Since everyone is dying for a post...

ESPN with the lil bro

Hungry?

Yay I cleaned up xanga after a decent amount of pestering. Now is just a collection of the quotes collected from preivious posts:

Thoughts from GeorgeCarlin...

• The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
• We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
• We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
• We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
• We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
• We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
• These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
• These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
• Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
• Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
• Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
• Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Can you think of any?

 HOW TO STAY YOUNG 

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath or pee your pants.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to a friends house, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

"to the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world."

"i always knew looking back on the tears would make me laugh, but i never knew looking back on the laughs would make me cry."

"if all of my friends were to jump off a bridge, i would not follow. i would be on the bottom to catch them when they fall."

"a real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."

"the better you know someone, the less there is to say. or maybe, there's less that needs to be said."

"a part of you has grown in me. and so you see, it's you and me together forever and never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart."

"the most beautiful discovery that true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

"never shall i forget the days i spent with you. continue to be my friend, as you will always fine me yours."

"love is like a violin. the music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever."

"the heart has it's reasons that reason does not know."

"you never lose by loving. you always lose by holding back."

"an immature love says i love you because i need you, but a mature love says i need you because i love you."

"it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

"why is it that we don't always recognize the moment love begins, but we always recognize the moment it ends?"

"promise me you'll never leave me, because if i thought you would, i'd never leave."

"you don't get to chose, you just fall."

"all is fair in love and war."

"to love and win is the best thing. to love and lose, the next best."

"true love never dies for it is lust that fades away. love bonds for a lifetime but lust just pushes away."

"in the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything. and two minus one equals nothing."

"if i know what love is, it is because fo you."

"a life filled with love must have some thorns, but a life empty of love will have no roses."

"when the door of happiness closes, another opens. but often we look so long at the closed door tha we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

"often the greatest enemy of present happiess is past happiness too well remembered."

"actions may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action."

"the grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and soemthing to hope for."

"love is a lot like playing the piano. at first you must learn to play by the rules. then you must forget the rules, and play from the heart."

"the magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end."

"if you love someone, let them go. if they return to you, it was meant to be. if they don't, their love was never yours to begin with..."

"just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have."

bu yao zai ran yian lai dao liu
wo hui ai de hao yi dian
zhi yao ai wo duo yi tian
bu xiang he ni shuo zai jian
qing ni zhi yao ai wo duo yi tian
hai you xing fu de ji hui
dont ever wanna say goodbye
missing your presence..wishing you were here
xiang xin ni de xin..
i just wanna fall asleep in your arms
how did i fall in love with you

LOVE starts with a SMILE , grows with a KISS , and ends with a TEAR.
DON'T cry over anyone who won't cry over you.
Good FRIENDS are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.
You can only go as far as you push.
ACTIONS speak louder than words.
The HARDEST thing to do is watch the one you love, love somebody else.
DON'T let the past hold you back, you're missing the good stuff.
LIFE'S SHORT. If you don't look around once in a while you might miss it.
A BEST FRIEND is like a four leaf clover, HARD TO FIND and LUCKY TO HAVE.
Some people make the world SPECIAL just by being in it.
BEST FRIENDS are the siblings God forgot to give us.
When it HURTS to look back, and you're SCARED to look ahead, you can look beside you and your BEST FRIEND will be there.
TRUE FRIENDSHIP "NEVER" ENDS. Friends are FOREVER.
Good friends are like STARS You don't always see them, but you know they are ALWAYS THERE.
DON'T frown. You never know who is falling in love with your smile.
What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying is the person who made you cry?
Nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them.
Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.
Most people walk in and out of your life, but only FRIENDS leave footprints in your heart.

as promised, id like to share a story someone told me while i was in taiwan. please take the time to read it. forgive me however, i am not a very good writer and lack much needed vocabulary and such. also, since it has been over a week since this story was told to me, i may have forgotten some of the details, buti promise i will do my best to recall as much as i can. finally, my disclaimer: since i myself do not affiliate myself with christianity, i am telling this story from a mostly unbiased point of view. i apologize to anyone who finds this somewhat offensive, it is completely unintentional. though a little long, i find this story to be very interesting and quite thought-provoking, and hope that you will take the time to read it.

Rachel was five years old when she got food poisoning in singapore. her parents thought it was mild, and didnt take her to the hospital right away. however, her condition became worse and worse. by the fourth day, enough poison had accumulated in her brain that she could not recognize anyone around her, not even her parents. on the fifth day, rachel started vomitting and coughing out blood. her mom panicked, and called the ambulance. but since the ambulence was taking too long, she decided to drive rachel herself, knowing full well that even in the best conditions, the closest hospital was still at least 30 minutes away.

by the time they arrived, the doctor thought rachel had been in a car accident, she was so bloody. she was admitted into the emergency room at once, though the doctors made no promises and warned rachels mom that there was little they could do at this point. as they ran some tests on her, her mom called her dad at work. as he rushed over, a friend told him about a pastor he knew, in the case that his daughter should need one.

when he arrived at the hospital, the doctor gave the parents the news. rachels liver had completely failed, and her brain was so deteriorated that she had less than a day to live. shocked to hear all this at once, both parents were crushed. this is their first and only child, and she is going die. here. now. undoubtedly, they were very depressed. desperate as ever, rachels father recalled that his friend said that he could call on a pastor if needed. he told his wife to go find one. being buddhists, neither of them knew what a pastor looked like, but she set out to find one anyways. she asked a at the main entrance, "do you know where i can find pastor?"

at the same time, the man asked her "do you know where there is a sick child who is about to die from food poisoning?"

she replied, "yes, i am the girl's mother."

"i am a pastor. which room is your daughter in?"

as he followed her to the room, she wondered, how can it be that the first person i asked happened to be a pastor? and that he found me the moment he walked in the hospital? there are hundreds of patients and hundreds more rooms, and the rest of the world where we could be, but we just happen to meet right here. at the hospital.

when they got to rachels room, the pastor started praying. his prayer was for her, as well as her parents. though still unconscious, rachels face relaxed, and her parents were less depressed. her mom was even in the spirit to go out to buy stuff to bring back to the hospital.

but by the next morning, rachel stopped breathing. her heart stopped beating and her body was cold. her doctor sadly pronounced her dead and wrote up a death certificate. the pastor had to leave at this time, but told the parents to keep praying. the father told him that they didnt know how to pray to God. he took his hand, and suddenly the father was able to speak the words of God.

after the pastor left, he kept on praying for hours on end, holding his daughters hand the entire time. finally, the doctors came in to take all the tubing and wiring out of rachel. as the were finishing off, rachel suddenly opened her eyes and spoke softly, "mommy, i need to use the restroom."

the doctors heard this too, and immediately put all the wires and tubings back on her to run some tests. they were shocked with the results. her liver was completely healthy, and her brain was in normal condition. her entire system was in good shape. but how could this be when she was dead just minutes ago? everything was competely disfunctional just hours ago! every test had proven that she passed away, and her doctor even completed a death certificate! it was so miraculous that no one in the entire wing could believe it. but it was inevitable, rachel had risen from the dead. they moved her out of the intensive care unit, but kept her in the hospital for one more day, just to keep an eye on her. after that, she was free to go home with her family.

at home, rachels mother asked her what happened, "you were gone for many days. what did you see during this time? can you draw it for me?" rachel got a pen and paper and drew this:

"he told me that people who loved me were waiting for me. he told me to come back."

for the next year, rachel went in to have checkups every week so that the doctors were sure that they had not made a mistake. she was indeed healthy, as if she had never been sick at all.

that year, rachel was to start school. the registration system in singapore was by lottery, so of course the best school was the toughest to get in. nonetheless, rachels mom went to sign her up for it anyways. when she came out, God's voice told her not to worry, that rachel would get in. thus, she did not register for other schools. her friends and neighbors called her crazy, because out of the 16 thousand people who registered, only 2 thousand would be chosen. but God kept his word, and that fall, rachel began attending that school.

it was a tough school. homework load and test pressure was enormous, and since her parents were unable to help her in subjects they knew nothing about, rachel started going to a tutor for assistance. the problem was, the tutor was bad, he was abusive, and rachel was too afraid to tell.

finally, God told her mom what was going on with the tutor. she was very surprised and didnt know what to do. He told her not to worry, that He would teach her Himself. rachel stopped seeing the tutor and began to diligently read the Bible. one day, while in her room, great brightness began filling her room. she turned off the lights but the brightness remained. she closed the windows and hid under her blankets, but still the bright, wonderful images shone beforee her. after it went away, she went to describe it to her mother. listening carefully, her mom concluded,

"honey, that was heaven."

______________________________________________________________

today, rachel is 12 years old, still living in singapore with her family. her parents are now both missionaries, and travel with their daughter during her winter break every year to spread the words of His teachings. this year, they came to taiwan and stayed at my aunts house while we were there, and i must say, rachel is a very amazing girl. from the way she acts and behaves, you would never have guessed that so much has happened to her in such a short period of time. though i have forgotten parts of the ending, and am still learning about this religion, i feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn of their story and hope that you do too.

edit 1/5/04: mmm people still wanted to leave comments? so i guess i can make this one an exception =]