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Tuesday, January 28, 2003
my weekend was decent. how was yours? too bad the raiders sucked it up. oh wells... i was a bandwagon fan anyways! best part of the weekend was playing in the foosball tournament henry setup. this took place after the superbowl mind you... so it basically one sports event after another. :D i ended up winning it all! who knew i had the makings of a champion?! *agast* it was really fun - very competitve and lots of trash talking. hehe. there were even some injuries from kneeing the foosball table to getting too excited, jumping up, and gashing a finger on the ceiling (all one person by the way, haha)! mom got out of the hospital yesterday. she decided to check out even though her blood was still thin. the fibrinogin medicine (helps thicken the blood) actually made things worse. on top of that... the nurses come in every couple of hours to prod her arm for blood samples, so she hasn't had a decent night of rest since her operation. we're praying and knowing that all will go well. aside from mom and the weekend, i really REALLY want to find a new job. at first i was just looking for a part-time job to make some more money. but it just got me thinking... why shouldn't i get a new job? one that i like, one where i'll make more money. *shrug* i guess my feet are just feeling itchy for something new. i'll wait and see... i know God already has things planned for me. oh! and i got my jet kit and exhaust installed on my bike! wOOt! now i'm really cookin'! wah waaaah waaaaaaaaaaaah <--- motorcycle reving sound. hehe :P xxx Friday, January 24, 2003 so i've been back for a full week now... just haven't had the time to write. sorry about that. we - as a family - are relieved. the surgery for mom was very successful! the doctor was able to remove 95% of the brain tumor. the remaining 5% was left in because it surrounded the major brain artery, and the doctor did not want to cause a stroke. it will be treated with radiation in the weeks to come. the tumor was also especially bloody, so mom had to use several pints of blood. i donated my blood for her the day before... and she used it! :D she is recovering rapidly. the day after the surgery, she was already talking - although weak - coherently, gesturing, and able to move her limbs. in the past week she has started to eat a good amount as well as take walks around the hospital wings (per update of dad). the only complication right now is her blood. due to the magnitude of the surgery, she was given blood thining agents... and as of right now, her blood thickness is still not up to par. so she is in the hospital a couple more days for observation. she was pretty much given a face lift, and some fat was removed from her belly to fill the space the tumor use to in the brain. so my mommie will even be more beautiful than before! yay! xD please pray for her speedy recovery! and so much thanks to all of you for your overwhelming prayer support for her and our family. God has definitely blessed us through you! work was a little difficult to get back into. but i really am approaching it with a better attitude now. i think before this year... i approached work just as i did school. i did enough just to get by. this past week has been refreshing because i've been pro-active in getting projects done. i don't allow myself to be lazy. much of this has to do with my goals for this year - to be more disciplined, and to buy a car. along with that... i'm thinking of only staying with this company until linda graduates. then... wherever things are between us, i'll decide where to live, and what career to pursue, etc. so right now... i'm going to do my best to glorify Christ in my work up until then. here's a friday five for ya! 1. what is one thing you don't like about your body? i don't like my abs. they're kind of funky. i could never get washboard abs... or so i think. 2. what are two things you love about your body? my teeth/lips and my metabolism/athleticism. oh wait. is that 4 things? *shrug* 3. what are three things you want to change about your home? um... i would like to own my own home first. so nada for now! 4. what are four books you want to read this year? harry potter - order of the phoenix. i think that should count for all four since it is almost 1000 pages or something? even if i listed 4... harry potter would probably be the only that i'd read. hehe. well, along with the fact that i'm a spontaneous reader rather than an avid reader. so i'll probably pick up a couple paperbacks through the year. 5. what are five promises you have kept to yourself? i'm a blabber-mouth. i don't really keep promises to myself. so if i had promises... i already told them to someone. sorry! i don't have any to tell at the moment. *smug* xxx Monday, January 13, 2003 i will be leaving for houston tomorrow morning. mom is having surgery on thursday... we're assuming in the morning. please pray for her. i received sudden notice of this this past weekend. she was scheduled to have surgery in the bay area the 5th of february, but in her condition she pretty much needs to have an operation ASAP. praise God for working things out - not only has He provided mom/dad a place to stay, they are also flying to houston for free on donated mileage. i don't really know how to feel right now. so many conflicting thoughts, emotions, going through my mind... xxx Thursday, January 09, 2003 i am... lost, confused, hurt, concerned, deflated, tired. i am all of these... xxx Wednesday, January 08, 2003 life's been good. i moved this past saturday... it was pretty crazy. i got up and started packing at 10, then drove everything over and unpacked everything by 10. its great living in westwood. my address is....... haha yeah right! i don't want no stalkers! wait. who'd want to stalk me anyways? :D i'm comfortable living with henry, kevin, and chris. they're all great guys... acccomodating, caring, and respectable. my only concern is that they like to stay up LATE! hopefully i don't get sucked in too much and end up dead tired for work. that's kind of what my new years resolution is... to be disciplined - in all aspects of life. merriam-webster defines discipline as: "dis·ci·plined (adjective): to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control" all aspects of life, meaning... reading the word daily, controlling how much i eat, steady gym days, how much i see linda, calling mom every week, going to bed early, waking up and getting to work on time, how much money i spend and on what, etc. my own definition of discipline is basically: do what you need to do, when you need to do it... any deviation from that is pure laziness. as human beings there are so many uncontrollable factors in our lives... yet, if we live a disciplined one, we can control pretty much all that we're allowed to control. so that's what i'm setting out to do! looking to buy a car sometime this year as well... so discipline in saving money also plays a role in all of this. (: other than that, please pray for mom. her operation actually won't happen this month. she is slated to have surgery on the 5th of february. all 3 specialist are booked up until then. i just hope her sight doesn't deteriorate til the point of blindness as we're waiting on that. if it does... perhaps God wants us to learn to trust him like mary and martha did with lazarus. not until lazarus died did Jesus arrive and ressurect him from the grave. yes, the spirit is ready, we just haven't asked with enough faith or conviction. xxx Friday, January 03, 2003 happy new years! sorry i haven't felt like writing much. sometimes i want to tell the whole world (i.e. - those of you reading this) what's going on in my life. but other times i just want to be reserved... to keep it, digest it, think on it - keep it all to myself. i suppose now i'm ready to regurgitate it. these past 2 weeks have not been easy. it started off pretty nice with a vacation with linda and my family to hawaii. yet the underlying tone of the trip was quite stressful. stressful in hawaii? you may ask... yes, even in paradise. with my mom's operation coming up and all... it was a much needed time together for our family. caleb even flew in from beijing. i've missed his goofyness, so it was great to be able to see him. i was happy that he got to see and spend time with both mom and little zoe. its almost been half a year since he's seen any of us. his story of how he got to hawaii was pretty crazy blessed tho. since it was on such short notice, his plane ticket would've cost a grip. but dad had some airline mileage points that he could redeem. at first it was gonna cost 100,000 of his miles... pretty much using up all of them, and a couple of flight transfers would be involved. but the agent called up only a couple hours before the flight and said that the flight would only have one layover in japan and would only need 40,000 miles! how crazy is that?! 40,000 miles would usually amount to a domestic flight... so God totally provided. the only thing i regretted from the trip was not spending enough time just walking and talking with mom. i should've spent some one-on-one time with parents, instead of just doing all the activities I (selfish) wanted to do. hawaii was great up until linda and i heard the news about our friend tai. he passed away from a car accident on the 19th of december. it hit us, but not entirely... because we were so far away from everything... from his close friends, from things that reminded us of him - completely removed. it was just a surreal experience as we sat on the balcony reminiscing about the first time we met him, what kind of a person he was, and just the stories and trips that we made with him. he was so young... but had already accomplished much... and would have accomplished even more. i know that he accepted Christ as his savior... but he was struggling with his faith. i do have hope that i will one day see him again in heaven. i think that's a real difference between us christians and non-believers. we have just a little more hope........ you will be missed tai! you can find out more about tai by clicking the yodabruin link to the right. i spent christmas with linda's family. it involved lots of eating and little cousins. it was fun... for a while. i think just the atmosphere of happiness, gifts, and family really hit me hard. i kind of felt out of place... it wasn't my family... i didn't understand what they were saying most of the time (cambodian). i missed my family... that was the bottom line... but then everything else just tumbled on as well. mom's operation... tai's passing... needing to find a place to live... etc. i just felt so mad and depressed. how come mom can't be healthy? why can't we enjoy the christmas season without all this underlying stress? how come God isn't real to linda? how come i/we have to have it so hard? why couldn't things just be right? everything kind of crashed around me. i even left abruptly to head back to LA... i needed some time to myself. yet back in LA was an empty apartment... leaving me only to myself and my thoughts. i ended up heading back to linda's place for dinner. i'm glad they understood i was going through stuff... otherwise my actions could be seen as rude! x\ so now... its back to the daily grind. back to work... all that yummy lovely goodness. *sarcastic* i've found a place to live as well. i will actually be taking tai's spot in his apartment. i want to live with henry, kevin, and chris... and i want to be a good example as an older brother/friend, as well as a good witness for Christ. please pray for me in that situation. mom's operation will be sometime this month. it will involve 3 specialists - brain, eye, and ear/nose/throat. all 3 need to operate as the tumor has spread to all three vital areas. the operation will take 18+ hours. we are in much need of prayer. on a lighter note... here are the hawaii pictures. i also have some great videos of lin and zoe. IM me if you want to see them. :D xxx |
 name: joshua chiu age: 28 birthdate: march 26, 1979 height: 6 feet weight: 172.5 lbs. location: san diego, ca loves: God, family, kids, motorcycles, sports, music, deep-meaningful relationships, competition over video games, food - any and all |