santa cruz, california 7.16.04
also, if you're into spicy chili stuff, you might want to check this festival this sunday:
i finally kicked myself to post more pictures of my trip in tibet. i hope you enjoy them...
last week, i went to one of art galleries with a couple of friends. i found an art installation that kinda made me crack a smile...
you can find more information about this artist, phoebe washburn, at this gallery.
i forgot to mention that my fiancee has finally started blogging! so, please kindly welcome her!
please be gentle with her ;-)
friday the 24th:
- see deaf artists' show to support christine sun kim's artwork which was pretty impressive.
- hang out at a bar and mingle with old/new peepos
saturday the 25th:
- get up early to hit the road to the gunks to boulder with susie and tim.
- after a whole day of bouldering, we drove a long way back to manhattan where we caught a 2 hour deaf comedy called _funny zero_
- a late sushi dinner
- flop on our bed
sunday the 26th:
- wake up late and head to lincoln center to check out deaf festival where i get to check out a friend's fashion show. patty O did a wonderful job with her clothing line which had a lower east side style. i hope that she makes out to the top! also all day, we mingle around with old and new friends there.
- after the festival ended at 5 pm, we head to east side to buy tickets for _fahrenheit 9/11_ open captioned movie and then chow down chinese food with a few friends and then head back to the theater to watch this movie that everyone's been buzzing about. it's pretty much a biased documentary yet an intriguing movie to watch...
anyway, earlier tonight, suz and i went to check out our friend, virginia's, birthday party. she turns 24 tomorrow. happy birthday, miss virgin.
since you've noticed that i tend to take pictures on fading ads, there's actually a gallery here in brooklyn that shows many fading ads!
how cool is that?????
i consider it as the 'lost art' because they tend to run out of paint from natural storms...
remember a picture of a circular dog p**p that i had posted on this site a long time ago? well, guess what? i saw a chihuahua dog doing this circular sh*t in action. so i guess that is the true, classic trademark for chihuahuas as many dogs just crouch and let it go! but chihuahua is such fun to watch... she'd just crawl and sh*t at the same time in a continous, circular motion.
now it makes me wonder if chihuahuas are deaf (just an inside joke for deaf peepos who know the 'sh*t' joke)
earlier this afternoon, i was notified that i would get a job interview for a part time position at 3 pm in times square, so looking at my time, it was 1 pm, so i hit a quick shower, and went out to east village to get a haircut, but the salon didn't have any open slot, so i decided to get a haircut after the interview. after making an appointment with a hairstylist, i just meandered sporadically with my pager in my hands. as i walked along st. mark's street, i was kinda of hungry, i just decided to check out JAS mart where they have a few small dishes for lunch. as i pushed the front door with my stomach growling, i had taken big stride to the counter. i had ordered an italian pasta with asparagus and bacon. as i picked up my receipt from a clerk, simultaneously i turned around while susie, my fiancee, just lifted her head up and turned around to see if her dish was ready and our eyes just locked each other with our dazzling eyes. our minds just quickly filled up with same question repeatedly: "what the hell are you doing here?" we had never expected to see each other at this spot at this late hour (it was 2 pm) and i had expected susie to have lunch at around 1 pm, not this 2 pm late! also, what's funny is that in her pager, she was typing a fairy tale about how we had met for our 'wedding' page! amusing, isn't it? but then it was very lovely to see susie today, though we had a brief lunch as I had to go for an interview in times square while susie has to go back to work. but i gotta admit that it was very nice to bump into my fiancee in this huge maze city!
susie and i hit the road for a nice mini road trip throughout the state of new york. we got to visit the gunks which susie hasn't climbed for more than 2 years! afterwards, we went to the adirondacks where we were struck with its beautiful, calm lakes along with many rustic homes. also we got to check out baseball's hall of fame in cooperstown. since babe ruth was the ONLY player she knew from the history of baseball, she got real excited about babe ruth's own room filled with full of his historic artifacts. finally, we reached the final destination, rochester, to see susie's old best buddies as well as her lil' sister, rachel. while suz and i don't camp together often lately, we took advantage of susie's holiday days off to do this mini road trip. we truly hope to take 1-2 month road trip sometimes next year because we enjoyed this trip very much.
i'll post a few pictures on the site shortly...
it's really nice to help out friends and you get rewarded with free lunches and dinners...
it had happened to me today as i had helped someone clean up her powerbook and she provided me a nice lunch from her leftovers from previous dinner. she did say that she'd cook me a dinner on our next meeting. also, a friend had treated me a sushi dinner earlier tonight for helping her move stuff with my jeep. sometimes it's real nice to barter instead of relying on cash. you should try it sometimes. after all, food's more essential than cash as it keeps you living little bit longer...
earlier today, i went out to the gunks near new paltz, ny for the first time since march. it was a mini chicago reunion as i went out with three people whom i had met in windy city. usually, i go to the gunks to boulder, but this time, it'll be strictly trad climbing so i could train endurance for the euro trip. since i had left my trustful climbing shoes in my car in queens, i had to rely on my sneakers, and it was little too big thus giving my toe some bad feetwork. gunks is well known for its many roof traverse climbs and they definitely gave my heart more pumps than ever. my climbing partner, angela, and i did a pair "easy" routes (gunks is well known for its STIFF grades) and they did make me sweat often. (it could be due to the fact that sneakers do not work well on this rock?) anyway, one of those routes has a great roof traverse climb and it's a very scary ride even though i'm protected by the cams/old pitons in the horzontial crack just underneath the roof. it's about 40-50 feet long traverse with just 3 feet height of rock beneath the crack. all i see is the air below my body from the crack that is like 300 feet high from the ground! there are awfully many roofs on the wall that you'd often climb but the view from the one of those many ledges on the wall is very spectacular because you rarely see the view from the mid-level as opposed to the top or bottom. i got to see a falcon real close as she entertained herself with her wings. she'd glide around, and then close her wingspan, and go down and make a 360 degree screwroll before she spreads her wings out. i wish i had brought my digicam with me. anyway, while i doubt that i'll be purchasing myself trad gear, i'd be happy to be a climbing partner for trad routes at the gunks... those first ascentists have a huge pairs of cojones for climbing many 'loose' and 'hollow' rocks.
i apologize if you do not understand some of climbing jargons here... i just feel i had to share this great thrilling experience with you because not too many people (especially in deaf community) get to do this adventurous sport.
out of an asian stereotyping paradox:
imagine a young asian male disguised as a deliveryman, carrying a few plastic sacks expected to be carrying greasy chinese food, walks past a security guard. instead inside the bags is a small set of tools designed to decipher a simple lock of a door. he picks the lock and enters an empty apartment filled with many collectibles and tries to find a few mini valuable goods. he packs them inside his plastic bags. once his task is completed, he waves good bye to the security guard and disappears into unknown scene.
imagine a young intelligent asian begging for greenies on a sidewalk.
imagine an asian athlete winning a medal in a track meet (a recent chinese did it at 110m hurdle in the olympics... such a quite accomplishment for the country of china).
imagine a traditional submissive japanese lady in a chaotic debate about domestic rights.
imagine an overachieving indian selling M&Ms inside a subway.
imagine a pakistani a heroin addict.
world's such a full of possibilities for all races. now, i'd like to see if i can try to earn $500 a day just by acting a homeless asian bum if i can handle the shame from asian pride well enough.
it's nice to be back in this familar adobe and i'm suffering a severe jet lag as i went to bed at 6 am this morning. now what's next, you ask... well, i'm hoping to be more productive with personal projects for a month here and also train for my next big trip next month in europe with a couple of friends. i hope to design a few qees for some contest, and try to get started with a new toy venture. one thing that i'm not used to this city is the high humidity as i just got back from arid west coast. one of those huge differences between west and east coasts.
oh yeah, i'm just glad that i will be here to check out deaf awareness week's huge event, deaf festival, to be held at lincoln center on september 26th. so come on over and check it out if you're up for meeting new/old people and what deaf culture is all about.
i'm in portland, oregon as i just got here this morning from salem. i've been staying at salem for the holiday weekend to attend a friend's wedding. out of this schedule, susie and i got to check out somn of oregon's finest coast., a huge state fair, and mingle with old/new friends. today, susie and i got a day to explore around portland. if you ever get to visit portland, you'd have to check this HUGE bookstore called powell's book. its store basically covers the WHOLE city block with 4 stories high! it would be nice to camp inside this bookstore and stay there for a week! also recently, we just got back from this hip doughnut spot called voodoo dougnut i i had a donut of sprinkled cocoa puffs. ea few days ago before i picked susie oup at the airport, i had checked it out with my two friends. from there, i had a butterfingers donut and orange flavored donut which both of them were tasty yummy. i like portland for its laid back and grungy atmosphere that almost rivals san francisco's personality.