Bloggin'......

Wow

I was just thinking, I was in four different cities in the three days of Memorial Day Weekend. Not sure if London counts if I only stopped there for three hours to change planes.

Friday - Limavady
Saturday - Belfast
Sunday - London/Los Angeles
Monday - San Jose/Home

BBQ at Diana's

Well, the weekend is finally winding down and I flew back to San Jose around noon just in time to catch Diana's BBQ at her house. How about that! A few of us got together because Diana's room mate from college had been visiting for the weekend, and this was just the relaxing way to bring the weekend to a close. I hadn't seen her in almost two years, and we've probably only seen each other two or three times in the past five years. But we always been close friends and we did take a new picture together to put in her Friendster profile. Apparently, the only good picture she had of me was this crappy one of me when we were still in college.

I'm not sure if I look any more presentable now but I'd consider the picture updated at least. I hope you have a safe trip home, Cindy!

Los Angeles, CA

It was very long and excruciating day yesterday, but I was finally flying home. Sort of anyway, I'm spending part of the weekend in LA, but before that, I flew from Belfast to London and then London to Los Angeles. I checked out of the hotel at 7AM and didn't get into LAX until 3PM the same day, 16 hours of travel (+ time change). But that was only the beginning of my day. I caught up with several friends in LA for Korean BBQ at Manna in K-town with my "korean connection", Carol. She's cool, even though she wears USC garb now. =)

We watched "Kingdom of Heaven" with Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, which I only thought was OK. I'd rate it a B/B- because I felt there were a lot of holes in the story and many of the characters weren't really developed. It made the story really linear and predictable, but it does make up in amount of action and fighting scenes. Anyway, we spent the rest of the night hanging out at Izzy's Deli in Santa Monica until almost 2AM with "the Deli-lama" of Izzy's. =P

I had lots of fun!

Belfast, Northern Ireland

It's nice to be able to relax every now and then. I woke up pretty early this morning and lounged around until breakfast at 7. I tried to get a little excerise by walking into town but the rain started to come down pretty hard and I turned around after about a mile.

I got to Belfast later in the afternoon. I didn't have any set plans for the rest of the day, just that my flight home is at 8:55AM the tomorrow morning.

Dinner was a roasted half chicken with potatoes. It wasn't too bad, but the chicken didn't taste roasted. The Garlic bread wasn't too bad. It was fire baked in their brick oven, which really gave me a good idea for how I'd like my own kitchen designed one day... sigh....

I'll be home soon!

Adopt-a-son

Li-vuh-pool - Li-VER^-pool, Li-vuh-pool - Li-VER^-pooooool!!!! I hopped down to the local pub this evening after work to watch the Liverpool and AC Milan European Champions Cup Soccer Final, and was instantly adopted as a son of Liverpool. It was crowded and it was loud. Everyone sang songs about Liverpool and Saints marching, and drank lots of beer. It was a pretty intense game, as it was tied 3-3 all the way after going through double overtime. The game was finally decided in a shootout, which Liverpool pulled out the upset, 3-2 in the shootout and the pub went crazy! People were jumping everywhere, hugged everyone, and screamed at anything. Drunken Irish people. I did not spill my pint.

Read about the game here.

Limavady, County Londonderry

I arrived in Limavady last night and got right down to business. Sunset is not until almost 9PM, so I'm really lucky to be able to walk around after work in the evenings. It's a really small town here, but the biggest drawback is that many stores close by 6PM.

But the people here are really nice. People remember you, and are extremely friendly. Though the food is not really anything to rave about, there are a few restuarants that stand out from the others. Tonight I had dinner at the Lime Tree Restuarant. I had an oven baked snapper fish that turned out to be really good! It was crusted with herbs and pecans, and laid in a light chive sauce. Maybe this is the start of a renaisance in Limavady? I'll have to keep an eye on this place.

Internet quality is something to be desired here. I can't upload any pictures from this hotel, which I'll have to update later.

**Update**

Lounging in London

I'm resting here in the airline lounge in London England, now, waiting for my next connecting flight at 5PM this evening, which is actually only three hours away. I woke up and had lunch with Jason yesterday in Santa Monica, before hopping the plane again to where I am, now. I'm comforatably relaxing, with my feet up on the sofa and completely stretched out, though it is costing me £10 to connect to the internet for the afternoon. What a rip off. However, the environment is really nice and quiet.

I did capture this picture of the moon over the Atlantic, though the image doesn't give the real sight justice. The moon looked so incredibly bright and clear over the wings of the airplane, at 30,000 ft, there is no feeling like being there when it happens.

Wedding in LA

I am on travel again this weekend and this time I am in Los Angeles for my friend Nghia's wedding. I flew in late in the afternoon and missed the actual wedding, but I was able to make it to the wedding reception held at 888 Seafood Restuarant in Rosemead. I was hoping to see more friends attend the wedding reception, as Nghia and I had many great friends from the community service organization days at UCLA.

I did see Minh there, I hadn't seen her in years as well. But we renewed a promise to keep in touch more often. She is getting married in July!

Since I'm in LA of course, I also caught the latest rendition of Star Wars. I called up a few friends, and we meet up in Century City to catch the midnight showing. Surprisingly, we were the only ones in the theater for a little bit, up until about five minutes before the show started, about forty more people filed into the theater. Doesn't seem like this movie will be doing very well, if this is supposed to be the opening weekend!

Sad partings

Every parents nightmare is to wake up one day and blame themselves for every moment they were not able to protect their son/daughter from harm. I learned this today.

I found out Wednesday night that a cousin of mine was killed in a freak accident this past weekend. My family did not have many details but I found a news article describing the incident. I kept reading it over and over in disbelief. To me he was one of the little cousins despite being only 20 years old, but to others he was also a brother, a son, and a friend. I could still see he was the baby, the darling, of the family. His mom always doted on him.

Our whole family is hurt by this incident and I am making no attempt to underestimate what it is like for his parents, his brother, and his sister. There is a saying that only time can heal these wounds. We will have to wait to see. Rest in peace, EM.

Trials and Tribulations

Sorry, but the ocliw server has been down this week, but if you haven't heard yet, I wrecked my car over the weekend. To save time, yes I am OK, no I am not shaken up, yes the car might get totaled, and no I was not asleep at the wheel.

I swerved to avoid a piece of rebar in the road, which the car in front of me kicked up. I swerved and recovered, but pitched myself into a spin, which laid me out against the concrete median, hitting it twice, once in the front and then in the rear, before skidding to a stop.

The feeling was really surreal. I saw the rebar very clearly as I headed towards it. I tried to react and swerve as quickly as I could, and maintain sight of my lane and the cars around me. But when I first swerved out of my lane, I could feel the sand in the median under my tires give a little way. The median is paved, but it's really dirty and has a lot of accumulated sand and dirt. When I got back int omy lane, I let me guard down for a little bit, before the car started to spin again, Only this time, I could feel the car not responding to my wheel turns. I was beginning to go into tunnel vision. Just like replays of car crashes from camera angles inside the car in NASCAR races, it really hits that quickly. Everything looks normal inside the car during the moments of the event, but when you look outside the windshield, the whole world looks like it is spinning like you're in a perpetual pirouette, until you're stopped by the wall.

The damage doesn't look too bad, but the front axel might be tweaked. Some people mentioned if the drive axel is tweaked, insurance companies usually just scrap the car instead of fixing it. I really hope that is not the case, because I really can't be shopping for a new car at this point.

Sigh... I will hear from the insurance company in the next few days.

This slice of life

Lately, I've been noticing a lot more friends beginning to blog, and I started to wonder, why do I blog? Someone also once asked me, since I blog, why I don't blog more about my feelings or thoughts. Initially, I said, because I don't want to.

I blog because I want to record the happy things that fill my life with joy. People who know me, know that I love colors, and those that really know me, know that I love the shapes and textures that colors create, even more. So to capture this love of mine, pictures, to me, are the natural extension to which I like to express myself, or at least show to the world.

But the reason why I don't blog more about my feelings is that I feel much tortured inside, to reveal what really makes me want to burst out and tell everything to the world. On the outside, I am the biggest introverted extrovert. I love seeing the world, trying new activities, eating new foods... in a sense, being adventurous. But there is another side of me, that doesn't have the wittiest of comments, or even closely the wisest.... instead, I am the wallflower. I hang and I notice things, and I stay there. Much to the benefit, that I don't hurt myself, or injure what I hope is good reasoning.

I'm a person who believes he has a lot of gremlins in their past, of things I missed, things I feel that I should have tried, or even more, times when I simply should have spoken up. I have had many friends who, many with very good intensions, analyze me and tell me I should be more forthcoming, be more assertive, and be more willing to take the first step. I try, but in different ways, I could never find what makes a better me.

Sharing my feelings leaves a part of me vulnerable. A part of me which I do not feel is complete. Surely this is a human emotion, everyone has hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares. But rather than putting myself out there, I find comfort in simply sharing what makes me happy. In my pictures, I hope that people can see the colors, see the contrasts, and essentially feel what I feel in images, than in words.

One of my favorite songs is "Pictures of You" by the Cure. Kind of a melancholy song, but ironically to me, it makes me happy. Ironic, because I feel hope rather than a lost love, that I can rise again someday, in an optimistic "leap of faith", if you could believe.

Is that what makes me tick? What makes you tick? Do you have a blog? Let me know!

In other news, one other person has called my blog a travel website. I do like to travel.

George and Diana's Wedding

This weekend, I attended another wedding, this one for my friends George and Diana, who were childhood friends from Chinese school.

It was a military civil service, replete with a US Army honor guard. It was funny, as the bride and groom walked down the aisle, each guard dropped their swords, and commanded they kissed before they would raise their swords and allow them to pass. The last one gave the bride a whip of the sword, after the happy couple had passed under their swords. Military men may look serious, but at least they have a sense of humor.

Home is where the heart is, sort of....

Yesterday, I was on my way home. I finished another rather succesful business trip, and flew from Minneapolis back to San Jose, via Chiacago-O'hare, kind of a dog leg stretch home, but I thought it'd be fun to see more of the US heartland. However, that was where the fun began. As I was waiting to board the plane in Minneapolis, I realized I didn't have my phone! Yikes! I started to retrace my steps, further and further in my mind, until I couldn't remember where in the airport it could be. That was until I remembered it's still in the center console of the rental car! Talk about letting yourself down... I called the car agency, and.. yep they had it. They'd ship it back to me, so that was nice of them, but I will be without phone for the next few days. =(

Then in Chicago, while waiting to fly back to San Jose, the plane broke down. ..and down ....and finally down! Luckily the airline didn't give up on us, and cancel the flight outright. Instead, they flew in another plane to take us all home, but delayed by almost four and a half hours. In all, I didn't get home until around 3AM in San Jose. It's good to be home.

Road Tripping in Minnesota

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today I decided to try to road trip around the country-side here in Shakopee in search of good food. A friend recommended a good barbeque place near county road 42 and 13. I got on 42, but I never found 13! Instead it was getting late, so I decide to just stop at the next place I saw, which was a Ruby Tuesday's, where I had nachos and a steak. ole'!

It was a pretty nice drive, though, nothing like driving in California.

Mall of America

I finished work a little early today and headed over to see the Mall of America. It's the largest mall in North America, and the first I've ever been to that also has an amusment park inside! Friends tell me Minnesota invented the mall because it gets so cold during the winter, and having driven around Minneapolis, I can believe it! There's a shopping mall at just about every street corner. The only disappointing fact is a mall is a mall. Shopping malls here have the same chain stores that I can find just about everywhere else. It's just not the unique, anymore.

I had sushi for dinner tonight. It was alright. But I think I'm going to begin a quest for the authentic Minnesota food tomorrow night.

A day in the life....

You would look like this too, if you only got to sleep three hours everyday. Thanks, Mike.

Mike's pictures from Viki & Warren's Wedding here.

Ansen's pictures from Viki & Warren's Wedding here.

Jennifer's pictures from Viki & Warren's Wedding here.

Sabrina C's pictures from Viki & Warren's Wedding here.

Email me for Edwin's pictures on his personal server.

More to come, if you're not already inundated with pictures, and not want to see anything in color for the next few weeks.

**Update**

Jason Y's pictures from Viki & Warren's Wedding here.

Hello from Minnesota

I'm traveling again. This time, I am in sunny (but cold!) Shakopee, MN. If you see me on the road, wave Hi!

People Watching

I admit, I love to people-watch on the street. Not much more than having woken up really late this morning, I headed off to Santana Row to meet with the few friends still around after the wedding for dinner. I sat in front of the Borders bookstore for a bit, to wait for everyone else to arrive. We had dinner at Straits Cafe and then desserts across the way in the next bakery. Sabrina wanted to take it all for herself, but Ansen had other plans... with many forks......

Anyways, what else could we do, but talk about Warren's wedding. That was by far, the biggest gathering of our closets friends of recent, and it just showed, how lucky we all were, to have the friends we do, that care and worry about each one of us. Some people take an entire lifetime to figure these things out, and here we were.

I began to think how lucky I personally was, to have made friends literally all over the world.

So sorry to the friends who could not make it. Everyone was sorely, sorely missed!

To those that did make it, I hope everyone has a good trip home!

The song that is in my head now....

Route 66
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
If you ever plan to motor west,
travel my way, take the highway that is best.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip:
when you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Pictures from the other camera

Yeah, so I brought two cameras to this event, because I wanted to give my cameras out to other people so they could help take pictures through out the night since I'd be pretty busy through out the night. They took some pretty good pictures, I might add... =)

Jason Chen, looking up at your camera still makes me think of a bathroom plunger. I'm sorry I said that out loud. haha =)

For those that don't know, a bunch of us went clubbing afterwards. I passed out. Got home around 5AM, again!

The Wedding Reception

And then it was my turn. I was on for the night to deliver the Best-man toast, after the bridesmaids and Selina, who gave us a really good insight what it was like to have lived with Warren, as his sister.

I was nervous, but I had fun, how often was I going to get to roil Warren in front of so many people! As I stepped down, I heard, I'm going to get you, and I ran back to my table! haha! But I wasn't done, I still had the game which I also made up the night before. Diana helped out by writing a draft of the introduction and a few questions to use in the course of the game, but what shocked me next was what I could not believe. As I began to explain the rules, Diana ran up behind me, to get the microphone. I thought I had done something wrong, as I looked at my game I had printed out, Diana annouces to the entire crowd I was single and available.

Cheers rang out, and I was about to melt over, when I looked up from my paper, at Warren and Viki in front of me, and then out the window into the sky behind them! They got me. That Table #2. With nothing more I could do, I took a bow and thanked everyone in attendance, thinking, just wait 'til Christmas, table #2, when we all get together again..... I continued the game, which thankfully finished to cheers. I do love a good show.

From my toast, "To Warren and Viki, this is to the beginning of the next new chapter in your lives, and I wish you the pleasantest of journeys into that new life, of family and love for each other."

Moments of truth

There were times I seriously thought Warren was going to keel over. People have asked me if I was nervous throughout the day, and I said, I wasn't the one getting married. We put on a show for everyone to see, and it was one heck of a successful one, at that.

In the moments before the ceremony, the groomsmen and I sat in the pastors office in great anticipation. Everybody else was abuzz throughout the church, most likely because we were sitting in the room next to the only set of bathrooms! Warren, I hope you got to enjoy every minute of it!

The Start of a Long, Painful Day.

What happened and didn't happen should be the real title of these images, but in the end, it was the start of a beautiful day. I didn't sleep until 5AM, because I was writing my "best-man speech", creating the "Wedding Game", and doing some general office work, because I skipped out of work, part day, on Friday. Also, Warren's Tuxedo didn't come in on time, and he could not pick it up until yesterday, the day of the Wedding. I tried to help Warren by picking up the boutonnieres and bouquets for the wedding party's photoshoot in the morning, which meant I would have to wake up much earlier. In total I only got about a little less than 3 hours of sleep.

What I didn't realize was the florist was miles from any easy access to any freeways. In all I was only late to to our rendevous point, by 20 minutes, ten minutes earlier then my GPS had estimated! =)

Things I'll never forget:

The Bone-Jarring ride over from Berkeley to San Francisco Legion of Honor Mueseum for the photoshoot.

Trying to eat on the busride over.

Getting avocado over my Tuxedo because of said eating on bus!

The whole atmosphere on that bus, just going to our photoshoot, the anticipation, the happiness, and the fun everybody was having taking their own pictures on the bus.