怎去猜想惡夢會變真

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 160

Aye.... finally got around to start editing the CNY video.  I'm just yanking my hair out... Is it me??? Are my expectations too high?? Why can't I work with the Two Lost Sons cast and crew again??? 嗚... 嗚.... 

I figured it out!!!

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 158

Following the theme of troubleshooting for mom... I walked into a new method of troubleshooting that is somewhat effective... but won't come near of me blowing a gasket.  Taking a page out of the Karaoke Guys running customer service over Whatsapp... I started doing that with mom over WeChat over text.

I'll just dictate everything... the phone/app is smart enough to type out or record the words... and we go step by step.  Not very efficient... no.  But I think if we removing the tone and pitch of each other's voices... the process can actually be pretty effective.

I even put a spin on it... like how the robot customer service program follows up with polite questions like, "Is there anything I can help you with?"  or "I am quite sorry, would you mind repeating your question? I am having a hard time understanding."  

Heh.... now if only I can get mom to fill out a Customer Satisfaction survey.  

點五步

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 157

Haven't watched a Hong Kong movie in a long time - for various reasons. Access, content, quality... Yesterday while Netflix surfing - came across the movie 點五步 (Weeds on Fire). It's a typical underdog, come from behind, coming of age, reality-sucks, Disney movie.  A Hong Kong version of the Bad News Bear.... where a bunch of the worst students in the city are brought together by a messianic coach... played by 廖啟智... in the name of baseball... in pursue of shedding their image of being losers and demonstrate that they can find strength in numbers. 

Maybe cuz I haven't watched HK Films in a while... this one really stands out... for the writer and director's ability to interweave so many themes into one movie and have it flow in 90 minutes.

• friendships falling apart as time goes on
• baseball - stepping onto the mound (點五步)
• win as a team... lose as a team
• life growing up in a 屋村 - how small and tiny the units actually are.  TVB does a horrible job with this
• in spite of the impoverished 屋村 lifestyle, there are some who see that getting selected for 屋村 is like hitting the jackpot
• teenage romance - being shy and not even mustering the courage to even talk to a girl
• teenage pregnancy - keep your D in your pants!!
• parents marrying and falling out of love at old age
• parents having sex in a tiny house where there's no privacy... gut punch
• aging parents with aging libido... punch, but a tad lower than the gut... 
• extra-marital affair
• humiliation of a loss
• exuberance of a win
• being the best of the best - so you can look down on everyone
• being the best of the best - so others can look up to you
• the one teacher, coach, figure in your life... who won't give up on you, when you've given up on yourself
• and the most memorable scene of this movie.... as the kids were being forced to run up the hills... the end up on top of a mountain with a cross.  They line up and get a scolding from their coach.  As the camera pans out looking down at the team... and aiming at the hillside with the cross... you see across the horizontal bar the words... 

A lifetime of investment...

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 155

All those years of troubleshooting over the phone with mom really paid off today. Oh my...did it ever. For some reason... PAL is obsessed with having someone share every week for Sunday Service. I told him, "No" in the beginning, saying it's too much pressure to find people. People generally are reluctant to share... let alone they're camera shy... let alone everyone is busy as a bee. But here I am... interviewing someone over the phone because they don't know how to record themselves.

Zoom. I tried sending a link and say, "Just click the link." Nope... hurdle after hurdle. Install this. Update that. "Did you send it?" "I can't see it?" "Did you email it to my iPad or phone?" Top it off... this older sister is hard of hearing who tends to raise the volume of her voice. Ended up using the Video Call feature on WeChat on one phone... while recording a video with my other phone. Heh...

And because she's hard of hearing... she'll have the phone directly under her nose.  Every time I say... "Pull away so we can see your beautiful face..." within 2 seconds, I see all the black heads on her nose again.  

I tell her to use her headphones... and she pulls out old skool headphones without a mic!!  She can hear me fine.... but I can't hear her.  What a disaster.  

Funny thing was... she seemed to enjoy the company.  And I did too.  I love making side comments and hearing people laugh.  

Thursday night... I was so happy to be done.  Sent it to the team for inclusion into the overall video only to get a call from the Editor in Chief.... "I'm afraid we need to make some edits.  I'm afraid if we go with the video as-is... someone can get hurt." Hahhahahahaha..... 

It's all good.... for some odd reason, you have the shortest patience with your parents and your kids.  With outsiders, there's always an extra ounce in the tank.  And in the end... I think everyone's goals were achieved, perhaps.  And all it took... was a lifetime of training to get to where I am today. 

還是覺得你最好

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 152

Starting this year... Joyce and I made the decision that we will start attending virtual church on Sunday with the kids.  We've tried having them join the Cantonese service.  We've tried separating into two rooms where they follow the English Service and we watch CS in the living room.  But in the end... they're unable to focus (can't blame them).  And it certainly felt like...more than ever... we need to come together as a family.

Every week though... as I sit and watch Ted or Douglas preach, off on the side, I have PAL going on the laptop.  It's actually a bit distracting... but for some reason, I kinda, needa that going in parallel.  

This week... ES finished early... so I was able to jump back onto the CS service to catch the final 10 minutes.  Ohhhhh.... it made a world of a difference.  To hear my mother language, to hear Chris and Sam's voice, to pray together... I felt at home.  I felt a sense of belonging.  

Heh... I guess I am that old, Chinese man afterall.  Afterall.  

怎去猜想這夢會變真 - 2021

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 152

Is this really happening?? Is another dream of my going to come true?? (Not the dream from last night, btw... though, that would be an amazing dejavu if it does happen)

I'm a little skeptical this time.  This time the level of difficulty has surged.  And the people just don't have the talent or dedication as the cast from the Two Lost Sons.  Oh me... oh my...  But as I told Ken and Hody... at the end... if this all goes to down the drain... I had fun doing it.  No harm, no foul.  Easy come, easy go.

21 days to showtime....

Power of Words

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 151

Dreamnt of a VP last night. We were at some professional gathering and I saw with him and a bunch of folks from work. As he got up to leave... he came back and put his hand on my shoulder. He asked me, "Hank... what do you think will be the last words said before the world comes to an end?"

Without missing a beat... (in my dream), I said that, "There is a dichomoty of everything. The Yin to the Yang. The Good to the Bad. The Black to the White. And since the first words spoke upon the creation is 'Light' (Gen 1:3), the last word to be said will be 'Dark.' "

Dang... I woke up and even I was impressed with myself.  HA! 

Cancel Culture

 COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 149

It's been reported that the San Francisco Board of Education voted to rename a number of schools that bore names of "American Heroes" that have a checkered past. George Washington is no longer the Founding Father... but the 1st President who was a slave owner. Abraham Lincoln, the man who literally freed slavery treated Indigenous People unfairly. Senator Diane Feinstein, a woman who pioneered the breakage of the glass ceiling, chose to raise the Confederate Flag at a Government Building of her hometown San Francisco. What are we teaching our children? That no one is exempted? What are we teaching our children about perfection? About forgiveness.

Ironically... I brought this up in a training session with a bunch of other leaders at work. Stating that societal forces are changing our work... our future. Hours later... I realized that there was an African American person in that group. I wonder what she was thinking when I made those remarks.

Slider

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 147

The family was on the couch watching TV.... I come crashing down next to Joyce after another long day.  I kick off my slippers to let my toesies get some air.  And she aptly makes a sour face... takes the throw and covers my feet.

"I'm sorry. I have sweaty feet!!"
"I know...."

As Tom Cruise so famously said in Top Gun.... "Slider... *sniff*... you stink." 

Minority

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 146

Had fellowship tonight. Maybe due to recent events... maybe due to my own doing for introducing the topic... but man... I'm the minority in this group... at this church!! The things they say... the things they believe in!! Seriously?!?! Geez!!! And I can't say anything... I don't think... cuz it might lead to huge arguments and probable loss of friendship and fellowship.  Sigh.... to be in the minority.  Heh... 

Order to Go

 COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157  School Reopens - Day 145

A dear friend of ours, his wife and his son came down with COVID.  As a church family... we banded together to deliver them meals. When I saw sign up list... I jumped on right away.  This family has selflessly served so many people over the years.  Their children have been a constant in Children and Youth ministries.  They're a pillar of our church.  It's the least I can do.  

Heh... after I signed up... I started wondering.... will they see my name and go, "Uhhhh..... can we have some real chefs sign up please???"  Heh...

I put a lot of thought into it.  I even sampled the food along the way to ensure it was palatable.  I never do that for the fam.... I just cook and they get what they get.  It was an honor to serve this family.  I dropped off the Order to Go, busted a U and was headed home when the dad came out to wave.  So nice seeing my brother in Christ.  

And as I was heading home I realized... wait... I forgot to make rice!!!  They have a bunch of food and dessert... but they'll have to make rice and wait another 30-45 minutes.  Oops!! Rookie mistake.