# 23

The number 23. Another year in the books. Although this celebration was the first spent away from close friends and family I thoroughly enjoyed the festivities with my new friends and colleagues I've made over here. Our night consisted of dancing, drinking and socializing. We started off the night in typical fashion by going up to Noah's apartment to pre-game. We had a few drinks, a computer party, which resulted in Chris finalizing his honeymoon destination and a short 80's freestyle rap competition (Noah won). We headed out to a bar called "Madai" where we get discounts on drinks and two women dance on the bar in lingerie. Since my birthday fell on a Friday, and people don't go out until midnight here, we technically went out on my birthday but to clarify on Thursday nights (Friday morning) at "Club One" our next location it's Hip-Hop night. We spent the rest of the night there dancing until the early morning before heading home.

What a night, I have always had great memories, well not always great, but the level of fun has always been above par. And I have know one else to thank than those who helped me celebrate it. So, to those, past and present, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making every birthday a memorable one.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Another day another dollar...

The past two days have been really similar to the Wednesdays and Thursdays of last 5 months. Wednesdays consist of shooting in the morning, coaching in the afternoon and working out in the evening. Thursdays are the exact same only instead of coaching little kids it is substituted with another workout, usually some cardio. Practices on Thursday start late (8pm) and take place in a different location then normal. We usually get there early so as a team we can briefly go over the scouting report which usually takes about 15-20 minutes. They're a lot less extensive then in college.
When I vaguely talk about my schedule it is because a lot of times it is subject to change. Shooting and practice occur at the same time everyday but the substituted workout may vary. Sometimes I'll workout before shooting if I'm up for it, which I usually did for the first 2 months I was here mainly because I was in a Hotel for the first month and just wanted to get out of there. And on occasion I will get up and do yoga on Mondays and Wednesdays. If the morning workout doesn't happen I usually workout in the evening. Take for instances today me, Noah & Chris (my American teammates from Princeton and Marquette respectively) walked downtown during the afternoon to look for a watch for Chris instead of working out. So, Noah and I decided we would go and shoot tonight after dinner.
Yesterday I got a much anticipated skype from KC, an old football teammate from the glory days haha. It was good to catch up with him since we hadn't talked since Christmas. We're planning on making Tuesdays are usual skype days, so that leaves me 6 other days to fill if anyone wants to fill their name in lol. After I chatted with him, I put on a movie, as you may know I'm a big movie guy and enjoy pretty much all types of movies, so I watched "Definitely, Maybe" great movie starring Ryan Reynolds. Well that's that and I am off to practice. I hope everyone has a great day. Until next time.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

John "Big Jeezy" Bryant

After completing my routinely repeated day. I got home and Skyped Gordon and when I finished I stumbled across a video ( http://cbs5.com/video/?id=44377@kpix.dayport.com) on my boy BIG JOHN. The title said he was in the top 3 Centers in the country, I had been keeping up with the team and his stats especially(17.2 ppg 12.9rpg 2.6bpg) but in all honesty I didn't realize my man was doing this well. Player of the week this week by the way. Anyway, I did some research and sure enough my man is doing what he set out to do. Props to him for putting himself in a situation to make a lot of people proud of him, myself being one. Enjoy the rest of the season man wish I could be there to be apart of it, I'm keeping up diligently here though. Much love man see you in April.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

The long awaited, contemplated, procrastinated, first blog...

Well, a lot to write about since I first considered writing a blog, so I'm going to try and keep it short and summarize a few things. I've been in Switzerland for 5 months now. I've traveled around Switzerland because of basketball, I've been to Italy several times and Germany by accident, played 15 games of a 22 game season, visited friends who play volleyball on the French side of Switzerland, had my little sister and childhood best friend visit, bought my first scarf, said a prayer at the Duomo in Milano, learned conversational Italian, coached little kids ages 7-12, met up with some college friends from SCU, gave my nephew a few workout pointers via skype, created a list of new years resolutions and have kept up with 9 of the 12 'em. To family and friends, I think about you often and although I don't always show it with an email or call here and there, know that I do and I miss you a lot. Since you guys are not here with me I thought this might be a great way to share my experiences with you. I hope you enjoy reading. Love