Family Archives - Page 2 of 2

Category: Family

COVID 19 Chronicles: Part 3 / Where Do I Start?

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by alvin

*My nephew Cameron, who turned 1 in July!*

I remember being on a Zoom call with my cousins and sibs a few months back and we were talking about how there’s no way the government would have us locked down through the summer and people would start to get impatient and riot.

… and here we are.

A month back or so, we were finally brought to “Phase 2” – which allowed many restaurants to reopen for to go options. To me, that was more than enough to make it seem like we had some form of normalcy because prior to that, I was legitimately cooking and what not. Not much else was open aside from the groceries and hospitals. Another expansion would happen that would allow indoor retail to resume not too long ago. At that point – I began to worry. I made the mistake of walking into a Ross with my mask thinking everyone would be responsible here in the Bay Area and of course I was wrong. It looked like a zoo in there. Masks off, people touching their faces… I knew it was only a matter of time before we got shut down again.

… lol and here we are again. After a brief reopening of gyms here in Santa Clara specifically, 2 days after, they were all shut down again. You’d think people would get it together and follow instructions because other countries seem to get it but evidently Americans are more concerned with having the freedom to spread the virus as they please since they view it as a hoax or something that impedes on their freedoms. I’m not going to get into that though – that in itself is a cluster f*ck and a blog entry all its own.

So instead, I wanted to focus on a few key, pivotal moments that stood out to me personally in no particular order:

1) My Birthday
I was prepared to be sad on my birthday. It usually tends to happen – dating all the way back to my teens (Again, long story). But somewhere along the line in my 20s I just decided that my birthday was as awesome as I was going to make it for myself and made sure I had a great time every single year. With COVID-19, it seemed like I would be right back to sad ass birthdays. But, to my surprise – after teaching Zumba virtually on Zoom to some 100 people and having a glass of wine with them after was one of the most meaningful birthdays I’ve had. Almost cried actually… almost. I was just happy my mom was safe after her tumble, and seeing everyone smile post Zumba with their cups of wine really brought me joy. Thank you everyone who greeted me and especially those who came to dance with me that night. Jey and I also had dinner after upstairs which was nice.

2) Social Injustice
I was prepared to type a full on blog about my birthday but then a week or two after, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer by being pinned down to the ground by his neck. He suffered for 8 minutes and 46 seconds before he was put in an ambulance and declared dead. His murder sparked nationwide protests and riots and sparked heated discussions online between family members, friends and strangers. Just a few months prior in March, Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home by police. Regrettably, I failed to blog about Breonna – or even mention her name. It took yet another murder, nationwide riots and peaceful protests to finally get many including myself to pause and reflect and seek action. While I am starting to see the social media feeds slowly return back to “normal” – I hope the message and mission aren’t lost and continues to bulldoze forward. I hope the the complicated and heated conversations continue. I hope we respect each other and continue to acknowledge our own biases and privileges so we can understand the injustice that happens every single day to the black community. And something that I am trying to practice now more than ever is practicing empathy and learning to listen.

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Just wanted to say their names again in case you forgot them. <3

3) Ouchii Fitness
One project that I am so proud of was launching Ouchii Fitness. As a business owner, it’s always important to ask “What does the community need?” And with COVID-19 continuing to keep gyms shut, the answer was clear: the communities need ways to stay fit.

The beauty of group fitness is that the group dynamic encourages everyone to bring their energy and hype each other up. When that was suddenly taken away from us, many of us who enjoy the group dynamic lost the motivation to exercise. My free Zoom sessions were started shortly thereafter lockdown and culminated into www.OuchiiFitness.com. I launched the service just this month and have 50 or so members subscribed to some kind of fitness package and I am lucky to have such a dedicated group of fitness enthusiasts who trust me with their fitness goals.

4) 24 Cans Me
I got an e-mail saying I needed to join a conference call from 24 on an upcoming Wednesday. I dialed in and was greeted with an automated voice mail telling me I was being let go, along with countless others. It stung. I know the company is suffering, as are most gyms right now – but 24 specifically was already filing for bankruptcy. I think what stung most is knowing that I was chosen based on who knows what criteria and others were spared. What about all the people I brought in? The people who joined because of my classes alone? All the events I did? Or the fact that I did all that for half of what some other instructors made?

In a weird way – it all worked out. The other gyms who I feel have a more accurate grasp with what I can do or what I’ve done all reached out to me to return, which I am thankful for. However, with COVID-19 not going anywhere, and all the gyms consistently being asked to shut down – maybe it was all a sign?

I have no ill will toward 24 as a company. Could some things have been handled differently? I think so… but I did get a lot of perks out of 24 – the most significant being amassing a large network of fitness followers. And someday, I’m sure we’ll all be dancing, doing burpees and lifting together in person again at the gyms (maybe 24 again? Who knows?) – but as for now, I am okay running Ouchii Fitness and keeping people healthy and happy from the safety of their homes.

5) Birthdays Galore
My mom turned 65 – she can finally order off the senior menu at Sizzler (assuming they survive). My mom is one cool, funny lady. Both my nephews also turned 1 this month. My siblings of course wanted to give them the big party that most parents tend to do for their first borns (shout out to the forgotten middle children of the world!) but they responsibly decided to do drive thru birthday parties.

*My other nephew, Oliver, born 2 days after Cameron who also celebrated his 1st birthday in July.*

5) Distance Learning Fall 2020
It was also recently announced that my district, along with most of the state will be doing distance learning for the first semester of the 2020/2021 school year. The debate amongst people saying we, as teachers need to go back to the classroom is crazy. I’ll leave it at that.

As I end this entry, I just want to say I am thankful for such a strong network of people to help me get through this pandemic. Not once have I felt alone. I am thankful for my partner to have to talk to daily (and even when I don’t want to talk just knowing he is available to do so), thankful for my siblings and parents, my funny cousins, my friends, and my fitness family.

If you find yourself alone and need to chat – I am all for it. Let’s Zoom.

COVID 19 Chronicles: Part 2 / Keep Them Close

Posted on April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 by alvin

Me and Mom - Roseville 2019 — *Me and my mom in her home in Roseville last year. She hates this photo, but I like it.*

They say when it rains, it pours. That expression didn’t pop up in my head on its own – I was venting to my gal pal and Zumba buddy Ashley (check her out by the way, she’s awesome) about all the happenings of the past week and she replied with that expression. She may have used an expletive as well.

And honestly, it was f*cking perfect. See what I did there?

If 2020 wasn’t enough of a crap fest already in the first quarter with an NBA legend passing and Australian wildfires, of course a worldwide pandemic would be the perfect cherry on top. The pandemic was/is creating problems on a large scale, no doubt; but within our homes it is creating its own set of different challenges that all of us unfortunately have to deal with. Whether it is suddenly finding ourselves unemployed, isolated and alone, trapped in a house with a bad case of cabin fever, getting on each others’ nerves for those of us who live with other folks or worse – seriously ill as a result of the virus itself… to say that times are rough is an understatement for many.

I’m fortunate enough to say that my problems I suppose seem trivial next to the struggles of others. However, this week I was presented with two news items, neither of which were pleasant.

My mom’s aunt was terminally ill in the Philippines, and while I had known that for several days, I wasn’t expecting her to pass so quickly. The day she had passed, my sister attempted to call my mom to get updates. My mom, who isn’t the best at picking up the phone to begin with didn’t pick up. I told my sister that it was highly likely my mom was already on the phone speaking with her siblings and other relatives about the passing.

To my shock and horror, it turns out my mom had slipped in the bathroom and was in excruciating pain.

Just to give some context, my parents moved to Roseville over a year ago (something that I still haven’t come to grips with fully) and their plan was to have my dad work in the Bay Area for a few more years and settle in Roseville once he is retired. In the meantime, he’d drive up on the weekends to be with my mom. My first reaction when they decided to move was entirely selfish on my end. I didn’t want them to move because I wanted them here. Because I needed them here. Despite the fact that I I’d visit once or twice a week at best – just the idea of knowing that I could visit at a moment’s notice and eat lunch with my mom and dad was a comforting one. My second reaction was fear. What if she were alone during the weekdays and something horrible happened? I always worry about my parents’ health – my mom more so.

… So she broke her hip and was in pain. One good thing about this pandemic (there’s something that I’m sure you don’t hear too much of) is my dad was off work and at home with her. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance and admitted immediately. My dad was unable to go with her due to the COVID-19 restrictions. It was extremely scary being here in Campbell and unable to do anything. She had to undergo hip surgery and they inserted a metal disk.

And she had to go through it alone.

My dad was awesome and sent us updates periodically throughout the night as he’d get them. My siblings also were proactive with trying to figure out solutions for her recovery. I facetimed her a few times – she’s still in the hospital and is in pain but at least she is alive and will be on the road to recovery soon. Thank god!

If that wasn’t enough, my brother dropped this bombshell that his wife (my sister in-law) found a cancerous tumor in her colon. She will be admitted for surgery to extract it today. I am praying that once it is removed that it will be the end of it. She is the mother of one of my two nephews born a week apart – the other nephew being from my sister, Athena. We need her alive and well to guide him. She too, will be alone in the hospital due to COVID-19.

So where am I going with this? I wish I knew. This is what is in my head at the moment.

My take away is that I love my family. I’ve always known that. Likewise, I know it’s the same for many of you. Sometimes it’s easy to forget in our day to day lives that nothing is permanent. Things can change in the blink of an eye. A home can be sold, a job lost – even worse, a loved one can pass (rest in peace, Auntie Flor).

During this pandemic lock down, I hope those of you who are fortunate enough to have a loved one living with you spend time loving them harder (interpret that however way you want… I can already imagine the giggles from some of you).

This also isn’t exclusive to a significant other. If you have kids, enjoy the moment. They may drive you crazy when you’re trying to work remote or when you’re trying to decompress, but you are their everything. If you live alone, I hope you find the time to face time or have great phone calls with loved ones.

Last night, Jey was sleeping freakishly close to me. Normally, we sleep pretty far apart – we both need that space and overheat quickly. But last night I think he subconsciously just needed me to be close, or perhaps he sensed I needed it. Either way, I’m glad he was there.

Much love to you all! Stay healthy, and take care of yourselves.

COVID 19 Chronicles: Part 1 / Easter

Posted on April 13, 2020 by alvin

COVID-19 Project - Garage gym! — *My garage upgrade – call it my COVID-19 project.*

So now that we are in week 4 of social distancing in California, I figured now would be a good time to write about it. Four weeks ago, I was writing on Facebook about how it is ridiculous that we are not out of school if not for the safety of our students, then definitely for the safety and well being of our older staff as well as those of us who live with older folks.

At the time, opinions were all over the place – with some still comparing the virus to the flu, some thinking we did not need to be out of school, some thinking it was Dooms Day… it was actually pretty stressful if not annoying being on social media. I can’t really fault the nay-sayers, because I was amongst them initially. However, I also like to stay informed and constantly read and watch the news and I am very fortunate to have family who are the same, and will constantly update me. (Love you guys, by the way.) As it became more and more clear what a danger this virus was, I became increasingly more vocal about it.

… But let’s not lose focus. 🙂

Here we are in our fourth week, and not only has California shut down all schools for the remainder of the school year, but all non-essential jobs have been ordered to work from home or shut down entirely (my own included). The general consensus is that comparing this virus to the flu is silly. We as Californians are all (well, most of us are) practicing social distancing and limiting leaving the home. People are dying – Italy and China obviously were hit hard and most countries are on some form of lock down. The concept of “flattening the curve” is pretty well understood by most (keyword there is most, unfortunately). News is continually changing by the day, if not the hour.

… And people are still spreading old articles or false information on Facebook. Lol – that part I suppose will never change.

Notably it is Easter Sunday today, and I would like to share a few thoughts. I’d like to start with some things that made me sad. Don’t worry though, I will end with things that made me happy and thankful.

Sad list:

School year ending abruptly – Being unable to properly end the year with my high school students, especially the freshmen and the seniors.
All of my gyms closing – The gyms have become a big part of my life and I have made some great friends in my students. It immediately felt strange knowing that I wouldn’t be dancing around for 1-2 hours almost every day.
Social Life – Not being able to see my immediate family and friends for gatherings and random visits.

Happy list:

Online E-Learning – When things go south unexpectedly, it forces you to take leaps you didn’t think you would ever need to do because now we have no choice. Teachers being forced to stay home allowed us the opportunity to learn how to connect digitally to continue teaching whether through Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook/Youtube Live, 8×8, Twitch and whatever else. These formats enable me to connect with both my high school students as well as gym students.
Social Media – Social media is definitely a double edged sword and there is as much bad as there is good there. However, for pandemic life – I say the good outweighs the bad. Imagine for a second if we were locked down the way we are now but in a pre-Facebook, pre high speed internet time and all non essential businesses like Blockbuster were forced to close – we’d be really bored and 10x lonelier. Thanks for social media we are allowed to engage with people and feel connected. I am happy being caught up to date with everyone in my network through the various social media platforms and also laughing at all the memes people come up with.

Reconnecting with MYSELF – Something that I figured out very early into the social distancing order is that I was never home pre-pandemic. A typical Monday for me would be starting the day at 5:30AM, teach high school until 2PM, arrive home, take a nap, take care of Ouchii stuff, and then head to Crunch Fitness for 1 hour of Zumba and then change and get ready for the next 1 hour class at 24 Hour Fitness Crane.

My being a people person in all facets of my life including my 3 careers – I always put others’ needs before my own. Having my schedule suddenly cleared allowed me time to ask myself, “Hey, what do I want to do? Or what do I need to do for myself?” which is something I forgot is so important to do. I came up with the following:
- Exercising – I am able to push my limits and try new exercises that I wouldn’t have to time to do before with the abundance of Zumba I was doing. More Les Mills Body Pump! More learning STRONG choreography. More body weight exercises! Of course learning some Zumba stuff as well.
- “Diet” – Having the time to cook and see what goes into my food and trying to track macros better is a lot easier when I’m not on the road driving all over town. I’ve made strides so much faster, and still eating like a whale.
- Decluttering – Reorganizing the apartment little by little and throwing out unneeded things. First thing up was turning my garage into a space that allows me to exercise and hang out in. (I’m typing this blog from there right now, as a matter of fact.) I cleaned up my desk upstairs and we cleared out our kitchen.
- Ouchii – Reconfiguring the business and planning the next stages.
- Wedding – Figuring out the logistics of how this wedding will happen on August 8 when we are on a tight schedule.
- Sleep – Catching up on sleep as much as possible.
- Upping my Social Media Game – I’ve spent a considerable amount of time learning different tools to promote my endeavors.

The pandemic is obviously a terrible thing, and I do not want to take away from the myriad of problems that faces our daily lives but in the spirit of Easter, I’ve found that taking a minute to think about everything that I am thankful for really does bring some clarity and peace of mind.

Happy Easter, friends and family!

Loving Unconditionally

Posted on January 29, 2020January 29, 2020 by alvin

*The Birthday Boy – January 29th 2020 marks Jey’s 35th Birthday*. *This is Jey having Ramen during our Hawaiian vacation last summer.*

This past weekend I finally took the plunge and let my partner Jeff buy the wedding ring of his choice.

Jeff, otherwise known as Jey to our friends and family came into my life close to a decade ago. We met at a time when my life as a young adult was just getting started – I had just finished getting my teaching credential, and was officially brought on board as the new art teacher at William C Overfelt by principal Vito Chiala, a former teacher of mine.

As most people know, teachers – especially teachers in the beginning of their career – don’t make the kind of fair wages they deserve and essentially can’t live on their own without having some form of additional financial support; whether in the form of parental help, roommates, side businesses/jobs… so on and so forth.

That was me in 2010. I was living at home with my awesome parents, spending every waking hour on campus – often being the first or second one to arrive in the morning (it was usually a toss up between either Vito or myself) and being one of the last to leave (Vito usually had me beat regularly) and all for a measly annual gross salary of $47,000. To add onto my stress, I had accrued over 6 figures in student loan debt and the first payments were due soon and credit card bills from college, a car payment… you name it. Thankfully, I was living at home, so that was one less thing I had to worry about and yet here I was at 22, living check to check, dollar to dollar.

When dating, I wouldn’t mention a word about my financial situation – having read one too many articles of people breaking off engagements once one reveals the amount of debt one was in. That was something I figured I’d save for maybe the 3^rd date… or 10^th. In my mind, I figured it would be best that someone would fall in love with my personality before going in for the kill.

And that’s what I did with Jey.

We had already split once or twice before for a day here and there (our personalities were really night and day – it’s kind of insane how compatible we are now), but the time had finally arrived where I felt it was time to let him know about my financial situation.

I remember we were sitting on a couch and I kind of spilled the beans and he sat there and was processing it all and I remember being incredibly stressed. Once it was all out, he said he needed a day or two to process it and then we could talk about it fully. I was fully convinced he was going to leave and in my mind I was already mentally preparing for it – Jey himself was forced to learn how to be financially independent very early on and had 0 debt.

To my surprise, he said we’d work on it together. And here we are 10 years later shopping for a ring. For a second I was stressed out about the exuberant amount of money I’d be throwing down on a diamond – something that for a person like me who was in a financial situation like I was back then just seemed so insignificant to have. But as the thought of buying the ring settled in more and more and I saw how important it was to Jey, and thought about how he stuck it out with me – who was I to say no? Money at the end of the day comes in, and goes out – but something that always remains a constant is unconditional love.

Loving someone unconditionally means loving someone through their struggles, their dreams, their successes and failures. Loving someone means giving more for them than sometimes you would for yourself. He showed me that almost 10 years ago and with this ring I am showing him the same.

Today is also his 35^th birthday – couldn’t think of a better time to celebrate him. <3

My Vacation in London: Part 2

Posted on July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 by alvin

I will start by saying this upfront: Day 2 was my absolute favorite for the obvious reason of the Spice Girls show. BUT – that can wait until the next post.

The four of us got up late – no surprise there, really. Even if I had gotten the correct amount of hours of sleep, traveling is exhausting – and the three cousins I traveled with also love to sleep. The early risers weren’t on this vacation, that’s for sure.

Prior to arriving in London, Chrizia had been in Ireland with her husband Dave, and having done the whole tourist thing already, she was only going to stay with us for three nights before flying back to the States. So we decided to do the one thing she hadn’t really done first and that was go visit The Shard.

So we all got ready and didn’t really get started until the early afternoon. We hopped on the tube and walked to the Shard. The Shard is a relatively new tourist destination in London, and it’s hard to miss – it’s a huge, narrow, triangular building that you can go to and enjoy a view of all of London, comfortably inside. The shard quickly became a running gag on this trip because it would show up in the background of so many of our photos no matter where we were. It’s not cheap – tickets ranged from £30-55 – all for a quick glance. Is it worth the price tag? To me, not so much – but if you have the London Pass, absolutely worth it. We went in the afternoon, but at the time I wish we had went at night (more on that in another post).

*Left to Right: My cousins, Kriselle, Chrizia, Jackie and Me in front of the Shard!*

*You can view London in its entirety from the top of the Shard.*

Walking along the River Thame, you have the best views of a large majority of London’s major landmarks, including the London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, the Tower Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben and more.

While walking around, we passed by a really long, tall monument, and I asked Chrizia what it was, and to my surprise she had no idea – so I walked up to it and started reading the details quickly since I knew we were on a time crunch. It turns out it was a monument to recognize the Great Fire of London, which evidently wiped out the vast majority of the city. It was a fact that was mentioned to us several times as we’d go through more tourist excursions – so yeah, pretty important.

*The Great Fire of London was a significant part of London history – the fire essentially destroyed the vast majority of the city!*

We walked over the London Bridge, as well as the Millennium Bridge – both important for different reasons, and both in close proximity to each other. We also were able to see Big Ben (which unfortunately was under construction) as well as Parliament, which was right next to it.

*World famous London Bridge – a bit underwhelming, but its history is rich and as such is extremely significant.* *I’ll post more about the London Bridge soon.*

*London Bridge, with Parliament and Big Ben right behind.*

*Yet another bridge! The Millennium Bridge – as featured in Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows.*

*The famous London Eye – basically a terrifying Ferris Wheel.*

After a crap ton of walking – we needed to eat something soon, we were hungry and we had a Spice Girls show to get to. The show was so awesome that it will get its own post. 🙂

Till the next entry… peace!

My Vacation in London: Part 1

Posted on July 4, 2019 by alvin

When the Spice Girls (aka the biggest selling girl band of all time – true story) announced they were reforming as a 4 piece without Victoria Beckham to tour the UK, I initially was unsure if I wanted to attend. I had previously seen them with their complete line up as a 5 piece on their last reunion tour in 2007 – and that was obviously one of the best nights of my life as it fulfilled a fantasy that I never thought would happen (they had last toured the states as a 4 piece after Ginger Spice had departed in 1998 and I was only 10 years old at the time with no money).

As more details started leaking about what the tour would be and they released a teaser video, whatever doubt I had disappeared and I said to myself, “What the f*ck are you thinking? It’s the mother f*cking Spice Girls!” And so, like that, I decided I was going to fly my ass to London and see them perform at Wembley Stadium and hopefully some of my cousins who also grew up with them would come with. It didn’t take much convincing – they were down.

Cut to a few months later, it was finally time for the trip. We all flew in separately due to our busy schedules. I flew with Air Canada, stopping first in Montreal for a layover and then straight to London from there. The flight was something around 12 hours or so when combined. Long, for sure. I enjoyed the lounge at Montreal – it was cozy, but uncrowded and had great food! As anyone who knows me knows, I will gravitate toward Asian food 9/10 times, so the fact that they had an Asian noodle bar put me in a fantastic mood. Especially knowing that I was in for another 9 hour flight, and hate airline food.

Once I was back on the plane, I immediately took a sleeping pill (Unisom – HIGHLY recommended) and knocked out the entire flight. I’d wake up occasionally due to my butt falling asleep and not feeling comfortable but then would immediately fall back asleep. Next thing I knew, I was in London! The sleeping pill worked out perfectly, as the time difference was 8 hours ahead, so by the time I had arrived, it was almost as if I was already on their schedule because I had a solid 8 hours of sleep and landed at 11 AM ready to explore.

While going through customs it’s always customary to ask what the purpose of the trip was and when the nice British guy asked I responded with “the Spice Girls show!” and he quickly laughed and we had a nice moment. From there, it was fairly easy to find the trains to get to wherever you’d need to go. For me, I needed to get to Paddington station (yes, Paddington like the bear) and my cousin Chrizia gave me the tip to take the express train that would get me there in 20 minutes or less. The train was extremely clean, and smooth – comparable to Cal Train, but nicer and with a nice purple color scheme.

Once I got to the station, I found an exit and walked over to the hotel I’d be sharing with my three cousins who decided to go. The hotel was nothing fancy, it did what it needed to do and was cost efficient for us. My cousin, Chrizia took the lead and had called ahead to let them know I’d be arriving first to check in (She really is the best person to help you travel). The streets around the area were super nice and clean. I immediately felt like I was in a movie for whatever reason.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the clerk welcomed me in. She told me I wasn’t able to check in early, but she was expecting me and I could leave my luggage and come back. Check in was at 2. I was a little saddened by that because I was hoping I could rest for a bit until the remaining 3 arrived, but with no choice there wasn’t much I could do so I asked to use the bathroom first before I adventure off. She looked at me puzzled, and then I quickly realized that I would have to use all the British terminology that I learned from my years of obsessing over the Spice Girls. I corrected myself, and said “toilet” and she laughed and pointed me in the right direction. Once I finished doing my business, she surprised me by telling me she was able to get the room ready for me faster and the maid was just finishing up “hoovering” it. I was elated, and expressed my fondness for the clerk immediately.

After I dozed off, the three remaining cousins arrived shortly after. We all agreed that the first day would be mellow, and we’d relax and just walk around and eat. The girls decided they wanted Indian food and Chrizia was recommended a place called “Dishoom” – a popular Indian franchise in London.

We decided to go to the main location located just off the West End / Picadilly Center. We each got an Oyster card (the card required to get on and off the Tube) and thanks to my cousins were able to find our destination easily.

Full disclosure: I have no problem taking a back seat and letting others lead. I’m so used to having to take the steering wheel and over time I Iearned that it is 100% okay to be a passenger sometimes.

Dishoom Restaurant — *Dishoom, a popular upscale Indian fusion restaurant in London. Expect to wait up to 90 minutes during peak dinner hours!*

The wait was a good 90 minute wait, in the cold. They offered us tea while waiting in line, which I thought was nice – I don’t recall ever being offered tea while waiting to eat in the States.

When we were finally seated, I observed the restaurant had nice dim lighting and the pricing was a little high for smaller portions – so basically… nothing out of the ordinary for an upscale fusion restaurant. The food was tasty, and we all were hungry. The three cousins I traveled with are not unlike me in that we are all fit and workout regularly, but also love to eat. And boy, did we eat.

Because we are Asian, and the three all have sweet tooths, we made it a point to find a boba place. It was clear upon arriving in London that the UK is not unlike the US in that there is a vast array of food from all over the globe widely available. Thank god!

Once we returned back to the Columbus hotel, we got ready for bed and had some great conversation. We reminisced about our youth, as we always do. We talked about our spouses. We talked about old rifts and current ones. I made a comment talking about how I used to babysit them and how they learned a lot from me, but funny enough as adults, I find myself in awe of everything they’ve achieved and how much I am learning from them. It was a nice realization.

The next day I knew was going to be fantastic, because we were going to see the Spice Girls in the evening at Wembley Stadium – a venue with a max capacity of 90k, and the same venue that they last played when they were at the height of their fame in the late 90s. All we needed to do was get some rest first.