back to my roots

i wanted to post this before the new nba season started, but life has been pretty busy and i just haven't gotten around to it. anyway, after many years of calling myself a lakers fan, i have decided to go back to my roots and devote myself to the warriors.

in my first post, i briefly mentioned that the reasons for me following the lakers (initially) was the winning ways of the showtime lakers. they were exciting and talented and won championships, and as a kid, that was all that mattered. i didn't know much about being a loyal local fan and when i saw the flashy highlights of these showtime lakers, i decided to call myself a lakers fan.

however, there was always something that didn't quite sit well with me. whenever people asked me about what my sports teams were, i would name off the bay area teams (giants, niners, sharks) and then slip in the lakers. it always felt a little awkward stating my lakers fandom and felt like i needed to explain why i was a fan of them and not the warriors. and in recent years, every time i share the teams i follow, i felt like something was missing.

and i think it has to do with not growing up in LA. there is something about being a fan of the team of the city that you grew up in. there is something about the connecting with that local sports team. i really felt that excitement and happiness of seeing the giants win the world series and those emotions were deeper and more real than when the lakers won their championships. i realized that i was a bandwagon fan (way back when) and although i have followed the lakers since, i wanted to come back to the team of the city i grew up in. so i'm off the lakers bandwagon and back to the warriors. let's go dubs :D

team

"there is no i in team."

yes, i know that is a cliche, but with the 2010 giants, that was simply the case. sure, they had timmy, cain, posey, and b.willson, but they played as a team with someone different contributing in each game. homeruns by ross. uribe. renteria. huff. a key hits when they needed by this player or that. freddy shanchez's defense. the bullpen coming in early when dirty couldn't find the strike zone. even having their highest paid player sit out of the whole playoffs, but cheering them on on the bench. and boch making all the right moves at the right time. their "stars" did their thing, but the team backed them up and every night was special.

the 2010 giants have won the fall classic and yes, it certainly will be a classic for a long time to come!

nba 2010-2011

the nba 2010-2011 season starts tomorrow and boy am i excited!

i really think this is going to be a fun season. there's miami and it's big 3 of lebron, wade, bosh. you have the lakers gunning for another 3-peat and 17 world championships. boston's old-timers giving it one more run. same can be said for the spurs. how about the upstart thunder and pre-season scoring champ and mvp favorite durant? will they continue to improve? you can't overlook orlando either. atlanta? jazz? nuggets? will carmelo be traded? then there's blake griffin and hopefully a full season of him. how will john wall do? how about derek rose and the bulls? will tyreke continue to improve? how about the sleeper bucks from last year, can they still make some noise? and of course, how dominant will jeremy lin be? haha.

it's gonna be a fun season. can't wait!

the world series

so my giants are going to the world series!

it has been an amazing playoff run so far for this "ragtag bunch of misfits" who have eeked out one game after another. most of their wins have been 1-run games that came down to some wacky plays. write it off as luck. chalk it up as destiny. whatever you want to call it, i don't care. all i know is that the giants have found a way to win and are 4 wins away from being called mlb champs. 

honestly, i don't know what to think about their matchup against the rangers. one part of my brain tells me that they don't have much of a chance. the rangers lineup is equally as dangerous as the phillies were. hamilton is tearing it up. their pitching staff is solid. cliff lee is in the zone. i don't know how much more "luck" they have in them. j.shanchez has had two bad outings now. bengie has insider information that he can give to his team on how to approach our pitchers. 

but the other side says, who cares? we were the heavy underdogs against the phillies too, and we won. we still have timmy and cain and madbum and a great bullpen. we've been getting timely 2-out hits and why couldn't that continue? we have home-field advantage. it does seem like "destiny."

anyway, the series starts wednesday. might as well enjoy it!

conversations in public

this doesn't really have anything to do with faith, sports, or pop culture, but i just needed to rant a bit.

i was in our talbot lounge earlier today waiting for my class to start and there was this girl sitting at a table video chatting with a friend. now there is no rule that says you can't talk in our student lounge (in fact, many people do sit around and talk), but this girl was just yapping away in a very loud voice. now, she was wearing earphones so we could only hear her side of the conversation, but from what i gathered (and i was trying not to listen, but it was hard to block out her voice), it was a pretty serious conversation. she was giving advice to her friend about relationship issues and physical boundaries and the topics they were talking about seemed like it should be more private. what made it even more awkward was that she was giving all this advice in a room full of strangers. so it wasn't just that she was talking loudly, but that the conversation topic was something that should be kept more private.

anyway, i was upset at this girl for sharing her friend's personal stuff in public. i know it wasn't on purpose and she was just trying to be a good friend to her, but it was just the wrong way to do it.

one more

one more. one more victory. that is all we need and we'll be in the world series.

the giants had another 1 run victory. this one came down to the bottom of the 9th with runners at the corner and one out. a sac fly walk-off hasn't looked so beautiful.

all we need is one more.

shine

such a good music video. yay for creativity and yay for a good message.

i've been very fortunate to not have to go through a death of a loved one, but i know that one day i will most likely face that (unless Christ returns first). i don't know how i will feel then. sad i'm sure. but, there will also be that joy in knowing that all my family members have a personal relationship with the Lord and will be alive and with Him in heaven.

remote control

there are times in life when i wish i had a remote control. a rewind button to go back in time and change my past mistakes. a pause button to stay in the moment of happiness. a stop button when i want to get some extra sleep or running late for an appointment. a fast forward function when things are tough.

we think it'd be cool to have complete control of our lives, but the more i think about it, i see that life is not about that. i really believe that life is exactly about all those unknowns. every mistake. every miracle. every moment. and no matter what life throws at me, i know that God is in control. that He is good. that He is faithful and i can hand Him my remote control.

chilean miners

yay for the safe rescue of all the chilean miners. praise God!

Atomic Tom LIVE on NYC subway

makes me want to get an iphone. haha

bowlin'

i think almost every asian boy (and some girls) had the bowl hair cut as a kid. i had mine for many years before it went to the side part in jr. high and then middle part in high school and college. anyway, it's fun to see tripp and tyler bring it back in this music video they shot for the catalyst conference. even better is to see chris tomlin get in on the action.

be bowlin'

giants/braves

juan uribe threw the ball across the diamond to travis ishikawa. a little high. a little wide. but good enough to get the final out of the game. i jumped up and down, clapped my hands, and cheered loudly. my giants were going to the nlcs. 

the giants/braves series was definitely not a pretty one. great pitching by both teams, but sloppy, error-filled defense behind be mound. thankfully for the giants, it was the braves who had more mistakes in their defense that led to wins for our ball club. 

the mantra for the giants all season has been "torture." i'd like to say it's more of an emotional roller-coaster. within one game, you go from happiness to frustration back to elation. each of the four games in this series was decided by only one run. talk about nail-biting. of course, even in this last game, our star closer brian wilson needed to give up two walks to give us more suspension before finally getting the ground out to win the game. it does seem like nothing comes easy for this team, but in the end, they are just good enough to win.

and so it's now on to the phillies with their own three-headed monster of hallayday, oswalt, and hamels. not to mention a much more potent offense and solid defense than the injured braves. it's going to be a battle and most "experts" are picking the phillies to not only win this series but the world series. but hey, it's the postseason and anything can happen. who knows. maybe we'll continue to get stellar shut-down pitching and have a couple of timely hits here and there and squeeze out more wins. or maybe our bats get hot and we start exploding for runs to compliment our great arms. ok, maybe that's just wishful thinking.

in any case, c'mon giants. let's keep on winning!

faith. sports. pop culture.

[faith]
i grew up in a good christian home. my dad, a pastor. my mom, a teacher. it's been said that you either love being a pk (pastor's kid) or you hate it. i loved it. my dad made sure our family was a priority as we had made wonderful family vacations. i didn't feel the pressure from other parents to be "super holy." and every weekend i looked forward to going to church so i could see and hang out with my church friends.

i was baptized in jr. high, but my faith really grew my junior and senior years in high school and into my college years. people always asked me if i wanted to be a pastor like my dad. i would always shrug and say, "i don't know." i never discounted the idea, but never pursued it either.

it wasn't until the summer before my senior year of college that God called me into full-time ministry. my dad had taken a position as the senior pastor at a church in irvine and they were in need for someone to lead their high school ministry. my dad asked my sister and i if we would help out over the summer. we agreed. after a summer of working with the high school group there, i knew that this was what God wanted me to do.

after i graduated from ucsd, i directly enrolled at talbot school of theology. my seminary journey has been a long and difficult one (and is still ongoing), but as i head towards the finish line, it is clear that this is the path that God is leading me on. life isn't always easy and there have been rough patches in my past, but God continues to be my faithful constant in a world of uncertainty. and like the apostle paul said, i too, will press on towards the goal which God has called me heavenward.

...

[sports]
ever since i can remember, i've always been playing some sort of sport. from playground games of four square, handball, kickball, or butts up to more structured team games of basketball, football, baseball, and soccer, i was involved. give me a ball and i will throw, kick, shoot, or hit it. however, out of all my choices, basketball has and will always be my favorite. i remember spending hours going to a park by myself just to shoot around.

growing up in the bay, i started following the various sports teams. the giants for baseball. the niners for football. and the warriors for basketball. however, i will admit that as a kid, my sports allegiance was shaky and i quickly jumped ship and became a lakers fan. while the warriors run tmc was entertaining, the winning ways of the showtime lakers won me over. sometimes i look back and wish my ties to the warriors are stronger. there are days when i debate if i should simply renounce my lakers fandom and go back to my hometown roots (but i'll save that post for another day).

as i grew up following those teams, i have built an innate bond with those colors and logos. niners. giants. lakers. and eventually the sj sharks. and i have continued to follow each team passionately. i subscribe to various blogs that cover my teams. i try to watch as many games as i can when they are on tv. i stand and cheer when they win. i yell at the tv and shake my head when they lose.

but besides my teams, i simply love sports in general. i love to watch and talk about them. and i don't think that will every change.

...

[pop culture]
creativity. i love it. i think it's in my blood. my family is pretty creative. my dad, besides being an amazing pastor, is an amazing artist. my oldest sister came out with her own cd. my other older sister just recently published her own book. and my mom was the children's choir director for many years. i grew up doing musicals for church, singing and dancing and acting. all three of those aspects are still apart of my life today.

like most asian kids, i took many years of piano lessons. and while i did not enjoy them at that time, i am thankful that my mom made me learn it. eventually i picked up the guitar and helped lead worship at the various churches that i was apart of. soon i decided to dabbled here and there with writing my own music and have composed a couple songs.

dancing has always come pretty natural to me. that is not to say that i'm the best, but i like to move and if you give me some sort of beat, i will soon be bopping my head and tapping my feet. i never learned how to break dance or do hip hop, but when i see something cool, i will try it... in the safety of my room. haha.

i've also always been very interested in films and movie making. in high school, my church friends and i spent a night writing our own kung-fu spoof and making a movie. we even had previews! i went into undergrad thinking about going into media, but God called me into full time ministry. still, i look for different ways to blend those creative juices flowing inside of me with my ministry.

there's a lot of videos online. some good. some bad. but when i see something that i find creative or something that i find amusing, i like to share them with others. and you will find that here.

...

faith. sports. pop culture. here on 102.7 chris fm.