Las Vegas trip report

"Um, Mom... that's the porn convention." -- me

I got back from Las Vegas this morning. Dad had to go to the Consumer Electronics Show and decided to take us along so we could also enjoy the trip. I'm definitely not complaining!

Day 1

The trip began with an afternoon flight to Las Vegas on US Airways. I felt a bit nauseous on the plane due to the turbulence. Considering that I don't get airsick often, this was probably the result of not getting enough sleep the night before. That's what happens when you party too much. ^_^

The Las Vegas Monorail brought us to the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, our hotel for the next three nights. The evening was uneventful aside from dinner at the Sbarro downstairs. The baked ziti was delicious, though.

Day 2

The CES was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Mom and I had planned to explore the Las Vegas Strip on our own as the show is generally closed to the public. However, there was a change of plans after Dad managed to get us in. He wanted us to see what the CES was like, so that's what we did instead. Getting our badges took quite some time due to the sheer number of people. This was followed by lunch as it was already past noon.

It was just the two of us as Dad was in a meeting. The LVCC was huge; there were at least hundreds of vendors. The OEM companies were concentrated in the first hall. I enjoyed playing Quake 4 at one of the booths. One funny moment was when Mom almost walked into the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo by accident. Oops!

We met up with Dad after taking the shuttle back to Monte Carlo. All of us then went to Chin Chin at New York-New York Hotel & Casino for dinner. Though inexpensive, the food wasn't exactly stellar: the entrées were too salty for our taste, and the raspberry mousse cake was so greasy that I didn't have much of an appetite until the following afternoon. Blah.

Day 3

The three of us returned to the CES after breakfast. Mom and I were on our own again as Dad had to go to more meetings. Continuing where we left off, the second hall featured consumer products. One of the vendors had Unreal Tournament 3 on a high-end gaming PC - that was pretty fun too. I saw Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at another booth but didn't feel like waiting my turn. Intel and Microsoft also had cool exhibits. It was 1:50 p.m. when we were done looking around.

The last hall awaited us after lunch. You're going to laugh at this, but here goes: there was an attractive booth babe that I wanted a picture with. I was about to go up to her when a guy from the booth came to talk me, presumably to deliver a sales pitch.

You see, I'm awkward around girls when other people are around. That wouldn't have been so bad, except the girl simply walked away without a word. She was standing there and must have known I wanted a picture with her. What a bitch. It's not like I was asking her out, but being rejected in front of my mother was downright embarrassing.

Dad met up with us at the hotel as the show winded down. We had dinner before hitting the slots. This was my first trip to Vegas since reaching the legal gambling age. I put in $3 and got back $4.10 after about 10 minutes. A whopping $1.10 profit - not bad for my first time at a casino.

Day 4

Today was relatively uneventful as we had an early flight back to San Jose. The flight was fairly smooth, although the shuttle ride home was longer than expected due to an accident on I-880.

Conclusions

I had no idea the CES could be so fascinating. The highlight of the trip was playing the slots. I certainly owe that security guy for telling us that playing multiple lines improves the odds. While $1.10 isn't much, the anticipation of winning is what makes gambling so exciting. One thing I learned from this trip is that business travel can be fun. :-)

At any rate, I should probably be preparing for my classes as the spring semester starts in less than two weeks. In the meantime, you can see a few pictures from the CES here.

Currently listening to: "Hooked on a Feeling" by David Hasselhoff

an impromptu candle party

The new year has been off to a good start as we just got back from a party at our family friend Carol's house. It was supposed to be a potluck dinner, but the recent storm caused the electricity to go out just before we arrived. Oh dear!

Due to the lack of power, everything had to be done by candlelight. Our activities were thus limited, although I got to hang out with Stacey after dinner. The whole thing made for a memorable experience as it's not every day that this happens!

In any case, I should probably head to bed soon as my family is leaving for Las Vegas later in the morning. I'll post a trip report when we get back on the 9th.

Currently playing: American McGee's Alice

Happy 2008!

It feels like 2007 has just started, yet 2008 is already here. So happy New Year!

New Year's Eve party report

Last night was pretty exciting as Mom invited lots of people over. There were new and familiar faces; our guests were the Liu, Wang and Tsao families, and Michelle and her mother. The latter two left early because Michelle is a morning person, but everyone else stayed for the countdown. I guess they finally got it right.

One memorable moment of last year's party was playing Spoons. That was so much fun that we did it again - this time with a twist: the loser had to dance to Soulja Boy or do the "Chicken Dance" for 10 seconds. Even the host of the party wasn't spared. I opted for the "Chicken Dance" because it made me look less like a fool. :P

All of us then gathered in the living room for karaoke. Though I'm a lousy singer, Tony gave me the microphone. I ultimately had a great time belting out "Dancing Queen" with the other kids. Jerry happens to be a tenor in a professional choir and showed everyone how it's done. He was no doubt the life of the party.

As the clock struck midnight, the older folks had a champagne toast while the rest of us set off party poppers. Having turned the legal drinking age last year, I got to taste champagne for the first time. This was definitely a new experience for me.

Yet all good things must come to an end. The guests left shortly afterwards as most people didn't want to party too hard. I helped with the cleanup before going to bed. On the whole, this gathering was even better than our 2006 one.

2007 in review

One highlight of 2007 was our trip to Colorado in August. I never knew the Rockies could be so beautiful. The trip to Taiwan and China was also enjoyable as we visited many places and reconnected with relatives.

There isn't much to complain about, except when my RuneScape account got banned in October. Although the ban was lifted a week later, Jagex never reinstated my player moderator status. However, I'm not going to lose too much sleep as getting my account back was the most important thing.

I'd say my New Year's resolutions for 2007 were overall a success. Case in point, my grades for the last semester were fairly good. Of course, there is always room for improvement as nobody is perfect. On the subject of which, my goals for 2008 are to get my driver's license, spend less time on the Internet and continue to do well in school.

All that having been said, I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful and prosperous new year. I should probably head to bed soon as it's already past 1 a.m. Take care, y'all.

Currently listening to: Every Breath You Take: The Classics by the Police

new deviantART account

Hey everyone, I just got a deviantART account. You can check it out here. There isn't much on it at the moment, but I'll add some more stuff soon. Stay tuned!

back from Oregon

Christmas break has been great so far as my parents and I just got back from Oregon. Though our itinerary was simple due to time constraints, all of us enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest.

Day 1

The first leg of the trip was a 400-mile drive to Medford. The traffic was fairly light, but a problem with the snow tires caused some delays. It was already dark when we arrived at the hotel. Aside from watching The Incredibles on TV after dinner, the evening was uneventful as we were all tired.

Day 2

I saw Poseidon and X-Men: The Last Stand on HBO in the morning. While Poseidon was kind of lame, The Last Stand was awesome. The free cable TV is one of the best things about traveling, especially when there is little else to do.

The three of us went to KFC for lunch. The nice thing is that we received a free chocolate cake as part of a promotion. There was a family of four next to us, and my mother noticed that they were all wearing old clothes. We figured they were struggling financially and gave them our cake at Mom's suggestion. As you could imagine, that totally made their day. Sometimes happiness isn't about having fun, but bringing joy to others. :-)

Our journey brought us to Grants Pass in the afternoon. I enjoyed browsing the shops even though the prices were absolutely insane. One store had all sorts of fake food as well as real samples. It was hard to tell which were real without touching them. Further down the street was another store with a cat sitting in the window. Having seen all those fake items, I couldn't tell if the cat was real until it turned its head. That was a funny moment. On the whole, Grants Pass was my favorite part of the trip.

We headed back to Medford after a good laugh. There was some free time, during which we went to WinCo Foods for groceries. Back at the hotel, I watched Black Dog and Blood Diamond before going to bed.

Day 3

Time was tight as we had to drive another 400 miles home. Dad made a stop at the Shasta Outlets in Anderson so Mom could visit the Mikasa store there. However, she decided not to stay after finding out the store had permanently closed. This allowed us to get home a little earlier than expected, although I wish the trip didn't end so soon. ^_^

Conclusions

The trip was lots of fun even though we though we didn't visit many places. The Pacific Northwest is quite beautiful; the scenery alone made the trip worthwhile. I've posted a few pictures from our vacation here.

December 24 update: The pictures are now online. Go check them out!

Currently listening to: "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA

my favorite time of the year

I finished my last final two days ago and am now home for the holidays. This is definitely my favorite time of the year!

As for our plans, my parents and I are leaving for Oregon tomorrow morning. The other thing is that we have a big party planned for New Year's Eve. Speaking of parties, the Liang family has invited us to their house on the 5th. The next two weeks should be exciting. :-)

In other news...

Today marks the 11th anniversary of Carl Sagan's passing. He was one of the greatest minds of our time; the world just isn't the same without him. As a huge Cosmos fan, I had hoped to meet Carl Sagan when I was a kid. I guess some dreams don't come true. :-(

Currently playing: Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

just another crappy dance...

The Frickin' Awesome Final Dance last night was anything but. While our events are usually great, this one was quite the opposite. It was supposed to begin at 9 p.m. and last until midnight, someone had forgotten about the quiet hours policy that begins at 11 p.m. during the last few weeks of the semester. When the mistake was discovered, the dance came to an abrupt end. Oops!

As you could imagine, most people weren't too pleased. Having a dance right before the finals probably wasn't such a bright idea after all. Be sure to read my review of the event; I'm sure you'll get some good laughs. :-)