taiwanluthiers
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- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
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I'm sorry if I didn't do this at first.
My name is Tai Fu, some of you might know me, if you are from the Austin Area Rocketry Group (I don't know if it still exists). I think I met Bob Kaplow at a NAR event one time, don't know if he's still around. I got my L1 there.
I left the US back in 2003 and now I've been given permission to immigrate back here. While I was in Taiwan I have been building guitars and furniture and have ran a decent business fixing guitars for various musicians. It's not that good as far as money goes but it pays the bill. After 11 long years of being in Taiwan, the American embassy gave me permission (an immigration visa) to come to the US. I'll be arriving Dec. 2 in Los Angeles and will be staying with my parents until I get the necessary papers to live (SSN and stuff). I want to get involved in rocketry again because while I found it enjoyable to build guitars, there's a part of me that wants to fly things. So far all I could fly was bottle rockets and skyrockets for fireworks... and while they are fun I think building is like 90% of the fun. I plan to move back to Austin. I have an unfinished degree from UT that I want to finish, since I still think my future is in science.
Those who knew me back then probably remember that I was a Muslim who felt the terrorist attacks of the time was totally against Islam. I will tell you that I'm no longer a Muslim, and I must say this carefully because I don't want the Muslims that still knew me that now lives in Austin to hear about this... as they tend not to like former Muslims. I accepted Jesus into my heart and was baptised in 2003. Ever since then God has taken me on some weird journey that will end in me being in America, though I still need to hear from him about what his plan for me is in America. For now I felt that the thing to do is to finish the degree and become a Geologist. I may opt to get involved in a prison ministry if the church I end up going to has one.
I need to be careful as far as regs go, I will be admitted as a lawful permanent resident and I really don't need to give them any reason to deport me. I'm not touching guns ever again, quite frankly I'm not allowed to have them in Taiwan (actually no one's allowed to have them) and it has been fine, so I'm quite used to the fact that guns aren't something that the average people have access to. I may be able to have blackpowder guns (since ATF has said that they are completely exempt from the gun control act unless they could be readily converted to accept cartridges) but I'm not sure... In any case I just felt it's probably safe for me to stay away from guns until I become a US Citizen one day. (but I'm still concerned about having bp for ejection since everyone said to get a bp rifle, but I rather not if I don't have to)
Since it is nearing Thanksgiving, I'll be the first to say that I am extremely thankful that God gave me the chance to go back to the US legally, and that the government has the grace to forgive me for my past sins.
I found my NAR number in rec.model.rockets, it is 76089. I'll put it in my sig as soon as I can get NAR to confirm it. I'll be formally joining once I arrive to the US.
My name is Tai Fu, some of you might know me, if you are from the Austin Area Rocketry Group (I don't know if it still exists). I think I met Bob Kaplow at a NAR event one time, don't know if he's still around. I got my L1 there.
I left the US back in 2003 and now I've been given permission to immigrate back here. While I was in Taiwan I have been building guitars and furniture and have ran a decent business fixing guitars for various musicians. It's not that good as far as money goes but it pays the bill. After 11 long years of being in Taiwan, the American embassy gave me permission (an immigration visa) to come to the US. I'll be arriving Dec. 2 in Los Angeles and will be staying with my parents until I get the necessary papers to live (SSN and stuff). I want to get involved in rocketry again because while I found it enjoyable to build guitars, there's a part of me that wants to fly things. So far all I could fly was bottle rockets and skyrockets for fireworks... and while they are fun I think building is like 90% of the fun. I plan to move back to Austin. I have an unfinished degree from UT that I want to finish, since I still think my future is in science.
Those who knew me back then probably remember that I was a Muslim who felt the terrorist attacks of the time was totally against Islam. I will tell you that I'm no longer a Muslim, and I must say this carefully because I don't want the Muslims that still knew me that now lives in Austin to hear about this... as they tend not to like former Muslims. I accepted Jesus into my heart and was baptised in 2003. Ever since then God has taken me on some weird journey that will end in me being in America, though I still need to hear from him about what his plan for me is in America. For now I felt that the thing to do is to finish the degree and become a Geologist. I may opt to get involved in a prison ministry if the church I end up going to has one.
I need to be careful as far as regs go, I will be admitted as a lawful permanent resident and I really don't need to give them any reason to deport me. I'm not touching guns ever again, quite frankly I'm not allowed to have them in Taiwan (actually no one's allowed to have them) and it has been fine, so I'm quite used to the fact that guns aren't something that the average people have access to. I may be able to have blackpowder guns (since ATF has said that they are completely exempt from the gun control act unless they could be readily converted to accept cartridges) but I'm not sure... In any case I just felt it's probably safe for me to stay away from guns until I become a US Citizen one day. (but I'm still concerned about having bp for ejection since everyone said to get a bp rifle, but I rather not if I don't have to)
Since it is nearing Thanksgiving, I'll be the first to say that I am extremely thankful that God gave me the chance to go back to the US legally, and that the government has the grace to forgive me for my past sins.
I found my NAR number in rec.model.rockets, it is 76089. I'll put it in my sig as soon as I can get NAR to confirm it. I'll be formally joining once I arrive to the US.