So for my 22nd Birthday, I received a Betta, AKA Siamese Fighting Fish. It started with a little joke that my brother's friend posted on facebook, on my birthday. He said that he was going to have my Oldest brother, Vanganator, give me a fish, in a joking way. Well, in the end it was no longer a joke. I really received a betta for my birthday. The is a pretty, colorful and wonderful Betta. I grew up in a family that loved to take care of pets and animals. So I knew what I was getting myself into. I was also afraid because I've never really had to take care of my own fish. My brother always took care of my fish for me. So I finally have my own, and I'm so glad that it hasn't died on me. hahah. That's always a relief.
My brother was also very kind enough to give me a tank and advice on how to take care of a fish. So I received a Betta, some fish food, a Fish scooper especially designed for bettas, and tips on how to take care of a fish. There was a lot of things that I didn't know, and I'm glad he told me. I would have been that kid who killed the fish in two days. hahah. My brother also went with me to the store to go buy just a few more things for the tank, like decoration and gravel. At a later date, we also bought a plant to help the ammonia level in the water. This way, I can ensure that my fish is less likely to die. I am so thankful for his help on everything.
Now everything is all set up, the tank looks wonderful, and I think my betta is happy. With the help of my wonderful friend, Goldiglocks, I have decided to name him "Gayden". So here are pictures of my pet Betta, Gayden.
The final full set up of the tank
If you would like to support my brother in his Betta Selling endeavors, please visit http://www.vangsplakat.com/ . He sells high quality and beautiful Bettas. You won't be disappointed. He will be more than willing to help you start your fish tank, and fish adventures.
Thanks!
VaiKang
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So recently Les Miserables came to Milwaukee and it was amazing!!!!! It was music heaven for me. So many of the singers on stage were awesome, and so many good actors. If you have not had a chance to read the story of Les Miserables, I would highly recommend doing so before the seeing the Musical. There are two versions of the book. The abridged version, which has just the main story, There is also the unabridged, (which I read) which has a lot of detail and history about the times and the facts, when the book was written. The musical is very close to the book and some people say it is the book. This is one reason why the musical is such a popular version of the story. There is a movie that has been couple of movies made about the book, but when we analyzed it in my high school class, it does not go with book at all. So I would not promote seeing the movie versions at all.
Okay, so enough promotional things about the book. The Musical is very phenomenal! The first time I saw a production of it, was at Pius XI High School. At that time, I didn't know what was going on. I was in grade school and my choir decided to go to support some of our singers in the production. So I saw the musical even before I realized what it was. I really enjoyed it at that time too. We were very lucky this year for Les Miserables to come to Milwaukee and perform here. In the busy-ness of my work schedule and school, I did get a chance to watch the performance. I was impressed from the beginning. One thing you will notice right away too, is how dark the stage is, and this will carry through the entire musical. The amount of staging they put on, was amazing. Lots of set changes and well usage of space. They had a very big sets that covered up the stage up and down. They had some very cool special effects especially with the backdrop. It seemed to be a projection onto a screen, and it was full of detail. They used this back drop with the Sewer and the Battle scenes. It made for great effects.
The voices of this cast was awesome too. To sing in Les Miserables, you have to have a full wide range and a very good control of it. They did a great selecting the singers for this cast. I really like the voices of actors who played Jean Valjean, Javert and Marius. The three, sang and controlled their voices really well. I am unfortunately a critic of voice at times, but I did not have one complaint about their voices at all.
So in the end if you ever have Les Miserables come to your city, please don't hesitate to buy a ticket and read up on the story. It's worth every cent of your money. It is also a production that sells out quickly, so buy your tickets fast. For a listing of the Tour dates and time, go to http://www.lesmis.com/tickets/tour-dates-and-venues/.
If you happen to not a chance to see the actual productions, Look on youtube for the 10th and 25th Anniversary celebration and performances of Les Miserables. They are also very great experiences of the movies.
I also forgot to mention that while celebrating Box Office Lady #1's birthday on tuesday, the opening night of Les Miserable in Milwaukee, she had tickets the cast party. So I got a chance to go and meet the cast and enjoy some time with them. It was great!
VaiKang
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Lately, I've been listening to a lot of piano music. The piano is one of my favorite instruments for it's flexibility, it's color, and complexity. Now there are many great pianist out there, and I like too many to name. But some recent great pianist I have come across is: Sunny Choi and Emmanuel Axe.
Sunny Choi is a great innovator of interpreting modern pop songs into piano pieces. She also does a lot of her works on youtube. That was were I originally found her too. Many artist, of the original works, have seen Sunny choi reinterpret their songs, and really fall in love with them. I have also fallen in love with some of her interpretations too! (If you would like to get a little more about her, here is a link to her webage. http://www.sunnychoimusic.com/ hahah)
Just to name a few,
Impossible by Shontelle:
Hold it against me by Briney Spears:
Another great Pianist is Emanuel Ax. Emanuel is a Phenomenal Pianist. I have heard him play with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and I am so blown away. Before his concert with them, he played, Debussy's Estampes- Pagodes from memory. He control of his hand and fingers to be able to play in multiple dynamics at one time is so good. I wish to someday be able to play like him someday. If he ever has a concert by you, I would highly recommend that you attend one of this performances. Emanuel has also done a lot of recordings so if you find a piece that you like, you should see if he recorded it. Here is his website to find out more about him. He has a very good history. http://www.emanuelax.com/
J. Brahms/ Intermezzo in A - opus 118
Chopin Scherzo 1 Opus 20
Emanuel also does a lot of collaberations with Yo-Yo-Ma.
Schubert Arpeggione Sonata D821
Hope you enjoyed some of these pieces. Let me know who is your great pianist.
As a final piece for this post, I have always liked this. It's by Jon Schmidt.
Love Story meets Viva La Vida
Hope you enjoy it!
VaiKang
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Wow!!! What a birthday Celebration! The ending of my 21st year, and the celebration of my 22nd year to look forward to.
I have to say, it was a great birthday celebration this year! I feel so loved with all the birthday messages I received on facebook. And that was only the beginning of the birthday appreciations. So let's started at the beginning of my birthday celebrations.
My birthday was officially on Thursday, so I had to somewhat celebrate on the actual date. I started off the morning by dressing up and looking real nice. I wore my famous vest, that usually indicates that I'm having a great day! I love to wear vest, and especially this one that I bought from H&M. Sometimes a lot of vest doesn't fit the build of a person's body, but this vest has fitted me so well. I went through my classes which ended about 5:00p.m. As I get ready to drive home and just hanging out at my place for the night, my friend SSTeacher gives me a call. She asked me what I was planning on doing tonight and I was not fully sure. I was invited to hang out with Purple and her bf, Matt Smith, but I had not made a decision on which bar to go to. So SSTeacher suggested that we go over to Art bar to play Beer Bong Bingo. So I agreed. I invited Purple to join us, so this would be a great chance to celebrate together too. Before SSTeacher and I actually went to the Art bar, I was hoping to grab some food to eat,so I don't get to wasted. We had initially planned to BW3, but they were packed watching a basketball game. My next thought was that we go over to Rosie's on water, where you get to drink for free on your birthday. She agree and we when to Rosie's. We were there for just a little bit to kill some time before the Art bar. I was able to get in two drinks and a Free Mug.
After going to Rosie's, we proceeded over to the Art bar. There, SSTeacher was kind enough to purchase my favorite cider drink, Strongbow, and I got my Birthday shot. We also got a pizza to help with the alcohol. As we are waiting for the game to start, some of SSTeacher's friends joined up with us. An old friend happened to be there with a different group and so it was nice catching up with him.
Beer bong bingo starts! I believe I won the first game of the night. The prizes were usually to choose a bunny, and get alcoholic beverage. The first drink prize tonight was a beer bong. I was being considerate and was trying to moderate the amount of alcohol consumption. So I gave my beer bong to Pizza Shuttle Boy. The rest of the night was more of the "lower floor" team, which was our group, winning more drinks and selecting prizes. Before the end of the night, Purple and her BF joined. I won one more game and gave my bunny choice to Purple to keep. (edited) This final win was also a beer bong prize. So I finally gave it a try, and did my first beer bong. It was a very unique experience, and omg, that beer just rushes down. So I broke my beer bong virginity at the art bar on my 22nd birthday! hahaha. After that Purple and BF then drove me home for the rest of the night.
The next day was the official planned birthday celebration. I had school that morning and that was that. haha. After school I had nothing planned but to get some rest because the night was going to be full of fun. At about 6p.m. I get a call from Goldiglocks. We were planning our schedule together so she could ride together for dinner. I went over to her place and she helped me pick my outfit, while we waited for the time to get dinner. I wore a really cute black polo shirt, dark jeans, and my black puma shoes. For dinner we went over to Izumi's where I met up with 3 other friends who joined us for dinner. Izumi's is a sushi restaurant. It was so great to see them there! For an appetizer I ordered these scallop covered bacon. They were good. For my actual meal, I ordered a Spicy Tuna roll, Shrimp Tempura, and a Philadelphia roll. They were so good!!!!!
At the end of my meal, the group and I decided that I should have some Fried Ice Cream. So we order some and to my surprise, our waitress had brought out an extra Green Tea Ice Cream. It was a special gift for my Birthday! It was so yummy. They also sang happy birthday for me too.
I am very grateful for all who came for dinner! It made my experience and bday Dinner so much more special!
After dinner, we attempted to go bowling somewhere. We tried to go to the UWMilwaukee bowling lanes but they were packed with people. That did not work out too well. As it was getting closer to the scheduled time of the second part of my birthday Celebration, I proceeded over to La Cage. I had to drop Godiglocks off at home, before I could get over to the Club. Unfortunately some people have to work on saturdays, and she had to wake up before GOD does. So it was good for her to get home.
I drive over to La Cage and am getting very excited to dance the night away. When I got there, proceeded to the downstairs bar where I met the rest of the birthday gang for the night. I immediately started to receive my drinks for the night, and they would not allow my hand to be without a drink. On top of drink plenty of people bought me shots, and I also got my free shots from the bartenders. After a little wait time in the bottom bar, we proceeded to the top bar. This bar, known as Montage, was holding a drag show. They usually do so every Wednesday and Friday night. These drag shows were fierce and enjoyable! After that was done, we immediately rushed to go get more drink and went to dance on the main floor. There was lots of dancing, more friends came later, booty shaken, druken dancing, and LOADS OF FUN!!!!! As with every year, I always accomplish breaking at least one glass cup on my birthday, and I did. hahah, Sorry, Ticket Lady #2. hahaha
Towards the end of the night, my friend Smokahontas shows up with her friend and we dance the rest of the night away. After the club closed, Smokahontas, her friend, and I went over to the infamous Denny's. It was so much fun getting food after a completely fun night! I got my usual nachos for appetizers and for my birthday, I was able to get a free Grand Slam Meal. So go to Denny's if you are craving a free Grand Slamm Meal on your birthday!!! haha.
I want to THANK everyone who came and the ones who were there in spirit! This truly has been an emotional year, and I am so grateful for all my friends. Without you guys, I really would not be where I am today. I LOVE YOU ALL. YOU ALL ARE THE BEST. THIS WAS A BLAST.
VaiKang
P.s. Writing about this does not do justice to how both nights went. ;)
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Today I was on my very first vocal rest and it seems like I will have to be for another day. My glands seem to be swollen and they feel like two clumps of bodily muscle on the side of my tongue and throat. I have been avoiding to talk as much as I can today. It has been a challenge for me today to really keep quiet. You who know me, knows that I can be a social butterfly. I sometimes like to talk people's heads off, and my apologies for that. If so, these two days will probably be the best days to hang with someone who will not reply back. As a friend in choir today said, "Now I have someone who I can tell the most ridiculous things to and he can't comment back". Hahaha. It thought that was pretty funny. She did proceed to tell me about things, and I did not comment back.
Being on vocal rest made me realize how important it is to have a voice or to be able to speak. The ability to communicate through vocal vibrations has allowed a universally easy way of communication. What I mean is that we are blessed to have a very easy way of communication, through simple vibrations in the voice. Through out my day, I was asked questions by many friends, like Godiglocks, just to see if I would talk, and sometimes a simple yes and no nodd would be sufficient. On other occasions if a question of explanation was asked, then it was harder for me to attempt to signal with my hands. Today I was fortunate to have carried a sign around, that I found under Princess's page.
I had Photoshop the yellow out and it was simply a black and white. This sign is funny in nature but it also allowed me to communicate that I won't be responding back as much. Even with this sign people still attempted to talk with me, which was fine. I also know tried to make odd gestures as much as I can, and it was sometimes hard to convey a message. Some people also did not understand what I was trying to convey, like Violin Boy. But Violin boy, you play violin well, so there is no complaints there. haha.
Violin Boy this is for you, (fast forward to 1:16, that is when the song comes in for my funny point)
What I missed most about this day was not being able to sing. Not being able to sing notes or create music was really hard for me vocally. On the other hand, today I was emphasizing playing piano. I really worked on the scales, exercises and pieces for my piano lessons. I would not know what to do if my entire life was without singing. It has become such a huge part of my life, that I would feel so empty without it. Today I only got a glimpse of what the mute has to go through. I wish to learn ASL someday, so I can communicate even when I don't know how to speak. Communication is a huge thing in life. So God bless I am gifted with somewhat of a voice! haha.
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VaiKang
So I know it's late, but I'm posting a thing about April Fools. So what is your favorite April Fools experience?
Before we start, I just want to link a history of April Fools. http://www.sdentertainer.com/news/april-fools-day-history/
My favorite memory deals with my cousin text-ing me and calling about a favorite Hmong singer of mine. She would say that the singer was going to be having a concert in town, and that I should go buy tickets. I would invite her, and really fall for her joke. I had set my hopes up so High when I had heard my cousin say that, and I knew I was going to be dedicated to see her. Eventually after having set my mind to getting these tickets, she finally said april fools. I was very heart broken and disappointed when I finally realized it was April fools too. But I laughed about it, and let it go. About a year later, my cousin decided to do the same fools joke again. Not realizing that it was april fools again, I fell completely into it. She of course said "April Fools" and from then on I made it a point to remember that she should not trick me again next year. So this year, on April fools, I decided to text her and let her know that I will not fall for joke.
So April Fools is full of pranks and jokes. Here is a video of a lot of funny little things that could be used for Pranks or jokes. I think a few of these things could be fun to have.
Being a Music geek as I am, here is a really funny april fools joke that was done at a High School. I thought this one was pretty sweet.
Hahaha
Here is a video clip of some Japanese pranks
Hope you all had a wonderful April Fools day!
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