My 8-ball team ended up 1st place in the standings in the Tuesday night league pool league at Fox and Hound for Summer of 2013. As a result, we are automatically entered into an end-of-session tournament called Tri-Cup a.k.a. the Big Money Tournament. At this tournament, the winners of each of the 8 leagues across the city of Tucson play against each other in a single elimination format. Each team only plays up to 2 matches against randomly selected teams from leagues outside of your own. If you win the first match, you qualify for the annual City Tournament (that is ultimately a qualifier for nationals). After the first round, 8 teams remain and you play a second round that if you win your team wins $1000 in prize money! There are 4 winners at Tri-Cup, which basically means you can only win $1000 and so it's not a winner-take-all deal.
Anyway, my team played in this tournament today, our second attempt since we've started pool league. The first time was back in the Spring, but two key players (myself and Chris) were out of town, so we sent to the tournament whoever was available but not our strongest lineup. We ended up winning the first match, which qualified us for City, but we lost the second match and didn't win any money. :(
This time around, we had everyone available to play. The first match we sent up Chris and Anthony who both won. The third match I sent up Erica against the other team's sole 6 skill-rated player. She won the first game, but immediately following after had a panic attack and couldn't play anymore. :( Don't worry, she is fine now, it was just too much caffeine and an adrenaline rush from playing! But fortunately, it turns out the other team only had 4 players and given the scoring format that I won't go into detail, they were forced to forfeit and ultimately could not win the match. Erica winning that one game allowed us to advance to second round!
The second round we were against a full squad of players. However, Anthony, Tyler, and Chris all won their matches, so it was over by the 3rd game. Yep, yours truly wasn't even needed today and The Dollar Menu ended up taking 1000 dollars in winnings, woohoo!!! :P Almost one year ago I could've only imagined this team - of friends I assembled whom nobody knew of - would have become so successful and strong as we are today! I'm quite proud!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
James's Wedding in Brazil!
Destination weddings are becoming very common these days for me, but over the past weekend I traveled the farthest I ever have to see one of my good friends from high school get married. This last Saturday, my friend James married his love Mariana and they held their wedding in her hometown in Brazil. Since I've starting blogging, this will be my first post about travel to another country. I'm also writing this on one of my long flights home so be prepared, it may be a bit long to read!
Getting prepared for my first trip to the southern hemisphere wasn't too difficult. To visit the country of Brazil, all that's required is to prepare a tourist visa ahead of time, which I was able to do all from home and online. I used Passports and Visas.com to apply for a visa, mailed in the very straightforward application along with my passport, and within 30 days my passport with mailed back to me with my visa in it, good for up to 10 years. It was a bit pricey to travel to Brazil as a roundtrip ticket ran me about $1,400 and the visa was $300 itself. However, the good news is that when I got to Brazil, everything was very affordable and I don't think I spent much more than a few hundred while I was there!
I left Phoenix on Wednesday morning at around 10am with connections planned in Charlotte and Sao Paolo to reach my final destination: Florianópolis (a.k.a. Floripa). It took forever to board the plane in Phoenix (I guess some previous passengers had to reboard and were holding up the show). Ultimately, the plane was about 40 minutes late, which wasn't enough time for me to catch my plane in Charlotte where I only had a 50 minute layover to begin with. I ended up getting rerouted to Rio de Janiero, but that flight wouldn't leave Charlotte for another 4 hours. :(
After a 9-hour flight, we finally landed in Rio and interestly enough, I ran into Kyle and Jamie in the immigration and customs line at the airport! They were also booked through the same flight out of Rio to Floripa, which was pretty awesome to not have to enter the foreign country completely on my own. While we checked our bags in Rio, an American girl about the same age as us came up and asked us if she could follow us into the departures area...she had heard us speaking English and didn't want to be alone in an airport where they only speak Portuguese. Coincidentally enough, it turns out she was also en route to James and Mariana's wedding in Floripa! And so we picked up Michelle in our party as we waited in Rio for a few hours for our departing flight.
Once we arrived in Floripa, getting a taxi was a little uncomfortable. A few guys coordinating the taxi line spoke English and offered to taxi us over to our destination in an unmarked vehicle (it just looked like the guy's personal car to be honest). Everyone's seen the movie Taken by now, so of course we were all thinking the worst. There's also a story out there about how James once got kidnapped in a foreign country and only got out of it because he knew the native language. Nonetheless, we were able to kindly refuse their offer and get into an airport taxi. Unfortunately, the driver didn't know any English, but we got to the bed and breakfast safely.
When we arrived at Colinas de Lagoa, there were several Americans for the wedding already there. Rooms were a bit limited, so I found myself sharing a room with 4 of James' guyfriends...everyone called it the "Frat House" since it was literally two rooms with 6 beds and one bathroom. The room literally only had twin beds in it, one right next to the other lol. Hence it felt to me more like a hostel than a bed and breakfast.
That night, the girls were scheduled to have a bachelorette party for Mariana, so James took the guys out to an English pub where we could watch American sports on TV. They had the Dodgers-Braves game and the Bills-Browns on, albiet Brazil is 4 hours ahead of Arizona time. The interesting part about Brazilian restaurants and bars is that they give you a ticket at the beginning of the night and as you order items, it gets marked on the ticket what you've ordered (similar to how dim sum is run). You have to hold on to the ticket however and when you're ready to leave you just pay the total. I guess a lost ticket is about $50 US, which made us wonder if it's actually worth it purposely "lose" your ticket if you've ordered a lot more. :P After the pub, we headed downtown to witness some of Floripa's more exciting nightlife. The night turned out being James' unofficial bachelor party. Basically all the key people who couldn't make it to his actual bachelor party in Portland in August were in Brazil. I guess now would be a good time to give you my evaluation of the women of Florianopolis. In my opinion, the average woman is much more attractive and svelte than in America, but I feel like the cream of the crop is still better in the U.S. I guess you could say Brazil has less 5's and below, more 7's and 8's, but less 9's and 10's. Anyway, that's just my estimation!
On Friday morning, several people were scheduled to leave at 10am (that's 6am Arizona time!) on a tour of Floripa for the day, but seeing how we didn't get to bed until 3am, yours truly decided to pass on the tour and get an extra couple hours of sleep instead. :) Spencer tried to urge me to get up for the tour, suggesting that there was nothing to do in the city. I agreed with him at the time, but man, I was just too tired haha! I woke up at noon, and to my suprise, Kyle and Jamie had also opted out of the tour. James had spent the night at the "Frat House" and had errands planned for the day, but when Adam, Kyle, Jamie, and I wanted to get some lunch, he decided he had enough time to join us and took us to one of his favorite all-you-can-eat buffets in Floripa, which was very good, especially the Brazilian barbecue. His sisters and parents eventually joined us for lunch as well, but more funny was that Mariana and her brother Bruno coincidentally ended up going to the same place for lunch! After lunch we planned on going to a beach, and Mariana told James to forget about his errands for the afternoon and just hang out with everyone at the beach. So in the end, the decision to pass on the tour turned out to be a good one as I got to steal invaluable time with the bride and groom! It was a relaxing day at the beach, where we tossed a frisbee around, played the Brazilian game frescobol, and we did some boogie boarding as well.
That night, there was a dinner for all the Americans in town at a pizzeria where we enjoyed all-you-can-eat pizza and drinks. Yes, "buffet livre" as they call it is very common in Floripa! The pizza in Brazil is very "playful" as Mariana puts it, meaning they put all sorts of crazy ingredients on their pies that you normally wouldn't find on pizzas in America. There's even a dessert pizza at the end that's covered in chocolate lol. At the end of the dinner, James impressed the 30 or so people there by impromptly speaking in front of everyone and giving each individual in attendance a personal introduction of how they're connected to him or Mariana.
Saturday was the day of the wedding with the ceremony starting at 4pm. Beforehand, I ventured out on the city by myself, going on a jog and having lunch on the seafood avenue where James claimed the restaurants had the best seafood in Floripa. I ended up getting 12 ostras au natural (raw oysters) for only $10 US! I felt the desire to splurge a little, so I got a bowl of camarão au bafo (steamed shrimp) as well.
The Catholic wedding ceremony was held at a church where James and Mariana occasionaly go and I believe it is also where James proposed to her. It was built in the 1700's and there was both a Porteguese and English translation. Following the wedding, everyone was shuttled to the Almeda Casa Rosa where the reception and dancing party was held. At the bar, I tried these really stiff drinks called caipirinha that came in flavors of lime, strawberry, kiwi, or pineapple. After 3, I figured they were just too sweet and strong and my stomach started feeling upset, but once I made the switch to beer, it was all systems go! The best part about the Brazilian wedding is that servers come around constantly to fill your glass with whatever your drinking. Too often I couldn't even drink my glass of beer before finishing it completely and I had absolutely no idea how many drinks I consumed. :D The dancing was also very entertaining and the bartenders even got in the dancing show, including the blonde girl with the very tight pants who I thought was pretty hot. :P The wedding was filled with plenty of drinking, eating, dancing, speeches and slideshows - business as usual - and ended around 2 in the morning. I was really glad James and Mariana invited me and I was able to come experience it all with them!
On Sunday I got up late again after having cashed in at 4:30am, lol. So at noon, everyone who was staying in Floripa longer had already left to the beach, so I ventured out to the English pub to catch the Broncos-Cowboys on TV, which was a very exciting game! It was at the pub that I ran into another American from Wisconsin who spoke just about as much Porteguese as me. He had bought a one-way-ticket to Floripa and had only been in the city for 2 weeks. It was also then that I learned that it's still the same non-existent love story in Brazil for the hopeless Asian. :/ A group of 4 native women had been staking out at the bar all afternoon and at the end, it was the Caucasian that was asked for their number and not the Asian's! I guess this just confirms that no matter what continent I go to, I likely won't find anything. Makes the decision to not leave Tucson that much easier haha! After the game, I had some sushi for dinner (James had mentioned it), although I think I had to settle for one that was within walking distance and it was not as good. The only nigiri they had was tuna and sake salmon. :( After dinner, I got an email from Spencer that everyone was having dinner with James and Mariana, so I met up with them while they had pizza. That was the last I would see of the newlywed couple!
I didn't leave Floripa until Monday evening. Unfortunately, there were only so many flights available from Floripa to Phoenix that day. :/ Monday was very boring for me. Everyone was pretty much gone and I had no car, so I could only go to places within walking distance. After finding a buffet livre com frutas do mar (seafood buffet), I burned 5 hours by walking aimlessly around the coast and city, exploring about a square-mile of the city. I'd occasionally take breaks and find a bench to sit at, either checking out more of the talent walking around or playing Candy Crush on my iPhone. Unfortunately, the rest of my travel was just as lengthy. My flight out of Florianopolis arrived in Sao Paolo at midnight and the flight to Charlotte didn't leave until 8:25am. :'( Fortunately, Sao Paolo is much bigger than the airport in Rio de Janiero. I was able to find myself a very uncomfortable set of airport seats where I salvaged about 4 hours of sleep. Fortunately, I got a whole row to myself on the flight home to the U.S., so I could sprawl out and get some Zzz's!
And so concludes my first trip to the southern hemisphere! Four continents down! While Brazil is very beautiful, the people are friendly, the food is great and cheap, and the women on average are more attractive than the U.S., I still think I prefer America in the end! Thanks James and Mariana for the wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience. Congratulations!
Getting prepared for my first trip to the southern hemisphere wasn't too difficult. To visit the country of Brazil, all that's required is to prepare a tourist visa ahead of time, which I was able to do all from home and online. I used Passports and Visas.com to apply for a visa, mailed in the very straightforward application along with my passport, and within 30 days my passport with mailed back to me with my visa in it, good for up to 10 years. It was a bit pricey to travel to Brazil as a roundtrip ticket ran me about $1,400 and the visa was $300 itself. However, the good news is that when I got to Brazil, everything was very affordable and I don't think I spent much more than a few hundred while I was there!
I left Phoenix on Wednesday morning at around 10am with connections planned in Charlotte and Sao Paolo to reach my final destination: Florianópolis (a.k.a. Floripa). It took forever to board the plane in Phoenix (I guess some previous passengers had to reboard and were holding up the show). Ultimately, the plane was about 40 minutes late, which wasn't enough time for me to catch my plane in Charlotte where I only had a 50 minute layover to begin with. I ended up getting rerouted to Rio de Janiero, but that flight wouldn't leave Charlotte for another 4 hours. :(
After a 9-hour flight, we finally landed in Rio and interestly enough, I ran into Kyle and Jamie in the immigration and customs line at the airport! They were also booked through the same flight out of Rio to Floripa, which was pretty awesome to not have to enter the foreign country completely on my own. While we checked our bags in Rio, an American girl about the same age as us came up and asked us if she could follow us into the departures area...she had heard us speaking English and didn't want to be alone in an airport where they only speak Portuguese. Coincidentally enough, it turns out she was also en route to James and Mariana's wedding in Floripa! And so we picked up Michelle in our party as we waited in Rio for a few hours for our departing flight.
When we arrived at Colinas de Lagoa, there were several Americans for the wedding already there. Rooms were a bit limited, so I found myself sharing a room with 4 of James' guyfriends...everyone called it the "Frat House" since it was literally two rooms with 6 beds and one bathroom. The room literally only had twin beds in it, one right next to the other lol. Hence it felt to me more like a hostel than a bed and breakfast.
Saturday was the day of the wedding with the ceremony starting at 4pm. Beforehand, I ventured out on the city by myself, going on a jog and having lunch on the seafood avenue where James claimed the restaurants had the best seafood in Floripa. I ended up getting 12 ostras au natural (raw oysters) for only $10 US! I felt the desire to splurge a little, so I got a bowl of camarão au bafo (steamed shrimp) as well.
I didn't leave Floripa until Monday evening. Unfortunately, there were only so many flights available from Floripa to Phoenix that day. :/ Monday was very boring for me. Everyone was pretty much gone and I had no car, so I could only go to places within walking distance. After finding a buffet livre com frutas do mar (seafood buffet), I burned 5 hours by walking aimlessly around the coast and city, exploring about a square-mile of the city. I'd occasionally take breaks and find a bench to sit at, either checking out more of the talent walking around or playing Candy Crush on my iPhone. Unfortunately, the rest of my travel was just as lengthy. My flight out of Florianopolis arrived in Sao Paolo at midnight and the flight to Charlotte didn't leave until 8:25am. :'( Fortunately, Sao Paolo is much bigger than the airport in Rio de Janiero. I was able to find myself a very uncomfortable set of airport seats where I salvaged about 4 hours of sleep. Fortunately, I got a whole row to myself on the flight home to the U.S., so I could sprawl out and get some Zzz's!
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Chris's Wedding in Princeton!
My friend Chris called me last year and asked me if I would be a groomsman in his wedding. It's always an honor to be considered for that, and about a year later, Chris married Priya in Princeton, NJ.
It's been a while since I've flown out to the East coast to visit Chris. I visited him while he still lived in Manhattan, and there were other times he'd coordinate visits to see Mike with me. So I decided to fly into Jersey a little early and hang out a night with Chris in Hoboken where he and Priya currently live. I got in around 7pm on Thursday night and had heard about how Hoboken was one of the top cities in the nation for singles to mingle. Hoboken is really, really small (1 square mile), so everything is pretty much walking distance from Chris's apartment. When we left apartment, we were immediately called upon by a girl in her early 20's who had just parked her car across the street and was asking if she could get a help carrying her beer and boxed wine. She was walking in the same direction as us, so we offered her a hand and as we were walking, she was very friendly, saying how she was having a bunch of her girlfriends over for drinks. We dropped the beer and wine off with her at an intersection a block later where her friends were just about to pull up and went on our way to dinner. It made for a funny story. Chris says that has never happened to him, but the one day Single Andy comes to visit, go figure! Lol. Hoboken was pretty much what I expected and lived up to it's standards: lots of young people, most of them you could tell were fresh out of the college scene. If I were maybe 10 years younger, I probably would want to live here myself! After hitting a couple bars and scouting the environment, we turned in...with Chris forcing me to go to bed early at around 2am EST, which is 11pm back in AZ! Oy, somehow I managed to get a full night of rest and set myself to the east coast schedule.
On Friday, Chris and I hopped a train to Princeton, which is about 45 minutes away. We were greeted by his father and brother, who gave us a ride to the Mens Wearhouse to grab our tuxes and then we checked into the hotel around 4pm. I grabbed a couple Yuenglings at the bar and then the had dinner with Chris's family and relatives at Tre Piani, a nice restaurant inside the same plaza as the Westin. After dinner, Chris and I stayed up and had some drinks at the Salt Creek Grille, but called it a night fairly early since there aren't really any bars in that plaza and they aren't open very late. :(
Saturday morning, the groomsmen were scheduled to play a round of golf at the TPC Jasna Polana, the same venue where the American Ceremony and reception was to be held. When we arrived, I was immediately told that I couldn't play with cargo shorts on (I don't own any other khaki pants), so I had to buy a pair of shorts from the pro shop. :( The golf course is a really beautiful course, it's just too bad I suck at golf! There were 6 of us playing, all individual stroke play, and Chris ended up with the best score of 82, with his father shortly behind at 84. Yours truly shot a 139, but I did manage to hit my first par ever on hole 11, a par 3 where I shot into the rough, chipped it onto the green, and then sank a 12-foot putt for par! Hey, for $170 (the shorts were $70) I made sure I was going to enjoy this round of golf and I did! :) In fact, I actually think I played better than I usually do!
Saturday evening was the rehearsal and dinner at Salt Creek Grille. Mike & Keri, Nate & Elizabeth, and Kyle & Jamie were the other friends from Scottsdale who came to Chris and Priya's wedding. There's not a whole lot to do in that plaza, no real bars other than the hotel lobby, but I guess it wasn't the night to stay out late and get hammered with a long wedding day ahead the next day.
Chris and Priya had two ceremonies arranged on their wedding day: a Hindu ceremony in the morning and a Christian ceremony in the evening. The Hindu ceremony was really interesting and something I have never experienced before, so to be also in it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It started with a Barrat, where the groom traditionally rides on a chariot pulled by a stallion, is accompanied by his family and friends, and the entire crowd walks over to greet the bride's family and friends. However, in the modern world we live in, Priya chose to have Chris ride in on the back of a Lamborghini, which was absolutely hilarious! Then all of Chris's family and friends danced in the street and parking lot outside the Westin for about 30 minutes, LOL. I felt kind of bad for them since they had no idea what they were getting into, but they were all champs and danced for the entire period!
When the groom meets the bride, apparently he's supposed to be carried up and in. This wasn't part of the rehearsal, but I was standing next to Chris at the time the MC asked me to pick him up, so I had to carry him for a good 5 minutes for the ceremony as you can see below. Pretty interesting and funny stuff for sure!
There was a beautiful arrangement set up for the Hindu ceremony at the Princeton Westin. I stood to the right of the main seating area where Chris and Priya and their parents all partook in a series of symbolic traditions. There was a lot of flicking rice on the couple, sprinkling spices into a fire, passing around a coconut to both sides of the family and in the audience to receive everyone's blessing, and placing a toe ring on Priya's foot. It ran for about an hour (which was pretty intense to stand the whole time through), but apparently it was even shorter than most traditional Hindu ceremonies that usually run over 2 hours.
After the Hindu ceremony, a catered lunch buffet of Indian food was provided and I was so impressed by the quality and variety of choices. I for one love Indian food and wish I had the stomach (and time) to have eaten more than one plate. After I scarfed down what I could, I went out for pictures and went up to my room to shower and change into my tuxedo for the evening. The American ceremony was only a couple hours a away and at a different venue, so we had to be ready to be picked up by the limousine in almost no time.
The Christian ceremony would be held at the Jasna Polana, which is where the groomsmen played a round of golf the day earlier. It was pretty standard and more of what you're used to. Quick 20-minute ceremony that I think got shortened because it was really humid and everyone was sweating. The reception followed shortly after and was a blast, mostly because weddings are slightly more fun when you're in them than when you're just spectating. Having Mike, Kyle, and Nate there also made it more enjoyable as well! I don't remember drinking that much to be honest, but apparently I did. I sometimes think that I drink so much on a regular basis where it becomes harder and harder to actually get drunk...is that possible? Anyway, a long and busy day for me but an amazing and excellent wedding to be a part of. Thanks and congratulations to Chris and Priya!
It's been a while since I've flown out to the East coast to visit Chris. I visited him while he still lived in Manhattan, and there were other times he'd coordinate visits to see Mike with me. So I decided to fly into Jersey a little early and hang out a night with Chris in Hoboken where he and Priya currently live. I got in around 7pm on Thursday night and had heard about how Hoboken was one of the top cities in the nation for singles to mingle. Hoboken is really, really small (1 square mile), so everything is pretty much walking distance from Chris's apartment. When we left apartment, we were immediately called upon by a girl in her early 20's who had just parked her car across the street and was asking if she could get a help carrying her beer and boxed wine. She was walking in the same direction as us, so we offered her a hand and as we were walking, she was very friendly, saying how she was having a bunch of her girlfriends over for drinks. We dropped the beer and wine off with her at an intersection a block later where her friends were just about to pull up and went on our way to dinner. It made for a funny story. Chris says that has never happened to him, but the one day Single Andy comes to visit, go figure! Lol. Hoboken was pretty much what I expected and lived up to it's standards: lots of young people, most of them you could tell were fresh out of the college scene. If I were maybe 10 years younger, I probably would want to live here myself! After hitting a couple bars and scouting the environment, we turned in...with Chris forcing me to go to bed early at around 2am EST, which is 11pm back in AZ! Oy, somehow I managed to get a full night of rest and set myself to the east coast schedule.
Chris and Priya had two ceremonies arranged on their wedding day: a Hindu ceremony in the morning and a Christian ceremony in the evening. The Hindu ceremony was really interesting and something I have never experienced before, so to be also in it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It started with a Barrat, where the groom traditionally rides on a chariot pulled by a stallion, is accompanied by his family and friends, and the entire crowd walks over to greet the bride's family and friends. However, in the modern world we live in, Priya chose to have Chris ride in on the back of a Lamborghini, which was absolutely hilarious! Then all of Chris's family and friends danced in the street and parking lot outside the Westin for about 30 minutes, LOL. I felt kind of bad for them since they had no idea what they were getting into, but they were all champs and danced for the entire period!
The Christian ceremony would be held at the Jasna Polana, which is where the groomsmen played a round of golf the day earlier. It was pretty standard and more of what you're used to. Quick 20-minute ceremony that I think got shortened because it was really humid and everyone was sweating. The reception followed shortly after and was a blast, mostly because weddings are slightly more fun when you're in them than when you're just spectating. Having Mike, Kyle, and Nate there also made it more enjoyable as well! I don't remember drinking that much to be honest, but apparently I did. I sometimes think that I drink so much on a regular basis where it becomes harder and harder to actually get drunk...is that possible? Anyway, a long and busy day for me but an amazing and excellent wedding to be a part of. Thanks and congratulations to Chris and Priya!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The Big 3-Oh!
I entered the 4th decade of my life this last Friday. Usually for my birthday, I just do something small like a get together in Tucson for one night. Over the last few years ever since I started "Making It Happen", I have been traveling and going out of my way to visit people, attend their weddings and celebrations, etc. While it doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary, I began to realize how much I actually spend indirectly on other people. For example, I just spent $2,000 on a plane ticket and Visa to go to my friend James' wedding in Brazil in October. So I started thinking, why not spend more on myself? For my 30th birthday, I decided I go full out and really treat myself. So I booked 5 rooms at the Hyatt and planned this amazing weekend in Scottsdale where I would do basically everything that I wanted to do for a change. I was pleased with the results and how everything turned out!
My birthday was on Friday August 16th and Ann drove me up to the Phoenix area at noon, arriving in Tempe where I had a sushi lunch at Teharu. My friend Lucky, Dori, and Mike from Seattle joined me in taking down a few plates of sushi and I enjoyed a sake bomb. Barry showed up shortly after.
The plan was to have lunch at 2pm, and afterwards I picked up a bottle of Goose, Jameson, Patron, and 2 30 packs of beer and headed to the Scottsdale Hyatt at Gainey Ranch. I checked into the resort around 4pm and was greeted by a note from Nate and Elizabeth (and Casey) wishing me a happy birthday. I put on my swim trunks, filled a small cooler of beer, and Jeff, Jennie, Ben, and Ham joined the party where we all enjoyed some pool volleyball for a couple hours. When I got back to the room, the resort had left a bottle of champagne in my room as well as a plate of chocolates for my birthday! I also asked them to put a cot in each room for more comfortable sleeping arrangements for everyone and they did it on the house. The Hyatt really took care of me this weekend, but I guess when you drop a G on 5 rooms they are gonna give you a little special treatment. :)
Dinner was at the Village Tavern that night, so we all got dressed up to go eat and then head out to Old town afterwards. Chris, Anthony, Nate, Elizabeth, Cooper, Wes, Ryan, and Jessica all joined me at dinner, so there were about 15 people there. I ordered the 16oz prime rib with a bottle of red wine that Jennie and I split, but the steak was so filling I couldn't finish my sides of mashed potatoes and mac 'n cheese. :( Thanks Wes for buying my dinner!
From dinner we all headed straight to Old Town Scottsdale. I started off at Dos Gringos since it's a large venue with plenty of room for everyone. But in actuality, it was really hot at that bar and since there were only 15 in my party, I decided to move to Gilligan's. Dori, Teqas, Kurth, Josh, Tina, and Tyler would all join me at Gilligans', where I proceeded to drink to my heart's content (someone always made sure there was a drink in my hand). I spun the wheel but ended up with a Blue Waffle (it's just pure food coloring, no alcohol) so I threw that out right away. Instead, Wes decided to get me a plunger shot of Buttery Nipple with green food coloring. :/ I knew what it would do to my mouth if I drank that shit, so I forced both Wes and Ann to do it first. After they did, I was like okay, I'll go ahead and take the rest. :P
My goal for the weekend was to have 30 drinks across the two days, and I think I crushed about 20 in the first day alone. I lost track of count, but I was feeling pretty good by the end of the night. I couldn't get super-hammered since I knew I had a long day ahead on Saturday as well, but I was pretty drunk to say the least.
On Saturday, I started off with a lunch buffet at the Wandering Horse inside the Talking Stick casino. I invited my parents to lunch, who met many of my friends for the first time. Lunch was pretty pleasant as additional attendants such as Brian, Kelly, Amber, Ryan, Lucky, Jen, Jon, and another Anthony joined the party train. The plan was to gamble for a couple hours afterwards, but only Anthony, Barry, and I hit the blackjack table. For my birthday, I bought in for $500 and really let my gambling go loose, playing two hands at a time at $25 a hand. Blackjack has it's ups and downs and I ended up $350 down by the end, but it was still very entertaining (Anthony ended up winning about $400 and Barry $100 so collectively the group did well!).
After gambling, I headed back to the Hyatt for more pool time, this time playing a couple games of 3-on-3 and 2-on-2 pool basketball. I really scraped up the bottom of my toes pushing off the pool deck, but it was worth it how fun real pool basketball is. :D I also was an idiot and tried to do a backflip in the water, but forgot that the pool I was in at the time was only 3 feet deep. As a result, I have a huge scrape on my forehead. Hopefully it doesn't leave a scar! Everyone called me "Asian Harry Potter" the rest of the weekend, haha. At the pool, I got to see Matt, Pamela, their son Ryan, Jonny, and Jody for a brief period as well.
The night would end at Jeff's house, were I bought 9 pizzas from Barro's to feed everyone. More people showed up throughout the night and it was a pretty chill night of beer pong, pool, and hookah. Ann baked me a StarCraft with a tiny Duncan decoration on top that we all enjoyed. Thanks Ann! And at the end of the night, Lucky and Jeff sprayed me with a couple bottles of champagne and I pretended that I was LeBron James winning the NBA championship. :P
Everyone ducked out of the party by like 1am, but the after party continued at the Hyatt where their pools never close. I finally passed out around 3am.
The only thing left on the list was Senor Taco for lunch on Sunday before we headed back to Tucson. It was about a 20-minute detour, but I think it was well worth it as everyone seemed to enjoy what they got. I mean, how can you not? It's Senor Taco! :) The weekend was concluded and overall it was mission accomplished! Even though several people didn't show and a few key people were missing, I did myself right by really going full out for my 30th birthday.
People ask how it feels to be 30 and to be honest, I feel accomplished. I feel like I have gotten my life to the stage I want it at and to do that by the age of 30 is an achievement. People ask me what my goals are for this decade are or what I want to do next, but when you get to this age and realize how good a life you have, there's not really much left to ask for! Anyway, it was a amazing celebration and I'm very proud of the person I've become after 30 years! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and for helping Make It Happen!
My birthday was on Friday August 16th and Ann drove me up to the Phoenix area at noon, arriving in Tempe where I had a sushi lunch at Teharu. My friend Lucky, Dori, and Mike from Seattle joined me in taking down a few plates of sushi and I enjoyed a sake bomb. Barry showed up shortly after.
My goal for the weekend was to have 30 drinks across the two days, and I think I crushed about 20 in the first day alone. I lost track of count, but I was feeling pretty good by the end of the night. I couldn't get super-hammered since I knew I had a long day ahead on Saturday as well, but I was pretty drunk to say the least.
On Saturday, I started off with a lunch buffet at the Wandering Horse inside the Talking Stick casino. I invited my parents to lunch, who met many of my friends for the first time. Lunch was pretty pleasant as additional attendants such as Brian, Kelly, Amber, Ryan, Lucky, Jen, Jon, and another Anthony joined the party train. The plan was to gamble for a couple hours afterwards, but only Anthony, Barry, and I hit the blackjack table. For my birthday, I bought in for $500 and really let my gambling go loose, playing two hands at a time at $25 a hand. Blackjack has it's ups and downs and I ended up $350 down by the end, but it was still very entertaining (Anthony ended up winning about $400 and Barry $100 so collectively the group did well!).
After gambling, I headed back to the Hyatt for more pool time, this time playing a couple games of 3-on-3 and 2-on-2 pool basketball. I really scraped up the bottom of my toes pushing off the pool deck, but it was worth it how fun real pool basketball is. :D I also was an idiot and tried to do a backflip in the water, but forgot that the pool I was in at the time was only 3 feet deep. As a result, I have a huge scrape on my forehead. Hopefully it doesn't leave a scar! Everyone called me "Asian Harry Potter" the rest of the weekend, haha. At the pool, I got to see Matt, Pamela, their son Ryan, Jonny, and Jody for a brief period as well.
The night would end at Jeff's house, were I bought 9 pizzas from Barro's to feed everyone. More people showed up throughout the night and it was a pretty chill night of beer pong, pool, and hookah. Ann baked me a StarCraft with a tiny Duncan decoration on top that we all enjoyed. Thanks Ann! And at the end of the night, Lucky and Jeff sprayed me with a couple bottles of champagne and I pretended that I was LeBron James winning the NBA championship. :P
The only thing left on the list was Senor Taco for lunch on Sunday before we headed back to Tucson. It was about a 20-minute detour, but I think it was well worth it as everyone seemed to enjoy what they got. I mean, how can you not? It's Senor Taco! :) The weekend was concluded and overall it was mission accomplished! Even though several people didn't show and a few key people were missing, I did myself right by really going full out for my 30th birthday.
People ask how it feels to be 30 and to be honest, I feel accomplished. I feel like I have gotten my life to the stage I want it at and to do that by the age of 30 is an achievement. People ask me what my goals are for this decade are or what I want to do next, but when you get to this age and realize how good a life you have, there's not really much left to ask for! Anyway, it was a amazing celebration and I'm very proud of the person I've become after 30 years! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and for helping Make It Happen!
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