Oh life

Why do i always attract weird people??? Or, why are weird people always attracted to me??? I don't know why. but oh well. I hope this goes away soon. it's... weird.

ASTRONOMY IS OFFICIALLY OVER! FINALLY! Thank God. honestly it might have been the toughest class i've taken here at Taylor. haha. seriously. probably half due to the fact that i missed 4 days (which equals to a month since this is an intensive course over 3 weeks), and half due to the fact that i simply don't care anymore and didn't really listen in class or study for the final. OH WELL. who cares. i'm graduating soon anyway and no one in the real world really gives a crap about how i did in astronomy.

but it was fun talking to friends online during class and skyping. haha. and 'studying' for the final with a friend. omg he was absolutely distracting me the entire time and we ended up taking a ton of breaks the day before the exam. we went to Taco Bell and Starbucks at night, made tons of videos for people in facebook, had dance parties... did everything but study. haha. such fun. and then the final turned out to be super hard anyway. i didn't know the answers to half the questions, so i just guessed, and i finished the test way before everyone else (i was second to finish). and when i turned my paper in, people looked at me like, whoa, you must be a genius to finish this fast!

but i knew i didn't know the answers, and there was no point in thinking about it 'cause i still won't know the answers no matter how long i think about it. so i just chose whatever, turned in the exam, went back to my room and watched 'The Bachelor'. haha. kind of hope i don't fail the class.

although.. the software they gave us to use was pretty cool. its called Stellarium, and it allows you to see the stars, planets, and other objects in the sky at ANY TIME, from ANY PLACE on earth. cool, huh.


you can zoom in all the way to see the details on planets or the moon


you can make the constellation art appear, so like for the constellation Hercules, a picture of Hercules appears over the stars so you can see how it actually looks kind of like Hercules.


you can also make the constellation lines and labels appear so you know where they are.


and that's the view of the sky in Upland, Indiana, today, at 3.30am.

went to eat korean BBQ in Indy on wednesday night to CELEBRATE J-term being OVER!! the food was so good. and then we got more food supplies at a korean market. i bought this instant ramen called 'chapagetti'. i think its 'zha jiang mian' cause that's what it said. but i tried it yesterday, and it tasted kinda weird. so now i have 3 more packets and i don't really wanna eat them. haha.


and this is how it looks like. yes, worms. not very appetizing.

anyway, its been good having the room to myself (my roomie went home for break since she lives like 2 hours away). i mean, i get along well with my roomie, she's really nice and not crazy loud like the other freshmen. but it's just nice to have my space and be able to do whatever i want for a few days. i've been watching tv before going to bed, tossing my stuff all over the floor (which i should clean up before she gets back), sleeping as late as i want, waking up as late as i want :)

btw, she and i are SO different. in some ways. she grew up in Indiana, and she loves the countryside and wants to marry a farmer and live on a farm. i really cannot understand that. at all. how can anyone want to live on a farm for the rest of their life??? why? how? i don't- it's just- i can't understand that. all i know is, after graduation, i am bolting out of here to the city. any city. no more countryside for me. i get too restless and i keep itching to do stuff.

so anyway, yesterday we hung out at a friend's apartment and had a dance party. hahaha. and recorded videos of us dancing. it was so fun. and today we baked cookies... chocolate chip, oatmeal, and sesame. yum. i'm kinda enjoying this j-term break 'cause it's kinda nice not to have the campus overflowing with people. not really looking forward to the spring semester starting on monday, but oh well. it just means i'll be this much closer to graduating!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Weekend...

I think there's something about the cold that makes me tired all the time. Or maybe I'm just not getting enough sleep. Oh, college dorm life.

Random: I was looking through my facebook stuff, trying to procrastinate from doing anything productive, and i found this!
It's from the quiz 'Which Disney song describes your life right now?'

Your life now can be described by Hakuna Matata, from Lion King
You are the epitome of chill. You know of no worries for the rest of your days. You know that life is about keeping it simple and just relaxing. Conflicts, stress, pressure---you don't let that kind of stuff get to you. You know who you are, and you like that person; and you really just like where you are in life right now. People enjoy being around you because of your surfer-dude attitude and easygoing vibe. You could go anywhere and lighten the mood with a joke or just with your confident, happy smile. You know what the most important things in your life are and you don't concern yourself with all that petty jazz.

Haha i think that's pretty true. except for now when i'm freaking out about life after graduation. and it reminded me of what my friend said... i was talking to this guy i just met, and he was like, 'i like people who smile/laugh a lot.' i was like, 'like me?' he was like, 'yeah, it's a good thing' :)
Although sometimes i feel stupid 'cause i really do laugh at everything, even when no one else is laughing. haha.

So Saturday I woke up at 9am, the crack of dawn, to observe the astronomy balloon launch. i thought attendance was mandatory, but apparently the smart people didn't go 'cause the entire spectacle lasted only FIVE SECONDS. ok, maybe 5 minutes. BUT STILL! i woke up so early just for that!!! they filled the huge balloon with helium, attached our projects to it, and lifted it off to the sky. whoosh. and then, okay, you guys can go now!
such a waste of time. no extra credit too. and i couldn't go back to sleep. oh well.

Met up with emily again at her house, she fed me good food - shepherd's pie - for lunch. we watched Penelope and hung out for a while. Then i went with AAA (asians) to Thai Smile, our favorite (and only) thai restaurant for carissa's farewell party. since she's graduating, i'll be the new AAA Vice-President. shouldn't be that much work... hopefully. haha.

Today went to Korean church. man, there are a ton of koreans at our school! it took us one van and two cars to shuttle everyone to church. but it was fun :) they changed things up a bit... added a youth contemporary band, so not as traditional as before. and the food they provided was yummy as usual.
So tired now. should probably start studying... finals on wed. then no more astronomy forever!

Melting snow

Melted snow + muddy ground = GROSS.
It's funny how snow can be so pure and white and beautiful when it falls and covers the ground, but when people step on it, or it starts to melt, it becomes really disgusting and slushy. which is how it is right now.

Anyway, time's been flying by. i don't even remember what i've been doing for the past couple of days, besides homework and frantically searching for jobs. haha. we've been cooking and selling noodles for students on campus the past two nights, that was fun. we cooked thai, vietnamese and korean ramen, and charged people for $1 per cup, proceeds go to charity. it's funny how excited americans get about 'authentic' ramen from asia. hahahaha. (which we bought in indiana)

Random people would come up to us and be like, YEAH! RAMEN! i want one! haha. and then we pasted facts about asia on the cups, and they were like, YEAH! this is so cool! and we've earned about $100 these two nights. so yay! and it's funny 'cause the charity we're giving our earnings to, ONEVERSE, is coincidentally having a contest to see who can raise the most money, and the winner will get a Superbowl (football national final game) party. and we were challenged by some people 'cause they thought we were in it to win the contest. but we're like... seriously... we're asian. we don't care about football. haha.

SO ok the real reason why i blogged (even though its almost 1am and i'm exhausted)...
I met this actor, Doug Jones, when i was in LA, he came to speak to our class about the difficulties of being a Christian in Hollywood. and now he's in an article in Christianity Today! he's SUCH a great person, seriously, don't know how he remains so strongly rooted in his relationship with God when he's surrounded by materialistic money-minded people 24/7.

Here's the article:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/interviews/2010/dougjones-jan10.html

Anyway, i thought the part where he talked about doing projects that he didn't necessarily agree with (theologically) was interesting. He said that sometimes people offer him roles in movies that are theologically incorrect and portray God wrongly, but he takes them up. Why? Because he said, 'they're going to make this movie with or without me. And even though I'm a very small part of it, wouldn't it be good if I was in this position as a Christian, being a part of the discussion?'

I thought that was so interesting. because Christians usually shy away from 'evil' movies that portray God as some horrible character, but here is this guy, accepting these roles because, like he said, they're going to make the movie WITH OR WITHOUT HIM. so might as well jump on board and try to influence it as much as he can... to make sure they don't go overboard, and also to start discussions about religion and God. Fascinating huh.

Snowy weekend

This weekend was a TON OF FUN!!!!!
Firstly, i got done with the astronomy test on Thursday, so i was free to RELAX!
And then we had a AAA (asian organization) meeting that night, and i got recruited to be the vice-president for next semester, so i got to meet the rest of the cabinet, most of whom i already was good friends with, so that was fun :)

On friday i went over to emily's house off-campus for a sleepover. ohhhh... it was so much fun. and SO good to see her again!! didn't realize how much i missed talking to this girl. we had a blast making dinner (chicken and mashed potatoes), watching a ton of movies, going to Handy Andy for ice cream and chocolate, talking the night away... good time catching up. Our movie choices were rather sketch though. haha. we borrowed them from her housemate... My life in ruins, which was funny, so we thought it was a good start. Then on to I Hate Valentine's Day (also starring the same girl, who's also in My Big Fat Greek Wedding), which was really cheesy and lame. And then it just went downhill from there... Tropic Thunder (so dumb we only lasted 15mins), Baby Mama (we fell asleep), and Knowing (the scariest, dumbest movie ever. it could've been suspenseful and thrilling, but they blamed it all on aliens, which was a total cop-out)

But other than that, it was fun sharing about our summer and fall experiences.
We pretty much didn't move from the bed. haha. although we did get up the next afternoon to cook angel hair pasta and chicken. YUM.

It was so nice to get off campus for a while and just chill. plus her house is so beautiful. the decorations were so cute. made me want to have a house of my own.

And then on Sunday, I went with some of the girls on the wing on a ROAD TRIP!!!!! We randomly/spontaneously decided to drive 3 hours to Louisville, Kentucky. and it was really fun. glad i went. it was just 2 cars, filled with seniors and freshmen. haha. don't know what happened to the other two classes.

We left in the morning, about 9am, stopped at Starbucks for coffee and devotions (to make up for missing church), and then drove on until we hit Kentucky. we wanted to find a non-chain restaurant we've never been to, but we ended up at Hard Rock Cafe. haha. 'cause amy's mom (she's so cute) sent us a bunch of directions to this downtown place, and we went there, but it turned out to be a bunch of bars and pubs. so that was our only choice. it was fun... the waiter was really weird. first he thought we were a dancing group, 'cause there was some sort of dance competition going on, and then since we didn't order any alcoholic drinks, he thought we were like conservative high schoolers or something. and he kept making awkward conversation. it was super entertaining. haha.

After lunch we attempted to walk around downtown and find a shopping district. we got directions and everything, but they seemed to point us into a sketchy area of town. so after walking for miles and seeing places look more and more shady, we decided shopping wasn't that worth it. so we headed back. and had more conversations and sing-alongs in the car. fun stuff. but so tiring.

I researched on more jobs when we got back, even though i was so tired. but MAN, this job search is ADDICTIVE, i tell you! seriously! i couldn't stop. i went from 11pm to 3am, desperately trying to find something, anything, that i qualify for. it's so hard 'cause most internships are unpaid and require college credit, and then apparently the media industry doesn't offer many entry level positions, and other jobs i found require a few years of experience. SIGH. i even went to check out YWAM and OM and the PeaceCorp (all mission/non-profit organizations). maybe i'll apply. sigh. i don't know. there are SO MANY directions i could go in, have no idea what to do.

Only in Japan

So I took a 5-day layover in Tokyo, Japan, and visited Cartoon. It was 5 days of fun, fun, FUN! I love Japan. The food was so great - we had ramen (from this famous place where the wait was about 2 hours), curry and rice, sushi (of course), shabu shabu (kind of like steamboat, where you cook the meat yourself), green tea ice cream, delicious crepes filled with ice cream, cheesecake, brownie bits, cream, and lots more. My stomach definitely appreciates Japanese cuisine :)

We went shopping, visited the Harajuku area, chilled out at the park, went to shibuya and marveled at the bright lights and huge crowds, enjoyed a day at DISNEYSEA (Which was awesome. I love everything Disney, and Disneysea certainly did not disappoint! The rides were great, the shows were spectacular, and the fireworks at night were magnificent), took the subway everywhere, visited a traditional Japanese marketplace/temple...

And of course, went clubbing practically every night. Japanese clubs are expensive, that's for sure. But they're also super fun and people are tremendously friendly and nice in Japan. The subways close down from midnight till 6am, and so during that time you can see tired partygoers and other random stragglers roaming the streets or taking a nap at McDonald's. It's a pretty interesting sight. And so that meant partying lasted till about 6am, in the wee hours of the morning. It was definitely a crazy experience; I would love to do it all over again! :)

oh, snowy cornfields

so i had a terrible time traveling back to indiana, but what's new. i think it was a sign from God telling me not to go back, since there were problems at EVERY place. haha.
first, i couldn't check in at the United Airlines in singapore. they said i needed to show the credit card used to purchase the ticket, i said its with my parents who are in freaking AUSTRALIA, they said TOO BAD, CANNOT CHECK IT. i almost said, ok i'll just go home and unpack my stuff then. haha. but i didn't... and we went back and forth, him saying i need the stupid credit card, me saying i DON'T HAVE the stupid credit card... and after a while he was like, ok, we'll refund you the ticket and you use your own credit card to purchase it.
SO STUPID HUH. it's the same thing! and it took up half an hour.

anyway, then two hours later at Hong Kong, i realized the guy didn't give me my boarding pass to Chicago, and i only had like half an hour till my plane took off. so i got in the super long line for United Airlines and thought i was never going to leave HK since the line was crawling at the speed of a snail. but then the person called for passengers bound for Chicago, so i got my ticket and got in. then i attempted to buy a bottle of water to bring onto the plane (which normally works), but they took it away from me because they checked every single passenger's bag manually before boarding!! so i was thirsty the entire plane ride and i wasted 3bucks. and then the plane didn't have any TVs, so i slept a whole lot. which was good i guess.

then we landed at chicago, and i looked out the window and everything was white, so i thought, oh i guess we're still in the air! but then the pilot said, we've now landed in chicago..... and i was like, WHAT? oh right. all that whiteness is SNOW. sigh. welcome back to winter.
and then i realized the plane landed an hour late, and so i missed my flight. but it was ok because my flight was canceled anyway. darn those snowstorms. so i waited in chicago from 12 till 9pm. the whole time my thought process was... i'm never going to get back to Taylor. but time went by pretty quickly... faith called, then mom+dad called, then andrew called... and before i knew it, it was 8pm! yay. and i was exhausted.

finally got back to indiana and checked in to a hotel and fell asleep at 2am. couldn't go back to campus 'cause there was snow everywhere on the roads. and good thing i didn't, cause apparently there were NINE ROAD ACCIDENTS that occurred that night, as i found out the next morning. so i finally got back to Taylor at 12.45pm, went to the bookstore to get my books, and went straight to Astronomy class from 1-3.30pm. SIGH.

a little overwhelmed with a TON of stuff to catch up on, but it'll be ok. it doesn't seem that bad. i'm almost caught up with homework, except for the lab stuff, which i can only do tomorrow. so i'm good! although everyone was having fun this weekend except me, stuck in the room watching darn videos about the universe and reading about the galaxies. but i got all my stuff back and unpacked, so now i'm good! :)

kinda weird to be back in the dorms, but everyone's cool. my new roomie's really nice, the freshmen seem nice and friendly, got to see old friends... DC food is still the same. bleh. I CAN DO THIS. i can live in the middle of nowhere for 5 more months and then leave forever.



A few days later....

I'm officially done catching up with astronomy!!! YES. looked over my grades for the homework assignment.. not too great, but oh well whatever! at this point i just want to graduate! anyway, learning about the universe and everything in the galaxies has been really informational. makes you realize just how unique Earth is, because everything on Earth, every single property and characteristic our planet exudes, works together to sustain and nurture life, and without even one of them, we would not be here. it's just amazing how God creates things and how small we are, compared to the vastness of the galaxy. but just learning about the planets, stars, galaxies... it's simply impossible NOT to believe that there's a god out there. there's just no way all this could come about by coincidence.

Ooohh and we're using this Stellarium program which allows you to see the stars in the sky at any time, from any place, at any date. it's SUPER COOL. like, i can see how the sky looks like in singapore right now. it's pretty awesome. but we also have to do real observations outside.... in the freezing cold, which we did last night. omg i couldn't feel my hands so i didn't record anything because i was too busy trying to keep warm. haha. anyway, we had our first test today, it went pretty well thank God.

And i got to catch up with more friends and have more reunions, which is always fun :) still feels a little weird, especially when i walk into the Dining Commons, and i don't recognize 90% of the people there 'cause they're mostly freshmen. and then there are a TON of asians on campus now, mostly koreans, and they all look at me like, whoa, you're asian and i've never seen you before? who are you? haha. its weird but true!
And its a little annoying, surrounded by insane, energetic screaming freshmen on the wing all the time, but oh well. only in college, right? i'll never get to do this again, might as well enjoy it now. and the freshmen are really cool, so i like them :)