easing into 28

When 24 came out, I was ambivalent. When people kept ranting and raving about Family Guy, I smiled politely. I've never really been a fanatical follower of a TV show. Sure there are shows that I look forward to occasionally, but not one that I will set my alarm, remember to park myself in front of the TV, and then gush and fawn over afterwards in the dedicated online chatroom. I’m more of the “wait till it’s out on DVD and then view at my own pace” kind of TV viewer. I guess now it’s “wait till it’s on amazon prime”. Basically, no way in hell is NBC going to dictate my weekly schedule.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a few favorite shows. I have shows that I’ve seen every episode. I have shows that I remember notable quotes from. I liked Frasier, and West Wing, and Becker, but when those shows ended I just found something new to watch. I mean, I did feel kinda sad, but there was no empty “I’m so sad I can’t get out of bed” feeling to get over. And NO, I did not attend the conventions, which, btw, I can guarantee you that there are probably not any west wing or Frasier conventions. I was never a trekkie or a gleek. I didn’t dress up in character to watch my shows. If you did that, I won’t judge. To each his own. We just can’t be facebook friends anymore.

Well, all of that is about to be in the past. You see, from May 28-30, History Channel is showing an eponymously named 3-part miniseries on the Hatfield/McCoy feud. Yes, three glorious episodes packed full of shotgun-totin' action, historical drama, and featuring west-virginians with missing teeth. Ohh yes, this will be an awesome start to being 28. Don't worry, I promise not to get carried away. You won't find me sitting at home dressed up in cowboy gear among a pile of sawdust in front of the TV with a beer in one hand and the remote dangling from the holster at my waist. 

It's a good thing this is only going to be three episodes, so I'll only have a week of sheer TV watching lunacy before returning to my normal life. I must make every moment count.

neglected

some old testament action

I'm glad we're starting to go through 1 & 2 Kings in Acacia. I've always had a difficult time remembering which kings did what, which ones followed God, and which ones were evil. Going through the books will help me remember and keep the different kings straight. The one thing I did remember, the one thing that always sticks in minds like mine, was that the books of Kings were filled with action!

I remember as a boy, with my children's illustrated bible, was that the books of kings were the ones where battles were pitched, kings leading great armies into battle, and of course, the losing king would always get hit by a stray arrow or fall on his sword or something. Yep, like a lot of the old testament, there was always action in Kings.

I still recall one pledge entertainment we had to do on a May monday night meeting (in AΓΩ the pledges have to perform skits and stuff to entertain the actives after dinner). We had wracked out brains all weekend trying to come up with something that wouldn't get us booed, and wouldn't get us in trouble. I forget who suggested a brief reenactment of the old testament (mostly the action scenes). Well, since we couldn't come up anything better, we all decided to go with it. We went out to safeway the night before and picked up all the supplies, with one of the members writing the script and narrating it for us. The rest of us had no lines, just a bit of silent acting.

Oh, one minor detail I may have forgotten to mention: this was a brief history of the old testament reenacted with pies. We had about 60-80 paper plates filled with whipped cream and tarp laid out on the ground. Basically, our inspiration were the great Laurel and Hardy pie fights from the black & white days. Since we were working with live ammo, we had one shot to get it right. The second Michael started narrating, the pies flew. It was magnificent. *sigh* To this day, the story of Jehoshaphat's victory over the Moabites (me) conjure up the memory of a six-pie bombardment.

Good thing we don't do much skits in Acacia.

steak - meat, flame, plate, go.

i'm not sure how many people have ever seen this show before, but here's a becker episode on blind dates. Not exactly how I would envision blind dates to go, but it's hilarious. (note...i don't endorse acting like this on a blind date...but it's funny...) Oh btw, fwd to 2:19 for the blind date part - I couldn't get it to embed with it skipped to the right part.

activist shenanigans: a chinese perspective

Over the last week and a half, I watched the drama of Chen Guangcheng, the blind chinese activist, unfold through the NYT and other online media outlets. There were detailed accounts of the scramble by Chinese officials to locate the guy, then rumored to be hiding in the US embassy in Beijing, and also accounts later of how US diplomats scrambled to resolve the situation on the eve of a visit by secretary of state Clinton. As cross-ocean tensions mounted between the two nations, media opinions and official statements on both sides were each taking jabs, often calling each other words that would’ve made Gordon Ramsey blush.

While watching this whole fiasco develop, I had an eerily unsettling feeling. There are deep disappointments at both sides for their handling of this situation, and also a sense of sadness as I realize that diplomats on both sides have shared responsibility for the way this is (hopefully) resolved. For the record, I am a chinese who grew up in the US, and I have a perspective into both cultures.

From a chinese cultural perspective, chinese have always lived with a sort of authoritative rule; it’s almost built into the culture. The concept of human rights in china is fundamentally different that human rights in the western world. Back in the Qin dynasty, when an emperor died, servants of the emperor, the lucky ones, would be beheaded. The unlucky ones would be buried alive with their master. What we have today is progress. As the chinese culture advanced, so did human rights (i.e. these days people don’t get buried till they’re for sure dead). Human rights in china has developed in its own way, especially given the circumstances over the last 150 years, and are a direct result of the experiences of its history.

From an American cultural perspective (I think I can fairly make the assessment having lived here for the last 22 years), human rights has developed from european beliefs, with roots founded in ancient roman and greek societal values. Human rights in the western world has evolved as direct result of the experiences of its history. The western world has experimented with democratic values (more or less) for the past 700 years or so (beginning with the Swiss), and has developed a keen sense of what will work for its population and what won’t. Of course, because the western world feels that democracy works for their governments, that democracy (and to a greater extent, human rights) can better the lives of those in eastern cultures. This is why you see a big push for democracy in developing nations, as a way of stemming the tide of corruption and dictatorships. However, this doesn’t always work for the eastern cultures.

What we see here, with the US pushing for human rights in China, is the by-product of globalization. With technology the way it is now, these two cultures are encountering each other at all levels, and what you see as differences in the way people in these two countries are treated isn’t just a simple matter of one government being good and one being bad. It’s the evolution of their individual cultures that has led them to these very fundamental differences. Unfortunately, this activist got caught in the middle of this larger tension between two countries. It also didn’t help that this whole situation unfolded on the eve of a state visit.

Does the chinese government deserve blame for the way they handled this situation? Absolutely. The chinese government is pretty well known for not always following through on their word, not necessarily because they’re dishonest, but because there is inconsistency in the government. The person who made the deal may have honestly believe that they would be able to follow through on their promise, but the folks that are tasked with carrying it out may have a different agenda.

This doesn’t excuse the US government from any blame in this situation either. I can see why they would want this issue to be resolved as quickly as possible, but the handling was utterly sloppy. How naïve does the government official have to be to think that the activist can simply walk out of the embassy that he’s been hiding in, stay in china, and have everything be hunky-dory? I don’t exactly know what the activist point-of-view was in this whole episode (apparently he wanted to stay in china, then flipped and wanted to go to the US), but it must have not been a fun experience. I do hope that the guy will be able to make it out of China without much hassle. It wouldn’t look good for either governments if this falls through. As far as human rights go, this isn’t situation likely to change anything in china, and it won’t change the US stance on that either.

I close with a cautionary observation: In assessing standards of governing (democratic vs authoritative) and even humans rights, one shouldn’t immediately assume that the democratic choice (viewed by many as the best choice) will ultimately prevail, or that any deviation from that is the result of evildoing by certain people. There have been many examples in history when given a choice, people will pick the inferior choice, or the more restrictive human rights guidelines, as the decision is greatly influenced by social and historical factors. An example that stands out is 30+ year stretch where the population of Peru have repeatedly had the opportunity to democratically elect their leaders and time after time have elected dictators. Dictators, after all, provided the Peruvians with level of predictability that they may not get with a democratic leader.


**As a side note/disclaimer: I am chinese, and I love my country and my culture (I know…I often characterize myself as not very chinese, but I am). I don’t agree with the way a lot of chinese people think, and I often don’t agree with what my government does, but nevertheless, there is a loyalty there. Why? It’s what I was raised up to believe. I’m of the persuasion that regardless of what government currently rules your country, your heritage as someone of chinese descent is something that is permanent, and should transcend political lines. I have family who are third generation americans, but I still consider them chinese. For this reason, I roll my eyes at petty distinctions drawn by people who insist they’re hongkongese, or taiwanese, or mainlander, or Singaporean chinese. I never really understood it, but I’m not really here to argue that point.

clearly not a blessing from heaven.

I feel cheated.

I feel used.

I was told to expect it, and it didn’t deliver.

It was a clear blue Saturday morning, winds gusting at 22mph from the north. The early afternoon sun was just overhead, ready to darken my flip flop tan by another few shades. As I was raking up the last of the leaves outside Birch Lane Elementary, it happened. There is something distinct about the slight warmth and sliminess of bird poop that will inevitable send chills down the back of your spine. When you get hit, you just KNOW it’s not rain. I looked up, and guess what?? NO BIRDS ANYWHERE!! Ok I know the winds were gusting that day, but seriously?! So not only did I get hit by bird poop, I got hit by bird poop that was generated like, a block away. Yep. High self-esteem day for me.

According to maritime tradition, being pooped on by a bird is considered a blessing from the heavens. Somehow I think that’s just a myth some very unlucky sailor concocted. I honestly don’t think being crapped on would be any bit of a good thing, not to mention mystery poop from a phantom bird. Since that day, I’ve had two crappy (no pun intended) days at work and ate a sandwich with funny-tasting olives that’s sure to lead to my downfall. Some Luck!

remember to use the crosswalk.

Yikes, I certainly saw my share of cops today. The drive into work was a little weird and strangely familiar. The causeway slowed down to 60mph as there must've been at least 10 police vehicles driving down hwy80 towards Sacramento. My suspicions were confirmed when I got in to work this morning: today is the annual peace officer memorial service at the capitol. Police officers from all over the state come together at the capitol to honor the officers killed in the line of duty.

I still remember the first time I experienced the annual memorial service. It was spring quarter 2006, and I was on my way to work. As I was walking toward the capitol building, I noticed that they had turned 10th street into a parking area for police vehicles. Across from 10th St. on the lawn of the capitol grounds, was the memorial, with at least 700 police officers from all over the state gathered there waiting for the ceremony to start. Since the street in front of me had essentially been converted into a parking lot, I assumed it was safe to cross the street at the most convenient point. At that moment, a crowd of police officers turned and looked my way. I wasn't really sure what was going on so I kept walking across the street. Upon reaching the other side of the road, the police nearest me walked up to me and asked: do you realize you just jaywalked in front of at least 700 cops? After giving me a little good-humored ribbing, he let me continue on my way (I like to think it was my folksy charm that did the trick). Phew! If you thought for a second that I jaywalked today you'd be out of your mind! After that day, I made sure that on police memorial service day I look both ways before crossing at the crosswalk when the walking man blinks at me.

By the time I was heading home after work, I assumed the rest of my day was going to be cop-free. I was sooo wrong. I have to tell you, it's a little unsettling when you turn onto your street and see flashing lights and swat folks by your house. I suspect Davis PD doesn't get action like this often and have all come out to have something fun to do. An hour later the standoff ended and the cops left. Well, it's been a funny day (funny-weird, not funny-haha), so until next year's police memorial day, hopefully my interactions with cops will be confined to FBC meetings and not much else.

50 beans | the journey - part 1

I would like to recount my journey through the magical world of coffee in a series of posts. I figured since I enjoy coffee and write about it from time to time, I might as well explain how this came to be.

It all started when I was a five or six. There was this coffee candy called Kopiko, a little rectangular block of magical coffee goodness. I tried it just once, and that was it! I don’t know what it was about the coffee flavor, but it was so enjoyable, even as a kid. Once my parents knew I liked the taste of coffee, they said no. All through my formative years, coffee was off limits to me. No coffee candy, no coffee ice cream, and of course, definitely no coffee.

By the end of elementary school, I couldn’t even remember what it tasted like, just that it was awesome. It wasn’t like I was addicted…I think it takes more than one or two tried to become addicted, but the combination of the fact that I had fond memories of it and it was forbidden, well, that fueled the craze (if you can call it that…). Every time I walked by a coffee shop, every time I went to my grandparent’s place, I’d take a long whiff of coffee and lament the fact that I was not to touch it.

Then, one day in 7th grade, I distinctly remember my grandmother sneaking me a cup of nestle instant coffee. It was glorious. I remember savoring every drop of the magical elixir, taking in the sights, smells, the texture of it as I took it sip by sip. Oh my goodness this must be what pastor quon described as heaven. It was a feeling I can’t really describe, but you’ll know it when you have it. I remember going home that day thinking hmm…I must go visit grandma more.

High school physics class was torture for me. I had a coffee-nut of a teacher in Mr. Ikezi, and I remember he would always have a cup ready while he lectured, filling the room with the scent. I knew once I got to college, I’d be free to enjoy this stuff, but those last few months were so tough to wait out! Fortunately the summer went by quickly and I arrived at the UCD dorms wide-eyed and ready for my first legitimate cup of coffee (and to learn too I suppose).

That's all for now. If they can show a movie trailer that basically says "Despicable Me 2: coming whenever we finish making it", I can give a vague "part 2 of the journey: coming soon".

the hidden cost of television

Let's talk about watching television. Why? Television is something most people enjoy. You can learn how to cook or see the world with it. And, well shucks, it can be wildly entertaining. Often, after a long day at work, I'd unwind with an episode of Frasier or the Office. I’m sure people got along fine before the days of tv, but now that I have this stuff, I can’t see myself going without tv (movies, youtube, and hulu included I guess). I know, pathetic isn’t it?

Ok, so this week’s chapter isn’t really about television. As a matter of fact, there really isn’t much mention of tv at all in the chapter. In this week’s chapter of Why Guys Need God, we arrive at the topic of purity. Of course, any book aimed at a guy’s walk with God needs to address purity, and this one is no exception. Putting our thoughts under Christ’s lordship is something that will be a lifelong discipline, regardless of how our walk is going with God. Struggling with purity issues is something that affects all guys (I’m sure girls too); the impurity just manifests itself in different ways.

Trying to walk in purity requires some tough decisions on my part in how I conduct relationships, how I spend my free time, and yes, even what tv shows I’ll watch (or not watch). I think when John said Do not love the world or anything in the world in 1 John 2:15, he didn’t anticipate the kind of stuff we encounter in the 21st century. These days, we have the internet, print media, movies, and even tv barraging us with a deluge of worldly attitudes and values. In my mind, I sometimes will act as if I have a subconscious threshold of what’s acceptable in the things I watch. If Frasier’s trying to hook up with the neighbor in his building, well… I know he’ll fail so it’s ok to watch. If he engages in an adulterous affair, well then I’ll turn the tv off. The danger of having that subconscious threshold isn’t that this is would let in a one-time exposure to sin. The frequent exposure is what can deaden our hearts to sin. This is why purity is such a serious issue. The worldly definition of what is ok is a fluid concept, changing with every generation and never in line with what God wants for us. For us, keeping guard of our hearts and what we consume is critical to our fight for purity. It’s important to remember Matt. 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

I close with a story from this past weekend. My fraternity’s Davis chapter turned 20 this weekend, and we had a bunch of alumni in town to celebrate at First Baptist Church out in west davis. I was surprised to see my friend Colin, who I did accountability with back in college, but had since lost touch with, at the event. The thing that struck me the most when I ran into him was the roman collar he was wearing. I knew he was a devout catholic, but it had never occurred to me that he was in the process of becoming a priest (in my mind priests were all old geezers). We caught up, talking about old times and what we’re doing now (I guess for him it’s kind of obvious). We chatted about the state of the church now, talked a little about spiritual walks and yes, we even discussed tv shows. Like me, he grew up with tv so I’m sure he probably couldn’t really give it up either. Admittedly, with the way tv morals are these days, there’s very little that he can watch on tv. A lot of shows can be pretty raunchy, and rather than give in to temptation, he would rather limit what he watches to shows he considers safe and fairly clean. “So, what do you watch these days?” I asked. He thinks for a second and replies: Storage Wars.