Well, Miami, my job and life in general has been keeping me very busy lately. In turn, I have been keeping my liver very busy lately too. >.< Anyhow, on with the good stuff: travel photos!
As promised AGES ago, here are my pictures from New Orleans! Back in October, I flew over for a weekend. Forgive the crap quality of these shots. It was a fast, sleep depraved trip. I was out until 5am every night and up again pretty early. Most of these were taken while riding in a car, walking drunk outta my mind or slightly hung over. ;)
Well, here we go!
Downtown New Orleans. Defiantly a different character to the buildings compared to Miami where they're all highliter colors. ;)
Superdome! ... chilling
Being below sea level as it is, you cant bury people under the ground. So they bury them above the ground. Creepy. Here are some above ground graves.
Some old church thing.
A river boat
Bourbon Street. Its like one giant college kegger party... always. >.< Streets filled with LSU fans... enough to make a Gator wanna gag. ;) haha
Drunk bastardos bursting from every seam!
Cant go to New Orleans without checking out a blues gig! That was one awesome thing about Bourbon street, all kinds of live bands in most of the bars all night into the wee hours. :)
But the novelty wore off pretty quick. Maybe I'm getting too old to see the fun in getting sticky sweet drinks spilled on my feet while watching the underagers vomit all over themselves. We went wandering off the beaten path.
No trip to Louisiana is complete without a visit to some swamps! :) mmm.. swamps. ... with GIANT BUGS! Dude, thats the biggest cricket I've ever seen! The water bottle is there for a bit of perspective on his size.
Swamp!
All in all, it was a great trip. New Orleans is definaly still in bad shape in some places. The roads are horrendous and some neighborhoods are still deserted. But, I've never been there pre-Katrina so I dont have much of a frame of reference outside of what my friend who was guiding me had to say. Fun trip! Good food! Nice people! Thanks a lot, Brad! =D
Heres some pics from the days since I returned from Japan. Some of the many good times I had in Orlando. Unemployed for 2 months was awsome!
Ami and I at the Morikamo Museum in Delray beach. I had a great time and learned of a new job opportunity that later became my current bread winning job. WOO! Thanks Ami for all the great times! Heres to more!
Blaze and Eric thumb wrestling at City Walk in Orlando. Fun times! ;)
Me, Takashi and crew at the first 5k run I've ever done. I got 3rd in my age class! WOO! Who knew this boxer could run!? hahaha!
Still to come... Pics of Miami! The town that keeps on giving! ;)
Life has begun for me once again here in the US. I'm in Miami and getting used to it little by little. But my traveling and adventures haven't ended yet! So I will continue this blog. Before I can go into all the cool stuff thats happened since going home, I should take one last look at the month before I left Japan. Days that now seem so far away even though they were so recent. The people and places that are now inaccessible for the time being and or might never see again. ;_; Some of the best times of my life were spent with these people and in these places and so I know no matter how far, they will always and forever be in my heart.
Lets take a look.
Kobe Harborland
Tomo and I make a visit to Harborland in Kobe on a gorgeous and flawless day.
Sayonara Beer Garden in Kobe at SOGO
Hyogo JETs unite for one last time to say goodbye to the good times. We had an awsome time! I'm gonna miss everyone. (In this pic from left to right, Josh, me, Amanda, Nikki, Matt and Luke is out front.)
4th of July in Sanda!
A repeat of last years bash, we pull it off again in true Sanda style, complete with a visit and write up by the local police. >.< Yikes! Good times though! Heres Jamie playing with fire.
the whole lot of us
Matt looking a bit burnt from the stunts. I too looked alot like that and sadly, burned a hole in my favorite shirt! >.< The pink mad-cow one with the cow on it saying, "I'm not mad". I'm sad. Death to a great t-shirt.
Tokyo! ... one last time.
I went to Tokyo and partied hardy with Kevin one last time. I'm gonna miss the hell outta that cheeky bugger. We had quite the adventure that night complete with extreme drunkeness, a yakuza bar, ass cheeks/ball sacks/purple helmets/needles/wax/etc (the Japanese are strange), and chatting up random Tokyoites on the last train home. Good times I'll never forget... no matter how hard I try. hahaha ;)
The next day I caught up with Jen. We had a nice time too complete with a sighting of the 'megane rapper'!
This is the megane rapper. Hes a dude rapping and advertising about glasses. hahaha! It was just the most randome yet effective piece of street advertising I've ever seen. haha
Around Sanda
Tomo trying his damndest to convince me natto is delicious. (Natto=smelly old fermented soybeans that are sticky and all around nasty. ... but good for you supposedly.)
Me trying to avoid getting sicker. My first time with a mask, pimping it Shredder style! ("GRAARR!! I'll get you ninja turtles!"). Tomo bought it for me and it worked great and helped me get better in no time!
At my school, I snuck a picture of my two favorite staff members, Maki-sensei and Nagayoshi-sensei. Maki is the coolest old woman you will ever meet! Shes got a heart of gold, a perverse sence of humor and a good strong head on her shoulders. Shes a kid at heart and truely an inspiration to me. She reminds me so much of my father and is someone I will never forget and hope to see again many times int he future. Nagayoshi is a cool social studies teacher. We are always chatting it up and shooting the breeze. I'll miss them both very VERY much.
Kirin Beer Brewery Tour!
Time to tour the Kirin factory in our very own town, Sanda! Matt, Amanda and I got to FINALLY ride that beer can bus we kept seeing all this time.
The beer panda bites my bum. ;)
That night, we hit the town in Osaka for an all night reggae dance party ... during a typhoon! hahaha! The strong winds took Shellie's umbrella clean apart.
Before the club we hit a bar where a few other friends were drinking too. Kashi was one of them... what a great guy!
I met these two Japanese guys there. The one on the left was so much fun to talk with and crazy funny. The pig is talking on his cell phone in this pic. It seems that in the weeks before I left, I kept making so many new friends and meeting so many cool people it was crazy! Why couldn't I meet these people before! I only made me that much sadder to leave.
Farewell Arima Senior High School ;_;
As I said my farewell speech to those 900 some odd students that I spent the last 2 years with, I asked them if I could take a picture to remember them by. Great times and hard time were had this those kids. Its been truly an amazing 2 years.
A few of my farewell flowers, certificates and gifts. Thank you to everyone at Arima. I wish you all the best!
The next day, I stayed at Maki-sensei's house and had dinner with her, her husband and Nagayoshi-sensei. Then I flew back the the US; to where I am today. Till we all meet again, let the good times roll! =D
On July 21st, 2007 Jana and Chris made it official and tied the knot. Congratulations to them both! I wish them a long life of happiness. I was happy to be there to witness my sisters wedding, even if I was jet lagged from having flown in a little over a day prior. Here are some of the pics I took of that joyous day. =D Enjoy.
The blushing bride.
Mom and I waiting in her room to help with the dressing and preps.
Chris, outside the alter waiting for the ceremony to begin. He must be nervous.
Finally it begins.
...And it soon ends triumphantly! HAHA!
... now, on to the open bar! HAHA! Mama Lita and Uncle Gil getting things started right. How many people can say their grandma takes tequila shots! O.O; Dude, shes harder than me.
Not to say I didnt get drunk myself. However my poison of choice was delicious wine! For better or worse, sisters till the end and beyond.
Winter has grown into a respectful young lady since I got back. I'm happy to see shes got more manners so I gladly spent alot of time with her. Shes a doll.
My cousin Paul and Jana. Our old carefree childhood days of playing "GTS"(inside joke) and fire-department are long gone arent they. I miss those days.
But today was a beautiful day and tomorrow will be too. Heres to tomorrow with a great family and new extensions to it. It was a lovely wedding, great reception and warm environment. Heres to many more family get togethers with the Jones and the Rodriguezs.
Best wishes to you, Jana and Chris, always and forever. =D
Its been a long time since I've done any updates at all. It's been a fun few months back in the US so far but from time to time, I miss Japan. I enjoyed 2 months of being unemployed before I finally got a job here in Miami, Florida. ... This means I moved away from Orlando. I miss Orlando and well, Miami has to grow on me I suppose. Its nice though. Not knowing anyone is kinda rough though. >.< Heres to the sink or swim life of the real adult world. Heres to surviving in a town where you 'gotta know somebody' to get through the line and in the door. Heres to starting from scratch. Wish me luck ... I need it.
Anyhow, there is one thing that will never falter... (I hope) my new beloved... my one and only... my new car!
I have many pictures to post and will do it in the next day or so... or maybe even today. My sister's wedding, some stuff from Orlando and most exciting of all my recent trip to New Orleans! Yep! Just because I'm not overseas anymore doesnt mean I'm going to hang my frequent flyer cards to dry. The US is a big place and I gotta check it out bro! =D Take care and enjoy the lovey autumn weather!
