Sydney RIP

In one night you go from a frat party at Florida State to a mixer of philosophy and bi-sexual asian studies majors at Swarthmore.

And so is the transition from Sydney to Tokyo.

12 hours in Tokyo and I feel like i am in another galaxy, a man at a mascarade ball without a mask. And its awesome.

Everyone in Tokyo wears dark suits, is short and doesnt look like me. 20 percent of the people wear surgery masks around the streets and subways supposedly because they are either sick or have allergies but im convinced its becausre they are all germaphobes.

Me and Mike actually picked up a couple of the mouth masks and rocked them around the subway. We got a real kick out of it. As they say, When in Tokyo do everything you can to look like a crazy dentist.

Everyone told me that Tokyo is like 10 Time Squares and it really is. Big buildings, bright lights, good stuff.

I already fulfilled a lifelong goal of mine.

Many of you remember that as a teenager i NEVER wore jeans. It was always cackis with a cuff and a crease. My favorite t-shirt was this navy blue one that I separated from a Georgetown baskeball jersey that was part of a bar mitzvah present someone gave me from Upper East Side 90s staple, Off Campus.

I also loved the movie Friday. I spent a lot of nights of my youth eating dominoes drinking cokes and watching the masterpiece.

I would wear a navy blue t shirt, baggy cackis, a silver chain and backwards navy hat and and do everything in my power to become the upper west side version of Smokey (Chris Tucker).

I spent many a day in front of mirror trying to master the look.　But I was always missing something

The sneakers. A clean pair of blue chuck taylors. That was until today. Very un-Jon, but I had to do it. For all you sneaker-heads out there, you should really check out tokyo. I spent like a half hour in the store and all I wear is Sauconys. B rhymes, jraw, pretty lew, you boys would have a field day out here.

But enough of Japan. Going to meet the irish boys in a bit to get it all started.



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Australia will be missed.

I spent most of the last weeks on trips to Fraser Island and the Whitsundays.

Fraser- The Worlds biggest sand island was the first stop. I wasnt all that excited. After all, what the hell does Worlds biggest sand island mean (Cant find quotations on japanese keyboard)

But the trip turned out to be really cool. We went on a tour of 18 and a guide through this awesome rain forest. Hidden within were fresh water lakes with the finest sand beaches you could imagine. Dingos - a combo of dog and wolf- patrolled the island. They were really cool animals. They eat basically anything, like rats, and invaded the beach when people went swimming ravaging throuh peoples personables.

Our tour guide was this guy Graham, a mid 40s australian guy. He showed us a great time, was funny, friendly and very knowledgable. He also turned out to be a bit of pervert. At the bar after the first day the whole group drank. Graham invited me to sneak back with him to the bus where he had a bottle of tequilla. A bunch of shots later and he told me about his love for his job and the occasional snogging of an 18 year old british girl. Im thankful my father is the man that he is. Nonetheless, good stuff.

A 14 hour bus ride, that turned out to be pretty easy, and we arrived at the　Whitsundays. Might start bottling ambien and red wine back in the states cause it really is a miracle drug.

The Whitsundays was a 2 night sailing trip. 26 of us packed into a sailboat. The accomodations werent all that comfortable,　in fact, they were very uncomfortable. But the group was great. We hung out with a big group of Irish and british folk. We toured the islands by day and drank Goon- the aboriginal term for boxed wine- by night.

Went scuba diving for the first time. I finally knew how Johnny Utah felt the first time he surfed. Scuba Stoke is what Ill call it. It was one of the best things ive ever done. You feel like a fish, its pretty liberating.

Both trips, like the rest of the experience, were made by the people i met. Its really impressive. Most people from Europe just pack up and leave for a year and more to see the world. Ive been to Norman, Oklahoma for a long weekend. Boomer Sooner!

One kid on our trip was this 18 year old from England named Dan. The kid looked like he was 12, yet there he was travelling around the entire world　on his own. Kid really had a pair on him. I rarely walk to the deli without begging one of my upperwestsiders for companionship, yet here this kid was doing it all.




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But then it was back to Sydney for one final 24 hours.

I had to squeeze in more than i would have liked but it was all good.

I hit up all my favorite spots one last time sandwiched around my fantasy baseball draft. I sat in an internet cafe with aussie techno firing me up in the background, as a landed like 40 percent of the dbacks roster.


I found myself laying at the beach at 6pm unable to leave. I was a baseball player playing in his　final game not yet ready to hang up the cleats one final time. Only my sport was nothingness and I was a shoe in for Cooperstown.

2 of the best months of my life in Australia.

Already figuring out the next time i can get back.

Now its １２ days in Japan with my boys from Ireland. Havent seen these guys in 4 years so it should be a blast. Then SF, LA, SD and Vegas from the 26th-7th before its back home where once I bang out my dvrd episodes of Lost and Friday night lights and order strippers for my brothers bachelor party, i will be bored out of my mind and desperate to return back.

This might be it for the old blog train.

Might bang out one ｍｏｒｅ when I get to SF but you never know. Sometimes even the greatest bloggers have to close their laptops one final time.

Vaya all,
jb