..::been a while::..

these days, i and a few others, have been spending much of the online time on the 180 forum... perhaps way too much time? anyway - the forum is awesome - and i'm glad it's up and running again. i think all should go there and sign up and get in the mix!

a quick look at what had been going on in my life:

started off in london... there's somewhat of a funny story here, as we're standing under big ben. when we got out, our buddy christian, who lives there, was like 'that's not big ben'. i'm like - of course it is... just look at it! my wife sided with him, of course... so i'm just left standing there, shocked. i'm like 'they why are all these guys taking pics???'... so then we walk around to the front, where the circle is, and westminster abbey, and all - and i'm like 'are there any more big ol' clocks around here??? this is freakin big ben!!! there's parliament!!! aaaarrrgghhhh!!!! anyway, they relented at the end and accepted the fact that big ben is just a big clock attached to a building.

we also went up to cambridge to visit a friend there. christian came to, and we were joined by another 180'er, who just randomly popped up from stanford. that was so weird. cambridge is amazing. it's just a small li'l town, w/these 'colleges' that are like small mansion/estates on beautiful lush grounds. you see these old professor dudes walking in their robes and all... there are these big lawns, and apparently only professors with status can walk on it or something. i think i made that up, but what the heck man, it's britain, and probably like a 500 year old law that they still abide by there.

wat's anywhere without krispy kreme? we went to harrods and ate kk, and they had the world cup kk's - so i bot a rooney kk. it was pretty good, but very sweek. the 3 were the ones i bot - and i ate them all in like 15 mins. it was so gross, but so good.

travelling around london on the tube was eye opening. for one, it's SO EXPENSIVE - like 3 pounds or something for a one way ticket! i was lucky cuz i was there on biz, so i expensed my ticket, so our total cost was cut in half. i don't get it - it's so expensive, but yet it's like a millenia old. i took a sepia pic cuz it was more indicative of the age of the tube. the trains were old fashioned too, w/wooden flooroards on some. anyway - i'm told that they break down at least once a day, and you can be stuck for hours. that didn't happen with us, so praise GOD for that! :)

we came back to HK for a week before leaving for our next destination... LA!

how can one go on a trip outta HK w/out the obligatory bk whopper jr and a popeye's chicken strip meal? even tho BK is now in the peak, i doubt it'll make a difference. i go up to the peak about as often as tom read comes out to ball w/us on mondays. linnet is prepping for the 13 hour ride on china airlines, the former most unsafe airline in the world. for those that care, actually it's VERY cheap, and the planes were very nice. food was ok. and wat's more - you get VIDEO ON DEMAND, which is ultra cool cuz you don't have to wait for the whole series of movies to revert to beginning. and round trip cost like less than HK$5,000 (vs. about $11,000 for CX!).

we were there for linnet's cuz's wedding. t'was a nice time in a cool art gallery in redondo beach. that day, it was like 100 deg (like 35c) but at least it was dry. i'm like in a full-on suit (pictured w/lao lao, the grandma). good thing that i actually have built in a/c in my body's uber efficient internal cooling system.

one day, we drove out to hollywood, and i took linnet over the ming's chinese theater so she could see the walk of fame and the famous hand prints. here, she's w/her fave actor, adam sandler! :) it was pretty fun, and i think she enjoyed this bit cuz she was really looking forward to finally seeing this spot, and the bit hollywood sign too...

needless to say, we ate a lot in LA. i don't have the pics, but linnet's blog has it all. one of the better meals was at the stinking rose in beverly hills/west hollywood. the tagline is 'have a little bit of food with your garlic' or something like that. we went outlet shopping in camarillo springs and santa monica. mostly though, we just spent family time, especially here in this pic. this krispy kreme thing is everywhere! i enjoyed an original glaze w/a cup of black coffee bean java. VERY GOOD stuff!!! :)

i took this one for tom and jacinta. lin and i split up when we got to beverly center, so i walked around for an hour or so. but i happened 'cross this pet store, and it had the cutest li'l pug! he was like a hand high, so don't let the pic fool u. he was tiny and VERY CUTE. anyway - i thought of diesel (tom & jacinta's baby...er, dog), and was thinkin' diesel must have adorable in the early years. they had other dogs in this extremely tiny cages, and i felt so sorry for them. it's sad seeing 4-5 of them crammed in, or even some of the bigger dogs barely even able to fit in their cages. so sad... but i don't think i be buying any pets soon.

anyway, we rushed back to LA in time for brooke and ephraim's wedding. this was awesome to see these 2 get together. i meet brooke when she first came here, and a few of us had dessert buffet at the tiffin lounge in the grand hyatt. seeing a sister grow in her faith, and make an impact in people's lives is encouraging. and seeing her tough it out in her journey to the US when she was essentially kicked outta HK, and then somehow making it back to here, hookin' up, and then getting married, and now working, is just awesome. i wouldn't have missed it for the world!

here are just some random pretty women i found at the wedding. ephraim is a very popular studly guy that isn't afraid to express his femininity. i respect that about him. but he's a good friend, and a brother - so today was a good day. that's three 180 marriages in the past 12 or so months, and one more coming in october!

after all our travels, here we are back in HK. i totally didn't expect to see this here tho. given the lack of 'new' stuff on the island, we went to see this harbin ice sculpture festival in tai koo shing. it was crazy - a HUGE freezer room with these ice sculptures. they had to give us columbia jackets to wear cuz they knew local hk'ers would never have anything for this cold (in fact, many in line were in shorts)... this was pretty fun tho, and something different!

overall - been a pretty eventful summer. we have been super blessed to have been able to travel so much, and see somewhat new things! but really, coming home, and being in HK is what it's all about.

i missed so much of 180, that it was real good just to get back into the flow. i missed doing sound, suprisingly! and especially missed the vibe at 180 and the vine.



guess the last thing is... when we came back, GUESS WHAT WAS OPENING???????

hard to believe, but this chain is following us around EVERYWHERE. they had this free giveaway in times square, where me, linnet and derek took 3 dozen! i didn't eat all of it of course, we shared it w/some special people at 180 :P but yah - this is truly dangerous for us in HK. over indulgence was at its worse when mandy decided to have her bday there, and we witnessed matt cook eat like 10 in that nite! to make it worse, it was a MIX and not just the dinky original glazed! blech.. that's just plain wrong...

well - after celebrating our 1st anniversary on sept. 3 a week and a half ago, we will be off to sanya (hainan island) this weekend. this place has been billed as: the hawaii of china. i don't quite know what that means, but supposedly it's nice... most importantly, it's CHEAP!


currently tho, we're in a typhoon 3 in HK and red rain warning to boot. the storm looks like it'll miss hainan now, but hopefully it won't have too much effect on the weather. maybe it'll blow away tom'w, and give us sunny skies so we can tan over the w/end! i'm so excited. i need a break! :P

last plug... get ON the 180 forum. your life will be changed!