"The Crisis"

I spent most of the rainy morning watching History Channel's "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" which reminded me of the sad sad conspiracies that seem to overwhelm Americans.  I just hope that people remember that there are things that we accept too easily and things we believe too easily, but then again, ignorance is bliss right?

In the afternoon, Jonathan, Claudia and I met up for a spontaneous game night, but it turned out we all forgot to bring games!  Instead we headed over to Stater Bros. and got pasta to make back at Jonathan's house, where we cooked up alfredo pasta with asparagus and mushrooms, as well as broccoli, tomatoes, and carrots covered with melted cheese!  We watched Forrest Gump while eating and just chilled really...which was a nice change of pace!

I headed home and watched Seven Pounds with my family, which was such a sad movie...the piano piece called "The Crisis" reminded me of a song I wrote once going down the musical scale slowly on my guitar.  It's a very haunting piece with a repeating dissonance that makes the overall song bittersweet in an amazing way...yes people that note that sounds wrong is wrong, but it was intentionally placed there, hence the name!  I'm revisiting that song I wrote now =]  good night!

-Kev

Free Falling in Newport Beach

This morning I played two sets with Barry my neighbor, the first I won 6-2 with some awesome serving, the second I lost 4-6 after breaking my strings and not being able to handle his firepower.  Nevertheless, it was still a good workout!  Afterwards, I visited work to play with the kids and missing my job like always...Someday :)

The best part of the day started after I picked up Claudia and took her out to South Coast to do some shopping and snacking at Champagne!  I had a Creme brulee which was AMAZING as well as Claudia's three layer mousee!  We spontaneously skipped a movie to eat at her favorite Italian restaurant in Newport, which was such an amazing experience!  Our server, Christiana was so helpful, cheerful, and did a great job =]  The appetizers, entrees, atmosphere, everything was amazing!  Live music was present and the guy played Killer Queen, Free Falling, and Don't Know Why so beautifully!  Me sitting there with my favorite food, favorite music, and favorite Claudia, what an awesome feeling!  I didn't wanna leave, but when we did, I let Claudia drive since I was way too food coma to do anything!  Now I'm home singing these songs on my guitar and letting the night fade to black =]  I'm so happy right now!

-Kev

MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED!

Again.  For the third time.  Something weird happened in my house and I am freaked out.  I came in to the house, shut the sliding glass door, and continued talking to Claudia on the phone.  I turn around and see that the sliding door was locked, which I am 150% sure I did not lock it.  When I moved closer to inspect it, there was a loud metallic click and the lock twisted itself very quickly back to the unlocked position in front of my eyes.  Even Claudia heard the sound and heard me freak out for a minute straight;  I almost had a heart attack!  My mom and my sister think I'm crazy but I know now that I'm starting to become sensitive to this stuff...and I kinda like it :D  at least Jessie believes me!

I started my long day at school around 12:30 and after my first class I ran into Tracey!  We caught up, I bought us Mexican candy, Reese's Dark Chocolate Cups, and Gummy Bears, and then I crammed for my senior portfolio class.  I met up with Rem at the tennis courts for her weekly lesson.  Gosh she's so naturally talented at tennis, I feel pangs of jealousy!  But of course those feelings are overcome by pride and happiness =]  Afterwards I sat through portfolio class, though we had a good discussion on prostitution and militarism in U.S. occupied Japan post World War II.  I'm finally home and after my ghostly ordeal, I just want to sleep!  Until then, I'm listening to many different versions of Amazing Grace. RIP my loved ones.  Good night!

-Kev

Lead Me To The Cross

I had a tough time getting up this morning.  I hit the snooze 5 times, which means I slept 50 minutes longer than I should have.  Somehow I still got up and made it to school with 2 minutes to run up that stuuuupid hill to LA5, but oh well I made it!  Class ended early too and so I headed out to play with Trixie in the kitchen.  That little rabbit has grown on me and I actually get down on the floor to play with it.  I talk to it like it's my friend and my mom yells at it when it does something bad, so I'm really feeling like Trixie is a another kid in the family!

I napped for most of the afternoon, but did so keeping in mind I had to play for the Filipino community's novena today at Saint Callistus, since Carmen needed a guitarist for the prayer service and mass.  I got up at 4 after a 2 hour nap and dressed up extra nice before driving over there.  The music director was showing me the music and in my head I was like wow is this medieval music?!  HAHA well it wasn't that bad but seriously old school.  I enjoyed playing with the pianist, who was also makeshift and Vietnamese, so we could talk about how weird everything was.  For example, the priest was from the Spanish community and did the mass in English, but he seemed so sleepy he would start speaking Spanish on accident before realizing what was going on.  We assumed it was because he was tired and then found out later he was sleeping and forgot he was supposed to do mass in the first place!  Poor guy, I know how it feels when you just want to sleep.  Later on the pianist's wife recognized me as the guitarist at the 5:30 youth mass and was telling me how much she loved watching youth participating in mass.  I loved that =]  and I pray for the youth to step it up and own our faith!

I met Jeremy at the pool hall hoping to own him in a second beating but we evened out today.  I did get a golden break on the ten ball and overall played consistently, which I can't complain about.  I came home, had chicken and rice before listening to some music.  The song "Lead Me To The Cross" came on and wow did all my emotions start going, out of nowhere too!  I thought of the cross on Divine Word's mountain, and how my spiritual experience opened the door to all the service I have given to the Catholic church.  I only hope I can lead others to Christ the way that retreat led me.  I'm really glad I have a chance to help the youth grow closer to God, especially through the Saint Callistus program.  Well, I'm gonna let Brooke Fraser sing me to sleep, good night world =]

-Kev

P.S.  I'm really happy =]  Not sure why...

Ouch My Arms :(

I played tennis with Johnny this morning and was whooping his butt with my one hand backhand >=]  My forehand sucked but that's okay as long as my winner count is higher!  Nah, truthfully I was lucky today he just wasn't playing his best.  I came home and ate mi won ton before class, which made me like, 15 minutes late but me and Professor Dabel are chill.  I played addictinggames.com until my Genocide class and afterwards I headed home.  I played with Trixie, changed, baked cookies, and then drove back to school to play volleyball with Remi and Newman friends =]  I had a lot of fun...only now my arms are red, blotchy, bruised, and bumpy with destroyed skin/veins!  It was worth it though I had a lot of fun!  I had dinner with Remi at Cha and we had a good talk about relationships =]  Thanks Rem!  Future book club meetings with you I am looking forward to!  Now time to play some music and relax, so good night world!

-Kev

Back to Life after Retreat

It's always hard to come back from a weekend when you've gotten to renew and refresh your relationship with your maker, yourself, and your community.  It just goes to show me how hard life is and how many distractions there are in the world.  If only there was a place you could truly be yourself all the time and not worry about it;  if you could express your faith, your love for God, for others, express your tastes in music, food, and other interests without ridicule.  It's so hard not to try to fit in and to be accepted in the eyes of the public.  It's their influence that makes it so hard to live.  At least I know church is the one place I could truly be and enjoy myself.  I thank Theresa, Father Ben, and other members of the Saint Callistus community for bringing me back to LIFE.

I went to school today, came back and napped HARDCORE.  I was so exhausted from retreat, but in a good way :)  I played pool with Jeremy and I made some AMAZING shots today...I even had half the hall coming over to watch >=]  I was just feeling loose and the trick shots were all dropping so I enjoyed it today very much.  I came home, stuffed my face with Mi Xao and now I am chilling in bed listening to One Republic.  Decent day, but dreaming out loud about going back to retreat and being there FOREVER.  I'd hike to that mountain EVERYDAY!

-Kev


P.S.  Another weird toilet sign?  He?  She?  Shim?

RETREAT #2

Wow!  What an AMAZING retreat I just came back from!  I had a fantastic group in Octavio, Anthony, Aaron, Paul, Natalie, Maria, Emily, Khanh Tran, and Jazmine, who all wonderfully bloomed into flowers over the weekend.  It was beautiful to be able to witness their transformation with each hour really, and I am so proud of them =]  When we came back, it was hard to hear the post testimonial goodbyes to Father Ben, Theresa Tran, and Minh Pham.  I cried with Maria and pretty much everyone else because the heart and soul of the program lie in these individuals.  However, I know God has plans for them and will not let Confirmation dampen in any way!  I am hardcore resting right now so I will catch up on this perhaps later!   P.S.  Lina, Nikki, David, Yula, and Anna were just a few kids that I was also fortunate to meet even though they weren't in my group and I will pray for them as well!  I also pray for Vickie, Kim, Jenny, Yenny and her parents!  Good night world!

-Kev

Yesterday and Today

I fell asleep before I could write anything, but basically I had class and attended my first Newman Club meeting!  I was informed about it after Ash Wednesday mass at school, which was beautiful by the way!  I wish I went to a school where I could go to mass or at least a chapel!

So today, I wrote my proposal for my senior portfolio class and headed off to school.  The day went by relatively quick and I even squeezed in tennis with Remi, Ralph, and Jamie at Long Beach today!  It was a lot of fun, but then I was stuck in 499 all night tonight :(  I couldn't practice the skit today which I was looking forward too...Oh well, retreat tomorrow!  I'm super excited and so I shall sleep now to get some good rest :)  Good night world.

-Kev

GUPPY'S

Yesterday, I pretty much lounged around ALL day until night time came when I went to practice skits for retreat.  Me and Charissa had fun singing and tried out our skillz on Theresa outside her office.  She received the best version of Sunday Morning ever!  Afterwards we and Jonathan went to Guppy's where we binged ate fried rice and popcorn chicken!  I got home and I was so full I couldn't blog so this makes up for that!  I'll blog again later tonight to talk about today, which is pretty cool so far!

President's Day...Except I Didn't Get The Day Off

That's right.  Even my DAD got the day off today and I still had to drag my butt to school.  Oh well, it was only one class after all!  Afterwards, I played tennis with Johnny, his brother, and his little cousin at Los Amigos.  It got really hot so we didn't last that long and I headed home to play with our new pet rabbit, Trixie.  I got called out to tennis again with my neighbor Barry and he brought his friend Kyle over to play doubles.  We played three really good sets and I thought I did well today!  Later I picked up food for me and Claudia.  I showed her how to play thirteen before heading out, picking up Patty, renting the Hangover and watching it tonight.  It was really funny actually and now I am wrapping this up quick styles so I can sleep!  Good night now :)

-Kevster

Valentine's Day / Tet Mashup!

This morning our family went out to eat at Trieu Chau and afterwards headed for the Westminster Mall so my mom can check out the Orchid Show.  Me and my sisters were so nauseated by all the MSG in the food that we were like, zoning out while walking around.  After shopping, we headed to my aunt's house for Tet where there were 5 boxes of Popeyes!  HALLELUJAH!  We spent a few hours playing spoons, egyptian warfare or whatever it's call, before I headed to church.  Later my sisters and Kien drove Jessie home, making a stop at Yogurtland before hitting the 405 all the way to LA.  At LMU we explored campus, played ping pong and pool, went to the library, and then Patty got a stomach ache.  I drove her home super quick where she happily pooped :)  Finally, I fed and played with our new pet bunny, Trixie.  Now, I sleep :)  GOOD NIGHT!

P.S.  I saw this weird sign at LMU's bathroom in the library...something about the girl strikes me as odd...

Retreat Training #2

I woke up early to play tennis with Johnny but we had to cut our session short so that I could make it to Saint Callistus in time for Tina's Grandma's funeral mass.  I was very moved by what Cha Long had to say in his homily, that she can live on in the good works her family she sacrificed so much for can do.  We then had training in the YC and I think we had a really productive session.  Afterwards, me and Jonathan rode up through the crazy traffic to Riverside where we picked up our sweaters :)  I'll post a picture up at the end of the next week since this one is so hectic already!  Finally I was invited to a Valentine's Day celebration with the Newman Catholic Club at CSULB.  It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of cool people!  I think it's definitely about time I joined this group.  I'm super tired and ready to knock out so goodnight world!

-Kev

Pre-Tet Motions

Today I woke up dreaming that my close friend Bill Steelman was still alive and that I visited him.  It was really real to me and I kind was on a high but crashed when I "woke up".  It also turned out to be the birthday of my deceased cousin today, Danielle, who would have been 15 today but she died about 6-7 years ago.  I guess I was a little overwhelmed this morning about the deaths in my family.  I don't want to elaborate too much about this one because it's just personal and two because I may potentially have to talk about this and share my experiences in light of our faith.  I'm fine with that, I guess in short I don't really wanna give too much away.  

Later on my mom, my little cousin Dayna, and I drove up to LMU to pick up my little sister who I haven't seen in almost a month!  I missed her and it's to have her back home.  We stopped by Costco in Los Al and had pizza/polish sausages, it was just a nice day to be outside and the sun felt really good on my skin.  After we got home I was asked to go to work by Jonathan and I did, visiting the kids always makes me really happy inside.  I love all the hugs and high fives I get from them and I am also glad that they still want me in their lives.  I am definitely considering returning when I have more time away from school.

Next I had dinner with Cat at Kabuki's happy hour, feasting on calamari, spicy seafood udon pasta (MY FAVORITEEE) and sushi rolls.  We both were oogling at hot workers and gosh there was a super cute server but I just couldn't man up enough to talk to her.  I sort of regret it I sort of don't care but it's okay :)  I headed to church to visit BASIC and then to attend Tet Mass.  I was really impressed by the organization and cultural displays of incense burning, praying, and dancing.  I'm proud to be Vietnamese and I hope that this year will be a great year for me and my family and friends.  I look forward to succeed hopefully.  Now I'm home and I know I should sleep because there's such a long day tomorrow.  A lot of cleaning needs to be done and things to get out of the way in order to relax and celebrate this weekend with the family!  Good night world.

-Kev

Night Classes SUCK!!

I woke up today and played tennis with Johnny.  We practiced for his chump match with some dude at Los Amigos High.  Obviously he won so that was good, he owes me one now!  I headed off to school in the afternoon and got amazingly great parking!  Better yet, my first class's quiz was canceled and I spend the second one playing bubble something on addictinggames.com :)  Finally, there was the night class I always dread because it's the senior portfolio class and there's always so much reading/thinking/talking you have to do.  LUCKILY my analysis turned out to be right on and the teacher was impressed with my synopsis.  In reality, I got totally lucky, but that's much better than failing =]  Turning in for the night, so buenas noches!

-Kev

Bumming it until Tennis!

Seriously, the day was sooo slow.  I got out of class as usual and went home and found that my aunt made rice and chicken just like $1.99.  However, it was obviously superior, and I munched it down before being lazy for like, 6-7 hours straight!  Then I got out to play tennis with Justin and his two friends on Chapman and Knott.  Dang I played a great first set, then tanked it the next one :(  Oh well I got some good shots in and we all made miraculous shots throughout the night.  I had a lot of fun, but I'm down about my forehand :(  Well I better sleep soon, gotta wake up to help Johnny prepare for a grudge match tomorrow at 8am :)  goodnight world!

-Kev

Rainbow in the Sky

I woke up today to play tennis with Johnny.  Despite doing the best I could with my old flabby weak body, the boy edged me in performance today for pretty much the second day in a row.  It's okay though I still got a few good shots in.  I headed to school and as the rain poured I swear I almost slipped more than 10 times.  I decided to walk super slow but careful in order to avoid the embarrassment of falling down in public.  The cool part of the day happened as I was coming home on 405, I saw a FULL rainbow to the North and as I did, the song "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" by CCR comes on my phone on shuffle.  Right then and there I prayed to God out of shock!  Later in the day I just jammed on my guitar and am resting.  I have a sore throat and I'm just sore from two days of tough tennis.  Well, it's back to action tomorrow at 8am so until then, PEACE!

-Kev

Apples to Apples: Bible Version!

I had Modern China class today, and I parked in front of Brotman Hall at a meter space.  I put enough coins for 2 hours and headed for class.  Of course, today lecture ends early and I'm out of class 30 minutes before my meter runs out.  Annoyed, I sat outside CBA like a loser basking in the sunlight texting randomly friends and family.  Then Yen and Joanne come walking across and pleasantly surprised I walked them to the Horn Center while inappropriately texting Leyna, all in good fun though!  After catching up, I walked back to my spot just as it ran out and I satisfyingly pulled out and headed home.

Johnny came over at 2:30 ish and we played some amazing tennis today, though he definitely edged me out today.  I played better until Claudia and Jonathan came because I was having too much fun making a big verbal competition out of Johnny and trying to impress Claudia!  Afterwards, we went to Main Place Mall to buy bible board games like "Bibleopoly" or "Bible Scattegories", and my favorite "Bible Apples to Apples"!  We met a guy there who was really into his faith and explained to us several shirts that caught our attention.  Quote of the day found on one of these shirts from Ronald Reagan surprisingly:  "I've noticed that everybody who is for abortion has already been born."  We were sent off with prayer and headed out to eat at Bubba Gump!

We ordered SO much food including shrimp, crab claws, fries, cajun shrimp, fish, whatever!  The bill came out to be $80 for me, Jonathan, and Claudia, however Claudia's wonderful discount cut the bill by 70%.  Bottom line?  We payed $26.00, and $41 total including tip!  Amazing no?  =]

Finally we headed back to Claudia's and after a brief tour of many many baby pictures and many many parts of the house, and also Spanish speaking :D, we played Bible Apples to Apples with me, Claudia, Jonathan, Martin, Adam, and Alex!  We had so much fun and I'm sad the night went by so fast but definitely a great feeling!  Time for sleep though so I can handle school tomorrow...GOOD NIGHT!  :D

-Kev

Lanyard Making

After watching Jonathan stringing together probably a million lanyards this last month, tonight he invited me to his little lanyard making seminar after mass and I got hooked.  We even went to eat at TGIF's afterwards and I was still pathetically weaving together one of these blasted things.  Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen sometime!

Today my parents drove up to Divine Word to deliver birds for a sending off activity they do before the kids come back to Saint Boniface.  Meanwhile I headed to Jonathan's house for some bun bo hue which was really good, and then we headed to Saint Callistus at 3pm for choir practice.  It felt good playing guitar again and messing around with Andrew over chord theory.  Tweena and Quang were wonderful as usual and mass went by quickly.  Father Ben predicted a comeback for the Saints and they did come back from 3 down to 16 up to win the Super Bowl.  This year football wasn't too important to me, I like basketball and tennis a whole lot better.  Still, I'm proud the Saints won their first one over a team that already has a title.  I will continue to weave my wonderful black and white lanyard for hours until sleep hits and it's back to school tomorrow =[ Good night team!

-Kev

Alpha Omega, Popeyes, Genki Living Crepes, and Apples to Apples

The day started out with breakfast at the Omelet House with Johnathan.  I had biscuits and eggs draped in gravy which was absolutely delicious, and not to mention at a cheap price too!  Saved By The Bell was on TV and it was bringing back lots of memories, like Zack Morris hitting on Kelly reminds me of my high school years...Anyways, we went to retreat leader training which was short and sweet.  Afterwards, Jonathan, Cammie, Claudia, Trang, and I went up to Riverside to make sweaters; some were for Jonathan's frat, and three were for a special AO Project me and Cammie came up with separately but combined to make it even better.  You'll see next week!  I saw Clementine there which was random, and then after leaving realized I forgot my Members Only jacket!  I'm so dumb, but they found it and are holding it for me thank goodness.

We traveled all the way back to Popeye's in Westminster, despite Cammie and Trang's commitment to the Weight Watcher's program.  On the way we saw an elephant with two tusks on the mountain somewhere on the 60 I think.  Later we chilled at Jonathan's house after dropping off Trang at church, then decided to eat crepes at Genki Living's!  Nutella, bananas, and vanilla ice cream was in everyone's stomachs as we went back to Jonathan's to play Apples to Apples.  We picked it up from my house after a brief tour of my house, my mom's garden of orchids, and the many embarrassing pictures of my youth.  We wrapped up the night with talks about psychology and faith, as well as a game of Sequence, more than 12 hours of fun!

Now I'm home chilling, my throat's still tickly but it's okay.  I'm looking forward to playing music at mass tomorrow so I guess I'll see you all then!

-Kev

Rained Out Again

I was way looking forward to tennis with Johnny and Randy today...too bad it rained out!  I was really upset, but at least I got breakfast with Johnny.  After a good talk, I followed him to UCI where we shot pool.  It was a lot of fun and somehow, Vince found us and hung out with us some more.  After sitting in on Johnny's political science class, meeting his friend Josephine and playing on his laptop hardcore, we headed back.  I went to work to visit the kids and man they were so excited to see me I melted inside with all the hugs =]  An amazing thing in this world is the power of children.  I love them and it was an amazing moment to hear my name and be mushed in hugs by them.  Later, I had dinner with Johnathan at Bubba Gumps but Claudia wasn't working =[  its okay, they went off to party while I went home to rest and play with Dayna.  Retreat training tomorrow!  Good night now :D

-Kev

School is Getting Old Fast

Seriously, I am over school already.  I just don't enjoy all the annoying things about going to class:  from spending a ridiculous amount of time finding parking, walking across the entire campus to get to class from the parking lot, listening to arrogant, outspoken professors, and leaving when it's dark outside (only on Thursdays).  I probably am complaining a little too much I guess I'm just tired from the accumulation of stress school gives me.  Anyways, the day started okay with some morning tennis with Johnny.  I found out I can kinda serve, but the old men cut our time short.  Oh well tomorrow I'm supposed to play with him again and also with Randy, an old friend.  Definitely looking forward to the weekend! Good night world.

-Kev

Tennis with the Boys!

I went to Modern China today and as class ended and I walked back out, I saw Ana, a mutual friend of mine and Minh's so I called Minh to see what was up, only to see Jenny driving out of the carpool lot!  I'm glad that Saint Callistus people are in my life now =]  Anyways, I go home and take a long nap awaiting Johnny to play tennis with me after school was over for him at UCI.  Even as we were warming up the arm felt loose and we ended up having a good tennis day, at least I did.  We played King of the Court and I got juggernaut hot!  Vince came out which made things even better and reminded me again how lucky I am and proud I am to be able to say I am a part of the Saint Callistus Community.  It's like everyday that goes by I get closer and closer with these people and with God.  It didn't stop there, my friend Kris decided to make one and I am glad that even though he's far away in the Philippines I can still keep up with his life until he makes it back home!  Looking forward to it man!  Now I'm working on my senior portfolio for History, meaning it's almost all over!  After that I'm knocking out, maybe more tennis tomorrow at 8am puahah!  Good night world.

-Kevin

Pool and Popeye's Tuesday Special!

I went to class today and had lunch by myself in the patio area :(  like a loner!  It's okay though, I experienced a good lecture in both Civil War and in Genocide classes.  After class I headed to UCI to shoot pool with Vince at it's "happy hour".  A dollar an hour is pretty freaking good!  That school is SO full of Asians I definitely regret not giving UCI a fair chance puahaha.  I bought 8 pieces of Popeye's on the way home and now I am thoroughly stuffed and bloated =[  It's okay, now I'm listening to Sara Bareilles's Gravity, what an amazing song you should check it out.  School early tomorrow =[ so good night all!

-Kev

Post-Retreat Monday

I AM SO TIRED AND SLEEPY ALL THE TIME!  I guess it's because I'm trying to make up for hours and hours of lost sleep, not that it was for good reason since leaders were just hanging out and goofing around into the early hours of the morning.  Well it was worth it, and I had a lot of fun, it's just always hard adjusting back to being home and going to school!  Anyways, I spent the whole day sleeping until the afternoon.  I ran a few errands for my parents and visited Co Hang for a while.  We talked a lot about ghosts and their role in nature and the Christian faith.  There's so much unknown about the paranormal that there can't really be definitive facts about it I believe.  Maybe some day, some day soon...I went home to play tennis with Barry and his brother.  We had a funny conversation about Vietnam, butt plugs, motorcyles, and Roger Federer.  Then they let me borrow their buzzer so I could buzz my fro finally.  I have a little separation anxiety but oh well what's done is done, I was really getting annoyed with how long the hair was and I wanted it to grow again so it could get to the really good length!  Now I'm just resting until tomorrow, back to school.

-Kevin