Andy,

You thought I was a complete loser when I wore swim shorts to basketball but you were kind of enough not to tell me.

You were astonished when Ji Seon ate all six eggs you had cooked for the guests but nice enough to cook more eggs.

You thought I was a heretic when you let me lead your Bible study once but gracious enough to not say that but just correct my theological errors.

For all of this we repaid you by encouraging your subversive campaign to win Jean.  We told Jean you loved her before you proclaimed your love to her.  We raised your standing in her mind by saying such things as “You could do worse.”  When you finally proclaimed your love in that filthy apartment with its squirrel invaders and vat of congealed fat, Ji Seon waited patiently thirty minutes and even did not mind your angry stare when she came into the bedroom of tension to ask how much longer you’d be.

Happy 40th birthday Andy!  You are someone we admire and love.

Love,

Frank and Ji Seon

Below is a scan of the final result which includes a photo of our family and the Noh’s at Isaac’s second birthday party.  I hope Andy was more excited at his 40th birthday party than Isaac was at his second.

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When Stan was a baby his mom called him “Big Head” which probably sounds more endearing in Chinese.  People always love when he tells this story.  He even told it in a testimony at a prison.  Recently I was looking through old photos and I noticed that though he has a decent sized head, it’s the size of his mouth that we really care about.

Stan is one of the smarter people I know which is saying something because I know lots of smart people.  However Stan is in this strange world where he wants to be an everyday guy yet he finds himself often being outraged by how stupid other people are.

Stan is a charismatic guy who makes friends easily with both guys and girls.  Yet even though many women have liked him, he’s still single.  I think God’s still mad at him for the time a girl in a bar asked for his phone number and he gave her a fake one.

Stan is a very athletic guy.  When we used to play basketball he had one of the highest verticals, which is not saying much because he was in a church gym full of nerds.  Still I admired watching him get the rebounds with one hand and then smash the basketball into his other.  One day though he had to get surgery on his knee and his vertical was gone.  I tried to offer him advice on how to rehabilitate it but he just kept laughing at me.

Stan likes to use analogies to make a point.  Their purpose is to provide a simple illustration for his point.  But I always found holes in his analogies which really annoyed him.  I stopped doing that — he’s bigger than me.

The inspiration for this post is that recently Stan and I have been IM’ng about this election and I asked him if he read my blog.  He said no so I told him I’d write a blog post about him, knowing that he won’t read it.

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Bernie Chang passed away on June 27, 2007 after a long battle with a rare autoimmune condition known as neuro-Behcet’s disease. This site was created to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his death.

When I saw this blog made by his wife , Bonnie, in commemoration of Bernie, and all the different entries from his friends I thought to myself “I should write something.”  Then I saw that there was an entry by me, Bernie Chang » Blog Archive » Frank Kim, written a year ago in an email I sent in response to a request for writings for his funeral.

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What they’re all really saying is “You’re cheap.”

Recently I met a couple that was proud of their frugality. Up until then I had been pretty ashamed of my frugality but they showed me there is a lot of value in it. And this couple is generous with friends, just frugal with themselves.

Back in Boston my friend and I would talk about our cheapness. This friend would brag about how he could do a dinner party for ten on $10. I have to admit that I never noticed, I always enjoyed his dinner parties. Once I told him that I felt he was now cheaper than me and he was offended for days.

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This is not the first time Alan has been on TV. It seems that the local news stations love him. In fact when we were in high school we went to the local computer store to play computer games. Unexpectedly a local TV news crew came in and filmed us as part of their story on the IBM PC, which at that time had just come out. Alan’s father videotaped it I would love to see it again, especially to post it on the web.

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At the Boston Foundation for Sight, doctors created special lenses to protect Nelson’s cornea. The Boston Scleral Lens, invented by Rosenthal, rests on the white of the eye and arches over the cornea, creating a pocket filled with artificial tears. The device cured Nelson’s pain and improved his vision from 20/200 in one eye and 20/400 in the other, to 20/20 and 20/15.

What is cool is that my good friend, Alan Kwok, fitted Nelson with the lenses.

And today Nelson and his fiancee, Bell, got married at the Boston Foundation for Sight and Alan held the ring at the wedding. That Alan is a special guy. No wonder Nelson was quoted as saying

These people are doing God’s work.

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Here is a short message for Alan that I sent his wife for the scrapbook that she was compiling.

Dear Alan,

When we met you didn’t want to be my friend. You wanted to be friends with the Italians. But I showed up at your house every day and forced you to be my friend, playing tennis whenever you wanted to and complimenting your parents’ belongings. I still wish you let me eat your parents’ food at least once.

Then you became a Christian and wouldn’t evangelize me or tell me anything about your faith. But I became a Christian anyway.

Finally you married a Californian and said you were going to move to California. But I foiled your plans of desertion by moving to California ahead of you.

See, you can get never get rid of me.

Happy 40th Birthday Alan. I love you.

-Frank

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U.S.
The Caucus: On the Road: An Iowa Political Vacation
By MICHAEL LUO
Published: December 29, 2007
An unconventional vacation — following the candidates in Iowa.

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