Past our prime..

Went to dinner with Anderson and the Short and Stubs last night.  Originally, we planned to relive our glory days and do some damage at Hot Pot City.  Only to find that it's permanently closed!! Much to our surprise and probably a blessing in disguise to our tummies.  Instead we go over to a little Penang restaurant.  Followed by milk tea at a yuppie/techie joint in Milpitas Square. 

Man!! I felt so out of place.  The place was bright... noisy... stuffy. Rather go to some lounge or wine bar and sip on a cab. 

And the night ended with Anderson getting a text, "Crap! I gotta go! Wife is gonna kill me." We have curfews. HA!

Exhausted

Got done with my buddy's Memorial Service.  Everything is still sinking in.  Ironically, I was his Wedding Coordinator.  And today... I Coordinated his Dad's memorial service. 

The days leading up to it was very murky.  Even the day of... everything was semi-chaotic.  The theme of the day was "play it by ear."  Couldn't get a lot of details from him... let alone the funeral home.  

The moment that truly struck home... At the burial site when the casket was being lowered... The mother of the deceased started wailing. Screaming. Crying.

Luckily most of what she was saying was in Shanghainese and I couldn't understand it. But one thing that I did understand and will forever echo in my head...."阿瑞啊！我生你出離架！你點可以咁走啊！？"

Even the most heartless person can feel the pain of a mother watching her son being buried. Who.... I say who.... Didn't shed a tear of compassion?!

And after all was said and done... I am exhausted. More tired than when I coordinated their weeding!!! Geez... Then again... Their wedding was over 8 years ago. I was a much younger lad then.

Remodel - Day ????

A newly remodeled home.  I move home on March 26th.  And we get hit with the first heat wave of the year.  I turn on the AC.... ahhhhhhh.... cool air.  But after a few hours... I wonder to myself, "Why am I sweating?!?"  and "Why is the air still blowing???"


I walk outside to check the A/C system.....  #*$(!($)@$@!!$ - the A/C doesn't work!!! 




This morning... I leave for work.  While wearing socks, I step into my garage and BAM!!! I step into a pool of water.  My garage is flooded.


WTH!!!!!  Where is the leak?!??!?!?!


A newly remodeled house.  AC doesn't work. Plumbing doesn't work. 


I give a call to the GC cuz I supposedly have a 1 year warranty on all the work. 
He replies... "You can call XYZ Plumbing.  And you can pay them directly."


#smh

What really matters...

Friggin Sharks and Warriors both lose Game 1 of the Conference Finals. And right now... None of that matters as I mourn with my friend. 

I finally saw the Program for the Memorial Service... And it really hit home. This is real... In fact it's surreal. 

I love sports... I love politics... And I love food and entertainment. But there comes a time when everything else doesn't matter and you have to focus on what really matters.

Goodness... And this isnt even my parents. What will that day be like when the inevitable strikes?

最心痛是，愛得太遲

Saw a text this past Monday morning...  a close family friend said her father in law passed away suddenly on Sunday night.  Details slowly became available and tho things are still uncertain and unsure, my close bud is definitely in mourning.

I called him on Tuesday to lend him some support and he wasn't able to talk yet.

Then on Thursday... he was finally able to share a little.  The thing he kept repeating is the deep sense of remorse of not spending more time with his dad.  Of not reading the bible with his dad.  Of not telling his dad he loved him.  And it was a wake up call....

Being on the other side of the line... I had no clue what to say.  How do I console him? Do I say, "It's ok..." when things are truly not ok? Do I tell him, "You gotta be strong...the whole family is looking at you."  What do you do?  Have no friggin clue....

Mother's Day 2016

Joyce rarely makes any requests for Bday, Vday, or Mother's Day.
But today - she specifically said she wanted brunch -- at Stacks. 

After church, we call ahead to try to leave our name.  They don't do that.

We get there... and it's 1.5 hour wait. 

We put our name down and walk over to Starbucks.  I call them and say, "Can I leave my number for you to text me?"  They say, "We don't do that.  You can come back and check if you want." 

She still wanted brunch.  We could've gone to the Campbell Brewery and had lunch.  But no... she wanted brunch at Stacks.

We ended up ordering to go and ate at home.  But she got what she want.

For dinner.  She wanted TGI Sushi.  I tried calling ahead and they wouldn't take my call.  I finally got there and the waitress said, "It's a half hour wait." 

I thought about it... and realized she wanted TGI Sushi.  So I waited.  The waitress said, "You'll wait?!?!" 

Yes... I waited.

I love my wife.

Cancer

Cancer - a horrible and a mostly incurable disease.

It has stricken so many of my friend's parents.  And finally... it hits home.

Joyce's step dad was diagnosed with liver cancer.  According to Cecy... it's not something that can't be treated with chemo or radiation.  But as "luck" would have it... it was discovered early enough where removal of the tissue is enough.

And as a survivor of liver tumors myself... I know that the liver is the one organ where it regrows and regenerates.

Aging parents.  That's gonna be a tough ride for the next 20-30 years.

And then in... I dunno... 40-50 years....? My turn.

Reality Check!

對基督徒非常有幫助的29條建議
1.下次如果覺得自己了不起時，試試行在水上。

2.當魔鬼提醒你的過去時，請提醒牠的未來。

3.你不是幸運，而是蒙福。

4. 若想要得著復活的生命，就要知道自己是已經與基督同死了。

5.機會也許只敲一次門，但試探卻總是在按門鈴。

6.我們常在強壯時，忘了神。

7.那些只在星期天呼喚"天父"的人，在一星期餘下的日子裏活得像孤兒。

8.不要以自我為中心，要以基督為中心。

9.沒有基督，沒有平安；認識基督，得到平安。

10.為什麼我們不常向朋友提起 神？因為我們不常向神提起我們的朋友。

11.當把你的一切獻給基督，因為祂把祂的一切都給了你。

12.你現在所追求的，值得基督為它死嗎？

13.使你向 神靠近的人，是你真正的朋友。

14. 神愛我們，不是因為我們是怎樣一個人，而是因為祂是怎樣一位神。

15. 神的應許像夜空裏的星星。夜越深，星星的光芒越亮。

16.沒有基督的生命，是無望的盡頭。有基督的生命，是無盡的盼望。

17.我雖不知道未來掌管著什麼，但我知道誰掌管著未來。

18.把你的重擔交給主，讓它留在主那裏。

19.不要畏懼明天，因為上帝已在那裏。

20.當你除了 神，一無所有時，你將知道神就是你全部的需要。

21.放手交給上帝，別再向神講述你的風暴有多大，當向風暴講述你的 神有多大。

22.能夠滿足人心的，是造人心的那一位。

23.請常常保持著你心裏的光，因為你不知道，誰會藉著這光走出黑暗。

24.當我們只顧工作的時候，我們獨自工作；當我們祈禱的時候，神工作。

25. 神無所不在，所以我們可以隨處禱告。

26.一個沒有需要的人永遠見不到神跡。

27.敬拜提醒我們生命的價值，但世界卻使我們忘記它。

28.步履艱難的時候，別一味的禱告，卻不邁向神要你走的路。

29.禱告會為我們作很多事，憂慮同樣可以。

Sportmanship

Nn and Sw are wired so differently.


Sw is so non-chalant.  Nn is ultra-competitive.  To a point where her 1st grade teacher wrote something along the lines of "She's exceptional in every aspect. I would like to see her improve in sportsmanship." 

All her life... Nn has been an overachiever.  So she hates not being the best at something.  Probably gets that from the mom's side of the family.

Case in point... this past Sunday was Geoff's Birthday Bowl-a-Rama.  Every year for the past 10+ years he'll have a bowling party on his birthday!!  This year... both kids are old enough to go bowl... albeit.... using a ramp that's set up for them to push a ball down the lane. 

SW was so happy go-lucky, he just wanted to push the ball and see it roll.  But as luck would have it... that's the type of personality that's awarded with great results.  He not only got a Spare... he rolled a Strike.  Part of it was... because his favorite color is Yellow... and the Yellow ball weighed 13 pounds.

Nn on the other hand... loves Pink.  So she picks the 6 pound ball.  And for some reason... her ball kept going into the gutter or she'll get 1-2 pins.  At one point... she was almost in tears cuz all of my friends was cheering for SW for rolling a STRIKE.  And she was not "good enough."

I tried to keep her tears from rolling by taking all the blame.  "It's Bah-bee's fault!! I'm not setting up the ramp correctly."  or "It's Bah-bee's fault... I held it too hard for you."   But no matter what I said... and what I did... she kept going back to the pink, 6 lb ball.  And she never got more than 8 pins. 

In some way... this is good.  We need her to go through the experience of losing.  Cuz in life, you'll likely lose more than you'll win.  But man....when you see tears coming out of your baby's eyes.... you want to do everything and anything to make things better.

Men's Group

Been a while since I've taken part in a Men's Group.  And tonight...met up with a couple of brothers for dinner and book discussion.

There was a lot of traffic, so people arrived late.  And we spent more time talking about ourselves than diving into the book. 

But looking forward to a 4 months journey with these brothers.. where we can encourage one another, learn from one another, and grow together in God's grace. 

Birds and the Bees

We don't watch a lot of TV. But we make an exception with the "Amazing Race." And even then, we watch it on CBS playback to avoid the commercials... Some of it. They still play 2-3 commercials - it is capitalism after all. Nothing is free.

Recently they've been showing a Viagra commercial. The pictures and images are healthy enough, probably nothing to worry about. But they do have commentary... And the other night, nn finally asks, "What is this??" And "What is sex?"

I should have quickly deflected and said"Mom!!!! What is sex??"