take the straight and stronger course to the corner of your life.

las fallas is this "huge" festival in spain where they build these statues that all have some sort of political or pop culture satire in them and they light them on fire and run around the streets in their usual debaucherous (not a word) states. i say "huge" cuz everyone told us it was going to be way crazier than carnaval - but carnival was a huge botellon in the streets with a huge crowd of people and las fallas was just a bunch of freaks watching fire all spread out over the city. little did we know that the fallas were made out of styrofoam so the spanish are singlehandedly adding to the thinning of the ozone layer...but it doesn't really matter to them seeing as how theyre all for lung cancer. we ended up having alot of fun - not really cuz of the festival but.....give us carnival fatboy food and a means to find an adventure and were pretty much golden. we climbed up to the top of this mountain that had a 360 degree panoramic of fireworks all over the city. we layed on the wall and shared bottles of tinto and watched the sky light up all night long. then of course we got hungry and said heyyyy maybe we will do what we actually came here for so we watched the tallest falla burn and fill the sky with black smoke as we enjoyed 30 dollar hot dogs. the usual. we didn't exactly have a place to sleep so we had to sleep in the car. wasn't too bad. there was 4 of us. sara wasnt exactly the most comfortable. she slept on top of the center console. i assumed the fetal position in the back seat and had to get up every hour and roll over sara nick and ace to pee outside in the freezing cold. but adventure it was - and we actually slept a good 5 hours and woke up to have a delicious spanish meal. not. drove another 5 hours to madrid. went to the wrong hostel. had an old woman in her leopard print skivvies answer the door and give us a room. crookers was insane. we danced the night away and met them as they were leavin the stage. drove two hours the next day to find spain's first taco bell. sara fell up the stairs and threw our tray of food 6 ft in the air. the usual. the freedom of having a car and being able to drive it wherever you want and stop on whatever random road you want is a beautiful, beautiful thing. 

music's got me feeling so free

"the function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought" 

if thats not true i dont know what is. but then again. is conscious thought always dangerous? ummm we know its not. and if a certain song releases you from your own head then obviously theres something powerful enough about it to be able to do as much as unchain us from our own worst enemy: our mind. so maybe it does release you from the tyranny of conscious thought - but what about unconscious thought? im pretty sure thats where music gets us. it slithers in our ears and into whatever they call that wild part of your brain that does and thinks things without you actually knowing what its doing or thinking and it morphs into something we cant comprehend. an idea or a feeling or something that sounds absolutely insane. and thats the release. a release from ourselves. so consciousness doesnt get the best of us by talking us out of something wild that brews itself up wayyy inside our own useless heads. music is like the drive you have been making everyday for 10 years....that weird feeling you get when you get home and u dont remember driving at all. you dont know how you got to the end or if u ran a red light. you don't even know whats its doing to you until its done. nobody can trace where it happens. thats why we are addicted. 

mississippi moon wont you keep on shinin' on me

just got back from portugal. been there once already and didn't think i could love it more than i already did. lagos is a lazy town and a breeding ground for anyone born to experience endless freedom. people there waste away the days lying on secret beaches and the nights singing in bars that are owned by people who came to lagos and couldn't bring themselves to leave. we rented a car and drove all over southern portugal. lagos. sagres. and portimão. i learned how to drive a manual on strips of deserted portuguese dirt roads. stood on the westernmost point in europe and almost got blown off the top of a cliff. climbed rocks. watched sunsets. drove 110 mph and screamed to oasis - wonderwall. found secret spots where hippies live in their vans with their dogs, drink beer on the cliffs, and listen to the waves crashing as they go to sleep. of coure we stayed at the cock with mama shoving 35 crepes down my mouth. and most of all...didn't want to leave. something about that place just pulls you in. im guessing its the freedom....but that's just a wild guess.