I think the difference between the rich and the poor is that when you are rich, you do not need people to give you a chance.  You come from a good family, good education, and probably have connections all around the city and companies in which you want to step into.  

When you are poor, every field you step into whether it be college, dating a girl, or a job there is a degree in which they size you up.  They look at your track record and because your family didn't have much, you may not have as much to show for it.  

Honestly its not about being rich or poor but its about a track record.  Having a good start really helps you consistently run through the gates thus opening more doors for people.  

I have never had the most amazing track records.  Sometimes you just need a chance to prove that you are capable.  Someone took a chance on me by letting me in Berkeley despite my average sat score and decent grades.  Someone took a chance on me as a boyfriend considering my wake of broken hearts.  And someone will have to take a chance on me with my career, because I am jumping verticals and do not have the experience in my new field. 

First impressions are actually one of my strengths, but my resume in life is not up to par yet. It does not shine on its own.  I believe I always shine when I get there, but just because I see it doesnt mean they do. 

I promise that when I make it towards the top of my career, I will give others a chance because I at this moment I know what it means to be a risky bet.  

I am addicted.  I am at work and all I can think is about the next time I go.  There is nothing I rather do and I count the days where I am able to go again. 

Rockclimbing homies. I been going 2 times a week for the last 3 months and I love it.  I guess this level of excitement is the same level people feel towards alcohol and friday nights.   

Loving my life.  Another second round interview tomorrow.  I been rejected 4 times now, but I always make it to the second round.   I rather know sooner than later, but I guess I make a good impression, but have a hard time finishing strong.  I have this urge to be mature, but I always slip one sexual innuendo or another in each of my blogs.  

But the grass ain't always greener on the other side,
It's green where you water it

Take care of what you have.  There is that saying that you never appreciate things until you lose it.  I believe only idiots wait for things to leave them to see the value of it.  A fool sees a hole and walks in it.  A smart man sees the fool walk into the hole and walks around it.  A wise man just knows where the holes are.  

I am about to shine.  Shine in every way possible.  I am flying on cloud 9 right now. It may be the cup of Flipz I had this morning or this Justin Bieber song playing on repeat.  

I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold

I hate when Vietnam calls. Its always problems and asking for money. How many generations does filial piety last? Does it transcend oceans and cultural differences?

Wanted to leave this response to the comments on FB, but found it too revealing.  Thank god for xanga. 

My grandma recently passed away and we sent home money for the funeral and only have of it was actually used toward the funeral and the other half was used for my aunt's gambling addiction and gf that she has been chasing. After my grandma died, immediately my aunt who is 50 put the house that our family owned in Vietnam down as collateral for a loan since she was the title holder after my grandma passed away. She needed more money to play with and gamble to chase down her love thing. Now the creditors are demanding outrageous interest or they will take the house.

Our family with our aunts and uncles in America as a unit sends back more than enough money on a monthly basis to cover food, living, and then some. I believe behaviors like this are created because they know my parents will bail them out no matter what. This may be why no one over there even has a job or needs to because their needs can always be met by us. I understand their situation and circumstances are much different than our own and do not have the type of access to higher education and employment, but there are limits to how much of this destructive behavior that our family should be enabling.

So the question is leave my aunt and our other two aunts who live in the same house homeless or send thousands of dollars to bail her out? Where is her own accountability for her actions then? Situations are never black and white and I do not think there is an answer. Keep the drip on I guess.

I love my xangan friends on Facebook.  

There is nothing like bridging the gap between anonymous stories and a real look into their life with pictures and photos.   Xanga is our inner thoughts and a lot of the things we won't share with people.  FB is where we show off to the world how awesome we are doing, how well we are eating,  and how many places we are going.  You bridge the two and you get an inward look at the full picture of the person.  

I know a lot of you are still pretty private but I dare you to make some xanga friends.  Its the greatest.

And you know how we are hella supportive on xanga like a cancer group.  Well, it transcribes on to FB and then you get to look hella popular.  I swear anything I post @luvs_u will like it.  I once posted about throwing cute bunnies into walls to see their brains explode and she even liked that.   

Just got back from the gym and floating on endorphins. Don't mind me. doot ta doot ta doot

"If you want a good sermon, you can listen or watch a online cast.

If you want to worship, you can listen to a cd.

If you want community, you have to go to church."

I had a great lunch with a friend from college today.   We dont hang much, but I wanted to show him appreciation for putting the 4th of July bbq together and cooking for us and everything.  We had some great conversation on our group of friends from college, church life, and work.  

All great things take work.  But your words of the things you want and the things you really want are put to the test by our actions and what we commit our time to.  

The best part about a true Christian community is that you have brothers and sisters that speak into your life and the areas you can grow.  The hard part about a true Christian community is that you have brothers and sisters that speak into your life and the areas you can grow.  Even with love, its hard to hear the words poured forth into the gray areas you have kept private from the rest of the world.  Your perfect fb lives full of pictures of delicious food and amazing trips coupled with statuses on joy and climbing corporate ladders are all but washed away leaving a barren soul striving for more love from Him. 

It doesnt get easier, we just get better. 

We want to be known, but not the level where it hurts.  Where we are so close to one another that one soul hurts the other hurts in sympathy, in empathy --- no, in union, with one another.   Our college fellowship class will always hold a special place in my heart.  The 25 of us have gone through heart break with each other,  alcohol, legalism,  marriages, and maybe even one day divorces.  Through all this, I know that if I needed them, truly needed them, for something serious one day they would all be there for me.  We are all in different places now, and I need to put my time into another community. 

"Maybe we all dont want that from a church right now, that is why its been so hard to plug into another community."

I have never been one to pursue things.  Things have kinda always fell in my lap: college education, girls, and the like.   I do not know if this has caused me to have the settling mentality, but it puts me in situations for time periods that are longer than I would have liked.   

I have shifted this mentality only in recent years and have been extremely intentional with where I spend my time and with who.  I take opportunities that I want and not what is only available.  

Coming out of college in 09 was a rough time in the job market and I applied to the first jobs that were available to me and not the ones that I was passionate about.  I never even thought about that question.  David,  what do you want to do with your life and where do you spend the majority of your days working for?  The opening with the fastest hiring cycle got me out of the gates.   

This time around it is different.  I have worked for a good number of years and I roughly have an idea of what I want.   I am in no rush to work for some god-forsaken company that I have no passion for.  This summer is the month where I uncog myself from the machine.  Sure I will be a cog in another machine, but hopefully this machine is the one that brings balance in the world and helps create change.   What I am thinking?  Have I not seen the Matrix. Machines can't be trusted.

Pursuing the right things: Family, Friends, and Happiness

"He and I used to be serial cheaters before we found each other."

Cellar door.   I never thought of that combination of words together.  I have heard of people that cheat, but never a serial cheater.   I think people cheat sometimes, because they make mistakes, which is hardly an excuse, and because they do not know that they person they are with is the one they want to ultimately be with.   They have this doubt, so they kind of explore other options while holding on to their significant other.  I understand cheating is selfish and I am  not one to condone it or hate it, but it does amaze me to be a serial cheater.

You would think you would know by a certain degree after a while.   You think after being with maybe a handful of other people in different settings you would know if the one you are with is it or not.   

I have a friend that values people that have the ability to self-actualize.   The process of understanding ourselves is what allows us to move forward to grow and change in the ways we want to.   We prune the parts of ourselves we don't like to allow more time and nutrients to other parts of our lives we want to develop.

I do not say I know, but I am very intrigued.  She has changed it seems and he has changed it seems has well.  Once a lover always a lover in my book.  I have always said that we are always striving to push forward but sometimes even when we try our best, it may not look like we are moving very far or pushing very hard.   Its okay to be on repeat, until we can make it to the next stage.  

Life never gets any easier,  we just get better.  

I knew who you were from the start
But now I don't know who you are
Soon there will be nothing at all
Till the concrete angel falls

Angels are meant to protect us, shield us, and watch over us.  They are there to protect us from situations that we may not be able to fend off on our own.  They do not always intervene because some situations are needed to make us stronger on our own and some situations pose no threat whatsoever.

The problem with concrete angels is that it keeps everyone out almost with no discretion.   We stay in our towers with bow and arrow in hand shooting everyone that comes knocking.   Shooting friend and foe alike.   

I am a firm believer that we are all amazing people given the opportunity to show it and everyone has depth as long as we choose to dig long enough, but there is something to be said to this false sense of security that we have by being alone.   

Please let down your own sense of protection.  Take down the concrete angels in your life, so maybe the real angels can do their job. Sometimes these angels are the wonderful people that are placed in our lives.  

Interviewing for jobs is like being the "Naked Man" from HIMYM... you reveal yourself completely and in that second they get to decide if they want you or not.   I hope 2 out of 3 is the same rule here too!