the price of cool...

i like music, so it makes sense that i would invest in a nice set of earphones. Last Christmas, after the holiday gift cards came in, I went out in search for these earphones. As i scanned aisle after aisle of headphones and earphones, i finally settled on THE ones: Apple in-ear earphones. It didnt matter that they were overpriced because i had gift cards, so i bought em! Initially, I was WAY excited! The box was pretty, the case was shiny, the earbuds were wrapped with this soft silicone... whats not to like?... and then it hit, i could not figure out how to fit these in my ear. i twisted and turned, and probably jammed those suckers further down the ear canal than youre supposed to, all to no avail. Needless to say, i was pretty disappointed. Every few months, I'd come back to these earphones and try em on again, with the same results... Failure. So this Christmas, I finally gave up, and said, "Merry Christmas big brother, i got you Apple earphones for Christmas!" of course he didnt believe that i was actually being that generous, so this sad sad story came out... He then helped me try to figure out how to fit these suckers in my ear, and this time, it worked!

Simplicity...

so we have this potpourri in our bathroom, which makes sense...i mean people do their business and sometimes, you need some potpourri,...sometimes you need two flushes, in which case, you'll need lots of potpourri... but as i was brushing my teeth in the bathroom the other night, i wondered, 'why did we choose apple scented potpourri?', do we really think that an apple orchard next to a pile of human excrement go well together? Do we really need to couple food and feces in our olfactory memories? the next time i smell a fresh baked apple pie, guess what else i'm going to think of...

but there's not much else we can do, i mean, what scent goes well with poop? nothing i can think of... but there are scents that are more appropriate to cover up dung, for example, fresh mountain smell, or anything outdoorsy...

maybe we should just invest in some matches and keep it simple... yeah... i like simple.

Beautiful...

i've just rediscovered this childhood song:

Beautiful, Beautiful,
Jesus is Beautiful,
and Jesus makes Beautiful
things of my life.

Carefully, touching me,
causing my eyes to see
that Jesus makes Beautiful
things of my life.

As much as i been confused lately about God, and the Kingdom, and whatever the hells going on here, i cannot deny that Jesus is Beautiful.

tea?... please.

so... i used a coffee maker for the first time in my life this week. i know... dont know how i managed to avoid ever using one of these for 24 years! but...sidenote... i didnt use it to make coffee. i used it to make a huge thing of tea! (life lesson courtesy of Devon...) it was pretty amazing...

so thingsve been pretty crazy round these parts. i dont think i've slept before 3am at all in the last week or so... that feeling of getting into bed and laying there thinking, 'i love this part of the day...', is extremely reminiscent of college. it's such a good feeling, but its also sad that its one of my favorite parts of the day...

thesis? maybe...

X-Men and the civil rights movement.
Theology of Saw.

i miss this junk...

one of the things i miss most about home is grandmas jook (pronounced like "look" with a j). As much as its considered "poor mans food", I love this junk. On Saturday mornings, we'd wake up to the smell of this goodness accompanied by the blaring sounds of chinese radio... grannys jook is thick and plump with generous servings of oysters, pork, pay dahn, gwohn yow chu, mushrooms, and love (<-- AKA other ingredients i have no clue about)... so as i been out in phila, i been missing gramma's lovin. i decided about a week ago that i'd try to brew my own brand of this heavenly goodness. initially this started because we were out of food, and all we had was white rice (and some gwohn yow chu i found left over from last year), in which case this really was poor mans food, but as i've managed to get my hands on some mushrooms, pay dahn, and scallions, this has turned into a personal mission to appreciate something that i took for granted for 22 years. As i walked the aisles of the local asian market searching for ingredients, i realized, doode, i have no clue what brands are good, what's crappy, and even what's what. (<-- you know the feeling...youre standing there staring at a little sack holding what looks like dried up stars, and you know its important but that's really all you know...). When i go home for winter break, i think i'm going to ask gramma to take me to Sun Sai Gai and show me the ropes to making certain favorite dishes...
- beef tongue
- sweet and sour pork
- those little pork rib things she likes to make so much.
- JOOK
- gramma style chow mein
- sticky rice (naw mai fahn)
i'll have to think harder to expand this list... trying to come up with my favorites and also do right by gramma by learning her favorites. Why do i realize the importance of these things as i'm 2,800 miles from home??
All that to say...if she's around, give your gramma a hug!

im pretty stoked about this...

New Heavens and a New Earth

17"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18"But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19"I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
20"No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed.
21"They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22"They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
23"They will not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity;
For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD,
And their descendants with them.

24"It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

25"The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the LORD.

Yeah... I'd say this Kingdom is pretty flippin awesome...