it's the most wonderful time day of the year.

this december, strip away the layers of commercialism associated with this (holi)day; it's more than the cards, presents wrapped in pretty paper, trees, lights and store-bought baked goods. yes, Christmas is about so much more. it's about spending time with your friends and family and letting one another know that you love each other and are loved by each other. but most importantly it's about something much bigger and better than anything we could ever imagine...

amongst everything that comes along with this season, let us not forget the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas. :)

*tick tock, tick tock*

so i finished up my last exam on monday and came home yesterday night. i'm not completely finished my term *yet* since i have one more music therapy group session to do and the placement binder to finish, but at least all the studying is over and done with.

thank goodness, one more day of studying and i would have gone crazy.

for the first time all term i don't have a reason to rush or panick. instead, i have a lot of time on my hands. it feels kinda wierd but don't get me wrong i'm not complaining; i suppose i'll just sit back and enjoy it while it lasts.

i just have one concern: i hope i don't waste it. ;)

hang in there...

(heehee, i love this picture.)

as students we know that when it starts to snow in late november/early december, it can mean only one thing: exams are coming/here.

oh exam time...the time when all-nighters are most common, under-eye bags become even darker and more prominent, messy rooms become clean for the sake of procrastination and better studying, coffee and study/junk food sales are at their highest, stress levels are peaked, spontaneous panicking occurs more frequently, usually empty libraries become full, study sessions are plentiful, cramming is inevitable, eating habits become even worse, sleep becomes a luxury and students become zombies. good thing finals usually only come twice a year. aghh. :P

to those writing exams this month: all the best! study hard!

to everyone else: keep warm and remember, stay away from the yellow snow. :)

"the little university that finally could"

so i was doing some thinking in an attempt to figure out the 'real' reason behind why i was so into the whole vanier cup championship thing. i mean, i've never been into sports before, i've never followed sports and i've never even sat through a whole football game until this past saturday. so imagine my surprise when i flipped through the pages of the cord as i was eating my grilled cheese sandwich (with tomatoes and cucumbers) from union market, and came across an article with a headline that inspired my blog and kinda laid a lot of things out for me. (actually, i stole it word for word. bah hah.)

in a nutshell, it was basically about how laurier students (and alumni too i suppose) celebrated more than just a football victory when the golden hawks football team won the vanier cup. to many students/alumni, they also celebrated the fact that our school, wilfrid laurier university, finally got it's turn to shine after being in the shadows of other bigger schools...

being a laurier student i've heard all the jokes and all the cracks people take at my school. it's been called the "high school down the street from the university of waterloo", the "second best university in waterloo" and a lot of other things...let's face it, these jokes are old and laurier students have heard them all (in fact, sometimes laurier students are the ones that crack the jokes) and more often than not, most of them are in reference to the size of our school. we know it's small. our campus spans one block by one block, we're not stupid. haha. :P

as a result, generally the feeling i get is that many people underestimate our school and don't give it too much respect. to a lot of people laurier is a second-class university. yah, it may not be the most prestigious when put up against more established schools like the University of Toronto or Queen's, but we shouldn't forget all the good things that laurier has to offer (which is a lot and impressive considering its small size.) we have one of the best music programs in the country, we're the only school that has a full-time masters of music therapy program, we have one of the most reputable business programs in the country, we have one of the leading masters of social work programs, we have community and now we have the best university football team in the country. :)

as a result of last saturday's victory, the football team did more than just win the vanier cup. thanks to them, laurier is finally getting more recognition and respect. it's finally our turn, the small usually-forgotten-overlooked-or-completely-ignored school, to be in the spotlight.

so where exactly is all this laurier talk coming from? although i've always worn my laurier sweatshirts and t-shirts with pride i've never really been one to talk about it all that much. well, over the past week (and especially this past weekend) the fact my time here is slowly coming to an end, has really begun to hit home. when i first moved to waterloo in first year i couldn't wait to leave but now that i'm nearing the end of my undergraduate university career i'm starting to get all nostalgic. (saying goodbye was never one of my strong points. :P)

am i going to miss laurier when it's time for me to go? you bet.

"the battle of the unbeaten..."

today the wilfrid laurier university golden hawks and the university of saskatchewan huskies (both were undefeated going into this game) played against each other in the 2005 desjardin vanier cup. today was also the first time in my whole life, that i sat through an entire football game. yup, i watched the vanier cup championship game from start to finish. (i know. even I was surprised. haha) even more surprising though (to me anyway, since i usually have minimal-to-no interest in sports) is the fact that i thought it was exciting! (but only because laurier was playing.) :P

after watching this game, i kinda regret not watching ANY of their games during my time here at laurier. i mean i literally lived ACROSS from university stadium for two years before this year. actually, i think i may have smiled and said "hello/morning" to gary jeffries (the football coach) once or twice as i was walking down seagram to get to school for my morning classes as he looked kinda familiar. whenever i saw him on seagram heading towards the stadium/laurier football house he seemed really nice and friendly. too bad the season's over and next year i'll be a laurier alumni so it won't be the same. (oh my lanta...scary.)

anyway, i seriously thought i was going to have a heart attack, a stomach ulcer or pass out on several occassions during the last couple minutes of the game. i had my doubts at times, but they certainly reminded me that i'm totally clueless when it comes to sports and that even one minute left in a game is enough time to impact the outcome of a game in a huge way.

i've never been ashamed of being a laurier student and i generally really like laurier but sadly my school pride is pathetic compared to others at my school. for example, my neighbours painted a truck PURPLE and wrote GO HAWKS in big yellow letters, then dressed up in "hawk wear" and were partying it up in the trunk of their truck, on their driveway while making a huge ruckus. *i wish i took a picture of them! it was hilarious!* yep, i would probably never do anything like that but today i'm extra proud to be a laurier student!! hmmm...maybe i will end up buying that purple golden hawks sweatshirt i've been eyeing lately...heehee. we'll see... :P

congrats to the laurier football team, the 2005 desjardin vanier cup champions!!! woot woot!! GOOOOOOOOO GOLDEN HAWKS!!! :D

oh. my. gosh.

aghhh...i was counting down the minutes of the fall finale today and was so sad/pissed when it was over. i can't believe they ended the episode the way they did; cliffhangers are the worst!! (i'm absolutely convinced that the writers of prison break are trying to kill us with the suspense.) i also can't believe we might have to wait until MAY 2006 to see the next episode... *sobs*

is anyone else as upset about this 6 month prison break hiatus as i am?

honestly, i don't even understand the reasoning behind the huge unnecessary break. it's completely moronic if you ask me. prison break, despite it being a new show, had some of the highest ratings this fall. it just doesn't make any sense. do they not realize how many viewers this show gives them? those idiots.

well, i happened to come across this. apparently there is a chance that it might come back in january!! :D

all i can say is fox needs to do some major shuffling. move house. or move bones. for all i care, cancel both shows if you have to. (let's be honest, who watches those shows anyway?)

fox, do whatever you gotta do...just please, don't make us wait so long. :P
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update: prison break is coming back in march. still far, but better than may! yay!! :D

*click, click, click*

originally, i was going to switch from posting my pictures via imagestation to posting pictures using flickr, because it's faster to upload things to and frankly, i like the layout and stuff better. however, that dream was shortlived and ended when i realized that i was only allowed to have three photosets (essentially three photo albums) unless i upgraded my free account to a pro account - which costs $24.95/year. dirty scammers.

anyway, i downloaded the Sony Imagestation Express (ISX) uploading software whatever thing and it actually worked this time, so now uploading pictures is much faster and less frustrating. thank goodness.

as a result, i finally got around to uploading some more albums. you can view them here. enjoy. :)

the da vinci code

yah, so i read another book! i finished this book today after starting it yesterday. two books in the span of less than a week. (*sigh* i know i know, i'm a dork.) i don't remember ever reading this much in years, but i think it's something that i want to get into again. it's so nice curling up with a book after a long and exhausting day/week. :) when i was little i read tons, but as i grew up i slowly drifted away from it. (in fact, i remember getting in trouble a lot for trying to read during dinner at the dinner table. heehee.) fortunately, this summer i was able to reach my goal of reading three books, but really, three books isn't even that much...

sorry, i digress.

so yes. i've finished this book. my thoughts? it was a good book! i wasn't as impressed this time as i was when i finished reading angels and demons, although this books is still pretty impressive in my opinion. it's probably because this was the second time i've read his books so i kind of knew what to expect to a certain extent. in any case, he definitely has his own style of writing and i really like it. :)

there was, however, a plethora of controversial material in this book. at times i could feel my eyes widen, my jaw drop and my eyebrows shoot up so high they were probably three-quarters of the way up my forehead. errr...yah. i was pretty shocked some things at times and really shocked at others. :O

i feel that if you are going to read or have read his books, one thing needs to be made very clear: even though brown might use some historical facts and what not in his books, that doesn't change the fact that his books are fiction, and should be read as fictitious novels. they are good novels, but they are fictitious novels.

anyway, check this out if you're interested. it just solidifies the fact that 'the da vinci code' is indeed, fiction. (and if you're REALLY interested, there's a whole ton of stuff on the internet that you can easily find with mr. google.) :)

p.s. i promise my next entry won't be on another book. haha. :P

angels and demons

i just finished reading this, and oh me oh my it's a good one. i started reading it yesterday night and finished it this afternoon. :)

my thoughts on the book? i really liked it! i was even prepared to skip my intro to clinical psych class this morning in order to keep on reading, but don't worry. last minute i decided to go and i ended up not skipping. instead, i listened to my teacher talk about two treatments that are used with clients that have post traumatic stress disorder. lucky me.

anyway, i'm really impressed by the amount of knowledge dan brown must possess in order to write a book like this. it was so jam-packed with loads of information on art history, scientific facts, religious facts, symbology, the Vatican City...etc., but presented in a way that was really captivating and engaging. not boring at all! i literally did not put the book down unless i really had to. the storyline was also really great in my opinion. oh the twists. it was like reading a prison break! (only not, because the book is nothing like prison break...) but i was definitely surprised to see the story play itself out the way it did.

all in all, it's good read and very well written, not to mention some of the stuff that dan brown brings up is actually pretty deep and insightful, although it was a non-fiction book. :P in any case, if you haven't read it yet, read it. i definitely recommend it. :)

you are what you wear...

many people say you can tell a lot about a person by looking at the clothes they wear: preps wear preppy clothes, jocks wear jock clothes, posers wear avril lavigne clothes (oh shoooooot. haha.)...and so on and so forth.

well, according to that philosophy that means this woman is a lampshade/badly decorated mushroom.

i've never seen anything so buttcrack ugly* before in my whole entire life. and believe you me, i've seen a lot of funny looking clothes. heck, i used to wear funny looking clothes (oh the 80s...) but THIS. this just wins the buttcrack ugly award hands down. i mean, are those pom poms attached to that thing?!

ok, so i suppose that this picture is of a model who was probably paid (BIG money i hope for her sake) to wear this, but it was taken from a knitting patterns site. does this mean that there are ladies out there that will actually BUY this pattern, then put in work to knit it, and then WEAR it? in the general public?

not to be mean or anything, but i think i might just piss my pants laughing if i saw someone walking down the street wearing this. :P

*"buttcrack ugly": a term (i made up for the purposes of this post) used to describe something SO ugly that describing the item to as 'butt ugly' just doesn't do it justice.

gingerbread lattees and free food.

usually after my linguistics class, my friend, steph and i walk home together because we live so close to each other this year. today we decided to cut through the science building to go up king st. because of the cold weather; the less time we spent outside, the better. :P

anyway, we ran into ingle who was leaving the science building too, so i introduced them and the three of us began to walk up king st. together. we had just finished crossing the street when i noticed that the starbucks that was under construction for the last little while was now completed and there were people inside. at first we were confused as we walked by but then we realized (with the help of some random lady on the street) that they were giving out free food. needless to say we literally ran to the doors (it was cold and the food was free! :P) and let ourselves in to be greeted by nice people wearing the green starbucks aprons.

apparently (for tonight only) the starbucks in waterloo is having a friends and family night in celebration of the grand opening of their store here in this smelly town. (i don't really know why they called it a "friends and family night" because i was neither a friend nor family member of anyone there at starbucks and i still got my freebies. haha) basically everything was free (ANY drink of ANY size) and the green apron people were circulating around the store with platters of different desserts for people to try.

so, i ended up eating three pieces of cake and getting a grande gingerbread lattee to go. i was going to get a hot chocolate but decided to go for the lattee since it was more expensive and i was getting it for free. :P actually, i was originally going to ask for the biggest size too, but i thought that would be overdoing it a little bit. bah hah.

free stuff is so great...especially when it comes in the form of a hot drink on a cold evening!

first the crazy cheap pizza pizza deal, now free starbucks...what's next?! ;)

happy 22nd justin!!

to...

- the one who cooks me yummy food
- the one who plays a good game of softball
- the one who can make me smile when i'm feeling down
- the one who introduces me to a whole lotta bluegrass and acoustic music
- the one who has stuck by me through thick and thin for the last three years (and then some)

...happy birthday. :)

prison break.

ok, normally i don't blog about television shows...because...well...i just don't. but...i'm so impressed with this show, that i just can't help it.

justin and i saw a little bit of the fifth episode one night when we were at my place. we were flipping through the channels when we came across this show and it looked pretty good so we continued watching it even though it was already like, half over. by the end we were like, "wow. this show is pretty good!" so justin went and downloaded the rest of the shows so we could watch it from the beginning in its entirety. (which we did, multiple times. heehee.) oh me oh my, i am so glad we just so happened to accidentally stumble upon this gem of a show that night.

i don't watch a lot of television here in waterloo, (mainly gilmore girls and the occasional csi if i have time), but THIS show is definitely one i'm adding to my weekly tv line-up.

honestly, it's just so incredibly good. i can't even begin to explain what makes it so good...everything about it is just so great. even the gory/gross parts that occasionally happen which force me to cover my eyes are good. :P there are so many twists it's unbelievable. the storyline is just so genius and well thought out. it's just so awesome.

oh, and the fact that wentworth miller is so freakin' good-looking is a nice added bonus. haha ;)

anyway, that's my plug. watch it! mondays. 9pm. global.

tagged!

Rules of the game: Post 5 Weird and Random facts about yourself, then at the end list the names of 5 people who are next in line to do this. Also leave a post on their xanga (but do blogspot because it's better) to let these people know.

i know it has taken me far too long to do this (sorry naomi!), but in any case, here we go...

5 wierd and random facts about me:

1. my pinky toes on both feet are a little bit oddly shaped. one of my parents have short pinky toes and the other has curvy ones so yours truly got stuck with a hybrid of both: short curvy pinky toes! one on each foot. it used to bother me a lot when i was younger but not so much anymore. it just sucks when i try on some sandals and it looks like i'm missing my pinky toe because it's too short and it stays hidden. boo. :P

2. i eat slow. now, there are people who eat slow and then there are people who eat SLOW. i belong to the latter group. when i was younger it used to take me on average 2 hours to finish my dinner. (sometimes longer. i think once i dragged it out to like 3 hours.) i remember was so boring and sad. i used to have to sit at the kitchen table and finish my food alone since everyone else finished their food like 1.5 hours before me and were long gone. :P

3. i have perfect pitch. don't ask me how it works because i have no idea. all i know is that i can (99.9% of the time) tell you what note is being played without looking the keyboard or whatever instrument your playing or sing you notes without the use of a musical instrument. (i think in recent years it has started to fade and isn't quite as good as it used to be. liz has said the same thing about her ears too. i wonder why...??) in any case, it's pretty useful sometimes. (all my dictations in first and second year university were SOOOO easy - i had much more complicated and difficult dictations at yamaha when i was 11. no joke.) you can also pick up chords of songs a lot more easily. there are, however, other times it's just plain annoying because it's one of those things you can't turn off.

4. i never wanted to go into music. ever. (i'm in my last year at laurier and i'm a music therapy/psychology student. haha.) even back in elementary school i didn't want to audition for the arts york program at unionville high school. it was liz who basically shoved the application form in my face and literally forced me to apply. then when i auditioned to get into the program i auditioned for both visual arts and music, and really wanted to get into visual arts. (i even told the music department that during my audition.) in the end, i got wait-listed for visual arts but was accepted into the music proram, (i would have chosen visual arts over music if i could.) sometimes i can't help but be amazed when i look back on everything that has happened in my past because even though i didn't know it at the time, there was definitely a Higher Power guiding me through it all. it's funny how things work out in the end. :)

5. i won a chinese school award (or something to that extent) in VBS once when i was younger. you probably don't believe me, but i did! i won it because out of everyone in my VBS class, i was able to write the most chinese characters (i knew "grandmother", "girl" and some other ones but i can't remember them) from memory and nicer than other people. what did i win? a pencil set...and the satisfaction of getting the award over the other people in my class who were all show-offs because they were actually in chinese school and were really vocal about that (i never did). HA! i'm sure when my name was called they were like: :O bah hah. suckers. ;)

alright, i nominate justin, shannon, joanna, chow, and dan!!! *sharon tags them all*

pizza and glutony.

today after my physiology lab was finished and i was on my home, i decided that i was not going to cook lunch for myself today (thursday). why? because it was already past 1pm and i had my linguistics midterm at 4pm. that and i was too lazy to do so. so, i decided to look for food places on the way back to my place from school, and that was when i saw it: the pizza pizza on university ave.

as i neared pizza pizza, i almost changed my mind and went to mcdonnell village instead (or whatever that place is called) because i thought it might be healthier. but i really had a craving for pizza, so my id told my superego to go away (ha! take that intro to clinical psych!) and i opened the door to pizza pizza and walked in only to see eugene about to pay for what looked like a whole crapload of pizza slices. our conversation went something like this:

me: hey euge!
euge: hey sharon! hey, did you know that pepperoni slices are only one dollar?!
me: *eyes wide open in shock and utter happiness* what??! are you serious? why the promotion?
euge: yah! oh it's their 103 anniversary or something!
me: awesome! is it just for today?
euge: yah!
me: this is the best news i've heard all day!!
euge: yah seriously! i'm buying like fifteen.
me and euge: *grinning broadly like any chinese would due to an incredible deal*

bah hah. i couldn't believe my luck; i had no idea this dollar thing was happening at all!

at first i thought he was joking but no, he did end up buying fourteen. (he claimed they weren't all for him. right.) and the pizza slices were really a dollar. ONE DOLLAR/slice. how sick is that? forget the fact i forgot my labcoat for my physiology lab this morning and had to rent one for $2 which was gross, raunchy and had yellow stuff (don't even want to think of what it could have been) all along the left arm that i had to wear for 2 hours, the dollar/slice thing totally made my day. :)

i bought 2 pepperoni slices of pizza which came to a grand total of $2.17. and i ended up eating both slices for lunch. i then afterwards felt mildly sick. (really, for my standards it was more like 4 pieces, since they slice "one piece" into two...)

how could i help myself? it's not everyday they're selling these gems for a DOLLAR! i had to take advantage and buy two slices, and since they were both there, i had to eat them. both.

ok, so maybe 'gluttony' is a little bit of an exaggeration, but i doubt i'll be having pizza again at least for the next month. :P *sigh* gotta love good deals.

i...love...autumn.

autumn has to be my absolute favourite season of the year. it's the season where mother nature gets ready for winter; bears go to sleep, trees shed their leaves, lakes go from cold to colder and eventually form a layer of ice on top in order to insulate the water within the lake...everything seems to go into "hiding".

and, how can one deny the beauty of this season? autumn colours are generally so warm and inviting, with its warm oranges and yellows, to rich browns and deep reds...i love looking at the leaves change colour; it's so pretty.

honestly speaking though, my love for this season goes beyond the "hiding" and beyond the colours of the leaves. i know for some people autumn brings feelings of sadness, because it makes them think of the dark and dreary months of winter. maybe it's because i'm a fall baby, but for me, autumn brings feelings of coziness, security and warmth. :)

gobble, gobble.

this weekend (since it's thanksgiving weekend) make sure to do the following: stuff your faces with turkey, drink gravy like there's no tomorrow, mash plenty of potatoes (to eat of course) until the cows come home, and eat pie until it feels like your tummy will explode at any moment. but most importantly, take a second, minute or even an hour if you wanted to, and think about all the blessings that have been placed in your life and when you do that, you won't be able to help but feel thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. :)
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since we're talking about being 'thankful' just wanted to say...

thanks to all the cool kids in the world who remembered! thanks for the cards, the e-cards, the gifts, the hugs, the txtmsgs, the company and the smiles!

much thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with me early this morning. you guys certainly know how to surprise and make a girl feel real special. it really meant a lot that you guys would wake up so early for me! (i'm sorry i kept you all waiting. i didn't know! darn my tardiness.) :( from the bottom of my heart, thanks guys.

a BIG thanks to justin who is probably one of the sneakiest people i know; you rock my world. ;)

and to my family who knew all along (like they do every year) thanks for playing along and making me feel really silly. (liz, your plan was especially brilliant.) haha. :P

i am so thankful for all of you - you guys are a special bunch. :)

if you wanna kill time, then this is for you.

<-- my little piggy.

i found this personality test on naomi's site and basically you draw a pig and afterwards the site goes on to tell you about yourself. haha. i don't know if it's a valid test or totally bogus. well, i really doubt that's it real. but then again, what do i know? (other than the fact that it was fun to draw.) teehee.

click here to take the test.

anyway, all this 'pig talk' reminded me of the sign that hangs in waterloo park's petting zoo in the pig pen. this is what it looks like. -->

i remember when i first saw it i was a little shocked. :O (just for a second though.) it's a family zoo with little kids for goodness sake.

oh "bacon" and "eggs". if only those two little pigs knew that their names were referring to their relatives and the could-have-been relatives of their chicken friends who 'didn't make it' and were eaten for breakfast.

bah hah. :P
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okay, i couldn't resist. i just HAD to do this. yet another way to kill time: take a quiz to figure out what your harry potter alter-ego is. (teehee.) mine is:

You scored as Remus Lupin. You are a wise and caring wizard and a good, loyal friend to boot. However sometimes in an effort to be liked by others you can let things slide by, which ordinarily you would protest about. Remus Lupin 70% Albus Dumbledore 65% Hermione Granger 65% Harry Potter 60% Ron Weasley 60% Sirius Black 60% Draco Malfoy 55% Severus Snape 50% Ginny Weasley 50% Lord Voldemort 45% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

grey hair and wrinkles, here i come.

so today in physiology my teacher was talking about homeostasis, the negative feedback loop, and heat stroke (which can occur when the negative feedback loop fails.) anyway, one of the examples he used was Gabriele Andersen-Scheiss who suffered from heat stroke during the first women's marathon race at the 1984 olympics. thankfully she survived to tell her story. never realized how deadly (and i mean that literally) heat-stroke is until today.

anyway, as my teacher was talking about Andersen-Scheiss he was like, "yah, many of you were probably born by the time this happened in 1984 right?" and i sat there nodding my head, because i'm a 1983 baby. but as i looked around everyone else was sitting there SHAKING their heads and saying "no". (physiology is a second year course.) i even saw a girl in the row in front of me turn around and say to her friends who were sitting beside me, "i feel so young." after seeing the response from the class, my teacher said, "man, don't i feel old."

so do i.

the saying goes...

..."the grass is greener on the other side", right?

well, i never really gave much thought to this phrase that has probably been passed on from generation to generation until today - when i looked out the window and saw that it was true. their grass IS greener (as in, the grass belonging to the people who live in the house located directly behind ours.)

note the brown patches in our yard (vs. their seemingly smooth, non-patchy grass) and the huge (it looks even bigger in real life) weed(s) that are trying to take over the patio area.

the picture does a crap job showing the difference in colour between the two yards, but believe you me, there is a difference.

then again, the people that live in the house behind ours are definitely not students...unless they're still taking classes at the age of (at least) 70. must be annoying for them to live in a neighbourhood full of university students...sometimes it can get kinda rowdy and annoyingly loud.

but somehow, i doubt that's what the saying was really trying to say. heehee. ;)

what a completely stupid, useless post. bah hah. :P okay, back to my books. aghh.

the first week of school is almost over...

...and i must say, this is by far the hardest year yet. there's just so much reading. so much expectation. so much anxiety. so much to do. so little time.

in the middle of the week i was feeling really overwhelmed by everything. things seemed to have gotten way too busy, way too quick and i felt...like giving up. on the third day of school.

anyway, that night as i lay there in the darkness and quietness of my room somewhere between reality and sleep, the following verse popped into my head:

"Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28

and with that in mind i smiled, went to Him, and got my much needed rest. :)

week one in waterloo

despite the fact that classes haven't started yet, this week was still crazy. from moving, to cooking to running around campus to sort out my schedule, i came back to toronto feeling totally exhausted. i'm starting to get jitters for the first day of school but even so, i still feel this year will be a good one. it'll be tough, but i'm sure it'll be good. :)

highlights of the week:
- moving into our new house // i didn't think that moving would make such a big difference, but it has. i have great housemates, the nicest landlord (soooooo much better than lousy krafa), a cozy house and cable. what more can i ask for? haha. it's been really great catching up with amy again too. it's nice living with her again, plenty of talks to come this year. :)
- lccf booth at campus clubs day // although it was brutally hot on willison field that day, it was good seeing and meeting new people/frosh. it was also nice connecting with some people at lcf (laurier christian fellowship.) i really hope the two fellowships will have more contact with each other this year. that's been on my heart for a while. it's exciting to think of what God will be doing in both fellowships.
- frosh progressive dinner // it was the first time we've ever done anything like this and i thought it went really well. even though we thought we wouldn't have enough food, everyone was able to eat an adequate amount and we didn't need to go into the 'emergency lasagna'. it was also nice to connect more with some of the frosh and have a chance to talk to them. they're a good group. they also said that our food was better than the food they had been eating all week, so that was a nice compliment. :) first time making fried rice...it turned out alright, but next time i must add more salt. oops.
- getting into the courses i needed // as always, God has been so good. not only did He make it possible for me to take the physiology course without the prerequisite, He also let me get into the lab that i really wanted to get into - even though it was full. (now i can go to lccf!) also, i cross-registered in 'intro to linguistics' DE at waterloo. if that works out (which i think it will) i'll be able to have all my prerequisites for graduate school under my belt by the end of this year. phew. i'm pretty relieved and happy about that. just hope that i'll get the material soon so i don't miss too much in the beginning!
- coming home // no matter what, it's always nice to come home to my family in toronto. :)

est. 2002

...and three years later we are still together, feeling blessed and happy.

it's been a crazy ride, with our share of ups and downs, but somehow we managed to get through it all. together. with His help. and really, in my opinion, that's what relationships are all about.


happy three year justin. :)

so long, summer.

i can't believe it's september already. feels like just yesterday i was packing up my bags and heading home from another year at laurier. i also can't believe that i'm going into my final year of university. it seems so surreal.

but no. it has been a good three years since the first time i set foot in residence, ready (well, kinda :P) to start my university career. and it's been a good four months since i came home for the summer...which means only one thing:

summer is over.

although i think i would have felt more productive if i had gotten some kind of part-time job on top of everything at the end of the day, i'm happy with how things went. i got a lot of much needed experience in the speech pathology world and really, that was one of my main goals this summer. and with the exception of two things on my 'summer to-do list' (the biology brushing up and the violin practicing - which really i don't care all that much about) i managed to do everything else on it, not to mention hang out with some very special people too. :)

here's to hoping your summer was as good and as relaxing as mine, and to another fruitful year. kampai!

p.s. that picture isn't mine and i'm not sure where it was taken, but there are some pictures that liz brought back from italy that look just like that (if not better.) aghhhhh. my one regret this summer? not going to italy. :(

good things happen to those who wait.

i like the parker brothers game, clue (even though i'm really bad at it), and i love the clue books so when i found a VHS tape on our family room shelf a long time ago (i think i was 14 or 15), with "Clue" written on it in my dad's writing, i immediately popped it into our vcr and found out that there was a clue movie!

when i first watched clue i thought it was pretty hilarious. sadly, whenever i brought up the movie i was met with blank quizzical stares; not many people had seen, or heard of, this gem of a movie. so imagine my surprise much much later, while in my second year of university, i was talking about the movie and found out that rani heard of and had seen it. along with the ALTERNATE ENDINGS.

"what?!?! alternate endings?!!" i remember saying.

apparently there are alternate endings to this 1985 movie. i suppose when the movie was taped off the tv, whoever taped it didn't know about these endings so they didn't stick around long enough to tape them. that, or the tv station simply didn't show them. in any case, i didn't get to see them. and since the day i found out about these mystery endings, i have always wanted to watch the WHOLE movie. i remember telling adrienne about it one night and together we tried to rent the movie from the video store so we could watch it, but when we asked the person working there if they had it, he just looked at me with the same blank quizzical stare i got from everyone but rani - he hadn't heard of the movie before either.) after this episode with the rogers employee (i think he might have laughed at me :P) i was pretty discouraged so i decided to stop trying to find the movie, and just accept that i would never be able to see it in its entirety.

well today, that all changed. adrienne found the DVD on the shelf in future shop! needless to say, i bought it. turns out there are THREE alternate endings. AND what makes it even better is that it was going for ten bucks. sweetness. :)

p.s. girls day/night was fun times! yay for SC/congee star/hollywood gelato (minus crazy rude girl. haha)/future shop! you girls are great. :)

bluephoria.

yesterday i went downtown to the panasonic theatre with justin, james and amy to watch the blue man group (thanks for the tickets steve!) it was such an impressive show. so incredibly creative and funny too. (those blue men have quite the sense of humour. teehee.)

but i think the most impressive part was all the percussion...and just how everything fit together. and what they used as instruments. so creative. the music sounded kinda "electronica-y" (for lack of a better word) but with a more tribal sound. almost like john powell in the amazon...? (uhh. ok, maybe not. haha.) but the fact that it was live made it crazier. and the fact that it seemed the bass was turned up really high in the speakers made it that much more cool. it's hard to explain, but it sounded really good.

all in all, it was a great show! if you're looking to see a non-typical show with humour and awesome music played by dirty dirty musicians then you should seriously consider this one. (if you thought those intel commercials were good, the show is just SOOOOOO much better!) :)

oh, and if you do happen to go down to see the blue man group and go the bathroom, while you're in there listen carefully to the song that's being played. ;) *in the bathroom...* (bah hah. such greatness.)

dove and souvlaki.

today adrienne and i went on an excursion to downtown toronto. our first stop: eaton's centre. we went there to see the dove real beauty exhibit after hearing good reviews of it from helen yesterday. though it was much smaller than i had anticipated, it was pretty good. the whole concept behind it was to ask photographers from around the world to photograph what they thought "beauty" was. some of the pictures were pretty interesting and really nice. my favourite was the one taken by a british photographer (i can't remember their name) of three girls riding their bicycles down a street with their mouths wide open in such a way that it was obvious they were having loads of fun. the photographer's caption read something like this: "beauty is being confident in yourself and not caring what others think of you". i like that. oh, and we got free dove samples at the end of the exhibit. i liked that too. haha.

anyway, after wandering around eaton's centre and being disappointed by almost every store we got really hungry so we decided to hit up the taste of the danforth. it was crazy how many people there were there. at one point there was a complete stop in the flow of people walking, and that was a pretty horrible experience. i do think, however, the goodness of my chicken souvlaki made up for it. (well, kinda.) so yummy. it was melt-in-your-mouth-tastebuds-partyin-it-up yummy. :) haha. okay maybe i exaggerate a little bit but it was loads better than the "greek salad" (which consisted of just lettuce and fetta cheese) and the little piece of bread that came in my $5 combo. we also got $2 frozen hot chocolates despite the fact that it's not wednesday. always a plus.

on the way across danforth, we ran into euge and jess so we walked with them pretty much the rest of the way. then we also ran into sam, leanne, will, edmond, selina, janet and keith. i didn't know anyone else was going, so it was a nice surprise to see familiar faces among the loads of people that were there.

despite the fact that the summer sales in the shops were really bad, we walked for like 5-6 hours straight (exercise, whut?) and the taste of danforth was a little disappointing, today was a good day spent with great company...which, when you think about it, is all that really matters.

adrienne, we should do it again. :)

memorable "events" of the day:
- feeling lost in the mens section of gap
- adrienne putting on suntan lotion in that store (gotta love testers. bah hah.)
- being stuck (literally) for like at least 20 mins in a crowd that barely moved
- squishy man *shudders*
- crazy parents who used baby strollers as a means of pushing through the crowd (potentially very painful for the feet)
- punk rock band with the crazy tambourine girl
- old greek man dancing to the sound of the greek band, gipsy (haha, so cute)
- sitting on the steps of temple baptist church (our old church building) reminiscing good times at the old church
- seeing the beloved stores/restaurants around ETCBC when it was still downtown: coffee time, patris, 711, panzerotto pizza, motorola (best milkshakes ever) and of course, the one and only, square boy

harry potter and the half-blood prince

so, i started reading this two days ago and i finished it yesterday morning around 2am. i seriously read this book whenever i could - just ask liz. whenever i went away and was really quiet it was because i was reading harry potter. bah hah.

but really, that J.K. Rowling has an incredible imagination. so impressive. totally sucks me in and i seriously can't stop reading until the pages run out. i probably would have read the whole book straight if i could have. and whatever. i know i'm twenty-one. i don't care. i like harry potter. no. i LOVE HARRY POTTER. :P

the book itself was (in my opinion) very well-written. it didn't seem so drawn out in some parts like in the fourth and fifth books when i thought some portions of the book were too long, so that was a plus. i did, however, think the ending was a little abrupt...like one minute you're reading and really into the book, and then you turn the page and it's like the publisher information or whatever the crap it is that's on the very very last page of the book. i read somewhere that the seventh book is supposed to be somewhat like a continuation of the sixth book though, so maybe that's why...? i hate it when they make you wait. like in tv shows when the screen goes black and all you see are the words, "to be continued..." aghhhhh. that's the worst. i want to read the seventh book now. :P

but anyway, like levar burton (haha what happened to that guy?) said back in the day when he was on that old tv show (that apparently still exists...?!) reading rainbow, "don't take my word for it".

read it. i totally recommend it. :)

close and real to my heart.

"from protest to praise,
You're always amazing me.
You're changing me slow but surely,
and You're gonna see me to the end."

it's funny how the same song can speak to you at different stages of your life, yet still be just as powerful everytime.

it's the mark of a great song and even better lyrics... ;)

you know you grew up in the '80s/early '90s when...

the word "hypercolor" brings back memories of clothes worn "back in the day".

i was looking at some old family photos and in the ones from when i went to england to visit my relatives there (way back, like in '93 or earlier) i noticed that one of my cousins was wearing his hypercolor t-shirt (the purple one that turned blue - all the boys had that one for some reason.)

who remembers these t-shirts?!?!?! hypercolor t-shirts were possibly the coolest t-shirt idea ever. e v e r. they were better than those hideous neon vuarnet t-shirts. (nah, who am i kidding? i wanted one of those too. :P) liz had a vuarnet t-shirt i think...complete with one of those plastic circle things that you use to bunch up your baggy t-shirt on the side. (c'mon. you MUST remember what i'm talking about.) these were the "in" items to have around the same time stone-washed jeans were still considered fashionable.

stone-wash. bah hah.

well if you don't remember, or just have no idea what i'm talking about, they were shirts that used to change colour according to your body temperature. so if the shirt was cold it would be one colour, and then when your body heat warmed up the shirt, the colour would change. nevermind the fact that these shirts made all the naturally warmer areas, which people usually try to avoid attracting attention to (i.e. the underarm areas) all the more noticeable...they were still cool. they were quite the rage back then.

i never got a vuarnet shirt (thank goodness) but at one point i did have a hypercolor shirt...mmm...i think anyway.) one think i do know for sure, i DID have a pair of hypercolor socks. :)

i...

...could kick myself for not going to italy (what was i thinking?! aghhh. *kick*).
...miss my sister and mom. a lot.
...have allergies. (darn you grass.)
...have beev using my sister's computer lately because my laptop is sick.
...keep pressing the wrong letters because i'm not used to mac keyboards. (but i'm getting much better now!)
...get frustrated over the fact that laurier is so small and doesn't have the greatest courses to choose from.
...am sad that i can't take psycholinguistics. (i was really looking forward to it.)
...have become frustrated. with many things.
...wonder sometimes if i've made the right choices concerning certain things.
...know i shouldn't worry so much about the future. but it's hard at times... :(
...have been constantly sneezing or blowing my nose it seems. (i...need....reactine...).
...never used to get allergies this bad before. ever.
...am writing this post as a selfish attempt to bore myself to sleep.
...can't get to sleep tonight.
...feel pretty tired and exhausted.
...am going to try to fall asleep again...

g'nite. (hope you're successful at falling asleep than i am!)

Wicked The Musical

i'm going to see this....TWICE! :D hahahaha

once with liz and then again with jo (if things work out. jo? when are you free to go? lemme know.)

this morning, liz and i purchased our tickets. we're going on october 8, 2006. @ 2pm.

FIFTH ROW CENTRE.

i'm so freakin' excited.

another thing off my to-do list

so today was my first day volunteering at Mount Sinai - i'm shadowing the speech pathologists there. it's TOTALLY different from what i'm doing at york central (where i'm a volunteer in the aphasia day program.) everything is so fast-paced in this hospital environment and although at times it can be really intimidating and confusing, i'm really enjoying it so far. the learning curve is definitely steep, but i'm up for the challenge.

highlights of my day: seeing a swallowing x-ray being taken and watching the speech path do a bedside swallowing assessment. (oh and another thing i found out when i came home - but it's totally unrelated to my volunteering.) ;)

it was so cool. some people aren't really interested in this area of speech and language pathology (basically it's swallowing assessments and more "medical") and would rather do more speech therapy-like work (like in a clinical setting), but for me this kinda of work seems so interesting. in fact, this is the first time that i've come across something that i really wouldn't mind doing as a career in the future (haha, this coming from someone who is getting a BMusTh and a BA in Psychology.) :P ultimately though, i suppose i'll have to wait and see where He leads me...

i am Canadian.

i would have posted sooner, but i just got home now pretty much. :P

since a lot of people went to ottawa for the canada day festivities there, i spent the day with liz and some of her friends (who, i must add, are really nice!) instead.

a snapshot of our day:
- parked at harbourfront
- walked to nathan phillips square to listen to the Rob McConnell Tentet (part of the TD Toronto Downtown Film Festival
- ate hotdogs for lunch
- went to eaton's centre to use the bathroom. also bought a moolatte from DQ. (it sucked. i was very disappointed.)
- TTCed back to harbourfront
- bought tickets to a boat ride
- missed the boat
- exchanged tickets
- went on later boatride
- stayed at harbourfront after boatride
- got free chocolate milk :D
- listened to kabalash (part of the Canada day festivities at harbourfront)
- drove to ontario place
- froze our butts off
- waited a ridiculous amount of time for pizza
- almost got milk spilled on me (there are some rude rude people out there...:P)
- more freezing of the butts until my sister's friend brought out her sleeping bag
- sat on concrete for a long while waiting for the festival of lights to happen
- saw some AMAZING fireworks (unionville festival just doesn't compare...)
- rushed to the parking lot
- came home

it was quite the fun day today. i have pictures, but i'll have to post them another time when i'm not so tired.

oh yah, and to my fellow Canadians out there: Happy Canada Day! :D

memorable words from one musician to other musicians...

i still remember when liz convocated from berklee college of music back in 2002 like it was yesterday. it was a sea (ermm...a small sea in comparison to other universities on account of it being berklee - not everyone can make it in!) of people wearing black graduation gowns with colourful tassles hanging from their caps and the hoods you wear once you've actually graduated. anyway, the year she graduated was also the year that they berklee gave david foster and shirley horn honorary doctorate degrees. i remember when david foster went to give his speech to the graduating class of 2002 he said something that really struck a chord with me. (haha. gotta love the cheese.)

his words of wisdom: don't be a "music snob".

i think that ever since i heard him say that, i've consciously tried to be more open with regards to listening to music in general...i don't want to miss out due to arrogance or stupidity. (i do, however, have my limits: the songs that make my head spin are songs that i just cannot listen to. i've tried many times...i just can't do it.) it's easier to be a snob than to not be one, but really, ultimately it's the music snobs who lose out more than anyone else.

sometimes it's crazy to think of all the music i have yet to be exposed to out there...one step at a time right? ;)

unfortunately my little pretties, we need to wait.

i stand corrected. i checked the dates and ticket times for wicked, and it's coming to toronto again in october/november alright.

october/november of 2006. :(

suddenly, the wicked witch doesn't seem so "wicked" anymore...

after listening to my sister's soundtrack of the broadway musical, Wicked, (it's coming to toronto in october/november! :D) and reading a little bit about the plotline in the CD insert, i discovered that the musical was actually written and composed after gregory maguire's book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

a spin-off of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (which was adapted for the classic film musical "The Wizard of Oz"), the book is pretty much a biography of the wicked witch of the west. from what i could tell from the lyrics in the musical, the whole story is pretty sad. poor elphaba (the wicked witch of the west). :( i was teary eyed from listening to one song on the CD at one point. (okay i admit, i actually cried. :P i'm turning into such a sap. i haven't even seen the musical.) how embassaring. haha.

i really want to to read this book now.

i went as far as looking up its availability at the library but there are a ridiculous amount of holds on this book now...*waaaaah*.

should i wait? or just buy it? hmm, maybe i'll do the next best thing: anyone up for a trip to chapters? ;)

oops, excuse me!

today i had my final exam for the phonetics course i was taking at UT. since i had my exam i basically studied all day, which would have been okay except my allergies (when did i start getting allergies?!) were pretty bad today and i kept sneezing every 2 minutes...

fortunately i was able catch the majority of my sneezes before they happened so i didn't get myself into too much trouble (i.e. making sure there was no food in my mouth before sneezing, making sure i wasn't holding anything that would spill when i sneezed...etc.)

unfortunately i wasn't able to catch every one of my sneezes. the result: my super demented "m". hehehe. i was writing "egressive glottalic airstream" when all of a sudden my sneeze came out of nowhere. oops. heehee. i couldn't help but laugh outloud.

i just added in the tissue mountain because i thought it was funny. a little gross, but funny. :P
______________________

on a completely different note...

my sister is 25! :O heehee. (please excuse the blurry picture, i guess i was a little too excited. haha. :P)

her birthday was technically "yesterday" (June 27) even though it's still "today" to me, because i haven't gone to sleep yet. :P since she has moved back home (she's the "great and totally worthy cause" i was talking about earlier with regards to my cleaning of the house) some of her friends took advantage of that fact and threw her a surprise birthday partay. :) plans got a little sticky with the whole meeting her in the park thing as the mosquitoes were vicious (so i heard), but nevertheless when liz got home she was super surprised, and really that's all that counts. this year there were no tears (heehee, remember?), just laughter and good times all around.

happy (belated) birthday liz! :D

procrastinator me.

the past 24 hours have been crazy; i've been cleaning like a mad person on crack. (haha okay so i exaggerate.) i know i really should have done this earlier instead of waiting until the very last minute...but really what's the fun in that? :P

i generally don't enjoy cleaning, but this time i don't mind as much. why? because it's for a great and totally worthy cause...

more on this later. ;)

www.fredflare.com = most random products ever.

from green bug luggage tags to librarian pins, this website has got it all.

look what i came across...iPOD hoodies!!

hahahha i think they're funny. hhehehehe

i'm not sure how these really stack up to iSkins (or other protection products) in terms of actually being able to protect your iPOD (mm...lemme see, flannel vs. silicon...) but they're really cute! :P

look what else i found on the site! a plush pb+j sandwich!!

so random...haha.

a good mistake?

so i purchased my tsoundcheck tickets today and instead of giving them only $20 for the two tickets, i mistakenly donated an extra $20 to the toronto symphony orchestra. ooooooops. i didn't catch my mistake until i received an e-mail from the tsoundcheck people thanking me for my donation. i'm sure my facial expression must have been an interesting one. hahaha. ah well, at least i'll get a tax receipt, the board of directors will match my donation, and i get an invite for me and friend to watch an open rehearsal during the 2005/2006 season.

oh yah. and i made a donation to the toronto symphony orchestra... ;)

to be completely honest with everyone, i was a little upset with myself for making that mistake, but at least it was for a good cause...geez, i could slap myself right now. i was upset at myself for accidentally making a donation for a good cause. man, i really need to be more giving. donating definitely shouldn't be viewed as a mistake. ooooops. as for my "mistake", i guess it could have been worse; i could have mistakenly donated $200 instead of $20, which i suppose would have been great for the TSO but not so great for myself - i just don't have that kind of money...i'm a student! :P

on a more serious note, i'm actually really looking forward to this concert. we (my mom and i) are going down to roy thompson hall to see the thursday night show featuring music by debussy and ravel, my two favourite french composers. i'm pretty excited...it'll be a good concert for sure. :)

big school, little school.

i'm taking a course at the university of toronto this summer as a visiting student from wilfrid laurier university. oh me oh my, i can't even begin to tell you how different these two school are from each other. here are some observations i've made (they're pretty obvious, but i thought i'd put them in anyway):

- size: UT is massive, Laurier is tiny. (anyone could told you that. :P) for the first time, i actually feel like i'm in a "real" university. hahaha. sad, but true.
- buildings: UT has some really nice historical-looking buildings. laurier on the other hand...i think that the john aird overpass thing has been compared to a firestation, or hospital. either way, that overpass is ugly. some of the newer buildings are nice, but...they're new so they can't really be compared to the old buildings with the ornate architecture and historical value. but i guess laurier itself (est. 1911) isn't even old enough for ANY of the buildings to be considered historic anyway.
- cultural diversity: this is the first time in my whole university career where i haven't been one of the few chinese people in my class. in fact, the majority of my class in chinese. it's kinda refreshing in a wierd way...
- class size: well, it's a summer course so i'm thinking that during the year most classes at UT are bigger than the number of people in my class (there are maybe about 50, maybe a little more?). at laurier (in my year), there are 6 of us (including me) in the music therapy PROGRAM. hahah. enough said.
- the commute: it's a hassle. i like that i live 5 mins (walking) away from campus at laurier. when i leave, i know how long it will take me to get where i'm going. the commute sucks because you're at the mercy of traffic and subway delays...not to mention, walking from the subway stop TO the building you need to go to would probably take at least 5 minutes in itself.

at the end of the day, they are both great respective universities that are each good in their own way; one is a more established, sophisticated and a little cut-throat, while the other more is community centred and small-town-ish...i'll let you decide which one is which. ;)

in any case, education is education and i'm happy for the opportunity to be at either. :)

if You are willing.

i'm currently reading through mark and since the night i began and read in chapter one the story about the man with leprosy, i haven't been able to get it out of my head. (mark 1:40-45). i feel God was teaching me something here; something big...something i needed to hear.

during mark's interpretation of this story the leper comes to Jesus, falls on his knees and begs, "if you are willing, you can make me clean." (please note, the leper did not ask whether or not Jesus COULD make him clean. he was asking whether or not Jesus WOULD. i emphasize this because this distinction was what struck me the most in this story.)

Jesus' response to the leper's begging?

"Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said, "Be clean!" (v. 41, emphasis mine)
i read this story on monday night, and still i can't shake it from my mind. to me, it's incredible. a humble request from a leper who absolutely believed Jesus could heal him if he wanted to, brought a beautiful response from the Creator of the universe: "I am willing".

so what does all this have to do with me now? well, i went to campus challenge this past weekend and while i'm still trying to wrap my head around everything, i can't help but think what my next steps in general will be. naturally my first response is to ask God for things; for unity, for barriers to be broken both internally and externally, for my heart to be softened, for my soul to be cleansed...the list goes on. like the leper, as Christians we go to God with absolute belief that God is capable of everything. however, unlike the leper sometimes we forget the most important thing, that it is ultimately up to Him whether or not He does anything.

God is completely able to do the impossible, however it is only IF HE IS WILLING that the impossible will become reality.

*cheeeeeeese....click!*

finally, i got off my butt and uploaded a crapload of pictures today...

queens @ laurier, LCCF retreat/ice skating, easter weekend, campus challenge...you can all these pics here. :)

i'll blog about campus challenge soon...but for now, it'll have to wait. i'm so tired, i need to go to bed. :P

p.s. is it just me, or did some of my comments mysteriously disappear? where did they go? oh the insanity of it all.

one thing done...

as of next tuesday, i'll officially be volunteering at York Central Hospital in the aphasia program (which is affiliated with the York-Durham Aphasia Centre). i went in two weeks ago to observe, then this past tuesday i went in for my YDAC orientation and then the following day i went back to york central for my actual hospital orientation. it was good meeting other volunteers even though we're all volunteering in different parts of the hospital. it's my first time volunteering at a hospital, and i'm looking forward to it - it'll be an awesome learning experience for sure.

...and as an added bonus, i can now cross one thing off my to-do list. yay!! :)

"whooooo are you..."

this is for all the CSI fanatics out there.

oh that jerry bruckheimer. how does he manage to produce everything good?!

enjoy. :)

what you learn in JK/SK sticks...

things have seemed to just "work themselves out" lately, but i know better - God's hand has been in all of it. I can honestly say that He is definitely looking after me.

anyway yesterday, as i got into my car to drive to church after getting off the phone with a speech pathologist who was returning my phone call, i felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude and a song that i learned at people's (in junior and senior kindergarten) popped into my head. it was our "lunch-time prayer", and every day before lunch we'd sing it as a class with our teacher. yesterday night, after so many years of not singing it, i couldn't help but sing it out loud...

Oh, the Lord is good to me,
and so i thank the Lord,
for giving me, the things i need,
the sun and the rain and the appleseed,
the Lord is good to me,
Johnny Appleseed, Amen.

the best thing is, God has already provided me with all the "things that i need". all this other stuff that He has blessed me with on top of those things just testify to how wonderful, loving and gracious He is. :)

guess who's back, back again...

no i'm not talking about the backstreet boys. although they are back apparently, with their song "incomplete". hmm...does anyone else thinks it's kinda wierd how a bunch of MEN who are probably pushing their mid-twenties, mid-thirties and possibly even forties (*cough* kevin)...are still calling themselves the "backstreet boys"...? i dunno. seems kinda wierd to me. awfully wierd actually...

hmmm...i suppose "guess what's back..." would have been a more appropriate title. :P

anyway, after some thought i've decided to put my summer to-do list back on my blog. (haha. i may just be one of the most indecisive people out there.) you can find it on the left hand side...and good grief, it seems to have gotten longer.

*sigh* it really does seem like i've got my work cut out for me this summer... :)

summer time...

hmm. well originally i posted my "summer to-do list" and what not, but since then i've decided to change it. figured it was probably kinda boring for everyone other than myself anyway. :P

heehee.

in any case, here's to a summer full of sweet and endless possibilities. cheers. :)

the new way to procrastinate.

have some time to kill? try playing this. it's a game called "squares". it's maybe one of the greatest and most addicting games ever. (it's up there with the helicopter game.) it even has funky music - although it gets annoying after a while. but you can always turn the music off. :P

warning: don't start playing it unless you've gotta a whole crapload of time you can waste. it's soooooooo addicting...

oh asians...

so i went to pay asianavenue a visit today. i haven't gone there for quite some time, so i figured it was time to go back and check out how things were and what not.

my gosh, not much has changed. here are just a few things that i noticed, that have been going on far too long:

1) the inappropriate use of the letter "d".
ladies and gentlemen..."dat"? like what are you trying to say? bat? please, it's THAT, not DAT. it's THE, not DA. may i introduce you to the "t" and "h" keys on the keyboard. they don't bite. please use them. :)

2) the need to WrItE lIkE tHiS.
okay in order for me to do that "one BIG letter followed by small letter" thing, it took me at LEAST 30 seconds. for the rest of this? like 5 seconds. do the math. conserve your energy for bigger and better things, such as saving the world, or studying.

3) the complex spelling of simple words
what am i talking about? people who talk lyke dis. so pplz dun haf ne clue az 2 whut dere sayin'. okay of the three things that i noticed, this has definitely got to be the worst one. like absolute worst. it's almost as bad as people who try seem more sophisticated and mature by putting in big words that make no sense in the context of their sentences. people just can't understand what they're trying to get across...

maybe that's the cool and hip thing kids are doing these dayz. <-- haha. am i cool or what?

ah well. so what's my overall conclusion? as much as i like asians, and like being asian, i think i'm getting too old for asianavenue. ;)

okay, well this is the end of my procrastination rant. hehehehe. back to studying. all the best on exams! :) bye!

so close, and yet...not.

can't believe second term (or third year in general) is almost over but first, gotta get through my exams and jury...

study hard. all the best on everyone's finals be it exams, assignments or projects. :)

in Christ alone...

...can comfort be found in times of trouble.
...can strength be found in times of weakness.
...can joy be found in times of grief.
...can peace be found in times of turmoil.
...can we be sure where we're going to spend eternity.

RIP Uncle Steven.

"...No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand."

peanut butter and JAM.

teehee...i got to play a taylor geetar today (courtesy of sam)! :) to be incredibly honest, i think i'm still too much of a beginner to really appreciate the difference between my little basic seagull S6 (oh oscar-fred, how i love you) and this fancy schmancy taylor (haha, i can see some jaws dropping right now), BUT at least i can say that i got to jam on a crazy expensive guitar, and pretend that i did. :P

note to self: two worship songs being sung simultaneously in competition-like manner makes for a really loud room, giggling, head shaking and much confusion... ;)

haha good times, good times. :)

aghhhhh.

i know that everything happens for a reason but it's really starting to get a little ridiculous. i can honestly say that this term has it has been one of the toughest terms i have ever had to deal with and go through, and while i'm thankful that i'm learning through my experiences, it has just been one thing after another...

and it's starting to take its toll on me.

____________________________________________

the serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

the end of the year is near...

hey that rhymes! that's awesome. hee hee.

despite the fact there is still snow on the ground, cold weather, more snow to come in the forecast (supposedly :P), and ice covering the sidewalks (careful out there!), i'm very conscious of the fact that my third year of university is only 6 weeks away from completion and exams are only a mere 4 weeks away. this fact makes me internally freak out every so often...there's still so much to be done it seems.

things are starting to pick up and i'm trying to catch up/stay on top of my readings and all that junk, while at the same time trying to deal with getting a plan together in my head to fulfill all the prerequisites required to apply for grad school next january. after a week of running around the science building, going to see my academic advisor multiple times, checking and rechecking stuff on the internet and dropping by the registrars office, things are starting to fall into place much better. there are still a few things that i need to work out in my head (concerning whether or not to do my internship to get my MTA), but that doesn't really need that much attention until graduation comes around. finally, i can relax a little. well...after my appointment with dr. rutherford, the biology chair, on thursday...

my decision to actually go through with this grad school thing MAY just kill me, but i'm not about to let it go without a fight.

what do i need now? focus, determination, and plenty of time to think, reflect and refresh.

"all that remains is me and who i am at the end of the day."

(on a side note, toby lightman is really good. i really like her stuff...i've been listening to her almost non-stop the last couple of days.) :)

seatbelts.

i still remember when i was younger i would sometimes go into my parent's bedroom, and run up to my mom's desk where she sat in her swivel chair doing her work, turn her chair around so she faced me, say "seatbelt! seatbelt!" and she'd laugh, let me onto her lap and hug me really tightly...seatbelts were the greatest. actually, they still are. (and no, i don't care that i'm 21. i think everyone needs them from time to time.) :P

anyway, so i was thinking about my testimony today and as i sat there thinking of the story of how i became a Christian i couldn't help but go back to that moment and thinking about how i was as a ten year old. and to be perfectly honest, i don't know what God saw in me. even now, i'm not sure what He sees in me. but for some reason He saw something; He sees something.

so imperfect, yet loved. so lacking, yet still loved. so underserving, yet so loved.

needless to say all these thoughts running through my mind at the same time, made me feel a little overwhelmed, so i did what any child would do: i ran to my Father, while He sat there though He had a million other things to do, He helped me climb onto his lap, held me and listened as my deepest thoughts and feelings about everything, flowed out of my heart.

and i felt safe. and so loved. i got a much needed seatbelt from God tonight. :) Adonai, great are You.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God [a] ;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah" - psalm 62:5-8

post-reading week

this year's reading week was maybe one of the best ones i've had in all the years i've been in university. :) all my midterms and tests were the week before reading week, with the exception of one assignment, so basically i had a whole week of doing absolutely nothing. i didn't even bring any textbooks home. sweetness.

started off really well with the LCCF retreat. the fellowship that we shared there was really great although at times it was quite...uhmm....interesting. ;) hehehe. nevertheless, it was an awesome time, and the timing couldn't have been any better.

God really knows what we need, and when we need it.

during reading week itself, i spent a lot of time with my mommy and that's always a plus. rented the movie, Ray, and watched it twice (once with justin, and then again with my mom). GREAT movie. i really liked it a lot. jamie foxx did an awesome job in playing ray in the movie. wanna get me some ray charles cds now. the special features that came with the dvd were also really good. hmm. maybe i'll invest in that movie. maybe. ;)

wednesday night was also fun. we went to mel lastman square to take advantage of the free ice rink. good times! highlight of the night: when chen broke nevin's skate. i have his confession on video courtesy of justin and his awesome camera skills. hahaha. there are also some really nice pictures that justin took. i have yet to get off my butt and upload all the pics from reading week. i'll let you know when i get on that. ooh ohh! and hannah taught me how to do crossovers. hahaha. i really suck, but that's okay, at least it was fun. must make a note to sharpen my skates. they're duller than spoons.

thursday i went for dinner with leo, and as usual it was great getting a chance to catch up with him again. when's the next time i'll see you leo? what was that? april? haha. (oh! leo, after i left your house i ended up going back to the gas station and filled up on gas. good thing too, because the next day it went from 73.7 to 79.9. ahahaha. sweeeeet.) afterwards, i stopped by dan's house b.c there was a small gathering of people there, and there we had dessert! mmmmmm. yummy mccain cake and mint chocolate icecream. (thanks for having us over dan!) it was a great way to end off a great day. :)

on the friday i went to pickle barrel with justin, jo, jer, ken and lil. it was really awesome seeing them all again. especially lillian. :) i haven't seen that girl in like forever! (seriously. i think that the last time was in the summer when lil, pheebs and i went to taste of japan...mmmmmmmmm... :d ) it was nice talking with her again and doing a bit of catching up. it's nice knowing that even though we went our separate ways and went to two different universities, the friendship still exists. :)

anyway, that's all for now. there's more to say, but currently i have no words for the thoughts that are currently occupying my brain. hope that everyone had a great reading week too, and that the week back has been good to them. all the best to those who are still writing their midterms. study hard! :)

nothing fancy

justin, you're the best.

happy valentines day, you. :)

happy [chinese] new year!

why, hello rooster. :)

sun leen fai look! sun tai geen hong!

there's so much superstition that accompanies this festival. i don't believe in them (if i did i would have like...violated almost all of them today), but it's still kinda interesting to read. here is some information if you're interested.

i didn't even know that chinese new year really lasts for 15 days! all these things i never knew! and i call myself chinese...aiyah. woe is me. :)

the new way to count sheep

here's a little something i found on the bbc website.

wanna test your reaction time? try this. it's actually kinda fun. ;)

knock yourself (or dare i say, the sheep) out! hahahhaa. :P

sigh.

some days i wanna just lie on my bed, look at the ceiling and do nothing but listen to music. tonight is one of those nights. it's quite relaxing, until...

i remember that i have a paper due tomorrow, readings to do/catch up on, concerto competition final on friday, a test to do by friday, things to worry about, and a whole crapload of thoughts running through my brain.

believe you me, i'm not complaining. honest. :) it just feels as though many things are happening at once, and some days it's hard to really figure out what my real thoughts about everything are, u know?
___________________________________

something that caught my eye:

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret - it leads only to evil." - Psalm 37:5-8

oh to be able to do this, and to do it well...

brahms and me.

(it's like mcgee and me, only...not. at all. :P)

phew, today has been a long day. the concerto competitions were held from 2:30 until maybe around 6ish or so. maybe even later. the pianos were up first at the maureen forrester recital hall, and i was scheduled to play last for the piano section of the competition. generally i think it went pretty well - it could have been better but then again it could have been a lot worse too. :P i made my mistakes but i didn't have any memory lapses, and that was what i was most scared for. :S but yah. all the time i invested into learning and practicing this song really boiled down to the 6mins of today's preliminary round. i think that's what put the most pressure on me today. nevertheless, it was a great experience, and i'm glad that i went through with it. ah, the journey of brahms and i.

one crazy ride:

from refusing to enter the concerto competition in first year and second year, to finally (reluctantly) agreeing to do it this year, to deciding on a piece and picking up the score for my concerto (Brahms, Concerto No. 1, Op. 15, finale) for the first time in early-mid november, to putting all other repertoire on hold to focus on this piece, to the initial stages of actually learning the music and sometimes wanting to throw the score out the window due to frustration and doubt, to learning the notes better and loving the music more, to practicing this piece on my own over Christmas break, to coming back to find that my teacher had the chicken pox, to having my first lesson after the break on monday (jan. 17), to deciding that day to enter the concerto competition, to practicing A LOT (by my standards anyway :P) this week, to more doubts and frustrations, to loving the music even more and more, to actually playing in the competition (which was today, jan. 21), to finding out that i made it to the finals...it's been quite the crazy ride for me and my concerto. :)

all praise, glory, honour and recognition must go to the One who deserves every last bit of these things, God. He is soooo good.

thanks to everyone who gave me words of encouragement, prayed for me, and came out to see me play today - i really appreciate it. in fact, i really appreciate you guys. :)

so now, i'm excited to share the rest of my concerto with everyone now that the 6min time restraint doesn't apply to the finals and i can play the whole thing. this piece is so beautiful, (brahms is definitely one of my favourite composers...his rhapsodies are really nice too...) i just hope that i don't mess it up. :S

good grief, i think that it's back to the practice rooms for me. take it easy everyone. :)

from protest to praise.

downhere is so good. lately it seems that i've been listening to their older stuff nonstop. everything just seems to apply so well, and their lyrics...well they're just really great, hence the quoting of two different songs, in two consecutive blogs. (teehee.) :P check out their site, they've got some good new stuff too. and they're canadian. wooooot. :)

"...i'm wrestling my thoughts, i'm overcome
would you give me up i'm asking Lord,
there's no where i sense Your presence here
so i will cry out, until i go

from protest to praise,
You're always amazing me
You're changing me slow, but surely
And You're gonna see me to the end." - protest to praise

ahh, comfort food for my ears, for my heart. i love these lyrics. i love this song. i love Him.

Great are You, Lord.

thanks to those whom God has used to really speak to me and comfort me. my family, justin, my good friends...your love, support and prayers have really meant so much. i feel so blessed that God has put such awesome people in my life. i'm soooo thankful for you guys. really, I am. :)

yesterday night, in the quietness of my room, in the stillness of the early morning, He spoke to me directly. in fact, it was so clear that He seemed to be screaming these words at me. it was just was i needed to hear. i started reading james again (thanks jer!) and this is what i read last night:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4

the past week has been hard but perhaps this is the answer that i have been searching for. perhaps this is what He is teaching me through all this...a lesson in faith.

things won't ever be the same, but i'll be stronger because of everything that has happened. thanks Father. my God, our God, is so big, so awesome, so good.

"...How I love Your Word
My God, My King
How I love Your Word
My God, My King

Your love cuts through these pages to my heart
As you grieve our sins, right from the start
And sacrifice and paradise are in
The plans that you made, The plans that you made

Because I'll never hold the picture
Of the whole horizon in my view
Because I'll never rip the night in two
It makes me wonder
Who am I, Who am I, Who am I
And great are You
Great are You Lord." - Downhere