I can't remember the last time I've been this exposed to Halloween festivities than this past week, and I didn't even participate in any of it! Starting with last Friday, people at work were talking about dressing up and going out over the weekend (3 days before the actual holiday). Then on Monday, co-workers were talking about what they were for Halloween weekend and that perhaps we should get dressed up for work on Halloween. Today, almost all the employees of the museum had costumes on, and I was told that 'the place' to go tonight is Mill Avenue, where the road will be closed down to traffic and people dress up and hang out at the bars and clubs there. Perhaps it's just the people I've been around the last four years, but I completely forgot how popular of a holiday Halloween is, and that adults really make a big deal out of it!
People at work must think I'm weird, every time someone asks me, 'What are you doing for Halloween?' or 'What are you dressing up as?', I respond with, 'I don't really celebrate it' or 'I don't get dressed up'. While I've heard the view that Halloween is a pagan holiday with occult roots, and that Christians should not celebrate it, I've never used it as a reason for not participating, because I'm really not quite sure what God says about it. Honestly, whether it has negative spiritual roots or not, it's still a pointless and silly holiday. What are we actually celebrating? And to be completely frank, I don't have the creativity or time to be bothered with dressing up. I have a hard enough time deciding what I want to wear each morning! So for most of my life, out of my dislike for crowds, craziness and partly my own laziness, I've pretty much just ignored Halloween every year.
But as a Christian, I think I do have the responsibility to at least have a view on what God's Word says about celebrating a holiday that has spiritual roots. If someone asks me, I should have an answer. After all, if I have kids one day, Halloween is going to have to be a topic of discussion. This is what wikipedia says about the history of the holiday. "The modern holiday of Halloween has its origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them." In many cultures where this holiday was celebrated, it has some association with the dead. I think all Christians can agree that we should not be celebrating the dead and attempt to mimic evil spirits with masks.
Okay, with that in mind, let's fast forward to today, where Halloween is almost as commercialized as Christmas is. Is anyone trying to mimic or placate evil spirits by dressing up on 10/31? Most likely not. It's a fun opportunity to be creative and dress up as whatever you wish for that one day and no one will look at you like you're crazy. It's a chance for parents to buy cute outfits for their kids and hang out with them trick-or-treating. It's time to gather around the table and carve pumpkin faces with your family and friends. No one is actually celebrating the 'root' of the holiday. Just like there are people who 'celebrate' Christmas but don't have faith in Christ as their Savior.
So if one is a Christian and is not celebrating the 'spiritual' side of the holiday but rather just the cultural side like dressing up and trick-or-treating, what does God say about that? Obviously these are just my thoughts and I could very well be wrong, but I see at least a few factors that must be considered here. 1) While we are in the world, it is clear that we are not to be 'of the world'. If everything we do is exactly the same as the world, what makes us different as followers of Jesus? I was listening to a CD of a sermon by the head pastor at Calvary Community Church and he said, 'our practices don't save us, but they SHOW that we are saved'; 2) 1 John 2:15 says, 'Do not love the world or anything in the world'; 3) In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about eating food offered to idols, he says that we as Christians know that idols are 'nothing', and that food is just food, whether it's been offered to idols or not doesn't make a difference to us because we worship God, not idols. BUT if by our eating of food offered to idols, it causes a 'weaker' brother or sister in Christ to stumble, then we shouldn't do it out of love for them; 4) Finally, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, 'All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.'
Given these factors, if we choose to not participate in any Halloween festivities, I don't think we should be self-righteous and proclaim to the world that we don't celebrate the holiday because it's demonic and we're Christians, as if we're 'above it all', lest we cause other 'younger' Christians to stumble. On the other hand, if we decide to partake in the cultural events, we should check our hearts and motivations, and make sure that the things we participate in do not conflict with God's Word and do not hurt our, or anyone else's, spiritual walks. We definitely should not be 'obsessed' with the holiday, spending a lot of time and money and brain power around it. I guess a good check would be, imagine one year where you were not allowed to celebrate Halloween, what would your reaction be? Whether we dress up or not for Halloween is probably not a big deal on the surface, just like whether or not we eat food offered to idols; it's just food, and it's just a costume. But like Paul said, even though we 'can' do all things, it doesn't mean that we should, lest it harms us in any way.
As for me, I still see it as a silly holiday, with no real 'good' coming from its festivities. It's much like going to a bar. I don't think it's wrong in and of itself, but no 'good' comes from it either. The consequences are neutral / irrelevant with the potential of being harmful. Hence, I think I will continue to ignore the holiday, unless I see a good reason for participating one year.
Those are my thoughts, thanks for reading! Please feel free to give your own opinions and thoughts! :)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Saga Continues ...
Update on Day 3 of my attempt at serving. This blog is turning into one of those painful, awkward moments in movies where you feel so bad for the character that you're cringing and can barely watch what happens next. LOL. I was only carrying 4 glasses on my tray. But I apparently don't have the coordination to balance the tray with with one hand while at the same time placing glasses on the table with my other hand. As I was putting the third glass on the table, the last glass on my tray tipped over and the entire glass of water spilled onto the table and onto the lady's lap! OHMYGOSH! I was absolutely horrified, I can't remember the last time I've felt so embarrassed! But even before I could finish my gasp, the lady who got spilled on chuckled and exclaimed, 'Oh, that feels good!' (It was really hot out and she was wearing shorts) Can you even think of a better reaction from a customer?! I was amazed. Good thing the glass on the tray that tipped over was water, and not coke! All 3 people at the table were SO nice about it, I could not have asked for a more understanding group of diners! God is cool :) The other server saw what happened, told me it was a rite of passage and tried to make me feel better by telling me stories of when he spilled on a customer and broke a bunch of things. The rest of the day went smoothly, and I refused to use the tray to carry drinks, haha. Other than me and the tray not meshing well together, I think I'm getting better at managing the flow and remembering orders. I made $35, which was about $6 per hour, a slight improvement compared with Day 2, haha!
Taliesin West
Last week, I went to Taliesin West in northern Scottsdale, which is a museum, a school of architecture, and the former winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright. I went on a 90-minute tour of the camp (which is what FLW liked to call his home), it was really educational and fascinating. I highly recommend it if you enjoy architecture! I learned that he liked to build 'into' his surroundings, as if the buildings and nature blended together. (Just in case I get sued or something, everything I write in this entry is my interpretation of the tour that I took at Taliesin West, and does not represent the views of any organization affiliated with or employee of Taliesin West.) Now that's out of the way, here are some pictures, haha.
This is FLW's office, where he would meet with clients. Oh, and I should mention here that he loves the color red. Interestingly, there was no glass in these buildings originally (FLW thought since this was the desert, and in the desert you live in tents, buildings should be 'like' tents, and tents don't have glass), but his wife complained that it was too difficult to clean, with the animals and weather conditions, and what not. So years later, FLW put in glass windows.
He also used a lot of triangles. You can imagine why. His home is at the bottom of the mountain!
We did not go inside this building, it's primarily used by students. I think there is a kitchen and dining room in there. Notice the mountains in the background!
Here's a close up of the building, see the triangle on top that 'imitates' the mountain? Pretty neat, huh? The triangle is the top of a bell tower.
Not sure if you can see this clearly, but we're heading into the living room; notice how short the doorway is! FLW built for the 'average' person in mind. Most people during his time were shorter than him (he was 5'8"), so his doorways were no taller than 6'! Obviously, it didn't bother me any.
Chair designed by FLW. He lived in Japan for a number of years, hence, the origami-like structure.
View of the living room.
This is so cool. It's a doorway in the wall you can crawl through to get to the other side, haha!
FLW apparently was a movie-buff, hence, the small movie theater.
FLW also enjoyed the performing arts, so he had a theater built. To this day, it's still used for musical performances.
The Cabaret Theater. For evenings of formal, candle-lit dinners while enjoying musical performances. The room is made nearly perfect for sound. I never really thought about it, but I learned that the perfect shape for sound is a circle. Makes sense. FLW was the first person to use aisle lighting, which is in this theater, pretty cool, huh?
Oh, an interesting fact about this architecture school is that the students have to build their own living space, and actually live in it before they graduate! Thanks for joining me on this tour. Tips are greatly appreciated :)
This is FLW's office, where he would meet with clients. Oh, and I should mention here that he loves the color red. Interestingly, there was no glass in these buildings originally (FLW thought since this was the desert, and in the desert you live in tents, buildings should be 'like' tents, and tents don't have glass), but his wife complained that it was too difficult to clean, with the animals and weather conditions, and what not. So years later, FLW put in glass windows.
He also used a lot of triangles. You can imagine why. His home is at the bottom of the mountain!
We did not go inside this building, it's primarily used by students. I think there is a kitchen and dining room in there. Notice the mountains in the background!
Here's a close up of the building, see the triangle on top that 'imitates' the mountain? Pretty neat, huh? The triangle is the top of a bell tower.
Not sure if you can see this clearly, but we're heading into the living room; notice how short the doorway is! FLW built for the 'average' person in mind. Most people during his time were shorter than him (he was 5'8"), so his doorways were no taller than 6'! Obviously, it didn't bother me any.
Chair designed by FLW. He lived in Japan for a number of years, hence, the origami-like structure.
View of the living room.
This is so cool. It's a doorway in the wall you can crawl through to get to the other side, haha!
FLW apparently was a movie-buff, hence, the small movie theater.
FLW also enjoyed the performing arts, so he had a theater built. To this day, it's still used for musical performances.
The Cabaret Theater. For evenings of formal, candle-lit dinners while enjoying musical performances. The room is made nearly perfect for sound. I never really thought about it, but I learned that the perfect shape for sound is a circle. Makes sense. FLW was the first person to use aisle lighting, which is in this theater, pretty cool, huh?
Oh, an interesting fact about this architecture school is that the students have to build their own living space, and actually live in it before they graduate! Thanks for joining me on this tour. Tips are greatly appreciated :)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Aches, Pains and Free Pastries
Having worked most of my life past the age of 15, four years of which were in investment banking where 90 hour weeks once in awhile were expected, I can honestly say that for the same number of hours, working at a restaurant is definitely more exhausting. I am more tired from a 5-6 hour shift at a restaurant than a 12 hour day in banking. It's been an interesting, challenging and humbling experience these past two days.
Yesterday, I got to the restaurant around 9:30, and followed my manager around to learn what needs to be done in the 'opening' process. Everything seemed pretty self explanatory so far. Then around 10:30 we sat down for breakfast ... eggs ... loved it! At this point, I'm thinking, wow, all I've done is cut lemons and I get free breakfast, this isn't too bad. After breakfast, I learned a bit about table numbers and how to put orders into the computer system. After 11am, people started coming in for lunch, and I started hosting. I was supposed to host for the day and then follow around the server as part of my training. But since we only had one server (we were shorthanded, to say the least), it didn't matter where I seated people, the one server had to take all the tables (he is an amazing server). A second server arrived to help out after noon, and by then, we had at least 20 tables filled! So I started taking drink orders and bringing out drinks. Another hour later, my manager actually gave me 4 tables to practice serving! It was so chaotic, he and the COO were both helping the servers too, but it was a great team effort and we got through the lunch rush!
Serving is A LOT harder than it looks. I only had 4 tables, and it was STILL difficult to remember everything. At a table of 2, I'd forget who ordered what drink when I brought them out, I felt really stupid, but the guests were really nice and didn't give me a hard time. At one point, I literally could not remember if I put in the order for one of the tables that I was helping out with, I got SO nervous! It's difficult also because while you're heading to the kitchen to get drinks, another table may stop you and ask you for something, so then you have two things to remember, and then your manager asks you to do something else before you even get to the drinks.
At the end of the day, my feet and legs were SO sore, and the shoes I wore were definitely not appropriate. They were the only flats I had, but they were not comfortable. The skin on my heels were completely scraped off (sorry if this is gross). My feet hurt so bad that I drove straight to Macy's, got to the shoe department, took off my shoes and walked around barefoot. I bought another pair of flats that hopefully will not scrape my skin off, plus a couple of black shirts for work. By the time I got home, I just wanted to sit and stare at the wall until I fell asleep, which I did a little after 10pm.
**Oh, and a really interesting thing happened yesterday. My manager asked me if I had written about the fact that I was working at the museum restaurant on my blog. I didn't even tell him I had a blog! Apparently, the museum has something set up where any myspace, facebook, blog entries about the museum would get filtered into their system. So when I wrote the museum name in my blog entry, it popped up on their filter and they actually read my entry and found that he hired someone from NYC. LOL! How cool is THAT?! So now I have to be careful about what I write on here, who knows what other 'filters' are out there? I guess it's a smart tool to have as an organization, so you know what other people are saying about you.**
This morning I got in to work at 10am, we didn't have time for breakfast, so we just prepared for lunch. It was busy today but we had 3 experienced servers so it was manageable. I had a small section of my own today, so I am officially a server. It was an 'easy' section, as they are small tables and not as busy, so I can handle them at a slower pace. I think I'm starting to learn the 'flow' better, but I still have a long ways to go from being decent. I broke a glass in the kitchen today, oye. My manager asked me to try taking out 3 plates at a time, and I looked so shaky that he ended up taking one out of my hand for fear of me dropping them, double oye. I don't know which is more embarrassing, not being able to pull a trigger or not being able to balance a plate on my arm. I'm also having difficulty carrying a tray of glasses on my palm, not sure why that is. No one else seems to have that problem.
Anyway, it's really been a humbling experience. To be the oldest person, knowing the least, and already learning that it's probably not something that I'll ever be amazing at. And learning to be okay with it. I had a couple of wonderful tables who were extremely friendly and tipped well. Then I had a few who didn't tip as well, including one who took every penny of his change. I have to assume that some people just don't understand the tipping system. Yes servers get a 'base', it's something like $3-4 per hour, almost all of which is taken away in taxes because we have to pay taxes on the tips we make, which gets deducted from our hourly paychecks. PLUS, from the amount that we make in tips, we have to 'tip out' the host(ess) AND people who work in the kitchen. On average today, I ended up with about a 15% tip across all my tables, which is not too terrible. But since I had so few tables, I made $25 in tips, haha! Seriously, that's $5 per hour. I am glad I'm not doing this for a living, because I'd be starving and homeless, haha. Well, servers with experience can make pretty good money in one day, since they can handle the high volume. I think the manager felt bad for me that I made practically no money today, he gave me some pastries to take home (they can't sell them the next day anyway). Chocolate raspberry cake, so good, I shared it with my aunt.
Hopefully, I'll get to rest my feet this weekend and let my skin grow back before I have to work on Monday, haha. But I realized today that now I actually have a reason to treat myself to a spa day here in Phoenix. Apparently, the city is known for its many amazing spas, and while I've considered going to one while I'm here, about a week ago I thought, why would I go to a spa, I just hang around the house and go to museums, I'm not doing anything stressful or physically strenuous. So while it would have been nice to go to a spa on my 'vacation', it's extra nice to go after a few weeks of serving!
We'll see how next week works out :) My manager says he'll try to add a table a week to my section as I get more comfortable with it. So that's about it on my first couple of days in the restaurant business. As difficult and tiring as it's been, it really has been a fun experience. The other servers have been really patient and helpful in teaching me, and I'm getting to burn some calories while eating free meals and pastries, haha! If nothing else, this experience has given me a newfound respect and appreciation for people who work in restaurants. I am a pretty good tipper, but I now understand why friends who have worked in restaurants tip ESPECIALLY well. It is not an easy job, so please keep that in mind the next time you're eating out :)
Yesterday, I got to the restaurant around 9:30, and followed my manager around to learn what needs to be done in the 'opening' process. Everything seemed pretty self explanatory so far. Then around 10:30 we sat down for breakfast ... eggs ... loved it! At this point, I'm thinking, wow, all I've done is cut lemons and I get free breakfast, this isn't too bad. After breakfast, I learned a bit about table numbers and how to put orders into the computer system. After 11am, people started coming in for lunch, and I started hosting. I was supposed to host for the day and then follow around the server as part of my training. But since we only had one server (we were shorthanded, to say the least), it didn't matter where I seated people, the one server had to take all the tables (he is an amazing server). A second server arrived to help out after noon, and by then, we had at least 20 tables filled! So I started taking drink orders and bringing out drinks. Another hour later, my manager actually gave me 4 tables to practice serving! It was so chaotic, he and the COO were both helping the servers too, but it was a great team effort and we got through the lunch rush!
Serving is A LOT harder than it looks. I only had 4 tables, and it was STILL difficult to remember everything. At a table of 2, I'd forget who ordered what drink when I brought them out, I felt really stupid, but the guests were really nice and didn't give me a hard time. At one point, I literally could not remember if I put in the order for one of the tables that I was helping out with, I got SO nervous! It's difficult also because while you're heading to the kitchen to get drinks, another table may stop you and ask you for something, so then you have two things to remember, and then your manager asks you to do something else before you even get to the drinks.
At the end of the day, my feet and legs were SO sore, and the shoes I wore were definitely not appropriate. They were the only flats I had, but they were not comfortable. The skin on my heels were completely scraped off (sorry if this is gross). My feet hurt so bad that I drove straight to Macy's, got to the shoe department, took off my shoes and walked around barefoot. I bought another pair of flats that hopefully will not scrape my skin off, plus a couple of black shirts for work. By the time I got home, I just wanted to sit and stare at the wall until I fell asleep, which I did a little after 10pm.
**Oh, and a really interesting thing happened yesterday. My manager asked me if I had written about the fact that I was working at the museum restaurant on my blog. I didn't even tell him I had a blog! Apparently, the museum has something set up where any myspace, facebook, blog entries about the museum would get filtered into their system. So when I wrote the museum name in my blog entry, it popped up on their filter and they actually read my entry and found that he hired someone from NYC. LOL! How cool is THAT?! So now I have to be careful about what I write on here, who knows what other 'filters' are out there? I guess it's a smart tool to have as an organization, so you know what other people are saying about you.**
This morning I got in to work at 10am, we didn't have time for breakfast, so we just prepared for lunch. It was busy today but we had 3 experienced servers so it was manageable. I had a small section of my own today, so I am officially a server. It was an 'easy' section, as they are small tables and not as busy, so I can handle them at a slower pace. I think I'm starting to learn the 'flow' better, but I still have a long ways to go from being decent. I broke a glass in the kitchen today, oye. My manager asked me to try taking out 3 plates at a time, and I looked so shaky that he ended up taking one out of my hand for fear of me dropping them, double oye. I don't know which is more embarrassing, not being able to pull a trigger or not being able to balance a plate on my arm. I'm also having difficulty carrying a tray of glasses on my palm, not sure why that is. No one else seems to have that problem.
Anyway, it's really been a humbling experience. To be the oldest person, knowing the least, and already learning that it's probably not something that I'll ever be amazing at. And learning to be okay with it. I had a couple of wonderful tables who were extremely friendly and tipped well. Then I had a few who didn't tip as well, including one who took every penny of his change. I have to assume that some people just don't understand the tipping system. Yes servers get a 'base', it's something like $3-4 per hour, almost all of which is taken away in taxes because we have to pay taxes on the tips we make, which gets deducted from our hourly paychecks. PLUS, from the amount that we make in tips, we have to 'tip out' the host(ess) AND people who work in the kitchen. On average today, I ended up with about a 15% tip across all my tables, which is not too terrible. But since I had so few tables, I made $25 in tips, haha! Seriously, that's $5 per hour. I am glad I'm not doing this for a living, because I'd be starving and homeless, haha. Well, servers with experience can make pretty good money in one day, since they can handle the high volume. I think the manager felt bad for me that I made practically no money today, he gave me some pastries to take home (they can't sell them the next day anyway). Chocolate raspberry cake, so good, I shared it with my aunt.
Hopefully, I'll get to rest my feet this weekend and let my skin grow back before I have to work on Monday, haha. But I realized today that now I actually have a reason to treat myself to a spa day here in Phoenix. Apparently, the city is known for its many amazing spas, and while I've considered going to one while I'm here, about a week ago I thought, why would I go to a spa, I just hang around the house and go to museums, I'm not doing anything stressful or physically strenuous. So while it would have been nice to go to a spa on my 'vacation', it's extra nice to go after a few weeks of serving!
We'll see how next week works out :) My manager says he'll try to add a table a week to my section as I get more comfortable with it. So that's about it on my first couple of days in the restaurant business. As difficult and tiring as it's been, it really has been a fun experience. The other servers have been really patient and helpful in teaching me, and I'm getting to burn some calories while eating free meals and pastries, haha! If nothing else, this experience has given me a newfound respect and appreciation for people who work in restaurants. I am a pretty good tipper, but I now understand why friends who have worked in restaurants tip ESPECIALLY well. It is not an easy job, so please keep that in mind the next time you're eating out :)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The Heard Museum
Last Friday, I visited The Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix, it contains exhibits of Native American art and culture. I never knew that Arizona had so much Native American history. I went through one exhibit that described Manifest Destiny and how it affected the Native Americans. It was quite sad to learn about how they were basically forced to lose their identities and to accept American culture. Yes, we brushed passed the topic when we read American history textbooks in grade school, but I never really put much thought into the history from the perspective of the Native Americans.
On a lighter note, I did see a few pieces of 'art' that were unique and interesting, and a couple reminded me of my friends and family in NYC. Here are a few that stood out to me.
Medium is sandpainting. Sounded cool. Not sure how it's actually done. Sof?
Navajo hogan. A structure where ceremonies are held.
Saw a few pieces of art that reminded me of Sof and Colin. It's part of the Canadian Indian collection.
Awww... it's Sof and Colin on their honeymoon in Alaska :)
These reminded me of you mommies and mommy-to-be's in NYC! What colorful and artistic cradles!
Hats.
Old Bering Sea chief's kayak hunter hat (?!)
Courtyard of museum.
After walking around the museum for awhile, I got hungry and decided to grab a bite at the museum restaurant. It had a really unique menu, I went with the strawberry chicken salad. It was delicious, really light and a bit sweet, and beautiful!
The restaurant was pretty packed, mostly with an older crowd, and I think I kind of stood out as an Asian teenager (see previous blog entry) eating by herself at a museum. The manager of the restaurant struck up a conversation with me, and I told him that I was in Phoenix just for a few months. He mentioned that they really needed people to help out at the restaurant and that if I'd be interested, that I could work there. It kind of caught me off guard. What's really cool about this situation is that before I came down to Phoenix, I had decided that if I were to get a part-time job, it would either be at a coffee shop or at a restaurant. Both seemed to be fun jobs that I have no experience in and think that I would enjoy doing. But I had also decided that I was not going to actively seek it, but only consider it if something 'jumped out at me'. It hadn't for the past 3 weeks, and so I didn't give much more thought to it. So I was just roaming around a museum, grabbing lunch, and was offered a job at a restaurant even though I said upfront that I worked in finance. Well, I prayed about it and I have peace about giving it a try! So my training starts this Thursday and I officially start serving next week! This should be an interesting adventure, haha! Please pray that I don't physically hurt anyone or myself in this process :)
On a lighter note, I did see a few pieces of 'art' that were unique and interesting, and a couple reminded me of my friends and family in NYC. Here are a few that stood out to me.
Medium is sandpainting. Sounded cool. Not sure how it's actually done. Sof?
Navajo hogan. A structure where ceremonies are held.
Saw a few pieces of art that reminded me of Sof and Colin. It's part of the Canadian Indian collection.
Awww... it's Sof and Colin on their honeymoon in Alaska :)
These reminded me of you mommies and mommy-to-be's in NYC! What colorful and artistic cradles!
Hats.
Old Bering Sea chief's kayak hunter hat (?!)
Courtyard of museum.
After walking around the museum for awhile, I got hungry and decided to grab a bite at the museum restaurant. It had a really unique menu, I went with the strawberry chicken salad. It was delicious, really light and a bit sweet, and beautiful!
The restaurant was pretty packed, mostly with an older crowd, and I think I kind of stood out as an Asian teenager (see previous blog entry) eating by herself at a museum. The manager of the restaurant struck up a conversation with me, and I told him that I was in Phoenix just for a few months. He mentioned that they really needed people to help out at the restaurant and that if I'd be interested, that I could work there. It kind of caught me off guard. What's really cool about this situation is that before I came down to Phoenix, I had decided that if I were to get a part-time job, it would either be at a coffee shop or at a restaurant. Both seemed to be fun jobs that I have no experience in and think that I would enjoy doing. But I had also decided that I was not going to actively seek it, but only consider it if something 'jumped out at me'. It hadn't for the past 3 weeks, and so I didn't give much more thought to it. So I was just roaming around a museum, grabbing lunch, and was offered a job at a restaurant even though I said upfront that I worked in finance. Well, I prayed about it and I have peace about giving it a try! So my training starts this Thursday and I officially start serving next week! This should be an interesting adventure, haha! Please pray that I don't physically hurt anyone or myself in this process :)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Fried Chicken > Horse Racing
My family went to Belmont Park to the racetrack this weekend. Without me. We've been in NY/NJ since 1989 and has anyone bothered to plan a trip to the racetracks?! No! Within a month of my leaving NY, my family has gone apple picking and to the racetrack. I feel like I've been gipped. Not only that, but I now 'owe' Julien $6 because apparently the horse he bet on, Mama Theresa, only came in second place. Haha!
So in retaliation, I'm putting up a picture of us eating a deliciously greasy bucket of KFC chicken, ALL DARK MEAT! Take that! Haha! It's been at least 5+ years since I've been to a KFC, this was a real treat. On our way back from picking up the chicken, I really wanted Smirnoff Ice to drink with the meal. So when my aunt went to buy a lottery ticket for my grandfather, I went with her. I found a 6-pack of the green apple flavor (I thought of you, Heather!) it was perfect.
Of course, when I get to the counter, the guy asks for my ID. I'm almost 27, for crying out loud! Anyway, I expected it, and didn't have my purse with me, so I told him that I didn't have it but that I was with my aunt. Good thing she was with me, otherwise I wouldn't have had my Smirnoff. It was a big hit with everyone though. Hence, the poll of the day.
So in retaliation, I'm putting up a picture of us eating a deliciously greasy bucket of KFC chicken, ALL DARK MEAT! Take that! Haha! It's been at least 5+ years since I've been to a KFC, this was a real treat. On our way back from picking up the chicken, I really wanted Smirnoff Ice to drink with the meal. So when my aunt went to buy a lottery ticket for my grandfather, I went with her. I found a 6-pack of the green apple flavor (I thought of you, Heather!) it was perfect.
Of course, when I get to the counter, the guy asks for my ID. I'm almost 27, for crying out loud! Anyway, I expected it, and didn't have my purse with me, so I told him that I didn't have it but that I was with my aunt. Good thing she was with me, otherwise I wouldn't have had my Smirnoff. It was a big hit with everyone though. Hence, the poll of the day.
Halley's Comet
Before going to bed last night, I just happened to come across a news article stating that the Orionid meteor shower (thought to be the result of the orbit of Halley's Comet) was supposed to reach its maximum before sunrise Sunday morning. What perfect timing huh? It stated that away from urban areas, there may be 20-25 meteors per hour! I've never seen a shooting star, and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to do it, since there is plenty of dark sky here! So I got up a little before 5am, and headed out into the chilly, windy weather. Not really knowing where to look exactly, I just kept turning with my face facing the sky. After a few minutes, I felt like I was going to lose my balance and my neck started to hurt. As you can tell, I'm an amateur at this. The best way to actually do this would have been to lay down flat on my back, as I learned later from another news article. I did notice that there were a lot of stars in the sky though, especially after my eyes adjusted to the dark sky. There were a few that were SO large and bright, one I'm almost certain is Mars, but I'm not sure what the other was. Just as I was about to give up and go inside, I saw above the house, facing south, a shooting star flying from near Orion's Belt down behind the house. It was SO fast, a split second and it was gone! But I can officially say that I saw a shooting star (most likely from Halley's Comet)!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
'You've Got Mail' Mystery Solved
I know the suspense may be too much for some of you to handle, so I thought I'd share the 'breaking news' of what was actually in the package. Heather has informed me that it is JAM!! We're not picking it up, so it is going to sit there at the post office and rot. HAHAHAHA :) Or maybe I should go ask for it when I'm back in NYC, LOL.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Cat vs. Dog
I've never owned a cat or a dog. Based on what people have told me, dogs are more friendly and loyal and like to be around people, while cats tend to keep to themselves and are self-sufficient. I got my first chance to be around a cat for more than just a couple of hours. For the past six nights, I slept at a neighbor's house (they're on vacation) because my aunt and uncle had guests over from out of town. She's a 6 month old kitten, but she's the size of a full grown cat. She is so cute and cuddly, her fur is really soft, and she's almost always purring. She loves to be around people, and literally follows me everywhere I go. Even when I'm in the bathroom, she'll lie on the floor or on the counter and hang out until I'm done with what I'm doing. When I go up or down the stairs she runs ahead of me. When I am sitting in bed on the computer, she'll climb onto my shoulder and head. When I'm sleeping, she'll bury her head in my neck and paw at me until she falls asleep too. I never seriously thought about getting a cat, but after being around her, I may have to consider it someday. And she's always cleaning herself, so she smells nice and fresh! I think I've grown to really like her, she's a nice sleeping companion. Well, except when she's hyper and chases her tail. Do cats realize that they're actually chasing their own tails?! It looks really funny and stupid, her running and jumping in circles on the bed.
It's My Party ....
Many of you know that I really enjoy throwing parties, and I'd even say that I'm fairly decent at it. But the one party that I really do not like throwing is the self-pity party, but I somehow end up hosting it at times when the enemy comes knocking at the door. I'm not even quite sure what happened, but one night, one thought allowed into my head snowballed into a sea of self-pity, complaints, fear of failure and hopelessness. It got to a point where I thought that if God decided to take me up to heaven right now, I think I'd be happy so I didn't have to deal with what I was feeling. I knew these thoughts were not from God, but I was too busy focusing on myself to get out of the hole. When I finally was able to think clearly, I realized that just hours ago, I was taking a walk in the afternoon, enjoying the weather and the peacefulness, praying and talking to God. I was full of peace and joy and hope. What happened? Did my circumstances change between 5pm and 11pm? No! I allowed one thought that wasn't lined up with God's Word to enter my mind and I did not take it captive. I dwelled on it and it took my focus off of Christ, and I was focused on myself, hence, the self-pity party that was so pathetic that I didn't even want to be there.
Then I thought, why is it that I'm more vulnerable to these attacks at night, and not during the day? Then this verse came to me, 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning' (Psalm 30:5) I know David was using this as an analogy, that God's anger lasts for a short time, but His favor lasts a lifetime. However, why did he use weeping with night and joy with morning? God is the same God during the night and day! I don't have an answer, maybe someone else does.
I thank God that He gave us the body of Christ to help us in our daily walk. I shared this at our prayer meeting and everyone prayed peace over me. And since I know when I am vulnerable spiritually, I need to spend more time in His Word at night before I go to bed.
I was reading Romans today, and a few verses jumped out at me and really encouraged me. It reminded me to be thankful (rather than complain) in all situations, and to not lose hope. Romans 5:3-5 says, 'we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.' Romans 8:24-25 says, 'For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; but why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.' Sometimes, I think, how I can keep hoping for something if I don't see anything happening? Well, this verse says to me, 'duh, if you see it, then you won't need to hope for it!' Then a few verses down, 8:28, 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God'. ALL things, not just the things that look good or the things that don't cause us pain, ALL THINGS will work together for our good if we love God! Ah, and one of my favorites, 8:31-32, 'If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' It's an insult to Him when I doubt His desire to bless me and to give me ALL things, especially when those things are nothing compared to Jesus! I've heard Psalms 37:4 preached often, and I finally read it for myself today, 'Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.' Seems simple enough. It's us that make it complicated. He says to just delight in Him, and He'll take care of our desires! (I guess that's where 'don't worry, be happy' came from...)
And finally, verses to stand on that wipes away any fear of failure, Romans 8:38-39, 'For I [Paul] am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Praise God! EVEN IF, I fail in everything I do for the rest of my life, GOD STILL LOVES ME. EVEN IF, I made a wrong decision by mistake, GOD STILL LOVES ME. EVEN IF, someone I loved deeply walked out of my life, GOD STILL LOVES ME!!
These are all things that I already know (and I'm sure you do too), but I need to be able to stand on these verses when the enemy knocks on the door. Hopefully writing this all down will help when the time comes.
Oh, and for the first time today, I started highlighting verses in my Bibles that stand out to me. This is a big deal for me. I don't even like highlighting textbooks for fear of 'ruining' them. I like keeping books neat and clean, especially my Bibles! I think the revelation came today, that it probably helps me in my study of the Word if I highlighted as I read. Spares me the time of rewriting the verses into a notebook and the time of searching through an entire book looking for a verse that I read 3 days ago that I wanted to reread. This is a monumental point in my life =P
Then I thought, why is it that I'm more vulnerable to these attacks at night, and not during the day? Then this verse came to me, 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning' (Psalm 30:5) I know David was using this as an analogy, that God's anger lasts for a short time, but His favor lasts a lifetime. However, why did he use weeping with night and joy with morning? God is the same God during the night and day! I don't have an answer, maybe someone else does.
I thank God that He gave us the body of Christ to help us in our daily walk. I shared this at our prayer meeting and everyone prayed peace over me. And since I know when I am vulnerable spiritually, I need to spend more time in His Word at night before I go to bed.
I was reading Romans today, and a few verses jumped out at me and really encouraged me. It reminded me to be thankful (rather than complain) in all situations, and to not lose hope. Romans 5:3-5 says, 'we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.' Romans 8:24-25 says, 'For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; but why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.' Sometimes, I think, how I can keep hoping for something if I don't see anything happening? Well, this verse says to me, 'duh, if you see it, then you won't need to hope for it!' Then a few verses down, 8:28, 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God'. ALL things, not just the things that look good or the things that don't cause us pain, ALL THINGS will work together for our good if we love God! Ah, and one of my favorites, 8:31-32, 'If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' It's an insult to Him when I doubt His desire to bless me and to give me ALL things, especially when those things are nothing compared to Jesus! I've heard Psalms 37:4 preached often, and I finally read it for myself today, 'Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.' Seems simple enough. It's us that make it complicated. He says to just delight in Him, and He'll take care of our desires! (I guess that's where 'don't worry, be happy' came from...)
And finally, verses to stand on that wipes away any fear of failure, Romans 8:38-39, 'For I [Paul] am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Praise God! EVEN IF, I fail in everything I do for the rest of my life, GOD STILL LOVES ME. EVEN IF, I made a wrong decision by mistake, GOD STILL LOVES ME. EVEN IF, someone I loved deeply walked out of my life, GOD STILL LOVES ME!!
These are all things that I already know (and I'm sure you do too), but I need to be able to stand on these verses when the enemy knocks on the door. Hopefully writing this all down will help when the time comes.
Oh, and for the first time today, I started highlighting verses in my Bibles that stand out to me. This is a big deal for me. I don't even like highlighting textbooks for fear of 'ruining' them. I like keeping books neat and clean, especially my Bibles! I think the revelation came today, that it probably helps me in my study of the Word if I highlighted as I read. Spares me the time of rewriting the verses into a notebook and the time of searching through an entire book looking for a verse that I read 3 days ago that I wanted to reread. This is a monumental point in my life =P
Friday, October 12, 2007
Faith
It seems that the topic of faith continues to come up in things I read, conversation that I have with people, and things that I've been thinking about recently. What pleases God most is our faith in Him, faith in who He says He is, faith in His Word. Where does this faith come from? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). How does hearing God's word bring about faith? Let's say Jesus came to earth but never reveals anything about what's going to happen (his death, resurrection, etc), then when those things did happen, people can just attribute it to anything they wanted. I find it interesting that in John 11:41-43 when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, Jesus prayed, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent me." Jesus didn't need to ask for things aloud, but He did in order that those who heard may believe! And in John 14:29, Jesus says to His disciples, "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe." What this shows me is that He will reveal to us things that will happen, that we may believe when we hear His Word, and when the things come to pass, our faith is increased (Phil has given this the term 'building a track record with God').
It is so important to be able to hear the voice of the Lord, otherwise how will we build up our faith? If we aren't believing God for something that He's revealed to us, then when it happens, it could be attributed to chance, luck, some 'force' in the universe, karma, good deeds, or we wouldn't even attribute it to anything. Hearing the voice of God is also crucial to knowing what to pray for! Jesus says in John 15:7 (if you haven't noticed, I've been reading John, haha), "If you abide in Me, and my Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." It's a conditional promise, IF we abide in Him, AND IF His Words abide in us. When that relationship between us and God is there, our desire is aligned with His desire, so that whatever we ask for is also aligned with His will. Jesus says in John 16:13, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth ... He will tell you things to come." So in essence, when we hear the Holy Spirit, certain expectations and desires are placed in our hearts, and we pray according to those expectations and desires, which are already aligned with God's will, and so OF COURSE THEY WILL BE FULFILLED! Isn't that awesome??!! Of course, the 'hard' part is hearing correctly and knowing that we're hearing correctly.
When I was first saved, I remember praying for things and only half believing that those prayers would be answered, due to the unlikely circumstances that I saw with my physical eyes. But you know what? God still honored the tiny amount of faith that I had, and I received the thing that I am most thankful for three years later. Now, there are still plenty of times when I ask for certain things, and I'm not sure if they are just of my own desires or if they are aligned with God's desires, but I guess it's a work in progress, and will continue to be one. It's interesting that when God answers my prayers, I am SO excited and almost surprised. I was talking to my sister yesterday and we were talking about how a lot of times we ask for things, and then months or years pass by and we forgot that we had even asked for it, and then one day, we realize that He answered our prayers, and in many instances, in a way that we never expected! I really think sometimes God is laughing at how silly and childish we are. It's like He's thinking, 'I'm not only going to answer your prayer, but I am going to do it in a way that you never even thought of!' I think He has a great sense of humor. And He must know all the silly scenarios that I've thought of in my limited mind of how things might happen, haha.
So is there a point to this blog entry? I'm not quite sure. I guess it's an encouragement to myself and hopefully to others who read this, that God loves us unconditionally and He keeps His Word. It's important to know His voice and when we hear the Holy Spirit, to expect and pray and believe in peace, joy and patience.
It is so important to be able to hear the voice of the Lord, otherwise how will we build up our faith? If we aren't believing God for something that He's revealed to us, then when it happens, it could be attributed to chance, luck, some 'force' in the universe, karma, good deeds, or we wouldn't even attribute it to anything. Hearing the voice of God is also crucial to knowing what to pray for! Jesus says in John 15:7 (if you haven't noticed, I've been reading John, haha), "If you abide in Me, and my Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." It's a conditional promise, IF we abide in Him, AND IF His Words abide in us. When that relationship between us and God is there, our desire is aligned with His desire, so that whatever we ask for is also aligned with His will. Jesus says in John 16:13, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth ... He will tell you things to come." So in essence, when we hear the Holy Spirit, certain expectations and desires are placed in our hearts, and we pray according to those expectations and desires, which are already aligned with God's will, and so OF COURSE THEY WILL BE FULFILLED! Isn't that awesome??!! Of course, the 'hard' part is hearing correctly and knowing that we're hearing correctly.
When I was first saved, I remember praying for things and only half believing that those prayers would be answered, due to the unlikely circumstances that I saw with my physical eyes. But you know what? God still honored the tiny amount of faith that I had, and I received the thing that I am most thankful for three years later. Now, there are still plenty of times when I ask for certain things, and I'm not sure if they are just of my own desires or if they are aligned with God's desires, but I guess it's a work in progress, and will continue to be one. It's interesting that when God answers my prayers, I am SO excited and almost surprised. I was talking to my sister yesterday and we were talking about how a lot of times we ask for things, and then months or years pass by and we forgot that we had even asked for it, and then one day, we realize that He answered our prayers, and in many instances, in a way that we never expected! I really think sometimes God is laughing at how silly and childish we are. It's like He's thinking, 'I'm not only going to answer your prayer, but I am going to do it in a way that you never even thought of!' I think He has a great sense of humor. And He must know all the silly scenarios that I've thought of in my limited mind of how things might happen, haha.
So is there a point to this blog entry? I'm not quite sure. I guess it's an encouragement to myself and hopefully to others who read this, that God loves us unconditionally and He keeps His Word. It's important to know His voice and when we hear the Holy Spirit, to expect and pray and believe in peace, joy and patience.
iPhoto + Apple + Kodak = Scramble Button
So another humorous situation happened yesterday. One of my 'projects' here in Arizona is to put all the pictures that I've taken in the last couple of years into albums (they're just sitting in my computer and I thought printing them out would be nice). This is a huge task, so I'm taking it a little bit at a time. Last Friday I ordered 400 pictures which is about a 6 month span of photos. I clicked the 'order prints' button on my iPhoto application thinking that would be the easiest way to order the pictures. After hours of uploading the pics to Kodak, I was done. Yesterday, the package came in the mail and I was super excited! I had an album all ready to put the pics in! Then when I opened the package, I saw that there were only 300 pictures, so I assume that the other 100 is coming in a separate package later. Well, no big deal, I can just start putting the 300 in the album. As I started to flip through the pictures in the envelopes, I realized that THEY ARE ALL IN SOME RANDOM ORDER!! There'd be one from a baby shower, then the next is one of my family in Arizona, then one of Sof's wedding, then one from Christmas! So I thought, well maybe when I uploaded the pictures, I did it out of order? So I checked the order confirmation that Apple sent me, and it listed every single picture that I ordered, in the exact order that I had uploaded them, which is chronological! So when they printed the pictures, they decided to just put them in some random order for fun?! When I told my sister about this, she asked if I hit the 'scramble my pictures' button, LOL. Apparently it must be a promotional 'free' trial of the scramble feature cuz I didn't even have to pay extra for it. So now I have to wait until the next 100 pictures arrive. Then sit with my 400 pics in front of my computer, and put them all in the correct order (good thing I have the time to do it, haha!) I sent them an email to tell them about this ridiculousness.
Downtown Phoenix
Yesterday, I went to downtown Phoenix with a neighbor (she's visiting her daughter from China so I invited her along to see the sights). Cities outside of NYC are so different. I haven't been to one with 10% the energy and fast-pacedness of NYC. It is a pretty downtown to walk through though, especially with the palm tree lined streets. There were plenty of gardens and shaded areas that are nice to sit and walk in, as well as museums that you can go to during the heat of the day. We saw many municipal buildings, office buildings, churches, and theaters. We also walked by Chase Field and the US Airlines arena, where the Suns play. We came across a few homeless people, but they were just hanging out at a park, resting and minding their own business. It's pretty obvious that not many people live downtown, but it's solely a business district. There were a few interesting statues that we took pictures with, and there is a small shopping and restaurant area with cool looking fountains. My handy Fodor's guide says that the Science Center is worth checking out, so I might go back downtown to check it out in a few weeks.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
You've Got Mail ...
This post doesn't really have anything to do with 'Life in Arizona', but I wanted to share with you how ridiculous (and humorous) of a conversation I had today with someone from the US Postal Service. So I got an email from my tenant that I have a package at the Jackson Heights post office. I asked Heather to pick it up for me since she lives in the area; Heather says that she needs the package slip cuz they're pretty strict (she said gangster, but I'm translating). Turns out that my tenant threw the slip away (can't really blame her, she's Canadian, she may not understand how gangster the USPS is here). Not that the package slip would have helped anyway, as I'm soon to find out. I called the post office this morning. I asked if someone else can pick up the package for me since I've moved across the country. She said only if the person who comes to pick it up has ID that matches the address. No one, not even me, has ID that matches my address in Jackson Heights. So I said, well, that's not going to work, can you please mail the package somewhere else? She said no, the package can only go to the address that it's addressed to. Fine, so I asked her what else can I do? She said, well, someone can bring your ID and a letter from you that gives them the right to pick up your package. I said, so I'd have to mail them my ID plus a written letter so they can go pick up my package? She said yes. I said, okay, can you please check to see if the package is still there? She said, no, she cannot give out that information over the phone!?!? So she means to tell me that I need to mail my ID and a written letter to someone and have them go to the post office, HOPING that the package would be there? I mean, I understand there is protocol and that they have to be careful about packages and identity theft and so on, but there's got to be a better way, no? Honestly, someone could have stolen my ID and wrote a letter themselves and gone to the post office and picked up my package. Anyway, I think this is rather humorous, and I'm not going to stress about it, so I think I will let this mystery package go its merry way (or sit there and rot). Unless you have other ideas that I've not thought of ... I'm all eyes :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Cloudless Skies
Not really sure what to title this entry, I'm sitting in the backyard on a lounge chair, and it's so quiet and peaceful here. There is not a cloud in the beautiful, blue sky. Mad and Julien left for NYC last Thursday, so my agenda for each day has changed a bit since then. No car shopping or gun shooting attempts, haha. It's been nice waking up naturally, without having to answer to an alarm and then snoozing for an hour (the routine I was in when I was in NY). On Thursday, we went to a church member's house for our weekly prayer meeting. It's been an educational experience hearing the Word preached and people praying in Chinese, hopefully some of that will rub off on me and my Chinese will improve. On Friday, my uncle and I went over to a neighbor's house for their weekly ping pong tournaments. There were 7 of us all together, and besides me, everyone were like professionals (they're from China, where everyone plays ping pong, I gather)! Perhaps I'll actually get decent in the next couple of months if I practice with them. On Saturday, I took Jake out for a drive and sat at the park outside a local library for a couple of hours. It was so peaceful, and there was no one within 50 feet of me, what a difference from Central Park, haha! 
On my way home, I stopped by a Sonic (don't think I've ever eaten at Sonic before), and it was a drive-in! I didn't realize that at first, and kept on trying to find the entrance to go in, until one of the employees came out and told me that I'm supposed to stay in the car and order, haha. Then on Sunday I went to an English-speaking church in the morning, it was such a huge congregation. I think many of the non-denominational churches here are pretty big (with thousands of people in attendance each weekend). And it's also interesting because most of the people were either older couples or young couples with their kids, so the Word being preached seems to be geared more towards families, which make sense. It's very different from NYC, where most people are single or young professionals. I've met many of Uncle Peter and Aunt Mary's friends (mostly Chinese), it's like all the Chinese people here know each other! I haven't spoken in Mandarin this much in years, it's been great! I've also really enjoyed chatting with my grandmother (and watching Chinese soap operas with her) and having fellowship with my aunt and uncle when we get the chance. It's been awesome to hear what's in their hearts and so encouraging to see them walking out their faith!
On my way home, I stopped by a Sonic (don't think I've ever eaten at Sonic before), and it was a drive-in! I didn't realize that at first, and kept on trying to find the entrance to go in, until one of the employees came out and told me that I'm supposed to stay in the car and order, haha. Then on Sunday I went to an English-speaking church in the morning, it was such a huge congregation. I think many of the non-denominational churches here are pretty big (with thousands of people in attendance each weekend). And it's also interesting because most of the people were either older couples or young couples with their kids, so the Word being preached seems to be geared more towards families, which make sense. It's very different from NYC, where most people are single or young professionals. I've met many of Uncle Peter and Aunt Mary's friends (mostly Chinese), it's like all the Chinese people here know each other! I haven't spoken in Mandarin this much in years, it's been great! I've also really enjoyed chatting with my grandmother (and watching Chinese soap operas with her) and having fellowship with my aunt and uncle when we get the chance. It's been awesome to hear what's in their hearts and so encouraging to see them walking out their faith!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Jake N. Bumble-Bee
I BOUGHT MY FIRST CAR!!! AND IT'S A BRAND NEW 2008 JEEP WRANGLER!!! Hahahaha, it's pretty sweet.
We first started shopping for a wrangler on Saturday, we saw a really nice 2006 yellow one but it was really pricey for the mileage that it had. On Monday we decided to shop again, and all the used ones that we saw were fairly expensive (since wranglers supposeldy hold their values pretty well). So we decided to look at the new wranglers, since they were not that much more expensive than the used ones. We negotiated on the price and got to something that we were comfortable with. My first choice was yellow, then white, then black. They searched for an automatic (sadly enough, I can't drive a manual, but I WILL learn someday) around the area and could only come up with a black one. Black was fine for me too, but I got a slight discount on the price because of it. Then yesterday, the salesperson called and said that they found a yellow one for me! Praise God! I didn't know that Aunt Mary had been praying for me to get a yellow one the day before! We became best friends with Nino the guy who sold us the Jeep. Uncle Peter and Aunt Mary ministered to him and he very willingly shared many of his life stories with us. We even prayed for him and his family before we left the car dealership! So today we went to sign the final papers, did a full inspection of the Jeep, and I drove it home! I love how everyone took pictures with the Jeep on the red carpet, as if it's a celebrity, haha! Now Jake Nino Bumble-Bee is part of the Chen family! He is a French wanna-be (hence the long name). Doesn't he look beautiful, cute and fun?! :)
Trigger "Un"Happy?
A few days ago, we went to a store called Cabela's (a huge sporting goods store; there are only 7 in the US, one of which is in Phoenix). I have never seen so many firearms in one place! It was an interesting experience. That was the introduction to our adventure this morning, the shooting range!
Never did I think I would even step foot in a shooting range, much less hold and attempt to shoot a real 9mm pistol! I say attempt because I really did try to shoot, but unfortunately, my index finger strength is unhumanly weak. I could not pull the trigger with one index finger!! Well, you can't say I didn't try. So I think I will buy one of those grip things and do some strength training for my fingers. What an embarrassment to the human race ... can't pull a trigger ...
Anyway, Madelina and Julien did great for their first time! From 25 yards away, Mad hit the target and Julien hit the target 3 times plus a soda can! I was quite impressed. I never knew that guns were so heavy, and shots were so loud, and the kickback looked pretty crazy too. We saw a few law enforcement guys training, and their targets were like 100 yards away, it's amazing. Will keep you all posted if I ever make a second attempt.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The 2.5 Mile Hike
Madelina, Uncle Peter, Aunt Mary and I woke up early and went hiking up the Holbert Trail to the mountaintop. It was a 2.5 mile hike, and took us nearly 2 hours. We rested, prayed, and took pictures (with Aunt Mary directing) along the way. The views as we got higher were magnificent, as we could see all of Phoenix and the surrounding areas! It was a bit cloudy so it wasn't too hot, a perfect day for hiking. We didn't see any snakes, but we did see chipmunks and small lizards. When we were about half way up the mountain, Aunt Mary said that maybe we should call a friend of theirs to pick us up at the top, rather than us spending another 2 hours to get down to the bottom. God had already prepared the way, because their friend was actually hanging out at the bottom of the mountain at the time he got our call! So we saved a few hours of hiking and got a ride down the mountain instead. Guess what 'story' from the Old Testament we were acting out in the first picture (yes, it was my aunt's idea, haha!)
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