randoms stuff

Quote

I Can’t Make This Stuff Up…

2 Comments
giphy
Me:  I happen to log in today, and I see a charge on my card that I know is NOT mine.
CC Customer Service: Would you like to add an authorization so it goes through?
Me: Uhm… I’m the only one authorized to use this card. I think there might have been fraud.
CS: Are you sure?
Me: yes because I would never spend $700 on a wig.
CS: I’m sorry there are no other authorized users.
Me: Wait… do you understand what I’m saying?
CS: Yes… but we can’t do anything because it hasn’t posted. Why don’t you call them?
Me: Huh??? I don’t even know who they are… and there isn’t enough info for me to know who to call.  There is no  number… it just says “India Hair Int’l in New Jersey” and when I google, I don’t get a business under that name. And why isn’t the fraud dept calling me? They called me for a $15 charge last time because it was made in Pennsylvania… This is for over $700 in New Jersey. 
CS:  Yes… can I help you with anything else?
Me: WHAT??? are you serious? 
CS: Yes… I can’t help you at this point unless you want to cancel your card then none of your pending transactions would go through. 
Me: (having just made 5 travel arrangements with pending transactions… and just baffled…) So you’re telling me the best thing for me to do is just wait… and then file a dispute after it posts?
CS: Sure. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: I don’t even know… Bye…

Why I’m NOT making New Year’s Resolutions in 2012

Leave a comment

as 2014 comes to an end, i was reminded of why i’m not making new year’s resolution for 2015… but spend each day trying to do better! #newyear #2015

gloria s. lee

Everybody seems to really like my fb post from yesterday.  I found it online, and it cracked me up because it’s something I would say (jokingly, of course).  I know I’m far from perfect… I’m very aware of many of my flaws!  If you haven’t seen it, it’s from Calvin & Hobbes:

I’m a list-maker by nature.  I’ve gone through many notepads making a to-do list for each day of my life.  Every December 31, I would make a long list of what I would like to change for the following year.  And to no surprise, I’m lucky if I keep half of them the first week.  I usually fail before the second week of January, and I end up making a new list on my birthday (18th) as a fresh start once again.  That’s been my January resolution making routine for the past 30+ years.

This year, I’m not…

View original post 273 more words

seriously, just call me murphy!

Leave a comment

murphys-law_7881I packed all last night… everything was going so smoothly.  I was so proud of myself for packing so well!  i packed as light as I could so I could make room for the items I was taking to missionaries I’ll see in few days.  Wednesday morning came… everything was still smooth.  I set my alarm for 7:30 am, but I woke up at 6:30 automatically.  I had time to make my first green juice of the year, clean up a little, and even text “Happy New Year” to few friends!  Everything was going so smoothly… that should have been my first cue!

45 Minutes before I was suppose to be picked up, I weighed my bag on my bathroom scale.  It read 52.7 lbs!  Oh no… how did I go over?  I was in the 40s all last night.  I couldn’t get the bag off the scale–so I dragged it to the living room… I turned around to turn off the lights, and I had left a HUGE BLACK SCOFF MARK all over the bathroom floor!  What in the world… I started scrubbing… nothing worked… I got out EVERY CLEANER in the cupboard, still nothing… 10 minutes passed… in frantic hurry, I literally used my fingernails to get every little black mark off the bathroom floor… and I mean it was the whole length of my bathroom… Then I remembered that I had heated up soup so I could eat right before going to the airport.  I went to the kitchen, and I don’t know what happened.  But as soon as I picked up the bowl of soup, the whole thing slipped out of my hand and SPLAT… went all across the kitchen floor and even onto the carpet!!!  OH NO!!!  I can’t leave lobster bisque all over the carpet–so I’m frantically pulling out all cleaning supplies and cleaning like a mad woman!  I’m sweating at this point!  Then my phone rings, and my dad says “I’m leaving right now.  I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”  NO!!!!  I still have to repack… I have never moved so fast in my life… I’m cleaning the carpet, doing the dishes, re-organizing my luggage so it falls under 50 lbs… and I’m SWEATING!  The last thing I want to hear is how I didn’t plan well from my dad because he’s always early, and he thinks I’m always late (which is NOT true!)  At this point, I just burst out in laughter because this is just so my life!!!  God forbid anything really go that smoothly…

photo (5)Somehow, I finished cleaning and repacking just in the nick of time!  I make it to the airport!  And ladies and gentlemen, my bag weighed 22.98 kg and the allotted weight is 23 kg!  In fact, the agent looked at me and said “wow, that’s cutting it close… you’ll have to be careful on your way back!”  I just have to laugh because otherwise, I’ll just cry in defeat!  So that’s the start of 2014… just in Gloria fashion!

My life is always this crazy… Never a dull moment!  My dad and few other friends always look at me and shake their heads in disbelief because if something can go wrong, it always goes wrong  or because I’m so accident-prone. But in the words of my friend Lisa, “crazy is NOT boring!  I hate boredom!”  A great attitude to have when your life is fashioned after Murphy’s Law!!!  So once again, I’m reminded to laugh and smile my way through the new year no matter what comes my way!  🙂  Okay, gotta go run to catch my flight!

The Art of Asking Why…

Leave a comment

why-calvin & hobbes

 

At one point in our lives, we were really good at it.  In fact, we were so good at it that it probably drove our parents absolutely crazy!  We used to be so good at asking why…  because we were trying to understand the world around us… but somewhere between ages 3 and adulthood, we’ve lost the art of asking why.  Perhaps it’s because we lacked people who encouraged curiosity and why questions in our lives.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately.  I get quite few emails and inquiries regarding children’s ministry from my peers… They often want to know what curriculum to use, what events to have, how to have a stellar children’s ministry, if I would come speak at their VBS, or to consult for them.  These are all great questions… however, when I ask them why they do what they do or why they want to change things up, I get two very common answers:  because that’s what we’ve always done or because we’re bored with what we’re doing.  Often times, I take a step back  and ask “why do you do children’s ministry?”  And more often than not, I get a blank stare before they formulate some answer about wanting the kids to know and love God.  Once I probe further and ask “why do YOU do children’s ministry”, I often get “because the church asked me to” or “because I like kids.”  I’m not saying that these are all wrong answers… but I just wish people asked “WHY” more often… Why do we do VBS?  Why do we have Fall Festival?  Why do we have Christmas plays?  Why do we have camps?  If the answer is “because we’ve always done it” or “because they asked me to,” then we really need to go back and have a clear objective about why we do what we do!

Another reason why I’ve been thinking about “WHY” is… I’m often approached by parents and kidmin leaders about the need to change behaviors in kids.  I understand that misbehavior can be frustrating and even maddening.  I usually come back to the “why” of their behavior… because I’m more concerned with the heart and lasting impact.  Kids are smart… they often can figure out how to behave so they don’t get in trouble… but that doesn’t indicate that their hearts have changed at all.  I will be honest–this is NOT an easy process most of the times… Journeying through the “why’s” are often followed by more frustrations and probably more questions than answers in the beginning… but once again, I do wish more people were concerned with the “why’s” of why kids behave the way they do…

So… all this is to say… let’s not quench the curiosity in kids when they’re little… I think “why” is such an important question in life… and at every age and stage in life, we need to be asking more “why” questions!