The Andrew Lai Dot Com Blog

Harsh Breakup

DirecTV doesn’t handle breakups very well.

Blast From My Past

Arsenal are obviously a very special part of me.  My family and I have been avid fans for the past 15 years.  Throughout those years, plenty of things have changed in my life; many for the good and some not so good.  But one steadfast part of those years has always been my love for Arsenal.  Staying up for 4:30am games with my dad and brother, attending Arsenal vs Manchester United with my family in 1999, my dad picking me up from school at lunch for “doctor appointments” to go home to watch Champions League games, my brother and I receiving Arsenal jerseys from our parents year after year for Christmas.  So many great memories tied to Arsenal.

As all Arsenal fans know, the most successful period over the last 15 years heavily relied on the dominance of Thierry Henry.  His departure from the team in 2007 was surreal.  I remember reading the breaking news, sitting motionless in my cubicle of my new job, staring at my computer in shock.  The next four years for Arsenal were mediocre, but obviously missing the success that we enjoyed in prior years.

Fast forward to 2012.  With a little luck and careful thought, Henry joins Arsenal for a two month loan deal.  On January 9th, 2012, in a frustrating FA Cup game tied at 0-0, Henry enters his first game in an Arsenal jersey in over four years in the 68th minute.  10 minutes later, Emirates Stadium is going nuts when everyone’s hopes are met as Henry skips away from the rest and scores what turns out to be the lone goal of the game.  As chaos ensues on my TV screen, I sit in the dark of my room at 2am taking it all in.  This moment means so much to Arsenal, it’s fans, and me; but for more reasons other than the return of Arsenal’s legend scoring another game winning goal.

The last time I watched Henry lead Arsenal to success, it was a different time.  It was five years and beyond when things were so different.  My brother and I both lived at home, I had recently graduated from college, my main concern was surviving the early days of my first job, and relatives who have passed were still around.  Thinking back on these thoughts made me realize how Arsenal has turned into a timeline of my life.  As I look back on the last 15 years, I can relate significant landmarks in my life with the current happenings with Arsenal.  Each Arsenal game I’ve watched has been an escape, a 90 minute getaway when any and all worries didn’t matter.  And those 90 minute segments weren’t just games, they’re bookmarks for stages in my life.  Watching Henry race around the field last night in celebration on my TV, it was as if he was taking me on a ride through the early 2000’s.  I’ve since watched the goal and celebration about 30 times and each time I’m taken back to the past.  Sometimes I think about my sports fanaticism, and how odd it is to cheer so enthusiastically for a specific group of people that I have few ties to, if any at all.  But moments like yesterday at 2am, sitting in the dark of my room, make me realize how huge a simple thing like a love of a sports team can be.

2011 Recap

I’d love to update this blog more frequently, but as time seems to become more and more scarce, my blog begins to slip down the to-do list.  2011 was as busy as ever.  Highlighted by the arrival of my nephew, joining a soccer league with old friends, tearing and repairing my ACL, going to Lollapalooza in Chicago, attending Jen and Wilton’s wedding in Maui, passing the 4 year mark at RSS, and completing a full year of Disneyland annual pass.  I’m gearing up for a jam-packed 2012.

I Saw Michael Buble in Concert

I really did.  At the Honda Center in Anaheim.  I enjoy most of his music and his concert was pretty fun.  Going into it, the two things I looked forward to most were the song “Everything” (became a favorite after my brother’s wedding) and checking out what type of people go to a Michael Buble concert.  “Everything” was solid and the audience was just as funny as I had hoped.  It was topped off by a 60 year old and his wife enthusiastically bouncing to the instruction of opening band “Naturally 7’s” lead singer’s orders to “Jump 1 time!  Now Jump 2 times!” etc.  The same 60 year old then began to flash a pocket flashlight to the beat of Michael Buble songs later on the show.  Great show!

Arcade Fire 2010 Round 3,4 - Los Angeles

Coming down from a high of Big Sur and some vacationing at my brother’s, I had the luxury of winding down the week with not one, but TWO more AF shows at the Shrine Auditorium in LA.  Such an interesting venue for a concert.  The size was actually great for a show, but the seating and lobby are like a high school auditorium.  More than once during the concert I felt like i was watching a really, really awesome high school assembly.  Again, AF killed it and mixed in some songs they didn’t play the previous two nights.  By the end of the second show, I’d had seen AF perform 72 songs for a combined total of 6 hours.  But what’s more staggering than those numbers is the fact that I had a total blast from song 1 to 72.  The time flew by and I was grinningfor about 5 hours and 55 minutes of that time.  Great week!

Arcade Fire 2010 Round 2 - Big Sur

I went to see Arcade Fire at the Greek Theater in LA in 2007.  I had pit tickets, we were right in the thick of the action, I grabbed Win Butler’s shoulder like a child as he walked through the crowd.  It was the awesomest show of my life.  However, now that show has the title of Most Awesomest Show of My Life Prior to October 5th 2010.  It got topped by Big Sur!  The show was surreal.  250 people in the backyard of the Henry Miller Memorial Library in the middle of Big Sur surrounded by pine trees and fresh smelling woodsy air.  AF played a full set while we stood 10 feet away.  As if it wasn’t epic enough, it started to rain while they played Power Out.  No way!

Arcade Fire 2010 Round 1 - Berkeley

Arcade Fire in Berkeley!  Everything worked out perfectly for day 1 of Arcade Fire Tour 2010.  We arrived at the Greek Theater on the Berkeley campus about 10 seconds into the opening song “Ready to Start” and found ourselves just to the right of the stage.  It was such a unique vantage point; we were eye level with the stage and to the side.  It made it feel like we were watching a dress rehearsal or we were part of the crew or something.  Great show!  Can’t wait for Big Sur tomorrow!

Lollapalooooza!

Made it to Lollapalooza!  Solid trip highlighted by Arcade Fire, some good eats and a sunglass tan.  I <3 Chicago!

Ended up watching sets by: New Pornographers, Neon Trees, Hot Chip, Lady Gaga, Strokes, Mornings Benders, Stars, Gogol Bordello, Spoon, Green Day, Phoenix, Dodos, Freelance Whales, Hockey and Arcade Fire.

Finally!

That Sounds CHOICE

Plain and simple: my favorite TV show of all time is Saved By the Bell.  I watch it anytime I stumble across it on TBS, or I’ll occasionally pop in the DVDs (thanks Vusan!).  I’ve seen every episode numerous times, and, for various reasons, each time I watch an episode, I find it funnier than before.  These various reasons range from noticing some horrendous piece of Slater’s wardrobe that I had previous overlooked or maybe taking a second to focus on the background synthesizer music blasting in the background while the gang hangs out at The Max.

Recently I saw episode 2, season 2, “Zack’s War”, and I bumped into another tidbit that had me LOLing.  As a result of an agreement with Mr. Belding, Zach had the duty of recruiting students to join the on-campus army cadet core program.  He uses an array of tactics to lure students into joining such as telling Louise (nerd girl) that the guy to girl ratio would be 3:1, and telling Milton (fat kid) that he would have access to more food in the army.  The LOL moment came when Zach attempted to recruit Butch, one of Bayside’s jock meatheads, by noting that he would be able to beat-up a massive number of guys in the program.  Butch responds by saying “Hey Zack, that sounds choice!”.  That. Sounds. Choice. Who says that??  Was that EVER part of any teenage slang vocabulary during the 1990s?  SBTB is so choice!!!