2004.05.08

946a, sat morn: i'm waiting w/ sooni 4 happy tails. earlier, i dropped the beautiful kaela hwang off @ the compaq center 4 a christian womens' conference. then, i walked sooni up n' down willow glen's lincoln ave.

[later]351p: lately, i've had some pretty selfish prayers answered: on thurs nite, when i got to campus 4 my class, i aktually quickly prayed that i'd find parking, n' i found parking. on fri afternoon, after bocce ball, when i got to campus, i prayed that i'd find parking n' i found parking. both times, i just sort'f prayed cos the idea popped into my head that maybe i should pray to find parking. both times, @ 1st, i thought, "eh, i don't c ne parking. oh well, i guess it's just not god's will; i guess it's not in his plan." then i found parking. i mean... it's not that it's hard to find parking @ sjsu during the late hrs that my classes r, but what i was aktually praying 4 was a close parking spot, right @ the curb near the entrance'f the engineering bldg. parking's such a trivial thing; it's not like i was praying 4 a single morsel'f fud to calm my growlingly empty stomach, no. i wasn't praying 4 protektion from a violently abusive spouse. i wasn't praying 4 'nother day to speak deep, emotional words to a dying loved 1. i prayed 4 such a trivial thing: a good parking spot. it was such a greedy thing, yet god answered my prayer. else, u could say: 1) i got lucky, or 2) it's just the odds that u'll find a good parking spot now n' then. back in my sr yr'f hi.skool, i think i mentioned sumpthin' christian to my fellow bassoonist in my youth orchestra who wasn't necessarily a spiritual or christian person as far as i knew; but he started telling me that some university's research on quantum physiks proved that human "volition" (i think he sed, albeit that m-w.com defines "volition" as "an act of making a choice or decision") -- else basikally wanting sumpthin' to happen -- affekts probability. he sed, researchers tracked the position of electrons n' found that if they wanted the elektron to turn up @ a certain position @ a certain time, it'd more likely turn up there. the dude i was talkin' to sed this explains why ufo fanatiks more often end up spotting ufos. *shrug*

do u find my faith: 1) tacky, 2) stoopid, 3) ridiculous, 4) mundane, 5) condescending, 6) judgmental, or 7) foolish? in 21 grams, u meet some1 who'd be easily labelled as a "religious fanatic." would u label me a "religious fanatic"? personally, i'd hardly find that reasonable. me, i need to be more spiritual n' have a stronger relationship w/ god / jesus / the holy spirit. it's 2 bad that i don't, n' it's not enuf 4 me just to say "it's 2 bad." @ the same time, all u non.christians tolerate me better cos i am who i am n' not some1 u'd label a "religious fanatic." we christians have heard numerous, numerous sermons 'bout how "god hates lukewarm christians." often these sermons say that u gotta go on a missions trip n' evangelise, or else u'r just a lukewarm christian whom god hates. >:-/ i dunno, man; i'm sorry, but i don't buy that. i think that kind'f talk involves 2 much generalisation, n' every1 has a diff situation; really! god has a diff purpose 4 each person. however, many disciples'f christ'd say that god's purpose 4 every christian still must involve evangelism. well, each'f us has his/her own style'f evangelism. i'd like to think i've led some1 to christ b4. i know i've encouraged certain ppl to go to church b4; 'specially in my hi.skool days back @ canaan taiwanese christian church (ctcc).

2day, ever since i came back home in the early afternoon, i've had lots'f 'puter troubles. >:-( u c, all i wanted to do was to werk on my master's projekt report n' maybe some werk from werk.com, but all sort'f bad things happened: i wanted to dl some video footage i shot yesterday nite'f sooni playing fetch w/ me. as i dled that footage from our camcorder via firewire, i discovered i had accidentally taped over footage'f mason from last weekend. <:-o >:-( *sigh* i was very disappointed. then as i let that footage dl, i started up the laptop i borrowed from werk. it beeped crazily n' refused to start up. <:-o uh.oh! then i decided to try to plug it into the wall outlet, instead'f running it off battery. to try that, i had to unplug kaela's laptop, to which i was dling video footage. i tried to turn on the werk.com laptop, but it still didn't turn on. then i went to kaela's laptop n' discovered the screen had gone black n' blank n' the 'puter had shut down. i tried to restart it. it refused to restart. <:-( now, i'm in a big mess! i have no laptops to use, n' i want to werk on things including very important stuff. :-( now, i'm waiting 4 the answer to some prayers! :-( so this is how it feels to make a desperate prayer as opposed to a prayer 4 convenience! i trust that god'll take care'f me 1 way or 'nother.

[later] 503p: i'd like to pause from my worrying 'bout 'puters (which ought to be eliminated n' replaced by trust that god'll take care'f this mess 1 way or 'nother) n' thank ppl who've recently signed my gbook: 1) the person who spammed my gbook 4 the sake'f curing pleural mesothelioma, the private entry person, manolo (who's promoting barcelona-es.net, jerome, n' kathi. thank u very much! i'm not 2 sure who kathi is but wonder if she's 1'f the kathy's from church. i think so, but i'm not 2 sure. i'm not 2 sure what "dink couple" is but guess it means "disciples in new korea." ?:-( yah, puzzled.

kathi, u "always drool after reading about the many places [kaela n' i] go eat out at?" well, heh heh... aktually, lately it's been pasta pomodoro over n' over cos they don't discriminate 'gainst dog owners; thus just like a true european eatery, i s'ppose. well, u know what? last nite, kaela n' i did go somewhere other than pasta pomodoro. @ 1st, when i got home from my class, i thought maybe we should leave sooni @ home n' take a break from italian; maybe hit up a nearby indian or korean joint. it's been so long since we went to a korean restaurant, n' we used to hit up korean restaurants on el camino every single day 4 lunch. what korean places on el camino real would let us bring sooni n' eat outside? i thought maybe 옹고집 onggojip, 난다랑 nandarang... they both have tables outside, but i worry they're just 4 old bizness men to smoke @. >:-( i'm sure those ol' 시골뜨기 아줌마 @ 옹고집'd love sooni! (시공띠기 아줌마 = shigolddeugi ajoomma = ol' country bumpkin women) well, kaela really wanted to bring sooni cos she's so cute, n' i had to agree that sooni is so cute. i then suggested we try to hit up some joint in the rivermark. yup, we did. we went to piatti. do u know what piatti is? well, u know what santana row is, of course; n' santana row has href="http://www.straitscafe.com" target="_blank">straits café n' left bank. straits café n' left bank both have original locations in ritzy, glitzy palo alto, aka stanfurd territory. piatti is also a restaurant that has an earlier established location in palo alto, but piatti aktually currently has 15 locations, so it's now a bigger company than these other 2 restaurants. now that i've made myself sound pretty knowledgeable 'bout bay area cuisine, even the good stuff outside'f sf, n' after i've now aktually visited www.leftbank.com, i can prove to u all that i'm totally bsing, as straits café doesn't have a palo alto location! their locations r: larkspur, menlo park, pleasant hill, san josé, n' san mateo. well, u've gotta admit: those r some really ritzy neighbourhoods!

neway, last nite, the sun didn't set till *shrug* sometime a li'l past 900p. we sat out on the patio'f the rivermark piatti. 'twas a bit chilly, but they turned on the patio heater. ppl who walked by n' who couldn't c sooni cos'f the wall blocking their view prob'ly thought we were either really crazy 4 wanting to eat outside on a brisk evening like last nite, or else the restaurant must really discriminate 'gainst ppl like us. heh, well, they don't; i'm just joking. what did we eat? we shared a "warm napa cabbage salad," which had some totally awesome prosciuitto or sumpthin' in it. kaela had this shroom risotti. i s'ppose shroom = funghi. i had this awesome seared ahi, which they warned me would be rare in the middle, to which i assured them would be completely fine w/ me. personally, it's good to eat animal raw now n' then. it's been 2 long since i've had some 육회 yookhwe, n' i'd sure love some sometime. they did have carpaccio on the menu as an appetizer, but i figured i didn't need to go so fancy, u know? we did share a bottle'f fontana pinot grigio tho', if that's 2 fancy 4 u. *shrug* we were 2 full from dinner 4 dessert but had our usual espresso drinks. i hope u know what those r by now. afterwards, we went walked 'round the rivermark. walking 'round the rivermark isn't as nice as walking 'round santana row. they're both pretty hip, trendy places; but santana row's more'f a weekend place, while rivermark's more'f a place u go during lunch as a break from ur hi.tech, silly valley job. we went to the blockbuster there to rent a movie or 2. the blockbuster there isn't a full.sized blockbuster. if u know what berkeley like, then u know 'bout the 2 blockbusters: the 1 on shattuck n' channing the 1 on durant by telly. the 1'n durant is convenient 4 the hi.rise dorm dwelling university students, but it's a baby blockbuster, not a full.sized blockbuster. it doesn't have a big library'f dvds. this rivermark blockbuster's like that. luckily, the blockbuster near our house is bigger but has longer lines. in that sense, it's like the shattuck blockbuster in berkeley.

now that we have our own house n' doggy, we cm to be doing more'f these "blocbuster nites" as opposed to doing our "amc moviewatchers" nites. it's aktually cheaper to rent movies than to go to the theatres. :-/ however, it's nice to be outside now n' then i s'ppose. moreover, we still don't have a nice tv, u know. *shrug* sometimes i wonder if i should've joined that blockbuster rewards club thingy. else, would it be worth it 4 me to do netflix or that monthly blockbuster program? *shrug* well, 1nce korean tv comes back on, we'll spend more'f our tv time on that, i hope. i hope it comes back soon.