Wakeboard Tournament

Today was the first of the 2-day wakeboard tournament.

We arrived at the site through a fierce rainstorm and the rain delayed the competition by a couple hours.

It was nice to see B's pro riders again. They are fun people and not bad to look at.

B and pro riders Brett Eisenhower, Jeff Wetherall and Kathy Williams

Rusty and his Ronix Wakeboard waiting to hear the judges results

Rusty's wicked tat

You're only a VIP if other people are not

Groupies, they're everywhere

The event is televised throughout Asia

JMK- This is a bad picture, but see what I mean? Hot!!!

Singapore- Day Three. Puking in Public

Despite my nasty cold, I was tired of resting in the hotel room and was determined to go out today.

We ate our complimentary club, hotel breakfast which consists of (mom, since you would be interested) any kind of tea, coffee, three kinds of cereal- all granola, fruit juices, rolls, 4 different fruits, yoghurt, two kinds of Brie, mozzarella, three kinds of deli meat- British style, herring, gross Asian condiments... And that's all I can remember. Basically, you take what you want. I love breakfast, so I dig the hotel spread.

After breakfast, we returned to the room for a while to wait for the stores to open.

Today's Highlights
Shopping at Zara. I bought a silky shirt.

Being outside and wearing a cute outfit.

Finding an amazing Peppermint tea that is served in our hotel.

Dinner with B's Korean distributors- they were very nice and bestowed a gift of Bvlgari perfume on me. Since I can't smell right now, I'll have to test it out later.

Today's Lowlights
Discovering the hotel sells my peppermint tea for $100 for a box of loose leaf!!!

Puking in the street. (This tops when I had to puke in the hallway garbage can in high school, and then I puked out the side of the second story window (10 minutes apart) of my English class.) B and I were walking on Orchard and I was determined to get my brother a "Singapore is a fine city" t-shirt. We had already walked about 10 blocks and I started to feel verrry dizzzzy. I sat down immediately. After a couple minutes I got up and started walking slowly. I got dizzy again and sat at an empty street vendor's chair behind an empty table. I demanded a plastic bag from B and deposited the remnants of gelato I had eaten a half hour earlier. There went my cute outfit. Not fun.

My throat is sore and I sound like a frog.
_______________

The good news is that it was the gelato that caused the negative reaction, not a progression of my cold.

I feel like I had a successful day. I felt better in the afternoon.

We also decided to stay here in Singapore and not go to Bangkok. I know we said we weren't going last week, but we hadn't changed our plane tickets ad hotel reservations. We decided today to stay here since it's safer for me to be sick here than Thailand, I don't want to get on an airplane anytime soon and lastly, the US just rescinded our aid to the Bangkok government which kind of makes things personal. I'm not sure how the militants feel about the US right now, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

We haven't had a chance to even see anything here, so I want to stick around and go to the night zoo and take the city tour etc. The wakeboard tournament starts tomorrow, so I may be sleeping by a lake all day, depending on how I feel.

Time for bed.

Singapore- Day Two. Sick as a Dog

The AC finally broke my immune system and now I have a horrible cold/ flu.

I've been in our hotel room all day.

This sucks. Why do I always get sick on vacation? I got sick in 2004 when we went to Australia for two weeks. I even went to the doctor and they diagnosed me with glandular fever, which is called mono in the US. I spent my vacation with my head in the head.

Back to bed for me now.

Superficial in Singapore

Sadly, I just noticed that my previous post is all about shopping.

I feel like such a consumer! It's so American of me.

I should have mentioned how high-tech our hotel is. The light switches are automatic, so rather than have a light for a designated space, the light is for a particular task. In the bathroom, you're either at the vanity, or your using the toilet or shower. In the bedroom, you're either reading, sitting or you want the main lights on. I love lighting as a concept. Behind the TV, there is a backlight surrounding the entire TV shelving unit. Hard to explain but my point is, they thought of everything and it shows.

The interior design in this hotel is amazing. Everything is tasteful, updated and beautiful. It's modern, but traditional at the same time.

I also wanted to mention how international Singapore is. Since the British settled Singapore with their East India Trading Company, English is a first language here. As a result, it's a very American, Australian and Europe-friendly place. It's very westernized, but is still very Asian. My guide books say it's a good "first step" into Asia. On the street, I can hear locals speaking both, whatever it is they're speaking and English. "Singlish", much like "Franglish" or "Spanglish" is a mix of the local language and English.

Ta-da! I didn't mention shopping.

Singapore- Day One on Orchard Road

Our hotel is located on the famous Orchard Road, which is known for its world class shopping.

I like Orchard Road because it has all the high-end shops like Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, Rolex as well as the nock-offs in stalls on the next block. As a general rule, I don’t let myself shop at chains that we have at home. For example, I can’t go into Gap or Banana Republic (unless I’m desperate for something basic that will complete an outfit I have to wear on the trip, or if I’m out of money and want to use my credit card.) I found a Zara!!! Zara was my favorite clothing store when I lived in Cannes.

I dont know why they put spandex on the trees here. but the tree's say they feel "totally 80's dude".

It’s 3:30 am at home, and I think it’s around 5 pm here. B is taking a nap, which is a no-no according to Rick Steve’s. If you’re feeling jet-lagged, you’re supposed to go outside and get some fresh air. B travels so much; I don’t think he’s on any one time zone anymore. Before this trip he was on the East Coast and before that he was in Europe. The idea that he needs to maintain any kind of time-zone normalcy is fruitless.

So, we cruised Orchard Road and didn’t buy anything. I made a list once we got back to our room so I’m focused on what I want to buy. I definitely want to check out the custom tailors. When is the next time I'll need a custom cheongsam? Who cares?! They’re totally cool. There is a ton of silk here.

Like the coyboys at the pool in Arizona, I found the straw hat under the hard hat on the guy to the far right amusing, but not without purpose.

Tomorrow, I want to go to Little India to see the stalls of silk and buy some. They have full sheet sets with duvet covers. Muppet will be sure to trash anything cool we put on the bed, but it’s worth a shot. We could always get a set for the guest room or baby’s room.

We find out if we’re having a boy or girl on the 12th of October!! If I knew now, I could shop much more efficiently!

We went to Hard Rock Café for lunch. Wherever we go, B has to eat at Hard Rock. He’s one of “those people”. He is well accustomed to authentic Asian cuisine, so I can’t blame him for wanting to extend his run of American food for another meal. Unfortunately, wherever we go, we find that (duh) the restaurant is using local ingredients to create and American meal. The hamburger beef was nasty! This was disappointing, but not a new experience. The Hard Rock in Cancun was yucky like that too.

The shops here open at 11:00 am. It’s pretty late, so we’ll have to be sure to sleep in longer tomorrow.

I think we’re having dinner at a Pan Asian place tonight. We were supposed to have dinner with B’s business friend guy, but his wife gave birth to twins instead, so we’re on our own. That’s fine with me because I have bad skin, thanks to my pregnancy. I look like a fat teenager. Damn it! Ha ha!

Seattle to Narita, Japan

Notes when traveling to Japan:

The flight is 10 hours long.

There is no comfortable seat. There are only comparable degrees. First class is better than Business class, which is better than coach. Even the free socks the airline gives you are thicker and more luxurious in first class. So you know, in biz class you get a little bag with tooth paste, a toothbrush, (see "bacteria in the water", below) socks, an eye cover for sleeping, a mint, tissues and hand lotion.

Upon boarding your flight from home to Japan, you will be excited to learn that six movies are offered. Sadly, the same movies are played over and over for 10 hours and if you have already seen one or more of these movies, you will never want to again. For example, I never want to see "The DaVinci Code" ever, ever again.

Airplane air is dry, dry, dry. Your sinuses will be killing you by the time you reach your destination. I ended up muffling my breath in my sweater to provide some moisture for my poor throat. I did this for seven hours.

Airline toilets are horror if you’re a germ-a-phobe, or even if you don’t like the idea of standing on pee splatter while you squat. If you don’t want to hear details, skip this part.

So, first off, the whole, “push on the door” to get into the restroom baffles me for some reason. Push on half the door and it hinges in opening to a full door. The bathroom has enough room to turn around in. If you’re fat, you’re have to hold it for 10 hours, or don’t fly. I can’t imagine how two people would fit into the bathroom to join the infamous “mile high club”. The concept sounds good, probably because it involves sex, but the logistics of it seem complicated.

Ok, now really stop reading if you don’t want to hear about my toilet experience. Stop here. Stop reading!

Ok, so since I detest public restrooms to begin with, I was “holding it” for as long as I could on our extra-long flight. Finally, I jumped in front of a Japanese guy and dove into the resented, but much required restroom.

Noting the pee splatters on the floor and grimacing at the fact that I was wearing socks, I was suddenly having a Britney Spears moment.

There was no way I was going to sit on that seat and I didn’t want my feet touching the splatters. I squatted, Girl Scout style, and grasped the tiny handle used to signal that the room is occupied. Trying to multi-task, I grabbed for the T.P. with my other hand and lost my balance. Panic! Somehow, I was able to grab the tiny knob with my T.P.-hand and miraculously, the nasty toilet seat didn’t break my fall. That wasn’t so bad a story, was it?

Allow me to note that the only place I don’t wash my hands after using the restroom is on airplanes for fear of the billions of bacteria, e-coli, AIDS, bad hair mojo & salmonella in the water. Have you ever seen those news shows that go undercover on jets and test the food and water for germs? They have also found rodents living in the landing gear of 747’s.

When we landed in Narita, we had to go through security again. It was manned by 15 adorably-dressed Japanese women… not very intimidating as far as security goes, but very cute in their little matching outfits.

The flight from Narita to Singapore is seven hours, not three.

I heart business class.

Back Home

It's nice to come home to Muppet and my mom's freshly baked peach pie.

I'm taking Mups to the off-leash dog park and then I have to go to work.

I still have to pack for our two week trip. We leave tomorrow!

The Wedding

Sometimes I blog to remember details of an event; other times I blog to share my experiences. Since my memory is getting worse every day, I’m recording everything.

Today I had the worst professional massage of my life. Granted, I am a bit of a snob, but my masseuse had no idea what she was doing and it’s my hunch that she watched an instructional massage video in English and called herself a masseuse. She was Hispanic and very nice, but her skills were lacking and it confused me for a while because I wasn’t sure if she was crappy on purpose. Perhaps it was her “style” to massage a certain way. Then I realized when she was missing my muscles and just focused on rubbing oil on me, that she had no concept of what muscles should be massaged, how and why. It was a $40 massage at best, but somehow I was charged $100. Damn it! I even tipped her because I felt bad that she sucked at her job.

Then we were supposed to meet the “brothers” at the kiddie pool to go on the inner-tube river. They stood us up, which was cool cause I was watching the kids and chillin’. Tonight I confirmed that only one of the guys was a brother of the bride and the other guy was his boyfriend.

There were cowboys at the pool! The guy on the left in the leather vest even had spurs on! I missed the photo of the guy in Denver with the neck-hair beard (previous post) but I got the cowboys at the pool!

I just noticed today that the tubby, beer-drinker in the pool is giving me the thumbs up in that photo. Ha ha!

There were only about 40 people at the wedding, so it was very small. They got married outside, on a balcony. It was short and sweet. The bride is a model. She is tall and blond and has perfect skin. Plus, she’s really nice and relaxed and smiles a lot. The groom is tall and blond and is a photographer. He shoots some amazing stuff. http://www.digitalbehavior.com/ I think this is his web address.

Bride & Groom and the groom's twin brother

Wedding Highlights

Of course I got a huge zit today, so I felt like an idiot!
Ceremony 6:15
Appetizers and Open Bar 7:00
First Dance- Coldplay 7:20
Dinner 7:40
Adorable little kids dance, everyone takes pictures 7:50
Open Bar continues…
Women start taking their shoes off to dance 8:30
Wedding Guest says (in jest) “I’m not drinking any fucking merlot!”
Groom’s father does “the robot” 9:00
Wedding guest hands his 18-year-old daughter a beer
Gay boys freak the maid of honor on the dance floor- hilarious! 9:45
Bride’s father dances with (male) bartender, then stumbles back to his hotel room 10:00

Phoenix

We're in Phoenix for a wedding, but I can't stop taking pictures of the landscape.

I've never been to Arizona and to see cacti planted in the ground is almost comical. At home, they're kept in plastic containers and lined on my neighbor's west facing window. I have only seen cacti as potted plants.

Gnomes and a pagoda?

Last night we went to the rehersal dinner at the home of the bride and groom's family friends. The house was in a retirement neighborhood. All the houses were one level, ranch style, probably built in the 80's. The community was built around a bunch of man made "lakes." There were no people out on the street. I'm sure some folks only live down here part time, but the rest of the geezers eat dinner at 3 pm and are in bed two hours later.

OK, so the geezers know a thing or two about man-made lakes and junk.

This is the view from the host's dock.

Back to the landscaping. The front yards of all these houses did not have one blade of grass! Instead they have colored rocks landscaped around palm trees, cacti and other desert plants. I read landscape magazines constantly and are apalled when a designer suggests anything but grass. It's so odd to me that someone would pour concrete pebbles into their front yard, and paint them green. I also saw a Brady Bunch front yard covered in astro turf.

This is a palm surrounded in textured concrete that has been painted green.

Cool-ass tree

I haven't seen any bugs. I'm waiting for a tarantula or scorpion to cross my path. I'll I've seen are a few moths.

Oh, and the food here is plain. It needs cheese.

Today I'm having a massage (I'm on vacation!) and then we're floating down the "lazy river" with the bride's brothers. I think it's one of those weekends where everyone is going to be trashed because we're all staying at the same hotel to attend this wedding.

The bun is getting more pronounced, so putting a bathing suit on frightens me. I wonder if my wake shorts will fit.

After the pool, I'm going to nap. Then it's wedding time!

Packing for Bizarro Alyssa

When I pack for a trip I know that I won't want to wear certain outfits upon arrival.

This makes packing difficult because Alyssa Now, doesn't know what Alyssa Later is thinking and vice versa. For example. Alyssa Now thinks, "I will be in a warm place and I will want to wear flip-flops with this dress." Alyssa Later thinks, "I can't believe I brought flip-flops to wear with a nice dress to a very nice restaurant! I need brown sandals! What an idiot!"

There are two things I do as Alyssa Now to address the Bizarro Alyssa issue. Option one is to pack only cute outfits that I most-likely will not want to wear, knowing that I will not have a choice and will have to dress up. I only have so many opportunities to look cute, so sometimes I even have to force myself to wear a skirt, rather than shorts. Option two is to do the opposite to accommodate Alyssa Later and pack a nicer and casual outfit for the same event or evening. I know I'll probably choose what's most comfortable.

Alyssa Later loves it when Alyssa Now packs with option one in mind, because then I have no choice but to go shopping to solve my wardrobe problems! Sometimes Alyssa Later freaks out while Alyssa Now is packing and I don't pack much of anything, knowing that I will hate everything I own and will go shopping anyway.

Nice Timing!

We are going to be in Thailand in under a week and now, on CNN.com, chaos!

BREAKING NEWS

Thailand in chaos after coup
Thailand's army commander ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup while he was in New York, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and revoking the constitution. A televised announcement from the commander ordered all troops to report to duty.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/thailand.coup.rumor/index.html

I am

So fat.

I'm getting bigger every day. It's weird.

I really don't want to wear those pants with the elastic waist, but it's sounding better every day.

Adoption Day for my CASA kid!

I am a Court appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected kids in King County.

I represent the children in court hearings as their parents are going through court proceedings.

Tomorrow, my second of two cases will be resolved when J is adopted by his foster parents!

I have had this case since 2003. J is now 8 years old. He was put into foster care at age three when his developmentally-delayed mother's, drug dealing boyfriend beat him.

Three years of court hearings, writing verbose and meticulous Reports to Court and spending my afternoons at Juvenile Court were all worth it for the final court appearance tomorrow when J is adopted.

Tired of Fraud

I have been screwed over and it’s making me really mad!

I bought something on ebay and sent a cashier’s check to the seller. The seller is a complete moron and sent the item via United Stated Postal Service and didn’t buy insurance. The item was lost in the mail and then the seller kept my money!! Can you say fraud?

I had to file a claim with ebay and the most I can get is around 75% of the full amount. But it’s not fair! The idiot seller loses nothing! The world is a horrible place. Humans are selfish and evil!

Next rant…

We were rear ended at the end of our driveway in November 2003. The opposing insurance company has been non-responsive to my polite, yet pointed letters. We learned from our insurance carrier that the claim representative for the other company is literally waiting for the statute of limitations to run out so we can’t be reimbursed for our medical bills. Now we have to file a claim with the insurance commissioner. This sucks! People are trying to screw us! People suck! People are evil!

Grandparents

It's gotta suck to be old and have everyone around you analyzing everything you do. "That old guy should not be driving." "Their house is filthy. They forget to clean." Even if it's true, it still sucks.

My aunt and uncle were in town from Georgia today, so my mom and John brought them over to my house. I gave them the tour and then we went over to have dinner with my grandparents.
My grandpa is getting old. He will use a walker or cane, but he didn't use to when we were around. His pride was wounded as his mobility deteriorated.

He and his wife live alone in their house. They somehow manage to keep their house up and take care of their yard. They have always been avid gardeners, so there is a lot of work to do.
Because they have so many medical issues, my mom and aunt are strongly encouraging them to move into a retirement home. The crappy thing about that is that no one gets out of a retirement home alive. It's the last stop. Their at death's door. It's nice that they can live in a place together and have someone provide everything for them, but tick, tick, tick. Your kids sell your house out from under you when you move to a retirement home. Then all the stability you have ever worked for is gone. Your house and possessions are gone. At that point, you presumably wouldn't care because you have food in your belly, but there go the memories... I guess it's about preserving what we have left.

I always feel like we, as Americans should model after the Europeans and not necessarily live together as an extended family forever (god forbid) but certainly take care of our grandparents, in our own homes. If I had the means, I would. But I don't, so I don't feel that I'm entitled to an opinion. This Grandparents-getting-old theme is not a new one. People have always struggled with how to care for the esteemed elders/ aging and Alzheimer's inflicted grandparents. Or we could go the opposite direction and send them off in a canoe.

Anyway, we all went out to "dinner" at 4pm. That's the good thing about eating with grandparents, I always have plenty of time to get home afterwards and do homework, chores, or just call it a night. The view from the Edmonds waterfront was fantastic. The food was surprisingly good and it was nice to catch up with my aunt and uncle.

Me, Uncle Mike, Auntie BJ, Grandpa Walt, Mayme

Soccer Party Success!

By all accounts the soccer party was a big success.
We remained on schedule (very necessary) and I was in bed at 10 pm sharp!

Party Highlights

• The girls wore their pajamas and brought a stuffed animal. They were so cute!

• I told the girls to make sure they fill up on sweets before dinner.
• I prepped the food for dinner and my mom made everything. Mom's mac-n-cheese... grub!
• I told the girls I was pregnant (due March first!) and one asked, "does your husband know?"
• Some of the girls recited the movie lines while we were watching "She's the Man". Annoying, but funny.
• I fed them dessert at 9:30 pm and sent them home to their parents. The parents threatened payback and I laughed like a villian. Mwa ha! ha!
• At one point chocolate ice cream fell on the floor, but landed on someone's blanket. Rather than wash the blanket in the sink, the blanket owner licked the ice cream off.
• There is not one stain (that wasn't already there) on my white carpet!
• Two or three soccer moms (I say that with affection) stayed and helped keep my house clean and even washed my dishes! That is what truly helped. I have to write them thank you notes.

Pajama Party

This weekend I (coach Alyssa) am hosting a pajama party for the girls on my soccer team.

I'm freaking out about managing 15 6th graders. My house is not accustomed to little people. Do I just need to accept the fact now that something will break, someone will cry and something will invariably be spilled on my carpet?

I need to have some low-key games on hand. Not board games, but group games. My friend Lauren suggested "Two Truths and a Lie" which is pretty self explanatory based on the title. I think that sounds fun.

I'm making my world famous mac-n-cheese for dinner and then one of the team mom's is bringing junk for sundae's.

We are also going to watch "She's the Man" which is the latest girl-power, soccer movie out for chitlens. Half of them have seen it, but you know kids, they'll watch it a million times.

I'm placing my ceramic soccer ball, the ideal garden statuary, out in the front yard. I'm hoping to wrap it in Christmas lights (everything looks better in Christmas lights... except trashy houses).

I'll try to post photos of the event.

So Hot

http://www.edgeio.com/item/1086716-Angels-Wax-Poetic-feat-Norah-Jones-cromwell-connecticut-usa-north%20america

I can't get away from this song. I think I'm addicted. I've listened to it for 3 days straight in my car. It has me in a trance.

"Angels" by Wax Poetic, Norah Jones and a French chick.

...love it.

Blogs are for Nerds

I have learned from a reliable source that blogs are indeed "for dorks".

Personalized photo websites, like Flikr, or however you spell that, have taken their place.

If it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then I guess it is possible that photo blogs have more to offer.

I am feeling the social pressure of partaking in an uncool technology trend, but it's a medium that works for me, so maybe I'll be a hippie about it and put my bell bottoms back in the closet until they're hip again. Then I can claim I was cool all along when blogging comes back into style.

Besides, I have pictures on my blog. I'll post one now, just to prove it... But then, why give in to social pressure?