so long SWEET ANGEL!! my little s-6

larnie and leia have been on their road trip for the past week now and it's been pretty amazing... check out to see their adventures, if you haven't yet at

www.tripnsouls.blogspot.com

get ready for some road trip hilarity!!!

the product shots above are from c & o, where we went to lunch before they left. killer garlic rolls and pasta, excellent!!!

the family saying goodbye to their sweet angel! that name just sounds so
cheesy, i just had to use it...

THE BEST BIRTHDAY...EVER!!!

28 has started off really exceeding my expectations. I was surrounded by an amazing group of people of family and friends who helped make the evening and this weekend very special. we dined on a fancy italian feast at dolce and then headed over to east/west lounge to close off the night drinking and enjoying conversation. i hope all of those who attended had a great time as i did.

the best part of it for me was that friends that i've made from all the different parts of my life, elementary school, undergrad, grad, coworkers, my family and signifigant others, came together and were able to enjoy each other's company. i always thought that i needed to keep these different facetes of my life separate, but now i know that i don't need too. this birthday was seriously the BEST!!!

until next year 07.07.07... here are just a few pics

larnie and vic sippin' on some mojitos!

some of my favorite guests!!! jeff, tin, anna and jean

i think this picture of me and johnnie is so cute. we're doing a homecoming pose!

katie, david, steve and me, enjoying some drinks on the outdoor patio

this one is going on my wall... me and steve

jason and i hanging with our boys

fernie, me, lori and alex... these guy are great!

random thought for this birthday weekend. gloria estefans' "1-2-3" keeps running through my head. you know how it goes:

" 1-2-3-4 come on baby say you love me
5-6-7 times
8-9-10-11 I'm just gonna keep on counting

Until you are mine"

anyways, have a good one!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

"C is for Cookie and it's good enough for me!" jenn, me, larnie, dad, mom, bambi carrying little matthew, vic and kit getting ready to eat the big 12" cookie!

today was great! i got to sleep in a little bit, my dad made spam (YUM!), watched the project runway marathon on bravo, caught up on the hills (steve and i have yet to show up, but i'm not holding my breath anymore, i'm sure we ended up on the cutting room floor, but i'm still hopeful that we didn't!). and then after that larns and i headed to the store to make 4th of july dinner! homemade burgers, tater tots, onion rings, skirt steak, complete with sangria and mojitos! it was awesome. and then to top it all off, one of my favorite things in the world, a big 12"...COOKIE with ice cream! so delicious... yummmm

but right before the cutting of the cookie occured we had to document the moment with a pciture in the kitchen. little matthew is all sleepy i his little yellow jumper. he's so cute now. he's learning to walk a little bit, well proping himself up, and making all of these really cute baby noises.

oh family...

CALLING ALL SWEDES!!!

i need your help. a group of us were in cambridge england back in 1999 and besides taking along the necessities (clothes, toiletries, money) i packed one of my favorite things, my GQ magazine. so i packed away "the comedy issue" which GQ has not done since then, with mike meyers on the cover. little did i know that this specific issue would not only become my favorite issue to date, but that it would haunt me for the next seven years...

so inside are all of these jokes from different comedians, but there was one in particular that we could never understand, and this is where i need your help. here's the joke:

"The king of Sweden was out hunting in the woods with one of his assistants. As they looked around, suddenly there appeared in the clearing another man. The king raised his rifle. The man shouted, "I'm not a moose!" The king fired a shot and killed the man. Stunned, the assistant said, "Sire, he said, 'i'm not a moose!'" "Oh," said the king, "I thought he said , 'I am a moose.'"

so help... anyone?

(Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf (right) poses with Sunita Narain and the Stockholm Water Prize diploma awarded to Narain at the Concert Hall in Stockholm on Thursday. — AFP photo)

Martini Night!!!

enjoying an andrew-tini

so after a long week of work and getting home and cleaning my room, what else is there left to do but drink?

with my dad gone to be assistant D.I. (dance instructor) with my uncle and with it being so hot, the only logical choice of something to do on a friday night was to have martini night with my mom!!! i made my special andrew-tini's and we chilled for a bit.

my mom is a bit of a light weight so i basically finished my andrew-tini and working on her's right now. we then spent the rest of the night looking for her missing tsinelas.

oh friday nights with the madre...

CHEERS!

the HILLS...

are alive... with the sound of music... (la la la la...)

frauline maria might not be LC, but she was definately up in the hills...

"the hills" is going to premiering on wednesday and i can't wait to see if i made it pasted the cutting room floor on this first episode. anyways, look for me in the scene were lc is eating breakfast with heidi and she's having these strawberry pancakes and wearing that jackson pollack looking top (i was talking about months ago) with a denim skirt. i'm wearing my brown velvet blazer (dude, it was december when they were shooting) and a bluish grey hat with "18% grey " embroidered on it. look out for steve too b/c we're having breakfast!

that was an amazing day!

HAPPY ARMED FORCES DAY!!!

here are some pics of this totally random, but totally fun party that i went to this weekend...


us caught in a fire storm... just kidding...

Kelly (she's an actress, she's in a scrubbing bubbles comercial where she's an actual scrubbing bubble! she's totally cool) me and my sleepy smile, Steve, and Danielle

some drunken fun...

(knock knock knock) HELLO?!

so today at work i'm working on this model and i need to spray mount plans on to some foam core. there isn't a place to actually spray. i can't do it outside b/c corporate america is going to bust me, and i can't do it in the office b/c, that would be just wrong (even though people do it at school ALL the time, i have to be respectful of my colleagues/coworkers).

so from what i've heard, if there are some small spray moutning needs you go into the stairway and do it. so i go into the stairway do my thing, reach for the door and to my horror... IT'S LOCKED!!!! so i don't panic b/c that would the be the obvious thing to do. so instead i coolly grab my freshly spray mounted boards, and see if there is another exit. i get down stairs and there is a sign saying "alarm will sound if opened" so i make my way back to the third floor and is if the door is really locked. and it is. so i head to the top floor to see if there was another exit. unfortunately, there isn't b/c there is "no roof access."

so my only option is to knock on the door and hope that someone passes by. so i'm knocking, and there's no ventilation so i'm sweating like... well a boquiren, and then finally this lady that i work with, don't really know her name, opens the door and i basically run out... how embarassing... but it's all good next time i know to bring my keys and a phone...

Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN!!!

feliz dia de las madres...

missionIMPOSSIBLE...

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da pawtaunnn pawtaunnnn....

(if you didn't get it, it's supposed to be the mission impossible theme)



so this weekend i was haning out with steve and we saw mission impossible 3. for me it was more about seeing keri russell than it was about tom cruise. despite all of the craziness that's been going around him with katie holmes and their baby, he's actually not a bad actor, maybe not my favorite, but not bad. the movie wasn't half bad. but keri was pretty good in it. although her part was short, he was still quite good.

all i got to say about this is "DAMN!!!" good job growing up...

but i think the best part of the movie for me wasn't the movie itself (although the company is really coming close to being the best part), the best part was about half way through the movie an argument arises in the entrance corridor. three people are yelling at each other and from the looks of it was three rather heavy set individuals (just to give you a picture). people start "shuushing" them b/c they're being quite loud. truth be told i kind of lost interest in the movie for a second b/c i want to know what they were yelling about. so one of the arguing party responds by saying "be quiet before i kick your ass" so everyone starts getting into it and the this lady next a seat away from me yells out "SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH!!!" and then she starts to laugh, and then everyone laughs... it was so hilarious...

the end. maybe you had to be there...

and btw, have you guys been to century city mall? dude, it's totally fixed up now! they fixed up the movie theater and there is a new food court and it's all buzzing over there. i even had a drink with steve before the movie! i haven't done that since i saw a movie with leia at the movie theater near my house. i think we got tickets to "saved" with mandy moore, but then in true leia style snuck into another movie. nice!!! pretty awesome. anyways, i'd go there again. and if the corporate architecture, food court and masses amount of people wasn't enough to go this westfield shopping town, AMC still gives STUDENT DISCOUNTS!!! just bring your student id. how ever old it is. man i remember when a student discount was actually a discount. now movies are just ridiculously expensive.

one reason why my parents are cute...

well besides them being really into dancing, they stepped into a new realm that i never thought that would have done...

they went SADIES to a dance this weekend!!!

i'm not totally sure if they ran out of things to wear or what, but they look cute.

(notice how my dad is holding a mango in his hand which adds a cool breeze to their tropical attire... lol)

rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

5.4.06 happy birthday!!!

sometimes the best things do come in brown paper packages...
thanks cile, james and ja for helping me out...

spreading the love...

next i'm going to blow this picture up and write our names in glitter!!! lol

this has to be one of my favorite pictures right now...

thanks cile and ja for the inspiration and anna for the pic,
i <3 the tecsons and anna 4-eva

HAPPY EASTER!!!

this weekend,well the past couple of weeks have been totally and completely crazy. two weeks ago i went to vegas to watch RENT (which i was pretty good). to prep for that day we watched RENT (the motion picture) and right before we left, larnie was yelling through out alvin and minette's place "RENT IS DUE!" it was totally hilarious.

the week after that was my mom's 6oth birthday, and now this past weekend was my dad's induction ceremony for the malasiquinians of america, where he is vice president. he danced the todo todo, but it was this different one that i'm not used to.

those boquiren boys...

anyways and this past sunday was easter! CRAZY!!! and during this past week, i basically had this whole breakdown...

anyways so this past sunday larnie and i slept in till about 10am and then had lunch with mando and jackie at around 1pm at DOUGHBOYS on 3rd. the same place that i saw LC. we didn't have that much luck today, but we did see a whole bunch of l.a. hipsters. it was fun. it kinda of made me realize how much i like la. i'm not so much in this hipster scene, but it's fun to have the option to just visit it and hang out. people watch. i guess if i really tried i could fit in, but i live in so much debt that i don't think that is necessarily the life for me. but the energy of la is pretty great. and lately i've kinda been reconsidering living up north. i'm sure my mind with change in the next couple of months, but la has so much to offer and see. anyways, so larnie and i really wanted to go to mass, but mando was like, let's go to brunch, but mass started at 2:30pm at the cathedral (which is pretty awesome, if you haven't checked it out) well they told us that the wait was going to be about 25 minutes, which it didn't which was a great easter surprise. and then we had a great meal. i had the S.O.S. (shit on a shingle). but it's not as bad as it sounds. it was this large piece of some crusty bread, baked with butter and asiago cheese, covered with potatoes and topped with this creamy beef mixture and two poached eggs. it actually looked kinda gross, but it was quite delicious!

then we went to church at the cathedral and walked around the masoleum...

Happy Birthday MOM!!

this past weekend was my mom's 60th birthday party. thanks to all of you that came and i hope that you had a good time...

umm lumpia... i LOVE lumpia...

trying to get the heater started. i was totally afraid of this big old fireball coming out of there and burning all of my hair off...








me making a speech to my mom. it was my favorite part of the night... lol. lots of "ummmms" and "uhhhhh" and laughs...

The Boquirens



Tired, exhausted, but it was fun!!!

another reason "I'M SO LA"

i can't believe i was doing this, but... on this rainy thursday, i was sheltered in warmth at the starbucks in santa monica, waiting for my hair appointment with eleazar, sipping on my green tea frappucino and checking email on my mac. to my right was this young day trader wearing his herringbone blazer, designer jeans and boots, his curly hair held in place by a light pomade, trading. to my left, this sporty black guy, with track jacket and diesel jeans who was surfing the net.

all of us were so into what we were doing but we still managed to look up and see the passing housewives headed for pottery barn, and the homeless people carrying their belongings in double plastic bags and begging for food and money.

only in la...

I'M SO LA...

so i was chillin with steve this saturday afternoon and we were walking back from the video store down sweetzer. all of a sudden we see this red convertable viper with this brunette hoochie looking girl with her big ole' sunglasses (which was kinda cool) in the passenger seat and this skinny blonde haired dude in the drivers seat. all of a sudden steve and i were like, "dude, that guy looks so familiar!?!" and then BINGO! it was aaron carter! we didn't get all excited or anything, but more laughed. the part that kills me is that he was all wearing this hooded sweatshrit like he was hiding form the papparazzi or something. (headshake eyeroll)


later that day we went for a spot o' tea at the chado tea room and sitting directly behind us was JOHN LITHGOW. you know the guy from third rock from the sun. and i believe that he was with this woman too, possibly his wife... cool...

kinda gross....

so the other day i must have been really frazzeled, b/c i went to go pee and i totally peed on my shirt!!! it was really disgusting (i know, i'm andrew, i'm disgusting, i pee on my shirts...). so i rushed to the sink and tried to wash it off. luckily it was only on the tip of the shirt and it didn't spread really far so i was able to wash it off. so to kinda play off like i didn't pee on my self i tried to tuck in the shirt a little bit, well fold it under my jacket and walk back to my desk as fast as i could. so i sat down and turned on the fan at my desk and it dried off...

but i saw the funniest thing today. i was in class and with todays fashions, everything seems to be lowrise this, showing my pubes here.... so i was sitting in the back of the room of my near futures class and two rows infront of me this girl is all dressed up, wearing this ruched copper-colored button up top, these wedged shoes and her lowrise jeans and she's all accessoried too. she kinda has a butta face (you know, she looks good, BUTTA face!), but she's pulling off the outfit. anyways she sits down and with her low rise jeans i can totally see that she's wearing this black lacey g, which is like whatever, i don't really care, we all see it all the time. but since she's in front of me, i can't help but stare. so i'm looking at it and she's totally got her g backwards!!! i was thinking, maybe since there isn't that much fabric, the inside flipped out or something, but nope! it was totally backwards!

and then last week, she wore this bra that had bumps or some articulated pattern on it, but she wore it with a pretty tight shirt so it looked like she had warts on her breasts!!!

oh poor girl...

two lips...

danke =)

so what does andrew do at school?

you get it?

UPGRADE!

alright, so it's been a while since i've actually written something... not that i haven't tried to, but this thing sometimes won't upload some of the pictures that i want to post so i'm like "f it!" and leave all disgruntled and peeved. anyways...

so two weeks ago my bro and his wife (mando and jackie) got their new bedroom furniture, which i haven't seen yet, but is supposed to be japanese inspired, so it should be cool. so they sold their old bedroom stuff which included a full bed frame, a armoire, night stand and a mattress. the people that bought the furniture were too lazy to actually drive up to sherman oaks from long beach, so monz and i packed it up and took it to my parents house. the next day i was at school, but mando and jackie told me that the long beachers came to the house to pick up the furniture, but one of them smelled my dad's cooking, totally grabbed a shrimp and said "IS THIS SHRIMP?" the person proceeded to take a seat and eat the shrimp while the rest of the people were moving the furniture... WTF??!!!

first of all, my brother was kind enough to not let you travel all the way out to sherman oaks, but met you half in culver city at his parents house even, (which i don't totally understand) and all you do is go and eat their food? and to top it off, they don't even ask, they just touch and take. that is so f'ing rude...

anyways so they take everything else but leave the full mattress. so suddenly, my eyes open wide and i'm like, "monz, what are you going to do with your mattress?" which basically meant that i was going to take it, and before he could say anything i was all "and i'm not goign to pay you for it either!" and jackie, alvin and minette (who where down for the weekend) were like "yah monz, just give it to him, dont' sell it to him, like the cellphone you sold larnie!" so basically mando sold a cellphone to larnie...this is where i do the headshake eyeroll along with alvin, minette and jackie. good lawd! it was this old startac that he gave her. geezzzz... anyways so bascially i got a new mattress, for free!!! UPGRADE! (thanks monz)

so the next weekend my dad and i went to ikea and bought a new bedframe. we went to the ikea in carson but on the way back we stopped at bed bath and beyond, and the nordy racks (nordstrom rack) by the howard hughes center. apparently my dad has never been to nordy racks and we spent a considerable amount of time. my dad got a new pair of johnston and murphey black loafers and i got some 600 thread count sheets for like $35! it was awesome. i think my dad is going to go back there. so after we put the bed together, which was a task in itself, i rearranged a few things in my bedroom and now i kinda have a new bedroom... it feels more adult. who knew that a bigger bed could do that. i think the funniest thing is that my dad goes into my bedroom and he just stares at it and starts smiling. it's like he proud of the arrangment or something. it's funny... oh papa....

it was my lucky day...

so last night i was going to cile's house b/c i wanted her to help me out with this slide show that i'm going to do. so i parked my car, and if you know me i totally parked super far, and proceeded to walk to her house. i didn't notice before, but there are a lack of streetlights. so as i was walking in the dark and calling cile, just to make sure she was home, i stepped on something that seemed to be the size of a softball, but squishy. so in my head i was like, "wow that's a huge ass grapefruit on the sidewalk." and at this point cile had answered the phone and i started to think about it more and was like, "dude... that must have been some dog shit!"

so once i got into the light near cile's house, my instinct was correct i had stepped on a huge ass grapefruit! SHEAH RIGHT, it was SHIT! and it was all over the bottom of my shoe. so i just left my shoes outside of cile's house and cleaned them off with her hose before i left.

i totally hate the smell of shit, especially dog shit. i don't mean to smell it, but when you're cleaning it, you totally get whiffs and to me it smells like really bad soy sauce. once this happens i my gag reflex kicks in and i'm totally ready to vomit.

but from what i can recall, stepping in dog shit, is actually LUCKY. yes, lucky. think about it... the world has a huge amount of space, enough space for billions of people to live on, build homes, create steets and walkways...and in the words my sister-in-law after she stuck her finger up my nose and it started to bleed at my cousin's wedding (that's another story for later), "WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!" of your foot meeting the poop of a random dog? pretty slim.

the same goes for a bird pooping on you. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? it could poop where ever it want, but if it goes in the air and it lands on you, while you're walking, how lucky is that? i knew this girl that was in a car and she got pooped on! the poop went through the moon roof of the car she was in and it landed on her head! LUCKY!!

well, believe what you want, but i'd rather go around saying that i'm lucky, rather than being all sumangot saying i just stepped in dog shit...

but, if you have a dog, dude, clean up after it, no one is that lucky...

it's not a secret anymore...

but MANDO got MARRIED!! (yes married!!!)

but if you missed it, like a lot of people did b/c it was a very small and intimate gathering, you can watch it online!

www.littlewhitechapel.com
put in mando's name and watch the whole ceremony, all 7 minutes of it!

12.24.05

congratulations monz and jackie and welcome to the family jackie!

LB and LC

alright, so i'll admit it, as much as i don't want to, but... i'm... i'm a...ffffffaaaaaaa... a FAN of laguna beach, the real oc.... dude, it just happened one night. and i didn't even mean for it to happen, but it did. this past summer, it must have been the season premeire of the second season, but they were showing all of the episodes from last season right before. and i just got hooked. and maybe it's my affinity towards blondes or something, but lauren/"lc" is probably my favorite. and in fajardo style i've got to say "she's sooo pretty!" i didn't really like stephen for leading her on, but he turned out to be a cool guy and i'm glad that jason got all hurt, the dumbass shouldn't have messed up the good thing he had... i don't get it what's his problem?

anyways so i was having breakfast this past tuesday on third street at this place called doughboys. i walk into the restaurant and there are people with walkie talkies on and there is a bounce facing this one table. i take a quick glance at the table and i'm like "no, it can't, that has to be some other girl." for one hot minute i thought it could have been, dude, LC. so i go outside and sit at a table, which is pretty much in front of where the blonde girl is sitting and i take a really long, and probably freakish stare and sure enough, my instincts were right, it was LC!!! i was so excited, but i had to contain myself, who wants to be around a drooling fan? if that was me i'd totally freak.

anyways, so since i've been out of the country and mtv overdrive has trouble working on macs, i've kinda lost touch with whats been going on. but i did find out that, dude, she's moving to la and going to school or something. that was probably old news, but wow. i have to say, "she's so pretty." so the scene wraps up or whatever and this one lady comes up to us and goes, "it looks like you're in a couple of our shots so you've going to have to sign a waiver form so that we have your permission to use your face on the show." and that's where she told us about "the hills."

so when you guys watch that show, look out for the episode where lc is wearing a stripped, baby tee that's got a jackson pollack feel to it, and a short ass denim skirt and eating breakfast (i think she had strawberry pancakes with eggs over easy and fruit) with heidi (?), b/c you might see me in the background wearing a brown velvet blazer and a blue shirt and a baseball hat in the background. i'm sure i'll look like just a brown blob, or you won't even see me, but that's ME!!! besides the attitude and bitchiness that i've witnessed in the few days that i've been back, this kinda makes up for it.

ohh i've missed la...

I'm BACK!!

and i'm still a jackass...

i was trying to get some sleep before i actually left for back home. i even though i had made good time b/c in my frantic rush to see if i needed to get a new bag i packed all my stuff two days before i left. pretty good huh? and i found i didn't!! yay! anyways so i kinda just chilled my last day. i kinda went out to get some money b/c i knew that my luggage was going to cost me extra, but it was a saturday so the bank was closed. and then i went to go eat my last meal at reata, the place that we've been going to for the past couple of months. dude, you get a whole meal (including the main dish, miso soup, and various pickeled vegetables) for 550 yen (which equals about $4/5, good huh?). but since i went by myself, i sat with these other people in the restaurant. at first is was a bit awkward, but then we started talking and i kinda busted a little bit of japanese and we were all friends. it was cool. then i went back and tried to get some rest. basically i didn't and so at about 2am, i got up from my bed, checked my bags again and took a shower. after getting ready, i talked to larnie and just shot the shit with her and she caught me up to all of the things that were going on at home. like how my neigbor had died and some other stuff. kinda bummed me out, but i was going home! so i said bye and looked out the window. and to my shock, and i don't even know why i reacted this way, but i was all "HOLY SHIT, it's SNOWING!!" i started to panic a little bit. was my flight going to be canceled, how was i going to get home? did i have too much luggage? all of these questions started flooding my mind and i was basically having a panic attack. so i started to lug my 3 suitcases of stuff down the spiral staircase in the dohokan. i was in my slippers taking down 2 80lb bags, and i almost pulled a muscle, but everything made it safe. so at 3:30am, my shuttle service came and picked me up (my flight was at 7am and it needed to pick up somebody else).

i started talking to the driver and he was asking me where i was going and i was like, "back to america" and he was like, "i have relatives there" and i'm all "where" and he's all "new york" and i'm all "cool" so i go "do you go snowboarding?" and he's all "hai!" and i'm all "cool" and then i fell asleep. the snow as kinda nice and it wasn't snowing at the kansai airport so i felt a sigh of relief. anyways so i get to the kansai airport (by Renzo Piano, look it up, it's pretty cool) and i'm totally lost. i just woke up from my nap and after walking around for like 10 minutes and not seeing anybody in the airport, not even an information person , i start to totally freak. it was getting close to my flight and i didn't even know where i would have to board! so i was all telling myself to calm down and maybe if i go outside i'll see a sign to show me where to go. so i headed outside and after realizing that there wasn't anyother terminals i went back in, read another sign that said "domestic terminal: 3rd floor." i was actually going back to where i had landed (fukuoka) when i first arrived b/c that was there my flights were leaving from. sigh. but that wasn't the end of it. i went to go to the e-ticket machine, stuck in my atm card and it totally ate it!! as if things couldn't get worse. so i'm trying to stay calm and ask one of the flight attendants to help me. she totally opens the machine and takes out my card. whooo! and then i wipe the powis off of my forehead.

so the flight attendants can totally see that i'm stressing out and help me. i show them all my shit and they're really helpful. so i'm checking in my luggage and the flight attenedant at the counter is all telling me how i can save money by having the courier service take my bags to my destination for cheaper. and i'm all "are they going to get there when i get there?" and she like "no" and i'm all "well i'm going back to america today so i need my bags with me." (kinda busting attitude) and she's like "it'll take about two days" i'm all "i'm going back to america and i need to catch a connecting flight, i will pay for the extra baggage" and she's like "are you sure?" and i'm all "yes, i'll pay for it" so she scurries on and tells me how much i have to pay for the luggate that i'm hauling. it wasn't that bad. it was only about $200. which is fine. i thought i was going to have to pay about $500. but after getting my boarding pass and going through all of the security checks, i sit down and realize that i was such a totally and comple dick to this person that i didnt' even know. i guess kindnesstour: asian took a break for today...

so i board on my flight and say my first set of goodbyes to japan... i arrive in fukuoka on time but still need to get some cash. nothing is open so i walk around the airport with my million lbs. of luggage and explore the place a little bit. it looks pretty different in the light, as opposed to when i did see it at nighttime. so i'm waiting for the bank to open, and it does automatically, the security gates open and people rush in to use the atms. but i need to talk to a teller b/c i needed to exchanged my travelers checks for cash. so it never did open so i went back up to where my flight was going to leave and they basically tell me that i need to go to the other side of the airport. but thankfully i check in my baggage and tell me that it will arrive in la as planned. powis off of my brow... so i board my second flight and head to narita airport in tokyo. i think this time too i saw somebody throwing up. wait, i think that was in the karasuma-oike station back in kyoto. anyways but i think i did see someone throwing up. anyways so i get off of the plane and try to find my connecting flight, and one of the flight attendants basically says that i need to go on this bus to get to the other side of the airport. it's crazy so i'm rushing through and i still need to get some souvenirs and i ask her if i'm going to have time and she goes "maybe" and i'm like "great" but it's more important that i get on my plane then buy souvenirs. anyways so she's carrying one of my heavy bags and tells me where to go. something like this would never happen in america. a flight attendant who finds out where you have to go and carrys your bags. in la you'd probably get some bitchy lame-o who, with attitude says, "uh uh, you best go find yo'self a cart and take yo shit ova der! then you can ax somebody ova der... NEXT!"

so i board the flight, again, and it goes pretty smoothly. until this baby starts to cry and hitting the empty chair next to me. granted, it is an empty seat, but it's still connected to my seat so i can totally feel this kid, who is crying by the way too, kick the seat. so in my head, i was like "i'll give the kid a chance here and maybe he'll calm down." when that didn't happen, i siad to myself, i'll let the dad do it." that didn't happen. so finally i turn around, look at the kid and put my index finger to my mouth and go "shhh." that didn't work so i turn to te dad, and just give him a look and say "come on..." so the kid stops and i head back to sleep. but it's not over yet. i try to flag down a flight attendant to get a pen b/c all of my shit is in the over head compartment and the bitchy flight attenedant that i'm about to talk about was all "uh uh, don't open that, something might fall out and hit somebody!" and i was like i know! but fuck, there are like a million people doing it to and it's not like i was just going to open it all quickly and let shit fly out. what a bitch! anyways so i'm flaging down a flight attenedant and the bitchy one goes "i see you waving, but i'm not going to help you and hides in the food prep place. luckily, there was another flight attendant who apologized for that bitch and helped me out. anyways there was another bitchy flight attenedant, but whatever, don't need to spend my time on her.

after going through customs and another agricultural check (i didn't even bring any fruit!) i was ready to call my parents to tell them to pick me up. it's just easier to do it that way for our family. since culver city isn't that far, having to pay for parking just seems ridiculous. anyways so i got my back and to my surprise i saw my dad!!! it was one of the best things ever. it was so nice to see my dad! and totally gave him a hug and then i saw my mom and gave her a hug too. what a great way to land in la...



it's nice to be back...

can you become...

a new version of you?...

i don't know, can you? i think i've watched too many episodes of felicity. i'm not taking into a tape recorder talking to sally or whatever, but i'm just trying to make sense of my little experience here in japan. has seeing all of these japanese arts and crafts made me a different person? have i been transformed by all of the temples and gardens that i've seen? i'm not sure, as of yet, but if anything, maybe i'm not really a different person, but i think my view of the world just got a little bit wider, my eyes have been opened, . it's kind of refreshing to live somewhere else and experience a different culture to get a better perspective of where you're at.

so where am i? not sure yet, but i'll let you know when i get there...

christmas bells are ringing...

so this past saturday i headed out early to downtown kyoto to run some errands. i got on my bike and headed to koksaikaikan station in the cold air. i was basically shopping for some souvenirs for people back home. little things like this that are so simple for other people somehow create so much stress for me. the stress i assume stems for the fact that i don't want to give something cheesy to someone that i care about. i'd really like the gift to represent a lot of thought and not just something that i got off an end cap at the local 100 yen store. but when does this need for good will really worth the insanity it causes? in some cases, it's well worth it. and today was one of those days. so i did that in the morning and then headed to japanese class. we learned how to ask for our "yellow beanie" (along with various things). so after a good day of shopping for others (and i didn't buy anthing for myself, but i think to reward myself i'm goign to by these shoes that i saw (dude, they're on sale for about 5000 yen which translates into about $41. SCORE!), and possibly another jacket!) i grab my bike from the station parking lot and head back to the dohokan. one of the interesting things here is the fact that in a mainly buddhist nation, they still celebrate christmas. apparently christmas in japan is for lovers, so it's not a religious thing. but the station, the arcades and everthing else is deck out for christmas. well as i was riding my bike i saw this house with blinking lights, santas and elves outside. it was just so funny. anyways so i was looking at this in amazment and all of a sudden i turn my head and this bike light is heading towards me...AHHHH!!!!!!! fortunately i swerved to the right and the girl swerved to the left. so after this whole 1 second ordeal i yell out "SUMIMASEN!" (excuse me in japanese) and proceed to head home with my heart beating 100 miles per minute. dude, i didn't even check if the girl fell. whoops! i felt really bad, but i was so in shock. but i guess if she fell i would have heard a thud and a cry right? i'm sure she's fine.

YUKI ARIMAS!

It's SNOWING!!! it's 1:30 am and everyone is out throwing snow balls and enjoying the first snow fall.

here are a few pics. man am i going to miss japan...

just outside the line of fire...

more pictures tomorrow!!