WEll I just posted up the lyrics to "the song of the Unborn Child"
I hope to be able to setup a REAL website soon so I Can stream my written stuff and my produced stuff.
I HATE DREAMWEAVER! I managed to make a title page. thats about it.
:P

well ,its been a few days since i've updated... been busy with life etc... (you're wondering. JON HAS A LIFE?) actually, you're probably right, I don't exactly have a life. Monday night was a farewell thing for Joanne and we ended up staying out somewhat late. Cramming 10 people into a photo sticker type booth isn't the most pleasant of experiences... in most of the shots we took, I was in pain from being squished by Ricky and Oliver .... I ended up falling out of the booth after the pictures and in the process of getting up, i took the inch think layer of HK dirt off the groudn onto my back with me home. Some of you are wondering, "What's he blabbering about... sticker pictures." Well, for those of you who don't live amongst an asian population, a concept popularized by the Japanese (as always), to take photo stickers/ personal trading cards with some form of 'model' type look came into popularity i'd say probably about 6 years a go (at least when I first heard of them) Then, suddenly, you get unwanted pictures (most often than not, non-flattering ) of your friends all stuck in your agenda or on your PDA or on your computer monitor or text books. THen came the 'love getty' pictures, mainly targetting the young 21st century asian couple paying like 40 bux HK (like 8 BUX CDN or 5 something US) for a pair of cards that are photoshopped by the machine to make couples look like they just came out from a photoshoot. OThere's about a zillion templates all poorly edited (in terms of grammar..) things like "The Unbelieve summer" or "Iceness Sensation" OR stupid things like that.... Anyway, yeah, then of course, people get the bright idea of trying to make the guiness book of world records by shoving like 20 people in a booth which only has a limited angle of a lens and you see people climbing over each other to fight to be in the picture. Of course , you get the narcissits who are looking at the screen to see how they look instead of the camera and the picture ends up with them looking at themselves....

Anyway, enough about that. On a more serious note, I was talkign to a good friend the other day and she was telling me how she was just so sad to find out that two of her highschool friends had abortions. One of them was made pregnant by some kid who came from a pastor's family. Really really sad. And this kid encouraged the girl to get the abortion. Talk about irresponsible. It just made me sad.... I love babies. Esp. the ones with fat and big heads and big eyes. Makes me upset even to think that someone could kill something like that. Sure the argument lies where life begins rite? But I say, if we were all once an insignificant speck smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, then I'd say that 'd be life's beginning. Props to the single moms who kept their babies. I wrote a lil' something that i'll post later in the day.... It's actually a song (sounds sorta like my other one , She Dances) but its basically about the unborn Child's perspective.
I wrote it while getting really sick in the bus cuz I can't write and read on a moving vehicle.
Anyway, I got to lay down the track (instrumentals) and i'll record it when I get my hands on some recording equipment (I.e. when I get back to Adobo Studios aka. Jon and Adrian's Expression of Order in Chaos)

WHoo hoo, I finally got my 'hard earned' pay check today. i calculated. I made like 8 bux an hour this month. Not bad (CDN THAT IS!) and living at home and stuff, so that kinda is like some spendin' cash. Midiman Quattro, HERE I COME! BRING IT ON! WHOO HOO! (=P)
j/j. For those of you who have no idea what i 'm talking about, you still probably wouldn't even if I told you tis a USB Audio /Midi interface with 4 input for midi and audio/ and 4 outs. so basically 2ins 2 outs for audio and 1 midi in and 1 midi out. I can't wait.

So guys, I'm trying to stock up on my Jet li video CD collection and have so far succeeded to find some obscure Jet Li movies from ages ago. Turns out i have two of the same one. And I think i'm gonna go get Shaolin soccer... I think i left it in Florida. Well i wont be getting that anytime soon. Oh well. its like 5 bux CDN anyway so doesnt matter :)

I so wish though i was going to Toronto on August 17th. JUSTIS KAO in concert. Man, I would have made myself a T-shirt that has a picture of Justis on it (the one with his arms crossed and a big smile on his face. YOU KNOW WHICH I'm TALKING ABOUT JUS- (not to be confused with the word Juice in french... - just pronounced Jus. as in english) ) with the words "#1 Fan of the Justin Cow Fan CLub on the back" and picture on front saying "I'm OVER HERE JUSTIS!" ... then i 'll get those big foamy finger things that say number 1 on them.
i'll make one for Adrian too... "8W - My Eighth Wonder" But I have to find a picture of him. funny how when you're someone's roomate you don't really take pictures with them. I think the only pictures i have of alli (Who also is almost like a roomate xcept she lives down the hall) Are the ones we took at convocation. And we've lived inthe same building for two YEARS!

My mom and brother are back. I was conveniently woken up by the scream of my lil' brother who dives into my bed and attacks me and tellsm e he missed me. Sweet. but not that sweet when he starts wanting to steal my Warcraft iii. GuesS I got some maturity issues. I pointed out to him that the rating said, T- for TEENS. and that he wasn't old enuf to play it. I don't think it'll be good for him anyway. scary stuff. I got a lil' freaked from that game myself. But its a fun game :)

Tonight i am going to help out bonnie , my friend from missions team with CTI (carpenters tools) , with a singsporation thing at this camp that she's helping out at. So it'll be like CTI. :) I can't wait.
Speaking of CTI, NAte Finally called me. I had to keep my composure and not squeal like a girl when I heard his oh so sexy voice on the fone. J/j. no, but he has a great singing voice. Talented guy. GOod man. Miss him a lot.
So i'll catch them sometime soon I guess. Anyway, time to SIGN OFF!

APparently, Brian Mcknight is really good friends with michael Jordan.

Wow, its Saturday morning and here i am at work. VERY very interesting. No one is here yet. But At least only 3 more hours to go till the weekend arrives. I can finally sleep in tomorrow (which probably means i'll sleep later :P) As I was walking on the pedestrian skybridge (like an overpass covered walkway), I once again, had my olfcatory stimulation. They aren't usually very pleasant. There are these planters that they place along the walkway to make it more 'beautiful' i guess but of course, my ignorance on the city's attempt to beautify the urban concrete jungle was shattered by the fact that these planters also double as urinal depositories.
Of course you have your regular bum that sits near these planters, often perhaps (once again, random thought) that these might be bitter political activists whose attempt to make a statement to the city government is leaving their mark on the city.
Interesting of course.
More on that later. Back to work.

Wednesday . Only had about 26 HK in my wallet today. (Conversion rate is 5:1 HK to CDN and 7.8:1 for HK to US) still managed to eat a nasty but filling lunch for 23 bux.

ah so CTI , the missions organization i am went with last summer , is arriving in HK probably i guess on Friday if they leave tomorrow which is a wed. for the States... wait. or rather thrusday nite. oh i dont know.. these time things confuse me. Anyway, I hope they will like HK. nice and hot and polluted. I hope they will get used to getting called Gwai loes by the locals. I hope i get a chance to hang with them... one of my team members Nate from last year is gonna be here so I am pretty estatic about that.


ah yes, i was gonna talk about how cantonese ppl pronounce the names of universities. Education is a HUGE thing in Chinese families as families often compare their children to those their family friends and relatives. The main vocations established by parents (often wishful thinking as they do not know the extent of their child's abilities.) are medicine, (any kind just as long as you have the M.D.) Engineering (Any kind as long as its like "See Woe" -civil., "computah", "EE" electrical), or "Fai, lance-so" (financial), business related stuff. Architecture is leaning towards a still respected profession but often the parents dont know thats where their kids learn free thought and expression and human objectivism (thanks to Ayn Rand) and what design is all about. oh well, they'll say (in phonetics first) "AH , LAY GOH ZHAI DOOK GEEN JUK SEE AH? WAH HO HO AH!" translated (wow, your son studies to be an architect ? So good!) OR as long as their children are in some respectable science related or business field, as an asian , you're safe. On the other hand, if you study "Engwish lee tur Ah chur" or a Bachelor's degree in like "Psycho lo gee" well, hmm... ur parents will probably persistently isnist that your gifts and likes are elsewhere...
Even worse, if you go into music unless your parents are musicians, (sometimes i wonder if they are worried about their retirement plan of living with their doctor daughters and sons).. so back to what schools asian parents like their children to go to...
"O MY SON goes to HAH WUT " (Pronounuced like shrimp and Seed in chinese=> Harvard).... or "My daughtah goes to SEE DAN FUD" (Stanford)... or " ah my kids go to BURk lee..." or " Yeh-low" (yale)

a fine arts degree is a definite no no. Painting? HA! Of course my above statements are made with a pure CBC cerebration process. Honestly, if i had my chance at skool, ti'd seriously be music or fine art. Then again, architecture isn't so bad... if my parents only knew... or rather if chinese parents only knew ( ithink my parents do know since my dad is a see woe en-jah-leer)

Hmm.. and of course there's the interesting aspect of Asian Chinese Christian Familes.... but i wont go into that... ANOTHeR DAY! ANOTheR TIME!

Remember people : As christians and humans, we need to maintain our Temple's of the Holy Spirit, i.e. our bodies. so eat rite , sleep tite, and be like ARnold.
peace.

Wow. Its finally Tuesday. I always await my lunchtimes anxiously so i can eat crappy food. Hey its cheap. its like a little less than 5 bux CDN (which is like 3.30 US for you American dollar earners) and its pretty filling.

Hmm. what can I write about today? Ah i know, Women who wear stilts to be taller. well, not stilts exactly but platform shoes are pretty much close to it. I cannot understand how you expect to walk on those 6 inch think blocks of rubber/wood/cork/goldfish tanks and not fall. Frankly, I think women shold be secure in their own stature and not make us men feel like we can't protect you. Besides, being tall isn't that good anyway.... your legs get taken out first anyway.... and say what happens when smoeone like tries to attack you or mug you? YOu can't run? What, grab the window of the second story of the building you're closest to? Us guys who are meant to protect you ladies, are now way too shotr and out of reach to save you. well i guess you could take bigger strides and out run the attacker.
On another note on that, I guess now we can ask you to reach for the stuff in the upper bookshelf, or for that hemmerhoid cream thats tucked away in the top shelf in the pharmacy.
Let me just EMPHASIZE, that the statements made about platform shoes are in no way my attack on the way the female population likes to dress because guys have platform shoes. My statements are not meant tobe chauvinistic in anyway and I hope none of You readers will take offence becuase i am by no means a chauvinist. I believe in opening doors for ladies and letting ladies go first. Although in HK, thats a different matter ... cuz when that happens, everyone rushes in and it'll take you at least a good 5 minutes to push your way back through the door. Then you realize, the person you opened the door for isn't even through teh door yet.
So why the platform shoes? It will remain a mystery to me. And same with the whole concept of make up. Its almost like putting on a disguise for some girls. If they end up crying on your shoulder, and these girls have a tendency of wearing tons of make up, they might end up leaving their face on your shoulder and another person is actually crying on your shoulder (so you think). I remember some girls suddenly getting excited about a conversation on make up and talked about foudations and eyelash curlers, and some other stuff i had no idea what they were saying. it wasl ike lisetning to a langauge lesson in Hindi. Of course, i tried my best to join in but my knowledge of make up is pretty much nothing. I can talk about how hot that girl looked inthe cover girl commercial but thats about it. If you talk about how to bring out your cheekbones or how to make your eyes look like they have double folds (For us Asians that is), sorry, wrong department. Talk to me about Jet Li and how to pick your nose with your big toe, or how to pan fry a chipmunk, then maybe i can help you there.

It will always be a mystery.

Let me discuss the gawdiness of Shanghai /china architecture. There is such a lack of 'understanding', which is perhaps due to the lack of 'education' in that reagards, on what good archtiecture is. The idea of something 'nice' it seems in the chinese circles (once again, these viewpoints are made from an opinon that has been molded by Occidental Cerebration) pertains to misinterpreted and disproportionate classical forms that are mixed and matched like trying to jam jig saw puzzle pieces together and form whatever looks like the original. That's what I am attempting to work on for my supervisor rite now: putting together different 'classical' forms to form an elevation for some clubhouse in Shanghai. I guess i'll try to keep an open mind about this. I do believe that we need to leave behind the past and search for the future in the present. As rhetorical as that sounds, perhaps that is what makes good 'architecture'. Still, i am not saying that we leave the past completely behind because after all, we need something to build on. The way we build now is not the same as yesterday but it is based on its foundations ... that this is where we spawned ffrom and its just a variation on that ... to make constantly make that variation better and better. Its just like playing a tune on a musical instrument and continueing to perfect it to the poitn where the melody is still there but the variation of the melody has become so complex that it has made the tune surpass itself.

ok. enough rhetorics for today. BACK to the real world....

Brian McKnight Song of the week: Win (from the Hurricaine soundtrack)

Hmm. Monday again. I think I've begun to understand our friend, the cynical fat, little orange cat we have come to know as Garfield's coined phrase ' I hate Monday's " statement. Yes, the beginning of another long week and having many days to look forward to till my next break in the week: sunday. YEs people, my weekend unfortunately consists of a brief period of Saturday afternoon and Sunday. I am beginning to wonder why I ever came here? I'd like to say of course, that all my entire analysis of the olfactory stimulation of Hong Kong and my thorough commentary on the cultural behavior of Hong Kong is coming from a Occidental raised, Asian who has been saturated with the somewhat more 'refined' (even the use of the word here is a result of cultural assimilation.. not in its enitrety of course) aristocratic culture of the Europeans. Although i am completely wrong in saying that Asians don't have manners. Its just that a majority of people were raised without proper etiquette.... Although somehow, I dont know if slurping noodles noisily is a horrific act. It seems like its a cultural matter, of which, I cannot explain fully. Of course, hence the term for us CBC's, ABC's, Bananas, twinkies... whatever the term, in cantonese we say, Jook sing. It is the part of the bamboo that is hollow and has two end which are closed off. So they say, we're not through completely to the chinese side (Because of our lack of the ability to read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in its original print.) Or we aren't completely through to the Occidental Cultrue (Because we are born chinese or asian or wahtever and posess a deep asian cultural backgroudn which our caucasian counterparts might not have as deeply as they are not asian.duh.. )
Anyway, yet, i think in asian blood, inclduing us Hong Kong folk . ( I say us, because i somehow retain some of this culture. as i am fully adaptable in that sense being a pseudo CBC as i am born in HK) have the ability to perform acrobatic stunts in our everyday lives. As I take the MTR (Mass TRansit Railway) AKA the subway each day, I observe HK people rush... the mentailtiy of "I must catch the train or bus so I don't have to wait" Is a very common one at that. People hate waiting here. So when you order your food here, ORDER FAST! People will glare at you, mutter comments that are loud enough so that you can hear (if u understand), or just go in front of you. I digress as i always do. But each day I watch people slip through the crack of the closing MTR doors (just like a Jackie CHan movie) and its not just one person but at least 4 people can dive in through a 3 inch gap. well, then again, HK people (esp. the women) are so skinny that you could probably pick a lock with them. Honestly, it astounds me to think that also a 200 pnd man can also burst through the closing doors of the subway car... although sometimes people get wedged in them and they open again. Of course i'm not referring to myself although there have been times where my backpack didnt make it through.
Some people i swear, throw their children in first and then dive in after... Astounding. You got to see it to believe it.

Is Brian McKnight coming out with a new CD yet?

Whew, we finally got our home network working although for some reason I have to be the host. .... ah computers. Hmm , today I want to talk about Hong Kong people's manners. Or rather, the lack of. Perhaps it could be nice to not have to mind my own but i've realized why we don't do it. It's pretty gross when people are talking to you and you can see the digestion process taking place in front of your very eyes as they tell you about the latest fad in computer technology while simultaneously giving you a demonstration on how the molars grind the food so that it can pushed down the throat in order to travel through the oesophagus to the stomach. OH, and then another aspect on why pollution is bad. People don't close their mouths when they burp. Especially guys and old women. One day, one guy I was drafting next to belched. I thought it was over until he kept belching a few more times every 10 minutes or so. IT wasn't one of those like "hold it inside type burps" but like the full Ripple effect where your lips would like vibrate from the impact of your burp. So today over lunch I was observing this... of course I am usually quiet around people I don't know (As someone in my office remarked.) I was like , of course, it allows me to observe the functions of your digestive system. For someone not having biology as their major, I think I've refreshed my memory quite vividly. Here's another noteworthy point about hong Kong manners: You slurp loud. Ah yes, I remember eating at a japanese friends house in highschool, and he told me to slurp. I WAS LIKE BRING IT ON! but seriously, I think being saturated in an environment in Montreal, (very european) and in the constant presence of females (my class is 2:1. so is my church thats female to guy ratio type thing) so gotta be a gentleman. yeesh. so slurping is out of the picture. But coming back here, I realize why chinese resteraunts are so darn loud. Its not just the loud cantonese language, but the clanging of glass hitting the lazy susan, the clashing of chopsticks fighting over the last piece of hah gau. (shrimp dumpling for those of you who do not speak the language) (well actually people don't fight over food. its rude to take the last piece unless someone older offers it to you) Then you have the old ladies who you think can't yell anymore but manage to scream the name of different dishes they are transporting in little metal carts filled with hot water that hit you in the back if your chair is somewhat in their path of travel. I have no idea how they can constantly scream the same thing over and over again... well you hear it again cuz they smack you in the chair again trying to put stuff on your table...
welcome to Hong Kong.

Ah then lets mention it when it rains. I don't understand why people don't like rain coats. I guess it is too hot for raincoats but then again i see ppl with like full suits in the streets... one word. "??" or is that a word. THe function of the umbrella is overrated. In Hong Kong at least. Downpours get you wet from the chest down anyway. It rains sideways here. so thats why the rain coat or even better, a poncho. but me, I'd be wet either way cuz I'd be sweating. with or without the rain coat or umbrella. I went into get my computer fixed today and the guy asked if it was raining outside. I say no more.
and umbrellas. at least 70% of the ppl usually carrying umbrellas are women for fear of having the acid rain react with the make up on their face. Or mebbe its a good thing. i've seen mebbe 1 out of 100 somewhat decent looking person here (Either guy or girl)... I've digressed once again. So umbrellas and women carrying them... yes... since 90% of the women are averaging about 5'3 5"4 here , it makes it hard for a 5'9 ish person to walk around when the streets are filled with many women and yes. umbrellas. Especially those with the little pointy spokes at the end. I really do thank God for my eyesight after walking through a crowd of umbrellas. THere's been so many times i swear i could have lost my eyeballs and have them left hanging on the end of some ones open umbrella.

Ah yes. so that concludes today's randomness... my current situation in life. chugging along with lots to learn. But life on the bandwagon with JEsus has been cool. Music has been definitely a blessing. Hope that I will use it to bless you guys with what He's given me.
speaking of which. www.justiskao.com is out.
What do guys think of Justis Kao paraphenalia? Justis Kao t-shirts, Justis Kao mugs, POsters, Pens, Justis Kao doll.
Ok. No dirty thots with the dolls guys. (Imagine this , pulling the string and out comes a song!)

hahahaha. oh and even better, an Adrian fung doll that when you press a button, it'll rap "Yo, it don't matter where you're from from here to conneticut you're gonna get shredded with etiquette subject and predicate..."

I think the Jon Ho doll would probably be a tuner or something. "You're a little flat."

Brian McKnight, if I were a woman, I'd have a shrine.

WEll, its about time I updated. Sorry to my faithful readers who have been keeping up to date with my blog and being constantly entertained by my random nonsense, yet important , queries and thoughts that pertain to our wonderful existence on this planet. I am thinking of being cool like the Eighth Wonder (Aka. Adrian fung, my roomate aka, hey throw away your wontons aka, you flushed what down the toilet? aka can you put those tapioca balls up your nostril aka, beatbox in the shower.) to start up another blog site for my written lyrics/poetry stuff. Of course, i don't have his rhyme complexities but one day i will . (Yes i admire him alot and do not have an inferiority just because he can freestyle on the spot or have a polysyllabic rhyme scheme in his head or play the cello or put me in complex submission holds) But i have digressed once again. As for my entry for today will be a somewhat serious one and a few poetics here and there.

Tonite, I was invited by a youth 'pastor' from the church who obviously believes in my very minimal piano skills. Ok. yes i'm being humble. Because honestly, I think I still have tons to learn. Anyway, I was invited by her to go to this camp and help play for the session. MY brother also got invited to play guitar and so we ended up going to this YMCA camp place. I was ready not to go because it was so last minute and the songs that I were looking at (esp. the chinese ones) Were soooo corny. No offense to the hong kong/taiwan christian music industry but its time to get out of the 60's karaoke groove type music. Well, what do I know, (As my dad puts it) about music. Not that my opinion would matter anyway. Perhaps I jsut need to be more accepting :) So after a long tiring day at work (BTw, for those of you who have been icqing me at work, I did get omething new assigned at the END of the dAY), I wasn't exactly looking forward to this 'thing.' I was briefly told that this even was to challenge the kids to go reach places for God and live out Matthe 28:19-20. Oh, on a sidenote, I had lunch with Anna today which was also a good time of just reflection and also got to fellowship as well over nasty lunch food (sorry anna). Let us never neglect the food aspect when we have "Food and Fellowship".

Some songs that we did were People Need the Lord, Here I am, I will follow (Yes, the sister act song), and Pass it on. I will follow wasnt too hot and the chinese songs (2 of them) were quite alrite. Lord I lift your name on high was alrite but it was hard to follow Kwai Sheung Counsellor cuz she doesnt really have a sense of when stuff should come in. Once again , God using me to humble me rite there and then. But her heart was there and so were the 30-40 kids in the room.
I guess I started off just seeing it as a job and very reluctant. But somehow, I don't know what it was, but definitely God was speaking to me rite through the music I was playing through my fingers. In the dark (the lights were off becuz of the transparencies) my heart was moved... I don't know if its because of all the emotional toil that I've been experiencing the past last month and also all these crazy realizations that I've had about my life at this point in time, but man, was God really speaking to my heart. The music that came out was something i had never heard before nor ever experienced.... Even though I made a few bloopers, and my brother and I weren't exactly together, the words hit home when I was playing People need the Lord. I remember the first time hearing this song sung by Steve Green and yeah, I was probably about 8 sitting in my dad's Grand Wagoneer in Minnesota in some summer of my ordinary existence, and it took me back a bout a decade and a bit to think that that song impacts my life once again in the year 2002. People need the Lord. I don't know if that song means anything to you or if you heard it, but the line that says "Every day, they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes... Empty people filled with care, headed who knows where... ON they go with private pain, living fear to fear, laughter fills their silent cries, only Jesus hears" Wow. That hit home. Whether you, the reader, believe in Jesus Christ as the God of this universe who cares about your existence or not, we forget that there are people. You. Me. who have all this pain we carry. Christian or not. We still carry this pain in side but those around you remember, who are there to help you who God has placed in Your life to help you along the way. Share, laugh, cry. But if its private pain. Truly bring it to the foot of the Cross where Jesus promised you that relationship that He'd help you through it.
I realized I have forgotten my calling from Matthew 28:19-20. Go and tell the gospel to the ends of the earth... baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.... (Paraphrased) I have forgotten amidst figuring out what is going on with personal relationships, friendships, work, pain, laughing, longing, uncertainties, certainties..... I have forgotten what I am called to do in this life. Steven Curtis Chapman puts it quite nicely in his song, More to This Life.
"There's more to this life,
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life,
More than these eyes alone can see
And there's more to this life alone can be..." Think about that

Well, now you guys will know what I'm thinking of doing. It's not a plan but perhaps a possibility. But nothing is for certain yet. I was inspired in some ways by my friend Dave Lam who is now probably in vancouver or mebbe he's gone to D.C. already... but he took a year off before working to work with YWAM and do missions work. Pretty neat. And Just hearing and reading his emails on his updates and to see where God has taken him as he's growing to be more like Jesus, inspired me to perhaps consider missions after my professional degree. CTI ? maybe. But I feel like CTI doesn't offer the bible training that I need to go on more music ministry type excursions... so there has been look into YWAM. Country? that has to be God but mebbe if you are curious, you'll ask me yourself. Honestly, it's one of those tough times where I wonder why I'm here. I guess I go through that every so often to find my place here. Its like, well what have I done here thats been good? hmm... i don't know. I always wonder how those big big 'famous' worship leaders 'made it' ... well obviously God took them there. I think that for me, that isn't my role. Or maybe it is but I'll need to start low and small before anything big. I need to humble myself and Be still and know that He is God. Constantly. (Ps. 46:10) and also to learn what it is to abide in Jesus. (John 15). Well mebbe I'll just go on tour with Justis and be his cook or something. He'll have chicken adobo everyday (alternating with Fahn Keh Ngau Yuk Fahn . -- beef and tomato with rice)

It's been a good evening although there were a few blow ups by my brother and my dad but its been a long long day. and I still have to wake up early tomorrow. I Finally started writing again and trying to express myself through poetics and lyricsm... hasn't worked out too well but I've been trying to write random lines that I do come up with, down on a note book so I can recycle them sometime later. Now if only I can get my hands on some USB audio, midi module for my computer.

Here it is. It was written last nite:
In You alone I find my peace
In You alone I find my rest
In You alone there is comfort
In You alone I trust

When the storms of life rage around me
Where do I turn
When I sink in waves of despair
What more can I do � but trust in You

You calm the seas, without a word
You calm my pain, with Your love
You still my heart, with Your song
What more could I want
Nothing more but You.
Words and music by Jonathan Ho
Copyright 2002 Adobo Publishing


That was my prayer to God last night. Admist through all that I am/ was going through, He has always been there to show Himself more and more to me.
Hope that encourages some of you wherever you are in your life, don't only know but encounter the living God and the rest you will find on your journey in life.

That's all for now. Peace outside from the land of muggy air, sweaty people, stinky people, and curry fishballs on a stick.

Networks are crazy.
I am talking about computer networks. so fun.
so tired.
I bought my first computer game in like 2 years. Warcraft III. I got posters and a free mug.
whoo hoo.

I am tired.

Sleep awaits.
Another week begins.

Today, I'd like to discuss about the topic of body odor. Like farts, not often talked about, body odor is a topic that is often neglected in terms of personal hygiene. Can you ever imagine that a long time ago, it was a body odor that attracted the opposite gender? Correct me if I'm wrong but don't humans secrete pheremones as well through their odors? To me it smells all the same. But of course, me, being not biology inclined, i wouldnt know . What i do know is, that a person can get used to their own smelliness. Take me for instance. I can recycle socks. They probably stink but to me, they smell fresh and new (until they can stand on their own. then i know its time to change them. but dont worry, i dont do that. ) but what a great idea... to make sock sculptures out of wearing them for two months straight, encrusted with the foot juice and toe jam until they can probably walk on their own and carry you around. or if not, they would make nice realistic sculptures... then people would ask you, "so what type of plaster did u use to make this piece of fine work?" then you would say, "i call this natural art. as it is formed from the natural ... from the organic.... not from plaster.. but from the very feet of the owner of these socks" of course you wouldnt tell them that it was ur socks but hey, you're well known now, with a big cheque and a golden plaque for achievement in art, what more can you ask for?

Of course none of this i am typing is making any sense. But hey, do blogs have to make sense? for examples, i still think the word pickle is not a verb but rather the cucumber that has been preserved in sugar and vinegar and other gunk. See we have changed the meaning of the word pickle.. so there fore pickle is in reference to the vegetable. so there fore if A=b and B=C then therefore along wit hthis logic. if a pickle=CUCUMBer that has been preserved then CUCUMBER =VEgetable then A=C and a pickle is a vegetable. In refuting alli's statement on a pickle being a former vegetable, i use the argument on a more serious note that if a human is in a coma indefinitely, and needs life support and tube feeding, do we still consider them a human being or a vegetable?

Did i mention that I want to play and sing like Brian mcKnight?

in response to adrian's picke comments... pickles are vegetables.... perhaps it is the english language for our parents to be so accurate with the fundemental basics of the word 'pickle' but i think that a pickle is a vegetable because when i think 'pickle' i think of the green slices of sour cucumbers that all my friends pick out of their burgers and place them in mine, making my culinary experience at McDonald's more exciting (More bang for the buck. also makes the hamburger less dry). so in that Regards, i believe that the word 'pickle' as accepted by the fast food generation, is a vegetable. THat also being perhaps it takes the guilt out of eating so much grease and oil and fat that having a pickle with your grease dripping burger and french fries, is like the compliment and antidote to the aorta- poison we shove down our throats. it is indeed the very small yang to the over powering yin of the burger.

but then again, the point on saying that 'pickle' is merely a process of making food last indefinitely (as we like to think so these days with salt and vinegar and oh so wonderful preservatives) like if u eat japanese food (do i wish i had a tenth shrimp tempura . i 'd be happy with one shrimp tempura) with the multi colored pickled vegetables...
so then again, what we think as pickle could be a variety of vegetables like radish, turnip, cucumbers....
so then i guess 'pickle' isnt really a vegetable then.
or is it?

As you can probably tell by now that i am slightly incoherent.... i believe that all animals that can be tamed should be eaten. yes, you are reading the thoughts of 'Omigosh, jon ate a what????'

peace outside

whoo hoo. i must say that i dont know why i keep going back to that really ghetto fast food restaurant but i guess its cuz its fast. thank God i can read chinese menus but i need to learn how to read their messy writing... i keep getting like mystery meats... but 2/3 times i got something spicy and nasty tasting. oops. WEll i got hooked on playing video games at the arcade rite downstairs from my office place.
hmm... seems like the blogger site just got hacked or something.
well, i got my haircut and my brother trusted me to cut his hair. wow. what a breakthrough in our relationship :p
hahaha actually seriously, its pretty cool he let me cut his hair.
you know, maybe Adobo productions could be a Hair salon. where i could be hte head barber... what better place to start then with the bethanies? hahaha since i've cut like half the guys hair... well, not really... i will be a head barber.. oh wait, they arent called barbers these days.... STYLISTS is the proper term (STYLISTHHHH)

DId i mention i love brian mcknight?

one more note. today i got caught in the mad rush where people throw themselves against a sea of people to make the subway. so unfortunately, i had to get stuck rite next to this woman straight from the Mainland who happend to wear a tank top revealing the jungle under her arms (as she was also holding on the same support pole) and also releasing a nauseating stench. Erx, don't tell me deodorant is just to target the insecurities of the middle class.... some people are way over confident about their own pheromone factories. Not attractive at all.
i' ll be sure to carry the spray type deodorant and spray unsuspecting armpits which happen to release toxic fumes.

man, am i tired.
i had worship practise for friday nite and also ran up this beast of a hill. i swear i was like a red tomato when i got into my door. HOw did i know? i saw myself in the mirror. cuz i barely recognized myself. Who is that out of shape beast thats huffing a chugging like a steam engine who is running on its last drop of gas? Well, anyway, i hopped inthe shower hoping to rid my body of its sweaty state but i didnt stop sweating even after i took a 5 minute shower (it was pretty cool shower.) and my mom thought i had not showered yet and yelled at me to get back in the shower cuz she had never seen anyone sweat even after a shower. RIght here. YOUR SON (thats what i said)
Anyway, after about 1/2 hour of basking in the coolness of the A/C. i finally stopped but i started sweating again when i started eating dinner. oops.
oh well. Justis, i think i've beat your two shower a day record. i Swear it is like 3-4 now.

Man am i pooped. anotehr long day ahead. i got to work to discover they had ripped apart the computer at my workstation. so i was put to work on the site analysis model. whoo hoo. fun.i am still not done. Spent the day kinda day dreaming and pondering deep thoughts and got really depressed at one point. oops. In the words of my wise chinese ancestors "Aiii.... ya... "

Well, off to sleep and off to rest up to face a brand new day. God is good. I prayed a prayer from psalms this morning from Ps. 31. In you o Lord i have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.'

i just feel like i dont belong at work period. not that its a bad place. just weird. being there. Ahwell, its almost the middle of july i think. hehehe anyway, time to leave you with my tapioca balls of the day. "Don't eat curry brisket with sour tasting onions"

Hmm.. considering being cool like Adrian and starting up more sites. then again, i dont think i have that time so this will have to do.
so you might be wondering. Adobo. why?
THe hopefully, someday, multi-platinum , 14 grammy's for best album, all for God, production company, Adobo Productions, finds its roots in food. Yes. food. Adobo chicken. Adobo. A filipino dish consisting of meat, vegetables, spices, soya sauce and vinegar. A simple food based on the essentials found in a chinese bachelor's kitchen using the mathematical ratio of 2:1 parts of soya sauce to vinegar with some water and garlic to create the most sensational dish to feed 7-10 mouths when sudden guests show up at your door for dinner. And I got famous in the Mcgill Ghetto for it. Well, at least i'd like to think so.


So anyway, the name came about as my in-the-near-future-multiplatinum-grammy winner-presently-my-roomate 8W (as he is known in the hip hop world, but to me Adrian.) began to rap about me cooking in my oh-so-not-made-for-chinese-cooking kitchen. CHicken adobo. While i was slicing and dicing away and his futile attempts to teach me to learn the fine art of free styling like "it dont matter where you're from , from here to conneticut, you're gonna get shredded with ettiquete subject and predicate.", he came up with the name, 'Its Big Jon Adobo in the house, mixing it live with y'all cats... check check it out. yo yo.' ok i made up that whole last bit but the big jon adobo part was his idea. Hey why not. it sounds cool. no one really knows what adobo really is except for the filipino community. So WHY NOT?
So the name has stuck to this day and so has the smell from cooking adobo chicken in my kitchen.

Well i guess the blogger site has been down and messed up for a bit. Anyway, today was a pretty fun day. We got to go on a boat trip with some of the fellowship cru here. Trish's dad's company has a yacht type boat that was available and fully equipped with all sorts of water type recreation stuff. I got a little tanned. OH here's a story. So after mustering up my courage to get on to the banana boat, (For fear of dislocating my shoulder as all of you know) we got on... me , tim and justin (From TO) who happens to be Eric Ng's cousin. what a small world. Anyway, he's a big kid bigger than me... and anyway, i think we were a little too heavy for the banana boat cuz once the speed boat that was towing us started, we fell in to the wonderful salty ocean. So we tried again... this time we kinda got going but then i felt us tipping too much... and i was at the back and i crashed into the water (praise. no injury) but justin who was in front and tim who was in the middle both fell off at the same time and justin smashed his head into
tim's knee as tim tucked into canonball position to hit the water. and remember we were going pretty fast when we hit the water. anyway so that ended my banana boat legacy. uninjured, and wet. so i was glad. but poor justin man.... he had to take pain killers and we had to make sure he was throwing up... hope he is ok.

Anyway , on the way back to HK (cuz we were at some beach) some of us started singing some boyz to men... cuz some guy i met today ricky is into singing ... has a pretty decent voice. of course he's no match for mr. justin cow. but thats ok.
Some thoughts did occur to me today. It is cool how He just blesses me opportunities to reflect and to see what He has done in my life and also in others lives. LIstening to friend talk about how GOd really provided was a great reminder for me how God takes care of us. We just need to pray.

Anyway, for those of you reading this, know that i miss you guys tons and wish you were here in HK. Adrian, you really need to come and make a rap deal here. j/j. u'd probably have to become a gangster or something first. But then again. all the horrible singers here are under this one gangster's record label.
Anyway, worship team in the morning. i am dying. need sleep.
more later.

passage of the day btw, is Ps. 29:1-2
check it out.

a whole day of not doing anything productive. Well maybe icqing with miscellaneous people for the early part of the morning... got through the morning pretty quickly... Then i went for lunch somewhere pretty ghetto by myself... ate tomato pork chop rice. mm... so ghetto and greasy. Its one of those places where u just eat with a million other ppl at the same table and not have to know them and its cool. Only in HK. we call that 'Dahp toy' for those of you unfamiliar with the ways of eating in HK. No personal table or space. Gotta eat and leave. NEway, i played some biohazard at the arcade downstairs from my office. and also bumped into Ameet, an old class mate from my hong kong highschool( for those of you who didnt know i went to skool in HK.) Anyway, that was that. I then went to buy a hair razor cuzi refuse to pay for a haircut anywhere when i can do it myself. My dad doesnt believe in that. he'd rather pay some guy 200 bux HK each time... my razor cost 298. hahahaha. Anyway, after thati came home and wanted to do some cardio. So i ussually skip rope in the kids playground that belongs to the building i live in but for some reason the gate to access it was locked. So i went ot find some stairs to run... or go for a jog. then I see this bun mui (filipino maid) with two dogs sitting on the stiars near my building and they looked like they wanted to jump me if i ran (some paranoia i have that dogs run after people that run. they were a little pomeranian... like Timbit... thats adrian's dog and some little poodle) anyway, i ran up the stairs to the road behind our building to fin dthat a sidewalk doesnt exist. anyway, while i was contemplating whether to run with a risk of turning into HK roadkill, my answer to not run came when a mini bus came roaring down the road. So i went back home. it didnt matter, i was already sweating like mad anyway.


Anyway, i dont have to work tomorrow cuz i told em i didnt know i had to work saturday and made plans already. :p They were cool with it so i get to go on some boat trip.
fun fun fun.

Hmmm deep thoughts. my brain feels a little fried. anything that was deep is kinda burnt to a crisp as of this moment. well, hmm.. i guess i often struggle with just Thinking.
Constant struggle with my own humanity and what is out there. HUmanity as in the nature of man and also my limitations as a human being. Trapped within a box.
Human understanding is confined merely within the neural tissue and cannot begin to understand. Why seemingly impossible and innovative design still exist even after millenia of human existence. Will we ever reach a plateau where the human imagination will no longer imagine and create? Or is that the end of Man?


i wrote that a while ago. SO why bother is my question to design if all things must come to an end? do we design so we can find ourself through that?

Oooo work. so much fun. More photoshop montages today. Everyone is busy as what. Hope i learn something today

Hmm... another thought just hit home. Recently, some good friends i have told me they had a Christian friend who committed suicide. Yucky topic. All i know is God is a just and fair God. Whether this person knew it or not, Jesus still died for his/her humanity. And although it hurts God to see this person sin. He will still judge accordingly and I will not answer on God's behalf because I am not God. Whether or not this person is in a better place is not for us to decide. perhaps we'd like to think so to appease ourselves. But we must also not forget the God who hates sin.
I am in no place to judge but perhaps this is a time to focus on our own relationships with God and to make us think, are we any better off?
I really dont know what to say about this. It hurts. Its poison to hear about it. Yet we must not forget, to seek HIm who gives us hope. Funny how Paul wrote in Phil 4:6-7 to not be anxious about anything but in all circumstances, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to GOd.
Thanksgiving. hard thing in all circumstances. I still ask how?

Alrite. whew. first things first, work was a long day. Man, i always feel intimidated everytime i go into someplace new. Just kinda shut up. And when i do speak, i am always afraid of my voice cracking and usually it turns out higher than my voice normally is... Thank goodness, my voice is low to begin with. Anyway, i thought i was gonna get introudced to everyone in the office but all i heard was 'hey, we have a new guy?' and no one really bothering to say hello. I barely even heard the name of the girl that i am working with who shares the cubicle space. I thought I heard jessie but i am pretty sure its jessie. and the girl in the cubicle across, her name is ada but i dont think i spoke one word to her. Jessie is probably scared of me too. haahha you know me guys, i am so intimidating. :p anyway, i ended up cutting stuff and sticking things and putting my wonderful exacto knife skills to work and set out on helping prep a presentation of a site analyisis. Then I ate lunch with friend from church who happens to work close by and got ditched by another friend for lunch. ah well. Anyway, of course i must add that the moment i stepped into the office, i was sweating profusely and didnt stop sweating for a long time. I kinda sweat on the site map and felt kinda bad but of course no one knew about it i think.

Anyhow, after cutting stuff and getting some ideas for how to do my next site analysis, i started doing photoshop stuff which was a relief. whew, photoshop... well, at least i still know how to use that. i think my autocad skills slowly deteriorated since doing Bhatt's urban planning studio. For those of you dont know Bhatt, he was a prof who's comments sounded like some ritualistic rain calling chant with underlying 'MMmmmmms' every so often... ' so JO (he always called me joe even till the very end) mmmm... this...mmm.... order ... you have here.. mmm..... it doesnt.mmm.. work.' (now think Apu when you read this)

Anyway, so i did the photoshop stuff for a while...and since no one ever leaves their desk when they are supposed to, i stayed till like quarter to 6 and then left. we have these nifty time cards and access cards to the office. i felt like i was in a spy movie. not. apparently i have to work saturdays but i hope i dont have to work this saturday cuz i have to go to this boat trip. hope i can get away with it.

So my thoughts from yesterday. Anyway, i guess it was neat just being able to serve again with the worship team that i practised with last night. BUt honestly, I think I really needed a lot of grace last night and also just letting Him speak to me. It was good that we did start off sharing a bit and prayer requests but of course you konw, all superficial things you know? I know Dan is new at this whole worship leading thing and I think that was something God was reminding me as we were sitting there. I did my best to try to share my heart but of course, thats always difficult with people u dont really know witho ut sounding overtly spiritual cuz honestly, i dont feel adequate at all doing worship. But jsut trying to understand His grace is sufficient for me is more than enough to get me going. Musically, it was alrite and i guess an old friend of the fellowship here dropped by and he's a music guru.... a wicked pianist and has an awesome ear.... anyway, you know how hard it is especially for me ot take music criticism... but then again , it's cool how i really just listened and took his advice... it was kinda God telling me hey humble yourself... and yeah what a great reminder too... that morning i think i was praying ps. 27:4 ' One thing I ask, One thing I seek, that i may dwell in the house of teh Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon His beauty....'
wow. what awesome and profound words. And that is a prayer i pray for the people that do serve this summer on the worship team and also for the congregation here and all congregations everywhere, that people seek to live in the presence of the Lord constantly... How? I still ask but i think living a life of worship has something to do with it. For those of you who always wonder about why I consider so much of what i say and choice of activities, is to do with how God really has spoken me through music and worship of Him and not only that but in my life ... every little thing is an act of worship. I love the song Jeff Deyo wrote called '' THese hands''. The chorus goes:

'These hands were made to praise You
these lips were made to lift You up
I give to You my life in worship
These feet were made to serve You
This tongue to sing of Your great love
I give to You my life in worship.'

yeah we know when we sing we gotta mean it but I think jeff is speaking of a deeper truth that because we were created to worship our Creator, every little thing we do and say and think, reflects an act of worship to Jesus Christ. (Romans 12:1-2) Offering our bodies as living sacrificies... this is your spiritual act of worship.
Well, you might ask, and i've asked, well where does it say that we were made to worship? i found this verse recently upon reading the Psalms. Found in Psalms 8:2a the first part of the verse, it says, from the lips of infants and children you have ordained praise... Living. To worship. I think these go hand in hand.... how do we learn more and understand the essence of worship? yeah we've heard it all... its all about Jesus.... so what's that mean? SOmething like this i need to go on living this life to find out but it begins with our own relationship with Jesus Christ. To give our own desires up. Eph. 5:1-17 is a great description of what it means to be a worshipper.... its hard. I fail. we all do. But thats where grace comes in... how do we found out more? THat dust covered 66 chapter book that often sits abandoned on the corners of our desks buried under text books, or in the recesses under our bed buried under dirty laundry contains more on how we worship and live the abundant life that Jesus promised us.
I am totally guilty of not reading enough. But thats my challenge. To know Christ in the power of the suffering and death of Him and to know Him in His ressurection. cryptic words? maybe. But thats what i hope to find out ... to a God who has experienced me. through different things He has blessed me with and given me. There's definitely more to this life than living and dying ;) one more thing . don't forget that our relationship with God is just us giving in to what He says, but rather, He will bless you for doing so. And never forget that He will rejoice over you with song. Zeph. 3:17.

Anyway, thats all ffrom me for now... You're all in my prayers whether you know it or not ;) live to worship ...
more thoughts later. better Ctrl-C this before i lose it again hehe.

Hmm seems like the post i just posted got lost. oops.
Anyway, it was a whole blurb on what i hope i can contribute to worship
Anyway hope it appears. if not, i'll write again later...
just know that we were made to worship
Romans 12:1-2 and psalms 8:2a

well here's another interesting thought that a friend wrote me and encouraged me with. It can be applied to all aspects of life, in the singleness aspect of a relationship or just in life in general. Here it is, we're all like free birds but we still have a lot of flying we need to do.

What a profound thought. I know I still got a lot of flying to do still. And maybe thats what its all about, we spend our entire lives searching and learning how to fly higher and faster but sometimes it means falling harder. But that's all a part of this long journey we travel. We live. We learn. We fall. We get up. We fail. We try. We succeed. We win.

July 3, 2002

Well, another day has come and its another searing hot day. talk about sweat city. Man i must say that chinese people do not know nor understand the meaning of DEODORANT. i don'T know if it is a pride thing or a money thing, but seriously, i think a good 40 % of Hong Kong's pollution is most likely caused by people not wearing deodorant.

Anyway, here's a funny topic that was discussed over dinner: the establishment of Krispy Kreme donuts in HK. I said, that HK people are probably gonna turn obese. MMMM krispy kreme...(think homer simpson) My brother said that apparently you have to generate a million dollars with a minimum of 5 franchises (i take it in american dollars) and didnt know if there'd be a market here in HK. hahahha i was like, BLISS BABY BLISS! it'D be all marketing. think of my face on billboards advertising for krispy kreme.... HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA... just kidding guys. well anyway, Hong KOng consumerism is all about marketing. So i dont know what you guys think , but hey, its all good. It brings in the bucks, and everybody is happy? The thing is though, that donuts might sell for a while but it is just a fad. HK people are all about the fads. Just like coffee although the emergence of starbucks and pacific coffee (another chain of coffee shops) has lasted quite long and people are beginning to enjoy the idea of socializing in a coffee shop. Then my brother said, how come people dont socialize in Tim Horton's? then i said, its probably cuz its too much like mcdonald's atmosphere (what horrible fluroscent lighting... oops. electrical services 447B is coming out) so mebbe thats why people dont hang out really in timmy's... (well minus the one by concordia where you can see all walks of life...) BUt who knows, maybe HK people will succumb to North American gluttony and start eating donuts and we'll see more fat chinese people. (Say isnt being fat and jolly good in chinese culture?)

so this morning i went to an interview for my 6 week job. Found out and learned a lot of new things about the way i guess hong kong architecture works. The guy Nelson Chow was pretty helpful and gave me a lot of insight in terms of doing a portfolio and we just talked alot about what architecture students do these days in terms of presentation material. Turns out, Hong Kong employers love the media aspect and technological aspect of presentation so i Guess it'll be time to invest in a G4 to assist in my skool work. Anyhow, he got confused about me working for 6 months or something so he offered me like 8Gs HKD but i told him i could only work for 6 weeks. So anyway, seems like a little complicated but i have no idea how mcuh he's gonna pay me now. oops. i dont know if i am worth 8 Gs for only a month and a half.
oh well. then again, I'm thankful that i do have anything to do.

Well some more writtens poetics for the day:

Maybe if our worlds
Came together
Then it would change
Things forever

But all there are
Remaining questions
That will linger
And cause the hurt to stay

I've tried to understand
but all i can do is let you go

I wish i could
take your pain away
I want to hold
You close in my arms
To tell you it will go away
But I've understood
That this has to be
So one final look at your face
This one last embrace

I don't know
If I want to forget you
Or maybe just this time
We had one last embrace.

Anyway, more later today as the day unfolds....

July 2nd , 2002

wow. this is what a blog is. how interesting. so now all of you who are reading this can peer into my puny little brain and figure out whats happening here in my life. cool template eh? Being in architecture, of course, I'd naturally have to pick something having to do with architecture. ah good ol' Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome. what would we have done without you? too bad the world isnt living in geodesic domes as this fellow once prophesized.

Anyway, now i am in Hong Kong for most of you folks who have probably gotten some hold of this blog site. Thanks to mr. Josh Szeto for introducing the world of blogging to me. Now, my life is now freely accessible to the entire world through the internet. pretty amazing stuff. well, I hope that this site will be used to encourage whoever is reading it and that my corny jokes, thoughts of the day, words of wisdom, and pennies of thoughts might help you guys along the way wherever you might go.

First things first, i finally got into master's of architecture at Mcgill university. whoo hoo! So thanks for all of you who have been praying. God is faithful and for all those who do love Him, things do work out according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28, Phil 1:6). For those of you struggling along and chugging along and trying to find out the next step in your life. Know that in all things that you do do, live to worship. That's all that matters. nothing more. 1 peter 1:15 says Be holy because I am holy says the Lord.
Well, i've made and seen old faces, here and there while i have been here this past weekend. Ange and Sam came to visit the North Point Alliance. Cool people. but the sermon kinda lost me. I had a hard time following the sermon. But anyway, thats another topic all together i wont go into today. then i saw joanne chan who i met at Cuar 98 who also is my good old buddy mr. 8 W's godsister and a good friend of mr. Justin cow. (ok just kidding justis :) ) and we kinda talked about adrian mainly but also about career choices and being a christian in a non-christian world (indirectly of course) ALso got asked by danny chan to play for worship team next sunday so practise is tomorrow! Timmy chan also asked me to help co-lead a praise and worship in a few weeks. so i'd better get cracking. what an awesome privilege to serve God with music.

Oh one funny story well not so funny, is that we went to korean bbq at this super ghetto place but it was cheap and they had like free alcohol (which they inadvertently served us) . actually it was chrysanthenum sweet tea. Joanne said that they used too much syrup. I swore it was alcohol , that the tea had fermented (having prior experience to creating my own brands through leaving minute maid OJ long enuf in the fridge) and anyway, that wasnt the best part. The little dishes they give you with korean bbq for those of you that eat korean bbq, had something funky like a rat pooed in it or something cuz the bak choy (a little green vegetable that usually tastes good) tasted like a cross between bad cheese and detergent and i kept chewing it and commenting that it tasted weird. Anyway, joanne told me her story of gastritis and i was like, er better not eat anymore but i swear there was something in it that made me have the runs all the next day. in the wise words of Mr. David Olson. 'Raw anus'. i was on the can at Auntie Helen's place 3/4 of the time we were there. oops. i thot i was gonna poo out my guts. anyway, i'll spare you the rest of the details. Take note: do not eat funny tasting foods unless someone you know can verify that it doesnt taste funky. and that it really does taste like that (for example: the 'stinky' tofu really isnt bad for you)

Well tomorrow is my big day where i will begin to slave away (lets hope not) at some architectural firm in Sheung Wan (for those of you who know HK.) and hopefully edify my oh so small view of the field of architecture. It's always scary to think that I will be working with complete strangers but hey, it's always neat to meet people right? Now some of you are probably planning to plot how to make Jon pay for the next meal you'll have with me cuz you're probably thinking he's getting paid big bucks. Wrong. Thank God for family and a house to live in. I'd probably not make it on my own with the amount of money they're gonna pay me. But hey, they say experience is worth more than gold right? Umm.. we'll have to rethink that one. BUt for now, it'll do.

On a more personal note, life as I know has been bittersweet. Despite how i do feel, I know God has blessed me greatly with life and is teaching me constant dependency on Him no matter where the wind will take me. It's always a challenge to connect the mind to the heart. So often we know what we need to do in our head but yet, our heart is elsewhere. It's a struggle isn't it? to stay real in this world where everything around us often fails us in some form or another? There is a higher faith, and a higher calling that won't fail as far as I have come in the past few years. Something that exists far beyond outside the boxes of our humanity but yet reaches down to come inside and let us experience that which supercedes human emotion and rational. This something made known the Truth over two thousand years and so simple was the Truth but yet it seems that the degeneration of society has taken this Truth and tossed it aside causing even those who have come to know this Truth to so often doubt it.... yet , when we return to the roots, we discover that this Truth of Jesus Christ, describes the human condition. I still search long and hard for answers to those questions that arise in my limited mind and being but who am I that My Creator should be mindful of me? (Ps.8) so take time out from what you are doing right now. Tune out the noise around you, the drone of the computer fan, the hum of the air conditioner, the noise of technology and listen to the song that our creator has sung . (zeph.3:17)

Along with some more thoughts that i have written are in a more some what poetic form... a song in the making? maybe but regardless, just some thoughts and feelings put into script.

Aimless floating, no where to go
Riding the random breath of wind
Where is the sign pointing home?
Forgotten pasts, scattered in the breeze
Fleeting waves of memories,
Retreat into a sea of history
Lost, lost, into the distant horizon of time

Standing alone, tossed and turned by an angry storm of forgotten past
Forgotten pain now gather to push against you
As you sink into the gripping depths of nostalgia
Haunted by the dark abyss of hidden pain.

Until much later, this blog has gotten long. Adrian if you've read this far, its time to throw those tissues into the garbage.