0629 it's a boy!

Jen gave birth to Justin Luke on Friday, so the group went to see Jen and Eric at the hospital this afternoon. Eric took a bunch of photos and videos, and managed to put together a slide show while Jen was resting. Liz mentioned that by coincidence, Koinonia was studying Luke, although it was good that we weren’t studying Ezekiel or Obadiah. I don’t think it’s coincidental that Luke was a physician and so is Jen.

As for “Justin”, there is a theory floating around about that. You see, the baby was a week early so Eric wasn’t even packed when Jen went into labor. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Jen was already starting to dilate. So they made it “just in” time.

Jen was going to stay at the hospital for one more night, but baby Justin had to stay in ICU for five days. By the photos, it looks like Justin has more hair than Eric. We said a prayer to the new parents before leaving.

0629 vbs sketch

At the start of service at SBCC, there was a short sketch to promote the church’s Vacation Bible School “SonWorld”, which starts July 21 and runs for one week. The promo starred my good friend, Sheri, and a penguin. Many people thought it was Cary in the penguin costume, but I knew it was my friend, Jim Y. You see, when other people say that they need to wear a penguin suit, they mean a tuxedo. But when Jim says he has to wear a penguin suit, he really means a penguin suit!

0627 an idea

My father had a brilliant idea today. During dinner, he told my mother that she should replace the pink hand towels in the bathroom with grey ones. Why? So we don’t have to wash them as often.

Makes sense to me.

0624 therapy?

I went in to the Rehab center at Long Beach Memorial for a PT evaluation today. After about an hour of tests, they determined that I had progressed sufficiently to be re-admitted to the outpatient program there. But it won’t start until mid-July because of scheduling.

0623 HB2U Stephanie!!

Today is Stephanie’s birthday! Stephanie is a good friend and always has a kind word to say. She resides in the San Gabriel Valley so the trip to SBCC is a ways to go. I am uplifted whenever I see her at church. She's a member of my lifegroup.

The bottom photo is from last year. Check out the post from 6/24/07 for details.

0622 happy belated anniversary

I just realized that I missed Ken and Natsuko’s anniversary last Sunday! Usually I’m pretty good at remembering, but it somehow slipped my mind. So I sent them a belated e-card to their email addresses. If you’re curious about the wedding, you should see the photo album I have in Facebook. It was funny to see everyone from SBCC cleaned up in suits and dresses.

0620 "knocked up"

I rented the movie “Knocked Up” from Netflix and found out that I enjoyed the storyline in this romantic comedy. The star, Katherine Heigl, plays Alison, an up-and-coming entertainment reporter on “E!” who gets drunk and has a one-night stand with Ben, played by Seth Rogen, which results in a pregnancy. Alison decides not to have an abortion (which would have resulted in a 10-minute movie) and tries to get Ben involved. Ben is a slacker who lives with four buddies who get high together and find ways to let their immaturity rule their lives. But in the end, Ben and Alison find that they need each other as much as their baby girl needs them.

I listened to the audio commentary that was on the DVD. The comments were by Judd Apatow, who wrote and directed the film, and Seth Rogen. It’s the commentary on DVDs that make them really great to watch. I found out that Ben’s four buddies (played by Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr) are actors in their own right but are also buddies of Seth’s. It was decided to make their on-screen chemistry real, so the four buddies used their own first names and the interactions were often unscripted.

I also found out that Leslie Mann, who plays Alison’s sister Debbie, is married to Judd Apatow and is really unlike the character that she plays. She had to funnel her frustration of Paul Rudd, who plays Debbie’s husband Pete, into her character. She also didn’t get half the jokes that were in the movie and had to have them explained to her.

0618 the lord's prayer

I’ve been doing some therapy on my right hand to get it back to normal by practicing writing. I try to write out the Lord’s Prayer but the best I can get is a set of scribbles on a paper. I sent an image to a group of friends, to see if they could read it. Only one of them replied. He asked, “Is that the Lord’s Prayer?” He’s a pharmacist.

It reminded me of another friend named Mike. In high school, his interest was in ancient civilizations. He loved hieroglyphics and could decipher Egyptian and Mayan drawings. He couldn’t get a date to save his life, but if Nefertiti ever came back, he had it made. All of us nerds hung out together. Sort of a self-preservation tactic to protect us from the marauding jocks.

Fast-forward about twenty years. I’m skiing in Sun Valley with some friends and happen to bump into Mike and his wife, Cindy, on a chairlift. He moved to Seattle and became a pharmacist. I asked him whatever happened to his interest in ancient civilizations. He told me that there wasn’t any money in it, so he went to pharmacy school.

I asked him if he kept his interest as a hobby. Cindy laughed and told him to tell me about Belize. So he did.

A few years earlier, he and Cindy were vacationing in Central America when they signed up for an excursion to visit the ruins at Altun Ha. Cindy corrected him, that he signed them both up. She wanted to go shopping but went to Altun Ha to keep him out of trouble.

He said, “I don’t get into trouble.”

She replied, “Then why are we telling this story?”

Mike just grunted and continued. At the ruins site, he came upon a wall with Mayan hieroglyphs. He started to read them aloud to Cindy, as a way to show off. He didn’t realize it, but there was another tourist couple who were listening and were amazed at his skill. The man asked, “How can you read that?”

Mike replied, “It’s easy. I’m a pharmacist.” The man wasn’t amused; it turned out that he was a doctor. But the doctor’s wife was laughing hysterically.

0617 pills?

I was doing some work at the desk today, when my father came by and put a ball of liverwurst in front of me (I actually like liverwurst). I asked what this was for. He replied, “It’s your pills. Mom wanted me to give it to you this way while she is gone.”

I told him, “I think this is for Jett (the dog). You’d better read the note and the pill bottle again.”

He disappeared for a few minutes into the kitchen. Then he came back, smiled and shrugged as he picked up the liverwurst ball and gave it to the dog. Jett gobbled it down in no time flat.


(sigh)

0615 dad's day dinner

We met for Father’s Day dinner at my sister’s place. They picked up a family pack at Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ in Manhattan Beach, the only location in L.A. County and co-owned by Lakers forward Luke Walton (his brother Chris is the other owner). Luke wasn’t in as he had somewhere else to be that night.

The food was great! The baby back ribs were very tasty and the meat just slid off the bone. There was also BBQ chicken, pulled pork, smoked brisket, redskin potato salad, BBQ beans, sweet potato fries and cornbread. Plus, it wouldn’t be our family dinner without fresh sushi. Needless to say, I stuffed myself completely.

We finished in time to watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals, as the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics 103-98, ensuring Game 6 to be played in Boston. The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.

0612 jett's back

Dad picked up Jett this morning (see 06/10 blog), but he spent most of the day lying on his cushion in the den. During dinner, Mom asked, “Did he sleep all afternoon?” after looking at the dog lying at our feet.

My father replied, “Yes, but I’ll take him out for a walk after dinner.” I gave my father a funny look, so he said, “What?”

I answered, “For a second, I thought you were talking about me.”

He smiled and said, “We were talking about you.” My mother just shook her head.

As we were cleaning up after dinner, Mom said, “See if he’ll eat the leftover ground beef,” referring to the remnants of the tacos we made for dinner.

Again, I gave my father a funny look. He said, “What?”

I replied, “I thought you were talking about me again.”

He smiled and said, “We were,” as he poured the remnants of the ground beef into the dog’s dish.

(sigh)

0610 jett

Jett wasn’t feeling well this morning, so my parents took him to the vet. They returned a short while later and said that the dog will need to spend a few days there for treatment and observation.

My father said it was funny since he was all alone in the backyard. Usually Jett will come by every 15 minutes or so just to see what he’s doing.

0608 dizzy

I woke up feeling a bit dizzy, so I opted out from attending church. That also meant missing out on discussing Luke with Koinonia, but it was better to play it safe. I found out later that I missed a great discussion. Oh well.

0607 saturday night

My parents dropped me off for the evening service at SBCC, before having dinner with my aunt at The Local Place. I sat near the front and was soon joined by Chris and Sunny, the latter being present “by default” (long story).

Pastor Gary started a new series titled “One Prayer”, which is being presented simultaneously by over 1600 churches worldwide. His message this week was if he had to pick one prayer for the church as a whole, it would be to “MAKE US URGENT”!

He spoke about the state of the world and the need for the church to reach out and bring as many as possible to God. Romans 13:11 says that “the hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber”. He clarified that it meant for us to become more aware of what is going on around us, not the actual sleep that he has witnessed in the congregation during his sermons.

After the service, I made my way to the kitchen, to meet up with my Revelation study group. Steve T was facilitating and was supposed to send out the questions a week in advance, but nothing was received. I met with John, Reiko and Kiyomi first; Mike, Carol and Judy were on the Solvang day trip, and arrived by 7pm. Steve showed up around 7:20 with questions in-hand.

We discussed Revelation 11:1-14, “The Two Witnesses”. Steve’s questions were so thought-provoking that he didn’t have time to come up with the answers. Kiyomi served up a great noodle dish, along with cake and ice cream. Steve gave me a ride and got me home by 10:30pm.

0607 steppin' thru the mall

Jim Y came by and picked me up for our weekly walk. Because the temps were expected to be high, we opted for a trek through the Lakewood Center Mall, in the Target wing. We started by the Subway entrance and stumbled through towards the center. I went without the AFO again and I told Jim that I needed to try and walk without looking at my feet. What a taskmaster!! He wouldn’t even let me glance momentarily to make sure they were still attached to my legs. At least I was able to focus on the scenery. You see a lot of different stuff if you aren’t walking with your head down all the time. For the first time, I saw a Frederick’s of Hollywood and a Borders Express in that mall, although I understand that they’ve been there for some time. After about 80 minutes of shuffling, we called it quits and broke for lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.