Magic Number 23

23 has been one of my favorite numbers. It keeps showing up in my personal life.

Birthdays
I was born on October 13, or 10/13, and of course 10+13=23. Then I discovered that a number of my closest childhood friends also had number 23 in their birthdays. For example, the two best friends from junior high school were born on February 3 (2/3: 23) and February 25 (2/25: 25-2=23). Then my best buddy in senior high school was born on May 28 (5/28: 28-5=23). If fact, I joked with him that had he born a day later on May 29, there would be still 23 in his birthday: 5/29: 529=23 squared!

The pattern began to fall apart later on. The friends I mentioned above were all from China. After my family moved to America, my new friends, using similar simple mathematics, would have something like 24 or 21 in their birthdays. Close, but not quite 23 anymore.

Running
The first time that 23 came into my life of running was during my junior high years. Around every New Year the school would hold long-distance running competition, and everyone had to participate. My grade had 92 boys (note 92=23*4), and during the first of such competition, I came in almost dead last. The winter after that I began to practice long-distance running, and the next year I came in 23rd, an impressive feat considering I suffered diarrhea the day before the competition.

But the number truly showed up many years later, when I picked up running again in 2003 & 2004. I joined a running club to train for marathon, and in the process I ran four races, including two half-marathons, one 10K, and one leg of a marathon relay. Here are two pictures. On the left were the T-shirts I received, and on the right were the pin numbers I saved from the races. There were 23's all over!


Wait, you may say, there is no 23 in 5321. Well, use a little bit of imagination and read it in reverse: 1235. Not only there would be 23 right at the middle, 12 and 35 have a difference of 23.

(This is an indirect update that I am helping my parents to pack up stuff before moving. The T-shirts and the race numbers - yes, I will keep them for a while.)

Near Misses

I take pride in being punctual, and my definition of being punctual is not just being not late, but also not early. :-) The last few days, however, I probably held on to that definition a bit too extremely, as I seemed to apply it to catching airplanes - three times.

Act 1: Oakland Airport. Saturday morning. 7:30 AM flight to Burbank, California. Decided to take BART. 5:45, left Berkeley house (15 minutes later than planned). Ran half of the way. 6:00, reached North Berkeley BART station. 6:05, the earliest train of the morning arrived. 6:32, arrived at Coliseum/Oakland Airport station. 6:40, AirBART shuttle bus left BART station. 6:55, shuttle bus arrived at Oakland airport. 7:05, printed out boarding pass for Southwest flight. The security line at Terminal 2 looked very long. Fast walked to Terminal 1 (for other airlines). 7:15, passed security check point in Terminal 1. Fast walked toward Terminal 2. Saw the long line at Terminal 1 and smiled. 7:25, got on airplane. 7:35, airplane took off.

Act 2: Burbank Airport. Sunday morning. 10:15 AM flight to Salt Lake City. After breakfast at friends' house, got in their car at 9:10. Moderate traffic. Pr*yed with friends (husband and wife) while on the highway. 9:45, arrived at Burbank airport. 9:50, got in the security line, which was long and moving slowly. 10:00, heard my name being called in the PA system. 10:05, heard again "final boarding announcement" for my flight. Finally talked to people in front. "Go ahead!" they urged, "If your name is called, it's no time to be waiting around! You've got to push your way through!" Blushed and got to the front of the line. 10:10, got through security check point. Without putting my belt back on, began to RUN. 10:14, arrived at the gate. Jumped on the airplane. Door closed behind me.

Act 3: Salt Lake City Airport. Tuesday afternoon. 4:40 PM flight to Oakland. 3:00, finished a meeting at customer office. Said goodbye to everyone. 3:05, while I was packing, a critical issue came up. 3:15, sent out an email to delegate the issue. 3:20, finally left customer office building. 3:32, filled up gas tank for the rental car. 3:38, hit into heavy traffic on a local road when a friend called. 3:43, finally got on freeway. 3:50, changed lane into Highway I-80, thinking that I should be near the airport in 5 minutes. 3:55, realized that I had gone the wrong direction! I should have waited for I-80 West sign; instead I merged into I-80 East! Almost gave up at that point, thinking ways of getting on a later flight or even spending an extra night here. 3:58, finally got off the freeway and turned back. A very long red light. 4:02, finally got back on freeway. Going 80 mph on Highway 80 (that's the speed limit sign, right?) 4:10, airport in sight. 4:15, returned rental car, asking, "My flight is 25 minutes away. Do you think that I have a chance?" "You might! Can't guarantee it." 4:20, Rushed into security line. Relatively short line. 4:25, passed security check point. Put belt back on. Fast walked to gate, as boarding just started. 4:30, got on airplane with 10 minutes to spare. Pleeenty of time!

Visiting L. A.

I don't remember when was the last time that I went to L.A., or why I went, probably because weblog was not invented yet. This most recent visit over the weekend turned out to be quite memerable.

I went to visit a couple who were teammates of mine in Shenzhen for two years, and it was such a thrill to see them again. Their 10-month-old daughter had not joined the family when they left Shenzhen, which reminded me that they had come back to America for almost a year. How time flies! I flew in Burbank airport early Saturday morning, and I spent the rest of the day with them as they would spend a typical Saturday, including to take their baby to the swimming pool and tour around the husband's current office at World Vision. It was relaxed and fun.

One of the highlights was to participate in a Mandarin learning class at their church in the afternoon, and the students were all Cantonese speakers. With a heart to serve in China one way or another, they were eager to improve their Mandarin. I know first-hand, by observing my own parents, how challenging it is for native Cantonese speakers to make adjustments when speaking Mandarin, yet their enthusiasm moved me. I was given the opportunity to share with them about learning Mandarin, which turned out to be a listening lesson for them too. :-)

Then we got some visitors for dinner and afterwards. One went on the same English teaching trip with me last autumn, while another couple, whom I have missed, left China about two years ago (they were in a different city). We had a lot to catch up with each other, but soon we kept bringing up fond memories of China. Just by hearing them, I knew that these two couples were not done with China yet. We are going through different seasons.

*** Reposting Note ***

The following eight entries were all originally posted on my Xanga site from the end of April, when I returned to the Bay Area for a lengthy home visit, to present (June, 2007). There were more entries on the Xanga site, while these few were the most representative of my encounters and thoughts of my current trip. I repost them here in preparation to move my blogging activities to Blogger.com.

Christy (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Wednesday, June 20, 2007)

This is probably the first time that I use a person's name as an entry's title, not to mention it's a girl's name! Yes, if you know me and care about me, you really want to pay attention. I think I fell in love with this young woman. ;-)

Have you ever read Catherine Marshall's novel Christy or watched the TV series based on the book? Yes, that's the Christy I am talking about. :-)) More than the inspiring young lady who is the leading character, I truly fell in love with the story. I am currently going through the DVD set for the TV series that was aired in 1994, and one big reason that I was so captured was that somewhat I could relate to the story. That sounds a bit odd, because the story was about a 19-year-old girl pursuing a career in teaching at a remote and poor region in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. While it's true that I've been to remote and poor places - and teaching English on some of those trips, no less - I can honestly tell you that teaching is not exactly a career that I am pursuing. But if you ever want to grasp what it is like to do missions work, or more precisely, to reach out to people with pride and hardened hearts - not by preaching to them, but by building relationships through meeting their real needs and speaking their heart language - while overcoming your own weaknesses in a harsh environment, you want to read the story of Christy (and, of course, other characters in the story).

I just reached the half point of the DVD set. In the episode that I just finished, Christy's father, while visiting her, suffered a stroke. There was a great need for Christy to return home with her parents in order to take care of her father, but the place needed her, as the people were facing a very difficult winter coming up. Christy was torn. Eventually, as the story went, her father got much better and there was no immediate need for Christy to leave the place. For those of you who know me and care about me, now you see another reason why I am drawn to the story.

But I know a few people who would be drawn to the story too. In fact, the story of Christy may be more dear to them than to me. I personally know a few sisters who are now in a faraway place, working also with "mountain people." They too left their family and friends, they too have had many obstacles to overcome, and most of all, they too have experienced time and again the grace of G*d. They are the real life Christies.

This is what I am going to do. As a matter of fact, in more than a month's time, I will have an opportunity to visit them. When I finish watching this DVD set, I will wrap it up, and I will take it to that faraway place as a present. (Yes, they do have DVD players and computers over there. It is, after all, almost 100 years after Christy's time.)

Cruise Control (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Friday, June 08, 2007)

A week ago I drove down to central California to see some big, tall trees. On Sunday I drove back to the Bay Area. On Highway 99 I used quite a bit of cruise control, something that I had not done in over 10 years! There was a reason for that; the last time I used cruise control, I had a near-death experience.

I don't remember exactly which year it was, but I was still driving my first car, an old Toyota Celica. One morning I was to travel to southern California, and before sunrise, I was already on Highway 5. There was no other vehicle in sight, and I put on cruise control. Enjoying the ride, soon I was looking down to search for something to drink. When I looked up, the car was already steered to the right, almost off the road. Scared, I quickly turned the wheel toward the left, but I forgot that the car was still on cruise control, thus the speed didn't reduce for a bit! To my huge surprise and fright, the car spun sharply to the left. At that split of second, I realized that the car was out of control. I still tried my best to steer the wheel, to no avail. Perhaps the car zigzagged a couple of times on this side of the highway - it happened so fast that I couldn't grasp every moment - and it finally spun all the way to the other side of the highway! I was probably lucky on two accounts: 1) There wasn't a center divide at that section of the highway, or my car would certainly crash hard into it. 2) There wasn't any car on either side of the highway that could have hit my car. The car, amazingly, skipped all the way to the other side of the road, facing opposite of my original direction, and it skipped off the road and stopped, as if I just pulled over the car. There was no real damage to the car, except dirt got in all the tires and wheels. There was no damage to my body either, except a small cut on my middle finger. I eventually got some help, and 3-4 hours later, I was driving the same car for southern California again!

Obviously that was a scary moment. I pointed at using cruise control as the root cause of my accident. There is an old Chinese saying, "Once bitten by a snake, for ten years being afraid of a rope." This past weekend I finally used cruise control again - I guess ten years were up! :-)

On Sunday morning, while I was driving back on cruise control, I fell into a deeper thought: What does it mean to put on cruise control in one's life? Okay, it was Sunday morning. I was sure to miss the service at my ch*rch. You wouldn't blame me for being spiritual for a moment or two, would you? :-) I was thinking along the line of giving up the control in our lives to G*d. But the more I thought about it, I got more questions than answers.

First of all, using cruise control means to give up the control on speed. Is that easy to do? Somehow I sense that if we give up the control on speed to G*d, He would almost definitely move slower than we do. We want things fast, and we want things now. How much can we wait on Him? The next thought is on direction. This won't happen to driving a car; when we put on cruise control, we still get to hold the steering wheel. In real life, can we also give up that control to G*d? No, G*d, that's not where I want to go! That's not the direction I like! I imagine how quickly we'd take back the steering wheel.

Big, Tall Trees (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Monday, June 04, 2007)

This past weekend I went to Sequoia National Park at the end of a short business trip. Giant Sequoia is the largest plant on earth. The photos I am sharing here - and my photographing skills - don't do justice to showing how big the trees really are. You just have to be there to truly experience them!

(I have another presentation of these pictures on Facebook. What, you are not on Facebook yet? :-)


Left: The "yardstick" on the ground is to demonstrate how tall The Sentinel is. My friend and I are shooting pictures for each other at the two ends. The Sentinel is said to be average in size among the giants in the park. Right: Interestingly, the seeds of the Giant Sequoia are not giant at all. In this picture, 91,000 seeds weigh merely one pound.


Left: The General Sherman, the biggest tree on the planet. It's not the tallest or the widest, but its overall volume ranks #1 in the world. A 6-foot-tall man looking up at the tree would be equivalent to a mouse looking up at a 6-foot-tall man. Right: The cross section of a Giant Sequoia. The oldest among them have lived over 2,500 or even 3,000 years. The General Sherman, for example, is estimated at 2,200 years old.


Left: The Sentinel, 257 feet (78.5 meters) tall. Right:The General Sherman, the largest tree in the world. If the Sherman Tree's trunk could be filled with water it could supply all of the water needed by an average household for 3.5 years.


Left: The General Sherman. At 275 feet (84 meters), it is not the tallest, but with 52,500 cubic feet (volume of trunk) and 1,385 tons (weight of trunk), it is the largest tree on the planet. By comparison, a Blue Whale, the largest animal, may be measured up to 110 feet in length and 200 tons in weight. Right: The Three Sisters. The better known "Three Sisters" are in Kings Canyon, which is not far from Sequoia. So these are the "Three Little Sisters."

Running with Joy (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Thursday, May 31, 2007)

I haven't blogged on running for quite some time (three years, to be exact), and that's because I haven't been running. Living in Shenzhen gives me a convenient excuse that the air is quite polluted, which is true, but an excuse is an excuse. Today I want to talk about running again because I just finished reading a biography of Eric Liddell, the Olympic champion of more than 80 years ago who was portrayed in the movie Chariots of Fire. A few months ago in Hong Kong, while chatting with a group of friends, I mentioned that watching Eric Liddell in that movie was an inspiration for my own running. They giggled and asked, "So, did you also feel His pleasure when you ran?" I answered positively, "Yes, I did."

People who've seen that movie know that Eric Liddell was a runner. While there are hints here and there in the movie, people may not think much about his connection with China. The fact is, he spent many more years serving in China than running for an Olympic medal. His greatest race was not in 1924 when he won an Olympic gold medal in world record time, but his whole life was a race that he ran well - with joy in Him.

What struck me the most, after reading this volume of biography, was that Eric Liddell never seemed to force himself into anything. Whether he was running for the Olympics or serving in China, he never appeared to be particularly driven. G*d made him fast, so he ran. When the race schedule conflicted with his faith, he simply said "I am not running" and he didn't run. With another opportunity (race), he ran and won the gold medal. After the hero's reception and celebrations in his Scotland hometown, he simply walked away from the spotlight and went to China. In China, again, it was not that he wanted to go somewhere or do something in particular; like most other people, there were places or ministries that he felt more comfortable with. But when there was a need, he would go despite the discomfort - and he would give his all. Even his sharing of the Good News was utterly simple in style. He never tried to preach to anyone, but to use his own life as an example to talk about His love, and he always did it with a smile.

Yet, you cannot say that his life was aimless. In his own words, it was "complete surrender." That was his secret. His life was full of purpose because he had a close relationship with the purposeful Creator.

During that gathering in Hong Kong a few months ago, we had the pleasure to hear the story of Hudson Taylor and his family serving in China through the generations. In fact, some of Hudson Taylor's great grandchildren ended up in the same Japanese internment camp with Eric Liddell toward the end of WWII (where Eric eventually died of illness). They got acquainted with Eric and saw him as a father figure. I was thrilled to hear this piece of history. For these two families to somehow have such a connection, it was awesome to me.

It's interesting that an Englishman (Hudson Taylor) and a Scot (Eric Liddell) have inspired me to go back to China more than any of my own countrymen. (That's true even in the sense that I am a U.S. citizen. :-) Even more than my own birthplace or my own cultural background. Perhaps that's enough a hint or reminder that there is a deeper cause of this yearning.

People often remember this quote from Hudson Taylor, although it was only half of what he said, "If I had a thousand pounds, China should have it. If I had a thousand lives, China should have them." He went on to say, "No! Not China, but Chr*st. Can we do too much for Him? Can we do enough for such a precious Savior?"

Point Reyes (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Tuesday, May 22, 2007)

This past weekend I enjoyed a hike with a couple of friends at Point Reyes. Beautiful day, beautiful sights!

Yosemite (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Wednesday, May 09, 2007)


First, the rocks. I don't know if I should say "Yosemite rocks!" or "Yosemite's rocks rock!" You get the pun. The first picture on the left is the Wawona Dome.


Next, the trees. The last picture is a giant sequoia known as the Fallen Monarch. A tablet next to it reads, "Almost Immortal: Individual giant sequoias have been know to live 3,200 years. They are resistant to disease, fire, and insects; it seems the Big Trees could live forever. However, the giant sequoia does have a weakness. Though its roots spread out 150 feet from the tree, they are only three to six feet deep. Eventually the combination of weather facters and the shallow root system will cause the tree to fall. Even after death the tree decays slowly, often taking hundreds or even a thousand years to deteriorate. The Fallen Monarch fell about 300 years ago."

Ah, the waterfalls. Spring is the best time to watch these spectacular waterfalls, as by summertime, the water will not be as much. From left to right: Chilnualna Falls, Bridalveil Fall, Bridalveil Fall (closer), and Yosemite Falls.


A few other famous scenes. From left to right: From parking lot at Glacier Point, Half Dome, North Dome & Royal Arches, and El Capitan (with Half Dome in the distance).


Finally, some random shots. From left to right: Morning dew, "Shhhhh, our friend is sleeping!", "Shhhhh, our little friend is sleeping!", and a family by the water.

Working From Home (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Thursday, May 03, 2007)

It was raining in the early morning when I got up at about 6:00 AM. I needed to prepare for a software demo with our U.S. client in Utah in 3 hours, while I planned to go to the office in San Ramon to conduct the video conference. By 7:30 I was done with the preparation and I was having breakfast. It continued to rain, and the radio kept giving out news about accidents everywhere in the Bay Area. Hmmm, I was a bit worried. The traffic was going to be bad, not to mention the portion of Easy Bay highway that collapsed due to a serious accident early Sunday morning and was shut down since. My drive to the San Ramon office would happen to be affected directly. Remember I was late the last time? I wouldn't want to be late again!

Why don't I just work from home? That's the deal anyway, right? I wanted to go to the office to do it because this demo was important, but I did have virtually everything set up at home - and the weather and traffic were just not promising. Finally, I decided to stay home. I still had my pajamas on, and they stayed on. :-)

The demo started at 9:00 AM California time, and it went quite all right. My equipments at home didn't fail me, although I seriously am thinking to add more RAM to the laptop. The phone and the video conference through the high-speed DSL worked fine. After two uninterrupted hours, the demo on 3 software features ended smoothly. I was quite pleased. In addition, I video recorded the whole session for future reference.

Speaking of video recording, initially I wouldn't be able to carry out certain portion of the demo since it required a particular printer hooked to the server. I could not have it here. Instead, my Shenzhen teammates had pre-recorded this portion for me in Chinese. So, in this demo session with the U.S. client, I replayed the video recording through the video conference; I muted the sound while I explained the steps in English. It worked out just fine.

All the while I was in my pajamas, although I didn't let others know because they were all in the office. :-) I spent another hour after the demo session to follow up with various parties, and I was done by noon. I was very pleased with the whole experience.

That was when a jolt suddenly hit the house. For about a second. Soon the news came that it was an earthquake of 3.0 magnitude, centered not far from here. Oh well, I guess working from home doesn't make it entirely safe!

I Hop, but I Don't Skip (Repost)

(Originally posted on Xanga on Saturday, April 28, 2007)

I am going back to the Bay Area this morning. After 3 days of hard working in Utah (into late night every night since that is daytime China time, best hours for me to communicate with the team back in Shenzhen), I surprisingly didn't need much sleep last night. I woke up rather early, thinking sweet thoughts. :-)

There was an IHOP about one minute walk from where I stayed. I took a stroll and went in at 7:00 AM, and found a quiet and nice table. A waiter brought me a big glass of orange juice, and he left me alone to ponder over the menu. That was when things had a rather anticlimactic turn.

Suddenly the waiter seemed to never return!

I knew rather quickly what I would like to have, and I began to wait, and wait, and wait. What was going on? I heard him chatting and giggling with another waitress. Don't you realize that I am waiting, I thought. It was not busy at all! Maybe he is redefining the meaning of "waiter." Or maybe I should invent a word "waitee." A couple of times I almost stood up and went to him. I looked at my watch, and I was ready to answer "5 minutes ago" should he come and ask "Are you ready to order?"

That was when it hit me - 5 minutes! You cannot wait for 5 minutes? Or from another angle: How could you allow yourself to be occupied by anxiety for 5 minutes when in fact you could, say, go on with your quiet and sweet thoughts from earlier in the morning? You wouldn't let a waiter's innocent lapse to ruin your morning, would you?

Ah, life's busyness got the better of me for 5 minutes. Luckily it didn't last. When the waiter finally came, I had calmed down. The rest of the breakfast and morning was just wonderful. Great food and drink, a nice stroll back to the hotel, a few camera shots of the scenary around - the blossomy peach flower and the mountains with snow caps - and back to the hotel for this blog entry. :-) In 15 minutes I will check out and head to the airport with much peace and joy. I am glad that I recovered in time, instead of skipping some of the better things in life.

*** Moving ***

Currently I am helping my parents to move from Berkeley to San Jose. This will involve getting a new place in San Jose (done), moving my parents to the new place (in process), and selling the house in Berkeley (started). Moving includes to sort out all the stuff we have, get rid of some of them, pack up the rest, and finally move. Selling the house includes to empty the house (which is to move out), minor renovation to make the house more attractive, put it on market, and to sell a good price. As you can see, lots of stuff and effort are involved in moving.

As if that's not enough hassle, I am about to add one more item to the list: Moving my blog!

In October last year I resumed blogging on Xanga after 2.5 years of inactivity in the blog world. But a few months ago Xanga began to be blocked in China, and I had to pay (a special VPN) to get around it. Then, today, during this home visit in California, I couldn't get on Xanga even from America! I don't know what is going on, and it will probably get fixed soon. But all things considered, I wonder maybe I should prepare to move my blogging to Blogger.com (or Blogspot.com). It is connected to my Gmail account too. This blog site doesn't seem to be restricted in China (yet), perhaps thanks to its connection with Google.

I will do it in two steps. First I will repost some of my recent blog entries from Xanga to here - so that you can keep track of some recent stories - while continuing to post on Xanga (when it recovers). Then, after returning to China, I will "officially" move to here, perhaps in July or August.

In fact, this blog was the first blog that I ever created. I moved to Xanga thanks to friends' invitation, but the situation is prompting me to move back.

At least it's not as big a hassle as moving a home!