Pages From My Skin

Thursday, April 30, 2009

NICK & SAM GET DEPORTED!!!

After several heated discussions with Ecuadorian Officials, long lines, application fees, and meetings with the US Embassy...Nick & Sam have been denied a renewal for their visa! In other words, they have to leave the country ASAP!!! They have already lost their jobs and have been trying to figure out how to basically NOT get thrown in jail. They recently disappeared to the coast for a few days to hide out and buy time before leaving. They spoke with a lawyer and were told that they may be able to leave quietly by taking a bus to the border and trying to pay the police!!! (SOUNDS CRAZY DOESN'T IT!???

Apparently, the police would rather take $50 of your money directly than $200 (for staying pass the time stamped on your passport) that they have to give to customs. So, we will find out in a few days if they will be alright. They are planning to head to Colombia for the time being until they are able to get new jobs. This whole process has been a mess as we've had to move out of our apartment and find new places to live. I ended up moving in with 2 girls that we met out here in Ecuador. (Long story...) Nonetheless, they are really cool and are actually a couple. Quite the interesting situation for me to be in considering my current circumstances. I will be staying with them until I return back to New York on May 10. They've been real supportive.

Nick and Samantha are going to head to Colombia in a few days...I'm wishing them the best!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

PERFORMING IN MARISCAL!

fascious la estacion south america tour quito

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

MY FAVORITE CHUCK NORRIS JOKES!

I don't know HOW THIS CAME ABOUT!???...but Nick & I suddenly decided to look up Chuck Norris jokes and encountered a bunch that had me rolling. Some of the following were my favorites:

1. Chuck Norris doesn't read books, he stares them down until they give him the information he wants.
2. Chuck Norris counted to infinity...twice.
3. Chuck Norris frequently donates blood to the Red Cross. Just never his own.
4. It takes Chuck Norris 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
5. Chuck Norris always has sex on the first date. Always.
6. Chuck Noris once visited the Virgin Islands. They are now The Islands.
7. Chuck Norris once walked down the street with a massive erection. There we no survivors.
8. Chuck Norris can eat just one Lay's potato chip.
9. Chuck Norris doesn't get wet...water gets Chuck Norris.
10. Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer.
11. Chuck Norris has already been to Mars...that's why there are no signs of life there.
12. If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars...Chuck Norris has more money than you.
13. When Chuck Norris plays Monopoly, it effects the economy.
14. Apple pays Chuck Norris 99 cents every time he listens to a song.
15. Chuck Noris believes it's not butter.
16. What is the quickest way to mans heart? Chuck Norris's fist.

I these jokes are old but if you've got any good ones...please, feel free to comment. They've been making me laugh lately.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

EATING BROWNIES, CHEESECAKE, GLASS, & DOG PISS...

Nick has been raving about his ability to cook this concoction of brownies and cheesecake for weeks now. Everyone has been anxious to try it so several of us met up at a friend's house to bake the goods. (Mainly because we personally don't own an oven where we live). So, after 2 hours of playing jenga and making jokes to pass the time...Nick FINALLY declared success! All we had to do was wait for it to be refrigerated some...HOWEVER, I don't know if his hands grew shakey from losing the first game of jenga but Nick somehow managed to drop the hot glass tray out of the oven...dramatically!

CRASH!!! SPLAT-BANG-CRACK-BAM!!!

It almost looked like an episode from the 1980's Batman series with Adam West where the sounds of hitting "bad guys" flashed all over the screen. At 11:07pm, (hard to forget the time considering we all made bets-The Price is Right style-on when the brownie-cheesecake conconction would be ready to eat....needless to say I won that bet with a guess of 11:06pm exactly) Nick dropped the dessert we had all been so patiently waiting for. It splattered all over the kitchen floor where the dog had just pissed. We all ran to the kitchen to see what happened and hovered around the tragedy with sad faces. After a long silence, one of our friends Daniela pushed through and said, "Alright guys! Get a spoon and dig in!"

Under 'normal' circumstances, you just might deal with your loses and clean up the mess which...I guess technically we did but not with napkins or paper towels. We all grabbed spoons and ate off the floor despite the doggie's mess of piss and scattered tray pieces. I ended up chewing on 5-6 chunks of glass. As I tasted the crunch of hot glass in my mouth, I simply spit it out and kept digging into the gourmet delight.  

"One might say that the brownie-cheesecake was GROUNDBREAKING!"
(Corny joke but when I shouted this out last night with broken glass in my mouth, it was hilarious!)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

ECUADOR VS. BRAZIL

I AM OFFICIALLY A SOCCER FAN!!!

Growing up in New York City, I certainly haven't been exposed to the sport the way I now wish I was. I've only attended two games since living here in Quito...BUT LET ME TELL YOU!!! On March 29th, Nick, Sam & I attended one of Ecuador's biggest games of the year. Apparently, The World Cup only takes place every 4 years (which the next one is scheduled to go down in South Africa...2010! Mess around, you just might find me there!) However, in order to qualify, Ecuador's national team needs to acquire a certain amount of wins during this 4 year span. Who better to go against than Brazil??? With 5 World Cup Championships, they are ranked as #1 in South America and debated as one of the best teams in the world. So, uh, with that noted...we got to see Ecuador go head to head with the big boys on the block and the game was OUTTA THIS WORLD! With over 50,000 people in attendance...the stadium was sold out! I had to pay double price for a scalped ticket and wait 4 hours just to enter the stadium.

Needless to say, we arrived 7 hours early to a mob awaiting the game's commencement. While waiting on line, I painted Nick's face as well as Sam's....as well as my own. After getting a great amount of attention from TV cameras and newspaper reporters...I said to myself, "Hey! Why don't I take this show on the road?" I ended up painting faces at the stadium for over 6 hours and got paid fairly well. I can't front...my designs were pretty dope! I guess you can say that my art was in high demand. In fact, within 2 hours of being interviewed by Ecuador's national press...our faces were on the home page of El Comercio's website and plastered on the actual paper the following day! (El Comercio is Ecuador's largest national newspaper with over 2 million readers daily!) You're more than welcomed to check out the link:

http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_seccion=9&id_noticia=266533

Word! I should be uploading photos on myspace soon. If the link expires...I'll just post a jpeg of the article. In any event, I had an amazing time and met some really cool folks from all over the world. Ecuador dominated the entire game but lost priceless opportunities to score goals. By the time the game was over, Ecuador and Brazil was tied 1-1. NO OVERTIME!!! What a disappointment!? I've always thought that watching 22 men run around for 90 minutes to only end up scoring 1 or 2 points was not the ideal sport for me...but times-are-a-changing! I can finally understand why people are so emotionally involved with the sport. There's nothing like watching a soccer game in person...especially one with so much clout. There was even a bloody 12-13 person brawl that took place right next to us. Pretty crazy but egghhh...after 2 months in South America, I can say that I've seen worst. One more month left til' my return flight to NYC!

INTANGIBLES: I'll be coming home soon...