Day 1 of Retreat
I woke up fairly early Friday morning. I set about cleaning house. Cleaning room actually. Two more weeks to go and I can say goodbye to the odor that I have grown so accustomed to in the bed next to mine. I got off to a slow start, however, and had to rush. When you rush, you do stupid things like pulling a side muscle. Darn, I'm old.
Jeff called yesterday and said he no longer had room in his car for the one hour drive out to Malibu. Not only that but now I am responsible to give rides to three more people. Nice last minute planning there, guy. Luckily, you have cool flexible Pung ready at a moment's notice. I got to Ann's place in Pasadena thirty minutes late despite pulling a muscle. Ten miles in 45 minutes. Nice. Ann is a medical student so I thought she would understand that I had four books with me. I intend to read all of them this weekend. She advised me that I should probably make some time for God. That's the point of the retreat. Yeah, whatever, I'm a busy man.
We went to pick up Emily next. Oh, I remember you. You're that girl in church always helping out with the chairs during clean-up despite those two crutches you have. I guess, you want to show people that you are a strong independent woman. I told her about how I wanted to go overseas to teach English. What a coincidence. Her job is to assign people overseas to teach English. Hook me up dear!
We sat outside McKinley Elementary for Michelle to finish up her work. I guess it didn't matter that I was late. She needed about 45 minutes more before she was ready to go. I wandered around her school to explore. It's an indoor school. Not much of these exist in California. They have student lockers there just like in sitcoms. One of my possible future paths leads to teaching. I prefer teaching elementary kids. At least that's what I though. Michelle is a fourth grade teacher. Oh what a coincidence! Please tell me how it is.
Michelle forgot her pillow so we made a trek down to San Marino to pick it up. Oh my. She lives in a mansion. With maids and everything. I had to ask her where I should park. The place is that big. I wanted to go inside to take a look around. Perhaps say I want to pee or something. But I declined. I don't want to appear gawking. Wow, another person who is stupendously rich but does not flaunt it.
We decided to get something to eat before we drive out to Pepperdine because we would likely not make it in time for dinner. We stopped off at a Japanese fast food place. I debated if I should spend money or not. To starve is no big deal to me. I'm used to it. But what if they eat and I don't? They'll feel awkward if I don't eat. I don't want that. But I only have $7 left in my pocket. Dilemma dilemma. Before I could make a decision, Michelle offered to pay for my dinner. She felt bad that she made us wait and that's why we missed dinner. Sweet!
We get to Pepperdine just in time for the first session. At the end, Pastor John suggested grand silence until breakfast the next day. Sweet. I don't want to talk to anyone anyway. So far today has been going pretty well.
Seek and you will find
And God said to me,
"I have plans for you,
For the lonely flame of your heart is single no more."
What I seek has been found
I have been found
I have been found
My lips mouth worry and anxiety
of life unresolved
But not a whisper is audible
Across a chasm of doubt
Before me lies a vast grassy plain
It is my freedom to roam
And His will that guides me.
Odd parallels
Hopefully, by the time you read this, there will be a nice photo of a camel I saw at the L.A. Zoo. The last time I was at the Zoo was at San Francisco some ten years ago. Just odd that I went to the zoo around the same time my friend did.
Anyway, God is good. Praying works. The custodian turned up with my keys yesterday. Because I am an ungrateful bastard, I really have to criticize him for not turning the keys into campus police or the department office before he left work at 10 AM. He works through the night I guess. At least leave a note somewhere. He apparently knew enough about the room to give the keys back to my research professor. 24 hours of panic has finally subsided.
My mouth doesn't hurt anymore. No new oral pains. I got to enjoy some good pizza from my housemate. Much better than my lousy cooking
Oh and he got DSL installed. I am back on the internet! Yay! That will make it 3 in my roller coaster of life. Tomorrow I head off to Pepperdine University to immerse myself in my church retreat. The theme is Sabbath rest. Unfortunately, I won't have much time to rest. I will be bringing all the books I should have read this quarter with me. It won't really be too much studying because the subjects are fairly interesting. I thought I might lie on the beach and read like those old people who don't know how to have fun. Good food, good company. I think I had to go through an up and down of emotions. It's like cleansing my palette. Now, I can fully embrace Sabbath.
I haven't decided if I would bring my laptop with me, so most likely you won't be hearing from me this weekend. You normally don't anyway, so it doesn't matter. Have a good weekend blogger.
Bad week
This week didn't start off too well for me. I was looking forward to having some good cooked meals this weekend at the church retreat at Pepperdine University. But I still have to survive the rigors and trials of this week. I couldn't taste anything earlier this week because I apparently bit the tip of my tongue while sleeping. It made eating difficult for 3-4 days. Afterwards when I finally healed, I got food stuck between my middle teeth and I couldn't get it out. I probably should've brushed like crazy to get it out but I procrastinated. So now the roof of my mouth got infected and again I cannot taste food. Grrr... Let's pile them on now shall we. Stupid me yesterday morning left my keys on the doorknob of my research room. A room that contains seven expensive Macs and Suns. So I lost my research key, $50 to replace. Lost my Physics Club room key, $50 to replace. Lost my house key, $50 to replace. Lost my room key, guess how much to replace? Geez, why me? At least this is number 3
Busy Busy Busy
The past weekend has been an extremely busy one. Thursday was my usual research meeting so I was up at school until late. I don't really like Thursdays. I have to hold a club meeting and then I have to present something in research. It's just more intense talking and having people listen to you instead of sitting around listening to your professors.
Friday, I had a fieldtrip over at JPL. I met my summer mentor there and asked him for a letter of recommendating. He gave me the coolest reply. "I'd love to write you a letter of recommendation!" I thought people or professors would lament having to write something. Perhaps they have to embellish or worse, sound stale because they don't know much about the student. Anyway, I was shown to a new clean room housing a lifesize mockup of how SIM works. There's still plenty at JPL I haven't seen yet.
Saturday, found me chaperoning a quartet of Lincoln High School kids at JPL's Open House. They were extremely well-behaved and genuinely wanted to find out answers to their question sheet. It's just so neat to have people listen to me when they are younger. I was told Lincoln High School students come from some of the poorer areas of Los Angeles. I had fun looking at all the exhibits, being an astronomy guy and all.
Sunday, I decided to sit in on Jean's young bible class. I wanted a change of environment from regular church sermons. Also, I wanted to see how she would treat them. In the back of mind, I sometimes think that I may be a teacher. Perhaps elementary because high school kids are almost adults and so I always wonder if I am patronizing them. Anyway, with just six 1st and 2nd graders, the class was extremely loud. I could hardly think. I wrote down as much notes as I could. Jean acted extremely nice and friendly like she always is. I wonder if her students don't take advantage of her. I'm beginning to understand why Mrs. Palma, Mrs. Teal, and Mr. Paratore were such stink butts. They had to be hard or the students don't respect them. Tough to be a teacher and a friend at the same time.
I went to the zoo to watch chimpanzees after church. I had to do an extra credit for anthropolgy class. Just go there and write about what you see as you observe apes. My professor made me realize that monkeys have tails. Apes do not. Hence, Curious George is an ape not a monkey. It sucks knowing stuff. All the parents there called the chimpanzees, monkeys. I had to hold my tongue more than a few times so I wouldn't have to correct a parent in front of their child.
Where are you?
Oddly and somewhat sadly for Kim, our lives are running in parallel. She's experiencing a surge in flakiness from people. I have this problem with the people in my life and I have come up with a solution that I can deal with. I don't make plans. See, I suffer from the same affliction as serial flakers. When we talk about the event, I get all giddy and excited to go. But when the time comes, I get despondent and lazy. The only way to combat it is to not schedule anything. No expectations equals no flaking. It's worked out beautifully for me. Of course, major events still have to be planned but for normal every day social encounters, I leave it up to serendipity. Besides, I love being spontaneous. I love living by the spur of the moment. At any time, something new and wonderful can happen. It's not all perfect though. Some people would criticize my lack of duty or commitment. Phooey, I say. I've been burned too many times. I can't stand it. Sitting around wondering where that person is. Why don't they call? It's my number two pet peeve under lateness. Why number two and not number one? Because people are more likely to be late than to not show up so I experience the former much more often.
God's Decision
No picture for this post again. I just haven't been whipping my camera out enough lately. There is a fire or some other emergency at my apartment again. I know every time something goes on because my apartment is right next the fire hydrant. Last week, Jen told me that she was able to get enough money for me to go to the church retreat. I felt ambivalent about it. I didn't want to go because I didn't want to spend the money. Actually, I don't have the money. But I guess I could somehow get the money if I really really wanted to. Besides, I thought I wasn't religious enough to go. Does needing God in your life make you religious enough? I don't know what the answer is. Don't even think that is the correct question to ask for going or not going. I said to myself, I'll just seek financial assistance to go on the trip. When I get a job, I will return it to the church in the form of a donation. It's a small sum of money really. But right now, it seems like a lot when I don't have much. Last week, Jen asked for a "Donation of Love" from everyone there. She didn't mention me. She just said, the church wants everyone to go and if we could all help out a little for people less fortunate than us, it would be great. Apparently that's me. I was originally going to "pay back" the church as it were. I can't "pay back" everyone in the group. I'm really afraid I'm going to waste this money. But I'll let God decide on that.
Weekend getaway
Thursday:
I made a quick trip back to the Bay Area last weekend. Most of my goals were met with some success. I called Kim the night I was to arrive to get a ride but Lee said she could get me from the airport instead. This would make picking up her car a lot easier. At her house, we went over the finer details of automobile ownership transfer. Afterwards, we had a light dinner. It felt good to be in her nice clean house. I felt so at ease. My apartment has become a disaster area. To not see food stuck on plates is quite liberating. I didn't get home until very late. My sister was sick coughing so she sat outside in the kitchen talking to me past 1 AM so she wouldn't wake her baby.
Friday:
I woke up to a series of phone calls the next day. Having spoken to my sister all night, I refused to pick up and slept until almost 1 PM. I returned all them when I awoke and headed over to Walmart to get an oil change for the car. Having accomplished my 1st task of getting the car, I proceeded to finish the 2nd task. I called up, I guess I can her my, ex-friend knowing full well she wouldn't pick up and left a message that I had previously memorized. Then, I headed over to McDonald's to pick up some Happy Meals for my cousins and went home. I had a quick lunch with my aunt and watched some Dilbert with Andrew. It was already 5:30 and K came by bang on the dot as she always does which is why I love her so much. We had an interesting but discomforting chat. It made me very uneasy even to now. She dropped me off at Crazy Buffet so that I could have dinner with my mom for Mother's Day. Afterwards, my sister and I went home to play cards. Playing Frustration with 5 people makes the game extremely long. I had another late night.
Saturday:
I wanted to go watch Spiderman 3 with Nam today. Fortunately, our schedules didn't match. Fortunately, because today was going to be late. I woke up early, hoping to catch Kim for hiking. It was beginning to look like I wasn't going to have any time to see her at all. Fortunately, she had already canceled the hike. I called up Y-Y but she wasn't awake yet. All very fortunate for me because I was at the tire store for over 2 hours. I visited Honda while they installed 2 new front tires on the car I just got from Lee. Honda Fit, you rock! There is so much space in the back when you put the seats down. And a red Civic Si also caught my attention. For a little over 21k, it's a bargain. I went over to see Fiona and my Uncle because I had a little time before lunch with Hoang. Fiona is amazingly good with the Nintendo Wii she just got. It was incredible. Not too long ago, I had to shoo her away while I played video games. She didn't know how to play and just wasted my time. Now, she was handily kicking my butt. No contest. Not even close. I felt emasculated. Had bun bo hue with Hoang. That girl seems to have changed a lot the past few months. A lot has happened of course to her the past few months. But that sadness in the corner of her eye seems persistent. Kim calls up after I drop off Hoang and we have a stroll through Great Mall. She gives me a riddle that I am still working on. She also wore a dress. It's odd. I normally think girls who wear dresses are very cute and dainty. But Kim in a dress looks weird to me. Maybe it's like getting a haircut. It just looks so different that you have to get used to it to like it. I tackled Task number 3 after I saw Kim off. It was a simple conversation. Amazingly, she picked up. There were a few more things I wanted to say but she was busy and had to go. Oh well, this conversation afforded me an extension. I'll finish it up later. I go home afterwards hoping to catch some shut eye for my long drive home tomorrow. But my sisters ask to go have dinner with Terence and Ling. Her father, praise God, just left the hospital. It was just a scare, nothing major. Good, that means I won't have to cancel their rafting trip. That's right, I focus on what is important. =P I drop by Jack's place to pick up my graduation cap and to have a little chat. He sounded content and mentions that Yen and Tuan are getting married. I would have liked to hear some more of what he had to say but his garage door light was being a butthead, it was really cold, and it was getting pretty late. And, finally, to cap off the night, Nam and I pounded away on the PS3. That bastard picked me apart like an orange. I said, "I don't want to deal with it anyway." He said, "Are you sure, you're not
afraid to deal with it?" It was like that the whole night with whatever I said. I can lie to myself but lying to Nam will take some effort. I picked up his graduation gown and limped my way home.
Sunday:
Y-Y was busy for lunch so I decided to head down to L.A. a little earlier than I normally would have. The car is a bit old so I wanted some leeway on the way down. One of my aunts calls to come fix her computer. Oh, you're too late, I'm going home already. How did she know I was in town anyway? I purposely told no one. Kim calls right as I pass Tully. We have lunch so she could give me rafting money. We run into Emily and So while eating. She's 6 months pregnant! They look so happy together. I relapse for a moment about being late in the "life game." Kim slaps me awake with her truck story. I like how that girl always entertains wild ideas. The question is, "Why not?" Why not do it? What's stopping you? I arrive at Montclair at 6 PM. 400 miles in about 5.5 hours. I drove the snot out of that Ford Escort. I feel good this weekend. I accomplished what I set out to do. Tired and satisfied I drifted off to sleep soundly without the two hours of tossing I do on a normal night.
Smile for the picture
Jen was apparently bored last week and decided to draw me. She's pretty good. I have to get a haircut and I look kinda feminine.
好熱啊!But for some reason I feel good. Normally, I would set about baking myself. I'd curl up on my bed throwing off the covers. I'd cover my feet with my pillows. Never ever use my pillow! Every once in a while I baste myself with the sweat that accumulated underneath me by turning over. I feel a rush of cool as my now exposed flesh feels evaporation. I'd flip the pillow over my feet to get the cooler side. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. I'd do this over and over again until I heat drives me into slumber. But like I said, I feel good for some odd reason. Warriors lost a close one the other day. But that just means Utah is in for some redemption. My weekend is schedules up nicely. Now I just need to follow through.
Hiking again
Went hiking the other weekend. It was a slow and steady walk really. With such a big group, it was expected. Not a bad hike though. I enjoyed skipping around the place. But the outing was tempering.
I was eating a sandwich at lunch and bit into a big slice of cheese. It annoyed me, so I let it drop haphazardly out of the sandwich onto the dirt floor. I thought about picking it up but eh, then my hands would get dirty. I'll get it after I finish. A fellow hiker from my group looked at me sternly and inquired if I was to pick it up. I assured him I would. A few minutes later he looked at me again and said the cheese is still there. Now he set me off. I said I would get it and I would. But now I am purposely letting it sit there to piss you off. Geez, get off my back already.
Afterwards, we were skipping rocks along the waterfall. Being me, I couldn't skip anything. So what gave me more joy was throwing big rocks into the water and seeing the splash. I carefully pulled up some huge rocks in the water and threw them into the water creating a big ruckus. Then another hiker from this group looked at me sternly and said I shouldn't be doing that.
Why? Because I am disturbing nature. The waterfall created this small water hole in the rocks and I am filling up that hole with the rocks I throw in.
What about the people skipping rocks? Those are small and mine are big. That set me off. I decided to take him on.
For one I am pulling rocks from inside the water to throw back into the water. So that wouldn't change anything. For two, the freaking waterfall carved out these rocks. It will continue to do so long after I am gone. You really think little ol' me can dam up this waterfall? And for three, what the heck are you talking about? Show me some literature showing this. Are you just making this up? Am I mighty Hercules able to change the course of a mighty river? Pissed me off.
Now, I'll admit both souls are right in what they say. But they pissed me off to no end anyhow.
Shaving weight
Is that how you spell missent? Is that even a word? Terrible. I look at the address and it is clearly labeled USA. One month late.
It's a hot day in Los Angeles. The Warriors move on to round 2 and I have a ton of stuff to tell you. But I'll keep it light since I have class in 15 minutes. My friend called me the other day saying that I should be ready to shave my head. Why? Because I said I would if she lost 20 pounds. That's like 9 kilos I believe. It was sorta my way to encourage her to do it. Why did I say it? Well, she said she would shave her head when she lost 20 pounds. So I rolled my eyes disbelievingly and thought eh, sure, whatever. Now it's almost a year later and she's about to bounce that magic number on the scales. She said that no time limit was strictly stipulated. Makes sense huh?
I woke up fairly early Friday morning. I set about cleaning house. Cleaning room actually. Two more weeks to go and I can say goodbye to the odor that I have grown so accustomed to in the bed next to mine. I got off to a slow start, however, and had to rush. When you rush, you do stupid things like pulling a side muscle. Darn, I'm old.
