________  ________  ________
   2018-04-23                                   /        \/        \/    /   \
                                               /       __/         /_       _/
   What up! It ya boy, broadcastin' from the  /        _/         /         /
land of the free.                             \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
                                                /        \/        \/    /   \
   Have been up here for almost a week, just   /        _/         /_       _/
chilling out and I'm already bored. I really  /-        /        _/         /
don't do  downtime  well, doubly so when I'm  \________/\________/\___/____/
out of my comfort zone. At least this time I
have  a computer,  last time I was up here I  didn't bring a rig with me which
was a very silly mistake haha.

   The flight  wasn't  too  bad, we flew Air New Zealand and they were  really
good, I'd definitely recommend them. The food was surprisingly  good and their
service was really  pleasant.  Also the route from MEL to AKL to SFO was nice,
brought the  long leg  of the flight  down to about 10 hours which  was pretty
pleasant, and AKL airport  was nice. SFO was about what  you'd  expect, it was
slightly better than  LAX but  United States  border  security  is  always  an
unpleasant experience, there's not much you can do about it  I  guess. A while
back I came in via Vancouver which was  probably the best US border experience
I've had but adds at least an extra hour on to that flight.

   I'm thinking next time  of trying to get a flight from  Australia to Hawaii
and entering that way; maybe it'll be less of a pain? At the very least it's a
break in the middle of the route so should be nice to get out of the plane and
stretch  our legs  at the 10  hour mark. Or, even better, stay in Hawaii for a
few nights before flying on.

   Anyway, I've been eating shit for like a week and loving it.  American food
is the  worst but also the best. Stuff is  more expensive than last time I was
here  though  which  sucks  a bit but  it is what  it  is. Have caught up with
friends and family and it's all  pretty chill, not doing much touristy things,
at  least not yet. Our friends here really  are the best, they're my partner's
friends from her school days but I love  hanging  with them. I felt like a bit
of a pill the first time we were out though, I dunno, I just  had real trouble
punching through anxiety and just ended up real quiet.

   Family  has been good too,  they're  kind of  high stress  but  not  in any
unusual way, they're just people living their lives and I'm a person who likes
to  hide  in bed.  I think I'm having  a  bit of  trouble letting go of stress
because I'm also off the codeine since getting here.

   It is what it is I guess.

   I'm  also really struggling with "Washington Time". Everyone just  gets out
of  bed whenever,  does things whenever, it's so casual and it drives me  nuts
hahaha. If I've got shit to do I'm up at the crack of dawn, everything planned
out and ready to go. Having  to learn  how to "whenever"  is proving difficult
haha.

   I've been watching a lot  of TV  and  it's  hilarious, it's  such  garbage,
especially news and current affairs shows. Who believes this shit? Wow.

   I've got some fun stuff  to do around the end  of this week so  I'll update
y'all on that. Stay tuned, sports fans.



EOF