... and other meetups. :)

A visits from Chicago with THE CUTEST KIDS EVARRRRRRRRR!!!

We couldn't help but crack up after the kids made a huge mess making an ice cream / pepper / salt concoction and then diluted it with water - when the bowl was already full. I think we couldn't stop laughing when A said, "Um, I think it's time for us to leave and pretend it wasn't us?" :)

Checkin' out June's arsenal of makeup.

Eyelash power.

After makeup fun with Carrie.

Tofu Village, yes, again. :)

Our sweet sweet hosts cutting up some sweet sweet mango for us.

I was (am!) determined to see everyone I wanna see. And I ended up picking up a bonus!!

Wei and Oscar at Tofu Village. They give you the Asian yogurt drink with your cheque rather than fortune cookies. WAY better! Especially after a very spicy tofu soup. :P

While hanging with mah boiz, bumped into TOTAL blast from the past: Scott Ryan, USATT referee!! He couldn't remember me at first, and who could blame him, after over 13 years. His first question to me: "Was I a nice person?" My answer was an immediate "yes!" And then I thought about it: that really is what matters, when people go their separate ways, isn't it? That's all you take with you, the impression of if they were nice or not. I always remember Scott as being like a very kind uncle that I want to bear hug whenever I see him, he's such a sweet man.

Me 'n mah boiz, Eddie and Sam, shooting the breeze back at their hotel after dinner.

Much gratitude to the 2 strangers who pulled over and helped me put on my spare tire. I clearly did not possess the muscle (nor sheer body weight) to even make the screws budge.

Grr. Theoretically knowing how to change a flat isn't enough sometimes ...

Apologies to Cindy for the violation of the cuteness of her stuffed bears when we went over to her place the other night.

Hahah okay fine, I'm not THAT sorry. :) Click through for the more "risqué" pics. Disclaimer: by clicking through, you certify that you are over 18. May not be work safe ...

Oh, and I just had to pose with Crystal's cool new camera. It's PINK!

Click through to lastminute.com and click on the link in the upper right-hand corner where it says, "The boss is watching - look busy". Pure evil genius!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I've finally found an internet cafe where I can relieve myself of my internet drought.

Let's see if I can do a brief recap of my days so far here ...

Day 1: arrived 5:30am. Performed a few karaoke songs at Grandpa's house as soon as we got there courtesy of Uncle 2's portable karaoke harddrive enclosure loaded with Chinese MVs. Forced myself to stay up until 10pm to get over jet lag quickly.

Day 2: travelled from Grandpa's (northern TW) to Grandma's (southern TW) via regular train (5 hrs). Had stinky tofu hotpot as soon as I got there. Booyah!

Day 3: more stinky tofu. Booyahhh!!!

Day 4: .. can't remember

Day 5: rode around on a bike and probably got heat stroke. Felt kinda sick.

Day 6: karaoke'd from 10a - 5:30p. NONSTOP. 200kuai a person, unlimited nonalcoholic beverages. My grandma even joined us for our karaoke madness. Holy crap. I won't be able to karaoke again for months, hahahahaha. Saw Die Hard 4 with cousin and friends. Awesome.

Day 7: acupunctured self. Felt somewhat better. Howard arrives. More stinky tofu hotpot. Felt lots better. :)

Day ZERO of travelling was already challenging. Flight from Houston to Los Angeles was delayed for 3 hours, causing us to miss our flight to Taiwan and wait at LAX for 7.5 hours.

And what a great 7.5 hours it turned out to be. Min and Peter brought Connor up to see us, and Lily Jr. came out bringing REAL MCDEAL Chinese food. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

I'm currently hanging out with Grandpa and relatives here. The dynamics are interesting, as we have my very young cousins all the way up to my grandpa who is 90 this year.

There are computers for every member of my uncle's family right down to the youngest:

We went shopping because although I brought my DSLR, I managed to forget ALL my memory cards (me = moron). We also browsed the 10 Yuan store ($10 NT = $0.33 USD).

Oh, and I was singing karaoke as soon as we got back to my grandpa's. My 2nd uncle and aunt are serious about their karaoke - it's an external HD enclosure built for just this purpose that they carry around with them everywhere. OMG OMG OMG, hahahah!

When I started my day, I had ten things on my to-do list. By the end of the day, I had proudly finished these first ten things, but ... in the process of finalizing things, another ten items have been added, to be finished within the next 7.5 hours. Whee.

I'm glad I had time to grab lunch with Esther. It was so good to see her. She laughed as she tried to navigate through my to-do list: "It's a jungle!" Compared to her careful handwriting and organized note-taking, yes, my wayward chickenscratch is indeed something to wade through. At least it's organized to me. :)

See you in oh, 31 hours or so. :)