There are some Buenos Aires and New York City pictures in this Flickr set.

Wow. My country. New York City. That’s me in Times Square.

I am typing this on a new Macbook Pro, which is the best laptop I’ve ever used. It’s quite awesome, especially after the 4 months of 7″ screened EeePC. I’m excited about it.

Buenos Aires came and went. I liked the city. It was good and it has a lot of potential for a future visit to Argentina and Brazil; I just need to be in the right mindset. The city was beautiful and had a very European feel to it. (typical BA building above, left) The food was excellent. Met some good people in the hostel. (above, right) Contrary to popular Peruvian beliefs, it seems like the people are friendly — at least based on limited research.

I also got a small taste of what Brazil could be like during a ridiculous conversation with four Brazilian girls one evening at the hostel. They understood a little bit of Spanish, one knew a tiny bit of English, and I knew no Portuguese. We essentially cracked up for an hour or so as I attempted to learn phrases in Portuguese and mangled the words I repeated back to them. Good times. Hopefully this is a bit of what it will be like attempting to speak Polish with the Poles. Not sure, though - Brazilians have been consistently friendly and very outgoing.

It feels good to know that even though I’m not going to Brazil now, it will still be there in the future.

Reflections on the Plane away from South America: I hate “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”

Sitting on the plane, I observed that I am starting to recognize the flight attendants on TACA flights and am definitely regretting not signing up for frequent flier miles with that airline before leaving. I could probably fly back to South America for free had I thought about it.

I have been gone for four months. That is a third of my trip. Potentially more than a third with this expensive laptop purchase. Wow. Sometimes it seems to have flown by when I think about it as a whole, but more so it seems to have lasted forever. If I think back to when I first arrived, it feels like such a long time ago.

The constant change in place makes me feel like I live mini lifetimes in each place I have been. They start fresh, not knowing anyone or anything about where I am, and I leave a little bit more knowledgeable, saying goodbye to friends that I am not likely to ever see again. Sometimes those friends are really good ones with whom I have really good connections - those are the ones that strike me. I think it would have a different feeling if I was constantly moving and not allowing myself time to make connections with people.

The in-flight music programming has several stations, including one playing Latin Pop. They played several songs that I danced to in Bogota with the Tejo Girls, and hearing them made me get rather emotional. Not emotional for the Tejo Girls, specifically, but more for the feelings about the overall experience of South America and the friendships that hearing the music invokes.

Examples, for the bored:

“Sexy Movimiento” by Wisin & Yandel.
I enjoy the drama and scenery. They make their general point with the first shot, though the actual song doesn’t start for a full minute. Dancing music. Reggaeton.

“Estos Celos” by Vicente Fernandez.
Creepy Grandpa with massive sombrero croons for lost love with less-than-half-his-age fountain girl. They even played this one at Platinum Oz. Big props on editing and overall production value.

“Me Gusta” by Silvestre Dangond.
I think I am the only gringo that actually likes this song. This song would instantly prompt everyone in a bar to sing in unison in Colombia. I have yet to understand why Gaby hates it.

“Pose” by Daddy Yankee.
It’s reggaeton. Most respectable and/or over 17 year-old Latinas seem to not like reggaeton for anything other than dancing.

In leaving and knowing I might never see these people and places again, it’s easy to get a bit emotional about the experience, especially when they have been so rich. Things always seem more poignant once they’re going or gone, right? Perhaps I’ve got on rose-colored glasses, but I don’t really think so. I think THIS is exactly why I wanted to go on this trip in the first place. I love Peru and I love Colombia.

I just hope they quit playing National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicholas Cage. It has been presented to me four different times in the last month and it is shit.

The Security of The Homeland

I’ve been in New York City for a few days and it feels really good.

I traveled for about 27 hours from Buenos Aires before I finally got to my hostel on Thursday night / Friday early morning. I went to the 5th Avenue Apple Store (pictured right) at 3:30 in the morning and was glad to find out that they had plenty of stock for the Macbook Pro. Thus, I came back the next afternoon and bought the computer and carried it all over Manhattan in a black plastic trash bag while I waited for Dave Carlson to get to his apartment.

Things I have enjoyed about being in America:

• Dave proved that underknee farts through denim are not only possible, but a good idea. See right.
• Greasy spoon breakfast. Those people have no idea how happy they made me.
• Burritos. My god, burritos. Peru does Peruvian food really well, but sucks at Mexican food.
• Jamba Juice.
• Easy conversations with almost anyone.
• I can cross the street with relative immunity from getting hit by cars.
• Speaking Spanish with Mexicans.
• NYC makes for a soft landing. It is not very shocking like Indiana might be — I am surrounded by people from all over the world and hear all sorts of languages spoken. It’s certainly not overly WASPy here.
• Brooklyn in the fall: crisp and beautiful.

Things I have done to prepare for Poland:

The image to the right was seen in Manhattan affixed on the pavement somewhere around 5th Avenue and 40-something Street. Of all things to see before going to Krakow, eh?

• (For concerned Moms) Purchased a hat. $2.99 at Target in Brooklyn.
• Purchased sweatpants - On sale for $3.78 at Target in Brooklyn and in preparation for sitting around the Poland apartment. Score.
• Purchased a pocket Polish dictionary. Mostly useless because I have no idea how to pronounce the words. Should be good for pointing, at least.
• Downloaded some of Pimsleur’s Learn to Speak and Understand Polish. It seems completely daunting and ridiculous and I am unsure how well I will end up speaking or understanding.
• Emailed some people about apartments in Krakow. It seems remotely promising, if a little more expensive than South America. I will not be wiring them money.

I fly out tomorrow evening from Kennedy and arrive in Krakow on Wednesday around noon. Onward, upward, and to the cold, people!

Here’s the BA/NYC Flickr set again.

(Written yesterday, October 14th)

Four months and two days ago, I didn’t leave thinking this trip would turn in to some sort of sabbatical.

I’m writing this while switching back and forth between this window and live update blogs of Apple’s new laptop launch event. I re-joined my favorite After Effects email list this morning and have been reading posts about color correction, alpha channels, and people bitching about why the Keylight chroma keyer is crashing on Vista.

Remember when I said I miss being creative? It persists. I still do. I miss my work. I miss making stuff. I miss the geeky stuff that goes in to all of it. I have for more than the last month. I’m even in a new city (Buenos Aires) and I’m still thinking about making animation and visual effects.

That’s how I know my new plan isn’t some sort of “do two hours of research and then Go to eBay. Go directly to eBay. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Find an accordion auction that’s about to end and buy it NOW,” Shipley spur-of-the-moment decision.

Okay. This is the new shit:

I am going to New York City to buy a new Macbook Pro. I will hole up somewhere in an apartment with internet and I will work. I love traveling, and I love my work. I miss my work. Why not combine the two and see what happens?

What will I make? I don’t know right now and I don’t really care. Animation? A visual effects project? It might not even be any good. It doesn’t matter. Maybe something less commercial than what I did at IMS Productions? More artistic? Maybe I’ll find freelance work and do it.

Where will I go?

Poland.

Not only is it my next home, but most importantly, I will be living in a partner state in the War on Terror! Done and done.

At first I thought maybe Latvia or Lithuania. Maybe India or Istanbul. Not South America. I want somewhere relatively cheap and potentially wacky enough to throw some inspiration my way. The cheap part rules out Tokyo, as much as I’d like to be in some sort of Lost in Translation fantasy world of confusion and karaoke bars. Then I was on the Ryan Air website looking for cheap flights. I saw Krakow listed amongst 50 other cities I could fly to for less than 20 Pounds.

Seeing the name Krakow made me remember Max Robbins’ blog and his warm remembrances of Poland. ^{(*excerpt below)} I just went back and read them again. Then I started looking up how much things cost. It seems reasonable. It’s not Peru cheap, but it’s not Europe expensive, either. It’s close to a bunch of things in Europe and Eastern Europe.

It will be cold and I want cold. (he says now…) I want to bundle up when I go outside, feel a blast of cold air, and then come back to a warm apartment at night and drink hot coffee in a dim room with hardwood floors and watch what I made earlier in the day. I want to sit in bars and restaurants where the windows fog up on the inside, then go home, sleep, wake up early, and fire up the laptop and work.

Somewhat serendipitously, this specific idea really took shape yesterday on Monday morning. I started looking at prices for a Macbook Pro. A quick Google search revealed that Apple is releasing the next generation of their notebooks today - and they did and they look predictably awesome. Nice.

Perspective?

After not working for more than five months, and traveling for exactly four months and two days without working, I can now say that I really do love my work. Damn, I didn’t mean for this trip to be a sabbatical, but maybe it is. The trip isn’t over. It’s just changing a little bit.

Will this be a bad call? Should I continue with The Plan, go to Brazil instead, then look for work on a boat to cross the Atlantic like I thought? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll know when I’m done. Maybe the laptop will get stolen or broken. My trip will be shorter after spending money on a new laptop. Perhaps I’ll offset that cost by working. Who knows. Who cares? I know that I need to do something different, this is what I’ve picked, and I’m excited about it.

Now I’m gonna stop talking about it and start running some numbers in my Google Documents Spreadsheet of Glory that - at this moment - tells me my trip budget is on track and going surprisingly close to what I predicted it to be before leaving. We’ll see what we can do about that.

Newly excited Shipley out.

* Max says about Wroclaw, Poland:

The area I ended up living in is next door to the art university. It has this great area that looks like a Roman garden. Its a collection of huge parks, Japanese gardens, art exhibits and manicured lakes in the Italian fashion with hanging plants adorning the walkways. I would commute nightly after work to the center and spent more than a few nights getting to know the dives of Wroclaw. My often companion from the hostel introduced me to many heavy metal dives and a charming placed known as Heaven which never closes.

The food, the girls, the atmosphere slowly had its effect on me. I have a personality that requires a great deal of stimulation. In Wroclaw it is possible to go out four nights a week. That leaves the weekend free for external fraternization. I have to say I am addicted. On a given evening after I complete the days duties around 10PM I go to a local bar called Manana. … I like the bar tenders who know me and are always willing to swap a story. I like the girls who are eager to dance and flirt. I like the people who are happy to know someone from out of town who speaks a touch of Polish and likes there [sic] city. I like the high quality beer that runs me about US $2. I like that if I get something nice to eat and go out for the evening I will spend $20 and have a great time. I like that I can do it anytime.

He’s got more than this in his blog, especially his “Farewell to Poland” entry, but that should give you a little taste.