plane thoughts & observations

I’m currently flying in to Dulles from LAX and I’m writing this entry while 37,000 feet in the air. This is actually being written into a Microsoft Word document and will be copied & pasted after I’m back at home because I really don’t want to pay $13 for the in-flight WI-FI. BUT, I’m taking Virgin American so they provide cool TVs for everyone and I can watch TV shows or movies ($8 each) or even use Google maps to track our flight progress. Nothing good was on TV so my screen is just set to the maps thingy.

We have 1,272 miles to go and we’re going 531 mph. I’M TYPING AT 531 MPH. We’re flying over the Midwest right now and about to hit the “K” in “Kansas.” Typing this entry into a Word document makes me more self-conscious about my capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. I feel like I’m writing a book.

watch out kansas!

 

Virgin airlines provides free outlets! What a cool airline… they even have black-lights illuminating their ceiling. Before the flight, I was really worried that my plane wouldn’t be trendy enough for my contemporary lifestyle, but thank goodness. (We slowed down to only 521 mph. I WILL NEVER GET HOME AT THIS RATE.) I think Virgin airlines is kind of trying too hard to be hip. Their safety presentation was actually a video for us plebian peasants sitting in coach (first-class got to watch a real life actor/flight attendant showing them the safety stuff). The video was a hand-drawn animation that featured characters like bullfighters and Vikings riding the airplane and learning about the floatation vests and front/rear exits. The voice-over guy was really sarcastic and nonchalant. He said things like,

“Remember, our seat cushions don’t float so don’t take them home, okay? Like, yah, whatever. Oh and for the 0.01% of the population that has never seen or used a seatbelt before, you gotta put the metal clip into the clasp and tug the loose strap.”

it's party time

 

I feel like I’m writing differently now that I’m on an airplane and not writing directly into WordPress. I feel more sarcastic and assertive. Yes? No? I don’t know what’s real anymore.

We are now flying right over the word “Kansas” so it says “plane-sas” now.

The elderly passengers next to me brought their own food, which is understandable because the food served/sold on planes is both undelicious and uncheap. Think for a moment, if you will, about what kind of food you would bring for in-flight eating. You have to first consider the limited space you have. The tray table is the size of a notebook. Then you should consider the other hundred people in the plane, and perhaps presume that most probably have nostrils and may have to smell your food. After these considerations, you may conclude that you should bring something you can eat neatly and simply.

I look over and their menu spread out over two tray tables had:

1. Canned tuna
2. Crackers
3. Vegetable salad
4. Fruit salad
5. Cheese
6. Drinks

The tuna’s ghost swam merrily about the cabin and gently woke even the deepest of sleepers while reminding the passengers who were awake that their noses were working.

Haha it wasn’t that bad actually.

More observations:

The elderly woman in front of me has been staring at her TV home screen for almost the entirety of the flight so far. I think her screen is frozen because it says “Altitude: 0 feet.”

we're flying soooo high right now: altitude 0 ft

I think the people around me know that I’m writing about them. I think the picture taking gave them the clue haha! I’m gonna stop taking pictures.

There are about 6 people standing up next to me. I can’t figure out why! The flight attendant looks so overwhelmed hahha

Hey, there’s someone watching Thor a few rows ahead of me! I’m going to watch for free and use my memory/imagination to fill in the dialogue. My version of Thor has the new Switchfoot album, Vice Verses, as the soundtrack.

i am tho thor

There’s an attendant named Mikey who has been hanging around the tuna-fish-couple for the majority of this flight. Coincidentally, he looks like Michael from Breaking Bad.

The lady next to me pulled out a MacBook Pro and when she saw my telltale white Apple power cord, her eyes lit up and we had a quiet exchange of sure camaraderie that only Mac users experience.

The little girl behind me diagonally is having an incredible time on this flight. I think that she thinks this is the actual vacation part. The look of pure ecstasy on her face as she watches her movie is priceless—she’s so happy that she’s squirming in her seat and shoving her tray table in and out. Mikey the flight attendant just played keep-away with her with a bottle of water and she loved it. HAHA, as I wrote that last sentence, Mikey touched my shoulder and asked if I needed anything. That totally scared the crap out of me. Don’t do that to me, Mikey!

I’ve gone to the lavatory 3 times already. I think the other passengers are worried for me.

Have you noticed that Illinois looks like the profile of a face looking west? I noticed this because the airplane is now in Missouri and about to run into Illinois’ nose.

watch out, illinois!

 

We’re not at 37,000 feet anymore. We’ve risen to 37,043 feet. Is this pilot crazy? What if we go into outer space and float away? I’m so hungry.

Whoa, old grumpy tuna-fish man just yelled at the little girl behind him for moving the tray in and out… He went, “CAN YOU STOP MOVING THE TRAY, PLEASE?” She totally didn’t deserve that. I should have said something earlier, “CAN YOU PLEASE PICK A STINKIER FOOD TO BRING ONTO THE PLANE, PLEASE?”

I just felt us lose altitude… are we landing in Illinois? I’M ON THE WRONG FLIGHT.

False alarm.

I’m probably going to read through this entry after I get home and reconsider posting it.

I think that they should start making airplanes without seats but rather stacks and stacks of bunk beds on either side of the aisle. I might pay extra for this luxury.

the neighborhood. dc = front of the aircraft, la = back

coffee shop culture

As a few know, I’ve been doing a bit of traveling these days and it’s been good. I left for Vancouver, BC, CA on September 6th and stayed there until September 19th. I went to Vancouver because the Rev Abe Han asked me to come out to lead worship for a young-adult retreat for his church, First Baptist Church. I also played at a few other events throughout my stay and they were all awesome in their own way (Surrey Presbyterian Church’s youth group, First Baptist Church’s ‘Meet Your Neighbour Day’ block party. I have to spell it “neighbour” with that extra “u” because the neighbours were Canadian)

The culture in Vancouver is really interesting. (Of course, I only had 2 weeks there and I don’t think anyone can apprehend an entire place’s culture in 2 short weeks of casual observation.) The impression I got is that they appreciate diversity and life in a holistic, grassroots way (description aided by Abe Han) and the culture is distinctly rich in a very Vancouver-y way. The scenery in the BC area is breathtaking too.

Understandably, the people I was staying with was busy for most of the day, so I took the opportunity to walk around the city in both the downtown areas and suburban areas. With downtown comes coffee shops. I haven’t ever been to a place so obsessed with coffee. Sure, you got your Starbucks, but it was nice to step into local chains like JJ Bean, Blenz, etc, and see what life was like in each shop.

Buzz Café & Espresso Bar

901 Homer St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W6

This was the first place I went to. It was a short walk from Abe’s and I asked the barista for their most popular coffee. She asked if I was new to the area and when she found out I was from Virginia and just visiting, she charged me for a cheap coffee and told me to sit down and wait because she was going to make something special. I sat down and she brought me something called a Hedgehog Mocha. It was awesome! I don’t really know much about special coffees and fancy drinks, but it was delicious.

This place was warm and friendly, and even had an upstairs with a big, friendly, senior citizen dog who laid on the worn wooden floor on a square of sunlight that came through the window. He lifted his head and looked at me for only a moment when I walked by and I think all that activity wore him out so he flopped down immediately after into a cloud of dust. He was guarding the art pieces being displayed upstairs.

my spot at Buzz

 

JJ Bean

1188 Alberni St. Vancouver, BC V6E 4N5

 

While Buzz’s was down-to-earth and cozy, this particular JJ Bean’s was kind of the opposite. This place was probably the trendiest place I’ve ever been. I felt really retro for being there because I was dressed like I lived in the year 2011 or something. The chairs looked like splayed-open fortune cookies. They looked really uncomfortable but they were probably the most unexpectedly comfortable chairs I’ve ever sat in. You know those chairs that look amazingly comfortable and fun to sit in but when you flop down without a care, and you feel like your both your butt and spine have been horribly compressed from the extreme shock you received from the merely superficially appealing chair? This was the opposite! I sat down gingerly because I felt like it was going to be a rigid Star Trek-esque seating device or something, but my body was greeted and embraced with comfort and a welcoming ergonomic design that hugged my body that also let me feel free and unencumbered.

I got a small Americano and it was amazing. I like Americanos and dark roasts, but I’m not a coffee connoisseur so I don’t believe I have the authority and experience to judge coffee. I just know I liked it and I think it was probably among the best I’ve had.

Sam Lee and I sitting in JJ Bean

I wish I had time to write more about my deepest and most intimate feelings, and share my wonderful insightful thoughts, but alas I must go. Guess where I’m writing this blog entry from? Starbucks, in Palos Verdes, California! haha how interesting.

31202 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275

 

 

more time = moar fud

I seem have more time on my hands these days which leads to me being bored more. More time = more boredom = MOAR FUD.

This time around, I decided to make some jambalaya. I have never tasted real jambalaya from Louisiana, so I make no claims for authenticity. This way of cooking it is just the way it is because I had random ingredients strewn about my house.

Okay since maybe one person out there might care, here’s how I made it:

junk that goes in

• 1 medium sized white onion. It can be yellow too. I love them all.
• 4 stalks of celery. Yum. You can include the leaves too. They taste like celery!
• 1 green bell pepper
• Two 14oz cans of diced tomato
• 5-6 andouille sausages
• Two 14oz cans of chickeny broth
• 3 cups of short grain rice
• Worchestershire sauce
• Tabasco sauce, or any hot sauce, I guess.
• Cajun seasoning (down below)
• 2 tspn sugar
• you can add whatever meat you want. shrimp. chicken. crawfish. I didn’t have any of this so I just used sausage.

what to do

• Diced 1 white onion, 4 stalks of celery, and 5 green Korean peppers. Why Korean peppers? Because I had no green bell peppers on hand to create the Holy Trinity. So soddy.
• Saute that stuff in the pot with some oil. Season it with the cajun seasoning and add minced garlic (4 cloves?) after the veggies are softer and stuff.
• Add your tomatoes and simmer until you get orange froth on top.
• Add chickeny broth and rice. Bring up to a boil and add sugar.
• Put on low and cover, stirring occasionally until the rice is cooked through.

seasoning

• 2.5 units paprika
• 2 units salt
• 2 units garlic powder
• 1 unit black pepper
• 1 unit onion powder
• 1 unit cayenne powder
• 1 unit dried oregano
• 1 unit dried thyme

*you can use anything as your unit. I used tablespoons, it just depends on how much you wanna make and the ratios will remain the same. If you wanna make a lot, then feel free to use a bucket as your unit of measurement.

*for people asking why I put sugar in, I thought it was a little too tart from the tomatoes and hot sauce, so I added a touch of sugar to mellow things out a bit.

end result

Tastiest and best textured jambalaya so far! Again, I have no idea what real jambalaya is supposed to taste like so here’s my wannabe jambalaya.

thanks Eunice for helping me with tips on how to edit le photo.  

woke up with breadhead this morning

I’ve decided to dedicate this entry to bread. I love bread. Bread, bread, bread. If I was a zombie, I’d go, “BREEAAAAD.” Just kidding– I’m overblowing my love for bread. I don’t need it all the time. If the bread is good, I shall eat it. If it is not delicious, I would not mind forgoing the present opportunity to eat the said bread.

With that said, there is nothing like eating freshly baked bread with some awesome salted butter. Apparently it’s illegal to sell a baguette in Paris within 20 minutes of it coming out of the oven (my dad heard/read this somewhere, but I don’t know where) because of the flavor development in that crucial cool-down period. I thought this was a bunch of crud until my dad and I tried baking baguettes.

When the baguettes first came out, I was thought, “Wow they smell pretty awesome, but a bit acrid and sharp.” After 20 minutes, there was an unmistakable development of yeasty, wheaty, dericious flavor and aroma.

baguettes

My dad preparing to bake baguettes

Babying the unbaked loaves

jim lahey’s bread

So after I realized how relatively easy it was to bake bread, I eventually bought a book called “My Bread” by baking Jim Lahey. Jim Lahey is awesome and Sullivan St. Bakery is a pretty successful shop in the big NYC.

I started off by making plain ole loaves of bread. His recipes are incredibly simple and rustic.

1. Combine the flour, salt, and yeast first then add water. Mix minimally– just until everything is combined in a big, sticky dough.
2. Leave for 12-18 hours to rise.
3. Scrape that junk out of the bowl and put on a floured surface, fold it over a few times and let it rise again for a few hours.
4. Preheat the oven with a cast-iron dutch oven inside so the dutch oven can get hot too.
5. After the dutch oven is hot as a volcano, take it out and place the dough in there. Make sure you sprinkle liberally with flour, wheat bran, and/or cornmeal. I did all three. haha!
6. Stick it in a 475 F oven for 30 min. After 30 min, take the top off the dutch oven and continue to bake for another 25 min. Keeping the top on for the first 30 min creates an “oven within an oven” (ovenception) and the steam released from the water in the dough is trapped thus making a pretty awesome crust. When I take the top off of the dutch oven, this gives the heat of the oven an opportunity to brown the top of the crust.

It is finished. Looks like a brown rock, huh?

The crust is at the absolute cusp between being undercooked and being burnt. This teetering balance creates an immense amount of delicious flavor (due to a Maillard reaction!) that is a bit acrid but still savory and awesome.

It's so hole-y

Why so many holes? Apparently the yeast works with the sugars in the flour and creates CO2. Bubbles indicate this reaction and since more yeast fermentation equals more flavor, the bubbles indicate development in flavor. YAY! FLAVOR.

The bottom crust of this bread is friggin awesome, especially when toasted later. The crispiness of the bottom crust when combined with butter creates an amazing popcorn like flavor. This is probably because of the cornmeal that I scatter across the bottom of the dutch oven.

I don’t make the regular bread anymore because I like to add chopped olives to the mix.

pizza

So, Jim Lahey turns out to be a nut about pizza. I first heard about him on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. I loved the pure and simple approach he took towards bread (this makes it seem like I know something about anything, but alas I do not).

My family went to his pizza place, Co., and had some pretty awesome pizzas. They aren’t the type of pizzas you might expect– they are thin, lightly topped, and quickly baked. This process seems to create a beautiful thin crust slightly charred, a delicate but vibrant flavor in the topping, and overall yummy in my tummy.

In his book, he says to just make rectangle pizza. It might not be the prettiest, but who cares. I decided to make a pork sausage & mushroom pizza with apple, onion, and oregano.

PIZZAAAAAA

nom nom nom

I kind of free-styled on the topping because I had extra ingredients at home. I chopped everything and put it all in a bowl (except the sausage) and drizzled in some olive oil and seasoned everything with salt, pepper, and oregano. Then I tossed it.

pizza bianca

Pizza wasn’t always the pizza we know of today. Pizza Bianca is essentially a Roman style flatbread that doesn’t feature tomato sauce or lots of toppings. It’s usually eaten very simply with olive oil, salt, and herbs, or things like ricotta or mozzerella are added.

I decided to make some pizza bianca at home.

Jim Lahey’s pizza bianca looks pretty awesome and looks like this:

So I got all the ingredients out last night, mixed up the dough real quick and let it rise overnight. I woke up with bread on my mind so I went downstairs to get it all ready.

You see that upside down baking sheet on the right? I don’t have a peel so I foolishly decided to use an upside down baking sheet instead. I was so confident this would work.

Instead of working like I envisioned in my mind, the dough stuck to the metal (even though I floured it) and one edge folded over itself and I watched hopelessly as it grew into a huge bubble.

CHECK OUT THIS MONSTROSITY

I bet you’ve never seen a forever alone pizza bianca!

But, it turned out that the bread was deliciously chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside. The coarse salt I used created a nice crunchy texture. I should have added more rosemary.

tasty!

I thought it'd be empty inside the huge bubbled portion, but nope.

the end

photo gallery:

My dad preparing to bake baguettes

Babying the unbaked loaves

It is finished. Looks like a brown rock, huh?

It’s so hole-y

PIZZAAAAAA

nom nom nom

I thought it’d be empty inside the huge bubbled portion, but nope.

been a while

I never feel the urge to update this blog whenever something significant happens in my life. Maybe that’s why I only come here when someone says, ‘hey you haven’t written in your blog in a while’ or something or another reminds me that I’ve been neglecting this thing.

If I sit down to write for the sake of writing or to fulfill some sort of assigned work, I can twist my brain into pumping out quantity rather than quality in terms of word count. Like now, for example– I’ve gone at least 3-4 sentences without saying anything significant, including this sentence. Is a sentence about insignificance significant? HOHOHO! I just ruined any shred of professionalism with that “HOHOHO!”

I’ve been thinking a lot these days. “Thinking about what, Mike?” Well. I’ve been thinking about life. Not just any kind of thinking, mind you. I’ve been thinking the types of thoughts that make you think about more thoughts. Then those thoughts chase new thoughts down thought-rabbit-holes only to become impregnated with seeds of possibility that sprout and eventually start sprinting towards the light only to find out that light is an artificial lightbulb created in the mind of the thinker (me) that represents some sort of self-generated hope. (Whoa, that sentence just came out. I had no intention of writing it and I guess I’ve lost all intention to erase it, since that means I’ll have to erase this sentence too. This sentence’s existence depends on the existence of the previous sentence. I wonder what’s making me be so cerebral right now. Maybe it’s all this internalizing of thought of life and future.)

I’ve also been thinking about a life of holiness. In the Bible, we read that to follow Christ, we have to give up all our possessions. It’s important to apply Scripture to our lives (and not apply our lives to Scripture, right?), so I thought to myself, “How can I live this out practically?” I’ve toyed with that thought for a while until I heard a sermon that said that the giving away of possessions does not have to be a literal act of charity or relinquishment. You can claim what you hold in your possession to be no longer yours, but rather belonging to God; if those things now belong to God, we then have the responsibility of accepting that blessing and being a good steward of what we’ve been given.

I’m going to switch gears.

I’ve always wondered what I’d do if I were given three wishes. Since I was little, I’ve always been sure of one of my wishes. However selfish it might have been, it was always:

1. To be able to do whatever I wanted.

   This might seem really simple, but to my 8 year old brain, this wish was unequivocally deep. I actually stopped at this wish because all other wishes seemed to be efficiently swallowed up by this one wish. To do ‘whatever I wanted’ wasn’t some paltry wish that allowed me to eat candy whenever I wanted or stay up late watching cartoons (though those things are possible through this wish), but I thought beyond that. I thought, “Hmm.. with this wish, I could fly… if I wanted to.” I could make myself grow taller if I wanted to. With the ability to do literally whatever I wanted to do, I could make anything happen simply by wanting it. Not even wanting it a lot, just the amount of want contained in a mere whim would suffice.After I thought this through, I was always satisfied that I had everything I needed. Money? I can make it spring out of the ground if I wanted. Food? I can have it appear on my plate whenever I was hungry. Teleport? Easy. So after this wish, what would I wish for? I’d probably set the genie free because he’s been trapped for 10,000 years. Or I could just set him free if I wanted to.

Tuesday

Wow, what a day.

Daniel and I woke up in our hotel room and went to eat some breakfast, where they had these strangely fake eggs available in the buffet. They were supposed to be sunny-side-up eggs, but the yolks looked too perfect and flat to be real. They looked a little like these:

We arrived at the studio and we said our “good mornings” and talked about random stuff like we did the day before. Our ultimate decision with the recorded song was to completely disregard all the work we did yesterday and stick with the original song, which was titled “Song 11″ at the time. (I have a running list of song projects and ideas, and since I don’t always have names for them, they go from Song 1 to Song 30. Some are half-baked ideas, some are just a progression of chords attached to a line of melody, and some are partially finished songs.)

For a while, we went over what the intro would be like and Ed made some awesome piano parts that gave the song new life. Those piano parts gave the song such a great feel and I’m so excited to see the end product. It was interesting to see that we didn’t regret abandoning big changes to a song if it meant coming to a better result in the end. I think some people get too attached to the way a song was written originally or even new tweaks, that they refuse to change for the sake of sentimentality.

We began recording the acoustic guitar again, which was fun. They all loved my guitar and thought it sounded delicious. We used a Neumann KM 84 on my acoustic. We would have probably used two mics or more to capture my guitar if we weren’t just recording a scratch track, so it’s cool. After that, we switched over to vocals and that consumed most of the remaining time. For the past few days, my throat was getting sore and I was having trouble singing. It might have all been in my head, or I was exaggerating the situation because I was worried about the upcoming recording sessions. I almost got a little angry at the situation, but God calmed me down and I started to relax. Today, my throat didn’t hurt at all and I could sing decently.

It was really cool and interesting to have a bunch of takes on my vocals and we stitched together the good parts. When doing the meticulous editing, Ed sat up straight in his chair and had this intense gaze of laser beam proportions. It was awesome to see a pro at work.

The chorus of the song is like an anthemic shout, so Scott wanted to try recording a bunch of people singing. Daniel Choi, Cody, Scott, and I all sang the chorus all together four separate times to get that huge sound. We don’t know if we’ll include that in the final product, but it sounded pretty tight at the time.

We finally decided on a song title and it’s “Your Love is Our Delight.” It’s a song about understanding our need for Him and knowing his strength and our weakness.

I’m a little overwhelmed with how much I’ve learned and experienced for the past few days. Daniel and I both agree that it felt like a week’s worth of activities jammed into just two days. Ed was so patient and encouraging, and I definitely want to work with him again because I loved the guys there. Until next time!

 

** Pictures will be posted on my Facebook. Be on the lookout!

Monday

Daniel Choi and I woke up this morning to start our drive over to Franklin, TN and saw many picturesque hills and interesting billboards on the way.

We got to the studio (in a beautiful home owned by Ed) and went around back to see a rack of guitars inside the glass door and a nice array of microphones positioned around the room. Nobody was home yet (we got there a bit early) so we waited in the car because it was raining. We looked up the driveway and saw a black Tahoe and a black pickup pull in. Scott Cash and Cody Norris climbed out of the Tahoe and we walked into the studio together. Ed was on the phone in his truck and joined us inside a moment later.

All three of the guys were amazingly kind, accommodating, and encouraging. We spent a good bit of time talking about random stuff including Ed’s plans to build a new studio, Daniel’s plans with architecture, and life in general. It turns out Ed was also an English major and his wife went to Virginia Tech for a bit.

After our conversation, I pulled out my guitar and we started going over some new songs I wrote and Ed gave me some awesome feedback on each of them. For our recording, we decided to use components of two different songs, combine them and make a super-song. It was so awesome to see a producer like Ed really analyze the music and watch him “search for moments” in my songs. This means that rather than look for weak points to improve upon, he listened for the great moments within the song that he could emphasize and build on. I’ve never seen someone work so intensely on songwriting and we progressed so quickly and time flew.

We eventually settled on a rough arrangement and during the moment between afternoon and evening, he had to go attend to family stuff which was totally cool. Scott stayed behind and we decided to record a quick demo with just guitar and vocals so we could see what the arrangement sounded like all together. Soon after, Scott, who had to do family stuff also because he’s Ed’s brother, had to leave for a little bit. It was just me, Daniel, and Cody in the studio going over the song again.

We had some downtime and I had a good look around. There were some great guitars hanging on the walls, a bunch of drums on shelves, and mic stands everywhere. On top of that, there were these cool plaques showing which albums Ed has produced including Chris Tomlin, Matt Wertz, Bebo Norman, Bethany Dillon, Dave Barnes, and Starfield.

Daniel and I basically had the studio to ourselves for about an hour and a half and though we didn’t really use anything because we were afraid of breaking something, it was nice to feel trusted by these guys.

After a little bit, Cody, Daniel, Dayton (who Cody kept on calling “Daytona”), and I went to a taco place nearby and went to Scott’s beautiful home to watch the Butler/UCONN game. Sorry, Butler, you guys were terrible. We hung out with a bunch of guys, Scott’s dogs, and had some delicious kettle corn made by Scott’s wife.

Now, we’re back in the hotel and getting ready to call it a night. Today was so jam packed with awesomeness and I learned so much about songwriting and writing music for the church. I was so blessed by Ed’s prayer before we started going over songs and his humility in his suggestions. He never pushed me to accept his way of doing something and treated me with respect as if I knew what I was doing. I don’t know what I’m doing.

watch these cool videos of these guys recording in Ed’s studio:

dave barnes

starfield

chris tomlin