If you attend Saddleback Church, you might have seen me on assignment with PICS, on bass at Ohana, or on a mission trip with Health Care ministry. Keep an eye out for me if you're in the area.
There's 130 songs on this playlist. Feel free to skip over to one that's more to your liking.
The Saigon hospital where I was born
How It All Started
I was born in February of 1975 in Saigon, Vietnam. Saigon was to fall to the Communists less than three months later. On that fateful day, my parents took a three-month old baby, a couple hundred dollars, and some baby formula onto a US Navy barge. They left everything behind, for a foreign country on the other side of the ocean and the other side of the world.
A Little Bit of God, or a Whole Lot of Luck
We were Vietnam war refugees. The army took us to Guam, then Fort Chafee. A local church, San Juan Capistrano Presbyterian, sponsored our family and got us a small apartment in San Clemente. My dad started out as a dishwasher. My mom sewed clothes for years. We had a lot of help from local church members, driving us, teaching us english, and giving us clothes. A few years later, my parents had learned English, had good jobs, and a house. Depending on how you see the world, either there was a little bit of God, or a whole lot of luck involved.
Family Christmas, 1981. That's me standing.
Learning the Language
We moved to Mission Viejo with my uncle's family sometime before I was 4. My first language was, naturally, Vietnamese. I entered preschool knowing only one English word: "No." Fortunately, I learned English very quickly. By 1st or 2nd grade, Vietnamese became my second language...now I speak English like an American, and Vietnamese like, well, an American. You could say that I speak "Broken Vietnamese."
My dental school volleyball team, the Soup Nazis, 1998. From left: Ron, Vu (me), Liza, Dennis, Mary, Glenn
Getting Schooled
I graduated with honors from Capistrano Valley High School in 1993, then UC Irvine (BS in Biology) in 1997. I learned lots of facts, some useful, some not. Somewhere in there I figured out that I was a nerd. I got involved in youth leadership when my core group leader, Bob Hull, said "You know a lot of Bible, you should be an assistant (core group leader)." That was the beginning of over a dozen years in youth ministry.
It was also during this time period that I discovered what still are my favorite hobbies: photography, graphic arts, web site design, music, snowboarding, skating and cycling.
Me, my grandparents, aunt Grace, and parents in front of my portrait in the main lecture hall at Loma Linda
Going Dental
Loma Linda University School of Dentistry was really where everything started to come together. Lots of long hard hours with the same class of 90 people for four years, and you get very close. After 12 years of schooling, I finally figured out how to be popular and even got elected as student council treasurer. It was four years where I worked hard and played hard. As you can see, I also got the honor of my life-size picture permanently mounted to the main lecture hall...with a mask on my face :) Four years later, I am a volunteer faculty member at LLUSD, taking dental students on trips to do their first fillings and extractions.
Some of our clinic team in Independencia, Mexico.
Back to Basics
I spent my journeyman years being a dentist in far off places like Valencia and Crestline. I would always come home to visit family and friends on weekends. After putting 50,000 miles on my car in less than three years, I decided that it was time to put down roots. I moved back home, and started regularly attending Saddleback Church. As I started to get more involved, (that's me on a Mexico mission trip) I knew that I had found my niche here in South Orange County. After an exhaustive search, I ended up opening an office just a few minutes from where I grew up all these years. Sometimes things do come around full circle.
Who I'd like to meet:
.. My lovely girlfriend and I at the Flower Gardens in Carlsbad
As many new patients as possible. We can only grow our practice with your generous help. Thanks for referring!
So really, who would I like to meet? You! Everyone has a story to share, and something interesting to talk about. I meet a lot of people in my line of work, and it's the personalities, not the procedures, that are often the most interesting part of my day. People who are involved in music and technology (I seem to right AND left brained) often provide the most fascinating discussion.
I especially honor people with integrity: those who live what they believe, because it's very hard to consistently stand by even the simplest things.
Wow! You're page is looking great. I love the new background and the layout. Looks like your talent extends to more then just the dental office. (And thanks for creating such a beautiful background for me!)
..
