bad news

so i injured my back during training either last night or the night before. yesterday night my back was really tight but i was trying to work through it, but after I got home and out the shower it was hurting pretty bad. I'm 90% sure it had nothing to do with the vertebrae so that's good but I'm pretty sure the muscle on the left side of my lower back are strained or what not.

i guess i have until friday, the day of the weigh ins, to heal up. fuck this is bad timing, after working my ass off, if this injury keeps me from competing i will be one pissed off chinese.

fuck


other than that, i'm glad to hear that you are having an awesome time in europe corn! i wish i could join you on these wacky adventures and interject some random 'balang balang's" into the conversations when everybody else is speaking german and i'm jsut sitting there clueless haha. also please remember to saythe following phrase either aloud or to yourself if you are feeling overly european at some point in time: America, Fuck Yeah.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rq2_YKQGE_U

Strasbourg, Freiburg, Bodensee, Baden Württemburg

Plans have changed slightly. I spent that week planning my entire trip for august, but when I had it all finished and came to the money part, I realized that the amount I wanted on loan was just too much. I want to go. But I donät have the money, and I wouldnät borrow that much money from my aunt or uncle, or their friend. My family, as it turns out, is actually going through a big financial problem right now, and the talk with my mom and dad was sobering. But every day here is still beautiful, and in fact, my uncle is now on vacation. Weäve been traveling for the past week, into france and southern Germany. I have seen beautiful things, had amazing days, and am always learning. I wish my camera worked, as Iäve missed some memorable pictures, but Iäll always be ready to regail anybody with random stories in exchange for a beer (or two). Bavarian beer is the original white beer, and that shite is smooooth.

First of all, before I left, I took a train to Köln to get some supplies for our trips around, as we camped to save money. On the train, this old guy next to me stood up too quickly, smashed his head into the luggage rack above, and fell down completely unconscious. The only thing that entire train heard--iäm pretty sure-- was me saying ''OH FUCK!!!!!'' He passed out for a couple minutes, NOBODY got up, and I sat there thinking I was gonna have to go to jail to explain myself. And then, at the next stop, he woke back up, stood up, gave me a terribly dirty look, picked up his luggage, and then got off the train. What the hell?!?!?! hahahahaha. For a couple days we stayed at a family friendäs house in Bavaria, traveled the region, and visited the Bodensee. I thought that place only existed in postcards. Rolling countrysides, storks making big nests on top of houses, everyone relaxing by the river. The house we stayed in was built completely by my familyäs friend, from foundation to finish. Bavarian german sounds funny to me. It has a swedish-ish pattern. On one of the nights, we camped in Freiburg, a very environmental city, with trees and forests everywhere. Iäm starting to think thatäs just what Germany looks like everywhere. Around our camping spot, there was a tent of Italians, a tent of Portuguese, of Netherlands, of English, and a group of people our age from Finland. As we set up our tents (during a rainstorm, which sucked) I noticed that each tent had their car radios on, and here is what I heard: the Italians were playing opera, the Portuguese were playing Bossa Nova, the Netherlandisch..Dutch were playing classical, the English kids were playing rock, and the kids from Finland were playing techno music. haha. The menäs bathroom had a huge calendar of naked women up on it, and when I came out, I told my uncle the bathrooms were pretty nice and clean. When he came back, he pointed at me and said ``CORRECT! those must be the cleanest bathrooms iäve ever seen in all of germany!`` haha. My cousin from Boston is coming on Thursday, and when he comes, weäre heading to Paris, Amsterdam, Bremin, and around the Northern of Germany. I wish I could have used this month to travel by myself, but circumstances have arisen, and Iäm making the most of what I got--which is not bad at all. Iäm going to save up money so when you come, Chris, we can head around for a while. When I come back iäm going to save money, plan again, and head out to go backpacking. So please, save up money and join me, because happiness truly is only real when shared. By the way chaozy, I donät know if you know this, but those two CDäs you put in my car a long time ago, I burned, and have been listening to them all the time since iäve been here. Good luck on your tournament mang! Try to get a video, I want to see you dominate.

Kölner phrase of the day: dreiß der jet (driss dey-ehr yet). it means fuck off in kölner. germans wonät understand it unless theyäre from köln, so if ya feeling like swearing in angry german and donät want anybody to understand, then fire away!

shitty european fashion of the day: white jean capri pants on men paired with euro trash mullets.

brouhaha

hello friends. a lot of times, some of the guys don't like being called "gay" or "faggot" or "feg" or "niggerfaggot" or "gay guy" or "fudgepacker" or "chode" or " quiver lips" or "guy who rides bikes with no seat." often, they come to resent the jokes, taking it as personal attacks on their character.

i'm an open minded guy. i'm accepting of most beliefs and lifestyles. but if you don't want to be called a fairy, please, watch the following videos and avoid this behavior.


also. pierce, remember that thing about censorship? let's take a trip back to first year, and see how first year pierce reacts to my question.

Right Meow

http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/beachwoodsparks/
Here's the entire photo album...and yes, I fail as a photographer.

Came back from Korea not too long ago, but the trip itself just feels like a blur. When you're actually there, you try to take in all of it's experience but once it's over, it feels like, "wow, was I really in another country for an entire week?" Weird. I arrived in Incheon, Korea at 5:30 am on Saturday morning. I was greeted by 2 of my cousins that I haven't seen in over 7 years and they took me directly to my grandmother's funeral. Over there, I was then greeted by all my dad's side uncles, aunts and cousins, along with my grandparent's brothers, sisters, and all of their friends. I have never hugged that many people at once. I was extremely happy to see them, but solemn due to the occassion. The family told me to go into the ceremonial room to pay my respects, where my grandmother's picture was held up on a rack decorated with flowers and Korean traditional stuff. Emotions took the best of me and I started bawling like a little baby. It was extremely tough holding back the tears, but when I looked up at all the people who were there, I realized they were here because she had an impacting effect on their lives and that we were mainly here to cherish and celebrate her long enduring life. That made me happy. My grandmother's wish was to be cremated and buried on top of this forest, which we went to after the funeral. I thought it was the perfect place for her burial. Rest in peace.







So yeah, that was all of my first day. I didn't sleep once throughout the 12 hour flight, so I napped hard for the rest of the day.

The food in Korea is....amazing. I ate some bomb ass food for every meal of the day, and the best thing is that it's cheap. Streetside ddukboki, odeng, bulgogi, and deep fried squid > *. and the best thing is it's under 3000 won ($3).

Here's some shabu shabu restaurant, Korean style.




more food, another restaurant.


Anyways, I don't really want to describe my entire trip so I'll just abridge it with random pictures. I basically had one entire day all to myself to go explore Seoul and wherever. I took the bus to 2 different areas in Seoul for 60 cents.



Went to this huge outside market where all the halmunee's hang out.



so many gooks in one place.


I wasn't kidding when I said where all the halmunee's hang out.

Took this photo outside of a PC bang I was in....it had seperate stalls for the computers in the back....uh probably for jacking-off purpose for ronery Korean men who don't have the internets at home. It was dark and had bright neon lights inside.




Look, you can win a knock-off Nintendo DS and a siren for your car.


Took the bus to the National Korean Museum...the 6th largest museum in the world. Check the photobucket for all the photos.





Mysterious looking box.


Cool Jappo paintings.


Even something for our Vietnamese friends! there wasn't much though...kinda sad.

Check out this little nigga.


Must leave my mark before departing.



I spent the rest of the day just walking around and eating more food. I decided to come back to my grandpa's area and explore there as well. I stumbled across this mountain forest region on accident that's right behind my grandpa's place. It kept going higher and higher, so I just kept making left and right turns on random paths and I was lost for a good 2 hours until I found myself on the other side of the forest. Took me about an hour to walk back home. LULS.

I "read" my first hit of "books" here. For those who don't know, my secret word for weed is books.


It led me to here..


went higher...lol


and higher...hay see anything unusual?


Kaki King + Grizzly Bear + Album Leaf = holy shit! It was so peaceful...and plus I was really baked. 2 hours passed like NOTHING. hahaha.


and on the very top of the mountain I found this neat little place overlooking some neighborhoods. I finished the rest of my books here.



Even the babies drink here.


This took too long to post. Might update more later?

Düsseldorf

Iäm in D-dorf right now. I met a half bulgarian half turkish guy who just moved here, and it turns out he rolls and fights. we rolled in the middle of schloß benrath, a huge park, and he twisted the shite out of me hahaha. thereäs all the training i had this summer! :(

ok

So it looks like I will be doing a jiu jitsu tournament on August 3rd. I wasn't going to do it at first but I guess I've changed my mind last minute style. I'm pretty excited to say the least because this will be the first time I've done anything competitive since 8th grade swim team. First things first though, I have to make weight. Good thing is that weigh ins are 2 days before the tournament so I will have 2 days to re fatten up myself haha. So yeah the weight I'll be competing is 149 lbs. I'm currently 160 lbs. Soooo 11 lbs, 9 days, for sure doable. I've never cut weight before though so I'm hoping it won't too shitty of an experience.

In other news I will go in for training at LearningRX this Thursday. I'm pretty excited to do all that and finally get a job. I also registered for classes not too long ago and it donned on me. I'm almost done with college!

so yeah these next few weeks should be interesting. peace and love to you all.

chaotron

Hi everzbodz,

I had a long conversation last night with Uncle Herbert and Tante Chau, along with familz friends Engall and Theodora. Iäm heading out now. Iäm spending the next three dazs planning mz trips, hostels, getting mz backpack readz, and iäm gonna be backpacking around Europe for the next two months. There is no other time than now for me, and Iäve stazed here long enough to spend time with mz familz and see how it is here. But Iäm taking a big ass step for mzself..i keep learning here, and iäd have to saz the biggest thing iäve learned here is how little i actuallz know about how i can handle mzself. I was never raised to reallz believe in mzself when it comes down to it, mz parents never believed I could pull anzthing off. So Iäm taking loans from Uncle Herbert and Engall, and if possible from another familz member. Iäm planning mz itinerarz, and Iäm going to head out bz mzself for a while to see how things go. I miss all zou guzs, and I do enjoz reading anzthing posted on this blog. Take care errbodz, Iäll cza guzs soon 8-)

my buddy

hey everybody. Yesterday i went to James' wake. When I got there the funeral home was packed and full of familiar faces. This past week i've been sort of in my own world--in irvine. it was good to finally talk to people who knew and loved James.

After an hour or so of praying, everyone lined up to view his body. it took awile since sooo many people were there. i spent some time next to him, said my goodbyes, hugged his sisters and mom and started to walk down the aisle, out of the chapel. It hit me. a wave of shock and grief washed over me and i started to cry. i sat next to my friend andrew as i tried to calm myself down. "Are you angry?", Andrew asked. "You have no idea", I replied. He nodded and put his arm around me. I calmed down and he said, "If you had seen him last week, you wouldn't be mad".

I'm sure he was suffering. And i'm sure he's in a better place.

Today was his funeral. the church was packed--maybe 250-300 people showed up. i played guitar in the band. it was beautiful. truely a celebration of his extraordinary life.

speaking of which--the dean of medicine at USC called his girlfriend and left a message. They want to dedicate an award after him called the James Le award. the award will go to a student who exemplifies the same traits that James did--dedication to family, academic accomplishment, and contribution to community. They're also creating a scholorship fund in his name which will award money to someone displaying "jamesisms".

anyways, i'll be alright, the world will be fine, lets do fun stuff.

I have more time

This is where I have breakfast
Nice taxis here :)
Dad on the right, mom afterwards, chillin in Konigsforst
OH NEIN DER POLIZEI!!
nice limo bus in barcelona haha

Oh yeah

Ryan's favorite hangout spot in Maastricht

Dreiss

Koln Hauptbahnhoff
Barcelona Main Station

Bonn on a rainy day
Maastricht, Netherlands flea market
A big, big, big fucking vending machine in the metro in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona from the top of a cathedral

Mom on the right
Dad on the right, My Tante Chao on the far left, Herr Lambert in the middle
Frau Lambert
Herr Lambert

my work!!
The steps I've been working on. I finished em! I'll take a picture of the finished steps later

Skating around the Rhine
On the S-Bahn train into Koln
Yayayayaya

A Bistro hahahaha

The Dom
A neighbor's party, where i broke my first Kolsch glass. Failure hahaha

My room in the attic!
Tom, when we were on our way to the Rhine to play soccer and have a picnic

Taka Tak on the airplane