For everything from family to computers…
So I decide to check on latest news and what do I see on CNN? Rather disturbing and heartless “Top Stories” listin. I circled it in red. That just is totally cold. Don’t they have a 3rd (or 4th or 5th) eye looking at the site and how that would look?!! 🙁 As a father, the last thing I want to see is another report of a child death and a link to the video of it. Shame on you , CNN! Shame, shame shame!
So today marked our 6th wedding anniversary! 😮
However… it turned out to be more blah than hooray for the following reasons…
1. I completely forgot to get a card! 🙁
2. So I took her to the mall with kids and let her shop but ended up having to cut it short due to Anna having to go to bathroom and the water was cut off in and around the mall!!
3. Was on call and had to come in right after for mission support
4. Our anniversary “dinner” ended up being veggie pizza from Papa John’s.
5. Still at work and it’s nearly 10 pm!
Happy anniversary honey! 🙁 Sorry it didn’t turn out too well… but it’s been an amazing and blessing 6 years!! Here’s to a WHOLE ton of more years together! 😀
Well, I was not born a nerd… but I soon became one. 😛
So here’s what I consider to be the stuff that made/makes me geek or a nerd
1. Took Calculus in high school… in my junior year
2. My favorite author in high school was Arthur C. Clarke
3. I spent countless hours playing RPG games on my hard-earned NES
4. My Verbal SAT score was almost half of my Math SAT score 😮
5. I observed how calculus was applied in real life
6. I loved to derive equations and formulae
7. I memorized a car’s performance and features
8. I could tell what car was on the road after a quick glance
9. Star Trek: The Next Generation is da bomb
10. Capt. Jean-Luc Picard is da man. “Engage”. “Make it so, Number One.”
11. I love sci-fi and fantasy movies
12. Was a fan of Lord of the Rings before the trilogy movies came out.
13. Went to Polytechnic Institute for college. ’nuff said
14. I was a bookworm when I turned nine. All I did was read.
15. My GPA from college … was high. We’ll leave it at that.
16. My major was aerospace engineering.
17. I catch up on latest technology developments
18. Gizmodo.com : Need I say more?
19. My hobby is building and tweaking computers.
20. I like to fix computers
21. I help moderate four computer/technology forums
22. I play loads of games, mainly on PC
23. “Final Fantasy VII” is a masterpiece
24. “Baldur’s Gate I & II” are masterpieces
25. I play GRAW (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warrior) online almost daily
26. I thrive on cool gadgets
27. Yet I’m very weary of technological advancements
28. I can compress DVD into a smaller compressed video files
29. I know “pi” to 11th place.
30. My job is a rocket science.
Is that sufficient to be categorized as a nerd/geek? I believe that geeks are mostly pretty benign and safe people. Nerds however can be somewhat stuck up. 😛 Geeks are the ones that make the world go around. Understanding people that are different from you is part of what makes you a human. Fearing difference is the beginning of violence among humans. Trying to understand that difference and embracing is what love is.
Christine brought this up… Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a book called Five Love Languages that Soojin and I read together before we were married. Soojin’s primary one was “Affirmative words” which meant that she loved to hear words of encouragement, words of affirmation, that she is doing an excellent job. Mine, being more of a typical guy, is “Physical Touch”.
So the number one thing Soojin hates hearing is “Honey, could you rub my back?” 
I just looooove a back rub/massages. Shoot, she could just massage it forever!! Well, my kids inherited this from me as well. Soojin used to say “Wait till you get a taste of your own medicine!” 
So both Anna and JJ just loooove a back rub. Just prior to sleeping tonight, both of them asked me to rub/scratch their backs!! Man… I felt Soojin’s pain… but also how much I loved those rubs!! It’s like they were in heaven!! Soojin tells me all the time that it’s the little boys that need more physical touch when growing up so I try not to tell them “No more!” and make the extra effort … but boy is it tiring!! 
Reflecting on how JJ and Anna play and what makes them happy reminds me of this topic. Those two are so full of life that it’s a joy (and painful due to loud noises they produce! ) to see them happy and play. Yet, it’s the simple things that make them happy. Eating anything from cereal to p&b sandwiches for breakfast to “jjoo-jjoo-bah” and juice. Sleeping and playing in guitar case, to making a bed out of sofa cushions. Their take on life is just so refreshing. And remembering how expressive and animated JJ is confirms again and again that I need to enjoy the simpler (and smaller) things of life. Life stops for no one. So I’m gonna just enjoy the life that God has blessed me with and not worry (at least try hard!) about finances or jobs or whatever tries to get stuck in my head. Why? ‘Cause I won’t have today to enjoy tomorrow. Don’t live to regret things.
Carpe diem!
One of the things I prayed/hoped for in my kids as they grew up was that they’d be able to become the types of people that could enjoy the life carpe diem style. Well, you know what they say… be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it!! 
JJ is such case. He is soooo animated! He is full of expressions and isn’t afraid to show them! Case in point, the train ride. Pictures do speak a thousand words!
Just watching him and his expressions gives me joy and life!
This one above is by far my favorite! I was told that I looked like a cartoon… to me, it shows a window to enjoying the life God gave us. I am soooo thankful and glad that JJ isn’t afraid to be himself and enjoy it! 
And to end with this picture shows just how uniquely he and his sister play … such creativity just brings me smiles. 
So I was playing with the kids after I was done vacuuming. It was kind of a spontaneous thing. JJ got on my back from our bed and so I decided to jump onto the bed and let them bounce. We did this a few times. But when Anna got on my back after a few times, she bounced more than normal and hit her head on the corner of a shelf next to the bed!! 
There was bleeding. I had to apply pressure to stop it. At first, I tried to reason myself that it was Anna’s fault for bouncing too much. 
Yeah, I know. That was bad of me. But then I realized that to truly take responsibility as a parent, you have to stand up for your share (of responsibility). Though I didn’t throw her at the corner of the merciless shelf, I am the one responsible for playing on the bed to begin with.
She cried quite a bit. I applied pressure for good half hour and in that time, I kept telling her that daddy was sorry and just comforted her. Later on when Soojin found out, Soojin asked Anna if daddy yelled at her when she cried, she said no, but daddy stopped the bleeding and told her that he was sorry.
Still… I feel bad. And thus ends my confessions.