Thursday, April 29, 2010

Oops my bad.



I clearly didn't miss my calling as an American Ambassador. I found out recently that unbeknownst to me, I've been flipping off tons African locales. It seems the "peace" symbol here doesn't mean peace, it means "go fuck yourself." Whoops. Sorry Africa.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

My wine cellar


I have recently become aware that many of you use my blog as a guide to living your life. Whether it's what beers to drink when traveling or how to sucessfully punch a Great White Shark in the nose, my tips have been the guiding light to many folks. So as a public service to all of my hundreds of readers I will guide you along another potentially confusing road. Wine.

Wine can be difficult for some. What's a good wine? Whats a bad wine? And where can I get it?

Well fear no more my friends. Here's everything you'll ever need to know about wine.

1) wine is good.

2) You should drink alot of it.

3) White wine is for women.

4) Expensive wine isn't always the best.

5) Italian wines are the worst. Followed by French wines.

6) Argentinian Wines are the best. Followed by Australian and some Spanish wines.

Here's a handy dandy list of the only wines you should ever drink. Trust me on this one.

1) Tempus Alba- (Mendoza, Argentina)

2) Molly Dooker- (Adeladie, Australia) Cabernet Savignon

3) Fantail - (Stellenbosch, South Africa) Shiraz

4) R-Renacer - ( Mendoza, Argentina) Malbec blend

5) Postales Del Fin De Mundo - (Mendoza, Argentina) Cabernet Savignon / Malbec

Reece's Awesome Travel Tips #3

(from guest travel tiper Sabrina)

Bring a baggie of your favorite condiment packets from home. When you're on the road for months and ordering off menus you cant read, sometimes you just need a little Tapatio.

Reece's Awesome Travel Tips #2

A coke can can act as a good deterant to pick pockets. Put whatever you're carrying in your pocket first and then cover it with a coke can. It'll be pretty hard for someone to swipe your goods with a Coke can in the way.

Reece's Awesome Travel Tips #1

When traveling through the Garden Route in South Africa, rent a car. Don't take the Baz Bus. It's longer and more expensive than just renting a car. Renting also makes your travel through the Garden Route more flexible.

If I were President


First of all it would be awesome. Second of all I would outlaw the following.

-R&B music made after 1995.

-People on things waving to people who aren't on things. Including but not limited to buses/airplanes/boats/trolley cars/ funiculars
Amendment 1a: If you are a foriegner and a local child waves at you, you may wave back.
Amendment 2r: If a friend waves at you while you are on something, you must withold your wave as to not mislead strangers into thinking you're waving at them.
Footnote 1: You have the right to be angry with your friend for putting you in that
position.

-Jogging in city streets.That is what parks are for.

-Jogging in place at stoplights.

-Traveling with a guitar.

-Traveling while sick.

-Going to work while sick.

-Going to class while sick.

-Pushing an elevator button when someone was already standing at the elevator.

-Pushing the cross walk button more than once while waiting to cross the street.

-Listening to music (without headphones) from your cell phone.

-Stopping to look around at the foot of an escalator.

-Ordering a platter of sizzling Fajitas in a restaurant.

Niceness is pretty nice.

I've tried to write this entry 12 times. Each time I finish, I scrap it because it's not saying what I intended it to say.

The point is simple. I'm learning how to recognize kindness, but for some reason I havent been able to come out and say it...until then..good this might finally go somewhere.

I've read countless times that you can see the acts of God through the kindness people show you, but unless you actively look for it most times it will be missed. I'm learning that you have to be open to it. Use your eyes to really see instead of just look. You would think it would be easy, you would think it would be second nature. Who wouldnt't want to accept kindness from others? But it isn't. Or at least it isn't for me. Maybe that's because I'm American, or maybe it's because I have a difficult time trusting people. Whatever the reason allowing people to be kind to me has been a process.

The good news is I'm learning. I'm looking. And I'm realizing that kindness is exponential. Once you see it, you realize it's all around you and it's been there the whole time. What starts as a good deed from one person, allows you to see the kindess in another. And then another. Soon it seems like everyone you run into wants to help you, then all of the sudden you become the one helping others.

I guess the world is alot like those Magic Eye posters from the 90's. You can spend years staring at it, trying to see the hidden unicorn leaping over the laughing bear and see nothing. Then one day your eyes relax, you begin to see things a little more clearly and BAM there it is, kinidness, in all its unicorn leaping glory.

It's just one of the many things you learn on the road I guess. When you start stripping away all the superficial crap that clouds your daily life. When you open yourself up to people and to experience you learn that God is kind. Really kind. So are the people around you. Both want to be good to you. Both want to help you, and both want to see you happy. The signs of this are everywhere. All you have to do is open your eyes and see whats really around you.

Lights. Camera. Karaoke.

I've finally realized what I was put on this earth to do. Direct karaoke videos. I'm going to buy a video camera as soon as I get back to the States.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Fav Hermanus pics


Sharrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

Fav Stellenbosh pics


Click here for wine and lions...well maybe just wine.

Fav Cape Town pics


Bitches be riches here yo.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Robo shark vs Normal shark


As many of you may or may not know I'm terrified of mechanical sharks. Not mechanical bulls, mechanical sharks. I have no idea where this fear originated from, seeing as how I've never come in contact with a mechanical shark, but Ive always said if I had the choice between diving into a pool with a mechanical shark or a real shark I'll take the real one thank you. Something about the teeth, and the metal, and the wet teeth and wet metal makes my skin crawl. Not to mention the chance of the water I mentioned before seeping into the tiny mechanical brain of the shark and causing it to go ape shit in the water chomping everything in sight. Can a shark even go ape shit, or would it be shark shit?

Anyway I digress, maybe my fear was born from Jaws. That movie was some scary shit. I mean the idea of a shark killing everyone in New York is scary enough, but make that shark a wierd, distorted robot shark, with the paint peeling off the side (sorry Speilberg but its true) and then you have something truly terrifying. I saw a picture once of Steven Speilberg laying in the mouth of the half body robot of Jaws on set of Jaws 1, and I thought to myself 'welp there goes any chance of him directing a Jaws sequel...dudes a gonner.'

So here I am, a guy terrified by mechanical sharks, but at the same time fascinated by real ones. Explain that. I mean I really love them. I thought in college I would be a Marine Biologist and ride sharks all over the ocean, until I found out how much Oceanographers make.

Even though I took a different career path I knew one day a real shark and I would meet. Today was that day.

We traveled to Africa for a lot fo reasons. See new cultures. Expand our boundries. Volunteer, making us feel all squisshy good inside. Most of all though, we came to Africa to dive with Great White sharks. To say I wasn't up all night last night staring at the cieling imagining sharks picking me to pieces would be a lie. This morning I thought I had pissed the bed, but then I realized I was swimming in a pool of my own sweat. Apperently my anxiety medication has no effect on the thoughts of dying by Great White shark.

Like a boy excited for Christmas morning (a Christmas morning where your presents could tear the flesh out of your bones) I leaped out of bed and into the shower. Hopped a transport to Hermanus, and sat. Waiting. For what seemed like an eternity. Pictures of sharks leaping out of the water, rushing towards cages, and doing all sorts of sharky things surrounded me. In my head each shark had a bloody human corpse in its mouth. Nevertheless as soon as the captain said it was time to go I was the first one out the door.

We set sail into the ocean, and it took about 30 minutes to get to the shark area. We joined a handful of boats making a circle. I thought to myself, this must be the location where the sharks are sitting at their shark dining tables waiting for us to jump in. I couldn't help but laugh to myself how stupid the locals must think we are. Paying good money to jump into the water with a known killing machine. White people are dumb I thought, how else could you explain 'Full House.'

After anchoring for a bit folks started gearing up to jump into the water. I wanted to be first in line but I had to tend to Sabrina. She was hanging over the railing, emptying her guts out into the ocean. You see she doesn't do well with boats, and I know this, and I'm a jerk because I made her go anyway. She's a real trooper for putting up with it all. So during this down time I was able to watch the sharks from the boat. They were awesome. They cruised through the water like fighter planes. Unbelievably precise but also incredibly graceful. What suprised me most was they weren't violent. They didnt tear the bait to pieces or dismantle the diving cage. They didnt shoot laser beams out of their eyes, or karate chop the boat in half. They just swam. From time to time they would check out the bait and try to get a nibble, but most of the time they just assesed the situation. You could see them thinking.

Then I got in the cage. The first shark made its pass, I dipped under the water and was absolutely floored. This thing was big. Not as big as in my dreams/nightmares but big enough. It glided back and forth infront of me in absolute silence. I looked at it, it looked at me and we both agreed that while it could slice me in half, today was probably not the day to do that.

For the next hour I bobbed up and down, submerging myself each time a shark came by. Some were bigger than others, some had more teeth, and some had old rusty hooks in their mouths, but all of them were amazing. I could not get over how peaceful the whole thing was. I wasn't scared. I was cold, but not scared. The sharks weren't aggressive. It was clear they wanted nothing to do with me. They barely wanted anything to do with the bait. They just wanted to swim around and check everything out. I'm sure if I was a pirate with beef jerky in my pirate shorts drifting in the sea after my ship sank things might be different, but as things were they were perfect.

I could have stayed watching them until someone dragged my hypothermic body out of the water. It was truly one of the coolest things I've ever done.

On my second pass in the cage, the guys notched it up a level. They kept dragging the tuna bait straight over the top of the cage. That lead the shark, mouth wide open, many times, straight into my face. It was unreal. I could count the teeth on these things. At one point a shark actually misjudged the traget and slammed mouth first into the cage. Directly infront of me. I heard the sharks teeth scrape the metal inches from my nose. I shit you not. But even then it wasn't scary. I knew they werent getting passed the bars so I just enjoyed it all, and tried to not crap in the dive shop's wet suit.

Even though this dive was absolutely incredible, you'll never get my ass in a tank with a mechanical shark. I'd rather chew my own arm off.

Happy birthday to me.