zacksamurai's Xanga

Halloween 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:54:50 GMT

I hope it is not to late to post about Halloween. My Halloween this year was quite a blast, especially when it fell on Friday! I went to do trick or treating for alcohol at various house parties in Chelsea with Brian, Hayato and Ray on Friday night. I didn't even know some of the party hosts! Everyone wore a costume, but Brian. He was so conservative and shy as a Southern boy from Arkansas!

Asian P. Diddy, Mr. Bunny (AKA the Jack Rabbit), and Funky Fairy (AKA my costume from last year).

I was too lazy this year to make a new costume for outdoor. My football jock in the locker room costume this year was too naked for walking on the street, even in New York City.

As seen at Andrew+Christian website.

I went to the Halloween Party at Roseland Theatre on Saturday night in Times Square, but not Alegria Party on Sunday night. Sadly, that's my mistake. I am later told that the music was better at Alegria. I cannot believe that I has alreday missed two Alegria in a row. I will not miss the next Alegira's MLK weekend in New York in January and of course I will go to the New Alegria Party in Miami on the Presedents Day weekend. See you, Rick Sena and Abel....

Me, and two hotties (Joe and Phillip) at Roseland. I think I need to go to the tanning salon!

Nicky

California's Proposition 8

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:17:30 GMT

With the projected winning for the Democratic Party for the US Presidency, the Senate and the Congress in the coming general election next Tuesday that I am very happy about, there is also sadness about Proposition 8 or the ban on same sex marriage in California that will likely to be approved through the public referendum.

To put the ban on same sex marriage on the public referendum is truly unfair. I respect the opinion of people who are truly against same sex marriage if they really against it. However, I believed that the majority of people is neither against or accept, or I can say that a majority of straight people just don't really care about the issue. So, when it comes to one little questionnaire out of twenty other questions in the ballet, they will likely vote without previous preparation or doing their homework, or have knowledge about the issue. It was like asking me to vote for ban on the ownership of rifles. I would vote Y since I don't own or need one or knowing anyone who own or need ones. It does not effect my life, my friends and family or anyone I know. So I become a relatively shitty voter who do not have in depth knowkedge of the issue I just voted.

The same sex marriage in California is unique in the way that the marriage from California will be valid and accepted in many other of states (e.g. New York..huree!). So helping California keep same sex marriage rights is like opening door for the same sex couples from other states.

If you are straights and are going to vote in California this November 4, please, please vote "No" for proposition 8. The sun still rises and the sky still blue in the morning of November 5, but there will be more people in the world that you have just given them the chance and right to marry their love one and being recognized as equal as you.

What if the Bible says same sex marriage is wrong? I know the Bible is a great book (I have studied in a Presbyterian's School for 11 years), but sometimes even a great thing need a little update or evolution (did I just said "evolution"?, ahhh I use the word "re-creation" then). Like the bible says that we should never consume seafood. It was true during biblical time that seafood would easily spoiled and caused people who ate them illnesses. Now, we have refrigerations and do not have to worry about the spoiled seafood. Everyone including Christians eats seafood, even the Bible prohobits it.

Similar to same sex marriage, in the old time, the survivor of the tribes, cities or kingdoms is strongly depended on the number of labors and soldiers. Same sex couples did not reproduce population and could weaken the kingdoms, so the practice is prohibited. Also, in the old time, women or wives depended strongly on men or husband. If there was a lot of same sex male couples, there would be a lot abandoned and unmarried women. Now, we have over 5,000,000,000 people on earth. Not reproducing offspring is not a big deal, even better other way! Also, nowadays women are educated, can survive or even take care of themselves better than many men. Therefore, the modern day men are free from the lifetime duty of protection women for most parts and they should be able to marry other man if they want to, so do same for the female couples.

Please Vote "NO" for Proposition 8

Thank you very much,

Nicky

Sarah Palin's Debate Flow Chart

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:02:09 GMT

I found this on the internet and it was cute!

I was surprised that she did not say anything about WORLD PEACE during the VP debate since she used to be a second runner-up for Miss Alaska for real.

Nicky

Escape from New Orleans

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:39:32 GMT

I was pretty lazy lately and have not written any blogs for almost two months. I just downloaded the pictures Brian and I took from our Labor Day's New Orleans trip. It was a fun trip. We were very adventurous to travel there after Hurricane Gustav was forecasted to land in New Orleans on Tuesday after Labor Day. We thought that it should be fine since we plan to leave the city on Monday morning.

We had a great time there joining the largest gay circuit party in the South, "The Southern Decadence". We had a great time dining at a number of famous restaurants of New Orleans like the Commander's Palace, Brennan's and etc. As a foodie person like myself, I really like the unique Creole and Cajun Cuisine of this city. It was my first time having the New Orleans favorite turtle soup. It tastes very meaty, spicy, and very aromatic. I ordered it at both Commander's Palace and Brennan's. Both were excellent, but I prefered the one from Brennan's since it had extra citrus (probably tangerine) smell and favor in it.

Bourbon Street was cute. There were two large gay clubs and several gay bars along the east end of the street. Friday night was okay, but Saturday night was much more fun. Brian and I stay dancing till the club closing time at 4 AM. There are lot of cute and hot guys. We found out that many of these hotties and cuties are from either our own backyard of New York and many are from California. The "Hurricane" was defintely my favorite drink of the trip. It was sweet, but could get people drunk fast since it was a combination of three or four different loquors.

The J.W. Married Hotel was okay, nothing special. We were assigned to the room on the top floor. The view was nice and we can see the Mississippi River. At first, we plan to stay at the W Hotel since the room and the hotel looks cuter and hippier. We changed our mind last minute because the hotel was further away from Bourbon Street unlike the J.W. that was right across Canal Street. Next time we will definitely go for thr W.

One sad thing about this trip is that we have to leave a day earlier on Sunday instead of Monday due to the mandatory evacuation order from the mayor. Our flight left the airport on Sunday evening around 5, just an hour before the airport was shut down. Heavy rain and storm even started about an hour before our flight to scare us and other passengers. One old guy even touched the exterior fuselage of our 737 and said "being good, being good" before he stepped into the plane. We got back home in New York safe and sound. The trip was nice and we would love to go to visit this lovely city again soon, probably as early as Mardi Gras in February. One can't go wrong with the city that put great food and parties first like the Big Easy.

St. Louis Square

New Orleans Architecture

Riverfront St

Downtown New Orleans

The Mighty Mississippi

Sunshine before Storm

Shrimp Sardou at Brennan's

Me in a trolley

More comfy than the NYC Subway

Nicky

Straight Club Stereotype

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:20:42 GMT

I was just plain lazy and have not written any blog for over a month. Nothing much to write, just a typical summer and I was really busy at work. I am looking forward to my next vacation in New Orleans on the Labor Day weekend. New orleans will be shut down for its biggest gay party called "Southern Decadence". I plan to walk the parade along Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. My old wings was really beaten up from last year NYC Halloween Parade and Alegria. I think I would need a new pair for this special parade. Brian has been to five or six Southern Decadence in the past while I am a virgin. I have been to the true South only once two Christmas ago when I went to Little Rock to visit Brian's family I am so excited about this trip.

Brian, Hayato and I went to Pacha last Saturday. It is a straight club, but we went there because of Junior Vasquez. He is a grand father of all NYC DJ for house at least for me. We dance a lot from one at night till nine in the morning. I have been asked by at least five or six straight guys for ecstacy. I did not understand why they love to ask me for drugs! Hayato and Brian told me that I have three strike for a drug dealer that night. One, I am Asian. Two, I am gay and three, I was wearing sunglasses in a dark club. I had never known before that gay Asian men who wear sunglasses in the club are usually a drug dealer! Typically, if you are Asian or Asian-American, you are thought to be doctors, scientists, engineers, accountants or something of that nature. I will try not to wear sunglasses again inside the club! I did it this time because I had an almost cured stye on my right eye.

Nicky

Rafting along Lehigh River

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:06:30 GMT

Brian, Travis and I had a day trip on Sunday to Pocono, Pennsylvania for a whitewater rafting along Lehigh River. I have done the whitewater rafting since a junior year in college. It is one of my favorite outdoor activities. For this Lehigh River trip, I sent an invite to a lot of friends, but I could only get Travis and Brian. The raft we rent from Pocono Whitewater had a capacity of 4-6 people. So, they teamed us up with the other two women, April and her daughter, Alicia. They are Americans who currently live in Belgium. April works for the NGO there and Alicia just graduated from the high school and will attend the Navy Academy in Annapolis this fall. They are originally from Alaska and here in the US for a summer vacation. They are very nice and friendly.

April, Travis and I had rafted before, while Alicia and Brian were newbies. I was assigned as a captain since I had the most experience, later on I switched with April for the captain position. The portion of Lehigh River we went to is normally considered Category II rapid which is easy, but the weekend we went to was on a dam release days, so we have much more water and rapid. The river was upgraded to Category III.

I have an experience with a Category IV before in Snake River in Cody, Wyoming, so Lehigh River was quite not extreme excitement for me, but it was still fun. It was a nice day for rafting, not too hot and humid. Alicia was really strong and good in rafting, even though it was her first time. Brian really like it and he said he would want to do it again. I plan to do it again in July in Upstate New York.

The scenic along a gorge of the river was beautiful. The green from the mountain sharply contrasted the light blue sky like a beautiful giant painting. Living in the city made me appreciate a nature more.

Me, Alicia, Travis and Brian

Nicky

Concert in The Park

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:41:45 GMT

Brian and I went to the Met Opera Concert in Prospect Park in Brooklyn last friday. The was an annual free summer concert. This year, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna led the Met chorus and orchestra for this special concert in the park. The difference of this year concert to the past years was that the past year concerts usually were concentrate on a single opera. The performers sang every things from the first to the last acts. This year they just picked one or two songs from different operas.

The program said that the concert consisted of two half. each had 6 songs. About a third of them were from Verdi such as Overture from La Forza del Destino, "Vedi, le fosche" (chorus) from Il Travatore, Overture from Nabucco, "Parigi, o cara" (duet) from La Traviata, "Va, pensiero" (chorus) from Nabucco. I was glad that the had one of my favorite duets, "Ah, talor del tuo pensiero... Verranno a te" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. My two favorites of the night must be "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca sung by Roberto Alagna and "Un bel di, vedremo" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. They were other opera and composers that I have never heard of such as Catalani's La Wally, but they were pleasant.

The concert did not end with 12 songs as it had said in the program. Theye are seven or eight more for the encore that lasted over an hour. Two or three of these were some famous modern Italian and Spanish pop songs. They also sung the world most popular Puccici's "Nessun dorma" from Turandot and Verdi's "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from La Traviata.

We brought dinner, wine and champagne for our little picnic while listening to these great music. We took out some sushi, shumai and tempura from the nearby Japanese restaurant, Kiku, in Park Slope. Other audience look surprise when they saw us so well prepared.

The concert ended about a quarter before 11 PM and the Bank of America gave everyone away a free subway ride home. It was one of my memorable night.

Nicky

Kingda Ka

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:52:36 GMT

I went to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey with my sister, Ann, last week. It was her first time to Six Flags and she was really excited about it since she loves roller coaster as I do. We tried five roller coasters out of nine it has. The ones we tried were Batman, Nitro, Skull Mountain, Superman and the last but not the least "Kingda Ka". We did not go to Dark Knight (another Batman ride), The Scream Machine, Medusa and El Toro.

I was on Batman, Skull Mountain and Superman before, so they did not make me much excited. Nitro was pretty good. The one that impressed me the most was "Kingda Ka". It was the one and the only that made me "scream". I have not screamed on the roller coaster for as long as I could remember.

Kingda Ka is the world tallest and fastest roller coaster. The coaster is accelerated by magnetic accelerator from 0 to 128 mph in 3.5 second (about 1.85g force), then it go straight up 450 feet (about 40 story high) and comes vertically straight down.

Check out the video below:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GjtsiM5-7vI&feature=related

Here is the coaster eye view!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dI3Z64r5kmk

Not all Kingda Ka makes it to the top!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oNYzj6tw7XA

It was one the best roller coaster experience I ever have. Bravo to Six Flags and the designer of "Kingda Ka". You are the King of the World!

Nicky

Asanee & Wasan World Tour

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:39:44 GMT

My Thai friend from work gave me a ticket to Asanee and Wasan World Tour Concert at Terminal 5 (concert hall) in West Midtown. I like Asanee and Wasan since I was in Thailand, but my last time listening to their songs was probably 14 years ago! I consider them as Thai Bon Jovi. Their music is kind of rock/pop infilled with some life philosophy.

The World Tour covers 4 continents. They have a concert in Sydney in May, Los Angeles and New York this month, London in July and Laos in August. The tickets are free, but must be requested in advance. The tickets were scalped up to $100 for Sydney show and $50 for New York show.

The concert that I went to in New York has about 3,000 stand up audiences. The LA one was said to have over 7,000 setaed audiences. It was my first time being in a place with this many Thais outside of Thailand! Most people seems to be in their mid 20s to late 30s, with a small number of older folks. Wasan looked about the same as I remember, but Asanee looked much older. He has aged a lot and almost look like Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones. I like many of their songs, especially Wasan's ones. His love songs are always beautiful and easy listening.

The concert was fun. The audience, including me sang along almost every single songs. They put the words on the big screens like karaoke. Many people danced, but not me. I do not think I can dance to rock songs. One of the girl who danced next to me asked me to dance with her, but I told her I was shy :P Actually, I did not want to dance because I was tired from clubbing the night before and I did not want to come out to 3,000 Thais if they saw me dance!

At the end, there were two encore. It was a pleasant concert night. I wish I have more tickets, so I can invite Mr. O and Tae. I am not sure that they are fans of Asanee and Wasan though.

Nicky

Another IRS Letter

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:09:21 GMT

About two months ago, I received a bulk mail letter from the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) mentioning that my tax rebate check from the Government's Economic Stimulus Package is on it way. Then, yesterday (June 9), I got another letter about the tax rebate check. This time it said I will receive a check in the amount of $600 by June 13 or four day after receiving this letter. What a waste of tax payers's money of preparing and mailing these stupid letters, especially the second letter that arrives only a few days before the rebate check. Why did the IRS just mail the check together with the letter, or they should not even mail the letter at all.

I will donate portion of this check to the Democratic Party for the coming election. I donated money to the election campaign for the first time in 2004. I lived in the big bubble at that time hoping that Kerry would beat George Bush. I hope this time my investment will give a return.

About the coming election, it was funny that Brian who is one of those 18 millions Americans who support the former first lady of Arkansas, Washinngton and the second term US senator from New York has pledged to write her name "Hillary Clinton" on his voting ballot this November as a protest if Obama does not pick her as the vice president! It is a hard call for Obama not to pick her. She will be able to bring him lot of independent, blue collar White, Hispanic, Asian, senior, less than college educated, lefty to moderate, and upset Republican voters!

Nicky