Definition of ZING

Got into an odd discussion of the word ZING and it's usage.

Internet has it as:

1. Energy, enthusiasm, or liveliness (n)
2. Move swiftly (v)
3. Statement used to acknowledge a zinger - an unkind joke or tease.
4. Irony punctuation mark, ⸮
5. A special feeling and status described in the Hotel Transylvania universe
6. The new term for owned, said after saying something witty to someone in an insulting manner.

Here's a new one - 

• zing (v) - cleverly insulting a friend in a fun and humorous way. 
• zing (interjection) - the sound someone makes after someone has been cleverly insulted in a fun and humorous way

Hamster Wheel Part II

Second week of Gospel Sunday.  Again... I was first to arrive.  Again.... I was last to leave.

But today was different.  Maybe it's because people needed the 1st week to warm up and get into the groove of things.  I'm still physically drained.  But my spirit is exploding.

Starting last night at 10PM....when I had the honor of making subtitles for the video testimony... the tears of joy already started flowing.  One by one, their testimonies echoed the provision and grace of God.  PAL was especially fired up.  His sermon was cut VERY short.  But he preached like Peter on the day of Pentecost (ok... maybe that's a little too much).  When PAL made the altar call.... people didn't just raise their hands... but their hands SHOT UP.  Almost all the newcomers today responded to the altar call.   And God reminded me, "That is why you run your hamster wheel."

Some people sow... some people till the soil... some people water... some people harvest.  And then there are some who run in their hamster wheel.  I'll keep doing what God wants me to do...wherever He puts me.  Praise God for meeting us face to face today.

I'm drowning.... we're drowning...

The kids are in 4th and 2nd grade, respectively.. and we finally enroll them in a somewhat steady Chinese School.  I would've very much rather we started in Kinder/1st and built up from there... but now, we have 2-4 years of catching up!!!  

I can't complain... Joyce finally acknowledged my ONE supplemental class I want the kids to join.  But there comes with a price.

The past week, I've been having to tutor the kids on the basics of basics.  And the worst thing... I don't even know it myself!  I'm googling the official sound/tone/pin-yin, hoping I don't teach them the wrong thing.  

This Chinese School is so demanding!! Homework almost every night.... and for the first time... the FIRST TIME..... I had to miss Prayer Meeting cuz there's just too much going on at home.  

Is this worthed??? Tell me it is.... please.  

My Brother's Birthday

NN has been learning to write paragraphs... here's one she recently wrote. It's amazing how much detail she remembers. Though some of the events are wrong. Brought me to tears...

My Brother’s Birthday

I remember about seven years ago when my brother was born. On May 1 ,  2011 I woke up to see I was sleeping on my parents’ enormous black king sized bed with floral designed covers. Next to me was my grandma sleeping peacefully, I had a strong urge to wake her up and ask for some breakfast. When I finally wake her up she asks me to wait for her to sleep  a few more minutes first. After a few minutes my grandma slowly sits up and yawns, she walks towards the black rectangular dinner table and pulls a cereal box out of the cabinet,then she pulls out some ceramic bowls out and we start eating. A few minutes after eating breakfast daddy bursts into the kitchen and shouts “ The baby is born! The baby is born!” , jumping with giddy he escorts us towards his small gray car. As we head towards the hospital in the car , my daddy tells us that the baby is a boy! When the drive ended I carefully stepped out of the car onto the hospital parking lot. I held my daddy’s hand and I slowly entered the hospital and I walk into my mommy’s room to see that someone else was already there! “Do you want some water?” He kindly asks, I shyly shake my head. I slowly walk towards my mommy’s bed side, I smell cream and baby powder wafting through the air. I ask my mommy if I could hold my new baby brother “ Yes you may.” answered mommy. After I held my baby brother for a long time, I went home happily. My brother is growing up ,but I will never forget the day my brother was born.

Hamster Wheel

Today was tough.... we had our bi-annual Gospel Sunday.  And for some reason...  I worked extra hard today.  Part of it is my failure to properly delegate.  Part of it is I take full ownership of everything.  I ended up being one of the first person at church and one of the last to leave.  Why??? Why work so hard???  Especially during Pastor Alan's altar call..... only 2 ppl raised their hands.  And if my memory serves me right... they've raised their hands before!!! 

Why????  It's like running in a hamster wheel..... doing a whole lot.  Working up a full sweat.... but remaining at the very same spot.

What a waste of time...

Went to a middle school / high school open house today.  Part of the "tour" was to hear a teacher speak on each of the 6th grade subjects.  When we got to Social Studies... my jaw dropped.

Sumerian Empire.  Mesopotamian Civilization.  Ancient Greece.  Ancient Egypt..... etc.. etc...

It's what NN and SW are learning in 4th and 2nd grade respectively. And they're still going to learn that in 6th grade? And as I remember it.... I learned the same sh*t through high school.

And my question is.... Why.  Why do we need to learn this crap???

Do we even need it? Does it make us better?  smarter? more well rounded?

Or is it... just a waste of our time.  Ugh!!!......

Workplace Ministry

It's hard to be an ambassador of the gospel in the work place, especially if HR sets down all these rules and guidelines of what we can or can't do.  And I totally understand and empathize... 

The past few weeks, I picked up a couple of mentees.  In one case, my mentee asked how I was so good with my public speaking and presentation skills.  So I used my ARROWS - Let's Proclaim syllabus as my blueprint.  Printed all over my syllabus were bible verses and bible references.  BOOM!!

Then the other day... a mentee came looking for me, and we went over my pictorial bio.  I have pictures of my family, pictures of Bay Area sports teams, my alma mater... and the Christian fish.  At the end, he made it a point to ask about the fish... and we started talking about church.  He mentioned he stopped going when college started cuz he was too busy.  And as we parted... I slipped in, "Maybe it's time to go back and reconnect." 

It's not every day you get these chances.. but when you do.. jump onto them.

In reality... it's a scary world out there...

This year, we enrolled our kids into Coding class.  It's not really coding - like with C++ or Java.  It's more graphical based.... and the kids follow instructions to make little games for themselves.  SW loves it, cuz he gets to play games.  NN loves it cuz her friends are there...and they use a program similar to MS Paint to create pictures and art. 

The other day... I stopped by early to see what they're doing and to my astonishment, the app they're using is very much like social media.  NN was showing me her account... and the fact she has 11 followers. (FOLLOWERS?!?!)  She mentions that we can create more accounts to follow herself... already, at 9, she's thinking that more equals to more popular equals to "better." 

Then she showed me this game that someone else created.  I asked, "How did you get to that game?"  It turns out, this app is a lot like open source... you can play other people's games and modify other people's code.  The game was a Harry Potter Sorting Hat game... where they asked you a series of questions.  Today... it's asking you, "If you're an animal, what would you be?"  Tomorrow, the questions can be "Are you lonely?" or "Is anyone home with you?" 

After seeing all this... I gave another parent this concerned look like, "Are you hearing this??? Is it must me???" 

To which she game me a sympathetic look.... then texted me, "Make sure you look over their setting.  Scary world." 

It's not just me.... I knew this day would come.  I didn't expect it to come at ages 9 and 7. 

Trust but verify...

Sometimes, it sucks being a "people's manager." We want to encourage our employees... but not bust their confidence.  And in doing so... we lay ourselves out for criticism also.

Case in point... I entrusted an employee to "do the right thing."  I did 90% of the work for this person.  And in the end... she was still able to mess up.  Not only mess up... but mess up in front of the big boss.

I hate getting emails on Sunday night at 10PM asking me, "Why is this so hard???"

Ughhhhhhhhhhh................    You claim their glory when they do right.  You take the blame when they screw up.  It goes both ways. 

Sometimes, I wish I was more strict and ruled with an iron fist.  At least I won't get 10PM emails from the big boss.

情書

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... 虎父无犬子!!

雖然我兒子不是犬.  我自認不是虎爸.  但今次真要跨楊下! 

小小年紀, 竟然收到情書?!

 噢.... 我地find out之後當然冇笑佢。 反以鼓勵佢， 要有禮貌， 要回信。 

寫完信後， 擺落書包。 但係每日放學返嚟， 問佢有冇比信人哋， 佢都話 "唔記得！"

正一大頭蝦!! 又會似我似得咁交關!! 

Whirlwind Week

It all started two Thursdays ago...

Thursday night: big bro and family lands in SFO after 7 years of touring the world.  The prodigal son returns home.  He is so prodigious... he even bought a house in Long Island.  He's so prodigious... he left by himself, but brought back 3 people.  Thursday night.... went out to Top's Cafe to greet my family.  And that little monkey... when he saw me, went completely cartoon googly eyes and said, "二叔!!"  There he is.... I get to spend the rest of his life spoiling him, cuz that's what uncles do.

Friday night: Big bro and family come over for dinner.  Wasn't a big deal.  Wanted to make some comfort food for them so they can relax a bit after a whole day of DMV, school district, and all that jazz.  Made a mini-feast.... everyone ate.... finally heard 阿嫂's version of 六四事件.  Wanted to hang out more and chat... but everyone (including my kids) were zapped.  And we still had Saturday...

Saturday morning: Reunion with 師父 up in Burlingame.  It was actually a bit anti-climatic.  I never had that same emotional bond with him as big bro.  I never had that emotional break-up with him as big bro.  To me... he's my mentor that I looked up to that just fell out of my life 20 years ago.  Getting together with them sure brought back lots of memories.  And also... un-answered questions.

Sunday night: The much anticipated arrival of my one and only 妹.  Big bro and I drive out Sunday night...We picked her up without having to pay for parking (yeah!!!), take her back to AirBnb, which amazingly, is a block from where Joyce lived.  Then we take her and her friend out for a spin.  We head up to Twin Peaks (the wrong way), the we drive through downtown (the wrong way).  Half of downtown is under construction and the other half is being prepped for Dreamforce.  We ended up on 39th floor of the Marriott Hotel and chit chatted like there's no tomorrow.  The sucky thing is... my Mandarin sucks.  So so bad....

Monday - Tuesday: I'm playing virtual tour-guide. And also trying to plan for the next day.  It's so nice to see people enjoy my city (SF, not San Jose).  I'm precariously living my life through them cuz I know I'll never ride a cable for $8.  Or eat crab and shrimp at Fisherman's Wharf for $50.  Or bike up the Marina Greens to the Bridge cuz it's freakin' freezin cold!!!  And then.... had to play last minute audible to see what Wednesday was like.

Wednesday:  The plans kept on changing up to the last minute.  And by the time the dust settled, I was driving to meet up with her... while calling my daughter's best friend's mom...to get a hold of her husband... to see if he can give us a tour of facebook HQ.  My entire plan from Tuesday night was now turned upside down.... but it's all good.  I must've broken like 10 driving laws in that 15 minute span... but I finally found Ah妹.

And away we went.  We first hit up Infinity Loop.  Then hit up the new Apple Park.  Next, it was Dim Sum with the relatives.  And he hurried up 101 to Facebook HQ (jaw-dropping tour). We then sped down to Google and met up with Dr. Martin.  Then I got lost trying to find Stanford.  Been there a 1000 times.... but this time, I relied too much on technology.

Traffic was nice...because I got to really chat with Ah妹.  At one point, I simply said, "Tell me about yourself and your upbringing."  I had just a few hours to get to know my little sister.  No time for small talk.

Walking around Stanford was also fun.  It was the first week of school and a lot of welcome back parties.  We crashed into a psychology department social... and fit right in. (She was the student, I looked like a professor).  We grabbed two waters (could've grabbed 2 beers) and ran.  HA!!

We then sped (I use that term loosely) down to Cheesecake Factory for dinner with Big Bro and his family with Ah 妹.  I couldn't wait for my kids to meet their 姑姐.  The service was subpar.... and we were drained after dinner/dessert.

But oh..... there's more.  I had set up Ah妹 on a blind date with one of my friends at Meet Fresh.  HA!!!  No harm no foul....if it works out, great.  If it doesn't... they each make a new friend.  I even developed a secret signal with her.  If she's into him.... I will leave, and he will take her home.  If she's not feeling it... I'll make an excuse and go home.  Within 5 minutes... I had a feeling this wasn't going anywhere.  But Meet Fresh was especially slow.... and what could've been 5 minutes (speed dating) turned into an agonizing 45 minutes.  Such it is....

She had an early flight to catch the next day... so we got home, cleaned up and slept.  Or tried to....

Thursday: Because she had an early flight at SFO... and because I didn't want to oversleep and cause her to miss her flight... I was so anxious I woke up every hour.  Wasn't able to get deep sleep.  Finally got up around 5:30AM and made coffee while waiting for her to get ready.  She was ready to go....on the dot... 6:30AM, as she promised.

The airport was a blur.  We got there, parked, got her bag checked in and.................. the moment of separation finally hit.  At that moment, there were so many things I wanted to tell her.  How special she is to me.  How I've always wanted a sister... and now I have one.  How I wish she will immigrate to the US and the West Coast.  But all that..... never made it out of my mouth.  All I can say was, "順風！"  Gave her a hug.... and sent her on her merry way.

The rest of the day was a daze.  Wednesday took a huge toll on my body, with all the walking and driving.  And Wednesday night, I did not sleep well.  I was a walking zombie all day Thursday. Ended up going home a bit early... so I can take a nap.

Whirlwind ain't over yet.......... oh no.

Friday: After picking up the kids... we stayed and played, as usual.  And then we had to trudge through traffic, head up to Burlingame, and celebrate MIL's bday.  Dinner was short and sweet.  And on the way back down to Sunnyvale, I saw that it was just 7:30PM.  I asked Joyce if I can head to Mission Conference.  She said "Are you nuts??? You'll be late...."  I said, "Bah... knowing our church, we won't start the sermon until 8:15PM."

But God was merciful on me... around Mt View... we ran into bumper to bumper traffic on a Friday night.  So I didn't get to Sunnyvale until 8:15.  No way I was going down to church now.

So that night... we got home... I popped open a couple of beers.  And rested..... cuz, y'know... Saturday and Sunday was Mission Conference.

And I'll just end here.... the end of my Whirlwind Week.  I'm tired just having to type out that experience.... phew!