End of 2005 News

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has gone by, and I'm so thankful to God for all that has happened! Sure, there's been some bad times, but whether the times were good or bad, God used them to teach me some lessons. There's a saying, which I am hopefully rendering somewhat correctly, that goes: Someone foolish doesn't learn from their mistakes, someone smart learns from their mistakes, and someone wise learns from other people's mistakes. Reflecting on this past year, it looks like I'm upgrading from foolish to smart (woo-hoo!). At any rate, I just wanted to take some time to update y'all on some stuff I've been doing, and what might be in store for me in the months ahead. Some of you I haven't talked to in ages (not more than a decade, tho'!), and some of you I've talked with just this past week. If it gets boring (or you just don't want to read a lengthy e-mail) just skip to the last paragraph. Alright, here it goes.

This August, in the midst of reflecting on my life and worrying about my then current situation, I broke down crying in the shower at my parents' house. Over the past few years I wasn't liking who I was turning into. I wanted to be true to what I believed, and I wasn't. My parents had done their part in instilling in me the values of loving others and God, yet like so many things in my life I had a "book knowledge" of them rather than an "experiential knowledge" (sorta like UCSD Engineering students, save people like Hart). I thought more along the values of being loved by others and God (and, unlike the former, I had great experiences of both). That's not to say that I never did do the former (i.e., love others and God), it's just that they were not as valuable to me as the latter. Sometimes the former was fueled by the latter. But notice the grammatical difference: the former is in the so-called active voice; the latter is in the passive voice. I was wanting things to happen to me, but (if I could help it) I was not really active in making things happen. At any rate, from August I've been focusing more on how to love than be loved: how to love both God and others. So far, it has been really hard, but the rewards have already been wonderful when I do: less stress, less strife, more joy out of life:

Last November I started a "relationship" with Margret Gonzales. I use the quotes because we had a relationship before, but it wasn't a "relationship" ;) She's a third-year at UCSD who's majoring in Religion and Political Science/International Relations, and probably the sweetest person you'll ever meet (if you are lucky enough to do so). She's from San Jose, and has a wonderful family of two parents (like all of us) and five siblings (definitely not like me). Some of her favorite hobbies include painting, journaling, and learning guitar. What attracted me to her in the first place was how she treated others, her apparent bright outlook on life, her smile, and, well, how she looked

Hmm...apparently she's not ready to be introduced. Maybe by the end of this paragraph she'll open up a bit. So as I was saying, Margret's a great gal, and we've been able to share wonderful moments together, from walking on the beach at night (one of her favorite things to do) to walking around in Balboa Park to practicing Italian or another language (one of my favorite things to do). In every situation, I've learned more about how to love someone better and better instead of nurturing my Goddamned selfishness. I've enjoyed spending all my time with her, and have learned something which might have been apparent to all of you already: quality time takes a quantity of time. Let's see what Margret's up to:

Even tho' we've had great times together, our relationship hasn't been free from the bad times, as some of you know (I blame myself for all of them, and rightly so as you will see). I broke up with her in January for a couple months when I needed to "focus on my relationship with God" (notice the use of quotes again). After a couple of months of personal reflection, some kinks got ironed out on my end and we started dating again in March. Then at the end of November, in the midst of many changes in my life that I didn't know how to handle all at once, I broke up with her again. Coincidentally, it was right after our one-year anniversary (in hindsight, really bad timing). Despite the bad timing, we were able to talk about my (yes, they are my) problems and she agreed that our "relationship" needs some time off. And so whether for a month, a few months, or more, we're not going to date. We still consider each other best of friends, but realize that if we want this to work out in the long run, sometimes a step back is better than a step forward...especially when a person like me can't even walk straight. Seriously tho', I thank God for her. I know I don't deserve to know such a great person. Oh!, looks like someone is happy to hear that compliment!

This year was my last year as an undergrad and was also my first year living off-campus. I lived with four other guys, and now that I think about it, it was a good experience. I got along with all of them most of the time, and strengthened relationships with them. Probably the biggest thing (even tho' it was a small thing) that I learned was to handle the sight of this (sans the rubber ducky and companion):

In June I graduated from UC San Diego. Some of you might have thought I was going to make a career out of being a student, so sorry to disappoint. :) I received a Bachelor of Arts in General Linguistics, even tho' I spent just little over a year in the major (I received a minor in Electrical Engineering for my other three and a half years of college). I did some research on stop epenthesis in nasal-fricative clusters (e.g., the homophony of 'sense' and 'cents') with one of my professors, Amalia Arvaniti. I finished up working on that over the summer, and realized at the end that phonetics wasn't the subfield I liked the most (I think I like syntax or semantics (particularly pragmatics) the most):

Fortunately, another of my professors, Eric Bakovic, forwarded me a job listing that was sent to him, and my first real job out of college landed me at Parity Computing where I work on developing grammars (yes, my title is "Grammar Developer"). What my job entails is better described (albeit a bit succinctly) by the company website, but it does a better job than I probably could. The blue area in the middle, yeah, that's what I work on. It's a really wonderful job and I've learned a lot from just being in the work environment. I actually get to work with one of my former TA's, Karen Tanenbaum (no relation to the Royal ones). She's my direct supervisor, and she's really helpful in providing feedback and helping me when I get stuck with something. I've learned that I can't do everything (surprise!) because I want a life outside of my job, and she definitely helps me in my job. There are a couple bonuses from having the job, too. I don't have to dress up every day, and I can work practically any hours I want, as long as I put in 8 hours a day. I do try to dress up a bit and get to work early, because that means two things: I can slowly get used to dressing up for whichever job I have next, and I can enjoy the afternoon sun even in the wintertime. All in all, I'm excited to have this job!

Now for my plans for the (many) months ahead. I have a few short term goals and a few long term goals, but I'll just share the shorter ones (i.e., less than 5 years to complete). My first short term goal is to save enough money to (easily) relocate if I need to. My second short term goal will hopefully be made easier by the first: teach abroad (hopefully East Asia) for at least a year. My third short term goal will hopefully be made easier by the first two: visit a few different countries outside of North America, especially in Europe.

Do you see a pattern there? All my short term goals involve movement (the first involves moving money from my wallet to my bank: very hard). I want to explore a bit of the world, and God willing I will. I have only been to Mexico (San Felipe) and Canada (stepped foot on Canadian soil right above Montana), but besides that have never been outside of the United States. The goal to teach abroad in East Asia is driven mostly by my desire to learn more about that part of the world and the many cultures thriving there. The goal to visit Europe in particular is mainly because I met some really cool people in I-House a couple years ago who now live in Europe; it would be great to see them again and to catch up with what's going on in their lives. I actually hope to get the first and second goals done by the end of 2007, and see a I-Houser in Europe by the end 2008, but I know things don't always work the way I want them to, so I'm trying to keep that in mind as well :)

So yeah, those are what I'll be working toward in the upcoming months. Sharing some of the highlights of my life from this past year hopefully allowed you to see my perspective on events in my life and how I've changed (hopefully for the good of us all). Because you are my friends, I wanted to make sure you knew at least some major events that have been going on in my life, despite any lack of communication we've had recently. I'm so thankful to each of you for your friendship, and I wish you the best for the new year. I hope we keep in touch.

God bless,
David

David!

I am so glad to have heard from you! It sounds like you have had a wonderful year.

Yay! to all your goals; they sound very realistic and attainable. You are quite a driven person and I have no doubt that you will soon be making a new goal list because you've accomplished these!

I'm going to be moving down to San Diego once again on January 1. Perhaps we can grab a bite and really catch up.

Merry Christmas!

*mwah*
Kristel

David "The Italian Stallion" Romano,

Good to hear updates from you. I had feared you had return to the Valley of Yuca to engage in mundane activities such as roosting dirt bikes while high on PCP, but luckily you have a solid head on your shoulders... I've always respected that about you. "Grammar Developer" huh? We don't need no stinkin' grammar *cue ogre battle*. Anyhow, just wanted to wish you a happy "give-your-atheist-child-a-present" day (credit Dave Barry, a more PC term was never created). Good luck with work, women, and weblogging, and lest I should commit any more heinous acts of forced alliteration, good day sir.

Hart - you said it right, Romano is the "Italian Stallion"!

Romano, thanks for the update man. We haven't been able to talk a lot lately and it was good to hear about what has been happening in your life lately. I'm glad that you've been able to recognize some of your personal problems and that you're working to change how you live your life. You were cool before, you can only get cooler

Come by Cuzco if you ever want to hang out. Stay cool man, you're a lucky man. You and Margret are too cute ;) Oh yeah, and I loved the quote about UCSD engineering students, too much "book knowledge" haha.

hey Dave! so... good update! i guess that explained things a little better than you wanted to last night. It was so great to see you. sorry i ditched out on you guys but i'm sure you had a great time. I'll be keeping in touch! bye bro! ~BEKA~

what's with these epic updates? you and charity are ruining my evenings... i haven't read this much in one sitting since i cracked blue like jazz. but for real, tahnks for teh soulbaring and comprehensive update. I feel like i just stepped out of the confessional booth with you :) keep it real and i can't wait to hang soon!
-the other stallion (del norte)

i just wanna give you a BIG hug after reading all that. why? becuase i love hearing about your life--whether it's lil tidbits over the phone (the usual) or epic updates online (rare, but oh so cool!). i'm so grateful to have you for a lil bro! I love that you tried to share from your heart and really reflect on the past year...oddly enough, reflection is such a powerful tool in moving forward in life...and I def see you moving forward. (and usually it's hard for a big sis to recognize a lil bro's growing up). i admire so much about you--you're so different from me in so many ways and i'm amazed at your intellect, passion and dedication (among other things). (i'll stop with the big sister bragging now). Not to say that you don't have your weaknesses (but who doesn't--it's not so much about what you're weaknesses are, but what you decide to do about them). As for your goals, hopes and dreams....just remember "seek first the Kingdom of God and then all those other things will be added unto you..." (and since you're quite literary, i'll say that context with this passage DOES matter so look it up and figure it out for yourself)! (and now i'll stop with the big sister guidance lesson). :)
loveya,
charitts

hi dave!
the old school SDers got a hold of this website and now we are passing it around to try and see what you are up to, glad to hear that your life is going well, and i hope to hear from you soon. oh yeah, you should really check out www.ftta.org. there is a school like that located in London. you could prolly travel out here and what not. i am here in London/ Cambridge, and visiting for a little bit, welps, catch ya later. hope all your plans and dreams work themselves out.
ciao!
-helena chu
ps. i taught english in the south of china and i suggest it, it was an experience which i will never forget. if you get the chance, i suggest you take it.

Great to hear from you Helena! Thanks for the tip about ftta.org: I'll check it out. Hope you're having a great time in England, and we definitely need to have an "old school" reunion :)

Website? Me, a website. We will leave that to the "what generation are you?" generation. Dave, as your mom, I'm sad to hear of your tears, but those times are so beautiful between us and God, that the pain and cleansing are worth the sadness that brings us there. I love you so much. Your life has changed me for the better.

I look forward to more updates and the newer David I will meet each time.

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Cor 2:8-10

I can attest to this Truth.

Love
MOM

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pay per performance

While I was thanking God that the Patriot Act didn't get passed by the Senate, I heard about what those in the EU have to go through: full recording of every phone/digital transmission by every person in the EU. The Patriot Act doesn't just permit this kind of "governmental oversight", but strengthens the power of a copyright owner to prosecute others for supposed violations of fair use. Anyway, one society in Britain, the Performing Rights Society, is trying to flex its muscle for supposed violations of copyright as well. One music shop owner is told that he must pay a license fee for anyone to try out a copyrighted tune before buying an instrument (a commonplace thing at the Guitar Center here in the US) because it counts as a "public performance". Seriously, that's a whole lot of crapola.

[update: now Britain is taking it a step further and tracking all vehicle movement...hopefully that's not happening already in the US without our knowledge. I know they do it at the Mexico-US border, but that's not half as bad as what's now going to happen in Britain.]

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let your blog speak for itself

Via Perlcast I learned about Talkr, a free service that converts a blog to audio. Well, it's free for up to three blogs of your choosing (on top of some popular ones they already offer for free) when you sign up for a free membership. If you want to listen to more, or listen to your own blog, then you can subscribe for a small fee (at least I think it's small). Anyway, I was just talking about text-to-speech technology today with a co-worker, and thought it fortuitous that I listened to this Perlcast today :)

yoyoyo

what up dave. i'll call you up for sure when i'm back in town. i hope all is well with you. i dunno man, these tests they throw at us are pretty gnarly. definitely tougher than anything i've ever done before. worse than the mcat, more energy draining than those interviews. i'll tell you about it when i get back. can't wait to chill, bro.

louis

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