Happy Independence Day

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na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na...

Egg Tarts!~~

If you couldn't tell, I was trying to type out the Batman theme song ^_^''  Har har har~  I remember I made these at school my sophomore year in college, and I made them again to take to David's BBQ.  I didn't bake the crust long enough, so they were a bit pale and a bit too soft.  Oh well, next time!  :)

David gave me a recipe book for Asian pastries, and I haven't made anything from it yet, because all the ingredients are measured out in grams.  So I bought an electric kitchen scale on eBay for $15 a few days ago.  I wonder which one I'll make first!  BBQ pork buns from the dimsum place?  Wife cakes?  So many choices...

I made the egg tarts in the morning and managed to burn my wrist twice.  In the same place.  Blarg!  Haven't managed to do that in a while, and it hurt when I took a shower.  Booh~  :( 

St. Louis was having an all-day fair to celebrate July 4th, and I was going to see the air show with Annie's family!  Except Chris, Betty, and Alex decided they wanted to watch Lord of the Rings, so it was just Jeff, Richard, and Lisa.  ^^''''''  But an air show!  And my first one!  No idea what to expect...

When we hopped off the Metro and headed towards the arch, I saw people in parachutes winding their way down from the sky.  So graceful :)  I wonder if their hearts are beating fast or if they're enjoying the smooth sweeping motions :o

Richard and Lisa enjoying the view

Whee!

There were a lot of people at the air show, plenty covering the grassy seating area.  We stood near the food (*of course*) XD  It's because there was more shade from the arch!  

Kids with mohawks!

There was lots of random fair foods, but Jeff was concentrated on funnel cake, haha~  There was Greek food, Polish sausages (kielbasa), and even fried rice somewhere!  I've never heard of butterfly fries, but I saw a lot of people carrying a huge plate of them around. 

There were a couple of airplanes doing loop-dee-loops and spins, complete with their own music soundtracks.  Pretty cool~  But none of that professional awesomeness you see in cartoons ;)

All this, at the Arch!

Neon Trees!

Gahhh I can't believe Neon Trees is coming to St. Louis (and accessible to me for free) when I'll be out of town D:  But noooo worries, I'll be having much fun elsewhere!  Mwahahhaha :)  

Here we go againnnn~~

Uh ohh, I want some more... Uh oh, what are you waiting for?

Take a bite out of my heart tonight.

*CHOMP*  Haha, so morbid!

We were all hiding in the Arch's shade~

Huge spirals of sausage, piles of butterfly fries, and tons of fair food!

Jeff and his beloved funnel cake

This funnel cake was ginormous!  I've never seen one that big before @_@  And I thought it was funny when they were saying it was too hot to touch, because my fingers didn't think so.  Too much touching baked goods that came right out of the oven :P

After coming back and collapsing into a two hour nap / heat stroke, I woke up to Anna making something of a cheeseburger mac in the kitchen!  SO GOOD LOOKINGGG!

I was talking about Anna!  He he he!  Well, yes, the mac is *also* good looking ;)

No but seriously.  Yum!  I had a huge portion later too, and it was so creamy *heart*

We headed off to David's BBQ, and it was the first time I hung out in their backyard during the daylight!  A little warm, but pretty fun :)  

Jenny and Sean, and then David watching a... fist fight between Jeffery and Sue?  :P

Some of ze bois~  Book, Leo, Shuran (in his PJ's??) and Daniel :)

Oooh whee, hot hot hot for a BBQ, but good food ^^

Mwahaha, got a picture of Sean and Anna in the back :3

Ooh I met Grace at the BBQ!  She swims too ^^

And what's a BBQ without some watermelon?

Jae cut them into cute little pieces XD

As the sky darkened, it got nearer to Fair STL's fireworks!  I was pretty excited, because I've never attended any "official" fireworks thing bigger than one at a park in Houston. And this one was going to be at the Arch!  If anyone paid attention to Yahoo's logo on July 4th, they had a cartoon animation with the arch and some fireworks.  That means it's legit, yeah!

We went onto the metro, and there were already so many people on the train before we managed to squeeze ourselves into the crowd.  Two more stops or so, and the sea of people waiting on the platforms at each station had had no hope of hopping in.  They looked at the people smushed into the windows and just shook their heads.  Haha, I imagined myself in Taiwan, but in Taiwan there are handle bar thingies from the ceiling everywhere, because they expect a lot of people!  I don't think St. Louisans usually have this many people riding the metro at once, and I was falling every which way when the train jerked.  Jeff caught me multiple times and I ended up grabbing onto his bicep area for support.  Which was awkward and really funny!  XD  At least everyone else is getting squished too~  ^_^''

When we arrived at Arch Landing, the train seemed to sigh as a flood of people washed out of its doors.  I wonder if this is what it's like for Cardinal baseball games!  

Lots of people!

Richard, Lisa, Spencer, Jeff, and I found a small area in the clearing to watch the fireworks burst above the Mississippi river and sat on towels that Richard and Jeff had brought in their bags.  All other fireworks were apparently cancelled due to the record Midwest heat and fire hazards.  But the show must go on at the Arch!  And so we watched maybe ten full minutes of dazzling fireworks.  It's pretty cool how it was *on* the Mississippi river.  That river used to only be significant because I liked spelling it out loud (M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i!  made me feel smart :P) and I linked it to Mark Twain's stories.  And there I was, a few hundred feet away from the waves lapping at the land watching patterns streak across the sky!  My favorite fireworks are the ones that stream down like waterfalls for a few seconds after exploding.  Ahh so pretty, and it looks like the embers will drift down into your palm~  ^^

Snap!

Crackle!

Pop!

Happy 4th of July!

When it was done, the crowd clapped and cheered before rushing towards the metro in hopes of beating the traffic.  We were pretty close to the Metro station, but we still ended up waiting for an hour or so in line before squeezing onto the train!  While we were waiting in the line that stretched all the way to the other street, the masses of people released onto the intersections looked crazy.  It looked as if I was in the midst of a riot.  Annnnd right when I thought that, a stream of people started screaming and running in one direction, pushing and shoving one another out of the way.  There was a group of teenagers beating someone who fell, a bunch of them slugging a single guy on the ground.  It was gruesome.  What do you do in a situation like that?  There was a police car nearby, but it seemed like they didn't know how to respond.  Blahhh, I don't think I could have helped, so I just stood there, unsure of what to do and a little appalled how the people standing beside me tried scooting closer to get a better look while craning their heads.  *sigh*  That's human nature for you.  Always slowing down when driving past a car crash, always more interested in misfortunes than happiness.  

Seconds before the screaming began

Soon there were ambulance and police sirens ringing off the streets, and we continued to wait in line.  When we got onto the train, Jeff and I were squished @_@''  I was lucky enough to hold onto a bar, and Jeff grabbed onto the top handles.  The people smooshed against us were rowdy and drunk, and the older passengers rolled their eyes at them often.  Beside us, there was a guy who was kind of holding his girlfriend's waist and sometimes her hand on the bar, but he couldn't see where he was grabbing.  So he would occasionally feel his way onto my hand on the bar or latch onto my waist.  I was like, AHHHHHHH!  Gerroff, off off off!  But I said that in my head and just inched away a little bit instead.  Haha~ :P

It was too loud to talk, so I stared out the window and  just let my thoughts roll around.  What could I have done to help at that fight scene?  It seems impossible:  I could call for help, but there were already police at the scene.  I definitely don't think I would have helped much if I ran towards the group to try breaking it up (HAHA, imagine me doing that... I'd probably get flung across the street, because with my 5' 5'' frame, I don't think I look very intimidating ^_^'').  But just standing there seems to stupid... durr...  What could I have done?

Jeff broke my thoughts when he started making faces behind me at the window in the reflection.  :)  Hehe, silly nice guy~  I'm glad we all went to the arch together to see fireworks though!  Although I have lived in St. Louis for college for a few years, I haven't really even begun exploring what St. Louis has to offer.  And going to the arch for fireworks seems like a good start :3

Hope everyone had a happy holiday on Wednesday!