Phil’s famous last words were, “Hell, lets do it.”

And this is what happened.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIv1mzlH09A[/youtube]

Had three men not come to our rescue, we would have had to call a tow truck.  I told them that we would love their help, but that they were not allowed to ask how we got into our mess.  They just smiled.  Thankfully, the car was on a slight incline.  When they lifted the back end up, the front two wheels caught, and the car was free.

Everyday is an adventure with Phil.

I was looking through some of my old videos and thought I would post them here for your viewing pleasure.

The first one is off a piggy scratching his bum.  I found him at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens located in Charleston, South Carolina. I’ve always wanted a pig, and came real close to buying one in China, but Phil wouldn’t let me.  Meanie!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeE84PufTQk[/youtube]

I love feeding ducks.  I used to go to a pond near my house all of the time, but they have now made it illegal or something like that to feed the ducks.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8q40t2456s[/youtube]

I used to volunteer at Carolina Wildlife Care, a non-profit, wildlife rehabilitation clinic located here in Columbia.  It was a great experience and I was able to see a lot of wild animals up close.  One of the cutest animals I saw there was a Blue Grey Gnatcatcher.  I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home.  Sorry about the video quality. My old Kodak didn’t like close up shots.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd0fuPwt_0k[/youtube]

But this is my dream!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwM6f0liHpo[/youtube]

I may just have to go live with this lady.  I’m sure she needs an extra paw . . . I mean hand.  Yes, my sad attempt at being funny failed.

On Sunday, Phil and I went to the mall and picked four cards off of a Christmas tree that represented four different kids in need.  We picked two boys and two girls.  Phil and I had decided several months ago that we were going to buy presents for kids who otherwise might not get any instead of buying for each other or our families.

The one thing that surprised me is that a large percentage of kids were asking for big ticket items like PS3’s and Wii’s.  Almost every kid wanted a bike.  It was hard to find kids who were asking for something that they actually needed or something that was reasonable for me to buy them on my budget.  I wondered if some of the parents had used their kids to get things that they wanted.

This is the first time I have ever done something like this.  For me, it was a good experience.  I hope the kids are happy come Christmas morning.  I’d love to see their faces.

Here are the gifts we bought the kids.

I found this picture online and I think it’s a pretty good representation of Gabe as an anime character.  The representing factors of course are the look on her face (look at the eyebrows), the long hair, and the sweet looking cat in her hands.  The only thing missing is purple clothes.  I have no idea what anime it’s from, but Gabe should probably watch it.

Everyday Gabe Picture

I don’t know if other people do it, but I sometimes dream in Chinese.

It started sometime after I arrived in China.  I thought it was pretty cool, even though I didn’t understand all that was being said.  When people would talk to me, I would respond to them like I would in real life – a few key phrases or words to try and explain what I needed or wanted them to know. My vocabulary has always been rather limited.

I always wondered why my mind didn’t pretend that I knew Chinese.  I guess it didn’t know how to fake the language.

Even after coming back to America, I still sometimes dream in Chinese.  It amazes me that in my sleep I can recall vocabulary words that I haven’t used in ages.  My most recent dream was rather entertaining, and I thought you would enjoy hearing about it – although I doubt you’ll find it as funny as I did.  I think it is hard to appreciate other people’s dreams because you lose so much in the explanation.  It’s like trying to turn a book into movie or vice versa.

In my dream, me, Phil, and Holy(our Chinese friend) were running away from some Chinese bad guys. We had been running for a long time, but the bad guys were still hot on our trail.  At some point we decide to hop on a train.  The train was headed to Hong Kong.  Well, once we boarded the train and left the station – my dream decided to go completely nuts.  The train, in its attempt to flee the bad guys, jumped the tracks and started traveling at very high speeds over mountains, valleys and streams.  It reminded me of a cartoon.  Somehow we managed to put some ground in between us and the bad guys and were able to rest for a while in our seats that I don’t remember paying for.

As the train started to pull into the Hong Kong station, we started gathering all of our stuff.  In real life, I probably would have been running from the bad guys with only the clothes on my back, but obviously, the same does not hold true for my dream life.  I had apparently crammed every single one of my possessions in numerous suitcases, pockets, and bags and had waited until the last moment to gather them back up.  This is not what I found funny though.  If anything, this part of my dream cause me panic and loads of stress.  What made me smile in my dream would have sent me into side splitting laughter in real life.

As the train pulled closer to a stop, I noticed that there were thousands and thousands of Chinese people waiting to board the train.  There were so many of them, that they had built stadium like seats in the station.  All of them were standing.  And of them were chanting.  Can you guess what they were chanting?  If you have ever been to China for any extended amount of time, you should probably be able to guess.

For some strange reason, every single last one of them was chanting “Jia you! Jia you! Jia you!”

For those of you who don’t know have any idea what “Jia you” means – there happens to be a YouTube video that will teach you all you need to know.  If my dream doesn’t make you giggle, the video should.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7uJ_ExULDw[/youtube]

I have no idea what happened once the train stopped because I woke up.  I can only imagine what would have happened had I stayed asleep and the dream continued.  All I know, is that it was the strangest dream I have had in Chinese yet.

I have absolutely nothing to blog about.  No crazy stories.  No pictures. No nothing.

My life is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

My DnD characters are having more adventure in their lives than me and they aren’t even real.

How sad is that?

My travel money is burning in my pocket, but I can’t use it for another year.

I think I am bound to go crazy.

Absolutely mad!