Aperture Wide Open; Enter the Light

Why so serious?

2008-07-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Kuya, Andrew, Brittany and I went and saw The Dark Knight last night. Wow...what a great movie! I won't go a lot into it because you should just go see the movie and enjoy it for yourself. Although, it was kind of sad for the obvious reason - Heath Ledger's last role before he died.

In fact, it was the role that brought about his death, and that raises some serious questions. How far do you really take your job? For Heath Ledger and the techniques he used in order to play his role effectively, he took it to his grave. It was a strong performance, though. I haven't seen a character so animated and convincing since Jack Sparrow's debut in Pirates of the Caribbean. But is it praise worthy? When people watch this movie, they are literally watching Heath Ledger lose his mind and - safe to say? - his humanity! I guess there are a lot of people who have lost their lives from doing their jobs (soldiers, police, athletes, missionaries, etc.), so maybe it's all conditional. I'm not sure what kind of answer I have for it, but it has come up in my mind lately because of this movie and Eric's mention of this issue.

SFO

2008-07-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm sitting on the floor in the International Terminal of SFO waiting for my flight at 9:05 am to Seattle. Sure it's only 6:30, but better early than late, right? Thanks to Kuya, I got here very early. I hope that work won't be that bad today since I made him get up much earlier than is reasonable for a working man.

The last two weeks has been a dung-load of traveling. At some point in my life, I'll get tired of all the plane flights and road trips, but right now I've been surprised at how much I really enjoy being in constant motion. It does leaves me in a state unsettledness, which has its downsides (my room is suffering from neglect), but I don't know if I will have the energy later in life to do this much traveling; so I take every opportunity I can get.

Most of the trips I take have been because of business, whether it be for CityTeam or wedding photography, but all these reasons give me an opportunity to be in a completely different place with different people. I think I just like being somewhere that doesn't involve my everyday life. It's new, it's different, and that makes it exciting. But then again...what happens when being somewhere different becomes my everyday life? Traveling all the time could get wearing, but I haven't felt it yet. We'll see if it ever does. But heck, even sitting in airports is fun to me! I guess I'll just have to remember these days when I start to groan about the next plane fight I have to take.

Also, all the traveling is why my blog has been on hold a bit. And the pictures...the pictures! I need to update all of it, but I'm trying. Of course, I always say that. Anyway, Luke should be landing in SFO from LAX any time now. I should be looking out for the guy. We plan to meet up and fly on the same plane up to SEA. We are the traveling masters!

Death and all of his friends

2008-06-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Coldplay has done it! Their new album Viva La Vida is pure gold. I was pretty skeptical about it when they first released "Violet Hill" for free download. It was different, for sure, but I didn't think it was very good. The song was definitely a grower, but it didn't do very well to get me excited for their new album. It wasn't until I saw the new iTunes commercial featuring Coldplay's later released single and theme song "Viva La Vida" that got me more interested and anxious to buy the record.

When I finally got around to purchasing Viva La Vida at Fry's and slipping it into my CD player, I was stunned at how well this record was made. It is just...good! It's definitely a new Coldplay in almost every respect, and I'm really glad that they've taken their music beyond their comfort zone. Their first two albums (Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head) were awesome because of their sound, but by the time their third album X&Y came around, it got pretty repetitive. It was just more of the same old Coldplay, though I can understand that it's hard to follow up an album that came out with songs like "God Put a Smile on My Face," "Clocks," "In My Place," "The Scientist," and every other song that was on A Rush of Blood to the Head. It's a pretty flawless record!

Though X&Y had some great songs, it just didn't have longevity to it. I ended up not playing songs from that album in my iTunes for a long time, and I didn't really miss it either. However, Viva La Vida is different. It is totally new, and the band took their music in a drastically different direction. Instead of Chris Martin's vocals carrying the music through the album, it was all about the music this time. You don't hear a lot of Martin going into falsetto in this one, which I think is very good. It just got old after a while. In fact, in one song ("Yes") he goes lower than I've heard his voice go in any song I can remember from Coldplay. There are a lot of instrumentals going through the whole album. So much other instrumentals, in fact, that there are songs in there where I'm wondering what the guitarists are doing to contribute.

And it all works! I feel the whole theme of this album is the celebration of life and of music. Afterall, this album is titled "Viva La Vida," so lyrically and musically, each song takes you through one aspect of seeing life and then turns you around to see it in a different way - mostly starting about a struggle of some part of life, and then ending by bringing you up to see the joy of living. It's sort of an emotional rollercoaster in that sense, but it's done very well. You will just have to pick up a copy to know what I mean.

But you won't be disappointed. I imagine that Coldplay really pushed themselves to make something completely different and to make it as good as it is, and I'm grateful that they did. By the last song, I ended up saying to myself, "Yeah, this one is a keeper."

Is it better than A Rush of Blood to the Head? It's debatable. I will have to get back to you on that for my opinion.

Bible study galore!

2008-06-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

Earlier in the year, I was involved in about three weekly Bible studies - One at a friend's church on Tuesday, one at work on Wednesday, and one at my roommate's church on Friday. It was really interesting to see the different styles of approaching Bible studies and the group dynamics of each.

Recently, however, the Tuesday Bible study has taken the summer off and won't start up again till the Fall, and I just stopped going to the Friday one because...well...it was on Friday. :) So the only one that is left is the one at work on Wednesday, which is probably the one I would have kept if I had to choose. I've become really comfortable with my CityTeam family, and the group I meet with have great insight on the passages we read. The Bible is designed to more help people who are new to the faith better understand the fundamentals of Christianity, so whoever has the turn to lead that week tries to direct the Bible study in that light. Of course, it really doesn't apply well to us since all of us have been Christians for a significant amount of years now, but it's still good.

So the past Wednesday, we studied Matthew 9:35-38, which is a much shorter passage than we usually study. Not that we were complaining, though. I think one of the key points of the passage was Jesus' compassion for the people, and how important it is for us to have compassion for the unsaved. The more I study Jesus' life and his ministry through the Bible, the more I admire Him. Everything he did, everything he said, it was all perfectly timed and had a point to lead to the beginning of the Church and His Kingdom. Nevertheless, compassion was an incredible amount of what drove Jesus to do what He did...especially on the cross! I hope that one day I can have so much compassion for the people that courage to actually reach out to them will come.

I would have linked to one of my friend's/co-worker's blog about the passage too, but alas! she wrote it on Facebook; so if you're not her friend you can't read it. I'll just not bother with linking it completely.

Where are the photos?

2008-06-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

I know I've been really terrible at posting photos of events in my ordinary life, but I'm trying to get my act together and organize all the photos of the past year and upload them properly on Flickr. I'll let you know when stuff starts to get put up, but know that I'll try to be more frequent with displaying my photos.

Till then, you can look at this picture:

(I'm awesome.)

Turn around...

2008-06-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

...bright eyes...

Rebirth

2008-06-13T00:45:00.000-07:00

After many months of non-posting, I think it's time that I return to this old blog and give it another run. I was pretty burned out on blogging, so I decided to step away from it for a while. I think six months is a good break. I think I'm ready to write on a somewhat regular basis again. At least I left the blog on a pretty good post - a little artsy, kind of feel goody, and sort of timeless. I like it!

The past six months has been a lot. It's been the old job, but done in new ways. It's been hearing the same story through different people, but never told the same way. It's been gaining relationships and losing relationships. It's been sacrifice and suffering, but it's been loyalty and joy. It's been obligation and duty, but it's also care and concern and love. It's been mistakes. It's been good choices.

And after all that's happened in what I made it sound like a lifetime (believe me, I understand that I have no idea what a lifetime feels like), I've found myself pretty much in the exact same place I was a year ago. Some people would find that depressing, lame, emo-sounding, or just plain sad. But it doesn't feel anywhere near the same as last year, and that is what makes it not those things (depressing, lame, etc.).

What makes it feel different? Well, there's always that maturity factor that makes you feel a tad more grown-up with each passing year (yes, even I mature some). And the one thing that probably has matured me the most is God's ongoing lesson to me of suffering. I've been into the concept of suffering for God lately, and this idea that Christians strive to suffer in this world now to gain eternal joy with God in heaven later has become a driving force in my life...sometimes the only driving force in my life.

But what does that mean "to suffer"? I won't go a lot into all that, but I will say this: A part of suffering is accepting what God has given or taken away in our lives no matter what circumstance it brings. It may be in "our favor," so to speak, but it may be not. But it is always in God's favor, and the more we accept the way God has guided our lives, the more we find the joy in Him and not in our flesh or in this world. It also brings about more faith, trust, and courage to lead a more God-centered life.

Of course, this isn't as easy as it sounds. As much as I can say all these right things, it is a completely different story to live it out. I've struggled with this concept from the first day I've really embraced it, I still struggle, and that is all part of the suffering Christians go through in the name of Jesus. He never said the way to the Father was easy. Actually, He makes it pretty clear that it's the hardest thing to do...the most impossible! That is where grace truly shines. We must always remember that it is always God and His good grace and forgiveness that brings us to salvation and to heaven, and I must always be constantly reminded of that when I tell people of this suffering I go through. I will always try to live a life that is totally pleasing to God. I might succeed sometimes, but I will certainly fail most of the time. It's the Spirit that leads me down the right path and God's grace that pulls me back from the wrong paths.

1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Also Jas. 5:10-11; 1 Pet. 2:20-21; 3:17

The Seattle Bunch

2007-11-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

Good friends, good times.

The Evergreen State

2007-11-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

Luke and I went to Seattle to visit Phil and Alisha over the long Thanksgiving weekend. It was a lot of fun with many trail walks, downtown sight-seeing, and visiting monumental spots. I won't write a lot about the trip because it's all thoroughly covered through pictures! All four of us took a lot of photographs, and the they're all properly uploaded onto our Flickr profiles. It's thoroughly documented.

Friday, Day 1

Saturday, Day 2

Sunday, Day 3

Overall, the trip was a total blast. I loved every minute of it, and seeing Phil and Alisha was very fun. I missed them a lot, and I'm glad that they haven't changed...well, except for the obvious ("Hi Noah!!!).

It will be sad to leave, but life moves on. Enjoy the photos!

Reflections | The Job | And its sidekicks | End of the money god

2007-11-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Looking back at this blog and the most recent posts I've made, I have realized that it has been incredibly lame. I haven't been writing nearly enough, and when I write it's primarily on entertainment. My goodness, did I really write something on The Wheel of Time?

Ah, well. I guess that's just how it goes. My heart really hasn't been into blogging anymore. I do get inspiration to write about something, but when it comes down to sitting down and actually writing the blog, I sulk. I guess my inspiration isn't very strong.

However, I do feel I owe it to the readers (ie family and friends) to keep writing. So here it goes!

Update: The post has become extremely long, so I divided it into sections. It gives the illusion that I'm writing in an organized fashion and it's not large rant.

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The job is going okay. The excitement level here at CityTeam resembles something like a roller coaster. Major assignments for a week, then nothing for a week, then major assignments for a week, then nothing, and so on and so on. I'm in the nothing week right now, and it's incredibly dull. Next week will be when the holiday events start, and the media rush starts right along with it. Luckily, I won't be having to work on Thanksgiving day like two years ago, but there is still a hefty amount of work to be done. I'm just prepping all my gear now, blacking-out tapes, checking batteries, cleaning lenses, testing mics. I did all of that in like one day, and now I'm stuck browsing the web reading Warcraft lore, playing Scrabble on Facebook, and writing blogs. :)

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Also, I've been doing a lot of side jobs lately. Many weddings were photographed, a few portraits sessions were had, and even some video editing was conducted. Considering the work ethic and utter hatred I have for photo post-production, I'm terribly backed up. I don't know why I accept more side jobs when I have like three other projects I'm trying to get done, but I do it anyway. I just need the cash, I guess.

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Which actually brings me to something I wanted to write about. It seems whenever I feel somewhat released from financial burdens, something comes up that throws me right back into it. Mainly, it's a major car repair at the very opportune time when I've made a lot of money recently. For a while, I would get really frustrated about it to the point where I would question God's motives. I pray for financial support in any way, and whenever I finally got it, it was taken away. Of course, it was a terrible way of looking at "financial support," but I was seeing it through the perspective that having thousands of dollars in my account was the definition of financial stability.

In reality, God was helping me get through the money problems. Giving me opportunities to make some extra cash prepared me for when my car unexpectedly broke down or when another student loan finally kicked in. Sure, I would have much rather have just had the money without my car having trouble, but if this is how God will teach me to put more faith in Him, then so be it. It's also taught me to really give up my monetary responsibility to God. I struggled with the idea of giving tithes to the church every week when I was in bad financial pickle, but praying about it one last time and dropping the check in the offering basket made me realize that better things have come of it. More discipline, more faith, and my bank account hasn't been negatively affected by giving 10% of my earnings each week ever since I started doing that.

So anyway, I've learned a lot about my faith in God through money. It's pretty exciting, and I give gladly to the offering plate every Sunday now. It's not because I am well in money, but because I know that God is there backing me up. I really owe it to Him to give some of my earnings back, and I love Him more for it.

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Whew! I think that will be all for now. I'm gonna go take my lunch break now. Man, work is just tough sometimes...

Evolve.

2007-10-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, peeps. It's been a while. I hope everyone is doing well.

I recently put together a set of photos that sort of track the progress of my photography. I thought it'd be fun to do, and it was. I wrote a lot of commentary through the whole thing, and I tried to keep it as entertaining as possible, so if you're interested in seeing a lot of photos of me, go have a look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/malabooyah/sets/72157602379491385/

I also put the pictures up on Facebook because I know there are people on there who won't even bother going to Flickr to look at pictures. But then again, this is a different photo set and no one can pass up looking at so many pictures of my awesome self.

The Wheel keeps on spinnin'

2007-09-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Well, three days ago, I learned of some news that I found interesting. Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series, died of a rare disease.

I laughed.

If some of you don't know the status of the WoT series, it isn't complete with the 12th book on its way when Jordan croaked. He had notes that he passed on so that the book can be completed, which will end the series entirely.

Anyway, I read the article reporting this news with laughter in my throat. I just thought of all those hardcore WoT fans gobbling up the newest book as it came out, discussing the characters, the land, and the plot twists. I imagined them delving into the hundreds of pages that served as a glossary for each of those novels to explain more in detail the terms that may not have been described in the main text body. I thought of all those countless hours Jordan spent writing this and the fans spent reading it. And for what? Nothing! I think a final book written by a different author just to resolve the story would hardly be the same. Notes-shmotes, that 12th book won't be the same.

So I laughed.

All those poor shmucks who thought this story was SO AMAZING were totally suckered. I was almost sucked into the WoT movement. I read the first book during my Junior year of high school because of recommendations, and I thought it was excellent. It did remind me much of The Fellowship of the Ring, but I found it forgivable. I then bought the second book and started reading it when I realized something: There are SIX more of these novels that are STILL on the same story with another book on it's way. And from what my friends were saying about the story, there was no end in sight! That's when I put the second book down. Screw...that!

I'm no writer, but having eleven books over 15 years doesn't speak well of your series. To me it confesses bad story-telling, bloated plot-lines, and I can only guess unnecessary tangents. How else could you have gone thousands and thousands of pages on the same story? I'm sorry, Jordan, that's just terrible. Have you ever heard of notes or outlines? Perhaps planning out the whole story before actually putting it down in a narrative sense? Sure Tolkien spent decades planning out LOTR, but at least he was able to write it into a "trilogy." Stuff from LOTR could have been edited out because they were unnecessary to the whole story (the Hobbits' return to the Shire in the book was ridiculous), but all that excess adds up to maybe a hundred pages...I bet you could do without whole BOOKS in WoT.

I also became turned off from the series because of the lack of self-confidence in the characters. Of course, the main character was only beginning his discovery of becoming top dawg when I stopped reading, but I...hate...excessively whiny characters. Rand al'Thor had way too much potential to be one of those types, and I didn't want to deal with that for 10+ novels.

I can't get the feeling out of me that the only reason why the 12th book will finally end WoT is because Jordan KNEW he was dying. Otherwise, I bet he would have gone longer on the series. I guess it was the Wheel of Time's way of saying, "End my suffering already!" You could say that the Wheel of Time for Jordan ended before Jordan could end The Wheel of Time. Man, if that's not irony, I don't know what is...

Jordan, it's sad - it really is - that you've passed away. I'm sure you made an impact in people's lives that doesn't involve your books, but I feel no pity for the WoT and its missing proper, Jordan-written ending.

I went on the web to see if others shared my feelings, and though I found more WoT lovers than haters, I did find an anti-Wheel of Time page. It was so funny, that I thought I should link to it. Be warned that it's a site-design disaster, but the content is priceless.

Being goalie.

2007-09-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

I played goalie this week for the Saturday hockey session I have with the cousins. Good times. It doesn't help me practice being a better skater or stronger puck handler or even a better defensive/offensive player, but it's fun. At least, I find it fun. I don't know if the other cousins are as eager to step up and be goalie rather than go out and skate, but I don't mind it at all. I'm definitely stronger on the glove side rather than stick side, but I think that's because they don't have a set up for a left-hander, so I play as a right-handed goalie (left-handed glove, right-handed stick). It makes stick-side incredibly slow since my right arm is significantly weaker than my left, and I just instinctively want to use my left hand more resulting in a lot of glove saves and not much stick saves.

The whole game on Saturday, though, was really good. A lot of people turned up this time around to make a four-on-four game with a goalie on each team. The past few weeks we'd have boards set up in front of the goals since we wouldn't have enough players to fill in the goalie position. It's always a lot of fun when you get goalies.

It's a shame that there aren't any adult leagues local to the cousins. It'd be fun to form a team and compete against other people. Oh, well. We've done really well doing pickup games for 10+ years, which is pretty amazing if you think about it.

Let's move to Russia!

Frequent Flickrer

2007-09-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've been using Flickr more often now, so that's pretty exciting. Anyway, the latest set is from last Saturday during Labor Day weekend. Relatives threw a picnic, and there are fun shots there. Check them out!

Also, don't forget to go to Dave's set from the picnic. There's a lot more on his set, and he got shots from the volleyball session.

I personally like the connection between these two shots.

Phoenix, Afterwords

2007-09-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

I finally sold my social life out (or what was left of it) and went out to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by myself. Oh, well. It was still quite enjoyable being in an almost empty theater since it's been out for months now. Anyway, the movie was pretty good. I heard a lot of flaws about it that I came in with low expectations, and that only leaves room for satisfaction and none for disappointment. I can see why people wouldn't enjoy this movie as much. It was all over the place, and there were definite references with no explanations. "Yup, you know this makes sense in the book."

Overall, though, I enjoyed it. Considering the heavy amount of content that was in the book, there's gotta be room for forgiveness. Movie adaptations are very difficult, especially for progressing stories like Harry Potter. However, this movie may have pushed me over the edge to start reading the books because there's just too much that doesn't make sense now without proper explanation. And asking people who've read the books to explain it to me just doesn't cut it for me. But anyway, I enjoyed the last part of the movie with all the cool special effects and seeing some real magic users. Not enough romance and drama, though. More Dawson's Creek-esque stories, please.

Collective Soul's new album Afterwords is also pretty enjoyable. It doesn't compete in energy with their previous Youth, except maybe their first track. It's quite mellow with more soft/pop rock, but like all CS music it grows on you. I already loved it by the second listen, which I can't say with a lot of other artist's new albums (ahem...Coldplay...Switchfoot...). If there is something you can count on, it's Collective Soul progressively making good music with unique sound and compelling lyrics. As Luke said, "There is a lot of variety on the album and it is easy to sense how they sort-of sampled different popular (current) styles of music and incorporated that into this album."

One more thing: Harry Potter is the man!

One week left

2007-08-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Oh yes...

Valuable routine | Not X-men | Matchbox return

2007-08-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Now that all my traveling has sort of settled down, I've been trying to get back into routine. A couple of those things is going to church and Bible study. Not that I didn't go to church at all the past two months, but going to one church to another in different cities (and countries), it's just not the same. No connection with the community. I've been able to get back into the young adult Friday night Bible study at one church, and even though I've still have yet to pick a church around here in San Jose, it's nice to go to church closer to home.

And it's paying off. Being around other Christians discussing passages from the Bible is putting me back in a place where I'm more..."spiritually aware," I guess you can say. Even praying with others feels great and not socially awkward. Thinking on the Word and knowing it excites you is an encouraging thing.

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I finished "Heroes" today, the hit new series of last season. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and probably a better take on the story of "mutants rising" that the first "X-men" movie tried to do. But that's not being fair because "X-men" had only three 2-2.5 hour movies to tell the story, and "Heroes" had 23 forty-minute episodes to tell theirs. Even if the battles weren't as fantastical as "X-men," all the government conspiracy, character conflicts, and plot twists made "Heroes" much more complex.

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Matchbox Twenty is coming out with a new album about a month and a half. It's about freakin' time. Their new released single is kind of weird sounding, and I mean that in a "it doesn't sound like Matchbox Twenty" sense. Maybe it's because we've been hearing so much Rob Thomas on the radio lately that it just suffers from that. Pretty poppy, if you ask me. Great drum-work, though.

"Light Gives Heat"; Cowart

2007-08-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

"Catch the rain empty hands
Save the children from their lands
Wash the darkness from their skin
Heroes from the west
We don't know you, we know best
This is not a test

You treat me like I'm blind
Setting fires around houses on the hill
But light gives heat
You segregate my mind
Burning crosses from your fears
The light gives heat"

-Jars of Clay's "Light Gives Heat" from Good Monsters

I was researching on the web for some good African music to back the video, and I gave Jars of Clay's song "Light Gives Heat" a look. It has been on the back of my mind, but I haven't given it much thought because I don't think it'd really fit the footage. I came across an article from JOC's organization Blood: Water Mission that talks about the explanation of the song's lyrics and origin. It was really fascinating to hear Dan Haseltine's view of humanitarian causes for the issues in Africa, and I thought you guys would like to give it a read.

"Light Gives Heat" by Dave Palmer from the Sept. 2006 issue of CCM Magazine

"'Light Gives Heat' is really one of those 'in the moment' songs. This is how we really see the Western world approaching Africa--feeling in this day and age that we know better than Africans how to build their communities, how to heal their wounds, how to serve their sick. But the Western ideas aren't really the better ones; and it really takes Africans owning their place and their community to speak and to serve and to love people well. So that song is part critique of the way the Western world has approached Africa; and, then, the other side is our confessional, trying to be repentant of what we have done to perpetuate some of those bad forms of seeking justice." -Dan Haseltine

Also, Kuya showed me a photographer's website the other day because of its artistic and simplistic design (which totally inspired me, but that's a different topic). The site has an amazing essay on Africa, and the photographer Jeremy Cowart did a great job presenting his photographs.

Jeremy Cowart Photography | Africa

Take a look. He also has studio work with a lot of celebrities that's fun to look at as well.

Gigantic!

2007-08-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

The journal is up on my travel blog: Ethiopia 2007

I had to change the names and be really vague in some information to keep anonymity and safety for the people who work and live there.

Pictures are not up. Those will go up later.

Gone and back.

2007-07-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone. I've been gone off to Africa on business. I got back last Friday, and now I'm working on throwing the journal up on the blog. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it, or if I should at all...

Anyway, the trip was about two weeks long: 11 days in Ethiopia and 3 days in London. The London part was just vacation, really. I really wanted to go to London for a long time, and since we were flying through there going to and from Africa, why not extend the trip a little? :)

Details - and I mean details - later in the journal.

Photo orgy.

2007-06-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Digital photography has made a photographer out of everyone, and because everyone is a photographer, everything gets documented. Our trip to the Philippines is no exception, and you can see the thorough coverage of it on timches.com or on Kuya or Oliver's facebook profiles. "Why not yours, Lem?" you ask? Because I'm lazy. Besides, why post the same pictures on my facebook or myspace or on this blog when it's already posted twice over on other sites?

Right now, I'm in the Hong Kong airport waiting for the dreaded 13+ hour flight back to LA. The only thing that I'm looking forward to on this flight is watching Ghost Rider because we never got to watching it during our time in the Philippines. I was really worried about my trip today because I woke up with a slight fever and some diarrhea (of all days to get sick!), but I'm getting better as the hours go by.

Anyway, I won't talk about the trip that much because the pictures pretty much tell the story. It was definitely a treat, however, to have the whole family back together taking too many naps and eating WAY too much. It's sad to leave because I know it'll be another year and a half before I come back...if I'm lucky.

Ah, well. Back to life, I suppose.

THE PHILIPPINES!!!

2007-05-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

Every time I come to the Philippines, it's like coming home. I don't know what it is, though. This place isn't all that great. The sticky hot weather and the stink from all the pollution in the air should turn me off. Instead I let the sweat run down my face, and I draw in the smog. It's home!

I've been here with the other State-side family members for about four days now. We spent the first three days at Rizal Re-Creation Center, which used to be the well-known to us Faith kids as the Word of Life Camp. It's a lot cooler now, though, with frisbee golf, crochet, along with the swimming pool and waterslide. It even has its own pet monkey! Pictures at timches.com.

So that's it so far. Rock on!

I'm inspired.

2007-05-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

"Supermodels are beautiful girls, Will. A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise.

Promise of a better day.

Promise of a greater hope.

Promise of a new tomorrow.

This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay. The supermodels, Willy? That's all they are - bottled promise. Scenes from a brand new day. Hope dancing in stiletto heels."

-Paul Kirkwood (Beautiful Girls)

Beautiful Girls is one of the best movies of the later 90's, and this quote alone is proof of that.

Sharks and spiders and sand? Oh my!

2007-05-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

Aw...poor Sharks. I am truly saddened about their elimination, but I also feel like they deserved to lose against the Red Wings when giving up games two and four with nothing but carelessness. That and the Red Wings solid team and determination. So now we will just have to watch the Western Conference Finals with the Ducks and the Red Wings. All I have to say is...GO RED WINGS!!! (Freakin' Ducks!)

Over the weekend Kuya and I went and saw Spider-man 3. Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It definitely is NOT better than Spider-man 2...or even Spider-man 1. However, that does not mean that I find it a terrible movie, but it does mean it was not a great movie. It was...alright.

(Warning: Contains major spoilers!)

There has been a lot of complaints about the movie, though, and all the complaints are understandable. For one thing, the emo characteristics to portray Peter's "evil" personality was totally stupid, which ended in a peak of stupidity at a jazz bar scene. I can see why they had this sequence in its total goofiness with him walking down the street (I did like the close up shots of his hands pointing at everyone). It worked really well in Spider-man 2 when they did the sequence of him enjoying life without his powers and super hero responsibility. Nevertheless, it didn't flow as well in this movie, and the emo style (especially the hair) was so out of place even for an evil Peter.

Like X-men 3, Spider-man 3 suffered from too many plotlines and the introduction of too many characters. Hence not enough screen time for either the Sandman or Venom to develop into characters worth caring about. Even Gwen Stacy's character created a lot of problems for the Peter/MJ/Harry love triangle to make it more like a love square, which was sort of dumb in any sense that's not Dawson's Creek-like. Gwen was really nice to look at, though.

In the end, we got a butler confessing to Harry about his observations of Norman's wounds and the Sandman confessing his unintentional yet tormenting killing. That's two too many confessions I think. It just seemed to wrap up two complex plotlines way too conveniently, not to mention that it doesn't make much sense at all. Why would the butler hold such information from Harry for so long and watch his hatred for Spider-man slowly destroy him from the inside? How come Spider-man let Sandman go, even with his heartfelt confession, when he was 1) a giant hammer-fall away from killing Spider-man, 2) was responsible for several bank robberies, and 3) put a lot of lives in danger in the process? Sandman may have had bad luck in the past, but the choices he made by breaking the law are irresponsible. Spider-man, of all super heroes, would understand that this can't be tolerated.

Harry's death didn't bug me at all. I liked Harry's story in this movie a lot (minus the butler confession), especially the conflict between his hatred for Spider-man and his love for Peter Parker. Him sacrificing his life to save Peter's wasn't extraordinary in any way, and probably more predictable than I think, but overcoming his hatred to redeem himself stayed true to the comics. Of course, his death was not conducted in the same way, but character was not compromised in any way.

The Dawson's Creek-esque drama was totally awesome, and they need more senseless love triangles (or squares) in these types of movies. That girly fight between Peter and Harry over MJ at the mansion made me smile. It was like a soap opera episode in a super hero setting. Brilliant!

With the negatives aside, the action sequences were spectacular. From the Goblin's return to the subway fight to the two-on-two showdown, I thought it was all pretty impressive. Although the repetitiveness of MJ falling from the sky was used twice (I count the one with Gwen Stacy) in this movie, it was still cool to watch the different ways she was saved. Goblin and Spidey working together like that was super cool.

With cool action sequences and the key characters not straying from their personalities or roles from the comics, I feel like the movie was fine. The biggest problem I had with X-men 3 was that most of the characters strayed from their personalities found in comics. Wolverine as the main leader? Ha! Magneto feeling guilty once he lost his powers? Ridiculous! Storm being way annoying? Well, I guess that's pretty accurate, but didn't help the other stuff. Even using the serum to disable Magneto was against the X-mens' beliefs they strongly established earlier in the movie.

(End spoilers.)

But I digress. Spider-man 3 was fun and enjoyable and still had a heart for the comics. Most of the problems that were created in the making of this film were from the producers, as I found in this website's comments. It's a shame, really. The movie would have probably been a lot better with just the Goblin and one other villain - either Venom or the Sandman, but not both.

Anyways, I probably won't go seeing it a second time in the theatres. It just wasn't THAT good. I will just go on to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which shows promise. And The Dark Knight looks more and more cool as the months go by. If anyone had doubts about Heath Ledger as The Joker, take a look at this! I got so giddy when I first saw this yesterday. Looks like the Batman franchise has potential to be better than the Spider-man series. Very cool.

Like a mass e-mail.

2007-05-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

Wow...has it really been that long? And to think that my last post was when I was over in the East! You guys probably thought I never made it back and died in a plane crash or something. Heh...Alright, maybe not.

The past month has been full of ongoing projects that even now I need to attend to. Deadlines are coming up in about a week and a half, so I really got to get on those videos. However, since I neglected this blog much longer than I ever intended, I should write something on here. The job has been busy, but it's okay. I welcome busy-ness.

When I'm not occupied with work, I probably get onto Warcraft or play the new Nintendo Wii that was recently purchased. Hurrah! It took a long while to finally find one at retail price. That thing is ridiculous in how much demand it has developed. The ironic thing is that not very many (good) games have been made for it yet, so I'm still waiting for games like the new Super Smash Bros., or Mario Galaxy comes out. But anywho, it was a HUGE hit at Kuya and Chesney's BBQ last week. Their reasons were because they wanted to celebrate my birthday since Dad was in town, but I think they just wanted some excuse to have a BBQ at their place. I'm not complaining because I got presents, and it was a jolly good time.

I've been going to a Friday night young adults Bible study at a church not too far from here. It's one of those huge mega churches, but the Bible study is not unreasonably large. It's been pretty good to get connected with a Christian community again and discuss the Bible and pray together. I did visit the actual church service today to see how it goes, and it's definitely not for me. Any church where you have to spend 20 minutes just trying to find a place to park in a three block radius is not for me. I'll go look elsewhere next week, but I thought I'd give it a chance. There are other reasons why I wouldn't go to the church, but do you really want me to go into that? I thought so.

That's it. I hate giving updates like this on my blog. It's like one of those e-mails you send out to all your friends as an update or newsletter. Just so impersonal, I think. It won't be so next time.

NYC

2007-04-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

New York City was so AWESOME that the word "awesome" just had to be put into all caps, bold, and italics. It really was that jammed pack of awesomeness. Now, people might think I'm crazy saying that New York City is that great because I can see how living in that place could be horrendous. I will clarify by saying that New York City is an awesome place to visit. :)

Josh, one of the staff at CityTeam in Philadelphia, was kind enough to take me into the city, and he even got a couple of his friends to come along. That was really good because I don't really do well hanging out with newfound friends if it's just me and him.

Anyway, it was a definite plus that they're all around my age, and we had a blast just walking the streets. The places we hit were Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and we walked Broadway St. to check out all the broadway shows that were playing and whatnots.

I really wanted to taste a New York pizza to see if it was all that "everyone" said, so we went to a hole-in-the-wall (I love hole-in-the-wall places) pizza joint for lunch. It was a really good pizza, but it wasn't amazing. Dinner was at D&B, and that was pretty sweet. I've never been to a D&B, so I thought my first time would be grand if it was in New York. :)

Times Square was probably my most favorite place that we visited. We never got to the Empire State Building mainly because we were told that it was way expensive to get a ticket for a ride to the top. It would have been awesome to get an aerial shot of New York, but I can do without. I wanted to see Ground Zero as well, but that's pretty out of the way.

Pictures will be up on my Flickr account when I get to them. I looked at a couple, and they're pretty cool. I definitely want to go back at some point and take more pictures. I had a small taste of New York and now I want more!

Philly, Wonder Years, New York

2007-04-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

I landed in Philly around 8 pm, which was kind of late but not at the same time. I slept the majority of the trip, and my body clock was still set to 5 pm. Nevertheless, I was exhausted. I don't know what it is about long trips, but you always end up being really tired after you reach your destination.

Anyway, so by the time I got to CityTeam, ate some dinner, and got settled in my room, it was around 9:30. Chester, Philadelphia is one rundown town. I don't think I saw one building that looked somewhat new or kept up. It was pretty amazing to me. Even though I've been here before, it just looked worse. Maybe it was because last time I came during winter, and everything always looks pretty awful in sleet and ice.

Before I went to bed, I turned on the TV to see if anything was on. What do I come to find? The Wonder Years, baby! And not just one episode but two back-to-back! I was about to cry, but I kept laughing from the all the brilliant dialogue and terribly awkward moments in the show. It was the old episodes where Kevin was an idiot. He was an innocent idiot...but an idiot nonetheless. Where Paul was athletically challenged, and Winnie was cute and sweet and still waiting for Kevin to come to his senses.

Actually, after watching the first episode, I realized how well-written it was. It wasn't only a story about one boy's experiences during his teenage years, but it was also a commentary on U.S. history during the 1960's. I don't think shows do that anymore. Shows today don't take a teenager's life and intertwine historical events into it to guide him through the decisions he makes. Ultimately, though, it was just about a boy and a girl and their journey together through the most defining years of their lives. Much like Dawson's Creek (also an amazing show for different reasons), but a whole lot better. The Wonder Years...man, they really need to put that show on DVD.

Onto other things: Tomorrow is Good Friday, which means it's a holiday for Christians. That also means that there isn't anything happening here at CityTeam, so I get to spend my holiday here in the East. I expressed my strong interest in New York, so one of the staff here offered to take me there tomorrow. New York, baby! I've always wanted to go, so I'm totally excited. Sorry, Kuya, no picture next to the Rocky statue. A shame...but I'll sacrifice the Rocky statue for Times Square, the Empire State Building, Union Station, and Ground Zero. It's like a photographer's dream, which a lot of photographers already had. But I haven't, and that's what matters!

Alrighty, that's all for now. I can't wait till 10 tonight where I can watch more The Wonder Years. Yeah!

A post...with wings!

2007-04-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm thousands of feet up in the air going at the speed of hundreds of miles an hour. I'm traveling to Philadelphia to do some video work for the CityTeam location there, but right now I can't get over how cool it is that I can write a blog entry while in midair. Of course, I'll have to post this on my blog later but whatever.

The trip out is very exciting, though I'm a bit bummed that I'll be missing my first hockey game in the C-league, which is tonight. I'm now on Kuya and Andrew's team, so it'll be fun to play with them. My skills could use a little more work to really keep up with the players, so I hope that the games will help me improve. The D-league, however, is still going and I still have one more game on Monday. We lost in the playoff game, so we'll be playing for third place. That was a huge disappointment for me personally because I played awful. I played such a terrible defensive game, and it really bugged me. We just got pummeled which shouldn't have happened at all. I wouldn't have been so worked up about the loss if the team was exceptionally better than us, but that isn't the case. We could beat those guys, but instead we lost really badly (score was 4-1). Stupid.

I'm going to buy one of these expensive airplane meals because I can write it off as a business expense. Love it.

Beauty in ministry.

2007-03-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Work has demanded my weekend time for the past few weeks. Even though I've had to give up Saturday morning hockey with the cousins, the work has been good. With deadlines coming up in about a month and a half, I have to finish three videos, so I've been going from location to location grabbing footage to use.

The most compelling place I've gone to so far is San Francisco's CityTeam where they do ministry work in the low-income hotels along 6th Street. These hotels consist of low-lit hallways and thin walls. One-person bathrooms are shared by all, and the showers don't have locking doors. The room is just big enough for a bed, a table, and a chair, and most are only lit with the resident's television. What got me the most was the smell - a mixture of body odor, rotten wood, and urine. I've encountered similar smells before down an abandoned alley or an unkept public bathroom; such odors should never linger where someone sleeps.

I walked with volunteers through these hallways listening to them offer food and prayer. The group that day were regulars who knew the people living in these rooms, and it was encouraging to see people of wealth build relationships with those who can barely afford a lamp to light their room. These volunteers are truly acting from their hearts as they hand these people groceries. The volunteers come as messengers of Christ, praying with these people and lifting them up. They come, in all their success, to offer a Life in that they can only hope to fully succeed. They come, in spite of all they own, to tell them of a Home even they long for with every part of their being.

Lord, take us home!

Respect the Old Ones.

2007-03-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

You begin to realize the impact one artist has in the music industry - in this case, the Christian music industry - when he can bring five major artists or groups together to sing one of the most well-known songs in its genre. Now that's a powerful song!

Friends 2003

This version of "Friends" is like revisiting those first five years when I was beginning to define my musical taste for the very first time (and yes, Kuya, I owe you for bringing me into CCM as it began to boom). Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Avalon, Point of Grace, and Mac Powell, the lead singer of Third Day...simply amazing.

Michael W. Smith, I salute you.

Could have most definitely done without Avalon, though. Yeah, most definitely...

Another song that brought together an ensemble of amazing musical artists is "All for Love." Man, you can't go wrong with Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, and Sting singing together as one. Yeah!

With all my love,
Lem

P.S. It's been quite busy around here with my job. I'll have to write about it in my blog sometime. Stay tuned.

The greatest fear.

2007-03-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

"I think one of the most simple ways to think about hell, without having to deal with all of the problems that arise out of explaining and interpreting all this imagery that's so ghastly, is to just think of this concept: That God is just; God is holy. And if God is holy and God is just, I'm gonna have to stand before Him. And I'm not just, so whatever happens in that environment is bad news. And it's a dreadful thing to contemplate: To ever think you're going to have stand naked before a righteous and holy God. My only hope is to have my sin covered by one who's acceptable to God - being covered by the righteousness of Christ. And I say to people, '"Think about it! What would you do if you had to stand before God...naked?'"

-R.C. Sproul

This scares me deeply. I've always been fearful of the idea that I was not a child of God afterall, and I would face the eternal punishment of God when my life ends or Christ returns. But I do have the confidence of the Spirit in me guiding me through my life, so even when I sin and fall back to square one, I know that God is still with me. :) Yet I will continue to strive to be someone God can always call one of His own.

Fill me.

2007-03-06T17:16:00.001-08:00

Last week, I drove down to So Cal to visit friends. It was cool to see the college buddies, and to get back into that college state of mind...except now I had money to spend. I love it.

I got to visit the church I regularly attended in Ventura too, and that was great. I miss being involved in a church, so it was fun to visit EPC. Especially since the worship band I was part of lead worship that Sunday. :)

The sermon wasn't life-changing or anything, but Pastor Anderson did make an interesting point that made me think a little bit. The sermon was on John 6:35 and 6:55-56, and one thing that Pastor Anderson said was the the disciples had no idea what Jesus was talking about. Which is mostly true. The disciples weren't very sharp, but considering that Jesus was trail-blazing a whole new theology for Christianity, it's understandable why the disciples were confused all the time. The fact that Jesus taught in such a strange style probably didn't help either.

Anyway, that's beside the point. I really gleaned on the thought that the disciples hardly ever understood what Jesus was talking about unless He explained it them or until Jesus' ascension. At that point, the Spirit came down and filled the Apostles. With the direction of the Spirit, they were able to go out and preach everything that Jesus taught. It's not break-through thinking, but I really love the idea that we cannot be witnesses of Christ at all without the Spirit empowering us with the words to say and the actions to do.

Along these lines, I've also been listening to the Ligonier Ministries podcast with R.C. Sproul, and he talked on the "The Authority of Apostolic Teaching" (you'll need to scroll down and look for the titled podcast). Go have a listen when you have the time.

The year of opportunity!

2007-02-13T00:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, guys! The other day, I came up with the ultimate birthday celebration. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that I can only do this year. I will be turning 24 years-old in May, so to keep the number in theme we will be having a 24 marathon. It will be a whole week long, and we will watch 24 non-stop from the beginning of Season One to the end of Season Six. It's so brilliant I could cry!

Of course, we can't go six days straight with no sleep. We will start each season according to what time that specific season starts, and sleep in between seasons depending on what time the next season starts.

Also, I decided to start this party the week before my actual birthday. The first day will start at 12 am on Saturday, April 28, 2007, and it will end at 6 am on May 4. At the end of Season Six we will take a power nap, and then head over to a movie theatre. Why? For the opening day of Spider-man 3!

So free up your calendar from April 28 to May 4 because it's gonna be one AWESOME week! This is planned out better than a terrorist attack on 24!

The first five days.

2007-02-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

I started my job with CityTeam last Monday, so I survived my first working week as a professional. Awesome. Most of the time was spent setting up my cubicle for optimal working efficiency, discussing a number of projects that need, or will need, working, and installing programs on the new MacBook Pro (YES!!!!) that was provided for me.

I uploaded images of my cubicle on my Flickr account. Go take a look!

Moving on, I thought this was interesting. For those of you who like trying to find God in U2's music, give it a quick glance.

"And I come back to you now..."

2007-02-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

There have been some drastic changes in my life since October 2006. Because of these changes, I have a little more time (and much more motivation) to start up this blog again. I'm sure most of you who read my blog regularly have given up hope for my daily journaling, but at least I haven't given up hope, yeah? Yeah...

Graduation!

That's right, folks! I finally graduated from college, and I can now tell people that I am a "professional photographer." At least, in the journalistic sense. Now clients will take me more seriously and my freelancing price rates will rise! Oh, yes...I will be filthy rich by Spring.

Anyway, I graduated on December 22, which is pretty much the worst day to set a commencement ceremony. But friends and family were able to attend the event, and I really appreciate all those who were there (and those who very much wished they could be there).

So long, my Ventura friend!

After graduation, I moved out of my studio-like room at the Bozarths in Ventura and into Kuya and Chesney's office room in Scotts Valley. They have been much more than generous to let me stay at their place while I try to find my own place and make enough money to actually rent that place out. :) If you're ever up in Nor Cal, look me up.

Leaving Ventura was no tear-jerker by any means. I do miss the friends I've made both at school and church very much. Being involved with a church community was refreshing, and I hope that I can find one up here that I can be equally involved (if not more). There isn't any other family I would have rather stayed with than the Bozarths as I went through my time at Brooks. They welcomed me with open arms, and I felt right at home with them; so I miss them dearly.

I think the saddest thing is when I had to give my key back to Jane, and I had to start knocking at the front door just to get in. That was just too weird.

Working man

I was incredibly fortunate to land a job straight out of college. CityTeam Ministries was so wow-ed by my internship that they wanted me on their staff full-time. I took the offer with almost no hesitation. I really enjoyed the job, the people are more than great, and the cause behind CityTeam is an God-honoring effort that I've always wanted to use my skills to support. God has truly blessed me with such an opportunity.

My position title is Multi-Media Specialist. Cool, huh? It probably sounds cooler than it actually is. I do the photography and video production for the organization, documenting events and covering stories within CityTeam. Putting together videos, slideshows, podcasts (maybe), and other media-related things to show to donors and contributors are also things that I do.

Of course, something so easy as getting "officially" hired so I can actually start working for CityTeam took about a month to actually happen. So what did I do in the mean time?

Oh, puck!

I joined the in-line hockey league in Scotts Valley, and that's been a lot of fun. I signed up for the D-league (the lowest league out of four) because I feel I need a lot more practice before getting into the C-league, which is where Kuya and Andrew play. Our team is pretty good, and I'm really enjoying the game and all it's insides and outs. I definitely need more practice, though, if I want to join Kuya and Andrew's team next season. :) At least I can keep up with most D-league players. We've play three games so far, and I've been averaging one goal and one assist every game, so that's cool.

I also try to play with the cousins up in Vallejo every (dry) Saturday. There I play goalie (I play mostly forward on the league team), which is always an interesting experience. I guess I should try playing other positions to practice skating and puck handling, but no one ever wants to play goalie. Since I don't mind it at all, I just step up to play the position.

It's too bad that there isn't a good consistent league up where the cousins live. They are definitely C-league material, and it'd be really fun to see them form a team and compete.

This land is Outland.

As much as I tried to deny this fact, it's true: World of Warcraft has taken over my life. Ha! Okay, so it's not THAT extreme. It's not like I quit my job, shunned all my friends, deprived myself of sleep, and barely ate just to be the best in the game. Someone did that, by the way, and everyone ridiculed of the player. Total loser.

But Warcraft has become a huge gaming hobby of mine. So if you ever jump on the Warcraft band wagon (along with the eight million other players), look me up. You can go to my Warcraft Social Network profile - the myspace of Warcraft players. Haha! I'm such a dweeb.

This is the update thus far...other than having a great Christmas celebration, a crazy New Year blast off, and a sloppy yet entertaining Super Bowl. I've also cleaned up the blog a little bit by deleting old, unvisited links. If your link got deleted or was never added to the list and you feel it should be there, let me know.

Other than that...

ROCK ON!!!

Good Monsters

2006-10-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

"[This record] was born out of many experiences and conversations between addicts, failures, lovers, loners, believers, and beggars. And so the language of recovery and the honest discourse about our attempts to live apart from God and apart from each other is a theme. Engaging people who are doing the hard work of laying their lives open to others, and avoiding isolation, has allowed me to see that there is both immeasurable evil and unfathomable good mixing under my own skin and it is grace, mercy and freedom that allow me to not simply be a monster, but to be a good monster.” -Dan Haseltine (lead vocals for Jars of Clay)

The new album Good Monsters by Jars of Clay is awesome. One thing I appreciate about this band is they may not write new songs in music that is "popular" right now, but they always write good music. I also love that they always try new things. They may not sound like they did in their first album, but I'm glad they've still been able to make quality stuff that's made a huge impact in the Christian music community.

Drifting...

2006-09-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get my posting habit back. I was talking with Luke this weekend trying to figure out why blogging slowly phased out of my interests. He brought up my first days of blogging and the reason why I took it up in the first place: to improve my writing skills.

That point made me realize how far I've drifted from the original intent of this blog, yet I can hardly see it as a bad thing. I look back on my posts in 2004, and I almost cringe reading them. It just feels like I tried too hard. Well, that was the point, I guess.

Now the blog has turned into something very common - a space on the web where someone writes about the dailies in their lives. Sometimes about things very ordinary, but it's usually extraordinary (who likes to read about ordinary things all the time?). Most of the time it isn't written particularly well. But that's okay. I'm fine with that. I don't need to be intellectual in every post, but I darn sure hope I do in some of them...and I hope it's a fluke because it's just cool to be smart on accident.

Well, look at time. Now it's off to bed...off to bed...

I'm back...or am I?

2006-09-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys. I've been taking a hiatus from this blogging thing. It wasn't intentional, but it happened. Anyway, I feel like I owe my loyal readers another post. That or I'm sitting here Joe and Luke and they're giving me a hard time for not posting on my blog. Either way, it got me posting.

So life is good. I wish I could write a detailed journal of my happenings for the past two months, but that would just be way too long. Just know that life is good. That doesn't mean everything is going my way, but everything is going God's way. That makes life good.

I'll try to write more in here. See you guys around.

Done!

2006-07-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, I finally got those darn pictures up on Flickr. Hurray!

Click here to find the sets.

That is a nice place to have your pictures displayed. I think I'll use it more often.

The itsy, bitsy spi-SMASH!

2006-07-07T00:42:00.000-07:00

I went to the bathroom and found a spider hanging in front of the mirror. It was quite a monster, actually. Looked different from any spider I usually saw. Had like a black back and some red on it. I guess a lot of spiders have that, but I got all sketchy about it. I was almost tempted to let it bite me to see if it did anything...in a non-super powers type of way. But instead I took toilet paper, smashed the spider with it, threw the papery-spider-gutsy wad into the toilet, and urinated all over it. I'm sure I'll be haunted in my dreams later tonight.

Later I went on the internet and looked at pictures to see if I killed anything worthy. Nope. Wasn't a black widow or a brown recluse. The recluse, actually, gives me the creeps. I mean, have you seen pictures of recluse wounds? (Warning: the picture is REALLY gross!) Anyway, so now that I've totally scared myself of recluse destruction, I'm going to be checking my bed about three times before sleeping. I'm a wuss.

They're my friends too!

2006-07-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's midnight, and I will begin the third season of Friends. Thanks Nem!

UPDATE #1: It's 3 pm on the first day, and I'm half way through the season. I love summer!

UPDATE #2: After a long break, I started watching again in the late evening and killed all but two episodes. It's 2 am. I'll finish it tomorrow.

UPDATE #3: Done! I managed to finish a whole season of Friends in less than two days. It's like when I watched Dawson's Creek: Season Three with Tim Machlan in three days. That was heaven.

Melting pot.

2006-07-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I had the privilege of eating out every meal. Yum.

Breakfast was with Luke at a Panera Bread restaurant. It was a simple meal of an everything bagel with sundried tomato cream cheese and a coffee. Nothing special, though Panera is a great place to get bread-like things; you can go there for more than just breakfast.

Lunch was at some Japanese restaurant with Phil and Alisha. It was a much simpler and casual Japanese restaurant than I've usually gone too, but it was still tasty. Teriyaki beef with rice, tempura, and California rolls (would have gotten sushi, but it wasn't in the combo meals...oh well).

Dinner was spent with Joe, Nate, Kathryn and her sister Emily at a Thai place called Renu Nakorn. It's actually frequented by many Biola students, and even more frequented by Joe and his MC gang. Had a meal called Pad Thai, which was a lot of noodles and veggies and peanut sauce (at least, I think that's what I tasted). Awesome. Loved it.

Of course, it was Friday night after that, so I couldn't be a loser and just go home. Time to party! Heh, not really. But the group from the Thai dinner went back to Nate's place and watched a Bollywood movie called Veer-Zaara, which was surprisingly good. I thoroughly the story, and the acting wasn't half bad either. It REALLY bugged me, however, that the voices they got to sing for the actors (it was a musical) didn't match with the actors voices at all. Also, it was three hours long. That didn't gel with me much either.

Then we followed that up with a wonderful Hollywood-ized movie called Mean Girls. I love that movie.

So I sort of embraced like four different cultures in one day. Well okay, it's more like three if you don't count Mean Girls. I did because it was about a girl who homeschooled in Africa. That's good enough, right?

The pictures of my outdoor extravaganzas haven't been put up yet! I need to find a computer with some kind of image-editing capabilities. It's pretty frustrating to be around computers good enough to run such programs, yet they don't have any of them installed! Ugh!

What a nerd!

2006-06-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Just came back from watching Superman Returns. What a fun movie! I don't know too much about the Superman story from the comics, so I can't say too much about that. But coming in almost completely clueless about Superman lore, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I guess I can understand why X-men 3 was such a big hit for those who aren't dorky enough to delve themselves in the X-men comic book universe.

Anyway, I really liked how it paid tribute to the classic Superman movies from the Reeves days. I smiled when I saw the cheesy fonts for the opening credits, and Clark Kent is a total dweeb. Lots of fun moments. I did think that Lois was a bit irritating a lot of the time, but I didn't know if she's supposed to be like that or if that was just Bosworth's acting; however, it wasn't hard to get past that, and she was, for the most part, likeable. The rest of the characters were spot on from what I could tell (Spacey is too awesome as Lex Luthor).

I sort of dragged Joe into watching it with me because I didn't want to watch it opening night by myself. I mainly wanted to see it so soon because Oli is in Indonesia and I want to rub it in his face that I got to see it opening night and he didn't...as he's done to me countless times before.

Also, I hate the movie audience these days. The whole clapping and cheering thing when something cool happens is way too annoying. One real treat was seeing the new Spider-man 3 teaser on the big screen, but I didn't need everyone clapping at the end of it. "Lameness" is the word that comes to mind.

I've been doing a lot of outdoorsy type things the past week, and I have lots of pictures to prove it. I just haven't had time or been in a place that has proper programs to let me edit the photos so I could upload them. I'll let you know when I get them up finally; I hope to upload them by the end of this week. I'll probably end up doing the Flickr thing, so I'll tell the stories of those trips through the pictures and captions instead of writing a blog about them. That would be more fun, I think.

A gathering of Faith.

2006-06-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Oh, right. I still have this blog up on the web - I guess I should write in it then. Especially when I get lame comments in my blog like "yawn" or "post post post!" But they're usually from the same people who have nothing better to do with their lives, so I guess it's okay. ZING!

The result of the wedding in Minnesota was A-okay. It was better than that, actualy, it went very well. There was a lot of stressing going on with the bride and her family, and it was kind of humorous. Heh. I did help with some of the prepping, but not much. I was the photographer. For some reason, people think that makes me a very delicate thing too valuable to give other, trivial tasks. Not that I'm complaining.

Anyway, the wedding was fun. Like all weddings between two kids from Faith Academy, it was like a mini high school reunion. It was good to catch up with some people I knew from five years ago...when the only thing you worried about was who to ask to the Junior/Senior banquet. I got to hear knews about who got hitched and what others in our class are doing now they're out of college. All of us even went out to Chili's after the wedding for dinner, and I ate a whopping meal since it was the only thing I had eaten that day (except strawberries and bananas with those chocolate fondu fountain things that are the new rave for weddings now). We all didn't go to Starbucks, though. That would have been the most corny Faith pastime for us to do.

I think I forgot to mention who the two people were who got married. Oops. It was Steve Krueger and Amber Larson. Congratulations to you both!

Here's a shot of all the Faith Alumni that attended the wedding because we like to take that picture. Enjoy.

Things.

2006-06-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

Oli called me tonight telling me that he's at the airport heading off on his missions trip to Indonesia. I completely forgot that he was leaving soon, so it was a bit of a surprise. It was fun, though, to talk to him a bit before hanging up and continuing with playing Settlers with the guys. Him going off overseas just made me wish I was out of school now and going out documenting some extreme situation in a missionary's life. It'll take me a decade or two to get to that point, I imagine. Oh, well. As long as I get there.

I am also flying out to Minnesota on Thursday to photograph a wedding during the weekend. Two old high school friends are getting married, though they were not a couple in high school. To be honest, I didn't expect them to be an item...ever. I don't know why; I guess I never thought about it till it happened. Anyway, it's exciting to see two high school buddies get hitched. It's a bigger plus since I'll see a lot of my other high school friends at the wedding.

Problem: I don't really have a game plan as to how I'm going to shoot this thing.

Usually, I have some kind of idea what I'll do. By now I would have organized my camera gear and made sure I have the appropriate things to make me an effective wedding photographer. I didn't really do much preparing yet for this trip. Same thing happened last weekend where I photographed a wedding up North in Sacramento, but at least I partnered up with another friend to shoot that one. It went extremely well, and I was excited (and a bit relieved) that the pictures turned out so great. I hope I am that fortunate this weekend. I'm not too worried. God is watching over me. :)

I didn't vote today for the California Primary Elections, but I did photograph it. Does that count?

Why are they doing this to me???

2006-05-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

X-MEN 3!!! YES!!!

Okay, this will most likely contain MAJOR spoilers to X-Men: The Last Stand. If you haven't seen this movie, then please please please don't read this post.

-----------------------------------------

What can I say...There is nothing better than being really inspired by a movie to bring me out of a blog-fast (actually, it was more blog-laziness). But I just have to say that X-Men: The Last Stand sucked so badly that it is a disgrace to the X-Men story.

However, I will say first that, if seen as purely an action flick with nothing attached at all, it's a pretty good movie. That said, I feel that the director, writers, and producers have no respect to the X-Men story. Twenty minutes into the movie, I was hunched over in my seat with my head in my hands sobbing quietly. I was willing to let Cyclops' death go when it happened, but when they started killing Professor X, making Mystique lose her power, and introducing Multiple Man as a bad guy, I just about lost it. I seriously considered walking out of the movie when Professor X died. You just don't kill Professor X!

I really don't understand why the story was written the way it was. I think they were trying way too hard to finish up the movie franchise, and they had to kill off everyone in order to make it conclude. Everything about the film was like an anti-X-Men movie. It bugged me that Wolverine took on the leadership role. Magneto losing his power at the end and being remorseful ("What have I done?") was way out of place. Storm was incredibly annoying. Rogue decided to be injected with "the cure"! Everyone was TOTALLY out of character. There is no way Wolverine could be a good leader for the X-Men. No one really seemed to stand strong in their beliefs on the issue at hand. The X-Men were totally against using the cure, but they ended up using it anyway to stop Magneto. It was too confusing introducing Angel as a boy at the beginning of the movie when you hardly ever see him for the rest of the movie. Phoenix looked more like she was demon-possessed instead of...well, a phoenix. It was like Brett Ratner had never seen the two previous movies or read any of the comics and did everything on his own. The movie didn't feel right and was too rushed all the way through.

Also, everything was so unresolved by the end. You never know who Iceman decided to be with. (Which is, by the way, the only subplot I enjoyed in the movie. It reminded me so much of Dawson's Creek. Yeah!) You don't find out if Angel's father apologized to his son and changed his ways, or still believed that mutants were infected with a disease. Pyro disappeared. I actually don't remember what becomes of the whole issue of the "cure," but I just might have missed it because I was so pissed about everyone dying in the dumbest ways possible.

Oh, and seeing the three tombstones of Xavier, Cyclops, and Jean Grey was like a big slap in the face. In just under two hours, I witnessed three of the original X-men die. The whole movie I was like, "Why are they doing this to me?" I felt like the writers were trying to figure out the best way to destroy the X-men story and piss off fans of the comics. Plus the story to this movie wasn't even that good! Mainly because they tried to do two main stories, but neither of them developed well. They should have just stuck with either the cure or with Phoenix. Too many mutants were introduced that it was like an overload and we didn't get to know any of them really. The only person I really cared about at the end of the movie was...hold on, I didn't care about anyone. Wolverine was cool, but I couldn't get past the idea of him being one of the leaders of the X-men now. That's Cyclops' job, gosh dang it!

I am angry at Ratner. I am angry at Halle Berry for demanding to having a larger role. I am angry at Bryan Singer for leaving to do Superman and never finishing what he started with X-men. I am angry at James Marsden for tagging along with Singer. I am angry that Marsden again for deciding to come back at the last minute, so Cyclops' character was sort of forced into the movie only to be killed in such a lame way. I'm am angry at Stan Lee for letting this movie get produced. I'm even angry at just being angry.

There are good things to the movie, though, but I won't go into those because they're just petty things compared to the bad. This movie is an abomination. It's another one of those things where you deny it ever existed, like The Matrix was never a trilogy or there were never Episodes 1-3 in the Star Wars saga. At least in the first two movies of X-Men they never comprimised the characters personalities to fit their story. I agree that you got to leave room for directors to make unique stories for the movies, but X-3 didn't give any respect to the comics whatsoever, and I'm insulted by everything that happened in that movie.

What a freakin' waste! By the way, I did stay to the very end of the credits to see that Professor X does indeed survive by tranferring his mind into another body. That is also unacceptable because now we have a Professor X that isn't bald and in a wheelchair. That is just dumb.

Significantly changing story is bad. How would LOTR fans respond if Peter Jackson decided to make Faramir give up his integrity to please his father or had the elves come to the rescue at Helm's Deep? Oh, wait a minute...

Let my contrite heart rejoice.

2006-04-04T01:04:00.000-07:00

God, be merciful to me,
On Thy grace I rest my plea;
Plenteous in compassion Thou,
Blot out my transgressions now;
Wash me, make me pure within,
Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

My transgressions I confess,
Grief and guilt my soul oppress;
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face;
I confess Thy judgment just,
Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.

Some guy - Richard Redhead, I believe - wrote music and put the lines from Psalm 51 into it, and it's beautiful. I have to thank Jars of Clay for singing this song in their Redemption Songs album because I don't know if I've ever heard it before. Anyhow, it's had such a huge effect on me that I've read Psalm 51 as a prayer for the past few days now.

As Easter nears, I've been thinking a lot about how I've been dealing with my actions and my sins against God. Sometimes I feel I am taking advantage of Christ's sacrifice and abusing God's mercy and grace. Jesus' death and resurrection shouldn't be taken so lightly to sin so freely yet do nothing about it. This has been on my heart.

This hymn has been a wonderful song of repentance and redemption to me. I read Psalm 51 with such sincerity it almost brings me to tears. Sin is rampant in this world; it is rampant in me! Let's all remember Easter everyday of the year, and let's always go through everyday in a Christ-like manner. It's impossible for us, but something we should strive for.

I am evil, born in sin;
Thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Savior art,
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;
Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,
Wash me whiter than the snow.

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just,
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice;
From my sins O hide Thy face,
Blot them out in boundless grace.

A God-made shower.

2006-03-29T01:44:00.000-08:00

How come no one told me that Magnolia was three hours long? I started that movie at 9 thinking it would be over around 11 pm, but noooooooo! Interesting movie. Not sure if I understood the point of it all, but that's okay. I was thoroughly entertained trying to understand it.

I was going to write a lot more than this, but now I can't remember exactly what I was going to write about. Something profound or interesting I observed today. I can't remember. I'll say that the rain was very welcomed despite the fact that it canceled all the baseball games I was planning to photograph. I stood outside for a while with my face towards the sky. It felt like God was crying about something today, but it was like a joyful cry because I felt very happy to be standing out there. Everyone should enjoy rain outside rather than inside.

As David would title this, "Tidbits."

2006-03-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

Brooks demands a lot from us poor students. It's nice that they want to make these classes as close to the "real world" as possible like having assignments with one-hour deadlines and all that jazz. But it sucks when you don't have a laptop and can't transmit your photos while out in the field. I guess it's expected that you have a laptop by the time you enter your final year here. Unfortunately, I haven't quite given into taking out an extra hefty loan just to buy myself a laptop. They make us buy our own digital cameras along with its accessories, it's pretty absurd that I would have to go out and spend an extra $1500 for a decent laptop.

I shouldn't complain. I'm the one who chose to come to this school. What was I thinking???

Anyhow, things have been pretty hectic. Friday and Saturday were especially crazy, and I was completely burned out by Sunday. Being a bum never felt more rewarding than today. Yesterday I had a gig with The American Enterprise Magazine to shoot four family portraits for an article. The growing Catholic community has created its own sub-culture in Santa Paula, and so they needed someone to get portraits of the families and the Father of one of the churches there. The pictures turned out okay. They could have been better, but then again...they can always be better. Because the lights I brought malfunctioned, I was stuck using my one and only flash. Oh, well. Things happen. I'm getting paid for this, so I'm happy. Hopefully the art director of the magazine will be happy too. :P

A couple weeks ago I watched the entire Firefly series and Serenity. I've been meaning to do that for a while now, and it was well worth the three days spent watching it. One of the better sci-fi shows that came out in the last few years. It's a shame that it got canceled after its first season. Fox should have known better. Well, Fox should just know better about a lot of things.

I also saw V for Vendetta last week, and Inside last night. I enjoyed both of them. Natalie Portman never ceases to amaze me with her superb acting skills and her awesomely good hotness. Clive Owen is the bomb. Denzel Washington actually plays a role where he's calm 90% of the movie and isn't screaming at the top of his lungs. It's sort of funny the only role that Hugo Weaving can land is one where he doesn't show his face, but he played V very well. The action is good in "V for V." Inside Man is clever and the story was well-delivered.

Oli and Nem came to visit for Saturday, and that was a lot of fun. We went out to lunch at the Habit. Hung out and watched lots of Family Guy. The Bozarths threw a party to honor Morgan's acheivement in running in the LA Marathon last week. Makes me feel like a bum. Oh wait...I am. Anyway, Oli and Nem didn't mind the party much, but I could tell they didn't have a blast. That's okay because we left early to watch Inside Man. We win.

Oh yeah, I finally compressed a video slideshow of my photographs over the years for the web, so you can view that now here. I threw a link to it on my blog a while back, but I sort of did it in a subtle way; and only the most keen of internet surfers could catch it. Anyway, that was a low-res version of it, this one is a higher-res and much bigger version. It's about 30 mb, so be patient.

Enjoy life!

What the deuce?

2006-03-22T03:19:00.000-08:00

I'm up at 3 am blog surfing. I'm so awake, and I don't know why. I'm going to blame Starbucks for their mocha that I had at 8 pm. You would think that coffee couldn't keep you up for seven hours, so it must have been something else. I'm not willing to just blame myself, so I'm going to blame Bush because everyone likes to blame Bush.

Gatorade, Cash, and Barbie-Doll Legs

2006-03-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

Gatorade is the bomb. I may like it even more than soda, which is saying a lot, but I get a better feeling like I'm being more healthy drinking Gatorade. Soda is just bad for you overall and makes no attempt to being beneficial, at least Gatorade gives the illusion that it can fuel you for the day (without using caffeine).

Anyway, I'm in sports photography this session. Now I need to go out and actually photograph people and go up and talk to human beings. Not because I want to get to know them, but because I want caption info. Who do you think I am, some kind of people person? Though, I'm looking forward to taking pictures of sports since I like them in general. I'm hoping to cover the track and field event at APU tomorrow, and I'm going down to LA for the marathon on Sunday. Awesome. I'm already hoping to take some pretty dang awesome pictures. I just wish my Nikon D70 was cooler than it is right now, which is not very cool at all. I'll manage.

Tim and I jammed last night from 7-10. That's a pretty long time to mess around on guitars and drums, but it was good. We mostly played worship music, and it was nice to do that for three hours. Not only is it good to sing praise to God for three hours, but it was a good time to practice. We even hooked up a mic, and I got to hear what my voice really does sound like when we play. You get that whole, "Oh my gosh! Is that what my voice sounds like" realization, and I didn't want to sing ever again. Oh, well. It's FUN to sing!

My last blog entry got some pretty negative responses regarding the album cover to Youth. Sorry if it really did offend anyone, but I've been putting album covers to lyrics I quote ever since the beginning. No need to be inconsistent because someone's Barbie-doll legs are on there. I've seen worse, and it isn't that bad anyway. C'mon, people. They're just legs.

...

Nevermind, you're right. I won't put covers like that on my blog again.

Ray Charles just came on my iTunes singing Georgia on My Mind. Now I feel like I miss a place I've never actually been to. Ray just reminded me to say that I finally watched Walk the Line last week. That movie and Ray gave me full confirmation that rock stars should NEVER be idolized. (Warning: Slight spoilers) I didn't like Johnny Cash's music that much, but I pretty much dislike him as a person now. Ray wasn't any better; in fact, he was worse in my mind. All this infidelity is really sickening, and Cash was totally ruthless to his first wife. The first three-fourth's of the movie I was just yelling at him, "Just divorce her already!" What a punk. His infatuation with June Carter felt more like an obsession than true love, as some would see it. But maybe I'm just being too critical of the man. He did change his ways later, and that's cool. Nothing like some redemption in a movie. And overall, it was a great movie about a musician's life. I just don't approve of the way he lived; I'm glad his latter half of his life was a bit better.

Okay, that's it. This blog is a little all over the place. Sorry about that. Maybe I should organize my blog entries like Mac does with titles and sections and stuff.

Better Now

2006-03-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Collective Soul's Youth

Better Now

I'm newly calibrated
All shiny and clean
I'm your recent adaptation
Time to redefine me

In between.

2006-03-08T01:54:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the lack of posts on this blog. I just haven't been in the mood for it lately. It's probably because of a mixture of WoW, late-night television, hanging out with friends, and school. But it's probably mostly WoW.

So my session is over. I'm in the middle of break week, and I'm not doing anything special or going anywhere far away. I did debate whether or not to go up to Nor Cal, but I'm really low on money. Oh, well. I really wanted to see the family, but that is what you get for choosing a school 500 miles away. I managed to finish pretty strong in my class, pulling out an A- on my final project (5-10 minute documentary piece). I pretty much procrastinated till the very last week. I filmed for like three days of that week, then edited it all in one very long night. I'm so awesome. The teacher told me in the critique that the video was..."not bad." That's a compliment coming from him.

A friend of mine graduated after this session, and it made me realize that graduation is not far at all. It's a little scary to think that I won't be doing school anymore, and I will have to depend on myself from now on. I won't be able to pull the "Ask Mom and Dad for money" move after then. I'll need to find a good place to stay, pay my own bills, actually eat decent meals...being grown-up is a lot of doing things that aren't very fun. But then again, being a not-grown-up is a lot of that as well. I guess life won't be better or worse; it'll just be different.

Maybe I'll take that job at CityTeam.

Oh, man.

2006-02-26T02:41:00.000-08:00

I felt like writing a blog right until I opened up the blog text box, so I'll just say some brief random things:

-Moulin Rouge is an excellent movie. It was hardly what I expected it to be, but then again I didn't know what to expect.

-Adult Swim on Saturdays suck except new episodes of Full Metal Alchemist and Aqua Teen Hunger Force

-Metallica sounds dang good with the San Francisco symphony playing behind them.

-Kareoke rules.

-

2005

2006-01-30T14:10:00.000-08:00

I'm inspired to write up a top ten movie list of 2005. I won't go into much detail like I did in last year's post , mainly because as I was looking up what was made in 2005, I only viewed a fraction of what I really wanted to go see. This list could be much better, and I'm not too thrilled about writing it (I just feel it a little necessary). I just didn't have the cash this year to go to the box office, so I'm adding in movies I saw on video as well as one's I've seen this month but were made in 2005. Otherwise, my top ten will look even more pathetic that it does already.

10. Lord of War - I never saw the ending, but I'm sure I would put this as my tenth favorite movie of 2005. It was interesting, twistedly humorous, and had to do with guns. I thought it was an interesting view on war and why wars still happen today.

09. War of the Worlds - Though I love Spielberg and his style in movie-making, War of the Worlds only made it ninth. The story was really interesting till after Tim Robbins enters the scene, then it got insanely crazy - it was almost like watching a high budget episode of The Twilight Zone. I didn't like how it ended either as far as closure went. The character's development was good at the beginning, but then it seemed to hit a brick wall all of a sudden and left stuff hanging.

08. Cinderella Man - I remember someone noting how having Russell Crowe in the lead acting role and Ron Howard directing made this movie A Beautiful Mind 2. It was pretty funny. Anyhow, this is the sports drama movie of the year for me. I liked Ron's edgy approach to filming a boxing match, and again Crowe almost convinced me in the movie that he is a real sweet guy in real life.

07. The Great Raid - More WWII movies! Yes! Good movie about a rescue mission that took place in the Philippines. I liked it because it showed the importance of a good plan and higher commanding officers who don't do much grunt work, but they are definitely needed behind the lines. Also, historical war movies will always have a special place in my heart.

06. Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith - Redeeming close to the Star Wars prequels. Unfortunately, Hayden's acting still wasn't top notch, and Natalie became a helpless, mourning "housewife." Ewan was really good, though. I still think Lucas can't write, but can think up really good story. The "You're breaking my heart" and "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" lines brought a smile and a groan to my confused face. Sometimes I wonder if Lucas is doing it on purpose like Jessica Simpson seems to act like a total moron on purpose. But then I realize he isn't...just like Jessica isn't.

05. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - These movies just get better and better, especially with that little touch of Dawson's Creek in them. Adventure, magic, high school drama - it's all good, baby! No, really. This movie is a very good watch, and it doesn't feel like 2+ hours when you're watching it.

04. Crash - The quality of this movie isn't only found in the ensemble cast. The story, the way it's told, and the issues it addresses is disturbing and really gets you thinking about how you view people. The movie does give a hope in the end, but it's still hard to grasp that hope when you think about it after the credits are done rolling. Movies that make you think afterwards are always great in my book.

03. Batman Begins - The Batman movement is starting up again, and this movie is the reason why. The origin of Batman is a good story, and it's taken too long for someone to make a movie dedicated to that story. The casting was awesome too, and I can't wait to see them return in the next film...except maybe for Katie Holmes, though she was good eye candy.

02. Sin City - Another movie based on a comic book (or graphic novel...whatever), and I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, it's brutal, it's gruesome, it has nudity, and there are really disturbing images in this movie, but I feel that they were necessary parts for the plot and story. The violence and nudity wasn't thrown in just to get a couple more people in the theatre seats. A lot of people didn't see what the point of the movie was, but I thought the idea of vengeance justice and what is right and what is wrong to do was very interesting...even if I don't agree with them at all. The movie is also visually intoxicating with its special effects and how still images were adapted to motion picture.

01. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Heh, what a strong contrast from the runner-up. I was very pleased with this movie because I was so scared that it would butcher the book to pieces. Everything in the movie did the exact opposite and was a strong movie adaptation to the book. There were a few added scenes I could do without and more screen time was needed for Aslan. All in all, however, it was a great movie. The Christian themes were definitely there, though you would have to look for them (the book is no different), so I'm glad that no one made an effort to try to take them out. Not that they could, really; Lewis just had so much of it in the story that it wouldn't be the same story without them. Anyway, it was the movie I enjoyed the most from 2005.

And there you have it. There were A LOT of other movies that I wanted to see. I'm sure if I saw movies like King Kong, Walk the Line, and Munich, they would have a place on the top ten, but this is just how it is. Booooo!

Go to David's list and Oli's list to see what they liked and didn't like last year.

Here is the list of movies I saw that were released in 2005:

The 40 Year Old Virgin, Assault on Precinct 13, Because of Winn-Dixie, The Brothers Grimm, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Coach Carter, The Constant Gardener, Corpse Bride, The Family Stone, Four Brothers, Guess Who, Hitch, Hostage, Ice Princess, In Good Company, In Her Shoes, Just Like Heaven, Kingdom of Heaven, The Longest Yard, Madagascar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Must Love Dogs, The Pacifier, The Ring 2, The Skeleton Key, Stealth, Unleashed, Wedding Crashers

Lem Returns

2006-01-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Ventura, California. I arrived in San Francisco on Friday. I drove down today. The only thing I have to say about the trip back is this: After watching four movies in a row, drinking one bottle of white wine, drinking one bottle of sake, and eating two airplane meals, I learned that choosing to watch four movies in a row, drink one bottle of white wine, drink one bottle of sake, and eat two airplane meals instead of sleeping is a grave mistake.

Now for a random Chuck Norris fact. (I have the guys to thank for finding this.)

From beach to mountains; from shorts to pants.

2006-01-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

The family took a long weekend and spent time in at the Zambales beach for a couple days, then Baguio city for a couple more days. Actually, spent probably a little more than a day at each location; the bulk of our trip was probably spent driving. Nevertheless, it was a nice trip and we enjoyed total relaxation at the beach and being total tourists in Baguio.

The Malabuyo kids at the beach. Typical sibling pose. (I love it!)

Oli and I excited about the Baguio market.

I won't write a whole blog about our trip because I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (and I'm incredibly lazy right now). Again, Oli has put up a lot of pics of the trip on his Flickr account under the "Zambales Beach" and "Baguio" sets.

Have a nice day.

Init dito!

2006-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

So it’s the fourth day of 2006. It doesn’t really mean a thing to me as it would to a lot people – people who speak of resolutions or starting over. I find resolutions to be futile, and one day that starts a new calendar year by no means wipes your past clean so you can rebuild your life. However, New Year’s Day does mark that it’s been 2006 years (give or take) since our Christ’s birth, and that is something to always remember. I also like to see it as one more year closer to the Second Coming, which is an overly optimistic way of seeing things since we have no idea when that day will be, but this is one thing I have no problem being optimistic over.

New Year 2006 was also a marker for three full years where I didn’t visit the Philippines. Kuya, Oli, and I spoke several months ago about visiting during the holiday season, and it slowly got more and more serious as the months went by. Unfortunately, Kuya and his family weren’t able to come, but Oli and I had the privilege of going. So Oli and I took off in the late morning of Dec. 30, and arrived in Manila just before the birth of 2006. We wanted to get back to Auntie Emily’s house before the fireworks kicked off, but we ended up driving the roads as bottle rockets, OG’s, fire fountains, and cobras (small fireworks chained together to explode in quick sequence) lit up the streets. Smoke and debris filled the roads; it looked like a war field.

We arrived at Auntie Emily’s around 12:30 am, where the party was still going on. The loudness of Filipino chatter and the high volume of the TV made me feel right at home. I sat down at the dining table and immediately grabbed a plate to serve myself some authentic Filipino food goodness. Half the things I had no idea was, but I ate it anyway. It all tasted fine if not good, even when I found out one of the dishes was ox tongue, which gave me the thought that most of what people think tastes bad is purely based on the knowledge of the food. I always thought it was strange when people don’t eat food if they see the head of the animal. It’s still fish. It’s still beef. It’s still pork. What difference does it make if you can see its face? The ox tongue was still good, the taste doesn’t change just because I know it’s ox tongue or not.

Anyway, we left the house to my parent’s place around 1:30 am. There we opened up the Balikbayan boxes we brought with us. Throughout our missionary years, Balikbayan boxes have become a sort of giant goody bag from the States. It’s filled with State-side candy, clothes, canned and packaged food, and other things that you can’t buy here in the Philippines. Most of the stuff is provided by our relatives, so opening up these boxes can’t wait till the morning.

We pulled out the Christmas presents from friends and family from the States, and Mom, Dad, and Rachel opened them all and loved them. Mom and Dad especially liked the Caleb photo album that Kuya and Chesney put together for them, and Rachel loved her new dress from Auntie Nene.

That was our first few hours in Manila.

The past few days consisted of visiting Mom and Dad’s church, having the relatives come over to Mom and Dad’s for dinner, and going to Greenhills Mall where Oli and I hung out with Khup and Nem and had dinner at Chili’s there – one of the several restaurants that we considered very nice places to dine way back in high school.

It’s been a lot of fun being with the family and being able to participate in their everyday living. Rachel made a friend here who is very much like her best friend back in Escondido, so it’s almost like visiting them in So Cal…except the Philippines rocks and So Cal is only so so. Ha!

This weekend we go to Baguio, but till then we are heading to Mega Mall to enjoy the five stories of Philippine retail goodness. Yes!

If you want to see pictures, Oli has posted our day-by-day living of our trip on his Flickr account.

P.S. I dropped my camera on its lens back at the SF airport. I do this a lot, so I wasn’t too worried, but I picked it up to find that the UV filter cracked in two places. Luckily, the actual lens is perfectly fine. The only problem now is I think the UV filter bent on the inside because it’s now jammed onto my lens and I can’t get it off. I’ll have to take it to a shop to get it off…or stick it into a vice. I suppose either option would work.

Across the Pacific.

2005-12-31T01:11:00.000-08:00

Hello from Japan!

Reasons for continued questioning... (Part 2)

2005-12-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Because of the monster discussion that Part 1 created, I feel like I should write another blog to give you my thoughts. A sort of "conclusion," if you will.

To summarize what the this whole thing is about (for those who haven't read my blog lately), Switchfoot's Adding to the Noise was played during a Victoria's Secret commercial. Switchfoot fans, haters, and in-betweens took sides on the numerous issues that erupted - namely if Switchfoot truly and fully sold out or not when they moved into the secular market. I wrote a quick blog about it when I first saw it on TV, and it exploded into craziness. Mac even wrote about it. Read Part 1 and Mac's post if you want more detail on discussion.

With that, here we gooooooooooooooooooo...

---------------

Switchfoot surely wasn't joking when they decided the name of their band. Some can interpret the name as a term from "switching" from a life without Christ to a life with Christ. That is, at least, how a Christian could interpret it. (You could just take the name as nothing but a cool band name...your choice.) However, given the recent events of the band, one can now say that Switchfoot has taken the previous interpretation and turned it completely upside down. Not in terms of salvation, of course, but of marketing and business. Ironic how one's name can mean so much.

Victoria's Secret ad campaign during the Christmas season has been encouraging women and men alike to buy their products as gifts. "Give me sexy," they say, "Give me Victoria's Secret." It is no wonder why so many are sitting very unwell with the fact that Switchfoot's song would play on one of their commercials.

There are many arguments that fans (and those who even don't care much about Switchfoot) use to defend Switchfoot. What are they defending exactly? They're defending attacks against them that it was very unChristian-like for them to throw their music on such an unwholesome commericial; furthermore, lots of people are beginning to question that Switchfoot truly sold out when they signed with the Sony label - the VS commercial was like the nail in the coffin to them.

I will go through the arguments I've heard from my blog and this forum that Kuya linked to in Part 1, and I will give my opinion to counter these arguments:

Switchfoot has nothing to do with Victoria's Secret other than they have a song on their commercial. Are they dating the models? Are they having sex with the models? No!

Allowing Victoria's Secret to use their song is enough for Switchfoot to promote Victoria's Secret products. Especially for a commercial that promotes and uses sex and lust to sell their things. They don't need to date a VS model to be in the wrong.

The producers from their label made them do it.

This is most likely true. This is probably the only argument that I'll take very seriously because it's one I can see Switchfoot not being able to get around easily. It is a very sad case when a contract gets in the way of choices, and this is why I get skeptical when a Christian goes into the secular market. Anyhow, I feel like Switchfoot owes their hardcore fans some kind of statement. I feel sort of betrayed that I defended them so strongly about going into the secular market, but they're throwing their music around like a pimp with his whores. And they don't seem to care about it! (Note: For those who think Switchfoot doesn't owe their fans a statement - or anything for that matter - they owe the fans everything for being where they are now.)

Switchfoot didn't know, and had nothing to do with arranging it with Victoria's Secret.

This may be so, but I think they still need to tell people their thoughts on it. There's too much reaction to ignore it completely. Plus it just looks bad on them. To me, it looks like they just don't care and they just want the money. This would be the claim that they sold out. Could it be true that they just want fame and fortune? I certainly hope not because their music speaks against such views!

Victoria's Secret sells underwear. They don't sell porn, and they don't promote the idea of pre-marital sex.

This is true. But as Mac said, "It ain't so much about what Victoria's Secret sells, it's the way they sell it." VS definitely uses the idea of sex and lust to sell their product. Whether it'd be girls who want to buy it to attract men, or men who want to buy it because they want to see it on their girlfriend/wife/wife's girlfriend, it is incredibly unwholesome and degrading to one's soul. Switchfoot shouldn't have anything to do with VS for this sole reason. If the label forced them to do it, then they can always leave the label or write a statement to the fans.

Moreover, I wrote in Mac's blog that Switchfoot wrote a song against society's obssession with sex. From Easier Than Love, they sing, "Sex is currency/She sells cars, she sells magazines" and "sex is industry/The CEO of corporate policy." This is also what bugs me. Switchfoot is acting like a huge hypocrite right now. It almost sickens me.

"Does Switchfoot have to be glorifying Jesus with every move they make? Do you? Why do you expect more out of a band, they are human also and they need to pay the bills. Sure Jesus wouldn't PROMOTE a commercial but he also wouldn't condemn it, Paul would do that." - AldoDaldo

What...the...crap! How much more disturbing can you get when someone
actually writes this just to defend their beloved band! We must always strive to glorify God. Every move we make, every thought we think, and every word we say should be glorifying God. Granted that we, as people with corrupt flesh, do not do this even half the time we live on Earth, it is still indeed a true statement.

As the thing with Paul, Jon wrote in the comments of Part 1, "St. Paul, an inspired commentator on Jesus' life and sayings, by the Holy Spirit (the third person of that trinity that Jesus is also part of), is a good indication of what Jesus would condemn."

It isn't our business to concern ourselves with these matters. Who cares if Switchfoot put their song to a Victoria's Secret ad? If you think it's wrong, then it's wrong. If you think it's okay, then it's okay. Don't judge Switchfoot, leave that to God.

It's not a matter of judging, it's a matter of watching each other as Christian brothers and sisters. When a fellow Christian has sinned or is causing people to sin, it is definitely our business to set them straight. The idea that God will do the judging and we just need to look to ourselves is not a Biblical way of living. We aren't judging Switchfoot, we are just trying to show the correct way to see situations. Will Switchfoot go to hell for this? I highly doubt it, but that's not the issue. We must always concern ourselves with Christians' wrongdoings. Not to be smarty-pants or finger-pointers, but to help build each other up in our walk with God.

Switchfoot is using their music to reach out to people who watch that commercial.

Anyone who saw the commercial will know that only the intro guitar riff was played. None of the lyrics were sung, and no one who doesn't listen to Switchfoot would make any correlation to them and the music. With that said, what did Switchfoot do to reach out to the audience? Nothing. What did they get out of it? Easy money. Hmmm...

P.O.D. touring with Korn is a better example of reaching out to that type of audience. They are at concerts, talking with people, singing their music for all to hear their message. Switchfoot's song on Victoria's Secret did nothing but get models to prance around their underwear looking lustfully into the camera.

---------------

With all this said, I don't want people to think I'm some kind of high and mighty Christian who only sees the world from the clouds. I am a terrible and cruel sinner just like everyone else, but like I said, we strive to become more like Christ and help others along. One person said that we should just love Switchfoot and leave the rest to God. Is setting someone straight when they are wrong a way of love? I believe so.

Don't worry, I will still listen to my Switchfoot CDs. I'm still hoping for a response from them. However, until then, I will detach the person from the music and just listen to their songs as good Christian rock music. I don't know about their last two albums, though. It's just too painful now to listen to those. Their first three are still very good...and very Christian. :)

At its best.

2005-12-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

Back on Thursday was my trip out to the city. I've never visited a large city on the Eastern side of the States, so I was excited. Clinton Bauman, one of the staff workers at CityTeam, took me to his evening Bible study group in the center city area.

The weather had been pretty crummy. At least, for people who normally lived in Philly during the winter time would think it crummy. I, on the other hand, was having a blast. It was cold - DANG cold! It had snowed during the day, but the precipitation had morphed into rained by the night's arrival.

I rode with Clinton to his apartment where we dropped off his car. We did a slight jog down the hill to the train station where we would take the 30 min. ride into the city. Stepping off the train onto the platform, down the escalator, and through the hallway, Clinton and I entered the main lobby of 30th Street Station. Before then, grand train stations like this had only been pictures and movie scenes to me. One thing I absolutely love about the East is the history found in the architecture. There was, no doubt, history in this building. The columns, the large lamp lights that hung from the roof 100 ft. above us, the benches that covered the hard floor. I wanted to pull out my camera.

But we were short on time, and Clinton wanted to get something to eat before his friend came to pick us up. We got a couple pretzels moments before Mac showed up. After a couple polite greetings, we were out of the station and across the street to his old pickup (with not extended cab, I might add).

We finally got to the apartment where Clinton and the group of eight young, Christian men gathered to study the Word. There I met guys with interesting backgrounds and careers. The most interesting was an FBI field agent - he wasn't even 28 years-old! I was amazed how old he looked. I would guessed he'd be in his early 30s at least.

So the Bible study lasted for a few hours discussing 1 John and the assurance of our salvation. At a few points, it led to pre-destination and free will and where the balance between the two was made. You can always find out how long a group has been together by how they react to the discussion, and you can tell that these guys had been together for a while...they forced the conversation to move on before the topic became more of a heated argument and less of a calm, quiet discussion.

After the lesson, the prayer requests were exchanged, the praises were shared, and the heads were bowed as we lifted to God Almighty our concerns and love for each other and fellow Christians. We did some casual talk, but the only one noteworthy was when Clinton asked the FBI guy if we could hold his firearm. He was very cool about it, and all of our eyes went big for a split second before we had to act non-chalant to pretend we were cool. He pulled out the clip. He emptied the chamber. He handed the glock to Clinton, and the rest of us waited in a impatient, five-year-old type manner.

Time rolled on. The later it got the more I realized that I wouldn't be able to see the rest of the city like Clinton and I had planned. Clinton had another thing on his mind...like if we could make it back to the train in fifteen minutes or not. Looks like we got a little carried away with the glock. Heh...

So Mac, Clinton, and I raced back to the pickup, which was parked a couple blocks away from the apartment. Through rain, snow, and ice, we jogged back. The dry air cut through my lungs, the cold temperatures broke through my jacket, and my ears rang out in a silent numbness; and it was all for catching a train on 30th Street in Philadelphia. It was the experience I was looking for from a visit into the city!

We got to the station with five minutes to spare only to find out that the train was eight minutes late. Clinton and I walked to the main lobby again so I could take a few quick shots. By the time we got back on the train and back into Chester, it was close to midnight.

I didn't get my Philly cheese steak sandwich from Abner's or Gino's (sorry David and Caryn), but I found my trip to be quite enjoyable. It's a shame I wasn't able to go back out during the rest of the week I was here. Tomorrow morning, I board a plane at 8:45 am back to California. It's been a good trip back East, but I'm ready to go home.

Time for pictures!

30th Street train station in Philadelphia. Too bad I wasn't spending days of free time here. I would have went out to Jersey and New York...THAT would have been grand!

Columns are cool.

I can't remember what this building is called. I really like this picture, though. So colorful. I think I'll come back to it and spend more time editing it to make it look really nice.

Here's a lame picture that I thought was cool and "artsy." Whatever. That's Curtis who just exited out of those revoloving doors.

Reasons for continued questioning...

2005-12-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago I was watching some late night TV (it wasn't really that late - like 10:30 or 11 pm - but whatever). As I was waiting for the advertisements to take a break from air time, a commercial for the well-known Victoria's Secret Christmas sale campaign came on. Usually it is very unfitting for a young, single Christian man to stay tuned on the channel for various reasons...reasons that are unspoken yet understood at the same time. However, I was drawn this time to the commericial. It was odd and against my good sense of integrity, but yet I did not fight back. It was the music. The music was so cool and rockin' and I've heard it before...I even sang along with it in my head (there was no lyrics). The rhythm, the guitar riffs, the bass lines - they were all so very familiar. I named the song within seconds...then my jaw dropped when I named the band within a few more seconds.

"What was the band?" you ask. I will tell you...

It was SWITCHFOOT!!!

Yes, you read those big, fat (but cleverly tasteful) letters right. Switchfoot's intro guitar riffs to their beloved Adding to the Noise track was helping women rock out in clothing inappropriate for television.

Sometimes you love something blindly. Sometimes you love something even if you see their faults. And sometimes you gotta question why you love something when they start puting their music to Victoria's Secret commericials.

What is this white flakey stuff from the sky?

2005-12-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

It's snowing! Yay yay yay!!!

I'm going outside to take some pictures.

UPDATE: I put a couple photos up that don't do much to show it actually snowing. The layer of snow on the ground was from last week.

Things of sort.

2005-12-13T01:40:00.000-08:00

After going almost a whole month straight with no post, I decide to come back at 1:45 am to write something. I have to wake up at 7 am tomorrow, what the crap am I doing?

The past month has been incredibly busy. I've been working on this, a lot of this, some of this, and...oh yeah...this too.

Okay, just kidding...sort of. Here are the updates:

City Team-ups

As you all probably know (yet don't know anything about what's going on because of my unhealthy laziness to update), I've been on an internship with CityTeam Ministries for the past couple months. It's been a lot of work day-in and day-out. There are times where it's been slow, but when it picks up...it picks up! Thanksgiving week was especially interesting, as I had to run to three different locations on three different days for each of their three different Thanksgiving meal distributions for three different videos that I would have to make later in post-production. I'm still working on the San Francisco video, but the other two (San Jose and Oakland) turned out quite nicely. Hopefully, I'll be able to throw them on the web for all to see, but rendering those suckers to a reasonable size for download has been an absolute nightmare.

Pictures of stuff I've done for CityTeam can be found on their Flickr account here. Nothing before November is anything I've done.

Sharks Endure the Hurricanes

Lisa Cupples (soon to be Lisa MALABUYO) planned out a fabulous night with her friends to celebrate Daniel, Sandra, and her birthday. I think others put effort into planning it too, but I don't know about it and it seems everyone is giving Lisa the credit, so whatever. Anyway, after eating a yummy meal at the Spaghetti Factory in San Jose, we all walked off the food to the HP Pavilion to see the San Jose Sharks play the (whoever) Hurricanes. I'm not that much of a hockey fan, so I wasn't as diehard as someone like Mac or Daniel ("Come on Sharks--the Hurricanes can't touch you when you're already in the waterrrrrrrr!!!"); but playing roller-hockey with them gave me enough knowledge and understanding of the game to really enjoy it. Rooting for the hometeam, going nuts when they score, trash talking the visiting team...I love going to live sports games! The Sharks winning 4-3 made the night even more enjoyable.

Pictures of this event will be on Kuya's blog soon, no doubt. Stay tuned.

Enter the Narnia

Kuya, Chesney, and I went and saw The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe last Friday night. I was very skeptical about the movie after seeing previews with all the action shots and the video game that came out which is basically LOTR with four kids. It looked like another epic war movie to give everyone high on special effects and cool sword fighting sequences. It made me extremely sad. However, after hearing stuff from Oli, Phil, and Julie about how amazing and loyal it was to the book, I couldn't wait another day to go see it. I was happy to see that they were right, and my doubts were shattered as the movie progressed. Everything about the movie was very good, and I thought the cast was dead on. I absolutely loved Lucy; it was relief to see that they found actors who captured the kids so well. Scenes that were added didn't take away from the story or book at all; in fact, it magnified the story! Aslan carried on the screen well, though I felt he wasn't...magnificent enough...I guess I always pictured him being loving and kind but also one to tremble before as you stand in his mighty presence. I guess my view of God carries too much into the story, yeah?

All in all, it's a very good adaptation to the book. It was hard to let go of C.S. Lewis' writing and just watch the movie plainly because I kept remembering how Lewis wrote each scene and how much I loved his story-telling. It's almost as if his voice was a sub-conscious narrator in my head as I watched the film.

One more thing: This movie is the most PG-13 PG-rated movie I've ever seen.

Oh, WoW!

I hope you all got the message earlier that I have been terribly sucked into World of Warcraft. It's addicting, and I'm obssessed. The gamer in me has fully manifested itself as my character in this game, and I am now an ultra-uber dork. All I have to say is:

IT'S ALL KUYA'S FAULT!!!

Philly

Tomorrow I fly out to Philadelphia. CityTeam has a location there, and they want me to go out there and photograph their Christmas events as well as their daily workings in the building and on the street. From what Carol told me, it will be a lot of work. Not only that, but it will be COLD! I don't know how I'm going to deal being a Californian, but it sure will be an adventure. I'm really stoked, which is partly why I'm not sleepy. The other is because I'll be traveling all day tomorrow, and sleep is the best way to pass time; so I don't have to worry about sitting in an office editing a video and fighting sleepiness. I rock.

I will try to post more often, especially when I'm in Philadelphia. It's always fun to write entries when you're out of town - at least, to me it is.

Ta ta.

The difference.

2005-11-18T00:20:00.000-08:00

Kuya and I went to the grocery store to buy stuff. Here are the two lists of what we got:

Kuya's list

1. Bread
2. Milk

Lem's list

1. Disaronno Italian amaretto liquor
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Head & Shoulders shampoo

There is a clear contrast in the things we purchase, as Kuya pointed out to me as we were pulling the items from the grocery bags. I am the young college boy who lives for no one but himself. Kuya is the family man who needs to look to people's needs.

Simply awesome.

You ask...

2005-11-08T00:07:00.000-08:00

"What has Lem been doing since he got to Santa Cruz last week?"

Here is your answer.

Blog surfing.

2005-10-31T00:43:00.000-08:00

My two cents and more: I'll tell you right now - it's a lot more than two cents. The post does live up to the extra "cents," though.

Faith and/verses Knowledge: I enjoy reading Jon's posts because he loves to stimulate the brain with intellect and thinking. At least, it stimulates my brain to think, but it doesn't take much.

Blah Blah, Work Work, Baby Baby: "Trinity talk" can be difficult.

"The Body" - thoughts on the ressurection of Christ: The importance of Christ's phsyical body.

I want more...

2005-10-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

This past Monday I had the opportunity to see Switchfoot in concert. They had their opening show for their Nothing is Sound in Ventura. Don't ask me why they chose this dull town, it boggles me too. Still, though, it was great to go ten minutes from home to see one of my favorite bands.

Here is Tim, Daniel, Todd, and I waiting for the first opening act in the theatre. Daniel has a funny face, but that's okay because it's Daniel. The two acts were alright, I suppose. A punk rock band came on first called Reeve Oliver, but I felt like they lacked in any new or unique sounds. Their first and last song were great, and everything else was "eh." The second act was, I swear, looked like a group of home schoolers. But then again, I thought they looked that way because someone told me they were raised home schooled. They just had that appearance of style and fashion you would find if you went back ten years and looked at what was cool at that time. They're music, though, was pretty impressive. Very much like that Radiohead sound, or a much slower and mellow Evanescence. Not that it was much to my liking, but for the kind of music they play, it was played well.

Anyway, Switchfoot came on after Eisley (the home schooler band, heh) was finished. The setup took forever (45 min.), so we ended up taking a bunch of silly pictures. Thanks, Tim, for bringing your digital camera.

Switchfoot put on a very good show. They have fun on the stage, and I appreciated that. The set list was everything from their two newest albums. I hoped they would play some from their older stuff. At one point in the concert, Switchfoot gave the audience a choice between two songs from their older albums - Chem 6A or Company Car. My friends and I cheered for Chem 6A, but of course they played Company Car. Sorry, Phil. I tried. Company Car is still a great song. It was also great seeing only half of the audience sing along to their older stuff. Now I understand what my cousins were talking about when they went to a U2 concert and were surrounded by All That You Can't Leave Behind fans. Very amusing.

Todd was telling me how he wished that Switchfoot would go back to their older stuff. They've become more and more like a rock 'n roll band, but they did lose a lot of their original sound. I still like their newest album the best so far, but Todd is right. Oh, well. Also, I miss their more direct music and worship to God in their songs they had before. Because of their secular label, they had to become more ambiguous in their lyrics. Plus they had to dodge some lyrics in their live performance during the concerts, and that was a bit of a disappointment. I suppose they have their restrictions, but I think their wider audience has opened up opportunities for them to show Christ in their lives along with their music.

But are they sellouts? I would like to think so.

Only One

2005-10-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Lifehouse's No Name Face.

One One

It's all shallow and all so appealing now
I'm up to my ankles and I'm drowning anyway in a sea of
Sarcastic faces
Familiar places
Everything looks quite the same here it's
All confusingly amusing
Bitter and tainted
The picture you painted to me

I've been listening to old school Lifehouse lately, and I really like the tune and lyrics of this song. It's very catchy in that down and depressing way. Classic Lifehouse. Give it a listen if you get the chance.

Spam THIS!

2005-10-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Eat it, you disgusting spammers! Get a freakin' life.

Out of stock.

2005-10-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of flak from family and friends for my current state of being a single male in his early 20s never having been in an actual relationship before. I don't really blame most of them. It is the ones who are in a very successful relationship who pressure me the most to get a girlfriend, but I don't hate them for it. They probably just want me to experience the great pleasure of loving and caring for someone in an intimate way that I have yet to share with another. Either that or they just like to see me get down about the whole situation. I prefer to assume the first reason.

So one must wonder, "How is it that Lem has never had a girlfriend before?" and it is a valid question. How did I, being so charming and incredibly good-looking, go 22 years without a relationship? Well, don't look at me for the answer! As Tristan Miller has so eloquently put it, "While I'll be the first to admit that my chances of ever entering into a meaningful relationship with someone special are practically non-existent, I staunchly refuse to admit that it has anything to do with some inherent problem with me."

Miller has written a brilliant article/essay/paper/blog (whatever you would like to call it) on why it is so hard to get a girlfriend today. Simply using demographics and some elementary statistical calculus, Miller has given a plausible reason for why some, or rather most, of us are just unfortunate in the relationship category. Here is the link to the blog. It's a lot of reading, but it's very well written, and Miller was smart enough to put the most important facts in gargantuan font size for those who would rather skim all of it...like me.

Take a look, it will open your eyes!

Pinoy Pride

2005-10-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

I want this for Christmas. You ask, "But which food, Lem?" Only a true Filipino would know what I love best...or maybe just family.

"I want it to be called a 'Fry-hole'."

2005-10-05T02:22:00.000-07:00

Adult Swim just cycled through its cartoon show line-up, and it is now starting it over just like it does every night at 2 am. I don't know why I am such a night owl that I'll go to bed no earlier than 2. Last night I went to bed at 4 and got up at 6 for my 7-10 am class. Needless to say that it was a hard task to stay awake and be attentive during that time.

Tim and I went to McDonald's today for our weekly chicken nugget run. During the summer, McDonald's sells their six-piece chicken nuggets for a dollar. When I get to the drive-thru and pull up the intercom, I tell the digitized voice speaking to me that I want six orders of their nuggets. Then that voice tells me that their special deal on their nuggets is not offered anymore. I look at Tim, he mutters some kind of substitute for a cuss word, and then we just ordered a couple value meals with our heads hung low. I guess I have to go to Rubio's on Tuesday now and get their fish tacos for a buck instead.

Sleepy sleepy...time for dreamy...

"You're all right now..."

2005-10-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

I just read over this post, and it's extremely geeky. Just to warn those who don't care about video games: Do not read this if you do not care about video games, and run away from your computer if you do not care about rpg video games.

< nerd talk >

Tim and I just finished watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Oh...my...gosh! It is simply amazing. Everything that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within failed to do is what Advent Children succeeded in accomplishing...and more! The CGI was amazing, just like in The Spirits Within, and was basically top notch. And just like The Spirits Within, the voice acting was well and good (though I saw it in Japanese with subtitles, which is better than English dubbing anyway) in Advent Children, and the "cinematography" was great as well.

So what made Advent Children so much better than The Spirits Within? Story! There actually was a story...and a strong and consistent one too! I think what made The Spirits Within weak was that they tried to create a brand new story using the Final Fantasy genre. Advent Children doesn't try to create a brand new story, but it takes place two years after Final Fantasy VII - a sequel to the video game. With that said, the biggest problem is that anyone who hasn't played the game all the way through won't fully appreciate the movie because they won't know what's going on most of time. That's my biggest beef with the movie.

However, the action is like nothing I've ever seen. CGI gives so much more room for super human things to happen that can't really be done with real-life people. It all looks amazing and made Tim and I giggle like little girls because it was so awesome. Of course, seeing all the characters come back in great, 3D-rendered images was a real treat. Seeing those characters fight in real-time with real martial arts or sword skills was a bigger treat.

The movie stayed 100% true to the game and everything that happened within that story. Limit breaks, weapons, key locations, etc. are all accurate. Example, instead of Cloud using the classic sword you see at the beginning of the game, he keeps his whole arsenal of weapons that you find on your adventure, switching between them in the middle of battle depending on the situation. Very creative and quite brilliant, if you ask me. I can tell the makers of Advent Children had a lot of fun.

Most of the movie brought back some good memories of playing the game. Final Fantasy VII seriously was the best turn-based rpg ever made. Everything about it was so well done. Character development, battle system, story and plot development, it was all good. The movie takes it to another level...except it's in a movie instead of a game. It pays homage to the video game but doesn't sacrifice further story to do it, and that's what I appreciated mostly about it.

Now that I totally hyped up this movie, I'm going to take a twist in this post and say: Don't watch the movie if you haven't played the game. Most of everything won't make any sense. You can watch it for the visuals and the battles, which is a VERY GOOD reason to watch it, but for story you won't get it. For those who played the game (and BEAT it), you will definitely love this movie and will see how much difference it makes when Hollywood has no real influence in a Japanese movie.

By the way, Tim and I saw it off a burned DVD from Todd. I don't think it actually releases in the States till late November. Till then, you can play the game. Ha!

< /nerd talk >

Nature can be a pain.

2005-09-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

The 6 am morning sky is littered with stars - lots of them. As I head out from Tim's house into my car, I run my eyes from one star to another pinpointing constellations that I know and constellations that look familiar. Big dipper, little dipper...that's about it, but I was never much of a astronomer. I head down Foothill back to my house ten miles under the speed limit because 45 miles an hour feels fast to me when I just woken up...like speed-walking to your friend's apartment right after having a couple beers.

By the time I arrived home, had taken a shower, and had gotten my things ready for class, the sky was illuminated by the sun's rising. There are no more stars, but now there is a deathly brown smoke trail coming from the East. The fires from Simi Valley are still blazing from yesterday's heat. The smoke cakes the lower sky with a cloud of filthy smoke and ash, and it looks like some kind of ancient battle was just fought all night. I drove to school in this atmosphere and mindset, and I couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or not.

The Simi Valley fires is just a reminder of what Southern California gets around this time every year. It is a twisted and humorous thing when I think how natural disasters are always covered one step too late. We evacuate in preparation for Rita only when Katrina came and made us realize how much damage hurricanes can do. Typhoon warnings are covered after news of the disasters in Southeast Asia are reported. Possible landslide occurrences are given after La Conchita is under a giant pile of mud. Is it just me, or are we only obsessed with being ready for certain disasters when the damage is already done?

Maybe I'm wrong, so comments are more than welcome to correct my cynical and bitter stance.

By the end of the day, the brown layer of smoke seeped into the rest of the sky, and Ventura county looks much like Downtown LA on a midsummer's day. The air joins in with the sky and leaves the evening in a muggy lukewarm heat. Sleeping tonight will be more of a task or chore now rather than a natural cycle.

Gross.

To rain or not to rain?

2005-09-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday had some lovely weather. It rained on and off four or five times up here in Ventura, but it was odd because the rain would stop just as instantly as it would start. I haven't seen that kind of weather since I lived in the tropics. The sun also found its way through the rain clouds somehow, so there was a point in the day where I was driving in the rain...in high noon sunshine. However, the random rainclouds made for a beautiful late afternoon! The clear blue sky, the crisp clean air, and the golden sunset was wonderful. I swerved a couple times on the road staring at the sky.

I find it pathetically ironic that I enjoyed the view from the front seat of my car zipping down the 101. Usually, one who has any love for nature would have parked somewhere and taken a long walk. Talk about a product of today's society.

Kuya is back East with a group from CityTeam doing some relief and ministry work in New Orleans. He has been appointed the photographer, which is awesome. Check out his separate blog for the trip.

On Sunday I went and saw Corpse Bride with a couple friends. I enjoyed it very much. It has all those Tim Burton qualities to it that is unmatched, but I do have to say that I like The Nightmare Before Christmas better. Nevertheless, Corpse Bride is still a fun movie to watch. Just the visuals are enough to go see it on the big screen, and I laughed more than once just because the characters looked ridiculous.

Speaking of kid movies, don't go see Madagascar. No, don't even rent it. Waste of time, I can't believe I couldn't talk my friends into seeing Mr. and Mrs. Smith instead at the dollar theatre. My friends suck.

This post isn't really going anywhere. I started to jump to a different subject again, but I realized that I'm starting to ramble. So I'll stop.

Bye.

Never Been Unloved

2005-09-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Michael W. Smith's Live the Life.

Never Been Unloved

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I have been undesirable

Sometimes I have been unwise
I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of
But because of you and all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

I am proud to say that I like MWS. No...I love MWS! Ever since Kuya got into him back in the early 90s, I couldn't help but like his stuff too. To all those who think MWS sucks, you have to face the fact that he was one of the trailblazers for contemporary Christian music today. Bands today owe a lot to those pioneers (SCC, Steve Green, and Steve Camp are other examples). Sure his new stuff isn't that great - who cares!? Old-school MWS is where it's really at!

Anyway, I realize that there is a lot of music on my blog lately. Sorry if that's a bit annoying. I've just been immersed in a lot of it lately - more so than usual.

Here are a couple links to blog entries from my bros that went up while I was on my blog fast.

Souvenirs - Kuya put up a collection of pictures of our family in all their photographic glory. Awesome.

Let's be an ethnographer - A post that Oli wrote on the disaster in New Orleans and the issue of immediate short-term mission trips being sent to the area. Very well, written.

That's just cold!

2005-09-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

I was watching some show on Comedy Central that's hosted by David Spade, and this comedian comes up and starts ragging on the MTV Music Video Awards. About Coldplay, he said something along the lines of this:

"Coldplay - the new U2? More like the new U-Suck! You know what's cool about U2? They aren't known as the old Coldplay."

I absolutely love Coldplay and their music, but I thought that was incredibly funny.

Enter the entertainment.

2005-09-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

The Blues

Is there nothing left now, nothing left to sing?
Are there any left who haven't kissed the enemy?
Is this the new year or just another desperation?
Does justice never find you? Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?
And nothing is okay until the world caves in.

Until the world caves in,
Until the world caves in...

I must say that Switchfoot has produced their best record yet. Nothing Is Sound is an amazing album, and proves to all that Switchfoot can still make great music. For some reason, I've had a sort of love-hate thing going with Switchfoot the past few years...mainly because they just got so huge in one sweeping year and changed drastically as a band. I thought The Beautiful Letdown had maybe five or six awesome songs (maybe seven), but got tired of it a little too fast; plus I thought it was ridiculous that they re-recorded I Dare You To Move two more times and made two different videos for the same song. To me, it just seemed so lame. However, I'm a big fan of Switchfoot's music, and I knew that the band was Christian and write their music based on their Christian beliefs. I just liked calling them sell-outs in front of my friends because it pissed them off so much. Ha!

Anyway, this new album is awesome! Every song sounds great (if not awesome), and the lyrics are once again amazing. It's nice to actually hear something that is very good through and through; we don't get very many records like that anymore. Last time Switchfoot did something this good was back when New Way To Be Human came out, so I welcome Nothing Is Sound with open arms. Although it is a bummer that they can't be as open about their Christian beliefs like they used to since they got really huge. I'm not really complaining, though. The album is also very serious and quite dark, which is different. According to their Myspace profile (yes, I really did reference their Myspace), the music is based off Ecclesiastes, so it's pretty depressing at first. Wondering why we go through our days, Switchfoot questions the very meaning of life. It does end with the message that the only real hope in life is found in God. I think it's very good for all to hear, especially those who don't share the Faith.

Yeah, listen to the cd if you don't want to buy it.

Onto other forms of entertainment, I watched Just Like Heaven with Oli and Nem. Don't worry guys, the only reason why I went and paid full theatre price for the movie was because Oli paid the full price for me. Plus Reese is hot, and I like watching hot women on the big screen. The movie was pretty good for a chick flick, and I enjoyed myself. It was like Ghost for the next generation! Except for like the murders and freaky scary parts. I thought it was clever that they actually took the "suspence horror" view of ghosts in Just Like Heaven and made it very light-hearted and pretty humorous instead. And Reese's ghost can haunt me anyday. She is hot.

She is.

That's about it. Mark Ruffalo is cool and funny too, but he can't seem to get past his Mark Ruffalo-ness. That's okay, though. As long as he doesn't lead in an epic war movie that also casts Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, or any of those guys from Braveheart.

Band of Brothers is on right now. (Episode 9)

2005-09-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

Nah, I'm not going the "one post a month" route as Jon suggested. I just haven't gotten into the cycle of blogging a lot like I used to do. Whatever. You can always call or e-mail me if you are just dying to know what I'm up to. And if you have neither, than that means I don't care about you and you can kiss my smelly armpits.

Now on to things!

I'm taking three classes this session rather than the usual two. I decided to get an extra gen. ed. class done since I'll most likely be gone up in Nor Cal for the Nov.-Dec. session. Kuya's boss from CityTeam is interested in my photography and wants me to work for them. I may be able to get it as an internship and get credit with Brooks, so pray that will work out. If not, I can still do it as an independant study with Brooks, but it just won't have that same flare on my resume like an internship would.

Through my church, I joined this "40 Days of Purpose" thing which is done through Rick Warren's The Purpose Drive Life. Now, I'm not a particular fan of the book (even though I've never read it). Mainly because it just seems too much like a self-help book, and that's just lame. Warren does disclaim that the book is much more than that, but still...it has that whole "improve your relationship with God and know the true meaning of life" feel to it. He just added "within 40 days" at the end of it. Anyway, I mainly joined the whole thing because all I do is sign up, join the college group, and I get a free hard cover copy of the book. I figure that it won't harm me to read the book, and I can meet and talk about God in a group setting. There is always a chance that I'll get something real good out of it, and I don't see how I can get dumber reading the book. Plus the college Bible study group that I go to every Thursday was replaced by this, so I might as well go. Anyway, the book isn't very intriguing and is pretty basic. Oh, well.

I also officially joined the youth band at church. Three of the original members went off to college, so I'm a replacement dude. Coolio. It'll take a bit for us to fully gel with one another since there's been a lot of new people coming in and old ones going out, but we'll be fine. Tim and I stayed up till 5 am last night recording some music we wrote. By the time we got it all figured out, we were way too tired to focus on playing really well for the recording. Heh. Awesome. I love staying over at the Philips. They have cable there. Adult Swim, baby!

That's all.

That took a while.

2005-09-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

I went a whole month with no real update on my blog. I'm so proud of myself. Here are the highlights:

--------------------

Ten days in Minnesota - I flew out to Minnesota to photograph the wedding of my long-time friend Andrea Olson and her fiance Warrick Hess. They're both Hess' now and very happy together. I spent ten days there (instead of just the weekend of the wedding) because my Travel Photography class required us to go out of town for at least seven days and do a travel piece in a location, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by just extending my stay in Minnesota. Plus I get to hang out with old friends. Wonderful! Of course, I slacked off like any lazy college student did and neglected my work till like the last four days. All in all, the trip felt like a long school break.

The Hess wedding went very well, and I did a fair job with the pictures. My comp. started having problems, though, not too long after I got back, so now I need to wait a little longer before going through my edit. That story comes a little later.

LAN party - If you guys read either Kuya's, Oli's, Mac's, Nem's, OR AJ's blogs, you will know that we had a LAN party not even two days after I got back to Ventura. LAN parties are LAN parties, there isn't much to tell about it. It's a lot of fun, but that's about it. We need get a better system going with the network, though, because we always have a problem getting the network up and running quickly (we usually take a few hours before actually playing full on network games). The coolest thing about the LAN was that all those people I listed earlier in this section came down to Ventura. Kuya needed to drive Oli and Nem down here because they're heading back to Biola. I took them the rest of the way to La Mirada the next day. Mac and AJ came down solely for the party. Now that is dedication to computer/video gaming!

Class Finals - My final projects for both my Travel Photography class and Basic Business class were due Monday after our LAN party weekend. So while we were doing the gaming, I took a large chunk of my day to meet with my Basic Business group to form our business plan to present to class. On Sunday I spent the better part of my day driving Oli and Nem down to La Mirada, and then I raced back up to Ventura to meet with my group again to put together our research. I woke up at 7 am on Monday to work five and a half hours straight to finish my Travel Photography project, then went out to the Salvation Army to buy a nice (but incredibly cheap) coat for my presentation in Basic Business. Since my business group wanted to meet one last time before class at 8 pm, I left Travel early (starts at 4:45 pm) at 5:45 pm to make it to their 6:30 meeting. We were so stressed and anxious once class started that we volunteered to go first to present our business just so we can get it done and over with.

Needless to say...when I flew in from Minnesota, I sort of landed on So Cal with my feet running. Not that I'm complaining at all. I chose to spend my free time at the LAN party, so I just trucked through all the work at the very end since I brought it on myself.

I completely crashed by the end of Monday.

A Week with the Phllips - Somehow beyond me, I ended up spending a whole week at the Phllips (the house that hosted the LAN party). I think I was just so burned out on Monday that I didn't feel like going back to my house. My computer was still at the Phillips from the LAN party, and I was too lazy to move it back to where I lived. For a full week I slept at the Phillips. They didn't mind at all because their parents were gone till next Saturday. I was out of there (along with my computer) by Saturday morning.

Other Misc. Things - My car battery was dead when I flew in from Minnesota. I spent a good part of my day after I got back making sure it was a dead battery and nothing else, and then I finally bought a new battery.

My computer's has been terribly fragmented and cluttered for months now (maybe even a year), so I'm now in the process with Tim Phillips to completely wipe it clean and reinstall my needed programs.

The Nikon D70 that I have owned for a year and a half has crapped out on me. It has completely died, and I don't know why. I sent it in to a Nikon Repair Center for them to take a look at, but I'm hoping and praying that they can fix it before Sept. 12. I need to shoot another wedding then.

--------------------

I find that work best under pressure. OR...that is the only time that I decide to work at all. Running around when the deadline is coming up and things need to be done NOW is my way of functioning. I'd like to thank procrastination for my newfound way of doing business.

Seriously, when I got back to La Mirada from Minnesota, things just seemed to go wrong for a whole day. The car's dead battery was only the first thing that went bad. My iPod, which I used as a hard drive to store all my photographs from my MN trip, started to act up and ended up locking up. Naturally, I freaked out since I would have been dead if I lost all my pictures. Then I realized that the equipment I checked out from Brooks was due back and I had no way to get it back to them. All this time, I was running around trying to find my friends to get me back into the house so I could get tools to take a look into my car. I had misplaced my keys in MN, so I couldn't get into their house on my own. I later found them buried deep in my backpack.

Anywho, it was all incredibly stressful. However, God was doing wonders in me and keeping me under control and keeping my cool. Through his grace, I stayed calm and didn't snap at anyone or anything. I was a bit on a downer, though, but at least I didn't get angry or hysterical. Just constantly praying to Him and putting very little to no worry on the day since there was not too much I could do. God is good, and He looks after us.

I hope you enjoyed my monster blog; it makes up for the large pause in my posting.

Through the storm.

2005-08-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

The world's done shakin'
The world's done shakin'
The world's done shakin' me down.

Weekly picture #11.

2005-07-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Where The Streets Have No Name

2005-07-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

U2's The Joshua Tree.

Where The Streets Have No Name

I want to run, I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside
I want to reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

Anything

2005-07-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Third Eye Blind's Blue.

Anything

Jackie O with the top down open
All the words to what's unspoken
Put together everything that's broken

Just to see you
I'll give you anything

A Long December

2005-07-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Counting Crows' Recovering the Satellites.

A Long December

All at once you look across a crowded room
to see the way that light attaches to a girl

And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think you might come to California...I think you should

Two Days In February

2005-07-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

Goo Goo Dolls Hold Me Up.

Two Days In February

I hung your picture on the wall
And that's all it is
I break my fingers to make a call
And that's all it is
I know you're living way out west
And I don't think that I confessed
Everything I feel

Not the One

2005-07-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Collective Soul's Dosage.

Not the One

I waltzed around you
Seven times
Only to become
A melody you never sang

The Hardest Part

2005-07-25T03:28:00.000-07:00

Coldplay's X&Y

The Hardest Part

I could feel it go down
Bittersweet I could taste in my mouth
Silver lining the clouds
Oh, and I, I wish that I could work it out

Give it back!

2005-07-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

I helped lead worship with the youth band at EPC this past Sunday. It went well from what I could tell, but then again it was my first time to play and sing with a worship band during a church service. Apart from breaking a string in the middle of a song during the first service and Garret breaking one of his own during second service, it went smoothly.

I'm having a rough start with Travel Photography. Our first assignment was to photograph some architecture that was "unique to the community." So like fancy museums, city halls, churches, and the like were among the things to shoot. I didn't think it'd be difficult to find some places to photograph, but after the fourth option I found fell through over a period of two days, I gave up in frustration. I'll turn in the assignment a class session late. I hate that.

The re-examination of why I'm doing photography came up again this week. Why am I doing photography? I used to identify myself as a photographer as a photojournalist, but a friend of mine stated that he is, ultimately, a photographer. He is a photographer. I'm seeing that I shouldn't place myself into a single category of photography, but on the contrary open myself up to different fields. Exploring different areas of photography and taking various classes at Brooks has helped me realize this. I don't need to commit fully to one field of photography. I am a photojournalist. I am also a landscape photographer. I am also a wedding photographer. I am also a travel photographer. I am also a portrait photographer.

In the end, however, I would like to find myself photographing for the progression of missionaries around the world. I may be a photographer, but I am firstly a son of God and live to His glory and calling. God has blessed me with the talent of photography; giving this talent back to Him is what I now live for.

P.S. I love comments and everything, but the stuff from the July 13 post is just ridiculous. It's one thing to talk about alcohol. It's totally another thing to talk about my love life, alcohol, and the level of dependency they have on each other. So shut it, chumps. Yeah, you know who you are.

Weekly picture #10.

2005-07-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

Noooooooooo!!!

2005-07-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

I almost cried when I saw this.

"When I in awesome wonder..." (Weekly picture #9)

2005-07-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

The family went camping with old Davao friends at Yosemite. Unfortunately, Kuya couldn't make it, but that didn't get stop us from going. The trip was awesome, though a bit rushed. Because of all the moving Mom and Dad were doing the day before we headed out to Yosemite, we got to the National Park at the end of the second day of the trip. That only left us with a day and a half of camping there.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed relaxing and sight-seeing the beauty of Yosemite Valley. Uncle Lloyd, Uncle Roger, Robert Sheldon, Joe, Janel, Clint, and I hiked to the top of Half Dome on Friday. We got up real early at 5:30 am to head out on the 8.5 mile hike to the top. I was pretty reluctant to go the night before since I haven't hiked in a good two years and a 17 mile hike sounded like sure death considering my physical state.

I was almost right.

Due to lack of some kind of nutrient, both my thighs began to cramp a little under half way into the hike. I think it was just because I didn't drink enough water before the hike, and I was trying to conserve water in the in the middle of the hike. So I slowly but surely made my way to the top of the dome, though it took me five freakin' hours to do it. Uncle Lloyd stayed with me the whole way, which was very nice of him. The rest got to the top 45 minutes before we got there. Man, those cramps blew.

Getting to the top of Half Dome made the hike well worth the pains I endured. The view was amazing and magnificent. God simply has a creative mind! Going on trips to the Grand Canyon or Zion or Yosemite really brings you back to love and adore and fear God's power and Creation. Though Joe did bring up a good point later: People are God's greatest creation, and we shouldn't forget about praising God for making Man and making them in His own image. How special are we!? We are be seen so highly and differently to the rest of creation.

The rest of the camping trip was pretty chill. We just hung out at the campgrounds and caught up with old friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Being a photographer, I took pictures...naturally. I didn't go for that whole "I'm going to go hardcore and take shots like Ansel Adams!" approach. I just took pictures, and they're mostly of people. I did do some landscape stuff but nothing amazing. I would like to go back someday for the sole purpose of photography. This time, however, I wanted to just appreciate Yosemite as it is.

I posted the pictures on Flickr. By the way, apologies for missing a week in the Weekly Pictures. I was really busy that week, and I didn't take a picture that week anyway.

I end with a hymn that we sung the night before the last day of camp.

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Happy birthday, America. (updated)

2005-07-04T03:20:00.000-07:00

Update: We did go to that party, which turned out to be like a mini bbq restaurant that Rachel and her girl friends set up. It was nice to have waitresses bring us our drinks and cheeseburgers and "mega ultimate chili cheese dogs." Good stuff. The girls had fun, and it was convenient for us. Everyone wins!

We also did play X-box. Groovy!

-11:39 pm, Monday, July 4, 2005

------------

Happy Fourth of July to all! What will you do to celebrate?

I believe our family will be going to some party at a friend's place down here in Escondido. Oli and I are not particular friends of the family since there's no kids around our age there, but they do have an X-box along with Halo. We'll enjoy ourselves just fine.

To keep in spirit of Independence Day, I'm going to talk about War of the Worlds, which Oli, David Youngman (he's in town for an internship, so he came to visit this weekend), and I went and saw last Friday. Okay, it doesn't really have anything to do with the Fourth of July, but it reminded me a lot of the movie Independence Day, which had a lot to do with the Fourth of July. By the way, I liked that movie. I love its cheese and overrated special effects.

Anywho, I liked War of the Worlds for the most part. The special effects were phenomenal...I couldn't see anything that looked obviously CGI throughout the movie. The acting was great. I'm a big fan of Tom Cruise as an actor, though, so I may be biased. It's not Oscar-worthy stuff, but he is convincing as a regular chum who is a lousy father. Even Dakota Fanning was great in the movie.

A lot of people complain about the ending, but I don't know what they expect considering it's based off a book and there already was a different movie made back in 1953. (Dude, that is an awesomely bad sci-fi flick if I've ever seen one.) Spielberg couldn't really change the ending of the whole story. I do think that there are some odd parts in the movie, and I thought the ending for the characters was wrapped up a little too fast for any real satisfaction. I do like the whole idea that it followed a few normal people merely trying to survive rather than following a scientist trying to find a way to stop the aliens.

All in all, it's worth a watch in the theatre simply because of the special effects. If you wait for this on dvd, it won't have the same effect. I personally liked the story of Tom Cruise's character and his two kids, but I've heard a lot of people say they hated it, so that's just me. As far as the cinematography, Spielberg continues to amaze me with his directorial skillz.

Oh, yeah...Batman Begins is awesome. Go see that movie too. Awesome.

DK (updated!)

2005-06-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

Update: The pictures are now uploaded for all to see. So sorry that it took me so long to finally get them on the web. The combination of laziness and computer difficulties (both hardware and software) don't make for convenient situations. Anyway, I used Flickr to upload the pictures, so go HERE to view them. Sorry if some pictures are out of focus or motion blurred or off color, but I didn't try so hard on this event photo-wise. It wasn't like I was getting paid to do it. :)

For the most part, it was fun to look through them. If you guys want higher-res shots of any of these pictures, just e-mail me with a list of the filenames of the pictures (ex: DSC3485 or DSC3251) I didn't think you guys wanted all 91 pictures, and if you do...too bad. There are also pictures that I didn't upload, like the extra 15 of Libby Moothart (I don't want to hear it, Jon). So if there's a picture you want that's not on Flickr that you remember being taken on my camera, mention it to me.

Gerry Fisher also posted some pics on the web, so you can take a look at those as well. Go HERE.

Enjoy!

-3:56 am, Saturday, July 2, 2005

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Hurray for Dustin and Katie! They are married! Congrats to you kids. Have fun in Hawaii.

The wedding was quite fun. I was one of the groomsmen, so I got to dress in a tux and look slick and more attractive than I already am. It was AWEsome!

No, really. It was a great time, and I always enjoy weddings of my friends and family. It is one of the most beautiful things to see two people become one before God, family, friends, and the church. Marriage is such a beautiful example and wonderful imagery between the marriage between Christ and the church, and it reminds me so much of the unity of God and His Three Persons. I am sad to see this country degrade the idea of marriage to something so dull and simplistic. Marriage is so much more than promising each to be life partners; it is disgusting to watch the view of marriage become so shallow.

Dustin and Katie's wedding was one of beauty, and no one could define "beauty" better than Katie did yesterday. It is always that way. The bride is always beautiful; I don't know what it is about that.

The best part of the wedding was when I pulled out my liquor flask and spiked my punch with some whiskey. Sorry, Dustin: "No alcohol" rule or not, I'm drinking. Heh. After the reception, some of us went to BJ's and hung out for a while, which is where the weekly picture is from. More pics will come up soon.

Weekly picture #8.

2005-06-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Lifehouse, baby!

2005-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Lifehouse in concert yesterday. Excellent show. Their music live is much better than any of their recorded stuff, and they know how to rock out for us fans. Their song line-up was great starting with Spin and "ending" (meaning a pause between their last song and their encore) with Everything. They played a good balance of songs from all three of their albums, but naturally most of the songs were from their third. Take Me Away, Come Back Down, and Sick Cycle Carousel are just a few of their hits, and they also played a new song which hasn't been recorded. They returned to the stage for their expected encore to end with Hanging By a Moment and some slow, beautiful song that isn't on any of their albums. I think someone told me it was written even before their Lifehouse days, but I'm not sure.

Lifehouse has some very good songs, and their lyrics speaks volumes of their Christian beliefs. References like "You make me walk on water/And you will catch me when I fall" and lines like "I got nothing else to lose/I lost it all when I found you/But I wouldn't change a thing" really can't be about anything else but God. That's my interpretation of their songs, though. Maybe I reach too far, and some anti-religious kid would reject any of those thoughts as being remotely true.

While we're talking about music, Coldplay's new album X&Y is an excellent buy. I like their other two better, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a bad cd. Not at all! X&Y is still top notch stuff. Dave wrote a good review on the album. Give it a read, and give X&Y a listen.

Weekly picture #7.

2005-06-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Completely and totally!

2005-06-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Guess what, guys...Michael's innocent! I find it quite amazing that the jury found him not guilty on all counts. I thought he was gonna get it on the alcohol charges, but alas! he came out on top. Honestly, I'm quite relieved about it all. I would like to think that Michael Jackson isn't a sick freak - he's just plainly a freak.

I went up to Santa Maria on Monday to photograph the happenings of the trial as the jury was still deciding their verdict. Little did I know, along with two other of my friends I went along with, that they would actually come to a decision that very day. We had a good guess it would happen, but as the day went on without anything really happening, we started to lose hope that the day would be even remotely interesting.

When the announcement that the jury came to a decision, everything started to speed up. It's nice when actual news happens, at least from a media standpoint. We like news. That is usually not the case for me because I don't like to wish newsworthy events upon people. Newsworthy events, by our country's definition, seems to be on the misfortunes of people. However, the deciding of the verdict is not a misfortune; the verdict is more of a relief for everyone. This trial has gone on for a long time, and the end is finally here. It didn't matter what the verdict was, everyone was glad that it was ending. Everyone was especially glad that Michael was innocent because it means that Michael didn't molest a poor little boy and scar him for life. It also means that the fans were happy, and the media was happy because the fans were happy. I think we would have all died that day if Michael was found guilty. The media had a good guess that the fans from all over the world would have jumped us. With good reason too. The media hasn't been making a good image of Michael lately. The media can be real jerks sometimes...most of the time.

It was a good experience taking photographs like this again. Very refreshing, and I missed doing this sort of thing. As crazy and freaky as Michael's hardcore fans are, it was cool to see so many happy people celebrating together. I'll a few pictures later.

Sorry about no weekly picture for last week. I just didn't go out and shoot anything or find anything I thought would be worth posting as a weekly picture. But you can look at this! (It's a tadpole!)

Marker.

2005-06-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

"I am a year old."

-Lem's blog