In I don't know how many years... SJCAC didn't have a Christmas Eve service. I didn't realize how much I would miss it. It's a personal tradition to have some type of service or mass on Christmas Eve. I was a little taken off guard to a point... I didn't know how to find a place to worship.
Went online. Typed the typical search words "Christmas Eve Service San Jose" or "Chinese Church Christmas Eve Service." I even wanted to take the kids to a Southern Baptist Church and watch some African American choir truly truly sing and worship!!!
In the end... we ended up going to River of Life church in Santa Clara. The one Chinese Megachurch in the bay area. And oh my was I impressed. No wonder they're a mega-church. No wonder they've sucked so many SJCAC-ers out of uhm... SJCAC.
Punctuality -- I got there at 5:59PM for the 6PM service. And on the dot... they said, "We're at capacity. Service is starting. Please sit in the overflow section." They started on time!!
Overflow -- the amount of seats and number of people in their overflow section was greater than the entire SJCAC Christmas Night. Not a competition... but embarrassing!!
Accents -- their English, even the pastor translating for Pastor Lau into English, has a heavy Chinese accent. That's almost the norm there. To speak with perfect American English, is the minority!!
Lack of YA -- just like SJCAC... there's a huge lack of Young Adult (or C&C). I guess all the College and Careers are hangin' out at the American Mega-churches (Abundant Life).
Creativity to the Max -- the Christmas Service turned out to be a Christmas Variety show. But they were so creative!! "Stall Walls" -- a parody of Star Wars of Luke and Leia trying to find the true "Force." Three Wise Men from the East - 東方三才子 where the three wise men are 魯子，孔子，孟子. Lao-zi who admits his philosophy is "lousy". Confucius who says his philosophy is "confusing." And Menicus who confesses that his mom moved three times for real estate reasons!! Hilarious!!! Puts our CNY performances to shame!!
Candlelight / Glowstick Service - every Christmas Eve has it... the candlelight service. But ROLCC was smart enough to prepare green and red glow sticks for the kids. Brilliant!!! (pun intended)
The Legendary Pastor Lau -- I never knew him... but I guess he was the former SJCAC Mandarin Pastor. And for whatever reason, he left SJCAC. Look at him now. Man... he was charismatic. He's a short, fat and balding Chinese man. But he had charisma. And his wife. You don't want to mess with her. I guess "chosen ones" from the Lord simply oozes with the aura.
General Population - A lot of mainlanders. No wonder this church is booming. It's totally capitalizing on the mandarin population. They have a small English and Cantonese congregation. Where are all the Cantonese people going.....?
Cantonese Population in Bay Area - in my search for a Chinese Church, it was pretty fun to find all these Cantonese churches outside of SJCAC. Makes me wonder... makes me think... should I go explore? Just to see? What if I see what I like.. I don't come back????
The one thing that irritated me.... was when I was the first in the overflow section. I stood in the front row and stood up to worship the Lord. About 5 minutes later... the Overflow section started filling up and then an usher came up to me and asked me to sit down. I was pissed!!!! In my best Mandarin, I said to him, "敬拜神不是應該站起來的嗎??" The usher had nothing to say but, "不好意思!" People!! We're here to worship God.... worship our Lord and Savior... not to watch a show.
Nui-nui loved it. And I hope to instill in her... that every Christmas Eve, the Leung family will find a place to worship our Lord.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Hoopla and Overdrive
Finally took the plunge and dove into the world of free multi-media books, movies and music. Downloaded the Apps Hoopla and Overdrive so I can get stuff from the library for free. FREE!!! How is that even possible?? I don't even need to leave my house to listen to the latest Star Wars soundtrack, to read the latest Rick Riordan series, or to rent "Elf" for my kids.
I'm so out of technology.... so old... so jaded.
And the first movie I "rent" for free... Love Never Dies (Phantom of the Opera II). And ohhhhhh.... it's so bad. So so bad.....
I'm so out of technology.... so old... so jaded.
And the first movie I "rent" for free... Love Never Dies (Phantom of the Opera II). And ohhhhhh.... it's so bad. So so bad.....
Saturday, December 12, 2015
That's a first...
On business travel earlier this week. And on a Tuesday night, without scheduling dinner with any of my work friends... I found myself with an entire evening of solitude.
So I took myself out to a nice (very nice) steak dinner - at my favorite steakhouse Shanahan's. Then I went to catch a movie.
"Ticket for 1, please." How sad. All by myself. I still remember those final years of 7th - 8th grade when I didn't have any friends... I went to so many movies by myself.
The kid selling tickets at the booth was in college. He was studying for his Calculus final. Time would've probably be better spent if I tutored him a little. HA!
I walk into the theater... it's a ghost town. My movie was one of the last two showings in this megaplex. And when I got into my auditorium.... it was empty.
Watching a movie by myself... a thousand miles away from home... in an empty theater. Well.... that's a first!!!
So I took myself out to a nice (very nice) steak dinner - at my favorite steakhouse Shanahan's. Then I went to catch a movie.
"Ticket for 1, please." How sad. All by myself. I still remember those final years of 7th - 8th grade when I didn't have any friends... I went to so many movies by myself.
The kid selling tickets at the booth was in college. He was studying for his Calculus final. Time would've probably be better spent if I tutored him a little. HA!
I walk into the theater... it's a ghost town. My movie was one of the last two showings in this megaplex. And when I got into my auditorium.... it was empty.
Watching a movie by myself... a thousand miles away from home... in an empty theater. Well.... that's a first!!!
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Disgusted!!
I love Costco. I love walking down the aisles and aisles of underpriced bulk items that I never seem to need. And I love the $4.99 chicken that I can never make. But Costco is one of the most disgusting places that is a direct reflection of greed and selfishness.
The other day in the foodcourt... I see a man in his late fifties with a hotdog and a drink ($1.50--beautiful!!). He had two plastic water cups... for water?? No!! He was pumping away and filling both cups with relish and onions. REALLY??? You're gonna put all that on your hot dog??? Or do you have some weird fetish where instead of chips and salsa, you eat chips and relish/onions??
A few months ago during the summer... when half the bay area was BBQ-ing... I saw this couple with a cooler and giant sized plastic bags by the soda machine. They were filling up those bags with ice and sticking it in the cooler. They didn't even have the decency to let us soda drinkers get our ice. REALLY??? How much is a pound of ice at Lucky's?????
Ohhhh... and the return line. A few times I've personally witnessed people returning items without receipts that are over 2-3 years old. And Costco still accepts them!! "Sir.. .I can't find your receipt so I can only give you the most current listed price." One guy returned a shirt. Another couple returned a dog cushion. Some guy had the nerve to return an air filter!!
Not to mention the people who make beelines and tackles everyone along the way to get a free sample. And those are the very same people who leave their carts and clog up the aisles.
I mean.... REALLY??? REALLY?????
The other day in the foodcourt... I see a man in his late fifties with a hotdog and a drink ($1.50--beautiful!!). He had two plastic water cups... for water?? No!! He was pumping away and filling both cups with relish and onions. REALLY??? You're gonna put all that on your hot dog??? Or do you have some weird fetish where instead of chips and salsa, you eat chips and relish/onions??
A few months ago during the summer... when half the bay area was BBQ-ing... I saw this couple with a cooler and giant sized plastic bags by the soda machine. They were filling up those bags with ice and sticking it in the cooler. They didn't even have the decency to let us soda drinkers get our ice. REALLY??? How much is a pound of ice at Lucky's?????
Ohhhh... and the return line. A few times I've personally witnessed people returning items without receipts that are over 2-3 years old. And Costco still accepts them!! "Sir.. .I can't find your receipt so I can only give you the most current listed price." One guy returned a shirt. Another couple returned a dog cushion. Some guy had the nerve to return an air filter!!
Not to mention the people who make beelines and tackles everyone along the way to get a free sample. And those are the very same people who leave their carts and clog up the aisles.
I mean.... REALLY??? REALLY?????
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
Thursday, November 26, 2015
The Wisdom of Solomon
Been on a streak recently... blogging about how I punish the kids.
This time they got caught fighting over a toy. They knew they were in trouble... but they didn't know how much trouble they were in. They have us figured out... good cop bad cop. When one parent is the enforcer, the other parent will come to the rescue. Not this time.
So I go into the room and grab their night light. And I say, "I will spank one of you, not both. I'm going to throw this night light. The person who catches it... will spare getting spanked."
I toss it up... Nn obviously catches it. She's taller, faster and probably understood the rules. SW stood there helplessly... not knowing what happened... except he was gonna get spanked. I felt bad... so I did it again. This time, ensuring SW had a chance to catch it. He grabs it and Nn is scared.
She starts crying, "I don't want to get spanked."
I say, "Ok... if I don't spank you, do you want me to spank SW?"
She says, "I don't want him to be spanked and I don't want to get spanked either."
So I turn to SW... "Do you want to get spanked?"
He shakes his head.
Then I said, "Do you want me to spank gah-jeh?"
He nods!!!
It took me all I had to keep from laughing..... #&@%&!* What do I do now?????
This time they got caught fighting over a toy. They knew they were in trouble... but they didn't know how much trouble they were in. They have us figured out... good cop bad cop. When one parent is the enforcer, the other parent will come to the rescue. Not this time.
So I go into the room and grab their night light. And I say, "I will spank one of you, not both. I'm going to throw this night light. The person who catches it... will spare getting spanked."
I toss it up... Nn obviously catches it. She's taller, faster and probably understood the rules. SW stood there helplessly... not knowing what happened... except he was gonna get spanked. I felt bad... so I did it again. This time, ensuring SW had a chance to catch it. He grabs it and Nn is scared.
She starts crying, "I don't want to get spanked."
I say, "Ok... if I don't spank you, do you want me to spank SW?"
She says, "I don't want him to be spanked and I don't want to get spanked either."
So I turn to SW... "Do you want to get spanked?"
He shakes his head.
Then I said, "Do you want me to spank gah-jeh?"
He nods!!!
It took me all I had to keep from laughing..... #&@%&!* What do I do now?????
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Power Outage
Had a power outage last night. Without anything to do... I went to sleep at 9pm and woke up at 5am. 8 hrs of sleep. Wow!! We should have power outages more often.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Punishment - WITH AUTHORITY!!! and honor....
Nn has been doing headstands on her couch and bed. Kids have a much more flexible body and chances are, she won't get hurt. Heck, I remember doing that when I was young. But I can't take the chance. So after 2-3 warnings today (TODAY!!!) she did it again and she got punished.
I made her stand aside. And started questioning her what she did wrong.
Right away, she knew.
Ok... now instead of me berating her and threatening to punish her, I ask her, "How do you want me to punish you??"
Her first response, "Instead of you... I'll have mah-mee take me to school tomorrow."
(Awwwwww........ she thinks that bah-bee taking her to school is a gift and blessing!!! How sweeet!!!!!)
But I couldn't let that moment of glory ruin the moment. I was still trying to teach her a lesson.
She ended up saying, "No dessert tomorrow."
Ok....
But woot!! woot!! Bah-bee rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I made her stand aside. And started questioning her what she did wrong.
Right away, she knew.
Ok... now instead of me berating her and threatening to punish her, I ask her, "How do you want me to punish you??"
Her first response, "Instead of you... I'll have mah-mee take me to school tomorrow."
(Awwwwww........ she thinks that bah-bee taking her to school is a gift and blessing!!! How sweeet!!!!!)
But I couldn't let that moment of glory ruin the moment. I was still trying to teach her a lesson.
She ended up saying, "No dessert tomorrow."
Ok....
But woot!! woot!! Bah-bee rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Sunday, November 08, 2015
骨氣
今日小華做錯野，我要佢罰企。 罰企係由七點十七分開始， 我同佢講望住個鐘， 七點二十分就可以走。
我就行開咗落樓下做啲野，七點二十六分返到上嚟，小華仍然企喺度，冇郁過。 佢阿媽問佢點解企係到， 小華答佢阿媽媽話，「爸B唔返嚟，叫我可以郁，我自己長期企喺度。」
好！不愧為我嘅仔！，雖然有啲蠢，但係有骨氣！
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Sunday, November 01, 2015
Time Machine
Been wanting to bring the kids to the San Jose Main Library for a while now. But it's a little out of the way and there's no free parking (except on Sundays). When we got there...and walked by the Tully's Coffee cafe, an immense wave of emotions rushed at me. Martin Luther King Jr. was the first "obstacle" at Joseph Fellowship's 1st Amazing Race.
Still remember setting up the entire race. Still remember sitting in the cafe... and one by one... members of Joseph Fellowship shows up for their challenge. Still remember walking around the library with Joyce, weeks ahead, planning everything. Coming up with the silliest challenges.
Where has the creativity gone? Why can't we do stuff like that anymore? And if we did do that... would people even want to play?
I almost wanna say... life was much simpler back then.
And the final leg of the race... was our house warming party. Wow... it's been 10 years already.
Still remember setting up the entire race. Still remember sitting in the cafe... and one by one... members of Joseph Fellowship shows up for their challenge. Still remember walking around the library with Joyce, weeks ahead, planning everything. Coming up with the silliest challenges.
Where has the creativity gone? Why can't we do stuff like that anymore? And if we did do that... would people even want to play?
I almost wanna say... life was much simpler back then.
And the final leg of the race... was our house warming party. Wow... it's been 10 years already.
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