Christmas, christmas time is HERE

I LOVE THIS WEEK! it's been full of Christmas activities. happiness :)
Monday was our Olson open house, which was kinda lame cuz we just got back from Thanksgiving and had zero time to decorate. but still fun. went to the Daudts' for Christmas cookies and carols. went to Wengatz (guys' dorm), which was really lame. they only put lights up and no decorations at all. not even food!

Wednesday was English (girls' dorm) open house, which was awesomeeee. tons of decorations.. themes like Gilligan's Island, Elf (the movie), Going green..etc. and Second North had a spaghetti + maple syrup contest (just like Elf did in the movie). was gross!! these pple sitting around a table, slurping spaghetti as fast as they can.. haha. pretty entertaining. Gerig was cool too..FOSO (the guys) had a sumo-wrestling pad. and they had hot chocolate in a mini-toilet bowl, which looked gross but i licked it cuz someone dared me to. haha.

Thursday no more open houses.. :( but the international students had a Secret Santa gift exchange.. i gave random candies and got a hot cocoa mix in return! it came with hot chocolate, mini marshmallow, a huge mug, chocolate and those cheese grater thingys to grate chocolate into my drink! cool or what?? i love it! haven't tried it yet but will soon! cuz it's freezing cold in my room - there's a huge, gaping hole by our window. it's been there the entire semester and they haven't fixed it yet. ugh.
thursday was also our LAST ECHO until feb!!! SO EXCITED! no more newspaper stress for a while!!!! YAY :) it went pretty well too. andrew was stressing us out about stories, and i had to write a last minute one, but it was all good.

and then FriDAY! LAST DAY OF CLASSES!!!!! SO HAPPY! this semester pretty much flew by! things just feel so surreal. can't believe i'm leaving in less than a week!

Fri was SILENT NIGHT! where we all dress in our pajamas and go cheer our basketball team on in their Ivanhoes Classic game. this year was funny. so we were all silent as usual until our team scored their 10th shot, then we all jumped up, hyper and screaming our lungs out. but then turns out the shot didn't count. hahahaha. so we all collectively sat back down and shrieked again 5 seconds later when they did score for real. haha. was fun seeing everyone dressed down. as usual there were half-naked Wengatz boys and Sammy boys dressed in weird outfits like Elmo and Winnie the pooh. haha. oh so fun. i got so excited cuz we WON! totally dominated the other team, doubling their score!! :)

cartoon,me,alana at Silent Night! too bad can't see my PJ bottoms. hot pink and white stripes! haha

Silent Night 2008! this year was way more fun than previous years.

Half-time games. look at our Taylor Trojan mascot on the left! haha he was so cute. anw those pple had to put on bball outfits over their clothes and whoever did that and shot the first basket in won. was pretty entertaining.

then we rushed to the DC for Habecker's Holipalooza!! Christmas cookies with frosting, hot chocolate, pudding eating contest, christmas carol karaoke, 'ice fishing', christmas ornament decorating, building gingerbread house contest, taking pictures with santa... oh fun times :) esp the karaoke part. there were definitely alot of pple who cannot sing but still sang their hearts out. their bravery was admirable. haha

At Habecker's Holipalooza... watching pple participate in the pudding eating contest. they put stockings over their heads and sucked pudding through it. disgusting but highly entertaining.

rushed back to the wing and we all drove to Fort Wayne to sleepover at Megan's house. her house...is simply beautiful. seriously. why can't houses in sgp be as beautiful??? they had a gorgeously decorated christmas tree, a warm fireplace, a coca-cola themed basement, huge TVs, comfy couches, a white christmas tree...beautiful decorations everywhere...omg was totally jealous. wish i could live there. haha. was fun hanging out and talking with the girls. talked about our VCs (visual crushes) again. haha. interesting how everyone has different eye candy. and on sat morning our PAs woke us up and gave us christmas presents from our parents! it's a sweet Olson tradition. i wasn't expecting one but they gave me two! they bought it themselves cuz my parents didn't send any in time.. so i got a barbie doll and a ribbon twirler. haha. our theme this yr was 'gag gifts'..so everyone got funny, lame, weird stuff. and then we got our FIRST WEST OLSON hoodies!!! they're red and so awesomely decorated by our PA Carrie's fiance :) she's leaving next semester to get married :(

Sat was the Christmas banquet at the DC..crazy crowded and waited like an hour for the food. but was better food than usual.. and was nice to see everyone all dressed up :)

at the Christmas banquet. yummy marshmallows/strawberries in chocolate.

oh josh. such the player.

oh cartoon. can't believe i've known her for almost 3 years! time flies insanely fast.

me and dan!


and then Sing Noel: Christmas around the world! the chorale did an awesome job singing all those songs in different languages. then they did a Bahamian dance. and we sang along with the songs in english :)

The finale of Sing Noel! was an awesome concert. those pple with the crazy purple headbands are my awesome Bahamian friends :)

went to the DC for desserts after the concert..

Me, susan, christina at the DC after Sing Noel

me, susan, janelle.

Rhona, dan, me, norah. their african outfits are AWESOME!

look at their cool outfits! and if u think i look like an asian waitress, i think so too. but don't care! couldn't find my heels and it was freezing outside anyway.

i love norah! :) sad she's graduating this year.

After Sing Noel.. with the awesome singers of chorale

and then to Payne's! a coffee place..and then to walmart where i got several christmas presents cheap :)


Midnight Wal-mart run.
Me=happy chick flick lover
Cartoon=emo macho/gross films lover

YAY for cheap movies at Walmart!

outside Payne's (cafe)..freezing cold and these 2 girls insisted on taking a pic

"Playing around with a feather" series in Payne's
Luke's 16th century feather pen

Susan sneezing out a feather. gross

My huge feather earring. total fashion statement.

erm.. my feather mask.. that failed to cover my face.

awww. cartoon, me and susan (cartoon's future roomie!) SO EXCITED. we're gonna have so much fun in the spring!!!!

birds of a feather :)

the whole group at Payne's. think this is the biggest group i've ever been with to Payne's.

Mmmm.. piping hot caramel apple cider on a cold winter night.

December=my fav month :)

I love december, yes I do!
I love december, how about you?

December = last week of classes, tons of holiday activities/open houses, yummy christmas cookies, break, christmas day, huge holiday sales, new year party, being home with family!
LOVE IT!

anw thank God we got back safely last night. drove for 12 hours back cuz it was rainy, foggy and there was tons of traffic. we almost ran into a truck once, but thank God Katie's such an awesome driver. i think we must've sung along to 1000 songs to keep katie awake. haha. it was such a fun road trip :)
we visited katie's church on sunday. was a nice little quaint church with really friendly people :)
and we went hiking up an intimidating mountain on sat! even though it was drizzling and the trek was kinda long and tiring, we made it to the top! where we marveled at the beautiful view. it's just so amazing how God created all this beautiful nature. makes me wonder how anyone can think that God doesn't exist.

and we got lost hiking down. hannah led us down this STEEP slope where we almost came to the EDGE of the mountain!!! it was pretty crazy. thought i was gonna die there. so we climbed back up the steep slope, slipping and falling as we went, and finally made our way back to the trail. thank God! we've termed this our 'near-death experience'! haha.
and then we tried to find the Hillbilly Hideaway, a family-style restaurant where they don't have menus and serve u anything, but it was creepily dark when we went in, and this guy with a torch chased us away and said they were closed. scary!

so we went to carter brothers. dinner was a splurge. BBQ pork, tater tots, mac&cheese, oreo/choc cake. ooh yum. we rationalized that since we exercised, we could indulge :)
and suddenly our adrenaline rush kicked in, and we couldn't stop laughing at everything! three waitresses came by to ask if we were ok, and we were laughing too hard to answer. haha. craziness!

Here's pics from our thanksgiving threesome road trip!


Our only sad photo from the beautiful Festival of Lights. There were lights forming every kind of shape! From santa to reindeer to fireworks to castles to swans in lakes to snowmen... it was simply magical driving through the park.

We climbed a mountain! It was like a 2mile hike. And boy, were we exhausted like 5 mins into it. we realized how unfit we are. haha.

I don't know when hannah took this. I was busy admiring the breath-taking view from the top of the mountain! there were trees galore.. in all kinds of wonderful colors like red, orange, green... and it was so foggy for miles.

we took turns taking each other. i love hannah's pose!

yayy for perseverance/determination and making it to the top!

i tried to look like i was falling and failed. haha.

angry macho pose. YEAH we're awesome hikers!

awwww. i had a really fun time with these girls over break :)

our 100th break. tired!

look at those steps! they go on for like forever.

we took a break like 10 mins into walking. haha.

ooh thanksgiving meal! sooo yummy.

yayy sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top!

Happy Thanksgiving!

first off, let me say, I am LOVIN' this thanksgiving break!!

so we left on tues afternoon... drove for 10 whole hours straight (with one bathroom break and a dinner break)... sang along to hundreds of songs, talked about tons of random topics, and finally... we arrived at HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA!!! awesomeness.

katie's house is soooo cool. i must admit, i absolutely LOVE american homes. at least all those that i've been to. they're ALL so... wonderful! comfy. cosy. beautiful. huge. they have fireplaces! cool-lookin kitchens! huge backyards! i SO wanna live here! it's just soooo...awesome.
so we reached at like 11pm. met katie's parents and sister. they're cool :) she has a crazy fat little dog called 'mia'. which means dog hair and spit all over the house. but oh well.

so wed we went grocery shopping. made our very own dinner - pigs in a blanket and mac&cheese straight from the box. the best. they came in spiderman shapes too :)


then we watched katie's awesome TV, which has like over 1000 awesome channels!! the best tv EVER!!! every single kind of show you could ever wanna watch is right here. this is like heaven on earth. got hooked on the marathon of Baby Borrowers, a show where teenage couples get to experience taking care of babies, then toddlers, then kids, then teens, then the elderly. was so interesting. they were pretty much immature and fighting all the time and the poor kids got neglected.


we also watched Holes, which was pretty awesome too. starring pre-puberty Shia Lebeouf :)
then we climbed into the hot tub in her backyard!! for like an hour plus. was so nice and relaxing. could've stayed there for hours.

ystdy was THANKSGIVING! TGIT! THANK GOD IT'S THANKSGIVING! haha. got up at noon and started cooking. we made an ENTIRE Thanksgiving meal! i am so proud of us. made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (it's like mashed sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on top. the best), corn, fruit salad, bread rolls...
yup. pretty much the best thanksgiving meal ever!!! my 3rd so far this year. haha.
my first was at a lunch my friend's church prepared, second was one my wing prepared for us and the brother wing. i love thanksgiving meals. so yummy.
then we had a DDR partay :) and hot chocolate and phase 10 by the fireplace. i love fireplaces.

and today's BLACK FRIDAY!!! the best day of the year! where shops everywhere have INSANE sales!! we were gonna get up at 7.30am to rush to the mall in a kiasu fashion, but then we all kinda slept in. till noon. haha. but everything was still there when we arrived at the mall. which was PACKED. could hardly find a parking spot. got stuff from old navy, deb, forever21, bath&body works, fye, jc penneys... and now my arms hurt from carrying the bags. haha. the mall was awesome though. filled with christmas decorations and jolly cheer :)
then we had dinner at mamma mia's! yummy italian food for cheap prices and huge portions. we'll be eating leftovers for the next few days. still have turkey and stuff from last night.
watched madagascar 2 at this cheap theatre, which really wasn't that bad. and it only cost $3. was pretty nice. it was kinda funny..but also kinda lame.


And this little creature was so adorable! :)


hopefully mountain hiking tmr..but 80% chance of rain. sigh. but overall, it's been pretty good. weather's been SO nice! t-shirt weather in dec! imagine that.
God is good, all the time! :)

Why aren't there any Thanksgiving songs?

Really. Why? I've been trying to celebrate the fact that Thanksgiving break has officially started already for me! Right now! since i've saved up all my skips for tomorrow. and i wanna listen to Thanksgiving songs so i can celebrate! but NO. there are none. so my christmas playlist has been on repeat. haha. not really complaining.

Christmas, christmas time is hereeee..
time for joy and time for cheerrrrr....

ANYWAY. North Carolina, here we come!!!!!! hannah, katie and i came up with a name for ourselves - the Thanksgiving Threesome. hahaha. CAN'T WAIT! A house all to ourselves. Food that we're gonna cook ourselves (it'll be interesting since none of us cook). Black Friday (a day of crazy sale, Sale, SALE!) No homework/classes! Far, far away from Upland!

WHAT COULD BE BETTER????????
Nothing. :)

Here's a list of what i'm thankful for this Thanksgiving:
-God's faithfulness
-Family and friends who care about me and who i love!
-Awesome relationships I have here at Taylor. been getting to know so many girls on my wing better :)
-Good academics. yayy for As and learning!
-Good weather so far. it's not that cold yet! not much snow even. thank God
-That i'm getting along really well with my roomie. we didn't know each other well at all. we just roomed together cuz my roomie was leaving and her roomie was rooming with someone else. but...thank God it's been awesome!
-Awesome american TV shows!!! ANTM just ended :( but i've found its replacement! Stylista! haha. so i'm still juggling 10 TV shows (One tree hill, Stylista, Gossip Girl, House, Prison break, Ugly betty, Grey's anatomy, Private practice... and others i'm ashamed to admit i watch. haha) and everyone's constantly amazed at that. they don't know how i have time. but it's easy, really. i just multi-task - watch and do hw at the same time. very productive! :)
-Better food in the DC this year!
-Life is just pretty darned good.

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

Video!

Here's the video. of me singing. don't laugh! :) it's called 'jing jing zhua zhu ni' or 'holding on to you' by some chinese christian band.

Anw this weekend was cool..bummed around on friday and got bored. but we finally found a car to go to Payne's (a coffee place) with a fun group of pple..sitting around talking about random stuff and trying to get dan a girlfriend. hahaha. i love mini-dance parties in cars!! :) and then watched the longest/boring-est movie ever called 'Amazing Grace'. i guess it was kinda cool..about abolishing slavery and all. but it was just really long. or maybe cuz we started it at like midnight. and then had to walk back to my dorm in the pouring rain. bleh. don't like rain at all. gets my boots all wet and sloshy.

totally slept in on sat. had a korean food party then went to watch 'Quantum of Solace', which by the way, is pretty boring. so save your money if you can and skip it. although it was better than 'Casino Royale', cuz that was a complete waste of time. i realize sometimes i watch movies like James Bond, even though i'm not a huge fan, because it's a cultural thing. like, people are gonna talk about it, and i wanna be updated and in the culture and be able to participate in conversations and stuff, so that's why i watch it. haha. good reason? maybe not. but at least got to get off campus! then went to Steak n Shake afterwards at like midnight.....feeling really unhealthy now. gonna workout later!

here's my philosophy on food/exercise/health: eat healthy and workout during the week, and then splurge during the weekends! but don't indulge too much. haha. so there's something to look forward to :) not like i keep to this all the time though.

AND i just got my grades back for my perfume ad campaign, which i slaved over for endless nights........... and i got an A!!!!!! which brings my overall grade in Scriptwriting to an A!!!!! i've been having a high B for the longest time, and i was totally resigned to getting a B in that class, cuz the professor grades hard. but YAY!! now i have an A!!! now i have As in all my classes!!! ASIAN PASS! :)
and it makes me feel better about myself cuz now i know i'm not a total loser and i can actually write decent ads.
sometimes...or most of the time..i'm really harsh on myself and keep telling myself i suck at doing everything..but then i look at grades from classes and i'm getting way above average on most assignments..and then i realize maybe i'm not that much of a failure after all. heh.
it's true you are your harshest critic.

Sorry for the longest post ever

ONE MORE WEEK TILL THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!!!!!! Soooooooo psyched.
going with hannah and katie to katie's house in North Carolina!!!! SO happy to get away from campus!!! for a break!!! :))

anw last weekend was really fun. can't really remember what i did. but it was fun. haha.

ooh me, gabe and sam did our chinese song in chapel. like finally! after tons of practicing. it went pretty well. the getting up at 6am part to go to chapel for soundcheck wasn't cool, but the singing in front of Taylor pple was fun :) felt like everyone was staring at me though. saw lots of pple i recognized in the audience. beka, andrew and hannah sat right in the FIRST ROW!! haha so supportive. hannah video-ed the performance, so i'll put it up sometime!!! i actually sang a solo part!! be proud of me cuz i usually hate singing on stage..much less singing alone. but tons of pple came up to me to say how much they loved it, so that was really sweet :)

so friday night we went to ivanhoe's to celebrate shogo's bday. he's like..18? grrr. so young! but fun times. dan is seriously crazy. but in a good way. found out lots of interesting stuff about him.

oh then went to alana's apartment to watch her and cait dye and cut cartoon's hair and pluck her eyebrows. was a TOTAL experience. in every way. she completely freaked out about cutting off 1cm of hair. i've never seen anyone so obsessed with their hair! it's like her whole identity is in her long hair! it's really crazy. didn't know how to respond. she almost had a meltdown. so we were there till like 2am and had to walk back to campus in the creepy darkness.

sat went S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!! in Indianapolis. was in a car with the fun-nest group of pple EVER! total dance/singing party in the car there and back. we sang along to the radio and i knew like almost every song from different radio stations, and everyone else was like, whoa. haha. must be all that music from the radio in our bathroom.
and oh this time shopping i HELD BACK! and only spent 100bucks! on necessities like a coat and warm stuff. loveeee charlotte russe, forever21 and H&M :) didn't know dan was such a shopaholic too. haha.

then..went back and gave my wardrobe a makeover! packed all my spring/summer clothes and took out all my warm fall/winter clothes! YAY! i'm so ready for the cold. BRING IT ON!
and then luke called! and wanted to hang out! i was pleasantly taken aback cuz haven't really seen him much this semester. so him, me and cartoon went to blockbuster and got the movie 'Mickey blue eyes' and watched it at the souphouse. was reallyyy funny. glad we got to hang out :)

sunday church was really good. the theme for this week seems to be about being tired. being burnt out. being tired of everything and not letting God take the reins. which really spoke to me. i think i've just been doing everything by my own strength and abilities, which is why i get burnt out easily. so.. i just need to learn to ask God for help and let Him help me. instead of trying to do things all on my own. argh. it's hard though. i keep trying to do things my own way. sigh
anw after our DDR partayyy we watched 'Awake'..it was pretty depressing. about this guy who gets anesthesia during a heart surgery but turns out it only paralyzes him but doesn't knock him out, so he's awake for the ENTIRE OPERATION. WHAT KINDA NIGHTMARE IS THAT??? bleh. so depressing.

so glad we had a reunion dinner on mon. juniors only! luke, levi, claire, cartoon, sarah, cait and me. wow. can't believe we've known each other for 2+ years already! i miss hanging out with them. been so busy this year no time for catching up :(

and i just got back at midnight from the Echo today. sigh! they changed the structure a little, so now hannah and i.. News Editors.. get to be there till 11.30pm to check on our stupid page. SIGH! experience, experience. i'm telling myself, i'm getting experience. and then after this year, working for the newspaper? NEVER AGAIN! haha.

...HaLLowEEn pics...

Hannah (as me) and me (as some type of schoolgirl). i think we were trying to be constipated. or maybe worried.

Asian pose!!!

Hannah's trying to be me..by reading a trashy magazine. haha. which she got from my stash.
I'm trying to be...nerdier. by reading '100 words to make you sound smart'. no kidding! this was hannah's

Three random people dressed up as japanese women

Erika as... a princess? Upi as..i have no idea. some gangster maybe.

Megan as catwoman..and Jon as the Joker. he was seriously creepy. got really into character. tried to strangle me like twice.

People at the souphouse! halloween partyyy...which i missed most of. cuz i was at Thai smile! :)

Emily the emo/goth and me :) she looks so sad!

i think someone took this when emily was falling on me. and yet i'm still happily smiling at the camera. haha

I love the girls on my wing!!

Emily the emo, me, Hannah as me, Katie as a hawaiian girl, and elise the rugby player

YAY for high school musical 3 posters in our room!! i don't really like zac efron that much. the posters just give our room some much-needed color

Hannah loves them too. we converted her from HSM 3 cynic to huge fan.

Steph as dorothy from wizard of oz, candace as a princess, and mackenzie as.. the price is right girl?

cute little kid!! i think he was a clone from star wars?

cute little girl dressed as a princess/dorothy!

adorableeeee little bunny kid!!!!

transformers kid!!! :)