petco

on the way back from a hike to the post office, i stopped into petco at lakeshore plaza. it's the first time i've been there. in fact it's the first time i've been to any pet store for probably 10 years. it was interesting getting up close to the birds in the cages. the small white mice looked kinda cute. sorta reminded me of reading the kiddie book the mouse and the motorcycle way back when. it was funnyseeing a pile of newborn mice (or rats, i forgot) in the dark corner of the cage. they were all on top of each other and their eyes were shut. i was inspired to visit petco, b/c my pastor had told a story in one of his recent message that he went there during a rolling black out and got a bird. a small yellow thing that he just fell in love with. he named it "pez."

no pub grub

on wed i met up with x for lunch. we were supposed to go to durty nelly's - an irish pub. however they told us that they didn't start serving food until 2. it was pretty odd that there were already people in there drinking at 1:00. i guess i'll have to do it another time. instead we went to ppq then grabbed some boba afterwards.

010101

today i made it out to the sf moma to check out the current exhibit 010101: art.in.technological.times. hung out with c, who hooked it up with the free corporate pass. pretty interesting stuff. there's one exhibit called "ping" which modifies sound, depending on what site it's currently pinging.

Twisters

saturday was the ak staff day retreat. we went to twisters gym to do indoor rock climbing. it's something that i've been meaning to do for a while. first i tried a pretty challenging one, with a vertical ledge overhang jutting up half-way up. well, i tried that. got up to the ledge. struggled trying to get up. and failed. so i then tried a less challenging one, but had a slight reverse incline. i tried that, got up half-way, struggled and had to give up. finally i tried one other one, which was more or less just straight up with some obstacles (a little easier). thank god i got up that one! i would have hated to have failed three times. :P

Renaissance

yesterday we had our "happy feet" lumps wild card nite - a swing/cha-cha/salsa instructional. our friend kt, taught us again. we rented out a private dancing ballroom downtown at ellis and mason. it was great. i think i re-learned all of the dances. i got good at the cha cha, but at the end, was totally confused on the different turns for the three dances.

right before, i went with g to visit k's art studio. she's in the painting graduate program at the sf art institute. it was good to check out her stuff, since a lot of her work is influenced by her christian beliefs, which is pretty cool. also cool to get a perspective on art school.

Doing the Marina Cafe Thing

went to hang with g on wed afternoon at coffee roastery in the marina. i was supposed to be drawing my narnia stuff, but didn't get all that much done. nice place. smells of roasted coffee beans.

Taqueria Can-Cun

after my nite class, i stopped by the mission to get a burrito. this time i tried taqueria can-cun. it won best of the bay in 97. i think the carne asada is supposed to be good, but since i'm cutting back on red meat, i got a super al pastor burrito (marinated park). pretty good. came stuffed with rice, beans, onions, cilantro, salsa, cheese, avocado, & sour cream. i like burritos with avocado (rather than guac). don't care too much for rice usually. i hate lettuce in my burritos. this place was ok. wasn't the best i had.

eating my burrito by myself in the corner of the restaurant, i got to thinking...one day, i'd like to get a whole bunch of burritos (all the same kind) from the supposed best places in the mission, and have a taste contest. maybe i can do this with my lumps sg. i'd like to weigh each of the burritos, comparing size and mass...best bang for the buck. also compare the mixture and ingrediets. i figure, i'd need to do this with at least 2 or 3 other guys. it's probably tough to cut up a burrito in more than 4 pieces. you also have to take at least 2 or 3 bites of each one, since you usually can't taste all the ingredients with one bite. (hmm, i wonder if my lumps sg would be up for doing this next week.)

The Kiddie Section at Borders

i've been visitng borders nearly every single evening the past few days. the reason being my bookcovers project. i've been starting to spend a lot of my time in the kiddie section, primarily to look at book covers for my narnia series. it's interesting observing the kids interacting in the section. observing the way they interact with strangers and excitement over books. i'll probably be there a lot the next week or so, finishing up, and still researching marnia.

Somalia on Geary

there was a black out around noon today, so i ended up eating lunch with my dad. we tried to go to get indian on geary, but the place was closed. we ended up instead at Somalia, a thai place on geary. they have a bunch of full meal lunch specials under $5. it's pretty good. better than king of thai. no msg, too! only two complaints. they use half-and-half in the thai iced coffee (like most thai places here, but not like thailand where they used condensed milk). second complaint, is that they don't have crushed peanuts and the usual thai condiments (hot sauce, sugar) available at the table. but the place is pretty good and worth the value. i'd go back. too bad it's not open super late like king of thai. but they do deliver til 10, i believe!

Bouquets to Cabarets

i read in the paper that the legion of honor has free tuesdays for the year. they also advertised a pretty interesting looking french exhibit. so i trekked on over there by myself after lunch. i think i once went there when i was in grade school, but i barely remember it. well, today was the perfect day to check it out. sun was shining. an amazing day for the necessay hike up to the place from the parking lot. it's surrounded by trees, a golf course, and cliffs overlooking the bay and the bridge.

one thing that was strange to me was that it was super crowded. a lot of older ladies. i was wondering why all of these people came out. much more than i expected for a free museum day. it turned out that the reason was the opening of "bouquets of art" - a four day exhibit of floral design. throughout the museum were incredible bouquets which complemented selected artworks. even though i'm not really into flowers, i wish i had brought my camera to take pictures of the incredible stuff.

the regular artwork here was pretty amazing too. it's full of fine art from ancient egypt, greece, and europe. the main exhibit now is "toulouse-lautrec and the spirit of montmarte: cabarets, humor, and the avant-garde, 1875-1905." really incredible stuff. this was the most amazing exhibit of illustrations and paintings that i've seen. (art-wise, all i really know are comic book artists. i could see a lot of influences on charles vess.) there were some great portraits and caricatures of people from montmarte. it included cabaret stars, vignettes of life in the brothels, his friends, as well as theater, circus and music halls. i learned about the theater art of shadowplays - a sort of puppet theater with flat black silhouttes. with the light, if it was darker, it was closer in the foreground. lighter, further back.

there were a lot of amazing illustrations. i hope that i can capture some of the style i saw in my current graphic design project (book covers for the chronicles of narnia). i wouldn't mind going back again to check out the art. i also wouldn't mind getting a book to learn more about the artstyle and period. seeing the art also makes me want to go to paris, somewhat. we'll see...

Shin To Bul Yi

what does that mean in korean? i dunno, but that was the name of the taraval restaurant that i went to today with r. we had some bul-go-gi bowl and some sorta calamari. the little appetizer dishes here that the restaurants traditionally serve weren't all that, but they had a great onion pancake which came with the meal. it was ok, i suppose for $5 per meal, but it wasn't fabulous korean. the place that d brought me to near fillmore and geary was better.

Transparent

bought the sophomore la rue cd - "transparent". la rue is a christian brother and sister group. i have their first album and loved it. went to a concert of theirs too. i was planning on getting the cd. went to western and listened to it. wish i had checked out earlier, cuz it came out at the end of jan. altho i had a gc to the place, it was full price. i was thinking about getting it cheaper online...but the songs were pretty good. when i discovered the bonus song "like clay", i was really excited, b/c i realized that i found the perfect theme song for lumps! my worship leader friend a sings in the same style, making it extra appropriate. maybe we can introduce the song at lg nite in april. anyways...go get this album! sorta a mix of jazzy rock, guitar, and sarah mclaughlan. they're only teenagers too. philip is 19. natalie is 16. amazing voices. tonite i discovered they're gonna be in concert on the 28th in castro valley with rebecca st. james. unfortunately i have my 4th and final session of a design class...so that would be hard to miss. but if i had to, it would probably be worth it. they're amazing musicians. i listened to "transparent" probably 6 times straight that nite. (no, it's not a super short cd. i was up til 5am working on my project!)

Pasta?

t just reminded me that i tried out pasta? for the first time last week wed. i trekked down to palo alto to visit him on his 25th bday. not too bad of a place. i had some salmon pasta which was good. also a first, was really getting a chance to chat with his gf, s. even tho i guess i was a third wheel that nite, i didn't mind at all...esp cuz it was for terry. afterwards visited his place and found it tp'd by his classmates. interesting tradition.

2 1/2 Hours of My Life Wasted At Kinko's

i had to output a poster i made for my graphic design class. since it's in 11x17 format, i had to go to a print place. since a kinko's was close-by i went there. i thought it would be a 10 minutes job. print the file and then i'm done. but noooo...the place was so busy that i had to do it myself. the two laser printers had mondo problems. my computer crashed three times. only after about 2 hours...did the right guy finally help me out. aye carumba. oh well...at least i did get some nice b&w glossy print outs from their phaser computer. i need to find some other place in the sunset. don't go to kinko's! you've been warned. everyone else in my class had major problems too. i've had problems before also.

The Cut Runs Deep

yesterday nite saw this korean-american movie about a 16 year old hapa kid joing a korean gang. my boys dp, et, and ek saw it with me. the movie was good, for one by a fresh film grad. a few of the segments did seem a bit drawn out, slowing down the narrative. (this reminds me that i gotta finish reading that book about screenwriting). Q&A with the director afterwards, which was somewhat interesting. the guy didn't speak totally great english or seemed to have a little trouble hearing/understanding the questions. ek had a major issue that the lead gang guy was hapa too (as he later correctly pointed out in the bulletin). the director had said contradictory that he was supposed to be all korean. the movie had an interesting portrayal of korean american gang life in ny. not a feel good movie. i think he was slightly inspired by fallen angels and wong kar-wai. (hmmm...i need to rewatch in the mood for love.)

hey, all you random surfers who were curious about gregwong.com from my e-mail address. drop me a line! even if you think i don't know you or wouldn't remember you. i'd like to hear from you!

Free Museum Day at Fort Mason

flashback to last week. (see next below post for my weekend's newness.) been meaning to post this for a while...

last wednesday i hit up a the museums at fort mason ("san francisco's kaleidoscope of culture"). i found out that morning that dt was in from out of town, so it was great having some quality catching up time walking around the museumss and chatting.

the main reason to go to fort mason was the museo italoamericano. i'm possibly going to italy later this year and thought that this museum would be interesting and relevant. the current exhibit is "vienni: glass & design." also on exhibit was an interesting piece of illustrated excerpts and pages from something about the "cante"? maybe dante's "the inferno"? not sure. but had a lot of intersting depictions of hell.

to my surprise coming to fort mason, there were a few other museums in the center. free, too! we also scoped out the museum of craft and folk art. lots of nicely done textiles, weaves and pottery from new mexico. nice gift shop of handicrafts. (good cheap gifts.) we also checked out the sf african american historical & cultural society. displayed a collection of fabrics and textiles from contemporary african life. reminded me a little of traditional thai dress, the great colors and fabic patterns. also popped into the sf moma artists gallery. there was some pretty weird stuff. there was one exhibit of a bunch of paintings of different hair shapes. as if wigs were like clay and you could sculpt them. pretty darn funky bunch of mullets.

i think going to fort mason could be a nice daytime date place. nice local scenery all around too. the bay. the marina. however if you don't go on first wednesday of the month, you'd probably have to pay for each separate museum, and i'm not really sure if it's worth it.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

after the retreat, i went to catch a show in the sf asian am international film festival. we caught "smells like teen spirit." it's a program of shorts about awkward moments in a young person's life. most of the films were pretty good and well done. a lot of commentary about asian american identity, such as the ideology of beauty imposed on korean and filipino teenagers (wide eyes). also some about rebellion and the view of parents. good stuff. filmmakers were there for q and a afterwards.

Passion

the past weekend i went to the jems norcal career young adult conference. the theme was passion which was something i thought i could really use in my life and walk. it's easy to kinda lose focus of your drive and motivation, particularly if there are so many uncertains about what's ahead for you. the weekend was a good recharge and reminder.

the camp was a wide range of young adults. i came with about 15-20 other lumps. we made up over 15% of the camp! we were practically all first timers too. we also brought the age mean down a few years. 70% of the camp were newbies. i thought that i would possibly meet more people from an aacf connection, but i didn't.

went to one workshop about passion and finding your mission in life. about that topic, one theologain wrote that your mission in life is "the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger intersect." your mission should be the intersection of what you need to do and what the world needs to have done. this encouraged me more in my recent career decision to pursue a creative direction. the retreat also encouraged me more to have hope.

the speaker, kim kira, gave four messages about passion. here's the cliffs notes version:

the call to passion (revelations 3:14-22)
passion is to be consumed by christ. (phil 1:21)
- the requirement, repentence, and result of passion
"...be zealous therefore, and repent" - jesus christ
"it is doubtful that we can be christian in anything unless we are christian in everything" = a.w. toser

passion comes from purpose (phil. 1:21)
- purpose comes from knowing the salvation, substitution, and supremecy of christ.
"for me to live is christ, and to die is gain" - paul
"christ is living, living is christ" - d martyn lloyd-jones

passion comes from pain (romans 5:1-5)
- marks of passion developed in trials:
* preserverence, the quantity of life
* character, the quality of life
* hope, the convictions of life
"hope does nto dissappoint" - the apostle paul
"faith that conquers is great faith, but faith that continues is even greater" - john macarthur

passion comes from perspective (luke 9:57-62)
- have a proper persepctive concerning the hardships, sacrifice, and focus of discipleship
"allow the daed to bury their own dead" - jesus christ
"there is no varying levels of dedication to christianity. there is only one level, the entry level, and it costs us everything." - pastor robert yonemoto

to try to maintain my passion...i'm trying to have morning quiet times. especially since my scheudule will allow it. quality ones too. i need to do it for 18 consistant days. 18 b/c that's the supposed magic number to create (or break) habits.

in the car i rode with ds and jm. it was cool bonding with them on the road.

Acting Classes?

at the casting office i picked up a brochure for acting lessons and another one for an improv theater workshop. that would be a fun thing to do. dunno if i could really afford classes like that for personal growth tho. i'm gonna have to find a job that would let me expense it. :P i think i could have at my old job, to enhance my presentation and public speaking skills. shucks.

Casting for the Matrix Sequels

my new thing...registering with a casting agency. hopefully this will lead to a lot of fun, new things for me. in particular...

the matrix sequels are gonna be filmed in sf in march and april. casting is going on for extras right now. they need all sorts of
people. they be looking for folks for particular parts and for some scenes just some warm bodies. i originally learned about this from d, who heard the scoop from an ign site.

all the info you need is at sfcasting.com.

signing up took me all of 10 minutes. you simply drop in at their office on 1st/mission (bet. 12-6), enter your profile in the computer (measurements, talents), and get some digital photos snapped of you. pretty easy.

you get paid some money as an extra for a few hours (or a whole day) of work. it all depends really on your availability and what they
need. don't do it for the money (keep your day job), but do it for the cool experience. heck! it's the matrix! that movie was the top
selling dvd of all time (owned by 1/3 of all dvd-player owners). you can be on as an extra you get the inside scoop on the filming
process. i was an extra before in a hk movie filmed here. (the movie was sausalito, which i just saw on friday on vcd.) it was really cool to be able to do that with a few friends. just hoping to share the fun experience with some of you. :)

i had sent this post out as an e-mail to my fellowship list and a bunch of other friends. as a result, i bet 500 new people will find out. hopefully, none of them will beat me out to an extra gig! hopefully no other young asian guys. :P girls are ok. :)

they say on the website to wear some clothes that reflects you. so, i wore a black a/x form-fitting turtleneck (even tho i wore it the day before) and a pair of grey br stretch pants. imo, pretty styling and cool...like me. afterwards, j noticed how i was dressed that i looked suave. :) i even put on some of my mom's skin foundation to cover up a couple of scars from blemishes. :P i also figured out how i wanted to do my head shot and my full body pose. i had taken a look on the database last nite, checking out the asian competition. no guys really look like me. only 30 hits came up when i entered my general measurements into the search. i recognize one dude from my high school. i actually knew a bunch of the girls - from college or from pagaents. pretty funny.

if anyone who reads this gets hooked up, be sure to lemme know!

hopefully i'll get a call for the matrix. otherwise i guess i hope to score as some asian gang banger on nash bridges. :P

Worshipping Filipino Style

after going today to my early church service, i went with r and d to visit c's filipino church -- Crossroads Christian Center in Daly City. (even tho c is chinese). worship was good. a little different than what i'm used to. more people raising hands. more hallelujahs. a different type of fervor and passion that was refreshing. (i kinda wanna visit other types of churches now, like a black church.) definitely a stimulating experience. we met c's friends too. i think our whole row were the only chinese people there. a guest speaker spoke. it was hard to follow along, since his topic was extremely broad and it didn't all tie tightly together to the passage in romans. broad exposition on death of sin and death to the world. he ran out of time and didn't get to his third point, death to self. maybe i'll have to visit some other time when the regular pastor is there.

afterwards we all went to eat at sam tung in san mateo. it was good. just like the two on irving street.

The Making of Gen-Y Cops

my cousins went to hk and brought me back a vcd. finally saw it yesterday. it was "the making of gen y cops". i think they thought that it was the whole movie. oh well. it was cool. i need to see the movie now. it's supposed to be the sequel to gen-x cops. the girl in the movie is kinda cute.

Crepes in the Haight

i read in an old chron article that the haight has the highest concentration of crepes places in the bay area. so fri nite when i went to eat with v, d, k, f, and m, we went to try out one of the three places - Crepe Express. it wasn't that great, compared to crepevine. portion isn't a lot and no extra sides like potatoes or french fries. since some of them got their first, it was too late to suggest that we go up half a block to Stock & Gobble, a place a lot like Crepevine and supposedly Crepes on Cole. my friends had beat me there and sat down and ordered. i had one with chicken, shrooms, and gorgonzola cheese. the cheese was way too strong. oh well...not every new place you try is a winner. i wouldn't recommend to anyone going there ever. if you want savory crepes (the kind it does), stick to ti couz...or my favorite still - crepevine (cali-style crepes, with large portions).