KoalaStar Rising:

My beautiful new toy…err…I mean, phone:

The Blackberry 8830 World Edition Smartphone

I realized that my two year contract was up with Verizon when I was back in Boston, so I began to wonder whether it was time for me to switch to Cingular/AT&T so I could get my hands on the new iPhone. After much thought and consideration, I decided to stick with Verizon. Although the iPhone is amazing, I think it is wise for me to wait until a second or even third generation iPhone comes out before I switch services. Besides, I have never had a problem with Verizon in the almost ten years that I’ve been with them. I also already know how to use a BlackBerry (it’s quite simple once you get the hang of it), so I think I made a good choice.

I am extremely happy with my decision, because my new toy is incredible (I love how I’m calling my new phone a toy! It’s just that cool! *smiles*). It even comes with a bunch of different plugs for different countries because it’s a world phone (meaning I can use it anywhere with my same number as long as I get the right sim card for it). The only thing it doesn’t have is a camera, but I don’t care about that. Whenever I had phones with built-in cameras in the past, I never used them.

I do hope that some of my friends choose to by the new iPhone on the 29th, because I am looking forward to testing it out. It is such a neat little device.

Technology sure has come a long way, hasn’t it?

Tomorrow I return to Los Angeles. I have a flight leaving Albany at 3:15pm and arriving at LAX around 10pm. I don’t have to switch planes this time (but, the plane does make a couple of stops). My sister is coming out with me and staying through my birthday (07/07/07 woot!) which makes me really happy. Since I fly out of Albany, I’ve been spending the last couple of days in the Berkshires with my father and I have been having a lovely time.

On Friday, we saw this wonderful opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully entitled Psyche. It was presented by the Boston Early Music Festival. Psyche  is a seventeenth century baroque opera complete with choreographed dances. It’s very rare to see operas from this time period, so I am extremely excited that I had the chance to see it. The costumes and the sets in this performance were incredible and all of the singing was spot-on.

Psyche  tells the story of the beautiful mortal Psyche, who falls in love with L’amore (Cupid) and is in turn tricked by his mother Venus because Venus is angry that Psyche is regarded so highly by both mortals and immortals even though she is a mere mortal. If you ever have the chance to see a baroque opera, I highly recommend it. It’s a completely different experience.

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing, a farce about two playwrights who are trying to complete their musical comedy on an ocean liner before they reach New York (where their play is to premiere). Throw in a crazy steward, a silly actress, a nervous composer (who also happens to be engaged to the actress) and a pompous actor (who is in love with the actress) and hilarity is guaranteed to ensue. I saw it performed at Shakespeare & Company’s new(ish) Founder’s Theater which is a small, intimate theater in the round (the perfect space to put on such a play, in my humble opinion of course).

I have always loved Tom Stoppard’s work (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead  is one of my all-time favorite plays) and I loved Rough Crossing  as well. The actors did a fantastic job keeping up the pace and engaging the audience. There were times when I couldn’t stop laughing because the actors were so hysterical. If you have never seen any of Stoppard’s work, I recommend you remedy that right away.

I have had the best time in Boston, New York and the Berkshires this past month. I don’t know when I will be back, but I hope that it is sooner rather than later. Adios for now! When I update again, I’ll be back on the West Cost.

On the evening of June 1, 2001, the King and Queen of Nepal, their daughter and younger son were murdered, evidently by their older son, whose own mysterious death ended the slaughter. The King’s younger brother succeeded to the throne amidst rumors that he had masterminded the massacre. Years of turmoil followed, from which Nepal is just now beginning to emerge.

For me, Kathmandu’s June One massacre was traumatic because it ended three and a half decades of quiet empathy I had felt for a man who had taught me as I was teaching him. In the weeks that followed his death, I collected articles on the tragedy, but felt principally disbelief as I read them. It took more than three years before it began to seem to me that it might be healing and helpful to try to characterize Birendra, his life, his death, his role in my life, and what may be his enduring significance in the history of Nepal.
-Excerpt from the Introduction of Democratizing Monarch: A Memoir of Nepal’s King Birendra by Francis G. Hutchins

On Monday, my family celebrated the publication of my father’s book, Democratizing Monarch: A Memoir of Nepal’s King Birendra by Vajra Publications (located in Kathmandu, Nepal). We threw a book party at this wonderful little restaurant called The Himalayan Bistro (which specializes in Indian and Nepali cuisine). My parents invited some of their colleagues and friends to help us celebrate.

My sister and I were in charge of selling my father’s book. It is not currently available in The United States, but we are hoping that will change when word of the book gets out.

The silver plaque on the right side of the photo was given to my father by King Birendra. It is an image of a pupil and his guru (teacher). It is called Dhruva-Narayan.

This book is extremely important because it shows a side of Nepal not known to many. Usually when I mention the horrible massacre that occurred in Nepal back in 2001, people have no idea what I am talking about. Most people can’t even tell me what the capital of Nepal is (Kathmandu) or where Nepal is located! I have to admit that I’ve only read the first half of my father’s book thus far, but I am sure I will complete it soon seeing as it’s very hard for me to put it down (yes, it is that captivating). I never really knew the history of Nepal before this book, but it is incredible.

If anyone would like a copy of my father’s book to read (which I highly recommend), leave a comment here and I will see if I can get you one.

I had such a wonderful weekend! Friday was low key because I stayed in, but I still enjoyed it. Some days I’m just not in the mood to go out. Instead, I want to stay inside and relax with my loved ones. Friday was definitely one of those days.

On Saturday, I finally got to see where my friend Becks lives with her fiancé Shawn. I guess they moved into their place when I was visiting Boston last summer, but for some reason I never got a chance to see it until now. We ordered yummy Chinese food from this place called Wang’s (which has the BEST dumplings EVER!) and I was introduced to this really cool show called Man VS. Wild on The Discovery Channel. It’s about this guy, Bear Grylls, who gets dropped off in remote areas around the world and then tries to find civilization. He demonstrates survival techniques and explains the best way to survive in the wild.

Here I am with Becks:

On Sunday, I went out with some friends to see this insane documentary called Crazy Love. From the description on Coolidge Corner Theater’s website the movie is “the astonishing story of the obsessive roller-coaster relationship of Burt and Linda Pugach, which shocked the nation during the summer of 1959. Burt, a 32 year-old married attorney and Linda, a beautiful, single 20 year-old girl living in the Bronx had a whirlwind romance, which culminated in a violent and psychologically complex set of actions that landed the pair’s saga on the cover of endless newspapers and magazines”. If this movie comes to a theater near you, I definitely recommend that you see it. I’m not going say anything else, but that!

Afterwards, my sister and I returned once again to our favorite hangout spot, The Sunset Bar and Grill. I always knew that the Sunset Bar and Grill had a huge selection of beer, but I never knew exactly how much. Well, I found out on Sunday that it has 112 beers on tap and over 380 different kinds of bottled beer. Isn’t that amazing?!

Here is a shot of one of the three bars in the restaurant.

I love how the bars are set up here.

Well, I gotta go run some errands now, but I hope everyone had a good weekend!

To my wonderful Daddy:

Thank you so much for your love and support all these years. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for you and your wonderful guidance. I am so glad that I get to celebrate Father’s Day with you this year. You truly are the best father a little koala bear could ever ask for!

Love you lots and lots!

I cannot wait for this:

I love, love, love Robot Chicken so I will definitely be tuning into Adult Swim next Sunday, June 17th at 10pm. You should too!

While we were out last night, my sister decided that she wanted cake. So, what does she order?

THIS:

Is this not the biggest piece of cake you have ever seen?! It was called “Chocolate Mudslide Pie” or something. I was amazed how much of the cake my sister and I were able to eat before we felt that our stomachs would explode.

Here is another photo with my sister in the background so you can get a better idea of how big this thing was.

Those spoons were pretty large and look how small they seem next to that cake!

I bet you’re all wondering whether the cake was any good, right? Yes. Yes it was. It was delicious. I think I now need to go to the gym for the next thousand years to work it all off though!

I had the pleasure of hanging out with some fab ladies I know from an online community last night. I also got to meet/hangout with some of their friends (who are from the same online community, but I didn’t previously know who they were). Everyone was really cool. We first met up for some dinner at this incredible Malaysian Restaurant called Penang and then we went and saw Hostel Part II which wasn’t that great of a movie (in my humble opinion), but I never saw the first one so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

Here we are at Penang’s

I’m hoping to hang out with everyone again before I leave. Perhaps next weekend if everyone is free.

There is a very good chance that I will be returning to my beloved Fenway Park this week to see the BoSox take on Colorado. I really want to see them go up against SF this weekend because I’m not sure if Boston has played against SF at Fenway before. If they have previously played against each other at Fenway, I can only assume it was a long time ago. Anyone know for sure?

Anyways, I am greatly looking forward to this and I will definitely take pictures if and when I go!

As I have mentioned before, whenever I come back to Boston I get together with my buddies from high school at one of the best sushi places in Boston: Mr. Sushi. On Thursday, we continued this wonderful tradition. I found out that Mr. Sushi allows you to bring your own wine for a mere corking fee of $10 which I thought was awesome. So, we all got to share a great bottle of wine (that Dori and Dave brought) with our yummy sushi dinner. Two of my friends had to leave early, so alas, they aren’t in any of the photos.

CHEERS!

(Clockwise: Molly, Dori, Anna, Me, Alex, Dave. Not Pictured: Becks, Shawn and Lil’ Ebwie, who is taking the photo).

“I am the Walrus” (Molly cracks me up every time she does this!)

Lil’ Ebwie decided to put my hair up in a messy bun. I apparently thought it was a good idea to pose for a picture while on the phone…

I love this photo of my friend Dori and me. I can’t for the life of me remember what we were laughing at.

Here I am with Dori, Molly and Anna. I think I look terrible in this photo, but everyone else looks good so I decided to post it anyways.

I think I’m going to be having a low key night tonight. First, I’m going to go out to dinner with my family and then I’ll probably watch some movies with my sister. We rented a bunch of movies we’ve been meaning to see (The Last King of Scotland, Letters From Iwo Jima, and Babel to name a few).

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

I first learned about optical illusions back when I was in fifth grade and I have been fascinated by them ever since. I was reading a friend’s blog the other day when I came across this:

Follow the directions, then wait and see what happens…

P.S. I love animated gifs. Look at the dancing tiger!