Unlimited Fun Tickets in Nashville

I made an unscheduled (by that I mean I didn't mention it on my blog) stop in Nashville the next weekend. It was so refreshing and almost emotional being around the people with whom I grew up. Like I told Tim Walker, "We have so much history together." We are so comfortable around each other and to keep with the sappiness, we are so happy around each other. I miss all of you. On a less serious note... We are the professional partiers. No one gets in "fights" better than Drew. No one drinks Guinness better than Charles. OK, maybe Byron does, but somone had to represent in his absence. Robert parties like he has no more fun tickets. No one passes out and rallies better than the AsianTourist.

Other great news: I got world cup tickets! France vs. Korea!!! Woohoo!

Back to Indy in one week! Now to fun pictures...
Congratulations to the graduates, Charles and Robert!















The Walker Family. No further comment.




















The Funks, my neighbors at 829. That's 828 + 1!








Bobert and Blob's owner

Professional Partiers run Amok in Nashville!

Two weeks ago, I went home to Indy for an early Mother's Day celebration and to party in Bloomington for IU's graduation weekend. I got to see some of the college crew I hadn't seen since I started working: Andrew, Adam V, Holleh, Kristin, Blaire, Brooke, Meghan, Ross, and Dan. One word: FANTASTIC!

Rossaroo!

Kristin

Meghan

Blaire

Indy For Sure, Germany Too

I went home a couple weekends ago to move from 220 Randall Street to 2242 Fillmore Street. Pacific Heights here I am! Come visit me at my new place!

Vegas was lots of fun. Much money was spent but it was still fun hanging out with my college buddies. Thanks for an awesome time, gentlemen (and random women). Here's a random question: What is your beer of choice?

Recent Locations:

4/5-9 - Washington, D.C. (Angie, Swan, Kelli, & Mersine)
4/20-23 - Las Vegas, NV (Tim, Kevin, Adam P, Adam V, Steve)
Weekdays - Los Angeles, CA (work)
San Francisco, CA (NEW HOME!)

Future Destinations:

5/5-7 - Indianapolis, IN (Family and IU, Ball State Graduation)
6/2-4 - Indianapolis, IN (Family and friends, Ashley Z's wedding, maybe see Drew)
6/15-25 - Augsburg, Germany (World Cup Game?)

Hello, Old Friend. I Missed You

That's me, playing the violin in an Irish pub called Fado in Washington D.C. I've never been to that bar. I've never seen nor heard of the band that was playing that night (Scythian). Still, I jammed like I've never jammed before. Ridiculous! Here's the story.

Swan, Mersine, Kelli, and I had a great dinner with my sister, Angie, and her boyfriend, Neil. With a few drinks in us, we headed over to Fado and had a few more drinks. We were all feeling very good and merrily clapped and bounced with the celtic music. Imagine loud, fun Irish jigs with a couple violins, a guitar, bass, awesome vocals, and a rockin' drummer.

Not to sound totally arrogant and cocky, but most of you know that I've played the violin pretty much my entire life. So, I leaned over and told Swan, "I think I could do that on the violin."

Swan responded, "You should go up there! I kinda know the guitar player."

I said, "No no. Don't worry about it. They don't want some chump going up there. They have their set list all written out and [normally] it'd be stupid for them to let some random guy up there."

Well, Swan somehow worked her magic and got me a mini "audition." All right. Pull my leg. I went up on stage and thanked them for even letting me up there and said, "You guys are awesome. Just lay down some chords and I'll just play whatever."

Guitar player: "Well wait. Do you know Hungarian Dance?"

I played Hungarian Dance for him. Then I played Irish Washer Woman, the only real Irish jig I could remember from my beginner days. They seemed convinced I could play, so it was on. They mic'd me and verified my name one more time before introducing me to the bar. "Hey everyone! This is Eric and he's gonna play a couple songs with us."

I hadn't seriously played the violin since my recital last April. It was kinda sloppy, but I managed to play through the rust and hold my own. Great times just improvising my fingers off. I forgot how much fun it is to play the violin, even if it was just some fiddlin'.

Here are pics with the lovely ladies who were INCREDIBLE hosts. Thanks so much for the fantastic weekend!

Eat, drink, and be merry.

Maybe I should call this blog, "Always A Violinist."

I'm Platinum

Recent Locations:

3/8-11 - Scottsdale, AZ (Drew, Sara, Charles, Stumpf, Robert, FTS Crew)
3/11-23 - Las Vegas, NV (Drew, Sara, Charles, Stumpf, & Robert)
3/18-29 - New York City, CA (Sangeeta, Mersine, Sim, & Parmita and friends)
Weekdays - Los Angeles, CA (work)
San Francisco, CA (home)

Future Destinations:

4/4-9 - Washington, D.C. (Angie, Swan, Kelli, & Mersine)
4/20-23 - Las Vegas, NV (Tim, Kevin, Adam P, Adam V, Steve)
6/2-4 - Indianapolis, IN (Family and friends, Ashley Z's wedding, maybe see Drew)
June? - Augsburg, Germany (Philip, Moritz, Kimberly)

Since I've stayed at Starwood Properties for 50 nights this year already, I've achieved Platinum status. (www.spg.com) - Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis, Four Points, Le Meridien, and W Hotels) I get free upgrades to preferred deluxe rooms when available, a little gift each time I check in, free breakfasts and internet, and faster accumulation of hotel points to use towards free nights anywhere Starwood has hotels.

While it may be crazy to think about being away from home as much as I have been, I'm enjoying the traveling. It just sucks to pay rent in San Francisco when I'm never there. So, Platinum status is a nice reward even though the reality is that I probably achieved that status way too fast. (50 nights in a hotel in less than 3 months!)

No end in sight for the Tourist in Los Angeles. It's cool for now. Pictures soon to come.

I've been Trippin'

So I've been traveling...a lot. After dropping off the parents, Sim, Coop, and Swan at the airport soon after the new year arrived, I parked my car at SFO's long term parking and hopped on a plane to LA.

My new friend, Karen, and I rented a car and drove down to visit beautiful San Diego the first weekend. It was my first time there and we stayed at the Westin Horton Plaza. It was a great weekend cause it was relaxing but we packed in a lot of sites and activities. This sunset photo was taken near Seaport Village.

We drove along the coast and visited Coronado, Mission Beach, and La Jolla before driving back to LA. Call me a dork, but I like pronouncing "Jolla" like an ignorant Hoosier with a hard "J" and a hard "L". "JOLLA!"

The next weekend, (believe me I do work between weekends), I flew to Phoenix to visit Drew. We went to a bar called Mickey's Hangover that had a nice outdoor patio and another place called the Rusty Saloon. Yes. People were wearing cowboy hats and they played country music. Good times. It's ridiculous that you can sit outside at night and feel like you're indoors in the middle of January.

Thanks to Drew, Sara, and friends for treating me like another member of the group. Too bad the Colts lost. Just like in the movies, our friend Andrea accidentally sat on the TV remote and turned off the tv right as Vanderjagt kicked the last field goal that would have tied the game. Everyone gasped, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Oh well, hilarious as it was, he missed it and I was sad. I still don't like to think about the loss.

I hung out with my parents this weekend in LA cause they're taking care of my grandmother while my aunt and uncle take a vacation in Spain. It's always good to see the family and get lectured in Taiwanese by A-ma (grandma).

It's actually been quite beautiful in San Francisco this weekend. After three weeks of being away, I just stand in awe as I look out my bedroom window at the skyline and bay bridge. It's good to be home.

I'll be flying back to Los Angeles early Tuesday morning, while the city lights are still a twinklin'.

Is it really Christmas Already?

My first Christmas in California...it has totally snuck up on me! As you can imagine, I'm not yet accustomed to the warm weather in the months of November AND December. It's 60 degrees today! Yes, for you Californians, that's really nice weather to me for ten days till Xmas. The trees all still have leaves and things are still green. I went out today in jeans and a t-shirt with the windows rolled down! The only difference is that the malls are jam packed and there are holiday decorations all over the place.

Thanksgiving was awesome. Spent lots of time with friends and family.
That's Stumpf, Ashley, Me, Blaire, Byron, Drew, Charles, and Robert. Check my sister's blog for more fun photos.

My Birthday was a couple weeks later and Ali, Kim, Sally, Ray, (work friends) and I went to a tapas restaurant in Venice, CA to celebrate. I also went with Kim to her friend's wedding on a beach in Malibu. It's crazy that you can actually have beautiful weather at the beach in December.



Went bowling at Lucky Strike in Hollywood to celebrate my actual birthday. As Munko said many times that night, "That place was AWESOME!" It was the coolest/nicest bowling alley I've ever been to. Thanks to Bryan, Munko, and Karen for showing me a good time and to all those who called to wish me happiness on the 6th. :)

Munko, Karen, and Me at the LA FTS Holiday Dinner

Went to the Not So Silent Night concert on the 9th featuring Hot Hot Heat, Death Cab for Cutie, and White Stripes. Hot Hot Heat rocked, but I was very disappointed with Death Cab. They just don't sound good live even though I love their latest albums. The White Stripes were good but their set was too short. I think there was some drama behind the scenes between the two band members cause there was a 5 minute break in the middle of the set where no one was on stage. Weird.

Last week we had the San Fran FTS Holiday Dinner at Tallulah with a white elephant gift exchange (Yes, I went to the holiday dinners for both LA and SF). I got a sweet light saber with motion-activated sound effects. There was also a Darth Vader Voice Changer mask that was exchanged quite a few times before Jane, my manager, ended up with it. Freaking HALARIOUS!


Last night was the PwC Holiday Party at the Asian Art Museum. Good times with Eva, Jenna, Johnny, and Rohit, even with the sketchiest limo ride ever. It was fun getting all dressed up...we look gooooood!


Now, I'm back in San Francisco for two weeks. No, I'm not going home for xmas. My parents are flying out on the 24th to visit for a week and Swan, Coop, and Sim are flying on the 28th for a Maastricht crew reunion. I'm psyched! Ok, I think that about catches you up.

Colts, let's focus on the playoffs. Pacers, can't worry about this Artest business anymore. It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! Where ye at? Where ye at?

Back Below Freezing

Two weekends ago we had the San Francisco DA&I Holiday Party. This was one of the last pictures taken with my camera cause it got dropped. BOO! Oh well. That's my manager Chris in the middle and my friend Lijay on the right. We still had a lot of fun.

I'm in total anticipation of this week. I'm flying to Indy to have a Thanksgiving reunion with my family and friends. We're gonna do it up! I heard there's been snow and it's gets below freezing at night already...wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the cold weather.

In more news, I'm still working in LA. Will be there through all of December except for the holidays. I'm also going to a Death Cab for Cutie and White Stripes concert on Dec. 9. Woohoo! They're not new songs, but check out A Lack of Color by Death Cab and Outsiders by Franz Ferdinand.

The Ritz and Mission: Impossible

It's been three weeks of real work for this guy. The first two weeks, I was getting situated at the office, doing administrative work, and completing some small random tasks.

On the morning of Friday, October 7, I got a phone call from a manager in LA saying, "Hey Eric, did you hear you're gonna be coming down to LA next week?"
"Uhhh, yeah, kinda. For some e-mail extraction project, right?"

"No, that project got pushed back. You're coming for a different project. Go ahead a book a flight for Tuesday morning. You'll be down here for about a month."

I'm thinking, "A month? Suhweet!" I get to fly back to SF on the weekends, or in the case of next weekend, Phoenix! That's right, I'm going to visit Drew next weekend. I'm psyched!

So, my third week was in LA. I stayed downtown at the Westin Bonaventure which was old but nice. This week I am "forced" to stay at...drumroll please...the Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Ray. That's right. The RITZ! (see pic) There's some sort of conference and every single hotel in and around downtown LA is booked. Not too shabby for me!

Another cool thing for a Hoosier is experiencing Hollywood first hand. They are shooting Mission: Impossible 3 on the street right in front of our office. They were converting street signs and billboards to make it look like Hong Kong. No star sighting yet, but it's pretty exciting. All the LA people are just like, "Ehh, whatever."

Hiking tomorrow in Marin County...

No more DARTS

It was bittersweet finishing DARTS training this past Friday. Yes, we were all excited to leave the Georgia Tech Hotel but we were also sad to all go our separate ways. We spent five weeks together and have become a big family. Andrew, Paul, and David are going back to London, so who know when we'll see them again. Many good memories... There we are, DARTS 2005 minus Meng. WE LOVE MENG!

My roommate Eugene from Philly and Nausher from LA. This is the view from my bedroom the night I returned from ATL.

I don't know what the fireworks were for, but it was cool and LOUD! A nice welcome home present in my honor, I suppose. :)

So for now, I'm back in San Francisco. Tomorrow is my first day at the office. We'll see what happens. Take care.