Free Hug Day

I am human. I need affection. Touch me. Kiss me. Hug me. The homeless man asks for spare change. So sorry sir. No spange here. I can offer a hug.

9/18/07

8 things about me

I am being offered $600 to have my wisdom teeth removed. I asked them which one was my sweet tooth, the one I get from my mom.

You know how Gorbachev the former Russian leader has that huge birthmark on his forehead? Well, in addition to the teardrop mole on my brow I have an equally impressive gorbachev on my left thigh.

I am the hairiest among the five men in my family. My darling sisters, bless their hearts, are pretty darn close.

My biggest fear is dying and believing that my life had not mattered.

I've always wanted to be adopted by different families. First it was a Black family because I wanted to see what it would be like to be so open and frank with one another. Then it was a Hispanic family to see what it would be like to have huge parties all the time. A different culture for every week of the month.

People tend to believe more in me than i sometimes do myself. And sometimes vice versa. And then, when the cosmos align, the image others have of me and that which I hold for myself match up. That about covers this particular thought.

I have extremely long toes on an averaged sized foot. Am not sure if that accounts for anything other than "springy" hops and the ability to use chopsticks if I were so inclined to develop that talent.

I'd love to be in a boy band, perhaps an all-asian 80's tribute band. I believe that would be a first. A wikipedia search confirms my intuition. The closest thing is an rock band called "Asia" formed in 1981 by four white dudes. Interesting. Gonna check out their tunes.

Good Apples

Just clipped my nails a few days ago and they've already grown back. Is it? me or do nails grow faster in the summer? Is this also true of hair?

On Thursday I had one of those moments in the week where I felt absolutely fine - like everything in my life is exactly how it should be. This feeling very seldom but when it does come I really appreciate it. A large portion of my twenties has been a battle with a negative emotional pattern. I discovered a film that speaks of this challenge

Questions to ponder...
Would you rather each an organically grown apple but picked by a booger picking farmer or an conventional one?

Airport Writing

i'm at the airport. i biked there. there's not too many people who bicycle to the airport. I guess that's b/c normally when you go to the airport you have luggage to carry. Well today I'm traveling light. Not traveling to Hawaii per say, I'm here to people watch and get inspired to write and travel. So i'm armchair traveling. watching people as they come and go. it's something i try to do every now and then.

I still have my bicycle gloves and helmet on and to brainstorm writing pieces I'll talk into a voice recorder. So you can imagine the quizzicle look the homeland security guard has as he's making his rounds. they do this over and over i guess to make terrorists uneasy. as if a terrorists hasn't already prepared himself with all that needs to be done way before he arrives at the airport. He's looking for suspicious behavior. should i act normal and try to fit into this sunday morning crowd?

i don't really enjoy cooking. what i really enjoy is eating. the thing is i don't really like the process of cooking. i like eating more. i'll make a heap full of beans and rice for the whole week. but it's bland and gets boring. i don't like repeated processes. if i can avoid it, i will. i'll go out to eat so i'll have some variety, but it gets expensive. have any ideas? i'm more interesting to to cook for others. so maybe i'll invite friends over for a potluck.

i've been blessed in the past with women who could cook: my mother, partners, girlfriends. After we break up, however, can we cook for each other still? dang! i miss that.

crab is about the most inefficient kind of food you can eat. for a self proclaimed lazy person, i will stay away from crustacazoids?

Renaissance Man

My Brother, Ken, is a renaissance man. He is an artist, an athlete, a father, an all-around interesting character and I am proud to know him as a brother.

It's Has To Be the Hair

I got my hair permed yesterday, and I must admit, I look hawt! LOL.

These are my five siblings at a raceoff last year in Dallas. I have to defend my title on Oct. 11 and am training for that. Well, have a great weekend, I will try to capture some footage of this Hurricane.

For The Love of The Game

Break Yoself

Joining Hill Country Outdoors, a social group here in Austin has helped me to make friends and keep things interesting. Here we play a precarious game of dodgeball on ice. The skinny asian guy with glasses is a friend, Tommy, who (three days later) flew to Oslo, Norway to fulfill a dream of sushi cheffing abroad.

My Stalker Experience

Been back in Berkeley. Doing massage therapy and pet sitting. The dog I'm sitting is a puppy and that means he has attachment issues. He'll follow me anywhere; up the stairs, down the stairs, when I'm strying to go 1, and worse yet, when I'm trying to wipe after 2.

The only way I can get some R&R (rest and repose?) is if I climb a ladder to the roof and then climb into the upstairs window. He'll wait for hours for me to come down from the ladder. You would think I could just keep him in the backyard but he has a doggie door. Besides my way is much more fun; although potentially life threatening.

Profile: Accordianist extraordinnaire

Meet Kyle.

- super fun, reative, accordianist extraordinnaire

- we went dancin' in the castro (gay district) was a blast and free!
- kyle reminds us that you don't have to spend money to have fun.
- kyle and I pick up random men to hug. Look how giddy we are about finding a willing stranger.
- Kyle is a beer slut. 1 free beer = kiss, 2 free beers = phone number exchange. 3 beers = fill in the blank.
- kyle is particularly handy to have around. His skill set includes playing nerd instruments, breakfast cereal sales, and digging backdoor tunnels to china.
- say hello to him at myspace.com/kylescotch

Urban Animals Don't Wear Shoes

~~~Houston Hostel. Houston, TX. Review days 10-14 and 2 Week Review~~~

~1~ About a week into my time here in Houston I was driving home from a massage, tired, hungry and wanting to get home to call it a night. I was but two blocks from the hostel when I witnessed, what I believed to be, a UFO, except these where not flying saucers with gliding neon-green monsters. They were humanoids, decked in full rollerblading gear (helmet, pads, and one with a hockey goaltending stick) flying down the streets in a huge pack - very alien to me.
Unidentified sightings will give me a jolt more than expresso and I acted immediately, turning right instead of left, and following; tailgaiting (or tailblading, rather) them with my car, just admiring the lunacy of it all (it was well past 10 PM). Who were these nuts? More importantly, how could I join? I didn't want to be rude and scream out these questions from the safety of my car so I ditched it at the nearest street curb and ran after them on foot trying to catch up with the slowest of the group, a beautiful, 30'ish, woman with very long flowing blond hair, who I later find out is Kimber, one of the pack leaders (apparently, tail-enders are the most gallant of the group, he/she being the first to get run over in the unfortunate case a driver goes crazed at the sight of 30 and 40 year olds enjoying, in what most "adults" think, a pubescent activity).

I find out info from Kimber and decide to meet with them the following week. The following Thurs. (yesterday) I did meet up with them at an inconspicuous tavern (Big Easy's) and set off on my big adventure, a course totaling 10 miles of Houston asphalt. The team was the nicest bunch you could find, especially Harold who helped me immensely even showing me how to tandem-blade, something I have never seen done. I was thrilled, ecstatic, focused on how good I would feel at the end of 10 miles! Instead, I made it to the Walgreens down the street, and was already flirting with the idea of heading back. It was REALLY hard, these middle aged guys were animals!

After 6 miles, and lots of self-denial, I made it to the heart of downtown, happy, but in much pain, especially from the blister in my right foot (which, at the time, felt like a balloon, but after inspection the day after, turned out barely noticeable -- what a wuss!). I decided to bail out and take the train home, the only problem was that I did not bring any money with me and not even my telephone, thinking I might lose either along my trek. I didn't want to impose on Harold, my super-awesome-nice guy of a roller mentor, so I decided to wing it instead. The worst thing would be to walk bare-footed home 3 miles.

So there I was at the station weighing my options:
A) Call my sister -- oops no phone
B) Freeride the train -- potential fine: $70
C) Walk home -- potential mugging: this is the seedy part of Houston
I decided to spange (ask for spare change) instead (despite hating to impose on others). I found my first "target" a very approachable looking 20-something black girl. She was reticent but after I told her my sob story and tried to flash a winning smile, she couldn't help but give in. I asked for her name - Britni, and I realize there and then, it is the same Britni who responded to my personal on Craigslist! Holycowsonofabillygoat! Just then the train arrived and she took off, disappearing from my life...forever.

But forget romance, I was focused on getting a ride home. A thuggish-looking bunch of Latino guys approached the station, and there I was, decked fully, still, in roller-blade gear (helmet and all, minus the hockey stick) approaching these guys (now I realize how rediculous I must have looked). Somehow I was blessed that day and they gave me spange to by a ticket home. I thanked them by giving one of them my rollerblades. It just felt right, and besides, Urban Animals don't wear shoes.

Model Minority

Got pulled over for having too dark a tint on my windows and a "suspicious amount personal belongings". Not shi*, sherlock. I'm living out of my car at the time trying to make an adventure of my mundane days. He gives me a ticket, impounds my car.
~~~Policeman's exact words~~~ "Man, I've never met a Vietnamese so fuc*ed up." "Thank you for the, er, compliment, officer."

Urban Ninjas

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Austin International Hostel .::New Friends::. In my earnest desire to prevent my nagging boredom, I went collecting trash from the lake. My ADD prevented me from keeping it interesting until my two new friends Marc and Nathan came out of the hostel and joined me. We made up a challenge to see who could collect the piece of trash furthest from the shore putting us in a situation to fall into the lake. In my attempt to be the winner, I almost found myself in the lake, That's when mark volunteered to hold me arm outstretched to keep me from falling into the lake, and then Nathan jumped in to keep Marc from falling in. We also went to Cici's pizza, or what I like to call Le Cici's. The order of competition there was of course to see who could eat the most pizza's the loser would have to do public pushups amongst strangers. I finished off 10 slices and a salad, Nathan, 14, and Mark did a measley 6 slices. Now Marc is a 6'5" dread-locked, gangly, black guy, so the image is funny. We had a good time walking to and trying to avoid being run over by the traffic on Riverside.

Austin Charms

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Austin, TX Austin International Hostel The hostel is located along Lakeshore by Austin's Town Lake so there's an abundance of wild lake animals, one of the more popular being the male swan (anyone know or care what's the correct term for the male swan?). Well one of these guys came all the way up to the porch of the hostel to greet a new friend I've made, David. David was too busy taking it's picture when he was sucker-punched in the scrotum; okay, so I made that up but it would have made for a good picture. On my way back to Thuan's place I dropped by Mcdonald's for a bite to eat and felt a familiar longing to hit the road again; to see new sites. Perhaps sometime soon. In the meantime, I'll try to appreciate the little charms Austin continues to impress upon me

Parent's House - Sachse, TX "Hustling"

Well, I went with my little brother over to my older brother's house to help him break in his new house up in Denton, TX. On the way there, we had to take the tollway. In the name of Jefferson Thomas of Nantucket, it costs 75 cents at each toll collector and then there are four toll booths along the way to Denton. So brother and I scheme to play along with the system. We take mother's van, and mother, too, and pulled off the Great American Tollway Robbery.

This is how it works if you are interested in making easy cash. What you do is one of you plays the driver while the other plays the "hustler". The hustler stays in the back with next to the sliding van door and readies himself to hustle. As the driver pulls up and approaches to pay the 75 cent toll, the hustler slides the van door, preparing to pull of the "great heist". As the van makes a near-complete stop at the toll-collection unit, the "hustler" pulls the van door open and, at that time, makes a visial inspection of all the loose change that rookie coin tossers mis-manage to make it in the toll basket. You'd be surprised! It's like a goldmine! There's so much loose change, you can swim in it. Watered in emotion, I brought in 15 cents at our first stop. I could have gotten more, but was inhibited by my embarrassment, there was a car behind us.

All in all, I made almost 55 cents. Dude! Imagine the possibilities if one were to apply oneself. Now this is between you and me. If the authorities catch on to this scheme, we could be in big trouble.

Friend Profile: Jaime (From Wheatsville - Austin, TX)

Park Austin, TX
The following is a brief biographical sketch of a new friend.
Name: Jaime Age: 30For Money: Wheatsville Co-op, a community-oriented/owned health/politically concious grocery storeBirth Town/Hometown: Raleigh/North Carolina -- Anywhere, USADoB: August 9Title: Conversation and Conservation
Jaime believes in preserving/conserving our natural resources. For example, on another FnB* Wednesday public feeding, I smell something offensive, and at first thought I hoped it was not my asshole, for I was squatting in the traditional chinese horse stance, but as it turns out, it's fresh dog shit that has been smeard on the wet green grass of Republic Park. Worse yet, i get some of it on my hands and so does Jaime.
Naturally I run to the public faucet and wash it off good with soap becasue I was about to eat myself passing the bar of soap to my new friend Jaime only to look up and be perplexed as to why Jaime was choosing to rub the dog shit off with a patch of clean, green albany grass. Smeared the goondiewhopper all over his hand. I give him an inquisitive look, pause, and think to myself, "Hey, buttbrain, what do you think you're doing?" but I'm genuinely curious about this guy...he's otherworldly, so to speak, and ask him, "Jaime, why....why do you do things the way you do things?"
He smiles at me and asks...well, Dao, why do you think I do the things I do? "Is it because you like to do things differently?" I ask...He replies, "no." "Is it because you like to conserve water?" He replies with the same answer but with a chuckle. Still perplexed, I randomly throw out, "Is it because you're gay?" "Nope, that's not it either, but you're close.
The reason is that I figure dogshit contains, like most mammalian fecal matter, a high and healthy concentration of vitamins, minerals, and other essentials to aid in the accelarated propogation of plant matter...and I have absolutely no freakin' idea what I just said...but I thought it would make me sound cool...did I sound cool? I replied with nothing but a blank stare...whoa, I'm speechless...I have hit the oasis of the eccentrics amidst the desert of commoners. Austin. My love. My present home.
* FnB is an acronym for a volunteer organization I participated in here in Austin called "Food not Bombs."

One Way or Another

I owe A LOT of money. In response to my predicament, I have been pulling weeds at a lady's house to make extra cash and pay back my creditors. So it's Sunday and I've been breaking my back since the crack of dawn. Around 4 P.M. she decides to go over grandma's for dinner, counting on me to continue the yard work. That translates as trust and makes me feel good. Right after she leaves, however, I start getting the runs. And I mean REAL BAD.

I've felt the need "to go" before but, this time, it is serious shit. You know, the conversation to crap where your sphincter calls for your attention but all you want is for it to shut the shit-shutter. I pray on a limb that she left the back door open. No luck. Plan B is to make a miraculous drive to the nearest gas station or grocery store before the shit hits the fan, or (in this case) my pants. In the process of taking a step, my a#shole, (we'll nickname him "Fiesty" to keep it PG) interrupts my intention.

Me: "Whoa. Wait a moment, “Fiesty”. It's not time for you to talk yet." But, you see, at this moment "Fiesty" doesn't seem to care what I think. With each step, Fiesty insists on spilling his guts out, literally. I figure out real soon that this was going to be his conversation. My Vietnamese instincts immediately kick in. I know what I need to "do-do". There was no arguing with “Fiesty”. He would have his way with me regardless of how I felt about hearing what he had to say.

In the jungle land we are taught the "communist squat" at a young age.  We become experts before we learn to walk. HOW TO DO THE COMMUNIST SQUAT. 1. Get in a horse stance position. 2. Squat, with authority. 3. Stay flatfooted in perfect balance. 4. Let her rip. And boy, did Fiesty have things to say. Never had I experienced a one-way conversation with such ferocity. On a related subject matter. I called my mother and had a heart-felt conversation letting out all my anguish and frustration over a rotten childhood. Boohoo me. One way or another, it always comes out.

"Big Words"

Things I learned today at...
L. Work: Fort Carson, Co Military Base
1. In the BEL (Big Engineering Leagues), if I want to pass as a competent colleague, I must catch on to the onslaught of acronyms and abbreviations. I have to remember that when my boss says that I am working for SES, he is referring to the umbrella company that this project in under: Sempra Energy Solutions and not that I am a man-whore. When, in mid-sentence, he asks me to hand him that "spec", that means a specification report, and not the little mark I accidentally made on the wall.
2. The engineering career ladder is full of fascinating opportunities to which I am not the least bit fascinated. Meet Wally the Welder. He's a nice guy, you know, but it's a challenge relating to him. He's actually sitting right next to me on his lunch break, sharing his world of welding with me as I am typing this. I don't have the heart to tell him to stop, he reminds me of Bubba in "Forest Gump" describing all the wonderful dishes you can make with shrimp. "I inspect all kinds of welds. Pipe welds, structural steel welds, joint welds." For taking his job seriously, I give him the sincerest respect. At this time, I would like to make a toast. "Here's to Wally. For a job weld done."
3. When I use Microsoft Word, I prefer to turn off the automatic spell check. It's not that I mind being told that I'm wrong, but can't it just wait til I'm done completing my sentence? Its lyke beeing intearrrupeted wile your trieng to mak a points.

Surge Cafe University of Miami

On Saturday I woke up feeling lousy...you know, it's a disturbing ache somewhere in you but you don't know exactly what or where it is to fix it. I was expecting a pretty bland weekend. There's a t.v. lounge here on campus and lately the N.C.A.A. (College Basketball for those unfamiliar) Championships have preoccupied me. I don't particularly follow one team. In fact, I don't even watch any sport on television until it gets down to the nit and grit of The End...the playoffs (basketball), cup play (tennis), world series (baseball), supremium bowl (pronounced with an Indian accent ...the finals for the sport of "cricket") I am not making that up...alright...I am, but I am sure there is such a thing as championship cricket, just dunno the name.

Anyhoo, there I am, kicking back with some munchies, my feet propped on a coffee table in front of me staring at the tube. I must have stared too hard, because out of nowhere a strange image appeared before me. It was a picture of a full-grown, 300 lb. Korean, female sumo wrestler showcasing, from each outstretched arm a sprawling, gawky, Japanese 8-year old. I was thinking, "What the heckeroo?" After a second to gather my senses, I look to my side and realize that the homeless-looking gentleman sitting to my right was volunteering my eyes (by placing in front of me) to a photo he had taken at the Asian World Summit. Strange things happen when you're not at home.