I take off for missions tonight, so that means I probably won't blog for at least 7 weeks.

Talk about major procrastination, though. I haven't started packing yet.

Some last minute prayer requests:
1) My health: I had this major headache earlier today, but hopefully I won't be sick during our orientation. I'm also told the mosquitoes are really bad on the reserves this summer.
2) Avoiding comparisons with my previous experience a couple years ago. This is gonna be a major challenge, especially in terms of my teammate relationship, because I can't go in with expectations.
3) The Native Canadians. For anyone who is a Christian, it's really difficult because Christians are outcasts in these communities.

Explanations to the "FiCB Common Bonds" are included in the comment below.

More games... now it’s "FiCB Common Bonds," where there’s something missing from the group.

For example, for the group, "Andy, Billy, Roy, Paul,..." the answer is Eugene, the remaining member of the Burbank Boys.

Here’s some more...
-welcoming, service, transpo, outreach, publicity,...
-Summer JAM, STOMP, Summer FiCB,...
-Pastor Eugene, Charles Sy, Pastor Ryan, Dr. Park,...
-Willard, Kleeberger, Strawberry, Oregon,...
-Sylvia, Isabel, Tommy, G1, Haejin, Eugene, Jae, Mike,...

Y'all got 4 of the 5.

The solutions to "FiCB Before and After" are my first comment below.

It's time to play "FiCB Before and After," where the end of the first half of the clue is the same as the beginning of the second half of the clue, and the clues relate to FiCB culture.

For example, the answer to "KCPC summer missions goes to the capital of our neighboring country" is New Mexico City

Can you solve the following?
"instant messenger provider hosts FiCB's favorite game in May"
"popular FiCB apartment complex dines at this meat-lovers' favorite"
"Basile Kuo's alter-ego probably doesn't do this as a recreation"
"Unit 3 dorm meets up here before a lunch date"
"typical set of gears on a bike plays a short crossword game"

Is snoring genetic, and do people snore more loudly as they get older? I hope not.

People are usually surprised when they find out I snore, but I don't snore 10% as loudly as my dad does. It's interesting to listen to him snore.

Here's what happened in the last 30 minute sequence:
First 20 minutes: He sounded like he was blowing on an amplified duck call, although not quite as high-pitched. He made this noise every 5 seconds.
Next minute: Peace and quiet.
Next 3 minutes: Loud again.
Next minute: He started choking and sighing really loudly.
Last 5 minutes: Snored quietly.
Then his breathing pattern woke him up.
He went to the bathroom, and then went back to the couch to sleep.

Pure entertainment. But if my dad has trouble sleeping through his own snoring, I don't know what that means for my mom.

I've now been to 4 of the BCD Tofu House locations (the soon doo boo place):

LA
LA downtown
Garden Grove
Cerritos

Allen took a ton of pictures while we were in New York. Here are his two pbases:
New York 1
New York 2

And here's the story of the dumbest thing I did in New York (or as G1 thinks, the past 4 years):

Tommy: Dang it! I left my camera at the restaurant (that we had left 15 minutes earlier)
Geny: Oh, I guess we'll just have to call the restaurant and go back and get it...
Geny calls restaurant:
Geny: Yeah, we just ate at your restaurant and one of us forgot our camera. Can you find it for us so that we can come back and get it?
Geny continues her conversation with the restaurant worker for a few minutes while we all just wait there...
Geny: Are you sure it's not there? Did you check the seat?
I realize that the camera has been in my pocket the whole time! I show it to Geny as she continues her conversation with the restaurant person.
Geny: It's not there?... yeah, I guess you're probably right...

Highlights from the 3 days G1, Allen, and I spent in New York:

-Walking and using the subway to get everywhere!
Times Square
Empire State Building
Ground Zero
Yankee Stadium
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wall Street
Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Chinatown
South Street Seaport
Rockefeller Center
Gotham Comedy Club
ESPN Zone
Grand Central Station
And so many cheap eats

-Hanging out with Janet, Geny, and everyone else out in New York... Janet and Geny were great hosts!
-Allen's classic story about going to the wrong airport:
He went to SFO instead of Oakland, and then arrived 3 minutes too late for his flight...then he had to spend the night in the Oakland airport. Then his morning flight was delayed, and so he missed his connecting flight from Denver to New York... he ended up getting to New York 8 hours after he was supposed to get there!

In tomorrow's post, I'll describe what G1 describes as the dumbest thing he's seen me do in the 4 years he's known me.

While eating at Lawry's for the first time ever, my mom mentioned some things about me that I didn't remember because I was too young.

Apparently I liked to go on stage and interrupt other people's performances. When I was 5, I was at one of my sister's dance performances. During the middle of the performance I went on stage and totally embarrased her by asking if I could dance with her.

Haha... this wasn't the only time I did this. Another time I was watching a tae-kwon-do performance. I went up to the front of the stage and tried to copy what everyone was doing. Everyone was so shocked that no one took me off stage.

Looking at my Nedstats, I noticed the following:

Of the last 39 times a search engine has been used to find my blog, 8 of these searches included the phrase "Andy Chon."

1 of the searches included "Tommy Lee."

At the beginning of this hockey season, I wasn't expecting the Ducks to make the playoffs since they had finished in last place in their division the last 3 seasons.

At the beginning of the playoffs, I wouldn't have been surprised if the Ducks got swept by Detroit, a team that swept them the only 2 times the Ducks made the playoffs.

But what a magical ride these playoffs have been...sweeping the defending champs, beating the top seed, giving up only 1 goal in the Western Conference finals, and then coming within a game of winning it all... wow, it was crazy. I wish they won the Cup, but I'll still be going to a Ducks celebration this Wednesday in Anaheim.

More recent book purchases:

-Now, that's a good question! by RC Sproul. Sproul answers questions ranging from "Do you believe that God has audibly spoken to anyone since the apostolic age?" to "Should Christians use credit cards?"
-The Holiness of God by RC Sproul. Heard some good things about this...
-The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. Recommended by my small group leader my freshman year (Kenny Kang), but I never got around to reading it.

Every week since August 1999, Lycos has published the Top 50 phrases that users have searched for.

Here are the phrases that have been in the Top 50 every week:

-Pamela Anderson. And it's all because of Tommy Lee... j/k
-Las Vegas, which for a long time was the only city to ever make the list.
-Jennifer Lopez, who has been # 1 once, and # 50 once.
-Britney Spears, the most searched term of 2000.
-Tattoos, which is misspelled almost half the time.
-WWF, the only acronym that has always been on the list.

Final Fantasy and The Bible are terms that haven't been on every list only because of Lycos' recording methods the first few weeks of the Top 50.

And the most popular search item has been (drumroll please)...

Dragonball, which has been the top search item 25 times, and has never been lower than # 11.

This post is long overdue, but better late never than never.

During the past school year, our carpool on the way to church had a great dynamic. First semester it was G1, Basile, Vicki, Charlene, and me. Second semester Kathleen Song replaced Charlene, who was down in soCal.

Vicki would always talk to people about our carpool, and they'd be so confused about why she'd have so many interesting things to say about it.

Mainly it was fun watching G1 spaz out as he got updates on how his fantasy football players were doing, and teaching Vicki how to avoid getting jacked.

Good times, good times... I don't think I'll ever remember a carpool as much as this one.

I got $150 worth of Borders gift cards as graduation gifts. The 3 things I've purchased so far:

-Moneyball by Michael Lewis. A book about the organizational approach of the Oakland A's, a baseball team that's had sustained success despite having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

Favorite quote from the book, by assistant general manager Paul DePodesta: "I hope [other teams] continue to believe our way doesn't work. It buys us a few more years [of success]."

Yeah, I'm an Angels fan, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the A's resourcefulness.

-Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best. Explains how statistics are manipulated by the media, politicians, and activists.

-A boxed set of 20 blank cards. I prefer to buy cards all at once so that I don't have to go out and buy them that often.

Recent TV shows based on the premise of finding "true love":

-The Bachelor
-The Bachelorette
-Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?
-Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?
-Who Wants to be a Princess?
-The Love Cruise
-Married By America
-Temptation Island
-Joe Millionaire
-For Love or Money

As long as people continue to watch these shows, they'll be on TV.

Spastic moment of the day:

I used a drive-thru ATM machine to deposit some checks yesterday. (Side note: Isn't it funny that we say "ATM machine" when ATM stands for automated teller machine?)

But in my haste to get home and catch the start of the Ducks win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, I somehow left my wallet at the ATM... not good...but

Thank God that I noticed I didn't have my wallet when I got home.
Thank God I live only 2 minutes away from the ATM.
Thank God that I happened to use the drive-thru ATM, where a random wallet might be a little less noticeable than at a normal ATM.
Thank God that no one took the wallet that was sitting there for 10 minutes.

I'm going to New York!

I'll be there from June 12-16 with A-Han and G1, and we'll be hanging out with Geny and Janet Kang. I've only been to New York once before, but I didn't do too many tourist things when I was there.

Here are some things we're doing for sure:
-Going to Times Square at night
-Going to a Yankees game
-Going to Redeemer and hearing Tim Keller speak

Any suggestions for what we should do?

Things in my toiletries bag:

For my contacts:
-Monthly use toric contacts (for astigmatism)
-No Rub multi-purpose contact lens solution
-2 contact lens cases
-2 bottles of rewetting drops
-enzymatic tablets (contact lens cleaner)
-enzymatic cleaner case

For my skin:
-the 3 bottle set of Proactiv solution (for acne)
-Cleocin acne lotion
-Neutrogena sunblock/facial moisturizer

For my teeth:
-Crest manual toothbrush
-Braun electric toothbrush
-electric toothbrush head
-Colgate baking soda & peroxide whitening with tartar control frosty mint striped gel
-Glide floss

Random:
-Comb
-Norelco electric razor
-electric razor recharger
-Speed Stick deodorant
-nail clipper