back at my second home

it's so funny how this little university in this tiny town of upland has become my second home. haha. anw, thank God for safe travelling! although it was quite an experience. seriously, every time i travel, i fall sick. not fun! but managed to sleep quite a lot during the plane ride, so that was unexpectedly good. arrived at the airport in frankfurt, germany to stopover before continuing on to JFK new york..and OMG. it was the most POK airport i've ever seen!! nothing, no shops around for at least a few miles. and the toilet was a total POK metal container. it was shiny and all. sooo bored there for a few hours. at least i had my com and movis to accompany me. :)

my flight from new york to cincinnati was delayed like almost 2hours!!!! which left me 15 whole mins to SPRINT LIKE MAD from one terminal to the other (and take bus also cuz the stupid terminal so far away) to catch my other flight to indianapolis. obviously the plane left without me. and it was a total wake up call cuz i was WIPED OUT after running for 5 mins. so unfit. didn't really panic cuz many other pple missed the plane like me. (note to self: NEVER take stupid delta airlines again! they made me miss my connecting flight TWICE already in my lifetime. no compensation either!)

so they put me on the next flight, which was hours later. so i tried desperately to call pple up to get my roomie's cell phone number cuz we were getting a ride back to taylor from the same person. finally got a hold of her, and everything worked out. we ended up going back to taylor with random pple from taylor we met at the airport who had space in their car for us. haha. thank GOD! :)

slept from midnight last night till 1pm today. still tired. but refuse to sleep till its bedtime. unpacked n all! yayy. settled in. feels kinda like i'm in a hotel cuz it's so FREAKING COLD in my room. it's jan. the peak of winter. and our heater is spoilt, what luck. so slept in thick long sleeves n long pants n thick blanket. and it doesn't help that my nose is still running. ughh. will stuff myself with organic pills in the hope i'll get better before leaving for greece.

swan lake

i saw the dvd in target and knew i absolutely had to get it. SWAN LAKE! it's my fav childhood movie! and it was only 5bucks! so cheap. made me so happy to watch it. haha. anw finals are OVER!!!! yayyy! not that i was stressed anyway. it's so different here, it's awesome. no stress for exams. just fun and games :) done with my speech too!!! i really think all these speaking classes is helping me improve. i'm actually not nervous at all anymore! hallelujah! :) but that doesn't mean i wanna get up in front of pple n speak. still have no desire to. haha.

ystdy went for a study break 11 at night till 1am at the dc..played guitar hero 2!! happiness. made me miss my little bro jedi. can't wait to go home and beat him at guitar hero. was fun hanging out with pple n watching pple play DDR.. so amusing all these angmoh guys who are really good at dancing.

so something weird. i actually feel like i don't wanna go back so soon! haha. it's weird! i'm enjoying mysellf here. even the cold doesn't seem that bad. time seems to be going by too fast. want it to slow down a little. plus cartoon's leaving and tomorrow's her last day here at taylor. :( happy for her going to a better school, but sad cuz i'm gonna miss her!!! who's gonna talk about chinese movies and insult americans with me???? haha. oh well. i don't wanna travel with...cramps either. :( always like that! this always happens to me! i can't travel in peace. omg. this sucks.
but i'm coming home. so that's good. can't wait to see everyone. :) pray for safety.

All good things come to an end

so. last weekend was like the BEST ever. everyday was fun! haha. after a super stressful week of papers and presentations, it was good to release all that pent-up tension in my bones.

i got 122/125 for my presentation!!! really shocked. really really am. it was a 10 min presentation on a struggle in my life and what God's teaching me through the bible. then 10 mins of questions frm students and 10 mins of questions frm prof. that was the scary part. but i'm so glad it went well!!! aaaahhh :)

anw fri night was silent night..everyone dressed up (or rather, down) in their pajamas and went to the bball game..stayed really quiet till the 10point mark was hit, and then the crowd went wild n cheered till our throats were sore. i'm not one for sports, so we left after the first quarter. it was really smelly n humid n hot in the gym anyway. hung out till the DC opened for habecker's hoolipalooza!! the Habeckers (our sch's president n his wife) talked to me..and i could totally tell they were DYING to ask me where i'm from (since i look different). haha. it was amusing. i could see it in their eyes. they were bursting to pop the question. so i told them i'm frm sgp..they said they're going there in march! to set up a branch of taylor uni there! how cool is that?! :)

anw the hoolipalooza thing-y was fun..sugar cookies, a stage where pple did karaoke n embarassed themselves in front of everyone else, pictures with santa, 'ice-fishing' with prizes, and we entered the gingerbread house-making contest! didn't win. but it was FUN! my first gingerbread house! then pelted random pple with leftover M&Ms. ate so much candy. the sugar high was crazy. then stayed n had a deep conversation trying to help a friend with relationship problems at the DC till midnight, when the person kicked us out. good times. :)

my saturdays are always short. cuz i wake up after 12. haha. attempted to do some hw. unsuccessfully. went to thai smile for dinner with a bunch of friends + random pple..was fun. abit sick of thai food now. blehh. the portions were huge. american-style. made random stops at places afterwards. talked to my parents late. went to bed even later. got like 5hours of sleep. eck. still went to church on sun! yayy. it was gd. although i still miss ps khong's sermons..they're awesome.

went to this awesome restaurant for lunch - texas roadhouse. it's like a total american restaurant. western-cowboyish decorations n all. while we were there, 3 pple had their bdaes celebrated n everyone yelled 'yee-haw' for them. haha. the food was so good. been eating too much this weekend!! went shopping afterwards. heh. who cares that finals are in a few days.
attempted to study again in the evening..efforts were in vain. had small group..someone shared her testimony..it's really interesting to hear pple's stories :)

today didn't have any finals. just went one to listen to pple present..since i'm done! :) slacked around after that..went to a study break at the daudts' even though i hadn't been studying..food as usual..now gotta go study for my one final tmr!!! i'll be free as a bird tmr!!! :)

i'm dreaming of a white christmas

wait, no - i'm HAVING a white christmas! sort of. christmas isn't here yet, but the way everyone's acting, it might as well be :)
this was a week of CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSES!!!!! love it.

monday was gerig n wengatz open house (open house = when girls can visit guys' dorms and vice versa)..wengatz didn't really decorate much. they're all guys, so..what can u expect. haha. but they had cool lights everywhere. and one wing did an 'icebox' theme..it was freezing there! they had all the windows open, and fans blowing. brrrr. gerig was fun..christmas cookies, hot drinks, chocolate. after all, open house is all about the food :) then they had their annual eggnog contest!! gross as usual. the same guy who won last yr won again. he threw up after drinking like more than 30 cups of eggnog. DISGUSTING. but oh-so-entertaining.

tues was sammy (guys) and english (girls) open house!! english was awesome. one wing did a peter pan theme..with a little lost boys' cove, a pirate ship n all. another wing did narnia! there was someone dressed up as the wicked witch, and christmas tree branches everywhere. and lots of food. and one wing did the grinch stole christmas. with a kissing booth n all. haha. sammy was awesome too!!! one floor had freaking ROCKBAND for pple to play on a huge screen. rockband = video game version of a real rockband. it's awesome. i have to get it. and one floor had the magic school bus theme..the solar system..under the sea..into the mouth. it's amazing how these pple have so much time to do stuff like this.

wed was olson open house!!! yayyy! i helped decorate a bit..but my wing's decoration was kinda lame. lights, a fireplace, snowflakes hanging frm the ceiling, food..that's all. other wings had like a mexican theme, a hawaiian theme, a white christmas theme, etc. was fun walking through and seeing all these awesome decorations!!! :)

am in such a christmas-y mood. finally done with 2 out of 3 presentations!!! YAYYYY!!! one more presentation and one final on tues..then..HOME FREE! i think i might actually be getting used to standing up in front of pple and talking. i actually wasn't nervous at all today! in fact, i experienced the tiniest bit of fun while presenting. it was odd. but good! i guess taking all these speaking classes is working. haha :)

the way i are

i don't know why but i'm so super distracted! that's why i've been blogging more this wk than usual. cannot sit still to do hw! all these presentations n papers! driving me insane! so sick of doing them!!! want sch to be over now!!! arrrggghhh. i think i must've checked my email and gone on facebook 10,000 times today. so restless. watched 2 movies too. in between doing hw. heh.

anw..sat was SING NOEL! our christmas program. presented by taylor's chorale. they were sooo good! went to the nicely decorated DC for our christmas banquet with girls frm my wing..everyone was so dressed up..like formal dress! i was like uhh.. in a not-so-formal dress. but i like events like these. gives me an excuse to put lots of eye makeup. hahaha. fun to put on, not fun to scrub off. but it was fun dressing up n helping others get dressed up n getting excited n all. food was ok..but there was a chocolate fountain! yayyy. Sing Noel was fun..greeted pple as they came in..took 1001 pics..went onstage to read luke 2:1-7 in chinese..it went ok i think. spoke really fast but 99.9% of the pple don't understand anyway. haha. afterwards they had 'international' desserts..but not really. yummy though. then went to the souphouse to watch hairspray!! finally!! it was pretty good. love the songs :)

woke up early today for church, which was gd. although i was really tired n that kinda distracted me. went to walmart for supplies after that..got candy for my bros :) did some hw in the afternoon..not really..had small group. love my small groupies :)

then we just had our white elephant exchange with our brother wing..it's like everyone brings a present and we each get a number, and we can pick whatever present we want from the pile of presents. and u can steal someone else's prez. haha. i got a bunch of candy, a pink cross, a ball, random things. some guy got a huge beer mug candle. it was awesome. i gave away my pirates of the caribbean puzzle in a bottle. it was surprisingly one of the most popular gifts. i guess cuz the rest were crap. random things like paper plates, useless pieces of paper, and oh - some guy gave away a date with his fren. haha.
was fun.
k.
back to hw.
sighhhhhhh.

bet on it

i dont know why..high sch musical 2 songs keep getting stuck in my head. haha.
SO. this week's been fun! i'm excited for tmr! or today..since it's 1.30am now..

thurs was awesome. only one class..then went for dinner with a bunch of random pple..then went to karaoke night at the student union! there was only like me n my friends there..and two or three other pple. so we sang our hearts out. i mean they did..not me. haha. so funny all the songs that they chose!! luke n levi singing 'whole new world' together just cracked me up. and dan singing/rapping 'amish paradise'?? hilarious. haha. plus the jumping bean makes pretty awesome iced blended chai :)
snuck into The Elms concert aft that..supposed to pay 4bucks, but we sneaked in for free. they were really good! they're a christian band turned secular rock band. the lead singer was really cool and their songs were really original n stuff. the only thing missing was crowd surfing/head banging. haha.

today was gd. got two of my articles in the school newspaper. yayy for getting credit for media participation! had rehearsal for Sing Noel, our christmas chorale production tmr.. then went to the Daudts' for yummy soup dinner. they had their christmas tree up with decorations n all! beautiful :) i love christmas!!! then watched John: His Story..a play by taylor students about the book of John in the bible. was pretty interesting. altho i fell asleep at one point. heh. then came back n hung out in carly's room for the rest of the night playing GUITAR HERO 3!!! love it to death!!!! it's pretty much awesome. andrew told me i'm the best girl guitar hero player he's ever seen. yay. haha. he still beat me though. he's expert level. i'm only at hard level. but i will get there! i wish i had a PS here so i could play guitar hero every single day.

anw talked to him abt the media writing major here at taylor..turns out it isn't very good..at all! no wonder i've been having all these qns, and no one's been able to answer them! our film/radio major is really good..just not our writing department. which is sad! but also gives me an excuse to transfer. will be on the lookout for schools in a warm, city area that has gd journalism programs. even though i feel like i'm settling for second best by doing writing.

scratch that

ok, here i go, changing my mind again. i guess taylor ain't so bad after all. ahaha. it's the people that always make me change my mind. cuz they're so awesome! it was fun getting back from break and reuniting with everyone again :) and the prospect of having only 2wks left till i leave for home just makes me that much happier!!!

ystdy we had Wok Night in the DC!! korean food for dinner!! the food was only ok..can't really do much to spice up DC food.. but preparing for it was fun :) i fried eggs. haha. even though i was really turned off by the awful smell. a good amount of angmohs turned up to try the food, which was cool. camped out at the lib the past few days. ughhhh. don't like it there! but too distracted by the world of opportunities in my room with my com. spent mon night talking to random people here n there..got nothing done. heh. tonight i spent 2 productive hrs there though! with capri. we're gd study partners. even though the room was kinda making creepy noises. ew.

yay excited for the weekend! classes are almost over! lots of classes cancelled this wk. yay. i just have to get 3 presentations, a paper and a final exam over with, and i'm done!!! aaaahhh.

blackbird

that lion was huge scary. at least it was sleeping

such a cute statue! in the children's zoo :)

lovely lights + horses n carriages. aww!

lincoln park! where linkin park (the awesomest band ever) got their name from! :)


just got back from chicago - 5hours of driving in the slushie rainy snow..gross. spent most of it watching one tree hill on my laptop. haha. so NOT ready for sch to start again tmr!!! nooooooo. i'm glad to be back in my home sweet home away from home. missed my bed. haha. did i mention how thankful i am for my roomie? she doesn't snore! i've had sleepless nights the past 5 nights..waking up every now n then to THREE snorers. yup. not one, not two. three. it was pretty bad. so i fell sick ystdy. high fever n headache..the works. awful. sick in a foreign place!! in some stranger's home! not fun. so i slept most of the day away. they took care of me pretty well. they're such nice pple :)

anw one of the reasons i fell sick was prob too much shopping. too deprived. and too hiong.haha. went shopping on black friday..of all days. haha. it was CRAZY after-thanksgiving sales. everywhere! swarms of people. i guess americans can be kiasu too. superrr cheap stuff. LOVE IT! shopped from 10am till 7pm. with one short break to make our stomachs stop growling. haha. walked arnd downtown at night with our huge bags of purchases. love the pretty lights n christmas deco :)

3 more weeks till home!!! time flies. these 3 wks are gonna be ultra crazy. so much to get done before the semester ends.

thought abt transferring to another uni..somewhere not in the middle of freaking nowhere..but..as usual i'm all talk and no action. too lazy to do all that admin stuff. heh. ok i just have to PERSEVERE on! granted, wasting my life away here doing nothing, but... oh well. the future looks brighter! two more yrs in no man's land! and then i'll be free! grad school in the city! getting away from the midwest. yay.
so..i wonder if i'm cursed or something. i've never liked any school i went to. most of them i disliked with great passion. KCpri sch with its nightmarish teachers, cedar was pretty fun, NJ with its discrimination n prison-like treatment of arts students, now taylor with...absolutely nothing around. huh. most of these schs i never really cared about. just randomly picked them. heh. have to be more careful when i pick grad sch! seriously. gonna check out every single detail of it so i wont have to suffer anymore.

stars and boulevards

so..it's official. chicago is my second fav city in the US after new york!! (not like i've been to all the cities to judge, but whatever).
i'm just so in love with the city. everything about it is so beautiful!!! especially now..in the fall..when the trees are turning yellow and red.. makes me happy. :)

arrived in chicago on tues after 4+hours driving in a car with cartoon n two other strangers. but it was fun. and the long drive went by pretty fast. had thai food for dinner. yummy! am staying with cartoon and her friends who are thai. so it's like constant 'huh' for me since they converse in thai alot. haha. but it's ok. the 2 daughters are really nice n friendly. went out to downtown chicago on wed for lunch at giordano's! the famous pizza place. my 2nd time there :) then went shopping and watched 'enchanted'!!! it's pretty much the funniest movie i've watched in a while. love it. must buy the dvd. haha. had fun. even though it was a depressing day weather-wise. rained the WHOLE day. gross.

today was thanksgiving!! woke up late in the afternoon. lazed around. walked to the zoo in the freakin' cold. walked around the zoo in the cold. since it was an open zoo. free admission too. got scared by the huge bears n all those tigers n lions mere centimeters away from us, separated by only a thin layer of wires. scary. went to chinatown for dinner! all these cheena-looking people. feels like home!! ahaha. had cold bubble tea in the freezing cold. my fingers n nose were numb. took pictures..pple thought we were mad. asians acting all tourist-y in chinatown. hahaha.

can't wait for tmr! after thanksgiving sale! gonna wake up super early and CHIONG! :) have been holding back..didn't buy anything yet ok. saving my money for tmr and sat. :)

random videos on youtube.
stupid josh posted this vid of us in steak n' shake!!! so embarrassing. u can share in my embarrassment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6snSVg6mg3M

just watched this vid of a video game made by some genius (prob computer science) asian guy who has nothing better to do. pretty boliao but funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLrgxtALWs

:)

thanksgiving break

break starts today! YAY. kinda excited but not really. not like everyone else is. mostly cuz they're going home to see their family and friends and i'm just goin to stay with a friend :( sometimes i get jealous of pple who can just drive home anytime on any weekend. oh well. it was my choice to come so far away anyway. at least i'm getting outta here!!! in 2 hrs! goin to chicago! till sun :)
finally. miss the city so much!! u really never appreciate what u have till u lose it. haha. but not looking forward to the 4hr drive. pray for journey mercy!

so..on the list of stupid questions americans ask..'so how do u celebrate thanksgiving at home?'
uhhh. we don't?
cuz thanksgiving is an american hol???
gosh.
but it's fun.
we had a brother/sister wing thanksgiving dinner on sun. yummy food. cornbread, sweet potatoes n marshmallows, stuffing, cake.. :) can't believe we only have 2 wks of sch left after thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!

tired of the weather

this week's been another crazy insane one. running around from place to place. some classes were cancelled though. so that was good. had to write this article for The Echo about plans for our new science building. made one phone call after another, one email after another, finally getting info to write the article after chasing down like more than 10 people. gosh. stress me out all these deadlines. the novelty of being a newspaper writer is wearing off pretty quick. and i'm not even the one thinking of stories! my editor just gives me ideas n i go find the info.

which reminds me, we watched this movie 'shattered glass' for class, it's abt this guy who writes for the top magazine and he fabricates like most of his stories. of course he got fired n all. it's a true story. he seemed kinda psycho in the movie and in the real interview. can't understand how someone can fake all these sources and facts and events and not feel the prick of his conscience. gosh.

went for the spring break meeting. can't decide where i wanna go - if i wanna go at all. cuz last year the trip to jamaica was gd, but really tiring n had no rest at all though it was break. but this yr they're going to russia! jordan! dominican republic! or somewhere closer, miami! i don't know. i'll pray abt it. deadline to apply coming soon though.

went to thai smile on tues! yay for free spicy thai food! someone treated us :) so TCA's been running into several probs lately. some members not so happy about the band they're in, not turning up to practices, etc. grrr. had to settle those. feel so bad kicking pple out. so i'm like, everyone gets a second, and third, and tenth chance! heh. and omg. someone thinks i'm dating my co-director. that's what i don't like about taylor. gosh! u can't spend time with a guy without everyone else thinking you're dating. seriously. people are obsessed with dating here.

so i'm supposed to read verses in chinese for our christmas program, cuz the chorale is singing in chi, russian, french, etc. so i went to their rehearsal on wed..and the chorale director was funny. she's in-your-face kinda friendly. and i was like, whoaa. backing off. haha. so i read my verse in chi to them. and read some words wrong but didn't care cuz none of them understand chi anyway. and afterwards someone told me that while i was reading, the chorale director's face was like, enlightened. haha. then she got them to sing their chi song for me. and i didn't understand what they were singing. except for 'peng you' and 'ye su'. it was funny :)

my generation night was thurs! it was pretty good! better than last year. we have lots of talent here! i love the song boston by augustana!! love it. now i love playing the piano. it's so...beautiful :) think i'm gonna start practicing again. after all these yrs. haha. fri night we had a guys' night out. the girls planned the event for the guys. it was alright.. hung out in claire's rm n the souphouse till like 2am..it was fun. i love my friends!! and our little freshmen guys. so cute. haha. then talked to mum n dad till 3! today slept in till 1pm :) yay.

keep my eyes fixed ever on Jesus' face

so i listened to ps khong's sermon on direction for your life last night. when i first heard his voice, i almost teared. realized i miss sitting in the front rows at church with my spiritual family and listening to pastor preach. so thanks suang, candy and mum n dad for prompting me to listen to this sermon. it spoke to me SO very much. felt like every single word he said pierced deep into my heart, like God crafted this sermon for pastor to deliver specially to me.

it's so true that i'm so lost and confused. all this planning for the future. plus wondering about whether i should stay on in the States or go back after graduation makes things more confusing. and also the fact that i have to choose next year on by my bdae cuz my s'pore passport expires then. feels like i'm standing at this huge crossroads in my life, and whatever move i make next will impact my future and my life. and i just was stressing out over it SO much. couldn't handle the pressure. but God is so wonderfully faithful. He brought me friends here at taylor who shared the same frustrations and struggles, and support from back home. and i just feel so encouraged knowing i'm not the only one struggling with this. and so very encouraged by what pastor khong said about seeking God for His will.

i've thought it through. maybe music isn't for me after all. and that's ok with me. as long as it's in God's will..i'm trying to prepare myself to give up my passion if it's indeed what He wants for me. maybe i'm not meant to pursue it now, but sometime in the future. u never know. and i realized He may have been telling me His will all this while but i've been blocking it out because i really really want to hold on to my own desires and i refuse to let them go. cuz in my heart i've already decided i love music and i wanna do it in the future so i try to rationalize and tell God my plan.

so i'm gonna continue praying about it, seeking Him, maybe toss a coin :) and whatever the outcome is, i want to follow His plan and not hold on to my selfish ambitions because He definitely knows what's best for me better than i know. no more worrying or running away!

wiped out

this week was crazy insane. World Opportunities Week..so lots of speakers and missionary organizations came to stop by and give info..had to register for classes for the spring semester, which was a HUGE headache. glad it's over and done with. stressed over it for the longest time. had to plan all my 4 year of college - like what classes i was gonna take and when. i hate planning for the future. i feel so confused about what God wants for me. it's like i wanna do the music study abroad WITH ALL MY HEART. but it doesn't give me any credit for my major and will probably cause me to graduate late. then there's the other option of the journalism study abroad which is practical, good for my future career (if i wanna write), blah blah. i hate choosing. so anyway, next semester looks pretty awesome. classes starting at 12pm everyday!!! except thur when they start at 2!!! i love sleeping in :)

so anyway..went for the greece and italy meeting. met people whom i'm gonna spend 3 weeks in greece n italy with in january. superbly excitedddd!!! it's gonna be so awesome. rushed tons of assignments n stuff. then sped off to a conference..the National Christian Multicultural Student Leadership Conference at Anderson Uni, which i had to go to, to keep my scholarship. it was pretty good. learnt alot about the issue of race n culture in america. made new friends! with pple in taylor and pple from other schs :) so that was gd. met a girl named benita!!! from nepal!!! sooo cool. she's the first other benita i've ever met. and met this guy from...SINGAPORE!!! which made me unusually happy. i dunno. guess its cuz i haven't seen another singaporean for the longest time. we bonded and hugged at first sight. it's weird, but just being from the same country bonds two strangers immediately. i felt like we were old friends. haha. so the conf was good. they had an open mic night and they put on a musical about Paul's lifestory...all i can say is whoa. black pple have AWESOME voices. i wish i could sing like that!!

so been sleeping at 2am everyday n waking up at 7am..sooo tiring. i need my sleep!!! last night went to visit luke n levi, and mum tracked me down n called their room. it was pretty hilarious. today woke up early AGAIN..went to church..which was REALLY GOOD! the worship was awesome. finally feel like i'm connecting. the sermon spoke volumes to me. cuz i've been struggling with the issue of God's will for my life. how do i know if it's His will or my selfish ambition??? i don't know. i'm just gonna surrender everything to Him and let Him deal with it cuz He knows best :) went shopping after church. got clothes on sale!! happiness. saved $$.

had small group with 2 other girls on my wing. we really shared our current struggles openly. turns out we're all strugglin with God's will for our future. isn't that funny? God works in funny ways. so it was really encouraging to just see that other pple are going thru the same thing i am..that i'm not alone :)
so..i just devoted like 5 hours of my life to TCA (taylor christian artists) cuz we had a fall worship night. so had to plan n organize it and make sure everything ran fine. it was fun! the turnout was really good! we packed the place n made it nice n cosy :) and our bands were really good. so proud of them. it was a really good time of worship.
yup! now.. gotta START homework. at almost 1am on a sunday night..or rather monday morning. heh. good luck to me.

good and relaxed

that's how i'm feeling :) i love lazy saturdays with nothing whatsoever to do. once in a while. not all the time. haha. tday was good! woke up late, watched a movie, did laundry, doing hw now. have an interesting assignment...writing a letter to my future spouse on God's purpose for marriage and how i'm preparing myself. still pretty clueless. but got lots of help from my parents, the experts on marriage.

(excerpt from my homework) - My parents' relationship has had a significant impact on my life; the way their love for each other has stood firm all these years, the way they found everything they needed in each other, the way they committed themselves fully to each other and the way they delight in each other has been such an inspiration to me. They have made the world a better place simply by displaying tremendous faith in the strength of the union of two souls in Christ. It is my greatest wish that our relationship with take after theirs, that we will connect on the deepest level, that we will stand by each other till death do us part.

AWWW! :) after seeing my parents' relationship, i think my standards for marriage are high through the sky. haha.

anw in small grp on thurs, i was leading, so i asked random questions..like what do u wanna do before u die? and one girl was like, have sex. and the guys agreed! sort of. and i was like, uhhh..ok. for me, i want to travel the world. hahaha. awkward.
and if God were to appear before us right now, what would be the ONE question you'd ask Him? i think i'd ask Him exactly what His plan for my future is. i'm just dying to know. i really am. don't like all this confusion.

ystdy went to see Taylor's new musical/play. Opening night! and we got awesome seats! free tickets too. cuz i helped paint the set. which, by the way, looked pretty awful. some parts looked like they were about to fall over and squash the actors. i feared for their lives. haha. it was a real last min job, but oh well, at least they finished. sort of. the singing was reallyyyy GOOD. the dancing....not so much. but the costumes n all were awesome. it was funny, too. especially the part where two angmoh guys try to act chinese. they were speaking chinese, supposedly. of course, i couldn't understand A WORD they said. it was like they made up a whole new language. so that was hilarious.

got to talk to mummy and daddy last night. YAY :)
ok back to hw.

halloween pix!

me and katrinaaaaa! my fav little guatemalan :)

upi the jogger and me!

me and sarah the gangstaaaa

sitting on pumpkins! they're so cute

rugby playa + schgirl + pixie the fairy + me! the asian schoolgirl. hahaha.

elise,sungah and me

capri the gangsta n me!

zorro n me :)

ben shaved his beard!!! yayyy!!!!

cartoon,dan,granny reb,construction worker josh n me

it's november!!!

so...it's already november and the weather is still so beautiful. i thank God everyday it hasn't gotten cold yet. i mean, it's windy n chilly, but not crazy freezing cold like this time last year. so..that's something to be grateful about! :)

had auditions for my generation night..this band performance thingy..didn't get in! but it's ok. i still think we did pretty good. plus we had tons of competition. 40 bands competing for 10 spots. heh. why can't pple be this enthu about worship? seriously.
was talkin to a bunch of pple the other day, and feels like there isn't really any opportunity for communal worship here at taylor. even at chapel it's structured and rigid and only like 10 mins. once u start gettin into it, it stops. that's kinda sad. so they suggested maybe TCA shld do some worship night thingy once a month. we thought about it. but haven't really put it to action. haha.

today was halloween!!!! my first time celebrating it!! cuz last year no one was enthu about it. this year everyone's all hyped up! my wing dressed up. so i did too!!! soooo fun :) me and sungah were twin asian schoolgirls. hahahaha. i was the more gothic one. it was awesomely fun. went to visit the other dorms..their halloween decorations were really cool!! plus there was a choc fountain and free candy everywhere!!! cute kids came to our wing for candy. they were dressed up in the most adorable costumes!! like one of them was a bee, one was a crocodile... awwwwww!! i know halloween's supposed to be evil or something, but dressing up for the fun of it and getting free candy and spending quality time with friends makes it fun :) went to amy's house where there was a partayyyyy!! strobe lights and techno music and all. it was pretty much awesomeeeee.

back to reality

well that was a pretty good 3 days of break :) partied like a rock star on thurs night, cuz everyone else was gone n only of us were left on the wing. haha.

left on fri for Indianapolis!! got up pretty early for breakfast..my 2nd time at the DC for breakfast this sem! went to the children's museum in Indy..it was pretty fascinating n fun. but some pple rushed us out of there. seriously, so hard to please everyone. esp this international group. oh well..i had fun taking pics n stuff :) then dubem lost our van keys, so we had to call the police n it became this big deal..but they found it afterwards. got lost driving around..ended up at some random burger king for lunch. it rained, so we couldn't go on the boat ride..went shopping instead!!! which was totally fine with me. haha. the mall we went to was HUUUGGGEE! it was like paradise for the girls, and utter misery for the guys. haha. bought lots of stuff. rushed around like a total auntie though. haha. went to the hotel after that. the rooms were really nice. compared to last year. everyone was pretty much wiped out by then. stayed in and ordered pizza for dinner. watched tv. i miss tv. went swimming. chilled.

sat woke up nice and late. went shopping first thing in the afternoon! haha. poor guys. they should really learn to appreciate the joys of shopping. seriously. it's so therapeutic and lovely. food for the soul :) i got so much summer stuff..not really any winter stuff. heh. had chi food for lunch. was kinda salty n gross. went to watch ~rendition~ at the theatres..it wasn't bad. just kinda depressing! all that torture n stuff. then went to play laser tag!!!! was suuuper fun. running around with laser guns, screaming whenever i saw the enemy..and my group kicked the other groups' butts! yay! went to an ethiopian restaurant for dinner. total satisfaction for my stomach :) headed to dr. abebe's huge house for the night. led worship..watched another movie..~pride~. was pretty good. inspirational.

back at taylor today. hardly got any sleep over the weekend :( oh well. it was fun. and good to get away for a while. stopped by walmart on the way back. got tons of stuff!!!! new boots, new shoes, 2 coats! i'm totally set for winter this year. no more shopping for me. at least for a while :) right now the weather's surprisingly warm still. last yr this time it was FREEZING already. really thankful for the sun :) so...gotta study for an exam tomorrow. didn't do any work over the weekend. ugh.

it's fall break!~

so slow yet so soon. can't believe it's fall break already! soon it'll be thanksgiving, then christmas break! which means..going home! yay! :) anw this wk was pretty slack. happiness. practiced for My Generation Night every single night of this week. it's this performance where bands get to play songs frm 20years ago till now. we're sounding better everyday..but there are like 30bands trying out. and only 10 get chosen. hopefully the fact that we're a girl band will help our chances!!! auditions are next wk. and we still don't sound perfect. aaaarrrrggghhh. more practices on sun and mon :) last night especially was crazyyy. sooo many bands fighting over one drum set n limited rooms to prac. haha.

so..i got back another paper i wrote for christian ed class. got an A as usual. not that i'm bragging, but i really don't understand! profs always tell me that i've got strong content, v good understanding of the topic, etc. and i'm like...ooookay. i just crapped that out a few mins before it was due..but if u say it's good, sure. but seriously, alot of times i really don't understand the topic well enough. i just write whatever comes to mind. and i don't know how that can come across as a good understanding of the subject! even in NJ..when i got top of the level for econs prelims..i wasn't kidding when i said i had no idea what i was writing about, and i don't know why i got such good grades! and no one believed me. until i got an E for A levels! it's weird. i'm weird.

and i always think i'm inadequate and not good enough. like, even though i get good feedback, i'm like, nahhh...it's not that great. so i wrote that in my paper, and the prof commented on it and was like, that can be prideful in a way. i guess it's true! i never thought abt it that way before. cuz i always think i'm right when i say i'm not good enough, in a way, i'm being proud. kinda twisted. haha.

anw..tomorrow we're going to Indy!!! staying in the city for 2 nights!! superrrr excited to be surrounded by buildings and shops again. YAY! pray for safety and good fellowship. :)

best weekend ever!

so...the Fall Out Boy concert was one of the best concerts i've been to..ever!!!! even better than singfest or linkin park or whatever. they were on their Young Wild Things tour, so gym class heroes, plain white t's and cute is what we aim for opened for them..they were all superbly AWESOME!!!! i screamed my lungs out at every song and sang along and danced. haha. to heck with the LTC! (our sch's rule abt no dancing) it was seriously sooooo fun!!! worth the 3 1/2 hour drive to grand rapids, michigan. and the place was smaller than i expected, so i got to see their faces pretty close up!!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!! the crowd was pretty wild, crowd surfing, moshing, fighting..and lots of vulgarities from the bands. but i've heard worse. and yes, falloutboy is as good live as they are on cd! although i wonder how 'live' they were. they had a screen behind showing episodes from happy tree friends. not cool. but otherwise, awesome! got back at like 3am..tiredddd but utterly satisfied :)

sat woke up at 12..went to lunch outside cuz there was a football and soccer game going on. they had chilli at lunch (the mexican kind)!! it was yummy. i'm beginning to like mexican food. alot. then went with my wing girls to Pumpkin Kingdom! where we did all sorts of countryside fall stuff. i feel like a real mid-westerner now. haha. we went on a hayride, checked out pumpkins, ran through a corn maze, played with baby animals. it was unexpectedly fun! :) went to tin lizzy's for ice cream afterwards. then helped cartoon paint the set for the upcoming musical for like 3 hours!! it was fun, so time flew by.

woke up early today for church. went with girls on my wing to the one in the high school. it was pretty good. worship was contemporary, people were friendly, the sermon spoke to me..it was about faithfulness. but i couldn't get over how informal it was, in a high school cafeteria. it just felt like a meeting instead of a church service. plus all these little kids were screaming and crying, making it kinda hard to concentrate on the pastor at times. but otherwise, it was pretty good, although we got lost going n coming back. DC lunch was pretty good! yay! cuz it's homecoming weekend. so they make nice food for the alumni. haha. afternoon was homework time.

had a 'reunion' dinner with claire,cartoon,luke,levi..haven't seen them in like a week, so it felt like a reunion. haha. dropped by the christmas party at the souphouse..then it was back to work!
i realized i haven't skipped any classes, nor had the tendency to....cuz i love all my classes!! and i'm actually learning something that will be beneficial for my future! instead of learning about atoms or chemicals or stars and what not.

so so so excited

this week was a good one! interviewed our student body president on mon. she's cool. another article in the echo (our sch newspr) :)

wed had small group..this girl on my wing had her face slammed by a door by some ignorant guy..so she had a mild concussion! so scary. we prayed for her. she's better now thank God! had our first practice for My Generation!! we have an all girls band! i'm soooo super stoked. aaahhhh!!! auditions are next next mon. pray we'll get our act together and get in!!! we're doing 'everywhere' by michelle branch. and i'm the drummer! hahahaha. haven't played drums in like 10 million years. but prac was pretty good. we sounded not bad for our first time together. haha. need to prac more though. YAY!

thurs was AIRBAND!!! sooo awesome. seemed like this year's unofficial theme was musicals. there were pple performing stuff from wicked, grease, fiddler on the roof, etc. LOVED IT! plus i had front row seats!!! second row, baby! and no need to wait in line! cuz i'm that special. :) screamed my lungs out for all the performances. it was that great. went to payne's (a coffee shop) after that with girls on the wing. met lots of random pple there. was fun! kinda scary though. there was like a tornado watch! i've never seen a tornado before, don't wanna ever see/be in one. came back pretty late after midnight..

so slept in today! turns out my only class was cancelled!!!! so i'm 4hours away from seeing FALL OUT BOY IN PERSON!!!!
AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
SO freakin excited. i can't sit still... CAN"T WAIT!!!!!!! they're playin in michigan, so it'll be a 3hr++ drive, but WHO CARES!
AAAHHH!!!!!! :)

another weekend!

i'm beginning to like it more at taylor this year. i LOVE the girls on my wing! they're so fun! much more fun than living in gerig last year..just different personalities and different ideas of fun. last year was more..quiet, movie nights..this year's more of crazy random things. haha.

so i didn't sleep well on thur. cuz of all the bubble tea, my eyes were like O_O for the whole night. lay awake in bed for 2 hrs.. then decided to talk to God..then decided to watch a movie in the hallway for fear of waking my roomie up. so i got like 4 hrs of sleep.
fri went to the daudts' house for soup night!! i love homemade soup. love mexican chilli. yummyyyyy. hot soup on a cold night :)

had a gd chat with megan..played random games..had chai and cookies :) then skyped with parents at night! yayy. told them of my magnificent plans for my life. dad was like, 'don't chase too many rabbits'. or smth like that. hahahaha. i'm just so excited with all these possibilities for my life in america!!! the opportunities are endless!!! :)

sat slept in! went to marion in the afternoon..to the mall. my roomie drove! haha. i love shopping. although most clothes now are for fall..long sleeved..thick kind. but oh well. i shld stock up on winter clothes anyway. gettin really cold around here. stupid indiana weather. got cheap accessories at claire's! love it. went to china one for chinese takeout! everytime i go there, the owner's like, are u from china (in mandarin)..he never recognizes me. and he never fails to speak to me in chi. and he always gives me loads and loads of fortune cookies. hahaha. fellow chinese. watched episodes of prison break online! those that i missed. love it when tv shows are put online so i can watch them whenever!

today slept in again. missed church. still feeling blehhhh. flu-ish symptoms. can't wait to get well again!!! had egg tart partyyy at the souphouse in the afternoon. i make pretty good eggtarts. haha. then some girls on my wing randomly had a tea partyyy. it was fun. then we had wing worship..that was good. passed out prayer requests. i love activities like these that bond my wing tog :)

grace like rain

my new fav christian song! played it over and over and over again!
hallelujah..grace like rain..falls down on me :)

this week's been pretty AWESOME :) relaxing.

mon had our first greece n italy meeting as a group. 40 of us! i'm so excited!!!! can't wait for jan. wed had a midterm for one of my media classes. my only midterm exam! my classes rock. it wasn't that hard. although i stayed up pretty late tues night studyin..cuz didn't start studyin till tues. haha. had a study break watchin beauty n the geek in rebecca's room. love it! even managed to make it to chapel on wed..the speaker was pretty cool. she came to our class too. she's a taylor grad..works in a christian magazine now. sounds really cool, what she does.

doing pretty well in classes. which makes me really happy. cuz i'm taking classes for my major, and doing well in them is a good sign! it means i'm in the right major! thank God. it would make me really sad if i ended up not doing well. like, in two of my classes, my profs told us that they have high standards for writing papers..and that if we get an A, it means the paper is reallyyy good. so i was super stressed out. didn't wanna get a B or C! but turned out i got As for papers in both classes! made me soooo relieved. maybe i can write well after all. thank God!! but my grades for presentation isn't as good. got Bs..but that's ok. i like writing better than talking. haha.

ok, so i'm SUPER EXCITED for what i can do with my life now. ahahha. there's just SO much stuff i can do with my major! i love it so much! i dunno what to do! should i write for a newspaper, magazine, or..my latest realization..work in the music industry!!! that'll be SO awesome. there's this contemporary music center study abroad thing that taylor offers..where u get to go to boston for a semester and just immerse yourself in music!!! how cool is that!!! like u learn about the industry..u can choose to be an artist n write and perform songs, or u can choose to learn the executive part of it..like managing artists and stuff. that sounds really fun. like, i totally wanna do the artist one..but..dunno if i'm good enough. sigh!

i realized i'm not really happy this year..why?? cuz i'm running the TCA worship ministry instead of being in it. i dun really have any opportunity to lead worship this yr! which makes me kinda sad. i think i'd rather be doing the ministry than being in charge of it. sighhhh. oh well. maybe next year.

i was practicing my guit n singing last night..just random worship songs..and this girl just popped into my room, and was like, ur so good! i can hear u from outside! i was like..omg. pple can hear me outside??? so weird!! i dun like that my room is just next to the door. grrr. ooh a few guys i know wants to go to hillsong college after graduation. that'll be so cool! i wanna go too :)

today was fun! slept in. watched the guys' soccer game..had a movie event..was supposed to show 'i not stupid'..but the stupid movie didn't get here in time! so we showed 'the host'..some scary korean show. ewww. made bubble tea!! i can make pretty good bubble tea! yay! drank like two cups. yummyyyy. went to open mic night at the union..there were some pretty good voices there. it's the weekend tmr! YAY :)

random pics frm sophomore yr

international students at go-karts place!

me n race car

me,cartoon,sungah,britni

me n cartoon in luke/levi's room

eatin ivanhoe's ice cream

our reunion pic! it's the exact same place we took a pic last yr at the retreat!

making s'mores

socialist club president n us.

cartoon,me,cait,alana

late nights

so much for a relaxing weekend. hardly got any sleep! too much time socializing. haha.
fri our wing had a pick-a-date! pizza picnic n dodgeball. it was intense. the guys were SO into it! i just walked around and tried not to get hit. haha. then went for a root beer float partyyy at amy's house! it's so nice n comfy. i want to live off campus too!

then talked to mum n dad on skype. yayyy. told them about my new plan for my future.
soooo...i'm thinking, hopefully i can squeeze n all my credits n finish in 3 1/2 yrs instead of 4. then spend the remaining half semester at hillsong college in aust!!! it's like my dream to go there. and then go to grad school somewhere in the states. that's all i've got so far. don't know which grad sch yet. haha. but sounds like a gd plan :) dad ok-ed it.

watched the science of sleep at the souphouse. only i didn't really watch it. after 5 mins got bored so went to the kitchen n talked random pple..like upi! he's funny. he's indian. and a grad student. he gave us indian snacks! so..by the time i got back to my room at like 2am..my roomie was asleep. so early! on a fri night.

sat..woke up at 12pm! wonderful sleep. late lunch. trooped over to walmart with girls on my wing, my fav place according to krystle. got supplies!! baking stuff cuz we're gonna make egg tarts! YAY! now our fridge is stocked full of food :) sang disney songs all the way back. haha. we got the sudden urge to watch mulan. pple here like mulan alot! kinda funny cuz i watched it last yr with some pple, and i realize how wrong the chinese is in mulan! but of cuz no one knows.

went to the Inferno at night!! it's a huge bonfire/live band performance thing put on by english dorm..was pretty cool. there were pple tossing around fiery balls. and free food. and good music. hung out at luke's room afterwards. watched funny videos online! by the time i got back, roomie was asleep again. haha.

so today i'm pretty tired. didn't get much sleep over the weekend. and my throat feels kinda sore. sighhhh. i hate being sick. went to church at 9am, only to find out that today was combined service, which meant it starts at 10. so went for breakfast. church was ok..went to muncie alliance church. worship was reallyyyy good. they sang 'the stand' frm hillsong! but sermon...abit hard to pay attention to. he diverts from his main points alot. aft service had free lunch! cookout style. lots of food. and bees. i hate bees. lay in the sun w rebecca n amy n jessie! i love the sun. made a trip to walmart AGAIN. sick of it. got dvds for uber cheap price of 14 US bucks! that's like only sing21. came back n lay in the sun more with capri. sat outside our dorm on the grass n did homework..till we got distracted by cute halfnaked guys playing lacrosse. haha.

no hw today! goin to sleep early so i can get up early to workout tmr! yes u heard me right! i can't live in this unhealthy way no more. change starts NOW! :)

a breath of fresh air

this week's been really nice n relaxing. my first relaxing wk since sch started!! finally. finally got to watch my movies!!! yay. watched high sch musical again. haha. wrote another article for The Echo, our sch newspaper. about this sports bar/restaurant place - buffalo wild wings. i didn't even know it existed till my editor told me to write about it! haha. it was cool though, to get to call up pple like the owners n interview them. interviewed students too. i love this interview thing. it's fun.

we had our TCA (taylor christian artists) training meeting! sooo excited for everything that's gonna happen this yr :) got our managers for the band. now all that's left to do is office work. calling churches, filling in forms..yeah. it'll be interesting. cuz i've never done office work before! and now i'm doing it..for nothing in return..well except the knowledge that i'm serving Jesus and other pple! haha.

ystdy there was a concert at the student union. some band named Scratchtrack. they were wayy COOL. this beatboxing guy and an awesome guitarist. then we went on a late night run to steak 'n' shake. josh and his socialist club. haha.

ooh and I GOT IN!!!!! for the january term GREECE N ITALY TRIP!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!! i'll be going to greece and italy for 3 weeks in jan!! to study about the new testament!!! only we don't really study. we sightsee!!! and get credit!! how awesome is that?!?!?!?
i love taylor!!! i've always wanted to go to europe!! this is way cool!!!!!!! :) and the weekend is hereeeeeeee.

camping

just came back from camping in the wilderness. so proud of myself for having survived!! cuz as everyone knows, i'm deathly afraid of bugs n outside stuff! so initially didn't really wanna go..but since pple persuaded me to go..i'm easy-going like that :)
it was fun..hanging out..bonfires..s'mores..hot dogs (sorry, mum. i'll eat more organic food this week to make up for that)..walks in the wilderness..just getting away from campus n relaxing..
ooh we saw a bunch of racoons!! my first time! awfully exciting. they're so cute!

went to the hoedown..really don't get why these americans like square dancing. it's so...square. and not fun. dancing with all these old, smelly men? no thank you. trying not to judge them. cuz this is their idea of fun. but it's not where i come from. but still.. have to remind myself i have no right to judge. so..the bathroom was the MOST disgusting thing i'd ever seen in my life.

flies plastered to the walls. dead bugs on the sides of the hole they call a toilet bowl. spiders creeping n crawling everywhere. ew ew ew. i drank like a few drops of water to avoid going to the bathroom as much as possible. gross. ended up having to go in the middle of the night!!! went with another girl. we clung on to each other cuz it was dark. like cannot-see-your-own-hand type of dark. creepy. but it's times like these that i really learn to appreciate the simple things i have. and thank God i'm so blessed :) it was an adventure, sleeping in the bus. good bonding time. plus i enjoyed worshipping by the fire and sharing abt our lives. i love sitting by the fire when it's cold. it's so...fascinating :)

it's the weekend again!

yay! this week's been pretty fun :) so TCA auditions are over! sad. they were fun..we had 19 pple try out for worship!! so adam n i formed 4 bands..1 contemporary, 2 acoustic, one special music with a cello! it's really cool. i'm super excited for this year!!!!!
it's gonna be so awesome. can't wait!!! :) we're gonna meet them all on mon n tell them about our expectations n time commitment..finally..we're gettin started! we offered a 100bucks prize for whoever comes up with the best brochure for us! which makes me feel really bad. cuz we have to reject the rest! i'm too soft hearted like that. adam (my co-director) was like, we're paying them $100! we shouldn't feel bad! haha.

so my wing n our brother wing has been playin stick 'em..it's like catching. haha. only college level. like we get the name of someone else, and we're supposed to catch that person n get another name, and so on. but i didn't have time to really go stalk my target. besides, i didn't knw him. he looked like every other big, bald guy on campus. haha. and today this middle eastern band came to perform. was pretty cool music..sounded indian.

ooh and my Q & A article got published in The Echo, our sch newspaper..yay! it's all so incredibly exciting. i dunno how to attach it, so i'll just put it all here. haha.
it was an interview with Fouad Masri, this Lebanese pastor who founded the Crescent Project, which reaches out to Muslims. it was so cool to interview him!! had a tape recorder n all! like a real reporter!! ahahaha.

How was life growing up in Beirut, Lebanon?

I grew up during the Lebanese War. It was a struggle. We didn’t know which nights we were going to spend in the basements. They’d fight for two weeks, and stop. So you’d go to school, start your business, clean up the mess and three weeks later, they’d fight again.

What do you miss about Lebanon?
I miss the weather and its four seasons. I miss the Lebanese fun and fellowship and the beautiful countryside.

You studied in America and went back to Lebanon. Why did you come back in 1993 to start the Crescent Project?
Muslims in North America have the freedom to read the Bible, but I had Arab Christian friends who were not reaching out to their people. The idea was to focus on a practical and personal engagement, for one Christian to talk to one Muslim. Christians should take baby steps to pray, reach out to one Muslim and give a Bible to a friend.

What made you go from a bachelor's degree in communications to a master’s degree in Islamic studies?
I wanted to know how we were training our missionaries. Sadly, even after September 11, (2001) very few missionaries take training before they go overseas. That’s where the struggle has been. Their training is on Islam, not on culture, theology or witnessing.

Why are you so passionate about reaching out to Muslims?
Muslims want to know God, but they don’t have the information. I feel like somebody should tell them. The joys of seeing a Muslim love and follow Jesus makes me pleased that the Lord used me.

What do you think is the greatest difference and similarity between Christians and Muslims?
The most common similarity and difference is Jesus. Muslims say that he is a prophet, but they don’t consider his teachings or his life. It’s not hard to change their mindset, because many of them are spiritually hungry. That’s the beauty about Christian ministry. We take the gospel to them, show them the love of Christ and leave the results to God.

Any practical advice on how to reach out to Muslims?
Pray for the Muslim world. Get involved, trained and educated. Go on a mission trip to meet and engage with Muslims.

What is your greatest dream?
My dream is that one day, every Muslim will have his or her own personal Bible.

What do you have to say to those interested in going into ministry?
Make sure you have a burden for certain people groups or activities. Pray that God will give you a strategy.

Any last words?
Matthew 24:14: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in (the whole world) as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."
It’s a great verse to know Christ promised that people will hear about him.

yay :)

Rescued

so this weekend was a pretty good one..bogged down with tremendous loads of hw, but managed to finish it all! yay me.
ooh and happy birthday to me! hahaha. so on fri at midnight, meaning saturday, the girls on my wing n some other friends surprised me by barging into my room with a cake n singing happy birthday to me :) it was a nice start to my bdae :) then cartoon, sung ah n i shopped online till like 2am. hahahaha. i love shopping online. didn't buy anything though. something's wrong with my cred card. think i went over the limit. heh. 300bucks.

anw..sat was fun. had lunch with an old friend (well i guess not so old since i've only been here a yr plus) and watched part of the football game. we won! finally. haha. the campus was swarming with parents..cuz it's parents weekend :( and the funny thing was, taylor had all these posters saying we're the 1st college in some category in the midwest. but we're first only cuz the other two in front of us moved to another category. so it was kinda funny.

went go-kart racing.. was pretty fun!! then hung out with pple at open house..talked to luke's family! his bro is so cute! at least his bro talks to him. not like mine!! ooh and i got a package frm my parents! guess where it's from! an organic shop! ahahahah.
mummieee sent fruits, organic cheesecake, juice, etc. hahahaha. now waiting for more packages frm other pple! :)

sun was fun. went to korean church w a korean professor who teaches spanish. went with paul n sung ah..helped sung ah with kids ministry. those korean american kiddos are SOOOOO cute!!! omg. so we did worship songs, jumping arnd and doing actions. ahahaha. can't believe i actually did that. they are wayyy adorable though. :) then had wondeful korean food..and played some games cuz it's some kinda festival. mooncake festival? got back to taylor pretty late though. hardly had any time to finish hw.

today was crazy day! my day went from 9am all the way to 9pm NONSTOP. don't even have time for lunch. had time for dinner cuz i had a meeting over dinner. heh. i must stop being so busy. had 2 presentations to give, which went pretty well. a paper to turn in, an exam, which was pretty easy. then had to interview Fouad Masri, this pastor of Muslim ministry, for an article for The Echo, our sch newspaper. it was fun. i like this. he was a really nice guy. and he'd been to singapore before! he's from lebanon, but lives in indiana now..he's like super passionate about muslim ministry. it's awesome.
so tca auditions was eventful. we had pple audition for drama, some girls came in n sang and played piano. n some guys played guit..i love auditioning pple. it's like they're singing to u. ahahah. cute guy..on a guitar..singing a song to me.. helloooo! like my ideal husband! hahahaha. anw yup! tmr's gonna be busy too. oh well! such is life :)
just watched the PREMIERE of heroes season 2!! AAAHHH! love it. and prison break season 3! i love mondays!

blehh

still kinda sick-ish. not very happy about that!! aaaahh.. been trying to eat healthy n sleep lots and drink lots of water. but it's still like that! for 3 days alrdy! sigh. anw i love the kinda new hillsong cd..savior king!! it's just awesome like that.

so..really excited for TCA!!! aaahhh!!! more pple signed up!!! it made my sitting at the DC for 2 hours every dinner worth it :)
we have tons of worship leaders..singers..pianists..guitarists trying out. but no drummer!!! aaahhh. will have to go find one. i would do it, but simply don't have time. anw..psyched for auditions!!!! YAY.

went to the dentist after all. on thursday early morning. like at the crack of dawn. uggghhhh. so a girl from my wing drove me 20mins to the dentist..i filled out the forms..sat on the dentist's chair..terrified to death..no mummy by my side!! but it went ok.. he was really nice..talked to distract me from my fear, which i'm sure was painfully obvious. heh. and he had to inject me with anesthesia to numb my mouth!! i was like, it this really necessary??? aaahhh. and then my eyes remained closed for the remainder of the time. sounded like a huge construction crew was working on my mouth, the way he drilled and drilled!! was kinda painful. and the right side of my mouth was numb for a few hrs. but i'm fine now. thank God! it was a good time cuz i had a nice, one way conversation with God..haha.

watched the premiere of beauty and the geek season 4 ystdy!! it rocks!!! soo excited. haha. so..i've got tons of hw this weekend..gonna finish it NOW so i can enjoy my bdae! kinda weird. feel like i dun really care that it's my bdae anymore. but oh well. we're gonna go go-kart racing attempt no. 2 tmrw! yay :)

In Your Freedom

I LOVE THIS SONG!!! love it to death. the lyrics, the music, everything.

~I have nothing more than all You offer me
There is nothing else that's of worth to me..


In Your freedom I will live
I offer devotion~

just wanted to say that. :)
plus the filling in my tooth came out while i was chomping on green peas. curse those darned hard green peas. now i feel all uncomfortable cuz there's a hole in my tooth and i think i'm feverish n blehh. and the stupid dentist is booked till next freaking thursday. and it costs a whopping US$200 for everything. aaarrrggghh. i'm gonna have to endure this thru my bdae. things like that always happen to me. why. plus parents weekend is on my bdae. what could be worse than celeb ur bdae without family n seeing all these other happy families around u?????


ok so that was emo-fied. but i just came back from sitting at the DC for 2 hours at our TCA booth, aswering qns for pple.. and luke came and sat with me almost the entire time. he's such a great friend. feel much better now.

yay for hardworking me

on a really EXCITING note, i wrote an article for our sch's weekly newspaper, The Echo, and it got PUBLISHED, FRONT PAGE. AAAAHHHHH!! this is all so incredibly exhilarating. i so wanna become a journalist!! i love all my media classes!!! love em!!

so..been advertising for TCA to recruit pple (especially freshmen) to come..hope it works. oh God please let there be enough interested pple!! my co-director, adam, and i are like such newbies at this..we totally don't know what we're doing!! all i can do is keep praying that God will send pple our way so we'll have a good, effective ministry!! kinda anxious/nervous. cuz tmr's signups for auditions. really really really hope pple come!! aaahhhh.

this weekend was our wing retreat. went to our PA's house in ohio. omg, i thought indiana was ulu enough. her house is seriously in the middle of cornfields. like literally. it was kinda cool though. serene, peaceful. we sat around the bonfire at night in her HUGE backyard. their have so much land..it's like 1000 times the size of my teeny backyard at home. it was a pretty good time of bonding with the girls..shared alot of things in the open..had s'mores around the fire..shared about our fav undies and our VC (visual crush) ahahaha. it was entertaining. i'm really glad i'm on this wing with all these awesome girls :)

hardly got any sleep though. so still tired. and i actually spent sat night DOING HW. made me feel like such a loser. but a hardworking, diligent loser. hahaha. seriously. had 3 papers to finish by mon, tons and tons of reading to finish, a huge presentation to work on, more TCA advertising to do...omg. craziness. felt gd to get it almost done. got distracted along the way by pple visiting. heh.

today, my peaceful sleep got interrupted at the insane time of 7am in the freaking morning. girls were running up and down the hallway shouting 'ringdown!' so...taylor has this tradition. and it's crazy that we actually have a NAME for the tradition,cuz it means it happens quite often. ringdown means a girl on our wing just got engaged and we all kinda sit in a circle and sing until the girl comes forth and we find out who she is. this is naturally followed by shrieks and yells of astonishment and excitement. so..yeah..the girl that got engaged is freakin MY AGE. she's a sophomore too!! and they got tog only like last yr!

that is all too much for me to take in. why would anyone wanna commit so soon?? and be held down for life at such a young age?? it's so hard to be happy for pple like this cuz i'm all like..ur making a huge mistake! but of cuz i try to be all excited and happy too. cuz it's their decision. and they prob thought it thru well n all. heh. oh well. plus taylor has like quite a high divorce rate i think. for pple who get married/engaged during college. u would think pple learn frm the mistakes of others, but no.

for blue blue skies

omg been so tremendously busy this week. and will be next week. and the week after next. feel like i've hardly gotten any sleep. really think i'm overcommitted. but i dun wanna drop anything! will persevere on and see how.

so this week is Spiritual Renewal Week. i feel like i need to be spiritually renewed. heh. the speaker was Ps. Alistair Begg..he was pretty good. his challenge to us really struck me. he told us to keep our eyes on the finishing line, don't be distracted by things around u. think i've been really distracted lately. just with classes and meetings and stuff i'm involved in..so many things to plan! no time for myself. i think i even have more meetings than classes. haha. next few weeks is gonna be crazy..tons of stuff to do for TCA..recruiting pple, advertising to churches..on top of everything else i have to do for class. OMG. i keep asking myself what did i get myself into???? God give me strength to do all these.

so today was really embarrassing. in my one class, i totally cried! so paiseh can. it's personal foundations (for christian ed)..and we're doing this book called Desiring God by john piper, which some of us think is really...weird. just the things that he says and all. so i was sharing on prayer and how we can always depend on God to provide for our needs..and then i just started talking about how i found out about the earthquake in Indonesia, then i read about tsunami warnings in Singapore, then i got really scared and called my mum to ask how everything is..and i thought i was fine. like she assured me everything was fine.. so i didn't think about it again. although i did pray for God's protection over s'pore. but suddenly in class i just started crying when i talked about that!! so mortifying. and not the little sniffles crying, but like tears streaming down my face, hardly able to talk kind of crying. aaaahhhh.

u know what. i realize something about myself. (ok maybe i already knew this) i'm not a very open person naturally. so when i do share stuff that's on my heart, i totally cry! like almost everytime! cannot stand it. crying's like a sign of weakness or something. plus i cannot talk properly when i cry. heh. arghhhh.

peeks

slip n slide down our hallway! :)

me and sung ah on the sofa in the hallway. our wing's theme is beauty and the beast! the painting thing behind us is supposed to be the rose. haha.

roomies! on the stairs.

wing girls at tin lizzy's

us and megan, our PA (personnel assistant)!

cool train

Give or take

this weekend was pretty cool! compared to normal upland life. ahaha.
had a poster painting partyyy to paint our TCA and other banners..ours looks pretty cool. yay! :)
had a wing dinner with girls on my floor..then outing to Tin lizzy's with some guys from the brother floor..the place was so cute!! it's like a quaint little antique ice cream place with an old jukebox and quaint antique games! loved it. got to know some guys frm our brother floor. they're cool. one guy lived in s'pore before! yay. but it was like 7 yrs ago. haha.

went to ivanhoe's after that. another ice cream place. obviously i didn't eat anymore ice cream. hung out and talked. really loudly. haha. ok and pple keep trying to set me up with the korean guys..cuz they're asian. haha seriously man. watched a movie after that..then went open housing. visiting friends in other dorms.

sat was supposed to go go-kart racing! but it rained. so we ended up shopping! which was better for me anyway. totally needed shoes. got so many cute superhero shirts for 13bucks! guess what we had for dinner. steak n shake. meaning more ice cream.

today went to this methodist church which was like 5 mins away by car..lasted one hour. haha. kinda nice in the sense that it's short and nearby, but obviously not good for long term spiritual life. sigh. the pastor preached by explaining every verse one by one. it was kinda weird. SIGH. tired of church-hopping. think i might settle for one which i found pretty ok. not wonderful, but not bad for indiana standards. had kenyan food for dinner! kind of. it reminded me of chinese food somehow. haha. went to ivanhoe's after that again. ice cream again. omg this weekend is fattening weekend. but eating is always a good way of bonding with pple :)

so my wing girls just had a Slip 'n' Slide..we taped trash bags to the floor down our hallway, put soap and water all over it, and ran and slid down the hallway. hahahaha. super fun. i banged my knee though. and now there's soap all over the bathroom and on the carpet in the hallway. and i learnt that... american girls are pretty wild. heh. but i love being in olson. so much more fun than gerig!!! makes me happy. :)

give us clean hands

love that song.
'O God let us be a generation that seeks..seeks Your face, O God of Jacob'
we're gonna sing it for TWO (taylor world outreach) chapel..and i'm gonna be playin acoustic guit! (to advertise for TCA - taylor christian artists) kinda scary yet exciting :) so excited! can't wait to audition pple and get the bands togetherrrr!!! :)

talking abt exciting stuff..i dropped a class!!! intro to astronomy. thank God! good riddance. it was awfully boring. so now i'm taking 13 pathetic credits!! (12 is the minimum. i got 13 just in case. the extra one is a guitar class) it's all wonderfully exciting. cuz now i'll be super free to take on other stuff and be involved in things arnd campus! how cool is that! so now i'm actually quite busy..not with sch work though. haha. let's see.. gonna be in charge of TCA..secretary for ISS (int'l students)..part of AAA (asian awareness assoc)..on the committee for MLK (martin luther king) day..on the committee for planning Women's conference..gonna do Airband too!! super excited. this is what sch should be like! less academic stuff, more fun stuff :)

but on a side note, it's stressful to be like at the top leadership position. cuz like me and my co-directors are like top TOP of TCA..meaning if we screw things up, our heads are on the chopping board and no one else can cover for us. kinda stressful cuz we're both new to this!! and i basically still have no idea what to do. well i know, but i don't really know HOW to do it!
so note to self - from now on take positions that are not top TOP! but like 2nd top or something. haha.

anw today was a good day. one class got cancelled. kinda enjoying my media communication classes. taking 3 media classes and one christian ed class. pretty cool. they're definitely taking me out of my comfort zone..but that's always good :) had a cookout at the lake..met a bunch of new ethnic students..was fun :) met new pple from like the middle east..which is always cool. haha. someone taught me how to say 'i love u' in arabic..but i forgot. it was hard.

went to the prayer chapel with my wing girls tonight..it was really good. just a time of worship, prayer for each other..communion with the Lord..made me realize how much i miss my Jesus time..have to go back to doing that. :)

long weekend

our welcome sign for the international/mk freshmen!!!

our 'where you're from' sign frm orientation

worship team!

taylor football team. yeahhh!!

me n girls frm my wing all decked out in yellow TU shirts. sch spirit!!!

i love long weekends. all this time and nothing to do. still worried about hard classes this sem..but too lazy to do any reading. blehh. today went to church early in the morn with some girls on my wing. hardly gettin any sleep nowadays. the church service was held in a high school cafeteria. heh. it's small. the service wasn't that bad..but i'm kinda picky about worship..and it was kinda fast. even the slow songs were like..weirdly fast. didn't really like that. the people were super nice though. greeted us and everything..even gave us cookies to take back to the dorm. and amish bread! it was my first time trying it. it's good :)

anw..gettin to know the girls on my wing better now..i'm making an effort! it's awkward at first but we're making progress! they're really nice and fun. we hung out at the elementary sch playground on fri..went to Taylor's 1st football game of the year against Anderson U on sat.. it was FUN!! i finally understand football!! kinda!! so exciting!! was cheering and yelling and all. and got a tan sitting in the sun. but after half time i got bored. can't stand watching sports for too long. haha. besides, we were losing. as usual.

OH. and fall out boy are COMING!! to chicago!! i SO have to find someone to go with me. preferably someone who has a car!!
AAAAHHHH!!! they're on a tour..called the young wild things.. i think. with gym class heroes, cute is what we aim for, and plain white T's.. AWESOMENESS. i have to go. have to. need to. must. go.