Fun Time All The Time

Saturday:
The next morning was the wedding reception.  I spent the morning ironing some of my shirts. As I was ironing, I noticed that it was extremely hot outside.  Ruh Roh. Bad sign.  It turned out to be miserably hot and humid out that afternoon. This was not an ideal day to be wearing semi-formal clothes (or as my friend calls it, “smart-casual”) outdoors.

People were to meet up by the MTR station to board a bus to take us to the reception at New Territories (which is pretty much China). I was a bit concerned about who I was going to know at the reception but I found some of my old friends from Island ECC on the bus.  I was much relieved.  It was good to catch up with them on our ride there and at the reception.

When we got to the reception, my mind was blown away.  We were at this country club and it did not feel like we were in Hong Kong at all.  It felt like the Hamptons or something like that.  It was a bit funny though at the reception. It was so insanely uncomfortable in the heat that some people were hanging out indoors. When I went to use the wash room in doors, I felt instant relief (not just from actually going to the restroom although that was relieving as well, sorry, too much information?) for it felt like I was inside an ice box.  I thought to myself, would it be weird if I just hung out inside the wash room? Yes of course it would so I didn’t do it…well maybe just for a little bit…

As the reception drew to an end there was some singing, some dancing, and then some music, and then all of a sudden I heard a very familiar song and my jaw dropped.  Are you serious? Can this really be happening right now? Well i’ll give you a little hint.  It was from an SNL digital short film. A song with a word that starts with a J and ends with a Z and then some thing about it being in your pants…Thats all i’m going to say. As I sat there in horror, I gazed out to the distance seeing if any body else realized what was going on.  All I could think of was, “Do chinese people know what this word means?” And then I locked eyes across the room, downed my drink as the rhythms boom. Saw one of my friends, he shook his head in disbelief, Along with me, utter shock was plastered on both of our faces. The song finally faded out. I didn’t know what to say. Did that really just happen? Is this real life?

Sunday:
I joined up with some of my friends again in the morning to attend the new sister church of Island ECC, Watermark, which now meets in Cyberport. Cyberport is really far away. Like really far away. Anyways, it was great to see the church just starting out and the mission that it has to develop the community and to bring Jesus to unchurched areas in HK.

After church, I met up with family to get lunch.  We went to a Japanese ramen restaurant. I’ve got to tell you, Japanese ramen is amazing.  It was one of my favorite things that I had in Beijing and Hong Kong 2 years ago and a specialty that I missed having in the states.  It is not your typical Top Ramen.  It is ramen fit for Kings.  It is so good I may just need to bring it back home since PHX is seriously lacking in this cuisine.

The day before, some of my friends had invited me to go play soccer with them that night.  I’ve had the itch to go play soccer for quite some time after watching the World Cup.  I had really started to develop a new found love in the beauty of the game and how plays develop in a soccer match.  The last time I played soccer must have been in grade school so this was definitely going to be interesting to say the least.  We got to the fields, well they weren’t really fields.  They were miniature sized concrete courts made for soccer in the city.  I really wish they had these in the states.  It was actually really fun running around playing.  When I got there, I met a couple of new friends. One of them was a Brit named Damian.  He was telling me about how they were filming a Hollywood movie and how he was taking the day off to go be an extra in it.  He told me I should totally be in it.  After he named off some of the stars in the movie such as Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, I was somewhat convinced I should do it.  Then he told me they were filming that morning at 3 am which was just a few hours away.  I was a bit reluctant to go and then he got a follow up email that said it had been pushed to around 6 am.  I told him to give me a call in the morning to see what happens.

The first match, we scored first and ended up tying. Then we got kicked off the court and moved to another court where we ended up waiting for about an hour before we got to play another match.  When we were finally let on, we didn’t have enough players to field a team so we got the two kids that were maybe in middle school and then this old man.  The other team was beyond confident and made remarks about how they were going to wipe the floor with us.  10 minutes in, we scored the 1st goal.  These two kids were pretty darn good.  They definitely had skills. The other team is a bit perturbed. 15 minutes in, the kids are playing a 2 man game and score again. The other team is definitely pissed at this point.  They are yelling at their goalkeeper.  25 minutes in, we throw the ball in and the old man heads it in.  The other team is beyond irate now. 35 minutes in, they finally score a goal and call the game and walk off the court.  They were not happy.

We ended up playing a mini game with a few other guys for another hour before we headed back to my friend, Kelvin’s home, where his girlfriend graciously prepared a delicious Thai meal for all of the boys.  It was joyous time of filling our bellies and telling stories.  Our conversation covered a gamut of topics from angels to psychological tests to determine if we fit the profile of being a serial killer.

During dinner, I got a call from my friend Damian. He told me that if I wanted to be in the movie, that I would have to send this casting agent a picture of me to guarantee me a spot the next morning during the film.  By this time, with the logistics and the timing of everything, it seemed more and more unlikely that I would be going through with this.  I left my friends place around 11:45 pm so the likelihood of me honestly following through was slim to none. So am I telling you there’s a chance?? Stay tuned…

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