march 20, 2000
7:00am haven't left yet, will post as soon as i can from italy-
should hit my hotel around 3pm PST 3-21

3:38pm pst
at airport ready to board-  loose, relaxed, extremely confident-
enjoying everything, but not excited about everyting-

will probably be the only black person on plane...
11 hours, non-stop to milan...got an aisle seat to stretch legs,
thinking now i should have gotten a window...

9:27pm pst
just watched a cute movie with a cute girl (lady actually)- two of hearts or sumthing
on the screen now is travel stats in itallian and enlish, 6 hrs 3 min to go...

the announcements are made first in italian and then english.
funny thing is the italian ones go on and on for like a minutes at a time-
then the english one comes on and the guy says "fasten your safety belts"
he says that after every one...the italian folx be laughing and cheering
during their announcement and then "fasten your safety belt" in english

italian movie on now, with subtitles....

im the only black person on the plane,
saw a guy who kinda looked black, but he was'nt the real thing-

oh yeah...im bored as hell-
relaxed and loose. i was thinking how cool it is to be able
to travel solo across the world and be so damn confident and relaxed--
i aint worried about nothing...im aware, but not worried-
i mean im going to a country where i dont speak the language and
its gonna be obvious that i aint from there...

i feel good though, relaxed and enjoying without being excited...nice-

march 21, 2000
7:48pm rome time
in the smallest hotel room i have ever been in-
and its pink with neon green old victorian style furniture-
the shower is more like a big sink with a curtain...

everybody is friendly though

custom' s agents are trained to determine character with one look.
as i was leaving the arport, he eyed me...so i looked back at him-
i felt he was looking deeper and holding eye contact too long
(who did he think he was, me?) but it didnt dawn on me until he
asked me where i was coming from...i said ":us, united states"
he said, "go ahead" didnt even have to open one bag...
its nice dealing with highly skilled professionals
and this guy was obviously a very good judge of character

saw my first full fledged italian cutie on plane,
stunningly gorgeous...not my type, but damn...

seems like the girls/ladies over here have skinny shapeless legs-
no calf muscle bulge, tube legs....will research further

saw the coliseum on the drive in, took like 100 pics just in the cab-

kinda tired and leary of "gypsys" the warnings about them are everywhere....

trying to connect online, can get a local AOL connection but it drops
after connecting....

going to get pizza now. this is one place you can travel 10,000 miles
and not feel guilty about eating pizza...

8:46pm
hotel bell recommended resno di napoli, so i am here-
4 cheese pizza with coca cola light and still water,
buffet of fried vegetables still dripping in oil (two plates)
radio playing american rap, rock and dance music, italian language dj-
all songs are english...hotel room tv all station italian

exchange $60 in travelers checks at hotel at 1800L with no tax
=108.000L, pizza costs around 15.000L...

pizza is good
i am slightly paranoid about my stuff
these damn human feelings...
(i only call the "bad" & "negative" feelings human)

10:48pm
i do walk around this rock with a lot of confidence and i enjoy the fact
i can handle almost any situation...after pizza and a 42.500L bill,
i paid 50.000L with tip, im casually strolling down via veneto which is
called "the rodeo drive of rome" and i can see why...too trendy, upscale
and foo-foo for me in my jeans and sneakers...anywayz, this gut hits me
up and asks if i wanna check out a piano bar around the corner...
now im slightly paranoid (im carrying $2k electronics and $700 cash
and travelers checks on my back) but i flow with it. then i want out,
the street looked kinda dark and i just didnt feel like being on gaurd-
but this guy keeps pushing- i wasnt worried for my safety, but i was kinda
miffed at myself for not just telling him flat out no...so we gets to the bar
and he passes me off to another guy who shows me downstairs...i hear music
and the place feels kinda swanky but i dont see nothing but steps...

then i turn the corner and bam! what i thought was so cool about it was i
recognized what i was in as soon as i saw it and i was able to enjoy it while
it was going on. i had the confidence and knowledge of what to do in this
situation. and these girls was looking kinda good. maybe cause it was dark, about
13 of 'em, all flavors...i made long eye contact with 'em, almost all of them turned
around to check me out cause i was the only one in there and i didnt shy away
from it. i hit'em with that big jeffery smile...the man says a drink costs 35.000L
thats $17...im starting to figure out the logicistics now. but im still enjoying being
the center of attention and after all, these are females...i gets outside and talking
to another guy at the door, im aggressive now..."so how much for more than a
drink?" he says," just buy one drink" he said it twice with emphasis and i didnt
figure out what that meant until i had walked away...walking back down the street
another guy hits me up for another place...i was easily able to tell him "no"

march 22, 2000
6:39am
rome has a lot of high rise apartment buildings and scooters- lots of scooters.
these apartment buildings have lots of laundry hung outside on balconys...
i havent seen a residental house yet, even on drive in, probably cause im in the city-
room is older, but very clean. bed is very comfortable and extremely
fresh, sheets and pillows (two nice pillows) feel cleaner than mine at home...
half day tour today, spose to pick me up at 8am. free breakfast on 6th floor at 7:30am.

not overly excited, but enjoying...might be the time difference and jet lag cause i
feel more excited on a normal work day...my energy will return, im sure-
last night as i laid in bed, it really hit me that i was in rome, italy...

everybody is extremely friendly.
gotta take a sink, i mean shower now-
i barely even fit into bathroom. i have more room in my stall at work...
and it makes a big difference fresh air wise...especially after 4 cheese pizza-
think i figured out sink though, wash/soap up in high little sink,
rinse in bigger lower sink with curtain, will try that tomorrow

2:31pm
i am writing this in the sistine chapel. i am currently in the presecence of michealangelos'
famous ceiling. the god-reaching to touch man scene of the ceiling is just above my
 laptop screen...

i have never seen any man made objects as magnificient as the one's i have seen today-
it literally makes me proud to be human. i have seen things all over the united states and
nothing even comes remotely close to the magnitude and detail of st peter's bascilica and
the sistine chapel. i literally cannot find the adjectives to describe the depth of what im seeing.

in fact, i know its too soon for the words to come to me.
as i have time to digest what ive experienced today, the words will come.
sometimes life's experiences are so good that i have to "work" at creating
the words that i feel do the experience justice...
 

the magnitude
richness
 

the scale of st peter's bascilica is mind blowing.
i could not capture its immenseness on film.

the sistine chapel are hallways after hallways and room upon room
filled with gorgeous paintings

6:13pm
back in hotel room now with a coca-cola light...
while writing the above (which i am going to leave unfinished and as-is)
i met the second "jeffrey" of the day. this dude was 22 yrs young from new york
and asked me what i thought would happen if he took a picture. no photography is
allowed in the sistine chapel. so i showed him a few of the pix i had taken
with my digital camera (i hope the god-man pic is good) and that other people
were taking them too. two plus hours later after conversation ranging from religion to
race to sexuality to philosophy to los angeles and new york (never talk small) we had
somebody take our photo with each of our cameras and i gave him my web/email biz
card. he told me last night he was hanging out (got drunk) at piazza navona and it was
kinda cool. said i would check it out tonight and look for him...

the piazza navona was the second stop of my half day tour today. the first was the
trevi foutain, at which while i was running around taking pics and lost the group. the
tour guide (who was an older cute) said over and over that our next stop was gonna
be the pantheon and i actually beat the group there. (italian tv is as sexy and sexist as
mexican tv). one of the people who noticed i was mising later asked to take a picture
with me. i was kinda stunned cause i hadnt talk to him at all. then he said i was his buddy.
i figured the spirit had hit him cause we were at our last stop and in st peter's. then he
explained it was easier to follow the group by looking for me (after i found the group after
getting lost i stayed ultra-close). like i stand out or sumthin...his name was geoffrey and he
was from new york. hicksville, ny. ater our last stop i stayed in the vatican and went to the
sistine chapel. before that we i bought a rosary with a crucifix off a street vendor.
i wore it all day today...imagine that, me wearing a rosary in the most holy place on earth...

after the nice relaxing 2 hour conversation in the sistine chapel, i really started to settle down, relax and enjoy the time and not worry about how much stuff i need to see.  i had kinda gotten away from vibin' and being jeffery. i was walking to the subway and noticed that there aint too many black american men around here, especially chillin the way i do...co-workers joked about not being able to come to italy to get me out of jail...im getting A LOT of looks on the street and im returning them...and im putting more and more jeffery in each look i return...

speaking of which, the women here are very attractive and there are lots of them...i noticed how "magazine" attractive italian men are...saw more of those skinny legs today.
saw a bunch of  americans...398 digital pics and over 100 on film today...
italian public bathrooms are small individual stall like rooms with toliets...
im sleepy, its cold outside and im hungry...there is a hard rock cafe down the street...
piazza navona???

10 sum'n pm
sleepy, tired and just paid $40 for a burger, fries, hotwings and hotfudge sundae at
the hard rock...now that i see the stuff i got and factor in the $7 tip, it dont look
so bad. i figured they got me cause i asked to pay in US dollars and they converted
it below the rate i got at the teller and in their favor. while eating i rememebred sistine
chapel jeffrey said he had been to youngstown cause his ex-college roomate was from
the very small town close to it that i was born in. had only 2 conversation today, none
intiated by me, took pictures with both, both people were named "jeffrey"

also during the conversation with sistine chapel jeffery i realized  few things-
i wondered if michaelangelo was a devout christian or did he do it for the commision
and/or love of his talent. i also wondered if he was gay based on the number and how
he drew and sculptured men (even his women were built like men). jeffrey said he
remembered reading he was gay or at least bi-sexual

i also realized how "fanatical" st peter's and the chapel are. theres so much stuff
in such magnitude and detail that if it was about anything else other than god people
would think that there was something wrong. nothing is created in such grandiose style
anymore, cause if you did people would think you were crazy. almost every square inch
of every ceiling and wall in the hallways and rooms in the chapel is a masterpiece
totally dedicated to one subject. christianity. (supposedly anyways, the more i look
at michaelangelos stuff the more i think "closet freak." just a bit erotic if ya ask me,
but i love it!) st peter's is built on such a large scale that if it was about anythng else
other than god it  would be considered lunacy- the dome is 138 feet wide and 430 feet high.
there has to be at least 15 20ft statues and hundreds of smaller ones inside. gold, bronze,
marble, etc- so much detail in every inch of the place. as i walked into room after room
i got that "awe" "giggly" overwhelmed feeling like i was in the presence of a huge object
or at a really high height. i literally gasped 4 or 5 times at the sheer magnitude.
nothing in the US comes even remotely close to what i saw  today...
but like i was telling sistine chapel jeffrey, the US has made technology, architecture
and science achievements on the same scale...and maybe bigger (moon landing)

plan to go back to the vatican again tomorrow to see the museums,
need to see the coliseum and roman forum area-
will take it easy though and just chill through the day...

march 23, 2000
4:49pm
chillin and perpetrating- sitting outside of the victoria emanuelle just people watching.
got the laptop out just so folx can see the big black american boy got technology,
straight frontin- (showing off is another human feeling) aint seen no laptops since i been
here other than mine...lots and lots of girls... i like how the girls walk hand in
arm together.i think the skinny leg theory has been proven. the women here are thin
and less muscular than home...coliseum, the forum and ruins were cool, lotsa good pix-.
the street vendors are alot more aggressive here. i have to use a firm "no." saw a group
of real brothers earlier, see another one now...that makes a total of 6...

realized how much im enjoying just sitting here wastching life and people go by-
been here for about an hour and a half just watching folx...
sun went down and now its cold, time to move-
all kinds of female...i noticed i like the older cute ones best....

7:58
tucci ristorante in the piazza navona...just got through with completely
bilingual conversation, pure gestures about laptop and camera with waiter...
i think he is a photographer...i really enjoy just driting around, being lost
and people watching...i think i enjoy being the only black american too-
caught a cab to the piazza de spagna (spanish steps). folx was hanging
out major..so many females...lots of shops and street food and people selling
stuff. hundreds of people just chillin' and shopping. no street performers though-
but lots of street vendors and girls...speaking of which, southern california
is no longer my prettiest women capital of the world. i have never seen so
many pretty women in my life. but, these women are skinny and kinda frail.
skinny, no build, no muscle or body. just pretty faces and hair and
they definitely age better than american women. i also realized how unique
and distinct american black women are. the woman in rome are caucasion
pretty much like the one's in the us, only alot more are "darker" and they
are less muscular. there may be no other place in the world where you can
find something similiar to black american women. but maybe like i can tell the
difference between african and carribean blacks, maybe italians can tell the
difference from white americans and white europeans therefore making
white american women unique...i wonder. but there are a sustanial amount
of white american women here. i saw maybe 2 black american women.

today a street vendor called me "black man." i laughed and said "yes!"
he said italian women like black men cause they make a lot of love...
 he said it, not me. and thats not a bad reputation to have...
i then used hand gestures to tell him the other thing they say about black
men, he laughed.

i have been getting looks all day and it doesnt bother me. i know these
people arent used to seeing someone like me. i dont feel like they hate
me or are scared of me or anything, they are just curious. that is just
what i think, they might be racist as hell and i just dont see it. i can,
however, see how other black people could mistakenly think they
are being racist or something....

anywayz, i am having a good time. after i took a zillion pictures and felt
as if i put in enough "work" today i just chilled and thats when i felt the
best. taking pix was fun and i had a goodtime, but chillin, vibin and being
looked at is my main thing...

there are sights to see here but this is a party city. food, music and sex
is all over. you can tell it aint about hard work over here. i can very easily
see living here. i wish i had more time to introduce these people to jeffery,
damn they would love me...im too bizzy absorbing history to really
let my magic show...but it still shows in flahes-

i also am rethinking how great i think america is...i have an all new perspective
on "the greatest country in the history of mankind." how the hell did we become
the #1 world power after only 200 years? is it cause we work so hard?
what do other countries/people think about the baby kid being so powerful?
this trip is doing exactly what i hoped it would do, show me what it is not
to be in america. i know i havent really seen anything and the american
influence is still all around, but if i look real hard i now have something to
compare my country against.

i think im gonna really miss not seeing the sistine chapel and st peters
again today...i will definitely be back here just to see them and the vatican
museums...

did i say i didnt get up until 11am today? i say that cause i got a 7am bus
to florence to catch tomorrow...

battery low, gotta go-

10:36pm
(tiny sample of pix) i took close to 700 so far, so these 3 aint nothing-
the one of me alone i used the self timer.
the roman solidiers took the pix then hit me up for cash...gave'em 8.000L = $4
 

march 24, 2000
i am presently in the presence of michelangelo's david in the galleria de accademia
in florence. i think what makes this piece magnificient is the size, the engineering
accomplishment and the sensuality & realness the artist.put into the work. michaelangelo
never saw david so this is what he created to be david. and i see a cute sexy slightly
feminine boy. im sure he could have easily made david more masculine and "warrior" like.

sistine chapel jeffrey told me that when michelangelo was doing this
piece there was a bad spot in the marble and thats why david has an awkward stance...
if by awkward you mean a cute feminie stance then i agree. im almost convinced
michelangelo was a freak. and by freak i dont mean it in a bad way. his work shows
too much detail and sensuality. you just dont do work like this without motivation
and we all know what the greatest motivation of all is. and it aint money or commision.

i noticed my passion for femle today as i took maybe 40 pics of the lesser known
female sculptures. i realized how much i enjoyed photographing female.
where are michelangelos female works? this man was expressing a passion in his
work and im not saying good or bad. i think its kinda cool that maybe he very slickly
expressed it in public and religous work and got away with it...

i bet if i read up on it, i would find he had a passion for males...
(image 96)

march 25, 2000
9:29am
on bus, half day city tour...just rode over the arno-
i over did it yesterday, im tired. i walked for hours. i was getting off on being
so unique, and ofcourse the girls. damn i like walking this city being like the only
one of a kind. and its obvious too. saw some africans yesterday and let me tell you-
i have now seen a black person and it aint me. these boys was literally black.
they was so black it made me laugh. (driving past where galileo was under
house arrest and died cause he said the earth went around the sun)
they was black black black. its gonna be boring going back to LA and being
only one of many..i love being so different that i stand out. being bigger than everbody
dont hurt either...not afraid to look back into people's eyes also makes it fun-

my hotel here in florence is 4 star. electric card key for room that you have
to reinsert inside the room to keep the electricty on. when you leave, the
room shuts down automatically. remote control tv, climate control, honor bar,
decent size-but still weird- shower and stuff in bathroom that i dont understand.

another stop...just left the piazza michelangelo, nice view of florence,
bought a hat for $5 cause it is drizzling

12:54pm
half day tour is over, eating lunch at a small whatever ya call it across the street
from the museo di storia della scienza, museum of galileo's stuff and science. its
closed for lunch, will open at 2 then ill go. did the pitti palace and the duomo
cathedral. the size of this stuff is amazing. everything is in such a huge grandiose
style. i asked the tour guide what was the motivation for such gigantic extravagance-
he said religion. i then asked was michelangelo religous, he said yes, very. then
another guy asked if michelangelo used male models for his women. i said yeah
cause even the women are masculine. the guide said he didn't know. i asked if
michelangelo was gay or bisexual and the tour guide said yes.

i find it very interesting that st peter's and the sistine chapel, maybe the holiest place
on the planet for christian catholics, was designed by a homosexual. the most precious
art and sculpture in the catholic faith has strong gay influences and overtones.
and the church is anti-gay...i also like the fact that i figured out michelangelo was
gay before someone told me...

and why is david naked? this piece was commisioned for a public building
depicting the triumph of a little guy over a big guy, like the city it was for did-
he didnt have to be naked!! LOL!!! now dont get me wrong, im not against
homosexuality. im flat out making fun of this religion and how messed up
catholicism is...

lots of good paintings in the pitti palace, one in particular i liked. yes, it
was of a female. damn, i love female. saw geoffrey today and other's
from rome tour. they all remember me from getting lost at the trevi foutain-

a lady i met today (from chicago and spoke so affectionately of her
city you could tell she absolutlely loved it) who was on the tour with her
husband, made the comment that italian women are always "dressed up."
i said they are skinny'er too-
i noticed that they may wear a lot of make up. and they have light eyes-
i also almost came to the conclusion that i like soft pale skin. i noticed
the girls who radiate that smooth creamy glow seem to catch my eye-
and make-up can get you that glow...enough about female...damn, soon
as i type it another one walks by...i gotta go to africa or someplace to see
some black women, cause there aint none here----

aint worried about the gypys so much no more, but i do keep my stuff
close...dont see a lot of joggers. streets and cars are small. dont mind
hearing italian all day. everybody is friendly. aint seen no houses.
i am having a good time. i love all the people. 2.5 days in each city is
enough time if you know what your doing (another one just walked by).
i have such a lust for life. next year paris. weather is chilly, but not cold-
people dress with much more style here, especially the men. the pilot
had a thumb ring and he and it was masculine.i love my experiences.
i wonder if im confusing "strange" with pretty when it comes to female-
whatever it is....i like it. damn i like being the only one, im almost for
sure now im gonna miss it...

5:05pm
i am in st croce. a huge cathedral where galileo, (of course i took pix with
flash which is a no-no of galileo's tomb). da'vinci, machevelli and others
are buried. i am sitting in the pews 20 feet from anyone as people mill around
and look at the tombs and sculptures. im facing a massive altar and towering pulpit.
this place is so big i cant take a picture of it, even with flash.
i definitely can feel the energy that was put into this place. i can feel the human spirit
that created this in the work and beauty. i can feel the love, motivation and
devoution. i understand, but do not believe in what this all stands for.
i can appreciate and admire the human energy that went into its creation.
ive been wearing my rosary (yes, as a necklace under my shirt) in a
kinda celebration of this energy. just cause i dont believe it dont mean i cant
party with it.

just left the science musuem. this was the first non-english friendly place ive
been to in italy. i sat thru a 45 minute lecture in the planetarium that was entirely
in italian. i didnt understand a word and i knew i wouldnt. i kinda did it just to be
in a situation where i was not only very different from everybody, but also
didn't understand anything that was going on. yeah, i kinda figured a few things out,
after all it was about astronomy. but as everybody listened and laughed and fell
asleep, i had no idea what the hell he was saying. also, all of the explanations
of the stuff i saw in the exhibits was in italian. but it was cool to see
early tools used for science like telescopes, astronomy charts, etc. there was a
room full of galilieo's actual tools too, so that was coool...

must be raining outside, this place is filling up...battery low, gotta go----

7:58pm
in room, tired and full. just got thru eating about $17 worth of italian junk
food. and i got ice cream and candy bars waiting. im getting kinda tired of being
the only one, kinda. the only thing better than traveling is coming home and im
just about ready. time goes ahead tonight in europe. got a full free day tomorrow
but have to leave for airport monday at 5:30am...heard there was a lot of sculpture
at the galleria bargello, hope to peep that. im tired, sleepy and probably irritable...

march 26, 2000
(MORE PICTURES)
7:22pm
the last day of my vacation is winding down & everything is pretty muched packed.
my body is tired and sore and im ready to settle down and rest. gotta get up at 4:30am
to get to airport by 6. rome and florence are compact so i pretty much walked
everywhere. in fact, my mode of navigation in florence was to just start walking in
any direction until i saw something i remembered. didnt use maps or gps. today after
seeing more of michelangelos work and returning from the galleria bargello (i also saw
a version of david by dante, much more masculine and not naked but we aint going there)
it started to rain. even though my body started to tell me how tired and sore it was,
walking in the rain in the beautiful city of florence was very nice.

this is truly a beautiful city and it has it all; food, female, art, history, shopping
(this place is a shoppers paradise. there is a huge outdoor flea market with all
kinds of stuff and lots of leather goods next door to my hotel and all kinds of
shops all over the city), culture, friendly people and free soft porn on late night tv.
now, im in the bed all ready to drift off (had just said my prayers like a good little
christian boy) flicking thru channels for sum'n mellow, then bam!!! "WHAT THE
%$@# WAS THAT?!!!" as i flicked i saw sum'n for literally a split second then
it cut out to a commercial. all of a sudden i wasn't sleepy no more and i was
gonna wait on that station no matter how long the commercials took. hell, they
had my attention and could have played 2 hours of ads straight cause i wasn't
going nowhere. then sure enough, it comes back on...im not sure if i have regular,
cable or hotel stations, but it was on almost all of the channels!!! it was single x-
rated soft stuff but damn! girls, topless (parts below waist were blocked out),
touching & rubbing themselves, kissing, blah blah blah- there was a number to
call and a web address for something on the screen. i wasnt sure what so i felt
it my duty to spend the next couple hours trying to figure it out...

now, something like this can either work for you or against you...
i wanted to get up early to get to the bargello, so not being up late was the plan...
yeah right...all i needed was a campfire and some marshmellows cause i already
had the tent (massive 3 ring circus size ofcourse)...but as a wise person once said
"if someone throws you lemons, make lemonade" and i can make some damn good
lemonade if i have to...

march 27, 2000
4:52am
this will probably be my last entry from europe. still swimming in the feelings of
my first trip abroad im am very pleased at how it went and all the things i did
and saw. 2.5 days in each city is enough if you know what your doing and i did.

no matter how wonderful the vacation is im always ready to come home and
at a certain point and i am ready now. i had a truly wonderful time and will
relish this experience forever.

i woke up last night around 12:37am and was tempted to turn on the tv to
see if that stuff was on. i thought it better if i didn't. i really do feel good about
my experience (europe not making lemonade). and you know what?
the girls here aint so pretty...well, they are, but i saw maybe 10 decent bootys
and we all know thats my favorite part. in fact, i saw a nice ass yesterday and i
followed it just to watch one cause it had been so long. i like them hips- and i
cant wait to get home to america, the land of big healthy american meat eating
women with big butts...

chow

9:20am
milan airport, coming down now, ready for vacation to end. want to rest-
can see snow covered alps in distance. ran around this airport buying
stamps, mailing postcards and getting ripped off everytime i used my
money switching currencies (total %15 on $100 = $15). long flight,
baggage claim, customs, shuttle and then drive home from van nuys fly away...
snow covered alps,
winding down after a very good vacation with no problems,
milan italy...

12:48pm rome time
on airplane, just flew over alps. gonna switch to LA time...

2:51am
reset laptop's time, i think what it is pacific standard time

8:10am
still on plane, just took a bunch of pics while flying over greenland or iceland or
someplace completely frozen. flight attendant made everybody close their windows
so people can see some italian movie....if its 8am, that means the day is just starting
in LA. i was up at 4:30am monday rome time and thats roughly 6pm sunday evening
LA time. im seeing bad things happening to my body the nest day or so...spose to be
at work tomorrow. if i get home around 6ish and sleep all night i just may make it...

ok, back to the michelangelo gay thing. the pictures i took of the sistine chapel ceiling
and walls didnt come out too clear but you can get an idea about the size of the place
and how it is painted. its a huge room with naked men painted all over it. and when
i say all over it, i mean ALL over it! LOL it may just be me, but i keep askin "why in
the hell is everybody naked??? i really gotta give it to mikey. he really pulled off a
good one. maybe its just me...mikey, mikey, mikey...

12:58pm
looks like the time i set was right, we land in LA in about 30 minutes...
the only thing better than traveling is coming home. i havent slept decently
for a long time and i know its gonna hit me, but im just too excited. i had a
great trip in which i learned about and experienced some of man's greatest
creations. i got a glimpse of history and the roots of western civilization. being
mentally stimulated, learning and experiencing moves me most. and i am absolutely
postive that my lust for understanding and experience is gonna take me to high places.
what im doing just feels too good for me to be on the wrong path. (i feel very good 
right now) i have just lived one of my materlistic worldly dreams (europe, the other is a benz 500 sl) and im very very happy at the way it went. i experienced a dream and
i accomplished what i wanted. the dream lived up to all my expectations.
i was not let down. even the tiny hotel room bathroom was an experience that
i will remember...

and now im coming home to live a life that i am head over heels in love with...
(the stewardess got a nice...)

we are being our decent, next stop
home

2:49pm
on van nuys fly away bus, just leaving airport...
let me tell ya how i expect life. my luggage wasnt in the first 5 pieces
to come down the shoot. im slightly concerned. then it wasnt in the
first 20. it was funny cause i kinda started to worry cause not only
to things go my way i expect them be first and fastest. i figured i created
bad karma cause i kinda told the stewardess without thinking that my digital
camera wasnt digital. and i actually was kinda worried about if that
was a lie or not. i came to the conclusion it wasnt cause i really
didnt deliberately tell her it wasnt. i kinda fired it off without thinking.
so now my bags aint in the first 50 and im like hold up y'all-
this is jeffery over here...whats up?? so i walk around to the other side to
find my bag was actually in a special place for heavy bags or sumn and
was probably one of the first ones down. and thats the way its spose to be.
i must be tired or sum'n...

yesterday i ran out of the hotel real quick to pick up some stamps
just wearing my blair witch t-shirt (with my rosary, had the two cross thing
going on). it was kinda chilly so when i went out i always wore sum'n heavier.
i was out there maybe 15 minutes and two people commented on it and
a lot more recognized it but didnt say nothing. i thought that was kinda cool
to go half way around the world and have people know of sumn you had a part in...

im thinking fly-away, in-n-out, unpack and good ole american tv in english-
been a longtime since i seen a sitcom or sumn other than news in english...
on 405N, passing washington venice exit, a little bit of traffic as usual...

summary

rome
hotel veneto
hard rock cafe
trevi foutain
vatican museum, sistine chapel
st peter's basicilca
piazza navona, tucci ristorante
piazza de spagna, spanish steps
pantheon
coliseum, ruins
regno di napoli
subway
victoria emanuelle

florence
piazza michelangelo
museo dell'bargello
galleria dell'accademia, michelangelo's david
museo di storia della scienza
galleria palatina, pitti palace
duomo cathedral
walked by ufizzi gallery
st croce; galileo's, davinci's, machevelli's, marconi's tomb

pass bys:
milan airport
alps
 
 

post trip notes & conclusions

michaelangelo was gay
alot of the fine art in the vatican has strong homosexual or male sexual overtone

i notice when at the accademia that i took pictures of the female statues for like 45 minutes. it made me realize that my passion is for female and female moves me to give it attention. then i thought how my deep passion for female makes it easy for me to create beautiful work when i am motivated by the subject. i wondered about michelangelos motivation. "where are his statues of female?" most of his work is of male. i thought he must have had deep passion to create work so great. i thought he must have had deep passion for the male form to do so many great works that are male based. david is not the most masculine statue

the sistene chapel is room after room 
full of pictures of nude men.

the early christian church started (or was heavily influenced) by a group of celibate monastic males

this religion seems to be male dominated. i believe there is no way a group of people can live together and grow close without some kind of sexual tension that will be acted upon. i believe sexual desire is too strong to be denied. be it between two of the same or opposite sexes. the desire to be stimulated and/or to stimulate.