My Year In Pictures

2010 was an amazing year for me. Probably one of the better years of my life. This blog is actually one quite contrary to all my other year ender blogs that I have posted in the past. I see this to be a very good thing. I set out to do things this year and I accomplished ALL of them. Everything went my way. I feel very fortunate and lucky to be able to say that. I've also met a ton of new people this year, I'm pleased to have met all of them, everyone is so awesome and respectful. Its great. I look forward to the lifetimes ahead with everyone. 2011 starts off amazing and I have only a vague idea of whats in store. Heres to having just about everything I could ever want.

April 2010: I moved out of my parents into the city of Providence.


July 2010: I was referred by a friend to talk to his boss/co-worker about a band he was working on. Thats when I met TJ, who is a dude thats totally on my level. TJ needed a better and more available drummer. Thats when I joined The Fortune Healers. Our Bass player wasn't working either, so I took the pleasure of getting my good friend Derek in the band as well. Not to mention I've known Jae for about 7 years. I'm excited to be in a band with good people.

August 2010: After over a years wait, I FINALLY received my custom drums from Dark Horse Percussion.

September 2010: I visited the country of Australia. This is me on the steps of the Opera House.

December 2010: After months of "dating", I have a new girlfriend. Its nice, different. Wish me luck! I'll need it!

New Years.

Partied with a lot of great people. This was one of the best New Years that I can ever remember. Oddly enough, it was with all NEW people in my life. Change is good.

Publicity.

There is a write up on the Song Of Zarathustra reunion show thats taking place November 6th 2010 at The Cake Shop in Brooklyn, NY on a website called Brooklyn Vegan. This is cool because this is a show that my band The Fortune Healers is opening!

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

Not Kansas

I think its fair to say that anywhere you go there are things that feel familiar. People are people, cities are cities and the world turns as it should no matter where you are in it.

However sometimes you go some where or see something that really puts you in your place and it says "YOU ARE NOT HOME ANYMORE".


This is the first thing that I saw in Australia that really proved to me that I was there. It wasn't the airports, the conscious thought that I was leaving, the 14 hour flight, the fact that they drive on opposite side of the road and from the passenger seat or even seeing the Opera house 30 minutes after getting off the plane, it was this beach.

This beach was in Nelson Bay, New South Wales. How far out of Sydney I don't really recall. We landed at 6 in the morning, got carted around the city the "long way" from the airport and stopped by the Opera house. Finally getting to the house where we would be staying at around 930am. Took a 2 hour nap and had a shower. Then it was a blur.


We stopped by Kristys fathers to say hello and her step mother cooked us an amazing pasta dinner. Where her fathers house was, I don't even know but what I do know is that they had a handsome dog named Gus.

After dinner we made our way to Nelson Bay to the "caravan park". Caravan park basically being Australias trailer park where they will go off on holiday in the summer. I hear its a really good time too. This is where we stayed for a night. Its a friend of the families and they were nice enough to let us borrow it and stay there. That morning we had gotten up around 6am. Since the girls do not wake up that early, the gentleman and I being Americans in a new country, we went off to explore and thats when we discovered the beach. Since its about a 2 minutes walk from the caravan. I have to be honest with you. I really didn't know what I was going to see. I had no sort of preconceived image in my mind when I walked over the sandy grass covered knoll. You could say that I almost took whatever could have laid over that hill completely for granted.

Just Got Back From Australia

I have proof!



It was an amazing time! The flight was utter hell but as soon as I got off the plane, both going to and coming from, all was worth it. I feel blessed for being able to have met the friends I had there which opened the door to this and made it possible.

I've tried to make a phony "Bucket List" consisting of small joys I'd like to accomplish. However it never really took off and it only had 2 things on it. One was to ride a tandem bike with 3 friends and the other was hold a Koala bear. Well you can now cross that off the list!

I got the opportunity to be driven up the coast of Australia 11 hours from Sydney to Queensland. It reminds me a lot of the drive to Syracuse. Lots of open land and cows, So many cows. Its nice though, with little towns in between.

This photo was taken at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane and hour north of Queensland. I would argue on whether or not the drive was completely, "worth it" but it totally was. Considering Queensland is awesome and the only state in Australia where physically holding a Koala is legal. So its what HAD to be done because THIS was the WHOLE point of my trip! Lone Pine is the same place where all my other friends have gotten the chance to do this same thing. Not to mention the wall of photographs of bands/famous people in the gift shop who also cuddled a koala.

I'll slowly but surely start blogging about my trip or just posting a few cool pictures. I have a lot of pictures to start acquiring not to mention getting back into the groove of life and work.

Customs Are DONE!

Here is another sneak shot of them lugged up and assembled. Better pictures to come soon!

I cannot even express how I feel right now. They look PERFECT.

My Customs!

FINALLY! I got this sneak peek earlier this afternoon. I cannot tell you how stoked I am right now!

All they need is drilling, lugs and assembly and they will finally been mine. It's been quite a trip...and wait but it's finally happening.

This picture doesn't really do them justice, the inlay looks white, when it isn't and the glare is making the glitter make it look like a snow storm. I will be posting better pictures in September.

Apartment!

Okay, so one of the "things to do" in 2010 was to move out of my house. CHECK IT OFF THE LIST! I will soon be a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. Officially.

Moving is something that has been on my mind for some years. Though I've never been so adamant about it until recently. I've mainly just been looking for the right moment, the right time and to fall into a very good situation. Well, that happened. Fortunately enough, I've found someone that fits all my criteria. Someone who I can trust to get shit done and be responsible and make having a roomate care free and enjoyable. Plus, she has cats!

I've found a really nice place. For really cheap. I'm pretty excited on it and it feels really good. It's a lot of work at the moment. They've done work to it since the girls who lived there prior apparently set the kitchen on fire (ha, WOMEN) so its really dusty and dirty right now. Also considering the fact that people who lived there prior probably weren't as clean as I am. So I've been cleaning all the windows, sils and as of tonight floors. 

I plan on moving in slowly throughout the week and will hopefully be in by next weekend. Im excited to finally be in and have cleaning and moving over with and get to decorating. Me and Kendrah have both painted our rooms and after I took the tape off my room tonight, it actually started to look like a room. I immediately began to feel my love for interior design. DESIGN period, really. If im given the right thing, my mind goes wild and creativity starts to just spew out of me. Whether its a bedroom or a drum kit and considering my career, I guess it kind of makes sense. My sister is also really into Interior design, since we are slowly realizing we are the same person in most ways, I see no surprise.

Heres some terrible pictures I took of the place. (click to see larger versions)

This is the entry/dining room(left) and the hall to the Kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms(Right). Fridge not pictured. Fridge is now in.


This is the bathroom and kitchen, both located to the left. The Stove wasnt in at the time and they broke the window putting the cabinets in. That window is now fixed & the stoves in.
This is the living room. Its pretty big and has tons of windows, but it looks really good, nice and bright! Technical double parlor.

So yeah, thats about it. Im saving my bedroom for an entirely different blog. Its going to be a "before" and "after" kind of thing. I'm really into it. The color, the art im going to put up, the ideas that I have for other things in the room. It should be really cool. 

I feel really blessed to have everything work out so well. Kendrah found a really nice place at the very last minute. Lucky enough to have pretty much everything redone in the apartment. To find a place as cheap as this one is in a fairly decent part of town. The city is rough, unless youre on the East Side but I feel that I wont have any problems. Theres children playing on the streets and I have a 80 year old woman who has been there 20 yrs who speaks very little english and fills the hall with delicious smells. All will be well. 

Valentines Day!

Yes, the dreadful day for many has arrived again. This time I do not find myself wallowing in any sort of contrived self-pity for the sake of doing so simply because I have no "valentine" or do I dare say the fearful words, that I am "alone". No, instead I find myself smiling. Why, you ask? Could it be the friend filled events for this evening? Maybe. Could it be that im going to see some of my friends play a show, playing songs I enjoy? Well, yes, maybe, but in all honesty, for the moment atleast, THIS is whats making me smile...

I forgot where I found this gem. I think my buddy Phil may have posted it in his blog last year or something. I find this is extremely clever and cant help but love it to death.

Happy Valentines Day!