Reflection on 2016

It's unfortunate that it's human nature for us to remember negative things more vividly than positive.  Which is why for most, 2016 felt like such a terrible year.  It was an interesting year for me as well.  More of a contemplative year and as we reach the end of it I'm feeling like I understand more about myself and what I want and what I value.  But I feel like that happens every end of year.

Travel
Every long weekend has been an adventure.  Jimmy initiates it, and I run with it.  And with every destination we always conclude that we will come back.  Someone once told me that it's not worth it to travel when you have such a short amount of time, but I've come to appreciate the opposite.   We do everything is the shortest amount of time and budget ourselves $1,600 per trip per person which includes airfare.

New Zealand
Holiday: Memorial Day Weekend (May 24-30)
Adventures: Zip lining, luge racing, glow worms cave tubing and Hobbitown
Return for: South island's Milford Sound
Food: Like crappier American food, but the Chicken in hipper town Ponsonby was great!
Low point: Aukland - like a sad Seattle

Iceland
Holiday: 4th of July (July 4 - 13)
Adventures: Waterfalls, glacier hike and huge road trip around the island
Return for: Kirkjufell & Kirkjufellsfoss Peninsula, natural hot springs hike Reykjadalur and northern lights
Food: Our travel mate Carlos cooked us amazing meals in our camper.  Tuna cakes, omelettes and pastas from scratch!
Low point: realizing we didn't how enough time/gas to do the peninsula and getting a sleeper camper that didn't work at the beginning, but we returned it just in time!

Vietnam
Holiday: Thanksgiving (November 21 - 28)
Adventures: Greatest hits tour!  Hanoi, Sa Pa, Ha Long Bay, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Sai Gon.  Seeing friends and family and doing 8 hour motorbike tour on Imodium.
Return for: the 30 restaurants that I bookmarked and this hidden building full of coffee shops Tuyet-Anh told me about in Sai Gon.  Egg Coffee in Ha Noi
Food: Ha Noi dishes: Bun Cha, Pho Chien and Hue food.
Low Point:  Travelers diarrhea half way through!

And with all this travel, you'd think that we have all these points or something.  But this is where we fail and probably had a lot of missed opportunities to get free flights.  Is there a consultant on this?

Career
It took me 11 months to fit into my new job that I started in January.  The culture, the resources, the environment, the coworkers, the management, the product and the clients.  It all took getting used to, but now I'm comfortable because I get it now.  I understand how it all works and I'm appreciating it.  But I still don't like to tell people where I work because of preconceptions that they may develop.  My job does not reflect my values or my personality.  So if you ask me what I do, I will continue to say "advertising" and then change the topic to food.

Family
My mom has finally accepted the fact that my grandpa is getting older and she finally allowed a senior nursing home to take care of him.  To lift the burden that she feels as an only child.  She's able to go on trips and enjoy life instead of being sad how he's aging and how she's going to age.  My parents are religious and liberal -  this allows me to have open conversations with them about religion, politics and sexuality.  I'm very fortunate in that sense because I grew up comfortable.  And so these "my parents never said I love you" or "people made fun of my packed lunches in school" articles don't resonate with me.  Any way, family is doing well.  Dad has high blood sugar.  Grandpa didn't recognize me during Christmas and my brother is chugging along at school and work.  There's nothing more I could possibly ask for.

Home
The request for us to vacate the house was the biggest thing on my mind this year, but it's time to move out to something nicer.  A place without leaks or ants or plumbing issues.  During our last Christmas party, it felt like a celebration.  Like - we've had great 8 Christmas parties, but we've all grown up and it's time to shift our focus and enjoy different parts of life outside of this community that revolved around this house.  I thought I would cry when I started the white elephant game that involved 40 people, but It was all good vibes.  And as everyone left one by one, I could not help but feel an amazing sense of closure.  Plus we got an extension and won't have to leave until June 2017.  So we'll worry about it then and I'll continue to build on my virtual garage sale on OfferUp.

Health
My goal is to be at 150lb which I came really close to this year.  But I'm always around 155 and now 157 because of the holidays, but I'm feeling good.  My addiction to cheese is now replaced with my addition to milk tea which is full of sugar and extremely over priced.  But I have to continue reducing.  If there's anything I miss, it's my metabolism.   For dinner I cook a solid salmon + tomato + parmesan.  I also did a great lemongrass beef which I'll try over veggies.

It seems like 2016 was a good year for me personally.  And I'm excited to do it again in 2017!

Grand Canyon Road Trip - PART 2

Jimmy prepared me for a one hour wait to get into the national park.  The South Rim was the most popular and we were attending during peak seasons, but after driving one hour from our motel we arrived.  This is the first sight of the canyon that I saw.

I wore a camel pack and carried large quantities of snacks and bananas for our trip.  I also had fun with the GoPro.  Those videos to come soon.

 This is a better view.  There were many warning signs:  "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GO TO BASE AND COME BACK UP IN ON DAY."  Apparently people die from heat exhaustion trying to do this.  You have to go to the bottom, camp, and then climb back up the next day.  And it always takes at least twice as long to go up.  While going down we noticed the folks traveling upward were out of breath.  They looked dead.  We made it to the first pit stop and decided to call it a hike and started to go back up.  It was approaching lunch time any way and the park had other trails to see.

Jimmy doing some stretches in gift stores.

I tried to memorize the bus lines and plan the hikes that I wanted to do.  After the Bright Angel Trail we hugged the rim to get some shots.  This is where older folks and families would spent most of the time since the Rim Trail path along the top of the canyon was paved and quite a nice stroll.

We avoided the first points because that's where all the tourist were and enjoyed many secluded areas with spectacular views.  I learned that "point" infers that there is a good view.

I caught my bae being a nature photographer.  Planning out his next picture for his Shirtless and National Parks series.

We took a handful of pictures together, but we used his nicer camera and tripod.  This one was taken by another hiker.

This is the closest we got to the edge.  I can still feel myself losing my breath.

It's so massive and unreal.

Our third hike was in another corner of the South Rim in the park.  I wanted to see the OOH AHH Point.  This trail had less people, but it was a bit of a struggle because the sun was directly on us at this point.

These folks made it to the point.  They were hanging out there for a while so we couldn't get on top of the rock.  It's time to go back!

We stopped by Yaki Point that was along the shuttle.  We found the perfect spot.   But we were too early for sunset and really tired so we started to headback.

The food was comforting.  We snagged all American bites and got out of there before it got too dark.

Drive home was a bit creepy.  Not many streetlights, but I got this cool photo.

A recap.  

• Parked near Bright Angel Trailhead on the left near the blue line.  
• Had lunch at the Maswik Lodge - mmm PIZZA!
• Walked along the Rim Trail / Trail of Time indicated by the brown dots and stop at many points to take a ton of pictures.  
• Arrived at Yavapai Point to learn more about the canyon.  Probably the best view behind glass
• Took the Gold Shuttle to South Kaibab Trailhead to hike to Ooh Ahh point.
• Stopped by Yaki Point to get the closing photo which will be posted soon!
• Found ourselves at Mather Point which is the most crowded lookout spot and missed the sunset.  Jimmy has a few pictures of us lost in the clusterfuck crowd of people
• Took the blue shuttle back to Maswik Lodge for dinner and to get back into my car

WHEW!  There's a whole Red line that we didn't even touch.  And at the bottom of the canyon there's an amazing suspension bridge... one day!

Manhattan 2013

What makes Manhattan wonderful is the feeling of independence.  When visiting New York, I was happiest when I realized that I started my evening drunk and ended my evening still drunk running around town seeing different people because nothing was holding me back.

Huan and JonJon in front of Bryant park right before I hopped on the L train to see Carl in Williamsburg for his birthday.  But what was in my body?

...ramen, the cocktail pictured above called the East Side San Jose (Espolon tequilla, honey, lemon, muddled cucumber, sriracha), two cheap frozen margaritas that gave me intense brain freeze (I had to step outside for a minute to relax my head), the best beer I've had from Ippudo and 3 vodka soda.  The city was my toilet if I needed to evacuate the excessive amounts of liquid, but I was able to keep it down and my buzz up.  "Let's move here!" stated Jimmy.

We ate at...

Jeepney - Gourmet Filipino food
Shake Shack - Meh
Coppelia - AMAZING Cuban... but we were drunk
Ippudo West - Yum!  Jon Jon used to work there so we got some special treatment!
Prosperity Dumplings - Life changing.  So cheap.
Hot and Crusty - Quick bagel breakfast
The Halal Guys - "What's the big deal?!  It's chicken/rice and RANCH!"  Jimmy is not impressed even when drunk.  But that hot sauce though - send you to the emergency room
Congee Village - Geneticboi treated us out!  So sweet of him.
Cafe Henri - Charming and amazingly affordable brunch!  Eggs Benedict FTW!
Woorijip - What an idea, it's a grocery store.. with an eating area and you can drink.  So buy your beer and soju and drink it on the spot.  BRILLIANT.

Jimmy is my travel boyfriend.

My trip to NYC included a shit ton of eating, drinking and spending of course.  But luckily we were housed by JonJon/Huan the first few days in Washington Heights which saved us a ton of money.

New York tap water is delicious.   This is the area where Huan and Jon live.  They're the sweetest.

We were in Brooklyn a lot.  Jimmy checked out a museum; Williamsburg reminds me of Berkeley.  We did Smorgasburg which is alright, but the view is wonderful.  I refused to wait in line for that ramen burger.

We saw...
Chelsea Market
Brooklyn Museum
Juilliard School - Jimmy was really excited
FAO Schwarz Flagship Store - Played on the piano from the movie "Big"

Of course we walked along the Highline and stopped the traffic of tourists to take some pictures.  This particular stretch of the highline is very interesting as it weaves threw new and old buildings.

We checked out the Lady Gaga exhibit which was disappointing since we were hoping to see the Jeff Koons statue.  But there were interesting things such as old costumes and large cover art.

Where we partied

Stone Wall Inn - The drag queen bingo reader called us the Chess club... ironically, Joe was playing chess on his iPhone.
Rosemary's Green Tavern
Union Pool
Industry Bar
Griffin - Sunday gay night - open bar for one hour... hello HiddenNYC!  Did it right.
G Lounge - Amazing hip hop in a great venue... my type of gay bar.
Employees Only - Speakeasy? Crowded and stuffy and expensive... aka a speakeasy.. but I was thrilled to check one off this list inadvertently: 9 NYC Storefronts with Secret Identities.

looking?

Geneticboi wrote a sweet entry about our visit.  Looks like we had a handful of friends in common.  "DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH MY BODY!"  He yelled as we wandered the streets.  He was so happy to see us.  I was happy to meet him - a fellow, and really talented blogger.

Here, I'm encouraging my friends to get that action.

The last few evenings we spent with Joe who lives in the middle of it.  Like.. it.. walk out of his apartment and there are people everywhere in Hells Kitchen.  But also outside of his apartment was $1 pizza.  I was so happy.... it was the only thing I wanted.  $1 pizza, crisp New York water and drunken nights.  Well at least until we saw someone throw up in the subway.  We were running from the stream that was coming toward our feet.  I felt genuinely sorry for the guy that I didn't record him.

By the end of it, Jimmy retracted his declaration.  "Fuck public transportation, I miss my car."  We were over the harsh cold.  My throat was dry at the apartment, I was shivering in the streets, then claustrophobic and exposed to germs in the subway, cold again while walking and then HOT and sweaty at the bar/restaurant  destination with no where to put my coat.   Over it.   So back to California we go.

Portland - 2014

Portland was our next stop during our Pacific Northwest adventure.  We decided that crossing the boarder to Vancouver would eat too much of our time so we headed south instead.  

We rented a car and spent some hours on the road.  The one thing our trip was missing was visiting nature.  There's this beautiful waterfall called Multnomah Falls that I wish I had time to see.

We round ourselves Kennedy School which was converted into a hotel, bar, movie theater etc.  Each classroom was a guest room and the larger rooms and dining halls were converted to food and drink areas.  These bars were cleverly named: Detention.  Check out the site there are loads of pictures and stories about this unique venue.  The theater played old movies such as Princess Bride.Though the paintings hanging in the halls were a bit creepy and made the halls feel haunted.

The Boiler Room- very large and labyrinth-like using original radiators as decoration.
Detention Bar- whiskey bar and cigar smoking.
The Courtyard Restaurant -  looks like it was converted from the dining hall
Honors Room- another small bar
Cypress room- didn't get to check this out

We were hungry so we had dinner at Good Food Here food carts.  Mmm Norwegian food!  Though it was a bit too cold out and empty to enjoy.  It's like buying from a restaurant, but being forced to sit outside protested Jonnie.  This local was clearly over the food cart thing.  We quickly left for Powell Book store and a bar in downtown.

There is Sandy and Jonnie, our wonderful hosts, Charles making himself at home at the Ace Hotel and we snagged a corner table a Bailey's Taproom.  What next?  

We snuck onto Pittock Mansion to see the view at night.  Last time I explored this with Alysia was during the day.  The night hike was exhilarating.  You couldn't really see in front of you and I was worried about something jumping out at us.

Breathtaking view!

The next day we kept exploring.

Ern was in nerd heaven at The Hand Eye Supply store in Chinatown.

Portland's Voodoo donuts are like LA's Pink Hotdogs.  Only idiots go here to wait 2 hours for something they can buy at the grocery store.  I don't understand.

Sandy suggested that we check out a this Grand Marketplace vintage store with her which made for some fun pictures.  Really unique space and carefully selected and arranged items.

We ended our trip at Pok Pok.  This famous Thai restaurant.  The owner used to cook out of his garage and eventually it became popular enough to be turned into a restaurant.   Very delicious.  Expensive, but very yumz.

We had time to kill so we walked around Mississippi Avenue which reminded me of Silverlake but quickly losing charm with gentrification.  These new condos really stripped the neighborhood of personality.   The street was so much cuter when I visited with Alysia a few years back.

Portland is fun.  Slower paced and less crowded.  It's a quirky town that really takes its time.