i was getting quite good at this...

... then a redneck stole my phone.

An uncomforting twist of irony.

New york hasn't been bad, i cannot complain, but at this halfway milestone of my trip is see myself pushing my pennies together the wrong side of August 19th... Now this could just be delirious negative thinking toyed with a lack of idea about how many travellers cheques remain at the base of my bunkbed. Since arriving in New York i have found myself gone from being way over budget to sliding slightly under... This city is fucking expensive man!
So since my last post about how financially sound i was a couple of days the stock market could be heading in the other direction...

I probably have my worst case scenario hat on as usual but its time to cut the cords and opting myself out of certain daytime activities. I know i can have fun for free just New York has me in its demograph, and thats just for food transport and nightly entertainment...

If i return minus a limb, know it went for a good cause.

In other news the show tonight was great fun. Gravemaker were your standard hardcore band but still good. The Swellers were very impressive and the music explained for themselves for the recent signing. Fireworks were a bigger dissapointment than new labour coming into power. A fan of the recordings, ep, album... But live these guys were looser than an Essex girl packed full of sambucca and the front guy really failed to pull through in energy and tonality. But Four Year Strong and Set Your Goals saved the day and can always be counted on to delivery a high action powerful performance. The new SYG stuff sounded great live and if your seeing them this August i'm sure you'll agree too!

Hello skyline....

Its been a couple of days in new york and i wouldn't be lying if i said it was as i expected. Its like a glorified london with more hassel, flashing lights and less class. Sure i enjoy the idea of the town and i wouldnt rather be anywhere else right now but this isn't the kind of city i could ever imagine moving to. Its like Miami, if i had a rather large amount of money it would be considered but i wouldnt go there looking for work...oh and its expensive.

Saw the proposal on broadwat last night and now have a massive crush on Sandra Bullock, great. Had lots of fun banter with the guys and girl hanging out till the early hours.

Tonight mark hannah and I are off to Farmingdale for Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong and Fireworks which i'm pretty stoked for but i'm hoping the train is affordable.

In other news Hannahs uncle has booked and paid for our hostel in Toronto, Canada which as you can imagine is the best news to here when you've spent the past hour pondering how New York has put you out of budget... I'm still facing freestyling my way to canada on cheaper buses than paying out right for a train (ever if its on my own) so if that goes to plan i'll feel better about myself.

Warped tour NC!

New york city skyline is in the foreground and it looks overwhelmingly majestic.

Warped tour was pretty incredible and had such a good atmosphere, the occassional rain shower was an inconvinence but hey what can you do, when your out of the UK rain feels better (not...)

This was my little schedule i typed into my phone.
12.15 hit the lights. smart punk
1.15 scary kids. hurley
1.55 less than jake main
2.15 ftsk smart punk
2.55 chiodos main
4.55 oath main
6.15 adaytoremember hurley
7.55 all time low main
8.30 gallows hurly

its all in short hand but it wont take a genius to decipher. Saw some other bands inbetween but retched at the brokencyde audience giving them the time of day... I guess i'll have to wait till maybe chicago to throw piss at them.

Bouncing Souls and Less Than Jake were a pleasing start to the day and provided ample entertainment. When a band forces a fat girl onto stage for yawning during a song to be subjected to ultimate humiliation deserve a trophey (thanks less than jake).

forever the sickest kids were pretty dissapointed, the new song sounded like trashy pop electro. They were choreographed and dressed like last seasons topman advert.

Meg and Dia were a perfect soundtrack to resting, her voice will never cease to enthrall me.

Jefere Star made me want to tear my own skin off but i can't help to admit a liking for 'starstruck'.

Underoath were more impressive that the last time i saw them, i think based on the few hopes i had for them but standard jesus speech aside they played a great set.

A day to remember are failing to surpass me anymore in a live sense. I still really enjoy all their recordings just nothings really new in the past few times i've seen them.

jamie and I headed over to 3oh!3 under the instruction of some girls which was at first a letdown but progressed further on.

finally All Time Low was the last set i caught proving a perfect end to the day. I may well have been the only 20 year old male in a 10 meter radius but they performed effortlessly tight and full of humour! The new stuff is catchy and another good american pop punk album

On route out we caught Gallow's last couple of songs which were being performed in the crowd, no surprise. I felt pain for Frank as im sure his opinion matched mine at the grimmace display of hardcore dancers and metal kids.

Since leaving warped we've been waiting on the most painstaking greyhound service ever. Ill save writing about it because it deosnt really matter. Met some cool guys on the bus and formed our own multi racial united nations... Our first matter of business to attend to will be alcohol and parties when and if they get there asses to london.

I've realised over the past week how little money is needed to enjoy myself. Positive company is basically the lifeline, whether its the people i'm with or people i meet. I was somewhat apprehensive before this trip that i would feel left out to an extent or not be able to get what i want because i don't have the money. I've even sensed a constant guilty desire from some people to hear that i ended up in the deep-end or to admit a fail, regret or 'i wish i...'

Well its nothing like that, im comfortable on still a decent amount of money and having the absolute time of my life without a single frown so far!

A day in the city

Hannah mark and jamie headed off early to willmington, i denied the spare car seat as i couldnt afford to contribute towards car hire, and i wanted to explore charlotte further rather than being embelished by another town.

had an early start and walked countless blocks through town and around the streets i hadnt seen yet, its like every avenue you turn something was hiding all along.

i'm unsure if 'surreal' can describe this but in a small british town scenario i found myself bumping into people in the street who i had only met the previous day, even people waving through windows from cafes or shops who id encountered in their work place still seemed to be inherently friendly.


after all the walking i had a sit down tea and people watched, everyone seemed calm and intentional going about their day (how cliche i know).

i then decided to jump on the first bus that came past got off at central avenue which seemed to be in more of an abundance of indepedent stores, record stores and tattoo parlours than i had seen so far in the town.

this city continues to have me by the ankle, with a day of friends tomorrow and warped tour on thursday there no chance of decline of my hopes of this place!

A city made for me?!

An amazingly fun night out meeting some of the loveliest people north carolina has to offer. Mark got bought a drink by a guy but that balances out the guy who offered to take me out for a drink at breakfast this morning so i guess we're square. I met some sweet girls one inparticular who shares a birthday, shame her ex who was present is a bit of a macho!

possibly heading out to willmington tomorrow if i'm allowed despite my insuficient funds but if thats met with negativity im going to check out some museums and meet some cool people to hangout with who don't have a price! (so i guess that rules out any hookers....)

New plan

I'm staying in Charlotte NC forever. I'll work in the Bank Of America as the token British guy and pay for a girl i don't know to fly out and be my wife and see how it goes from there.

See ya

America tours 2

So its 2a.m. In a lovely days inn motel in charlotte, NC and i cant sleep to save my life.

Its been an interesting past few days visiting the great city of Atlanta. The 16 hour coach journey was a little less strenious as expected thanks to the AC being up on full and every tree on every exit looking the same but for 40 bucks i can't complain.

mark has continued to provide tip top entertainment, hey, about 6 hours ago in a friendly attempt to to say cheers bigears to our afro american cabbie something more along the lines of cheers nigga came out which was great. Not as great as confusing nelson mandela with robert mugarbi but i guess thats another story.

our first experience in atlanta was constant panhandling that was more frustrating than i am in bed after alot of beer, but thankfully it wasn't as disapointing. Our digs were pretty sweet and it had a nice vibe. We all felt dripping shit after sleeping on and off sitting down for 10 hours so try to do as minimal as possible. After a brief rejuvination Mark and I headed down to see the 10 for 10 tour. 10 bucks for Poison the well, bane, madball, terror, this is hell and countless other bands. The venue was a converted mill and absolutely incredible. The walls were dripping with underage girls but none that could hold a conversation past 'im only 8'. I kid... The locals were pretty cool but didnt really seem to know much outside the city. Hannah and Jamie joined us shortly after for an insane night and basically a private show from PTW.

the next day we got down with our touristic roots and headed for the olympic memorial, where little black kids ran around the fountains of water like their forefathers at a taste a freedom. After stopping by the CNN center and a peek in the Braves merch store we walked out with tickets for the next nights game. The night ended with my first illegal beverages courtesy of Mark alongside jamie on our hostel balcony.

the next day was pretty uneventful par mine and hannahs eclectic spaghetti bolognaise. We headed to the ball game through the most surreal part of town that was a little too 'fresh prince gone bad' for my liking. However the seats for the game were prime despite the price and i decided baseball is more boring than what id imagine a wedding to be like. I'll stick to watching pig guts getting kicked about. Still, the braves won so i guess ill support them.

following the game was more my suite, i went to a bar with some irish guys i had met prior, a scott called George and a yankee we coined Hank. We later found out it was a gay bar but it was the closest watering hole in a proximatey of not getting shot and i seemed to get more pats on the arse than requests for ID. Still we seaked solace in the outside area and i ended up very very drunk, for free.

next day i ran out of cheerios and felt like shit. I forced down a complimentary muffin and topped it off with a chilli burger. After a 40 minute walk to a place sposed to be the camden town equivallant of Atlanta we ended up at Little five points. It had a long way to go but i found myself watching a very proud country band with Mark singing about sunday beer in an afro american community fete day... Didnt actually feel too out of place yeah.

Mark and i proceeded westward to stone mountain. It was pretty impressive, hiked to the top and back (1600m above sea level... Is that meant to be good?) and had some crazy girls asking for pictures of us or just listening to our conversations about tea and crumpets... So we went to a tourist attraction and ended up a tourist attraction? Never the less the biggest laser show spectacular in the world was pretty impressive and taught me something about American History but i've forgotten that already...
So a perfect end to an amazing city then onward to charlotte, north carolina.... Only been here 8 hours but with a motel located downtown at the end of the main city street and after eating my first hooters (the resturaunt chain...) its looking pretty good already. Shame its 2.15 and i'm still not tired....

America tours 1

Ok, so i've absolutely neglected blogspot so far, but shouldn't that reflect i'm spending more time out with friends than sat on a computer?

I'm sat in our Miami hotel lobby with my companions Hannah, Mark and Jamie waiting for aint to dry and to board our bus journey for a beautiful 16 hour journey to Atlanta, GA.

So far, in brief, we've made out with dolphins, stroked stingrays and chased sharks, my oceanic excitement is coined from a lack of exciting sea adventures, par treading on a sea urchin at the age of 12. So for myself these experiences were overwhelming

We've met a plethora of cool people, heard lots of enchanting stories and ways from different cultural backgrounds and of course been in near hysterics for some reason every day, whether its Marks ferrari red sunburn, or the time be bought a packet of cigarettes for about a pound on a bus between shanty towns in Belize to find it stuffed with leaves or even a old small black lady (or man) threatening to have it out with Mark if he lied about knowing him?! Long story there obviously, but Mark has thoroughly suceeded in being a non-detremental source of laughter till tears. But i digress, this is all in good spirits.

Our first hour in the states and American Airlines suceeded in losing one of our bags... Guess whos? Marks! He took it in good heart and AA went out of there eay to ensure that Mark and his luggage was reunited a few days later. The highlight of the first night in Miami was watching some pretty cool fireworks explode overhead our motel roof.

The next day we headed southward to Belize City, we spent minimal time in the city for fear of our wallets and anal virginity and headed to the water taxi. Cruising at sea level at 80mph there was a vast range of scenary that someone like myself had never imagined. Our island of Ambergris Caye was absolutely breathtaking. We did the standard jumping off piers, drank some beer and i found a 35 year old attatched to me, she was funny, very drunk though...

The next day we proceeded to shark ray alley, swam among the coral reefs and hired a golf cart. After much persuassion on my part and a very relluctant Hannah, fearing for her life, i washed down a beer and hit the road. I think my arse is still bruised thanks to pot holls in the dirt track but all in all i'm confident that my driving was as gentle as Chris Benoits final bedtime story to his kids.

* * * * * * * * * *

Our next stop was Cancun, Mexico, involving a 12 hour journey on boats, school buses and finally a 'luxury' mexican coach for the remainder of the journey. We met a lovely little Mexican girl who had family in Colchester (small world) and she translated our food requests in Chutem bus stations, resulting in the most stomach wrenching burritos ever, of which i ate 4.

Our first night in Cancun reflected the British impulse of get in, get out, drink. We met a little texan dude called Josh who didn't have a hard time persuading us into joining him to The City nightclubs full moon party, an expensive one but the music was interesting (imagine a Need For Speed Underground soundtrack), the girls were stuck up and the vodka was potent but hey after a dozen of them who gives a fuck about anything anymore? Clearly...
As you in-visioned i found myself passed out on the floor by a taxi rank to my friends despair as police cars roamed freely. None the less a standard Tuesday night out...

Cancun all in all consisted of days on the beach and nights on the roof... I would of liked to have spent more time in bars in the commercial areas but due to immitegating circumstances including a low budget, i'll have save it for a spring break sometime soon.

* * * * * * * * * *

Miami greeted us well and despite our first day here this time is much more like i expected. Our hotel was a dwarf engulfed in massive high rise apartments at a million dollars a pot, our bus was swarmed in a sea of (probably financed) Ferraris, Mustangs and Aston Martins. It was like a real life top trumps set, just the cars werent on cards and i couldnt claim ownership to any of them.

After a satisfying ihop, Jamie, Hannah and I planned a walk down Collins avenue. 90 minutes later still deep in conversation we discovered the lights and legs of downtown, it was pretty much as i expected it...just why was every group of girls sub 14 and all the older girls taken? Its a strange contrast to being bought up in a much lesser matrialistic enviroment to a place where a guys game was based on his wallet...not my scene!

South beach the next day was a similar story but i enjoyed another day of trawling through the water with Jamie talking about whatever it is we find so much time to talk about, either bystanders body language or a possible get rich plan. I must stress, the priority for getting rich is how to pay our Septembers rent, somehow, someway!

That night we went to the cinema and saw Borat, which if you've seen already i not need comment... And isn't it weird how everyone claps at the end of the film?!

So now i think thats me entirely caught up to any lesser extent. Thank you blogspot for the self indulgent time spent on this until my 16 hour bus journey. I'm relying on Stanlivanski and Bandler to stop hours seeming like days!

Surveying the wreckage (death count unknown)

After a ridiculous night of friends, music and Morrison's larger antics i find myself sat at a computer in attempt to do anything but my to-do list.

Dan's to-do list:
Tidy up.
Apologise to next door again for the fact someone took their marijuana plant.
Eat more.
Dummy pack for the states.
Studio.

Some of them are more important than others, like eating, per se.

My flat is absolutely trashed, i smashed my watch, favorite tea cup, there's a baby car seat at the bottom of my stairs (the only baby related thing I'd like to see on my doorstep for the foreseeable future cheers).

My neighbours poorly maintained murijuana plant was thieved, it was far from smokeable. I'm blaming the guys from Blakfish based on Rich's dreadlocks- i am the king of generalisation.

My stomach is now making awful awful noises, i dread to think what goes into Morrisons' larger... tramp piss and discharge from a hookers panties? I think so. And if any of you know me that well you'd probably expect me to be somewhat aroused by a hookers discharge, let's be honest....

Spending 6 weeks abroad with 2 t-shirts, a pair of jeans and some shorts is stilll on the cards, i just need to maximise space in my bag type thing.
This is vital so that Hannah
a) doesn't reprimand me with 'I tol d'ya so.
and
b) stops acting like my Mum.

Studio tonight, so so keen. We're already your favourite band, you just don't know it yet.

Popping my blog cherry?

Does everyone refer to a first blog post on here in parallel to the first MySpace comment on a friends profile we used to hold so graciously?

Whether that's the case or not, but i'm bringing it back.

Thought Of The Day:
Forces and mind-sets like frustrations and fear are like diseases. They manifest inside our minds repetitively cycling endlessly around thoughts that are useless and draining.

This idea was a big player when kicking anxiety out of my body just over a year ago. The fact i couldn't walk with my girlfriend (at the time) to a bus station and spend the day in one of my most favorite towns in Bucks is such a waste?! Instead of coining a nice day, a good moment, it was wasted and replaced with negative energy.

Looking into statements like my thought of the day allow a reflection into dropping self indulgence for a sense of self. Given a choice between fear and becoming at ease with reality.... it's a no-brainer.

Anyway, 21 days till my big trip and i'm almost finding my excitement leads me to be acrimonious to my current place, state and routine.

Second Thought Of The Day:
Fuck Routine.