Aesop Rock, Home-Made Pizza, and Makapu'u Beach

Aesop Rock Concert @ Pipeline

On Friday night, Alex, Ann, and I shimmied down to Pipeline Cafe to catch Aesop Rock (one of my fave hip hop artists). Ann and I got there before Alex and we were some of the first people to arrive, so we thought, "Sweet. It isn't going to be a crowded show." Unfortunately, Pipeline is the type of place that doesn't start the show until they pack the house. So, even though we arrived around 8ish to a show that was supposed to start at 9PM, we ended up waiting til after midnite for the show to begin.

Sadly, I had been at Jose's Mexican Restaurant (where I moonlight as a server) spending $70 worth of gift certificates on my friends - most of the money was spent on margaritas, so I was already pretty sauced once we got to the show. Anywho, my point is that I went from drinking mucho grande margaritas to jack-on-the-rocks at Pipeline and by the time Aesop came on stage, I was so drunk that I had to leave and I missed the show! Same thing happened at Atmosphere. Damn you Pipeline!

Above: The crowd from the foot of the stage. For some reason, the security guys seemed to really like me and invited me to stand in front of the first row barricade with them at the foot of the stage. So, I was front and center for the action. Unfortunately, I was only sober enough to be around for the opening acts. But, it was still fun.

Above: Hip Hop artist Cage, who my friend Travis described as being in desperate need of "a Xanex and a hug." He was really talented, but he was definitely a dude with issues. For example, before one of his songs he said, "This is a song about child abuse."

Home-Made Pizza Night

Saturday daytime I waitressed and tended bar at Jose's - hungover. Afterwards, Ann and I headed down to Alex's place to assist him in making some of his famous made-from-scratch home-made pizza! Seriously, Alex is a ridiculously good chef. It was really fun.

One of Our Tasty Pizzas Pre-Oven

Alex Being Moody Into a Glass ... ?

Ann Presenting the Pizza while "Using Protection"

After pizza we were supposed to go to the NOFX show at...*sigh* Pipeline Cafe (again!). Once we got there it was obvious that we should have gotten tickets beforehand. The lines were intense and there were cops everywhere. Alex was able to scout two tickets, and my friend Travis was gonna walk me in with him as his extra person on the guest list, but his "plus one" got given away. So, I told Alex and Ann to have a good time and ended up not going. Alex was super excited, so of course he had to go. And I thought Ann and Alex might benefit from some "alone time." ;) So, I sacrificed myself for the greater good.

Makapu'u Beach Day

Today, Justin and I headed to breakfast, the beach, and lunch. It was a really fun day. Tasty food, good company, and good outdoorsy-ness. Makapu'u is a local body-surfing spot and the waves get pretty big and intense, so normally Justin goes and plays in the big boy waves and I stick to the smaller side. I'm a much better surfer when I have an apparatus, like a surfboard, so whenever I try to body-surf it's pretty dismal. Oh well, at least i'm having fun while i'm getting thrown around by the waves. Afterwards, we went for lunch talked about the people we were missing who are far away (you know who you are). It was good times all around. Tonight we may hit up a local open mic where Justin will play drums and dance and I will drink wine and make fun of the hippies. :)

Toadies Concert and Downtown Hawaii

Last night I went out for the first time since I got back to Hawaii. I've been sort of bummed and missing my China peoples since I got here, but moping around never did anybody any good. So, last night my friend Alex took Ann and I to a Toadies concert at Pipeline cafe. Please note that I hate Pipeline Cafe, but it's the only place in Hawaii that has moderately good concerts.

It was a fun show. Felt like we time travelled to the 90's for sure. I found myself remembering watching 'My So Called Life' and dying my hair red my freshman year of high school when I first moved to China and wanted a 'new beginning.' Why do women always thinking changing their hairstyle is a 'new beginning' anyways? I'm guilty as anyone else of that. Back to the concert - so yah it was a time travel to the 90's and almost everyone in the crowd was white, which is weird for Hawaii.

The concert got over pretty early, so Alex, Ann, and I headed downtown where we stopped by O'tooles, Murpheys, and then headed over to the loft where we heard there was a DJ who lights his records on fire while spinning, which he indeed did. His music was sort of lame, but it was a good show with good friends. My roomie/friend Tara met up with us, which was cool. She is a DJ, so she appreciated it. My shitty ex showed up and followed me around (biggest tool ever) - boo! Tara and I headed out around 2AMish and got drunk Jack in the Box. Gross, I know. But, Jack in the Box is the best thing ever when you're drunk. Now i'm hungover and heading to work. Later!

The Toadies a.k.a. Nostalgia From the 90's

Alex, Me, and Ann at the Show

Awesome Roomie Tear Bear Stare and I Watching Tool-ish DJ

This DJ thought he was so friggin cool because he lights his shit on fire - tool!

Awesome Beijing Winter Trip

Ok, so i've finally taken the time to put up the rest of the pictures!!! I would like to apologize to my non-China friends for the fact that these pictures are just of me partying and having fun, so if you are looking for a cultural experience, this isn't it.

Also, i'd like to thank Anna, David, and Ben for making it the best trip ever. Red wine and movies, nights and Tun and Huxleys, jokes, stories, and laughing - doesn't get too much better. Hopefully we'll all be together sooner rather than later. <3>

Tun

One of our first nights out we went to a bar called 'Tun' where we did shots, hugged a bunch, and caught up. It's just the beginning of awesomeness!!!

I Heart Anna...even though she's Russian and has vodka instead of blood in her body..:)

The Night We Got the Famous Bling from the Jager People

This is Ben's "go to" Pose. You'll see lots of this look.

Body Shots!!! Haitou was salting Ben like he was a bag of popcorn!

Anna: "How am I going to lick all of this sald and hair off of you?"

Haitou: "I'll do it!"

He Hath Been Licked of All His Salt

Christmas Party

Anna, David, Ben, and I went to a Christmas party where there was lots of booze, food, Secret Santa, and not-so-secret Santa (the hosts opened their presents to each other and shared emotional moments in front of us...it was so voyeuristic). It was really fun. It got even better at the end of the night when we were doing Chinese whiskey shots that had a weird vanilla after taste and sat around telling stories. It was mostly Anna and I telling inappropriate stories about sex and strippers and Duffy brothers with their mouthes hanging open, but whatever!

Soph and Sexy Santy Anna - "I want a Russian Princess for Christmas!"

Anna and Pouty Ben Face

One Bling to Rule Them All

This poor guy had to read a poem from the Secret Santa gift he got from me (Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass')...I felt bad for him because most of the gifts were funny and mine was...poetry, which I thought was cool...because i'm lame!

Secret Santa Kisses

Party Carnage

New Years Eve Meal With the Fam

Tasty New Years Eve Meal with Fam

Pops and Moms

Last Night of 2008

Pre-New Years Eve at Anna and Davids

Anna and the Boys

Sophie and the Boys
(If I had a time machine, I wouldn't be wearing that outfit)

Vagina Dance Party

Soph: "Why are we posing like this?"

Anna: "I don't know. Shut your mouth or i'll fuck it with my boots!"

Also stopped by Mai and Tanyas for some drinks...Ths is the ladies attempting an odd balancing act (We fell on top of each other a second later.)

Midnite at Random Japanese Restaurant Followed by Debauchary

Anna, David, and I went to some strange New Years Party at a place called 'Frequency' where we were greeted by a very large place with shitty music that would only be fun if we were on drugs, which we weren't, so we ventured out to find a better place to spend countdown.

We ended up meeting up with Ben, Phillipe, Luca, et al. at this random Japanese restaurant. Everyone was pretty drunk when we got there and we joined them soon after! I was really glad to be in a smaller place with my closest friends. Of course, after this we all got split up into smaller groups and went off to have our own crazy adventures. Half of us went to 'White Rabbit' and the other half went to a few places in Sanlitun finally landing at a nifty place in a fancy hotel called 'Punk.' At 'Punk' I had a moment with a random girl who immediately approached me, then we all danced and had a good time. As they got drunker, Phillipe, Luca, Ben, and some other guy got more bro-mantic! We tried to leave this place many times, but kept getting held back...finally we made it out of there alive!

Ben and Anna and David Preparing for Sneak Attack

Anna Making Love to Her Hair

Ben and Anna (and David making a sneak attack!)

Ben and David Impersonating Blowfish

Ben's Infamous Pouty Face

Drunky McDrunkersons! "Shut your drunk or i'll fuck it!"

"Vagina Marinara!!!"

Luca, Anna, and David Making Strange Face

Me Interrupting Luca and Ben's Bro-mantic Moment!

The Japanese Restaurant Where We Had Countdown

Soph and Anna Banana

Soph and David 1

Soph and David 2

Three Muskateers!

January 1st at Huxleys

Although we were a tad hungover, we spent January first at one of my favorite places - Huxleys! When I was in high school the girls and I used to go to the original Huxleys in Sanlitun Nanjie and dance on the bar for free shots. Good times. This Huxleys is very different in that it is almost always empty, but that's part of its charm. Anywho, I had more fun at Huxleys on January 1st than I did on New Years Eve because I got to be with my most favorite people in Beijing and just have a grand ol' time. Ben bought the bartenders at Huxleys a silver bell (like the ones that are on service counters that drive people crazy) and that friggin thing was going off all night. There was a group of very drunk French interns singing and shouting and being crazy at the bar as well as two different guys passed out (1 at the bar, and 1 at the table behind us). One of the poor guys puked everywhere and the French guys kept messing with him. Ah yes - drunk shannanigans.

As for us, we bought a few racks of shots and played a Chinese drinking game which had similar rules to the card game 'Bullshit.' Also, we were downing Jack and Cokes because it was 50RMB all you can drink - eek. David and Ben were tanked by the end of the night, but Anna and I are rockstars, so we were drunk, but OK. Suck it boys!

The Dreaded Huxley's Menu

David and Ben Were Tanked! Anna Lookin Lovely :)

Ben and Soph Are Lame #1

Ben and Soph Are Lame #2

Ben and Soph Are Lame #3

Ben and Soph Are Lame #4

Dashanzi Art Day!

Dashanzi is the super awesome art district near my house where they've turned a bunch of old factories into art galleries. I have a bunch of really sweet pictures of it from two summers ago on this blog if you want to check them out. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and we arrived a bit late, so we only caught a few galleries. But, we got to see the Dior exhibit, which I think secretly gave Anna the biggest orgasm she's ever had. It was pretty amazing. There were beautiful dresses dating as far back as the 1940's shown across many beautifully set up rooms. It was like a journey - some of the rooms were scary with rotating belts of silver skeletons and others were dream-like and serene with relaxing music and soft lighting. Pretty nifty. My description doesn't do it justice. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures, so I could only snap a few below.

Beaded Entryway to the Dior Exhibit

Strange and Beautiful Creature, Zhang Huan

Ambiguous Description of Zhang Huan

After the Dior exhibit we cruised around a little bit. But, we were freezing out butts off, so it didn't last too much longer. These are just a few random shots...

Statues on Street

Funky Shop Windows

Propaganda Writing on Ceilings of Factory Turned Gallery

Rockin Sex Worker Self-Portrait 1

Rockin Sex Worker Self-Portrait 2

As we were leaving Dashanzi, we saw this sign and stopped to wonder...

My Last Night

My last day was a good one. We all met up at the Saddle for hungover lunch. Anna was a trooper and started with a bloody mary, which I think was intended to help her aching hand (drunken battle wound). David probably should have had one since his back was all messed up from carrying Anna out of Kai! We recanted the ups and downs of the previous night while we waited for the food - well, waiting for Ben's food mainly, since it took forever! Oh, and we also discovered that one of our quartet can't poop in their own house, which led to the laughing fit that I think broke my hangover.

Afterwards, we bought DVD's in sanlitun and went back to Anna and David's to watch 'The Wrester' - if you haven't seen it, watch it! Amazing! Well, most of what I caught was amazing, there were moments where I was so cozy on the couch that I didn't quite catch the full effect of what was happening in the film. I'll re-watch it to confirm its awesomeness.

After the movie I went back to my house to play Scrabble and eat dinner with my family. It was a pretty OK dinner compared to some of the more awkward ones we've had. I left the house knowing I would miss them.

The plan was for Anna and I to meet Ben for Hutong Pizza, but alas I was late (sorry guys) and the place was closed by the time we got there. So, we took our freezing butts to a little cafe conveniently placed next to Huxley's where we talked about bad break-ups and relationship confusingness over very tasty pizza and three Stella Atrois.

Finally, our last stop was Huxley's next door where we indulged in whiskey beverages and jokes leading to the inevitable good-byes :( I've never been sadder to leave than I was this trip - thanks for making it so amazing guys!

Our Last Shots Together