some more photos from Chicago

And last, we bought this gorgeous wedding dress for $2.40 at the best thrift store i've been to (and i've been to many). It fit Jordan perfectly:

SoCal

The Golden State

Las Vegas

My old friend, Duong, came to pick me up at the San Diego airport on the 31st. Duong was, and still is in my group of close friends from middle school. We hadn't seen each other for 4.5 years, since I left for college the summer of 2005 - how time flies. We left almost immediately with two more friends of hers. Direction: Las Vegas. So was *everyone* else. It took us 8 hours, instead of the usual 4. The traffic was absolutely insane - it was at times as bad as sitting in a cab in Times Square - it drives you nuts 'cause you are *not* going anywhere, and it seems like it'd be 5 times faster walking.


Back




Front




The line




We, fortunately, made it to Vegas safe and sound. Unlike these guys - and many others - who were pouring gallons of water into their overheated engine.




(btw, going back on the 2nd was just as bad)



Have never seen a more artificial city where you can let yourself be so superficial. It was the same almost everywhere, casino after casino, mall after mall - a show of repetition and imitation. All the casinos/hotels have names like Paris, Venetian, New York, Egypt, etc. And I don't want to pass judgment, but I saw some of the saddest people there. What's so fun about sitting for hours in front of a machine and mechanically pressing one button every two seconds with your fingers?




That said, it was a hell lot of fun for New Year's Eve. We did not go to any fancy clubs. We were just outside rubbing our arms with thousands of people, counting down to the new year, to the new decade. Each hotel had its own fireworks, so we kept turning left and right to catch the show. For me, that's what new year's eve's about: lights, sound, people, the more the merrier.

Chicago parks

It's cold here in Chicago. The feels-like temperature during the day hovers around 20F and sometimes dips down to 10F, -6C and -11C respectively. It's not the weather for chilling outside, but if you have been to the beach in the winter, when the sky is endlessly gray and the wind keeps cutting into your face no matter how low you keep your head, you know that it is miserable, depressing, but the solitude at the same time is strangely irresistible.

We walked to the shore of lake Michigan, and visited a couple of parks. It didn't feel like being in the third largest city in the U.S.

Lake Michigan:

view from above




on the way







Lincoln Park:






Grant Park (?)

Arriving in Chicago

I got to Chicago on Christmas day and got picked up at the airport by Trent and Jordan, whom I'm staying with for these few days. On the train home, we were brainstorming on the must-do, must-see of Chicago and only two things popped up in my mind:
the wind - which I wouldn't have to go out of my way to see, and
Al Capone and the gangs way back in the 20s - something I could learn about by sitting at home watching movies like The Untouchables or Road to Perdition.
I could not think of a monument, a landmark, or a neighborhood that would epitomize the experience of a tourist in Chicago, despite its name being one of the most instantly recognizable. I shouldn't have been surprised. I knew there must be tons of fun things around Chicago; it's just that I rarely ever do much research before hitting a place, relying mostly on local "informants". It also increases my chance of running into pleasant surprises, which is exactly how it has been here in Chicago.

That day, for dinner, we decided to walk on Broadway, the neighborhood's "Main Street" to see what was open. Something caught my eyes, and I pointed it out to Trent and Trent exclaimed: "Oh, they have a Vietnamese Association here." I was actually pointing to a red neon lights blinking bubble tea shop - one of Trent's fascinations - but Trent thought that I was pointing to the old building next to it, the Vietnamese Association, which I completely overlooked until that moment. Scanning my eyes further down the block, I realized that the businesses were all Vietnamese, from income tax, to travel agency. And it was at least three blocks - that's how far my eyes could see.

It was exciting; I'd never seen a Vietnamese enclave like this before - which might change real soon since I'm heading to the West Coast. In Connecticut, it's one plaza in West Hartford, consisting of a big Vietnamese (more like pan-Asian) market, a restaurant, and a DVD shop. In Manhattan, it's one lonely side of Baxter street in Chinatown with 5 or 6 Vietnamese restaurants next to each other.

We walked into a Vietnamese restaurant - Pho Tank (Phở Xe Tăng) and were each given a thick menu. I had never seen such an extensive list of phở, bún khô, bún nước, mì, bánh canh, etc. What was phenomenal though, was that it was the first time that a server replied to me in Vietnamese. My typical interaction in a Vietnamese restaurant in New York or Connecticut would go more like this:
Me (in Vietnamese): 1 tô phở đặc biệt ạ (one bowl of special pho please),
The server (in English): You want number 14?
I don't know why. But I know that those older folks have no problem understanding me, even though I have a strong Northern accent, and especially since it's such a simple phrase. Anyways it always weirds me out.



Broadway, Chicago. In this block, you can see: two Vietnamese restaurants, a DVD shop, and a dentist's.

the making of history

The election is today. Everyone talks about being part of history. I confess i felt jealous for not being there during this historic moment [there's another one in VN right now as well]. I also missed out Obama's speech at my school. But after all, it's not so important whether i am there or not, i'm still witnessing right now, admitted from far away. The most important question is not: were you there? Rather, it is: what did you do that moment?

fucked up priority

every one's been talking about it: the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. An economics illiterate, i cannot comment. Let's just assume that this in the long run is better for tax payers. It's taking some money away from them, true, but the other scenario would be much worse. So the government is just choosing the lesser evil. Let's agree on that.
But what about all the public schools, healthcare system, pollution, ok, nothing new, they're all so old, but they're not worth rescuing?

breast

yay! everyone's fav topic.

Vietnamese: small, mostly As and smaller. Seems to have been so forever and i haven't seen much change in the past 10 years or so despite our diet heading into a new path. And for stupid reasons, we are still so embarrassed about it and can't embrace it as part of our figure and feature.

French: have to say i'm not quite sure since i was there for only 6 months and it was cold most of the time so despite their fashionableness, people bundled up (in black or grey) so it was hard to judge. I'd say mostly As and Bs, look quite proportional to their shape.

American: huge. I've seen guys in Vietnam goggled their eyes out at Bs. In the U.S. Bs and Cs are such a common sight. Ds are fewer, but you still see them around.

Indian: have the most beautiful breasts that i've ever seen, no matter what size they are, from the skinniest to the chubbiest.

A side note: In the U.S, i wear an XS, sometimes an S, hate that feeling when i go shopping and find that every top and dress looks weird on me because of the bubble that my breast can't fill in.
In France, I wear an S, clothes generally don't have that breast "pocket" and plus, once i wear bras, my breasts have better shape so they fit better. However, my American friends had a lot of trouble finding something that gave their breasts enough space to breath.
In VN, I wear an M or an L (!?!?!) And sometimes, I ind things that would look like a binder on me, even when I've taken off my bras. Crazy. And have to keep in mind that my breasts are super small, like a typical Vietnamese.