Reminisce: or don’t..

I woke up feeling like a weirdo.. Seriously just had the coolest/strangest dream…

I was sent back in time 10 years ago with the strength I have and the intelligence I’ve collected — advantaged like Tom Brady.  Then like Nostradamus, I had the ability to predict the future; however, every event and it’s forthcoming was subjective to change depending on how differently I would re-do the moment.  Needless to say, as each year went by I began to go through each monumental event, friend, hot crush, and heart break in my life.  I felt the full range of emotions come over me as the dream became even more real.  I changed everything.. the activities, the schooling efforts, my actions, even how I talked and dressed.  I then woke up in a duality of perspective.  I realized I was still the same person making mistakes.. I wouldn’t have changed my past given the advantages or opportunity.  Why?  Because without that stride through life through those important years of experimenting, the streams wouldn’t have led to one and I would have never come upon living here in Beantown..

You gotta come out here.  These were taken a few weeks ago upon the arrival of Spring:

This was taken from across the Longfellow Bridge.  This kind of dips into South Central Boston, where the best shopping can be had.  This place gives birth to the most glamorous of shoes and the most broken of wallets [speaking for myself].

To be perfectly honest, I don’t actually live in the city of Boston, moreover just across the way from it, in Cambridge.  This picture was taken closer to my neck of the woods.  This is right next to MIT, who houses one of the best Taquerias in all of Boston area: Anna’s.  It’s no Cafe Rio, but it’s the next best thing.

Here’s a glance down the stroll from Boston into Cambridge.  This bridge, in short, is pretty sweet.  It use to be called the Cambridge bridge but later renamed to the Longfellow bridge, named after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a poet.  It was first erected in 1812 but was rebuilt in the early 1900’s.

Here’s a better side profile of the bridge:

This was taken from the Boston side shore line.

Here’s a shot from the flip side (Cambridge going into Boston – Beacon Hill):

This city is so sick.  There’s the skyline for the financial district, where I usually spend most my leisure time when I have my days off.

And here’s my trusted steed, the famous chariot waltzing over the Longfellow.  They call it the Red line:

Skye likes to drop stink bombers on this train.  Not really cool, we all suffer, especially the elderly folk.

So in the heart of Boston lays a pretty cool park called Boston Commons.  It’s the oldest park in the US (1634).  At first it was a place to graze cattle, then it was used for hanging men – gallows were removed later, and now it’s a park with a parking lot underneath it:

Gets a statue for reading?.. Where’s mine for ping pong?

Notice the building in the deep depth of field in this picture.  This is the Massachusetts State House.  It was built on land once owned by John Hancock, who also became Massachusetts first elected governor.  Do you see that gold bling of-a- dome on top?  That’s cash money – $300,000 in 23k gold.  Bling kings.

This is over in the North end, right off the Haymarket stop.  Love this one:

Below me is the Old State House:

Built in 1713, it is the oldest surviving public building in Boston, and the seat of the first elected legislature in the New World – thank you Wiki.

Right across the way from here is the famous Faneuil Hall.  Which happens to be, in my humble opinion, the most enjoyable place in Boston to act a complete fool (and/or tourist).  This is Quincy Market – it’s part of many freedom trail landmarks, with countless shops and restaurants:

Nasty times and memories here.  I’ll spare the details, but let’s just say she was only wearing sandals and baby poop was everywhere.

In the backdrop of the Faneiul Hall you have the famous Marriott Custom House Hotel:

..Which really isn’t famous.  I lied about that.  But the clock is pretty cool and reminds me of the Disney Peter Pan.

Last shot and we’ll end it with a luxury shot of the Cambridge shore to the Charles River:

Life is too short.. forget changing your past, live in the present, look to the future.

Adventure: taking it to the beach

Finding gold in a river bed.  Hitting the state lottery the first time you buy a raffle ticket.  Boston and sunny days.  Having a full fridge of food.  Having a full tank of gas.  Having a day off… are all examples of what I call rare.  Fortunately, sometimes I have see some of these rarities (I’m still waiting on finding my gold and winning the lottery…can’t have it all I guess).  And when I do – I go explore.  Cold, rain, snow, wind, or sunshine;  it’s the only time I get to do anything close to the word discovery.

On this rare day, I decided I wanted to see the ocean.  As like most days, it started with a T Ride:

*That’s me.. in the froth.

Skye, my partner in crime and epic sidekick decided to join the adventure:

*She’s a freakin’ babe.. it’s nice to show her off in public.

I took this guy with a small digital camera, so it’s pretty raw.  I pretty much had all the elements on my side though.. but I love this shot.  It definitely tells you the story of what Boston overcast looks like, which is pretty much all of the time..

 

Anyway.. we got to a new place off the Blue Line called Revere Beach.  It’s pretty cool – makes me really wish for better weather.  Upon getting there I ran into a local, whose accent was probably one of the thickest.. so for fun, I decided to talk to him about life in my best fake Boston accent.  It was humoring, I thought at first he was just a homeless guy with a giddy go-happy personality but it turned out he was a World Class swimmer and had two rings the size of baby carrots on both of his index fingers.  This guy went from homeless kickin-it to ghetto fabulous in one firm handshake.

 

So it’s really cold by the beach.  In most of these coming pictures, you’ll notice my face goes from a sexy rosy cheek red, to a disgusting deep purple.  This beach brings with it some serious wind, and with that, also brings some serious sport.. I give you wind surfing in it’s coldest form:

*This guy is the balls!!

And with tons of wind and bad weather, comes the sea level and it’s many inhabitants catching a good surf.. probably too much surf

CLAMS!!! New England’s reign to glory.  These massive little shelled dudes were all over and still in tact (no cracks).  At home I thought kick the can was fun.. forget that nonsense.  Kick the clam is so much more rewarding.

This place is sweet but the cold really kills the time that you can bear being here.  Just look at my face.. I’m so cold my face has swelled up and I’ve now lost my national identity; just the cold, my girl, and my Asian face.

In the sun [different day] this place is a little more vibrant..

This is right off the Wonderland stop.  To my surprise, it wasn’t so wonderful when we first got off the stop, but a five minute walk later I changed my mind.

This is Cory James Lowe (as legend has it, “K Jam”).  Recently he expressed his feelings of let down because I had failed to include his presence in my blog.  He was right to feel that way.  After all, if it wasn’t for him and his nice gesture of taking Skye and I in when we first got here, we probably would have been reduced to life in the streets, then later mugged, and eventually killed…

Below is Cory, showing the camera his glam and glory..

So we left the beach but our adventures didn’t seem to want to stop.  As prize of crossing the Charles River on the Red Line.. the clouds decided to open up a bit and I stole this frame through my lens and the window to the subway:

Traveled down the road and through the creek and found ourselves outside Harvard.. Here’s a cool shade of the Ivy:

I probably wouldn’t survive a day here.  Anyway so we kept walking through my neighborhood and then we passed our favorite night bar and club:

We just love this place.. great spirits, vibe, and social atmosphere.  It’s a boogie of a time.

It’s rare I blog, but even more rare I have these days off to find adventure.  Having both combined them together has just made history.

Life is too short.. to not call in sick.  Expand, explore.