24

Did the birthday thing last night, but I suppose today is the day. We partied in Bologna at a restaurant called ‘Piedro Del Sol’ and this time I have pictures (memory card malfunction last time). Times are good, don’t have a lot to say except that I’m really blessed with the friends I’ve made here, as you can see below…

Got a tattoo on Tuesday, not really a birthday gift just timely. The artist is really popular in the region here and I love the work he did (Finale Emila). His name is Adam, and thankfully he spoke pretty good English and was able to collaborate with me to create the kind of sketch I wanted. It’s a gnarly picture, bigger than I was thinking but exactly what I wanted: we all have some internal demons and I thought nothing better to represent that than this cute little guy, coming out of my heart and stealing my soul ;)

Today, I had lunch with the Benatti family and they cracked open a bottle of champagne after giving me a new watch. Such wonderful people! I haven't had much luck with watches since England, man, hopefully this one will last...

I’ve only a few more loose strings to tie up before March is settled; big month coming up. Who knows what’ll happen. I’m ready.

City..
Tower..

30 deep, man.
Cake..
Castle..

Paltro, Antonio, Diddy- good times in Bologna..

For dis 'ere 24th birthday, Paltro and the guys got me a shirt with my name on the back and #24 baby. Good guys...

Thought this was pretty funny. If you notice the sign above the car, it says that the parking space is reserved for girls only... wtf?!
This one is for you, Dad. You might be retired, but US mail still needs to be delivered- in Italy apparently..
At a local market in Magnacavallo I saw this Nazi passport for sale. I considered buying it, if only to try it out in an airport. But, unfortunately this time I am sorry to say that my judgement got the better of me.

Fishing and Other Ventures

This weekend I spent my nights in the discotech, one in Modena and one in… some other city I don’t know the name. We had fun but I need to watch my spending if I’m gonna make it through March.

I went fishing out in the country on Saturday in San Antonio Marcadello with Paltro and the guys. I caught two fish consecutively towards the end, and that was my brief hour of fame. But, I had a great time lounging in my chair drinking scotch. Life is always good when you’re drinking Scotch (save the recovery, hours later).

On Saturday before disco I went to a restaurant for a drink at the bar and to visit a friend while she was working, when I was invited to dinner with a few Napoliatano’s. They were very generous, and we had intriguing conversation about mafia (American vs. Italian). I never realized how much the Mafia actually had to do with WWII and the fight against Mussolini, but we talked about how Lucky Luciano served as a liaison between the two sides.

Paltro, Riccio, Chuiuga, Enrico and some others may come along with me to Stockholm, which would make for an exciting trip. We’ll see what happens. I am excited.

Fishing

Caught me a fish and now Riccio is removing the hook.

Mmmmmmmm.
Paltro and Riccio.
I'm having dinner here at a friends and found it odd that they keep their wine on window ledge outside to keep it slightly chilled. Strange, eh?
Having dinner with friends at the same house above.

These are Happy Hippos. It's taken me a long time to be able to eat these again, but all beef's aside, these are God's candies. Just by eating these cute little guys, you transcend this plane into one never attained by any mere mortal.
This is a strange fruit from South America that is imported here. I've never had them in the US so thought i'd duly document. I wish I could remember the name, but I definitely remember the taste and would have to compare these guys to cucumbers, only sweet.

March Preparations and Mexican-Italian

I got my cast off yesterday and life is good! My wrist is sensitive as hell, but it feels great to be rid of that cast. Hopefully, my wrist should be up to snuff in a few days (I hope you are wrong in my case, Ray). The weather is warming up here and already I am anxious for spring!

I have a plan now. Today, I bought tickets to Stockholm, Sweden come March. After Sweden, I intend to journey around Europe for a while to places such as: Berlin, Munich, Paris and Amsterdam. At the end of March, I’ll be heading to Egypt with a couple of much-anticipated buddies!

On Friday, I went to a Mexican restaurant/bar/discotech in Bastilio. It was definitely a unique experience. Mexican/Italian is an interesting event in itself: It’s similar, and yet very different from Mexican in Cali. For starters, the meat was very different in that it’s not so thin and way less fried (of course), but still good. You had to pay for chips and salsa and everybody then used a tiny, miniscule spoon to drop salsa onto each chip before eating, whereas I grabbed my chips… and dipped. Everybody ate their burritos and tacos with knife and fork whilst I just grabbed and started chomping. A different experience for sure. We had white and red wine with dinner, along with the occasional tequila shot where the waiter would place his palm over the shot glass and pound it on the table, immediately handing it to you to shoot. The tequila was fizzy when you were shooting, so I wonder if it was a different type of tequila with carbonation, I’m not sure. At the end of the night, they moved all the tables along the walls of the restaurant and turned it into a dance club; women and men jumped up and danced atop the tables to Latin and Italian musica. I danced salsa with a girl who was pretty good, and merengue with a few others who had no idea, but we had fun. There was an Italian rapper-guy who did a few songs and he seemed good, but it’s hard to judge when you understand so little. Paltro was absent in all this due to a death in his family, so I was left with all the whom guys I play soccer with and only two speak moderate inglese. So, that combined with my own limited Italian managed alright. Actually, they had a lot of fun telling me lines to say to women and I pretended to have no idea what I was saying. Lines like: soccia che bel culo (you have a nice ass) and me la dai? (want to go…?). Lol, it was a strange night… So in conclusion, I have to say that the Mexican food is good, but nowhere near as good as what we eat in SoCal.

X-ray and Others

They let me keep my x-ray which is pretty cool.
Vaffanculo, capisci?
Good times at the Mexican restaurant.
Pizza in Mirandola with Antonio.

Bought me some Italian-made leather shoes. Did you notice I've still got the soles Todd? Tell your bro that those things are godsend.
We are totally sober.


The flames of Teatro, every weekend I am here to start the night.