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!