World of Ong

…And not necessarily in that order.

Well I have done it! During the Winter Holiday season I participated for the first time, EVER, in my family's traditional apple pie contest. I WON! Notice the fancy trophy.

Let me give you a little background on this whole ordeal. I heard of the news in August that I would be taking the place of my Dad. So, never baked in my life I set on a new journey. 4 Weeks of research, cross-referencing recipes, talking with local bakers and the Pike Place Market produce stand guys; I finally came with a personal recipe.

In order to compete with my fellow family members I had a lot of catching up to do since this competition has been going on since 1989. 19 Years. Wow. So I set a goal of a pie a month until the competition. September, October, November, December. 4 Pies. When questioned about my newly found pie making skills, I just replied, "I must become one with the pie." I must add that during this, I shown off some pictures to the competitors. And that's when the gauntlets were thrown down. Let the competition begin.

All pies I took to my work place and had our Quality Assurance team test them. 14 people tested, wrote up bugs and I corrected. It was a feat. Finally mastering my technique or little of what was there.

December competition finally comes around and let the smack talking begin. Oh it was all there - name slinging, evil stares and even sabotage. But I prevailed - winning over the hearts of the 6 judge panel and surviving a really drunken night. I now have bragging rights and the beloved trophy for one whole year. Hooray for me!

That's only part of the story. Part, you say? Yes, this was the Holiday season and I have more to share - Bleeding fingers, Rampant Punk Rockers, Rock Stars, a hazy "wa-wa" night. Oh yes my friends, much more.

So let's try to fill the gaps. Prior to my trip back to Arizona, I got to squeeze in a day of diving with a new Dive buddy. Went out to Edmonds Underwater Park and swam in the gnarliest of swells. The currents were outrageous, the swim tiring, but the adventure high. Here we saw a 4 foot long Lingcod (picture included - that bucket is actually one of those huge 5 gallon drums), someone threw a perfectly good Bayliner Boat away, and there were some scary moments. I was swimming next to this sunken Tugboat, where the along the hull was a huge rusted rip going down the length of the ship. Swimming happily along, all of a sudden the top half of the ship comes falling 4 feet down. I freak and scatter to the side trying to miss half of this ship, but in reality it was just the underwater current lifting and dropping the top half between 4 and 10 feet. I sucked in a good 1000 lbs of air at that moment. It was a good trip all in all. Cold and good. But what is always best is the beer afterwards.

Now let's fast forward to the Holidays. I came down with a really nasty cold during the whole trip. The plane was uneventful, just me trying to drink my cold away. Almost worked. But then again, I kept a constant drunk the whole time I was down there. (Middle of February and I still feel it.)

I stayed with my cousin this round, since my parent place was taken by my brothers family. But I was lucky. They had the Rock Star Wii going on. In order to beat my nephews, I just HAD to practice. I beat the game on easy and my fingers were bruised, bleeding and I had the grin the size of Texas. I was ready to Kick Ass! And I did. Now you know its going to be a crazy Holidays when you don't get to bed until 4 am and then your cousin's husband wakes you up at 7am holding a cold beer to your head. That was pretty much my holiday. Deep fried turkey, tons of other foods and apple pie.

During my stay in Phoenix I received an email from a long lost friend of mine claiming there is a Punk Rock Reunion of my youth. It has been 20 years since I've seen these people. My have we all changed. It was a blast re-connecting with everyone again. Sad thing though is this is only a fraction of our group. The rest is either dead or spread out across the country. Maybe next time.

Then my buddy and I head out on the town. He took the liberty of driving and presenting me with items of the past. Re-enacting a particular night that happened back in the 80's, but this time around, I was the victim instead of him. It was payback. I had a helluva time that night. (Thanks man if you are reading this!)

I also had some family time as well of course. My mother and childhood friend went out for some German beers, then after while my mom and his wife went shopping, we would just crack jokes and snicker 10 feet behind them. I felt all giddy like a school girl.

Then of course my Uncle takes me out. We end up at the local Biker/Country Dive bar. The door you see to the right is the actual bar. He does this whenever I get 15 minutes of downtime from all the rest of the family. It was all good.

Finally I come back home to Seattle. A nice few weeks to detoxify and I squeeze in another dive. This time, with the same buddy as last, head to Alki Beach at Cove 2. We drop down to 107 feet in 45F degree water. We find Buddha tucked away in the ibeams. My buddy motions to head up since he is feeling Nitrogen Narcosis kick in and we swim back to shallower depths. It was actually really fun, since I finally had a chance to relax and just explore all the nooks and crannies.

Now it is February, and I am thoroughly relaxed. I just got my SCUBA gear back from its annual servicing and ready to go again. The last few days I have scrounging for statements for my taxes and now I am done. Hooray!

Oh almost forgot, 2 weeks ago I had another one of Jon's Crazy Ass Nights. Somehow, after work, I decided to go to a local bar - Free Drinks! And at some fuzzy point in time I end up at some Private club. It all gets fuzzy doesn't it? Anyhoo, luckily I catch the midnight bus home and cower the rest of the week. I have to be vague on this since it was kind of a splotchy night.

I will leave you with that. As usual, take life by the pigtails and donkey punch the hell out of if! Or maybe a "One Eyed Pirate", you decide. Enjoy!

# posted by Juanito the Bandito @ 11:03 PM