New found addiction.

On our most recent Disneyland trip, I decided to purchase a lanyard for myself.  Vanessa told me about these pins that people collect on their lanyards awhile back.  Apparently it's so normal that people actually trade with other.  So with my new lanyard, I noticed all these Disney pins of characters, themes, and badges.  A quick nostalgia came over me and I just wanted to own them all, lol.  But I have limited myself to only purchasing pins of my favorite Disney characters.  So on that day, I got Jiminy Cricket and Goofy, and Vanessa bought me Peter Pan, :).  I have decided to purchase one pin each time we make a visit to Disneyland.  Man, this is like Pokemon all over again.

The Gemini #2

The weekend after her birthday, I took Vanessa out for her last day to pig out before her diet.  We had Korean BBQ, as promised for her birthday.  It was awesome, like always, and our food comas kicked in quick.  But instead of sleeping, we chose to watch This is the End.  It definitely woke us up due to it being one of the funniest films we had ever seen.  "Suck my dick, Danny."

The next day, Vanessa had her birthday brunch with the girls at Roscoes Deli.  I showed up 2 hours later, and since I knew all the girls prior to meeting Vanessa, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be haha.  They were serving unlimited mimosas until 1pm, so the girls proceeded to chug as much as they could before the final call.  After a few glasses of mimosas and three shots, Vanessa was out cold by 2:30pm lol.  Erin dropped the birthday cupcakes again, making it the second time, both times baked by Allie, hahahaha.  I took Vanessa home and it took about 3 to 4 hours for her to fully regain some recollection as to what had happened. I'm glad my girlfriend is slowly becoming a lightweight, just like me, :).

The next weekend was Las Vegas.  This time, we were celebrating a threesome of birthdays; Lawrence, Waldo, and Vanessa.  Vanessa and I showed up to the festivities on Saturday night due to my work schedule.  By the time we arrived, nearly everyone in the group were wasted and hilarious haha.  Lots of topless bodies and sexual jokes ensued.  Vanessa and I tried to catch up with Jack and Coke, as well as losing to the Wheel of Fortune slot machine as the group sobered up.  We all arrived to XS by 10:45pm, thanks to a very entertaining Lebanese cab driver by the name of Saab.  The club was beautiful and the drinks were rapeage, but it was expected haha.  Vanessa made some new friends on the dance floor for Lawrence, but he left for drinks.  Braimy was hungover. And I had a brief quarrel with an old man and the security guard.  Vanessa felt sick and we were the first to leave for the hotel.  After a brief three hours of sleep, we were ready to head home.  We took Ayo, Shay, and David along with us on the way back.  Shay and David got royally fucked by their van on this trip, poor fellas.  But luckily their Van started when we dropped them off.  We got home just in time for my nephew's birthday!  What an eventful, yet short, weekend.

The Gemini

It was Vanessa's birthday a few weeks ago, but according to her, the whole month of June is hers haha.  As for her actual birthday weekend.  We had lunch with her grandfather at El Torito.  It was my first time meeting the man, and although he is weak at the knees, he still looked intimidating.  He also has an interesting habit of taking out cash from his pockets, giving them out seamlessly during birthdays and holidays haha.

The next day was Vanessa's actual birthday.  The plan was to first have a free photoshoot from my friend Casey, but I had something planned prior to us leaving.  I had to sneakily communicate with Vanessa's mom, sister, and brother to help set up my gift for her in the loft.  So prior to me arriving, Mrs. Navarro had already told the gate guards to let me pass without calling, and Steven made sure to have Vanessa up in the livingroom.  Steven faked and exaggerated his hangover and requested Vanessa to stay by his side, lol.  I went down to the loft quietly, setting up my gift next to her bed.  After a few minutes, I called Vanessa asking her to go to the loft to see if I had left my watch there the night prior.  I heard footsteps, so I hid behind the bar as she opened the slide door.  Beatles music filled the air, and she followed the sound to a record player. I then reveal myself, and her eyes widened. :), Happy birthday baby. After the photoshoot, we went back to her house to have dinner with the family, including both of her grandmothers.  Her grandmother's homemade enchiladas are amazingly delicious. 

Blogspot

So I decided to take a look back last night and I've realized that I had blogged for over four years already! I have changed so much since then, and I'm so happy to have blogged for so long.  I still wish I'd started at an earlier age, but then again, I probably would've just written about Pokemon and boobs.

Thank you blogger, for keeping track of my memories.

A Man in the Shack

For the first time, I was on the other side of the camera lens.  Vanessa and I had our first photo shoot together, thanks to Casey Arakawa.

The Colors of the Wind (The Pros)

Despite the previous post being so negative and full of complaints, the things we've seen will be forever imprinted in my mind.  Havasupai is utterly gorgeous, and for the most part extremely hidden.  No cars are allowed within 10 miles of the village's premises, so campers must endure a grueling 10 mile hike through the canyons to reach this paradise.  We were woefully unprepared for this trip, as we thought we could carry all our supplies in our journey.  They offered mules and horses to carry our bags for a fee, but we brushed it off.  But it was a lesson learned, and my poor legs paid the price.

The Indian reservation's main attraction are their waterfalls.  They have a total of 5 breathtaking falls, and we were able to see 4 of them.  The military rations we brought on our trip were surprisingly delicious.  With just boiling water, we were able to have a filling serving of lasagna to a breakfast platter of eggs, bacon, and hash browns.  No matter how much our legs and shoulders suffered this weekend, these pictures should explain why it was all worth it in the end.

Stupid Butterflies (The Cons)

June 1st

4.30am - Woke up from the hotel with only 3 hours of sleep.
7.30am - Started our 10 mile hike with 40 pounds of luggage.
8.45am - Realizing our pace was much slower than expected.
10.15am - Only 4 miles have passed.
10.30am - Our shoulders were in pain.
11.00am - Noticing a blister forming on my right foot.
11.30am - Returning hikers giving us false hope.
12.00pm - Made it to the village, blister is now an inch wide.
12.00pm - Noticing a blister forming on my left foot.

1.00pm - Removed my shoes and wore sandals.
1.02pm - The sand and dirt was way hot, burning my feet.
1.30pm - Saw two snakes.
2.00pm - Couldn't find a campsite to settle in.
3.00pm - Took out supplies and realized soap bottle cracked.
3.02pm - Both our pajamas were soaked in soap.
4.00pm - My right knee was giving out.
5.00pm - Didn't have water shoes, jagged rocks in the pools.
5.45pm - My sandals ripped.
6.00pm - Couldn't walk anymore, Vanessa found me a stick.
7.45pm - Can't poop.

8.00pm - Threw away our dinner because the oxygen packet was still in.

June 2nd

8.30am - Woke up realizing there are tiny worms in our tent.
9.00am - Discovering that they are able to crawl through the tent holes.
9.30am - Re-positioned our tent location.

10.00am - Turn my hiking shoes into slippers.

10.30am - Both knees are giving out.
11.00am - Met a series of bad photographers.
1.15am - A giant rock fell on Vanessa's foot
2.00pm - Vanessa slipped in a pond with our electronics.
2.15pm - Vanessa scraped her food and cut her toe.
3.00pm - People are recognizing me as the gimpy Asian guy.
5.00pm - Met the worst photographer of our generation.
9.00pm - Laid in our tent, it was still very hot.
11.00pm - Notice a few worms crawling on the outside.

11.10pm - Paranoia begins.

12.00am - Refusing to sleep.

June 3rd

4.00am - Woke up thinking it was 5am.
4.10am - Realizing no more worms had appeared, wasting a night of sleep.
6.30am - Both my legs are completely worn out, 2 miles to helicopter.
10.30am - Not enough room in helicopter, Vanessa and I got split up.

Lol, what a weekend it was.  But I assure you, even with this long list of misfortunes, the trip was still worth it.  

Electric Newborn

I attended my first 5k that involved EDM and neon lights known as the Electric Run.  I was apart of the Glowing Dead team, which included Vanessa, Braimy, Lawrence, Lisa and her co-workers.  Not much running was done in this particular event due to the overabundance of people and the high consumption of alcohol by our friends, haha.  However, the lights and the cool weather made it a very vivid experience. 

The next day, whilst at work, I received a text from Jason.  It was a image text, and in the photograph was a tiny little boy all wrapped up in a blanket.  The boy was Travis, Jason's third child.  I am an uncle again for the 5th time! I feel like we've been having babies in this household one after another for 12 years now, haha.  Welcome to the world, Travis.