out of whack

Wow!

Elections have gotten everyone talking, up in arms, and has definitely put my faith to the test. It's been quite some time since I"ve incurred a lot of wrath for my beliefs, especially around my age group. Suddenly it's wrong to have morals and if you stand up for what you believe in, you're an ignorant bigot. I must say, all these sudden attacks caught me off guard and at first I was sad, but said nothing. I was really bothered by what was going on, and almost in despair. Then I become upset. I kept thinking, if people can say what they believe in, why shouldn't I? I was tired of being quiet. It was time to speak up.

So the first try was a bit rough. I could've handled it better. It's hard for me not to react when someone starts yelling and attacking "christians." There is a co-worker who puts down religion every second she can. When I heard her start up at a housewarming gathering, I could not help but give an exasperated sigh of "Here we go again." Then I felt like we were in a boxing match. She took her shots, and I took mine. Finally, I was like, "you know we are never gonna agree on the issue. You voted, I voted. Let the people's voice be heard from that."

Now nothing was accomplished but some heavy dose of arguing. But I'm beginning to see this whole thing as a blessing in disguise. From being a wimpy oh "hush, hush" closet Christian, to at least saying, "hey, that's not cool." I'm slowly starting to understand why I believe the way I do, and now I'm more convicted than ever. For me, what it comes to is LIFE. Anything that supports LIFE, living in God's intelligent design, LIFE comes from a man and a woman, LIFE with identity (i.e. gender) and purpose, LIVING LIFE to its fullest without perversion. Anything that is trying to take life away is sin. Sin leads us to death. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, envy, drunkeness, orgies...all drag us down and keep us from living the uplifting, free life God wants us to live: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.

TOUGH issues listed there to tackle. But God's marvelous and perfect will for us to live by.

God, thank you so much for hearing our cries and prayers; for giving us another chance as a country, to be blessed by you. Thank you for wanting the best for us and not giving up on us. I pray that you give our new president Obama wisdom and guidance in making the best decision for you Lord. Father, forgive me for not speaking up for you earlier. Please help me to respond with love, kindness, and gentleness. Thank you for life and your eternal love for us. Amen.

beer and goldfish

Last night John and I met up with Yurii (who happened to be in town) at the shore club.It's a fun little spot by the beach. Their specialties include tator tots and serving all their draft beers in 18oz goblet glasses. The Wednesday special also happened to be goldfish racing. $5 per fish, with the winner getting an $80 bar tab.

 The races were in these 2 troughs of water and you have straws to help push the fish along by blowing in the water behind them. I bought 2 fishes, and Joaquin helped me pick 2 from the tank. Mine was Goldilocks and John's was El Martillo. (which means the hammer in Spanish or something...) Well my Goldilocks was stubborn as heck, and did NOT want to go straight. It'd swim really fast towards the end, but at a split second, turn around right when it was almost at the end. Luckily, the other contestant's fish was having the same problem. Miraculously, Goldilocks won, and so we moved on to the next round. Meanwhile, El Martillo had a rough start but was kicking butt. It would just take right off and with a little encouragement, zoom off towards the end.

While we were waiting for our turn in the next round, John pointed at my cup. I turn around and saw that Goldilocks had attempted to bail out of the competition. He had completely jumped out of the cup and was chillin like a villian on the counter. John tried to pick it up with the straws but nope, it dropped to the floor. So joaquin PICKED IT UP with his bare hands, and plopped Goldilocks back in the cup. Boy was I squeamish. Of course Joaquin then waved his hands in my face as I screamed.

Well it was all downhill for me and Goldilocks after that. Goldilocks did not look so good and was huffing and puffing his gills. Sadly, round 2 would be the last race for both of us, as Goldilocks lost to Mr. Darcy. On the other hand, John and el martillo continued to beat their opponents and ended up winning the whole race!

Next to come: $80 worth of tater tots and beer.

summer's almost ending!

i finally saw the batman movie "dark knight." After all the rave reviews, i had to see what it was all about. and it didn't disappoint! go see it if you haven't already!

things are doing pretty good. not a lot of change with work, but i feel like i'm on the verge of leaving the coffee shop. hanging on to a very thin thread anyways. the GM is leaving the restaurant, so things are changing around..cheech and chong were there this past weekend, staying at the hotel. thought that was interesting. seemed nice enough. didn't even want VIP treatment. I felt bad..i didn't even know they were having dinner. and this lady comes up and asks to sit outside. I said we were all booked up for oustide w/resos and she was like that's fine..turns out to be the wife of one of the guys..and they met up with her later...oops...

summer's been amazing weather wise. sunny, water is warm, and no more excuses to stay indoors! trying to hit the beach, but it's only been a few times. i enjoy it while i can in between my double shifts at the coffee shop and the restaurant.

jenn and luke are married now..what an amazing and fun wedding! felt very personalized to their taste..plus some traditional cantonese touches, but the concert really made it. food was so good and there was plenty of it! and it was so great to see the whole family, the tollefsons, and the barstow reunion of bridesmaids: carrie, jenna, and loretta. on the road trip back so socal, we stopped at tobin james winery at paso robles, and then later enjoyed some pizza at jonna's. overall, a great weekend trip!

that basically sums up my summer so far. anways, off to bed...

euro trip part 1

hallo from munich!

   it has been one whirlwind to another since i've been here! still extremely jetlagged but luckily, timo, who i met while i was at sweden, has been more than helpful showing john and i around the city. plus he has a car. truly blessed and lucky to have him as our tour guide. it is no doubt very cold here with a few times it has snowed here.the hostel we're staying at is THE best hostel i've ever stayed at. very clean, warm showers, everyone is very friendly. There's 5 computers here in a cafe style setup and a bar and lounge area that gets to be quite hopping late into the night. drank more beer than i can remember and had some hearty bavarian food. there's so much to see..i feel like i haven't seen enough. today we're going to see the disney-like castle called neuschwanstein. it is about and hour and a half away from munich. tomorrow we're heading to edinburgh in scotland to see my roommate in Sweden, lindsay and her bf daniel. of course i'll post pics and such later. to be continued...