Goals 39, 63, 90 & 95: Spring Break 2011

This post is going to be much less exciting than the title leads on with the onslaught of completed goals. While I did much, I didn't take pictures, meaning everything is described in words of detail.

I took my spring break to myself, and in the words of Kanye West:

"I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts

Got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own vault,

My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty

was honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts"

-Power, by Kanye West

After lots of deliberation with potential trip mates, the choice to lone-trip arose out of murk. A veteran of solo road trips, I know they can be invigorating and reveal a wealth of experience and knowledge in even short trips. This sounded right to me, and I knew that it was an opportunity to really clear my mind. Anything that I felt to be holding me back or distracting to me, I dropped... or, it would be more accurate to say that I dropped myself from all of it.

Goal 63: Go somewhere without a destination

This is metaphorically, and physically speaking. I left Jemez Springs, and my father's cabin, on Sunday, March 13 with no idea where I would end up. I put my bike in the backseat. I drove northeast. Then I started eliminating distractions to let my mind wander. Facebook and the cell phone were easy, they have deactivation methods. It was everything else that I was worried about: ghosts.

I found a little town called Lamy, and ate an anchovy pizza in Estancia. Driving southeast I started to think about my camera. I've been using my camera adamantly for the past four years doing "Picture of the Day," and have always been excited about getting cool or exciting pictures for each day. But it's become more than that, it's become a crutch also. An excuse to tell less stories, or tell less of them. A way to avoid words. It's also affected my memories. If I didn't get a picture of it, or its picture didn't make the cut for the day, then it might as well have not happened. If the picture was bad, or boring, and shot without any passion, I remember that day with an equivalent interest, making some very exciting and fun times get pushed to the side of boring days with great pictures. Long story short, the urge to use my camera and document my trip became a bond that I released myself from. I decided I would only use my camera for one picture of myself every morning (for POTD continuity), if I saw any skybridges (no crutch here), and for any goals I completed (to make the post at least a little interesting, and because these pictures would only be at specific, pre-determined times, and I would not be searching for good shots everywhere).

I arrived in Dallas early the next day. I had never seen a city with so many skybridges.

The feeling of not having a shower was already starting to bug me, so I started carousing hotels, seeing if I could figure out how to get a free shower.

Goal 90: Go Swimming at a Nice Hotel I'm NOT Staying At

I was in the downtown Sheraton trying to find showers connected to the fitness center. The hotel was snazzy, and there was a conference going on, so lots of people were about. I checked every door I could find, and eventually found a patio exit that wasn't key-operated.

From the patio, I walked around and found this little fence.

That fence opened up to the pool area and fitness room. After exploring and finding that they had no showers, I grabbed a towel and went swimming.

The water was cold, and chlorinated. I could feel the sweat and light grime chemicalizing off. My hair felt like seaweed as I drove south. I followed signs to towns with names like "Gun Barrel City" and "Log Cabin." I found a huge, beautiful lake. When night fell I went to Austin, where South by SouthWest (SXSW) was beginning. I attended a few small shows, but moved on. I made it to S. Padre Island by the time I went to sleep.

I rode my bike around S. Padre Island, but it was windy and overcast. I drove on to Port Aransas where there were tons of people, and parked cars for miles. It wasn't a place for me. I ate fried seafood and went to a coffee shop. I had a few minor things that would be purely irresponsible for me to neglect, so I allowed myself access to the internet tubes, but ignored any personal, or non-immediate business. Comforted by the latte and the chair I claimed, I decided to walk on the beach a bit, and hopefully find some interesting people.

I put my thumb out to hitchhike a ride with a beach-driver, and eventually got picked up. When we parked they were drunk, and two ladies walking by just then introduced themselves as Brooklyn and Kimba. Everyone walked and talked down the beach. It slowly became clear that Brooklyn and I shared some very specific, and exactly similar motivations and perspectives. She very actively sought out travel, and growth through leaving her comfort zone. She likes the same foods, had similar and the same goals on her 'bucket list' as me, and even partakes in eating off strangers' plates. As the day went on, it started to just be absurd as similarities were discovered. They called some guys that they had met the previous day, and we hung out at a bonfire for a while. One of them, called A.J., who had a thick Texan accent and attitude, told me an interesting story about wearing a confederate flag in Las Vegas that got him stabbed, and resulted in his shoulder blade being nearly cut off before his friends could save his life. I asked him pressing questions about what it was like to get stabbed because I was interested, and fairly sure I would never see him again. I thought about leaving that night, but decided the drive would be much better in the light, I knew I would be going through tropical areas.

I was parked in a Holiday Inn parking lot, so when I woke up I tried to find a shower again using a method I had thought up the previous day whilst discussing cool traveler tricks. I walked in and looked for people leaving, or house service rolling up on rooms to clean. I was going to walk up to house service and say "Oh! Sorry, can you come back in like 20 minutes after I take a quick shower? I was a little hurried checking out." Instead I just found an open door, propped open with a trash can. It was obvious everyone had left, so I went in. Unfortunately there was no shampoo, so I was still operating with mangy locks, but it was nice to have some hot water and soap.

I drove the coastline, and saw some beautiful bays and beaches. I stopped a few times to think and enjoy the tropical views. At one stop there were oysters lining the rocks. I boiled water with my camp stove, and walked the rocks in sandals, using a pair of pliers to pry them off. I slipped quite a few times, and after a small meal, left with bloody hands and feet. I ate a really delicious meal at a local BBQ joint and took a nap. When I woke up it was dark, and I drove till I made it to the next beach, Surfside, TX.

I could drive on the beach here, so I started to look for wood that I could make a fire with. I see a building-in-progress, and I decide to shine some light on it while turning around. Not paying attention to where I was going, I start hitting some muddy bumps, and I suddenly splat down to a stop. I'm stuck. Anything I say here would be an understatement, but I spent the next two hours digging with pieces of wood, and with my hands, and trying to flag people down. I give up and start a fire on the beach, smoke a cigar, drink some beer and let the thoughts flow.

After a few more hours, the second truck that came onto the beach had a tow rope, but still had a hard time getting me out. After I was out it was still hard for me to cool my nervous nerves that I would have to call a tow truck.

Goal 95: Cry until I laugh

Why do I act differently depending on who's around, and is this something that's reasonable/logical to keep up, or is the basis for this bunk? What do I want to say to the people that are starving for good words? What lessons are being taught to me that I need to learn? I let my mind take me deep as I dried the wet sticks I could find with the small fire. I considered eating a small crab I found.

My mind eventually made its way to my father. He's had such a life, full of adventure and stories, and such hardship! I remembered that he gave me my faith. He told me once that "Things will work out. They have a way of working out." Does he remember that? Does he still believe that? I thought of how inspirational those words have been for me. I laughed at the irony. I laughed in the face of despair and suffering. I laughed because that's all I could do, that's all anyone can do about it... then I cried.

I didn't sleep, only sat and watched the sun rise. I rinsed off as much mud as I could in the Gulf, and left driving along the coast, towards Galvinston. My car began to obviously vibrate at high speeds, probably mud in the tire. My hair made sure I knew it wanted to be washed, my eyes reminded me that I hadn't slept, my cuts and car were covered and filled with mud, and I wreaked of campfire. I had to ask a local store for fifty cents to cross a toll bridge.

In Galvinston I stopped at a hotel with no luck of a hot tub, open door, or even a free breakfast. I bought Whataburger and donuts, and had to go back to the car wash three times before I finally got the mud out of all the wheel wells. I rinsed myself as well for temporary comfort.

I found Houston easily, and it had lots of interesting skybridges.

But that was about all Houston had, so I went back to Austin. SXSW was in full effect now. I went to a hotel to try to find a shower, but had to settle for a hot tub (which could hardly be considered settling). I found a Jukebox the Ghost show, and tried to find a way to sneak into it until they took down the sign that said "Wristbands and Badges Only." I found a Fader Fort wristband on the ground, and thought it was something to have. The show was really good. Afterward I ran into some friends, and we kicked it for the rest of the night bar hopping until we went back and I slept on their hotel floor.

The next day I left before anyone else woke up, thirty minutes after breakfast ended. I did SXSW research on the hotel computer and went to the Muzzle of Bees Backyard BBQ. Specifically in interest was Yellow Ostrich, who wholly swung my interest to come back to Austin. This turned out to be my absolute favorite part of the entire festival. Free beer, free sausages, free show, and a tree house. It was in some dude's backyard outside of downtown, and the mood was mellow to match the bands that performed. I was swayed to stay nearly all day rather than leaving after Yellow Ostrich.

I went on to see Savoir Adore, Mother Mother, and Her Space Holiday. Mother Mother had an awesome show, and despite their recently replaced singer, they played my classic favorite song, Polynesia. Her Space Holiday was kinda boring, and Savoir Adore had a poor venue. While on my way to a Bank of America to get cover for Datarock I saw about 126 bikes ride by, hooting and hollering. I decided to follow them (I'd been riding my bike around Austin this whole time, by the way). I thought we were doing a ride on the capital building or something, and it wasn't until I was just lost enough to get back that I found out this was just a Full-Moon Ride that happens every month with the full moon. Five hours later it was 4:00 AM, and I had seen the city skyline from about four different beautiful angles, panoramic views, I met a healthy portion of the Austin biking community, and I even found a small wrench on the ground (made interesting later).

I slept in my car, but still ate breakfast at the hotel my friends were staying at. I went back into the downtown to try and see Mother Mother again, but when I arrived I found out that I had just missed them. I was bummed, but I stuck around to see the next show, it was a "Canadian Blast." Some dude gets up on stage and effectively convinces me to stay much longer when he announces free drinks and free food, and starts to throw free Converse sneakers into the crowd. I know right... free Converse, what the heck? Well, I yelled out when he said size 11, and he specifically ran around the side of the stage to throw me a nice new pair of brown low-top Converse!

I left a couple bands later because I heard that the Fader Fort (the party that ran out of wristbands after I found one) was going to have some good secret shows, so I tried to get into it. When I arrived there was a savage line to get in. A group of people who knew someone almost got me in, and were all for it, but then the ring leader excluded me at the last moment. I gave up easily.

I went to see a huge outdoor show with !!!(Chk Chk Chk), and then saw Owen Pallett, and Braids. I saw a song or two from around eight other bands, but kept moving. I eventually found an electro show that was bumpin'. I stayed for two bands and bought a drink, but they had a ten dollar minimum charge. I wasn't going to buy another drink, that's absurd, so I left to go find an ATM (unfortunately I never found one the previous night before I got sucked up by the bike gang). I found one quickly, actually, as I walked up I picked up a penny on the ground, and then sadly read that it was out of order... It had other bank locations listed, but I knew that at least one of them was a walk in bank only. By the time I could register all of that, the ATM suddenly lit up, and was functional again! I couldn't believe it, and I went to pay my tab, and buy a t-shirt.

The rest of my night mostly just consisted of people offering me drugs, and me eating a lamb wrap from some middle eastern booth. I left Austin headed home, but only got a few hours out before I had to sleep.

Goal 39: Live Homelessly for a Week

I will say that this wasn't my first intention when I wrote this goal, but I think it works just fine, and makes more sense.

My drive through Texas was mostly uneventful and filled with naps (I took three). Just before the state line I saw a dust devil out in the desert, and I decided to chase it a bit, and maybe drive into it if I could. I turn off and start speeding down this dirt road towards it, and I'm starting to get close, and I'm pretty sure I'm gunna make it. I see a sign that says "Speed Bumps." That's weird, on this dirt road? That can't mean actual speed bumps. I see a speed bump up ahead, but it's just a speed bump, not that bad, right...?

I was too far away to decide just how bad it could be because when I hit it, the bottom of my front end hits it, and I my Subaru Impreza goes flying into the air, literally. All four tires off the ground, ALL FOUR, and I shit my pants as gravity reclaims my Subaru Impreza back to earth. I turn it off, and run into what's left of the dust devil (not much). I quell the urge to have a heart attack as I check under the hood, and under the car. No fluids?! No leaks?! WHAT WHAT WHAT!!! My radiator was pushing into my engine, but it wasn't leaking! OH, I couldn't believe it! I drive away, no big deal.

By the time I'm back on the pavement there's a huge cloud of smoke coming from my engine. I pull off and look underneath to witness a fountain fluids pouring from seemingly every spot under my car...

That's it. I'm done. I'm in the middle of no where, not even to New Mexico yet. My car's totaled. How am I going to get to Socorro for school? How am I going to buy a new car? I call Allstate's roadside assistance. They can't find any flat bed tow trucks, or any towns open on Sunday, so they'll call me back. I roll my car back and realize that it's just one type of fluid, transmission fluid. I do some investigating and actually find a cracked transmission hose that could have easily sprayed the fluid all over the bottom of my car. Is it possible that this is the only problem? Sure. But I'm not getting my hopes up. ALL FOUR TIRES! I ride my bike up and down the highway, read, and drink a beer. The tow shows up, and I notice there's an AutoZone in the next town earlier. I want to ask him to let me just fix it up there, and see if it works so that I can avoid any tow overages, but it doesn't seem like the tow will be that much more than what Allstate will cover me for, so I don't say anything.

We get to Hobbs, NM just before sunset, and I race to replace the hose and refill my transmission. I flinch when the guy tells me that the tow will cost ME $183.00 (a total of $433.00). Thanks for letting me know dude, you're friendly and all, but you could have given me a heads up on that one. I have to reroute the new hose because the radiator denied any access through the traditional path. Remember that wrench I found on that bike ride earlier? It fit the bolts on the tube perfectly. I suspected it, and it was eerie. Once the tube was fixed and the transmission refilled....nothing. Nothing! No leaking fluid or anything! It worked! That's all it was, a 99¢ tube. I eat some Taco Bell in celebration, and get disappointed with the new beef.

Five hours from Hobbs to Socorro, and I'm feeling pretty good. Bored, but that's good. I keep an eye on my temperatures, and nothing is flaring up. I still can't believe it.

I'm around Capitan, NM when ¡SHITCRAP! SOMETHING JUST GOT IN FRONT OF ME! A HUGE ELK OR CAR OR SOMETHING I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING OMG WTF SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! I pull over RIGHT AWAY and am freaking out! That was SURPRISING!

When my front end got bent down, it made the hood much harder to latch, and guess who didn't think it a problem? This guy. I pry my hood off of my windshield, which is absolutely destroyed. The hood flew up so hard that it bent over my roof, and dented my entire roof down. There's not much I can do at this point, and I'm pretty much still surprised my car is even running. I force the hood to latch, and I drive another couple hours with a demolished windshield.

I've come home from ten day hiking trips cleaner and with less cuts.

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Goals 1, 45 & 83: Saying Goodbye to Sweden

So I've gone five months with barely a word about the place I've been living...

Goal 45: Live and study in a foreign country

This one was basically a given completion goal, because by the time I joined the Day Zero Project, I was basically on my way to Sweden. Regardless, I did live in a foreign country, and I did study (sometimes). I would like to add a bit of validity to the goal, mentioning that until the final month or so, I wasn't really living in Sweden at all, just surviving. So what does that even mean?

Well, most of my time in Sweden was spent under the oppression of a few of my peers, and one night, Ariel, Kenneth and I all joined together in a pact to live it up during the final days of our Swedish residence permits. This decision single handedly saved my impression of Sweden.

We started by climbing the roof of our school. We started out with minor mischievous pranks such as making cup pyramids and turning all of the microwaves on. When I found an open window, we achieved the high point of the school, and relaxed in our discussion of our final days.

The first big win was in the vehicle class. We found derelict bikes, fixed them up, and used them as a new, and primary, mode of transportation for our adventures.

Although Kenny mostly disappeared from our adventures, Ariel and I lived it up at a Spanish Omelet Competition, that included a beautiful view, an epic toast, and loads of delicious food.

The study portion of the goal is an interesting thing to note. Sweden does the courses much differently from the US. They have two periods for every semester, and courses can take any speed. Full time is considered 30 credits. Courses can be 7.5 credits and take the whole semester, or just one period, depending on their speed. I could continue to explain, but as long as you have a total of 30 credits over a semester, you're full time.

I specifically chose my courses in order to have the maximum amount of time free, every week. I took one online course, one course in each period, and one class that started in the middle of the first period, and ended in the middle of the second. Long story short, I had at most 2 classes a week, and little work to do, which is how I managed to visit ten other countries while studying.

Ariel and I then teamed up at a Beer Pong party in which we went 9 for 10 in drinking games. My favorite play was a two-balls-one-cup move that 'sploded all but one of our opponents' cups into their bellies.

Food was a common means of gathering in the final days. We barbecued, we made cornbread, we had birthdays, and we made cookies.

(no comment)

The final days were also filled with flag signings and goodbye toasts. Many friendships deepened as we all realized that this thing was coming to an end. It was really beautiful to share parting stories with so many great people.

Graduation in Sweden

Graduation is super awesome in Sweden because all of the highschoolers dress up and take to the streets. Many of them were carrying around boomboxes, or had choreographed dance routines. It seemed like so much fun, and I wish so badly that the US had some great community events such as this and Valborg, where everyone gets out of the house and on to their feet.

My personal favorite was the crew of colored spandex suits. They reminded me of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and made me wonder where I find a suit of my own.

The Final, Final Days

For about a week before I left Sweden, my days were packed. One of the most exciting things I did was swim to an island in the middle of Mälaren lake. I did this with Aaron Kahn, and it proved to be harder than we expected.

It was about 400m or so from shore to the island, but it was 400m of freezing cold. We got to the island with almost no problem, but once we could touch, we had to wade through another 50m of sharp reeds. Once we got through that, we had to fight off mass quantities of mosquitos and ants until we found a nice spot overlooking the lake with a bit of a breeze to it. We warmed up a bit and began to swim back without much delay.

Once we got in the water to go back, we tried to push a stockpile of reeds together, with two floating logs underneath in order to create a raft that we could possibly paddle back to shore. Our raft quickly deteriorated, leaving us with a soccer ball and an old buoy for floatation. These turned out to be lifesavers (possibly literally) because the swim back was severely more difficult. We lost more than our fair share of body heat and energy getting across the first time, so it was a tough cookie getting cramps and wanting naps on the return swim.

Goal 83: Learn basic Swedish

By this time, I found out that I had passed my course, 'Swedish for Foreign Students,' with ease. Jag talar inte flytande Svenska, men jag talar Svenska.

(Photo courtesy of Kenneth)

At the very end, I had to leave a bunch of stuff behind. Mostly stuff that I got with my room or found along the way, it was too good to throw away. In order to make someone such as our Finnish friends less unnerved about taking abandoned things, I left a note that said 'This stuff is all yours' on the soccer ball.

The final month was filled with reflection on what had happened. It had been quite an experience, and there are a few very important things that I've learned from my trip. Firstly, that it doesn't matter if most of the people you know are lame, you should always find the ones that aren't, and stick with them. Secondly, every city in the world is almost the same. The sights are good for seeing, but towns and countrysides are good for experiencing. The third thing is part of Goal 1: Send a postcard to Postsecret, so I won't mention it here.

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[Volcanic Trip, Part 5] Making it Home: Germany

So we took an overnight bus to Berlin, and our trip was officially back on track...sorta. Although we had tickets to fly from Ireland, we were still in Berlin, and in time to go see Noah and the Whale in concert. We took the day to walk around the city, see the sights, and end up at the concert.

This is Red City Hall, and I'm pretty sure it represents the communist side of Berlin...I don't actually know though.

This is the TV Tower. I didn't know this was a landmark of Berlin until we got here. Neat, huh?

Here's a museum that I took a picture in front of. As you can see, I imported the antlers from Denmark. The interesting thing about the buildings in Berlin, specifically the marble buildings, is that they haven't been cleaned in a while, so they're extremely black and patchy. This was really neat to see, actually, and it makes me think of what Duomo, in Milan, may have looked if they didn't JUST finish cleaning it when we got there.

Here are some street sheisters. That guy in the jacket would shuffle around a ball under little boxes and the goal was to find the ball. It seemed extremely easy, but it was certainly a sheist. There were about five people who were part of the ring, and they would all pretend to bet, sometimes win, sometimes loose. It worked well to fool me for a little while. It was too easy though. At one point, Kenny had his foot on a box with the ball under it, and they wanted him to put money out and bet, but he refused. We stuck around for a while, but we never figured out how they sheisted someone.

We got to get inside of some nice Mercedes' at the Mercedes showroom.

Then we followed up by going to the Volkswagon showroom. No Phaetons though.

At the end of the day it was time to go see Noah and the Whale at the Frannz Club. It was good to see the look on everyone's face as I entered with an piece of antler. There was some serious confusion, and the girl at garderobe (coat check) said that it was too big to put anywhere, so I would just have to tell her to get them and she would put them in the back.

Take note of how Charlie Fink, the main guy, has a different guitar for every song.
The concert was really nice. It was mellow, fun, and very enjoyable.
They played "5 years Time" as one of their last songs, and it was fantastic to hear. Although, raw and unproduced (and without that woman on backup), the song itself wasn't as fun. But being live more than made up for it.
On the second day in Berlin, we decided to drink a bottle of cheap vodka, and see the WWII sights. We saw lots of chunks of Berlin wall.
This is Checkpoint Charlie. I'm not entirely sure why it is so famous, but there was a lot of tourist and WWII stuff here. It seems like it might have been a high-traffic checkpoint to crossover the sectors of Berlin.

I found an office chair near Checkpoint Charlie by a dumpster, so I commandeered it and piloted through the streets.
There was a woman handing out coupons for free chocolates on the street. Because we had recently finished a bottle of vodka, I wasn't too opposed to free chocolate. She gave us two coupons each, and Kenny didn't even want his second chocolate, so I made out like a bandit. The guy at the counter laughed when I walked up with my third coupon, and then he gave me his personally recommended flavor.
This green guy is the guy that means "walk" on pedestrian crosswalk signals. Apparently he's gained some popularity, probably because of his unique-ness among pedestrian walk signals.
We took some really nice walks through the parks in Berlin because the weather was wonderful. At one point, we even napped on a bench for about forty-five minutes.
This was a cool place to be in.

We saw some memorials too. This one is to all of the murdered Jews of Europe.
There was modern stuff in Berlin too. It was pretty neat.
We saw the TV tower at night, which was neat.

We went back for the night, hung out with our couchsurfer a bit, but fell asleep pretty quick. We woke up early to get to the airport. The trip was coming to a welcomed end. Here's a picture that has all of the things I brought on the trip.

We arrived at the airport three hours early to ensure that there was no overbooking of our flight that would interfere with our seats on the plane home. After a couple hours of napping in the airport, seeing our flight boarding to Stockholm was a relief. We were finally going home for realz.

The flight was smooth, and after two more bus rides, we were finally at home. I had never been so happy to walk through the doors of Junior, and it was good to know that I was back with friends, food, and a bed. More than anything, the trip made me appreciate the people that I've met while in Sweden, and it was time to work harder to build strong friendships, and make some memories. I was gone the entire month of April with limited contact to anyone I cared about, and it was a reminder of what's important.

I got home, and I smiled as I saw familiar faces and comfortable places.

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