Karl Brumblebeard

2017-03-12T18:35:00.001-07:00

I'm bored, so I'm doing something different. I'm sure no one reads this anyways, so this is really just for me.

Per my last post I am still into adventure, the arctic and seeing places around where I live, which is now Akron/Cleveland area in Northeast Ohio.

I'm single again, so I'm sad, but I think it was the right choice for me and for her, because after all a relationship is only good if its a two way street. There's someone else I'm interested in now, but doesn't look like that will go anywhere...that said I feel like I just had two breakups! ugh!

Bah! On to what I want to talk about, which is gear. As in "hi my name is Dilley and I have a problem. I love gear. I love gear maybe more than the actual adventures. Sometimes I go on the adventures just because I think the gear needs it more than I do."

In order to talk more about gear, rather than just buying gear I'll tell you about
Yesterday's Adventures!

I rode my bike up the towpath to Penninsula and then rode over to the ledges and hiked the loop trail, saw the lookout and then rode all the way home.
It was cold and it was windy. Wind was exacerbated by the hills, especially leaving the ledges when I was NOT warmed up at all and there was a big long downhill.

Well, for starters it was a patagonia day up top.
Patagonia classic retro x cardigan. This is basically a super furry (gray in my case) fleece jacket, more like fur really with a (red) polyester windproof liner material, a chest pocket and two big hand pockets. Mens version comes without a hood so my good friend was nice enough to work with me on finding materials and sewing one on...
Here is pre and post hood:

Underneath that was more than just some beads and chest hair. I had a "vintage" (at this point since it was from Freshman year in high school 1990) capilene midweight long sleeve top.

Patagonia expedition weight capilene hat rounded out the top part.

On the bottom I had some bib shorts and my vintage "Lana Vergine" Italian tights that are basically never too warm.

So the temperature was in the mid to high 20's with some wind (especially on the downhills) and I took off around 2pm. Sunny beautiful day too :-)

Let's start with the capilene hat.

For cycling it is nearly perfect. It's a little light in terms of blocking any wind, but when you're up and at a good clip it means it's not too hot, which most hats usually are. Of course above a certain temperature a headband is more than enough, but for many things below about 35 deg F the Patagonia hat is ideal.

On top the patagonia midweight capilene is perfect for movement in the less than about 35 deg range as the first layer or baselayer. It's just a long sleeve crewneck and doesn't fit super tight, but I actually just had it taken in to be more form fitting, but it doesn't fit like bike shorts or anything that's for sure. That makes a difference for sure. For example if you have a midweight capilene and it fits super tight it will be far warmer than if just fitted/tailored fit.

Onto the classic super duper furry patagonia jacket with a polyester (like nylon) liner. It's an extremely breathable almost fur like fleece with a very thin slick lining. So the cold is kept at bay pretty well, but I don't think it's designed for winds encountered while cycling...more like for cross country skiing and mountain climbing. That said it did really well until trying to go downhill towards dusk...I should have had a shell on towards the end...all I had was a really thin cheesy vest from adidas. So at the end of the day I was fine, but it just takes a few miles of riding to warm up that jacket if you didn't have a shell. Still its not ideal.

Lately the ideal setup has been a midweight baselayer, hardfaced and somewhat thin fleece and a vest that has arms that zip on to it that is also 100% windproof...

On to footwear: Toes were fine with some thick, tightly woven very old smartwool brand socks. They were inside the Shimano winter cycling shoes. Normally I wear some breathable neoprene with a fleece pile lining (socks) with a thin liner type sock (no cotton)!

Next up - The Ultimate Hoody!!!

Help! I'm being held prisoner!

2013-12-29T20:21:00.002-08:00

No, I'm not really being held prisoner....It's as if I'm a prisoner in a strange land, and like all long adventures (count of monte cristo?) there is always a chunk of time spent in bad circumstances, or incarcerated either against one's will, or one is out of money, etc. etc... I do feel though as if I've acquiesced to have my adventure be a foregone thought because I'm now in Ohio and Ohio was never my first, second, third or any choice on lists of places to live. But then again the plan was always to ride this out and see how it goes, and hopefully it brings me back overseas :-)

It was supposed to be two years in Ohio and then I'd be back in Europe or somewhere overseas with the company I work for.... Two years passed on November 1, 2013 and so I'm getting itchy and ansy...Itchansy I guess. I want to purge all my stuff save that which will fit in a backpack or on a bike again.

My mind is revolving around thoughts of adventure, specifically winter adventure and bike adventure. I want to go to a place where I can dream again. Where possibilities are limited only by my imagination and the power of positive and purposeful thought.

Partying doesn't hold much interest for me anymore. It could be due to the fact that I'm here in Ohio, or I'm just moving to another phase in life. Or my stomach is all fucked up and I can't really drink much anyways. I've always been a lactard, but now I'm all gluten free and only try to eat veggies or even vegan. Doesn't always happen, but I've been getting back to healthy. Hitting the bars all weekend hasn't helped that, but hey how often you get to hang with two 5'10" good looking sisters and drive them around in your big pimp daddy cadillac. (yes, I own a big pretty blue caddy now that is a fucking spaceship...its ridiculous and thirsty. And no, it's not an old person's cadillac... Its one step down from the V series and it was owned by a caddy executive so it has options it shouldn't have, as in it was $70K new back in 2006 and I bought it a year ago with only 45K miles on it. And I got a sweet deal on it, so I don't feel that bad about owning it...but this is another whole story).

I know I'm going in all directions (surprise!) but here's the revolving door of my mind right now:

Adventure
Bike touring
Seeing a new place in this part of the country every weekend
The arctic or very northerly and rugged places
Weekend trips to friends with $200 or so airfare range or driving distance (Atlanta, Connecticut, Maine, D.C....)
Trip to PDX to see my family of friends I miss so much

So I'm sure no one is following this anymore, but Karl is back....

La Roux - In For The Kill (NortHHeads Remix) - Drum n Bass

2011-11-10T15:51:00.001-08:00

Oohhhhh i really like la roux

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_W-9tFq6k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iThumbs @
503-998-8994

Holy crap.

2011-11-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have a new apartment! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!

i must be in the USA cuz....

2011-10-20T19:58:00.001-07:00

the beer sucks, people are loud, the styles are bland and the bar just asked for something called my ID!

so travelling today is still not over. It all started at 4 am italy time. i had to carry an enormous heavy box containing my bike down 4 flights of narrow stairs.
then it was maybe a mile to the station, and i had to keep setting the damn box down because its so big, awkward and heavy!
So at 435 i arrive all sweaty at the beginning of my journey with a train ticket (without a bicycle) to milan centrale. so im already sweaty and illegal.
luckily i found a car right away with a spot to lean the box up against the wall and a seat i could watch it from. it only fell once. that old lady needed to be put out o her misery!

3 hours later i am wrestling this giant bike onto the platform, which is pretty low compared to the height of the train.

i spend 50 feet slugging it along and a nigerian with a cart a tiny tiny cart, comes to my rescue. but in a third world fashion we strap the elephant to the rollerskate and make it work.

im glad he showed up...it was a long way to the cab. the first cabbie couldnt even accomodate my size (haha). so another stepped forward. we then drove about 20 mins to linate milan airport. he talked on the radio the whole time!

i get to my gate with huge box by 830 or so. its a short line to lufthansa with only one ticket person. It takes forever. not until 930 do i talk to someone. my flight is cancelled.

i end up with a new routing onto british airways (BA) and a whole bunch of little slips of paper. this is bad. i hate little slips of paper. these look like some archaic train receipt. something that probably only italians use. they make no sense and have no times.

i go tothe ba line with my pile o stuff. HUGE lines. apparently all of japan was on ba today.
at least i (after another 20-30 mins) got a smokin hot check in girl that spoke english.

finally i get to a gate and a plane. ba is pretty damn good. theyre like how airlines were when i was young. roomy, efficient, attentive service.

but shit is it a long flight. i get from milan to heathrow, which is a huge cattle call of an airport. and i am not used to everyone having english as a first language. so thats my first culture shock.

my second one comes in the usa. we just seem like a bunch of happy hilbillies! our airport looks like a kindercare. its poorly organized. and security. omg! what a bunch of doofuses. "shoes off, liquids out!" blahblahblah...its like kids playing with security toys, only capable of wearing a short haircut.

so the italians didnt really put me in the system for the seattle to pdx leg. so i am using a voucher for food which lufthansa gave me...and didnt tell me about. i just happened to find it in the packet of pieces of paper (the one missing a ticket from sea to pdx!). and i am gettig on the 840pm to pdx...funny thing is my bike made it on the flight! Ahhh!!!

Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone

Radler!

2011-10-12T09:28:00.001-07:00

So i learned something about my new favorite drink. Radler is a drink in germany whereby one takes tap pilsner beer and fills anywhere from half to a quarter of the glass with lemonade (or any "ade" really). i prefer it with a quarter or less lemonade, but u can also buy it 50/50 in bottles at the store. Its great on a hot day as it minimizes dehydration and its realllly refreshing!
So today i learned that "Radler" means cyclist! haha...of course i lije the cyclist beer!! haha!

Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone

Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone

Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone

more berlin

2011-10-12T07:23:00.001-07:00

so when my friend kim said "techno is everywhere here" i took it as hyperbole. but no. there really is techno everywhere. and it is in fact specifically "techno" or "minimal"!! and it is mostly terrible! i like richie hawtin/plastikman and his stuff, but it is just terrible here!

The coffee is no match for stumptown.
Most bikes are sold for about 100€.
Summer is finally over. i bought a hat and gloves yesterday, at a "Woolworths" of all places. for the last three days or so i have fully utilized my rain gear, new "LaFont" thriftstore stylish 80's sleek blue puffy coat, hat gloves, bike lights and waterproof super messenger backpack(mostly for groceries, now huge packaging textbooks, and smuggling drinks into clubs).

My next stop is the Netherlands and then Italy and then home!!

"yeah, i kayak. so whut?"

a gun camera...flea markets are rad here!

graffiti in abe's courtyard where he's staying and running the kitchen of an underground bar.

Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone

party fahrt!

2011-10-05T05:08:00.000-07:00

U can dip your own, or u can request theirs...be nice though. Order the iced coffee!

So just a quick list of some Berlin-ness-niss:
a four story marble slide
urban climbing complete with shoes and ropes
5 day food poisoning
chicks on speed

do no think "Bisar!"
trannsexual karaoke
oktoberfest
iowa army
electro swing
bump de bump
hercules the green monster
viking tandem kayaking
the old love
crocodiles and hippos
my first schnitzel
underground bar
a bag of trees
the coolest blue pen ever
popebusters!!
diaphragm-headed women
a short discussion with a ventriloquist and himself
antipope demonstration
RADLER!! I love Radler!!!
pink tubes
turkish sucuk
the most amazing thermal spa hot tub complex EVER!!!!
cool graffiti
kreuzberg
trampoline parks
river clubs
HUGE BENCHES!!
3 huge men full of holes
"just because i like heavy metal does not mean that i like stinky bathrooms!"

yeah! bankpower is about the people!!! hahahaha!!!! rright!!!!

eurodont! because it dont matter u fucked up toothed weirdo!!

do NOT throw your canoe paddle out the window in Italy

yes, thats a diaphragm on her head.....
This is a needle exchange/purchasing vending machine...right next to the kids circus! Man it was fun to buy needles and then stick people and be like "HAHAHA!! I have AIDS!"

A bike company with my middle name! (they are very common here)

the badeschiff...outdoor pool on the river spree with some amazing views...the day it got hot enough to go, was just one day after they closed!!! ahhhhhhhhh
Berlin mauer east wall gallery...

aaaaannnnddd we're coming into the home stretch!

2011-10-05T03:37:00.000-07:00

So, wow! what a run...and just when it has to end a new chapter begins!
I'll be working for Axiom/P&G in Cincinnati, doing packaging engineering again. I am planning the last few little jaunts before heading back to Portland on the 20th of October. A few days after that I will be driving to Cincinnati for my jobby job and working with a guru of packaging and learning a ton. I am sure my brain will be sore from all of its exertion, but I am so stoked to be able to put it back through its paces.

I still cant get over Berlin. There are so many bikers, so many cool places. Everyone speaks perfect english and is very interesting and welcoming. I have about one more week here, and then I will visit amsterdam and rotterdam, and all those dam places in the dam netherlands, hopefully some of which will happen with my dam friend dan. Then I have to make it back to Italy, box up eriks bike and fly out of Milan.

THEN I'll have to grab all my stuff in Portland and grab and hug all of you that will be there and say some farewells and start driving east. I will probably head down the coast to visit my friends in sacramento (if they'll put up with me!) and drive east from there....

It feels weird to say that I will be driving east, but I guess from portland u cant really drive very far west. But I have always headed "out west."

I have learned that my car's roof got bashed by a parking structure. apparently the parking structure started it, and Kirsten....being such a rabble rouser as usual was like "ok motherF"§$§$&er! U want Some OF This!!!" and she rammed it good. Hopefully all will be fixed though and ready to head out west. Anyone want to ride with me??

berlin....

2011-09-22T09:24:00.001-07:00

the pdx of europe on heavy european steroids. i want to stay, but i am still visiting. it looks like i will be heading home soon and getting a job again in packaging in cincinnati, to work for a while and plan my next adventure. i will post some more pics soon.
i will tell u that i am a happy camper. i have been renting a bike for 7 €/day and i have been biking all over and seeing stuff about the wall, pope protest, great beer, good food, cultural events, architecture, and most importantly, biking everywhere!

talk to u soon....

Sent from my old iPhone

english funny-isms from Romania

2011-09-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

You thirsty for it!? You want it!?

Saw this all over Dracula's castle..."Attention Scary!" Is what I think it means...actually no, it means "Attention, Stairs! Don't break your ass!"

It's been a loooong time, so this is a looooong post!

2011-09-02T02:46:00.000-07:00

I warn you now! I am feeling introspective and if you don't want to read there are a lot of pictures....there, you've been warned!

I probably haven't written because it hasn't been easy to actually post anything without a real computer. I probably haven't written because I've reached a part of europe where I could be a little bit more of myself. A place where there are outlets for insanity which haven't quite yet existed. The fun's been too intense to do anything constructive as well...It's taken a refuge in an empty apartment of a friend in another country to be in the right mindset to write and post.

Right now I'm in a friend's apartment in Cluj Napoca, Romania and I've spent the last month or so having a large group of people to have fun with, in a town that provides any type of fun you desire. I've also spent the last three weeks being really tired all the time, coughing and blowing my damn nose. But before the sickness was the pure unadulterated fun...and most of that was performed with a wig.

I've met tons of hungarians, brits, irish, LOTS of dutch people, germans (kiss kiss), Romanians, israelis, italians, french, danish, swedish, finnish, norwegian, and many more. I've shared amazing, humble and also simple experiences with them in all states of being and miss every one of them . And this is the point where I say that I will miss them, but I hope to return one day to Europe and see them all again...but I won't....because I am staying.

Before I left the USA, I told everyone that I may, in fact wish to never return! I have to admit right now that I miss everyone terribly. But to change my ticket would mean I would not have enough money to return if I did come home. I only bought a round trip because it was the same as a one way. So maybe I'll get a ticket and come home for christmas....? But I do miss people at home.

I want to go home to see my mom.

I want to go home to see my dad and Joanne.

I miss dave and erin, and now of course I am uncle dilley, so I would get to see little Colin as well.

I miss portlanders, especially one that's a 'miamier' now.

It seems that I actually feel like I'm about to go home, that this will, should, has to end sometime. It is a vacation after all, isn't it? But it's not. It's a lifestyle that I've always ended up being happiest in. A lifestyle where I don't know tomorrow, but I can define it as what's predicted or I can completely alter it to suit my ridiculousness.

I think what I am saying, and maybe this is too heavy, but I want to marry this lifestyle. I want to be committed. I don't expect to always be a grunt, moving dirt, cleaning toilets, schlepping bikes around, or any such thing forever. I expect that I am a writer or some such nomadic pursuit. Most importantly I seek a life worth writing about. I've always had this in the back of my mind, and maybe I'm expressing it now so that you'll hold me to it. Just like I did when I had to scare myself into getting onstage for standup comedy and I told all 100+ interns at 3M where I worked that I was doing it so that I knew they would hold me to it. It took not 1 but 3 weeks, but finally I did it. And I'm a funnier man because of it!

And now let me exercise a lightning change of subject, just like pamdemonium is famous for performing. I wish to return to recent events...so, here ya go, a real update.

I am in Romania, after being in Budapest for a month. I spent a week at the Sziget festival. Afterwards there was the unofficial after sziget-also one week-festival. I forgot just how ridiculously much I love festivals. I forgot how that that is my element, and I can just be anything, and say anything at any moment. I forgot how a good festival causes us to forget how we really are day to day and unleash everything that we have within us that is good, funny, genuine, ridiculous, hardcore, loving and insane.

But then you return to "normalcy" and I find myself saying 'but...but...why can't it always be like that?' But it isn't. When you go out in the city people ask why in the hell you're wearing a wig. Some of them get it "because its fucking fun and silly you idiots!" But the reaction isn't simply "woohoo!" or "can i take your picture?" or "can i interview you for dutch television?" It's more guarded and filled with trepidation. And that's it; there's no hesitation at a festival. You see someone, something, or have some idea for what something can be and you just go for it. There's no hesitation based on the fear of what would someone think if I did this? You just throw your hands up and scream, or start at mosh pit, or tell someone their smile is insane, or buy a stranger a beer, or hug someone, or make up a song and get 50 people to sing it with you (BEER IN THE SKYYYY WITH DILLLEEYYY!!! BUM BUM BA BUM!)....life is goddamn good at a festival! But why in the hell does it ever go back to "normal?" Don't we all feel this way all the time? I guess there has to be balance, but imagine if we all felt this way all the time...what would a festival be like then?!!!

So...post festival ways to break up the normal drudgery:

A few swedish and some dutch, an australian and myself hit up aquaworld in budapest. I surfed a standing wave, we rode waterslides, did jumps, got yelled at by lifeguards and parents, prayed to the wave gods, spun bubbles filled with kids and one of us ended up with a chicken leg for a middle finger, but that's another story. Did I mention I fucking love the water!

And then it seemed that I met many people from Romania and I was so close that I just had to come visit before I went back to Italy and then on to the Berliners!!

After debating my visa situation my friend knew some border control people and asked them about my situation and assuaged my concerns for re-entry from an EU country (Romania) back into the Schengen countries. So I decided last minute to head off to Romania and I am here now and have really enjoyed myself. Romanians are nice. Things are cheaper here. A beer is about a euro. A jameson shot with a beerback...about 1.5 euro. I partied it up in Cluj, then rested for most of the next day and saw an amazing place, the Salt Mines of a town called "Turda."

The next day we rested a lot and then my friends took me to the cliffs at the lake/drinking water resevoir near here. We got some good shots of me cliff jumping as one of them has a giant camera. After a few glasses of wine both lakeside and in town we retired for an early start.

Tuesday and Wednesday we drove over 1000 km and saw a romanian stonehenge sort of place. We camped in a farmers field...which you couldn't really do in the US...Americans would shoot you with buckshot or get really angry. We then saw an amazing road that was first mentioned as "Ceacescu's Road" in a Top Gear episode. So I did it...I got to go to a place from top gear and drive it!! Next we headed for Dracula's Castle...actually Vlad the Impaler. A man who, depending on whom you asked was either a man of Romania and for the people or a vicious psychopath killing and maiming at will and was friend to no man!

I spent almost all day yesterday resting...finally a day almost entirely devoid of activities where I could rest...after three weeks. Damn I feel old. One really has to work a lot harder to keep up with 18-25 year olds!!

I feel a lot better today, and I will go out and see some of cluj...if it doesn't rain on me. Tonight I will get my mop of beard and hair trimmed and then this weekend we will go north to see traditional romanian peoples. (I.e. headscarves, carts, donkeys, and hay).

So...if you're still reading and have any employment or writing tasks/questions/answers for me, I'd be glad to hear them...

love you all and miss you all! here's a few more pics...otherwise the bulk are on facebook...

part of dracula's castle...from the inner courtyard

part of smargetisusa (sp?) the Romanian Stonehendge

The escalators out of the metro in Budapest....really steep and really long and they have these fans that look like jet engines.

Street art in Cluj Napoca...I saw it while peeing on a wall.

I think this was two nights after Sziget....

Hungary independence celebration...THREE sets of fireworks and that meant THREE GRAND FINALES!!

converse boobs

the first people I met at the festival...and like 90% of Szigeters, yes, they were dutch.

Flo on the Electric chair

Jeremiah with wig

FLOOGGGGGINNGG MOLLLLLYYYYY!!!!

My friend Pip...she wins for most colorful outfit!

The one night all the budapest crew FINALLY actually met up and hung out for the night!

The blonde wig has a special effect over whomever wears it

like I said...a special power comes over you!

Kickflip...he's dutch...he skates...He catches fire in the sun, therefore he must hydrate.

Beer in the sky with dilley...and a bunch of Italians.

...and an australian...

"The lad" as some called him....heavy bromance with this one

Kim showing off a Trabant, which she tells me means orbit...they're the funniest and cutest little communist cars. Kim I'll see you soon!

my "Kids"...as in "Come on kids! Let's get a picture! and Pip don't you make a funny face!...awww Pip!!"

GOOOGOOOOLLL BORDELLOOOO!!...although honestly I had no energy left for the mosh pit at this point...but I did anyways...
Alex wrote on the Roma Tent, that apparently this guy looks like me...someone else wrote E.T. and pointed to a lady on the gypsy tent nearby. When I took a picture of it these dutch guys asked me who I was. I told them this was my family, and the hill behind it was our land...etc etc...I had them going for about 15 minutes with pure made up silliness...
On the boat back from sziget this french guy just started reading the program out loud for everyone and making silly noises. I liked him, he's a fellow lunatic.
The Irish and the British will always get along. Especially if there's only one of each and they get to pose in a huge red cadillac convertible during a hungarian rockabilly concert.

some food in buda

2011-08-06T11:03:00.001-07:00

so the burger is the first american food I've had in a while...and it was friggin enormous! two patties, onions (they were out of bacon), giant buns and a plate of fries. the other is basically snack mix from slovakia i think. a lovely australian girl shared it with me...

guns, swords, cups and pitchers

2011-08-06T10:59:00.001-07:00

national history museum...free....but only 2% of it is written in english!

the day of wigs!!

2011-08-06T10:56:00.001-07:00

i also met an amateur touring french breakdancer and had a break off!...i lost of course and now my back is really sore!

national trash day

2011-08-06T10:54:00.001-07:00

so once a year, in each area a different day, u can throw any all ur stuff out that u dont want and then the state picks it up the next day and...i dont know, throws it into austria or some thing.
During the night the gypsys come and guard it. if u want something from the pile then they'll sell it to u. then they have a friend get a truck and they take all the scrapwood and metal away. so its more like national gypsy flea market day if u ask me.

communism

2011-08-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

national history museum

food poisoning

2011-08-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

...they have it here for sure!!

englidsh tis da deefeecolt langooage

2011-08-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

"vagy" tea

palinka

2011-08-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

this is an ad for the national booze. the first night i drank some home made version (legal to distill at home) out of an evian bottle off some 16yr old girls...in a bar...and they told me 14 is the age of consent...so i drank it, said "you guys are old" and left.

beerdapest

2011-08-06T10:31:00.001-07:00

you're drunk! no you're drunk! ....whatever dude you're floating on a giant ribbon!

Beerdapest

2011-08-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Portland right now...that is a Portland where all the women are exceedingly pretty, the food is different and the bars/streets have few rules and you can go out all night (the bar down the street is open 24 hours...they have a broken window, but they don't fix it because they're never closed...). However there is a river that divides the town, bike paths are rampant, there are hipsters and fixies, cheap good beer is everywhere (cheaper AND better than pdx though!), and the weather is either gorgeous or grey.

That said it is still Eastern Europe. And I like it a lot...all I need is my bike and I'd be stoked!

The first night was fun, we went to one of the famous "ruins" bars (Szimpla), where dilapidated or bombed buildings are converted into huge open air bars with music, games, video screens everywhere and art. I met a few other people going to the Sziget festival this coming week, and just in general enjoyed the atmosphere of a place that wasn't so uptight as Italy...or as expensive! Beers are about 2.50 here.

The fun ended the next day when I realized I had eaten a bad Kebab...Food poisoning for two days. On the second day of the poisoning though I still managed to walk a ways around the city with my new friends and also bike all over with some heinously shitty cruiser bikes from a local rental place. The architecture here is so intricate, old and amazing. Things are dirty, but that feels more comfortable than shiny and new.

I have some pictures I will post from my phone, that will come in the next post, but basically there are a lot of funny english language mistakes on signs and buildings. I don't have any fun party pictures because my good camera decided to get a small piece of dirt under the lens and now there is a blur just to the right of the middle on all pics. LAME! Canon's quality has really dropped!!

I was going to help a friend start a bike rental business, but it is too late in the season for that. So I'm helping at the hostel, which he didn't end up buying, and I'm selling tours and handing out flyers and what not to earn some cash and not feel like a freeloader. So I'm using those gypsy sales skills I learned at clear to sell beer, pub crawls, cave tours, etc. etc....in a gypsy country. And i'm staying in the staff "apartment" a few blocks from the hostel...

We just got tickets today for Sziget Festival which is insane! My top three all time favorites are playing...gogol bordello, flogging molly, and 2many dj's. But also judas priest, motorhead, interpol, blah blah blah, etc. etc. Here's the lineup! If you're in Europe, get your ass here!!

http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english/programs/programs

So the next post will have pics, otherwise I'm basically just "working" and trying to figure out what to do with my life. Anyone have any ideas?

budapest!

2011-07-29T01:29:00.001-07:00

I am on my way to the airport headed for budapest! the biking is done because it is just too small. I am so bummed as i never enjoyed cycling so much as when i went from zurich to chiavari!
I am excited though. the sziget festival has all my favorite djs AND bands. I will also have work and a place to stay...still i have no idea what to expect!

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so ahhh...

2011-07-23T18:44:00.001-07:00

yeah, just had a fight with 8 or so Italians...just me and dan. the fact that we fought them off is pretty fucking hilarious and pathetic for them...I've never seen an 8 vs 2 fight turn out well for the two....fuckyou italian meatheaded dumbshit mommas boys!!!!

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good shit

2011-07-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

so I've been working hard on my "vacation" updates coming soon, but here's a pic of a cd i found in the equivalent of a truck stop off an italian highway. i think its their best shit!