Thoughts

KOINONIA RETREAT
Greeting from the Koinonia Retreat! This is a retreat like no other CEFC retreat I've ever been on since we're still local (Pasadena at the Harambee Center), we don't have to stay overnight, we have internet access (hence this blog), and it's focused on service to the community (not just locking all of us up in a room for a weekend).
So far, things have been great. I showed up early this morning and was privileged to spend some quality time with fellow Koinonia-ians (?). Also, we helped move a bunch of heavy things (and I do stress the word "heavy") while others sanded the floor to get a house ready for interns to come this summer.
We just finished our 3-month long Bible study on Philippians and I've been struck by the words: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5)
There's nothing that'll teach you about having that attitude of true service quite like doing it.

PRAYER
Dear friends, please be in prayer for our family and for the Koinonia retreat.

WELCOME TO GLENDALE
Is it just coincidence? On the same day that we close escrow (yesterday) on our house, there is a crazy sniper guy in Glendale going on a rampage all over the city. That definitely wasn't a good feeling. Maybe a Montebello boy like me just brings the ghetto with me wherever I go. After all, you can take the boy out of Montebello, but you can never take the Montebello out of the boy.

FAKING CONFIDENCE
Today was my first day actually treating patients. And I was pretty nervous about the whole thing since I haven't worked in an outpatient PT setting in over two and a half years (since before I graduated from PT school). But I took some good advice that one of the other therapist gave me. He said, "Even if you don't know what the hell you're doing, just sound and look confident and everything will be fine. The patients don't know any better anyway."
I only agree with half the advice since I felt like if I didn't know something that I'd be basically lying to the patients. But, forcing myself to sound and feel confident actually made me feel more sure about myself and I realized that I knew more than I thought. And everything turned out fine.

FOUR DAY WEEKEND
It's so nice having Tuesdays off because I end up getting a 4-day weekend on long weekends like this! Of course, this one really wasn't a 4-day weekend since I had to work at UCLA on Sunday. Here are some final thoughts from this weekend:
1. I wanted my official last day at UCLA to be relaxing and enjoyable. I wanted to visit various nurses and other staff and patients I had developed close bonds with. But instead, I was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. It was SO busy! And yet, I still found it very hard to walk out of the department when all was said and done. I started to walk out, but being the sentimental guy that I am, walked right back in and took one last look around. I literally had to tell myself, "Turn around and don't look back." And that's just what I finally did. But it wasn't easy.
2. Karena and I spent Monday at teh Camarillo Outlets doing some shopping. There were tons of sidewalk sales and the place was packed. People were like vultures around a brand new dead animal -- hovering, pushing, shoving, trying to get a good look at everything to find the best deals. Me? I really went there just to buy some shoes and some white shirts for work (Apparently, I have to wear a lab coat at all times unless I have a white polo shirt on).
3. Karena recently convinced me to buy a pair of tight fitting jeans from the Gap. And since I lost about 20 pounds for the wedding, I decided that maybe I could pull the tight-jean look off. But after wearing those jeans for half a day, all I felt was cramped and squished. I had a hard time walking up stairs, bending down, etc. So, I've decided that this look is not for me, even if they say it makes my butt look good!

SANDRA AND GABE'S WEDDING
It's official. Sandra is now a wife and a Tang. The highlights of the ceremony were when Gabe sang "If You Could See What I See" with Raymond playing guitar and when Sandra and Gabe exchanged personal vows that they had written. It was one of the most tender moments I have ever seen.
The reception afterward was like none I had ever experienced. Yes, there was food (prime rib!), dancing afterward, and family intros, but this one was specially prepared by Raymond. And he went all out! They had skits, dramas, games, jokes, fun, excitement, and even a 30-minute musical written and directed by Raymond. I knew it was the real deal when they had over 30 different types of props for the musical.
The wedding was great and the reception even greater, and I couldn't be happier for my sister and my new brother-in-law. But somehow, I had an off-day personally yesterday. I just wasn't myself.
But I'll be back on my feet again today.

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY
With all the changes going on in my life, especially the one involving my job, I'm feeling exhausted. And now I'm glad to say Thank God it's Friday. And Friday of a long weekend at that! This weekend will include some exciting times (my sister's wedding), some bittersweet times (my official last day at UCLA), and hopefully some restful times (I'm off on Monday and Tuesday).
And from now on, Tuesdays will be my day off.
Thank God.

DREAM COME TRUE ... SORT OF
I think everybody's dream as a little kid is to be a policeman or fireman, at least at some point in time.
Today, after being forced to sit through SIX hours of fire safety, I finally was able to make that dream come true. Our fire safety instructor lit some very controlled gasoline over water fires and we were asked to use some fire extinguishers to put out the fire. Needless to say, it felt pretty cool to put out the fire. You know, that whole man versus nature thing. But after I was done, I realized I could never see myself doing this for the rest of my life. All that inhaling smoke, going into burning buildings stuff just doens't suit me.
It's a good thing I ended up in PT school. Still, it was nice to extinguish that fire!

DAY 2 AT KAISER
I've now spent two days at Kaiser, but I can't really give you a good impression of what life is going to be like there. Why? Because these last two days have been only doing general orientation stuff. I don't actually start in the PT department until Thursday. So far things have been okay, but the orientation process has been very unorganized. Hopefully, things will go more smoothly once I'm in my own department.
But the good part about the whole orientation process is that they served up both breakfast and lunch. And when I say lunch, I mean loads and loads of good Chinese food. There was so much it felt more like a buffet. I ate so much that my stomach hurt in the afternoon. I guess that's just the Montebello in me trying to make sure I take advantage of the situation. =)

BEING CONTENT
It's pretty interesting that right after I wrote that last entry, the Bible Study we just had in Koinonia kept popping into my mind. We studied Philippians 4, where Paul writes things like "Rejoice in the Lord always," "Do not be anxious about anything," and "I have learned the secret of being content in all circumstances."
Pretty interesting. So, I have learned to be content despite the Lakers being out of the playoffs, my car being in the shop, my right knee causing me pain, on four hours sleep, etc. In any situation.

P.S. After coming to grips with all of this and setting my perspective straight again, I immediately got a call from the auto body shop saying my car was ready to be picked up. And my first day at Kaiser turned out to be a short one. I got out at 2:45 and had time to get a much-needed hair cut and I even got to work out at UCLA with my former co-workers Mark and London. Again I have to say: interesting.

SUCKY DAY
I had a sucky day today. Why? Because I was very sad to leave UCLA yesterday and I still had the bitter taste of the Laker loss in my mouth. And today, my car broke down after having breakfast with Michael and Jason at Norm's. The breakfast was good, but my car's transmission sounded terrible. Anyway, I had to pay $$$ to get it towed and now I'm car-less once again.
Life sucks.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART
There definitely had to have been a full moon that was covered by a lunar eclipse last night. After all, there is no other way to explain why the Lakers played so horribly last night. They did not exhibit the "heart of a champion" but had a total eclipse of their hearts. Sad.
I was so disappointed. See, I figured they'd lose, but I was still hoping for the best.
That awful game nearly ruined my farewell potluck party that my co-workers so kindly threw for me last night. Mark and Gina were gracious enough to open up his place for about 12 people to come over. We had a great time, especially when they tried to roast me. I will definitely miss that crazy UCLA bunch.

THE LAST EPISODE
Even if you are not a fan of Dawson's Creek, last night's final episode brought up an interesting thing. For the duration of the show, there was basically a love triangle between Pacey, Dawson, and Josephine (they call her Joey). Dawson and Joey have been close friends since they were kids and are each other's undisputed soulmates. The problem is that Pacey and Joey fell in love one summer and he's loved her ever since. In last night's episode, she finally decides ... and she chose Pacey. She decided that Dawson and her will always be close soulmates, but she will be romantically involved with Pacey.
I was ecstatic at the decision because I felt like Pacey really, truly romantically loved her and that she loved him also. Karena was furious, saying that she shouldn't be romantically involved with someone who she does not consider her "soul mate." Basically, I think she's saying that she should only date her best friend. I agree with that, but I think Pacey can also be considered her best friend while Dawson's love is more like a brother loves a sister.
What did you guys think? Or what do you think about the idea in general? Hit me back on the guestbook.

HANGING WITH THE BOYS
Karena and I went to Simon's to watch the game with Aaron, Suzanne, Enoch, Gary, and George Lee. We had a GREAT time eating fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, etc. Thanks to Si for inviting us over and providing the grub. Everything was going great until we fell behind by 25 points. But then we staged that HUGE comeback and we all thought we'd pull it out.
But after seeing Horry's shot go in and out, we were all left to roll around the floor in agony. It seriously hurt in the pit of my stomach to see that miss.

PICTURES
Since it's my last week at UCLA, I've decided just to enjoy it. If I get a little work done along the way, that'll be an added bonus! Since Karena and I just got our pictures back, we put them into albums and we each brought them to work. They've gotten rave reviews. The pictures look good thanks to our photographer Wah.
And it didn't hurt to have a beautiful bride either!

THE LAKERS EVEN UP THE SERIES
It's pretty amazing what a sports town LA is again. The Ducks are making their way to the Stanely Cup finals (thanks to Giguiere). And the Lakers have finally begun to step it up.
Yes, it is true that I did say they were out. And yes, I think I still believe that. But they're still my boys.
Here's what I think:
1. Coach Phil Jackson had the angiogram/chest pain thing planned from the get-go. That man is definitely the Zen Master because he always knows EXACTLY what he's doing. He's the master at playing mind games with his players and getting the most out of them. He knew we'd go down 0-2 and that we'd tie it up and now will try to win it for the Coach. Nice strategy, Phil.
2. Shaq needs to go after people with a killer instinct. He's been playing like he's some soft Euro. He needs to power it up and dunk over those guys, even if it is David Robinson down low. It's true this year is his swan song, but the man will NOT win another championship on our watch.
3. Kobe needs to get that free throw shooting down. He misses way too much, especially in the clutch.
4. We need to contain Tim Duncan with Mad Dog, Samaki, Horry, anybody, even Shaq. We have to just keep putting pressure on him, play good defense. We can't stop him, but we can contain him. Once you do that, this series is over ... and the championship will be ours ... again.
5. The winner of this series will win it all. Dallas will choke, Sacramento is done without Webber, and the East is just a joke.

THOUGHTS FROM THE HONEYMOON PART II
While Karena's dad was driving us to the airport so we could head to Tahiti to begin our honeymoon, I got a call on my cell phone from Raymond. He basically wanted to tell us what his friend had mentioned to him: the honeymoon will be the first time you will be spending 24 hours with your new spouse for the first time. I think he just wanted us to be forewarned and to realize that a marriage also requires an adjustment period.
And while on the honeymoon, we talked about this. I said that I agree with what Raymond was saying. For the first time, I was waking up to having Karena there, spending all day with her, and then going to sleep with her next to me. I can see where that would taking some getting used to. But we never got sick of each other (which was a good sign!)
But the point that I made was that I thought it was EASY to not get sick of each other when you're in paradise. The real challenge would come once we landed in LA and got back to the real world.
I didn't know how prophetic my words would be because ever since we heard the screaching of the airplane's landing tires against the LAX runway, we've been bombarded and nearly overwhelmed with so much stress and busyness. But in a way I'm glad our marriage is already getting tested like this, because I'm supremely confident that we'll come out of this just fine.

THOUGHTS FROM THE HONEYMOON
Tahiti was SO nice! It was better than I could have even imagined. First, we went to Moorea. We think that was the best island because it was both beautiful and luxurious. The high was about 85 and the low about 75 so we got a good tan. We stayed in one of those overwater bungalows in Bora Bora. That was cool because our backyard WAS the Pacific Ocean. We could directly go from our balcony to put on our snorkling gear and jump right into the water and see all these tropical fish. Plus, there was a glass cutout on the floor so you could see fish swimming from the comforts of your own couch. While we were there, we went Jet Skiing and went on a shark and sting ray feeding expedition and swam about 5 feet from them. In Tahiti, we just relaxed and swam in the pool.
The moral of the story is we HIGHLY recommend going there sometime.
(More details in future blogs)

THOUGHTS FROM THE WEDDING
Let me tell you that a wedding is such a whirlwind for the bride and groom. First off, you have to get there so early to take your millions of pictures. My cheeks were getting sore from all the smiling. Then, you end up missing half of your own ceremony since you're not supposed to come out until later. And for me, I did what I feared most: messing up on the vows. My worst fear ever since I was a little kid and knew about what went on at a wedding, I always worried that I would forget what the pastor asked me to repeat. And I did. But I also firmly believe that a few funny mess-ups here and there are necessary!
Karena and I had such a good time at the banquet. It really is amazing to see so many people you know and love gathered in the same place ... because of you! And let me tell you, that Chinese get-up I put on was HOT HOT HOT!!! Man, I was sweatin' in that thing ... bigtime! Of course, maybe having to toast 32 tables with champagne had something to do with it!
And finally, I have to say that there is no better feeling than to be standing at the front of a church decked out in a tux and seeing the doors swing open with your beuatiful bride and her father walking towards you down the aisle.

WE'RE BAAAACK!
Sorry, guys, but I goofed on telling you the actual day of our return. Karena and I are back from Tahiti a little bit darker, with many more mosquite bites, and feeling refreshed from a great 10 days in paradise. Anyway, more on that in the coming days.
It's good to be home.