playing catchup...

Last week was soooooooooooooo exhausting. LASIK surgery completely set my schedule back as far as homework is concerned. Had two programs I needed to write and turn in by last Sunday night cuz I was flying out to the East Coast on Monday morning. Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, I averaged about 3 hours of sleep. Alas, early Monday morning, I was able to finish, not to the best of my ability, the two assignments and mailed it in. ZIPPED, SENT, DONE. So Monday morning I went to bed around 2AM and got up at 4AM to catch my 630 flight. Barely made it on...as the attendant was about to close the gate on me. The check in line at San Jose Airport can get extremely hairy. I was hoping to catch some shuteye on the plane, but I ended up staying awake for 90% of the trip. Got into Maryland at around 5PM EST and went to Baltimore for dinner with Dale, my manager. We parked, walked around, realized that the wharf was too big to conquer by foot so we paid $8 for a water taxi! That was quite refreshing, as we sped through the bay of Baltimore with the wind blowin in our face on a hot humid evening. Didn't go to bed that night until 2AM EST (11PM EST) but I had to get up at 530AM EST (230AM PST). Needless to say, with all the late nighters and the flight and jet lag, I completely overslept. Dale called me around 7AM and I jumped out of bed, got dressed and rushed down to meet up with them for breakfast. 230AM was too early for me to have breakfaast...I opted for a cup of coffee and off we were for our 9 hour meeting. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I wasn't the only one. All the west coast guys who flew east had jet lag and dozed off during the meeting. Quite embarrassing....

After the meeting, we drove up from Baltimore to Philadelphia - the city of Brotherly Love. Our hotel is in downtown Philadelphia...right in Chinatown actually. We checked in and instead of sitting in the hotel room enjoying the AC, I took a stroll outside and wandered around aimlessly. It felt just like San Francisco to me. The cultural mixture of all ethnicity, the smell of the sewage, the traffic, the endless number of No Left Turn signs and One Way streets. I loved it!!!! In fact, I was kinda lost in the streets of Chinatown when I came upon a 開平同鄉會. That's my village in Southern China!!! I wasn't alone out in the East Coast!!! All my "cousins" were here too. =)

Grabbed a cup of coffee from a Dunkin' Donut. Then I walked around some more...found the City Hall - which was beautiful!! Architecturally stunning!!! It even rained on me a little - quite refreshing since it was soooo humid. Unfortunately, the rain was a result of Hurricane Katrina pushing upwards towards the northern part of the US. So sad to see the devastation that natural disasters can leave behind. Are all these natural disasters a sign from God?? What's going to happen next??

Prayers going out to Southern US!!!

The day after the day after...

Monday morning, I'm stuck on a telecon with people coming in late and asking the same questions. "Where are the powerpoint slides? Why can't I sign in to NetMeeting?" People, the meeting started at 9AM. Had you been here at 9, you would know the logistics. So it's approaching 9:25...and we're just about to start.
Kinda surreal....we have about 10 people in the same office in the same meeting. And everyone is on their own speaker phone at their own desk. So when I speak, I can hear about 10 of "ME" talking. And geez...my voice sounds kinda sexy. =)

Vision is still a bit blurry. I can honestly say glasses would allow me to see better this moment in time. But it's a known fact that in time, the blurriness and light halos will slowly go away.

A most memorable birthday this year. After the monumental 21st birthday, to me, birthdays are really just another day. Plus I prefer not being the center of attention. Last night...we went out to dinner at Pasta Pomodoro. Wanted to dig a hole and hide when they came out with a birthday song / dessert. I was tickled pink by everyone's expression of love.

Than you Abba for all your blessings!!

Hrm.... what do to embarrass the September birthdays???

The Day After...

I was sitting on the operating table waiting for Dr. Bindi to come in and perform Microkeratome, the process of using a blade to make an incision on the protective covering of my eye. My eyes are dilated, it's blurry and all I could is listen. Fromt he murmurs of everyone, I can hear, "He needs Interlase."

D'oh!! Interlase is similar to Microkertaome except it's done with a laser instead of a blade. Interlase is, of course, more precise (or accurate) - which means it costs more. Being on a little budget, I initially decided to go cheap. Thinking - bah...it can't be THAT big of a difference. But as God wants it...he wants me to spend the few extra benjamins and get the best treatment.

The entire "procedure" lasted a total of 10 minutes. Much longer than anyone else's treatment. Maybe it's because there was a long line. Or maybe, my eyes were oh-so bad that it takes a bit longer. I remember Joycie's procedure being only a minute for both eyes.

People usually go home after the procedure to rest or sleep. Being the stubborn...or principled person that I am, I decided to head over to class. My prof was going to cancel class next week, so we had a makeup class from 530 to 730. I couldn't see diddly-squat in class...but was able to listen and take notes blindly. Joyce wasn't too happy...she thought I oughta go home and rest. I sorta rested...dozed off in class here and there. After class, she wanted me to go home and rest. I wanted to head over to Jackson's place.

As it turned out, the Louie's and Hsu's prepared a night just to spend time with us. Thanks Becca for being accomodating. They were all a little surprised I went to class, and showed up for our gathering. I wasn't feeling the least bit tired...in fact, I was hoping they could pray for my physically healing.

In the end, Vivien kicked me out and sent me home to rest hahahahah...

The nurse says my vision is 20/20 and 20/25. In time, the blurriness and halos should go away. I'm anticipating for that day like a child anticipates x'mas morning. Until then..
Thank you Father for providing me financially for this operation. Thank you Father for giving me such a wonderful family to support me in each and everyway. You are so amazing!! In you, I have nothing to fear. In you, I have no need to hide.

Times a changin'

Been about a year since my last physical...so I figure I'll go get one before my Hong Kong trip. That way I can get all my shots and immunizations. I end up picking a new doctor cuz my old one changed jobs. I sit in the exam room, half naked, and in walks this guy who is MY AGE!!! Man...I must be getting old. No longer do I have a grayed hair old man with spectacle at the end of his nose as my doctor. I now have a goofy looking Chinese guy...who could very well pass for one of my elementary school buddies. He can't be any more than a year older than me, if that. You can tell he's newly out of school. He was stuttering, he was tripping over himself, and was constantly searching for words. Very unnatural... The weirdest part was when he instituted the "cough test." Can't really describe it..all part of growing up, I guess.

Oh man!!! And tomorrow!! TOMORROW!!!! I can finally shed myself from the chains and shackles of eyeglasses!! 20+ years I've needed them. But after tomorrow, I can kiss glasses goodbye!! WOOHOO!!!

Proverbs 21:19
Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

...the runs...

1:30AM. I wasn't asleep yet cuz I was busy trying to figure out my homework. I admit...I procrastinated a little on this assignment cuz I got my hands on someone's old homework. I thought I could just look at his, modify it and turn it in. Not cheating, merely "leveraging." Well, it didn't take me long to realize that my friend did his homework WRONG!!!!

Then my tummy started hurting. Geez.... of all the nights..I had to have the runs on the night before homework was due. Didn't go to bed till like 3AM...and I had to get up at 6 the next morning. I'll bet my bottom dollar I'll go fishing during class tonight.

On a brighter note, I finished the homework at around 4PM today. The answer didn't come into my dream as I'd hope it would. But God did give me a few short - yet restful hours of sleep. Enough for me think sharply.

So will I start on the next assignment as soon as it's assigned?? HECK NO!!! I'm gonna catch up on some shut-eye tonight!!

Gratuity

So Joyce and I go to dinner at this Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale per our friend's recommendation. Actually, she didn't really recommend it, she merely told us about it. We go there, thinking we can grab quick bite and then head over to Borders to get some work done. Go in, there's not one employee in sight. Stand around for a few minutes until we're seated. The restaurant was near empty and we could've seated ourselves. It took them 5 minutes to get us a pot of tea. Took 10 minutes to place our orders. Took 15 minutes to get our food out to us. And by the time we're done...took them over 15 minutes to get us or bill. They asked us if we wanted a to-go box, but it never came! So instead of a quick 1/2 hour dinner...we ended up dining for an hour and a half. I really wanted to walk out - if they wanted us to pay, they'll catch up to us.

The bill was $21.65. We paid $21.75 and walked out. Had I had exact change, I would've given exact change. Better yet...had I had $21.65 in pennies...I would've give it to them all in pennies. No..that would be wrong. I'd at least give one nickle.

No service, no tip!! Simple as that!!

Crossing the line...

Last week, a local radio show host made some comments regarding some San Francisco Giants' players. The comments have been deemed as racially unethical and the show host has been fired, along with a couple of other sacrificially lambs. When I first heard of this situation, I told people, "In SF, you can get away with anything, but you can't away from the issue of race."

There are times when we say things that we don't mean. It slips out in the heat of the moment. And during the show host's rant about the Giants, he probably lost control of his emotions. For the that blip of time, he let slip some words which didn't seem to have any reprecussions. In fact, during the show, nobody called him on his words. It wasn't till the day after did the media start to react. So when does someone actually cross the line?

TRANSFORMATION

I was extremely naive as a teenager and young adult. Good and Evil can't ever be seperated by a simple line - there's always a crossover between the two. I always felt that being the bad guy, no, the antagonist is going the cool way. 風雲裡的步驚雲 is the perfect example. On the outside, he wasn't as 正直 as 聶風。 But he ultimately won the hearts of the fans cuz people identified with him more. 倚天屠龍記的“明教”, 被六大派稱之為“魔教。” 只因為他們不服當今皇帝﹐ 行事自把自為﹐ 世族就 ostracize 他們。 As with Jedi's and Siths in the epic Star Wars. Siths have their own way of doing things. And as they're misunderstood by the Jedi's...they live a life of principles and structure. 邪非邪﹐ 正非正。 Siths are not subjected to the rules and regulations of the Senate...does that make them evil? They are merely victims of discrimination from a higher bunch of societal juggernauts. Who's to say they're right?? I use to feel the same way towards life.

"豈能盡如人意﹐ 但求無愧於心."

But who's 心 am I speaking of? And to whom is the heart owned by? controlled under? submissive to? Little by little...I learn more about myself and like an onion, I long to shed layers and layers of my outter self. Everytime I think I'm done peeling, there's another layer....

So in honor of this onion analogy...I had onion rings for lunch today. It tasted good....

Feelin' gnarly...

Haven't exercised in such a long time...that is if painting isn't considered exercising. Spent about 4 hours at the Camden Community Center with some b/s and some new friends!! Very cool. Most amazing thing was seeing Jackson strut this stuff. A man that size with extremely nimble feet and quick reactions.

Stupid me...for a while, I missed 10 shots in a row. Then I airballed a simple layup!!! I got sooooo angry, I punched the wall. And now my right hand is bruised. Joyce wasn't too happy about that.

傳 道 書 7:9 你 不 要 心 里 急 躁 恼 怒 ， 因 为 恼 怒 存 在 愚 昧 人 的 怀 中 。