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TeemLilLee
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Name: Timothy
Birthday: 3/31/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: FreshMEN and girls
Expertise: Making people laugh really really loud and hard (usually at me).
Occupation: Customer service/support
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Member Since:
5/19/2003
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| My younger brother Daniel got married this past Sunday. This past Sunday was also the last day of the LA County Fair. The LA County Fair was also located at the same exit and street that the Coco Palm was (where both the ceremony and the reception was held). When I was arriving, there was a good 5 minutes of gridlock traffic to get off the Fairplex exit. The maid of honor's car broke down and she had something quite important for the ceremony. The florist was super late, which meant that pictures (which required bouquets and boutonnieres) were gonna be late. Once everything seemed to be set so that the ceremony could be started, we had to wait for important relatives from the Philippines to arrive (which I suppose would be Filipino Standard Time). The anxiety in the air was so tangible that it started to make me feel stressed out during the whole preparation. And to top it off, I probably didn't even know the half of what was currently going on or any of the prep in the week leading up to this day. In all of the chaos, I already knew the answer, but I did ponder, "Is this really worth it?"
It was. It SO was. Because I saw Daniel cry twice and I have proof on camera for the second incident.
But in all seriousness, the ceremony was beautiful (albeit a little windy). I had fun with all the groomsmen even though I didn't really even know them all that well. I got to connect with all of the family members. The picture slideshow to Disney music ("Part of Your World" for Casey, "One Jump Ahead" for Daniel, and "A Whole New World" for the two of them) was enjoyable and provided some good memories; it also gave my dad his first chance to use Windows Movie Maker. My dad gave a very heartfelt speech and sound advice and encouragement to both Daniel and Casey.
During the mother-son dance, I could feel the love that this day was meant to show. My mom and brother began to cry. And I could see that they were both tears of joy and of sadness. The joy of this huge step that Daniel was taking into being a husband, father, and man and the reality that this young man has left his father and mother and become one with his wife. Toward the end of the song, the MC invited others to share the dance with their loved ones. My dad joined the dance floor with my mom and Daniel and just embraced them. And cried as well. In seeing all this love and all the tears, I cried as well (while taking pictures of it). These past two weeks, my Bible study has been going over the life of Joseph and we addressed the topic of family. My family is by no means perfect, but I am so thankful to God for the family He has provided me with and the love we have all shared.
Work is Work
Everything I said about my work in the previous post is overshadowed by this one week. This Saturday, we are hosting 16 scholars (young and old) for our academic conference called the Rising Stars Conference. Basically, each of the young scholars will be sharing their unpublished papers with the rest of the group where a senior faculty member will give constructive criticism. On my end of the deal, I'll be working all day Saturday, and these past two days have been non-stop. Email this to this group, email that to the other group, book these hotels, set up transportation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, respond to this email, respond to that email, and oh wait the first group never received the first email so send it out again but to each individuals one at a time (yeah, I'm serious), and there are still three days left in the week to prepare for it.
Now to be honest, I'm not really stressed out, just busy. Since I have a tendency to evaluate efficiency of my actions and my time, I question some of the instructions I am given (like re-e-mailing everyone with individual e-mails) and wonder, "Is the result actually worth the effort?"
And I can't really answer this yet, since the conference is happening on Saturday. But I do know this:
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Colossians 3:23-24
That verse definitely carried me through some of my harder (and boring) times at Hanmi Bank. To give me motivation to not just work, but work diligently when it just flat out sucked. Also, taking into consideration what it feels like to be a visitor and sometimes feeling lost (see my old posts while I was in Korea in 2004 and 2006), those scholars probably feel a lot better knowing that the logistics are taken care of.
(sidenote: after all of this, I really wonder how the BCF staff was able to do No Ordinary People back in 2007 as that must have been a logistical nightmare.)
The Ideal of Prosperity
Back in spring earlier this year, our church focused on some of the spiritual strongholds in the local area. One particular stronghold was greed. During one of the sermons on greed, the speaker shared 8 principles for a Biblical Economic Lifestyle. One that struck me the most was: The ideal of prosperity is an ideal for the people of God as a whole, not for isolated individuals.
It's really interesting to observe how various Christians embrace or repel prosperity. I think I even read somewhere or heard from someone a very controversial statement that no true Christian would ever own a BMW. And I've wrestled with this issue. Even back during my sophomore year in college, I nearly spazzed out when we got to the passage of the widow's offering because how the heck can someone ever give ALL? For the longest time I had been wanting to read the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and finally got to read this during this summer. It was very eye-opening in terms of how prosperous we are to be living in America and also how much potential we have to be a blessing to the rest of the world.
At my new job, I feel quite blessed. To have a job. To have a job I enjoy at an organization that I believe in. And I made a decision that if I got this job, if I was blessed with prosperity, it would only be right to bless others through it. In Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, one of the practical ways an individual can make the world a better place is through micro-loans. These are small loans to help finance small businesses in poorer areas and when they are paid off, they are then used to finance more loans in the area. The book suggested Operation International, so I loaned money through them, though I am still interested in checking out Kiva and FINCA International. For some reason, my work paid me for vacation time on Labor Day (Sept 8) even though I started working on Sept 14, so I was able to loan that money out as well.
Then I got my paycheck (or lack thereof). And I now realize that I actually make less than my previous job. I guess to be more correct, my take-home pay is less than my previous job due to insurance premiums and other similar deductions. And I thought... did I just give away money that I didn't have?
Only one life,
'Twill soon be past;
Only what's done
for Christ will last.
I recently finished John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life and this was one of the quotes in the beginning of the book. It reminded me also of Angie's senior quote during our Senior Catalyst baby pictures video. In the end, you can't take it with you and I'm sure that money served a much better use than if I purchased a video game or something else stupid.
Of course... my job also provides me with holidays on Black Friday and a week off for Christmas break, and I'm 90% sure that I'll be using that week to go to Urbana!
Godspeed | | |
| "What does a program specialist do?"
While I'm still in the process of figuring that out, I'll tell you what I have done so far. I still think that half of my job is administrative work and the other half is event planning. On the administrative side, I reconcile the statements, record receipts and paperwork for reimbursements, straighten out the building, organize our equipment, and take phone calls.
For the event planning side, I have transported equipment, prepped our translation system, moved several tables and chairs for the event, meeted and greeted several guests and visitors, booked hotel rooms for guests, and cleaned up after the event.
I think that as I'm at this job longer, my supervisor, the associate director, will start handing off more duties (both administrative and event planning) to me. As far as my co-workers, it is pretty much just me and my supervisor. There is a director, but he is pretty busy with other things, like being a professor and traveling. We also have 3 part-time grad student workers, but they come in and out throughout the week.
One thing I notice though is that my rhythms have not yet adjusted to my new work schedule. Even though I work fewer hours (7.5 per work day, 8:30 to 5:00PM), I feel much MUCH more tired than I ever did at my other job. It may be simply because I walk a mile both ways to work (which is an awesome commute), but I still exercise regularly, so I don't think it's that.
Also, it's adjusting my routine to my new schedule. While at Hanmi, I could always drive to the nearby Ralph's to pick up my groceries right before work, which was super convenient when I could get my stuff for lunch and ingredients for dinner in one swoop on Mondays. I could just walk across the street after work (or during lunch) to the 24 Hour Fitness and usually give Richard a ride back home as well.
Now... I don't have a car to take me places because 1. parking costs $88/month! 2. My Cherry... My Hyundai Elantra is still in the shop! (so I wouldn't be able to register for a permit anyways). So now I need to either be really strategic on my weekends (to use my car to shop) or pick up my groceries during the walk at the nearby Superior Market. But I can only get so much groceries since I am walking and carrying them back home.
Also, it is very hard for me to plan strategically for my lunch meals. Due to the unpredicable nature of my job and it's event, I sometimes have business lunches or event lunches for our department. Not that I am complaining about free food, but I realize as a J in the Myers-Briggs test, these spontaneous lunches really throw a wrench in my system. At Hanmi, I had my work menu down to the T. I would always get 5 apples, 5 bananas, 1 loaf of bread, 1/3 lb of roast beef, and a head of lettuce that would last 2 weeks. I planned out all my meals and snacks so that I would use every piece of bread (for peanut butter bread for snacks and sandwiches for lunch). Now... I really haven't eaten lunch unless I get taken out for lunch because I refuse to eat out for fast food (other than my 1st week) and didn't get a grocery schedule going until now. (Hmmm... this may also be a reason for my recent tiredness).
One really exciting thing about my work is that this Wednesday (Sept 30), we are hosting the founder of the Kogi Taco Truck, Roy Choi. Ever since there was a news blurb about this event in the Korean newspapers, our phones have been ringing off the hook on this event. Chef Roy is going to share his story about coming up with the Korean taco truck and later in the evening, the taco truck will be on campus for every one to eat. (The funny thing is that I actually think that these tacos are overpriced and overrated. Not worth the price or the wait. My roomie Eddie makes "kogi" tacos just as good, if not better).
While I may not have adjusted the rhythms of my personal life to my new work life, I really enjoy this job. Hopefully, before the end of the year, I can ask my associate director and director about the possibility of applying to grad school part time while working this job. Maybe I can even take Korean classes too!
Godspeed
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| September 11, 2009 marked a big transition in my life. On that day, it was my last day working at Hanmi Bank, where I worked as an anti-money laundering officer for nearly two years (I started on September 19, 2007) and it was my first real job after college.
That day also had the first Friday night small group meeting that I would be co-leading. Prior to this, I had only taken on a teaching role in our Saturday morning small group and I would leading the teaching time twice a month. Now, it seems that my responsibilities have increased to include the vision, logistics, lesson plan, teaching, cooking and child care. While I am by no means doing this alone, it is definitely a step up from what I was preparing myself for... at least as of recently.
Our first lesson was on John 1 and the calling of the first disciples and we started sharing our testimonies. This past Friday, we studied Mark 4 and Jesus calming the storm and talked about the storms we have faced, situations where it is easier to choose into fear rather than faith, and ways that Jesus has blown away our expectations of who He is. We have our teaching and Bible study time together and then we split into gender specific groups for our reflection and sharing time.
Today at church, the speaker spoke having a seasonal routine and in this routine, being able to reflect on past seasons, being conscious of growth, and having vision for the future.
Time Make You Bolder
The summer of 09 was awesome. I remember back in 2005, our China team was selling a BCF music CD as a fundraiser and my favorite song on that CD was Mr. Adventure. My friend (and fellow 2005 China team member) Shirley had always encouraged me to go for it whenever I would mention a girl I was attracted to and mentioned Mr. Adventure to give me motivation. And I never went for it. Until the summer of 09.
At one hangout at friends' apartment, I found myself attracted to an acquaintance. In reflecting on this attraction, I decided to be adventurous and take steps to get to know her. I was hoping that by telling mutual friends who were really close to me, I would have some opportunities to get to know her by our paths crossing.
However, one of those friends strongly encouraged me to ask her out on a date. A few days later, I said a prayer of thanksgiving. Thank you God for providing me a job. Thank you God for my living situations and my 4 awesome housemates. Thank you God for my family and my two nephews. Thank you God for my friends. Immediately, I took out my phone and had her number, ready to press the call button. I hesitated. I can't convey how nervous I was in this moment. The woman I was about to ask out on a date hardly even knew me and out of nowhere I would be calling her and ask her on a date. In that nervousness, I put the phone down and started to give God praise for who He was. You are faithful. You have always provided for me. You are my strength. You are my shepherd.
Then I pressed the call button.
"Hi, this is Tim Lee. Is this ______? Hi, _________. I'm sorry if this is really weird and this is coming out of nowhere, but the other night when we were hanging out, I found myself really attracted to you. But, I realized that I didn't really know you all that well. So, to get to know you better, can I take you out on a casual boba date?"
She said yes.
Just like my nervousness, I can't convey how joyful I was in that moment. Like Johnny Drama in Entourage, I screamed out, "VICTORY!" I honestly wanted to tell everyone around me and anyone online, but limited it to close friends and my housemates.
We went on two dates and they were two of the funnest, exciting and joyful experiences I have ever had. Our first date was a casual boba date that lasted 3 hours of us just talking and getting to know each other better with some Yogurtland to top it off. Our second date was going out for soondubu and playing some Rock Band with the roommates.
Throughout that time, I felt so affirmed and so grateful that she was willing to give me a chance even though we hardly knew each other. I was also glad that the whole experience was enjoyable for her as well.
It's too bad that it didn't work out. But I'm confident in God's provision in this area in my life. Hopefully I can remember those moments of confidence when I may get impatient.
Children Get Older
My nephew Aiden will turn 1 year old on October 6. This past week he was taken to the hospital because he had a fever of 103.5. We found out later from the doctor that he had swine flu. Even before the doctor declared it, I had a suspicion that it may be swine flu and I always get a little scared when Aiden gets sick. When he was born, he had breathing problems and he was in NICU before he could be taken home. Ever since becoming an uncle, I feel like I have gotten to know a piece of God's heart. That aspect that He loves us for simply existing. I love Aiden for simply existing.
My babies are all grown up. My junior year marked significant growth in responsibility and spiritual leadership. I was the oldest in the De Neve dorms and I shared two years of community with my De Nevers. I've also felt a really strong connection to the class of 09. Now most of my De Nevers (and the class of 09) are graduated, some are now on IV staff, and Ashley, David, Steven, Andy, and other David are in the senior year. My, how quickly the years pass by. Is this how my parents felt when was graduated? I was so glad that I was able to spend so much time with them over this past summer while they were still in the area.
I'm Getting Older Too
I am feeling old. My body seems to be falling apart. On Sept 11, my jaw locked in the middle of the day and I could hardly open my teeth 1 cm. I googled what I was going through and I think it was TMJ disorder. I told my dentist and it could be due to me grinding my teeth. Since then, I has only been a little ache and I've been able to fully open my jaw, but that day, it was very constricting.
I have four impacted wisdom teeth. I've avoided getting this taken care of because it never really hurt. My friend whose dad is a dentist told me that I didn't have to get them extracted as long as they don't hurt. I plan to get this taken care of within the next 6 months. And from what I hear from other people's experiences, this isn't going to be too pleasant.
I can't run. Whenever I run more than 5 minutes, I have a mildly sharp pain in the left heel. After 15 minutes, the pain is numb, but I walk with a limp for a day or two following that run. I think I need to get this checked.
But I do feel fortunate to have health and dental insurance through my job at USC.
I am looking forward to the ways I will grow through my role in Friday night small group.
I wonder what things God has planned for me as I settle my roots further in South LA. How will this job at USC fit in with what's going long term in my life?
Should I go to Urbana 09 to learn more about urban ministry and/or advocacy?
I am really excited about the new Five Iron Frenzy DVD that is coming out: http://www.fifdvd.com/
I am so glad to be at a place in life where I can share life with college friends and also meet other new people (usually at church).
Since I am getting more busy and need to be more responsible, I need to start taking my sabbath days more seriously.
Godspeed | | |
| I start working at USC on September 14. What a homecoming to see Matt Barkley lead a 4th quarter drive to beat the Buckeyes!
WE ARE - S C | | |
| Dear Timothy Lee:
On behalf of the University of Southern California, I am pleased to offer you the position of Program Specialist, in the Korean Studies Institute. Your expected starting date of employment is September 14, 2009.
I am pleased that you are joining the university and hope you will find your employment with USC to be a rewarding experience.
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Today I turned in my two weeks (and one day) notice to Hanmi Bank. Yesterday, I was offered the Program Specialist position over the phone. One day I googled what the benefits were for USC and I found this: Tuition Assistant Program . Each semester I could receive up to 100% tuition assistance for up to 4 four units at the graduate level. The MA in East Asian Studies takes 28 units (which includes the thesis), so I could potentially get an MA in 3-4 years without having to pay tuition and I'm sure it would enhance my role at the KSI.
I remember after I graduated how many times I would look on monster.com and craiglist and every other site imaginable with the keywords: Korean studies, East Asian studies, Korean, Asian. I would usually come up with teaching English in Korea and other positions (usually sales) that required someone who was bi-lingual. And that was always my main burden. Being a 5th gen Asian American, I feel like I was fated to be a banana that could never speak an Asian language fluently and I would lose out on all the opportunities because of that.
I applied for this position on July 26 after a much prayer over the weekend as I knew the interview process would be a delicate situation to handle with still working. After hearing nothing for weeks, I just assumed that someone had been chosen but the person in charge never bothered to update the job website. And I lost hope.
On August 10th, I received a phone call from the KSI and they wanted to know my fluency in Korean. Dammit... not again. I told her straight out: I only have 2 years of studying Korean language at the university level, I am not fluent in Korean, and they should disregard me if that is a necessity. She described the possibility of interacting with visiting fellows from Korea and analyzing websites and documents. "We'll get back to you." And I lost hope.
For the past weeks, I had been praying to God for just an interview. At that point, I prayed that if I did get an interview, it would be all God and I would give Him all the glory.
On August 14, I received a phone call from the KSI and they wanted to have an interview on Monday the 17th.
On August 16, I got rear ended on the freeway with Stephen in my car. Today, they determined that the guy who rear ended me was at fault. He claimed that I had changed lanes suddenly which caused the accident. While I was at peace right after the accident, this irked me. During the insurance process and investigation, I prayed for justice in this situation. And justice was served. (For more thoughts on the day of this accident, scroll down to past entries for more details)
On August 17, I went in for the interview and it went well. There were so many things from my life that came up during the interview that made it go so well. Tell me about your work for UCLA Catering; Tell us of a situation when things changed very quickly and you had to react. "We had a conference this one time and Catalina caught on fire."; bee-jeo-sseo can be konglished to call someone "bee-jeo-saurus" or bee-jeo-saurus rex" (I learned this phrase at Hanmi; why did you apply to this position? well, Korean culture has been my passion ever since starting undergrad at UCLA.
"It will take a year to fully learn this position, are you willing to stay at this job for several years?" The funny thing is... I didn't have a chance to answer this question because they moved on and I think they asked me why I am so interested in this position. But I thought about it... several years? I have only lived in this area for two years. But I do like my living situation, I'm planting my roots more firming in church by serving and leading, and I could see myself in this position for a long time. That past Sunday (the 16th), Brad Arnold spoke at our church and talked about the concept of settling down and investing in the community. (I think more of this is in past entries as well). But basically, all of these things from different parts of my life: working over the summer, InterVarsity, my current job, my journey through undergrad. They all came out during the interview and made for an enjoyable experience. At the end of the interview, they said they would contact me and ask for references.
Almost immediately, when I got home and checked my inbox, they asked for 3 letters of reference ASAP. I honestly had no idea what ASAP meant and thought maybe by the end of the week and next Monday at the very latest would be reasonable deadlines. Thankfully, the KSI definitely contacted me several times inquiring about the status of the letters and I had several gracious and understanding friends and a professor who were able to do this under the urgent cirumstances (in by that Thursday).
On August 21, while enjoying a nice day off going to New Capital for dimsum and Half and Half for peach black tea with boba with Janelle and Tammy, the church's mac that I brought could not connect to the internet. Fortunately for me, Tammy let me use her comp and I received a letter addressing the concern about being willing to commit for several years. After a lengthy email clarifying several other things, I wrote "in concrete terms, I would be willing to take this position for at least three years."
For the rest of the weekend, I was at the COR retreat at the Oaks Christian Camp. We had good teachings on John 15 (abiding and the vine) and it seems that the part about pruning was speaking a lot to our congregation. Well, I wouldn't let a whole retreat pass me by without praying about it in community. After all, while all signs pointed that I should go to USC (cost of education was the same between USC and UCLA for me!), after praying several times with my parents, UCLA felt like the right place to go. So I asked Dennis, Richard and Shirley to pray for me.
On August 24, the KSI called me and said that I was the top candidate and they wanted to do a background check and they needed my authorization to do so. I felt a little guilty faxing it over to them at work.
On August 26, I got a call from the KSI and they offered me the position. For the rest of the day at work, I listened to "The Calm" by G-vo/Rajeev on repeat (which I did for most of the day today was well) and I felt like I was marinating in God's presence. Thank you, God.
On September 11, I will be at Hanmi Bank as an employee for the last time and bid my farewells to all my friends.
On September 14, I will be part of the Trojan family... finally.
Godspeed. | | |
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