I'm not sure what role this blog should have in my life now. That being said, I'm comforted that I can still log into it. But how frank can I be in this environment? I always kept this blog vague, but there was a certain frankness that I miss.

I don't understand all the hate directed at the horns. To me it is no different from regular crowd noise in the background on TV. What a trivial, insignificant detail to whine about. Why does this bother people so much? Do they simply hate anything they're not used to? Oh....right.

Yesterday was pretty lo-key, but things picked up at night, as I attended a sporting event with 72000 other people. I had spent the afternoon reading up so I had some idea what to expect. It was fun! This city in particular has a strong tradition for the game. Out of a league with 16 teams, no less than ten (!) are in the greater metropolitan area.

Tonight's plan is to drink with the house party crew from the other day. I will carry the weight of a nation on my shoulders. Good luck to me.

The show was good; I've described the "facts" elsewhere, so I'll keep this description to opinion. The single, long, improvised song must have got to some people. I thought it was sort of a paradox; an artist with such a long history needs to play for more than 20 minutes (which the band did), but I think the outer reach for song length in this style is probably about that time. For my liking, at least. On the other hand, I get the sense that a second song would have sounded much like the first, so why not play them as a unit. I had warned N's parents that this was going to be "pretty weird". They were good sports about it, but I'm sure they now wish they had heeded my warning. I had fun though, and I thought it was an important thing for me to see, and I would probably have gone one way or the other.

The tram ride out was pretty interesting. One guy was drinking beer on the tram. Then this younger woman (mid 20s ish) gets on the tram, smoking, and starts asking everybody for change. A dude told her she should put out the cigarette and she loudly threatened to beat him up. Yee haw! I didn't give her any money. She lost quite a few points with that act. The show wasn't even in a rough part of town... it was in a gorgeous old theatre, with seating more befitting a gala ball than rock show. Very cool.

Yesterday afternoon I found a store that sells a lot of strange Belgian beers. Didn't find this one but I did pick up this and this. I was also looking for a certain beer from those islands off to the east, but it was not to be found. This country takes beer seriously. The variety of domestics (and imports for that matter) where I come from is sadly lacking. Those who like it may like it a lot, but they don't love it.

It's a zoo in there...

Wow... we went to the zoo yesterday. I've been afraid to do this in the past, because caged animals kind of depress me. I have to say though, the zoo here is awesome. The residents have quite a bit of room, and I think if going to the zoo increases people's awareness of issues facing wild animals, then the zoo residents are kind of making a positive sacrifice, however unknowingly. I saw a hell of a lot of animals I have never seen before. We were there pretty much all day.

Tonight is the show I mentioned before.

Two drinking establishments have stood out for me thus far. Today, we went to a bar on the seventh floor of a sixth floor building. Yes, the bar was on the roof, right in the middle of downtown. This would never fly back home. Someone would throw a bottle off the roof, maim somebody, then say "it was the city's fault for allowing a bar to open on a roof". Fucking weak pieces of SHIT!!

But the best bar was even less traditional. It was in a parking lot. Two walls were just the outsides of adjacent buildings; the third wall was a chain-link fence. The fourth wall was the bar itself - a transplanted shipping container. The ceiling? It covered about half the venue... patchy and makeshift. It's like the outside of Charlie's WAS Charlie's.

Tonight we went to a house party; it consisted mainly of foreign students from all over. Everyone was drunk. Now I'm not a "smoker", but I expected some "smoking" to take place and was very surprised when none did. I'm not used to that. But then I learned that that's not standard party fare here. Weird!

I did drink a bunch of homemade hard liquor though, and got somewhat fucked up.

Headed west to the P dot, stayed about three stones' throws from the ocean. Beaches abound. I can't remember which night it was, but we made use of one of the public bbqs in the park. Those would never fly back home... it's too litigious an environment. Idiots would either blow the things up or burn themselves, then blame the municipality because "it's their fault for putting them there". In this part of the world, people are given this sort of responsibility, and they don't seem to abuse it. Also, the cities around here look really good, not lacking in public art.

We got to a neat market yesterday, and the day before was spent beaching and biking here. The island has a sad history as you can see. We mostly involved ourselves in the nature aspect... even met a few of these adorable little critters. What else... saw some incredible sunsets and drank a not-insignificant quantity of beer. I spent my downtime reading this book and watching strange sports on TV. Oh, also: we had hoped to see these guys the other night, but it was sold out. We did "see" them I guess... at the airport yesterday, leaving for their next gig.

Now we're back in the M dot until I think Sunday. It feels like early September. I've picked up presents for a few friends and family. I'll have to disappoint some of my friends I guess, but there is too much cool stuff here, and I wouldn't have room to bring it all back even if I could afford to. I guess a boat full of beer would be a good thing to take back.

Speaking of shows I want to see here... I scored tickets for all of us, including N's parents. I hope they know what they're getting into! They probably haven't heard anything like him before... shit, I don't think I have, either.

Jumping from late winter to summery "fall" makes me want to barbecue in a major way. When we get home, this will happen.

Great record store here, bought a few items. Supper was at a japanese restaurant next to a free outdoor theatre. The city provides lawnchairs, and the movie playing wasn't even shitty. Then we went on a giant ferris wheel that exists on its own, not in a park. I drank beer in between all of these events, and a few other times. And I might be able to see an obscure artist next week. Not certain that will happen, but maybe.