Day 60 of 365: Singaporean taste

There was almost no motivation to go to work today... In a way, it's, most likely, because of the long weekend. Got too comfortable... Well, it also didn't take long to get back into the working mode. Good thing it wasn't too busy though that day will come soon, like next week.

I made an attempt to make Char Tow Kway tonight, but failed miserably. That's, of course, according to my Singaporean taste buds. I know what's missing, but I just don't know where to get it. Plus I used Lo Bat Go instead, which is softer than the Tow Kway. Another recipe to experiment.

I went with Annie to send her mom off to China. Reminded me of how I send my parents off when I was younger, but as I mentioned to Annie, i got so used to it, it's almost numb. I guess that's what happens when you see family fly frequently.

Now that brings me to an interesting thought about working at the airport... I did check the job listings, but nothing stood out. I would like to work with the security part of it. Seems fun! Either way, this would take some prayer and faith like every other job and career path that I consider.

Day 59 of 365: Pat's Departure

Today's worship set was fun! Especially the last song when we pulled the blues/rock style on 'Precious Cornerstone'. And I think I'm getting use to singing and playing bass too! That's a good thing to hear. Oh, interesting thing that happened. I was asked to play bass for the Mandarin team. Not too thrill since I heard stories of how inflexible the music is. Trouble is, I don't know how the music goes for any of the songs I was given. It's going to be hard for me to play...

Had lunch with Annie's best friend and her husband. Haven't seen them in a while, so it's refreshing to have a couple at about the same age as us to talk to.

Went to visit Pat after lunch. Can I say it is still hard for me to know that he's really gone? I don't know what to think when I saw his name on the headstone... But in a sense, Pat's departure is a good example of how we see Jesus and His death. More on a parallel to the communion. A lot of the things that reminds me of Pat, like Zelda, Naruto and Ramen, is not much different from our communion. Just as eating ramen reminds me of Pat, eating the bread and drinking the wine, or grape juice, holds the same weight in comparison. It's almost God teaching us what it means to remember Jesus and His death. It's comforting to know, but I still miss him.

I dropped Annie off at Stonetown and went home, only to head out again to drop Kristy off at the airport. After which I went to Matt's for a little Modern Warfare 2 and dinner at BJ's. 30 minute wait time, so we went to Barnes and Noble's where I found a cool book on 'Wicked' and its sequel! I always wanted to read it, so I got it. Could have bought several others, but I like 'Wicked'.

After a...boring dinner of fake deep dish pizza, except when Aaron and I got pint cups for buying gift cards to pay for the meal, we head back to Matt's for more man time. I felt sorry for Joan and Mei...next time, it's...'everyone' time!

Day 58 of 365: Anger management

What a day... I dreamed about my phone alarm as a noise detector and every time it goes off, I keep thinking about who was making noise. That caused me to shut my alarm off and totally forget that I needed to wake up for BSF. I managed to wake up in time to get ready and head out the door, but it was a little rushed. At the meeting, I felt physically horrible because my sinus was clogged up and my nose was runny. Nothing serious here, but a case of anger management against my sinful and frail body... I get really annoyed when that happens especially when tissue is not present.

I got home and chill for a while. Tried to do some things on my to-do list, but couldn't because of a lack of resources. So I played Modern Warfare 2's story and it was intense! It was like watching a movie, but you're part of the action! So many plot twists and crazy good action! I really love games with intense stories! Really grabs you into the game and breaks your heart when favorite characters die... Well, in the first Modern Warfare, it was almost the same, but this time, it really hits hard.

Annie came back with Sarah and Kristy and I went with Annie to get a bite to eat. Went to the corner Mexican place for fish tacos. Came back home, realized Sarah was feeling adventurous, and she wanted to watch a horror flick such as Saw IV. It was...questionable. Needless to say, there was parental consent and the movie didn't last long before we made the switch to "Say yes to the dress" and "America's next top model". At this point, I was starting to get tired of the shows and appreciate the fact that Annie and I went out to go shopping. Good thing too!

Manage to get what I needed. Xbox 360 headset, pack of blank CD-Rs, and a pair of Asics running shoes. Met up with Annie's parent for a while and had Mickey D's. Pretty much covers dinner.

Annie dropped me off for worship practice, which was fun because we pulled of a blues/rock song. Took a while to get it down, but it was a fun practice. After that, Amos, Vincent and I went to King of Thai for dinner. The Big Mac was enough, but I could eat a little more.

We were planning on hanging out with Jeremy Wong before he heads back, but it took too long, so we called it a night and here I am now! Today was quite a day...

Day 57 of 365: Post-Thanksgiving

Today was the day I slept in till 10:30am! Felt good for that moment until I realized the time that was wasted. Well, it's was a good time for rest. It's not like I was planning to shop early in the morning for Black Friday deals. I did, however, get the new Mario brothers game for the Wii. Looks fun already, but I'll try it tomorrow.

The main event of the day was post-Thanksgiving dinner at Matt's home, or clubhouse. Hot pot was on the list and there was a huge company of friends! Pretty awesome to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while. The food was good, but felt like it was a tad chaotic managing all the food. It was good that we had enough for all.

Today was truly a day of rest for me...That said, I'll keep this entry short and say this: Evangelism is good, but when do we know if what we are doing is in God's timing? Better yet, don't expect yourself to bring someone to Christ, but rather be a stepping stone and do what Jesus would have done and fellowship with that person genuinely!

[Make-up] Day 56 of 365: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving service today was good, but I felt a little sluggish in the morning despite getting a good night's rest. I don't think a couple hours more of sleep would be the answer, or coffee for that matter, which I drink only when needed at work.

Had lunch with a bunch of friends at Little Henry's and had veal for the first time in my life. Not bad for meat previously classified as mysterious.

Went home and chilled for a while, but seconds later, Annie and I were out the door in search of newspaper ads for Black Friday. Came home looking through all the ads, which reminded me of my younger years where I, myself, look forward to the ads in the newspaper to look for crazy cool deals that I had to persuade my parents to buy for me. It was fun doing this again, except my toys now are more expensive and usually not on Black Friday deals.

Had hot pot for dinner at Annie's. Always have good stuff there! Expected crab, but saw other tasty selections like salmon, roe-filled fishballs and lamb! Among my long list of favorites!

[Make-up]Day 55 of 365: Cooking mama

Wow...I just played Modern Warfare 2 with my brother for a long time! Long enough to miss an entry...Well, better late than never!

I tried to sleep-in today, but woke up at 8. Stayed in bed until 9, which isn't too bad. Now I had everything all planned out for the day, but apparently, it didn't work out. I stayed home for breakfast, played some games, and Kristy missed her flight. So that means the plans to have lunch with Kristy at Stack's didn't work out. So instead, Amos and I met up with Ricky and Vincent and we went to Slider's at Westlake for burgers.

After that, Amos and I head down to Tanforan where we waited for Kristy. Actually went to Best Buy to check out the deals there, but I guess it doesn't happen until Friday.

So we picked Kristy up and we went to Tanforan to get food for her because she missed lunch too. Went there, got some essentials and after that, went to get groceries for dinner. Decided on Cream of Mushroom and Steak. Missing the salad, but we made it work out with what we had at home. Pretty good to have Kristy back. The silence of the home is broken.

Oh, after getting groceries, we went to Gamestop to look for something cheap. I was aiming for one game for Annie: Cooking Mama World (or something like that). Found it at a comfortable price! Happy with that purchase! Can't wait to try it...I mean, can't wait to try it with Annie...

After dinner, we just chilled around until Sarah came over and did the customary female greeting. Soon after, I called Annie and chat for a while. Lots of stuff that needs to be done.

Day 54 of 365: Expensive hobbies

Today felt like a blur...like it went by, but ever so slowly. At least until now.

The sister is flying back tomorrow, so that'll be exciting! It'll be good to hear some harassing of the brother for a change. Gives character to the silence... But before picking Kristy up, I'll probably head over to New Taraval Cafe for a light breakfast and do some BSF while I'm at it. Sleep-in for as long as I can if I don't wake up at 8:30 again.

Lately, I've been supplying energy to my thoughts about my expensive hobbies, primarily paintball and cars. The more I think about it, the more it feels silly and superficial... For both cases, it's the urge to tear things apart and put them back together again. Or, do some custom work. But I hold back because I can never decide on which to really invest time in. On one hand, good paintball fields are hard to come by in the Bay Area. On the other hand, I don't have a beat-up car to work with and the Camry is too new to mess around too much. These are things that fade away, but it's among the things I like to have fun with. I guess for now, I'll make do with what I have...

Day 53 of 365: Super Mario

I got to stay at my desk for the majority of the day, so no annoying patients to deal with...Ok, that's a bad attitude. Ought to see it as an opportunity to work on patience and the practice of holding my tongue before speaking my mind. Even so, it was refreshing to be by myself at work. The silence is inviting. The work, however, is less fun than what it was before. If not, more frustrating to deal with Excel... Lots of changes to an already complicated spreadsheet... I made additional changes on top of what was discussed. Even though it is more to deal with, it's easier on the formulas and the end results are accurate at least. As long as I have the numbers right at the end, I can't argue with the format. Ugly, but functional.

I had dinner with my coworkers that I work close with at Pacific Catch on 9th and Irving. Second time that I've been here. Good food, lots of fish... I particularly enjoy the sweet potato fries. Very tasty! The conversations were pretty random, but mostly about other restaurants and cultural traditions with food in them. I'm glad to be in the company of food enthusiast...

Came home and found my Xbox missing... I didn't trip over it, but know only one person that could walk out of the house with it: Amos... So for the most part of the evening, I went along without my Xbox. Good? I say yes. It's an opportunity to do my BSF homework and spend some time with God. As of now, I have gone without playing my Xbox for...almost 24 hours. That's not a record, but I do feel the withdrawal effects... I am still glad that it was taken away...

When Amos came home, Vincent was with him and apparently, per Kristy's request, they were planning to play the Super Mario theme and record it for a project that Kristy is working on. Very amusing to see Vincent play and mess up a couple of times. Oh, and the music made me want to play Mario...

Day 52 of 365: Psalm 46

What a great worship service! Well, for the sermon at least. It was Pastor Steve Korch, coming back for the second time to minister! I have to say, I enjoy the flow and dynamics of teachers like Pastor Korch! Stories, energy and passion! Not monotoned and scripted...which I could be myself... What inspiration for me to learn to speak dynamically!

Anyway, the message was based on Psalm 46. The funny thing was that this passage was not the original passage that Pastor Korch selected and changed it. Sort of a shocker for Uncle Tad since the songs he selected wasn't intended for the changed passage. Fortunate for us, God uses everything in His favor and the mismatched songs worked out anyway!

Back to the sermon, and I'll just mention just the first portion: verse 1 of Psalm 46! And I paraphrase, "The Lord is my strength and my refuge, my ever-present help in times of need". Very simple, but also very powerful because of three keywords: strength, refuge and help! The intention of the message was to encourage those who are in very stressed and hard times and Pastor Korch aimed for us to not see the problems before us, but rather know who our God IS and what He will do for us! I love how in verse 2, there is a part of that verse that says, "We will not fear", and how we could stand strong in knowing that God will be there for us and that we will not fear in these times of trouble!

The pastor continues to guides the congregation to focus in on 3 principles that I find encouraging as well!

1) In the midst of hardships, it is not what you see in front of you, but what you know about God (verse 1-3)

2) In the midst of hardships, what matters most is not the absence of problems, but the presence of God (verse 4-7)

3) In the midst of hardships, what matters most is letting go of your demands and taking hold of God (verse 8-11)

It is so true for these 3 points and for us Christians, we tend to lose sight of these principles really easier. Meditate on the first point and work your way down! Today was a refreshing day! Good spiritual eating (sunday service), encouraging growth (Johnathan), tasty froyo (Nubi with Annie) and honest chatting and planning for the wedding!

Today is the Lord's and it is good!

Day 51 of 365: Iron Chef

I had a good night sleep, despite only getting about 5 hours of it. Woke up at about 4:30am, but went back to sleep for a while longer. At least until 5:30am, where my alarm goes off. Didn't take me long to get out of bed and get ready for BSF.

Worship practice was straight after. There was a evangelistic meeting at church and they were using the sanctuary, so we had to move the practice over to the chapel, which was used by TNT for assembly! Busy day for the church! So we set up anyway because the assembly time was just about over. Practice didn't take too long. In fact, it was the fastest so far, clocking in at 40 minutes. I don't know why it was so fast, but at least the songs were familiar.

When to lunch with Amos and Vincent after that at Bashful Bull on Noriega. Good food, good fellowship!

Came home after that to clean up the house for the evening's event: Iron Chef! Didn't take long to pack everything away since there was more people there to help. Annie came over after her meeting with the florist to help out too. After that, Annie and I went out for a while and returned with a movie ('Year One') and some food. 'Year One' was...stupid...

As time progressed, more and more people came over to get ready for Iron Chef. Around 3:30pm, we started, formed teams and gave the secret ingredient: Green beans! Two teams went out to get their menus going while the judges, Annie, Victor and I, chilled. Victor was back at his home overseeing the team working there and Annie and I were at my home. We played the Wii and Castle Crashers to kill time, which made the cooking team feel envious. Aaron came over at the last hour and I played Modern Warfare 2 with him for a while.

The food were all creativity and definitely tasty. I didn't know that each team could pull off food at this caliber! It was good food all around and some good times together! Judging was fun and I kept thinking like I was actually one of the judges in the show! Pretty cool! I feel honored to be selected as a judge!

Cleaned up and played games after, which was fun and here I am now!

Day 50 of 365: Constant connection

This is a strange day. Weather forecast expected heavy rains, but I didn't think that it's heavy rains for 15 minutes. After the rain came, it pretty much was clear skies and sunshine. Praise God for that then since I had to park my car elsewhere. This was one of those days where it feels like everyone decided not to go to work and the streets are full of cars except for the street that is due for cleaning. Weird...

Fellowship was different tonight because we had the Youth Director/Pastor candidate speak. The TNT kids were a tad confused at the change of pace, but that's what you get when you don't check your weekly updates. Too pampered almost... Some of them were asking if we were staying for the whole time. Most of them probably wasn't listening to the candidate...

So we were given time for ourselves and we went down to do the customary introductions and announcements. We didn't plan a message since it was already taken care of, so we played a decent game of Mafia. Probably the best game of Mafia so far because the kids were actually playing it the right way. Except for one of them...he got confused in the first round, but picked it up right away.

Earlier in the evening, and possibly in the afternoon, I failed to do one thing that seems to be plaguing me in the past month or two. That is, of course, communication. This is one of the many issues that are commonly found in guys and we tend to say less than women, but ultimately tend to process only what's in front of us. I was selfish with my thoughts and I failed to communicate important information. In a way, this is a reflection of how some of us, if not all of us, are with our communication, or prayer, with God. We tend to dwell in our own thoughts and dwindle within our comfort zone. A lot of times, that kind of behavior leads to a lack of communication with God. In this case, how many times do we earnestly pray and direct our thoughts and concerns to God? Do we simply dwell in our sinful desires instead of maintaining a constant connection with God? I have mentioned one key aspect of a relationship that is essentially healthy for the couple and that is communication. I know I forgotten that... Now the question is, how convicted am I with my lack of prayer?

Day 49 of 365: Childish accomplishments

Had a meeting with the Medical Director of my clinic regarding a pilot program for the doctors. There were issues that needed attention from the report that I was in charge of updating periodically. The meeting was just a follow-up on how it's working so far and what needs improvement and refinement. This lasted for an hour and a half... Dreadfully confusing to play with Excel formulas, but quite challenging at the same time.

Had an early dinner before heading out for the TNT meeting. I made an attempt to finish Modern Warfare, a game that I was about to lose my hair from. The challenge that the developers set for gamers is almost as though they don't want you to finish the game. Frustrating to the point where I gave up a couple of times and watched TV, but something strange pushed me to try again. I went at it again and made it pass the point that I was stuck at. What relief, but that doesn't mean I can relax. I know it isn't long before the game is complete, so I push further until I got it! Great ending to a long story and there goes those words and names that crawl up the screen, also known as credits! I was even more relieved to know that I finally finished a game! A childish accomplishment, if you like to call it.

The meeting was productive, but awkward without Annie there. I don't know why, but there just isn't a lot to talk about... Oh, Ben asked me about organizing a paintball outing for his office, but realized that the Burlingame field closed down... I'm really disappointed because I actually plan on going maybe twice a month during the weekdays.

Came home after that and chilled for a while...pondered during that time too, but I can't seem to get my thoughts together...next time maybe...

Day 48 of 365: Lord's prayer

Work, work...

Had a good chat with Annie about random stuff. Played a baby name game where we pull a name out and one of us have to get a similar name of the opposite intended gender. It's interesting after a while when I notice that certain sounds from names have a masculine or feminine touch. It's as though the sounds itself is gender specific. We went on to other things like wedding cake options to watching Tae Yang's wedding dress video. I still don't see what the big deal is. Annie called this guy an Usher-wannabe. I don't follow Usher too...

After all the talking, we spent some time in prayer. I think that's one aspect of my walk that needs some jump-starting. After thinking it through, it is a must for me to study what prayer is. The best place to learn about is by the example Jesus gave. And I'm not talking about the Lord's Prayer. I see that now as an outline. What I want to go through is the prayer that Jesus said in John 17. BSF will get to this part some time next year, but I hope to get it started earlier.

Oh, Annie's dad gave me a pair of leather boots. Again, the Chinese in me feels bad...

Day 47 of 365: Happy birthday!

First off, this is the day...OF ANNIE'S BIRTHDAY!!! Happy birthday, lo paw! Or, soon-to-be lo paw! I pray that God will grant you another year of wisdom, grace and love for many more years to come!

Second, I woke up late this morning...Aiya...It's okay though, I managed to get to work on time. When I got there, my coworker told me that the intranet network was out. That means I can't make, check or cancel appointments! Too bad for the patients... The worst part is that I can't chat on Google with Annie to wish her 'Happy Birthday'. so I text messaged her instead. It also means I have no access to the daily news. That means I was bored for most of the morning. It wasn't until the hour before hour that I was able to come in contact with tech support to do some troubleshooting. At the end, I was able to fix the problem, which turned out to be a faulty back-up power supply. All I had to do was reroute the power directly to the outlet and that was it. After that, it was back to business.

During the boredom though, I decided to buy a small breakfast for everyone. I went around to ask what people wanted from the local Chinese bakery and went out to get myself coffee and their snacks. Glad I was able to get something for them since most of them always treat everyone to the occassional milk tea or frozen yogurt.

Came back home and ate an early dinner before BSF. Had to scramble at one point to get things ready for the night. Overall though, the night went well. Smooth for the most part. One thing I didn't expect was the slight rain. Worried me for a while, but after that, I just let go and let God handle it. Didn't drizzle one bit after that.

Came home a little earlier than usual, so I showered and called Annie to wish her happy birthday again! I love my fiancee mucho grande! Why? Because she's perfect in every way!

Day 46 of 365: Clean-up

I had another hard morning waking up. It was cold and I was nice and toasty under my sheets. Either way, I have to wake up for work. No point calling in sick since I'm not sick and I don't plan on lying just to stay warm in bed. That's reserved for my 5 day weekend next week. HA!

I drove to work and managed to get there a little earlier to get some coffee for the morning. Made and ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, so the coffee made it easy to wash down the sticky peanut butter.

Relatively easy day...Nothing much to say about that.

After work, I went over to Annie's to pick up a pot of soup that her mom made for me. Ended up with a feast to bring home for dinner and lunch tomorrow. I always feel bad that they give so much and I always want to give back more. Annie's mom asked me about Thanksgiving week's schedule for the Public Health Centers and wondered if she should pick up her medications next Friday, but I told her that the clinics will be closed. She decided to do the pick on Wednesday.

Went home and found Amos watching 'Superhero Movie'. It's a parody flick on superhero movies (Duh!) and I caught the last moments of it. It's a dumb movie... Anyway, he headed out to Vincent's for hot pot, but I stayed at home. I planned to do some cleaning up after dinner, which was good by the way.

My primary focus for the clean-up was the bathroom because I couldn't take it anymore. Practically disinfected the whole bathroom and cleaned what I could. What's left to detail is the bathtub. It really needs a good scrub. 'Sigh'...Cleaning can be fun, but it's nasty...

Day 45 of 365: Car died

Good stuff today! Sunday worship was good with Uncle David speaking on Ephesians 1:15-23. I messed up a couple of times on stage with the bass. Hit the 'G' string by accident during the prayer before the first song and I hit the head of the guitar against the wall, which made all the strings vibrate and gave out a loud and deep sound. After the first set, I sat down and sneezed weird. I was quiet with my head looking down with embarrassment... Caused too much noise and attention for myself...

When the service was over, I executed my plan to surprise Annie when the TNT Sunday School class was done. Ben and I went out in search for the cake and we had an hour to do so. Came back with plenty of time left to chill for a while and hung out with Calvin. When the time came, it went according to God's plan and what I thought of doing didn't come through as smooth as I had thought it hoped for. Either way, it was a good surprise! Sad to say, two thirds of the class left after we sang Happy Birthday to Annie. Or was it half? The remainder had cake, but it was a good fellowship time with them as well.

Congregational meeting...good thing it ended on time. I thought this meeting was encouraging too because of the testimonies of what God is doing for the construction of the Gospel center. I'm really excited for the new sanctuary in the building, but I hope it's not because of Uncle Tad hyping it up. Lots of new stuff going into the building!

Went home after for a while until Annie arrives. When she did, it was shopping time! For groceries and clothes! We went to Lucky's first to return G.I. Joe and got some stuff for dinner at Matt's. I thought about making Cream of Mushroom again and I got some onions, chicken broth and half-and-half. Then it's off to Stonetown for a quick purchase. Annie had a coupon for Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy, so we went to two of the three. Got new pants for church and BSF meetings. Finally! Says Annie... But seriously, it is about time that I got something else to wear instead of the Docker's. I love the Docker's, but I can't wear that all the time. Oh, got some Starbuck's before that to get caffinated! Needed that bad.

We went to Sunset Super on Vicente to get my mushrooms and I found chicken broth that was way way WAY cheaper than what was at Lucky's. Got everything I needed, but it was unfortunate that Portebella mushrooms were completely out.

Went back home and did some prepping from chopping to sautee. Tossed everything into a pot and went straight to Matt's to finish it off. I have to say that I'm starting to enjoying cooking! It's cool to know how to make something that you remember as a child and be able to replicate the flavor! I totally enjoyed the cooking process and the tasting! The dinner overall was good and satisfying! Meatloaf, spicy sweet potatoes, candied yams and the soup! Good stuff!

After dinner, the group played a game of Mafia and Pictionary. I was the mafia with Joan and we did okay. I honestly can't lie very well, so tricking the group was difficult for the most part. Got voted out, but Joan held together well for another round or two. Pictionary was way fun, but this is something you ought to experience for yourself.

Something interesting happened on the way back home from Matt's. The Accord's engine died not half a mile from where we left from. It was scary for the moment because the brakes and steering were stiff and had a lot of resistance to it. I literrally rolled the car to the side and set to Park before starting the car again. Not long after, I found out why the car died. The steering column was low enough for my legs to pull the keys to an off position on the engine. I'm pretty sure it was like so because I pulled to the side, started the engine and tried to replicate what potentially happened the first time. Everything on the Accord should be okay now that I set the column higher. Pray that it's not a computer issue...

Day 44 of 365: Secular dating

Saturdays are always interesting for me.

Lets start with this:

Worship practice was pretty technical today as it was last week. Only thing was that it was a morning practice, which I didn't mind and it just me time to spend with Annie in the evenings. I honestly feel that singing 'Amazing Love' can feel very country. Maybe it's the way that I sing it since I pull off a Southern accent when I sing certain words.

After practice, I went with Annie help her with some side jobs. Quickest one done so far. I do appreciate people who come on time. Or better yet, those who come early! Not because it frees up some more time for me later, but it's a good principle to have in general.

Went to get pizza from Taraval Pizza. Late lunch if anything. Good pizza. Comparable with Seniore's. Thinner dough with a crunch on the outside and softness on the insides. I do prefer crispy pepperoni.

Annie had to go out to a friend's home for some girl bonding time while I did some guy bonding time with Amos. We played Modern Warfare 2 and completely lots of missions together. I love moments like these where you could play something together with family. Friends...doesn't always feel the same. Family has a different feel all together. Fun stuff!

Dinner time: I took Annie out to what she craved the most at the moment: Shabu Shabu. She didn't want to go to Mountain View for a specific one that looked go. Too far in a way. So we went to the one on Geary. Not bad at all! I would think that Shabu Shabu could be done at home, but this wasn't too bad. If you don't want to stuff your face silly with food, like I would during hot pot dinners, then this was perfect. Even now, I don't feel like munching on anything. Good dinner. We watched some ice skating racing while eating. It's intriguing how lots of competitors from China take the first place position. Go Chinese people!

Oh, one thing to add prior to the dinner. I ran into my ex-car, the 1997 Classic Green Toyota Camry LE! Same plate numbers, which I will not post, same everything else! Exactly the way Ben left it when he gave the car back to Uncle Tad. Only difference is the T-shirt seat covers! Why am I psyched up about this? Because I absolutely love that car! Lots of memories with that car and if I could get one like that again, I'll probably would. Then again, I'll probably try to own each Camry model if I could starting from the first generation! Another reason why I'm crazy about this: How many times in your life would you run into the car that you previously own? From the number of cars that I've own so far, not many. Good chance that the Supra is junked (sadden...) and the Corolla is almost to the junked state. The feeling with this car is like how you would meet an old friend from High School and you want to get reacquanted with that person. I feel the exact same thing, except the car doesn't respond to me anymore. Another owner, another car on the road, which brings me to my philosophy in dating.

One of the church members once told me that if a guy sticks with a certain car for a long time, that means that he is a very committed person in a relationship. Or, to me, that means that the guy is too broke to afford some other car, better of course. I respectfully disagree for my case, but in the case of the typical, non-Christian view, it is true in a sense.

See, this is what the world sees dating: you like it, try it; you don't, trade it. Dating has become a material possession. For one person to have a committed relationship has been twisted to a miserable thing for one to say to have. If one guy wants to have a girlfriend because he simply wants one, or feels, emotionally, strong about this particular girl, than he is seeking something material. It's like treating a computer, a car, a pair of Diesel jeans, or anything you find in your room as obsolete and outdated. "Hey, if the girlfriend is asking for something expensive, hence high maintainence(?), than give it up and get something else. Secular dating, found in the eyes of the media, can be traded in for another that offers, however temporary, the pleasures of life that one seeks to long for.

I like a lot of things that I have. Thankful in fact. Thankful for a car, for a computer, my hobbies and just about everything else. I know that if my computer dies, I would buy a new one. If my car is totaled in an accident, knock on wood, I could get another one. However, I WILL not treat Annie in such a matter. In fact, every guy in the world, especially Christians, should understand that a woman is not an object. They are people and not like my Camry that says nothing to me, or remembers me. And for Christian guys out there, this is how you ought to treat your sisters-in-Christ: just as Jesus treated the church. In a godly relationship, Jesus is the man of the relationship and we, as the church, are the woman of the relationship. Guys, look at your sisters, girlfriends, fiancee, or wife like Jesus would see the church! Gals, it's essential for you to find someone that seeks Christ first before seeking you! A God-fearing man would please God in all he does before they chase after you! So don't just give your hear to just any guy! Give it to a MAN that understands his position as a spiritual leader of the relationship! Without that, you're nothing more than a material. Oh, this applies the same vice versa.

After all that is said and done...Annie and I rented G.I Joe from Red Box. Good movie, but I'm not feeling too strongly about it.

Day 43 of 365: Paintball philosophy

Ah...the joy of driving. I broke my walking record and drove today. Too cold to walk and I didn't wake up in time to get ready to leave at a certain time that will have me arrive on time to work. So I drove. I love driving, even in short distances.

Quiet day with shot periods of busyness. Good thing for now, but most people will start to call next week. What joy that'll be. During the moments of quietness, I would do what I'll usually do: chat with Annie on Google, window shop online or read news articles. I'm more productive upstairs at my desk where I work on reports, but at the front...there's nothing much but phone calls.

I made a couple of peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, but it didn't satisfy me. So I went out to get a Vietnamese sandwich and came back to do BSF homework. This week is not as challenging as the last, but I think it speaks well of some decisions I'm about to make like Sunday school teaching. Obedience...often hard to achieve, but what I've learned from the BSF homework is that obedience will lead to something big. What that is, I don't know, but I know that when it comes, it'll be good.

I came home and heated up the corn chowder for dinner. A little early, but it's okay. Oh, the new parts for my marker came too. The downsizing of my marker is going along quite well. Except for one part that I ordered earlier, but the next replacement would solve that problem and it'll be time for a trial run at the Burlingame field. Can't wait for that. New set-up, new paintball philosophy! Light and fast!

Amos, Vincent and Lisa were at my home to go through tonight's lesson...I think. Not too sure, but it seems like it. They left soon after I heated up the chowder. I left a while later.

Got to the Richmond and started to do the ritual car parking dance. Circled block after block and I didn't find anything until I passed Peet's and there it was! Parking! And how convenient! I'm a block away from Domino's and Walgreen's! Oh, I bought dinner for the TNTers because it was the parents meeting and we thought about serving dinner and working on the bulletin board. Dinner went well and we had enough for everyone despite the fact that I thought it wasn't enough. Well, another thing learned from BSF (feeding of the 5,000). Just give thanks and God will take care of the rest.

So after dinner, we played Extreme Mafia for a bit. Crazy night...that's all I'll say for now. And on top of that, the bulletin board didn't get much attention. Poor timing with the Cantonese fellowship? Inadequate structure of what to do? i don't know. We ended up watching 'Finding Nemo'.

Day 42 of 365: Corn chowder

I made Corn Chowder for dinner tonight. Plus Meatball Marinara Sandwich. Good stuff, but not how I would like it. Annie came over for dinner, but that's not until much later at night because of something that she needed to do.

Walked all day trying to get ingredients for dinner. Went from work to the Sunset Super on Irving and all the way to the Safeway on Taraval. It's tougher because of the extra weight from Irving to Taraval, but it was fun regardless. Feels like a hiking trip.

Work was alright. Didn't get a chance to eat my breakfast since there was a yoga class and it was in my way to the kitchen fridge. Doesn't matter...I had it for dessert after lunch with the janitor.

This post came on a little late and it's now pass midnight. Why? All because I was playing Modern Warfare 2 with my brother. The Special Ops mode is quite addictive. Good change from the zombie fare from World at War...

Day 41 of 365: Pearl Harbor

Sleeping-in is not the same anymore... If I sleep more than I do on workdays, I'll get a headache or something... So this morning, I just lay in bed after waking up at 8:30. Planned on having breakfast with Amos, so we were out and ready by 9:15. The only thing was that both of us thought about going to Stack's and we both know that you go into Stack's, you'll walk out full until dinner time. Not what we had in mind because we plan on having lunch. So I suggested New Taraval Cafe where the breakfast is cheap and good. And it was a satisfying breakfast even though it was much smaller in portions. Can't argue with the price though. Breakfast Special at $3.50 that includes 2 eggs, 2 pieces of ham, bacon or sausage, 2 slices of bread or hotcakes. Good deal especially with the hotcakes. Now some might not like the taste, but I'm all for small businesses.

I had lunch with Annie at Japan Town, which is always good because I rarely see her for lunch. I cherish every moment during lunch hour because of how short an hour can be. We had lunch at Sapporo Ramen; an old spot that Amos and I used to go to for ramen. She got Miso ramen, but I went for yakisoba. Good lunch, but a tad more pricier than breakfast. It's okay though. Food plus Annie is always worth while!

I went to Target after lunch to pick up a frame for the diploma. After that, it's a trip to Gamestop to pick up my copy of Modern Warfare 2. The first was great, but I never knew how greatly they improved everything in this one! I didn't play it until much later in the evening.

When I got home, I sat and chilled. Watched...what did I watch? I know I was jumping from one movie to another..OH! Pearl Harbor. And this was with me working on my paintball marker, which was disappointing because a small part that I ordered didn't fit right... Now I need to figure out what to do to the marker before I start my paintball weeknights...

Made dumplings for dinner and I have to say, I'm starting to get bored with dumplings...I think it began with me cooking stuff from scratch. Why? Beacause my taste buds cried out mushroom soup... Either way, food is food. I ate and watch this silly movie called 'Leviathan', which felt like a low grade version of 'Aliens' underwater. Really dumb, but whatever...I was amused by it.

Annie called soon after to have me tune to the Travel Channel. They were covering extreme restaurant and One stood out: Ninja New York. Guess where it is and what the theme is! Haha!

Day 40 of 365: Physical therapist

I was a little laggy this morning, but managed to wake up early enough to prepare everything that I did yesterday morning and still have five minutes to spare. I guess that means I was up five minutes earlier than before. That's good news.

I saw a package addressed to me with the words 'DO NOT FOLD' on the bottom left corner. First thing in my mind: DIPLOMA!! Finally it's here! Now I have to get a frame for it!

Had lunch with the janitor and the supervisor today. It was more like catch up because the janitor took a week off and traveled to Washington D.C. and Boston. He said there are lots to do there, but I heard a lot about museums. I'm not much of a museum guy, but it's not like I won't go at all! It just depends on what's on the exhibit. The Smithsonian Museum probably interested me more. Anyway, it was a good lunch.

Skipping to after work since there was nothing interesting that happened...nothing big at least. I got home and found Amos knocked out. Wanted to wake him up just to make sure he's okay, but from the looks of it, it's just catch-up sleep. Got some yogurt and granola going just to help hold the hunger down before BSF. Watched 15 minutes of Dante's Peak while I munch on my snack and then, it's showtime. Got dressed appropriately and headed out to Mission Dolores church.

The evening went well. Paul, one of the Children Leaders, handed me a magazine for Physical Therapists. I read the whole thing in under an hour, but there wasn't a whole lot of articles to begin with. A couple articles caught my eye and one of them talked about running and the damage it does to certain people. There are two specific groups listed in this article and they are women recovering from giving birth and school children in Junior High and High School. For the women, the reason behind it is that during their 9 month pregnancy, their movements are restricted and their core and hips are somewhat limited in what they could do. After giving birth, the article said that most women start to run and it's without enough stretching and time for muscle to re orientate themselves to their former active state. The most extensive damage to the woman's body is the hips. Why? Because the hips play an important role in pregnancy and if through natural birth...well, you know where I'm going...

For the children, their hips are the main issue and it's due to an awkward period where the hips are still developing. I don't fully understand this one, but I'll think more about it later...

Gosh...that felt like I was writing an essay! Then again, so is every other blog prior to this...

The children program got tons of food from the discussion group that had fellowship time. Water, 7-Up, Ruffles and Subway sandwiches! Good stuff! Thank God for the provisions!

Day 39 of 365: Good eats

I started walking to work today. Began with the struggle to wake up because I got too comfortable with the warmth under my covers. Had to wake up either way... Just have to think that I have this Wednesday off and I could sleep in without worries!

Despite the fact that I tried to stay in bed for as long as I could, I manage to brush my teeth, shave, change out of PJs, fill up my bottle, grab my lunch, made a yogurt parfait for breakfast and set my earphones up for the walk to work. That's a lot planned out under 10 minutes. I shouldn't pride myself in this because I much rather do all these slowly and with plenty of time to spare.

Work was quieter than expected. I usually can't do much when I'm at the front, but I manage to do a lot when I didn't have to be there. Had a couple of angry patients asking for the H1N1 and were irritated that they couldn't get the shots today. Too bad people...you had your opportunity opened to you two weeks ago... Now, it's your pride that's making you act up this fuzz... On top of that, I still don't think it's really that big of a deal. Maybe because of the fact that I know where I go when death knocks, but if God is for you, who can be against you?

The walk back home was darker than it usually is, thanks to daylight savings. Still managed to get back before darkness completely shrouded the Sunset district. The moment I got back, I asked Amos about the dinner plan. I was very pleased that despite a planned out dinner, we got a little impromptu dinner together and he made a tomato cream sauce over bow tie pasta. He actually nailed it, but it didn't beat Annie's sun-dried tomato sauce. Finished up lots of food. Oh, Annie dropped by to give me some things to take care of in the midst of cooking. Gave her a piece of bread that I was munching on. Glad it helped sustain her for the evening.

After dinner, which was with Vincent, the three of us sat down to watch a Sesame Street Food Network Challenge and then an episode of 'Good Eats'. This show is actually very informative! I could learn some new tricks like making a dressing out of silk tofu!

Washed the dishes after that and did some work before Annie called to say good night. And that's all folks!

Day 38 of 365: Strawberry shortcake

I think I went off key a couple of times this morning for worship. Embarrassing to say the least, but that's what I get for playing bass and singing at the same time. I'll carry on with this until I get used to it...Cover your ears!

Stayed for TNT Sunday school to help Annie out. It was more like crowd control than anything. The lesson itself was good because it was about Job! Very well done by Annie! Job is a hard book to teach because of its length and content. Takes a lot to go through it.

Had lunch with Annie at Macao Friends on Irving. Good stuff as usual. After that, I drove Annie back to get her car and we drove back to my place to chill. We went out short to get a birthday card for Jenica and Mikayla after getting back to my house when I realized that I walked out of the house without my keys. Dumb... I got Annie to text Amos to see if he could swing by after he was done at church while we went on to get the card. Spent some time at Walgreen's for a while, but we later went to the local froyo place on Taraval: Yogurt GoGo. Honestly, I had better, but this is just to kill time until Amos arrives. Annie got some froyo and I got tapioca.

Amos didn't take long before he got back and soon enough, we were home. Sat for a while to watch a little bit of TV until I got tired and sleepy, so I took a 20 minute nap. Woke up ready to go to Victor's house for Jenica, Mikayla and Ryan's birthday. Ryan was only there on Skype. We made a quick run to Safeway to get refreshments for Victor.

Got there and Victor was cooking up a storm! Quiche, Pasta, Roasted Pork, Salad and Strawberry Shortcake. It was a good dinner! Lots of people there like Wai and Patty, Enoch and Sabrina. Kids were there too, so it was fairly noisy. It was fun though to play with Mikayla! I feel like she's very easy-going for a baby! Responds well with other strangers. I'll always get a Hi-5 response back from her, but some times it's more like a grab and shake.

Victor had dinner started early (around 5pm), but that means everything ended early (around 8pm). So after that, Annie and I went back home and we just talk. We haven't had deep talks in a while, unless you count the car rides back from Abundant Life Church. I love to talk to Annie about these deep issues since it's a good challenge for myself. Not long after the talks, I drove her back. God bless this woman...

Day 37 of 365: Trader Joe's

Today was quite a musically satisfying day. Got a little annoyed with some people, but that's because I didn't get enough sleep, or the lack of enough sleeping-in. Bypassing the usual BSF morning meeting, I met up with Amos, Vincent and Mike for brunch. Is it bad to say that my taste for company has elevated to a mature setting and I have little amusement for childish ways? Maybe marriage has done this to me, but I've been looking at my life now as a preparation to being a husband. Some things can be fun, but there is a limit and I've drawn mine.

The jam session today was rather last minute, but it was productive for the most part. Covered songs that the four of us could confidently play. I wish the new kids could take this time to experiment with their instruments in preparation for playing with the team, but I guess that'll be covered next time. Hope it'll be followed through...

I went to hang out with Annie before worship practice later in the evening. Went shopping at Stonestown for birthday gifts. Then dropped by Micky D's for a light snack, particularly a mini meal. Annie got a chocolate shake. She couldn't finish, so I took the calling. Regretted after...made the stomach twist...After the afternoon snack, we went to Trader Joe's to look for dinner (ha, dinner already?). I never really shop at Trader Joe's unless I need granola or...whatever I think Trader Joe's is good for, but I got to know all the great stuff they have for dinners! I got myself an Indian chicken curry dinner, microwavable, so I guess that makes it a TV dinner. And she got Ciopinno. Both were good with taste and wallet! About $3-4 each. Now I know where to get dinner if I don't know what to get or cook!

With dinner over, I headed over to church for practice and thanks to Annie, I didn't have to drive over. Hitched a ride with Amos after. Practice itself was good. Took a little longer than usual, which is an hour so far. This practice took about 2 hours. Covered plenty of good songs and I tried to sing and play bass at the same time. I asked Uncle Tad if I could try it out tomorrow morning and he was more than happy to set a microphone up for me. I hit the harmony a couple of times, but that's with Amos singing it with me. I hope it turns out well, but everything in practice was an offering to God. Tomorrow is for His glory and I pray that it will show through our voices!

Day 36 of 365: BSF philosophy

I like rain...mostly when I'm inside and dry. Sucks when I have to go out and even with an umbrella, I still manage to get wet. Either way, work was slow and easy today. Still have free lunch from yesterday's leftovers. I'm thankful to have food in general, even if the noodles were clumped together. Oh, we finally put money down on the wedding photographer!

I went to Target after work to pick up popcorn for tonight's fellowship since it was planned for a movie night. Had 'Wall-E', 'Enchanted', 'Mrs. Doubtfire', and 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'. Ended up watching 'Enchanted', which I don't mind, but the guys seem to fear losing their manliness. Either way, it was fun and they loved it regardless of the cheesy lines and singing princess.

This is the first night for Annie in the High School fellowship. It was a tad awkward not having her with the TNTers, but I know that she is ready for High School. We may not think that we're capable of doing certain things that God called us to do, but all that is needed is faith like a mustard seed and God will do the rest. Easy said than done... I know I'm burnt out from what...7 years of ministry? It is starting to wear out... Not so much of the joy of serving, but rather the physical strength and the line between leader and friend. Where do you draw the line and say that leaders discipline the students, but still be able to be there for them as a counselor? All I can say is that I'm ready to pass the baton to someone else, but if God calls me to continue on my path, I will. Question is, will I obey with joy?

Dang...this sounds like BSF philosophy...

Day 35 of 365: Free lunch

Today was slow, but fun. Fun in a sense that I got to read a lot of interesting stuff, chat online with Annie (which work doesn't mind) and do a little window shopping. Slow day gives reason to do all this. I forgot my bottle, so no water for most of the day. I did get free lunch from work. This lunch was intended to thank everyone's hardwork last week when the chaos and panic of the H1N1 vaccine took over most of our lives. Lots of food, but mostly Chinese and cheap sushi.

I got home and relaxed for a bit. Watched Transformers while working on my paintball gun. Making it smaller and more compact for easy storage and I had the mood to break things apart and putting them back together. I love that for some odd reason. Almost like my sanctuary...can't apply that to devotions unfortunately...

Finished up the mushroom soup and pizza for dinner and did one thing that I haven't done in a while: sit down and watch TV for a period of time. I watched...what did I watch? Wanted, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, a bit of American Chopper and this show called Street Customs? It's the same as Pimp My Ride, but a lot less cheesy lines. Almost like a mature Pimp My Ride, as in no silliness to it.

Did the laundry and folded clothes. Oh, and washed the dishes... Got to practice marriage now! And you should too! Yeah, I'm talking to all you men out there! Or so you call yourselves "men"...

Day 34 of 365: Mushrooms

I tried to sleep in this morning, but I woke up at 8:30am. Laid in bed for another 30 minutes before I decided to start the day. I went ahead to do some BSF homework. It's really hard and distracting at home, but I know I'll have to fight those temptations anyway. So I tried to start with what I can and do a couple of questions at a time. I'll do more later after this posting.

Breakfast, Xbox, lunch then some cleaning up at the property... 5 hours in one sentence. After the cleaning, I went to Sunset Super on Vicente to get ingredients for my cooking project: Cream of Mushroom soup! This is a childhood favorite and I think the last time I had this was about 2 years ago. Maybe 3 years, but it has been a while. Got home and started chopping up the onions and mushrooms and put them in prep bowls like I always like to do. Just before I started the cooking, I found out that I was missing an ingredient. Very important too: Chicken broth. So I got Amos to get some for me while I sautee the onions and mushrooms. Once the broth is in, I popped 4 cans of broth into the pot and let it boil. I didn't know, at the end, how much 4 cans of broth is. Good thing I had plenty of mushrooms. Everything seem to work out fine until I got to the flour, which makes the soup thick. Now I know I did something wrong here because all the flour started to clum up in the boiling broth. I tried to break them up as it cooked, but decided to just let it boil itself apart. After all that, it's adding some butter and then the mushrooms and onions. Oh loveliness as I smell the cooked mushrooms mixing with the broth! Letting it boil together again, I added some Half and Half to give it itself creaminess. I probably didn't add enough at one point, so I added some more. A bunch of taste testing and adding whatever it needs later, I thought the soup was good to go!

Dinner was pizza with the soup. I thought about pork chops for an entree, but I didn't want to spend too much time into the cooking. On top of that, pork is not a meat that I'm confident in cooking, though it's not one that I wouldn't try anyway.

After dinner, Annie came over. Got her opinion on it and thought that this soup is something that I could call my signature dish! I'm going to see what I could do to perfect the recipe. Happy to know that I could cook something more besides eggs and vegetables. Oh, and maybe Sweet and Sour Pork, but that recipes begs for improvement.

We spent some time in prayer after the soup. Mostly about the photographer, but we try to cover everything anyway. Good to be prayer with Annie. It should be done more often... I really take that for granted...

Day 33 of 365: Nothing special

Nothing special today other than a typical work day except maybe not being able to find parking this morning. I was late for work for about 10 minutes. Not very good by my standards. I could've walk to work, but I had to do something after work before 5pm.

BSF tonight was okay. Again, nothing special to note...

Man...today is such a bore! Well, I'll share one thing. People are selfish. Every where you go, there's got to be someone that wants things their way and they'll die if it's not done so. I feel bad for those activist fighting for peace because we all have to face it, that is not happening. I mean, maybe partial peace, but not 100% peace. There is always someone out there that is going to rain on your parade.

Day 32 of 365: Some discrepancies

So today was gradually lighter than last week. There are some residual callers asking about the H1N1 vaccines and strangely, it's mostly Chinese patients. New Challenge of the week: learning how to say H1N1 in Chinese. It's A-something-something... Or using the pig character...Ju? Anyway, it was relatively easy-going day. I did get bored at one point. Oh, and I had a lot of work that I had to put in towards the end of the day after I was relieved. So much that I couldn't do last week now rest this week.

New coworker started today. Pauline Lee, which is the second Pauline Lee in the clinic. So there are two of them now. That will be interesting to watch.

I drove leisurely around to do some errands. One of which is to drop by my favorite store: Target. I was in the hunt for Brita filters because I couldn't find where the other spare ones were. My mom probably hid it somewhere... Anyway, I thought about Transformers the movie and having the urge to walk down memory lane with that movie. Please don't get this one confused with the Michael Bay junk, although I still like the way them animate the transformation. This movie is the Transformers first full length movie! It's animated and has a great story! Or at least, by my standards. I cried watching that as a kid since someone died in that movie. Well, back to Target... I didn't find the animated movie, but I did find Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay's latest piece. I remember telling himself that I didn't want to get the DVD because I didn't like the movie much. Guess what? I got it anyway... I feel like I'm a sucker for Transformers... Pretty cool either way.

Had dinner while watching it and I already found some discrepancies with the movie. Seriously, I think movie producers should just hire me to look out for these little mistakes that make the movie suck a little by taking the realism away from the joy of watching the film and make you wonder why such things could happen and make you say it's impossible. Vincent came over shortly and Amos, Vince and I watched the movie together.

After the movie, shower and taking out the trash. Sorry Annie that I didn't pick your call up... I think it was in the midst of these tasks.

Day 31 of 365: Keep praying

I love daylight savings when it gives me an hour more! I despise it when it demands it back... After yesterday's super active games, I knew I was in for a good night's rest! I know I had enough sleep, but I still could use a few more hours.

Service was good. Love the guest speaker, Steve Kroch. I think that's how his last name is spelled. I really enjoy pastors that have a sense of dynamic speech skills and have good flow of delivery. Oh, stories too! At times, I feel like the content of the message is good, but better when the pastor knows how to deliver it. Helps with the remembering. Like today, the passage is from Luke 9:57-62. This is one of those passages that I would read and not understand. Pastor Kroch definitely gave a lot of insight to the cultural aspects of that time and what he thought Jesus was aiming His answers at. Definitely made the whole thing clearer than before!

Went back home after to relax and wind down for a bit before accompanying Annie to do stuff. After all that needs to be done, I went back home for more chilling while Annie goes dress shopping with her parents. Must be exciting.

I had dinner with her parents (Mom's birthday according to the Chinese calender) and we went to Mayflower. Interesting night since we knew that one of the TNT students has a father working there and we didn't introduce ourselves until tonight when one of Annie's parents made the move. Encouraging thing was that Annie's dad thought her mom should go to church. Thought it was a moment to seize, but I'm going to take baby steps and hope that God will guide in His timing. I just hope I can discern that timing... Well, I thought a good start would be to download my dad's sermons into Annie's dad's computer so he could listen to it at his own time. I know they listened to one before, but that one was the message that Dad talked about the abalone that Annie's dad gave him. Keep praying, I guess...