it is sweltering here & after many ups & downs this weekend, i find myself super exhausted. here is a recap:

friday -
shaolin master killer was awesome on the big screen. after work, i came home to walk & play with the boyos then got ready & met qbertplaya in union square before heading down to temple. we picked up some food from chinatown where we ran into billy of the viper's trish & together we went to temple with some grub. turns out both billy & quan tuo already got soup with L2 folks so we settled in & ate right when the demo team started. they actually sparred! it was great to watch & i made sure to express my admiration & encouragement for more of the same! heng tiao's suicide splits were crazy! i think we cringed the twice or more she did it! heng xu is fast. i think that i'd like to be as fast as she is when i am on demo. i realized that most of the demo team folks have been training about 8 years. i have time & will work towards that end. it's also wonderful to see heng c'hieh, who has the best & sweetest chi around! after watching one version of master killer for an hour with low sound chi, sifu put in another & this one rocked with subtitles & everything. we cheered so much for the training is really intense & i know quan tuo & i are not alone when it comes to wishing that our training were more vigorous but then again we aren't monks living at temple 24-7. a nice, loud group went out to eat & continue drinking for L2 soup on mott. it was very late when we got back so it was quick showers & nap!

saturday -
got up a few hours later, beat. i packed then got the boyos ready, we went for a quick but successful run next door then i dropped them off at nina's. as we were late & had decided just that morning to take the chinatown bus instead of driving, boyos were eager to go out & play. quan tuo & i were out the door at 9am after i made sure the car was in a good spot & made a 9:30 bus to boston. it was relatively quick & painless, with my bro picking us up & taking us straight to ton's baby shower.
it is always nice to see my cousins & especially ton. his baby is due in late august (already!) & we had a nice bbq where quan tuo met some other cousins he had not yet met though of course lots of folks were missing! after eating & opening baby presents (we got junior a robot onesie), the kids, quan tuo & i played! first there was soccer then ceshoufan then actual karate (joe) & kung fu (us) forms. there were handstands & lots of swinging kids around. my family could not believe quan tuo & i did cartwheels & all that jazz & the ooooh when i did erjijiao was funny! i could hear mutterings of understanding regarding why quan tuo & i were together: we are both big kids! we tired all the kids out & ourselves too!
later on we all except dano (who had a bbq) went to dinner & had bloody marys & other such libations. mom, dad, quan tuo & i watched boxing fights well into the evening while mom & i marinated & prepped bbq for the party.

sunday -
we were up superearly again, this time to go with dano & joe to see transformers the movie! it turned out to be pretty decent entertainment. then the boys played video games for a bit before we went back to newton to get ready for jay's bday party. the set up went pretty smoothly & then their friends came to eat & hang out. there were lots of kids & quan tuo was in charge of the slip & slide, quickly winning the admiration of my sisters' friends. we kept postponing going home until we chose the last c-town bus. mom made sure we had lots of food to take with us & quan tuo scored a ps2 from dano. great visit! i really love those kids & we have good times together.

today -
the busride was annoying. first the bus was strangely full (not that i thought we were the only ones to skip the return from long weekend traffic) & the bus itself stopped twice mysteriously. there was a lot of AC in the beginning then barely any middle to the end. this couple in front of us crushed our knees by pushing their chairs way back making it so uncomfortable to say the least. i couldn't wait to get the hell out of there & made not qualms to quan tuo about it. in the end it wasn't a long ride just unpleasant.
the boyos were staying an additional night at nina's & so we didn't have to go get them in the middle of the night. we cabbed it home only to realize lynn's car was not where i parked it. we searched the blocks around us & it was gone! i didn't have any info on it, all the paperwork was in the car! i didn't even know the license number! i called the cops anyway & they were not any help. they needed the license number to locate it. i was soo tired & couldn't reach lynn as she is i france & didn't leave me a forwarding number & i didn't want to wake my friend who was housesitting her place so we went to bed to deal with it later.
it was a stressful sleep & i was crabby as hell a few hours later when i went to get the boyos & give nina a pee break. but i did follow a hunch & tahdah!!!! the boyos & i found the car 4 blocks away with a yellow sticker saying the nyc cops relocated it! bastards. but hooray! there it was amidst about 8 cars that looked just like it & i tried the key with every single one of them! boyos got a car ride & it is now safe in front of the flat. there were no street signs to indicate what happened this weekend but i know that this stupid neighborhood has lots of films & what not shot in it so often cars have been moved around without owners knowing. i really am thankful since i didn't want to have a dreaded conversation with lynn (not that i could reach her) that the car was stolen or towed. i especially didn't have the few hundred bucks it takes to release it! what a freakin' homecoming!
suffice it to say, i worked from home while sorting all this out, sweating in the 95 degree weather. back to the grind tomorrow! at least mac & ten are home now, happy that they are & we will go for a walk in a little bit once it's cooled off.
tom seems to be on his way out so i hope, hope, hope to train tomorrow. will go get quan tuo tonight who is training L2. because it is so hot, we are so apt to get further in our stretches & flexibility! take advantage of this heat since we have to suffer anyway. more chi! train harder!