weh....wehhheehh.....w w www wwwww well hello everyone!

I felt obligated to post tonight because i have some fish stories to tell, but also because im so excited im shaking over this: the rock n roll hall of fame is doing 2 concerts @ MSG with the biggest, i mean seriously, biggest names in the genre to support their museams and teach the audiance the history of rock n roll by the artists playing and sharing memories and what inspired them. those playing will be U2, simon & garfunkle, stevie wonder, metallica, Bruce With E Street, and most important to me: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Friends ( =:0 ). Im flipping out right now, i can't miss this show, i would shell out 200 bucks for a ticket to this thing, i feel like its going to be a monumentally important musical event, not only as a fan but more importantly as a musician, and for that reason i can't miss this. I would love for you musicians (come on psych ward noisemakers!) to embark on this journey with me, as you may never see me more happy in my life, even predictably more happy than my wedding day (hah!, i mentioned myself and marriage in the same sentence).

Now, onto my vacation... everything is just peachy, minus a harsh I had with my father last night and my sheer fear of attempting to talk to the model who sits next to my family at the beach everyday, who has seemingly made friends with everyone my age on the beach but me, go figure : /, but my girl issues are dwarfed by the past two days of my passion: Scuba. 2 days ago i saw 3 sea turtles over the course of two dives. I would be thrilled just to see 1 on 10 dives, make that 15 dives, as they are quite rare to see (all species of sea turtle are endangered). One was exceptionally playful and swam less than 3 feet in front of me. It almost made me cry, they are soo beautiful, probably my favorite sea-faring animal. I didn't get any photos unfortunately due to my father (and i guess technically myself) losing our dive camera ($500), dive logs (which i need to get certified as an instructor) and dive computer ($400) at somepoint last year on an airplane. that aside, today I saw an octopus, which is quite rare as they don't come out of their holes during the daytime, and this guy was free-swimming! In addition to the two spotted morey eel, a green morey eel and a pair of arrow crabs, these past two days have been fantastic! I was deeply saddened to hear that on of our divemasters that we have know for years here named Ellie got struck by a vehicle last year and shattered her pelvis, cracked her femur, and had other bones protruding from her body and after 6 surgery's in Aruba, finally got sent back to Liverpool where she is still undergoing surgery, and very well may have to have her leg amputated due to an infection that still hasn't died even though her accident occurred on August 16th of last year, my thoughts and prayers are with her...

Food here has been good so far, no food photos yet either, actually, hardly any photos at all to be honest, when u have been someplace 5 times, the photo taking really takes a backseat in relative importance. I've had nothing thats really worth writing about other than my usual meal at Cuba's Cookin' still ranks among the top 5 ever eaten, which consists of multiple mojitos, guac and chips, Ropa Vieja- a spiced shredded skirt steak with black beans & rice with fried plantains, and a dessert of three milk pound cake, which doesn't sound all that great, but will make you jizz... in.. your pants. I have 3 or 4 more gourmet restaurants to eat at before I depart, so ill fill y'all in on that if its worth writing about.

Okay, enough is enough for this one. Hope everyone is awesome and not going insane with work/weather/opposite sex issues. I love you all and look forward to our rendezvous!

Hey-o! Not much important information here, but since ive been horrible at using this, and since I haven't seen most of you all summer, I figured id walk you through my day, trying to omit the instantly boringness

I awoke at 230 today to leave the house by 315, because my dad couldn't figure out the computer because he was born in the non-comp literate generation and apparently cant find attatchments in e-mail. But I passed out for the entire ride to the city and awoke at jfk. My father was throwing a hissy fit (he has turned into a 14 year old boy with old man knowledge, its sad and frustrating) over throwing away a nail clipper because he didnt place it in checked luggage. He was so stubborn about it that he insisted on walking through security with it, not giving a shit if it made us close to missing our flight. He won out in the end because not only did they not detect the nail clipper, something delayed our flight for close to an hour. they never told us a reason, but they did make the 3 movie choices on the flight free for us, so that was pretty nice. I ended up watching He Just Isn't In To You, or something like that, I know you know the one im talking about. I know a group of people went to see that when it was in theatres, and im sorry I didn't go, I actually laughed out loud about 3 times, which tends to be 300 percent more than i do in most romantic comedies. It helps that the cast is brilliant, and scarlett johanson is naked in a swimming pool telling brad cooper that his ass makes her want to dry-hump. With a little guy imagination, brad cooper wasn't in the mix if ya know what im sayin........yea, u know.

Where was I? oh yeah...so the flight went quick between the movie, some minimal ipod time and some more sleep. its a 4 hour 45 minute flight, but didnt seen too bad. We already went to our fav pizza place on the island, pizza bob's, which does flat crust pizza's where they layer the toppings under the cheese, idk if its their method, the ingrediants, or that crispy bottom crust, but it effin rocks, let me put it that way. Other than that, we just did some food shopping. I got some limited edition Johnnie Walker 15 Year Scotch Whiskey that i finished a glass of about an hour ago and have to say its mighty tasty, tho quite pricy at around $70. This im sure means nothing to all of you, but once you aquire a taste for whiskey, its all happy sippings from there. Oh Kristina will be happy to know I saw bottles of Rabina, or whatever the brand is, the black current juice that she seemingly talks about everytime I see her. I had to mention that. Other than that, here I am! I plan to book some dives tomorrow and have a scorching beach day tomorrow. 93 degrees tomorrow at 19 latitude = cake in a 400 degree oven. Thank god for the wind here, seriously, it would be almost unbearable to live here without the 20 mph constant wind. As you may be asking, the waves arent really affected by this wind so much. the water in front of our resort is very calm for ocean water, with 1-2 ft. seas being the norm. It does affect diving unfortunately, where on "stormy" days we must only dive a certain part of the island, which is crowded, cloudy, and quite lifeless when compaired to the south coast.

Alright, I feel like this post is getting a bit airy and doesn't have enough juice left to sink your teeth into, so I will stop there. I will leave u all with a random thought that popped into my head: I very well may be seeing 4 concerts this august, and just incase any of you are interested (very highly unlikely), let me know, as I love you all and cherish seeing you all. Here they are

August 8th- Crosby, Stills & Nash (Jones Beach, 27 dollah upper deck)
August 15th- Hippiefest (Woodstock 40th aniv. bash @ Bethel Woods, look up details)
August 16th- Phish @ SPAC (1 hr 45 min North of NP, last show of tour/ever?)
August 21st- Loggins & Messina With Poco feat. Richie Furey of Buffalo Springfield)

alright, thats all my lovely info for y'all. Ill be online every night by 9 pretty much, ill be doing a mix of schoolwork and hopefully *crosses fingas* talking to you fine folks. Hope life is peaches & creme brulee

J

Hope Everyone is doing well. Sorry for not posting, but not much worth mentioning is happening to tell you about. This, however, does not mean I'm not enjoying myself by any means, rather than im enjoying the simpler things in life, such as baseball catches & The Simpsons. As I write this, I'm T-minus 4 hours to leaving the house for JFK to board a non-stop flight to Aruba. I don't have the giddy excitement that usually tingles down my body right before I go someplace, but this does not deter my full expectation of satisfaction upon arrival, this olde sea dog hasn't seen coral in a year, and he is ready to get back into depths once more. I plan on doing some jogging on the beach and working out for the first time there. My resort has a nice gym, complete with personal trainer, that I have never used, might as well. I am planning on taking my laptop with me, as usual, but even more important this year as I am taking an online class that does wrap up as I leave aruba, and somebody has a back homework to hand in too :/ Nonetheless, the 6 homework assignments and 8 page paper that must be done by the 28th don't phase me, as I will have plenty of nighttime to hand in such assignments as my folks are early to retire for the night. Speaking of which...im dosing off myself typing this. More as it comes, expect photos and more posts in the year future.

Szakmary over & Out

Maybe not long awaited, but here I am! Today is a day off for me, so time and a bit of guilt have landed me here playing catch-up on all of your lives, which is nice because ive had little contact with Catskill folk, and see who's left in new paltz all the time, so glad to have some new information on the original "collective". I feel like I have not much to say, but maybe some things will come to mind as I write...so here it goes

I work 4 days a week lifeguarding at a job i had 2 summers ago at a place called twin lakes. I should be there 6 days a week, but i got a second summer job, only to find out they cut hours, so I went a month missing the 2 days of work i should have been getting by them. But no complaints, I have never been one to really ask to "work more", so I relish in my time off in new paltz at Sal, Evan & Abe's house. That usually consists of watching yankee games, smokin bunts on the screened-in porch (totally boss), and playing horseshoes in their backyard (so hick I know, but a great game: i used to play on myrtle beach every year when i went as a child). Literally I have been volleying back and forth between work and NP with very very little inbetween those two options. I have genuinely not grown tired of it one bit.

Sean, as I have seen, filled you in a little bit about our outting to cooperstown for CSN. Let me just add for the musically appreciative that they played many many covers, as they are currently recording a rick ruban produced (RHCP, Beasties, countless others) Covers album. Recognizable tunes they covered were "Ruby Tuesday" and the dead's "Uncle John's Band", but also played covers by James Taylor, Tim Hardin & Dylan. Sean and I were the life of the party, offering our smoke to grateful MILF's and one very happy dad, lol. It might have been the weed, but part of me thinks David Crosby acknowledged me slightly with a head nod during a SS solo, where i pointed at him and yelled "You're The Fucking Man!". Just like sean's mom had a similar experiance, but isnt 100% sure it happened in reality that way, ill stick to my story. The drive out to Coop-town is fantastic, it was only made more that way because of the variety of weather we encountered on our drive out.

I head to the annual Aruba escape from the 17th-27th, I cut my time there to 10 days instead of a full 2 weeks so i can get some more work hours (i know many of you are floored by this decision, but ive been 4 (?) times already at two weeks a pop, there is only so much to do there). But this means good things for all of you: ill be going on the city trip planned for the 1st-2nd with all of you! (i would have missed it if i stayed the whole time in aruba with the folks).

So ive told you about my one concert, I just got a ticket to Phish for SPAC, after learning Sal and Jason are going. I never listened to phish, and had only really herd what was comming out fo Jay's room, which was good. Im starting to try to listen now, and haven't found much to complain about. When somebody talks about phish, i feel like they talk more about the people who attend than the actual music, and therefore they get somewhat of a negative rap by people who havent herd, so I offer this suggestion: go on youtube and search weekapaug groove, try to find a show from '97 or '98, and listen to the intro: it was one of those jaw-dropping moments for me, and should be for any musician. I very tempted to get CSN tickets for Jones Beach, as I had a bitchin time with sean. They are only 27 bucks for nosebleeds, and i could be down with that. I just got Lewis Black tickets for UPAC in september as well, which should be a ra-ra riot! Always looking for new concerts to go to, so let me know if you hear anything id be intersted in, tho more likely than not i would have herd of it as well : P

I've somewhat mentally exhausted myself of things to mention: I could talk about Kunta Kitt-ay: sal's neighbors black cat that may be the most adorable animal ever (real name Shiva, but we call her Kunta, or Barack sometimes), and how my boss is totally a city-type italian who is homophobic and crazy, but don't feel like getting into it. Just know that I will see all of you in July on this city day-trip, and we can play catch-up in person. Szakmary over and out

Howdy folks!

This is post # 1 of 3 today, so be sure to keep viewing/reading!

The captions will explain whats going on, so just look, and enjoi!



Basically, came out one morning, and someone built this sandcastle, so I used it for some camera fun. The ocean's here are awesome, but the sand on our particular beach is the best, like talcum, simply amazing.



One smiling kid after eating Beef Tenderloin with a Creamy Mushroom sauce, accompanied by 1 Rock Lobster tale with butter dipping sauce, and a Patron Margarita, frozen no Salt, at Madame Janette's, one of Aruba's best restaurants. Find their website and look at the menu, u will get an idea of what im talking about.



I found this guy under our "Palapa", or palm husk umbrella's u see pictures of in Mexico, etc. There are hundreds of these guys all over our resort, and large iguana's as well. These little green guys happen to be the cutest of them all tho, and he just wanted a little shade. He was cool enough to let me touch him, which is incredible seeing as every other lizard runs when your within 5 feet of them



This was shot approximately 3 hours ago, upon our return to our favorite meal south of the boarder, Cuba's Cookin'. The guitarist you may recognize from my last picture post. The female has a story behind her. Her name is Yessey, and I love her. She is gorgeous, first off, the photo doesn't do her justice. We have been seeing her perform here since 2006, and she personally remembers us when we come back each year, giving my whole family hugs and kisses each time. In fact, upon seeing us today, see was like, "Oh...My...God", and ran over and was hugging us to death. One of the nicest women ever. Period. I could keep talking about her...but ill stop here



I walk outside my room every day at 645 PM, and this is what i see. 'Nuff said

So, in an effort to show you all why Im so fascinated by diving and why I want to do it for the rest of my life, I want you to see what I see. Now what im showing you doesn't do it justice, it cannot. Not even Coral Reef Adventure, an IMAX film that shows some of the most amazing scuba images ive ever seen, and one of my favorite movies (the entire soundtrack is Crosby, Stills, & Nash, its seriously like I made the movie, HAHA). But anyways, these are just some personal examples of photography that I have done from my adventures. I hope you enjoy!



I shot that today actually, Its the railing of the Jane Sea wreck, near the bow of the boat. This is an example of medium stages of growth on this boat. It was quite beautiful.



This guy I found in the process of burying himself this past Christmas in St. Maarten. He was very cool in letting me get very close. My underwater camera doesnt have zoom, so In actuality I was roughly 3 feet from this guy when this was being taken. Take that Steve Erwin!



This was shot by me on last years Aruban excursion, This is a Green Morey Eel. They have teeth, as you can see (hopefully), and have been known to bite humans. They are nasty ugly mother fuckers. I happen to see one free swimming today, roughly 6-7 footer, which was awesome. No camera due to losing my dad tho....guh



This is a school of fish. Duh. Don't know the species off the top of the noggin, but swimming through schools is so freakin cool, if really makes you feel closer to nature/earth. Its hard to explain, but I think u get the idea



I saved the best for last. I unfortunately can't take credit for this. In fact I wasn't even there! My dad took this when him and my Mom went to St. Maarten for Spring Break in 2007. I was a little mad for them going without me, but this very picture made me very jealous over their trip, its a practical "Money shot". Way to go Poops! This is Hawkesbill Turtle. All sea turtles are endangered, so its something special to see one. I saw one just like him today, expect mine was a realative baby, being only about 2 feet long, whereas according to my father, this guy was roughly double the size, being a full grown male. A true find!


Now on to the visual Aruban Update....

Hey Guys!

Yeah, im still here...lol

So, to update you on whats been going on as of recent. I started diving on Saturday, something Ive been looking forward to this trip, as on all trips. For those who don't know, its basically what I want to do for the rest of my life: To open up my own scuba company on XYZ Tropical Island (thats not a real island folks, haha). Well, unfortunately, I have run into some complications this week. In order to submerge safely, you must do something known as "clearing your ears". Ill explain. Ever had your ears pop going thru a tunnel or when flying? yeah, thats basically your body equalizing ear pressure naturally for u. Now ever have your ears hurt when you dive to the bottom of a pool to get something off the bottom? well, now imagine if your pool was 120 feet deep....yeah, quite painful. Actually, your eardrum would explode and you would be bleeding out of your ears. So basically, you just grab your nose with your mouth closed, and blow gently, and it releases the pressure within your ears and equalizes it to the sorrounding atmosphere.

Ok, end of science lesson

So basically, my problem has been that my right ear has been equalizing fine, but my left ear isn't clearing, which is just as big of a problem as both not going. I have done two days of diving thus far (4 dives), and Its been a problem on everyone. I have had to stay near the surface every dive, on the first two, the left ear didnt clear at all, but somehow getting the right one to clear constantly relieved some pressure gradually from the left, and I was able to make it all the way down to the group after roughly 15 minutes into both dives. Today, to my reluctance, it was a problem again...my dad, my obvious dive buddy, lost me in the trail of bubbles comming from the other divers below, and actually surfaced and got picked up by the dive boat, while i continued on and saw a hawksbill turtle, a free swimming Morey Eel, and seveal arrow crab: quite a good dive my most people's standards. He was hella pissed at me when we all came back up. He claimed he couldn't keep up with me, and than lost me in the bubbles. this is probably due to my new fins, they are freakin sweet, some of the best on the market right now (probably accounts for the heafty $178 price tag). But Anywho, I actually got both ears to work on my second dive today, which makes me more confident I won't be throwing $425 dollars away for nothing this vacation.

Beyond my scuba woes, things have been more of the same: good beach days, excellent dinning, etc etc etc, lol.

Some of the best dinning days were within the past couple of days. Look up Madame Janette , its one of the best restaurants on the island. Safe to say over the two weeks we will be here, we will have visited the top 5 on this island IMO, with exception to Sunset Grille, but that was $300 for 3 people, and we were eating fairly modestly due to the prices on their menu, but there are places near of equal to the level of OMG for half or just above that price, so its not worth going anymore.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! Until next time New York...

-J

Hey Folks,

Im sorry, I really thought Id have these elaborate picture-filled posts every other day for u here, and that just doesn't seem to be happening really. I think that may change tho. I start my 4 days of scuba diving tomorrow, and plan on posting some pretty picture intensive posts in the coming days to give u an idea of what I see down there and the imagery that gives you a glimpse of what I want to see at work for the rest of my life : )

With that in mind, whats been going on since I left u off last time is, The Dark Knight finally arrived here on Wednesday, and I caught a showing last night, with my folks, and let me just inform you: If you havent seen this movie yet, GET THE FUCK UP NOW!!!, all this hype is well deserved folks, I was sweating watching this thing, and it wasn't just because I'm in Aruba. Its a ride man, just be willing to go along with the flow, cause there is no going against the tide with film. Can I just say that nobody speaks like that, I mean batman, Christian fucking Bale, U may beat your mother and you sister, but damn your a fine actor!

So other than that, what do u want me to tell you? Its just more tanning on a gorgeous beach, playing paddle ball with Poops (my dad, he gets grouchy a lot, so thats what I call him), looking at bikini-clad babe after babe, sipping heineken's, playing guitar on the beach, eating gourmet meal after meal...I mean, if I went into detail, I would be rubbing it in.

Oh, I guess its too late for that, isn't it.....

Well, even if I am over here living the life of a baller, I will spare u details, There is none that need to be addressed honestly. I will get back to you with some fine photos and hearty stories in no time.

Honestly missing my 2nd Family (All of u reading this)

-J

Cuban Restaurant Cuba's Cookin


The dessert I recieved from Mirandi's executive Chef


I play a buzzed set for a Argentinian family on Eagle Beach today

AND A BONUS SHOT


A rainbow that appeared at about 12:15PM around the sun today, pretty awesome!

Alright, I know I promised more frequent posts, but honestly, my daytime's here are all the same, so its really the nights that provide material to talk about. But since you do not know my daytime ritual, you shall now be informed~

I am woken up, or wake up at 930 (how scary is that, I woke up naturally at 930? that wont last once im in school), I eat breakfest on my balcony. Im on the beach by 1030, I listen to my Ipod, or read further in Lewis Black's new book about religion (oh yeah, watch out) Entitled "Me of Little Faith". We head upstairs around 1 for PB & J's, and go back down for more tanning, accompanied by a little paddle ball, ocean cooling, and staying hydrated. I go upstairs to bring down by guitar and a couple beers for my father and I, and proceed to play on the beach. More about that aspect further on in the post.

And there u have it, thats my daytime. Its truly a hard-knock life, let me tell ya.

On to nighttime. Since we have been here, excluding arrival day, where we had pizza in the room, which i talked about in my last entry, we have been eating out all but two nights thus far. Thats going out 3 times for those of poor math skills, such as myself : p. Our first night out (Saturday) was Cuba's Cookin, which is the only cuban restaurant ive ever been to, but my god is it delishious! There is live music there every night, and its been this duo named La Flaca Y El Gordo (The SKinny Lady & The Fat Man). Flaca is the main attraction, as Sean would say, SHE'S GOT LEEEEEGS!. Such a sweatheart might I add. She actually remembered us last year and came running over and gave us hugs and kisses. Anywho, we come to find out she is only there twice a week now, and is performing in local hotel bars nowadays. We have found out when she is in the restaurant tho, and we are going to back when she is going to be there. The food is so good, as well as her, we don't mind doing so : ) They have replaced such entertainment with a young 20-something solo acoustic performer. He was fabulous! For the ladies reading, he might not be too sore on your eyes as well, but that aside, quite the musician. I took a short video of him playing and of the restaurant setting, but that will have to wait to be viewed. They let u play bongo's and maracas they have stationed around the performer, as you will see here....

Wow...that was a lot for just one restaurant! moving on...Last night brought us to a place that ive wanted to go to since Ive been comming here (2005). It wasn't even advertised at the time, because they had a "In-The-Know" client base that were loyal repeat customers. We finally decided to go this year. they have changed their stance on advertising, as all the tourist mags had them listed and usually an ad for them in it. We left 20 minutes prior to our reservation, but due to my father's impatience, and wrong turn, we ended on the opposite side of the island, and arrived 10 minutes past the reservation. Luckily, the place was practically empty, with only about 3-4 tables filled out of 20 or so. This place is gorgeous: completely open-air (it practically doesn't rain here, so they can get away with that sorta thing), all wood, sea shells on every table. Just done right up to the very last detail. It was everything i could have expected it to be. I had the special, which was a grouper topped with tomato and mozzarella with a garlic mashed potato in a white wine sauce, accented with peppers and things I couldn't pronounce, but were there more for decoration rather than adding to taste/texture. It was outta this world. Than...came dessert. Oh man.....It was whatever the chef felt like making for u. the Waiter wouldn't even tell us what he was giving us, but after that grouper, I trusted them enough to let them by with giving me a mystery. Boy was I glad I did. Here is photographic evidance of what he gave us

Starting from the rear moving counter-clockwise, ill explain: We had a creme Brule, 3 layer chocolate cake, 2 creme puffs, apple strudle, and that is a real flower petal with a cumquat in it (I just giggled a little inside just for writing cumquat). The center is a fruit cup with probably the best vinella ice cream ive ever had. It was sooo rich! Between the 3 of us, It came to $140, which we viewed as reasonable. (My parents anniversary dinner in 2006 at the 4-diamond Sunset Grille amounted to $300 for the 3 of us, to put it in perspective).

Ok, I promise ill make this quick. Tonights dinner cost just as much, at a place named the French Steakhouse, and its not worth your money. The food was decent, but not worth 140, especially after last night's outta this world meal.

Now I promised i would tell you about my beachside guitaring. Ill let u go after that. If you made it this far, I applaud you, seriously. Its been a lot of fun, having my instrument at ready in such a blissful place such as this, its been a true pleasure. Ive brought my guitar down at 4 everyday, and have proceeded to play on the beach. The first day, I had my chair down by the water, as to not disturb anybody. It was good. Day 2, I decided to stay up by the umbrella, and test the waters. I had a older woman (mid 40's from my best guess) come and beckon me over to say how much she liked hearing me play CSNY material, that she hadn't heard that stuff in many years. She said I sounded just like Neil Young. I still can't decide if thats a compliment or not, lol. I guess old music attracts older folks *shrugs shoulders* Today.....was another story. I had barely gotten my guitar out, when this man dark fat walks up to me and starts speaking spanish to me. Now idc how well u know spanish when your in the classroom, its a whole new ballgame when a native speaker comes assaulting you with the language at speed of a drive-by shooting. I understood enough that he wanted me to follow him. What ensued I will never forget probably as long as I live. He had his whole family there, and although none of them spoke English, and my Spanish was about as pretty as a stiff-leather boot, the music is what we communicated thru. I had grandma dancing for a brief moment. They kept feeding me beer after beer (I had what was equivalent to 4 by the time I left, they had them in 8 oz cans). Now idk if its all of Argentina, but these folks LOVE harmonica. They couldn't get enough of it. They could be clapping along, yelling !ARRIBA!, the whole 9 yards. One of the first questions they asked me was "McCain or Obama?" My correct answer earned me another beer. I played for these guys for 2 hours! I was running out of material, or atleast what my mind remembered after 4 drinks, I even did "Good Riddence" by Green Day, and Ive never played that song in my life! (High Five dan). A photo shows this group. They were just hilarious. There were all these antics that ensued while I played for them, but to list everyone would be too much, and im running out of desire to write. So btw all of this, it was good day today : )

Bless you if you made it thru. The photos are taking ages to load. I think im just going to add them to another post, so you can see the meal i so particularly described above. For now, that is all. I will post again within the next couple days. Hope everyone is doing well. Im usually online at 9 PM, so meet me on there if you want a more direct chat. Until next time New Yorkers, Bon Bini (Papiamento [the native tounge] for goodbye and welcome)

-J

Hi everyone!

Its been crazy long since I posted, but all that is going to change. In case some of you do not know this, this post is coming live and direct from Aruba, Dutch West Indies. I just arrived today and will be staying until August 1st. I know your cursing at your computer screen right now, I know im a spoiled little shit at the moment, well, more than this moment, but very apparently right now. However, for the first time, in a detail that I have never reported, you will get to dive into my tropical world (Both literally and figuritvely, as I will be posting underwater photos as well : )]

Today, as being day # 1, does not have much to report. I was awoken at 315 Am to head to the airport (JFK), and slept the whole way there, because I went to bed at 1 AM, because thats my sleep schedule, i cant fall asleep at 830 unless there was some partying going on prior to that time. ANYWAYS-all went well, the flight was mostly ok, some rough patches near the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico due to a tropical depression in the region. For the first time ever, I have my guitar & harmonicas with me on vacation! I do believe this is going to be a great asset, both in warding off my need for playing musical instruments, making any chance of being bored greatly diminished, and attracting the loads of hotties in bikinis that adorn my strip of sand.

My high school chorus teacher just sent me a chain e-mail, I had to write him back there....that took awhile.

Anywho, We got here, and spent like 1 1/2 hours on the beach, which about half I just slept through. I didnt sleep much on the plane due to the captain being loud as fuck on the speaker. The water here is nice, it has historically been about 78, which feels great when the temp mid day according to weather.com "Feels like 102" every afternoon, everyday. We went food shopping and got pizza a little while ago.

Now, im going to make some people mad here, and I understand, but you gotta trust me on this. Im a huge fan of NY pizza, I love it, HOWEVER. Europe, once again, is kicking our ass in something, and its pizza making, because the shit here is just phenominal. Its like a thin crust pizza, that is like perfect balance btw crunchy and soft crust. It is circular, but cut sicilian style. Its just perfect.

I think that about sums it up. I wrote a lot about nothing I just realized. I promise that my next posts will be more interesting, and contain photos. thanks for all those who read. Over and Out.

-J

Hiya Everyone!

I have realized that I have dropped off the face of the earth in regards to posts, and I felt the need to remedy that situation. I didn't have really much to say, but I think ive compiled enough to create a post here. I ensure u all that I have been reading everyone's, and Its super great feeling like I know whats going on with y'all

ANYWAYS....

My job has gone full-time starting in roughly an hour, so now I will begin to make money, well some that is. Im pretty sure I failed Stats I, it was the hardest course ive ever taken, shoved at u in 4 weeks. Im not going to be the only one, so I don't necessarily feel dumb. If you knew my professor, or just the statistics department in the business building, u would understand a little better. I know Jeff knows, I think he failed it the first time as well. Correct me if im wrong jeffers. But yeah, the reason I wont make too much money is that my mom wants me to pay for it if i failed it, thus, im 700 dollars in the hole right now....not cool : (

On a lighter note, I have been in New Paltz close to everyday. I just can't leave it to be honest. Im having so much fun with everyone, it really feels like family there (and im spending more time with that family then my true one actually, lol). Bryan's GF Kat is visiting from Maryland and her addition has been fabulous. She is just a real awesome person: Cooking everything from cookies to chicken dinners for us, teaching us little bits of sign language, and just being a fun person in general. My apartment is starting to shape up slowly, I have practically everything in my room now except my bed and clothes, so that is a good feeling "moving in" day won't really be much of a hastle at all, one car trip should do it : )

I went to the recent party @ Dima and Danny's new house, which I dub "The 201". Ive partied at there in the past with its prior residents, but the new ones give them a run for their money. It was a good time, lots of familiar faces mixed in with beardo's, but what house party in New Paltz doesn't attract them? Something good that came out of it was that Eileen (who practically lives there now, because of Abe) might have found me a sublet, which is pretty good I guess. It will be like 1100 dollars saved, maybe a little less, but who cares?

Dave and our upstairs neighbors all moved out last week, so its pretty quiet now around our place. There is a funny story I do have to tell about him tho. Dave started selling/giving us things for our apartment when he started moving out. At one point he summoned us upstairs because he had a few things he was willing to part way with. So he shows us this bar chair (it had a back, making it a chair, not a stool) and he was asking us if we wanted it, we didnt have a need, so we refused. Dave then said uttered this sentense: "Like yo, im not even talking money here.........Im talking chairs dude." If you know dave, and add all his mannerisms to that sentense, you would be laughing right now.

Speaking of Dave actually...Dan and I went and got our library cards for Elting Library, because its like a 2 minute walk and because of dave leaving, they shut off the wifi we were stealing from them, as well as the cable : ( But Dave works at the library, and he gave us our cards that grant us internet access. Dave givith and taketh away I guess. they have a decent DVD collection there. I would honestly invest in a card there, for a investment of nothing. They have decent titles and u keep them out for a week. Not too bad IMO.

Alright kids, I need to stop this post here, I have yet to eat breakfest and I need to be in work by 11, so thanks for reading. If something worth telling pops up, ill let y'all know about it

Peace, Love, and all that jazz : P

-J

So, after hearing this story yesterday, I felt the need to convey this to y'all

So Mary, yes, as in Mary Sedonis, came to New Paltz this past Friday and stayed the night. I also happened to be in New Paltz that night, but was enjoying 2-4-1 specials at Oasis rather than stick around my place. So apparently, Dave ( As in Jeff & Dave, the hootie cover guys from 60 main) and his dad were leaving their apartment, which is above mine, and Dave's dad backed up right into Mary's car.

Are you done laughing now?

Ok, so yeah, apparently the damage wasn't too bad, but she was like crying hysterically about it, and it shortened her stay in my place by a night, because her mom was apparently starting to flip out about it as well. I would have really liked to have been there, and for Chris to jump out of the bushes and go "Shut up Mahry!"

Besides that, not much is new. I worked this weekend. I took some things to New Paltz and actually spent the first night in the Apartment. I don't have a bed in there, so I decided to use our free Queen sofa bed. It was pretty full of shit, so i had to sweep it out and all, overall no surprises in there, which is good. It came from a Rugby house, so I expected much worse. I felt pretty dumb, cause i brought sheets to put on it, obviously, and they were my sheets from school. Idk why I thought i could get Twin XL sheets on a Queen bed : P After I got that all set up and went to Bryan's, where Evan was, freshly arrived from Bellmore (and in New Paltz for the remainder of the summer), and watched The Best of Mike Myers SNL and the NBA Finals. Eileen and Abe showed up a little bit later on, and I got witness Eileen high for the first time. I think this was the first time for her as well, as it never worked on her before this, at least I believe. Everyone reacts differently to it, hers was to run to the bathroom cause she almost started balling crying. She got calmer after awhile tho.

BTW, there is like insane amounts of construction going on everywhere. Like I can't go to work or New Paltz without hitting it now, its sooo bad. There is a 5 mile stretch to Kingston that will just be hell, even tho they were supposed to start today, I drove thru the entire construction area not seeing one person or piece of equipment lying around. Odd. On my way home just now they completely closed my way home thru Rosendale, so it took me an hour to get home from New Paltz, because I was detoured to Kingston. UGH. This shit better be over soon....

I think thats about all I got for u guys. I miss all of you. At least I get to see a good chunk of u on July 12th for the big show! U long islanders better make it up here for that! Its a good excuse to come up to "the country" *rolls eyes* LOL

The One and Only,

J

Upon getting thru Ange's last post, I remembered part of a dream I was having last night....

Oh yeah, here we go...

Now I don't remember the context of this dream, but I was in the 3rd person, observing my surroundings, and this is the only thing I can remember about it.

There were two toilets in stalls, both with no doors, and these two people were told to sit down and shit, one male, one female. The female in the right stall, the male, thus, on the left. They were talking to each other as they were shitting, but the female kept making the disgusting shitting farts/noises as she was talking and giggling while doing so. I remember the male not being effected by this too much, and seemed to be concentrating on his own "situation". Now, after they were both done, they stood up, and joined the group of people that were there watching them before (yes, there were people standing and watching this, I would assume these people are what our still President Bush dubs as the "evil-doers").

If I haven't lost you yet, get ready for it...

So, now, for some reason, the evil doers wanted the shit these two people made to be examend, as who the fuck shows up in my dream? Barack mofucking Obama! He was wearing his suit, minus the coat, so It was just white shirt with an aqua tie, still smiling and everything, like u see him on TV. Michelle was with him as well, with a black dress, knee-length, pearls, and with her signature smile as well. She did not do anything, but walk in with him and stand on the side. He didn't give much time to the females shit, and just walked over to the guy' stall. He looked in, scrunched his forehead together, and gazed upon the specimen. He at this point is crouched down, on the balls of his feet, very close to the bowl. He then turned his head to the crowd of evil-doers and issued this proclamation:

"Looks like we have a 14 incher here"

This somehow delighted the henchman, drawing cheers from the crowd. As soon as he had come, he stood up, flushed the toilet, not before saying "Better get this out of here", and with michelle in lockstep by his side, gave his signature campaign wave, and vanished further into the cave that all this had taken place in.


I think the authorities have already been called, and my straight jacket will arrive shortly, lol. Hey, this is up there with the floating cow one and me lending out my underwear to friends to use.

And barack being the "Brown Judger".....I wonder if it was because he IS Brown? The world may never know......

You guys are making me feel like posting every 5 days is too long, therefore, I bring u this:

Its beginning to feel more like summer as June keeps on truckin': we have the sweaty-balls temperatures, slow but not overwhelming boredom, and the desire to go swimming! Which I indeed have been doing. Amal, Bryan, Dan G, & summer subletter Elton (he is super nice, for those of u returning to "the paltz" next semester, u should definitely meet him) all went to the catskills to do just that. I took them to Palenville, home of many of my good, and once good, friends to take them to fawns leap. The 40 foot jump next to the waterfall didn't really tickle any of their fancies unfortunately. So, back in the car, down to Catskill, 1 loop in my High School parking lot for old times sake (nobody i recognized in it, i'm an old man now : / ) and down to another location. Dan And I sucessfully did cliff jump, i did roughly 30 feet, nothing too crazy. Dan did great, doing about 20 feet. It was his first time ever, which I didn't know, and he wasn't pussy about it either, I was proud of him : ). Bryan, Amal, and Elton on the other hand, didn't like the copious amounts of poison ivy adorning the trail down, or the slip and fall to your death walk either, so they didn't swim, after an hour and a half in the car....lameness. LOL. Amal actually did make it down after about a 1/2 hour, enough to be sucked downstream in a waterfall.

It wasn't as bad as I made it sound, the current was just strong

I immediately showered at my apartment to rid the chance of poison ivy death, even tho i didn't think i touched it. So that was one day.

other than that, its just been going to class, and dropping shit off at my apartment afterwards. I take atleast one thing a day over there. it will make the whole moving in process so much easier, when that time comes...

Speaking of the storm Alyssa mentioned in another post, it was WILD. I happened to be talking to her on AIM when it hit, and the power started dipping in and out. I thought I was going to have no electricity, which would have sucked, considering i had homework to do. Well the storm was crazy, wind blowing my moms planting stuff all over the driveway, rain like in the movies, wind that sounded like a oncoming train. And after 15 minutes, it was done. I was relieved, I was just writing a message to my housemate when the power went out....of course after the storm was OVER!!!! UUUGGGHHH. So, no homework done, message gone with the power, 10:15 at night, with now nobody awake in the house=insanity. I chose to try to read via flashlight, but it was fruitless, thus, I attempted to go to sleep before 11 Pm, something i hadn't done, in dare I say months? I lay tossing and turning, coughing for hours, and just when it started cool enough outside for me to consider putting 1 blanket over me, it came back. it turned out to be 1:15 AM. I turned off all the blaring electronics in my house, and called it a night.

So here I am: unprepared for my test thats in 13 hours, hot sticky sweet (sean *wink*), and am stubborn about abandoning the mental vacation i've been on for the past 8 hours. Ill let u all go now, those of u still reading, until next time....

-J

So yeah....hope everyone is doing dandy. It was hot as balls today, but im a lifeguard, so im never far from coolness. Its a perk ; )

So overall, don't have much to report. I was kinda bad this week in that I skipped 2 outta my 4 summer classes this week. 1 just because i was too comfy on my couch, which was totally my fault, the other being a car crash on route 32 headed towards class, and we got detoured, and would have arrived like 20 minutes late to class, so i instead decided to solve our gas leak problem...

Idk if you guys knew, we had a gas problem in our apt. Turns out the pilot light was off, problem solved now.

Other than that, not too much happening. As i've said before, i've been at Bryan's a lot during the week, i just head there after class now as a ritual. Ive thus been going to bacchus with Amal, bryan, dan G, Sal & their new subletter, Elton, who seems really chill. Idk why we have never gone...its good food! I had some sort of salmon quesadillas with avocado and crab meat with a tequila lime dipping sauce. that is an apitizer. Catch my drift? Beer selection is amazing obviously as well, bryan recommended something he had while working at Ruby Tuesday, turned out to be one of the smoothest beers ive ever had. Its called Rogue Dead Guy Ale. It hails from oregon. They sell it at the distributor apparently. I highly recommend.

So here is another bit of news, I went to work today, all was relativly calm and normal, until the battered wife came running into the pool area all bloody and screaming/cursing almost inchoherantly.

Let me elaborate now that I have your attention...

It had just thundered, so i had gotten everyone out of the pool, people were starting to pack up cause it was around 7 and the pool closed at 8, it was getting more dark, cool, etc. I was starting to pack up and my co-worker just left. And then the above described scene occured, and she was escorted into the activity room by a friend who, as im staring at this screaming, bloody female, just utters "don't let him in here". I had no idea what was going on. My co-worker described what had transpired before such scene.

Apparently the man was beating his wife inside, and she attempted to flee, and he caught up with her and continued beating her outside in the parking lot, definitely in view of at least 25 apartments. He apparently was punching her in the face repeatedly, and then kicking her on the ground, before disappearing when people started coming outside to see the fuss. The cops were called my by boss (his apt. connects to the activity room where such screaming bloody female now was) and they came about 5 minutes later. Didn't see an arrest made before I left, but they were still interrogating/medically treating the woman when I left, but pure utter craziness. Hadn't seen something that crazy in....I don't even know.


So with that little tickle of my life, I think im going to sign off...when something of interest pops up, u will know about it ; )

Tootle Doo

-J

GIANT PANDA GUERILLA DUB SQUAD



GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS



GRACE POTTER DURING GOV'T MULE'S SET



WARREN HAYNES (GOV'T MULE, ALLMAN BROTHERS) WITH JAKE CILLENGER (UMPHREY'S MCGEE)



JJ GREY of JJ GREY & MOFRO



WARREN HAYNES W/ MICHAEL FRANTI (& SPEARHEAD) & SON



WARREN W/ JOHN SCOFIELD (guitarist for Miles Davis, MSMW)



LEVON HELM (The Band, Levon Helm Band)



LITTLE SAMMY DAVIS JR. SITTING IN WITH LEVON HELM BAND



Levon Helm Band: LARRY CAMPBELL (Bob Dylan, Phil Lesh & Friends), Levon Helm, Band leader of Conan



LEVON HELM BAND W/ WARREN HAYNES ON "I SHALL BE RELEASED"



Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) & Ratdog

Hello all!

Quite a weekend it has been. I haven't showered in 3 days, i feel grimy as hell. Im broke, muddy, and exhausted, but i'm still wearing a smile : ) The weekend overall was great for me. So many great moments: grace potter, Gov't mule, Levon helm jamming with Sammy Davis & bob weir. Bob doing "terrapin Station" and closing with Sugar Magnolia. Outstanding. So much to share, im going to post photos tomorrow.

In the meantime, im going to get some bed, and i will you give y'all a visual journey tomorrow

-J

Alright, im a little less than a half hour to leaving for my only summer festival, the aniticipation is eating away at me!!

I just wanted to say, for obvious reasons, im going to be maintaining radio silence til monday, the cell will hopefully be good all weekend, tho im exactly sure. Ill probably end up calling one of youz from hunter.

Anyways, wish me luck, that I stay dry, I elude the prying eye, and I would like a piece of pie

(sorry, Frank got ahold of me there for a little bit)

Courtney, I may just have to call u when grace potter is playing. U may be at work, but ill try anyways : )

Alright y'all, im out!

YEEEEEEEHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

-J


PS-Dambacorta and I played open mic last night, and we went to gourmet (typical, I know). As soon as we sit down, Peace of Mind starts going. I just let out a sigh, and smiled. Im really going to miss those days all too much....damn. Ok, no leaving on a bad note. Its summer!!!!! YAY

Nothing much to report really, other than summer class is laaaaame.

My prof is your stereotypical asian professor: smart as all hell, has a doctorate, but speaks like a 4th grader. Nice guy, but man, its going to take a lot of caffeine to get me thru this course.

Here are my grading guidelines:

Midterm: 50%
Final Exam: 50%

can we all say WTF in unison?

so yeah, im going to be having a great time the first half of summer....Thank God for Mountain Jam. Its in 2 days! like holy shit!

Went to Bryan's last night for a "Memorial Day bonfire/kitling isn't living here anymore celebration"
The fire died and I got blammed for it. One of the first negative things i've encountered about being a boy scout, lol.

most likely not going to have anything of interest to post until post-MJ, but that should be a good one, Ill try to include photos and all sorts of goodies : )

Until then, keep the posts coming, im enjoying them all quite much

-J