The King is NOT Dead...

Fierce Perseverance.

I'm back like Rocky training in the snow covered mountains after Ivan Drago felled the mighty Apollo Creed, motherfuckers!

I apologize for the lack of updates, but I've been fairly preoccupied. With what, you may ask? Well dear reader, allow me to explain.

January 10, 2006(5:30PM, Hostile Engagement): I returned from my Literary Journalism 101A class helmed by the Pulitzer Prize winning LA Times staff writer, Barry Siegel, who coincidentally is the head of our Literary Journalism department here at the University of California, Irvine. As I opened up Outlook, I was surprised to see an email addressed to me regarding "Status in the School of Humanities." I found myself paralyzed as I opened the electronic letter to read:

Dear Mr. Chen:

I regret to inform you that you have failed to meet the minimum
requirements for retention in the University of California, and you are
therefore disqualified from attendance at the University effective the end
of the Fall Quarter 2005.

I'm not sure how many of you all have been ever terminated as a student at a major academic institution before, but suffice it to say that the experience is not pleasant. Your whole future flashes in front of your eyes, in which you envision yourself in McDonald's attire serving cold fries to ungrateful customers, or something to that effect. Once my paralysis waned, I found heart in a further line in the morbid letter:

If you believe there were factors bearing on your academic ability and
performance that were not available to this office when your record was
reviewed, you may bring these matters to my attention, in writing, no later
than January 25, 2006.

There was light at the end of the tunnel, and I clung to the hope of redeeming myself like Morpheus does Neo. So, I had around two weeks or so to prepare what may be the most important document that I have yet to submit in my academic career. The appeal letter itself, I wrote with great haste, riding on the wave of terror and shock that the letter had thrown me into. I feel that the letter truly captured the great deal of emotions running through my mind during that time. With the main portion of my appeal completed, I sought support in the form of recommendations not only from my employer, but also the instructor who initially turned me onto the Literary Journalism program.

In waiting for both of these documents, the two week deadline became one week, then one week became 3 days, and then came less than 24 hours. I had a recommendation from my employer ready, signed and in hand. However, the words of recommendation from my instructor could not find the time to reach paper...I did, however, have a signature and a home phone number after a brief meeting with said instructor the weekend before.

January 25, 2006(9:30AM, D-Day): I walked pensively to the Humanities Instructional Building, file folder in hand. Sandwiched in between, four pieces of paper were to determine the outcome of the rest of my life. As I walked into HIB 143, I was greeted pleasantly by the receptionist, to whom I submitted my destiny to. Walking out of the office, I kissed the Jade medallion that I wear around my neck, the bodhisattva Kuan-Yin, Goddess of Mercy. I consider this charm my guardian from Evil.

January 25, 2006(4:50PM, Victory in Humanities Day):

Dear Mr. Chen:

Thank you for your letter, which we received yesterday, appealing your disqualification from the University for failure to meet
minimum academic criteria. I am persuaded by your letter to permit you to remain at UCI on academic probation and under the
following contract:

I won't go into the specifics of the contract, other than to say that it is a just and fair sentence. This incidence has allowed me to discover not only the presence of my Guardian, but also to find that Man holds his own fate in the palm of his hand. I've never been much of a religious person, other than to realize that all religions serve one purpose, to stave off the evil inherent in the soul of man. My intent was never to make this update about religion, nor fate, that's just how it ended up I suppose. But I will say this, by whatever means which I was redeemed, I walked through UCI's Aldrich Park with a sensation foreign to me up until this point, appreciation.