If You Ain't Cheating... You Ain't Trying

It's been a decade, and two heartbreaking losses, to the same team, on the sports biggest stage, but the New England Patriots are World Champions... again. Few teams in sports are quite as polarizing as this rag-tag bunch from Massachusetts. In his infinite "hoody" wisdom Bill Bellichek has managed to create contenders year after year, with no name super stars, and one Thomas Brady. There's no two ways about it, as with most things Boston sports, people either LOVE the Patriots, or LOATH  them. Now I don't want to downplay the high level of dedication and continued success that Tom and Bill have had in their tenure together, but the fact of the matter is the Patriots might be the worst thing to have happened to the NFL in this generation (not being dramatic or anything right?!). 

 When Russel Wilson threw that quick slant and was picked off, it was deflating to so many people for all the right reasons. Cheaters shouldn't win, and in the last decade nothing has made Patriots detractors happier than watching them get so close, and then losing it all. 

A miraculous catch (arguably would've been the most memorable in Super Bowl history), a tenacious runner, and all it would have taken was one more push, one last skittle powered run, to prove that just because you would've beat the Colts anyways, doesn't mean cheaters get to come out on top. But we all know what happened, we all saw the audible, that "wasn't" an audible. And  we all felt deflated as that pass was just a little too late, and fell abruptly into the hands of another Patriots diamond in the rough. 

Bill Bellichek is a genius, Tom Brady is a top-five "All-Time" quarterback, these things are not debatable. What will be shrouded in debate, and drive sports fans wild for generations to come, is how much of this dynasties success is real, and how much was just a little (some would argue a lot) tainted. What troubles me as a sports fan the most is the fact that nothing of any real consequence will come to pass with this team. Take away their first round drafts picks (they do their best work on the second day of the draft), fine them (Robert Kraft isn't worried about his pocket book), but nothing real, nothing that will really hurt them at their core. 

Barry Bonds is permanantly associated with steroid use, yet was never actually found guilty. He will almost certainly never be elected to the hall of fame, even though he is without a doubt one of the top 20 players in the games long history. We have no problem throwing his whole career, all his accomplishments under the bus, because of what we all assume (and most likely is true), but has never been proven. Yet, Bill Bellichek and Tom Brady will both be 1st Ballot Hall of Famers, and they have both admittedly cheated, and been caught.

Now we probably can't blame Tom, he's just guilty by association, but there's something about the Patriots as a whole that just drives myself, and a lot of other people crazy. I'm not a Seattle fan (though I do love me some beast mode), but this last Sunday I was the 12th man in every sense of the word. There's something about that team, the quarterback who was passed over, the defense that won't quit, that made them the perfect team to go for the 3-peat of Patriot anguish. They represent all that is right about sport, a team that really seems to care and rely on each other. Where there's always something about Bill and the Patriots that make it seem to him like everyone on his team isn't actually a person, but a strategically situated pawn, to be used as he sees fit. That is except for Tom, the Golden Boy, the only piece of the puzzle that had stayed the same, and which makes him complacent in this whole shady experiment. 

It's probably ridiculous to think this whole thing is bigger than a couple of incidences, but something about Bill Bellichek makes any Patriots hating conspiracy seem possible. The ultimate puppet-master pulling all the strings, or at least one can hope. For now I can only hope the Seahawks get healthy, get better, and most importantly, get even. Because nothing makes a Patriots-hater happier than seeing that look of complete and utter despair on Tom Brady's perfectly sculpted jaw line, and hearing that no comment post-game speech from a downtrodden Bellichek. It's a "fine-able" offense when Marshawn Lynch does it, but when it happens the Bill... it's everything that's right in the world of sports. One can only hope that Brady doesn't walk off into the sunset with his head held high, that maybe, just maybe, we can to see those sad, sad tears, one last time. Or maybe I just need a girlfriend and I should stop putting so much energy into hating the Patriots... only time will tell. 

21 Reasons I don't/can't party like I'm 21 anymore...

None of us wanted to believe it. We all said it might have been true for them, but that was them, and we are us, and we are fucking invincible! In college we would drink till 5 a.m. wake up for class the next day at 8 a.m. go to the gym to get on a pump at noon, and be back at the bar in time for happy hour, to do it all over again. Hangovers, those were only something that happened when you mixed too many liquors, and/or drugs together. On the rare occasion we had one, it was nothing a few tylenol and a cold beer couldn't erase. 

Then it started to happen, slowly at first, but every once in a while after about 24, those hangovers would just, stick around. Not all day, and not long enough to do any real damage, but more than before, this was different, this was almost, human. Now at almost 27 years old, a "bad" hangover for me is just when I wakeup from drinking period, but a terrible hangover, that can put me out of commission for a few days time. I experienced one such hangover after a night of drunken debauchery on the eve of 2015, and finally I had to stop denying it to myself, I am no longer immortal. I have found my kryptonite, and it is the same thing that used to be my super power... so these are the 21 reasons I don't/can't drink like I'm 21 anymore.

21. Cost

When you're in college everything is 2-4-1, or $10 all-you-can-drink. When you grow up into reality and decide you can't spend all your time on sticky floors anymore, you realize drinks in the real world add up. For $10 on wednesday nights in college I could get bombed like Hiroshima, to do that in a nice bar/club as an "adult", I would need a second mortgage. 

20. Less Friends

Though we all will have those friends who will party like they're 18 forever, as you grow older it becomes a lot harder to find someone who will start drinking margaritas with you at 3pm on a Tuesday. Now your friends have things like "a mortgage" and "a job" and "three kids", "whatever happened to Taco Tuesday Bro?"

19. Deja Vu

If you are like me, then you know when you go out with your typical drinking buddies, it's usually a fairly similar pattern. While being a regular is great when your in your early 20's and usually leads to awesome perks, like free shots, better service, etc. At some point you realize, "Oh shit, I don't just drink here, I'm a Regular here". Well that might not be such a bad thing when your 65 and retired, for me it's a little to early to start playing Norm from Cheers. (Where everybody knows your name...)

18. One Night Stands

In college pretty much everyone was on the same page. We got drunk, things happened, let's not make a big deal out of this. The most awkward thing about a one night stand back then was the walk across campus and maybe running into that person in biology class. Now we're older we drink with our friends and our co-workers and a one night stand could turn into the worst office weirdness ever, or worse, one of those "relationships" I keep hearing about. 

17. Everyone Looks So Young

At this point in my life, especially while traveling, I have no idea how old girls are when I meet them at a bar. In college it didn't matter, because everyone was with in four years of eachother. Now as I'm about to turn 27 I realize I'm a decade older than some of these girls. While that may seem awesome, in reality 18-year olds are pretty worthless people when it comes to anything else but drinking and looking good. 

16. Drunk Facebook Pics

In college it was a badge of honor to have a great night out and later have to look back. We would anxiously wait until someone posted photos to piece the night together, "Oh ya I remeber that guy in the full bear costume!". Now for a lot of my friends however, Facebook can be a nightmare in the professional world. Employers are using companies to search people's history and find out anything ill-suiting about them. It's one thing if they have to dig back 6 years in your archive, it's another if they find photos of you doing bong rips and shotgunning from last week. 

15. Picking Up Chicks

You'll never know the awesome conversation starting power of, "What's your major?" until you're no longer in college anymore. It was the ultimate "in" move, so many directions to take, so many laughs to be had, so many chances to get some Freshman home. Now I'm forced to ask things like, "Oh how do you like the gas mileage on your Prius?", and "Do you prefer Whole Foods or Trader Joes?". I'm about this close to going back and getting my Masters Degree just so I can have a good opener again. 

14. Grownups Go To Jail

In College and your early 20's it seems like you're pretty invincible, even when it comes to the police. I remember I got a few citations in school, drunk in public, fake ID, etc. but none of these ever lead to any "real" consequences. At worst, just a ticket you'd have to work a few extra shifts at Subway to pay off. But as I've grown older I've realized, I can't really get away with that shit anymore. No longer will cops try not to "ruin" your future and give you a break. You're in the future now bro, and if you get caught peeing on the side of a building, congrats you're a sex offender now.

13. Uber Receipts 

Give me a second to explain this one. Responsibility is awesome, and I, like most of my friends in college got away with a lot of times we shouldn't have been behind the wheel of a car. Now I'm older and wiser and I know drunk driving is a huge no-no! That being said, there's something kind of depressing about seeing 10 different Uber receipts on your bank statement every monday morning after a long weekend. Though lets be honest, who's taking a gross taxi? Not this guy!

12. Making Conversation

There's something magical about being in a loud college bar and throughout the night eventually ending up taking another co-ed home. The magical part is, within the typical college bar you can't actually hear a god-damn thing. So basically you have to communicate through yelling, and hand signals, and lots of shouting of, "Shots?". This doesn't really work as you get older. If I go out with my friends now we try to intentionally find a place where the music isn't too loud, so we can converse and enjoy eachothers company. This is great for catching up with friends but not so great for picking up chicks when you have no material (see number 15).

11. Being a Grandpa

Before I left for my trip I went to a tailgate at my Alma mater. It was great seeing old friends and supporting my beloved Knights but I immediately noticed something different. When we were pregamming to go to the actual tailgate we stopped by one of our old stomping grounds. At this point I had only been out of school for three years but it might as well have been three decades! Everyone was a baby, and I found myself concerned for young girls and their attire, "what would her father think?". Point being you wanna feel real old, real fast, get some of your old college buddies and go back to your favorite college bar, it will age you.  

10. Appreciation of Booze

When I was 18 I couldn't tell you the difference between Mr. Boston and 15-year old Balvenie. But as you get older you start to appreciate things about good booze that were never of importance before. I now know the difference between a good beer and a shit beer, and the same with liquor. And though sometimes it seems to be to my detriment, I know that spirits are meant to be enjoyed, not dropped into Redbull. 

9. I Hate Dancing

Let's be honest I was never a good dancer to begin with, but when I was going to school it was pretty simple. Wait till a rap song came on, grab a cute girl by the waist (if she turns around and gives you the nod, you're in), and then basically stand there sweating and moving your hips back and forth until it's time to get a drink. Grinding may have been most associated with hip-hop but it was DEFINITELY invented by a white guy. That being the extent of my "dance experience" I'm pretty ill-equipped to hit the dance floor these days. 

8. "Come at Me Brah!"

I've always been more of a lover than a fighter, but after 8 Jaeger bombs and a few dozen cheap beers, we all had our moments of "bro-ing" out back in our prime. Back then it didn't matter, a few bruises and a ripped shirt was usually the worst thing you had to worry about. Now the idea of fighting scares me for two reasons. Number one, if I were to get in a fight and beat someones ass, I would most likely be on the wrong end of an assault suite within a month. Number two, and more importantly, I really, really don't like being punched, and odds are now I would be the one receiving the majority of the blows. 

7. Drunk-Texting

If you ask my exes you would get a pretty good consensus that I am a notorious drunk texter. 

Me- "I miss you baby"

Her- "We haven't talked in 6 months dumbass..."

Me- "I've been thinking about you"

Her #2- "I haven't..."

I think two examples is enough. That's all well and good when you're 19 and you can laugh it off the next day. But in this world of constant updates and, marriages, and babies, and more babies, you have to be careful which ex your texting. She might not only be taken, but married with a bun in the oven, and she definitely doesn't want to come over and "snuggle".

6. Getting up for things

When you're a "grown-up" and I'm using that term very loosely here, you finally start to come to the reality that spending all day in bed drinking gatorade and watching Netflix, is no longer "acceptable". I've been in hospitality for a LONG time so it's not exactly like I have a load of responsibilities to consider but at some point waking up past noon every day starts to take its toll on your mental state. "This was ok when I was 20 and missing a film class, but shit my best friend has kids now, and I'm pushing 30." The occasional all day recovery is fine, but at some point we all wanna start to grow up a little and there's no way to do that when you sleep till 3.

5. I don't have "Connections" anymore

When I was 18-22 I didn't wait in line for ANYTHING. I knew someone everywhere, whether they were a brother in my fraternity, or someone I worked with, or even some chick I hooked up with every once in a while. Now, I stand in line. Occasionally I'll know someone somewhere, but now we're older so that person is a manager, and probably won't text me back when I'm at the door, and is probably too busy to get me in anyway. I now live the life of paying covers and waiting 30 minutes for a drink, just like the rest of you. Times have change and the only way to get some attention is with money, because money talks, unfortunately my wallet is a deaf, mute at the moment. 

4. Gym Time

I went to UCF in Orlando, FL. There's a reason our student body got voted one of the sexiest every single year. Aside from living in a state that has year round sun shine and the perfect excuse for women to wear bikinis everywhere, when I was at school we had "The Gym". Now I know some schools have great Rec/Wellness centers, but UCF's was next level (and it got even better after I left). Something like 60,000 sq/ft of pure iron pumping, cardio pounding madness. The perfect place to burn off a long night out, and in school I could easily spend 2-3 hours a day there. Now, it's a hassle to get to the gym, it's expensive, and the facilities aren't nearly as nice, let alone the scenery. But where before it was a kind of escape, now it's a necessity. The first thing you start noticing about your friends after college is who lets themselves go. I may not be the most successful, I may not have the most money, but I for damn sure am not showing up to my 10 year college reunion with a beer gut, unfortunately what that means, is less beer. 

3. I NEED Sleep

When you're young sleep is for old people, and something you do after cramming for exams for three days straight on a redbull and adderall fueled bender. Drinking heavily however, tends to let's say, "affect" my sleep patterns as I've gotten older. When I was in school it was nothing to stay up till 5 am sleep a few hours and then get right back up for class that morning. Now if I don't get my 8 hours I'm basically just a walking zombie. I never understood how important a great nights sleep was until I finally got one. After years of sleeping on futons and air mattresses (that's not a joke I spent the majority of college on an air mattress) I finally understand what a real mattress is. I've learned it doesn't matter how good the mattress is, going on a bender seems to throw a wrench in my sheep counting. 

2. Chugs not Drugs

Maybe it's just me being surrounded by teenage backpackers like I am, being overseas at the moment. Maybe I just wasn't into the scene when I was in my early 20's anyway, but it seems like not many people just drink and get smashed anymore. It seems like everyone I meet now is on something. I have no problem with recreational drug use, and I think it's totally fine if these guys partake wisely, however, it definitely creates a different kind of "party". For one, if you don't like jumping around listening to shit EDM till 8 am, you will find yourself in a very awkward position when you're at some of the clubs these, "crazy kids" are going to. Maybe it's just how my friends and I partied in school but I don't think anyone should party past 3 am. The way we did it was start at ten, drink aggressively for 4-5 hours, go home and try again. Call me old fashioned, but you can keep your MDMA, and your nose candy, I'll take shots and long necks every time. 

1. Hangovers... dear sweet merciful Jesus... HANGOVERS!!

We all have them, we all hate them, they are the "Ya, I don't really get hangovers" friend. If you had distaste for them when you were younger, you now loathe them from the core of your being. Because if you are like me, once upon a time you were bullet-proof, and now your target practice. When you first start to notice your hangovers are getting worse you can try to play it off like nothing is wrong, "you probably just drank too many house whiskeys last night". But then they start to creep in no matter what you drink, and soon it's not a matter of "if" you'll have a hangover, but simply how bad will it be. I had my come to Jesus with the hangover gods on the 1st of January 2015. It was eye opening, mostly because I could barely open my eyes. I had apparently run a drunk marathon the night before and every muscle is my body was spasming and wretched (seriously I physically was running all over town). It was then, finally, I learned that no longer am I the Super Man I once fancied myself to be, but rather more like the human counter part Clark Kent. I have found my kryptonite in the bottom of a bottle, and now I realize, I am invincible no more. So now I will be a grown up, have two drinks with dinner, and no shots, and go to bed at a reasonable hour. "Except tonight, tonight my friends in town, and I have the day off tomorrow, I mean it is Friday so it's happy hour, if we go to our bar we'll get free shots, two shots won't hurt, I'll just drink a lot of water... SHOTS!!!!!"

We may not be invincible anymore, but the one thing I know for sure is you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I maybe 50 one day with two kids of my own, and a grandson on the way (that means I'd have to start like tomorrow though), but when I see my old buddies, all bets are off. I think the main thing I've learned, as I've come to terms with becoming human, is you've just got to save your big ones for special occasions (weddings, birthdays, divorces, etc.). There's nothing wrong with being wounded for a few days, as long as it's not an every day thing anymore. From now on as I journey into my late-20's, practically ready for retirement, I will live by the Tobey Keith motto, "May not be good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was." Preach brother Tobey, preach!

If you liked this article and want to hear more about my travels, adventures, and dealing with "adulthood", follow my blog (http://kangaroontang.blogspot.com.au), add me on twitter (@logansdownunder), and keep up with my instagram (@logandownunder). 

Leave That, Take This

It's finally here, the day you've been waiting for. Your stuff is all there, ready to go, it's been checked, and double checked, and unpacked and repacked 100 times in the last month, trying not to forget anything. You're about to leave but your your backpack wont shut, somethings wrong, shoot it just closed yesterday, you've got to leave something, but what?! Well you've got to bring your laptop, that's obvious, and your boom box, 7 pairs of shoes, duh. What about the comb, I could always get a new comb right? Ya leave the comb, take the shoes it'll all  be good, now if I could just find some place for this acoustic guitar...

When you're getting ready to travel, one of the biggest obstacles to figure out is, "Exactly what the f$%# am I gonna need?" You may be only leaving for a few months, or maybe even a few years, but the struggle is always the same, unless you travel like the Kardashians you come to the conclusion that you need to carry everything you own, in one backpack. So how do you do it? Can it even be done? Obviously theres no right, perfect way to pack, it's different for each person based on their needs and how long they're going for, but there's definitely a WRONG way to pack. So heres my little list from experience of what is absolutely essential, and what you should just throw back in storage. 

Don't Bring: A Computer

Before I left for Australia I was considering bringing my brand new Macbook Air with me, though I miss the large spacious keyboard and the sexy sleekness, it would have been a terrible mistake. Though most of the people you meet while traveling are friendly and inviting, there's always bound to be some rotten eggs, and nothing gets scum bags frothing like that little white apple. It's also a matter of convenience, ya it's great to have your computer, but when your constantly moving around and staying in different places all the time it's just one more thing to keep track of, and one that you definitely wouldn't want to lose. When it comes to electronics and travel my rule is if losing it would make me cry, probably don't bring it. 

Do Bring: A Tablet

The irony of this is of course now that I'm blogging for Elite Daily it would be 1000 times easier for word processing purposes if I had my laptop, but assuming your just traveling and blogging for fun, tablet is the way to go. I purchased my refurbished Ipad Mini for about $200 and bought a bluetooth keyboard on groupon for another $25. That being said I would still be pissed if I lost it, but not to the extent of heartbreak with my Macbook Air. Tablets are super cheap and affordable these days, and with wifi compatibility, its all you need to skype family and friends back home. Plus they are small and pretty durable depending on the brand, I carry mine with me in my day bag and it barely takes up any space at all. For some great places to get a cheap tablet check out the groupon app, or visit (www.overstock.com), they always have great deals on tech. 

Don't Bring: Your electric toothbrush

I made this mistake of originally bringing my $150 cybersonic, gum disease controling, 1000 rpm, tooth whitening system, with a total of about... one replacement head. My thought process was, "I'm going to a first world country, it'll be super easy to find replacements and charging will be a breeze." There's a few problems with that:

1. You never know where you'll be staying, I lived in a small beach town for two months where the closest grocery store was 30 minutes away.

2. Depending on where you stay you never know if you'll even have access to an outlet to charge that bad boy, and even if you do you'd probably risk infection by leaving it out in the open.

3. The rest of the world seemingly doesn't give a damn about dental hygiene. This is not a stereotype if it's true, yes the UK has the bad reputation but pretty much all of Europe needs to learn what floss is. So even if you do happen upon a bigger pharmacy or store, odds are they might not have your brand of 3000 watt replacement brush heads anyway.

Do Bring: Floss, mouthwash, etc. 

I didn't realize how important dental hygiene really was until I started traveling. This has nothing to do with the awesome people you meet and how great of human beings they may be, but for some reason the rest of the world doesn't seem to care about having pearly whites. Say what you will about Americans, we may be fat, dumb and lazy, but we paid $8000 for braces and another $2000 to get those SOB's bleached whiter than Michael Jackson! But in all honestly seeing the lack of care people give to their teeth that I've met, I'd implore you to stick with the basics but make sure you use all of them. Everyday I brush, floss, and use whitening mouthwash, and trust me, it makes a difference, and those throw away toothbrushes are cheap.

Don't Bring: A whole mess load of clothes

On the day I was leaving for my trip I felt pretty darn proud of myself. I had narrowed down my entire wardrobe for the next year (or more) to just under two dozen clothing items (between mostly shirts, jeans, shorts, jackets, etc.). I had read a lot of blogs about how to back, what to bring and what not to bring before hand and I thought I was pretty spot on. Five months later I've almost doubled my wardrobe, but I've been living in the same house so I haven't had to worry about stuffing it all back in my bag (it's not all gonna fit incase your wondering). The bottom line is no matter how little you bring, it's almost always too much if your bag is full when you walk out the door. It's super easy to find cheap clothes and cool tshirts in markets that you might have to turn down otherwise because you know you won't be able to fit them. My advice take half of what you think you need, wait a couple days then half that again. 

Do Bring: A whole bunch of undies (and socks)

The complete opposite of this holds true for underwear and socks. Not that it's impossible to find underwear and socks overseas, but I'm very particular about my underwear and socks, and just like back home they have a strange knack for going missing. Also, you'd be amazed how much wear and tear you can put on some undies and how many holes you'll get in your socks when you don't have a few dozen to "share the load" if you will. On a personal note I love atheltic briefs, they give you some breathing room, they're super comfy, and they dry extremely quick (something you take for granted until you have to use a clothes line.)

Don't Bring: Fancy hair, face and body products

Now I can't speak fully on this topic because currently I look like a hippie-jesus, cave man, but there was a time when I put a lot of thought and effort into my appearance. If you're only traveling for a few weeks or a few months, you can probably mostly ignore this advice, because you can probably scrape by using a little less makeup, or hair gel here and there. But for those of you going for the long haul I would advise that with the unpredictability of traveling, the desire to be perfectly quaffed and groomed, usually starts to fade away pretty quickly when you're on the road. This is not to say don't stick to the essentials (i.e. deodorant, maybe some foundation for the ladies) but realize in the grand scheme of things nobody really cares but you that you haven't washed your hair for a week. 

Do Bring: Sunscreen, bug spray, and first aid kit

If you are planning on traveling to Australia especially this first one is a MUST! They have a freaking hole in the ozone here (like a real one not an Al Gore one), and they charge $16 a bottle for sunscreen because they can. I was outside riding my bike one day for about an hour in a tank top, and I couldn't fully move my lobster arms for about 3 days. The other ones are just convenient because it's not something you ever think about until you need it. You never agree to take a weekend camping trip and your first thought is, "Oh I better pick up some OFF!". No, you get out to the bush and if no one has any to spare you become a human buffett.

Don't Bring: Thick Winter Gear

Now obviously Australia doesn't have a "Winter", like we know back home (I grew up in Chicago), but it still gets pretty damn cold, cold enough you want more than a hoodie. The thing is coats take up a lot of space in a bag and even if you do show up in the middle of winter they are only of use to you for a couple of weeks. The better thing to do is start familiarizing yourself with online community trading sites (kind of like craigslist, but less creepy). In Australia there are a few but the main one in Gumtree. Basically when you start to travel you realize there are a lot of other people out there just like you, who are willing to sell you slightly used goods for a fair price simply to break even. None of us are here to make money but I make a couple extra bucks for my travels to asia, and you get a sweet discount on a coat to go snowboarding with, easy. There's no reason to lug that stuff around with you for a whole year, when odds are you'll only need it for a small portion of your trip. 

Do Bring: Layers

When I originally flew into Sydney it was cold and disgusting out, I didn't have a proper jacket, but what I did have was a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, and a windbreaker. Each individually not all that warm, but together their powers combined to be a perfect "make-shift" jacket for whenever the cold got a little out of hand. The  key here is trying to find stuff that's really all weather, so instead of one huge down jacket I could only use in 40 degrees or less, I had a big fluffy hoodie and an all weather wind breaker. Combined they basically turned into a full down coat but take up only half as much space. If you want other travel light ideas like this I'm a huge fan of REI stores (www.REI.com). They got me setup with a lot of travel gear and the staff is extremely helpful if you give them a general idea of where your going.   

For this last one I don't really have a don't bring to go along with it. But having bounced around from some hostels and share houses while traveling I can tell you this is one that no one ever mentioned when I was reading travel blogs and is highly underrated. 

Do Bring: A set of travel plates/utensils

Before I left I was in that same store (REI) in the camping department and I saw this really cool whole set of collapsable utensils, plates, bowls etc. that you could easily fit in your bag. I thought it looked great but was a little impractical, unless you were well... camping. This is the one thing I most regret not buying before I left!!! If you're traveling for a short time you'll be staying in hostels and silverware and plates are like gold! If you're traveling for a long time at some point you will probably have roommates who are disgusting and dont wash their damn dishes and having your own set would be priceless! Again this seems like something you might never need but I assure you anyone who's traveled long enough has probably had to eat a steak with a spoon, and it's not until you do that do you realize how nice it would be to have some cutlery of your own.

The point is there's no right way to pack for long term travel, but there can certainly be a wrong way. To anyone who's already on the road, or planning on going back soon I hope maybe you picked up a pointer or two you hadn't yet considered. For anyone thinking about traveling for the first time, consider this a starting point, keep reading and discovering more, and remember no matter how much you plan at some point in your trip you will say the magic words, "Why the F%$& did I bring THIS?!". But  that's more than alright, that's exactly how it should be. Safe travels everyone and if you liked this and want to read more follow me on my blog (http://kangaroongtang.blogspot.com.au). If you want to help boost my twitter rank (@logansdownunder), do that too, also there's instagram (@logandownunder), facebook (Logan Emmett), etc. Bon Voyage!!!!

6 reasons to quit your job and start traveling... now!

When I told people I was leaving the country to work and travel abroad in Australia for a year (maybe longer), most people were very encouraging. A few thought I was crazy, but the majority simply said something to the effect of, "that's so awesome, I wish I could do something like that". Well after 6 months of being on my own down under, I'm here to tell you, YOU CAN and YOU SHOULD! The only thing holding any of us back from globe trotting, and following our wanderlusting hearts is ourselves. So I present to you: "The 6 reasons to quit your job, and start traveling... now". 

1. Time is Our Only Real Asset:

I know a lot of people I went to school with have been fed the same garbage I was, since I was a small child (not by my parents but by society as a whole). "You can be whatever you want to be... until you realize that you can't and now you need to get a real job and start making a living for yourself". While obviously it's true that most of us will not be movie stars, and astronauts, and at some point we have to accept this inevitability; it doesn't mean we can't lead lives outside 9-5, 401k, and social security. As we start to grow older and come to the conclusion that maybe our childhood fantasies aren't realistic it seems a lot of us unfortunately settle. We don't realize that we can adjust our dreams, we don't have to give up on them all together. Now this is not to say my lifestyle is glamorous, and I have a lot more I want to do and accomplish, but the first step was breaking away from where I was. That doesn't mean you have to move to another continent, but move somewhere. If you've been with the same company for ten years and you see another 30 in your future and that scares the shit out of you... quit. Money isn't everything and saving a bunch of it won't make you happier. You can buy almost everything you want with enough money, but you can't by back your youth. You can't take back the time you spent in the office instead of on the beach, or in the mountains, or kayaking down the river. The key is having enough faith in yourself and your skill set that you are confident you can get work elsewhere. You may have always wanted to live in Colorado in the mountains, but you've got seniority at your office. I implore you take the pay cut and take a chance to go somewhere new. That way when you do get to spend your free time, you're doing it somewhere you love (and weed is legal there so, bonus!). 

2. Traveling Helps You Learn About Yourself:

"You think you know, but you have no idea." Anyone from my generation knows this iconic line from the Real World, but nothing makes life more real than venturing out to find yourself. You think you love chain restaurants and comfortalbe seating, until you've pushed your way through a eclectic night market shoving food into your mouth off a paper plate trying not to get knocked over. You think you know your coffee of choice, until you come to a place where coffee is an art form. A place where no one drinks "drip", and you are quickly educated on the subtle yet vital differences (and not everything is fucking pumpkin flavored). Most importantly, you think you know who you are and have some idea of your boundaries. That is until you start to say yes to things, and end up on a back alley adventure, or stumble into a random bar to see ten trannys walking around in Christmas attire, with one lip synching Maria Carey's "I don't want a lot for Christmas". You think you know, but you have no idea...

3. Traveling Opens the Boundary of Your Comfort Zone:

Believe it or not I'm not much of a risk taker and I happen to like my little safety bubble like the rest of us. But when you travel you meet people who will change your perspective on life and how it is meant to be lead. You realize there are things more important than money, and security, like adventure and experience. These people are the 20-somethings, who lead a life of invincibility, to them there is no tomorrow, no bad decisions in the past, only the present. I still struggle to live my life in the moment as much as some people I've met, but you can be sure I'm doing a lot better than I was before. 

4. You Never Know What Opportunities May Present Themselves:

When you make a decision to stop leading your "normal life" and start traveling you open yourself up to a world you never knew existed before. If you are usually not so great in social situations you can start to push the boundaries of the norm. Any kid who's ever moved as a child knows, that it's kind of nice to be able to push the reset button on who you are. You can reinvent yourself into the type of person you've always wanted to be. Well take that, and multiply it by a 1000 when it comes to traveling. Not every person who sets out to see the world is an adventurer, but when you talk to people on the road you see who they really are, not who they've been trained to be by habit and circumstance. And by opening yourself up and communicating and meeting as many new people as possible you never know what could happen. I've met so many people from around the world out here I have places to stay all over Europe should I ever chose to backpack my way out there. I've also met people who've gotten jobs, started exciting new relationships, and made tons of new life long friendships, it's all out there you just have to be open to it. 

5. Worst Case Your Job Will Be There When You Get Back:

Obviously this isn't always the case, but for most of us in our early to mid-20's right now is the time where if you do have an office job you will be starting to work your way up, which basically means you're at the bottom. And while experience is good, don't take for granted the fact that some employers value life experience just as much as work experience. Best case scenario, you have a year or two sabitcal and come back to your old job where your boss loves the fact that you've seen the world and wants you to lead his/her new division. Worst case, you get a job doing the same thing you were doing before you left, but now you have some life experience under your belt. You have a better understanding of people and the way the world really is. You can then use all this new found practical knowledge, and you make your way up through the ranks faster than if you had stayed put in the first place, and you got to see the world. 

6. The Future is Uncertain: 

Every day there is another engagement or baby popping up on my Facebook feed. Everyday someone has passed the Bar Exam, or gotten their real estate license, or got that promotion. From what I've come to realize the two biggest things that hold us back from packing up and going, are fear of the unknown, and complacency/success. Fear of the unknown obviously being, what will happen if I leave all this security behind, I have a good job, making decent money and potentially a bright future. Complacency and success aren't usually used together, but this would quantify a number of things from promotions, to engagements, to babies, whatever comes along in our life that makes us feel as if we need to be complacent where we are. 

"Well I can't leave now I'm up for that promotion." 

"We've been dating for three years, it's probably time to get engaged, but I can't travel and be worried about a wedding."

"O shit, we're pregnant."

Now where the last reason may be a valid reason to stay put (or in some cases to get the next plane out of town), there's a number of reasons we rationalize why we have to stay in our current situation. But the future is uncertain, your company could fold, your significant other could leave you, and maybe that baby doesn't look very much like you. The point is if you keep making excuses about what could happen you will miss opportunities to make things happen yourself. 

So get out there! If you've always wanted to hike K-2 go for it, if Australia is your dream destination, meet me here and we'll go for a drink. If you have no idea where you want to go, spin a globe put your finger down, and book the next flight out of dodge. The longer you wait the more things you will accumulate that will be harder to leave behind. It's easy to break a lease, it's a lot harder when you have a mortgage. Just take a risk, fly by the seat of your pants, and know that everything you leave behind will still be there, if/when you choose to come back. The world is out there for you to explore, you just have to go... now!

Tolerance

I don't know if I should write anything about this, actually I definitely shouldn't. I'm a white middle-class American, I may not have ever won the Powerball but I definitely won the genetic and origin lottery. When you grow up in a white middle-class suburb it's almost impossible to imagine people aren't privileged in the same way you are. Alll of your friends are from a similar upbringing, all of their parents live little cookie cutter lives, and it's easy to get lost in the safety and simplicity of suburbia. That being said once you've moved or experienced something outside this existence it's easy to see that you are in fact in the great minority. 

Now I truly believe America is the land of opportunity and no matter where you are born or what circumstances you are born into you can make it out and be a success. It's just a lot, LOT harder for some people than others. We've come along way in the last 50-60 years and we like to think of ourselves as extremely tolerant and understanding now, but the truth is not too many generations ago the world was a very different place. And while technology and inter connectivity have expanded our lives and our understanding and appreciation of different cultures and people, it's impossible for people to change over night. We still live in a world filled with racial intolerance, and hatred towards those we may deem immoral in their practices, and this goes both ways. Black people can have just as many prejudices as whites, who can have just as many as latinos, but we're starting to move away from it. The key with evolution is passing along traits, birds didn't evolve into flight from one ancestor to another, it took years and generation upon generation of mutations passed down. That's what we need to continue to do with our youth and continue to instill in ourselves and maybe someday we can truly live in a world without preconceived notions and ideals. (hopefully the world will not be destroyed of all natural resources by then). 

I read something interesting today, and it's basically what spawned this desire to write something outside of my normal travel blog. Chris Rock recently did an interview in which he stated that Black People aren't now accomplishing more, White people are simply nicer now. It's a pretty dramatic statement but not to far from the truth. Basically what he was getting at was in our society, in White American Society, whites have held all the cards and controlled the playing field for, while, forever. He was saying that many who see having a Black President as a huge step forward for Black Americans are missing the point. He's saying we`re finally letting them have a President. There were plenty of qualified Black political leaders in the last 100 years (Colin Powells almost campaign comes to mind), but from Rock's perspective it wasn't that they weren't qualified to hold the position, it's that those who were, and are in control, wouldn't let them. It's a double edged sword, it's not exactly a total shot at White Americans but it's definitely not a compliment. But in this interview I can see the silver lining, and I think because I was born with the priviledge, and skin color that Mr. Rock was not, I think I can say certain things he might not be able to get away with. Basically we are on the cusp of crossing a momumental boundary. There was a lot of things wrong with the baby boomers, and Gen-X, and by no means are we "Millenials" any better, but what we are, is progressive. Some people take that as a negative stereotype, "those kids don't care about anything", but really it means we've become open to more. We didn't live the hard knock life of the depressions, and World Wars, and Vietnam, and we've had time to dwell on things that aren't a focus when life is in turmoil, and society is challenged. 

That's why our generation is worried about Global Warming, and animal cruelty, and probably even part of the reason we like terrible, crappy, CRAPPY music. But overall it's a good thing, it's given us time to care about those less fortunate than us, to believe in something other than religion, and patriotism (cornerstones of a country in war, or economic distress), it's given us time to care about people. More and more of my friends have slowly moved away from organized religion and pre-selected notions we were taught as children, not because the pride comes before the fall, but rather because without troubles in our lives to worry us we've had time to puzzle other deeper questions. We've examined what is inherently right and wrong, and we've come to the conclusion that people, shouldn't be judged because they're different, because they're gay, or poor, or black, or brown, or purple. This age of technological freedom has opened the doors for discussions that in the past would be pushed behind closed doors. You  can now reach the world with the click of an "Enter" key, and for all the negatives placed upon my generation, the one thing they can't argue with is we've created a voice. I just hope we continue to use it for the good and betterment of the world we live in, as we have children of our own, and pass down our beliefs and ideals we will see the departure of the previous generations. Those who were close-minded who came before us, and created this world that Mr. Rock was referring too, soon enough they will be gone. It will be up to us to continue to carry that torch in the right direction, so someday it won't be an issue of "white people being nicer now", that will simply be the way society is. Or not, we could definitely fuck this whole thing up to... but here's hoping, fingers crossed!

10 Things I've learned in OZ

I feel like if you've taken a trip anywhere around the world there is always a mandatory list that needs to be made. Especially in this age of The Chive, and Elite Daily and everyone of those other blog and funny websites making humorous lists so now is my time. Here's the 10 things you need to know when you're an American traveling to Australia:

10. Everyone Assumes You're Canadian:

I found this one slightly offensive at first, not necessarily because I don't like Canadians but we all know there's a certain unspoken rivalry between us and the neighbor to the north and we are obviously winning the battle for coolness. Also I go by the Robin Williams (RIP) method of thinking on this one, "Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party". All Canadian jokes aside (and there are plenty) it turns out this is actually a compliment for a few reasons. Firstly, it means you don't have a ridiculously American accent, not a lot of people from Jersey are going to be confused with Canadians. Secondly, it means you don't exude an "American Essence" if you will. That doesn't mean by any means that you are any less patriotic ('Merica... fuck ya!) it just means that the rest of the world has a pretty obvious preconceived notion of what Americans are like (see: loud, obnoxious assholes), this means you don't fall into that category... at least not right away. Mostly though what I've found is people just aren't used to seeing that many Americans traveling. Apparently it's not something we really do and this unfortunately is true. By far the fewest people I've met who are traveling are Americans, so if you decide its time to pack up and explore the world, try not to give the rest of us a bad rap. And if someone guesses you're American right away, you either have a ridiculous accent, or they're subtley calling you an asshole.

9. Be Nice... Seriously 

To say that Americans as a whole are assholes would be a gross overstatement. But having worked in residential housing, and sales, and hospitality for as long as I have there is definitely a difference in the way we negotiate. In America the strategy is complain and threaten and continue to slowly work your way up the chain of command until you get what you want. This is not the way it works here. I'm used to bartering and negotiating on everything back home, here a friendly demeanor and a genteel attitude will get you farther than any American bartering tactics. Perfect example, I took my scooter into the shop because the air pressure was low, I bought a pump and ended up blowing out the old hose that was in my back wheel. I was FURIOUS and  started to rant at the mechanic about what a load of BS this was, I had JUST bought this pump and it blew out my wheel are you KIDDING ME?! In the states I would've demanded and argued my way to getting my wheel fixed for free, a refund on the pump and probably a HJ just so this guy could avoid getting an angry letter to his boss. Here the mechanic got extremely defensive and said, "I don't know what your tire blowing out has to do with me but I really don't like the vibe here right now." Basically he told me to fuck off and was going to refuse me service, it took me a minute to contain myself and then I realized how ridiculous I was acting. I immediately changed my demeanor apologized and asked what I needed to do to get back on the road. He was extremely helpful and courteous after that and more than helpful. The point is people here, especially business owners don't give a shit about your personal issues of your empty threats, if you don't like it you can fuck off. So the only way to conduct yourself here is to be polite and courteous and you can basically get whatever you want. That ones gonna take some getting used to but when you think about it, its a much better way to live, and work... so don't be a dick. 

8. Beards are Cool

If you think beards are popular in the states take yourself to Australia and learn you something. Here  there is every variety, every shape and size and design you can imagine. I would estimate at least 70% of dudes here are rocking some sort of facial hair, and though a majority are going straight Grizzly Adams there is plenty of variety. Unfortunately I suffer from a pre-existing medical condition (shitty bearditis), so I'm doing my best to blend in but its not exactly working (I've got a sweet chin strap now though). Long story short if you wanna flex your beard game come to Oz and flaunt your stuff and see if you can hang with the real bearded men.

7. Australians LOVE to Party

Like a lot, like holy shit do these guys go hard in the paint. And this is not to say just Aussies in general but backpackers, Europeans and Aussies love to party. There's a couple cities in the states where you can go on a pretty wicked 3 day long bender and lose some brain cells and some dignity, but for the most part bars close around 2 or 3 am and then you go home sleep it off and try again tomorrow. The American version of partying is "Let's drink as much as we can in 6-8 hours, make some bad decisions, go home and sleep it off". Australians are average drinkers at best but let's just say they use some partying "performance enhancers" and the results are terrifying. I tried to go out one night to an after hours bar here, we didn't even get there until 3am and by 5am I was quoting Danny Glover, "I'm too old for this shit. By 730 am when we finally stumbled out into DAYLIGHT I knew that I would never be able to cut it with this crowd. It took me three days to recover from that little night out and I've met plenty of people who do that ALL THE TIME! Mostt clubs here close around 3am but then you can go to after hours clubs till 7am and then take an hour break for food when everything opens back up at 8am. It's like Vegas no clocks no way to tell what hour it is or how long you've been at it, and filled with terrible, shitty, shitty, EDM and techno. So ya when it comes to partying I'll take a UCF tailgate over a "night out" in Oz anytime. OZ-1 Logan-0... and on that note.

6. People do ALOT of Drugs Here

This one obviously goes hand and hand with the last point, as booze is not exactly an "upper" when you've been drinking for 12 hours straight so there is a lot of other substances people ingest here. I have friends back home who party and recreationally do drugs but god damn do people do a lot of drugs here, and I thought booze was expensive. Now  I've never bought cocaine so I have no comparison to what it "should cost" but here decent blow is apparently about $350 a gram, again that means nothing to me but everyone I've talked to about it has assured me that's really REALLY expensive. So if you want to come to Australia and party PARTY, be ready to pay out the ass for it, on top of $9 beers and $20 cocktails. Basically if I had any more bad habits I'd be out of money here after one hard weekend... buyer beware.

5. Have a Sense of Humor

This ones really important, like seriously, if you plan on traveling pay attention to this one. People love I mean LOVE to fuck with Americans. We're basically the rest of the worlds funny punch line. Also for some reason people think we all like Obama, and that the Affordable Health Care Act, actually made health care affordable. Without getting too political lets just say I've corrected some Europeans and Aussies on American politics. But that's neither here nor there, the point is, don't take yourself too seriously. It's great to be patriotic and love your country, because you better believe everyone else here loves theres, but try and hang your flag at the door and get ready for a barrage of shit talking. Keep in mind people here (almost everyone I've met) really like Americans, they just have a problem with America. Gun jokes, terrorist jokes, obesity jokes, nothing is off limits, but as long as you have the right mind set and you can throw back a French people are pussies joke or two yourself, you'll be fine. And  at the end of the day I just like to remind them, that everyone talks shit about America until they find themselves in some trouble, then they all want our fat, gun toting, flag waving soldiers to come help.

4. Roll it up... smoke it down

If you've kept up with anything I've been writing you know I've described Melbourne as basically the Hipster "Mecca". This whole place looks like an add for PBR, but the people here are doing it ironically or to be anti-establishment, that's just the way it is here. But going along with the hipster pretense if you travel abroad you will see something that is not common at all in the states unless you wear an ironic 80's TV show t-shirt, girls jeans, and ride a fixed gear to the Starbucks you work at... rollies. Rollies are cigarettes, that, well you roll. Because every vice here is taxed out the ass, the cheaper alternative for the smoking traveler is to buy rolling tobacco and simply roll there own, I tried it once and what resulted was something Michael J. Fox might have attempted. But people here are experts and it's actually quite interesting to see someone drink a beer, have a converstation and at the same time roll a perfect cigarette. I heard Wocka Flocka or someone like that was looking for a personal blunt roller, he should simply do a tour in Oz and pick up some backpackers.

3. Caffine Overload

If you like coffee, this is the place to be. Everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE has a coffee machine and will make your fresh lattes and long blacks and short whites and everything else that's all basically kinda the same thing but if you say that people scoff at you. I thought we had a pretty big coffee addiction in the states but here coffee is a part of life and more than that it's an art form. If you work at the right place you can make $20 or more making macchiatos all day. Apparently we Americans are also very inept at making caffinated drinks. I know how to make a long black (coffee and water) and a cappuccino (and only kind of). Everytime I have to ask someone I work with to make a coffee for me that look at me with this face reserved only for Trix the rabbit (Silly American, coffees for grownups). Regardless of my total lack of coffee knowledge I love the coffee culture and it's a huge part of being here. Before I came here I gave up caffine for over 6 months, I'm glad I got back on the juice before I came here otherwise I might have OD'd. Don't worry I'm not having a seizure that's just me shaking uncontrollably from my tenth cappuccino today (hey they're free at work!). OZ-2 Logan-0

2. Get Your Fixed Gear Out

I hate to beat the hipster horse but aside from having great public transit and easy travel in general around the city, people here love to bike. Now I know that's nothing new or crazy if you live in a big metropolitan city, especially with gas prices, cost of cars, etc. But in Melbourne it's literally to the point that I don't personally know anyone who even owns a car. That's from my fellow bartenders and backpackers, up to my managers. That might be an overstatement, I'm sure my GM's and owners have cars of there own, but pretty much everyone else I know or have met here rides a bike or in one particular case a bear of a bartender I work with owns a cute little skateboard. Part of this is just based on need, you're only usually traveling a short distance why would you need an actual car, but a lot of it is really cultural as well. People here are very outdoorsy and they prefer to be doing something active rather than something passive. I can't deny I've jumped on the bandwagon as well, but in the most American way possible, getting an electronic bike, that I only have to peddle when I'm going up a hill. OZ-2 Logan-1

1. Share Your Story

You'd think being in a place with so many travelers and wanderlusters people would get bored of the same stories over and over. "Oh you hated your job and wanted to see the world, how original of you!" This is not the case at all, not only are people here receptive to hearing you story they WANT to know. They want to hear what made you uproot yourself and take your journey abroad. They want to talk about places they've been where your from or places they would like to go. They want to trade travel advice, and stories, and talk about which country has the hottest women (or men). And all this does is continue to feed and drive your vigor and your realization that you are doing this for a reason. We all like to think we are unique and individual but we all share a similar longing and desire to test our boundaries and explore our senses. It's easier to find people abroad that openly share that sense of desire. Partly because they're doing the same thing but also because they don't have the same mindset we are forced into back in the states. If someone doesn't like their job here they quit... that's it. If that means a few weeks of eating ramen and drinking goon that's fine, but they're here to explore, better to be happy and poor then miserable with a steady income. It's taken a lot to acclimate myself to this lifestyle and by no means am I there yet. I'm currently working two jobs in hopes to save a little so I can have some time to just be myself when the nice weather comes around. But if I'm ever unsure or lacking a plan or a motive I need only look to the people I'm surrounded by to be reassured that I'm doing the right thing. There's no right or wrong way to have your journey, you just have to do it!

OZ-2 Logan-2... we'll call it a draw for now. 

Beer... and "Beer"

There is a monumental divide between what Americans take and consider to be "Craft Beer" and what that term designates to the rest of the world. Now for a long time I've considered myself to be a beer lover but never a beer snob, someone who appreciates a well crafted brew but will never look down on my less educated bretheren. Australia has changed all that for me. I am now an international beer snob of the worst sort and I don't see it changing anytime soon. I've already written on the way the majority of the beer in this country is watered down lagers but I was keen to at least believe that the "Craft Beer" here would hold at least a small place of reverence next to its watery brothers. So far I have been gravely mistaken. 

I've mentioned to numerous people that Australia is about 10 years behind the craft beer revolution, maybe even less is Westernized cities with free thinking people like Melbourne where I currently reside. After careful consideration I have to ammend this first thought and say Melbourne, Sydney, hell everywhere in Australia is at the infancy of craft beer. This is Sierra Nevada in the early 1980's nothing else around so anything even passing as mediocre is considered world class. The mind boggling thing about this is that people don't seem to realize it. People here LOVE BEER... like a lot, but not enough to realize that they should be expecting so much more from their brews, and with costs so high its impossible to create a competitive import (for example a Founders Imperial Stout at the bar I'm writing this at is $20... for a 12oz bottle).

So what's wrong with this picture? This seems to be the perfect place for Craft Beer to thrive, people here love it, they are passionate about it, but they can't seem to understand the difference between mediocre and exceptional. And this again is not me trying to be a beer snob, I've tried to like it, tried to branch out... not  a single beer here I've tasted would rank in my top 250. But again what boggles my mind is that people here defend it (my bartender just told me she think Oz beer is the best in the world... it took everything I had not to call her fucking crazy and tell her shes obviously only tried Oz beer). I've had conversations here with people from around the world about where has the best beer, usually the argument comes down to Belgium. I had one particularly heated argument with a Dutch guy where I googled "Top Ten Best Beers in the World", a website popped up from Beer Advocate in which 8 of the 10 were American and number one was Belgian. He saw this as a point to say he was right and I came up with an analogy everyone in Australia could understand. 

**If Kelly Slater is the best surfer in the world (he's from the US incase you're retarded) but the other 9 out of 10 best surfers in the world are from Australia, then the best surfer in the world is American, but the best SURFERS (plural) are from Australia.**

I considered this a flawless victory for my argument, he countered with saying that Beer Advocate was obviously an American website so it couldnt be trusted anyway, and then later went on to defend Amstel Light as a great beer (so obviously his argument was null and void). 

Back to Australia. What is the point of all of this? Mostly I hope that Oz gets their shit together. Right now they are basically the Cleveland Browns of the beer industry (die hard fans but put out a product thats subpar to say the least... this is still assuming the Browns suck at their regular level I haven't kept up but I think you get the idea). As a whole Australia could be and probably should be one of the best places to consume beer in the entire world. Let me rephrase... it's definitely one of the best places to consume beer... it should be one of the best places to consume true "Craft Beer" where people are enthusiastic and have something worth bragging about. Until then I'll continue to drink the piss (they say that here though its rather appropriate), to get pissed, and hope for a brighter tomorrow.