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DeeCee
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Name: Calvin
Country: United States
State: Wisconsin
Metro: Madison
Birthday: 10/25/1982
Gender: Male
Interests: singing, vball, bball, horn, 7-11, commie history
Expertise: pretending i know what i'm talking about :)
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/9/2002
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| Did you know...that you can order a whole bucket from KFC and request it ALL THIGH? Amazing!
I may or may not have eaten most of one right after wrapping up the Hmong Christian Collegiate Conference and before a really long self-reward nap that I just woke up from.
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Rat Disneyland II
Were I a scientist in any way, shape, or form, I would be a cognitive or behavioral scientist. I'm not one (duh), but reading up on 'em is still a lot of fun.
I especially love it when cognitive scientists analyze the socio-economic, cultural, and political spheres. Sometimes they marginalize themselves with psychotic extremism (Chomsky) or mild partisanship (Lakoff). Meanwhile, rock star Steven Pinker uses his tools of observation to cast some real insight on this election.
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Out of Africa
The Economist reports on how South Africa has lost one fifth of its white population due to emigration over the last 13 years. It's not only motivated by race: there are plenty of reasons for skilled whites to leave South Africa to pursue career advancement or seek greater personal safety in a country rife with violent crime. And how could I judge anyone with the means for seeking either of these for themselves or their families? Racial and ethnic homogenization, though, is a loss in and of itself, and my heart breaks especially for South Africa since Nelson Mandela was one of my first childhood heroes, I feel solidarity with the country's Dutch Reformed heritage, and I consider the Belhar Confession one of the most significant and beautiful religious declarations since the Reformation.
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| As Chimney-Sweepers, Come to DustScattered thoughts on Mike Chaloupka's memorial service yesterday in Whitewater, WI:
- What a great combination of grief and celebration. There was definite grief and tears shed, but a great deal of celebrating a life well lived and a servant of God.
- Laughter. Mike was a really funny guy, and it came through in the service. People chuckled during the pre-service slideshow, shared funny stories and pranks that he pulled (or that they pulled on him), and cracked up watching him goof around during video highlights of his work with the Wisconsin Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
- Loss for the Kingdom: Mike's immense ministry passion, potential, and, yes, achievement came through again and again. He was a constant witness and gifted evangelist to those around him... even in casual conversations and brief interactions. He also served as president of the disabled students' alliance at UW-Whitewater, a very important constituency club on a campus with the largest disabled student population in the state (and one of the largest in the country).
- Grief - It dawned on me during the service that Mike had been someone my supervisor, Josh, had invested in early on in his campus staff career during a phase similar to where I am now. He saw Mike come to faith, develop his ministry abilities, become an influential student leader, and come on staff. He knew Mike's enormous ministry potential to witness to and lead both disabled and able-bodied students on the Whitewater campus and invested a lot in developing it. We were all really excited to see what God was going to do through Mike in the coming years. Knowing how emotionally invested I am in my student leaders and how excited I get about kingdom potential for my chapter, I can only imagine how the loss feels for Josh, who's a lot more in touch with his emotions than I am. Selfishly, I'm saddened by the loss of a friend who was also the only other single person on my area staff team.
- Yah, Wisconsin - I felt pretty out of place as one of 10 people in a suit out of more than 300 at the service -- even ties were pretty rare. They also had a mini-potluck reception afterwards (many people brought refreshments). On the ~30 foot buffet they set up, there was one raw veggie platter, one fruit plate, one platter of crackers, one of chips... and over 20 large cheese and sausage platters. Oh my new home state. Someone brought some reeeeeaaaally good summer sausage.
- Interv-what? I can only imagine how cultish and strange all the InterVarsity lingo/culture sounded to people unfamiliar with our ministry, especially non-Christians "blah blah blah Urbana blah blah blah chapter focus week blah blah leadership team blah blah large group blah blah small group leader, blah blah discipler, blah blah woke up at 4am for our turn in 24-hour prayer"
- Lasting witness -- Mike's (non-Christian) parents announced that they would like all donations in memory of Mike to be directed to InterVarsity and are setting up a memorial fund within InterVarsity for him to go specifically toward our work with the disabled -- including making our training camps fully accessible, supporting ministry with disabled students, and possibly future hiring of disabled staff. They will also hold an annual fundraiser for InterVarsity in his memory. I was very surprised by this because I knew Mike and his family had been so active in the MDA, but I guess Mike really conveyed his passion for his work and our ministry to his parents and they felt his memory would be honored by supporting us.
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| East Meets WestEntering year three of living alone, I'm getting better at cooking for one in terms of portion-size, variety, taste, cost, and time spent. An individual-sized, oven-safe soup mug that doubles as a single-serving casserole (hotdish!) or pot-pie dish and a broiling rack and roasting pan for the toaster oven help a lot. So is learning how to better size my pre-cooking portions and multi-tasking cooking and food prep. Recipesource.com, Epicurious, Mi-Tong (rice bucket), and other Taiwanese recipe web sites help keep things interesting and rescue me from food homesickness.
Most Taiwanese/Szechuanese recipes for stir-fried eggplant call for pre-cooking the eggplant either by deep-frying, boiling, or steaming. Deep-frying is problematic because I don't own a deep fryer, nor do I want to use several cups of oil every time I cook eggplant for financial and healthish reasons, nor do I own a deep-fry thermometer or plan to buy one. Boiling always results in mushy, watery eggplant which doesn't stir-fry well, either; ditto for steaming though to a lesser degree - and if I'm cooking Chinese food my rice cooker is already in use, anyway. Pre-stir-frying doesn't work since eggplant is so absorbent it just soaks up any hot oil in the wok right away and you lose the browning and luster that you would expect from proper stir-fry. But... I really love eggplant!
I was staring at my raw, cut eggplant (in prisms, of course) the other day and it dawned on me: OVEN ROASTING! I salted (Alton Brown say: kosher salt) and tossed in oil before sticking in the toaster oven, giving me some crisped brown edges AND luster. For flavor's sake I substituted a neutral cooking oil for the customary oven-roasting olive oil and used Pam instead of butter on the pan. Benefits: my toaster oven is normally sitting unused when I'm cooking Chinese food anyway, which keeps my wok, all of my burners, and rice cooker free. I can cook other things, even complete another stir-fry dish from start to finish while the eggplant roasts, and even have extra time to marinate my meat! No watery mush and no gallons of oil, just perfectly pre-cooked eggplant for stir-fry using an adapted Western cooking method, woohoo!
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Sex and Dating, 1950s Style
The Atlantic Monthly recently ran an online flashback feature from November 1957 surveying liberalized attitudes toward sex and dating among students at women's colleges in the Northeast. Some things have changed since then, especially language, rules of the game, and boundaries of promiscuity:
"Going steady" (dating), "flushing" (dumping), and "catnip" (hot).
My parents immigrated to the US about a decade after this article was written and still occasionally ask, "Calvin ah... are you or Elaine going steady with anyone yet?" However, they have yet to ask us whether we've "flushed" anyone or suggest we work on being more "catnip."
The "eminently sensible and dependable guy" knows "exactly what he is going to do after graduation, the army, navy, or marines; and a few years' graduate school."
Wow... investment banking or consulting anyone? Med school? Law school?
"...the ideal girl is still technically a virgin but has done
every possible kind of petting without actually having had intercourse."
Fathers of college-bound daughters WISH this were still the case...
Other things haven't changed so much in the last half century:
The ideal college-educated woman "must be a successful wife, mother, community contributor, and possibly
career woman, all at once."
Traditional and modern expectations continue tugging women both ways, along with...
"Clinging to her two contradictory principles, she tries to be a sexual demon and Miss Priss at tea at the same time."
...the age old female dilemma of tiptoeing promiscuity and chastity. Wait... Miss Priss at tea?!
"...fact is that, lacking a solid background of Christian ethics, most girls have only a couple of vague rules of thumb to go by."
I hope this is still true for both sexes... more next entry...
"A good many girls try to solve their bewilderment in college by
constantly comparing notes with each other. [Sexual things] seem more acceptable
if everybody is doing them."
Everyone's jumping off a bridge tomorrow, too!
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| Hottest Flier Ever...
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| To Do in Taiwan...I'll have a total of 12 full days in Taiwan from July 22 - Aug 4. Doesn't seem like much time once I consider what I need to finish while I'm there! Nor do I have very much time left to prepare for this trip... ugh.
Work
- Thank and present the propaganda version of my year with slideshow to Bread of Life Church pastoral staff and missions committee. Get new business-reply envelopes (BREs) from Bread of Life (note to self: finish slideshow before I leave for Taiwan)
- Thank and present mini-propaganda recap and gifts to donors Uncle T, Uncle H, Auntie C, Auntie L, and "older brother" J.
- Indirectly recruit Auntie Y and Auntie L as potential donors.
- Presentations and asks at churches G and T.
- Make myself available to youth group from church T (Q&A or speaking).
- Meet and pray with Pastor C, Mama M, and Auntie L.
- Attend young adult worship at Bread of Life Church (their/our praise team "Joshua"= the Hillsong United of the Chinese-speaking Christian world, incl. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Toronto, Vancouver, and California) and buy some CDs and songbooks so I'm up to date on the latest Mandarin praise music.
- Buy Christian books in Chinese as gifts for 1st generation Chinese American donors. Preferably not by Joel Osteen (he has a pretty big following in Taiwan).
- Buy bubble tea cups, lids, and straws to use for New Student Outreach.
- Visit IFES office and meet with a few collegiate ministries staff.
- Meet with staff members of ORTV, Christian media and English-language education ministry.
- Visit Pastor and Mrs. Chu and their ministry for troubled youth in Douliu, Yunlin.
- Meet with student leaders and faculty advisor from the Christian fellowship of the National Yunlin University for Science and Technology, also in Douliu (NYUST is a 10,000 person elite national university and the only Christian presence on the campus is a 10 person fellowship with no staff, one faculty adviser, and no outside affiliation or training. The IFES mvmt in Taiwan is unable to resource them with their 12 collegiate ministries staff serving over 2000 students on their current campuses)
- Visit rural oyster-harvesting village of Taisi with mom to explore future ministry partnership potential.
- Meet with staff from the Eden Social Welfare Foundation and beg forgiveness for not bringing back Pathfinder this summer, the camp for visually impaired students, (the last time I talked to them one of their directors was really upset at me).
Rest
- Spend a morning or afternoon alone at a tea house on a remote mountain and brew myself a nice oolong.
- Sleep at least 8 hrs nightly.
- Speak constantly in Mandarin until I regain fluency and reduce my accent enough so that I die a little bit less inside every time I stammer due to language attrition. Learn the latest Taiwanese slang.
- Attend morning prayer at Bread of Life and service at The Pearl at least once each.
- Run around Da-An Park at least twice a week and work out at California Fitness Center daily.
- Spend one full day of quality time with parents.
- Meet with my dad for lunch at the hospital cafeteria for the last time before he retires in August.
- Spend a day visiting my grandparents' tombs alone and do some emo relfective cathartic soul-searching thing and pray for my extended family.
Play
- Visit Room 18 so that Rex doesn't forget me.
- Finally vist the top floor observatory of Taipei 101? Eh, maybe not.
- Play cards (Big 2) at a bubble tea shop on Tea Street while sipping from a liter-sized mug of taro milk tea with tapioca pearls.
- Play pick-up basketball at Civic Boulevard and hope for another Jay Chou or David Tao sighting. Swear in Taiwanese at least once during a game and then drink Pocari Sweat or Supau.
- Break 400 pts on basketball hoop arcade game. Play para para paradise at an arcade in front of a crowd. OK, maybe not para para paradise.
- Bring snacks and drinks from 7-Eleven and drive
up "make out mountain" scenic spot by the Cultural Universiy with a few friends at night to enjoy the Taipei scenery in the
company of all the Taiwanese college student couples on their scooters.
- Buy a bike frame from the Giant or Merida factory?
- Karaoke at V-MIX or HOLIDAY (cashbox/partyworld is for losers).
- Walk around Guang Hua market and bargain for some random electronics.
- Hang out with Niven, Shelley, John W, Christina J, Jen H, Drew L, Vincent C, Steve N, Danny L, CK, Grace L, Jeff W, Jane S. Anyone else around? Dennis C, Nick H?
Eat
- Takoyaki, yan su mushrooms, lu wei, and stinky tofu at Shi Da night market. (師大夜市: 章魚丸, 鹹蘇菇,魯味, 臭豆腐)
- Din Tai Fung Shanghainese dumplings (鼎泰豐小龍包)
- Ice Monster mango shaved ice (冰館芒果冰)
- Tai Yi red bean shaved ice (台一紅豆冰)
- Fruit: Asian pears, roseapples, carambola (starfruit), fresh mangoes, green mangoes, guava, lychee, and cherry tomatoes with dried plum.(梨,蓮霧,楊桃,芒果,青芒果,芭樂,荔枝,小番茄夾蜜餞)
- Ah-Yu pork and cabbage dumplings (阿玉水餃)
- "My Home" steak (我家牛排)
- House of Chen (a street vendor, not my parents) cold noodles and meatball soup (陳家涼麵, 貢丸湯)
- 7-Eleven: Tuna onigiri, cha li wang green tea, and tea eggs. ("sei-buin": 鮪魚飯團, 茶裏王綠茶,茶葉蛋)
- Pork chop bento from Chi Shang (池上飯盒: 排骨便當)
- Fen Yuan candied dessert from Dong Qu ( 東區粉圓)
- Hakka food (客家小炒)
- Beef noodle soup and pork and mushroom noodles from House of Liao (廖家牛肉麵: 肉燥麵)
- Fried oysters from a Taiwanese beer house (啤酒屋: 炸蚵仔)
- Any night market: stir-fried rice noodles and oyster omelet (炒米粉, 蚵仔煎)
- Keeping it cool with sour plum drink, grass jelly drink, winter gourd tea, guava juice and lemonade with ai-yu jelly (酸梅湯, 仙草, 冬瓜湯,芭樂汁, 檸檬愛玉)
- Fresh ahi tuna sashimi -- preferably from the inner cheek. (黑鮪魚生魚片) and sashimi w/ rice from the street vendor behind Tai Da (台大後門旁:生魚片蓋飯)
- Braised chicken bento and rice noodle soup from street vendors in the alley behind where we used to live (溫州街: 紅悶雞塊飯, 米粉湯)
- Ah-Chung thin rice noodle soup (阿宗麵線)
- Taiwanese sausage wrapped in rice sausage (大腸包小腸)
- Muei / Hsifan / Congee / Jook with side dishes, especially radish omelet, for breakfast or a midnight snack from one of the 24-hour shops on congee street (清粥小菜街: 菜補蛋)
- Tofu in any way, shape, or form from the Tofu Town, Yes, there is a town about 20 min from Taipei whose entire economy is based on the homemade tofu industry. (深坑豆腐)
- Ilan-style cuisine (lotsa sweet potatoes, squash, asparagus, Taiwanese leafy greens, basil, and pork) at Chi Fan (喫飯: 宜蘭美食)
- Yong He Dou Jiang breakfast -- fresh soy milk and egg wrap (永和豆漿: 蛋餅夾油條)
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