Handy Hank

I'm an engineer.  I hate Lego's.  I hate putting IKEA furniture together.  I am NOT handy. 

I've always envied my dad... without any formal training, he can fix and do just about anything. 

We have a plumbing problem at home right now... and with my Masters in EE, I have no clue on how to begin fixing. 

I wanted to clean, strip and repaint the concrete floor of my backyard.  I rented a pressure washer... and was done with it after 10 minutes.  I started stripping the darn floor... and wanted to quit and hire some hombres to do this.  And do a better job mind you.  But I love to have a story to tell... that I actually accomplished something.

And then... tonight.  We inherited a bike from our friends for NN.  No point in spending hundreds of dollars for a 10 year old... only to have to buy another one when she sprouts again.  But if something is free... it probably comes with some baggage.

The bike's brakes were very loose.  And the gears didn't shift.  After a lot of internet searching.  After a lot of youtubing DIY videos... after hours and hours of experimenting... I finally got the gears to shift!!!  One of the happiest feeling you get... when you're able to fix your children's toys for them.

For that one moment in time... I was Handy Hank. 

Already...?!

For no apparent reason... NN started crying tonight. 

When asked why... she said, "Cuz I'm fat and I'm not pretty."

She's 9..... omg.....

Prayer Meeting - 7/25/2018

A monumental prayer meeting tonight...

1) Sam Tes shared about X-Club.  A ministry where our church reaches out to a local public middle school kids to build relationships and lead people to God for healing. These are under-under privileged kids... and to hear that 2 of them were sexually harassed?!?!

2) Miranda shared about Word of Grace - how we've had MS and CS b&s lend their lives to nurture the parents.  And how Miranda is a one-person army... under constant spiritual attack... but will continue to fight the battle in the name of Jesus. What keeps her going... that ONE person that she can bring to Christ. 

3) Papa John/Christina/Cindy - over a decade of excellent service by these folks.  Years and years of reaching out to a lack of response.  Until finally... they changed their direction and started to pray and intercede.  Pray and intercede.  And on the latest "celebration", two words got 1/3 of the room to respond to the Altar Call..... "Last chance."  Imagine a senior hearing those 2 words.

4) Finally.... Mandarin Congregation sharing their church planting vision and mission.

The only sad thing..... CS only had 5 people show up.  2 of the 5 were presenting/sharing.  1 was the spouse.  Dang......  Prayer Meetings are not what they use to be.

Senile

We make fun of our dad for retelling the same stories over and over again whenever we have a family get-together.

Lo and behold... the last few College get-togethers... I see us re-telling those same stories. And some how, we still laugh at them.  Or we make ourselves laugh.  They really aren't that funny anymore.

Great America

Went to my annual work picnic yesterday at Great America.  I still remember in years past... my company would take over the park and have only company folks.  Time went by... and we shared the park with the general public, but with a fully catered BBQ lunch.  Time went by... and we had a subsidized lunch.  Now... it's just general park admission and I have to pay for parking.

As I was soaring over the park on the Eagles Flight...the little sky tram... I see a lot of old and a lot of new.  This park has not escaped the Passage of Time.  Staples like Logger's Run and Revolution are no longer around.  But the 2-story Merry Go Round has never changed.   Back then, I can play all day and all night and not get tired.  Today... I went on a kiddie, spinny ride and I got motion sickness and wanted to barf.

Fr. Steve... SDP... the tutoring kids... Chinese Altar Boys...  all these ghosts of the past will rush back the moment I step on these sacred grounds.  And it delights me when I see new coasters going up... it just means that this place is still making money and won't be closing soon.  Some day.... one day.... let's hope that day ever happens.

Big Head Shrimp - Part II

Got to the clerk's desk... confessed my sins... and she said, "That's ok. So you're here to make up?  Here you go."

That was it... no lecture.  No steely cold eyes staredown.  Nothing. 

I guess this happens more often than not....

Phew.... and was dismissed by 10AM.  Hoo-rah!!

Big Head Shrimp

I forgot to check my Jury Duty Schedule yesterday.  Turns out I was suppose to show up in person this afternoon. D'oh!!!  

By the time I found out... the Courthouse was already closed. They close at 3:30PM!?!?!  So now I have to go tomorrow morning... and plea my case.  Hopefully they'll excuse me and won't fine me for Contempt of Court.  *Gulp*

I have a style???

So recently...our church started a Church Blog site.  And I've submitted multiple blog entries by invitation or by my own conceitedness.

A few months ago... I submitted a blog entry that was a bit "too personal" so I told the blog administrator, if you want to publish this, please make it Anonymous.  Several months passed... and that blog was never published.  Maybe it didn't make the editor's cut... which is fine.  I told the Editor that I'll submit an entry about once a month... and it won't hurt my feelings if you don't publish it.

And then today... a dear brother walks up to me and asks, "Did you write the latest blog entry?"

I was befuddled.... I didn't know what he was talking about.

He then said, "It was written by Anonymous,  but I can tell from the writing, that it's your style."

(To myself:  I have a style???)

One Mountain Higher Than Another Mountain

For the past 4 years... we've been going to our local San Jose City Public Library.  I love it.  The books are great.  The collection is great.  It's somewhat clean.  And other than the occasional late fees... it's FREE!!!

The San Jose library is much better than the San Francisco Public Library I grew up with.  And when I went to Martin Luther King Jr. Library at San Jose State... I thought I was in heaven!!

But little did I know what heaven truly is like until I got to the Los Altos Library.... which is part of the Santa Clara County Library.  Wow.... the collections... are 10x better than San Jose.  The graphic novels (or comics, as we called them) are 10x more complete.  And when we visited the Campbell Library (also part of the Santa Clara County branch), they even had a "Where's Waldo" game where kids go to all the County Libraries to find Waldo.... which gets re-hidden each Monday.  I look at their bulletin boards and ALL there events are full!!  Toddler events... kid events... young adult events. 

Truly is... 一山還有一山高!  I guess that's the difference between Municipal Funding vs. County Funding.

Overdose

The kids are enamored with the library.  They love searching for books... finding new adventures... and sometimes revisiting old ones.  Each time we go to the library... we come home with (easily) over 30 books.  That's how much they love reading.

Today... I took them to Los Altos Library... they struggled to even find 10 books.  What happened??

It turns out... that their Summer Chinese School brings them to the library each day for an hour.  And NN said... "We come so much, I ran out of books to read."

RAN OUT OF BOOKS TO READ?!?!?!?

Compassion

Nn is universally known for being very caring for SW... and very loving in general.  How she picked it up... who knows.  SW on the other hand...

Last night... SW pissed NN off (again).  NN ran into our room and started to cry.  I told SW to go "tum 番家姐."  And he really did not know what to do.  He just stood there looking at her... then looked at me... then looked at her.  Puzzled.

NN was sitting there... waiting, just waiting for a compassionate hand or a hug.  Nothing.
I had to tell SW exactly what to do... and he did it, formulaicly.

Is that the difference between boys and girls??

Penance

In the Catholic church, there's something called Penance, where you go to Confession, the priest absolves you from your sins...and you have to do something to atone for yourself.  Usually, it's saying a few Hail Mary's or a few Our Father's.  I was never one to believe in the penance part... but I do believe you have to do something as "punishment."

I'm in penance right now.  I'm in punishment.  For all the things I've done wrong... yelling at wife/kids; backstabbing; lying; immorality; you name it.... I've done it.  And to make up for my sins... I'm volunteering at Children Sunday School.

HOLY SH*T!!!!  I wanted to jump out of my skin today!!!  There's a reason why I don't do Children Ministry.  How did I ever raise two kids???  How am I gonna get past the rest of the summer?!?!?  Just wanna slap some of those kids upside the head and say, "DON'T YOU KNOW RESPECT YOU LITTLE TWERP!!!" 

But I can't... and I musn't.  All I can do is vent online. 

On the bright side... I'm witnessing first hand... the Children Sunday School Hall of Famer in action.  First hand.  30 years of teaching... and she's still going strong.  OMG... literally.  OMG....

A tough conversation...

SW had a bday party... so I had the opportunity to have some quality Father / Daughter time.  Took NN to Petroglyph, where she made a beautiful teapot/saucer set for Momma.  Then I took her out to lunch at a local burger joint.  Thus the conversation begins...

Me: Nn... do you know what divorce means?

Nn: Yes... it's when two people are married.  Then they separate.

Me: Yup.  Nn... I've got some bad news for you.

Nn: (Eyes Wide Opened) YOU AND MOM ARE GETTING A DIVORCE?!?!?!

Me: Oh.... no no no.....  not me and mommy.  It's #&$%&#*#(!(!!!!


Dang.... what did I just put my daughter through!??!