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Friday, May 30, 2003 Happy Birthday Happy birthday to my brother Michael Wu. posted by alvin | Friday, May 30, 2003 Creatures of Habit I realized yesterday at the gym, that for the past 8 years, I have used the same type of soap. Irish Spring. I do vary in terms of the different types...but yeah...bar soap with Irish Spring. =P. posted by alvin | Friday, May 30, 2003 Thursday, May 29, 2003 Being a gentleman link... As I was reading blindman's blog, he had a link to this site...How to be a 21st Century Knight. I thought it was an interesting read. Something I definitely still need to work on though. =P. posted by alvin | Thursday, May 29, 2003 True Power Hmm...as I was reading Isaiah, I was taken aback by this verse from Isaiah 37:36 "Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning-there were all the dead bodies!" Crazy...can you imagine 185,000 people being killed so quickly? It just reminds me of God's power, and his deliverance of His people. He's da' man. posted by alvin | Thursday, May 29, 2003 Purpose As I was driving into work today...I was just thinking that without God, I would totally live a life without purpose. I mean, I think I would still be a good person, one who works hards...is stable emotionally, financially. Just going through the motions of young adulthood without a sense of purpose would make life very tough. I thank you that God has provided me a purpose to live on this earth. posted by alvin | Thursday, May 29, 2003 Wednesday, May 28, 2003 Umm...lindy hop class... Hmm...so, I actually quit the ballroom dancing classes after the first week. I found ballroom a bit boring... However, I am going to take this class instead starting on Monday, June 2nd. Lindy Hop with Chad/Melanie. I feel a bit stale with some of my moves, so thought a class would help in the growth process. Anybody interested in also taking it with me? 1 month commitment. I'm going to take the "Lindy Beyond the Basics (4 weeks) Mondays, June 2 – June 23, 9-10pm". Since this is the first time they are offering this...and since Alberto's intermediate lindy class starts at 6 p.m., this is a better fit to my schedule. posted by alvin | Wednesday, May 28, 2003 Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Weekend Recap II So, after Shannon's celebration party, I headed home to have dinner with my maternal grandfather. After a short dinner...I drove back to the Cubberly Center for Tina's dance performance. Kathleen, Mike, Jonathan, Kathy, Ed and Tom also went. Check out the website...www.danselibre.org. You can find pictures of Tina on there. Overall, this dance group basically danced through multiple eras. They wove this story together with two actors...who basically had a time machine. The actors were pretty funny. I thought they were pretty corny to start with...but as the night went longer...I started to appreciate their corniness and laughed more. Anyways, Tina was typecasted to be a "flirt" in two separate eras. I guess, you can say her flirting is timeless...hehe. Tina and a couple others put on black wigs for a portion of the program, and it took me about half the number b4 I recognized her with a wig. Overall, I thought the performance went well. Randomly, I met one of my high school acquaintances there...who actually knows a mutual friend from Northwestern that went to school with Kathleen and Mike. So random. She said she started her own wedding planner business. I haven't seen her in over 8+ years. After the dance performance, we headed to some cafe that Anthony did some research on. I got lost because I thought it was in Redwood City, so I ended up pretty far away. It was only like 5 minutes away from Cubberly. But it was already closed...so we ended up on University Ave. at Haagen Daas. The mutual friend, Ja (sp?), also came with us. Mike told many stories about his college years, reminiscing about his human sexuality class. It was fun. Again, the idea of shared experiences played a role here. I wouldn't imagine that a year ago, I would be hanging out with these people, since I didn't know them. Ja is actually heading back to Shanghai for 2 years, which is pretty cool. Alright, so I ended up being pretty tired Sat. night, and went to bed early to get enough rest for church. After church, had lunch with my sis and then went to play bball with RW. We had a smaller turnout since it was Memorial Day weekend, but still enough for 10s. David, came out for his first time to the court and it was fun running with him. He is 6'5", and quite a presence inside the paint. Anyways, I got two elbows on a back to back offensive and defensive sequence, one to the side of the face on offense, and one to the chest area on defense. In the following game...I got a final elbow to the eye, which knocked my contact out. My eye was throbbing pretty bad, and I thought it was a lot worse than it actually was. I stepped off the court, and Jason helped me put on my contact. He said, "That is the most unsanitary thing I have ever seen." Anyways, when you play inside you expect this type of physical play, so I have no hard feelings. It was fun. After that...we had a b'day party for my bro by watching X2 and then going to dinner on Santana Row. Overall, I liked X2 more than Matrix, because X2 definitely had more action than Matrix which had so much talking. Dinner was an interesting experience. I learned a lot about myself through dinner. =P. Alright...so on to Monday, I was already pretty pooped out...Took care of some errands in the morning...had dim sum with my family...went to the gym...and then dinner again with fam. Had a meeting at night in Santa Clara, at Irving's new pad...which definitely was pretty nice. And then...takes me to today...yippee...crazy weekend. =P. posted by alvin | Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Doh... Hmm...all this time, when I asked the janitor's name b4, I thought his name was Bruce, so this whole time I would call him Bruce. Turns out his name is Antonio Cruz. I guess, I misheard Bruce when he told me Cruz b4. Hehe...too funny. I have been calling him Bruce for the past 2 months... posted by alvin | Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Weekend Recap I Alright, so I definitely had an "E" type of weekend, and this "I" is very tired. A couple of thoughts first...after having an informal open forum with my most faithful blog readers, they asked specifically that I refrain from using initials in my blog and instead use names. So I will need to go away from the mystery and just use first names. Anyways, at RW on friday, we had a time of sharing and prayer. The group I was in was very small, only 4 of us, Shannon, Spencer and Ellie. It was a very good time of sharing, and by 10:15 we only finished praying for one person. Knowing that we needed to exit ALCF by 10:30, we decided to pray outside for the rest of the people and ended up praying inside Spencer's Acura. I found the time really refreshing, but also very intense and serious. I guess even as I see this people quite often, to really know what is going on in their lives is difficult without being more intentional in asking how they are doing, and what is going on and such. Anyways, we finished around 10:50 p.m., and we were the last group done...and most of the other RWers already left by then too. However, Anthony and Cory were still outside...and after losing some momentum as to what to do (watching Drumline)...we finally ended up at Krispy Kreme, but actually Shannon, myself and Anthony bought stuff from McDonalds to eat, and actually none of us bought any donuts. So...although I usually don't like eating food from other establishments inside another establishment...Krispy Kreme staff didn't seem to mind, or at least I didn't notice that they minded. On a side note, stay away from the Caramel Creme pie from McDonalds. As I try to challenge myself to take more risks, I bought an Apple Pie and a Caramel Creme pie, and the Caramel Creme pie was definitely not worth my 50 cents. Sometimes taking risks you are unsuccessful. So, anyways, conversation went into this weird realm into which Anthony would probably need to explain more in-depth, but let me just say this, "Check your sexy thought." The idea of stuff being sexy and cool came up. With the 4 permutations of sexy and cool, for example...something that is "unsexy but considered cool," Anthony used this example of this club where it was crowded, drinks were expensive, some huge line outside to get in, music wasn't good, but just because many people were going in...it was considered unsexy but cool. examples of stuff that is "sexy but uncool," Anthony came up with smoking, and some other things that really slip my mind now. Honestly, I struggled a bit grappling these concepts and as I was trying to provide my own examples, they shot down each one. It finally ended with Anthony encouraging all of us to "check your sexy thought," seeing what realm it actually falls under, and seeing what motivates us to do certain things. This inside joke I used at Shannon's grad. party, and Ellie and Anthony got a good laugh from it, with puzzled looks from other people sitting around our table. I guess I realized that "shared experience" makes a huge difference in terms of depth of friendships. As there are more shared memories that people can have together...there is definitely more potential for deeper relationships to be built. Alright...so on Sat. I woke up to hit the gym, and went to 2 graduation celebrations. First was for Matthew, a guy from CBCSJ who graduated from SJ state, of whom I have basically grown up with. We used to tackle him a lot during our times of indoor football at church, when we were growing up since he was the little bro of Darren. Hometown Buffet has a lot more meat type of products, and I think is definitely better than Fresh Choice. Anyways, some of the lunch discussion focused around reality TV shows, such as American Idol, the Bachelor, etc. And although, I think I can talk somewhat knowledgably about these shows...I can't say that I am a fervent watcher of them. I read a lot of the info from the web. One of the dreams of a girl there was to make American Idol. I encouraged her to follow her dream...just to at least try. She said that the best singers she knew...tried out for AI, and didn't make it. She attributed it to their training in "operatic style" of singing. Anyways, lunch was good. So, after that...went to Shannon's law school party at her's parents house in Los Altos. The food was pretty good, but since I just came from a buffet lunch, I actually didn't eat much. I snagged some of Melanie's fruit, and then also ate a couple chicken skewers and "bacon with chestnut." I was excited because Shannon's hyped her father's speech that he has prepared for the last 3 years the night before at Krispy Kreme...saying that it was going to be very humiliating and such. However, I thought the speech was very touching and lacked the humiliation that I expected. He ended it with..."In a parent child relationship love is a given, but respect is earned. Shannon you have earned our respect." I was like...yeah, deep stuff man...but obviously in my heart I was a bit disappointed by no humiliating stories. =P. Near the end, Cory and Pao-Siang and myself had a discussion concerning fear of heights. I am looking forward to the annual Yosemite trip that RW takes, but I don't look forward to Half-Dome. Although I don't mind all the pre-hiking to the Half-Dome base...going up the cables bothers me. I wouldn't say that I am afraid of heights, but I found it challenging because of my body build. I don't have as much upper-body as lower-body strength, but used a lot of my arms to get up the cables. Cory said that I should use more of my legs...but when you are 45 degrees off a mountain...you just try to use whatever you have to get up. Anyways, I will still go up the cables this year...but will try to use more lower-body strength this time. I guess as I have gotten older, I definitely am not as risky physically. As a youngster, my parents told me that I would walk right beside the edge of the Grand Canyon, without any fear. I can't say I remember that...but yeah...sounds like me. Gosh...lots of stuff this weekend. Will blog a bit more later...=P...stay tuned. posted by alvin | Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Friday, May 23, 2003 SMEJ Surprise Potluck and Prakash's Visit Home SMEJ Surprise Potluck photos and Prakash's home visit posted... posted by alvin | Friday, May 23, 2003 Fantasy Basketball I would have to say that with the end of the bball season fast approaching, as both the Eastern and Western Conference finals are underway, I would say my overall life productivity has increased. I guess, I'll have to admit, that managing 3 fantasy bball teams was quite fun, but I'm glad I have that time back now. Usually, at night, after working out in the gym, I would check the stats, and in the morning right when I come into the office I would check to see my standings. I guess for all the sports, bball is the easiest one for me to follow. I guess hockey would also be easy since there are only 6 players on the ice at once, but bball teams carry smaller rosters. Anyways, I was just thinking about this driving into work today. =P. posted by alvin | Friday, May 23, 2003 Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Dinner with DC and CS Last night, DC and CS took me out for a b'day dinner. We ate at Chili's at El Camino/Lawrence. I haven't seen DC in almost a year even though he is living with CS, so it was good syncing up with them. I had my usual...Chicken Crispers and replacing the homestyle fries with curly fries. Talk went through reminiscing our college years to our current years. I always get a good laugh when hanging out these guys. The previous night at 24hr. fitness, DK and I discussed how it is difficult for us to play back to back days of bball now, when back in high school/college, it was like nothing. Realization...epiphany...we are getting old...=P. posted by alvin | Wednesday, May 21, 2003 New album posted The RW Mission Peak training hike photos are now posted. posted by alvin | Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Monday, May 19, 2003 Weekend Recap On Sat. I went to LW and JN's wedding held at my home church and then the banquet in Chinatown. It was a very beautiful wedding. I really liked AY playing "Canon in D" on the harp. She played offertory on Sunday during service, and hearing a harp is so cool. Anyways, I guess the most touching moment is when LW serenaded JN with a special song, ""If You Could See What I See" by Geoff Moore and the Distance. I thought the song was pretty hard to sing, but LW did a good job. Tears flowed from many in the audience...and I have to admit, that I needed some time to adjust my contacts...hehe. I thought the banquet was pretty low-key, not much kissing, as they set up ground rules such as if they want to see a kiss...1. need so sing a song...any song for that matter...2. need to do a skit...3. need to tell a story about LW and JN. PH started off before praying a blessing for the meal by singing God is so good. He's too funny...and that was pretty spontaneous. I sat with 4 married couples, or whom most have seen me grow up in the church, and it was PH and me. Funny...I was by-far the youngest by at least 12 years. =P. The dancing portion was fun, but the swing music was so fast...I had the wrong shoes because I had way too much traction on the dance floor. It was a good time. On Sun. I finally got out to play bball with RW. I haven't been out in awhile. AL mentioned that my bball to swing dancing ratio is not being kept (4:1), and I acknowledged that was true. Need to play more bball. Pretty competitive games, and it was good getting out to run and soak up some sun. I need to work on my tan some. On Sun. night, one of the missionaries I have been supporting for the past 3 years, had a sharing get-together in Fremont. I ended up being the only one there along with the family she was actually staying with. I'm actually really glad as I finally have some faces to put together with the prayer e-mails that I get. God is doing some awesome things in the city she stays in China. Praise God. He is good. =P. posted by alvin | Monday, May 19, 2003 Friday, May 16, 2003 Matrix Reloaded So, I had the chance to watch Matrix yesterday with WC and JC. I was going to go with co-workers, but for one reason or another, they started bailing, and I ended up with 2 extra tickets. My co-worker actually pre-purchased all the tickets including mine and basically gave them to me for free. A real nice guy. Since some of you haven't seen the movie, I won't give the plot away, but honestly, I don't remember much from the first Matrix, so it's a bit difficult for me to compare. However, the movie had me thinking through most of it, processing the religious undertones. The action scenes were pretty good, and I enjoyed the fighting a lot. I guess that should be all I say. In the pre-movie conversation, JC was saying how AL talked about character meaning more than personality in terms of qualities in another person. WC and I agreed that character does mean more than personality, and also that character plays a role in defining personality. A person can fake personality, but faking character is very difficult. Interesting how many young adult conversations end up talking about relationships...=P. posted by alvin | Friday, May 16, 2003 Birthday Recap So, I started blogging on this same topic, but then when I tried to post, it didn't work. The joys of technology. So, I am trying again now. I apologize to my faithful readers because I haven't updated that in-depth for awhile. Anyways, on my b'day night, I headed out to dinner with my parents. We went to Todai because they give the b'day person a free meal, a savings of $22.95, ($23.95 if your b'day happens to fall on a weekend). I couldn't say that I was that impressed by the food, just doesn't seem so fresh to me. They also claimed that because of a seasonal shortage, lobster wasn't being served. My dad went off a bit with the server about the seasonal shortage of lobster, and complained a bit about it. The server went off on his prepared spiel as to what the issue was, etc. Bottom line...as a business, it was too expensive to have lobster in the restaurant. That's it. Anyways, mom and dad shared more about how they met each other, etc. They love talking to me about relationships. Anyways, it was pretty random, but I saw HM with her little sister walking pass Todai during dinner. So, after getting loaded on free dinner, I headed out to Alberto's for a night of swing dancing. Now, if you asked me when I turned 25 if I would be having a swing dancing party when I was turning 26, I would laugh in your face and then invite you to play some basketball. Who would have thought? Anyways, you realize how much I have changed in one year. AC treated me to the night of swing. Once inside Alberto's, I realized it was super humid, moreso than normal nights. Anyways, I see TC on my right, then see DN, CK on the left. I was extremely impressed by the "bun" cake that DN made. I put my stuff down, put my customary towel in my back pocket, greeted the others that came to celebrate my b'day with me, and then hit the dance floor. I tried to dance with all the girls that I knew, that came to celebrate my b'day with me. I got around to all but one of them, AL. She left a bit early, but definitely not a good excuse for me not dancing with her. TC and NW submitted my name to the DJs and I had my own special birthday jam. The premise behind a birthday jam is that the birthday person goes to a middle of a circle and different people dance with the birthday person, switching off partners at different times. I would have to say that the circle was larger than usual, and I staggered a bit surprised as all the attention was on me. As an "I" I don't really thrive in the spotlight, and I remembered that I told TC last week that I wasn't sure if I wanted to have a birthday jam...but honestly...I was really happy that I was able to do so, so, shout outs to TC and NW for submitting my name and for helping me along in my swing dancing. I would have to say that swing dancing is not something I'm especially good at, and even more so when you are the center of attention, I felt pretty nervous out there. My heart was pounding pretty hard, and the song was fast. I tried to remember moves...but when you're nervous moving at a fast speed, it's tough. I stuck with the lindy swingout from open position, most of the time. hehe. =P. I missed most of the song breaks too...gotta' work on that. I think I danced with 6 girls during the b'day jam. Yeah, who's da' man? =P. Anyways, after it was over, there was lots of clapping and the DJ wishing me a happy birthday. I waved to the people and went towards the seating area and plopped myself down to capture the moment and to rehydrate. It was fun dancing. Afterwards, we headed over to Verde for Stage 2 of Pearl Milk Tea. Pretty relaxing to just sit down. TC treated me to a mango freeze. People sung happy birthday to me, and again I was the center of attention. I looked around and quickly made a gesture to shake the hand of some random person inside of Verde. He was quite surprised. I wanted to post some of the funny evite comments since the guest list was private. I'll leave the names anonymous, but see if you can guess who said what... A) For the b-day boy...I'll push back my bed time then for this once in a year event ! Happy B-day B) 'course i'll be there...can't resist swing dancing...=p hehe C) when can we share how much of a positive influence you've been in our lives? D) I am so excited you are celebrating your birthday with swing dancing! Go Alvin! Time for a birthday jam! I'm there! E) hmmm this should in "interesting" :) thanks alvin for the invite! F) Considering it...Your birthday is more than enough! However, I need companionship at the 8:00pm lesson... G) So what does one wear to a swing lesson? H) swing dancing huh?? well consider that i have an injured knee, i don't think dancing is an option for me right now. I) wow, i made it on alvin's nondisclosed list of guests... hehehe. won't be able to make it, but have an awesome birthday. Overall, I had a wonderful birthday celebrating with family and friends. I felt very loved and appreciated. Thanks to all. =P. posted by alvin | Friday, May 16, 2003 Wednesday, May 14, 2003 Turning 26 today... Hmm....someone asked me what goals I would like to accomplish in this 26th year. I thought about it, and said, 1. understanding more of where God wants me to be. All I hope for in this year. posted by alvin | Wednesday, May 14, 2003 Monday, May 12, 2003 Back in the Office As I strolled into the breakroom this morning to pick up my normal "fat-free" milk and my two Alhambra water bottles, I reflected and thought about how nice it is to come back into the office. I guess the week away doing training helped to refresh me some so that I have a better perspective coming back here. I think overall, I am happy here. More thoughts later...need to catch up on some work. =P. posted by alvin | Monday, May 12, 2003 Thursday, May 08, 2003 Wisdom I apologize that my entries are so short this week. Being in training class without Internet access is tough. Anyways, as I was reading Proverbs, Proverbs 4:7 striked me, "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." Solomon realized how important wisdom was, especially as a king, and made it clear that one has to actively seek it out. I need to seek it out more proactively. posted by alvin | Thursday, May 08, 2003 Wednesday, May 07, 2003 Swing Dancing, 5/14 on my B'day Taken directly from my evite... To celebrate my birthday, I am going swing dancing at Alberto's in Mountain View and would like to invite you to come. Come and hit the dance floor. =P. Swing lessons at Alberto's (736 W. Dana St., Mountain View, CA): East Coast Swing lessons at 8 p.m.: $8 (includes dancing from 9-11 p.m.) Dancing from 9-11 p.m.: $5. If you don't want to swing dance, please consider attending the "post-swing-dancing" hangout at Cafe Verde's at 852 Villa St, Mountain View, CA 94041 at 11:05 p.m. posted by alvin | Wednesday, May 07, 2003 Monday, May 05, 2003 Training Class I'm in training class this week at Cadence in San Jose, for a PCB design tool, Allegro. Unfortunately, there is no internet access there. =(. I miss the good old days of driving only 5 minutes to work. =P. posted by alvin | Monday, May 05, 2003 Friday, May 02, 2003 In the nick of time... Hmm...I just played some bball with some of my co-workers, and luckily we got our runs in before the rain started. One of my co-workers got an elbow to his mouth, not sure what exactly happened, but it was quite quiet on the ride back to the office. Anyways, feeling productive today. RW tonight. See ya'. =P. posted by alvin | Friday, May 02, 2003 Thursday, May 01, 2003 Decision Making Hmm...I'm thinking that this entry might be a bit all over the place, and I apologize in advance. As I was chatting with SP last night, I brought up this topic of motivation and for finding that motivation/passion in myself. When making decisions/commitments I prefer to have the whole decision basically laid out, from front to end, what I expect from this decision (even if it involves uncertainty, I can prepare myself for that uncertainty), what the scheduling looks like, etc. and then from there come to a decision. I also prefer that if I choose to not make the decision, this certain event or commitment would still happen and occur. As we were discussing last night of investing into a "Group Covenant" type of study for "Focused Lives", I can say I was quite wishy-washy with this decision. I attributed it to partly motivation, and partly to not knowing what the commitment or type of material the study actually entailed. After SP went through an outline of what would be covered and the expectations, then I felt a lot more comfortable deciding on joining this study. I realized I was more in a "F" mode than a "T" mode, because as I was thinking about things, my own logic for why I didn't want to do the study, didn't make sense in a logical way. I just felt like I didn't want to do it, until SP walked through what the curriculum would encompass, and then my "T" side kicked in and I could make the decision. So, what did I learn? I think to me, for decision-making, I need to gather as much info as possible before I can make a decision. The more info I gather, the less risky the decision feels to me (even though the decision may still be risky to others.). Even if the decision encompasses having spontaneity, I can be okay with that, as long as I am prepared for it in advanced. Anyways, just learning more about myself. I think this entry is pretty random. =P. posted by alvin | Thursday, May 01, 2003 |
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