A weekend in SoCal
Got back this evening from a long weekend for Byron and Maria's wedding in SoCal. Here's a brief account of what transpired:
Thursday
Took off from work at 6 pm, quite possibly the earliest I've left the office since I left mid-day last year for Tomio and Alice's wedding rehearsal. Met up with George, JT, Karen, Andrew N, Mike P, Andrea, and my bro to make the drive down to LA (the latter wasn't going to the wedding but hitched a ride down to check out UCLA law). After a drive that included walkie-talkie games of "guess that song" and "guess that movie quote", we rolled into Rancho Palos Verdes at around 2 am and crashed Mike P's place. Surprisingly, his parents were up and we were amazed at their hospitality - each room had bedding/pillow/clean towel/bottle of water. Props.
Friday
Slept in and started the day around 10:30 am, rehearsing the special music and wedding worship songs while the skit team ran through their script and assembled props. Hung out at a beach near RPV and enjoyed the 70 degree weather (in January! only in Southern California), taking some pics, then went sightseeing around Byron/Joy/Mike's old neighborhood. Had lunch in Torrance at The Loft, a Hawaiian restaurant, then checked into the hotel and made our way to the wedding rehearsal to get tuned up and watch the wedding party goof off and hang out around the sanctuary.
That evening, had the rehearsal dinner at Buca Di Beppo where I had the chance to eat and converse with Byron, his friend Bryon, and Dick A from OMF. Afterwards, headed back to the hotel and hung out in our room watching ESPN Classic (Bulls-Lakers '91) and going into our MST3K schtick for TNT "classics" like "Cobra" (Stallone) and "Lionheart" (Van Damme). Observation - as soon as we left the coast/hills of RPV and went down closer to the LA valley proper, my sinuses started acting up. I'm typically not very allergic to things; could it have been a reaction to the LA atmosphere?
Saturday
Got up late, went to Quizno's for lunch, then changed and got to the church early to set up and do a last few run-throughs. The wedding was wonderful - the bride and groom were radiant, the string quartet was great, worship/special music went smoothly. My favorite part of wedding ceremonies is usually the acknowledgement of parents - both Byron and Maria took out tissues to dry their eyes during that portion. I can only imagine what it must feel like to see your son or daughter up at the altar, ready to begin a new life both apart from and as a part of the old families. Byron did in fact look older, as he appeared to stand straighter than usual, and I think the wedding band on his finger adds 5-7 years to appearance. The reception at NBC Restaurant in Monterey Park was a pretty standard Chinese banquet, with good food, funny stories from the best man/maid of honor ("Just imagine a tree blowing in the wind" - description of Byron dancing), a skit from the very talented drama folks at Canaan ("My preciousssss"), and plenty of dinging. After wishing the bride and groom well, headed back to the hotel to unwind and hung out with Tomio, Eric T, Mike L and Mark C in their room discussing conversation topics such as "What hand-to-hand weapon would you choose in a fight?", the previously-blogged "Predator vs. Terminator vs. Alien" combat, the growing popularity of Texas Hold'Em Poker, and Streetball on ESPN.
Sunday
Woke up bright and early to attend Bread of Life's morning English service. Had a good time looking into God's Word in Romans 3 and hearing Doug Carson expound on concepts like redemption, propitiation, and the reason why the popularly-used Christian analogy of a judge pronouncing the sentence and then serving the sentence in lieu of the criminal isn't an accurate picture of God's love. In the latter case, the primary reason is that in the courtroom, the criminal has not committed the offense against the judge but rather against the system, and the judge is but an administrator of the system. In the spiritual sense, our sin is against God Himself, and only the one who has set the standard and has been rejected can offer justice (through Christ's death), righteousness (through faith) and compassion (through love). Interesting stuff.
After service, we grabbed a quick lunch (food in LA is quite cheap and pretty good) then headed back up. Fun weekend.
Got back this evening from a long weekend for Byron and Maria's wedding in SoCal. Here's a brief account of what transpired:
Thursday
Took off from work at 6 pm, quite possibly the earliest I've left the office since I left mid-day last year for Tomio and Alice's wedding rehearsal. Met up with George, JT, Karen, Andrew N, Mike P, Andrea, and my bro to make the drive down to LA (the latter wasn't going to the wedding but hitched a ride down to check out UCLA law). After a drive that included walkie-talkie games of "guess that song" and "guess that movie quote", we rolled into Rancho Palos Verdes at around 2 am and crashed Mike P's place. Surprisingly, his parents were up and we were amazed at their hospitality - each room had bedding/pillow/clean towel/bottle of water. Props.
Friday
Slept in and started the day around 10:30 am, rehearsing the special music and wedding worship songs while the skit team ran through their script and assembled props. Hung out at a beach near RPV and enjoyed the 70 degree weather (in January! only in Southern California), taking some pics, then went sightseeing around Byron/Joy/Mike's old neighborhood. Had lunch in Torrance at The Loft, a Hawaiian restaurant, then checked into the hotel and made our way to the wedding rehearsal to get tuned up and watch the wedding party goof off and hang out around the sanctuary.
That evening, had the rehearsal dinner at Buca Di Beppo where I had the chance to eat and converse with Byron, his friend Bryon, and Dick A from OMF. Afterwards, headed back to the hotel and hung out in our room watching ESPN Classic (Bulls-Lakers '91) and going into our MST3K schtick for TNT "classics" like "Cobra" (Stallone) and "Lionheart" (Van Damme). Observation - as soon as we left the coast/hills of RPV and went down closer to the LA valley proper, my sinuses started acting up. I'm typically not very allergic to things; could it have been a reaction to the LA atmosphere?
Saturday
Got up late, went to Quizno's for lunch, then changed and got to the church early to set up and do a last few run-throughs. The wedding was wonderful - the bride and groom were radiant, the string quartet was great, worship/special music went smoothly. My favorite part of wedding ceremonies is usually the acknowledgement of parents - both Byron and Maria took out tissues to dry their eyes during that portion. I can only imagine what it must feel like to see your son or daughter up at the altar, ready to begin a new life both apart from and as a part of the old families. Byron did in fact look older, as he appeared to stand straighter than usual, and I think the wedding band on his finger adds 5-7 years to appearance. The reception at NBC Restaurant in Monterey Park was a pretty standard Chinese banquet, with good food, funny stories from the best man/maid of honor ("Just imagine a tree blowing in the wind" - description of Byron dancing), a skit from the very talented drama folks at Canaan ("My preciousssss"), and plenty of dinging. After wishing the bride and groom well, headed back to the hotel to unwind and hung out with Tomio, Eric T, Mike L and Mark C in their room discussing conversation topics such as "What hand-to-hand weapon would you choose in a fight?", the previously-blogged "Predator vs. Terminator vs. Alien" combat, the growing popularity of Texas Hold'Em Poker, and Streetball on ESPN.
Sunday
Woke up bright and early to attend Bread of Life's morning English service. Had a good time looking into God's Word in Romans 3 and hearing Doug Carson expound on concepts like redemption, propitiation, and the reason why the popularly-used Christian analogy of a judge pronouncing the sentence and then serving the sentence in lieu of the criminal isn't an accurate picture of God's love. In the latter case, the primary reason is that in the courtroom, the criminal has not committed the offense against the judge but rather against the system, and the judge is but an administrator of the system. In the spiritual sense, our sin is against God Himself, and only the one who has set the standard and has been rejected can offer justice (through Christ's death), righteousness (through faith) and compassion (through love). Interesting stuff.
After service, we grabbed a quick lunch (food in LA is quite cheap and pretty good) then headed back up. Fun weekend.
posted by Bob at
12:44 AM
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