Hi everyone. I'm back!

My apologies for not updating the past 8 months! Unfortunately, this blog has been passed over to the sweet tweets of Twitter. It is much easier to write a snippet of 140 characters or less to explain what is going on in my life. That leaves things vacant here.

However, I've known all along that this domain serves a purpose as well. Some stories just can't be shared with such limitations. Plus, I like to share my experiences progressively, with various media (audio,video, photo) and widgets. And I know that there are those out there (Naoko & Joe, Evelyn, The Asian Persuasion, John G., David H., etc.) who only know what is going on in my life by coming here. So, this entry is especially dedicated to you!

Kid Akio gets Pop-upped via the Metrolink

A couple of my friends (Josh H. and Kayla), have just started their street cuisine business (--pop-up-), partnering with some other UCLA School of Architecture classmates. They had their "soft opening" last Thursday at a gallery reception, in which Josh's work was on exhibit. I noticed that Gallery 1927 was close to the 7th Street/Metro Center station, so I decided to take the Metrolink instead of scrounging for parking in Downtown LA. I parked nearby the Wilshire/Western station and made my way.



I appreciate the compliment, and yes I am going Metro tonight!



Mission accomplished: Josh working the grill with one of his partners. I want one of their cool t-shirts!



So UPC Thinks It Can Dance?

It's not very often where you will see members at my church get up and boogie. I guess that is why I was glad that I brought my camera along to service this past Sunday. We just finished up with a week of Vacation Bible School (VBS), and the kids learned a dance to some praise music (which has a Lion King/Little Mermaid feel to it). Well, the pastor's wife thought it would be a great idea to have the congregation do the dance as well! Viral video gold! Here, why don't you just watch it!

Some things that cracked me up.
1.Most of the congregation is doing the motions quite well!
2. I like the enthusiasm of the teachers!
3. Seeing my pastor do the motions during the bridge part of the song was worthwhile!

Currently...Falling Behind the Times
I'm not too fond of the "Currently" extra on xanga. Especially as a music fan. When I want to share a song, I want people to have the opportunity to hear it (instead of linking somewhere). So, I will experiment with this Grooveshark widget for the time being. You can leave a comment on my musical tastes if you wish!

We interrupt our (ir)regularly scheduled program to bring your this blog entry.

Unlike some of you readers out there, I am not a fan of adult contemporary musician Josh Groban. I find his vocals and performances to be too schmaltzy for my taste. But to his credit, I have to give him respect for his immense talent.

After watching a snippet from last night's Primetime Emmy broadcast, I can also appreciate that he has a good sense of humor. Who knew that he could mimic The Rembrandts, The South Park kids, and Inner Circle? Although he needs to work a little more on his Will Smith!



(Facebook Notes readers can go here to view the YouTube magic)

Ketchup and Mustard

I haven't had the opportunity to hang out with my old rollerhockey friends Jesse and Alice since their April wedding. So, we found some time in our busy lives to attend last Saturday's Dodger game, which included post-game fireworks and my first opportunity to see our newest Japanese pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda in action.

Now my customary Dodger trip experience includes a Dodger Dog. But my friends suggested having dinner at a historical downtown L.A joint called Philippe's (home of the French dip sandwich), one of their Dodger game traditions. I found out that it is a favorite pre-game ritual for a lot of Blue Crew fans, as many patrons that were sitting and waiting in the long lines were dressed in Dodger gear!

From my various vacation trips, I learned that the best thing to order at a new place is the same thing "the regulars" like to eat; So I chose a double-dipped beef with a side of slaw. Pretty good, but the sandwich is definitely better when you add their famous house mustard, spicier than wasabi and addictive like Coke (the drink, not the drug!)

As for the game, we lost in extra innings. The Dodger bats are still not cutting it to help out on the good pitching. Our bad-to-the-bone closer Takashi Saito injured his right (throwing arm) elbow in the 9th, and it now appears he won't be available until late August. And while I usually save my boos for the visiting team, I joined in with the home crowd as our "prized" centerfielder Andruw Jones struck out swinging in all 5 of his at-bats! Besides the dinner experience, I think the fireworks (better than the Hollywood Bowl) and the conversation were the highlights of the evening.

I enjoyed my time with the newlyweds, but I felt bad about one thing. I had wanted to give them a wedding photograph I took in a picture frame, but I didn't have the opportunity to visit Diamond Bar over the 4th of July weekend to use our family photo printer. Now mind you, my photography skills of taking "people shots" are lackluster (which is why the "Pictures at an Exhibition" section has minimal photos of people!), but I think this one turned out OK because I captured a good moment!

Well, as you can probably notice, Memorial Day Weekend came and went; I was enjoying my time in Santa Barbara (church retreat) and Glendale (visiting an old friend) so much that I didn't get around to sharing my April and May stories. I can't make any promises, but I would still like to blog about it. As for today, here are some snippets.

If you feel like posting your comments about yesterday's basketball game, go right on ahead. I missed my usual Thursday night running club to watch it, and instead of exercising my body, I worked out my voice box. I am still hopeful that the Lake Show will take the championship in six (games), but am worried that the Celtic team defense will shut that down.

One of my favorite bands, Coldplay, is coming back to Los Angeles in July to promote their upcoming, lengthy-titled album, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends". I will be among those in attendance after scoring a couple pre-sale tickets via a local radio station promotion. Their current singles don't appear to translate well into live performances, but if the lads put together a show similar to their last one, I won't be disappointed. One thing that definitely will be better: I won't have to travel as far to see them, so I will hopefully get home on a work night at a reasonable hour.

One last thing. I haven't done a Music Video Spotlight in a while, but I finally saw one that was worthwhile. Anyone who has spent way too much time checking out YouTube (And a certain troublemaking kid definitely comes to mind) will enjoy this latest cut from Weezer. See how many references you can recognize!

Link for my Facebook readers.

While it has been a worthwhile challenge taking 5 business trips in 4 months and learning along the way, I was relieved that I had a month off from travel. This was especially so, since in-between sojourns, I had to apply all that knowledge on a work project back at the home office of Torrance, California. And unfortunately, that meant some more late nights. Thankfully, I completed it in mid-March without too many headaches. With that set aside, I wanted to use the rest of the month to catch up on life outside the workplace. So what did I do?

I went to the Pac-10 Basketball Tournament at Staples Center on Friday, March 14 with some friends, because we figured it would be our last chance to see Pac-10 Player of the Year Kevin Love play live (With his talent, it seems likely that he will leave UCLA for the NBA). It was great seeing our Bruins take down the Trojans in a close one. It was odd seeing half the crowd leave right afterwards, not wanting to stay for the Stanford/Washington St. matchup. I left at halftime.

I returned to my old improv stomping grounds on March 16 for a couple of shows. It was my first time back to CSz since January. There was a graduation show for those who went through all 3 levels of workshops. They did a great job, and I can see a couple of them eventually playing with the Sunday team. I also saw my old Sunday friends perform a special St. Patrick's Day show, with all the improv games having an Irish theme. While I didn't miss the late nights, I sure would like to make people laugh and perform again.

It was nice to finish up March attending a couple of memorable Dodger games. I am now part of the Guinness Book of World Records, since the 3/29 preseason game versus the Boston Red Sox set a new attendance record for a baseball game. I also took a vacation day off work to attend Opening Day vs. The Hated Ones. Probably the most heart-warming moment was before the game, as many beloved Dodger old-timers took the field to celebrate the 50 years of baseball in Los Angeles. I got choked up because the soundtrack of Field of Dreams was playing in the background. You can watch this YouTube clip from the last minutes of the film to understand why it hit me so hard. Xanga readers can see this clip below.