san diego - fort collins by way of sushi and ween

Or should I say sea to sky? No that's kinda cheesy. How 'bout sun to snow? That would certainly give a better picture of the temperature change. Its COLD here! Been snowing since I landed yesterday at noon. And its clean and beautiful and quiet and cold and the tap water taste like pure mountain snow-melt gold!

Lets catch up...

Last day in San Diego spent wrapping things up, found a home for the Moto thanks to the amazing generosity of one Carrie M who had a little extra garage space (and a hankerin for Italian wines I suspect) and parked the beast, luggage and all, even a clean set of clothes in there, close enough to the airport I can walk there when I get back. Found myself the biggest dirt-bag duffel (under $30) known to mankind and managed to plop everything that has kept me warm and dry for the past 6 months into it with room to spare! I even stashed my sleeping bag in there its that big! Rounded up some good friends and headed over to San Diego's LOUDEST sushi restaurant Tokyo Sushi.

SUSHI
For the sushi fans out there, especially ones who have spent a lifetime being influenced by pop music, there is no better place for the raw and the cooked as Tokyo Sushi. I was introduced to this phenomena on a date in early November and have made sure everyone I know in SD knows about this joint, and I have been there no less than 4 times in 3 months. And for a broke homeless wanderer like myself that's ALOT of sushi - but the place is not only fun and LOUD, its cheap! Mylar sympathy balloons float around the ceiling, most look like valentines day over-stock, glow-sticks and these little finger lights are handed out to complement the raver-esque club feel, dance versions of your favorite pop songs blare down from the floating mass of balloons as the excited greetings yelled at you from behind the bar and from the quickly roaming wait staff make you feel more a part of Japanese street culture than a guest in a shshi bar. The place is amazing! Did I mention LOUD? With Tammy and the Rice Kids (Aubrey and Carson, but you can call him Philip) in tow, along with Cousin and Jacobo, her friend Rebecca and her dude Ken and Romel "Smoke" Montellano the handsome Peurto Rican China-man showing up just after we sat down the executive decision was made to play a little game of "Penis".

Don't get weird yet, let me explain: the game involves a group of friends simply saying the word "penis" in a public space, starting off in regular conversational tone and volume, and gradually working your way to the loudest yell of the word your lungs can bellow. (The writers of the movie 500 Days of Summer did NOT invent this game!) I figured between Bri, Philip, Myself and Romel we had a median humor level of a 10 year old, crammed into a makeshift table for 9 in a crowded restaurant that plays dirty versions of Eminem songs turned up to 11, so we might as well have a go. Needless to say for those who know the man, the myth, the Animal - Romel came out victorious with an impressive 258 decibel, prolonged, almost chant like scream of the word that won him the gold for volume. With the judges taking into consideration his smaller lungs and vocal chords, and the fact that he yelled "penis" right when the music cut off between songs, Philip/Carson took the gold for sportsmanship playing the game as the founding fathers had imagined perfectly, and BriBroBra bringing home the gold for the most number of times yelled. Go America! Food was amazing as always, and we even talked Tammy into eating a whole piece of the Heart Attack Roll - essentially a jalapeno popper with tuna and krab (yes, with a K) meat inside - her very first sushi experience at the tender old age of 28 (your welcome Dear).

With another round of the big beers, a Sake Bomb with The Boss joining in from behind the bar, enough Plum Wine that Cousin started Booty-Dancing in her seat, some mochi for the Brats, and a faked birthday celebration that awarded both Carson and Aubrey with flying plush toys chucked over the heads of other patrons from the Boss to our table, it was time to bid farewell to lovely SD. I stayed with the Rice Clan (what self-respecting Manny wouldn't want one last ride in the minivan?) who presented me with some amazingly thoughtful going away gifts (to be modeled in pictures to come) and drove me teary-eyed to the airport after a good healthy dog-pile at 6am.

Despite the waterworks, the flight was good, sat next to a couple of tattooed kids with a veritable pharmacy in their backpack, and the gift of music in my ears (thanks again Bri!) bringing me all the excitement, laughter, joyful tears, and the warmth of knowing that I have a place to return to.

HOME
The concept of home is one that has been weighing heavy on my mind as I wander around the western US. Leaving Fort Collins in late August after the death of my Mom and getting fired from a big corporate brewery to set out to explore on my Moto and Mountain Bike (which has been named "Becky" for future references) the idea of home started to become this transient idea of place. Technically I was homeless. Technically, still am. When the motorcycle insurance folks asked where I lived, or where the bike was parked all I could reply was "in a tent, and under my ass." Sure all my crap was piled into a storage unit in FoCo, but Idaho felt like home, and Oregon felt like home, and SF was home for a long time but did not feel familiar, and SD certainly is the place where I grew up so it feels like home too, but after a 15+ year absence it felt so different. Coming back to FoCo I have used the word "home" to describe my itinerary flying in and out of Colorado, but it didn't really feel like home as I wandered around last nite in the snow alone. Home is starting to feel for me like a place where I am loved, and where there are people who truly know the very root of who I am. In this sense "Home" becomes a feeling, and a feeling is easy to wrap up, stash in the pocket of your ROOS and take with you. You can revisit a feeling through a song (LA LA OH LA LA!!), or through the smells of someplace familiar, through food and drink, and through stories of the people that travel through our lives, sometimes only for a moment, but who leave us with lasting impressions and form the way we see the world. I guess that's what this blog is for, so I can take you all with me in some way. To feel less like I am away from home, and more like I am adding to my definition of the word. Through long-winded flowery descriptions (just kidding - I'm getting a camera) and humorous tales, hopefully you will all get to share in this trip with me, stay connected, help me feel less alone when I need company, and to widen the lens through which we all see the world, our own lives, and the lives and realities of those we love. To redefine what home means to all of us.