Saturday, November 30, 2002

Thanksgiving... sorry for the reverse order of the blog entries. Thanksgiving was awesome. Had tons of food (turkey, ribs, prime rib...salivating just thinking about it) with family. Played with my young cousins. Thanksgiving with my family is always loud and fun with tons of food. Also, we usually are pretty hooked up technologically with many of my uncles and aunts having digital cameras and an overabundance of TVs and DVD players. My uncle and I linked our PS2's together, our Logitech Force Feedback Racing Wheels, and had a Gran Turismo A-Spec competition along with my cousins, uncles, and aunts. It was a lot of fun...
Black Friday Today. Woke up at 5:30AM (no, that is not a misprint). Went with my uncle to the Best Buy in San Carlos, when we got there, the parking lot was full. Yes, at 6:10AM it was full, packed, as in not a space to be found, as a matter of fact, there wasn't a space to be found in a neighboring parking lot either. I thought I was nuts but it turns out that there are a lot of crazy folks here in the Bay Area. I didn't get the RAM + Hard Drive deal that I wanted so we ended up getting a pair of PS2 games for 10 bucks and I also picked up a Samsung 17" LCD Monitor. It's very very light, less than 15 pounds, I can carry it, one good leg and all... I'll probably be picking up a new desktop next month or January so this will come in handy. Called Jedimaster DS to find out that he woke up just a little too late to join in on the fun.... went to my uncle's home, played with my 3 year old cousin, and had breakfast. Took a nap. Then had lunch with my bro-in-Christ, MT, and went shopping with him at ToysRUs (cuz we're ToysRUs Kids) for Hot Wheels cars he's giving to his tutorees. Cool stuff. We also stopped by Costco (MT returned a pie) and Best Buy (again, but this time, the SF store). Went to Borders, hung out, and talked quite a bit about our views on ministry, relationships (with significant others, our bros & sisters in Christ, with God etc.), plans for the future. Had sushi for dinner at Judah Okazu Ya and headed home. After being dropped off by MT, my old high school buddy (non-believer) JT swung by and hung out with me. Had a random phone call from my friend CB down in Huntington Beach in OC. CB is a cute outgoing girl that I know from UCLA so I was a little more than surprised to get a call from her on a Friday night. She talked about having just left Deloitte and her new job with Boeing. She also talked about her plans to possibly teach in Japan for a year or more with the JET (Japanese English Translators) program at UCLA. I talked about the possibility of going to law school down in LA at either UCLA or USC (both are Top 20 law schools). If I got into UCLA or USC, I have to admit that I'd be tempted to go. I have very positive memories of my time in LA. But a part of me realizes that it will be very different this time around. Most of my friends down there will be working professionals driving beemers, not starving students just trying to get by (of course, the good thing about that is that they'll be treating me for once... muahaha! =P). But seriously, most of my friends down there don't go to church or a fellowship. Many are lost in a dark sea of emptiness. They are my friends because of their intense loyalty to me and generous natures. If I go down there, I'll be the one shining floating candle on that dark sea... I have noticed that a lot of my friends (including CB) in LA have started to make a pitch for me to return to LA if I get in to one of the schools ( which I would say is likely, above 50% chance). Is God telling me to go down to LA to witness to my friends down there? Does God want me elsewhere? Wherever I go, I know He'll use me for good

Friday, November 29, 2002

Why do I feel like an idiot sometimes?

Thursday, November 28, 2002

Lately, one song that I've been liking is "Landslide" by the Dixie Chicks. Check out these lyrics:

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

For all you guys and gals who have wireless networks set up with access points and laptops, here's a website that might interest you:
http://www.netstumbler.com

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Silent Torture - a poem by an amateur poet & concerned bro

a smile here, a smile there
a small word there, a small word here
behind the masks friends in pain
no one sees before they are slain

the cry of the lonely is never heard
not a sound not a sigh not even a word
no, not even given the light of day
not a friend to help, not even to pray

on whose deaf ears will these silent screams fall
and who has the courage just to stand tall
for we must have courage to help this friend
and risk love and limb to see their pain end.

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

"poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master."

-Leonardo Da Vinci

Sunday, November 24, 2002

Saw this on a website... it was so nice, I just had to share.

God saw that she was getting tired and a cure was not to be,
so He put His arms around her and whispered "come home with me"
with tearful eyes we watched her suffer and saw her fade away,
although we loved her dearly, we could not make her stay,
a golden heart stopped beating, a determined spirit was at rest,
God broke our hearts to prove to us---
He only takes the best.
busy busy Day...

First, had a great Men's ministry meeting. Granted it was small (only 3 of us MT, MJ, and me) but hey, the spirit was here and I learned quite a bit about disciple-making - God's objective-my objective-Kingdom, courage, self-introspection, love the Word, servant's heart, loveluvlove, trust in the spirit-not the flesh, nothing independent of God, luvLoveLove, no bitterness, discipline...

Second, UCLA lost. They got whupped...we'll get 'em next year.

Third, Cirque du Soleil was good and entertaining. Went with many of my non-believer friends. It was good to see them. Ran into sis-in-Christ VY. There was alot of interesting ideas and a lot of great acrobats and gymnastics.

Fourth, Dinner with my friends at Palomino's. Good catching up with them.

Fifth, spent some time with GC, long time high school buddy, fellow business person, went to see 8 Mile with him. Just talked about the future for both of us and reminisced a little on the past.