Two Encounters

Today I ran into a man named Carl in the coffee room at work again.  I had originally met him in our work coffee room a couple of weeks ago.  I was chatting with my friend Susan and telling her that I was going to my dad's house for Thanksgiving.  After we finished chatting, Carl introduced himself and told me that he knows my dad.  I don't know why this kind of thing still surprises me.  Probably because it hasn't happened to me in a while.  People used to recognize me in public all the time and tell me that they know my dad.

The reason is, my dad is a fairly well-known Christian author in the Chinese Christian world.  He has written over 100 devotional, Bible study, and other topical books.  He's appeared in a series of lectures on TV in Taiwan.  On the back cover/flap of some of his books, there are photos of our family.  That's why people recognize me.  One time, I was in a Chinese restaurant, and I noticed that some people kept staring at me.  Finally they came over and asked if I was Pastor Lee's daughter, because they recognized me from my dad's books.  This kind of thing used to happen to me a lot.

Anyways, Carl goes to Chinese Bible Church in Rancho Bernardo.  He said that when my dad preached there, my dad had talked about me and that I worked here.  We chit-chatted for a couple of minutes that day.

Today I ran into Carl in the coffee room again.  He asked me if I can read Chinese.  I told him that I can only read food items on menus.  :-|   What, it's the truth!  I only went to school in Taiwan until 3rd grade, so my reading is really not good.  And that was 30 years ago.  Carl then excitedly asked me, "Do you know how many Chinese people are on our floor?"  I didn't know.  He said, "There are 23 Chinese people on our floor!"  Then he told me that they are starting a lunch time Chinese Bible study at work, because there are so many newcomers.  He said he wanted to know if I could read Chinese, so that if I could, I could help them with the Bible study.  Sadly, I had to tell him that my Chinese is definitely not good enough for Bible study.  (Sometimes my English is not good enough for Bible study, LOL.  And definitely not my Hebrew or Aramaic.)  Anyways, even though I can't help or really participate, I am so excited about Carl's enthusiasm for the Lord and that he wants to have this Bible study for the Chinese people who work on my floor.  Who knows how many souls will come to know the Lord because he took the initiative?

I had to leave work early today to get my haircut, because of the limited hours that Nickie works at Supercuts.  Todd had gone to Nickie twice to get his haircut now, and has liked her.  I haven't gotten my hair cut since July 1st, because the salon I went to closed, and Heather had moved to a different salon farther away.  Nickie and I chitchatted.  When she found out that I worked as a financial analyst and did corporate budgets, she started asking me all kinds of questions.  "How do you keep track of how much you spend?"  "How much should I spend on clothes?  How often should I buy clothes?"  "How much should I spend eating out?"  "How much should I spend at Starbucks?  I go there like four times a week, and each time I spend almost six dollars on a latte and a muffin."  And so on.  It was a little awkward.  If my best friend had asked me these questions, I would know how to answer.  When a stranger asked me these questions, I felt a little tongue-tied.  I didn't know her income, her finances, or anything about her.  So I told her that she could start keeping track of all the money she spends for two months.  Then she can get a good picture of what she spends her money on, and what to cut back on.  Everyone has different priorities and what they tend to splurge on.  She recommended cutting more layers into my hair, which I agreed.  Then she asked me if I wanted to get a blow-dry and styling.  I said sure.  When she was done, I really liked how my hair looked.

Then we went over to the cash register and she said that it was $43.95.  Seriously???  I didn't know there were $44 haircuts at Supercuts!  How could it cost that much???  I've never paid that much at Supercuts before.  There wasn't a breakdown of what the $43.95 consisted of on the receipt.  I like my haircut, but do I like it $43.95 much?  I was still in shock as I handed over my credit card.  I know I should have asked for a breakdown, but I was shocked.  So ironic that we were just chatting about finances and then she hit me with a $43.95 bill for my haircut.

So here I am.

Is it worth $43.95? Eh... on the other hand, don't answer that.
I'm NOT washing my hair for a long time. This blow-dry better be worth it!