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.