Laughter Clips of the Week

"I've always thought that a good laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, 'Ain't that the truth'."

Quincy Jones


It's that time of the week again. This first clip was sent to me by a good friend and soon-to-be family member. It's good to know she has a quirky sense of humor...that'll help her fit in.



This second clip is short but sweet...Chris Rock talking about the tiger at the Seigfried and Roy show. Amazing...



I hope you had a good laugh. Enjoy the week!

My Boss and the Importance of Always Being Thankful

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul."

Rabbi Harold Kushner

I believe that everyone always has something to be thankful for. Regardless of how many problems you might have, if you look hard enough, you can always find something good happening in your life. For me, that something has been my boss and my Company.

About 8 months before I was diagnosed, I decided to change jobs. A new opportunity was presented to me by a friend and it was too good to pass up. This new job, as an associate at a small investment firm in Orange County, CA, would give me the opportunity to travel abroad, meet new people, work on challenging and exciting projects, and of course, make more money. At the time I was about to turn 24 and all these prospects were very enticing. So, even though I enjoyed my current job working in Los Angeles, I decided to make the switch.

The first time I met the owner of this firm, I seriously began to reconsider that decision (he had been traveling abroad when I accepted the job so I never got a chance to meet him then). After introducing myself to him, he began rapidly asking me questions about myself, my past job and my college experience. It was like a lightning round and I was on the hot seat. I soon came to realize that he was just having some fun with me, something that he likes to do often. He then assigned me my first project, giving me so few details about what he wanted that I spent most of the afternoon and evening just scratching my head, wondering if there way any possible way I could do it right.

But after we moved past these initial bizarre encounters and I learned more about his style, I realized that he was an incredibly sharp man with an incredibly short attention span. I figured I could deal with that. His best quality though would be his limitless generosity, which I would come to find out about later.

The morning after I was diagnosed I woke up in my apartment and got ready to go back to the hospital for more testing. My cellphone rang and it was my boss. He told me that he was sorry for what happened to me, and that someone so young should never be burdened with such a challenge. He told me that he appreciated all the work I'd done and that he and his family would be there to support me. He asked me how I was feeling, and I told him I was scared, but that I felt that I could beat it. He said that I should stay positive, fight, and not give up. We ended the conversation on that note and I left for the hospital. Shortly after I received this email from him...

"I have a sense that the course of your treatment will take between 9 months and a year. During that time, you will remain on the payroll, and continue to get paid bonuses as they are paid out. We will also pay for you to live at Parkview (the apartment my Mom and I lived at in Hong Kong) for as long as you would like to.

Over the next year, I do not expect you to do any finance related work. Your job will be to do the following:

1. Learn as much as you can about your cancer, the treatment options, and what progress to expect.
2. Speak to as many doctors as possible about your specific treatment and make sure you’re informed about the decisions you are making.
3. Get better.

You are part of the (Company name) family. Sometimes that involves dressing up like an elf (I had dressed up as an elf for the Christmas party). Sometimes that involves letting us support you while you get better. Take as long as you need, and rest assured that your job and everything you’re doing will be waiting for you when you get back. If you get better and decide that you don’t want to continue in finance, that’s fine too. It’s your decision to make when you’re well."

It was a very moving email, but the most amazing part is he has lived up to each and every promise made, as well as going above and beyond to take care of me and my family.

As I look back today, I realize that for a long time while my boss supported me, I was so focused on the negative things going on in my life that I never stopped to appreciate what he was doing. My mind was so consumed with anger and frustration about tests and doctor's visits that I didn't care to notice the bright spots. But all that did was make me even more miserable.

See in life, you can either be someone who is struggling with problems, or someone who is not struggling with problems. For those people who aren't struggling, it's very easy to be thankful because everything is going well. For those people who are struggling, it's much harder to be thankful because you're angry and upset about your problems, and you can't figure out why they're happening to you and not someone else.

But what I've learned is that this type of thinking is a mental trap. If you only focus on your problems and fail to appreciate the bright spots in your life, you'll only feel worse. But if you push through those struggles to find those positive pillars in your life, and then be thankful for those things, you will feel more relaxed and peaceful. I realized that my life was not as bad as it could have been. There were still many people helping and supporting me, people I was very lucky to have around.

I've continued to focus on being thankful through each setback and each stressful situation I've encountered. I think that if you're struggling or stressed out in life, you should try focusing on the good things and being thankful for those things. This change in mentality has given me much greater peace of mind as I continue fighting this battle. As for my boss, he continues to support me to this day, and I can't wait to get back and start working for him everyday again.

The Day I met Dennis

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us"

Flora Edwards

I'd like to talk about the benefits of helping others during your own difficult times, and how doing this can provide true satisfaction. Just like on my favorite television show Lost, where time-traveling is about as common now as seeing a tree on the island, I'm going to jump ahead in my story to talk about a very meaningful encounter that happened to me in the summer of 2008. If you refer back to my timeline of events, you will see that I was receiving chemotherapy treatment at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton at this time.

One day I went into the cancer clinic to get a booster shot. I would receive these shots often to help counteract the effects of the chemo on my blood counts. The shots didn't take very long, so I usually tried to get in and out as quickly as possible and get on with my day.

As I was waiting for the nurse to call me in, I noticed an older gentleman sitting on the couch across from me in the waiting room. I had never seen him before at the clinic, but it looked like he came in often. We began making small talk, me telling him about why I was there and relaying to him the story of what had happened to me. His name was Dennis. He listened, occasionally asking me a question. He could tell I was stressed out by what I was going through.

We sat silently for a moment, and then he asked me if I was religious. I told him that I was, and he began telling me a story about the Apostle Paul. He told me that once, God allowed for a thorn to be placed in Paul's flesh. Paul prayed to God three times asking for this thorn to be removed. God heard the prayer, but did not remove the thorn, instead saying "My grace is sufficient for you, as my power is made perfect in weakness".

I listened to the story and was fascinated, but I told him that I didn't understand. He explained to me that nobody knows exactly what the thorn was, but God was saying that if you believe in Him, then everything will be ok. I still didn't quite understand, but it didn't matter really. For some reason, his story really put me at ease. The confidence and kindness with which he relayed this story completely relaxed me, and for a minute, I wasn't worried.

I then began to ask him about his own situation. He told that he had a serious problem where his bone marrow wasn't properly producing blood cells. Right now he was getting transfusions to make up for it, but that could only be done for so long before it wouldn't work anymore. I felt sorry for Dennis, but was amazed at how calm and cool he looked sitting there relaying his story to me.

The nurse called my name and I stood up to head back for my shot. Dennis asked me my name and I told him. He then said something that has left a lasting impression on me to this day. He said, "I'll pray for you everyday." I was very moved, and nearly started crying right then and there. For this man to think about praying for me, a random kid he's never met or spoken to before that day, especially considering what he is going through, was an amazing gesture. I thanked him, wished him the best of luck, and went in to have my shot.

To this day I still think about Dennis and what he said to me that day. I don't know what happened to him as I never saw him again, but his words inspired me.

Here is what I learned from Dennis. Regardless of what you're going through in life, helping others is always the best medicine. Making a positive difference in another person's life helps you forget about your own problems. It can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience. Even if it's just something small like saying a prayer, as Dennis did for me, it goes a long way. Since that day I've tried my hardest to think about my friends and family and help those who are going through difficult times. I can always do more, but nothing provides more satisfaction than feeling like I brightened someone's day.

Laughter Clips of the Week

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter"

- E.E. Cummings

I plan to get back to my storytelling this week, but today, it's time to laugh. Last week I said I would begin posting some funny clips once a week so we can all have a good laugh. This week, I'm throwing in a bonus clip.

The first clip is my favorite part from Beverly Hills Cop. Earlier in the movie, Eddie Murphy had stuck a banana in the tailpipe of the cops' car to prevent them from following him. These cops tell him that they're not falling for that trick...



My very good college friend reminded me of this clip from a movie we love, The Jerk. There's really no way to explain this...it's just comedy.



I hope you all enjoyed those, and let me know if you have ideas for other clips I can post on here. Have a good week...

Lex Luthor downs Superman

Another break from storytelling today. I love NBA All-Star weekend, and my favorite part of it is the slam-dunk contest. It's my favorite all-star competition among all the major sports. I wish they made it longer and included more players. Last night, 5'9" Nate Robinson (a.k.a. Lex Luthor) and his kryptonite basketball defeated 6'11" Dwight Howard (a.k.a. Superman), by literally leaping over him in the final round. Pretty impressive stuff. I can't wait till next year, when Lebron James says he's (preliminary) in! I guess he's tired of missing out on all the fun from the sidelines. Some highlights...

Plane Crash

I wasn't planning on posting today, but upon reading about last night's plane crash outside of Buffalo (If you haven't heard, just go to any news website), I felt compelled to. My plan was to discuss the topic of fate/destiny utilizing a much more personal story, which I still intend on doing, so I'll try not to get into too much detail here. Before I write anything else, I just want to say that this was an extremely tragic event and I feel very sorry for those people who have lost family members or friends.

One of the biggest questions in life is if our destiny is set. I believe that it is, and given that, I believe that when its your time to go, its your time go. You can't change it. Now I didn't know anyone on that plane, but I'm sure there were all kinds of passengers - young and old, men and women, small kids, doctors, lawyers, businessmen. Most people were probably young, healthy, and at no risk of dying. That's why I believe it was their time to go - this plane was meant to go down and they weren't meant to survive. Why? I have no idea. I also have no idea why the passengers aboard the US Airways flight that went down in the Hudson River all lived. It's a funny thing how two planes going down (granted, the situations were completely different) can lead to completely opposite outcomes.

I don't want to get into any more detail on that now, but I do want to touch briefly on the miracles that happened here, which is also related to destiny.

Emergency coordinator David Bissonette was quoted as saying how remarkable it was that the plane only hit one house, and that it could have easily taken out so many more. Furthermore, 2 residents of the house that was hit managed to escape physically unharmed.

Now if you think like I think, those two facts would have jumped out at you before everything else. That's a miracle. We'll never know why it happened this way, but I'd like to believe that those 2, as well their neighbors, weren't destined to go today, and regardless of how close they came to death, they would have made it no matter what. It will happen when it's supposed to happen.

Obviously, this idea of "It's going to happen when it's supposed to happen" has really hit home for me, as I am living on the edge, so to speak. That's why having faith in this idea helps me stay at peace. I know that all I can do is fight hard and never give up, and if I'm meant to beat this, I will.

As I said, my intention was to discuss fate/destiny in connection with a personal story regarding my friends, and I still plan on doing so. Lastly, I know this is a sensitive subject and I don't want to offend or anger anyone by presenting my thoughts on it, so if you read this and you don't like it, let me know and I'll take it down.

The Benefit of Viewing Challenges in a Positive Light

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it"

-Charles R. Swindoll

I want to share my thoughts on how viewing challenges in a positive light can help you deal with the pressures and stress of difficult experiences in a much better way. As a side note, as I generate more ideas for this blog, I'm realizing that most of what I've learned in the past 2 years has happened gradually and isn't necessarily tied to a specific event, so I'm getting away from the storytelling framework. If you'd like to hear stories about specific events, let me know.

For about a year and a half after my diagnosis, I had a very difficult time being positive. The uncertainty regarding how my life would play out, how long I had to live, and what I would be able to have in life left me in a constant state of worry, fear and depression. How soon would I be able to get back to work? When would I buy a house? Will I still be able to get married? Will I have kids someday? How much later will these things happen for me than for my friends, and how will I deal with the jealousy caused by falling behind?

Deep down, whether we want to admit it or not, we all measure ourselves against our peers, and we feel jealous and sometimes angry if we are not enjoying the same happiness's as they are. We're all playing this game called Life (and I don't mean the awesome boardgame), and I was being forced to sit out.

Despite the unhealthiness of this type of thinking, its just human nature, and even people with very few or minor problems feel it. So you can imagine how I, given the mountain of an obstacle in front of me, was feeling. These fears haunted me for a long time as I went through the various stages of my treatment, and I could not seem to escape.

Thankfully, the many positive influences in my life helped me out of this mode of thinking, and ever since then, I have stopped worrying about keeping up with those around me. After much reflection, I came to the decision that I was going to view my cancer diagnosis as an honor as oppose to a thorn in my side. By doing this, my mind would be at peace. Now you're probably saying to yourself, "this guy is crazy. How can he be honored to have cancer?"

God challenges everyone with unique circumstances. For some its losing a family member, for others its losing a job, and for others its health problems. Many people choose to view these challenges negatively and end up struggling to be happy. Others welcome these challenges and build on them. At some point over the past 2 years, I woke up one day and said to myself, "You know, this is an incredible challenge God has given to me and my family. He must think a lot of us to test us in this way. Instead of complaining about what's fair and not fair, I should feel proud. God believes I can handle this challenge, and I need to honor that challenge by walking through every door He opens for me and not giving up."

Please know that I'm not trying to demean or judge other people's problems, and I'm not saying it's easy to think like this (It took me FOREVER). I'm simply saying that if there's something going on in your life that's bothering you, if you can begin to view it as a honor as oppose to an unfair burden, I think it will help. Being religious, I turned it into an honor by thinking about God. If you're not religious, find another way. I know it helped me. Sitting here today, I'm still fighting the physical battle, but I believe I've got a handle on the mental battle, and it's making all the difference. Mind over body, right?

Be Well...