yeah, it's raining.
no, it hasn't stopped for like 3 days.
yeah, l.a. is pretty much a big lake right now...
and yeah, it's fun to be driving a truck with off-road tires around town.
(however, 1 inch of rain over 3 days time is HARDLY a 'storm' with 'moderate to heavy' downpours. i still think all you east coast people gather around the t.v. during times like these and just nearly die laughing at us and how we 'deal' with these 'menacing winter storms...')
and i love it that they get/have to say that we have a 100% chance of rain tonite and tomorrow... can there ever be a 100% "chance" of anything? does that make sense?
well, i guess it was only on tv and doesn't really have to, but....
26 February 2001
18 February 2001
there should be some sort of domestic law against having to do 5 loads of laundry in one afternoon...
12 February 2001
BACK IN AMERICA
sheesh.
am i the only human on the planet that isn't excited about a brand-new, deluxe sized, completely obtrusive starbucks that's been put up where i live? i leave for a week, and they think it's ok to throw up yet another yuppie-magnet in my town? that makes at least 4 on one street within 6 miles.
it's not like that in pattaya, thailand.
where there was only one.
and it wasn't crowded.
and i didn't mind that i had to say "grande," because they woudn't have understood "large," and even cooler that there wasn't such a size as "venti."
and you had to walk up these monster tile steps two flights up to sit just about on the roof.
and the company was good.
which made it all ok.
sheesh.
am i the only human on the planet that isn't excited about a brand-new, deluxe sized, completely obtrusive starbucks that's been put up where i live? i leave for a week, and they think it's ok to throw up yet another yuppie-magnet in my town? that makes at least 4 on one street within 6 miles.
it's not like that in pattaya, thailand.
where there was only one.
and it wasn't crowded.
and i didn't mind that i had to say "grande," because they woudn't have understood "large," and even cooler that there wasn't such a size as "venti."
and you had to walk up these monster tile steps two flights up to sit just about on the roof.
and the company was good.
which made it all ok.
10 February 2001
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
this is it. the journey's just about over and the adventure is nearly done.
i have filled over two dozen pages in my offline travel journal with the time out here. i've just spent my last hong kong dollar, and took my last taxi drive over the bridge to lantau.
time to split. plane's boarding. these trips always turn out better than i had thought they could have been.
this year is already giving last year a run for it's money (and last year was incredible).
and it's only february.
this is it. the journey's just about over and the adventure is nearly done.
i have filled over two dozen pages in my offline travel journal with the time out here. i've just spent my last hong kong dollar, and took my last taxi drive over the bridge to lantau.
time to split. plane's boarding. these trips always turn out better than i had thought they could have been.
this year is already giving last year a run for it's money (and last year was incredible).
and it's only february.
BACK IN HONG KONG-
last nite out here. it's 4:16 am, actually... trying to combat jetlag once again... you guys know the drill by now..
so yeah, leaving hong kong international airport at 1:20pm, sunday. arriving at LAX at 2:20pm, sunday. huh? and that's with at 2 and half hour layover in seoul... talk about things that just take your mind and body and throw it in a industrial-sized washing machine for a few hours.
hong kong was a bit different than i thought. not rude, a bit faster. not sparse, but efficiently crowded... and clean. for a city of like 10 million people. ever seen any cal-trans workers on the side of the road with a bucket and soap cleaning the GUARD RAILS?
and the conference turned out to be exactly what i needed. no less, no more. in fact, any more and i would have had to walk out. the last guy who spoke, yugo, is so far ahead of every single multimedia designer out there that it was almost embarassing enough to get up and leave.
oh, and thailand? sheesh.
ever had a conversation that lasted 15 hours? without effort?
me neither.
until thursday.
a conversation that spanned 2 meals, 2 meetings, 2 taxi rides, 1 mall and 1 starbucks. daytime, evening, darkness and moonlight. words can't describe how thankful i am to have such a friend that would stay up almost all night to talk and hang out. all the way up to the point my taxi picked me up, at 4am.
that which began when my taxi dropped me off at the same location 1pm the day earlier.
romania. thailand. new zealand?
last nite out here. it's 4:16 am, actually... trying to combat jetlag once again... you guys know the drill by now..
so yeah, leaving hong kong international airport at 1:20pm, sunday. arriving at LAX at 2:20pm, sunday. huh? and that's with at 2 and half hour layover in seoul... talk about things that just take your mind and body and throw it in a industrial-sized washing machine for a few hours.
hong kong was a bit different than i thought. not rude, a bit faster. not sparse, but efficiently crowded... and clean. for a city of like 10 million people. ever seen any cal-trans workers on the side of the road with a bucket and soap cleaning the GUARD RAILS?
and the conference turned out to be exactly what i needed. no less, no more. in fact, any more and i would have had to walk out. the last guy who spoke, yugo, is so far ahead of every single multimedia designer out there that it was almost embarassing enough to get up and leave.
oh, and thailand? sheesh.
ever had a conversation that lasted 15 hours? without effort?
me neither.
until thursday.
a conversation that spanned 2 meals, 2 meetings, 2 taxi rides, 1 mall and 1 starbucks. daytime, evening, darkness and moonlight. words can't describe how thankful i am to have such a friend that would stay up almost all night to talk and hang out. all the way up to the point my taxi picked me up, at 4am.
that which began when my taxi dropped me off at the same location 1pm the day earlier.
romania. thailand. new zealand?
08 February 2001
IN THAILAND!
yeah, so decided to make a quick jaunt out to thailand to visit a friend of mine i hadn't see in a long time. so yesterday i bought a plane ticket (for today) and took a flight to bangkok. ever been in a cab for two and a half hours? i have _now_.. quite the trip, the poor guy had to pull over a few times to fill his front tires with air... (mildly unsettling...)
Cheri here says I should use caps and be grammatically correct. I beg to differ. Using no-caps looks better, I say. We'll see who wins.
landed at 10, and my flight leaves tomorrow at 8. do the math kids: two and a half hour cab ride + have to get to the airport early means what? yup.. get to leave at 4am.
here's to no flat tires and breezing thru customs again. tonite, thailand; tomorrow, joshua davis, my new friend.
oh, and the freeway the ENTIRE way down here was double-decked.. someone on the LA city commerce should look into that... at least for the sepulveda pass... if i had my way, that is...
yeah, so decided to make a quick jaunt out to thailand to visit a friend of mine i hadn't see in a long time. so yesterday i bought a plane ticket (for today) and took a flight to bangkok. ever been in a cab for two and a half hours? i have _now_.. quite the trip, the poor guy had to pull over a few times to fill his front tires with air... (mildly unsettling...)
Cheri here says I should use caps and be grammatically correct. I beg to differ. Using no-caps looks better, I say. We'll see who wins.
landed at 10, and my flight leaves tomorrow at 8. do the math kids: two and a half hour cab ride + have to get to the airport early means what? yup.. get to leave at 4am.
here's to no flat tires and breezing thru customs again. tonite, thailand; tomorrow, joshua davis, my new friend.
oh, and the freeway the ENTIRE way down here was double-decked.. someone on the LA city commerce should look into that... at least for the sepulveda pass... if i had my way, that is...
06 February 2001
IN HONG KONG:
a few of the highlights so far:
- almost missed our flight from seoul (walked off our plane and directly on the plane to hong kong...) our plane was still making it's final approach when the next plane was boarding. it was amusing. (though having to stay in seoul for a night wouldn't have been that bad...)
- met joshua davis in the lobby of my hotel...(nice guy, by the way. and even though he said he 'wasn't a rock star', in the internet design community, he's pretty much near diety) his site - praystation.com we're all supposed to hang out later... yeah, me and josh.. we go way back...
- bought a killer sony minidisc player... you'll be jealous...
- after walking around all day yesterday and today, i feel a little taller..
the buildings here are incredible. the 'city' is just a massive collection of hi-rise buildings, walls and walls of hi-rises that invade every glance in any given direction. the sun barely gets a chance to shed it's light within the city streets, and shadows pretty much don't exist. this has a harrowing effect on my (and my two co-worker's) sense of direction, by the way. pointing, walking, stopping, consulting, walking, stopping... it happened more than a few times.... but it's ok... we will fully embody the non-gracefullness of being a tourist, merely because we're entitled.
and here i sit. on top of victoria peak, after a steep, steep ride up this trolly deal, and after watching the city be completely swallowed by the fog. some random coffee shop (thankfully not a starbucks...), on some random computer (with a sticky 't' and a sensitive 'h'), having one of the most overwhelming times of my life.
2 days in, 5 more to go...
what's next?
a few of the highlights so far:
- almost missed our flight from seoul (walked off our plane and directly on the plane to hong kong...) our plane was still making it's final approach when the next plane was boarding. it was amusing. (though having to stay in seoul for a night wouldn't have been that bad...)
- met joshua davis in the lobby of my hotel...(nice guy, by the way. and even though he said he 'wasn't a rock star', in the internet design community, he's pretty much near diety) his site - praystation.com we're all supposed to hang out later... yeah, me and josh.. we go way back...
- bought a killer sony minidisc player... you'll be jealous...
- after walking around all day yesterday and today, i feel a little taller..
the buildings here are incredible. the 'city' is just a massive collection of hi-rise buildings, walls and walls of hi-rises that invade every glance in any given direction. the sun barely gets a chance to shed it's light within the city streets, and shadows pretty much don't exist. this has a harrowing effect on my (and my two co-worker's) sense of direction, by the way. pointing, walking, stopping, consulting, walking, stopping... it happened more than a few times.... but it's ok... we will fully embody the non-gracefullness of being a tourist, merely because we're entitled.
and here i sit. on top of victoria peak, after a steep, steep ride up this trolly deal, and after watching the city be completely swallowed by the fog. some random coffee shop (thankfully not a starbucks...), on some random computer (with a sticky 't' and a sensitive 'h'), having one of the most overwhelming times of my life.
2 days in, 5 more to go...
what's next?
02 February 2001
i'm attempting to get the upper hand on the 13+ hour melee to seoul, on the way to hong kong. staying up late tonite, maybe all nite tomorrow. there's got to be a way that i can sleep at least 4-6 hours on that flight. tylenol pm and relentlessly sleep deprived should take care of it.
right?
oh, and having one of those oh-so-cool horseshoe travel pillows wrapped around my neck. that will do it. the definition of comfort on a 747-400.
right?
hope so.
tyson, me, deanne. tyson's birthday, a few weeks ago.
yeah, i needed a haircut.
right?
oh, and having one of those oh-so-cool horseshoe travel pillows wrapped around my neck. that will do it. the definition of comfort on a 747-400.
right?
hope so.
tyson, me, deanne. tyson's birthday, a few weeks ago.
yeah, i needed a haircut.