Snowshoe '07

So I went snowboarding this past weekend to Snowshoe resort in West Virginia. It's one of the biggest ski resorts on the east coast, and one of my personal faves. We took a trip out there, about 50 of us and stayed in 4 separate condos. Arriving intermittently Friday nite, some of us headed out for Friday day/nite riding while others who arrived later broke in our condos with some good old alcoholic debauchery. Nothing serious of course, since we all wanted to wake up early the next day for a full day's worth of rides on the slopes. That is...all of us except for Alex. He decided to get tanked the first night and remain hungover and hammered for the rest of the trip...including when he threw up in our fireplace (putting out the fire...) and then throwing up in a cardboard box which he then threw into the fireplace (which was no longer burning cuz he put it out with his puke):

Saturday was fun. We spent the day riding meeting up in the early to late evening. After an evening of some night riding, we headed up to the only "club" on the mountain. To my surprise, there was actually a DJ who played hiphop and techno in between sets of a rock band that played typical West Virginia music. We basically chilled at our table shooting pool and playing foosball while slamming beers until the DJ came on when we rushed the dancefloor and rep'd DC, NOVA, and Virginia Tech like no other. Big props to Jac for taking over the mic in the DJ booth. That was hot.

After the club, I dun have much to say for the remainder of the night. It's kind of one long crazy blur. Dan got into a fight outside the club, typical, and we had to calm his ass down as we walked back to our condos. At the condos, we sat around and drank furiously. It was great because all of 1210 H was in one spot. The originals: Dan, me, Spikey Mike, and Andy. As well as Adam, who was part of the 1210 graduation unit. Dan hit the bottle hard, typical, and passed out on the floor:






After Dan passed out...Vin and I decided it might be fun to put his hand in warm water. We did this for about 10 minutes before Dan moved. We decided at this point that Dan was far too drunk so it wouldn't be a bad idea to put him in the snorers room (where I slept). We dragged him to the floor in that room only for him to jump into my bed. No biggie, I didn't mind sleeping on the floor. Several hours later, at around 3 AM. I awoke to Dan moving around in our room. I assumed he needed to puke so I moved to let him out. Next thing I know, I felt liquid on me. I feared the worst. Dan was puking on me. I jumped up and ran out the room to let him go. But he didn't come out. So I flipped the light on to see what was going on with him. To my surprise he was pissing on our dresser. I looked at my wet shirt...no puke. DAMMIT...Dan just pee'd on me. I ran into the living room, pissed as hell (literally.) I threw my shirt onto the floor and David Lam laughed at me. Trong woke up and also laughed at me. Karma's a bitch. That's what I get for trying to prank Dan.

Overall, the trip was fantastic though. Here are some more pics. Nothing beats cramming like 15-20 people into an 8 person condo. Multiply that by 4 and you get our trip.

Happy New Year!

So this past Sunday was Chinese New Year. I know what you're thinking...Nicky Long, you're not Chinese. Well, technically, the actual holiday is the Lunar New Year. It celebrates the new year according to cycles of the moon. While this holiday has developed a reputation and title in the United States as Chinese new year because Chinese people celebrate it and they are the most dominant asian population....it is also celebrated by Vietnam (and probably a few other countries that I don't even know about). So yes, this past weekend, I celebrated.

Of all the asian holidays, the Lunar New Year is by far my favorite. In Vietnamese culture, we wake up that day and everything we do that day, we try to make festive and "good" because the way that your day turns out is supposed to be a reflection of how your year will turn out. For instance my parents will do everything possible the days leading up to the New Year in order to make sure no one in our family is sick, nothing is broken in the house, etc. Yeah, my parents are real superstitious. So many families will eat big, delicious meals...drink plenty of good alcohol....pray/visit temple for spiritual balance....and have big festive get togethers in order to encourage happiness for the year to come. My new year's get togethers with my family entail 4 main things that make it my favorite holiday (at least in the asian culture anyway):

1) Good eats. There are certain things that we only eat during the New Year's celebration. Aside from those, you can always expect a big luscious meal as well. In conjunction with item number 2) you get a very full and content day.
2) Good drinks. Nice bubbly champagne and wine flow all night. Break out the Dom P and Cristal!
3) Money. It is a tradition in the Lunar New Year celebration that the elders, your aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, etc. will give red envelopes containing cash. Depending on the financial status of your relatives as well as the overall size of your family, this can be a very handsome collection by the end of the night. This tradition encourages wealth because by receiving money it is believed you will be prosperous in the coming year.
4) Gambling highly encouraged. I'm not sure how things work with Chinese families, but within Vietnamese families, gambling is encouraged during the Lunar New Year. I suspect it has something to do with giving and receiving money as well as joy with your loved ones. I take it as an excuse to gamble gamble gamble. There's a popular game that is played during the New Year. Essentially, there are 6 pictures of animals on a mat. You place bets on which animal you think will pop up. Then 3 dice are rolled that each contain the 6 animals on them. You get paid depending on what pops up. I like to call this game Vietnamese craps. My cousins and I can spend all night playing this game. Now that we're older, we also incorporate poker and other betting games as well.

This year was a bit slower for me. With my sister and 2 of my cousins away at college, as well as the inclement weather, our celebration was much smaller and shorter than it normally is. Nonetheless, I had a good time. Big Happy BDAY shout out goes to all my friends who celebrated their bdays this weekend as well.

Chuc mung nam moi (Happy New Year in Vietnamese)!

Toilet Seat Up. Why all the hate?

I was talking to a friend of mine at work today. He was using the men's bathroom at work, and because of the large traffic in there at the time, the urinals had all been occupied. So he went into the stall to urinate. As is the norm, he lifted the seat, and when he was done, he instinctively put it down. I happened to bump into him in the hallway and I asked what he'd been up to. He told me about how he just pissed in the bathroom, and I asked him...

"So man, did u leave the toilet seat up?"

And he replied no. And so we started conversing about this. Now, as a man myself, I find it is more convenient to leave the toilet seat up. I only drop a deuce a couple times a day when I've had a lot to eat, but I piss probably 6-8 times a day depending on how much fluid I've been drinking throughout the day. So based on the numbers, it only makes sense to leave the seat up and put it down when necessary. It's less work. So I asked my friend, why he put the seat down. Obviously it's an all male bathroom and I'm sure he and all the other users of the bathroom would love to leave the toilet seat up all the time as I do.

So he bagan talking about how it's courtesy to women and he just happened to be in the habit. I agreed, obviously. But then I began to think. Why the hell should men put the toilet seat down for women? It makes no sense. I've had past girlfriends and my mom tell me to put the seat down, but I honestly can't think of why this should be the norm. I've been told by women on many occasions that it sucks to fall in the toilet when there's no seat and that's probably true...but here's the thing. When I'm about to drop a deuce, I don't blindly sit on the can and hope the seat is down. I check it first. So why can't women? And don't give me this crap about women always sit down to pee/poop so they always gotta put the seat down. It's not like it's hard to do. For a guy, we've got to reach down, grab the seat, lift the seat, and fight gravity to put it back up in order for us to urinate. If I'm a woman and I walk in, and the seat isn't down, I don't even have to hold the seat to lower it. I could probably just tap it, and let gravity do all the work. So why, why is it such a hassle for women to put the seat down when we leave it up?

It only makes sense to me that it's much less work in the long run for everyone if we just make it the norm to leave the seat in whatever position it's in when you're done. For a man, if you've just pissed in the toilet, leave it up. For women, leave it down. That's my two cents. Women who don't agree...you must have fallen in the toilet in the past...and for that I have no comment. Look before you leap...look before you leap.

TV Junkie

Personal Story:

So when I was growing up, I was in the Gifted and Talented program in elementary school. Gifted and Talented? Not really. I took an IQ test in 3rd grade and it said I was smart...hence I started leaving my regular class once a week for a couple hours starting in the 4th grade to do exercises that would make my mind sharp. In this GT class, I was once given an assignment to monitor how much tv I watched in a week, recording the shows and times and durations that I watched. I remember coming back to school after a week of recording and while other kids put down that they watched maybe 7-8 hours of tv that week, I had watched nearly 20. Gifted and Talented? No, just a smart guy who was lazy as hell and loved his cartoons and Saved by the Bell.

This past weekend, I was watching a movie called Idiocracy. It stars Luke Wilson. Essentially, he's an average joe who lazily slips by his job in the military. One day, he's chosen to be a part of an experiment where he will be frozen for 1 year. The project has a mishap and he is frozen for 500 years. When he awakes, he finds that all the dumb people in the world have been recreating and recreating and recreating...while intelligent people have died off. He also finds that he is now the smartest man in the world and that the US needs his help to solve all their economic and social problems. Pretty funny movie that got me thinking....is it possible the world could turn out that way from watching too much tv?

My head started to hurt as I thought about this too much, and since new seasons of Heroes, Prison Break, Lost, Survivor, and Amazing Race all started within these past 2 weeks, I didn't have time to ponder it any longer. Lost premier airs tonight. I'll see you all on the forums tomorrow.

Comic Relief

I like to think I have a good sense of humor. I love a good comedy show as much as anyone else. Lately, I've been trying to find more clips of this up and coming stand up comic named Rob Paravonian. I'm not sure where he's from but his comedy makes me laugh. He uses a guitar in most of his act, but the stuff he talks about is so true and his act isn't corny like some other musical stand ups I've seen. For instance, this youtube clip shows him making fun of pop music. In particular, the theme from Friends (and how the Rembrandts tried to turn the song into a mainstream pop single) and also the Smashmouth song that used to play on the radio like in high school...god I'm dating myself.

Anyway, I just wanted to give props to this new comic cuz he makes me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S8wBNoiv90