031609>

Ok, as much as I like logging what I do each day, it's just hard to keep up. I accidentally left my camera at work over the weekend, and things were just so busy that I was like, "eh, forget the website". Anyhow... for now I'm going to re-think a new site. I don't want to move to a new episode, but I do feel like a new concept is due. Maybe how often I change the website is defined more by # of entries than actual length of time *shrug*

030809>

This day was nearly an opposite of the day before, heh. Woke up way early (lost an hour from the day light savings) and went to make CD's for the sermons. I was totally tired, so I just headed back home to sleep after 1st service. April called me during 2nd service to tell me she wasn't feeling well. In the end I drove her home and she just rested as I took care of web stuff. Alena came over, and we were in a mad rush to get out of the house - ended up eating a Krua Thai... had a good time just recapping the proposal day.

030709>

Woke up at 6am to gather all of the "proposal props" together. Headed to sanctuary to continue finding old photos for a large printout, and planning out Korean drama proposal (what I deemed the "Lightning round" proposal). Got to April's at 10:00am, and waited until we got into the car to show her the "voter's card" for the day. It's actually a lot to explain, so we're going to make a website with the details. But as expected, she said "yes" =) Um... after I asked her 6 times, haha.

030609>

Helped out with youth worship after work. There was a lot to lug over and a lot to lug back. It's amazing that we fit so much onto the MPR stage (keyboard, cello, drums, bass, lead guitar, 2 vocalists, and a huge projector screen). Leading worship without monitors is always interesting too... and I kinda messed up a bunch. Ok, sorry it wasn't all bad, I just wish these issues could be gone already after years and years of doing youth worship nights, ya know? Nevertheless t'was a good time of worship and teaching of the Word. Afterwards I grabbed some Tommy Burger's with the Arimas. Note to self: never order burgers w/o chili ever again, unless I feel like eating dried up cup coasters in a bun.

030509>

Ryan has the same b-day as April - fascinating =) work was somewhat frustrating, I just suck at making designs on my own. After work went to the Melting Pot with April, and I got to finally give her the tickets to I got to Bill Cosby live in May. Had lots of fun - it was a 2 hour meal instead of a 3 hour like last time, heh. After being bloated we walked to the nearby Ralph's and waddled around. I got cheez wiz to hopefully try to make philly cheese sammies sometime. We sat in my car and talked for a while, and then split from there.

030409>

At work we found out that there's an entire lolcat translation of the bible - very strange. I headed off to campus and practiced my speech the whole drive down until I was sick of it. I was 4th speaker out of 14, and my speech went well. One girl gave a speech on special events that happened on March 4th throughout history - it was hilarious. Felt relieved and drove to April's for a late dinner, chit chat, then drive home.

030309>

Had deltaco with fiery hot habanero sauce - pretty good. Mike and Louis tried it, and were in a little more pain than I was. After work headed to sanctuary and practiced my speech - felt pretty good about it. Afterwards met up with Mike and Arimas at Fu Fu and had dinner. We got three jumbos (and Mike got curry), and pigged out. Talked guitars some, which is always fun. Came home, played starcraft with ginger beer. Lost a lot, and finally won in the last game.

030209>

A lot of random live site work - made it hard to get my theme done. Headed straight home, and worked on outlining my speech (it's on how to live out of your car). Had dinner around the table with Daniel and Victor. Talked with Vic about cameras, and Daniel about ... life in general. Daniel gave us our Christmas gifts. I worked on my speech until 1am, when I was delirious and tired. I then started working on editing and uploading photos, and that took me to 2am when I should've just slept (good job, Ron. Good job.)

030109>

Mike led today and I helped out on electric. In between services Mike and I went to Fry's to hang out for a bit (I haven't been in a while, so a visit was due). Had Art's burgers at church with Terry, Daniel, and April, then had practice time for praise night this coming Friday. Kevin V. called me up, and we talked for a bit - hopefully we can meet up sometime. After practice went to April's, and tried to cook adobo (I totally forgot what it's supposed to taste like). We ran to the mexican market nearby, and I grabbed a whole bunch of sauces that were promising. Then went to 99 Ranch for veges and we found some cool calamansi sparkling bev and bought those for the weekend. At April's I was able to shop online for flowers to get delivered to her while she's at work =) I got her ones that come in a vase that looks like a big icecream cone, nice. Got back to her house, I surfed, and she cleaned. We read a food magazine together some, and then I headed home.

022809>

Went to SD zoo with Terry and Jayne. Woke up early, and we all combined and left from April's at 9am. Had fun talking about all sorts of random stuff. Stopped at the viewpoint off the freeway with all of the seaguls and squirrels - there were so many squirrels! I was able to fake a squirrel out like I had food in my hand - sucka. Kind of a hot day at the zoo, but we survived. Saw monkeys, a sea otter, lots of funny birds, and live crickets being poured out into feeding bowls (gross). Too many fun things to record. After getting back home, and April and I generally veg'ed out. We made a big pot of vegetables for dinner, and some frozen chicken. Pondered what to do with April next Saturday - but I think I have some ideas =)

022709>

At 2:30am I booked 12 tickets for Medieval Times, but I guess I was out of it, cuz I booked the wrong upgrade package. I knew I could just call later in the morning to change it, but I had the darndest time trying to go back to sleep. I'd have thoughts/dreams that everything would go wrong etc. Anyway, I called at 6:30am and a lady answered the phone (phew!) and everything was fixed! Also got it arranged so they could announce her birthday/engagement during the show. So excited! Had some random tasks pop-up at work for our live site. There was some confusion about expectations and the work I was being assigned (Eddie, and Alice and I had a fun talk), so I guess I got my first taste of communication/miscommunication within the marketing dept. After work went to have Pho with April in Brea, and then we went to Old Navy so April could find some new clothing to fit her skinnier physique. Afterwards we stopped at Cost Plus World Market, and I was able to find and buy some root beer made by Bundaberg! (I do quite fancy their Ginger Beer) We stopped by a McDonald's to get soft serve, and noticed that this weird McDonald's had separate party rooms. Headed home.

022609>

Started working on an officey looking theme - kind of excited about that. We talked about LARPing at work, and Mike got all pumped up about it. Afterwork headed to Disneyland for the last day of our annual passes. Ate really good food at the cafe near Tarzan's treehouse (the condiment bar is wonderful - caramelized onions and mushrooms for free!!) Went on small world and hunted for more disney characters.

022509>

Tried to wake up early to study, but I felt really really tired and groggy. Finished "Organica" and moved onto web surfing for more ideas. Ran into a "best of" site, that had these websites that totally messed me up - they're sooooo good, and it made me kinda sad. Made a couple attempts at making nice sites, but those failed because again - I don't work with content (grr!). After work headed to April's and we carpooled to CSULB. Bought scantron at the bookstore (a bit of a flashback for April) and then she went to Student Union and I went to class. The exam was much easier than I had anticipated - finished in 20 minutes. Drew cards, and I'm assigned to be part of the first batch of speeches next Wed (lame). We then went to Hole Mole, yum-o, and then headed home.

022409>

Worked on the theme now called "Organica", very yellow and happy. Spontaneously decided with Mike to call up Arimas to have our 2nd fu fu and starcraft night. Studied at work (sort of) from 5pm to 6:45pm, and then headed straight to fufu. I got kimchi ramen instead of tomato beef, cuz I didn't feel like eating "spaghetti" again. Ran to the sanctuary to pick up April's new Epson R2880. The box is HUGE! I carried to my car, and I kept laughing at how big it was... like I bought a xerox machine or something. Got to the house, setup SC, and we were goin at it. Played three games, last one was really really good: team work, a close battle - couldn't ask for more.

022309>

One of the less productive theming days at work - had designer's block for a while. Had meaningful chats online during work. Was trying to fend off coffee all day, but caved in when I saw a fresh batch of espresso pods come in. Add three spoons of condensed milk, and I was golden. Stayed at work late, since I knew I was meeting Ian late, as to avoid traffic. Drove to sanctuary, met with Ian for 1.5 hours, talking about church webwork, life, and calling. Came home, chatted with Vic for a bit, showered, photo edited, sleep.

022209>

Guitar in the morning. Got lots of comments about my hair (as expected). For lunch a bunch of us went to pho again - I got my super-coffee again. Had lots of fun talking and laughing. Headed back to church and helped Terry find his leftover gear from the college retreat. Headed to Costco with April to get a gift card to Lucilles ($80 for a $100 gift card). Played some piano at April's and then we headed out to Lucille's in Brea to have an appreciation dinner with Ian, Jen, Brent. Good times talking and eating lots of food.

022109>

Took the WPE exam in the morning. The topic was on the implications of genetic technology in offering parents the ability to modify their children's traits. It was not a fun topic. I spent the first 30 minutes staring at my desk, then the next 45 minutes frantically writing away. The buzzer went off right when I finishing my last sentence. Went to April's and waited for her mom to get home from work, so we could have dinner for her mom's b-day. Went to Peking Wok, and April's mom did a lot of talking. Ordered a huge fish, but it was good. April and her dad talked about edible plants they used to plant... oh, and fishing. Came home, and I had April cut my hair. After some difficulty, we decided to just buzz it down. That's all folks.

022009>

Had a work BBQ - burgers and hot dogs. Went to DL after work - probably our last trip for a while since our annual passes are expiring this week. Ate the turkey leg, and one of the new corn cobbs. The updated small world was very impressive with all the added Disney characters added in. Watched Fantasmic, and April got all into it (she appears to know it by heart).

021909>

After work hung out with Mike and Arimas - went to Fu Fu Tei and talked about random stuff for a while and had good laughs. Moved to my house, and played some starcraft for a while (took forever to get it setup). Had a lot of false starts, as we kept getting overwhelmed and dying against the computer. Eventually we finished a game against the computer, and then spent another hour killing each other while being still allied. That was fun. We like Australian ginger ale.

021809>

Headed to class after work - watched an old video (so classic) on giving speeches. Lots of awkward silences and dated jokes. Exam is next week =/ Drove home and had beef + wine dish leftovers with fried asparagus (yumz)

021709>

Finished another theme with 10 color variants. Trying to avoid caffeine to make sure it's out of my system... but felt tired a lot of the day. Mike and I found a chipmunk outside making squeaking sounds so he threw rocks and twigs to get it to stop. Went to BJ's for pizza with April. Afterwards went to Panera to do work/studying. Around 9pm I started getting super drowsy, so I headed home. Looked at my budget and came up short to pay for Medieval Times tickets this week... I guess I'll pay for them next week. It should be fine as long as the tickets don't sell out really early or something...

021609>

Drove down to Laguna Niguel early in the morning. I thought there'd be traffic, but there was none, so I got there an hour early. Hung out at a Pavillions a little, and got condensed milk to hopefully add to my coffee when I'm at work. Everything in Laguna area is so stinking nice. Drove to the house of laser etching man, Sargon. Very nice guy, laser etching printer was in his garage. After a couple test runs on cardstock he went for the full macbook etching. While waiting we talked a lot, and I saw his sons and wife come in and out. When we were done, I gave him a $10, and hearty handshake and headed out. It was a warm fuzzy getting to know him for that hour =) Drove back up on the 5, and met brutal traffic. Stopped at the Sprint store in Fullerton to get my phone re-activated. Ate Jack In The Box when I got home, and took a nap. Woke up 3 hours later feeling jittery, slightly queasy, and my body temperature felt all weird. Headed to April's, waited for her weight watcher's meeting, and then had pho for dinner. Feeling better now, maybe it was caffeine withdrawl?

021509>

Electric guitar at church - more confusion of when to be quiet and when to be loud. Had pho with the gang. Mike felt like his pho meat was weird - I tasted it, and I think it was a cheaper cut (chewier). Had viet-coffee which was yummy, gonna buy some condensed milk to try it on my own at work. Went with April to hang out in Long Beach around the Trader Joe's down there. Bought a bunch of random sodas at Bevmo. Headed to Belmont shore, and hung out at Fingerprints and Buffalo. Got a new button up, and a vest =) Yeah... was on a bit of a shopping binge. I gotta get back on the wagon.

021409>

So April and I rushed of to Disneyland at 8:30am to try to get to our "A Walk In Walt's Footsteps" tour. After a long wait in the customer service line, we got to the main gate, and we found out we were blocked out (lame). So.... we were able to talk to customer relations and they gave us a full refund (phew!), even though all the materials said that they wouldn't give refunds. So April took me to "alicia's" in Fullerton area, which was cool. Very cozy inside, and healthy home style foods. Afterwards we went to the CSUF arboretum and walked around. The nearby baseball field was blastic rap music, which kind of made our arboretum walk interesting. Afterwards went to the market for ingredients, and headed to April's to make beef and wine. Tasty times.

021309>

Was pumped up in the morning to work on themes - got most of it done, but still need some light tweaking. After it's all solid I can get down to just making color variations which sounds fun and easy peasy. Went down to Fullerton/Brea to eat pho with April and then drove to visit Nickel Nickel where my old job used to be (it went out of business). Hung out at Target, I found some mexican hot sauces I've been looking for, and April got a hot pink fanny pack. Came home and ate a couple white castle burgers and then slept.

021209>

Finished and submitted giclee theme. Went to chick-fil-a for a free work lunch that Jeff won (20 people eat free!). In the afternoon I was using the potty, and my phone fell out of my jacket pocket and into the toilet. I was gonna just leave it, but when I looked the light was still blinking on it (weird) so I washed it up and let it dry. Luckily it's just my old phone (I should get my new one back on Sunday from Carlsbad). Headed to counseling, which was the usual.. just talking about myself. I'm not sure where the counseling is going exactly. Came home, had instant noodles, chatted some, and went to sleep.

021109>

More client work, blech. Stopped at Robbin's Bros to get April's ring re-sized. It ends up that the resizing was free! Nice. Will pick it up on Monday along with the notebook etching in Orange County Headed off to class... teacher couldn't get the dvd player to work, so we had about 30 min lecture and we were out (two hours EARLY!), so I headed to April's and ate some of her mom's cooking. We chatted and I soon headed back home.

021009>

Had some random client work pop-up which consumed half of my day. The client website I was working on was coded so poorly - it's very frustrating. Met up with April and had Pollo Loco again. Randomly stopped by Circuit City to see all of the unimpressive "blow out clearance" deals. Went to Costco and grabbed some lunch/dinner supplies. Grabbed a huge hunk of cow for making beef and wine on Saturday night.

020909>

Wrapped up glowstick theme. Moved onto new one finally, yay. Called up laser etching place, to find out that they moved from Melrose to San Franciso (they kind of need to update their website). Thank God I found a place in Orange County that's 1/3 the price. Drove over to meet with Pastor Kyle and have Pho. Ordered an iced coffee, cuz I thought it would be weaker than the hot coffee... ends up it's just the hot coffee with a cup of ice =( So now I'm wired, but I should try to sleep soon. Did a lot of evergreen work, and finished up April's squirrel kitty logo for her surprise.

020809>

Worship was intense, cuz I showed up without any practice and we had a new song that has a billion chords! Called the Cafe in Carlsbad to see if I left my phone there and I did. Spent a while calling Sprint to switch service to my old phone. Met with Ian and the worship leader crew to eat pizza and talk worship for about 3 hours. Headed back to April's, ate Applebee's and had a relaxing night together just talking and surfing the net.

020709>

We each slowly woke up and got ready, and headed downstairs for free breakfast. Some of the best waffles I've had in a long time. Headed to Barnie's to have personal reflection time. I spent the whole time planning proposal things. Reconvened and headed to Buffalo Bros to check out guitar heaven. Spent 3+ hours there, fiddling as Mike chose his Webber dreadnaught upstairs in the "untouchables" section. After a while every guitar in that place sounded good to me. Mike made his choice and paid, and then we went to Bobby's Hideaway Cafe next door to grab an extremely late lunch. Then headed back up north, and the guys dropped me off at April's. Talked over Thai food - April's parents told her that I met with them (sighhhh - roll eyes - doh - sheesh). Oh well, April was happy that progress is "secretly" happening. She has no idea =)

020609>

Good day at work. Wrapped up a theme all nice-like, and then I asked Ryan how to add drop-down child menus and so that re-opened the "theme wound", haha. So I spent a long time figuring that one out. Rushed home from work early with Mike so we could leave asap for our street fighters retreat. Unfortunately Kenny texted us that he was gonna be an hour late anyway psssshhhh. Packed, drove down to CA Beach Sushi joint. Rain was crazy on the way down, and Mike was hungry so he was having raging hunger fits. We ordered "Omikase", which is supposed to be amazing, cuz you tell the chef to make whatever he wants for you, but for some odd reason half way through we got a lot of whatever rolls - the last straws were a caterpillar roll, and surf clam and mussel sushi. Oh yeah, there was a combination plate of 4 fish roe sushi... I thought I'd like it, but it was actually really salty, and tasted kinda weird. I know that one did Kenny in. We all declared fullness right around the same time (SO STUFFED) and drove down to our hotel in Carlsbad. We played "telephone pictionary", goofed off in the "fitness cubicle", and went to sleep. 4 guys, two beds.. =(

020509>

Spent longer than I should have figuring out how to style my glowstick theme. I'm weird. Brought Panera Bread cinnamon rolls to work, and everyone was all thanking me, which was cool and weird for me since I usually am not the one to bring food to work for people. Headed back (to be continued...) headed secrectly south down to April's folks place. I called her parents on the way down to reconfirm, and they remembered (thank God!) and April's mom sounded more cheerful this time too. She thought April was going to join us, but I was like, "oh... um.. no". The rain was insane! Her street was crazy flooded. So went into the house, and we talked for over 2 hours! But it was all good, thank God. April's Dad was kinda tired from work (and I guess they had eaten already) so just sat around the living room and talked. It became a lot of them trying to pass wisdom onto me (and a lot of me nodding and affirming). They shared a lot of stories about their past and their life with me too. We spent a lot of time praising April and just how well she has been in school and work and responsbilities around the house. I was blessed by how happy her parents were with her. I really wanted April to know. I shared my proposal plans with them, and included photos of all the proposal gifts (which then had them break out into giving advice about saving money, oh brother, haha). In the end April's dad said this, "You guys are adults. We respect whatever you guys decide." That was really amazing to hear.. I was afraid they'd just see April as a little girl still, but in the end it shows that they are working to adjust to her age and where she's at in life. Very moving to be a part of that.... Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever. Ate Taco Nazo when I got home in celebration (felt tired of eating and making instant noodles)

020409>

I forgot my bag of pastries at home... yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggh. Had nice time talking with Jen at work in the morning. Headed to school, and amazingly not that much traffic. I practiced my speech several times while driving, timing myself to see if it was within the 2-3 minute window that the teacher wanted. Got to school an hour early and finished my reading assignment... felt pretty anxious about the speech, but I know it's just cuz it's a different crowd. Anyhow gave the speech and I got a pretty good response from people. Majority of the speeches were pretty.... simple. A lot of peole told funny stories per the teachers suggestion, but many of the funny stories failed to tell me much about the person. Whatever. Drove home, ate instant noodles and went to sleep.

020309>

Pieced together theme at work - upgraded it with a monochrome variation. Had a work meeting for CEO's to share vision - good stuff. Went down to fullerton to eat mole at a nice restaurant that April found a coupon to - we pretty much had the entire restaurant to ourselves. Then went to Panera to work and study. Ended the night with the Panera manager giving us brown bags, and a $5 shopping spree to fill the bags with pastries! With to plan of bringing each bag (we got 2) to our workplaces.

020209>

Worked on new theme, got kinda lost, and then it sort of came back together. After work we played starcraft, which was cool. Played two games, I felt rusty, and there was a new employee who ranked in China and he wailed on all of us, and it was kinda funny and sad. Went home, and Chong, Sanjung, and Greg were over playing Katan (rhymes with Satan). Tried to study, but was exhausted from the day. Had instant noodles with duck, chatted with Victor and went to bed.

020109>

Helped play electric in the morning. Kind of a weird set, as I couldn't read when we were building up or quieting down, so I suddenly didn't know how to play the guitar. Worked on laptops with April between services. After church had dimsum with a good crew of friends. Swapped lenses with Daniel S., and talked cameras with him and Brian. We planned to go to Chinatown, but it never happened. Stopped by superbowl gathering in the Cafe, so I could cheer and shout "homerun!" April and I worked for a couple of hours, Liz stopped by at church because she had left her phone. Went home and slept early.

013109>

Liz came by in the morning to cuz she had a half hour before her meeting. I just showed her some of my Liferay work. Headed down to Long Beach to get school books, but it was way overpriced, so I went to Aida's and basically saved $40... off of my ONE book. April told me that she had fainted from having stomach pains from the spicy meal the night before =( Luckily she is ok, and just had a headache. I went out to get her medicine. After resting, we went to Torrance for Chinese New Year with my family. It was a good time, got to catch up with fam. We had way too much food, but it was fun. Everyone went to Pinkberry afterwards and we talked about facebook, cameras, and work. April's first time getting red envelopes!

013009>

Work was nice - got code approved by Jon, and I finally got a good understanding of corner rounding, thanks to Ryan and Aaron. Got my theme looking nice in IE6 (what a feat!), finished the day feeling very accomplished and satisfied. We ran into a few fun websites while at work - http://jonathantneal.com/konami/ | http://zoomii.com | http://www.refreshmentrecess.com/ - after work went to see April at Panera in Fullerton. April was too tired to work, so we had Thai food: ordered a Thai basil, spicy level 5, and chicken larb, spicy level 10 (SO GOOD). Then explored around Brea some, ran into fun shops, and stopped into Costplus World Market for fun. April got a gift for a coworker, and I also a Dave's hot sauce sampler for me to try.

012909>

Got my first paycheck stub from Liferay, which was a nice fuzzy warm feeling =) The Lord provides yet again. Went to AACCS counseling after work, got there a tad early. Boy traffic in Alhambra just stinks. Counseling was good, it helped me realize a some good things that I'll need to process. Tried calling Chris and Brian to see if they had dinner plans, but I totally forgot that they were at glo (whoops). Went home, had instant noodles, and went to sleep.

012809>

Much better day at work - still somewhat frustrating since I'm running into little CSS obstacles, but I hope I'm getting better. I am still massively humbled by how good the other themers are. They're like CSS doctors, seriously. Stuck around at work until 6pm, because I thought my class was at 7:30pm, but made a mad dash out when I found it was really at 7pm, whoops. Long trip short I made it from walnut to my classroom seat at CSULB in 59 minutes exactly. Class was fascinating. A classmate did a back-flip in order to get the rest of the class to approve her add. The instructor owns 250 pairs of Nike Jordan shoes, and passed around toilet paper during class. It's a longer story than I'd like to explain here. Went to April's, ate lean cuisine, cha cha'd to "She Don't Use Jelly", and came home to an empty iHouse. Fin.

012709>

Oh what an exhausting day. Spent all day at work trying to come up with a design, but ended up with rubbish - I learned my lesson to just copy other designs until I get the hang of it. After work drove for nearly two hours to try to find the house where the staff retreat was at (their house was on "Roses Ave", not the street that I had turned on a half mile past it called "Rose Ave"). I was so drowsy and tired from the whole day that I decided to just turn around and go home. April met up with me near my house and we went to the crazy chicken again. It was wonderful. I went to sleep at about 9:30pm. Also wonderful.

012609>

Work was just dandy. Aaron spotted fascinating clouds, so we took a 3 min. break to capture that. Came home to find my staff gift, and a juicy reimbursement for some church stuff. Deposited that, worked on some evergreen work, ate instant noodles, worked on photos, and went to sleep.

012509>

I'm tired. Today helped out with worship. Twas ok. Between services worked on sprucing up the Evergreen site some more. I'm addicted to it. Had lunch with Liz, April, and Arimas at sancti-pho, and desserts at mcdonald's. Jammed with Arimas for a long time in the sanctuary as Liz napped and April worked on her laptop. When it got later, April went home and Kenny and I tended to Lord's Watch. After feeling somewhat discouraged at the attendance numbers, pastor Raynold showed up and that was nice. He encouraged us and we prayed. Ended early, I came home, snacked on kimchi, fried fish skins, and ginger ale and went to bed exhausted.

012409>

Worship practice with O'Banion leading (a short practice that started at 9:30 instead of 8am). Went home and took care of some miscellaneous bills over the phone. Had lunch with Ian at tamayas (we tried fu fu, but it had a long line - it was weird). Had some good connecting and catching up, talking about life and ministry. Afterwards went to April's and we each worked on our own stuff. I had fun fixing up all the evergreen css code. April helped me redo the website banner. We ate at El Pollo Loco again, and I headed home. Meow.

012309>

Intense work day, working on client stuff. Feels good doing CSS coding again though. Went to fullerton and ate El Pollo Loco, then head to Disneyland. Went on autopia and April drove. Was feeling pretty exhausted after that - we went to grab a super gooey cinnamon roll and I got a coffee. I had the coffee almost black, I still can't understand what's so great about black coffee. I'll keep trying.

012209>

Had lots of stomach issues this morning from my spicy instant noodles the night before. Spent my entire day pretty much bringing old css themes back up to speck, renaming image files and updating css files. Very tedious work, but I guess it could be worse. I got a little koo koo towards the end of work and tried making a peach green tea italian soda with ingredients around the office, but it kinda sucked. Right before I left, I was told that I'd be working on a special assignment with a client. Oh terrifying... first client. Mike shared at accountability group tonight, then the rest of us gave brief updates. Ate at sancti-pho.

012109>

Came into work, and manager came in bothered, asking where the other themers were. Long story short, he was irked by the theme I had committed because the image file names weren't following format (though I was just doing what everyone else was telling me). In the end, things are ok, but I spent all day trying to type a wiki on css formatting that was pretty uncomfortable for me, and ended up taking me all day. I think just for today I finally got a glimpse of what it's like to have a normal job that I'm not into. We all had a riveting convo about abortion and how to argue against it without bringing religion into the story. Came home, did laundry, evergreen work, chatted with Daniel a bit, made instant noodles, and worked on a theme for my site that still sucks.

012009>

Tried italian soda at work with JR (peaches and cream)... flavor is subtle, but I'm not a subtle guy. I may need to OD on syrup. Drove down to Brea to check out a new pho place between liferay and redhat. They had both pho and korean bbq - yikes, but it was still tasty. Walked around Target with April for a while. I got a new towel (it took me forever to decide), hair dryer, and more cereal. April danced to music from the sampling booths. Came home and replaced my windshield wipers in preparation for rain.

011909>

Work was lovely as always. Was metabobek'ed out, went straight to sanctuary and worked for a while on evergreen web stuff. Cleared out boxes in CD room (not an easy feat). Went home, had sashimi with rice and kimchi. Had to open a new bag of rice, and I STINK at it. The whole 10 minutes, I was telling myself that I was a failure as an asian. Came to the sad realization that my laptop gets the hiccups when I play DVD's =(... not sure if a re-format is due. Chatted online and went to sleep.

011809>

God is my witness: I set my alarm clock for 6am, I hit snooze once, and it never went off again. Woke up at 8:15am, and frantically showered and rushed to church. Was putting out CD ministry fires all morning. Dad called, and gave me the usual "you should call me more", and mentioned that he'll be going to Thailand again for a month. He asked for the address to the condos, but that's gonna be a headache to locate. Met with Kenny and Dave to talk about Lord's Watch ideas. Immediately went back to CD's. Went out with Stephen and Paige to Souplantation in Arcadia, which was yowza busy packed, but it was a good time regardless. Went to Aprils to rest and surf the net.

011709>

Slept in some, went to April's in the late morning. Went to Kelly Paper to check out invite stuff for V + K, then went to the great park for a few hours. Rode on the hot air balloon, had personal retreat/reflection time together, rode scooters around for a bit. Stopped at the Marketplace on Jamboree off the five and drove around. Checked out ralphs fresh faire, then went to 99 ranch for rice and supplies. Ate at home, watched some throwdown, and April worked on my members only jacket.

011609>

Worked on a walmart looking theme at work all day, very intense, but very fun. Ate at the Thai place by April's house (walked), and then just relaxed at home. Went to get icecream at McDonald's, which was way way busy and way way ghetto. Must seek out icecream alternatives.

011509>

No water at work today, that was fun. Went to BJ's for happy hour pizza with April, and then walked around Brea mall some. Finally got a real wallet from the fossil store, with an actual slot to hold cash. Came home, and realized that I didn't have my house key cuz I lent it to Mike earlier, so I jumped through my bedroom window, which I had left open all day. An hour later, was able to have a 5 min conversation through the very same window with Chris Hong.

011409>

Spent majority of day double checking my theme edits. Came home, and took care of a billion errands: laundry, timesheet, month tags for CD rack, started on CD cover for choir CD sleeve. Got som tum from Krua Thai that was hot enough to make me cry. Went straight to sleep after a long day filled with accomplishments.

011309>

We got a soda machine at work! Headed down and picked up April for Pat & Oscars and the Montage at Laguna Beach. Massive traffic on the freeway had us running circles on the side streets for a while. Montage was very pretty at night, lots of stars, lots of lights, lots of sea and sand and pretty architecture. After walking around the tide pools, we went to the hotel lobby for a couple bevs and a wedding magazine. Very long drive back, but made it alive, thank God.

011209>

Worked on bug hunting all day. Went to Fullerton and consolidated cars with April. Went to a craft store, and then April went to her weight watchers meeting. I sat in the car to get some evergreen work done. Drove to Daniel's bday dinner at Rainforest Cafe in DT disney - did a general stop by (it was sorta late, and we were sorta tired). Drove home and made instant noodles.

011109>

Worship and frantically trying to get CD's done, and catch up on website things. Re-strung my guitar after weeks of being angry at my tele. It sounds and feels so beautiful - need to remember to change whenever in doubt. Went to Portillos with Chris Chow, Mike, Carrie, Liz, and meow. Talked about "sword fights" and laughed a lot. Went back to watch My Sassy girl, played boggle, and hide and go seek in the dark. Got to bed by 10:30 wonderful.

011009>

Worship practice and Uncle Dennis' funeral in the morning. Went to April's and she gave me a hair cut. I look emo and it's sort of scary, but fascinating. Ate dinner at Indian buffet to celebrate.

010909>

After work went to Anaheim walk thingy and had Cheesecake Factory. Went to DL, but weather was not fun, and I was feeling tired, so just went to a walgreens and spent nearly and hour there just looking at random stuff.

010809>

Polishing of whole foods looking theme. I named it "brownie" for no reason other than the fact that it's very brown. Worked more with Ryan and Aaron, so that was cool. Work was more social which felt nice. They checked my code (embarrasing) and I have a bit more to learn... Had lunch with Liz and Mike at the plantation. Went back home to accountability group (went to king taco again). Spent a ton of $$ on getting extra sauce. It is true, they are officially sauce nazis.

010709>

Had much more success getting website together to basically mimic the whole foods website. Stayed at work a little longer, cuz I didn't have much anything else better to do. Got home, had dinner with vic and dan at King Taco. Tried to find a fosters freeze, but ended up at McDonald's for soft serve. Worked for a while in the sanctuary, uploading and making website edits until late.

010609>

Spent all day making themes that weren't what the boss was looking for. I'm doing a lot more designing than I thought I'd be doing =/ Chatted with Mike about the differences and similarities between rappers and rapers. Went with April to vegetarian indian cuisine to celebrate the new job. Very fun dishes. Spent 2 hours driving around and visiting the mall looking for a hair salon that wasn't way expensive and wasn't closed - no success. Went to April's and felt tired and lazy, then came back home.

010509>

First day of work, went in a little before 9. Set up my personal laptop, went to lunch, then got a company laptop, so we then had to set that up again. Somewhat frustrating, as I was given a new project to work on, but felt sort of disabled the entire day... live and learn. Came home, deposited paycheck, did half of my income taxes (it's lookin like a fatty return, baby), ate DIY sashimi. Yeah, that's it.

010409>

Electric guitar for worship in the morning. Spent majority of the morning frantically doing Evergreen web work. Went to sancti-pho with April, Mike, Carrie, Daniel S., Stef, Andrew, and Kenneth. Had fun talking about random things - one of them was speculating what we would do if we lived out of our cars. Eventually moved back to the sanctuary where we played Boggle and Scattergories with Chris H., Terry, Jayne, Andy, and Liz. At 5:30pm moved to the cafe for choir appreciation dinner. I ran home to get sriracha. Afterwards watched 2 episodes of Diners with Liz and April, as April worked her jello making. Slept early in preparation for first day of work!!

010309>

Worked on getting Fedora drivers to work from 7am to 10:30am while April was at worship practice. We went to Ocean Bo for dim sum, and kinda ate too much. Went to visit the Leivers' to exchange gifts and have a "2nd Christmas". They gave me and April Cranium:Turbo Edition, cool. Then took care of errands around Torrance, and made sandwiches at home. I found Triple D on DVD at Target in Torrance and I'm so giddy!!!

010209>

Relaxed at home pretty much: edited photos and took a long nap. I ditched ubuntu for Fedora 10. Went to April's and got more steelhead at Costco. Arimas and Liz came by and we went to Yogurtland, Carl's Jr, and then watched SNL best of Will Ferrell at April's. Played a bunch of boggle.

010109>

Went to San Diego Zoo for a few hours, ate dinner at Islands and shopped around Cabazon outlets. I got walking shoes (specifically for walking). Came home pooped! Super foggy drive home.

123108>

Did the dishes and watched Home Alone. Went to Chris's for tacos and boggle and watched the dropping of the new year's ball on TV. Isn't "dropping the ball" something you don't want to do?

123008>

Had lunch with Brian at sancti-pho. Talked for a long time until mid afternoon. I napped afterwards, but overslept until April called me =( Drove to her house and we went to Macaroni Grill. Went to Trader Joe's for new years supplies, went to Walmart to get me a humidifier.

122908>

Almost literally slept all day. A dose and a half of drowsy meds and slept forever. Woke up at 9pm to chat some, went to Krua Thai for soup, and then came home and went back to sleep.

122808>

Church in the morning, and hang out afterwards in LB. Took 5 guys + 5 gals in two cars to Signal Hill, Antique Mall, Queen Mary (but we learned that it's $24 admission before 5:30pm so we never entered), Belmont Shore, Naples Island, and Hole Mole. After coming home (a touch before 9pm), most left, a few stayed to check out dances of the 80's on DVD. Craig Tamanaha came by needing help to find his car keys at church. We looked but never found them... I wonder what happened to that guy...

122708>

Worship practice with Victor leading. Installed Ubuntu just cuz. Drove down to April's. Ate some stuff at home, and headed out to Trader Joe's and Ralphs in LB to grab supplies for hang out on Sunday to make turkey/roast beef, stuffing, cranberry sammies. Back at April's the parents + relatives were making a seafood boil and oysters so we took part in that. Feel bad cuz they paid a huge sum for a red snapper fish or something, and it was way overcooked again. Turbo and Shane (each family's dogs) barked at and chased each other all night. Said our final good byes to April's relatives as they headed out.

122608>

Had reflection time and gallons of hot water. Waited at Panera bread until April was out from work. Headed to April's house and ate dinner with her family at home. Chicken was so overcooked it was mealy. Played late night boggle.

122508>

Had buffet at Knott's Berry farm in the morning and opened gifts. April and I played with the dance DVD that I got her =) Napped. Some of April's relatives came by, and we went to Peking Wok. Dinner was good, by voice was totally shot, and it frustrating not being able to intiate or engage in any conversation. Dinner ran late, and I headed down to Chuas' super late. Got there at 9pm and the party was pretty much over. Leivers had left already. Talked with Uncle Han and Joh, some so that was redeeming. Got to relate with Uncle Han's experience of bad sciatica. Joh mentioned to me that we should hang out sometime. Got back and hammered out some hang out planning for this Sunday.

122408>

Woke up pretty sick feeling. Just drank Moniegold, and played Super Sprint (when I should've been finishing up my gift wrapping). Had sancti-pho with Kenji, Kenny, Victor, and Daniel - I was just trying to feel better physically. Got back home and was in a mad rush to pack everything and wrap certain gifts to drive over to the Chuas. They then called and told me that I could stop by on xmas (at the cost of missing Jason and Shannon). I decided to go that route. Drove to April's to finish wrapping, have dinner at a Hawaiian place, retreive her edible arrangement for the parents, then head to church for the service. Service was good - played guitar (kinda goofed some). Got some shots on the tall ladder, and of the candle lighting. Gave out gifts, and started losing my voice.

122308>

Met with Ian, and talked about seeking vision for my future + ministries. Napped more to try to rid of my cold/cough. Drove to CSULB to pay tuition, and ran into Jason from the bookstore. Chatted and caught up for a bit, then went to Brotman Hall. Drove back up to April's and helped her prep rice krispy treats for several hours. Worked on some of my own gifts (calendars finally came in from Winkflash).

122208>

Slept in for a long time. Ran to Target and Fry's to see if they'd have Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives on DVD after I found a tip online, but no success. Prepared raw and fried steelhead (a relative of salmon) for lunch, with rice, soy sauce and vinegar. Napped. Went to Cerritos Mall and Trader Joe's with April to find gifts for her coworkers.

122108>

Handed out lots of xmas cards at church. Choir practice. Lounged around church talking for a while with friends (helped Terry think of gifts for the mom). Played games for an hour at the Gees. Went to Thai town with Liz and got some Thai desserts.

122008>

Went with April to the santa fe swap meet. I bought Big Willie Style, and also got Super Sprint for the NES. April got some tank tops, and got her eyebrows threaded. Afterwards stopped by a coworkers birthday party, and then went all over Belmont Shore with Victor and Kelly - ate Lebanese for dinner, stopped by lots of shops, and checked out Naples Island for xmas lights. A very packed day.

121908>

Took my online final, and scored an A in the class (REC 340I: Leisure In Contemporary Society - and no matter what people think of the name of the class, it wasn't that easy). Had lunch at the plant and shopped with Liz at the market for last minute cooking supplies for surge. Took a nap. Cooked a vat of spaghetti sauce (used 4 sticks of butter, yikes!). Went to April's and had Thai food and dyed my hair purple.

121808>

Spent the morning trying to get my back to work. Sort of studied before my final, but gave up because study questions referred to maps that the teacher didn't provide with the notes. Made it to class just in time for final (I didn't know what room it was in, since the final was in a different room - but I found it). I did pretty bad on the test, but I was getting an A in the class, so hopefully that will keep me over a C. Ate dinner at April's.

121708>

Mike and liz were over and we made pancakes, my "scrambled browns", and bacon. Daniel joined us. Had a work day, and I limped around the house until my appointment with AACCS counseling (first one ever). Went to Pho with Vic and Dan. Talked on phone for a bit. Should study, but feeling out of it.

121608>

Watched "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay while trying to recover from back pain. Sore throat minimal.Shopped all day at 99 cents store and costco for ingredients for cooking spaghetti at surge and for the hoola hoop icebreaker for staff dinner.Staff dinner - HUGE prime rib, and hoola hoop game went well. Time of worship was fun =) we jingled keyes for "silver bells" and "jingle bells". Ira and some of us played around with hoola hoops afterwards. Ira's such a kid =)

121508>

Slept in from staff meeting to recover from coldCooked: salmon, oysters, celery, onion, cabbage, tomato, okra, garlic, fish sauce, chicken broth, 2 cups of water, sinigang seasoningLong nap.Transformers/Street Fighters at Fu Fu Tei.

121408>

Church - Uncle Dennis had a possible seisure and fell between services, and the sanctuary was cleared out for paramedics. It was encouraging to see so many praying for him. Emails say he is ok right now.Choir practice to help out Eric, April was on bells for first timeHad Jayne, Terry, April, Mike, Liz, Jason, Kyle over to watch Wall-E. Arimas and Gees left early evening. Everyone else stayed and had dinner at home with Daniel - Art's burgers and tacos. Minus Daniel we played a rousing game of Scattergories, in which Mike suggested horse milk as a dairy product. One of those hangouts that are really ab workouts in disguise from laughter. Good bonding with people who have similar sociability.