Stereophonics Rocked the Wembley Arena (UK Tour)

Thanks to a lovely gent I met recently, Hayley and I were able to score a couple of premier tickets to see Stereophonics, a Welsh rock band, at the Wembley Arena last night. The band's performance was incredible, lighting and sound was amazing, and the fans radiated positive energy throughout the arena.

Click on the floating images below to view photos from the concert.

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Stereophonics performed "Maybe Tomorrow", which is a single from the 2003 album You Gotta Go There to Come Back.

Maybe Tomorrow

I've been down and
I'm wondering why
These little black clouds
Keep walking around
With me
With me

It wastes time
And I'd rather be high
Think I'll walk me outside
And buy a rainbow smile
But be free
They're all free

So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home
So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home

I look around at a beautiful life
Been the upperside of down
Been the inside of out
But we breathe
We breathe

I wanna breeze and an open mind
I wanna swim in the ocean
Wanna take my time for me
All me

So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home
So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home

So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home
So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home

So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home
So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home 

The band graciously exited the stage after an encore performance and slipped in Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it on" as audiences left the arena. 




Their next gig is in Cardiff on June 5, 2010. I wish I could be there for another phenomenal show, but I'll be in San Diego preparing myself for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. I wonder if they have plans to tour the U.S. again...fingers crossed!

Discovering London by Foot

 

Out of pure fear, I forced myself to get my butt into gear for the San Diego Marathon after realizing that the race was only 3 months away!

I thought it would be a fun idea to see London via a nice sloooow jog today, so I used MapMyRun.com to create a scenic route and calculated the distance traveled (6.76 miles/10.89km).

I snapped some photos throughout my run to showcase some of London's attractions and gorgeous weather, which is a rarity in London. 

 

I started in Clapham and headed to Battersea Park. After crossing Chelsea Bridge, I came across Tate Britain (pictured above), which is currently exhibiting 150 pieces of Henry Moore's stone sculptures, wood carvings, bronzes and drawings. And to top it off, Chris Ofili's paintings are also being showcased at Tate Britain until May 16 - this is definitely something on my to-do list! His multi-layered paintings are best known their innovative use of media, including lumps of elephant dung, glitter, resin, map pins and magazine cut-outs - Yes, I said elephant dung (feces - poop)!!! He used to bring elephant dung from his trips to Zimbabwe, but now he gets it from the London Zoo. Ofili also won the £20,000 Turner Prize in 1998.

 

Description captured from the display caption at Tate Britain:  No Woman No Cry is a tribute to the London teenager Stephen Lawrence. The Metropolitan police investigation into his racially motivated murder was mishandled, and a subsequent inquiry described the police force as institutionally racist. In each of the tears shed by the woman in the painting is a collaged image of Stephen Lawrence’s face, while the words ‘R.I.P. Stephen Lawrence’ are just discernible beneath the layers of paint. Despite these specific references, the artist also intended the painting to be read in more general terms, as a universal portrayal of melancholy and grief.

 

Next on my route was the Houses of Parliament, home to Big Ben and Victoria Tower. 

 

Big Ben doesn't actually refer to the clock-tower itself, but rather to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.

Last, but not least, I snapped a photo of the London Eye, the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. As you can imagine, it was packed with tourists. I managed to dodge most of the tourists, but won't make that mistake again in the future. 

I highly recommend this route for runners in London, but suggest leaving early in the morning to avoid the high tourist traffic. 

Once my calves fully recover, I'll map my next route to include Hamstead Heath or Richmond Park, two of my favorite parks in London!

Chinese New Year in London - Year of the Tiger

I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this Lion Dance in Chinatown (London) today. Many festive performances took place throughout London within the last two weeks to celebrate Chinese New Year ("Year of the Tiger").

The Chinese believe that if business owners "feed" the lion with red envelopes (Ang Pao) filled with lucky money, the lion will chase away evil spirits and bring good fortune and prosperity to the business the upcoming year. My parents were always superstitious people, so when they opened up their first business, they made sure to invite the Lion Dancers to bring prosperity to the business. 

There's just something about the drum beats during the dance that brings me back to (somewhat) fond childhood memories. I was always excited to watch Lion Dance performances at local Chinese/Vietnamese supermarkets during Chinese New Year, but as soon as the Lion's long lashes fluttered near me, I suddenly became frightened and quickly hid behind my father. There's just something really creepy about the Lion's eyelashes...

 

Chinatown is filled with lanterns.

 Trafalgar Square hosted many traditional Chinese performances.

I'm suddenly in the mood for Dim Sum, but to be completely honest, the Chinese food in London doesn't compare to the Chinatowns in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

 

My best friend thought it was a clever idea to send me bags of my favorite chips from the States, Cheetos, in honor of it being the "Year of the Tiger". Unfortunately, Chester is not a tiger, he's a cheetah! Nevertheless, I managed to enjoy the Cheetos and undoubtedly appreciated the kind gesture. Thanks Juan! xx 

Chester the Cheetah

How to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese:

Mandarin: Xin Nian Kuai Le (The most widely used Chinese dialect)

Cantonese: Gong Hei Fat Choy (Hong Kong and Macau)

Teochew/Hokkien: Xing Ni Ju Yi (Mainly in South East Asia and Taiwan)

Since I am Teochew, I'd like to say "Xing Ni Ju Yi!"

My Very First Pancake Day in England - Nom Nom Nom!

 

Pancake Man makes his first appearance in London on Pancake Day 2010!

Thanks to one of my lovely clients, Lyle's Golden Syrup, I received all the mixings to help me prepare for my very first Pancake Day in England! Since Pancake Day tends to sneak up on most Brits, Tate and Lyle decided to unleash Pancake Man to help remind Londoners to pick up pancake ingredients and toppings at their local supermarket so that they can properly celebrate their final day of indulgence.

My lovely housemate, Gareth, graciously offered to make us pancakes in honour of this special occasion - what a generous mate! But then again, now that I've given it some more thought, I'm starting to think it was his clever plan to keep me away from the kitchen! Doh, I'm so naïve! But then on the other hand, I don't blame him though...I did almost burn down Nick's flat last year...*sigh*

Gareth was kind enough to let me film him flip a pancake so that I could participate in CafeBebe's Flip-tastic Pancake Day Carnival.

So here is our Flip-tastic Pancake Day video! Check it out and let me know if his technique is any good. By the way, although I wasn't involved in any of the actual cooking, guess how I burned my bloody fingers! I'm starting to feel like I'm prone to accidents.



We made both American pancakes and traditional English pancakes, which look more like crepes to me. What a day full of #pancakefun!

It's almost midnight and I've managed to eat three pancakes covered with butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup....SWEET STUFF! Nom Nom Nom...

Have you seen Pancake Man lately?

Mobi Headphonies: Perfect Speakers for My iPod!

My dear friend, Chris, who is a product designer at Spin Master Toys, sent me a cute little speaker - designed by his mates at Mobi Technologies - for my iPod! It's such a simple, yet clever gadget that I simply fell in love with immediately. The quality of the speakers is brilliant!

Thanks to headphonies, now I can now easily hook up Koko to my iPod and listen to some groovy beats from Jack Johnson, Paul Anka and Michael Buble during my relaxing bubble baths.

And better yet, you don't need to buy batteries. Simply connect headphonies to your laptop for recharge and you're ready to go!

You'll find that in most (if not all) London bathrooms, electrical outlets are nowhere to be seen, which can be annoying when you want to use a blow dryer or curling iron. I suppose it' for my own safety, but you'll find plenty of electrical outlets in bathrooms in America. Go figure!


Here's a quick demo of the quality. Click below to listen.



Mobi headphonies come in several different characters to suit your style!

Koko

STARGIRL

SKULLY 

SINISTER

$24.95

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
- Loudspeaker output: 2W
- Sensitivity: 82±3db
- Loudspeaker impedance: 4O±15%
- Distortion: 0.5%
- Lithium ion battery output: 3.6V
- Lithium ion battery input: 4.2V±0.05V
- Suitable ambient: 0C±4C
- Weight: 113g (including packaging)

Thank for the lovely gift Chris! My housemates absolutely love Koko :)

My First Meme: Shiny Happy People

I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of memes, but every once in a while I come across one that doesn't require me to be funny or witty (Thank God). For those of you not familiar with the phrase, a meme describes a concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet. Many of you may have been tagged on Facebook to complete a meme before, i.e. "25 Things About Me" meme.

However, I was pleased when I was recently tagged with the Shiny Happy People meme by Karin at CafeBebe. It seemed harmless and fun!

The challenge: Name a song that makes you happy – a song you would listen to if you needed a sudden injection of happiness. Post an image that makes you smile, it can be anything – a silly photo, an image taken from the internet, anything at all that puts a smile on your face (and isn’t too rude!)

So here goes nothing...

My song choice would have to be none other than Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." For those of you who have had the opportunity to join me for cocktails at a bar/club, you know that I light up whenever this song is played, almost as if I was possessed. Although, I may not have the best singing voice, I find myself singing along giving it everything I've got, as if I should have been the one Journey asked to join the band as the new lead singer. Move over Arnel Pineda!

"Don't Stop Believing" by Journey simply puts me in a good mood and I always have a HUGE smile on my face whenever I hear it.

The above photo makes me smile for several reasons: 1) These two trendsetters featured above are MY parents 2) This matching couples outfit was completely my father's idea 3) The trend actually picked up three decades later - Couple Matching Outfits by International Designer Clothing and Fashion Blog.

Oh bless them.

Thanks for making me smile Karin! So it looks like it's my turn to tag someone and that lucky person is my dear gal pal in New York, Melissa at Single Gal in the City. Looking forward to your post MB!

It's Official! Time to Start My Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Training (San Diego)

I'm not sure if I should be thrilled or nervous about the above letter. When I first entered the lottery for the New York marathon two years ago, I didn't think I'd actually get selected to run it, but I did. So I ran the marathon with only one goal in mind - to FINISH the marathon!

I suppose my goal for the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon is to beat my previous time of 4 hours 30 minutes. Although my fitness level isn't what it used to be, I'm definitely going to give it my best shot. Looks like I'll be saying goodbye to chicken tikka massala and cocktails. On second thought, let me rephrase that. Looks like I'll be cutting down on chicken tikka massala and cocktails - much better!

This is an old course map from a previous SD Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. Apparently, this year's course is BRAND new and designed to include a variety of signature attractions in San Diego, my hometown.