Eyes wide open

I'm so tired. I got ZERO sleep on sat night cuz we were at Abebe's house in Indy for the international students sleepover... so last night i actually went to bed at 9.30pm! isn't that insane? i don't think i've ever gone to bed so early.. since i was a kid. but omg by 8pm my eyelids were fluttering shut and i couldn't keep them open at all. so i just gave up and went to bed, and fell asleep immediately. now i have to finish all my hw before my first class at 11. ugh.

But the weekend was fun. went to senior art shows on friday.. yayy free food again! campus was buzzing cuz there was tons of stuff going on. craziness. youth conference, the play 'Smoke on the mountain', art shows... tons of high school kids running around campus. awww so cute.

The weather on sat was incredibly warm and beautiful and wonderful. i sunbathed for an hour waiting to go to Indy... i loved soaking in the sun's rays. oh warmth, how i've missed you so much. then we went shopping! YAY. finally got to go buy some nice appropriate intern clothes cuz i accepted the internship!!! i don't really care that it's a small company because.. i just wanna go to NYC for the summer and get some work experience. it's about time.

So the retreat was fun.. went to play laser tag!! and shopped at the Asian market!! yayy. then played some form of charades at Abebe's beautiful, huge house until about 4am. then i couldn't fall asleep cuz we were sleeping on air mattresses, and one of them kept making this sound (in the morning we realized why: it was slowly deflating throughout the night!), and then i had to get up at 6am cuz i was going back to campus with the early van. so... sunday was spent trying to stay awake. went to youth conference service, which was really good. liked it alot. :)

Now it's back to classes. but 3 more weeks, then finals, then SUMMER!

1 month to summer

OMG. summer is RIGHT AROUND the corner!!! YAY!!! i love it! the weather today was soooo warm. makes me happy. i realized the weather really can affect our mood. everyone was so cheerful and smiling today, not like when it's snowing or rainy, where everyone is grouchy. so in commemoration of the start of spring (finally!), my wing had our First West Dress Day!!! everyone wore dresses to chapel. haha. it was fun to finally wear something other than jeans and shoes/boots.
SPRING IS HERE!!!!

So i did an interview today, with an online magazine called JuliB.. it's a smaller publishing company, and it sounds kinda cool, the stuff that their interns do.. cuz it's a smaller company, interns get to be more hands-on and do more editorial stuff, instead of just getting coffee. PLUS fridays are off days!! so nice huh!! so within hours of my interview, they told me i got the job!!!!!!!!! so how.. now i don't know if i should accept it right away, or wait and see if i get anything better. i have less than 24 hours to decide.....
oh. and it's in New York City!

Anw Hannah, Katie and I went out tuesday night to Thai Smile (yummy thai food!! i love that they serve enough for 2 portions, because that means leftovers for dinner the next day!).. and to watch...
17 AGAIN!!!!!

I really liked it. it was funny, simple and lighthearted. good for a night out with the girls :) only i kept expecting Zac Efron to burst out in song every once in a while. too much high school musical. haha. he did play basketball and dance in this movie though.. so he was kinda keeping to his HSM stereotype.

i got to interview pretty cool people this week.. this Taylor senior guy who got into Harvard Business School.. i'd say that's a pretty big deal. he was kinda quiet and shy though, not what i expected. i thought he'd be the take charge, fill the room with his presence kinda authoritative guy.
also got to interview this other Taylor guy who's studying abroad in Australia right now.. he portrayed Jesus in an Easter performance, complete with blood, wooden cross and crown of thorns.. and got the national media's attention. so that was cool :)

OMG and there's been so much theft around campus nowadays! it's kinda scary and whenever i'm away from my room i was fret and worry and think about my computer's safety. so expensive k! i dun wanna lose it! apparently people have been losing ipods, wallets, computers, even cars! craziness. in a christian college too. goes to show really no one's perfect.

You spin my head right round

AAAAHHHH.

i got a call back from MTV in Santa Monica, California!!!!!!!! but i can't accept!!!! because i'm already committed... to another internship program.. which hasn't found me an internship yet!!! and it's only a month left to summer!!! HOW HOW HOW. sucks. i really wanted to work for MTV. but then.. their internship is only 2 days a week. so... oh well. maybe next time. so sad. and also, so stressed now. been interviewing people about grad schools.. today i interviewed this guy from Taylor who got into Harvard Business School. so cool huh. so stressful to think about graduation next year. don't even know what i'm gonna do. should start looking at grad schools now. or potential jobs.

it's been really rainy these couple of days. outside looks so dreary and desolate. but got to go out on sat.. to Target and RR :) fun times. went for Anna's senior voice recital on sunday. man, she's always so quiet and soft-spoken, but when she opens her mouth to sing, she totally belts out a beautiful tune. it was so amazing hearing her sing in different languages too.
Susan cooked curry on sunday for dinner. yummy. and then went for TCA Worship Night. was kinda nice.

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!

I'll be in sunny Los Angeles, California, this fall!!! Aug 22-Dec 10!!! Whoo hoo!!!! :)
Found out yesterday, after weeks of excruciating anticipation. omg i was so depressed on wed because they said they'd let me know by wed and i didn't hear anything, so i just assumed i wasn't good enough. BUT YAY! i got in after all!!!
And so.. i'm kinda scared now. hahaha. it's so stupid, i know. but i don't know why i applied!!! i don't know anything about making film!!! i don't know anyone there!! i don't know how to drive!! i've never lived in LA before!! what am i supposed to do????

argh.

ok, negative feelings aside, i'll be interning somewhere in Hollywood!!!!!! that's exciting, at least. haha. and taking a scriptwriting class, a film criticism class, and a production class, where i actually get to be part of the crew that produces an original film to submit to a film festival!! sounds crazy. i feel kinda overwhelmed just thinking about it. can't believe i'm going to LA!!! no more tiny little upland!!! it's surreal.

so yeah. and i turned down the marketing/advertising position at BlackBook mag, but then the Editorial department contacted me and so now i've another interview with them. at this point, i really don't care what internship i get, i just wanna get something so i can stop worrying about what i'm gonna do for the summer. plus, i'll be doing another internship in LA anyway.
man, this year is a year of venturing into the exciting/terrifying unknown!! living in NYC by myself, doing my first internship in the big city, living in LA and doing another internship in Hollywood!! craziness. i hope i can do it.

on another note, i totally cried last night. and for no good reason, too! i guess i haven't shed a tear in a while, so a breakdown was long overdue. but... i don't know. was just kinda frustrated at being compared to others and constantly feeling like my writing isn't good enough. and also the stress of not knowing what i want to do with my life. hate that. hate it when people ask me what i wanna do in the future. i don't know, okay!! leave me alone.

Discussions, discussions

So, Media, Faith and Culture class. Once again... has made me think about all the things that is wrong with Christianity. and i'm not saying it's bad. in fact, i love it. i thrive on it. it's so interesting and i feel like we, as Christians, ought to know all these things so we can improve and fight against it.

Anyway, in one of our readings, there was a intense survey done of the youths in America, and it said their top few criticisms of Christians was that Christians are
1. Hypocritical
2. Too focused on getting converts
3. Judgmental
4. Anti-homosexuals

Isn't that so sad? That Christianity is beginning to be known for what it stands AGAINST rather than what it stands FOR. That people only see the bad side of Christianity through crazy people like Britney Spears who claim to be Christians but obviously do not know what that means.

And then we watched a HBO documentary called 'Friends of God', where this non-believer went around the States to document Christians. And obviously her stance was biased, and she only went to the Bible Belt of America - the South (like Texas, Tennessee, etc.) and she only showed the controversial, weird parts of Christianity. Like pastor Ted Haggard (this was before his scandal, though. and on another note, i really don't judge him or think bad of him even though he did something wrong. cuz we're all sinners. his sins just happened to be televised on national TV. and we all have the potential to fall, but grace is the only thing that keeps us from falling), who managed to make Christians look really unreal and weird.

And there was this Christian Wrestling Federation, where this Christian guy nicknamed 'Jesus Freak', the founder, claims his wrestling matches takes wrestling and cleans it up for kids. well, i don't know what he means by 'clean', but his matches look pretty darned violent to me, just like WWE, minus the crude language. and there are all these kids screaming and yelling in excitement as they watch people bash each other up in the ring. and then at the end there's an altar call, and the pastor claims 10% of the kids/youths accept Christ.

So what does this mean? should we support this kinda stuff? Just cuz a few lives are saved? no doubt, every life is precious in God's eyes, but at what cost? So does this mean we can start up a 'Christian' club and have parties, drinking, gambling and all that stuff, then at the end give an altar call, and as long as a few people receive Christ, it's ok? that makes it Christian? I DON'T THINK SO. if this is the case, then, seriously... anything goes. u can do whatever u want and just slap the 'Christian' title on it to justify your actions.

And then, Rolling Stone magazine had this article written about this guy, Ron Luce, who hosts 'Acquire the Fire' conferences around the States. And each time, about more than 10, 000 youths attend his rallies, and they're so... extreme. it's like a huge, radical youth crusade. They have mass confession and weeping, then they proceed to show off their best dance moves for God, and there's also all kinds of bands that perform, and they do other stuff like write down 'things of the world' they wanna give up for God like music, movies, even Starbucks and Victoria's Secret and cereal. and then the preacher, Ron Luce, tells them all kinds of extremist stuff like 'real stories' about people who have 'lost their souls to secularism'. like there was a girl who left Jesus and got date raped, or another girl who dated a non-Christian boy and now lives a bisexual lifestyle and works in the porn industry.. it's all just so... extreme. and they sound like an orgy of emotions.

And then (sorry to go on, but there's just so many interesting things we talked about), there was this website which looked like a porno site, but then when u actually click and click and click inside, it leads to testimonies about how people have stopped their addiction to porn, and there's also a hotline to call for help with addiction to porn. and this method of getting people to the site but misleading them and making them think it's something when it's not, is called the 'bait and switch' method. which i think is totally wrong. how can u deceive people into thinking something when it's not this thing at all??

but then again, it makes me think of how... most of the evangelistic events we have are kinda 'bait and switch'. in a way. like we tell people it's a magic show or a musical, or we bring people in by enticing them with video games, and then at the end there's an altar call and we expect them to come to Christ.. i dunno.
SO MANY THINGS TO THINK ABOUT! my head is bursting.

i should probably go get some sleep.

YES YES YES!

Last night watched 'Yes Man' again. so inspired. i shall say 'yes' to (almost) everything now!!!!! start living life!!! haha.

So i didn't end up going on the MuKappa retreat after all.. really wanted to. oh it was so stupid. i got up at 7am, only had 4 hours of sleep...packed and everything... then, of course, my 'best friend' came. complete with cramps and nausea and all. so i was like, ok guess i'm not going after all. went to breakfast and saw everyone and felt bad that i wasn't going, but oh well.

The BlackBook interview went well.. was pretty informal and laidback. but they told me the internship position was more of marketing/advertising, which isn't something i wanna do.. so, i guess i'll be looking elsewhere. sigh. too bad. it looked like a pretty cool magazine. now i wish i majored in Public Relations/Advertising. seems like there are soooo many of those positions available for interns. not many people want writers :(

So the last few days were spent slacking to the max. I LOVED IT :) it's SO NICE having no one around!!! there's prob only like 50 people left on the whole campus... which is so great. i have the room to myself, there's only 4 girls on the wing now.. the bathroom to myself... i can do whatever i like!!!! love it. so i've been playing my guitar. after letting it rot in the corner for almost a year. heh. man, my fingers hurt. i pulled out the songs i used to write when i was going through my years of teenage angst..and totally laughed at myself. those lyrics i wrote... so emo. hahahaha. maybe i'll post one or two up sometime so we can all laugh at me at age 15, hating the world.

Friday night went to try the new Chinese restaurant in town.. called Happy Buddha. i don't know why but so many chinese eateries here insist on calling themselves '____ Buddha'. like Lucky Buddha. wonder why. anw the food was ok.. hope the place doesn't close down. it's weird how this is the 3rd family to own the place cuz they don't get enough business so they always close down, but then the next person who opens the restaurant there always happens to sell chinese food. weird.

Today was Easter Sunday!! went to the Daudts for dinner. was so good :) yummy lasagna and breadsticks and salad and fruit salad. so super full. and then played all kinds of card games. hilarious, the stuff we come up with.

Easter Break

i love it when they separate Easter and Spring break. that means two breaks!!!! YEAH!! and since my class today was cancelled, and I don't have class on tues, i have a 6-day break! :)

So this week:
THE REJECT SHOW ---- so lame. basically a bunch of people singing their hearts out, or should i say, yelling their hearts out. and the singing was pretty bad. although there was a really cool mime. the other performances were average. at least it was only $2.

I'm still waiting impatiently for the results from the LA Studies Program!!!! SO SLOW!!!! They'll notify me next wed.. April 15.. I hate it when people ask me cuz I'm like, I DON'T KNOW YET!! stop asking me!! i'll tell u on april 15!! gosh!! soooo.... nervous. on one hand, i really wanna go. i think the experience will be awesome. i'll get to study film, i'll get to be part of the process of making a film, i'll get to intern in Hollywood... but then... i don't know anyone there, not even the people from Taylor going (i don't know them that well. and i'm the least experienced with film out of all 5 of us). and most of all, i have ZERO experience making film. i'm gonna be surrounded by film gurus and i'll be totally overwhelmed. oh i really don't know. it's scary. soooo.... if i get in, i'm meant to go. if not, then not :)

Wed was the longest day ever. so many classes. but at least we got to go to Starbucks for Layout and Design to look at their brand and logo. then went to the souphouse and made dumplings!! yummy. and watched/danced to/sang along to High School Musical 3. much to some people's amusement. i was totally into it. haha.
got to skype with mummy and daddy today! yayyyy.

Random: i think one of my pet peeves is when people make plans but don't come through with them. like when people keep saying, let's do this! let's go here! but they never do.... it really annoys me. cuz if you're not gonna do it, then why bother making plans and getting me excited?? seriously.

Anyway, tomorrow I HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH BLACKBOOK MAGAZINE!! really nervous. but i wanna get it over with. i've actually never heard of the magazine, but i looked it up and it looks cool. it's like a city guide to what to do in cities around the States. and they have stuff about travel, nightlife, clubs, fashion and entertainment. so.... pray the interview goes well. Friday 11am! I'll be interviewing while i'm on the road to the MuKappa Spring Retreat!!

Ok that's all. gotta go prepare answers to typical interview questions. and finish packing.

Palm Sunday

That's today. But I have no idea what on earth it is. Other than that, it rained ALL DAY. made me not feel like going to the gym at all. bleh. on a random note, i realized April Fools' Day came and went, and nothing much happened. we were gonna do an Echo issue all about fake news stories, but then we (the staff) had to pay for it out of our own pockets, and no one was too keen on that. so it didn't happen. which i didn't mind. lesser work :)

And even though i was completely reluctant to study on tues for my Historic exam, i finally started at like midnight.. after much delay. and was totally shocked when i got my results back.. 93%!! really unexpected. but yayyy :)

And then kept putting off writing my personal narrative article for class on fri until midnight (again).. got done at 2am.. got ready for bed.. and then the stupid fire alarm went off, and the entire dorm had to evacuate out into the frigid cold for like half an hour! everyone was so groggy with half-opened eyes, and we were all pretty much dead the next day. grrr to the person who set off the alarm!!! plus, i went to class on fri and the professor flippantly said, 'oh, it's not due today anymore..let's just push it back'
i was....... pretty darned annoyed. but oh well. i'd have to do it eventually anyway. might as well get it done now.

Fri was the senior art shows!! they were great.. there are some really talented artists here, and their work was amazing (food was amazing, too). wish i could have artistic talent like that. but pretty much all i can do is draw stick figures and smiley faces. haha. and there was a wing retreat in the hallway, but i didn't go..not alot of people did. finally got to go to walmart for groceries!!! yayy for strawberries, grapes, apples, yogurt, granola, cereal and almonds! man, i'm healthy. :)

Saw Fast and Furious ystdy. one of my fav movie series!!! and this one was a continuance of the first one, my fav! but.... ohhh. total letdown! the plot was lame, nothing much happened. the script was cheesy, so many cringe-worthy lines and cliche scenes.. the only thing worth watching were the explosive action scenes, which were of course, totally AWESOME!!

Spring break FUN :)

Me, jo, steph, wen eu and sung ah! childhood friends, college friends and new friends :)
At the cool, funky organic restaurant.

Us at the Bento Cafe. waiting for yummy fried rice and noodles and bubble tea!!

Rainy days=wet jeans, soaked shoes, squishy earthworms on the sidewalk and hoodies :)

Sitting around... trying to find something to do.

Nemo look-alikes at the aquarium! so cute.

The overhead aquarium thingy. pretty cool.

Look at that disgusting fish. I was in a tunnel behind the fish tank. being at the aquarium really made me wanna eat fishies! especially stingray.....

At the World of Coca-Cola!

With our 3-D glasses waiting for the Coke movie to start.... and... it ended up being really lame.

Free flow of Coke and all kinds of Coke products!! awesomeness.

The guy who created Coke. cool, huh. i got to 'meet' him. haha

The weird Coke mouth thingys that the guy made us hold to take a picture. haha

Coke advertisements from all over the world, from all over the ages

Awesome Coke pants! I so wanted one

Waiting by huge Coke bottles to go into the introductory Coke movie

Jo, me, sung ah. oh fun times :)

SIX FLAGS!!! at the NINJAaaaa

Still at Six Flags..random pose.

another random pose

Got to meet Batman!! he was kinda pudgy though. ahahaha. and a little intimidating

The Georgia Scorcher!! the rollercoaster ride where we had to stand up throughout. awesomeness

Bugs and Tweety :)

On the subway..the MARTA. i love public transportation :)

Sing for the moment

I'm sitting at my desk, back in my room at Taylor. I guess this means spring break is officially over.

SIGH.

i'm utterly lethargic right now. have lost all motivation to study. i just wanna graduate now and go... do something useful with my life! have an exam and a quiz tmr... haven't started studying... i guess i should start soon. but it's so dreary and rainy outside, the perfect day for snoozing. plus i only got an hour of sleep last night.

Anyway, the rest of spring break was entirely wonderful. The Georgia Aquarium, supposedly the 'largest in the world', was disappointingly small. really nothing i haven't seen before. just a bunch of fishes and cute little sea creatures. it was fun, but i'm glad we got the after hours student discount. we walked a lot too, on this trip. cuz no car, saving money on transportation, so it was tiring. walking=our workout for spring break :)

And can I just say, i loved trying all the different kinds of foods in Atlanta!! We had korean food, chinese fried rice and noodles and bubble tea, southern biscuits and gravy, yummy sweet potato fries, etc. Jo's friend was awesome. she brought us to all kinds of eclectic, funky places that were full of fascinating people and interesting food. there was this organic, natural food place that i'm sure my mom would love.. and their food was awesome! ate until almost burst. went to a few bars and cool hangouts and now my clothes smell like smoke. bleh. met some of her friends..they were all really nice. heard horror stories about being at a huge school like Georgia Tech, which made me really appreciate Taylor for its small, friendly community and open house hours (which means no guys at girls dorms and vice versa, except for weekends)

Plus I got to watch movies that I missed over christmas break!!! YEAHH!!! we found several dollar theaters nearby, and they were kinda shady, but who cares! $2 for a movie is totally fine with me! watched 'marley and me' (which was so long and boring and pointless and plotless. the dog was just an ordinary dog, just that it was exceptionally hyper. THAT'S ALL. such a disappointment), 'the curious case of benjamin button' (which was intensely fascinating. good, but not great), and 'valkyrie' (which i was dying to watch cuz i love war movies. but it was alright. not the best war movie i've seen).

The weekend was rainy, so we spent some time just chilling in the apartment..slacking...watching movies..playing DS..taking naps.. so nice and relaxing. Went to church with Jo on sunday..to Atlanta Chinese Christian Church. It was actually my first time going to a chinese church here in the States. weird, huh. it was interesting. kinda weird to see all the asians..but it was cool.
and we had car adventures.. (jo's friend was so nice to lend us his car!)

#1 - failed attempt to pump gas. hahahaha. cuz in singapore there are people who do it for you! so we were pretty much clueless and couldn't even get the latch of the gas thingy to open, neither could we get any gas to come out of the pump. had to ask for help from this spanish-speaking guy, and all he could say to me was, 'u china?'
#2 - had to send the car in for oil change. and since it wasn't our car, we didn't know anything about it. clueless again. the workers must've thought we were dumb or something. haha.

And then, lunch at Popeyes!!! i love it! yummy fried chicken and biscuits. so... the first thing we noticed when we entered was that everyone there was black. even the workers. kinda weird, but we sat down anyway. then these 3 black youths entered. one sat and like stared at us while we were eating. another asked if jo and i were both girls (cuz she has short hair, so i think they mistook her for a guy), then he attempted to pick us up and wanted to sit with us, then he offered to take us around Atlanta, but we politely declined and got the heck out of there. haha. i know this sounds dumb and probably racist and horrible, but sometimes i get scared that what if i offend someone and they not happy, and they just whip out a gun and shoot me. that's why i'm totally against america's gun policy. seriously! no one should have the freedom to hold a gun! not even for hunting.

so yeah. that was my spring break. the last night was fun. went exploring bars. interesting experience. stayed at jo's friend's house. with her crazy hyper little doggie. slept for an hour. got on the plane at 6.40am and got back here at 12pm. and i'm still trying to put off studying. aaaahhhhhhh. so unmotivated!