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January 22, 2005

Final Fantasy Concert!

OK, you know you're a huge geek when you get as excited about this as I did: ;P
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"Dear Friends",

The FINAL FANTASY® symphony concert tour is coming to San Francisco on Monday, March 7, 2005 at 7:30 PM at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. The concert, to be performed by the Symphony Silicon Valley and the San Jose State University Chorale, is the second in a set of long-awaited concerts in North America featuring music from the world-renowned FINAL FANTASY video game series. Join us and enjoy the award-winning music accompanied by exciting and breath-taking graphics from the video games.

Tickets will be available starting Friday, January 21, 2005!

VIP tickets offering meet and greet opportunities with legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu will also be available.

BOX OFFICE:
The Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium is located in San Francisco at 1111 California Street between Jones and Taylor streets, immediately opposite Grace Cathedral.

PHONE:
Tickets can be purchased by calling 415-292-9191 or toll-free 888-849-4255 (888-TIX-4ALL)

ONLINE:
Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.masonicauditorium.com.

You may also visit http://www.masonicauditorium.com/seating.html for a complete seating chart.

For more information, please visit http://www.square-enix.com/uematsu

Posted by stevelee at 12:44 AM | Comments (3)

January 19, 2005

Birthdays and Deeper Conversations

Tonight, I met up with some buddies to celebrate Calvin's birthday - the first of us to turn 30 this year. Happy Birthday, old man!!! =P

While enjoying the delicious Five Spices Roast Chicken, Lemon Grass Chicken and BBQ Pork Chop at Le Soleil, we shared a heart-felt conversation about our families, careers, goals, relationships and religion.

I think one of the main topics the conversation revolved around was finding contentment in our own lives. In my last entry, I mentioned the need to find contentment in God (I know it's easier said than done), and that in doing so, the perceived need to be in a relationship diminishes. Going a step further, I think that until I reach this "stage" of contentment with myself, any of my desires (e.g., jumping into a relationship) would only serve as a temporary bandage to delay addressing the underlying problem.

Maybe this is why I always get cold feet when I start getting closer to someone I'm interested in? My usual pattern is to crush after someone, pursue her... but if/when things start warming up between us, doubts and questions suddenly flood my thoughts, causing me to retreat.

Some of you are probably thinking... "dude, you gotta just stop thinking so much and go for it!" To which I probably would have agreed in the past... but the problem with this is, unless the other person also is into a fast-moving relationship, the results usually aren't too successful. ;) Plus from my experiences, during those early stages it's sometimes hard to distinguish between love and... well, lust.

My pastor said that before he got married, he was totally content being single (and seeking God) and thoughts of needing to be in a relationship never crossed his mind. Honestly, I'm not there yet -- I keep my eyes open -- but I understand and agree with the motivation behind his words, and striving to put Him at the center of my life.
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I haven't done a restaurant review in a long while, huh? =) Le Soleil is this cute and cozy Vietnamese place on Clement Street, between 2nd and 3rd Street. The food and decor (and prices) are more upscale than your standard neighborhood pho place, but is not pretentious. You get fair-sized portions of fresh, tasty Vietnamese dishes for an average of $9 per dish during dinner. We liked everything that we ordered. =)

The ambiance is on the quieter side and the staff is fairly friendly, making this place a nice option for a low-key dining experience, or date... as Calvin can attest to. ;)
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Hmmm... I noticed I haven't been taking pictures lately. =( I even forgot to bring my camera to Milly and Jason's awesome housewarming party over the weekend (CONGRATS YOU TWO!!! =)), where I got to see familiar faces I hadn't seen in a long while! Blah. =/

I think Ernie's phone pic was the only one taken at the event??

Posted by stevelee at 11:04 PM | Comments (1)

January 11, 2005

Growing older and wiser?

During my high school years, I used to think that Wild 94.9's "Dog House" was the best radio show ever -- they always made me laugh, and talked about interesting things ranging from sex to religion. It seems now that every time I try listening to their show while commuting to work, I have to change the channel; they hardly play music any more, and I can't stand their talk-show/commentaries.

I guess as a kid, everything they said sounded so wise and reasonable. But now, when I painfully endure another bad analogy or non-sensical analysis (which seems based on pure spur-of-the-moment emotions and hearsay rather than true insight and experience) on political or religious issues, I wonder what the hell I was smoking! Every argument/point made seems based on the idea of "can't we all just get along?" without really understanding the underlying issues involved.

In many ways, this is similar to religion.

I used to have lots of misconceptions about Christianity and its place in society (as well as in my own life). The truth is: while I've become more grounded in my faith and accept Christianity whole-heartedly, I didn't reach this point blindly. I questioned... I rebelled... I strayed... I had doubts about Christianity.

I met up with JJ tonight for dinner, and I'm so thankful for our friendship. Having gone through APO and similar struggles/temptations, it was really awesome to see and hear how we've matured in our faith. Even though she's (was...;)) more of a player than I ever supposedly was! It's amazing how over the course of talking about random problems in our lives that we gain insight into God's word.

...I guess this is why He calls us to have fellowship with other believers.

For example, relationships. I had lunch with my pastor a few weeks ago, and mentioned that I felt kinda lonely at work... and asked for his thoughts on romantic relationships. The gist of his words were: I had to seek contentment in Christ... and when two people who are both content in Christ come together, then they can truly encourage and build each other up.

At the time, I kinda dismissed what he said... thinking something along the lines of: "He's a pastor... and married... of course he's going to say something like that. He doesn't really understand..."

But while speaking with JJ about relationships, the existence of "one true love" and "settling" in a relationship came up. I started saying how if a person was in a relationship thinking that there was someone better out there, then that person would never truly be happy (as well as it not being fair for the other person)... when I realized how much sense my pastor's words made. If two people were content with their lives, then they wouldn't jump ("settle") into a relationship for the sake of being in one... and wouldn't go through the torture of wondering if this person was "the one" or not.

These thoughts raise the questions: if that really was the case, about being perfectly content in my faith... then wouldn't getting into a relationship mean that you're not content? What about Adam feeling's of lonliness in the beginning? But I guess that's for another time, another entry. ;)

One last thought about relationships... I notice how in like all the relationships I consider strong, the couples place an emphasis on spending time together simply for the sake of togetherness and talking with each other... rather than an emphasis on activities and needing to do something. Hmmm... I think most of my past relationships have been focused more on shared activities...

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Clara has a Cantonese/Mandarin version of Dilemma! It's by the same people that made the Chinese remake of "Bump Bump Bump." =)

Posted by stevelee at 09:44 PM | Comments (5)

January 04, 2005

Happy New Year!

Last year was good: graduated (yet again), traveled to new places, rejoined the working world with a great company, and deepened my relationship with God. =)

I think this is one of the few, if not only, new year transitions where I have no regrets about the previous year, and feel content with my life. This new year promises to be another one filled with continued growth -- spiritually, work-wise, and in other ways!

What's kinda interesting is that a few of the "aunties" at church have started asking me about my relationship "plans." I simply and truthfully replied: "[I'll be in a relationship] when God decides I should be in one." ;)

One of them (jokingly?) responded along the lines of: "Maybe it's time to pay more attention to the women in sunday school?"

Hmmm... not sure what to make of that, haha. =P

All I know is, I can't or won't let relationships become a distraction. I'm taking the Masterlife discipleship series at Sunday School and really want to devote myself to that.

I don't believe in new year's resolutions (if you really wanted to do something, why wait for some contrived date? Do it now! =)), but I do have new personal goals:
1) To read through the entire Bible
2) Not to eat red meat (we'll see how long this lasts ;))

Finally... dude, USC destroyed OU in the national championship! Go Pac-10!!! =) I came home just in time to endure Ashlee Simpson's singing screeching... omg, that was just awful! I had the TV on while I prepared dinner, and kept on muttering to myself: "shut up, shut up, shut up..." Man, I was pleasantly surprised when she finally stopped and the crowd booed! Hahaha...

Posted by stevelee at 08:18 PM | Comments (2)