Tigger.

Today I saw a little girl in a Tigger outfit from Winnie the Pooh. 

It was glorious.

100$

How much is 100$. Depends on who you ask. Paul, a homeless man on the bridge between Ceasar's Palace and the Bellagio draws flowers and colors them in. He sells them for 30 cents. he watches listens to the drunk out-of-towners rant and rave about the City of Sin. I'm in Vegas, and for these short for moments I am exactly where Paul is, doing exactly what Paul does. To be honest, the flowers take about 4 minutes to color in. "This is markers, no mess ups, it's a waste of time." says Paul. So I take my time to color in the lines. As I sit in awe of this man's life, I can't help but notice he is only wearing a raggedy t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. According to the giant thermometer we drove by on the way into vegas it's roughly 45 degrees outside. Pual doesn't mind. We talk about San Diego and the time he spent in Lemon Grove with his Grandparents. He prefers the concrete bed and a life on the streets to the life he had in San Diego. I wanted to question further but I could tell he was feeling uneasy. The Bellagio shoots water hundreds of feet in the air. Spectators take a sip of a 43$ drink. People passing by stumble and talk about drinking more. It's 1:37am, Halloween Morning. Happy Halloween. The people walking by don't notice me, or Pual, or more importantly the 30 cent pictures of flowers that are laid out on the pavement, begging for a buyer. I don't have change, so the flower is not mine. A group of people pass that speak a foreign language, but you don't have to speak it to know they are making fun of Paul. Making fun of me for being next to Paul. The Bridge is empty now. The sound of Taxis and the late night sluts is all that can be heard in the distant. I'm sure hell doesn't get this cold, but at least the company can hold a decent conversation, unlike the people walking onto this bridge. The city lights are and attraction that kills. An advertisement for the wicked and weary. A venus flytrap for the lost. The yelling in the distance is reminiscent of a big prison. The only difference is that the people in Vegas don't know they are locked up.

Happy Halloween.

-RHD  

Well.... looks like I'm not the best at keeping promises. As you can see its now nearing the end of September and I promised to post something interesting soon. Lies. Anyways I decided to post some of my favorite fish eye photos(Taken by my lovely friend Erin Venables). Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Dia de los amigos.

It seems so appropriate that I am celebrating "El dia de los amigos" with some of my favorite people, in Buenoes Aires, Argentina. Arianna and Brittany arrived a few days ago and we have been keeping ourselves quite busy. Between tasting what Argentina has to offer and seeing the different barrios it contains, we have been quite the little tourists. Together we've seen Boca, San Thelmo, La Plaza del Mayo, Recoleta, Palermo, y el centro de la cuidad (Downtown). Between balancing school, homework, playing tour guide, and keeping my apartment clean, to say the least i've been busy. This weekend we are planning a trip to go to Iguazu Falls, I'll let you know how that turns out. I'll post pictures of the last few days tomorrow, or the day after... or the day after that. We have a pretty busy schedule. Sorry this is boring, I promise i'll post something interesting soon. Promise.......

14/07/09

I don't have much to say today so I'm going to let you do the talking this time.

 Earlier this afternoon I had an interesting conversation with one of the best friends Stephen. Our topic of discussion revolved around the idea that when it comes time for the planet Earth to quit submitting to our every desire, we will accept our fate and fade out as a race, or will we group together and find a way, a planet, or a miracle to survive? Do you think that all of the inhabitants of Earth can bind together and work towards a common goal, putting aside differences in religion, economics, and government in order to work towards a common goal of survival? Do you think there is another planet out there that can sustain human life? 

Comment and let me know what you think, I am very interested in hearing your responses.

Oh yeah, and by my fathers request, here is what it looks like when you look off my balcony towards a street called Mansilla. Not the most amazing view, but it's an amazing city and it's great to look out and see part of it every day.

I am going to warn you, it's a long one today.

09-11/07/09

There are 2 points I would like to make at this time:

 1. The streets and sidewalks of Argentina can be very uneven and full of cracks and holes.

 2. Fights are never funny.

             That is unless both parties involved in the confrontation are wearing rollerblades and suck at rollerblading. This afternoon I was fortunate enough to witness an altercation between what I assumed to be boyfriend and girlfriend. As I eagerly waited for the fight to reach it's pinnacle, I couldn't help but stare. I immediately noticed the giant crack in the sidewalk directly behind the man involved in this argument. As I witnessed the man scream his last few words, which were full of  anger and frustration, he turned to "roll" away from the woman only to find himself face down and moaning. I don't know what I found more entertaining, the immediate change of tone in the mans voice, or the pure lack of concern being displayed by his girlfriend. 

In other news. I once again am horrible at keeping up on the days events and I apologize. 

With that said, 

Lets recap.

 On July 9th - I spent all day with my family at the quinta.

 On July 10th - I had school until 1:30, walked home, hung out for about 15 minutes, then walked around Palermo with Cande and Nachi. It looked like this:

A also bought a canvas and some paints in order to keep myself entertained this week. We'll see how that turns out.

After walking around Palermo for about 2 hours I returned to my apartment and got ready for the night. The night consisted of going out to dinner with my classmates and my cousins Sebastian and Fransisco. After dinner we went to a club called The Roxy where a friend of Fransisco was playing a show. It was a great experience to see what a local band in Argentina sounds like. To be honest, they sound very similar to local bands in San Diego, except, there's much more spanish involved. The restaurant we ate as was called Madagascar and I believe it was in Palermo.

From L to R: Me, Sebastian, Maria (our spanish teacher), Colja

July 11th - I woke up somewhat late in the day (because the nights down here in Buenos Aires can last until anywhere between 5 and 8 am.) So upon waking up somewhere around 1 in the afternoon I received messages from my cousin Candelaria and from my cousin Lucas asking if i wanted to explore. So I decided to walk around my own barrio for once. We walked to the cemetery in Recoleta. Then explored a museum, and saw some other neat things in this beautiful neighborhood I live in. Have a look.

Evita's grave

Street market

puppet show?

After walking around with them for a few hours I went out for some Argentine sushi. And like promised, it wasn't half bad. I went with Colja, Sebastian, Emily, and Greta. After sushi we went back to my apartment and hung out until about 4 in the morning. Another late night and another late morning to follow. Did I mention I love Sundays?

09/07/09

A lot has happened since my last post. Since I have last taken time to write in this blog I have been to a new barrio called El Tigre, eaten new foods (Milanesas), watched and Argentine movie called Nueve Rienas, and just got back from a quinta in Castelar. It was beautiful today in Castelar, although the weather is starting to take a turn for the freezer. If you were wondering what Milanesas are:

 Today was the 9th of July, which is the day Argentina celebrates it's independence every year. This year however is quite different. There is a definite scare of the "Swine Flu" in Buenos Aires right now. So today there are a lot of places that were closed. Instead of trying to find a place somewhere in the city to go today, we all decided to go to the quinta in Castelar. The house is named "El Olvidas" meaning the place to forget your worries. It was exactly this. I'll let the pictures do the talking.