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26 June 2009 - Rest in peace Michael you are a remarkable piece of history, I will always remember you - Yesterday, something truly sad happened: Michael Jackson suddenly passed away. I couldn't believe it when i saw the breaking news coming up as he was due to hold the last concert tour in London during July. To me he was more than an artist, more than a musician, more than a composer, more than an actor, more than a dancer, more than a singer. He has always been present among my first music cassette collection back in the 90, then on cd and now on mp3. My "thriller" guy, my "bad" guy,.. what can I say, I am still utterly speechless, you have been my singer-companion in my walkman, my favorite star on video; your dance style was absolutely amazing and your melodies outstanding. Nobody can ever copy your style, as it was a unique pearl in this fucked up world. You made people dreaming, you made people fainting at your concerts, you made people happy to have you around and now that you're gone your making people so so sad. Yes, you really made the difference in many people lives. I respect you. Shit, man, I can't believe it...it cant be true...Your last concert could have been one of the biggest event in the show business..YOU WERE A LIVING LEGEND. NO MATTER WHERE I WENT DURING MY TRAVELS, EVERYBODY KNEW YOU. E.V.E.R.Y.B.O.D.Y. IN EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY ON THIS SHIT PLANET. . PLEAESE WATCH SOME BREAKING NEWS AND FANS TRIBUTES. People are devoting essays, news , entire sites, messages and notes in every possible language. He is still all over the news all over the world...MICHAEL JACKSON WE LOVE YOU.
17 June 2009 - Food toxicity - Every time I step in a supermarket I remind myself how dumb is the average consumer and how poor attention people pay to their alimentary shop. I have been talking over this subject for several times but I guess I cant get enough. Yet I am still in search of a safe way out of this sick dietary system that reigned from the '80 up to nowadays and will probably last for another 10 or 20 years. So why is it sick? It is sick because around 70 to 90 percent of the food you consume daily contains various species of unhealthy preservatives, colorings, artificial flavorings, thickeners, artificial sweeteners and thousands of others chemical compounds and food additives. The average consumer, but better, the average person, is generally attentive only to the product's name, brand, design or its commercial campaign and for least but not for last, the price, usually stopping at what he can read in the boxes front cover. The smart consumer has an extra gear as he will turn the box around, will read the nutritional facts table, the ingredients and he will know exactly what he is buying. Seems obvious but i shall repeat, in order to understand what a certain food is made of, you must know its ingredients, thus consequently comprehend if there are any suspicious additives in the product. Secondly, but not in second order of importance is to read the nutritional table, in order to understand whether the product fit in your personal diet or not. At the moment, these 2 fundamental instructions are our only savior, at least until there will be mandatory laws that keep the industries binded of writing nutritional and ingredients informational on the label of every pre packed food. Of course corruption is constantly present and there are still hundreds of dishonest industries packing products containing non mentioned illegal ingredients usually considered not safe. These industries would deserve to be burnt and anyone who has intentionally played around with public health executed in loco. Let alone these unethical happenings, I slowly realized that even though we have a 100% natural product, it may be already contaminated by toxic shit: for instance, how about a nice fresh egg, which you would probably stake your right hand that it does not contain any food additive, as it obviously just came out from the chicken's ass! So it must be natural you would say!!. But you're wrong again! Today, in the majority of the industries chickens are kept in inadequate cages that barely fit for them, left without any option of movement growing up against nature, but this is nothing if you think that their food is specially made with the worst kind of chemical shit available, all just to make them grow fast&fat. So here is the sick chain explained: old animals kept in captivity with their guts full of chemical shit give birth to new animals who are already contaminated since the day they are born, then they are fed with even more shit so they can serve you sure a 100% fresh milk or eggs, but guess what, nobody tells you that the commercial eggs contain more than 10 types of antibiotics and other residual chemical shit, besides having unbalanced quantities of vitamins and fatty acids. Indeed, no matter how careful you are in choosing your food and no matter how natural it may appear, you're still eating shit. Of course still less shit than the average person who choose his aliments randomly or merely basing his ideas on how good they taste. By the way, is there a way out? Find out by yourself, but as far as i know a temporary solution lies in the organic food. Organic food is for a matter of facts far better as it's produced in industries that follow very rigid standards of quality and strict regulations in order to obtain an organic certification. The only failure is the price, which indeed stands from 2 up to 4 times higher than non-organic. One last thing, unfortunately the problem of unhealthy ingredients is not only concerning human food, but you can easily find them among many beauty products...
31 May 2009 - Made it to Australia! - Right in the picture, Im in the middle of Charles Darwin national park, which means I am now in Darwin, Northen Territories province. After being hooked with a 79$ low cost flight from Singapore, I finally landed on my 36th visited country. Even though my idea was to explore the Queensland region, I have been quite happy with the idea of spending a short time in Darwin. Speaking about the first impressions, the region seems to be surrounded by a stunning nature, the climate is great, the sky is clear and the lifestyle is as laid back as I was told. The cost of living is quite high but meat and fruit seems to be of a good deal by price/quality ratio. One thing, if you dont have a car, you can't do anything as distances between places are great and public transportation is undertandingly not very functional. Too bad you can't swim as waters are often infested by crocodiles and box jellyfishes. Anyway, you should know by now that no place on earth will ever match all of your expectations, so it's now time to tell you something really bad: people are terribly fat, fat without any restrain, ladies are among the most unattractive females ive ever seen in my entire life. I have been astonished by couple mating: I saw an impressive quantity of very good looking guys staying with obese girls. What surprises me is that they dont even realize it. Ladies try to dress sexy thinking that their huge, falling and flabby boobs will divert the attention from their greasy obese legs, arms and buttocks. Unfortunately it didnt work with me. It's an orrible show but if you have strong guts dont worry because everything else in Darwin is beautiful. [Jump to the australia photogallery page here]
16 May 2009 - Dedicated to Mr. "Tic" - This lines are dedicated to my friend "Tic" who came to visit me all the way from Europe. As you can notice in the picture, he as well thought of spending his 31th birthday together with me. Even though he always added lots of troubles onto my own life and over the life of people who were nearby me, here it follows some of our slang to honour the present and the old times: vvvvvvia, ahhh mah come, ohhh cristo, ma-no-ma-no, conar, predone del deserto, tutto ticchettato, devi morir conar, eh no!, tocchi la mia sei fottuto, a pRe la modellla, un millino, cenquant euRo', e aloRR, prigion, arab, a montecarlo'. Sei in un bel paSticcio', ah l'agiance', al cafe de pari', sei fottuto', abbiam chiesto anche a lui'...next trip: Madrid. auuhffhhhhhafdklsdajaslkjdaasdaadda eheehhhhhhhhh. vvvvia!. [P.S. I will soon add the video of the moment I picked him up at Singapore airport, where you can see the two of us acting like dumb&dumber].
13 May 2009 - Nosham Korean video out on youtube - I have just put together some of the clips I recorded in South Korea and so, the video tour has rised from the ashes. Take a glimpse at the colorful Jeju island, observe the contrast between the technological and traditional look of Seoul. But mainly, this is all about my memories back there of course. More than 8 minutes long and 190mb of download (can be also found in S.Korea page) ; soundtrack by Kate Perry - I Kissed a girl and a very nice Korean song by Wonder Girls - Nobody wants you. Can be watched on Youtube too , following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IbzyLF3jrc or on my channel here. Enjoy.
03 May 2009 - One step closer to the battle against the aging - Today it's my birthday, my 29th birthday...wow...it feels like yesterday the day I was celebrating my 23th or 24th. Back then, I used to think that somehow at 29 or 30 my life would have had a determinate turn and pushed me into something "different" and new. I used to believe I would have felt different going so close to the wall of the 30ies or while crossing it...but yet, every year, the day of my birthday I look at myself...and it's still me...nothing has really changed... Few years back I overcame the fear of seeing the first white hair on me, the first wrinkle and the first sign of physical aging. I many times found myself saying "so it's really happening..." as if it were supposed to happen to everyone else except me...funny. I've noticed that even around informal contests, at times people started to call me "sir". If today I look at a group of teenagers I can still see and recall myself reflected into them, while probably in the other way around they would just see me as an adult. I previously got anxious but now aware that there is nothing I can do to stop this process. But the unequivocal truth is...damn...I dont want to grow old. In order to slow down the process, I have settled with myself that from 2010 on, I'll start saving and spending money for the first fixes to my upcoming exponential aging matter. First 2 treatments will serve my sight and my hair: I will settle the score with my short sightedness (myopia) and with my progressing baldness. How did I spend the day of my birthday? In Novena square, Singapore, playing videogames until late and sweating like a waterfall. [Update: I forgot to mention the third aesthetical fix: teeth whitening]
01 May 2009 - Not yet on the way home - Almost 9 months have been passing since I left my country for the sixth world trip. I am aware that some friends and relatives are expecting me to be back to Italy soon for the summer time and spend the usual couple of months with them. But this year, I am not so sure I will be able to make it home on time, as I need to check out few more places and solve some personal issues first. Honestly, Italy is a country that will never stop to disgust me, which I hated for so long and where I have never looked forward to go back to. Yet in 2009 it continues to hold the same unresolved issues of ages ago; not by chance it is the worst country in Europe, all according to statistics, having levels of bureaucracy, corruption and justice system comparable to many countries of the third wolrld. (By the way, watch this funny video on the difference between italy and the rest of europe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAJNFoHuLno ). Oh another thing, even though im not a frequent coffee drinker, i hate the fucking italian coffee, I instead prefer the long american type : how can they even call "coffee" that little piece of shit, served in a tiny cup for kindergarten children?. Fuck that shit, that's for Italian faggots. Anyway on the other hand I still got few things back there: I do miss the time spent with my mates playing poker until 4am, smoking pot and go for sunday spring barbeques on the lake. I miss my grandmother cakes and begging for money with my friend Tic. I miss drinking Becks with Mr. Lobster and few other unforgettable goodies.
16 April 2009 - Sub (official) domain for the D.I.P. (The Deserted Island Project) - I am today starting to work on the official DIP website, which will be hosted as a nosham subdomain. Having a dedicated site for the project could mean better development in planning and perhaps better support from third parties. Most important, there will be 2 new section with stories and links to people who have already done this adventure and others who are going to do it. Letters, blogs, connections, photos, videos, press and a lot more to be coming...soon. Url will be: dip.nosham.com, add it to your favorites now.
14 April 2009 - Dave Arneson (the pioneer of rpg games), another star has passed away - A fan tribute: "My first D&D game was in 1980 with my family and friends. We are still playing now. It's a way of life, not just a game. I am now 62 and a grandma on the outside, but a powerful Priest who slaughtered Iuz and many more demi-gods over the years in my life in D&D. Thanks for all that. I shall never forget you. Julie Keymer, Cambridge, UK ". Read the news on bbc...
25 March 2009 - On Jeju island, Korea - Hi, It's me again, I've suddenly changed location, Im now writing from Jeju island: korean people use to call it the "island-paradise" as it holds different natural marvels. After only 3 days on the island, I have already explored quite few locations, like a waterfall spot, a sandy white shore, a shiny and colorful bay, a snorkeling site with fantastic shiny diamond blue-scale colors and a relaxing vernal flowering field. Korean people are already (usually) among the kindest and educated people on earth but on this island they are even more kind and friendly...you wont believe it until you pass by here! Unfortunately the weather is still chilly but it should get better shortly, during April. Awesome pictures will be posted soon! Stay in touch!
17 March 2009 - Nosham v 1.30 - Another major update for my blog: new css drop down menu for a faster and more intuitive navigation throughout the site; left column removed to give more space and importance to the central content. Best viewed with most recent browser, IE7+, Safari 3+, Firefox 2+. (P.s. sorry for the IE6 users but they wont be able to make it on my site this time)
13 March 2009 - Cleaned up - Time has been passing quite fast here in Korea, and since i left the unhealthy China, I feel much better. Moreover I haven't drunk a single drop of alcohol and neither had a smoke (or even a puff) for almost two months. I have joined a sport center where I am trying to get back into a great shape. The weight lifting instructor has been really tough during my work out sesssion...till the point that I had to struggle to walk back home. I have been cooking myself tofu, eggs and chicken; fruit for breakfast and green tea to drink. To break the repetitive diet, sometimes we have been out to a japanese restaurant for a nice sushi round. I am now experimenting different kind of trainings with body building machines and non: I will be soon ready to share my accumulated experience with you as i have seen quite an unusual number of different gym and instructors/training-theories around the world. Anyway, it has been tough, quite a challange at the beginning, but at last I can proudly say that i am now 100% clean, in full strenght and health; and it feels great...you should try it too sometimes.
15 February 2009 - The curious case of Benjamin Button - Yesterday evening I went to the cinema to attend a show that will probably be considered "the movie of the year" (2009). I wasnt expecting something so well directed and perfectly shooted in every single detail. The almost 3 hours duration will first create a wind of dramatic emotions inside you, then turn it into a vortex with its subliminal philosophical messages towards to topics like life, love, death and the nature of "happenings" in our existence. Finally, by the end it will turn you into a storm of of tears. Yes, I remember myself crying for at least 3 times during the show and still, once on the way back home. I couldnt stop mentally reviewing the movie and thinking about the many meaningful minutes watched. [click on the poster to visit the official site]
13 February 2009 - The story of "STUFF" - Please take 20 minutes off your time to watch this educative video: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ , to put it simple, it explains the deadly cycle of extracting-producing-consuming-wasting-trashing with very easy sketches adding an easy and clear but effective speech. Highly raccommended ****. This is video is referred to you, average ordinary person who is selling your life to the media, to the consumerism and to the wage slavery. Today watch and meditate!
12 February 2009 - Nosham's RSS news to start right now ! - If you havent noticed it yet, I activated the RSS button in your internet explorer window (but ive also placed an incon just below the main menu) which will give you the option to subscribe to my website news via RSS. Use it on your mp3 player, mobile phone or any other portable media device to stay updated with my news. Enjoy.
9 February 2009 - Trying out the crowded world of the stockmarket - Beginning thrusday last week, i've entered in the vortex of the online trading! The dream job for those who are deseperately willing to find a career that occupies just few hours of their day and offers endless earning prospectives from a standard salary up hundred thousand dollars a month, depending of by your investment capital, your willing to risk and of course by your marketing/trading/intuitive skills. Great thing, is that this is the perfect job for travellers too...you just need a laptop and an internet signal. So ive decided to give it a try and here i am (i picked up the videogames market as it's the only one that i feel familiar with). I now officially own 500 shares of Capcom CO LTD, a videogame company quoted in the Tokyo stock market, listed under symbol 9697. I have never done this before so Im like checking the quote like crazy, hundred times a day to see if it's going well. It wasnt a random purchase if that is what you are wondering now...I had a pre planned medium term strategy regarding these shares. For those who wish to follow me, buy within this week at 1780 JPY limit and wait until around half March, then watch the stock closely and sell if it reaches over 2500 JPY otherwise sell whenever you see they're starting to go down again. Will keep you posted on the result of my first little investment.
31 January 2009 - Arya's wedding - Dedicated to Arya (from Bali, Indonesia) who is today getting married. My dear, I wish you a lot of happiness in the most important step and day of your life. I'm very sorry that I couldn't be there to celebrate together, but I promise to pay you a visit in the years to come and check how you two love birds are doing. I haven't met your other half, but im sure you have done the greatest choice from the bottom of your heart. I will be glad to receive some photos of the ceremony and perhaps I could post couple of them here on my blog. Again, congratulations guys! :)
29 January 2009 - My traveling guide is out ! - I had written the 80% of this handbook during 2007, being seldom committed to this work, but had a good draft by the end of the same year. The following 2008 has just been adding the remaining 20%, reviewing and changing 10 times my mind about what to write and what not to write. The main issue was that most of what I wrote that time, turned out to be kind of outdated compared to my experience of few months after or so. I had to keep on changing and re-reviewing to re-adapt it to my "new" me, until now, when I got tired and I had to make a choice. To continue my slow and constant dull modification until undefined time or just publish my manuak the way it is at now, with the opened option of adding further improvements and chapters when the time comes. In the meantime you can enjoy the version 1.0, buying it now for the very cheap price of 1 Euro only (in .PDF file, download of 13mb black and white or 130 for color, as it will contain some pictures as well). Buying the guide will entitle you to receive free updates in case of any further improvement. Available in english only of course, but if anyone feels to collaborate and transalte it into different languages I will be glad to offer full assistance. By the way, some months ago Ive sent a beta version of this script to quite few people who vowed to read it and reply with constructive feedbacks and comments. Unpleasantly they all turned me down except one person: her name is Laura from Italy (in2out.it): today I would officially like to thank her for being so supportive regarding this project. Jump to my books page ------->HERE. Email me for any suggestion or comment.
25 January 2009 - Freezing - I've just felt what means being under -19°C. Just out of the airport, wearing the blanket "borrowed" from AirMacao and a scarf. Wearing no gloves, ten minutes later i started to feel my hands a bit numb, then very red and dry and shortly after the pain begun: slowly, I found myself kind of lamenting and I had to seek for asylum in a bakery to avoid screaming. Soon to come, the south korea traveling page with photos and videos of my trip.
20 January 2009 - Going to South Korea - Never been there, my 35th visited country.
Still have the summer gear in my backpack, ready for tropical adventures and yet i can't believe im
going to face below the zero temperatures soon. I'll get there on the 23rd
January with the plan of go to skiing of course.
19 January 2009 - Traveling updates - For all the foreigners traveling to China under tourist or student visas: just yesterday evening I experienced the procedure that you have to go through at the border in case you overstayed in the country. I looked up in the net (as i knew i was in overstay) before approaching the border and in the traveling forums i found many discordant posts. Some guys managed to get away with no fine even with a 10 days overstay, while couple of people even got detented for some time for only 1 day of overstay and fined for thousands of RMB (chinese dollars). Ok so here it follows my experience: I overstayed my visa for 1 days only and I have been kept by the immigration police for several hours, questioned regarding the reasons of my overstay and finally let go without any fine payed but with a warning note (as a first time offender). Anyway I had the chance to ask an official and according to the law, if it's the first time you get cought, you can overstay for 1 to 10 days without paying any fine or going to detention, you will be free to leave after having signed the warning letter. If you overstay for 11 days to a year you will have to pay a fine of 500rmb per overstayed-day to a maximum of 15000rmb and after that target you risk to be imprisoned for a maximum of 21 days. In addition, fines and penalties are entirely up to the officer discretion: according to his mood he or she shall decide your fate (but still within the law boundaries). This is just for first time offenders, but i didnt ask for those who are unfortunately making the same mistake for the second time...
30 December 2008 - My boy_friend(s) - No...im not yet homosexual neither bi-sexual, but i've recently added to my english vocabulary the way to refer to my male friends as boy_friends instead of male-friends or other similar allusions. I just thought of it when I was listening to a female friend of mine who was saying something like: "I'm going out with my girlfriends tonight!", thus, why shouldnt I be allowed to say "hey I'm going out with my boyfriends tonight!". So i looked up at the dictionary.com and wikipedia; both of them report that "boyfriend" can be also used to refer to a male non-romantically involved partner (even if wikipedia specifies that it'not modernly used). Regarding the written english there is a distinction between boyfriend (without the space) and boy friend (with the space): it's indeed a way to understand when we are writing about a romantically involved companion or not. So all my boyfriends (sorry, boy_friends) should be happy here: we got HIStory and now I, Alan Rooster, shall give you the power to proudly tell your girlfriend that you are going out with your BOYfriends while she's out with her girlfriends :)
18 December 2008 - Full moon party video is out now - yeah, but dont expect much of quality, lightening and editing. i just listlessly put some scenes together and voila'. In the video you can see me taking part to a funny boxing-balance game, where i have been 4 times champion and gained 2 free beers!!! Watch it directly on Youtube either in standard or high definition : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNBpMR6FISs . For the affectionados download it here.
16 December 2008 - Nosham Youtube channel - I've uploaded 90% of the video content on my web onto Youtube. This way there will not be any more complaint regarding bandwidth problems, corrupted files and so on. Although the youtube quality is not excellent, it will be fast enough for you to watch them directly by streaming without much loading times. My channel name is alannosham (unfortunately nosham was taken already, as well alan and rooster...). On my videochannel you can also check few of my favorite videos I found around youtube archive: documentaries, tech stuff, and also funny shows. Will add more soon.
12 December 2008 - Nosham CSS menu experiment - Im doing webdesign, but i have never created a template. So last night i stayed up until 5am because i found inspiration by looking at the command bar of my win vista. I decided to design a menu bar with a similar style: dark colors, shiny look, transparencies and neon glowing on mouse hover: it's an example of a CSS menu that can be applied to any html page and works pretty well. Software used was Adobe photoshop cs4 and dreamweaver cs4. I uploaded a zip file with included all the material to make the menu template work, 3 images in PNG, the PSD master file, the .css code and the html index file. Of course with a basic knowledge of html css and photoshop you can easily modify colors effects, change the size of the bar, etc. So feel free to apply any mod to my work. Download and use it for free
07 December 2008 - Even Alan Rooster needs to work (sometimes) - Wondering what I have been working on during the last two months? Check out one of my work in progress: www.i-cut.it. Will complete it along with other couple of projects and a corporate video by the 17 December 2008, date in which i'll return to be jobless, homeless, but as free as a bird!
01 December 2008 - The christmas banner is online...again - The usual christmas bannner, now online for the 3rd time on nosham.com! This year showing even with a better picture quality! Marry fucking christmas to everyone! What should piss us off now, is that as always the perfect objective for these mass propagandas are not only the same old pathetic religious people but even innocent "peacefully-ignorant" kids, If you have kids, please tell them that christmas is all a big bullshit, made up for commercial reasons to sell even more bullshit. Thankfully, there is not much going on for christmas here in asia...
30 November 2008 - 李小龙 jacket - Couple of weeks ago, while in Hong Kong, I finally got the chance to buy a traditional chinese jacket. I've always wanted to get one, since my first time in asia, during 2005, but never spent much time to find the perfect size, fit and color, always postponing until this november: while walking around Mong Kok street market with a friend from Taiwan who had to buy some souvenirs, I suddenly scouted a small shop selling it for cheap (around 15 U$) 100% cotton with a wonderful match of black with brown buttons and sleeves. So...It is indeed a very unusual event to buy myself an apparel (i remember about 6 month ago buying a second hand shirt for a temporary job and a year ago a pair of shoes which im still wearing at now). No, im not going to join any kungfu school (even if that is listed under my future plans) nor getting married to a chinese woman (no offence...), but just because I had an itch for that thing since I was a young student of martial arts. Besides, I think it looks pretty good in different occasions either elegant or sport related. Oh, and when i wear it in front of my laptop i feel like an hacker...(but dont ask me why...). [In the picture, me obviously, in road number 十五 ， Clifford， 番禺区]
23 November 2008 - Giuseppino Yuen, unexpected talent - My new friend from China, "Giuseppe", has been studying Italian for 1 year only, but he can speak amazingly fluent! Considering that he has never been to Italy, not only he owns an impressive vocabulary of words but he also knows lots of Italian slang and ways to say. As if it weren't enough, he is a lyric singer, a tenor: well, actually he's still studying on that, but he (just few days ago)
won the second prize during a competition among all guangdong universities. In a couple of years he will travel to Italy mastering his talent at the Milan Conservatorio where many famous musicians have studied in the past. I wish him good luck and I will soon upload some of his demo of "La donna e' mobile".
21 November 2008 - Michael Jackson converts to islam !?! - Read HERE. Seriously, what the frack is wrong with this world today? What the heck is it happening all around? Where are we heading? Son of a bitch i cant believe it, god fuckjing damn it, the king of the music ...another hero is falling...
31 October 2008 - Thailand 08 video added - New video added to my collection: shot in thailand during september will feature some of the ordinary tourist attractions and as well some personal clips dedicated to all my friends and people I met during my trip. Locations are: Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Hua Hin, Chumphon, Suratthani, Koh Samui. I shot over 5gb of clips in HD, but i couldn't publish them all, so i just selected 10 mins of the nice ones. I didn't insert the full-moon-party videos cause I'll edit a separate video for that (soon). Thanks for watching
08 October 2008 - D.I.P. Flyer first test in HK - Today I finally printed out a flyer for the deserted island project, and guess what, i've tested its impact on the masses, by distributing it in the streets of Hong Kong for 1 hour time. People thought I wanted to sell them something, but at last few of them stopped and curiously asked me lot of questions about my dream. Some were not directly interested but they said they will be spreading the news among their friends. The only problem is that this way of promoting my project it's way too expensive and out of budget, supposing that I pay around 0.25 HK$ per flyer and willing to give away 1 million copies, that would cost me over 50.000 US dollars! So if someone is willing to sponsor this initiative by flying with a helicopter over the main streets of Hong kong (but after all any other big metropolis will do) and throwing a million copies of my flyer on people, please do let me know. Actually, if you are willing to volunteer in my project, you could contribute by just posting a copy of my flyer onto any board at your university or workplace or library, anything, or eventually by just passing the voice to your contacts...well thank you very much in advance if you can help me out of this hard mission...Ok I have made 2 different designs, you can download it here: flyer1 ; flyer2 (all are in .doc format).
03 October 2008 - Living at KLIA - In Kuala Lumpur, having to catch a flight to Hong kong by 3rd oct at 0735am I went to the airport the night before, 2nd oct at 10pm and after staying awake all night, I saw on the departures board that my flight was canceled due to bad weather! Fucking hell...ok they put me on another flight, 4 oct at 4.15pm, and looks like I'll have to spend another 30 hours at the airport, but that's not it, the chances are that the typhoon spinning around the canton area will not pass out until sunday night! Son of a bitch, that could shoot up the number of hours spent at this airport to 72 or more. As if it weren't enough, I have only 50u$ left, that need to pay food until around 16th october and most important the chinese visa fee (im going for a temporary job in china). Looking at the positive side, I might be going to break my record by number of days lived at the airport. [4th October update: tot. hours: 42h 09 mins]
20 September 2008 - Goodbye Holger - Dedicated to my swimming buddy, Holger from Germany/New Zeland: we spent 2 weeks swimming every day from the shore to a tiny red flag about 250mt far, 5 to 7 rounds for a total of about 2.50 km swam daily which makes a total of 35 km in 14 days. We used to meet at 16.30pm at Lamai beach (and he has never been 1 minute late, while I have been late few times) and swim until around 6.00pm. Dude...I will miss our work out very much! I know you want me to come back to Samui and I want it too, I always love the time spent doing sport, eating great food and living healthy, therefore I'll do my best to be back with you soon! Take care of the sea for me! : )
15 September 2008 - Survived the full moon party - In Koh Phagnan, Thailand, It's the night when the moon is on its brightest and clearest side, when between 10.000 and 30.000 people gather together in a 1.5km of beach stretch for the biggest party in the world. It has been taking place for more than 30 years once per month. Here it follows my review on common myths and facts that must be clarified: It's true you can find few kind of different drugs and in somewhat large quantities, but it's false that you can find every kind of drug and that almost every person does drug at the party. It's false that there are people of every age and nationality, as the main affluence comes from western countries and the minority is asian, the average age is 22-23 years old. It's false that this party is dangerous and unsafe, there are in fact many efr and red cross, safety zones and staff ready to soccurr, people also take good care of eachother, taxi and boat transfer drivers are ready to be patient and available with the drunk and stoned guys. Adictionally, no one is forcing people to take drugs and there is no "party-moral-code" where you need to go wild in order to enjoy the night.I was there with Toppy, Bee and other thai friends. We enjoyed trying out the bucket drinking style which consists in mixing different type of alcohol in a small bucket and then share it with your fellas. Obviously as alcohol flaws like waterfalls, you'll see people collapsing everywhere. Overall it has been a very original experience for my first time, but in the end there is nothing so awesome in seeing bunch of teenagers getting hi and vomiting onto each other. By the way that was it from Thailand, I'll be off soon to my next stop.
13 September 2008 - Facebook, the net and the new technology have brought Alan Rooster some moments of happiness - I'm always carrying numerous people in my thoughts, with me during my travels and everywhere, constantly present in my memory and connected to my past, whether referred to good or bad experiences. There are quite lot of old dated friends and schoolmates that I haven't seen for ages, (like 10 to 20 years) and at times, when sitting down and letting my self being absorbed by my melancholic and lonely mind, I 've been deeply wondering which way they took...are all of them still alive? Are they still living in the same city? Did they became what they've always wanted to be? Do they still think of me? Do they still have the same home phone number? What are they doing right now? These thoughts were of great company in many solitary occasions, until one day I heard something about a service that could have helped to trace old classmates: Facebook, nothing special at that time, it seemed like one of the many boring friend's network websites. Later on, I tried to google an old friend's name, and I found out he had a profile on this growing "Facebook", so I decided to subscribe, hoping to be able to get in touch with some old mates. Done that, I haven't been in touch with the service for a while, until few friends input my name "Alan Gallicchio" in facebook's search box and finally they found me. So the networking begun and in few months I was able to get connected with at least 10 of those friends whose I would have never imagined to see again in my life. Still I haven't met anyone, but I'm so excited to the idea of being able to meet and hug them again one day while asking each other about the last 15 years of our life, listening their story for hours, not even knowing where to start to tell each other everything! This not only gave me a wider outlook at how the current technology and internet can alter and improve my emotional states but most important gave me a new prospective and a short term gratification to my current pessimistic life that often runs out of reasons to live for.
