Mazel Tov

So I just came across some of the professional shots taken at my cousin Johnny's wedding from last month, and they came out really well! Not that I had anything to do with or that it was my day obviously, but... I like the whole "dressing up for special events" thing* and having nice pictures to reflect fondly upon later, so I'm anxiously awaiting for the whole set of pics to be released for family and the wedding party to save. 

* - Yes, I like being part of weddings (and can't wait to be in Brit and Trent's in October) and I also like graduations. Call me crazy.

Anyways - I won't post the shots here, rather if you're curious, you can check out Acres of Hope Photography's blog about the event where a whole grip of pictures are located, and you can see how beautiful the wedding was. And how hot the wedding party is. :P But the photographers (who apparently all graduated from my high school and know some of my close friends too) did a great job, and I was really surprised with how nice the shots are since I thought the lighting at the time was looking bad. Of course, I'm no photographer, so what do I know...

http://www.acresofhopephotography.com/blog/katrine-johnny-wedding-pala-mesa-resort-fallbrook-ca/

Well... I'll include the money shot of the first kiss, which includes me ending the ceremony by saying "mazel tov!"(Katrine is Ukrainian and Jewish, so this was a special request, and not part of my repertoire as a wedding officiant, haha.)   

P.S. - As you can see, I'm wearing the fedora style of hat that seems to be a "thing" among hipster-ish twenty-something males at the moment. I would never have bought that kind of hat before... but per the couple's request, I had to wear one for the wedding, as a way to make me "stand-out" from the rest of the groomsmen (since I technically still was one, and that what I was first asked to do)... anyways, now I kinda like that style of hat. And I own two. Dangit, cuz!

P.P.S. - You see all those flowers in the aisle? Well, it's not on grass, they were on rocks... and I totally almost ate it walking down the aisle at the very top of the ceremony. Luckily I got myself, but some of my cousins on the side got a chuckle from it... phew!

StrengthsFinder 2.0

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" -Benjamin Franklin


I saw this quote on Gallup's StrengthsFinder site and really liked it. So much so that it was a status of mine earlier this week, haha. 


Back in 2005, as part of my church's leadership conference that I attended, I took Gallup's StrengthsFinder assessment. There was this book called "Now, Discover Your Strengths" which discussed how we as individuals are stronger in some traits than in others (they have a list of 40), and they emphasize the importance in knowing and understanding how you operate so that you can find better enjoyment from and be better contributors in your different environments. 


Anyways, so 21-year old me took the assessment and these were my top 5 strengths (in order) -- 

• deliberative
• harmony
• consistency
• restorative
• connectedness

They definitely fit this introverted thinker who dislikes conflict, prefers to go with the flow and tries to get along with everyone.

Anyhow, last week a college buddy of mine posted that he'd retaken it and he'd changed in a few aspects. Which is expected when you're in your twenties and in that season of change post-college. So it prompted me to re-take it again as well. So here is present-day 27-year old me...

• deliberative
• harmony
• consistency
• adaptability
• maximizer

Still the super introvert who thinks a lot, appreciates peace and is relatively steady and fair... but the rankings for three and four changed and I'll be reading more about them. The new book (StrengthsFiner 2.0) is about what these strengths are and how you can enhance them and utilize them in your daily life, so I'll be delving into studying all five again soon (I bought the book on my iPhone's Kindle app, haha)... so I guess maybe my plan is to have a separate blog post on each strength as I learn more about it. (Of course, I also was supposed to blog about how it was to perform in the musical, and I didn't really follow up on that, so we'll see what happens here.)

On a song note - just got back from Flood where I met up with Andy and it was so good to experience fellowship and worship with a close friend, since on the off-chance I do make it to church these days, I'm always alone. But our worship band (who is amazing) led us in Chris Tomlin's "Our God". Definitely a current fave of mine, so wanted to share that here. 

ETA - Just noticed I've blogged seven times this month... and it's only half-way through the month. Not sure why I'm all word-y, even if it is all random babbling... but it's cool with me. :) I'm sure I'll be phone blogging even more when in Chicago next week! Woohoo!

The One With the Invisalign

So today after a few months of waiting and years of not taking care of my teeth, I finally got braces at the ripe ol' age of 27. I think some people assumed that since my upper row of teeth look fine that so were my lowers... but they've always been crooked and made me self-conscious such that I don't smile a full smile...

Well soon that will be no longer! It'll take 27 trays (I.e one years worth of trays) but I will soon have straight teeth and a Crest kid smile!

I'd post the "before" shot but I'm still self-conscious, haha. But my dentist showed me the week-by-week progress via the computer program, so it'll be faster than traditional braces.

At the moment, I sit inside Mosaic's Artisan Lounge event, waiting for the live performances to begin, but I'm also feeling pretty tired. Figured I'd do a quick blog to keep me entertained (since I already played all my Words with Friends games)...

The Best Thing I Ever Ate

[gets mind out of the gutter]


Ahem. So today I decided to escape the office for lunch and recruited my coworker Cecile to join me as we hunted down the MIHO Gastrotruck. Weird name, but great food! Apparently there's this new trend of gourmet food trucks. I'd seen them up in Venice Beach when I visited a friend last year, and at the time I didn't quite understand why people would eat from a food truck...

Fast-forward a few months later, when upon leaving the Ould Sod at 2am, there was a Mexican food truck and my friends and I were slightly drunk and hungry. And their street tacos were both cheap and fantastical. But I still didn't think much of these whole food trucks.

Then I started noticing that they're on TV (both sitcom and on The Food Network), and in magazines, and I started doing my research. And there was one called the MIHO Gastrotruck that used locally grown produce and had a menu that changed regularly.

Here was todays...

Needless to say, when I saw there was a burger with both peaches (which I love) and bacon (which I lust after), I had to go for it.

And the second I bit into it, my heart melted inside... the patty was just right, the bacon was thick and crisp and flavorful, and all the pieces of it blended so wonderfully in my mouth, and it's watering again just thinking about it...

Anyways. Best thing I ever ate. At least until I go to another food truck and try something else. There's one called Devilicious that currently has a PB&J with Cream Cheese and Bacon (intrigued) and a Lobster Grilled Cheese sandwich... anyone wanna join me on these food truck hunts?

Reference: www.mihogastrotruck.com

So I Wish I Could Dance

If only I could dance like these fine folk... love these routines! The choreography, musicality, athleticism...

(Though it probably also helps that I love all these songs too.)

Dancers: Talia and BJ (from the Canada edition, I guess)

Song: TI and Justin Timberlake - Dead and Gone

Dancers: Katie and Joshua

Song: Adele - Hometown Glory

Sidenote: I had a crush on Katie during her season... while Chris had a crush on Twitch, heh. This was also my first intro to the awesomeness of Adele. 

Dancers: Sabra and Neil

Song: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams

And one more Katee dance... because it's kinda hot. IMO.

Dancers: Katee and Joshua

Song: Angela Via - Baila Baila

A Decade of Concerts

So tonight I joined my cousin Mendy, her boyfriend Alex, and some of their friends at the Del Mar racetrack to celebrate his birthday by betting on a few races and (once the last race was finished) watching the... wait for it... WEEZER CONCERT!!!

Weezer is fun, catchy, and they are great live performers, and as we stood there in front of the stage waiting for the show to begin, it dawned on me... they were my very first concert, back in 2001... ten years ago! Which of course got my mind going on this whole "decade of song" tangent and how I would have to write about it when I got home. 

[insert that hazy music you hear on a sitcom when a character goes into "flashback" mode]

It was November 2001... I was a young freshman at UCSD who was just starting to diversify his music tastes beyond pop radio stations, and getting into the whole mp3 thing / downloading thing too, and in doing so discovered a band called Jimmy Eat World. This was before they hit it big, as I got into their (at the time) newest CD called "Bleed American" prior to the events of 9/11, which prompted a name change to the disc. Anyways, I *loved* them, so when I found out they were touring as one of the opening bands for Weezer (who I had also just recently heard and started to enjoy as well), I *had* to go. 

So I went with my dad (as I had no concert-loving friends), who had no idea who these bands were, but went to keep me company... though thinking on it now, I think it was mainly because my parents didn't want their 17-year-old alone at a concert. But it was a great time over at Cox Arena - I remember the excitement, the singing along to all my favorite songs, the rocking out with my head and shoulders, taking in all the lights and staging, and the big light-up =w= logo for Weezer. It was a blast, and it started my whole concert fanaticism. I still have the ticket somewhere, boxed-up as a keepsake, along with almost all the concert tickets I've acquired over the last ten years. 

There's over 100, of this I am sure. 

But I'm glad I got my first taste of live music back in the day, and that it moved me to keep going. When I first started, I would just go by myself, and I'm glad that I did as I would've missed out on some killer shows if I'd been too dependent on having someone with me to do these things. And not just the big artist/band shows too, but the smaller coffeehouse / local music scene artists as well. 

One of my friends posted a picture of a crowd from a concert she recently attended, and her caption was something like "How can we be strangers when we're all here singing the same words?" And I loved that. It's very true and it's pretty rad to experience those moments where everyone is united in music and lyrics and enjoying every second of the song. 

Weezer had plenty of those moments tonight, especially with the crowd singing the chorus to "Undone (The Sweater Song)", or the "woot woot" sounds in "Buddy Holly", or screaming out "Say It Ain't Soooooooo-oh-whoa-whoaaaaa" for "Say It Ain't So"... 

So here's to the last ten years of concerts! Let's see what the next ten years bring... (*cough*Adeleplease*cough*)

Random Updates

Something I Currently Love: the band Foster the People

Listening to this CD as I type this out... definitely my current favorite band! I was lucky enough to attend their sold-out show at the House of Blues with two work friends in July, and they put on an amazing show. Great energy, sound, fun, dance-y in a way, and apparently they're cute (so says Suzy, who was at the concert and was all about the bass player, haha)... speaking of - if I'm ever in a rock band, I call the bass. They're always just chillin, rocking out, doing their thing, and I already play that in the video game Rock Band. :P

And it's funny at work to hear Suzy's mom start to sing the chorus... "all the other kids with the pumped up kicks..."



Things to Not Say to a Lady: Never tell a lady that she smells like sushi. Either you know why or you don't... needless to say, I didn't know why at the time. So in my naiveté I told Suzy's mom that she smelled like sushi, and she was all "no, no I do not!" To which I made it worse and said "yeah you do", and other people who were overhearing this were trying not to crack up while I was oblivious as to what was going on... sigh. When the story was retold at work today (and this happened yesterday), it made for a good laugh (she does a good job at telling the story, embellishing it just enough and making me blush)... we'll see how long the teasing goes, haha.

My Celebrity Doppelgänger: Awhile ago, it was a thing on Facebook to temporarily change your profile pic to that of a celeb. I really don't think I have one, so I didn't participate in the shenanigans. But I was walking downtown this evening, and some guy (not sure if he was homeless or not) asked me for change. I was in a rush and had no change, so I curtly replied "sorry" and kept walking. But then he called out again and said "hey man, you know you look like Tiger Woods?" I didn't turn back around, but I did laugh to myself... this was the second time in 6 years that I was told I resemble the golfer, with the first time being when my buddy Pete pulled me up on stage at Lestat's to beat up a piñata. Good times. :)