thanks readers!

i forgot to mention:

i reached over 50,000 views on my blog!!

thanks readers for visiting and reading my blog.  i still remember when i started.  i’ve been waiting forever for my hit counter to reach 50,000.  next milestone: 100,000!!  let’s do it guys!

water, food, shelter, music

those are my basic essentials.  i remember when i was in high school, whenever i received money from my parents or from working or from pennies i found on the floor, i would spend them on new music.  when my parents gave me money to buy clothes or food, i would save it up and buy new cd’s.  maybe that’s why, to this day, i never buy new clothes.

music is like my drug.  i’m addicted.  i always need more.  i always need my music fix.  i have this theory that if no one in history came up with the concept of banging on stuff or creating tones from his or her voice to make music, i would’ve been the one to create “music”.

while i used to save my money to buy new music, lately, i’ve replaced new cd’s and mp3’s with new instruments.  when i am absolutely desperate for new music, i’ll buy a new instrument.  i’ve had a season for each of the instruments i play.  one of the questions i get a lot is: “hey enoch, how many instruments do you play?”  well my friends, here you are.  in order:

1. piano (10 years)

2. clarinet (2 years)

3. guitar (12 years and counting)

4. bass (7 years and counting)

5. cajon box drum (<1 year)

and now… my next instrument to master: the drums.

drums have always been my first love.  the first time i’ve ever heard a snare hit, i was in love.  i think for a lot of guys, the drums are the instrument that they’ve always wanted to play.  it’s just so cool.  there’s just something about a drum beat that makes you just want to dance and you know it.

i haven’t bought a drum set… yet.  maybe someday.  this will take care of my music fix for now.  ahhhh…. sweet relief

my biggest fear

– one of my biggest fears is dropping something valuable in the toilet: phone, keys, ipod.

no joke, whenever i replace the toilet paper in my bathroom, i’m super careful not to drop it in the toilet.  although it’s never happened, i fear that i would ruin a whole roll of precious toilet paper by dropping it in the toilet.

– i have this theory that tall people are more prone to be afraid of heights because tall people usually don’t want to be any taller.  they’ve never wanted to go higher cause they were always tall enough.  shorter people on the other hand, have always wanted to go higher and be taller.  therefore, since they’ve always wanted to be taller and go higher, they are less afraid of heights than taller people.

– i know so many people who are afraid of open doors (closet, bathroom, cabinet, etc.).  it definitely bothers me when cabinet doors or pantry doors are open, but when it comes to closet or bathroom doors, i don’t mind leaving them open.  i mean, i’m SUPER anal about closing cabinet doors or drawers or pantry doors, but for some reason, monsters can come out all they want to from my closet or bathroom.

– isn’t it weird how things that don’t normally scare you can scare the crud out of you when you’re dreaming?  for instance, i’m not afraid of… say… gummi bears.  but one dream about a giant gummi bear who eats my friends and family and i assure you i’ll be needing new pants when i wake up.  it’s weird how the mind works like that.  in real life, a giant gummi bear is a fantasy come true (especially if it’s haribo).  in your dreams, a giant gummi bear is a nightmare.

form vs. dysfunction

one of my friends once made a comment about how he was struggling with the concept of the church being “the family of God.”  his struggle was that oftentimes, the church doesn’t act like a family but instead like a group of strangers who are forced to listen to a timeshare presentation together (ok, i came up with that analogy.  but i think he would agree).  i’ve been thinking about his comment ever since.

i have a very idealized view of family.  i blame it on sitcoms like full house or family matters and the like where families work through struggles together and actually seem to enjoy spending time together.  this is how i envision the church to be like when i think about it being a “family”.  but could it be that the Christian “family” is as dysfunctional as my own biological family?

just about every week, i realize more and more how imperfect the church is.  how unlike a family it can be.  i guess i’m a little jaded when i see this because i feel like if the church can’t function as a family, what hope is there for an actual biological family?  and this isn’t a bash on my church, i think it runs across the board.  factions and splits, cliques and people being ignored or left out, people not feeling like they belong, etc.  is that how a family functions?  or, let me rephrase: is that how a family should function?

shouldn’t a family be a safe place?  shouldn’t a family be a place of comfort and complete vulnerability?  shouldn’t you be able to be yourself in a family?  or is the church family just as dysfunctional as a biological family where everyone has their guards up and no one wants to work on their relationships with each other?

what do you think?  am i way off?

where to sit? pt. 2

so i wrote an entry before about where you sit in a restaurant, class, etc.  i’d like to add another chapter to that blog entry.

this entry comes from my experience in the doctor’s office waiting room/airport terminal/any other kind of waiting room.  where do you sit in a waiting room?  what kind of “sitter” are you?

isolationist – you have your space and everyone else has theirs.  you’ll take mostly corner/end seats as it is the furthest away from other people.  there must be AT LEAST a one chair buffer zone between you and the next person.

selfish isolationist – pretty much same as above, but instead of taking the corner seat, you take the middle seat so that people can’t sit in the two seats bordering you.  you might even put your legs up or put your purse/bag in the next seat just so that everyone gets the idea that you don’t want ANYONE sitting directly next to you.  you want people to feel bad when they ask if they can sit next to you since you have to move all your stuff off the seat so they can sit.  in a stretch of 3 chairs, you’ll take the middle so that no one can sit in that whole row.  seen as a challenge to the super friendly.

the friendly – you don’t care where you sit.  if the room’s pretty full, you don’t think twice about plopping down right next to someone else.  you don’t weigh your options.  you just go for it.  you want a corner seat and there’s one open?  you go for it.  doesn’t matter if there’s someone sitting in the adjacent seat.  in a balanced room, you are the one who doesn’t mind being the first one to have to sit directly next to someone else.

the super friendly – you would rather sit directly next to someone than in that stretch of open seats.  you make people feel a little uncomfortable that you sat next to them instead of sitting two or three chairs over when the whole room is empty.  if you’re a guy, you might be that guy, who, in a row of empty urinals, takes the one that’s right next to the one guy who’s there making him feel super uncomfortable.  extra points for striking up conversation while you both are peeing.  enemy to the selfish isolationist.

i consider myself a selfish isolationist.  i’ll admit i take up the middle seat in a row of three or four.  i think i do it subconsciously.  i just don’t think about taking the end seat so that another isolationist can sit in the same row.

where do you sit?