Butterflies, Snakes & SCorpions

and so it came to pass that I became one with nature:
butterflies landing on my shoulder;
pythons draped around my neck, gently squeezing;
scorpions walking up and down my arm

AWESOME!

My world is messed up

1. Here it's ok to kill orangutangs and destroy rainforests
2. Here it's ok to be obviously/possibly hypocritical about fundamental religion.
3. Here it's ok to take kids away from their parents and call them orphans.

(click on each item to go to the story. But I'm not making this stuff up)

going... going...

Fading fast,
never early but never last.
Inscruatble, undefinable, day and hour unknown.
Forgotten son,
only loss not yet won.
Memories faded of times once counted joy,
times before I no longer was a little boy,
a time when I could play - could proudly possess a toy.
Conscience in a nightmare world,
Asleep in the reality that I am not yet.
Honored by unseen faces and unspoken voices.
Rainbows pitched in darkness,
the moon points to me -
all I hear is noise.
Blackness.
Pain.
Wild abandon.
Nothing and nowhere,
drowned in the mud.
Gravel my oxygen.
Grasping dreams,
yielding nothing at last.
Only in last seconds do I realize life was worth fighting for.

Gone.

FOLLOW ME (reprise)

I see you still... waiting; afraid to step onto this road I journey on. Hand in hand, together it will be ours and not mine. I will go where you go too, but we shall never be still. The adventure will always lead to open doors - are you not excited about the closed ones we hide behind for the night, though?
Prayers will be unceasing, as answers yield more questions - the velocity hurtling toward light but our passion and joy overshadowing time itself. Hide not from me, for I long to be with you, long to hear your voice of love, your song, to see you smile and hold your hand - never letting go.
There is nothing we cannot do, no mountain too high, no valley too low. Sharing in grief and exalting in our joy, our fears defended by the other, our goals higher to the heavens themselves.
I see you still... but will not - cannot - stop. my heart waits but time and distance are unable to be bridged. My hand is here waiting for yours; take it, my love, please, I beg of you, before it's just too late.
I see you...

Funny things (continued)

Do I really need to say why THIS is funny??? :-)

I didn't realize surfers were always this close to their boards...
If you look carefully, the guy 2nd from the left is sticking his tongue out at me:

This doesn't answer how many of him there actually are, but it tries to:
Who's driving?
One day I'll make American Idol doing this!
Why, yes, it IS a really big fish... thank you...
I'll bet a dozen pigs feet...

Memories

Carried back across space and time to places I long to be and remember every chance I can. An ice cold bottle of coke: summer's growing up in Wisconsin, coming in from the oppressive heat and irritating mosquitoes that never ever seemed to give up. The cool breezes occasionally rising amidst heavy humidity that only air conditioning could shield against.
A yellow jersey: Thailand, Phuket, friends, beaches... soccer! Blue water, cold coffee, laughter, books, and letting go of 4 months of stresses and sicknesses which beat you down until you want to submit but can't.
A simple black leather wristband: Bali, little kids, poverty, (almost) surfing and sun, my good friend peter (aka the photographer).
italian cafe: family, history, life in relaxed but crazy times; sitting around the table and talking for hours and hours (and hours).
jazz: love, life, mysteries, art, poetry, tears amidst joy, sacrifices for a greater good.


Do you see what I see?

Parasite

Please give me what I don not deserve. I am idle and unwilling - in fact... pay me to watch you build my 3 new houses, and give me a job too - but not where I have to do anything. And I'll need to come in late, leave early, take a long lunch, and have many coffee and cigarette breaks. I probably can't actually help you because you're a foreigner, and I don't really want to learn, but i'll have someone drive into your car and make you pay for the damages if I can't drive your car. But if you let me I'll probably just have a distant friend do it. Except I really never learned how to drive - I just hopped on a motorcycle at age 9 and went. Can I have some gas money? No... more than that; yes, the receipt will be for the exact amount you gave me - no change, sorry... Do I have to get up? Can I leave the air conditioning running in the car all day while I enjoy it and do nothing? I need more gas money. I have to go pray. Again. Again. Now I need a coffee break to stay awake. Hold on, I have to take this call. Feed me. I'll just help myself. Unless you'll do it for me. "Thank you?" I'm the suffering victim - why would I say that??? Oh, I hate all foreign devils - give me more money. I have to go pray.

The "OTHER" David

this was at the beginning of my vacation; I was working on getting the tan, ok???

Water Power: the next big thing?

Ok, so I can't surf (yet? :-) but i have lately begun body-surfing and boogie-boarding . The result (besides salt-water up the nose and in the ears, and a little bit down the lungs maybe...) is awe, bewilderment, excitement, joy, exhaustion and exhilaration from the sheer twisting, turning, overwhelming power of the wave. Its just water, and yet... it is amazing. A little gravity from far away, a few fish, a little chaos theory, a lot of fluid dynamics (come on, i'm a freaking rocket scientist... ok, not exactly, but i studied this stuff for 4 years), and VOILA: waves crashing on beautiful beaches.
But, you know, maybe all of creation is just dumb luck.

Just another Wednesday

One luxury limo (3+ hours in the back each way)


One amazing catered lunch (to go: rice and fish)


One ferry trip (basically on a toothpick! EEK!!!)


30 minutes on the pitch in a bright orange jersey (no goals... sigh)


and a finally working hot shower (I should say the water pump was finally working)

ummmm, no pictures of this... :-)

Do me a favor...

...Don't be a stupid white person and chase off the orangutang...

Bye Peter!

My good friend Peter and I had a last weekend (well... honestly it was Thursday and Friday, but I'm a teacher without classes on those days before Ramadan...) to go hang out on an island and snorkel and eat and beach and swim. I will definitely miss my bro (he's back in L.A. as I write on the way to another friend's from here wedding)!

funny things

"Dude, what IS that thing???"
A really, REALLY hairy caterpillar

"I was HUNG-ry!"
Seriously, when ants are this big I fear for the future of humanity...
"So, what are you two humans having to drink? I'll have another Heinekin, please."

Friends & Orangutangs

No monkey business here!!!Ben & Kelly, me, Caitlyn & John (the last of my good friends here who are about to leave... :-(

Orangutangs

Seriously, a lot of shots with momma & baby:

radiant Phuket sunsets (again)

i've returned from here almost 2 months ago???
sigh...

Plagiarists

disgusting and ineffective profiting from the hard work of others; learning nothing; learning that taking is better than giving to the world something new and something beautiful. Lies, betrayal... foolisheness. And yet original thought diminishes as the past is forgotten anyway and acceptance grows and tools magnify. Perhaps this too is just a carbon copy, stolen from someone more intelligent than I - a more marvelous poet that spoke in truth and understanding and wisdom that the thieves cannot possess or are far too lazy to. Darkened and dull minds shall destroy nations and prove their unworth before the world. And such is a lesson that tears and cries and shouts may be too late to redeem.

Semeru

Climbing to peaks unknown with weary legs… weary mind…
companions pushing forth, seeking higher heights and greater
glories – inside my heart just seeks solace in the arms of the creator of
all spread out before me. Breathing and pressing, tuning everything
out just to focus for one step more, the aches and pains reminding that
death is not yet to come – unwelcome and unwanted for a time, two
times, half a time yet.

Rest found in frozen valleys beneath coughing volcano,
huddled next to the tiniest of fires that cook a semi-processed
artificial meat that tastes so good, crushing almonds to add to the flavor.
Cramped in a junior tent, three big guys find sleep at early hours
for the sun is lost and there is little left but recuperation needed
– at least for one. Rising early – ten hours later – the chill
remains but hands are no longer numb, and neither is the heart and mind that
has thawed and has begun to prepare itself for the long road ahead.
Truly, the means justify the ends, and freedom is found not in the ash
at our feet, but the road left in our dust.

who's afraid of elephants?

apparently I am.

a little bit.

sometimes.

come on, they're a little bit scary.

and cute.

DISTANT

Does one hear the betrayals sounds at the coming of
pattered feet? Speak softly and beware curious words that tell not what
burns desires but crushes the bones. Echoes resound softly in pale
moonlit skies, determined to rationalize histories that are not to be
repeated, but the downward spirals so ensure – to what end? Creation
dawned and so must set – does not all life give birth unto death itself?
No beginning does not have an end – so this heart surely recalls,
remembers, and resounds in the hollow chambers of sweet sadness where tears
are never dried, where laughter is never heard, and smiles are distant
memories in distant places in distant lives.