my thoughts.6:

(01 March 2011-31 March 2011)

*a place to to say what's on my mind,

and in my heart.

(don't skip ahead, read last entry on mt.5)

please come back later tonite,

or even on wednesday the 2nd;

I promise to have everything in order. (I hope).

-continued-

hello, and good evenning. (thank goodness)

'we' have been having a crazy couple of days since the last time I have updated.

after spending nearly 4 hours on friday, 25 feb in the consulate-generals office to submit all the appropriate paper work for e.a.'s dual citizenship, we were invited to west covina for a house party.

after staying the night at casa de palacios,

I took my daughter to the ucla campus for her very first college sporting event; and it was a beautiful experience as the bruins beat the #10 arizona team.

(I could have done without all the attention from boys

my daughter had during the game though).

after the game, we drove back to west covina and enjoyed a wonderful evening with a loving family.

sunday was spent at church and then boxed seats at the red carpet for the academy awards.

(yes, e.a. was very impressed with her old man)

after staying out most of the night, 'we' crashed monday morning at around 7am.

that basically is everything in a nutshell that happened during this past weekend without going into more details of said events.

today was a traveling day for me in the southern california area; I had forgotten about the traffic on certain roads during the normal business day. and going back and forth shuttling my apparent heir was no picnic either.

when we finially made it up to agoura hills to show e.a. her furture home, it was approaching dusk and ended up riding horses on the back end of the property with the former owners. needless to say, my daughter was very pleased with my home purchase and is very excited to live in so.cal.

we didn't get back down here to santa monica until almost 9p, and e.a. immediately fell into her bed.

tomorrow will be somewhat of a somber occasion for me,

it is the 15th anniversary of my fathers death. and after sharing this knowledge with my daughter tonite, we both decided to honor 'her grandfather' by doing something he always enjoyed, going to disneyland.

we had an appointment with the consulate planned,

but has since been rescheduled for thursday.

so it appears as if we will be at the magic kingdom at 10am sharp to begin a festive day in honor of the memory

of my father.

and unbeknownst to my little sleeping girl in the next room; I have already made reservations for us to stay at the grand californian resort tomorrow night.

I think she will enjoy that. ok, I have to get some sleep.

good nite...

* my daughter was born on sunday, 5 feb 1996;

and my father drowned on saturday, 2 mar 1996.

which means my 'dad' was a 'grandfather' for 26 days before his passing, and he never knew it.

02 Mar 2011

---------------------------------------

In Memory:

Gary Antone Kiss

09 March 1946 - 02 March 1996

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dad, not a single day has passed in the last 15 years that I haven't thought of you. I miss you, and will always love you for giving me life. You weren't the worlds greatest father, but I don't think you were the worst either. Now that I am a dad, I will take all my memories of my childhood (bad & good) and use that to benefit my own short-comings as a parent.

I will make you proud by raising 'your granddaughter'

to the best of my ability. I love you dad."

-continued-

had the most wonderful day with e.a.;

she was so excited to be going to disneyland today.

the look on her face was priceless as we entered the park. sometimes you can just 'feel' someone's joy and excitement by just being near them.

anyway, she was so much fun to be around today,

I almost forgot about what today means in

my life story book.

I wasn't even going to bring up my father today,

but while we were having lunch today in the blue bayou restaurant in new orleans square; e.a. asked me what my favorite memories are about him. I told her that my memory of my dad is not as sharp as it use to be, and sometimes the 'bad ones' seem to over-ride the 'good ones' at times.

but one story in particular that I remember during the

'good times': my step-monster, I mean step-mother usually made our dinner from scratch. and one night she made a home-made pizza pie with all the toppings for my dad and I. well as we were eating, the last piece soon appeared, and seeing how I was almost done with my current piece, I called dibs on the trophy last piece of pizza. at that exact moment, my dad (whose nickname was kiss-monster), put his fore finger over his left nostril and then blew his nose candy out of his right nostril all over the remaining piece of pizza. needless to say, dad got the last piece. (true story, I swear) not that I don't have other fond memories of him,

but they are cloudy at best and always are submerged in the facts of him always being upset at something, and me as a kid walking around on broken glass.

I refuse to dilute the fact that my dad wasn't the greatest nurturer, or always put himself first no matter the situation. he was still my dad. and I guess I miss the relationship we could be having right now. I realize the fact I was conceived on valetines day 1963, and born during his senior year of high school; so the animosity towards me was always evident as I was always blamed for his shortcomings of not excelling to the proper rung on the ladder of success. and the woman he married who was only 9 years older than me didn't help out matters much as I got older and expressed my eagerness to be my own person. we did have a different sort of relationship after I joined the marines, but never a father/son one; more like a working buddy relationship.

he always blamed my grandfathers upbringing tactics for his lack of compassion and understandings of having a child.

and with this knowledge of how 'not' to raise your child,

I feel I will be a stronger person/parent for it.

I know I am going to make mistakes, and I'm sure being over-protective of her right now is not a good thing, but I'm just wanting to be the best dad I can be.

so, I guess time will tell if I can measure up to the proper expectations I have put upon myself, parent wise.

ok then, enuff about me;

how the heck are all of you doing these days?

I have been noticing a 'huge...huge increase' in my web traffic lately, not that I have ever really concerned myself with such trivial statistics;

but shit, 6200 visits/15,000 page views in one day?

really?, wtf?

is my web-site on the bathroom walls somewhere?

and my email inbox is just totally overloaded now, I will try to answer as many as I can, I promise.

I am actually scheduled to depart to the far east within the next couple of days for my past business ventures, but am trying to get a travel visa for e.a. to accompany me to tokyo.

not having much luck though. so she may have to go back to visit auzzie sooner than the both of us have planned for.

ugh, just the thought of not having her near me makes me want to get emotional. sounds stupid I know.

alright, I am totally spent tonite, so I will sign-off for now. good-nite all... 

03 March 2011

hi ya.

even though I am totally exhasted,

I wanted to at least

'jot down' a couple lines to keep you all on the up and up. today was mostly an errand day, and finishing up business with the australian consulate -generals office.

my daughter is now a duel citizen

(or pretty close anyway),

and she is very happy about all this I have to say.

so with that being said,

my life has taken quite a turn in the last couple of weeks; and every moment has been the 'best of times' for me.

and to think, just last month I was bitching in this forum about having to take my herd of pupz outside every 20 minutes so that they could help fertilize

the earths natural beauty.

ha, if I had only known what was just around the

corner in my life.

alrighty then;

after completing the question/answer period at the consulate, we did some lunch at a little cafe in dowtown LA, and then came back to our main hotel

here to just relax.

so after some down -time, and picking up some snacks, dvds, and cds; we decided to visit the red lobster for the lobsterfest specials they are currently offering.

I love the red lobster. but apparently, australia has the best lobsters on the planet according to my lunch-date-daughter. and she also told me about something called 'lobster oil',

I never heard of it.

oh and by the way,

my beautiful little offspring is a mayo-fanatic. she puts it on 'everthing'... EVERYTHING.

ugh, I can't stand mayonaise;

the taste, the smell, the texture, and the way it globs

just grosses me out.

(yes, I'm a miracle whip person)

but my little girl, loves it.

(and she 'hates' miracle whip)

she dips her french fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and even doritos into mayo.

but what almost made me 'loose my lunch',

was when she asked our server at red lobster for a jar of the glob-stuff and mixed it in a bowl with ground pepper and a little of the drawn butter to dip her lobster tails in.

I was shocked and totally amazed by her little mixture,

so I tried it;

and to my disbelief,

it actually tasted 'worse' than I thought it would.

and apparently, my face displayed my immediate reaction to her special sauce,

and I was delighted to see that my dinner

also included a show;

the amazing lobster girl who can blow ice-tea thru her noise and spray everyonw within a 5 foot radious.

ah, I love the smell of chilled mayo-tea scented with rock lobster being forcibly misted in my direction.

what a goober-wad!

so needless to say, I will no longer be sampling e.a.'s special dipping sauces from this moment on.

upon our arrival back to our hotel room,

I decided to take a shower and wash the mayo, lobster, nose candy, and pepper chunks outa my hair.

tomorrow is going to be 'shopping day' for us,

as I have to make some clothing purchases for the both of us before our flight to tokyo on saturday.

plus, I think we'll catch a movie in the afternoon.

ok, I'm tired; so... good-nite...

08 Mar 2011

(09 Mar 2011.tokyo, japan)

hello and good morning from the land of the rising sun,

(though we have only seen it for a moment or two so far). just woke up, but thought I would give a quik update before e.a. awakes and we start our day. it's 5:30am, wednesday the 9th here, and 12:30pm, tuesday the 8th back in

los angeles, ca. (just to let you know).

we have been here a couple days now, and have been keeping very busy.

as I mentioned above, the weather has not been very accommodating since we arrived; snow, sleet, rain, wind and yes, about 10 minutes of sunshine. it does appear that the sun is going to shine today, for how long, wtf knows.

so anyway, enough boring weather talk.

my daughter is just enjoying herself silly over here,

she loves the kimono's and the decorative setta's (sandals) that are japanese custom. she has already purchased quite a few of each.

another thing, I'm glad she is a rice and veggie eater.

so yesterday; we took the shinkansen, the japanese railway, also known as the bullet train to hiroshima.

the trip took approximately 4 hours, and was very crowded at the begining due to the morning commuter traffic.

after arriving in hiro, we took an enclosed cab

(too wet for a handsome cab to be in operation) to the hiroshima peace museum and park and walked thru the various exhibitions and displays.

e.a. couldn't believe that 'the atomic bomb' was actually dropped on the area we were visiting. and that one of the very few buildings that remained intact after the bomb was still upright. she of course was talking of the genbaku dome which is the main center piece of the park itself.

as we stood there at the fence surrounding the artifact,

she began to ask me questions surrounding the circumstances that eventually led to 'the bombs' being dropped on on hiroshima and nagasaki. of course she studied world history in school, but apparently she really thinks her dad has a little more insight on these things.

I quickly hushed her as quickly as I could, because talking of this particular situation while standing in a national place of worship didn't seem appropriate at the time. after the museum walk-thru and having our pictures taken numerous times by the japanese locals (who love to give the peace sign when they have their picture taken with an american); e.a. decided it was time for lunch, and she wanted sushi from a 'real' sushi bar. so I found out where the locals go; creative sushi nobu. and what an excellent choice. the head chef, nobu, actually lived in the u.s. for almost 15 years and 5 being in the los angeles, ca area. he also lived in santa fe new mexico for a short time, and spoke a little spanish, which was actually pretty amusing.

but his sushi bar was the best I have ever been to, and the both of us had such a wonderful time dining and 'trying' to communicate with the japanese patrons. after the much-extended lunch, we walked around some of the local shops, haggled with some of the owners and head back to the train station to begin our 4 hour trek back here to tokyo. considering that I had hardly slept the previous night,

I absolutely 'crashed' upon getting back to our hotel.

so that pretty much brings you current.

I just woke up sleepy-head, and I have to start to get ready to start my day.

we'll talk again soon. 

09 Mar 2011

(10 Mar 2011.tokyo, japan)

good morning all.

it's 6am, thursday local time; and 1pm, wednesday pst.

I would like to say:

happy

65th

birthday

gary a. kiss

my dad...

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like these past 15 years if my dad had still been here.

it's a strange thing not to have any parents in your life,

(ya; my mom is still alive).

maybe my life would have turned out differently had I had a 'normal' relationship with the people who gave me life,

but maybe not.

actually; except for not having the traditional 'huge' family gatherings and so forth, I am very well content with how my life has turned out.

and on the plus side; no bickering, no family spats, no jealousy and no back-stabbing family members to deal with.

but not withstanding all the above, I guess what I really miss are the get-togethers I experienced as a child.

even as the years seem to just 'fly' by now, it's amazing what you remember about days-gone-by.

anyway, this will be my entry for today.

I don't want to take anything away from the honor

of the memory of my dad.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

10 Mar 2011

(11 Mar 2011.tokyo, japan)

5:20am, and I'm up.

I made the mistake of leaving my phone ringer on last nite.

e.a. and I checked into another hotel yesterday closer to tokyo disneyland so that we wouldn't have to spend a couple of hours in traffic. (very crowded, VERY)

I thought I would spend a little time updating this site before my 'child' wakes up.

I did, in fact answer some of your emails last nite, and a couple more this morning. still trying to 'catch-up', not doing such a good job though; over 1200+ unread...sorry guys. I have received quite a few requests to post a picture of e.a.; I am not inclined to do so at this time. but if you are one of my 'regulars', I will (and have) send you a pic via your email.

ok then, I will be departing tokyo tuesday morning enroute to seoul for a couple days before joing e.a. in brisbane, au for her grandfathers 80th birthday. that should be an interesting situation to meet my daughters 'other family'.

not sure of the reception I will receive.

but I am looking forward to seeing where my daughter grew up and meeting some of her friends she has been talking about since we've been together. plus, her grandfathers cattle ranch sounds spectacular.

so anyway, just thought I would 'touch base', I'll check-in again later.

11 Mar 2011

(12 Mar 2011.seoul, korea)

first chance I've had to 'up-date' since the happenings

in japan.

we are currently in seoul, korea.

I haven't slept in over 32 hours, so forgive me for not explaining everything right now.

(besides, my words are being screened)

will try to get back on this site within 24 hours.

thank-you for all the inquiries and emails,

we're 'all good', just tired.

it's 1:50p/sat here, 8:50p/fri-LA, Ca.

you have no idea how much I wish we were back in the states...

18 Mar 2011

9:30pm brisbane, queensland, australia

4:30am los angeles, california, united states of america

good evening from the land down-under.

I realize it has been over a week since my last update,

not to mention thinning out my email in-box.

in my own defense,

I have been extremely busy and literally traveling alot during this time frame. (not to mention, earthquakes).

ok; I know, excuses are like ass-holes:

'we all have one', 'know one', or 'are one'.

I promise to bring you up-to-date and current within the next 12-16 hours,

let me just go to sleep now as I have had a little to drink.

but to appetize your interest;

I'm currently sitting in the house of my daughters grandparents, who have a gazzilion animals on their cattle ranch/farm, and have taken an extremely quick likening to me. they are absolutely wonderful people.

their daughter (e.a.'s mom) will be here tomorrow

with her boyfriend;

that should be interesting.

so, when I awake, and have some 'alone time' tomorrow, I will fill in the blanks accordingly.

good nite all...

20 Mar 2011

(21 Mar 2011.brisbane, queensland/australia)

good morning everyone.

it's 9am monday, 21 march 2011

here in brisbane, queensland, australia;

and 4pm sunday, 20 march 2011

in los angeles, california, usa.

so without further ado,

let me begin the process of updating my page here.

my 'last' official update was the morning of the 10th of march which was the 11th in tokyo.

the morning of the earthquake.

my daughter and I had relocated the previous night to the hotel sunroute plaza which is on the outer edge of tokyo disneyland. I wanted her to have the 'total experience' of going to the japanese magical kingdom.

little did I know what was to happen.

the morning of the 11th was actually semi cloudy and rather cool, and we both enjoyed a fantastic breakfast buffet served in the hotel before walking to the park.

Ash (my daughter) and I were actually having an excellent time in tokyo disney that day, and had just begun the ride on space mountain when the quake hit (approx 3pm local).

when the ride stopped, we didn't know what was happening, but then all the lights came on (it's dark during this attraction) and an announcement came on over the system telling us to evacuate. being the only man on our ride I had everyone get out of the cars, hold hands and follow me back down to ground level. security for the park was there at the emergency exit and was assisting people down the stairs. upon exiting the enclosure, we all observed people running throughout the park and was told by an employee thru some limited english 'earthquake'. now being from the bay area, and california in general; I've experienced a quake or two in my life. but not wanting to take any chances what-so-ever, and with the 'aftershocks' currently happening all around us, we headed back to the hotel immediately.

Ash was a little shaken-up (no pun intended), but I assured her everything was going to be alright.

(in reality, I was also extremely nervous, but I didn't want her to know that.) while walking back to the hotel, we stopped at two sundries stores and purchased water, beef jerky, dried fish/squid and gum. I had no idea what to expect, and wanted to make sure my child and I were set-up for whatever. after arriving back to our rooms on the 8th floor, I turned the tv on to acquire information about the status of quake damage. I hadn't even thought about what was currently happening, 'tsunami'.

looking outside, I could see that the parking lot to the parks were filling with water. my first thought was of the tsunami that happened in southeast asia december 2004. now, I was starting to get a little restless. plus, I didn't just have myself to worry about, but now I have to concern myself with the safety of my daughter. I realized the dangers of being in a high location during an earthquake, but the threat of tsunami from nearby tokyo bay weighed my decision to

stay in our rooms.

(Ash and I had adjoining suites, sharing a common door.) let me just say this; cell phones were down, land lines were limited, aftershockes were happening regularly, the tv was showing disasters as it happened, and every japanese person I came into contact with was so very calm...

unbelievably calm.

at the very beginning of this ordeal, my daughter was worried about all the gifts she had purchased and left back at our other hotel (the park hyatt tokyo) which was located in the downtown area.

but after watching the tsunami starting to flood the country, she didn't want to go anywhere else.

during this entire ordeal, I have to give kudos to the entire staff of the hotel sunroute plaza. they were very professional at all times, and many of them (if not all),

stayed there the entire time ensuring that every guest was taken care of,

and helping to establish communication for us visitors from other countries.

I have absolutely no idea when or 'if' I will ever venture back to tokyo disney, but if I did;

the hotel sunroute plaza would be my 'only choice' to stay. now dealing with the images from the tsunami broadcasts were stressful enough,

but the aftershocks were simply nerve racking.

I also openned up our accomodations to some park goers that had no where else to go. the hotel was booked, but everyone was helping everyone else.

so as not to continue this dreaded conversation;

cell phone service was sporadic at best, but did allow me to make contact with friends back home, and also with the company I was to visit next after leaving tokyo.

I do not wish to cause any sort of litigation and/or problems with any of the people involved with me and my daughters exit out of japan, but I would like to say;

'samsung...thank-you.'

as I mentioned in an earlier entry, I was awake for over 30 hours before finially shutting down and getting some sleep. Ash on the other hand, slept the entire time we were enroute to seoul, korea.

also, because of my association with the samsung group and the emergency situation currently unfolding across the sea of japan, we were admitted through customs immediately upon arrival to seoul incheon airport.

after finially settling-in, and catching up on some sleep, Ash and I both made contact with the australian and united states embassies. I did receive a little 'flack' from both organizations for not following certain procedures during our exit of japan, and was given a 'stern warning', so be it. not wanting to keep my dauhter in south korea,

I had her on a commercial airliner just as soon as we cleared the australian embassy. and her grandparents were very relieved to have their grandchild enroute to them.

so with Ash finially safe, I could handle my business with samsung and take care of other issues pending.

after a couple days of drinking 'ob beer' eating extremely spicy food and doing my 'biz', I was enroute to brisbane in australia to visit/meet my child's family unit.

(yes, mother also...yea.)

ok, that basically brings all of you up-to-date accordingly.

I will continue my 'rants' with my australian experiences either tonite, or tomorrow morning. I have been 'paged' downstairs to help fix breakfast. I'm staying with Ash's grandparents; very, very nice people.talk soon...

*oh, my email inbox is absolutely jammed.

I will try to 'thin-out' just as soon as I can...

21 Mar 2011

(22 Mar 2011.brisbane, queensland/australia)

thought I would try to continue my up-dates; woo-hoo,

2 days in-a-row. (just like the good ol' days, last month?) actually slept in till almost 6am (1pm LA, Ca),

I still went out and milked the heffs though.

the weather has been very 'moist' the entire time I have been here in aussie-land;

but it looks as if the summer temps may be on the immediate horizon, about time (85' & sunny).

so, my days have currently consisted of letting my daughter's grandparents get to know me. and visa-versa.

I will say this about her grandparents;

they are some crazy/fun people.

they live on the outskirts of brisbane,

and have a huge property with about a zillion heads of cattle. very rugged property area; not exactly my cup of tea,

as I really am a city boy and don't really do the

'country thing'.

but I did learn how to milk a cow,

and thanks to my dad having me chop the head off a chicken and plucking it's feathers some 30+ years ago,

I guess I could now be called 'farmer kiss'.

alrighty then, will touch base again soon...

-continued-

good afternoon.

we all went atv riding this afternoon in the rear part of the property (200 acres); had a fantastic time.

I'm not that much into motorcyles and so forth,

but the quad's are an excellent ride.

also, the reason for the 'ride' was to go fishing in a stream that runs thru the back end of the prop;

again...not much of a fishing type guy either.

damn; apparently, I am quite the boring individual here in the beautiful outdoors.

hey, remember; camping to me is a 'trip' with my kidz in my rv and staying in a campground of sorts.

and exploring the great outdoors is taking my herd on their nightly venture to 'water the bushes'.

crap, I am a boring non-camper-type-guy.

oh well, we all can't be the outdoorsman that you see on television here every 15 seconds.

I did roast a mean hotdog over a open flame today

for lunch though.

and I even tried the fly fishing thing for about 10 minutes, until I mistakenly/accidently tossed the rod into the rushing water (hey, it slipped).

I was able to recover the pole downstream,

all the while my present company (daughter included) were laughing their asses off! ya, I was laughing also.

tomorrow we are doing something a little more my speed in the outdoors; golf.

while Ash and her grandmother go to 'beautify' themselves at the day spa, big earl (her grandfather) and I will be going to a public links course and see what's what.

that's right baby, I will be hookin' and slicin' my ass off

all morning long...can't wait.

ok, I've gotta close this for now; I am cooking

dinner this evening

(my world famous spaghetti sauce) and I have been typing this up while browning the burger and sausage.

now I have to combine everything into the stock-sauce pan. the next time you make your 'special sauce', try adding some extras on the side to add as a flavor enhancement.

try one or more of these variations:

crushed pinapple, salsa, avacado, garlic croutons, shreaded extra sharp cheddar, tabasco, chicken, shrimp, crab,

1/2 cup red wine (in sauce), green chilis, cottage cheese,

pine nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, and/or

dark chocolate slivers as a topping.

as far as tonight goes; it's crushed pinapple,

and garlic croutons.

I'll see ya...

22 Mar 2011

(23 Mar 2011.brisbane, queensland/australia)

good morning.

slept in this fine day until almost 6am;

no farm chores today, will be going golfing within the next couple of hours.

the weather here today is suppose to be around 90', outstanding.

in case anyone of you were wondering,

my spaghetti sauce last night was a 'huge' hit.

they were all a little skeptical about putting crushed pinapple on top of the sauce,

but once they tried it...they loved it!

alrighty then;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have to make a very special birthday wish:

Laura Jeanne 'Reese' Witherspoon

Happy

'35th'

Birthday

what a beautiful woman she is, inside and out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

ok, gotta ready myself for the 'links';

it's been a couple months now since I hit the little white ball, should be a good time.

Ash and her grandma are going to a day-spa today,

so everyone is going to have fun.

see ya.

-continued-

well shit; I stroked my way to a very mediocre quality score of '86'.

went out-of-bounds 3 times on the same hole;

thank goodness I 1 putted 4 greens and chipped in on another or my score could have nearly escalated to the mid 90's to maybe even the century mark.

I am now officially a 'hack' on the golf course.

we did have fun though.

normally I do not drink beer and smoke cigars while playing the game of kings, but made an exception for today. so I now have a slight sunburn, a midday hangover, my breath stinks, and my mouth tastes as if my catz used it for their litter box. I've brushed my teeth 3 times now, and I swear there's 'cat clumps' in-between my gums. ugh!

I'm going to go gargle with some peroxide (seriously), and then take a nap before my daughter gets back here.

-continued-

well, my nap didn't really 'pan-out'.

it's now 2pm here, wednesday afternoon

(9pm tuesday nite, los angeles, ca)

and Ash just called me and said her mom wants to meet with both of us this afternoon.

I'd rather eat glass, but whatever.

not sure what is on the agenda for this unscheduled meet/greet, as long as it does not make Ash uncomfortable. I'm sure it has something to do with all of us going to

new zealand tomorrow with her parents.

too bad woman; your parents invited me, so I'm going!

wish me luck...

23 Mar 2011

(24 Mar 2011.brisbane, queensland/australia)

it's 5am thursday morning here,

(noon, wedenesday in LA, Ca.)

just woke up and turned the news on and heard that elizabeth taylor has died. 

elizabeth r. taylor

27 Feb 1932 - 23 Mar 2011

one of the greatest actresses of 'our' time.

her beauty and devotion to her charities

will be missed greatly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

early start to the day;

have some business and personal tasks to complete before departing for new zealand later this morning. apparently, there is absolutely 'no' internet or cellular service where we are going for the next four days.

no worries though;

it will be nice not to have to deal with a ringing phone in the middle of the night. as far as my up-dates go;

I will 'deligently' resume my normal activity of keeping this site current, and also will complete other pages that are currently under construction.

I guess I have to start to manage my time and responsibilities a little better than what I have recently been doing.

*not that I haven't had anything 'new'

happen in my life and/or any

un-for-seen incidents occur during the last couple of weeks. the current poa (plan of attack) is to be back here in the brisbane area by early afternoon on sunday, and then Ash and I are going to be taking a 'drive' to the northern territory for a couple of days or so before 'we' depart aussie-land on saturday, 2 april for los angeles, ca.

I have post-poned my nessesary trip to washington dc until after 'we' are moved into our new house.

and Ash' grandparents are planning a may/june vacation to the states to stay with us after we have completed our move. ok, so I've gotta go.

will be 'off-line' for the next 4 days, I will tweet and check-in just as soon as I get back to aussie-land.

have a great week-end everyone.

27 Mar 2011

good evening from eastern australia mates.

*brisbane isn't exactly the city wher I am

but it is the major metro-area nearby,

the exact location is camp mountain, queensland, au.

so anyway, it is currently 8pm monday the 27th,

and 3am monday the 27th in los angeles, ca.

our excursion to the island of new zealand was an experience I won't soon forget.

when Ash's grandparents said that they go to their summer cabin on the north island to 'rough it',

they were not kidding.

the flite from bris to wellington, nl was nearly 3 1/2 hours long, all over the tasman sea.

once we arrived,

we went thru a 'quick' customs and were on our way.

the vehicles for transportation they own are '94 humvee h1's that her grandfather bought at auction over 10 years ago.

I'll tell ya, they are nothing like the h2/h3 hummer that you can currently purchase at a gm lot.

these bad boys are like driving a small apartment around; over 7ft wide and 15ft long, and that diesel engine makes you deaf within 15 minutes.

so after we picked-up the vehicles from the parking area storage facility, we gathered all our needed supplies/food and were enroute north to the levin, nl area where they have their little (1200sf) getaway cabin.

getaway cabin indeed;

no power (minus the refer), no plumbing, no anything.

it was exactly like camping, but sleeping on a bed instead of the ground outside in a sleeping-bag.

and you go to the bathroom in a kinda home-made porta-potty they have to the side of the cabin. there also is a

pee-bush for the guys further down the path.

since it was just the four of us;

big earl, natalee (grandparents), Ash and myself;

the potty wait was not even an issue.

but waiting for water to come to a boil to soak your washcloth and bathe twice a day was a little crazy.

but I will say this; coffee tastes so good, drinking as the sun comes up and having the morning be so chilled and moist. and playing board games,

cards and chess by latern light was very cool also.

the days we were there, we explored the nearby tararua forest (like a national park area);

did some stream fishing, hiking, cave exploring,

bird & animal watching and so forth.

no phones, no internet, no farm chores, no city sounds,

very soothing to say the least.

it's an amazing thing how much you can eat up a day by just staying outside all day doing tasks. and even though I work out regularly, walking the paths, climbing rocks/hills and just staying active constantly was a little over-whelming.

I did use bengay and advil I'm not ashamed to say,

but I slept so good at night;

once not waking up for over 7 hours.

and when I awoke from that particular slumber,

I barely made it down the path to the 'pee-bush'

before my bladder exploded.

another thing about this outdoorsy experience;

eating a meal was not just a small task.

all four of us had our duties to ensure that a proper meal was had by all. my duty; bbqing on a open grill over a 'real' camp fire and then Ash and I had 'kp' (cleaning)

duty afterwards.

we were not without life comforts tho,

the generator-powered refer was a wonderful luxery.

'it kept the beer cold at a perfect temp'.

so after a couple of nights of 'roughing it',

we made our way back south to wellington for our last night in new zealand. staying in a very nice hotel, taking a long hot shower and eating in a wonderful restaurant watching the sunset. all being said, I had a outstanding time in new zealand with my new family.

Ash told me that her and her mom have stayed for up to a month in the cabin with her grandparents when she was 'much younger'.

wow, a month... no thanks!

getting back here yesterday and resuming normal life activities had me almost wishing for me to be back at the cabin, almost. and this getting up at 4:45am and milking cows, gathering eggs from the chicken coup all before drinking my 1st cup of coffee is rather

not my 'cup of tea' either.

it's almost 9pm, and I'm exhasted. Ash and I are sleeping in until 6am (no chores for us), and then borrowing the land rover from her grandparents and go on an excursion of our own for 3-4 days, coming back on friday or saturday

(my flight is now scheduled for monday the 4th of april back to the states, so I can spend some quality time with my daughter in her native country before I leave).

not quite sure where we are going to venture onward to

(she knows, but not telling me), also not sure if I will have cell/net coverage while we are exploring 'the outback',

but her grandpa is letting us use his sat-phone,

which also has internet capabilities.

so I'll take my lap-top just in case I can update.

alright; it's just past 9pm, I'm going to 'crash',

good nite/good morning to you all...

-continued-

(28 Mar 2011.brisbane.queensland, australia)

good morning, it's 5:45 tuesday morning.

I'm up, shaved, showered and waiting for my coffee.

and apparently I didn't publish my entry of last night,

damn-it. so this morning greeting will be short but sweet so I can get this out to you all.

Ash just got up, and we are planning on being on the road within the hour, so I have some things to wrap-up before we depart. will try to up-date later today.

happy monday america.

31 Mar 2011

good evening from las vegas, nv USA...

it's so very good to be home. yes I realize I need to fill in the blanks on how I went from exploring the australian outback with my daughter on monday, 27th march and being back in las vegas, nv 4 days (+1 time change) later.

well to begin with;

we left early tuesday morning to start our trek towards the northern territory and the weather the entire time was a torrential downpour.

we were gone only roughly 24-25 hours.

the rain was as thick as san francisco fog, and the flooding was incredible.

apparently their was a major storm hitting the north eastern seaboard of australia,

and the remnants of the storm was pounding the shit out of us. the fog, rain, mud and rocks on the roadway was enough for me to turn around.

*wtf has been going on wherever I go;

earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, flooding, mud slides. screw it, I may never leave the continital united states

ever again.

ok then, let me continue. so I get back to the 'farm' and I had many messages on my cell voice-mail concerning my former mother-in-law having a major heart attack the previous day. so considering the amount of time 'n.j.' and I have spent together since my seperation/divorce from her daughter and as close as we have become,

I felt it my obligation to return here as soon as possible. boom; 39 hours later I was standing in her hospital room in the ccu area.

I hated seeing her like she was;

so helpless with a breathing tube inserted down her throat, and so many hook-ups all over her body,

made me quite emotional.

the only thing with my 'former' ma-in-law being under the weather brings out the 'beast from the east' , my ex-wife.

it's a crazy thing how you can be so attracted to someone once, and then so repelled by the same person another time. and oh my god, she is so fukin skinny now;

she looks like a coke-freak.

(I'm just saying)

and now that I have a biological daughter,

my ex-step daughter has decided to abruptly end our 15 year relationship, sometimes you just can't win.

and as far as my daughter is concerned;

she is staying in australia with her grandparents for another week and will be flying into LA on saturday, 8 april. I will be meeting her there so as we can meet up with the sellers of our new house in agoura hills and begin the process of moving into our 'new home'. alright, it's almost 11p and I am tired as hell.

will continue this convo tomorrow.

good nite all.

***have tried posting/publishing this update for the past 15 minutes, vista print has the hic-cups again.

will try again tomorrow.

**CONTINUED ON MY THOUGHTS.7

G.A.'HOLLYWOOD'KISS