2017

First off, hello! It's been a little while hasn't it? 

I think my every other year curse is finally broken. It seems like for the past few years I've been on a cycle of good year followed by bad year followed by good year and so on. Dare I say it, 2016 and 2017 were absolutely incredible!

A lot of pretty amazing things happened this year. From seeing what seemed like a thousand music shows, to climbing trips, to traveling domestically and abroad, 2017 was incredible. 

After getting back from Australia (technically that was at the end of 2016), I started working at Planet Granite again and got a semi "real person" job as PG Portland's Marketing and Events Coordinator as well as becoming a supervisor and a few other "upgrades." I absolutely love my new job and it's been going very well. Plus, the earliest I normally go to work is 11am and I set a lot of my own hours. It's pretty hard to beat that.

In March, my buddies Brandon, Logan, and I drove roughly 12.5 hours down to Bishop, California for a week long bouldering trip which ended up being probably my favorite climbing trip I've ever been on. I also got to see/climb with one of my favorite people, Kyle, who had moved to California in January but was able to meet up with us for the week.

Bishop

Bouldering is hard

A few weeks after getting back from California, I had a quite the crazy time. I went to Las Vegas and played around for a few days, including a day trip to the Grand Canyon. After that, I headed to Fort Collins and ate/drank my way through the old college town. I also made it down to Denver for a day to see a bunch of old college friends which was great. I flew back to Portland to work for a few days and then went up to Seattle with my buddy Mitch to see Deadmau5 which was hands down the best show I've ever been to. Cross that one off the bucket list. After being back in Portland, a few days later I drove back up to Seattle then bussed it to Vancouver, BC followed by flying to Los Angeles after that. Phew! Good times.

Deadmau5!

Grand Canyon

Some months later in July, I somehow ended back down in Australia! Yet again, massive thanks to Aunt Cindi for the flight hookup! It was a pretty mellow trip but great to catch up with people I hadn't seen in almost a year. As corny as it sounds, I had a bit of a realization regarding certain people after getting back which, although a bit disheartening, was needed. Hopefully I can make it back in 2018 at some point.

Fast forward to October, I achieved full on adult status by moving out of the parent's place. I'm now living in NE Portland with 2 awesome roommates and a dog and am absolutely loving it.

Also in October, Brandon, Logan, and I did a Smith trip and met up with Kyle again which, although too short, was great as always. 

At the end of October, I went up to Canada for the second time in 2017 with my friend Kara to see Deadmau5 yet again. Twice in one year? I'm perfectly okay with that. 

Come December, Kyle, Brandon, Brandon's friend Tommy, and I went down to Red Rocks just outside of Vegas for a week to climb and have all the fun. And have all the fun we did. We even got to seem some old friends that had moved to Florida earlier in the year. I love those guys so much and appreciate them like none other. Can't wait for our next trip which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.

Love these guys

So although the world turned into a bit of a pit this past year, on a personal level, I'm doing very very well. I hope everyone learned from and enjoyed 2017 as much as I did. 

Here's to 2018! Already excited for the first few months as some of my favorite Aussies are coming to visit in January and February.

Happy New Year!

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

That's all for now. Bye.

Let the Festivities Begin!

There's some exciting things happening in the land down under lately:

First things first, I got to watch the Super Bowl over at Liam's place, due to the time difference, on Monday (a little weird not being a Sunday).  I think this was the first time I've actually sat and paid attention the entire game.  Although I don't really follow football at all, I was happy Denver won since I used to live in Colorado and Liam would have killed me if I had gone for the Panthers.  While it was great we were able to see the game, it was a bit sad not having the US commercials play.

Housing update:  Initially I was only supposed to be staying at my current place for 6 weeks which would have been up on Saturday. However, one of my housemates decided to move in with her boyfriend which meant there was a spare room available which I quickly claimed. It's a great relief not having to move and I shouldn't have to worry about housing anymore (or at least for quite a while).  Even better, one of my other housemates bought a new bed and said I could have her old one which makes things very convenient. 

Adelaide Fringe commenced on Friday.  I'm going to do what every teacher in history has told me not to do and quote Wikipedia:

The Adelaide Fringe is the world's second-largest annual arts festival, and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. For 24 days and nights during February and March, it features more than 4,000 artists from around Australia and the world, featuring world premieres, hit shows and new artists. Over 900 events are staged in pop-up venues in parks, warehouses, lane-ways and disused buildings as well as established venues such as theatres, hotels, art galleries and cafes.

The festival includes contemporary work in art forms including cabaret, comedy, circus and physical theatre, dance, film, theatre, puppetry, music, visual art and design. Adelaide Fringe begins with free opening night celebrations, including a street parade through the city centre and parties at various venues. Street theatre artists from all over the world participate in four days and four nights of events as part of The Adelaide Fringe Street Theatre Festival.

The festival attracts interstate and overseas visitors: 6% percent of the Fringe’s 1,560,000 audience members are visitors to the city.

The amount of shows is pretty overwhelming but I've been doing some research to try and narrow down selections.  A lot of people have said you don't even need to go to any of the shows to appreciate the festival but I figure I might as well see at least 1 while I'm here.  I get to walk by a big festival location that took over a park on my way to/from work which will be fun to do!  It seems like there's going to be a lot to do in the next few months.

In terms of work, I'm still loving my job.  I got "promoted" to a shift manager and have my first managerial shift today.  It feels really nice to be recognized for doing good work and getting rewarded for it, something a certain previous job failed to ever do.  We got a spot at the Royal Croquet Club, one of the hubs of the Fringe in the middle of the city which has been great.  I did an 11 hour shift on the first day of Fringe and a 7 the next which was exhausting but fun.  Throughout the festival I'll be trading between working at the shop and at the croquet club.

High quality iPhone 3 camera picture.  Entrance to the RCC.

Although it's still a little ways away, plans for my birthday have started to formulate.  I am very excited.

Have a good week and happy Valentines Day!

That's all for now.  Bye.

I Got A Job!

I got a job!  Well, technically speaking I got another job but the new one is more than once a week.  I was sent a text on Tuesday this week asking if I could come in for a training session for a new ice cream store opening on Saturday.  The place is called Scroll.  The owners were in Thailand and saw how the street vendors sold ice cream and got inspired to start a business.  The original is a pop-up in Melbourne but this is their first real store.

What is Thai style ice cream?  Basically you pour the ice cream liquid (cream and some other "secret" ingredients) onto a really cold plate. You then move the liquid around and it starts to freeze and turn into ice cream.  Once it reaches a certain consistency, you spread it out in a thin layer and then scrape it off the plate. This causes the ice cream to form rolls.  It's kind of like making scrambled eggs but not with eggs and using cold instead of heat.  

Below is a video of how they make it in Thailand:

Depending on the hours/pay, I am almost for sure going to stop work at the club which will be a nice relief. It's really exhausting working there and I'm getting pretty sick of being covered in unknown substances all night. Last night I worked at Scroll and then immediately worked at the club.  It was an almost 13 hour work day between the two so I am pretty tired today.

In other news, I'm loving my new living location.  The neighborhood has a great vibe and the house is close to town and another main shopping/restaurant street called The Parade. Getting this job means I hopefully won't have to stress about money too much anymore and I will have something to do during the day.  What a great week!

Stroll through the park on the walk into town

That's all for now.  Bye.

2016

Well happy new year!

I thought about going to Sydney to see the fireworks but a lot of people online said it gets insanely crowded and with the heat, can be miserable.  Plus prices in the already expensive city skyrocket for New Years.  I ended up not really doing anything for New Years.  I could see some fireworks from the hostel balcony which was nice.

So what big things happened in 2015?

• Made a group of completely new friends from work which I can confidently say will remain friends for a long time.  The PG family are some of the best people I've ever met.  Miss you guys!
• March marked a successful one year of weekly postings on this blog.
• Got to climb outside way more than I have in the past.
• Went back to Fort Collins to see some people I hadn't seen in a while and had so much fun!
• Had the incredible opportunity to travel around Australia for a little over a month.
• Took quite a fall and broke my first bone.
• Probably the most significant thing, I actually moved to Australia with the hopes of being here a year.
• Got my first Australian job. 

I was reading over the post I did at this time last year and mentioned having a few goals.  I ended up achieving the main one which was to get to Australia (actually did it twice). Honestly don't really remember what the other ones were so let's just call it an overall success.    

The main goal (or at least public goal) for 2016 is to successfully remain in Australia for a year (or close to). Hard to believe but I've already been here for almost 2 months...crazy.

I moved out of the hostel today and into a house for six weeks.  I've only been here about an hour and am very happy with the decision.  We have a cat and he already loves me.

3rd home sweet home

Once again, happy new year!

That's all for now.  Bye.

I MOVED TO AUSTRALIA!

Well there's really no eloquent way of saying this.  If you haven't figured it out from the title...

Holy crap this actually happened!

I moved to Australia! 

Such beautiful prose.  But let's rewind a couple of months...

Last July I visited Australia and fell in love. My original plan when I left the states was actually to stay in Oz but due to a number of circumstances, that didn't happen.  When I got back to the states, I wasn't happy.  The whole return trip I was thinking about how much of a mistake I was making coming back.  Returning to the same day to day life as before was pretty disheartening.  I couldn't imagine doing it for much longer and continued to research about moving to Australia.

The initial research began before the first trip.  I had a general idea about the logistics but really started the studies about two weeks before I came back to the states.  I was looking at places to rent, job offerings, how the visa worked, and lots of other little important details.

On September 5th, I applied for the Work and Holiday Visa. About 45 minutes later, I got an email saying my visa has been approved. I broke out my last package of Tim Tams and the celebration/minor freak out began.

A tip I found rummaging through online forums was to get certain certifications before looking for work. A few days later, I earned two certificates that basically allow me to serve alcohol/work in a place where there's gambling in Australia.  The "courses" were both online and incredibly easy. Some of the information was actually mildly interesting since laws are a bit different country to country.

Quite the setback presented itself in the middle of September when I took a bit of a fall and fractured part of my spine. I was out of work for 2 weeks which took a hit to the finances and I wasn't sure how long it would take to be healed. Would I be mended enough by November to travel for 30+ hours? Would I be able to carry a decently heavy backpack without keeling over? Luckily I made a speedy recovery and felt comfortable enough heading over with the almost healed injury.

The last major step was figuring out how I would get back to Australia. When I went the first time, it was pretty much the peak low season which made return airfare relatively cheap. As it was getting more towards southern hemisphere summer, that was no longer the case. Lucky for me, my magnificent Aunt Cindi happens to work for Delta and was able to hook me up with some ridiculously cheap tickets. Thanks Cindi! You're amazing!

There was a fair amount to do beforehand

The only caveat to the cheap airfare was I had to fly standby the whole way. Flying standby, you have no idea if you're getting on a flight or having to wait hours or even days to try for the next one. Since I didn't have a deadline to get to Australia, this wasn't that big of a deal.

A few days before leaving, I had to get my phone ready for use abroad. This seemed like an easy process but ended up being a huge pain. Basically, AT&T sucks. Long story short, it's still getting figured out.

"Down low" goodbye party. Thanks to whoever took this. Already missing some of the best people I've ever met.
Visit me!

On November 11th, I headed to PDX with my fingers crossed. I was able to make the flight to Los Angeles but the flight to Sydney had a bunch of people on standby with not a whole lot of seats available. Flying standby was a new experience for me. It's a very odd feeling not knowing if you are going to be flying.

Names of what I assumed to be standby travelers going to Sydney began to be called, allowing them on the flight. I knew my name was fairly far down the list but there was some hope. Each time the intercom turned on, the stomach got some butterflies and the heart pounded. Then it happened. The wonderful sound of the gate agent saying "all standby passengers have been cleared." I made the fight (and even scored a window seat)!

My cheap Delta ticket got me to Sydney but after that, I was on my own. After the wonderfully refreshing 15 hour flight to Sydney, I made my way to the domestic terminal and checked for flights to Adelaide leaving later in the day. That was also a new experience booking a plane ticket at the airport for the same day.

When I arrived in Adelaide, my buddy Liam who I met at CSU picked me up from the airport and we made way to his place.  That was it.  I made it through the weirdest traveling experience I have ever done!

Side note, huge thanks to the Rella family for letting me stay with them for a bit!

Now at this point you might be thinking, "But David, why didn't you post this stuff when it was actually happening?" Well, rest your curious little head because I'm about to tell you:

One night in late August I came up with the crazy idea to keep all of this on the semi-down low so when I got to Australia, I could surprise Vlad.  This happened today/yesterday depending on when/where you read from.  It's not very often you get to shock someone who lives on the other side of the world by showing up at a bar and saying "hey." Special shout out again to Liam for helping me with the surprise and to everyone who knew what was going on and kept the secret!

So what exactly am I doing? To be completely honest, I don't really know. Basically my visa allows me to stay in the country for a year traveling around and working. The only limitation to the work is I can only keep a job for 6 months at a time. The hope is to work in some sort of hospitality setting but I'll pretty much take whatever I can find. I'm starting in Adelaide since I know a few people but am open to moving around. After I get settled/readjusted, I'll start looking for hostels to stay in or possibly a place to rent, depending on the job situation. Other than that, I'm just going to see where things take me. 

Yes, this is slightly terrifying. Moving to the other side of the world without a job lined up, without a consistent place to stay, and without a massive amount of funds to live off is nerve-racking. That being said, I am not the first person to do this. Not to be too boastful but I consider myself to be pretty smart, self-sufficient, and resourceful. A massive part of my research before heading over was reading about other peoples' experience. If they could do it, why couldn't I? This actually is a once in a lifetime opportunity (unfortunately US citizens can only get an Australian work visa one time) and I really have nothing to lose. I can do this.

So yeah, here we go! This is going to be insane. I'm predicting heaps of good times, a few struggles, and the most adventurous year of my life. I'll try and post on here as much as possible. Same ways as always to stay in touch so please do (except I'll have an Australian phone number so you'll need that for the iPhone things)!

That's all for now. Bye.

Auld Lang Syne

New Years is kind of an odd holiday if you really think about it.  Nothing magical happens between December 31st and January 1st but it somehow always feels like the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For celebrations, a group of us gathered at a friend's house to bring in the new year.  There was food, drinks, games, and good times.

2015!

2014 was one of, if not the most, craziest years of my life.  There were some extreme highs and some extreme lows.  It marked a major shift in the life that I knew and forced me to start almost completely over.  I try to keep these postings light but have a feeling this one might be a bit heavier.

So what big things happened in 2014?

• Despite going borderline insane due to being enrolled in 21 credits, I had my most fun semester at CSU of the time I was there
• Was able to have a fantastic time traveling across the country from New York City to LA (where I finally got to experience Disneyland!)
• Got to see some of Canada for the first time and made some (hopefully soon) travel goals
• Graduated from university.  That still hasn't really hit me yet
• Mentored and made a noticeable impact on a 10 year old's life
• At least for me, made what I hope to be a lifelong best friend from the other side of the world who has been through an eerily similar amount of identical life experiences/situations as me
• Lost one of my oldest friends but still think about him often
• Had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all the other people I got really close with after 3.5 years living in Colorado.  I think about them everyday and miss them terribly
• Moved back to the Northwest
• Even though the process was long, I got a job that was number one on my list
• Started writing this weekly blog which is both fantastic and frustrating.  It's great to look back at something for every week and see when I had nothing to write about or when the ideas were flowing

What will 2015 bring?  I don't really do the whole resolution thing but I do like to set some goals.  What might those be?  I don't want to give away too much so those are just for me.  

Hope everyone had a memorable year and that 2015 will be just as eventful.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Happy New Year!  

That's all for now.  Bye.

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho It's Off To Work [I] Go!

I'M EMPLOYED!!!

I'm going to be working for Planet Granite Portland and I couldn't be more excited!  This is the job I interviewed for in May and got the offer on Wednesday!  When it opens, I believe the gym is going to be the eighth largest climbing gym in the US.

There was a preview event on Thursday for those who work/live in the Pearl District.  It was my first time going into the gym and I was overwhelmed.  This place is amazing!  I've been to a lot of climbing gyms around the country and I honestly think this is the coolest one I've seen. 

Being in the gym before the walls are climbable is kind of like putting a kid in a room full of candy and telling them not to eat anything.  It was torturous.

Although the walls are finished, there's still a fair amount of construction that has to get done before opening day.  For anyone interested, here's a virtual tour of the gym:
    

Planet Granite Portland Virtual Tour from Planet Granite on Vimeo.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Graduation

Whoever said high school is the best four years of your life clearly never went to college.

It's been two weeks since the graduation ceremony but I had two semi time-sensitive posts before this one so you get it now.  Grades came in a few days after the ceremony which confirmed that I did indeed graduate, so that's good. 

When I started school at Colorado State University four years ago, I had no idea what was in store.  I didn't know I would make a whole new set of friends, study abroad and travel around Europe, get to know and love a city, and learn a little bit of academics along the way.

It hasn't quite hit yet that I never have to go to school again.  Part of that is incredibly exciting but the other part is a bit terrifying.  Up until this point, there was always a plan for what was next.  Now, it is all up to me. 

I was reading some other blogs about graduation and this piece written by Veronica Grandex pretty  much sums it up:

"What you weren’t prepared for was this unshakable feeling that you don’t belong anywhere. At some point in the past four years...this place became your home. Not just because you live here, but because every corner of campus has a different memory attached to it. Because you don’t have to look at the menus of your favorite breakfast spots...Because you know which cafeteria lady won’t charge you for guacamole. But mostly because the people here –the faces you see every day– make you feel absolutely at peace. And you’re just now realizing that when you cross that graduation stage, you’re not just leaving your home. It ceases to exist.

The people you know are leaving. Your friends. Your roommates. The acquaintances you are stoked to see at the bar...The familiar faces of random people on the way to class. Everyone who made this place home. They won’t be here anymore. The storefronts will change. New restaurants will open. New buildings will go up. And a fresh new batch of students will arrive. Your home is constantly changing. You can never go back to it, just as it was.

Your friends will move to different places. Some will move back home. Some will move to new and exciting cities. Some will be just an hour away. Some will be a flight away. Some will be close enough for regular happy hours and nights out. But you know for certain that it will never be the same. You’ll never all live in the same place again. For the rest of your life, you’ll have to travel further than across the hall to see the people you call family. You’ll have get togethers, and brunches, and weekend getaways, but you can never go back 'home.' And that leaves you feeling…kind of homeless."

 ----------

While I was in Portland last week, I had an interview for a new climbing gym that's opening beginning of Fall.  I'm really hoping I get the job because I don't really have a plan B at this point.  I think offers are supposed to begin mid June.

I was originally going to stay in Fort Collins for the summer but don't feel like I'm supposed to be here anymore.  I don't really like walking around town/campus anymore because it brings up so many memories of people and good times.  Because of this and a few other things,  I'm headed back to Portland the second week of June.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Working For The Weekend

I was having a conversation a few days ago with a friend about things we wanted to be when we were growing up.  A little later I said I had no idea what to write about this week for my blog.  Put two and two together and here we go:

In first grade I wanted to be a police officer like almost every six year old out there.  That went away after I started to realize what cops actually have to do.  Throughout the rest of elementary school, I thought it would be fun to be a teacher.  

In middle school, for some reason I really wanted to be a bartender.  I once again don't think I really knew what a bartender was but they did a lot of cool tricks on TV and it looked like you got to have fun every night.  The teacher thing popped back into my head a few times until seventh grade where I realized that most seventh graders are, to put it nicely, handfuls.

Around high school was when I started to really get into climbing.  After a trip outside to Smith Rock near Bend, OR, I thought I wanted to be an outdoor climbing guide.  I would be getting paid to go climbing everyday which would be pretty amazing.  That was until I actually kind of did this as a job and realized that the only people you get to climb with have no idea what they're doing which makes it not as fun.  I also thought it would be great to buy a van and just travel around the US going to different climbing spots.  This obviously wouldn't provide much income but it is still something I would like to do at some point.

The thought of owning my own climbing gym didn't really come into play until freshman year of college.  The idea had been floating around a little bit but it wasn't until sophomore year where I had to finally choose a major that I realized it could happen.  It costs a ton of money to open a climbing gym but as of now, that's my ultimate career goal.

Didn't have pictures related to this week so...here's some flowers in Austria.

And some more in Switzerland.

The creative juices were lacking this week and I have a bunch of work that needs to get done for next week.  Sorry about that.

That's all for now.  Bye.