Albie1 Kenobi

back east

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:23:36 GMT

after 2 years, i'm back in east coast. coming out of newark terminal, there's a sense of familiarity that came over me. it's really been 10 years since i can call this home, but in a way it's still home to me.

we met up with winka, sherek, and kelena after we took the train into NYC. it never felt like we missed a beat even though we haven't seen each other for a little while, as evidence by the joy we had when we played cranium that night and we are still all on the same page. with the unsurprising victory by the boys, i took the opportunity to announce i'd like my boys to be my groomsmen. it was just too perfect.

yesterday we all convened at sherek's to put a thanksgiving dinner together. it was mostly ACC. good to see more familiar faces. the tiny kitchen churned out a really impressive meal: very juicy/flavorful roasted turkey (oven bag is useful), stuffing, veggie medley, gravy, baked sweet potatoes, our veggie sausage soup, megan's salmon avocado appetizer, nam's corn pudding, and pumpkin cheesecake/pie/coffee cake. most of us were full after the first plate. after the dinner we played some lego rock band (band name: catch the chicken!), and basically just enjoyed the company of each other. it was really fantastic.

Wineroad weekend

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:36:00 GMT

Friday
Was supposed to kick it with Relando but it didn't go down. So I ended up checking out the jazz lounge. Zack was working, mike was there and so was Becky. The band was nice but the "singer" killed it. And not the good kind of killing it. It was just straight up garbage. Incredibly atrocious. We took a break outside, and when we got back it was only the band playing. Drums, bass, and a fantastic keyboard player. Zack said he used to play with Issac Hayes. I don't think I've really seen a performance like that. Dude is a mastro! I still have part of a song stuck in my head 3 days later. Really wished I recorded it. Just fantastic.

Saturday
After breakfast at Daimo, we picked Valerie up and went up to sonoma for their annual wine and food festival. For a non drinker like me, I'm there for the scenery and the pictures. I've decided that Im gonna focus on being a photographer. Coz Vernon said I'm a grand cat.

The day was kinda short coz we got there kinda late. We only got to 6 wineyards. Got some tri-tip, chicken corn chowder, coq au vin. We stayed a little extra after the event was over for the day to take more pictures as the sun sets. Wish we get to see more foliage.

That night we went to kathrine's place at twin peaks for her bday. Parking was a bitch, but once we got settled, the rest of the night was nice. Her spot is high up so we had a perfect view of the city and the east bay. Good company and a funny game of taboo rounded out the rest of the night.

Sunday
Uneventful until the audit at our walnut creek boutique. It went rather nicely. Dude is a newbie but knows what he's doing and get the big picture. Impressive. The count went long but everyone was pleasant and nice. Can't complain for working on a Sunday night.

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halloween weekend

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:28:34 GMT

point reyes: hot links on a portable grill on the beach (even though mo and jenny built a small bonfire), but the star of the day: roasted oysters. YUM.

beautiful warm day at the beach, not a cloud in the sky and no wind. just super nice out.

long ride on moshin's truck. stupid (or really smart) navi system which does not show the chappelle DVD that we put on the screen.

dinner at Korea house. yummy banchan. unlimited refills. crazy hair lady who likes to teach mo how to eat them. great service, giving us rice without us asking. awesomeness.

pumpkin carving to end the night.

nba is back!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:31:58 GMT

2nd night of the season, and we've already seen the dominance of the top teams.

celtics looked to be in mid season form in the first game of the season, handling the shaq-included cavs rather easily. sheed fits in the team quite nicely, stretching the D with his 3's. marquis daniels looks like a very nice addition, with his ability to play d, shoot 3's and a little bit of everything. tonight the celtics kept the poor bobcats from even getting 60 points while scoring 92 themselves. one cohesive units. 65 wins shouldn't be a problem.

as for the defending champ, they just look amazing in yesterday's game. odom and bynum dominant the board, kobe was his usual self taking and making some unbelievable shots, artest not very visible on the court, and they still made a tight game with clippers in the 4th quarter like the clips aren't even there. the lakers are so stacked that no one even noticed that gasol, the other all-star on the team, didn't even play!

and the team that i'm rooting to be the champ this year? the spurs. the new additions in richard jefferson and mcdyess are fitting in really well. with ginobili pulling off a few of his trademark misdirections drives (and 2 three's), the spurs are back being a very very serious contender.

more than anything, i hope for everyone to stay healthy, so that the games will be THAT much more amazing.

Itsa Mario!

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:20:42 GMT

The classic - Mario 64. I've been itching to play it recently. I was too young go appreciate it's brilliance back when it came out. I did play it for a bit but I lost interest soon. After much pondering, I finally DL'd it on Wii and played it tonight. To my surprise both Jenny and Megan played it before, and Jenny knew quite a bit about the game. 2 and a half hour later, we have 14 stars under our belt. Not too shabby eh? There's only 106 more to go =P

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What the hell am I doing?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:08:28 GMT

Day 2 of cycle count hell week. Nonstop work practically every waking moments, other than transit time and food. What the hell is the point of this? I don't see that I'm building anything. It just feel like busy grunt work. This is a meaningless life I'm living right now. I fucking hate this.

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Dinning at Fleming's

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:06:18 GMT

to (belatedly) celebrate Mo's birthday, we went to Fleming's for dinner tonight. Jenny had previously went there for a company holiday party, and really liked their steak. currently there's a prix fixe for 3 courses so it was more incentive for us to go.
starting off the night were good drinks. blueberry lemon drop for Megan and mojito for Mo. Jenny got a shrimp cocktail appetizer, and both megan and I got the butternut squash soup for our prix fixe. the soup was so thick and creamy that we were able to share our soup between four of us. very flavorful and rich.
as for main courses: Mo got the scallop with lobster sauce, Jenny had the ribeye, Megan got Filet Mignon Brochette, and i had Pork Osso Bucco. i really loved my plate. it was crispy on the outside, super tender and full of flavor inside. we also had 3 sides: creamed corn, baked tomatoes with parmesan stuffing (came with prix fixe), and a GIGANTIC baked potato.
our waiter recommended a chocolate lava cake to us, even though we are getting a piece of chocolate mousse cake for each prix fixe. it was really good, and we even got chocolate truffle AND a picture of us with our desserts in a paper frame.
it was a really wonderful dinning experience. i definitely recommend Fleming's.

Monday

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:06:35 GMT

After a hot and sunny weekend, it strangely feel like a fall/winter morning in new jersey. Odd. Good thing Megan will be back from New York tomorrow.

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New home!

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:54:20 GMT

I'm now officially moved in to our new place in walnut creek! This has definitely been long time coming. It was 10 years ago when I moved to berkeley to start my college career, and now I have finally moved out and begin a phrase in my life. Exciting!

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idiocracy

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:42:53 GMT

is the title of one of those good-for-saturday-afternoon tv movies. it started off with an amazing observation/theory: theory of evolution describes the strong dominates and survive, but with human it maybe complete opposite.

the intelligent/responsible people first hold off on having kids until they can support the new lives, then maybe later on they have trouble conceiving and eventually died off without having kids; the irresponsible/dumb people would have created a segment of population by having multiple children who grow up and have multiple children too.

eventually the dumb mass will outnumber the intelligent ones completely.

it's a comedy, but this possible vision of future is very unsettling.

Take me out to the ball game

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:48:02 GMT

A's beat the Angels 7-3. Entertaining game.

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It's official!

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:28:15 GMT

i just signed the lease to our new spot at Walnut Creek yesterday!

so after 10 years of being in Berkeley, i'm finally moving on. it's about damn time anyway. granted i'm still living in the bay area and we'll still be back to places we frequented before, but it'll be a big step forward, a big change in scenery, and i'm damn excited about it!

i've already started planning for the move. it's still about 2 months away but i really only have about 5 workable weekends for pack and move. with all the crap i've accumulated the past 10 years, that's not a whole lot of time. just sorting out all the clothes i don't wear will take me at least one full weekend.

i've also sketched out the floor plan of the new spot this past weekend, and took some measurement of the place after we signed the lease. we need to get some new furnitures and figure out how to set up our room, and the earlier we start planning for that, the better.

i can't wait to move!

just for kicks i attached my re-drawn sketch here. see i ain't bullshitting about planning.

[ed: this post was supposed to be from the livejournal app on my iphone, but for some reason it didn't send the text so this was a rewrite from my comp.]

Bakesale Betty

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:32:15 GMT

Fried chicken sandwiches: great

Brisket sandwich: super tender beef. Fantastic

Strawberry short cake: amazing

30 minutes wait line with free pecan shortbread

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Happiness here I come!

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:18:40 GMT

Last day of work before 4 day weekend. Got the japan stuff done in oracle. Last minute but I'm happy I learned how to do it.

Last day before Vilma's maternity leave too. Wonder what's gonna happen the next four month.

Dinner at dojima-an. Usual good katsudon and slightly overpriced croquettes.

Wicked at Orpheum! Surprisingly well written story, really superb production, good casting and acting. Really really enjoyable. I had a great time.

In the biggest news, I'm FINALLY moving out of Berkeley after 10 years! We are moving to a great 2 stories condo at walnut creek, right next to BART and 680. Super convenient and a nice place to live. I'm excited!!!

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Test post

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:20:45 GMT

I am having a good day. Naomi recognizes I'm trying.

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party friday

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:33:02 GMT

office recognition party
hosted by IC and allocation
- magaritas (alcoholic and virgin)
- ice cream (bars, drumsticks, sandwiches)
- slide show guessing game

Jayakarta dinner
- 28. Mie tek-tek (spicy noodles)
- 46. Oseng - oseng tempe (spicy stir fried bean cake/tofu/string beans)
- 69. rendang (beef in spices and coconut milk sauce)
- 72. glai kambing (curry lamb)
- 76. saus mentega (shrimp in sweet sour sauce)

with coconut rice. 5 people got into food coma.

Missouri Lounge
- feels like a very large living room with a bar and foreigners
- cheap and strong drinks
- okay DJ
- had a blast dancing with megan

Escape to Reno

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:18:40 GMT

this was all because, against all odds, i won a raffle at an event before the SF chinese new year parade months ago. (thank you emmie for inviting me to that event) normally i don't ever bother with this but i somehow luck into a free night stay at Reno Harrah's and 2 tickets to a show. this must be my year.

this weekend was chosen because the offer is about to expire and it's one of the few Mondays that i can take off from work. turned out to be a great weekend. the drive was long but smooth (3 hours+), partially scenic and not too much traffic.

Reno calls itself the "biggest little city in the world" and it's true. it's really only a couple of small blocks and not much around. there was a river/creek that went right through downtown, and cleverly they made it a small natural waterpark (Wingfield Park). it's definitely a cozy little spot to hang out and chill. since megan is so into anything water-related, that's where we checked out first. water was damn cold but we still stick our feet into it. it's good to getaway.

we had a super late lunch/early dinner at the Harrah's buffet. it's not the high class gourmet affair from vegas, but it's also about only half their price. the carving station can be skipped, but there are gems hidden here and there. we stuffed ourselves silly and that was always a good thing (to me anyway). megan had a bunch of dungeness crab, which was a bit surprising. that alone was worth the admission price.

we took a small break to recover from food coma, and off to the show we go. it was called Iconman by Greg London. i was a bit skeptical at the beginning but he soon won the crowd over. terrific singer (yes, actually live), and great impressions of many singers. the most memorable segment was without a doubt when he became ozzy osbourne, who even had a "duet" with Kermit the frog on "Rainbow connection". absolutely spot on and hilarious. he definitely busted his ass to put on an amazing show. dude actually was voted Nevada's best entertainer of the year in 2009. the band was no slack either, and the light design/show was superb also. all in all we had a great time.

we took a walk to check out El Dorado and Circus Circus after the show. El Dorado seemed to be the most vegas-like casino/hotel there, though Circus Circus was nowhere near the size of its vegas counterpart. i eventually got sucked into the carnival games, and went to shoot some hoops. make 2 "freethrows" and win prize. i had 4 tries and only succeeded once. i felt like dwight howard. so no championship ring (stuffed bear with a hoodie), just a consolation "bob the builder" pillow. meh. i guess like megan said, i still won something.

the next morning we got done packing/checked out, and went to Silver Peak restaurant for lunch at their patio. fantastic fries, cheap jambalaya and shrimp pasta. all terrific in flavor and generous with the ingredients. we topped off our lunch with an awesome double chocolate bread pudding (a la mode to boot!), and we came away super happy.

the drive back wasn't too bad at all. though it was pretty hot, and after megan took over the wheel in sacto, i fell asleep in the passenger seat. it's been a while since i've sat there. it's kinda nice sometimes.

there's no "you", there's no "i", there's "us"

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:06:02 GMT

We are now engaged. =)

still dreaming

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:41:56 GMT

you are talking to me, aren't you, Nas?

"How you a man waitin' for the next man to get rich?
Yo' plan is to stick out yo' hand real quick
So if he feed ya family and he serve you shit
Then he need that head you get and he deserve your bitch
Since you wishin' cash fall from the sky all ya life
Dwellin' on the past when you was alright
When you was gettin' cash but wasn't too bright
Now ya luck down you feel like, bustin' them shells
Nobody owe you, can't do nothin' for self
Want niggaz to show you, how to come up wit' green
I scheme since I'm fourteens, what the fuck was your dream?
Rental cars, little broads, sayin' you was seen
Wit' little niggaz wit' a chain you was doin' ya thing
How high was I? You the thousandth guy
That came around thinkin' we can see, eye to eye
We on a different echelon, coulda got bread together
Now you gets deaded on
Keep dreaming"

back from the moon

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:57:04 GMT

2+ MONTH!

this is without a doubt the longest time i didn't update my journal since i first got it in 2002 (actually 2001 or maybe even 2000 when it was on another blog site). Me and Relando started a writing project in mid october, so that just makes me less incline to write more to the public. it's nice and comforting to just write on my own. knowing i don't have to watch what i say. this is still public domain. it's like if i talk on the street i better be careful what i say.

so the point is that since i'm writing with pen and paper, i stopped writing online. thought about updating a few times but didn't. so many life changing things has happened since i last updated. let's just run down the list in chronological order:

11/4 - obama.
11/14 - iPhone. amazing tool/gadget/toy/entertainment system.
11/25 - Megan left for Australia. she'll be working and traveling in the area for the next 6 months.

yeah.

sayonara, my dear book bag

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:40:34 GMT

this book bag's been with me through thick and thin. i got it in 2000 or 2001 when my dad got me a SONY recordable MD (mini-disc for those not in the know), and this back pack was the accompanying gift. i've taken it to wherever i've gone to, whether it's somewhere mundane like classes or work, or somewhere exciting like Europe or Japan.

it's been so good to me, but it's finally wearing out with all these wear and tear. strands are getting loose and zippers are starting to get stuck, and the side pockets are completely worn out. so i finally decided to get a new book bag, and after some looking around, this is what i got: a North Face backpack!

this backpack has multiple big pockets, laptop sleeve, organizers, many little compartments, plenty of padding, so i know it's a good investment and it'll treat me well. but i'll miss my old walkman book bag. RIP my dear book bag. thanks for all the memories.

it feels good...

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:37:48 GMT

to get shit done. i was stressing this weekend because there was a massive workload to be done and a whole lot of things to catch up this week before quarter-end. so i got to work early everyday before anyone on my team got there this whole week, and just busted my ass getting shit done. i was so tired and stressed that i called my dad twice this week to talk and ask for some advise, which never happened.

i knocked the big assignment out yesterday, and still had a very hefty one left. surprisingly i handled it well today, caught up on things that piled up for close to a month, and still finished my work day around 5:30, which is the earliest i got out this week. megan, mo, and jenny were going to cold stone for free ice cream, and i was able to join them. i was in such a good mood (the sky was amazing with all different types of cloud during sunset) i treated them to dinner at pasta pomodoro.

i reverted to my lazy/fun-craving self after i got home and played dynasty warriors for close to 2 hours. but i took some work home, and i was determined to get it done. so after a shower, i went to work and finished it just now. i'm pretty damn tired, but i'll be able to just wrap things up tomorrow instead of having monstrous assignments to clean up in the 11th hour. alrighty time to sleep. good night world.

common/n.e.r.d concert & Heart walk

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:47:29 GMT

hot damn i'm tired. just finished getting some work done at home. feels like there's always more work to be done than there is time to do it. i'm still terrible at time management. i even tried to get work done this weekend, but it's probably coz i have days when i'm just not very productive at work, and now i have a hill of work that i piled up. ugh. learning how to delegate work is not my strong point. in fact i don't think i know how to do it.

other than that, this weekend was pretty damn awesome. got to work late on Friday after my doctor's appointment, and i actually got there just in time for the American Heart Association walk. the walk was from ferry building to pier 39 and back, it was a super nice day so me, vilma, and maria went to get lunch and ice cream at pier 39. we definitely took our time there, and by the time we got back to the office, we were tired and were in no mood to work. by the time i got home, i crashed til about midnight, which doesn't happen often.

on saturday, i tried to get some studying done during the day, but didn't get too far. the reason was i was excited about the Common/N.e.r.d concert at berkeley community theatre, which is just down the street in Berkeley high school. the opening act was N.e.r.d, and they came out strong. pharrell told people to go up to their aisle and it was awesome to dance around a bit. their set was ridiculously fantastic. if only we had that playlist down, it'd be awesome. Common of course was off the chain too. his stage set up was a bar, and had a few ladies from the audience lounging/dancing around on stage. that was cool. N.e.r.d also came out and did a song with Common so that was cool too. i just wish i know more of his songs. this was probably one of the coolest concert i've been to.

alrite. that's it for reminiscing. more hard work tomorrow.

socal labor escape

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:33:35 GMT

early on in the summer, i wanted to do a socal trip sometime to visit friends. i wanted to check out george's condo, meet up with wakka and windy, and see how raffi's doing. i figured it'd be good to take a few extra days off around labor's day weekend for that. luckily for me, it was right between the end of inventory season and the beginning of my class, so i took off from thursday before labor's day weekend til tuesday.

once i got the go-ahead from my boss, i called people up and got them to take some dayoffs, and my first stop was george's. i flew down on wednesday night right after work, and george came to pick me up from LAX (virgin Am is bad ass, i spent the whole time gaming, watching video, listening to music on the personal entertainment sys). his place was very nice. two floors, two master bedroom, clean and bright. did i mention that there was a beautiful big screen HDtv and PS3? yeah. it was awesome. i definitely enjoyed staying there.

on thursday we went to the famed Magic Wok, the restaurant owned by george's parents, for lunch. all you need to know is that we were very stuffed. afterwards we went to Getty Center since i've never been there. what a magnificent place. i wasn't as interested in the art collection as the architecture and the landscape themselves. we attended the architecture tour, then went all around the place to take pictures, while barely checking out the galleries. after touring every corner of the Getty, including the beautiful garden, we parked ourselves on a ridiculously well manicured lawn and just sat there til closing. even though there was mad traffic right underneath our feet on the freeway, it was very serene and peaceful on the hilltop where Getty sits. so nice.

for dinner we went to this all-you-can-eat korean bbq place in k-town, and it was good. we had beef ribs, brisket, and pork. we really didn't eat a whole whole lot and we were full. sitting next to us were two kids, probably in high school or college, and they were eating up a storm. they put us to shame coz they ate at least two times more than what we had. ahh.... the invincibility of youth. after we got back to his place half in food coma, george hooked up his ps3 to his computer so that we could look at pictures on his big screen tv. i put in the bossa nova Carpenter cd while checking out george and hoey's japan/china trip pictures, it was so so so sweet. there's nothing better than listening to chill music and looking at nice pictures at the same time.

i continued the second leg of my socal tour when george dropped me off at wakka and windy's place after lunch the next day. we took it easy and just hung out and talked. we went to gamestop to pick up some games, blockbuster to pick up a few movies, and then a vietnamese place for whole bunch of noodles: pho, bun bo hue, and bun rieu. all pretty damn good. by the time we were all settled to watch a movie at home, it was late and we were ready to sleep already.

on saturday morning, we woke up somewhat early to go have dim sum. we went to a place with dim sum cart, and they even have ones that fry daikon cake and taro cake, so you know it's a classic place. afterwards we went to a japanese market next door, and there was a bin of bargain jap cd right at the entrance. cd shopping is without a doubt my guilty pleasure, but when it's $1 singles and $3 full albums, it really ain't that bad. i ended up only spending $10 for 6 cds, which isn't too bad, but i already picked up another jap cd at a bookstore right before that, not to mention the 4 cds that i bought at SFO before i flew. hahaha. anyway, it's quite worth my money. they turned out to be really good cds. the bossa nova carpenter cd and bossa stevie wonder cd are great, and the jap cd (by M-Flo, think of them as the jap Neptune) is really really good.

but i digress, the jap supermarket was cool. there's a food court and we continued eating. we got a ramen and a curry udon, and we washed it all down with some boba milk tea from TenRen tea shop next door. we dropped by a few retail shops before we headed home for dinner and movie: pan fried dumpling and edamame with Vantage Point. the movie was pretty engaging and interesting, until the very end, when the abrupt ending just kinda blew the logic of the entire movie outta water, and it kinda leaves a bad taste in our mouths. (that sounds really... you know ;P) it's still worth watching, but just know the ending doesn't align with the rest of the movie.

on sunday we were just lazying around pretty much the whole day. i found zack and wiki in wakka's game library, and it's such a joy to play. it's like one of those old school point and click puzzle/adventure games, but it's modernized by using the multi-functional wii-mote. we played that and wii fit most of the day, before joining up with megan and jenny at Boiling Crab (they were with their parents on their own socal trip the same time too). at first i was a bit skeptical about eating crawfish, but they had also had shrimps and we got king crab legs, and they were DEEEELICIOUS. with a basket of sweet potato fries, a few butter-infused corn on the cob, and some perfect (dry skin) hot wings. there was no utensils and everyone had to get their hands dirty, it was definitely a very social and fun dinner. it was a really great experience.

after dinner, megan dropped me off at Raffi's place at newport beach. been a while since i saw Raffi so it was good to see him settled in his new joint. he had his music system set up so we started bumping some of the cds i got right away, and i picked up where i left off on nba 2k8 on the xbox 360. we woke up pretty late the next day, and being in socal, we went to the beach on labor's day. it was nice and relaxing, and we spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach. after we washed up at home, we went to a really nice sushi restaurant called 930 Sushion CPH (cali pacific highway) for dinner. how nice? there's a lamborghini dealership right next to it. the sushi was super nice and fresh, and i'm happy that i was eating them with someone who enjoys sushi too.

we took it easy on tuesday. we went to a music shop coz Raffi was getting a new mixer, and i ended up checking out the basses. this baby caught my eyes right away, and i picked it up and just messed around with it. Raffi had a guitar at his place, and while talking to him about piano and guitar the night before, i figured out how to play scales on guitar/bass, so it re-sparked my interested in bass (it IS my fav instrument afterall). the F-104 played very nicely and i wanted to pick it up right away. but it's still 400 bux and i can't have impulse buy like that (not to mention it'd be hella annoying taking it back up to the bay), so i didn't get it. good thing i didn't though, coz i've found places online that sells it for 300.

anyway, after a hurried quick dinner at CPK, Raffi dropped me off at the very small long beach airport, and i had to say goodbye to my good friends and sunny socal. thanks for the wonderful vacation.

Oysters and Music

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:03:32 GMT

megan and I went to the Ferry Building after work last night, because there's a place called Hog Island Oyster Co. that has $1 oyster happy hour on Thursday 5-7. the wait was close to an hour (everyone wants oysters for cheap) but it was a good experience.

we sat at the bar and service was prompt and friendly. we got a dozen of oysters, ordered 4 oyster casino (baked with bacon/butter/seasoning), and baby octopus with prosciutto and pepper. all very good, but eating oysters is one of those once-in-a-while thing, even if it's cheap.

the past sunday we went to Stern Grove again to watch Bajofondo (and Si*Sé). We got there right before 12 and all the lawn area were already filled. Somehow we found a rock with a great view to camp out:

Si*Sé performed first, and then Bajofondo. Before their last song, Bajofondo got a whole bunch of people up the stage to dance and have fun:

the 5 hours (2 hours waiting before 3 hours of performance) went by very quickly, even though we were sitting on a slanted piece of rock in the frigid cold of foggy san francisco "summer". the music, performers, crowd, and atmosphere were lovely and lively. everyone had a good time and that's always a great thing.

i was impressed with the music so i went to Virgin records to pick up their Mar Dulce album, and while i was at the store, i saw this big counter of this Putumayo branded with music from all over the world. i stumbled across the Euro Groove and loved it. and so i bought it. buying CDs is definitely one of my guilty pleasures.

this morning, while i was searching on youtube for an old canto song 天才白痴夢, I came across this western scholar who speaks fluent canto with barely any accent. if you just listen, you'd think it's a local speaking. simply amazing. oh, and dude went to UC Berkeley for master, and is now (in the video) teaching Chinese at the Hong Kong Polytechnic U. talk about being badass.