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December 28, 2005

Saving... Serenity

Ahhh... praise God for the nice, long holiday break! I spent time with the extended family and got to catch up with my friends and small group. =) Sorry for not sending out Christmas cards (yet) or getting in touch with people (although I did finally get to hang out with JJ! =)), but I really needed some time to myself. That is, the rare times where I didn't have to attend this or that event, plan this or that, or go to some more meetings!

For a few precious moments - and the first time in a long while - I didn't worry about work, Perspectives, planning/leading fellowship, or anything else. I finally got decent sleep for consecutive nights and most importantly, had "quality" quiet time with God which - at risk of sounding cliché - refreshed and left me feeling content and at peace.
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Besides playing Dragon Quest 8, I watched Serenity and Saving Face - two excellent movies which I recommend! Do yourself a favor and watch the Firefly series before this movie - it'll make the experience that much better! I sure hope Fox feels stupid for (a) canceling the series and (b) playing episodes out of order (when it did show the series), which made no sense at all!

As for Saving Face: wow, I really liked this movie! And it's not just because of the 3 pretty hot ladies (by the way, Joan Chen looks great for... heck, any age)! Even though the core themes of this movie - for example, face - might not be anything new for Asian American cinema, I found the presentation refreshing and oftentimes, witty. I think many Asian Americans will be able to identify with the characters... and perhaps even the scenes or events themselves. At least, I know this movie hit home for me on a number of levels...

Posted by stevelee at 11:33 PM | Comments (1)

December 24, 2005

Merry Christmas!

God bless you all and your loved ones! =)

Posted by stevelee at 11:37 AM | Comments (1)

December 19, 2005

Videos and more

[From 6togo] Check out this Chronic - WHAT - cles of Narnia rap! Hahaha, oh man... I wasn't planning on putting up videos, but this one was just too good not to share!
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I had a great time in Napa this past weekend with some other career fellowship folks. For the most part, we had a great time hanging out, playing games together, and goofing off together. We also shared meaningful time singing, praying and participating in devotionals/reflections of our lives. The crazy rainstorm added to the mood.

Having never gone to Napa before, I also enjoyed going to the CIA and Copia wine museum, where I learned how to make truffles! Can't wait to try making them myself! =D
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On a very sad, surreal note... one of the sisters received a call that her dad died the night before. All of us who remained were stunned when we found out the news after she left to return home... and we devoted all our prayers to her and the family.

*sigh*

Posted by stevelee at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)

December 15, 2005

Random Videos

This Street Fighter 2 video is crazy! The eventual-champ is brought down to no visible life left, then proceeds to block a 15-hit super combo to come back and win!

This is a totally random video about sushi restaurant etiquette. Kinda long, but has some random, funny moments!

I can't believe tomorrow's our company Christmas party - and that I've already been working here for over a year! I got a little too "happy" and stupid last year (hey, open bar + top shelf = dangerous combo! ;)), so I plan to be a little more low-key this time around! Haha... =P

Once I sober up, I'm driving up to Napa for a fellowship retreat, which I'm looking forward to!

Posted by stevelee at 10:06 PM | Comments (2)

December 12, 2005

AZN Channel

(from 6togo) Long-time readers know how strongly I support Asian American awareness and empowerment. Which is why it's sad to learn that Comcast pulled the plug on the AZN Channel - which sometimes featured film shorts and such produced by Asian Americans - and how Comcast handled the whole affair.

Posted by stevelee at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2005

A Bald New World

Well... I finally got enough balls to shave my head. ^_^;

My mom's initial reaction (in Chinese): "Aiyah! Ugh! What did you do?? Why did you shave your head? It looks so ugly!"

Hahaha... then after she calms down, she tries to recover by weakly offering: "Well... as long as you like it..."

The comments and reactions I received at work have been almost disappointingly mild, ranging from "Oh. You shaved your head." to "Nice. You look better with a shaved head than I would."

I got one stronger reaction - also from a female: "What happened to your hair??"

Some of the other shaved guys in the company stopped by to offer their compliments and welcome to the "monk's club." ;)

Ahh well. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet... at least I have a smooth, round head I suppose! Haha.

My head definitely feels a lot colder now! Brrr....

Update: some blurry pics of the shaved head (with a few days of re-growth) :

Compared to:

Posted by stevelee at 10:19 AM | Comments (4)

December 08, 2005

Late night musings

During quiet time these past few days, I realized that I've become so caught up in my busy schedule that I became trapped in my little selfish bubble: work hard, come home tired, do church-related work, veg out, sleep, rinse and repeat. There just was no time beyond "face time" (the super-short phone call or email) for others.

On monday night, the Perspectives speaker really challenged me with her sharing. She reminded me not to lose the "spiritual edge" I had while I was on my short-term project (and the time thereafter) - of the need to be spiritually prepared... and on guard for distractions, such as busy-ness.

Tonight as I was leaving work, I saw a co-worker sitting down in the cafeteria eating lunch by herself. I offered the obligatory greeting and was about to head out, when something made me stop to talk with her. I ended up sitting right next to her as she vented pent-up frustration and anger... which also led to a discussion about family and Christmas.

I shared a little about my faith, but this meeting was more about listening and building relationships than anything else. I'm glad she felt better after that. =) I praise God that people just seem to feel comfortable spilling out their guts to me... something which is rather ironic considering how uncomfortable I usually am in social situations. Hehe.

I pray that God continue to work in and through me, and that I respond faithfully and boldly.
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Bwahahahaha... this Zelda video is hilarious in a totally geeky way!

I headed over to 6togo's site - the queen of entertainment herself - and found a link for, get this, The Holy Land Experience - Jerusalem in Orlando... Oh man... I've seen it all now!

M also raises a point about Memoirs of a Geisha (and how most of non-Asian Americans don't know or care about the differences between different Asian ethnicities!) that I whole-heartedly agree with:

[ from yahoo most emailed ] sadly, for some, they still don't know the difference -- 'Geisha' Filmmakers Defend Casting -- regis went to the premier last night and was excitedly telling kelly about what a wonderful movie it was. kelly had read the book but clearly didn't seem to know much about the movie cause she didn't even flinch when regis said it was an all japanese cast. he probably meant asian, but i doubt it. he later made a comment about the movie making him want to share an eggroll with his wife. kelly pointed out an egg roll is chinese.

Posted by stevelee at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2005

*yawn*

Sadness... my sleeping habits have reverted back to vampire-like. =(

But, I finally finished the beta version of the fellowship website! Woohoo!
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Don't you love how the moment you say - or even think - that your week/workload looks a little light, suddenly all the emergencies and fires hit? *sigh*

It's kind of weird... while doing some self-introspection the other day, I realized that I'm no longer as ambitious about work as I used to be. My life's priorities have shifted, and I'm no longer so concerned about "going somewhere", titles, recognition, or anything like that. Having said (written) that, it seems that even though I try staying out of the spotlight, I always get pulled back in; work may not be my top priority, but I always give my best, honest effort to whatever I'm involved in.

A few co-workers had "warned" me that historically, past developers for this particular client/project got fast-tracked to higher positions because of its visibility. I can see why. Of course, I don't know whether to praise God for these continued blessings at work, or to feel wary that I'm being further tempted into "busy-ness" and spiritual complacency...
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Speaking of busy-ness, this holiday season feels so different compared to last year! Last Christmas (I gave you my heart! ;)) was filled with excitement and life... this year, I'm struggling to stay awake (and get more sleep)! I'm increasingly tempted to take a week off at the end of the year just to do silly things like sleep in and go to Disneyland before its 50th year anniversary ends!

I also feel bad because I haven't had the chance to hang out with friends and other people I care about a lot like JJ, my small group... if you guys read this, I still miss and pray for you guys! =)

At least Perspectives ends soon! As great of a class as it is, I'm really looking forward to the additional available time!

Posted by stevelee at 03:04 AM | Comments (0)