Cary's Wedding

The wedding was held out at Pi-Chen's (the bride) family farm in the middle of nowhere.

A typical Taiwanese house.

Cary flew in his own personal camera man from Japan.

CJ and the blushing bride.

I dressed up for the occaision and met some of my students.

Brooks and Don Cornelius looking all suave. In the background is Steve Wilson who used to pitch for the LA Dodgers.

Armory

The American teachers at my school have a night out. After all that work we need to relax!

Hong Kong

I also went to HK on my vacation, and I haven't posted the pics yet so here they are. It was really gray and cloudy and rainy the whole time I was there, so they are not the best pics. I stay at a "hostel" there, which costs $12US a night for a room with no bathroom, but it is just down the hall, and it has AC. It is a really small room, but it is private, which is better than most host
hostels how small it is, it really is literally just a bed.

The view from Victoria's Peak. I told you it was cloudy.
The view from Kowloon looking across the Harbor at HK.

Michigan Sucks

Hahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!
Going into the new College football season, Michigan was ranked #5 and had at least two Heisman hopefuls in QB Henne and RB Hart. Then Michigan lost 34-32 to 1-AA Appalachian State, then they lost 39-7 to Oregon. I bet they drop out of the top 25 completely. Meanwhile Ohio State is 2-0 and ranked #12, but will probably move up a couple spots. However we are pretty weak this year and will not be a powerhouse, but at least we are not getting shamefully embarrassed like Michigan. Michigan sucks! Now if only the Yankees, Bulls, Steelers, Ravens, Broncos, and Detroit Tigers would also lose, not just one game, but get blown out, many many times, and have terrible losing seasons for like the next 10 years, it may get me over the many humiliating defeats that they have inflicted on my poor Cleveland teams over the years. Meanwhile I will continue to revel in every one of their defeats. Every one.

Fantasy Football

OK so we are staring a new football season (American football not soccer you idiots) and I am playing a fantasy football league for the first time. My best players are Peyton Manning and Rudi Johnson, but after that my level of talent drops precipitously. But it's all just for fun anyways. Here in Taiwan it is hard to get the games on TV. They showed the Sun. night and Mon. night games here last year, live, which meant Mon. morning and Tues. morning here which sucks when you have to work. I bought a DVD-R player which is like a VCR for DVD's so I can record the games (sometimes they showed them at like 4am). But then if you miss the game and have it on tape delay, you have to force yourself (and remember) not to look at the result on the internet or it is ruined. I am usually able to stop myself, but friends don't. But at least I work with Americans, so we are all into football and can talk about it. Most of the foreigners here are British or Canadian, or Australian, or South African etc. so they like Rugby and Cricket which I could give a rats ass about. So let's pray the games are on, and remember Rudi! Rudi! Rudi!

Rita and Rose

Brian's birthday

The birthday boy sucking toe. This is what happens when truth or dare goes wrong.


Brooks and I discuss the next dare.

The result of my dare.
Thanks to Rose for the pictures, and also many more thanks for the pictures that were not taken.

Almost famous

My friend Yi-ling knows lots of famous people like Paris Hilton. She goes on trips to America a lot and her clothing company x-large is pretty popular with the hip-hop crowd. She has also met DJ Muggs and Mike D. I am jealous. I want her to take me with her next time, but I can't afford to go to America! (Kind of ironic isn't it?)

Blink and Wink

I have been reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Blink". His major premise is that our subconscious is very powerful and actually very often (like maybe 80%) of the time makes and instant snap judgement of a person or situation that is absolutely correct. However our conscious mind doesn't trust is, so we think about it, and mull the problem over, sometimes for a long time, however all this does is actually confuse us, and the first judgment is usually right. He goes on to give numerous examples. Anyways, I have seen this happen to me many many times in my life, where my "gut" instantly told me what to do, but then I thought about it, and ended up doing something else, which was not always the wrong thing, but usually not as good as the first instinct. So basically trust your gut instinct and you will go far. I am going to try to apply this to my life.

Wink. OK, so what does wink have to do with it? Well last night I was talking with some friends about the act of winking. Specifically when a man winks at a woman in a sexually suggestive way. And we discovered that the proximity of the two parties is directly related to how effective the wink is. For example, if the man and woman are kind of far apart, like across the bar, the wink is more effective, because it makes a connection, and shows that "hey, I may not be right next to you, but I am thinking about you". This seems to be more effective (of course you first have to presume that the two parties have some mutual attraction). The woman feels a connection, and has a hope for an encounter soon. But in close proximity the wink is not effective. Usually the girl just laughs at the guy, and says "what are you doing?". So keep this in mind in the future.

Modern Love

What are you holding out for?
What's always in the way?
Why so scared of romance?
This modern love breaks me.
This modern love wastes me.
Do you wanna come over and kill some time?
Put your arms around me.
-Bloc Party

This is my hippie house from Flagstaff, Arizona, 1998. We had 20 acres, and a huge house, and it was easy walking distance to the road up to the ski mountain to bum lifts. Lots of hiking, camping, hot springs, snowboarding, and drum circles. Those were the days.

Missoula, Montana 2001

Spring Break, Florida, 1995

Trip to New York, 1995

Beta Frat Party, College of Wooster, 1996

Alright there has been a lot of talk lately about my hair, and people seem to think I should grow it out again, and I don't have to work for a few more weeks so I guess I will let it. How will it come out? We'll see, but the ladies seem to like it so, hey that's good right? Just for the record these photos are from 1995-6, and these three guys (who will remain anynomous) have all gone on to successful careers/lives in Beijing, Boston, and North Carolina. This is why I never see my old friends anymore, they are flung all over the globe from London, India, China, and all over the US. I don't know what happened to me? Where did I go so horribly wrong, that all my friends from college should be successful and I am all washed out? They are not any smarter or harder working than I am. Ok maybe they are. Ah well, maybe my life isn't so bad, but I don't have a house or a car, which are the American standards for success, but I really don't care.

My hair

Hmmm... Before and after? and after again? Which one is the real me? People who have only seen me with my short hair always can't believe it is me when I show them a picture of me with long hair. Am I a Republican or a hippie? Should I let it grow again? or get a business card?
You decide. The polls are open now.

Hawaii

So I went to America for vacation. Well not really America, Hawaii. Not home really. I've never been to Hawaii so it's not like going home. But technically it is America, and it has Starbucks and all that stuff, but it definitely has a pacific island feel.

I went with my Mom. We went to Pearl Harbor. This is a Japanese one man suicide torpedo.
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This is a US submarine. We didn't go on because you had to pay $10.



Sunset at Waikiki beach.


This lady appeared to be a an authentic local dressed up and dancing on the beach not just for fun. Not a hoax to trap tourists and get them to pay money. Seriously. Which is quite rare.

The water really comes up close to the seawall. Erosion, or was it always like that?
Waikiki is crowded but nice. It is right next to downtown which I think is kinda cool. You can walk around, eat, shop, and go to the beach. I didn't get to surf though.

We went to a Luau.


The "Royal Court" arrives.

Taking the roasted pig out of the ground.

Big Chief explains how to open a coconut.

There was a small random church in the middle of nowhere mountains.



The gods are angry. A restored temple of the old Hawaiian religion. They decided to give it up in 1819. It mostly seemed to be a list of rules or taboos against a lot weird stuff like women eating bananas.





I like tiki statues. Very pagan.






We went snorkeling. The boat took us out to a nice spot. Snorkeling was the best part of the trip. I saw some cool tropical fish and coral reefs.

My Mom is cute.

I told you I went snorkeling.

Note the Bob Dylan hair circa 1966.


The coral reef where we went snorkeling.


We stayed on the big island, and many of the beaches were small and crowded.

Look at the pretty flowers

I saw a three foot sea turtle at this beach.


Hawaii is famous for rainbows. It doesn't mean they're gay, they just like rainbows OK?


This is a big lava flow pool that has hardened.

It's still hot here. Active volcanic activity.





This was the best beach we found. It was a half hour drive to get there on a terrible road, but that was good because then it wasn't crowded.




Pristine


There is a big mountain in the center of the island.

There is a lot of black volcanic rock here.