Justin: Our First Goodbye

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It is with deep sorrow that Michelle and I say "until we meet again" to our Seattle friend, Justin Key, after he passed away from a sudden pulmonary embolism, December 14, 2009.

This week has been hard for both of us, however, through tearful Skype sessions, swapping memories, pictures and videos, we've come to celebrate Justin's full and vibrant life, resolving to follow his example this next year. As one person put it, "We live with the hope and confidence that it is not final and also the realization that his was not just a promising life but a life that already lived according to the Promise."

To our fun-loving friend:

--You're with Jesus now!
--We wish we could have accepted your Mexico invitation last summer.

--Thank you for sharing your gorgeous city with us last March.

--You're still on our "List of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

--We already miss you, your laugh, hugs, brilliant mind and devastating smile.

Until we all meet again in eternity,

Michelle and Gail

Made for Two

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Michelle and I are both hopeless romantics.

That’s why it’s no surprise that we were enchanted with the hottest new couples item on the market: Smittens! As you can see, they are perfect for holding hands with a significant other on bitterly cold days like the ones I’m experiencing in Seoul. We hope you like red as much as we do, because that’s the only choice, although hearts are optional. The only drawback we can see with this holiday must is that we’re having trouble thinking of guys who would actually use them. We did, however, come up with a few winners, and curiously enough, most of them are TORREY guys, confirming what we’ve suspected all along: They’re saps. The following individuals were carefully selected from a lengthy list of candidates:
-Dustin McCurry (Our first “Definitely!” candidate, just because.)
-Scott Munekawa (One condition: Only when no one is looking.)
-Michelle’s dad (Because the hilarity of her parents’ over-the-top affection is not lost on anyone.)
-Bradley Clarke (Because anyone who proposes in the Hagia Sophia’s got mega class.)
-Dr. John Mark Reynolds (Because his FB profile pic of him grabbing his wife’s butt gives us license to assume he’s OK with PDA.)

Note: This item is untested, as neither Michelle nor I have boyfriends and we don’t plan on using Smittens together.

Michelle and Gail dominate Asia!

After numerous video Skype sessions and spontaneous Oh-my-gosh,-guess-what-happened chats, Michelle decided she couldn’t stay away any longer. She’s coming to visit me in South Korea! And I couldn’t be happier!! I’m so, so, so blessed! One thing’s for sure: We’re going to have a blast. Here’s a sampling of what we’ll do in the five days she’s here:

-Indulge in CRAZY food!
-Visit hostels, temples and palaces, oh my.
-Go salsa dancing, now a tradition.
-Take a tour of the Blue House — South Korea’s version of the White House
-Attend the largest church in the WORLD, Yeouido Full Gospel
-Night cruise on the Hangang River, which runs through Seoul
-Teach at my school

Pretty sure the post-visit list of what we did will be much more entertaining, but there it is.

New on Skippy: The World Clock

When's the best time to Skype Gail? Or Michelle? With Skippy's newest feature, you can calculate the girls' time instantly, or your money back! Look to your left.

Skype Dates, Smoky Eyes and Hello Kitty Yoga Mats

Fortunately for ardent fans of Gail&Michelle, the adventures haven't stopped since Michelle moved away from L.A. and Gail moved to the Orient. The fun just takes a cyber twist.

Gail recently purchased a netbook with a webcam. Although the idea of a webcam can be creepy, especially in the hands of a Match.com or eHarmony client, it's made it possible not only to hear Gail's cheerful voice, but to see her myriad expressions. Today, she demonstrated her new "smoky eye" look, and showed the Hello Kitty mat that will be my bed when I visit her in Seoul.

Conveniently, Skype has a "video snapshot" button I can use to take incognito pictures during our conversation. Hence, the two photos you see here.

Fortunately for me, my laptop doesn't have a webcam. This means I can wear insulting shirts in Spanish (the one I'm wearing right now says "Nunca olvido una cara, pero contigo haré una excepción") and not comb my bed-head before our morning Skype dates. I tell Gail I will get a webcam soon, but "soon" could mean years from now.

Ball Game Bent

Not to sound like a married couple or anything, but with both of us having demanding work schedules, it's hard to find time to chill together. One occasion was going to an Angels baseball game. We both drove from our internships and met up in Anaheim to watch -- or not watch-- the game.

Michelle:
I'm embarrassed to say this, but Gail and I left the game at the sixth inning because I had to wake up early for work the next morning.We were later to find out the Angels had an epic rally in the sixth, and Vladimir Guerrero hit his 400th home run -- a distinction only held by five other players in the history of Major League Baseball.
Gail didn't grow up around baseball, so I explained the basic rules and terminology -- RBI, ERA, etc.
Gail: To be honest, I think watching a baseball game is as fun as the person you're with. In this case, the game was great, and so was my lemon slushie, even though it was kinda cold outside. No really, it was fun dressing in the team colors and I learned a lot of lingo from Michelle. After flagging down the Angels fan site guy to take our picture numerous times, chances are we'll show up on some marketing material sooner or later.

OC Fair 2009

It's our first post-graduate summer and we HAD to finish it off with a bang. So we did, along with few other things like rollercoasters, pig races (where Gail led our cheering section in the wave), and a staggering sports performance by Nellie the pig (see Michelle congratulating her below), and don't forget the acrobats and Al's Brain 3-D show.

Gail pulled a few strings at the OC Fair and got Michelle and a few other friends in for free. The theme was "Think Big" and the mascot animal was, of course, the pig.

Perhaps the theme animal was what induced us to buy this massive Mexican funnel cake. At 5 lbs., 2,000 calories, the stack of churro-like coils was more for the wow effect-- eight of us couldn't finish it. Here's to free ride tickets and the end of an incredible summer together.

This Trip in Photos

The Famous Pike's Place Fish Market

I can't say fish is my favorite food of all time. But when a 10-pound mackerel flies above your head and into the able hands of an employee in waders, it's at least got to make the top 5.

Seattle is home to Pike's Place Market, a fun fishery where the employees perform a skillful game of catch every time someone buys seafood. It is a must-see in the city, and Gail and I got a chance to see the action firsthand (see video).

Let the Rhythm Take You Over, Bailamos

There's an old, standard Enrique Iglesias song I love that goes something like this: "Bailamos, let the rhythm take you over bailamos, te quiero, hasta morir." Essentially: "Let's dance, let the rhythm take you over, let's dance, I want you until I die."

Certain parts of that song don't directly reflect Gail and my feelings toward The Dance or the gentlemen who dance with us. The first part, however, does.

Seizing at the opportunity to hang out with Justin, who usually knows what he's doing when it comes to salsa, we spent our Thursday in Seattle dancing until our feet ached. The event wasn't without its snags -- one of Gail's partners smelled so bad she had to excuse herself from the floor. One of my partners was a bit borracho and had the embarassing habit of whistling really loud whenever I did a turn.

Overall, though, it was muy divertido and we're getting a little better each time we go out. The video of Gail in action is proof.

The Space Needle and other Seattle Sites

Our Missions Conference adventure commenced with a way-too-early flight from LAX and the shuttle services of Claire and Cheryl. When we finally got to Seattle, we realized -- WOW. It's COLD up here!

The cold, however, hasn't kept us from heating things up in the city of Microsoft, the Space Needle, and grunge music. With our amicable tour guide Justin (Gail's friend since freshman year and a Biola alum), we've checked out some fabulous lookout spots -- such as this spot in Queen Anne's next to the Space Needle, where there were some very excitable tourists (pictured below) attempting to pull a Mary-Poppinsesque stunt in the windy conditions.

The city is full of quaint Victorian neighborhoods and lots of money, so there are some beautiful houses out here. Justin took us on a roundabout drive circling Lake Washington, showed us more of downtown than we can keep track of, and related innumerable facts about the city's infrastructure. We're nominating him for city council in 2010, or at least the convention and visitor's bureau.

The picture below is us enjoying brunch at a cheery breakfast place that served delicious omelets with enough peppers and onions to make us wish -- for the rest of the day -- that we had some gum. It was fabulous.

More pictures and video of our day is to come as Gail and I explore the town

Better Together

Five reasons we're better together:
1. I need Gail to remind me when the light's turned from red to green.
2. Gail needs me to help locate misplaced cell phones.
3. It takes two to mess with the radio dial in my car enough that the volume actually goes down.
4. Work is not work when Gail's with me -- whether that be Chimes or an urban planning conference.
5. No social situation is ever awkward when we're both there.

Pictured: Gail and I at Chimes hangout night, Gondola Pizza, La Mirada, Calif.

Signature Wednesdays

Wednesday nights in The Chimes' office exemplify the nature of our friendship and may be proof that we were both made to be journalists.

Michelle and I have a lot in common. We both love reading news, signing off on finished Chimes pages and copy editing with red pens. After four years of journalism classes and multiple internships, we have something to prove. Every good journalist is an opportunist at heart and takes advantage of opportunities that may have slipped through the cracks otherwise. An example of this is our shared initiative in recruiting (luring) athletes into the office for a (very vague) picture for The Chimes. Yes, a picture with us. Let me assure you that it was not a coincidence that they were all the top male athletes in the school. Another quality a future editor should have is that of delegation, something we've perfected in letting the sports editor figure out how to tell the guys why they had to come into the office at 11:00 Wednesday night, why they took such cas pics with two girls and why the picture wasn't on the front page of the section.

Anything to lighten up the long Wednesday nights that quickly fade to early Thursday mornings. When I didn't have a car fall semester, Wednesday nights would end with a lazily triumphant drive back to our Decadox house. This semester, we've kept up the tradition, this time in different cars: Michelle in the maroon Taurus (soon to be Audi A6) and me in the Party Bus (woot!). Before that, however, I have been known to be intimately acquainted with The Chimes' couch while I'm waiting for the last pages of the paper to be put to bed. Pictured here is Michelle hard at work, while I snooze on the brown couch someone stole from the SUB.

As many similarities that we share, there are a few things that distinctly set us apart.

Michelle's insistence in walking out of the upper SUB door and and walking around the building in the bitter morning cold instead of going out of the lower SUB door hints at her one-of-a-kind directional helplessness.

Couches and drool-marked pillows, on the other hand, are my signature, defiant declaration that I'm cool enough to sleep anywhere.

There is no doubt that Wednesday nights are a highlight for us and will always be savored as some of the best times we've had yet.

Beauty Queen, Check

Michelle now has one more thing to check off her list of accomplishments -- being in a beauty pageant.

Michelle was one of the three girls in our house to compete in Miss Fullerton 2009. They even got the rules changed so they could get in.

Amanda, Michelle and Jessica were all so, so so, beautiful and knocked the competition out of the water with their superior piano performances and eloquent interviews.

I'm so proud of Michelle! It was so fun to see her pick out her outfits, do her morning sit-ups and practice the probing interview questions -- nearly all 1,000 of them. Michelle's eveningwear was of particular note, as everyone agreed with our friend Dirk that she looked like a Disney princess.

There's just no way I'd ever be in a pageant, so props to Rindels here for having the guts to stick it out with all the pressure. Enjoy the scholarship money, beautiful. You earned it.

Love always, Gail.