Boston is baking these few days and I'm loving it. This is how summer should be, not rainy and cold like all the rest of the seasons. This is also perfect for beaches and bikinis though I didn't get to go this year, just like last year. I love the beach, be it by day or night. Summer breeze, palm trees, fine sands, the smell of the sea - I love them all. By day the beach excites me, by night it calms me.

Picture yourselves strolling hand in hand in the warm gentle breeze, without reservations you share your innermost thoughts.  Time passes, conversation dwindles. The feeling is familiar yet foreign. You lean in closer. Exchanging long, slow, breath-taking kisses under the silvery full moon, your heart skipped a few beats, only to sync with the sound of unending soft waves. You pause and look at each other, moonlight falling on your faces. You smile, and the kiss lingers. Time freezes at the moment, you diffuse into another time and space only you both know, however transient this may be...

Since the last episode of Beach Boys (1997) wasn't loading, I started watching Before Sunrise (1995), hence the outpouring of romanticism. Two people meeting randomly on a train and spending an afternoon and a night together, yet developing deeper connections than most couples ever will. Keeping in mind they may not see each other again and that frequent correspondence may ruin the magic, no contact exchanges were made, except for a hasty promise to meet again in half a year. Maybe only in the movies.  I watched the sequel before watching this, so I knew what happens next. I'm glad I didn't need to wait nine years to find out.

Just back from another wedding gig. This has gotta be the 3rd or 4th I've had so far. Didn't practice at all this time but it still went well, since it's the same set every single wedding plus a few guest requests that we can just jam along. Having been in a few Viet weddings I can already predict what happens as they follow roughly the same format.  The starting time is always one hour later than what's on the invitations. (!) The band eats as the guests trickle in, take pictures and look on with envy as they are probably hungry and can't wait for the evening to start.

After every single one of the guests arrive, the program finally begins with the MC welcoming all the guests in both Vietnamese and English. The families from both sides then get introduced and invited on stage. Everyone is looking their best. Just an observation - it seems that many Viet fams here have some black connection. Oh, even those who are in Vietnam get introduced. And then the bride and groom marches in, more pictures with the whole clan....

Finally the band plays an opening jam - ranging from jazz, blues, or some random rock jam just to get started - and the food get served. Today's gig was in China Pearl. Judging from the menu - combination meat dish, roast chicken, shark fin soup, two taste jumbo shrimp, lobster with scallion and ginger, fried fish, garlic spareribs, BBQ beef, fried rice, fried noodles and dessert - today's dinner should be at least $500 per table but I'm probably a bad price estimator lol. All these comes with champagne/wine, depending on the family, and endless supply of beers and sodas. Tonight was mainly soda for me as I gotta wake up early tomorrow.

The band plays a 30- to 45-minute set and takes a break, as the couple takes pictures with every table in the room. This duration of this interval depends on the number of tables (typically 10-30) and how much the pair wants to interact with the guests. Today it took a really loooong time. We must have breaked for an hour or more. Yawn...

When everyone is satisfied taking pictures we resume playing the second set. This time guests will start coming up to request for songs to sing. If we know it, fine. If we don't, we jam. It normally turns out well because i) the guest singers are probably drunk by now and ii) the audiences are probably drunk by now too. Just kidding. The drummer sets the style and the chord progressions are kinda predictable after a while. Today we had an middle age uncle doing some random twist song as his friends and family enjoyed his antics. It's fun to see people have fun.  The MC some times chime in for a few songs.

After the eating winds down it's dancing time. The couple takes the floor for the first (typically slow) dance. More dancing ensues as we switch things up with some tango, chachacha, latin, techno, rhumba etc. It kinda strikes me that this dancing segment is missing in Chinese weddings (especially those in Malaysia or Singapore). I'm not sure whether it's the same for Chinese weddings here in the US. Maybe the Vietnamese people just like to dance and enjoy life in general, and it's a good thing. Props to the Viets for that.

When the guests start to leave (normally 10:30 to 11:15 pm depending on the crowd and restaurant policy) that's the sign that our job is done. The family or guests would come up to thank us and tell us that we did a good job. We pack up, sit around, wait to get paid and I normally get a ride home.

Even though things can be repetitive, weddings are real fun to play in. The money is reasonably good given the amount of work, and you get a nice dinner to top that off. Sweet deal. I like. More weddings please!