Re: George

This entry is pretty much all about George’s last entry.

It’s no coincidence that there are no hoops in Houston. I played outdoors only a few times, but you sweat like a maniac. No one in their right mind would play outdoors during the summer during the day. It’s crazy.

The best thing to do is go to a big church that has an open gym. A lot of the churches on Memorial Drive do this from time to time. I once heard Second Baptist had open gym on Monday nights, but that was a while ago, and I’m not ever sure of it.

While you’re there, George, try to go to Taste of Texas. It’s the best steak you’ll ever have. Really good prime rib also. I’m not joking, you will absolutely love this place. It’s on I-10 by the Beltway. My friends like the Spinach Enchiladas at Tortuga on Kirby, but it’s no big deal to me. And lots of people have mentioned Houston’s Restaurant, also on Kirby.

There’s this one Mexican restaurant, I think it’s south of I-10 on Bingle, but I’m not sure, and I don’t even know the name, but it ends in #4. Like La Mihoachana #4. Something like that. That is the best Mexican food I’ve ever had. Very ghetto, but really good.

While you’re with Eric, you’ll probably end up going there, but there’s this place, Star-Sno Ice that every Asian goes to with good pahtbingsoo. And this other place near it has good Pearl Milk Ice Tea. I think that’s what it’s called. Go there with Eric.

My sister’s favorite pizza is Fuzzy’s Pizza, on Westheimer near I-10. Atchafalaya is decent Cajun food. I like it, at least. For Sushi, Kathy Yung takes me to Cafe Japon on Kirby. Chinese Cafe (there are several but I only know the one on 290) has good, fast, cheap Chinese. If you’re craving Korean, you need to go south on Gessner. There are a bunch, well a few places on… Long Point? I think that’s the street. My mom’s favorite place is either Namgang on Gessner near Longpoint. It’s either Namgang or Gangnam, I can’t remember.

Oh, and the Chinese restaurant that all the Korean people go to is North China, near Gessner and I-10. What’s the street it’s on? I can’t remember. But it’s in the opposite direction of the mall. From I 10, so South on Gessner, then right past the hospital, where the Exxon is, before you get to houses, turn right, and it will be on your left, 2 blocks down. They have pretty good ja jang myun.

George is right of course. The biggest problem with Christian fellowships at least at Stanford is how it doesn’t really prepare you for life after college. I don’t think I can argue with that, and he’s right to stand by it.

I still wonder though, what the best way is to deal with that. I just wonder if you try to deal with it too much, you lose the unique advantages of the college atmosphere, I mean, what I said originally. What I mean is, I wonder if that’s not just a fundamental weakness of any college fellowship. Fundamental in that, if you somehow dealt with that problem and focused on it, you would lose something bigger in the process. Like the whole college flavor.

And I suspect this because, I guess what I meant to say is, whether you’re in a fellowship or not, Christian or not, it’s hard to adjust to life after college. So I think the struggling after college isn’t the fellowships’ fault; everyone goes through it; it’s more fundamental than the fellowship, it’s the entire college experience, that everyone, Christian or not, goes through.

So, were you to mitigate the spiritual difficulties of life after college, my theory is that you would have to take away from the fundamental college experience. And I don’t know if it’s good; one possibility is that it would separate Christians all the more from the campus, which is not a good thing. I’m just speaking out of my arse, of course, but whatever.

Maybe the solution is to become a cult. That would make adjusting to life after college easier. I mean, it works for Berkland and CFC, right? Ouch. Just kidding. I mean that.

But anyway, regardless of whether you can deal with it a not, it’s a problem, and George is right. My problem isn’t really with that view, it’s more the comment I quoted, that was said to George: “Christianity as it’s expressed in college is the most artificial thing in the world.” I still think this view is misguided, because it’s not just commenting on a valid weakness of collegiate Christianity, but it’s calling it “artificial,” and you all know my views on what’s real and not from last time. And my opinion is that when you relegate something as being “artificial,” you’re in some way belittling it. I think though, that I might be alone on this one, so whatever.

Anyway, it may just be 4 years in your life experience, which may not be much, but regardless, for those 4 years, it’s as real as anything else. And thus, Christianity in college is as real as any other experience you’ll have.

That’s not George’s beef, of course. I think he’s saying that the problem is that college fellowships only help you for those 4 years and leave you high and dry for the next stage, which is considerably longer than the college stage. And like I said, he’s right, that is a legitimate problem.

Anyway, I wanted to clarify, that it’s the artificial comment that bothers me, not what George is saying.