I made it home to Texas for a month to visit family and friends (and go see Tom Petty!) before I move to Bogota Colombia to teach English and fuckkk me gas prices are high now! What happened?!

ok Har har har... that was a stupid pun for a title.

But, Peachy and I did have a good chat tonight about politics and birth control and American politics and sex education. I gotta say if Peachy and I were running America it would be totally different (and better I might add )

Thanks for the chat Peachy. I enjoyed shooting the shit with you and having an intelligent conversation with someone who spoke English and knew what she was talking about.

So this past weekend I went to another major city in Thailand to get a visa stamp. I noticed they had a "blind massage" place. Now I cannot recommend this enough!

If the person massaging you can't see their sense of touch is SO enhanced. The first time you do this it may creep you out a little knowing they are blind but I promise its so worth it!

Now for the interesting part lol. So my massage lady was blind obviously and didn't speak a lick of English. She looked to be about 70. No spring chicken thats for sure!

Well as she was starting to massage me she motioned to me to take my pants off. Ok, no biggie that happens everytime I get a massage. Well then quick as a cheetah I swear! She ripped my boxers off!

So there I am naked as a jaybird still in shock but she already has the massage oil out (At this point I was on my stomach) and I know she doesn't speak any English.

Well I think.... fuck it lol. Just go with it. So yep I got a totally professional massage from a blind lady who is about my grandmother's age and no happy ending. It cost me 10 dollars for 1 hour!

I must admit I was worried what would happen if I got a boner so I tried everything I could think of not to get a boner and it worked lol.

So, I dont like to talk about this much because it still hurts but, last year a friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver. She was only 27 and had so much life to live! she was an awesome girl and I do miss her. Since her death I have become quite close with her mother. She is so strong to go thru this especially since she was killed on Thanksgiving Day.

It will be a tough holiday for her mom forever now. Anyway today was the sentencing. The judge gave the dude (Who is 25 years old) 98 hours of community service. I thought only movie stars got away that easy.

The judge said because the dude had already served 6 months in jail and was formerly in the US Army he deserved a lighter sentence. Tell that too my friend's mom who lost her daughter forever. Tell that to me who no longer has a friend!

Sometimes I really am disgusted with our justice system. Here in Thailand for drunk driving the penalty is much higher! Sad day for me... she deserved better. I wrote a victim impact statement for her mom to read in court, I hope she did. Looks like it wouldn't have helped anyway.

So I have recently come to a decision. I am going to cut back on my drinking. I have no plans to stop drinking all together because I am not an alcoholic nor have I ever been one. I am just a social drinker. But, there is a difference between Tyler who drinks a few beers and Tyler who drinks liquor and gets totally shit faced.

I can handle drinking beers no problem but, as soon as I start drinking liquor I get drunk really fast and say/do stupid shit. I am not myself and not in control of myself.

Until last night I have always just brushed this off and when I wake up the next day hungover as fuck,embarrassed about my behaviour and usually with no money and sometimes no memory I just chalk it up to a night out with the boys.

Well lucky for me I have never done anything REALLY bad nor am I an angry drunk. But last night I was running my mouth and I said something that made a friend of mine really angry. Her and I arent speaking now and its totally my fault.

So, from this day forward I will be sticking to beer only and not letting myself get out of control. Last night I was a mess,I wasnt myself and I wasnt in control of my mind,my mouth or my body.

It just isnt fun anymore to wake up feeling like shit and realising that sure I had a fun night but I spent a fuck load of money and I can't remember all of the night. Now that I have ruined a friendship by running my mouth it hurts. In the grand scheme of things I didnt say anything all that bad and I am hoping she forgives me but it is up to her. ( I actually complimented her awesomeness in the sheets with me) but at the totally wrong time and place. Stupid drunken me

anyway I just wanted to write here and let yall know that I am almost 30 and realising that now maybe its time to grow up. I consider myself level headed,mature and a pretty good guy. But, when I get on the liquor I am none of those things.

So goodbye liquor. Hello self restraint.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! It has been mostly good for me but, read my female mind thread in GD to see why it isnt all good for me today

Take care and happy new years! -Ty

Well it is almost Christmas! I am living/working here in Thailand and the vast majority of the country is Buddhist so really Christmas is not celebrated that much. I am trying to get into the Holiday spirit but, its really hot here and I will be working anyway lol.

Well I am wishing you Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever the fuck you wanna call it haha. All the best to you and yours! This year like last Xmas and the Xmas before it, I was gone from home so I dont have to buy any presents lol. But, I dont receive any either

I am now an author!
I am now a published author! As most of you know now I am fairly heavily involved with CS (www.couchsurfing.org) and I found out a guy who is a member there is a writer/publisher and he was making a book of 101 travel stories from different travelers. I submitted mine and got chosen to be in the book! Here is my story I will let you know when it is published (Most of the proceeds of the book sales go to an African Water Charity, so buy the book!)





Life as we know it

by Tyler

As I think over my life and all of my many travels to over 17+ countries, two things jump instantly in my mind. These are times when time itself has seemed to stop for me. I was not on top of Macchu Picchu or at Ankowat (both of which I have been too) but, I was in very ordinary places doing very ordinary things.
I was living and working for a year in Australia in 2009/2010. One day I randomly met a British girl and we really got along well. So, on my day off we decided to go to Hyde Park in Sydney and lay on the grass to feed the birds. Think about your own life and ask yourself how many times in your life have you taken the time to slow down enough to just totally relax and feed the birds?
In that moment when we were feeding the birds time slopped. Nothing else mattered, we were both totally content with everything around us. I remember feeling such a wave of peace come over me that I never wanted it to end. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. As the sun faded that day we left the park and returned back to our lives. I was sad because I thought I would never get to feel those feelings again. Lucky for me it happened once more.
A year later I was living and working in Auckland,New Zealand and I was walking down Queen St at 9pm. I had somewhere to be and I was in a hurry but I suddenly heard two street performers across the street from each other. One guy was playing Jimi Hendrix “The Wind Cries Mary” and the other was a gorgeous girl playing something on the cello right then and there I stopped, time stopped. I totally forget where I was going or what I needed to do. The only thing that matter in my life was listening to them play music. I once again felt that total peace and everything was good in the world. Once they stopped playing the moment was over. I was back to normal life again. Ever since then I have been searching for that feeling of total peace but I have yet to find it again. This was not an adventure or adrenaline story. This was not a story of something beautiful or amazing I have seen. But, this was a story of how sometimes, just sometimes you can be reminded of how amazing life can be when you are traveling. When you are at home wrapped up in your own life I think you are way too busy to stop and listen to music or feed the birds. You have way too much going on to really appreciate life. The exact opposite is true when you are traveling. I hope that each one of you who reads this will stop to feed the birds somewhere. Stop trying to control life and let it control you just for a brief moment in time. You wont regret it.

I got my visa for Thailand so I am all good for a maximum of 6 months now! I also got one of my travel stories selected to be published in a travel book! I had sex with a french girl and I had a really amazing meal.

In summary at this moment my life is pretty damn good haha.

I wish I could figure out how to import my external blog to here but I cant if you want to read more, just check it out. -Tyler

sorry its been so long... my new place is amazing and right on the beach but alas I have no internet Seeing as I have to go into town or my school to use the internet NN is a big no no at the moment

But things are good for me. I am having some dramas trying to get my working visa sorted out but I am working on it. I have blogged up a storm about this and other things on my external blog.

www.travelingwithtyler.blogspot.com

yall take care.