We Never Learn

I've spent the day looking at photos from the US eastern seaboard as Hurricane Sandy, or whatever she's called now, slammed into it.  Waist-high water, construction cranes snapping in mid-air, structures being washed out to sea, power outages to thousands if not millions of people, etc.  And of course, what do I think of but "The Day After Tomorrow".  It's one of those movies that I'll watch over and over again, whenever it's on TV.  I'm not saying that I think these events are definitely going to happen.  But the things that Dennis Quaid's character are saying are completely plausible to me.  Despite having no background in meteorology, the physics of it makes sense.

I don't know about you, but to me, the images of New York and New Jersey that are being shown to the world today look incredibly similar to the ones in the movie.  And yet I still hear people saying that they're making too big a deal about it, that the authorities over-reacting.  So, just like in the movie, we probably won't learn until it's too late.

Jules Verne wrote "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "From the Earth to the Moon" almost a hundred years before there were submarines and space shuttles.  It's not inconceivable that someone who wrote a movie screenplay could possibly be seeing into the future.

So now maybe we'll actually need to be on the lookout for the zombie apocalypse.  Or, more likely, killer robots.  My boss is currently at a trade show, looking for equipment that could improve the efficiency of our packaging lines.  That includes robots.  I'm okay with them as long as they're not doing any independent thinking.  For god's sake, did we learn nothing from Arnold??

"It's the end of the world as we know it"

Until the Sun Comes Up...

...over Santa Monica Boulevard.

I'm home from the mini jaunt to the West Coast.  Definitely a much needed break in the action.  The wedding itself was kind of funny.  It's been a really long time since I've been to a straight-up Chinese wedding banquet.  No long speeches, no kissing games (although that didn't stop my mother from clinking on the dishes), no slideshows, nothing.  Just a lot of photo ops with the newlyweds, which in this case included my ridiculous cousin putting on an old school Chinese zombie outfit because he wanted to look as "traditional" as his wife in the red dress.  I could hear the wait staff chuckling to themselves and saying that they've never seen anything like it.

We ate our ten courses, which didn't fill me up as it normally did.  We toasted the bride and groom when they came to our table (memories of our other cousin's wedding from a couple of years ago), and then that was it, and we all went home by 10 pm.  Quick, easy, and even left us some time to play some Rock Band.

The next day, we had some really good dim sum, and then went to Santa Monica (via a wrong turn through downtown LA).  Walking along the pier, it was a fantastic day.  We went down to the beach, walked barefoot through the sand, and I stood in the Pacific (it was cold). It was all very surreal.  While we were taking in the awesomeness, my cousin's friend was busy looking for geocaches, which I had heard of but never really got into.  I guess it has to do with the fact that I still have an idiot phone.  We actually found a couple, and I thought it was kind of hilarious that they were trying to be nonchalant when they found the geocache and when they were subtly putting it back after writing their names on the log.  If you're not already doing this and you have an interest in treasure hunting, it seems like a really cool past time.  Apparently, there are geocaches on every continent, and on the International Space Station (good luck with that one).

The next day we said goodbye to my cousin, who had to run to work having used up all of his vacation days, and we hung out at my aunt's house until it was time to go to the airport.  Another jaunt through the world was over.  Here's my favourite photo:

"I am still living with your ghost, lonely and dreaming of the west coast"

This Ain't No Disco, It Ain't No Country Club Either...

...This is L.A.

Yet another adventure out in the world.  I know you're asking yourself, so soon?!  Before you get too jealous, this time it's a quick trip out to the west coast for my cousin Clement's wedding.  And so it's a total family affair, with my parents, both of my brothers and other assorted relations.  I'm usually not particular about warm weather places.  As you know, I like the cold.  But in this case, I've been repeating "It's 27 degrees in L.A." to myself all week.

We landed pretty late last night, plus the flight was rough for me.  The fun began today when we went to the county courthouse to witness the civil ceremony.  I'd never attended one before, so it was definitely...different.  Afterwards we went for dim sum with the family and then headed back to my aunt's house.  My brothers and I lounged outside on the patio and mostly fell asleep.  We noticed that instead of squirrels roaming around the yards, it's lizards.

We went out with Clement and his friends for dinner.  Quite by accident, we did something that I had secretly been hoping to do: we went to a congregation of local food trucks.  They gather every Friday night.  Pulling in, it was amusing to see how many people were tailgating.  There were at least a dozen trucks parked in two rows, and while they all looked pretty good, I had instantly made up my mind the second I saw The Lime Truck.  I watch the Food Network almost daily, and not only were they the winners of The Great Food Truck Race, but they were also featured on Eat St.  I had the lamb sandwich with a limeade and shared the carnitas fries with my brothers.  Messy but very delicious.

Day One has been fun so far.  Tomorrow's the big party.

"All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die"