wow i haven't written since i was in TW. a lot of shit has gone on since then...school has been pretty hectic, classes are kicking my ass this semester even though i'm not slacking off as much, and i'm the rush chair of my fraternity...which is fun but is some serious work.
first off, the most exciting thing that's happened...my sister got married!!! she got married two weeks ago in st louis. her wedding was amazing. it was outside at a scuplture park, perfect weather, fairly small group of people, really relaxed, and just incredible. it was kind of a buddhist wedding - they were married by a buddhist monk (i don't know if monk is the right word). anyway, some pictures...
my grandma and my cousin's little girl (my cousin married a white guy, if you couldn't tell)...katie was the flower girl
katie eating the table.
these are from the buddhist center where my sister was officially married in the morning, after which was the ceremony in the afternoon.
the taiwan crew (uncles, grandma, parents)
mom and uncles with my sister and josh
both my grandmas
the venerable yong-an who married my sister and her husband
now the ceremony...
getting ready
the ceremony was beautiful, and quirky in its own way. it'll definitely be remembered. first of all, katie, the flower girl, was suppose to follow me in line (i was a groomsman). she did, until we got to the aisle...she stopped on the steps right before the aisle, and would pick out one rose petal, throw it on the ground, pick up another one, throw it on the ground, squat down, examine the rose petals...meanwhile i'm already at the front and realize she's not behind me. the bridesmaids are behind her, trying to drag her down the aisle. finally, she loses interest in the petals on the ground, and races to the front.
ALSO, my cousin gordon got asked to be the DJ five minutes before the wedding started...so he had to play a couple of tracks on cue. well, when josh, his brother, and us groomsmen were coming down the aisle, the CD player was playing "here comes the bride." the song stops just as my sister starts coming in...and it's completely silent. gordon couldn't get the song to work, and everyone was just looking at each other like "oh shit what do we do...", but out of nowhere the buddhist monk starts singing, "baa daa da da, ba daa da da" (the tune of "here comes the bride" if you couldn't tell)...and everyone immediately chimes in. so my sister had an impromptu choir singing her song...i could tell she was nervous when it was dead silent, but when we started singing, she was just lauging her ass off as she came down the aisle with my dad.
the exchanging of the vows was a little different than at most weddings as well...i really liked it. btw, it was really funny because the buddhist monk had a hard time distinguishing between "jessica" and "joshua"...it sounded like "joshca" and "joshwa". anyway, she asked both jessica and josh four questions. i remember it so clearly...she first asked josh something like, "do you promise to fulfill your duty as a husband, and to always love your wife?" and he turns to my sister, looks her in the eyes, and says "yes." right then my sister started crying...it was really tough to watch her without doing the same myself. after the vows, the venerable yong-an gave a short speech that was really good...i can't remember all of it, but it started off like, "there are many people in this world. out of the six billion people in our world, you have chosen each other. you have found something special in each other that no one else has. you have a love for each other that no one else has..." i can't remember the rest.
after the ceremony was the wedding reception, which was in a planetarium, part of the st. louis science museum. it was really cool...when we walked in it was this dark, reddish lighting, and then changed to a dark blue later on. the pictures didn't come out all that well cause it was dark, but you get the idea:
my cousin helen
there was also a slide show of jessica and josh growing up that they put on the ceiling...
each table was named after a hero. as you walked in, you found a card with your name on it, and inside was the name of your table (i.e. MLK, gandhi, freddie mercury). when you got to your table, there was a small jigsaw puzzle, and when you put it together, there was the bio of your hero (picture). the jigsaw puzzle was sort of the theme...it was their logo on their invitations. my sister and her husband (feels weird to say that) were trying to decide on a graphic to put on all their stuff, but didn't like any of the options, so they decided to make their own, based on something they like to do together. so, they decided to have two jigsaw pieces together as their graphic...it's a red outline of two pieces locked together. also, both jessica and josh got a tattoo of this graphic - josh on his forearm, and my sister on her wrist. she told me not to tell my mom haha.
their dance was to "love me tender" by elvis presley
my sister and dad danced to "moonshadow" by cat stevens, a song he always played for us when we were kids.
i was pretty drunk by the end of the reception. thank god for the open bar. although i had to walk past my parents and sister's table to get there, which meant a few awkward drunken chats with my parents.
joey and i...joey is one of my sister's best friends from high school in arkansas. he's a hairstylist in little rock (and gay, by the way) and really fuckin cool. he did all the bridesmaids hair...
a bunch of us at brunch the next morning before everyone left.
wow. it really was an amazing wedding. that weekend was the happiest i've been in a long time, if not ever. just seeing how happy my sister was, and is now...makes me think. it almost makes me excited to get married. but i have a long way to go before that happens. or one crazy night and a shit ton of alcohol. let's hope that doesn't happen.
HERE are some pictures from the last part of my time in taiwan...i'll keep the commentary to a minumum.
151:
beer station:
a really cool and good ass japanese restaurant in the mountains near my house:
trip to kaoshiong:
for those unfamiliar with asia, this is a karaoke bar (KTV), which looks more like a hotel lobby. you have your own room, order alcohol from a phone, have a full buffet, own bathroom, etc. it's tight...this was the first time i went.
we met up with avery in tainan...he was a taiwanese exchange student at trinity. then he came down to kaoshiong with us to go KTVing...
here is an amazing tea shop in tainan...it had trees grownin inside the shop, with birds and stuff. it was so cool.
my chinese class!!
Public Enemy at MOS!
CHUCK D!
anyway, that's all i have...gotta go. by the way, i'll be hangin around dallas for thanksgiving, anyone who will be there lemme know. and i will be back in TW mid-december.
peace | 
