Holy crap! Thank you guys so much for all the birthday wishes. My facebook, twitter and cell phone were going crazy the whole freakin' day!

Not gonna lie, I've had some miserable birthdays in the past...so I've learned to appreciate the simplest birthdays of facebook/myspace comments, twitters, text messages and just being around people that I love. Yesterday was all about that and I loved it.

A few days ago, I was thinking of doing something like, "for every person that wishes me happy birthday, I'll do a body roll for one second." Damn, if I actually did that, it'd be a video of me doing body rolls for over 2.5 minute!! :laugh: Maybe next year. Maybe.

Anyways, lotsa love to the people that wished me happy birthday (in chronological order):

• Wush
• Michael
• Hazel
• Melissa G
• Michelle T
• Hammy
• Kris Mark
• Joanne
• Paolo L
• Mom & Dad
• Sheena
• Ernie
• Sierra
• Phatts
• Tracie
• Tops
• Chany
• Roth
• BM-Mike
• Loval
• Loris
• RJ
• Raelynne
• Crissy
• Mquerol
• Nessa
• Naythen
• Jackielyn
• Jae -- omg pole dancing video??! :rofl:
• Nikki
• Kina Grannis -- :biggrin:
• Drew -- loved the body roll video :bangin:
• Roy
• Van
• Marlo
• Confi
• Cristina Blake
• Tillmann
• Stefan
• Hollykinns
• Slimbeats
• Courtney
• Nicole P
• Japstaboi
• DesoMatt
• Fred
• Nam
• Stephanie C
• Michelle
• Meliss
• Dru
• Jimbo
• Amanda H
• Ulysses
• Jon G
• Tam
• Abel
• Dee
• Rochi
• Julie
• Lorraine
• Kulay Mike -- awww yehhh :hehe:
• Adriee
• Melissa V
• Ashley
• Angel
• Justine
• Renabette
• Sara
• Renato
• Mike E
• Vicki
• Pete
• Erin
• Amy T
• Samir
• Paolo
• Ariana
• Jasper
• Justin H
• Kim T
• April
• Nadin
• Rachel
• Pat
• Jason C
• Deland
• Ernie
• Phil
• Kishan
• Richard J
• Mary
• Dae
• Noa
• Wing
• James
• Chris P
• Dimples
• Preston
• Jennie
• Allie
• Erleen
• Chain
• Erin
• Lisa J
• JR
• Joanne
• Ashley S
• Norm
• NJ
• Stephanie R
• Elisa
• Bobby Lee, I mean, Cathy Nguyen -- :chill:
• Thomas Yu
• Gayle
• Devin
• Jon Chan
• Katzy -- <3 video mail
• Alex John -- all the way from Chicago?!! :noway:
• Jec -- zomg, awesome drawing skillz!! :coold:
• Josh S
• Darwin
• Daniel
• Chris P
• Brianne
• Goldy
• Nirav
• AJ -- thanks for dedicating a song to me with Cathy. :cheers:
• Janice
• Jessica M
• Kathleen B
• random people at AJ's show that apparently recognized me from blogtv (whoa!?!)
• Ronan
• Bryan Keith
• Angel
• Rex
• Amy
• Megan
• Ray
• Mark M
• Kim
• Tiff
• Dana
• Heather
• Stan
• Adoboy
• Laila
• Sara T
• Elwood
• Khaing
• Ron P
• Audrey P
• Cynthia

And on a random note...

This Ralph Emerson quote popped into my head yesterday. I've posted this before but I just love this quote so much I wanted to share it with you guys again:

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

To laugh often and much.
To win the respect of intelligent people,
and the affection of children.
To earn the appreciation of honest critics,
and endure the betrayal of false friends.
To appreciate beauty.
To find the best in others.
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child, a garden patch,
or a redeemed social condition.
To know even one life has breathed easier,
because you have lived.
That is to have succeeded.

Love you guys. <3

// Due to my crappy internet, I'm gonna have to keep this blog post very, very short...

Thanks for your patience, everyone. It took me a few days longer than expected but 300 photos are up on my Flickr! (There's actually a total of 853 photos and videos which I'll make available for download soon)

What can I say? It was a very chill reunion, filled with a lot of nostalgia and laughter; it was a nice change of pace for once, compared to our past wild reunions. Once again we find ourselves as a group of people in the middle of no where, doing what we do best -- chilling, drinking and finding ways to amuse ourselves.

The highlights of the reunion are all in the photos.

Randoms:

Loren: you'd think it was only us kids that were drinking and partying but really it's just the adults were a lot better at dodging us than we were at them.

Mel: petting the dogs
Alan: hey Loren, do you have any peanut butter? (Reference to the movie Road Trip)

Mel: quick, deep, hollow fart
Samir: what?
Loren: dude, was that your ass??
Samir: oh shit! I thought he said "yo"

Re-Created Picture of the Moment:

In Closing...

In the movie Garden State, a wise Zach Braff one said:

Home is so much more than just a house to put your shit in.

The more I think about that quote, the more I realize how true it is. Home isn't just a house. It's not just a town. It's a time. A moment. It's the people around you in a certain phase of your life. It's the world in the eyes of someone before all that real world stuff.

Home is an experience when you're there, and a state of mind when you're not.

Let's face it, none of us will ever truly be able to "go back." Even if we decide to go to that Ar@mco sponsored reunion in Saudi next year, it wouldn't be the same. It's not that same time and it's not the same place.

But the people -- us -- we'll always have. And that will never change.

Maybe that's what 'family' really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

View Photos (289) | Downloads & Videos coming soon!