tellitslant

I was sick at home, not well enough to do real work but unable to fall asleep. So I did what any nerd would do for fun: give the website a new look. The old one felt cluttered. Read the rest of this entry »

I love a good spectacle. So now that Black Friday’s come around, I really want to go. At midnight. It seems that would be the best time for viewing. Perhaps I could find a tram or something to get a closer look: I’d get to see ravenous consumers roaming the mall from store to store, combing through the merchandise to find their bleeding prey. Or at least, a great deal. It’s like we’ve regressed back to being hunter-gatherers, but instead of finding berries and venison, we’re foraging for XBOX’s and blouses.

Black Friday is a weird day. It sounds ominous, like the Black Plague or something. When did this all begin? Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my attempt to explain the Christian faith… in three minutes. Crazy, right? InterVarsity asked me to do it, and here’s the result. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s 5:38a, and I’m up. I’ve been up for the past two and a half hours, ever since our son’s last feeding. When people ask me what being a new parent is like, I say that it’s like the morning after a great, all-night party: I’ll grip my head between my hands and rub the sleep out of my eyes, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. So, bleary-eyed, we have a good time — all day and all night. And this party clearly doesn’t end in a day.

Isaiah’s seven days old today. He had his first smile on Day 4 — and his first frown. When he’s smiling, Jinhee and I think he’s happy to see us. When he frowns, we think that he’s just testing out his facial muscles. It’s funny how we can rationalize just about anything. Read the rest of this entry »

My thoughts waver between birth and death these days. Sure, that would seem obvious: every thought we have happens in that in-between space, right? But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not in the middle, but at the ends. And it’s a weird place to be: at both times thinking of death and birth, the already and not-yet, of what has come and what is to come.

On one end, I’m thinking a lot about my future son these days: Isaiah Choung. Yes, the Ice-man cometh. We still need a Korean middle name, but in a few weeks or so, a crying, wrinkled pink lump of flesh will arrive in our tired, weary arms. Read the rest of this entry »

About a month ago, I stood over a kitchen’s granite-top cooking island with a dozen other men from our church. Normally, I’m not a fan of kitchens. It’s too much a place of preparation: someone has to think ahead about what to cook, then go to the grocery store to find the right, freshest ingredients; then, cut, chop and dice, simmer, braise and broil — all in the right order. It’s too much like work, and I’m not even getting paid.

But since Fabrice was teaching, I had to go. My wife had been using guerrilla tactics: “I know it’s not for a few weeks, but I think you should go to the cooking class.” “Are you planning to go in a couple of weeks?” “I’m glad that you’re going next week.” “Are you excited about today?” I guess she really wanted me to learn. Read the rest of this entry »

Jinhee and I were on top of our bed covers, staring up at the popcorn-stucco ceiling. We held each other, and said nothing. We were trying unsuccessfully to make sense of it all: 33 murdered at Virginia Tech. We mourned and prayed for the victims families and friends — and for the campus.

The ones who need something to blame are already starting to point fingers: why didn’t the school administration lock down the campus right away? Isn’t this what happens if we don’t have stricter gun control laws? Or, isn’t this what happens when students cannot arm themselves in self-defense? Doesn’t this happen when we let too many foreigners into the country? It’s such a human instinct to blame something — anything — when crap not only hits the fan but also punches us in the face. Read the rest of this entry »

PARIS, France — Bonjour! Jinhee and I had enough frequent flyer miles to send ourselves to Paris for week, clearly pointing to the fact that we’re workoholics. Who says there’s no upside to bowing down in front of the idol of productivity? Our chance to wolf down crepes and croques is what many are calling a babymoon: the one last hurrah before little Choungito arrives.

While in Paris, definitely visit Notre Dame de Paris. It’s breathtaking — we took no less than 60 pictures of it or in it. The cathedral stands at kilometre zero — the place where all distances in France are judged from. A paradox: at zero distance stands a monument which speaks of infinity. Read the rest of this entry »

The sonologist said he was “showing off,” so we knew beyond doubt that we’re having a son. He’s already an exhibitionist. That’s my boy.

But he also held his fists up to his face, and buried his head into the placenta wall so that we couldn’t get a good look at him. He was already avoiding the paparazzi. If he had a cell phone, he’d be using it already and ducking into his Benz. So he’s no ordinary exhibitionist, but a shy one too. Or a famous one. Clearly, he’s in tension. He’s going to need psycho-therapy right when he takes his first breath.

Yes, it’s a boy. But so what? You wouldn’t think that knowing the gender of the six and a half inch blob in Jinhee’s stomach would change much. I mean, it’s either a boy or a girl. Or something in between — that’s been known to happen. Or an alien. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the Emergency Broadcast System? When I was a kid, that eerie, creepy sound sent chills up and down my spine. We wondered if someone in the Kremlin pushed the button, and if we were all going to have to fight radiation-enlarged cockroaches for the last scraps of food on the blistered planet. All until that deep baritone kicked in, saying, “this is only a test….”

We were all afraid of nuclear war back then. It was the early 80’s, and the arms race was out of control. We ran bomb drills in school, and television mini-series like “The Day After” gave us fuel for a month’s worth of nightmares. And that creepy sound. Read the rest of this entry »