Last Resort!

Yoooooooz, with my long & juicy entry half completed, I'd like to announce that this blog is closed! I'm not takin a hiatus like Blink 182, read my lips, no hiatus. It is C L O S E D!! I still feel accomplished for typing that humongous amount of words. I'd like to think it's a pretty ending to the year, to all these years since 2003. *Looks at my archieves! Wow! I'll read my entire collection one day fo sho.

I have some issues, needless to mention tho, this blog is linked by too many, all you unknown peeps peepin' makin' me nervous. Lol. However, I will continue blogging at somewhere else. So. . . hit me up online.

PEACE OUT!!  ¶

18:30 Tata

 

Skywalkers! *This is 1 of the 3 photos, 75bucks in total.

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17:16 Tata

  Merry X'mas & Happy New Year

Late update, late holiday wishes. Nonetheless, I hope everyone is enjoying this festive season, including myself.

Yours Truly just returned from Las Vegas. This is one of the best trips in my life.

Prior to the trip was Christmas, so I'll do some backlogs. . This is gonna be messy.

Dec 23th,

Went to Wong Leehom's concert. He came to sf and I bought the ticks only the day before at the 11th hour. It was my 2nd time going for a live concert. The 1st was in Singapore, it was way back, I rmb I went with my parents and it was not a very pleasant experience. I didn't like the atmosphere, the sitting, the blasting music, the squeezy crowd and the incoherent singing from various unknown & unpopular artists. However this time Leehom's concert was dope! I booked the tickets online & chose the seats myself, didn't have much choice tho, sat almost directly to the side of the stage.

Concert was held @ City Hall plaza which has a tiny capacity of a mere 6000 people. I liked it cos everyone had a comfortable seat and was able to catch a glimpse of Leehom's face. I had a balcony seat, appox 70m away from stage, sufficient for me to see everything from Leehom's shoe color to which drum the drummer was whacking. Yours Truly seldom sings chinese songs, if not for going to karaeoke with frens, I would be totally ignorant of most of his songs. I definitely enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and liked the showmanship of the artist as well as his band despite the dead ass crowd on the balcony.

The concert lasted for slightly passed 2 hours, all in all, it was awesome, esp when attending with friends.

Prior to the concert we had a meal at Benihana, a popular teppanyaki restaurant located @ Japan Town. It was a pricey meal, food was average, but the chef's performance was tight. He performed complex throws, swift cuts, acrobatic maneuvers of the food items and feats which I consider dangerous for the spectators. He was fast and all his moves clean and tight. Awesome showmanship. But still, a pricey dinner for it's tasteless calamari.


Dec24th, X'mas eve.

Extremely fast day. Woke up at 0730hrs ( slpt at probably 3am the previous day) cos honey forced me up. Microwave cooked egg for breakfast followed by a hasty taxi ride to Bestbuy, a local electronic store. Was feeling dizzy & tired. Shopped for probably 1 hour, picked up 2 digital cameras and 1 digital video cam. Tight schedule, no time to yawn, hopped onto a 38L and hurried to downtown. Spent another 2 hours doing more shopping before completing the items on baby's gift list. I then went off by myself to Walgreens and printed tons of photos & bought x'mas cards at Boarders. Finally took the Muni home at 1500hrs. Without pause, I painstakingly went on to making the scrapbook, mindlessly worked in front of my desk till 1830hrs and went to Walgreens to pick up more photos. Rushed thru the rest of the aftnoon before dusk. Had a shower and 10mins pimpin' time before setting off to airport.

Finally had sometime to breathe and space for love talks @ the departure hall. Took pictures, took videos, some last lovely & kinky words, lovely and kinky kisses, and there, she's gone. . awwwwwwww =((. Sad. Hopped onto a taxi and ride back home to join my frens in the supposed-celebration for x'mas. The party was a random and spontaneous one, out of nowhere 9 people came to my house to eat steamboat o.O plus a tiny little Chihuahua, oh crap, I hate dogs. And that tiny little monster looked so skinny and freaky, it's eyes pertruding out, constantly staring, and occasionally growling whenever people exit the door to take a smoke. Wtf, stupid animal, I hate dogs. I'm sorry, I'll try to love them.

Dinner talks, dinner jokes, trivial games, so much for the x'mas! It was a bit messy with random & unknown people coming to my house, some juz passing by to borrow ID so that they can go clubbing. There's a boy from Singapore, HCI student of the year 1998. Omg, wtf. He's my senior? Screw him, he's got a China gf who came to borrow fake ID. I showed him my IC and he said "Oh blue?! You're PR?" Yea I am, actually, I used to be. Rapacious eating & drinking continued to midnight till the abrupt appearance of my landlord. Knock, knock, I knew it's him. I opened the door, my landlord dressed in his pyjamas, lighting a cigarette in his mouth, after a puff of smoke, he opened his mouth. There! Complaints came about our noise, he made a fucking lame excuse saying we're disturbing the neighbors, he said Americans are anal people and they'll call the police because we're making noise.

Upon the end of his senseless speech, everyone in the living room throw a look of intense malcontent at him, as if saying "You're the anal people, not Americans". Yea, I shut door, apologized for the formality, wished him Merry Christmas for the courtesy, and returned to greet my guests for the hospitality. C'mon, we weren't even getting drunk, smoking weed, or making noise from sex, he should definitely go visit the dorms @ USF to check out the real party people. Our dinner was just a social and family friendly gathering. Haiz. So then everyone left, and I was left with a table of unfinished food, stained plates and empty glasses. Shane & I decided to call it a day and fix the mess on x'mas.

Light's out! Merry X'mas!

Enjoyed the rest of my solitary night in my room alone, and. . . slpt!

Dec 25th, x'mas day!

Day was passed like any other normal day. I woke up to the music from Shane's ipod, helped with the cleaning. We had breakfast together before getting onto our own tasks. I really forgot what I did. No memories of the day. Packed my stuffs for the Vegas Trip, waited for almost 40mins before cab arrived to pick me up. Headed to Golden Gate Ave, I tipped the taxi drive heavily for apparent reasons and met up with friends. Had our x'mas dinner together, rice and meat, and that's it. Flight was on 26th 7am, we planned to reach airport by 5am, which means we'll wake up at 4am. Played computer games till 1am, slpt for 3hrs. My fren's bed was so soft and comfortable, I wish I had a bed like that. Well, my bed's 200bucks, his is probably 1000, I can't afford the different, yet. Waking up is never my expertise, I took a long time snoozing. I had the biggest bag, I've got everything inside, clothes and all my toiletry items. Michael is way more cool than me, he din slp that night, and then, he din change, he carried with him 2 pairs of underwear and left. Wow. . boys. . .

Dec 26th, Las Vegas!!

We arrived at the airport 2 hours early. It was 4am plus, Virgin America's counter wasn't even open yet. So everyone started making phone calls to talk 2 their lovers & parents. I 1st called my parents, follow by my grandparents (it was also the 1st time I'm calling back Xi'an from SF) and lastly my lover who already reached her home since her departure on x'mas eve. Felt great talking to my grandparents, as usual, grandpa told me to write him letters if I'm free. Don't blame him for being old fashioned, he's a very traditional and down-to-earth man. I miss them so much! Finally checked in after appox 30mins of waiting. The security check for domestic departures is as troublesome as the international departures, had to take off shoes, coat, necklaces, laptop, coins and everything. Decided that we'll eat breakfast at the airport before boarding, bought pizza in the end, not v tasty but taste like pizza. Reached the boarding gate shortly, without any long waits, the gate opened and we boarded the plane. Our seats were located at the 1st row where we get more leg space, that priviledge came 'cos we paid 15bucks extra when selecting seats. Virgin's planes are cool, black leather seats, purple interior lighting, soft R&B music, huge LCD screens with touch function and big tables, even bigger than those on 747. The comfort was unexpected, but very welcomed.

I recalled having a nightmare about a plane crash just right before wheels up. Quickly cut my thoughts before imaginations go too wild. Plugged in my headphones and dozed off. Didn't fall aslp but managed to some rest. The 1 hr30mins flight was swift, the plane was descending before I noticed the pressure building up inside my ears. Peeped out the window and saw the city. Glanced back to the screen in front of me, which reads: Altitude 4000+ ft, ok we're descending, Air Speed 320mph, pretty fast, Ground Temperature 30F, ok how cold is 30F? I grabbed my cellphone trying to get to the converter application and Daniel uttered in a low tone beside me, "32F is 0C." o.O!! So 30F is negative in Celsius. Aight, winter in this desert, welcome to the state of Nevada!!

Exited the airport after baggage claim. The cold and dry wind came right into our faces when the door was opened. Felt refreshed and energized. Looked around at the landscape, nothing can be spotted yet except the gigantic mountains blocking the horizon. Daniel's friend came to pick us up, his name is Keke, from Sichuan. Keke is residing in LV. We made our way to the car park and he drove us out. Check in time for hotel was 3pm, time was appox 830am then, unanimous decision was to eat Chinese food for breakfast. We asked if there's 油条 & 豆浆, and there is! The city doesn't look attractive in daylight, buildings are scattered, only hotels looked tall and grand, residential areas are built with typical 2 or 3 storey houses. Weather was cold but the Sun was blazing poisonously, almost no cloud cover, the sky lookded extremely blue and clear. On the ground, we see a remarkable city built in this desert. Admired at the great achievements of human civilization while Keke talked and explained like a professional tour guide on various famous sites.

Reached the Chinese restaurants in less than 20mins, Keke told us that LV is a small city. Very Chinese looking the restaurants were, with golden statues of the 4 characters from Journey to the West, break walls, red pillars and tiled roof-tops. Entered the front door, and the interior looked even more Chinese than the exterior. Waiters & waitresses speaking in Mandrain with a little Chinese accents, senior citizens and families with little children gathered at the round table eating and chatting, big fish tank in front of the kitchen entrance and yellow lighting. We sat and ordered in less than 1 min, food came fast too. Awesome breakfast! 油条, 豆浆, 夫妻肺片，韭菜合子 and a lot more.

When we were done with our heavy eating, we set off to go shopping. Vegas is famous for it's hotel malls & shopping centres. I was told one can spend the entire day strolling in the malls and eyeing the luxurious commodities. So we went. Nothing much about the shopping experience, I consider it a chore. Michael bought a coat for 99bucks at a mall, only finding its price to depreciate by 50bucks when we reached the outlets, exactly the same coat, only lower price. We mocked at him for while before he got too depressed. What are outlets? Click it for wikipedia's definition, in a nutshell, it's just a factory store where stuffs are sold cheaper than retail price, more like a wholesale price. The outlet malls in LV were chaotic. Shoppers come in waves and the queue longer than those during the Hellokitte sales by MacDonald. Armani Exchange selling shirts as low as 15USD, even Movado had an outlet, wtf. I didn't buy anything cos I'm too impatient to dig thru mountains of piled clothes and waiting in the enormous lines. Some shops are so crowded that I can smell the sweat from the shoppers. Other stores had policies to permit only a small group of shopper in at a time so that everyone can walk pass one another with comfortable space but it created huge queue outside its store. When I saw those Americans & tourist waiting in the line outside Coach for only a mere 30% discount, I thought Singaporeans are not so kiasu after all.

Ok, this is probably the 4th time I'm trying to resume recalling events and my memory is failing me. The 1st day in Vegas is hectic. Albeit the tireness from shopping, our time spent on walking around was perpetuated by my late hotel check in time as well as our eagerness to see more of the city. We then went to Wynn, a famous hotel, diamond 5-starts, to tour its prestigious looking casino and the casino mall. It was an eye-opening experience. Nothing much to talk about the casino, juz exactly like those protrayed in movies. The mall is cool. It's a single-storey mall. Walkway in the middle with shops at the sides, ceilings are painted with pictures of sky and cloud, shops have a middle-age English look. It was pleasant to stroll around in those malls, there're even artifical winds blowing to make you feel like you're really walking withing a town. The ceiling changes in brightness with accordance to time, so shopper can literally see that the sky has gone dark!

Finally checked in to Excalibur at 3pm. The exterior looked so fucking grand. But the room is so-so. Michael & I took a quick nap while Daniel followed Keke to his house. The rest of day was spent within the Vegas city, had a great dinner. Weather was extremely windy & cold. Din't do much beside exploring the city. Vegas looked a thousand times more attractive at night, everywhere is lighted up with vibrant colors, streets packed with pedestrians. Now it looked more like in the movies, and I felt like I came from SF village. The night was passed in casinos & hotels. Vegas's famous buffet dinners in various casinos were devastated with ridiculously long queues. Fucking gay, I can't believe it. Average waiting time was 2 hours. We ate Itallian in the end, it was great tho.

I can't recall much about the 1st night, in a nutshell, lights, colors, and sound.


Dec 27th, The Grand Canyon

Woke up at 9am by a morning call. Almost failed to climb outta bed. Daniel & Keke were already waiting outside my hotel gate. Rented a Jeep, cos we were going to The Grand Canyon. Weee! Bought some pack food and hot dogs for the long road trip, had our breakfast in the car too. GC is located in the state of Arizona, appox 3-4 hrs drive from Vegas which is located in the state of Nevada. There's also an one-hr time zone difference between the two states. The ride was endlessly long. Passed the famous Hoover Dam and Colorado River. Awesome sight. The Transformers was filmed at Hoover Dam. Haha. The Dam also marked the boundary between Arizona and Nevada.

Our journey into the desert was met with heavy traffic just slightly passed Hoover Dam. The landscape looked same everywhere. Dry shrubs, perculiar looking cactus, sandy land, huge mountains, everything looked yellow besides the sky. Not a single cloud floating around, the Sun looked perfectly round, its fiery heat can be felt even in the negative temperature of the Winter. Outside the car, it looked just like summer! I wind down the window and stretched my hand out, the piercing wind felt so cold, it sent waves of painful chills into my arm. Wow, looks are indeed deceiving, it's winter after all.

The Diamond Bar
This is the road I'll never fucking forget. This is the most disgusting, bumpy, yet unique path I ever went passed. Came to our final part of the journey, according to Google directions. The Diamond Bar. "Road conditions may be harsh, go straight if you want to avoid it." Google actually offers warning, pretty handy but neglected information. We turned right. There's no road, no diamond, no bar, just a stony & sandy path. Probably created by too many cars travelling through it. The bumps are huges, decsends felt like drops from roller coaster rides, turns felt like drifts in Rally matches. Our car constantly shaking, dust propelled into the air by by the wheels in front in gigantic amounts, covering our vision. It was horrible. Still the same yellowish landscape, only yellower. Like racing thru The Barrens in World of Warcraft. Worst, we were crawling so slowly at 30mph because of the numberous sharp turns and bumps. That's why the Jeep. Good side of the story, we were only on that road for 1 hr & I din puke. And the bad side, we'll have to return passing it again. JEEEEEESUS!

Rainbow finally appeared after the storm. The Grand, Grand, GRADY CANYON came to sight at the far horizon after coming out of Diamond Bar. Yes! Concrete road! Welcome back to civilization! We parked and purchased a $79 tour package, inclusive of a ticket to the Skywalk. Let me skip the trivial details and move on to the Skywalk. It was a bridge like structure made of GLASS built on the edge of the canyon to let tourists experience a pleasant walk 1200metres above the Colorado River. It boosts an ability to withstand wind speed of 100mph from 8 directions, earth quake of 8.0 magnitude within 50miles, weight of 800 people on it at the same time, but it still looked fragile and breakable like glass to me. It is glass! Standing there, on that piece of glass, not only provided a magnificent view of the canyon, so far the best sight I've caught in my life, it also let everyone experienced an intense fear. No one dared to look down, no one dared to take heavey steps, everyone was smiling awkwardly, looking away. Then there were some children onboard. Ignorant of the inherent danger, of death, they jumped on that fragile shit. People tensed and freezed, stares were thrown to them & their irresponsible parents. I turned and said to my fren, " Can we get out of here?" and received positive replied. But no one moved. 3 cameras were set up on the bridge, each shot costs 25bucks, all skywalkers were not allowed to bring any shit with them, no even wallet, we went through a secruity check before stepping onto the glass. Officials explicitly expressed that itfro was to protect the skywalk fromm been damaged by falling items. I guess in that message it was implicitly hinted that it was for business concerns as $25 per photo could possibly, in fact, definitely create vast profits. Money issue aside, compulsory photo taking at the 3 corners prolonged our skywalking time, escalated our tensions, intensified our fears. Great! It's worth the money to spend more time in the sky, you could probably have higher chances of dying too. If that shit break, I guess everyone can still enjoy a double digit free fall time while making their final journey to touch down. Wakaka. *Sorry, I'm getting increasingly sarcastic.

It was a great experience. A little scary, but such a grand sight. Grand Canyon indeed. Looks better than Great Wall of China, better than Terracotta in Xi'an. This single wonder of the world is enough to make my trip to Vegas one of the best in my life. Also making all the time spent on Diamond Bar worthy. Lmao.

*Ok I can't stand backlogging anymore. Too much stuffs to write & my memory is failing me. I'll end here. No Dec 28th, no 29th, no new yr and wateva. Screw them. Just look at photos & Videos.

I decided to put the photos and videos in a separate post. So. . . this marks the end of my entry. Happy New Year, while it's still new. =)  ¶

16:00 Tata

  Trippin'








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16:29 Tata

 

Your cuteness increase like an exponential function.

Congrats boss, you graduated.

Daddy Shane with his lover

My roommate who abandoned the house.

Porridge √ Fish √√ Xiao Bai Cai χχχ

That's mine.

Yours Truly at his BEST!!

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16:31 Tata