Open Gym

 Went to my first volleyball open gym since... i dunno.. high school??!?

It was actually a means to get SW a chance to touch the ball a bit before tryouts.  Got there and I immediately start making small talk... with old and young.  I guess people generally like friendly people... not necessarily talkative people.  And got SW signed up with a team that had 5.... which I guess was a bad move... as I find out later on.  He wanted to find his own team... a team of peers and maybe folks that weren't as good.  

As for me... I start roaming around and find a father son team.  We had a threesome.  And slowly.. we figured out the house rules of 2 and out.  We slowly formed a team of 6 and we waited to get on. I wasn't nervous but I knew within a few serves, I was not in volleyball shape.

I couldn't get down to pass.  My timing was so bad with my hits.  The "kids", or the 30 year olds, were out-jousting and over-dinking me.  The only thing I can do... oddly enough... was set!! Got so many compliments on my soft, impeccable hand and bump sets.  I was actually amazed how perfect they were.  Haha...

At the end of the night... I didn't even get one clean hit.  And now... I'm paying for it.  Sore in my neck, arms, thighs, calves.  Ohhhhhh.... pain never felt so good.  

Accredidation

 On this day... I officially left SJCAC and have become a charter member of New Vine.  I asked a dear sister... who also made the transition from SJ to NV. 有沒有心酸? 有沒有感觸?

She said. Not really.  Maybe she didn't understand my question.  Or maybe... she did... and she felt exactly like us.  Not really.  Not so much.  

To new beginnings..!! CHEERS!! 

40 Days of Prayer and Fasting

After a weeklong holiday full of tension and angst... we've decided to come together to pray and fast during our 40 Day Prayer Journey. 

Day 3... and we've settled to praying together after dinner at the dinner table. The kids don't resist... it's almost like those days when we prayed as a family during advent.

As for fasting...  SW is fasting Crash Royale.  NN is fasting Tik Tok, Youtube, IG, and her favorite game Rock Blast.  Joyce is fasting Royal Crush... a mobile game she's been playing for over 2 years.  And me....I'm fasting speeding.

Not even 6 hours into day one... NN started to regret overfasting.  And now on Day 3... they've re-neg'ed.  SW is now fasting social media but he can play Crash Royale.  NN still fasts Rock Blast... but she's changed her fasting to doom scrolling.  She can still watch long videos.  

Heh... let's see how long this lasts.  

My little girl is growing up...

 After a bout of senseless, meaningless, valueless infighting... NN and I sat down and discussed our differences.  She was quite mature... to a point where she asked for some time and space, wrote out her thoughts and read it to me in a calm manner.  At the end... I told her my thoughts and in summary... I see so much of me in her.  To a point, I don't want her to turn into me.  I don't want her to win every argument but lose the fight.  I don't want her to always be right.  I don't want her to ostracize those around her, even if it's by the rules.  My biggest fear for my little girl.... is she'll become like me. 

My boy is growing up...

 In one of the most heartbreaking yet much needed revelatory talk I had with my son... he announced to me that one of the biggest regrets of his life, was when neither momma or Bah B was present when he received his NJSF certificate.  Joyce and I, together, can count, on one hand, how many of his performances or events.  And yet... the one event... the one seemingly insignificant to us, event, turned out to have left the biggest void in his life.  He values, above all, his own academic achievements.  And we... as parents, both failed to acknowledge that.  

He was bursting in tears.  And it took all my 40+ year's strength... to hold back my own.  My boy... all grown up. 

Looking back at 2025

Let the haters hate.... and let the nay sayers say... but I'm going to claim we've hit the quarter century mark. Still remember quarter century ago... we were soooo scared of Y2K.  Then when 2000 rolled over... we were scared of 2001.  (Make up your mind, humanity...). I've always liked the word "Quarter."  Football and Basketball games are divided into Quarters... unlike Halves and Periods.  The dollar is most easily made up of Quarters.  Quarters were used for pay phone, laundry, meters, vending machines, newspaper stands.  It was easily the most powerful and versatile of the US currency, forever embellized by (arguably) the greatest president in US history. The clock is divided into quarters.  Arguably... modern maps and globes are divided into quarters... following wind a game of mah jong being split up similarly.  The word itself... stands alone and stands on top. Beginning with the rare "Qu-".  At the end of typing all this... I peek over at my 建東銀行 calendar and realize it's 2026.  It's a quarter + 1.  Dang it!!  And with that... here we go.... my annual top 10 when looking back at 2025... our quarter +1 century mark. 

1. Year of the Rat - It started in 2025 and carried into 2026.  Ratatoullie.  Mickey and Minnie. Pinky and the Brain? Omg.... that first night hearing rustling under the bed.  That one night when I felt something licking or chewing my foot.  That first day of grabbing a cup of noodle in the garage and seeing it all chewed into.  That morning bout of fighting and chasing it in the kitchen only to see it run up the fireplace.  It all culminated with the war that ended all wars,.. inside NN's room. Even now, I have PTSD when I walk down the stairs every morning... expecting to see a gray blur scurrying in and out of the kitchen cupboards and counters.  It's almost been a year... and I still have my mouse traps lying around... just in case. 
2. Birth of SBAM - Towards the end of last year... I was asked to take over our Stennis and Michoud sites.  With a new leader rising on the horizon... and a seasoned leader sunsetting... in the midst of uncertainties and operational issues... I started making that familiar trip to Louis Armstrong.  My goal was once every two months... if not more.  My photo albums started to fill up with gumbos and jamalayas and rice and beans.  While my United mileage started to creep up to the [mini] Apex of Silver Status.  
3. Pecha Kucha - I never doubted I was going to deliver... but to deliver to a room of 150-200 leaders, culminating in a standing ovation was unexpected. I didn't think I was going to top that... only to find myself 2 months later... giving an About Me presentation now to almost a 1000 employees... and getting the customary accolades followed by random strangers sending me IM's like, "Thank you. I felt heard."  Feel sorry for the people that had to follow me... *snicker
4. Return to Worship Team including Missions Conference - 3 summers ago... I went to take a drumming class just to have some fun.  Huda thunk I would eventually make it back on stage as part of the worship team.  And on the first day of returning I teamed with NN.  Followed by checking yet another item off my church-bucket-list of being on the worship team at Mission Conference!!!  Let's see if I'll be around for Deeper Life.... and if that works out... then the last thing, I think, on the church bucket list would be to translate for Deeper Life!!! Will it happen.....???  Doubtful... but ask me 4 years ago and I didn't think I was gonna be drumming either.
5. Glamping / Disney - So many things to write about... so many things that happened.  Just gotta give thanks for family trips that I need to cherish as we slowly run low on time with us as a family unit of 4 where we go on trips together.  Next time... it could be 3.  Or it could be 5.  Who knows?!?
6. Juli (RIP) - that last thought was actually planted by a friend, colleague, co-worker, boss.  She just came back from a trip to Italy with her family of four.. saying those exact words about this being a family trip for four.  I didn't realize how big an impact this would have on me.  Occasionally... I'll see actresses like Kristen Wiig that give off Juli vibes.  Or we'll be talking... and inevitably... someone will accidentally call Andrea, Juli.  Or even that moment... when I had to formally and finally remove her from my TEAMS Chat List.  I find solace... that I was able to travel with her one final time, broke bread, shared lives, and created so many fond memories.  Her legacy will live on forever. 
7. East Coast Trip - I tell everyone, including my kids, I love them equally.  There is no bias or favortism.  And yet... I like them differently.  Not one more than the other... they're just different.  And this year... NN did not make the list in spite of everything we've gone, and continue to go through.  Having led with that.... I spoke to SW on the phone on Tuesday or Wednesday of the ECT and asked if he was partnering with anyone to the boat dance.  He aptly said yes... and as a father would... my fatherly advice was, "Treat her with respect."  Friday night.... pictures start leaking online.... and one by one... you see his friends pop up.  And then his friend group is there but he's not with them!! Where is he?!?!?  Then finally... one of the moms popped a picture of a table with both guys and girls.  Initially... I thought it was the girl sitting NEXT to him.  Come to realize... that was her "wing-woman."  SW's partner was the girl across from him.... and as the days turn into weeks... into months....turns out they're in a steady relationship! (Very cute, wholesome, and innocent).  To a point... where SW met the girl's mom at graduation!!!  And then... come one long summer... they ended up separating due to long distance... and then... they're back together?!?!?!?!?  What's going on????? All my preaching about no dating until college... out the door when the rubber meets the road.... 
8. Colonsocopy - sometime, in 2023-24 (I forget), I got fat.  Really fat.  My stomach stuck out so far it was embarrassing. One time...mom saw me and acted "surprised."  She held her comments back but I knew.  I knew!!  Then this year... I finally signed up for my delayed colonoscopy, which preceded with fasting.  I parlayed on the 2 days of not eating with another 3 days of complete fast followed by a month long period of no carb diet.... doubled down with running and high intensity interval training.  I've since boomeranged back to a normal human being (heh), and eliminated by bouts of chips and soda binging. Now 15 lbs lighter... the kids say, "you're so skinny now, Bah B." 
9. 8 Mile - How often are resolutions kept??? Heh... still remember in the beginning of 2025... when SW burned me in both long and short distance running that I committed to run a 10 minute mile.  Only for him to challenge me to run it in 9.  Only for me to push it to the brink to run an 8 minute mile.  Fast forward into 2026... SW joins the cross country team... making huge strides that I may have achieved at my best and healthiest days as a teen... and he is my pacer.  He tells me he'll pace me for a 8:30... since I just hit my 9 minute mark... and during those 4 laps... I can tell he stretched me and pushed me.  7:56.... on the 4th lane.  It was faster than that!! All I needed... was a little push...  
10. Day of Reckoning - and with a little push... it came down to needing that little push that shoved me to my day of reckoning.  3/19th... and everything goes down (or up?) from there.  Only time will tell.  

2025 went by fast.  As did the first quarter of the century.  Will this blog even be around to catch the next 25....?? Let's not get ahead of ourselves... let's take this one step at a time... one moment at a time...