i'm slowly getting excited about San Francisco/San Jose.

i'm excited that there's a possibility of me getting reacquainted with my friends Johanny and Fréd in that sunny state. (i'll have to bring some of them with me, if that's the case.)

:) :) :) :)

maybe i'm a cold person but i really don't understand this outpouring of love, etc. for the late tim russert. yes, he was fabulous. he seemed like a real genuine person.

but seriously, nothing else to cover? that, and tiger's knee surgery?

and i can't stand to read the newspaper these days. i don't know why, but i just want to escape from it all. i suspended my nytimes subscription for the next 2 weeks, only to revive after the 4th of july. and i'm giving my ipod a rest too.

Alex Fletcher: It doesn't have to be perfect. Just spit it out. They're just lyrics.
Sophie Fisher: "Just lyrics"?
Alex Fletcher: Lyrics are important. They're just not as important as melody.
Sophie Fisher: I really don't think you get it.
Alex Fletcher: Oh. You look angry. Click your pen.
Sophie Fisher: A melody is like seeing someone for the first time. The physical attraction. Sex.
Alex Fletcher: I so get that.
Sophie Fisher: But then, as you get to know the person, that's the lyrics. Their story. Who they are underneath. It's the combination of the 2 that makes it magical.

this is a dialogue i remember from Music & Lyrics.

i so get it.

greetings from the mile-high city.

it is balmy and breezy without a hint of humidity, currently around 85 degrees. such a huge difference from home.

things are not going well - too many screw-ups by shipping companies so we're missing 4000 magazines. not a pretty sight to be around the grumpy londoners.

but, i was alone this morning, doing errands for the convention and i was thankful that last night's meeting was not confrontational and that we had a relaxing time greeting one another.

desperate times need desperate prayers. please pray for this week - that all will go smoothly. magazines to arrive tomorrow morning by FedEx. sigh. more expenses.

i probably won't have the time to enjoy anything, except to gaze from afar the magnificent mountains.

denver has some memories for me. i was here about 4 years ago serving a short-term mission, helping the homeless (due to the mild-nature of the weather year-around, there are high number of homeless FAMILIES around here). it was a lot of work, but a fruitful one.

this convention will be a lot of work, but not sure if it'll be fruitful, at least personally.

2 days down, 5 to go.

this does NOT work. i tried to be environmentally friendly. it does not work.

this works the best. do not buy others!

in Philly no less!

i cannot imagine the pull of the "tree of good and evil" for eve and adam. i cannot imagine what kind of temptation it had through the serpent. i don't even know if adam and eve knew of the FEAR of the lord, on listening and acting upon the serpent's temptation.

what i do know are my own temptations: temptation to be irritable, temptation to be impatient, temptation to blow-up, temptation to just move on, temptation to do all things ungodly.

david powlison said this:

You have been given God's grace and commanded by your Lord Jesus to give grace to all others. Whether married or single, male or female, child or parent, employee or boss, you live within a mutuality: one church, members of one body, brothers and sisters to one answer. You are a we. You are called to be patient, and constructive in every relationship....[everyone] ought to communicate openly, drawing on each other for help and perspective, seeking to understand and encourage each other, repenting of the sins that interfere. No superiority, no double standards.

this is super hard. It is so unhuman.

yet there are so many bodily references in the bible, among others, in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and in Ephesians 4. it is told again and again that we are one in christ, one in each other, to love and respect and blah blah blah blah blah blah.

this is super duper hard. it is a true challenge.

i just wish that god had provided us with physical stress ball to throw, squeeze, and smash on. ARGH!