International Meal

13 Feb 2009 07:51 pm | Category: Food, Sharn, Work

I wish I had photos. Cos it was a real spread.

A few of the teachers that I have lunch with decided to do a potluck. It will be Valentines’ day tomorrow, so we decided to have a little party on our own. We later realized that all of us were from a different culture. We had Persian, Pakistani, Mexican, Indian, Russian, American, and me, Singaporean. I had food that I don’t know the names of. Boy, it was yum! Made Eric real jealous when I was describing my meal to him. Don’t need to go to any fancy restaurant. Just have lunch at your local Challenger School teacher’s lunch room. That’s way I love California. All this diversity.

Like I said, wish I had photos!

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

30 Dec 2008 10:12 pm | Category: Celebrations, Travel

We just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hopefully we’ll post more later but best wishes to all from baggage claim 12 at the Hong Kong airport where we’re still waiting for our luggage…hopefully it comes soon 🙂 my feet hurt from all of Sharn’s shopping trips. Not sure how much more standing I can take!

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Early Christmas presents

07 Dec 2008 11:36 pm | Category: Celebrations

So, we’ve thought about this for a while and we finally did it while we were shopping for Christmas presents yesterday. We got the iPhones as our Christmas presents to ourselves. Yes, I’ve succumbed to Eric’s reasonings on why we need a new phone. But I have to say, it’s pretty nice. I get to check my email anywhere I want. Anyhoo, we even got matching Paul Frank cases for our phones. And guess what? I’m making my first blog post on my iPhone. Totally awesome!

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Thanksgiving 2008

04 Dec 2008 09:40 pm | Category: Vacation

We had a great Thanksgiving starting with attending the Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco (Sharn’s first and I think my third).  It was a good as I remember =) Maybe I appreciate it more now that I’m older but I have to say, the person playing the Phantom was AMAZING!  Call me a sap, but the story is really touching and the music just adds to it.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I won’t ruin it but I love the ending.  I was really happy with our seats.  They were in the Mezzanine level so not too expensive but a great view.  The only bad part was the huge afro the guy in front of me had.  Hahaha…ah well. It was still really worth it.

We stayed the night at Le Meridien in San Francisco.  I don’t normally stay in Starwood hotels because I prefer the Marriott hotels and I have platinum status with Marriott but I thought we’d try this one.  I was really pleasantly surprised with the size of the room.  The bed wasn’t as comfortable as the Marriott ones but the elevators has like bird sounds and jungle noises or something…interesting.

We didn’t have plans for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday cause we were going to my Aunt’s on Saturday, so we found REALLY cheap flights to Seattle and crashed in on our good friends Andrew and Laura and their two adorable kids, Clancy (now 2) and Chloe (2 weeks).  They must have known we were coming though because they had already planned for an 18 lbs turkey and a I don’t know how many course dinner!  They are great cooks…I love visiting Seattle =)  So we had a great time with the Wan’s, the Nye’s (Chris and Katrina), the Khong’s (Marcus and Rebecca – their little boy, Matthias was sick), and the Chin’s (Jon and Angela).  According to the Wii Fit, I am “obese” (no surprise there) and my Wii Fit age is 38.  I don’t feel that bad because I take comfort that I am not alone with these rankings.  Sharn was at a great weight range and I think her age was only 27.  Sigh.

Such a cute 2 year old!

Such a cute 2 year old!

Not the best picture

Not the best picture =)

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Good News / Bad News

20 Nov 2008 11:06 pm | Category: Eric, Music, Sharn

So it’s a little late, but there’s good news and bad news from this weekend.  The bad news: we got in a car accident.  Luckily, no one was hurt (some of the good news).  Also luckily, there wasn’t much damage to the other car.  Unfortunately, our car wasn’t so lucky:

We essentially went under the other car and luckily, we weren’t speeding or tailgating else, it might have been a lot worse.

The other good news is that we survived our tango dance performance on Saturday night!  Yay!  For those of you who don’t know, Sharn and I are taking ballroom dance lessons for fun.  As part of our lessons, we agreed to do a short performance and Sharn signed us up for a tango of all things!  Anyway, to make a long story short, we did great up until people starting clapping and that’s when I totally forgot what we were doing =) HAHAHA…ah well…we survived…barely…

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Halloween 2008

15 Nov 2008 11:58 pm | Category: Sharn

Here’s some pictures of this year’s Halloween. Eric and I actually went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins for our party. We had a few of our branch members come over. Here’s also some pictures of our school’s Halloween party. Aren’t the kids super cute in their costumes?! Some of us teachers dressed up too. I was dressed up as a 3rd grade student!

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More on Prop 8

10 Nov 2008 06:31 pm | Category: California

Ok. Here’s a video telling briefly what Prop 8 is about. Just in case you don’t know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI-GjWY-WlA&feature=related

So, even though Proposition 8 passed with a 52% over a 48% vote. The fight is not over. In fact, more ugliness is unfolding.

The Sunday before the elections, Eric and I and a few of our branch members were holding Yes on 8 signs on an intersection just down the block from our chapel. We took up 3 corners of the intersection. Not long after, a No on 8 group of people were holding signs on the remaining one corner of the intersection. Boy, that was interesting! Personally speaking, I don’t think holding up signs on the side of the road really helps sway people on either side of the vote. But we did it to show our support for this proposition.

The reactions we had from drivers was interesting. Every time a supporter of Yes on 8 drove by us, they’ll give a friendly honk accompanied with a friendly wave and smile. And every time a No on 8 drove by (which was more often), it was accompanied by an angry honk and very often a string of obscenities, both physically and vocally. Interesting how you can determine an angry honk and a friendly one! I mainly got the birdies, but one of our friends seemed to got the brunt of it. Here’s what he posted on his facebook:

  • Some teenage hooligans yelled “Prop 8’s gay!” before holding “No on 8” signs across from us next to a lesbian couple.
  • Some guy kept screaming how intolerant we are at my wife while waiting for the light. Then when he drove by me he yelled that I was a ‘faggot’.
  • Some lady screamed, “NOOOO ON 8!!! F**K YOU, YOU FASCIST PIGS!!
  • Some lady drove by and told us how Jesus would be ashamed of us.
  • A gay couple in a car interlocked hands while both flipping the bird to us…(one instance among the countless bird flips that we encountered)
  • Several people spitefully yelled, “YES ON H8TE!!”
  • Someone actually threw a watter bottle at me…which I kept as a souvenir.

Anyway, with a proposition like Prop 8, where so many people are affected, there has been no doubt countless arguments with people on both side of the fence. Maybe I’m biased, but the No on 8 have been a lot more vocal and violent against us.

There was a protest outside the sacred grounds of the LA Temple:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protest7-2008nov07,0,3827549.story

Read about an LDS LAPD officer’s experience at a protest outside the LA Temple last week.
http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html

And also about a chapel being vandelized in Orangevale.
http://www.sacbee.com/295/story/1382472.html

Prop 8 is a California proposition, and yet people in Seattle are protesting. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008371441_protest10m.html

Also watch a video about all the violence that has been done on Prop 8 supporters:

I am just shocked and really upset by all this events that have unfolded since Prop 8 passed. You know, for all I care, gays and lesbians can have their marriage, as long as they do not infringe on my personal religious right and my freedom of speech. They have my full respect unless they do not uphold that same kind of respect for me and the supporters of Prop 8.

The work of Satan is powerful and real. He is the father of contention and the father of lies. I believe that this proposition has most definitely caused families to come against each other. How contradicting and how ironic. Aren’t we fighting for families here?

Family is the basic unit of a society. How hard is that to understand? Families are not just about marriage between two people. It is an intricate web of relationships. When families are threatened, then society is threatened. It is common knowledge that at least 50% of marriages end in divorce. Shouldn’t we be trying to protect what is already being attacked today, instead of further attacking and compromising the sanctity of it?

We are fighting for love and yet what we’re getting is hate. We’re seeking for unity, and yet discord and contention is reaping. Will this ever stop? Can we really not learn to live in tolerance and love?

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Random Religious Musings

09 Nov 2008 11:02 pm | Category: Church

I’m going to blather on a little about a couple of random thoughts that have occurred to me over the last little while =) Thanks for letting me indulge myself.

Temple Service

Sharn and I are extremely blessed blessed and lucky to serve as volunteers in the Oakland Temple for a whole day once a month.  I have to say that every time we go, even though I’m physically tired from working all day there, spiritually I feel refreshed and renewed.  I think when you serve in the temple both as a volunteer or as a patron, you learn a little of what it means to give of yourself freely and to serve as the Master would have served.

Looking over San Francisco Bay and the Oakland Temple

Looking over San Francisco Bay and the Oakland Temple

Stake Conference

The opportunity to listen to inspired Church leaders is another great blessing.  This weekend, we were able to attend the Saratoga Stake Conference.  One of the highlights was being able to listen to President Jackson of the San Jose Califoria Mission and to Elder Cordova, who presided at the conference.  A couple of the key take-aways this weekend:

  • Practice your religion (like pro athletes need to practice, so do we)
  • Pay your tithing and fast offerings
  • The temple is important, go often
  • When the Gospel flows in our veins, we will never tire in the service of our Lord

The Economy

This past week (well, this past little while), the economic situation here in the US and in the world has been of great concern to a lot of people I know (including ourselves).  One of my co-workers made the observation that I don’t appear as concerned as most people.  Thinking about it, I do worry to an extent.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But talking with Sharn, I think I know why we don’t appear as worried.  We’ve thought about what we’ll do if we lose our jobs, we set aside a certain amount each month as savings, and we set a budget for ourselves.  Most importantly though, we pay a full-tithe to the Lord, and we strive to keep the covenants that we have made.

Elder Cordova also put things into perspective today when he said, he knows what the Lord and the Prophet think about this economic situation.  He said that the answer is in the announcement of President Monson of 5 new temples to be built.  When most companies are down-sizing and halting operations, the Church is moving forward and expanding.  Elder Cordova promised us that if we will do the basic things (paying our tithing, paying our fast offering, reading our scriptures, being active in the Church, attending the Temple, holding Family Home Evening, and having family prayer) then we need not fear.

The Gospel of Christ is the message of hope and glad tidings.  While I don’t think for a second that we are immune to hardships, I know that if we have faith, and act upon that faith, the Lord will provide.

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Prop 8

09 Nov 2008 01:24 pm | Category: California

Prop 8 passed. Yay!

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Lucky us!

22 Oct 2008 10:56 pm | Category: Sharn

So, I had to buy Christmas cards for our Relief Society. I took the opportunity that Borders had a buy one get one free sale to get those Christmas cards. I went and bought 2 boxes and got 2 free boxes. After buying them, a sister in our branch told me she could “donate” some of her old Christmas cards so we don’t have to use our budget to buy Christmas cards. Yippee! Can’t say no to that. We can always use the extra money. Anyway, I went to return the Christmas cards to Borders, and it turns out that since free Christmas were free, we could keep them! Interesting, thought you had to buy one to get the other one free. So we thought you have to return it all since we weren’t buying any. Guess not. Lucky us! We got to keep the 2 free boxes of Christmas cards.

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