Why I should have listened to my mother

And purchased travel insurance...

Swapping Brand Strategy for a Bunk Bed

Prompted by a steadily declining bank account and a desire to stay in San Francisco as long as possible (before my illegal Mexican immigrant status kicks in), I proposed to the delightful hostel I was staying in that they might give me my bed for free if I re-brand them.

They agreed.

It's called The Green Tortoise. And it's fantastic.



It also happens to be right next door to all the strip clubs, which makes it twice as rad.



My desk is sometimes my bed:






And sometimes the ballroom:



And yes, that IS Larry Flynt's HUSTLER CLUB out my window...



Either way, it's making for very interesting results...and MASSIVE procrastination with a piano, guitar and strip clubs out the window.

Still a work in progress...

When Hostel Room Mates Attack.

You do not want to see the basin where she shaved her head just now. That's right, SHE!! The joy of sharing...

Hair Today...Gone Tomorrow

I had a lot of hair once.



Quite coincidentally it left me looking a lot like a certain hero of mine...



But traveling will do that to you I guess. If I could have grown a beard, I'm sure the nomad in me would have done so.

I then went for a shorter look, via a "free trainee cut at Toni&Guy" disaster, which still left me with a mop of atrociousness.

Figure A:



...which still quite coincidentally still looked like Taylor Hanson...



Quite simply, it was time to re-brand.
A timely relationship shift prompted the early change.

My only requirement was that my hair was be cut by a Gay Man.
A very gay man. The search was a lot harder than first anticipated.

Finally, I figured that a gay salon in a gay part of town (Castro) in the gayest city on earth (San Francisco) was a safe bet.

I was right.

The transformation:









...Complete.

SKATING = DEATH

In 1996, a terrible thing happened.



I made the Australian Athletics U13 Team, and consequently acquired THE FEAR. We were told "your body is your path to success. Don't break it. Get off your trampolines. Get off your skateboards. Athletics Australia needs you and your un-broken body".

So I stopped skating.
In fact I stopped everything.
I stopped riding my bike fast.
I stopped eating dodgy Chinese meals.
I stopped jaywalking.
I stopped skipping.
I mean really. I stopped skipping (higher potential for ankle injury).

So it has always been a life list dream to get back on the skateboard. The only problem is that I think SKATEBOARD = DEATH.

Trying to overcome this, I headed to VENICE BEACH to assure myself that the kids weren't dying from skating...