Yesterday I saw I B girl cryin, I walked up and Asked whats wrong? She told me that the radio's been playin the same song all day long.

yes my hoodie game is strong son!

I think last you heard, I was heading to Europe. that was wicked. I went and saw Dodds in Berlin for a days first. I got to watch one of his matches which is always sweet. I like seeing volleyball in different leagues so I can gauge for myself the level in various countries. some countries make outrageous claims about how good their leagues are. Personally from what I've seen, I would say Italy still has the top league. after that Russia is second. and thats were it gets... arguable. I'd say there's alot of leagues tied for 3rd, and a lot of teams tied for 4th. but I digress.

Seeing Dodds play in the German league was a treat. I also spend a few days tooling around Berlin seeing all the sights. memorials(which are just littered around that place), churches, and museums(Greek, Egyptian, and wax), all of which had a different lasting impression on me.

After a whirl wind tour of Berlin, I was off to Switzerland to kick it with dudes named Pehar and Little. I flew into Milan Italy and was picked up by Pehar a mere 2 hours late (keep in mind I didn't have a phone, and neither did he). that was quite nerve racking, but after calming myself, I realized there's worse places in the world to be stranded than Milan. Turns out Pehar and Little live on the Swiss/Italian boarder. and I mean "on the boarder" in the literal sense. They live in an apartment building, out front is a canal, and on the other side is Italy. We actually did our best to start an international incident by hurling dinner plates out the kitchen window, discus style to see if we could attack the Italians. Our plan was to start a conflict, then jump into international waters (the canal) and live without laws and possibly start a floating casino. alas, we were much to weak and our discus hurling techniques were much to flawed to start nothin.

Now in the spirit of saving time I'm going to press the fast-forward selector past stuff that can be summarized. 

The following few weeks I'll package neatly for you.  I flew back to Russia, drove to Yaroslavl, signed some papers, packed all my jazz, drove back to Moscow, and boarded a plane for the new world.  Quite alot happened in durring those 4 or 5 days, but it was a while ago now and more stuff has gone down.

So I got back to Canada about two weeks ago now, expecting some mental down time to regroup and figure out if I wanted to keep smashing volleyballs, or take up some conventional work.  What I got was a ten day cross Canada whirl wind tour visiting all the relatives I had time enough to see, all the while having my agents quasi-bang out what they wanted to be my next contract.  All this while searching for one of my two massive bags full of half the material things I own in this life which somehow Air Canada lost in between Winnipeg and Toronto. (still an ongoing investigation).  oddly enough I was half relieved to be leaving again, even if it was such a quick stop at home.  who knew time with the people you love could be so intensely stressful.

So after spending just under a week in Canada, mostly in a car. I signed a new contract, and was off to Montpellier France to join my new squad, pending all the papers required by the FIVB and the French Volleyball Federation were filed in time, and play in the upcoming match 3 days later.  now I think this is a wise spot to recount my travel.  I flew from Russia to western Canada (8 hour difference) spent six days in Alberta/Saskatchewan (hour difference from Alberta), then flew back to Europe ((six hour difference from Alberta) in which I saw the actor that plays Lahey from trailer park boys in the airport).  So as soon as my internal clock was almost adjusted, I decided to punish my body some more.  And yes it had a large effect on my sleeping habits.  for example I slept one hour last night.  And yes I played the game a few days after I got here.  And yes I ripped it up.... for a bit, until my body shut down.  And yes I know this is probably annoying to read.  So yes I will stop now.

p.s. if anyone see's a large hockey sized black Mizuno bag wrapped in bright blue plastic wrap, please drop me a line, and will someone please click on one of the advertisement banners.  Dudes got to eat.  damn.