Drugstore Gaucho

Like I've said before, I've been at home lately--for more time than I have been since high school. I still consider myself an adventurer (and the real adventure will resume at the end of the month, Argentina bound) but I think I've been adventuring in new territory still, territory unused to the inquisitive stomp of my jackboots (purely figurative, I still wear flip flops everywhere). That territory is American society. Honestly, I would be skeptical of anyone that claims to be "adventuring" in their own society, but frankly my own interactions with nearly everyone and everything I come into contact to have such a sense of novelty and unfamiliarity it makes me recall vividly the experience of being in another country. On top of that, I am most definitely isolated from the bulk of society by my current living situation. I live by myself and can claim no strong connections to any of the social fixtures of society. I go to a jam session once a week where the other pa

This post won't be about travel, I think, which would make it somewhat of a diversion from my standard. But the real goal of all the traveling that I d0, aside from eat and peruse the local fauna, is provoke thought. My thoughts have been provoked a lot here in Kansas City. Over the last four years, I have picked up and set down many, many times. Finish high school, move all my things to Wisconsin get upset about leaving home, spend 8 weeks there, come down for Thanksgiving, two more in Wisco , then Christmas, three weeks at home, then 10, 1 week in Kansas City, 10 at school. Come back for the summer, get upset about leaving school. Go back to school, skip Thanksgiving, spend time at school, come home for winter break, wonder where all the people have gone, go back to school, get confused about where home is, go back to school go to California for spring break. 10 weeks at school, one week in Kansas City. 6 months in Argentina , 4 with one host family, 2 with another. Get upset

So, I failed to report on the last leg of my journey. So I shall make a brief description of the events that transpired. This description will be aided by photos, as I took them and took the time to plug in my camera. And Yulie complained that my few posts are far too long. Therefore, I will provide a narrative of my trip using the grammatical/pictorial style of a little Japanese women whose first language isn't exactly English. I went to Rhode Island and I was excited cause they have lots of And I wanted to eat some: As well as All Thanks to: And, also, I didn't: Cause when you're raised in Kansas when you think of: You think of: Which makes you wanna:

So, I've been in Jersey for some time now. I'm doing the leg of my trip where I go visit my mom's arm of the country and I go back and forth between her residence in Clinton, NJ, her place of work in Allentown, PA and whatever adventure may be had in those parts. I'll talk a little more about Allentown once I have some real adventure there. If you can't wait, check out another post on this blog, here: This weekend, I was afforded the opportunity to go New York and make the acquaintance of the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Jazz Sextet via seeing them play in their club on Friday and then, on Saturday morning, go with them on a trip to the Litchfield jazz festival in Connecticut. This, seems like a pretty slick plan, and credit where its due, thanks mom, for putting that one together. Howwwwwever, there was a little glitch. You see, I was supposed to go hear them play in NYC Friday at 8 in Tutuma, their club, and then Saturday at 7:30 AM, at that club, I would join t

We're not in Minneapolis anymore Toto. But before I go into my latest travels, I should probably finish that chapter of the saga. I happily spent the rest of my day in the Burton residence, where a number of cool things happened. I went to the zoo! The Minneapolis zoo with MB my home G. MB loves zoo's! That was his terminology "I love zoo's". This struck me as funny and maybe it would too if you know Michael. Imagine a person you know with the dryest, most non-sequitorial humor you can imagine. His mother asks him "Why are you going to the zoo?" and he responds in abounding sincerity "I love zoo's". He loves zoo's. There you have it. A simple man. As it turns out, I think zoo's are pretty cool too, but unfortunately the salient aspect of the zoo is not so much the animals that make the bulk of the advertised zoo experience, but the screaming children that have been fooled into thinking that a trip to the zoo is an acceptable substit

An interesting spread of days. As we pick up the tale from the last leavings, we find myself having hung out with my female doppleganger and not having seen her dad's shop. Later that night, MB and I go to see a friend's band perform at a nearby bar called Palmer's. This was slightly funny. I shall reprint a portion of some reviews of this Palmer's establishment: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palmer's Bar 4 star rating 27 reviews Rating Details Category: Dive Bars Wandered into this awesome dive bar... Palmer's is one of my favorite dive bars... Seems like a place for junkies and lowlifes to go... I was surprised to see the clientele switch gears at about 10:00 pm the last time I was here. It went from die hard locals to hipster college students... If you're looking for an unpretentious, awesome, eclectic dive bar... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I w

I got up early this morning. Yes I did. At 9:30. For opera. Yes, that's right. Opera. Whoa. Me and my best bud MB ran off to the cinema to see a broadcast of Carmen. I was amazed at how many tunes from that work have penetrated popular culture. Blows my mind. Opera. Influential. Well. THEN I MET MY FEMALE SELF FROM COLLEGE THERE! AND WE WENT TO HER HOUSE! AND ATE DELICIOUS FOODS! I was hoping to see her dad's arms and armor producing workshop. I bet there's nothing quite like the sight of molten metal becoming a most awesome medieval weapon of destruction! LIKE A SWORD! But it didn't happen, maybe later this week. The weekend comes, what do I do?

Many many many thanks to my gracias host, L.K. for housing me far past the amount of time that I originally imagined I would have to take up space in her charming apartment. I will forever miss that playful shower of hers that tends to squirt me in the face when I thought I was giving in the final twist to turn off. Now I am quartered in my trombone bosom buddy M.B.'s house and the delicious scent of spaghetti wafts up my nostrils. Tomorrow, I will be visiting someone who I think must be living the dream. The foremost blacksmith of medieval arms and armor in my immediate circle, in Minneasota, the country, and possibly the world. That, at least, is the version of events told to me by his daughter, the only person in college that seemed to be as weird as me in college and therefore a kindred spirit. So, a double delight tomorrow. I was going to eat half a guinea pig today, but we failed to reserve that 24 hours in advance, so it can no longer be. What adventure waits? Follow my blog

I sit in an apartment in uptown Minneapolis. From here, I have two plans. 1. Minneapolis --> Allentown --> Assorted East Coast Adventure --> The South --> Costa Rica --> Argentina/Brazil/Something like that Features: Mom, new friends and college friends, unseen parts of america, cumbia, trombone playing, reconnect with study abroad life Cons: Feels kind of old hat compared to option 2 OR 2. Minneapolis --> California --> Assorted West Coast Adventure --> Alaska? --> Japan? --> Silk Road --> Indian --> Turkey --> Europe/France? Features: sister, cousins, the unfamiliar west coast, effing alaska, motherfucking asia and great adventure, and exchange student friends. Cons: Likely to break the bank I ain't got much money in my bank account and I might be able to make a little money and learn a shit ton about Latin music on the first option. The second option would be awesome, but might be more of a see the world, get nothing but thoughts out of it

Yo, I'm in a coffee shop in Minnesota and planning the next phase of the adventure. To recap where I've been and what I've done since the last time I was writing in this blog, I returned to college and finished it. Graduated with a degree in Spanish I don't really care for, from an institution that I'm not really sure was right fore. Playground's where I spend most of my days, chillin out max, relaxin' all cool and wondering what on earth I need to be doing with my life now that I'm at the end the to-do list I received at the beginning of my education. I forestalled existential crisis by signing up to work at a summer camp to teach Spanish while I was still at school. I went pretty much directly from college to summer camp and found things to hilariously the same and others to be frighteningly reminiscent of my own camping experiences. Before my eyes played out the familiar drama of adolescence, far-removed in time but not in memory. It was strange to se