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| Thursday, February 27, 2003 I'm going to mark this entry as last night, since I'll be writing about what I was going to write last night, except I got home and I collapsed upon entry into my room haha. Hmm.. very very busy week this week. Everyday after Monday was something. But Wednesday would probably have been the key day for this week because I got to go to the Getty Museum and witnessed the Bill Viola "The Passions" exhibit, which is a series of video works that he made in super duper slow motion, in the simplest of terms. Everything was beautiful there. And what made the day even better was the fact that we got to go to Sushi Mac for lunch before going to the Getty. Oh my goodness I haven't gone to Sushi Mac since last May. It's been too long. I wanted to stay there forever and keep eating hahaha. But anyhow, Wednesday was an absolutely satisfying day from morning to night. Let me tell you how obsessive I could get with mints. As most of you know, I always carry a stash of mints in my car because I get super paranoid about bad breath. Why? Because a long time ago during a revival at our chruch, the guest speaker (I forgot who) was praying over me and we were pretty much face to face, and as I was receiving his prayer and blessing, I couldn't help but notice his bad breath, and so even though I was praying, I kept thinking to myself "dude, he really has bad breath." So since then, I started wondering if people thought that about me when I talked with them, and so I've developed this paranoia about having bad breath, which is the reason why I make a conscience effort to pop in a mint everytime I'm around people. But anyways, going back to the original story, yesterday I was driving to tutor and I realized I forgot to buy a new container of mints and I didn't brush my teeth before leaving my house, but I didn't want to be late so I just kept driving wondering what I should do. Because God forbid if I were tutoring and my student would think the whole time "dude, he has bad breath" hahaha. So I was in a semi-panic mode, and I opened my empty container of Altoids, and the thing about Altoids is that even if you finish all the mints, it still leaves a bunch of little crumbs and tiny particles. So I used my fingers to gather all those little crumbs of mints and settled for those in my mouth. It wasn't much, but it still provided the freshness I needed (thank goodness Altoids are curiously strong). So all in all, I was able to tutor comfortably, without the hindrances of the fear of bad breath. Is there such a term? Like a bad breath phobia? Monday, February 24, 2003 Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of this blogger. A year's worth of random thoughts, pointless rants, and corny jokes. I'm actually thinking about making my own website with my own .com, so I downloaded Dreamweaver and I'm going to mess around with it to try and learn how to make an actual website. Well, that is, once I get a steady income and all. Any suggestions for website names? I don't want to call it www.mikeuh.com or anything. Sunday, February 23, 2003 Quote of the day: -Alice explaining the Black and White Dance- Alice: Yeah, so it's a dance where you wear black and white clothes. Mike: Really? Are you sure it's not a racially exclusive dance? Like, if they wanted, they could call it the "No Asians Allowed Dance." Saturday, February 22, 2003 Wow, two entries in a row, there's something that hasn't happened in quite some time. =) Anyhow, the Call was an absolutely incredible experience. Tens of thousands of saints gathered at the Rose Bowl, engaging in fasting and non-stop worship and prayer from 9am to 9pm. It's unbelievable that we all made it from beginning to end. But we took part in history today. Revival is going to sweep all over the world. As a UNITED ministry, we stood in the gap along with everyone else that attended, and humbled ourselves as we interceded on behalf of a lot of things, but especially the strongholds held in Southern California. Even with 12 straight hours of constant prayer, it still isn't enough time to cover everything that we need to pray for. But I think it was a fine way to inch even a little bit closer to where we want to be in terms of establishing a firm foundation of prayer in our lives. About a week ago I had some business at North High and I had to actually go inside, and I discovered that there are vending machiens at that school at every single stinking corner of every wing. I mean, really, is it all that necessary to have a vending machine at every corner? Does it really make that much of a difference for the students to walk a little further to one of maybe 3-4 areas in the school to get their snacks? Goodness, if they had the money to get all those things, why not invest it on things like improved facilities, or anything else that will attract competent teachers? Well, maybe the vending machines can indeed do just that. Well, but then again I can't really complain, since I did have my fair share of incompetent instructors that I've had the privilege of taking of advantage of during my four years there. Friday, February 21, 2003 Irony of the week (thanks Christy for the reminder haha): If you've seen the latest commercial by Carl's Jr., it shows a bunch of scientists observing a chicken, and says that there are no "nuggets" in a chicken. Then it introduces the Carl's Jr. chicken strips. Okay, well, chickens don't have "strips" either!!!! Tuesday, February 18, 2003 So I was counting up all my D'Adarrio guitar strings players' points and I have accumulated a total of 92 points. The thing that sucks is, I had at least a good 20-30 more points stored somewhere and then I lost them. But man, that is crazy. One pack of acoustic strings is worth 3 points, and one pack of electric strings is worth 2 points. I would have had a lot more but I haven't had the luxury of being able to buy guitar strings at will these days. There was a time when I used to replace my guitar strings every other week. I think I may have replaced my strings over the past year more than 40-50 times. But now that I have collected all those points, I could get either a stool or a lawn chair. Maybe a T-Shirt later too once I get more points. I was at the beach the other day and we noticed how the water has this smoothing and soothing effect on the sand. So if you stand close to the shore and watch the water come over the sand and then go down, it totally smooths out the surface, no matter what has been done to it, like if there was a hole dug up or there were bumps or whatever. The ocean water covers it and sort of heals the wounds of the sand. It painted a lovely portrait of the term "Healing waters." Thursday, February 14, 2003 Take me to the sea, that I can learn to walk Take me to the hills, that I can learn to climb Bring me to my knees, that I can be lifted Break me apart, that I can be formed in you. Take me to the stars, that I can shine with you Let me ride the wind, that I can fly with you Hold me in your arms, I long for healing As your pouring rain washes over me I learned something interesting today. I was at Vineyard Anaheim church today where Chris Tomlin was leading wosrhip. The electric guitarist in that band has the same guitar as I do (Gibson Les Paul Classic), or the guitar that is one level above it (LP Standard), and the thing about Gibsons is that to get the maximum quality level of sound from them, they need to be loud. If the amp is set to a low volume, then it sounds very messy and the distortion doesn't project properly. But the acoustics of a non-concert hall, like a church, can be very disadvantageous for that type of sound. So what he did was, he set up his amp backwards, with the tube facing the back of the congregation, so that way he could still set it to a high volume without drowning out every other instrument and giving everyone deaf ears. Very interesting. I shall have to try that this weekend. But dude, Chris Tomlin has one heck of an anointing. On my list, he is the #2 worship leader next to Martin Smith. Speaking of worship, it's amazing how I could work all day and keep myself active and come home fine, without any kind of weariness or tiredness. But leading two sessions of worship on Sundays, that lasts about 40 minutes each, will render me completely drained and out of energy. Most likely because of my goal to lay down literally everything. Every ounce of physical, emotional, and spiritual energy I could find, I want to bring it out and leave myself in that kind of vulnerability and exposure before God and the congregation. I don't really mind that I'm not "crazy" in terms of skill with an instrument or with my singing. Although I do try to improve each week, I'm fine if one day I come to a point where I can't go any further in enhancing my musical skills. I just want to do my absolute best with what I do have. Music of the heart is what I strive for each day and week in worship. By the way, the above poem is not a song by Chris Tomlin, in case anyone gets confused. Tuesday, February 12, 2003 My apologies for the lack of updates these days, I've been too busy adventuring in the wilderness that is the world and indulging myself in horrendously lengthy thoughts that would be too long to fit in this medium that is the internet blogger. So I decided last week that I want to attend seminary as a part-time student while working full time. Because I would love to have the background and knowledge. Not to become a pastor, mind you. Even if I did get the master of divinity or whatever, I wouldn't call myself a "pastor." I'd just like to become someone who just speaks during special learning events and leads seminars and adds in a few insights here and there. Maybe write a few books too. And I'd serve at chuch as a worship "pastor" for free, because I'm going to be working full time as something else and making my mark in history. I was thinking about the game "Simon Says" and I wondered who this "Simon" was. I'm guessing that the game was invented by some dude named Simon. Basically, this "Simon" fellow is a man of history who has most definitely made his mark in the modern world, because who in America doesn't know this game? But the unfortunate thing is, we will never ever know who this guy was, since there are so many people in this world named Simon. If he knew that his game would reach such levels of glroy, he should have included his last name in creating the game... Well, if he were Christian, maybe we will see him in heaven, and he would introduce himself to everyone as THE Simon of Simon Says. Friday, February 7, 2003 What would the world be without irony? Haha, that rhymed (be, irony)... but not timed. Anyways, without further delay, on to my thought of the day. I was never really into titles. I don't particularly hate titles, but it's just that titles and so-called reputations don't really impress me. I wouldn't follow someone just because of a particular title they carry. And I wouldn't call somoene by their title until I know they don't misuse it or take advantage of it. I especially don't like it when people try to glorify themselves through their titles. So from now on, I will be known as "He who dislikes titles." Monday, February 3, 2003 Well, this is something that happened a week ago, but I just wanted to comment on this year's Superbowl halftime show. And the comment is, it sucked. I think last year's performance by U2 has made a diminishing effect on all other Superbowl halftime shows of the future, unless U2 performs again, which would further diminish all future halftime shows. Basically, if there is going to be a halftime show that is considered good, U2 would have to perform every year, since everything else will pretty much suck. Also I think it was kind of cheesy when they had Bon Jovi perform at the end with the trophy presentation and all. If Bon Jovi was supposed to be the big act for the day, then why put them in a spot where they would perform with only half the attendants? By the time the award ceremony comes around, all the Bucs fans are pretty much out of the building, unless they happen to be Bon Jovi fans. But the good news is, my sickness is virtually gone. But my voice was cracking left and right last Sunday during worship, which was pretty funny. |