Drawing Near

For starters, the title is irrelevant to photo taken above.  However, the photo taken is my adorable cousin age 4.  She’s truly a gem and a bundle of exciting energy.  I actually look forward to the day where I can have my own children.  I can just imagine all the fun I would have with them.  Honestly, I’d like to have 3 girls (sounds crazy I know) but deep down I know I’d want a son too since I am the last of my generation to carry my last name.

Now, in regards to my title, haha!  I’ve been having a rough spiritual walk for months and months in my transitional state.  For the past 4 or 5 months now I’ve been in a bind as to where I would be living but that is mostly determined upon where I land my job.  Due to unexpected situations that had risen I decided to move back home.  But during the duration of that period I’ve been away from community for an extensive amount of time.  Without a small group to support me, a church to go to regularly I’ve never felt so empty or alone in my life.  I mean I have plenty of family yes but it was pretty apparent as to who I was missing in my family.  I think I’ve grown numb or deaf to the Lord’s voice and in need to draw near.  My weary soul yearn and thirsts.  I remember a quote from CS Lewis and it goes something like this…”the very fact that we yearn for something greater is proof that we were created for heaven.”  (not an exact quote).  My life has been busy, pretty good overall most would say but I am a far cry from being a follower of the Truth.  It’s always so easy for our lens in life to be clear as a blue sky on a sunny day but when trouble steers our way or we’re in the midst of a trail our lens produces blurry depictions of the truth.  My faith falls short, my doubt and FEARS cloud my eyes from seeing the LIGHT.  In the midst, I burn with desire but something tries to hold me down as if shackles are keeping me from moving forward.  Jesus says to us…”Come and SEE”  In my fears and doubts, I’ve allowed them to cloud my mind and eyes from seeing the Lord.  It’s really amazing how easy it really is to lose focus of Jesus.  I almost feel like Peter when we was walking on water to Jesus but once he took his eyes off Jesus the story began to consume him but in the midst of the story the most awesome part is Peter cries…“Save Me” and you know what Jesus does.  I’ve often had this vision of Jesus standing over us and saying with a gruntled voice ” you of little faith” as if we are worthless.  However, I honestly DON’T think He is that way at all.  He’s like our ultimate mentor and coach in life.  I see him kneeling down and saying hey its ok keep trying and you know what well come back tomorrow and work on that some more.  Just when you think test aren’t any more after college, think again.  LIFE IS A TEST! =)

So today I checked out Laguna Christian Center and I have to say I almost felt right at home.  Since today was only my first day it’s hard to tell if this church is the right place for me to plug into but from my impression they will be seeing me next Sunday.  I love the fact that they are a diverse community and they seem to emphasize that a lot.  It’s not a very big church which is what I want.  I like to get to know people in a small community where I don’t feel like I’m in an environment with herds of people.  The most important thing I did notice is that from the start of the service to the very end the community and church seemed to be very founded upon the WORD OF GOD.  The community is also diverse in demographics ranging from older to young, awesome.  I love the youth but I also love hanging out with the old folks too! =)  Today was one of the most refreshing days I’ve experienced in a while. 

In addition to this long post, I might be the photographer for the Asian American Culture Center March 10th I believe.  I’ll have to follow up on that once again.  I’m also expanding and practicing my skills with taking people; I’ll be taking photos for a local band (the drummer is a friend of mine).  I can’t wait to see what I’ll be able to learn and produce. 

Thanks for reading!

Pacific Northwest (Portland, Seattle & Vancouver)

Portland, Oregon

Portland Rose Garden (except no roses during this time of the year )

Multnomah Falls

Seattle, Washington

Pike’s Open Market

 

Space Tower

 

My newest model for my camera!

Wall Of Art

Our very enthusiastic Underground Tour Guide

Vancouver, Canada

Alfred Hitchcock Resurrected 2007

Finally a fresh post on to my xanga.  I apologize for being MIA for a while again.  After the holidays I had my hands pretty full with work, following up on job applications and then my very fun and adventurous trip to the Northwest coast (Portland, Seattle and Vancouver).  I apologize for not visiting those who live in those region but I was on a time limited schedule through each place I visited so I didn’t have time to squeeze you in !  Sorry for flooding this post with pix.  I was a picture whore on this trip! =) If you notice I like photos that either look badly cropped or to the side, I tend to dislike photos that are dead center! =)

As much of the United States has been experiences the unusual cold weather especially the midwest and most especially California.  The cold has definitely caused some damage as many of you might be aware of to our agriculture industries especially for citrus fruits.  I would really hate to see the prices go up for OJ and Oranges in general but that will most likely be the case.  Places like Sacramento have hit record lows in the low 20′s and while it was cold back where I live I didn’t manage to escape the cold at all.  In fact, it was freezing throughout the whole trip up the Northwest (typically excepted but colder than usual this year they say).  I don’t think I’ve been colder in my whole life but whatever you get used to it once you face, ears, hands and feet go numb, haha!  Even though it was terribly cold I was still able to get a lot of photos in throughout the course of my trip which I was very excited about doing in the first places.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture the many gardens available in Portland and especially in Canada since most of them were snowed over or pretty much dead during this time of the year.  Never the less I had a great time in all places.  I would have to say I enjoyed Seattle the most still.  I had not been to Vancouver since I was a boy so I didn’t remember much except for the Buchart Garden’s and the Suspension Bridge they are famous for in Victoria.  At night I thought the city was gorgeous but when day light hits I was disappointed with many of the buildings architecture.  For the most part they were dull and looked the same.  I also enjoyed Pike’s Market in Seattle and the Open Market in Vancouver as well.  That one thing I wish California had; well maybe we do but not to the same degree as Pike’s or the one in Vancouver.  If you go to Seattle during a warmer time of the year though, the market will be even more flooded and there will most likely be more merchants selling goods too. 

Oregon and Vancouver Pubs are pretty good too, didn’t visit a whole lot of them but from my experiences and observations they seem pretty good.  Oregon also seems to have a lot of Taverns too!  Seattle is still one of the coolest cities I’ve been too.  I just love the down town area, the water front and just how the city is positioned in terms of the harbor.  One thing I do wish I had time for was capturing the city skyline, didn’t get around to doing that but thats ok.  This time around I go to take a Underground Tour of Seattle.  Learned a brief history of the city itself and how it came to be.  The tour being sort of a history recap it could seem boring but I fully enjoyed our very entertaining tour guide.  I swear she does stand up comedy as a side job too! =)  Another thing to note about down town Seattle is that it’s not like a lot of other cites you visit.  It’s decently spread out and the great part about down town Seattle is its mostly commercial, businesses, offices etc and NO Public Housing or at least hardly.  It not like SF where you go certain place and there are just districts of housing.  Seattle probably has some of that but certainly little to none from what I could see.

Other things to note, make sure you change currency before you go to
Canada, its just less of a pain to do it before hand in the US. 
Canadian’s charge something like 4% for the conversion.  So I hear
Canadian’s are not too fond of Americans?  I wonder why?  If you are
Canadian please educate me!  Interestingly, Vancouver has almost 14%
tax on things you buy, no wonder they all have health coverage there
hahah!

Overall, the trip was fun.  Thank’s Sarah for housing us in Portland
and Thanks Bryce for arranging all the logistics and hooking us up,
mucho eprops do you pal! =)  Make sure you bring a passport to Canada! 
Most people are under the impression you can just show a driver’s
license ID but new laws are going to be set where you must have a
passport to visit Canada.  If you don’t, you’re wont be able to get
back into the US. 

Whelp, now it’s back to reality and my daily life! =) 

Next destination…Indianapolis in March

The Unknown

 

So lately I’ve been rethinking about my career goals and objectives and I must say it’s not as easy when you sit down to think about it.  For some, their objectives are crystal clear, others its questionable, doubtful and sometimes clueless.  I’ve found myself creating different objectives for different jobs/careers but I have found myself stretching myself out a lot here which can be both good and bad.  Stretching yourself too thin can make it seem like you don’t know what you want either.  Knowing myself I may not know exactly what I’ll be doing just yet or how I will get there but I know I will get there in the end.  It’s sort of like a playing cards, you’ll never know what hand you’ll get. 

Finding a good job can be really difficult but Id imagine being patient can be even a greater virtue.  I swear this is like my other full time job.  I am fortunate I still have a job while I am discovering a career Id like to enter into. But marketing yourself well isn’t always the easiest thing to make employers want to have a second look at you.  You may not all agree with me on this notion but it’s really about who you know in terms of job/career connections or almost anything in life.  To me its common sense but it’s seem more realistic when I experience it either in my life or when I hear about with others.  Skills and other specializations are important but the bottom line is it’s really who you know.  How many people can really say they made it 100% on their own I doubt everyone can say that.  Most of us are linked to someone and that how it usually work in this world.  The most difficult part is gaining experience when you don’t have much of it while employers demand experience.  Sometimes I wonder how do people even get started?  So watch out for the noob on the market because I’m making my way downtown, hahah. 

Funny quote while talking to someone experienced…  “You think you are worth $100,000 but   you’re only worth $40,000 because thats what you make.”  I thought that was pretty funny but at the same time it’s true if you’re talking from a monetary perspective.  Who knows I might work for someone else for a number of years and then later down the road of life I could be my own boss!   Talking to my parents, they would of never imagined they would be doing what they do now so I guess discovering my niche in the market is what I’m after!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
GOODBYE 2006, HELLO 2007!

 

***EDIT*** I need some inside perspective about what are the significant differences between the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 and the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0!  The 4.0 is like $500 cheaper but why?  I’m not talking about the IS versions either!  Is the 2.8 better in low lighted situations than the 4.0?  Opinions and comments are welcomed! =)