A lot of things have happened within the past couple of years:

It was a little over 2.5 years ago, in January 2005, that I first signed up for a site called grab.com, initially playing games and then branching out to boards and chat.

A little over 2 years ago, in June 2005, I received the privilege of being offered a spot on the moderator team. It was in my heyday of being very active on the boards and all but forgetting why I initially came here-- the games ;-)

Almost exactly 2 years ago, in August 2005, Grab rolled out blogs. It revolutionized my online activity. I had never regularly kept any kind of online journal before that, but being able to blog on Grab, receive feedback from my friends and read what they themselves wrote, opened up all kinds of doors that I didn't even know were there! I am forever indebted to Lex for making his brainchild a reality.

Since then, I've written over 300 blog entries, all with the intent to either provide little glimpses into the life of Helly, or share some amusement with my friends about life's foibles.

In this past 2.5 years of being on Grab, I've met and made many friends, not all at once. In due course, as is true in "real life", I've lost several of those friendships. Some were falling outs. Some simply fell by the wayside and atrophied. And I still keep in touch with only a mere handful of those I met in the very early days of Grab... but rarely on here anymore.

I've truly enjoyed my time here. I still do, from time to time. Unfortunately those times are growing less and less frequent and when I find myself with a story to share, it is growing increasingly difficult to answer the question: "Where shall I blog it?"

So it is with a bit of nostalgia and wistfulness that I close this post with a link to the answer that keeps coming up more frequently too that question-- my Myspace blog:

http://blog.myspace.com/hellykwee

See you around on the other side ;-)

I had great fun playing around with the Simpsonize Me! website, which creates Simpson-like versions of photos you upload. Here, for example, are the Simpsonized versions of me and Allan (that's supposed to be a five o'clock shadow, too bad it turned out a little too Homer-like. D'oh!):



I tried to do one of Todd, but babies and little kids just don't come out well, as there are fewer options when it comes to refining things like facial features and hair.

But in the midst of all of it, I had an idea for some fun: Simpsonize some of the Grabbers and see if my blog readers can guess who they are! So, here goes:

EDIT: Okay, all the guesses have been made in the comments section, so I guess I can put the correct answers in, now:

1. Lisa (whose plaits, scrubs and "Don't mess with me" look should give it away)

2. Fuzzy (with his new glasses!)

3. Willow (this was the hardest to do and to guess)

4. Kendra (with her brand new kitten in tow)

5. Jenna (with that mop of beautiful auburn hair, and green shirt that I think she wears so well)

6. Scot (with his infamous Spiderman glasses, and Myspace red shirt)

BONUS: You should be able to figure out who this next one is, if you've read my travel blog entries from my recent vacation, and paid attention to the pictures I posted. Who is this famous Grabber:


That's right, it's Michael (dieSprout), whom I had the honor of meeting when I visited the Case's Ladder HQ in Washington on June 25 :-)

Good luck, and have fun Simpsonizing your own pictures! I'd love to see the results, so post your pics in the comments! :-)

To comment:
http://blogs.grab.com/AddComment.aspx?entry_id=422265&blog_id=18

We're home! Hallelujah, we're home at last! Arrived in Santa Barbara at around 5pm, put away our stuff, returned the rental car, and kicked back and relaxed. I've spent the better part of the past couple hours sorting out photos. So I've decided to dedicate this blog entry to catching up on all the photos that I haven't been able to post, here. To keep it from getting too cluttered up, I'm putting up one representative photo from each key event, and then linking to an online photo album I set up that houses the rest. The album I chose has sub-album, picture info and even comment capabilities :-)

Here goes:

First up, a shot of the monument in Peace Arch Park, the beautiful bit of greenery on the border between the USA and Canada.

More shots of sights along the way can be found here.

Next, here's the staffers I got to meet while visiting the Case's Ladder office in Mt Vernon, WA. From left to right: Sprouty, Christy, Kate, me and Case.

More shots of Washington here.

Here's one of the shots of our suite in Vancouver, just a small sampling of the many photos I took of the inside of the room and of the views from the windows:

And here's Allan and Todd at Dinotown:

More shots of Vancouver here.

Here's Todd and his new friend in Salem, OR:

More Oregon shots here.

So there you have it. Tons more photos to enjoy in the album.
And although I've linked to individual albums, you can find the entire album at the parent folder here:

http://hellykwee.myphotoalbum.com

EDIT: Okay, it appears that links aren't getting parsed correctly on Grab blogs at the moment, so if you're having trouble getting to the photo album by clicking on any of the links, just copy and paste the above bold URL and open it in your browser, and it should work!

Today started out as an ordinary day. Had a dental appointment for both me and Todd in the morning, where he was quite well-behaved and came away from it with a positive experience at the dentist's. Fingers crossed it stays that way till we go again in 6 months. Then it was off to work-- another ordinary Thursday, right?

Sure. For the most part.

No sooner had I settled at my desk and examined my Outlook calendar than I realized what today's date was. And a multitude of special things are going on today.

It is National Flag Day here in the United States, commemorating the adoption of our country's red-white-and-blue on this day in 1777.

Also on this day in 1775, the United States Army was born as the Continental Army, combining the forces of the fledgling colonies in their struggle against Great Britain. Our Commander-in-Chief? George Washington. It wasn't until after the Revolutionary War ended that it officially became the "U.S. Army". 232 years later, I'm proud to say that it is still going strong :-)

And last but not least, a little closer to home (well, Grab home, anyway), it was on this day some years ago that Charlie (Greyrabbit) was born. He has now caught up to my husband and several of our other Grab friends, making my constant age digs just a tad more apt ;-)

Happy Flag Day.
Happy Birthday, Army.
And Happy Birthday Charlie! (hey, that almost rhymed!) ;-)

What makes you laugh the hardest?

I love to laugh. It keeps the doctor away and the wrinkles at bay. It's very easy to tickle Helly's funny bone, and some even shake their heads in sadness by how simple it is to amuse me.

What makes me laugh the hardest? People, of course. A variety of people with whom I interact in a variety of ways.

There's my son, Todd, who just turned 3. The jollies started when he began talking and forming whole sentences. The lawyer-like loopholes and logic that spew from his mouth are enough to send the whole family rolling. Not to mention the crazy antics like head-bashing his stuffed frog (see my YouTube page for the video if you're interested), and just generally running about, shrieking with delight as most toddlers do.

Then there are my friends, most of whom I've met here on Grab. There's nothing quite like suppressing my laughter at a hilarious board post or blog comment because I'm reading it at work and would sound like a complete nutcase, bursting out with laughter, all alone in my cubicle. Ah, the fond memories of blog/board parties and just general mischief and silliness ;-)

My sense of humor in general tends to run along the wry, sarcastic lines. While I find most jokes, stand-up comedians, and comedy movies funny, I often don't find true hilarity in anything but a good zinger of a comeback or a dry and witty observation. Which is why I remarked that people are the ones make me laugh hardest and best :-)

I got a package in the mail today. It contained all sorts of goodies from my British friends-- Lisa and family, and Fuzzy and friends (haha, the latter sounds like the title to a sitcom, doesn't it?)

I opened it up and was greeted with a bevy of cute things you simply can't find in the USA. As you can tell from the photo, it's mainly Tatty Teddy themed (the tote bag, the wallet, the stuffed bear itself), as I love the little guy, but you can't find him here in the States.

And of course, what gift set would be complete without Helly's favorite animal-- stuffed beanie froggies! :-D

For my sweet tooth-- coffee-flavored chocolate. I remember blogging once about how I simply can't stand American chocolate anymore, not after having been spoiled by European chocolate. Especially the coffee-flavored ones.

So, Lisa, Fuzzy and gang-- a big THANK YOU! I loved everything! And I'm taking the tote bag and wallet with me to California Adventure Park tomorrow! :-D

A jolly Happy Birthday to Lisa (taffy70)!

Here's a little personalized birthday greeting from Toddy.
Hope your day is a great one!
Now come join me in wishing Lisa a very wonderful birthday! :-D

♥ Helly

My favorite Grab feature would have to be...

Hehehe... this BID is well over a year old-- it was first posted in February 2006. For some reason I never got around to answering it, or at least, I don't remember writing anything to address it (back then I was known for updating my blog BIDs in bunches-- tackle a handful all in one entry).

But my favorite Grab feature by far is the blogs.

On my 1-year blogging anniversary on Grab, I made mention of how my blog has been instrumental in making the friends I have-- from meeting Geri and Lisa while the dust was settling, to getting to know my friends through the weekly Friday Five, and eventually leading to other friendships throughout the months and years...

I made sure to pimp out the use of Feed Readers in the hopes of encouraging Grabbers to get more involved with blogs, as the feeders provided easy ways to keep tabs on favorite blogs (well, public ones anyway).

And I was quite pleased when the Grab staff implemented comment counts into the RSS feeds, because that enabled me to keep track of when blogs were updated with new comments! I have yet to see any other mainstream blogging service (such as LiveJournal, MySpace, and Blogger) provide this in their feeds! I guess this is the more specific answer to this question-- my favorite Grab feature is the fact that comment counts are incorporated into the RSS feeds.

Anyway, the reason I hold blogs so near and dear to my heart is because, as I mentioned above, they have been the perfect vehicle for meeting and making the friends I currently have. True enough, I met many people through the message boards, but my blog, and my friends' blogs, provided so much more insight than could ever be expressed on a board. I think that's what I enjoyed most-- it gave me glimpses into my friends' lives and personalities that I would not otherwise have seen, elsewhere.

I've had a lot of things going on recently that have limited my online time, and my near-daily blogging started falling. It's picked up recently, however, and I realized just how much I missed it! I can't do like some people and move my blog elsewhere, because the majority of my readers are still here on Grab. So, I'm hoping to continue being the blogging fool I used to be.
Maybe one day, when the dust has settled with all the fixing around this place, someone can be assigned to work on Grab blogs and implement a couple of features I'd love to see, such as conversation-style comments (like on LiveJournal), allowing anonymous comments, i.e. non-Grabbers (like on Blogger), and best of all-- allowing only certain entries, rather than the entire blog, to be locked to friends-only. Better yet-- the ability to set up a "preferred friend list" (like on MySpace) that you can lock certain entries to.

And now... to post this thing and then make my rounds and see what new stuff my friends have to say in their blogs :-D

Okay, so I've already written a nice summary of the weekend with Lisa, I thought I'd post a few more pictures taken while she was here.

First up, here's all 4 of us during our "Girls' Night Out" at the karaoke bar in Hollywood: Anna, Ev, Lisa and me:

Here's Ev and me belting out Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll"

Sacked out in the limo on the ride back home-- hey, it was getting late!

Next day, at Universal Studios-- here's me (in my Grab polo shirt!) with the Access Hollywood reporters. Yeah, I'm famous and on the red carpet ;-)

This one cracks me up to no end, because it showcases quite perfectly exactly how freakishly tall Allan is-- notice how he, in his sandals, is nearly eye level with Frankenstein (who, by the way, is wearing big clunky shoes!)

Finally, Lisa's last night in LA, Ev and I joined her for dinner in Old Town Pasadena:

And now that you've finished reading all that, hightail it over to Lisa's blog, where more pictures await you :-D

Just as Lisa beat me in blogging about my visit to the UK, I'm gonna blog about our weekend together, when it was Lisa's turn to fly into LA :-D

Unfortunately, I don't have very many pictures to share, so those will have to wait until Lisa returns home and posts them in her own blog (and hopefully zips up the remainder and emails them to me :-D)

Saturday I took Todd with me to pick up Lisa at LAX, after which we stopped by the Northridge Fashion Center, had an early dinner in the food court, and watched Todd play in the indoor playground. Then it was back to my parents' place to quickly change and get ready to go out.

Evelyn and Anna arrived to pick us up-- ostensibly to "carpool"... but when we got out the door, there was a limo waiting for us at the end of the driveway! And moreover-- flowers and booze waiting for her inside the car. It was truly a great way to highlight Lisa's week of living like a princess-- all that was missing was a tiara!

Here's Anna, Lisa and me inside the limo:

We ended up going to a karaoke bar in Hollywood, which was a little quiet at first (and that was a good thing, as it allowed me to totally bomb a song before anybody got there, thus making a fool of myself only in front of the girls) but soon picked up after about 10pm. The place was soon packed with what looked like regulars, and some damn talented ones at that. Like Lisa said, it was like American Idol-- and quite a sharp contrast to when I went out on the pub crawl with my British friends in Wales.

The night was quite entertaining with a variety of performances that never failed to bring the house down, such as "cute guy"'s rendition of "Let's Get it On", Ken's dedication to "Lisa from Wales", and a guy-- that's right, a guy-- doing Britney Spears' "Oops I Did it Again"-- he rocked! Evelyn and I wrapped up our evening with a duet of "I Love Rock and Roll", and thankfully didn't get booed off the stage ;-)

Made it home safe and sound by 1am. Well, it was actually 2am, as that was the night we moved forward to Daylight Saving Time. Talk about an inopportune weekend to lose an hour-- on the very night when I need my sleep the most!

Next day Allan, Todd and I took Lisa to Universal Studios (Ev was feeling poorly and stayed home), where we got plenty of sun and behind-the-scenes views of how movies are made. At one point, during the "Sounds and Effects" studio show, I volunteered for one of the segments that showcased how the blue screen works, esp with one actor playing multiple characters. Here's a shot of me interacting with Eddie Murphy's character on "The Nutty Professor"-- in real life I was sitting on a chair in front of a blue screen. It's not very good quality because it was taken with my phone's VGA camera-- my digital camera decided to die on me upon arrival. That marks the THIRD time in a ROW that a camera has broken down on me as SOON as I get inside Universal Studios. I swear, that place is haunted. Next time, I'm bringing two cameras, one as backup for the one that's sure to break down as soon as I step inside the gate :-P

Blowing kisses at the Nutty Professor in front of the green screen:

And this is how it showed up when mixed with the rest of the movie:

It was a long day full of walking, but we lucked out in not having to wait in many lines. Afterward, we went to Buca di Beppo on CityWalk for dinner, where EV had laid in reservations for us.

In the parking lot I spied an amusing sight-- a Hummer cramped inside a space marked "Compact". The sad thing about this picture? The owner of this vehicle actually did a much better job of parking as best as he/she could within the tiny space, than most SUV's I've seen-- SUV's that are much smaller than a Hummer! What gives??

All in all, a busy but fun-filled weekend. It was nice seeing Lisa again, and having fun showing her my neck of the woods. On more than one occasion has she shaken her head and said "Only in America".

That's right, babes. It is one unique country :-)

Have you ever stuck up for someone when they needed an ally?

 

Absolutely! And numerous times-- there's evidence of this all over Grab, because I'm talking about my very good friend Lisa (taffy70).

It all started over a year ago, in October 2005, when a mutual friend of ours, out of the blue, stopped coming online without any warning. Naturally, this was cause for concern amongst many of our friends, but one of them in particular turned nasty toward Lisa when she couldn't offer any more answers than the rest of us could. I wasn't going to let him get her down, though, and we ended up having a party on a thread he started-- we turned the topic around real quick!

More recently, there were the mishaps on the Tourneys board. Fuzzy had been the lone CL who regularly responded on there (some would say he drew the short straw on that count, hehe), and when he disappeared in late November to undergo his most recent surgery, Lisa was gracious enough to fill in for him. Instead of showing appreciation for her help and her time, the tourney board regulars derided her and ridiculed her to no end. They seemed to think that Fuzzy was the lone authority on that board, and that if anyone piped up that wasn't him, they were immediately discredited. Needless to say, I couldn't resist jumping in and defending Lisa's honor.

The last straw, however, was the brouhaha on her blog, when she wrote about my visit to Wales a few months ago, and the fun we had painting the town red. The Christian Grandma Brigade came out in full force, decrying some of the things she posted. Fair enough, one pic could've been a little too risque, so she obliged them and took it down. However, that didn't stop them from continuing to wag their hypocritical fingers at her, and eventually I'd had enough-- I jumped right into the fray and delivered a few blows of my own. Nobody, and I mean nobody insults Lisa the way they did, and gets away with it! I sure as hell wasn't going to sit idly by while they smeared my friend's good name!

All of this reminds me of the time when Lisa was pretty much my lone supporter, back when blogs first came out on Grab, and back when the Gold members were in an uproar over the pettiest little things (http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/1200) Thus was born a friendship that has lasted over a year, and since then we've always had each other's backs. So Lisa-- here's a toast to you! :-)

"My Wish" by Rascal Flatts

This blog entry is dedicated to very dear friend of mine.

Despite my love of country music, I am not normally a big fan of Rascal Flatts. However, this time one of their songs speaks quite well to the message I want to convey:

I wish you well in everything that you do. I hope that despite how bleak things can seem and feel, you will again light the world up with your smile. I hope you achieve everything you set out to, and remember that I'm with you in thought and spirit every step of the way.

It's my wish. For you. With love and fondness.

♥ Helly

---

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but you never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
and always give more than you take.

CHORUS x2

So, at long last I'm getting around to catching up on telling my side of the story-- the same story that you've most likely already read about on both Scot's and Lisa's blogs :-)

I went on a last-minute trip to the UK on business last week, and when I talked to Fuzzy about it and learned of his plans to visit Lisa in Wales, decided it would be a perfect opportunity to join him and surprise her!

I didn't tell anyone about my trip, so don't feel too bad if you've been left out of the loop. I wasn't actually sure if I'd be able to make it to see Lisa at all, and I didn't want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed. As luck would have it, that wasn't the case.

So, I had a layover in Chicago where I got to meet my first Grab friend-- Scot! He's blogged all about it, so you can read the details there, here's the two of us at O'Hare International Airport:

The first few days of my stay in the UK were pretty uneventful. Watched a lot of German TV, something I miss from my days in Germany :-D Did some shopping, got my hair cut, and brrrr-- tried to stay indoors as much as I could!

I was able to get time off on Thanksgiving to join Fuzzy and Alex on the long drive to Wales. We checked into the hotel and after Fuzzy phoned Lisa to let her know we were there, I made my way to his and Alex's room. We wanted to position Fuzzy by the door, videocamera in hand, to film Lisa's expression, and were still working out the logistics (freakin' closet was in the way) when there was an unexpected knock on the door. We looked at the time and stared at each other. Lisa!? Nah, too early!
So Fuzzy pushed the peephole cover aside and peeked through, then jumped back in a near panic, whispering loudly: "It's Lisa!"

Flustered, We scrambled to try to get him in position with the camera, not realizing that Lisa could hear our whispers and movements through the door.

After a second knock, we gave up, and Fuzzy and Alex retreated to the back of the room while I flung the door open.

Oh, the look on Lisa's face-- priceless! The expressions on her face changed from brow-furrowing confusion ("Who the hell..!?") to eye-widening shock ("I recognize her!") to jaw-dropping shock ("It's Helly!") before the inevitable screech of "OH MY GOD!" and the big hugs that followed.

To be honest, she didn't cuss us out as much as we'd expected! I guess she was too stunned to call us many names.

You've already seen most of the important pics on her blog, so I'll just showcase a few of my favorites (forgive any duplicates):

Lisa and me, posing as two innocent angels (quit laughing so hard!)

Here are 3 Grab CLs: Lisa, Fuzzy and Helly

Can't leave a shot of Alex out:

This menu cracks me up-- "pud"s?? Sounds sooo dirty!

This picture cracks me up too-- I came across quite a few establishment that sell not just Chinese food, but "Chinese and English food". This one sold Chinese take-out AND fish 'n' chips:

A COUPLE OF AERIAL SHOTS:

The view of the sun-kissed English countryside (hey, where are all the rain clouds??)

These next two are my favorites:
First up, a view of the English Channel as we flew over the last of England

And then, a view of the start of France on the other side of the Channel:

So there you have it. Quite an adventure, and a mini-Grab-Meet across the ocean and across an entire country!

We spent Thursday evening enjoying dinner together, and then a little pub crawl. Coming from California, where smoking is banned in nearly all public establishments, I'd forgotten how smokey it gets in the bars of Europe. And having karaoke at two of the pubs was a plus-- both Alex and I enjoyed our turns up on the mic :-)

On Friday we picked up Lisa at her house and had lunch together, then went shopping-- or more aptly, as Lisa pointed out, Alex shopped while the rest of us looked on.

All in all it was a good trip. I enjoyed seeing a different country, and being scared out of my wits driving on the wrong side of the road. Realizing first-hand (well, I'd already had an inkling of it from my conversations with my British friends) that English, contrary to popular belief, is NOT really a universal language. Reminding myself to be eternally grateful that I live in southern California, where not only is the weather magnificent (yes, I've had enough of the bRRRRR-inducing weather of England and Wales) but the cost of most everything is much lower than in the UK.

And last but not least, it firmly cemented some friendships forged online-- friendships I hope will last a lifetime. So Scot, Lisa, Fuzzy and Alex-- I truly enjoyed meeting you and hanging out with you, and look forward to many more meets across the miles! :-)

I am giggling with amusement as I write this.

To date, 8 people have followed the "Google Images About Me" blog meme that I nicked from kxgen:

Scot, Kendra, Fuzzy, Fuzzy's Girl and Andi here on Grab.
Jenna, Lisa and Jen (glockie!) over on Myspace

Popular meme! :-)

But what really amuses me is that nobody seemed to notice a mistake I made when I manually transferred the questions from kxgen's blog to mine. If you look carefully, there are only 8 pictures. But the questions end at #9. Look even more carefully, and you will see the reason for that is I accidentally skipped #6-- went straight from #5 to #7.

And every single one of the blogs I've seen so far has duplicated that error.

Which really makes you think about the psychology behind blindly following the herd. Did everyone really just copy and paste from the last blog they read, that had this in it? Did they copy it from the original source of the mistake, or did they copy it from someone who followed it-- thereby propagating it even further?

I actually waited a few days before writing this, to see who else would blog the meme, and if this would be duplicated across the board. So far, the answers point to yes.

Makes for some interesting ponderings on a Wednesday afternoon....

Here in California it's still Tuesday afternoon. But over in England it's past midnight, making it officially Wednesday, September 6. What's so special about that day? Why, it's Fuzzy's birthday, of course!

Yeah, yeah-- if you're squinting your eye at a bad case of deja vu, it's because I copied the above sentence almost verbatim from when I blogged in honor of Lisa's birthday this past April. Yes, I'm plagiarizing myself. So sue me :-P

So here's some warm wishes, good cheer and some virtual presents for Fuzzy's special day.

Happy Birthday, Fuzzy!

And now, for your presents:

First up, the ultimate birthday gift for you-- a good left shoulder (without all the strange markings, of course)!

Next, here's some plane tickets:

The first leg will get you to Hawaii, where you can enjoy sun, surf and sand, with endless drinks in your hand (haha, look, I rhymed!) while relaxing on this comfy looking hammock, which is your next present:

Oh, and here's some stuff to keep you from getting sunburnt:

The second leg will return you anywhere your heart desires in the United States :-) And as long as I'm freely giving passports out as virtual birthday gifts, here's a U.S. passport to get you where you're going, wherever that may be:

Now, this last one is more for me than anyone else, as I will want to capture your attempts to get on the hammock, for posterity. So this one's a little gift for me:

Tee-hee!
Now, come join me in wishing our beloved Fuzzy a wonderful birthday!

Lots of Love,
Helly