Hardcore Travel

Full image link →

Apparently Diamond status on Delta out of Atlanta means, “put him in the back next to the largest she-beast on the plane”. This gives a whole new meaning to “stuck in cattle class”.
- Link
Full image link →

I just received my diamond status card from Delta, and it’s someone else’s card. Way to start out the season.
- Link
Full image link →

marshalltattoo:

View of Paris in February

Source: marshalltattoo
- 11
- Link
Tour of Paris from BodyMod on Vimeo.

My post-zombie-apocalyptic tour of paris
- Link
Moscow -> Cairo, Nov 24th, 2009

I thought that the flight to Cairo would never come. I was so tired and the gate kept changing. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except that the only monitor that was listing the gates was about a quarter mile away, near the entrance of the terminal. On top of that, they would never actually tell you that it was changed. I would be sitting at the gate and then see an Air Itallia plane pull up. Ok, I guess it was changed again. So I would have to walk back to see what the new gate was. Royal pain. Right before we were to board, I met up with a guy that looked like a Russian version of Dimebag Darryl mixed with a little bit of Rob Zombie. Thankfully he spoke English, so we hung out on the bus ride to the plane. He was heading to Cairo for work. His job was to see what chemicals he could get into the country. It was explained in broken English, and I didn’t press for more details. I will call this flight, the flight of the babies. The first baby incident was as we were boarding the plane. The bus dropped us off in front of the plane and we had to climb up a staircase to get onto the plane. There were two older Arabic ladies in front of me, full head to toe garb, burkas and all. With them was a little boy, maybe two. Just old enough to barely walk. So these two ladies (probably mom and grandmother) started walking up the steps with the kid left at the bottom. I yelled up at them, “hey!” and then pointed at the kid. The older lady yelled something at me in Arabic and then turned around and got on the plane. “What the fuck?” The little kid is now just sitting on the ground staring at me. So I grabbed him and carried him up the stairs and set him down once in the plane. The flight attendant lady smiled at me and started talking to the little boy and then to me. I’m not sure what she was saying exactly, but the gestures said, “what a cute little boy you have”. I corrected her immediately saying, “oh…no. He’s not mine. He belongs to them,” and pointed to the two ladies already at the back of the plane. The flight attendant looked at me confused and took the boy to the parents. What’s with people? Next baby incident: To the left of me, across the aisle, a couple were seated with a baby that REALLY didn’t want to be on the plane. Awesome. All I want to do is sleep. Oh well, I had my headphones and could drown the baby out with a little High on Fire. Then the couple that had the seats next to me sat down, and THEY had a baby. She was calm, and seemed actually happy to be on the plane. Nice, no problem here. Once we were airborne, the flight attendant showed up with a bassinet that hooked onto the wall in front of us. How cool. They plopped the baby in there so it could sleep and so did I. Towards the end of the flight, some heavy turbulence woke me up, and the baby in box in front of me. She didn’t cry or anything, but was probably thinking the same thing as me, “Where the hell are the parents?!” They were gone. Both of them! Then, in a split second, the baby decided to get out. Well, get out is a three foot drop to the ground with a definite ricochet off the armrest of a chair. I sprung forward and caught her about a second from certain disaster. I put her back in the crib and we played high five. The flight attendant came by and noticed me playing with the baby and no parents. She asked me if I really liked babies. I told her, “No, their parents just keep disappearing and I’m left with a baby. Where the hell are the parents!” It was a full flight, so where the hell did they go? Five minutes later, the mom showed up and apologized for leaving the baby with me (I was friggen asleep!). We landed somewhere around 10pm (Friday). Before going through customs, we were subjected to something new. We were all given a piece of paper asking about our personal health and travel locations. Then we had to give them to a doctor that was there. He would check us out (just visually), and then allow us to proceed. Looks like swine flu is serious over here. I paid for my visa ($15), went through customs, and then outside to where I as greeted by a mass of people all waiting for friends and family. About half of that mass were taxi drivers all yelling and screaming at me about how they wanted to take me to a hotel. I had made plans earlier to have a driver pick me up at the airport. The question was how the hell was I to find him. I started reading all the signs people were holding with names on them, hoping to see my name. One of them stood out, “Mr. Karen”. I was thinking…hmmm, if someone was telling a driver my name over the phone, and perhaps in Arabic, it would sound like it would be “Karen”. I gave the crowd a once-over again, just in case and I saw a really happy man with a sign that said, “Mr. Adam Callen”. Bingo! We drove back to the hostel and he pointed out a lot of the landmarks to me along the way. The total drive took about 30 minutes or so. I entered the building that he pointed out was my hostel, and I was terrified. It looked like a bombed out shell of a building that time had forgotten about. No way was my hostel in there. Then I saw the sign for the hostel. Crap. It was in there. I went to the elevators and got inside the first one, hit 7, and waited. Nothing. I hit it a couple more times…nothing. OK. Fuck this. I’m taking the stairs. If you could see the elevator, you would understand. Most of the parts were ripped out, and it looked like it was installed sometime in 1950 and hasn’t been touched since. Then a nice man ran up to me, open the door to the other elevator and smiled while waving me in. Ok, I’ll give it a shot. It worked! I’m not sure how, but it was going up. Bumpy as hell, but I made it. I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. I checked into the hostel, met a guy from Buenos Aires, and then dropped off all my things. I then hung out in the common room with the guy from Argentina, and one of the guys that works there. He was explaining to us how to get to the Pyramids and other places. (By this point I was already into my Jager =) After that, the guy took us out to get some food and beers at a place around the corner. We were walking down streets, where if we were in the US, I wouldn’t be caught dead on. Skeeviest place I have ever seen. Dirty as all hell, and just creepy feeling. Way worse than the Favelas in Rio. The main difference is that it was pretty safe here, and totally not save in the Favelas.
Back at the hostel, we ate out food, hung out, and then somewhere around 3am I passed out. That’s 8pm on Friday NYC time. I just pulled a crazy travel in 36 hours that put me in three different continents.

.: Adam
- Link
NYC -> Moscow - Nov 24th, 2009

So, I’m on my way to Moscow. Well, I’m actually on my way to Cairo, but I have a 6 hour layover in Moscow.

Today was crazy. I woke up a little late and I had a ton to do before I was to head to the airport.
I jumped into a cab and headed to work. Priority number one was to finish deploying a new environment at work that everyone thought wouldn’t happen (yeah, I finished it =). I think I arrived sometime around 11am and I had to leave for the airport no later that 3:15. That gave me 4 hours to do 3 days of work, get some lunch, go to the bank, and hit up B&H to pick up the new Canon 7D (it’s awesome!) I finished all my work around 12:45, and I ran out of the building and jumped in a can to B&H. I had everything and then realized that I left my passport (my only form of ID) back at work. FUCK! I needed to pay for everything with a credit card and I have no ID. I also don’t have any time to go back to the office and return… shit shit shit! Operation, You-Don’t-Need-ID, commenced. When I approached the check out counter, I kept the lady talking and laughing throughout the entire process. Made sure that her mind was on anything other than this transaction. This allowed her to conveniently forget to ask for my ID. Score! From B&H I ran to the bank (literally ran). Made my transfer and then jumped in a cab back to the office. I picked up two pieces of street meat (hot dogs from a street vendor) and ran into the building. It was now 2:30. That gives me 45 minutes to wrap things up, eat my food, and start playing with my new toy =) I left the office at exactly 3:15. I had a feeling traffic would be bad, and was I ever so right. It took over an hour and half(!) to get to JFK. This is normally a 45 minute ride. Into the airport, I checked in with Aeroflot (the Russian airlines) and went to my gate. I only had to wait about 30 minutes before they began to board. Once on the plane, I was fully engulfed in my new camera instruction book (this camera is amazing, seriously). When we got into the air and drink service started, I was asked what I wanted in Russian. I shook my head and said I was OK with a smile … =) Russian flight attendant lady looked confused and said some more Russian and pointed at the sodas in her tray. I smiled, showed her my bottle of Coke that I brought on with me and said “No, thank you =)”. I’m not sure if the Russians hate Coke, don’t like to be refused from an offer, or just don’t give a damn about your response, but she promptly said something in an angry tone and shove a can of Pepsi in my face and dropped a “moist towelette” on my lap and left. I felt used. For the main course, I had a guy flight attendant. I wasn’t really that hungry, but learning from my previous lesson, when he spoke to me in Russian (translate: “Fish or Beef”). I nodded with a smile on my face, stuck out my hands, and said “Beef please”. He smiled and gave me beef. It was good. Now I’m watching Indiana Jones : Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in Russian on a TV that looks to have been created sometime in the late 70’s. I was kinda curious why they chose this movie. I mean, it’s the Russians (Post WW2 era) against the Americans, and the Russians are the bad guys. Glad I’m an American aboard a plane full of Russians going to Russia on a Russian airline. Now to kill some time. I fired up my laptop and watched 2012. I was expecting it to be horrible according to all the reviews that I read, but it was a fun watch. I liked it and it did the job. After that I watched a documentary called Food Inc. (Man, Russians are gaudy…I’m sitting in Moscow watching everyone walk by, and the clothing / jewelry choices of these people are amazing. The women mainly.) So, this movie… it was really good and I highly encourage everyone to watch it. I guarantee you’ll learn something. It’s one of those movies where by the end of it you feel that we’re all doomed. You know. A feel good movie. Oh, and my laptop screen glitched out on me in the middle of the movie too. Everything just turned blue. Had to keep hitting it and make sure not to touch it once the picture came back. Looks like I’ll be returning this thing as soon as I get home. Dang it! Another little nugget of knowledge for you; Russians are the type to clap and cheer when a plane lands. You would think their favorite (holy shit… this chick next to me is listening to the radio and the Ghostbusters theme song just came on!) sports team just won a world series. Very similar to Latin Americans. I’m still on the fence as to why they do it though. I’m not sure if it’s, “Yay! We’ve made it!” or perhaps a , “Woo hoo! We’re alive”. I should ask around. As we were deplaning (not sure if that’s a word, but it is now =), there were two security guys pointing these weird looking devices at us that had a giant eye on it. At first I seriously thought they were looking for radiation levels on everyone as they were leaving, but as I passed one of the guys I looked back and saw that there was a black and white screen looking through the people s clothes. It was a mobile x-ray / infrared scanner. Really cool tech. I want one! So, it’s noon here in Moscow, and I have 6 hours to kill before my flight leaves for Cairo. I tried to get a Russian visa before I left, but apparently you need to stay at least 1 night to get one. Dammit! So I’m stuck in a smoke filled airport that looks like they built it drunk with a bunch of drywall. I’m pretty sure this place was built in the communist era and hasn’t really been updated since. Well, except for the tons of duty free shops (I counted 15… there’s only 20 gates in this terminal) and the IRISH BAR! (WTF?). My first task is to buy liquor. Why? Because I read that hard liquor costs in Cairo can run up to $15 a shot for whiskey and such (hell no!). I knew I could get some cheap vodka here, but I really wanted Jager… what would be the chances? I can tell you 1 in 15 =). In the back corner along the bottom of the last Duty Free shop was a row of Jaermeister! Hell yes! Leave it to me to sniff it out. Now I know I’ll have an AWESOME time in Cairo. I just hope the Egyptians are ready for me Ok, I thought my evening / morning (man…i am lost in time right now) was over. I was fading out by a wall and then forced myself to get up and walk around. It was 4:30pm Russia time (8:30am NYC time). That’s when I realized I will probably sleep on my flight to Cairo. And I land at 11pm. So food looks like it’s not going to happen. Since I don’t have any roubles (Russian currency), I need to use a card. That means restaurant. That’s when I remembered that Irish Pub. Have you ever belched fine caviar while listening to a combination of Tetris techo and Beatles hip hop? Welcome to the Russian version of an Irish pub =). I’m on Tullamore Dew (my favorite, hard-to-find-in-the-US Irish whiskey) glass number 5. I had penne pasta with salmon and onions with a side of caviar. Odd, tasty, but not my thing. Hungry…I ate it.
Since I don’t have any Roubles, I feel bad that I can’t leave a tip. I tried to add it via my card, but it’s not possible here (tips aren’t expected, but they are given… ahhh modesty!). So I pull out a tenner (yup, that’s me using some British humor =) and give it to the bartender conveying what it was for was an interesting task, but it was accomplished. I seriously can’t even see what I’m typing right now….hehehe. FINALLY! I feel relaxed, and am enjoying my trip for the first time. I guess I’m getting used to world travel. A couple drinks and the logical side of me disappears. Welcome party / adventure Adam! Now let’s see if I can harass some Russian spec ops guys that are walking around here (they REALLY don’t want their photo taken

.: Adam

(Pictures once I get home =)
- Link
APP in Vegas: Days 2 & 3 - May 14th, 2009

It’s 11am, and I was supposed to meet Rachel, Norm, and Stephan for breakfast at 10am. Whoops! I was woken up by a phone call. It was Rachel… turns out, everyone was still recovering from the night before, so I didn’t miss out on anything. What I was missing though, was my voice. Somehow, from last nights shenanigans, I lost my voice and sounded like an 80 year old mafioso.Taking my time, I gathered up my things, took a shower, and then headed down to the main casino area of the MGM Grand. With all the crazy moths flying around in the place I was staying, I figured I would be better off over at the Tropicana. The convention was there, my friends where there, the bar was there, and it was only $45 for the one night.
Rachel and I agreed to meet up at the Lion exhibit downstairs by the entrance, so that I would have something to do while she lollygagged her way over. While I was waiting, I sat on the floor, and decided to play with my new phone. Since I just got it yesterday, it needed a lot of work done to it, and knowing Rachel, I would have the time.

I sat down next to the Lion exhibit and started to hack away at it. I had already downloaded all the software that I would need the night before, so it was going to be a pretty straightforward process. Once I had it setup so I could connect my computer to the internet through the phone, so I was able to download everything else that I needed. I love technology =)

After sitting around for about 45 minutes, and listening to the recorded “tour” of the lion thing about 10 times, I was getting antsy and hungry. Where the hell was she? It’s a 5 minute walk across the street to get here… did she get lost, or fall back asleep? Finally, I saw her and Norm coming down the escalator.

Me: “Where the hell were you?”
Rachel: “I got sucked into playing Deal or No Deal”
Me: “You were playing a slot machine?”
Norm: “She really wanted to get the case thing”
Me: “FOOD!”
Rachel: “Shush! I won $250, so lunch is on me =)”
Me:

We meandered around the casino trying to find the buffet. The inside of a casino is worse than a hall of mirrors. Damn near impossible to find anything (especially the exit). When we discovered the entrance to the buffet, Rachel plopped down some of her winnings for us (go Rachel!) and we proceeded inside like a bunch of Mongols descending on a defenseless Tibetan village about to be raped and pillaged. I have no recollection of the process of collecting the food, I was on auto-pilot. From my college years, I have mastered the skills of how to take full advantage of a buffet. I’m a master stacker and drink very little. See, they think they’re being crafty by giving you smaller plates. I know how to stack the shit out of some food. Pasta on top of rotisserie chicken? Good. Jello on top of macaroni? Bad. It’s a skill.

After hitting up the buffet for the third time, and fighting off the food coma that was slipping around us, we waddled out of there and back to the Tropicana. I hadn’t seen the sun in about 3 days, so when I opened the exit door and had a blast of 98 degree desert sunshine in my face, I shrieked and cowered back inside to find my sunglasses. They have the super-tinting on the windows to trick you that it’s not that bright outside. Not a cool move.

On to the Tropicana to check in. I wasn’t going to be spending another night with my moth brethren. I got my room keys and headed upstairs to drop off my stuff. The rooms at the Tropicana are just what you would expect a tacky old-ass Vegas casino to be like. There was even a bamboo framed mirror on the ceiling! Haha! But hey, it was $45, and a bed. All I needed.

Now I needed to go back downstairs and check into the convention to get my pass. Time to check out what this APP conference is all about. While I was picking up my pass, they asked me if I wanted to purchase a ticket for the banquette that night. It was only $40. Arg… Knowing that all the cool kids were going to be there, I dropped the cash and snatched the ticket. Apparently there were only three left anyway. Guess that’s what happens when you wait until the last minute to do everything =). Oh! And it’s a “Formal” banquette, meaning that my ripped up camo’s and Slayer cutoff T’s weren’t going to fly there. Wonderful. Now I need to go out and buy a shirt that at least has a collar on it. I’ll worry about that later.

I picked up my conference program and started to run around to the different rooms to check out the different lectures that were going on. I didn’t stay for all of them, because I’m not a professional piercer, and I’m not really planning on becoming one. From what I did see though, there were a lot of courses offered that covered a wide range of topics that anyone in the industry would be ecstatic about checking out. If you are a professional piercer, or looking to start piercing as a career, the APP conference is definitely the place for you to be. I haven’t seen or heard of anything else anywhere that’s this comprehensive and filled with industry all-stars. Want to learn about suspension? Why not take the class that Allen Faulker is teaching? Interested in Pearling? Steve Haworth is the instructor. All the instructors there were at the top of their class, and giving very detailed instructions on what they were covering. Here is a brief list of some of the classes that were going on:
- - Precious Metals and Gemstones: Terry LeRoi and Peter Lozada
- - Stretching: Jamie Clark and James Weber
- - Piercing Documentation: David Vidra and Ed Chavarria
- - Employee Manual: Rick Frueh and David Vidra
- - Cross-Contamination Prevention from Room Setup to Tool Processing: Dana Dinus and Ed Chavarria
- - Exploring Pearling: Steve Haworth
- - Ritualized Modification: Paul King
- - Body Piercing - A Lifetime Career: Jesika Bornsen
- - Suspension Saftey: Ed Chavarria, Allen Falkner, Steve Joyner, and Dana Dinius
- - First Aid: Red Cross
- - Aftercare and Wound Healing Dynamics: Betsy Reynolds, Steve Joyner, and Tom Brazda
- - Head and Neck Anatomy: Betsy Reynolds
- - Technique - Femal Genital and Nipple: Elayne Angel, Jesika Bornsen, and Danny Yerna
- - CPR - Red Cross
- - Scars - Understanding and Prevention: Bethra Szumski
- - Internet Networking: Rachel Larratt
- - Surface Anchors: Didier Suarez, Pat Tidwell, and Michael Kolar
The only class that I stayed all the way through was Rachel’s “Internet Networking”, I think for obvious reasons… to heckle her =). Not really… well, maybe a little ;). She seemed a bit nervous before the talk, so I helped out by giving her my bottle of Jager. With a little mockery and cajoling from the crowd, she took a big swig. Then ran right for the water cooler, Haha! I give her props for trying, but I think maybe she took a little too much. The talk was pretty good for people that aren’t too computer savvy. Telling them to blog, get on facebook, twitter, and all those other online things. At one point she was pointing out popularity comparrisons between all the online body mod sites and she poked at me by saying that BodyMods.org (with an S) was 960,000+ down on the list. I couldn’t sit there quietly on that one, so I made sure to point out to everyone that my site is BodyMod.org (no S) and that we were 100,000. That’s a huuuuge difference =) Not quite BME size… not yet anyway ;).

I did want to give credit to her for opening the floor to Q&A / discussion. She made it very clear that she would answer any question that anyone wanted to ask. Kind of hinting towards the whole Shannon topic. But no one asked. Not sure if people were being nice, or didn’t want to be “that guy”. All-in-all, it was a good talk that plugged BME a lot. Hmmm… I’m thinking that maybe I should start doing talks. Whaddya think?

My next stop was the vendor area. It was huge, and had jewelry makers from all around the world. The best hand-carved body jewelry that I have ever seen was there. I walked around the entire area and tried to talk to each booth to get the low-down on their wares and their mission (if they had one). There were some people there to just sell bulk regular jewelry, custom one-of-a-kind mammoth ivory earrings, show off their new innovative products, and some where there just to promote other conferences.

With over 60 vendors there, you had the best pickings of some of the top custom jewelry in the world. Every material you could think of was there: precious stones, bone, glass, and precious metals like gold and platinum. Whatever you wanted, you could find it there. Some of the big names in the industry were there as well, with some pretty impressive displays: Jimmy Buddah’s Diablo Organics, Jason Pfohl’s Gorilla Glass, Tawapa, Industrial Strength, Anatometal, Maya, and Wildcat.

I think I spent the most time hanging out with Jimmy and Jason because they had setup a cool little lounge area between their booths, and Jimmy was playing Slayer most of the day =).

It was getting kind of late in the day, and the banquette was fast approaching. I still needed to pick up a shirt, so I headed over to Caesar’s Forums. Some of the best clothing stores are all there in one small space. Whatever I can do to make my shopping experience the quickest is what I’m all about. I’m not really into shopping for clothing (or anything for that matter), so I just wanted to get a shirt and get out. The first store I saw as soon as I entered was a John Varvatos outlet. Lots of black stylish pho-rock-n-roll clothes? Works for me. I strolled on in and was immediately presented with a beer. I’m liking this place even more now. I told the sales guy what I was looking for and he jogged to the back and came back with exactly what I needed. Tried it on, paid for it, and walked out the door. Perfect. Now back to the conference!

I dropped off my clothing in my room, and changed into my swim trunks. I was going to hit up the hot tub for a bit before the banquette was going to begin. After being on my feet all day, I just wanted to relax a bit. I met a couple cool people in the pool and we chatted it up for a bit. It helped that they brought their own cooler of beer down and was hookin’ a brotha up =). It was 8:30pm and the banquette was in full effect, so I headed upstairs to change and make myself look all pretty.

When I got to my room, I saw a new text message on my phone. It was from Rachel…”we’re coin to get married now”. What?! They were supposed to be going after the banquette. Crap! I called her up to see if I missed it and I did. Apparently, they exchanged vows while I was shmoozing in the hot tub. LOL. Oh well, down to the banquette to get my eat on.

When I arrived back at the pool (it was a pool-side banquette), there was some live Salsa music going on, and I saw a table with all the crazy Germans at it. I knew where I was sitting =). I filled up my plate with some food (crappy food), and then shoveled it all in my face. We then proceeded to dessert (aka. the bar!). I have absolutely no photos of the banquette because I left my camera in the room and really just wanted to have a good time for a while. So I want to give a huge thanks to the official APP photographer, Sean Hartgrove for the photos he hooked me up with! All the photos in the gallery that are of fancy people outside at night are all his (they’re also the ones that are of way better quality / in focus =). You should check out his site too, good stuff!

Once everyone was good and drunk, the music ended and the speeches began. A few of the prominent APP members of their council gave a few talks, and presented some awards. You like how in depth that description was? Yeah… I totally wasn’t paying attention, and by this time, I was a half a fifth of Jager (yes, the whole bottle, just ask anyone in the vendor area ;), 4 or 5 beers, and a few cocktails in. You’re lucky I remember even being there =).

The banquette wrapped up sometime at night… that’s about as close to a time as I can give you here, and we all headed inside to the bar. We grabbed a table in the back and proceeded to drink the night away with a bunch of new friends. There were a lot of photos taken, but unfortunately they’re mostly blurry as hell. Looks like someone forgot to turn on auto-focus. There should be a feature on cameras where it can tell that you’re drunk and just takes over the controls. Kinda like an auto-pilot. Or maybe even a timer. So I can set it to auto, say, after 11pm. That’s a safe bet. Someone get on that!

I’m not sure when, or how, but I did get back to my room and fell asleep.

The next afternoon, I woke up and my friend Stephan (he’s the guy giving the crazy eyes =) let me throw my things in his room since I had to check out and I was leaving later in the evening. We then went to lunch and proceeded to talk shop. I don’t want to get into the specifics here, but there’s about to be a big change in the world of online body mod communities, and all for the better =) More will come out about this as we progress. It’s only in the infant stages now, but I’m pretty excited about where it’s going.

After lunch I ran around the hotel trying to get my goodbye’s in to everyone and then found out that it was just easier to chill at the bar and catch people as they walked by. By about 7pm, we had another little group of awesome at one of the tables and decided that we should all head over to the Wynn and hit their buffet for dinner. I was down. I grabbed my bags from Stephan’s room and we all took a cab over to the hotel.

The buffet there was delicious, but due to the long line to get in and my flight home, I had to shovel the food in my face and then bolt to the airport. I had just made it in time, and made sure that I still had my phone on me. I boarded the plane to Charlotte and relaxed. My friend gave me a move to watch on the plane, “Martyrs”. He told me that it was even more fucked up than “Inside”. I trusted his judgment on this and eagerly awaited the “ding, you can use your electronics” message to come over the PA. It was a French film, and in German, but I was still able to follow it pretty well, and my friend was right. This movie rocked! There was one part where this little girl is being skinned alive, and I glanced over to the stewardess who was handing me a drink. That’s when I saw the look on the lady’s face next to me. Apparently she was watching it too, and was white as a ghost. I’ve never seen such a look of horror on anyone like that before. It was hilarious! Thanks Ragnar!

When I landed in Charlotte, it was 6 in the AM, and my connecting flight to NYC was at 10am. Crappy. I didn’t want to sit around for 4 hours, tired as hell. I just wanted to get home. That’s when I saw an 8am flight to Laguardia. I wound up having to pay $50, but I got on the earlier flight and was outta there! I was so anxious to get home, and I was really missing my girlfriend at this point, so I was on a mission to get home. The flight was only supposed to be an hour and a half long. So, when I look outside and I’m over Jersey two hours later, I begin to wonder.

Turns out that the airport only has 1 runway open for take-offs and landings, and we’ve been circling over Jersey all this time waiting for a landing pattern. Then the pilot came on, “well…. we’re almost out of fuel, and we can’t land at Laguardia, so we’re going to Philly”. WTF?! Philly?! Why not JFK or Newark? We can get home from those, AND THEY’RE CLOSER! Idiots…

The plane hangs a louie, and we land in Philly. They then tell us that they’re going to refuel, and then make another go at it. I asked them if they know that they will be able to land or not, and they said they were unsure. Not happy with this, I decided to leave the plane. Apparently, I wasn’t “allowed” to exit and that we were about to depart again. Knowing how this game works, I threw a fit and started cursing at the stewardess. Now I wasn’t leaving the plane, I was being thrown off =). Hey whatever works!

I left the airport, jumped in a cab and took a ten minute ride to the train station. I bought my ticket to NYC from my phone while I was on the way. I got there just as the train was pulling in. Perfect timing! An hour and a half later, I was home. I checked the status of the plane that I got off of… still “en route” (read: still stuck circling over Jersery!). Hahaha! Suckers =)

My first APP Conference was over, and I had an amazing time. The only thing that I’m going to do differently is to get there sooner so I can enjoy it more! If you have anything to do with the industry, or are even just looking to have a great time with awesome people from all around the world that “get you”, you have to come to this thing. I had a blast and am looking forward to next year!

I will be posting an article either tomorrow or the next day with a ton of photos and details of all the vendors and their jewelry. I’m putting together a big list so that you can contact them to get some of their amazing pieces!

Thank you everyone that made this happen!

.: Adam
- Link
APP in Vegas: Day 1 - May 12th, 2009

I really went into this not knowing what to expect at all. Originally, I was supposed to be going to LA to meet up with a friend for Metalfest. Last minute cancelations made me change my plans (and I’m happy they did!).

If you read my article about preparing for the trip, you’ll notice that it actually didn’t happen anything like that. Everything that could go wrong did… I’m actually pretty surprised that I didn’t have a mental breakdown, or get ridiculously pissed off. I think the random perks and excessive alcohol helped =)

So, It’s Wednesday morning, and I’m on a train back to my place from uptown (this time I made sure to use the restroom before I left ;). I wasn’t paying too much attention and got off at the wrong stop, so I wound up having to pay for a cab to take me the rest of the way home. Not a big deal, just a couple extra bucks that I wasn’t planning on.

I arrive home, throw all my stuff into a backpack, and then head out the door for the airport. Thankfully, I was leaving from Laguardia, so I wouldn’t have to pay for a $50 cab ride. Saved $30 right there… boo ya!

As soon, as I step outside of my apartment, there was a cab right in front of me that was available. Amazing… I thought I was on a roll, and this was only going to get better from here. On the cab ride to the airport, I used my iPhone to check into my flight. I was flying from NYC to Houston, then from Houston to Las Vegas. I wasn’t in a hurry, and that’s what you get for buying the cheapest possible ticket. I can live with that. I’m checking in with my phone, and I scored an exit row for my flight to Houston (yay!), and on my flight from Houston to Las Vegas, I got an upgrade to first class! All that flying finally paid off somewhere. I was flying to vegas in true pimp style =) This trip was definitely looking up. With the luck I was having, I felt that I should hit the tables as soon as I landed. This is just too good!

Then it began.

I hear my cabbie (elderly female Indian…uh oh) yelling at someone. I naturally look out the window to see what’s up. Apparently she felt that she should be allowed to consume two lanes down Broadway. Maybe she wasn’t comfortable with just one? I don’t know, and I didn’t care. I just laughed at the situation…. then I noticed that I was heading SOUTH on Broadway… ummm…. “HEY! The airport is the OTHER WAY!”

“You no tell me what to do. I the driver!” - EFI

“What? Ok… sorry. Can you please turn the fuck around and take me to where I told you to go? Now I’ll be luck to make my flight” - Me (hey… that was a question… I didn’t *tell* her to do anything =)

[Weird Shriek and then some obvious foreign cursing]

“Ok, you’re obviously not capable of driving a taxi. Please stop. I’m getting out” - Me

And she did. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET! There were cars buzzing by both sides blaring their horns and she’s trying to hand-write me a taxi receipt (?!). This is just too much. I honed in on my NYC timing and acrobatic skills to jump out of the cab and hauled ass to the curb before the UPS truck tried to take me out.

That was fun… “Taxi!”

The next guy took me to the airport, and quite quickly. I threw him a couple extra bucks for a tip and hopped into the airport terminal, cut in line, and printed my boarding pass to my flights. Turns out, if a crowd of people that are already pissed off by waiting in line forever for an incompetent airline person to check a bag see you cut in front of them, they really don’t like it. The kicker is all they do is resort to a kindergarden mentality and point at you while shouting the likes of, “that’s not fair!” I hope my fragile mind will be able to handle the pointing and staring. Eek!

With a boarding pass in hand, I run to check-point-charlie (aka. the security line), and go through the “Elite Members” line because it’s about 20 times shorter. Am I an “Elite Member”? Nope, but most of the time I they never really pay that much attention and just let anyone through. Sure enough, I was on my way.

I showed up to the gate just as they began boarding and was able to walk right onto the plane. Phew! Now I can just sit back and relax. “Oh… I should send a text to my girl to let her know I made it and that I’ll miss her… yeah, that’s a good idea. Now where’s my phone…”

SHIT!

I dart off the plane and bust ass to back to the security line. The look of sheer terror on peoples’ faces was kind of entertaining. Imagine you’re leisurely walking to your gate and you’re checking out something on your phone. Then you glance up to see a seven-foot tall man in camos and chains running full speed right at you. What do you do? Most people either did the side-to-side oh-shit-shuffle, not knowing where to go in a state of panic, and others just screamed and leaped out of the way. =)

When I reached the security line, I asked if anyone saw an iPhone left behind…Ahem, let’s try that again…”Yo! lazy ass TSA chick just sitting there painting your nails while other TSA losers hit on you, did you see a phone?!” Without even looking up… “nahw, we ain’t seen anythin’” … no shit.

Now, I run back to the plane hoping that they’re holding it for me. I jumped in, and they shut the door. I made it back to the plane, but my iPhone was MIA. Dangit. That sucks.

When we landed in Houston, I went straight for the Presidents Club (my upgraded first class ticket gets me in =), and then straight to the bar (free drinks!) and ordered three whiskey on the rocks. Need to numb the pain.

My flight from Houston to Las Vegas was pretty uneventful. I chatted with the guy next to me who was flying from Amsterdam to Vegas to continue his party, ate a bag of combos, and took a little nap (read: drank more whiskey and passed out).

As soon as I landed, I B-lined it out of the airport to the taxi stand and told him my location: the Apple store in the Fashion Mall. Time to get a new phone. It’s kind of hard to meet up with your friends and do anything really, without a phone, so I figured I would just bite the bullet now. Getting the new phone was pretty simple, except for the fact that as I was walking out the door with it, I found out that the home button didn’t work and had to turn around and to an exchange for a new one. Lost another half hour of my life there.

With a working phone, I take a cab up to the MGM where I would be staying at. A friend of mine owns a couple condos there and was letting me stay there for free (damn straight!). What was not listed on my reservation though was which tower it was is. I had a 1 out of 3 shot to pick the right one, guess which one I chose? Yep. The wrong one =)

Once checked in at the correct tower, I dropped off my bags and headed to the Tropicana (where the APP Convention was taking place). One minor note about the condo (all the MGM condos actually), there was a major moth infestation! They were everywhere! Looks like I won’t be staying here tomorrow. F-That! I’m not a huge fan of moths buzzing around my head as I sleep and have them eat through all my clothes. Eww. Anyway, off to APP to get my press pass and meet up with a few friends that I knew would be there. The convention floor was to close at 8 and I got there at 7:45. Just in time.

Just in time to receive a phone call that they’re all at the Bellagio eating dinner at the buffet. Crap! Ok… I’m craving food now, so I decided just decided to walk down the strip to Chipotle for a burrito. Turns out it was waaaay farther than I though, and my boots were tearing up my feet. I guess they weren’t made for walking long distances in 95 degree heat. Next stop, the Puma store back at the mall to buy some shoes so I could walk. More money down the drain I wasn’t planning on spending. On the upside, I really do like the shoes =)

Onto Chipotle! Burrito in hand, I head back to the hotel to meet up with my peeps.

The bar at the Tropicana was already full of some seriously modded out people. More horn implants, facial tattoos, and crazy scar work than I’ve ever seen in one place. The best part… I didn’t know a singe one of them! I love meeting new people! This is going to rock!

I received a call from Rachel ([@]BMEzine.com[/@]) that she was up in her room with her man (Norm) and that I should meet them up there. I stopped up in the room for a bit to say hi and chat. That’s when she told me that he had just proposed to her and that they were going to be getting married… tomorrow! I also have never seen Rachel that happy before, so I congratulated her on her new future and told her that I was totally going to crash the wedding =). The only problem was that I only brought shorts and ripped up Slayer cut-off T’s with me. Guess I need to go out and buy a fancy shirt (I also needed one for the banquette the next day that I didn’t know about). Yay… time to spend more money I don’t have! Haha!

We then headed downstairs to the bar to hang out and meet people. As soon as I got down there, I saw my friend from back home, [@]Spliff[/@] of Disgraceland! Awesome! I had no clue he was going to be there. Then I started noticing more and more faces. There were “The Italians” Bruno and Brenno, the runners of APTPI in Italy. If you are around Milano when they do their next conference, you should seriously check it out. It’s like the APP conference of Europe. Their next one is in Milano, January 15-17, 2010.

Then I ran into my old friend Arnauf ([@]Ragnar[/@])! I haven’t seen him in years since he lives in Cologne, Germany. We got a few drinks together and caught up on everything. Then while we were at the bar, “The Slovenians” showed up! Crazy! They were these three chicks from Slovenia that I’ve run into at APTPI and the Milano Tattoo Convention. To top it off “The Crazy Germans” showed up (btw, I’m not the one who made up these grouping names… everyone was referring to them that way =).

Putting back shots of Jager, and buying each other rounds of drinks we all hung out for a few hours and I wound up meeting a lot of awesome people from all around the world. Others to stop by the group were Steve Haworth, Allen Faulkner, OL ([@]DrEvil[/@]) and Stephan ([@]INKstar[/@]) from Wildcat in Germany. Good times =)

As the night started getting late (3am-ish), the bar started breaking up. That’s when someone informed me that it was 7am back home. Haha! I guess maybe I should get some sleep.

I said my goodbyes (I think), and headed back to my room across the street to get some Zzz’s. Before totally passing out, I ordered up some room service. Nothing like having an entire cart wheeled into your room with fancy plate covers, flowers, full set of silverware, and a couple nice embroidered napkins just for a meatball hoagie =)

… and … i was out!

I haven’t been to 1 minute of the conference yet, but I could already tell that APP was going to kick some serious ass and I was wishing that I came earlier.

.: Adam
- Link
On my way to Germany! - Apr 2nd, 2009

So, right now I’m chillin’ on the plain, on my way to Hamburg Germany (from there I’m to change planes to head to Munich).

This means, I need to backtrack quite a ways. I’ll try to sum up how I got here as quickly as possible.

The day after I got back from Milan, a couple friends of mine told me they were going to Germany for a few days in a month and asked if I wanted to come along. I immediately bought my ticket.

Fast forward a month.

I spent this past weekend hanging out with some friends for birthday parties, so I didn’t really have a chance to pack / prepare for my trip. I figured that I’d just do it all the night before.

That plan was ideal… until I came home from the bar last night to some drama in my apartment (and outside). This was some serious stuff (like, I may have to change my flight, serious).

I wound up taking care of that stuff, then just passed out around 6am. I was thankfully smart during some portion of the night, because I set my alarm for noon.

This should have been ok. My flight was at 6pm, and as long as I left for the airport by 2pm, I was golden.

I woke up a little after 1…damn that snooze button!

When I felt the 1:15 being burned into the retinas of my eyes from the LED’s on my clock, I sprang out of bed, blasted some metal on my stereo to get my energy going, turned on the shower and through all my belongings on my bed (this is how I like to pack =). This way I can see everything at once, and I know I’m not missing anything. Unfortunately, it’s going to suck when I get home to a bed full of crap and all I want to do is sleep. Oh well.

Clothes, electronic gadgets, computer, and misc stuff in my backpack. Camera and book in my side-bag. Step 1, complete.

From there, I jumped into the shower, did the whole shower thing, then ran back into my room to get dressed.

Bam! I’m pretty much ready to go, and it’s 2:05! Oh yeah…

All I needed to do was run downstairs into my roommates room to scan some papers, and then I was outta there!

I tromped down the stairs and to my surprise, she was still there. Whoops! She was supposed to be gone at 8 in the morning. I apologized and we laughed about how embarrassing it would have been if she appeared upstairs right when i was running from the shower to my room…nekkid =)

I scanned my papers, ran upstairs, grabbed my things, and was out the door.

My first stop was the bank to make a deposit to make sure that I had money to spend while in Europe. From there I took a cab to Penn Station.

I hate Penn Station.

It’s full of bums, people that smell bad (besides the bums), armed (machine guns, armed) army guys walking around all the time just looking to mess with someone because they’re bored, drug dogs that you’re not aloud to pet (lame), and a ton of mindless lemmings that have absolutely know idea what’s going on around them, but somehow all collectively agree and plot to get in my way and make my brief stay there as painful as possible.

Today must have been my lucky day, because my train that was to take me to the airport had just arrived, so I didn’t have to hang around that long at all. Yay!

On the way to the airport, I double-checked my seat on the plane to make sure that I had an exit row, then I hit up SeatGuru.com to get the details on my plane. That’s when I saw the best thing of all things on that site… a little black dot next to my seat. AC POWER BABY! This means I can plug in my computer and be a geek the entire 7 hour trip. Muahahahaha!

Next task was to call my banks and open my cards for international travel. I’ve learned the hard way about this important lesson.

When the train arrived at Newark Airport, I printed out my boarding pass and headed for the shuttle that would take me to the terminal. Just like at Penn Station, the shuttle pulled up right as I got down the stairs. I’m liking this =)

Next stop, Terminal C. I know others have talked about this before, but I don’t think the word “Terminal” should be used around airports. I mean, they changed “Cock Pit” to “Flight Deck”, so why not change “Terminal” to something a little more upbeat? Anyway…. back to how my timing just rocked.

I left the tram and headed for the security checkpoint. My next major pain point in traveling… the fucking TSA. I swear it stands for “Total Shit Attitude”. Man, I hate these people. These people seriously need to be reminded that they’re not actually cops, and that they really just one step up above from a Wal-Mart greeter. I think, next time, I’m going to wear a fake badge and yell at them about their lame ass rules and shit-ass attitudes.

This time, I didn’t have to worry about it too much though, because they opened a new line, and decided that I was the cut-off point to start the new line. Boo-yah… right to the front!

Once I got through security, went to exchange some currency. the chick behind the counter convinced me that I should get one of their bank cards so I don’t have to carry cash and it comes with the perks of being replaced if lost or stolen. I decided to give it a shot. I told her to put two-thirds on the card, and give me one-third in cash. She wound up giving me two-thirds in cash. Thinking she messed up and put the other third on the card, I asked for a phone number to call to check the balance of the card and then walked to the Presidents Lounge to chill until boarding.

When I got to the Presidents Lounge, I called the number to check the balance, but the card wasn’t in the system yet, so I chose to maximize on the free drinks before my flight began boarding. I was able to get in 2 Jack-and-Cokes before they called for initial boarding. The Presidents Lounges are nice, but there’s no food in there, and you’re not allowed to bring in food. Makes absolutely no sense what so ever… meh.

While chillaxing at the bar, I was watching CNN and the top stories were both about airplane crashes. The first was a plane that crashed into a cemetery in Montana (that one actually made me snort my drink from trying not to laugh!). The other was about a FedEx plane that blew up on take off in China. This story was way better because there was video! They showed over and over, this massive jet in slow-mo trying to take off, and just after wheels-up, the tail end explodes and then engulfs the entire plane. The looks on everyones faces at the bar was priceless =)

The drinks hit me pretty quickly, which reminded me that I haven’t eaten yet, and it’s already 5pm. I headed to the food court to grab myself a Philly Cheese Steak. I thought this would be a simple procedure. Apparently I over-estimated the order taking abilities of thing that pushes the buttons and takes the money. Haven’t we figured out that you can just swivel those things around and let people place their own orders? It’s not exactly rocket science. Well… my conversation went something like this. Keep in mind that I’m recalling from memory here.

Me: I would like a Philly Cheese Steak with just mushrooms and a coke please.

Blob: BLARRRRRG!

Me: Umm… Yeah… I would like a Philly Cheese Steak with just mushrooms and a coke please.

Blob: BLARG?

Me: No…. no onions, and no lettuce. Just cheese, steak, and mushrooms.

Blob: Blarg, blag, blarg blarg!

Me: Dude, it’s simple just don’t put them on there!

Blob: Blargy blag blarg.

Me: Ok. Thank you.

(I watch blob number two make the food and I see him plop in a load of onions)

Me: DUDE! NO ONIONS!

Blob 2: BLARG!

Me: I know it normally comes with it but I told him I don’t want them, start over and this time, just don’t put them in. You don’t HAVE to put in the onions!

Blob 2: …blarg… (he mumbled this under his breath, so I’m only guessing here)

One more try later, and I get what I ordered…phew! That was a lot of work.

Onto the gate! Boarding has already started and they’ve reached general boarding, so I was able to walk right onto the plane. Once I “had my items placed safely secured in an overhead compartment” (read: put my shit away), I plopped down on my seat and nom’d away. Mmmmmm…..

The only thing that’s worth noting up to where I am now (somewhere over Iceland I think), is that when the pulled the walkway away from the plane and started to pull back, they stopped about 5 feet from where we started and then announced that they “were having fuel problems”. Wha?

I looked out my window and saw a fuel truck pulling up to the plane. Ahhh!

We’re having fuel problems = We forgot to put gas in the plane.

Rock! That would have been a short flight =)

While waiting to get gassed up, I called up the cash-card thing again to check the balance, and this time it worked. Turns out, the chick gave me two-thirds in cash AND put two-thirds on the card. SHAZAM BABY! I actually did a little dance in my seat when I heard them read the balance. This was the one time when I didn’t mind the person behind the counter not having a clue how to do her job.

On the plane, I’ve had my little dinner served to me (chicken and rice), I’ve watched “Twilight” (Utterly Horrible! I plan on doing a full write up on this later similar to my one on “Panic Room”), and now I’m writing this while getting bounced all over the place. The turbulence is ridiculous, and has been going on for about a half hour. The captain just came on the PA to tell us that this might clear up within the next hour.

So maybe these are my last words. How ironic would… Woah… THAT was a big one!

I will my belongings to my roommate.

Wish me luck!

I’m ordering some vodka now… Stewardess!

.: Adam
- Link
Philly Getaway! - March 2nd, 2009

Last weekend was another impromptu weekend travel for me. This time, I convinced a couple friends of mine to join me (Mike, Alison, and Marke). The plan was simple: we meet up at 5:30pm in Chinatown to catch a $10 bus ride to Philadelphia, walk to the tattoo convention, meet friends, sleep, come back. Oh, and to party the entire time =)

That was also the fullest extent of our plans. Who was going to be there, where it was, what was going on, where we were going to sleep, and the how/when we were going to get home was all up in the air. I’m used to this, but I wasn’t sure how well my friends were going to take it. I just kept telling them, “don’t worry, I have it all planned out” Hahahaha!

Mike and I met up ahead of time to hit up J&R (an electronics store) to get some new toys for our cameras. He picked up a lens filter and I grabbed a new speed-flash, lens filter, and a Hi-Fi card. The Hi-Fi card is pretty sweet. It’s an SD RAM card for cameras and the such that has a built in WiFi antenna and firmware, so when you take a photo, it’ll automatically connect to a WiFi network and upload the photo to a computer on the network or the Internet. PIMP! I was pretty eager to try it out, but that’s when it hit me…. FUCK! My point-n-click camera was in my leather jacket that just got stolen! Dammit dammit dammit!

ok… breath…

After hitting up J&R we grabbed some food then headed back to my place. We packed our things then jumped in a cab to Chinatown.

WAIT! I almost forgot the most importat part! FIRST, we filled our flasks with Jager, then did a couple shots to ensure an unsober state, THEN we got in a cab to Chinatown =)

Alison met us at the bus stop about five minutes after we got there. Marke was MIA. I gave him a ring and he said he was running late, so we bought tickets for the 6:30 bus. What an ordeal that was. Two little chinese women were trying to sell us the tickets on the street, both ringing me up for 4 tickets and screaming at me in what I think, THEY thought was english, but sounded more like a cat getting run over slowly. If you ever see two elderly chinese women fight for a sale on the street, it’s quite an entertaining site. Especially when you have absolutly no clue what’s going on.

Somehow, I got the tickets (i think). I got a piece of paper with some letters and numbers on it. She got $40. We’ll find out later if the bus driver likes my piece of paper with letters and numbers! But for now, we have time to kill, so on to the bar! Fontana’s (a kind of rock’n’roll bar) was just down the street. Perfect! We had a couple tasty beverages there until Marke showed up, then headed back to the bus stop and boarded the bus.

I won’t get into all the shenanigans that took place on the bus, but the gist of it is that we now had a gang sign, we video taped most of it (Alison even followed mike to the bathroom at one point), laughed our asses off pretty much the entire way, and irritated probably everyone on the bus…a lot =)

We arrived in Philly sometime around 9ish and then walked a few blocks to the hotel where the convention was being held. We bought our wristbands to get in, and ran almost immediately into a friend of mine running a booth with some third-reich-esqu curtains (inside joke ;). She let us drop our stuff down there while we ran around (read: went to the bar).

Mike and I did take a little bit of time wondering the convention area taking photos, and saw a lot … seriously … a lot of semi-nekkid girls. I’m not sure if it’s a Philly thing or what, but we weren’t complaining.

For me, the best part about the convention were the shows. Enigma was there with his show, Disgraceland was there tearing it up, and even the Rites of Passage crew were there doing some suspension performances. The two best (in my mind), were the single-hook suspension, and the single-knee suspension. The chicks knee looked like a scene out of Hellraiser. You know, a mangled mess of flesh and steel… put in a situation where your body is confused as to whether or not it’s turned on or repulsed. Good times!

When the convention was over, Murphy’s law came put on a show. Surprise! Apparently they attempted to do a flesh-pull WHILE the show was going on. I didn’t see anything though… I was too busy running around the pit like a crazy man. Ton’s of fun!

We all know what’s next… food! And what do you eat in Philly? Cheesesteaks! We all jumped in a cab and headed to Gino’s cheesesteaks. Marke and I each got two =). I was not so smart in the sense that I thought it would be a good idea to leave my coat back at the convention. So I’m standing around in the snow fall and bitter winds of Philly in a hoodie and sweat. (Somehow, I didn’t get sick either)

We jumped in a cab and headed back to the convention to try and figure out where we were going to sleep. I tried getting ahold of my friends of the freakshow performance, but to no avail. We headed up to my friend Rachel’s room to see who was all there and probably chill with some people. If I know her, she’d probably invited everyone up for after-hours.

And I was right =). Her room was packed with people all lounging around, laughing and having a good time. Looks like we found the place to be! Jimmy from Texas was also there. He saved the evening with some “movies” that seemed to have cleared out the room. Leaving us to crash out. Marke just stayed passed out on the floor, Alison an I passed out in the one bed, Jimmy took the other bed, and mike slept on some cushions on the floor. I don’t think Mike trusted Jimmy too much =)

The next morning, we got up around 11am, and headed downstairs. Marke wanted to get a couple micro-dermals done by Jimmy before we left. The kicker is that none of us wanted to pay the $20 to get back into the convention the next day. So, I did a little smooth-talking / jedi mind tricks to sneak myself past security and meet up with Jimmy at the booth. Turns out, he was out of dermal punches, so he was passing the job off to someone else that could do it with needles. But she wouldn’t be available for a couple hours. Mike, Marke, and Alison all got stopped at the door, so I just told Jimmy that we’d come back later and headed back outside.

To kill time, we all walked to the Mütter Museum. It’s an amazing, one-of-a-kind museum of human medical oddities. I’ve been there before, but I knew that my friends would like it, so we went for a little field trip.

On the way back, we stopped at Jimmy John’s for lunch (mmmmmm….), then continued our walk to the hotel.

When we arrived I though I heard a siren going off. Sure enough, the entire hotel was being evacuated! Perfect timing. We hung around outside with everyone while the firemen cleared out the building and seemed to have determined that it was a false alarm. We all filed back into the building and headed upstairs to the convention area.

This time, I did a little coaching and used some old-school State Theater tricks to sneak everyone (including myself) into the convention =) Boo-yah!

Oh, and there was a huge biker fight. Someone broke a broomstick over another dude. Lots of punching, then what looked like about a hundred cops showed up with batons to end it. Yadda, yadda, yadda…

Back to the booth. Marke got two micro-dermals done (one on his chin, and another on his neck) and I got to see “Penguin” get his wrists / elbows / shoulders scarred. He doesn’t have any arms, so I’m not sure what to technically call that area. The cuts were made to look like stitches, so that he can tell everyone that he was bad as a kid and his parents had his arms cut off and hands reattached to his torso. Hahahaha! Too funny =)

Alison bought a pair of some seriously intricate earrings from Jimmy. Hand-carved skulls with snakes made from wild boar tusk. Check out Demonic Organics. Jimmy makes some of the most amazing jewelry! We then said our goodbyes and our thank-you’s to our friends there and headed back to the bus stop.

We hit up a Wawa (like a 7-11) for some provisions, then boarded the bus.

The trip home was only an hour and a half, so we made it into the city around 6:30pm.

24 hours to the dot, from when we left, we had returned. Alison headed home to get ready to go to work (she bartends at Double Down) and Mike, Marke and I headed the other direction. Down to three.

Mike then jumped in a cab, and headed home. Down to two.

Marke and I then stopped in a bar to visit our friend Ru that was bartending then. We all did a shot (i think about half the bar). Marke wanted to stay and hang out, but I had to head home to pack. I was supposed to be on a flight at 6am out of Newark. Had to get ready… Down to one.

I walked the rest of the way home with a pit-stop at Identity to say wassup to my friend Lawrence, and make sure a certain chick got a message, then walked the rest of the way home.

I dropped my bags and plopped my ass on the couch around 8pm.

The trip was over.

Shizzle.

=)

.: Adam
- Link