WOW! Long time no see!!

• I have been married for almost 2 years now.
• We have a beautiful son named Walter V, but we just call him Quinto.
  
• We are expecting Child #2 on (or around) 9 July.
• I still live in Shenzhen.
  

Highlights from this trip to the U.S.

My dad & my stepmom                                               

 My cousins Monica & Teri

Kenny the Groom and Zebulin, nephew and Scorpion-Bearer.

Robin, the Bride, Ken, the Groom, and Mom, the Mom.

My cousin Monica lying on the floor

Kenny & Robin by the creek in Estes Park, CO.

Hopi Kiva Spirit Dance painting in a truck stop in Holbrook, AZ  

My great-aunt Delia at 89, checking out photos of Yangshuo.

My Bride-to-be

I really like this picture of her.  I hope you will too.

Top 5 Fictional Shaggable Women

Trickier than it sounds.  What makes a woman shaggable?  Is it just a body?  What if a woman is playing the girl next door in a movie?  Is she still fictional?  I thought not, so Keira Knightley in Love Actually is out, although she would definitely belong in here.

So, here they are in no particular order:

Jadzia Dax, of Deep Space Nine, was yummy for so many reasons.  Smart, pretty, tough enough for Klingons, & 300 years old.  What's not to adore?

Shu Qi from the Hong Kong movie with the English title "So Close".  In the first sequence of the movie, she walks through a HK office building in a white pants suit slaughtering 50 bad guys with high caliber weapons before poisoning the evil corporate type with cyanide laden sunglasses.  All while listening to "Close to you" by Karen Carpenter.  Needless to say, I fell in love instantly.

Barbara Eden as Jeannie.  This is almost cliche, I know...  Any guy who didn't fantasize about her as a kid was either not paying attention or gay. :)

Judi Dench as M is one of the sexiest women on film, I swear it.  Smart and tough as nails.

Catherine Zeta-Jones in Mask of Zorro.  That scene when she tilted her parasol up was the first time I'd ever seen her, and I honestly fell in love with her for about 30 seconds.  Scary hypnotic vertigo and all. 

Honorable mention to:

Joanna Cameron as Isis a la 1976 or so.  Admittedly, this is a childhood crush of long standing.

 Sian Phillips as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in Dune.  Again, smart and tough as nails, and just the slightest bit evil.  A controversial choice, I know, but De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum...

How's that Jodie?  OK?

SHENZHEN, S.A.R., China – (WPI) – The world was stunned into silence today when Walter P. IV, celebrated libertine and raconteur, announced that he had, at long last, found the woman he wanted to marry. 

Speaking from a podium in Hai Shang Shi Jie, in Shekou District, Mr. P. said,

“When I was ten years old, I took a serious vow that I wouldn’t even consider marriage until I was at least thirty.  Looking back, I think that was one of the most judicious things I ever did.  It granted me time to learn enough to choose wisely.  My criteria changed a few times over the years, but essentially, there were three:  she has to be smart, she should get along with my families, and she has to be Magic.  By Magic, I meant that she has to be special the way no one else I know is special.  Well, it took me sixteen years, and going to the other side of world to find her, but find her I did.”

His magic fiancée is??? (Zhang Xiu Yun), of Hubei Province in central China.  She goes by the English name Sherry.  Her birthday is 25 July, 1976, and she is a fashion designer by training.

When asked to describe Miss Zhang after his press conference, Mr. P. grinned reflectively. 

“She is amazingly bright, of course.  But she’s more than that.  She’s kind, thoughtful, patient, easy to please, and very quick to smile and to laugh.  She is a flamboyant dresser, as befits a fashion designer, always with the bright colors and bold patterns, but that’s just Sherry in general – enthusiastic and energetic about everything.  She gets her love of reading from her father.  She stole and read her dad’s translation of Les Misérables when she was nine, and she likes telling me lots of stories about Chinese culture. 

She’s very talented.  Her clients all become repeat customers, and there’s a photography studio in ZhongShan that’s asked her to be its exclusive designer.  She owned her own business in Fuzhou for four years, you know…”

Mr. P. has long befuddled friends and family alike by his long, apparently intransitive search for a mate, leading occasionally to questions and raised eyebrows.

“Well, I always thought he seemed kind of, well, you know…”, commented one source who asked not to be identified.

Curiosity and hopes were raised last summer when reports surfaced that he found a girlfriend, despite a (then) three year policy against forming lasting romantic relationships in China.  The buzz reached the United States early last August, and within an hour of its arrival, a betting pool had been organized across the United States and around the world.  It was won on May 3^rd by a Mr. Bruce B. of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, who commented, “I just had a feeling about it.  You should hear the way he talks about her.  You can’t hear that and not know.”

Not that this has deterred Mr. P., long a believer in stage management and responsible use of the spotlight. 

“I don’t mind speculation.  It helps folks remember who I am.  I have to think about that, being on the other half of the world.  What gets me is that almost no one that I know and love has even met the woman, or even communicated with her.  Her Xanga blog is GoddessSherry.  She doesn’t believe me that friends and family in America will be just itching to love her.”

Yes, but why her?

“Well, first and foremost, she’s magic, and that was always the hardest criterion.  People keep falling in love with her.  Folks meet her for ten minutes and then send me messages telling me that she’s wonderful and that I should keep her forever.  Even then, I was hesitant.  I mean, the idea of getting married has always been a little scary.  I would always think about forever with someone and shudder a little.  But there is no shudder with her.  Building a Forever with her seems like something I would like to do.”

More on this story as information becomes available.