“Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.”

i was reminded this weekend about this philosophy. i think as more and more time goes by, i realize that there are no guarantees in life.

you can’t just go and lower your expectations to the point where you can’t be disappointed…well, you can, but what kind of life will you be leading then?

you can’t go and hide away pretending that the world is perfect and that there are no problems…well, you can, but what kind of lie will you be living?

you can’t go and complain about how things are and then suddenly expect that everything will work itself out…well, you can, but how realistic do you think it is that your problems will really resolve themselves?

you can’t go and just hope that all of your problems will magically fix themselves.

yet so many times so many of us will do just these things hoping that through denial we will be able to find happiness. it’s odd because it seems that we all have a tremendous capacity for pain and suffering and we often opt to test these limits than to make our lives better for ourselves.

odd that we do this to ourselves, isn’t it?

but we still do. i wonder why. maybe because it’s just easier to suffer than it is to try and make a difference. maybe it’s easier to stay the course than it is to try and make waves to better your life. maybe it’s just safer to do that.

but the thing is, life is not about staying the safe course. love is not about playing things safe. when you do things, you should do things deeply and passionately. you should not half-heartedly love someone. why do you even bother? love is such a magnificent process, it should be lived out fully. there are no guarantees with love, but if you don’t give it your all, i don’t think it’s worth trying out. sure, you may get burned here and there, but i still believe that it is all worth it.

i heard someone say that half of all marriages end in divorce. that does sound a little discouraging, but no one talks about the other half. half of all marriages last with lifetime commitments. half of all marriages are for life, forever. isn’t the pursuit of love worth it?

all you need to do is get it right once.

on friday, [url=http://www.phamily.org]paul[/url], [url=http://leafee.ocliw.com]leeya[/url], mia, and i went to [url=http://www.asqewgrill.com/menu.html]asqew grill[/url] at bay street in emeryville for lunch. it was very good. i was actually surprised that the restaurant was an all skewer type of a place, but the salads and sauces were quite good. i didn’t like the beef as much as the chicken, but both were still quite tasty.

i may have to go there again some other time. good eating, indeed.

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ray, jen, courtney, and i played in the JACL grass tournament over the weekend. the last time we played in this tournament we were in the same pool, but the play was much more competitive. this time around, it wasn’t that competitive and i felt like the games were a lot easier than they should have been. we will definitely play up the next time around.

but we won and we got some t-shirts so that was good.

this is the last volleyball tournament of the season. i think that i will be playing a lot less volleyball now, though, and i still haven’t found anything to pass my time. not sure what it is that i’m going to do…i have to pick up a new hobby. hmmmm, i wonder if i should start hiking again. i do miss hiking.

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