JT had a housewarming party today (I have to say he did a pretty good job furnishing and decorating his place for a bacehlor), and I had an enjoyable time chatting with people (chatting with jerry is *always* memorable), making up our own versions and playing with jt's magnetic darts, and eating the food. I also had the chance to talk for quite some time with a handful of people about what living a comfortable lifestyle entails and about our own desires to lead that kind of life. I have to say, it was really interesting, because I heard viewpoints that were different from my own. Someone brought up the point of the desire to live life to the fullest - that she didn't want to miss out on any experience in life, but in order to do so, she had to make xx amount of money. Her point wasn't necessarily that she wanted more money, but that she wanted these experiences, and usually, that translates to more money. I think ultimately there's nothing wrong with taking pleasure with what God has given to us, but it boils down to whether or not we are satisfied with what He has blessed us with (and in turn bless others), or whether we always want more. My feeling is that the more you get, the more you want - it's in our innate sinful nature - but how do we turn away from that kind of lifestyle? Sure, we all want to experience all that we can, and sure, we all want to live a comfortable lifestyle, but in the end, the question we need to ask ourselves is how do we glorify God through all this? How do we keep an eternal focus? Also, I truly believe that though there is so much to experience out there in the world, the experiences God has for us are so much better. One example someone brought up was going to Europe vs. going on missions trip. Sure, this person could go to Europe, and would love to go to Europe, and finances aren't necessarily the gating factor from going. But in the end, are we missing out on an absolute amazing exerpience in Europe by going on missions instead? Not necessarily. Though we may not get to experience the history and beauty of one place, we instead get to exeperience something totally different - we get to see God working in a totally different culture, and best of all, we get to take part in it. And that in itself is so sweet.

Okay that may not have been so coherent, and I may not have explained our discussion so well, but in the end - and this is where fellowship is so sweet - we were able to just close our discussion with prayer. Despite the lively chatter in the next room, despite the people playing board games and video games downstairs, we were still able to take the time out to intercede on behalf of those who were questioning, those in need.

Anyway, on to other things, on friday after fellowship, the girls had a sleepover at Crystal's house. You know you're getting old when 11:30 rolls around and everyone is yawning and wants to go to sleep. ("I had to get up at 6am for work!") Boy, we're turning into old grandmas. The only odd thing was her weird neighbor who, while we were inside the house, came up to her front door and left two boxes of expired chocolates on her front porch for us. Yeah, creepy. We just left the chocolates there.

I had the chance on Saturday to see sanj & gabe's new house and help them paint the interior walls. Who knew that a color called "blue pansy" would actually turn out decent looking? I then got to hang out with some of the old youth group canaan guys at bob's place. That sure brought back a lot of old memories. I forgot that we used to always hang out there, bored out of our minds. (Which, evidently, leads up to weird excursions like driving down pitch black Marsh Road in the middle of the night). Yeah, hanging out with eric is always entertaining, to say the least.

We had our second Mexico missions training today as well. As a supposed "leader" of the team (although Crystal is doing most of the work, esp with the precarious position I am in), I've had a chance to skim over a lot of the team's applications. It's exciting to see how everyone came to be a part of the team - different people have different motivations for going, but ultimately, for all, is the call from God. For myself personally... man, that's still a battle. A battle between my desire to go, and dangit, that desire just isn't going away ;) and between God's desire for me to be patient and to trust in His will. I mean, at this point, it doesn't look so great in terms of me being able to get the time off work to go, but yet I still continue to go to the training sessions, I still help with all the logistics, and I still do all the homework and stuff in the slight chance that I will be able to go.

Okay, anyway, that's enough rambling for now. I think I probably lost eveyone in the middle of my first paragraph. To come: alice returns to work (woohoo!) and a three-day work week (double woohooo!). :)

We just helped my coworker install aim onto her computer. Now that we all have aim, we have what we call secret chat rooms and dream together about things like leaving early. Really, it's the only way to stay awake on a Friday afternoon when you have no work to do, but you're stuck in the office until 6. Especially when the entire floor is dead quiet and the only people here are the people in our group. Hmm... I hope my boss never finds this blog. ;)

Oooh... it's summer. Birthdays abound. Happy bday today to my big fart older brother mickey, who's... old. hehehehe. And belated bday to psycho eric, who turned 23 yesterday. Oops, sorry I missed it by a day. One day, when I'm not too lazy, I'll scan in the picture of eric in a crop top as a tribute. Yes, when we were still in Berkeley, he just randomly walked into my apartment one day wearing a crop top. Go figure. The things that went on in the "Canaan apts" at Berkeley. At least we had fun. Oh and btw, it's 100 degrees outside. EW.

You know it's going to be a hot day when you leave at 8:15 am and it's already 80 degrees outside. Ouch. Of course, at work, I'm freezing my butt off. I lose everywhere.

What in the world has St. Louis done to my dear old jeanbean? Quite the pottymouth she has become. Good thing she's coming home soon so I can wash her mouth out with soap.

And can I reiterate what the scandal peter hyun is. I admit that was funny, but what the SCANDAL!

We just had our first three-hour training session for Mexico missions today. With my uncertainty now about whether or not I can go (currently, I cannot get the time off cleared at work because I'd be missing a lot of key training sessions - unless the training gets pushed out, in which case I would be able to go), it makes this process so much harder for me. I know the more I train with the team, the more I pray for the people in Mexico, and the closer it gets to August, the greater my desire to go will be, and the harder it would be to stay back if I can't get the time off at work. I wish I could know right now, regardless if either way, if I could go or not. It would make it so much easier on me, but I know God doesn't always work like that. I feel like He has a lesson to teach me through all of this, yet it's so hard to be patient, and to have faith and know that His plan is always bigger and greater than my own. So now, instead of my prayers being "Lord, let me get the time off so that I can go," it's "Lord, grant me the patience to trust in Your plan for my life." - so that, whether I go or not, I have peace in knowing that I will be wherever God wants me to be. A huge blessing, though, is when crystal and I started talking about this, we thought maybe 5-7 ppl max would go. Now there's 20 people going! Praise God! :)

Yesterday was such a beautiful day - Canaan had a sports day, so we headed on over to Stevens Creek County Park to eat some bbq and play some sports (I sure have consumed a large amount of meat recently. Thankfully, we had salad for dinner to balance it all out). While I enjoyed the perfect weather and the outdoors, what did alinna and her sister do all day? Click here to see. They didn't even bother to open the blinds or windows! Just sat in the dark room, turned on the lights and went at it. alinna actually finished the entire 900-page harry potter book. Seriously, what kind of children's book is 900 pages? It'd take kids, like a year to finish! I guess that's a good thing considering how long it's taking for each subsequent book to come out.

On a totally different subject, it's pretty much 90% sure that alinna and I are going to get the big screen 50-inch tv out of storage and into our place. The only problem is that we can't figure out for the life of us how to rearrange our furniture so that everything fits and doesn't look weird, yet at the same time maximize the viewing space of the tv itself. If anyone has any suggestions, please tell us. Parties at our place! Now, anyone have a sound system they'd like to donate to us? ;)

there once was a girl named kachiu
who always sneezed up the wazoo
miserable she can be
when attacked by Allergy
ahhhhchooo....ahhhhchooo.....AHHHCHOOO!

:(

itchy scratchy eyes
sneeze attacks
tissues are my friend

i'm sure many of you out there miss my sneezing. i sure wish it'd go away.

Cost to fix my sick, poor car: $350 (not including half the things that actually need to be fixed and the new tires that it dangerously needs, which I will get this weekend.)
Cost to put a deposit down for 12 ppl to go river rafting: $600
Cost of my new glasses (yes! i will no longer be blind when i wear glasses!) & eye appointment post-insurance: $55
Cost of gas to fill up al's tank since she so kindly let me use her car today: $35
Yes. My credit card got a whooping today. That's more put on the card in one day than I've ever put in a month. ouch.

I also just lost all my edge over making alinna drive when we go out. ("I can't drive... I'm wearing my glasses!" "My car's service light is on") Oh well. It was great while it lasted. It's kind of fun, you should try it sometime. Although I have to admit when I *did* drive with my glasses, it wasn't pretty. ("stop sign? what stop sign?")

friendster schmenster. I REFUSE TO GET SUCKED IN no matter how many invitations I get! You, too must resist the urge! Now! Before it's too late! Alas, I think it's too late for many of my friends already... :( In all seriousness, I'm not really sure what the point is. To see how popular you are by finding out how many friends you have? To get hooked up? To stalk people? As great (uh, great?) as those reasons may be, I feel like for me personally, I'd just end up wasting my time away. (Not like I don't already by watching tv and doing other mindless things. I'm trying to wean myself off these kinds of things.) Plus, 1) finding out how many friends I have and how "popular" I am can lead to a source of pride for myself, 2) I sure don't want to get hooked up over the internet. Can you imagine telling your kids how you met? and 3) hmm... as fun as stalking people may sound to some people, do YOU want to be stalked? Gotta think about it in both directions. Anyway that's my personal opinion. If you think otherwise, please feel free to enlighten me.

I finally had the chance to hit the beach this past Saturday, going to half moon bay as part of a joint beach trip between Canaan & MVCCC. Despite the wind and the cold, it was still good to spend time enjoying God's creations and to take advantage of the fact that we live by the coast. Seriously, it never ceases to amaze me to see just how much God has blessed me and to see how much I take for granted. But anyway, back to the beach - the sand castle contest was quite entertaining - see what the different groups came up with. Particularly gross was the barfing turtle; unfortunately my picture doesn't do justice to what it really looked like. I also finally had the chance to find Nemo. It was good - perhaps if I weren't so tired, I would have enjoyed it even more. For some reason, I don't have a very good track record with staying awake while watching movies.

I have an *extreme* dislike for our dishwasher. I think I've gotten at least 15 bruises on my shin from it. Make that 16. My shin hurts.

In light of father's day, I thought I should write some stuff about my dad. One of the attributes I admire in him the most is his generosity. That and his humility. Whenever people find out I'm his daughter, I always hear the same things: "your father is very generous." "you father is very humble." "your father is very nice, he helps us a lot." Seriously. I've heard it so many times. I know God has blessed my family financially, but I admire the fact that my dad, in turn, blesses others, whether it be with his resources, financially, or by some other means. And he does it so humbly, never asking for recognition, often doing so anonymously. I can only hope that one day I can learn to have a generous and humble heart like his. I'm still far from it. Still learning.

karen (4:54:30 PM): what am i training you to be?
bob (4:55:30 PM): to be a PUNK!

That's right! who wants to join me in training bob to be a punk? I haven't been very successful yet... but the time will come...

Chicken update: We're still alive. Guess pink chicken isn't all that bad after all. Because the chicken we ate (after seeing it in better light) sure was pink, bloody, and kind of slimy.

Recently, I've been trying to get into the habit of turning off my stereo in my car on my way to work to spend my short commute praying. It's been really refreshing, and it really helps me to get into the mindset of my purpose for being at work. I think just especially over the past couple of months, I've been frustrated with myself because I know I should be praying more, yet I don't. I remember reading once a few years ago (although I can't remember where) that prayer should be like the blood that runs through our veins - it is essential to our life in Christ, and it should be continuous, even if we are not conscious of it - but for me, I think often times I must have a clot in my artery or something, becuase the blood sure isn't flowing. Anyway, just a random thought. I need to pray more.

alice & tomio are married! alice is now alice miyai. whoa... weird. But a big congrats to them! It was the first time in FOUR years that all eight old Canaan girls were back together again (olivia & joyce missed reni's wedding) - it was sooo good seeing them, and we all got to sit together at the same table (like good old times, our table was the girls (& dates) and bob. hahaha). I've been pretty lucky - at the last three weddings I've gone to in the past month and half, I've gotten to sit at a table right up in the front and center. Anyway, I know I've said it before, but some things just never change. joyce and her usual rants, jean and her "innocent" comments, reni and her laughter, olivia and her dorkiness, and amy & eva, the "quiet" ones... at least... quiet until they start hanging out with us. And bob, always the only guy, taking all our pictures. :) It was kind of weird to see all my coworkers, college/AACF friends, and Canaan friends (new & old) in one room at once, but it was good to catch up with a lot of old college buddies. Still, weird, all my worlds collided yesterday.

Pictures are uploaded. The slideshow was awesome, although I have to say, I can't really take much credit for it. andrew did all the tough stuff, and he did an amazing job. Even though I had already seen it multiple times, I still enjoyed it to the fullest. Many prayers & blessings to the new couple. They have to come back every weekend when they move to Sacramento!

I think jenie and i just ate a lot of very pink, uncooked chicken. Let's hope we don't die tomorrow. Pray for us.

peter (8:37:53 AM): guys don't hold out for single girls, karen

peter is so chalk full of lies. lieslieslies. He must be holding out for someone and in denial.

peter (8:44:22 AM): btw, i had a cuban steak yeserday for lunch
peter (8:44:27 AM): it was so good

And so goes the life of peter hyun.

alice & tomio are going to be married today! Ahhh! So who's going to be the next Canaan girl to follow the tradition of getting engaged on Christmas and married in June? :)

Btw, click here if you want to see birthday pictures of the princess. Gotta hand it to him, he was a good sport about wearing all of it... in front of his coworkers, no less.

Why do olivia and i have the weirdest converstaions together? The topic today is what phrases we can make out of our names.

olivia chung: living a ouch -- having u coil -- can i hug lovi? -- chug a violin -- i go luv china

karen chiu: i are chunk -- hunk a rice -- heck, i ran u -- uh, nice ark -- i care, hunk

hahahaha. Let's see if anyone can come up with something better. Next time you're bored... try your name! Fun for hours! Unless your name is like 4 letters. Then it's only fun for minutes.

uploaded more pics. Go see the pics of faith... what a cutie! Argh if anyone can help figure out why my one of my borders (the vertical line between my post and links) suddenly disappeared, you'd be my hero!

I saw the original Star Wars (A New Hope - epsidoe 4) for the first time last night. finally. It's no wonder I didn't understand Episodes 1 or 2... and I think now I'm even more confused. Watching everything out of order probably isn't helping either. I also need to learn to watch movies sitting up and not lying down because I keep falling asleep, although I did wake up in time for the ending. I think I'm a disgrace to bob, who kept giving me his patented "look" when I kept asking questions. Seriously, he and andrew could probably mute the movie and quote the entire thing between the two of them. geeks.

yay! olivia and jean are coming back this week! Hmmm... not too sure if I should be excited about o coming back or if I should be fearing for my life. Regardless, as andrea calls her, my partner-in-crime is coming home! (yes, olivia + karen = mature) :)

It's been a hectic month and half for me (just ask alinna, she calls me her absentee roommate), and I still have a pretty full plate in front of me between work, weddings, and different ministries. It's hard to not just sit on my butt and complain about all the things I have to do, but at the same time, my time is limited right now, and I really need to intentionally find the time to rest, meditate and just listen to God.

"Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40: 27-31