Asia SF + Velvet Lounge = no good.

Tonight we went out to Asia SF and then the Velvet Lounge. Asia SF was this little basement a little bigger than Alb's condo. It was no good. I had high expectations, given that I am Asian and all. The music was this shrieking techno, and the people were lame. After 10 minutes, I booked it out of there. Luckily, there was no cover.

Then we moved on to Velvet Lounge. It, too, was no good. I really had high expectations for the place. (A) because if I have to pay a $10 cover it can't be that bad. I was wrong. (B) Johnny Knoxville from Jackass chills at the LA Velvet Lounge. Johnny Knoxville is cool. The people at the SF Velvet Lounge were cooler than that Asia SF crowd, but not as cool as Johnny Knoxville. I made the best of it, put down a Heineken, and danced the night away.

Now it's 3:30 AM and I'm blogging to share this misadventure with you all. Or as former roommate Andrew Hsia would put it: "Y'all!" Even "On Broadway" in SD is better than these places.

Next time I'm going out with Jerm, who took us to the upscale Starlight Lounge at the St. Francis Hotel (or Francis Drake?) overlooking Union Square. That was quality. Actually, next time is tomorrow night when I will be out with him and a non-Nicky girl after my cooking gig.

Still life, with motorcycle. 

At the Mission District, wearing my Lion of Judah jacket, holding a kafta kabob. 

Mission District + past hurt and comfort

First time chillin' at the Mission District in SF today. It was alright, but I like Castro better... cooler men's clothing stores. We found a great Mediterranean place and got schwarma. I had to sacrifice a $2 pint place (your choice of beer), though, but the Meditarranean place was a hole in the wall with cheap awesome Greek food. (Too many adjectives in the last sentence.)

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I decided to spike my hair today into large 1.5 inch pyramids, inspired by my roommate Ben.

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Danny and I are talking more and more about the joint business idea. It's a lot of fun to brainstorm. He's one of the few brothers I'd fully trust in a venture like this, but it will be hard when I leave SF.

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The love songs DJ on KOIT was comforting a broken man today on the radio. It reminded me of when I was really sad and missing my girlfriend of 4 years after our breakup. I naively thought that life could not go on. During that time, the strangest thing happened one day while I was returning to Berkeley from a day of research at NASA Ames. Everyone noticed that I was melancholy and barely ate, and a two Berkeley astrophysics professors tried to comfort me.

Hoping to gain wisdom, I asked them if they've ever been hurt after a relationship ended and how they overcame the sadness. One shared, "I loved her, but my wife was an alcoholic. One day I asked her to choose: me, or the alcohol. She chose the alcohol and left. I never saw her again." What the!!! Madness. Already my troubles were starting to seem trivial relative to this kind of trauma.

Minutes later, the other professor confessed, "I also really loved my wife, but she got involved with a cult. I found out that she slept with the cult leader. Then she left me to be with the cult." What the!!! Madness, again.

I didn't have problems, THEY had problems. My self pity was as bad as being prideful, but just in the opposite sense. What seemed to be my overwhelming pain was not that difficult compared to others. They're old. They survived. Maybe life would go on after all. It has, praise God!

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I thank Him for his blessings everyday... even if people think I look like a punk on the outside. Speaking of being a punk, street people are actually a lot nicer to you when you look like a rebel. They're either intimidated, or they feel like you're one of them. Haha!

Today was even more uneventful.

I pulled an all-nighter for the first time last night for helping some UCSD Chinese friends edit, suggest, and revamp their essays. Believe me, their essays needed a lot of work. The friend who asked me to help was a good friend of mine, like a brother to me, so how could I refuse? The three papers were a 6 page soundscape, 6 page sociology Maxim / Cosmopolitan essay, and 3 pages on art topics. It took forever, and they were due today so I worked on it until 5 AM when the sun was coming out. It's my first all-nighter, and it wasn't even for my own classes! If it were for myself, I think I wouldn't have worked as hard... which is bad.

I decided to give the Cosmo to Alb as a gift for letting me stay over. He'll probably say "whatever..." and toss it on my bags, haha, Bobe.

I was joking about Danny becoming a motorcycle racer, so I deleted it altogether. Inside joke. It would be cool, though, if he was.

Just researched all day today for the essays and went swimming + jacuzzi! All by myself, sad. :( But good, 'cause I get to pray and spend time with God then. I watched this guy at Berkeley's Hearst Pool do a mellow version of the butterfly a while ago. I'm working on it and it's looking good. Now I can go fly non-stop for like 75 meters. Then I resort to my freestyle and breast, my competition strokes in high school.

Uneventful day + shaving

Today was a normal day, nothing too exciting to share. I edited the sound structure essay for a UCSD friend this morning. Then Lisa and I went to watch Harry Potter at the huge screen IMAX in the Metreon SF. Tickets were $15.50 each and it wasn't that much greater than a regular theater. Lisa really loved the movie, since she read all the books. I'm a little less into children's fantasy, but I ate so much buttered popcorn and snickers there, nice.

I got home late and spontaneously decided to shave most of my body. After talking to Albert for a bit, I disappeared into the bathroom and started on my arms. I rarely do this, but I just feel more clean cut when my body hair is managed. It all started with that ridiculous body building tournament story when I was first forced to shave it all, but that's a whole other chapter in my life. Ok, I wasn't forced, but I thought it would be funny if I did it. I feel that it's best to dry shave with the grain (not against), so the hair doesn't clog up my razor as easily. The first time I shaved at the tournament was with wet nair all over my body, and I could only get a square inch at a time. How slow and annoying it was then, plus I nicked a nipple and also had blood running down my legs. Hey, it was my first time :(.

Also, please pray for Jenn H as she recovers from her running / repetitive stress injuries. I think Jenn is very focused, disciplined, and determined, which gets her good grades but also repetitive stress injuries. I don't think I'll ever suffer from those because I'm too easily distracted. I'll never get carpal tunnel because I type for a few minutes, get up and wander around, and repeat throughout the day. It wastes a lot of my time, though. I don't think I have glasses because I just read / study for half an hour at a time and then do other stuff like guitar / exercise / swim / cook. It's hard for me to sit still for too long, making lack of discipline my downfall that apparently has it's advantages. Haha!

Lisa on the goat cheese while I sneak a picture with my phone camera. 

Bottom to top: Goat cheese, honey (no drizzling), roasted almond, honey again, flower pedals. Lisa's and my main task tonight. 

Hors d'oeurves. We made these! Pretty pretty. 

Main course: Filet mignon (w/ demi-glace), prawn skewer, layered potato cake. 6/8/04 

Filet Mignon, Hors d'oeurves...

Today we cooked for biotech execs at the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). It was really classy, and we made the best food.

Lisa and I worked on the hors d'oeurves and made (1) dungeness crab (mixed with lemon butter sauce, plus fresh lemon juice) in a fresh endive leaf sprinkled with parsley and topped with a line of caviar; (2) duck foie gras on a criscrossed potato crisp; (3) baked scallop skewers; (4) goat cheese, with a dab of honey to secure a whole roasted almond, and then a dab of honey to secure the colorful flower garnish on top of the almond; plus 2 more.

Before the main dish was an "intermezzo" of sorbet with blackberry and mint garnish. The main dish was hectic, as we worked to get filet mignon, skewered prawns, asparagus, and golden potatoes out. Dessert was chocolate cake drizzled with raspberry sauce around the plate, with whole raspberries placed strategically.

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Aside from that, I'm helping some UCSD friends out with 3 final exam essays this week. I'm super stressed. The essays are on art, sociology, and movie soundscapes and essays need a lot of work!

I also need to check up on that security clearance that I still don't have from the State Dept. I've decided to still go to DC on June 18th regardless because I feel that is leading me there and that He will provide.

I am the "mu-shu" man in the kitchen, sore right wrist :(. 06/07/04 

Global Gourmet catering for Genentech tonight. 3000 people! 

"I'm just a cook" (Under Siege)

Steven Seagal says, "I'm just a cook," right before single-handedly killing a group of terrorists that have taken his navy ship hostage. Non-sequitur...

What to do in SF between my Masters in Int'l Politics and my summer research position with the State Dept? I like cooking. I always wanted to be a chef. Why not just work as a cook? After being brutally rejected by several local French restaurants, I was finally hired part time by Global Gourmet catering. This was a month and a half ago. The excitement begins.

Tonight we cooked for literally 3000 people at the Genentech Bio Conference. I was the "mu-shu chicken" guy, responsible for wok frying bins of chicken. I worked 2 woks simultaneously. First boiled the oil, then added ginger and garlic, then chicken, vegetables (with water to steam), and Mu-Shu black bean sauce. It was crazy with waiters in the "front house" hounding me for food. I literally made 40 pounds of mu-shu over 7.5 hours. The brocolli was tricky because it took longer to soften. It was high stress and fun!

As "back house," people treat me like I'm in culinary school and under-educated. Most of the other cooks never attended college and this is their trade. It's understandable that our bosses and clients can easily look down on us because they're I-Bankers and we're cooks. That's what I love! I love that excitement of experiencing something new, even if it's a whole different identity in which people have a very narrow-minded view of who I am. In the kitchen, my knowledge of international politics and strategy doesn't matter; nor anyone care about my business degree, molecular biology bachelors, work in the Embassy, or student leadership.

It's like I'm a living William Faulkner novel, where the narrative changes as the perspectives of his characters shift. Even so, these days, I'm just a cook.

A particular verse that has been on my heart since my QT yesterday has been 2 Tim 2:11...

11Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

In particular, I struggled with the last two verses because they seem so contradictory at face value. If we disown him, he will disown us; but if we are faithless, he will still remain faithful!? It would make more superficial sense if disowning was mutual along with faithlessness or vice versa, but it's not. I realized that it's because of the issue of ownership, which is so different than faithfulness. The difference between the two concepts is what Hosea is all about when he married an unfaithful wife as an analogy to Israel's rebellion. Hosea continued to love her because she belonged to him. Just like that, I see how God loves us no matter what.

I claim to be an imperfect Christian, lacking in my faith and challenged by sins often. However, God's ownership over me is something I can never deny. Therefore, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself for I belong to Him and He is a part of me (or within, or completely...). This is profound because the heart of my struggles are often how I project a view myself in my rebellion translated into God's disapproval of me. I couldn't have been more wrong.

My sister, Mary, at La Jolla 10/2003. 

Random: My Managerial Economics class, UCSD. 

A lion on a roof! Took pic at Vegas MGM. 

Half Moon Bay Beckons

Danny came up with this great idea to camp out in his van on the beach last night. It was great... most of the time. We went to Fisherman's Whart together that evening and ate crab ($14 for a the biggest one, but a little undercooked), then shared a banana split romantically in Ghirardelli Square, then off to Half Moon Bay. (Note: I like to hang out at the Castro, but unlike a pendulum I don't swing both ways; unfortunate for Danny's schemes)

At Half moon Bay we found a nice spot near the beach and walked around at 1 AM briefly before we slept. I was tired by then, and tossed and turned a bit before falling asleep. Next thing I know the sun is up and Danny is chilling in the car trying to get me up. It was 6:45 AM! What the heck, I was still so tired, so I laid there like a log as he bummed around. It was steamy in the van and we felt unclean when we woke up, but at least his legs weren't wrapped around me or anything. Haha!

He gave up on getting me to move so he just drove off with me still sleeping in the back. Then I finally got up to eat at Burger King. After that we went to the Ritz Carlton there, and came up with this business idea where we would market cool stuff. I'm a thinker / strategizer, and he is a do-er, so I figure it will work out perfectly. Earlier we talked about buying a house together to get our foot into the real estate door. First start the business, then buy a house together, then we'll get married and have kids... so the joke goes.

We ended our adventure with worship at a cemetary. We both busted out our guitars and chilled at empty gravesites and jammed for a while. It was sweet. After that, he left for worship practice and I left to meet some FICB people for dinner in Daly City.