Be Anxious In Everything

As the school year gets into full swing with the mounting responsibilities that follow, I’m sure I’ll find things to be stressed out about and convince myself that I have it bad. The reality, however, is that God’s goodness and mercy pours over me every waking minute of my life.

Eat Drink and Be Marry

But lets indulge the “stressful” areas of life for a minute and come back to God’s goodness later. First off, I just found out that my favorite restaurant made the “Worst Restaurant in American” list. Sweet! Now every time I invite friends to Cheesecake Factory, instead of it being a beloved gesture of communion and fellowship it’ll suggest to friends and family “Wait a minute! You’re inviting us to the WORST restaurant in America!” Look, I don’t care how these people came up with this list. The food their rocks! I don’t care if each slice of cheesecake has enough calories to feed a small village for a month. If I cared about my health at that particular moment, I wouldn’t be going to Cheesecake Factory.

In the same vein, Jesus was against drunkenness. However in the 2nd chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus turned water into wine. Why? If He were against drunkenness this would seem counterproductive. But it wasn’t… because it was a wedding and weddings call for cerebration (Cerebration = Wine). So if you’re going to cerebration with friends and/or family, it won’t hurt to have a slice of cheesecake every now and again, just don’t get drunk off the cheesecake and we’ll be fine.

Death and Taxes

Secondly, I recently started a Tax class that H & R Block offers. This is preparation for my Tax class for the CFP program at UCLA. After attending the first class session I thought to myself, “What the h**l did I get myself into?” The class meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights from 6pm-9pm. Usually, classes that meet really late at night let you out early. So does this class let you out early? Nope. It’s going to be intense, and I have no background in the subject. In addition, the President’s proposed tax plan is going to almost make this class irrelevant because of the potential changes. Consequently, the proposed tax plan has also made the stock market extremely volatile, which could have long-term affects on the already slowly recovering economy. This is stressing me out on two fronts. First, I have investments both long and short-term that will be effected by this plan, namely, getting screwed by taxes and I’m not even in the “wealthy bracket.” Secondly, this will discourage other people from investing because they’ll get screwed over in taxes, thus slowing the economic recovery while making the market stagnate at best or send it plummeting back down at worst. Sweet! Never thought I’d see the day when I actually cared about politics. My wife is rubbing off on me.

Moreover, as if the class wasn't stressful already, there are people in the class who talk very loudly. I can't believe there are full-grown adults are so oblivious to their surroundings. This class goes until Thanksgiving. What's the over/under in weeks before I punch someone's lights out? Three? Four? Four and a half? How do you kindly say, "Shut up . . . you're getting on everyone's nerves and you don't even realize it!" to someone? Please enlighten me.

Life Without NBA Basketball

Third of my list is the fact that the NBA is nearing the third month of the lockout and training camp is only two weeks away. The entire season could be canceled if the owners and players don’t come to a solution quickly.

I grew up in the heart of East Los Angeles with my buddies Dom and Bryan. None of us had any Christian influence, and Dom and I were from broken homes. Bryan was Bryan. Given the facts, you’d think that we would end up dead at a very young age. However, by God’s sovereign grace and mercy we ended up turning out semi-okay (Well, at least Dom and I did anyway).

One of the ways that the Lord kept us from getting in trouble was giving us a love for basketball. Although we still managed to still find a fair share of trouble, I could only imagine if we didn’t have basketball the kind of trouble we would’ve been in. The love for the game wasn’t restricted to just playing, even though we worked hard and put in several hours of play well. We also loved watching the game at the highest level. And the highest level of basketball is the National Basketball Association (“The Association” for short).

I know I’ve had friends and relatives tell me before about how much they dislike the NBA for whatever silly reason, but I really don’t care about their opinion. Loving The Association helped keep my boys and I out of trouble during a time when we were young and vulnerable, living in a place where trouble seeks out victims to consume. Instead of going out and getting in trouble we got together to watch games. It’s no coincidence that we most often got into trouble during the off-season when we had more time on our hands. So, The Association has some meaning for me well beyond a mere game. It helped unify and strengthen friendships that I still have today. It gave me heroes to look up to when I had no father figure. It gave me fond memories of my mother and I going to Laker games together. It gives me a starting point to initiate conservation with other basketball fans and build relationships. It gives me the perspective of viewing basketball as not only a sport but also an Art to be appreciated. Finally, the life lessons that can be drawn from the game are too numerous to count.

Now as the current NBA Lockout threatens the 2011-2012 season, I’m supposed to sit back and not care? If you think that, then I don’t know what you’re smoking but I have to cry “Foul!”

The other night I was watching my father-in-law (aka Big Pappa) go on a college football binge with his buddy from church. After the third straight college football game both of them were dosing in and out of la la land looking like they were about to fall into a coma. It made me think about the days when I went basketball bingeing. I miss basketball. This lockout has been like a dark cloud over my head the entire summer. Now that we’re about to start losing actual games, I feel this big hole right in the middle of me.

I check out ESPN’s website for updated news, and even the website is getting awkward because they’re trying to scrape up material to write and all they can do is rank all 450 NBA players. Like I care about who is ranked 421st in the league, really? Some of you might be saying, “Why don’t you just watch college basketball?” My reply would be, “Did you see the championship game, Butler vs. UConn, last year?” That was some of the ugliest basketball I’ve ever seen. Kevin Durant would’ve scored 125 points in that game. I don’t want to settle for JV. I want to see basketball at the highest level and that means NBA basketball!

My mother-in-law has already asked me what I am going to do without basketball. For the first time in my life, I had no answer, no comment, no quick-witted humor, no response, no comeback, nothing! I searched and searched. Still nothing. I simply have no comeback when billionaires and millionaires don't know how to split 4.5 billion dollars annually during an economy so crippled that unemployment rates are highest in decades. It's indefensible and down right depressing for the NBA fan. Especially if I can't even offer a witty comeback.

Perspective

Are there bigger problems in the world? Of course there are. Sometimes we get so caught up in our little world that we forget the struggles of others and fail to see the blessings, which are right in front of our faces. As I mentioned before, I am showered by the goodness of God every day of my life. Every breath is a gift from Him. I have a good job teaching young children not only academics but also social skills that will help them function in real world situations. I have the most beautiful and wonderful wife in the world who puts up with all my non-sense. I have a great church and godly leaders who also put up with all my non-sense. And I don’t think I could ask for a better group of friends even though they’re currently scattered throughout the United States.

I know that I want to pour myself into the lives of other young men, feeling as if they could benefit from the theological training I received from Biola University and Talbot School of Theology. There are always seasons when things get rough but they’re always for a purpose. The Lord doesn’t allow for “randomness.” There’s a purpose in everything that happens and knowing that God is both sovereign AND good, we can rest assured and confidently say, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18 – NIV).

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)

This Week In Movies

If you know me personally you’ll know that I love movies and I love to dissect them like the frog in my high school Biology class (which I hardly showed up for). Well, I should say that I love good movies and if you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time you’ll know I complain quite a bit on the quality, or lack thereof, of movies lately. Let’s take a quick look at what’s out this week.

Abduction



When Lionsgate decide to make Abduction with Twilight heart-throb Taylor Lautner, I immediately thought this movie was going to be a Twilight version of the Jason Bourne movies (which rocked!). If you’re going to make an action flick you better make sure to market it to men who watch to see someone kicking some tail. When you cast Taylor Lautner as the lead character you’re slapping men who enjoy action flicks in the face. And I don’t like getting slapped in the face. We have the common sense to know when Lautner is the lead in a movie the studio is marketing to young women. Thanks but no thanks. I’ll take a pass. Although I have a feeling my buddy Bryan will go to this stupid move because he has daughters. Good luck.

Read Abduction reviews here.

Moneyball



There are only two things I know about Major League Baseball. First, I live in L.A. so I know the Dodgers are currently awful. The second thing is everyone seems to hate the Yankees for some reason. Outside of those two things you could convince me Babe Ruth was still playing. However, the movie Moneyball seems interesting. I know it seems like the typical “Bad News Bears” us against the world typical sports movie but I like movie that challenges the conventional type of thinking in order to achieve greatness. Besides, Brad Pitt is in the movie. Yes, I’m a heterosexual man AND a Brad Pitt fan. Also, my buddy Chris Hunt is an A’s fan and we haven’t hung out for a while. This would be a perfect excuse to get him out of the house.


Read Moneyball reviews here.

Machine Gun Preacher



The title alone sparks interest. As a Christian man I have a problem with a preacher using any type of gun. But there is something in me that wants to see how this plays out. A former drug-dealer and criminal comes to know Christ and decides to become a missionary in East Africa sounds astonishing. Of course this is Hollywood, which is notorious for taking good premises and running them into the ground. I’m taking the “open but cautious” approach, which usually means I’m renting it.

Reviews were not available.

Motherland V – A Mother’s Legacy

For part IV Click Here.

Realizing that your nationality is a gift from God to use for His glory totally explains my mom’s passion for her people. She was an evangelist to the core but there was a particular passion for her people, Thai people. She was never prideful about being Thai, she just enjoyed it, loved it and cherished it. She didn’t have tattoos written in Thai (nothing wrong with tattoos, by the way). She didn’t marginalize people for not being Thai. It didn’t matter to my mom who you were or where you came from; if you didn’t know Jesus you were going to hear about Him. And even if you already knew Jesus you were still going to hear about Him. I’ve often said that if George Whitefield were an Asian woman he would be my mother.

My mom’s plan was to retire from working here in the States and then become a full-time missionary in Thailand. I would’ve loved to see her passion lived out. I’ve always wondered why the Lord didn’t allow this to happen. “Look at all the people she could’ve led to You, Lord!” I would say. But that wasn’t in the plans. As I went to Thailand bearing that in mind, I remembered the faces of people she shared the gospel of Christ with. I remembered the people she led to the Lord. I remembered the church she attended in Bangkok. And above all, I remembered her passion for Thailand and her people. I always thought her passion for Thailand and Thai people was, “Her thing.” I had my own “thing,” which I wanted to accomplish, my own plans.

In my previous post, I mentioned my own realization that our nationality is a gift from God and that I’ve come to love my “Thai-ness.” During this trip, that reality was brought home for me. My uncle (aka The Thai Tycoon), the one who will own half of Thailand by 2016, built another warehouse for his fireworks company outside the city of Bangkok. It was in a neighborhood my mom enjoyed because of the open fields and nice weather. The warehouse was colossal. He basically built it from the ground up and is currently building another one. My uncle gave us the tour of the facilities, showing us the offices and the unfinished portions, describing what they would look like afterwards.

In a small section of the premises, my uncle had built shacks as living accommodations for some of his workers. They may look sad initially, but when compared to where those workers would be living without working for my uncle, they are far better. I immediately thought about what my mom would do if she were there on the grounds. There’s no doubt in my mind she would have been in the kitchen cooking tons of food and taking it to the workers everyday. And you know what else? You guessed it. She’d be preaching the gospel of Christ to every single person and loving every minute of it. Although she would have known that she had workers to cook for her or do anything else for her, she would have refused and said, “I can do this myself . . . just give me my Thai Bible! I need to preach!” She would have been a living example of coming to serve instead of being served.

Speaking of my mom, my uncle (her younger brother) showed me the second story of the warehouse right above his office. He told me that he built the entire second story just for my mom. He walked me through the master bedroom, the living room, and the guest room he had built. It was all for my mom. My uncle relished the opportunity to give back to his big sister for taking care of him for all those years. Sadly, she would never get the opportunity to use it.

I stood in the master bedroom for a while and I couldn’t move. Then I slowly walked around imaging how my mom would have set up the room, how she would have packed things and allowed them to clutter, where she would sit and read her Bible, the closet she would have sat in, constantly praying for me and wondering when I’d ever get married. I imagined the kinds of books she would have had on the shelf, the hundreds of pairs of shoes that my sister stopped wearing that she would have had to wear because she didn’t want them to go to waste, and the pictures of her children (mainly me) she would have had up all around the room. No, I couldn’t move. Completely overcome with emotions, I broke down and cried. My uncle embraced me and told me its okay and said, “You’ll have to be the one to use [the room].” I couldn’t respond but only thought to myself, “Maybe I will. But if I do, I know I’ll have a lot to live up to.”

After wiping off the tears and collecting ourselves, we went down to my uncle’s office and made plans for dinner. He likes making plans for dinner and I like that he likes making plans for dinner because when his favorite nephew is in town, he will spare no expense to make sure I get the royal treatment. And yes, we feasted that night.

Other thoughts regarding my family history came to mind. It was difficult to process while I was there in Bangkok. It was like asking a neurosurgeon in the middle of brain surgery, “Hey, how are you doing that?” and the surgeon giving a look back that says, “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” When you’re in the thick of things it’s difficult to explain. So after getting back home I thought about that moment on the second floor of my uncle’s warehouse and how beautiful my uncle made it for my mom. But instead of wondering why the Lord never allowed it to happen I remember Jesus’ words:

1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3 – NIV).

No matter how beautiful we can make our homes here, Jesus has prepared a place far better and beyond our comprehension, which will display His glory in the ultimate way, namely, meeting Him in glory.

But when my mom went home to the Lord, she left something behind. It was the seed of her passion for Thailand, a seed to have a passion for your people. Will that seed grow? I have no way of knowing with certainty. I thought for certain my mom would live to see my children and win countless souls to Christ in Thailand. That dream is gone. But maybe, just maybe . . . the seed she planted in her son might still grow and see that dream someday realized. Maybe.

The Return From The Motherland part IV

For part III click here.

There probably wasn’t a single moment in Bangkok when my mind wasn’t on twenty different things. Okay, maybe when I was eating I was only thinking about eating but that’s it. Some of my thoughts included seeing my family, having memories of my mother, and wondering about my father.

Seeing my family was one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had. It’s probably because I’m older and appreciate relationships and family more. In addition, having grown up in a broken home makes me see the value of having a strong family unit, even family outside the immediate sphere of influence. Furthermore, it helped me realize my own ethnicity. There was this sense of “Oh yeah, I’m Thai!” when visiting my family in The Motherland.

Actually, I didn’t even realize that I was Asian until I got to Biola University. Namely because I couldn’t get a date and quickly realized that race was an issue (I’m only semi-joking). But even then I only had the epiphany of “Oh yeah, I’m Asian.” It wasn’t specific like the realization I was “Thai,” which was a much more positive experience. You might be saying, “How could you not know your own ethnicity you moron!” First, I would agree with you that I’m a moron. Secondly, I grew up in East Los Angeles and went to a Middle School and a High School that was predominantly Asian and Hispanic and everyone hated each other equally. Finally, I was born in the United States and like most children who have or had immigrant parent(s), you simply want to fit in as best as possible and sometimes in the process of trying to fit in Western culture you forget your own culture, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Growing in my appreciation for my “Thai-ness” doesn’t mean that I’ll “go gangster” and have “Thai Pride” tattooed across my chest in Thai letters like some ex-con. However, I’ve not only accepted my own uniqueness but also embraced with joy. I love being Thai and I love much of the culture of Thai people, MY people. This made me think about the Abrahamic Covenant that the Lord had with Israel. Israel was supposed to be a light to the other nations, an example of a Theocracy. Israel was chosen by God to bring other nations under the same Theocracy of Yahweh. The Abrahamic Covenant sought to unite racial differences not by blurring cultural distinctions but by bringing different ethic groups under the banner of One God while maintaining cultural distinctions. The lie that Satan has put in my people is that “You can’t be Thai AND a Christian. It’s a Western religion.” Buddhism is a major part of the culture in Thailand, people associate being Buddhist with being Thai. And I tell them, “No! You can still be Thai AND be a Christian!” The beauty of the Abrahamic Covenant is that it transcends culture without destroying it. Even in the New Testament we have the Apostle Paul’s body analogy regarding the church, namely, that diversity exists within unity (Rom. 12:3-8, 1 Cor. 12:12-17, Eph. 4:11-16).

Yes, I’m created in God’s image and that comes first in the hierarchy of importance regarding the doctrine of humanity. But God also created different ethnic groups and calls all of us to worship Him. The Lord made me Thai for some reason and I’m sure it’s beyond wanting me to enjoy Thai food (although Thai food rocks). There is purpose in everything that the Lord does. Our ethnicity is not “a throw away” in the plan of God. We have it for a reason. Although I don’t fully see the reason for my “Thai-ness” yet, I am at a place where I’m willing to learn and wanting to grow in appreciation for my own uniqueness and seeing how it fits with the bigger picture of the body of Christ.

The Return From The Motherland part III

Click here for part II.


The beginning of the second leg of our trip started off nicely. My uncle (aka “The Thai Tycoon” or Triple T for short) had purchased breakfast at the resort for us during our entire stay. Sweet! It was wonderful every morning to start the day eating good food and having a nice time talking to my amazing wife. However, that was probably the only relaxing part of our time. As I mentioned before, we did everything at high speed in order to squeeze every minute of everyday like we were making real orange juice.

The Floating Market

It was also a pleasure to see my other uncle (aka The Administrator), who works as an administrator for Toyota overseeing major accounts in major parts of the world not in the United States. Do you know how I know he’s big time? He’s required to play golf with the other bigwigs in the company. Sweet! For a couple days, he brought his wife (auntie Kanda – who speaks five languages fluently) and two boys (my cousins) to go sightseeing. First stop, The Floating Market. It’s a big tourist attraction in Bangkok although the locals hardly ever go. It makes sense. Why would they want to go to a market on the water when they could go to a regular market on land? Whereas the foreigners would say, “We don’t have anything like this at home, lets go to a market that’s actually on water.”

Yes, it is literally a market on different boats, each with different items ranging from fruits, food, and other merchandise that tourists may be interested in. Before we got into the boats we decided to have breakfast, which was a bowl of noodles (or a couple bowls in my case) eaten by the river. Katie even enjoyed the bowl of noodles, until she saw the ladies who served us washing the dishes in the dirty river after we ate (minor detail). I just laughed it off and told her since I’m Thai I was immune to any diseases in Thailand and she’s also immune by virtue of marrying a Thai guy. That’s just how it works.

Once on board the driver (or is it sailor?) had to navigate through narrow lanes of water going from store to store and boat to boat. If there was anything we wanted at either the store or another boat, we simply signaled the driver to stop and then could make our purchase. After some time, more boats started piling up and then traffic jams began to occur. Since there are no traffic lights or road rules to abide by, it was the “every man for myself” mentality. I lost count of how many times I thought we were going to tip over and fall into the dirty river due to crashing into other boats. Furthermore, I couldn’t believe that no matter where we are at, whether by land or sea, we ran into traffic! I HATE traffic!

(Side note: When I came back home I was talking to my brother-in-law, Mike, about the trip and he mentioned seeing the pictures of The Floating Market and recalled seeing the movie Anaconda. He decided he wasn’t about to visit the Floating Market because it looked too similar to where the Anacondas were in the movie. I assured him there were no Anacondas but only crocodiles and most of them weren’t giant crocodiles. They only have those in the Philippines.)

The Old City

Afterwards, my uncle (aka The Administrator) and aunt (aka The Linguist) took us to The Old City north of Bangkok. It’s a place in Bangkok where there are still remnants of . . . you guessed it . . . The Old City. Since I was Thai I was only charged the Thai price. However, foreigners get a price hike at around 500%. You could probably have guessed that it was difficult for my wife to pass as a Thai person.

We took a lot photos and simply enjoyed the sights. Or at least my wife did. I was busy pretending to be in a Mortal Kombat movie and reenacting all the scenes and quoting the video game lines, “Get over here!” “Finish him!” It’s not everyday you get to wander around century old cities and pretend you’re a ninja with superpowers.



Riding Elephants

Now if you’re at The Old City, you simply can’t leave without riding an elephant. Katie’s never rode an elephant before so she was pretty excited about it. As we were waiting in line we noted how cute the elephant looked and wondered how they would make as pets, until we saw the wheelbarrows of elephant feces they hauled off. I don’t think I’ll complain about picking up the dog feces for a while.

Finally, it was our turn, and we climbed up to ride the elephant. Of course we got a block down the road and the driver was already asking for a tip. Really? One block and that requires a tip? No doubt he was thinking, “Hey, this guy is married to a white woman. He MUST be rich.” The cool thing was the elephant extended his truck and grabbed the bill and gave it to his trainer. Smart animal. Why can’t the dogs do this at home?

I felt privileged that I took my wife on her first elephant ride. Now if anything were to happen to me, and my wife remarries, her new (and much less handsome) husband wouldn’t be able to say that. Yes, it was I. I took her across the world and we rode a freakin’ elephant! Going horseback riding isn’t half as exotic. And horses don’t have trunks, so I win.





The Crocodile Farm

The next place we visited was the crocodile farm. The crocodile farm doesn’t only have crocodiles but also tigers and elephants. Mainly, though, it was a farm full of crocodiles. We had an opportunity while we were there to see a show where elephants reenacted ancient war scenes and played soccer. (Interesting combination, I know.)

As we watched the show, I thought to myself, “If elephants can play soccer should we really consider it a sport? I don’t see any elephants dunking a basketball.” After the show you could overpay to feed the elephants sugar sticks, you know, the very sugar sticks that the trainer gives them for free after we’re all gone. Admittedly though, feeding the elephants was fun but not nearly as fun as feeding the crocodiles raw chicken meat while standing on a platform about three feet high directly over them. I know if we were in the States there would probably have been a hundred safety violations. But this isn’t the States, it’s Thailand and that’s how Thai people roll. If there’s money to be made, safety be da****!

You know when you’re at a pond and you throw little pieces of bread to watch the fishes come biting? And when you start throwing bigger pieces they come swarming and start fighting each other over the food? Well, just imagine that but with crocodiles. It was pretty sweet. It was like watching the nature channel but being there live. I wanted to throw a dear in there just to see what would happen. I know I’m horrible.

Believe it or not, we did all that in ONE DAY. So you could imagine by the time Katie and I got to the hotel we didn’t say much to each other and simply crashed. I had dreams of riding a war elephant and fighting giant crocodiles that night, and I didn’t even drink. What a vacation!!! If you think we’re done you’d be wrong . . . more on The Return From the Motherland in the days ahead. Stay tuned.

Where Have All The Good X-Men Films Gone?

Due to several traumatic experiences during my childhood, I only have a few pleasant memories that are not completely fragmented that I can draw upon every now and again. Some would say it’s “repressed memory,” or “Lacunar amnesia.” Whatever the case, I’m not about to pay a psychologist $350 per hour in order to retrieve memories I probably don’t even want.

However, one of the few good memories during my childhood I still have intact was reading the X-Men comics late at night and watching the cartoons early Saturday morning in my pajamas with a giant bowl of cereal, the entire box to my left and the gallon of milk to my right. I can’t tell you how many bowls of cereal I went through those mornings, only that it was pointless for me to put the milk back in the refrigerator. I was like a drunkard at a bar binge drinking, “Bartender . . . just leave the bottle.”

So you could imagine when 20th Century Fox announced that they were going to make X-Men into a feature film it brought back memories of everything I read in the comics and watched in the shows. It also brought back memories of my cereal/milk binging days.

In the summer of 2000, X-Men the movie was released. Directed by Bryan Singer, it provided a solid foundation for future X-Men movies. The movie itself wasn’t spectacular and it had a few issues, which I won’t get into here, but it was solid and I enjoyed it. Remember, we were still trying to recover from the Joel Schumacher vomit-awful Batman movies that nearly torpedoed the entire comic book movie genre. So “solid” was a good start.

In the summer of 2003, Fox (not surprisingly) released a sequel called X2: X-Men United. Now this film has been one of the few sequels to surpass its’ predecessor in both quality and box office success. The characters were well-developed, the dialogue was good, and it had a decent story. I really liked this movie. Nightcrawer’s opening action sequence in the White House to start the narrative was lights out! The ending also left you excited for future installments.

The X-Men franchise was clearly on solid footing and I couldn’t be more excited to see what the future of X-Men movies had to offer. The franchise took an interesting turn, however, when Bryan Singer decided to jump ship from the franchise that he helped launch into comic book movie glory and went to another beloved comic book character, Superman. Singer said that it was always a boyhood dream to be able to direct a Superman movie. I wonder if those dreams included running the storied character into the ground and the film being both highly criticized and a box office failure? I’m referring to “Superman Returns” in 2006. This was an amazing feet because Warner Bros. has been trying for years to get this franchise off the ground again.

Singer’s actions also had an adverse effect on the X-Men franchise because he left. As a result of his leaving, Fox had to rush the production, complete what was left of the story, and hire a director (Brett Ratner in this case) to pick up the pieces. In 2006, “X-Men: The Last Stand” was released and it was just down right crappy. There’s really no other way to put it. It was so awful that it nearly retrofected my good childhood memories of the X-Men by threatening to turn them into a traumatic experience. Brett Ratner was an awful director but I don’t blame him entirely considering the circumstances.

Of course Fox realized that the X-Men brand was a cash cow and continued to produce X-Movies in the form of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and X-Men: First Class (2011). Wolverine was awful and a sequel, The Wolverine, is due for release some time in 2013. Since I felt like I’ve been burned by the last two X-Movies, I decided to wait for First Class to go to DVD in order to rent it. A franchise can only burn its customers for so long and get away with it. After watching it the other night, I was left unimpressed. Singer came back as a producer for First Class and I was hoping he could help recapture the magic of the first two films. Nope.

First Class was not only a disappointing movie (although Michael Fassbender as a young Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto was outstanding) but it was a disappointment on how the X-Franchise took a turn for the worst. Why do good movie franchises inevitably run themselves into the ground? Maybe it’s all the red tape a film has to go through and all the hands that have to get involved, from the studios, producers, writers, etc. Maybe it’s the system of the film industry that’s broken? Whatever the case, it’s unfortunate.

Is there a lesson in all of this? I say yes. When you have a vision or project, stay the course in much the same way that Christopher Nolan’s reboot Batman franchise has. Nolan has clearly said that his third Bat-film will be his last and that he will bring the trilogy to its conclusion. He started something and now he’s going to finish it. I have no doubts that The Dark Knight Rises will be epic on many levels. It makes me think of things I’ve started and have yet to finish or even things I want to start but wonder if I’ll finish. In either case, regarding my life, I would much rather be a visionary like Chris Nolan, rising a franchise back from the dead and seeing it from start to finish, instead of a short-sighted Bryan Singer, leaving a franchise for dead.

The Return From The Motherland part II

For Part I Click Here.

After a wonderful week in Phuket we went back to Bangkok to visit family. My family living in Bangkok is all on my mother’s side. I currently have three uncles there, which I talked shortly about in a previous blog .

Now Phuket was relaxing, and Bangkok was anything but relaxing. I don’t mean that we didn’t have a good time because we did, immensely, but we kept a fast pace the whole time we were there. Once we arrived in Bangkok we were stuck in traffic for nearly three hours. It made me feel like I was back home on the I-5.

The original plan was to stay at one of my uncle’s condos. That plan had to be scratched because the condos were going through some renovations. So my uncle, being the Thai Tycoon that he is, arranged for Katie and I to stay at one of the finer Resorts in Bangkok. When he first called to make the reservation, he found out that the resort had no rooms available, but guess what? My uncle is a close friend of the owner of the hotel, and the owner opened up a room for us. Yes, my uncle is very well connected in Thailand (and that’s an understatement). My uncle owns the top Fireworks Company in Bangkok. He also has real estate investments and other business ventures that are too long to list here. I predict that he’ll own half of Thailand by 2016.

My uncle is extremely generous. Actually, he was so generous it was down right overwhelming. I kept thinking about God’s goodness and how the Lord enjoys showering us with His blessings. I’m my uncle’s favorite nephew. I’m his big sister’s son and he loved his sister (my mom). As far as he’s concerned, I’m just an extension of my mom.

The first night we were in Bangkok, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, did some catching up and went over the plans for the rest of the week. Afterwards, he just handed me a large sum of money. I didn’t want to take it but he wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Then I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I was penny-pinching while I was in Phuket.” For example, the resort we were staying at had an arrangement with the local taxi(s). The taxi(s) were not allowed to pick up anyone, which resulted in us basically being forced to use their taxi to the airport. And yes, it was expensive. I thought to myself, “Wait a minute! This is Thailand! There’s got to be someone willing to bend the rules for a discount.” As I walked around town talking to cab drivers and telling them about our plight, one finally said (translated), “Okay, meet me down the hill and make sure that no one sees you.” I replied, “Okay, give me twenty minutes to meet at the rendezvous.” Katie and I proceed to gather our luggage and check out of the resort. As we were walking out to the lobby the resort staff quickly began to usher us to their taxi service like ushers at church putting you in a seat you don’t want to sit in. We told them, “No thanks, we’re going to have a look around first. We’ll be back . . . [the next phrase I said under my breath] in a few years.” As we were carrying all our luggage down this steep hill, I look back and see my wife being a good sport carrying all she had while trying to keep her balance and maintain a good attitude. I yelled back at her, “Remember honey, WE’RE SAVING MON-EY!”

Once we hit the meeting point, the cab driver immediately pulled up in his cab, parked his car in the middle of the street, and popped open the trunk. We started throwing all our bags into the trunk like we were stealing large sums of cash, slammed the trunk, jumped into the back seat, and burning rubber leaving skid marks while making a quick get-away. Total savings? $8.00. While we looked behind to see if anyone was following us I kept saying out loud, “We saved $8.00!!!” You might be thinking, “Why go through all that to save a measly $8.00? That’s not even enough for a coffee date.” Actually, after my uncle simply handed me some cash for just being his nephew, I was thinking the same thing.

As we continued to enjoy the evening my uncle would recall for Katie how difficult I was to please when I was a child, always refusing to eat Thai food and only wanting McDonald’s or steak. Yes, I was a brat. Now that I’m a bit older we actually had adult conversions talking about future plans, business ideas, and retirement. It was a new experience for me to talk about “adult stuff” with my uncle. It was great. It made me appreciate all the things he’s done in his own life and inspired me to do the same thing back home. Katie got a kick out of my interaction with my uncle. She said, “If I were to picture you as a 60-year-old Thai-man with limited English you would totally be your uncle.” After a wonderful dinner and some time catching up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Pink we were off to bed. The next day began our second leg of the trip.

Click here for part III.

The Return From The Motherland part I

The trip to Thailand was about two weeks long. We started things out in Phuket, Southern Thailand. It’s a beautiful tropical place. However, it’s also extremely touristy. Actually, you see more foreigners than Thai people there. Fortunately we stayed at the

Avista Resort, which is off the main strip and tucked away on top of the hill keeping us away from the madness. Nice.

Katie's review of the Resort is here.

We had a nice time relaxing at the beaches and enjoying the nice restaurant at the resort. One of the main things to do there was take a boat ride to some of the local islands and go snorkeling. If you know me, you know that I don’t like boats, water, or being anywhere near where a potential shark could be. It also didn’t help that I just got through watching Shark Week on the Discovery channel back at home. I even posted this on my Facebook page:

My wife wants to go snorkeling but I just saw Shark Week ... conflict ahead.

Here are some of the funnier responses I got:

Mike (brother-in-law): Take a pocketknife.

Rory: I wouldn’t worry about it unless you’re dressed like a seal.

Victoria (sister): Oh my goodness! That makes me nervous! I just saw shark week too!!!! Def pocket knife! Remember to punch them in the nose and swim like a mad man!!!! Don't deprive Katie of an exciting once in a lifetime adventure!!!

Andre: Don't worry dude, if it happens just make a movie showing how your still able to play basketball.

David: with a peg leg. ;)

Frankie: If u bit by a shark, then we'll all see u on SHARK WEEK!!

Josie: I saw the episode where the dog got attacked and made it, so I think you'll be just fine :)

Facebook is pretty fun for times like these. It felt like everyone was on vacation with us. In short, we went on the snorkeling trip and visited many of the surrounding islands. They were beautiful with white sands as soft as powder and clear blue, warm water. I hear sharks don’t like warm water. Real nice! During the tour we heard the guide mention that they filmed the movie The Beach there about twenty-seven times. Most importantly, I made it back in one piece.

The rest of the time in Phuket, Katie and I took the local bus and walked around town taking in the sights. The beach was right down the street from the Resort where we were staying. One of the days we spent at the beach, and I simply read a good book and occasionally looked up and admired the beauty of God’s creation. There were moments I was overcome with emotions because I saw not only God’s goodness around me but also upon me; His grace not only sustaining the world and everything in it, but also His grace and kindness toward me as an individual. The fact that I didn’t encounter any sharks was the cherry on top on the Sundae of God’s goodness.