in the knick of time..

Big ups to Sheila! Thank you (well, rather your Mom:) so so so so much! With 4 hours to fly, 20 minutes to the post office closing, I picked up the memory cards from China and am off to Michigan! I've just had time to download them, and we'll share more when I get home (e.g. Devrim drinking at every historical site in Beijing).

Next stop, Detroit! Homeward Bound!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Los Angeles is burning up (quite literally). 100 degrees in the city of Angeles today. Fear of becoming a human smore aside, I love the hot, dry, Santa Ana winds.

Never fear, if its uncomfortable weather here, it won't last long..

I heard some people grumbling about lousy weather on nomadlife, so I thought I post our 10- day forecast:)

Happy Birthday, POS

POS:
What's the country count? 46 now? Soon to be 47 tomorrow? What can I say about this guy..you know, some people exclaim, "where did the time go?" or dream of a day where they are actually alive and live in the moment. They sit back and reminisce about glory days gone by and sigh, "those were the days".

Then there's Devrim aka "Digidy" Leonard. I think anyone who knows this character will agree he's certainly one of a kind and a questionable addition to the human race at that. Nevertheless, good or bad, Dig's "lust for life" is def. contagious and whether or not you'll admit it, you're glad you've gotten to run into such an "interesting" person.

Happy Birthday, dude. Brews and Fishheads!

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."

--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

These are the days, buddy. New Zealand NYE '06.

On the Banks of the Red Cedar....

I must like pain. It must be that I yearn to go places where I'm most certainly not welcomed. Deep within enemy lines, on the banks of the Red Cedar.

Us wolverines have an unusual feeling coming into this year's contest, one of defeat. And it seems to be distracting us! Today, as I was backing out of the parking lot at Ralphs, a shopper caught my eye and gave me an uneasy glance, mouthing the word "stop". Too late. Crash. I looked in my rear-view mirror, brand new Audi. Nice. When you get in a crash in LA, chances are it's not going to be a Dodge Stratus. So I pulled my Volvo (aka "the tank") back into my parking spot expecting to be greeted by some irrate, late for a meeting business-type guy. Instead it was some younger guy (later I found out he was a figure skater, what?), someone who just as confused as me, "uhh, what is the SOP for dealing with this? I just flew in from Michigan, I'm not sure about the laws out here". "Michigan", I say, "whereabouts?""Ann Arbor, I'm a student there". To that I pointed out I was an alum and instead of the normal uneasy that can come about by exchanging numbers etc, we both kind of sat there in awe of the situation. What are the chances of this? 2 UM people both too distracted to notice each other's car pulling out in the middle of Los Angeles. Ah, the randomness of life. So, what could have been a very touchy incident turned out to be a funny conversation...go fig. Expect the unexpected I guess. "Ah, you're going to the game? Yikes". I guess we knew we should be sticking together in such times.

I've never seen my brother so pumped for a game before. I've never seen UM people so, dare I say, "scared", for a football game. Unranked for the first time since 88, I think bad things may come of it. But, with that being said, it is the Spartans, and it wouldn't be the Spartans if they didn't blow it. So, bring it boys!

Townieville action to be had. Ridicule and humilition to ensue. A famous midwest tailgate awaits. A rook from Cali to witness. I can't say there is much that compares to the experience...Oh, my poor liver.

fyi for everyone reading this, the tank was fine, the Audi took on some damage:)

It's Raining!

...thunder and all in Southern California! First time it rains since Feb. and as murphy's law would have it I just washed my car yesterday;-)

Hey, My Summer Girl....

This weekend we headed into the desert for Inland Invasion 5, an awesome outdoor concert, where yours truly spent the day chilling out and enjoyin the brilliant sun..I think my fav. performer had to be Beck, the dude rocks, what can I say? He's almost as great as the 2 most intoxicated people at the event, my brother and his friend Alex... everytime my little brother a)has a drink or b)talks about drinking, he acts as if it's his first time drinking..I don't quite understand it, but it sure is fun to watch!


Sunday Jam, Olaf, and I attended the Belizean Independence Day festival. Note: I was the only gringo in attendance. Ha! I love the randomness of live sometimes! All I have to say is that Belizeans are the most chill people one can meet..and they "dey noh how to throw a party so u getta black up and big goma the next day, bwai"...Funny how a few hours sippin' rum and cokes with some Belizeans can make one feel like they've been on vacation for weeks:) DAT TRUE NO RASS:)

Have fun Suckas..

yikes

I don't like flying American domestic..

Can you imagine??
Paul,
Starting November 15, 2005* you can fly non-stop from Chicago O’Hare International to Delhi, India aboard American Airlines.

On China..

Dios Mio! I wanted to wait until my memory cards were mailed back from Beijing (late night with Tea (Tee) and SoCo made the morning pack a bit hazy and I forgot to pack them;) so I had some pictures to upload but it’s better to write something before my thoughts drift on to another conquest. China, China, China. What to say!? It’s been a long time since I’ve had that "blown away" feeling on a trip, and maybe that means I’ve gotten soft in the neverending warm Californian sun, or simply Digidy is more insane than I remember! For those of you who haven’t seen him lately, I can only report that indeed he’s gotten crazier with age. His poor wife.
Just a few notes to some peeps I’ve revisited/met:

Sheila, I must be allergic to you. Or maybe it’s Asians. One can hardly ever tell! Now having seen your propaganda (see: No Stamina Conference in Beijing) on Nomadlife.org, I must point out to the readers that if it was indeed a "No Stamina Conf", Sheila Zhao could have very well chaired it! Her and her tan lines! My goodness! What she forgot to mention was where she was during: 1) My arrival at Beijing airport at 5am, Digs was there, with a flask of Glenfiddich ready to be sipped ..You? I’m guessing you were ASLEEP after that long night of staying up until 11pm 2) Having a few beers in the Forbidden City..I reckon you were just WAKING UP having a cold mocha at Starbucks complaining of getting only 13 hours of sleep or how about ;)c) 6 hours on the road and spending Saturday climbing the Great Wall…where, my darling, were you? The entire time???? ANSWER: ASLEEP! You know, Sheila, if you get bored with your job in BJ, I can get you a position in the Bush Admin as a spin doctor. Next time less bones on a stick, hundred year old eggs, bone marrow drinks, and bellinis;) POS!!

Tee Lee: Green Tee, Black Tee, Purple Tee, Aqua Tee con Kiwi, me no kay. How did Digs find such a wonderful wife? For those who haven’t met Tee and are wondering how a guy named Digidy Leonard has managed to survive in SE Asia, well, let’s just say she’s what keeps the "train on the tracks". When all else fails, count on Teresa Lee to be there to help smooth things over. Think Penny and Inspector Gadget.

Of course it doesnt' come without a toll, as evidenced from the email I received from Tee today:


hope things are going well back home and that you’re> not missing devrim too much...I think I’ve spent too> much time with devrim already and am sick...I had> lunch with him yesterday and felt very nauseous...I> almost threw up on him but my stomach failed> me...damn

Tee is a Trooper with a capital "T" and was nothing but gracious in the midst of her husband’s foul-mouthed friendsJ Tee, great meeting ya..I’ll have to get Saki together and do up Asia again!! ..perhaps in New Zealand for XmasJ I am dreaming or was there a pinky swear? I’m still new to this Pacific puddle jumping, I think I need to perfect it a little betterJ Btw, I think I’m having nightmares about your demon-looking ears.

Kate, thanks "heaps" for letting us stay with you in a very nicely decorated apartment..except those floors..tsk tsk tsk..Indonesian rainforest…haha, jk I’m from LA we don’t care about the environmentJ!! Certainly, no one will forget "BabyFace" at 4am..painfully watching Digs dance.. or garlic chunks and dumpings for 40 RMB!! My weary and weathered body won’t easily forget Bodhi..Everybody: Chinese massage..numero uno. Kate, just remember, it’s not just guys from California that are all flaky, we’re all flaky;).

Who are you? Hu! Hu! Whoooooooo are you? Jenny Hu, I’m sure you never hated Pete Townsend so much! Or maybe it was the name White Fang you hated more..or maybe it was just digs..ahh, you loved us… ANYHU, best of luck con tu trabajo en Praha.

POS, POS, POS. Never drink with townies. I feel you learned the lesson in Belize, and me in Beijing. Just want you to know I slept like Olaf for 3 days. Tuesday I spent the day inspecting a brand-new building that we are contracting for..got stuck in the elevator, and the kicker was it was moving from floor to floor! Imagine, sick, jetlagged, body screaming in revolt, and the dude stuck on an elevator in the middle of Los Angeles. Stay the course! 1,000 pts of light! Millie is a fine dawg! Ahh..just thought you'd be happy to hear that.

Sino-Drake Relations Recovering...

I've just about fully recovered from my "trip" to China. I'll write more later, but I think this little story on the plane does a good job illustrating what I think of the country. So, there I was, like a zombie...5 hours into the flight, about 7 more to go. As I'm walking back from the bathroom we hit this violent turbulance for about an hour. I almost fell down just trying to get back to my seat. So much for the "you can sleep on the plane". Anyway, the air hostess' stopped their meal serving, and promptly found their seats after the pilot told them to do so. Some people looked scared..If I hadn't been so tired, it probably would have jolted my nerves, too...although I almost did get sick to my stomach. Anyway, NOT the Chinese..they were getting up, eating, standing conversations in aisles, still going to the bathroom...even after repeated warnings "sir, you must down! Sir! Sir!" But, it didn't matter, there were too many of them..fearless. That's China. A country in prepetual motion that stops for no one. Either keep up with the pace, or find yourself asking foreigners to "finish my martini, it's too strong".

History Repeats Itself

The Daily Show reported that George W. Bush will be making a lot of money off the construction of a dam in Arkansas. The dam will help stop the threat of more floods in New Orleans..the idea being to halt the flood water from where it orginates, before it can strike us again. ;)

Strange Times

photo courtesy of Digital Globe.

Viewing the Katrina carnage and hearing of the gruesome stories in NO really leaves me dumbfounded that something like this can happen in the US. While the rescue mission was a failure, the area affected was the size of Great Britain! It's certainly strange times we are living and this disaster just drives home the point that nobody is safe anywhere.

I'm also fascinated that some claim that NO doesn't need charity b/c the US is the richest country in the world. Perhaps those same people would be astounded at the level of poverty many Americans live in. Poor people are poor people. Politics need to be put aside, and everyone needs to forget nationalities and have some humanity. I certainly urge anyone who can to donate money to help these poor people. It's great to see countries like Iran and Cuba offering aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Hopefully it will make us Americans realize that we are not a hegemonic island superpower with unlimited power. Each country needs each other in times of chaos, suffering, and abject poverty.

The Big Easy will never be the same. Carpe Diem to you all.