Praise to the Man

Having been dealing with quite a few life and death matters lately, namely suicidal friend, family member with serious illness, and even the death of Heath Ledger, this is the one that I am finally comfortable with. Thanks to Tiffany who informed me within an hour of the news (from Hong Kong!) President Hinckley finally rested in peace and reunited with his wife. What a remarkable man of God he is. He became prophet right before I came to the US (Salt Lake City, Utah to be exact) and since then I had the privilege to sing in front of him (and right behind him) on a few occasions. I met a few of his grandchildren and one of them even told me a bit about his life and his love of all the people that he served. I was so amazed with his achievements that I finished reading his biography in less than a month (a record for me at the time) and voluntarily wrote a paper on him for an institute class that I sat in. His biggest influence on me was this conference talk that I still clearly remember I read on the first day of December 1999 which gave me the much needed conviction to do well on the most memorable month of my mission in Hong Kong. His extraordinary ability in summing up the history of mankind in beautiful words and his eloquence totally left me in awe.

This is another nice news article on his achievements.

May God bless us with a sense of our place in history and . . . our need to stand tall and walk with resolution in a manner becoming the Saints of the Most High. ~Gordon B. Hinckley

What home means...

It's over a month into the new year already and the year of the "rat" is even approaching and I have wanted to update the blog but when it comes to writing I never did as often as I wanted. Now I have to "backblog" about my home vacation...

At home I have not been "productive" at all. Well, that's exactly the point of "home country leave". Being home without really having to work has given me plenty of opportunity, space, and time to think and reflect on a lot of things.

~Being home means real good food for me, with the following being some of my favs:Real sweet and sour pork... it's supposed to be crispy outside with tender meat inside...

I've loved this eggplant dish since I was little and never get tired of it...

Love this waffle... it's just peanut butter and sugar in it but addicting... one of the culprits for my few extra pounds gained...

And of course nothing beats mom's cooking!

~China to many people is very "prosperous" now but at the same time things get quite out of hand that people are losing their mind thinking they are mighty powerful with their rising RMB and all the money in the world. They seriously need to enrich their thinking, culture, and especially morals. Just the other day I was stupidly waiting in line shopping when all these people jumping in front of me without even blinking of an eye. The propaganda of being "civilized" can still be seen everywhere but when will they actually learn? I used to be quite excited and enthusiastic about the coming of the Chinese Olympics, but now I don't care that much any more. You will not believe what they sell in the Chinese version of Costco there until you enlarge the picture... don't if you have a weak heart...

~I bought "Baby" (ironically she's 11 years old now) a bed and the first thing she did was to pee on it!!! I'm glad she loved the bed and she's so funny that she seems to recognize me after all these years and begged me to hold her and let her sleep on my lap once in a while... awwwwww...
~Celebrated Doris' birthday in Macau and I wish I knew the place as good as when I did back in the ol' mission days. It was great traveling with the fam esp. mom and dad who deserve a much needed break.
~Didn't plan to visit with people other than my fam but somehow I managed to meet with quite a few looooong time friends.Thanks Covi, Samily, Sangel, Wallace, Ah Dak, Ben, Gigi, Kenny, Lauren, Tiffany, Venus, Circle, "Horse King", Boris, Andrew, Jeremy, Michael, Julie, Ming, and Jacky, it was fun to catch up with all of you again.

~I've read A LOT during this trip, from Harry Potter to finance to health to music and even politics. I'd better speed up my reading because there are so much out there to read and learn but so little time I have...

Speaking of reading and learning, I am going back to school tomorrow!!! No, I'm not ready for PhD yet as I even dread writing on my blog, let alone writing up a dissertation. I'm just taking a German class at the community college right across where I live. How convenient (and cheap as I am CA resident now). I'm excited.

Starting anew...

Here comes another new year and I'm not even quite sure what exactly I have accomplished this past year. Without going into the specifics 2008 will be a significant one: with my academic, career, financial, health, relationship, and travel goals set.

And I am definitely glad that I've made it home in time for the new year. Flying Cathay is definitely the best choice as I ended up taking both seats by the window all by myself during the long 14+ hour flight. I for sure hate flying long distance getting stuck in between other passengers. The coolest thing on the flight is the interactive entertainment. I'm always an advocate and a fan of iTV and here it is that I pretty much sacrificed my sleep hours for the movies and shows I watched.
I played a few rounds of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"...
and even learned a few phrases in my ancestral language -- Indonesian. You gotta love and embrace technology these days!

And I also have to mention an awesome movie I saw before I left -- Lars and the Real Girl. The idea is crazy (both figuratively and literally) but the plot is just warm and touching and shows what true humanity means.

And for some reason this song has been stuck in my head lately.