Home again

Its been a while since I posted anything on here. When I last posted, I was living in South Africa, now I am back home in Nashville.

I came back early because the company I was working for in South Africa is moving to the US. So I came home on april 4th instead of sometime in September as I had planned. I decided to not tell anyone that I was coming home and just surprise my friends. It was so much fun to see the looks on everyones faces when I walked up and said hi.

Now I have been back for almost two weeks. Things are starting to settle down and I am starting to forget that I ever left. Obviously some things are different that they were when I left. But not much.

I am happy to be home. I would say that coming home has been sweet, but there is a little sour. You cant have the sweet without the sour I guess.

This will be a good year, I love you all.

-Ryan

I Wanna Be Sedated

This is how I feel right now:

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no oh oh oh oh

I've changed my name so often, I've lost my wife and children.

I have been thinking lately and I have come to the conclusion that when I get home, for a time, I will wander the land. I figure that I will pack some clothes and some other necessities in a backpack and walk around Nashville. Hopefully bumping into people I love along the way. I will sleep where kind souls take me in or where I decide to lay my head. I am pretty excited about it.

It takes two when it used to take one.

I had a very interesting easter weekend in Pretoria, I got to see an old friend, share a cabin with an interesting new friend and risk my life twice on the N1.

I got up on Friday, packed a couple days clothes in a backpack, got on my scooter, took my life in my hands and drove 40kms on a road no scooter belongs. The N1. The N1 is basically the big highway that runs from Johannesburg to Pretoria. The average speed limit is about 100 kph. My scooter tops at 75. The whole adventure was made even more shit-yourself-scary by the asshole South African drivers. They play this fun game called "Almost Kill The Guy On The Scooter". These are the rules:

I'm "it", so my ass is in the slow lane going slow and basically all the players drive past as fast as they can, half-way in my lane, as close as they can. the goal is to get as close as you can without actually killing the guy on the scooter. "Almost Kill The Guy On The Scooter" is not a fun game to play when you have to be The Guy On The Scooter.

So I survive the game and arrive in Pretoria where I am meeting up with an old friend that happens to be in South Africa with me. It was so cool seeing a fellow Nashvillian so far from home. It made me feel alright. Basically we spent the weekend doing nothing but walking around a big mall and shopping. It was comfortably boring (in a good way).

The place that I stayed for two nights is called a Backpackers. They have them all over down here. Basically you pay 100 rand a night ($13 basically) and you get a bed in a cabin, electricity, a bathroom with a shower you can use, and breakfast in the morning. its badass. The one thing is that you are commonly put in a room with a complete stranger. Luckly for me, I got the coolest roommate ever. His name was Ielsa and he was from Martinique, its a Caribbean Island that is technically part of France. He is an Acrobat, a Magician, and a Theater Actor in the French Circus. He got the offer to come to South Africa to get the SA Circus in shape for the World Cup. He is learning English from a small English to French dictionary he calls his "Bible" and at night he reads a 6th grade reading book called "Reading is an Adventure" from 1968. He is a pretty sweet dude, he showed me some magic tricks and told me some pretty sweet stories from the French Circus.

all in all it was a badass weekend. I even survived the return home round of "Almost Kill The Guy On The Scooter".

This is where I live.

last night...

Last night I had the stupidest idea that has ever popped into my head. I figured I was going to see how much I can drink till I loose it. I am talking about drinking till I puke.

So i did. it was terrible.

Now I am sitting here, regretting my dumb ass and realizing how utterly shitty I feel. I just smoked a cigarette, that was stupid decision number 2. Now I am seeing spots and my head is spinning. The only thing I want in this whole entire world is Vitamin Water and it dosnt exist down here.

I am an idiot.

Senorita

I got the girl skull done, well, kinda. I don't want her to have the razor blades, I am thinking more of having her weapon of choice being a pair of pistolas. I just put the razors there temporarily till I can draw some sweet guns.

New Tattoo

I have lots of free time here, so I am working on Guy and Girl Mexican Skull tattoos. They have a little bit of rockabilly flavor added. as you can tell by Dudes sweet Pompadour. Whaddayathink?