Holy freaking crap! It's been a long time since I've posted on here! And for good reason, I might say.
For those of you that follow me on Facebook, which is probably everybody that reads this blog, I might've been somewhat cryptic with my last status update before disappearing for three months. I didn't tell anywhere where I was going except that I was going on another "adventure".
And boy was it ever an adventure. I joined the Air Force. Well, the Air National Guard to be more accurate. The last three months I've been in Basic Training. Well, 8.5 weeks of Boot Camp and the last three weeks I've been in tech school. I have another seven+ months of tech school left before I go back to my home base.
Damn I look sexy in a uniform.
There are a couple of reasons that I intentionally avoided broadcasting to the world that I joined the Air Force--the primary one being that I wanted to complete at least Basic Training before I went around telling people. I figured there was a real possibility that I wouldn't be able to complete Boot Camp considering I've never been particularly adept at physically demanding activities, and while the Air Force isn't the Marines, it's become significantly more physically difficult over the last couple of years. So I was a bit worried and I didn't want to tell everyone I joined only to tell them I couldn't hack it. But I hacked it. I hacked it good.
I will say, Basic Military Training with the Air Force was by far the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. Not just physically difficult--though that too--but they really screwed with us psychologically. I mean, I expected that, but even knowing logically what was happening, it was hard not to let continuous psychological attacks not affect me. Plus I always felt sleep deprived, regularly pushed myself, and then was immediately killed by powerpoint. They sit you in these classes when you're fatigued and expect you not to fall asleep. And damn, you better not be falling asleep.
Anyway, it truly was an adventure. I definitely feel like I improved myself. I lost a ton of fat, gained a bunch of muscle, gained self-confidence, loud noises no longer make me jump, and the list goes on. I really do feel like it was overall a very positive experience, even though at times I was wondering why the frak I joined in the first place.
But that's now over, and now I'm in technical training school for my chosen career field for the next few months before I go back to my home base in Hawaii. Tech school has actually been pretty great. The oddest and perhaps most difficult thing to deal with has just been my complete loss of autonomy and independence. But I am nothing if not adaptable.
I hope to continue updating this blog, but tech school actually keeps me pretty darn busy, not to mention the fact that the internet here sucks. So I may not get a chance to write again any time soon...but I'll try!
******UPDATE****** When I uploaded the movie clips to YouTube I got emails saying things like "Your video, Date Night Clip 1, may have content that is owned or licensed by FOX". They then removed the majority of my clips. I for some reason spaced out and didn't realize that posting short clips of films I was reviewing would be considered breaching YouTube's copyright infringment rules. For this reason I'm in the process of removing my videos from YouTube and will instead be embedding files from MegaVideo (which keeps the videos in higher quality anyway). The only thing you have to keep in mind is every time you play an embedded MegaVideo video, the first time you click on the play button (while it's red) it will turn the play button green and give you a pop-up ad. All you have to do then is close out the pop-up ad and click the green play button. The video should then play. ******/UPDATE******
Don't worry, I'm not going to do movie reviews every Monday. I just happened to watch a couple movies over the course of last week, so I thought I'd maybe try my hand at reviewing them for y'all here. To be perfectly honest, I probably shouldn't ever do movie reviews because I tend to enjoy darn near every movie I ever watch. I really like movies in general and maybe am not as critical about them as others would be. I can probably count on one hand the number of movies I've watched that I didn't like. Granted, I appreciate movies to different varying degrees, but I rarely walk out of a theater saying "that movie sucked!" Also I've found that the movies I tend to dislike the most are usually based on drugs, drug addiction, or drug-related activities. I imagine people who have had experiences with drugs and can relate to these things might likely get much more out of these movies than I do--but I myself have never actually tried any kind of illegal drugs nor have I ever had to fight with addiction, so I just can't relate. Trainspotting was one of those movies. Many people I know loved trainspotting, but it's all about heroin addiction and I personally found it very boring (and in many cases, disgusting and/or disturbing).
I also am a product of my environment. I have grown up in a culture and at a time where everything moves very fast and we're constantly bombarded with visually stimulating medium. So older movies that are slower tend to not hold my attention very well--which definitely has it's downsides. I have found I frequently have a hard time enjoying (or even finishing) 'the classics'. It's for that reason that even as of today I've never fully watched the entirety of Citizen Kane. Every time I try to watch it I get bored out of my mind before it's even half over. I understand why it's generally considered to be the greatest movie of all time--it was very innovative in terms of cinematography and music (and other things)--but damn, it's so boring!
One last thing before I get started on the reviews, I'm going to rank these movies with both a numerical rating from 1-10, plus each movie is going to fit into one of these categories: Worth seeing in the theaters, Worth buying the DVD, Worth renting the DVD, Worth downloading for free via bittorrent*, or WORTH BUYING EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND RELATING TO THIS MOVIE.
*for legal purposes nobody is to take this category as me actually suggesting you 'steal' this movie via bittorrent. I would never publicly support anything that might even remotely be considered illegal (don't look at me like that, MPAA!)
Anyway, with those caveats in mind, here are the reviews of the most recent movies I've watched.
As is appropriate, My first ever movie review is going to be a review of the movie:
Serenity Starring: Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, and Ron Glass Created and Directed By: Joss Whedon
Now, this movie I haven't seen recently (within the last two months, anyway), but since this is my favorite movie of all time I thought I'd do it the honor of being my first ever movie review.
I give this movie a 10/10 rating, and put this in the category "WORTH BUYING EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND RELATING TO THIS MOVIE".
I absolutely love this movie. And I loved the TV show Firefly that it was adapted from. I have probably watched this movie (and the TV show) more than a hundred times (and I'm not exaggerating). Whenever I find myself depressed or bored or sad for any reason, all I have to do is pop in Serenity and my spirits are instantly lifted.
I have found that love him or hate him, Joss Whedon is one of the few movie minds that still puts out original content. Every TV show or movie I've seen him make has been unique. I'm not going to say I've liked everything he's done, though I will say I liked the vast majority. I also have the pleasure of being his exact demographic. Everything he creates is geared toward peeps like me. Serenity (and it's corresponding TV show) is a very unique mix of space-based science fiction and old-western style. The originality, excellent mix of action, drama, and comedy, as well as the not overdone special effects and general storyline concept (I'll be honest, I have a soft spot for 'con artist with a heart of gold' or 'robin-hood-esque' movies) are what make this my all time favorite movie. If you watched this movie and didn't come out of it with a wholly inappropriate crush on Summer Glau, then I'm afraid I just don't understand you.
I mean, how could you not fall in love with a killer-woman like that?
Next up for review is:
Date Night Starring: Steve Carell and Tina Fey
In general I'm a big fan of both Steve Carell and Tina Fey, so was relatively sure I'd enjoy this movie. And it certainly didn't disappoint. I can't say it's the most funny movie I've ever watched, but it was certainly worth seeing. I'll give it a 8/10 and put it in the category "Worth renting the DVD". This movie didn't have anything in it that made me feel like I was missing out not having seen it in the theater (no outrageous special effects or amazing action sequences), and it was a movie that I really enjoyed once, but doubt I would watch it over and over again--hence why I would choose to rent the DVD instead of buy it. A very funny movie that is worth seeing and supporting via DVD rental. One of the things I liked in particular about this movie is that during the credits they had some outtakes that made me think many of the lines were ad-libbed. Both Steve Carell and Tina Fey are generally hilarious when ad-libbing and I love being able to watch all the 'not chosen' ad-libbed lines. One of my favorite bits of this movie I have cut and uploaded to youtube. This scene is Steve Carell and Tina Fey's characters making fun of other restaurant patrons while out to dinner.
Also I clipped out the associated outtakes.
Oh, I will say this, one of the things I loved about this movie is how I felt I could relate to Steve Carell's character. Granted, I'm not married, don't even have a girlfriend, nor am I as funny as him, nor do his character's existence mirror my own in any way shape or form, but I understood his character's non-confrontational style, he never got angry or yelled (except when he told Marky Mark to "put on a f**king shirt!"), and I generally just liked the relationship between him and his wife. One of my biggest beefs with romantic comedies is that the idiot guy always gets in trouble when he tries to hide what would normally be a mostly benign situation and then his lies compound upon themselves in which hilarity ensues. It always seemed so unrealistic. I would never act like those idiot guys in those cookie-cutter romantic comedies--and neither did Steve Carell's character in this one. This movie still was romantic and hilarious without the male character having to try to cover up or hide something stupid that nobody would likely care about anyway. This is more of a 'comedy of errors' than a 'caught in a hilarious web of lies'--and I think in general I like (and relate to) the former of those two more so than the latter.
My next review is:
Salt Starring: Angelina Jolie
Again, a movie I really enjoyed. I think I really just like watching hot girls kick ass. There's something about it. And Angelina Jolie is generally considered to be pretty darn hot. She has, however, done several movies wherein she kicks people's asses. The Tomb Raider movies come to mind. I can't say that this movie is necessarily better or worse than any of the others she's done of a similar ilk--but if you're looking for a fun, easy to watch action flick wherein a hot Angelina Jolie goes around kicking ass, then this movie will fit that bill. Plus, an interesting side note, the counter-terrorism agent in this movie is played by the same guy who played the antagonist in Serenity.
In this clip you get to watch a hot blonde Angelina Jolie escape from the CIA.
And in this clip you get to watch a hot raven-haired Angelina Jolie escape from the police.
I will give this movie props for clever use of a taser to control the throttle and the guy's face to control the steering.
Because this movie had some nice action sequences I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it in the theater, but because it's not overly unique or spectacular, I have to put it in the "Worth renting the DVD" category and give it a 7/10 rating.
And my final review for today is:
Clash of the Titans Starring: Sam Worthington & Liam Neeson
I've always been fascinated by Greek Mythology, but sadly in this case, aside from the few accurate parts of Greek Mythology that this movie used (the Olympian Gods overthrowing the Titans, Perseus being the demigod son of Zeus and a mortal, Perseus killing Medusa by cutting off her head then later using Medusa's head to kill someone else), much of the mythological aspect was inaccurate. But that doesn't really matter when it comes to blockbuster movies. The sad fact of this movie is that it just wasn't spectacular. I can't really put my finger on why, either. It had nice special effects, an okay story line, and perfectly good acting, so really I don't know why I wasn't more impressed. I'm guessing it's because it's not really any different than so many other action movies out there. I know I used this term before already in this entry, but it's very cookie-cutter-ish. There's just not a whole lot of originality. Most of the movies that I've loved the most were unique in one way or another. Or they spoke to me in some particular way. But this movie felt to me just like an action movie for action movie's sake. It was fun and fast paced, but predictable and I guess somewhat boring.
I'm going to go ahead and give this movie a rating of 6/10 and put it in the "Worth downloading for free via bittorrent" category. If you have nothing better to do, then go ahead and watch it. But It's not so spectacular that I would've spent much money on it.
The dialogue was kinda cheesy too. I had the opportunity to be an extra in a movie that'll be coming out next year. Based solely on the dialogue, I'm actually afraid the movie I'll be in will suck. I was only in one scene, but in this scene there's really cheesy dialogue involving Frost Giants--who are apparently the main bad guys in that movie. In Clash of the Titans, Liam Neeson's line about the Kraken reminded me of cheesiness in the picture I was in. Here's the clip:
Well, that's it for this week's movie reviews. I know none of these movies that I reviewed were particularly new. None of them are still in theaters. But I don't often get a chance to watch movies while they are still on the big screen. So if I do continue to do movie reviews for y'all, they'll probably all be reviews of the DVD. Maybe on rare occasions I'll be able to review a brand new movie for you. Or maybe I should get a part time job at a movie theater so I can watch movies while they're still fresh and then review them. Hmmm, not a bad idea.
I really don't know what hallucinogen I was smoking the day I got back into Maui and heard on the radio that ad for "Maui's first and only water park grand opening", because it doesn't exist. According to the radio ad I heard, the grand opening was supposed to be this last weekend--and the ad said "drive past Makena until you see the sign with the giant badger on it, and you're there". Well, there's only one road going that way, and I know the road ends not too far past Makena at La Peruse bay, so I figured it'd be easy enough to find. Well, no sign with a badger, and nothing even remotely resembling a water park. I drove all the way to La Peruse and nada.
I'm wondering if that was some sort of radio prank, or if I just dreamed it and thought it was real. According to my friends, other people heard the radio ad too, so I'm leaning toward radio prank. Before I even bothered driving all that way, I googled the hell out of it trying to see if there was any mention, and there wasn't. So I wasn't overly optimistic that it actually existed in the first place, but I thought it would be odd that there'd be an ad for it on the radio and it wouldn't exist. And this wouldn't be the first time that something that existed on Maui was nowhere to be found on the interweb. So I thought I'd give it a try. But alas, no luck.
But nonetheless, yesterday was quite an enjoyable day. I started the day with an early morning run along that Wailea pathway. Sadly during the run a couple days earlier I developed a silver-dollar-sized blister on the arch of my foot, so I knew in the beginning that at the very least the run would hurt. But I've had blisters all over my feet for much of my life, and I've gotten rather used to them. I can usually just ignore the pain. This time, however, the pain was a bit more than I expected so I cut out earlier than I had planned and only jogged maybe two miles of the three mile path.
I then followed my run with a quick dip in the ocean--I was going to lay out on the beach for a while, but the wind was pretty strong and was sandblasting me, so I didn't do end up getting to sunbathe. I just swam in the ocean, then headed down toward La Peruse hoping to find that water park. When that failed, I went to the nearest Starbucks and enjoyed an iced tea while surfing the net for a bit.
Yesterday evening some friends were planning a BBQ get together at their place in Haiku. On the way there I saw one of the brightest rainbows I've ever seen. It damn near blinded me.
The night ended with a lovely bonfire and Nutella s'mores! Mmmm.
September 4, 2010 15:00 (Hawaii time) Kahului, Maui, Hawaii
I'm back in Hawaii! I'm also apparently back to my blog. Although I'm sure nobody cares, I'm sorry I haven't written anything during the last few months. I was going to write a 'European finale' entry that detailed everything about how my trip in Europe ended, what all happened, and my slow recovery from my back injury. I wrote a good chunk of that entry, but I never really finished it. Plus, I was in pain and depressed a decent amount of the time. So the entry wasn't exactly 'positive'. Writing anger can be therapeutic, I've found, but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to vent my troubles to the world. I'm usually a pretty happy person, or at the very least a generally contented person, so writing an overly depressing/angry thingy and posting it for all the world to see would be very non-Nomadic-Vagabond-esque. I'm much happier now, my back is probably at 98%, I'm back in the beautiful state of Hawaii, my brother's wedding is over (I had to give a speech during the ceremony and a toast during the reception--I was happy and proud to do it, but public speaking is difficult for me, and generally makes me nervous, so I'm glad it's over). Just about everything that was causing me pain, stress, and discomfort is done with. And now I'm back in Hawaii! Yay!
The day I got back was great too. My good friends James and Michelle picked me up from the airport, helped me get my van back and running, let me crash at their place that night while I got my living arrangements squared away, and then I got to watch James "Kimo" Nevius perform original songs at open mic night at the Moana Cafe in Paia. Below is a video of James performing one of his songs.
James also did a duet with an 8 year old who went by Untilted (yes, Untilted, not Untitled--notice the difference? The kid's real name is Jaxon, but I think he's still working out a stage name. Personally I like Untilted)--a very appropriate song, to be sure.
So that was my first day back! I've now been back for a few days, and things are falling back into place nicely. Yesterday I jogged almost five miles, hung out with James and Michelle on the beach and swam in the ocean. We also listened to a Dutch Holocaust survivor speak at the Kihei Public Library, then in the evening checked out First Friday in Wailuku. Yesterday was a very fun day. This morning I spent more than three hours at the gym--I got there at 9am and wanted to take a spin class that didn't start until 11, so I spent two hours working out my arms then finished the work out with an hour long sweat-filled spin class. I've never deserved a five dollar footlong more.
I don't know what I'm going to do this afternoon/evening, but I've finished just about everything I had on my list of things to do once I got back here--I only have a couple of things left to do--and one of those things is to repossess that Camaro convertible that the guy never finished paying off. I've never repossessed a car before, so I don't really know how. I'm going to go talk to the police to see if there's anything special I need to do--and maybe they can assist. To be honest, I don't even know where the car is. Maui's not a big island, so I bet I could find it, but still.
I heard on the radio the other day that this weekend is the grand opening of Maui's first and only water park. I do love water parks, and this one supposedly has slides that drop you right into the ocean. I may go check that out tomorrow. Tomorrow is also another jogging and abs day for me, so I definitely have to do that at some point. I really enjoyed the three mile path James, Michelle and I ran on yesterday in Wailea so maybe I'll go run that again. Plus, the water park is supposedly just south of Makena, so maybe if I go running on that path in the morning I'll be able to go straight from there to the water park. Well, tomorrow sounds like a fun day too!
I have nothing but nice things to say about the people of Greece. I truly do.
June 9, 2010 18:15 Athens, Greece
I know because of my injury I’ve been held up here in Greece a great deal longer than expected and haven’t gotten to see half as many countries and cultures as I had hoped/expected, but I truly have to say, the people here in Greece are probably the nicest and most trustworthy of any I’ve met.
I wanted to see the Parthenon today. I knew I just couldn’t leave Athens without seeing it. So despite the nerve and pain issues I’m still dealing with, I dedicated today to seeing the Acropolis—the Parthenon in particular. To get there it’s a relatively short walk from the hostel to the metro, then four stops down the metro and you arrive at the Acropolis. From there it’s a bit of a walk to the Parthenon, uphill, many steps, and over slick traffic-worn marble. I brought my cane with me, and walked slowly. The cane doesn’t help so terribly much with the walking, but when I need to stop and take the pressure off my sciatic nerve, it gives me something to lean on. Crutches probably would work better, they’d take all the pressure off my back and put it on my shoulders, but all I have is a cane. So this morning I got up early, ate a free breakfast (this hostel just recently started giving a free continental breakfast—I was here a month ago and it wasn’t free), and then slowly walked down to the metro station.
As it happens, this hostel is supposedly located in a really shitty part of town. To be honest, I don’t see it. It seems to me no worse than the better parts of Newark, New Jersey. Sure, there are maybe some unseemly people about, but old ladies walk the streets at night by themselves, folk carrying groceries and whatnot, and I’ve witnessed only one situation where a guy was running on foot from two cops (who were also on foot). Nobody has tried to molest me, pick my pocket, or has said a single bad word to me. But the reviews for this hostel on hostelworld.com as well as all the cab drivers that have picked me up or dropped me off here have said this is a bad neighborhood. Let me say, if this is the worst of the Greeks, I wish the USA’s ghettos were half as nice. But I digress.
So I walk to the metro station, slowly, stopping every now and then when needed. This particular (and I think probably all) metro station has an elevator for the disabled so you don’t have to walk down the stairs. I figured that would be good for me, so my semi-largish, bearded, limping, cane-using self got on the elevator to go down into the metro with three old ladies who were all probably in their seventies (remember, this is a bad neighborhood). Now, maybe because I’ve lost a significant amount of my bulk—add that to the limp and the cane—this may have taken away from any imposing presence I used to (or imagined I used to) conjure to others because as I slowly hobbled off the elevator, two of the ladies who got off first stopped, turned to me, and said something in Greek. I apologized for not speaking Greek and asked them if they spoke English. One of them did, and she said they were asking if I needed any help.
These two, sweet, seventyish old ladies saw me hobbling my way onto the subway in the ‘ghettos’ of Athens and asked me if I needed assistance. I was blown away with how kind that was. I thanked them profusely for their kindness and generosity, but told them I was okay as long as I took it slow.
That sort of kindness has been indicative of everyone I’ve met while here in Greece. Everyone here, even in the bad neighborhood, is willing to lend a hand, give a direction, or generally help, with no desire or expectation for quid pro quo. If they don’t speak English, they still try to help. It blows my mind. Their country is economically falling apart, there are strikes every other day, there was a riot and an arson, the government is corrupt (of course, show me a government without any corruption and I’ll show you a liar), everyone here is having a hard time making ends meet, and still, they’re kind, wonderful people. Unlike in Spain, nobody has tried to pick my pocket. Unlike in France, nobody has been smug and rude to me. Unlike in Mexico nobody has even once tried to steal anything from me—and while on Crete I left my laptop overnight multiple times in the common area where anybody could’ve just taken it and I’d never have known. Unlike in America, nobody’s tried to take advantage of me (except for that guy that sold me the six euro water, but I maintain that could’ve been a simple mistake)—even the cab drivers have been amazingly nice and kind, get you where you’re going in a hurry, and are shocked and try to tell you it’s too much when you give them a five euro tip.
The food is delicious, the people are kind, the history goes back millennia, the olive-skinned, dark haired, stunningly beautiful women wander about—I swear, if I was literate in the language, it’d be a tempting place to never leave. I’ve been to quite a few countries, seen and enjoyed the wonders of many different cultures. Many were great, none were terrible. Mexico, Canada, The Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, Costa Rica, England, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. There might be more I’m forgetting at the moment. Many of these places I stayed a while, some of which I was only there briefly. But I can say without a shadow of a doubt, Greece is a fantastic place to see. I’ve been injured the entire time I’ve been here, and still I’ve loved it. Maybe it’s partly because of the injury and that I’ve not gotten to see and do as much as I would like (despite the unanticipated, extended duration of my stay) that’s part of the reason I want to come back so badly, but I truly do hope I get to come back to this lovely country. There are so many more countries to see and cultures to experience, but nonetheless I hope I get to come back some day.
By the way, I did make it all the way to the Parthenon. It wore me out, but it was well worth the endeavor. I’ll post on that later. This post I just wanted to mention how much I like Greece and her people.
Indeed, this is probably going to be a very boring entry because since my adventure to Preveli I haven't done a darn thing. I definitely felt like I set back my recovery during the days after Preveli, but in about two or three days I was back to where I was before Preveli, so I don't think I did any additional lasting damage. At least, I'm hoping.
So all I've done since that adventure is stick around the hostel and try to continue my recovery. I think I'm improving, but it's just really hard to say. Some days are better than others, and it's hard for me to figure out why.
I spoke to my childhood best friend's dad (and my former pediatrician) about my back, because I was having difficulty finding any doctors around here that spoke good enough English for me to feel comfortable getting the answers I wanted. I also trust Dr. Rees completely, and it was a real relief to get his opinion. I feel just awful using a friendship like that to ask for medical advice--I imagine doctors get it all the time and I really do feel bad. But I'll send him some Greek olive oil as a thank you. Anyway, he said I should really take the pressure off my back as much as possible--despite the fact that I'm in Greece and want to go do and see stuff, I should spend as much time in a supine position as possible. So that's what I've done, literally, for the last two days. I laid in bed. I've spent a lot of that time sleeping. Some watching tv. But it's been probably the least interesting thing to do in Greece. It's also what I'm going to go back to doing after I get done eating breakfast and writing this blog entry. Well, I may take a shower first. It's been a couple of days now, and a shower sounds lovely.
Oh, also, Dr. Rees recommended I try to make a reverse-incline (wouldn't that just be a 'decline'?) bed-type-thingy that I could lay on upside down and strap my ankles to the top so I don't slide down. He said I should lay on this for 20 minutes three times a day and it will help relieve the pressure off my hernia. So I managed to get a couple of four foot boards, a couple of chairs, a mat, and a strap, and made myself this contraption:
Below are self portraits of me on the contraption:
May 27, 2010 18:36 Plakias & Preveli, Crete, Greece
Two things to remember: always be early, and always count your change. Also, while you may be the most amazingly beautiful female specimen I’ve ever set eyes upon, that doesn’t mean you understand how to use such a complicated device as a camera. But I really appreciate your willingness to try.
I’m going to start by explaining that bit about the girl. I was at Preveli beach today. I’ve seen around town postcards of Preveli beach which has a big rock that kinda looks like a giant mushroom sticking out of the water (you know, skinny base, large top—it’s rare to see rocks formed like that, they tops usually fall off). I thought it would make an excellent picture—me in front of the big mushroom-looking rock. Well, I found that rock, and it is, indeed, exactly what the postcard made it look like.
But because I was alone, I figured I could either set up a tripod, or ask someone that was there to take a picture for me. It just so happened that quite possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life (to be fair, there were at least 20 women on that beach that would’ve also been considered for that title. I’ve probably met a thousand girls that I would categorize the same way—and that’s not counting folks from TV, movies, or models that I’ve never met) was just getting up and ready to leave the beach and was standing in the exact spot I wanted to take the picture from. So I asked her if she would take my picture, and she agreed. The thing is, she didn’t speak much English (and she didn’t speak enough of whatever language she usually speaks for me to know where she was from), but I explained to her what button to push, and told her I was going to walk out into the water a bit. She ended up taking two shots. The first one:
Was of my backside as I was getting into position, and the second one:
She had her finger over part of the lens. LeSigh. But that’s alright, this set is actually more amusing to me than had I got an actually perfect picture of me and the rock. And if I really want a nice picture, maybe I’ll do a photoshop hack.
But I’ve skipped ahead of the story quite a bit. Let me start from the beginning of the day.
The day started out surprisingly great. I think I woke up the earliest I’ve woken up (on my own, with no alarms or anything) since I got here to Plakias, did my exercises and went into the main common room for breakfast. As it turned out, I was actually there too early. They hadn’t even opened up yet—and they open at 9am for breakfast. So I plugged in my computer and started surfing the net. Responding to emails, downloading new TV shows so I’d have something to watch tonight, and you know, regular internet stuff as I waited for breakfast to open.
Once they were ready I ordered my standard two fried eggs and bread with butter, got my chopped and mixed vegetables (and turkey meat) that I had previously chopped up and put in a jar out of the fridge so I could mix them with the eggs when they were ready. I had actually asked Amy, the cook, if she’d be willing to throw in some of my concoction—which was just green pepper, onion, a clove of garlic, and some chopped up turkey meat—into the pan as she cooked the eggs. She told me she wouldn’t do that because it would ruin the pan (?) but she’d give me a pan and eggs and I could do it myself. Me not enjoying cooking I figured I’d let her just cook the eggs how she liked and I’d add the veggies after they were done. I’ve been doing this for days now, and it’s been delicious.
So I had breakfast, had done all my morning internet stuff, and realized it was still quite early. There’s one bus a day that goes to Preveli, and that’s a place I’ve wanted to see ever since I first saw that postcard as I was walking around the shops in Plakias. To add to that, apparently there’s a Greek-Orthodox monastery right near there (called the Preveli Monastery) that you can visit on that trip too. It has a great deal of history. If I’m remember what I read in the museum correctly, it was built by the Venetians (so I’m guessing 400 years ago or so—similar to the old mill and Venetian bridges) before the Ottoman Empire took over. It was somehow instrumental in the war for independence from the Turks (I think this is right—my Greek history isn’t all that great), and, they even specialized in hiding and secretly helping fleeing Jews (and other refugees) get across the Mediterranean into Egypt during WWII. I think I got a couple of nice pictures of the monastery, the grounds, the view, and me in front of several-hundred-year-old walls.
Those last two with me in them are me standing in front of the oldest part of the building (as far as I can tell), which is where the monks quarters are.
This is the Chapel. Which they don’t allow photography or videography of any kind inside. Which is too bad because it was filled with beautiful guilded works and some interesting stuff. So I did my normal thing and turned on my iPhone recorder and stuck it in my breast pocket so just the camera poked out. Neither the sound nor video quality is great, but now you can get a glimpse into the forbidden world of the Greek Orthodox (are you supposed to hyphenate Greek-Orthodox?) Preveli Monastery Chapel.
Photography and videography was also strictly forbidden in the museum section of the monastery, which I also don’t understand. So once again, I did my thing with my iPhone. This one is longer (about 11 minutes total) because the museum was much larger than the Chapel, and I stopped to read a bunch of stuff. I’m not sure if you can make out the words on the stuff I was reading or not, so sections of this might be very boring for you. My favorite part is a fresco (I’m not sure if I’m using that word right—I should just say artist rendering, that covers just about everything artistic) wherein there’s a guy with a halo who’s chopping off another guy with a halo’s head. Later, another guy with a halo has the chopped off head in a basket and is carrying it around. Now, mind you, I’m no Greek Orthodox religion expert—or even a Christianity expert for that matter, but what the frak? Anyway, this video too has both poor audio and video. But what do you expect from an amateur sneak-videographer.
I think one of the reasons I’ve always been fascinated with and loved churches of any kind (chapels, cathedrals, synagogues, and whatnot) is largely because of the opulence. And, I suppose, the love that’s put into them. They really are works of art in and of themselves, probably because those building them are true believers—they want to praise God, or Allah, or whatever, and they do so by showing off their best handiwork. I also understand creating great works of art that is religious based and donating them to a cause you think worthy (i.e. your faith). But it seems to me, because most of these religions preach self impoverisation for the purposes of spreading help to those that need it, well, it seems to me these beautiful works of art should be sold to private collectors so that the money can go toward helping those the religions claim to want to help. It seems odd to me that churches own vastly valuable works of art. Just think of the Vatican alone. How many starving children could Michelangelo’s David feed if it were sold to a private collector (or even a museum)? Even when I was a devout Catholic, I remember the collection plates. And I remember thinking that the money raised in those collection plates would go to the poor. But after a while I realized that not much of it did. Most of it went to maintaining a beautiful church, and then later, building yet another church. It just always struck me as…I dunno…hypocritical. But despite that, the perceived hypocrisy was not what brought me to becoming an atheist. That’s a conversation for another time. By the way, I used Michelangelo’s David as an example of religion-owned property when in all honesty I don’t know who owns it. Maybe it’s in a museum somewhere. I’d need the internet to look up the accuracy of that statement, which I don’t have access to right now—but you get my point. There are dozens, thousands, probably millions of amazing beautiful works of art (not to mention the buildings themselves) that are so valuable the money raised by selling them might very well end poverty all around the world altogether. But once again, a conversation for another time.
After visiting that beautiful monastery, I wanted to walk to the beach. Many people do this—the bus runs once a day from Plakias to Preveli (and once a day back) and makes two stops in Preveli—the beach, and then the monastery. So to get to the beach from the monastery I had to walk about 1 kilometer back down the road, then follow a very steep decline to the beach.
The walk down the road was actually pretty nice (if not steep). There was a memorial that was half way there (that was closed, so I couldn’t go inside the grounds) that obviously had something to do with WWII. Everything I saw in writing was in Greek, so I didn’t know what it said, but it had two statues—one of a monk, and one of a soldier—and both were carrying rifles. Furthermore I read the date: 1941.
It was actually one of the hardest walks I’ve done since I hurt my back—and maybe one of the more treacherous. The steps in places were crumbling and in fact I slipped and fell twice. That’s not including the time I was walking down the stairs at the monastery and slipped and skinned my knee. I was worried that I might’ve made a mistake trying that adventure—especially since for the first time I was carrying a daypack on my back. I figured it was light enough, and I was strong enough at this point that I’d probably be okay, but after that hike along the road followed by that huge decent to the beach, coupled with the three stumbles I made, my back was really starting to feel it. I’ve been praying to all the gods—ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindi (but not the scientologist aliens, they can go screw themselves)—all of them that I didn’t injure myself further or set my recovery back. By the time I got down to the beach it was clear to me that I needed to find a place to lie down. So I did. But before, I went to the only snack bar on the beach for a bottle of water and some information. The water was surprisingly cheap, only 1 Euro (cheap for a place that had a monopoly on water on the beach), and I certainly was thirsty. I had also heard that there was a boat I could take back to Plakias instead of trying to make it all the way back up those stairs and up that mountain to where the bus would’ve been. So I inquired about the boat as well. They said there was a boat, and it leaves at 3pm (which was about 45 minutes away) and cost 8 Euros. So I figured I could take my picture in front of that rock and lay on the sand for about 20 minutes before getting on board the boat that would take me back to Plakias with greater ease, or I could spend more time laying on the beach but have to climb back up the mountain for the 5:30pm bus (which was only 2.10 Euros). Because of the way I was feeling, I decided upon the boat. But I asked the snack-bar guy how I get on the boat—where do I go and whatnot, and he said just go on the beach at 3. He was not very specific. I finished my bottle of water by the time I had laid out in the sun for those twenty minutes (which was glorious, by the way—laying in the sun, not the water—well, I guess both really), and then headed back to the snack bar because I realized I only had a 50 Euro bill and didn’t want to have to make the boat driver try to break that. I thought I’d buy another bottle of water.
This is where the title of this blog comes in—never be in a hurry, and always count your change. By the time I got back to the snack bar, it was only three minutes to 3pm. I asked the guy if we buy the tickets on board the boat, and he said yes. I then asked for another bottle of water as I saw the boat heading toward the beach where they were going to load. While it was true what the man said, they load directly on the beach, he didn’t mention that it would be on the complete opposite side of the beach as where the snack bar was. So I quickly grabbed my change and water bottle and scurried (painfully) to the other side of the beach as fast as possible so as not to miss the boat. I made it to the boat on time, but when I checked the change the guy gave me, he shorted me 5 Euros. I paid 6 Euros for a 1 Euro water. Now, everyone I’ve met here in Greece has been amazingly honest and kind, so it’s very possible the guy just made a mistake. But damnit, never be in a hurry, and always count your change. I swear I try my best to do both of those things ALL THE TIME, and the one time I failed at both, I got screwed out of 5 Euros.
But it all worked out. I didn’t have to try to hike out of the Preveli beach area, I had a nice boat ride to Plakias, and even got some beautiful views of the Crete coastline.
If you look closely at this next picture, you’ll see the three beaches I hiked to that other day—the one with the resort (I don’t know the name of), then the nude beach, then the teeny tiny One Rock beach.
I realize my last blog entry was several days ago (May 22, 2010 to be precise). Sadly, between then and yesterday I hadn’t really done much. Every morning and every night I do a series of exercises that supposedly will help keep my back in shape. I do crunches (or is it crunchies?), whatever you call those butterfly-style crunches where you bring your elbow to your opposite knee (you know, the ones that work out the love-handle regions of your abs and back), followed by leg lifts and topped off with some stretches that are meant to specifically open up the lower-back spinal area. If I do these core exercises, in theory it will greatly help my back improve, and if I keep doing them, it will help prevent my back from damaging itself like this in the future. So I’m committed now to be doing these exercises every morning and night for the rest of my life. As much as I hate exercising, I hate hurting my back one million percent more.
I also had an Aussie roommate who was a park ranger (I talked about him before, his name is Robert if I’m remember correctly) who said he has back pain from time to time. What he found works for him is to go on walks that go up a steady yet slight incline. He says if he does this regularly, the back pain will go away. So I’ve adopted a similar routine—in that I try to go for a walk every day. The walk to the old mill is a pretty nice walk from here, it’s not too long (maybe two or three kilometers), and it is almost entirely a slight, steady incline. Of course, that means I have a slight, steady decline on the way back. But I have yet to find a path that goes round-trip on a slight, steady incline the whole way. I’ll keep looking for that. I’m pretty sure I’ll only find it in an M.C. Escher drawing though.
So sadly, there’s been nothing of interest to report of the last few days. I get up, do my exercises, eat breakfast, surf the internet for a bit, go for a walk to the mill, or for a walk into town and buy some vegetables or a coke, then come back, lay down, relax, get up again, sometimes maybe watch a TV show that I downloaded onto my computer, then I do my exercises, take my pain meds (can’t sleep with the pain in my leg without them), and go to bed. That’s been most of my routine for the last several days. One of the days I think I did laundry. One of the days was my mom’s birthday so I was able to skype and wish her a happy birthday which was nice.
Anyway, so that’s it. No real news. Nothing interesting or exciting. Nice, relaxing few days.
May May 22, 2010 19:45 Plakias & Rethimnon, Crete, Greece
Today was a somewhat adventurous day. And by that, I mean we actually went to a different city here on Crete! Over the last week or so Jessica and I have been deciding what the best way to see Santorini is. There are several ferries that go there, there’s a “fast boat” and a “slow boat”, along with various day tours. The “slow boat” takes about four and a half hours, the “fast boat” takes less than two hours, and, of course, the day trips are essentially day cruises (some included meals) that leave early in the morning and get back in the evening. As you can imagine, the slow and fast boats differ greatly in price. They also differ how frequently they travel. The day cruises were also generally more expensive, and sometimes included meals and/or exclusions, depending on the company.
The problem was mostly that there’s limited information to be gathered online. Add to that the fact that Plakias is a very small town and there are no travel agents here that deal at all with Santorini trips. From the best I could gather online, the slow boat only takes two trips a week to and from Santorini. They were, however, by far the cheapest. 16.30 Euros to Santorini and 13 Euros back (I think you only got the return for 13 if you bought both tickets at the same time. Otherwise I think it’s 16.30 Euros back too if you buy them one at a time). I had trouble finding information about the fast boat that supposedly left every day, but from what I could tell online it was somewhat near 45-50 Euros each way. As for the day cruises, I was only able to find one online and it was 122 Euros for the whole trip, it included two meals, but did not include any excisions once you got to the island.
I, of course, being the cheap-ass that I am, figured we weren’t going to do better than the slow ferry for price, but the trade off was, of course, time. I wanted to spend several days there (which would’ve been required if we took the slow ferry) because I had heard the town of Oia on Santorini has famously amazing sunsets. And me being a huge sunset fan, I really wanted to see (and take pictures of) it. Jessica wasn’t hugely interested in seeing Santorini, so she was pushing more toward a day trip. She had heard from someone at the hostel that you could find day trips for as cheap as 40 Euros. None of my online checking supported that, but Jessica figured it’d be best if we found out for sure.
So we decided to get up semi-early in the morning and head to a bigger city (and one of the major port cities) on the other side of the island, Rethimnon. As fortune would prick us, one of our bunk mates in our hostel room had rented a car that he had to return today at Heraklion, and, Rethimnon being on the way to Heraklion, he was willing to give us a ride. The bus would’ve cost us 4.10 Euros each, so we figured we’d throw him a couple Euros each for petrol (him being an Aussie, I figured I’d use the terminology he’s familiar with—to be honest, the way we Americans call it “gas” is probably the least descriptive—not to mention just plain wrong—word for it. I mean, it’s made from petroleum, and it’s a liquid, not a gas. But that’s a blog entry for another time…). It’d save us a couple Euros each, and he’d get a couple extra Euros for fuel (that word I’m okay with…). He did have to be at the rental car company by a specified time, however, so that meant we had to leave at 8 in the morning. That’s not so bad, but I’ve become lazy here in Plakias and have gotten rather used to sleeping in.
It all worked out, though. We all hopped in the car and went to Rethimnon. We all ate a quick breakfast/lunch (the Aussie included), before Robert (That’s the Aussie’s name) headed off to Heraklion and we went on to try to find a travel agency.
Well, we succeeded at finding a travel agency, but the news was not good. As I had found online, the slow boat was the best and cheapest bet. The day trips ran from 90 Euros to 150 Euros (more if you wanted them to take you on an excursion once you got there), and the fast boat was 40-50 Euros each way depending on the day. As I found online, the slow boat was only 16.30 each way (13 on the way back if you book in advance). There were no deals on day trips for 40 Euros (at least not that we could find).
But the trip wasn’t a complete bust. Jessica’s shoes have been hurting her so we got to spend the day shoe shopping. She never found anything she liked for a price she liked, but at least she got a chance to look and see what was out there. Maybe on the way back out she’ll stop again and get something that doesn’t hurt her feet.
Plus, while we were waiting for the bus back to Plakias (had a couple hour wait), we saw there was some kind of ancient castle thingy (I know, descriptive, right?) that we went and took a look at.
Plus, once we got on the bus, we saw the Greek Justin Long sitting at the bus stop. And who wouldn’t want to see him?
I know that in America Coke and Pepsi are pretty much interchangeable. Sure, people have their preferences, and if I had to guess I’d say Coke probably controls a larger share of the USA market. If I were in America and you were to ask me Coke or Pepsi, I’d say Dr Pepper. Ha. But seriously, if I had to choose between one of the two, I’d probably pick Pepsi. Nothing against Coke—I actually typically like Coke’s advertising more than Pepsi’s (remember those Pepsi ads with Britney Spears and Shaq?), but the fact of the matter is I like the taste of Pepsi just a hint more. I like them both fine. And if I’m in the mood for a sugary, cola-flavored soft drink, either would do just fine. But then, for that matter, off-brand cola-flavored soft drinks are fine with me too. Pepsi would still probably be my favorite, but only by a very small margin.
In Europe, though, the difference in popularity between Coke and Pepsi is frighteningly clear. And forget Dr Pepper. So far, in all the places I’ve visited, only one little store in Nice even had Dr Pepper and they were charging 2 Euros for just a single can! Add to that, it was horrible! When I opened it, it had almost no fizz—was almost completely flat. From that experience I came to the assumption that Dr Pepper is probably only made and bottled in America, while Coke and Pepsi are made and bottled all over the places they’re sold. Which is also probably why Coke tastes slightly different depending on which European country you’re in. That Dr Pepper I drank in Nice was probably shipped all the way from the US, which is probably why it lost all its fizz.
But when it comes to the European’s preference between Coke and Pepsi it is clear—they like Coke. Well, they like beer, wine, and spirits, but those weren’t on the option list. The way I know they prefer Coke to Pepsi is I went in to three different supermarkets today. All of them sold the 1.5L Coke, but only one of them sold the 1.5L Pepsi. To top it off, the 1.5L Cokes all cost 1.70 Euros, while the 1.5L Pepsi only cost 1 Euro. And it’s been this way all over Europe. While in America, Coke and Pepsi cost roughly the same amount and are both easily found in any supermarket, here in Europe Pepsi is significantly cheaper and harder to find to boot. Also, if you recall from one of my previous blog posts, Pepsi makes me high. So if you take into consideration the fact that Pepsi is both so much cheaper and makes me feel like I’ve taken a mild narcotic after imbibing, I’d have to say that European Pepsi, like American Pepsi, once again wins my heart.
So I had heard about this thing from the very beginning called the "riverwalk". When I first checked into this hostel, I was laying on my back on the bench as the manager, Chris, explained all about the hostel. He said it was too bad I was hurt because although this would be a great place to recover, I wouldn't be able to do things like this--and then he showed me a picture of a guy swimming under a waterfall.
I was, in fact, a little sad that I knew I wasn't going to be able to do that riverwalk, but everything I heard about made it sound exactly like one of the adventures I would've jumped at in Maui (with some ancient ruins thrown in too). So when I finally started feeling better, I decided I was going to give it a try. I asked Jessica if she'd like to come along, but her foot was hurting her so she didn't want to. It probably worked out for the best that way, though, because I was able to go at my own pace, very slowly, very carefully, making sure I didn't jump slip or fall in a way that would re-injure my back, and I also love to stop constantly and take pictures (which typically irritates Jessica).
The hike started by going up the hill to the ruins of the first Old Mill. These ruins are basically only a couple of old walls that are still standing--not much too it anymore, I'm afraid.
When you keep going up the trail, you eventually run into yet another Old Mill. Also 400 years old, also built by the Venetians, and also based on Mesopotamian design. This Old Mill was in much better shape. It was actually quite amazing to see. What really surprised me was that you're allowed to just walk all over it. If we had anything 400 years old in America, it'd be encased in glass and nobody would be allowed near it. But you actually have to walk through it if you want to follow the trail up to the city of Myrthos above it. To get to the old mill, you have to cross an ancient Venetian bridge--which is just as old as the Mill.
From the mill, you could see a tiny little chapel half built into the cliff-side on the other side of the gorge.
It is at this point that you actually enter into the river, and hike the rest of the way up through the water. There's a lot of wading, a lot of carefully choosing rocks, a lot of scrambling up boulders and over small waterfalls, but it was just beautiful.
And they had very surprisingly beautiful bugs. I think this one was kind of like a dragonfly.
According to the directions, I was supposed to continue up the river for about an hour until I saw the "magic bridge". I wasn't really sure what this magic bridge was, and after having been going up the river for what I assumed was much more than an hour, I thought maybe I missed it. The directions also said something like "when you see a cement slab in the river, it's time to get out". Well, I saw what was a small cement slab, and a trail leading up the gorge away from it, so I just assumed that I missed the "magic bridge", and got out of the water and followed the trail.
As it turns out, I was actually supposed to keep going up the river a great deal more. I had maybe only made it half way, which was surprising to me since it felt like I was in that river forever. But I guess that just means I'll have to do it again sometime :)
Anyway, once I got out of the water, I followed what was very much like a goat trail, that eventually made its way up onto a road. That, luckily, was the right road that I would've met up with anyway had I continued all the way to the end of the riverwalk where I was supposed to go. The road provided some of the most amazing views of Plakias and the Crete coastline, before eventually descending back down to the town and Hostel.
One of the interesting things I noticed was that along the roadway there was an irrigation ditch very similar to those 100 year old irrigation channels you find on Maui. I doubt this irrigation ditch was 100 years old (though for all I know, maybe it was much older), but it was definitely reminiscent.
Oh, one other thing I didn't mention, a few days before I did this hike, I wanted to see how I was feeling and if I thought I could traverse the waters of this river. Because this river flows literally right beside the hostel, I hopped in and headed up the river. As I was walking carefully from rock to rock, one of the rocks I was about to step on moved. I took a little video with my underwater camera--you can just barely see him for a short part of it. Ignore the dialogue, it's pretty bad.
I actually meant to write this post the day after my last, more unpleasant post, because that day was actually a really good day. In fact, the last couple of days have been so good and filled with such little unpleasantness (back distress aside) that I've actually been a bit too busy to write about it. I'll try now to recall all the day's adventures.
I wrote that depressed post on May 19, so let's pretend that it's
May 20, 2010 19:54 Plakias, Crete, Greece
Today was a really fun day. I woke up in the morning and actually felt much better than normal (pain-wise). I was still in pain, but it was definitely a good day. I started off with my exercises, which usually limber me up and make me feel even better. After a cold shower (for some reason, I never wake up before all the hot water is gone--if I were to shower in the evening, or wake up much earlier, the showers are nice and hot), I decided I was going to go for one of the walks that are posted on the wall in the main hostel building.
There are several walks posted, but most of them involve walking up the hill to "The Old Mill". By "the hill", I mean the road that's directly behind the hostel that heads up a hill. The Old Mill is the ruins of a 400 year old Venitian mill that was based on Mesopotamian designs. There's actually two of them, and they're both right on the edge of the canyon/river.
As I was about to head up for my walk, one of the guys in my hostel room, Robert, mentioned he was going to go to One Rock. One Rock is an amazingly beautiful beach (the coastline looks shockingly like some of Maui's coastline) that is maybe an hour walk away (two hours for a gimp like me), and requires hiking over some rocks. There's actually three beaches in succession there, a big one with a resort right on top (the name of which I don't know):
the nude beach which is the next one down (if you look really closely you can see naked people):
and then One Rock, which is a tiny little beach, but very pretty, and a great nice hike:
I wasn't 100% sure I was ready to commit to that long of a hike, plus, hiking with others is a bit dodgy for me at the moment since I tend to go slow and have to stop every so often to take the pressure off my right leg. But as it turned out, Robert had a car. So he was planning on driving there. That worked out perfectly, in my opinion. I could drive there, spend maybe twenty minutes, take some pictures, and head back.
Oh, what I failed to mention was that I had made an appointment with what I thought was a masseuse (but turned out to be more like a licensed physical therapist) who spoke surprisingly good English for her opinion on my back. At the time I was just sort of expecting a massage, thinking maybe that would help relax all the rest of my muscles around the herniated disc, and at the very least would relax me. But I'm jumping ahead.
So I had this appointment at 5pm, and we were leaving around 2pm. Three hours isn't a ton of time--especially since I knew I'd have to walk back (I assumed they'd all want to stay longer than just an hour or two), but I thought I'd give it a go. On the way, we all stopped for a quick lunch in town.
I had heard One Rock was nice, and I was not disappointed.
I particularly liked the sand--it wasn't sand so much as tiny colorful pebbles.
I didn't end up staying long, but I did hang out a bit, then it was off for me to try to find the hike back. The hike back wasn't the same way as the drive--you're expected to find and follow goat trails, and things like this that will take you over the hill instead of around it like the drive does. Supposedly if you walk the way the cars go it will take you an hour and a half, whereas the shortcut over the hill only takes 45 minutes.
I was pretty sure because I had gotten such a late start that I wasn't going to make my appointment, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. The walk was amazingly beautiful. Took you through a series of olive trees with great views of both Plakias and the surrounding hillside.
Well, I ended up being at the Physical Therapist about a half an hour late, but it all worked out. She ended up massaging the inflamed area of my back where my disc was herniated, and she gave me some pilates-esque exercises to do that I've added to my routine of crunches and leg lifts.
