A friend from church has been diagnosed with a tumor in her brain, yet unknown is whether it is malign or benign. She will be undergoing brain surgery Monday in NYC.

Church members have put together a list of times, trying to create a prayer chain where she will be constantly prayed for over a 3-day, 72-hour period from 8PM Sunday night to 8PM Wednesday night (US Eastern Time). All but the following times have been covered so far: Wednesday, 6/18 from 3:00 AM to 4:30 AM (US Eastern Time).

If you are awake during that time period out there in the rest of the world and are willing to, please lift up my friend, her husband and her soon-to-be 2 year old in prayers for the surgery and her recovery.

Thank you, and God bless!

I don’t understand sometimes. What is wrong with people.

I was a little more cautious making a left turn at a 4-lane intersection tonight. The lady in the old (squarish version) Dodge Caravan behind me leaned on her horn to get me to make the left turn as the light turned yellow, and then red, and oncoming traffic had begun to stop. I made the turn, and she stayed about 4-5 car lengths behind me for about 6-7 blocks. But at the next traffic light, as I waited in the left-turn only lane for a left-turn, she honked a few times as she passed me on the right and stuck out her left arm to give me a long middle-fingered salute.

That was an example of someone who needs to be either shot or seriously mentally adjusted.

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EDIT: 6/7/2008 @ 8:53 a.m. — I know. This sounds bad. I’m sorry. I have not become Christ-like enough to simply brush off things like this and to simply pray for the person doing this. It’s amazing how our society has become worse and worse like this as you see this more and more as the years pass by. My frustrations and fears and anger boils to the front and my mind slips; it thinks: I hope some “gang-banger” (or really nasty person) mistakenly sees the middle-finger and, thinking it’s intended for him/her, follows that lady home. Just a fleeting second is all it takes for that thought to come to mind. But, in the end, if that were to happen, the situation would just escalate. That lady would become even harder, harsher and angrier the next time around. Instead of simply giving me the finger, perhaps next time she would have run me off the road?

Is it just me? Or, do you also sense just how low we’ve fallen in society. If not elsewhere, I sense it deeply here in the U.S. and especially here in the NYC area.

Sorry folks, I really needed to post this, an e-mail I got from a friend. She has a child in middle-school right now; so she is not entirely removed from these situations. This is written somewhat jokingly, but seriously, this is no joking matter. We’ve advanced so much in 50 years.

After a week full of late nights doing work, the work on the house continues. My brother and I dropped by P.C. Richards in Jersey City (3.5% sales tax, baby!) to pick up 3 air-conditioner units to replace all our units in the condo. I opened up the old units this past week to check on their condition, and it was simply the grossest things I’ve ever seen. All 3 definitely needed replacement, and with temperatures into the 80s this past week, we needed them immediately.

We were back at our church this Sunday. As usual, there was another great in-your-face sermon by Pastor Andy.

It was nice to see all the college students back for the summer. It sounds like they’re going to do some great things this summer. This group is amazing, from the time they were high-school students in Youth Group and through their freshman and sophomore years in college (when they’ve given up their summers for our church), it’s been a blessing to know them and see them grow.

Simone and I had a quick and delicious lunch at Noodle Chu with G and Koichi, talking about the last 2 weeks and their taking over leadership of our small group when we go on “familial sabbatical.”

On the way home, we stopped by a brand-new gelato place in Palisades Park (sorry, it’s so new, there’s no website yet). Being the chef that she is, Simone immediately commented that the gelato can’t be that good because all the flavors looked hard and chunky while being scooped: that is NOT the texture of gelato. Dessert-time was saved, though! Simone ordered the frozen yogurt, which was from a soft-serve machine. It was the perfect texture of soft-serve and the lite yogurt flavor for a summer afternoon.

Hope all is well with everyone out there! And, thanks for those who’ve left some kind and encouraging comments. I found some new friends on Xanga this week. There is a wonderful Christian world out there and God is doing His work everywhere. Booyah!

As I continue with some work-work now, Simone is busy cooking up some of her
best burgers. Psst...last night was “Meditteranean nite” with Andy, Elaine,
Eden and my brother over. We had olives, tortilla Española, proscuito, bread, other cured meats and salad [plus corn and white anchovies: thanks for the reminder, Elaine]. Mmmmm. In the immortal words of Kenny
Kim, “good times!”

Don’t you wish sometimes you can simply hit “update” or “refresh,” and miraculously a bodily refresh would happen and you’re somehow rejuvenated with higher energy, a better outlook on life, etc.? That is the sum and substance of this personal update.

The last few months have been extremely hectic, more than I’ve ever experienced in my life. We found a place to buy; went through the entire mortgage/house-buying rigamarole; packed to move; painted, cleaned, spackled and repaired the old new place; moved; and have tried to continuously settle in ... all in the midst of the end-of-year hecticness of my job.

Happier moments among these are celebrating our friends’ little baby Eden’s first birthday last week (above photo) with the yummiest cupcakes (aside from my wife’s, of course) in the world.

Work is beyond belief. The expression goes, “you just can’t make this stuff up!” For a company that—as a non-profit—professes “publish[ing] works that further [the] University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education,” it is surprisingly more interested in profits more than any other company that I (and my coworkers who have been in publishing for years) have experienced, ever.

Baby continues to grow in wifey’s tummy. We are extremely blessed by this miracle: how else can you explain any conception, gestation, pregnancy and birth? We are very happy.

My wife has been amazing, carrying on with so much energy. Up until this week, even she was amazed at just how much she’s been able to continue doing, including working at her job, which involves testing recipes in the kitchen as well as attending various food-related press events throughout the city. God gave me a very strong wife.

Photography continues to be only a hobby. Having spent only 30-45 minutes on anything photo related in the last month, I would say it’s even a fringe hobby. I wish it weren’t so.

Physically, I’ve been pretty beaten up. I have not been able to recover from the exhaustion of the last few months from work and house preparation and moving, having lost 14 pounds in the space of a month. The physical toll has led to a melancholy (protected post; if you see it, then you’re on my list) that is indescribable. And, in the last 3 weeks, just as work stresses continue unabated into the new fiscal year (with even more demands), odd maladies have haunted me: 3 stys in both eyes, a severely bruised (perhaps broken) middle left toe, week-long migraines (past 2 weeks), extended periods of extreme fatigue and (this weekend) a sinus cold.

Church has been a conundrum of immeasurable proportions. I point to someone’s recent blog entry [link removed by request] that only partially expresses but is competely on-point about what my thoughts have been. Remember one of my prior entries about obeying and submitting? I have been desperately trying to do that for some time, despite what my gut has been telling me. But, at what time, at what point does it become too much? What if you feel that leaders are no longer concerned about God? Is it time to stop obeying and simply leave? So many have done so already. My church is away for our annual Memorial Day retreat this weekend. We were supposed to go, but when I saw the schedule while putting together the retreat’s booklet, I was severely dismayed with the concentration and focus on “activities” and “events” which were not what I had been yearning for in a retreat (something I had been desperate for in the last few months).

We are extremely blessed by what God has done in our lives. Yes, there are many, many trials going on right now—and honestly, sometimes I wonder when I will get that breather to recoup—but persevere I must and trust in God. He has gotten me this far.

Please pray for me (and us) when you get the chance. Thank you.

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EDIT: 5/25/2008 @ 2:59 p.m. — “Ask and you shall receive...”

This morning, visiting Grace Redeemer Church in Hackensack, we listened to guest speaker Pastor Joe Novenson preach on Jacob from GENESIS 32-22–32. What Novenson spoke about regarding the teaching and brokeness of God’s immeasurable grace was exactly what my empty heart needed to hear. He pointed us to PSALM 51, which says, in part:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice [emphasis added]. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ... You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ...
PSALM 51 (1–17) (NIV)

Is it time to get mobile on my mobile provider? Six years of Verizon Wireless indentured servitude, and I’m finally hearing that the others (AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) have increased their wireless coverage in the NYC metro area. Is it true?

Can I finally break the chains of the ugly red behemoth with the worst phones and customer service in the world? The only reasons I’ve been with them all these years are (a) the coverage here kicks the others’ asses and (b) the “new every two program,” which gave me up to $100 towards a new phone every two years (with a two year contract). Now, they’ve decreased that incentive to $50, and coverage is better elsewhere.

What’s your provider? And any problems?

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EDIT: 5/3/08 @ 11:37 a.m. — Dude, you guys are awesome for these comments. Unfortunately, Verizon service has been TOO RELIABLE in this area (in 1997-2000, I had AT&T and I would get busy signals every time I made calls on Fridays-Saturdays because their network was constantly overloaded). I guess with great service, then a monopoly of loyal customers, they’ve felt they could do whatever they want (with higher prices and bad customer service).

Does anyone have thoughts and/or problems with the other providers? I guess I’m just trying to see if it’s worth it to change carriers just to be treated like a new—and therefore, desired (hey that’s a novel idea, eh?)—customer.

EDIT: 5/3/08 @ 11:44 a.m. — Damn, even as I complain about Verizon, I can’t believe how much of an advertisement this is beginning to sound like FOR Verizon. LOL!

It’s funny how quickly time slips by.

I had just woken up a little while ago. It was 4:55 a.m., and I just dreamed that I was valedictorian in my law school class. Except that my class was the size of my grade-school graduation class and we were in a small auditorium with children running all around. I wasn’t wearing what I intended to wear that day (must have been from another dream), which had the notes for my speech in the breast pocket, and so I was feverishly digging through this very laptop to find a copy of my speech. Oddly, I remember the elements of my speech going through my head vividly as I went through the Windows folders looking for the speech. It was so real to me, and yet so startling.

Startling because I was once again in law school. Even though it was a dream about graduation, anything relating to law school has become so shocking and dark to me. Everything about law school is tinged with a sense of loss...of years, of opportunities, of tragedy. So every time I’ve had a dream about it, I wake with a sense of being lost. That was unsettling, awake at 4:55 a.m., just having dreamed I was back in law school again.

I looked at our desktop computer in the dining room, which we had left on last night...along with the lights in the dining room and other bedroom. We had passed out just after praying on our bed. The window in the living room was still wide open from the previous night of cleaning and settling in, and the chill wasn’t uncomfortable but was the wonderful chill of a summer morning after a long, hot summer day. Except this isn’t summer yet, is it? It’s already too hot for me in April.

I turned off the computer, and sat down on a seat nearby. Seeing a copy of Vanity Fair next to me, I picked it up and thumbed through it. It was delivered late this month because I forgot to change the address before moving, and I hadn’t read through most of it yet. It usually takes me a month to read through all the articles, and it’s one of my more enjoyable reads through a month. I looked at the clock and it was already 5:15 a.m.

How time flies.

Just some of my photos from last Saturday’s wedding of David and Jennifer Ku

Look at the train on that wedding gown! I think it was about 12 feet!

Corny, I know, but I like playing with perspective.

Awww...

David and Jennifer’s first walk as husband and wife.

This walking shot of new husband and wife was my favorite photo of the day. I wish I could take more of these.

John Chang trying to tell a story to the bride and groom. Sorry John!

S and I with the lovely couple.

Who will be married next? Eagerly awaiting the bouquet.

The difference between Asians and everyone else: at Asian weddings, when the bouquet comes flying, everyone scatters. At other weddings, women actually dive and/or fight each other for the bouquet! How do you explain that?

If a Chinese Duke student’s attempt to mitigate and encourage communication between pro-Tibet and pro-Chinese demonstrators here in the U.S. can have such dire circumstances for her and her parents back home in China (read the linked article), what hope is there for China as a country? What does this say of the Chinese people? I am horrified. Perhaps, recognizing the human condition and being Chinese, I shouldn’t be?

Two images from the weekend I call “Calm before the Storm.” I’ll post more tonight, along with some of my recently learned tax lessons (bleh....taxes = death). Hahahaha...!