A Bit Overdue...

I know, I know. I am a bit overdue in updating my blog, partly cause I've been distracted by a special someone. Yep, my girlfriend Joanna. She pretty much rocks. She's on a 10 day visit in Southern California to visit me and her friends. Here's an update of our life so far.

Before Joanna came to LA on March 12, I was corresponding with our Arizona friends about a surprise visit to Tucson. Joanna had no clue she was going to Tucson. Thursday morning, we went to Panera near LAX airport and ate breakfast. Afterwards, I started driving towards LAX. As we were driving, we were also praying. However, Joanna got so distracted by the LAX signs, she didn't know what to pray for anymore. She asked me, "Are we going to LAX???" Soon enough, I parked my car at the LAX parking lot and told her to open the glovebox. She found an envelope with 2 plane tickets to Phoenix!

The reason why we flew to Phoenix was because I found cheap tickets. So we rented a rental car and took a little "road trip" down to Tucson.

And we arrived in Tucson safely. Here are some of our AZ friends.

Ryan, me, Steven, and Mike doing fake smiles. Steven looks more like he's enjoying life and Mike is trying real hard to smile.

Our last picture with the AZ crew before we left back to Phoenix.

While I was in Japan, I really wanted to go snowboarding, but didn't have the chance. I made sure when Joanna came to California, we would go snowboarding. We went to my local mountain, Bear Mountain, and it was great! I must say, Joanna can shred the mountain.

I took Joanna to Literati Cafe, which is one of my favorite cafes in LA.

We sat near this wall and noticed there were books in the wall! We thought it was sooo cool!

We had a couple of double dates. Here we're hanging out with Eddie and Monica, who are happily engaged! We ate at Honda-Ya, a Japanese Yakitori restaurant. Oh how I miss Kirin draft beer.

We ate with Cody and Katie. Twas a fun nite at P.F. Chang's, partly cause Cody and I used our P.F. Chang's gift certificates. But of course what's more important, we were with our AMAZING girlfriends.

Oh yes. Here is Chris...enough said.

We had dinner with my parents. I'm so glad that Joanna had the opportunity to meet my parents. We had a fun time eating Chinese food and getting to know each other better.

I had the chance to meet Joanna's friends: Tim and Kimbra Noxon. They were pretty fun and really fun to get to know.

Clara loving her pink-snugged chair.

Overall, we are enjoying each other. She loves to put her finger in my nose and I love to make hideous faces. We make a fun couple.

The Story Continues...

So, you're wondering how in the world did Mikey win a 1967 Ford Mustang? Here's the story.

My friend Abby sent out an email about how her church in Riverside was doing a fundraiser for a proposed church plant out in Temecula area. Her church and few other churches around the area came together in this project. To fundraise for the church plant, the churches sold raffle tickets $250 each. The money obviously went to the church plant, but the raffle tickets went toward a 1967 Ford Mustang.

Abby asked me if I wanted to buy a raffle ticket with her. She would put my name on the it. I told her I would think about it. For some reason, I had the lingering thought to go in on the ticket. So I emailed Abby telling her I would buy half a ticket with her.

The raffling was this past Sunday (2/3), which I didn't know about. I get a voicemail message from Abby saying that I won the Mustang! Initially, I thought, "Ha! Yea right. I never win raffles." I called Abby to make sure this was for real or not. The reality of my win gradually sank in as she said, "Yep, you won." I couldn't believe it. She told me when my name was drawn, she was the only one who yelled cause no one else knew who I was. I thought that was pretty hilarious. I picked up the Mustang on Monday and drove it around. Boy, does that car ROARRRR.

To tell you the truth, I'm more stoked that I actually won a raffle. I mean, who wins a raffle? Seriously? I never win raffles. But I can't complain about winning a car. That's pretty cool.

What's funny is I remember receiving my raffle ticket stub from Abby's church in the mail. Attached to it was a fact sheet about the church plant and a photo of the Mustang. After looking at the Mustang, I remember thinking, "God, that would be funny if I won this car." God is definitely humorous.

I have a 1967 Ford Mustang now. Neat.

I Never Won A Raffle Before...

But at the age of 24, I managed to win a raffle for this 1967 Ford Mustang!


The story and details to be continued...

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair, bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

When years of time shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God's love so sure shall still endure
All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam's race
The saints' and angels' song

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song!

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky


Oh the richness of words in hymns!

What's your favorite hymn lately?

Recap of my 3 day weekend...

In order to start off the weekend right, snowboarding had to fit in the picture. I went to Mt. High with some UCLA friends. We had a great time and I was impressed with their snowboarding, considering it was their first time.

From left to right: Eddie, Harry (Eddie's twin brother), Tony, Me

While I was home in Orange County, I went on a little hike in Irvine. I was hoping to catch the sunset. And what a beautiful sunset it was. But I would have never imagined to see the moon and the sun both at the same time.


Here I'm facing west towards the sun.

Here I'm facing east towards the moon.
How crazy is that?



This past Sunday was my Mom's birthday. I asked her how old she was. She told me, "55." I must admit, my Mom still has a young look for her age and I forget that she's "over the hill." I still think she's in her forties. But, when she said she was 55, I was a little distraught cause I couldn't believe how old she was. Regardless of her age, I am truly grateful for my Mom. I couldn't ask for a better Mom than her. She always supports me and I always feel cared for. She is a huge blessing from the Lord. Thanks Mom! You're the best!


Thanks to my Mom and her floral business, I feel like I've developed some kind of taste in flowers. I wanted to get my Mom some nice, beautiful flowers, so I went to Trader Joe's. They always seem to have good looking flowers. Tulips were the flowers I had in mind and the minute I saw these, I knew I had to get them.





I am amazed at all the vibrant colors I get to see now on earth. But sometimes I wonder in heaven, if there will be a whole new set of different colors. Colors that I've never seen before. Colors that God kept secretly so He could surprise me one day. I wonder...

Depend on Me...

where are you?
where are you going?
i feel so lost right now
helpless like a newborn babe
i don't like this feeling
of being so inadequate
you love the blind?
you love the weak?
you love the broken?
you love the humble?
are you sure?
are you sure?

i don't understand
can this be true?

"Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool
for My hand made all these things
thus all these things came into being
but to this one I will look
to him who is humble
and contrite of spirit
and who trembles at My word."

do you trust?
do you believe?
I'm looking for people like these.
call to Me
and I will answer you
all I ask is that you trust Me
you can depend on Me

"Delayed"

Just as I had a 2.5 hour plane delay when I left Japan, so has my update on my Japan trip. Sorry! I can easily tell you that I had a great time in Japan visiting not only Joanna, but also the staff team and my Japanese friends. I enjoyed it so much that I would love to go back again. If you know me, I like expressing myself through photos. So here we go!

Yea, we were pretty much excited to see each other. I couldn't believe I was in Japan, even after a couple days. I had to pinch myself to see if this was real.


We went on a double date with Keigo and Ayumi. Keigo wanted to take me to eat the best sushi, so he took us to Sushi-Dai in Tsukiji, where the famous fish market is in Japan. Here we are arriving at the Tsukiji station.


There was a wait at Sushi-Dai, so the girls were kind enough to stand in line while Keigo and I explored the fish market. Unfortunately we got there when all the shops were closing. The fish market opens at 3AM and closes at 1PM! Crazy hours, don't ya think? Well, Keigo and I decided to still look around and we came to one fish shop. The owner was very nice, so nice that he even gave us hot tea! Keigo told me that never happens. The owner invited us to walk towards the back of the shop to show us that huge bluefin tuna head. And I mean, it was HUGE! Just use my head as a scale and then you can figure out how big the fish's head is.


After waiting 1.5 hours, we finally get a sit. Boy, it was sure worth the wait. I have never eaten such good sushi before. I can honestly say, Sushi-Dai's sushi is the best. Everything they served was fresh. Each sushi I ate would just melt in my mouth. WOW.


Here's one of the 11 pieces of sushi we ate.


Then we went to a coffee shop to have some dessert. There was Tiramisu on the menu, so I definitely ordered it.


Tokyo BEST club had their annual Christmas party. It was great to be a part of it. Jennifer prepared a delicious turkey. One man from each table had to cut some turkey meat for his table. Yasushi and I tried cutting it Samurai style and it didn't turn out too well. Just kidding on the Samurai style cutting.


At the end of the party, we had a Christmas gift exchange. I had so much fun seeing everyone's facial expression. Kon (the guy with his back facing us) got a card saying "I owe you a dinner sometime." Everyone was laughing as you can see.


I had the chance to visit Yokohama!


This is downtown Yokohama. It was such a beautiful sunny day, but super cold and windy!


Some friends I hung out with while in Yokohama.


I met up with Kuniyasu and I finally met his girlfriend, Yuka! It was great to see him again.


So Joanna, Mary, and I went to Costco at Minami-osawa. We were walking around the wine section and Joanna saw this wine bottle. Joanna was so excited that she wanted a picture of it.


We got the chance to go to Tama Zoo! We're in the lion bus, can't you tell?


On the side of the bus, there were pieces of meat for the lion to eat. I'll admit, it was kinda scary. I was just waiting for the lion to growl and try to break into the bus. Dunno how, but I just felt like it was going to happen anytime....

This little baby chimp was playing with sticks. He was trying to get the sticks through the small hole and get the leaf out. The chimp was fun to watch cause he was simply "being a kid."


Joanna took me to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which is the tallest building in Tokyo. It was pretty cool to see an aerial view of downtown Tokyo.


I've realized that I love aerial views because I get to see so much more around me. When I'm surrounded by vastness, my viewing perspective changes. I'm just one person, and there is so much more out there.


Joanna and I also had a double date with Kyle and Jennifer. We ate Chinese hot pot, which is kinda like Nabe or Shabu Shabu. Hands down, we all craved the shrimp!


It was my last day at Tokyo and some of my friends sent me off. I think they're great and I miss them.


Keigo (sticking out his tongue) and Masashi (hands in the air), they are one of a kind.


Keigo and Masashi even ran with the bus I was on! Good friends I tell ya.


Our last picture in Japan at Narita airport.





As I often think and reflect upon my trip to Japan, this picture pretty much sums up my thoughts and feelings. Even though two weeks was short, I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks Joanna for everything! You're the best!