The Getty Center, Part IV

I'm sitting in a chair that was part of a collection of copies of chairs from Europe around the time of the French Revolution. They were all white leather and white-painted wooden chairs. Quite comfortable. The exhibit was called "Please Be Seated." I sat on 3 of the chairs and saw myself on the TV screen, in an elegantly decorated room. It was interesting and fun.

Linda and I drew for half an hour. There is a room that has statues and paintings for people to sit and draw. All the supplies are provided. We decided to draw the elaborate frame of this one particular painting. Linda is much better at drawing than me. I prefer painting.

This is one of my favorite still-life paintings, so detailed and gorgeous. We stared at and studied this one for quite some time. I noticed a lot of bees and flies on the fruits and flowers....lol....I guess it was the thing to do back then, to paint bugs all over the fruits. We saw other similar still-life paintings with all kinds of insects. I had to wait my turn to take a photo. This guy was taking 20 photos of this painting! "Gorgeous!" That was our word of the day.

"Gorgeous!"

This large painting is absolutely gorgeous! Both Linda and I wished we were present when this painting was done---to tweeze this pretty lady's eyebrows...lol....She's still very lovely.

I call this painting "Strike a Pose!" WOW! Red Pants! I wouldn't want this guy to guard my castle....lol.... But then again, look at his tiny waist! I guess I don't have to feed him much...lol

I call this painting "Strike a Pose, Deux (II)!"

This lady on a Greek vase looks like she's on her cell phone. Yes, I know ancient Greeks did not have cell phones...lol...She was probably calling 911 because some guy just stabbed her husband. I should have taken another picture to include her husband, but there were other people trying to see this vase. Darn it! Next time I go to the Getty Center, you bet I'm gonna take another picture of this vase!

"Gorgeous!" "Amazing!" "Magnifique!"

Could I please borrow this to decorate my Thanksgiving dinner table? I promise I will return it...lol...My guests will not even look at the turkey. They will be hypnotised by the beauty and shininess of this fabulous candelabra.

Two beautiful pines trees at the exit of the Getty Center.

A gorgeous sunset to end a wonderful day of exploring art and stimulating conversations with my artist friend Linda. We had such a great time! We will visit the Getty Center again next year. I promise you new pics!

New Workout Program---Focus: Legs and Butt

So I was sitting on a black leather bench at the gym, doing some dumbbell shoulder presses, and staring at myself in the wall-size mirror...lol...when I realized my arms are more developed and defined than my legs! I like my legs. They look good. I work them out regularly, unlike some guys who have nice arms and pecs but skinny chicken legs. I decided to develop my legs more by working them out more often. Just when I thought I had a work-out program that I was happy with and was going to stick to for a while, I changed my mind. But it's for the better.

By the way, I worked out chest last night and arms tonight. Anyways my program used to be Chest, Arms, Abs, Butt, Legs, Cardio. My new program for awesome legs and buns of steel while keeping the rest of my body looking great is as follows: Monday: Legs; Tuesday: Butt; Wednesday: Abs and Cardio; Thursday: Chest; Friday: Arms; Saturday: Legs; Sunday: Butt. That means each 7-day week, I will have 2 days of working out legs and 2 days of working out butt. Ok! Sounds like a plan! I'll start that program next Monday. In the meantime, I'll follow my old program. Tomorrow is Abs Night! YES!

The Getty Center Part III

The Getty Center is famous for its architecture, its art collection, and its beautiful garden.

This is my favorite photo! I really like the composition and the blurry background.

The Getty Center Part II

I edited a few photos tonight after coming home from the gym. I'll work on more photos tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the photos I took. Some are quite beautiful!



Linda and I woke up very early Sunday morning. She came to pick me up at 8:30. We had a pleasant drive to LA. We talked all the way there. We arrived at 10:50. We were some of the first visitors. We started walking around the beautiful Getty Garden. It was such a beautiful day! The sun was bright and there was a nice breeze. We strolled and took pictures of all kinds of things---the architecture, the trees, the flowers, the succulents, and each other....lol. It was so much fun!

Linda is one of my best friends. We met at UCSD. We were in a few Art classes together. We are both painters, so we think alike sometimes. I used to enjoy going to art museums by myself, but after this trip, I realized it's more fun explore art with a good friend who is also an artist!

The Getty Garden

These kids were so cute! They kept rolling down the hilly lawn. Over and over again. I was laughing so hard. I still laugh when I look at this picture....lol...So cute!

Cardio Night

Tonight was cardio night. I ran and walked on the treadmill for an hour. Next week, I'll run on the treadmill and on the streets. I used to run only before a photo shoot. I would run for one whole week right before a photo shoot to lose the tiny bit of fat that is on my tummy. That fat only goes away when I run. I decided recently that I would incorporate running into my workout program. It will help me have a more defined body and stronger heart and lungs. So my workout program is as follows: Chest, Arms (Shoulders and Lats), Abs (and Back), Butt, Legs, and Cardio. Tomorrow is Chest Night---I'm so excited!

The Getty Center

I had the most wonderful day with my friend Linda at the Getty Center in LA. I took lots of cool photos which I will post tomorrow. I walked around and climbed stairs for about 5 hours, so I would consider that my legs workout. Can't wait to share the great photos I took!

Gluteus Maximus Night

Tonight I worked out my gluteus maximus. I did about 8 different kinds of butt exercises. I did most of the ones I did a few days ago, and I added some new ones. I tried the lying butt bridge with an execise ball. That's a fun one!

I Painted Today!!! Very Proud of Myself :)

I woke up this morning and decided that I would paint. I have not painted in a long time. I have been working on an abstract painting titled "Madrid". I started working on that piece 2 years ago. Sometimes I would paint one day and not paint for weeks or months. Well it took me a very long time, but my painting is almost done. Today, I did quite a bit of work on "Madrid". I think it is about 90% done. I can't imagine adding much to it. I'll probably finish and sign it soon. Here are some photos of my unfinished painting "Madrid".

"Madrid" (Unfinished Work) Oil on Canvas

Fake Myspace Profiles Of Me!

Don't you hate it when people use your photos to create fake Myspace profiles? Well, maybe this has never happened to you, but I have seen a handful of profiles using my photos. The first time I saw a fake profile, I was upset. A month after I emailed Myspace, the fake profile was deleted. I had to take a pic of me holding a piece of paper with the current date to prove my identity. Anyways I thought it was too much trouble emailing Myspace several times to fix that problem.

Later on, I found a few more fake profiles. Most of the impersonators say they are straight. They usually add pretty girls to their friends lists. They email the girls, and sometimes the girls email back. One girl stumbled upon my Myspace page one day and saw that my page had more pics and more comments than the fake profile she had on her friends list. She realized I was the real Dan Hoang. We chatted and she gave me the link of a fake profile. I guess she and the impersonator were emailing and flirting with each other for a long time! Poor girl.....lol.....Anyways, she told me she was glad she found out. Isn't that weird? There are guys out there who are using my photos to make online friends and flirt. They are weird, but I gotta say, they have good taste......lol....Even though they say they are straight they know that if you're gonna flirt with girls, use Dan Hoang's photos....lol

The impersonators' favorite photo of me:

I have to admit one of the fake profiles is kinda cool....lol....He has about 15 friends. Most are pretty Asian girls. He has a pretty cool song playing. Pretty smooth character.....lol....If I were a straight guy, my Myspace page might look like that--just maybe. Actually my page would look much cooler than that, but like I said, I kinda like his page---just a tiny bit. I'm a little amused by all the fake profiles, but I guess I would prefer that people stop trying to be me.

Here's one fake Myspace profile of me: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=3935999

Here's another one: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=126355075

Here's another one: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=108709645

Well that's enough about the impersonators. Back to the real Dan Hoang! I just got home from the gym. Friday nights are always empty. Only the serious people work out on Friday evenings. Most people go out and gain weight. Just kidding. Most people don't...lol....On that same note, I'm craving a piece of chocolate cake (the Gianduia) with handmade white chocolate ice cream from the fabulous, delicious Extraordinary Desserts in Hillcrest. Or maybe a piece of the Roasted Coconut Cream Torte with roasted coconut ice cream---freakin' yummmmy. Maybe one day I'll write a post about all my favorite cakes.

Here's the link to Extraordinary Desserts: http://extraordinarydesserts.com/desserts.htm

That place is heaven for someone with a sweet tooth like me. But it is an evil place for gym-obsessed models like me....lol. Sometimes I wish I were a person with an average body who can eat whatever he wants. Food or being hot? That is actually a hard decision sometimes.....lol....Okay, I choose HOTness!

I'm allowed to eat one piece of cake a month. Some months 2. So that's not too bad.

Back to my workout report. Tonight was abs night. I was still super sore from the other abs night, but I still did my hundreds of crunches, leg raises, knee raises, etc. My abs will look great tomorrow!

Arms Night

I was a little tired tonight, but I had a pretty good workout. I guess I need to go to bed early tonight to have a great workout tomorrow. I lifted medium. Very good form tonight. My arms look good. I especially liked doing seated dumbbell shoulder presses tonight.

http://www.shapefit.com/shoulder-exercises-seated-dumbbell-presses.html

I like the way my shoulders bulge like two big balls of muscles. They look cool.

Tomorrow is abs night! Very exciting! My abs are starting to look good again. I ate some cookies and a piece of cake last week...lol...I'm watching my food intake this week. Tuesday's abs exercises and tomorrow's abs workout will yield a flat, hard tummy this weekend :)

Chest Night

Tonight's workout was great! I wore my new blue gym shorts. They're pretty sexy ;) I was too lazy to gel my hair, so I wore my black cap. I lifted medium weights, but I got some nice sets done. I even tried something new. I have been using dumbbells mostly to work out my chest. Tonight, I did some good old regular barbell bench presses. I only used 25 pound weight plates because I haven't done this chest exercise in months. I wanted to get my form right. Next chest night, I will lift a little heavier. I was happy with my workout. I looked at the mirror a few times....lol....I'm not gonna lie...lol....Yeah, I liked the way my pecs looked after my workout. They could be a little bit bigger and well-shaped. Perfection takes a long time. I'm not sure if I will ever be perfect....lol.

Abs Day

Well, my butt looks and feels great today...lol. They are hard as steel and a little sore. Tonight I did an hour of abs exercises. I brought my little abs workout notebook to record how many reps I do for each kind of exercise. I have a little notebook for each muscle or group of muscles. I have a little notebook for Chest Day, one for Arms Day, one for Legs Day, one for Butt Day, and one for Abs Day. I like using my notebooks to see how much I lifted in the past. When I feel really excited about gaining muscle and looking hot, I lift heavier weights than I have ever done in the past. My notebooks make me look like I'm serious and I know what I'm doing at the gym....lol. Just kidding. I do know what I'm doing at the gym. I mean, I don't know everything about working out, but I know enough. I'm definitely open to learning and improving. I like what I just wrote. Sounds like something Miss America would say during the "question and answer" part of the pageant. I think I just won. Give me the crown, already!...lol.

Ow! My Butt Hurts...LOL

So I decided to get buns of steel. Well I already have them, butt (pun intended...lol) I wanted to have an even nicer butt. This is my new project at the gym. I used to do butt and legs exercises on the same day at the gym. From now on, I will spend an hour doing legs one day and an hour doing butt on a different day.

I googled "butt exercises" and found a cool website that actually shows you how to do about 10 execises to improve your assets...lol. To see these exercises, just click on this link : http://www.shapefit.com/butt-exercises-butt-lift-bridge.html Click on the name of an exercise to see a simple video of someone doing a complete repetition.

Tonight I spent about an hour doing 7 different types of butt exercises! I did the Lying Butt Bridge, the Glute Kickbacks, the Leg Lifts, the Walking Dumbbell Lunges, the Single Dumbbell Squats, the Reverse Dumbbell Lunges, and the Dumbbell Bench Step Ups. For each type of exercise I did 4 sets of 10 reps. Ow! My butt hurts...lol.

Family Time

I had hot seen my family in a while so I decided to stop by my mom's house. A few days ago I had dinner with my sister Mimi at Saigon on 5th (in Hillcrest). Afterwards we went for cake, ice cream, and tea at Extraordinary Desserts. It was Mimi's birthday. In the last month, she was the only family member I spent time with, so I was starting to miss my whole family. It was wonderful to see my mom, 3 of my sisters, my sister-in-law, 4 of my nieces, and 1 of my nephews. We got caught up while the kids screamed and played. My nieces are so cute and fun to watch. My nephew is very cute and mischievous. Two of my sisters are expecting boys in November! I'm very excited about having 2 more nephews! It was what I needed today, to connect with those I love.

Love This Photo! (Saigon, Vietnam December 2006)

Dan in Saigon, Vietnam (December 2006)

Saigon Photos (December 2006)

I took these photos with my Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera. These are some of my favorite images of Saigon, Vietnam. I really want to visit Vietnam in a year or two. I would love to see Saigon again and maybe 2 or 3 other cities. That would be an exciting trip!

Saigon, Vietnam (December 2006)

I went to Saigon, Vietnam in December 2006. It was amazing trip! I spent 11 days visiting cathedrals, temples, museums, gardens, clubs, bars, markets, and restaurants. The food was so delicious! The exotic fruits brought back childhoood memories. I was born in Song Pha, Vietnam in 1974. I left in 1980, when I was 6 years old. Returning to my birth country after 27 years of being abroad was a wonderful experience! I saw many interesting things and learned so much. Did I mention the food was delicious?...lol. I have to visit again a few years.

Long Time No See

Wow! It's been a year since my last post! I went to an art reception last night with my friend Linda at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. She is one of my best friends. We took painting classes at UCSD. We both graduated from UCSD with Visual Arts degrees. The show featured watercolor paintings of female nudes by an artist named Odile Crick. The show was curated by a good friend of mine, photographer Becky Cohen. It was a fabulous wine, cheese, flowers, and paintings type of art reception. Linda and I took turns taking photos of each other...lol. She also took photos of the paintings.

Afterwards we went to get dinner at Sushi Kazumi in Hillcrest---was delicious, as usual. She took photos of the sushi. She told me she just started a blog, and she just loves to post everything! I was inspired by her enthusiasm. I did make fun of her for taking photos of everything. Thanks to Linda, I'm gonna start blogging again. Well, only when I'm in the mood...lol.