I’m not known for my emotions.  Ask any of my exes.  I got pretty emotional a few months after Angela and I separated (Which was my doing anyways), when I kept finding various adorable notes around the house that she had left hidden.  That girl really loved me, I’m lucky to have gotten that experience.  In fact, since I’m a big believer in Karma, non of what I’m going through is particularly surprising, but back to the point.  It took a few months of being apart, before I got all emotional.

*****I had a major realization the next morning after writing this…. the link for that is at the bottom, so even if this one’s too long, make sure to read the post “Do your research” ****

My friends can tell you, I’m generally a happy go lucky kinda guy.  Random things come up, and I deal with them. I told you about the cleanse…. that I started it because after 2 weeks of Taco Bell, and no exercise, I was feeling a little unstable.  Well, there’s a flip-side to a cleanse… one I hadn’t mentioned, though I’ve been told about it.

You’ve heard the term “Comfort foods” right? You know: ice-cream, pizza, fries…  greasy  items and carbs… they make things ok when we’ve had some shit hit our fan.  Comfort food is “a specific food consumed under a specific situation to obtain psychological comfort,” according to the University of Illinois (UI) Food and Brand Lab. They however discovered that it’s not all sugars and fats… but that’s not where I’m going with this post.

The reason they work is because Sugar is a drug.  It amps the brain up for a little bit, making you feel better.  That little hit, on a long enough timeline of being sad and resorting to food can lead to eating disorders… another place this post isn’t going.  The other reason that it works– now this one I can’t cite a study from some university… this is my understanding based on lots of healers, hippies, scientists, etc… that I’ve spoken to, as well as from my own experiences (though, if I recall, it’s ancient Chinese medicine that really talks about it) — is that the grease and fat actually absorb some of the emotion.  The body stores away emotions in different parts of the body.  For example, the liver stores stress, the lower back stores emotions of self-rejection and low self-esteem, the shoulders store fear of the future.

You know what– forget what I’ve heard, let’s post from something with more credible:

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/anxietydepression/a/EmotionsTCM.htm  has the following items:
Spleen: worry, dwelling or focusing too much on a particular topic, excessive mental work
Lung: grief, sadness, detached.
Liver: anger, resentment, frustration, irritability, bitterness, “flying off the handle”.
Heart: lack of enthusiasm and vitality, mental restlessness, depression, insomnia, despair.
Kidney: fearful, weak willpower, insecure, aloof, isolated.

Reading that, sounds like I’m fucked up all over   I only pasted the emotions listed with each organ they listed.  A good healer can tell you a lot more than just those few things. So, sometimes I have lower back pain when I wake up… is it a bad couch, too soft of a mattress, or do I hate or doubt myself?  I used to think it was a mattress…. now I think it may be who’s next to me on it, and under what circumstances… or what dreams I had… or maybe if there’s a task I didn’t complete (“Sure, I’ll dig up those photos and send them to you!”).  I”m easily distractable.

Just so you know, during the writing of this post, I was concerned that “Gosh… I started out saying that I’m writing in a sad mood” but then my mood improved to indifferent… but then just something as simple as a friend texting me that I’m good people and that they love me  sent me into a small crying fit.  Not sobbing till my sleeve is soaked… but generally my eyes only water ’cause I’m coughing too hard from a bong-rip or something (That shit’s probably not the greatest for mental / mood stability either).

Anyways… I”ve had a lot of pain in my left shoulder over the past few months… it comes and goes.  Blah! I’m straying from my topic…. sad post- ok.. short version:

Doing a cleanse can bring out a lot of toxins.  Shaking out the lymph system (which one does by bouncing, or running- and I’ve been running a lot lately) helps release some of the toxins that the lymph system’s captured, and get them out of the body… as well as sweating helps you detox… been doing a lot of that while running.

A cleanse – taking particular herbs to rejuvinate/heal/detox the body – brings out all sorts of bad shit to deal with….. Raw food does the same!  The body stores a lot of bad shit all over– from emotions to chemicals to cells that got damaged…. It stores it away to be dealt with later.  So, now you know, your body is a procrastinator.  Like most procrastinators it doesn’t get to everything it meant to do.

When you stop adding crap to throw into that to-do pile, the body gets around to doing them.  So, you stop eating your McDeathburger (What? I told you I was in a foul mood!  Don’t expect me to be nice to an organization that has ads that show french fries and say “Happiness in a box” — I have to jog past that billboard!), and your body can finally get around to breaking down some of those toxins you’ve stored as bile, fat, and clumps of white blood cells trying to attack the foreign bodies.  Raw foods also have more enzymes which help your digestive system be able to break down the food you are eating.

The bottom line is that I am doing all the things that bring out all the emotions my body’s trying to hide:  I’m running, I’m sweating, I’m eating raw, I’m taking all sorts of herbs designed to cleanse my system. My friend Craig has warned me of emotional detox, and has told me what he’s dealt with…. I thought maybe I was impervious to it, as I’d get slightly moody at little things… but nothing that required me to break my raw food / cleanse.

When I met Craig, he was mostly 100% raw food / vegan, would not drink, etc…  That was last year.  This year’s different.  It was like a twilight zone episode when I arrived in Austin in December, and walked into a house where Craig was cooking up eggs and blueberry-pork sausage.  He’s an awesome cook for the record.  Since then, he’s tried going raw a few times, and would then slow down (pizza, croissant, etc) to slow things down when it would hit.  I never understood until today.

Today was not a little bit of moodiness.  It was a flat out nightmare.  Mere thoughts would drain my energy.  My run turned into a walk.  Breathing became difficult.

In fact, you could say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (Futon).  That’s what they say when you start the day off in a bad mood, no?

I woke up quiet, and sad.  It started last night.  I know what triggered it.  It was a girl.  Yup, that simple reason that has fucked up the emotions of nearly everyone in history.  I’m not a huge fan of being ignored.  She was asking when she’d get to see me next ’cause it’s been a while. I said I’d make her place my 1st stop in Austin (as I was heading back to Austin from my trip to bring back 65 gallons of fresh spring water).

We were kind of seeing each other for a little bit, but discovered quickly enough that we had different end goals… but not until after I had already handed my heart over with a nice giftwrap (realistically, this was the only time I’d ever done that). I had gotten a kind of mean text message  2 days prior… which ruined my mood for that whole day, and probably some of the next.  Detox related? Maybe, maybe I just don’t like people I care deeply about being mean to me.  So, I’m happy… I get to see this person that I spend a lot of time thinking about… and when I walk in I get a “Hey buddy” – which in itself is kind of a slap, but… whatever.

10 minutes before arriving — as I’m crawling through frustrating traffic, after being in the car for 4 hours – I get a call that she’s being picked up for a dinner, which it turns out is earlier than either of us thought it would be.  I had known she was going to that dinner… but who knew she’d get picked up at 5:30.  So, the extent of my visit was that “Hey buddy”.

I was saddened.

Traffic sucked some more on the way back.  I’ve been Craig’s passenger many times as he drives the side streets to bypass traffic.  I thought I’d try that approach.  My GPS kept trying to get me on the freeway, until I finally told it to stop using the freeways.  Apparently, I had been going the right direction, but the GPS flipped me around, and finally the right direction.  I probably would have gotten home sooner if I just sat on the freeway and suffered traffic.  So, now I wasted all that time going to her place in traffic, and triple the time to get back.  Fuck my brain for forgetting how to navigate once I got my GPS.  *sigh*

Things weren’t completely dead between us… just hope for a long term thing (although, since I’m pouring my heart out to millions of friends and strangers by putting this on the web, I’m sure everything is completely dead now), and I had spent A LOT of time thinking about what can make things better.  Initial attraction was because I’m goofy and laid back.  Once I started being concerned about what she thought, and once she started trying to change things about me… things became different.  So, I thought about the things she likes. I thought if I dressed up to go out, was dancing (as compared to just watching), etc… we’d have some fun at least.  Her eyes and her smile are addicting.

I had a lot to do, but I was stuck on this idea.  I knew I wasn’t too far off, because on my way to see her, I changed from my shorts to a pair of jeans that I knew she’d like on me… and she commented briefly on that when I saw her.  So, I hauled ass at 8:30 to make it to the store before it closes.  I bought a shirt that I knew she’d like.  It’s a baby-blue button down.  The material fits loosely, and I was happy because it was a medium, and looked great!  I’ve lost 10+ pounds, and this was part celebrating, part trying to make someone else happy. I also bought a Fedora.

She had asked before I left what I was doing that night, to which I said “Probably working”- but I had texted her while she was at that dinner if she’d like to go out dancing that night (no reply).

I got home to Craig’s house — it’s not where I’m staying these days, but I was there a lot during this cleanse, as Craig and Jesse are both on that same cleanse as me… and as today shows, having support really helps.  Plus they’re just such fun smart people that I’m not sure why I’d want to be anywhere else.

Jesse was blown away by my hat.  I was happy.  He went off about how great it is… i.e. I asked if it goes with the shoes, and he said “With a hat that’s that awesome, you could go barefoot!”   I love my friends!  If I’ve gotten ANYTHING out of couchsurfing for four years, it’s a handful of the most amazing people, the ones I call my friends.

After the store, I had stopped by Whole Foods and got myself a large Grasshopper– a green drink with wheatgrass, celery, and all sorts of other stuff. I figure it’d give me energy, be healthy, and not take up too much energy for digesting… as it is liquid.  Wheatgrass is super healthy anyways.  I was intent on being hyper and goofy.

I shared my green drink with Jesse.  I then added some pristine rainforest rush – or Rainbow Crack, as I like to call it – into my drink.  It contains: Guarana, Bee Pollen, Yerba Matte, Maca, Psyllium, Blue Green Algae, Grasses (Barley, Wheat, Alfalfa, Dandelion, Oat) and Sun Fire Salt. I was feeling my heart beat faster before we even left.  I was bouncing around on the rebounder (mini trampoline), telling jokes, and even dancing to whatever was on the mp3 player.  I should be a hit when we make it out!  New hat, new shirt, compliments on ‘em both, green drink, rainbow crack….. awww yeah.

When we got to the hotel, everyone was at the bar area still.  It was cool, ’cause I got to meet people I had worked with, but had not gotten to meet in person before. More on that in a sec.

Upon walking in, I saw Craig, snuck behind him, tapped him on the shoulder, and then hid from him behind above-mentioned girl. She clearly saw me when I did that, but rather than saying hi, or even smiling at my goofy entry, she turned and walked elsewhere.  My gut had a bad feeling, but that’s when I heard “Wait! Is that Ori?”  The people I had never met realized who I was, and said hello.

I was in conversation with them for a while… with different folks, but the girl never said hi. I’d glance over occasionally (not as in stalker-staring!)… but my eyes were being avoided.  *gulp*

Everyone commented on my awesome new hat… except the person that I wanted to comment on it.

It was time to go dancing.  Those of us who were going had broken away from the bar, downstairs through the closed down restaurant, through the dark hallway next to the off-limits bathrooms, and into another building where some international law firm was having their Entrepreneur of The Year award banquet… which was now in the dancing phase. Free drinks too.  A whole group of us had apparently crashed the party.

This would normally make me chuckle… but I was feeling a bit wounded.  My dancing skills were withering by the minute.  My energy was draining through the wounds (Yeah yeah… melodrama… what’d you expect in something titled “A Sad Post” ?? I’m an artist, a writer, creative…. what’d you expect? a news summary?).  I gotta admit that I was originally hoping the group would go dancing at a club with dance music (techno/hip-hop), not crash some lawyer party that plays wedding style music (Michael Jackson, Beyonce, 80′s)…  and where people were not dressed in gowns and tuxedos.

When I’m in a good mood, I can easily cause a scene at a black-tie event.  This time I felt like it was 8th grade again… Yup, 8th grade… when I was a short fat kid with no self confidence… I bought tickets to the dance, and spent the whole time sitting next to the speakers with some other kid that wasn’t going to score a dance… and we’d sit there and talk about how we’re going to ask someone to dance during the next song.  These are the things that I think of by the way when I think of regrets in life.  That’s why I told you in my last post to talk to strangers. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

In this case, that girl was dancing with a bunch of other guys.  One of which is a performer in general… They were putting on the show that I had visualized back in my head before leaving the house.

I’ll just leave it at that. The rest I’m not sure about…. if it’s in my head, affected by detox hormones and chemicals, or just me being a big sissy.

Thankfully, Jesse wasn’t up for being out too late, so was ready to leave when I was… which I was by 12:30. I had no problem avoiding alcohol that night, despite wishing I was on it, so I could dance better or something.  It appears it wouldn’t've mattered anyways.  Plus I’m on the Liver cleanse part of the cleanse.

There you have it… that’s what started out my crazy emotional attack.  I got home, and couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Not even a hello.  All efforts down the drain.  I woke up quiet and upset.  Sleep hadn’t changed where my thoughts were.  Neither did running!  Running is usually where I go to escape my frustrations… the sweat, the heat, the exertion, the endorphins… they always bring joy and clarity– except today.  My run turned into a slow walk.  I can’t even tell you how slow, because I turned off t he music, which turned off the timer.

In case you wondered what I sound like when I’m not happy, now you know.

I thought I should run faster, but I kept shifting to a walk.  When I made it to the house, it seems my speed was perfect, ’cause everyone was litereally just closing the car doors, and leaving.  There was a trip that I was not invited to… it was company only.  Right before I left for my run, that girl had shown up, all smiles and fun. “Oooh! Trampoline!” bouncing on the rebounder.  I didn’t want to be there.  When I got back, and they were gone, it was just me, Craig’s dog, and her dog.  Her dog jumped up on the couch next to me, and put his head on my leg, and went to sleep. I was saddened some more.

Someone had brought over a croissant with scrambled egg.  It was in a to-go container, and left on the table.  It would be bad by the time they got home.  I ate it.  It’s not raw food.  It’s not vegan food.  It’s not healthy.  It’s comfort food, but the real reason I ate it was because I’ve heard Craig talk about how Pizza and greasy food has helped him slow down various detoxing to bring emotions within check.  There was also half a turkey sandwich.  More bread.  Meat.  It was the first non-raw meat I’ve had in 2 weeks.

I packed up my stuff… not just my running shorts and Vibrams, but my whole cleanse kit, guitar, and harddrives.  Craig’s on the look for another house anyways, and as you’ll see in my next move, I am taking off to Cali in a week for a while.  What I probably won’t mention in that post is that a big reason I decided to take this travel opportunity was to have space. Being in Austin is getting painful.  As much as I love Austin, that girl has infused herself into everything. She knows most everyone I know, talks to my closest friends– probably more than I do.  That kind of stuff.  I have other reasons, but that’s a giant one.  Just to clear my head, and not be able to “Just come over”.

I went back to the house I’m house-sitting.  It’s quiet.  I don’t like the location so much.  There’s no good place to run.  There’s no pets to hug or play with. There’s no other humans.  I was greeted by a wasp.  It somehow got in.  I prefer my animals fuzzy… I killed it. I went to sleep.  Again ( I forgot to mention that I slept after my “run”).  The night before I was the 1st one to sleep.

I wanted to be here so I don’t bring anyone else down.  I had a friend reach out to me to say hello… he’s a close friend whom I haven’t spoken to in a while… He knows a lot of the same people, so knew about a bunch of the things that were going on in my life.   I shed some tears.  When we lose our self of worth, and incredible people take the time to care…. it stings a bit.  The same result happened from a text later on.

I think having someone to unload to helped a lot!  In fact, I know it did, because after that, my mood started improving rapidly.

I’m just freeflowing- as usual – I don’t know what my point is.  There’s no moral or anything.  Maybe “Be careful who you hand you heart to”  “Karma’s a bitch”  “You can’t RUN from your problems” (Had to throw at least one pun in this post) “Doing a cleanse can bring up some deep shit to the surface, so be prepared for that.” “Friends are what can bring us out of a dark place.”  and very importantly “Make sure you do things for the right reasons… for yourself… not just for someone else.”  (Now, I had flat out thought of that one when I went to the store to get the new shirt and hat…. I figured “Well, if nothing else, I have a nice shirt to wear.  I’m getting it as a celebration of weight loss!” – but that’s bullshit.  I got it ’cause I thought she’d like ‘em).

I can be the most independent person in the world, or I can be a clingy whiny codependent little bitch….. er… romantic.

Hope you got some value out of this blog post.  I’m ready to hit delete- despite that I’ve been typing it for the last 2 hours, but it’s a look into a side I don’t normall display. I don’t think I’m being harsh about the girl.  I’m not calling her a bitch or anything like that.  The mean text I mentioned earlier was short, but stated where things stood.  There are no surprises here.

It’s 2:15am.  I started being productive at 10:30pm (thank you to the friends who let me pour my heart out and gave me sage advice.  I don’t think I’d be productive at all today if it wasn’t for you). I sent out documents that my insurance needed.  I finished my blog post from yesterday.  I notified some people in Cali that I’m headed there.  Now it’s 2:15, I’ve writetn this novel, and I’m going to finish making a Joomla template for a client, as they just approved the layouts I sent them yesterday.

One last thing-  Sometimes you’re in a shitty mood, and happy music pisses you off. I tried happy music at first… to cheer me up… it didn’t work (although watching a video of someone turning an iPad into a skateboard, and trasing it certainly did).  So, for writing a sad post like this one… if you need a lengthy segment of sad music, check out The Sixty One.  I love that site anyways for discovering new music…. but just the other day I discovered their “Moods” section…. I gotta say “Party” is quite decent and “Sad” is pretty damn great- normally, and especially today.  Check it out: http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/moods/sad/

*****MAJOR REALIZATION*****  After writing this, and getting some sleep, I realized something super-important! It may not be the cleanse’s fault!  There’s more!  Read this! http://www.couchsurfingori.com/blog/do-your-research/

Since I do know a bunch of them, I am at least aware of what I am ingesting, and my environment… So, when I got back from a 3 week road trip, where my diet consisted mostly of Taco Bell, coffee, and other things you can get near the freeway, I was in a mental funk. I did not know what was up, but I highly suspected that the lack of exercise, not taking my various vitamins and minerals, and the consumption of fried crap had a lot to do with it. Within about 3 days of getting back and eating raw food (from the Whole Foods downtown), and taking various minerals again, I was back to myself again.

My normal self can take some rough news pretty easily. But when I’m in a funk, I get shaken pretty easily. My relationships and conversations were even affected, and also affected in a major way was my productivity!

I decided that this would be a great time to join my friends in a cleanse. They were already going to start any day, so why not be in on it too? I had already had a few days of mostly juice and raw food. So, I ordered the kit from Blessed Herbs. Here’s the exact one I got, and I can’t tell you what the experience has been, as I’m only in day #2.  It comes with a colon cleansing kit as well, which is what we’re doing for the 1st step.  That’s an 8-day process.  Basically, I’m on a mostly liquid diet, and am taking these packets, in organic apple juice, then at night, a bowel stimulator…. They want you to have bowel movements every day.  I’m also drinking a ton of water daily now.

I know.. you didn’t come here to read about my bowel movements, but I did title this “Colon Cleansing and stuff” – so, you can’t say you weren’t warned.  Just know that the colon and digestive system are the first to be cleansed, otherwise, you’re introducing the same toxins that are stored there right back into the body. The kit ac

OTHER THAN THAT…. I’m house sitting for Ceci, though I’m writing this from Craig’s house because I wanted to catch up with him, and he’s an expert on this health stuff…. also, he’s a CNR practitioner, so will do some energy work with me.

I tried jogging yesterday in Vibram 5 Finger shoes… they’re shoes that look like gloves.  I’ve never tried a pair, and Craig has an older pair that was slightly torn up.  I tried them on, and went straight into a jog.  About 2 blocks into it, my big toe poked through a hole in the Vibram, scuffed the ground, and the next thing I know I”m rolling around on the ground.  I have a 1/2″ hole in the palm of my hand, both my big toes are scuffed, and some road rash on my left elbow.

Here’s the funny thing that made me smile today.  I called my parents and wished them a good day of trading (they’re day traders), then told them what’s new (They don’t read my blog– otherwise Mom would’ve known we were coming to surprise her for mother’s day), and I included my fall and wounds.  Where previously mom would freak out about all these things, she said “Well, you’re used to getting banged up ”  Wow!  They finally get it!  That makes me happy.

I’m also learning a lot about communications.  I’m used to communicating with people… and thought I was good at it.  My friend Elizabeth PW has told me for a while about this one test, the 5 love languages. While there’s a free test on that site that gives you the gist of it, there’s actually a full test in the book… she gave me the test, and analyzed my results.  The thing is that there’s different ways that people feel loved.  This has been a matter of confusion for me lately, and maybe some of you have had to deal with this.  The issue I notice is that one person doesn’t feel liked, and the other person feels that no matter what they do, the other person doesn’t really appreciate it.

Here’s the thing… different people feel love (or appreciation) differently.  For me, it’s Physical (hugs, hair playing, sex, high fives), Quality time (time that it’s just the 2 of us, and we’re paying attention to each other), and words of affirmation (being thanked, or told you’re liked, or that you’re sexy).  I don’t really care about “Stuff” or having stuff done for me…. I’m very used to doing it all myself.  I buy what I need.  I use what’s around.  However… other people do care about these things.  So, this girl that doesn’t want to be named —

That’s another thing that I’m dealing with… I won’t quite say dating (I’ve discovered that labels cause more damage than they’re worth, but I spend a lot of daily time thinking about her) but let’s say spending a lot of time with… and she doesn’t want her life published. It’s understandable, but she knows me as Couch Surfing Ori, the blogger/photographer/adventurer/jokester (and even part sweetheart… shhh)…. so, that’s part of why I haven’t blogged. A lot of the things I learn or deal with are related to this.

Anyways, we have quality time in common on that love languages thing.  But one of hers for example is acts of service…. so  for example, helping her clean, noticing she’s low on something, so picking some up without being asked, or just giving a massage.  Where as, I like a massage for the physical aspect, she likes it for the service aspect as well… according to that test anyways. I kind of noticed these things before I had her take the test, but I’m sure I thought of it because Elizabeth had told me about the test.  It was a feeling of frustration that made me finally take the test.  Actually, that’s only part true.  It was a feeling of productivity… I had started on this Chocolate Bliss stuff – it’s a superfoods based drink that’s kind of a meal replacement. In fact, I’m using it for most of my meals during the next 30 days, as I do the cleanse.  This stuff practically gets you high!  I had  a few glasses of it, some raw food, and I was more productive than I even get when I am given adderall or massive quantities of caffeine.  I just broke things into small steps, and checked them off one at a time.  One was taking that test.  I wrote it, I did it, I sent it.

Anyways- speaking of productivity, I gotta get back to it!

One last thing that I wanted to share… I’m listening to the radio from Israel right now.  Part of who I am is someone from Israel.  I was there till my 9th birthday (flew to the USA ON my birthday), and I still have pdreams about my old neighborhood, etc… I’m not very in touch with my Israeli side, but I do love the music.  So, if you want to check out some of the music from there, here’s a neat site that has a lot of the radio stations from there.  Just so you know, there’s a lot of American Music as well… they’re still huge into David Bowie, The Cure, etc… and there’s a lot of music that’s played in Europe, and Asia… so… if you’re sick of overplayed music, want to hear some of what I grew up on (they still play a lot of oldies), or just want to check something new out– check http://www.fromil.com/radio/index.php?radio=4 – a small note:  It’s currently set to GalGalatz – when I grew up in Israel, Galey Zahal (Zahal is the Israeli army, and Galey, means Waves of… so… Israeli Army on the Airwaves) — which was news on the hour, talk radio, and the occasional music… but now there are many more radio stations… so Galgalatz is the music station that’s broadcast by Zahal…. Galgal means “Wheel” so this is kind of a play on words….  Anyways, that’s just some miscelania-

Have a (good) adventurous day!

Fireworks - seems like a good pic for the new year

As of 2pm on January 1^st, I will have been couchsurfing a full 3 years. I have to admit, it’s gone by quickly. Everyone says “Where did the year go?” But because I blogged more this year, I actually know where it went.  I didn’t blog everything- but here’s my summary..

I bought my new camera this year, and when visiting my folks I was going to interview people about me, so you people can get other peoples’ takes on what I’m like.  Dad said “Why would anyone care?”  I said “’cause I’ve come to accept the fact that I have a very interesting and fun life, and the shit that happens in my life is often the stuff that only happens in movies… thus a few thousand people like to keep up with my adventures.”  He replies “Oh yeah? If your life is so interesting… what did you do for New Year’s?”  I replied the truth “Well.. I WAS going to go to Skizzy’s house party, but then he decided that Alyx didn’t want to clean the mess that would make, and thus promoted a club event instead.  I don’t like club events for new year’s, so I was going to work.” Dad smirked. “But then as I began working, some hot girl I never met, on okcupid.com e-mails me and asks if I’d like to go to a belly dancing, gypsy music, bon-fire party.  So I dropped work, and went to that.”  His jaw was a bit slack now. The next day he gave me an interview for my blog.

On January 29^th of this year, I got the following e-mail from Sam Kinch (whom I have no idea who he is):

…..you’re such an obnoxious ass.

I just scanned through a bunch of posts looking for the promised “Amazing photos & amazing adventures”….Ori?….i didn’t find any.

All i found was a sadsack who doesn’t want to get a real job and hopes to become some kind of “blog phenomonon” but hasn’t yet realised that you need some kind of a decent/interesting idea, AND some form of talent.

Anyway, here’s a thought, how’s about your next adventure is giving up?

it’s a toughy but you’ll soon realise that broadcasting your “life” to the whole worl, when you have nothing decent to say is actually a little backwards.

Anyway, much love, keep up the hard work,

Sam

Sam had a point.  On that particular day, I was in Atlanta, sitting at home, packing up for the next leg of my journey.  I was about to drive to Austin, Texas for the first time… I had already done a few trips to Florida that year, but I had not really blogged too well in 2008.  A lot of that crap was just what I think… and I certainly wasn’t posting that many photos (that is something that still needs to be remedied—I have literally hundreds of thousands of them from my journey). Same applies to video (only 100’s of hours there).

I’m glad to say a few short weeks later I sent Sam a letter with some links to some pretty crazy stuff I did, with photos in the blog posts.

2009 started with me couchsurfing at Dr. Michael Craig’s house.  I met him at one of Matt Bacak’s events. It wasn’t an adventure, but it was really great getting to hear him and his wife’s many fabulous travel stories from around the world, then work on his business.

I got a Canon 5D Mark II, and a fisheye lens (F2.8 15mm Canon) which was life-changing… now my video was in full high definition, and shot with the same great optics I use to do photography.  Additionally, it’s all digital, which means as soon as I shoot, I can edit, export, and upload.  So 2009 was the year that had the most video on my blog.

I then drove to Florida to surprise my mom for her birthday. I visited my little bro (twice in January actually.. once for his birthday, once on my way to see Mom), where I borrowed his dog to represent. To break in the camera, I interviewed some old friends and clients.

I got a Mac in 2009.  Groan I’ve been talking crap about Macs for ages… now I could finally justify it.  They’re ok machines, I just think the work flow is infantile… 2010 will probably be a PC with Hackintosh year.

I discovered Austin (where I’m writing this from now), because I crashed at Perry Belcher’s couch for a few weeks. Perry is a great marketer, and now a great friend.  He showed me around, and introduced me to some people, which introduced me to some people… and Austin really grew on me.  Some of my first videos this year were of me, Perry, and friends just sitting around telling Jokes.

I went to the ER in February.  I had a “meat impaction” – apparently, I have some kind of acid reflux, which makes my esophagus constrict, and food gets stuck, and I can’t breath. It sucked, and I’m still paying off the lab-work, endoscopy, etc… Made for a fun blog post though!

My new friend David Gonzales introduced me to an amazing girl, Betty Bell, who took me around on Valentine’s Day. She really showed me these amazing local places, and we hit up a ton of them… bars, pubs, pizza places, candy stores, and a walking tour of downtown.

For my mom’s birthday, I had gotten her a knitting kit.  She used to knit when we were children, and hasn’t done it in years. In February, I got a cap, and a scarf that my mom knitted for me.

I went to a rotary club meeting. I went to an event called Twestival… they leveraged the power of Twitter to throw multiple parties around the world to raise money for clean drinking wells in Africa. Sumo Wrestling for a cause has never been so much fun.

I drove to Dallas to have breakfast just to meet a twitter friend I hadn’t met in person before.  It was great exchanging adventure stories, and getting along so well, when we are so politically opposed.  This was on my way to Washington, DC for Yanik Silver’s Underground 5 – a marketing conference with style (and booze).

I discovered that Washington, and Washington DC are totally different places on the map!

I stayed with one of my models, Christina, who was the 3^rd model I shot from OneModelPlace.com in 2004. While she was pregnant, their dogs had some puppies too.

Yanik’s Underground was an amazing time. I met so many incredible people, had a lot of fun, and even got a nice headwound.  This led to stitches, and I won a bet that there would not be a scar!  It’s one of my favorite videos of the year too.

I had a quick trip to New York, which is where I first heard of Tito’s Vodka. The next night, in South Carolina, I got to drink Tito’s Vodka, and hear an amazing tale of how excited my friend was about Tito’s, that he personally went and got all the liquor stores in his city to carry it.  That made me contact them, and later couchsurf with them.

I went to Stompernet Live 7- another marketing event. One of my twitter friends, Wilson Mattos asked if I wanted a ticket (value: $1,500 if I recall). I had a blast. The staff took me out partying, so after the party, there was an afterparty, we closed out Opera night club. Then there was a small 5am after afterparty, and then I realized the presentations were starting in 3 hours, so tried to get some shut eye. I was 30 minutes late to the first presentation, and after 10 minutes of being there, left my camera and laptop unattended, as I rushed off to vomit. Apparently, I wasn’t hung over, I was still drunk.  Additional apparently, it turns out that unlabeled carafe was not Vodka, but tequila. I also remembered that I had forgotten to eat dinner the night before.  Oh well! I made many awesome contacts, and learned tons of useful stuff.

Stompernet was in Atlanta.  So, I did my taxes while there, went cliff jumping with my buddy Robert, and got attacked by wild geese instead.  For those who say that you can’t say much in 140 characters, I disagree:  Was gonna jump off a cliff. Got attacked by wild geese instead. Dang, yet another new gash!  ß- 50 characters left over!

In March I was excited. It was my first time being invited somewhere as a pro blogger /  tweeter.  Ford, the car company, invited me to attend their 2010 Ford Taurus preview dinner.  It was very cool indeed!  Great food, incredible car (I used to drive a Ford Taurus station wagon, and it didn’t look anything like this!), and nice people.  I was leaving back to Austin right from there…. This time to attend SXSW (South By South West). There I got to meet in person Peter Shankman and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Peter (@Skydiver on twitter) is funny, witty, masterful at PR (I bought his book this year—Can We Do That?! – tells you how to create PR Stunts that work, and why they work.  I highly recommend it), and helps journalists.  To top it off though, he is an adventurer… he’s done over 200 skydives already… and he’s running triathalons and marathons now.  He’s a total spaz J  – So, of course I look at him as sort of a roll model. Gary has inspired so many people.  I’m a fan because he just says it like it is, and has gotten the acclaim for it.  He’s a real dude.  He’s also an awesome person.

I couchsurfed with the folks of Tito’s Vodka. Beth, head of marketing, was so excited that I interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk. She’s his biggest fan (or close to it… when you’re as famous as Gary, I’m sure there’s a few that are TOO big of fans (stalkers?)). So I gave her my Vaynernation sweatband. She was thrilled.  But she really called me up shocked when she had a voicemail from Gary, just saying hi.  She had told me that he was her hero, so I gave him her number, and asked if he would mind making someone’s year… no…. decade.  He did it, and it did make her decade. In fact… it’s helped influence some major decisions for her.  Thanks Gary!

I got a tour of Tito’s Vodka Distillery- they don’t give tours.  I got to drink it at 180 proof, straight out of the still.  I got to go to the Tito’s Vodka Dinner- where every course was cooked in Tito’s, and a different cocktail was served up. It was a seven course meal J

I drove back to Atlanta for Matt Bacak’s Marketing Maddness event.  You guessed it, it’s a marketing event. This is where I broke into public speaking.  The people were surprised when they saw that the guy wearing a Zebra-stripe bathrobe, a fuzzy hat, and telling tons of jokes…. Was actually one of the speakers.  The response was awesome, and I got invited to attend a magic show by John Calvert—one of the world’s oldest magicians… Google him, uber-interesting!

I got to couchsurf with Matt on his private property which he calls “God’s Country” – we went 4-wheeling, shot skeet with a shotgun.  Fun stuff!  I brought the Tito’s Vodka of course.

I went to the Atlanta Creativity Exchange. It was not as wild of a crowd as shows up at marketing events, that’s for sure! I got to attend Laughter Yoga, and my buddy Ben Mack mortified the instructor by telling his Bowel Movement story, when she was talking about Vowel Movements—another classic video!

Saw the Plain White T’s in concert again. Austin has a lot of music shows!  I was staying with a girl that I met during SXSW.  Holly was very cool (still is)- she took me to do a lot of exploring in Austin.  Not just the city, but a lot of swimming holes, a waterpark, a baseball game in Dallas, and she visited me in Oregon.  But… I haven’t gotten to Oregon yet!

My car got broken into!  That really sucked.  I was lucky though, they only took my GPS, and a bunch of change. I needed to get my window repaired.  But, they didn’t take my lenses, so I was in great shape.

I took Perry and his wife April to go glass blowing with Holly and me.  I’ve never been glass blowing, and have wanted to do it since I was a small child.  I sent the glass pieces I  made to my mom.

More Austin oddities I saw- Cathedral of Junk (a giant structure built over 20 years of just junk), and the bats… millions of them come out every night at sunset. It’s quite a sight.

I was about to drive to Phoenix, AZ to speak at Ben Mack’s event, when I got an email on Facebook saying “I love what you’re doing! If you’re ever in Phoenix, AZ you have to stay on my couch!”  That’s how I met Caleb Jennings. I called him up, and said “Funny enough, I’m headed there right now” – and he took me to the Heart Attack Grill (2^nd most popular post on my blog).  We had a lot to discuss—adventures, travel, technology, marketing, and much more.  He is one well educated adventurer!

I went to California, couchsurfed with Radio announcer and photographer Aron Bender (who just got married 2 days ago, and his new wife already said I am welcome to crash on their couch any time I want).  I inspired Aron to pursue his photographic career, and we’ve been in touch since… so it was great to get to visit him in California.

I was really excited. Another case of being recognized as a social-media talent… got invited to Oregon, as a means of attracting attention to the city of Coos Bay.  I made it there, parked my car, and flew to Florida. It was my first flight since I started this thing.  I flew to attend my little brother’s graduation from UF.  The family took a cruise to Jamaica, Honduras, and Belize.  I ate ridiculous amounts of food. It was fun to be with the family, but cruises are rather dull these days. We did get some really nice scuba diving in though!

The best thing about the cruise was that it gave me a week away from my car. I needed it. See, after it got broken into, I kept expecting to see my car broken into every time I came out of a building.  The time away fixed that.

Before the cruise, I couchsurfed with Allison Nazarian.  A talented copywriter that I know from “back in the day” before twitter and facebook, and all that stuff J We had a tame time hanging out, but we spoke of our bucket lists.  I am proud to say that since then Allison has gotten a tattoo, and we did karaoke together.  Skydiving is next on the agenda (I’ve been a few times, but she hasn’t).  Allison is also an amazing friend- we’ve been able to bounce private stuff off each other, and she even delivered flowers to my parents for their anniversary for me!  Which was awesome, ‘cause my folks love her (A nice jewish gal!).

In Coos Bay I got to have the most amazing time.  I went clamming, deep sea fishing, camping, camping at a yurt, 4-wheeling (on a rental, and on a private one that’s tricked out) on the dunes, jet boating, surfing (waves, not just couches), bowling (also to go in the back, and see how the bowling machine works), see some amazing scenery, and then Kat (the amazing woman who was hosting me — @OregonKat if you want to plan an adventure!) introduced me to Julie, who is in charge of the chamber of commerce in Bandon, Oregon.

Bandon was another amazing city.  Both cities are on the coast.  In Bandon I got to go horseback riding, get kitesurfing lessons, help make fudge, ride with the coast guard on search and rescue training, play hickory (authentic 1890’s) golf, play regular golf.

I picked up my first hitch hikers in Ashland, OR.  This is the point where Holly came to visit me, and we went to Crater Lake.  Kat had gotten us staff housing there. We went rafting, and hiking, and just enjoyed the beauty of the place.

After dropping her off at the airport, I went and played Bull Poker.  Definitely one of the highlights of this year…. Which was quickly followed by another highlight: couchsurfing with Tony Hsieh (zappos.com CEO).  This gave me a major insight into the company, as I got to attend their 2^nd ever annual meeting. I really miss the Zappos.com crew.  I think if I would ever have a regular job it would probably be with Zappos.

Zappos.com is in Vegas.  After hanging there, I hung out with Caleb again. He had moved to Vegas to work with copywriting LEGEND Joe Sugarman (whom I got to meet later in the year.  What an honor.  You probably don’t know it, but Joe is the reason we can order via credit card over the phone, and thus now over the internet).  We went to Zumanity (Cirque Du Soleil’s sexy show) where the pre-show gang messed with us. This consisted of a 350 pound gal in a skimpy teddy sitting on Caleb’s lap and bouncing around, then drowning me in her tits.  When she backed off, she asked if I was ok.  I caught my breath, gave a thumbs up, and she did it again.  The crowd was pretty entertained.  I was pissed off – ‘cause Caleb didn’t get a picture…. That stuff’s just classic!

It was now June.  I had made a 22 hour drive from Tony Hsieh’s house, to Holly’s house in Austin.  We had a tubing trip with David Gonzales’s crew. I was dead tired by the time I arrived, but it was a fun day.

During this visit I got to mess up Holly’s BMW a bit, and pay to have it fixed. The only problem was that the guy I paid did a crap job… lesson learned- there’s a reason the shops cost more.  The Friend of a Friend doesn’t always work out so well.

I attended Dos XX’s Most Interesting Academy – a party at a castle, with Bug Eating, Skydiving, bungee jumping, and of course… good friends.

I did 4^th of July on the lake with Lyn Graft. He produces OnTheRoadWithIV.com – one of the shows I was on this year.  IV is one of the girls I interviewed as well, and she’s just a blast.  I met her through Caleb.  She’s an entrepreneurial skydiving hottie who races motorcycles.  How could I not fall for that? J  Lyn does work with other clients as well, and I got to hang with him at Blues On The Green – a Blues concert that Austin regularly has.

Mike Dillard is a well known internet marketer.  I got invited to ride out with him and his clients on a houseboat.  Another first.  Remember—new experiences is one of my definitions of  adventure!

My buddy Jimmy Walters the IV (4^th) had a screening of a movie he worked on.  That was really neat to see someone have a success with one of their passions.  It was a really neat movie too… it’s called Between Floors, and you can catch it touring the country right now on various film festivals.

I was actually in town to work on a project with some friends. We just buried the project last night, but it was a neat learning experience. So, a lot of my time in Austin was spent filming, editing, animating, and having meetings.

I had the most amazing time at Perry Belcher & Ryan Deiss’s Traffic and Conversion Summit.  It was 3 days of Perry and Ryan sharing everything they do. Their advanced tactics, and the small details that make them work. There was also great networking, and at the VIP party, great drinking. I got to ride in a hummerzine to their VIP dinner at Fogo De Chao Churrascaria, which is a Brazilian style restaurant.  I’m drooling just thinking about it. The things I learned there have become quite useful for me, and thus for my various clients.

I had a going away shindig, and the most amazing people showed up. It wasn’t particularly planned- I just tweeted about it the day before, and everyone made time. I wanted to cry… that’s how moved I was.

The next part of the year – it was now August – stands out as it’s own year almost.  I met and went on a road trip with Craig & Suzanne (who’s house I am writing you from now).  Which I had heard of through Caleb, and they heard of me… but we didn’t realize it when we met, that that’s who each other was.  When we realized it, we became instant BFF’s, and I got invited to camp at their camp at Burning Man.

We went on a  week roadtrip from Austin, to some hotsprings in New Mexico, to Arizona, to Sacramento, to Humboldt, to Ft. Bragg where we attended a Raw food expo—and where I started my 30 day raw challenge.  I ate 100% raw for 30 days, and lost 28 pounds.  After the expo, we went back to Sacramento, and onto the Ranch.

At the ranch we helped make hundreds of lifesize legos out of wood.  Our camp was called Lego Land, and it took a lot of prepping to make it!  The end of August is when Burning Man begins.  Burning Man always provides the best photos and stories.

We figured we would part ways in style, so we went rock climbing in Yosemite, and then I split to go to San Francisco (Albany) to spend the holidays with my family.  This was the last week of my 30 day raw challenge, and was not easy, as Mom & Barak (older bro) were prepping holiday food around me all week.  Lots and lots of meat and cooked food!

The night I finished my 30 day raw was the night of the holiday feast, and I gorged myself!

The next morning I drove to San Diego to stay with Jason Moffatt. Jason is a marketer, but we didn’t really talk much marketing. He is by far one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.  I attribute his success in marketing to having lots of street smarts.  I wish I could tell you all his stories.  I designed his book cover for him on very short notice, because the person that originally did it did a crappy job!  I say crappy job, ‘cause the book is called “Twitter for the shitter”.

Jason lives in a gorgeous home on the beach. We were going to go surfing- I had only had the one lesson in Oregon, so was excited to get to go. The night before Jason took me to Benihana’s, and my stomach did not take too well to that, after being on 100% raw for 30 days.  I woke up with serious indigestion, and Jason’s incredible girlfriend, Kameron had made us some really spicy potatoes and cooked eggs for breakfast.  This did NOT help my stomach.  We went and surfed, and I ended up puking all over myself… a few times.  We were in the water though, so it got washed off quickly. I expected to find a bunch of little fish eating it, but no such luck.

I flew to Austin on 0 notice to make changes to that project that just got buried.  I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone I’m in town.. I just worked for 2.5 days, and flew back in time to go to Ken Macarthur’s JV Alert Live. I met some neat people there, and had relocated couches to John & Julia’s.  I met them at Burning Man (Julia was vital in helping me stay alive during my mishaps there J ), and didn’t realize that they live right on the beach.

We went Kayaking one night with this really cool girl I met at JV Alert, Joanna Kinsman… whom I then couchsurfed with briefly to help her pack on her trip to Florida.  While there, I invented a new recipe we tried briefly: Chocolate Chip Cookies dipped in Guacamole. Oh wait—the kayaking!  We kayaked through the harbor to see Crosby Stills & Nash – they had a show, and we brought lots of booze, food, etc… so we had comfortable seats, all the food and drinks we wanted, and got to enjoy the show.  It was a blast.

I took off again. This time it was time to go to Kansas City, Misourri.  This was a 3 day drive.  I couchsurfed with my buddy Dirk Linderman (whom I met at Yanik’s Underground) in Salt Lake City. The next day I made the rest of the drive.  I drove to the American Royal—the world’s biggest BBQ competition—just to have a taste of the Bacon Explosion.  I was supposed to couchsurf with Jason of BBQ Addicts (creators of Bacon Explosion), but I was freezing cold, tired, and parked kind of far from the American Royal… so after eating some of the best BBQ ever, I chose to drive to Atlanta instead.

It was actually a tossup between Atlanta, and Chicago.  But, I figured I’d get stuff done in Atlanta- such as emptying my place out, so it can be rented out… something which didn’t happen (emptying) until Decmeber.

My friend Robert & his girlfriend Megan had a baby. I was in town to show my support.  When they found out they were pregnant, they asked me to be there for the birth… I said I’d try, so I was thrilled when things worked out.  I’ve been coaching Robert for a while  now, and he has become the best sales person at Gold’s Gym—constantly beating his own records (and those of the other 7 gyms in the region).

I left Atlanta to go to Fantasy Fest with Couch #2 – Cari.  She’s another adventurer entrepreneurial hottie. Cari had enough costumes from her Klowning (yes, with a K… she’s in a Klown troupe- they get dressed up, and go perform at parties), and from Burning Man.  She dressed us all up. It was great. Fantasy Fest is Key West’s version of Mardi Gras. Lots of boobs, booze, and beads. We rode around on bicycles, and since Cari grew up in the keys, she knew tons of people, and we got to go to many private parties.

I hung out with various friends in South Florida.  I got in a car accident from texting and driving…. Bad Ori!  It was just a fender bender.

I attended my friend Johnny’s wedding. He’s the talented artist that collaborated with me on the CouchSurfingOri.com logo.

I went to the SoFresh Cruise Tweetup. I met up with Rich Tucker, and Lyell Petersen.  The cool thing is that I met Lyell through Kate Buck Jr (one of my couches and bffs), and when I said I’ll be in Florida, Lyell invited me to their tweetup.  Rich was shocked to see me there.  He kept announcing to everyone that I’m The Couch Surfing Ori, and that I’m actually here, and that when he signed up on twitter, he followed 37 people the first day, and I was one of them.  The more he drank, the more he announced that to people.  Shucks.  It’s cool talking to people on twitter/facebook, but real life is the best (followed closely by Video Skype).

On my way out of Florida, I got to visit 2 more awesome people.  First is Eric Farewell.  I’ve been talking to Eric about hanging out since I met him at March of 2007.  It was incredible how many similarities we had.  I met him at Armand Morin’s Big Seminar… I think my camera got his attention.  Eric is a marketer, photographer, pilot, motorcyclist, adventurer.  I got to meet him and his hot wife.  They’re fairly recently married, but they literally have known each other since they were born. It’s truly the best wedding story I’ve heard.. find my blog post about Eric, and you can see the story in the invite.  He took me around to his family’s property, Chalet Suzanne, and even gave me a can of (delicious) Moon Soup (One of the astronauts on the original moon launch loved their soup so much, he demanded that NASA figure a way to get their soup up to space with him… and they did.).  He showed me the family’s planes, he even spun out in his VW Bug (remember the 100′s of hours of video I said I needed to edit/post?).  The property was quite full of history, and Eric had many stories.  I got to sit in on one of his teleseminars, and pitch in. I’ve had some of his attendees find me on twitter and get in touch since then, as they liked the content.  That was bonus.  Then it was off to see my little brother for a delicious dinner at one of the restuarant/bars he works at, a big hug, and a chance to see his dog Nugget again…. then it was off to Atlanta.

I came back to Atlanta to find that my neighbor’s sister had been in my place while I was gone (I know ‘cause she leaves food in the fridge, and does my laundry), and stole my shelf!  More like threw it out… I don’t know… my neighbor was the only one that had a key, and she was obviously there.  Neither one of them would fess up to it. It was really tough to fix the shelf, and Jeremy Johnston finally did it for me.

I met Jeremy at Matt Bacak & Mark Joyner’s Survival Tactics For Tough Times conference.  More marketing stuff.  I learned some stuff, partied (What is it with Atlanta conferences, and showing up the next day still drunk), and met some amazing people.  I got to meet some legends!  Ted Nicholas, and Joe Sugarman!  Google them.  If you’re into copywriting, you should definitely know who they are, and have read anything they’ve ever written.

I wanted to celebrate my birthday in Austin, as there are so many awesome people here.  I made my birthday be the deadline for my moving out of Atlanta.  I did it… but a few hours later than I wanted (like 12 hours).  So, I missed my own birthday party, but I’m in Austin.  This is where I want to start 2010 in.

A few days ago I started my weekly radio show-  CouchSurfingRadio.com — That’s something I wanted to do this year… so I just did it.  It will definitely evolve and grow. But I can check that off my 2009 goals list.

That’s basically my year.  Tonight, I am going to a small party to celebrate the new year with some close friends. I got invited to various parties, clubs, and bars for the night.  But, I’m a chill guy.  I like my adrenaline.  I like my music loud.  But I like people, and conversations, and stories.  And I find that at loud clubs, and bars, and big parties… I can’t hear what people are saying, and they can’t hear me.  I would like to start the year sharing laughs, stories, and good times with my close friends.  That’s what life is about, thus that’s how I end one year, and start the next. It’s not a Bellydancing, gypsy music, bonfire party… but it’s even better/

I’m not into resolutions  (other than 1920×1200 J  )—I’m into goal-setting.  Resolutions get broken, and are often not precise.  I hope that 2010 is a fun year for you filled with many achieved goals, good memories, good health, fun adventures, and prosperity.

See you next year!

Feel free to leave your 2009 highlights

This came later in the night though. And if you don’t recognize my weird noises, I’m making a tribute to the Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody video.The one who’s being quiet in the video is Will’s friend from Sweden.

I had couchsurfed with Kevin & Will before.  This time I was just visiting, because I’ve been in town for nearly two weeks, and we had yet to hang out.  His mom was in town too, and someone as crazy as Will.. I gotta see where he came from.  She was pretty damn funny!  In fact…..  Since she was prepping dinner, and Fried Deer was part of it, I described the episode of the Chapelle Show where Tyrone wins on Fear Factor… after eating Deer Penis.

She started talking about the various balls.. testicles if you prefer… that she’s eaten.  Talking about Calf Balls for example, so… me… being a goofball… I say “You know… I’m from Israel, and us jews have this one animal called a Matzoh.  We castrate them, and we use their balls specifically for soup.  You ever heard of Matzoh Ball Soup?”  She has heard of it.  I wasn’t even trying to keep a straight face– she didn’t notice, since she was prepping dinner.  She thought I was being serious.  Will set her straight, and I laughed my ass off.

I was able to tell her many jokes which I normally wouldn’t tell peoples’ parents!  Lots of fun was had.  While dinner was prepping, we watched Rambo, First Blood…. or at least a portion of it.  But then once the food was ready, we popped in Fight Club on BlueRay.  Holy crap!

I’ve seen Fight Club.  We all had.  In fact, 5 of us had it memorized, and Kevin had even me beat as far as being able to recite more quotes from the movie than me.  All in all, you could have muted the movie, and we would’ve recited it just fine.

Everything looked amazing on this tv!  Seriously! It was a Samsung UN46B8000 LED HDTV if I’m not mistaken.  It was as thick as my cell phone!  Rambo was being broadcast in high-def, and the thing that didn’t match up to the amazing feel of the movie was the audio… the sound effects back then are not what they are now, that’s for sure!

So… Fight Club in Blue Ray was amazing on the Samsung UN46B8000!  At first I wasn’t paying attention, I was watching my friend Brendan’s new ustream show… then I glimpsed up and saw the movie, and was stunned.  Whatever it is they did to this movie, it did not look or feel the same as the Fight Club I had seen so many times!  It was so sharp, and vivid, and I think they did something to the footage.  It looked like HDRI to me.  It had so much depth.  It was like being there in the movie!  I got off the couch, and sat in a chair which I moved even closer to the tv.  This needed to be watched up close!

After 30 minutes, my brain forgot that everything was so amazing, and I was back to just enjoying the movie.  But then, every time a scene that was artfully lit, or had some effect in it.. .I would remember again, that this was some new alien technology.  Look at my Avatar movie review, and read my future predictions…. I didn’t even take into account the improved quality of the displays.  People are just not going to leave the house!

It was after the movie that they showed me the apps you saw in the video above. We jammed out on Ipods for a bit.  Then they showed me a clip that is not on this blueray, but is on another one… not sure which one has it-  this is Brad Pitt & Ed Norton singing about a Penis.

This is not to be confused with Rodney Carrington’s song “Dear Penis” -

Merry Christmas everyone.  Whether you believe in Jesus, or (like me) not, it doesn’t matter. I still wish you an amazing day today.

In our world of instant gratification, rushing everywhere, and a trend towards isolation – though, on the internet talking more briefly to many more -  it is great to have a day where your job is probably closed down.  I hope you spend this time with people that inspire you. Family if you got ‘em…. Life is short, and some strange crap can happen. If you’re not talking, you should try to. If you are talking, go for a hug.

Instead of a short e-mail, or an e-card, why not send them a video? Get a hug today– family if they’re close enough, random strangers if they are near, friends, or of course, the person who’s couch you’re surfing on.

I hope you share dreams, and smiles.  I hope you take some time to reflect upon your life, your year, and what you want to get out of this experience we call life.

I hope of course that you get some great food… doesn’t even have to be home made… in fact, there’s many chinese food places that I know are open!

Whatever you do… remember, you’re alive, eating, and are at least healthy enough to read this blog-post… that means that you’re luckier than 97% of the world’s population.  Spend this day wisely…. invest it in yourself, and your friends and family if you have them.

May you reach your dreams, may you be inspired

Ori “Couch Surfing Ori” Bengal

Happy Hanukkah

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to wish you a Happy Hanukkah.  Even if you’re not Jewish…. enjoy it. I suppose this shouuld be my favorite Jewish holiday, as I was born during Hanukkah.  The 1st thing I despise about it is that in America, no one knows how to spell it.  Is it Channukah? Hanukah?  Hanukkah?  And many more variations.  It’s always on a different time of year, since we Jews have an older calendar than y’all.  None of the calendars I use (Palm Treo, computer, etc) use that calendar system… but I know it exists, ’cause Hanukkah is always on a different time.  Anyways… it’s known as the Festival of Lights, and that’s why my name is Ori, which means “My Light” in Hebrew (unless you misspell it– then it’s “My Skin” or “My Leather” which is great if you’re going to a Fetish Club.).  Of course, I bring much light and joy to my parents’ lives, as well as many others… I bring other things too… but that’s life.

Wikipedia says (and my personal insights afterwards):

From the Hebrew word for “dedication” or “consecration”, Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of the King of Syria Antiochus IV Epiphanes and commemorates the “miracle of the container of oil”. According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.

Hanukkah is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. 1 Maccabees states: “For eight days they celebrated the rededication of the altar. Then Judah and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the rededication… should be observed… every year… for eight days. (1 Mac. 4:56–59)” According to 2 Maccabees, “the Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths.”

The martyrdom of Hannah and her seven sons has also been linked to Hanukkah. According to the Talmudic story^[4] and 2 Maccabees, a Jewish woman named Hannah and her seven sons were tortured and executed by Antiochus for refusing to worship an idol, which would have been a violation of Jewish law.

WikiPedia aside though…

I am not a fan of the Holiday Season, as it is so commercialized.  It’s not about the amily, and time together.. it’s about the presents.  At least, that’s what it feels like.  All you hear are ads for Christmans sales, etc… This year didn’t seem so bad. Maybe ’cause I don’t watch TV, and I don’t really listen to the radio (the occasional channel surfing / NPR when my brain gets bored of audio books). I also didn’t go to the mall this year, so I haven’t had to suffer through those ravenous crowds and elevator music versions of popular holiday (Chrustmas) tunes.

Why do I think that it’s all about commercialism?  Well… American kids would always ask me what I got for Hanukkah… I mean, if we have 8 days, and we get presents on each, than our holiday must be better.  I agree… we don’t have a lactose intolerant burglar try to sneak down our chimney while his livestock crap on our rooftop, and his sled breaks the shingles…. but the fact is that while y’all got a Sony PS3 (or whatever’s hot these days), we’re not getting that many hot gifts each day.  It’s small gifts… chocolate… things like that.

Once we moved to the USA from Israel, our gifts started getting bigger.  I’m just not a holiday kind of guy though.  I don’t like the pressure of having to get or be given gifts.  Tonight I was by myself…. Itay (my little brother) was getting ready for work in Gainesville, FL.  Mom and Dad were in Boca Raton, FL, and Barak (my older brother) was with his fiancee and step-children in Albany, CA.

It was beautiful… Barak connected with Itay & the parents on 3-way, and Itay 3-wayed me in.  Barak’s step-kids had their 1st Hannukah I think (they may’ve done it last year– but it sounded like their 1st)-  we sang through the crappy reception.  We lit the Chanukia (Hannukah candle-holder… see image at start of blog post) on our different sides. My folks gave me a nice one back in 2005 when I moved into my place on Ft. Lauderdale Beach.  I don’t recollect using it before.

It felt really special, and really warmed my heart that my family spent time together tonight, even though we’re spread across the USA.

Barak got a puppy, which he named Oscar — after our grandfather on mom’s side (RIP).  I haven’t seen pictures, and Barak didn’t get to tell me about the dog.. mom & dad did.  Barak & I have been playing phone tag.

I had no desire for gifts- getting or giving.  Being on the phone with my family was my gift.

I was late to lighting my candles, as I was hunting down Jelly Doughnuts.  Dunkin Donuts was completely out of them! I tried a few locations.  Kroger’s (Grocery store) had Krispy Kreme donuts, so I grabbed those, and hauled ass back home. As I got in my car, my family called.  While we were singing Hanukkah songs, I quietly muttered the prayers again (I said them out loud when they lit their candles), and lit mine.  My Chanukia is one thing that I’m not getting rid of with all my stuff.  Personally, I would, but it would break my parents’ hearts I think.

I just remembered while typing this… this one year, in Israel, I was reaching over for some doughnuts, and my shirt caught on fire as I reached over the Chanukia.

This other year, Barak & I went with Alex Livingston to his family’s cabin in the mountains in Breckenridge, Colorado.  We skied/snowboarded, made hot cider, made jelly doughnuts and potato pancakes (Barak made them… He’s the one who has Mom’s recipe).  That was a neat Hanukkah.

One year, Mom & Dad surprised us and gave us all checks for $1,000.  I thought it was too much, and didn’t want to accept…. they said the rule was that we had to spend it on SOMETHING… we couldn’t just deposit it.  $1,000 doesn’t buy you that many lap dances!  I’m kidding… what did I get that year?  I can’t even remember– it was probably something computer or camera related.. that’s all I ever spend money on.

Oh yeah! Sidetrack– December 2003.  I was in Israel.  I took this “Birthright Tour” — this company gives you a free trip to Israel (normaly over $1,000 just for the flight) for 2 weeks, complete with tours of the state, hotels, foods, nightclubs (gotta pay for your own drinks– though… day #1 was the day after my birthday — we left the USA on my birthday, it’s a long flight – so everyone bought my drinks for my birthday…. well… I started with a Long Island Iced Tea, and so that’s what everyone got me.  I woke up the next day, all refreshed, and stretched, and yawned… and there were people in my room.  And everyone was like “holy shit! You’re alive!” “ummm.. yeah… why wouldn’t I be?”  “You don’t remember last night???” hmmmm… turns out that I had forgotten that I had been vomiting blood all night, after I had vomited up the 14 long island iced teas… oopsy! Happy Birthday, right? ), and much more.  For $50  I was allowed to change my return flight, so I stretched my trip out an extra 2 weeks, so I can visit friends and family.

While on the tour, they took us to where the Macabis had dug all these underground caverns, and we got to spelunk down that. It was pretty scary- which was of course awesome.  I think I may have footage of that somewhere.  They were clever folk.  It took a lot of hiding to beat the Romans, and they did what it took. We were also taken to the site of the Holy Temple… though… that’s in Jerusalem, and there’s arguments over who gets access to what parts of the holy sites there.

I’m clearly not spiritual or religious, so I gotta say that I don’t believe or care about an oil can lasting for 8 days.  I also think the songs are silly.  And this year, because of my step-niece / step-nephew, we also sang them in English… which was weird.  It’s funny as hell though– my little brother always says “watermelon watermelon watermelon” — because if you don’t know the words to a song, you can just say that, and it looks like you’re mouthing the right words.  So… this year, when we sang in English, I kept saying “Avat’ee’ach” — which is Hebrew for Watermelon

Anyways– got to celebrate with my family, and not feel alone.  My doughuts were not home made, and I did not have potato pancakes at all.  More than the holiday, I’m excited about being in Austin next week.

I gave away a lot of my stuff today…. but that’s a whole other blog post

A photo I took of Tellman at Underground

I’d like to start by apologizing that my site was down today… er… yesterday (now that it’s 2:40am).  My host (Bluehost) had moved me to another server, and it took them longer than expected.  They’re usually awesome, so being down for a day sucked (My analytics were starting to look pretty too!). The site’s back up now though!

My friend Kate Buck Jr. is here. She got to crash on my couch today, which is cool, ’cause she’s one of my couches from Austin.  I love returning the Karma.  She’s in town like many others, to attend Matt Bacak and Mark Joyner’s “Survival Tactics for Tough Times” event… This is an awesome event.  I am really impressed with the selection of talent here.  These are internet marketers, but also non-internet legends (like Jeff Paul, and Ted Nicholas).  There’s a good energy, and lots of hugs were exchanged, as I’ve met many of these people in other states, for other events.

Anyways- 3 days of partying and learning the latest and greatest tools and tactics to grow YOUR business, and make the competition poop their pants   (that’s kind of my new slogan).

I am here to learn, and I always enjoy meeting new people, brainstorm, mastermind, and help others…and of course, it’s an excuse to wear my furry hat

I ran into Tellman Knudson, who has already run over 540 miles barefoot this year on his new project “Run Tellman Run” – he’s running across the country barefoot.  He’s breaking a world record. He runs about a marathon distance a day (and he often uses the photo I took of him),  crossing the whole USA.  Despite that I’ll get back to the hotel at 3:40am, I’m going to go running with Tellman at 7am!  Wish me luck!

Someday I'll dance like this

I’ve written about OkCupid.com numerous times now. I guess I’ve been on it for slightly over a year, though, many times I forget. Last year, while couchsurfing in Florida (I was day trading for my parents, while watching their house.  It was stressful, but I kicked ass, so they took me on a cruise to the Bahamas with my cousins from Israel), I was in talks with 2 girls from Atlanta. One of them I list in my list of crazy-as-Ori-women (It’s up to 3… maybe 4 women so far. She was the 2nd), while the other one seemed more normal.  Normal isn’t bad. We emailed, traded photos, and finally made it to the phone.

After a little while, I just felt the vibe wasn’t there…. Some religious differences, some business belief differences, and then… just the simple vibe.  You know, when you start a conversation, and it falters?  So… I didn’t call back after that call, and neither did she, and that was that… until the start of November.  Then I got a Facebook friend request (http://facebook.com/ori.bengal / http://facebook.com/couchsurfingori).  It was from that same girl… she asked if I remember her, what I’m up to, and if I could help her with some photography for her dance portfolio.

I replied that I’d love to.  It’s $500 for a 3 hour shoot, and then of course I work my magic on those pictures.  She replied that she’s still a student, and that that is out of her budget, but would I be willing to barter?  Perhaps some dance lessons?  Maybe some cleaning?

My face lit up as I read that, and I immediately replied that I would love to, as my place is messy, and I’m looking to get it cleaned / packed, so I can rent it out while I’m gone.  I used to think that I didn’t want to rent it out… you know “I don’t want to put my stuff in storage!” and “I don’t want people messing with my stuff!” and “I finally got my stuff where I like it!”  yeah.. well… I clearly don’t give a damn about my stuff, as I haven’t visited it in 9 months, and even while here, I haven’t touched anything… as I’m used to just me and my laptop (and camera).  Heck.. .my clothes are still in my car!

She replied to see if I ‘m really serious, as she’s really great at packing!  What luck?

I was in Florida still, so we planned on getting together when I got back.  We met up at my place.  1st of all, she lives 2 miles from me!  2nd of all, she looks way better than her pictures (when I said this, she mentioned that that is why she needs help with her portfolio.  Good point).  My place isn’t as messy as I thought, and.. my living room is plenty of space for the lessons.

So, while I plan on being in Austin by my birthday (December 16th — you can buy me some Gas if you’re looking for a present)- at least I’ll arrive with better Salsa / Swing moves, and an empty, clean, and hopefully rented out condo.