yes, i'm back. i've been back for about a week but i've been uber lazy to do anything regarding our baltic vacation. but, i'll push forward and see if i can recreate the trip right here on kalat-o-scope right before your very eyes. i won't inundate you with silly details, unless i have pictures of them (which i probably might, hehe).

so let's begin. oh, and here are the players: me, cavin, gavitron, pv, chief bro, jano, tito rudel, tita vicky, and dj tone deaf (tito tony).

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june 9, 2007 (saturday)

(cavin) we're finally packed and dropped off at the airport, where we're supposed to meet chief bro and pv. we were able to check-in online the night before so all we really needed to do at the airport was to check our luggage. oh, what's this - a fast bag drop? how convenient, if you define convenient as waiting 15 minutes for some brits to check their luggage (and their life stories) to the clerk. meanwhile, rudy and vicky (who wasn't able to check-in online) wait in the longer line to check-in, and beat us to the front. suprisingly, cavin is not a happy camper.


(rudel, sachi, vicky) tita vicky drives us to our gate.









(jano, chief bro, cavin) yahtzee fun can be had at any place, at any time.








(chief bro, jano, pv, rudy, tito tony) ah, the luxuries of british airways!

Labels: games, philly, travel

i've been stressed the past week or so. why? i'm leaving for vacation on saturday, and i had a bunch of things i needed to do: finish up a bunch of stuff for work, figure out who's going to watch pippi and crosby while cavin and i are away for two weeks, clean the apartment (cleaning always stresses me out - maybe that's why i don't do it so often. hehe), buy last minute items, etc.

but this morning, i'm actually starting to realize that i am going on vacation! it's so bizarre, because the family had first talked about going on a cruise about one year ago or more, and now it's only a few days away.

i'm getting really excited - i haven't gone on vacation with my extended family since we were younger, when we used to drive to all sorts of places to visit my parents friends, and family (michigan, california, virginia, canada, etc).

this time nine of us are going on a cruise to the baltic: me, cavin, pv, chief bro, gavitron, jano, tito rudel, tita vicky, and tito tony. we'll be going to tallin, st. petersburg, stockholm, helsinki, and copenhagen. there is talk of keeping a blog while we are there, so if there is one, i'll make sure to link to it from kalat-o-scope, under the links section.

otherwise, when i get back from my 2-week hiatus i'll make sure to post the highlights of the trip. i'm sure there will be many.

До свидания!
(Do svidaniya! see you next time!)

Labels: blogging, travel

a few years ago i started noticing strange things about kids in public. i would see their torso staying still, yet they somehow magically "rolled" along. then one day i actually saw their feet - they had on what appeared to be sneakers, but they were fitted with wheels to allow for them to roll down the street - basically rolling sneakers.

"what a great idea!" i once mused. my friend nancy and i even talked about how great they would be in the office; how we would be able to glide by a person's cubicle to say hi without stopping.

since the first time i saw this strange phenomenon, i've seen more and more kids rolling around stores and restaurants. "look cavin! another one!" i even saw adult sizes when cavin and i went to a street festival in vancouver, bc, last summer.

but about a week or two ago, i started noticing something else. i started seeing signs at stores: "no rolling sneakers allowed". why would stores want to ban kids from wearing the sneakers? while i might not know the answer to this question, i do know that parents are denying their kids of the beloved sneakers, or 'heelys', which is the popular brand that kids go for these days.

cavin sent me an article about heelys on msn. apparently kids are fracturing wrists, arms and ankles, and even crackin' skulls! the article says that one kid required "surgery and pins, and he was size weeks without using his hand right at the beginning of school."

cavin informed me that heely's run up to size 10, so i could get a pair. but knowing my bad luck, my clumsiness, and my lack of balance, i'd better just stick with plain ol' regular sneakers. and since the injuries of the rolling sneakers are on the rise, instead of watching out for "those cool kids with the rolly sneakers", i'm now gonna look for "those idiot kids falling while wearing the rolling sneaker death traps." it's kind of like cheering when the contestants land on bankrupt on wheel (yes, i'm a wheel watcher).

ah, fun times.

Labels: games, random