Tribute to my poor old cell phone

After 3 years and 7 months. I finally got myself a new cell phone and retire my old, worn, torn, poor LG phone. (I need to get a picture of the phone, then you'll understand what i am saying). My poor phone has served me well for those 3 years. It has kept me company for the lonely days and nights when i first arrived in LA. It provided me a way to keep in touch with friends and family back home while i venture out to the west and be on my own and pursue my life long dream of getting a master. Sounds grand huh? Not really, it was not easy but it was good training. Okay, let's focus back onto my sad old blue phone.
My LG phone was a blue, flip phone. I used it for a very long time until one day I noticed that it doesn't flip open as easily as it should. Then i realized that my poor LG phone was falling apart. First it was hard to flip open my phone, then i realized there was a crack on the inside of the flip. Then after a couple weeks or months (can't remember exactly how long it stayed that way), the cracked piece fell off and now i can see the tube inside that was holding it together.
So that went on for a couple of weeks or months. At this point, i realized it's time to start looking for a new phone and new plan. Yet i was still very attached to this phone and didn't want to go throug the trouble of changing phone. One of the big reason was that i was still using my NY's phone number and i realized that i would need to change to a local number. Another reason was I get all my jobs through my phone, so any interruption on my phone service would affect my day to day job situation. So you can see why i hesitate in getting a new phone. Well, plus i am lazy and really hate to change if i don't have to. Oh, let's get back to the phone thing. Then when i went to houston, i dropped it in the van and the tube fell out, but then, the top flip was being held by these thin flat wires on the left hand side. So, it was still working. Alright, at this point, i KNOW that i have to get a new phone or else this one will die on me any minute now. Finally i got myself to pick a phone, call the phone service provider, worked out all the details (which is another story cuz i have a family plan with my mom, but she doesn't want to change her phone number which really complicated things for me). So i received my new LG phone thru FedEx yesterday. It's bigger than my old phone, but it has more functions. I was planning with it all last night, trying to input all my phone numbers to the new phone (my old phone had over 170 numbers and i only inputted 104 into the new phone). I was quite excited today when i was able to talk to my friend who is also using the same phone provider (so we don't have to worry about our minutes). While talking to her, i started playing with my old phone, and little did i know, i finally broke it into two pieces. Part of my reasoning was to have both phones working so i can make sure all my calls to the old phone will be answered while i transition to the new phone. So that transition didn't last very long, roughly 26 hours. Now i have to say that my two-piece old phone is able to make calls, talk, but not able to hear anything. Also, i can't read anything on the LCD screen, which means those 60 numbers that i didn't get will be lost forever. Yet i am glad that i did received my new phone yesterday and not tomorrow. Something to be grateful for. Wait till i start taking your picture to go along with the caller ID.... fun fun... i guess i have to learn to enjoy my new phone..

Got tagged

Seven things I want to do before I die (not in any particular order):
1) Travel around the world
2) Adopt a child or a dozen from different country
3) Teach in a rural village
4) Write my own book (a children book)
5) Put together a 5000-piece puzzle or wall-size puzzle
6) Ride in a hot-air balloon
7) Live in another country

Seven things I cannot do:
1) bungee jumping
2) run a marathon
3) live without Christ
4) live in a place without beaches or mountains
5) beat up a girl
6) live irresponsibly
7) eat strange food (like dog, cat, rabbit, snake etc)

Seven things I find attractive (in general...again no particular order):
1) Compassion and Empathy in people
2) Wild flowers
3) Pregnant women
4) Old couples holding hands
5) Nice houses/buildings
6) Blue sky with some clouds
7) When a person smells clean and fresh

Seven things I say most often (not in any particular order):
1) Anyway
2) Whatever
3) Huh?
4) So…
5) Who cares
6) Hey
7) Yeah

Seven books (or series) that I love:
1) Passion Purity by Elizabeth Elliott
2) Good News about Injustice by Gary A. Haugen
3) Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli
4) Eragon/Elders by Christopher Paolini
5) Books by NiKuang (Chinese Sci-Fiction)
6) Chinese novel (don’t know the name in English)
7) McDull and McMug (cartoons from HK)

Seven movies I can watch over and over again:
1) You’ve Got Mail
2) Sleepless Seattle
3) Who’s a man, who’s a woman (HK Film)
4) Wedding Singer
5) Pride and Prejudice (2005)
6) Beauty and the Beast (when I was younger)
7) All about Eve (Korean drama)

Obsessions

Everyone has one kind of obsession or another right?! I hope so. Cuz i realized that i have quite a few obsessions, and at times, i am amazed how i find so many things amusing and entertaining.
So, recently (like the last couple of days), my obsession has been Japanese anime. In particular, Hana Yori Dango. I have always love japanese anime, partly due to the fact that i grew up in HK, and japanese anime is like children literature there. Anyway, I spent the last three days watching 51 episodes (20 mins each) of Hana Yori Dango on youtube.com. I finally finished it today and watched the movie version as well. Skip the movie, that was a waste of time, but the anime was not too bad. Since i watched Meteor Garden (which is a taiwanese tv series based on this anime), the story line was basically the same, so not much surprises there. Yet it was still fun to watch cuz there are just things you can do with anime that you can't do in real life. Like throwing someone over the building and jumping really high to kick someone in the face (it's more dramatic in anime, not that it's not possible in real life).
Awhile before this, i was obsess with reading. I read the trilogy of Mark of a Lion. My first set of Christian Fiction. It was really good. The beginning of the first book took me a bit of time to get into it, but by the second book, i can't stop reading. I read part of the third book on my Houston trip. Once i start reading, i just can't stop until i am done. That's why it's scary to start on a trilogy. I think i was tricked. My friend lended me those books without telling me that it's a trilogy, but it was really good reading. Thanks iheartcamels.
So, those are my most recent obsessions. My other possible obsessions: puzzle, cross-switching, korean drama...

Hiking

After church today, i went hiking with some friends at Chino Hill. It was a beautiful day for a good hike. The sun was shining, and it had a nice breeze today.

I love to go hiking with my friends back in NY. It's a very different kind of hike than in LA (so far i've only hiked in LA twice, and both times was at Chino Hill) Hiking in NY is more hiking through the mountain, and you have to get to the top to get a good view or a good spot to get any view. But here, you get a good view at any point of the hike. I LOVED it when the wind was blowing and the wheats were swaying back and forth. I had to stopped and just take it all in. It reminded me of those japanese Anime with the wind blowing and the flowers are moving back and forth. It was such a beautiful scene. At times like that, i miss my hiking buddy lisa... I had to call her after getting off the trial just to tell her that i went hiking. Not to make her feel bad but it makes me sad that i can't hike with her. Yeah yeah, racer, u2. I miss hiking with the three of us. Those were good times. I like our long hike and our deep conversation on those hikes. I think there is something about the mountain that just makes you feel safe and closer to God. It makes you want to pour out your heart and just vent to God about everything. Yet at the same time, to enjoy his Presence in the midst of his creation. It was good to be near nature. The weather was great today, and I love the sunny sky in LA, but i do miss seeing clouds in the sky. So today was one of those days where you can see beautiful clouds in the sky.
Photos taken by DB

Houston Trip

I guess after writing about going to Houston, i should write ABOUT Houston. I am lazy that way.

FIRST DAY: Here is a photo of our shoes after the first day of work. We spent the first day of our trip traveling to Bush airport, met up with our contact people over there in Houston, had pizza for dinner, then a long orientation, and then off to bed for an early morning. We got up at 6:00am (but it's really 4:00 PST) to get ready for our first day on the job. It was raining all week in Houston, so everything was muddy. God was faithful in answering our prayers and it did not rain on Friday. So we had a hearty breakfast of kolache provided by habitual for humanity. The guys LOVED it.. and they are talking about bringing it to LA. The dream is to have Epic inside a bakery factory.
The house only have the foundation and the frame done. So, some of the guys worked on bringing the building the roof, while I worked on the siding with Kev. It was hard work, and it took some time getting used to the hammer. We had great Italian for lunch (i am all about food), and I spent the afternoon working on nailing the roof down on the house. I don't have pictures cuz i was busy working and didn't bring my camera with me. :(
It was a good day of work and we were filthy. I mean filthy!!! All our shoes were covered in mud, and some of us were covered in mud as well. I thoroughly enjoyed being dirty since i don't think i was ever allowed to play in the mud! It was a fun time.
We came back to the church for a quick shower. Our team was composed of 7 guys and me, and we have ONE shower. So the shower time was limited to 10 minutes each. I jumped into the shower as soon as we went back to church cuz i was closest to the bathroom.

For dinner, we had Texas style BBQ food. The sausage was good, but the other stuff was just okay. The BBQ sauce was GREAT. I don't have a picture of it, but between me and Jerry (the Oasis team leader), we used up an entire bottle of BBQ sauce. (For those of you who saw the houston's video, that's the reason behind that photo of Jerry and me holding the empty bottle. That was our victory picture). Then we did a car tour of downtown Houston and we stop by Galleria's waterfall. I seen it 10 years ago when i first visited Houston, and it looks the same. Except i think it's prettier at night.

SECOND DAY: Early day again. We got to HFH around 7:00 ish, and had kolache for breakfast. I spent the whole day working on the roof. I prayed for overcast all day because it was pretty hot down in Houston. Many things went wrong the second day, but they are all quite amusing. First, before the start of the day, i realized that my overall was ripped around my pocket. I didn't realized till i got to HFH, and i didn't bring an extra pair of pant that day. So, Jerry asked around to see if he can get me a pin, but instead they got me ducktape. Yes, ducktape! Some lady helped me put ducktape to cover up my small hole. So, i walked around for most of the morning with an X on my behind. Then of course there is the inevitable accident of hitting my thumbs with the hammer, several times. So my thumbs are still bruised from that. Then halfway thru the day, i went to use the potty, and realized the size of the ducktape got ripped as well. So i went back to the same lady for some reinforcement. Now, half of my butt cheek is cover with tape. It was getting hot at that point and i can really feel the lack of air because of the tapes. Anyhow, that did not bring down my spirit of working. It was a great day, and we worked hard on that roof.
Going back to the overcast thing. So it wasn't sunny the whole day, but still i took jerry's advice and put on some sun screen on my face, neck, arm and my back. Since i am with 7 guys, i wasn't able to ask anyone to help me put on some lotion on my back. So i got as much of my back as possible. Of course, like always, i missed some spot. So by the time i came back from the day of work, i realized that i burn two strips on my back between my racerback tank top, and the overall. It got burned really really bad. hai... i think i am done peeling now.
I think the team got really comfortable with each other by the second day. At least i know i was. I started being myself and barking order at everybody. They found it quite amusing, and i realized that i can't help but being bossy. Bossy in a sense of getting things done. I just can't sit back and not get things done. Since we were on the roof, and they basically took our ladder away (in case we want to run away), we had to rely on others to get us stuff that we need on the roof. Things like nails, diskes, water, tape, pencil, knife etc. It was great..... :p
So, I don't have a before picture of the house, but this is what the house looks like at the end of the second day.

It feels so great to do manual labor and see the products of your labor and sweats!! I think we all left HFH feeling like we have accomplished a lot. This is how we looked at the end of the long two days. (if you look closely at this picture, you'll see the whole team in it, all 7 of us, can you name them all?)





Oh, the ending of my overall. So, i can't remember how many times i had to go back for ducktape reinforcement, but this was the end result of my two days of hard work on my overall. Also, i found another hole on the other side of the pant at the end of the day. I think it's because i was sitting on the roof and moving around a lot. It retired in Houston, and ended up in the trash of St. Agnes Church.
We spent the night at Rev. Murray's house with is Bible Study's group. Another great dinner, and good fellowship and singing. I got to know some of the people on the team better and found out the ages of some people (let's not talk about that)... We went back to the church at night, and stayed up another hour or so talking. It was a good time just chatting about anything and everything. I really feel like i got to know some people much better, and I got to say, certain person was more goofy than i realized, and another was more talented than i expected, and we have some really good conversation from music, to sports, to architecture, to church, to food, to girls, heights and expectations. Everything.
LAST DAY: We got to sleep in!! We worshipped with St. Agnes Church at 11 (2.5 hours sunday service... i was dozing off at one point). Then we packed up, had a late lunch, and went to the airport, sat on the plane for an hour before it finally took off, and arrived an hour late at LAX, got stuck in traffic on 105 because of a car accident, stopped by Tea Station for a boba green tea (so good, although they messed up my order), drove home, missed Grey's Anatomy, took a nice LONG shower, and checked my three email accounts. It was a great trip. I would do it again anytime. I am hopping the next trip would be New Orleans. We'll see...