‘Twas the Flight Before New Years

What is up party people!

I am currently on a plane in Premium Economy flying back from Amsterdam. Greg and I and our friend Kristie have been traveling for the past three weeks on the ultimate Christmas Market vacation. 

We started in Hamburg where we visited the Miniatur Wunderland museum (one of Greg’s bucket list places to see in person) and saw the new German production of Hercules! Hamburg Christmas markets were plentiful and each oozed with charm and delicious food; specifically the wood plank pitfire grilled salmon and the pasta tossed in a wheel of cheese. From Hamburg, we did a day trip out to Lubeck to visit their charming Christmas market and then set out for Berlin. It was nice to see Berlin again with its diversity and big city vibes. The Christmas markets were less charming, but had a different kind of excitement. Our next stop was Dresden which is known for their markets and they did not disappoint. At this point, it was right before Christmas so the small town was packed. Their main market turned out to be the best one on our trip. We rounded out our European adventure with a stop in Prague (which was very busy on Christmas and Christmas Eve) and the Netherlands (where we stayed in Amsterdam but did day trips to Alkmaar, Haarlem, Delft, and The Hague).

But aside from my current location thousands of feet in the air, you might be asking why I’ve come out from hibernation to blog today. After all, my last blog post was three years ago.

I’m basically only updating this thing when I have some sort of life event and in 2024 Greg and I finally bought a house! We started our search before the COVID-19 pandemic and had to weather some crazy low interest rate markets where we basically had no shot. And after getting very serious about our search earlier this year and spending every weekend looking at open houses, we finally had an offer accepted and closed this year! It was a stressful move and we had a lot of upfront fixes (mainly the roof), but we did it! And we are very happy with our neighborhood and our friendly neighbors.

Not all good news this year though. Aside from a depressing as hell election, we lost our Grandpa K this year. He had succumbed to COVID pneumonia so it was particularly difficult to be with him in the hospital as he left us, but the whole family was around him either bedside, in waiting room, or virtually. We will miss him dearly.

Some other brief updates. I was a people manager for a couple months before a reorg took my team away. London turned eight years old. We went to Disney World and Universal Florida with the nieces and had an incredible time riding Velocicoaster, Hagrid’s Motor Bike Adventure, and Cosmic Rewind. We went on a short Princess cruise to Mexico with mom, dad, Tim, and Greg’s mom. We celebrated our good friend Jason’s 50th birthday in Puerto Vallarta. And I saw S Club live in concert in DTLA which had been a dream of mine since college. 

So overall a year of ups and downs and getting ready for an upcoming shitstorm four years. But I plan on tuning out the garbage, excising the trash people from my life, and focusing on me and my family and friends.

Joining the mile high club (which means blogging from an airplane, right??),

Ricky

2021: A Symptomatic Odyssey

Hi guys!

Remember me? My last blog post was back in 2015 when COVID was nary a blip on the radar.

A lot has happened since then.

For one, this blog completely ignores the dark 4 years of the worst president this country has ever seen. Maybe it was too traumatic a time to even think about reliving on an online journal. 

But I don’t want to get into all that. I feel like, all things considered, I had a pretty great 2021. And I felt the need to talk about it somewhere. Thought about this blog and if I even remembered the password. At some point, I guess Google bought out Blogspot and made this login super easy. So here I am on New Year’s Eve 2021 at 7AM in the morning resurrecting this thing.

Let’s start with the big news. Greg and I finally got married! After getting engaged in 2017, planning a quasi-destination wedding for two years to happen on April 16, 2020, COVID shut everything down a month before the wedding and caused us to postpone everything to fall of 2020… only to have to postpone again to spring of 2021. Then it was cancelled outright by our venue. When we came around to replanning the entire thing during a pandemic, having 80 people all together did not seem like the best idea, so we severely scaled down our wedding to 25 people. We used an AirBNB type service to find a house in the Hollywood Hills that had an amazing view of Downtown LA. We set up a fancy dinner at Greg’s mom’s backyard with a 4-course private chef meal. It was very DIY, but was everything we wanted while still being as safe as we possibly could be. I think it was worth the wait.

Also helping us through this pandemic is our lab rescue London. He keeps us occupied with constant trips to the dog parks. We adopted him in 2019 and he’s been a joy (and a handful).

Given that 2020 was mostly spent waiting for the vaccine in our tiny apartment, no one did any traveling. Greg and I did a few staycations in La Jolla and Palm Desert. This year we more than made up for the lack of travel with 3 trips! After getting vaccinated in April, we spent a week in Cozumel, Mexico in May. Then for our minimoon, we did an all-vaccinated cruise on the Koningsdam (Holland America) which stopped in Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Then we went on our Christmas Market extravaganza in Canada (Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto) and New York. In the mix was a wonderful weekend getaway in Palm Springs proper to celebrate MacArthur’s belated 40th. 

And speaking of 40ths, I celebrated mine this year as well with a Mrs. Nesbit themed birthday tea party. Again, because of COVID, we had to limit the amount of people. So it wasn’t the usual rager of previous parties past. But it was still a sense of normalcy in these crazy times. I’ll admit though that as I’ve gotten older I’ve had less drive to go completely bonkers with the themes of my parties. I hope to continue planning themed parties for the big birthday years (hopefully in a house of our own).

Oh and lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that after 2 years of this pandemic, that spiky bitch finally caught me. I’m not entirely sure where the point of exposure was. I think it had to have been in New York, but that would mean it would have had to have been incubating inside me for 4 days before I felt my first symptom. Greg thinks I caught it at the gym and felt the symptoms immediately after, which could be the case given that the antibodies produced by the vaccine went to work on it right away. In any case, this highly contagious Omicron variant got me, but as of this writing, I was successful in not passing it on to Greg (which is actually super crazy). I only felt symptoms for 2-3 days and my test didn’t show positive until after the symptoms were subsiding. The hardest part was spending Christmas in isolation, even away from Greg. We had sushi in separate rooms over FaceTime. But like I said earlier, crazy times.

Okay that’s enough recap this morning. See you the next time I have a pretty, pretty good year (all things considered).

Quarantined,

Ricky

Losing a Whole Year

Oops I did it again. I ignored this blog.

Actually I'd been meaning to update it, but the thought of uploading pictures from my birthday party and stuff, and the time it takes to do all that, I just. I can't. I didn't.

But here's a little rundown of my last 365 days (367 days to be exact)..

• May 18, 2014 - Greg and I took Jena on a trip to San Diego for her birthday where we went to a dog park and did lots of dog related fun stuff.

• May 29 - Jose threw a grand Palm Springs house pool party weekend for his birthday. I made ribs and everyone loved them. And I also made an Olaf-in-a-jacuzzi Kit Kat cake.

• I did some soul searching on my quest to find out what I wanted to do with my life, career-wise. I spoke with an animator, but it didn't seem like that was the right course. I inquired about being a cook, but culinary school was ridonk.

• As I pondered my next path, a friend from middle school showed up on my Instagram feed with an opportunity to join her wedding planning workshop. I'd always been good at planning events, so this seemed like a sign. It was expensive, but I decided to go for it. I did the workshop and was able to join her team helping with weddings around Los Angeles. Learned a lot.

•  Lots of birthday prep during my unemployment. I was able to do endless decorations, hand drawn and painted, for my Club 33 Disney Celebration. It was by far my most ambitious and most amazing party yet. I'll post pictures in my next entry.

• August 4 - Had reached out to an old manager at Transamerica and a month later received a phone call asking if I would be interested in doing contract work for 2 months. With my unemployment benefits drying up, I jumped at the chance. It was to be software testing for a system I knew well. An interview was set up for this day and I impressed the manager with my knowledge of the product and the software and was offered the contractor gig on the spot. I started the job on August 18, the weekend after my birthday party.

• Brainstorming commenced for a business. I decided to pursue a partnership with Nichole, my creative partner in crime. Together we launched Fête Together, but slowly set things up.

• Became closer to my friend Fernando! After realizing we worked really close to each other in downtown, we decided to grab happy hour drinks. 

• Late October through Early November - Went to EUROPE for the first time! We visited Switzerland, Germany, and a side trip to Salzburg. Pictures to come in an upcoming post.

• November 15 and 22 - Drove down to San Diego to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical; a musical I'd been waiting more than 10 years for! It was worth the wait!

• Became closer friends with people at the gym. Starting out with this guy Dani, I started to open up to my fellow gym buddies. I guess it was eventual since I saw these same people each and every morning.

• Spent some time with my nieces on their two visits. Peytan is ever the ball of energy always wanting to build donut castles so she can tear them down. Tanley lights up whenever I walk into the room.

• January 25, 2015 - Celebrated my second anniversary with Greg, again in Santa Monica. We went to One Pico for a romantic beachside seafood dinner. Everything was great until I started to break out in hives from something at dinner. Rushed into a Whole Foods looking for Benedryl, but they only had holistic bullshit. 7-11 had what I needed. The swelling subsided, but ended our night.

• Been hanging out with some new friends: Raul, Jason, and Jeremy. Love these guys.

• March 11 - Ran a personal best at the 4th Annual Hollywood Half Marathon. 2:19. No training, but had been doing more leg weight training. It helped. Kept my legacy status.

Which brings us to today. I'm still at Transamerica. Still a contractor. My gig is now open ended and I'm working directly for Tad. I'm still very much in love with Greg. We fly to Sint Maarten on Saturday. :) I've been so consistent at the gym. Been adding mass here and there. Finally enjoying legs days and seeing results. Looking to drop some body fat for summer. The business is going slowly, but we are planning a fundraising gala in October for a nonprofit. In full planning for my upcoming 34th birthday party. This year it's Back to the Future!

And that about does it! This blog stuff isn't hard! See you next year! 

Jay Kay! Jay Kay!

Glumemployment

It's the middle of May and I only have half a month of severance pay left. I've been applying to places left and right and only two calls back. One, from a Disney recruiter, but I botched the phone interview on account that I was so damn nervous. The second call was from a job that I was way overqualified for and not something I really wanted to do.

My weekdays have become very depressing and the weeks fly by in the blink of an eye. This is a very discouraging part of my life right now. I'm so thankful that I have my family and friends to lean on. But mostly I am so grateful I have Greg right now. He's been boosting me up every weekend and one or two days during the week. And he's been really fantastic.

I'm recording this because I want a reminder to myself about how miserable it is to be without a job. It was fun for the first couple of weeks, but when the money starts to dry out, it gets stressful and depressing and, I just hate this feeling. I feel like I can't ever find work again.

Hopefully my next entry is a happy one about landing a good job or starting my own business. And then I can look back on this entry and be all like Ha. Ha. Ha. Haha. Ha.

Sigh.

Costa Ricky

At the end of February, I finally parted ways with Transamerica. I won't miss the work or the politics, but the people were hard to say goodbye to. But onward and upward! I'm now officially on funemployment and amping up for the next stage of my professional life.

But before starting that, I took March 2014 off to relax; to detox. And for 9 days, Greg and I took our first trip abroad and visited Costa Rica!

On the first day we drove to Poàs Volcano and looked into it as it spewed smelly sulfuric gas. Then on the way to Arenal National Park, we witnessed how crazy the drivers are in Costa Rica. The SUV in front of us lost control and swerved left and right four times before driving off the road and into a ditch, hitting a tree. We pulled over to see if anyone was hurt. People from the house nearby ran down to help. Other cars pulled over and called for help. But no one spoke English so we weren't much help. As we left the scene, we were surprised to see a quick response from an ambulance. This happened in the middle of a long windy stretch of road in the middle of the mountains!

When we got to Arenal, it was a clear day and we were able to see the entire Arenal Volcano, peak and all. And after that, never again. Clouds came in to stay for the 3 days we were staying there.

We ended up staying in a neighboring town 30 minutes away called El Castillo. The only way to get there is by a bumpy unpaved road of jagged rocks. We had a Yaris that didn't seem equipped for this road, but since we got the full coverage on the rental, we vowed to drive the shit out of that car.. and we did.

While in Arenal, we ziplined in an ecopreserve with a company just out of La Fortuna called Arenal Mundo Adventura. It was amazing zipping over La Fortuna waterfall. Exhilarating!

That night we went to Los Lagos hot springs and resort for a little R&R after getting all greasy gross from ziplining in the rain/rainforest. It was nice just soaking in a warm natural spring pool.

The next day we went white water rafting in class II/III rapids with a company called Desafio. This company was outstanding. The excursion was so well put together. Everything about the adventure had a profound focus on comfort, safety, and fun. The rafting was so much fun and probably my favorite thing we did on the trip.

The next day we drove to Manuel Antonio for the relaxation portion of the trip. But before that, we crossed through San Ramon and stopped at an old abandoned bridge (Old Colorado River bridge) so that I could bungee jump! After seeing photos online, I told myself that if I ever did it it would have to be off this bridge over the river surrounded by rainforest. After the adventures we had leading up to this, I felt fearless and ready. I actually did it! I took the plunge, swan dive style, 265 feet drop! I think skydiving is still scarier, but this was frightening because you're all alone. And my ankle got a little injured, but I would totally do it again.

Then on to our beach portion. In Manuel Antonio, we hung out and ate a lot at Cafe Milagro. Our hotel (Villas el Parque) was perfectly located. We were able to walk to a lot of eateries. We drove a short distance to the national park and hung out on two beaches that were back-to-back from each other. And the water was so warm and nice. We were invaded by monkeys and a raccoon!

The other thing we did in Manuel Antonio was a half day catamaran excursion. It was a nice relaxing boating tour with snorkeling, dolphin watching, water slide, jumping off the top of the catamaran, delicious fish kabob dinner, and sunset viewing. It was amazing. We had seen the sunset the night before from a nice restaurant at La Mariposa hotel. Two stunning sunsets in two nights. Pura vida!

Then we drove through Tarcoles to see some crocodiles to, what Greg called, hell.. aka San Jose. It wasn't that it was that bad, but it was city life with lots of traffic and not paradise. We stayed in a very bad neighborhood in a resort that felt like a locked down prison with security gate and high walls. But it was actually rather nice inside. For our one day stay, we took a day tour to Tortuguero National Park on the Caribbean Sea side. It included a horribly long drive on rough unpaved road through a banana plantation. Once we got to the national park, we took a speedy boat along the river to view animals and visit a small town within the park. It felt very much like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. We saw a lot of monkeys and a lot of birds. The exciting thing for us was we got to dip our feet in the Caribbean Sea. The drive back to San Jose was horrendous. I don't think I'll be doing this tour again.

Then it was beers back at the hotel and we woke up super early for our early flight home. I had such an amazing adventure with my boyfriend and can't wait till our next trip. I'm ready for Europe!

Milestone

It's been a while since I blogged. This has become the starter of all my entries. But I wanted to take a quick minute to reflect.

Greg and I celebrated our first anniversary last Saturday.

We went to dinner in Santa Monica at a place we had spotted on our Valentine's date nearly a year ago. Hillstone. And now it's one of my favorite restaurants! Beautiful inside. Trendy modern. And the food was so delicious. Everything we had was so tasty.

After dinner, Greg handed me a card and surprised me with two tickets to see Cirque du Soleil: Totem which was playing on the pier!

We watched the show, which was amazing.

Afterward, I was feeling like dessert. I was a little sad that our original plan didn't happen. We had talked about returning to Susina Bakery on our anniversary, where we had our first date. We would have recreated it by sharing tiramisu. Alas, the show ended close to 11PM and that's when Susina closed.

We skipped dessert and headed home. But when we got home, Greg told me that he had one more surprise. He opened the fridge and revealed tiramisu from Susina! He said that he knew we weren't going to make it in time so he got it in advance.

I'm such a lucky lucky guy.

:-)

Birth Days

It's hard to pick out when I should write one of these. I suppose I can give a brief update right now since I'm feeling lazy about preparing dinner for date night with Greg. So here goes!

My birthday came and went last month and this year I had a celebration of the internet of sorts. It was called "It's All About Meme: Ricky Mar's 32nd 'Constant Facebook Notification Day' Party." I was trying to cut back on having to decorate my place so much since I don't have the time I used to have in previous years. So I decided to make my guests the decoration! My costume was the ERMAHGERD GERSBERMS girl. It's the first time I've ever worn a girl's wig and I honestly did not like it. Long hair is just not for me. I also created a retainer out of a paperclip and orthodontic wax and wore that all evening. The big thing about the party was my drink challenge. It was called the Stumblr BuzzedFeed challenge and required guests to drink six themed drinks. They were 1) ERMAHGERD!! PERNK DRERNK!! 2) Sugar Crush 3) #FML 4) YOLO (You Obviously Love Oreos) 5) The Duck Face 6) 2 Girls 1 Cup. Finishing each drink unlocked a badge that I designed and once guests were done with all six, they unlocked the coveted stumblr badge! Fun times!

Also in the past few weeks Tim and I completed the Dumbo Double Dare runDisney challenge. We ran the Disneyland 10K on Saturday and the Disneyland Half Marathon on the following day. It was tough, but a lot of fun. I dressed as Paperman for the 10K and a Pink Elephant on Parade for the half marathon. Long sleeves for the sake of a costume in a blazingly dry heat sucked! Greg came out to support me for the half marathon and we got to play in the parks for the rest of the day!

At the end of July I joined the family in Long Island to welcome baby Tanley Isla Mar to the family! She was born on July 30, 2013. Super cute! I'm a little embarrassed I didn't give her a dedicated blog entry heralding her birth like I did for Peytan. She's fantastic though and I can't wait to get to know her!

On the trip I finally gave Peytan her birthday gift. I wrote a children's book for her starring her and her dog! It's called Peytan and the Green Gibbon. She loved it and reads it often! I can't wait to do the same for Tanley. Took a lot of time to complete, but so worth all the hard work.

Things at work are bad right now. It's very much like being in hell. I need to get out sooner rather than later. I've been looking around for careers and decided to start at Disney first because they are my dream company. Hopefully I'll be able to provide an update on my professional life soon.

In the meantime, my personal life is great! Things with Greg are fantastic and I'm so happy with him. He's blending into my family and friends quite well. :) This is us in Monterey, CA.

Okay that's the quick update. Till next time.

At Chapter's End

This week was a toughy. After a few months of being told that the floor we work on was being dropped from the lease, we were all ushered into a meeting with the Chief Product Officer last Tuesday morning and told that our positions in the company were being eliminated. The job duties will be shipped to Plano, TX and we are free to apply for them if we want. Otherwise we would be still employed until closer to the end of 2013 where we will be transitioning our work to the new team before being given the official boot from the company.

So ends my nearly 10 year stint with Transamerica. The company has changed dramatically from the time I first joined. Whereas we used to be very appreciated as employees and genuinely felt that it was the people who made the company great.. nowadays the focus has shifted to a purely numbers drive. Let's meet goals goals goals. They told us that the decision was a purely business decision and nothing personal. Wow, so thank you for reaffirming that we the people mean absolutely nothing to you. No matter if we did the best job a department could ever do, we would have been cut anyway. And two weeks right after "Employee Appreciation Week" to boot.

To be honest, this company was never my true passion. The work was fine and I loved the people I worked with, but it was never my intention to jump into the life insurance business. My mom originally pulled me in to help in her area and suddenly I got roped into an amazing department with the best bosses a guy could ask for. The work was challenging at times and rewarding as well, but lately I've felt that there's no role in this industry that I want to advance towards. But the pay being great and the people being amazing, I found it near impossible to leave on my own accord. So this layoff might be a blessing in disguise. I just wish everyone else in the department didn't have to lose their jobs as well. :(

I was just rereading the blog entry from when I first started with the company. It was way back when I first started this blog. Here and here. I talked about losing my free time and getting my first paycheck and being content with how much I was earning. It was like peanuts back then, but I was young. I bought an iPod with that first paycheck! Sigh. Makes me kind of sad that this part of my life is coming to an end.

Also at the beginning of this year, if you remember, I told Jose that 2013 would be our year; that great things were upon us. And right off the bat I met Greg. We are still together nearing 6 months and I could not be more happy to be with him. I think about him constantly. Everything was moving along just fine until this axe came crashing down on me. But maybe this is 2013's plan; a plan that's being set into motion for the best career change possible for me and my future. I'm excited to see what comes of this, but scared all the same.

I still can't spill the beans yet on my niece's birthday gift that I worked on for over 8 months. I can say that I finished it and am ready to give it to Peytan when we all visit New York this month to welcome the new baby. But I can also say that while working on this gift, I had an epiphany that I could do this for a living. This is what I loved. I felt the passion in the work that I did. And I think I want to follow this feeling.

And I feel like with the support of my amazing parents and family and friends and a caring/sweet boyfriend, I can do anything. I'm excited to close this chapter and start a new one all my own.

I Won't Say

The question on your minds is most likely: Where the hell have you been???????? Followed by several thousand more question marks, I'm sure.

Well here's the thing. I met someone!

Right at the beginning of the year, Jose and I got to talking and we said to each other that 2013 was our year. Our year to find success and romance and an all around great time.

I had no idea at the time the power of those words.

On January 15, I was pinged by OKCupid regarding someone liking my profile. I responded to the "poke" and on January 25 I went on my first date with Greg.

I'll just say that the first date was pretty amazing. We talked the entire time and closed the coffee shop down. And it wasn't long before we met again for our second date (the next night to be exact).

We've been together ever since. On March 6 we became official boyfriends and we just recently hit our 3rd monthaversary.

I don't want to jinx anything, so I won't say much. But I will say that I am very happy with Greg. He makes me feel like I'm floating on air. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with him in the coming year and beyond.

So that's why I haven't chimed in recently. I didn't know if it was safe to write about my first true relationship. But now that enough time has passed and I am very comfortably in this, I decided to break the silence.

I also ran my 4th half marathon on April 6. It was the 2nd Annual Hollywood Half Marathon and I got a personal best time at 2:22! For the race I wore a hat with the Hollywood sign on it and a replica of the radio tower that sits atop that hill (and of course it glowed with the help of an LED lightbulb).

I'm currently hard at work on Peytan's 2nd birthday gift. It's a lot of time consuming work, but the end result and reaction will definitely be worth it!! I can't wait to give it to her, but that'll have to wait till August when we see the new baby!!!

Lots of exciting things happening this year. Also some scary things. We might be facing layoffs at work. But we shall see. So far 2013 has been living up to its promise!

The All-Inclusive 2012 Year End Wrapathon

Due to my inability to sit down and actually blog about my life as I had promised a year ago, I figured the least I could do is do a year end wrap up. That's better than nothing right?

So let's begin where I left off:

In August, I held my Hunger Games Birthday Battle Royale! Oh it was amazing! This year I actually hired help, but I still had to handle much of the game. Luckily Nichole wasn't picked to play, so she was able to help me and Naqi run it. All my food was themed to game and guests had to use "arrows" to kill and eat. The game was a huge success with a minor hiccup. The game consisted of 16 players and four rounds: The Bloodbath (game cards scattered around the arena that determined Tributes' fates), The Careers (a ruthless game of Rock Paper Scissors), The Feast (a dice game to win what was needed most), and The Parachute Finale (Remaining Tributes picked from parachutes hung around the room that revealed either a helpful item or a bomb which eliminated them until one victor remained). The coolest part was after each round, I actually projected the player profiles of those who were eliminated followed by canon blasts! In the end, Kevin (dressed as Peeta) and his girlfriend (dressed as Katniss) remained and they attempted to eat some berries so that they could both be saved, but as the Gamemaker I forced them to continue till only one won! Kevin took home the grand prize.

In September, I completed 3 runs: The 80's Run 5K, Disneyland Half Marathon (back to back), and then the inaugural Tower of Terror 10 Miler. I ran my best half marathon at just under 2 and a half hours (2:28). I also got a good time on the 10 Miler, but running in Florida (even at night) was miserable! It was so hot and humid that it was hard to breathe at times and my clothes were soaked with sweat the entire run. I don't think I'll be running another race in Walt Disney World.

Speaking of Walt Disney World, at the end of September was my umpteenth trip. This time it was with Eric, Arthur, Karla, and Arthur's friends Kevin and Angie (who are awesome!). The trip did not provide rest and relaxation, but I love spending time with these people!

In this time past, I went from being Secretary of my HOA to President when Raj stepped down. It completely sucks and I've already given my notice that I will not be seeking another term after my term ends. I am also helping to establish the Neighborhood Watch for my street.

Book of Mormon blew through the Pantages for three months and while it was here I saw it 3 times! Love this show. Twice I won the lottery for front row seats.

I won a new Kindle Fire HD tablet from the ECHO campaign at work. The device satisfies my craving for an iPad for now, but it is in no way a recommendable device. It's got a lot of issues, but it was free, so whatever. Next year... iPAD!

I bought a Universal Studios pass (well I bought a day and it came with a year free) and used it to get cheap tickets to the Halloween Horror Nights, which was awesome! I went with Tim, Josh, and Seanethon. The main event this year was The Walking Dead. We were on the last tram tour for the night and found ourselves alone with a swarm of zombies! It was crazy!

Speaking of Halloween, this year I dressed as Glenn from The Walking Dead. It was from the scene in the first season where they chop up zombie and drape blood and guts and organs on themselves to sneak passed a zombie herd. It was also my first time going to the West Hollywood Halloween Parade in the slutty version of my costume. I went with Lindsey!

This Thanksgiving, my three year membership to 24 Hour Fitness expired and instead of keeping me as a member and offering me a good deal, they wanted to charge me nearly $50 a month. So I told them to shove it and went to LA Fitness with a really sweet deal. I prepaid for 3 years (~$22/month) and then after that it's only $16/month. They gave me a fitness assessment and pretty much told me I was doing everything wrong even though I've been seeing great results. So I told them to shove it and I'm just doing what I've been doing.

One thing I want to just touch up on but will blog about in more depth on a dedicated entry is my physique. This past year I've dieted like mad; extreme even. My eating turned to more healthy snacking verses actual meals. And once I dropped more than 20 pounds (from 158 to 137), I decided to really step up my workouts and go for big. So on October 21, I started taking Jack3d, a preworkout supplement and immediately saw amazing results. It helps that I've been at the gym 6-7 days a week really pushing myself. And I've been on it ever since. I can't wait to see how 2013 goes for my body.

Two other small notes that I just want to document. I went to my first Clipper game this year and they're having a hell of a season right now. And I saw the Cirque du Soleil show IRIS 3 times (will be 4 in January when I watch the final performance). I'm sad that it's closing.

I hope to blog more in 2013, but I always say that. I thought I might blog more after getting my Kindle Fire HD, but that thing and that OS suck to type with.

Anyway, good transformative year this year. Hoping to reap the benefits of 2012 in 2013! Invite me to a gay pool party!

The Shape of My Life to Come

Looking back on my year 30, I can't help but be astounded at what I've accomplished in a short year. A year ago, I was planning an amazing party that would ignite in me something I'd never really known: a passion to throw themed parties. It would also help bring me closer to a coworker than ever before. Sharing this same knack for party planning, I now consider her to be one of my best friends.. one I hope to actually start a business with someday.

A year ago I used the planning of my huge party as an excuse not to train for my first looming half marathon. I had also let my gym routine slide and was in what I even at the time considered my worst shape ever. Flash forward to today, I completed that half marathon and another one seven months later. It may have been the catalyst for my obsessive gym behavior. Beginning in January I overhauled my diet and began a morning workout schedule that I've maintained remarkably through this day. And now I am in what I would consider to be the best shape of my life. And I'm loving all the clothes I can now fit into. I've got another half marathon in less than two weeks and then a 10 mile run in Florida less than a month after that. And then another half marathon planned for early next year. I don't think I've just gotten the runner's bug. I think I was hit with the fitness for life bug. And it feels so good.

Things did go a bit sour when I lost my phone for the second time, but it did guilt me into a month of sobriety which helped to carve out my six pack. Still not entirely there yet I think, but it surely deserves its own blog entry when I get there.

I originally had more blog points to hit but I didn't want to turn this into a year end recap. So I'll just end by saying that my 30th year was pretty darn amazing. An amazing start to what will be, when I look back, the greatest time of my life.

Stuff Happening!

Thus far this hasn't been a successful year of blogging. But I'm doing what I can. I'm currently taking a break from everything I've been doing to write about everything that I've been doing.

First and foremost there's this little thing called my birthday party coming up in just two weeks. Next year I gotta pick something with less of a theme or possibly no theme. These preparations are killing me! This year's party is The 31st Hunger Games Birthday Battle Royale. I've been planning this since October and it has proven thus far tougher than the Harry Potter party. Things just aren't as cool in the Hunger Games universe, but I am doing some things for decor. Parachutes everywhere, cool themed drink menu, mockingjay sound effects to name a few. But the main star of the night is the Hunger Games game I'm planning. The winner gets $50! Basically through 4 rounds of luck/chance games, players will get "eliminated" until a victor is named. Should be a blast. I have Naqi playing Caesar Flickerman and conducting the games. Sam is bartending again. And I might have an Avox helping out with the food. Standby for pictures.

Three runs coming up. The 80's 5k, The Disneyland Half Marathon again, and The Tower of Terror 10 Miler in Walt Disney World. Yes, I have a major vacation coming up that I desperately NEED. Should be nice even if I am running.

Work has been so frantic. Projects Projects Projects. I'm hoping things will begin to ease a bit. I thought it would after we launched our LTC Rider, but that hasn't been the case. I needs me a little breather!

Then with family stuff, I'm trying to bring together a Kwan Family Cookbook. The ideal time of distribution would be Xmas, but I don't really think that'll happen. If I want it to be really nice that is. But who knows! After my WDW vacation I don't know what else I have besides preparing a Halloween costume. It might come together after all.

Meanwhile I'm still cutting back on the alcohol after I lost my second iPhone. I'm working out like mad. Been eating right since the end of January and I'm the lightest I've been since high school! I dipped down to 137 pounds.

Is that vacation here yet? First things first. Breathe. Keep assembling parachutes. Go out clubbing tonight... ;)

NOH8eration

On June 10 I marched in my first gay pride parade! And it won't be the last time.

Last year I watched from the sidelines as nearly the entire population of West Hollywood marched by in the longest parade ever. It was almost comical how ridiculously long it was. But this year, I immediately accepted an open call to march with the NOH8 campaign.

And even though we had to wait so long to begin marching due to the huge amount of groups going down the route, it was all worth it in the end.

I was under the impression that no one was into the parade, but to see so many faces and kids, it was amazing. We chanted down Santa Monica Blvd. for equal rights and proclaiming "no hate."

We even encountered a church of 3 people holding signs condemning our "sinful" behavior. I hope they know that that shrimp cocktail in their mouths is "sinful" just the same.

I had been of the opinion that the gay pride parade doesn't mean what it uses to. In the past it was a celebration of who we are; a place where we could be ourselves out in public with others like us and just have fun. But matching passed the protestors, it reminds me of how important it is to march. It is a big party. But it's also a statement that we must continue to make.

After the parade, I hung out at the bars by myself for the first time. And I met a ton of people. Fear conquered. Of course it helps that Pride brings out a different friendlier crowd than the usual WeHo scene.

Well I can't wait till the next one. I love a parade!

A New New York

Well it sure felt like summertime, but the wind wasn't quite blowing outside in lower Chelsea, but I did know what I was doing in that city..

DRINKING MY ASS OFF!

But enough quoting an old old old Third Eye Blind song; let's jump back to the beginning.

A trip to New York was needed for one real thing: Newsies on Broadway!

Yes the theater queen in me NEEDED to see Newsies on stage at ANY COST because, well, I had been dreaming about Newsies on stage for 10 years! And yes, even though Carrying the Banner and Santa Fe weren't staged like I had done in my living room, I was okay with it. But more on that later.

Newsies was originally set to play only 101 performances, so I targeted an end of May/beginning of June visit. But once I realized Peytan's birthday party was going to be Memorial Day weekend, my timeframe was set in stone.

And then there's Andrija who had settled into his Chelsea, NY home and was waiting for visitors.

So I bought tickets for a week long visit. And wouldn't you know it? My neighbor Jose had also planned to visit during Memorial Day weekend.

Boom. I flew out on the same day as Ellvin, Grace, and Peytan (who were in town for Krystine's wedding and Peytan's West Coast Eric Carle themed first birthday party) and stayed with them on Long Island for a couple of days.

Then I ventured into the city to meet up with Jose where we barhopped like mad. We must have hit up 4 or 5 bars just Wednesday night. And we also went and saw a live taping of the show Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen. The guests were Dan Rather and John Mayer. It was so much fun and I was so drunk. But I was told that I was on my best behavior.

The next day was a total recovery day. Jose and I watched Battleship (which sucked) and I watched Ghost: The Musical that evening. The show had some truly amazing special effects! Sam became transparent and passed through a solid door right before my eyes! But besides the special effects, the show was not very good. The songs were generic and the set/background consisted of a giant LED screen that showed random crap during all times. It was distracting and completely ugly.

And then we saw Newsies a few days later. After losing the lottery, we went to inquire about full priced seats and were told that there were only two tickets left for $137 each.. killer seats. We snatched them up and I'm so glad we did because the show was amazing! It was everything I hoped it would be! 

On the last night in the city, we went barhopping again and I met someone. A guidoesque man who I found really attractive. And so we locked lips and talked that evening. When the night was over, he told me he lived in Jersey! I was ready to go home with the guy and he lived in Jersey! At that moment I could see the Jersey Shore in him. And even better, he had two kids! I don't even want to know..

The trip ended with Peytan's East Coast birthday party! She was so cute and happy!

Sorry for the rushed ending. I'm so tired of telling this story!

Nearly Killed by Hill

So this recap of the Hollywood Half Marathon is so late, but better late than not at all.

I want to say first and foremost that I still have not recovered 100% from the run even though it was two weeks ago. I mean I'm not hobbling around like an old man anymore, but I'm not exactly running again. It feels at this point that there might be some permanent knee and foot issues, but I'm hoping those go away eventually. Please.

So! To the race recap.

The night before I assembled my costume. I cut my name out of felt and safety pinned it to my moisture wicking shirt. This was necessary because the bibs for this race didn't have our names on them. And then trying to recreate my "chasing the bone" idea from the Disneyland Half, I made a paper carrot and used a rod from a $1 whisk to hang from the bill of my cap. It was Easter and was completely fitting.

So yes, I was chasing a carrot. And that joke is even funnier if you know the meaning of my last name.

But anyway, I got ready for the race at 3AM. My coworker Robin picked me up at 4:45 and we got to the starting line super early. She asked me how I felt and I told her I felt fine; felt good about running. Then she told me that, as a veteran runner, she used to get nervous about the what ifs; namely what if I have to poop during the race. And suddenly I was nervous about pooping!

I got all quiet. Butterflies in my stomach waiting to be shit out. I was fucking scared.

At this race, I'm guessing since it was the inaugural, they didn't place us in corrals. They had starting points based on your pace and you just jumped into one. We decided to start out in the 12:00/mile group.

The horn blew and after waiting a long time, we were off! We trotted through City Walk and down a big hill and across the 101 freeway. Then passed the eventual finish line and down to Hollywood Blvd. Early on I let the downhill gravity propel me forward whereas Robin fought it to maintain her pace, so she beckoned me to take off without her. So I went.

I blew passed a lot of people. And as I passed I could hear everyone having a good laugh at the carrot. They would yell out "I LOVE THE CARROT!" and "GET THAT CARROT!" It really helped motivate me.

We ran right passed my condo and I was hoping a neighbor would come down to cheer me on, but I guess it was too early.

Not even halfway through the run, the water stations ran out of cups. So we would have to cup our hands to receive water. Rookie mistake for an organized race. At one point the volunteers had bailed and left water jugs scattered on the street for us to pick up and hydrate.

Around mile 6 I started to fade. My strategy became run for 20 feet--walk till my legs don't hurt anymore. But knowing the streets and having checkpoints helped me along in a big way. This was my neighborhood! I would say "next up is the Umami I love" or "here comes the gay bar I like."

The turn around point came around mile 8 and that's when the tortoise left the hare in the dust. Robin, still maintaining her pace, tapped me on the shoulder as she passed by. I had burned out.

Miles 9 and 10 are a blur. I don't really know how I got passed them. But as I rounded the corner at Hollywood/Highland to go back up Cahuenga, a dude carried a sign that said "KILL THE HILL."

Ohhh, did he mean that that lovely downhill beginning that worked so well for me was now going to be the fucking bane of my existence????

Sure enough, miles 11 and 12 and 12.5 were ALL UP HILL. And everyone was defeated by it. It was like The Walking Dead up that hill. There was a point where Katy Perry's Hot n Cold came on and I was like "alright Katy. Let's get up this hill!" and I would start to jog upward, but I soon realized that it was too painful to jog and I wasn't going any faster than my walking speed.

So I just walked the entire thing. It NEVER ENDED. But eventually the hill finally rounded off and a tall handsome buff half naked man wearing his finisher medal was there to cheer us on before the finish.

He said clapping "Only half a mile left guys! And it's all downhill! You got the crowd behind you! You can do it!"

I would have jumped his bones right then and there, but I had a race to finish. Plus my knees were so bad at this point I most likely could not literally jump.

And so, I said to myself, "if that smokin hottie wants me to run, then for hot man's sake I'm going to run!"

I started back up but immediately my left quad seized up. This had happened before during the Disneyland Half, so I decided to run through it. But then my calf seize up and suddenly my left leg was frozen. Then starting at the left ankle, a numbness quickly shot through my leg and I panicked. This feeling was new. I stopped for a second and stretched a bit.

Back on the road and suddenly my right leg seizes up this time. This reduced me to a sad hobble. But by then I had reached the beginning of the finish line crowd.

"CATCH THAT CARROT!! YOU CAN DO IT!!"

Let's DO THIS! I thought. And ignoring all the pain and focusing solely on the approaching finish line, I sprinted to the end, weaving through the fatties that finished with me. With a fist pump I stuck a fork in my second half marathon.

Half marathons are just the right challenge for me. It's difficult but still doable and I really have to push myself but it's so rewarding in the end. The medal is fantastic! Well worth the death of my knee.

I'm anxious to heal completely so I can race again! Hoping to do a 10K at the end of the month but we'll see how my knee feels.

Marathon of Marathons

Tis the year of running for me. This all happened during a complete lapse in sanity no doubt. After completing the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2011, I was a little unsure of signing up for another one. On one hand the pain of it completely sucked. But on the other hand I completed it! And I didn't really train for it, so it wasn't so bad.

But it was an accomplishment that I was done with. Checked off my list. So what compelled me to sign up again?

My damn family! :)

We are doing a Kwan Family Cardio event! Several of us cousins are signed up and ready to run on September 2.

But that wasn't enough for me it seems. I went on ahead and signed up to run the inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon. And that's this Saturday!! I'm a little anxious because I'm running it all by myself. Hoping that some of my friends show up on the sidelines to cheer me on. I was thinking of making a banner to hang from my living room that says "GO RICKY, GO!" seeing as the course runs by my condo twice!

And if that isn't wicked enough, Eric invited me along to Florida to run the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror 13K. It's a night run that includes a private after party at Disney Studios. I love the ride so much this sounds like so much fun! So I guess I'm going to Walt Disney World again in September.

That's right. Two Disney runs, coast to coast, in one month. Crazy!!!

Here we go..

Sleep Well Grandma Kwan

I've been pondering this entry for three weeks now; my heartfelt "goodbye" to my amazing grandmother. But I hate that word: goodbye. It seems so finite. And especially in the context of losing someone, I have this sense that saying goodbye implies never finding one another again.

My grandmother's health had been declining in the last year and a half or so. If you saw pictures from two years ago, you would have seen a healthy lady, happy and endearing as always. But things can turn so fast.

And that's the thing that makes cancer such a fucking bitch.

Soon she had lost the ability to produce saliva and speak clearly. It was incredibly hard to watch her eat and to see my parents' frustration and grandma's frustration when she tried to tell them something. It was hard to understand. And we would have never known that later on, what we would give to hear that voice at that moment just once more.

She resisted for a long time, but finally the eating situation was so bad that she really needed a feeding tube. And with the feeding tube required 24 hour monitoring that was hard on her children. I know mom had to work hard days at work and then her weekends were spent caring for grandma. But that's what you do for someone you love so much.

They did this for almost a year or maybe longer. I'm not entirely sure of the timeframe. And my grandma was so strong. She was a fighter. She shocked doctors who didn't think she had much time left. But that kind of living only lasts for so long.

Soon she lost the ability to speak at all. She had a bike horn that she would honka-honka whenever she needed something. And she could only communicate by writing things out. But how wonderful to have documentation that we can keep and cherish of her thoughts. On several pads of paper.

In her last few months the only thing that she really enjoyed doing was play mahjong. I wish I could have played with her more, but we got in two last game sessions. And I'm happy to say that as weak as they say she was, she kicked our asses in those last two games. Her brain was still so sharp. It's just that her body wasn't up for the task.

During her last week she eventually lost all hearing and could only see, albeit not 100%. But the last time I saw her alert and awake, I skipped work to see her at the hospital. They had stabilized her after a scare. I went in there and she was awake, but her eyes were sort of glazed over. And she was looking directly above her. I could almost see the reflection of whatever heavenly matter that manifested above her in her retinas. And then she turned her head slowly and saw me. And even though only one side of her cheek was functional, she still gave me a smile and a nod. And I knew she would be all right. She then turned back to look above her and I can only imagine what amazing mystical entity had her in awe. But I guess I'll let you know in my final blog entry when I get there.

A week later, on January 17, 2012, kidney dialysis wasn't an option, so the entire family rallied by her side. We even video chatted via iPad to Ellvin and Grace in New York. With her children around her bed and her grandchildren watching a live FaceTime stream in the waiting room, we let her go. Probably one of the hardest things to ever watch. Ever.

I was told that her big fear was that no one would be around her when she passed away. And the entire day of the 17th she had been in a coma. But within her final 37 seconds of life, for a brief second, she opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by all she loved and so much love.

I have to recognize this amazing family that I am a part of. How they took care of her in this final year; learning how to use these heavy duty medical contraptions. Despite all the hardships, they made it work. They banded together, closer than ever, and gave her one more year. So to hear my Auntie Debbie crying on a shoulder and wishing there was more she could have done for her.. broke my heart. You guys did so much. Know that. You did everything. And it would never feel like enough. I only hope and promise to do as much as you did for grandma for my parents and my family and my future husband.

I've written a lot about her final moments. I wanted to have this documented if only because I feel that my mind will want to let go of this heartache and block this painful time from my memory. But it's important to remember it; to remind myself of the strength this family has gained through all this. And maybe I should have written more loving memories I had with grandma on this tribute. But the thing is I'll always have and cherish those times.

Like the joy of seeing her complete English word searches and learn some English along the way! And how cute she was when she smiled at me in Yellowstone and she forgot she didn't have her dentures in but then smiled even more because she couldn't help it. And her calls to us to drive down to her house to walk over to the park and get free lunchy.

And so I won't say goodbye. Not here. I will simply say sleep well Po Po. Sleep with no pain. Sleep with your most wonderful dreams and memories. Sleep until we all wake again reunited, in the big KFC in the sky, and move beyond that mystical entity above together.

Bookend

Tonight we say goodbye to 2011. A year that flew by entirely too fast. Or maybe I just don't remember most of it because of all the drinking that had happened.

I wanted to say on here as a reminder to myself what a life changing year this has been. Or at least the very start of my life change or my life in general.

This year I fully moved out to Hollywood, CA. With tremendous help from my parents who just want me to be as happy as I can be, I bought a place that overlooks the freakin' Hollywood sign. It's there when I wash dishes!

I didn't know anyone moving out here, but luckily it was a new building so everyone was new. So it felt like the college orientation meet and greet I never got as a commuter. I made friends with many in the building with my closest neighbors being Wally and Jose.

Through Jose I met Andrija and for probably 5 months straight we've been hitting the bars/clubs every weekend. He's moving to New York in a couple of weeks, which sucks, but we will stay friends and it gives me an extra excuse to visit the east coast!

Not much happened in the dating department, though I did go on two dates with a movie producer; the son of the guy who wrote Braveheart and directed The Secretariat. But after two dates things never amounted to anything and we mutually didn't call each other back. I guess he wasn't that "EXCEPTIONALLLL!"

This year I ran my first half marathon. It might be my last, but I am seriously considering running the inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon. It has a cool medal! Chelsey and I did the Disneyland Half Marathon in 3 hours flat, though we did take a lengthy bathroom break in there somewhere, so I know we ran it in less time.

I turned 30 this year! And I ushered my new adultdom in with a bitchin' Harry Potter party with just about everyone I love. It was such a hit that I am now considering doing a huge birthday party for myself every year.

I got a promotion at work. I went from Competitive Analyst to Product Support Director. The job is tough and doesn't pay more, but I work for my friend Michael and he's great and looks after me.

I became an uncle! I can't blog enough about how much I love Peytan! I can't wait to see her grow up and talk to her about her days and whatnot. I'm so proud.

This year though was tough for Grandma K. Her health has slipped and she required constant care. It was especially hard on my mom and aunts and uncles.

Despite some hardships, this year has been amazing. I feel like I've known my new neighbor friends for forever, yet it's only been a year. Looking forward to more good times down the road. Also looking forward to spending some more quality time with my old friends. And of course I envision myself flying out to New York quite often, with gifts!

So long 2011. You were good to me.

Xmas Sound Off

It's been a while since I've last blogged. But at this very moment I'm riding shotgun in the car on the way to Selena and Simon's house for Xmas party number 2 and I find myself with time to unload the old noggin.

SPEED UP YOU ASSHOLE!!

Sorry. Holiday drivers..

Anyway what's been up? I have recently gotten full fledged into How I Met Your Mother. And I am so looking for my own Ted Mosby or Marshall Ericson. The show is so sweet and romantic.

I got a Kindle Touch from Tim and Mike Wong for Xmas and I've been pouring through The Hunger Games! So addicting.

I can't wait till next week when I spend New Years Eve with my neighbors. I've really gotten to know Jose, Wally, and Andrija this year.

And lastly I've been recently chatting with a new guy from OKcupid. I see possible sparks here so let's see where this goes!!

The Eleventieth Hour

It's 11/11/11!

What's kind of cool is that I remember the day when I wrote the blog entry on 04/04/04.

And holy shit now it's 7 years later. Keeping this blog really puts my life in perspective. So much has changed since then. So much good stuff. I don't mean to quote the AM/PM slogan, but it's true!

Now comes the obligatory mushy stuff. I am so grateful for everything that has happened to me. And I would likely not change a thing. Well if I could change one thing I would do everything in my power not to fart in front of my neighbor Jose. Yes, that happened. And yes, I was mortified.

That's the bad thing about keeping a blog. The embarrassing stuff is forever..