In the news

Couple of articles from the Sunday edition of the Mercury...

Asian evangelicals blend faith, culture
Young evangelicals flock to Sunnyvale, rocking out for faith

If you don't feel like registering, check out BugMeNot.com. One of the best sites ever.

One of the interviewees in the article, Russell, was my WCC ministry consultant in 2004. One of the other ones, Josh, was in my college fellowship for a year. Seems that they both did a better job describing Asian Americans and faith than the journalist did - the latter seemed to focus on stuff like "Generation X," "rock bands" and "social outings."

A lifestyle of listening and obeying - WCC 2005 reflections part 3

See part 1.
See part 2.

After understanding that we are loved with a ferocious Fatherly love, we need to make lifestyle changes to better be able to experience and listen to God. The speaker used the analogy of spreading gasoline into our surroundings so that when the Fire of God comes, it will burn bright and widespread (ex. at Pentecost, the witnesses of the Holy Spirit-captured disciples went back to their native lands and served as "starter fluid" for the eventual planting of churches all throughout the area). Some of the suggestions that the speaker mentioned:

1) Be a seeker of God day by day.
The first thought we have when we wake up should be given to God, and the last thought before drifting off to sleep should be given to God. Our devotional life in one-on-one prayer, worship, and Bible study ought to be the center and highest priority in our lives, as it is from this relationship that all other parts of life - our work, play, relationships, decisions, passions, and goals - flow. Once we draw close to God, it becomes easier to listen to what He says and to obey what He asks. "I have never met a believer making a big impact in God's Kingdom who did not spend at least an hour a day loving on God."

This was incredibly convicting because as much as I pay lip service to the necessity of a strong personal relationship with God, my life and the things I emphasize in the church don't reflect this. I can't even begin to count the number of times that I considered logistical preparation for ministry to double as my devotional time for that day. When I discuss spiritual well-being with other brothers and sisters, this usually takes the form of what we've been doing ministry-wise. When I disciple or teach younger believers, my goal has been to impart knowledge about God rather than modeling how to draw close to God in personal prayer, worship, and Bible study.The snooze button has derailed many a well-intentioned but ultimately low-in-priority devotional time for me.

Some of the personal action items I took away from this lesson:
- move my alarm clock across the room to remove the temptation of snoozing
- intentionally go to sleep earlier - no more noodling around online till 2 in the morning
- get back into journaling - asking God for discernment and wisdom, then jotting down anything that comes to mind as a starting place for further prayer
- change my mindset/goal of ministry to inspire obedience rather than to impart knowledge. Ultimately, knowledge is fruitless if it does not take root and bring forth higher levels of faith.

For those of you that see me, please keep me accountable.

2) Live in community where you can be vulnerable with one another and discipleship (modeling a relationship with Christ) can take place.
The speaker shared a wonderful testimony and insight from the relationships that he has built. He told the story of how his brother came to faith during college, and then over the course of several years, eventually brought him to Christ, despite being painfully shy and quiet by nature - certainly not someone who you would consider to be a "great evangelist." His brother then took on the task of discipling him for a while, teaching and modelling the basics of faith. Years later, the speaker became a pastor and then began discipling and sending out missionaries to all parts of the world, starting with a group of four. One day, he found himself in a room with some of the people from the nations where these four missionaries had gone and preached God's Word, with dozens of believers singing praise to God in several different languages. As he looked around the room, he realized that by following the trail of spiritual investment in people's lives, his brother - the quiet and shy man that probably wouldn't immediately show up on a church radar screen as a potential leader - had made an impact in the lives of hundreds of people and several nations, simply by investing in the life of his brother, the speaker, through discipleship. Wow. I can't think of much better encouragement to continue investing in discipleship, even when it seems that no spiritual fruit is being borne - investing in a few can have an enormous impact. In our discipleship relationships, we need to teach how to: 1) study the Bible, 2) pray, 3) pray for others, 4) disciple others, and 5) obey.

3) Practice radical giving and modest living.
Pretty straightforward, I think. What do I want, and what do I really need?

4) Be committed to holiness and integrity.
When I am tempted by lust, greed, envy, sloth, or other sin, am I armed with Scripture to ward off Satan's attacks and turn my mind to holy things? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I've found that often in the church, our attitude towards sin often doesn't change much from youth through adulthood - "It's bad, don't do it." I'm learning, however, that the focus should not be a negative focus - "don't do x" - but rather to subsequently focus on the spiritual and the good. This positive reinforcement is likely more effective in warding off sin, since it's not just "not doing sin," and now there is a goal - the pursuit of righteousness, holiness, peace, patience, and the rest of the list.

5) We need to sow.
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel." This isn't an easy thing to say with a straight face, since I can't begin to count the times where I had opportunities to tell stories of God's grace and mercy in my life and others, but instead shifted to a "safe" topic like sports or video games or the weather. However, if we desire to see God's power being worked out around us, we need to be actively sowing. While this may sometimes look like a straightforward preaching of the Gospel, a lot of other times, I think this springs out of a natural, Christ-centered life. I don't have to be shy about sharing my excitement in ministry, since it is honest. "Is there anything I can pray for you about?" is a question that doesn't have to be asked solely of believers - I have yet to meet someone who didn't want to be prayed for, since pragmatically speaking, they have nothing to lose.

My daily call as a believer is to listen to God and obey. For the brothers and sisters who read this, hopefully we can keep each other accountable to this simple life and awesome adventure that God calls us to.

Berkeley alumni Identity Theft warning

Thanks to Andrew W for passing along this article. Short form: a thief walked into a UC Berkeley office and made off with a laptop containing the personal info - most damaging, Social Security Numbers - of Berkeley alumni and graduate students. If you fall under any of the following categories, you should call the number listed in the article:

The stolen laptop contained the Social Security numbers of UC Berkeley students who received their doctorates from 1976 through 1999, graduate students enrolled at the university between fall 1989 and fall 2003 and graduate school applicants between fall 2001 and spring 2004. Some graduate students in other years also were affected.

Zug zug

I am so wiped. I went into peon mode this weekend and spent about about 6.5 hrs moving furniture and boxes, on Saturday with some friends from work, and Sunday with Byron and Maria. For a white-collar Silicon Valley wimp like me, it always feels good and primal to work with your hands like lifting and moving heavy objects, shoveling snow, and the like, since you get to see tangible and gratifying results of your work immediately... but I'm probably gonna need some time to recover. Combined with waking up early to celebrate the risen Christ for Easter 2005, I will now turn off my brain and succumb to blissful unconsciousness for a few hours.

Jesus is risen!

Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches - WCC reflection 2

See part 1.

I attended an excellent workshop on the topic of "Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches," led by Carol Davis of Global Spectrum. I'm consistently fascinated by the house churches as portrayed in the Book of Acts, with teaching, fellowship, evangelism, and corporate worship and prayer. The lessons were particularly relevant, as in some senses we are "planting" community small groups this year based on region rather than life stage, so it's very exciting to see how some of these lessons can be adapted almost immediately. Here are some notes and reflections from the workshop...

- The 1st century church was apostolic in nature. The apostles exercised their apostolic gifts to plant churches through discipling indigenous leaders, performing miracles, and preaching. Looking at Acts, many of the apostles didn't stay in one place most of the time - they were sent out to the diasporic churches for the purposes of training and encouraging for a time, and then return to the "home base" in Jerusalem to give a report and to pray with the other apostles. They relied on local leaders to take care of the day-to-day church so that they could concentrate on teaching and continuing to plant other churches and multiplying.

Contrast this with today's church, which is typically considered "pastoral" in nature. The pastoral spirtual gift is very different from the apostolic one since it is primarily concerned with the spiritual care of a congregation. Yet, we've hijacked the term "pastor" to mean "church professional." So, the good pastor is not just supposed to be a congregation's shepherd, he also must be a master teacher, skilled in administration, plan services, disciple leaders, counsel whoever asks for help, chair every committee, lead the prayer meetings, and oh yes, watch after his own family. No wonder so many pastors get burned out, and no wonder the modern church has largely lost a multiplicative focus - the "leader" of the church is primarily concerned with day-to-day aspects of the church life of his "followers," rather than being focused in evangelizing and growing new disciples so that God's Kingdom can continue to grow.

Personally, this reflects an important change in perspective for me. Many believers I know, myself included, often consider the primary worth of a pastor to be in their Sunday preaching ability - how eloquent are they? What new insights from Scripture do I gain? As I've continued to learn, however, I'm beginning to understand that this is not a true reflection of the way God wants us to view His church. Everyone is gifted differently, and while strong Biblical teaching is of extremely high importance, I believe this does not necessarily have to come from one man. There are many gifted teachers that don't have a title, as well as gifted counselors, administrators, etc. In order to grow and multiply the church, we need to identify these people and help them to make an impact the way God has gifted them.

- Church multiplication should begin in houses rather than in the sanctuary. In Luke 10, where Jesus sends out the 72 disciples, he instructs them to seek out the "man of peace" in his house - finding someone who is receptive to the Gospel, has a reputation in the community (whether good or bad), and has references/connections through family and friends. When this person is saved and gets discipled, the change in his life and his ability to influence others plants the seed for a new church. Apparently the Greek word for what is commonly translated as "household" does not just mean one's family, but rather one's entire circle of influence. When the centurion and "his household" is saved, it is everyone he knows.

Social scientists have come up with the well-known theory about everyone in the world being separated by at most 6 relationships (6 degrees of separation). The workshop teacher posited that this was actually just a glimpse into the underlying framework for how God desires to see the world reached - through these natural bridges that everyone has, since everyone is in some sort of community. Why then, do we burn these bridges by insisting that people leave their communities to come to our church? Should we not take advantage of these bridges by building a community of God where they are?

- Spiritual regeneration leads to moral transformation which then leads to social restoration. Spiritual regeneration begins with obedience to God's command in Scripture. If we desire to see moral and social restoration, we should teach Scripture with a focus on obedience rather than a focus on knowledge. We should favor using methods in church that can be learned through imitation, rather than requiring training, since this continues to foster the notion that "true service is left to the professionals." We should only teach as much as people are willing to obey. I'm reminded of the story of Martin Luther, who when asked by his congregation why he preached the Gospel message of Christ crucified every week (implying that they could go on to more meaty stuff from such a well-known theological mind), said, "My friends, every week I preach the Gospel because every week, you forget it." It doesn't matter if the church can rattle off memory verses or five points of Calvinism if we are not subsequently inspired to higher levels of holiness and love for God and others.

- On a related note, Bible studies don't have to be complicated. As a small group leader for several years, I've learned a lot about crafting studies (studying different translations, asking questions, looking up context, identifying key words or phrases, coming up with applications, etc.) and thus I've fallen into the mentality that the teacher must be an expert. However, the workshop leader told a rather paradigm-shifting story of a young man in her church-planting program that wanted to go out into the field. They determined that he was a good candidate since he had professed faith in Christ, had that faith tested, and continued to be obedient. They also determined that there was an immediate need at a fledgling church in Mexico. However, he did not know any Spanish. So, they translated the following questions and taught him to say them, then sent him in:

Discovery Questions
1) What do you like best?
2) What do you like least?
3) What do you not understand?
4) What do you learn about God?
5) What do you personally need to do about it?
6) Which phrase or verse do you want to take with you?

In the church, he would meet with the group, they would pick a passage of Scripture to study, read it, and then he would go down the list of questions and ask each person to answer. He would have no idea what the natives were talking about, but their involvement and excitement about Scripture enabled that church to grow and other members of the church began leading their own Bible studies with these same questions. He didn't speak any Spanish except for these questions! It's humbling to consider the power of God's Word on its own to change people, without necessarily needing an "expert" or "scholar" to teach it.

I need to get new glasses. To that end, I've done some research on frames, and I think I'm going to go with a rimless pair since I like the look. In terms of the shape, apparently choosing the right frame is based on your face shape, skin tone, hair color, and eyebrow shape. I'm still trying to figure out what my face shape is: round, oval, oblong, base-down triangle, base-up triangle, diamond, or square. I think I'm mostly rectangular-ish. Some frames I'm looking at: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

My Dell Inspiron 5100 has been relatively functional the last 1.75 years, but it doesn't rate very highly on performance. Depending on the number of applications I have open, often the built-in fan will begin going full-blast and CPU usage will jump to a high number when I load webpages with flash advertisements, or even if I use Media Player to play the few mp3s I have. I may end up using my Cisco IBM laptop as my primary laptop and keep this one for backup/home use to store pics and music.

I just saw my coworker walk out of the restroom without washing his hands. Ah, the perils of office life.

I think working people need a spring break. Who's with me?

Events of the weekend

In roughly chronological order...

- Nurse Eva and Dr. Eric got married. With a doctor and a nurse practitioner in the house, their kids will undoubtedly be the first ones on the block to learn CPR.
- served as an usher at the wedding. I've probably ushered at least 6 times. My friends joke that I should make a business card for professional wedding services. "Did you enjoy the way I escorted you to your seat? Here, take my card..." Thus far, I have served as an usher, worship leader, special music vocalist, candlelighter, gift mover, stagehand, sound tech assistant, and reception slideshow narrator.
- got to see and catch up with a bunch of old college friends at my table during the reception, like Tomio and Alice, Andy and Pam, Cal, Ivana, Abe, and Phuoc. We dinged plates regularly, reacted indignantly when one Georgian toaster unwisely dissed all Californians by mimicking the Atlanta Braves' tomahawk chop, contemplated the wonder of being able to get a wine glass to emit a high-pitched annoying whiny noise by wetting your finger and rubbing the rim, and attempted (to no avail) to get people to try "chubby bunny" with the coconut-marshmallow thingy desserts that Ming's served and that we didn't want to eat.
- apparently my parents made quite the impression on my friends with their performance on the dance floor. They're actually members of a relatively large and well-organized Silicon Valley folk dancing group that has not only learned and performed cultural dances like European waltzes and such, but they've also done some American cultural dances by learning some teenybopper pop dance routines (think Britney). This is definitely not a gene that I've inherited.
- the Spurs lost Duncan to an ankle injury over the weekend. Hopefully he'll be able to make it back by the playoffs. I am eagerly looking forward to this year's run to the championship, since there are a bunch of new teams and new styles of play. Now that March Madness is almost over, we'll finally hit that wonderful stage of the year where there's an NBA game or two on every night.
- at the gym on Sunday, had the opportunity to discuss and implement some strategy on offense based on my team's personnel. Knowing that my team's tallest players (Jeff and myself) have perimeter ability, after getting creamed in our first game, we designed a backwards offense where the two of us would set up at the high post and top of the key respectively, drawing out our defenders (typically the two tallest guys on the opposing team) away from the basket. This opened the lane up for our other three players to post up and use their strength to grab offensive rebounds and make short-range jumpers. Worked like a charm. Seeing good strategies work is always gratifying.
- bought a new Bible last week that I'm pretty excited about. I've found that over the past few years in my personal devotional times and during Bible studies, I haven't really made much use of the various notes you typically find in study Bibles. Plus, I noticed that every time I took notes in my journal, I would rarely read them again, so particular insights shared by other Bible study members or during sermons would be lost from my memory. So, with this wide-margin Bible, I can take my own notes - ideas that I want to remember, context that adds new meaning, and analogies that I wouldn't think of on my own.
- started playing a new - well, an old, but new to us - hack-and-slash RPG game called "Champions of Norrath" with Andy Y, Byron, and Mike L on Sunday. You don't have to make a great 4-player simultaneous game for it to be fun, but this one has been pretty good so far. I think there's something in every geeky guy growing up wanting to learn new spells and gain new weapons, go on quests, and beat down hordes of ugly bad guys like orcs and undead.

WCC Lessons and Reflections

Every year, I think that I've heard everything I need to hear from World Christian Conference. Having been to the 2003 and 2004 conferences, I've had the opportunity to be both edified and inspired by the speakers and being around people passionate about Christ. It is genuinely refreshing to hear from teachers with excellent insight into God's Word illuminating His heart for all the world (Sjogren in '04, Yih in '03), as well as testimonies of God's power from people who have experienced it firsthand in the field (Lazlo in '03, numerous other missionaries). With all that said, I figured that I had already heard and understood the vision and purpose, the "world Christian" philosophy if you will (living strategically to impact this world for God's Kingdom), and it would be good to let someone else have the blessing of this conference. However, with this year's theme asking the question, "Now What?", I felt myself thinking that it would be a good thing to be equipped with a right perspective while entering into a season of my life over the next few years where I'm supposed to make important decisions. And, so I went. I'm glad that I did.

The primary plenary speaker (4 talks) was Pastor Jimmy Seibert from Antioch Community Church in Texas. His church and ministry have a huge heart for sending out teams of church planters to every corner of the world. Five days after the SE Asia tsunami, they had a team there working to rebuild towns. The American aid workers arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan a while ago? They were from his church. Pastor John Lo of Epicentre in LA intro'd and followed up with talks bringing things back into the big picture.

In my next few posts, I'm gonna post a little bit about some of the lessons I learned at WCC last month, as well as observations, reflections, and responses. I'll do my best not to go all over-wordy as is usually my wont, but I can't make any promises. In the Old Testament, God often tells the Israelites to tell the stories of their deliverance from Egypt to their children and their children's children - why? Because that consistent reminder of God's work and lessons needs to be reinforced so that they are not forgotten and can continue to be lived out in His people. Likewise, this little exercise will hopefully solidify some ideas, visions, and commitments for me from the conference and the days afterward. Hope you're blessed by these memories and reflections. I know I will be.

God's Heart For Us - WCC reflection 1

The God of the universe is madly in love with us, His children. He is glorified in us when we find our ultimate joy and peace in Him, and He loves us sacrificially. A couple of illustrations from Pastor Jimmy that hammered this point home:

- As a little girl was growing up, she could not shake her habit of involuntarily sucking on her thumb. Her parents had tried numerous methods to help her stop, to no avail. Even she wanted to stop because her classmates were beginning to tease her. Finally, the doctor told the parents that unless she stopped, she could cause permanent damage to her teeth as they were growing in. That night, in tears, she asked her daddy to do whatever he could so that she wouldn't suck her thumb anymore. She cried herself to sleep as her father lovingly held her arms down the entire night, gently quieting her struggles. The following night the struggles lessened, and eventually he stopped having to hold her down, and she no longer had to deal with that habit the rest of her life.

God, I can't do this on my own. I can't stop sinning. I can't set my mind on things above without Your help. Hold me when I struggle, when my flesh rebels against Your Spirit. Free me from the evil that I so long to turn from.

- Pastor Jimmy told the story of how one of his sons committed a wrong against his brother. The family has rules, the guilty son is educated about his misdeed, and he is disciplined. As far as the father (who is also the lawgiver, judge, sentence-executor in the household) is concerned, the matter is closed - the child committed a wrong, recognizes his wrong, and has suffered the consequence (spanking, in this case). Yet, when the father approaches his son about playing some catch, he finds the child dwelling on his sin - "I did it, I did it, I'm not worthy to play ball with you, I'm guilty, I'm a horrible person" and so on so forth. This breaks the dad's heart because the child is robbing himself of the joy of being with his father to dwell on a transgression that has already been paid for. Coming from an Asian culture where shame and "face" is an integral part of personal identity, this sounded patently familiar. I think I've lost track of the times where I've missed out on experiencing more of life because I felt like I hadn't "served my time." Look at me. I screwed up. I don't deserve anything good. Don't do what I did. I know I was wrong. See my sackcloth and ashes? In general, I think Asians understand law and the breaking of rules very well. Sometimes though, I think we have problems accepting grace - learning from the consequences of bad decisions and moving on in freedom, rather than dwelling on mistakes.

- Finally, he used the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt to illustrate the depth of a father's love for his son. Rick, having been born with cerebral palsy, could not walk nor talk, but against all odds had been able to grow up and live despite his disability. As a sports lover, he told his dad that he wanted to compete in a triathlon. So, the 60-year old father trained, and on Father's Day 1985, they competed with the father alternately pulling and pushing his son through 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of bicycling, and 26.2 miles of running. As we watched the documentary of that triathlon and saw the father bringing his skin-and-bones son across the finish line with champagne spraying over the two of them, it was a powerful reminder that "God is a lot more powerful than Dick Hoyt, and we are a lot worse off than Rick Hoyt" - and He will bring us to greater triumphs than we can even imagine, if we only let Him love us fully the way that He wants to.

I know that this touched a deep chord with many conferees, since this (my) generation of Asian-Americans have typically grown up with immigrant parents still steeped in the cultural norms that they grew up with, and fathers were not typically supposed to be intimate with their children. Being able to see God as a loving Father as opposed to a stern taskmaster is difficult for a lot of Asian Christians. I've been tremendously blessed to have grown up with parents who have not been shy about laying down the law, but who have also freely offered encouragement and praise when needed and love at all times, so I don't think this is as difficult a lesson to learn for me. But I know that finally touching the face of Abba Father was the most important message a lot of conference attendees needed to hear.

Today's adventures with a Nalgene bottle

I keep a Nalgene bottle at work - the classic blue one with the black plastic screw-on cap. When full, it holds a little more than 1 liter of water, which is a little more than 32 oz. (4 cups). Every day when I come into the office, I set up my laptop and while things are booting up, grab the Nalgene and fill it up in the breakroom. I fill up again after lunch, finish that in the afternoon, and maybe go through another quarter liter before going home. All told, this helps me drink more than the 8 glasses of water you're supposed to drink a day. I usually finish the last drops before going home and leave the cap off the top to let the bottle air dry.

So this morning, I come in, get set up, fill up the bottle, sit down and eat my banana and crackers for breakfast while periodically taking swigs of water. About 4 swallows into the bottle, I felt something plunk up against my front teeth. Curious, I put down the bottle and picked the object out of my teeth.

'Twas a drowned spider.

Now, maybe this is an example of where being a Christian can add complications to your life, since I've heard plenty of stories of missionaries in the field who encounter natives that don't realize a spider laid eggs in their mouth until a boil bursts and hundreds of little spiders come running out. I immediately emptied the bottle and washed it inside and out with dishwashing liquid, then rinsed my mouth a few times and gargled in the restroom, and I'll probably rinse with Listerine first thing when I get home. Yes, I know I'm overreacting since I only drank 4 swallows of water before my discovery, but if I start feeling the pitter-patter of little feet inside my mouth or my stomach in the next few days, I won't be very happy.

Or maybe it was a radioactive spider and I'll wake up tomorrow with my vision corrected and superpowers...

Weekend thoughts

I can't fathom spending thousands of dollars a year to be a member of a country club (I've heard it's something like $20k!), particularly since this fee doesn't actually seem to get you the services of the club for free (golf greens fees, food, etc.) but instead gives you the right to pay for those things. That being said, however, our company closing party Friday night at the Los Altos club was pretty posh. I always feel odd about taking appetizers from waiters and waitresses walking around with trays of the things. What if I want to take more than one piece of bruschetta? Why can't I be given that freedom instead of having to endure their icy glare?

On the plus side, the prime rib was tender and tasty, and the wine was free... though I didn't have that much. Can't hold my liquor.

I really enjoy flea markets. I don't buy much, but when I do, I prefer finding things that are used, in okay condition, and cheap. I think this appeals to my Asian bargain-hunting mentality as well as my penchant for not seeing things get wasted. I picked up 4 CDs (Dulcinea from Toad the Wet Sprocket, Pop from U2, No Angel from Dido, Automatic for the People from REM), 3 books (Sahara by Clive Cussler - coming soon to a movie theater near you, a Star Wars novel, and a Linux reference book), and a new wallet for about $30. The weather was perfect - 65 degrees and sunny, and the crowds turned out as a result since 2005 has been rather rainy for NorCal thus far. The flea market might just be the most diverse place you can find in Cupertino.

Celebrated March birthdays for Maria and Karen in the evening, then played some hoops and had dinner with a few folks at Ryowa on Sunday. Ryowa is a ramen place that I hadn't been to before, so on Andy Y's recommendation I gave the "buttercorn" ramen a try. I thought at first that it was some kind of special vegetable, like a butternut squash. In fact, it's basically a ramen bowl with a smattering of corn kernels and a slab of butter melting in it. Mmm...

Quote of the weekend, from Dr. Chiow's sermon: "People once asked theologian RC Sproul, 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' He responded, 'I don't know, I've never met a good person.'"

Upcoming post topics that have been simmering in the back of my mind: more WCC notes, thoughts, and reflections, job and grad school stuff, the impressive way Google has impacted consumer tech, and trying to prepare for my late twenties.

Test your English

Fun test here.

I got:
Advanced
You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 72% Expert!
You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

I needed to get at least one more correct on the "Expert" questions to get an "Expert" rating :-(.

Edit: Woohoo!
English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 77% Expert!

I wish they'd tell the correct answers though. I'm really wondering on those Expert questions.

Choices, choices...

My old company's closing party is this Friday night at the Los Altos Country Club... very posh. The dress is business casual (which I've learned doesn't mean jeans and a T-shirt, even though it says "casual") and the menu is small but tasty. To wit:

Appetizers: Mozzarella Crostini, Jumbo Prawns, Mushroom Filo Triangles, Sesame Chicken Pot Stickers

Drinks: buncha alcoholic stuff that I probably won't order since I don't think it's free - there's a difference between "open bar during dinner" and "bar open during dinner"

Now for my choice. Should I order:

a) Thyme-crusted Chilean Sea Bass with Risotto
b) Roast Prime Rib of Beef with Potatoes
c) attempt to get both

Adios, startup life!