Lesson: Things Go Wrong

One of the big lessons I've learned in 2011 is that things don't always quite work the way they should.  It doesn't seem to matter what it is.  It just... doesn't go the way that it is supposed to.  Or things go wrong.  Something comes up.  Unexpectedly.  However, I've learned that in those situations, the situations that seem to just utterly suck, are often times when you learn the most.

Example - Work

I shifted projects at work back in the middle of August.  I turned into an RSE (Responsible Systems Engineer).  As such, I am responsible (duh) for a handful of units.  Each of these units have different capabilities.  I oversee them and make sure that they work and that they meet all their requirements.  Etc etc.  Anyways, I transitioned during a time that perhaps was not the most ideal.  Things were ramping up quick and units needed to be delivered.  Long story short, I had to execute on a lot of tasks but I didn't really know how to do any of it.  Fortunately, my predecessor left behind a lot of templates and good documentation.  Much of the ground work was put into place.  When things were going well and all the units worked, I knew how to operate.  However, this soon would all change.  Units started not testing properly.  Issues arose.  Things were breaking.  My thought that "well... if the unit is designed well and things are already in production, it should work the way it's supposed to" became a thing of the past.  But due to the complexity of the units and all the details that needed to be considered, it was common for deviations to occur.  In fact, it was well known by others that things just never seem to quite work the way it is supposed to.  But because I was super n00b on the project, I didn't know that yet.  Anyways, once things started not working, I really needed to learn how all the units worked and how to do things that weren't just simply following a template that was put in place before my time.  With things not going as expected, I needed to think much more and put in a lot more time than I did before.  But now I was actually learning!  When everything went as scheduled, it was very step through the motions.  Once things didn't go as planned, I entered into debugging mode.  This allowed me to work very closely with the software team and the hardware team. And while it was somewhat painful to have to spin up on understanding all the different aspects of the unit, I strongly believe that it was through these moments that I gained experience that I would not have been able to otherwise.  So even though it kind of sucks to have to go through these hardships (more work involved, often times feel like I don't know anything so it is discouraging, etc, I know that there is benefit in the long run.  Perhaps a parallel in our spiritual lives? Yes, I sure think so.  I too believe that in the struggles and in the unexpected, God teaches us lessons that draw us closer to Him that we would have otherwise never experienced.  I think also to a degree it teaches us that the things we often think we have control over, we really don't.  Ugh, such a hard lesson for me to learn.  Perhaps there will be another entry on that another day.

Lesson action item: I will try and not grumble when things don't always work out and try my best to view it as an opportunity for growth.  In doing this, I will also remind myself that these situations often lead to new and valuable lessons. 

A New Year

I notice that my last entry in here was September 23, 2010.  That was well over a year ago.  Unacceptable.

One of my goals for 2012 is to write in here more often.  I feel like I've said that before in the past... and I don't think I did a good job keeping to it.  So hopefully this year proves to be different.

I realized that I enjoy writing.  Sometimes I have these visions in my mind where I'm sitting at a coffee shop with my laptop.  I'm typing away at something, perhaps a blog entry, perhaps something else, I'm not quite sure.  And as the coffee shop fills up with people around, I drown them out in the background because I have headphones on and I'm listening to something on Pandora.  And I get lost in my own little world as I type away.  Maybe I'll do this one day.  It sounds like it would be fun.

Welcome 2012.  I am most certain you will be quite an interesting year. I eagerly await what happens.

Toys Toys Toys

I need to stop buying things.  Or... I need to use the things that I buy.


I found a pretty cheap digital Yamaha piano on craigslist.  I need to get better.  I took lessons all growing up and I don't have much to show for it!  Lame.  Must practice.

Now that school is over, I can start getting into film stuff.  Rather... start doing film stuff and see how I like it.  I hope I do like it (and am somewhat decent at it) because I spent a good deal of money on this stuff.

And... for my birthday, I was sent this by Mr. Albert Yao.  Unbelievable.  Good thing I have an iMac to play it on.

Goodbye Summer Time

I can't believe the summer is over now.  It feels like yesterday I was finishing up school at USC and looking forward to the summer months.  It's September now and summer is rapidly ending.  It feels like the last few months went by relatively quickly and I have done a horrible job keeping tabs on what I've been up to.

I wrote a ton of stuff, deleted it, wrote some other stuff, and the decided to delete that too.  I couldn't word a lot of things the way I wanted to, so I decided to write a few phrases here and there and append some pictures to make it seem cool.

I think I'll try to do these in the sequence in which they happened.


Middle of May - Redondo Beach
Alfred and I needed to move places from our previous housing arrangement.  The owner of the condo wanted to sell the unit after our lease was up, so it was time for us to go.  We packed our bags and moved all... 4 blocks away.  One block south and a few blocks east.  Goodbye Catalina.  Hello Francisca.

Memorial Day Weekend - Denver

I made a trip out to the Mile High city at the end of May.  We had a pseudo-planned weekend filled with random things.  It was good seeing some college friends who I haven't seen in a while.  Hiking (one solid thing that was planned at Rocky Mountain National Park), lots of lounging around and just bumming, and exploring the city of Denver. [I remember saying that I wanted to live in Denver because it was a gorgeous place.  It still is.  But the altitude was killer.  I was completely winded after playing a game of basketball.  Perhaps that's just an indication that I need to get better in shape...]  There was this art fair deal thing going on that weekend so it was pretty sweet to check out.  I still have yet to sort through all of these pictures yet.  Fail.

End of June - Michigan

I went back to Michigan close to the end of June to attend Margaret's wedding.  The wedding was really cool because I thought it was very God-centered.  There was a small sermon given during the ceremony (with the pastor even playing guitar!) so that was very unique.  Afterwards, there was a talent show put on by some of Margaret and Hyden's younger siblings.  It was way cute.  I could tell that there was a lot of love and care at the wedding and that was encouraging.  I've only been to a few weddings in my life, but this was the first one that I've been to where the groom (Hyden) cut every single piece of cake for the guests.  That was way cool.  I guess it's pretty common for the wedding to be all about the people getting married, but this one seemed like it revolved a lot around family and how everyone was going to be in this together.  It was fun :) I was indeed at Hyden and Margaret's wedding.

July 4th - San Diego
I went down to San Diego for the 4th of July weekend to catch up with some friends.  Seems like this summer has been filled with Michigan people all over.  There were a good handful of us Michigan folk down in the SD area, some I haven't seen in years.  We played a lot of Bang.  I think that's all I remember.  Just kidding.  I remember more.  But seriously, we did play a lot of that game.  It was good catching up with people down there as well as the other folks who made it all the way down to California.

Mid August - JH Ranch
JH Ranch is a retreat site that our church [college and young adult] goes to once a year.  It's up way at the tip of California (almost bordering Oregon) so it's like a 10-12 hour ride (depending on how many people need to pee on the way up and how long we stop for food).  It was a good break from work and to be able to get out there and spend time in some church community.  The camp is a beautiful area with lots of trees and I like nature stuff, so that was pretty awesome.  Mr. Kenny was out there too so that was a big bonus.  The week was good.  Lots of fun activities that demonstrated a lot about team work and how we aren't able to do things by ourselves.  It was a needed message and it helped me feel more involved at church.  I think it was good for me to go to a retreat like this because it helped foster deeper relationships, deeper ones than the ones that I could develop on Friday nights or Sunday's at church.  So that was good.  It was here that I was deemed SR [Sensitively Reserved] by Madeline.  Hmm.. interesting.  This was also the first time that I've done a lot of jumping into water from high places and swinging from crazy things into water.  That was fun.

Mid August - YK2
YK2 is a smaller retreat that is designed for the younger kids at church.  I think it's focused on the junior high and high schools?  Maybe?  This retreat was a lot different than the previous one (see above) because I was able to be a small group leader and help facilitate a lot of discussion.  The beginning of this retreat sucked like whoa.  So JH Ranch was an intense week filled with a lot a lot of activities back to back to back.  I came back from JH and after taking a week off of work, had a lot of catching up to do.  This resulted in me putting in a ton of hours right before YK2.  End result was me getting sick.  So the first half of YK2, sickness combined with some other things going on, I felt miserable and didn't really want to do much.  It got better the second half and I was able to enjoy being there.  This retreat proved to be encouraging to me because it talked a lot about church family.  It's weird because I guess I consider SBECC my church family now... even though at times it's still kind of hard to do that.  I felt a lot more integrated so that was good.

Beginning of September - College Football
A good indication of summer ending is with football starting.  Michigan is off to a good start at 3 wins and 0 losses.  I hope this trend can continue.  Go blue. [no picture necessary]


So as the summer ends and poor Alfred starts back at USC and has to study and watch lecture, I do not.  For the first time in my life since way way early, I don't have school, don't have homework, and don't have to study for tests.  That's a good feeling.  However, I hope to start doing somewhat productive stuff to keep myself busy.  We'll see how it goes.


I can't believe the summer is coming to an end.  2010, you are going by so quickly.  Slow down please.

Simply Party!

Hmm... Random entry.  But delicious entry.

I've always just purchased the Simply Orange w/ Calcium and Vitamin D.  Guess I decided to branch out today. :)

Fight On?

Two years ago I started my Master's in Electrical Engineering.  A few Friday's ago, I finished.  I am so glad to be done.  Combining both work and school was fairly tough, but I was able to pull through (at least... I think I did.  I have yet to receive transcript) and get through the program.  I've been calling this summer my first "official" summer since kindergarten.  What I mean by that is... since age 5, I've gone on summer vacation between grades and always as August approached, I had the inkling in the back of my mind that school was rapidly coming back in full swing and it wouldn't be long until I was sitting in a classroom dozing off as the teacher taught stuff at the front of the classroom.  This year is different.  I took my last final and it was a final final.  This summer begins and when August rolls around, I won't have to go back. :) Yay.  So I guess I have my Master's now :) Doesn't feel any different.  Time to work 40 hours a week!

Thank you company for paying for everything.  I don't think I would have this degree if it weren't for that.  I am very grateful.

Going to the Car Wash...

I told myself that I wanted to take more pictures and that I would only blog provided that there was a picture that I took.  I have ideas that I want to blog about, but haven't taken the pictures yet, so they haven't been blogged as of yet...

Last week in Sunday School the reflection question was something along the lines of "Have you seen God's divine intervention in your life?"  I can answer that today with a yes.  Absolutely.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to take pictures of things (whether it be point and shoot or DSLR) and then write about them.  So this morning on my way to work I put my camera in the car.  I had only needed to go into work for a little bit because I needed to use the scanner to scan in my homework.  Got to work and scanned and turned in homework and headed back home.  I told myself that I wanted to go to the car wash today.  One of those self-serve kind of places.  Insert some coins, get some time, spray down car and boom... clean.  Except I had just done that recently and I didn't want to wash my car.  I just wanted to use the vacuum portion in the back.  Since I've had my car (June 2008), I have not vacuumed my car.  It hasn't gotten too dirty, but after many trips to the beach and a few flag football seasons with cleats and softball, it was time to do some vacuuming.  So here I am coming back from work thinking, "Oh, I'll stop by the vacuum place."  Except I chose not to.  I had my work clothes on and it was fairly hot outside and I decided I'd come back later.  I'm lazy.

I get home and decide to skate to the beach to do some reading.  I hop on my skateboard and think to myself, "oh, I could take some pictures at the beach and then write about them.  I had some topics in mind already and I knew I could find pictures along the way."  Crap.  If you remember, I had brought my camera to my car earlier in the day and I left it there.  I wasn't about to bring my DSLR to the beach to get sand all over it.  Lame sauce.  Maybe another day I thought.  Perhaps I just wasn't meant to take pictures today.

I come back from the beach a good deal later (also had some pretty good clam chowder in a bread bowl, but that's a different story) and I decide that maybe now is a good time to go to the car wash to vacuum my car.  It was evening time now and it wouldn't be as hot.  I had hoped there there would be lights around the vacuum area.  

I pull into the car wash happily noticing that there are lights. "I'll be in and out of here in no time," I thought to myself as I made it to the back of the car wash place where the vacuums were located.  I noticed a man on the left most vacuum just walking around.  We exchanged looks and I went along and prepared my car for its cleaning.  I started taking off the floor mats and banging the sand off of them.  To my surprise, my car actually was a lot cleaner than I thought.  I have these all-weather floor mats so they are a rubber material and are relatively easy to clean.  I started taking them out and by the time I made it around to the passenger side (I started from 12 o'clock and worked my way around counter-clockwise), the gentleman that was on the left most vacuum came up to me and said hi.  I said hi back and he handed me his business card.  The business car said something about a hair design place and I noticed that his name was Roy.  Roy told me that he works right up there (he pointed right next to the car wash place, 2nd floor) and that if I ever needed a haircut, I should come to him.  I told him that I was getting my hair cut for a pretty good deal right now and that the price would be hard to beat.  [Thank goodness for Mai and Michelle and Dynasty Hair Salon off of Inglewood].  He asked how much I paid.  I told him it was 10 dollars.  Roy told me he charged 16 dollars but it would be well worth it.  I asked him why.

Here's where the story gets interesting.  Roy starts talking about how he's not just a normal hair cutting place but that he cares for his customers and he does this special scalp treatment that is supposed to be good for the body.  He seems like he knows what he's talking about so I nod and smile and he continues.  He went to Europe for some time to get training and now he's back in the United States taking care of people's hair.  He seemed like a very legitimate man, very cordial and very nice.  I asked him questions here and there and he had a response.  My biggest takeaway from his hair cutting speech was that he's not just some place that customers go and get their hair cut, pay, and leave.  But rather he has this philosophy about taking care of the body and soul.  So I guess he uses these "all-natural" products when he washes hair afterwards.  Apparently people come in from San Diego, Palm Springs, Northridge, etc, just to come to Roy.  I wouldn't doubt it.  He seemed like he knew what he was talking about.  Then he said something very interesting to me.

Roy (paraphrased): "I take care of my body because I want to live very long and be happy.  I don't think we're meant to be here just to not be happy, so I do what I can to be happy."

I immediately felt like God was saying to me, "Jon, why don't you interject here and say something." This was odd.  We used to have this contact evangelism back at Michigan where a group of us would go out and spread the Gospel.  We had these pamphlets that was called "Two Ways to Live" that we'd talk to.  I did that a few times and even once at Wayne State during our D-UP trip.  But have I talked to a complete stranger out of the blue about God before? No.  This was rather new.  I held off for a bit, not really wanting to change subjects, so I nodded and he continued.  Roy talked for a little bit and then he said something else.

Roy (paraphrased again): "A lot of people here don't take care of their bodies here and they suffer for it.  I don't think we're meant to suffer.  We're good people."

God (maybe also paraphrased): "JON, WAKE UP"

Ok then.  I stepped in for a moment and sheepishly asked, "Roy... let me ask you a question, have you heard the good news of Jesus Christ?"

And here began a very interesting conversation.  Roy had grown up in the Catholic church, but by the way he was talking, he did not practice it anymore.  He even admitted that he didn't practice anymore.  He told me that he didn't think we needed to read the Bible and that it was all in here (he said here as he pointed to his mind).  I told him I disagreed and thought that it was very important that we read the Bible.  He said he read it twice (once because his mom made him read it and once because he just wanted to read it as a story) and since then, hasn't read it.  He said he believed he knew it all.  I told him I don't think that's enough and that he wouldn't remember much if that was all he read.  He begged to differ.  I asked him if he's heard of Job (I was reading that earlier today).  He said yes.  I told him to tell me the story of Job.  He thought for a moment and then said...."that's where God told him to kill his own son?"  I chuckled a bit and said I think you have the wrong guy, that's Abraham.  I told him he should read his Bible more often!  He then said something about how the Old Testament was filled with a lot of negativity and didn't think it applied anymore.

We had differing views.  Roy believed in a God... or rather... a god.  I don't think it was the same God that I believe in, but he believed that there was a supreme being, a creator, a father.  It seemed that he was jaded in the sense that he's seen what happens when people go to church.  He was saying that people go to church, read the Bible, and then come out of it still calling people names, still cutting people off when they drive, still do all these bad things.  I told him I agreed and that I thought that was unfortunate [Christians do get looked at as hypocrites a lot... that is pretty sad], but it's not the going to church and the Bible reading that did those things.  It's the sinful nature within us.  I asked him if he thought people were good or bad and he said good.  We disagreed again and I told him I think we're all sinful, way back to the actions of Adam and Eve.  He told me that God is love and that love is God.  I agreed with him.  He said that if God is love, then he'd only want the best for us and for us to be happy.  I told him that God does want the best for us, but it isn't about our happiness, it's about God getting glory.  Roy didn't believe that God could do things that wouldn't make us happy (example: putting Abraham through the thought of killing Issac).  

It seemed that Roy believed that God is out there just to make us happy.  We're to lead fulfilling lives and have money and success and be happy.  I think he's mistaken and he's not seeing the bigger picture.  We're here to bring God glory, and that's all there is to it.  He seemed a very... new age-y, very spirit-y mentality.  He told me that he believed people should meditate instead of reading the Bible.  I told him I didn't think so.

At the end I asked if I could pray for him.  He said, "you or me?" I told him that I would pray for him and he agreed to listen.  I prayed that God would reveal himself to Roy and that God would remind us (both him and me both) of his love for us and in turn that we would learn to love him more and more.  We said Amen and he parted back to his store.

God's divine intervention?  As I left from that prayer back to vacuuming my car, (well, starting to vacuum my car) I realized that earlier in the day I had put my camera inside.  I took out my camera with a smile and took this following picture.

Had I not come back later in the day and just went to the car wash earlier in the day, I would've not met Roy.  Had I taken out my camera to go to the beach, I probably would not have put it back in.  Then I wouldn't have been able to take the above picture and I wouldn't have been able to blog about it.  Thank you God for the small reminders that you will work greatly in our lives.  I pray that you would draw Roy closer to you.  Roy seemed like he was a very happy man, but I pray that his happiness would be found only in you.