Thoughts

FIRST CHRISTMAS
Karena and I have been pretty excited to celebrate our first Christmas together. And even though I usually like to be at home on Christmas morn, I'm happy to be going up north with her family to visit and meet (many for the first time) a lot of Karena's dad's family.
But in honor of our first Christmas together, we went to Home Depot Saturday morning and purchased a beautiful 7" Noble fir Christmas tree. Growing up in Montebello, we never had a real tree. But since Karena loves the smell of the real thing, we decided to do it. What's amazing is how much joy people experience when they see a car drive by with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof. We must have had about a dozen people look, point, or yell out "Christmas tree!" at the sight of my car driving by.
And we had a lot of fun decorating the tree with Karena's sister Rani, while listening to KOST's all-Christmas music songs.
This was definitely not a bad way to start off our first Christmas together.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
'Tis the season ... for Christmas shopping. Thanks to both Cindy and Jason for letting me know what stores were open at 6am so I could go to them before work Friday morning.
You know the best part about Christmas shopping? It's getting something nice for yourself. =)

THE ABCs OF THANKSGIVING
I am thankful for:
A day off work to spend with family and friends.
Blue jeans
Costco's all-forgiving return policy (even without a receipt!)
Dancing at weddings.
Electricity.
Former UCLA co-workers for continuing to keep in touch though phone calls, emails, and visits.
Graham, Billy. Just watch one of his specials. It'll break you down and remind you why you chose to believe in the first place.
Home.
Ice
Jokes about and supporting my beloved hometown of Montebello.
Karena for turning my "The Girl of My Dreams" thoughts into a reality.
Laughing out loud.
Mom's home-cooking, especially on a day like this.
Naps, especially on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Ocean waves crashing onto the shore.
Perspective to not let our highest highs be too high or our lowest lows be too low.
Quirks that make me who I am ... and there are many.
Rights as laid down in our Constitution.
Sports, which have brought guys much closer together and at times, made them laugh and cry.
The groomsmen at my wedding: Raymond, Michael, Jason, and Luong. You will be hard-pressed to find a group of 4 guys with stronger character and heart.
U2 for making me think and making me feel.
Vacuums that work on tile. A must-have for our house.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? two best skits: Props and Scenes from a Hat.
X-rays, especially in my profession.
Youth, even if it is wasted on the young. It's still precious.
Z's 10 points when playing Scrabble.

And of course, THANK YOU to you for reading all my crazy thoughts.
Happy Thanksgiving.

MISSING OUT
When I was working at UCLA, I got 13 paid holidays throughout the year (including those holidays considered "lesser" ones like Martin Luther King, Presidents Day, and the day after Thanksgiving). Now, that I work at Kaiser, I only get about 5. This means my butt will be working the Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve (not this year because I requested it off so that Karena and I could go up north with her family), New Years' Eve, etc. Can you imagine sitting at work at 6:00 on New Year's Eve? What crazy person would schedule a late afternoon appointment on Christmas Eve? Maybe Jewish people, I guess.
Anyway, the point is that I'm working a lot of days I'm not used to. But I've sort of made my peace with that. But what IS really irking me about all this is that I'll be missing out on all those early day-after-Thanksgiving sales. My favorite thing to do is every year is to go to some department store, Best Buy, and some other places at 7 am (or before) to get some REALLY good deals. And then, I'd talk to Jason afterward and find out where we shopped and what we bought. I won't get that opportunity this year.
So, this begs the question: Does anyone know what stores (if any) are opening WAY before 7am? I have to be at work no later than 7:30 Friday morning so I could only go to a sale that started at 6 or something like that. Please help!

SEEING RED
For some reason, I've suddenly gotten into trying to buy some red shirts. I tried this once before when I got a red tie and a red dress shirt to wear to church. Of course, all I took was heat from people (my personal favorite was Aaron who just said one word: "Fruity.") But on the way home from Las Vegas we went outlet shopping. I didn't buy anything, but was so intrigued by all the red button downs they had the mannequins sporting. I guess it fits the Christmas season. Still, I know I'm no Charles Chen, but I'd like to think I could own one of those shirts ... and be able to pull off the look.

VEGAS IN REVIEW
This trip to Las Vegas was a little bit different than the ones I'm used to (because I was with Karena and her family, not with "the guys.") It turned to be very good for both of us to get away, even though the drive was tortuous.
This was my first time to Las Vegas during this time of year. And let me tell you, it was freezing cold!!! And windy!
And even though we stayed on the Strip (at the Flamingo Hilton), we ended up going to Downtown everyday (to the California) for eating (ox tail soup and prime rib) and for gambling (don't ask how I did.)
And of course, it's become tradition for us to always go visit that room in Bellagio where they decorate it with all kinds of flowers and plants (Does that room have a name?). This time, the setup was very elaborate, walking in a small walkway with water shooting over your head and all kinds of huge squash and pumpkins all around. They also had a barn and waterwheel in the back. It was the most impressive set-up we'd ever seen there ... and we go every time.
Still, it's good to be home.

EATING UP A STORM
We're heading to Las Vegas this weekend. And with that comes my job as our home's human trash compactor. I'm quickly working on eating up all our perishables so we don't come back to all this spoiled food. Needless to say, I'm pretty stuffed right now ... but it was a lot of fun!

ADDRESS LABELS
It's pretty amazing to me how many address labels various companies and charities send me in the mail. On average, I get at least one a week, especially now that I'm a homeowner. They totally play the guilt card by giving you all these address labels and then ask you to donate money. I usually just keep the labels and throw the rest away.
But today, for some reason, I started to feel really guilty. The Veterans Administration send me some really nice labels and some very shiny American flag stickers. I felt so unpatriotic throwing the mail portion of it away ... but I did it anyway.
Don't hate me!

FREE DOZEN TUESDAYS
If you haven't heard yet, Krispy Kreme has an amazing Tuesday deal. For every dozen donuts you buy (whether original glazed or assorted), you get a dozen of original glazed FREE! Now, for a Chinese guy from Montebello like me, that is MUSIC to my ears. And since Karena loves donuts, we've been going there a lot.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Monday: 16 hours
Wednesday: 16 hours (this past month: 18 hours)
Thursday: Karena 13 hours, Victor 15 hours
Friday: 19 hours

The above is the average time we spend AWAY from home and out of the house. Sometimes, it makes me wonder why we even bothered getting a house since we spend so little time there.
We might as well call it Fantasy Island hotel! =)

AA
I had a great conversation with one of my patients regarding Alcoholics Anonymous. He mentioned how it he worried breaking his anonymity, especially to his colleagues, for fear of public shame. But instead, the opposite has happened. He has been asked by many, including his colleagues, to share his experience. He took great joy in that.
That reminded me of how exciting the Christian could and should be. We are not Christians Anonymous. Instead, we should not be ashamed to tell others and show others how important Christ to us and how much He impacts our lives. We should want to share our experiences.

DEER
While driving home down the hills of Coldwater Canyon Monday night, we almost came head on with a deer slowly making its way across the street. It was pretty big so I saw it immediately. But when I yelled out "Deer!", some some reason, Karena saw a pothole and thought I said "pothole!" It didn't register to her what I actually said until it was right in front of us.
We nearly hit it, but managed to work around it.
Whew!

CRICKETS
We have a massive amount of crickets surrounding (and often times inside) our house. It got really bad during the summertime because the heat brought them all out ... and into our house. And those pesky things sure can jump. So, we had no choice but to start killing them. You couldn't go five minutes in our house without hearing newspaper being rolled up, followed by a loud WHAP!!! We even tried to spray Raid along all our doorways.
But now, everybody we mention this too is so critical of us because we're Chinese and Chinese people think crickets are good luck. We are in essence killing our good luck, is what people keep telling us.
I'm sorry, but good luck or not, I don't want crickets jumping all over me while I'm sleeping or running around on the floor while I'm trying to watch TV.

OFF ON TUESDAY
As most of you know, Karena and I are both off on Tuesdays. And we love it because it takes away from the stigma of Mondays and it breaks up the work week. But I was saddened to find out that EVERYBODY will have Tuesday off this week in honor of Veteran's Day. Now, I know that is a very selfish point of view. The truth is that I'm glad the Veterans get their own day because they should be saluted for their efforts. But I wish it was like before when it was observed on a Monday so everybody would get a three-day weekend. That would have meant really good Monday traffic and everybody would have been back to work on Tuesdays.
Now, I'll probably be standing in a huge line at Costco similar to the ones on the weekends and anywhere else Karena and I need to go. This week's Tuesday just won't be the same.

AT THE MOVIES
Saturday morning, we didn't watch cartoons. Instead, we watched "The Italian Job" and I have to say that it was pretty entertaining. Afterward, I went to visit Michael to see about the torn ligaments in his ankle. While I was there, we watched various parts of "The Karate Kid", "Mighty Aphrodite", "Scarface", and "City by the Sea." In the evening, we went out with Jason and Debbie to see "Love Actually." I have to admit that I REALLY was NOT looking forward to this movie AT ALL, especially since I haven't even seen the Matrix yet (I know, it sucks, but I want to see it anyway). But the movie turned out to have its moments and I left feeling pretty good.

DEFUSING THE SITUATION
I got pulled out of my booth at work while treating a patient by my boss.
"We have a situation."
Immediately, my mind jumped to movie mode as I began to think of myself as an undercover cop or a spy.
"Your 1:00 new patient made a threat to his doctor about 'going postal' if he didn't do anything to alleviate his pain. So when he comes to see you today, we're going to have undercover security in the waiting room and near your treatment room. If you have any problems, yell out or pull the emergency cord and they'll come running in."This FREAKED ME OUT!!! I was really nervous, but regained my composure and managed to conduct the evaluation and treat him effectively ... and most importantly, without him going "postal" on me.

TEETH
The other day, one of my patients was looking up at me while she was lying down on the table so I could work on her shoulder. She was telling me some story and stopped in the middle of it to say, "You have really nice teeth."
I couldn't believe it! Nobody has ever said that to me before. I mean, let's be honest, my teeth are pretty bad -- not European bad, but just not good. In fact, I guess I have a mini complex about them, but try to keep that on the downlow (I guess I'm not doing such a good job of that since I just put it out there for the world to see).
I just found it interesting that my patient would say such a thing. Maybe she said that so I would be nice to her since everything I do for her ends up hurting her.
Hmmm .... she's tricky.

TALKING WITH MY COUSIN JOYCE
It was so great to hear the exciting news that Mike and Joyce have closed escrow and have moved into their new home.
It was even better that upon hearing the news, I did not hesitate to pick up the phone and give her a call. I had really chatted with her in a while and it was great to catch up, share marriage stories, and to talk about the ups and down of life (my favorite topic and the backbone of what this entire site is all about). Anyway, the tone in her voice was definitely somber as she shared she knew people who were directly affected by the San Diego fires. But what a great reminder she gave me when she said how fleeting the physical things of this world are.
When I think back to the days when I used to try to sit on her head underwater in the swimming pool until now, I think we've both done a lot of growing up and maturing. She's an amazing woman and I am proud to say that she is my cousin. And even though she's now a Young (which I am very happy about), she still is and will always be a Shen.

COSTUME PARTY
Kevin and Michelle McClure, along with Jacob and Victoria, were gracious enough to host a Costume Party last night at their place. First off, their house is amazing! Their living room is spacious, homey, and beautiful (and complete with a huge TV!). I have to admit that I was a little worried the turnout for the event would not be very good, but I was not only impressed by the number of people who showed, but also by the creativity everyone displayed in their costumes. Some highlights included Jimmy's Tree People (The Two Towers), Paul's Indiana Jones, Raphael's Steve Bartman (Cubs fan who knocked away the foul ball), and Jesse's supermarket picketer.
It was a great night complete with everything from good food (Korean BBQ ribs and Marie Callender's pies) to good fellowship (Emmanuel, Koinonia, and Delta represented) to good entertainment (a candy corn pinata).
But the best part for me? Showing up as a '70s guy with a huge afro and Karena dressed up as a cat and walking in to find Victoria dressed up as a cat and Jacob dressed up as a '70s guy with a huge afro. It was classic!

WWYB?
You've seen the bracelets and wrist bands with WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) Now, with all the fires (which are now pretty much under control thanks to last night's rain -- Thank God!), I started thinking about what I would bring with me if I was forced to evacuate my house. Here's my list:
Passports and other important documents
Money
Some DVDs and CDs
Wedding photos (including the ones hung up on the wall)
My Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire rookie cards
Some of my nicer clothes and suits

WWYB? What Would You Bring?