bad karma?

was at this restaurant tonight (to be nice, i'll keep the place nameless on this entry)... actually i rather enjoyed my first meal there last sunday with eeyooore.

well, we sat down to order. got our drinks and the complimentary bread basket. talked... waited.

other people came to sat in the tables next to us.

they got food

we continued to wait

my mom started to grumble... "we should get the manager and complain"

we just waited a little more. by then, it was about maybe an hour after we ordered. those people who sat down after us have finished their meals and left.

finally couldn't take it anymore and asked another waitress about our food. then the food came... mom's food was already cold.

the manager came out at this point and offered to take back the food and take it off the bill as well... then the waitress came several times to refill the coffee cups and asked if we need this and that... then came to say they will give us free dessert. we were too full to have dessert then... then i told the waitress that this is my mom's first visit and usually first timers get 4 free muffins... then she felt really bad.. "so sorry that i messed up your first time with us"

we gave her 10% tips.

had another incident two days ago...

is this bad karma? or my expectations for services in the US is too high?

Fuller Doctoral of Missiology program... here I come

Sent out my latest prayer letter today but i think i still left out some of you from my mailing list... so if you already got my email, you are hearing this for a 2nd time (or third for some of you...)

since the time i turned in my application to Fuller, it has almost been 2 months. i finally called last week to the admissions office checking the statues of my application. the lady called back on monday and told me that it should take about a week or two for them to decide on the new cohort for the ethnomusicology program. so i was thinking that i'll hear about this maybe by next week. but when i checked email yesterday evening, i was very surprised to see that i was accepted.

so there... i will be reading lots (i think maybe even more than the application process) in the coming months... and pray that i'll do well and finish well. (i haven't even started yet but i am sure i'll need to keep this in mind. haha)

two sides of a coin

have been complaining a lot about life in the US and have been spending a lot of time figuring out what car to buy, where to buy, what price to go for... and it's a "must" to get car insurance in the US so have been trying to figure that out all morning. well, a big thanks to my older sis who has been helping me a lot today. i think if i have to do this by myself, i would just die by now.

(this is for you, kat==>)

so... car insurance. basically been spending a whole lot of time and found out that if you pay the bear minimal, in the case of an accident (which is why you would get the insurance in the first place), you might just die and get nothing paid to you or those you injured or injured you. and you would still probably have to burn a big hole in your pockets even after paying about over USD$1,000 per year for the car insurance. this sucks! why can't they figure out a better system? (now i am talking like an american )

so this insurance thing is still being figured out as we speak.

and people say living in the US gives you many choices (no kidding!).... when i first went to singapore, that was one of my complaints of singapore (not enough choices)... but as i returned, i feel like i am getting headaches just to choose a credit card company, an insurance company, a (or many) bank account, a car dealer... no wonder people say living in the US makes life complicated. living in simplicity is non-existence here...

(i think i am venting as a part of the readjustment back to the life here)

ok ok... so the other side of the coin (as quirkie asked me to list out yesterday)... makes me feel that i lose some and i win some...

1. more space
2. most people are bigger sized so making me look like i am normal sized :D
3. get to spend a lot more time with family :)
4. get to watch all the american tv shows online at any time i want
5. weather in california is cool and dry

hmm... that's all of the positive for now... maybe that positive list will get bigger as i adjust better to the life here...

談話記錄

已經回美國一個禮拜了

前幾天在catch up 朋友們的 blog 時，發現大爹大媽要飛了。剛好看到大爹上網，問了他什麼時後有空，可以在他們走之前碰個面。昨天就一起約吃中飯，聊了一下午。

跟他們見面真好，他們一直都是我屬靈生命、服事、宣教的模範。好像一談起人和事，也有一種共鳴。非常酷。每次都從他們身上得到許多可以繼續思考的事．．．趁還新鮮，敢快寫下（不過這是我聽到的，不見得是他們說的，哈哈哈）

１．立志做小兵比做將軍不容易
２．為神在生活中做活見證就是學習耶穌基督道成肉身，順服大使命之方式
３．宣教其實不在乎location，如果能在任何地方做主見證，靠主的力量繼續成長、完全就能結果子
４．神在日常生活的帶領都是很奇妙（連我們吃飯要去哪，都有安排），但只在乎我們懂不懂得從神的眼光來看事情。

這只是其中的一丁點，還好他們十一月就回來了，希望還有機會多跟他們學習

birthday reflection

while it's still my birthday in hawaii, i better write something before the day is over...

yesterday morning i woke up rather early and couldn't go back to bed. one reason was that i suddenly felt very strange and sad that i won't be able to celebrate my birthday like the years before. this means... i used to get SMSsss, emails, bday cards, real gifts, dinners, movies and what have yous. i guess i was pretty spoilt. the birthday celebration went on for weeks even before and after the date.

but i think, i rather enjoyed this one today too. :D

thanks to whatever programs that alarms people to my registered birthday, i got tons of birthday wishes everywhere (multiply, facebook, emails, ecards, etc). esp from friends here in the US. but i guess the best part about today was the fact that i get to celebrate my birthday with my family. since my younger sis wasn't working today, we went hiking. then she took me to this cuban bakery with all the good foods (sorry, we both forgot to bring cameras), then went to IKEA looking for the suitable book-shelves cover (got some... once i clean the other stuff up, i'll take more pix). and then at night, my parents took me out for dinner. we had yummy "jiao zi" (dumplings) amongst other yummy foods. (sorry again, no pix were taken)

then, after we got home, i asked my parents if we can pray together. so we did. we shared and prayed for each other and many things on our minds (including those of you in ESC and ICC worship min)

although this birthday wasn't celebrated in the ways it used to be, i am very glad and blessed to have spent the day with my family