Clickin' my little red heels - Part 1

Howdy all. I've just come back from a trip back home to good ol' California and what a misadventure it was! Each day had its own little misadventures so in the interest of space and general laziness on my part, I'll be doing a post per day spent there. The frequency of these posts depends mostly on how un-lazy I'm feeling that day. Also, not every day was exactly epic so I may just combine a couple of days.

Anyways, on with the misadventure!

That morning, my flight was to leave at 6:40 in the morning, which necessitated my need to be at the airport by 5:40. My home is about 30 minutes from the airport... so I had to leave my house by 5:10 which meant I had to be up at least 30 minutes prior to that. So guess what I did?

I JUST STAYED UP ALL NIGHT.

Cleaned my room a bit, watched some Star Trek episodes... I found ways to pass the time.

I figured I would catch a few hours of sleep on the plane and I would catch up that way. There'll be more on that later actually. In any case, Br. Fenwick picked me up and we were off. I started off the conversation with my usual, "WAZZUP Br. Fenwick?"
"Oh Paul... what a DAY."
"Er... the day just started..."
"EXACTLY."

Haha that guy always cracks me up. Br. Fenwick is one of the most hardworking and loving brothers I know... but sometimes I think he works a bit too hard. He's almost 70 and he's just now starting to feel his age. Haha! What a guy...

Anyways, after he drops me off at the airport I go through the usual security routine and end up getting searched. As the guard was patting my down, he paused at my stomach. And... he... kept... patting... at... it...

DUDE. That's MAH BELLAY. And no sir, I didn't just think that. I actually said it out loud. "THAT'S MAH BELLAY!!!!" Of course, he gave a little chuckle and sent me off my way... but the NERVE! Just cuz my belly sticks out a bit doesn't mean I strapped myself with BOMBS or something. I mean, do I LOOK like a terrorist to you? Sigh...

In any case... I was off on my flight eventually... and I had the good fortune to sit behind a woman who had a baby. Remember that part about me getting some sleep on the flight? Yeah... kind of didn't happen. Sigh.

So about 5 hours later I end up in San Jose and Thanh picks me up.

Thanh looking tired... of course...


David got stuck doing mop duty since they didn't
want him making coffee anymore ;)


Mmmmm coffee... for a guy who's been
up over 30 hours...

After some coffee, we decided to regroup at Thanh's house for a bit to decide on some lunch details. I had trouble sleeping again so I roamed the house and I found something rather interesting...

Now in Thanh's house, there are two bathrooms. One is for his parents, and one is for himself and his brother. I was in Thanh's bathroom and check this:

2 guys + 8 toothbrushes = ?????


Two single guys + 3 different shampoos + 3 different kinds of condition
+ 2 different kinds of body wash + who knows what else = WHAT THE GAY?

It eventually was time to head out for lunch. Now one thing you all must understand is that I have a habit (that I just realized I had on this trip) of rolling down the car window a bit and then sticking my hand out just to feel the air. Well... I was telling a story to Thanh but he couldn't hear me too well so he decided to roll up the window. There was just a problem...

MY FINGERS WERE STILL OUT THE WINDOW. So yes, you can imagine my surprise when Thanh rolls up the windows and my fingers are nearly CRUSHED. Fortunately for me, my fingers did not suffer decapitation (or whatever it's called for fingers) due to my ring. Green Lantern ring FTW! But dang did it still hurt! This is how our conversation went (written in prose!):

Paul said, "So blah blah blah."
Thanh thought, I can't hear Paul. Better roll up the window. Where's that button anyway?
ZzzzzzZZ
As Paul felt the intense pressure of the window pressing his fingers towards the top of the door, only one thing dominated his mind...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Imagine Thanh's surprise when he saw Paul's face contorted in agony and surprise. Only one thing dominated his mind as well...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

So imagine, if you will, both Paul and Thanh screaming at each other this singular thing. Fortunately for Paul, Thanh quickly realized what the issue was but in his panic could not press the proper button for the window and ended up rolling down the other windows. So unfortunately for Paul, he was still in pain with no end in sight.

After a short period of time (which seemed an eternity to Paul), Thanh found the proper button and released Paul from his captor (the window). After a quick survey and finding no harm was done, a hearty laugh was had followed by a quick punch to the face from Paul to Thanh (just kidding, that punch never happened... but I wish it did!!!! >.<). Anyways, after that little fiasco we finally arrived at the restaurant... CURRY HOUSE! Thanh apparently discovered it and everyone else seemed to like it.

Lynna is a bit photo-shy, even though she loves
taking pictures of everyone else

What a hypocrite!

"OMGAWD I'm so dead tired..."


"Yeah me too, especially cuz I don't do
any actual work when I'm at work! Har!"


"I'm always tired, so there's nothing else to say."


The iced green tea here was GOOT!


Paul: "Yeah... I do carpet cleaning."
Jeff: "You do actual work? UGH!"


Mmmmm curry. Too bad I couldn't eat too much of it
since I felt sick from getting no sleep at all...

After Curry House we decided to go back to Thanh's house so I could take a nap. After a short nap, we went over to his sister's (C. Tim)shop to get a haircut since I didn't want to look like a YETI during my stay in San Jose. I also got to see Vanessa, C. Tim's daughter, again and MAN was she as cute as ever!!!

Thanh being all popular and stuff


Thanh: "You want some water?"
Vanessa: "I wanna some wadda!!!"


Look at Ms. Independent... gosh!


She can be pretty bratty sometimes though...
but she's cute, so it's okay! :D


OMG ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST THING ON TWO FEET?!?!

After the haircut, Thanh took me to my actual home so I could shower and settle in a bit. My mom and sister were home already getting ready to cook dinner so when I came in we gave each other atomic hugs (the kind of hugs where no one survives!!!) and then I went on my way to shower and freshen up.

When I got out, my mom made me cook. :c

Fryin up some cha... or meatloaf in English terms. Sooo good!


When it curls up like that you know it's almost done...


I couldn't help myself! It just looked so good!
NARM NARM NARM!!!!


Not all of the cha had to be fried,
so my mom cut up the rest


It's all in the presentation!


This is my sister's handiwork... always the artist. Sigh.


Here we're making banh tom, which is kind of like shrimp cakes...
which happens to be my favorite dish!
I WUV YOU MOM! :D
(she reads this blog now, so I gotta suck up extra nice :D)


Teamwork baby. My mom sets in the first batch,
and then I finish up the frying process.


We toss it into a bowl with paper towels to
get rid of as much of the oil as possible.


My sister at work yet again.
Always the artist... sigh.


The finished product. It's so "nom-nom"-able!!! :D


David... what are you doing in my sister's room?

WANNA DIE?!

Let the feasting begin!!!


Me and David being silly.

Yes, that is my natural smile. Not.

Narm narm narm...


Nom nom nom...

Embarrassing-candid-shots-while-eating FTW!

After dinner, we vegetated a bit while our bodies digested the food and I got to play my good ol upright piano again. Do I ever miss that thing... sigh. In any case, my return back home has afforded me the opportunity to pick up some things I left behind like my piano sheet music and books.

Time to get mah self-taught on!

After a little bit of reading I decided to call it a night and crawled into bed. Then I realized something... my mom put some REALLY gay lookin' covers for my bed. Check it out:

"MOMMMMMMM!!!
I TOLD YOU I WANTED BUNNY WABBITS NOT WHALES!"

Seriously, I never felt so un-manly in my life.
I mean come on, monochrome whales
spouting out water?
That was so 15 years ago! :C

Anyways, I was able to get some good rest and was ready to start the next day totally fresh. May the misadventures continue!

A teaser for next time: Service followed by my reclamation of my man-card. Woot!