formal pics

yayyy we were all dressed up! :)

all the international/missionary girlies on the wing

celebrating cait's bdae in chinaone. awesomely bad chinese food.

celebrating capri's bdae at the rollerskating rink.

me n mimi with our glowing glasses

me and jae. he's korean.

us in olson waiting to get into the car

yayy self pic.

sung ah, laura n me. roomies + neighbors!

this was such a funny awkward date picture. sung ah, mark, me, jae, capri, dan

everytime we take pics, someone always suggests the asian pose. haha

yup asian pose again.

elise, capri n me

being random

me n capri in our awesome wing

so..the formal was pretty fun :) we should totally do it more often. haha. thank God thank God thank God no cramps at all!! made me very happy. God doesn't hate me after all :) got up at like 1pm on sat..slacked arnd..then finally decided to get ready. it was craziness in the bathroom at like 3+pm..cuz the guys were coming at 4.30..everyone was running around helping each other do makeup, hair, whatever. we formed a line in my room - dorothy straightened audrey's hair, audrey curled my hair. haha. it was fun getting ready :) soo funny...alot of the girls were a bundle of nerves on our way to the lounge to see the guys..

took group pics..then got into cars to drive to IU for dinner and a play. the car ride was interesting. haha. i was with my date jae, and cassie and her date, who was a girl (cuz she couldn't find anyone else to go with her)..so both of them were really quiet..so it was just me and jae talking most of the time..it was good we found lots of stuff to talk abt :)

dinner was alright. not the best in the world. our table was fun..sat with other pple n their dates..talked abt random stuff..took more pics..then the play started. it was..really funny but kinda sexual too.hahaha. made for an interestingly awkward time. so all in all, the night was pretty fun.. :)
didn't manage to go to the one republic concert..something happened so the girl i was going with couldn't make it after all..but at least i got to sell my tix to someone else..so i got my money back! yayy. now i just need to finish my hw before tmr. siannnn. went to a pizza party with pple from my major..stole some cookies left in a box in the chapel..brought them to my room..and now we have an ant infestation!! disgustingly gross. ughhh.

hormones

i hate them.

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

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

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

mood swings

i don't know why but lately i've been rather down and crabby and frustrated. don't really wanna tell anyone here anything, cuz i feel so stupid..feel like i get upset over little, stupid things that i shouldn't be upset about, but i am..and it sucks oh so bad.
maybe it's cuz my walk with God is suffering too..quite a bit. i don't know what's wrong with me!!! last semester i did wonderful.. quiet time almost everyday..chapel..church..sharing..but this semester it's like my motivation just flew out the window. and i don't feel like doing anything. at all. i have got to get right with God. i'm just a little depressed now. maybe it's the hormones.

maybe it's cuz i've been too busy to get much sleep..celebrated cait's bdae on mon at a chinese restaurant..glad we did it cuz she was happy and less homesick after that :) then tues n today was full of meetings n classes. i got so depressed today i even skipped classes.

we had our wing open house today..with an old school nintendo theme..so we had a projector n a nintendo set up in the hallway n decorations of mario n friends. was fun. had a miami spring break meeting at night..met new people on the trip..it's a huge group - 50 over people. i'm excited to get to know them. but just..kinda stressed..about my motives for going..basically deep inside i wanna go cuz it's freaking sunny miami and i have no place else to go..not that i really wanna go serve God..sigh. that sounds awful.

also frustrated cuz supposed to meet deadline n write an article for The Echo..but stupid people i contacted haven't gotten back to me..so my editor's on my back trying to get me to finish the story..i guess this is how my life's gonna be if i choose to be a journalist..meeting deadlines crazier than this and tracking down people to get the stupid story no one even cares about.
it's just...UGHHHH. so many things to do! so overwhelmed!!

not too happy with classes either. digital photography is just awful. here i am, stuck in a class with all these quirky artsy art majors, and of course they take awesome, artsy pictures..and all i do is take a picture of the sunset..and they talk about lines, shadows, shapes...criticizing the pictures..and all i see is that the pictures all look good to me. ARRGGHH. i don't get it!! why the heck must i take this stupid class anyway. i'm not gonna be a photographer! have no intention to be one either! so the prof showcased all our photos taken for our project to the whole class, and obviously mine was like the worst. i was like, omg. i already know i suck. u don't have to display my photos to the world to show them that i suck. seriously. so annoyed.

and omg. HISTORIC CHRISTIAN BELIEF is driving me up the wall. i swear, after every class (mon wed fri) i get SO PISSED at the prof all i can do is vent with my friends and refuse to do anything but go back to my room and steam. HE's SOOOO stupid. it's like he wants us to fail or something. u can practically FEEL the hatred, the unadulterated loathing the class has for him. soooo unreasonable i just wanna BOX HIS FACE. i was so on the verge of yelling at him today. maybe i should. like curse him in chinese or something. aarrrgghh. he's so primary school! quizzes everyday..about things no one expects us to know. and he expects us to turn in stuff he never even tells us about. always thinks he's right. omg. he's not even a real teacher (i can see why). just a sub. grrrr. he better not make my GPA go down or i'd complain or smack his face or something. seriously. the whole class should just riot against him and his stupid policies.

and then we have a formal coming up..normally that's a fun thing..going on dates with the wing to dinner n a play..but everyone's just so obsessed with finding the perfect dress! i'm like..omg get over it already! and it just makes me frustrated that they all seem to want to have to show off tons of skin. like really, tons. u can almost see everything on some of them. and like..why??? what's the point of it?? to get guys to look right?? why would u wanna seduce ur fellow brothers??? aaarrrgggghhhh. and they convince each other to go more and more skimpy. it's like a competition for who can show off the most skin. like the more u bare, the more beautiful u are. which is so wrong!!!! omgggg. i wanna drill some sense into them sometimes. how can u wear such a thing n not expect guys to look/be tempted! and i can't say that to anyone cuz they wouldn't understand. they'd be like, whatever. you're too conservative. well maybe i am. but i just dont feel right baring so much to a guy i'm not even interested in. ok........... i should just..... stop judging people. i need a place to be alone. BUT WHERE???? this place is so suffocating sometimes.

sometimes i feel like being here in this 'christian' environment makes me question/lower my values.
tattoos have become ok..no longer a form of vandalizing our body..the temple of God..
going to church regularly suddenly becomes..not so important after all (never thought i'd say that)
dressing becomes..not so modest. even i've changed. i know it. and i've so many guy friends who say that even the way girls here dress daily is not..helpful to them at all.
my view of christians becomes..more cynical i guess i would say. they really don't seem to act like Christians sometimes. i dont know how to face the real world if my community in Christ isn't even strong enough for me to fall back on.

i just needed a place to vent. going to sleep now. need to catch up on rest.

happiness.

YAY! this weekend's a happy one :) did so much happy stuff :)
fri went to watch taylor's play production of 'The Hobbit', which was awesomely cool!!! the set was soooo cool. and i was proud to say i know most people in the cast! they were great. esp the guy playing Gollum. he was soooo good. i was totally impressed. had a few classes with him, but didn't know he could act so well! the costumes n stuff were cool. they had huge puppet thingys for Gandalf and the elves and stuff..it was great. aft that went to luke's room to hang out since it was open house! then went to get some late night pizza with cartoon, luke n andrew. it was so random! haha. i love having guy friends with cars! :) made a spontaneous trip to walmart too..cuz we needed baking stuff to make a cake for cait, whose bdae is on mon! it was fun..i sat in the push trolley thingys at walmart n they pushed me arnd. we got angry glares frm the staff. boo. by the time we got back it was like 2+am..my roomie was asleep.

today woke up late..went to workout..skipped lunch at the DC..lazed around..went to take pics of the lake n the sunset for my photography class. was kinda cool. went to the souphouse..supposedly to have an international students event to hang out there..but ended up going to watch STEP UP 2 in theatres!! which was SOOOO AWESOME. best dance movie EVER. so much better than Step up 1. the dance moves were wayyy cool. made me wanna hit the clubs or something. haha. got back at 11..went to gerig to hang out again. it's so unfair! the year i move out of gerig, suddenly all the cute guys live there. grrr. got to meet random cute guys there, so that was cool :) and then my roomie asked a guy for our pick-a-date for me..cuz she wanted to. haha. so yayy i have a date for our formal, which is next sat! excitedddd.

it's like 2am and i'm not even tired. haha. talked to my parents just now..and OH! i got into the miami spring break trip!!!!!!! even with my lack of experience in construction! YAYYYY! sooooo excited for spring break now. only a month away!!!
life is good. miami..beaches...getting a tan..getting to know the pple in my group..getting buff building houses..road trip!! we're driving all the way there. super far. but it'll be fun! don't really know many pple going but oh well! i'll make friends :)

s-h-i-t

i don't get why everyone here thinks this is a bad word. maybe it is back home too. but i use it. heh. i try to say 'shoot' here instead though. so people won't think i'm an awful sinner for saying 'shit'.

anywayyy..last week was fun..had our very own Chinese New Year celebrations. got together with a couple of chinese/people who lived in china n went to the most authentic chinese restaurant in indiana..szechuan garden. the food was alright..i've lowered my expectations. but it was nice to have chinese food again :) then on fri we cooked chinese food and had dinner in the souphouse..tons of pple showed up..so it was really fun. i made egg tarts. again. haha. i think after 4 yrs of college, i'll be a total egg tart making expert. the food was good! yummy spicy tofu!! good rice!! yayyy. got to catch up with pple after christmas break too, which was nice. then went to the guys' dorm to play guitar hero 3 and rock band!!! awesomeness. such a great night. :)

i think girls need to play more guitar hero. pple are constantly surprised at how good i am just cuz i'm a girl and i can play hard/expert levels on guit hero. gosh! rock band is sooo fun though. i played the drums n guit. and tried singing. haha.

feels like my schedule is really flooded..and i just realized why. i'm taking 16 credits! (17 is the max) and i'm still leading TCA (which takes up at least 5hours a week) and i'm writing for The Echo (and now i get paid!!! $130 for 8 articles! coolness. i guess i'm good enough after all!) and i've been working out everyday this week. haha. suddenly motivated but don't know why. just wanna get in shape!! cleaned out all my junk food too. from now on, only yogurt, granola bars and fruits! the flu bug's been going around. sooo totally do not wanna be sick. not fun.

applied for spring break trip to Miami, Florida for carpenter's hands/habitat for humanity mission trip. hope i get in. how awesome will that be!!! sunny weather, beaches, building houses for people... :) and also, going to see ONE REPUBLIC in concert next sun in Indianapolis!!!! SOOOO EXCITED!!! (they sang 'apologize' with timbaland) I LOVE LIVING IN THE STATES! haha.

so today was Valentine's day. no biggie. was a pretty normal day. worked out, had one class, then went to Fazoli's with the wing for dinner. yummy. something funny - we used a pick-up line on our waiter..
'do you happen to have any raisins here?'
'ummm...i don't think so.'
'oh. how 'bout a date?' :)
(the waiter's face turns completely red) 'err..haha. yeah we have plenty of dates.'
haha. it was funny. he appreciated it though.
so..just came back from hanging out with friends in english (another dorm). i think i'm beginning to really enjoy life here at taylor.

start of sch...again

sooo..classes started last wed after a nice short break where no one was around on campus..think this semester's gonna be pretty busy :( taking History and Geography of East Asia (haha. trying to get an easy A. the first day, the prof pointed me out and asked if i was chinese..i told him i was from singapore..he's actually been there before. sort of. flown through there. so that was cool. until he made me go up and write zhongguo on the board. haha.)

also taking Aerobic Walking! (for my PE credits. it's actually quite fun n easy. just walk for 45 mins during class. get credits and burn fats! haha) and Digital Photography and Digital Audio Production (i'm not a techie person so...hopefully i'll go alright in those classes. cuz everyone else in the class seems like a freaking expert!) last but not least, some communications seminar which is during dinnertime n is awfully boring..and Historic Christian Belief (learning abt the history of the church or something like that. kinda interesting)

so other than being overwhelmed by classes and the awful rainy, wet, foggy, snowy depressing weather, i'm good! went shopping on sunday after church. celebrated capri's bdae last sat at fazioli's (an italian restaurant) and at the rollerskating rink. was tons of fun! had a mini dance party with cake n all after that. sooo hilarious some of the dance moves they came up with! :)

getting back into the swing of things this week..starting up work for TCA (taylor christian artists) again..lots to organize and plan! also gonna audition for Nostalgia Night! it's like a music performance thing..hope we'll get in! only thing i'm worried abt is where i'm gonna go for spring break!!! one week the dorms are closed in march and i have absolutely no place to go. last yr i went to jamaica, but this yr i'm not doing a spring break trip so...hopefully the Lord will provide me somewhere to go :)

chinese new year tomorrow...SADNESS. this is like the 2nd saddest day after my bdae since i'm abroad. heh. I WANNA GO HOME AND HAVE REUNION DINNER WITH MY FAMILY AND EAT PINEAPPLE TARTS AND SEE LONG LOST FAMILY MEMBERS AND GET MY ANGBAOS AND SEE MY CUTE COUSINS!!!!! sigh. oh well. at least we're having our own little CNY celebration dinner here.

best 'vacation' EVER

so..for those wondering how my Greece and Italy trip went..it was, by far, THE MOST AWESOME TRIP EVER. it beats everything. it was seriously wonderful. i wish i could retire there. haha.

we flew into the Thessaloniki airport in Greece, all jet lagged (well everyone but me since 8hours time difference is nothing compared to 13hours), got to our kinda crappy hotel that smelled 24/7 like smoke and gasoline but otherwise was fine. omg Greek food? simply delicious. really! even for me. and i'm picky! we had bread and olive oil every meal as an appetizer..and most meals had some sort of pasta..and all i can say is, thank God we hiked and climbed and walked for hours everyday to burn off the carbs. we seriously walked EVERYWHERE. climbed steep slopes in archaeological sites too. i am so much fitter now. this should be a PE class too. the Greeks and Italians were pretty friendly..sometimes too friendly. we got invited to clubs and parties by random strangers alot. haha. they were really nice though. lots of cute European guys too. :)

so we went to churches, museums, sites filled with ruins in Thessaloniki, Berea, Philippi, Corinth, Athens, Rome, Florence and Vatican City. all i can say is, now when i read the New Testament, the words jump out at me. it's just so much more fascinating now that i've actually been to these places!!!! the Bible comes alive. i love it :) we followed mostly Paul's footsteps in Acts 17-19. so that was really cool. and i got re-baptized at the place where Paul baptized Lydia in Acts!!!! isn't that so cool??? for me it was a really timely rededication of my commitment to follow Christ. we had worship in several ancient churches..had communion at the ruins of Corinth, which was really intense and cool. also visited the church were Paul was beheaded and the place where he and Peter were imprisoned. all i can say is, he is truly a faithful man of God. through all this suffering and persecution he still stood strong and clung on to the Lord. was really encouraging to me.

most of the museums we went to had tons of statues..i think i've seen enough of naked statue guys to last me a lifetime. haha. but there was this one - Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David that we saw in Florence, Italy (as in David who killed Goliath) was SOOOO cool. u could see his veins and muscles and everything! and Vatican City was amazingly beautiful. the buildings and everything..and the Sistine Chapel was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE.

seriously nothing can be more incredible and exquisite than that. there were paintings all over the huge chapel and we weren't allowed to talk/take pics inside. sad. but wow. Michelangelo painted it all in one try and in 7years! who the heck has the patience to do that! but wowee. i must say he had talents in truckloads. sooo beautiful. esp the huge one depicting the saints in heaven with God and other people being thrown into hell. i was just amazed. stood there for like 15 mins craning my neck trying to drink it all in. got a neck ache after that.

our tour guide was american, but his wife was Greek, which was sooo cool. she taught us some Greek. like 'es-ta-ka-loh' (oh my goodness!) haha. Berea was her hometown. amazing. she left Greece to study in college in the States, and she hardly knew any English! admire her. and she got over her homesickness when she met david, her present husband, a month after she got there. so cool huh. why can't i meet a guy like that too???? haha.

we went on a cruise ship (more like a rocky little ship) to visit 3 greek islands on our free day. wowwww. sooo beautiful and untouched by modern infrastructure. they dont even have roads! they travel by donkey! how quaint is that! and they taught us Greek dances on the ship. hahaha. fun. we went on another cruise ship to go from Greece to Italy. 14 hours on the boat to save money on airplane tix. bleh. could feel the ship moving when i was trying to sleep. at least they gave us rooms. :)

shopping was good too. got souvenirs for pple! but will only give them during the summer. haha. have to say i prefer Greece to Italy..Italy was just kinda crazy and the streets were pretty dirty..and 2 rooms in our hotel room in Rome got robbed. and there were annoying bangladesh pple pestering us to buy overpriced tourist things.. Greece was wonderful. we dressed up and went to different cafes along the harbor most nights..and i got to know other taylor people pretty well..so that was cool :) we got pretty crazy rooming together in our hotel rooms too. haha. ooh and we made a new friend in Athens - a big fat dog we named Butters! he followed us around and barked n bit pple who tried to get near us. felt safe with Butters around. haha.
so yeah..it was a pretty awesome trip. i can't believe i went to freakin' greece and italy!! aaahhhh!!! God is so so good! :)

pics from greece/italy

us at the trevi fountain

our new greek jerseys!!

on the cruise ship...seasick. blehh

us having dinner with our tour guides. they were awesome!

this guy was so hilarious. he was entertainment on our cruise ship to the greek islands

donkeys were everywhere at hydra! one of the greek islands




joce this is for u! me chasing pigeons. haha. this was the best i could do. haha.



kenzie n me..doesn't this tree look like the one from the lion king? haha

at the freakin coliseum in rome!!!


us girls at the greek islands.


at the coliseum again!

at the harbor in thessaloniki

on mar's hill in athens

at the parthenon in athens

we were forced to wear these skirts in the monastery in greece. i just wrapped my scarf around my jeans. haha

capri, natasha and me at the monastery in meteora

capri, me and alexander the great!

first west (girls from my wing) at the parthenon in athens, greece!

me at the marketplace in thessaloniki, greece

yummy greek food at delphi

what an experience

12am. friday midnight. suddenly the fire alarm shrieks, almost giving me a heart attack. my roomie and i grab our coats, scarfs, shoes and rush out the door along with other annoyed and sleepy girls. we hurry across the road from olson, our dorm, and huddle together to keep from shivering and freezing to death. 15 mins later, we're still there, getting more annoyed at the 2 possible causes of our discomfort.

1 - it's the stupidest fire drill ever at midnight. 
2- someone's attempt to cook went wrong and set off the fire alarm. ridiculous. 

but then Dee, our hall director, comes along, and her eyes are glittering with tears. and our hearts just stop when she tells us to wait in english dorm because this might take a while. and the fire engine's arrived, and firemen are going into our dorm. so we're thinking, this CANNOT be good. at all.

so we hurry to english to fight off the numbness that has begun to seep into our bodies as a result of standing out in the cold for too long. we stay there for about half an hour, i don't know. i wasn't keeping track. i fell asleep. rumours started to fly, about how there was a room ON MY WING where flames were spewing out the window. i wasn't sure. everyone was just really jittery and panicky. i didn't wanna think about it.

after a long long time, Dee comes to english hall and gathers us around, and quietly tells us that a water pipe in our attic has burst, and the water has flowed down to the west side of our hall, WHICH IS WHERE MY ROOM IS!!!! so all the east side girls and center girls get to go back to their rooms safely, while the west side girls have to wait, and one by one, get called in to go get our stuff for the night and find somewhere else to sleep. of couse, our imaginations were running wild. how bad was this flood??? and who was affected the worst??

i had visions in my mind of my room flooded and my stuff swimming around in knee-deep water. so after waiting for an excruciatingly long time, my roomie n i finally got into our room, and it was COMPLETELY DRY. hallelujah. it was a miracle. thank God SO SO SO much, cuz it could have been much worse. seriously. some girls on my wing got their desks drenched, one girl got her com totally soaked in a puddle of water. girls on the third floor got hit the worst. some rooms were completely soaked, and they had to tear up the carpets to vacuum the water off, and girls were sobbing and all.. cuz i mean..what do u do?? when all ur stuff's drenched and wasted away and gone??

so anyway me n some girls on my wing spent the night at our friend's house, somewhere off campus. didn't get much sleep cuz by the time we got our stuff n arrived there it was like 4am. so the atmosphere today in olson is rather depressed. on one hand i thank God so much that my stuff's fine, but on the other i feel so so bad for those whose stuff didn't make it. don't know if we'll be able to sleep in our rooms again tonight. don't even wanna think about the cold freezing water in our showers. ugh. so glad i'm leaving for chicago tomorrow.

but on the whole, i am so grateful that we made it through. and thank God we're all fine. sort of.

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.