uhh...

Wow 2011.  You've just been slipping on by.

And here I am, with a few moments of spare time.  Thinking.  A lot has happened over the past several months, and when I think about what a task it would be to delve into all that has happened...well...it's that kind of thinking that gets me to procrastinate updating this blog in the first place.

So this entry will be basic.  No photos, just a quick rundown of what has been happening since my last entry (May 1st...time has flown).

• Friends and family have stopped by to visit.  Hannah and her brother Elijah trekked all over the city with me in May.  My cousin Alli stayed with us over the weekend of July 4th.  Kristen, Tommy & Alyse came by to say hello and were there to witness a metro preacher in action - the first time I'd ever actually seen/heard one.  The reverse has happened too - I dropped by Joe and Whitney's to say hi to their daughter Ellie and to eat their food.  I've been thinking lately about the college days and the great roommates and times that I had, and I miss it.
• Work.  The adventures that have taken place!  I took a group from Algeria around DC - they were great, but since this group (for the most part) didn't speak any English and had to communicate via an interpreter, connecting with them personally was difficult.  Nevertheless, I did get to go to Vermont and take a tractor trailer ride.  On a 300+ acre orchard.  On an island.  I rather enjoyed that part.
• MORE work.  Egyptian students came (and these guys spoke English).  The logistics were a nightmare, but the students themselves were brilliant, respectful, fun...whoever's reading this, I wish you could have met them so that you could be blown out of the water with how impressive they were.
• Trips that DON'T have to do with work.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina over Memorial Day with hundreds of other LDS friends: parasailing, wild horse hunting, singing 80s songs in the hot tub with new and old friends.  Oh yeah, and the beach.  Take me back.  Also, Maine: completely rural, great lobster, pine trees EVERYWHERE, rocks just begging to be climbed, the Milky Way at night...it was cool.  I doubt I'll do that drive again, but thankfully our car had XM radio = all the 80s music I want.
• Speaking of 80s: Since May 1st, I've seen the Legwarmers twice.  This equates to five times in two years.  The moral of the story is that if you can play good 80s music, as long as I and others in my generation are alive, you'll probably never go hungry.
• Back to work...I've sporadically been shadowing PAs and I recently took on another job (no biggie, I pick the hours and the place is right by my house) as a home health attendant.  If I'm going to delve into PA school, it's going to involve a huge investment of time and money, and I'm keen on making sure it's what I want to do before I dive in, which is why I'm taking the "dip-your-toes" approach.
• School.  Well, kinda.  It's just a ten week course called Understanding Congress (HA), but really, it's been alright so far.  Sometimes it feels like my brain gets over saturated a bit more quickly than it used to, but I can keep plugging along.

Life is busy.  Sometimes I feel the need to scream about how I never asked for adulthood to come to me as I pull down the pants of the nearest passer-by and run to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese, but don't worry; I don't do any of that (although Chuck E. Cheese is apparently only 6 miles away.  Good to know).  But in spite of the frustration, I feel like I'm progressing and trying to get myself involved in productive things.

There you have it.  The past 6 months.  I hope life is going well for you, good reader.

Multi-faith lessons

Something you should probably know about me if you don't already: My level of self-discipline leaves something to be desired.  Yes, I'm one of those people that gets pretty easily distracted from a task at hand, typically responding to said distraction by searching for the answers (via Google) to such important questions as "What happened to each of The Sandlot kids?" or "Is Rufio still alive?"

You might be surprised at where they are now.  I was.

And you'd better believe that I often let my guard down whenever I pass Coldstone.  Ice cream for 3 times its rational price?  Yes please.

Only $20?  No sweat.

Please don't get me wrong.  People should treat themselves every now and again, whether it be to ice cream or some soy-laden treat (for my lactose-intolerant friends).  And I have no shame about the fact that I know that the actor who played Yeah Yeah went to prison and appealed to fans of The Sandlot to help pay for his bail.  That being said, I figured that it was time to prove to myself that I could go without a few easy indulgences.

The period of time known as Lent, which I've never observed before this year, proved to be an ideal time to experiment going without something that I typically incorporate needlessly into my life out of habit.  This year's big experiment: Not logging into Facebook for six weeks.

Now, prior to this, if you'd have known how many times I was checking something on the ol' FB, you would have probably sent me an email saying something to the effect of: "Brad, we can't be friends.  You love the internet too much."  Having said this, I was shocked at how easy it was for me to give up logging in for six weeks.

A few great things happened.  One was that I found that I had more time for other things.  You ought to see my left fingers after all the time I've spent practicing on the guitar (not sure if I'm any better, BUT I have devoted more time to the six string).

Even more amazing was the change in the dynamics of my personal relationships.  For whatever reason, I found my interactions with others to be, on the whole, so much more personal and meaningful.

Another wonderful benefit was the increased clarity with which I was able to see myself, particularly the things in my life that are lacking that I need to work on.

Perhaps it seems odd that all these things happened in consequence of not logging into Facebook, but it all happened.

I figured since I was on a roll with observing religious practices that weren't my own, I figured that I may as well try Passover, which basically meant going without food that had any yeast (some of my Jewish colleagues added rice and pasta to that list but there wasn't a strong consensus either way) as well as not combining meat and dairy, which means that I could have a piece of cheese or a piece of ham, but not together.  There's a scripture about that somewhere in the Old Testament that I can't find, but trust me, it's there.

This experiment was harder for a few reasons.  One was that I originally thought that Passover lasted from Monday to Sunday.  It did not.  It lasted from sundown on Monday (which gave me the opportunity to sneak a cheeseburger from the sports bar before too late) to the following Tuesday: 8 days.  That meant two more nights of peanut butter and matzos for dinner and I was not prepared for that.

The second reason is that I ended up eating with friends, on the Thursday in the middle of Passover, at this amazing Asian restaurant which meant that I definitely ate rice.  The following day, I wasn't sure if I'd broken the Passover diet or if I'd been okay, due to lack of consensus about rice.  To settle the matter I went to Domino's Pizza and bought some cheese bread, so that by Friday night I was definitely off.

So there you have it.  I recommend dabbling in other religious practices in an effort to increase your own self control.

Waste Land

I'm gonna play movie critic for a bit.

It might be hard because I saw this movie last night that was inspirational...and went I get inspired it's hard to find fault.

It's been a while since I've seen a foreign film of any kind, let alone a foreign documentary.  My friend Jenny Olson, who served an LDS mission in Brazil, invited me to come with a group and watch one at the National Archives.

I'm so glad she did.

The documentary is called "Waste Land."  It follows Brazilian native and artist Vik Muniz, who had been living in New York City for many years, as he leaves his home to try and create positive change in someone's life.  Specifically, he travels to Rio de Janeiro.  In Rio, he and a colleague go to Jardim Gramacho: the world's largest garbage dump.

While in the dump, he meets a few people that refer to themselves as "pickers."  Their job is to sift through load after dump truck load of trash for recyclables; they then take the recyclables to merchants who are in need of cardboard or aluminum or whatever it may be.

Let me tell you how much trash we're talking about.  Have you ever walked across a sand dune?  If you have, you'll know that when you walk on a steep portion of the dune, the sand gives readily and "avalanches" down the dune.  Imagine that sand dune is made of garbage.  It's high, and as people walk across it, garbage tumbles and gathers more garbage.  You'd see a person jumping from the top of the garbage to a slightly lower area and then they'd jump again, and again, up to 6 times till they were at the bottom, which in and of itself is mostly garbage.

As mentioned, Vik is an artist on a mission.  He starts his mission by speaking with a few of the pickers at Jardim Gamacho.  These pickers (read about them) amazed me.  They were down to earth.  They were not ashamed of picking through garbage.  They were brilliant.  They were incredibly funny.  I was most amazed by the women; though they had fallen on hard times, they refused to become another drug trafficker or prostitute, even though the opportunity was abundant.  To them, they earned every cent of their pay with dignity.

Humbling.

Vik takes pictures of them and brings them into a local art studio.  He makes projections of the pictures so that they show along the floor of the studio.  The team takes small, recyclable materials and places them along the shaded portions of the projection.  In the empty space they put larger recyclables (tupperware, toys, etc.) so that it appeared to be a colored mosaic.  Obviously it takes a lot of time and direction to do this, but each of the pickers who served as subjects of the art project are overjoyed when they see the results.

What is particularly interesting to me is that even being away from the dump for a few hours had an effect on the pickers.  Upon simply working in a new location, a few of the workers lose any desire to return to the dump.

Vik and Tiao (the president of the pickers) go to London to present the artwork.  Tiao has basically spent his whole life in the dump, so few can imagine the feeling of being in a foreign city for the first time AND going to a high caliber art show AND worrying that the art that you helped produce wasn't going to sell.

Well, it sold.  And it sold well.

This documentary made me think upon the privileges I've been given.  It strengthened the belief that no matter what cards life deals, I CAN keep my moral standards.  It is very interesting that I saw this at a time when I am trying to decide what will fulfill me the most.

What!? Life's NOT cut and dried?!?!

I know what you're wondering.  "I can't possibly mean what title implies.  Life is, of course, easy and carefree and predictable.  I totally have it figured out."

Not.

And thank heaven.

Before I continue, I should acknowledge that it's been forever since I've posted.  My brother Kevin had a really rough patch but he is out of the ICU after almost 2 months.  My amazing boss allowed me to stay in Utah for a bit longer after Christmas Break and go back AGAIN the last week of January when things were looking really bleak.  I can't express enough gratitude for the support family and friends have shown towards my family and me.  And I'm overjoyed that Kevin is recovering from this terrible sepsis.

As far as I go, something incredible has happened...specifically, a series of events has led me to consider an option that I hadn't given much thought to in the past.

Event 1
This took place when I was in Utah, coming home from the hospital with my mom.  You've got to understand that my mom and I are very good friends.  You've also got to understand that while Kevin was in the ICU, the nurses and doctors that cared for him were some of the finest.

With that, as we were going home, Mom asked: "Have you ever thought about being a nurse or a doctor?"

It didn't seem like a strange question at all.  My answer was not, "well Mom, I've sort of gotten a degree already so...ya know...yeah."  In my answer, I said that it was amazing work that nurses and doctors perform...I just wasn't sure if I'd have the stamina to do that type of work all the time.

But I never forgot that she asked it. This context leads us into:

Event 2
A week or so later, I attended a singles ward (an LDS congregation for young single adults.  Yep, I'm 25 years young) in Ogden.  I ran into a good friend of mine, Nicole Carter, who I hadn't seen in over 5 years.  She lived a good distance away and happened to be attending this ward because her brother was giving a talk.

She made a comment in Sunday school.  When she first started college, she was sure she was going to study music...and soon felt that her service was needed in another department.  She graduated from Weber State University and is now a registered nurse.  We chatted a bit and I went home.

Event 3
As Kevin was initially getting better, I decided that I would fly back to DC.  Back in November, I had booked a flight to Orlando for the weekend of MLK Day to visit Jake & Bethany Deines, Hannah Hopkin & Brock Hostetter...good grief, spell checker does not accept ANY of their last names!  Anyhow, I made it back to DC just in time to go to sleep, work for 6 hours and catch the flight.  I also got in touch with Daniel Martoma (spell checker doesn't care for that last name either) who was in my program at BYU.

While catching up with Daniel, I found out that he had been working for the past year as a city planner for Port Orange.  Though it seems like a good fit for a geography major, he didn't get much of a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction.  He felt like it was time to start on a path to find both of those in his career...

So now he's working on pre-reqs for med school.

Event 4
While in Orlando, I went with Brock to the singles ward there.  As luck would have it, I ran into an old coworker of mine from the library days, Ben Gardner.  Ben is working on his master's degree in vocal performance. And he's good: He sang in the BYU Singers which is no small feat.  I should mention that he is studying at Florida State University in Tallahassee which is a good 3 hours or so from Orlando, so he presumably doesn't go there very often.

In catching up with Ben, I found out that while he enjoyed studying vocal performance and fully intended on finishing the degree (he has one semester left), he realized that he wasn't going to feel like he made the world better by singing an opera.

So after he finishes his master's degree, he's going to work towards...you guessed it...med school.

The Final Whopper
The events above happened in three weeks time.  I don't know about you, but I am a person who doesn't believe that strings of experiences such as these are merely coincidental.  I called my mom to tell her what had transpired since her question a few weeks ago.  After the explanation, I asked her to tell me what this all meant.

Depending on your experience with your parents, this may seem like a completely reasonable or absurd question.  Not only is my mom a good friend of mine, but she has an eerie habit of being right about certain key things in my life.  Thus, her answer struck a chord with me:

"I know exactly what it means.  You just have to figure it out."

Fair enough, I thought.

We chatted for a bit longer, after which, I told my Floridamigos (that's Florida + amigos and I can't believe that isn't already a word) about the saga.  My friend Jake, who happens to be a pediatrician in residency, asked me if I'd thought about PA school.  The truth is, I had, but not for a very long time...as in, not since I'd returned home from serving as a missionary back in 2006.

So here I am.  Considering it again.  It sounds right.  I have no sense of regret about the prospect of going back to school.

Now a bit more prayer and a plan are in order.

Polynesians + Jersey + Seinfeld = T-Day 2010

Guys...when will I just accept it?  I go into a vacation thinking that I'll come out of it "rejuvenated and ready for the week," and as the time comes to face reality, I am wishing that I could turn the time from 10:17pm to 10:17am.  As in 10:17am last Friday.  An indefinite number of times.  That way, I could wake up every day to leftover turkey and pie.

But until one of you brainiacs invents a decent time machine, I guess I'll just have to recount the experience on the ol' blog.

Wednesday, Nov. 24: Our awesome boss let us out at noon. Went to lunch at Pho (Vietnamese noodle joint) with a friend and his cousin who asked REALLY awkward questions.  Took a stroll to the National Archives.  At 5pm, I decided that I didn't much like the idea of having nothing to do for the whole night, so I sent out a mass text inviting people over for games and cocoa.  The night turned out much better than I anticipated: 12 people came, which led to a perfect amount of people for Cranium.  But the true victory of the night was in the music: I brought out the 80s joy playlist and it was A HIT.  The BEST part was hearing the song "Working for the Weekend" by "Loverboy" and realizing, as a group, that the weekend had officially arrived!!!!!!  Euphoric bliss, friends.

Thursday, November 25: Caught a 10:30 train at the jam-packed Union Station to Philly.  At Philly, grabbed some lunch and a sweet potato pie (for Thanksgiving dinner).  I also went to Subway to grab some cookies, which I tend to love because of their cheapness/doughiness.  Instead of paying the typical $1 for 2 cookies, the guy gave me 2 cookies for free!  How sweet (when I put this good news on facebook, a few people responded in outrage to the notion of me being at Subway on Thanksgiving, and that I'd better call them if I didn't have plans...which I did...but they didn't know I did...confused yet?  Good.  Point is, it's nice to know that there are people watching out for me).  Caught the train to Cherry Hill, NJ.  Got off at Cherry Hill and waited.  The rains came down and I did not care for THAT one bit, especially since I had to wait for an hour for my ride.  But he came through.  Perhaps I should explain who "he" is...Landon Sikahema, one of my mission companions.  In case you're curious, his dad IS Vai Sikahema, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and walloped Jose Canseco in a boxing match.  I am amazed that some people can be so successful and humble at the same time, and  happy for reminders that such people exist.  Got to the Sikahema house, walked right in, sat down and started  eatin' da ono kine grindz (Hawaiian Pidgin for really good food).  Landon's mom Keala and sister Lana were there, and they were so sweet and accommodating.  Another family from Landon's ward, the McCounagheys (I'm not even concerned about if I spelled that right, as I'm not sure that's even their last name...) were there along with Vai's long time friend Brian Rowley.  Lot of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, laughter, and good times ensued.  A great day was capped off by the movie "Heavyweights" and a documentary about the history of Honolulu.  I LOVE Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 26: Slept in (duh).  Got up, mused about going into Philly, found out that TBS was playing 8 hours of Seinfeld, and all other plans were duly cancelled.  Don't worry, we did take a break to walk Charlie, the Sikahema beagle, around the block, which was really cool because I got to see the open spaces (yep, contrary to what you may think, open spaces exist in New Jersey) where Landon lived out his childhood.  After the walk and the Seinfeld-a-thon, we played a few rounds of Scattegories and the Sentence Game (write a sentence, draw a picture underneath, repeat.  If you need more detail, PLEASE ask me as the Sentence Game could very well fill any voids in your life) with Lana, Keala, Brian, Sage (Brian's daughter) and David (Vai's cousin).  Another great night.

Saturday, November 27: Packed up (and in case you hadn't guessed, yes we did sleep in again) and headed to Philly.  Although I've been to Philly before, this time I found myself wishing that I had more time to spend there.  We got some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at Carmen's in Reading Terminal Market and tried to get to the Rocky Steps....but ran out of time and had to get to the station to catch my train.  The night was fairly uneventful, and I probably would just be getting home now if it weren't for...

Sunday, November 28: The Legendary Paul Saunders and I sang a duet in church.  We sang the first verse of "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" followed by the third verse of "Reverently and Meekly Now" followed by the second verse of the former and wrapped up with the fourth verso of the latter.  And if THAT wasn't enough excitement for you, it was sung to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing".  Yeah.  Paul's creativity conjured the amazing arrangement.  I just sat there wishing that more Subway employees gave out free cookies.  Speaking of singing, our ward choir performance is in a few weeks, and the music committee petitioned people to come to rehearsal so they could participate.  We had about 35 people show up to practice, so many that no one could sit down and our chorister had to stand on a chair.  It was awesome.  Someone even brought cookies!! The Sabbath was wrapped up pleasantly with a sing-along at Rachel Murdock's where we sang all of the Christmas hymns.  Great times all weekend long.

I guess I can't complain too much about returning to the grind...I head back to Utah on December 17th to spend time with family and any friends who aren't still embarrassed about "that one time".  It's less than 3 weeks away.  Cakewalk!

Phriends phrom the phreakin Philippines

Alright, I know...I am as guilty as anyone of finding reasons to complain about work.  Well, right now, I don't have much reason to complain, because I just returned from a fantastic trip with a group of elected officials from the Philippines.  They came from all over the Philippine Islands and worked in a range of capacities: some were city councilors, some were provincial board members (like a state representative), and we even had a vice governor, whose position is equivalent to that of a lieutenant governor (I think I heard him say that at least a hundred times).  After some thought, I realize that they need to be listed by name on my blog.  Because they're great.  And I'm not putting them down in alphabetical order...the names will be at random, but feel free to look for a pattern if you're bored.  I also won't put their last names because Jake Deines or Alyse Leninger will likely try to exploit them, and let me inform them both that the buck stops here.

• Conrad
• Cheryl
• Karen
• Marc
• Mylene
• Kirk
• Joseph
• Aristotle
• Abel

We went to meetings and events in DC; afterward, we visited the great states of Kansas and Washington.

The delegation came to DC at a prime time.  In addition to being here during the midterm elections, the Filipinos got to experience the Rally to Restore Sanity and Halloween.

These poor guys flew all night, and for what? 40 degree weather, that's what.

Classic pic behind the White House on the way to the rally.

If you want to vote for this guy, please submit a ballot into the slot in the box.   I think he'll like it.

The beginning of the craziness...

 Holy crap. People.

 Over 200,000 came to this shindig.

 Comfy seats.

 Pizza with the McGreevy's at "We the Pizza".  Brilliant name.  I only wish I'd thought of it first.

 If you don't live in DC, this will have little significance, but humor me anyway.

A woman sat at this very spot with her protest station to protest against Israel and other sundry issues.  For 29 years.  I recall seeing her in this spot whenever I passed Lafayette Park, but she was asked to move so that they could clean the spot.  She did.  I imagine that she has moved right back into this spot...Corazon is her name, by the way.

 The tour thang.

 Look at them.  Acting like absolute children.  Sheesh.  I wish I was in the picture.

 The group and the rock star tour guide who, incidentally, used to work for the very same org that I currently work at (ACYPL).

 Witch Karen, Jester Cheryl, Gnome Conrad and Hag Mylene.  Happy Halloween!

 Congressman Brad Meehan with Chief of Staff Conrad Cejoco.  We were such a dynamic team that we didn't NEED to be "elected".

 During this trip, we went into several elevators.  Not once did we have to ride in separate elevators.  As you can see, we're pretty excited about that accomplishment.

 In the Capitol.  This spot marks the dead center of DC (it's NOT the Washington Monument, like what's-his-name says in whatever-the-conspiracy-book-is).

 We take tours and we want to entertain you.

Great night at a Japanese restaurant.  Two things to note:
1. Filipinos (especially if they're named Kirk) love rice.  Love is almost an understatement.
2. We went here for Aris's birthday, and he was going to pay for it.  Before he could wrestle my bill out of my hands, I stole it and took it to a far corner so I could privately pay for my food.  Apparently, it's custom in the Philippines for the birthday boy/girl to treat his/her friends instead of be treated.  Interesting!


 ELECTION DAY!!  Cheryl, Karen and Conrad are chatting it up with some volunteers.

 The Philippine Embassy.  We had just finished a lunch of raw fish, pickled veggies, and rice.  Yep, you guessed it...we ate Japanese food again.

The delegates at the Philippine Embassy.

After the Embassy, we headed to the airport and flew to Kansas City (via Detroit, if you MUST know).  Kansas was fantastic.  Our host, Stephanie Sharp, set up some amazing meetings and opportunities for the group, including a tour of an elementary school (BE WARNED: Many of the following pictures include the delegates helping Kindergarteners.  Excessive cooing may occur), a tour of Ft. Leavenworth, a luncheon sponsored by the Kansas City Area Development Council, and some genuine barbecue...we may or may not have sang karaoke after dinner.

 For those who think the Midwest is boring, check out this sunrise.  And yes, Famous Dave's BBQ can be found to the right, making this picture all the more beautiful.

 Principal at Benninghoven Elementary talking about education and commenting on Marc's 3 km scarf.

 Abel and the mosaic bull.  As for Joseph...he was like this the ENTIRE program.

 I've never seen the Cat and the Hat associate with Pooh.  I don't know what's going on.

 Mylene and the kiddies.

 Prepare to coo...

 We're now at the Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.  Conrad and Cheryl are completely at odds over which way is northwest.

The pic doesn't catch it, but this is a pretty cool meeting about education.

 Mylene brilliantly joined the choir. Hysterical.  The choir director was even amused.

Abel could have given me a concussion with that medicine ball and I would have had no preconception of it.  Just look at that face.  Completely disarming.

 Making Joseph and Cheryl pose like this seemed like a good idea at the time.  Now it just looks really random.  Oh well.

 How cool is this school?!?!  Look at the animals they get to tend in their environmental sciences class:

 This poor guy unwittingly scared one of the delegates.

 Tour of Buffalo Soldier site in Leavenworth.  This man is awesome because he almost fell into a pond getting the turtle for the picture below...

 If you can't see the turtle, follow Joseph's eyes; Joseph was likely trying to figure out how to turn the shell into a purse he could carry around.  What a fem.

 Following the Buffalo Soldier's gaze...

 ...while Mylene decides to look wherever she pleases.

 Chapel at Fort Leavenworth

 This place is pretty awesome.  In addition to being a college for US military personnel, this facility hosts foreign military officials as well.

General Douglas MacArthur is seen as a hero in the Philippines.  Right now, however, Joseph just sees him as a backdrop.

 One of the foreign military officials I mentioned, Colonel Jun Torres from, you guessed it, the Philippines.

 Col. Torres invited us over for dinner at his house.  We knew which house was his as soon as we saw it.

 Yes.

I interrupt the karaoke pictures for this message: Please youtube "Don't Touch My Birdie", as it was the song Joseph was singing.  Hilarious is an understatement.

 Awesome night, thanks to the Torres family!

 Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention/intervention facility.  They have a pretty fantastic setup.

 No program is complete without Gilly.

 Yup.  This road separates Kansas from Missouri.

 Convention Center in Kansas City, MO.  Apparently the 4 towers have no significance.

 Performing arts center, KC, MO.

 KC, MO

 Marc mingling with the Wyandotte County Commissioner and KC (KS...so confusing) Mayor Joe Reardon.

 Outside of the Kansas Speedway where Nascar races are held.

View from the VIP area

 Once again, this is where Nascar races are held.  Please don't forget.

Racetrack from the top.

 Having a moment with the horizon

 Stephanie, Joseph and me inside the track.

 No need for a caption.

"We are the champions..."

 But we all know who the real champ is.

 This guy doing a fire knife show was somehow involved in a Hare Krishna group.  But you probably guessed that, didn't you?  I didn't.

 Gorbachev, Marilyn Manson, a pig, and....whatever's going on up there.  I guess I've never been a lover of the arts, or at least certain types of art.

Kansas City Power & Light District

801 REPRESENT!!!!!

I debated posting this for about a millisecond.  Joseph's glasses are just too funny.

 Yep. That's a cookie shaped like the ruby slipper from Wizard of Oz.

 Speaking of ruby, check these trees out!

 Flipping yum and flipping way too much food from Famous Dave's.

 Send off...thanks Stephanie!

Let's not forget Amy Slater at the left.  Very integral to the program's success in the Sunflower State.

Our last stop was Washington (the state).  After a layover in beautiful Salt Lake City we got off to a bit of a rough start in the Evergreen State.  Some dude accidentally took my bag, but thankfully it was recovered within 15 minutes.  After waiting in the chill for about 20 minutes for the vehicle to pick us up, this little number came.  Please note that there were only 10 of us in the group:

A 50-seater.  Perfect.

And you know what made it even better?  One word: Valinda.  She was out bus driver to an event in Seattle that we were expected to attend (our hotel was in Tacoma, so this made for a very long night).  After our luggage was loaded, Valinda said that she would need help getting to the destination.

Because it was dark.

And rainy.

And she couldn't see.

Mind you that Valinda is from Tacoma.  Now, although I'd been to WA twice before, I'll admit that I'd never had occasion to go to the Filipino Community Center in Seattle either time, so I wasn't sure how much help I was going to be.  With a bit of encouragement, we set off from the airport to our destination.  Valinda made sure the bus wasn't too void of noise by telling us, at the top of her lungs, all about Seattle.  Just a snipit:

"SEATTLE IS A CITY OF MANY FIRSTS.  NORDSTROM, STARBUCKS, MICROSOFT, BOEING, STARBUCKS, NIRVANA..."

Yes, she did say Starbucks twice.

We weren't bugged by Valinda, in fact it was the opposite.  She provided many fond memories.  We will return to Valinda later, but suffice it to say that we made it to the Filipino Community Center which was holding its 75th Anniversary Gala.  Dancing ten-year-olds, Miss Asian-American Idol (yep, she exists) and drag queens made the event especially memorable.

 Abel, Joseph and Aris decked out in their barongs, a top worn by Filipino men to formal events.

 Marc and Conrad in their barongs.  No idea who the other two are.  To save you from being unnecessarily perplexed, we'll call them Andromeda and Phil.

 Karen, Cheryl and Mylene in there Filipiniana dresses; the dress is the female counterpart to the barong, which is worn by Kirk here.

 There's the ten year old in action.  People threw money at the floor...this was definitely a fundraising event (I guess most galas are) and the hosts were NOT shy about reminding everyone of that.

Yep, that would be a dance party up front.

After about 2 hours here, we called up Valinda who said she'd be at the center in 10 minutes.  After about 20 minutes, I called her again.  Her paraphrased response:

"Well, after driving all around for 2 hours I saw that the fuel card was low so I figured I should fill the tank up before we go.  I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Sublime.

As we boarded the bus, Joseph told Valinda that I was extremely interested in hearing about the history of Tacoma.  From the very start.  Off she went.  I don't remember what she said, I just remember punching Joseph in the arm and returning to my seat.  I had definitely fallen asleep when a horrible noise intruded my sleep:

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thanks V.

We checked into the hotel, blah blah blah, now it's time for more pictures.  I should mention that our host in Washington, Amy Ruble, put together a top notch schedule for us as you'll see.

But before we get into the program, I have to showcase Tacoma for a bit.  It's one of the most intriguing cities I've seen.

 This was on the floor of my hotel.  It's made of glass and it's the first thing I saw when I left the elevator, ensuring a promising stay at the hotel.  Again, I'm not much of an art guy.

 Right outside our hotel.  It's a symbol for ________. (Fill in the blank.)

 Tacoma on Sunday morning.  Don't let the parked cars fool you, I probably saw 3 moving vehicles in 45 minutes.

 Now HERE'S art I can appreciate.

 Do they mean it's photo enforced or are they asking people to photo enforce?

 First meeting with Representative Eric Pettigrew.  This guy's awesome.  I decided I wanted a picture with him.

 And I got one.  And here's the proof.

The posse at the Space Needle, Amy included.

 View from the top

I can't get enough of this city, and I always seem to go when the sky's clear.  I'm probably a lucky charm.  You're welcome, Seattle.

 Believe it or not, they posed for this.  And yet they call it a candid shot.  It just doesn't compute.

 Aris and I up top.

 Guarding the totem.  Keep back.

International Fountain

 Alright Conrad, nap's over.  Get on the bus.

Pike Place Market

 Peter Piper's been busy.

Fresh shrimp earrings.  They're the new pink.

 Kirk, Cheryl, Mylene, Pike and Pike

He was really that tall.  8'11", I believe, and he only lived for 22 years.

Even the apple poops.

 On retrospect, I really wish I'd done more than just take a picture of this.

 Kirk, Marc, Cheryl, Mylene and Joseph doing the tourist thing in front of the first Starbucks.

 Outside of the aquarium on the waterfront

 Looks great! (And the sunset's alright too.)

That man is playing the piano.  On a street corner outside.  Where two people had been playing banjos an hour before.

 We thought we were just going to eat, but the delegates were asked to introduce themselves and answer some questions, which was a complete surprise to Amy and me.  They took it like champs.  Karen is giving her spiel.

The Aris monologue

 Vice Governor Marc chatting it up

 Conrad answering a question about the postal service in the Philippines

 This was fantastic.  This group ("Young Once") sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for the delegation.

 Representative Bob Hasegawa at the International Drop-In Center

 Coolest fountain/THING in downtown Tacoma

 Port of Tacoma

 This building is a green building, so green that they have a garden on the roof.

 Amy graciously opened her home for one of the meetings.  We had an awesome Filipino lunch (lots of rice and chicken adobo) and the group got to interact with members of the Washington State Youth Legislature.

 We went to Olympia on Jubilation Day, which was the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Washington.  Our timing rocks.

 Secretary of State Sam Reed dressed up in early 1900s garb.

The Vice Governor in the Lieutenant Governor's seat.  All is right with the universe.

 Now that he has that mallet he almost looks a bit threatening, but not quite.  Nice try buddy.

This would be on the floor of the State House of Reps, and that would be George himself.

 Making my case for a bill to ban discrimination against those with curly hair.

 The L isn't for loser, but since I can't recall what it stands for, I'm okay if it stands for loser for now.

 State Supreme Court

State Capitol

 Kirk getting ready to sing "Come On Eileen" in the Supreme Court

 Mylene, about to eat a burger as big as her.

They're official ACYPL graduates now.  All grown up.

It was a great trip.  It was stressful.  It was fun.  It was hilarious.  It was insightful.  I can't stress enough the importance of international exchanges like these that allow people from the US to meet people from different parts of the world to share ideas and reshape paradigms.  It is one of the most effective ways to open the mind and provide rich experience.  And another thing...it's 2am.  I think I'm done for tonight.

Very grateful for my experience with the Filipinos.  Salamat po!