The Final Cuntdown

 July 18, 2024


    I’m at the airport in Buenos Aires. I’m leaving for Toronto in about an hour. It’s a 14 hour flight. We stop in San Tiago. Everyone needs to get off the plane. That’ll be nice, because I can stretch my legs.

    I’ve got my guitar with me as a carry on. I’m a little nervous to see what they’ll say. I was able to take it on last time I flew with Air Canada. 

    I’m pretty excited to get back to Toronto. I’m just excited to see the guys at the house and the family. 

    I’m so excited to smoke a joint. I’ve been craving that moment for months. I’m going to smoke a joint and walk along the boardwalk listening to the music I’ve made these past 21 months.

    It’s crazy to think it’s been 21 months. That sounds like an eternity. It does feel like a while. I sorta feel as though I’ve always been travelling.

    I’ve started picking my classes for York. There’s two that I’m required to take. I’m going to pick one more. All of them are full though. Apparently students with more credits get to pick their classes earlier. I have zero credits. 

    So ideally I’ll only need to go up to York twice a week. That wouldn't be bad at all. 

    Yesterday dad took me out for a steak dinner. The restaurant was pretty small. It had a nice atmosphere. There was a big grill in the corner. 

    There were lots of people. Robert De Niro shot an episode of some show there. They had a photo of him sitting at the table. 

    They served lots of food. First was a Chirazo sausage for each of us. That was maybe my favourite part. Then some fries and a salad. Then a massive steak. I couldn’t finish it. I took the leftovers home.

    We talked about hopefully being together at Christmas. We were saying it would be nice if Liam could be there. Then we could go up to Paul’s cottage and see Carey. 

    Dad broke a glass when he stood up. It fell to the ground and shattered. He felt really bad. He didn’t realize it was his glass at first. After that we went back home.

    I hope there aren't any more fleas at the house. There probably is. I want to get ramen while I’m there, although it’s so expensive.

    I’m going back with $4100 in my Canadian bank account, which is kinda crazy. I thought I’d be getting there with $1000. I seemed to keep receiving all this money during these past few weeks. It really makes things less stressful. 

    I still owe mom and Mami $4000 accumulatively. I’ll send them all the money as soon as I start working.

    I also own pretty much everything I need. I would like to get one of those lens diffuser things for my camera. They make everything glow. 

    I also want a bass guitar, but that can wait until I’m settled in somewhere. And it definitely doesn’t need to be fancy. 

    I sat against the courage of the lord all last night. My dreams were horrific. I witnessed aggressive wars against my father. We were no longer on speaking terms. 

    I also visited my colleagues from Dimitri’s. They had gifts for me. They were pieces of paper with drawing. Despina looked like a fine young beauty.

The River of Lies

 July 15, 2024


    I had the place to myself for two nights. It was really nice. It was a nice reset. 

    That’s always the hard part for me when it comes to travelling with someone. I can feel claustrophobic being around someone day and night. 

    I wanted to record a song. I hadn’t done that in months. I didn’t make too much music in Christchurch. I never felt completely comfortable to record. 

    I spent quite a while working out the chords. I already had most of them. I wanted to record Quite and Lonely. It was a song I wrote during the beginning of the New Zealand trip. 

    I started with some drums. Then an intro using dad’s ukulele and some piano. Then acoustic guitar and bass. Then I played the same bass notes on the piano and layered them. That sounded interesting. Then I recorded a bunch of little piano phrases. That was fun. 

    I added this accordion instrument. It was perfect for the song. It was really synchronistic, because that instrument is super popular here in Argentina. It’s the most important tango instrument. They were using it at the Tango show we went to.

    Afterwards I recorded some vocals and added tambourines and maracas. Finally I added some electric guitar. I found a glass jar and used it as a slide. I’ve never done slide guitar on a song. I don’t know why. It sounded really awesome. 

    I’m not finished the song. I need to add a few things. I need to finish the slide guitar and add some hand clapping. Then I need to improve the drums. Right now it's just a basic beat. 

    I didn’t go out much during my time alone. There was a big market on Sunday. I checked that out. One of the streets here in the city was closed for vendors. It was full of people. I got a box of pizza and a Pepsi for $5.50. I took it back to the house.

    Someone tried to kill Trump. I watched some videos about it. I was pretty shocked. It’s amazing that he wasn’t hit. 

    Today I went with Dad to Tigre. We took two trains to get there. It’s a town at the mouth of a river. It’s surrounded by hundreds of tiny islands and smaller rivers. 

    We walked along a boardwalk and got some lunch. We had amazing burgers and fries. 

    Tyler texted me while we were there. It was strange because we’d been talking about him and situation with the house in Toronto. 

    He messaged me saying that Will’s cat brought fleas into the house. He wanted to give me a heads up before I arrived. He said that they should be gone by the time I get back. I hope so. I’ll be there in four days. 

    Dad and I bought ticket for a tour boat. We got taken up some rivers. We saw tons of houses on stilts along the banks. Some people live there all year round. Others just go on weekends. There were even churches and schools. It’s all navigated by boats on the river system. It was pretty cool.

    We took the train back int the city. We met Maria back at our place. We went to a restaurant with her and her daughters. They were really nice. We talked and laughed for a while. 

    They taught me words in Spanish. One of the girls told me about her job as a biologist. She studies Jaguars in the wild. It was interesting.

Song Time

 Jul 13, 2024

    I’m at Dad’s place. He’s with Maria for a couple of days. I haven’t had my own space like this in years it seems. His place is amazing. It feels like being on a boat. 

    Two guys built everything. They’re still adding onto it. It has a lot of style and character. It’s really cool.

    I think I’ll go out for a bit at some point. 

    I wanted to take these two days to record a song. I haven’t felt comfortable to make one in so long. I don’t know when I will again. Hopefully I’ll be able to at Mami’s and in Toronto, whichever house I end up in. 

    My mind feels funny. I feel like I’m getting strange deja vu. Dad called it bookends. That’s how it feels. These few weeks are mirroring the first few weeks of starting this whole trip. 

    My mind feels numb. It’s 2:36 pm. It’s my least favourite time of day. I just feel tired and lethargic. I slept funny. I didn’t wake up until 10 am. 

    I’m thinking of going out for a little walk now, but I really wanna get started on this song. But I’m feeling so sluggish.

The Super Structure

 July 12, 2024

    Dad decided to take me to La Boca. It’s a popular tourist destination by the old port. All of the buildings are painted vibrant colours. 

    It used to be a brothel. It’s still sketchy at night. The whole neighbourhood isn’t supposed to be super safe. Dad said it’s better to arrive there by bus.

    During the day there are lots of tourists walking up and down the lively streets. At night it becomes dark and dangerous again.

    It was really beautiful. I’m glad we were there in winter. It was pretty busy, but I can’t imagine what it must be like during the warmer months. 

    We saw lots of people doing the Tango. We smelled some nice foods. There were tons of statues of Messi and Maradona. I saw the Pope as well. 

    We went to a cafe on the second floor of a building. We ordered juice and empanadas. It took a while for our order to be served. My empanada was cold on the inside. We got a nice view from the balcony.

    We watched a beautiful old man play his accordion. He was truly talented. The tourists cheered and gave him millions of donations. The old Argentinian was flattered. I’ve never seen such rosy cheeks.

    We decided to eat more food. We bought some lovely chorizo sausages. My stomach applauded the visitor. I just sat there in ecstasy. 

    We decided to leave La Boca. We’d walked all around the neighbourhood. We’d seen all of the colourful sights. We'd shaken hands with all the con-men and merchants. We found our bus and sailed back into the city centre. 

    Dad wanted to take me to the top of the world. He was alluding to a beautiful cafe atop a skyscraper. 

    We went to the lobby of the tower, only to find that it was closed. My father threw his phone up into the air in protest. He caught it between his teeth, like a dolphin.

    He discovered that our desired cafe would open in about two hours. We contemplated our next move. We decided to check out a free museum.

    We hopped back on the subway. We wound up at an old post office. I had seen the building from the outside the day before. I was extremely impressed. 

    It looked so fucking massive and imposing. It was dominating me, in a dark and profound way. I really couldn’t take my eyes off of the intimidating structure. 

    My dad explained to me that within was a museum! I was shocked. 

    We ascended the stairs. Only one door was open for some foolish reason. Dozens of people were forced through this narrow entrance. I rubbed up against a wonderfully hot woman. I was very excited and content for hours afterwards. 

    So we found ourselves in the lobby. I cannot describe the profound shock and awe that I experienced next. 

    The building had been completely renovated. I felt as though I had stepped into the future. The exterior of the building is quite historic looking. Not the inside. 

    You could stand on the first floor and look all the way up to the ceiling. Only this ceiling was no ordinary ceiling. On no. I promise you that. It looked like a purple cloud. I saw all of these purple cubes that were lit up from within. They looked like Lego, or Minecraft blocks. It was profound and intoxicating. 

    The surprise continues. Inside of the massive atrium something truly disturbing appeared before my glittering eyes. 

    An enormous, shiny, silver structure stood before me. It seemed to have legs. It seemed to have arteries connecting it to other sections of the building. It looked like some deadly parasite. 

    My horror subsided. I was left in awe. I was pleased with the massive beast. I began to feel sorry for my city of Toronto. Why couldn’t we building something so daring and bold as this? 

    My dad and I explored. What was once a post office was now an art museum. We admired the installations with great joy. The structure of the building itself stole the show.

    We left after some time. We boarded the subway and headed back into the beating epicentre of Argentina. We found our tower. There was already a line! People were queuing to get upstairs. We joined our fellow brothers and sisters.

    The view from the top was wonderful. I could see for miles. The rugged texture of the Buenos Aires was strange and alien. It was vast and infinite! It made Toronto look like a small hut! 

    I took out my camera and captured some stunning video. The lights of the city were enchanting and transformative. I felt rejuvenated.

    At one point I realized that my prayers had been answered. When first listening to Joe Dispenza, I used to try manifesting a scenario where I was filming b-roll from the top of a tower in a foreign city. 

    As I stared at my camera on its tripod, I realized that my wish had come true. I felt dizzy for a moment. I was very grateful.

    My dad and I walked around the perimeter of the terrace. We decided not to order anything. We had to be back at his house because we still had plans for dinner.

    We arrived at his bachelor pad. Dad was hoping to take a shower, but he didn’t have time. His girl friend messaged him saying that she was here. 

    Her name is Maria. Her and my dad have been dating for a year or something. I’m not really sure. She was very nice. She didn’t speak too much English, but enough that we were able to enjoy some friendly chit-chat. 

    She was taking us out to a tango with dinner. We had a great time. The food was very nice, but the show was the real attraction. I was spellbound. I was inspired and transported. 

    The show was more than I was expecting. It was like a play. There was dancing of course, but there was also singing. The performers used the whole space as their stage. They walked through the tables and interacted with the diners. They went up and down stairs and appeared on balconies.

    There was even a live band up in the corner. They were probably my favourite part. They were great musicians.

    We left the building with a sense of hope in our hearts. We came across a bench with Mathilda and her friends. I joined them and had my photo taken.

    Dad and Maria went back to her place. I was happy about that. I hadn’t had a house to myself in literally years.