retreat's over... actually, it was over yesterday, but i was too busy reminiscing over the end of the olympics to contemplate this.

-seems like every year our retreats just keep getting smaller and smaller; i remember that we used to have the south sj sister church join us, and we had all the berkeley-future then-high-school peeps like carolyn, melinda, um, jeff, etc, here... oh yeah, who could forget basil :) basil, basil, basil. then the sister church leaves, then the college-grad peeps leave, now it's just US(college guys), and the berkeley grads who decided to stay instead of go elsewhere, more or less. the college girls didn't even join us this year, and grace wu and alice tsay were nowhere to be found. basil didn't even come this year( :( ); i miss him making fun of jerm(asian mom hairstyle = priceless) and calling me walter mccarthy last year for wearing a green headband on the bball court :D
-also, that decrease in peeps might've lead to our decline in food quality during retreats. now you can't even get 2 meals on sunday. speaking of food, we used to always bring snacks and drinks to retreat; we wonder why we can't finish them at all these years, then realized, hey, we actually go to the events now :D at least sat dinner is still good.
-seeing richard wang at retreat again was a nice touch. i've seen him around monta vista, but never bothered to ask his height... damn... 6'1... although when i see him i get a feeling like he's 6'2 or something. i still don't believe i'm 6', and more like 5'11, but maybe ppl ARE right, and i'm wrong. richard wang thought i was 6' too. hopefully :D if he improved his offense on the court, he would've been a lot better... i remember him looking to get the shot up rather than pass when we played. if he got some good low post offense down, he would be beastly.
-speaking of bball... i kinda wanted to play against the adults, but then i was kinda tired from playing the 1st 2 games all-out(i THOUGHT i heard some guys compliment me on saying i had the biggest hustle out of all the guys on the 1st 2 games, since while i wasn't shooting well, i was all over the court, trying to play D like i was tayshaun prince and ben wallace combined into one, rebounding and giving defensive help when it was due; and when i blocked richard wang's shot, i thought i was going to jump through the roof out of pure excitement), or maybe the other guys just needed a better scorer, since wes plays better offense... i dunno... i think i contribute better defensively and on the boards, since i try to go after every shot, missed or not, but maybe next year when my hops are a LOT better. bob was surprisingly not rip hamilton this year, but then, they had vincent, "orange," and hubert on the court, so why do anything else when you had 2 big guys at all times on the court to pound it in with. us benchwarmers were wondering why tim didn't take the last shot, since he probably would've made it.
-brian hogan's a great speaker. i really though this speaker would just be talking about evangelising, but i forgot that christianity ties everything together; there is no spreading the gospel without signs and wonders, and no signs and wonders go without an inspired faith. i need to pray more, and fast more... i forget these things are what lead to wonders. there were a lotta things said on retreat, like culture should be left out of evangelising, not to fear satan's attacks, and to obey the call. i'm try to keep all those things in mind for a while. and his sermon on sunday was great too. this was one of the greatest verses he quoted on sunday:

Isaiah 49:6 he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

finally, i'll just end w/some pics from retreat; these are really great:
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915917-M.jpg (all the ballers, young & old, or as jerm kept trying to say, "seasoned veterans," but i thought old skoolers would've been fine; not walter mccarthy this time around, now i'm just *random azn guy w/white headband*)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915927-M.jpg (notice me in the back holding up the flashlight)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915928-M.jpg (another campfire photo)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915933-M.jpg (all the english)