Fourth of July 2010

I was such the tourist with my family on July 4th at the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. A little clam chowder and a walk around. My folks decided that my impromptu trip the bay roused a visit to San Francisco. ( I didn't tell them I was in town the week before for pride.)




The winds were blowing at 100MPH, but we stumbled upon the Musee Mecanique which is "one of the world's largest (over 200) privately owned collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition." Amazing. Most of those machines were over hundreds of years old.


My dad was jamming to a stage performance of some classic rock songs that prompted me to do some mass downloading. Classic Rock reminds me of my dad.



Dinner at Citrus Club in Haight and Ashbury. I told my mom that I love living humbly, but she didn't get it. She didn't feel safe and would rather be in the suburbs. But you lose so much of the whimsicality charm and character of living somewhere more interesting like Haight and Ashbury and Echo Park.


The weather got too brutal in San Francisco so we headed back home and joined Alysia and her dad on the hill behind my house. The same hill I take boys to make out with them.



Happy Fourth of July. We had front row seats to the neighborhood illegal fireworks show. (It's okay, they're cops.) Here's a collage of the best fireworks I saw that night:

River Rafting 2010

Alysia and I have been going river rafting practically every year since high school with a different group. We've gone so often that we joked about the safety procedures.

Alysia - what do you do if you find yourself under the raft?
Me - you spin in circles. the cyclone that you make will create a pocket of air
Alysia - what should you do if you fall out in general?
Me - stay quiet, you don't want to ruin everyone else's fun
Alysia - How about the paddles?
Me - You should test how sturdy they are by banging them on each other's heads.
Alysia - Very good.



Little did we know, the rapids were stronger than usual. The water was much higher and much faster. Faster than years before.



I didn't take too many pictures on the raft. Alysia was mad that I didn't leave her camera in the car so we put it in 16 zip lock bags to make sure it didn't get wet. These are pictures before the actual rafting.




On the river we got stuck on practically every rock as passerbyers looked on with their professional tour guide. But then we were unprepared.



As we approached bigger rapids everyone but 3 people were thrown off!! The newer person ended up under the raft as the river rushed against him. This has never happened before, but he managed to get out. I found myself in the water and grabbed paddles and water guns and threw them back on to the raft because we would be screwed without them. As I was pulled back on the raft, I saw Alysia's head go under the waves. I panicked, but saw that she was able to stop on a shore before getting to far down the river. We managed to get everyone back on the raft pulling them up by their life jackets.



We were laughing at the experience, but realized that the rapid that practically capsized the boat wasn't even mapped out. We were thankful that the newbie didn't follow my advice about spinning in circles under the raft. After things settled we pressured Smyr to be captain. Almost immediately. He was thrown off the raft with Alysia's dad.



Alysia's dad was sent down the river. And Smyr was stuck on rocks, hurting his knee. His sandal made it difficult to gain traction. He threw his hat and sunglasses into the river as they were invading his vision. The remaining crew became unorganized, no one knew what to do. I told Alysia, "we are still hitting rapids and heading toward rocks, let's worry about steering." Smyr and Alysia's dad were rescheduled by other rafts while we docked the raft. The first time we were thrown off, we were laughing. While we examined Smyr's bloody knee... our fun time got more stressful.



We were confused at the other rafters because they were occupied by children and even an old lady. How did that bitch stay on during the rapids?!? We definitely failed.

Here we are after the trip, tired. We lost two sunglasses, two hats, one paddle and one water gun. Excuse my plunging neck line.

Hairchive: The River Rafting 'hawk
I wear the same outfit every year.

News on Autotune

I just realized that the only way to get me to be interested in politics is if it's in auto tune.

Awkward Family Pet Photos

My Fourth of July weekend hasn't ended yet.
But let me tell you that I'm failing at waking up early to swim. But I did have a great jam session with Jimmy as he played Michael Buble's "Everything" and I belted crooked chords.

c/o Z

For more entertainment: http://awkwardfamilypetphotos.com/

Jubilant July

Me ruining Jimmy's cover of Wonderwall with "harmonizing." Sorry Jimmy. :P

May I declared to be Messy May. After blogging about pride I realized I just finished a Jam-Packed June... seriously non stop moving. For July, I'm excited to say that I hope it to be Jubilant July.

This month I would like to rediscover things that make me happy- I am going to start swimming at the neighborhood pool in the AM to get my swimmer toned body back. I'm going to bring back sheet music to re-teach myself piano on Jimmy's keyboard. And of course, this month, I need to go to the beach. I also want to try drawing stuff... I feel like I lack that artistic substance.

Yesterday I was in the office with my parents. My mom was watching Korean dramas and my dad was checking emails while I was blogging. My dog was leaning next to me. I thought to myself, I could be at a club right now, but why would I ever want to leave this carpet floor? Plus I was tired from the drive up from LA and from my dad showing me 350+ pictures from his trip to Canada.

July started with an all you can eat Korean BBQ with my favorite coworkers. Or what's left of them as folks from my company keep leaving. The "natural order of thing" - It's just that time where folks move on from the agency. I popped some fiber pills to help with the digestion.

Today was an exciting day with River Rafting on the American River. Something that I've done with Alysia practically every year since high school. Tomorrow I shall watch the fire works behind my house. Lots of stories to tell about how we got thrown over twice into the river and how we managed to hit every rock in the river because the rapids were treacherous. Well, I guess that's all I was gonna say. Pictures soon.

Jubilant July. I'm ready for you.

Flash Mob in Vietnam

Flash Mob in Vietnam. (Oishi Brand Marketing Campaign)

Developing country… not very 3rd world. At least in Sai Gon. The youth in the country out number the old generation. Progress is happening. The sad abandoned country your parents paint in your mind doesn’t exist anymore.

Pride 2010

This year was probably one of my best SF Prides. It was impromptu, relaxed yet efficient!

Left LA at Saturday at noon arrived at Gilroy by 4pm and in SF an hour early for dinner.



Grabbed some Japanese food and had an entertaining time with a Korean waitress who reminded all of us of the girl from "My Sassy Girl," drunk bitch.


We order a beer for her per her suggestion and he downed the pint, flipped her glass over and napkined her mouth while us wienies were still sipping.


She told us a slew of stories from her messy past. Love this girl, gave her huge tip, but she gave us sake on the house.




My Bay Area Boys. Love


We realized that we were going to Club Papi and needed to do a quick work out just like when we went to Fresh when we went to 24 Hour fitness right before clubbing.


Last time Joe and Eric were at Club Papi on Cinco de Mayo there was raunchiness everywhere... their return was on the todo list.



*gasp*


They had free tacos and salsa dancing upstairs. I grabbed the last one from the taco lady.


Club Papi was nothing out of the ordinary. Go-go boys, drinks, etc. We bought nachos and a hotdog. Joey pinch the garnish on the hotdog and exclaimed, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE NACHOS?!" *plastered*

Hmm.. shooting in the Castro? not surprised, Pink Party is a clusterfuck.


SUNDAY PRIDE, but FIRST Vietnamese Lunch.


Gay friends roll call:
High School Best Friend/Post College Best Friend/College Roommate/San Jose Youtuber Good Friend



My group was tired and checked out- leaving me alone to roam pride INDEPENDENTLY! YAY!

OH SHIZ TiggahTigz. Love his blog. Very XXX =X. Last year I was too shy to say hi. Not anymore!!!


While crazies piled up to see the Backstreet Boys, I went to the API Section and watched the Rice Rockettes!




Berkeley Gays


Nick. He has this amazing simple necklace that I want. the one with the stones lined up. Please let me know if you find something similar.


Rice Rockettes! They blew me away with their amazing performance! Wonder Girls, BOA, and other songs... sheer high heel talent.



Why hello there Marijoy Tabatsoy and Chi Chi Cago, your performance made my day.


San Jose Gays. Danster and his boy. Those two have an absurd amount of adventures together. He provides me with lots of to-dos!




Didn't really try to look for anyone because it was so crowded. It just let fate let me discover old friends. I texted a friend asking him where he was and he responded, "Pizza." I think he was drunk in Dolores park.

The Hip Hop section of pride was my good bye. Excellent.


And I was home by 1AM on Sunday. Dang SON. Jimmy and his posse drove me up, but I have no pics =[

*edit*
I just realized that it's been a year since I ran into Ern and Sam and informed them that I may need a place to stay in LA. Wow. So much time has passed!


Finally ended June with Pride. And now July... River Rafting tomorrow morning, must sleep.