so since winter… during reading week, i’ve started to get to know a handful of freshmen from rcf… at first there were 2: jeremy and anna. we were studying/working/playing on 2nd floor lounge… they nearly burned the place down with left over menorah candles… and that was the start of it all.

then there was the long night… i mean… all-nighter at irwin’s place… omg insanity. bommy, kevin and vicky joined us for this (+ the initial two). nerts nerts nerts. guitar hero til people play in their sleep (7am-ish)… except i couldn’t sleep… because i had to go work. and what a wonderful work day it was! i told theresa (my supervisor) not to give me any super critical tasks… because i’ll probably screw up or something with my half-functioning brain. but all in all its one of those things that makes you so crazy tired but you don’t regret doing it. i’d do it again. i can’t wait for the next study week.

over winter break jeremy and i get tea time in chinatown. he’s friends w/ some of my SDC students! hahaha. kinda cool. we know the same people… my kids from SDC back in the day who are all grown up now i guess but its hard to think them the same age… all the while i had some intriguing chats online… i’ll get to these later. more things that have been happening. late night breaking fast together… hami’s… riddles… games games and more games. lately we’ve been tossing! the freshmen can toss! finally! people who share my only [pseudo-]athletic passion! and new person to add to the group: esther.

so onto the quality time stuff (fun and games are super quality too… but this is slightly diff) in somewhat a shout-out-ish format. i won’t reveal much here because well… it would take too long. but i’ll just say how they’ve blessed or challenged me. jeremy… you’re a fun guy. i love having a younger brother on campus that i can always call up. you’re very quirky… i would even say spazzy sometimes. you kinda remind me of tien (another tall skinny spazzy kid from my year) actually i’m blessed not only by this but also because i think i met the other people through you… i think i wouldve felt weird meeting everyone without you for some reason. anna… we’ve had some very mind/heart expanding conversations on worship… well at least enlightening to me. your different approach has stretched me in my own worship time and church stuff. i feel challenged to give my heart more engagement with what i do… you’re also a nerts monster. seriously. crazy. bommy… hmmm you’re quite the mysterious one so i havent gotten to know you that well yet… but you surround yourself with good people which makes you super great so i expect to know you better and your quirks soon (like your fob music likings, photo interests and bourne). esther… ive only met you recently but we’ve had some good conversation yeah? all the while your dying computer is chugging along in the background. your mental song base is more extensive as mine i think and it’s cool we share views on songs and like the “nerdier”/”wordier” songs. you think deep. that is cool.

there’s a few more people i’m just beginning to get to know… the many daves and a stephen who i kinda met yesterday thru some nerts and disc playing. i just see great things with this class. they love each other like no other class ive seen as of late… friends before school… fellowship before studying… it’s awesome. i’m very encouraged by this class. super! yay! done!

Family, Friends, Life, Love and Other Stuff Too

It's been a while since I've written a real entry. If you wanna know what's been going on with me, read ahead... it's only sentence two right now but I feel a really long post coming on. Life's been good.

Worship Team and the my "time off"
I've recently hopped back onto my church's worship team after a year and a half hiatus. Not just a little leave of absence from worship team, but from any big service roles at church altogether. The time off has been both a blessing and a struggle. It's been a time where I've been able to look in from the outside and get a better big-picture perspective on what's been going on in the Church here in New York. I was able to reconnect with some of my former Chinatown church friends and see that God has been working in the community outside college-land. As I look back on that time I realize God showed me my weaknesses a little more clearly and at the same time helped me to recognize the amazing gifts he's given others. Those of you with administrative talents, or anal tendencies with great attention to detail--you guys amaze me. And those of you who were at TECBC, you know how "awesome" I am at emcee-ing. At the same time I believe God's shown me / reaffirmed me of the gifts he's given me. Among them would be worship. Even while leading TECBC in an adminstrative role, I couldn't fight the drive to lead others into worship. Even during my off time from a regular worship ministry schedule I found myself over and over again using the talents he's given me.

Coming back to a regular service of worship at church, I find my heart has found its home again. As my friend Peter tells and encourages me "Leading others into worship something you were made to do" (paraphrase more or less). It was a little awkward coming back to worship team at first; kinda like getting on a bike after not riding one for a LOOOONG time. But pretty soon everything just came back. Sauciness and ease with each other took a few more weeks to kick in but I think I can say right now, WT is now pretty comfortable with each other (definitely much more than week #1 of leading where it felt like everyone was worried of stepping on the wrong toes). Weekly leading is more of a discipline than the once-in-a-while retreats. You can't have all-star songs every week like you can have all-star songs for a weekend at a retreat. Some weeks have been a struggle more than others. I really don't know how to end this paragraph. I'll just say that overall it's been a blessing to me. Onto the next topic...!

Small Group
I've joined a hybrid small group this summer also after a year and a half of not being in a SG. We're called "PP Tyme" which I must say is rather ridiculous (I had NOTHING to do with that name. It came that way when I joined). PP means Pray and Play. It's nice to be in a small group again where there are people genuinely struggling with life and faith and yearning to understand how scripture applies to life. As I'm thinking back through my small group time this past month, I don't think I've gained anything new in terms of biblical knowledge, but I'm finding that bits and pieces of information that I have scattered in my brain are coming together in new ways as I sit in SG during discussion time. I'm finding that while I may know this-or-that or have an accurate understanding of blablabla theology or be able to recall random historical contextual information, it's in the act of exercising this knowledge in the body (in this case, SG) that this greyscale headknowlege gets a splash of color. Explaining something to someone else is a lot different than explaining something to myself. It stretches me a bit. It helps me have more grace on others. It helps me better understand the different ways in which God works in the lives of his kids.

Another SG related thing: One other awkward and strange, but at the same time refreshing was my recent meet up w/ Mr. Joe Ng. We don't talk much normally... actually I just don't talk much normally. And while Joe, despite being Chinese, has many Korean-Christian-Male tendencies that I'm not particularly fond of, it was good to just sit down and have a good heart to heart chat with a fellow brother and share abouot life and find that we go through a lot of the same things.

Herman's in Austrailia
Herman is now in Austrailia. That's about it. He says its pretty fantastic over there. His place is completely furnished and he's been exploring the city. From his emails and IMs it sounds like he's taking in Austrailia like he's watching a movie. For more info visit doobybrain.com. I'm sure he'll continue posting from time to time. He's in austrailia. I won't say too much more on that. You can find him online at 3am in the morning. That's when he's been signing on lately anyway.

Stephanie is in Kenya
If you're reading this and you don't know that Steph is in Kenya or at least in Africa, you probably don't really know me or talk to me... at all. For the last few months (since mid-January), Steph has been in South Africa studying abroad (up til June) and more recently, volunteering at a school for AIDS/HIV orphans in Kenya. Her being over there and sharing with me her experiences does stretch me a bit, and I'm very... how to say... I guess the only word I can think of now is "proud" (though I'm sure there's a better word for this)--I'm very proud of her. I wish I could have a heart like hers for others. I wish I could be there to experience life as she experiences it there. I love hearing about her travels: the way she describes the night sky, sunsets, fields of the purest green you'll ever see, children lost in wonder at the simplest things that we take for granted, descriptions of the towncenter/marketplace, visiting people around the villages, and so on. It sounds so exciting in a way that only Steph can describe. "Magical" may be a better word. The distance has been difficult and I definitely miss her like crazy (along w/ a big bunch of other people who ask me regularly when she'll be back). She is very much loved. But she'll be home soon and I'm very much looking forward to mid-August. WOOT!

Daily Life, Work, Projects, and Ideas
In a more day-to-day update (you see I save the most boring for last), work has been alright. Slow at times. Those of you who code know how sucky it is to have to read and modifies someone else's code if its on the messy unorganized side. But overall I love my job (really, Theresa, no complaining here)! I'm glad I didn't take a more like bank IT dept job because then I won't be able to come in with shorts and sandals and I would probably sound like a lot of other young professionals who come home hating work. When things are slow I usually start working on my own projects. One project which I'm currently developing for fun may interest some of you in the near future. I won't disclose too much here for now, but just putting a little teaser here for now. I've also been having all these eureka! business ideas and I wish I had more time to sit down and plan out some of these ideas and make them happen... or maybe I will... maybe one day you will be in norman's resturant/store/hotel/themepark! Watch out! Norman with no education in business, finance, administration--or maybe just plainly "no education" because I did so well in school--will soon take the world by storm!

Another part of my regular routine during the summers is meeting up with friends to catch up and chat. One of the great things about summer is that people's schedules are so different than during the school and are they're more free to just sit down and chat over coffee or take aimless walks in the city or in a park without the thought of homework or project luring them back into their lonely studying places (aka prisons). I love catching up with real people--sharing about both joys and struggles and sharing in the joys and struggles. If you're up for meeting some evening or catching me for a lunch break (I work in SoHo/West Village), feel free to drop me an IM or comment. I'd love to catch up with some of you.