"I was here"

One of my favorite things I enjoy doing when I'm out of the country:

Writing on the walls/tables when I'm out of town in a bar/establishment/ guestbook! I absolutely love looking at scribbles especially when others scribble where they are from and adding an extra especially across the big pond makes me feel very privileged and lucky that I was able to be so far out there. Plus the added emo bonus when reminiscing. Here are five photos of me making my mark, enjoy!

The bathroom stall door- Cask and Flagons next to Fenway Park, Boston, MA. January 2012.

MBK Stationery Store (on the testing paper). Bangkok, Thailand May 2011. (That was intended for the crush, who knows who he is.)

Feel Good Bar. Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand. June, 2012.

Bathroom stall in St James Gate Irish Pub. Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands. July, 2010.

Written on the table! And the hot LA boy knows who he is! Where the bucket was heavy and the shots were good and the beers were brewing for him (and me). Angkor What? Pub, Siem Reap, Cambodia. July 2012

Now that the Olympics are officially over,
Ten things that I have learned:

1. The Phelps isn't an instant gold medal generator. He failed to secure the coveted gold in three events. One of which, he did not even medal! Did the bong have an effect?
2. Jamaica has the fastest man and woman on earth.
3. There are probably at least 30 people who represented the state of California.
4. China would rather play it safe in diving.
5. Alex Morgan is going to be a huge womens soccer star for the next decade.
6. Did anyone see it coming-- Mexico winning mens soccer?!
7. The Kiwis have made a name for themselves with anything that has to do with a boat on the water.
8. USA Basketball. Both men and womens. Enough said. (And that is probably my last time rooting for Kobe!)
9. Latin America is rising up! And the fall of Southeast Asia... no country in ASEAN managed to win a single gold.)
10. I wish Def Leppard would have performed at the Opening/Closing ceremony. Okay. I didn't watch either cause I was too tired, and I have a 12 (or 16) self imposed time limit on work before I serve the papers and go forth in bringing my aspiration of being a teacher to reality.

It has been a good 2.5 weeks since the last time I posted here on my penultimate day of vacation.

To keep it short (for now), I had a blast with Pat. It was the hardest goodbye when we met up at the airport again for twenty minutes that very Friday for a short, but emotional farewell. (Romantic, maybe?) Most. Amazing. Person. Ever.

Since I've never actually met a friend  inside the airport, past customs to say those words. Well, I've had booze at 7:30am with Joseph, an attorneywhen I was headed to Korea and he was  headed back home to  LA for Christmas in 2009, but that doesn't count since he lives here.

Ventured into the great unknown, transcending cultural boundaries, stepping foot on new territory, walking on historic ground. I guess that sums up the trip.

Many firsts for me.
1. Meeting a friend on my own in a different country.
2. Spending 6 nights straight with a friend on vacation. (Pat, were you tired of me being in the same room? ;)) This was the longest time I've spent with anyone, just the two of us outta town.
3. Landing at dusk in Thailand. I've been there 6 times and land in broad day light! The lights coloring the city made me feel that this trip was going to be a blast-- it sure was.
4. Not staying in the Chidlom/Siam/National Stadium area for once. We stayed at where the cool pubs were!
5. 9 hours of traveling time by land to Siem Reap. And I thought the 4.5 hour bus ride from Boston to NYC was long... or the 4 hour bus ride from Val D'Isere to Lyon airport...or going back from Brussels to Utrecht (5 hours thanks to traffic!) Longest ever road trip.
6. Going to a new country.
7. Staying in a guest house. Okay, I've never done it before but it was awesome. Um, folks.
8. Watching a movie in a foreign country.
9. Not buying an item of clothing. Uh, every trip I go on I get at least a shirt, or even a pair of socks RE: Korea. The purchases I made were: Deodorant, lip gloss, acne wash, tea tree oil and a knock off iphone cable (thanks to the lovely Pat who gave me his old iphone as my graduation present-- awww!

I'll do a photo blog of things like "My 5 favorite things in a certain city." or 5 photos that sums up (insert city name) that I have been.

Can you spell college graduate?

And so, a week and a day ago, a goal that I had set out to accomplish had the closure and taken its course. I took the road less traveled, dropping out once, then enroling in a different school and had countless bumps and flips and spins like a trapeze artist/ball rolling around. So much had happened in the past five years, sounding like an over dramatic actress on stage. However, my time in college had to end. And it did with a degree to my name.

Walking up that stage, hearing my name called out loud (and mispronunced), I felt that sheer sense of relief and exhuberation clothing me. So much emotions running through my head. As I was told by the organizers during the briefing: Do not do anything funny. Go up there and shake the dignitaries hands and walk across and back to your seats. As much as I had been flashingly annoying in classes and made a name for myself by speaking up too much, I didn't want to mess this up. Just. Be. Normal. That's what I did. Like how everyone else went across the stage with no attention.

The rest of the ceremony was spent meddling around with my phone and I couldn't wait for it to end, knowing that I had a super long day ahead the next morning-- like a responsible adult, judging yet another debate tournament and making a couple bucks, and a super cool 6 days to look forward to-- time to get out of town to meet a special someone. Something I have been eagerly waiting for to happen for a good 2.5 months, and here I am now, coming towards the end of this 6 days sadly.

Olympic Trials fever!

I'm probably the only local, half a world away who has been watching the US Olympic swimming trials religiously online. After 2008 when the team had training camp here before Beijing, an online friend and I decided to wait around to try and meet the team on two evenings. I did so, four times in total since the team hotel was downtown. Those were the days of being a crazy fan. For example, heading downtown early Saturday afternoon before going for a music festival (thanks to having a free ticket from Joe) with bands I sort-of listened to during my teenage days (New Found Glory and Lost Prophets) and Travis that were playing. Boy, did I get lucky. And I must say, August 2, 2008 was one of the coolest days of my life meeting a ton of Olympians who had won medals/would be crowned.

The races were spectacular I must admit. My condolences to those who came so close but didn't make the team. Ie: Garret Weber Gale, who was part of the historic 4 by 100 free relay in Beijing, the senior statespeople like Ed Moses, Megan Quann-Jendrick, the mid-distance fly Kim Vandenberg, teenage sensation Amanda Beard and the list goes on on who I was rooting for.

Members from the 2008 team that will be competing in London that I have met:

Matt Grevers, Elizabeth Beisel, Rebecca Soni (the double breaststroke queen) and her boyfriend, Ricky Berens, Chloe Sutton, Kathleen Hersey, Kara Lyn Joyce (not too pleasant I must admit.) Ryan Lochte (*gasp, ladies you can start throwing rocks me*), Cullen Jones, Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau aka the guys I've camwhored with when I met them. I've met Eric twice and he was really humble and friendly. Brendan was laid back as chill.

Yankees have been goofing as of late, 2 straight losses to the White Sox who have suddenly established themselves as the AL Central team to beat. And the Red Sox are streaking and finally above .500 which worries me. Anaheim is getting better too, and no division lead is safe in the AL East till the regular season is over.

Now on to NBA musings... Who would've ever predicted that the first two top draft picks would come from the same school? Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd Gilchrist did it for the National Champion Wildcats... but sadly Thomas Robinson, the power forward from Kansas who received nationwide support and made headline news when he lost his grandparents and mother in the span of 3 weeks and had an elementary school-age sister to raise slid to the fifth pick. I admire his strength and how he became a dominant player after the Morris twins left for the NBA. (Marcus and Markeiff Morris, re: 2011). He deserves utmost respect and I certainly wish him well and hope he succeeds in the NBA.

Jared Sullinger slid all the way to the 21st pick and got drafted by Boston due to his injury report. He might have been the steal of the draft with an ageing Celtics team needing some temporary saving grace, perhaps.

The Tar Heels almost had four players go in the lottery. First was Harrison Barnes at number 7 to Golden State, followed by Kendall Marshall at pick 13 to Phoenix, then John Henson rounded out the lottery by going one pick later to Milwaukee. Tyler Zeller went at 17 to Dallas but was traded to Cleveland. Should be fun to see Kyrie Irving have his former college rival as his running mate on the fastbreak. If Steve Nash were to bolt during free agency, Kendall Marshall might be forced to grow up, real fast. Harrison Barnes, hopefully he doesn't turn out to be Brandan Wright #2 aka a former Tar Heel, also drafted by Golden State who was a bust/ did not fit well in the system.

Madagascar 3: The Review

A child-friendly summer movie not to be missed, the third chapter of this 90 minute animal themed movie teaches values and morals such as teamwork, friendship, determination, the truth will always come out and helping others. This movie carries on from where the previous chapter ended-- in Africa. Alex the lion has nightmares of ageing in Africa and unable to return home.

Alex and his friends have a strong desire to return back to where they originally came from, the Zoo in New York's Central Park. With that, Alex, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the giraffe and Marty the Zebra set off to Monaco by scuba diving (as shown from their head gear when they pop out from underneath the sea) in search of the penguins and King Julien. They reach the casino and trouble ensues when teamwork does not go as planned-- introduce the villian, Captain Dubois, for the first time ever in the movie.

 The casino is wrecked apart and a high speed chase through the streets with the penguins piloting the van, which is later taken over by Marty who is unable to drive on the right side. Their plane is damaged as they attempt to escape back to New York and they encounter a traveling circus train and claim that they are circus animals in order to fulfill their dream of reaching back, as Vitaly the tiger was very stern and did not allow stowaways on board. Gia the snow leopard and Stefano the sea lion are the main characters on board the trains carriage.

At the circus in Rome, the show goes bust and finally on board the train to London, Alex decides to help Vitaly, Gia and Stefano rediscover and remodel what a circus is all about. Vitaly is a defeated tiger whose days of being the star have faded due to a freak accident while performing. King Julien meets Sonya the brown bear and falls in love with her, through the streets of Italy, she acquires a new motorbike going into a shop and scaring the customers and owner. On the way to London, Alex has convinced Vitaly to give it another shot and the troupe begin rehearsing in the mountains, fleeing when the cops strike. Meanwhile, Captain Du Bois is still hot on her heels to chasing down Alex in order to have his head mounted on the wall of prized catches. She makes her moves in calculated fashion. In London, Alex's relentless effort pays off with the boss awarding the traveling party a contract to perform in New York after a slam-dunk performance with dazzling lights and lots of intriguing stunts.

However, once they arrive in New York outside the gates of their old home, Captain Du Bois manages to capture Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria. They are locked up in prison style cages and Captain Du Bois is given a reward for finding the Alex. However, she rejects it and reveals her evil intention. Her plans are foiled by Vitaly, Stefano and Gia, (whose feelings were hurt and when the truth was revealed to them that Alex and his friends were masquerading as circus animals) who rescue them as their circus act was revived. Another round of antics sets of the fireworks and inflated balls given to the children, ending the movie off with a bang.

The penguins were not featured as much as I would have loved them to be shown in the movie, but all in all, every leading character was given an equal amount of face time which enabled the audience to decipher their character and personality. The catchy tunes such as Everybody Dance Now by CC Music Factory, Hot In Here by Nelly, I Like to Move It and Firework by Katy Perry will certainly get you grooving in your seat! And as for "We Speak No Americano", if you've watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, you might recall hearing it, in the chipmunk version. The adults could relate to it with this song originally released in the 1950's.  I'd gladly watch this movie again, wholesome educational fun for the family!

(Side note: I would recommend watching this movie in 3D, the effects are way more stunning),  credits to Pat who advised me to.