Happy New Year!

Back from vacation mode. Went to Keuka Lake for the latter part of last week, which was an abbreviated version of last year’s trip. Was just as I left it…pretty and chill.

As for Australia, a week was nowhere near enough time to take it all in. We first stayed in Surfers Paradise, which felt a lot like a busy, touristy part of California/Florida. The second half of our trip was spent in Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday Coast, which still felt a little touristy but had more of a small town, tropical atmosphere like parts of Hawaii. Overall, pretty scenery, cute animals, and friendly peopar with lovely accents. Definitely one of my favorite vacations thus far. I shall be back to explore more.

Some highlights:

• Petting/feeding kangaroos and wallabies at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
• Waking/cracking up to the sound of kookaburras at the Airlie Cove Resort
• Spotting a whale while en route to the Great Barrier Reef
• Scuba diving for the first time at the Great Barrier Reef and not getting eaten by sharks
• Kayaking around Daydream Island. We spotted a turtle in the water and a couple of wallabies on a nearby beach. And we didn’t get eaten by sharks.

Some lowlights:

• Pretty bad service at Sayas Mexican Restaurant in Surfers Paradise
• Losing my pedometer at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
• Some difficulty finding/securing lodging our last night in Brisbane
• Airport security examining contents from my backpack very slowly and then asking what my dental floss was for

Some things we learned whilst in Australia:

• Pedestrians do NOT have right of way
• Paying for food and activities was similar to what you’d spend in California
• A common greeting: “How ya going?”
• A common response: “No worries.”
• Appetizers are called entrees
• Pharmacies are called chemists
• Liquor stores are called bottle shops

And finally, pictures to tell the rest of the story.

Well, Reid has covered the Young Lakes backpacking trip quite well already. I’m not sure if I have anything else to add, really. But it has been a while since the last time I blogged so here I am. Agreed, it was much colder and uphilly-er than anticipated, and the elevation was cause for constant headaches. But I take these hiking pains as learning experiences. There are ways to adjust to the ways of wilderness. But one thing I don’t think I will ever get used to is the lack of toilets.

First, you must find a proper place to do your business, out of harm’s way and other peopar’s view. This deer fails.

And then you are just exposed. To bears. And mosquitoes. If you are like me, they will jump on any opportunity to latch onto that precious bit of flesh you didn’t chemicalize with DEET. In my case this time, my left leg.

Another problem with no toilet? Ever had to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom? Now imagine having this urge out in the woods on a very cold, very dark night, with only a headlamp to guide your way through The Blair Witch Project. And then there are the bears. And Jeebus knows what else. I’m confident I’m not the only one who decided to hold it until morning.

But waking up and splashing the morning out of my eyes in this?

Ha-mazing.

(Thanks to Nelson and Reid for letting me use their photos! My pictures didn’t make the cut for this blog post.)

I had this conversation with a couple different peeps this weekend. I know some people–including myself–who seem to prefer a computer screen to talking in person more often than not.

Does this make us anti-social? In the traditional sense, probably. But if you take into account all the online social networking going on, not really. In fact, if we consider our cyberspace interactions on Twitter, personal blogs, Facebook, MySpace (perhaps reader(s) groan here), IM, etc., we’re actually pretty darn social creatures.

From my point of view, what makes online interactions more desirable at times is having more time to convey exactly what you want (or something close to it), and not really feeling the recipient’s immediate rejection/incomprehension/awkwardness that goes along with in-person conversations. If another person doesn’t respond to your IM/Tweet or comment on your most recent blog post/status change, you can always make the excuse that they stepped away from their computer, or they simply missed your message. And if they just didn’t bother to respond, doesn’t matter as much when you’re floating in seemingly infinite cyberspace, among so many others signing on/posting to let their cyber presence be known. On the flip side, you can check on a person’s status without explicitly having to show that you actually care. And so the passive personality thrives.

Of course, I would never want to entirely replace interactions in person with online communications. Because even with video chat, the magic of eye contact is somewhat lost, which I have to say I still value. And come on, lol is not as fulfilling as sharing a good laugh fo real. Anyway, I’m sure this topic has already been touched on much more eloquently by others, but it was just on my mind. Kbye.

Just after the New Year’s holiday, a former bandmate of mine came by my place to pick up music recording equipment he had left with me while he was away for schoolage. In my possession, multiple mediocre recordings were created. But ever since I returned from Dublin (end of June last year), I haven’t completed anything. So naturally, when my former bandmate asked if it was ok to have the equipment back, I said, of course, it was fine. Haven’t used the darn things in months.

So naturally, I want to start recording again.

Fortunately, I found a sleek-looking mic preamp under my bed, which my wonderful friend Jamie had given to me a year or so ago. Now all I need is to purchase an audio interface to connect to my Mac Mini. I thought about upgrading to a new Mac, but then I found an Engadget article about turning your Mac Mini into a low-cost recording studio. Maybe I don’t need to be too fancy with the equipment–and then maybe I’m not far from starting up again. I just need to dust off my instruments and learn to sort of play again.

If anyone has song ideas, feel free to add them as comments here. My goal is to churn out one song per month…we’ll see if that actually happens=).

This past week I flew to New York with Ryan to embark on a cross-country drive back to the Bay Area. We were retrieving his things in storage to bring back to Cali (which he can now officially call home=). His truck proved to be quite the champ, despite sitting in a parking lot in NY for like four years. Under Ryan’s meticulous guidance, I was able to help drive the truck, towing a U-Haul trailer–and not crash into anything. (I point this out because this is a feat for someone who is used to only driving compact cars.)

Anyway, this was more of a get-from-point-A-to-point-B-by-day-X kind of road trip. Not much time for leisure sightseeing. However, we did stop to see the Niagara Falls at night. It was so cold, the spray from the powerful falls turned into snow bits that wanted very badly to get into my eyes. Unfortunately, we both forgot our cameras. Hence, actual snapshots of our trip are limited to camera phone quality. These are the Niagara Falls from my phone…

Ehh...see it?

Most of our trip was spent in the truck driving by things. I suppose some baby highlights would be:

• Getting lost in Martinsville, Illinois (a lot like middle of nowhere) and successfully not sinking in a creek
• A Branson, Missouri radio ad about a show that includes a live gunfight and burning down a cabin
• Cuba, Missouri
• Lebanon, Missouri
• “Do Not Drive Into Smoke” signs in Oklahoma
• A full-blown dust storm near Oklahoma City, complete with airborne tumbleweeds (for more details, ask Ryan–I was asleep)
• Finding only one radio station when we first entered New Mexico (Tejano music, in case you are wondering)

I’m sure there were other things…I am now regretting not taking notes along the way. But I did utilize the My Maps Editor app on my G1 phone to document our travels.

View Larger Map

We got back in one piece. Ha-mazing.

Oh, and if anyone knows of any good documentaries out there about truck drivers, please let me know. I’m very curious now, having seen so many on the road. I think it’s an interesting career choice, constantly being on the road like that and usually alone.

To pay homage to (i.e., copy) Wysz’s Christmas blog post series just this once, here is one of my favorite Christmas songs:

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won’t have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door, that’s the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

There’s lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I’d feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage
I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too!

I’m really feeling the flow on this one.

Allow me to share one of my current guilty pop pleasures: “No Air” by Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown (YouTube embedding disabled…boooo). It’s nice to see another American Idol graduate done good. I heard it on the radio on my drive home today and thought of an alternative “artistic” video theme. An empty helium tank and a deflated balloon. That’s it. Or maybe there would be one scene where you see many happy, filled-up balloons floating into the sky, and then this deflated one that is tossed into the air…only to fall miserably back to the ground. But I suppose my idea wouldn’t fly for 4 minutes and 50 seconds. People would probably get bored. Maybe people have even stopped reading this blog post by now. Sheesh…I blame the internet for killing our attention spans.

Mmback from a pretty relaxing, overall good time at Keuka Lake in New York. I’m happy to report only one bug bite. Highlights would include an Amish horse and buggy spotting, Crossbill the feisty duck, a very loud potato gun, a pretty hike, boys being boys, and charming wine tasting establishments:

http://www.mcgregorwinery.com

http://www.ravineswinecellars.com

http://www.keukaspringwinery.com

I let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Also, it was my first time taking JetBlue, which was pretty coo. Five hours in the air ain’t nuttin’ when you got a Man vs. Wild marathon on. Poor Bear got stung by a bee in one of them–hate to see him less than handsome. There is also XM Radio (including hits by Justin Timberlak and Everything But T). They also serve aminal crackers. And they use Google Maps to track the flight. It is kind of weird how they set their flight times. My flight to Rochester from JFK left an hour late, but managed to arrive a few minutes early–not that I’m complaining. But maybe that is just their way of ensuring on-time arrivals.