yep, you read it correctly... susie and i are off to burning man festival. we'll be joining a theme camp called _swingers' camp_ we're not sure what to make of this camp, but we're not sure if we're ready for the swingers' club ;-) nevertheless, we'll have a blast there for sure and pretty much an eye opener experience for susie! hope she can handle this! susie and i have come up with last minute shopping for our costumes for the festival. we'll be posting a few pictures here once we're back from BM next tuesday! wishing you can join us for BM sometimes in the future!

stay burn!

just got back home this AM... and now i'm waiting for my other half to arrive here tonight... OFFICIALLY, she's moving here today directly from new york! so, you californians, please join me to give susie a huge, balmy welcome to california... she's going to need it for a while as she adjusts her life to this new environment soon. it's going to be a nice, long chapter for us as i have some wonderful spots show her in this nature-friendly state. susie, the always ever eco-conscious environmentalist, will snug nicely here...

anyway, a couple of days ago, susie and i had a nice wedding portraits taken by our friend, tate tullier. the shoot went pretty well, but i have to say that the highlight of that day was susie got a glamourous makeover and i was still in awe of her beautiful face. it was like she had aged 10 years later after the makeup and i think it's a positive way because she is somewhat sick of how peepos tell her that she looks sooooo young and fresh for her age...

ok, off to take a power nap!...

i'm here in the big apple for a week to help susie pack her stuff as she's moving west with me this saturday.

since i got here, i don't even miss new york at all though i will miss all the people that i have encountered. for the past two months, i was soooo BUSY working on ooqboo.com, preparing wedding stuff, and renovating our new flat in sf that i have forgotten that i used to be a new yorker!

anyway, it was very LOVELY to see my beloved susie this week! lots of affection and kissing involved this past week to make up our 'lost' time ;-)

i'm now in new york... man, i miss san francisco already as it's very humid here with no wind to be found. anyway, i'm here in town for a week to help suz pack stuff, take care of some ooqboo business, and see some ol' buddies. i hope to see you y'all new yorkers. if not, we will occasionally visit new york once in a while ;-) if it makes you feel better, i do miss new york for its vast public transportation. i have to be more organized in california instead of being so sporadic due to $!@#^& petroleum. gotta learn how to hit a few spots with one trip!

me at taipei's deaf association

(thank you shygirl and sosogirl for the link!)

i realize that there are awfully more ladies in that room than guys. the girls were much interested in chatting with me while the guys were sitting away and chatting with each other! i find it amusing though.

remember earlier that i had found a picture of my dad during his pre-teen years? well, somehow, my parents' scanner seem to work, so here's a picture of him... guess which one is my dad???

(he's the one on the left... the one on the right is my uncle gregory who lives in toronto. he definitely looks like him. my dad somewhat doesn't look like his young resemblance at all) my dad said that he colored the original b/w photo to make it look attractive. the middle one is my grandpa's friend. this was taken around early 1940s... that's a 60 year old print!

after staying in taipei for a few days... here's my trip report:

i stayed at a friend's place near taipei 101, current world's tallest building in the world. 101 is a very nice building and i was impressed that the exterior wall of the building mainly are made of heavy glass. they have made special glass to withstand the high wind, obstacles hitting, etc.. they are made to withstand 8-ton pressure... pretty impressive, eh? it's funny that there are only two buildings in taipei that are at least 20-story high, so in a way, 101 is somewhat prominent landmark out of taipei because you can see it from anywhere in taipei.

mainly i came to taipei for a business trip - to check out taipei toy festival and meet new connections. while it is very small, it was a good experience to see all kinds of new toys from asian artists. i got to meet some artists and had them sketch my sketchbook. also, the festival was held at the living mall, one of the prominent malls in taipei. there was a huge sphere being docked into a building... it reminded me of the death star from _star wars_ movies. i am not sure why i didn't take any pictures there... i guess i got too occupied with toy festival and i didn't come to taipei to sightsee... but i did get to check out one of taipei's deaf association centers. from there, i got to meet many deaf taipeians (mostly ladies!) luckily, there were two native taiwaneses who could sign asl well, and many of their students came over to greet me and sign in asl. I was hoping to sign TSL with them, and I found out that about 60% of tsl came from japanese sign language, so I was able to distinguish some of tsl signs. They took me out to shinlin where they have a huge night market with MANY food stands cluttered together under one roof. also, we played some video games nearby, too. it was nice to get away from work for once.

overall, the trip was a successful one as i got to buy some toys for ooqboo.com, meet new people, and catch up with an old friend from my high school...

now, i'll have to work more on ooqboo.com as well as new website, boopooland.com, a future personal site for susie and i to play with...

i'm back home early from overseas... i had to drop my japan trip on the day i left for japan, instead, i took the flight back home after a stopover in tokyo. my eye was bothering me for a reason, and thought i need an immediate medical attention. i went to see a doctor this AM, and the doctor said it was normal for my eye to get this abrasic feeling after being infected a while ago. so it turns out, that i came here for that minimal bothersome pain feeling. guess to be safe than sorry! i'll visit japan again sometimes soon, but this time with my beloved wife. i feel so guilty for traveling so much without her! :-(

last night, i did something that a 30-year old kid wouldn't dare... pulling all nighter working on a wedding project before i leave for taiwan today. yep, heading to taiwan for a business trip for 4 days and then to tokyo for 2 days before coming back home. it'll be a quick trip before you know that i have left for overseas!

anyway, the reason i said eventful in the subject is because after i went to post office and bank this AM, i came across two car accidents that are somewhat eerily similar. the first car accident, there was a mercedes almost hitting a house and was like a few feet away from the garage door as i could see its track on the grass coming from the corner... it seems like as if the driver had NO brake on this car...

a few minutes later, i came up with another car accident in a similiar position, but this time everyone was rushing to the driver's side as if she had a heart attack or something.

while i may not spice up today's blog due to my lack of focus and lethargy, it was the best thing i could while trying to keep my eyelids wide open...

oh yah, i never got my business cards just in time! so, i was kinda pissed at myself for procrastinating on this due to strong influence from jacob and susie!

i think i'll take a brief nap on the car and hope i can get my energy back after my power nap...

... h u p p a y b a r d a y ...

... s u s a n a ...

... click me for 'awww' susana!...

i was soooooo stressed out for the last two days that i decided to go out and bouldering in castle rock with my friend, steve, this late morning in santa cruz mountains. it turned out to be a great day for me to destress and blow everything out. for the last two nights, i was able to sleep for a total of 6 hours as i had awfully many crisscrossin' things in my head. A --> B --> C --> A <-- B <-- C... Steve had gone to the castle rock many times so he showed me the rocks around and it was blissfully fun to crank and send a few quality problems up. on the way to castle rock from my parents' home, i never realized how huge my hometown is... steve said that only 30% of palo alto is residental area while the rest of them is all nature. castle rock's texture does remind me frequently of fontainbleau rocks in france. fontainbleau has taught me a great deal of using feet technical moves that benefited in completing some of castle rock routes. castle rock definitely will be my favorite local bouldering spot for now. also, earlier today, i went out to dine with two old mutual friends whom i havent seen in years. we just reminisced about our ol' teen days. overall, today was all i need to kill my huge stress. i think i will probably get a well-sounded ZZZ tonight.

back at my folks' place, i feel like i'm a teenager... take a look at my messy cluttered bedroom...