Quite a few of you asked what I sent out this year. I neglected to take a picture prior to sending them out but Sia proudly displayed his on his kitchen bar area, I couldn’t help but take one for you guys. I was only able to get a small handful of these, so enjoy…they sure brought a smile to my face.

Last night was a hoot! Wow, did I really just use “hoot?” We drank scotch, breathed stogies, delt cards, threw chips, bluffed hands, and watched the office. Exciting huh? Ok, we really just wanted to get together at Sia’s prior to new year, as we’ll be all over North America in another 2 days. Kam, Oliver, Sunny, Sean, Shebani and of course Sia caught up and “Had Blast!, Tanks Mach!”

‘Red Dot Dominicana’ Cohiba Toros

Well, Here’s wishing you guys and gals a Happy New Year’s! Onward to 2008!

-Wallace

I’m sitting here propped up in bed on Christmas morning watching the Live Earth concerts and Sniffy with a orange carrot stain on her chest is busy attacking one of my pillows. There’s quite a few things going through my mind at the moment; Joss Stone’s gold leggings, how my relatives are doing on their way home back to the northwest this morning, when, if ever, will I leave my bed this morning, if Crystal’s still asleep and is she feeling better in Hawaii, what will I devour for breakfast, how many xmas text messages await me on my phone and what 2007 has meant for me.

2007 has been a year of rediscovery, improvement, and rebuilding. I’ve taken many steps back and re-evaluated just where I am in this ‘decadent life’ and where in relation I want to be in this ‘decadent life.’ I believe I’ve actually made progress this year, more so in the later part of the year then the earlier, and success and opportunity compounding in potency and effectiveness. For the first time I am actually sure I’ve taken a solid step in the right path, I only hope to build upon this foundation. This was the clandestine promise I made to myself, I hope with the help of my loved ones and friends to witness the rest materialize soon.

My next topic takes rewinds us nearly six months, but in all reality it should be now. Many of us participated in the events of 07.07.2007 thru MSN’s internet broadcasts; Live Earth attracted over 2 billion participants from all over the world. Its sole message being to reduce, reuse, and recycle; taking the proper steps and to pledge a greener existence. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is currently on stage in Wimbly (London), and I’ve always admired his passion and drive for things he believes in. This is also something that Crystal feels strongly about and I figured for 2008 it should be not only an underlying tone, but an element of my lifestyle as well.

For as long as I have lived I made it a point not to be wasteful, however was never the environmental saint either. I consume at my convenience, pleasure and spontaneous moments. Every now and again I’ll carry a bottle until I see a recycling bin, but more often then not that bottle ends up in the nearest waste bin; I have a habit of leaving my computers on hibernate rather then a full system shut down, I consume lithium batteries as they perform better and last longer then their rechargeable counterparts, ask for plastic as it is easier then carrying around a reusable bag, love toys that come in excess packaging, my ideal vehicles all come with a gas guzzler tax, and I don’t need to explain my excitement for fresh wild caught tuna and salmon. My entire excuse was that someone had to use what you tree huggers are saving, and that someone might as well be me. This is not to say that I’m Mother Nature’s number one super villain, but I like things that work well, taste great, look beautiful and let’s face it…being green has the glamor of wearing Birkenstocks only we call them Crocs now, rock dreadlocks and install a Toyota Prius in my driveway. Doesn’t sound all that appealing to me to tell you the truth.

When I first learned about Live Earth my sole motivation was to rock out to the likes of Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, U2, Lenny Kravitz, Taking Back Sunday, and the like however now having the DVD and being 6 months wiser I realize how naive I have been. So in an effort to do rather then preach, to reduce my own carbon footprint, and to unite my voice with Crystal’s - I’ll be making a conscious decision to gravitate toward the environmentally friendly. Although the hybrid, or hell economy compact vehicle, is still questionable, I will surly make an effort to reduce my consumption of plastic and paper bags while grocery shopping. Let’s push this a step further toward critical mass; you, me, and everyone else.

Merry Christmas,
Wallace

“Merry Christmas!” -Sniffy

Christmas was 4 days pre-mature this year, as Crystal arrived from London on the 21st and left this morning. We exchanged gifts, words, and well wishes in the past 72 or so hours. I got a sweet shirt from Full Circle UK, and quite the adorable pair of cuff links from my current favorite British namesake, Paul Smith. I’ll have to take pictures of these things later.

Crystal not only got to see Sniffy again, but got her Kozik signed Christmas Labbit, along with some other stuff.

She’ll always have fresh flowers…

We had an overly ambitious weekend planned especially as my birthday was this past weekend, and Crystal’s friends all wanted to see her as well. We prioritized and I do apologize to you guys that I put Crystal up first, as her engagement is much shorter then mine. We wanted to celebrate, dine, and ice skate. Rest was the last thing on our minds. We didn’t get too far, but did make it to Pho Hua and Korea House, which were absent UK cuisines. Crystal also brought me to St. Michael’s Alley in Palo Alto, a place that’s been on my personal wishlist for years and I have to say it did not disappoint. A birthday brunch, certainly a first, and hopefully a newfound tradition.

a lap to fall asleep on…

Ironically all we did this weekend was sleep. Crystal being on GMT, and myself catching some kind of cold bug which knocked me out for the better part of Sunday. We didn’t get to go ice skating, but did nap for some 3 odd hours. I’m currently loaded on Advil and hope to fend off this cold by New Year’s. Happy Holidays guys, be safe out there!

Happy Holidays! *cough*

-Wallace

I need to apologize in advance to those who I was unable to send cards to this year due to lack of cards, but by the same token…where’s my card?! My cards were letter pressed this year, and due to the limited nature of these things, I was only able to obtain so many. Those of you who got that ‘special’ card, consider yourself extremely lucky. Many of you asked where I got them from, well click on the pic above. I laughed when I saw them, I’m sure you did too. Those of you who I have failed to mail a card out to; Click here, I made Cara and Brooks dance for you.

Back to Toasty Fridays, a BIG Thank You to all of you who made it out. I know we were unable to accommodate everyone who expressed interest, but there will definitely be more events in the future. Those of you who stuck around long enough know that this was the exact opposite of what we were aiming for; instead of being able to sit down, unwind, and refresh for the weekend ahead the alcohol fueled beasts inside many of us made an appearance and before we knew it we were off to Cardiff for some real booze. The five of us plus something ended back at Sunny’s place and next thing we knew it was Saturday morning. Sunny’s still rearing in shock, but I’m still laughing about it. Beer goggles is quite the understatement, I also should kick him for abusing my camera while the rest of us passed out. I’m still laughing about this.

On Sunday evening we decided to go for an all out crab boil mash up; by mash up I mean the classic east coast boil mixed up with the garlic soy dip and inari. I figured since we’re eating with our hands, why not make everything finger friendly?

This was definitely not a date/stranger friendly meal; when we were done both of us looked gross. Shell bits everywhere, our stomachs expanded, and garlic heavy on our breaths; however the dungeness crab, manila clams, fresh sweet shrimp and various additions definitely hit the spot.

Ever since I stumbled upon Taiwan Brewing Company earlier this year I’ve been curious. Truth be told, I was just frightened to attempt it. Ranch 99 had these for $1.50 a bottle, we figured we couldn’t lose. To our surprise it’s not bad - I didn’t say it’s phenomenal, but to its credit it’s quite a few notches above garbage. For $1.50, hit.

That’s my weekend in a nutshell. If you’re anything like me you’re already in the holiday mood, don’t try to communicate anything to me until Mid-January, unless that is you don’t mind me forgetting. I’m excited; Crystal comes back this Friday and I think Gochi is in the line up for this gastronomicly delicious weekend.

I’m sitting in bed with only my partner in fur stirring and blogging at this unholy hour - our Toasty Fridays inaugural event became absolutely spontaneous and more or less out of control. A good thing gone better in my opinion, at least for the first meeting, but more on this later. Last weekend I mentioned that I met Patrick Ma aka ‘Otter X’ at RocketWorld/TAD gear in San Francisco. I casually dropped him a note about Sykes, he responded and told me that was his favorite area to backpack, and extended an invitation to my friends and I to a secluded section of California where one needs to climb, jump, and swim to arrive at the destination. Sounded crazy, but looks great! Not sure if I’m willing to do that just yet.

Toasty Fridays really launched with a phenomenal start, I was afraid our rsvp list got too large (translation into reality I hoped 50% would not show, this didn’t happen but a solid 10% did not. Not especially considerate, but considering the circumstances this was remarkable). I only have a a few pictures at the moment, hopefully I’ll have the entire synopsis up tomorrow. A few highlights: 1) Teaching Jen about New Belgium Brewing Company and its relationship to Fat Tire. 2) Watching Jonathan and Rich interact, they are both Canucks so I was hoping they’d do the Canadian Moose Jig or something. 3) We actually became DRY, I guess we were all closet alcoholics. 4) We decide to go to Cardiff Lounge in place of the DRY event. 5) I meet Tiffany again.

Whoa…Did I just say Tiffany? As in the infamous girl among Jenny and my friends which handed my jerk of an ass back to me? The same girl who slyly bumped into me only to introduce herself, offer a couple shots, then promptly turned into Mr. Hyde (or Miss Hyde rather). Yes, Tiffany is visiting from London for the latter part of this year. At first I did not recognize her as its been so long, but we both lowered our gloves and made peace not only for our sakes, but the sake of everyone else trying to enjoy their night this night. We shared drinks, and got totally trashed. We were polite to each other all the way till the moment she left in the morning. I’d call that progress, and I can’t believe I’m stating this but, Tiffany is cool people. Looking forward to the next time we hang out around - going this pace, it’ll easily be another 2 years or so. More on this later…I think it’s finally time for bed.

-Wallace

PS. Sunny not only brought home a wildebeest from Cardiff, but continued to make out with her once the rest of us passed out. There’s no shame in taking one for the team, however in this case…Sunny had no team. Wait for the pics!

I have a serious case of the Mondays, coming down with a slight cold and to add insult to injury I’m on the phone with Continental’s customer service booking tickets and hotels. I heart speaker phone, but it annoys the crap out of everyone else here so I think my neck needs a rub.

Anyways I had more enjoyment from this weekend that expected. It all started off by catching Yih and Gloria at the A3 meet in Saratoga. I was able to scope out Gloria’s new Oettinger A3, poke fun at Yih, catch up with Mike, Greg, April. The unexpected part was Brandon rolling up and flossin his flashy Eisenmann quad exhaust. After this I rolled into the Mountain View CalTrain station to catch the 433 up to San Francisco. Once in San Francisco Alycia and Jonathan scooped me up and we were off to Rocket World head quarters.

Before Jonathan linked me Rocket World I had no idea what it was. If you thought I was past the point of all hope with these vinyl toys you should meet Jonathan - I am normal in comparison. He introduced me to Patrick Ma who runs Rocket World and TAD Gear. I’m usually not too big on meeting these artists or having them sign, draw, or puppet something but speaking with Patrick was really fascinating. Jonathan observed that we were almost mirror images, metaphorically speaking. The first hint was the Panerai 0111 strapped to his wrist, the second him being of Asian descent, the third vintage Vespas - I don’t care for Vespas, but I do like pristine old shit, and restored automobillia such as Porsche Speedsters, Mercedes 300sl’s, and I have an appreciation for anything sourced out of passion. Patrick was also an avid, seasoned outdoors man, rides bicycles, digs modern furniture/design, and of course vinyl figures. I found him interesting, but I guess I find myself interesting as well. He recommended Burma Superstar for dinner so we were off to inner richmond for dinner. You can read more about Burma Superstar in the food blog.

Next up was Jen’s holiday party, not too much to talk about here except there was this girl who looked like Rosie Mcgowan, except a miniature version and happened to fall off one of those…well…ran into the patio door as a child. Consumption of multiple varieties of beer, my favorite being the Anchor Steam Merry Christmas & Happy New Year brew. Alycia disappearing with one of Jen’s friends for a hour or two, and of course…Sunny has the hots for Jen. She’s cute, he has my seal of approval.

We didn’t go to sleep till something like 5am, when I woke up at 10 I found Crystal on Skype. As we video chatted I realized my hair looked like Astroboy’s. This totally made my morning as we’ve been trying to figure out a video format for over 3 weeks now. Skype worked! w00t! As we chatted everyone started to wake up; first Sunny, then Jonathan, and finally Alycia. As we wrapped things up and got ready we were ready for brunch. It was a gorgeous day, and we totally had to take advantage of it. We ended up at The Ramp; not only did we have a waterfront view, we had a first row view of the internationally infamous Cosco Bunsan, it was getting patched and ready to get out to sea again. Brunch was actually quite dismal, however the plain fact that we were having brunch outside, under the sun, in perfect weather in San Francisco itself made it quite the epic event. We headed back around 3pm Sunday; I was worried about getting a CalTrain ticket for parking over 24 hours, and Sunny was sad as he couldn’t stay to hang out with Jen at Alycia’s Hanukkah party.

I also finally got a bag of Blue Bottle roasted coffee beans for Larry, you have no idea how long it took me to get these. I was so frustrated I called Fraiche one morning and asked what it would take for them to hold a bag or 10, to my surprise (and a testament to my stupidity) they have been doing this to accommodate their client’s absurd schedules and as an extended limb or service. Fantastic.

I’m looking forward to the end of this week, this is not good as it’s only Monday. However it should be fun, assuming I don’t become any more sick. New wheels for the bike, delicious food, the first Toasty Friday event, Lucas arriving back into town, I finally have my tickets confirmed, and of course…after this coming Friday it’s only a week before I see Crystal again. I’m stoked!

-Wallace

I believe it is a fair assessment to say that all of us place an elite accentuation on one’s strengths, and talents (at least those of you who have received an western education, and matured to the tune of a western based society), but how often do we confront our weaknesses? and if we ever approach our impairments, how well do we handle our handicap? This is the question I wanted to pose to you today. We are in a society which focuses on positive reinforcement, one that turns a blind eye on the suffering, the ugly, and the unfortunate. We are after all the poster child of wealth, well-being and with such blind confidence have foolishly mocked up the oasis of ‘The American Dream.” It’s not fair for me to cast such a blanket judgment, as I have been brought up in a culture which puts an emphasis on achievement, leadership, and capability. Throughout my live I have been told to promote my strengths, my abilities, my curriculum vitae, my resume. Tonight I will veracious and put myself on the alter; below is what compiles my Achilles heel.

Many of you often praise me for my leadership, companionship, follow through, diligence, problem solving, relationships, ability, endurance, organization, creativity, tact, ad hoc character, motivation, desire, speech, passion, liberation, and much more. In fact, many of you also come to me for advice on the same topics; I am about to shatter your perceptions. I am the world’s worst leader - I mislead a group of you during skyline-to-the-sea and put the group within the grasps of nightfall and exhaustion, yet you still pushed me onward to lead you through, day after day, until we saw the Pacific. Oh, what a moment, oh such fools. I am a horrific teacher, however I am making an honest attempt toward betterment. Those of you who had the misfortune of asking me to teach you something; whether it be snowboarding, or surfing, or scuba diving I pray for you. My patience, and tolerance for inability is something even myself can not escape. I can not be trusted with any task containing the slightest temptations, my self discipline is that of a 5 year old boy with attention deficit disorder. Those of you, who consider me a friend suffer most - I am inapt at maintaining relationships, and friendships in general. Many people have a circle of friends; I have many circles of friends. To commingle the bunch of you is a godly task, to partition my free time between the bunch of you is a tall order, to enjoy myself among you is a selfish trait. Speaking of which, I am selfish - I’ve learned long ago I can not please everyone, and those who do only end up hurting themselves. Now why would I want that? I often find myself pushing my peers too hard, only for them to come and thank me afterwards. For this I am selfish, I feed off praises and the fact that I am able to be a source of motivation and authority so many of you. I CAN NOT COOK RICE! Not even with an automated rice cooker, however I make a mean minute rice.

I am a chronic procrastinator, I wait until the last minute and complain about working under pressure. Deadlines are my companions, and extensions become my best friends. My tact? Hahha…I don’t even need to explain this one. Truth - I am terrible at lying, it’s not within my nature - I stumble, I trip, and I fall. I am not a good fable weaver. My priorities are skewed. I am blunt. Budgets are like a unicorn to me. I am attracted to shiny, and have a habit of leaving the tarnished. I dated a girl who told me, “You tire of women easily too.” - She didn’t ask, she told me. I argued that I did not, then became tired of her a month later. This being said, if I like you, I am the loyalest and most trusting person. I fail at holding grudges, I’m too infatuated with my life and my problems to worry about yours. I always aim to please; disappointment kills me. For some odd reason it is difficult for me to become angry, and on the rare occasion that I do tend to offend everyone around me. I am deeply saddened that a few of you have witnessed such atrophy. I do not rekindle past relationships, I actively cancel friendships. I hold those who I consider friends to the highest of standards. People tell me I am a constant flirt, it’s wired in, it’s not my fault. I am unable to focus on anything, nor find worth in anything that I am not passionate, or motivated about. I must feel driven, even if this entails me creating a false sense through my colleagues. I only organize, plan, and execute because I don’t think anyone accomplish this with more diligence, details, and simply as good as I can. Those group events? It’s because you guys fuel me, I can not function by myself.

This just a short list, I can go on all night and in a even more so incidental order. You see…it was written ad hoc, and although ‘going with the flow’ is a great quality at times, there are moments where it is just inappropriate. I have come to embrace my many weaknesses, I’ve become attached and really have no recollection at attempting to alter any of them. They are a part of me, and part of the set of reasons why you may find me interesting, worthwhile, valuable, or even attractive. I forgot to mention, I am also the most sarcastic brat that I know of, so if you haven’t heard yet…take my entries, and my personality with a grain of salt. I have perfected the back handed compliment.

If you have made it this far you deserve applause. You have made it through three lengthy paragraphs of conceited writing only to read once again something that you should have already known. I fail at being alone; it’s people like you that I adore. It’s people like you that drive me, that push me, that fuels me to ascent. I value my friends above all else, hold them close to heart, and refuse to let them go. You guys are my real weakness, without you…I am truly weak. So Thank You, for being you, being there, and putting up with me. I am humbled.

-Wallace

Hah…So even I admit my previous topic had little to no tact. Therefore I’m re-writing this entire post, without seriously hurting people’s feelings. To restate things I did absolutely nothing this weekend, that is N O T H I N G. Well, except for forcing myself out for a two hour cycling expedition that resulted in not only a great work out, but frozen nipples. How did all this happen? Well…I had originally planned to head up to the city on Saturday to meet Jon for the event at Gallery 1988, then hit up the Audi Driver’s Experience in Sonoma with Jaime and the San Francisco Auto Show on the way back on Sunday. Things came up on Saturday which were out of my control, therefore Gallery 1988 had to be put on hold.

Frank was spinning at LOFT in San Jose, but by the time I wrapped things up on Saturday I was freezing. Business meetings outside Peet’s on a 50ish F day is not a good idea, hot coffee or not. I was cold and unmotivated. I wasn’t sure what happened Sunday but since my Audi Driver’s Experience slot was actually on Saturday 2pm I was reluctant to travel north. It looked like a nice day so I spandexed up and went out for a brisk climb, that climb turned into a 2 hour ride through the backroads of Saratoga. The picture above was taken on the summit of Mt. Eden road, right before all the wineries and horses. It was a great workout and finally got the energy I needed, however it started to drizzle in a few spots so I decided to head back instead of risking getting caught in another downpour. Good decision too, by the time I got back temps dropped a few degrees, and I was losing body heat fast.

Now onto that touchy subject: It’s the confidence level in America. There I was watching past castings of American Idol, specifically the auditions. Not only did those people can’t hold a note, they were belligerently steadfast at arguing that the judges (who have the credentials, and experience) didn’t know what they were talking about and going to lose the next idol. I mean really now…they have just violated my ear drums with whatever catastrophic noise they’ve emitted and now they’re telling the world that they are a singing sensation. Confident to a fault right? Off on a completely separate tangent; People in a relationship no matter how strong or how lame bother me. Not the fact that they’re in a relationship but it somehow allots them a license to cast judgment and give advice to those in lack of a relationship. This really boils down to a couple of douchebags earlier in the week, but they haven’t realized that we were openly mocking them. Love maybe blind, but they certainly were not dating any trophies, not only that but they were boasting the fact that they were buying their ‘trophies‘ Louis Vuitton bags, and dinner at Mina. Now I don’t have a problem with any of this, in fact I’m totally fine with it. It’s conversations when the female begins with “Let’s go shopping.” and the male replies with, “I don’t like that idea, it sounds like it’s going to cost me money.” that starts to bother me. I mean seriously she says ‘bark’ and they’ll ask ‘how loud, how frequent, and how long?’ “Grow a pair,” was the first thought that comes to my mind, and the second was “take two, wait…five steps back and take a look at your situation.”

So there they were boasting about how great their relationships were when in reality they were literally the doormat. That’s supposed to make the rest of us swoon with envy right? Well, instead we laughed like rabid hyenas. To level the table, I believe Crystal and I have a pretty good relationship. We’ve been pretty open to each other, and have dealt with each other’s quirks. We’re constantly trying to surprise and put a smile on each other. To her benefit, she’s definitely pulled the rug out from under me (so to speak) more times then I have her. So there it is, my girlfriend will kick your girlfriend’s ass.

-Wallace

PS. I sent the Kopiko candies to Crystal, she just got them today in London. She somehow ate both packages in one day. Each piece (and there are about 7-8) pieces per package contains the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee, in short she’s screwed. I’m still laughing. If you do come across these candies, I highly recommend you pick some up. They’re teh yum.

As I crossed my threshold last night I notice a rather large bubble wrap envelope, I picked it up to discover it was from Crystal. She’s asked me all week if I received her postcard, and ironically that was what I was looking for. This package not only contained a postcard, it contained three - one from the mint in Philly, another from the Empire State Building in NYC, and one of general Manhatten in NYC. Other contents include a shirt from London, a Smorkin Labbit from Kid Robot NYC, and a travel sized bottle of Jameson from Philly. Totally made my morning, especially the Labbit and Jameson. I hope she’s keeping good company and enjoying her travels.

Smorkin’s are dope. You heard? Jameson’s good for the soul.

Many of you have been asking about what Kozik signed when we were at his studio. Here’s three vinyls, he also signed a Flaming Labbit Chase, and a big Christmas Labbit.

Ok, it’s cold…make that FREEZING, and I’m hungry. Time to find brunch buddies…

-Wallace