long overdue

So I suppose I should try to blog more frequently. I don't know why I haven't been in the mood to blog the past 3 months, but certainly enough things have happened to write about. Each of these things could have their own blog(s) written about them, but in the interest of summing up my life since I last blogged...

September was the month of seeing out of town friends. Kim came into town for a week before heading out to England for grad school. It was cool seeing her after so long. I hung out with her, Lois, Grant, and Joseph twice. First going to burger night with other Cornell friends. Then a few days later, the Art Institute. Here's a picture of Kim and Joseph outside of there. I also took a trip to Iowa for a couple of days to see friends. It had been a lot longer than usual since visiting last April, and was prompted mainly by my friend, Sara, moving to Denver in October. You can see photos from that visit here. A new friend made a visit to Chicago during the weekend of her birthday to see her sister and some college friends. Visit her blog, Life in the Tension (permanent link on the side with my other friends' blogs). Lastly, Kyle, Tiff, and Gabe came to visit for Karin and Wes' wedding. I got to see them a couple of times for meals, a trip to the Botanic Gardens, and an excursion up to Wisconsin to visit a nice, small town called Cedarburg. I didn't get a lot but those pictures are here.

I've been joining a lot of new communities, which anyone who knows me, knows that's what I like to do. The church I work at rents space from an English-speaking church, Meadows Baptist Church. I've gone to their high school group a couple of times. I have tremendous respect for their youth pastor, DB, who's been there for over 10 years. I have also been attending services and hanging out with people at the Spanish-speaking church that also rents space at Meadows. I've volunteered a few times at Nuestro Center, where my good friend, Matt, works. I join in on their after-school program, helping kids with their homework and playing games with them. Finally, I just went to Connect, the young adult group at Harvest Bible Chapel. It's under a new format with Pastor James MacDonald giving the messages and an emphasis on building community. I've only gone once and I'm attending again tomorrow night. It's hard to tell how well this will go at this point, but so far so good.

Work at church has its ups and downs and challenges. More on that later...

cedar point vacation

This month I took a vacation with my family to Cedar Point. It was a fun vacation with my family. So I'm blogging about this amusement park that everyone raves about and says is better than Six Flags. In some ways they are right. There are more roller coasters and they are mostly better. In my 2-day experience though, they broke down and had to delay using several of them an awful lot. It barely rained at all too. But the rides that are good....are REALLY good. And two of them flat out beat anything I've ever ridden on at Great America or anywhere else.

The two that clearly stand out are Millenium Force and Dragster Racer. Millenium Force reminds me a lot of Raging Bull at Six Flags. Although Raging Bull is smoother, the first drop on Millenium is insane. Dragster may be the shortest ride, but it is the most thrilling. It's name obviously sets up what it's like. You go from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds. It takes you up a huge drop, then spirals back down it. It's the biggest drop in the world and the speed you get to the top of it is insane. Unlike all other roller coasters where you trek slowly up to the top.

The family time together was great. Just a quick 3-day trip but well worth it. Check my flickr photos for pictures from the trip.

Chinese martial artists in Hollywood

Yes, I understand that very few people would be interested in this, but why not blog about something you know about and love. I love martial arts movies. This isn't nearly complete but I think I know more than the average person.


Of course it started with Bruce Lee. That's when Hollywood really started to take notice. His last complete movie, Enter the Dragon, went on to break records in the Hong Kong film industry and make Bruce an international movie star/actor. All the fights were clearly his own design and displayed his strength and agility. In fact, a young Jackie Chan was there taking Bruce's blows in a couple of scenes.

Hollywood now knows Jackie Chan through the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon/Knights films. But before movies like Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, and Operation Condor were re-released in U.S. theaters, before he was misunderstood and changed into something he was not by Hollywood filmmakers in movies like The Protector, Battle Creek Brawl, and Cannonball Run, he did stunts. In Enter the Dragon, Bruce is fighting off a number of Han's men after discovering the opium factory. Jackie takes the hits a couple times, first when he grabs Bruce from behind then Bruce takes him down. And second, the last guy Bruce fights with the bo is Jackie; first hitting him in the stomach and then slashing down on his face. (Which actually made contact by the way! When you see Jackie's head turn in pain, he wasn't acting!)

So everyone knows Jackie does his own stunts. Many of his movies show outtakes at the end, which include stunts that go wrong. In Rumble in the Bronx, Jackie broke his foot. A sock was painted to look like the shoe he was wearing in the end of the film. In Supercop, Jackie jumped onto a pole from the moving train that was supposed to swing. However, the pole didn't swing, and Jackie was helpless in getting hit by the helicopter temporarily connected to the train.

Sammo Hung was also in Enter the Dragon, sparring with Bruce in the opening scene. Although he is not as well known in the U.S. as Jackie, he did a short-lived TV series called Marshall Law. He also directed Jackie in Mr. Nice Guy, which released in U.S. theaters, and has a long friendship and working relationship with Jackie beginning as kids in Peking Opera School.

Donnie Yen may not be as well-known neither, but has tremendous influence on films around the world. We finally see him in a fight scene with Jackie in Shanghai Knights. He was fight choreographer and also had a small role in Blade 2 with Wesley Snipes. He is also known in the U.S. through his role as Wong Kei Ying in Iron Monkey (thanks to Quentin Tarantino).

That's all for now. I could almost write a book on this stuff with all the movies I've watched (including documentaries), and book and articles I've read. Maybe another part will come later.

human trafficking

What's in your basement?

***Here's a blog I wrote awhile ago that bears repeating about age and pursuing goals.

What's in your basement?
Current mood: bored
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

I recently saw Rocky Balboa with my buddy Luke. He's quite the Rocky fan and I'm certainly a fan also. Besides this new Rocky movie, I hear he's doing a new Rambo movie too. We'll see how that goes. This new Rocky movie is pretty decent though. Sylvester Stallone had a big hand in the creative process- writing, directing, and starring in the underdog role again.

Stallone has become quite public with his beliefs too. He did a lot of promos and interviews for Christian media. He keeps saying that Rocky Balboa is not a boxing movie. The strong themes, including perseverance and fighting the good fight, are what the movie is really about. There is quite a lot of Christian marketing material for the film too. In fact, the same company that did Chronicles of Narnia. It's funny because they keep making the point that it's not a Christian movie- which I could write a blog about in itself, but I won't.

There's a point in the movie where everybody is questioning why Rocky wants to come back and do a boxing match. Among the reasons, Rocky says there is something more in him, "in his basement," that he needs to get out. "What? You haven't peaked yet?" asks Paulie. At first, it sounds a bit weird and maybe childish. But let's compare him to a biblical character named Caleb:

10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said." (Joshua 14:10-12)
Mark Gorman, a speaker I like very much, talked about this passage once. Basically, he opened up saying, "Here's a guy, 85, willing to pick a fight." Despite the differences, I see two men here with very similar hearts- Rocky and Caleb. Rocky, in his late 50s (pushing 60 shortly) wanting to get back into the ring. Caleb, not weary from battles and just plain wandering around in the desert for 40 years, at age 80, ready for battle.

I always tell people that age is a mental state of being. And that I would not tell people I feel old until I'm atleast 80. Well now with Caleb in the picture it looks like I have to wait until I'm atleast 85. When my friends tell me they are getting old I just laugh at them because it's ridiculous! 45 years since he surveyed the land, Caleb claims he is still as strong and ready to fight for it.

So what's in your basement? The day you quit battling for something, you're dead. So what should you fight for? Find what you are passionate about. Find wherever God wants you to serve and whatever God wants you to fight for. Because when you stop fighting, you might as well "lie down and pick out what flowers you want," as Mark Gorman says. Don't settle for mediocrity or status quo. Learn who you are, what you are called to do, and fight for it.

blessings

***Reading through this again, I clearly needed to hear that last paragraph again. Please pray for my heart and actions to change at work and the rest of my life.

speaking

Yep, I spoke last Sunday at church. I was quite nervous. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I pretty much had butterflies that night and the morning of. Yet when I was actually up there speaking, I wasn't quite as nervous. God certainly moved and the Holy Spirit led me. It was about relying on God and if you are interested, you can check out my notes here. Feel free to comment.

new apartment!

I found a new place! It was really coming down to the wire. With the lease ending this month and my roomates moving downstairs. I got a nice place in Jefferson Park. It's great because it's by a large public transportation station and the highway. It's a bit further out so I'm closer to my friends in Morton Grove and what not. The landlord is really cool. The inside of the apartment is really nice (and it's on the garden level this time- not the third floor!) and there is even a pool in the backyard. I'm very much looking forward to getting all my crap there and starting over. The situation at my current apartment was awesome when it started, but it's pretty crappy now. I'll have pictures up soon.