Fireflies and Chicago

The last time I saw a firefly I was sitting outside the patio of a hostel in Tirana, Albania. I was halfway through the episode where *** game of thrones season 6 spoiler alert*** hodor dies and boom from the corner of my eye there they were. 

It is 9pm and I'm currently in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois. It is hot, humid and everywhere I go I seem to be surrounded by tatted up hipsters and joggers; pretty much LA but without as many d-bags (debatable). 

I landed about 3 hours ago and during this time span I hopped on the CTA to Logan's square and successfully found the keys to my friend's apartment, somehow managed to find the worst chinese fast food in Chicago, walked about 2 miles around LS admiring the fireflies while trying to calm the upset stomach from said shitty chinese food, walked into coffee shop/bar and ordered two brothers' cane and ebel red rye ale, and proceeded to relieve myself of the evil that the shitty chinese food did to my stomach. 

My friends from LA are flying in tomorrow but I decided to get here a day before for no particular reason other than I had the day off, I didn't want to be home, and gave me an extra day to catch up with my friend Deisy who I don't follow on instragram. 

I'm here till Sunday and the plan calls for day drinks, bratts, bbq, cubs baseball, music and a viewing of the movie titanic starring leonardo di caprio at the park.  

31 in bozeman

I can't remember the last time I spent a birthday in LA - I think I was in my mid-twenties - but the older I get the less important they seem to become. The importance of these yearly milestones have shifted to the people I've met in-between, which brings me to the cast & crew of the short film I worked on Willow Creek Road.

Last month I recorded sound in the beautiful state of Montana. The producer and AD, Jon and Josh picked me up from the airport and brought me to Lauri's. Lauri had kindly opened her beautiful house to the whole crew where I was lucky enough to have my own room. Sort of 

I really didn't mind my porcelain roommates partly because I was exhausted by the time I stepped into that room. Looking back now it seems crazy how we all managed fit in that house. Every member of our crew played a vital part in making the production a success. It didn't hurt that a lot of them were big game of thrones fans, which made for a great viewing of the season 6 finale. 

All of the good vibes made for a sad goodbye. 

On the last day everyone had early AM flights so by the time I woke up the house was empty with the exception of our 1st AC, Andy who I had worked with on a previous gig in LA. I can still remember the eerie calm of that morning as we sat in the living room and waited for Lauri to take us to the airport.

I'm 31 now. Nothing really has changed and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Maybe it's a little bit of both? I don't know. I can't believe I still haven't finished this post. Adios 

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.4)

It doesn't feel like 2 1/2 weeks, it feels much longer than that; like I lived a quasi life out here. I got my first taste of the Balkans a few years ago via Belgrade, Serbia but till now I thought that it was a Serbian thing. Well, it turns out that it isn't. I always knew that this place was special but I didn't know to what extent. 

I dragged my feet but eventually I made it out of Ohrid with an unexpected stop in the capitol of Macedonia: Skopje. I met the owner of the hostel Nena, a 6'2" broad-shoulder bearded beast of a man and aspiring actor. He gave us a tour of the city and the ridiculous amount of statues that surround the center and then he took us to a local restaurant. We broke bread and then Nena shared his dreams of coming to LA and making it big as an actor, his two daughters, and the other obscure jobs he has. It was late into the night when we began to walk back to the hostel. A tiny car pulled up behind us, I naturally tensed up but it was Nena's other job. He said his goodbye and quickly sped off into the night.

The next morning Andrew hopped on a bus to Thessaloniki and Danny and I took another to Sofia. That was 3 days ago. My time here Bulgaria has been chill but I feel like my mind body and soul know that my time here has come to an end. A few hours ago I had to say goodbye to Danny, a complete stranger I knew nothing about a week ago but now I feel like I gained a Dutch/Chinese brother, along with another French/Serbian and English brother. Can't forget about my Turkish and German/Italian sister that I left bedhind in Ohrid or my other Montenegro brothers Urosh and Danilo, and the crazy Swiss-French Sebastian who I met up with here in Sofia. 

Sofia, you seem like an amazing city but you've caught me at a rocky time. I appreciate your city and its beautiful lasagna layers of culture, architecture and people but I'm feeling a little blue at the moment. But it's Friday night and I'm planning to shake those blues away because something tells me that this isn't goodbye.

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.3)

For the moment it seems as if time has softened its grip; every memory from this place is all jumbled together like one long day. Its been 5 days since I crossed the Albanian-Macedonia border. I was supposed to leave yesterday but here I am contemplating another. 

To say that Ohrid is a special place would be a huge understament. 

I don't want to leave. This whole place feels like one big postcard and the people I've met here have placed a huge accent on the back of that card. 

We didn't stay long at Sunny Lake Hostel, there was nothing wrong but when we heard about Robinson's Sunset House I knew that we had to stay there. When we got to Robinson's all we saw was a rocky hill that led into the forest. I kept scanning the lot and there it was, carved into the mountain 100 feet up. The hike was tough especially with all my gear but when we finally made it to the top it was all worth it. 

Again, all of that seems like such a lifetime ago. Misha and his father have created something beautiful up here and I'm not just talking about the accommodations. From the canoes down by the lake, or the homemade rakja that never seemed to end each night, Robinson's Sunset House will forever be etched into my memory.  

I'm currently sitting on the balcony right in front of my room and still I can't believe this view. There is about 20 more minutes of sunlight. There's a gentle breeze blowing from the west, the sound of waves crashing down below, and a few sighs coming from deep within my soul. Tomorrow the group will disperse, I will go to Bulgaria, some to Greece, others Albania, and a few will stay here. 

Macedonia: 

I don't have the right words to describe you. They seem lost maybe somewhere along the trails below your mountains or possibly floating down your tiny ocean. Till then I will continue to search and maybe next time I'm here I'll be able to find them. 

h'vala

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.2)

The distance between Podgorica and Tirana is 130 kilometers, which is roughly 81 miles. Back in LA I can travel this in little over an hour; it's a different story in the Balkans. It took almost 6 hours on bus and all I kept thinking about was this.

I arrived in Tirana 4 days ago and in the course of writing this entry yesterday morning, two exhausted Aussies walked into the hostel and naturally we began to chat. 2 hours went by, we spoke of our travels and I found out why they were so exhausted. It turns out that they had just taken a 24-hour bus ride from Athens to Tirana and as our warm homecooked breakfast - omelets, fresh cheese, peach marmalade and toast - was brought to us, the look on their faces was priceless.

I began to tell them about Tirana and how originally I was going to spend only a night but then I told them how thankful that I didn't. I told them that the city is small, very walkable, nothing really that'll blow your mind; not so quite like 
Podgorica but in the same neighborhood. Having said that, again it all comes down to the people. It doesn't seem like it at first because frankly they're also looking at you in the same manner but the Albanians and Albania is still getting warmed up to tourism, which is why its such a great & exciting time to be here. People are very inviting if you give them a chance and that's what I did and what I'll continue to do.

As I begin to wrap this entry I sit on the top balcony of Sunny Lake Hostel, sipping some warm joe, seeing another beautiful sunrise over the mountains.

The location: Ohrid, Macedonia. The journey to this place involved another bus ride (not so long this time) to podgarec, then hopped on a cab to the Albania-Macedonian border where we literally walked across, and then finally waited for a city bus that took us through the mountains and finally here in the early evening.
 From the little that I've walked I can only use one word to describe this place, mystical: the lake, the mist, the thick green algae on the shore, the strewn and abandoned boats laying side by side, the tall mountains in the back, yeah mystical sounds about right and today I'll get to see the full extent of it. 

I had no idea that this trip was going to bring me through the Balkans but that's the beauty of traveling with a blank boarding pass. God is good and I'm very fortunate to be having these moments, 

God bless!

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.1)

Sleep has been something of an elusive chase as it usually is during these kind of trips. The 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Istanbul went smooth but things got crazy in Turkey as I only had less than 40 minutes to connect to my gate to Montenegro. If it wasn't for the kind kelp of the Turkish Air transfer desk lady who gave me my seat but also gave me that dreaded look, the one which I've come to know of very well I probably would've slept in the airport that night. She looked at her wrist watch, made a call, heavy Turkish was exchanged and then she said "go, fast!" She took me to the front of the security checkpoint, wished me luck and waived goodbye.

 All that mess seems like such a lifetime ago. 

It's currently morning and I'm sitting inside a living room in Tirana, Albania after spending the last 4 days in Podgorica, Montenegro. When I tell other travelers how long I stayed in PG they give me a strange look "4 days, really?!...in Podgorica?" Yep, 4 days. 

The truth is that nobody should ever stay longer than 1-2 day in Podgorica. There's really nothing to note, nothing that'll have you blowing up your instagram/snapchat other than a few raggedy old dogs, a futuristic looking bridge, and the delicious burgers from Rostilj Perper.
I say this and yet it only took a few human connections to make it a great place to break bread with the locals and find that it takes but a few Beatles and Fleet Foxes jams to relate and enjoy laughs together. 

This is when Urosh and his younger brother Danilo came into my life. 

I cant honestly tell you how i came to meet Urosh. I had already befriended Sebastian, a Crazy Swiss-French who was staying at my hostel. It just so happened to be the eve of Montenegro's 10-zear independence, Sebastian and I were both coming out of Berlin and we somehow caught wind that the next place to be at was District. We never found it but being the loud Swiss-French that he is, Sebastian began to make friends along the way. the next thing I remember is this gentle Sasquatch of a man walking alongside giving us a tour of the city at 3am. We walked so much but it didn't matter, we kept cracking jokes till the sun rose and promised to hang later that night. Hours later I woke explosions and for a second I wasn't quite sure where I was. It slowly came to me as I saw the fireworks overhead 

Sebastian and David came downstairs shortly after, then we headed back to Berlin, where Urosh's younger brother Danilo was DJ.It was a repeat of the night before this time with a bigger crew. we were invited to a friend's apartment in the outskirts of town.

Things got a little dodgy as some of the guys in the group brought out their favorite recreational drug of choice; at one point of the night we were also waiting for a drop? I don't know, it all got kind of cloudy but we ended the night as we hung from the 5th story of an incomplete balcony as the sun rose behind us and the moon set behind the mountains and hills in front. 

Danilo began to strum the guitar and played a few ballots, then we began to walk back to our hostel. Urosh and Danilo took us to eat breakfast and then we said our goodbyes.

Sadly it was to be the first of a string of many goodbyes I've already made on this trip but that's the nature of traveling. You meet people, you get thrown into these crazy, fish out of water situations and you quickly build bonds. Urosh and Danilo, you've made a Mexican brother and you will always have a home in Los Angeles. 

Now to get a home in Los Angeles...

in the span

the phrase “if i could only go back” has been thrown many times.

my question: well, how long? ten years? five years? 

how about a month, just one gregorian month. 

in the span of this month the world i’ve come to know during these past 8 years has been rocked 

and although my faith remains unmoved, alot of silt has been dredged from beneath me;

unproductive topsoil blown away. maybe its a good thing.

if someone took me back to april 1st, 2016 and sat me across a cloaked stranger revealing the things i now know id shout bullshit; BULLSHIT! 

now if that person revealed himself to be my future self then that’d be insane. 

there’d be so many questions but i (future self) really wouldn’t be able to say much;

the only advantage id have would be a month’s worth of insight. 

then things would get awkward, primarily because wow time travel and you know…

but soon afterwards my awe would turn into shock as the life i’d come to love and know would soon be gone.

it was 4am when the first shots rang. the words all sounded hollow as i read the email in the darkness

a few weeks ago alaska airlines bought virgin america; none of us saw this coming but there it was all over the news and social media.

this merger between alaska and virgin wasn’t just business, it was people’s lives. 

as much as our CEO david cush tried to justify it, it was just too good of a deal to pass up and just like that we were sold like a cheap trick.

its been a strange and bizarre past few weeks. so many changes that are coming our way 

and it really hasn’t sunk in yet. the words don’t come out easy but it feels like i’ve been given up, abandoned, orphaned. 

i was really hoping that virgin would be the first and only airline that id work for but it doesn’t seem like that is going to happen. but change, thats life.