Well, here's a very original post: Silvan the captain (He calls himself the Admiral) of the Lichenstein Princly Navy (No, not a real Navy...just a Dragon Boat Team...but don't tell them that) got married to Mei his drummer girl on Dec. 2nd 2006. Now, Silvan being the dedicated paddler that he is decided that he wanted to meet up with the wedding party by getting paddled to Repulse Bay by 50 man Dragon Boat. The Navy was a bit short on seamen (yeah, yeah) so they asked SMUGs to lend a few able bodies for the day. Find me in this picture for 50 points. In short we paddled the big tub for about an hour before heading in for our Fosters reward. It was great seeing Silvan having such a great time out playing in the boat while the rest of his friends and family were waiting on the beach. Classic. Check out his personal site if you want a more complete description of the day: www.silvancolani.com/mainwww.silvancolani.com PS-It felt GREAT to get into a Dragon Boat again. I actually can't wait for the season to start! Yeah, I'm sure I'm a bit touched too. This day was also my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Karl! Yes, we had a cheers to you.

Here is a beau-t-ful pic of Terry, Me, Duff (Joey Jerrimah) and Nick (The Crowe Bar) enjoying a few during the post tournament banquet at Amici. Thanks again to Juraj for setting up yet another fine feast and free drinks to help us mend our bruises (of both the physical and egotistical varieties).

November 11th marked the 2nd annual Mid-Autumn Cup. This year I got drafted by Gavin (Mrs.) Robinson and so was added to TEAM IRONHEAD. Here's a quick run down of the tournament: we basically got smacked in the round robin, but did manage to play a bit better every game. Keeping with that trend we managed to win in the quarter and seim finals only to lose to Jeff Wall's THE USUAL SUSPECTS in the final. Wait a sec...didn't my team lose to Wall and the Suspects last year? Damn.... if I didn't play with him on the NORDIQUES I'd really have to do something about that guy.

Round Tw0! Scarlet and her friend Walter invited Val and I to attend the Bier Fest once again. I though, "Hey why not? If they are going to pay our entrance fee we might as well go. We can get some good saussage, one free beer and leave before things get too hairy." WRONG! Not even the Late Mother Teresa could have escaped from that tent without wobbling. Val shattered the ego's of many an Asian male when she managed to ring the bell in the strong man competition. Doesn't she look great with that mallett? Thanks again Scarlet and Walter.

Bier Fest! - No, not the crappy movie. This was the real deal. Well, as close to the real deal as you can get outside of Munich...and in HK. Err...you get my drift. Swilling Steins of Lowenbrau out of wooded clogs, yodeling, trying to blow 20ft horns, and froliking with hundreds of HK locals as we all try derperatly to sing in German has become a Hong Kong tradition. All very surreal I tell ya. We went along with SMUGs and I believe won every contest we entered, except for one. It's the one time of the year that people think It's actually cool that I'm half German. Great food, great friends, great beer, great night, great God I'm glad it over for another year. Tikki-Takki! Takki-Takki! Here's picture of a semi-naked German playing a pot and spoon on his privates.

Rock-it! 2006 proved to be another interesting combination of musical styles. There were some awesome performances (Japan's Electric Eel Shock beating themselves down on the stage with their own guitars was err...scarily cool). The Academy rocked out at usual, Tom the singer climbed the staging and almost died - Ok, not really, but it was pretty good. Local band Fat Little Pig was hilarious, they had little jumps and "Hey, Hey's!" choreographed into their set. QuiHong, the heaviest Cantonese band on the planet were incredible, and the lovely ladies of The Shotgun She-Ras were foot-stompinly good. Other than these, there were some very ahem...different sets. Most notably a few that were so terrible that none of us could believe that they actually got a spot in the concert. Ie, The Spencer Douglas Band (dude, take singing lessons...Seriously) and headliner (WTF?) canto-pop singer Anthony Wong. Horrible, just horrible...even the locals who know who he was had to turn away and refill their beers. The thing that really confused me was that both nights of this "Rock" concert ended with Drum and Bass DJ playing to a spaced out crowd in the Tent. I felt out of place as I mistakenly left my Fubu gear, Skull Cap and whistle at home. I'll bring them next year if they managae to put on another Rock-it! (Dance-it! Perhaps?) Speeking of D&B DJ's here's a pic of me harrassing UK Club Legend - Goldie. Gotta get my caps done like that too. Wonder if my medical plan will cover it?

Wedding Bells! - Ok, not me and Jes, but a great wedding all the same. My good friends Paula and Eric recently tied the knot at the Old Orchard Inn in Kentville, Nova Scotia. It was a great day and I actually don't have anything sarcastic to say about it. Surprising eh? It was kind of a theme wedding though, as they (Ok, Paula) are Lord of the Rings fanatics. "Oh, what do you mean?" you ask. One of Paula's sisters played the Hobbiton theme on violin before the ceremony, they walked down the isle to another soundtrack song (really gotta ask which one, they'll kill me if they ever read this) and Gandalf made an appearance to deliver the rings. Really. One of her sisters came in just as the rings were asked for, everyone turned and, yup, there was Gandalf. Beard, staff cloak and all. Rather unexpected but a great laugh! Well, Cheers to the happiest couple I know! Picture to follow soon - It's taken me so long to post this as my useless HP laptop recently crashed (again) and I lost about 3,000 pictures forever. Arrk!

It's Official! Jessica Alba an I are engaged! Yes, I know this may come as quite a shock for some of you. I am heartfully sorry about being so secretive, but Jess asked me to keep things quiet about our relationship until now in order to postpone the inevitable media frenzy. That, and we both agreed that it would be near impossible to get to know each other and let our relationship grow normally if we were constantly bombarded by the media. I proposed on our recent week long gettaway to Boracay in The Phillipines. No, we haven't set a date yet but are looking at a having an intimate gathering next summer...probably in Hawaii. Details and invites will follow soon! Don't you all worry, she will continue acting after we are married. It would be pretty selfish to keep her ALL to myself now wouldn't it? Ahh...if only wishing on all those useless stars really did make dreams come true.

Nova Scotia: The Search for Paddling - Found! I can't believe what I found in my first week in Nova Scotia: The 9th Annual Manulife Dragon Boat Festival! Who would have guessed it? Since I was already in Halifax I decided to pop over to Lake Banook in Dartmouth and check things out. Next thing I knew I was adopted by "The Model Units" (Killam Reality...a fine group of people) and I'm helping to coach and giving them paddle tips. I had never paddled a DB wearing a lifejacket before but hey, what cha gonna do? NS is saftey bonkers! We ended up in the A Cup Final and finished 5th out of 70 teams. Awesome! Especially considering half of our boat had never paddled before. Most of the boats that beat us were paddling clubs and not corporate ones like us as well. Well done! Oh, I love being a ringer!

Oh Canada - My initial impressions upon returning to Canada never cease to amaze me. Damn, we gotta lotta trees eh? Can we send a little bit of this clean air to Asia? Please? I feel like I just quit smoking as my body adjusts to living in a non-hostile environment. Tim's really is that good, it wasn't just me being homesick. Give me a Double-Double on the double! Yes, people are very friendly in the Maritimes, I love it! With one glaring exception: What's with being so agro after a few drinks? I don't understand how such nice people can turn into rage-machines after consuming a few beer. That and I feel like a runt outside of Asia. 5'9" 185 lbs, really isn't that big is it? I keep forgetting.

Ahh-Haa! What's that fuss? Everybody move to the back of the bus!

Hong Kong Islander Hockey Banquet 2006/Emac's Stag: Ok, before I get started, yes, I know this is a bad combination. The day started with Rob sweeping the last three games of the season to scoot past Chuck in the standings and win the points championship. I then showered up and headed to Shooters 52 to meet up with the stag-in-process for lunch. After a suitable ammount of red meat was swallowed we headed off to Eric's pad for some Fubar and Halo 2 action. Beers were drunk, we were drunk at home and in the bars. After this I dropped in to the banquet to pick up the coveited "You Missed the Bus Award" for missing the Mekong Cup due to paddling. (See earlier post) I'm not at liberty to go into too much detail regarding the rest of the evening. I can leak out some snippets though: Diapers, Air Guitar, Proposals, and many, many regrettable acts. Thanks for organizing Ratty! No, I will not post pics of the stag. Unless I get Paula's permission that is. Paula?

SUMGs Pool Party at the Hong Kong Royal Yacht Club: Open Bar, Buffet, View of HK's skyline, Bikini Babes, Drinking in the pool, Six-Foot Inflatable Bananas, Gorillas, Adam Getting into Fights, Ken improv rapping, Boat Races, Taking over Typhoon as usual. So how was it? Look at Bruce and take a guess. Who's in the Gorilla suit I wonder?

Got Tallent? The 1st annual Farwell and Goodbye Fest organized by Trina and Carrie was a huge success. I'm not really sure how to sum up the evenings preformances... Poppycock, Uintards, Foot Stompin', Chicks with Guitars, Dudes with Guitars and Stories about Mom. So here's the big question...Did I have tallent? The jury is still out. Big thanks to Paul for tapping the skins for me. Sorry for the non-paddling post.

This is Nick. He likes to paddle. He likes to smile at cameras. He can not do both at the same time very well.

Here's a pic of me and Jeff "The Monster's Loose" Buhl with our Champion's Cup. I've also added a link to a report on the races: http://today.reuters.com/tv/videoChannel.aspx?storyid=9405174e4e3306bb6dda1e66c83bb6766faf6e3b Yes, I know that the reporter has NO IDEA what she is talking about. She is obviously reading straight from the promo flyer. Geezze... Anyway, there's a wicked clip of Buzz (They like ramming boats and never get disqualified) paddling full tilt into the back of our boat. It's around 1:12 into the clip. Really now, I know we all want to win, but when you are completely perpendicular to the course, come on! STOP PADDELING! As you can see, Harrold, our steersman is god. Do you wish you were a paddler yet?

Here are our women. Nice one ladies!

Stanley Race Recap: So how did the day go you ask? Awesome. All three of our boats qualified for their final races. The mixed boat did great all day and ended up 8th overall. The women's boat did awesome, especially considering that it's their first year we've run an all women's boat. The men's boat (through some complicated point calculations) won the men's A division title! No easy feat! We went on to finish 5th (no, not really, but we can't argue with the officials) in the Gold Cup Grand Finals. All in all a great day. We all end up with some large cups to drink out of! Look at the picture: Where's Matt?

Stanley! Ok, now we're cooking with gas! Here comes the big event! The biggest one day Dragonboat festival in the world! More than 160 teams and over 3,500 paddlers. This is really where things count and we separate the paddlers from the posers. Here's the promo clip:http://www.dragonboat.org.hk/en/home/homepage.html I do believe that you need to have Quicktime installed on your comp to run it. All the races are from the Stanley Warm Up Races (see earlier post). There is a great shot of our men's boat flying down the course. We're the 2nd last boat in the clip, wearing Black and White. Our drummer "Jan" is giving the "Beats me?" shoulder shrug. Again I'm the 4th black dot from the front. Giddy up!

Deepwater Bay Pt 2. I just got a hold of a rockin video clip from the race. Check it out@ http://www.ipc.dragonboattv.com/ There is quite a few good clips of our team here. We're in our away uniform, Black and White with camo. See attached team picture.
Grrr!

US Senate rejects constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; Bush says he's disappointed by vote. Awww....muffin. I really think we should do something to cheer up ol' W. He must be shattered that the Senate actually believes that people should be allowed to legally stay with their partners for ever. He'll probably be up all night googling Jessica Alba like the nice gun toting homophobe he is. (Does anyone know how much I can get away with on a blog?) Seriously, what is happening to that country? Next thing you know people won't be able to buy shotguns over the counter at Wallmart. Tragic. For once, well done Senate. Oh Yeah, GO OILERS!

Deepwater Bay: This greuling 500m race served as our 2nd official race of the season. The boat was working mush better and our drummer girl (no she does not drum) deffinetly did a great job of ahem...er.... psyching out the competition. Here's some of the guys enjoying a few at Typhoon after the race.

Stanley Warm Up Races: The first official race of the 2006 season was an interesting one. We didn't achieve the results we wanted, but things could have been worse and we did manage to work out a few kinks. You have to like it when they actually give trophys to the 4th runner up! Our boat is the one farthest from the camera, wearing black and white. If you have really good eyes, I'm the fourth black dot from the drummer.

Paddling to Start! After 5 months of practicing 4 days a week (what are we thinking?) The Southside Massive Urban Gorrilaz (SMUG's) are schedulde for our first Dragonboat race of the 2006 season! Stay tuned for updates, dispite the fact that my blog is seriously behind as usual, and this race is long over. Riveting eh?

Lords of the Rink Pt. 3: The Mekong Cup! In the Third and final chapter on their way to destiny, ok maybe just bragging rights, the Hong Kong Nordiques headed to Phuket, Thailand to try and capture the third and final International Championship of the year. How did we do? We won of course! Do you really think I'd be writing about it if we got smacked? The Nords made this Championship all the more impressive by winning without their star backchecking forward Matt White, who had to remain in Hong Kong due to South Side Massive Paddling contract obligations. Hehheh!

Bush aims for gay marriage ban – I’m deeply sorry for those out there who look forward to my self-indulgent rants about my travels and sports conquests, but for once I feel I must make some worldly comments. Am I the only one who finds Bush’s stance on Gay Marriage sickening? "Changing the definition of marriage would undermine the structure of the family," said Mr. Bush. Ok, how is this? If two men, or two women, want go get married and be miserable like the rest of us, then so be it! Bush states, “This is the only way that the voices of all of the nation’s people can be heard.” Do I really need to get into the problems contained in this statement? I didn’t think so. I guess only the voices, or basic human rights, of straight people are taken into consideration. “Traditional marriage is the cornerstone of a healthy society, adding: "Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilisation". But really now, how civilized can a country be if it won’t allow two people who love each other to express their feelings? They only time that you have a right to know what happens in another adult’s bedroom is if you are currently sleeping there yourself. Sheesh!

DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY READ THIS?

Lords of the Rink Pt. 2: The Canton Cup! In our second part of the epic quest the Hong Kong Nordiques stole victory away from the Hong Kong Islanders. In doing so, we proved ourselves to be a Powerful Force that needs to be recognized by all in the Asia Ball-Hockey League. Err...is that an accomplishment? YOU BET! Look at that trophy! Nice Dragon, good boy.

Hong Kong Rugby 7's. To celebrate Hong Kong's biggest and Asia's largest Rugby 7's tournament my friend Ratty and I went in traditional FUBAR gear. I dare not go into too many details of the weekend's antics, but let me give you a brief summary: Rugby, Beer, Friends, Rugby, Dancing, Meat Pies, Rugby, Hangovers. Argueably the best party in the world for the 3 days it happens, but I'm very happy it only comes once a year. Yes, it's a wig; no I actually grew the moustache. Here's a pic of me feeding beer to a beaver. Those things can sure chug! She's an animal!

Lords of the Rink Pt.1: The K-town Cup! The Hong Kong Nordiques enbarked on the quest to be the first team to capture all three Asia International ball hockey tournaments in the same year. First stop, Kaushung, Taiwan. The result: we beat the Pylons in a real nail biter to capture the K-Town cup. Then proceded to get properly wasted to help ease our scrapes and bruises. My leg still hasn't fully recovered.

Here we are climbing the Franz Joseph Glacier. Awesome! We were actually making our way through and leaping over crevases for about 7 hours as we climbed. Definetly the highlight of the trip for me. The shapes and the colours of the glacier were amazing. Pretty darn cool if I say so my self. Groan...

ALL THE STORIES ARE TRUE! Can you find the flag for this hole? Yup, that little red thing on the right side of the green. And what are all those white spots? Yup, sheep. The poor buggers don't know what "FORE!" means either. I'm afraid to say that some of them had a few lumps after our round.

Oh Yeah! I have a Blog! Forgot all about that! Haha! Well, I just returned from a two week trip with 7 of my friends to New Zealand. Absoutely amazing! Easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Here's a pic of me and Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ. I like to call this one "The Majesty and the Moustache". Do you like the new look? LOL!