Traveling

Rant:

I ordered a book from Amazon.com. I wanted to know how to fix/dismantle my ghetto car. (Nissan Altima 1995) I ordered a book way back in July 29th or something like that. They were gonna ship in 2 weeks. Then Amazon delayed the shipment about 2 weeks. So I was like…~I guess so…no rush~ 2 weeks later.. another delay… and so on… I finally gave up and canceled the stupid order and just bought the book (used) from some random seller online. This is the stupidest thing ever. I had actually sent Amazon customer service an email asking for some sort of logic as to why I had already gotten 3 delays… They replied back “Sorry…blah blah blah… here’s 2 day shipping.” I don’t care about 2 day shipping…. Standard ground gets to my place in about 2 days usually anyway. So Amazon is useless when trying to place a “special order”…. I ordered this book before it became a “special order” but after it became a “special order” it was like Amazon didn’t give a rat’s ass. It’s enough to make an online shopper want to flame someone…

ok, enough ranting… back to normal mode ^__^;;

~Gifts from God~

     Everyone has a special gift. Everyone can be a blessing. But if we are unwilling to be an instrument of God, then our blessings may be going to waste. It’s alot like the difference between knowing karate and doing karate. What has God given to you? and how are you using them? I’ve decided my gifts are speaking and empathy. I might have others, but I’m not certain what they are.
     I was talking with a friend last week. Just talking about anything and nothing at the same time. I spoke to my friend later on this week and he told me that he had thought about some of the things I had shared. He told me that what I said made him look at his life in a new light. God, indeed, works in mysterious ways. Now, as I look back on what I said, it was rather mundane if you ask me. But somehow, God took that and made an impact in my friend’s life. Like a beam of sunlight though the clouds. Yes, God is good. ^.^ 

     Thinking about this, I remembered when another friend made a comment about my faith. At first, I was very defensive. Ok, I was practically a castle and she was trying to storm a well-fortified castle. :-/ But over this week, I’ve been chewing over her words and looking inside. I think she may be right, Something in my heart won’t let this lie. I over-reacted and gave her a hard time. I’m sorry. Forgive me? You know who you are… ^_^
~Domo Arigatou~

“Hindsight is (almost) always 20/20.”

I killed a credit card~ YAY! hahahaha, I have too many credit cards… so I’m cutting down. It’s a pain in the neck to call all those credit cards and the bank so I can balance my cash. So I just killed Chase… gotta kill at least 1 more… wish me luck~

on a side note, when I tried to cancel one of my cards, the lady on the other end sounded so desperate to keep me as a cardholder ~NEED MORE CREDIT?~ *watches his credit line increase* that I couldn’t cancel my card without feeling bad… *chuckles* so I called Chase today and asked to cancel my account. The guy said: “Done. Cut up your card. You’ll get a letter in the mail.” So weird… I was expecting to have to talk them into canceling my credit card… instead it was ~We don’t need your business anyway..~

(edit)

I added some interesting sites to my subscriptions. I decided perhaps it would be good to get some more “christian” viewpoints that were different. So I randomly clicked on “Asian American Christians” until I came to some interesting sites. Hence the new sites on my reading list. If you are one of those random ppl, welcome to my reading list. ^.^

(edit, part 2)

I’ve decided I read too fast… or maybe ppl just need to post more ~_~ Patience is a virtue right? I’m gonna go work on that… meanwhile keep posting !

well… I guess not many ppl have interesting bible verses to contribute… Onward~ ^.^ A striking verse for today…

But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

Hosea 12:6

“Tis better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all.”

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-2

Weirdest Bible Quote:

     For all those who really know the bible and even those who don’t really know it at all, I’m looking for some weird bible passages/quotes. Don’t just post something, make sure you note where you got it from and what version. Just a little something to pass the time. ^.^ Here’s my contribution.

“How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands.
Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mount of wheet encircled by lilies.
Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.
How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!
Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breats like clusters of fruit.
I said, ‘ I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.’
May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the frangrance of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine.”

Song of Songs 7:1-9 NIV

     Out of all the things I expected to find, a description of a woman like this was not one of them…

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
      Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40 NIV

How to give (constructive) criticism

     I don’t take criticism very well. When your parents have put you down so many times, you learn some mental fencing techniques to help keep your self-esteem and sanity intact. So when someone criticizes me, I’m gonna go defensive. Anything that even slightly comes out as a personal attack will make me do that. And when I go defensive, I am no longer listening to who is speaking. I hear them, but I don’t try to digest what they are saying; I’m too busy mentally preparing what I can say next to defend myself. This is not to say that I don’t need some self-improvement. I’m not perfect and when there’s some issues to be taken care of, you can be sure that I am going to work on it. But that’s a whole other story. The problem is getting it through my thick skull that there is a problem in the first place. Denial is such a simple thing… ^.^

     First, set the focus. When you are going to criticize someone, don’t focus on what they did wrong. If you come at it from that angle, I’ll put up my mental shields. Instead talk about yourself and how you are being affected by this personal issue of mine. When you put it that way, it no longer can be viewed as an attack. Instead, it’s seen as a mutual issue and both sides need to talk it over. When you say what the issue is, make it specific. Specifically where did this problem come from? during an argument? during a discussion? day-to-day interaction? Saying something like “You’re always nagging me.” will not provoke any sort of introspection…

     You are telling them this because you think they should know. Remember why you are telling the person this. If you are criticizing in anger, then I think you are lashing out which is not helpful at all (Get a handle on that temper). The reason why you criticize is to help correct something that you think is a problem and to help your friend see your point of view. Remember to do it lovingly.

Inspired by a conversation with a close friend.

Fear…

I’m scared crapless by rollercoasters and heights. Some friends have told me that rollercoasters are an acquired taste… so I just need to ride more rollercoasters before I enjoy the ride. I’ve taken about 9 rollercoaster rides so far. I did 6 large ones at Six Flags. Went to another amusement park and did another three rides… I don’t relish falling or heights. To give you an idea of what this means, when I get close to the edge of my roof (2nd story house) I start to sweat. Imagine the kind of terror the American scream machine made me go though… I couldn’t even keep my eyes open… Fear isn’t logical. I know that looking out of a window, firmly grasping the window frame, there is very little chance of me tumbling out. But I still sweat thinking about falling and the wind rushing past me as I approach ground at sickening speeds. I don’t really fear death. If you really want to know why, I’ll explain later. But deep dark water, heights and falling are definite phobias. I think that I am as adjusted to these fears as a human could be. If I had to face heights, I could do it. Would I be scared crapless? The WHOLE TIME… but I can still face it. I see it as a progressive type of thing. So when I have saved up a bit, I want to throw myself out of an airplane (with a parachute, of course). And yea, I wanna scuba dive too. ^_^ it’s on my list of things that I want to do before I leave this quaint place we call earth. I guess that’s enough rambles for now… if you feel like it, post a little comment about what makes you scream mommy or grab the nearest object and cringe in terror…

Hate is so much easier…

This has been a rather slow weekend. I practically wrote 3 things to post up here… so here’s the one that I happen to remember ^_^;;

I was driving along, minding my business. I consider myself a reasonably safe driver, so I don’t honk my horn unless I have to. ( Honking = warning signal; Honking = not cussing ppl out ) I was driving past Geno’s steaks and there was this group of 5 white ppl strolling in the middle of the road. I’m not a hothead, so I just cruised behind this group while they took their time crossing the street (like they owned it or something… ) So I’m thinking, gosh, some people really need to work on their manners. They turn around to see who was cruising behind them (well, duh… you’re walking in the middle of the street… ) They finally got to the other side and as I was passing them, one of them said “gook” which is a rather stupid racist term like nigger, chink, etc. I was having a rather good day and it was just random stupidness. I figured it was just random hatred pointed in any direction. When given the choice between hating your enemy and learning to put yourself into your enemy’s shoes, most of us would choose to hate. But I found out something much more interesting. When that guy called me a gook, I got mad. And what was the first word to come to mind? “Skin-head” This hate thing is really simple, really easy to do. Trust me, I did it without even trying. But when I put myself into his shoes, white, ghetto clothes, tatoo, ladies dressed, well unladylike, shaved head and the beligerant body language. I can see how hate fits in with the style. But each day, we choose how we are going to handle situations.. and this was no different. I don’t hate him, I feel sorry for him. I hope he works out whatever issues he’s having. It get no benefit from hating this random stranger. So I choose to wish him well. He needs to pull his head out of whatever hole he’s dug himself and look around. South Philly is a flood of asians. Can’t get onto a 47 without seeing at least one asian person. Saying things like chink or gook is more than likely to get him beat up… :-/

Love is not logical. It changes perception and makes things seem alot better even though the facts have not changed. The person hasn’t changed one bit. I think that’s enough to make Love a drug. I think we should have Love banned… it’s bad… in the name of Love people will practically kill each other and make messes out of their lives. Love’s not all it’s cracked up to be…

Glimpses of my PSU trip:

     Just reminiscing a bit.. and these are little things that come to mind.

1. Seeing people asleep and realizing that even the ferocious kit has a soft side… ~hope I don’t get my butt kicked now…~ :-X
2. Someone’s foot… kicking the bed I was sleeping in… *tap tap tap tap*
3. Getting slapped around by Hal while I was half-awake and not in any state to fight back… *wap wap wap* huh? *wap wap wap wap wap…*
4. The simple joy of beating each other senseless with a stress ball… don’t ask, if you don’t understand. ^.^
5. Occassionally giving in, to the impulsive side… *random beating from guess who?* ^_^;;
6. Wanting something so bad.. you almost fell out of bed to get it… ( nice catch… don’t you think amg? )
7. The dressing room o’ claustrophobia….
8. fuzzy slippers… I have no clue, even if you did ask…
9. Being blunt… as usual… but the wrong way… *sigh*
10. Burn-out from the job fair
11. Being a cocky bastard and eating a pillow for it. ( good shot WD ^__^)
12. Snoring and drool… no, I’m not talking about the ladies..
13. Mafia… good stuff, but ouch.. my head still hurts… >_<
14. my flirt with the flu… 0_o  fear the bug.

     Guess that’s all for now. Much thanks to those who let me crash. Maybe next time I’ll be a good maid and clean the whole place for you guys… o… Maria… *shakes his head*

Now for a dose of biblical goodness… Trust me… this is good stuff ^_^

     Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

     Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, the will cease; where there are tongues, the will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

     And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

   So next time you ask me what love is… I’ll just point you this way.