Experiences.

Last night we went to this place in Hoboken called Lounge 11 for Ryan and his roommate Ashley's birthday. They actually have the same exact birthday which is pretty cool. It was about 15 of us total who went out to this trendy club/bar. They had good drinks, a great dance floor, the DJ was okay, but certainly not the best in my book. As a little surprise to Ashley, I gave her a birthday lapdance. Everyone was in on it and they thought it would be a great memory for her birthday. I actually thought it was hilarious because so many people we're watching this event. I don't mind when people watch though, it's kinda funny because people probably think I'm totally wasted when I'm actually being myself. I'm awaiting the arrival of the pictures so when they come in I will put some up :-)

I spent my day today cleaning up my room, bathroom, doing laundry, and packing for my trip to LA and Phoenix. I've got all of my travel documentation printed and ready to go including boarding passes. I chose to not check my luggage since I'll be arriving in LA at 11:30pm and we're going straight to a nightclub from the airport. Hara basically broke her back to make sure we're getting in without having to pay the ridiculous cover which set's in after 11pm. So this should be a lot of fun tomorrow flying all day and partying all night. Fortunately for me I don't ever get jet lagged because I'm up so late anyway that my body doesn't know the difference.

In other news, as I was driving the 2 hour/130 mile one way trip to Ryan's last night I was doing a lot of thinking and it dawned on me how interesting life is. It truly is what you make of it. I'm on the go pretty much non-stop and I love it. I just love traveling and meeting new people. I love experiencing everything and anything. Hearing people's stories is probably one of my favorite things about traveling. I love seeing how lifestyles vary within each location that I travel to. People watching comes in second after hearing people's stories. I love watching people in their element, observing their body language, and figuring out what they could be thinking about based on both their element and body language.

I had many thoughts of how fortunate I am to be able to travel as much as I can and live the life that I do. I wish that everyone could do this. What makes it interesting is that I typically travel alone. I have to fly to Chicago and then to LA tomorrow all by myself, which to a lot of people sounds very boring. However, I find it to be prime people-watching time. Airports are fantastic places to watch people because everyone is constantly moving and from all over the place. I had a chance to go into the International Terminal at LAX last summer and it was one of the coolest experiences. I couldn't get a hold of a single person either to share the experience with. My reasoning for even going in to the International Terminal was to grab some dinner while I waited for 2 hours for my friend's plane to land.

It's so awesome to be able to experience various things by yourself because then you cherish them that much more because their so private. You don't have to run and tell everyone everything. Their little memories that can span from a chance encounter at a pharmacy to sitting topless on the beach in South Beach. I remember thinking as I sat on the beach in Miami that it was such a wildly invigorating experience to have yet no one was there with me to share it with. Okay, so I did send a certain someone a picture of the "scenery" haha, but it was all in good fun. Life is simply a very beautiful thing and one should never be afraid to really live it.

Another cool part about my trip to California in particular is that I'll be seeing a few of my friends along the way. My friend Eric, who is originally from Michigan then moved to Jersey for a short while which is when we met, lives in Chicago where he goes to school. I've got to a 2 hour and 10 minute layover in Chicago so he's going to come to the airport to keep my company. We haven't seen each other in about 3 years so it will be great to catch up. Some how or another my friend Josh, who I went to Cabrini with, always travels at the same exact time as I do. We usually will get in touch with each right before our trips and say where we're going and that each other must be going somewhere as well. It's pretty much a never fail situation. He's actually in Chicago this weekend and we had tried to meet up tomorrow but his flight home takes off before mine lands.

I'll be seeing my friend Marcus who I met through my friend Warren about 5 years back, while I'm in LA. He moved there about 2-3 weeks ago for work. I was able to see him all the time while he was in college because our schools we're pretty close, but once graduation hit and the real world slapped handcuffs on him, we only get to see each other a few times a year. I'll also be seeing my friend Mike while I'm in LA. We go to a local bar/club called the Landmark together every Thursday. We went to high school together actually and his mom was my senior year english teacher. We just so happened to be going out there during the same week so we'll meet up at some point. I'm very excited for this trip. I feel like my life is one big spring break right now haha.

Well, I've got to finish packing, I've got a very long day ahead of me tomorrow. The picture I've chosen to include in this entry is of Formentara which is a small relatively touched island off the coast of Ibiza, Spain. This will be my first international trip sometime in the next year. ;-)