Cheap Date, Hot Tea, and Prayer Requests

Welcome to another day when I'm supposed to seriously hunker down on a project but feel compelled to write. I'm giving myself 10 minutes to share some very random thoughts that normally would/should not appear in the same entry:

• Celebrated our 7-year anniversary earlier this week with a day off and a low-budget date. Caught a kick-ass matinee (literally) of The Forbidden Kingdom. Very entertaining, 'tho if I was supreme ruler, I'd lose the white kid; let the Chinese people speak Chinese; and add English subtitles, regardless of the language spoken (no offense, Jackie and Jet, but even I struggled to understand at times). Then we split a satisfying combo meal at Buckhorn Grill for 31 cents, thanks to a generous coupon. Oh, and lots of hand holding. One of our best dates ever.


• Appreciating my new Narita hot water dispenser, which allows me to savor hot tea on-demand with a press of a button. So what if its label "vacuum bottle ardometer" doesn't make sense to me. Mmm...warm...


• Mourning the loss of Kenneth Arthur, Jr., described as "a proud father, loving husband, engaged community member and Habitat for Humanity San Francisco's first homeowner", who was stabbed to death on Monday near his home in Bayview. (Dammit.) He is survived by his wife Angela and three sons Kenneth, Kendall, and Karl.


• Bracing for the sentencing verdict of a Uyghur Christian, Alim Yimit, accused by the Chinese government of subversion of the government and terrorism. From what I know, though, his only "crime" is owning a Uyghur Bible and believing in the Christian faith. If convicted, he may be put to death. The verdict is supposed to be announced in a few days, at the end of this month. As the country races to catch up with the industrial world, any success is for naught if such persecution continues.
  

Okay, so that took more than 10 minutes.