Tuesday 2/10
Ubered after dinner to Holiday Inn LAX for $69 (best price I saw…most of the day, it was between $83 to +$100). Tipped $15. Picked this hotel since it had a free shuttle and also didn’t need breakfast as the airline would provide. Glad we didn’t drive since parking fees at LAX hotels are horrendous.

Wednesday 2/11
Woke up at 5:30am, got on shuttle at 6:25am, got off on Terminal 6 and done with security by 6:45am! So surprised that it was so quick and had an hour before boarding time. Seats 39g and 39h, I had packed cheese, fruits, veggies, and container for breakfast for hubby and I ate 2 turkey sausage breakfast sandwiches and spicy tomato juice, flight was 5 hr 15 mins and arrived local time 12:30pm. Explored the Honolulu airport and relaxed at their cultural gardens. I visited the IASS lounge (no food or snacks and drinks could not be taken outside the lounge…2 out of 5 stars). Had some guava juice and lemon iced tea and was out in 7 mins.

Funny that our first meal in Hawaii was L&L. Had BBQ chicken plates and spam musubi $35, Ubered to Residence Inn in Kapolei $29 + $6 tip, arrived 3:15pm, got complimentary upgrade to a suite (had separate living room and kitchen!), took a much needed nap, then explored the fitness center, walked to Foodland for groceries $34 and discounted musubis, L&L (again?) $17, and brought back to hotel for dinner. Took a much needed shower (weird partition since water gets on the floor) and last midnight walk before sleeping. Writing this a 5am next day since can’t sleep. Need to try since doing the adventure course today!

Thursday 2/12
Yesterday, was up early (today too!). Had breakfast at the hotel (standard Continental food…miss breakfasts in Asia). Anson ran to Target to buy gloves while I checked out Foodland poke to get at lunchtime. Walked 1 mile to Coral Crater Adventure Park $59 and did the adventure tower at 11am. We had 2 other people in our party and our guide was named Stephen (tipped $10). I was able to complete part of the course and liked the freefall baley at the end. It only took an hour which is less than other ones we’ve done Dallas/Buelton, so it’s nice that we got this on the Go City pass, but would be disappointed if had to pay retail price.

For lunch, walked to Foodland and got two poke bowls (one premium wasabi salmon and one regular Hawaiian ahi tuna) $19 while Anson got L&L $17 again. The fish was pretty good, and next time, I should just buy the fish by pound. This L&L doesn’t seem to give as much chicken. Went back to the hotel, Anson was able to troubleshoot and fix my phone that couldn’t send/receive MMS messages, watched the movie Happy Death Day, then swam in the “heated” pool (only went down to a depth of 4.5 feet). Used Uber eats for takeout at Ramen Bones $32. Got Anson chicken fried rice while I got tonkatsu ramen (haven’t had ramen in years!) Might switch up the schedule tomorrow and do all the things at Pearl Harbor…

Friday 2/13
Today has been dedicated to all things Pearl Harbor. We ate breakfast at the hotel, packed some eggs and croissant sandwiches + our veggies from Foodland for lunch, then Ubered with Hema (she had some good suggestions as she used to be a tour guide) for $27 + $9 tip to Pearl Harbor. The first few times we came here, I didn’t even know there was the Ford Island and that it had all these museums to explore! Used the Go City pass for three different museums here that it almost covers our pass already. We first took the shuttle to the Battleship Missouri $40 and was able to go in and see the quarters, food hall, bakery, post office, etc all on the ship. Then, went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum $30 and saw a whole lot of different older fighter planes. We were able to go into a cockpit and also saw a demo of what happened on Dec 7th that made the Japanese attack so deadly for the ships and planes. Lastly, we shuttled to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum $26 and we were able to go inside and explore just like the battleship. It felt a little more crampt and every is so…made of steel…wanna make sure people would survive the water pressure.

We were pretty pooped once we were done around 4pm, so we Ubered (kind of a bad time with rush hour traffic) $49 + $9 tip, had a good conversation with George on the trip, and checked in to the Holiday Inn Express in Waikiki for the next 6 nights. Have to pay for the first 2 nights $530 since didn’t get my free nights in time with the IHG CC and it’s Valentine’s weekend, but was able to get the 4 next nights for free (well…plus resort fee). We then went to the Waikiki beach to get dinner at Steak Shack $28 (too well done) and watch the fireworks at 7:45pm and didn’t anticipate how many people would be in line for that restaurant. Took about 45mins to 1 hr to get the food, but I guess we were already waiting for the fireworks and liked the guitar performer a lot (tipped $10) so I was glad we did this. I think Waikiki has suffered from the Disneyland effect, and there’s too many people and makes the experience less enjoyable. We then bought some groceries at Waikiki Market $31 for just some veggies, oranges, and chips …so overpriced here. We’ll try to explore and find a supermarket that has better prices tomorrow!

Saturday 2/14
Today is more of a rest day since yesterday was pretty packed. Had breakfast at our hotel at around 9:10 (dining hall closes at 9:30). I was pleasantly surprised that they had stir fry vegetables and mixed greens. It reminded me of the elaborate breakfasts that Japan hotels have, so maybe they’re trying to cater to the many Asian tourists. We checked out the hotel facilities and played a round of mini golf and worked out at the fitness center. We started exploring the north side of Waikiki and shared a poke bowl from Komedokoro $23 and strolled over to Ala Moana Regional Park so that Anson could use the calisthenics equipment to workout his arms, stopped by Foodland to get some more groceries $28 including my favorite buy: 4 kinds of sliced cheese!

After resting at the hotel, we walked over to watch the Kuhio Beach hula show. It’s held every Tues and Sat from 6:30-7:30. Marugame Udon was too packed, so ended up going to King of Thai Boat Noodles (was on my saved list) $51. We then took a romantic stroll along the Ala Wai Canal and surprisingly caught the 9pm drone show along the canal. I always thought it was all just AI, so it was great to see that this is real and so cool. Great way to end Valentine’s day!

Sunday 2/15
Breakfast at the hotel (very busy at 8:50am), rested and checked in for rental car we’ll get tomorrow, then walked over to Waikiki Baptist Church for service at 10:45am. The local congregation was most older and probably the majority of people were visitors. Pastor Joel preached on accountability and people were very welcoming. We talked to 3 of their different pastors including one who originally was from NY and led worship on guitar and has his own YouTube channel. Pastor Joel also prayed for us and our trip and my elder parents.

We then rested at the hotel, Anson worked out at the fitness center while I enjoyed taking a dip in the jacuzzi. We had a late lunch/early dinner at my favorite place, Marugame Udon $29 (previously called Marukame Udon till 11/2023). I enjoyed my beef udon while Anson had a gyydon rice bowl. The last time we were here, Anson still could eat wheat, so he didn’t enjoy as much…but this is still my favorite restaurant in Waikiki 🙂 We then walked to Kapiʻolani Regional Park and did an hour yoga class $19+$1.50 mat rental. I surprisingly liked this as I’ve never worked out on the beach at sunset. We had a romantic walk along Waikiki beach when it started raining (at least we packed an umbrella). Gonna try to sleep early as tomorrow will be a long day…

Monday, 2/16
This morning was a little stressful. After breakfast, we walked over to Hilton Hawaiian Village to get our Enterprise rental car for the next 2 days. It was a little confusing trying to find the office, get the car, get out of the Hilton parking structure, and navigate out of Waikiki. I probably should have put so much pressure to want to get to places at a certain time. We’re on vacation! Plus, Sea Life Park is actually kinda small and you don’t have to be there the whole day to see everything. The highlight there was the Dolphin Show. We were able to go into a bird enclosure to feed birdseed on popsicle sticks to lovebirds. We went to most of the animal talks for the penguins, seabirds, monk seal, and sea lions. My favorite thing was actually something that was not advertised which was when the trainers were just practicing with the dolphins. We were able to get up just a few feet from the beautiful creatures. Regarding parking, we first parked along the highway, but ended up paying $18 to park in the lot so it would be easier to eat/rest. We’ve come to a point that we should just use our money rather than trying to inconvenience ourselves by saving it. Money is a good servant, but a poor master.

Our luau $194 was also at Sea Life Park. We’ve been to one each time we’ve gone to Hawaii, but I think this one was my favorite. We did the different stations like making a lei bracelet, ukulele lesson, hula dancing, fish net throwing, “bowling”, etc. We saw them take out the pig that was in the ground cooking and then proceeded to the buffet line: standard luau food with teriyaki chicken, kaulua pork, lomi lomi salmon, poi, etc. There was a lot of dancing and it ended with the fireknife show. It was a little windy, but I’m happy that it did not rain. We drove back to Waikiki and was also grateful that we found parking on the Ala Wai Canal.

Tuesday 2/17
I could have planned another event from the Go City pass besides Fireknife, but thought we could try to do our own things instead of being rushed. We took our time leaving the hotel in the morning, walking to our rental car, then heading out to Punchbowl Crater. I didn’t know that it was actually a national cemetery and it was very well maintained and had a pretty lookout point of Honolulu city. We then headed to Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden where there was a beautiful lake with koi fish. There were a good amount of people there since I guess it got Instagram famous. We hiked a little more inland where it was secluded and the landscape was so beautiful and green. Going to Hawaii this time of year is probably not the best.

There was a wind advisory and a huge storm a couple days before we arrived here. We also had to postpone, then cancel our catamaran sail since 25 mph winds on the water might make us seasick and ruin our vacation. However, I did like the wind on land since it made the humidity a little more bearable, but always checking the weather to see the forecast wasn’t as fun. Thankfully, it didn’t rain during the luau yesterday nor for our fireknife experience $60 today. We drove to Hauula and had to us a Google doc to find where to meet. For the first 15 mins, we learned how to throw and spin the baton, and the 2nd half, we learned how to beat the taiko drums. I had been learning how to spin a baton at home for the last couple weeks, so it helped when learning to do the figure 8 motion. I was able to spin with the fire lighting up both ends (keep spinning and don’t let the stick go vertical) and Anson did some taiko drumming. There were quite a few people in our group, so the experience felt a little chaotic, but I’m still glad we did it. Afterwards, I went to Foodland for poke and Anson got L&L, we got gas to refill the rental car, and returned it at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Wednesday, 2/18
Today, we hiked Diamond Head $40. We got to our pickup area at 9:40 and a shuttle took us there by 10:10am. There are a LOT more people there now. I guess this place has always been popular since it is close to Waikiki. The hike is only 1.6 miles roundtrip (but with stunning views of the city). We were finished by 11:40am, and since the shuttle wasn’t going to pick us up until 12:30pm, we decided to just walk back (40 mins). I was surprised that Marugame Udon had no line! Anson again got a beef bowl and I tried their tonkatsu udon (this was my favorite broth).

We then rested at the hotel, then went out to see the O Na Lani Sunset Stories performance at the International Market Place. We then walked to 7-11 to try to buy a Holo card to take the bus to Honolulu airport tomorrow, but found out you needed cash to purchase (?). Need to put on my travel check list to always carry cash. We bought onigiris though (guess they try to cater to their Japanese clientele since 7-11 is popular there. I liked my spicy ahi roll and Anson had his usual salmon onigiris. We watched half of Ready Player One until we couldn’t stand the slow internet connection. Glad I’m making use of the movies I bought years ago on Google Play 🙂

Thursday, 2/19
Last day! I was able to get late checkout at our hotel, so we were able to take it easy, eat breakfast, go to the fitness center, do Bible Project, and checked out at 2pm. We did our last activity which was a self guided audio tour of Waikiki and learn about the different hotels and points of interest including the banyan tree at the International Market Place and the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Statue. We went to Marugame Udon $32 for the 3rd time this trip where I got a tan tan udon (not as enjoyable as tonkatsu), and then Ubered to HNL. We had to eat our packed dinner of carrots and oranges before going thru the agricultural screening. The 2 lounges at this airport are subpar, but enjoyed some coffee.

I had checked in to our Southwest flight yesterday, and snagged the exit row which has extra legroom for free! Our row mate also switched rows, so we had 3 seats to ourselves. However, because the seats don’t recline, it was still difficult to fall asleep. Hopefully since I paid for our extra legroom seats that do recline on our SAS flight to Copenhagen, it will be more tolerable. We got back at 5:30am on Friday and walked to LAX-IT (in 40 degree weather) and Ubered ($89 + $15 tip) home. Glad we’re home! Happy we went, though I think the first time to Hawaii is always the most magical. The wind was also not something we could control as we had to cancel our Catamaran sail. I can see that Oahu and especially Waikiki is very touristy and crowds just makes things less enjoyable. It’s a fault of their own success. Everybody wants to come here. Do I want to come back? I think so, but maybe in 10-20 years time 🙂

1. Short trips to Solvang: staying at a self run hotel and ziplining, cruise to Catalina/Ensenada: prime rib elegant dinner, adventure course on the cruise, and ziplining again, Denver: Red Rocks Amphitheater hike and free upgraded IHG rooms all booked with points

2. Became members of CCCTO and serve on worship team (some things never change). Anson goes to their leadership class once a month, and put his software skills to use by building a slide builder tool for worship leaders and is in the process of helping to revamp the website.

3. One of Priscilla’s favorite activities is supporting the local economy/performing arts: blueberry and strawberry picking at Underwood, watching live productions of Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express at Conejo Players Theatre, Candlelight Concert, Imaginarium, Charlie Hall at Camarillo Community Church, buying sunflowers and rode a tractor at Conejo Family Farms

4. Anson keeping busy with various house projects: aligning kitchen cabinets, installing hooks for Christmas lights, fixing the seal and repairing the dishwasher racks, minor car repairs, resealing countertops, cleared out garage in order to park both cars in it, running drainage pipe so that downspout empties out to the street, painting hallway/bedroom, buying/assembling furniture to finally move in to our master, elevating the citrus trees so they (hopefully) survive us, maintaining the hot tub for wifey to use!

5. Putting their lifetime gym memberships to good use: Anson working out every other Friday with Gary, taking a yoga/pilates class together, and Priscilla enjoying Zumba. She hopes to get better in the Thursday line dancing class…if only she didn’t have 2 left feet.

6. Thankful for the many friends from the Bay Area and SoCal making the effort to see us: Steve/Shirley, Jo-Ann, Raymond, Emily, Jeff/Eleanor, James/Char, Mark/Jenn, Cindy. Also thankful for technology to have virtual meals w/ Randy/Eva and Albert/Ruth.

7. Monthly visits to see parents. Thankful that we are now physically closer (with still some separation) and can help parents in various tasks like dog sitting, hospital appointments, celebrate holidays/birthdays with one another.

8. Opening up our home and hosting small group, potlucks, and cooking for various friends/our church family.

9. Though inflation has made it harder and not really doing couponing anymore, still saving money on streaming via Google Opinion Rewards, free trials, and AMEX offers: free months of Amazon Prime, Peacock, Disney+/Hulu, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Discovery+ MGM, and YouTube Premium Lite. 

10. Still in the credit card game and opened a couple hotel credit cards this year and have stayed multiple nights for free in SGV, Solvang, Culver City, and Denver, with just our regular spending habits. Hoping the new Hyatt card will give us some new adventures in the new year!

Quote from Downton Abbey…didn’t watch all of it, but I get the sentiment.

I feel like my life has been divided into a few sections:
1. Growing up in LA, school, work, long distance relationship, marriage, and moving up to…
2. The Bay Area for 12 years, buying our first house, mental health and work, involvement in church, developing relationships with those in the workplace/church/extended family, and ultimately leading to moving back to SoCal to…
3. Buying a house in Camarillo to be closer to family, working remotely, navigating how to take care of said family members when they’ll need more care, making new friends in a new environment, getting plugged into a new church and learning how to balance our time/energy/money in a sustainable way.

These sections of our life look a little distinct since they are in different locations, and they should. They are filled with different situations, life choices, peoples, etc, but…I don’t think that exactly means that they can’t intersect. When I lived in SFV with my parents, I would come up to the Bay Area to visit Anson. When I was in the Bay Area, I would fly down to see my parents and friends like Gina, Cindy, Weber, Crescentia, and Junior. We now live in Camarillo, and while it’s still in SoCal, it’s a little bit away from where we grew up. If we want to see people, we will still have to drive to them.

If we lived in SFV, it would make it more convenient to see people that we knew…but…truthfully, we have grown apart from most people that we knew. I do think we made the right decision in moving here. SFV is just way too hot in the summer and we would be miserable for months every year. Camarillo has great weather, good infrastructure, is well run, MIGHT have a Costco someday, not as many people (and hope to keep it that way), and we honestly were able to buy our dream house. We’ve looked on Redfin and no other house matches this one. We have made some friends in our new church in Thousand Oaks and don’t always have to drive to TO since we’ve been hosting our small group. Raymond, Steve/Shirley, and James/Char have visited us, and Cindy will be coming next week to stay over on the weekend. We’ve met some Bay Area friends in LA (Eleanor/Jeff, Yeh family, Emily/Kevin, Jo-Ann), and are going to see Mark/Jenn in a few weeks when they come to TO.

It is probably normal to drift away from people especially if you aren’t able to live life together in the same place. I understand why Gary wants our small group to meet every week since he wants the group to have fellowship/socialization and grow closer to each other…but if you have those bonds, you don’t necessarily have to see each other THAT much. And if you do that, it shrinks your social bandwidth for your other relationships, which I do NOT want to lose.

When we do visit SFV, I’ve made time to eat with Gina, Weber, and Crescentia. We are able to talk to people we knew at CCAC or New Life when we have visited, and I don’t really see that changing in the near future. When we visited the Bay Area, we caught up with church friends, extended family, and coworkers. I’m hoping that we can visit at least once every year or two. We’ve had virtual meals with both sets of parents and Anson’s extended family. Because of the rain this week, we did virtual meals with Randy/Eva and Ruth/Albert and were able to catch up with each other’s lives and talk about some spiritual things to help spur one another on. One good thing that came out of COVID was a normalizing of virtual gatherings. We just need to have the intention to reach out and keep up our relationships.

I’m probably rambling…I guess to tie this in with the title of this post…regardless of where we are in the present, whether in SFV, Santa Clara, or Camarillo, relationships with the people that matter to me are the memories that I want to cherish. Yes, it may take some work to keep them going, but isn’t that how it should be? I don’t have to wait for others to reach out, and it’s not like no one has. There have been people who have come to see us even though we are a little further away, and technology has also made our world a little bit more accessible…use it for good!

I turned 40 a few months ago. I guess I don’t really feel it (besides the weird body aches and back pain :). Since I’m probably around the halfway point, I wanted to reflect a little on my life and how it has been up till now, be honest about my current circumstances, and to delve into how I see how I should approach the future going forward.

I grew up in a Christian family with my mom sometimes filling in and speaking from the pulpit, but not really a pastor. Both my parents had minimum wage jobs, but were frugal with money, and with some help from family, they bought had a house in Reseda. I went to a Christian elementary school, and public school for both middle and high school. I only applied to one college which was CSUN, a 10 mins commute from home. Worked part time at a health food store while full-time in college. Graduated with no debt with a BS degree in Business Administration with the option of Finance. I worked at a toner company and then a testing company for 4 years before getting married and moved up to the Bay Area where we lived for 12 years.

We went to Redeemer Bible Fellowship and participated in small groups and served on and off on worship team. We made a few friends during our time up in the Bay Area. We bought a house at the end of 2013 before the market went crazy. I worked at a real estate company, an assisted living facility, a non profit helping homeless youth and their families, and finally a Christian non profit helping with drug addiction, housing for single mothers, and various homeless services. We thought that we were up in NorCal and would spend the rest of our days there…things changed.

It wasn’t an epiphany…it was more like a gradual realization that our parents would be needing more help in the future, that even though we built a life in the Bay Area and we’d be leaving our secure jobs, our extended family, our community of church friends that we’ve grown to know and love…that it would be okay and that God had a plan for our lives.

Some of the next couple paragraphs might echo my previous post, but hey, life is sometimes repetitive 🙂 It’s been a little over a year since we’ve moved down. We settled in Camarillo which is 30 mins from Aaron and Lauren, 45 mins from Anson’s parents, and 1 hr (without traffic) to my parents. We wanted to be somewhere where the city is safe and roads are clean, a place that would have great weather since we like to walk outside, and not TOO close to family in order to have a little bit of separation. We were able to buy a house much cheaper than those in the Bay Area and this one checked off almost all of our boxes (private backyard, dual sinks, concrete slab for the gym, big kitchen, etc). 

I am able to work from home for my Christian non-profit, Anson is good at using his time doing various things for church, health, and home, and we’re able to live comfortable off our assets/investments. We go to the gym twice a week, and Anson has a workout buddy that pushes him to be better. We’ve joined a Chinese church in the next city over, Thousand Oaks, and host a weekly small group. We serve on worship team once a month and are trying to make an effort to get to know more people within the church. My mom was diagonsed with stage 0 breast cancer and has had 2 surgeries. I’ll be taking her to see the oncologist next week and for us to figure out the next steps (radiation/hormone blockers). It is a blessing to be able to serve her in this way.

Presently, I don’t think I can complain about my life. How is it that God let us be in the Bay Area at the best time for us in terms of Anson’s job by getting in early and getting good options and buying a house before prices went bonkers? Was it all in his plan for us to leave SoCal 12-16 years ago just to come back for family? Why is it that we are pretty much set and don’t have to worry financially? I don’t think it is to just sip mai tais at the beach. I don’t know the answer yet, but I do know that I should try to live purposefully and try to not waste the time I have. I’ve realized that life isn’t that fun if you can’t share it with others and if you aren’t working toward kingdom goals. Now and in the future, I’m hoping to serve willingly at church, love on members of our church family and get to know (strategically) some more people, to serve my family by being cook/dishwasher/cleaner/chauffeur, and a wife that respects and follows her hubby’s leadership.

It’s pretty easy to remember exactly when we moved down…July 4th. In some ways it feel longer and shorter at the same time. I still remember going to countless hangouts to say goodbye to friends and family, how we were packing our 8 x 8 x 16 container with as many belongings as we could, breaking down the night before, crying as I swept the floors and pulled the weeds one last time before handing our house of a decade over to the new owners, driving down in 100 degree heat, staying over at the Wongs and seeing fireworks in their neighborhood, driving the next day to Camarillo to see the house we had put an offer on but was rejected, submitting a stronger offer but staying firm with the price, driving to my parents’ place, and getting a call from our agent that our offer was accepted.

We’ve missed friends up the in Bay Area, yet have gained new ones here in Ventura County. I’ve been able to work remotely for my company of almost 4 years, CityTeam. Hours have been reduced, but it has given me much more flexibility in how I can use my time productively. We have settled comfortably in a new church in Thousand Oaks, attend (and are currently hosting) a small group weekly, and serve on the worship team. Husband left Pure in October since they wouldn’t let him work from home anymore. Presently, tech has been given a reckoning and it is a little harder to thrive in software. Seems like he was able to get into tech at the best time and also leave before it went downhill. We are privileged to be in a good financial situation to not have to worry about working for money. Anson’s taking a church leadership class, is able to actively learn each day, spurs us on in our faith by making us pray and read the Bible (hopefully in a year…and a couple months), and been able to do so much for the house to make it our home.

This house came with many luxuries that we wouldn’t have dreamed of having: smart fridge, fountain, recessed and dimming lights, heated bathroom mirrors, outdoor hot tub spa, completely private backyard, 1 room on concrete slab for Anson’s gym, a master bedroom (that we haven’t moved in to) that overlooks our backyard oasis, etc. We chose Camarillo because it has some of the best weather…in the world. The Valley is in the 90s while we are 75 degrees. We are 30 mins from Aaron’s, 45 mins from the Wongs, and +1 hr from my parents. We came down to be closer to family and have approximately been seeing parents around once a month. We’ve gone back to the Bay Area twice: once for Anson to say goodbye to coworkers and second time to get my keyboard and guitar to practice for worship team. We’ve also seen the Leongs, Yehs, Chens, and Changs here, so people aren’t strangers!

Overall, I do believe we made the right decision to move back to SoCal. Our purpose should focus on how to serve and make time for our parents, friends, and the church we committed to. Hope the next year is filled with just that!

I booked a trip to Denver for a couple reasons: 1. Was looking for a domestic location since the husband won’t let us travel internationally this year (Ensenada on the cruise does not count), and I wanted to avoid LAX as much as possible. Burbank had one way tickets to Denver for $26! Was able to pay and get it credited with Capital One Points. 2. Denver International just opened a new Capital One Lounge…I love lounge hopping 🙂 I was able to use the travel credit for our ACE car rental, flights back using Southwest points, and 2 nights in Golden and 2 nights in Denver using my free nights with the IHG credit card. Both hotel had free parking and breakfast.

Denver is known to have a lot of outdoors activities. I chose Golden since it was close to hiking trails. We hiked the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater and Green Mountain on separate days. We went to Meow Wolf and explored both downtowns in Golden and Denver (Golden by far was better). I am writing all of this at the Denver International Airport in the Capital One Lounge, loving all the food and drinks at my fingertips. As our trip is starting to wrap up, I gotta ask…do I actually like traveling?

Getting to a destination can be simply described as a pain: packing, getting to the airport, finding transportation whether by public means or a rental car, getting to your hotel, figuring out food and experience options in said destination, etc. What is it that makes me want to go thru all this hassle to hike (when I am not the best at remembering locations) and eating at Thai, Mediterranean, Hawaiian restaurants, etc. where I could probably find similar to better quality establishments in SoCal. The first day we arrived, it was also windy and raining. Inclement weather can put a damper on plans as things are ultimately not under your control. So…what makes me want to do this?

Maybe it is partially that I want to say that I’ve traveled to various places, to have a goal to see different sights, to be able to travel on the cheap and find great deals on flights, activities, food, rental cars, and hotels…I know that ultimately, all these things aren’t important. God won’t be impressed by my freebie finding and wanderlust adventures. What matters is how I can glorify him in my heart, words, and actions. I don’t think traveling is bad and will probably still wanna go to places once in a while. Maybe it’ll be more fun for both Anson and I if I let us recover before the next time 🙂

I didn’t think we’d actually go to the Bay Area so soon after going there last October 2024 when Anson said goodbye to coworkers. This time, the primary reason was so that I could pick up my guitar and keyboard so that I could practice for worship team. We were scheduled to play for Good Friday service and I was only able to practice at church.

Highlights:
Day 1: Zumba in the morning while Anson worked out with Gary, drove up to Bay Area, Anson ran with Frank while I checked out the MV library, got Tea Era for the Chans, Pokeworks for dinner, and met Anson at Mediterranean Grill House, chatted with Daniel and Kelly and family over the drinks (mango smoothie, strawberry smoothie, and pudding milk tea) staying w/ them for 2 nights, walked over to the Yeh’s house and caught up for an hour

Day 2: breakfast with the Chans (Kelly made avocado toast, fruits, and yogurt), went to Shane Co to get ring prongs adjusted, picked up Yoshinoya and ate lunch with Ruth/Albert, afternoon walk, picked up Nick the Greek (free wrap w/ UberEats!) and had dinner with Aunt Helen and Uncle Tim, night walk with Kelly

Day 3: church and lunch at RBF, talked for 3.5 hrs until voice was hoarse :/ got to know Garrett a little, hung out at the MV library until closing and picked up Mediterranean Grill House using UberEats (same price as in store, but using gift cards I purchased for 25% off and get a free baklava!) and had dinner with Uncle Kenway and Aunt Susan, packed up the guitar and keyboard, stayed with Emily and Kevin for next 2 nights

Day 4: woke up early and started hiking Mission Peak at 8am, finished at 11:30am, lunch at L&L Hawaiian BBQ (ramen and span masubi), got Paris Baguette and Teaspoon (BOGO!), picked up ring at Shane Co, got 3 packs organic brown rice and gas from Costco, and said “Hi” to Jada, Sheri, and Pilar at BWC, afternoon snacking with the Leongs, dinner at Google with Tracy (such good salmon!)

Day 5: Emily made eggs for breakfast, chatted with them (Kevin’s last day at AI company), drove back to SoCal, groceries and gas at Oxnard Costco…till next time!

Try to help our loved one be clean, safe, and comfortable
We won’t have all the answers
Try to remember that caring for our loved one is not a burden but a privilege
They are a fellow image bearer of God, and every person has both body and soul
Do not neglect your loved one
God’s grace is sanctifying
God is doing a work in us and in those we’re caring for
He comforts you so that you can comfort others
Every day, you have the privilege to display God’s glory
His power is made perfect in our weakness

Grieving with Hope
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
It is normal hurt. It is necessary to grieve
It is ok to grieve in a fallen world
Will you trust God even when life hurts?
One goal in suffering is to keep trusting and worshiping God, beauty out of ashes
The Lord has made everything for his purpose
When I’m ready, will you use me to minister to others?

I always seem to forget that I get dizzy for a month after going on a cruise. Our last cruise was in Feb 2020 right before the world shut down. I booked that same itinerery for March 2025 🙂

On Saturday, March 1, we drove to San Pedro and stayed the night at Jo-Ann’s new condo. She and her sister, Neeta, live together with their new adopted puppy, Uni. We bought takeout from a local Thai place, and ate dinner together. On Sunday, they brought us to the Long Beach cruise terminal and we boarded our ship.

Highlights
Day 1: lunch food was so good and was a taste of what was to come, only had to check in at our muster station w/o presentation, had the adventure course all to ourselves
Day 2: Day at sea, so was a little sea sick 🙁
Glad I splurged for fast internet and had a 2 hr Signal call with my mom, dressed up for prime rib elegant night dinner, cool musical performance show
Day 3: Did our customary hike in Catalina near the Wrigley Memorial gardens
Day 4: 5 Ziplines in Ensenada! Pretty rocky road to get there, but the sights were breathtaking! First time doing such long ziplines…but not the last! Had to do fine dining for dinner again to get the molten lava cake!

It seems like we have now reached the season(s) of which we are more likely to be going to funerals/memorials rather than weddings/showers. We went to my uncles’ not long ago and last weekend, we went to our church friend, Daniel’s.

It was a celebration of life service in which it is not necessary to dress in black. It was encouraged to wear his favorite sports team outfits (I happened to wear my royal blue shirt…dodger blue!) Lowell led in worship and Pastor Tom preached a sermon. There was a time of sharing from Daniel’s friends. He loved movies, sports, talking (lol), serving in the church, and sharing Christ with others. 

Anson remembered him as his Awana leader many years ago in which memorizing verses would give him baseball and Marvel cards (from his own pocket). He cared about the kids put in his charge and even if they didn’t know Christ at that time, he wanted the seeds of the Christian faith to be planted in their hearts. I remember being in the same life group with him during my short time at New Life Church and also attending one of his Super Bowl parties where it was my first time getting heart burn because of all the great (and rich) food! Ironically, the day after this memorial service was Super Bowl Sunday. 

We hadn’t talked to him for a while since we’ve been in the Bay Area and then moved to Camarillo, but almost every time we visited New Life, we would talk briefly as he would faithfully be in the back of the room. He suffered from esophageal cancer for the last few years of his life, but he remained steadfast in his trust in God and tried to serve to his capability. 

Daniel is someone I can look up to and see how the Christian life should be lived, how the race should be run. God will say to him, “well done, good and faithful servent.” I hope to strive to be faithful and loving as him and to serve others with joy and gladness. Farewell, Daniel. See you later. Hope you enjoyed watching the Super Bowl from the sky 🙂