Hello bloggers. As usual I am way behind in the blog. I am in fact so far behind in the blog that I am actually way ahead of myself. Events yet to transpire have been forgotten, and tales from future's past unravel before you from behind. That being the case, it is now a full week since my trip to Monterey. The date abouve (06-04-06) is as inaaccurate as my attempts at spelling "above" or "inaccurate". I started writing the blog last Sunday, but have been so busy working that I just can't seem to finish it, as I surely won't finish it now.

Hello again, a full week has passed since I have been here a second time to update this page. Now it's the Sunday after the aforementioned Sunday (6/04/06) which is last Sunday. Today is Sunday, 6/11/06, not to be confused with last Sunday, 6/04/06, or next Sunday, 6/18/06, which I will get to in a moment.

Hello again. Another week has passed in my attempts to update the Monterey blog page. It is now Sunday 6/18/06, and I'm sitting down to attempt to finish. This is really getting out of hand. The reason for the delay in updating my blog is as follows- I have been working odd jobs and have been logging many hours to help replenish my savings. I'm happy to say I've made about $1,500 in the last couple of weeks, but it has left little time for sleeping or eating, let alone blogging. I will now attempt to finish my Monterey blog update.

Hello yet again. It is now Thursday, June 22 and I swear by all that's holy I am going to finish this blog RIGHT NOW.

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Sunday - 6/18/06 
^%$@&
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Monterey, CA
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Today, (ya right) I got back from my trip up North to Monterey to visit friends. Despite feeling a bit under the weather when I arrived, I had a good time and the Monterey area is beautiful. To start the story from the beginning, I drove up route 5 North toward Monterey about 11am.

I hit Rte 46 West to avoid an extra 40 miles
in the prescribed directions from Mapquest.

I drove past 30 miles of Almond fields on Rte. 46 on
my way to Rte. 101 which went North into Monterey

I was surprised how rural the landscape became just outside of LA. All of a sudden I was in
the hills and driving through "the grapevine" which went winding into California farm country.

The drive took about 5 hours. The landscape started to
get more green and lush as I approached the coastline.

Just then I came into Monterey where I encountered another tunnel.

This is the outside of the tunnel

and this is the inside

I just love tunnels, but we won't get into that right now...except to say I
saw the tunnel again from the bike path which I will get to in a moment.

I drove into town looking for Sheryl's place.

To backpedal on the blogpath for a moment, I went to Monterey to visit the sister of a
friend who I used to work with named Diane. Her sister Sheryl has a place in Monterey.

This is Diane

Well not both of them, Diane is the one on the right. Her husband Jim is on the left. They were vacationing in Monterey and asked if I'd come up and visit at her sister's place while they were in town. This picture was taken during the trip, but they asked a complete stranger to take the photo instead of simply asking me, which is something I'll never get over. There I stood, looking at the lone Cypress all by myself while some stranger took their picture, it was really upsetting. All jesting aside, I really could have taken the picture, I was standing right there. Nonetheless, the picture came out fine, and I remained virtually unscathed emotionally from the experience.

Before I go on I'd like to show you the
custom VSO mug that Diane made for me.

This is the front of the mug

This is the back

She has a business on the side making t-shirts, mugs, and all kinds of items with custom logos. She has been the sole provider of VSO t-shirts since I stopped making them myself a few years ago. She's always happy to hook me up with a wacky custom t-shirt when I need them.

This is Diane's sister Sheryl

Well not all three of them, Sheryl is on the left, her boyfriend Steve is next to her on the right, and we all know Diane and Jim. I'm not sure who the other people are in the background, lol!

Let me just stop to say how much I hate that "lol" thing.

The night I arrived, I set up the VSO on Sheryl's back patio and
wooded a small audience for about an hour before it got too cold.

There were about 10 people in the audience on the patio. Jim and Diane, Sheryl and Steve, Sheryl's son Darren, and a couple of his friends. My performance was a bit rusty as I haven't been able to practice much at my apartment, but it felt good to finally belt out some tunes until the VSO was suddenly hijacked at the end of my first set.

This is Sadaman, a friend of Darren's. He strummed some chords while he sang harmonies through my vocal processor and demanded I take him to Cuba. In this picture he does indeed look a bit like a terrorist hijacking the VSO, but I assure you he was a great guy. I am always happy to have other people try out the VSO rig as some of my favorite times are spent explaining it to people and getting feedback and input in return. Later on before I broke down the VSO rig to put inside, another friend of Darren's sang Karoke to my rendition of the Heart song "Magic Man". They both sounded good having fun with the VSO. Sheryl's son Darren took a liking to the VSO right away. He's a guitar player, and tried out the VSO rig as well. He's very technical minded with all sorts of projects in his converted shed workshop out back.

He managed to completely fill this area with everything under
the sun. He had the sun stored outside, 93,000,000 miles away.

lol!

The next day, after I narrowly avoided getting arrested, Diane and Jim took me sightseeing. We took the famous "17 mile drive" around the coast and through several golf courses, one of which was the legendary "Pebble Beach" golf links. The area was very scenic.

We drove through at low tide which added a different
dimension to the coast, which was rocky and foreboding.

The land surrounding the bay sat quietly in the distance

I saw this seagull perched on a rock which beckoned feelings of freedom

I had myself airdropped onto a rock to
try to replicate the freedom of the seagull

I felt a bit confined on my watery island prison so I quickly swam to shore

Not really, Diane must have doctored up that picture as I clearly don't remember standing on this rock. If I had been on the rock I surely would have found some total stranger to take the picture, and not Jim or Diane. All jesting aside, I really could have taken that picture.

While we're on the subject of animals on rocks, there were numerous sea
lions in the area, which is something I hadn't seen before outside a zoo.

There were deer who seemed unafraid of our
presence, and happily posed for our pictures

We made our way along the coast admiring the scenery
when we happened upon the famous "lone cypress" tree.

This cypress tree has stood watch on the coast for hundreds of years. Withstanding adversity with a strength held hard fast against the elements. The symbolism filled me with an emotional rush as I stood and watched Diane and Jim have their photo taken by a complete stranger. All jesting aside, I really am over that. We continued on the 17 mile drive admiring the breathtaking scenery of the northern California coast. The coastline is vastly different than the coast near LA.

We went past Pebble Beach golf links, a legendary golf
course which is home to many tournaments over the years.

Sheryl's boyfriend Steve informed me that it cost over $300 to
play a round of golf here, so I didn't need a caddy that day. lol!

We drove into Carmel, which is just South of Monterey. Actor Clint Eastwood
lives here, and has bought many acres of land to preserve it from being developed.

The town is very quaint and cozy. There have been many ordinances passed in the town to keep it this way. There aren't any neon signs allowed here, or even traffic lights. Carmel is filled with art galleries and small shops and eateries which all had a small town feel, sitting next to each other on the quiet streets.

We stopped in to Jack London's pub for lunch. Steve is the manager, and gave us a "family" discount, although Diane and Jim insisted on paying for my meal. Steve sat down and talked to us while we ate our lunch, which was quite good. If I recall I had the best burger I have eaten in awhile. We went back the next night for dinner and the meal was just as good. I had a great Philly cheese steak sandwich with possibly the best onion rings I have ever had. Normally I try to avoid eating a lot of fried food for obvious reasons, but when I saw the waiter taking an order of onion rings to a nearby table, I had to try them. It's no wonder they're so good, Steve said they devote the entire deep fryer to making onion rings, which puts other meals on hold. He seemed very proud of his homemade onion rings and I don't blame him, they were quite good, and well worth making the other customers wait. Ok I'm getting hungry but I'm determined to finish this blog so no eating for me just yet. lol!

The next day, long before the dinner and onion rings, I took Darren's bike out on the bike path which ran 12 miles along the coast. I headed up to the pier to meet Diane and Jim who had driven up to do some gift shopping in the many gift stores in the area. I rode out of Sheryl's place toward the ocean and bike path, which wasn't even 1/4 mile away. When I got to the bike path my heart nearly skipped a beat.

It was a smooth paved road which had been converted from a railroad line that used to run past the famous "Cannery Row", which was the national hub for sardine canning back in the day.

The Bubba Gump shrimp company was
located here, as were many fishing companies.

The area is famous for it's sardine production, and
a section of fish packers homes still line the streets

I made my way down the bike path with the breeze blowing past
off the ocean. I came to the first pier, and took a panoramic image.

Click here or on thumbnail image above to view panoramic

I met Diane and Jim on the second pier, which
had many shops and restaurants lining each side

We went in a few shops and browsed
around. I got a kick out of this t-shirt.

Pee Wee Herman must have been on the pier that day

Either that or someone had stolen his bike and he's off on another big adventure

We walked around and took in the scenery
while the scent of the ocean lingered in the air.

I saw some sea lions on the end of the pier

there were also a group of them out in the water a ways barking and
wallowing in the sun, which was basking in itself 93,000,000 miles away

I saw this rather unique houseboat while sitting
on the pier relaxing in the near perfect weather.

It was slowly rotating in the water, at the mercy of the breeze

I got a shot of all sides

Here it comes again!

ah, to be unemployed

After the mind blowing houseboat I took a panoramic image of the pier

Click here or on image above to view panoramic.

Diane and Jim wanted to buy me lunch again, but I suggested an ice cream con,
which turned out to be nearly as expensive, and I have misspelled nothing.

After getting our fill of the pier, we parted company to meet back up at Sheryl's house in a couple hours to go out to dinner at Jack London's Pub the second time, which I mentioned previously with the onion rings. This reminds me that I'm really hungry now as I still haven't eaten much save some home made chocolate chip cookies. I continued North on the bike path to explore and check out the beach in Monterey beyond the pier. The dunes had unique colored vegetation that I hadn't seen before. It had an airbrushed and somewhat alien look to it.

I relaxed on the beach which I had nearly all to myself for over an hour, and did some beachcombing and enjoyed the peace and quiet after being in the heart of LA for so long.

It was so nice to be by the ocean without the bustling of countless other people around

I collected some shells and beach glass for Diane to bring back to my friend back east, as
she was kind enough to send the funniest gift imaginable along with Diane to give to me.

After leaving the beach I saw the tunnel again from the bike path

The bike path really was nice

I enjoyed the time I spent riding on it without bustling city buses all around

After I met Diane and Jim back at the house, we went to pick up Sheryl to go to Jack London's to get some legendary onion rings. There was a band playing that night. Carmel had just lifted an ordinance against live music in town, and there was a great blues band playing that night. The lead singer/ front woman had a powerful voice, but knew how to tone it right for the small room. The drummer was exceptional, as were the guitarist and bass player. I regret I didn't take a picture of the band, but the dancing girls were out in full force bopping to the R&B grooves they laid out. After eating dinner at Jack London's Pub, we went to a place called "Kalisa's" to catch a belly dancing show.

The woman who owns the place has a show each week featuring local belly dance students. There is a short movie clip below which Diane took of one of the belly dancers.

(Click on thumbnail image to view movie clip)

The dancers were quite mesmerizing, and I watched
intently from my seat next to a statue in the corner.

The statue was eerie, and reflected some of the turmoil I had been feeling inside lately due to the recent transition in my life. It was great to get away from the pressures of LA for a little awhile. Aside from the immeasurable seagull droppings left on my truck, I had a great time in Monterey.

It was quite a relaxing place, where I saw some old friends, and met some new ones. The sign I saw on the bike path earlier that day possessed a certain truth, and I did need a bit of change in my life...

Who knows where this odyssey will take me next...

lol!

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Enya - Lazy Days

Lazy old day
rolling away
dreaming the day away
don't want to go
now that I'm in the flow
crazy amazing day


One red balloon
floats to the moon
just let it fly away
I only know
that I'm longing to go
back to my lazy day


And how it sings and how it sighs
and how it never stays
And how it rings and how it cries
and how it sails away...