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It’s been about 3 years since I became the organizer of the Irvine Chinese and English Meetup group. Not only do we have a Meetup.com group with about 1400 members but we also have a WeChat group with 250 members. You can see our picture from this week. It looks like we had about 22…
Well, I finished my trip around the world, and I was in Los Angeles for a month without a car. I rented a car and I decided it’s better. I go ahead and buy something! I’ve always heard that buying a car can be one of the most expensive things a person can do because…
In early 2021 I got Tinnitus, which is a constant ringing in the ears. The tinnitus was probably triggered by one of three things: When I got covid right on New Year’s Day of 2021, something really wierd happened that I still can’t adequately describe, where I had severe anxiety and severe insomnia. The next…
I had a great time hiking with Volodymyr and Julia to a waterfall near Yaremche Ukraine. The night before we spent the night at a resort in Bukovel. It took us maybe 20 minutes to drive Volodymyr’s Jeep Cherokee down the mountain road to get to the trail, and then another 20-30 minutes to get…
I had a great time taking these pictures and talking with a couple of locals. I asked them if the Soviets built it, or the Polish, and they said definitely it was the Polish, but under the direction of a puppet dictator state (Poland of the 1950s). I’ve posted my photos at the end of…
A Welcoming Blend of Cultures and People The United Arab Emirates is an amazing place, and surprisingly open and free. of course it’s two main economic drivers are oil and tourism, as well as an ever growing tech sector. But what surprised me the most was the people. Think about the countries you have heard…
It’s been a while (2018?), so I don’t remember all the details, but I recall this was a Cancer benefit, and perhaps it was the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Foundation. I remember is was held in Culver City. It was not just any ordinary charity event; it was a gathering that brought together some of the…
Back in 2021 when I was having sleep problems during Covid, I made a series of drawings, including the below Harry Potter characters: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger. Dumbledore and Hagrid. In the Harry Potter drawing you can see I wrote Chinese, and this is simply Harry Potter in Chinese 哈利波特. And speaking of Chinese, I…
Early Life and First Steps in Travel Recently I heard someone say this is the Age of Travel, and talking about how easy it has become to travel and see the world. I’m doing it now, but this is nothing like my past life. My past life was about connecting to the world. I was…
Balancing Respect and Sharing Experiences When it comes to posting about my travel experiences, I feel like sometimes there’s a balance I have to maintain. I want to be respectful of the people that I encounter while also talking about what I see. I think it can be hard for outsiders to understand other cultures,…