OakMonster’s Den

The Olympics had begun, y’all.

I was at Katie’s wedding last night so I missed most of the celebration during the first broadcast.  However, I did catch the US and Thai national teams marched into the stadium.  And I tivo’ed the rerun to watch again this morning.

“Cousin” Nicky is reporting prolifically from Beijing on their adventures so far.  And tonight, May takes the court.  So please tune in on the computer at 9 p.m. PST (California time), Thais and Americans everywhere, to cheer her on.

LA Times Olympics Blog also got to talk to May a bit as she recap Uncle Noi’s harrowing near “great fall down the Great Wall” as well as her experience so far.

Now, back to the opening ceremony.

Holy. Mackerel!  As Brandon summed it up best, “Nobody can out-pomp the Chinese!”

The LED screen on the floor is amazing.  Performers, brilliant and are you sure they’re human?  I mean, that kind of precision for that big a group is INSANE!

This would mark the 2nd Olympics of my life time that I actually would remember how the torch was lit.  There’s the 1992 Barcelona with the archery and then this running up the wall thing in Beijing.

Suddenly, I think I heard the Londoners let out the resounding, “Aw, shit. Now we have to top THIS?”  You poor, poor Brits.

As much as I enjoyed the ceremony and I quietly accepted the delay broadcast, I must say that someone should slap a piece of tape over Bob Costa’s mouth.

The tidbits about each country marching out is great.  Good to know. Thanks, guys.  The cultural commentaries about the ceremony are also helpful.  Again, thanks.  But Bob’s “Hey, I’m a witty sports commentator guy! Hear me make what I think is hilarious injection!” not only wasn’t funny, it was disrespectful.

There were too many moments to count but notably, as the 2,008 Tai-chi masters ran into formation around the stadium, he blurted out something along the line of one misstep and that’s a cranium wreck.  Come on.

And there was more of those little comments that he made that would’ve been funny during an NFL game, but seriously, not here at the Olympics.

Talk about comments, I was also bothered about the politically laden commentaries throughout the broadcast. I understand that there are a lot of controversies. I’m sure everyone see this differently, but I thought all the political analysis and comments from Tom Brokaw before the show started was enough right there.  But not for NBC apparently.

They kept saying that the Olympics opening ceremony is one of those moment when you put everything aside and celebrate the world coming together.  But throughout the show, they kept throwing in the political tidbits.

Oh yes, here’s Sudan.  Oh yes, here’s Thailand where President Bush made that speech the other day (instead of talking about the fact that Thai female athletes won first medals in the country’s history, a fact they pointed out with other countries).  Oh yes, here’s Iran and its nuclear program.

How is this supposed to be a UNITY event when the newscasters keep bringing up the controversies every few minutes?

Oh, whatever.  We’ve all moved on by now.  After all, that was so 12 hours ago.

At this moment, it looked like the Chinese already out-gold-medaled the U.S.  NBC is keeping tabs on the total medal count, but to me, the only medal count that matters is the gold.

Thailand is coming in pretty strong this year with returning champs.  Let’s see if we can beat our records last year!

I was just going to check email and crawled into bed as I haven’t slept very well for the past few nights.

But first, I have to share with you the good news.

Thank you for your email commending an Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) coach operator.  We at OCTA are proud of our staff and their commitment to provide quality customer service.

The operator will be acknowledged for providing excellent service and professionalism.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We at OCTA look forward to continuing to serve you.

My letter actually is getting Gunny the recognition he deserves!  I meant to tell you guys about the update a while ago.  Gunny thanked me for the letter.  Apparently they showed it to him and pretty much the whole shenanigan about the flag complaint did get tossed out.  It made up for the past few days of the ordeal he said.

Semper Fi, Gunny.  You deserve it!

And finally, So You Think You Can Dance.

I actually popped into the LA Times SYTYCD live chat today.  (Shh. Don’t tell my boss.)  I didn’t plan on it but it popped up as I was reading the recap of last night’s episode, so I had to chime in.  Boy, do we have a LOT to chat about next week!

Did we just fucking lose WILL?

Have to admit, I’m pretty sure Twitch has a bigger fan base.  Folks with past formal dance experience see the beauty and discipline in Will’s line and the joy in his dance.  But classically trained dancer can only get you so far in a competition based on popular votes.  Will is just not on the plate for most of America, I guess.

Must also say that I’m somewhat not surprised that the entire state of Hawaii were calling in to save Mark last night.  Ah. Island love.

Comfort did go home as predicted, however.

Okay. I’m done. Beddy bye for me.  Big day tomorrow.

Since everyone seems to have a special, regular Friday feature, I think I’m going to just join in.

Welcome to the first edition of Phototastic Friday where I will feature a photo I have taken (or in some cases, Brandon of me) recently or one from my Flickr album. There maybe a story. There may be not. But there will always be a photo on Friday.

Me and the Chick-Fil-A Cow at the mall.

We went to see Hancock last night. I actually LOVE it! I know the critics and the reviews have been all WTF about the “twist” in the middle of the movie. Yes, it was a little jarring and it did take the movie to a different direction, but the twist makes perfect sense to me. I actually think the story there was awesome.

Oh, Charlize Theron. Gorgeous. GORGEOUS. It’s ridiculous.

Finally, So You Think You Can Dance. Kherington, that girl seems to just have given up once she was paired with Mark. Her solo dance to save her last night was uninspired, as if she’s already given up the night before. She really wasn’t stepping up. It was really weird since she was one of my favorites.

And Gev, my darling Gev. Had a feeling between him and Mark, the audience would let him go. As much as we adore him, but I think Mark would be hanging on just fine.

My prediction from this point. The girl we’ll have Katee. We’ll lose Comfort first but it’s a tough call between Courtnie and Chelsie who’d go next, but I think Chelsie would stick around. For the boys, I think Mark would be next, then Joshua. It’ll be Twitch and Will to the death. I think we’ll end up with Will and Katee at the end and that’s a very tough call between who gets the first prize. I’m all for Katee though.

Ah. I love summer. With all the movies. And the dance TV shows!

I used to dance.

I’m not particularly good at it, as in I could never go to Juilliard, but I wasn’t horrible.

This might come to surprise to some, but I used to be THE choreographer at school back in my days.  Mainly because nobody else would risk the embarrassment to do the job, while I, on the other hand, have no concept of shame.

There wasn’t a school show I didn’t dance in or choreographed or both.  I was in every Christmas pageant since kindergarten.  I was on the “dance team”, a handful of dancers teachers would call on to perform somewhere.

I started ballet in kindergarten and took the standard tests for it up to level III before I decided that I didn’t want to be tested any more.  The instructor didn’t seem to mind me continuing to take classes  with everyone without the test.  As a matter of fact, at some point, for the big multi-school production of The Nutcracker, I was taking 3 levels of dance lessons.  Because of my size, I was to perform as the clowns with the girls one level below me.  Then I’d take my regular class and learned all the moves as Clara’s friends. And I followed that with the advance class, but just the regular class but not the choreography.

Anyways.  By 6th grade, I started on pointe.  First of all, I was the only one left in the class who actually haven’t done any testing.  I was also the only one left who actually didn’t have the goal to go to dance school or have a serious career in dance.   I surely didn’t have the long, lean body for a ballerina.  I was there purely because I love to dance.

The instructor didn’t think the same way.  Pretty much, I was given minimal instructions and largely ignored in class.  I didn’t even know I was supposed to break my pointes so that they would flex.  Conveniently for all, my motion sensitivity set in just about the same time.  I mean, I couldn’t even do a double on regular shoes without feeling dizzy.  It was never like that!  On pointe, the dizzy spell was a lot worse.  I would pretend to sit out in class, blaming it on my toes, when in reality I was so dizzy from all the spins I was ready to throw up.   I would come home and lay down for another hour before I can even move.

That was the end of ballet and the beginning of jazz.  I was enjoying jazz thoroughly when the class I could attend was canceled.  Then the school moved to a new location, no longer convenient.

Despite the fact that I was no longer taking classes, I was still called on to dance and choreographed.  I guess because, like I said, I was the only one up for the job.

I came to the U.S. and I was excited that you can actually take dance as one of your classes!  But then I got to visit the dance class and quickly realized that I would be totally out of my league.  And here, who would want me to do anything.  So I retreated to my own private production of dancing around my bedroom.

Sometimes I beat myself up for having to quit proper lessons years ago.  Same regret I had with piano.  But I still love to watch people dance.  I still feel the music through my veins.  As a matter of fact, watching a dance performance, sometimes my muscles would twitch as if they want to dance too.

And my body was doing that when I watch So You Think You Can Dance, my newest TV addiction.

I can never dance like that.  But I was surprised that my criticism from the couch was the same as the experts on the panels most of the time.

It’s not that I have the expertise.  But I FEEL the dance.  If the dancers couldn’t move me, if they couldn’t get me twitching, they’re not conveying the emotions that should be moving the audience.  And that just can’t be a good performance.

SYTYCD thoroughly entertains me and at the same time it breaks my heart that I no longer dance.

But yes, I am planning on getting my shoes back on and get back out there.  As a matter of fact, a few years ago, I took up jazz at the community center.  No offense to older readers, but the class was paced for seniors.  Not what I was looking for.

Nonetheless, I AM planning to take up the classes again. I have done some research and I know where to go now.  It’s just a matter of money at this point.

I believe we are now officially properties of Athena the Cat That Is Not Ours.

Then again, I think she knows she has us since the day I started to bring her treats.

Also, television still owns my life. I have been looking forward to the return of LOST all day.

…for…

Arrival of Peanut/Dresden. We have been on baby watch all weekend for Aurora and James’ first child. Or as James’ WoW gang would say, “We’re waiting for Dresden to spawn.” Apparently, Nan is on baby watch as well. Let’s see who’ll be here first!

Tuesday. Because Stargate SG-1 The Ark of Truth comes out on DVD. Now we can put the whole damn Ori crap to rest. AND hopefully give SG-1 a better sign-off than the stupid time traveling series finale.

March 19. The day I head to San Diego to hang with Olaina and Justin for 3 days. Hooray!

Summer. Because I just bought this dress at Target.

I HEART Jovovich-Hawk. Only if I can afford their regular collection too. Haha! I mean, I have been a fan since I heard of the line. Milla is my Goddess to begin with when it comes to being sexy without having any boobs. My mantra is, if Milla can wear THAT, so can I.

Now I have to figure out what I can top this off so it would be work appropriate.

April 19. Because that is when I find out if I win the local photography contest. I am submitting the following photos. Brandon decided that none of his is competition worthy this time around. Next year is a different story.

Memorial Day Weekend. Because we’re going to take a road trip to Red River, NM. The road trip we had to abandon because of last year’s Summer of Sorrow.

Me to finish organizing my office so I can actually sit in my chair and type this instead of kneeling on the floor, reaching up to the keyboard tray, and looking up at the screen. Why am I on the floor in such precarious position, you ask?

Well, I have been battling with the mess in my office for a while now, as you all know. Since I couldn’t locate our super old shredder anywhere, I went and bought a kick-ass confetti shredder so I can organize ALL of my files.

The problem is, I’m taking up all of the floor space in my office. The chair has to go away over there because there isn’t enough room to maneuver.

Oh, and here are what we bought for my “new office”. 90% of them Brandon put together.

But hey, my office is so much more efficient now. And all matchy-matchy with Ikea Birch! I will take a picture for you guys once I clean up all this mess.

Yeah, baby!

My first 2 DVDs of Young Riders Season 1 arrived. I wrapped presents and signed Christmas cards while watching them over Saturday and Sunday.

Hey, this show is not as obscured as I thought! I mean, at least they got the first season out on DVD, right? And there were 3 seasons of this stuff.

I watched this series back in Thailand what seems like a million years ago. Of course, the whole thing was dubbed so things were a lot different then. I remembered having a major crush on the Kid played by Ty Miller (That smile gets me every time and his eyes are amazing. Oh, and him and Lou thing?  My god, that’s good sappy stuff!) and Marshal Sam Cain played by Brett Cullen (The height! The hair!  That smile! OMG!).

And of course, the conversation I had with my mom regarding riding lessons.

After watching this show a few times, I told my mom that I would like to learn to ride a horse. Being in an upper middle class Bangkokian family, we of course belong to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, Polo Club. At the time, that was the only place we knew that had riding lessons.

My mom didn’t want me to take an equestrian class because she was afraid I would fall and break my neck, being a LOT smaller than any horse I would ride. But she said that I should check out the classes beforehand. So one weekend at the Club, we walked over to see the English riding–the only “proper way” of riding there was–session.

I said no.

“Well I thought you want to learn to ride a horse?”

“Yes. But, that’s not how Young Riders’ cowboys ride their horses!!”

Didn’t I say once that I was probably a Texan rancher’s daughter in my past life?

I found a way to escape it all.

USC lost to the Ducks today.  (No doubt my brother’s wife and my dad, both U of Oregon alumni, are doing the happy dance for a change…after a few years of me rubbing it in.)  Mark Sanchez did fabulous job.  But in all seriousness, the Ducks were just way too much for our still gelling team.  I don’t want to hear it.

The weirdness of mentioning my mom’s death to new friends.  Still makes me feel a bit hollow inside.

And a long-ass work week, a prelude to an even longer 10 days ahead.  That drains me more than I thought.

Oh…and a bit of a celebration of the 80% completion of my Jedi costume top.  So hooray for that!

To hide from reality and for a bit of celebration, all one requires are the following:

1. The Teddy Bear Couch.
2. A few glasses of Bordeaux.
3. And a few good TV shows on the big(ger) screen TV.   Ah…Stargate Atlantis, Torchwood and Top Gear.  DVR, how I love thee!

Oh, and half a bar of Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Truffle thrown in there for good measure didn’t hurt anyone.  It goes SOOOOO well with the Bordeaux!

I am now temporarily escaped from reality and feeling pretty good.

Tomorrow, I have dishes to do, a video I possibly have to go over to our Video Guy’s office to take a look at, and putting the finishing touches to my Jedi costume.

But right now, it’s me, Teddy Couch, and Brandon figuring out the X-Box 360.

Oh yeah.  Our living room transformation is NOW fully completed with today’s big purchase.  After weighing the options between that and a PS3, we went with the X-Box 360.  More games for B and more bang for our bucks.  PS3 that is backward compatible doesn’t really do much more if all we were going to play would be the PS2 games.  X-Box expands the playing field in the other directions while keeping me happy on PS2 with Karaoke Revolution and Star Wars Lego.  Besides, like Brandon is going to abandon his Final Fantasy games!

So yes.  The Escape Room aka Living Room is just THE place to be right now for me.

Well, until the wine runs out…then the bed IS the place to be.  Heeheee….

I have done a LOT this weekend, well, aside from throwing up bad fish and chips.

For one, we got ourselves a new couch…

…and a new “computer station”.

Brandon and I haven’t had a new couch since we have gotten together, so this is quite a big deal for us. We don’t really own much of any “real” furnitures. It’s either Ikea, Target, or someone gave us something. It’s quite a huge leap into respectable adulthood over here.

Now, the TV stand, replacing a folding card table, is acting as Brandon’s computer station for the moment. We’re looking into a computer armoir so he can hide all of his computer gadgets when he doesn’t have a project to work on. Once we get the armoir, that TV stand is going to replace our current 10-year-old Ikea entertainment center, which will in turn allow us the room to upgrade our TV to an HD, which will in turn provide a justification for us to get a Playstation 3.

Heeheehee.

With all of these new additions to our humble apartment, we have been busy all weekend rearranging our space. Well, mainly me, reorganizing my closet and office to move things in and out. So far, it’s working out great. I actually have more room in my closet now than I need, but we’ll see how long that’ll last. LOL

So while we waited for the couch to arrive, I watched my Boys in Cardinal and Gold owning Washington State 47-14 while making dinner of home cooked chicken soup made from scratch (Thanks Martha Stwart!) and organizing my room at half-time. With the protection coating on the couch, we couldn’t even sit on it last night. I spent the rest of the evening watching Torchwood on the floor.

Brandon still can’t quite get into Torchwood but I’m all over it because I’m hooked on Gwen, the police officer turned Torchwood agent. I still didn’t like Captain Jack Harkness that much in this. He felt all stiff too me, but I was just starting warm up to him this last episode. (The gun range scene…me-ow! Sign me up for lesson anyday, Captain!)

But having just seen Dr. Who’s “Utopia” episode where Jack’s running wild, flirting with everybody and every species, I REALLY do like his character. I mean, where is THIS Captain Jack in Torchwood?!? It makes me wonder what happened between now and then that makes him all cold and bitter. It was more like he was trying hard to appear Vulcan. A charismatic guy walking around trying to be all emotionless, and what you have was a walking piece of hardwood flooring. That explains what I thought was bad acting…he was just trying so hard to not show any emotions! Ah-ha!

Finally, by popular demand, here are the pictures of my cupcake creations.

The Pirate Cupcakes (Devil’s food cake with chocolate rum frosting)…

…and my Little Piggies made with the Pig Pickin’ cake recipe.

Heroes finale.
Damn.
DA-YAM!!!!

I may not have called the ending but I have called THAT ACTION quite a long time ago…[spoiler alert…highlight to read more]…since we found out than Nathan can fly and that Peter/Syler could explode. I was thinking, why didn’t he just fly the guy off? They do that in most action movies anyway! That’s all!

Keep it up, Kring!

P.S.  Brandon arrived in DC safe and sound.  Well, aside from the fact that his non-English speaking cabby drove him 8 miles in the wrong direction from his hotel.  Oh, and he said the hotel so far reminded him of the horror that was his NYC trip back in 2001 when the dot com sent him out to the NY branch.  Well, at least the door knob didn’t fall out when he closed the door.  That’s a good thing.