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phil3ai
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Name: Phil
Country: United States
State: California
Birthday: 9/10/1983
Gender: Male
Interests: Plotting revenge
Expertise: Ancient art of Bloodless Limb Removal
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/5/2002
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| Truth be told, thanksgiving pre-Candice was filled with my mom cooking four extra dishes from what she usually cooks on a nightly basis. During our era of courtship, it was I who would venture out into the depths of San Diego and take part of what would be known as, excuse number 16 for the Doung clan to gather as a family and cook an unnecessarily large amount of food (excuses #1-15 being new years, chinese new years, every significant birthday, mother's day, christmas, easter, red-egg-and-ginger parties, veteran's day, and every other hallmark holiday known to man). Now, ever since we got engaged, my parents have joined us every year and it's that much more special that we have two families who want to come together and fellowship. Even my sister comes!
I guess if I were to lift up a radio shout out to God, it would be thanking Him for blessing me with not only a great family, but also my wife with a great family. I'm so, so, SO thankful that we both come from unbelievably loving backgrounds, it was made any sort of awkward holiday family decision that much easier.
I guess the bad part of being married is that I'm not the eager boyfriend who wants to help out around the house. Now I'm the lazy husband who doesn't do as much as he's supposed to. Sucks.
If ever you have the chance to make it out to one of the Doungs' events, know this: your Chinese sticky rice (aka Lo Mie Faan) will come with three full packages of laap churng. Keep in mind that normal serving size is probably half a pack.
What did Adrienne do after cutting the vegetables and Chinese sausage? Paint her nails and fall asleep while drying them on the stand-up fan. You stay classy San Diego.
Mr. Doung's secret to the perfect turkey? First, Cook it on it's back, then for optimum moisture, cook it breast-side up. Secondly, stick fruit inside the bunghole. Now go. Go tell your friends.
Word of advice: letting Candice cook the gravy means letting her play with the turkey neck while somebody else cooks the gravy for her.
The Maks and the Wu's and the full extension of people that comes with them were not a part of this Thanksgiving. So as hard as it is to believe, this is like what Oliver Twist eats compared to the army sized feasts that usually occur when the full Doung initiative is in effect.
Agey Pagey was there though. Candice and her bickered for about 45 minutes on who gets to wear what shirt. Sigh... sisters.
No Jennifer in this picture because she drove up by herself at a later time as a result of what she likes to call, "I'd rather swim at the bottom of a volcano than spend 2 hours driving with my parents" syndrome. I'd be hard-pressed to disagree.
Mr. and Mrs. Doung kept our wedding cake for us in their garage freezer. And for dessert, we ate it. I guess it's tradition to eat it for your one year anniversary? Who knows. We did it anyway. A word to describe it? Gross. Nine words to describe it? It tasted like soft cement blended with frozen fruit.
Lastly, I want to thank God for just being. I love that He never changes. I love that He had no beginning and He has no end. When people (including me) wonder if God created everything, then who created God? There is no explanation. He is. That's it. God is not confined to our understanding. He is outside of time, of space, and of ourselves. Thank you God, for allowing me to enjoy this life. May You be given the glory for how my life is lived.
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| Backstory:
With our new home, Candice told me to find us a good tv/internet/phone deal. I went with Charter because they offered me the most incentives to sign up with them. BIG MISTAKE. Charter is possibly the worst company I have ever dealt with. From a customer service standpoint, they are numb to the consumer. Everything is about them, nothing is about you.
I had an appointment to set up internet from 2-4pm. I had planned to be home from then until I received a call from Charter saying, "We're glad to inform you that we have a better estimate of arrival for our technician. They will arrive between 3:45-4:45pm." Stupid me for listening to directions, but I took my time coming home from work and went to pick up some groceries. I got home at 3pm. Nobody showed up all day. Not even a courtesy call.
The next morning I called Charter, they said that a technician showed up at 2:30pm and nobody was home. They also said they left a note on the front door (which they didn't) and that they have no record of a call being made confirming a 3:45-4:45 window. Awesome.
Now they said that the earliest available appointment for installation wouldn't be until after the holidays. In this media-driven age, I cannot and will not live another week without tv/internet. I asked them to not penalize me for their mistake. I asked for a little extra compensation for the time and hassle that all of this would have on me (considering I'd have to take another day off of work to be at home during the install). Possibly additional discounts on my monthly rate, or even credit on my account. The guy had the audacity to raise his voice at me. I kept calm and reiterated to him that this was Charter's mistake, and they should own up to it to try to keep a new customer.
They said that no company will go out of their way to help their customers like that. Unbelievable. Not only does Charter not want to keep a new customer (one that will probably provide them with business for consecutive years) but it's willing to have their name badmouthed to a person's (in this case, me) immediate connections. I told them all of this, and they still would not be sympathetic. I canceled all of my services.
I wish I had the audio taping or the transcript of our conversation. I'd post it on YouTube and view it from 3 million different IP addresses just so it would receive the type of negative publicity that this company deserves.
Today, I've had at least 6 people call me from Charter begging me not to cancel. Where was this congeniality the other day? I might not be a smart man, but I know never to bite the hand that feeds you.
Linda Blair is not the devil. Charter Communications is the devil. | | |
| Shane and Shane remain one of my favorite bands. They're such a huge inspiration to me in not only my musicality but my relationship with God. They push me to find that combination of talent, passion, and desire to bring Glory to our Creator.
A couple of hours ago, Flora (shout out!) hooked me up with two free tickets to their performance/concert or whatever you want to call it at Biola University.
Jake, Darren and I got front row seats! It was beyond awesome.
Jeremiah, a student from APU, opened for them. Although his song writing and vocals were good, his guitar didn't sound "professional." Not that his guitar playing was bad, but his guitar sounded dry. I mean, Shane's 814 was sitting right next to him. Could he not just pick it up? Sidenote: That percussionist behind him was OFF THE HOOK. I don't know if you can see, but that contraption had basically everything. And at times, he would play one hand on the cajon, one hand with the shaker, and one foot on the high-hat while simultaneously singing harmony. A-maz-ing.
Crazy Shane Everett. There's no note this guy can't hit. His range knows no bounds.
Both Shane's are so funny. Funniest impromptu comedy I've witnessed at a concert. By far. Just check out the look the drummer gave Everett. Priceless.
Shane Barnard uses Elixirs! Am I foolish to think that because we use the same strings we can both strum the same way?
At the end of the concert, Shane said something about merch. At first I didn't know what he was talking about. I just let out the complimentary "haha." Of course, stupid me... MERCHANDISE. Duh.
They also sold all of his cd's put into one. He called it the brick. FIFTY BUCKS. So cheap! I really wanted to go back in time and not buy all of his records and buy it here. Darren laughed at me because I had all of his albums including the Christmas one. What? Call me old-fashioned, but I still like to buy cd's.
Shane and Shane. What great musicians. What great ambassadors for Christ.
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| What have I been doing? These past couple weeks have been such a great time. It seems like every second and every breath, I fail to take a step back and give praise that this is all a blessing from God. I get too caught up in the daily grind that I tend to overlook that all this is given by him ... and is as easily taken away.
Now let's take a journey through the month of October through the eyes of Philip Cheung.
While all of the girls we hang out with decided to take a BBQ trip to Texas, we boys strolled our mighty guts to the lights and sounds of Las Vegas. We were upgraded to the celebrity suite. My, oh my, quite a sight.
Our suite was literally twice the size of Davey and Risa's apartment. AND WE HAD TWO OF THEM! Jake returned our suite that was across the way because the eight of us had no use for the other behemoth-sized room.
It was such a great opportunity to let our masculinity out and rampage the streets of Nevada. Sidenote: Never ever bet on football games with me. Surefire fail.
Candice and I have also been super psyched about getting our home ready. We're so grateful that we've been given this headstart in life. We're just putting the finishing touches on it and we are so excited! God has definitely been teaching us patience and compromise not only with the material world, but with each other. But boy, trust me when I say that Candice ain't holdin' nuttin' back when it comes to designing her home. (But she did let me choose this faucet! Gotta keep up with the Jones'!)
Couple Sundays ago, Rick and Connie invited us to share a meal at their place. It was a wonderful time catching up and reminiscing about the high school years. These are two of the most incredible people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Humble and knowledgeable, sympathetic and caring, fun and spontaneous, I couldn't have asked for better high school counselors.
October might as well be renamed to Fantasytober. At the heart of the fantasy football season and the start of the fantasy basketball season, my "bookmarks toolbar" has given into the world of statistics and heartbreak. I'm with Bill Simmons in that I have no idea why I do this every year when (1) I never win and (2) it gives me such frustration day in and day out. But you know what? I LOVE IT.
The end of October yields the return of the SGVAC Harvest Festival. I do say return because I remember back in the day (albeit, when I was an adolescent participator as opposed to a grownup volunteer) when this festival was the greatest thing on the church calendar. I don't know what happened, perhaps a loss of interest on my part or maybe a decline of effort on the church's (or maybe some combination of the two), but it just wasn't the type of event it was before. But this year ... oh man ... it was awesome. On the grandest scale.
There were so many booths, so many games, so many activities, and such a great response from the community, I was so proud to be apart of it.
I don't know if I was proud of Candice though. She conned Oscar into trading, by far, the coolest prize at the festival (a transforming ball) for five pieces of candy. Actually, who am I kidding? Candice tricked an 8 year old! FTW! It was a great month. Let's see if you can match, November.
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| Candice never ceases to amaze me. You'd think that fresh off of a vacation of deep-fried glee and glutton, she'd want to tell me all about how she feasted on a meal that Guy Fieri anointed as the Best Burger in Texas or how she conquered the gauntlet of golden oil that is the Texas State Fair. No. The moment Candice got home, she couldn't wait to ask me to pray for somebody.
I'm currently reading Crazy Love. It's a great book, coming from me (a man who absolutely detests sitting down and reading a book) that's a tremendous compliment and endorsement. The author, Francis Chan, reminds me that we don't need to be Christians by name. Nor by actions or deeds. We need to be Christians that love. He says in one of the earlier chapters that the label of Christian was given by people who noticed something different about the followers of Christ.
Candice was given the opportunity to share the news of Jesus Christ with somebody. Even though it was in an indirect fashion, it was such an encouragement to me. What had happened was a man was desperate for a certain book. He was about to be late for work so he couldn't wait in line any longer. Flustered and panicked, Candice and Risa offered to wait in line for him and get the book. Of course, as Californians four hours away from their flight home, they couldn't return the book to him later in the day so they offered for him to pick it up at a Pastor's church that they had spent the weekend with. She wanted me to pray that his experience at church (even if of the brief nature) the following Sunday would stir questions and ultimately a yearning for what Jesus is all about.
Candice is definitely somebody that embodies the exact mold of what Christ wants. Not somebody who hears and studies the Word and keeps it in, but lives a life of love that God has called us to.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Matthew 22:36-38.
I'm always straying from the big picture. It's always, what am I going to eat for lunch? Which outfit am I going to wear for church? When am I going to pray for this situation in my own life? What songs am I going to lead for service? God calls us to go and make disciples. God calls us to use our lives for His Glory. Everything else is secondary. Being a good spouse, studying His Word in depth, building churches, it's all good and dandy but it is all auxiliary.
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons belive that - and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?" James 2:19-20.
I'm always learning from Candice. She's the most incredible person I know. Always full of love, always joyous, always with her eyes on the prize. | | |
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