lax t3 shooting: just another day at work

I can't quite describe what I'm feeling. 

My thoughts are incoherent at best. 

Im trying to keep these strange trail mix of emotions bottled in my chest but the more i think about them the more queazy and mad I become.

I was scheduled to take my lunch today at 9:30.

but at 9:20, someone else decided to murder a tsa agent in cold blood and injure a few more. 

at first it sounded like someone's tire exploded. I quickly realized that this wasn't the case when the 2nd and 3rd shots, quick in succession, made their murderous claps across the terminal.

the lobby was busy and when the shots rang, chaos swept across the floor.

some people dropped, others ran, I crawled.

the shots continued to ring. the terrifying part about it was that you didn't know from where. 

as the shots continued, my body kept stiffening as if I were being pumped with liters of embalming fluid. 30 yards away I began to crawl to our break room. 

people were screaming and yelling. next to me I saw my coworker marlowe. we looked at each other not knowing if we would make it to the door. we finally made it inside the office. 

a few more shots rang and then it stopped.

a few hours later, after the shooter was taken down, we were all reunited at tom bradley international airport. glad to report that nobody from our staff was hurt!

life is beautiful

writing from the inside of a 10x10 plastic tent in the middle of downtown las vegas, nevada. 

the winds are gusting at i would have to say 20-25 miles per hour; dust and dirt everywhere.

a few feet away, the killers approach the  halfway mark of their set and i can't wait. 

these past 4 days have been fun but along the way i've learned a few things about myself.

one of them being that I can only do 2-day doses of vegas .

this is the first year of the life is beautiful music festival in downtown las vegas.

it's been a solid weekend of good music:

cults

purity ring

joey bada$$

passion pit

danny brown

dawes 

*played half a song, then took off

vampire weekend 

empire of the sun

the killers

had a great time. and what's best about it is that i call it work; i get paid for this! 

killers is almost done, and soon afterwards we'll be able to drive the trucks and load all of our stuff out. 

cheers to another great festival and good music! 

japan through a vegas rearview mirror

in the midst of last night's bass and crowded casino hallways, i brought myself back past the international date line, back to the broken place i had found myself a few days ago. 

seems like a litimetime since i found myself alone, lost in rappongi but life goes on and unfortunately a few suckers will follow in my footsteps.

but today, and actually at the moment I find myself inside the MGM arena, at kanye's yeezus tour.

the place is nuts!

people are all over the place. countless hands sprawled in the air chanting yeezy's anthems.

it's a bit spooky to see so though, so many my age adoring this dude.

he's good at what he does but what I don't understand is the level of worship he commands. coming to this show sure feels a bit idolatrous but then just like that he drops another one of his countless hits.

alone in rappongi

my squinted eyes are fixed on the bright opening from up above. it's the first sign of light i've seen in what seems like years.
it's funny how eyes quickly distinguish the light of dawn; nothing like it.
i remember the feeling of finally reaching the top of reppongi metro station. a brisk and gentle breeze pecks my face; at my shame
150 yen in my pockets, but sadly not 170. 

all i need is 20.

for a second i contemplate begging but the thought quickly leaves as i begin to walk.
to where? not sure. but i keep walking because in this moment, it's the only thing i can do
i usually carry a good internal compass but right now, it's completely shot. 

i glance at my phone. it's alive
i spot a coffee shop.

it's like an oasis in the middle of a japanese sahara. i frantically walk. 

the coffe clerk spots me: a shady, bearded mess of a man. 

i flick through my phone's settings and check the wi-fi. nothing

i lean next to the building and inch closer and closer to the invisible halo. signal!

the jubilee fades as i begin the trek. i've been in this situation my mind keeps telling. 

nothing new, ain't no thing. 

determined to get there as soon as possible, i develop a good pace but shortly after, my senses dig feet. 

the sound of japense children saying goodbye to their parents.

the glow of the october morning sun breaking through the misty japense dew.

i approach a cementery and notice the regulars in their cold, concrete homes.

it's eerie but i can't hear anything anymore. i am underwater and the only thing i hear are muted sounds. my vision all in vignettes 

a low hum slowly catches my attention and just like that i'm underneath shibuya subway station. 

everyone walks past and around me. speedy little people 

i approach 5-corners intersection and instantly i begin to recognize.

the trek is over

i walk-up to my apartment with hope of finding my friend phillip, sprawled all across the deck. 

nothing.

i worried for a few minutes but sleep overcomes me.

a few hard pounds on the door was all it took to get me up. what time is it?

i open the door and there he is, wearing the face of a disgraced marco polo. i look at him 

an anger slowly begins to catch.

--sentence remnants woven together--

and in this moment it hits me 

all i see is faces, expressions. and 

the only single sense that functions is sight  

but i can't stop and absorb

instead it's replaced by 

reppongi's face. 

land of the rising sun via tijuana, mexico

i must've been a boy since the last time i flew out of tijuana's general abelardo l. rodríguez international airport. 

as a kid, i would fly out of here frequently. i used to have a fear of flying and i would say that it was a legitimate one; mainly because my family booked our family trips to southern mexico on an airline called aero-california. 

to those who are not familiar, aero-california was probably one of the worst maintained airlines in mexico. since then, it went bankrupt, twice, and the only remnants of their existence are the skeletal crj remains strewn across the lancaster/palmdale desert. 

i can still smell the smoke of cigarettes in the cabin and the grimy nicotine covered seats. 

for some reason i'd always get stuck with the window and as we climbed higher through the sky, i would sink deeper and deeper into my seat with sweaty palms clinching the armrests.  

my attention would shift and look at the wing, which jolted back-and-fro during turbulence. 

back then i didn't know that it was normal for wings to bend but when i looked at the wings, i couldn't help but notice the splotchy tar stains around the region where the wing and fuselage met. add the imagination of a 8-year old mexican kid to the mix and well, let's just say i was a wreck. 

so now, 20 years later, i am back. 

i never thought i'd be flying to tokyo from this place but i guess it seems fitting. 

i no longer have a fear of flying and as i sit on my window seat, i'm staring at the beautiful wings of aeromexico's brand new boeing 787-dreamliner. this is actually aeromexico's maiden voyage using the dreamliner, so in a way i'm kind of pioneer of sorts. 

our flight to tokyo was supposed to leave at 02:00am but typhoon whipa would have none of that. this category-3 typhoon delayed us about 8 hours. to our fortune, aeromexico's staff has been nothing but phenomenal. 

they kept us informed and even offered us entrance into their premiere lounge for the night where i was introduced to a comfy couch and bohemia's obscura. 

in about two hours we will be landing in narita. according to google maps, it takes about 2 hours by train to get to the apartment we booked on air bnb. 

i'll be lying if i said that i wasn't nervous/scared. the same exact feelings i had back when i was a boy are starting to come back. what did i get myself into?

i'll keep asking myself this question a few more times until the moment we land. from there something usually else takes over. 

but till then, all i could do is sit tight and try and enjoy the ride!

vienna. in a nutshell

long aimless walks

random metro rides

pizza & kebap

schönbrunn palace

rococo swag

vienna state opera house

food

beer

selfies

and some of the sunshine.

this is what consisted mostly during my last day in vienna, and with that my week's vacation in europe.

with no doubt, vienna has to be one of the most beautiful european cities out there.
the gardens

the churches
the state buildings
the monuments
the metro

vienna pretty much has got you covered in everything that is first-world.
if comfort, romance and fine dining is what you're looking for, then this is the place for you.

but having all the right ingredients along with all the right conditions doesn't always mean that you'll have a great quiche.
i really really like quiche!

this is how i feel about vienna. i didn't find a cohesiveness; the type that identifies peoples.
it might be due to the fact that i'm getting older now, but when traveling, the thing that i look forward to are the human interactions more than the shiny and splendorous man-made objects that cities have to offer.
having said that, vienna i love you, your beer, and your brats!
i had fun being inside of you.
till next time, cheers!

vienna: not a cure for eastern european withdrawals

this will be my second day in vienna, austria and during my short stay i've made a few observations.

pizza and kabobs are taking over the world!

okay, but seriously. 

in vienna alone, pizza and kebobs are at almost every corner. and they're doing some serious work. 

you won't hear me complaining though. bring it. 

i'm not really sure what to say about vienna at this point. the weather hasn't been the best, it's been somewhat of a challenge to converse in english (i know i know we're in austria!)

still! a few days ago, in belgrade! out of all places, i did not have a single problem.

and

i was always under the impression that western european countries were tri-lingual, right? anyways...

i'm slowly shaking my belgrade blues away. it hasn't been easy 

yesterday we went inside belvedere palace and wow! the place is one massive and magnificent piece of work. 

not just structurally but the whole garden and landscaping aspect of it all.

my mexican side definitely sees the beauty but also cringes at the tough work of the upkeep.

to our luck, a massive spanish tour group was entering the palace, so naturally my friend phillip and i turned on the spanish, and brianne turned on her new-mexican, which pretty much includes the entirety of the taco-bell menu and in we were. 

once done fantasizing about what it'd be like owning a palace such as belvedere, we headed back to the city, but through a different corridor. apparently we found ourselves at the first district and from the euros that we saved at belvedere, libations were ordered.

ok, it's a bit of blur after that...

today, hopefully after a better breakfast than we had yesterday, we'll make our way to another museum or two and hopefully hop on another subway, get lost, and discover something new.

serbia, i miss you

today i woke up in a bed that wasn't perched on the highest part of a five-story building. the roof didn't have quirky looking slanted roof windows, and when i woke up i didn't find my arm and back riddled with mosquito bites. 

no, this new room had none of these features. 

yet

still, i miss it. 

i miss the turkish coffee in the morning.

i miss the faint rumbling noise of traffic from down below

i miss the random conversations of earlier former yugoslavia 

i miss the fact that a half liter of beer was never more than $2

these past 4 days spent in belgrade were great. nobody really treated us like tourists. maybe because hardly anyone comes here. if i'm right, i sure hope it stays that way.  

if you ask me, i can't really say why i came to belgrade other than my friend brianne being an insane novak djokovic fan and wanting to visit his cafe; which is amazing if i might add. 

the specifics of choosing a city are never set in stone. 

it's rare to find a city that once done circling and prodding, you'd come back to. 

belgrade, is one of the few exceptions.

last day in belgrade

you know the guy, the one who thinks he has all the time in the world? 

yeah, 

i've been that guy lately.

and so with that it saddens me to think that this will be my last day in belgrade. 

serbia-not to be confused with syria-has been nothing but a pleasant surprise. it might not seem like much at first. you wont find any slabs of distinctive architectural stone or an intricate system of fountains running through city. 

but take a walk to the city's fort and you might be lucky enough catch a sunset over the danube.

and if you keep walking further you might stumble upon bašta, a jazz club perched next to the danube river bank.  

as i write from the top bunk of my room- scratching and turning- the sun has made it's climb up through our ceiling window. 

there is still one day to go and plenty much to see. 

the cure for august funk

a few weeks ago I met up with my sister and brother in law, along with some other friends in las vegas, nevada.

and in the course of just a few hours, i had my wallet and phone stolen.

i haven't really been able to shake that off. actually, i haven't been able to shake off much of what seems to be a parade of disappointments, all being tightly packaged in this month of august.

 

i just keep thinking about them. 

so, in order to remedy this depressing month i decided to do what I normally do during these kind of situations; get some new ink.

this time, it's the city of belgrade in serbia. this is the view from my hostel balcony on the 5th floor. 

and just like that, august isn't as depressing as it was yesterday.

harry und eva's b&b

the minute we pulled up to the b&b, we were quickly greeted by harry. with a warm smile, he helped us with our bags and showed us to our room.  i can easily write a paragraph on how comfortable and cleanly our room was but i'll just say this, it was definitely more than what i expected. granted, i'm a dude and all i really need is a bed, shower and toilet (sink being a bonus), this b&b had it all and superseded my every expectation.  

that very same day, after a nap and an evening of walking and figuring out salzburg's rules of the road, my friend and I returned to the b&b. by this time eva was home, both were in the kitchen cooking schnitzels. the plan was to say hi and go straight to bed.

it didn't quite happen like that.

3 hours flew right past us as we conversed about our travels and cultures. speaking to eva and harry, you cant help but feel like you've known them for a while. they are such interesting and passionate people and the b&b shows it. mounted all over their walls are pictures of the countless corners of the globe they've visited. all of them stunning!
 

this was breakfast (omelet not pictured)!
 
my friend and i fell in love with salzburg.  it truly is that picturesque town you see on postcards, the kind you doubt if it even exists. but harry and eva sure deserve much of the credit to our great experience. i'm sad that our stay was so short but if life ever decides to send me anywhere near austria,  harry and eva's b&b will definitely be a place i will be staying. 

a nelgected passport

it makes me sad to see my blog and the absence of entries. i have neglected my passport for far too long now.

things will change, soon!

the motherland will have to wait

in this crazy economy, who in their right mind would ever voluntary choose a three month leave of absence? that would be me. especially when someone(like me) works for a company like virgin america who lets their employees keep full flight benefits.

so what does a person do with a blank boarding pass? he gets scared, lands a job at a restaurant and forfeits the gypsy lifestyle.
ok, not quite entirely. did i mention i'm in panama?

panama city, panama is a trip! pun unintended. separated by six hours of flight time, panama originally was merely going serve as our launch pad to the long awaited return to the motherland aka cuba. long story short: it didn't quite happen like that due to the complicated mess of the us embargo. but thanks to the helpful tips of jesus -the friendly copa ticket agent- i will definitely be giving it another go in the near future.
but in the meantime, with no plans, no reservations, and with quite an empty working knowledge of panama, what does one do? he smiles a hails a cab.

save the headache and do yourself a favor, grab a taxi. the cab scene didn't seem like it was dominated by bureaucratic bullshit like in bigger airports. these panamanian cabs come in different size and colors. you'll prob get hit up for a ride as soon as you walk past the terminal so poker faces on people and let the haggling begin.

the cab driver charged us $18 for both my buddy phillip and i. it took us about 40-60 minutes to get to the city from PTY airport. traffic was miserable. with all of the pretty shiny skyscrapers, you would think that panama city would buy into the concept of infrastructure; nope.

having an unlocked smartphone comes to be super handy in times like these. while in traffic, i looked up hostels and hotels nearby. we found some but all were booked so the cab driver brought us to hotel terra nova, which in panama translates into prostitute central.
we paid the cab, grabbed our room key, and just like that we were in the heart of it.

the night scene is pretty lively, nothing crazy. just your typical clubs on one side of the street, gentlemen's club on the other, a schwerma shack in the middle, and a pub at the end of it. i hit that schwerma shack hard. then went to that pub called the londoner and had some of the local brew. after, we tried walking into this locals looking club/bar called "ashe" but the tall black panamanian demanded money. he did let us chill in their patio and have a few more brews. in the midst of it all, a parade of scantily cladded women walked in and out of the classy establishment, with customers hand in hand. kinda sad to watch but it is the oldest profession in the world. business was good

in between then and now, we ditched the hotel for a hostel a few blocks away. and now perched up on top of my bunkbed i lay awake with my faithfull ipad while phillip snores his hangover away. what can i say about panama city? i can't say much honestly. from the little i've seen i feel like this place has alot to say. there are so many different shades of skin, slant of eyes, width of hips, that really has me wondering how they all came to be here. but with all those variances, the panamanian people are warm, welcoming, and friendly, which is why i'll be coming back again.