As of Saturday, December 13th 2008, Jules and I are engaged!

A big part of my moving to London (and when I say big part, I mean all of it) was to be with Jules, my girlfriend of then 2 years. I knew if things were good then I would ask her to marry me. Well, things turned out good, are still good, and as of December 13th, we are officially engaged!

The ball started rolling on December 1st when Jules met me at Victoria station after work. I gave her a little silver box, resembling a little like a ring box, with a chocoloate and a note inside. The note read that I would be giving her something sweet everyday from now until Christmas, just to tie her over before she can open her Christmas gifts.

So everyday she had a little box waiting for her, with a little note in it and sometimes even a present to go with it. The plan was let get her to expect these boxes and not to think that they were setting up for something big. She later confessed that she felt a little nervous watching me casually pull out a ring-boxish box the first time, but thought "naw, he can't be proposing to me in the middle of a station. Especially not since he pracitically tossed the box at me!".  Perfect, my plan was working.

Twelve days had gone by, and twelve boxes had been opened. On Saturday, December 13th, I made sure the day went on as normal. We went to the mall together, she started work, and I went to my Jiu Jitsu class. Except this time, I went after class to get a haircut and some flowers. I got home and told her parents of my intensions and got their blessings. I cleaned up her room, piled up twelve boxes on her bed, and even got changed into a nice shirt and sweater.

I mean I HAD to get changed, really. I don't care what you say, but proposing in my ThunderCats t-shirt would NOT be a good idea.

9pm rolled around and I went to pick her up from work. We went to a pub to get some dinner, and when we got home, she quickly dashed upstairs to speak to her folks without even glancing at her room. 

I waited patiently downstairs for her to finish her chat with her mum.

What I didn't count on was that the X-Factor finale was on at the same time. For those who don't know the X-Factor show, it's American Idol but better. Leona Lewis was discovered through the series a couple years back and this year's winner, Alexandra Burke, gave an emotional performance of Leonard Cohan's "Hallelujah" to win this year's crown. Simon Cowell is also a judge on this show; go figure that Simon Cowell is to blame for any mishaps of my perfectly planned proposal.

Jules watched the final moments of the show with her mum upstairs, even shouted down "Ant, X-Factor is on!"

Who cares?! I'm about to ask you to marry me!!!!!!!!

 

After a long while, I couldn't take it any longer. I marched upstairs, dragged my poor unsuspecting soon-to-be finacee down to her room to the twelve boxes that I had set up.

I also had left her camera in front of the boxes with a video for instructions...

She started cracking open the boxes after watching the video, at first not suspecting much. But as she opened more boxes to pieced together more letters, her spidersense went tingling. Why are the letters coming together like it's spelling "Will You Marry Me?" Why is the room exceptionally clean? Why are there roses beside the bed? Wait, why is he in a smart sweater? Wasn't he in his ThunderCats shirt this afternoon?

After she had opened all the boxes and pieced together the message, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. 

Am I ever glad she said "yes"... or that would have been embarssing. :P

Enter The Ping Pong

Just... awesome.

Only in London

Something rather amusing...

The company I work for delivers lunch to us everyday. We order from Marks and Spencer's lunch menu and it arrives usually around noon. But today, instead of lunch, we get this email:
=============================

Dear all


Due to road closers around Portland House (the Queen is visiting parliament) the M&S delivery chap is unable to bring our lunch in….but we have a plan… we are going to go and meet the delivery guy at Victoria bus station…please be patient with us, it will be delivered to you as usual as soon as we collect it.


===================================

Sounds a bit elaborate just to bring sandwiches in, doesn't it? Her Majesty The Queen has personally delayed my lunch. I feel honoured. And hungry.

Monkey Business

A friend of mine, from back in my future friendly days, has started a new line of momwear called Monkeywear. Dads can wear them too, I just think they look so much better on moms. Gone are the tacky extra peripheral baby carriers, here's a slick new way to take your baby around. I think it's genius. I swear I'm not getting a cut for saying this.

Monkeywear is the runnings for the SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of The Year award, a well deserved award for a very innovative product. Please go vote for them!

http://www.momentrepreneuraward.ca/MomBio.aspx?momID=265

Record Breaking

In 5 minutes, it will be July 21st. Which means that I will have officially beat my "longest employment in London" record. Hoo-rah!

Out Geeked

Jules recently discovered that you could purchase old school Nintendo games on the Wii and play them for under a fiver. She was quite excited when we downloaded Mario Bros. 3 and told me that she used to play it religiously. I really didn't believe her until we started to play and man, she knew EVERYTHING. She knew when to jump, where to jump, where the secret coins are, etc. etc. etc. I kept dying and was watching her play in complete amazment. I just got out geeked by my GF! Makes me feel proud somehow.

I later downloaded Double Dragon. For a game that has a character named "Abobo", it's held up against the test of time pretty well.

Goody Goody Gumdrops!

A month ago, I blogged about the dodgy experiences I've had with job opportunities that I found on Gumtree. Ironicly, I'm now blogging about the best interview experience EVER thanks to the site. This past monday, after a gruelling week of coffee making (I'll blog that later), I travelled to North London for an interview I had set up via Gumtree. I went in with no expectations, partly because I was so jaded from previous experiences and partly because I didn't have time to look up the company.

When I walked into the office (which was a residential unit tranformed into office space), I was first greeted by a friendly lady followed by a DOG. Before the lady could say "I hope you don't mind dogs", the large canine (for those who remember Jesse, they're about the same size) jumped all over me and I was goofing around with the playful pet. The owner of the company came out, shook my hand, and we were off to do the interview. The woman turned out to be the creative director, and she joined in as well.

There was just something about these people that I instantly clicked with. When they talked about the company and the position, they weren't just talking business. They were talking career paths, passion, work/life balance, team atmosphere, and being honest and transparent with one another in the company. I felt safe to completely open up and talk about my career and life goals, which resulted in the best time I've ever had applying for a job. For an hour an a half, there was more laughter going on then there were canned interview questions like "what are your greatest weakness?" or "what do you see yourself doing in 5 years?". Well, those questions were asked as well, but when they asked them, it felt like they actually cared for the answers that I was giving them. To sweeten the deal, the company does marketing for restaurants and hospitality businesses, and I was to be their studio project manager.

The company felt like it was on the same page with me and I will be in a position to contribute enormously and learn a hell of a lot at the same time. I ended the interview by saying "I came in here to see I was a good fit with the company and vice versa. If so, great. If not, no hard feelings." They responded to that with "Don't worry, you're going to be a great fit." I felt extremely confident that I got this job, but then you can never be certain until they offer you the job, yeah?

For four days, I anticipated their call. I didn't care if they called with a positive or a negative response, I just wanted them to call me with SOMEthing. OK, I lied, I wanted them to tell me that my gut instinct was right and I will start work soon, but either way I needed closure. It's very rare that I feel so certain about a job and felt so excited to be part of a company. Even with my last gig, I felt a bit of reservation. Well, we all knew how that turned out.

On friday afternoon, I got the call to join the team. Not only am I relieved that I will be working again, but I'm also very certain that it's with the right company this time around. It'll certainly last longer then three weeks. ;)

Paparazzi For Geeks

It must suck to be a celebrity. Every time you see them on TV or photographed in a magazine, they are always swarmed by paparazzi. Even Masi Oka has a small contingent of photographers following him once in a while.

There's an incredible demand for these paparazzi photos, mostly because normal folks want to see celebrities fall or be caught in compromising positions. Watching them trip over themselves or walk around without make up makes us feel like we're not any less then these glamorous stars, who are somehow superior beings because of their status. We really shouldn't need these photos to justify our existence, but somehow, it helps.

Until now, this feeling of justification was reserved for the TMZs of the world. Not any more! A new blog named PhotoshopDiasters has surfaced recently, citing surprisingly bad and often hilarious mistakes done by graphic pros. Photoshop geeks rejoice as press-release photos of a three-armed Beyonce are exposed, or a 6 fingered woman is used for the latest Grand Theft Auto ads.

Enjoy.

http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

Penalty Shots Are Stupid

Millions of people glued their faces to the TV screen yesterday as Chelsea took on Manchester United in the Champions League finals. The teams were evenly matched and the outcome was ultimately decided with penalty kicks. Man U are your 2008 Champions League... uh... champions.

It's really unfair for the game to end this way. Here are two of the world's best teams, both utilizing superior passing, conditioning, defence, team chemistry, and other elements to get to the finals. The champion was then decided on ONE single element of the game, penalty kicks, of which majority of the goaltender's chances of defending a shot is guessing where the shooter will place the ball. The team element is gone. The essence of the game is gone.

Hockey has recently (2005-2006 season) adapted to deciding a draw game on penalty shots as well; while understandably it is an easy solution to decide a clear victor, consider what happens if we applied this principle to other competitions:

• Rather then playing extra innings until a winner is decided, baseball will now hold a home run derby after the 10th inning.
• Rather then playing overtime, basketball games will now be determined by foul shots. Better yet, a slam dunk contest.
• If there's a tie in a golf tournament, it will be decided by a long drive competition. The person who hits it the furthest wins, best out of 5.
• Rashad Evans fought Tito Ortiz in UFC 73 and judges ruled a draw between the fighters. This could have been solved if they took turns trading punches in the face to see who loses a tooth first.
• The final contestants in spelling bees will now have a staring contest. Loser laughs first.

Penalty shots. Ridiculous.

Another Dailymotion Gem

Hillarious spoof on Christian music, bang on with the mannerisms and personalities. Love the Rick Warren tribute Hawaiian shirt...

Jesus People - Episode 1
Uploaded by jesuspeople

Dodgy Dodgy Gumdrops

The Great Job Hunt started again the moment I was finished with my gig at the promotions agency. Since then, I've interviewed with several head hunters and have interviewed with two companies. The first one, arranged for me by a headhunter last week, loved me, but unfortunately they were unable to hire someone on a contract basis. The other, an award winning design agency that I found on Gumtree, turned out to be a strangely dodgy experience.

Gumtree is an excellent public classified service for London and the UK, similar to Craiglist or Kijiji. The difference between Gumtree and these other classified services is that while it's free to browse, it costs someone £25 to post an ad. This ensures the quality of postings and that the person posting is actually serious about it. Looking for a job on Gumtree seemed like a perfectly good solution to my employment troubles, especially since I have a friend who's now very happily employed in a medium sized company that he found on the site. He found the job 3 days within his job search.

Sadly, my experience hasn't been nearly as good. Since March, I've secured 5 interviews via job postings on Gumtree and 3 via headhunters. The Gumtree interviews have all been with small companies, one of which hired me but didn't quite work out. My interview yesterday was the strangest yet, as the Director that interviewed me showed some very troubling signs:

• When I walked into the interview room, she didn't look like she was very happy to see me at all.
• She refused to tell me her name when we shook hands in the beginning, even refused to acknowledge when I said "oh, you must be Jacky". When the other person in the room interviewing me asked her if she introduced herself yet, she said that she'll do it later.
• She took my CV and totally destroyed it. By that I mean she folded it, crumpled it, wrote all over it. Thanks to her, I have to spend more money to reprint my CV and portfolio again.
• She kept showing signs of stress, which I really don't understand as *I* should be the one stressing out.
• She kept criticizing me in front of me, said she couldn't figure me out, and at one point even made a personal attacked on my employment choices. This was the first ever interview where I actually got mad at the employer. I didn't feel like I needed to defend my life against someone that I didn't know.
• When I asked about the job itself, the answer that I got was so generic and wishy-washy that I really don't think they knew what the job was themselves. This made me even more pissed as they demanded detailed answers from me but couldn't reciprocate when I asked for one from them.
• Half way through the interview, I had visions of me flipping the table over screaming "This interview... is OVER!". I just wanted to end it and go home. I have a feeling that she's worse then Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.

On the other hand, the interviews arranged by headhunters were always very pleasant and all the jobs seemed to suit me well. I'm wondering if I should abandon doing my job search on Gumtree altogether and just wait for these headhunters to call me. Sounds lazy, but I don't want to spend £50 reprinting my CV everytime an interviewer finds a need to use it as a stressball.

Persepolis

A couple of weeks before my departure to London, I stockpiled on some movies in case I needed to kill time while job hunting. Within my pile was Persepolis, nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars and based on a critically acclaimed graphic novel of the same name. It came highly recommended by a movie buff friend, and I was intrigued by the style of the movie and it's unique coming of age story. When I finally got around to watching it last week, I was all proud of myself because this movie had just started playing in London cinemas.


To my dismay, Persepolis was a French film and the copy I got was void of any English subtitles. There's an English dubbed version with the talents of Sean Penn and Iggy Pop, but this wasn't it. I decided to brave through it anyway, figuring that the stylistic animation will keep me from yawning and I'd be able to guesstimate the plot. I was right. The film was funny, witty, and at times disturbing. I got all that from not understanding a single word of the dialogue.


After watching the film, I bought the graphic novel to catch all the bits that I missed. As it turns out, Persepolis was a FRENCH graphic novel as well. Luckily, with the release of the film, I was able to easily find ample copies in English.


The book is a detailed autobiography of the author, Marjane Satrapi. Born and raised in war-torn Iran, her parents flew her to Austria for a better life. She later returns to Iran, only to find herself trying to readjust to a society that she no longer truly belongs in. The book feels like a diary, with snippets of memories that somehow all fit together. It also gives a very rare first person account of of what happened in Iran during that time.

For those who still think of comics as a medium strictly for superheros and jugheads, this book will change your perception in an instant. I'm convinced that Satrapi was able to tell her story far better with images then with just words alone. Her illustration style is very basic, all in black and white (not even a shade of grey), and it works very well in conveying her perception on her life's events.

I think I'm going to watch Persepolis (the movie) again, seeing how much I've missed in the dialogue. But this time, I'm gonna find it in English.

Summer for Spring

It's been getting pretty hot around here lately, hitting highs of 26 degrees. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were doing 12 and it actually hailed. I think we just skipped Spring altogether here.

With the heat comes a need to cool down, but I guess it's a concept that the English hasn't picked up yet. For the $4 you pay to ride the bus (if you pay cash... I suggest investing in an Oyster Card), you get NO air conditioning. That's right. There aren't even FANS. Is it so much to ask for some proper air circulation during the hot season? Hong Kong buses, practically identical to London buses, are fully equipped with a/c that will blast your face off. Toronto buses have a/c. I'm not suggesting that HK or TO does public transportation better, I'm simply noting that it's a basic feature EVERYONE ELSE seem to have.

I hear it's even worse in the Underground. There's no a/c there either, and it's even hotter then the buses with all the people crammed into the trains. My chinese mind goes crazy calculating how little value I'm getting for my $8 (again, if it's cash) trip in the tube.

As bad as I make it to sound, it's really a minor nuisance that I'm willing to put up with to be in this city. The sun was out for a full week and lit up this beautiful city. Football finals are on full tilt and there's excitement in the air. Summer music festivals are on soon as well... I can't wait to go into Hyde Park and listen to Eric Clapton for free. Well, they're unofficial "seats", and I won't be able to see Clapton or the screen. But I don't have the $80 for the ticket, so what's a poor boy to do? =P

Like zombies in Wales

Just returned from a quick visit to Cardiff, which is home to a beer called Brains. Naturally, we wanted some Brains. So we ordered it in a pub:

Bartender: "Hi, can I help you?"
Gav: "I'd like a pint of Brains Bitter please"
Bartender: "Sorry, but I have no Brains"

Indeed...

Here I am... On The Road Again...

Ever since I started working, I found it very hard to find time to write, let alone blog. So apologies to those waiting for me to reply a simple email, wallpost, or msn message. I spent countless hours in the office, trying to settle into my new job. The gig was something new to me, being an account manager for a promotions agency, hence I didn't mind investing a crap load of hours to get myself up to speed.

Waitaminute... let's check that. Past tense? "Was"?

Yesterday, I had a conversation with the director and we both decided that I wasn't a good fit for the role. On their end, I wasn't performing as they need me to be, simple reason being that I've never done promotions like that before. Product marketing? Branding? Design? Studio work flow? I'm your guy. But I found out that as much as I wanted to, I couldn't become the quick thinking, forward planning, third-party brand attracting promo machine overnight. Or even over a fortnight (that's what they call "two weeks" over here). The job required someone to do pretty much what Clear Channel would've employed six people to do; since I had never seen the full picture of how it works, taking my time to learn my way through was costing them money.

On my end, I wasn't a very happy camper for the past three weeks. I was frustrated with myself, frustrated with work, and I found my confidence slipping daily. Remember going into an exam that you hadn't studied for? That's how I felt like going to work everyday. I was learning on the fly and had no one beside me to cheat off of. That caused me headaches, literally, and Jules was even concerned for my health. I called up Pops (that's UNCLE T to you, foo!) for some guidance and we both agreed that stepping away from this gig would be best for me. 20 days of employment... that's an Ants record. I lasted a year and a half at Krap N' Piss.

Sounds kinda dark and depressing so far, yeah? Here, I'll pick up the optimism from this sentence on.

I must say that the "breakup" went really well, and the director is a total stand up guy. I hadn't intended on speaking to him about ending my time with them, but the conversation just led that way. He was very upfront with me, and promised me that he wouldn't hang me out to dry (ie the sorely missed pay cheque is still coming). He even offered a letter of reference, and offered help if I needed to look for employment.

That's good cause for optimism if there was ever any!

So I woke up this morning, refreshed and ready to take on the world again. I check my dear blog, and found messages left the day before and yesterday congratulating on my new job.

Whoops...

It's hard work getting work

It's official. Starting next monday, I'll be an account executive for a promotional agency that works exclusively with the video games and movie industries! After a slew of interviews and hundreds of miles travelled by bus and walking, I will start getting those "pay cheque" thingies again. Those are sorely missed. I miss my family and friends, with pay cheques coming in at a close third.

Good timing too, because we went out and bought a Wii last week. That'll have to be paid off some how.

I've learned alot about myself through this job search process. I've become so comfortable with interviews now that I'm actually looking forward to them, whereas I'd used to spend the night before practicing "what if" questions and repeatingly asking myself what my greatest strength and weakness is. It's an opportunity to speak with people in the industry, and you can pick their brains as much as they can pick yours. Thing is, interviews aren't just a time for employers to size up needy applicants, they're there just as much for us job seekers to size up which employer is good for us as well. They're not doing us any favors by hiring us, it's really our skills and time that they'll be exploiting for a profit at the end. They need us as much as we need them.

That's my mindset now, and it's helped me talk on an even level with potential employers. Rather then questions about my abilities, converstaions have led to understanding how the business works and exchanging ideas of how the marketing can be done or improved. At the end of the interview, I feel enriched and even though I might not get the job, I know that I've learned something. If they don't hire me, odds are I just wasn't the right person for their needs. Funny enough, those same companies usually don't fit my needs either anyway.

So here's hoping that this job that I start on monday is as good as I think it is and the company is a right fit for me. It could be the start of something bloody well amazing. =)

Nervous Pete
Uploaded by greensville123

Mobile Observations [March08]

[ain't she pretty?]

[try reading this sign, written in "Scottish"]

[strange fruit... or is it a veggie?]

[com'on, you know that's funny]

[accidentally came across a Manhua exhibit in an art college...
I didn't think chinese comics were big enough to be recognized like that?]

[caught some band named Kap Bambino with Buff the night before he left...
essentially a DJ and a screaming chick... the 300 hipsters in the pub approves]

[butthead: "uh-huh-huhuhuhuhuh"
beavis: "bunghole! bungholio!"]

Tron 1.2

I'm a big fan of Tron. I might be the only fan of Tron. Tron was made in 1982, and was probably the very first blockbuster movie to be made with computer graphics. Way ahead of its time. Without it to pave the way, we wouldn't have Pixar, Terminator 2, or The Incredible Hulk.

By the way, my cousin did the texture art for The Hulk and Abomination in the movie.

Uh... where were we. Ah yes, back to Tron. I found this wicked stop motion tribute to a true pioneer. Bask in it's glory. Bask!!

Tron
Uploaded by freres-hueon

Spontaneous Combustion

Crazy day yesterday, I promise you it's worth the read:

10:00: Met with outdoor advertising company for freelance graphic work
10:10: Phone rings during meeting, ignored it
11:00: Meeting adjourned, secured freelance work
11:05: Checked voicemail, headhunter called with news of a second interview with TV station at 16:00 the very same day
11:06: Call back headhunter, secured second interview and was assured that going in jeans will be ok
12:30: Met a friend from ClearChannel for lunch
16:00: Met with TV station, simultaneously interviewed by 3 managers
16:15: Phone rings during meeting, ignored it
16:30: Meeting adjourned, felt very positive about the interview
16:35: Checked voicemail, movie/gaming promotions agency which I had interviewed with twice previously called to see if I wanted to meet for a pint. I was just down the street so I called back and agreed.
16:50: Met with director of the agency, secured offer for a job. Thinking about offer, will get back to him on Monday about it.


Crazy huh? For those keeping count, that's 4 meetings, 3 interviews, 2 of which were spontaneous and unplanned, and 1 job offer.

Cool. =)

Child's Play

On the bus today, a ruthless battle between two young siblings ensued:

Sibling1: Mummy! Make him stop!
Mother: (sounding annoyed) What is it?
Sibling1: He won't stop copying me!
Sibling2: I'm not copying him!
Sibling1: (voice progressively gets higher and whinier) Stop copying me! You're doing everything I'm doing!
Sibling2: (now equally as whiny) No, you're copying me!


Ah, the Copy Cat. I bet we've all faced off with one of them before, always so devious when mimicking our every action and every phrase. Too bad it wasn't a punishable crime, I would have sent a few behind bars myself. How sweet would it have been to hear the judge say "you are hereby sentenced to life behind bars for copying"?

Surprise, suckas!

... and the first overseas visitor award goes to... Buff?? Whoa, didn't see that coming! He's teaching at a school for highly privileged children (i.e. rich) in HK right now and as a field trip, 30 kids got to go to London for a week to brush up their English and experience the British culture. My high school took me to Quebec once. My french still sucks.

Buff and I go way back, from Grade 4 or so onwards. It was really good to see an old friend, especially when it was pretty much a surprise visit. Good timing too, drinks were cheap on St.Patrick's Day weekend!

7 Down

'Nuff Said

I <3 my 3Skypephone

I'll admit it, I had an unhealthy emotional attachment to my phone in Toronto. The Moto A1200 is an excellent phone, did just about everything except make you bacon for breakfast in the morning, and it isn't readily available in North America. It brought me much bragging rights, and beeped at me when I have important things to do. Like buying concert tickets at 10 in the morning.

When I got to London, I had a dilemma. I wanted to go on the 3 network with my A1200 because their plans really were the best for me. Unfortunately, only 3G phones could get on their network. The A1200, as amazing as it is, is NOT a 3G phone. Dammit.

After a brief greiving period for my old phone (5 minutes), I decided that it's best to buy a new phone. Man, am I ever glad that I did. I got the 3Skypephone, a meek looking phone which packs a surprising punch. It's like the Luke Cuomo of phones.

It came in handy several times already, here's how:

• For about $10 a month, you get unlimited internet access. This made my near 10 hour bus journey to Edinburgh much more pleasant
• I'm able to keep in touch with friends and family over MSN on the road
• Downloaded Google Maps on the phone and saved me several times from losing my manhood (i.e. ask a stranger for directions)
• FREE Skype to Skype calls directly from my mobile. I was talking to friends in HK and (not) Detroit with a press of a button
• With a bit of hacking, I can call my family on their phone for next to nothing without sacrificing any of my precious mobile minutes

I feel like a gold digger, now completely attached to my new 3Skypephone simply because it can offer so much more to me.

Moto who? Never heard of her.

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Yesterday night, Jules took me out to my very first MMA live event. The day started off with a meal in our new favourite restaurant, followed by a beautiful walk from Greenwich through to Blackheath. Then it was off to Wembley for the fight.

"Wembley!", I heard you think. "That's the famous world class football (soccer) stadium that could seat 90,000 people! Awesome!"

Uh... we thought so too. But then the closer we got to the stadium, the more I wondered "how in the world could a fight promotion smaller then the UFC fill such a large stadium?"

Then we saw this and made our hearts sink a bit:

Turns out Cage Rage 25 was being held in an arena right NEXT to the famed Stadium. We checked out tickets again and it clearly says Wembley Arena, *not* Stadium. I didn't know Wembley had two venues... ah well, time for a re-pose.

Like a champ, Jules sat with me through the whole event and we had a great time. I highly recommend MMA fans to check out a Cage Rage event if you're ever in town, because our "cheap seats" were amazing. There's no way you can get that value with UFC events.

Here are some highlights:

• Almost all the pre-lim fights ended in the first round due to ground and pound
• As expected, football like chants were heard throughout the evening
• Crazy knockout by Tom "Kong" Watson on Pierre Goulette while on his back. Tom also wins the "best fans" award with a large section of fans bringing in inflatable bananas to support him. Kong, who comes out in a monkey mask for his entrance, also has a man dressed in a full body banana suit in his corner. Awesome.
• Ryan Shamrock, Ken's 19 year old son, looked pretty good in his fight but broke his hand and couldn't continue
• Ryan's old man, Ken Shamrock, looked better in his fight against British heavyweight Robert "Buzz" Berry then he did in his fights against Tito Ortiz. By that I mean he lasted past the 2 minute mark, then got knocked out silly
• Masakazu Imanari is your new hero

above: Robert "Buzz" Berry celebrates a historical knockout

above: the crowd on their feet after Berry buries Shamrock

Masakazu Imanari vs Jean Silva
Uploaded by uGotKTFO

Cage Rage 25 Ken Shamrock vs Buzz Berry-1
Uploaded by aurillia

I Suck

A few months back, Jules flew all the way to Toronto to visit me. Even though she doesn't quite enjoy it, she still came out with me to watch a UFC fight at a sports bar. She stood by me the entire time (literally, there were no seats), cheered with us as GSP demolished Hughes, and even kicked back a drink with the boys.

Last week, she showed me the Cage Rage tickets that she got for me as Valentine's Day gift. Cage Rage is the UFC of the UK, with majority of their fighters hailing from England. She's coming with me to a fight again, this time live at Wembley Stadium on the 8th. I'm stoked. I have a great GF.

A few nights ago, I tried to sit and watch The Notebook with her. This was part of the deal I made with her to get her to come to the UFC fight in Toronto in the first place. 30 minutes into the movie, she looks at me and says

"I can see that this is boring you. Let's put something else on."

She's going to watch 6 hours of voilence with me and I can't sit through 1.5 hours of chick flick with her.

I suck.

Blood and Guts

Instead of looking for employment, Jules and I decided to head up to Edinburgh for a few days. For those unfamiliar with the strange pronunciation of proper English, Edinburgh sounds more like "Edin-bra" then Pittsburgh, Duckburg, or Aki Berg. Don't ask me why, but since these guys invented the language,we'll just leave them to their illogical ways.


The first thing I would recommend to anyone travelling from London to Scotland is to NOT take the bus. While it was a total bargain (£13/person for return tickets), the 10 hour journey drove me crazy by the time we returned home. The train would only take 4-5 hours, and it should cost less then flying.


Scotland's capital greeted us with surprisingly cold winter winds, making me regret about forgetting to pack my hat. We caught a cab (Blackcabs, just like the ones in London) and made it to our hostel in one piece. The next morning, we joined a free walking tour hosted by Sandeman's New Europe. This was the same company that did the incredibly entertaining walking tour which my brother and I participated in Berlin two years ago, and the Edinburgh version lived up to my expectations. We walked for 3 hours and learned a lot more then we would discovering the city for ourselves, including facts about geology, history, and Harry Potter.

above: Harry Potter's a real draw for drunks

The city itself is incredibly fascinating as it is split into two by Princes Street. As the regions' names would suggest, Old Town is where the city began and New Town is the region where the city expanded into. The differences between these two parts are astounding, as Old Town's roads twists and turns in chaotic fashion while New Town was clearly planned out like a perfect grid. According to our tour guide, ever since the expansion began 250 years ago, the rich have continued to this day to migrate out of the old and into to the new. On the edge of Old Town lie the Edinburgh Castle, an imposing and striking structure which could be seen at any point of Old Town.

above: castle greyskull

Of course, no trip to Scotland would be complete without having some Black Pudding (made of pig's blood) and Haggis (made of a sheep's various intestines). I even discovered Macaroni Pies there, a higher level of Kraft Dinner. College students take note, this is an easy way to make something cultural for your next pot-luck... and chicks dig guys with culture.

clockwise: tattie scone, baked beans, tomato, bacon, black pudding, lorne sausage, and egg in the middle

Images From My Zoomed Journey

the FMPeeps sends me off with my final plate of Quarter White with Fries

the 300+ lineup for a hotel room

at last! I'm in London! (look ma, no winter jacket!)

Ooooi mates!

It's early tuesday morning, I've been in London for all of 3 days, but it feels like it's been an eternity already. Here's what happened...

After an early scare with my luggage (my suitcase and carry-on had a combined excessive weight of 50lbs over the allowance... whoops! But everything worked out), it looked like that my flight to London was going to be seemless. Up until boarding time, there were no indications that my Zoom Airline flight was getting delayed whatsoever. Then an announcement was made that the flight will be delayed for an hour.

No big deal.

The hour passes, the flight gets delayed again for another hour. I've flown with budget airlines before, so I didn't mind the delays since it's a case of "you get what you pay for". I start to get hungry and scour the airport for something affordable to eat. As I paid for my apple tunover (the money litterally had just left my hand), another announcement was made and our flight was GROUNDED.

Oh HELLS no.

A mad dash to the service counter followed, and the crowd which waited so patiently has now transformed into an angry mob. We were given a choice of a taxi chit to go home or a free stay at a nearby hotel room. I opted for the hotel room (didn't want to wake the folks up... plus our goodbyes at the airport would seem so counter-productive), and proceeded to walk with the herd outside to wait for the shuttle to take us there. The hotel was clearly not ready for this as only a single shuttle was dispatched to recieve us Zoomed refugees, which resulted in a 25 minute wait outside the bitter cold for yours truly. All this time, I txt'd and called a concerned and disappointed Jules in England to update her. When I finally get to the hotel, there was already a HUGE lineup for hotel rooms. I mean 300 people worth of a lineup.

Yikes.

Luckily, it would appear that only good people with a sense of humour flew budget airlines. The once stressed out line of people quickly became single serving friends (thanks Fight Club), and it seemed that we collectively chose to laugh then to cry about this ordeal. I even managed to help out these friendly strangers when I combined my laptop and the hotel's wi-fi into a free Skype service to those who needed to call the UK to inform them of the delay. (One person says of me: "I want this guy on my team if I'm ever on Survivor!"). 3 hours, I finally get a room. I sleep for 3 hours, get my freebie breakfast, and off to London I went once again.

Nice way to begin my trip, eh?