bands and getting run over by a coke truck

remember where in the world is carmen san diego? not the tv show but the computer game that came out when you said 'macintosh' and they were these really small screens on that sortof yellow off white color plastic? just checking.

anyway, life is good... though my return to the US date is getting closer and oddly enough its freaking me out just a little bit. i guess i just have to wrap my mind around the fact that ill be back for 3 weeks and then on to peru. i dont know that im neccessarily ready to leave bali. i might be back. soon.

so going away from going home and back to where i am... ive been writing a lot recently. working on an article on the bali youth subculture. its been interesting... interviewing bands, skaters, photographers, designers at clothing companies, kids, ill post it once its finished but its a young scene and growing and really interesting to explore.

check out the band 'kaimsasikun' on myspace. they're rad. and on my way to interview them a couple days ago i got run over by a coke truck. thats a lie. i didnt really get run over i just really enjoy saying that... what really happened is that a coke truck hit me while i was just starting to pull out from a red light and knocked down the bike behind me, me, and propelled me into a big puddle. on my ass. so embarrassing but mostly just incredibly funny i hope for the people who got to see it. also i guess pretty fucking painful. anyway, this band is great and i think it will be really interesting to watch them for the next couple years. see how it grows.... focusing on the scene here has also really made me appreciate san francisco in the sense that it is so 'local' and what's local is so strongly supported. makes me want to rock the shit all over.

the thing that im working on that im the most into right now is the english classes im teaching. i cannot tell you how fucking rad these kids are. the little kids class is so fun because i have been able to watch the shift of them being shy and then gaining confidence with the language and now excited to be the one to share or read aloud. plus the fact that i just totally make a fool out of myself probably makes it easier for them to be silly :) the village that the youth center where the classes are is incredibly beautiful. if i ever lived here for a longer period of time, that's for sure where id like to have a little house. its in the sawa - rice fields - but bordered by jungle or forest or whatever you want to call it. if you go behind the building and walk out for about 5 minutes you can hike down a steep ravine into a river and then follow it down to the main bridge and then into Ubud. i just really love the vegetation here. there's this one banana tree near a spot i call my "dark place" thats my favorite tree in bali. my dark place isnt an angst filled hole but rather this little clearing inside a patch of trees thats actually really really dark covered in tall grass so if you lay down you dont actually touch the ground and you can check out stars or whatever. sometimes i draw pictures of peacocks there. since i am still def into my peacock phase and trying to figure out the tat.

so i also have a new best friend. his name is Waniss. he's really cool and speaks great english. he wakes me up every morning by scratching my cheek and then we usually make sweet tea and hang out for a while. maybe sometimes we'll make a kite or snowflakes and then go dance in the street outside. sometimes we just listen to music. he's 5. i sorta want to steal him and take him home with me. he's been coming over every day for weeks and i just met his mom for the first time yesterday. weird. but she was really cool. i realized that its important for me to live somewhere where a kid can wander into my house and hide under my bed and wait for me to get home only to jump out and suprise the shit out of me and i scream. i like these sorts of things :)

anyway... i have to go to the pool now. its hot and i have a class to teach in a few hours. hit me up. let me know if anyone will be in peru this summer. or san fran. or portland. holler.

bite me aka i hate saigon

i dont really have the time or energy to write anything that decribes everything that ive been doing right now but i sorta want to.

i went to malaysia and we hung out with a biker gang that you can view on kaylas page. we also stayed in family room with some guys from a bus in KL which i thought was crazy because it was the most developed city id seen this year. then we took a bus to singapore which turns out to be the most developed place ive ever been in my life. except for our room which was the most expensive place ive stayed all year and at the same time, the dirtiest.

Now, i say that i hate singapore (aka saigon which is what it was called the whole time we were there), which is true, but what is also true is that i had a really fucking good time. sentosa was bullshit, but while we were trying to sneak into the aquarium we found a spa that offers a "special" pedicure. whats special about it is that you put your feet into a tub that is filled with tiny fish and they eat off all the dead skin. gross. except kindof cool. and no i didnt get a pedicure but i did persuade them to let me stick in my hand.

another really great thing was that we were there over ladies night which meant free entry and free drinks at all the clubs. sweet. i also saw a really great exhibition at the singapore national museum which i will post pics of later because the dude was so fucking cool, and the 'far east' shopping mall was incredible. seriously incredible... its a huge mall thats filled with closet sized stores of local designers, limited ed sneakers, and t shirt shops - i may have failed to mention that all singapore is is a bunch of malls strung together, you can access them underground as well. if i already wrote that sorry, im in a really big hurry and do not have time to either stop typing or look up and re read what i wrote...

we also ran into landon who is the orgininal peacocker, and mara's friend, and then for the rest of the trip forgot to tell him but used his name to use the pool and spa at his very nice business trip hotel. hot.

im back now in ubud and loving it. ive been at a whole lotta births this week and my english classes are going well. im adding one more so soon ill be teaching 4 seperate classes and also an art class. tomorrow im going surfing (we hit up dreamland last tues. by the way and i have some things to say about that but now is not the time). this weekend is the new skate park opening and we've got press passes and are doing a story so that should be fun.

speaking of fun i forgot to mention the camera stores in singapore.

ok scratch this entry. my ADD is kicking up and the awful dog bite i got on my hand last night mixed with the accupuncture from this morning is just making me insane.

Holler at me.... i miss you guys!