Giving in

Before the LV trip, I was convinced that I won't be doing any after Christmas shopping this year. Mostly because there are nothing interested based on my favorite stores website, plus I'm broke after thanksgiving and Christmas trip.

The other day, I was browsing through the website and saw 2 people wearing a pullover from my favorite store and they look so good in it >.<. So I went to the site and check out their pullover out of curiousity. Man, I was hooked to one/two items, but they are really expensive so my idea of getting them has been dropped.

During my stay in LV, tons of people were holding a BIG shopping bag from that store (which made me think that there was a big sale). Man, it was very tempting. Glad that I didn't have much time to go shop before 25th, else I would have gotten something, I believe. (PS: I should have gone to the store in LV, not to buy anything, but to spot someone. I have a feeling that someone could have gone to the store during her stay in LV .. hahaha)

When I came back home, my good friend told me that the pull over was on sale. After deep strugling, I have decided to go check it out (plus I want to look for a belt for my new outfit). I spotted the pull over, tried it on, and the next thing I knew, I'm paying for it (along w/ other tees which I think I'll return them).

I'm guessing it's tradition that at least I get 1-2 items from that shop every yr during after christmas shopping and I shouldn't break the tradition. hahhaha

聖誕節遊記 後傳

早在10月已經plan好這次旅行。一早book好飛，酒店，租車。11時還買了不少"輔助電子產品"。
講開租車，今次經朋友提點，book了架toyota camry

日本車的確有它的好。後座乘客話坐得好舒服。空間好大。超慳油(LA回來只用了半缸油）。唯一我不太喜歡是它的acceleration。我終於明白為什麼街上的camry那麼喜歡踩break啦。

今次車程中使用了新買的Garmin Navi 660 GPS。它真的很好用。就連一直反對我買這一部機的人也讚它不絕。真的不枉我花了那麼多時間等這部機推出。值得一讚是它的traffic alert，塞車時可讓你view traffic details or detour around the problem area. 還有，它的EAT真的很準確，不論路面的情況，你一定會在EAT時到達(很神奇的)。雖然這個GPS真的貴了點，但是我覺得真的物超所值。

酒店方面，location好適中。LV 人多車多，免不了還是不用車好。 It's good that Aladdin is walking distance to Paris, Bellagio, Caesars. 房間都ok，最重要是間房有view，可以樣我扮狗仔。 hahaha


這次旅行的主角就是Rain's Coming 06/07 World Tour。我之前在youtube看了showcase和韓國演唱會的相片，所以我大致知道演唱會流程。但是，看現場還是不同的。 某些服裝看相是不太好看的，但是在現場看又覺得不錯。雖然票價是貴了點，但是看了才知真的是值回票價的。大製作真的是大製作。舞台效果真的是很好看。 這次他全用英文對話(surprise)。其實他的英文已進步不少，只是他在模仿黑人說話時的語氣，有一點怪怪的。可能JYP幫太多黑人歌手做音樂吧。 雖然因場地問題而有些props不能夠使用，但是overall氣氛都不錯。我最喜愛的還是和showcase一樣 - Nan(我) 和 Friends。看showcase時，已經覺得唱Nan時的濕身效果很震撼。怎知現場看的時候還感覺到首歌的傷感。 唱Friends時的天使翅膀很漂亮，再加上白色禮服，真的有天使下凡拯救有需要的人的感覺 (我相信這首歌是World Vision Asian AIDS Awareness program 的"主題曲"吧)。
(這段你一定要看!! 就是這段令Mr. A 血脈沸騰的 ^^ 當然還有Nan那段也令Mr. A 血壓突然升高 hahaha)

(註：有朋友看完不明白為什麼Mr. A會血脈沸騰 [都沒大眼睛看]。 讓我來解釋一下吧。請注意他的對話內容。他用他的磁性聲音對他說一聲"My Baby"。 就是這一句話令他容化了。 hahaha)

The overall experience for this trip is very impressive. My experience on the gambling table has grown alot after the big win (hahaha). Everyone got to see a show in LV (w/ not so bad seating). I have seen lots of Asian singers' concert related promo in LV everywhere (billboard, display, video on hotel billboard sign on the strip, etc) (PS: Caesars ticketing center has Jacky Cheung's concert info ^^). I can't wait to see some Asian faces up on the major American stage. Asian Rocks, BABY!!! Aza Aza fighting!!

唯一的遺憾就是不能讓新買的Canon SD800 IS發揮它的功能。雖然已經拍了不少照，但還是拍不到最想拍的。我最想還是想試試它的IS function.

Useful links:
Complete LV photo book (including Rain's Coming concert) <-- lots of topless Rain because these are specially requested by Mr. A
Complete LV concert fancam
Rain's Coming concert info from Caesars Palace site
Rain World Tour Premiere DVD

聖誕節遊記 Part 1

12/23/2006
05:00	Departed Bay Area
07:00	Breakfast @ McDonald's. Many people stopped at this McDonald's for Breakfast.
08:33	foggy weather on I-5
13:15	Arrived @ LV. Dim Sum @ Chinatown. After lunch, we saw by Chinatown
15:00	Check in @ Aladdin. We handed the stack of driver's license, credit card, "Jackson", player's club card to the clerk. The clerk is around late 20's - 30's and he placed our "cards" on the table. We asked for complementary upgrade. The clerk said he'll see what he can do. When he was typing on his computer, I noticed that the stack of cards are gone. After a while, he asked if we want a bigger room or a room with a view. We have decided to go for the one with a view. So we ended up on 29th floor facing the Bellagio fountain.
17:30	We headed to Spice Market (@ Aladdin) for dinner. We waited for 45 mins at the casino level, and another 15-20 mins in the basement. They have a wide selection of food choices. The food is great (but too much MSG ) The dessert choice is my favorite.
21:00	We walked over to Bellagio to picked up O tickets for my parents and we saw by the ticket counter.
22:00	Headed over to Luxor for first night of luck. Played for 2 hrs and won $2.5

聖誕節遊記 Part 2

12/24/2006
10:00	Walked over to Paris for 2nd round of luck, won $20.
14:30	I headed over to the buffet line at Paris and waited for a hr. This is the buffet line @ 15:00. The food at Paris is good (as least not as much MSG as Aladdin). The crab leg @ Paris is much better than Aladdin. My favorite, the crepes. We asked for plain crepes and put ice-cream in it. We told ourselves that we should get more crepes because the little crepe shop outside of the buffet is selling for $7 each. haha
18:00	We headed over to Caesars Palace to check things out. We were trying to spot some Korean girls , but we end up taking pics of
18:30	The table @ Caesars to too expensive to kill time with. So we end up heading to Flamingo and found a mini-table. The game rule is the same, just that you get 6 cards instead of 7 cards.
19:15	We went back to Caesars for the concert. The door had opened and we had to get through security with metal detector . The security took away our camera because no cameras are allowed , and they gave out as complementation . The merchandise line was ridiculously crowed. Luckily that I wasn't planning to get anything.
20:00	We were seated and waiting for the show to starts. All of a sudden we heard people screaming in the lower level. We all bended over to look and saw people screaming and rushing to a row in the section right below us. It looks like it's some Korean celebrity. It turns out he's his hyung from Korea Giordano - Jang Dong Gun (張東健) .(Wondering if they are wearing Giordano clothing at the moment ). The show started right after JDG seated. Here is a short clip of the concert opening. (credit to aznswtgrl7 @ youtube)
22:00	The show is over and we are nearly deaf. The girls are screaming their lungs out throughout the 2 full hrs. We decided to go back to Flamingo for more fun.

聖誕節遊記 Part 3

12/25/2006

10:00	I headed down to the casino and saw that they are gambling. I was watching their game and then the idea of window shopping strike through. I headed to the mall in Aladdin and ended up doing some (pre)after Christmas shopping.
14:30	Lunch @ Satay Malaysian Grille. Food is decent.
15:30	Checked out Wynn.
18:30	Dinner @ Korean Tofu House on Spring Mountain Blvd. Had to be a Korean in one of the night hahaha
20:00	Casino night @ Aladdin. This is the night where I kept getting straight, flush, and full house. YEAH BABY!!! I end up making $107 profit off the table. Woo-hoo!! (too bad, I was playing for my dad)

12/26/2006

10:00	Bye bye Vegas. I'm coming, LA.
13:30	Lunch @ 翠亨村
15:00	Leaving LA. Heading home, finally
20:30	Dinner @ Cousin Cafe in Dublin/Pleasanton. I think the food is similar to the one in Newark. Not too bad.
21:30	Arrived home. It was raining really hard after dinner. We were joking that we brought rain with us from LV. haha

Z kicks off

credit to the person who took the pic

Cinderella?

I have been continuously watching TV drama recently and boy, most of them are "Cinderella" story type drama. There are only 2 endings in this kind of drama -

1) happy ending (they overcome their hardship and live happily ever after)
2) sad ending (1 (or both) of the main character dies at the end)

One of the drama that I watched really got me by surprise on the ending (although it's a happy ending, but really got me to do some thinking).

When everyone in the world goes against your action, what motivates you so that you do not give up on hope? Is it really just your own believe, love, and passion? Can we fight against the world alone (or with a partner)?

In reality, I don't think we can. Even though one should truly believe in his/her self, but we often don't have the strength to fight against all odds. When things get tough that we can't bear anymore, we may have given in to the "alternate" options make available to us by our opponent.

I do agree with the writer that fairytale doesn't necessary be fiction, it could happen in reality at anytime and anyplace. Any story could be a fairytale story as long as we believe so.