and then it was almost over AKA im using free internet

Ok. There are a lot of things that I need to mention. Number one… im coming home! AKA im coming back to san fran for a few days then to LA for a few days, then to the family in Idaho for a few days, then to Chicago for 2 days and then I leave again for Peru. Then I come home… aka to Fairfield for a few days, and then possibly heading to a cabin in the mountains to start a project with Kayla for 2 weeks and then back to the west coast… aka the best coast :)

definitely not particularly ready for it, but I am excited to take a hot shower and maybe even a bath. And to see the peeps. And maybe do a lot of going out dancing, not that we haven't been rocking it out here but there are a few djs that ive been missing ;)

Im also interested to find out what I miss about life in Bali. Bali is interesting in the sense that there is constantly so much beauty in front of you, chillin in the peripheral and coming around the bend, im totally taking it for granted. Ive been living in the village of Nyuh Kuning (yellow coconut) and my neighbors dress in lace shirts and sarong skirts and carry baskets of fruit for offerings and the village treks down the street and over the stream and up to the temple to sing and play music – gamelan – that sounds like a distant house beat. Sometimes after participating in green goodies I like to sneak off to the road that runs between a temple and a rice field and dance to the drummers inside and im telling you… this is no hippy shit. The beats they make could be sampled and played wherever people dance :) maybe I should make a comeback and drop some tracks to follow up the hit "bounce that ass" ha ha. But seriously… music is an integral part of daily life. As are flowers, and fruit, and trees and sun and breeze and blue sky. One of my favorite spots to do an afternoon jalan and juice is called Campuan (?) which is a short hike up a hill between two rivers the hills sloping (slope might be an understatement – you definitely cannot roll down these hills unless you want to die) down either side to the jungle patches that line the rivers. The rivers being dotted with men and women bathing and washing clothes. The hills are covered in tall elephant grass and the views are absolutely stunning. The kind of stunning that I don't know if you can describe and pictures of look fake. But here its normal. No biggie just take a walk, look, drink some fresh pressed papaya juice for 50 cents and then continue to the next amazing place. The beaches Ill miss for sure… white or black sand, blue mixing with green water, brown skinned lovely Indonesian men spearing bright fish, finding octopus to throw at us girls :) and then of course treats to play with like walking starfish, gigantic snails, sting rays with purple polka dots, crabs and ending days swimming in pool size tide pools sitting on a surfboard watching the sun set. Sometimes at the end of the day if youre off the beaten track the monkeys will run off the cliffs onto the beach jumping to the exposed coral finding some dinner. I like this kind of life.

Another thing I think ill miss is the openness. My doors are always unlocked, with Waniss and his other small friends coming in and out of our house all day… riding motorbikes from paved streets to dirt roads, walking through rice paddies and terraces to find those perfect relaxing spots. Driving fast through nowhere until we stumble upon a village with ornate bali wood and stone architecture everyone yelling "Halo" until we see amazing paintings propped against a shed to stop and have some tea and meet the artist. I think ill miss that in my afternoons. The art in general im gonna miss… Ubud is an artists town, but every village around here is some sort of art village. There's the silver village, and an egg painting village, a wood carving village, batik making village, shadow puppet village, stone carving, not to mention the tons of multimedia, photographers, painters, jewelry makers, silk screeners, textile creators, that have imported themselves from Jakarta, bandung, Sumatra, etc. to do their shit in this area. also, older women rock their breasts out in the open which im always a fan of... and you can live in a sarong... which is nice... and sleep with no walls naked to wake up to frangipani smell mixed with the incense of offerings and see nothing but trees and flowers.

The bali dogs I wont miss… barking and trying to eat other all night long. Mange is everywhere. Our dog highway now has it. Although I will be sad to no longer have a nighttime protector when im walking through the dark. Besides my dogs we also have the Pecalan, the village police. They wear their had bandanas tied and take everyone's bribe money but they also make sure shit stays on lockdown and invite me to their houses for dinner.

One of my favorite places in Ubud also happens to be Delta Mart. Delta mart is sortof like circle k? or any small convenience store. The only differences in my life are that they sell durian flavored condoms which is possibly the most disgusting idea ive ever heard of… all the weird asian snack foods, and the 4 guys that work there have become Kayla and I's playmates. And by playmates I mean that sometimes we go in there with our helmets on and smash into displays, them and each other head first. Sometimes, we set up toilet paper rolls to make bowling lanes and all the time we are only allowed to either moonwalk or skate in or flip flops once we enter. You can buy beer and odd objects and then sometimes we wrap our objects (like those sponge things you use to wet your fingers to count money, or fermented yogurt drinks) into presents for whatever friend gets to be "lucky" enough to find a pile of useless gifts upon their pillow. Last night we bought some hair gel for "black" hair (lets keep in mind that K and I are both particulary blonde) and then stood by the door and made every person that entered gel into a Mohawk unless they didn't have enough hair and then they just had to gel and smell like the stinson cowboy. Across the street from delta mart is my favorite pool hall – aka an open area with roof covering where street kids beat me at pool after Flava Lounge closes.

Anyway… im gonna miss bali until I move back here in January. You should come and visit. Its gonna be really fun :)

Ps I may have forgotten to mention that im going back to India. Yes India… in less than two weeks for a bit. Its going to be balls hot and I cant really say I understand why im going there. But that's what im doing.