Alysheba

On Saturday May 2, 1987, I was a 6 1/2 year old boy living in Louisville Kentucky. Every year on the first Saturday of May the Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown series of 3 horse races that span May and June. The 2nd race is the Preakness run in Baltimore, MD and the Belmont Stakes run in Elmont, NY. I was playing with my black Labrador "Bridie" when my mom asked me who I wanted to bet on to with the Kentucky derby. I think I was a bit confused and wasn't quite sure how it worked. She told me to pick a horse to win. So I said, I don't know any of the horses. She said, ok, pick a number and I'll tell you their names. I know I said 7 first, and my mom looked at the paper and said ok.. that is "Candi's Gold". I didn't like that, I think we went through 2 more horses and then I said "ok, how about #4?" She said "ok that's...Alysheba". I liked that name, so I Alysheba it is. My best friend at the time was Jobi. He was in first grade with me at the Bee Elementary school and lived kiddie corner from me. It was Saturday so of course we were going to play together. I hoped over 2 fences, first from my back yard into my neighbor's back yard, and then into Jobi's back yard. I remember Jobi's dad calling us in to gather around the TV to watch the derby. It was Louisville. The derby is in their blood, and ain't no son of his gonna miss it. I said, "I want Alysheba to win." Jobi's dad kinda chuckled and said that's an 8-1 horse son. Jobi's dad wanted the horse named "Bet Twice". Jobi just wanted the same horse his dad had money on. The race started and his dad was out of his chair screaming at the top of his lungs.. Bet Twice go go go! And I was rooting for Alysheba. "Bet Twice!" "Alysheba!" "go Bet Twice go!" It turned into Jobi and his Dad chanting "Bet Twice, Bet Twice" and me chanting "Alysheba, Alysheba." I was looking for the number 4 on the side of the horse since it was really hard to see and every time I saw it, it was almost at the back, but Bet Twice was almost at the front. The race is 2 minutes long, so after the first minute I thought, oh well, I like you anyway Alysheba. The announcer kept saying "here comes Bet Twice" and I was happy for Jobi that his horse might win. Then the announcer said" here comes Alysheba!" "Down the stretch it's Bet Twice and Alysheba!" There they were, our 2 horses neck and neck. Finally the finish and Alysheba won. I was elated, and Jobi's dad was furious. As a 6 year old I felt pretty cool that day. I think Jobi's dad thought I jinxed him. I picked the winning horse. The thing that spawned that memory is I just found out Alysheba died today at age 25.

I had to do a little research to make sure the dates were right, but I noticed that Gary Stevens, the famous jockey from Caldwell Idaho also ran in that race.

Korean Actress Suicide.

In January I was in the filming of a now insanely popular Korean Drama called "Boys over Flowers"which is being aired throughout all of Asia. People recognize me sometimes in different places I go. I became friends with the girls of the drama because they could get by in English. The guys couldn't speak any. The guys are actually the biggest stars in Korea. But today I found out that one of the girls in the show commited suicide last week. It's so crazy! She was this huge rising star and she just snuffed herself out. I was with her talking to her helping her to play her role, and now she's just history. Her name is Jung Ja Yeon. Here is an article I found of her and what happened.
Korean Actress

And here.

Korean Singer

Today I met Korean Singer Kim Hyun Jung. She's cute, nice and I looked her up on Youtube. She's not bad!

"Abodijinals"

I think it's so funny to ask people from Australia about their "abodijinals".. he he. It gets quite the response. Especially when they correct me and say.. "you mean aboriginals..." I say "yeah, like I said.. abodijinals..". "no no... it's aboriginals!" "Ok ok right. So tell me something about the abodijinals..." And they crack up. They probably think I'm deaf and or an idiot... but we know the joke's on them ;) I met some indian people the other day. I asked where they're from thinking they would say India, or a city in India. But no. They said, "we're from Australia", in that thick Twinky Mart Indian accent no less. "Oooooh... you're from Australia huh?... You must be abodijinals then!" They didn't think it was funny. In fact, they didn't even know what I was talking about. Oh well.

Bangkok #2&3

Way too much to write about. I'll start with topics to get back to.

The last 2 weeks I spent in Bangkok, and Dubai.

I was in Taiwan Sunday Jan 11, to Tuesday Jan 13.
In Singapore Friday Jan 16, to Monday Jan 19.

Battling Deaf Mutes.

Because of the whole storage fiasco, I lost my mission journal and feel I should write memories down as they come back to me. Today I was telling stories from my mission and I remembered the time walking home at dusk in Podolsk, these two men being held back from each other by their friends. They were trying to fight but couldn't reach each other. I noticed they weren't saying anything, no one was saying anything, but they were all just making hand gestures at each other with angry drunken faces. They were all either deaf or dumb. I stopped in my tracks and said "You gotta be kidding me" as I tried to force back a smart aleck 20 year old's grin and lift my gaping chin up from the shock. My companion and I watched what was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Two men facing each other about 10 feet apart trying their hardest to free their hands enough to make out the sign words that would bring the most disgust to the other. When one would get through an entire gesture, the other's face would explode with furry and he would try to respond with sign words of his own. The point at which I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore was when I watched the worst insult of all as one of the men actually dared to turn his back on his colleage. The other man was insanely furious that his sign language insults were completely futile. After a few moments the man turned around again and there was a quick exchange of more sign language then the other guy turned his back causing the same anger to appear on the other's face. This exchange went on in a drunken deaf mute stupor for a good 10 minutes before we had our fill and walked away. I love that we stumbled upon that and watched. I think I was eating Shwarma at the time. Mmmmm.

Talks about lady boys. So many from Thailand and the Philippines. Manette came over on Thursday night.

I went to HK today to get pages put in my passport. As luck would have it I was slowed down in every way possible and was only 10 minutes away from not being able to get the pages. That would have been the pits. Then I spent nearly 4 hours in the book store looking at mostly atlases and trying to map out where I'm going to go. I met up with Victoria London for a late night bite to eat in Lan Kwai Fong and basically chit chatted. She seemed a bit over compensating in her conversation style, it was very directed inward, but she had a lot of interesting things to say so it was entertaining to be with her. I think she's someone worth knowing. I had to take Turbo Jet home and actually pay for my ticket. Grrrr. However, it's been awhile since I rode Turbo Jet and it definitely is quite a bit nicer than the Cotai Jet.

Yesterday I went to Zhuhai, China for the first time. I was with Priscila and we had some interesting conversations. I bought tons of movies, bartered for a watch. I was reminded of eating Raw Shrimp with her at the fisherman's wharf, which in turn reminded me of eating live octopy... which she had. She ate Durian icecream which I thought was vanilla so I tasted it, and it was nasty and I could taste it the rest of the night. The bathrooms were crazy gross even in the little cafe we ate at.

I have a new slogan for Asia: Asia...where you just never know.
Or... Asia...girlfriend or daughter?

At the border to Zhuhai, they have a video of Jackie Chan being a customs officer trying to stop illegal things from happening at the border. Basically it's a warning not to buy pirated and fake merchandise or bad things will happen to you.

I watched Good Luck chuck with Priscila... it's pretty much a porno. I'm amazed Jessica Alba was even in it.

-NuSkin ideas - Success stories of going against conventional wisdom.
-LeBron James jumped over college and now is making huge money.

Have you ever driven a car with the wheel on the right side?
Driven a boat?, Wakeboarded? Jet skied?

-I still haven't gone a Sunday in Macau without a cell phone ringing during Sacrament. About 10 went off today.
-For the first time during fast and testimony meeting, a girl pulled out her phone to read a text to the congregation from the pulpit.

*** On New Years I was with Tingting and went to the MGM. I saw Rachel there, performing. I ran into Doctor Dalila. I was pulled onto the dance floor several times to dance in front of everyone, and Tingting got picks of it. I was turned off by Tingting self interest. However I spent New Years day with her and it was a good day. We went to Coloane and sat at the beach as we ate crazy BBQ stuff and she showed me how to eat sunflower seeds the Chinese way. We talked about Kenton and his "date house and car".

-In Church today a Philippino I've never seen before got up and during his testimony he started singing some Philippino gospel song. All the other Philippinos in the room joined in and it seemed like a baptist choir/congregation spontaneous celebration. It was odd to say the least, and of course while it happened I just chuckled to myself, smiled and thought.... I've seen way too many things in my short life, this is hilarious.

-On the way to church I walked past the foreign employment office. There were about 30 Philippino women all scrunched in on seats waiting to find jobs as house cleaners and nannies. I feel so bad for them... and it's better for them here than at home in the Philippines.

I need to come up with a name for my international movie business. -world movie store.com?

W Hotel Christmas

Merry Christmas. Or San Dan Kauile as they say here. I worked at the W Hotel as a model the last two days. I was dressed in a "sexy" santa suit handing being groovy and congenial with all the ritzy guests on hand as I passed out presents and did prize drawing presentations. When I say sexy.. I just mean that I was in a santa suit that looks like something elvis would wear and it was purple because that's what W Hotel is all about. The hotel was founded by the guy who does fashion TV. I made 9000 HK on the Job, only worked a few hours each day, got to pose with a gorgeous girl from Taiwan all day, and I got to stay the night in the hotel with an AMAZING view of Hong Kong. So, even though I worked for Christmas, I'll be able to go on a nice trip with the money.

I have so many pieces of paper with notes on them that say "write in journal about such and such". So since I'm afraid of losing my journal here I'm doing everything digital and this private blog is my journal. I have found some from March and May and all year long. I am SOOO bad at keeping a record for myself. I'm so busy living life, I don't have time to write my memories down. So, now I'm going to do a digital note to write about the Hong Kong movie I did last night. Thursday Dec 18. And dinner at Tacos with Tingting.

A girl I work with kissed Cris Brown. And I shot a Korean movie on Wednesday night ( Dec 3). So tired.

Great movie. Great music.

This video is moving, makes you think all these great things about this man, it moves you with hope. "This is my America", spine tingling soundtrack music in the background..."The thing that inspires me the most about Obama... is he's not going to be the president of the most powerful lobbyists." What these people aren't singing about is today Obama announced his children will go to a private school, yet he opposes school choice vouchers-the position of the teachers' union who endorsed Obama. Today he was the president of the lobbyists, instead of the people who want to send their children to better schools. The tuition for each of the Obama children will be $18k-20k a year. Vouchers would allow those not as privileged to close the gap and take a step closer to the type of education the rich/Obamas are able to afford. It also creates motivation for ALL schools to compete and provide a better education and retain their students. So much for civil rights and empowering the poor with choice.

I wonder how the people singing in the video feel now. Probably smiling that they're in a video that 3 million people watched.

So Monday I got my Visa to India, then Wednesday the big terrorist attacks in Bombay took place. I hadn't planned on going there, but it's still pretty crazy to know that there are attacks every so often directed at foreigners, namely Americans in India. I'm still planning on going to New Delhi and Agra, but I might give it an extra week or two.

Lately I've seen quite an influx of old men with stunning girls on their arms. Man I can't wait to be 50! Oh yeah, and rich too. Today as I was passing the sports bar on TV I saw a show on MTV called "Cribs". I have seen it before, but it made me think this time how openly materialistic society has/is becoming. It's a show about the rich and famous showing off their houses and driveways full of cars as if to say "look what I have and you don't, but you should aspire to have". Sends a "fantastic" message! I also recently read a poll, I don't remember it off the top of my head to post it, but it asked teenagers what they thought was most important in life, and the #1 answer was to be rich. That was chosen over "love", "family", "friends" "career" etc. I also got online yesterday and listened to the top 10 songs on the billboards and the majority of them are about being rich and famous. So superficial.

Sunday Nov 9

I still feel like I got run over by a truck. Oh wait, I did. My back hurts nonstop and the doctor is sending me in for x-rays tomorrow. I got to pass the sacrament again today... like EVERY Sunday. I was so proud of my boys when they passed it all alone back in the day, yet now only one of them is ever there on any given Sunday. It's usually James. A guy who lives in Zhu Hai but who is American with a Chinese wife has been coming to our branch more often as he isn't traveling as much. He said he usually goes to HK. Anyway it's neat to see this middle aged guy speaking fluent Mandarin. His wife is beautiful and his mixed kids... well those boys are going to be HEART BREAKERS!!! M-from Slovakia came with Elya-from Indonesia today. Not exactly sure why. If it was to keep tabs on me, to see me, or just out of sheer curiosity. I'm just surprised though after the way she ripped on my beliefs and the way I let her have it for saying those things to me. In the end I ended up grabbing a Czech Book of Mormon from the library and giving it to her. We went over the first few pages as I read and translated just for fun. She seemed entertained by my "Czech". She was still difficult to talk to, so I'm not sure if I care to speak to her again, but maybe she'll learn to be straightforward. Maybe she'll like her new book.

I went on a "date" I guess you could say, with Tingting tonight. Her name still cracks me up. We went and watched a movie and then went to the Macau food festival. We didn't end up spending all our "festival play money cash" and so she suggested we go out again tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. She has the brightest personality of anyone I've met in Macau. I think she is just so fun to be around. She says the cutest things and her eyes light up over everything. She speaks 4 languages. She doesn't drink or smoke, doesn't go out and party. My sentences are really short. I grabbed a random pic from her facebook to post.


At the Macau festival they had a stage and what do ya know, the Brazilian girls I modeled with are dancing in huge Brazilian style dancing costumes. They looked really good! They waved from stage and Tingting and I went and got some delicious Shanghai style kebabs. It's so crazy how if I ever do an event, I end up also doing it with people I know, and if I ever go to any kind of event, at least one of my friends will be in it. One of the girls on stage (Suellen)even wanted to rent my extra room from me. Small funny world.

Nov 1

Funny how anytime I wear a suit, the first thing people say isn't.. you look so handsome, or nice suit or what's the occasion, business meeting? Church? Nope... they say... whoa, you look like James Bond! I guess that explains why even when I'm walking through back alleys at night in a suit, I don't get one bit harassed. You'd think I'd be the perfect target. Wealthy westerner on his way home from work going the bad way home. Nope, they just look at me and think... don't mess with him. Maybe not, but I hope my luck in that dept. doesn't run out anytime soon. I never carry any cash anyway.

Today is my Mom's birthday. She's 52! I don't think Patchi got my chocolates to her on time!

Funny T shirts and Names.

This part will be updated regularly.

Funny T-shirts.

I saw a t-shirt in a store that was for like a 3 year old girl and it said "If you think I'm yummy, You should see my Mom!" --- I was like... I really hope no one thinks you're "yummy" little girl! EWE!

-I am not a paperclip.
-There are many smile, there one I wish you have.
-


Peoples Names here:
-window
-car
-sun
-water
-fish
-wind
-moon
-star
-fresh