i know i need to finish the austin entry, as well as write my entires for the last few days, spent in arizona and utah and in san diego… but i’ve had a crazy, crazy adventure in those days and need a few days to process…

i promise i will catch up before summit…. even if i have to take a day off from adventuring to do so.

oh and btw, if anyone wants a postcard, send me your address.

austin was a great time.

admittedly, i didn’t do many culture things other than music, but i got to do other things that more than made it up. i got to see my homegirl tammy, my jiu jitsu brother mikey, got to play jiu jitsu, got to listen to some awesome music, eat some great food…

and more importantly, i got to hang out with the really awesome family of my friend and fellow bullshidoka john. dude, what an awesome loving family. i think one of the coolest things about doing what i’m doing, is getting to know folks, their lives and their homes.

the family of john

i feel blessed to be taken into folks’ homes this way. to see not just america in geographical terms, but also the people. it’s what makes this trip more than just an excuse to sight see or to get debauched in different places.

john and his wife tammy took me into their beautiful home, introduced me to shane, their kid and generally made me feel like one of theirs. i think i’ve been on the road too long to really be eloquent. don’t get me wrong, my ability to write is still there, and if anything, i’m writing significantly more than i have been… but my ability to communicate through this particular format is kinda weak sauce.

suffice to say i loved that family and i wish i could find more family stays. they’ve been that spice in between my hostel stays that have been really awesome and really framed the entirety of my experience.

john and tammy and shane could not have been more welcoming or sweet. being in that home that was full of love made me miss home, made me miss that nurturing, caring environment. john and tammy say that their lives revolve around their son, and it’s so obvious that it does. they love that kid with a fierce, amazing passion and i just know it’s going to be the subject of my poetry.

me and shane

there really isn’t that much to say… i’m going to let the pictures speak and just remark on them about the rest of my time with the beautiful people i know in austin….

dude, great voice

as always, my experience was bracketed, defined by and constantly associated with music. it underlines everything i do, it highlights everything. i fucking love going to live shows, there’s an energy in live shows that makes me so happy all the time. this picture and the next few are all from my first night in the city, when me, john, and mikey, my jiu jitsu brother went out to 6th street.

mikey and john

the boys on the strip known as 6th street

the next day was mostly devoted to fixing my baby, the laptop that i’m writing this blog on currently, because its screen was cracked. you obviously don’t

]]> http://vinh-hua.com/archives/412/feed 1 http://vinh-hua.com/archives/402 http://vinh-hua.com/archives/402#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:23:32 +0000 vinh http://vinh-hua.com/?p=402 nb: this was originally written monday, but never shown to the world till just now.

dallas ended up being what i needed it to be.

not exactly what i wanted it to be. for one, i didn’t expect it to be a suburban wasteland. secondly, i didn’t get to do a lot of the cowboy things i was originally looking forward to. no rodeo, no shooting shit, no horses. but goddamn is it hot. and goddamn is that sun ridiculously powerful or what?

aside: wtf?! i’m watching cmt and seeing def leppard singing with taylor swift. huge wtf moment. who’d a thunk they’d ever get together to sing fucking taylor swift songs. admittedly, taylor swift is somewhat of a guilty pleasure… and i do think she’s attractive, but playing with fucking def leppard?! pour some sugar on swift. that was actually a kinda pleasant image. hmmm…

back to what i was saying. dallas was what i needed it to be. thursday was a movie night, with no drunken hijinks and nothing really crazy, but necessary considering i was still recovering from norleans. friday was restful… though admittedly not through any real amount of choice. i did need it, because i can feel myself getting sick. c’est le vie.

i ended up visiting this neighborhood called deep ellum with my friend and pseudo-stooge sister, catrina. she and her family was kind enough to take me into her home, which btw, is helllllllla baller. deep ellum, while i didn’t see it at night, seems to me like williamsburg junior. hipster heaven. but not necessarily in a bad way. i feel like i could’ve had a lot of fun there. the street art was beautiful. and fucking everywhere.

play that gitar boyo

ivy eyed... that's gonna be in a poem.

batter up!

like i said, hipster heaven

and dude. food was awesome. recommended by a local, the angry dog in deep ellum was tasty as hell, with huge portions.

da burger... yes DA.

after a long detour in a bookstore, i ended up going out with my homegirl caly to meet up with our other friend thi at the local watering holes. we actually had a really good series of conversations regarding everything from love, to work to the nature of life. which is always kinda awesome and reminded me what the whole point of this trip was, to connect with people and by so doing, to connect with myself. hence the reason the poem i wrote for caly awhile back, but which has been heavily rewritten, which i need to end up titling sooner or later, will be posted on the website sometime soon.

fried pickles

me and caly's mom's awesome bun bo hue

me and jiggly

aside 2: taylor swift and def leppard were just talking about how things that are in your life, that happen to you, the strong feelings that you feel inevitably end up in your music. this is both true and something i’ve always believed in. i write what i feel. know this.

saturday was significantly more productive. went to fort worth, which is part of the metro dallas area to go to a series of museums, the kimball and the modern. both of which surprised me in the breadth and depth of their collections. i had a really good time and was surprisingly moved by much of the art.

the modern

if only catrina, if only

fascinated at one of the most realistic sculptures ever

monet at the kimball

beauty is the realm of the divine

ended up watching the movie all about dad at the asian american film festival dallas, which was a fun time. it’s always interesting to see media that reflects your experience, and this most definitely did. the issues of first and second generation, expectation of family, the experience of the refugee and of the american born. these spoke to me, which has always been extraordinarily important in my appreciation of art. and hey, i got pictures with the dad, who is in many ways similar to my own father. hence i bought him a heineken.

heineken with the dad

afterwards, i ate a 25 oz steak with cat, phuong and macy, the new three stooges. good time. i did damage. and i think the steak might have done damage to me. whoa. i heart cat for bringing me to do something so texan.

before

after

how i felt before

how i felt after

that night i went out with jiggly and her friends to the gayborhood. i actually ended up having a really great time in my first lesbian bar because the people i was around were so awesome. i can’t remember all the names, sarah and albert and viet and many others. but that’s what picatures and facebook are for.

she actually really does look like this all the time

teh females

folks

3 dudes and a girl

i am currently at my friend john’s house in Austin, safe and sound, getting ready to go play jits. they’re an awesome, generous and loving family out here. you may not hear from me for a bit because my laptop screen is cracked, but i will try to update when i can. great love. i do want to say that i am awful glad i went to dallas. there’s lots of good folks there, and i’m hella appreciative to the ngo family for taking me in and treating me like a member of the family. even if i tease them. also, hella thanks goes out to all the people i met in dallas in general. sure, yall disabused me of my wonderful delusions about texas, but hey, it was good.

hit me up if you’re reading. comments are much appreciated. i’ll leave you with a pic of two of the stooges and pennies.

stooges and pennies

life is like a jits match, you gotta be ready to act when you feel the balance point.

i have also been exhausted. finally getting to texas, the suburban wasteland that is dallas, i have realized how hard i’ve been pushing my body, traveling from place to place, partying, going out and just generally not being very healthy. and even though there is a significant emotional, spiritual and mental payoff, there is definitely a price, not least of which is physical.

but i really should at least summarize briefly what happened in the last few days, maybe show it all pictorially. maybe even use it as a discussion of larger ideas and ideals.

though i will say, as it is relatively early in the morning, doubly so for myself, and i’m watching that vietnamese movies the rebel, i will say that i kinda wish i were either asleep or in vietnam acting in vietnameese movies. i feel like that would be kinda an awesome time. and the movie makes me come to two realizations… a) if vo vinam really looks like they’re trying to portray it, it must’ve been hella useful until someone decided to throw in a spinning kick… which is when we lost the country to the french. and b) if only kung fu could make war into a thing of individuals rather than massed formations of rifles and men.

i have no idea why i’m being so philosophical. i guess actually resting for a night is screwing with the chemicals in my brain. it does look like dallas is going to my rest stop, which i’m conflicted about, but c’est le vie. the combination of dallas being a suburban wasteland made for suvs and other automobiles and the fact that i don’t drive makes ish hard.

but back to nawlins.

on my second day in norleans, i did the whole french quarter thing, but started out at the voodoo museum. which was trippy, beautiful in its own way and enough to send chills up and down my spine. weird moments.

vinh in norleans

voodoo museum

there i am

but the french quarter is goddamn beautiful… especially when you get off the shithole known as bourbon street. jackson sq, royal street, the antique stores and the art shoppes. i love the architecture and the vibe. cafe du monde was as awesome as i remembered it from the years before when i had eaten there, and i finally got to see the mississippi river.

jackson sq, gotta love it

one of the better street performers

awesome sauce

beautiful nawlins

where it finally hit me, i’d done half of the country. holy crap. about a 1/4th of my journey is done. it’s been a goddamn crazy, crazy time that has renewed my faith in the human condition.

big river, oh big river

but lets get off this philosophical trip.

the crew had hooked up with this guy ski, a local, the previous night. homeboy called us up and hooked us up with an open bar on bourbon street. ski and i are a lot alike in that we both are open to whatever comes, to having fun, hooking people up with each other and just generally to being open to what the world brings.

the open bar was an awesome time. what i can remember from it. especially the karaoke. oh jesus, karaoke, on stage.

drunken open bar

party it up kiddos

viva la bamba

throwing beads off from the porch

the beauties of open bars

so wasn’t the show afterwards.

outside rebirth

i have no idea wtf to say about this but it's awesome

awesome show

the next day, the canadien ending up leaving. after a relatively late start, i headed out to the insectarium. dude. i’ve been to a bunch of music events, art museums and all sorts of things all across the united states, but i had never even heard of an insectarium before.

welcome wall

i hate bugs

really really pretty space

working hard

i had a great time as you can see. saw a bunch of bugs. ate some bugs.

i’ve always been a little bit fascinated by bugs, and so seeing all of them like that was interesting as all hell. and the insectarium was just really, really well put together, which is always nice. it was informative, clean, the staff were hella knowledgeable and willing to be engaged… it was full of awesomeness.

that evening, one of my homies at the hostel, brandon, ended up making some really really baller jumbo. that whole quiet night was this really awesome time when i got to know brandon, the veteran from a ranch in oklahoma and sean and everyone else. it was a good time to just relax and get to know folks that much better.

brandon and his baller gumbo

big meal

it was a great send off to texas.

the boys with my pennies

miss lisa, who drove me to dallas with her penny

i’ll hit you up later today probably about my poetry and and about my time in tx.

as a heads up, this will NOT be a long post. it’s too hot and i want to jump into the pool. i’ll only be making a post about the first day, even though i’m already on the third day. i need time to process. fucking norleans.

so good in this shit hot weather

but let’s just talk about how much of a goddamn party city this is. they sell fucking hard liquor in the goddamn pharmacies. they sell shots in the liquor stores. as long as it ain’t in glass, you can drink on the street whatever. it is an insane little city.

the best medicine evar

and it is awesome.

and the hostel reflects the awesomeness. it’s a relatively giant compound with fish and a pool and colourfulness and is just a great time. they legitimately have a refrigerator just for alcohol. it’s such a good time, i’m going to be spending most of today in the pool to cool off.

i actually really want a tattoo of a koi

i made dinner the first night i got in for the mates i met at the hostel and then we went out. the crew was lisa from texas, the jarhead, the canadien, the manx, howard and miss serena. after a fucking epic journey that ended up actually getting us to the place after the band had played and seeing what felt like almost all of norleans, we ended up meeting with these two local girls. they were med students at tulane and walked us over to frenchman street… which was significantly better than the shithole known as bourbon street.

me n miss lisa

the folks on the bus

where are we going?!

we ended up having an awesome time going from jazz club to jazz club, listening to awesome livem usic and generally getting plastered. we met up with this AWESOME jazz singer by the name of miss arlee who ended up singing at every place we went and getting the crowd moving.

the crew on bourbon street

hiho the derry-o, it's the crew don't yanno

the dirty manx

dba band

miss alex and her band, awesome

miss arlee singing

me and the canadien

i’m sorry i’m not at my most eloquent this morning. it’s too fucking hot and there’s most likely too many toxins still in my body.

i will update about the next day later on… and i will say that i am beginning to write again, which is awesome sauce.

life is like a girl you pick up, you never know what you’re gon’ get.

though i don’t have internet access, i do sorta remember where i left off in the blog… so i’ll start with saying that trinh, bryan, and bushaud are great folks.

trinh took me to the first vietnamese food i have had in what feels like forever. this doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you realize that i haven’t had rice or any other asian food since i set out on this trip. seeing, smelling, sensing vietnamese food made me realize there was a definite gap in my life. the fact that there were fresh vegetables, which i hadn’t been ingesting much of, just tied the whole thing together for me.

also, vietnamese food is just such a good type of food for talking… though there wasn’t that much talking in the first few minutes after we got our dinner, the ability of vietnamese food to be edible even if not quickly eaten allowed us to have a relatively deep conversation. hanging out with trinh and co made me realize a few things… that people from all sorts of places are fundamentally able to connect to one another as long as they allow themselves to be open to the experience. this was especially pushed into my head for the simple fact that these folks did not know me from job, but were still willing to take me in and to talk with me and to open themselves up.

bun nem nuong, so good

friendly atlanteans

therefore, i’m trying to make myself as open to a variety of experiences as humanly possible while i’m here… letting whatever comes come. so it was with some trepidation but an open mind that i ended up going to a hipster party that was sposed to have a moonbounce there. imagine my utter disappointment when the moonbounce was not there. which is why we then went to a strip club.

no moonbounce, but ghost instead

stuttttttttter

trinh stutttter

bushaud stutter

drunk eyes

as a matter of fact, we went to the clearmont lounge, which is apparently an atlanta institution. the trip club par excellence. this was not your average strip club though… as it wasn’t really about how enticing the women on stage were… if anything, most of the strippers looked badly used, old and resigned to their jobs. the entire place had this air of unrefinement… in keeping with the dancers. one of the draws was apparently the fact that one of the strippers was able to crush beer cans with her tits, something i did not get to see. your feet stuck to the floor. i still can’t get the smell of cigarettes out of my skin. thankfully… we got out of there before bryan could buy me a lap dance from one of the older models.

pennies

but even though my experience in atlanta was brief… i had such a great, if surreal, experience while i was there. locals are awesome.

that morning i jumped on a 12 hour bus ride to pensacola florida, where i was met up by my friend Jason, who is also a bully from bullshido.net. pensacola reminded me of how fundamentally different every place i’ve been is from one another. it is this like small town, even if it’s the biggest in its region, that is hella spread out with cul de sacs and suburban sprawl everywhere. you gotta understand that this is fundamentally different from my experiences in other cities.

WTF? kfc has a fucking BUFFET?! sorry for the interruption, i just saw the sign. jesus christ. that sounds disgusting.

but getting back to it, after i got back to jay’s place, i stored my stuff, met his really friendly family, his wife casey, his kids tyler (not durden) and blake. after a brief rest, we ended up rolling. jay, though not belted, is a pretty decent player, with a knack for finding submissions from weird positions. he showed me some unorthodox stuff as we talked about lfie and about th jits scene in florida… which is apparently non existent.

jits and son

that night, we went off to watch the ufc at his father-in-law’s house, who goes by the name of greg, and who is by far one of the most well traveled and just generally nice folks i know… even if we fundamentally disagree one what is natural for the human animal.

i don’t want to talk much about the ufc… except to say fuck brock lesnar. and go sexyyama! and roflmfao @ bisping

that night… i almost suffocated. i am REALLY allergic to cats and jay had cats that apparently had some demon dander. but whatever, it happens. i ended up sleeping the next night at greg’s house, saving me a trip to a hotel. the concern for my wellbeing that jay and his family showed was so heartwarming that i wished i could express it to you through a medium more solid than this ethereal electronic transmission.

as i recovered from the swollen nodes in my throat, we went to the beach to veg out and to give my lungs a chance to take in the salt air. jay was telling me that the job market in pensacola was real hard up, and that even though property values were ridiculously low, there weren’t that many people moving down here. which blew my mind once i saw the beach.

holy crap. i swear to god, i thought i was in paradise. beautiful white powder, crystal clear water that had the temperature that was just enough to welcome you, the beautiful sun. kayaking! awesomeness. i swam and i frolicked and i even kayak’ed, seeing a school of manta rays. greg actually ended up seeing a massive sea turtle. how cool is that?

the big kid

the little kids

the kids and casey

look at that water, goddamn

fat but happy

afterwards we went to flounder’s, which is their favourite nearby restaurant, where i tried my first bushwacker and found out that grouper is a fucking amazing fish to eat. sure, the bottom feeders the restaurant made weren’t awesome, but goddamn, the fish was MINDBLOWING good. and then we walked down the boardwalk… which is just like a jersey shore.

not so much.

but still, alcohol and people watching and country music from a pretty girl.

awesome food

flash fried goodness

the whole family

i ended up moving to greg’s house that evening, watched four brothers and kicked it with greg and jay.

as a final note, i just wanted to say thank you again to them for opening up their homes and treating me like family. i usually think southern hospitality is kinda of bullshit. i’ve seen it be bullshit in a lot of places, but these folks, who are NOT southerners, definitely showed it to me. awesomeness.

ole me

more pennies

life is like a bus ride, you never know when you gon’ get where you’re going.

either that or i just really don’t feel like it when i’m tired and recovering from one of the worst allergy attacks of my life. demon cats. they’re everywhere, watch yourselves.

but yes, returning to the original point, i suck at good byes. i’m too much the sentimental type. so let me gloss over my final hoursi n nashville by saying that i had an awesome southern style breakfast and then waved goodbye to folks who’d made my stay in nashville one of the best times of my life. awersome sauce.

yes... sausage, eggs, fluffy-est pancakes evar... and to cap it, CHEESE GRITS

two englishmen and an oz woman walk into a bar...

with that… let me also skip over the ride. who wantsa know about the actual hours passed on the road? what is there to know but that they suck? yet cheap… and can sometimes be less of a hassle than airplane travel.

instead let me start talking about my time in hotlanta.

i think the energy coming off of the good byes at the nashville made me less down to hang out with hostel folks. you gotta understand… i was still being emo about the whole thing when i arrived in atlanta.

and boy was i in a terrible mood, none definitely to be hanging out with hostel folks. so what did i do? i went out to the only available restaurant/bar for a bite a mite of alky. at top flr, the food was good if overpriced, the drinks were interesting, even if their irish whiskey was wack, and their setting was very new york lounge reminiscent.

but more importantly, i’ll recommend the place’s patrons any day. i always go to locals, because locals are always in the know… but no group of locals so far on this trip have been as randomly open and just generally dope as this one. i met my first new vietnamese person, kim at the bar and from there we ended up on an odd-yssey of sorts.

we somehow ended up at the house of LaFace record’s lawyer. yes, that means this dude was the lawyer for outkast in its early days, as well as for TLC before no more scrubs. like whoa. platinum and gold records everywhere.

WATER = COLD

and BALLER mansion. so if it isn’t already weird enough drinking mango rum drinks and eating pigs in blankets, dude has a pool, with a massive slide. which i end up getting to enjoy. while an almost full moon shined its enigmatic countenance down upon us. how fucking weird is that? what set of serendipitous stoner angels must’ve colluded for that to happen? how dope is it that i left that night with my contact for the next night’s entertainment?

gorgeous and fay.

not tired at all, really.

jeebus. i have no idea how i ended up there. how the hell i ended up soaking wet in the pool. or even how i got home. or even why there’s this vague impression of having visited martin luther king jr’s house and church that’s stuck in my head. and it wasn’t even drunkeness… i was just so tired… from the night before partying, from the bus ride, from the cold i was getting.

so i slept in the next day.

you did not read about this earlier for the simple fact that i was having internet troubles like whoa in atlanta… and then i was just exhausted and already feeling the effects of demon cats when i got to pensacola. but i’m getting ahead of myself.

dope cuban food across the street from the hostel in atlanta. i recommend to anyone. good folks at the hostel as well… though i didn’t get to know that many folks.

after a hella late start, i ended up walking to The High, Atlanta’s art museum, after first checking out some local galleries. being from new york city and boston, i’m used to impressive museums… and while the high won’t ever top the met or mfa, it at least gives it a damned decent effort. i had a really good time there, enjoying art. which has always been one of my favourite past times. and of course, monet’s water lilies, which i didn’t get to photograph, were amazingly dope.

little local gallery in between shows

AWESOME use of found objects

who's that sexy beast in the reflection?

that evening, which was also a lot of fun and the entirety of my time in pensacola will come sometime tomorrow. hopefully, when i’m on the bus to norleans.

until then, i bid you adieu.

living is like a coke can, it’s bad for you, but sure is good going down.

oh nashville, you took my heart.

tenn state capitol

who's that handsome devil?

i don’t really have lots of time to do this, because i am only in atlanta for two nights and a day, and then off again to P’Cola to do some training and then watch ufc 100. i won’t really discuss my bus day or the crazy first night i had in atlanta right now, but i will later today. i will say that i am currently in the atlanta international hostel and safe and well, if a little sick just so yall know.

some nashville church that was gorgeous

i will say though, i fucking love nashville. it’s a great, great time. i had hella fun. how awesome is it to be surrounded by loud, live music and a plenitude of alcohol. i had such an amazing time just kicking it with all the dope folks at the hostel and being a tourist. i did a lot of sight seeing, just checking out the state capitol and the horribly unpolitcally correct tennessee state museum. i am not sure if my filipino folks would be insulted or complimented by their exhibit on the philipines war.

pinoy gangstas

see previous caption

i also did the frist art center, which is their big art museum… which was not very big. it was pretty nice though, and i did enjoy myself. and in all seriousness, between the architecture and the music and the surprisingly vibrant art scene, i almost want to say i could live here. not quite though.

i can honestly say this is one of the most beautiful buildings i have ever seen

it’s awesome being a traveler at a hostel, being surrounded by internationals that are all trying to do the same thing i am. there’s this feeling among travelers where we all know we’re only going to be here for the tiniest bit so friendship come fast and strong. and that’s awesome beyond belief.

traveler boys with local girls: what a nightmare

the folks i met in nashville were all really great folks, and we all managed to somehow get to know each other, have injokes and be a good crew within the span of a few days. from oli’s overtly subtle british humour to anthony’s snakiness, to becks good humoured tolerance of all the boys being boys, to ed’s reserved demeanor slowly opening up, to matt’s good ole boy charm mixed with modern sensibilities. obviously, this is only a quick glossing of all the wonderful, amicable folks i met… but it is indicative of how awesome it is to connect with people from canada and australia and britain and even fucking denmark. i

lulz, canadian's already drunk

there’s also that element in vietnamese culture, i feel, this friendliness and openness once you get past the intial awkwardness that comes from the fundamental fatalism that comes along with possibly not seeing someone the next day, for whatever reason. so to make the most of life, we may as well be as close as possible now. i know sure as hell that imma miss those folks.

bex done stole my heart

i SWEAR i didn't drink all those by myself

why does everyone but me always have cute accents?

don't trust danes...

i will briefly say that the country music hall of fame was absolutely awesome sauce. i went on wednesday and it was completely worth the fee. between all the music and artifacts and exhibits, i feel like i learned so much and still had hella fun. like really, just seeing elvis’ car and hank william’s guitar and johnny cash’s guitar… how awesome of a time is that?

johnny cash

erbody

frikkin HUGE

the king and i... too cheesy?

all mine

JOHNNY CASH'S GITAR!!!

good ole country boys

then coming home, we had anthony from australia make us an awesome meal of vegetable spaghetti and then afterwards, we went out… as we always did, pulling in other folks with us.

anthony with his creation... ed can't wait

we like our drink

bex gon' kick anthony's ass for that one

smile erbody!

'parently brits finding hugging awkward

great pic

brits drink so fucking much

ed is a sexy beast

brother i never had

as you can see… it was a great night.

i’m really sad to have said good bye to everyone. now i’m off to get breakfast in atlanta… i will update before i leave tonight for the second part of my atlanta day. but let me just say again, i would recommend going to nashville to pretty much anyone, especially to anyone over twenty one or who just loves music. it really is a great time.

imma miss that city.

life is like an abusive relationship, transcendently wonderful sometimes, abysmally awful others… and with a lot of petty annoyances in between.

beatup old car in paradise park

leaving my mark

i like nashville. i like nashville a whole lot. i hate getting here, i hate the hangover i got from being here, but i really do like this city. it’s places like this that make me absolutely love being a backpacker.

whoa, i look bloated

jigsaw mural

it’s beautiful. like really, there’s awesome architecture and monuments, married to this old tyme feel that quickly welcomes you in. admittedly, the city is a driving city and so loses a mighty lot of points in my book as such, but goddamnit, when there’s this much sun, you can’t help but love it.

so after the shit ass bus ride and updating the blog, i took myself a long nap ‘fore i headed out into the city with a new friend, a former navy man by the name of Bryan. Bryan’s an awesome card magician, a good guy, great sense of humour and from the middle of nowhere kentucky. so it was young men full of sharp contrasts that hit the broadway strip.

bryan from kentucky in front of ryman auditorium

card shark

we hit up jack’s bbq, which is one of the famous spots around these parts. awesome food.

jack's bbq: home of the flying pigs

bbq combo platter

then we started drinking. i love me some country music and nashville is the home of country music. i enjoyed myself so much going from bar to honky tonk bar listening to music. seeing live music is something so fundamentally touching. especially when folks are mostly playing for tips, so there’s no cover. mighty beautiful.

shawna at the Wheel

i love country music because it’s always about the stories… stories of heartache and of home, things that touch the spirit. being surrounded by it, even if it’s somewhat kitschied out and touristified is wonderful. i am hella happy i decided to go to nashville. happy to the point that i’m actually going to stay an extra day.

andrew who played a mean sweet home alabama

awesome singer with the copperhead road tattoo

dude who did an amazing version of johnny come lately

and it’s not just the music that makes me like this place so much… it’s the people.

god, i’ve met so many awesome wonderful people here.

... we were sober.

you gotta understand, i knew no one when i got here, trusting only in my luck and the kindness of folks that i’d be able to find people to hang out with and to vibe with.

and boy did i ever.

from bryan who got my drunk ass home last night, to robyn, steph and mary beth who were the first locals i met and got to hang out with. boy were those ladies cool as hell, and fun to boot. who else would’ve thought to make a set of googly eyes and take ‘em all across the city to take pictures? what a great idea.

pbr eyes

me and the most well dressed girl in nashville

group picature!

the ladies with pat googly eyes

of course, $6 pitchers of beer are an even better or worse idea, depending.

hell, they were so awesome i even gave one of ‘em a set of my buddha beads. i don’t really do this often, it’s kinda a big deal with me, but nothing’s ever felt so appropriate in my life, and let’s face it, i have a tendency to go with feeling more often than not.

when they left, we met even more locals, though these folks were originally from kentucky. which is trippy considering bryan was also from kentucky. i was the only non-kentuckian getting drunk at our table. what a beautiful group of folks. lizzie and christian. and especially heather.

kentuckians and vinh

too cool for school

fun and fun

it's not just northern women who can be scary

i’m going to let the pictures tell the story mostly… but i had a great time yesterday. i had a great time today so far and am probably going to have one tonight and tomorrow.

see you on the road.

life is like a bottle of milk, you gotta drink it up ‘fore it spoils.

what is this asian dude doing?!

i did the parade, which was sorta interesting. there were hella people. dc during fourth of july is absolutely ridiculous. but i was struck by two things during the parade… firstly that there was such a falun dafa contingent, and of course, seeing my friend quynh marching with the vietnamese american contingent.

falun dafa army

viet-am contingent

artistic rendition of my friend quynh

tourist of doom

afterwards, i headed over to the hare krishna festival of india. it was pretty dope, lots of folks came through, free food, got myself a henna hand tattoo. and i was once again by the kindness of the hare krishna boys, who helped to find my phone when it dropped outta my pocket. considering how i’m living, my cellphone is crucial. if i lost my phone i would be completely screwed. they went out of their way to help me out, and i hella appreciated it. honestly, i just hope and pray i meet as many cool and kinda and good hearted folks as i did among the hare krishna boys.

hare krishna stage

henna of love

quynh and me

hare rama hare rama

afterwards, i headed over to the natl gallery. again. i love that place.

dc pizza... good enough only for the birds

i finished up the night by hanging out with liz and her friends, at the most baller picnic i have ever been to. like holy jeebus. we went to the national cathedral, which is one of the most GORGEOUS buildings i have ever been to in my life. it took my breath away and made me want to believe in god again, it was so gorgeous. liz and her friends were some of the most awesome folks i’ve ever met, kind, open and with this very relaxed, chill vibe that made me feel right at home.

oh david.

it's too big!... that's what she said.

look ma! a cathedral!

she might look sweet but...

the whole group

and goddamn, what a spread!

helllllla foood

after the fireworks, with attendant elderly bitching about folks not sitting down… we went back to liz’s apartment to play games and play with sparklers. a great time was had by all. liz had a baller apartment. and after that hansi and minjung took me to dc 9… which is by far the most hipster club i have ever seen outside of williamsburg. i felt right at home. it was a great, great time and i am so happy that liz invited me and her friends were so awesome. and now they’re my friends too!

cranium hijinks

everyone look like they're having fun!

sparklers

and i once again was struck by the goodness of people, because all the people i met, david, esther, minjung, hans and even the mafia champion deborah were all such good, giving people who were so down with taking me in as one of them.

so the 5th was a bust so i’m not going to discuss it very much. i managed to get lunch with liz, which is always amazing. it was good seeing her one last time ‘fore i left because i knew i was leaving DC with a life long friend.

and then 16 hour bus ride, only broken by meeting a really dope homegirl named sarah who was going to knoxville from DC to do work. we talked about activism and organizing and it was good to meet another young progressive who was doing work. it almost made me want to start doing work again.

but burnout is a bitch.

i am presently in nashville and will update more as time goes on. i have a bunch of other stuff i am ’sposed to talk about and will eventually… but first, a nap. also, i’ll have photos of lunch with liz, what i look like with full gear and of sarah soon as i can get facebook uploader to work.

i’ll update a mite before heading out to experience nashville tonight. peace yall.