Travelling: Vong Sundara at Copenhagen 2009 2nd World Outgames
September 14, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I’m still getting used to travelling. You see, I grew up in Winnipeg, which is eight hours from the next large city, which happens to be Regina, not exactly a tourist destination. People in Winnipeg just don’t travel a lot, especially not to Europe. This is probably why I jumped at the chance to go to the Copenhagen 2009 2nd World Outgames. I went the Montreal 2009 1st World Outgames and had a fabulous time, so I was really looking forward to duplicating the experience in Europe.
To have my trip subsidized, I agreed to be the official photographer for GLISA North America (Gay Lesbian International Sports Association). It was actually quite nice to dust off my old camera and remember pretend like I was back in my old freelancing days. I’ve included the best 30 photos below, hope you like them. Looking back at the photos now brings back all the wonderful memories of being in Denmark.
The only strange part of the trip was not participating in any sports. Luckily, I was able to go to many of the sporting events and cheer my friends on since I had to take photos anyways. I didn’t really get the itch to play until I was actually there. It didn’t help that everyone who knew me in Denmark met me through one sport or another, so I was constantly being asked how my sport was going.
The first big highlight of the event for me was seeing Kemone Brown, keynote speaker on the second day of the human rights conference. In fact, that’s probably my favourite thing about the Outgames, that the organizers include a human rights conference and cultural component so that the event is more than just sports. You must Google Kemone Brown and read all about her. She is one of the freshest voices to come in the world of human rights in a while. It’s amazing that someone of her age has the insight that she has.
I must admit that I have a thing for Danish guys. There’s just something about their facial features combined with the best-in-the-world Danish accent. Danish accents remind me of Arnold Schwarzenegger, if Arnold Schwarzenegger was a giddy Japanese schoolgirl. It’s like a faster, happier version without the roughness. It’s quite sexy.
The best part is that Danish men are so incredibly helpful. I would often have my camera around my neck with a map in my hand and a “I’m lost and need help” look on my face. It wouldn’t be more than a couple of minutes before some cute Danish boy came and helped me along my way.
The cultural portion of the Outgames was incredible. Instead of a centralized stage, there was a trail called Outcities, where several cities from around the world set up their stages and lined up performances. The performances were free and out in the open, running all week long. They had everything from pop to hardcore opera.
I unfortunately missed the opening ceremonies by arriving a day light, but Copenhagen Pride was scheduled to close off the week, and I was fortunate enough to attend. The pictures below give a better idea of how magical the event was than anything I could write myself.
My trip actually ended with a little bit of drama. My flight had been misbooked one day past everyone else’s flight. I should have checked more closely, but everything turned on the way it was supposed to I guess. I ended up having an extra day in Denmark but without a hotel room to stay in. Amazingly, I was able to stay with overnight with a helpful Danish boy.
In fact, this Danish boy ended up being a history scholar who ended up taking me on a tour of Copenhagen on my last day. It was like having my own personal tour guide. He knew absolutely everything there was to know no matter where we were. The canal tour was wonderful, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
I’m still on a high thinking about my fabulous time in Denmark. Hopefully someday I can go back to Europe and build on my world experiences. If you’re planning on travelling, think about going to a gay sporting event. It’s a great excuse to visit new places, and you have more things to do than you normally would.
[flickr album=72157622372544736 num=30 size=Thumbnail]
Mission Accomplished: SuperPowerBottoms win gold, Rise of the Spartans V-ball Tourney
April 3, 2009 by vongsundara · 2 Comments
SuperPowerBottoms at Rise of the Spartans Volleyball Tournament
It’s been a week, and I’m still on a high after the SuperPowerBottoms won gold at TSVL’s Rise of the Spartans volleyball tournament. Winning gold in the lowest pool was definitely one of my big goals for the year after this team was put together last fall, but to actually accomplish the goal feels so much better than I could have imagined. The most amazing part is that no one on our entire team played competitive volleyball last year. We came in as rookie team, and I came on as a rookie captain, and somehow we came together in time to accomplish our goal.
We played the tournament in Mississauga, which was a nice change of pace. The great thing about the facility is that it had enough courts to accommodate the entire tournament, meaning we wouldn’t be spread out across the city of Toronto.
I’m really proud of how the entire team played on the last day. We ironed out a lot of the kinks in our game from the first day. We came into the second day as the top seed in the lowest pool of the tournament. It was a different feeling for us, and I had to make sure the team stopped thinking of ourselves as underdogs and start dealing with the pressure of being the favourite and living up to our seeding. We started out playing the lowest seed, a team that had given us all heaps of trouble the day before. It was great that we kept our intensity up and put the team away quickly and conserving our energy.
Our second match was against I’d Hit That Flamer, which was a combo team made up of members of I’d Hit That and Flamers, two teams that are ranked in higher pools than SuperPowerBottoms during TSVL (Toronto Spartan Volleyball League) weekly league play. The match was ridiculously close, and we were able to squeak out a hard-fought victory.
From the loser’s bracket, Boom (also ranked higher than us in weekly league play) escaped with a narrow victory over Botox, the team we beat at the start of the day. The scare seemed to kick Boom into gear as they also beat I’d Hit That Flamer in three close sets to face us in the finals. Since it was double elimination and we had yet to lose, Boom had to beat us twice to win. Unfortunately for us, they managed to beat us the first two sets, so it all came down to a final winner-take-all set to decide who would be going home with the gold medal.
I will remember this final set for a long time to come. The first major turning point was when our middle blocker, FarmerSutra, went up and won a two-on-one jump ball. That was the first sign to me that we wanted it more, and the play definitely helped to discourage our opponents. The final set ended up being extremely scrappy, as both teams played it safe and there were very few errors. We were having difficulty finishing points as our best hitter, WideReceiver, sat out the final set (due to set rotations), and I don’t think I had a solid hit the entire set, so it all came down to defence.
The moment I will remember forever is the 22-20 point (Boom was ahead and serving). We had taken our final timeout shortly before, and we came out of the timeout doing our pattented SuperPowerBottom circle jump as a final way to show unity and focus us for our final push. The point went back and forth for a while before Boom pushed the ball into the chest of our back middle player, Stretch.
The ball bounced about a foot from where it hit our player’s chest, and I was at least half the court away. Given the score, I just had it in my mind to not let anything drop to the ground. Once I saw the ball bounce on his chest, time almost stood still as I dashed across the court in three galloping strides. I dove and barely got my outstretched knuckle on the tip of the ball. Somehow, some way, the ball shot straight up and we went on to win the point and then the match.
Now, I’m not usually one to brag about my play, but that was the dive of my life. Even the linesman looked in shock at the play given the importance of the point.
I’m amazed at how much SuperPowerBottoms has matured in the last few months. Next week we have a tournament in Montreal, which is more of a fun excursion, and we end the year with a league-wide playoff. We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll have to play even better to have a shot at the playoffs, but I’m confident that SuperPowerBottoms will rise to the occasion.
SuperPowerBottoms up to G Pool in Toronto Spartan Volleyball League (TSVL)
February 10, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
The SuperPowerBottoms volleyball team, which I happen to captain, has made its way out of the H Pool in our weekly league play. I’m super excited, as it’s the absolute best we’ve played as a team. Everyone on the team truly deserves the victory. Hopefully we can maintain the stellar quality of play next week when we face the tougher competition of the G Pool.
This week’s move came on the heels of last week’s amazing play. We actually scored enough points to move up to G Pool last week, but we were deducted six points for various infractions. We weren’t too happy about it last week, but it kind of makes this week’s victory all the more sweeter.
I think the one missing ingredient from our great early success in the Montreal Big Jump tournament last autumn was our athleticism. We’re all fairly new players to volleyball, the majority of the team having never played competitive volleyball before, so we can’t match other teams on mechanics and experience. The one bonus we have over all other teams in our league is pure youth and athleticism. We’re the youngest team in the league by quite a bit. We’re also all good athletes, especially considering the height of half of our team.
Last week, one of the other teams’ captains mentioned that we made them feel old because of our hustle and effort. It’s something I had forgotten about for sure. This week, I think we did a great job of continuing to hustle to every ball.
I think our biggest hurdle to athleticism was our hesitation in not completely knowing where we should be on the court. You can be the quickest person in history, but if you don’t know where you should be, then it’s all for naught. I’m really excited that everyone has come together so well the past couple of weeks.
2009 MCC Christmas concert at Roy Thomson Hall produced great musical performances
December 24, 2008 by vongsundara · 1 Comment
So I went to the annual MCC Christmas concert tonight at Roy Thomson Hall, which is a beautiful hall by the way. It was nice being back at the concert, as it was one of the first events I attended when I moved to Toronto last year.
The service was pretty religious, but I suppose that makes sense since it was a church service. Haha. It’s strange because I’m normally not much for the praying thing, but once you set that stuff to music, I am all over it.
It was nice seeing my old roomates, Lindsay and his boyfriend James. They were both so great to me when I first moved to Toronto, and it’s always nice reconnecting with them.
That’s all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day. Celebrate with family and friends and have a merry old time, yo!
Painting my signature red glasses black was more fun than expected
December 23, 2008 by vongsundara · 2 Comments
So yesterday I went out and bought a five-dollar can of paint and painted my signature red glasses black (see picture below). It’s been something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now, but the deciding factor was my purchase of a bright orange jacket recently.
Now, my style is generally fairly plain with the exception of one signature piece. Lately, this signature piece has been my red glasses. With the bright orange jacket, though, it doesn’t make sense to wear red glasses. The jacket should be the focus, and thus the red glasses had to go. The black glasses will allow me to focus on different pieces and this year my style will expand due to this much-needed variety.
To be honest, these black glasses are closer to my original vision when I went shopping for glasses a while back. Unfortunately for me, my head is much smaller than the average North American’s, so it is quite difficult for me to find a pair of glasses that fit my head. Instead of forcing myself into a pair that didn’t fit correctly, I went with the wild red glasses basically because they fit the best. Sure, they have grown on me, but black was definitely my original vision.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop all the worry by revealing that I still do have my red glasses. I did paint my glasses black, but . . . I had TWO PAIRS of red glasses. Haha!
Merry christmas y’all. I hope to see you all soon with my black glasses (and the red ones too).
Being a leader is more difficult than I imagined, I have lots to learn
December 4, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
The recent leadership struggle in Canada’s Parliament between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives and the coalition of Stephane Dion, Liberals, Jack Layton, NDP, and Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Quebecois, has come to a standstill and won’t be resolved for another seven weeks. All this talk of leadership has gotten me thinking about my own leadership abilities.
I’ve always personally thought that I was a natural-born leader, though recent developments have led me to question my abilities. Both at work and in my personal life, I’ve always been thrust into positions of leadership. From a young age, I have always led or been very near the leadership position in every group I have been a part of. At times, the leadership has been thrust upon me and at other times I have sought leadership.
In some ways, I am not a very natural leader at all, but I am often placed in positions of leadership because of my ability to gain trust and belief from others. The trust is often gained through observations of my ability to inspire others through my actions and initiatives and my ability to work well on my own and overcome obstacles. Unfortunately, it is this very nature that makes it difficult for me to lead in the traditional sense.
In the volunteer world, I have found that I am better served as a secondary leader or co-leader whose purpose is to inspire through action, leaving the world of traditional leadership to those more capable. I have recently found the same at work, where I didn’t fare so well at directly managing and supervising staff but have fared much better when managing people as resources, meaning those I am in charge of have separate supervisors to deal with everyday managing while I deal with the bigger picture.
Unfortunately for me, there are times where I have to step up and lead in both ways, as the option to co-lead is not always there. With the SuperPowerBottoms, I am fortunate enough to have a great group of players to lead: They are hard working, show up early and are motivated to practice. In fact, they are so great a team that I have to question my leadership as the main reason to why we haven’t improved sooner. I suppose I can only do my best, and perhaps things will turn around soon enough.
Hallowe’en drag party at millionaire professor James Stewart’s mansion was crazy
November 1, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
Damn, that was one hot Hallowe’en drag party. I ended up being the most conservatively dressed person there. I should have known that an all-gay-Asian Hallowe’en drag party would end up hoochier than I planned for.
The party was at James Stewart’s newly built $35-million-dollar mansion. The house was just absolutely breathtaking with a built-in pool and a view to match. There was a full catering staff of half-naked men (and sailors) along with a full camera crew to take photos and film video of our entrances and the rest of the party.
Speaking of entrances, we all had to make a public entrance that was being filmed for a DVD down a winding staircase. I wish I had been more prepared, as my entrance ended up being kind of tame in comparison. Next year, I’ve gotta step up my hoochiness for sure and add some drama to the entrance.
My choice for best entrance, best costume, and best hottie she-male was for Jason Ho dressing up as Chun Li from Street Fighter (which is now suddenly relevant again as Street Fighter IV will be hitting store shelves soon). Jason didn’t end up winning the award at the end of the night, but I think he really deserved it.
VS
Mini-preview of my Hallowe’en costume for drag party at professor’s mansion
October 31, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I am dressed and ready to go to a drag party. More photos will follow.
VS
Costume hunting to transform into Gossip Girls’ Blair Waldorf for Hallowe’en
October 27, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
Today was costume shopping day. Hallowe’en is right around the corner, and I’m excited to be dressing up for the first time in years. I’ve been invited to a drag party at some rich guy’s mansion. For those who don’t know, a drag party is a party in which all guests have to dress up as the opposite sex.
I just found out that the party is going to be mainly young Asian boys dressing up as girls, other than the party’s host of course. It sounds a little strange when I put it that way, but I am not going to pass up an opportunity to party with most of Toronto’s Asian hotties, whether they’re dressed as women or not.
With the help of Jason Ho, I was able to find the perfect brown-haired wig. Once the wig was found, I decided on my costume: Gossip Girl, specifically Blair “B” Waldorf (see photo below). Her signature look is preppy New Yorker accessorized with the back-in-style headband, which I still need to shop for.
I’ll be blogging straight from the party on Friday night with photos.
VS
Finding balance between dayjob, comedy career and gay life
October 19, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
Striking the right balance between the different aspects of my life has always been difficult for me. I’m the type to concentrate solely on one project and sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture. For instance, it has been months since I have been on a comedy stage.
The four major aspects of my life are my dayjob, my comedy career, my gay life and my ghetto life (family and straight friends). At any one time, one of the four aspects of my life can fall off the radar. For instance, this summer I was concentrated so much on advancing my career at my dayjob that I kind of lost track of my friends. Most people wondered where I had disappeared to during the summer.
At different points in my life, I’ve tried to take a different approach and try to change the way I live my life, but it has never worked out too well. I work best when I just go with the flow of what interests me at the moment. This is how I work best creatively, and I only hope that my friends will get used to me disappearing at times while I concentrate on different aspects of my life.
Coming up shortly will be a much more prominent role for my comedy life, especially now that my website has launched. There is so much to do now for sure. The biggest project being my writing a one-hour show for next summer. I’ve basically got to sit down and devote the time necessary to getting it accomplished.
VS
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