I WANT A TATOO

... the only reason why yesterday I didn't had a tatoo done ... is because I understood ... this is what happens when you don't pay for your tatoo ...... and I was not sure if I had enough money on my credit card ... and you know ... you don't really want to take any extra risk with these guys ...... I guess you are wondering where the hell I ended up yesterday ... right!? ... OK ... I read about it on an Italian paper on internet ... the article was about a WORLD WIDE FAMOUS TATOO CONVENTION in US ... of course ... the first thing that I though has been ... mmmm ... it must be in LA ... adnd in fact it was ... more precisely it was in HOLLYWOOD ... I was in one of the coolest convention I have even been ... the tatoo and body art convention ... INKSLINGERS BALL ... that every year is held in HOLLYWOOD, CA ... really a cool one ... one of the most interesting things I have ever seen in years ... at the begin I felt a kind of strange ... I wasn't sure if I could take pisctures or not ... but after few minutes ... I understood that, of course, it is all abou showing off your tatoo ... this is for example the line that I found going to the restroom ... pretty unique ... I would say ...... the tatoo that these guys were having were really incredible pieces of art ... the one that I like the most were probably the wings of this girl ... beatiful back and beatiful idea ... and beatiful begin ... of course the work is not done yet ... she will need some more sessions ... and some good color to finish it ... and these are the colors they were selling yesterday at the convention ......but I am pretty sure that the work will be just great ... here some of the incredible works I was lucky enough to see yesterday ... really amazing ... starting from one of my favorite character ... Don Quixote ...
... here a guy ... who is warning everybody ... not to trust anybody ... probably a little bit paranoic ... but you know ... this is a free country ...... OK ... the next three ... were a little bit too much in my opinion ... but again ... I guess their owners just love them ... look how they like to show them ...... and of course ... because this was a convention ... we had plenty of artists ... lot of people got their tatoo done there ... this guy had 4 artists working on his back ... really a show in the show ...... I am telling you ... it was really an incredible experience ... I have never seen anything like this ... I was really super excited ... and at the end I was pretty sure I wanted a tatoo ... when I mentioned it to LEIF ... he reminded me we had to go to Justin's BBQ ... but definitely ... I am going to have one soon ... I was thinking something like a quote that I love ... that it is meaninful to me ... about traveling ... I don't know exactly what ... I have to think about it ... but not too much ... overwhise I will never do it ... :D

OKTOBERFEST in LA

... our Saturday ended like we feared ... in our porch ... completely hammered ... after the evening at the local version of the OKTOBER FEST ... LEIF who wasn't very sober either ... took some pictures of me sleeping on the porch ...

... and this one of JASON ... when he came back from his boogie nite ... and apparently didn't remember anymore the way to the restoroom ...

... how we get there has basically only one word explanation ... BEER ... too much beer ... LEIF, DANIEL and I went to the OKTOBER FEST here in Torrance, CA ... not very far from our place ... it was a funny nite ... we go there every year ... the same stuff all the time ... a band playing Oktoberfest music ...

... not only on the stage but also on the tables ...... not sure what he meant with this sign ...... funny German people dressed when even funnier traditional dresses ...... sausages, sauer kraut, beer ... of course ... very good German beer ...... and here I am drinking some beer ...... OK ... come on ... we are at the Oktoberfest ... Daniel, get some more beer ... ... this is really the last one ... here you go ...

... some dancing ... some more beer ... and there you go .. you get at the end of the nite completely drunk ... probably we should have done like this girl milking the cow ... and drink the milk ...

... next time ... :D

BULBS YARD SALE

... this is the way it ended today ... when ... after we removed all the old bulbs from our home ... and we didn't know anymore what to do with them ...... I proposed to make a YARD SALE to sell them ... :D ... if you are interested we will let you know when the big event will take place ... :O ... and now I guess you wonna know why we did it ... :D ... OK ... the way everything started was with the last electricity bill ... $95 ... we decided that it was a little bit too much ... we are not sure why it did happen ... normally we get less than $50 ... we decided ... mmm ... actually ... LEIF, my roomie, decided ... that we had to change all the bulbs in the house ... we had to go for energy saving bulbs ... so ... today he got into his car ... he drove to IKEA ... which is apparently the only place in LA ... 18 million souls city ... where they sell these bulbs ... and he got a bunch of them ...... and we changed them ... one by one ... I hope they will help ... I have my doubts ... I think last month we forgot something on forever ... anyways I think it is a good thing that we are trying to save energy ... until we will continue to burn oil, coal, natural gas to get our electricity ... all of us should be a little bit more concerned of the way we waste energy ... everybody are wasting too much of it ... and one day ... hopefully not too soon ... the resources of energy will finish ... and not even the energy saving bulbs will help us ... :(

FLYING in a BOEING 777 COCKPIT

Like a small dream ... a nice dream ... it did happen ... I did fly in a cockpit of a commerical flight ... in the flight UNITED AIRLINES 359 ... on my way from DALLAS to LA ... the airplane was a BOEING 777 ... ... mmmmm ... actually I didn't phisically go there ... but the pilot did one of the coolest thing I have ever seen in a commercial flight ... he diverted the FLIGHT - TOWER radio to one of the channels available to the passengers ... really cool ... after Septmber 11 ... I didn't think anythinglike this could happen .... the flight was really interesting ... probably the coolest I ever had ... we passed thru the TOWER of Dallas ... Albuquerque ... Phoenix ... SoCal (Southern California) and LA ... at the begin I didn't understand anyhing of what was going on ... but after few minutes I kind of understood the dictionary ... and I learned a lot of things ... like that not all the planes are using the same radio frequency ... but few of them ... I guess 6 - 10 of them ... they really say ROGER when they close a communication ... and if a plane finds a choppy route ... the pilot asks to go lower or upper ... and most of the time ... the tower doesn't really have a clue if routes above and below are choppy or not ... and in the communications they repeat the numbers of channels, routes at least 2 times to be sure they got it right ... and the speed approaching the airport is between 220 and 300 knots ... at least this is what they used yesterday ... yesterday approaching the LAX an other flight has medical emergency ... was the flight UNITED 77 ... the TOWER gave priority to the flight ... really a cool experience. The funniest conversation was definitely the one of a AMERICAN AIRLINE flight on the ground in DALLAS ... the tower gave the runway code ... and the pilot didn't get it ... the tower repeated ... the pilot didn't get it again ... so the tower told to the pilot something like "go straight and turn right at the second" runway ...

I BOUGHT THE TICKET

EUROPE ... last time that I have been back in Europe was 2004 ... May 2004 ... mmmm ... two and half years ago ... I missed ... and I didn't realize it until today ... in the moment I bought the ticket I felt really happy ... I am going back to Europe for 17 days ... from October 7th to the 23rd ... and I am really excited ... I will fly to MILAN thru LONDON ... I will spend some days in ITALY ... 6 days in BARCELONA to visit the city and a couple of friends living there ... few days again in ITALY ... and bang ... back to LA thru LONDON ... something like this ...... mmmm ... I can't wait ... I have lined up all the things I want to do ... get a GOOD MEAL COOKED BY MY MOM ... see MY FRIENDS ... go to eat a good PIZZA ... go to watch an ITALIAN MOVIE in a movie theatre ... go running in the old town of BERGAMO ... get a real ICE CREAM ... ride my grandpa 1968 VESPA ... go to visit my relatives ... my GRANDPARENTS ... go to watch an SERIE A SOCCER MATCH ... I have already planned for that ... I will go to watch my team ... ATALANTA BERGAMO ... and after that I will go to visit my old colleagues in MILAN ... and after that ... BARCELONA ... I can't wait even for that ... I never visited BARCELONA ... but everybody are telling me it is gorgeous ... I will spend there 6 days .... and I am lucky enough to have two friends living there ... I am sure they will help me to find the best places ... I didn't buy yet the BARCELONA travel bookguide ... but I think I will do it tomorrow on AMAZON.COM ... mmmm ... like a friend of mine is used to say ... when you travel ... half of the fun is planning the trip itself ...

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM

... DALLAS like many other boring places has an incredible advantage ... it makes me day dream ... especially when I am driving around ... it happened again today ... I was driving ... and I pulled out of my bag one of the CD I carried in this trip ... AMANDLA ... I am not sure if you know it ... it is the soundtrack of the movie ... it is SOUTH AFRICAN ... and AMANDLA is a Xhosa (i.e. one of the 11 official South African languages) word for "power" that can be translated also in ... POWER TO THE PEOPLE ... and the movie is about the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa ... the peculiar thing about the movie is that ... it is not focused on politicians, activists, or martyrs ... but rather on music that made the anti-apartheid fight unstoppable ... in a country where if you were raising your head that say simple words like ... FREEDOM ... EQUALITY ... DEMOCRACY ... you were outlaw ... music was the only mean to fight against the craziness of the apatheid ... and believe me ... I was listening to this CD ... and I realized once again ... how much I love SOUTH AFRICA ... and NELSON MANDELA ... and what they rappresent ... this CD is absolutely stunning ... the music is incredible ... and the message it carries is wonderful ... I have been lucky enough to visit South Africa last year ... and everytime I listen to this CD ... like today ... I am day dreaming ... Cape Town ... Robben Island ... Johannesburg ... Soweto ... all the places where generations of South African had been denied their freedom ... the incredible struggle of this incredible people ... and on top of everybody ... like a real king ... one of the richest and finest and honest souls that our planet has seen ... NELSON MANDELA ... a person who should never die ... if you can ... get this CD ... and if you haven't been yet to South Africa ... start saving money ... to go there as soon as you can ... you will love it ... and when you will be back ... you will love this CD even more ... and you will understand how powerfull is a simple word like FREEDOM is ... FREEEEEEEEEEEDOM ... if you were born in a free country, like me, probably you can't appreciate the power of words like FREEDOM, EQUALITY, DEMOCRACY ... but if you will go to SOUTH AFRICA and you will be interested a little in what happened there ... you will understand how lucky we are ...

WALKING THE EARTH

In Dallas phisically ... but ... of course ... with my mind somewhere else ... I am planning my vacations for the last few months of 2006 ... backpacking vacations ... and of course I am day dreaming ... so ... the latest plan is this .... ITALY for 5 days, BARCELONA for 5 days, perhaps GERMANY, and CHILE for 3-4 weeks with a short trip to the EASTERN ISLAND ... and while I am dreaming ... this picture of me popped in my mind ... it is a picture taken last year in the ANTROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM of MEXICO CITY ...... and this is the exactly the way I see myself ... not very different from my ancestors ... who were moving free to move on this planet ... without borders ... without VISA ... without fences ... without walls ... I really see myself just like a guest on this planet ... and my ideal life is ... roaming around ... discovering new places ... enjoying my short life doing what I like the most ... meeting new people ... get into adventures ... hugging my friends ... telling them how much I love them ... making new friends ... yelling to the people I dislike ... trying to fight dishonest people ... telling exactly what I am thinking ... even if I have in front of me a CEO or a PRESIDENT ... making fun of myself and the people around me ... telling jokes that not everybody understand ... in one simple sentence ... WALK THE EARTH ... and of course my perfect buddy is JULES ... from PULP FICTION ... here one of the best dialogues ... VINCENT: So if you're quitting the life, what'll you do? JULES: That's what I've been sitting here contemplating. First, I'm gonna deliver this case to Marsellus. Then, basically, I'm gonna walk the earth. VINCENT: What do you mean, walk the earth? JULES: You know, like Caine in "KUNG FU". Just walk from town to town, meet people, get in adventures. VINCENT: How long do you intend to walk the earth? JULES: Until God puts me where he want me to VINCENT: What if he never does? JULES: If it takes forever, I'll wait forever. VINCENT: So you decided to be a bum? JULES: I'll just be Jules, Vincent – no more, no less. VINCENT: No Jules, you're gonna be like those pieces of shit out there who beg for change. They walk around like a bunch of fuckin' zombies, they sleep in garbage bins, they eat what I throw away, and dogs piss on 'em. They go a word for 'em, they're called bums. And without a job, residence, or legal tender, that's what you're gonna be – a fuckin' bum! JULES Look my friend, this is just where me and you differ. VINCENT: What happened was peculiar – no doubt about it – but it wasn't watet into wine. JULES: All shapes and sizes, Vince. VINCENT: Stop fuckin' talkin' like that! JULES: If you find my answers frightening, Vincent, you should cease askin' scary questions. VINCENT: I gotta take a shit. To be continued.

FLYING ON 9/11

FLYING ON SEPTEMBER 11 ... I had to do it today ... 5 years after that September 11 ... between LAX (i.e. LA) and DFW (i.e. Dallas) ... I left LA few minutes after midnight and landed in the BIG D at 5 AM local time ... and this is the carousel with my luggage, the one full of stickes in the picture ...... and while I was waiting I was thinking a couple of questions ... WHAT IF?!? ... and at the same time ... WHY?!? ... I guess I don't have any wise answer ...

MOVE MOVE MOVE!

MOVE MOVE MOVE ... AND MOVE AGAIN ... this is what America is all about ... I have never seen so many people cris crossing a country like in US ... everybody move ... when I meet a new person one of my questions is always ... where are you originally from? ... fascinating ... especially if you live in big cities ... I lived in SEATTLE, WA and now down here in LOS ANGELES, CA ... and I have rarely met a person born, raised and living in the same place ... today was YANN moment to move ... problems with his roomies ... that sucks ... roomies are not always good ones ... and if you want a suggestion ... avoid to have roomies of the other sex ... can be cool as idea ... but at the end stinks ... I mean ... doesn't necessarily sucks all the time ... but you are easily going to have problems with roomies if they are of the other sex ... anyways ... today was YANN moment to move ...we did help him ... Leif, as a good German, took it very seriously ... and he showed up ... dressed up like a professional mover ... he claimed that when you involve a GERMAN you can only expect 100% COMMITMENT ... of course ... because I am ITALIAN ... I wear flip flop and short pants ... we went to rent a U-HAUL truck ... a kind of icon for whoever wants to move in US ... you rent ... you move .. you return it ... the one that we got today was not particularly new ... here is YANN complaining about the front BUMPER ...

... but at least it had all the possible warnings on the dashboard ...

... and here some pictures of the moving itself ... and of course LEIF was the absolute showman there ...

... here is when he found a sword that YANN won in a fencing contest here in US ... kind of MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE position ...

... here is YANN finally smiling ... closing for the last time the door of the garage ... a chapter is closed and a new one opens ...

... and here the moving in .. in the new place ... still in HERMOSA ... but more towards MANHATTAN ... but really with a gorgeous view from the roof deck ...

... and here is LEIF after a beer ... getting a ride like he was in a CABLE CAR in SAN FRANCISCO ...

... and here the last piece of LEIF show ... really a funny roomie ... I can't really ask for anything more than this ...

... the moving was fun ... but I am tired now ... :o

ONE CHICK & EIGHT DOGS

... AMERICA ... AMERICA ... this is the country where if you are lucky you can make tons of money ... and the country where you can find a job that fits your skills and your needs ... every single day .... you won't become necessary rich ... but you will find a job ... here in US, for example, is where I learned there is a job called DOG SITTER ... and this morning coming back from my breakfast at the Pier ... I found the perfect subject for a picture in order to describe the job ...... I guess she has those huge headsets to avoid to listen the continuous bark of the dogs ...

I GOT MY NEW CAMERA!!!

Today I got the new camera ... bought it on AMAZON on Sunday and delivered to my door today ... and I have to tell you ... it is totally totally cool ... it is the CANON SD630 ... really slim ... 6MPixel ... and ... a huge screen ... 3 inches ... almost intimitading ... and apparently the picture quality is pretty good ... obviously I am having some difficulties to take a picture of the camera itself ... so ... here it is a picture I downloaded from internet ... and this the first picture that I took today ... MIKI in his new MUSTANG ... I can't believe he bought it in COSTCO (i.e. for the non American ... COSTCO is a big warehouse chain) ... anyways ... here is the first picture ... everything in AUTOMATIC mode ...

... honestly ... I hope I will manage to make better pictures than this ... and I hope I won't forget this camera in a coffee shop like my beloved CANON A510 ... what a pity that I lost it ... but I needed anyways a new one ... you know ... I am planning some serious trip before the end of the year ... and I don't want to have the camera dying on me in the middle of a trip ... :o

DESIRE

Just read ... and I already love it ... "Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete" ... and apparently is by the American jockey, Willie Shoemaker ... I think it kind of fits my dream to run a marathon ... :D

TRAINING FOR THE MARATHON

... the last watch that I owned was purchased for $2.5 in Bangkok, Thailand ... back in 2004 ... pretty cool ... all plastic and fancy colors ... very similar to a SWATCH ... but not a fake version of it ... I think I bought it more for fun than for a real need ... I am not sure if you like watches ... personally ... I don't ... I don't like them ... I feel too much pressure ... probably I am lucky enough that nobody complains anymore if I get late to meetings ... they got used to it ... so for me buying a watch last week has been a big decision ... but I had the right one ... discounted ... only $49 ... pretty cool ... the brand is SMART HEALTH ... it measures also the HEARTH RATE and BLOOD PRESSURE ... I use it only when I am running ... and I have to say that it is giving me good news ... on Monday I found out that I was able to run 4.5 miles in 45 minutes and today in 43 minutes ... probably still slow if I want to do a decent MARATHON ... but I have time to work out ... exactly 26 weeks ... and on internet I found a 26 weeks program to train for a marathon ... try it ... you can just GOOGLE ... MARATHON TRAINING ... incredible INTERNET ... :o ... I just hope that I will manage to keep up with the training and run the March 2007 LA Marathon ... I just want to run one marathon ... only one ... just to demonstrate to myself that I can do it ... :D

ROOMMATES

... I LOVE MY ROOMMATES ... every single day I realize how lucky I am to have them ... probably strange to most of you ... but true ... I LOVE THEM ... and I still remember when back in October 2003 ... mmmm, almost 3 years ... :D ... anyways when ... I told to my friends and relatives that I was going to live with roomates here in LA ... the most common reaction was ... aren't they paying you enough in US!?!? ... why are you getting roommates!?!? ... are you sure you want to do that!?!? ... straight question ... I guess my answer has been ... something like ... mmmm ... yep, they pay me ... but I prefer to see people when I am going home ... rather than watching TV ... and of course you can save some money ... but not really something that can change your life ... but really having roomies ... is one of the best things that happened to me here in US ... the one I lived the most are JAKE, LEIF, JASON ... absolutely the best ... really like a family for me ... but sometimes things get really funny ... let's immagine for example when you are trying to convince your German roomie to remove his sh*t from the restroom ... and he can't do it ... because he is busy playing videogames ... :D ...... or when he steps into your room at 3AM ... completely drunk ... switching on the light ... and thinking that it is the restroom ... without, of course, having any memory of it the morning after ... claiming that you were the one drunk ... dreaming about people stepping into the room... whatever ... :o

FIXING THE SURFBOARD

... my LONG SURFBOARD has been KIDNAPPED ... basically I bring it to repair 6 weeks ago ... after I cracked it ... and I cut my leg as well ... for a work that was supposed to take 2 weeks and it is not ready yet ... the guys in the shop are telling me stories forever ... that the glass shop has problems and bla bla bla ... so after arguing for less than a minute I understood I had nothing to do ... I will have to wait 1 more week and hope to have it back ... in the meantime ... I tried the supershortboard I have ... it is 6.1 ... and I am 6.1 ... so it is reaaaaaaly difficult to ride ... I tried but with horrible results ... I think didn't manage to ride any wave in the entire morning ... I kept keeping my body backward ... like in a longboard ... ggggrrrrr .... it was like running with sandals ... really frustrating ...... I got home more frustrated than ever ... I decided to fix the old 7.1 board that JAKE left on his way to CHINA ... actually the overall process has been pretty cool ... and also the result ... here some picture ...... honestly ... today I had more fun fixing the old board ... rather than surfing ... :D

FIESTA HERMOSA

... this is the LABOUR DAY WEEKEND here in US ... and in HERMOSA we had the world wide famous famous (!!!) FIESTA HERMOSA ...

... really cool ... looks like a typical European village fair ... a little bit too crowded for me, though ...