried it but I'm pretty sure I'd manage to hop skotch across the highway without a scratch.
Besides that, nothing much. It was James Patrick's last weekend here, so it was a little crazy. I stayed out too late two nights in a row and as a result I'm sick. I also lost 5 hours of my life early Saturday morning somewhere along the line and for the life of me I can't seem to find them. Select few have born witness to their existence, but as for me, they're lost forever. Hope they were good.
Being sick sucks. If it isn't being very cold and then immediately very warm, it's waking up in the middle of the night a lot and not sleeping very well. And let's not forget the pleasure you get from blowing your nose in the middle of class a few times. In fact, the only good thing I can think about being sick when you're away from home is getting to take cold medicine, which is undeniably, pretty fun. When my parents visited my Mom somewhat prophetically brought along matching bottles of DayQuil and NyQuil, and for that, I'm eternally grateful for right now. Taking NyQuil knocks you straight out and DayQuil, well it's like getting to drink during the day without all the tired and nasty side-affects. Or is it effects. I don't know. Sorry.
On a different note, my Marketing teacher didn't show up to class tonight. I wouldn't usually mind seeing as how any break from class is usually a good thing but this class so happens to placed at a strategically obnoxious time of day for me, after a 5 hour break from my earlier class, at 6:30pm. So after being at home cozy in my room for a couple hours I have to wrestle free of the warmth of this house and get outside and walk 20 minutes to school for my least favorite class which is taught by a guy who obviously doesn't want to be there any more than the rest of us. This is the second time he's not shown up, but at least the first time he had the decency to let everyone know, albeit someone came in and told us 20 minutes into class. Tonight, no note, nobody coming in to let us know, so most of the class was treated to sitting in uncertainty for half an hour. Usually I'd peace after 15 minutes but this guy is kind of a jerk and a big attendance guy and I figured if he came even that late he'd still expect everyone to be there (an admittedly ridiculous expectation). But he didn't show. Super duper.
I go home in 2 weeks. Weird. I think the first thing I do will be to go to Panda Express and buy some Orange Chicken. And then maybe take a gastronomical tour of Wendy's and a dirty Mexican place near my house. Maybe round it all off with some ice cream from the dairy next to my house. Yum. Then maybe a drive. It's been a while. I like to drive. My parents finally sold that crappy van. My mom is happy. And my sister can't back it into poles or drive it into the back of other cars now so my Dad is happy. I guess I'm happy too though it was kind of fun to drive to friend's houses and parties.
Tomorrow night I leave for Sweden. Fly into Stockholm then jump on another flight to a city called Umea where my friend lives. I think it will be cold. Close to the coast and close to Norway, actually, I'm sure it will be cold. I'll think happy warm thoughts.
That's it. For now. If I get around to it I'll put some stuff up about Sweden when I get back.
L8s.
-Mitch
Besides that, nothing much. It was James Patrick's last weekend here, so it was a little crazy. I stayed out too late two nights in a row and as a result I'm sick. I also lost 5 hours of my life early Saturday morning somewhere along the line and for the life of me I can't seem to find them. Select few have born witness to their existence, but as for me, they're lost forever. Hope they were good.
Being sick sucks. If it isn't being very cold and then immediately very warm, it's waking up in the middle of the night a lot and not sleeping very well. And let's not forget the pleasure you get from blowing your nose in the middle of class a few times. In fact, the only good thing I can think about being sick when you're away from home is getting to take cold medicine, which is undeniably, pretty fun. When my parents visited my Mom somewhat prophetically brought along matching bottles of DayQuil and NyQuil, and for that, I'm eternally grateful for right now. Taking NyQuil knocks you straight out and DayQuil, well it's like getting to drink during the day without all the tired and nasty side-affects. Or is it effects. I don't know. Sorry.
On a different note, my Marketing teacher didn't show up to class tonight. I wouldn't usually mind seeing as how any break from class is usually a good thing but this class so happens to placed at a strategically obnoxious time of day for me, after a 5 hour break from my earlier class, at 6:30pm. So after being at home cozy in my room for a couple hours I have to wrestle free of the warmth of this house and get outside and walk 20 minutes to school for my least favorite class which is taught by a guy who obviously doesn't want to be there any more than the rest of us. This is the second time he's not shown up, but at least the first time he had the decency to let everyone know, albeit someone came in and told us 20 minutes into class. Tonight, no note, nobody coming in to let us know, so most of the class was treated to sitting in uncertainty for half an hour. Usually I'd peace after 15 minutes but this guy is kind of a jerk and a big attendance guy and I figured if he came even that late he'd still expect everyone to be there (an admittedly ridiculous expectation). But he didn't show. Super duper.
I go home in 2 weeks. Weird. I think the first thing I do will be to go to Panda Express and buy some Orange Chicken. And then maybe take a gastronomical tour of Wendy's and a dirty Mexican place near my house. Maybe round it all off with some ice cream from the dairy next to my house. Yum. Then maybe a drive. It's been a while. I like to drive. My parents finally sold that crappy van. My mom is happy. And my sister can't back it into poles or drive it into the back of other cars now so my Dad is happy. I guess I'm happy too though it was kind of fun to drive to friend's houses and parties.
Tomorrow night I leave for Sweden. Fly into Stockholm then jump on another flight to a city called Umea where my friend lives. I think it will be cold. Close to the coast and close to Norway, actually, I'm sure it will be cold. I'll think happy warm thoughts.
That's it. For now. If I get around to it I'll put some stuff up about Sweden when I get back.
L8s.
-Mitch
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Yeah I Know
alright. i've fallen way behind on this crap. there's too much to talk about concerning amsterdam and brussels. suffice to say i drank a lot of really cheap really good belgian beer and had a bad morning and bus ride to amsterdam and then had a good time eating lots of food and looking at red lights in amsterdam. check out facebook for pictures. for a full story buy me a beer when i get home and i'll tell you everything in excruciatingly embarrassing details.
when i got back from amsterdam my parents here in madrid so we hung out for a week and i got a bunch of good food for free and then this weekend we went south to alicante for a couple days. really quite nice. warm and sunny during the mornings and it was on the port with this huge mountain castle thing sticking up at the side of the town and then it rained and there was thunder and rain and hazy views out from hotel balcony out onto the ocean all night.
traveling with the parents is a lot better than traveling on your own. hotel rooms? are you kidding?
so that's that. more or less. i caught a train back to madrid this afternoon and spent a good amount of time looking out the window thinking about how nice life is that the things i'd like to avoid during my time living it.
so here you are. my list of things that i'd like to not do during my lifetime.
get stabbed.
stab someone.
watch someone get stabbed.
get hit by a vespa.
heroin.
get a small dog.
get the clap.
contract syphilis.
go to jail.
pop my colla(r).
spend more than a day at a time in kansas.
loose a limb.
get caught in an avalanche.
fall off a cliff.
have to jump out of an airplane without a parachute like keanu reeves in point break.
have to ever watch another keanu reeves movie while traveling in spain.
have to perform the heimlich on myself.
live for any extended period of time in or in close proximity to LA.
drink bicardi breeze for anything less than a joke.
spend a fourth of july without igniting some sort of explosive.
have my foot run over by a truck.
own a lifted truck.
be seen in a lifted truck.
be seen around a lifted truck.
go to typhoon saloon for anything other than metal skool.
go to pb more than one time a month.
cocaine.
get stabbed by a knitting needle.
get stabbed by a key.
get stabbed by a pen.
step on a nail.
fall down a hole and have to get rescued by the fire department while crying.
ever forget the names of both the dogs (shadow, chance) and the aptly named cat (sassy) in homeward bound.
get spiked by a porcupine.
get sprayed by a skunk.
wear crocs.
wear one of those obnoxious painter's hats.
ever stop playing video games, especially star wars ones, sometimes.
break my back.
break my ass bone.
get badly burned.
start a forest fire.
use facebook or myspace when i either get married or pass 27 years of age.
be afraid to mooch off of rich slash successful friends.
that's it i guess. there's more but my fingers are cold and i'm going to go hang up some laundry to dry and all in all i miss seattle and san diego and the people that live in both of those places.
see you soon.
-mitch
when i got back from amsterdam my parents here in madrid so we hung out for a week and i got a bunch of good food for free and then this weekend we went south to alicante for a couple days. really quite nice. warm and sunny during the mornings and it was on the port with this huge mountain castle thing sticking up at the side of the town and then it rained and there was thunder and rain and hazy views out from hotel balcony out onto the ocean all night.
traveling with the parents is a lot better than traveling on your own. hotel rooms? are you kidding?
so that's that. more or less. i caught a train back to madrid this afternoon and spent a good amount of time looking out the window thinking about how nice life is that the things i'd like to avoid during my time living it.
so here you are. my list of things that i'd like to not do during my lifetime.
get stabbed.
stab someone.
watch someone get stabbed.
get hit by a vespa.
heroin.
get a small dog.
get the clap.
contract syphilis.
go to jail.
pop my colla(r).
spend more than a day at a time in kansas.
loose a limb.
get caught in an avalanche.
fall off a cliff.
have to jump out of an airplane without a parachute like keanu reeves in point break.
have to ever watch another keanu reeves movie while traveling in spain.
have to perform the heimlich on myself.
live for any extended period of time in or in close proximity to LA.
drink bicardi breeze for anything less than a joke.
spend a fourth of july without igniting some sort of explosive.
have my foot run over by a truck.
own a lifted truck.
be seen in a lifted truck.
be seen around a lifted truck.
go to typhoon saloon for anything other than metal skool.
go to pb more than one time a month.
cocaine.
get stabbed by a knitting needle.
get stabbed by a key.
get stabbed by a pen.
step on a nail.
fall down a hole and have to get rescued by the fire department while crying.
ever forget the names of both the dogs (shadow, chance) and the aptly named cat (sassy) in homeward bound.
get spiked by a porcupine.
get sprayed by a skunk.
wear crocs.
wear one of those obnoxious painter's hats.
ever stop playing video games, especially star wars ones, sometimes.
break my back.
break my ass bone.
get badly burned.
start a forest fire.
use facebook or myspace when i either get married or pass 27 years of age.
be afraid to mooch off of rich slash successful friends.
that's it i guess. there's more but my fingers are cold and i'm going to go hang up some laundry to dry and all in all i miss seattle and san diego and the people that live in both of those places.
see you soon.
-mitch
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
ummmm.
amsterdam and brussels.
gnarly.
more to come. sorry for being lame but my parents are here and my life is way too exciting to sit at my computer all day.
(yeah right)
gnarly.
more to come. sorry for being lame but my parents are here and my life is way too exciting to sit at my computer all day.
(yeah right)
Saturday, November 10, 2007
r and b.
is bad.
i have two roommates who are from south africa who thank god are only around on the weekends. they talk with some pretty thick accents that are a mix of new york, south africa, london and australia i think. they've lived all over the place and i can't imagine how many drugs they've taken, so yeah, they talk a little funny and i can't understand everything they say but one works in barcelona during the week doing some sort of construction and the other works for ups and flys all over europe during most of the week, so they're both really only here on the weekends, which is as it turns out, quite terrific.
they usually get to the apartment for the weekend on thursday night or friday morning, and seeing as how they have pretty permanent jobs they make a bit of money, and unfortunately they have chosen to spend it on a big tv and very loud speakers. the tv isn't the problem, in fact i don't know why they have one, i mean they're never here and when they are here for the weekend they're always out partying. it's the speakers that i'm writing about today. and not just the speakers, i mean they're not evil in and of themselves, it's what comes out of the damn things that makes me want to cry.
r and b. rhythm and blues. it isn't though. it's just bad rap and r. kelly singing 'i'm a flirt'. one of them put on the whole trapped in a closet series last weekend and listened to it on repeat for hours. hours. i'm not joking. and neither was he.
i'll admit it. i bought the trapped in a closet dvd. it's great. it's hilarious and funny and everything you could wish for. but it's also a joke. these guys aren't joking and it's beginning to kill my soul.
it doesn't help that the walls in this apartment are made out of cardboard and they live right at the end of the hall, not 10 feet from my door. without stop this sort of crap plays all day until they leave for a party at night. not to mention their dinosaur steps when they come in at 6 in the morning slamming the 20 pound apartment door and walking like a t-rex and his fat brontosaurus friend. (i know a t-rex would eat a brontosaurus. get over yourself)
they also eat my food. which is really a feat all by itself because i think right now i have 2 cans of beer, an apple and yogurt in the fridge. maybe some pasta in the cupboard i'm not sure. but things like that won't stop them, in the morning i'll wake up to find that i don't have an apple and my beer is all gone. it's lovely. i think i'm going to put exlax on something and see what happens.
another thing. saul william's new album is reeeeally good. you can get it for either 5 dollars or for free here. the guilt trip almost killed me but i came out on top. enjoy.
http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/download
-mitch
i have two roommates who are from south africa who thank god are only around on the weekends. they talk with some pretty thick accents that are a mix of new york, south africa, london and australia i think. they've lived all over the place and i can't imagine how many drugs they've taken, so yeah, they talk a little funny and i can't understand everything they say but one works in barcelona during the week doing some sort of construction and the other works for ups and flys all over europe during most of the week, so they're both really only here on the weekends, which is as it turns out, quite terrific.
they usually get to the apartment for the weekend on thursday night or friday morning, and seeing as how they have pretty permanent jobs they make a bit of money, and unfortunately they have chosen to spend it on a big tv and very loud speakers. the tv isn't the problem, in fact i don't know why they have one, i mean they're never here and when they are here for the weekend they're always out partying. it's the speakers that i'm writing about today. and not just the speakers, i mean they're not evil in and of themselves, it's what comes out of the damn things that makes me want to cry.
r and b. rhythm and blues. it isn't though. it's just bad rap and r. kelly singing 'i'm a flirt'. one of them put on the whole trapped in a closet series last weekend and listened to it on repeat for hours. hours. i'm not joking. and neither was he.
i'll admit it. i bought the trapped in a closet dvd. it's great. it's hilarious and funny and everything you could wish for. but it's also a joke. these guys aren't joking and it's beginning to kill my soul.
it doesn't help that the walls in this apartment are made out of cardboard and they live right at the end of the hall, not 10 feet from my door. without stop this sort of crap plays all day until they leave for a party at night. not to mention their dinosaur steps when they come in at 6 in the morning slamming the 20 pound apartment door and walking like a t-rex and his fat brontosaurus friend. (i know a t-rex would eat a brontosaurus. get over yourself)
they also eat my food. which is really a feat all by itself because i think right now i have 2 cans of beer, an apple and yogurt in the fridge. maybe some pasta in the cupboard i'm not sure. but things like that won't stop them, in the morning i'll wake up to find that i don't have an apple and my beer is all gone. it's lovely. i think i'm going to put exlax on something and see what happens.
another thing. saul william's new album is reeeeally good. you can get it for either 5 dollars or for free here. the guilt trip almost killed me but i came out on top. enjoy.
http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/download
-mitch
Monday, November 5, 2007
valencia. more or less.
i always put off writing in this thing when i know i have a lot to write about and it's a bummer because what i really want to do is sit around a table with each and every one of you and talk and talk and talk. maybe with a beer. maybe.
but what i have is this so i'll use it more or less. valencia was incredible. we took a 6 hour train there and were supposed to leave at 6am the morning after halloween which naturally meant i didn't sleep at all and got to the train station with my friends claire and sadie to meet our madrid buddy alex and ilya ready to pass out on the train and wake up in the sun but the train ended up being sold out because it was a long weekend for all of spain. so we had to sleep on the ground in the train station for a while until the next train at noon came. we got on and that was that. nice long trip. spain has a lot of country side. i know every country has it's barren parts filling in between the hustle and bustle of life and it's silly and ignorant to think of a country or a region only as cities but spain has a lot and a lot of country space with absolutely nothing. old ghost villages you pass through on the train which i can only imagine used to stop at them when things were going on and better. interesting.
so because of our delay in madrid we got to valencia later than planned and ended up spending the night trying to find the camp ground we were planning on staying at. i've decided that hostels are for suckers and if you don't mind cramming into a tent and sleeping on rocks and being a little cold, camping is the way to go. so we find the site and set up the two little tents we have on this parking lot loose gravel site they give us. people in spain don't know what grass is i've decided. or dirt. but they sure as hell know what rocks are. the campsite guard rode his bike to the spot to show us where it was... picture a 60 year old man riding a bmx bike with double pegs and a huge flashlight in his teeth and you have what i was looking at.
after setting everything up we tried to find the beach, which was according to the guy at the desk, straight ahead. it wasn't. it was pitch black out and we walked for over an hour trying to find the beach, we could hear the roar of the ocean but were ultimately unable to find the darn thing. gave up and went and had a fire and roasted chorizo over it like little hobos on a stick. never had better. i barely ate that day and as hemmingway says, hunger will give you discipline. even if it's not a choice and you just can't afford to eat there's something very comforting about hunger. you know it will be there eventually and sometimes it's almost a waiting game to see when it actually happens. comforting to know that your body will always react in one way or another without doubt.
this is sadie. she's from wisonsin. you can tell because of her red hair.
and this is claire. her hands were cold so she's a sock monster.
anyways woke up and we had all decided sometime between rolling over to get the rock out of my spleen and then out of my kidney subsequently that we couldn't stay there another night. got on the bus and headed to a campsite closer to the city that we had seen coming in. got off and checked two out. one sucked. it was a parking lot they wanted us to camp on. next one was great, grassy and covered with trees. we were sharing a field with some spanish kids who were cool and because we had alex with us who grew up in spain we had a good connection of sorts. i've traveled a bit and have decided that traveling with someone who's native to that country or area is a much loved advantage. being able to have her ask directions or figure something out was awesome, we obviously could have done it without her but not so easily. wonderful.
that day was spent wandering around valencia after a fabulous all you can eat buffet with valencian paella and seafood, great salad and lots of coffee. i was in heaven. the city was gorgeous. old and laid back. i feel that any city next to the beach has a more relaxed atmosphere than those land locked. not sure why. maybe it's just the knowledge that you can go to the beach when you want without having to fly there. madrid is great, but it's missing the ocean. i can't imagine how much better it'd be with. probably as good as barcelona, which is now that i think about it, madrid with an ocean.
we wandered around and climbed huge trees in old parks and saw big buildings and cool markets and later that night wandered into a medieval fair being hosted in the city's bullfighting ring. it was incredible. everyone dressed up in old rags and a blacksmith outside banging out farming instruments and frames and booths with people inside selling all sorts of wondrous food and goodies. lots of scarves and tea and meat and bread. it was absolutely spell casting. we stood around for hours trying things to eat and watching all the people there. two men were walking around in purple tights and one was blowing a bagpipe and the other was playing the drums and it was magic. i wanted to dance my way across old times europe into the black plague. good times.
this is a picture of valencia at night.
this is a big tree.
got back to the campsite around 11 and had bought chocolate and fruit and bread and sausage in the city to roast over a fire and set out to find the beach, this time along a much more defined path. found some dead branches on the way there and carried all our goodies down a ways until we reached a parking lot and saw lots of cars with teenagers in them making out an we knew we were at the right spot. waltzed on pass them and came upon this fantastically huge beach stretching out all the way down the coast on either side with nothing but the stars to light the way. the ocean was black and dark and grey and scared the hell out of me and was pounding on the sand with these huge waves that threatened to creep up and take us all under. i don't think there's anything scarier than the ocean at night. absolutely terrifying. we made a little hobo campfire on the side of a sand dune and looked out over the horizon at these impossibly gigantic cruise and cargo ships harbored outside of the city looking to port, towering over the ocean and lighting it all up in this brilliant glow like floating cities. later after we'd been there for a bit this great golden half moon climbed out of the sea and eased up into the sky and cast this eerie ghost light on the ocean and everything all of a sudden made sense even if for just a little bit.
i slept well that night.
woke up the next morning feeling good, took down the tents and headed into the city. we packed all our gear into lockers in the train station and the lady with short hair there yelled at us for trying to pack everything into one huge locker that we could've put an elephant in but she thought otherwise and berated us until we spent 3 more euros on another humongous locker for one more pack and then left. our train was at 8 the next morning so we figured we'd just stay out most of the night, come back to the station, grab our stuff and be good to go.
we headed to these buildings in valencia that a famous spanish architect had recently constructed that were a cultural center, museums and a huge aquarium. i wanted to check out the aquarium but it was almost 20 euros which is a lot of money for fish so we just walked around instead. it was huge. the architecture of the buildings is incredible, white and skeletal. it reminded me of gaudi just a little bit with the tiny mosaic stones worked into the whole thing. it looks like this. and more. it's incredible. everything was surrounded by shallow pools of water and it blew my mind. it was so warm and by the water it was cool and life was good.
like a big weird whale skeleton.
walked back to the city and started drinking a little on the way back to get a good feeling for the night. we found a store selling 20 cent cans of decent beer so hung out there for a while and then headed over to the fair again to get some goood food and by good i mean delicious. i got a huge sandwich with cooked ham (it's all they eat) and it was greasy and gross and most satisfying. after that i treated myself to a bit of chocolate and washed it all down with some cold wonderful cerveza. life is too good sometimes.
oh, earlier in the day i'd found a simple plan poster too. it was great.
we eventually left the fair around midnight and wandered into some bars. got back to the station around 2 or 3 ready to get our stuff and bundle up for the night in the train station but we'd missed the sign on the door explaining that the room was locked from midnight to five in the morning. oooops. after walking around all day we'd left our sweatshirts in the lockers with the bags because it was so sunny and warm earlier so we had a long night of walking around to keep from freezing, sleeping short little bursts of restless sleep using newspaper as blankets and huddling next to the hand dryer in the bathroom to keep from freezing at 4 in the morning. needless to say that at 8 when the train came i was ready to pass out.
too bad it was the most packed train i've ever been on in my life. i had to run to get a seat. i seriously stepped on an old lady and smacked a little kid. i didn't care. i was getting a seat. i wasn't going to stand up for 6 hours after the best (read terrible) night of my life.
got a seat and passed out. after the first couple stops the train thinned out and people were able to sit down. at one point i woke up and realized that i'd drooled on myself and the people sitting across from me facing me were grossed out. i just looked down and then at them and drooled and smiled. they stopped looking then. went back to sleep and woke up in madrid. life's too good.
hugs.
but what i have is this so i'll use it more or less. valencia was incredible. we took a 6 hour train there and were supposed to leave at 6am the morning after halloween which naturally meant i didn't sleep at all and got to the train station with my friends claire and sadie to meet our madrid buddy alex and ilya ready to pass out on the train and wake up in the sun but the train ended up being sold out because it was a long weekend for all of spain. so we had to sleep on the ground in the train station for a while until the next train at noon came. we got on and that was that. nice long trip. spain has a lot of country side. i know every country has it's barren parts filling in between the hustle and bustle of life and it's silly and ignorant to think of a country or a region only as cities but spain has a lot and a lot of country space with absolutely nothing. old ghost villages you pass through on the train which i can only imagine used to stop at them when things were going on and better. interesting.
so because of our delay in madrid we got to valencia later than planned and ended up spending the night trying to find the camp ground we were planning on staying at. i've decided that hostels are for suckers and if you don't mind cramming into a tent and sleeping on rocks and being a little cold, camping is the way to go. so we find the site and set up the two little tents we have on this parking lot loose gravel site they give us. people in spain don't know what grass is i've decided. or dirt. but they sure as hell know what rocks are. the campsite guard rode his bike to the spot to show us where it was... picture a 60 year old man riding a bmx bike with double pegs and a huge flashlight in his teeth and you have what i was looking at.
after setting everything up we tried to find the beach, which was according to the guy at the desk, straight ahead. it wasn't. it was pitch black out and we walked for over an hour trying to find the beach, we could hear the roar of the ocean but were ultimately unable to find the darn thing. gave up and went and had a fire and roasted chorizo over it like little hobos on a stick. never had better. i barely ate that day and as hemmingway says, hunger will give you discipline. even if it's not a choice and you just can't afford to eat there's something very comforting about hunger. you know it will be there eventually and sometimes it's almost a waiting game to see when it actually happens. comforting to know that your body will always react in one way or another without doubt.
this is sadie. she's from wisonsin. you can tell because of her red hair.
and this is claire. her hands were cold so she's a sock monster.
anyways woke up and we had all decided sometime between rolling over to get the rock out of my spleen and then out of my kidney subsequently that we couldn't stay there another night. got on the bus and headed to a campsite closer to the city that we had seen coming in. got off and checked two out. one sucked. it was a parking lot they wanted us to camp on. next one was great, grassy and covered with trees. we were sharing a field with some spanish kids who were cool and because we had alex with us who grew up in spain we had a good connection of sorts. i've traveled a bit and have decided that traveling with someone who's native to that country or area is a much loved advantage. being able to have her ask directions or figure something out was awesome, we obviously could have done it without her but not so easily. wonderful.
that day was spent wandering around valencia after a fabulous all you can eat buffet with valencian paella and seafood, great salad and lots of coffee. i was in heaven. the city was gorgeous. old and laid back. i feel that any city next to the beach has a more relaxed atmosphere than those land locked. not sure why. maybe it's just the knowledge that you can go to the beach when you want without having to fly there. madrid is great, but it's missing the ocean. i can't imagine how much better it'd be with. probably as good as barcelona, which is now that i think about it, madrid with an ocean.
we wandered around and climbed huge trees in old parks and saw big buildings and cool markets and later that night wandered into a medieval fair being hosted in the city's bullfighting ring. it was incredible. everyone dressed up in old rags and a blacksmith outside banging out farming instruments and frames and booths with people inside selling all sorts of wondrous food and goodies. lots of scarves and tea and meat and bread. it was absolutely spell casting. we stood around for hours trying things to eat and watching all the people there. two men were walking around in purple tights and one was blowing a bagpipe and the other was playing the drums and it was magic. i wanted to dance my way across old times europe into the black plague. good times.
this is a picture of valencia at night.
this is a big tree.
got back to the campsite around 11 and had bought chocolate and fruit and bread and sausage in the city to roast over a fire and set out to find the beach, this time along a much more defined path. found some dead branches on the way there and carried all our goodies down a ways until we reached a parking lot and saw lots of cars with teenagers in them making out an we knew we were at the right spot. waltzed on pass them and came upon this fantastically huge beach stretching out all the way down the coast on either side with nothing but the stars to light the way. the ocean was black and dark and grey and scared the hell out of me and was pounding on the sand with these huge waves that threatened to creep up and take us all under. i don't think there's anything scarier than the ocean at night. absolutely terrifying. we made a little hobo campfire on the side of a sand dune and looked out over the horizon at these impossibly gigantic cruise and cargo ships harbored outside of the city looking to port, towering over the ocean and lighting it all up in this brilliant glow like floating cities. later after we'd been there for a bit this great golden half moon climbed out of the sea and eased up into the sky and cast this eerie ghost light on the ocean and everything all of a sudden made sense even if for just a little bit.
i slept well that night.
woke up the next morning feeling good, took down the tents and headed into the city. we packed all our gear into lockers in the train station and the lady with short hair there yelled at us for trying to pack everything into one huge locker that we could've put an elephant in but she thought otherwise and berated us until we spent 3 more euros on another humongous locker for one more pack and then left. our train was at 8 the next morning so we figured we'd just stay out most of the night, come back to the station, grab our stuff and be good to go.
we headed to these buildings in valencia that a famous spanish architect had recently constructed that were a cultural center, museums and a huge aquarium. i wanted to check out the aquarium but it was almost 20 euros which is a lot of money for fish so we just walked around instead. it was huge. the architecture of the buildings is incredible, white and skeletal. it reminded me of gaudi just a little bit with the tiny mosaic stones worked into the whole thing. it looks like this. and more. it's incredible. everything was surrounded by shallow pools of water and it blew my mind. it was so warm and by the water it was cool and life was good.
like a big weird whale skeleton.
walked back to the city and started drinking a little on the way back to get a good feeling for the night. we found a store selling 20 cent cans of decent beer so hung out there for a while and then headed over to the fair again to get some goood food and by good i mean delicious. i got a huge sandwich with cooked ham (it's all they eat) and it was greasy and gross and most satisfying. after that i treated myself to a bit of chocolate and washed it all down with some cold wonderful cerveza. life is too good sometimes.
oh, earlier in the day i'd found a simple plan poster too. it was great.
we eventually left the fair around midnight and wandered into some bars. got back to the station around 2 or 3 ready to get our stuff and bundle up for the night in the train station but we'd missed the sign on the door explaining that the room was locked from midnight to five in the morning. oooops. after walking around all day we'd left our sweatshirts in the lockers with the bags because it was so sunny and warm earlier so we had a long night of walking around to keep from freezing, sleeping short little bursts of restless sleep using newspaper as blankets and huddling next to the hand dryer in the bathroom to keep from freezing at 4 in the morning. needless to say that at 8 when the train came i was ready to pass out.
too bad it was the most packed train i've ever been on in my life. i had to run to get a seat. i seriously stepped on an old lady and smacked a little kid. i didn't care. i was getting a seat. i wasn't going to stand up for 6 hours after the best (read terrible) night of my life.
got a seat and passed out. after the first couple stops the train thinned out and people were able to sit down. at one point i woke up and realized that i'd drooled on myself and the people sitting across from me facing me were grossed out. i just looked down and then at them and drooled and smiled. they stopped looking then. went back to sleep and woke up in madrid. life's too good.
hugs.
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