martymcfry.com

It’s time for a loooooong post.. don’t worry folks, that just means a lot of pics.

I went to LA on Saturday to meet up with Joyce, Juno, Jan, and Lillian. We just ate at some yakitori place in Little Tokyo then hit the karaoke place in Korea Town. This is our story.

All of us had to get some cash and the only ATM machine was from Citibank. Me, being the cheap person that I am, complained of the $1.50 service charge. However something even worse that we noticed while at the ATM machine was Lilly Dee’s feet. She really needs to clean that nail polish off her toes.

We then hung out at the bookstore while waiting for Jeff. Joyce got some magazine about hairstyles because w-inds was on there. When Jeff arrived we went to the yakitori place next door. That place was slllooow, it took forever to get seated…
It was a perfect photo opp for Lilly Dee and I. Here is pic of Jan taken by Lilly Dee. I think he was playing the GBA when this was taken.

Here’s Lilly Dee and I waiting patiently to get seated.

Not only did it take forever to get seated, it also took a while for our food to arrive. Fortunatley, the food was pretty good. I had 2 beef orders, a lamb chop (which was just ok), scallops, and stuffed mushrooms. I also ordered the chicken rice bowl (whose name I cannot remember) thinking that I could finish it. Boy was I wrong.

Anyway, after dinner we went to the karaoke place where we spent almost 3 hours just singing our hearts out. And remember, it’s not karaoke without my rendition of Rammstein’s Du Hast! I know, Joyce, Juno and Jeff are gonna kill me for this but what the heck…

So that’s Juno covering his face. What a moron! I think they were singing Moon River at the time. LMAO! Also that’s my shoe at the bottom. Here’s a closeup!

Man it feels like I’m watching Tron.

So that was Saturday. Sunday is up Next where Juno and I went to a hockey game!

It was between the Ducks

and Coyotes.

If you look closely, you can see the great one himself, Mr. Wayne Gretzky, in the pic above. He’s the suit with hair. Here are some other pics.

Honestly, it was the first time I’ve ever watched a hockey game. Live or on TV, but the whole experience was really great! The Arrowhead Pond was nice and chilly, it felt a lot like winter you know. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago there was a badminton competition over there.

Anyway I’m glad to say that the Ducks won 3-2! Wahoo!

There were 14.8 sec left when I took the pic but everyone knew that the Ducks had it.

Yesterday was Jessica’s funeral and I was debating if I should go or not. I did not know her or any of the Herrons so I thought it would be awkward being there. After all, I was just your average joe who was on his way home that Sunday night after getting some food to eat. The last thing I expected was seeing an accident, calling 911, then being interviewed by the police telling them everything I knew.

That incident has been on my mind all week. Monday was probably the hardest day to deal with since that’s when I found out that Jessica had passed away. Until then, I was being my hopeful self and kept thinking how everyone was going to be ok. After all that, all I could do was replay what happened that night over and over again. I really needed some closure which is why I took some time off from work and headed to the funeral yesterday afternoon.

Keep in mind that the temple was located right on Michelson and Harvard, the intersection where the accident occurred. I had to park in Palace Park and walked slowly towards the temple. Anyway, there I was standing by the intersection and it felt weird just being there. I was just watching all the people in their cars going about their daily routines probably oblivious to what happened last Sunday. The only real indications that something had happened there were the pieces of glass on the road, spray paint marking where the accident occurred, and Jessica’s memorial, which was adorned with flowers, candles, and pictures.

It was really beautiful seeing the memorial but what was more beautiful was seeing how many people Jessica’s life had touched. I can’t believe how many people were there! There were so many that I ended up in the far corner of the second floor not being able to see a thing. Being short doesn’t help either, but you know what I mean. Anyway, it didn’t matter if I couldn’t see a thing because all I had to do was listen.

It was good to know that her dad still had a sense of humor after all of this. Those stories about how Jessica landed the part of the tree when she was five, how she made friends during freshman year of high school, and how she chose to go to the unknown by going all the way to Vanderbilt made me think how she lived life to the fullest. If it’s one thing that I learned from all of this is that in life it doesn’t matter how long you live, but what you do with it. Come on, we have to keep in mind that our time here is uncertain. For all we know, tomorrow could be our last day alive. Yes these are all clichés and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this in movies or something, but it’s something I never really took to heart. I have no show for if tomorrow was my last day. I’m 23 years old and here is this 19 year old person that has done more and accomplished more things than I have.

Anyway, I hope I don’t sound preachy or anything like that, but that’s what is in my head right now. I really have been feeling a lot better and I’m glad that tomorrow is Saturday… finally! Instead of just staying indoors all day like I normally do, I plan on spending the entire day out and having fun with life. I hope the rest of you do the same.

So last night, I was on my way home after getting dinner at Subway. I was headed west on Michelson and came to a stop on Harvard right by the limit line. There wasn’t anyone else in the intersection aside from a car to my right, and another car going east on Michelson. I just remember thinking how dead the streets were that night. I got ready to move after I noticed the car across from me started moving. However, I was not prepared for what would happen next. I had to witness one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life. Here’s what happened…

—

Irvine woman, 19, dies in crash
Her parents and brother are among the injured in the collision Sunday night.

By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register

Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call Irvine police officer Scott Vales or civilian traffic investigator Kyle Oldoerp at (949) 724-7000.

—

I cannot imagine what either families must be going through. I just wish there was something I could do to help aside from offering my deepest condolences; unfortunately, I don’t know what else I can do.

Anyway, take care everybody…

I went to MOCA yesterday with Joyce, Jan, and Lillian.

Here’s the MOCA poster with the reflections of the trio. Believe it or not, they were actually posing for this. LOL

For some reason, everything in MOCA was closed so there wasn’t much to do there except for playing Katamari Damacy. Here’s Jan rolling up a bunch of shit across the MOCA courtyard… he’s doing pretty good!

Saw these bags at the MOCA shop. I wanted to get bananas bag because I just love bananas!

After eating a ton of chinese food for lunch, we were all feeling sleepy and the priority was to get a dose of caffeine. The café at MOCA was closed so we headed to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I really love looking at the WDCH too bad Irvine doesn’t have any interesting buildings to look at.

Anyway, LA seemed so dead that day, maybe it was due to the weather. Seriuosly no one was at the streets or the café.

After coffee, we decided to explore the WDCH a little bit. There was a lot of hiking invovled and I started to get cramps in my thighs. Now, Jan told me that the WDCH used to radiate too much heat because of the reflective panels so those were replaced with a more matt finish. Fortunately, not all of the shiny panels were lost.

Here’s the Ribbon sculpture at the WDCH. It really looks like a rose because of overlapping layers.

Not all of the pieces of china are blue.

I’m famous at the WDCH.

Sorry can’t really think of anything specific to write so I’ll just write whatever pops into my head.

Listening to Natalie Merchant right now. I love her to death. Matt introduced me to her so it’s sort of bittersweet whenever I listen to her. I mean I love her, but everytime I listen to her I’m reminded of what’s his name (ugh) and Dawson’s Creek (lol). God I feel like I’m in high school right now.

So Saturday I’m going to LA to celebrate Jan’s birthday again. Lilly Dee you’re invited. You have to come. I’ll call you tomorrow. Now I was also planning on watching Dorian Blues while I was up there but it doesn’t seem to be showing anymore. I guess it was never meant to be.

Speaking of Joyce and Juno, we finally managed to watch Initial D on Tuesday. It was alright.. story was so-so but the race scenes were pretty cool. After seeing that movie, it made me think of getting an AE86 for my next car. Stand back Takumi! Man I am totally in this whole racing mode right now. My bro and I are thinking of heading up to Indianapolis next year for Formula 1. I’m so excited! I just hope things don’t go awry with Formula 1 like it did this year in Indianapolis. Also I’ve been checking out A1 Grand Prix but it just doesn’t seem as fun as F1. It really didn’t sound loud enough and the cars don’t look as cool… yup my judgements are based purely on aestehtics right now. The one good thing about A1 is that the teams are split up by country so at least you have someone to cheer for. The sad part is that the USA’s car and uniform look totally cheesy. sigh.

BTW, I wanna thank Joyce for getting me the Nov 2005 issue of Esquire magazine yesterday. Why? Takeshi Kaneshiro is on the cover! ^^ Now how did Jeff know I’d want this magazine.. eh Ka Fai?