fun in the sun

it is freezing out today. i just want to be someplace warm. luckily, tomorrow through sunday i will be in phoenix, arizona. most of the trip is for work -- research. our groups are all in the late afternoon/evening which leaves me the mornings to just lay about in the sun – one of my very favorite activities.

a few years ago when i was living and traveling around south east asia, i spent a considerable about of time on beaches. one of my all time favorite beaches is in hoi an, vietnam.

hoi an is a very cute town. there are the usual cafes/restaurants, tailors, and craft stores but there is also quite a lovely atmosphere in the town.

on my first visit, i became friends with one of the local residents – who it turned out was gay. we (my boyfriend at the time) actually went up to the guy and chatted with him because he was wearing very fun pants and i wanted to know where i could get them.

over the time we spent there and in subsequent visits, this vietnamese guy showed us around a less touristy hoi an. i loved it. the following are a couple pictures – one of the beach and the other of some temple complex. if you look closely at the pictures you may notice my hair is not quite its usual color.


































while looking at photos of hoi an, i skimmed through some of the pictures i have online of cambodia. most are of course from my extended stay in siem reap and the angkor complex. it was lovely. for many reasons, but below are a couple.



























when one thinks angkor wat and the angkor complex (angkor wat being just one building) people generally think of these kinds of pictures.

but what about these?














i stumbled across these strapping young men playing a friendly, yet intense game of volleyball right next to one of the angkor temples. delicious.

every night lots and lots of folks go out to angkor to see the sun set over the temples. they are not the only ones. i saw families of monkeys walk out from their trees, sit with their kids, and watch right alongside the people. it was hilarious.















then you’d remember seeing them doing shit like this earlier in the day and just laugh.




















one of my co-workers just told us that this last weekend she found her first cockroach in her apt. that started everyone on a my cockroach experience conversation that lasted a good 15 minutes. my story focused on the time i ate them in cambodia. you took off the wings and ate the rest. they were boiled in some spicy seasoning – not the best tasting things, but not AS bad as you might expect.


























these are a couple random photos.
























the first is from vietnam. the woman in the boat was

paddling with such determination – i really wanted to know where she was going.

the second is a sign many people who travel through south east asia see a lot. it makes me smile every time i see it. it reminds me that using a toilet (a western kind) is not as instinctive as one may think. the first time i used a squat toilet i had no idea how to use it properly – i kept taking off my pants for the 1st month i used one. but that is a whole other story.

jag älskar svensk människor

i love sweden. i love swedish. i love most things that country has to offer.

back in 1998 i was lucky enough to spend a semester at stockholms universitet. it was fantastic! i lived in a swank flat in södermalm with a wonderful swedish family. i learned swedish and discovered the distinct flavor of moose -- smoked is my favorite.

sadly, my swedish proficiency has declined in the past 8 years.

over the last few months i have been practicing more and more. i can often be seen in the subway or at the gym repeating words and phrases under my breath. sometimes i forget what i’m doing and speak a little too loudly and someone will look at me with a furrowed brow. i smile and lower my voice.

if you’ve never heard proper swedish, i highly recommend listening to it for a bit. it’s such a fun sing-songy language. i sometimes pop on my headphones at work and listen to swedish talk/news radio online. now, i have absolutely no idea what they are saying in every sentence. but i do get enough of the words to figure out the context. which, for right now, is pretty good for me.

and lastly i would like to send out a big gratulerar to the swedish national hockey team. yesterday morning i turned on the tv to them winning the olympic gold metal.

going, going, gone

a while back i made a list of the places i want to go and things i want to see before i die. of course i lost it. so here it is again. this time i can't lose it.

the following list is a work in progress. it will be updated as new places/things are brought to my attention and/or i check others off the list. (bolded = visited)

suggestions greatly appreciated.

easter island
machu picchu
mount fuji
victoria falls
potala palace
hagia sophia
petra
grand canyon
angkor complex
great wall of china
great barrier reef
taj mahal
chichen itza
niagara falls
the great pyramids
maldive islands
old faithful
the himalayas
the galapagos islands
the vatican
amazon jungle
grand palace and the temple of the emerald buddha, bangkok
the guggenheim bilbao
ice hotel, sweden
the wailing wall
stonehenge
hoover dam
the aurora borealis (seen from iceland)
sequoia national park
dead sea
mayan pyramids
rock of gibraltar
red square
namib desert
the alps
ayer’s rock¸ uluru
valley of the kings
terracotta army
french quarter, new orleans
forbidden city
brandenburg gate
lake palace - udaipur, india
parthenon
colosseum
leaning tower of pisa
mont-saint-michel
shwedagon pagoda, myanmar
gateway arch
petronas towers – kuala lumpur, malaysia
cherry blossoms – kyoto, japan
mt. everest
statue of cristo redentor – rio de janeiro
breakers – newport rhode island
plaza mayor – salamanca, spain
pompeii
christianshavn, copenhagen
gammla stan, stockholm
notre dame cathedral, paris
teotihuacan
banaue rice terraces, philippines
borobudur temple, indonesia
iguacu falls,brazil/argentina
eiffel tower
empire state building
queen's day in amsterdam
the fjords of norway
halong bay, vietnam

skinny on skim milk

yesterday morning on my walk to work, i did something i never do – i stopped and picked up a muffin (multi-berry, toasted with lots of butter).

since my office is one of those nice places that provides a variety of beverages free for its employees – coffee, teas, sodas, water, and milks -- i thought it better to wait until i got to work to eat my butter drenched muffin where i would be able to wash it down with a nice glass of milk.

but of all the beverage choices there is no soy option -- which is kind of understandable. soy is still a bit of a luxury item and many folks at my job do not like it. (a few months back we happened upon a large supply of silk soy milk and it just sat in the fridge for quite some time. i think i drank most of it.) without soy milk, i figured skim was the next best thing for me to drink since there was enough fat in my muffin to satisfy my recommended daily allowance.

a few blocks away from my building it dawned on me that i didn’t really know what skim milk was. it looks like white water. it tastes kind of funny. and how do they make it skim? i mean, i grew up around dairy farms, hell i’ve been in a milk holding vat (one which i was closed and locked into as a prank – traumatic!), and just could not imagine how they get that deliciously thick and creamy white liquid to be that supposedly fat free whishy white fluid.

according to about.com the usda changed the milk labeling laws about three years ago. anyone notice? because i didn’t. and apparently they did away with “skim milk” and replaced it with more descriptive “fat free milk” – which it turns out may not even be fat free.











these milk experts also say that skim milk is cheaper to buy than whole milk. but a quick visit to freshdirect.com revealed that not only are skim and whole milk the same price, but that milk producers are using “skim” and “fat free” labels. who knew the dairy farmers of america were such rabble-rousers.

sleaze

recently i’ve been inspired by the fantastic blogging styles of davis mcdavis’ comfort zone, MSB’s a nobody’s nobody, and confessions of a go-go dancer. so welcome to my second go at a blog. the first ended three years ago after one long cathartic recount of a crazy night in seoul, korea. i’ve pasted it at the end of this entry to keep the memory alive.i apologize in advance for my crap spelling -- i’ll try my best to remember the spell check but no promises.

late sat night he-has-done-it-for-me (the literal translation of his proper name) and i swung by the cock. when i opened the door i spotted hot asian volleyballer in line in front of us. i don’t see hot asian volleyballer often but when i do it’s such a nice treat. he doesn’t really drink or do drugs and always stays till closing—dancing, smiling, having a good time. he has such soft skin and is so sweet. an all around good guy.

once in, hot asian volleyballer left he-has-done-it-for-me and i at the bar and went on a little promenade to see what was what. after a few minutes he returned with an expression i couldn’t quite read. leaning in with a big smile he yelled over the music, “i was over by the couches looking down at some guy getting a blowjob and then the guy getting blown looked up and said, ‘hey hot asian volleyballer’ ... he’s on my volleyball team!” crazy right. it gets better. not 5 minutes later, hot asian volleyballer realizes the guy blowing his teammate is yet another one of his friends.

wondertwin is always saying this town is just too fucking small. he may be right.

while hot asian volleyballer and i were laughing about his encounter, he-has-done-it-for-me was being “attacked” by some drunk trannie who kept screaming, “i want gay babies! i want you to stick your gay dick in my pussy! i want some gay babies!” all the while, she was pulling her rather ample breasts out for our viewing pleasure and insisting he-has-done-it-for-me touch them.

when the lights finally came on, the trannie stopped screaming and began scanning the floor. she spotted a nickel in front of her and picked it up. while eyeing her find, she announed with a look of utter distain, “it’s canadian!” then as agile as a mongoose, she lunged at me and slipped the filthy coin down the front of my new pink t-shirt. i started jumping about trying to shake the coin off my chest and out of my shirt before whatever flesh-eating germs living on that it had time to do their dirty work. he-has-done-it-for-me and hot asian volleyballer just laughed and laughed. bitches!

tonight i’m supposed to meet up with hot tub t and some boys. we will most likely go to the daniel nardicio mount cockmore party. this brings me to what i really wanted to discuss this morning. sleaze.

i often debate with myself about sleaze vs. respectability. with my friends, i do all the time. usually i settle for being respectable in sleaze. meaning, i go into a sleazy situation but not partake of the sleaze. but lately i’ve been wondering, how much sleaze am i allowed to surround myself with before i’m considered sleazy? because i really don’t think i’m. at least i hope i’m not.

it’s cold out there kids. cover up.
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the repost:
Tuesday, May 13, 2003

it’s a little late - but i had to recover - here is my weekend update.
12:45am (sat party night but really sunday) go out with Gurl, His Grace, and His Grace’s boyfriend to met up with a boy Gurl is currently working. end up in east fucking-nowhere at some mainstream resturant/hof. had a couple beers, took a piss, and annouced my departure. His Grace and i take off for the “hill” ... arrive after a hair raising taxi ride - one which almost had the car on two wheels. upon arrival drinks are consumed in copious amounts. a shot here a bottle of beer there another shot followed by some jack or vodka drink. this naughtiness continues for a good three hours ... could have been 2 but after that kind of drinking time means nothing. meanwhile i am being molested by my friends, who decide that that night i was extra-special cute ... wearing a pair of classic workman straight leg blue pants (the kind one gets at salvation army ... where I get pants) with my yellow polyester short sleeve shirt and black flip-flops. now i didn’t really think i looked bad - but not all that molestable cute. anyway - after hours of blocking the touches and being danced out - i drag His Grace and a super drunk Oracle down to hollywood. after our desent into the dark flashing loud music den which is Hollywood - i veer right and find Sam-I-am, an irish dude i met the previous weekend, sleeping in a chair - i go over to him - shake him - he looks at me and says “hey ...” and perfectly pronounces my name. needless to say i’m floored. the boy learned it a week ago, in a club, and only heard it twice ... maybe. he gets up, we go to the bar. drink like fish - His Grace tells me he is off. i of course do not pay attention. meanwhile, i’ve lost Oracle ... who i later learn was passed out in a corner chair ... so i am there chatting away about all sorts of shit, when Sam-I-am tells me we’ve got to get our asses over to his neighborhood - in the slums - so we jump in a taxi - i lay down a bit in the taxi (my head on his lap) and continue chatting with him - Sam-I-am at this point makes the executive decision that we need to leave the country and that new orleans would be the best destination. i agree whole heartedly ... so after a 15,500 won taxi ride round an empty seoul, we get out in no other place then east-fucking-nowhere again. so it is full circle for me. we walk around a bit down a street - see a car garage door closing roll in and i see buttons. i push one and we go down. the door opens and we are in some building. we decide it would be a good idea to hot foot it up to the top - now remember i am wearing flip-flops so every step i hit sends a bang through the stairwell. on about the 6th floor we see some guy (maybe a security officer) sitting against the wall and i wave, smile, and say we’re just going up. as soon as we get the the 7th floor i take off my flip-flops, and we increase our pace. finally at the top, the 10th floor, we see a door leading into the machine room - we go in - jump the various machinery, and end up outside - but alas we are not at the top top - just the semi-top. but yonder ‘round the corner is a staircase leading up to a door. after a quick sprint we are in and through. on the other side ... the top! we reached it. all that was left to do was to walk across a couple cement beams and we were home free on the slanty tiles - in the sun - with no worries, other than falling off. so we brace in ... relax and i fall asleep for maybe about 15 or so minutes. then i wake up and start chatting to Sam-I-am. who i quicly realize is full on sleeping since there is a noise similar to an engine that won’t turn over coming from his nose. so i just shut up and enjoy the view. after a bit of that i decide to wake him and we make our way down. Sam-I-am gets it in his head that it would be a good idea to jump off one of the beams - while i disagree and make my way for the staircase. once again - remember flip-flops ... no padding and nonetheless i am not that drunk ... i meet him on the floor where he landed - a bit pained. we make our way down - take the elevator to the 1st floor - walk out as if we haven’t been doing anything wrong (like break into this locked company building) - the doors are chained and the front desk guy starts yelling toward us - we smile and run round the corner down the stairs to find ourselves in some testing center. (we are still wearing our clothes from the night before - and my blue pants are dirty white from the roof tiles) - the people in the “waiting lobby” look at us like we are some escaped animals from the zoo - and Sam-I-am darts in sort of crouching - and i follow - we end up in the comp room or the area - now imagine the scene - the area is set up in cubicles - all of which have windows as their top half - so everyone can obviously see us - but Sam-I-am thinks we made it in unnoticed and thinks we should check our email - “no one will even know” - i pull him away from the keyboard and act like i am lost when the worker guy comes over - Sam-I-am then takes off down the hall and we end up in some music store - he of course finds the one blocked off section and we head down some stairs again. wander round the darkish cd section - then i tell him we got to get out and we head back upstairs - meanwhile people are on to us and some worker woman is standing at the top of the stairs - i walk out around the cardboard cd display that is blocking the downstaris but Sam-I-am thinks he can carry the display away - and make a clean get away. not realizing he is dropping cds left and right - the worker and i try to get the display out of Sam-I-am’s hands and put the cds back. then he and i run around playing hide-n-seek a bit - before finding some exit onto the street. now after that adventure we walk across the street and Sam-I-am sees a music store - we go in and he walks over to the guitars on the wall - a worker guy beelines it over to him - and tells him not to touch - i think, my korean isn’t THAT good - but he pulls it down off the wall and begins to tune it. he sits down and after it is tuned starts in playing and then joining in with song for a few tom petty hits. it was fucking hilarious!!! after he finished the worker guy politly clapped and then took the guitar away. we then go down and get some food - chat it up some more - when we leave he turns to me and says, “i need to take a shit” - i see a bathroom sign down the street so we start to walk - then i ask him if he has ever been to a sauna and he said no - i said want to go - explain to him that is is all naked and lots of guys - it was a mainstream sauna - just the regular kind - and he says lets do it. we go in and he tells me he is a bit uncomfortable naked (and not because of me) but what the hell. i show him around tell him what to do and we hang out in the waters for a good hour - he gets a scrubdown - then we shower off and head downstairs to the chairs watch a bit of tv and fall alseep for 2 hours. then i tell him we have to get up. we get up return to the waters - then dry off and leave - go grab a dr. pepper - talk some more. take leave of each other - i taxi home - find His Grace who is a couple roads down from my house - he comes over - i tell him my story - i hear his - i shower, change and we get ourselves into itaewon - have a little outside sidewalk picnic with our trays and all (with the koreans looking at us like we were some homeless crazies—i am in no way making a connection between the homeless and the mentally ill ... just that they looked at us like we were both crazy and homeless) - after we finish, we go up to gecko’s garden to meet some folks - drink up a bit there - then head over to queen ... make it in time for happy hour - 2 for 1 - The Manchurian - our friend who met us at gecko’s - thinks the first drink should be a shot and so we all drink it in one gulp. then three more follow - then it is time for king club. we slid down the hill and into the bar - and if you’ve ever been to king club or sat outside it ... you know i look a little out of place there (it’s mostly nigerians and russian “working girls”). but we just walk in and hit the dance floor. we stay for about 30 or so minutes - enough time to drink all our money away - so His Grace and i leave - go back to queen - i ask for a 20,000 won advance on my tab - take the money and go get a taxi - His Grace and i make it back to mine - we pop in the broken hearts club and after 30 minutes i am pass out - i wake up at 5am - and decide i need to watch it so i rewind it and watch it again!
that is about it. i may have forgotten a thing or two here and there - but you get the idea - right?

word of the day ~ girth (gurth) n. 1. The distance around something; circumference. 2. A strap encircling an animal’s body in order to secure a load or saddle.

it is now 11:54pm 5/13 and i am about to go to bed and dream a little dream.

until next time. be good. play safe. remember the details!