Monthly Archives: June 2012

My Finale

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I think it’s safe to say that the younger we were, the more exciting and out there our dreams were. We didn’t really care or think about logistics or reality. We just thought, man that would be cool to do that or be that.

But life does something to us. As we grow, as we experience life, reality sets in like, one can be too tall to be an astronaut. Or for instance, did you know that in order to be a comic book artist, you need to know how to draw really well? I learned that the hard way.

Sometimes, people tell us that our dreams are too big for us. Or that we’re not good enough for that dream, to settle for something less. And if we hear it enough, we can start believing them.

Other times, life just deals us crappy hands, one after the other.

And our thoughts are consumed with just surviving. So all our time, energy and effort is focused on how to make ends meet, how to pay this month’s bills. We have no strength or time left to dream about anything else.

Dreaming gets harder.

But that doesn’t change the fact that God has a dream for you in your life. A dream that not only can transform your life, but also the lives of those around you.

God has and knows the plans he has for you- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

But some of us shy away from God’s plan, from God’s promise. And in my short experience, for many (if not most) it’s because of something about them and their story line; fear of something that happen in their past has imprisoned them.

And I know that there are many in this room who know what I’m talking about.

For those of us who are shackled by our history:

My friends, whatever weight you have, they don’t need to be there no more. God is not only the God of yesterdays, but God is a God of today and a God of days to come.

Whatever weight is holding you down, Jesus stands before you and says, “I do not condemn you, Go now and leave your of sin.”

Or if I may, Christ is saying to you, “I do not condemn you. Leave that life behind. Leave the past in the past and live this new life that I have for you.”

Because, remember, our history is only a story of how we got here today. It is a description. It only describes our journey to this moment. It does not dictate where we are going or who we may become. Our history is only informative. History describes us, it does not define us.

Here’s another story, a reminder that God has a dream for you despite where you’ve been, what you’ve seen and/or what you’ve done.

In today’s passage, Jacob falls asleep in Bethel and God appears to him in a dream and says:
I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and I will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Talk about a plan of hope and a future!

If you’re not familiar with the story, Jacob is at Bethel because he’s on the lam.
He’s running because his twin brother, Esau, wants to kill him. And not in a figurative way, because for those who have siblings, we’ve all thought something like, “Ugh, I’m going to KILL him!” But we’d never really harm our siblings. Esau was dead serious in wanting to kill Jacob, his twin.

You see, Jacob was named Jacob, because he came out holding on to his brother’s heel and that’s what Jacob means: He grasps the heel. But it’s also a Hebrew idiom for “he deceives”. A trickster. A con-man. A liar. A used car salesman… no offense… And he lived up to that name more than once.

When they were much older, Esau came home from a hunting trip, one day. Now, it doesn’t say this in the scripture, but I like to think that Jacob set everything up. Jacob knew that his brother was a bit of an impatient and brash man. He knew that Esau would be hungry after coming home. So I like to think that Jacob was cooking this stew where he knew Esau would smell it. And I’m sure Jacob did everything he could to make sure that the aroma of the stew was reaching as far as it possibly could.

And it worked. Esau saw that Jacob was cooking and asked for some stew. Jacob said, “Sure… but only if you give me your birthright.”

“Dude, I’m like starving to death. Just give me some stew. Why do you want with my birthright?”

“No birthright, no soup for you!”

So, Esau ended up selling his birthright.

Later in the story, we learn that Isaac, the twins’ father is near the end of his life, and old age had caused him to go blind. He wanted Esau to go hunt for some wild game, cook it for him so that he may eat it in Esau’s presence and give Esau the birthright blessing.

Esau went out to hunt.

In the mean time, Rebekah, their mother, and Isaac’s wife, hears all this and runs to Jacob and says, “Here let me cook some goats the way your dad likes them and take it to him, pretending to be Esau so that you may receive the blessing.”

So she cooked the goat, grabbed Esau’s best clothing to put on Jacob (so that he smells like Esau) and she put goat hair on the back of Jacob’s hand and the back and front of his neck as well, because Esau was a hairy man, and Jacob was apparently not.

If you think your family’s messed up… I think these four will give you a run for your money. Now parents, I know that you have your favorites. I know this because I’m my parents’ favorite. But you would never go and say it in public which one you favored. But the narrator made sure that we knew Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. I’m sure that caused some awkward family moments… like this one right now.

So, Jacob went to Isaac, deceiving him by pretending to be Esau and received the birthright blessing

As soon as Jacob left, Esau came in with his cooked meal. Isaac was confused, asking, “Who did I just bless then?” To which Esau replied, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?”

Esau then pleaded, “Haven’t you reserved any blessings for me?” And Isaac replied, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you my son?”

And Esau held a grudge against Jacob and vowed that when his father dies, he will kill Jacob. Not only would that be revenge, but it will make the birthright his, once more.

Rebekah learned of this plot and urged Jacob to run.

And it’s in this situation, where God comes to Jacob with a dream of a future and hope.

Jacob had just deceived and stole from his family and is running for his life. His past isn’t the best, and yet, God finds him and tells him that all peoples of the earth will be blessed by you.

God is not only the God of yesterday. God is a God of today and days to come.

So for you to be stuck in yesterday… well, you’re the only one dwelling there. And because you’re dwelling there, you’re missing out on a future filled with hope and blessing – not only blessings for you, but how you will be used to bring blessings to others.

No matter where you have been, what you have seen or what you have done, God has a dream for you.

Your past has been crucified with Christ and now, Christ lives in you! You are a new creation. The old has gone! And Christ, who gives you new life has a dream and plan for you.

I now know that God had a dream for me pretty much from birth. It just took me 23 years to see it.

When I was 8 or 9 my dad took me to the ordination ceremony during the South Carolina Annual conference. We saw the candidates being ordained by the Bishop and clergy on stage, and my dad told me that one day, that would be me up there on that stage with the Bishop.

Of course, I don’t remember any of this. It’s probably blacked out of my memory because I found Annual Conference just as boring and unbearable back then as I find it today.

But my parents told me stories like this throughout my life: how my mom prayed that Hannah prayer from Samuel when she was pregnant with me. Basically praying to God, “If I have a son, I’ll dedicate him to you and raise him to be a pastor.” I mean, that’s really uncool and unfair. I asked my parents once if they prayed like that for my brother and they simply said, “Nope.” Which is even more uncool.

Or how, at the age of 4, I told my parents I wanted to be a pastor, just like my dad. And he would show pictures of me at the age of 4, standing in front of the pulpit with my hands raised and an intense expression on my face and tell me that I was pretending to give the benediction. Or, at the age of 5, in Korea, when we’d ride the bus, I’d march up and down that bus telling everyone that “Y’all need Jesus!”

But, as I grew older, I realized that this was more my dad’s dream for me, than mine. I had dreams and aspirations to be and do different things than be a pastor and deal with toxic people who claim to have the love of Jesus flowing through them.

Little did I know that this dream belonged to someone bigger than both my dad and myself. It’s just that my dad saw it first.

So there I was, last weekend, on the stage with the Bishop, my wife and my dad standing behind me, being ordained. And during that service, I thought to myself, “Dang. My dad was right.” But more importantly that this was God’s plans for me. This is God’s dream for me.

And, my life has been easier living for God’s dream instead of trying so hard to live for myself. By easier, I don’t mean that it’s been a walk in the park. Being a pastor is a lot harder than you think. I mean, I know lots of you only see us once a week and think that’s what we do.

But, as in any job where you have to deal with people … well y’all know how people can get. It’s often stressful. But in our line of work, there’s this pesky thing called the Bible where it talks about this annoying idea of grace and forgiveness… And that Christ died for everyone, even the people I wish he didn’t die for, you know? And as a Christ follower, I need to at least try to be Christ-like and be patient, grace-filled, graceful and loving to the people that Christ died for.

But by easier, I mean that … it’s been fulfilling. I find peace in God’s promise. I find assurance in my faith in God. I find joy in God’s calling and I find purpose in chasing after God’s heart and not my own.

Chasing after God’s heart has brought me incredible blessings throughout my journey. It gave me 2.5 years here in Valencia with a staff that I’ve learned tremendously from. A staff who inspired me, challenged me, and pushed me to be who I could be and not settle for who I am right now. God’s dream led me to work under a senior pastor who was… decent (kidding). A senior pastor who I could trust and depend on, a pastor who looked out for me and took care of me and a pastor who genuinely liked me. Either that, or he’s an extremely great actor and is in the wrong business. God’s dream for me has led me to meet amazing people of the church – people who inspired me, who challenged me with their generosity, sacrificial living and sacrificial loving. I got to work with kids who were for the most part… well, just alright. I’m kidding. They are great and I am honored to have worked with them. God’s dream for me allowed me to work with unpaid servants whose hearts seemed bigger than their bodies. It has led to friendships and relationships that will last a life time, like with our small groups.

And to hear that God has used me somehow, someway to bring some sort of blessings to you… it simply doesn’t make sense, and I am humbled by your encouragements and support.

Now, God’s dream is taking us elsewhere and as hard as it is and as saddening it is for the both of us, we find peace and assurance that this is God’s plan for us. That God is calling us to trust in Him as we start a new chapter in our lives. And as we get fixin’ to move, I hear God’s voice through Jacob’s dream speak to me, telling me: I am with you. I will watch over you wherever you go. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.

So, on behalf of my wife, sincerely, truly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking us in, opening your lives to us and letting us minister to you and with you. Thank you for loving us.

My dad has always told me that if I focus on living out God’s dream for me, if I seek God and God’s Kingdom first and foremost, everything else will fall into place and everything will work out.

In my short life and even shorter career, that has been my experience. When I seek God first, everything else seems to fall into place.

So, may you seek to live out God’s dream for you.

I have no idea what’s in store for Valencia UMC. But I know that God is moving and God has big plans for this church and for you.

I have no idea what’s in store for my family as we move. In fact, to be honest, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.

But I know that God is saying to each and every single one of us, “I am with you. I will watch you wherever you go. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”

May that give us strength and courage to boldly live out God’s dream for us.

To My Mother

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So, there was a time where I pretty much listened to nothing but Korean music, or Kpop. Like any pop music, a lot of Kpop was really infectious. It still is. While I don’t listen to it as much as I used to, once in a while, I let my iPod go shuffle crazy and korean songs play randomly. And it’s usually old school Korean songs that I still listen to.

This group came at the peak of my Kpop days. I think all of us Koreans saw our moms in this song. I remember driving home one day in seminary, and this song came up and my wife (then my girlfriend) started to get teary eyed thinking of her mom.

There’s no doubt that our parents have went through a lot and sacrificed a lot to make our lives as easy as possible. But not easy enough that we would be rendered useless in society.

Anyway, this song played randomly while I was doing the dishes the other day and it made me think about my mom and my mother in-law and Kpop. If you dare, take a gander at the music video and listen to the song that sounds somewhat like Tupac’s Life Goes On

Religious Freedom is Not a One Way Street

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Dear Sisters and Brothers of Christ,

We can’t get angry and all up in arms when Atheists and ACLU try to eliminate aspects of Christian religion in public or government places (like no Bibles in the workplace, no more Pledge of Allegiance, no prayer in schools, etc) and then demand that Muslims and Mosques have no place in our communities. We can’t fight for our right to worship our God and deny others to worship their God in the name of religious freedom. We can’t have it both ways.

Yes, I understand that many of us really love this country and the freedom, such as freedom of speech and religion, that we have. So much so, that many of our sanctuaries proudly display the American flag as part of something sacred (Don’t believe me? Next time you’re at church, try taking out the flag…) some go as far as draping the flag on crosses, perhaps implicitly implying that God belongs to ‘Merica, YEAH! and that the Christians of United States of America are God’s chosen people.

But, the freedom doesn’t work as a one way street. You have the right to say (almost) anything. You know what, the guy sitting next to you, that you find sort of strange and, though you may never admit it, you’re sort of scared of him and his culture, guess what? He has the right to say (almost) anything as well, yes, even if it is completely contrary to what you may think or believe.

That’s what makes this country great. That’s why families like mine left our home country to make a new, better life in the USA. That’s why I took a test and swore allegiance to this country and this country alone, while denouncing my former country.

So, by all means, fight for your right for religious freedom. But, not in a violent and disrespectful way that embarrasses and dishonors Christ’s Bride. There are honorable and respectful ways to fight for your right, just look at the examples of Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi or, well, you know Christ.

But at the same time, we should also allow the same freedom of religious expression to people of other faiths.

We kinda look like huge hypocrites when we get angry about the 10 Commandments being removed from our courthouse, and then turn around and protest the very idea of a mosque being in the city that is 30 miles from our own. I mean, honestly, what are you scared of? Is your faith that lacking that you’re worried you’ll become “one of them” just by their mere presence?

Besides, I think we have bigger fish to fry. Like, 27 million people are reported to living in slavery. The Interstate 5 is one of the biggest slave trafficking routes in the United States. Or how about the poor and homeless people in our communities, some being the very veterans who fought for the freedom we enjoy?

We have bigger things that we can focus our energy and attention. And you know, most religions have an emphasis on helping the poor (ours too, you know). Could you imagine the dent that we could put in poverty if we all just worked together?

So… Now What?

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So that happened this weekend.

It was an end of a long, often frustrating journey that began in 2007 and a journey I often blogged about. (I just realized I’m almost tall as the Bishop kneeling… but I digress). Each time I was continued (read: didn’t pass/failed) I wondered why I was going through all this and contemplated pursuing ordination elsewhere. This year, I entered the process for what I really believed would be the last time. I resolved that I would always be Wesleyan at heart no matter where I ended up and more importantly, I firmly believed that God had called me into ministry and that can take place anywhere, even if it meant outside of the UMC.

Maybe it was all in my head, but this time, the exams and interviews weren’t as draining as they were in the previous 2 years. And you know what they say, 3rd time is a charm. Or whatever.

I understand that when I was eligible for full connection, I entered the process very angry and with a huge chip on my shoulder accompanied by an air of arrogance and an ego the size of … something big. (I’m tired… )

I entered the first year of examinations with a closed fist ready to fight. I entered this year’s examination with open hands and heart, not in the sense that I was willing to really “listen” to what the Board of Ordained Ministry had to say and sell my soul for their acceptance (not that that’s ever the case), but in the sense I turned everything over to God and said, “Where you lead, I will go.”

During my commissioned years, I joked (read: threatened) that when I finally get ordained, I’m going to no longer hold back my words, but instead, say everything that has eaten at my heart since I started this journey in 2007. Everything that I saw wrong with our system and our methodology, I was going to vocalize it, maybe through this blog, maybe through emails, maybe to people who would be willing to listen. I had a lot on my chest, and I couldn’t wait to get that weight off my mind.

So. Now that it’s all said and done and I’m ordained, well… I have nothing to say. Well, no, more truthfully, I have nothing constructive to say.

Sure, we know that our church is broken. Anyone who steps into a UM church can see that something may be wrong. We’re not as big and strong as we used to be. We insiders know that our system and methodology is flawed and a lot of it, broken.

There’s no point of beating a dead horse with a stick.

And I sure as hell don’t want to be “THAT GUY” who does nothing but criticizes his ‘employer’ but isn’t willing to do anything about it.

Instead, I’m filled with gratitude. I’m thankful for all the people who helped me along this long journey. From all the mentors I had to my senior pastors to all the lay folks who encouraged me and then were so excited for me that I (finally) passed, to the ‘unofficial’ mentors, to my friends and colleagues who let me bitch about things and gave me solid words of comfort, advice and critique, to my family, and especially to my wife, who really … well, I know that I couldn’t have gotten through any of it without her. She saw it all. The anger, the frustrations, the lows, the ups… she encouraged me when I needed, scolded me when that was needed, pushed me, made sure I was sharply dressed for my interviews… she kept me sane in moments where I wanted to bounce off walls. Or more truthfully, bounce other people’s heads off walls.

And of course, I’m humbled that God would still call me into ministry; that for some reason, God has faith in me to lead His people.

In the end, words are cheap. Any Joe the Plumber can host a blog and point out everything wrong with the world today.

So really, the time has come for me to do more than just talk.

Come July, I no longer have the safety net of the Senior Pastor covering my ass. As someone said, “You won’t have a higher pay check to defer to” which has been my favorite thing to do as an associate pastor.

As the days approach closer, the butterflies in my stomach grow bigger. At times I feel inadequate. Other times I feel ill-equipped, to the fault of no one. I mean, all the books and classes in the world can’t fully prepare you for the real life thing. Experience has always been the best (and often cruelest) teacher. We learn as we go. Mistakes will be made. But one hopes that we learn from our mistakes and that it propels us forward instead of chaining us inside a cage of fear, insecurity and/or indecision.

And of course, I’m excited. I’m excited to see what God has plans for me and St. Mark.

I’m excited to go back to where I lived as an early teenager.

I find peace in the midst of my anxiety and excitement in the faith and knowledge that God has truly called me to this church, and that God has a plan for me and for the church– that all of this is God’s plan for this part of my life.

And I come in without too much greed in the sense that I want to go and add numbers to our pew. Instead, my hopes and dreams is to be a place where transformation through faith, grace and love happens. I don’t have desires to become one of the biggest churches in our city and our conference. But I have a deep desire in being a relevant and effective church that works with its community to bring transformation through God’s message of hope, love and grace. Simply put, my hope and prayer is to “make disciples for the transformation of the world.”

Now that I have the “freedom” to say anything I want without the fear of someone on the BOOM being angry with me, it’s funny that I don’t want to say anything without any warrant. Past Me might be a little annoyed with Present Me…

My wife, a few years ago, got me this art thing and hung it in my office so that I would see it everyday as I sit in front of my desk. It’s a often quoted quote from Gandhi: You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

What a fitting quote for the start of this new chapter in my life.

6 Years

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Today is our 6th anniversary.

6 years seem short on one hand and on the other, I feel like I’ve known her forever.

I couldn’t ask for a better friend, partner and wife.

Thanks for putting up with me for the past 6 years. And may God grant you the patience and wisdom to put up with me in the years to come.

Rumor Has It

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I think some rumors are created/spread to help someone fill in between dots.

We have a staff. Someone leaves unexpectedly, and no one who knows the real story is talking. But, our desire to know — our curiosity– can’t leave it alone. Something happened. There is a reason. So we start filling in the blanks.

Sometimes, it’s innocent (or naive) guesstimating. “That person never really got along with the boss and his work was never really up to par with the rest of us. Even though he’s been here the longest, maybe the Powers to Be finally just grew tired of it.”

Other times, it’s malicious. Sometimes, born out of contempt of that person. Or, some people just like to watch the world burn. Or be stirrers of poo.

But rumors happen. It’s naive to think that your church is rumor free.

What’s the craziest rumor that you’ve heard about yourself or your family?

The craziest rumor I’ve heard about my family happened about a decade ago. In 2001, I went back to Korea to attend my cousin’s wedding, with my dad. During our stay at Korea, my dad took me to the town where I grew up. He was showing me the church, our old home and places where I would go and play. Some of the places I remembered, some were fuzzy memories, and others I had no recollection of. We ran into a couple of old church members here and there, all who were ecstatic to see my dad and to see how grown up I was (the last time they saw me, I was 6.) Or so I thought. Apparently, something about the people’s reaction left a bad taste in my dad’s mouth. He didn’t tell me about until a year later, after he and my mom visited Korea.

They also went to my hometown to visit the same people that my dad and I visited. They first stopped by the convenient store that my dad and I visited. When the owner saw my parents, she dropped everything she was doing and ran towards my mom with tears in her eyes. My mom was taken back by such a strong (and warm) greeting. Then the woman said, “You’re alive!” The same sentiment was shared with everyone that my parents visited. Apparently, after we moved to America, someone, somehow spread the rumor that my mom passed away in a car accident.

So, when I went to Korea to visit my hometown, they were pitying me, thinking, “He came to see where his mom gave birth to him” etc and since my dad had no idea about the rumor, the way they treated me and looked at me, he didn’t like it, but he couldn’t put a finger on such a reception towards me, until… you know, he found out that the people thought my mom was dead.

Why on earth such a rumor was started and spread, we have no idea. But, then again, trying to figure out why any rumor started and who started it is tiring business.

I can’t tell you what to do when you hear a rumor about yourself, as a pastor or leader of your church/organization. I do know that you have to really think and pray and discern and think and pray and pray about addressing them from the pulpit.

Unfortunately, rumors will always be part of human society, if anything, born out of our desire of always wanting to know the entire story. I guess we just have to hope that people, who are close to you, know you enough to not believe every story spread by the wind. And sometimes, the best option is to keep our eyes and hearts focused on Christ, allowing him to be our shield, shielding us from arrows of stray words that have no truth or basis in them, and continue to live out Christ’s mission in us.

Otherwise, if we try to keep correcting and fighting and addressing all the rumors we hear about us, we’ll be too tired to deal with the things that really matter.

At least, that’s what I’ve heard…

 

Things I Won’t Miss

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Now, now don’t get the wrong idea. Moving is just as difficult (if not more) for the clergy and clergy’s family than the congregation. I say “if not more” because the congregation only has to say good by to, in our case, just the two of us– my wife and myself. Us, on the other hand, have to say goodbye to the entire church and the community that we lived in for the past 2.5 years. I’m actually going to really miss the Starbucks staff here at Valencia.

So, it’s a given that we’re going to miss people, places and things here in Valencia. But to make the move a bit easier for me, I started making a list of things that I wouldn’t really miss.

For starters, I’m not going to miss the summer weather of 2012 here in Valencia. We had a really warm winter and I know that the summer here is going to be crazy hot. There have been days that seemed to give us a mild preview of what summer will be like. I’m glad that I get to spend the summer in the nice, cool beach weather of Santa Barbara.

The other thing, hands down, I won’t miss is the apartment life. It wasn’t all that bad… but you know, neighbors make or break apartment life. We didn’t have bad neighbors upstairs, but they were really loud. Never intentionally. They had a dog the size of a sedan. And we could hear him running around the apartment. They would vacuum nearly everyday, I assume because of the dog hair, at odd hours of the day. We’d find dog hair all over our patio area and in my wife’s herbs and tomatoes. We won’t have to deal with the neighbor’s TV being on so loud that we couldn’t hear ours. Again, I’m just assuming it was loud because their hearing wasn’t what it used to be, and that they weren’t being jerks.

I won’t miss all the parking that we have to share, especially the humongous pick-up truck that would occasionally park right next to our car making it difficult to get in or out.

That’s pretty much it.

Yesterday was my second to the last Sunday here at the church. It’s getting more and more real that we’re moving.

People have been asking if I’m excited about moving. And yea, we’re both extremely excited. But, it’s a huge bag of mixed emotions. I can’t speak for my wife, but for me, I know I’m really excited. I’m also sad to be leaving this community behind. I’m also very anxious and nervous. Worried, is a given. So, it’s easier to not really think about it, when I don’t have to.

Thankfully, the next few weeks are going to be intense and hectic. I won’t have too much time to be consumed in my thoughts.

Wait, How Do I Make an Asterisk?

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So, I came across this website.

It’s sort of like the fruit basket of the month thing but for men to help them “become a gentleman one box at a time.” It’s $45 dollars a box (per month), and you can pass on the month’s box if you don’t want it (and not be charged $45.)

I’ll never need the stuff that comes in those boxes. But yet, I’m strangely drawn to them and want the things I know I’ll never use.

One month’s box was dedicated to the art of shaving. They had special shaving lotion and all the other stuff men are supposed to use when they need to shave. I wouldn’t know, because I can’t grow a beard to save my life. A regular person’s five o’clock shadow would take me weeks to grow. And that’s just under my chin area and the designated mustache area. No facial grows on my cheeks. None. Many have said to me, “Be grateful that you don’t have to deal with shaving every day.” Sure, but I want to have the ability to walk around rocking a James Harden beard. Just because I can.

Another month’s box was dedicated to whiskey, apparently a gentleman’s drink. I wouldn’t know. I never tried whiskey and I’m sure my reaction to the taste of whiskey won’t be very “gentlemanly”. The box included 2 special whiskey glasses. I’d never use it, but I wanted it, because I could keep it in my church office and pretend to be Don Draper. Though, I’m sure church folks might find it a bit concerning.

As I was browsing through their website that’s been around for a few months, I couldn’t help but want these things that I’ll never need or use. I’m a sucker, what can I say? Have a good enough of ad, and I’ll covet it… I may not go out and buy it, but I’ll want the heck out of it.

A blog post was brewing in my head of what makes a man a man in our culture today. I was about to flesh out my thoughts for a blog post, when I saw this:

I literally spent 5 minutes digging through my backpack, looking under the the chairs at Starbucks, sifting through my books and notebooks to see if I could find that stupid “8″ keypad button thingy. I mean, I was digging. People might’ve thought that I was crazy or lost something really valuable. And no luck. It’s not near me. It’s not in my backpack. It’s not in any of the items that were in the bag.

I cannot tell you how annoyed I was. In fact, I was (am, still) legitmately surprised (and a bit shocked) of how this really, really annoyed me. I mean, I started being irrational. My first thought, after realizing that I may have permanently lost the “8″ button (and believe me, it annoys me to type “8″) was, “Dang it. I have to buy a new keyboard.” What?!? Over one key? I came to my senses, and realized that this was still a good, and more importantly, useful keyboard. It still works. It’s still functional. It’s good. It’s also more money than I need to spend…

But it is not aesthetically pleasing. I’m annoyed at myself of how annoyed I am about this whole ordeal and how… spoiled, for lack of a better word, I must be to get worked up over the missing button. It’s one of those moments where someone needs to come and (gently) smack me and say, “Dude, first world problems.”

Like I said, I was legitimately surprised at how annoyed and worked up I was getting over something as trivial as this. I’m glad that this only shows up when it comes to inanimate objects and not when it comes to people. At least, I pray that it never comes up when dealing with people…

I can’t believe I thought about buying a new keyboard…

I apologize for wasting Internet space, words and thoughts on this matter.

 

 

 

*************************88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 … yea, no it’s still annoying. I’ll live though.

 

Stealing Candy (or a Shoe) From Kids

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I don’t know if that gif is going to work… but in case it doesn’t, here’s the video:

But here’s the scenario: Donald Driver, a Green Bay Packer, is tossing his shoe at a young fan after his charity softball game. The shoe is clearly meant for the kid wearing the 85 jersey. But the woman, holding a homemade Dancing With the “Stars” trophy (in reference to Donald Driver winning Dancing with the “Stars”) physically wrestles the shoe away from the kid.

I would like to think, if I were in that situation, something would click in my head and say, “Wait, I’m a grown man. I shouldn’t be physically wrestling with this kid for the (shoe)!” But… what if it was someone like Michael Jordan? Still, I would strongly like to believe that if it was between me and a kid, and the kid had it in his possession, like the shoe, I would back off… or at least give it back to the kid after I successfully wrestled it away from him. Yes, I think it’ll be different if it was in my possession and the kid tried to wrestle it away from me. Then, I wouldn’t feel at all guilty giving him a stiff Heisman Trophy arm to his face. I’m kidding. Sort of…

While as repulsive I felt watching the woman wrestle the shoe away, I also feel a little bad for her. The website where I found this story (deadspin.com) ran an update. They found out the woman’s name, and saw that she had posted a picture of her with the shoe on Facebook, which I’m sure led to a lot of flaming, bashing and trolling, because she had taken her Facebook page down (but the flaming and bashing continues on Deadspin’s site). Not only that, the story, I believe, was also ran on the local news. I wouldn’t be surprised if catches on nationally on shows like Sportsnation where they dedicate a segment on jeers in the sports world.

Much to his credit, Donald Driver is looking for the kid’s name so that he can contact the kid.

I just know that fighting with a kid for a souvenir/memento/memorabilia Taking anything from a kid is a lose-lose situation. Especially in today’s world where anything can become viral.