New Blog!

I forgot to let my blogger peeps know... I migrated (quickly) to a new blog on my own server space at...

http://www.rootprod.com/rejoice/

Keep up with me there! I hope to post a lot more than I have been lately!

...but before I go...

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/11/07/its-here-first-teaser-trailer-for-pixars-up/

YES! MAY 29th! WOOHOO! Clear your calendars... who's coming with me??? =D
(thanks BJ!)

Stand by for new transmission...

Will be moving to Wordpress - sorry Blogger. Stay tuned...

Broken shackles falling to the ground

"Sanctified" by MercyMe ("All That Is Within Me" album)

Let there be no condemnation
For all who are fully known in Christ
Unspeakable grace for all the nations
By way of holy sacrifice

We worship with the sound
Of broken shackles falling to the ground.

Sanctified
I have been set free
Grace divine
Has swept me off my feet

No greater love has ever bee known
Than He who came to find the lost
No greater sacrifice has been shown
Than He who laid upon the cross

Let all creation sing
For He has come and He's changed everything

Sanctified
I have been set free
Grace divine
Has swept me off my feet

And I know that I will never be the same...

I've been listeing to this song a lot lately & tend to turn up the volume and blast it when I listen to it =P I'm sure people have given me looks when I'm singing to it in the car & sometimes I don't hear people talking to me at work because I'm listening to it so loud while wearing earbuds hehe - I wonder if my neighbors hear it when I'm alone at the apartment? Hrm, okay I'll stop blasting it at the apartment so I don't bother people anymore haha.

"We worship with the sound of broken shackles falling to the ground"

What a crazy line huh? From my understanding, "broken shackles falling to the ground" is the depiction of freedom from evil, corruption, and sin that is given freely to those who believe in Jesus and His life, sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection. What an amazing and true analogy though - the sounds of those broken shackles falling to the ground turns into worship & praise to God, and how amazing for that person when those shackles do break and fall - "I have been set free."

What does that freedom look like to you, whether you believe in Jesus or not? For myself, I am definitely still in the process of letting those broken shackles fall to the ground (and will be for the rest of my life no doubt) - pride, selfishness, jealousy, lying, judgment & prejudice, ungrounded anger & frustration, gossiping... it's all still deeply rooted in my heart. But when I let the shackles slip off just a bit & let myself be free in faith & heart, those days are full of extraordinary joy & contentment. It can be the worst day circumstantially & yet there's still a smile on my face - that's freedom... trusting in the grace & mercy of God and that He controls & protects all things. Hopefully those days become more common, and yet are still extraordinary =D

*** Edit 10/22/08 - 10:25pm ***

On another note..... YAYYYY! WOOHOO! * fireworks * SO HAPPY & EXCITED! =DDD

Life at random

Well, so it's been a while since I've been around my blog! I feel like this week, I've been finding that I actually have a decent amount of time in the evenings, especially when I eat a good dinner, read a bit, have some good convos on the phone, dive into God's Word, and pray - feels like the rest of my time is spent playing games.

Speaking of games, Word Challenge has been a game of choice lately (and it seems like for a lot of other people too... courtesy of my awesome brother & disciplee, Nathan! =D), although I must say it's been pretty addicting & I'm not very good at it. Myz words aint so grood =P. I've still been playing DotA and Team Fortress 2 (Jason still needs to join me =P), although I want to start playing CS again with Nathan and others again =] Oh, and I've been playing a lot of Settlers online with John, Alex, Jef, and others hehe.


hehe... nahhh I do my work =P Work has been picking up a bit, which is actually kind of refreshing - I'm actually contributing to projects & interested in what I'm working on! Plus, all the experience with design, coding, and testing/bug-fixing is priceless too =] I'm still in a room with all the other awesome new hires (minus Bryan, since he got the first cube =P), but we have fun tossing water bottles for the Hall of Fame & having random bouts of conversation & laughter. It's like... when we were in college & studying/cramming for midterms/finals around a table together - random chats, breaks, and good bonding time - though I guess I get paid for this haha. And, it's not studying either heh, but I do miss those times with people.

As for people & college, I had a BLAST this past weekend in Berkeley! It was SO much fun & such a joy and blessing & I can't wait until I stay over in Berkeley again (thanks to the 110 guys for having me over for a couple of nights =D). Let's see... happenings I was thankful for from that weekend...

• Dinner & awesome chat with Keaton @ Sufficient Grounds! (prayin for you bro)
  
• Amazing message/discussion by Josh at AACF Large Group
• Seeing all the awesome faces of lovely brothers & sisters =]
• Briefly chatting with Josh, Dave, and Angel throughout the night
• Surprising the awesome JOHN CHENG for his BIRTHDAY! Good job getting everyone together Kat =D And chatting with the crew (John, Kat, Jeff, Matt, Helen) after everyone else left.
• Hanging out a bit in 307 & chatting with Benita!
• Trying to stay hushed so Jenna & Alyssa could study, but sticking around to keep them company
  
• Staying up late to watch Fresh Prince with Leslie
  
• Cozy 110 couch to sleep on =]
• Lunch with John @ Le Cheval - good chat/catchup & halo afterward
• Nap on Jenna's sushi roll (and seeing Jenna done with her crazy week - yay!!!)
  
• Dinner with Nathan & Jenna w/ Chipotle @ 110
• Wall-E in Wheeler with Nathan & friends
• Awesome fun & chats with Nathan walking around Berkeley =D
• Hanging out with amazing people at "Chick Flick" night - singing along with Jason to Enchanted
• Good times in the Word with the Lord each morning
  
• Sitting in on the end of SG Leader's meeting with Greg, Matt, & Alyssa
• Halo with Mateo & Greg, ahhh =]
• Lunch with Leslie @ her place, and good chats & prayer!!
• Hanging out with Benita & chatting a bit =D
• Going with Benita to visit Nathan at BAM, and Jess was there too!
• Going through the Mahjong exhibit at BAM with Benita - learned a lot, had fun with Benita, and was weirded out by some crazy exhibits =P
• Dinner @ Sushi House with alllll the awesome friends =D HUGE thanks to Greg and his family for treating us!
• Dessert @ McDonalds afterward & chatting/chilling
• Saying goodbye to everyone + hugs
• Benita driving me back to BART

Phew, now that was a lot of stuff, but well worth it to write down to remember later =D! Ahh, then there was all the birthday stuff too! Before I forget about it all...

• Sunday evening Eric, Clee, Jeff, and Steveo took me out to dinner for ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT KOREAN BBQ! aldsjflksadf;lkjafalkjfds;lkfdsa SO good =D
• A million facebook birthday wishes =D
• Surprise cake/mini-party at work from Michael, Gloria, Sudipta, Anuj, Manu, Jacky, Bryan, Preethi, & Jeff =D


• AWESOME ribs & curry from Jeff/Stevo for dinner at home + surprise visits from Sosho, Dan, and LESLIE (that was really unexpected haha)! =D
  
• AWESOME surprise cake (with STRAWBERRIES) from Leslie! =D
  
  
  
• Heroes premiere with lots of brothers, sisters, and friends! =D
• A Wall-E and Cars poster from Jenn, Benita, Leslie, Jenna, Justin & Greg =D
• A Threadless shirt from Mateo =D
• Cards & calls & love from my family =D

Gosh, God is so good - even in the times that are a struggle & situations that are seemingly low, God is majestic, loving, and caring - Jesus paid for it all. Praise the Lord! And praise God for everyone in my life =DDD

And praise God most of all for the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross - I am infinitely depraved & guilty, and yet infinitely worthy, righteous, & saved by grace through faith in Jesus life, death on the Cross, and resurrection to the right hand of God =D And so are you, or you can be too! God's love is amazing =]

Other things that have been awesome but I've been spending too much time on this blog post...

• Getting to continue dship with my awesome brother Nathan! =DDD
• Good phone chats with Andrew & Leslie =]
• Amazing times in the Word & in prayer
• "Humility" by CJ Mahaney
• "Respectable Sins" by Randy Alcorn
• Two amazing Christ-following communities to decide betweeen - Grace Bible Fellowship and Fremont Grace
• Awesome new music to listen too
• etc etc etc

And that's a long way of saying... this is my life at random. praise the Lord! end of message.

Productivity & Upcomings

"12 Year Old Boy Invents New Type of Solar Cell"
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/17/12-year-old-boy-invents-new-type-of-solar-cell/

http://presskit.ditd.org/2008_Davidson_Fellows_Press_Kit/2008_DF_William_Yuan.pdf

So crazy - when I was 12, I was still trying to fit in at school & picking my nose! There are some other crazy videos of some pretty smart, intriguing, & inspiring people at...

http://www.ted.org

Regarding work for me personally, someone reminded me yesterday that it is a blessing for me to even have a job, especially in the shape that the economy is in. I do not mean to sound demeaning toward those who are dealing with unemployment or are hanging over that knife blade, but in all situations I hope to always remember to be thankful, whether or not I have a job or other provisions. I was coming close to complaining yesterday about being bored in class at cisco & wishing I could be doing something else, but that wasn't the right attitude to have - excellence & integrity is key in all opportunities. Thank you Lord for all that you abundantly give & have given.

In other news, tonight I'm going to a small group! We (jeff, vicky, sosho, and I) visited Calvin's church (now called Fremont Grace???) on Sunday. Not only was the message very convicting, they have a small group that meets in San Jose every other week (the other weeks they meet in Fremont) for young adults! I haven't been to a small group since being back at Cal - hopefully this will be good =]. Also, on Saturday morning I am planning on going to a "Introduction to Grace Pres" class that Grace Presbyterian is holding & will hopefully meet with one of the pastors to chat sometime - will probably also visit Grace Pres on Sunday again, and then Fremont Grace (???) the Sunday afterward.

All in all - yesterday I took a walk around our complex after I got home (I found out that we have a fountain & grassy areas - I'll take pictures next time because they were very peaceful areas haha) and was just praying & conversing with God. What I felt the Lord telling me is... rather, reminding me of was... that God loves me - what a crazy idea that is, huh?! I am loved, always =] and so are you! And by the God who is Lord, Creator, King, Savior, Spriit, Father, and Friend!

Oh - and Heroes returns next Monday! Woohoo! Who is going to watch with me?!

What's this? Google buying Valve?!

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/17/google-valve

The article poignantly points out Steam as a content delivery system, however it seems an acquisition of Valve may proove useful in other areas as well... new 3D engine for Google Earth? competing against Microsoft in the games market on the PC vs. xbox? recreating Half-Life for reals when Google launches their satellite?

We can only wait and see what happens with Galve (Goog-V? G-Valve?)