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.

marco... POLO

I saw an ad on t.v. the other day that mentioned Old Navy was having a "one day wonder" sale or something along those lines.  They were having a sale on Saturday (today) for $5 polos.  Now this intrigued me.  For one, I have been slowly switching over to polos for work, instead of nicer dressier shirts.  The polos tend to be slightly more comfortable, and I can wear a track jacket over them, which is what I normally do.  And secondly, the mere fact that they were $5 each instead of the typical $15 was definitely an indication that I should go and check it out.


I came back with 6 new shirts!  My closet is full of "nicer clothes" that are work appropriate and I think this is a small sign that I am growing up.  No longer are my clothes just free t-shirts that I get during Welcome Week or Festifall at Michigan, but they actually have collars on them.  This is pretty exciting.  But the unfortunate news is that I don't have as much orange clothing as I used to have.  However, I did get one orange polo today.  The majority of my clothes now are solid bland colors and no logos. [opposite of free t-shirts as those were always way brightly colored and laced with sponsors on the back.]  I guess I'm just a plain type of guy.


Welcome to the working world, Jon.

Absent Minded

I have a pretty good memory.  It's proved to be helpful throughout the years, both in academics and just... well life in general.  I wouldn't necessarily say I have a photographic memory, but I do a fairly decent job remembering things that happen both directly to me and around me.  However, with this said, I seem to also do a very good job at losing stuff.  I'll remember later how I lost it, but by then it'll be too late.  Or sometimes I won't even remember how I lost it, I'll just know that it went away.


Since Tuesday, I have not been able to find my watch.  I've been going to work without one and that just feels odd to me.  Ever since I can remember, I've always had a watch and whenever people ask me the time, I always glance down at it and provide a prompt answer.  Last night someone asked what time it was.  I looked down only to see my bare wrist.  :(.  Boo.  I wanted to find my watch!  I searched everywhere I could for it, thinking that it was in my pant, jackets, car, car... and car.  [my car is a mess, so I had to look here multiple times.]  I couldn't find it and I was upset because this would've been the second watch I've lost.  I am quite proficient at losing things.  And if it's the first time I lose something, I don't feel as bad. [I somehow justify it in my mind that it's ok...]  But second time, well that's just unacceptable.  


//begin sidenote of things I can remember losing
1) Watch - snowboard trip, I claim that it fell off my hand... over my gloves... and lost somewhere in the snow.  I don't really know what happened
2) Camera charger - same snowboard trip.  Left in the room.  Remembered on the way back home
3) Prescription sunglasses - when I was younger and lived in Pittsburgh.  Left them sitting somewhere in Chinese school
4) Neoprene ankle wrap - wore to weekend retreat because I had just sprained ankle a few weeks ago playing basketball.  I left it on the cabin bed :(
5) Neoprene ankle wrap - DANG IT.  SECOND ONE.  Lost this one somehow after a flag football game.  Now I only have one.
6) Snowboard goggles - Left these somewhere around the car when coming back from day at snowboarding.
7) Camera - left in rental car on recruitment trip to LA.  Tried to contact the car rental company immediately after, but they said they had already given out car. Lame.
8) Football play holder for wrist - somehow lost this after a flag football game.  Now I need to get another one and remake all my plays!
//end sidenote


So given my relatively extensive history with losing things, imagine my dismay to find out that I have lost my second watch.  I guess watches aren't too expensive, but it was more so the principle of losing things and being completely absent minded that bothered me.  


Friday morning, I check my backpack and find my watch sitting peacefully down at the bottom.  w00t. Mission accomplished.  I won't need to get a new watch.  Hopefully I will be better about losing stuff in the future and keeping track of things that I own.

Good Weekend

Last weekend was an adventure. A fun adventure.


Friday:
It started off with Alfred and I leaving work and heading out to Rowland Heights (Taiwan/Korea) to meet up with Sky for dinner. [Sky was visiting from NY, she normally doesn't live out here].  We were stuck in traffic and traffic is lame.  But we actually made fairly decent time and got there at a reasonable hour.  Dinner that night was Taiwanese food.  I haven't had Taiwanese food in the longest time and I told myself I was going to eat a lot.


We ended up going to a place called Class 302.  Some type of classroom setting atmosphere and chalkboards and wooden tables resembling desks in class.  Check it.

We looked at the menu and I saw that it had Beef Noodle Soup.  Done.  I was planning on getting that.

After I finished, I was still hungry / just wanted to eat more, so I ordered one more bowl of noodle soup.  This time it was Pig's Feet Noodle Soup.  Ok ok, I know that sound gross, but trust me, it's delicious.

I finished both of the noodle soups and I was completely full and felt like a glutton.  Such a pig. [ha..ha..the irony of feeling like a pig after eating pig's feet].  Anyways, I don't think I had food that good in such a long time.  I'm so glad I like Taiwanese food. :)


To top it all off, we got this fancy dessert thing called shaved snow.  It isn't like the typical shaved ice, but it was a lot fluffier and it was incredible.  Mmm... delicious.  


Afterwards... I felt disgusting.  We decided the best thing to do was to talk around for a bit to help digest the food.  We walked around the plaza and then into the next adjacent plaza.  And there it was.  A sign for foot massages. "Foot massage for 15 dollars." I had never seen anything so cheap before and we inquired as to how long it was.  It was for an hour.  Sky called up her relatives and indicated that we might be out a little longer (due to getting the massages) and they gave her the ok so in we we went.  I had heard before in the news that there were a lot of sketchy massage places in these parts of town.  I prayed that it wouldn't be one of these.  Thankfully it wasn't.


All 3 of us sat down on these enormous chairs ready for our foot massages when one of the ladies convinced us that the 30 minute foot / 30 minute body was a much better deal because a full hour of feet might be somewhat boring.  We went with her recommendation.  Soon I found myself face down on my HUGE stomach filled with my HUGE dinner inside while this crazy Chinese lady was literally standing on my back and walking around.  The massage was wonderful.  My stomach, not so much.  But overall, the massage was an interesting experience.  It was pretty decent.  Very random because we weren't planning on getting one, but sometimes spontaneous events can be fun :)  The night was a success.


Saturday:
I woke up early in the morning to head over to Jack's because we were going snowboarding.  We arrived close to 6:00 am and were on our way!  There were 4 of us guys all together and we met 2 more friends at the McDonald's right outside of the exit to Mt. High.  

It was a fun day.  We hit the slopes pretty hard and were able to get a lot of good runs in.  We even attempted to go on larger jumps!  (Still not able to get as much air as we probably would've liked, but fun nonetheless).  I lost my goggles though :(. On our way back, we stopped by the Rowland Heights area for dinner.  It felt totally like deja-vu because I had just been there the previous night.  We were literally driving on the same streets as we had just one day ago.  We got some more delicious food and then made our way back to the South Bay, where we attempted to watch Hurt Locker but that plan failed because we couldn't find it anywhere.


Sunday:
Church for a good portion of the day filled with 2 sermons that were very encouraging to hear.  Hurt Locker eventually happened that night.  No Skype meeting happened on Sunday because I was on spring break!  w00t.  


Good weekend.  Now this week of spring break is over, and it's time to get back into the grind of school!  Only 1.5 months left until freedom.  Can't wait.

I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

Tonight I was driving back home from a basketball game and I decide to tune in to 103.5 Love Songs on the KOST.  I think a girl named Lauren dedicated a song to...someone.  Maybe Steve?  I forget.  Anyways, the song that was played was Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.


The song reminded me of the movie Armageddon, which then reminded me of back when I was in junior high.  I was in Pittsburgh at this time.  We went on some type of winter retreat through AWANA to some .... giant cabin of some sort.  I don't exactly remember where it was or what we really did there, but I do remember watching Armageddon for the first time.  I think I remember really wanting to see it, but never got around to seeing it, so it was fairly convenient that we watched it during our retreat.  I think I also remember having some type of snowball fight during our time at the giant cabin.  The guys stayed downstairs in bunks and the girls stayed way upstairs on the second floor or something.  We probably talked about which girls we liked, if any, before we went to sleep.


I can't believe it's been.... almost 10 years since that time.  A lot of happened since then.  I moved away shortly after that retreat to Michigan.  I started and finished high school.  I started and finish college.  I moved to California and I'm almost done with graduate school.


Sometimes I wonder how life would be different had I stayed in a certain place longer, or had I not moved, or had I gone somewhere else for college, or had I chosen another job.  It's kind of weird to think about.  I wonder if I'm becoming less extroverted.  I enjoy driving by myself in silence and just walking around outside sometimes at night.

I hope my good memory sticks with me as my life continues to unfold, because I really don't want to miss a thing.


***EDIT***
Right after the song ended, I was at the intersection of Aviation and PCH waiting at the traffic light.  I looked next to me and saw a guy sitting his car doing the most obscure thing ever.  He was brushing his teeth.  I wondered... how is he going to do this?  He has to rinse his mouth of all the toothpaste.  How was he going to do this?  He thought of this.  He had 1 bottle to spit in and 1 bottle of water that he used to rinse.  Genius.  He probably had done this before.  My assumption: He was on his way to a date.

Your Mom Goes To College

I feel like I'm in college again...


This is the third time I've been to USC in the past week (1 presentation and 2 tests) and I find myself currently sitting in a library looking outside the window preparing for my last midterm ever (God willing).  This campus is quite different from the Ann Arbor campus that I've been used to for all of my undergraduate career.  Everyone here is either on a beach cruiser bike or on a skateboard.  Or so it seems.  The fountains are gleefully spraying water into the air without a care in the world.  And well, the weather... yeah, we won't need to get into that.  I think this is the busiest I've seen campus in my 4 semesters that I've "been" at USC. (note the been is in quotes because I don't really come here... just for exams).  I should have brought my skateboard so I can join all the cool kids skating from class to class.  Maybe next time.


This feels weird.  Undergrad seems so far away.  Guess this is part of growing up :)


p.s.  Is it wrong of me to state that the sorority girls still look the same? Black sweatpants with letters of house on thigh, giant bag, sunglasses, and Uggs?