Things That Make Me Broke.

Vegas. I love the Vegas. I adore the Vegas. I've gone almost every year with my parents and let me just say, going to Vegas without the parents is a completely different experience. I had probably one of the most fun-filled weekends of my life, at least what I can remember of it.

Day 1: Arrived at 2, settled into the hotel room at 4, drinking by 5. Bomb buffet at the PH, watched the Lakers clinch their Game 4 victory, walked around the strip in drunken revelry. Shots at PH, Bellagio and the huge Paris drink at Paris (note to self, 5 Paris towers for seven people is three too many). Walked home from McDonalds to Trump in record time. Epic.

Day 2: Chilled at the pool til 5. People were already drunk in the jacuzzi. Ate a slice of pizza, got dressed, went to Tryst at 9. Partied until 3:30 but only really remember about an hour of it. Good times.

I didnt' realize Vegas was one of the only places in America where you can walk around with alcoholic beverages outside, but it is and it makes Vegas 100% better than any other city in the world. Just sayin'.

Coilovers. I finally got them! Megans, yum yum. When I got them on they were at a pretty acceptable height but after driving on them for half a day, they just keep getting lower and lower! I'll have to adjust them upwards soon again. My car looks hot, though I'm scraping everywhere. And I've yet to encounter a particularly steep incline... fingers crossed!

Until next time, zai jian!

-Justin.

Vince Chan, M.D.

I am too lazy to develop any of the following thoughts into a full fledged blog post, so here is another list of random stuff I'm thinking about:

-I wonder how people used to keep in touch. You know, before there was Facebook, before there was AIM. I think people used to have better, more genuine friends before Facebook and AIM, because then you are forced to know someone well enough to have their number, and have a phone conversation with that person. I remember my sister used the phone constantly when she was in middle and high school, but now it's all about the internet. And as great and convenient the internet is, I can't help but think that it adds a layer of superficiality and non-genuine closeness to people you know and might call "friends."

- I do not remember how to work my game and pick up girls (though, to be fair, I never had game to begin with, so I dont' really have much game to remember anyway). How do you impress girls online anyway?

- I start these lists with the word (or letter) "I" too much, so in effort to change that...

- My brother graduated from medical school this past weekend. It was an incredibly cool moment to hear the official words "Dr. Vincent Chan" uttered from the medical school dean. And as cool as it was for me and my parents, I'm sure it was even cooler for Vince. I asked him about it later and he said the whole thing was sort of a blur for him; he couldn't remember much at all. I found that cute: my brother rarely gets super nervous to a point where things become a blur for him, so it was clearly a big point in his life. He still likes to brush it off like it ain't no thang though, in true Vince fashion.

I went to Cleveland this past weekend for my brother's graduation. I love the green in Cleveland, and I love the sort of European-eastern look of the towns and the houses. I've been there during the winter and it is pretty abysmal, and in the middle of summer when it was hot hot hot and hummid, but it was May this time and absolutely perfect! A little chilly but not too much, blue skies and light breeze. My brother took us around his 2nd home to show us what Cleveland was all about, and to say good bye to the place where he called home for seven years. There is a surprising amount of awesome, cheap restaurants and hotspots in Cleveland, and as a whole it's a pretty nice city, I just don't think I could live there for an extended period of time. I mean, there's no surf! :[

-Greenery, greenery, and more greenery. This is what Cleveland does best.

-Chagrin Falls.

-My bro is officially a doctor!!!!

Until next time, zai jian!

-Justin

"I found a fatal flaw in the logic of love."

Haven't been showing the ol' blog much love lately, so I figured I would say a hey and what's up with a few things swimming around in the good ol' noggin:

- I have a problem with spending money. I fully admit that I have a problem but I can't seem to stop. Not everyone drops 200 bucks on a camera flash just because. Or 800 dollars on a new suspension for his car. The problem is that I decide to surround myself with photographers with an obscene amount of expensive gear. They are very grounded and cool people, and they're in college. How do they afford to buy so much crap? I surround myself with people with cars that are obscenely modded, and they are also very grounded and cool people. It makes me fool myself into thinking that spending such large amounts of money on very ultimately useless things like a new flash or coilovers is normal, but it's not, really. But I still do it! I need someone to slap some sense into me.

- I am missing the last Sun God of my undergraduate career for my brother's med school graduation. Though I feel kind of stupid making a big deal out of it in front of my family, I don't think they really understand the whole mythos of Sun God to UCSD students. When I try to explain why I need a Saturday flight instead of a Friday flight, I can't really reply with anything other than, "A concert... lots of drinking..." Clearly not things a parent wants to hear. But how can you describe the ethereal vibe that springs forth from the UCSD campus on Sun God? How can you describe how much happier people and the campus is, and what a great experience it is to just be on campus as a student and revel with your traditionally quiet and subdued campus? Sun God is more than just a concert and drinking, it's the best day UCSD ever sees all year because it just makes everyone happy, and I'm really going to miss that. (Not that I don't want to go to my brother's med school graduation. But it's on Sunday... so why do I have to be missing something on Friday? Sadness.)

- My car is giving me a never-ending well of things to do. What should be a relaxing and completely bumming-out extended break has me waking up early and running around to fix my car. After I finally managed to get the wheels, brakes, fuel pipe, and 2 other recalls fixed, my car was ~perfect~ for about two days, when the subwoofer in the back decided to blow. Back to the dealer my car goes. Oh and the fog light is still broken. Drats.

- I'm way too overprotective over things I love. I seriously freak out over the smallest and stupidest things my dogs do; for example, I get super nervous when I drive them around because I'm afraid they will leap out so I have to hold on to them while I'm driving even though they're a) clearly attached to the seat and b) not stupid enough to jump out the window (I think). Not sure how overprotective I will be over my kids if and whenever I do have kids.

- I took about 700 pictures at Seoul and Beijing and felt like my photo skills improved quite a bit while I was there. However a pushy old Korean lady knocked me over resulting in me dropping my flash and breaking it to smithereens. And since old Korean ladies are freaking scary, I couldn't really do much about it besides bitch, moan, and become more poor.

- Usually I become really fixated on types of music which end up very strongly influencing the music I write. For the first CD it was Jason Mraz, Coldplay, and light Death Cab. For the second CD, it was almost exclusively darker Beatles material (like Eleanor Rigby, Day in the Life, etc.) I'm currently listening to obscene amounts of Beach Boys, Killers, Shins and Franz Ferdinand. (By the way, the Shins are AMAZING live) Should be interesting, should a third CD ever come into fruition. Marie where are you!

- I find myself questioning love or at least my ability to ever know what it really is.

Until next time, zai jian

-Justin