Sunday, June 28, 2009

101 Reasons why you shouldn't leave home without your camera...

Let me paint you a picture. Close your eyes. Put yourself in Asia.

It's Sunday night. You're a strange kid with a little dose of OCD. At 8 o'clock you think to yourself, "You know what, I want a haircut." Now that the thought is in your head, you realize you NEED a haircut and if you don't get one, it will drive you crazy. (Ok, crazier) So, off you go, down your 6 flights of stairs, out the  gate, and across the street to the salon.

Upon entering the salon you put on your "semi-dumb American" facial expression and, in more of a question tone than what's actually right, you say "Wo yao lifa" and then nod your head as if you know what they are saying back to you. You get excited, my friend, because at this point you realize that the hair washing begins. After a good 10 minute wash and rinse you go sit in the chair and the haircut takes place. Afterwards, you get about a 5 minute wash and then your hair is blown dry. You pay. You leave. You are satisfied because haircuts have become MUCH more about the experience than the actual cut, which, let's be honest, isn't the best in the world. You paid $2.23 so "whatever."

As you walk towards the street you realize, "Man, I want an ice cream cone from McDonald's!" You continue walking and get about 1/4 of the way there and realize "Ehh, I don't want to walk all the way there, plus I'm starting to get hungry and I've already eaten there this week and I'll end up buying a double cheese burger, hold the cheese." You're now just down from the grocery store, so you decide to go in.

As you disembark from the escalator you suddenly think, "This was a stupid mistake. I should have gone for the ice cream." Luckily the Lord is looking out for you and unknowingly, this will indeed NOT be a mistake. You don't know that yet, however, so your negative thoughts continue as follows: "1.6 billion people in this country and 2.6 are in here. There have got to be less tragic ways to die than 'Trampled By Angry Asian Mob in Search for Hot Deals'" But, alas, you get your laundry detergent, coke, and loofah and go to the check out. 

You are relieved. The line was pretty short and all in all it only took about 20 minutes. You head out of the store, show your receipt, and dig for the cold bottle of coke you purchased impulsively and head up the escalator. To your delight you hear what seems to be a catchy song and possibly an event taking place on the outside of the store. (Point of clarification... when you entered the store, you went in the back. You are now exiting the front. Thus, you did not hear said catchy song upon arrival.)

As you reach the top of the escalator and turn to exit the store you realize that the song you are hearing sounds like something that should be played after "Bolero" and before "Malaguena" in the musical Blast! and then you see it: all 101 reasons why you shouldn't leave home without your camera wrapped into 1 huge reason.

Yes, on stage is a little girl (about 7) with braided pig tails in a sparkling red dress. Her smile goes from ear to ear. You blink your eyes to make sure you are not dreaming. As you open them, you realize that yes, she is, in fact, playing a set of drums to the music you are hearing.  

This, friend, is why your camera should be as much a part of your ensemble as your clothes.



   

Monday, June 22, 2009

So this one time I had a blog...

Ok, so I am one of the worst bloggers out there. I never keep up with this thing. So... here's several blog worthy moments wrapped into one. You can read it in segments and that way you'll think I'm updating regularly. 

Ten Clues It's Summer Here...
1. You don't remember the last time you wore socks and your feet have the tan lines for your chacos, teva flip flops, and crocs. 
2. You refuse to go to anything that would call for you wearing pants.
3. The heat index is higher than the average 3rd grader can count. 
4. You've taken up swimming everyday, not because there's a pool, but because with the humidity as high as it is, it's just more practical to SWIM through the air than WALK on the ground.
5. You are beginning to hate people who have central air conditioner. That's right, hate. Jealousy was back somewhere around April 3rd or so. 
6. Every Asian man who is above 30 and has a beer belly rolls their shirt up to where just their bellies are sticking out. You contemplate doing this, but you realize that A. you're white and B. you have more hair on your stomach than all the men in your complex have combined.
7. You can literally smell people from 10 feet away and you KNOW that if you had to give up one of your 5 senses it would be smell with no questions asked.
8. You're starting to forget what it feels like to be completely dry, because most of the time you're wet with sweat. MMMM...sweat.
9. You don't take a hot shower. Well, that is you don't use the hot water heater, but the water is hot because the pipe runs outside. 
10. You're pretty much "not fresh" by the time you walk out your gate, if you make it that far.


So Ryan and Bradley came to town...
This past week 2 friends from home made the trip over the Pacific. We had ALOT of fun. Here's some snippets...
HK... great city, lots of fun, lots of food, lots of sights!
Fever problems at the border, have no fear, we got through...
$0.36 McDonald's ice cream at least every other day, sometimes more
Ryan got locked in the bathroom...
Bradley busted down bathroom door to get Ryan out
Ryan was behind on Lost... we watched almost a full season...
We laughed. We ate. We laughed some more. We ate some more.


Alright folks. Two whole blogs in one. Be happy. Peace out blogspot.





Friday, June 5, 2009

Electrician Lady

Electrician lady... replacing light switch... all the power is still on... will she be fried? It's like watching the discovery channel or something! I'll keep you updated...