project 365

Some of you might know that i got a camera for Christmas. Sort of....I'm in between two exact same cameras. Long story short, I wanted to get a camera for Christmas so i asked if my parents could chip in for it. After looking for a while, the Nikon D3000 was on sale at Best Buy and essentially every other place, but i decided i wanted to get it there. I went to the store in Richmond. out of stock. I then went to the New West location and got the very last one, pretty lucky. A couple of days later, R & Y told me about the deal London Drugs was having on Boxing day for the same exact camera i just bought. For about $50 more on what i initially spent already, i get an added lens, AND a bag! (that's the Nikon D3000 body, with a 18-55mm lens, and a 55-200mm lens and a bag! What a deal! So i went early that morning to get the 2nd out of 3 kits they had. They didn't even have it in stalk, so i have to call them tomorrow (or in actuality, later in the day)to see if they have it yet! Super excited!

Anyway,I don't know what the actual name of it is. Some people call it 365 project, but I'm calling it project 365 cause i think it sounds better. Essentially what it is, is some crazy project where you post up one picture a day for 365 days. I didn't quite read the whole story of the project but the aim of this project is designed in hopes that you will become a better photographer by the end of that 1 year. I actually stumbled onto this idea on facebook while looking at a friend of a friend's picture. Sounds kind of crazy eh? It seems like it's A LOT of work because that means you have to do a photo excursion EVERY SINGLE DAY. That includes days where you're sick to the core and you need to stay in bed, days where you're so busy you barely have time to sleep, and days where you're just completely lacking in the creativity department and you have no idea what to take a picture of. At the moment, i'm still deciding whether i should do it or not just because it seems like it's a big commitment and i don't want to back down once i've started. It just seems like it's such a coincidence that i find out about this right when i get a camera. Not only that, but also the fact that I found out a few days shy of the new years. It'd be perfect if i could start off the 365 project right on January 1st and be able to finish on New years eve. I guess i still have 2-3 more days to decide. Plus, i'm still in between a camera i just packed up and one i get to unpack hopefully tomorrow =D

I'm thinking, if I actually do do this, i'd probably want to plan it out so maybe there's a weekly or monthly theme and then do the occasional random ones with a story to tell. Maybe just do day to day ones and try and encapsulate all that's happened that day into one picture? A picture IS worth a thousand words right? I really have no clue. I shall sleep on it.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Comments?

The season of sleepless nights and cramming has come. In fact, it's more than halfway over. I have 4.5 exams this term: 3 of which are over with 1.5 left. The 0.5 is because there is a take-home final! It's for math, so it's kind of like every other assignment, except i'd imagine it to be much harder. I've heard it was really hard, but i haven't looked at it yet and don't plan to until i finish the other 1 whole exam. The last real final is for my social work course. I don't know if it's going to be the hardest one yet, but it's definitely the most important one. I have to get at least a 72% in this course to be even considered into the school of social work. 72% really isn't that high of a mark, except the class average right now is in it's 50's because the midterm was ridiculously easy. By easy, i mean it was pure memorization, which no one expected. We all thought that it would be an application type test where we don't have to memorize every single detail like every other test from our other classes. I JUST passed that exam. 50% right on the dot! The only other things what are worth marks are participation/attendance (10%), a debate (10%), a paper (25%), and the final(30%). The midterm was also worth 25% so that means i got 12.5 + 10 for attendance + 8 for debate + paper...(probably didn't do that well...low teens i'm guessing) + final. Before the final, that's a grand total of around 45! That means i'll have to get a 90% on the final! No pressure eh? Anyway, the real point of this post was to rediscover what the real point of taking this course is. Whenever my life gets busier and hectic, the first thing that gets axed is God time. We were just talking about social injustice in Titus fellowship tonight and F brought up a really good point about social injustice. He said something along the lines of....It doesn't really matter how much we do, or what we do in the matter of fact. But if the center of what we do isn't about God, then it's all in vain. Part of why I want to go into social work is because i thought it was a realistic and practical way of helping people and do the cliche,yet the truth of showing God's love. Isn't it really ironic that my axing of devotions and God time to study totally contradicts with my true intention of taking this course in the first place?!



You told me
Look for You and I will find
So I'm here
Like I'm searching for the first time
Revive me, Jesus
Make this cold heart start to move
Help me rediscover You

Starfield Concert!!!!!

Wow. How do i begin to put down what happened into words?! This concert has definitely solidified my view on them on being one of THE best bands IN THE WORLD! (the word "world" looks weird capitalized)I've only ever been to 2 of their concerts ever and i still distinctly remember both of them. It was quite funny actually because Tim said the exact same thing as he did last time i went to their concert. He quoted Bono saying something along the lines of Africa is burning up in flames because of the aids pandemic and we, the rest of the world have watering cans that can put out this fire but all we're doing is watching it burn. He also made some lame joke about knowing Bono. I distinctly remember this because D went giddy at the sound of the word Bono and she started rubbing her face in happiness haha.

Anyway, let me explain why Starfield concerts are THE best concerts ever. Starfield concerts aren't really concerts. Of course there is time for them to show off their awesome music,but they choose worship songs and they project lyrics in a cool and funky way so everyone can sing to it. They make it a time of worship where everyone is encouraged to just shout,scream, jump, and dance for God. Also, Not only do they sing, but they(Tim, but I think that's the general direction of the band) challenges you, he gives short schpeels (Not really sure what to call them. They're kinda sermon-ish) that makes you think and reflect which in turn makes the lyrics that much more meaningful. It just helps you put down all your worries, struggles and burdens and just simply worship THE one and only God. It creates that deep connection with God. It's one of those moments where everything in the world around you stops and there's this real strong, yet gentle and peaceful silence that just consumes you. It's the connection where you feel Him in you and that you're so overwhelmed in joy that you can burst into tears. It's glorious. I forgot to mention that their songs are AWESOME! (I know I used this word already, but this isn't an english paper. Plus my vocab is limited and I dont' feel compelled to search up a thesaurus for another word for awesome. Besides, the word awesome is just plain and simple awesome (: say it a few times in your head and you'll understand the awesomeness of the word awesome )There isn't one song out there that they're recorded that I don't like. Along with their super musical talent, they're also quite lame funny. The kind of funny where it's so lame...that it's funny. It kind of reminds me of J....and i shall leave it at that.

By the way, super random fact. The two best bands in the world both start with the letter "s" and were started between two brothers, who so happen to have the first names Tim and Jon. That's right, you guessed it! It's Starfield and Switchfoot!

Let me end off with a super awesome note....THEY'RE COMING TO VANCOUVER IN FEBRUARY!!!!!!!!

Pictures and possibly videos to come (I have to screen them to see that i'm not screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs)

After church, I went to my volunteering place to get shots, the H1N1 and the normal flu shot. I wasn't planning to take it just because i don't think i really need it. However, we are "high recommended" to take it...which basically means all volunteers HAVE to take it. I guess it makes sense cause we do interact with really fragile people. By the way, if you hadn't already known, I volunteer at Minoru Residence which is a extended healthcare facility for seniors. So basically, what that means is it's a seniors home for people who are really sick. My official position is volunteer under the rehab program which doesn't really mean anything because I basically do everything other than feeding, putting them to bed, getting them up or anything. Long story short, I applied to a different position but then when i went in for the interview, the volunteer coordinator told me the position was filled and she put me where I am now. I WAS SCAMMED! I found and replied to the stupid posting the day it was posted and went in for an interview asap. Anyway, i'm enjoying what I'm doing so that's alright. If you wanted to know what the original position i applied for was, it was for a musical therapists' assistant! Doesn't that sound sooo much cooler and better than what I'm doing now?! Anyway, getting back on topic here....I was perfectly fine after took the shots until now. I'm not quite having a fever but it feels like I have one, shivers, hot/cold flushes etc....Stupid body! cooperate with me! I don't have time for you to throw some stupid tantrum! I need to get my work done! 2 papers, 3 assignments and 1 group project (math project?! Who the heck gives out math projects?!?!) left until finals and i still need to sqeeze in time for studying and various other things i need to do.

On a more positive note, an hour of 如何我見到你的母親 and two hours of 英雄s tomorrow! AND! 星田/文章一 演唱會 in less than a week!!!!! I'm more for the 星田 cause i have no idea who the heck 文章一 are and I dont' think i've ever heard of any of their songs. By the way, these aren't Chinese shows/bands ;)

What do you do when someone is too stubborn and stupid to see what he/she is getting him/herself into and he/she won't listen to anyone around him/her?! It's so difficult living with these kind of people around you. You want to help, you really do but what can you do if every time you try you get pulverized to the pulp by a tsunami of emotions. The only thing left to do is just to try not to generate your own tsunami of vengeance and watch as those people keep crashing. Crashing, full speed ahead. Wall after wall after wall until they break. Are we suppose to throw ourselves in front of them to try and soften the impact?

Writing out your negative emotions does get it off your chest. But, it also gets you into a slump, a cycle of negativity. Writing positive thoughts just masks your true emotions. Not write at all and the negativity just creeps into you and eventually consume you until you turn out "emo" as they say.

Week of Redemption

I just found out my mark for the first midterm I did 2 weeks ago. I was so sure i pretty much aced it because it was sooooo easy. It turns out that i did pretty bad on it. This sucks because firstly, this is suppose to be an easy course. Secondly, I was so confident about a good mark on that exam. If i did so poorly on the exam i was confident in, then how will the one i think i did horribly in turn out? I can't even bare to imagine. I guess last minute cramming doesn't work even for easy courses. Oh how i miss easy marks in highschool.

Anyway, this week is the least busiest week this month. No midterms this week, AND i don't have work. But, on the flip side, I actually have to stay till 8:50 for my night class on Thursday because I have to participate in a presentation. (I'm part of the peanut gallery in a debate ==") Back to the main point. I have tons of time (sort of, time flies by for some reason and i'm not exactly having the time of my life here...) to catch up on my readings and studying. THe most important course I'm taking is social work 200 and that's the class I'm most behind in, partially because i kind of dislike and I would go as far to say hate it! It's not what i thought at all! We have to know so many different policies for this and that. The whole course is revolved around politics, which I hate! I'm dreading the midterm, which is next week becuase as i said earlier, I hate the course, and I've read 3 pages out of the 50 million pages haha :S.

In terms of spiritually, I still have a lot to catch up on. I used to wake up a bit earlier before school to do my devotions because my schedule this year is pretty awesome. Class starts at 11 every single day except every other wed, so i can wake up at 8:30, do devotions and have time to pack and eat breakfast before I head out for school. If i drive, it's even better, but i usually get the car once or twice a week only. Back on topic....ever since midterms started, my sleeping pattern has changed dramatically and I've lost all motivation to wake up "early." So this week, I must redeem myself, set myself straight and form a better sleeping pattern so I can get up early to do devos before school and so that I can be more efficient with my energy rather than trudging to and from school.

The past month

I can`t believe it`s been more than a month since i last posted. I created this blog to force myself to reflect, and think out loud about daily happenings and such, but, obviously it has slipped out of my mind. On occasions, I would think about posting, but then the thought of sitting there and typing away for hours and hours rambling on and on just wasn't so appealing. (Hopefully this won't be too long and boring)

Anyway, just a summary of significant events that happened within the past month or so. I found a job AND successfully quit in a bit less than 2 weeks at a Fisher's blueberry farm which I didn't really like. What kept me going was my goal of not being yelled at. If you know Bob, the boss (that's his real name), you would understand what I'm talking about. This late 50's? old man that smokes like a crazy person (a pack a day i swear!) has a habit of swearing and yelling at his employees(personal testimonies provided by several ex-co-workers). He did end up swearing at me once, in a joking/teasing manner, which by the way wasn't as funny as he thought, but, I never got yelled at. Not even once! BOOOYEAH! I won't explain the other things in detail, but here are the rest of the "significant events" that happened (at least the ones that I can remember on top of my head). Camping at Manning park with friends, hung out with friends, became a sponsor for Jr. high fellowship, starting of school, and I think that's about it.

Here's a recap of my goals for the summer, which i pretty much failed.
- finish dancing with a ghost
I definitely made progress, but I doubt I'll be finishing this book in the near future

- hopefully find and read at least 5 more books
Definitely not something that I did. I did however decided on a book and borrorwed it. I'm hoping that I can actually read that throughout the year.

- not lose contact with some of the people i haven't seen in a long time
This goal wasn't the most specific goal ever, but I'd say I did, in most part, keep in touch with people I haven't seen in a while. However, it doesn't seem realistically possible to actually see every single person that I haven't seen a a while.

- pass my summer school course with at least a "B" (my inner asian is telling me to go for the "A" though)
I passed, but not with the desired grade. I gave up on the second midterm which cost me quite a bit. I think I ended up with a B- though, so i was close.

- stay in tune with the news and not tune out the world
This goal wasn't only for the summer. It was a long term goal which I am slowly inching towards. Just because of this goal, I started subscribing to the Vancouver sun. The things is, i haven't even touched it yet lol. Plus, I don't think it's that good of a paper anyway.

- and find a freaking job!
As stated earlier, I did find a job. A "freaking job" might not be the best description of it, but I'd say it's not bad.

Reminder to self: Never take a 6 hour nap ever again. EVER! No matter how tired you are, never ever take more than a 2 hour nap or else you'll be wide awake at 12:00 like you are right now. Maybe i'll do some reading, that always knocks me out haha.

When i was driving home from dinner today, I realized that driving by myself at night is actually a really relaxing activity. Relaxing and scary. It never occurred to me, i guess, its because I hardly drive. Even when i do get a chance to drive, most of the time, I have someone beside me or it's a really short distance. The silence and the gentle breeze blowing into your face gives a really peaceful and relaxing feel. This silence isn't a "I'm so bored" kind of silence, it's more like a tranquil kind of silence. It's a silence that just gives me a sense of content and peace. Its the kind of silence that gives me a chance to think and reflect. Maybe i should do it more often even though it may be an expensive thing to do.

I mentioned earlier that driving is relaxing and scary. When i say scary, i don't mean I'm afraid of the silence or anything. I mean I'm scared for my life and for others who are on the road because sometimes i am so deep in thought that i zone out and don't pay attention to the road. It isn't as bad as I make it sound, I don't completely disappear into sunny's magical land, it's not like autistic or anything. (Plus, I'm pretty sure it happens to everyone who drives.) Its just that its sort of a distraction to my driving. I'm not very good at multitasking and thinking too much about other things and driving at the same time isn't exactly the best combo unless you're looking for injury/death. I never really understood how people can drive and eat at the same time, especially if it's not finger food. If it's a cookie or something small, then, sure, i understand, i can do it too. But I've seen people eating Mcflurries, sushi and even noodles! Noodles in soup! WITH chopsticks?! What the heck, it's like a accident pending to happen!

On a completely different note, it's really weird how i just posted about posting and here i am posting again, for the fourth time today.

I was checking out my courses for next year again just now and found an opening to the only course i wasn't registered in.YEAH! Now i just have to hope that i like these courses, or at least not hate them because i would hate to try and play tetris rearranging my schedule again! :)

Why must there always be a title?

Partially why I dread blogging is that it takes forever for me to write something. I’m not much of a writer and definitely not a person who likes to read (proofread). I never realized how time consuming writing is until I started writing posts. I don’t know how many times I have already mentioned this but I am a HUGE procrastinator and when I need to write a paper or something for school or whatever else, I usually do it last minute so it’s super rushed. Procrastination is only part of it, the other thing is that I hate doing things in parts. For example, If I’m in “the zone” of writing, then I have to continue writing until I finish. I hate writing separately because I lose track of where I am and lose a lot of ideas. This doesn’t only apply to writing; it applies to a lot of things such as reading or watching a movie. I pet peeve I guess? It’s partially why I don’t really like reading because I can’t stand to put down the book if I’m into it. And it takes me a while to get back “into” it when I pick it up next time because I probably forgot some details.

Another reason I don’t like blogging is because my mind is a whirlpool of a mess and I can’t get my ideas and thoughts straight. I tend to get sidetracked a lot which makes the post even longer then it should have been. A prime example of what I mean by I get sidetracked a lot is this post itself. I decided to write this little post in the middle of typing the post below this. You can tell I get sidetracked a lot by counting the number of times I’ve used the word anyway!
It’s kind of ironic how I’m blogging about why I hate blogging so much. Oh well. I guess it’s better than writing this all out on paper.

Summer checkup

It's been a while since I last made a post and I've been meaning to do one since forever but just never got around to doing it. In fact, I actually have half a post typed up about the San Francisco trip that I typed up during the car ride back but i never got around to finishing it. I guess it won't ever be finished since i deleted it already.

In a nutshell, that post was me rambling about my dis-satisfactions of San Francisco and how even though I complain that Vancouver may be boring at times, it seems like heaven compared to down there. My main problem with San fran is the horrible weather and the super congested-ness of that city. The micro-climate there just drives you insane, or at least it did to me. The temperature fluctuates like a pregnant lady's mood! Holy smokes, it can be 10 degrees and suddenly elevate to 30 something degrees. Not to mention the climate is different from city to city, it can be freezing cold and foggy in Daly city and super hot in Berkeley. That's not even the worst of it. In the 5 days that we spent in San Fran, we couldn't see the Golden Gate bridge even though we drove passed it and on it several times. There was this perpetual fog that hovered over the city which covered essentially everything so that you couldn't ever see a thing if you went on top of a mountain. Foggy weather is one of my most hated weather type because i like to see things. As stupid as it may sound, seeing things is really important to me. I can't imagine what it would be like if I was blind. I don't raelly know how to explain it, but my vision is really important to me.

Anyway, back to the real intent of this post.

Even though it sort of feels like it just started, which it technically did since i did have summer school, summer is quickly coming to an end. To be truly honest, the idea of it ending kind of scares me, firstly because it seems like it just started, like i said before and that i haven't done much. Secondly, the end of summer means the start of school. Throughout the many years of schooling, I never really dreaded school to start. I might have not wanted my summer to end, but I never didn't want school to start. I liked school. I mean, i wasn't a keener in school or anything nor did I get top marks but school was never really a burden for me. It all changed last year though. In the beginning of the year, school was pretty cool and such, new school, new environment, new friends, pretty awesome. But, I'm not really sure why myself, but i lost all motivation for school not long after it started. Grades were definitely not up to asian standards and seeing those grades isn't exactly very motivating either. Anyway, it's going to be much better this year because i have a clear cut goal for myself academically unlike last year. Back to the checkup. Here's the list of goals i very loosely set for myself, which shouldn't have been the case...

- finish dancing with a ghost lol
- hopefully find and read at least 5 more books (most of you know reading isn't a big hobby of mine but i'm trying!)
- not lose contact with some of the people i haven't seen in a long time
- pass my summer school course with at least a "B" (my inner asian is telling me to go for the "A" though)
- stay in tune with the news and not tune out the world
- and find a freaking job!

Well, summer hasn't exactly ended yet so i'm pretty confident that i can still accomplish the first one. This time around, i'll be more strict on myself in terms of accomplishing these goals lol. 5 more books seem kind of impractical now that i only have 3?4? more weeks left so i'll be really happy if i finish dancing with a ghost and hp 7 AND possibly another one i have yet to find.Even tough i haven't seem some of them in person, i still am emailing and what not, but i can definately work harder towards that. Lets just say i passed the course haha definately need to work on that one more (for the next school year). I am getting better at that, trying to read/watch the news more often. Well, seeing that i never used to do it, it's been good. As for a summer job, maybe i should just look for one for the coming school year haha.

edit: I forgot to talk about the guitar-ing one. Through my much wasted time, i've finally learnt how to play the guitar sort of, still lots of things to learn about but i'm happy with the progress. As for the bass, i still haven't gotten my hands on it yet haha still have a few weeks left so we'll see.

Speaking of goals, when i was chatting with a friend today, he reminded me that not only should i set goals for academics and in general, it's also really important that i do set goals for myself spiritually. It's weird how i never even thought about it so i guess it wasn't really a reminder, but he told me. I haven't exactly decided on a goal(s)yet but i do have something in mind. I'll make a post when i decide on one and hope you guys can keep me accountable :P (I honestly have no idea who even reads this thing other than the 3 followers)If you didn't catch that, i mean leave a comment!

Day 1 and half of two

I was planning to do a short update each day but never really got the chance to because sitting in a car for endless hours is actually more tiring than you think. I actually typed most of this thing up during an excruciating part of the drive on the second day. Anyway, here it goes

After 2 and a half states worth of bugs on the wind shield, multiple sightings of road kill including but not limited to: squirrels, mostly racoons, occasional birds, and one baby dear, endless hours of (lum chi churn, mui yeen fong and all the other oldie Chinese songs/singers), almost a chapter from Dancing with a ghost, some family bonding, some good old nostalgia and of course, the inevitable arguments.

The start of the trip was a bit rocky and cranky as usual. Waking up early and leaving by 8 of course was just the plan, it never happens. Lack of sleep and having to wait for other people to get ready is the best recipe for a good old argument. My dad, being the driver, of course wants to leave as early as possible so we can get to our destination before it gets too dark. Usually my mom or sister is the slowest, today being mom. My dad hates driving in the dark just because it is a totally new place for him. Plus, I do agree with him in saying that it isn’t really the safest thing ever. Sometimes, it is pretty creepy and scary if you are the only car on the road with only your tiny headlights to guide your way. By the way, I honestly think that my dad is one of the best drivers in the world. He actually puts a lot of effort and concentrates really hard to keep the car steady. Sometimes, if you close your eyes, you’ll just think he’s driving a straight road because he controls the car so well that it feels like we’re gliding on the road. With him at the steering wheel, I have no worries and can fall asleep no problem. Quite quickly if I might add, which he complains about a lot haha. He always says that we all fall asleep leaving him to drive by himself so I tried my best to stay awake this time to keep him company. So Kudos to dad for being an awesome driver! Yea, we’re a Chinese family so there are no complements to each other lol but we do appreciate each other, just not done through the typical verbal complements.
Well, we did take a looong time to get moving, we actually got out of the house around 9:15 I believe, and headed for the border. Of course there had to a wait (1/2 hour – 45 min.) which made the cranky and sleep deprived dad into a grouchy old man. “I told you to come out earlier!” The more we waited the more annoyed he was. Let’s just say sleep deprivation can make people angry. It wasn’t only him though.

Not going to bore you with the details so I’ll just give some highlights.

During one part of the car ride, we started talking about the good old days and one of the funniest things came up, something that I wasn’t even aware of myself. Apparently when I was about 1 or 2? I’m not quite sure on the details but our family was planning to move and was looking for a new apartment, this was way back when we still lived in Hong Kong. The 4 of us went plus my mom’s friend and my grandparents from my dad’s side. We were with the real estate agent who was going to show us around. On our way up, the elevator broken down and we were stuck there for a looong while. Being the miniature versions of ourselves, my sister and I obviously cried. We waited soooo long for someone to rescue us that we couldn’t hold it in anymore and had to pee in the corner of the elevator. LOL! That’s not even the most epic part! We were stuck in the elevator for 2 to 3 hours and before we even got rescued, the corner was all dry already! LoL Pretty gross I think, but also pretty funny.

The next day, the second day, we planned to leave the hotel by 8 and leave for some national monument in a city called Cave Junction. It sounds pretty cool though, it’s not quite spelunking, it’s a guided tour in which they show you the cave and apparently it’s really really nice inside. It’s famous for it’s marble. We brought our good old GPS, we don’t quite have a name for it, I was going to do a little video of it and post it here for you guys to help decide what it should be called haha. Anyways, our good ol’ pal showed us the way. We were kind of skeptical about it because the road signs were telling us a different thing. But, we had faith in her because she led us around so many times even though we doubted her before. Well guess what, she did lead us on the fastest way, but one of the roads was a unpaved and an off road type of road. It’s one of those roads that you need an ATV or at least a 4 by 4 for. So we didn’t end up going, which kind of sucks because the description sounded pretty cool and a friend of ours suggested that we go because it is well worth it.

There's still so many more things that have happened that i'd like to document but like i said, i'm tired. It's been a loooooong day of walking around like crazy. As some of you know, San Francisco is really hill-y so walking isn't exactly fun here, it's more like an intense workout.

Just some random pictures taken along the way



They have these hearts all around down town. Kind of like the Vancouver polar bears, Orcas and eagles i guess.
Playing with the functions on my camera. Changed the M&M machine from being yellow to green.
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Have you ever seen a hand print on a license plate before?

This lady bug was eating one of the many carcasses on our windshield. Quite gross if you ask me.

Putting the Pro in procrastination...yet again

For those of you who know me know of my procrastinating ways and how I'm always screwed over by them. I should really be finishing my paper but what am i doing right now? Facebook, msn, random stuff on the net as usual. Even as I type this right now I'm procrastinating! This, my friends is the definition of epic fail. So why is it that my procrastination is correlated to the importance of the task? High importance = more stress which = running away? What paper, I have no paper :/ . It's not like this paper is even that hard, in fact, it's quite interesting. I get to pick any person in the world real, unreal, family, or even myself and then analyze their personality using the theories we've learnt. Could range from anything like Homer simpson to Hiro Nakamura to Michael Jackson! This is for a psyc class by the way, psyc 305. It's pretty interesting. The prof is an awesome lecturer and she makes the material really intriguing. She designed the course really well too! After we finish learning 2 or 3 perspectives of personality, we would watch a film and then analyze the personality of the person in the film. So far, we've done Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Isak Borg (from the film wild strawberries which was in swedish + black and white! Of course i fell asleep ;)), Gloria and Carl Rogers (documentary of Rogers giving Gloria some sort of psychological therapy). It's kinda late right now.......to paper or to sleep? you were expecting a hamlet quote weren't u >=)

Summer senses

Summer never was my "favourite" season. Whenever asked what my favourite season was, I would immediately blurt out spring. Why? I'm not quite sure myself. I think it has something to do with the weather and it warming up, not to mention it's the season where everything starts growing and blooming.

I was really bored at home, channel surfing right after dinner, the usual. Couldn't really find anything that would satisy my overbearing boredom even after trying for probably a good half an hour. I'm actually starting to get sick of the tv. Shocking, I know, I suprise myself too sometimes. TV used to consume my life. I am THE epitome of a potatoe couch, I used to think that I could actually sit/lay/sleep on my couch for a whole day just watching tv. Sad now I come to think of it haha.

Anyway, so after the much wasted time of doing essentially nothing (staring (not engaged) at a tv screen) I decdied to go to my room and try and find something to occupy myself. I opened the window and found myself zoning out, staring at the beautiful pastel, yet glowing red, slowly fading and mixing with the gentle baby blue creating a soft velvety lining of purple right in the middle. All the while enjoying the gentle night breeze hitting the leaves on a tree, brushing them together creating a calm and serene sound. Feeling the sensation of what's left of the sun's rays warming up my arms and smelling the sweet sent of the pine even though i'm allergic. (and the disgusting smell of asphalt! yea, we're fixing our roof aka, the root of my insanity for the past few days! Non-stop banging and bashing from 8am-5pm. PLUS the dude's random and loud bursts of song in some Indie language) It never occured to me that Summer was the only season where I watch the sunset/sunrise, soak up lots of sun, stay out all day and not get cold. The stuff that i really love doing! I guess I never really realized and understood the beauties of this season and the wonderers that God has made it. Truly, He is a God of wonders.


I don't have much of a view from my room because of that pine on the left. However, I actually really like that tree because I've seen it grow and it makes a really nice rustling sound in the wind.



I was going to do a progress check kind of photo gallery haha but they basically finished everything in 2 days. But there's still hammering!!!! DIMM GUYYYYYYY :)

Edit: I was listening to Miles Davis throughout this whole process. I don't know what it is about jazz music but it gets to me and calms me down.

Epic fail quote of the day

Me: I want to get some artichokes hearts cause i wanna make a dip.
Sarah: eww, that's disgusting! Why would you eat fish hearts!

she thought artichokes were anchovies LOL! they don't sound alike nor do they look alike other then the fact that they both start with an a.

A smooth pickup, or a geniune desire to learn?

I was on my way to school today taking the 480 bus. As usual, I fell asleep midway through, but, this time, i was woken up by a Spanish fellow, or so he says. "Excuse me, excuse me. Hi, may I practice speaking English with you" he says in a mild tone to the girl sitting behind me. The girl is obviously a little creeped out by him as she says "sure", in a nervous and scared kind of tone. Throughout their whole conversation, I was just thinking, was he trying to get a date for Friday night? Or did he simply want to improve his oral English. Why would I think that you might ask. Well, plain and simple, his English sounded almost perfect with a tad bit of an accent. Some of my friends don't even sound as smooth as he does. Not only that, the girl also noticed it too and she was mentioning how he spoke as if he knows the language inside out. He then explained that he learned it throughout highschool i believe. I was actually still half asleep so i didn't catch the whole conversation, but, may I mention that it was a long one. Anyway, he was saying that his first language was Spanish and that he has learnt english throughout highschool and his undergrad. He just never got the chance to practice it becuase he would always speak Spanish to his friends and family. At this point, it reminded me of something Dr. Mariam Adeney said that was quite funny. I remember during the Koinos class that she taught about missions, she explained that there was this method of learning a lanuage that was developed by missionaries and she gave us an example. So on the first day, she would go to the learning center and learn some basic vocab and phrases and in the afternoon, she would walk around town talking to people. "Hi, my name is _____ and i come from ____. This is all i can say, have a good day." She would go from store to store to say the same thing and hopefully try and learn names. And everyday, she would do the same thing over and over again, learning more and more words and phrases. I thought it was the funniest thing. Imagine if you were a baker and everyday the same woman comes in and says the exact same thing to you, how would you react/feel?

Anywayssssssss, I'm just wasting time here because I got to school at 3 and was planning to see an academic advisor just to talk about courses and what not. However, when i got there, the receptionist told me they weren't taking drop-ins any more, so here I am, trying to waste time. Lalalalala goodbye.

This little blurb is going to be stupid but i can't help it :P By the way, this is not me, it's just something I read

Today, I was at Walmart when my stomach began to hurt. I quickly waddled to the restroom in pain. As soon as I got in the stall, a huge crap exploded out of me. The child in the stall next to me started crying. When her mom asked what was wrong, she said that I'd "killed her nose." LOL funniest thing i've ever heard haha

Epic fail ---> epic adventure + fun

So by now most of you probably already heard of our (Antonia, Karen, Tim and I) epic journal. If you haven't already, just go read Antonia and Karen's blog cause they've already written about it so therefore i shall not bore you. Just pictures, since they're worth a thousand words :P

Racing against the clock

Get out of our way woman! We're trying to catch the sunset!

I flashed her to get her attention (as a joke)

Didn't except her to actually notice :S

Speeding our way there

It was freaking cold! no joke! hugging for warmth lol

The end to our epic adventure and off to bbt!

For all you techys out there

If you're not a techy, you are still welcome to read because most people who know me know that I'm not a computer genius, in fact, the total opposite. I'm quite horrible with computers. I only know how to turn it on/off and use the things I need to use but i still understood it. It's just a little story that I read early and thought that i was quite cool so i stole it! >=) Enjoy.

Tech Support: Hello … how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install
Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you
located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now.
Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running ?

Customer: Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge
and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt
from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent
memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will
eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High
Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and
Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed.
Can you turn those off ?

Customer: I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke
Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and
Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that
normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base
program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get
the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error
- Program not run on external components.” What should I do?

Tech Support: Don’t worry. It means that the Love program is set
up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In
non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before
you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the
following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your
Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the “My Heart” directory. The
system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty
programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all
directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely
gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files.
Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying
themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but
eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed
and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure
to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in
turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, God.

So we did a murder mystery thing tonight for Titus and it was pretty fun but also pretty confusing at the same time haha. I was the "bohemian poet", Donovan Jones, however, my secret identity is MR. X! dun dun dun! Yes, i was the "criminal mastermind" who is trying to buy secret nuclear plans from Ashley Bunsen (Andrew hahaha) at an auction that was happening in Casino Fatale. It's kind of complicated but basically i have 3 people who work for me secretly (or so i thought! traitors!) Ralph Anderson (Kim) who was the bartender who secretly was my henchstress? henchwoman? Anyway, i think she wasn't 100% on my side but i guess she was loyal on most parts. Pat Bullit (Johnny) was my right hand man who is my loyal bodyguard who was the only one who stood by me haha. And there was Countess Alice de ville (Joann) aka TRAITOR! So apparently I helped her kill her husband because he was cheating on her and that's why she works for me. Also, i helped her get rich because she signed a pre-nup and would've gotten nothing if she got a divorce. Because of this, I can make her do anything I want her to apparently, but she's afraid that I might leak this information out so she ratted me out to Matt Bond (Tim) whom she was suppose to flirt with in order for him to get off my tail. He's kind of self explanatory haha, British secret service, trying to outbid me for the nuclear plans. So, actually the night was pretty tame as no one was killed and nothing really happened so i was glad cause i think i did a pretty good job of staying undercover until suddenly Eva Goodbody (Karen) comes up to me and says she wants to kill me! The rule with killing is that you can only kill if you have a weapon (knife or gun) and you have to play rock,paper, scissors and see who wins. If the killer wins, the victim is dead. If the killer loses, nothing happens. If you die, you are out of the game for 10 minutes. So back to the story, so of course i didn't want to die so i kind of stalled for time by asking the host (May) questions and stuff just so i could get out of it haha. But the inevitable happened. I died :( and was mobbed, literally mobbed because people can steal the dead person's belongings. I was just trying to grab my identity + secret card and my abilities becuase no one is suppose to seem them but of course Karen attacked me. My envelope was torn apart lol my phone and money fell all over the floor. In the midst of the chaos and the attack, Sam Riley (Ronald) managed to save me without anyone knowing because he had the first aid kit. It was quite funny actually haha. (By the way, mid-game, he gave up and started telling everyone everything he know about everyone else and he actually helped me a lot haha. I was actually going to threaten him to tell me stuff because I found out that he actually stole money from the Casino.) So apparently on my way down to the ground when i was dying, i kicked karen and she called me mean. haha ==" She KILLED me for crying out loud, see the irony! Anyway, she found out Ronald had the first aid kit so killed him and then killed me again. This time actually killed me and stole everything from me. VIOLENTLY; ripping, tearing, whining, screaming, stealing, while everyone else was trying to mob me again. And so the game ended there. Sad, but hey, i was the bad guy haha. All in all, the game was pretty fun, but quite confusing at first, but it got better and better as people were getting more and more into it. Anyway, here were my goals as Donovan Jones.

1. Hot property: get the plans for the nuclear weapon out of Ashley Bunsen; you have placs for these plans.

success: after much hard work. Actually, i got Ralph Anderson (kim) to help me do it haha :P

2.Incognito: Keep away from Matt bond;your secret identity is your most prized possession

major success: cause i didn't say a word to him lol. just got my minion to distract him haha

3. Money to burn: You need any information you can get that might help you leverage a purchase of the casino.

success: i did get information but i just didn't get the casino lol

4. A thorn in your side: Talk to Pat and Ralph, find out if the threats from Melissa Havelott are real and if so, do whatever you need to do t o protect yourself.

success: I found out who Melissa was almost right away haha (hilda)

5. More money to burn: you have plenty of spare cash, make sure some goes to charity by bidding at the auction, and try to win at least one lot.

failed: there were only 2 things out of the many that were being auctioned because after the 2nd one, the pendent was found missing so they stopped it. The first item was a drink with Countess Alice de Ville which i wasn't interested in because she's part of my little minion lol. The 2nd item was my skills as a poet, so i would write a poem to the highest bidder so obviously i couldn't bid for my own thing. lol. If you guys want to know what the poem was here it is, kinda stupid but i was bored at work so i started thinking about the game.

I hate my Job,
Everyone around is a fob.
Today's my last day,
Hip hip Horray!

Anyway, this was my little regurgitation of the night. This is only the story from Donovan Jones' point of view though also, there are subplots that involve many other characters. I wouldn't call it an intense game but it was actually really cool and fun. By the way, correct me if i'm wrong because i can't remember every little thing that happened. Also feel free to add on. Thanks for organizing again May!

Ugh! I thought my allergies would go away or at least get better after last Wednesday's rain. Usually that's how it works for me but apparently my body likes to disagree with me.When I wake up every morning, i can feel my eyes swollen, swollen to the point where it kind of hurts! It's kind of REALLY GROSS! not to mention the plugged and itchy nose. Anyway, today will be a good day because i WILL get lots of studying done! I WILL be good and study my butt off so i can be free on monday to visit the minnesotans =D AND paint my paddle! And of course, MURDER MYSTERY TONIGHT! I shall now get started.

I just found out that my midterm is next Tuesday instead of Thursday! OMG i think i need to start studying now!....except it`s 12 already! I`ll wake up early and start i guess. However, this means i need to sleep now. Yes, RIGHT NOW! so goodnight.

I've been meaning to blog for the past couple of days but never really got the chance to. It's kind of late right now so I will keep it short. I just downloaded the first 2 Narnia movies because i was listening to the cd for the first movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I just couldn't stop because it was just soooooo good. Musically, some of the songs are quite catchy (not to mention the CD was put together by some kickass Christian bands/singers) and lyrically, it just blows you away. Usually, when i listen to music, lyrics aren't the first thing that I notice, it's usually the general melody or the arrangment of the song. So when I listened to the CD for the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth time, I got more and more of it and WOW. As you can probably tell, I'm not very good with words cause i probably used/will use the word "wow" a million times throughout but oh well. I just think that it was ingenious of C.S. Lewis to write fantasy books that have biblical teaching embedded in them. It's kind of werid but cool at the same time how he portrayed the gospel in a fantasy kind of way, making it in a sense more believable for your average non-christian. The movies simply just blew my mind! While I was watching them I was just thinking wow, C.S. Lewis is a freaking genius. I have never actually read any of the books except The Silver Chair which is the 4rth one out of the 6 chronologically. I remember I read it in Gr. 5 which seems like a million years ago. At that time, I didn't even know that C.S. Lewis was a Christian. In fact, I had no idea that he was a famous author. I thought he was just some guy who wrote a few books. When i read The Silver Chair, I read it as just some story book becauase obvsiuoly you don't really analyze a book when your doing a book report for a grade 5 class. Not to mention I was still in ESL back then. But after watching the movie, I have this weird urge to read the the entire series haha. I actually really like fantasy books/movies or whatever so I know I will enjoy it. If you look at one of the older posts, you'll see that one of my goals for this summer is to get into the habbit of reading and read at least 5 books. I guess this will help me more than fulfill that goal. But I still have to finish Dancing with a Ghost. By the way, the Narnia movies are now officially one of my favourite movies. Probably until i read the book and see how much of it is missed out/changed and what not. haha

I guess I'll dedicate this little post to explaining my name "It's not always sunshine." So my mom was talking to me and telling me about how she was having a casual conversation with someone and for some reason I was brought up. This peculiar man, for some odd reason thought that I was a super keener at school who does super well. He had this absurd idea of me being a perfect student, child, christian...well...a perfect person. Honestly, what the heck.....I am no where close to being the good kid that he imagines me to be. After my mom told me about this, i was just thinking, well, this seems kind of like how a lot of people think I'm just always happy and smiley. I just can't understand why people think that way. I mean, I am, for the most part a happy and optimistic person i guess, but is anyone always 100% happy? It may sound ridiculous, but i'm human too, and I have and feel other emotions lol. So that explains the name :) It's not emo, it's just the truth.

UGH. I never would have thought that blogging would be so difficult! I feel so stupid trying to figure this thing out. On the other hand, while reading up about it, I feel like a geek. Anyways, I finally met up with a bunch of high school friends for lunch today at well tea. I was quite excited about this because I haven't seen them all in a long time (some since the end of first term, and some since Christmas!). The weird thing about it is that it felt kind of awkward, I'm not sure why exactly....I'm thinking it's because I've lost touch with them, but they're still in touch with each other which is kind of sad (I think we should go out more if you guys are reading this :)).

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So I've been really bored lately and am doing the usual, aka procrastinating so i picked up guitar-ing and now my fingers are disgusting lol. I can't help but play with it cause I'm so bored at home haha. Plus, it was one of my goals for the summer to learn the guitar so I can't really just give it up.

Talking about goals for the summer, here are the rest of them. (It's not the to do list, just a few goals)
- finish dancing with a ghost lol
- hopefully find and read at least 5 more books (most of you know reading isn't a big hobby of mine but i'm trying!)
- not lose contact with some of the people i haven't seen in a long time
- pass my summer school course with at least a "B" (my inner asian is telling me to go for the "A" though)
- stay in tune with the news and not tune out the world
- and find a freaking job!

Anyway, back to editing the blog.

It's been a long time since i actually read the news or even cared about whats happening around the world. I'm not one of those people who enjoy reading, especially the newspaper. The only newspaper that i "read" is the 24hrs, and that's only if i'm still conscious and bored on the bus. I'd much rather enjoy myself lying on the couch, watching tv. But for some odd reason, I felt compelled to go and read the news today. And guess what i saw? A child from New Hazelton by the name of Jor-el Macnamara was murdered? Details aren't clear because it's still under investigation, but the police suspect it was a homocide. However, the child's face was found all bruised and battered up. It's heartbreaking to see any death and especially the death of a toddler simply because they have so much ahead of them.

Honesstly, not until the recent mission trip up north did I ever hear about this little town and all the communities surrounding it. It's so sad to hear about this becuase this town was once the most lively First nations reserves. Now, no offense, but it's just a big mess. I don't know what it is, but there are major issues going on in New Hazelton and in the areas around it. There's so much pain, anger and hatred and it's only leading the communities into a viscious circle of empending doom.

There's lots more to say, but i'm tried. goodnite

I don't understand why I always stay up so late. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like i don't get tired. It's not like I don't know that it's bad for me. It's not like I don't know it'll screw up my daily routines. Then why? Why do I, in fact, why do people in general like to stay up late and do absolutely nothing? It kind of bugs me. Anyways, going to sleep now, nites.