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Friday, September 08, 2006

happy birthday to me!

on thursday night i got home around 10:30, tired, and ready to go to bed.  rita was just about to go to sleep too… but then she decided that if i was gonna turn 27 at midnight, then we’d better stay up for it!

so… hungry and tired, we camped out on the living room couches, called perry to bring us some food and ring in my birthday with us, and he came - with fish fillets, chicken nuggets, french fries, and apple pies.

at midnight, rita and perry somewhat sang to me =) well… sorta....

it was cool though, cuz then they decided to light a candle so i could blow it out and make my wish - and we realized the smallest candles we had in the house were tealights!  and then we didn’t really have anything to stick it in, so we put it right next to the apple pie.

and then we put ‘em next to the chicken nuggets…

and then i blew out the candle on top of the fish fillet!

and then we made a mountain of fries and lit the candle in that!

can you tell it was really late at night? =)

anyways, as ghetto as it may look, it still was a very creative way to bring in my birthday!

Posted by kgrp on 09/08 at 10:26 PM
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Monday, August 21, 2006

me and my roomie


i haven’t had a chance to see much of rita since i’ve been back but we were finally able to hang out on saturday night…

Posted by kgrp on 08/21 at 01:33 PM
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Thursday, August 17, 2006

running non-stop since i've been home...

it has definitely been fun being home and catching up with people, giving them pasalubong, and just being able to hang out with friends… i’ve been pretty much filling my time with friends and family

  • wednesday night dinner at kat & susan’s house last week,
  • thursday night dinner with laurie in loma linda (so cool to have a puen cousin nearby),
  • friday night concert at redlands bowl, followed up ice cream at my apartment and this wacky science experiment
  • lunch with my brother and pauline in venice beach on saturday, after which we went to the tchaikovsky fireworks at the hollywood bowl
  • and then i went deep sea fishing on sunday and didn’t get back till tuesday night - that’s right, 45 hours on a boat.  catching tuna.  but i’ll post about that later...
  • coming back from the boat, i dropped off my fish into the freezer, and then headed to gym night for basketball and volleyball, and of course, i had in-n-out afterwards *grin*
  • wednesday night dinner at my house, in which we had arroz con menestra, imitation crab ceviche, tuna ceviche (yup, from what i caught on the boat!), fried tuna, baked tuna, potato salad, pancit/noodles with big franks, watermelon, and rainbow jello, followed up by poker night =) and pusoy dos.  yeah, i think i went overboard on dinner, but i’m glad everyone helped pitch in too!

the crazy thing is that up until i was on the boat, i was waking up at 7am every morning no matter what time i went to sleep, and i was feeling tired and jet lagged and couldn’t do a thing about it… then all i did on the boat was nap!!! so i think i’m on my way to recovery…

and if i have not yet seen you, i only have one more week of summer vacation - so call me up, let’s make the most of it!

and on to pictures:
(clockwise) me, kat, jay, christina, daryl (& wife, not pictured), laurie, susan, merv, & wendy were all at the redlands bowl, sitting in the back with all the rabble…

perry and i went to venice beach with my brother and pauline

we saw these street performers - all balancing on that one guys legs… craziness!

and the fireworks at the hollywood bowl

Posted by kgrp on 08/17 at 11:22 AM
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Sunday, August 06, 2006

"barcelona - it was the first time we met"

"barcelona - how can i forget.....”
“... and if God willing we will meet again someday"
so… tomorrow morning begins my days, yes, days, of traveling home.  i’m sad to leave this place, and i’m definitely not looking forward to the 3-day trip, but oh how nice it will be to be home!  but omg, the trip home will be horrendous!!! i leave my house at 6am (9pm on sunday PST) and i go from barcelona to reus in bus, then in reus i catch a flight to liverpool, which was the only feasible flight i could take.  i’ll get there around noon on monday, and then have to take the train to manchester at some point in the day so that i can be near the airport.  i have to be at manchester airport on tuesday morning at 8am, and from there i’m supposed to fly home.  except the lady at delta sold me a ticket that has me waiting at JFKfor a 7-hour layover!  yeah… i didn’t notice till after i bought the ticket, since i was so wowed by the low price (i paid $1000 less than i expected to...).  anyways, i arrive at LAX 11:57pm PST.  from there, my parents pick me up, and i go to their house in LA.  and then on wednesday i’m gonna hang out with my parents, give them their pasalubong (souvenir gifts), see my aunts, give them their pasalubong, then have dinner with susan and kat, and give them their pasalubong!  then i can get my car and drive home… i will finally arrive there on wednesday night, probably -after- 9pm, soooo… yeah… that’s 3 full days on the road. ack!

anyways, i got sidetracked complaining about my long (but incredibly inexpensive - how chinese am i?!!?!) trip home.

what i actually set out to write about was not my trip home, but the fact that it means i have to leave barcelona.  i wandered around town today, swam for (what hopefully will -not- be) the last time in the mediterranean sea, went up to a look out point, took tons of pictures, and had dinner on alberto’s balcony.  maria had prepared a dinner for me and surprised me by bringing me to her brother’s house, where it was all prepared nicely.  it was so nice of them - they’re such good people and they’ve been so nice to me. i wish i got more time to hang out with her… on the way home i realized how much i knew the city because i pulled her towards the end of the metro station, saying that if we waited there, we’d get on the back of the train, and that would leave us closer to the exit that we wanted to take.  she marvelled at how much i knew the city and told me that i definitely know more parts of the city than some of the locals who live there.  yeah, i think it’s been my city ever since i started calling it “home”

well, while i was up there on top of parc guell, overlooking the city as the sun was setting off in the distance, the refrain from queen’s ‘barcelona’ was going off in my head. 

Barcelona - Such a beautiful horizon
Barcelona - Like a jewel in the sun
Por ti seré gaviota de tu bella mar
Barcelona - Suenan las campanas
Barcelona - Abre tus puertas al mundo
If God is willing
-If God is willing
If God is willing
Friends until the end
Viva - Barcelona
Posted by kgrp on 08/06 at 03:46 PM
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006

my big europe update

i just sent out a big mail to family and friends to update them on everything i’ve done while i’ve been here in spain, and it took me forever trying to make sure i didn’t miss anyone… and then after i sent it i realized there were 5 more people i had to send it to… and now, well, i guess i just figure, i’m sorry if i forgot you, but you have the chance to read it here.  or - you could email me and make sure i have your address, that way i can get in touch with you sometime!

anyways, i saved a copy of my email in html format, so you can see it here.

or you can click on the picture of me and maria at the beach to read about all i’ve been up to this summer!

Posted by kgrp on 08/02 at 05:25 PM
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Thursday, July 13, 2006

running with the bulls

so i ran with the bulls…
on wednesday, july 12, the police wouldn’t let me and rose into the street to run with the bulls, but we found some nice guys (javi, alex, and tilo) who let us sit with them on the barricade.  i started taking video about a minute after the fireworks went off - and you can see the people jumping up and down, looking for the bulls, and then they start to run!  as soon as the first group of bulls pass by, rose jumped through the barricade and started running, and the guard turned around as soon as the second group of bulls passed, and then i jumped in too!  so then the video goes shaky… after i stopped filming i walked into the bullring and then the people started running around me, they said more bulls were on their way!  3 or 4 more bulls ran thru but i was already safely on the side =)

here i am, walking my way into the bull ring, taking pictures of the people running past me…

once we got to the bull ring the i jumped over the edge immediately!  you can see what happens to the other people who stay inside the ring....

you can see tilo’s wounded arm, and you can’t really see javi’s wound under his left eye, but those are results of being in the bull ring!  i actually think javi’s wounds are from jumping the fence when the bull came nearby, which is also how the american got paralyzed on the first day of the bull run, not cuz he was gored, but because he jumped over the wall to get away from the bull and he landed on his neck!  anyways, i’m glad everyone was safe today and yesterday… these are only surface wounds....

i definitely have more pictures but it’s way past time for bed… i have to get up in a couple of hours to catch the 3 hour train to france!  bastille day, here i come!

Posted by kgrp on 07/13 at 07:03 PM
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Friday, July 07, 2006

a day of museum-ing

so yesterday was quite the day for me… i decided to hit up some museums and so i looked for some info online and found out about the chocolate musuem, and then i also found out that the museum nacional de catalunya was having their special summer night - when they opened the entire musuem from 7pm to midnight for free! free sounded good to me, so i planned on going to those two… i ended up seeing the picasso museum since it was rightnext to the chocolate one, and i ended up walking thru the parc de ciutadella (much like central park) on the way to the ‘arc de triomf’ which was where i needed to catch the metro.  i saw some old men playing games in the park and i talked with them and learned how - they were playing patancas, which is really like bocci ball, just smaller balls and 8 balls per team.

anyways, i have a whole heckuvalotta pictures, but i’ll add them to this post later.  i think that’s my new MO… put up the post first, attach pictures when they’re ready… that way it won’t take me five million years to post things =)


in the chocolate museum - a model of gaudi’s the sagrada familia


the waterfall in the parc de la ciutadella


the greenhouse in the parc


playing petancas in the park


cyclers headed towards the arc de triomf


the fountains outside the museum nacional.  the fountains were dancing to music! it was so cool!  you can see a small clip of the video i took… i’m still fairly far away so you can barely hear the song “barcelona” play over the speakers, and i can’t really capture the grandeur of it, but you get the idea…


Posted by kgrp on 07/07 at 10:46 AM
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