A Turning Point in TheGrabble.com Recently a friend sent me the following link. It specifies the rules of Grabble, therefore rendering my registered domain(TheGrabble.com) superfluous. Many months ago, I registered the domain thinking that I would be the first person in the world to articulate and specify the rules of Grabble. Obviously, I didn't invent the game, but I would be content with the title "Father of Grabble." However, I never got to producing that website. It wouldn't have mattered anyway because I was 3 years behind; the BBC article was written in 2004. Leong King-Pui, the man who brought Grabble to the masses. All that now merely a long-lost dream.

We hosted a dinner party for our friends around the Burg area yesterday evening. It was one of the last few times to catch up with everyone before boarding the rocket to Michigan. So just for one day, we were contestants of Top Chef: Missouri. We aimed high, menu-wise, and concocted at least 3 kinds of kabobs along with a couple of dipping sauces. Throw in some fresh corn-on-the-cob, mashed taters, strawberries, chocolate and muffins. Meg spared no spices and I spared no kisses. Just kidding.

Michigan "Michigan was named after Lake Michigan, whose name was a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigami, meaning "large water" or "large lake"." Tomorrow marks the beginning of my rite of assimilation into the Tribe of the People of the Large Water. I had a great deal of trouble falling asleep last night. Finally I experienced the anxiety so commonly expected of people who are on the brink of major change. One can never really explain away nervousness. No matter how many times we've had our intestines stretched and knotted before, each bout of anxiety seems to take a unique form. Each time it brings an intoxicating new sensation. Every time it feels unnatural to the core. At the moment it seems as though my brain is turning into mush and leaking down into my mouth through my nasal cavity. My mouth is full and I might need to vomit.

I'm here. Just wanted to let everyone know that I survived the 11-hour drive. And though the people here drive as if they're on the Autobahn, I managed to avoid getting into a wreck. The only things that scraped my Chevy up were bugs. I'm currently in the Grand Rapids Public Library. I have thirty minutes to use the internet. After that they're kicking me out. Today I've been walking around the whole city (my left sole hurts), and I'm going to help Meg unpack later in the evening. Last night I slept in a sleeping bag and I have yet to unpack. Aaron, a friend from Missouri (that I met through Carson) also recently relocated to GR. He's an awesome guy, and I just really appreciate any company or contacts here in this new place. Last night he showed me around the cultural hotspots in town. Well, okay. see you later. Give me a holler anytime!

King-Pui Leong
1305 Bradford St. NE,
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Completion of My First Week Subtlety is essential when treading an issue as divisive as this. Though my latest tool is a product of Cupertino, California, know this: I make no war against you who are afflicted by the blue screen.

A Breathtaking Moment [img:883876] The story of Thomas Harris is featured today on Wikipedia: "Thomas Harris was an early English balloon pioneer who was killed in an accident in 1824. He was flying a hydrogen balloon from Vauxhall, London with his fiancée when the release valve got stuck in the open position, thus releasing the hydrogen. In an attempt to prevent the balloon falling, he threw out all the ballast and even their clothes. In the end, he jumped to his death, making the balloon light enough to save his fiancée's life." How is it that a story like this could so easily induce moments of Selah in me?

My First On-Set Experience Dear readers. First you should know that one of my goals when I first graduated was to take part in a movie-making endeavor. Now I don't mean directing or producing or acting or all that. Creative decision-making should be reserved for the experts. As a toddling greenhorn, I would've been content just to observe the crew in action. Just several days ago, I was given that opportunity by a kindly filmmaker based here in Grand Rapids, even though I was much inexperienced. (By using "much inexperienced" I was really trying to avoid the more truthful phrase "glaringly ignorant." Let me stress that this was great risk on the part of the filmmaker, as I had sufficient potential to hinder a smooth night of movie-making. I saw this spectacular group of young men at work from Friday evening to Saturday morning. Yes, with much junk food and caffeine, we all skipped the forty-winks. At certain times even I was able to contribute to the labor, and I was happy to help. Filmmaking requires an enormous amount of work. It struck me how much I took for granted each beautiful scene I saw in a movie. This is no embellishment; 15 seconds of footage could easily require hours of pre-planning and set-production. And imagine further, the teamwork and co-operation that is so necessary to movie-making. To orchestrate a dozen individual personalities to a common vision is nothing short of miraculous.

A Weekend of Nice Company You may view some pictures of us fooling around the city here. Meg begins her schooling today, so we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens for a natural, outdoorsy weekend of rest.

EATERS!

Sleepless Here's the finished short movie that I was talking about a few posts before. It's called Sleepless, and it was directed by Nick LaVelle. Although I didn't get to see the car when it was flipped over (that was shot on another night), I was there when they shot the entire bedroom sequence. What do you think?