Adven(tor)ture in Wales

Last week was Seminar Week, where all the teams come back to the base and reunite for classes. But this time, half of the week was Adventure Week, so we only had two days of classes, which was a nice change. It was so great to see everyone again, and our room was once again filled with loud, crazy girls - I had mixed emotions about that, because even though I loved the reunion, the base has become my home, and I was like, 'why are all these people invading my room and leaving a mess everywhere and not cleaning up???'

But it was cool. We finally got done with our Culture Project and presented it to everyone - we had a song about the town, a video (with me and another girl as the reporters) of us exploring the tiny town, and then a photo presentation. It was so interesting to see everyone's presentation about their towns, their ministries, and their prayer requests. And just as I was thanking God the huge assignment was over (I wrote the entire report 'cause the rest of my team was either non-native English speakers or just plain lazy), we got new huge assignments. Ugh. So much for graduating from college.

Although... if given a choice between homework and physical exertion, I'd take homework any day. We woke up at the unearthly hour of 5am and drove 4 hours to Wales on Wednesday in cramped vans and started our torturous mountain hike at Snowdon Mountain. They scared us by telling us the weather would be below zero celsius, and that we would need tons of energy and sugar to climb the mountain, so I was prepared. Boy, I was more than prepared. I had on 3 pairs of socks, waterproof hiking boots, 2 leggings and 1 sweatpants, 1 t-shirt, 1 long-sleeved shirt, 1 woolen long-sleeved shirt, 1 thick hoodie, 1 huge jacket (borrowed from the base), and 1 waterproof jacket over everything. By the time I got everything on, I looked like an enormous dumpling, especially since all the waterproof stuff was borrowed and hence, too big. So yeah, I was totally overprepared.

My hideous, ginormous jacket is from the donation closet at the base. But hey, keeping warm is more important than looking nice - Tip #1 for mountain climbing.

As soon as we started climbing the never ending mountain, I started sweating and took off 2 layers. And then I had to carry my heavy bag stuffed with jackets and lots of water and sandwiches and chocolate (for energy) all the way up the mountain. It was awful. I've never eaten so much in my life. Seriously, climbing a mountain just sucks all the energy out of your body.

I was faking this exhausted face, but it wasn't too far from the truth - most of the time, I probably looked like that.

But not all of it was bad. We had fun times talking and laughing when I wasn't panting in exhaustion or busy concentrating on the rocks so I wouldn't fall off the edge. I was stuck at the back of the group with some other girls, and we took our time hiking. The tour guide showed us the railway track where they filmed a Harry Potter movie, and some pipeline where they filmed a scene from James Bond, so that was cool.

Heart-shaped lake at the bottom of the mountain

He also showed us a pole with coins stuck in it in memory of the people who died climbing the mountain! Naturally, we all freaked out and begged him to bring us down so we wouldn't face the same fate as these unfortunate (or foolish) souls. But he was one stubborn man. So we continued the climb with fear in our hearts. Okay, I wasn't that scared; I'm not afraid of heights. I was just annoyed at having to climb the mountain to 'challenge myself and push myself to the limit so I can discover new things about myself' - as said by our leaders. Um, news flash, I can 'discover new things about myself' in other situations, such as taking a quiz or a survey or something.

Anyway, after 4 hours, we finally got to the summit, where the view was breathtaking. There was a little bit of snow, but hardly enough to make snowballs or snow angels. So... it really wasn't worth the climb for me. I could've admired the view from a postcard and still be as happy. But whatever. I was just glad the climb was over. And then we spotted a train coming up the mountain with passengers. And we all just about fainted with anger, because why climb an entire mountain when you can simply take the train???

The pathetic white lumps are snow.

But no, we had to continue 'pushing ourselves' and so we climbed down the mountain, which was possibly worse than going up, because it started to hail (sort of like snow but harder and hence more dangerous). So all the rocks were slippery and it was steep, and our genius tour guide decided to lead us back the long way. I didn't fall, because my eyes were glued to the ground the entire time (I don't think I even looked at the view on the way down), but others slipped and fell many times and got bruises everywhere. Oh well. At least we saw sheep eating grass on steep slopes and laughed when my friend tried to pet one and it rolled down the hill because it was scared and lost its footing. So cute.

When we finally reached the bottom (I was not last, YES!), I sat down in the van and couldn't move. And the next day and the day after, my legs hurt like never before. My shoulders, too. Basically every part of my body, even my head, because I was probably dehydrated. I didn't drink much water for fear of having to pee on the mountain in clear view of all the people and the sheep.

But I did muster up what little energy I had left to shower, because my clothes were disgustingly damp from all the sweat. Gross. And then, after dinner, we still had to go out and 'rescue' people with a map and a compass in the dark and creepy jungle. It was the most pointless game in the world.

I thought I would go straight to sleep when my head finally hit the pillow after the longest day in the world, but I didn't sleep much. I always have trouble sleeping in a foreign place on the first day, don't know why. So the next day, they brought us to another national park/jungle place, where we split into teams and played team-building games. Oh how I hate those games. We had to 'cross the dangerous river filled with crocodiles and other man-eating creatures' (i.e. the road) with 2 tires and 2 planks of wood and 1 rope. We did it successfully so many times, but every time they would tell us, do it faster! It was really annoying.

And then we had to build a stretcher and carry someone who had 'broken their back' to another location. Oh boy. This one took forever. We were only given a few minutes to plan and build, and each time we failed to build the stretcher by the time limit, we had to start over. I thought we would never complete the activity. But finally we got all the sticks and tied them together, and the lightest girl lay in it and we carried her up the muddy hill to the 'final location.' It was horrible. Our team was just weak physically, so I nearly died trying to carry her. One girl hurt her back, another hurt her arm... there were injuries everywhere. Everyone was exhausted except the 'injured' person happily lying in the stretcher. Actually, she was pale with fear because we nearly dropped her a couple of times. After that, we eased our pain by eating tons of chocolate. Seriously, they feed us chocolate like nobody's business.

Building our stretcher

The last activity my team did was to build a bridge with pointed planks of wood where the wood could only touch 2 sides of the 'river.' We sat around and thought about ideas until our heads hurt. We tried building different bridges but to no avail. I just wanted to stab the person who thought of this game with one of the planks. It was impossible. I'm a writer, not an architect or engineer. So finally we gave up, also because one girl hurt her head from another game and she had to go to the hospital. It was scary. But she turned out to be fine, thank God.

Then at night, we gathered in the lounge to play another game. The team-building games just keep on comin'. This was better though, because it required more mental effort as we sat comfortably on chairs in the warmth of the house. We had to rank different professions in terms of their importance to ourselves, and then we had to come together as a group and ALL AGREE on each ranking. It was like asking pigs to fly. The task was impossible from the start. People started getting very passionate about why priests are more important than doctors or whatever, and you could sense the tension in the room building. Some people cried, some people yelled, some people had steam coming out of their heads. It was intense, to say the least. Plus we all came from different countries, so the cultural and background differences gave us all different perspectives on each profession. We were stuck in the room for about 4 hours. I was like, whatever. It's just a ranking. It's really not life and death, people. No need to kill each other over this.

So finally, after all the drama, I came up with a solution and people listened to me because we were all tired of arguing. I defined each profession specifically, and purposely made some professions better than others, so everyone agreed, and we finally got to go to bed. Some people were hugging me with tears in their eyes, thanking me for putting a stop to this nonsense so we could all get some sleep. Some people didn't like the solution because they wanted to continue arguing. It was kind of funny and yet really annoying, the entire activity.

Our solution

The next day was filled with debriefs. Then we had SOLO time - they dropped us in the wilderness of the national park with nothing but tons of clothes, waterproof stuff, food, and water. No bible, no phone, no watch, nothing. We were supposed to spend solo time with God, to allow Him to speak to us. Good idea... in theory. Not so much in reality.

It was pouring rain, so not only was it freezing cold, it was wet, muddy, and completely miserable. AND they left us there for 3 whole hours. I was by a rushing stream, so I was in total agony the entire time, as the sound of water flowing kept making me want to go pee even worse. But I refused to pee in the jungle. Too uncivilized.

That's kind of what my spot looked like - beautiful but miserable.

At first I tried to approach the situation with a good attitude - I prayed and asked God to speak to me and tell me whatever He wanted to say, but after hearing nothing for a long time, and after losing feeling in both hands due to the cold, I gave up. I started praying for God to send someone to save me, to change the minds of the leaders and make them stop this insane activity, to do something at the very least. But nothing happened for a long time. It was awful. I don't even know how long it was because I didn't have a watch to stare at and count the seconds!

I tried standing up, but the sloshy mud got into my boots. I tried sitting down, but the water soaked through my lousy water proof pants. I tried lying down to sleep (so I could drift off to a happy warm place), but I was too concerned with getting bitten to death by insects and snakes. So for 3 entire hours I was stuck in my 3 metre perimeter circle, unable to move for fear that the leaders would not find me and I would be lost forever in the national park. I think I finally know what it feels like to be homeless. And I hope I never get that feeling ever again. When we all got back to the van, we joked about how we just successfully endured our 'persecution,' but none of us were really joking. I just think it was stupid, because God can totally speak to me in the comfort of my bed. He doesn't need me to go out into the middle of nowhere for Him to tell me something.

My face was pretty much like this angry puppy's, except not as cute.

Finally, finally, finally, after that, we made our way home. But then, would you know it, one of the vans broke down, so we were stuck for another 2 hours (and I had to continue holding my pee in). Later, we had dinner from a fish & chips place (they're everywhere in England - but they don't just have fish; they have kebab & chips, sausage & chips, burger & chips... and it's all pretty bland, just like every other British food). 

Funny moment - one girl hopped into a pub to use the restroom with a sleeping bag wrapped around her as a substitute for pants because hers was wet from the rain. How often do you see that in a pub??

When we got home at midnight, I was exhausted and so ready for bed. Oh home, sweet home.

Pet peeves

A pet peeve is a habit or action that is annoying to you, and it differs from person to person. For a while, I didn't know what my pet peeves were, because I'm usually so laidback about everything. But... I've come to recognize my flaws. And here they are.

-People who go back on their word. They say one thing, and the next day they change their mind completely and leave me disappointed.
-People who start to say something, and then stop in the middle of the sentence and say, 'never mind.' It just makes me awfully curious, and I can't stop thinking about it.
-People who don't wash their dishes and lay them out for days and days until disgusting bacteria grows. That's just sick.
-When I can't find something I KNOW I just saw a second ago. And then I have to rustle through my pile of stuff just to find it right in front of me.
-People who cough or sneeze with their mouths wide open when I cross their path.
-Automated voices that pick up your call and put you through 500 options until the one you want finally comes up. They do that for banks, airlines, malls, and some companies. It really tests your patience.
-People who spray perfume/cologne/body spray on every single part of their body, every single time before they leave the room.
-Christians who misuse the name of God to sell products, like this Magic Cleansing Water advertisement we saw in class that claims to answer all your prayers when you drink it! Ridiculous.
-People who are obsessed with sports and get mood swings according to which team wins what game.
-People who depend on their parents 24/7 and call them every single second to tell them about every little detail in their lives.
-When there are grammatical errors on newspapers or magazines. I just want to whip out a pen and make corrections.
-People who criticize Christianity for all sorts of reasons.
-People who walk super slowly on the sidewalk and take up all the space.
-People who walk super fast and I have to practically sprint to catch up.
-Chain emails. No one is going to die if you don't send the email to everyone on your contact list. Seriously.
-People who pretend they know things about other cultures. Although I admit I do that sometimes, to avoid coming across as ignorant.
-People who are all bright and sunny and chirpy at the break of dawn.
-People who expect me to be all bright and sunny and chirpy at the break of dawn.
-People who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. For some reason, that happens a lot here. It's kind of really gross. Not to mention unhygienic.
-People who think I'm proud or cold or snobby just because I'm not super outgoing.
-When people use 'lol' it annoys the heck out of me. It makes no sense! I say something funny, you type 'laughing out loud.' Why not just say 'hahaha' like you would if you were actually LAUGHING?? Who says 'lol' in real life?? And you know what's worse? 'rofl' -- 'rolling on the floor laughing' -- that's ridiculous. If you were on the floor, how could you be typing???
-Salespeople who stare at you the moment you enter a store and continue to follow you with their eyes with every move that you make.

Okay, that was a rather long list. And I'm sure I have more. I guess I do get irritated occasionally. :)
But if you are one of these people on my list, it's fine, we can still be friends, because I get annoyed for a second and then I forget about it. haha.

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 :)

Senioritis

This is me right now.

And I found a cute grumpy kitten. I've sunk this low. I need to get off the internet now!

Yes. I'm a senior. And I'm in LA. And I'm facing MAJOR SENIORITIS now. that means I'm being a huge procrastinator and doing everything humanly possible to run away from assignments. haha. I've been on facebook, blogs, watching TV shows online, hanging out with people, eating dinner super slowly, reading books, playing my DS, rearranging my closet, doing laundry, going on facebook again, checking out every website in the world.... and now i'm on my blog again.

SIGH. i guess i should go back to my damn paper. stupid theology in hollywood. never want to hear about theology in films ever again!
also need to put the finishing touches on my script.
WHY IS EVERYTHING DUE TOMORROW???

Most exhausting weekend ever

Seriously. Definitely. It's only 8pm and i really really really want to go to bed. Plus I have to work tomorrow. THIS sucks. feels like i didn't even have a weekend at all.

It all started on friday night...

Filming of 'Two Hours' - Day 0.5

So Friday night, my co-producer and i called a meeting to prepare our crew for our weekend of filming, and we had EXCITING NEWS, because we finally found a damn office to film in, after FULL DAYS of searching and calling and waiting and hoping. And then everyone just slammed our hopes to the ground by totally bringing up all the risks involved in going to the office we found. And i guess i understand what they mean, i was a little worried about that too, because we just found the place (at the Christian school), we've never seen it before, we don't know how big it is or how much lighting it would need, we don't know how well it would fit into our script, we don't know if we'd be able to shoot again next week if we need pick-ups, we don't know if we can finish shooting 7 pages of script in less than 6 hours.

So after lots of arguing and heated discussions, i called the nice guy back (at 11pm) and told him we wouldn't be needing the office the next day after all. i felt SO bad for inconveniencing him, it was so unprofessional. and they were letting us film for free, too, and they didn't even know us! we just had to pay a fee of $100 to the guy 'cause he was giving up his sat to open the school for us.

But anyway, after we changed our location last minute to our casting suite at our school, tensions cooled and people felt better. and i did too, i wasn't as stressed out. i was just VERY UPSET because it wasn't my fault that we didn't have an office in the first place. my co-producer was supposed to find the office, i was supposed to find the mall. i got the mall after calling at least 50 places, not kidding. he didn't get the office, because he only called THREE PLACES. and then i scramble last minute to find another office because our crew was disappointed and didn't wanna film in the casting suite. so i try to help the situation, but then i find an office, and they turn it down, don't want it anymore. i was like, WTH, if you didn't want it, you could've told me so i wouldn't waste DAYS and DAYS trying to find a place. and i just felt like people were looking at me like it was my fault, because i was the one who found an office last minute and didn't know what it looked like. PLUS i'd been praying so hard and begging so many people to let us film, and i REALLY FELT LIKE it was GOD who answered my prayers and gave us this damn office. but then we just threw it back at him because everyone freaked out and was so paranoid that the office would be nothing like what we wanted. SIGH. i was just like, fine, u wanna shoot in the damn casting suite, GO AHEAD. if it turns out to be a crappy film, which it probably will, it's NOT MY FAULT.

And so we spent friday night working out butts off trying to make the casting suite (which is an empty room) look like a real office. so of course we were there till 3+am, even when crew call the next morning was 8am. and honestly, i would not work with some of my crew members ever again. people just weren't doing their jobs, and then us as producers had to do it for them, because we were supposed to make sure everything was happening smoothly. UGH. the incompetence of several crew members was just GETTING ON MY NERVES and that is why i HATE group projects because some people are just useless bums that really don't do anything unless they're kicked in the butt.

So i was annoyed and upset and frustrated most of friday night, but i still had to be professional and work to get things done like setting up the set to make the office.
if producers have to deal with all this last minute stuff falling through all the time, and people giving them such a hard time 24/7, i can safely say this is one job i know will not be in my future.

Day 1

Everyone in our crew was pretty much tired from having to do last minute set-up the night before, but i was surprised at how hardworking they were. no one complained, everyone was so efficient and productive and we got stuff done and wrapped up at 6pm. i was very pleased at how smoothly it went, because people keep saying things ALWAYS go wrong during shoots.

And can i just say, our little 8-year-old kid actor is just about the cutest thing in the world. floppy blond hair, dimples, playing with his dinosaur... omg adorable and perfect for the innocent little kid part. And our other two actors were so good too, i'm so glad we picked these people. So i felt a little better about the film. Plus i didn't have to do anything on set, since all my work was pre-production. so i just sat around and ran errands, got lunch, made sure everyone was happy :) i liked that part.

Halloweenie events

Even though we were super tired, some of us went to the Annual West Hollywood Halloween parade on santa monica boulevard!! it was crazy fun. EVERYONE was dressed up, except us, because we were SO tired and had no costumes. but it was insane seeing everyone dressed up in ridiculous outfits, from Wall-E to Twitter to X-men to Michael Jackson... and there were a ton of trannys. at least half the people there were gay. it was so weird. a car of gays tried to hit on my friend, and he gayish-ly responded, 'hiiii!' with a gay wave (he's not gay). it was hilarious. and there were stages set up with performances and crazy acrobatics. it was so fun but didn't stay long 'cause we were exhausted. i actually went to bed at 11pm. earliest ever.

Oh and we had daylight savings yesterday, so the time difference is now 16 hours, not 15.

Day 2

Today went really well too. early crew call again, but i didn't really have to do much except buy snacks. bought a lot of cookies, which was a mistake, 'cause our kid actors ate at least 5 donuts and went CRAZY. he was on a sugar high for an hour, jumping, crawling, running, telling stories to anyone who would listen...then he CRASHED and was so lethargic he couldn't do anything. it was pretty funny but after lunch he was back to his good old cute self.

So thank God our shoots went well, unlike others' shoots... my roomies are pretty stressed out 'cause someone dropped the camera and something broke, and an actress fell over in her chair during a shoot and injured herself, and some actors didn't turn up for another shoot... so comparatively, ours went great. phew.

Totally don't wanna go to work tomorrow. feels like i didn't even get a weekend 'cause i didn't get any time off since we've been working all day yesterday and today :(

Overwhelmed and overloaded

Producing stress

OMG. if i knew how much of a hassle producing was going to be, i wouldn't have signed up for it. and i know i'm just getting a little taste of what real producers do, since our film is only 10 mins, but even this is driving me insane. i now have tremendous respect for all producers everywhere - they do all the crap work for pre-production, production AND post-production, and they hardly get credit outside the industry. we've all heard of famous actors, directors, sometimes writers. but producers? never. i hope they earn lots of money (they probably do), because doing all this crap for measly pay is not fun at all. not that i get paid.

I'm so over this whole producing thing. can't wait to start filming and be done with it. it's just that producers are the ones who are overall in charge of the film, and anything that goes wrong will probably be blamed on us. so much stress with everything weighing on my shoulders!

We did our casting callbacks on Sunday and THANK GOD we found three amazing actors - the cutest little kid with floppy blond hair and adorable eyes, an old funny british man, and a versatile boss. seriously, i'm so glad we locked them in and got them for the miserable pay of $25 per day. so that part's settled. hope they don't disappear the day of filming (because that's happened before).
also, THANK GOD i finally secured a mall. it's a little on the expensive side, but we really didn't have any choice. so we went to check it out, and our director of photography and production designer really liked it, so YAY that's a huge load off my shoulder.

But then we found out yesterday that our office, which is our main filming location, FELL THROUGH. total insanity followed. now i have to spend the entire day tomorrow calling any and every office in LA to beg for them to let us film (hopefully for free). sigh even though there aren't any exams or tests in this program, this whole internship/producing thing is more stressful than any pop quiz.

I need to go do something fun. soon. if not i'm gonna go crazy, because my entire life has been revolving around this film.

Weekend

We did a service project at the Dream Center on saturday. it's a really cool place that has a few hundred outreach ministries across LA, and we met some people who actually stay at the center and reach out to people on a regular basis.
So even though i think they weren't expecting us, we ended up going to a small community and helped clean the streets, gave out free food and stuff, and played games with the poor kids. it was kinda sad to see this... poorer part of LA.

Then the rest of my weekend was consumed with FILM SHOOTS. three shoots in two days. so tiring.
Helped josh with sound (holding the boom mic again) on sat, helped maggie as an extra in her film the same day, and helped tas (my roomie) with errands and set design and sound on sunday. didn't even have time for church.

But we did have an awesome '80s dance scene during maggie's shoot, which turned into a crazy dance party afterwards for two hours. haha. let loose all the stress. it was funny to dance to no music/sound during the shoot though, since the sound would be added in post-production. we were at a 'party' and had to pretend to be talking, so we all had to converse and laugh soundlessly, and pretend to be dancing to an awesome song when there was actually no sound. funnyyyyy.

Work

Work has been the same. I just wish I would get paid. money is a wonderful motivator, i've realized this. oh well. at least i have a new goal in life now - FINISH SHREDDING THAT RIDICULOUSLY HUGE PILE OF PAPER before i get done with my internship.

Randomness

Flinging my hair in the wind

Holding the sun as it sets

Me and Faith at Venice Beach. we saw DOLPHINS doing flips in the air right near us at the pier!

Me and hani at the Fame premiere at The Grove

At chinatown eating crappy chinese food during mooncake festival

Work

Tuesday my entire day was spent shredding paper. i know right, fun stuff. well, actually it was kinda fun, for the first hour or so, then it just got monotonous. and it didn't help that the shredder was another ancient piece of metal that overheated every 2 minutes and took 10 minutes to cool down. but it was ok, i read magazines and books in between.


Wednesday this script supervisor who worked on all kinds of movies in Hollywood came to talk to us about crafting stories, and she was really interesting, talking about how to structure stories to keep audiences on their toes. you know what i realized? audiences are a tough crowd. that's you. and me. all of us! we judge movies, or any form of entertainment, so harshly and our expectations are so high that people in the entertainment industry have to keep pushing the limits and raising the standards just to keep audiences coming. it's kinda ridiculous.

Went to The Grove at night to chill and read free magazines at Barnes and Nobles, and i tried this dish called Jambalaya at the Farmers Market. it was so good! rice with spicy sauce and chicken and sausage. yums.

Still on the search

Today stressed out more about our film location search. sigh. we start filming in two weeks, and i don't even have the stupid mall permit. why do all these malls have to charge a few thousand for us to film??? do they not understand we're poor college students on a tight budget?! doesn't help that people are breathing down my neck and looking over my shoulder, pressing me to intensify my search.
And then... okay this is going to sound awful, but faith told me everything was gonna be okay, and then she said, 'you need to just trust God that He will provide.'
And i was like, wait. trust. God? so... i realize i've been relying on my own abilities and i totally forgot i could actually pray and ask God for help. says alot, doesn't it. but yeah, now i'm just going to surrender this whole thing to Him and trust He will provide the best mall for us (for a low cost).

New York I love you

Went to the free advance screening of 'New York I love you' today, it was really messy and confusing and i spaced out after a while. so glad i didn't pay to see this movie, because it was so not worth it. sure, it had tons of famous people in it, but it was just a mess of short love stories that didn't have endings. they didn't tie anything up, everything was just mixed into another story and no one ever found out what happened to the characters. very disappointing. although.. it did make me miss NYC. a lot. i've never actually missed a place this much before. sure i miss sgp, but for the people (and the food), not the place. but New York... i'm honestly just counting down the days till i can go back and live there. i love it so, so much! and i don't even know why!

anyway, sometimes crappy films like these make me think there's hope for amateur writers like me, because if these awful movies can somehow make it to the big screen, i'm sure i can write something better than this. i just need the right person to read it at the right time. easier said than done.
although... i thrashed out 7 pages of my script, tentatively titled 'Cut to the Chase,' and brought it to class today. after reading/acting it out, people seemed to really like it, which is awesome. and i feel very relieved, because i was so sure it was a shitty first draft. now i'm kinda motivated to continue and finish the script! 20 pages down, 90 more to go!

Down

Sick-ish

So that little sore throat i had on sunday? yeah. full-blown cold/flu by tuesday, and it's gotten worse till now. sucks.
went to work on monday, only to be told by my boss that i should go home, lest i make everyone else in the office sick. so he gave me a couple quarters to take the bus back, and let me take tuesday off too, which i was happy about. who doesn't want sick days? the bus ride was an hour long, and the bus itself was filled with fat old grumpy people, mostly blacks and hispanics. there was also a strange musty smell, which kinda weirded me out. i'm glad i get a ride from my friend back and from work. i really don't like that everything's so spread out here in Los Angeles. much prefer the accessibility of New York.

Piles of homework

So i spent most of my sick time finishing homework, since i've been neglecting it the entire time cartoon was here. had a ton of stuff to do, but got it done and got some much-needed sleep too. and then for Hollywood Production Workshop, we got a TON of new homework assignments for producers. Script breakdowns, schedules, budgets, casting calls, location scouting... ugh so much to do! at least we kind of know our budget now -- about $1600. hopefully that's enough! now we need to find a mall and an office to film in, hopefully one that is cheap-ish and fits with our script too. sigh so stressful. doesn't help that everything's so far away and gas is so expensive.

Lecture from an actor

oh and last night, Tony Hale, the guy who acts in the TV series Arrested Development, came to talk to us. he was really funny and cool and gave us lots of advice. he said to remember that in this business, rejection is normal. in fact, TONS of rejection is normal. and not to worry, because everything will somehow turn out alright. that, and the fact that he's a christian in this crazy industry, was strangely comforting.
oh and he used to live in NYC in his 20s to early 30s, it's where he got his start as an actor. that was so cool. he said he absolutely LOVED it there and would recommend anyone young to go there and get their start, because it's such a great melting pot where people of all trades get together. and it's much more accessible and easy to get around, too. i totally agree!!

Jews in Hollywood

Today a Christian Jew came to talk to us for our Theology in Hollywood class. she said some really interesting things, like how Hollywood is literally run by Jews. did you know that? i certainly didn't. about 70% of people (especially top level executives) who work in Hollywood are JEWISH! whoa! all the major studios were founded by Jews! they totally dominate film and they control everything we see on the screen! that's... news to me.

and you know how that made me feel? slightly ashamed to be Asian -- Chinese, in particular. what have we done? Built restaurants with crappy food, invented powdered eggs and kids' toys painted with lead? sometimes i wish us Chinese had more of a community. really envious of Koreans.. everywhere they go, they accept each other with welcoming arms, all their fellow Koreans. But Chinese don't really care... and then i come from Singapore, which narrows it down to... no one. no singaporean community overseas, except maybe Malaysia or Australia, which sucks. but oh well, nothing i can do about it. sometimes i actually like being the minority. makes me stand out more. haha.

Anyway, she said that so many Jews nowadays don't even know the Old Testament - their own bible. and that they're afraid of Christians because all we want to do is show them love. i think that's so true. sometimes us Christians keep trying to LOVE one another that we just become too un-engaging and too spineless. we don't dare to speak out or do anything that causes controversy because we have to love one another and accept each other. which brings me to the topic of... is there such a thing as GOOD christian art? i think.. sadly... not really.

Oh christian art

when you think christian art, you don't think awesome movies like Gladiator or Slumdog Millionaire. you think lame movies like Left Behind and Fireproof. granted, christian music isn't bad, but it doesn't appeal to non-christians because they don't understand our lingo -- sacrifice, cross, jesus, sins, atonement. and so we're just preaching to the choir. plus i think christians are too scared to offend. i mean, if a pastor were to produce a movie that involves sex, drugs and violence, the entire christian community will go CRAZY with outrage. even if the movie was simply highlighting these issues in a realistic manner and showcasing the need for change. these things are real. they're happening every day. yet we ignore them and produce fluffy 'christians love everyone' movies 'cause we don't wanna cause an uproar. so that results in bland, bad quality movies that don't provoke people to discuss issues and do something about the problems in society. i think that's sad. what's also sad is how every single filmmaker-wannabe friend i have hold lots of disdain for christian films. that says something when even christians can't bear to support christian films.

i could go on and on about this.

Casting call + cute guys

I love casting calls. they're SO fun. u get to sit beside a desk and watch actors act out scenes, then you get to pick and choose which ones you want! isn't that awesome??
today i helped faith with hers -- she needed 2 guys to act as brothers, one teenage-age, one 20+. so the 15-year-old kid that came to audition for the little brother role was ADORABLE. like a cute little skateboarder with black skinny jeans and floppy over-the-eyes hair and the BIGGEST, CUTEST eyes ever. so he got the part, no questions asked. hahaha.
the other older guys were alright. some were a bit weird, but i guess actors are always weird huh. one guy had the WORST headshot in the world. it was like a facebook profile pic, NOT professional at all. anw that was fun and we're gonna be filming sat :)

Crazy hectic day

Today i ran around like a headless chicken, trying to find a place that offered notary services, so i could notarize my oath to be a singapore citizen till nov 2010. yes, the appeal went through, so i'll still have dual citizenship till next year! :)

but man, it's hard finding a notary in this town. the bank said they couldn't do it, and that i needed to go downtown to find a certified notary. then i walked all the way down wilshire blvd and finally found one. it was like a sketchy post office, and there were lots of hispanics and dogs in the place when i walked in. i timidly asked where the notary was, and this bulky unfriendly guy led me up the elevator to a tiny office, and i totally thought i was going to be kidnapped or something. the whole thing just seemed so shady. and then the door opened, and the nicest lady greeted me with a bright smile. and i realized the office was filled with lovely ladies, and i relaxed. haha. so i got my stuff authorized and good to go! and now i'm 20bucks poorer. it's such good money to be a notary! you just chop your stamp on a piece of paper and sign something, and people pay you 10bucks automatically! that's 10bucks in 5mins.

So i was running (ok, brisk walking) everywhere today and finally made it to class in time. thank God. class was so overwhelming. remember how excited i was to be chosen as a producer for one of our films? well i take that back! i'm now stressed to the max, and production hasn't even started. i realized that producers are actually in charge of the whole dang film. there's SO much to do, i don't even know where to start. but thank God i have jeffrey as my partner producer. we have tons of forms to start filing out for pre-production - casting lists, insurance, permits, breakdowns, budgets... the list goes on. and half our film takes place in an office, the other half in a mall. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND A MALL THAT WILL LET US FILM IN IT??? i have no idea. jeffrey and i spent minutes searching for a place, but it's so hard. and it's doubly hard to get permits to film in malls. plus our director wants a colorful mall, complete with carousel and all. kinda worried about that.

but i'm super duper psyched for CASTING! we (the producers + the director) get to cast actors for our roles!!!! YAY! our film has 3 roles - the boss, the office employee and the kid. i can't wait to see cute little kids audition :)
we learned a lot about casting today, and got to see how an audition is supposed to play out. it was so interesting. i'm so excited for that!!!!

Anyway, here's a funny pic danielle took of us on the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland. we were cheapos so we didn't buy the image. we secretly took a pic of it on the computer screen instead. everyone looks terrified except for the guy in front, who's having a jolly good time. haha.

Tiring day

Freebies



I just love free stuff. can't get enough of it. and today was the ultimate.
We got a box full of free products from Benefit, the awesome makeup brand i've always wanted to try but didn't wanna waste $$ on. isn't the packaging soooo adorable?? Love. It.
Needless to say, i grabbed it all (after my manager took her share) - lip gloss, lip balm/tint, bronzer. can't wait to use it! :)
(And random flip flops)

This is better than getting paid! haha.

Today at work

My manager was instant messaging me, and there was something wrong with my computer, and so she told me to ask Jesus for help.

I was like, huh??? is she asking me to pray?? is she being sarcastic?? what the --

And then i realized she meant jesus (as in heh-soos) rodriguez, our IT guy who is hispanic and happens to have the same name as my God. hahahaha. and then i just felt really dumb. good thing i didn't voice my thoughts out loud. that would've been pretty embarrassing.
i don't know why people name their children after a god-figure. it's just weird.

I got to write two more stories today. i'm beginning to get a little sick of writing. after a while, it just feels monotonous. and staring at the computer for hours on end cannot be good for my eyesight. i think next time i wanna work at a print magazine, and do cool stuff like direct photo shoots and design pages instead of just writing, writing, writing.

Shocking news

So i got home from work, hopped innocently into the elevator, got out at my floor, and received the shock of my life. there were all these posters (i never paid attention to them before) warning us of a burglary and a sexual offense that occurred IN THE DORM. and a HOMICIDE that occurred right outside. some guy got STABBED!!! my eyes were bulging out of their sockets. especially when i saw the homicide part. then i realized that one happened at another NYU dorm, not mine. and breathed a sigh of relief. but still... the other two happened here. i think. so... gotta be more careful.

And i didn't know honeydew can make you feel feverish. i've been feeling sick-ish for the last week, and then mom told me to stop eating honeydew everyday (it's free at the cafeteria). so i did. and now i feel as good as new! weird huh. i thought all fruits are good for you.

Annoying people

You know who is getting on my nerves? my roomie! i probably said this a thousand times before, but dang, that girl can talk.
i've never before in my entire life seen a person talk to her mom as much as my roomie does.

wake up, immediately call mom (doesn't matter if i'm still sleeping) and tell her what she's gonna wear, what she's gonna eat for breakfast...
come back from work, call mom again. tell her every single thing she did, what she's gonna eat for dinner...
she even asks her mom what to say to boys when they text her! it's like she can't do anything without first asking her mom's opinion!
buy clothes... take picture and send to mom for suggestions. if mom don't like, immediately return to the store.
And best of all, her mom encourages her to dress more skimpy and seductive so she can 'get the guys she wants.' omg. i really don't know what kind of mom is that.

initialy i thought she was a really sweet girl. but now, after unintentionally listening to all her conversations (she talks loud and my desk is right opposite hers) i've realized she's pretty superficial and man, can she bitch about people behind their backs. even her 'good friends.' so she probably talks about me also. but whatever. i'm talking about her too. haha.

Fresh off the boat

.And i'm proud to be an asiannnnn.

So one day in the NYU elevator i heard this caucasian girl exclaim loudly, 'my roommate's fresh off the boat, and she's hilarious!'
(you know, fresh off the illegal boat from asia or some other continent) and then she proceeded to talk about her weird/funny her mannerisms and actions were. and i was like, wow. i've heard ABOUT the term so many times, but i've never actually heard anyone use it! it was weird. but i wasn't offended or anything.
it takes a lot to offend me. i've learned to be more open-minded around people here. even when they say chinatown is exactly like koreatown. haha.

But then again, it always annoys me how americans are practically worshipped and adored in asia, while asians are mocked at when they arrive in the US of A. ironic, huh. one-way relationship.

Although, everyone i've met here has reacted with shock when i told them i'm from singapore. they're like, 'omg, i would never have expected that! you don't have an accent at all!'
I guess i'm becoming... one of them.
took me 3 years, but now i've made it. haha.

.Gaming.

Yesterday a bunch of people went to Dave & Busters, this game arcade/bar.. and it was totally fun!! it's been such a long time since i've been to an arcade. we played new games like 'deal or no deal,' and won a ton of tickets.
Also got hit on by tons of creepy guys. one guy offered to give us his coupons so we could exchange them for gifts, and he ended up getting my friend's number and asking her out to lunch. he was a total weirdo. kept rapping to us like he was some cool dude, but he was just a white wannabe rapper.
but anyway we took his coupons and got teddy bears and shot glasses. haha.

Also, some of my friends totally flirted with this huge, old man who claimed to be from the mafia, and he bought them like 3 free drinks each. i refused. i'm not that desperate for a free drink to flirt with some sweaty elderly man, old enough to be my grandpa. ew.
Now if he were young and cute..... that would be a different story :)

.Good work day.

Today was definitely a good day. slacked around in the office (even my manager didn't have much to do 'cause it was thursday), and read stuff on wikipedia. haha.
it was really interesting! read up on Scientology, which was full of nonsense. i mean, it had some crap that was supposedly confidential but got leaked out to the public by a former scientology member, about this guy named xenu who came to earth from another planet and put people near volcanoes and blew them up. so now their souls are floating around earth, terrorizing humans. i was like... this totally makes for some awful science fiction story. but sure, you can believe in whatever you want to!

Also read about mormonism and jehovah's witnesses. funny how i 'supposedly' learned about them in my Historic christian belief class (where i got an A), but i still have no idea who they are/what they believe in. but now i know. and they have some weird beliefs too. especially the jehovah's witnesses, which i learned, they're called that cuz they're known for their door-to-door evangelizing. fascinating, huh.

And then i had a nice long chat with my manager about office politics. apparently the higher-ups like the people to think the office environment is laidback and all, but it's really not. and this one guy who seems chill actually watches everyone to make sure they're not skiiving off. i was like, ooohhh... better make sure i look more hardworking!

But yeah, i really like my manager. she's awesome. and we talked about starting a career in NYC, and how hard it is because there's tons of cutthroat competition. and she said i was in luck, because having an internship in NYC on my resume would look much better than someone else who had an internship in like, indiana or something. cuz companies in new york like to see that you've had experience here before. so yay! now i have connections here!!!!! :)

.My resume's filling up.

I seriously can't believe i wrote so many articles between this week and last week.
Here's all the links if you're interested. after a while, they kinda all sound similar. haha.

-Organic clove salon opens in Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.julib.com/atlanta/luckycharms061609AT_email.html

-DVF boutique opens in Miami, Florida
http://www.julib.com/miami/birdwithoutwings061109MI_email.html

-Caviar Kaspia opens in Miami, Florida
http://www.julib.com/miami/kaspiasea061609MI_email.html

-Rugosa opens in the Hamptons
http://www.julib.com/hamptons/pulltherugosa061009HA_email.html

-Cadot opens in Dallas, Texas
http://www.julib.com/dallas/spacecadot061109DA_email.html

-New online design store called Functionals, from the Netherlands
http://www.julib.com/sandiego/hollandssauce060909SD_email.html

-Side bar opens in San Diego, California
http://www.julib.com/sandiego/Bsides061109SD_email.html

.Thumbs up.

Went to see the movie 'Up'...

... in 3D! and it was everything they said, and more.
everyone should TOTALLY go see it, please. it's SUCH a great movie. once again, pixar never fails to deliver. although, it costed as much as three freakin movies in sgp. ridiculous. but worth it :)

Can't decide if i wanna go see the jonas brothers perform at the Today Show...
maybe not. don't think they're worth the wait and the waking up at 4am.

ROAD TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC THIS WEEKEND!!!!
I'm so excited. i've never been there!!! and we're gonna stay in hotels for free and see all the free museums! :)

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.

THE WAIT IS KILLING ME

aaaaarrrggghhhh.

I HATE WAITING.
especially for something i really, really, REALLY WANT.
oh God, please let me get it. please. please. please.

i'll know if i get into the Fall 2009 LA program by April 17.
i'll know about an internship in 7 days.
omg why is time passing so slowly????
my stomach is twisting into knots. there are 9,999 butterflies fluttering around in my stomach now.
OK not stressing out.
think about other things!

And... please pray i'll get it!!! or whatever God has in plan for me.

Would you rather...

Have eyebrows that go all around your eyes in one long line (and cannot be shaved)?
Or have legs that are stuck together mermaid-style and end with one foot?

Tough questions! hahaha.

Me and some girls from my wing have been playing that game and other random questions at Payne's. was SO funny. but oh, chocolate milkshake at 11pm.... so bad!! plus didn't get any hw done...spent the entire day sleeping after getting back from korean church. didn't get much sleep cuz i was out late last night :) plus it was Daylight savings time, which means our clocks go forward 1 hour... so now we're 12hours behind home instead of 13!
anw, this semester has been the most fun ever! got to de-stress from this crazyyy week.

And we settled our housing issues. talked it over calmly. kind of. i was calm, anyway. So... looks like we'll be living in crappy apartments next year! Oh joy. but i won't be here for the fall (hopefully) cuz i'll be in LA.. can't believe i'm graduating in ONE YEAR++!! can't wait to get out of here and live in the REAL WORLD!!

Ok. something that I-R-K-S me is... this whole idea, concept, theory, whatever you wanna call it, of 'community' here at school. i feel like we always emphasize how close-knit everyone is on campus, and we talk about being open and vulnerable and honest, and about building close relationships... and in some ways we really are. like, i love being here. i love the friendships i have here. but i just dislike the fact that there are some... sensitive topics that we all shirk away from. stuff that people do that no one dares to talk about because we're all supposed to be goody-two-shoes Christians.

And it's such a misconception because no one's perfect! we all fall, we all make mistakes, we all drift away from the path sometimes.. and i feel like there's no good in covering it up, pretending to the world (and the university's donors) that we're leading perfect, upright lives here. i hope i don't sound cynical, because i'm not. i'm just annoyed.
I just wish there was more openness and opportunities to be genuinely honest about stuff, even stuff that makes us look bad, without being judged and thrown to the fire. And i wish i could spell out exactly what i'm talking about, but those same rules that ostensibly protect us prevent me from being completely honest.




What irony.

Did you know?

1. Every time you sneeze, some of your brain cells die. Also, it's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
(man, i'm never sneezing again)

2. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. ahahaha

3. No word in the English language rhymes with 'month'
(huh. how about 'want'? haha)

4. 12 newborns are given to the wrong parents EVERY DAY
(omg. that's kinda scary)

5. Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love that stuff - all except for one flavor - mint oreo
(i love mint oreo!! it's one of my favs :)

6. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying
(now i know what i'll be doing the next time i peel onions. not that i even touch onions that often though)

7. An average person eats about 60,000 pounds of food in their lifetime. That's like 6 elephants.
(gross)

8. More Monopoly money is printed every year than real money throughout the world
(wow. what a waste of trees.)

9. One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
(whoaaa. can i be that one in four?)

10. The average person laughs 15 times a day.
(i wonder how many times i laugh. probably more since i laugh at anything and everything. haha)

So i was kinda bored. i looked up interesting facts on google. haha.
other than that, this week's been sleepless, restless and altogether tiresome.
all i can say is, drama drama drama. and i think i might be sick. not flu sick. but serious sick. arrrggghhh. scared.
still bleeding when i exercise. so i looked up causes on the internet. and one cause is like some form of cancer!
am trying not to be worried.

pray.



I won't give up
No, I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And i will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When i'm standing in the dark i'll still believe
Someone's watching over me

i NEED a break

i really do. so tired of having so much work EVERY day of EVERY week!! it never stops! mostly cuz of working for the Echo. newspaper work is so tiring!! i don't know how anyone can do this for a living! but then again, i get a sense of pride in seeing my work published and my name in print. it's pretty cool to have people come up to me and be like, hey! i recognize your name! you're in the newspaper! i guess i have a love/hate relationship with writing. :)

talking about publishing, i wrote a movie review for this god-awful christian movie, The Touch, for my freelance writing class. and my prof liked it! so he sent it to Church Libraries, and they're gonna PUBLISH MY REVIEW in the december christmas issue of the magazine!!!!!!! i'm so excited. so what if i'm only getting published in small christian publications?? starting small and working up is the way to go!

oh. and if you go to www.taylor.edu, you'll see my article on my school's website!! it's called 'Council meeting gives students global perspective'. I wrote it for The Echo, and the Director of media relations at Taylor liked it, so he put it on the website!!
CLICK ON IT to read it!
i just thought it was pretty cool seeing my article on the front page of Taylor's website :)

this week been superrr busy preparing for AIRBAND!!! which was freakin awesome. we just got done doing two shows. tiring!! someone filmed us, so i'll put up the link to our performance soon!! I WAS THE ZEBRA in lion king!! haha. so glad we're done with all the rehearsals. everyone was awesome though. the dancing and performances were sooo good!! and we were the first act!!! whoo hooo!!! was on an adrenaline high just now. super tired now. only one class tmr!

PICS FROM AIRBAND :)

sarah, cait (who were in Gerig's 'Prince of Egypt - Deliver us' performance. they were AWESOME!), me (the zebra!!) and cartoon (who did Daft Punk's 'harder, better, faster, stronger' with strobe lights and glowsticks n all!!)

Dan (who was Simba!! complete with flips and jumps n crazy stuff. and he has a crazy awesome tongue stud) and mark (our fake drummer)

Jordan (she's a bird) and me

me,cartoon,dan,mark. waiting downstairs for our turn to perform!!

April (the other zebra!), anne (a creepy hyena), and me (a scared zebra)

Zebras!! with furry tails and white duct tape on our black costumes! :) everyone loved our face paint. Sooo many random people came up to me and were like, 'I LOVE ZEBRAS! you're awesome!' haha. i didn't know zebras were so popular.

Rhona (who was an awesome rafiki. just LOOK at her costume and face paint!) and me. waiting for our second performance.

Liz (who performed a super awesomely slick hip hop dance to Semisonic. they creeped me out the first time i saw it. just look at their masks!!)

me, rafiki's stick, and jordan!

Liz and Athena (she was a gazelle :)

Why

Why are some people always bent on breaking the rules? Why do some people never grow up? Why do some people call themselves Christians but don't act like one? Why do some people behave the way they do? Why am i so agitated now?

i'm tired of being the easy-going, happy-go-lucky peaceful mediator. i'm just sick of some people. maybe i need to get mad and flare up once in a while so people stop taking me for granted and start taking me seriously. i hate confrontations. makes me, the middle person, feel very awkward and uncomfortable.

you know what else i don't like? having guy friends like me. makes me feel, once again, very awkward cuz it's hard to...let them down easy and still remain friends.




i wonder if i'm starting to regret not doing anything sooner
sometimes i just wish you'd grow up
junior year is definitely full of.... interesting experiences.

i guess there's a first time for everything.

(more details later. when i'm not so upset)

Miami here we come

this week was...omg. ups and downs.
monday was a long day. had small group with the girlies on my floor..pigged out and shared stuff we love about each other. awwww..so sweet. everyone was like..no one can ever hate you cuz you're just sooo nice n easygoing..to me. haha. i just find it so funny that pple always say that to me! does that mean other people are hate-able? anw i love my SG..and the girls on my wing. hope i can find a roomie to stay on the wing with next year..cuz my roomie's gonna study abroad in HK in the fall :(

tues was another long day. learnt how to do photography in the studio..lighting n everything. was so cool! my next project will be about people. so fun! excited. wish i could be in the pics instead of taking them though. i'm really enjoying photography now. it's actually pretty cool :)

after a longgg dinner hanging out n laughing like mad in the DC (someone said when i said 'tsk tsk' it sounded like a squirrel. random.) i spent like 3 hours in the communications building recording sungah, capri and luke for my digital audio project for a promo for my parents' BSM (Building strong marriages) courses. it was hilarious! we laughed like never before. capri n luke were sooo good as the loving/arguing couple. hope it all turned out fine! gonna be editing the audio tmr.

today was a BAD day. guess why. idiot professor from historic christian belief got my blood BOILING. and i never get angry. but HE made me soooooo....pissed off. firstly, he is without a doubt the worst teacher EVER. he somehow managed to convey that babies go to hell when they die and it's ok to murder. huh. wonder where he gets his info from. and then he expects us to memorize the whole bible because we have to state scripture references for EVERY.SINGLE. fact. that..is just humanly impossible. we have other classes n commitments too u know! it's not like this is the only class we are spending all our time on. so we got our test results back and i got a freakin C. and then he changed it to a freakin D. and the class average was a freakin F. tell me does that say something's wrong with the prof or what??? because i KNOW we all studied hard for this idiot's test. and i have NEVER gotten a C before!!! (at least in taylor cuz we all know singapore's education system is insane)

and so today me and 2 other pple confronted him (another thing that makes me angry - my stupid class either too cowardly to stand up to him, or they're all way too nice/naive christians who tolerate this idiot n so they lose out grades-wise) and he was just like, this is MY class. maybe u all didn't learn the material well enough (insinuating that we're lazy idiots). and so we patiently asked him to help us improve. and he like refused. he just told us to study harder. WHAT KIND OF (CHRISTIAN) teacher is this??? i was so mad i wanted to either box his head or cry. it wouldn't be so bad if he was nice about it and wanted to help us improve (like any normal teacher), but noooo. he just blames it on us. when it's so obviously his fault.

soooo..whatever. i can't be bothered with him anymore. went straight to the admin building to withdraw from this class and be free while i still can. so it wont affect my GPA. THANK GOD!!! cuz the deadline's apr 3. again, THANK GOD. this class has been giving me headaches n high blood pressure. every mon wed fri at 3pm i go out of class SOOOOOO upset and angry at his ridiculous comments n demands. wonder what in the heck made taylor hire him. they must've been temporarily insane. but ok. enough complaining. from now on, i will take the high road and stop cursing him mentally in chinese. sorry Lord. help me to be more like You and see him in a nicer light!

so anyway, on to happier things.

GOING TO MIAMI IN less than 48hours!!!! coolness. never been there. heard awesome things about it! mostly just excited to get the heck away from here n this cold weather and on to sunny skies and the beach!!! yayyy!!
got my supplies from walmart tonight. packed a little. superrrr excited!!! also a little nervous cuz i've never done construction work before, and it's hard physical labor and i'm not exactly the fittest person in the world. plus we're going in a huge group of 50 pple and i dont know them all that well. kinda intimidating. i get lost in big groups sometimes. and a bit sian cuz i know this trip's gonna be tiring and i really need some good rest after this tiring half semester. and we're driving 2 whole days there and 2 days back. but..i will go into this with a positive mentality. it'll be an awesome experience and God will be my strength and my refuge.
so keep me in your prayers! thanks :)

http://www2.taylor.edu/weblogs/springbreak/habitat/

this is the website to keep up on what i'll be doing in miami. someone will be blogging about our adventures regularly :)
i'll be back after spring break! mar30! :)

hormones

i hate them.

anw feeling better now.except for cramps.last post was stupid..but..i do feel like coming here has changed me..and in some ways not for the better :( oh well. such is life.

so trying to finish all my hw tonight and declining all offers to go out..not that i wanna go anywhere cuz it's snowing like mad. sooo beautiful but sooo cold. tmr's our wing's formal..so we're going to indianapolis with our dates for dinner n a play i've never heard of. it better be good! it cost like 40bucks for both persons. then sun i'm gonna watch one republic in concert in the city again! yayyyers. can't wait. just wish cramps would go awayyy. i don't think God likes me much. every. single. time. there's something semi-important going on in my life, my cramps will be there with me. just like that. could i be any more unlucky.

but still. thank God for everything else. man i gotta stop complaining.