March 2011:

Boat life. The photo above was of an early morning with heavy fog just outside of Baton Rouge, LA. Later that day, I returned to San Antonio,Texas, and then descended upon Rockport/Corpus Christ to help my grandmother with a yard sale. We spent a lot of time rummaging through my grandfathers things who past the year before. He was a great man and is missed daily.

Gramma cleaned up. Between the hours of 8am and 2pm, she raked in about a grand in sales ranging from 15 cents to 50$. My Gramma can hustle. I then returned with my parents back to San Antonio and headed to Austin the following weekend.

This kid is seriously the best. Vincent Alexander LeClair. His father, Anthony (one of my oldest and closest friends) takes him on these Sunday (or Saturday) outings to discover the beauty Austin has to bestow.. (sorry, writing copy/ advocating for ATX)

April 2011:

Back to the boat… Nothing really to report, not that I haven’t already blocked out, anyway. Just the day in and day out hilarity and occasional frustration. The little things are all we have sometimes…

When my 20 days came to an end, I headed for Chicago (32 degrees and raining) from Houston (85 degrees @ 4am), for a quaint, overdue reunion with Brandon and Jared. The next day I ate too much at breakfast (I remember that, but an entire 20 days is a blur, go figure) and headed to the airport. I flew into Toronto en route to Paris. [this really should of been blogged about- but, I digress]. The flight to France was a long one, I didn’t sleep and in the morning I landed with a belly full of whiskey and red eyes from 14 hours of movies that I was soon to forget, not only their titles, but basic premises.

It was about 72 degrees, sun shining in Paris that morning. I dropped my bags at the hostel and met Renee and Grace on the street. We really pounded pavement in Paris. They were on the 3rd leg of their Invasion of Europe.

I failed to take enough photos. Such is life.

We went on to Rome a few days later. Which as many of you know, I am not into religion, organized or unorganized, so for me, I kind of held a little anxiety regaurding this part of the trip, which turned out to be ridiculous. Rome was amazing. I was fighting allergies but did my best to not complain and to to keep sniffles down to a minimum. (Renee might beg to differ). Rome really kind of reached out and told me I should move there. Such a weird feeling- it was like the first time I visited New York.

Everything about Rome was great. From the esspresso..

To the foods…

To the architecture (obviously)…

I headed back to Chicago or back to arctic conditions and met up with Jared & Brandon again as well as my dear friend who was up visiting, Billy. Where I disassembled my computer to upgrade my harddrive..

Billy and I scoured Chicago in an effort to find a ribbon I managed to destroy in the process. We met up with Rachel for coffee and hid out in a Q’doba for a bit to recap the happenings of each others lives. Later that night, we went to see Brandon partake in some improv, which is always a great time. That kid is one of the funniest human beings I have ever met.
After the show at Jared’s apartment a jam session ensued.. (Jared and Bill)

I ended up staying awake until I was seated on my flight back to New Orleans in the morning. It was a long night full of laughs and the tinkering/ reassembling of my laptop. Oh yeah, and a tutorial of some yoga stretches by the spiritual guru, Billy Mays.

Those 10 days were over in a heart beat, but will be impossible to forget.

Update, to be continued….

In January I visited my brother and some of my dearest friends in Orlando. It was really nice being back. It was great seeing Shawn, Rachel, Billy, Adam & Natalie. While I won’t elaborate on the events that took place (b/c I can’t remember half of them), just know it was as always a complete shit show. I came back and attended the Get Up Kids at Emo’s. It made me feel like a teenager again.

I think I am going to be working on a website, to finally do away with wordpress, as I have come to completely hate it. I hope to talk to you soon. This post is weak, I’ll admit, but it’s better than nothing. *fartsound*

Lets recap. In September I went to Philadelphia where per usual binge drinking occurred. I had so much fun with Shawn, Kristen, Artie, Dustin & Erica. My love for that city knows no bounds. I woke up with a new tattoo and a huge knot on my head one morning, but it’s all in good fun.

In November I returned to New York. I really miss it and I miss everyone in it.

One of the funniest things I have ever seen. Marc and Nick ate probably about 9 pizzas at Alligator lounge.

The man or machine behind Feltraiger and one of my best friends in the entire world. It really was so great seeing everyone. I had such a good time catching up. I really didn’t take any pictures in Philly or NYC, kinda bummed about it.

The last trip on the boat was 20 days on the David Vitter, yes, named after the harlot seeking Senator of Louisiana. We spent time on the Mississippi and then on the Intercoastal.   Oh, chemicals.

This is New Orleans.

Our feathered friends we met just out side of NO, LA. That was a really nice day, it was in the 70′s. We were waiting on orders at fleet.

I took this one morning on our way to Lake Charles, LA. I think, It might of been on our way to New Orleans. I really don’t know.

This is the ship dock next to where we loaded in Lake Charles. I think I had been up since 2am that day. I had way too much coffee and didn’t actually end up going to sleep until later that night and only for like 2 hours- to wake up and shift barges until about 2am.

One of the last mornings in Lake Charles, later that day we headed towards Houston.

Dan requested I take a picture of my room. Here you go dude. I know, sweet bunkbeds right?

This trip back I painted something for my good friend Jared. It’s about 5 years over due, but hey, it’s kinda sorta almost done. You can’t really tell but those vines are electrical plugs. I went to Indiana and shipped my things, still in the same boxes from Brooklyn. Returned to watch Renee and Gracie play at the Underground Wonderbar. I am really excited for them, they will be releasing an EP in December. (THE KUHLS). I designed some stuff for it, if they decide to use it I’ll post it… I’ll post a link when everything is ready to go regardless. This last Saturday I got to see  Brandon’s Improv team, Wildcard, preform again for the first time in probably 3 months. I really miss them all. A very talented group of improvisers. Great. Humans. If you’re in Chicago you should definitely check them out. (WILDCARD)(WILDCARD2).

My bags are packed- as they have been since January… I miss my friends here already. New and Old.

I love you Chicago,

A

I came across this the other day. I think this was Dan’s 24th Birthday? It’s pictures like this that make me happy I have the friends I do. I can’t wait to see your faces.

I went to Corpus Christi twice both on different boats. Our run to FL was taken away, which caused us all so so much grief.

We ran into a few storms that made for interesting days and nights. The pictures of rain don’t really look like anything and were quickly discarded.

Usually it’s alligators or dolphins, this day it was cows.

I am doing my best to stay level headed and to be a man on a mission. The job is really rough at points and is always really hard to leave for. It’s causing me a lot of strain on important relationships. I know that I should be more aggressive in keeping these up and maintained, but being away like I am it’s very hard to force a phone call at the end of a long day or when I have a few hours to sleep before I have to get back up and work some more. I never know where I’ll be going or what I’ll be doing (aside from the normal day to day tasks) Sometimes I have service and a lot of times I don’t. There are a few of you I haven’t talked to in months and I am sorry for that. There are others who have just been neglected and I feel terrible for that.

Another Mission Statement: Opening and Closing Doors.

“We accept the love we think we deserve” S. Chbosky

There is a past that I haven’t fully recovered from. There are a lot of things that I wish I could take back. I know we move with forward momentum, but a lot of times I think I stall out. I need to work on that. I need exude positivity throughout, to love myself. I need to be more aware of my actions and more in tune with my subconscious. I have done my best to not repeat mistakes but sometimes do them unknowingly. With the help of a few people over the last few days I have realized who I should be and am slowly realizing why I am not. I leave tomorrow for Texas, for the Stacy Shelby. On this trip I need to really figure out what I am doing with my life and get a grasp on where I need to go on a personal level. I can’t retract my actions but I cannot just let them go, you can’t dismiss what you’ve done but I know I should dismiss what others have done to me. I can’t blame everything on what once happened to me. I need to let some wounds heal but beyond that I need to amputate certain parts that are holding me back. I’m going to work harder to be a better person all around. I hope the people I have hurt can forgive me and I can forgive myself and those who have done wrong to me.

Sincerely,

Andy

There are billions of other drops; it wouldn’t be an ocean without them.

We’ll miss the ones who are gone, the ones who have evaporated.

They’ll be back in some form from the same sky that took them.

Our recycled friends and loved ones.

Sarah left Grand Rapids and picked me up in Chicago, whereupon during a coffee excursion 20 minutes later I realized I forgot my wallet. Luckily we were still in the general vicinity and stopped by Brandon’s apartment once again. Good Start.

We descended on Indiana, then Kentucky stopping regularly for gas and restroom breaks. Through Indianapolis then Louisville. In (I think) Cover City we met a new friend..

We arrived in Nashville around 730 pm meeting a mutual friend and one of my favorite people in the world at his apartment. His parents were in town visiting and in addition to meeting them, we met Ryan’s new life partner, Lincoln.

We went out for drinks, caught up and reminisced of our shared lives in Orlando. Got hit on by married women and I tried breaking dartboards with Nolan Ryan speed. It was almost a hundred degrees- the entire time.

Ryan Tracy, we love you.

We left the next morning catching traffic outside of Memphis and into Arkansas. I either was too hungover or not interested enough to take any pictures at this point, so for that I am sorry. (Just image a lot of trees, that’s what I’ll remember.) We headed towards Louisiana as we left Little Rock and then corrected our path towards my home state of Texas. When we reached Texarkana it was nightfall. We stopped at a McDonalds for some coffee where we were met with great conversation.

“Don’t sweep peoples feet with a broom, honey. That’s bad luck. The last time- I uh- somebody swept my feet I was in jail by the end of the day”

We headed through the vast state of Texas to San Antonio arriving at my parents house around 4 or 5 in the morning. I, by some luck, delivered us there by taking roads that sounded familiar. Sarah kept quiet but we both knew she thought that I was lost. I may as well of been.

We stayed the day catching up on sleep and Sarah, a sunburn later on the Guadalupe river. As we were heading back to the house, the radio crapped out. I researched and switched and replaced fuses, but my failed attempts couldn’t revive the stereo. Obviously with out an explanation- you know how grave a situation like this is. After an hour or so I gave up to cook dinner and we planned the rest of the trip.

We left San Antonio the next morning and headed towards the nothingness that is west Texas, all the while listening to music via a laptop.

We stopped in Ft Stockton to charge the laptop and eat at IHop, which saddly enough was probably one of our more nourishing meals. We had some Walmart fun and stopped at Auto Parts stores in search of a relay for the Jeep’s stereo. No dice. While at walmart Sarah bought a cigarette lighter converter to charge the computer. Sometime after being stopped by State Troopers about 100 miles from El Paso, she rigged an ihome alarm clock on the center console so we could listen to my ipod. Good Job Sarah Joe. She saved the day.

When we finally made it out of Texas we stopped outside of Las Cruces to meet yet another friend…

We headed for Tuscon as the sun was making its way directly in front of my line of sight. The desert is such an awesome place to be at sundown..

We made it to Tucson around 8pm and called it a day. Headed into a steak house in the parking lot of our motel for a drink with some locals. The entire time I had said I wanted to stay at something similar to a Bate’s Motel. The Lazy 8 was somewhat of a compromise but great none the less.

We woke around 8.30 am. Sarah and I grabbed some coffee and ascended upon Phoenix for lunch.  Then on to LA. I regret not taking more photos, especially while in LA. As much as the long drives killed I was sad to see it end. And I was sad to then leave Los Angeles.

When I got on the plane yesterday to head back to Chicago, I felt a sense of euphoria. Something like accomplishment but not on a specific level, on all levels. It’s hard to describe what a trip like that means to me and how much it was needed. It was freedom. It was a refresher course on living.

More pictures to come… getting film developed is going to be pretty tough seeing how I’ll be gone for the next 20 days.

Love,

A

I used to drive over this bridge when I went to school in Corpus Christi. We docked here as we waited on weather.

In conclusion, I still have a lot of work to do on self and on debt. I am developing a plan slowl,y as the days go by, and am saving all of the money that I can to bring it to fruition when the time comes. I hope you all are well and moving. I’ll call you soon.

ACS