After a week away, unplugged, with just my camera and my notebook, I am back! So many adventures and sights to share. Obviously I will break down the trip into multiple posts, so bear with me.
At this time, I’d like to give a shout out to my family, The Martins, Cece, Caroline, Uncle Phillipe, Auntie Mani and Mami Boo, also Vannvilay. And new friends Many, Djoodar, and Nabil. You guys made my trip AMAZING and its so weird to be around English speakers still.
Happy Monday!
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Happy Monday All!
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I know what you guys are starting a new work week, and I am having an adventure running the streets of Paris, and splashing in the beaches of Nice. Sorry to rub it in. This is a much needed vacation so I will be silent this week. I’ve decided to unplug and just take pictures and keep written notes. See ya when I get back friends! Until then I’m excited for these sights.
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I think I have a weird fear of water that is involved with nature. I don’t jump at the chance to go into a river, lake, pond or even the ocean. I am happy with clean, animal free pools. I will get in the ocean, if I can see my feet (see: OBX adventure). But I wanted to try tubing. It took a lot of convincing from Deanna and the boo to convince me that everything was going to be fine. That snakes weren’t going to bite my butt, or that I wouldn’t get some kind of skin eating disease from the water.
Fears aside, after the storm that put out electricity in most of the DC VA MD area, we got on a river. We did flat water tubing through River Riders. Located in Harpers Ferry West Virginia, for about $30 bucks you get a tube, and a ride to the river, where you can lazily float along. The time that we went the water didn’t get too deep. We got to float down twice that day, since white water was closed due to fallen trees.
I had a lot of fun and I am glad I got to spend a day with my friends relaxing on the river. They have a store, which has bathrooms and changing stations so you’re not roughing it too hard out there. I would definitely go again, and its fairly tame if you get anxiety like me. They do have different levels of white water tubing/rafting as well..we’ll see if I’ll ever get at that level!
I survived!
I have a new favorite “local” beach. I say local because I don’t have to fly there. The Outerbanks! I know I am so late, there are already a bajillion people who have been there and love it. But I really do. The water is clear, and the beaches aren’t too crowded. And its more family oriented so there’s not crazy teens drinking and causing a ruckus. (Note if that’s what you want, don’t go). If you want a nice quiet clean place to relax…OBX is it. I had so much fun, even though I was only there for the weekend.
We stayed at the Days Inn Kill Devil Hills OCEANFRONT, and the beach was just a few steps out. The hotel itself is like an old colonial house. It was very cute and the staff was very friendly. We are pretty low maintenance so we didn’t really need much. They also serve a free breakfast every morning of your stay, and there’s a pool :D. Everything was very cozy. Plus there is a bbq pit and picnic tables in the back if you wanted to have your own bbq.
We spent the day swimming, reading and lounging at the beach. It was great. The water was clear, and there were plenty of sand bars to keep me feeling like I was safe. (I love sharks, but I am terrified of them). No trash or jelly fish. Just clear water…and your occasional mole crab carcass.
After the day at the beach, we got cleaned up and enjoyed this view at dinner. Review on the place later…
Before we headed out we went to explore the dunes. Where I got my first bug bites (3!) of the summer. No fun. Also its really hard to walk up sandy hills. We did see tiny tiny frogs though. It was so crazy! They were so cute. They were about the size of his fingernail.
It was a short trip, but a much needed break. I really like it out there and plan to go back a few more times before summer is over. Also, Who’s Bad, the Michael Jackson Tribute band is playing there later this month… might have to catch them out there!
{image via flickr)
For those of you that follow me on twitter, or know me personally, know that I have had trouble with my A/C since coming home from my memorial day weekend in hot hot hot New Orleans. Well let me explain it to those who are interested.
The A/C was turned on that weekend and worked fine. Monday (Memorial Day) it stopped working and we called a dispatcher to send us a tech from their list of providers. He was scheduled to come the next day. Clearly, I was upset and just made a rash move. Get me somebody, ANYBODY! ITS HOT.
Tuesday comes and the tech’s name is Ryan. Nice guy. Tells me I need to clean my 2 year old condenser outdoor unit and some more freon. Sounds like a simple fix right? I am relieved that that was it. Well, there isn’t a hose near by, so he has to acid wash it. Oh and by the way its a big unit, he needs to add 2 lbs of freon. I don’t know any better, so I’m like ok sure. Do what you have to do man. It’s hot. He gets it working, I sign the receipt, and pay the man about $600. Tech fee, labor, acid wash, freon. I get it. He leaves.
30 minutes later it stops working.
You can bet I called him back asap. He comes back about two hours later, and he fiddles around a little bit more. It works, he leaves.
Saturday comes, and it stops working. He doesn’t work weekends. Week of June 4th. He comes back one of the days this week. He is here for a few hours. It starts working again. He tells me to check this pipe outside, and make sure it doesn’t freeze over. If it freezes over, then call him, that is a bad sign and I will have to replace everything. He also tells me that if it doesn’t work, hes going to have to order new parts, new everything. So if it stops blowing cool air, let him know. He leaves.
The AC works for the rest of the week and THANK GOODNESS works through the weekend, when I had my family over for my nephews graduation. However, come Sunday after everyone leaves…the AC stops working.
Monday June 11, the tech gets called. He says cool, he’ll order the parts. Tuesday I realized he didn’t give me an estimate. He says that he doesn’t know until the company gives him in the invoice (really?WTF is that? I’m not that unfamiliar to really think that’s how it works)…. He doesn’t contact again for the rest of the week, nor does he pick up his phone. Call his main office, and they tell me they won’t send another tech because Ryan is already familiar with our case and the new techs wouldn’t. Wow. Great communication system you have there AAA Repairs. Frustrated by friday and a hot weekend. I’ve had enough.
Understand me, the reason why I kept calling and going back to this company and this tech is because, I PAID MONEY. And their receipt says I have a 90 day warranty. He needed to fix this, its his responsibility. Well, I was so fed up by the weekend that I took it as “I paid that money for freon and wash”. After I accepted that as a loss, it was time to let Ryan know that he’s off the books.
Called Monday June18. He didn’t pick up (Surprise, Surprise). He gets a message saying I no longer needs his services.
Tuesday no call back. Leave another message. IT IS SO HOT TODAY. After working 10 hours I go home to a steaming oven called my condo and I want to cry (and maybe I did a little bit, but you can’t tell because I was sweating and crying). Enough is enough. Remembering that I used Service Magic to find my locksmith (who was wonderful by the way) I decided to take this problem to them to find me a competent A/C guy.
Valpo Services calls me in about 5 minutes. Says he can come the next morning 9am. I’ve already missed a lot of work dealing with the other guy, can he come earlier? I hold my breath. He says sure, when? And I reply, how early are you willing to come? 7am it is!
Right on time Walter shows up. He resets it. The a/c is working, so he can’t diagnose it. Tells me to call again when he comes out, he won’t charge me for the next trip. I go to work. When I get home, the A/C is down again. He comes right away. Can’t get it to work, he has to go to the company Carrier, to see if my warranty is still good. I will need a new reversal valve, he wants to make sure its covered since my unit is fairly new. He doesn’t want me to spend money that I don’t have to (hm, I like him already!). Another night with no A/C.
Thursday comes, and he calls back. The unit is covered under warranty,everything except the reversal valve. Thats what he suspects is broken. He wants to try out one more thing before having to resort to buying a new unit. (He suggested buying a whole new unit for a couple hundred more than, just the reversal valve. A new unit would only cost a little bit more, but it would come with freon and all warranty covered parts for 10 years). He puts a booster on my unit. If it doesn’t work, he won’t charge me for the parts and labor since I would have to buy a new unit (what a good man). Worked for about an hour and it went down again. Call him back. Looks like I will need a new A/C. He comes back, I fill out the paperwork, and he’ll be back to install tomorrow.
I have A/C. The new unit works, and he will install a new thermostat. I am still holding my breath, but Walter and Valpo Services has my confidence and if anything goes wrong, he will be the man I’ll call.
Wish me luck that this drama is over and I can keep cool the rest of summer!
It’s been 3 years (yesterday) since the legendary Michael Jackson died too soon. Say what you want, all the scandals and negative things about how he lived his life, but you can’t take away the fact that he was an amazing performer, and pretty much shaped pop music. Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown… all their dance moves all their inspirations…Michael Jackson. I remember watching MTV (when they still played music videos) and how excited I would get when one of his videos would come on. You could probably get his videos on demand right now through your cable provider.
To this day, I am still scared of the Thriller video.
Last Friday, the boo, and my girlfriends went to see Who’s Bad, a Michael Jackson Tribute band at 930 Club on U Street. I saw them on MJ’s 1 year anniversary of his death. They are amazing, like it will bring tears to your eyes. They have not one, but 2 performing “Michael’s” one’s extremely good at dancing, and the other extremely good at singing. (That just goes to show how crazy good the real Michael is, it takes two people to make this show AMAZING.) It’s like he never left us. There show is better than ever. I can’t wait until they come back around again. Hopefully next year around the same time.
Tips if you go:
I am still on a Michael Jackson kick, so I’ll be singing all week. Sorry to those around me 😀
To continue with our streak of live performances for the weekend. The ladies were invited to a drag show Saturday by Miss Monique’s alter ego, Michael.
We got to Tubby’s Golden Lantern a little early after dinner, so we had some time to kill, especially since they moved the regularly scheduled 10pm show to 11pm due to some country line dance convention (yes they really have those). This is were we met Britnee Aluxander.
She became leader of the pack for the night, leading us to her favorite hot spot Bourbon Pub where she performs weekly. As we were walking the streets and exploring the area, we stopped in on a few ghost tour groups and listened a little (well, I ran away because I’m not having a ghost follow me home). Then we headed back to the show!
The show’s platform was pretty much as follows, 5 drag queens, performing country songs, they each get about 3 songs each, with a costume change for a 2 hour show. As they sing they walk around and interface with the crowd, and this is where you can pull out your ones and tip them. It was hard to believe that these women were actually men! Beautiful with sparkle and shine, we were all mesmerized.
The Golden Lantern was very welcoming to everyone, male, female, gay or straight. They had a community vibe and gave us the best southern hospitality I’ve ever had at a bar. Afterwards there was plenty of line dancing for everyone all around!
April 22, 2012: George Mason University, 4500 Patriot Circle Lot K Fairfax, VA
11AM-5PM
Cancer sucks. They say 1 in 3 people will be affected by cancer. For those of you that followed me through last year, know I lost my mother to cancer last year, the day after mother’s day from a STAGE 4 diagnosis. Sadly, it took losing our mother, to make us open our eyes to grab the bull by the horns and live life.
After our mother’s death, my brother looked at what we had to go through, and decided that other people shouldn’t have to suffer the hard times as we did. He wanted to make a difference. So he took his passion, cars, and tried to make something of it. Starting an unclassified car club (meaning, any type, any mods can join as long as you had the love for it) and making it official, naming it Team Unclassified and then building an event (to be held annually) supporting, you guessed it, the fight against cancer.
Bring in countless numbers of car enthusiasts, Team Unclassified, along with George Mason’s Patriot Motorsports, and you have Cars for a Cause, to be held this weekend at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Profits from the event will support The Children’s Hospital and 4 year old Isabel “Warrior Princess” who is diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and is receiving treatment at the Children’s National Medical Center in D.C.
There will plenty to do at the event if drooling over shiny cars isn’t going to cut it for you. Bring your kids! Bring your dogs. There will be a children activities booth, food vendors, a raffle, industry vendors as well as the SHOW part of event, where cars compete for best in a multitude of categories. Dyno will also be available for RWD, AWD and FWD!! See what your car is capable of!
I will be there, and I hope you will be too! Details on flyer and as follows :
SOME VENDORS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE EVENT:
***ENTRANCE FEES***
$5 PER CAR (driver will get a free raffle ticket at the door)
$1 PER Passenger/Walk-ins
RAFFLE TICKETS -$1.00 per extra raffle ticket OR $5.00 for 7 tickets
***CAR SHOW***
There will be six classes for this show. There is a minimum of ten entries per class for validation of class. Maximum is 20 cars per class, first come first serve. Due to limited space.
Best of:
Import
Euro
Domestic
Tuner
Stance
Truck
Judging will be made by ISO (Insane Stance and Offset), Canibeat, and Mischief.tv.
Trophies will be awarded.
***CAR SHOW ENTRY***
Deadline to pre-register is March 24, 2012 @$15, day of show is $20.
For show entry please email show entry coordinators
Enter Subject line: CFC Show entry.
JoJo.UNclassified@gmail.com
For these following car classes: Import, Stance, Tuner
Pastor.UNclassified@gmail.com
For these following classes: Domestic, Euro, Truck
Send Full name, phone number, picture of your ride, details of modifications and our coordinators will respond with info on how to reserve your entry. If there are not enough entries at day of show, you will be refunded.
Fees for pre-registration: $15
Late registration at the door: $20
I love comedy. Seeing a stand up comic live is even better. Especially when you are close enough to heckle. And I’m a heck of a heckler. Jo Koy is one of my (many) favorite comedians. I first watched him on Chelsea Lately (my favorite late night talk show). For the longest time I thought he was gay, because Chelsea always makes fun of him for being gay and asian…Which he’s not, and he’s only half. Half Asian, not half gay. I love Chelsea, but she makes fun of tattooed people, and Asians a lot…. both of which I am.
Any hoooo. JO KOY was in DC last week. I tweet him and follow his instagram and this cool guy actually tweets back. *swooon. For Vitya’s birthday, we went to see him for his first show…and I went to see him again SATURDAY for his last show.
He.Is.Awesome.
I was laughing so hard, and well worth seeing him twice, on the same tour. The main jokes were the same, but because he can hear us yelling random things, sometimes he’d steer his jokes that way, so both him and Orlando Baxter (his opening act) had a couple jokes here and there that made me laugh even harder because I was hearing it for the first time.
I got to meet him twice last week, since he holds meet and greets after his show. They didn’t let us take ANY pictures ourselves, so I have to wait for his people to upload them from their camera.
He is definitely a fun guy. I hope to be friends with him in real life. Harhar. Actually I should give him a break. He knows I exist. That’s all that matters to me.
Definitely check his comedy specials if you can, one of them is on netflix, and Lights Out just came out last week.
Okay. I think I am super late. A lot of my girlfriends already have had a taste of this dance fever. And I am just now getting into it. I’ve always been lucky to have the body I do, given the way I eat. I hate working out. I don’t know what to do. Like really…me going to the gym, is me running on a treadmill trying not to sing out loud to my iPod.
I’ve tried all the ways, joined a gym, took classes…then I realized, I liked coming home to cook, more than going to a gym and only having time to eat something less fulfilling later. I am terrible. But as I get older, I actually FEEL older. My body aches. My skin is doing weird things, my hair lacks luster and I just don’t feel good. Then again, I am writing this as I am getting over a virus and allergies are in full swing. So my body just feels yucky.
My ride or die chick, who pretty much gyms it every day, conscious of what shes eating and never obnoxious about it, who does successful healthy cleanses, suggested I try out kazaxe. What? Karate with an ax? I did hear about it before but never really took the time to look into it. When Vitya suggested it, it was more motivating, because like the doll she is, she said she would do it with me AND drive me there. How could I say no right?
I’m hooked. I had my first class and bought a keytag. It is sooooo much fun. I get a little awkward when it comes to dancing all “club sexy”, but the lights are dim, there’s a bajillion other people there and no one is pay attention to anything but the stage, so we’re clear. It’s a mix of dancehall reggae, hip hop, latin, and even some pacific island style dancing…specifically tinikling.
Also, the instructor/creator Asuka, is so positive and upbeat. She’s beautiful, she’s fun, and I secretly want to be her best friend. If you are confident enough, you can join her on stage and dance. Which is probably more room than on the main floor since this is so popular it can get cramped. But everyone is so friendly, you don’t have to worry about getting punched in the face for accidentally stepping on someone’s shoes…like in a club.
Check it out!
