Monday, November 28, 2005

Bariloche 1 - Lazy Day in Bariloche

18 hours of bus-ride later....I arrived in a soggy Bariloche.

I am completely convinced that I made the right move by coming to Argentina. Its like Europe for cheap people! Buenos Aires is the perfect mixture of Italian and Spanish people in a Parisien setting wherein they like its Madrid...all for a fraction of the price. Here in Bariloche its like mini-Switzerland (although I´m willing to bet that the lake region is actually LARGER than the real Switzerland!) Anyway, its pretty cold here, I busted a rip in my favorite (and only) hoodie, and I think my shoes might be insufficient for trekking. Did I mention that they were free? Thanks to Auntie Terry and Uncle David for the $20 Lands End gift certificate! I thought it would be fun to buy a patagonia fleece here while I´m actually IN patagonia, but then I realized that would be retarded.

OK, since you all (all 3 of you who read this blog) know that I´m obsessed with lists, and since you also know that if things go well for me I will be unemployed for the next 2.5 years, here is my fresh and newly revised List of "Things to Buy". I welcome any comments about this list.

1) A new Hoodie - Jess Polansky recommends Neighbor-hoodies, which proclaim your home location. I agreed that this was very cool, although the price seemed a bit steep. However, I think it would be very cool for everyone to know the places that I consider in some strange sense "Home". So here are Dan´s top 5 neighborhoodie finalists:
  1. Little Saigon (Westminster, CA...my true hometown, although I think some people might not like my non-Vietnamese ass wearing this)
  2. Hells Kitchen (My old "hood" of 5 years in NYC...but since I never want to live in NYC again this might seem odd. Extra points for the fact that the city no longer refers to it as Hells Kitchen but instead as "Clinton"...clearly revealing Guiliani´s unspoken lust for Senator Hilary)
  3. West Philly (I love Philly, but this might be too pedestrian, no?) Maybe something cooler in Philly, like "Manayunk" or something...)
  4. Tamarama (My old neighborhood in Sydney, which I totally loved. LOVED! Even cooler might be "Glamorama", which is what people called the beach because all the beautiful people would go there on the weekends. But people might not get it and think that I´m making some kinda glam-rock reference or something. That would lead to an awkward conversation or two!)
  5. Belgrano - In honor of my little neighborhood in B.A. I loved Belgrano, because there was plenty of Helado!

Note that I didn´t make a reference to my housing in Hong Kong, since "Soho" would just be lame.

2) A new laptop. Mine is to big and too old. I want a knew one, but if by some miracle I go to grad school next year I will need to get a new one. Billy and Jack both got the Dell 700M, which is sweet and cheap, but Colleen swears that Dell laptops suck, and I kinda agree. Her IBM is AWESOME, but it uses that fucked up joystick thing instead of the touch pad, and I dont know if I can deal.

3) New suitcase - Mine is HUGE, and fuckin AA lowered the weight limit to 50 lbs! 50 lbs is nothing! So I need a smaller suitcase for my trip to China, as I have kinda figured out how much crap I will need to bring for that trip. I think smaller, with wheels, is ideal.

OK, I´m sick of blogging for now. Tomorrow maybe I´ll write something about my "OK Cupid" test results and you will have to comment.