High on life

me and my funny roomie wrapped in...unidentifiable ethnic costumes. haha

girlies on my wing! loves

watching the man repair our tire. we were pretty much high and giggly. he must've thought all international pple were weird. haha.

cartoon n me!

our band for the weekend at the youth retreat :)

at the bergwall hawaiian luau open house

capri, cartoon, me and natasha. high on shopping!

yup. our completely flat tire.

at the cookout :)

AAAHHHH!!! have i mentioned how much i love it here at taylor??? have i??? i so totally do. it's been sooo awesome this year. i wish summer wouldn't come so fast! but then i do wanna go home too. but i'll miss it here!! haha. it's so funny how taylor just grows on u. can't imagine going to college anywhere else but here :)

sooo. been super busy the last few days. as usual. wrapping up things for the end of the year..applying for new positions for next year..hopefully gonna get them. applied for coordinator of ethnic student scholarship program..news of the day editor..and maybe news editor for our sch newspaper, the echo. haha. i dont know how i became so enthu about being involved. i never was when i was in s'pore. been it's just so much more fun to be involved in stuff! :)

so last weekend was C-R-A-Z-Y! fri night had a cookout at the daudts'. yayy!! so much fun roasting hotdogs and marshmallows but not so much getting ashes in my eyes and smoke in my hair. but it was fun! made cookies and cards..hung around with people..went to amy's house and had random conversations while watching spanglish until like 1am with ben,luke,cartoon,dan, amanda,elizabeth..oh it was so crazy. haha.

so tired though. had to get up early the next morning to go shopping!!! in fort wayne. with sungah, capri, natasha and cartoon. it was SUCH an adventure! we had to go get presents for our graduating seniors :( so sungah drove a taylor car there..it was about 1hr away. and she was stressing the whole time. cuz that's just who she is. type A. but so adorable. haaha. i love my roomie! and so i gave her directions. and we made it there safe and healthy. went to flattop for lunch! it's this vietnamese (i think) stir fry restaurant. yummyness. shopped around for presents..as well as stuff for ourselves. hahaha. got cute cheap stuff at aeropostale! and old navy. yayyy. got the seniors journals, cards, starbucks personalized graduating gift mugs (sooo cute), necklaces. cuz they're all girls. haha. can't wait to give it to them!

and then..before we could leave the mall, we got a flat tire. so OMG sungah was freaking out. and this security guard just happened to be standing there RIGHT when we saw the flat tire and he was totally calm and told us to call campus safety and then drive to a parking lot and he'd change the tire for us. IT WAS SUCH A GOD THING!!! God is sooo good. He sent this guy to help us! so sungah was still freaking out but he was sooo nice and helped us change the tire in the rain while we stood around and talked to him. Thank God he was there! if not we prob wouldn't know what to do. so we got lost on the way back, and sungah passed all these stop signs without stopping, and she drove on the curb once..but other than that, we were fine. haha. crazy times. had a movie party in my room at night..watched 'disturbia'. omg. so scary. i didn't dare to go to the bathroom after that. cuz i'm just wimpy like that. haha. but i'm over it now. and then went to the youth conference outdoor worship concert. was fun. although we made it there when it was ending. haha.

sun went to youth conference chapel cuz wanted to hear the speaker. he was amazingly awesome. like seriously one of the BEST speakers i've ever heard. sooo good at connecting with the audience and bringing the msg across! i was totally engrossed in what he was saying. was a gd sermon too. about not getting angry at others just cuz they can't do things well. and i realized i do that sometimes..get mad at others cuz they don't do a good job at something, when i myself can't do it well either. does that make sense? haha. yeah. worship was good. youths running to the front and being crazy for Christ. totally reminded me of FCBC. awwww. wish it could be like this all the time. it struck me as a little hypocritical. cuz pple are always so dead during worship and then suddenly during big events like youth conference they become hyper and worship with all their might then when it's over they become dead again. why??? why can't we be crazy for God everyday?? sigh.

anw this week was crazy too. rushing to write research papers for class..preparing presentations for class..practicing for our fashion show for the event we're putting on called 'International Mosaic: Celebrating Culture', which was today. it went REALLY well! which surprised us all cuz there was sooo much tension and stress over it cuz everyone couldn't get along and all had different opinions on how it should be run. it was chaotic every single rehearsal. and i was just being myself, like guys, can't we just all get along? haha. mediator as usual. but sooooo glad lots of pple showed up and it went AWESOME!!! we had african, caribbean, hip hop dances, the gospel choir sang, pple played the drums, some pple spoke, and there was the fashion show. which i was in. ahahaha. i modelled some indonesian costume and then the japanese kimono. totally went out there and anyhow pose. was sooo fun :) my friend was like shouting, wo ai ni! cuz i taught her that and that's the only chinese she knows. haha. someone came up to me and said i have great stage presence. awwww!! :)))

i love random bonding times with girls on my wing :) sitting outside on the lawn (or what we call olson beach cuz all the girls sit on the lawn to tan)..watching one tree hill and the bachelor together..talking about random things.. :) me and dorothy wrote a song for the seniors to sing to them on senior night!! soo exciteddd. hope it makes them cry. hahaha. omg can't believe i'm only 3weeks away till summer!!! where did all the time go??? the weather is SOOO beautiful now. soooo gorgeous. i just wanna be outside all the time. i think the weather really does affect ur attitude. pple are generally happier when it's nice outside. :)

Miami Memories :)

working on the house in Georgia. the roof was practically falling apart. holes everywhere.

smashing up the sidewalk in front of a house in miami

enjoying yummy cuban food in miami. the brown things on the right that look like chicken were actually plantains. like cooked bananas. only better. haha

our group at our first meeting at Taylor

my work group's secret adventure to the beach!!! relaxation after a hard day's work :)

we got some muscles after all that hammering. haha. the guy next to me is superrr funny! reminds me of the grinch. haha

us on the roof of our house in miami. this pic appeared in our sch newspaper! and i look terrified! haha.

i loved working with these girls! :)

1/3 of our group with ex-president jimmy carter (on the extreme left) and his wife (extreme right). they look bored. haha. this was like their 20th pic of the day with complete strangers. fun.

our completed house!!!! so proud :) shingled roof and green paint n all.

me painting with joel. dont know why i wore that shirt. got paint all over it and it never came out.

working on our house :)

our group at the worksite in Georgia

the community centre where we stayed in at Georgia

Paul, the poor guy who broke his ankle. and he still manages to look so cheery.

carrying piles and piles of sod (disgusting grass) from the roadside to the house

our entire group at one of the finished houses in miami

getting ridiculously checked by the secret service at Jimmy Carter's church in Georgia. so entertaining.

be my Everything

spent the weekend at a retreat in springhill camp, indiana. left early afternoon friday and drove 2 1/2 hours to the campsite with 3 other people from TCA. we weren't too sure what to expect. but it turned out pretty awesome. got there early, set up the equipment.. i learned how to assemble a whole drumset from pieces. haha. our band led worship for about 60 middle school/high school kids (13-18 yrs old) 4 times this weekend. they were pretty awesome about it, considering the youth pastor described them as 'awkward during worship'. haha. such cute little kids. so hyper too. but so guai and good at listening when they have to! i was impressed.

most of our songs we improvised on the spot, cuz didn't really have time to practice. and it turned out fine. although i messed up a little on drums..haven't played that in a while. but it was really fun!!! to get to play in a worship band again. :) no stress too..cuz they were kids. no high expectations. just worshipping God. got to go shopping/exploring the nearby places on sat. bought cheap stuff from Gap :) been a while since i've shopped. was pretty surprised by how clean the campsite was. the toilets were like A+++ for camp toilets. and the cabins were pretty nice. minus the dead bugs on the floor. and the food was good. and i got to know the group better. so overall the weekend definitely exceeded my expectations :)

Really glad i went. cuz initially didn't wanna go. but adam wanted me to go so...i went. and i think God really wanted me to go. and i've been really blessed even though i sacrificed time and didn't manage to study at all for my exam on mon. He spoke to me in so many ways through the speaker. i thought it was kinda ironic that it took a speaker at a kids' retreat for God to finally get through to me. really enjoyed the opportunity to minister through worship.

so the theme of the retreat was Moment of Truth. and they had all these games about truth. really creative and entertaining. the speaker told us to complete this sentence: When God thinks about you, He's...
and i dont know why but the first word that came to my mind was 'disappointed'. and i was like, wow. that IS really what i think of myself. that i'm a disappointment to God. cuz.. I don't know..all the things i've been doing..or not doing..like spending time with Him..so that really struck hard. i dont wanna be a disappointment to God! and i dont think He is actually disappointed in me. but it just feels that way cuz i haven't really been living for Him.
and then this song came to mind. haven't heard it in a long long time. but it just re-appeared.
"You love me just because You love me, You love me for eternity
and all the times we had together, oh Lord it's just not enough
My first love, my heart's desire, is only You"
Lord this is my prayer!

and then he talked about the future and what jobs we wanna have. and i thought about how i wanted to be a journalist. but why? cuz i wanna meet celebs? get famous? travel the world? all these have nothing to do with God! and it reminded me of a conversation i had with a friend..and how she was sooo on fire for her future career cuz she wanted to do it for God. and then she asked me how journalism could glorify God, and i was kinda at a loss for words. i really dont know how i'm gonna use it for God, cuz obviously the media industry is pretty corrupted. but..i'm just gonna trust that wherever i end up, and whatever i end up doing..God will somehow use me for the furtherance of His kingdom.

and lastly he talked about Matt 6. where Jesus says that wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. and it got me thinking...what IS my treasure? what do i consider precious to me? and then i realized..if one day i lost all my music, my clothes, my relationships with loved ones...i would be completely heartbroken. but my relationship with Jesus has been gradually deteriorating this semester and what have i done? Nothing. that says something about my priorities. i keep telling myself i have to do something about it, but i never do. does Jesus mean so little to me that i can't even give up 15 minutes of my day to spend with Him? 24 hours in a day and i spend it on tv, music, friends, hw, sleeping, eating. wow. i should stop wasting my time. i need to change. i want to change.

Lord help me find my joy and my strength in You again! Help me to live for You and not out of selfish ambition.
"keep my eyes fixed ever on Jesus' face. let not the things of this world ever soil me. i'll run till i finish the race."

Bubbly

Crazy busy week once again. Didn't get much sleep at all. But i slept in till 12 today, so that was good.
The weekend was good too..watched 'Leatherheads' at the theatre, which was pretty good :) sat and sun was consumed by photography sessions. took pictures of capri, sungah, holly and britni in the cornfields. was kinda cool. the photos turned out well. like those advertisements u see in the magazines of models prancing around in the grass with fading sunlight shining on them and looking absolutely gorgeous. i have really photogenic friends. haha. and then sun was spend in the photography studio on campus, taking pictures of julie, luke, dan, cartoon, dorothy and carly.

i freaked out and thought i needed 10 models when i actually only needed 2. haha. so i had plenty of choices to choose from. took like 500pics. was kinda fun telling pple how to pose and making them look good :) stressful though. hate hate hate my photography class critique session. when we put up our printed photos for all to see and criticize and encourage. STRESSFUL, i tell u. but they liked my pics. which was a huge relief. all these intimidating artsy art majors.

got back my audio script for my final project, which i wrote at like 3am in the morning. but the prof liked it! yay. now i just need to find 3 voice talents for me to record and edit. this producing side of media is kinda fun. time-consuming, but enjoyable :)

had a miami spring break team reunion! fun. miss those crazy people. rushed around campus like a madwoman on mon and tues to interview alumni for my article for The Echo this week. craziness. forced to attend boring lectures too. after experiencing writing for a sort of real newspaper, i'm not sure i love it. really don't think i wanna do this for the rest of my life. it's just...kinda dry. boring. plus it's a christian university newspaper.. not like we can do controversial, thought provoking pieces.

worked out a few times this week. dont know why but i've been pretty motivated. i'm gonna be fit! kind of. haha. still eating junk food. can't help it man. stupid DC filled with unhealthy food tempting me all the time. been stealing fruit from the DC though. good healthy fruit. went to visit friends at open house tonight. had homemade waffle cones n ice cream. yummy. and bergwall had awesome decorations..luau-style. practiced drums yesterday with a random group of pple..made me kinda happy to play with a band again after sooo long. :)

so..going to a retreat this weekend organized by some church for their youths - junior high and high school kids. Taylor Christian Artists is going to do worship for them fri-sun..and we couldn't get a band who was all free to do it, so me and my co-director had to go..but it'll be fun. i've been missing being in a worship band. looking forward to it!!! except i'll be the drummer instead of the guitarist. but still cool. there's supposed to be a tornado/storm warning tomorrow. so pray that we'll be safe driving 2 1/2 hours to the campsite.

Amazed

You are more beautiful than anyone, ever
Everyday You're the same, You never change, no never
How could I ever deny the love of my Savior
You are to me everything, all I need forever
How could You be so good
There is no one like You :)

So today in chapel the speaker was talking about how she kept asking God to forgive her cuz she had 2 abortions in the past. and every chance she had to confess her sins, she would. over and over again. and then one day God spoke to her and showed her that she had forgotten to forgive someone - herself. He showed that she was actually denying His forgiveness, the forgiveness that He gave the first time she confessed her sin. And i kinda felt like i was in the same boat as her. I keep asking for forgiveness from God multiple times because i'm so afraid He didn't hear or that repenting once would not be enough cuz i'm such a sinner. Learning to forgive myself and accept God's mercy and forgiveness in my life.

On an unrelated note...

Random list of foods i've been obsessed with ever since coming to Taylor:
-Sunchips. the best ever. whole grain original
-Granola. i eat cereal with almost every meal cuz there's nothing else to eat!
-Salsa. soooo obsessed with it last semester. goes wonderfully with Sunchips.
-Choc. my bond with chocolates is eternal and nothing will ever come between us.
-Wraps. yummy and healthy! still loving it. turkey,lettuce,tomatoes,mayo,american cheese.
-String cheese. ate like 4 pieces a day at the peak of my obsession
-Oranges. My current obsession. I ate two at lunch, one at dinner and three late at night all yesterday. haha. at least it's healthy. hope i don't die of vitamin C overdose though.

No one like YOU!

There is no one like You
there has never ever been anyone like YOU!
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

today was an awesome all-campus worship night! it was really really really good for me. finally was able to really get into the spirit of worship instead of singing two songs and that's all. the worship night lasted for 2 hours..i went for 1 1/2 hours. was really good. awesome to be worshipping alongside fellow bros and sis! the chapel bands led worship. i think its really cool how they each have their own style. one's kinda acoustic..one's all about contemporary christian songs..one's obsessed with hillsongs..which is great for me cuz i miss hillsongs lots. so yeah! thank God for this opportunity to come back to the heart of worship :) today was just a great day. caught up with more friends about spring break..

class was fun. worked my butt off during aerobic walking. didn't know walking could be so tiring! felt good though. totally put on weight from eating so much over spring break! haha. digital audio production class was fun..we listened to each other's projects. haha. mine was a 60sec promo for my parents' Building Strong Marriages classes. pple liked it. so it was cool :) then waited around forever to drop Historic Christian Belief with the evil prof. but he got into an accident so he wasn't here at all this wk. you know something's wrong when a prof is in an accident and the class doesn't even care to ask. heh. no one even bothered to ask if he was ok! seriously. he brings out the absolute worst in all of us. oh well. dont have to deal with him anymore. i wish him all the best in his sad life. maybe one day God will change him. hopefully.

ystdy i interviewed this freshman girl for The Echo, our sch newspaper.. (btw i'm thinking of applying for News Editor for The Echo next yr! isn't that exciting???) anw..she fell down on campus n hit her head on the ice covering the sidewalk 3 wks ago, and she's now suffering from temporary memory loss! isn't that crazy?? makes me thank God for all His protection n blessings in my life :) she told me 3 hours from now she wouldn't really remember the conversation i had with her. whoaaaa. but she's going to therapy so she'll be well soon. hopefully. omg talking about freak accidents.. this guy i sorta know from taylor was lost in Ecuador during spring break!! was all over the news! he was lost in the wilderness for like a day and they had to rush him to the hospital when they found him. craziness.

and i watched the Oprah show today cuz this girl from Taylor was on it.. Whitney cerak.. she and a bunch of other taylor pple were in a fatal accident last yr n only she survived i think. and another family thought she was their daughter..and they took care of her n all. and her family thought she was dead.. case of mistaken identity. so weird! till they finally found out they got the identities mixed up. can't imagine how horrid it must have been for the family who thought their daughter was alive when she was actually dead. so Oprah interviewed her n her family.. and she also wrote a book which pretty much sold out here i think. coolness huh.

so.. i really love taylor. just wanted to say that. been catching up with friends here about our spring break adventures. i love everyone here!!! lots!! found a new roomie for next yr..so i'm gonna stay on my wing! yayy!! and keep my room! :)

random thought - u know what kinda job i would really LOVE? producing the soundtrack for movies. seriously. that would be second awesome next to forming a band and becoming famous. cuz i always LOVE finding songs for short videos that my friends or i produce..i just love it! it would be sooo fun to write the songs/tunes for movies...sooo cool. wonder how u'd get to that kinda job.