around the city, to the land down under and back
it's the first official weekend of the summer. how i managed to not log in an entry since the last one agess ago must be a guinness book of world record for something (ok, so i should be more diligent with these entries). needless to say, there's been tons of goings-on since the last posting (ie expect a looong but hopefully worthwhile read). over that span of ages, i'd managed to turn 28. a forgettable celebration really. my crazy let's push my limits birthday midnight bike ride in the cold resulted to a week plus worth's battle with the flu. that's obviously no good. what's good though is that once the flu was gone, i was good to go — jumping around the city, reaching as far as new zealand and australia, and making my way back to the city ready for more adventures.
around the city
instead of trashing my bike for causing temporary misery, i got propelled to buying a new one (thanks to a little office year-end bonus—although ive used that excuse for several other purchases). so i now have 2 bicycles to get myself into more crazy rides. ive taken my roadie to work, prospect park, central park, mccarren park and coney island. still getting used to how fast and efficient it is compared to my old mountain bike but thankfully no falls yet (well, at least no bad ones—hilarious was that slow motion one on the way to coney island coz i forgot to clip off my bike shoes from the pedals in one of the stops.)
over the period of blog absence, i also had my annual hobnobbing with the stars and models at the free arts benefit auction. as usual, i was official photographer. there were sightings of liv tyler, liev shrieber, and a number of possible celebrities who i dont know but all i know is they must be coz the real photographers were snapping away at them. unfortunately backing out of the event at the last moment was scarlett johansson. oh well. nevertheless, it's good to know that i can still get myself into the celebrity scene at least once a year (not that it amounts to much really).
biggest celebrity, however, visiting the city for the first 10 days of may was none other than the world famous dutch actor, coen beusmans. ok, drop celebrity, world-famous, and actor. yup, the great dutch friend il cone was in town. as expected, it was great having him around. a heightened sense of living was again present — or maybe that's just the added caffeine and alcohol in the bloodstream with all the starbucks, cafes and bar-hopping. we managed to hit the favorite spots like cafe esperanto and the starbucks at washington square. and discovered a few new others — took him to the billyburg personal favorite, fabiane's cafe and to the greenpoint is this a movie set neighborhood diner where we met grampa lou and mama b.
as usual, some funny stories again — like leaving the carnegie hall orchestra concert midway coz we were almost falling asleep or the wimping out of the 5 boro bike tour (in hindsight it wasnt that bad deciding to make the u-turn at central park coz it was really ridiculous how much you had to wait to actually bike). having the dutchman once again was a reminder of the importance of living and chillin (but dont get me wrong, he does whine quite a bit too and could be an a$$ every now and then — must be the culture, ha...). obviously, it stank quite a bit for a day or two when he left to go back to the lowlands but no worries the dutchman just might make a return soon to be based again in this side of the world for a year or two.
to the land down under
two weeks after the dutchman's departure, it was my turn to leave the city to make my way to the other side of the world and south the equator for a 2-week family reunion/holiday to new zealand and australia. it being a family trip, we were a huge group (as in we needed to rent out buses to transport us around huge). we stayed in hotels in new zealand and at relatives' in sydney, then hotels again in gold coast. in NZ, i got to see the capital, wellington — home of peter jackson. yes, we did do the lord of the rings tour (among other touristy things). me not being much of an avid LOTR fan, preferred the nature aspect of the tour (the karori park my favorite). wellington is quite a compact, clean and green city. its great how they have this huge botanical garden where you can spend hours of just hiking around. too bad i could only afford 3 days in new zealand as im sure there's more to see of the country. they do walk and drive on the wrong side of the street so im sure i couldve used the extra days too to getting used to looking to the right first when crossing streets.
in australia, we saw quite a bit of sydney and its surrounding areas and gold coast (australia's florida). we went to a lot of museums, tours, theme parks, cruises and a whole lot more. we saw quite a bit of animals—sharks, whales (where the bumpy boat ride turned into a puke-a-thon), koalas, kangaroos (we actually fed them in one of the zoos and on that same day had them for dinner), giraffes, parrots, dingos. my personal favorite though were the aussies — quite the friendly human species. as much as its all fun seeing all the sights, it was even better being able to experience the culture (or maybe im just happy to see non-long faces when walking about).
during the australia leg, personal favorite was all the nature part of it. i guess that's what new york city does to you—makes you so sick of concrete you start acting like some grampa wanting to see just green, green and more green. trip to jenolan caves was cool. while everyone else was doing the cave tours and preparing for the barbie (barbecue in aussie speak; they call breakfast brekie), i decided to treat myself to a hike in one of the trails/hills. it was great communing with nature at first but then i started getting scared when i saw all these animal poop around. of course, first thing that came to mind was that i didnt know what animal pooped those poop and i was all alone in those trails so i started heading back. hilarious.
there's obviously tons more stories to share but i'll stick with those for now. another travel book is in the works where ill be able to cover more ground without too much jumping from one thing or another. an ingenious idea i had for this trip (well, at least i think it was smart) was handing out these small notebooks to all my nephews and nieces where they can log their trip highlights. lots of cool stuff from those notebooks (especially that i made into a best journal contest so they had added incentive to actually use the journals). will definitely incorporate those journal pages in the upcoming book. needless to say, it was another great trip. a nice glimpse into another corner of the world. lots of small things here and there about the people, the culture, and the countries. and of course, it was great being able to spend time with the family again. too bad my dad and one of my sisters werent able to make it. maybe in the next trip. there's a whole world out there to explore.
back in the big apple
two weeks back in the city now and thankfully the days have been packed with good stuff so there wasnt much time to spend getting depressed over another family trip being over. first week in the office, everyone was welcoming me back and looking for photos. i was also back in the thick of things with a TV project on my plate—going to the shoot, to the editing house, and getting treated to a nice mario batali lunch (the best salmon dish ive ever had, at del posto).
last thursday saw me joining a 5k run in central park with officemates. i actually finished in good time (or at least in good enough time for my standards). im still a bit sore though from the run (or maybe its because of yesterday's 21 mile bike ride) but its all good as the main focus since ive been back is getting myself in shape and soreness is definitely a good sign that things are happening. aside from the running, ive been swimming, biking and hitting the gym quite a bit. i still enjoy the occasional chunky chocolate cookie though but in general ive been eating quite clean. what's with all these health and fitness focus? well here's the deal. ill be hitting the trails and high altitudes of macchu pichu in september and i sure dont want to ruin an experience of a lifetime coz i didnt come prepared. aside from the physical preparation, ive also enrolled myself to a spanish class at nyu starting july 3rd. that should be muy bien.
well, that's it for now. hope everyone's days are filled with all sorts of adventures. will keep everyone posted on how things are in this side of the world. or whichever side of the world i will be at.
posted by jason pacheco @ 21:25
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