Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Enjoy the day spending time with those you love and cherish!

Thank you for the birthday wishes too! Have to say that I was really feeling a lot of love all day long. Thanks to all my friends and coworkers for the birthday shout outs, and to all my students and Mrs. Kuramoto for the nice surprise bday card (well, not really a surprise, loud whispering isn't really whispering kids, lol). Checked my Facebook, where my awesome friends and family (even from Thailand) posted more bday wishes. Lots of love, thanks ya'll! Too bad the Lakers got schooled by the Clippers, but that's okay. Clippers have been waiting a loooooooong time for this.

My family celebrated Chinese New Year's this weekend. My mom just arrived from Thailand a few days earlier, and it was great to have the whole family together to celebrate. My weekend started off on a low note as I contracted the flu from some "shorter people" that I work with, but felt much better throughout the weekend. All that great smelling food couldn't keep me down!

For this year's celebration, we gathered early Saturday afternoon. My dad cooked up a variety of dishes (pictured here). My brother, sister, and brother-in-law brought some roasted duck, chow mein, and other delicious meals to add to the party. We set out the table, and a chair for each ancestor we invite to partake in the meal. Prayers and offerings are given three times, asking for good luck, prosperity and fortune for this coming year. Afterwards, we burn a wad of $10,000 Bank Notes so our ancestors can spend lavishly in the afterlife. After that, it was time to dig in and eat! Still feeling quite full! So happy Chinese New Year to you! Make this year count! 

Here's a picture of my original sketch for the cover. For the most part, I was able to capture the figures just the way I wanted them from the beginning. I tried to keep in mind that I was going to cast the figures in silhouette, so I tried not to add too many details, like the little screws in the armor and the weapons. I played with the idea of giving the figure on the left a spear, but it seemed to clutter the image a bit. With the figure on the right, I placed the Renzai symbol on his chest but it was way too small and hard to see. You can see that in the final cover the symbols are much more pronounced. I wanted to make sure the reader could identify quickly with each distinct civilization. I drafted a couple other images but they turned out...well, let's just say they didn't. Oh, and by the way, I didn't burn the edges of my sketch. I just thought it was a cool effect. Enjoy!

Genesis is now available for purchase! Both the paperback version and Kindle version are available on Amazon.com. Genesis is book one of the series. Recommended for fans of Lord of the Rings, Eragon, and Percy Jackson. Readers will enjoy the rich fantasy world of Eos, while experiencing the life-changing journeys of both of our main characters. For young adults and older audiences alike.

The inspiration behind the character of Oli is my dog Oscar. I just thought it would be hilarious if this little guy could transform into a giant beast! Oscar has his own harrowing tale of survival though. My sister found him as a stray roaming the streets in front of her school. She tried to pick him up when Oscar made a break for it, heading directly towards the main boulevard. Fortunately, she chased him down in time and took him home. His body covered in dirt, his fur knotted, and for some reason he was covered in stickers. Six years later, and he's living a much happier life. He's a little neurotic, but hey...that's just Oscar.

Worked on the final touches of the website today. Everything looked great, just like I wanted it to, so I went ahead and published it. I opened FireFox and lo' and behold...nothing, just a blank page. Yikes! After about two minutes of constant refreshing, called my hosting company, waited on hold for about twenty five minutes (watched Adam Richman devour eight tacos in the meantime) and got the problem fixed. Whew! Close one, but it's all good now. Website is up and looking great!

Banner for the website designed and created by my brother Nik. Really happy with it. Thanks bro!

Edited the digital proof online, but really needed to see it in person. Final proof arrived in the mail this week, and it's a bit surreal to finally have it in my hands. Going through it one last time before publication. Here we go...