Ryu2.mind

A new blog

...for a new year...

and a new life...

and three of my hardiest fellow CAM members and I are wrapping up the final touches for today's (!) 3rd Anniversary Service at GrX.

It's only now sinking in that this is the first of probably many lasts for me...

My video swan song, if you will... for the GrXers reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. =)

Given the country I'll be working in come a few weeks' time, and some of the things I'll potentially be doing on the side, I've relucantly decided that from this point on, probably a lot of what I write will be protected from this point on. I'll still write a lot of public entries, but the personal stuff will not be so "open" anymore.

If you are a known (to me) reader of this blog (you've commented or subscribed at some point in time), you'll probably hear from me soon regarding access.

For you lurkers... time to get out of the woodwork and drop me a line. ;)

The question people have been asking me most frequently about moving to China is: "has it sunk into me yet?"

No -- not at all, really. Between the early registration rush for WCC, last-minute videos at church, two garage sales to get rid of stuff, meeting with long-lost friends, and various other paperwork and logistical items relating to China, my employer, and various other areas, I've fallen into the trap of seeing the trees but not the forest.

Last Saturday at Bobby's birthday bash at church, I had the chance to talk to my "nuna" Helen who's been MIA for the past few weeks and mutually catch up. Like myself, she's about to undergo a major life transition -- in her case getting married, and similarly, that Big Picture hasn't really sunk in for her as well with all her planning and taking care of the nitty gritty of all the details and logistics. Human nature again rears itself.

Spending time with her and the other usual GrX suspects at that party was good for me -- not so much to celebrate Bobby's bday, or even actually spending time with friends, but what was most theraputic was the fact that it allowed me to break the monotony of taking on tasks non-stop -- like a game of real-life whack a mole. It's definitely been draining, and yet, I realize -- what drove me to pursue the path I find myself on is the excitement of starting this new adventure and taking a leap of faith, of finally living out something I've been thinking of for years. I know what the big picture of the forest looks like, and it's what kept me going, but the going has gotten tedious.

And now I realize that rest, prayer and reflection are just as essential for me during this time of huge transition as getting things done.

Please pray for my last full week here in the US -- that the home stretch be fruitful -- that the view of the forest may not only be visible, but be inspiring.

And also please pray for WCC -- there have been some potential complications on the administrative side and some misunderstandings within the Planning Committee. I don't know if these are snags or something from the enemy...

Thanks all.

... what would you be and why?

I've always wanted to be a pilot, and had my vision been a bit better, perhaps I'd be jetting you guys all around the world by now. =)

I always like not only the feeling of uninhibited freedom that flying entails, and the chance to indulge my innate nerd and play around with the cool electronics that form the navigation and control system of a modern aircraft, but perhaps most interestingly, for me, aviation dovetails nicely with my interest in geography, cultures, and the countries of the world.

Not just visiting these countries, but the actual flight from point A to point B can be a cultural tour in and of itself. Case in point: when I fly United, I always try to listen to Channel 9. For those of you who don't know what it is, it lets you listen to the air traffic control transmissions live through the audio system.

On my last flight to Shanghai, I had a especially interesting Channel 9 experience, listening to a wide range of air traffic controllers. SFO ground, to tower, to NorCal departure, and then onto Oakland Center which became Seattle became Vancouver, became Anchorage, before getting into Russian airspace: Anadyr, Markovo, Magadan, Okha, Sakhalin, Khabvarosk, Vladivostok, and then onto the Far East: Pyongyang, Incheon, Tokyo, Fukuoka, and then finally Shanghai.

American pilots and controllers at nighttime when there's not too much traffic are a jovial lot, swapping sports scores, jokes, and the like. Listening to Channel 9 in Russian and Chinese airspace is always entertaining for me, not the least because you're usually the only aircraft in the vicinity whom they're speaking English to. In South Korea and Japan though, everyone speaks English, but it's fun listening to the fobby accents, usually by women controllers. Pyongyang control on the other hand, sounded like what I'd imagine a North Korean to be: a male voice, conveying a no nonsense, without emotion, almost robotic atitude.

I guess there's always Microsoft Flight Simulator to live out my dream....

How about everyone else?