The Tony Show

So I'm talking with my good buddies Brad and Andy and they are trying to drown me out with the sound of swirling dice but we have all agreed on a time to have the next Tony show.  The next Tony show will be broadcast live from Shanghai, China on Thursday December 22nd at 7:30pm MST. Andy and Brad are making me crack up right now on skype because we are playing some dice and having a great time, the best I've had in a while!! It's good to see these guys. Anyway, that's irrelevant but I'll be live right here! CLICK ME!!!

See ya at 7:30 MST on Thursday December 22nd!

Tony G.

It's Goin' down in China Town!

There comes a time in one's life....

  When they have to make changes based on how they live their lives. This week has seen me in quite a state with stressful situations, important meetings and even hospital visits (don't worry, I'm fine). But, the important thing to remember is that life is beautiful and it's such a sneaky, sneaky devil but in life, the one who makes mistakes, is the wisest of all.

  I haven't written in awhile and I wanted to fill some of you in on what's been going on these past weeks and to give you a funny story to start this off right. I hopped into a cab today and the driver is smoking. The first thing he says to me is “you want a smoke?” I tell him “no thank you” and he looks at me very gravely and says, “you really don't smoke?” to which I replied “no. Many Americans smoke, but I'm not one of them.” This prompted a question from him about American women and I couldn't understand him because he was smiling and laughing and all the while dragging on his cigarette and driving like a complete maniac! Every time we got cut off by someone, I could hear him yelling things in a dialect I couldn't understand but he would tell me about the old days 20 years ago when he first started driving a cab. He was looking at me and not the road but this guy was absolutely phenomenal. We slammed to a halt in front of my complex, he told me about his cab and why he's more legitimate than any of the other companies since he started 20 years ago and he offered me a cigarette one more time. I had to politely refuse but I left him a nice little tip telling him all the while he was the best cab driver I've ever had. He smiled and roared off like a black Spanish horse and it was then that I felt the happiest I have in the last couple days.

  Sorry in advance as there will be no pictures in this post because frankly, all of the pictures I have are quite bad. Some of you know and some of you don't that this week I got myself into a little bit of a jam. Well, 2 jams I should say. One regarding my visa and the other regarding my face.

  I got “checked up” on by the Chinese government because of the previous overstay that had me sent to Hong Kong for 11 days. They wanted to see what I was doing now and making sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be, yada yada. Well, needless to say with the wonderful help of my company, everything is going to be fine but I need to find a new job that will sponsor me for a year long work visa to make my problems disappear. So since then, I have been applying for lots of jobs and I'm very hopeful to see what opportunities I can come up with. However, this comes at a price. I've realized that I love living in China more than I really thought I did and I'm telling you all now that I may not be coming home in May as planned before. I will still try my best to come out because of a VERY important wedding that I plan to attend, but it won't be the end of my China journeys. I have become very accustomed to the place that I am now living and the people, the culture and the language have washed over me like a sea for thousands of years and have made my international views rounder than an ocean pebble. I made a promise to come back to many people very important in my life and that promise will be fulfilled! But not just yet.

  The other jam I got myself into was that of a bar brawl I guess one would say. Frankly I don't remember the events but I was told by a friend what happened and I definitely have the face to reflect it. I'll spare you all the details but it basically happened between me and 4 Chinese bouncers and once they couldn't get a handle on me they realized they needed backup. Enter 10 more (this is what my friend says so it's the only truth I know) and they finally got me down and then proceeded to keep going at it until my friends finally jumped on top of me and finally managed to drag me out and get me in a taxi and then home. Well needless to say, for 10-15 of them, they did a pretty poor job as I am actually in good shape and nothing was broken or seriously injured. I do have a nice black eye to show for it but that will heal quickly. The important thing here though is that I was very lucky and very fortunate to not have suffered worse.

  This brings me to my next point because I know many of you are worried about me, disgusted with me or maybe flabbergasted upon hearing this for the first time. Well I have come before all of you today to tell the truth as I always do. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say it was a nice tea party where someone bumped my eye with a crumpet because we all know that's unfeasible. I am here before you guys to tell you that this was a big turning point in my life and I realize I am very fortunate to be in the state I am. I am very lucky to have gone through what I did. I am very happy that my life has turned out like this and I want to say a couple things about why.

  I am changing. Slowly. Deliberately. With direction. I am changing into a better person all the time by putting one foot in front of the other. Now, drinking has always been quite prominent in my social life ever since the tender age of 18 when I first stayed in the college dorms. I can recall some great nights, I can recall some horrendous nights. I can recall amazing conversations with friends and some friends, I can't recall. Alcohol has not always been a problem as I have had many a good time with it, but it seems that the worst of problems have always been caused by it. No one hasn't heard my collarbone story (you should have seen the mailbox!), many of you have heard about the story of me waking up in the dorm hallway in just my boxers without my keys (haha, that's a classic) and many of you have had those nights with me where we regretted it the next day and several days after. It's time for me to tell all of you that alcohol has had it's time and place in my life but I can't control it any longer. It's a beast that has turned on it's master. It's time for me to grow another step and have alcohol remain as a memory not only reminding me of the good times but of the pain and sorrow it can cause as my family has seen first hand. I think about my uncle all the time :'( and I know many of you do as well.

  I'm not saying that I'm going to remain sober for the rest of my life as we all know is a hard thing to actually put into practice. However, from now until the day I die, I will make it my creed to never get out of control again. My juvenile times are behind me. I live in a beautiful world so full of wondrous gifts that I can't even fathom, and I choose a generic alternative to life when I'm bored. To be honest, I'm a little upset with myself. It's time to take life by the cajones and really live it like it's meant to be lived. I don't want anyone to think that I look down on drinking as we all know it can be a lovely or hateful experience. I'm just saying I want to personally move past it and see what the next thing is that life has to offer.

  Well this is all quite dreary wouldn't ya say?! Don't worry, I'll use the sandwich method which takes my first story which was hopefully a bit entertaining and I'll throw another happy topic on the end here so that the dreary stuff is just to get your emotions flowing and then I end it with a happy ending! (I know I live in China but it's not THAT type of happy ending haha).

  The point is, I'm a better person. I can't make life choices for anyone but me and I'm making them. I want to live my life in the now and I'm not ready to die tomorrow. I have so much I still yearn for but if I do die tomorrow, I'll still have lived a hell of a life and known a hell of a lot of great times and people. I just want it to keep going.

  Many of you may be interested in this girl that I met at the wedding a few weeks ago and so am I! If you're not, skip down to the bottom 'cuz I'm going to talk about her!

  Well, we've been talking quite a lot and she is such a great person. She's funny, friendly, witty and is very honest and mature. Sounds like me right? Except the funny part... and the friendly part too. Ok, I'm not the MOST honest person I know and I act like a 5 year old.... Hmmmm, well damn, I thought we had something in common ;)

  She has been so sweet during my week of strife and she even called me long distance the other day just to ask “how are you doing?” How great is that?! I liked it. Anyway, we share silly stories and pictures with each other that really show our true nature and it's really fun to be talking with someone who just likes to be themselves all of the time. I think it's something everyone needs to strive to do. Her English is great and most of our conversations are in English but lots of times I like to speak Chinese with her because it's great practice and she teaches me lots of new words/phrases which is always great. Hopefully things will work out between us and regardless of the distance between us, I think that something good could come of this. I have to at least try otherwise I will always consider her as that “one that got away” which of course is just because I don't know whether or not it would've worked out so psychologically I tell myself it would have and she would have been the best woman I could have ever hoped for and all of this other psychological stress that I don't need now or in the future! So I'll do my darndest to at least give it a shot.

  Whew! Three pages of pure Tony G. right there. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but this is all a stream of conscience and will be printed as such. The holiday season is coming up and I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to be doing but I know that family and friends will be close by whether in person or in spirit. I sure am going to miss a lot of people though, that's for sure. To get the spirits high and the mood set, I would absolutely LOVE it if you would post a favorite holiday story in the comments below or maybe even send it to me in an email and then I will have a video blog in the next couple of weeks telling these favorite stories of friends and loved ones to get us all on the right track and in the right mindset for a loving holiday season. In my my eyes it's not about what you get, it's who you get to spend it with.

  There comes a time in everyone's life when they need to make decisions and when they need to make changes. I sure am glad that I have found my time (at least one of them) and I can't wait to live another day. I promise it will be a good one.

  On a side note, I've decided that it's about time to start collecting some revenue for these blogs I've been posting so since you've read this far, it's time for payment. Oh ya one more thing, the only currency I accept is a smile. Thank you for making me one of the wealthiest people I know =)

Tony G.

Chinese Wedding

I am in love.

  Sorry it's been so long since my last post but this one will hopefully make up for the time lost. I will also be live streaming on my computer (that means that I will have my webcam turned on and will be on the internet so you can see me and ask me questions using skype or facebook or the website and I can directly respond to you while you watch) at 7:30pm MST this evening (Monday 11/21/2011) so if you don't want to read this, I will basically start by telling you all exactly what I wrote in the post. I won't say it word for word but it will be in the same format with maybe a few added details that I remember on the spot. I will also have a nice Q&A session afterwards so you can log into facebook, skype, gmail chat, or make an account on the streaming website to chat and ask your questions. I'll even take emails at munkyguitarist@gmail.com because I will be constantly checking it. Here is the link, just click it to watch! CLICK ME!!!!

For those of you who want to read it, here it is:

  This weekend I just had was probably one of the best weekends I've ever had in my whole life and I must say that I love the cultural experiences that I have been exposed to. I know that I talk about how much I love life in every post yada yada but gosh golly gee I can't describe my feelings in words. I am so lucky to be able to speak Chinese and have great friends that show me around. I am in love and have reached nirvana.

  I had dinner with my Chinese mama the other night and I hadn't seen her in quite some time so it was nice to see her. However, it appears she is up to her tricks again as she has given me news about her daughter... She is in Korea currently visiting her and when I saw her, she told me that she was going to have a long talk with Gao Yue (long talk = a quick lecture) about her current boyfriend. Apparently her boyfriend isn't cutting it with Chinese mama so she's basically going to tell Yue to dump him and that'll be that. Of course the following conversation that ensued was a recreation of what I've typed a million times in my posts about her telling me that I should marry her daughter, take her apartment, make a baby and get a good job all right here in Shanghai. She. Just. Won't. Give. Up will she?! * sigh *

  I also took my good friends Jie and Cici to a restaurant that I sometimes frequent on Mondays that serve good burgers and fries along with a pint of beer for 50RMB or roughly $8. I wish I would have taken a picture of them when they took the first bite. It was better than a kid on Christmas morning no doubt. They proceeded to go again this week because they liked it so much which made me feel elated. They're doing quite well and I also helped my friend Jie get the same internet proxy that I have so now he spends all of his free time on youtube and he just made a facebook profile and I'm his only friend haha. If you guys want, you can friend him on facebook by searching for this name by copying and pasting it 杨杰. I'll make sure to let him know he's going to get flooded with friend requests from a bunch of ocean devils. You'll know it's the right person because currently I'm his only friend since none of his Chinese friends have facebook.

  One last thing before getting into the juicy details of the Chinese wedding, I'm currently looking for a new job to start that will hopefully give me the same salary with good hours and will actually be something I can apply myself at. To be honest (yes mom that means I'm not gunna lie) I don't mind teaching the children English since I believe it is very important for them but I can feel myself regressing each day when I go and speak elementary English for hours upon hours. I'm also getting a little sick of the travel time as I my time traveled vs time teaching ratio is 1:1. It literally cuts my salary in half which I can't complain too much about because it's still quite good for how much I work but I would rather be productive those hours that I mindlessly ride the subway. So, if anyone has any connections in Shanghai, let me know! Or if anyone knows of a gig on the travel channel or discovery, I'd be open to that too =)

Ok, now ladies and gentlemen, the final event! Oh boy, if you guys thought that a western wedding was fun, you're right 100%! However, Chinese weddings are also very fun so let's check it out, WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  So, I was invited to this wedding by one of my friends Jue who is really good friends with the bride and groom and I immediately jumped on this opportunity and I'm SO glad that I did. We started out by taking a three hour bus ride to a city south of Shanghai which is still quite large but it's not as big as Shanghai. It doesn't have as many people, the buildings are shorter and the people in my opinion are a lot nicer. In my opinion it's a better representation of what the majority of china is like. Not crazy bustling but still in full swing.

  When I arrived we immediately went to my friends house where I met his mother and his grandmother which was a treat and the grandma thought that I was Chinese when I walked in because I started speaking with them and then she took a good look at me and realized that I indeed was a foreigner. Haha, I was flattered and we all had a good laugh about it. My friend's mother runs a cosmetic business and she is over 50 years old and looks not a day over 35. It's pretty crazy to see but I guess she's like a walking advertisement. My friend's dad is also in great shape at over 50 and recently rode his bicycle to Tibet! Talk about an accomplishment.

  We immediately sat down to eat some great home made food to which I gave many praises and they kept on saying I was too polite but in all reality, it was some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. Let's just say when I come back, you'll want to go to a Chinese restaurant with me because I can ask them to make their specialty dishes that aren't catered towards westerners like most of the usual stuff ;). After lunch, we sat and chatted for a little bit then my friend Jue (who by the way I mentioned her in one of my past posts when I went outside the city) and her grandmother said we should play some Mah Jong. I got so excited that I jumped up straight away to help them clear the table. We all sat down and I remembered my Mah Jong “skills” from the previous time I played. The grandmother was so kind and heart warming but when she's at the table, don't underestimate her because she can be ruthless!

  After playing for an hour or two, I had won the respect and love of Jue's mother and grandma, but I had lost a little chunk of change because they play for money and they play for keeps! Definitely an awesome game that I will have to introduce to all of you. It's easy, fast, fun and you can gamble on it (if you so choose). Soon after, some friends came to pick us up and we left on the beginning of a two day adventure that I will never forget (because I was smart and wrote down everything we did each night before I went to bed).

  So, when we got picked up, we went to the outskirts of town to the house of the bride's family. It is customary for the bride and groom to feed all of their family and friends the night before the wedding so we were treated to an awesome feast which I have posted a picture of below. Of course, I was the only foreigner so ominous stares were present (wow, I am proud of myself for good word usage even after I was “slightly” intoxicated and wrote that down). Anywaaaaaaayyyyy, during this time of year, Ning Bo (the city I was in) is said to have some of the best seafood in the whole country so that's all we ate the whole weekend. In the picture below you can recognize a few things but I'm sure there are a few things that you don't recognize so allow me to say what we had and let you guess what is what.

  Ok, it's the where's waldo of Chinese seafood: we had raw crab, mud fish, duck, little whole octopus, the yolks of duck eggs, clams, snails, and of course, octopus testicles. Yes, you read that correctly. They were actually quite tasty! I made myself try everything because after all, it's just different to me but it doesn't mean that it's not good right? The dinner ended with these awesome steamed buns filled with some sort of fruit candy and a sweet gravy-like substance. It was SO good and I'd never eaten anything like it before. I'll be getting that recipe for sure.

  Afterward, we went out for some fun and Jue introduced me to one of her girlfriends who she is trying to set me up with. Oh. My. Gato. She is such a cutey! She was also very uncharacteristic of many women her age (25) and she was completely comfortable with who she is. From the second I met her, she was no one else but herself and she didn't try to act a certain way to make a good impression on me, she just acted like she normally does and oh boy was that attractive! Anyway, we went out for a few drinks, played some games, danced and just had a great time. After a few rounds we were exhausted from not much sleep the night before and a long day so we decided to head out. We all hopped into a taxi and we were off! We zoomed on down to a local campus where one of Jue's friends was gracious enough to let me use a single bedroom apartment that was vacant. I was so thrilled and couldn't express my thanks enough to this guy. He is truly a great new friend and I hope to see him next time he comes to Shanghai or I go back to Ning bo.  His name is Fei and he's pictured below with Jue and her girlfriend Nina.

  The next morning, we had to meet up at 8am so in hindsight the night before was maybe not the best way to prepare for a day of events that started so early, but we were all troopers and managed pretty well. On the day of the wedding, the groom first meets up with all of his groomsmen and we drive in a procession to the house of his brides parents. We all jumped into cars that belonged to the grooms family and ho-boy were they nice cars! The father of the groom is quite well off and we were riding in Mercedes Benz and the new BMW series 7 along with others. When asked how much they spent on the cars, they replied most of them were around the 1.5 million RMB region. =O that's a lot of money. That's more than $200,000.... this family was pretty well off I must say.

  We headed out in a line and we got a lot of stares because it was 5 really nice cars all decorated with flowers and wedding stuff and the procession was led by an SUV with the hired photographer sticking out the sun roof snapping pictures and taking videos of the whole thing. We then took a small detour through a REALLY crowded area of the city to kind of show off the groom and let everyone know that there was going to be a huge wedding that day. It was definitely a cool ordeal.

  When we got to the brides house, they lit off SO many fireworks and it was really, really loud but also really, really fun. They also shot off some confetti and all of the neighbors came out of their houses to see what the #$%& was going on. This is where the fun and cultural differences comes into play. The groom is actually blocked from getting into the house by his brides extended family. They won't let him in unless he can convince them otherwise. This is where your smooth talking best man does lots of work for you and tries to get them to let the groom in to get his bride. He tried offering their kids candy and when that didn't work, he moved to cigarettes which was hilarious. They didn't budge though. I told them that they should come get their picture taken with the foreigner but that didn't work either. They started telling us that they were the guards and they wanted their salary. I definitely think they wanted a bribe more then a salary but hey, it's all in the way you say it I guess. Well, the best man negotiated with them and they reached the final amount of 2,800 RMB. This is something that is very common in Chinese weddings and some of the people there said he got off pretty easy haha. Well, the groom paid his money and the family allowed him in... only to await the next obstacle.

  The next obstacle the groom had to overcome was the bridesmaids. They were all gathered with the bride-to-be and wouldn't let us in the room. These women weren't going to settle for money either, they wanted a showing of true devotion from this guy. They started saying that we were all going to have to do a bunch of pushups and some other exercises but the best man was a smooth talker and got them to reconsider. They then requested some songs and put on some music for the groom and best man to sing along with. That was actually really funny because the groom was shaking so bad because he was so nervous! He did really well though and obviously loves his wife enough to make a fool of himself to prove it so mad props to him.

  Once we were inside the room, the groom then had to find the left shoe of the bride that had been hidden by all of the bridesmaids. Once he found it, he had to propose again to his soon to be wife with the shoe in a very Cinderella-esque manner. It was quite nice to be honest and everyone was super, super happy. She accepted, everyone cheered and then they were made to kiss which was actually a big obstacle for them again haha. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh but it's quite funny to watch Chinese couples sometimes, especially this one that was just about to get married! The thing is, in public they are all very embarrassed to show displays of affection. It's quite rare and every now and then you'll see a peck on the cheek in the subway or a quick kiss when they think no one is looking but I mean, this couple was just about to get married and they were still embarrassed about it. That's just the culture though, nothing wrong with it.

  Then as tradition goes, we went to the new apartment of the bride and groom. It was a really awesome place and it cost a cool 1.9 million RMB (roughly $300,000). It had two stories, a balcony and really chic furniture. When we got there, all of the groomsmen and friends went in first then barricaded the door so that the bride and her bridesmaids couldn't get in. This is where revenge was had although the brides uncle was there and he had the devil's silver tongue which allowed the negotiations to be short and precise. They ended up giving us a measly 500RMB and then got in. It was pretty funny to see them negotiating with each other. I guess it's hard to explain but because I speak the language I can understand their nuances when they say certain things that just don't quite translate to English very well.

  After this, we jumped back into the fancy chariots and headed for a hotel where the ceremony was going to take place. In Chinese weddings, they don't use a church and a priest or any religious individual for that matter. It's just an MC that directs the ceremony and all the while, it's quite loud with people talking, drinking and eating. It was strange to see people talking during the ceremony as a wedding in my eyes usually takes place in silence until we all cheer at the end but the whole thing was quite a great show regardless. Here's a quick outline of how the wedding goes:

• Everyone is already seated and eating/drinking before the wedding party arrives
• The bride and groom arrive and the MC introduces them
• The father of the bride is asked if he accepts the groom to marry his daughter
• The groom then proposes again in front of everyone
• The couple walk to center stage and the MC talks about how they met and wishes them good fortune etc.
• Speeches are made by friends and co workers about the two and how they met and such
• Exchange vows and rings (not like vows as we know them, quite a bit quicker)
• The parents then come up to the stage and the couple show their love and devotion to them.
• The father of the groom speaks to everyone.
• The couple bows together to the parents of the bride
• The couple then bows to the parents of the groom
• Finally to end the ceremony, the bride and groom bow to each other and give a little smoochy smoochy

  This all took place in about 30-45 minutes and then the newly weds had to go to each table and drink a glass of alcohol with the patrons of that table. Well, there were at least 20 tables so this could turn out pretty bad right? The secret is that the best man and maid of honor actually follow them with bottles of alcohol to refill the glasses but the alcohol they use is heavily watered down so that the bride and groom don't get alcohol poisoning on the first day as a married couple.

  The meal here was also quite full of seafood as well as other delicacies such as pig tongue, cold chicken and snake which I ate for the first time. The meal was SO good and the alcohol was flowing! Everyone kept toasting everyone in a non-stop manner and we were quite jubilant by the time it had ended. At the end of the ceremony, they had a little drawing for guests that attended. In the morning, we were supposed to send texts with well wishes for the couple to a certain number so that during the wedding, they could display all of these texts on the projector screen. The texts were listed in the order that they were received and thus were given a number. Then the MC would draw a number and he would read that text out loud and that person would get to pick a stuffed animal as a prize and pick the next number. Turns out that my number got called and my message was that of a wish for a speedy baby (pretty standard wedding wish) and the MC switched over to English to welcome “ a foreigner to our presence” and I was pretty embarrassed haha. He asked me if I had anything to say to the crowd and I just read my text aloud and got a few claps, picked my stuffed animal and beat a hasty retreat. I'm a lucky guy I would say and it just so happens that the nice girl I had met the night before showed up after the wedding (she wasn't part of it) and I had the chance to be super cheesy and give her the stuffed animal. Say what you want, she liked it :)

  After the wedding, we went to take some pictures in a park by a fountain and everyone was pretty silly and running around like we were all 10 years old. Lots of smiles going on that day indeed. We had some time to kill while the bride and groom went to change so we all went to an internet bar to play some games. We split into two teams and played a game that is close to a game that I used to play a lot so I felt pretty confident that I would hold my own. The only problem is that all my spells were in Chinese so I had no idea what was going on until I had died 10 times in a row or so. Well, we got the call we were waiting for and we were off to enjoy further festivities.

  We went out to eat dinner and sat around a nice big table with some great food that hit the spot even though we had just eaten a couple hours prior. The booze was again flowing and the toasts we're frequent. We hung out for quite some time in this restaurant and told stories, told jokes, asked each other questions and just had a good time in general. If you can't tell, we were all in high spirits for the whole weekend. We then went to the bride and grooms new apartment again and it's a sweet place indeed. We hung out for a bit, took some power naps and then headed out for the after-after party.

  The after-after party took place at a club where we got a VIP table and played my favorite drinking game of all time, SHAIZI!!!!!!!! Woohoo that was a good time. We all danced a bit and Jue's cute friend Zhang Ke showed up which was great. We hung out a bit and then Jue and her girlfriend took off along with Zhang Ke so I was left with all of my new friends which didn't bother me in the slightest. We played Shaizi for quite some time as other people came to join us and take part in the festivities. As we were all leaving, I got pictures with as many of my new friends as I could and promised them I would see them during Chinese new year at the latest because Jue had invited me to go back with her in late Jan for the holiday. Hopefully they'll come up to Shanghai before that or we'll go back to Ning Bo. We all left and I went back to the apartment to get some much needed sleep although I had to get up early again to go to Jue's house for a nice meal with his family before we left.

  The meal was great and Jue's father insisted that I drink with him during lunch to which I was obliged to say yes and proceeded to drink some scotch with him which almost made me lose my lunch, but I held it down. Jue's grandmother insisted on some Mah Jong before we all left and this time I actually came out a little bit ahead but didn't quite cover my losses from the day before. That's ok though, the experience is worth the price. The bride and groom along with a few friends then came over to take us to the bus station and Jue and I gave them a traditional hong bao or red envelope which is filled with money which is the pretty standard wedding gift. I was told to only put in 100RMB (15 bucks) because I didn't know them before hand but I've heard that if you're good friends or a family member, you are expected to pay anywhere from $150 - $1500 which is pretty crazy! With this we took off and headed for the bus station exchanging our goodbyes.

  This was probably the best experience I've had thus far in China and I really must say that I am so grateful to Jue and her girlfriend Nina who invited me to the wedding and especially to all of my new-found friends that took such great care of me. I am in love with China and I can't get enough of this place!

  Happy thanksgiving to all of you on Thursday and I hope that you all remember what you're thankful for. I also would ask that even though you're going to eat a bunch of food, if you could just fit a tiny bit more in for me, I would really appreciate it. I'm not going to have a thanksgiving meal but I will make sure to count my blessings. Big shout out to my friend Andy Patton today who's got a few interviews, you're the man for the job! Also big shout out to my family because I will miss you on Thanksgiving day! I mean, I miss you all the time, but I will especially miss you on Thursday... you and the mashed potatoes. Come watch me stream live at 7:30pm MST and I'll answer any questions you have about this weekend or anything in general! I might remember a few anecdotes while I'm at it too.

OK BYE BYE

Tony G.


Here's a link to my pictures: PICTURES! There are lots of them.

Recent Updates!

Hello!


Well first of all, thank you to those of you who have been buying tickets to the Tony G. travel raffle! I am sad to say that again I have not yet reached my goal but I'm still hesitant to call the whole thing off.  I really want this thing to happen and we have already raised over half of the funds!  I think that I will be leaving it open further but please, if you have any doubts or would just straight up like to withdraw from the raffle, I completely understand and will send your money back to you right away.


In other news, I've been teaching and touring my butt off as of late and it's been busy busy.  When I finally get a day off, I usually end up doing a tour for the tour guide company but hey, it's fun and it's a nice little bit of extra income.  I am also pretty busy planning for a Chinese wedding that I will be attending with some of my nice Chinese friends and that is going to be no less than a culture shock right to the jugular.  I'll be the only foreigner there so who knows what kind of shenanigans I'll manage to get myself into.  I've already been told by my friends that he is going to introduce me to some of his girl friends so that should be interesting.


I've been adding a bit to my book lately which is coming along nicely at a whopping 8 pages or so hahaha.  Ya, that kind of went to the back burner for a bit but it'll get there.  I haven't had a chance to skype many people lately so if you would like to setup a skype date, I would be very interested in that so we can catch up!  I've been talking with a few of you state-side and it really warms me up during the change of weather.


The weather here is getting a bit chillier but I still find myself going outside with just jeans and a t-shirt during the day and adding a light sweatshirt or hoodie at night.  I hear that it really kicks in mid-November and then December through February are just awful.  I hear that CO and the East Coast got LOTS of snow as of late which is both good and bad.  I saw some of the pictures of CSU campus and oh man did it look bad.  I hope that all of you are safe and that your property didn't get damaged.  That would make me sad =(


My kids have been treating me well and I have a few extras this week but alas, that cute little girl from the last post is no longer my student which indeed makes me REALLY sad.  She is the cutest thing I've ever seen in this world and it pains me to not be able to hang out with her.  Hopefully I'll see her again in the future because she really made me glad to be alive and treasure every second with something so precious.  Hopefully that's what I'll feel like when I have a daughter of my own!  Speaking of kids!.... just kidding...


Well I don't have much else to write about but I will be making an appearance on my live stream at 8pm MST on Monday November 7th for all of you folks in CO.  I'll chat and say hi and you can ask me questions via facebook or email to which I will then answer live on video! HOW COOL IS THAT!! This is the link right here: CLICK ME!


You can't ask me questions directly on the stream unless you have an account but I'll have my facebook open as well as my gmail so you can send in emails or hit me up on gmail chat.  I'll even have my skype up so you can reach me there! Email = munkyguitarist@gmail.com skype = mastermonkey05


I can't wait to see all of you folks there!


So to all of you who have yet to get your tickets, get them while they're hot and a big shout out to my good friend Brad Vassau who just moved back to CO after a nice long period away in AK.  I'm glad you moved back man, can't wait to see you in May (or sooner muahahahahahha)


I bid you all cheese and crackerjacks.


Bye bye


Tony G.

Travel Raffle Extended

So II'm extending the period of my travel raffle until November 8th due to not enough people having purchased their tickets yet.  I strongly encourage you to get them asap and if you already have them, con your friends into donating money in your name =)


I'll be keeping everyone updated with the progress and I have a website that I will be streaming the drawing from so everyone can watch me as I do it! (I'll try to shower beforehand) I'm really going to do my best to make this become a reality because it's something that means a lot to me and I can't wait to change someone's life forever.


I'll talk with you soon, I hope that the Halloween season treated you quite well!


Later Alligator


Tony G.

The Marriage Market

Well hello! Long time no see :)

These last few weeks have been quite action packed with work, play and my raffle. I've gotten a couple new students that are quite the riot and I've also been hanging out with a new group of friends that are just a blast to hang out with. I also visited a cool weekend hot spot involving parents of unmarried children and lots and lots of bargaining... it's a great place. I also took to the streets with my guitar and put on a little concert for the masses which was quite a bit of fun. The weather has been getting a bit chillier as of late but it's still been pretty nice. I lead a couple of tours with some great guests the last couple weeks and I've made some new friends/connections with them.

Well for those of you who know about it, my last post was all about my Tony G. Travel Raffle where you can buy a ticket for a chance at a free trip out to China to hang out with me and partake in all of the awesomeness that is Shanghai! The drawing will take place in 6 days and I'm getting quite a bit of support which is great! I'm not quite at my goal yet but I hope that within this last week, the rest of the tickets will be purchased and I will have reached my goal! With that being said, if you would like to participate but haven't yet bought tickets, just refer to my last blog post and give it a read. For those of you who don't want to participate in the raffle, you're more than welcome to put forth a generous donation in someone else's name or just as a donation... and that's my sales promo for the day haha.

So I led a 7 hour tour a week or so ago with a nice few ladies from down South. These two nice women hail from Dallas, Texas and they wanted to get a good look at Shanghai. We went to quite a few places during the tour including the French Concession, the Bund, the bird and flower market (where they have FIGHTING crickets!) and one last stop they wanted to make which was the marriage market. It's exactly as it sounds. Every Sunday afternoon, they have a marriage market in a nice park where parents can come and post the resumes of their unmarried children to essentially marry them off. Well this is actually serious because many Chinese people believe that if a Chinese woman reaches 30 without marriage, she does not have much hope and if a Chinese woman is not married by 35 years old, she is doomed. I laughed at this myself the first time I heard it myself and thought that it might be a little out of proportion but while I was at the market, there were a few parents who were legitimately worried and they looked very uneasy. I took a closer look at one of the resumes that a very anxious mother had and it was for her 32 year old daughter who was still unmarried. The daughter was well educated, has a good job and is very pretty (she had a picture as well) but it's unfortunately really hard for her to meet a partner.

I have a theory about this situation but without going into too much detail I basically think that it is hard for young Chinese men and women to experience relationships at a young age. In school, they aren't allowed to have a girlfriend or boyfriend and in college they have so much pressure riding on their grades that it's pretty frowned upon to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. However, as soon as they graduate college, they're expected to get married and have a child. It's a bit baffling to be honest but there isn't much emphasis placed on relationships before the end of college. Well at this marriage market, many parents use agents sometimes to set their children up on dates and such. The agents actually pull in quite a hefty fee as well which is quite surprising. I translated a couple of these resumes for the guests and they state the age, height, degree, job, salary etc. of their children. When I was translating one of these resumes for the guests, the father of the girl on the resume came up to me and asked me if I was interested in his daughter. It was pretty surreal to me that it was indeed quite real. Many of the more contemporary Chinese find this practice quite silly now, but when I was there, there were thousands of resumes on display. Talk about a unique experience.

Well these two guests were just absolutely great and we had a blast together. One of them actually lives out here and is just about to retire so her and I exchanged information because she is very interested in learning more about the language and culture of the Chinese and she plans on doing lots of traveling throughout the country in the near future which is also my plan before I head home. Her name is Bobbie and I hope to be seeing more of her in the future. She is such a nice person and really is a lot of fun to be around. Hopefully I'll mention her in a few future posts with some more stories to boot. When we were all driving back to the beginning of the tour (she has a private driver) she stopped at a nice little egg tart place and bought me, her friend and her driver a nice little box of warm, freshly made egg tarts which were awesome! After we all got back and things were said and done, she asked me if I needed a ride back to the office. I told her that I could just walk but she insisted that her driver took me back. Wowee wow wow that was cool. I pulled up to the office in style :)

Well I've been hanging out with a nice group of friends lately, most of whom are actually British which is cool. Through these guys I actually met a few guys from CSU that grew up in Denver and the surrounding areas so that was kind of a crazy chance encounter. We hang out a bit which has been a good time and it's nice to have finally found a really solid group of friends that I can count on out here. It's weird to see how good of friends you can become in such a short period while you are all sharing a very new experience together. These friends that I am making will never be a replacement for the ones that I already have but I've always got room for new friends. It's good to know people, especially good people.

So I was missing the “big” stages back in Fort Collins and decided to go out on the streets on put on a bit of a show for the passerby's. I brought my neat little sign that says “I don't want your money, I just want to give you a listen” and posted it out next to me while I played which I must say actually drew MORE people since they knew they weren't obligated to drop a coin or to into my bag and people kind of wanted to see who it was that was out playing. I actually was wearing my hat and kind of kept the brim down low while I was rocking out because I had a little stage fright since I haven't played in front of people in awhile but people kept on ducking down and trying to get a peek under my hat so I finally just started playing with my head up which promptly brought on lots of phones and I could hear the cameras snapping photos of me which is always funny to me. One girl even came up and asked me if I could understand Chinese. I told her I could understand a bit and she told me she wanted to present me with an egg tart as a gift to which I accepted and she was so happy when I took a bite haha. I had a couple other people come up and just sit down with me for awhile which was nice because I chatted with a lot of them in between songs or when I was warming up my hands and they were all great to converse with. Lots of people saw my sign and gave me the thumbs up signal which was really good to see. I'm happy that I can make others happy with simple songs and I'm even happier that this makes ME happy. Oh man... laughter is the best medicine but happiness is the cure.

Well it's getting a bit cooler here like I mentioned but it hasn't been too bad and I've mostly been traveling with jeans and a hoodie. I hear that Colorado got a nice dusting of snow today so that's definitely something I'm going to miss/enjoy. It's a love/hate relationship with the snow to be honest but I hear that we won't even get much if any at all out here which is a bit saddening considering it's still going to be quite cold. If it's going to be cold anyway, I would definitely prefer snow hands down, it's what I grew up with! It's always funny to tell my students that “when I was a kid, they wouldn't shut down the schools unless we had three feet of snow” which for some of them is taller than they are hahaha. They can't believe that in Colorado we actually get that much snow but I tell them that we've seen our fair share indeed.

Speaking of my students, I recently got a new one who is so cute I can't even stand it. I swear this time I'm actually going to go through with it and bring her back to the states with me. She is 5 years old, her name is Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) and she is the most amazing little girl I've ever met in my life. She always gives me a big hug and kiss on the cheek when I get to her house and she drags me into her room to immediately read her a Clifford the big red dog book. I think my heart actually cried with tears of joy, I might need to get that checked out. Anyway, here's a photo or two of here as well as a video of her reciting a poem.

Well, that's going to do it for me on this side of the world and I know it was a bit short this time but I feel like that might be for the best every now and then. No one wants to sit down and read a novel about me every week or two. I'm getting bored of myself! Alrighty then, I appreciate you taking a peek at my blog this time around and a quick reminder about the Tony G. Travel Raffle: make sure you get your tickets! (Ok so I guess I wasn't quite done with my marketing ploy). I can't tell you how much I miss you all and I can't even believe that I've been out here for 6 months already. It seems it was just yesterday that I was laughing and chatting with all of you back in the states and now I've already spent half a year abroad. It's a good and bad feeling but I'm halfway there and I'll be home in April or May of 2012. Keep those beers cold and those smiles ready because I'm not leaving a single one of you un-hugged upon my return.

Huuuuuuuuuge shout out to my little... or I guess younger sister today as she turns 17! Wow, I don't know where all the time went but she's growing up so fast! Kick ass in your talent show Pinky and have fun with your birthday present that I contributed to. Love you!

You stay classy San Diego (or Denver, Seattle, Anchorage, Sao Paolo, Longmont, Golden, Chang Zhou, Beijing, Fort Collins, etc...)

Tony G.

The Tony G. Travel Raffle

First of all, the name credit goes to Andy Patton! What a sweet name for this contest!

Dear esteemed friends and loved ones,

I am SO happy to announce that the Tony G. Travel Raffle is a GO!

  Originally this started out as an idea formed out of loneliness because I miss you all and I wish that you could all share in my adventures in the great city of Shanghai. However, as soon as I started mentioning it, people really started to give me positive feedback and I think it turned into something more than I expected. Because of this I firstly would just like to say thank you to all who are participating in this. It's going to be a huge monument in my life organizing something this big and it's funny because again, as I often find in life, it would never happen without your support.

  So I would like to mention a couple of things about this fun-filled package that you will be receiving with the money that you all raise and I also want to point out some things that you need to be aware of before you commit to this.

First of all the things that you need to be aware of before entering the drawing:

1. You will need a valid passport (you can get one before you come out but it takes about 6 weeks so keep this in mind) to get a visa.
2. The money that I raise up to $1,500 USD will be used for round trip airfare as well as a tourist visa that is MANDATORY to come to China. This process takes a week or two so make sure you have ample time! I can help with obtaining your visa.
3. Accommodation will be provided for FREE as you will be staying with me in my apartment. I will take the couch and you will take the master bedroom so it's like a hotel anyway!
4. Meals, shopping and extra expenses unfortunately are not included in the initial $1,500 (unless there is some leftover from the airfare/visa) however, any money received on top of this will go towards us having some good times!
5. Please only enter the contest if you are serious about this. You will be able to choose the date that you wish to come out anytime between December 2011 and April 2012 but please, please, please make sure that you really want to do this because if you win and don't come out, I will be very sad and make sad faces all day and night.... then pick a new winner and you'll have missed your chance!

Ok, with all of that proper mumbo jumbo out of the way, let's get into some of the cool stuff we'll be doing once you win and get out here!

1. Number one on the list is of course eating a meal with my Chinese mother. For those of you who don't know of her legacy..... tourguidetonyg.blogspot.com Go right now.... RIGHT NOW!!!... unless you're already there...
2. You will meet my great Chinese friends and we will all have a meal together while they practice their English with you and I translate the rest.
3. I of course will guide you through some of the best sites that Shanghai has to offer and we will cover so much of the city it's unreal. Bring your camera!
4. You will come with me to a tutoring session or two to see what it's like teaching the children and or adults that are learning English.
5. You will have the opportunity to eat several different types of food that will blow your mind. Contrary to popular belief, there isn't just one type of Chinese food. In fact, “Chinese food” is different in over 12 regions of China! We will experience a few of them and I'll treat you to all you can eat Japanese hibachi! If you don't know what I'm talking about, refer to my blog... (Make sure I know if you're vegetarian, vegan or have allergies so I can plan appropriately)
6. Depending on your preference, we will either go to a nice jazz club, a crazy dancing club (or both depending on your tastes) and a nice bar near the top of the World Financial Center. During your stay you will also get to experience the awesomeness that is the diverse expat society. If you are into shopping, I will take you to the fake markets and make sure you get bottom dollar!
7. Again, depending on preference, we will throw a party at my house with guests representing over 8 countries and I will play you some sweet, sweet songs on my guitar to entertain you and my other guests.
8. You will learn about cultural differences very quickly as I throw you into the deep end and take you on the subway during rush hour, walk through a shopping center where people will devour your patience asking if you want to buy a watch or a bag and I will take you to an area where we will be the only 2 foreigners. (It's a great experience trust me!)
9. We will make a thank you video to ALL of the people who entered the raffle that will include pictures, videos and many hand-made hearts so that everyone who participated gets a gift of their own.
10. Last but not least, I will dedicate an ENTIRE blog post to you that will spare none of the juicy details. Everyone will know that even though they didn't make it out, they were directly involved with making someone experience something life-changing.

  For those of you who participate but do not win, I will write a PERSONALIZED thank you note to you for being a huge part of this whole ordeal. Don't get me wrong, a little bit of copy and paste MIGHT be used, but I'll do my best.

  So here's how this is going to work. The raffle will be between any and all participants that I know on a first-hand basis (sorry I just feel it's going to be more comfortable for the winner and I that way) and I will be selling 1 “ticket” for $10 USD. You may purchase as many as you would like and people may sponsor you as well by putting money forth in your name. For every $10 USD I receive in your name, you will get your name on a piece of paper in the bucket with all of the other ones! There is no limit to how many “tickets” you may purchase but remember, if you're putting in (exaggerating a bit) $500, you might as well just put up the other bits and get your butt out here! However, if you do decide to increase your chances and put in an obscene amount of money, that will be nice for the person who wins when they get here and I might just have to treat myself to a drink or nine on your tab. If it is the case that more than $3,000 USD is raised, this will then provide an opportunity to bring a friend along as well under the same guidelines.

  With that being said, you are welcome to use any amount that you win to help bring a friend out but then you must realize I can offer no further financial assistance and you will be responsible for any other costs that occur during the trip. On a side note, I am NOT receiving any profit whatsoever with this raffle. This is purely for all of you and although I will not turn down a meal or drink provided by the winner, I do not want any profit. Having you come out to visit me is prize enough.

  Money MUST be transferred by Paypal account so please get yourself a Paypal account (it's free!) or use a friend's. This reason is because first all of the money must be sent to one account to make sure that there will be sufficient funds and second because once I have picked a winner at random, that person will need to receive the money in full in order to purchase the tickets in their name with their proper identification.

  Ok so, I know this is a bit long winded but it is important that everyone knows this stuff before it goes ahead so that way it goes as smoothly as possible. My goal is to have all of the money accounted for no later then the 31^st of October so please send money asap as you see appropriate. I will announce the winner on November 1^st via a HUGE Skype conference call at around 7pm Colorado time. If that doesn't work out, I will film the whole process and post it on my blog and Facebook and send out a mass email announcing the winner.

  Here are the Paypal instructions: With your account, send funds to my account which is my email “munkyguitarist@gmail.com” Make sure that you select the personal tab under the amount and mark the bubble that says “personal gift.” The transfer will be free if you have your paypal setup straight to your bank account otherwise if it's coming off your credit or debit card you will have to pay an additional 2.9% + $0.30. You will have the option of having the receiver (i.e. me) pay for the transfer but honestly, I can't afford that! Sorry! Once you have sent the money to my account it is VERY IMPORTANT that you then SEND ME AN EMAIL at munkyguitarist@gmail.com from the SAME ADDRESS that is on your PAYPAL ACCOUNT that states your FULL NAME and HOW MANY “TICKETS” you purchased in the BODY of the email or the SUBJECT LINE. This way I can double check how many tickets each person has purchased and it will lead to less confusion and more convenience on my end since I will be responsible for all of the finances. With that in mind, I assure you that if this raffle does NOT receive the necessary amount of funds to select a winner, you will get your money back in full. I realize that you are all placing your trust in me to not be a dirty rotten scoundrel and take all of the money for myself, but considering you are all close friends, I hope that you can place your trust in me.

  Whew! We made it! OK everyone, let the raffle begin and best of luck to all of you. I am so excited and am going to do everything in my power to make this to work out even if I have to put up a bit of my own money. If this is super successful then you can count on more raffles in the future so don't fret if you don't win this time. Besides, you'll always be a winner in my book.

Tony G.

Just a quick question for my readers...

Hello ladies and gentlemen and thank you for taking a quick second to take a look at this.  I just simply have a question to ask my readers and I also want to say thank you for over 2,000 views on my blog! That's astounding to me and it means a lot that you guys keep coming back!


So my question is: Would you be willing to put $10-20 in a pool and then on a certain date I would pull a name of someone who has donated money toward the pool out of a hat (on video of course so you know I'm not rigging it!) and they would receive a week long paid vacation to Shanghai with me as their personal tour guide/translator?  I've already asked this question as a poll on facebook so if you're a member, please do me a favor and vote on my profile page.  If you're NOT a member on facebook, please, please, PLEASE just send me an email at munkyguitarist@gmail.com that says either yes or no to a payment and then state how much you think is reasonable for everyone to put in.  Of course you'll be able to put in more money into the pool for more chances at winning but in order for this to work, we must have a set amount.


Thank you guys SO much for your feedback and I hope that this can go ahead as planned so that one lucky winner can have an all-expense paid vacation hanging out with me!  Whoops... that's a bad marketing strategy ;)


Tony G.


I ask that you please do not respond to my poll on facebook AND send an email, either or please! Thank you!

The Debt We All Owe

  So I was thinking about what to write this week for my blog and I've got some good stories and some good tales of adventure in the good 'ol idea bank but I've been talking with a lot of people lately about what we're all doing and I think that instead of talking about me and my days in Shanghai, I thought maybe we could talk about you and all of the impact you've had on my life and all of the advice and support you've given me? Is that ok? If it's not ok, it's too bad because I'm the one doing the writing. So there.

  I was having a great conversation with my buddy Charlie Bollig today via Facebook chat and we were talking about our futures and our pasts and how they relate to the present. It's interesting to see that one year ago give or take him and I were rooming together in the dorms of our international school out here in Shanghai. During that trip, I did not have a very good time due to some circumstances that don't hold much bearing here but Charlie was taking life by the horns and going all out every day not only in exploring the city and partying but also with studying. He hit everything with so much dedication it was really great to see. He even got up almost every morning at 6am to go for a run and workout which takes discipline no doubts about it.

  He kept telling me to enjoy Shanghai for what it was and to leave everything behind and live in the now but I was so caught up in the past that I couldn't bear to do it. I remember saying things like “I'm NEVER coming back to China” or “I hate China” and when I told him that I had found work here, he rightfully gave me grief about what I had said the previous year. Well being out here now is easily one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life and the support from all of you in doing so has made it that much sweeter. I proudly wear the pride I feel when people tell me that I'm so brave to go into a whole new country almost all alone and I encourage others to experience it all just the same. Many people tell me that it must be hard to do what I'm doing when in reality it's quite easy and I want to talk today about happiness I guess. I'm honestly just free writing this without many revisions so I'll just take it where it leads me.

  Needless to say, my buddy Charlie is working on his own plan to get out here with work or studying and I'm so excited for him to start his next chapter of life. My buddy Cameron from a couple of posts ago even mentioned that having us come back out to China to live and work also most likely makes our Chinese teacher happy which is something that she deserves wholeheartedly. I still remember talking with her just about everyday in class and I've not met many people who are as kind and wise as she is. She always believed in me and helped me through classes especially when I skipped the second year of Chinese and went straight into the third year. She was always there to talk with me when times were rough and she was also there to scold me when I wasn't doing my best. Laoshi, thank you so much for your continued support even while I've been in China this time and I hope that life is treating you well.

  I constantly have flashbacks to college and the good times that were had. I keep up with two of the best friends I made as much as I can and it's really, really good to hear what they have to say. They are so full of wisdom and are yearning to find their next step and I think they are both well on the way to finding it. My friend Andy Patton always helps me get through the tough times as well because him and I have shared much of the same pain and hardships over the years but we've also experienced the beauty of life together even more so. I can always count on him for a laugh but when there are pressing matters at hand, he's always ready to get down to business. I can't tell you how much him and I used to talk and talk during college about anything and everything in between. I'll never forget those nights (although some of them I couldn't remember in the first place) and I'll always look to him for advice or when I need to enjoy life.

  Another great friend I made in college with whom I'm still very close with today is my friend Scott Flanigan from the first post I ever wrote. He has always shown me compassion and given great advice from experience. He is not one to give me false hope nor is he one to sugar coat things because if he's giving advice, he's saying it like it is which is a trait that is hard to come by these days, even in the best of friends. He is ready for a change of pace and wants to move out of the country to gain some good life experience and I'm excited to be part of it as we will be exploring the world together and it's going to be nothing less than a story I will tell all of my children and grandchildren.

  Scott and Andy are not the only ones who made an impact on me during college either and in fact there are so many people that I would love to mention but I think my posts are already long enough as they are and I can't mention everyone :(. Another really prominent figure in college was my RA in the dorms both of my years I lived in them. That's right, I'm talking about Neal Bohnen, the man himself. He, very much like my parents and family was disappointed in me when I dropped out of school. We still remained friends but I could see that I had lost status with him when he heard the news. In fact, I went and talked to him about it before I told anyone else. The best part about it was that he didn't tell me I was wrong. He didn't tell me that what I was doing was the most idiotic thing I'd ever do in my lifetime. He didn't tell me that he didn't want to be associated with me anymore. He told me that I need to do things for myself and that I had some thinking and experiencing to do. This man is wise beyond his years and is now a great husband to his beautiful wife and I can't say that he's anyone different today. If you need his email address, I'll sell it for 5 bucks a pop (sorry Neal, no money for you hehe).

  Dropping out led me to the association of another previous RA who then became my girlfriend who then became a great friend that I cherish to this day. Yes, I'm talking about the one and only Marcella Burg! Marcella and I were in the same boat as far as dropping out of school and coincidentally we also worked in the same restaurant while we were finding out what we wanted out of life. We started dating and when it came time for the spring semester to start she basically gave me an ultimatum (or at least this is how I remember it haha) and she said “I want to date someone who's in school.” Needless to say, she was honestly the person more than anyone that pushed me to enroll again and when I did oh my goodness was I welcomed to a whole new world by all of my friends and family.

  I think one of the proudest moments of my life was the day I graduated college and I got calls and letters and emails from everyone I know that were saying some of the most positive things I've ever heard or read. However, few of them knew that it was Marcella that had really given me the push I needed to start my college career again. Once I got back into school, it was easy to find out what I was passionate about and I have to say that at that point in my life, I found out SO much about myself and it definitely began to add to the identity that I have today. Thank you Marcella for being the one who got through to me and helped me get my life back on track. To this day, I still remain in contact with Marcella and in fact, I like to refer to her as my editor as she is usually the first person I send any of my writings to for a look because she herself is a great writer and she always has great advice and criticism for me. (But she better not leak any of my material!!!!! =P)

  Along with Marcella, there was a duo of friends who I'll always think of as a duo because that's how I met them and that's how I always interacted with them. Ms. Jessica Whyte and Mrs. Liz Bickel! Firstly, congratulations to Liz for the newborn baby Liam! He looks very handsome and Liz is going to make a wonderful mother. Well, these two dear friends always helped me out so much while we lived in the dorms together and they were always happy to spend some time together and have a good laugh. During my time as a college dropout they also constantly checked up on me to make sure I was doing well and to make sure I was taking care of myself. They too were also ecstatic to learn that I was going back to school and they were SO supportive of me once I was back. I still proudly wear one of my favorite Guns n' Roses T shirts that they gave me and I'll always remember their kindness.

 Another fantastic group, this time a trio of friends were my three roommates that I lived with for 2 years of my life and we had some times that were some of the best I've ever experienced. Trevor Toms, Shaun Reed and Bryan Nydegger. What a great bunch of guys. We were all SO diverse and SO different but when together, we had great conversations and even better times. I think we all did a lot of growing up during the time we lived together and I think that all of us living together was just what the doctor ordered at that time in our lives. I met so many nice people through them and I remember that they would always go out of their way for me like a family. We often found ourselves being meshed in with the dynamic duo that I mentioned just above and here is a great pic of all of us together. Brings back very fond memories and it's so cool to been able to have lived life with these guys always right by side.

 I want to briefly mention another person that was prominent in my life for quite some time but I can't really put everything I would really want to say in words. I'll just mention I have Amy MacDaniel to thank as being a huge influence in my life and leave it at that.

  I especially have to give a huge shout out to my immediate family and especially to my brother Ryan who I never thought would be one of my best friends in life. We started out being exactly like two brothers who were two years apart: mortal enemies. We did not get along at all while we lived at my parents house but right when I left for college, we got along really well. I remember one time when he came and visited me when he was a senior in high school and my friends and I took him to a party to “corrupt his mind.” I remember we were all giving him advice about college and what to expect and what is blown way out of proportion. I remember he thanked me for showing him my brotherly love and it really impacted me because before I had always seen him as just a brother because we had the same parents, not because of the bond that we shared. From that moment on, I realized that family is one of the most important things you can ever have and we CAN'T take it for granted. Ever since then, I've looked to my brother for support in the roughest of times and I've also looked to him with questions about life that I feel he has more experience with. He's been a great pal throughout the last few years and I'm honestly glad that we went to the same college. I don't know what I would've done if he didn't. I miss you like crazy man and I'm looking forward to heading back stateside so we can hang out and throw a big 'ol party. Like you said, “there isn't enough booze in the world” for the bash we'll be throwing haha.

  Ok, just a few left I promise! Seth Yoder, thank you sir for being a no bullshit kind of guy. Seth was my drummer in the previous world renowned band Tony G. and the Cure for Cancer. He was always the one wearing the masks on the drum set. Not only was he a fantastic drummer but a fantastic friend and a truly wise individual. This guy reads more than a librarian and has such a hunger for knowledge it's unreal. He always had a story in store for me whenever I asked his advice and I'll never forget great the great words that he had to say. Some of the best advice I think I've ever received was a simple thing he told me one time at band practice. He said, “if you're honest with yourself, then it'll be good.” We were talking about writing lyrics and guitar licks but I've taken it further than that and have applied it to many of life's experiences. One of the hardest things in life is to be true to yourself and he nailed it on the head. I've lived by this mantra very steadily and I've found nothing less than nirvana.

  Ok, saving best for last although to be honest I'm not picking favorites, it's just that this guy was the biggest influence on me during my younger life which helped develop the foundation of who I am today. Everything started with this guy, Chris Moore. Navy Toads, enough said haha. Ok, there are only two people in the world who will understand that but anyway, Chris and I were really close in the later years of elementary school and we remained close all the way through high school. During all of this time we hit a lot of big stages in life together and it was always easy to have someone to rely on while taking such big steps. In elementary school I remember that he and I would always walk to each others houses and would have such great times with our imaginations and with the simplest of objects. Our friendship never faltered and when entering the scary world of high school, we were always right there together hanging out and having a good time. We were both the kind of kids that never had one “clique” but rather would hang out with several different ones as neither of us really to belonged to one or the other. He was really the first person who showed me what it meant to be yourself and to have your own identity. He didn't need to act like anyone else to be somebody. He didn't need to follow the direction of others to get where he wanted to go. He always lived for himself but not selfishly. He was always the kindest of friends and I'm really sad that we didn't get to experience college together although the world would have exploded from this awesomeness haha. I really wish that we hadn't grown apart as much as we did after we both started college but that's how the world worked and that's how it was. I just want you to know that you were the first best friend I had and that you'll always have my respect and friendship. I can't wait to see you when I get back in the states. It'll be a long awaited reunion.

  Well for all of those of you that I didn't mention by name, please remember that you all have an impact on my life and that I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for all of the love, prayers and support that you've selflessly given. I realize that the debt I owe is indeed a large one and I'm going to do my best to pay you all back in full. I also want all of you to thank the people that made you who you are and to never forget how you got to where you are now. I think we all take for granted the help and support we have received in the past and I would like to hear stories from you about others who are very prominent in your life. Have you tried to repay the debt that we all owe?

Tony G.