I am long overdue. My sincere apologies but the trip has been one thing after another with no time to compose a decent entry. To weave together I'm going to Emeril-style this one babye. Breakfast not included; I skip it habitually. My mind is consumed with writing about mustard right now. I have procrastinated mucho on the UChicago 500 word essay due January 1st. Eeeek! Zee stomach speaks. Food chronology...minus camping food (Nutella, bread, pasta) I've adopted an Asian diet and in the process, become a chopsticks virtuoso. 12/27 Malay Satay Hut Ditched a generic bologna or other processed meat sandwich and 95% iceberg lettuce salad for mango chicken and ginger chicken. Fumbled with the sticks... stupid nondexterous knob on my ring finger. So happy to see Jon! Great tea, great conversation. New experience, completely different periphery of flavor from fried chicken et les grits. Unpacked stuff, drank tea, alcholized with a little absolut mandarin, unpacked more. and slept. ZZz. 12/28 No set plans. Browsed through Jon's highschool photography portfolio. Beaucoup impressed. Toured Microsoft building where Jon works under the alias of myself with an ID badge. Met Jon's friend Brian for lunch at Saigon City. Apparently they're regulars so the service was incredibly fast and friendly. Had Vietnamese tea... half and half on the top, tea mixture on the bottom. Drove dowtown to Fremont, the artsy district of Seattle where Jon used to live. Walked around UWA campus.. with a real Oggsford-esque feel. Beautiful trees- even when dormant the cherry trees are gorgeous and feathery. Pilfered through music stores for vinyl records.. and found a perfectly French one for Marine. A group of 9 French men sing maritime tunes. She'll probably scoff and say thanks or just feign appreciation while laughing uncontrollably. Drank coffee at Bahaus on Capitol Hill. Went to see Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Still trying to figure out the "Fandago" commercial/preview. Ehn? Malay Satay Hut leftovers and Quentin Tarantino film Killing Zoe. Made me want to throw up my mandarin chicken because of the heroin-shoot up scenes. Talk about icky and .. cringe.. sticky. Relieved by watching another Bill Murray movie.. a hark back to his early comedy in Stripes. 12/29-12/30 "You want tea boy, wake up and smell the coffee?" Indeed, I do. Believe this or not, I went camping. Me, my comfort zone, and the great outdoors. I survived! Originally we planned to hike in the morning but went out on a limb and spent the day traveling more north, where we set up camp, spent overnight, and woke up the next morning, ready to trek the approx. 5 mile trail. It rained off and on most of the time. No dapper, just wetness. Afterall, we were walking through temperate RAINforests. I documented the trail with a 26 exposure roll of film. Will add link to images ASAP. Chinese Dynasty. Had a scrumptious plate of Mongolian chicken prepared by a chef trained in both Cantonese and Schezwan schools of cooking. Amazingly good. Round two at Saigon City for Vietnamese. Oh, and happy 22nd birthday, Amanda. I love my sissy! 12/31 FIRE! (click here) Jon and I went to Mount Baker for incredible snowboarding day trip. Last time I attempted this was in Vail, CO two years ago and a petit ski trip to Beech Mountain in NC. Non-comparable. Apparently Mount Baker is as good as it gets when it comes to powdery snow and scenic vistas. Scaling the mountainous roads, every now and then there were these turnoffs on the side that overlooked some edge displaying a majestic mountain. One time Jon pulled over and was like.. "hey, get my digital camera and take THAT." By the third lift, I caught the jist of maintaining balance and steering with your shoulder. The trick is aiming your shoulder in the direction you choose to go, therefore your hips become and axel and move in the same direction, making your board turn that way too. Gnarwly, man! Unzipping my what.. 4 layers of shirt, coat, scarf, and shell I managed a rastaferian hairdo. Splendid, eh? For New Years, Jon's friend Nathan came over around 11:30, we hung out and looked over some maps of north WA, including the Quinault area and the camping site. Typical New Years: light drinking of mandarin, OJ, and POG juice. 05! I gulped down green tea in place of green collards for good health. Besides, my fortune cookie from Chinese Dynasty said Your mind will make your body grow rich. (in nutrients, fat cells, i don't konw what so actually that could be two fold) Intent on buying atleast a few touristy goodies I nudged Jon into going downtown to REi, a great outdoors outfitter. This place was a monolith of gear three stories tall. Choosing a nalgene water bottle blew me away.. the selection covered an entire 6 by 6 foot wall. We walked around Pike Place Market after realizing Wild Ginger was closed; New Years Day means closed shop for restaurant owners. So, before going empty stomached to Aunt BJ and Skip's we grabbed wraps at World Wrapps in Kirkland (aka yuppieville). I had a tofu chicken portabello one, that evaporated as fast as I could shovel it into my mouth. Whidbey Island! The future residence of my aunt and uncle is spectacular. They've stylized the layout so the lines are clean and simple, and provide panoramic views of the surrounding waters. Literally, no panes in the window so it seems as if you are admiring a piece of artwork, when actually you're just looking out a window. I can tell they are happy; which makes me infintely happy for them. We went back to their current house for dinner- shrimp and polenta, asparagus with Hollandaise, and a crusty loaf from San Fran, vanuit Williams Sonoma catalog special. I had not eaten so much that was so filling in a while. I felt groggy and sleepy but by the end, with food in my system, the blood sugar rose and I felt like myself again. I love being around family.. especially my aunt who is as unique as they come and seems to cause the room to erupt in laughter wherever she goes. Hah! Departure date. 7:30 we left the house for the airport.. Mostly silence but considering the toll of camping,hiking, and snowboarding three days staright that comes as no revelation. I registered with an eTicket booth but had trouble identifying myself because my Buxx card has a middle initial. So, the United representative assisted me, noticing my bag was 5 pounds (it was the rock I packed for EA) overweight, yet letting me off the hook out of sheer niceness? Ah, random acts of kindness, gotta love 'em. Smooth flights all the way home. Countless hours of doddering in the airport.. reading the Economist,, figuring out how the tsunami caused such massive destruction, agreeing with Tony Blairs plan for the G8, and fifty pages in Owen Meany. Only 100 to go! And to think, we only were required to read until Chapter 2. What can I say, it's a good book... Mom, Dad, and EA greeted me at the airport. Little EA flailed around she was so excited to see me again. She could hardly contain herself when I told her about her surprise almost preventing me from leaving Seattle on time. I miss little people. I miss Seattle too. Already; I was starting to call it home because of how at-home I felt among my aunt, uncle, and cousin. I definitely must re-trip as soon as possible.