Oakdale, California: Its Summertime! And we’ve had one of the wettest years on record here In California. In just the first 4 days of June, San Francisco received more rain than it had ever received in the ENTIRE MONTH of June. What does that mean? Well… its time to go canoeing. With about a month of planning, me and my roommate Hadley organized 20 friends, 8 canoes, two campsites, and 3 kegs… and we found a bit of paradise nestled in the Central Valley of California. And just a 2-hour drive from the city! It was a great day. Though remember for next time: kegs in canoes become very foamy.
Phnom Penh: Between February 7th and March 7th, I traveled with my brother and sister through the countries of Cambodia and Laos. It was one of the best trips of my life… as the three of us get along very well… and having them with me on the road begot a constant supply inside jokes, bad puns, and references to our childhood. None of us had ever been to South East Asia before… and though we certainly found it to be a bit more of a drunken European mess than we expected… we surely had a good time. Highlights included the Paklai Elephant Festival in Laos, a journey through a 12-km-long cave on a small wooded boat, and swimming in multiple waterfalls and rivers. The best part probably came on the last day, as my sister and I quietly rode rented bicycles along an old rail trail on a small island in the middle of the Mekong. Pedaling past dry forests at sunset, the smell of cooked rice and wood fires blowing through the sunset air… we arrived at a concrete ledge at the end of the island. We stared out over the river at a spot where there were supposed to be dolphins… and we just sat and watched the day end. Sure… Angkor Watt was amazing and beautiful. But the quieter moments with my siblings is what I’ll always remember. Not that the video demonstrates that at all. Oh well.
Mammoth Mountain, California: Over the weekend, I went up to the Sierras and enjoyed one of the best days of skiing that I’ve had for years. This was due to a combination of three reasons. The first is that I’m not drinking any booze this January… and as a result, I’m really energetic and healthy and ready to hit the mountain. The second reason is that I was with a gaggle of great friends, and anything is better with friends. The third reason was that I was testing out my newest camera purchase; the GoPro HERO. These little cameras have been around for a few years, and have made a big impact in the extreme sports world. Designed for surfing and motocross and such like that, they’re lightweight, waterproof, and shock resistant. So I hit the slopes with friends and an extreme sports camera. And we had a blast. We also made a fun little video that made my East Coast friends jealous of our easy California living.
Undisclosed Location: A few days before Christmas… I received an invitation from a friend of a friend to attend a party in an underground bunker. This was the sort of invitation that I just couldn”t turn down. Myself and about 25 people were led through the woods, to what seemed to be an inconsequential location overlooking the Pacific. Our host reached down by a small bush, and lifted up a hatch, revealing a muddy hole just large enough to crawl through. Inside was a huge military bunker with hallways and interconnecting chambers large enough to fit maybe 2,000 people. It was an awesome party, and one of my immediate thoughts was that I had to come back and film something down there. So when my friend Brent showed up from New York for the holidays, I suggested that we shoot the latest episode of his character-development project down there. The two of us had been talking about collaborating for a long time, and I had an idea that worked well for both of us. I conceived of the story, produced and shot the piece. He developed the character and acted it out. We both shared in the editing. It was a super fun project to be a part of. And I’m sure that I’ll find myself back in that bunker sometime in the future. Where is the bunker, you ask? Well… I could tell you… but…
Desolation Wilderness, California: I’ve been coming to this protected wilderness area every year since I was 15 years old, and it continues to surprise me. This time, I was joined by good buddy Tyler… who was making his 4th trip up there. This time we got ourselves lost in a fanciful image of a mythical past full of rugged gold-miners and mountain homesteaders. Though indeed the Sierra Nevada was home to some wild explorers in the 1860′s, our principle infatuation was in their relationship to various inebriants. At the grocery store on the way up to the mountains, we found a tasty-looking bottle of Port, and decided that had we been prospecting the local creeks for silver, we would have been appropriately supplied. Indeed, we brought two bottles of Port on the trail with us… and spent the trip congratulating one-another at how “prostector-y” we were.
Pisa, Italy: I lived in a convent this weekend, working for the MediaEval 2010 Initiative. What does that mean, exactly? Well… it took me the whole three days to figure out that one myself.
