Home Stretch

It's about a week before I head home! The first thing I want is damn Frosty and some Philly Pretzels. I'm pretty home sick and tired of needing money over here. I Love the fact i don't need shit in America. It's fucking Cold here and i'm missing the warm sunshine of Florida. I just watch the movie Control. It was a pretty saw movie in the end. Suicide is a pretty profound way to go. The actor who played Ian in the movie looked just like my brother.
See you soon.

Tough Ghost
Firearms are the most commonly used method of suicide among males.

Been a minute since i had them internets

Well, after Munich i traveled to Berlin and stayed with a friend i met in Philadelphia at the bik epolo worlds. Mark was an amazing host and we had a great time playing bike polo with the berlin crews. We taught the berlin team a thing or two about trying to play agressive. It ain't gunna work! We saw the Berlin wall, it was alright, haha. From Berlin, we went to Amsterdam for 36 hours of HELL. Fuck amsterdam twice. I slept in a park near another bum and got the first train i could out. I got to Paris and got some free internets at the local mcDonalds and took a nap in front of the eiffle tower. I got a hold of Stephane through Skype and we met up and played bike polo in the rain underneith the metro train stration. It was amazing and i had a fuck load of fun. I'm reallly really loking forward to the Paris BFF bike polo tournement. It is going to be Amazing!!
In the next week i am seeing the mountain goats, the thermals, and playing a shit load of bike polo.

Tough Ghost
The Bible, the world’s best-selling book, is also the world’s most shoplifted book.

Items on an agenda that has no purpose

I think it is time I rewind and have a look into my past. I am also beginning to write a short book. The title will be later divulged as my first choice is already a New York Times best seller. It will be a sort of diary of stories in my life that follow a re-occuring theme that I have always dealt with. It will also act as a sort of guide to one who approaches the same situations I was dealt. I really don't know how good it will be or if it will even be literary correct. I honestly don't really care. I'll print a few and give them to my friends and that will probably be it.. But it's something to take up a little time. Research will require a little digging, maybe to more unpleasant memories, and hopefully to days where I wore a smile permanently.
Everything has been done
There is nothing new
No one is original
Your definately not the first
Only someone in a long line of poeple repeating history
Like a record skipping
Repeating a song you wrote
Only the band is 50 years older than you
And on a best hits LP
Give up. GIVE UP. give up.
it's pointless and redundant.
you'll never succeed
Once again, you are definately NOT original.

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Tough Ghost

OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!!

We made it to MUNICH! I miss karlsruhe already but it's great to be in a new city again with endless new possibilities. I landed at central station where i was bombarded by leiderhosen clad bovarians and rickshaws. Poeple stumbling everywhere drunk as fuck at 3 PM. Two lone straight edge kids in a strange drunk town. I did by chance see a guy walk by wearing a youth of today shirt which made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I kept that with me of course. I managed to spend about 5 fucking Euros on a fucking phone call to meet up with a friend of a friend in karlsruhe. Money weel spent because Angeliki showed us hte town by bike and took us to a amazing vegan restaurant to eat. Munich is actually pretty impressive once you get away from the octoberfest part. I got to see the Munich river wave and watch surfers shred it at night with lights on it. I was so syked. I really would like to try surfing it but i hear the locals are quite terratorial. It is also getting pretty cold out hear. The leaves they are a changin'. Our news friends showed us a great DIY tour and Angeliki gave us a place to stay at her flat. So, polo tommorow!

Jim Henson developed an allergy to fleece.
Tough ghost

Switzerland to Germany

The train ride was alot easier using our new sheet technique. We arrived in the town of Karlsruhe, Germany. This place is amazing and i highly recomment visiting. it is very nice and small with alot of nature surrounding it. The prices for food were fair and the poeple very nice. Many poeple spoke english and we met up with my friend hannes from the candy colored clowns bike polo team. He gave us a palce to stay and showed us around. We ate lot's of good vegetrian food at a place called VIVA. We also visited a rad BMX museum. I spent alot of my time riding my bike and playing bike polo with the candy colored clowns and the rest of hte karlsruhe bike polo crew. Hannes was so kind to give us a place on his couch to stay and show us around. It's been great here but tommorow we head on with the trip to Munich. right in time for OCTOBER FEST! fuck me. On a better note, Fixie Inc gave us new mallets from their prototype stock. I'm excited to test out the new mallet ont he rest of europe.

The loser of a traditional medieval jousting match was expected to offer sexual favors to the winner.
Tough Ghost

Commuter trains take forever

We left Barcelona with many thanks to Camilo and pointed our fingers towrad switzerland. After boarding many different trains for a few hours at a time, we arrived in geneva switzerland. we immediately got on the internet and found where they were playing polo and headed out tot he courts. we were welcomed with open arms by the crew and we had some awesome games. Geneva def has their game on lock. Manuel offered his flat to us for the weekend so we headed to his flat to cok some dinner. He prepared us a swiss dinner and we hit the hay.

They following day we rode around the city and found a "baby beach" where there was a jungle jim through out the trees made from used bike tires. It was a site to see, and being a cyclist i appreciated it much more than the average person. Heading over to the gold sprints in a underground art community, we found only a few trick riders hanging out. The gold sprints never happened but we did get to meet some new poeple and hang out at a fresh bmx skatepark.

Yesterday, we hopped on the bandwagon with a protest riding a free train to Bern. It was socialists fighting for whatever, we got a bunch of free food on the train and then headed to the polo courts.. While fixing my tire, one of hte polo players ran into us and we headed to the courts only to fight FOOT HOCKEY being played. So we made some makeshift courts and payed outside the court. Gabor also showed us his bike workshop in a crazy old barn next to a train yard. He has some sweet as vintage bikes. We took the train home and walked a festival in the streets. Some good sleep is what we needed. Bike polo tommorow!

The game of checkers is banned in North Korea.
Tough Ghost

Fuck

Secret shoppers.

A flight, prostitues, roller blades, bike polo

Arriving in Paris, we assembled our bikes outside the train station in the center of the city. Our tires were flat so we started walking in hopes to find a bike shop. Let me just say that the first bike shop we came across was in barcelona. We ended up getting air from a Moped shop and immediately getting a flat and then going back after to changing the flat to get more air. We rode around Paris and found where they play polo and had a snakc in front of the eiffel tower. We didn´t have any money so we didn´t go up in it. Then, we rode to a park outside of town that was FULL of prostitutes. We camped there. In the morning poeple were jogging by our tent and everything. haha. We rode around Paris a little more and got a train ticket to Barcelona where we hoped to have beeter luck meeting new friends. I found out that McDonalds had free wi-fi so i bought a fry and got to work networking and upon leaving, i walked out into the street to see non other than a man who had time warped into 2009 rocking roller blades, no shirt, ripped up checkar board shorts, and big ass head phones, skitching down the street. I was speechless. I had enough of Paris, on to Barcelona where we met a man from Holland. He was super funny and made the train ride ( when i wasn´t sleeping ) pretty hilarious. When i arrived in Barcelona, i was immediately struckk dumb by how big tourism was there. Las Rambla at any time of day is FILLED with thousands of tourists, locals working, street pedalers, and policia of course. Other than that, Barcelona is Amazing and filled with rich culture and ART! The train we rode into barcelona on was destroyed by a train crew from end to end. So good. We got some food and met up with the bike polo players at La Apirin, which is where they play. They call it that because it is a circle like a pill. The court was sandy and slippery but they play well and i had alot of fun playing with them. A kid named Camilo offered us a room at his flat while we stayed in barcelona and we could not refuse! Life has been gret since. We have been exploring the city while our backpacks are safe at his house. We went to all the land marks of barcelona and even took a 38 mile bike ride up the coast to a small village and went swimming at the beach. Tommorow we will play more bike polo and then probably head to geneva on tuesday!

Buzz Aldrin left a Playboy magazine on the surface of the moon.
Tough Ghost

Bike POlo world Championships

What can i say, Seattle took it against East van. An exhuasting but amazing weekend full of amazing polo and good friends. Met many of the euro players and I'm really looking forward to playing with them over there. Though we did not make it far in the winners bracket on sunday, i did manage to win the "World's Fastest Shot" at 74 MPH !!! Take that home now.

I am here stuck in the london airport because i missed my first flight to paris because of stair complications getting off my flight. They took my cable cutter at security check. I'm surly and wanting to get on with my trip. Airports suck and i can't wait to be back on my bike again cruising through new streets

Chihuahuas, when placed under extreme stress, have been known to eat their young..
Tough Ghost

New York Day2

Waking up was a bit more pleasant knowing that our bikes were safe in the car. We took a ride to the Pit and played some polo all day. I had alot of fun and am really happy to say i have played at the Pit. After the last game ended we cruised to Lula's sweet cream apothecary and got some vegan rocky road ice cream and mint chocolate chip double scoop. Then we went to red bamboo to have some vegan chicken parmesan hero's. We headed back to nate's apartment to find mr. adult braces sitting in front of my car trying to bum a place to sleep. Let's just say he is now sleeping in the back of Jason's mercedes station wagon... good night.

If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
Tough Ghost

New York Day1

Waking up today, we all piled downstairs to get our bikes, and little did we know, our locked had been cut and thrown away, and our bikes stuffed in the basement by Nate's super... Calling him, he informs me that we have to pay 10 dollars per bike to get them back. I did not mace him in the face and kick him in the ribs until he died for the simple reason my friend nate would get kicked out, and i would go to jail. Welcome to New York right?! Ryan from pensacola met up with us and we took a ride over to Boneshakers in Brooklyn which is a vegan coffee shop with food and snacks and has a very strong bicycle theme. We then rolled to play pick-up where we met some of the french players and the kid who is in the nike commercial. It was super fun until we moved courts and some fucking hood rats threw a glass bottle on the court. We finished up and I rode to Red Bamboo in the lower east side where i met my best friend johnny who took the train over from long island. We went over to Lula's Vegan Ice cream shop that BLEW MY MIND! I have cake batter and chocolate twist vegan SOFT SERVE! WOOOOOOO. Life was good. Then i stuff my face at Red Bamboo, which by the way is my favorite restaurant in the world. My dinner consist of an appetizer of bourbon chicken and a main course of a steak sandwich with tempeh bacon and vegan cheddar cheese.( all food vegan delishousness!!! ) Then, we headed to nates and took a bike ride through prospect park and crashed out. Overall, today had it's up and down, but a great day in the city none the less. I'm really looking forward to the Worlds and kicking some ass!

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
Tough Ghost

a new Start

So, i am going to try this one more time. This time it think it will be much more successful seeing as my life will consist of traveling and documenting events i attend, people I encounter, places i see, and everything in between. I'll bring you up to speed. Since i got back from Hawaii i have worked really hard to try and live up to my own standards while trying to coexist with societies standards. This has not been successful as i have not found happiness in this. I am extremely proud of what i have accomplished with Leave Your Mark but i feel i have a greater destiny to fulfill right now. So, with that said, i have set out as of August 31st, on a journey in which i have no goals, no reservations, and nothing but intention. I hope to meet people that are interesting and rich with character along with see places some people on dream or "wish" of seeing. I am sure by the time i have seen what this world has to offer, i may have a better understanding of mankind and find the beauty within and not what it has created.

The trip up was pretty funny but turned out to be a little more miserable with every mile under the belt. We made it in once piece and sanity hanging by threads but with good spirits of the weekend to come. Pick-up Polo and hanging out in New York City and then the bike polo world championships in Philadelphia and then me and Kelli take off for europe for 2 months!

Morphine is highly combustible.
Tough Ghost

Pensacola Beach Cat 2

Started the weekend with a drive to orland ot meet up with Shipwreck and bad luck at Ethos Vegan Kitchen. WE waited around for Shipwreck to get there. All the while the employees keep asking us if we want to order and we hear whispering. Shipwreck shows up like 20 minutes later adn goes right to orderign his vegan philly cheese, the item i was going to order by the way, and the crew goes crazy and shouts your the 10,000 order of the vegan philly, it's ont he house! So i missed out by one person, and thus forth dubbed 10K1. Number 2 if you will. So, we have a hilarious meal and head out towards pensacola and stopped by gainesville to pick ym friend jason up too. We make it to pensacola beach despite the hurricane rain going down at 6:30 in the morning. Me nad kelli slept onthe garage floor. It was wet and cold but we keep each other warm<3 IN the morning we had breakfast with the Kids from athens and our friends from ft. lauderdale. Then we headed out to find the bike polo tourney. Unfortunately it was raining and there was a clusterfuck of orginization for where the courts would be. BUt we eventually found them all the way at the end of hte island in a shitty parking lot. The courts were bumpy and was very difficult to play on and the barriers were metal gurad rails with plastic stops at the bottom. Shit. But there was poeple from al over the country there for polo. It kicked major ass playing teams from all over and we had some really exciting matches. We eventually got knocked out of the tourney on sunday. The alley cat was just as organized as the polo courts. ShIT. haha. There was a non-existant check point and i lost because i was searching for nothing. Me and one other kid was destroying the pack and they all caught up once we wasted all that time trying to find the damn water tower that got torn down. Despite my hold up and getting left behind during the alley cat, I then still placed 6th because i pulled a bunch of kids on the final stretch. Prizes looked rad but we had to get outtah there so we dipped after the alley cat and headed to mike C's house in orlando to spend the night and then headed home in the morning. Pretty excitign weekend despite the disorganization of the weekend. Check my photobucket for pictures.
www.photobucket.com/ghostdiaries

freights

Freight trains are love. except when they leave in the middle of a piece your working on.

Picture link

View my pictures at anytime here. Hawaii pictures are up!
http://www.photobucket.com/ghostdiaries

Care free

I am the happiest person that i have ever been in my life. Nothing could ruin or spoil this mindset i am in. I've been challenged, handed bad news, and been placed in very difficult situations. I just can't help but not care in the end because i am so happy. I am so fulfilled after the past day, i felt as if i were in high school again. Today is my birthday. I am 22. I have the best friend a guy could ask for and i lead a path many envy. This year has many open doors, i am very interested in stepping through them to see where they lead. I know i have you back and no matter what happens i know that we will always be there for each other.

I played bike polo tonight and had so much fun! Me and kate celebrated our impending birthdays and following polo i rode home and dumpstered a WHOLE pizza and a full bag of my favorite donuts! It really is going to be a good year! I'm going to eat that shit now <3.

FairWeather

South florida is beautiful right now but it just doesn't compare the shores of hawaii, or the miles of unknown before me when i leave for a trip. The shop is going great and i'm working on being as frugal as possible to save and consolidate to take off for a long time. I'm dying to be elsewhere. With or with you or you or you.I can't stop letting myself fall and trip others. I need to be true to myself and move forward and accomplish my own dreams before i put anyone else before me. Life is only as complicated as you make it. And i am tryig to make it as simple as possible.

Bike polo donw here has been amazing and i've been having so much fucking fun playing. Kelli is coming back to south florida, i'm really excited to see her. Also, some of my friends from hawaii are talkinga bout moving out here to hang out for a while and then go travel.

Pictures of Hawaii coming soon!

home again

Looking out the airplane window, i do not see mountains. A vast flat land covered mostly by swamp. The rich come here to die and the locals love this place because it is home. I already long for the shores in the mid-pacific but my sights lye elsewhere. It's back to work for me and i must be focused and determined. There is much to do, much to live for, and many places to go. Friendships I made in Hawaii will last forever and my dreams will be filled with the times we spent together.

It seems that it takes two to tango, and I don't know why we keep stepping on each others toes. I know what i want and where i want to be. Why does it seem you don't want to hold hands with me? We could be together if you only let go. Search your soul and mind to see there is nothing to be scared of except the fear of failure at whatever be at hand. Seemingly, you don't see eye to eye with me any longer, but this is why we can't still be together? I want to understand but my heart has let go of all worry and i will only allow what may come to be or pass with the wind. Today, i dance alone. This world is mine. Tomorrow has yet to come, when it does, I will move forward, I will not dwell. No, no longer will I dwell. Never again. If history is doomed to repeat itself, so be it, I will embrace every minute, hour, day, week, year with you again. I will worry not the time or day we go our separate ways. Be not afraid.

Best explains me.

Coming Through the Rye
by Robert Burns
(1759-1796)

Coming thro' the rye, poor body,
Coming thro' the rye,
She draiglet a' her petticoatie
Coming thro' the rye.

O, Jenny's a' wat, poor body;
Jenny's seldom dry;
She draiglet a' her petticoatie
Coming thro' the rye.

Gin a body meet a body
Coming thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body -
Need a body cry?

Gin a body meet a body
Coming thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body -
Need the warld ken?

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield

2 new alligator arms songs

the world will end with you and i

the world will flood from sea to sea
the water come to bury me
i came to watch the morning die
the world will end with you and i
breathing in, i open my eyes
the sun baths my room in yellow and gold
breath in, open your eyes
a voices whisper floats to my ears
today was just like any other day

i have searched
far and wide
to find a place to call mine
i have found
there's no such place

coming back to where i began
a body lay cold, emotionless
i once knew a person who filled this void

So many years i neglected my blood in need
i left you to die cold and alone
forgive me brother for i have sinned
i left you to die
forgive me brother

FORSAKEN

HURRY, pack the car
let's run away, never get tired
surrounded by, concrete walls
we will sleep, under the stars
under the stars

free from a lifetime of your restraint
the words you said
the things you never did

surrounded by, concrete walls
we will sleep, under the stars
under the stars

my tongue is sharp
and you'll hear everything you shut your eyes to
you took everything i had away from me
never gave me the love i needed
comfort was a roof over my head

you can keep what you worked for
cause you kept everything i needed locked up
place and displace your blame
and i will never forgive you
i will never forgive you

and you'll die alone in your accomplishment
and i will bask in your failure

overcoming your neglect came easy
but with a hard price and cost

and i hope you know deep down
who plunged the needles into innocent skin

and now you've forsaken me
everything I've done for you

Listen to the songs here -----> ALLIGATOR ARMS