Looking Back: My favorite Bike

I shouldn’t have sold it. I wanted it back so bad, but it was too late and now I had to watch someone else enjoy it.

It was my favorite bike.

A couple years ago I had gotten this bike from a bike shop in Berkeley. I wasn’t even really looking for a bike at the time but something about this bike caught my eye and I was immediately captivated. I had to have it. The bike wasn’t brand new and it had seen its fair share of abuse and road wear. The brakes were a little squeaky making it a bit unsure of itself and every now and then the bike would wobble and become unsteady. It didn’t matter to me because I knew that with a little tender loving care this bike could really shine. I loved that bike, and I tried to give it everything it needed. Me and the bike weren’t perfect but when we went out on the town zipping in and out of traffic cutting through the wind we were perfect.

Then things started to go downhill.

The bike started falling apart. It could no longer ride straight and true like it used to. The wheels felt loose and the gears grinded as it struggled to make it up hills. I tried to oil it and patch the holes in the tires as best I could, but no matter what I tried nothing worked.

The bike was breaking and I couldn’t fix it.

I felt utterly powerless. I still tried to take it out but the chain repeatedly got caught in my pants and ruined them. The bike would stop suddenly and send me careening over the handle bars into the bushes. It came to a point where the bike was causing more harm than help. Regrettably I had no choice but to let the bike go.

So I moved away.

The bike stayed where I had left it and it broke my heart to know that I wouldn’t be taking it out anymore. We would no longer cruise about town with the wind cutting through us; we would no longer be the envy of the other bicyclists. Every now and again I would look up the bike just to see how it was doing without me. It had still not been ridden and was slowly breaking down more. The tires were completely flat and the chain dry and rusty. I wanted to go back for the bike so bad, but I knew I couldn’t.

Eventually the bike started doing better. It shined itself back up and moved to a new area full of sunshine and mountains perfect for more adventures and other riders eager to take the bike out for a spin.

I am happy for the bike but I still regret ever letting it go. I loved it, and even though it wasn’t perfect I thought it was the best darn bike in the world. I still look at old pictures of me and the bike, whipping about town—Starbucks trips and college adventures.

Oh how I loved that bike.

For now I am bike-less, and rely on my feet and my car to get me to places. I know even if I find another bike it still won’t compare to THAT bike.

Maybe one the bike and I will be re-united and have new adventures cruising about in a new town with a new wind cutting through our bodies.

I hope its soon…

I'm All In

     Well looks like I'm in. I'm committed and there is no turning back now, I have decided to officially become a blogger. That's something I never thought that I would say. 

                                                                Eep

     When I tell people I blog I usually get the same reaction as when I tell people I am a comedian.

                                              "So what do you do?"

                    "I'm a comedian and a writer. I have a blog." 

                                      "Ohhhh cooool..." 

                                "I also write for televis-!" 

                                "That's nice, I'm hungry." 

     That is usually how a conversation goes when I meet someone new or someone I've known for awhile inquires as to how I earn a living (barely). It's okay, as an actor and comedian I'm used to being heckled and can most often roll with the punches. I like what I do and lately as I have filling this blog with more entries I have grown to love blogging. Moreover, as I get ready to start my usual summertime traveling I find myself even more excited to write.

     There is something freeing and exciting about being able to share my experiences with friends, family, strangers and whomever else may read this blog. It allows me to be creative in more ways than just posting pictures on my Instagram. Not only do my readers get to see the beautiful(am I pushing it?) pictures I post but they get to read about the awesome or not so awesome experience behind the picture. Even though I am traveling alone most of the time, sharing helps me to feel connected to home.

     Connection is the one of the main reasons I have decided to fully commit to this. I love human connection, connecting with nature and well, connecting with myself. Traveling and writing really help me to connect with myself on a deeper level as opposed to sitting at home playing video-games or watching television.

     Shortly I'll be launching my new website (which will look a lot better than this hosted one) and from that point on I'll be posting there. Don't worry I will provide links and keep you informed along the transition. I am also going to stick to a more regular posting schedule. I'll have more advice and tips, random stories, tales from my travels and helpful tips on how to be whatever you want.

      I am all in now. I am committed. I want to thank you for following and sticking with me this far and I can promise you it will only get better from here. Thanks for reading and happy travels.

Preparations Begin Now!

     I am currently planning for one of the most epic and much needed adventures of my life. I have traveled to quite a few places during my life-time but most of them haven’t been by “choice” if you will. Thus, I am excited to be making this journey by myself and completely on my own accord. Although, I have to admit, it is pretty scary and I am very nervous. That being said, I have much to prepare for! Here are some frequently asked questions I'm sure you are thinking and I have been asking myself before I leave. 

What will I pack?

     After learning from my previous trips and consulting some of my adventurer friends and trusted travel blogs I have settled upon this short list: 

     Passport size photos, and copies of all of my documents. Having photos on hand is useful when obtaining new visas in all of the new areas that I may visit. And should I lose anything it’s always good to have copies. I have to make sure to store them in separate areas and make sure to keep the originals secure.

     Toiletries and Bug spray. Most places will have shampoo and toothpaste I can buy, but just in case its always a good idea to keep small quantities of these available. Also, bug spray, hand sanitizer and “field wipes” (from my military days) are a must; as well as plenty of Imodium.

     My multi-tool and knife.

     Minimal clothes. I’ll be bringing flip flops, a pair of boots shorts and t-shirts and a pair of cargo pants or two. There is no need to bring jeans as they will only make my legs sticky and hot and I can always buy clothes for pretty cheap over there. Plus I don’t want to weigh down my backpack with unnecessary items.

     Since I will be buying a new backpack I’ll have to consider how big I want it. Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to traveling with a backpack. Keeping the pack smaller will prevent me from over-packing. I’ll have to keep myself from going to my military roots and trying to pack as much stuff into the largest pack I can because I’m a soldier and keep the pack to about 60 liters.

What will I eat?

     Everything! The local food over there is delicious and its always cheaper than buying western food. Why spend more money than you should on a dry disgusting hamburger when you can eat delicious local street food for about $7 or $10 a day? I don’t drink as much alcohol as I used to (college years) so I will be saving a lot of money in that area, seeing as how alcohol is usually where tourists spend the most money. However, I will be trying all of the tasty cold beers that the different regions have to offer.

Where will I sleep?

     Finding accommodations in South East Asia is fairly simple and cheap with most places ranging from $3-14 USD a day. This is the price range throughout Asia with some places like Thailand being more expensive than Laos or Cambodia. I won’t be bringing a sleeping bag or linens as most of these places offer them already or you can rent them for a minimal fee.

How will I get around?

     Motorbikes, buses, boats, and by walking of course. These are all pretty cheap and it’s not necessary to book travel so far in advance. However, I’ll have to be well prepared for delays and long trips. I’ll have my trusty Kindle and camera to help pass the time.

How will I have fun?

     I plan on doing everything and anything I can. I am a huge surfer and would love to do some surfing in Bali or Thailand (there are some gnarly surf spots there). I also plan on visiting the temples at Angkor Wat, and trekking through the jungles of Laos and Malaysia. Of course attending the Full Moon Party on the island of Ko Phangan, Thailand is a must! Yoga in Bali and tubing in Vang Vieng are both on the list as well as sailing in Halong Bay Vietnam. There will be no shortage of things to do out there and I plan on doing as much as I can.

     I am beyond excited for this trip and for the next few months will be working and planning like a mad-man! I am notorious for forgetting things so if there is anything on this short list that you may think I have forgotten please feel free to let me know! I almost forgot , wherever I travel I always bring with me a picture of home. No I don’t carry around a picture of America or a Bald Eagle or anything, home to me is a representation of safety and comfort. Home to me is where my heart is. I don’t pack this item away; I always keep it close to my heart…

Finding My Way Back

     In a few short months I will be putting all of my stuff into storage and boarding a plane from Los Angeles to Taiwan and then to Bangkok where I will start an epic journey of discovery and adventure. I have undergone some huge life and career realizations which have led me to change the way I have been thinking and acting for the past few years.

     Some of you may know that I am approaching the three year anniversary of a very particular obstacle I have overcome. I beat the odds and survived. However, I have lost sight of what that used to mean to me. I have lost sight of the beauty of life and people and exploring. Somewhere along the journey of survival I lost my way.

     Now I am on the journey back. I’m going to re-discover myself and what it means to truly be alive and appreciate this one life that we are given.

     I will be traveling to Cambodia to visit the famous temples of Angkor, exploring the many little islets of beautiful Halong Bay, Vietnam and practicing my yoga in Bali. 

     From there I plan on going where ever the wind or the tuk tuk or the buses or the motorbikes take me. Don't worry, I plan on fully documenting my trip through this blog my YouTube channel and Tumblr, where I'll be uploading pictures and video from my travels. You can also follow my journeys semi-live from my Twitter and Instagram(where wi-fi permits).

     Thank you so much for all of your help and support throughout the years and I hope that you continue to do so for the many years to come. I truly appreciate all of my friends and family and especially you the reader! Thank you and stay tuned!

Ps: If you have any ideas of where to stay and or travel or awesome things I should do along the way please leave a comment!

How to be Great

      I am not great at anything. I am good at a lot of things, but could not confidently call myself a master of something. My problem lies with a lack of long term focus. I have no problem focusing on one thing for a short amount of time. That amount of time is usually however long it takes me to be able to compete at a high level of competition in whatever event I am currently practicing. And THAT amount of time is usually fairly short. The extent of focus I have for short term goals is astounding.  

     However, the extent of focus I have for long term goals is embarrassing. This probably explains why I have bounced around from occupation to occupation, sport to sport and before I obtained my degree, switched my major five times. I shouldn’t say “bounced around” it makes me seem like I have commitment issues; which I do not.

    Call it—if you will, a fascination with the world combined with a lack of long term focus and a free spirit, unbelieving in the chains of society binding people to one thing for the rest of their lives. So how does one remain focused? How can I transform my laser-beam short term energy into long term goal crushing? Albert Einstein said “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

      You must want to do what you are working towards with everything. To be a really great at something it has to flow through your veins and seep out of your pores. The desire to be great must outweigh everything else.

      It’s helpful to set many small goals along the way to your big goal. The short terms goals will help you to stay focused on your journey to the bigger longer term goal. As a bonus, it will feel really good to cross off small goals along the way knowing that they are all helping you to achieve your larger goal.

    You have to be willing to make mistakes. You will make mistakes, and you will mess up. However, are you willing to learn from these mistakes, adjust and continue? If not then, you should find something else to do.

    Find someone that is doing what you want to do and do what they do. Do what they did. Read about what you want to do, and watch videos from people who have done it and learn from them. Listen and take all the advice you can.

    Keep at it—for years. Then keep doing it.Experts say it takes anywhere from six to ten years or about ten thousand hours of deliberate practice to become a master at something. You’re going to suck in the beginning. But don’t worry, you’ll get better.

    Find whatever it is that you want to do, whatever you’re passionate about and do it. If you have found it and are doing it then I am deeply jealous of you. Though I have a passion for many things I am still looking for that one thing—that one thing I can be great at. This is my journey…

Grocery Shopping

       Okay, so you’ve come home looking for something to eat and it just so happens that you have nothing in your refrigerator or cupboards. You have not even a slice of bread or a carton of eggs to munch on. So you get in your car and drive into town to find a grocery store to buy food. As you draw nearer to town you come across a fantastic store. This store has everything you could ever want. This store has an excellent deli, and bakery and only gets its ingredients from local and organic farms and butcher shops. This store also has the best and widest selection of alcohol you have ever seen. This store is perfect. But, this store challenges you. It makes you feel small and every single time you have visited this store you have somehow always picked the stupid shopping cart. You know, the cart with the floppy wheel and the handles that have been broken off. It’s not you, it’s just that every time you get close to this perfect store you suddenly don’t know where you are and haven’t the slightest clue as to what you are doing. Not to mention this store is a few miles out of the way. However, whenever you are in town you always visit this store and even though you may not buy anything it’s always completely worth it to step foot inside its amazing doors. So you drive buy it maybe because you are scared that you can’t afford anything inside this store. Its prices seem high and you aren’t positive that you make enough money to buy anything from it.

         So you go to the local smaller grocery store. This store had bright and flashy lights and signs for amazing sales. You step foot into it and at first glance it seems amazing. It’s got everything on your list, and they are all on sale! So you start shopping, and boy does it feel great. Milk, eggs, butter this place has it all. But then you realize… the sale prices aren’t sale prices. They are actually more expensive than that of the other store. They have just been marked down from an extremely high price so that they look like sale prices. You’re not actually saving money at all, and to top it off the stores coupons are all expired! The store has been playing you since day one! Angrily you stomp out of the market and hop back in your car and drive from store to store searching desperately for a grocer that isn’t going to price gouge you or worse: charge for bags.  You try the wholesale store which has most of what you need but in insane quantities that quite honestly, you aren’t ready for yet. You head into mom and pop stores looking for the things you need, and although they may have a lot of one thing that you need they simply don’t have anything else and you can’t survive the month with an overabundance of one item on your list. You have even tried the convenience stores but they are just too small and have only enough to last you a week or so at max that you can’t justify shopping there long term. So you go home, defeated and slump down into you couch and order Chinese takeout. But, you can’t live on take out for too long.

        You need long term sustenance, and the only place that has everything you need is the market that is miles out of town. You get in your car and make the drive up. When you get there you find that the entrances are blocked by carts and signs and you can’t get in. Maybe the perfect store saw you try all those other markets and won’t let you in its doors because you have the smell of gas station convenience store on you, or the stench of GMO produce on your clothes. You try and you try but the Grocer just won’t let you in. You try to remind this grocer of all the things you have bought for them and how you even helped them replace some of their inventory when they were running low! Maybe it’s because you used to shop at their sister store instead of them a long time ago. But this was before you knew of this store. This store is amazing. It’s got everything you want and although it doesn’t price gouge you it doesn’t let you get away with using expired coupons.  There are only two things you can do in this situation: you can keep trying to convince this store that you have the money to shop there and no other store has what this store has and if you were to be allowed to shop here you would no longer have any need nor want to get your groceries at any other store. Or, you can walk away and drive to the next town three hundred miles away and try to find another store like this one. Even though you know that it is just about impossible.
   
        You have never seen a store like this one. This store is big, but not too big, it’s got up-to-date features and has everything you could ever want. This store keeps you in check with its fair prices and ample selection. You love this store and were stupid to try any other store. So what do you do? What do you do? You want to shop here. You need to shop here.

I need you. 

This is NOT a Love Letter

     I’m not perfect and this is not a love letter. I’m not perfect I know. I don’t have the biggest muscles and I don’t have the nicest car. I don’t have the most money or even the most confidence. I am completely and simply human. I experience real emotions and sometimes they even get the best of me. I can’t help that I am not perfect. I don’t always make the best decisions and I am random and spontaneous, and a bit reckless at times. I tend to follow my heart and believe in living life with the utmost of passion. No, I am not perfect and I can’t promise that I will ever be, and for that I apologize. However, I can promise you that I will never stop loving you. It’s because I don’t have the biggest muscles that shopping for clothes for me won’t be a pain. I don’t have the most money so you won’t have to worry about it getting to my head. Even though I’m not rich, I am very good with my hands and I could build you a house, with a backyard for the stray dogs decide that this is their home now, a wine cellar and of course a hot-tub.  No, I don’t always make the best decisions, but that doesn’t mean that they are bad decisions! Furthermore, it just means that there will never be a dull moment! I’m random and spontaneous, so you’re sure to be surprised with gifts and presents often. Now, you may not always like or want them, and I may not remember where I got some of them but it’s the thought that counts. Right? I am not perfect and I swear this is not a love letter. This is my passion for life and love getting the best of me. This is me thinking about you. This is the fire and spark that I feel when I think of your silly smile, and just when I start to feel good about myself I think about you… Then suddenly I am human again; which is a good thing because this would be awkward if I wasn’t. Could you just imagine… I apologize, I got sidetracked again. I know it appears as if I’m everywhere, all over the place, and scattered, but when I am with you I am exactly where I need to be. I am exactly where I want to be. I hope maybe you feel that way too. Maybe you feel like I do, and maybe it’s true for you too. We aren’t perfect in our own worlds, but that’s okay because we don’t need to be perfect out there in the world. We are perfect together in ours. I hope this all makes sense to you. I’m sorry if it doesn’t, I was just trying to write you the perfect love letter…

Your Dreams, or Theirs?

I moved to down to Southern California knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to write. I wanted to act. I wanted to inspire people and occasionally make them laugh. So I gathered my small life and without a solid plan made the long journey in pursuit of my dreams. Oh, I forgot to mention that I gave up a rather promising and bright future as a doctor.

I was on the fast track to becoming a (hopefully) world renowned trauma surgeon, but decided to put it on the back burner for something that has also been a childhood dream of mine. As it turns out, I've met a lot of people in LA ( believe it or not) who genuinely support me. I had a rare opportunity to meet a man by the name of Bobcat Goldthwait ( you can Google him if you like) at a live podcast show in Hollywood recently. Although he was speaking to a friend at the time, the advice he gave struck a nerve with me.

He said " You gotta quit at a few things in life to get what you want. You gotta quit and quit and quit until you wind up in a place that you never want to leave."

He was right. Making the decision to leave my comfortable secure life in Northern California was hard. Probably one of the toughest decisions I have had to make. Ever. However, I am glad that I did, for now I am in such a place in my life where I know things can and will only get better. And I don't ever want to leave.