Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas!!




I just got back from Las Vegas where we spent Christmas. I'll actually be back there again right before New Years with the usual posse. This trip though was a crazy one. First off we took the 168 out of Bishop to the 266 over the high sierras until we hit the 95 in Nevada. We were pretty much the only fools out there over Death Valley on windy mountain roads. Nobody for 200 miles except for this hippy in a pickup that we seem to keep passing over and over. No gas stations, not a single building, no restrooms for pretty much 3 hours until we saw this brothel where the 266 and the 95 meet. Welcome to Nevada! Sophia was puking and crapping the entire time since she caught the stomach flu right before we got to Mammoth.

So when we got to Vegas we went to the Sam Woo on Spring Mountain Road. My dad must have not liked the fine dining in the high Sierras so much cause he went straight for the seafood tofu hotpot. We checked in at the Tuscany Suites afterwards. Its becoming my favorite place to stay now but still second to the Venetian. Funny I ate at the cafe there and I recognized the filipina waitress from when me Dan and Jerome ate there in May. She didn't believe I was born in Manila until my dad started busting out the Tagalog. That night we went to the Wynn to get tickets for Le Reve but it was sold out so we went with plan B, RAIN at Ceasar's Palace. (Kathryn, your mom is going to be jealous!) What do you know they had tickets in a block of 6 for us.

On Sunday Sophia still couldn't hold down food or liquids so we took her to the ER and we chilled there while they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some antibiotics and cramping and nausea drugs. We also went shopping and went to church in the meantime. It was Christmas Eve after all. So this church on the strip was really weird. It was sandwiched between the Wynn and the Convention Center. Ironically its probably the one place on the strip least likely to have a wedding at any given time.

Once Sophia got better and got discharged we got ready to go to the concert. Oh man that was something. I have no idea who Rain is but hey how can you go wrong with some song and dance right? So we showed up at the Collesium and most of Rain's fans were already there. Lot of young Korean girls, middle aged asian women, (a number of whom came alone), girlfriends with their disgruntled boyfriends, other families, and other groupies like the motherly blonde woman that sat behind us who knew all his songs. Anyway the show starts and I kid you not, he pops out of a huge inflatable submarine and starts singing and break dancing. Other highlights include Rain taking his shirt off and getting drenched in rain on stage. Some dancing with his fly girls, a flag sequence and of course the grand finale, Rain being raised on a pedestal superimposed over giant animated wings on the LCD screen. The military motif throughout the thing was kinda odd.

I gotta give the guy credit, I mean he's playing Vegas to a packed house at 23 and it takes some incredible conditioning to sing and dance for 2 hours and keep the energy level high. His English isn't so great, but he's probably had to memorize the whole routine in Japanese and Chinese too for the world tour. The winking and the "how are you my babies?" was pretty cornball, no smooth operator there, but his fans though it was cute. The songs are pretty catchy, haha too bad I don't speak Korean. I only wished the White Zinfendel I snuck in didn't run out halfway through the show.

So Vegas and Mammoth were pretty fun, good few days to fart around.

>On 2007-01-01,05:51:41 Blaise wrote:

>>And a happy new year!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Greeting from Mammoth




Chilling in Mammoth with the family. Will be in Vegas the next few days.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Lucky the Cat




This must be a lucky cat since I caught and rode my first shortboard wave today. My surfing days are numbered. Man, what timing I have. Right when things are working out and I can't help but reach for what lies ahead... I have to let go. I wish nothing ever got abandoned. You hear that CAT, are you in the business of wishes too? This was my choosing though. Well I've still got a handful of days to make the most of. Hopefully Lucky Cat will be back so I can worship him and capture some of his cat balance. Maybe I should offer a gift, what do cats like, chicken hearts, livers? I'll be back. Back on this path, if I have a week, or if its for good because of what lies ahead. Whatever it is, the ride of your life, the greatest bone crushing, and everything in between is better to have happened than to not.

>On 2006-12-21,04:37:53 grandmasophia wrote:

>>meow


>On 2006-12-22,10:29:35 daniel wrote:

>>sounds like you are getting nervous about OCS.... just dont go.


>On 2006-12-22,19:29:48 Blaise wrote:

>>Open for interpretation. Going is the easy part, commiting the mind was the hard part.

Monday, December 18, 2006

No WIII




Sophia and I half-heartedly looked for Wiis this weekend. We found a lot of laughing sales clerks instead.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

USMC Officer Candidate




I got selected! I'm somewhere between excited and HOLY SHIT! I should get the orders about next Wednesday but it looks like I'm set for OCC-194 commencing January 20th in Quantico, VA. Now its time to live up to my end of the bargain and earn a commission.

>On 2006-12-14,13:10:55 Sheila wrote:

>>congrats!


>On 2006-12-14,20:37:26 grandmasophia wrote:

>>!!!!!


>On 2006-12-15,12:15:55 Kathryn wrote:

>>Nooooooo!! I am so sad, but so happy for you.


>On 2006-12-20,12:48:03 lysette wrote:

>>wait, what? hmm...

Surfing and your Mind




The waves were big today. Big is good, it keeps you from thinking. Last week it was flat, lot of time to float and wander for both body and mind. When its big, you just do. You ride the waves, you paddle hard, keep charging because they keep coming. No time to think about where to put your hands or when to go for it, just do what feels right. Finally when you have expended everything and no mind tricks will raise your arms once more, you come out to sit on the sand and you think to yourself, "that was alright." And the next day you'll be back, be it big or be it flat.

AGU




Slow week at work because all the scientist and researchers are at AGU, American Geophysical Union. I don't know the day to day goings on there but they always make yahoo news, this time its about the upcoming manned lunar missions and possible mars mission.

Article

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

UCLA Identity Theft


Oh oh, a database got hacked. Sounds like it was either a database in financial aid or admissions.
Article
So all you Bruins keep an eye on your credit reports. Actually since I worked for the state I didn't get to contribute to social security, so I hope whoever steals mine works nice and hard to give me a little suprise when I turn 65. Just don't ruin my credit and have fun pronouncing my name, imposter!

Friday, December 8, 2006

Spuce Grove




Otherwise known as the one of the infamous Camp Mofa. After my fillings I killed the rest of the day hiking. It was about 6.5 miles roundtrip to Camp Mofa from the trailhead, not too bad, but I humped along a couple gallons of water in my pack for some exercise so now my entire body is sore. I so need a massage. Also saw Borat at the mall afterwards. SBC must have gotten arrested about half a dozen times in the filming of that movie. Ugg, I better not be sore tomorrow, I commited to riding with someone from Pasadena tomorrow and falling over at a stop light would suck.

>On 2006-12-12,03:07:23 lysette wrote:

>>well looks like you had a fun day! and yeah...hope you don't fall over tomorrow.

Dentist




Got two fillings from Dr. Yan today. I'm sure the work is superb like always, but I'm kind of alarmed at the rate that I'm having cavities filled. My beautiful teeth, I hope they stick around.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

The Chewable pill




Awesome, for the preteen demographic right? Next up chewable viagra. Hmm, maybe mashed up and mixed in with apple sauce might be a better idea. Ya can't eat solids, but ya can still "stay harder then a cinderblock man/Hey I'm just a bedroom gangster" (Ludacris, Moneymaker).

>On 2006-12-08,00:12:06 Kathryn wrote:

>>Mmmm. Do they have strawberry flavored?


>On 2006-12-09,03:47:43 Blaise wrote:

>>I was thinking grape or wild cherry, like Codeine.


>On 2006-12-12,03:04:36 lysette wrote:

>>hahaha...silly cousin...quoting Ludacris

Friday, December 1, 2006