Danny ChaiOn Friday we headed down to Irvine to have lunch with old KFBC friends James and Paul (and Jenny). I’ve collectively known them for over 50 years. That’s crazy. Abby was, sadly, not that friendly. To be honest, I have Abby performance anxiety. When she’s not as interactive, I feel bad. I’m not sure why.
It was an early lunch, and we had to rush up to Pasadena for the rehearsal, as Jieun and I were leading worship for the ceremony. We got roped into it. When Dave and Jean were over a while back, they mentioned that they needed someone to do it, and suggested me and Paul, and Paul backed out, pointing out (legitimately) that he was standing in the wedding so it was impractical to do it. My thing is, I always respect the bride and groom’s wishes, so even though I had reservations about it, especially in light of some personal stuff, it’s not something I believe in saying no to. Anyway, that’s how we ended up in it.
Other than the persistent heat, I really enjoyed the rehearsal and the dinner. Dave’s friends include an interesting intersection with my own life, so it was kind of fun seeing them all together. I really like both his Harvard and Stanford GSB friends, and it was nice chatting with them. Like Scott and Josh. I don’t see them too much and hear about them second or third hand, but it’s always nice when we talk. It was also good (and random) to see Dr3w Hyun. Just a fun amalgamation of people.
The dinner was at Panda Inn (the ancestor of Panda Express), which was notable for the fortune cookies – the consensus best fortune cookies we’d ever tasted.
Afterwards, a bunch of us played poker, a truly random group that included Arthur, Walter, and their friend James. I have a new poker strategy, incidentally. I never, ever bluff, and I play pure numbers. And even when I have pot odds, I may lay down. Basically, I only play super strong hands. The strategy is based on the fact that novices are hard to bluff down, and they call too much. I’m willing to lose many tiny or medium size pots because when I have a great hand, I can win big pots. My thinking is, get more of your chips in when you have overwhelming odds, not just when you have favorable odds. It’s basically the opposite of Doyle Brunson’s strategy, and against novices, it has never failed. And it’s great because it’s extremely low risk, and I always finish up. And I have no problem with revealing my strategy; there will always be novices, and for those who know, I can adjust and utilize my table image.
The morning before the ceremony was actually a little bit stressful. There was no sound guy the previous day so we didn’t get to rehearse, and he seemed overwhelmed the morning of so weren’t entirely sure things would come together. Like he had a hard time finding mics, a harder time connecting them and running a sound check (much less managing levels), we couldn’t find a direct box and had to mic the guitar, and meanwhile other people were bothering him with other AV issues, e.g. a pre-ceremony multimedia presentation. So there was a bit of consternation.
The ceremony itself was remarkably brief. I suspect the pastor didn’t want to draw it out given the temperature in the sanctuary – a decision I applaud. It went by fairly quickly.
We made a “quick” trip to Glendale to satisfy Peter’s In N’ Out craving with the Jungs and Has, then were late to the reception. I was very upset about this, and it was my fault, I misheard the reception start time. Wedding events are among the only things where I’m a Nazi about being on time. It’s a respect thing, since it only happens once for them. So yeah, we were late, and I was upset at myself.
We were seated at one of the “Houston” tables with the Jungs, Has, Ros, Paul, and Sam. Food was eaten. Speeches were given. Games were played. No slideshow though – I think the pre-ceremony presentation took the place of it. Good time had by all. I did, at least. I wish I had gotten to talk to Scott and James Ch0i more, but I’m not social enough to seek out people to talk to them, so whatever.
We went back to The O.C. to rest and pick up Abby, then went back up to L.A. to have Naeng Myun at Yu Chun, my favorite Naeng Myun place in the world, with the Jungs and Yuhans. Predictably, we ran into traffic on “the” 5 and “the” 101. For some reason, I always forget about L.A. traffic, and when I run into it on a random weekend time, I always get angry. I’m sorry, but sitting in traffic everywhere you go is no way to live.
Anyway, we had a lively discussion with the Yuhans at dinner, then we decided to go to Pinkberry for dessert. If you’ve never heard of Pinkberry, look it up on Wikipedia. There’s an insane amount of hype about this place. Even the Sports Gal mentioned it last fall. I had to try it out, and we went to one near Yu Chun, a location that Paris Hilton supposedly frequents. It actually tastes pretty good, if you like Korean yogurt drink, and the mochi topping is particularly delicious. Plus it’s supposedly low-fat. I’d definitely go again. I’m not into ambiance at all though, so the Design Within Reach furnishings were not my thing.
I’m losing steam. Let’s just finish this up. Sunday Dave’s parents hosted brunch at the Huntington Library for out of town guests. I had heard of the Huntington Library for years, but I had no idea what it actually was – it’s beautiful, with a bunch of gardens and I think museums. It being Sunday, they had Drew lead a simple service, which I was blessed by, in large part because I’ve never actually heard him preach.
Brunch was in the tea room, which was quite good, in the sense that I guessed that it was more expensive than it actually was. It was an English tea type thing, with scones and cucumber sandwiches and such. The scones were especially delicious.
Then we went to Karen’s mom’s place to wait for Karen to give birth, then to the hospital where we were the first visitors they had. Then went back to The O.C. and celebrated Jieun’s dad’s birthday with a sweet potato cake.
Monday we packed then drove to Santa Barbara (we decided to take the 101 back up – it takes longer, but it’s an infinitely more interesting drive with more interesting places to stop, which we figured we’d have to do with Abby. It’s a difficult tradeoff, actually. Take I-5 and get there much faster, with virtually no good places to stop, or take 101? I’m not sure what we’ll do next time). Lunch at Fishouse, ice cream on the pier, then made a quick trip to Mission Santa Barbara. Jieun, being an elementary school teacher, is extremely interested in the California Missions, and was actually bummed we didn’t see the one in San Diego. Since we were in Santa Barbara, we figured we should see it. Didn’t go inside, but the outside is pretty nice.
Then we went home, making two diaper change stops along the way. And that was our trip. And no one cares.