10/31: Happy Halloween! and welcome to the last update of the month! soo about this weekend: some of u kno ive been struggling about whether or not to continue learning drums... cuz i hafta pay for everything myself and now its all coming out of my savings. but yea... i decided to continue learning =). yesterday morning i continued my lesson again... it was soo fun! im not any good yet, but hopefully that will eventually change. hehe anyways saturday afternoon did theory homework... 5th species counterpoint was soo hard! took forever to finish. then at nite went to SNL (or the Journey cell... wuteva u wanna call it). aunt amys team was practicing downstairs and josh wanted to show me sumthin that he said wuz really important. guess wut it was... he wanted me to listen to jay chou!! hahaha..

today - carol woke me up at 7:15 cuz she didnt know the clock was set back an hour. then she realized her clock was the only one that said 8:15. haha... anyways i spent like about 11 hours (literally) at church. went at 9... studied history during 1st service... then went to xperience. then ate lunch, then claymusic rehearsal.. etc. typical routine for the most part. except of course the harvest festival =). so before practice they already had the big moonbounce thingy set up. so me ernest gary n samuel S.S. decided to go in for a little fun. i wonder if theres a weight limit for that thing? hehe... we were like sooo crazy. during practice vanessa kept coming in and feeding me hot cheetoes and sushi while i played =). i felt so spoiled that i was ashamed. and she gave me ALCOHOL too!! haha j/k its jus one of those chocolates with alcohol in it. but still... hehe anyways then practice ended jus in time for harvest festival to start..

remember that bitchar-G racetrack i built for halloween two years ago? gOsh i wish i had the time to put it together again... from wut i heard that year it was one of the best booths... and actually i still have the big board with the track design marked out. but yea... maybe next year. anyways, harvest festival this year was great. i chilled with stephenie jennifer n rebecca for the most part. so the big question: wut was my costume? ok well vanessa gave me cheetoes in a lil black lid thingy, and i guess i put it into good use. for the more visual people, this might help:

10/29: its friday and i'm home again =). soo lemm sum up my week real quick. wednesday morning crystal offered me fried rice again (yum yum). so i followed her usual routine and went to meet amy n shelly to walk to class. had lunch with amy n crystal too =). then went to theory class (see 10/27 post). jen came over to visit in the afternoon. we watched the video of ashlee simpson caught lipsyncing... hehe it was soo sad! the had dinner at covel, during which i watched kevin vs. henry in an incredible eating competition. it was hilarious, they kept on complaining about each other's food choices and adding new rules after each plate... i left after an hour and made it back in time for ALL-HILL HALLOWEEN!! this year wasnt as nice as last year, mostly cuz our floor decoration turned out to be a 'fire hazard'. soo dumb... if this is a fire hazard, last year's decorations were a death trap. but yea... it was kinda lonely at first, i jus passed out candy by myself, then at the end amy crystal n jessica came over. i had no costume so i put a puzzles bag over my head and cut two holes for eyes. and then i got dragged out to the hallway in public view! ò.ó hehe it was lotsa fun though. then a few minutes later kevin returned after beating henry (*gasp!*) in the eating competition. 17 FREAKIN PLATES. he didnt look too sober, but luckily he had no class on thursdays (henry had a midterm... hehe) so anyways then later at nite i went outside and caught the last few minutes of the lunar eclipse. then got a drink from puzzles. hEhe... im totally addicted to these 'free' drinks now even though its only first quarter. this is bad...

thursday - once again, full day of class. but this is prolly the best thursday this quarter so far... ok so it started kinda crappy. i woke up intending to eat breakfast, read the bible for a few minutes, then study for a few minutes before going to history lecture. then i turned on my computer and guess wut... there was a freakin virus. luckily i wasnt qurantined or anything, but still then i spent all this time tryin to figure out how to kill it, and when i checked the clock it was already like 10:45 (class was at 11). so i grabbed my stuff and pretty much ran downstairs. of course, i still wanted to do my daily puzzles stop. but they close at 10:45, so i didnt get my drink =/. u kno wut was funny though? when i got to class and sat down, i realized there was a new unopened bottle of wild cherry pepsi next to me. i waited patiently til after class... nobody claimed it. so it was mine =). prolly someone left it from the previous lecture and never came back for it. whoever it was, thanks a bunch! so i actually had sumthin to drink along with my lunch (cereal & banana, as usual).

then theory class again - once again, amazing. actually it started on monday... recently ive been praying desperatley for some friends in my class, cuz it seems like everyone there knows each other so well and i'm just in a lil corner by myself. then on monday we had to pick study buddies, and at the end when all the 'loners' stood up, tim (from across the room) suddenly volunteered to be my partner. how cool is that? we just met during last thursdays discussion. its kinda funny tho cuz everyone thinks we look alike. the TAs even gave me his homework by mistake once. so yea... that gave me a pretty good reason to migrate out of my corner and to the middle (more social) part of the room. thats where i was on thurdsays class. we were supposed to bring this sight-singing book which apparently only like 4 people brought, and i ended up sharing with tiffany. yea remember tiffany? the one that found me before my first keyboarding class when i was lost and had no idea where teh classroom was? (see 10/14 entry) and we were talkin and eventually decided to meet at nite and study together for next week's midterm. that was the first time i actually walked out the door after class with someone to talk to =).

history discussion - studied like crazy for tuesday's midterm. chris got a scooter!! see how influential i am? haha j/k after class i went straight back to my room and threw my stuff down and went to eat. yea i kno... usually i dun eat on thursdays until after IV. but wut made last night so special? THEME DINNER!!! yupyup.. best dorm food possible, only three times a year. i didnt kno wut theme was where, so i just walked up to rieber (cuz it was close), and guess wut it was? SEAFOOD!! my favorite =). lets see... shrimp on rice. fish. stuffed clams. CRABS. yes CRABS. (dun kill me serena... hehe) i had FOUR PLATES. that makes 8 crab legs... pretty much one whole crab. and those clams... i kept on goin back for more. oH and wuts really cool is that some gurl named cindy just came and asked if she could sit with me (cuz i was eating all alone). at first we had a little emily & sara moment (awkward silence), but this time im actually a little more on the social side, even though i had apologize so many times for eating so much. so yea... we talked n talked and then she had to leave, then i got a few more clams then i left too. maybe we'll meet again soon? god only knows...

it was like about 6 when i left the dining hall. worship practice was supposed to start at 5:30. *innocent smile* but hey, we never started practicing before 6 anyways, thats why i didnt really mind being late. 6:30 IV was supposed to start, and there were like... 5 people. hmm i wonder where they all went? perhaps the crabs already ran out? hehe... anyways then after intervarsity i called tiffany and her very nice friend drove her to sproul (she lives in westwood... soo far) . then we got to my room and i set up the keyboard and we started studying or practicing or wuteverz... best thing about music is that u cant really study it without having fun at the same time. its not like studying chemistry where u jus sit there and read a book and do problems. one thing we learned in theory class is to not be afraid of making mistakes. so we all get to laugh at each other knowing that they all feel comfortable messing up. so me n tiffany were trying to record some Lassus into the computer except its like impossible to play it through perfectly... and i was humming along and i kept messing up too! haha then at the end we jus chilled n talked until her other very nice friend came to pick her up. looks like we still have a lot of studying to do, especially with three midterms (for the same class) coming up in the next two weeks. and best of all, i finally have a friend in my future major. soo i asked God for friends in music class, and look at wut he gave me =)

anyways this morning i continued workin on stupid Lassus... for tuesdays test i hafta play #1 and #7 both hands... its not too hard i guess, except they're all in MODES and stupid weird clefs that i never used until i took this class. so my solution? put it all into FruityLoops =). so now i have mp3s of both pieces and i can listen until i memorize it! hehe... so yea, guess thats all for now. ive been listening to this stuff all afternoon and will probably end up doing it all weekend. hmm i wonder how people will respond if they see me blasting Lassus really loud on the car? haha... nah dun worry im not THAT desperate. but anyways... this entry is waay too long already, so if u read it all, good job!! hehe.. now before you fall asleep, i'll shut up =)

10/27: today was simply amazing.. in theory class the TAs were passing back the 3rd species counterpoint homework after professor lefkowitz told us how many common mistakes there were.. and everyone got their homework except for me. so i jus sat there confused... meanwhile lefkowitz was writing an example counterpoint on the board for the class to analyze and correct. after he finished writing, he put my homework on my desk. very weird... took me a good few minutes to realize that my homework was the one he put on the board. i was like *BIG GASP* followed by *BIG SMILE* (which i was kinda shy to show in public). soo we went around the class naming the intervals like we do all the time, n then when the professor asked the class to point out mistakes, nobody said anything. he didnt see any mistakes himself either. at the end he announced that someone in the class wrote the example and asked me to identify myself. so yea... that was my totally unexpected moment of glory. and with counterpoint i never though it was possible to have an answer that doesn't need to be corrected in one way or another. trust me... u should see the stupid mistakes i make. actually in case u were wondering, i got a 96 on that homework, not a 100. why? i labeled four nonharmonic intervals wrong (never made that mistake before...). and when i was copying the 3rd species counterpoint to mixed species, i wrote my OWN cambiata wrong!! *smacks self on head* luckily i didnt lose points for that =). but still... i kinda wanna TRY and get a perfect score one of these days... but its like pretty much impossible. anyways... enough babbling. the point of all that was NOT to make myself sound like a genius, which i definitely am not. (seriou5ly... im really screwed, especially with the musicianship midterms coming up next week.) it made me really happy when the class applauded me for my work, but it made me even happier just to realize that now everyone (professor, TAs and students) knows i'm no longer just a newbie that appeared a week and a half after the class started, but i'm already caught up =).

10/26: i think its been a while since i last wrote about my life on a tuesday. hehe... but hey its been a great week so far, and i wanna get this stuff in cyberspace in case i cant remember it if i wait til the weekend =). so uMm... sunday nite i went over to yune's room to pay her the bowling money, then i ended up staying there teaching her chinese. hehe that was fun... and no my chinese isnt anywhere near good.. she jus needed help pronouncing words correctly. hehe so anyways yesterday (monday) i (afternon!?!?).. i was kinda sad that i had to eat dinner really early (at 5) so i could go to worship practice, and probably nobody wnated to eat with me that early. then geuss wut... steph IMed me and *pOoF* we decided to meet at rieber! so we had a little cousinly date.. hehe then worship practice was great... gOsh the songs this time ar esoo complicated! must practice... hehe then at 9 yune came with les (a frat friend) to pick me up from the URC. and guess who else was on the car... heather malinick! wow... didnt know we would run into each other again. hehe soo we were pulling into the parkinglot and it was a pretty steep curb but les desides to not brake. o and he has a civic hatchback. so it was like *bOoM* and he thought it was just sumthin bouncing around in the trunk. and i was like 'uMm... its ur bumper...' hehe... so anywyas bowling was lotsa fun. i had a really nice team - me, yune, heather, aram, and "Q" (how do u spell ur name? hehe). and i really needed their encouragement, cuz i SUCK. my biggest problem is that my fingers are too fat, and all the balls that fit me are way too heavy. i probably got the most 0's =/. but then again, i think i also go the most strikes! hehe its weird... i either get it all or miss it all. we played three games... first game i did soo bad, then second game i started with a strike and i was like *GASP*. o and i ended the last game with a strike too, even though i still suck overall. hehe but anyways... this is like my first time hanging out off-campus this year. i guess ish cuz most of my friends seem to only wanna go play on weekends now, which means i have to miss out. but owellz...

today - so crystal has this really cool air-chair, but nothing to inflate it with. so i brought my airpump yesterday. but it didnt fit!! so i had to hold it really really tightly while crystal pumped.. and we managed to get it half filled. and today she finished the rest by herself!! *applause* hehe its soo cool... once im sitting in it i wanna stay there forever. oH and she agreed to dinner with me too =). it was raining a little but we made it to amy's place without umbrellas. so we met up with amy shelly anna n greg and went to deneve to eat. i wanted to make my jello soda drink, but they didnt have sierra mist so it was ugly =/. after dinner we all went bak to amys room and locked amy out. haha... and we were watching thru the peephole.. she jus stood there and started reading these lil flyers on the door. it was soooo funny. anyways then at 9 matt came over and we went to the sproul bible study (for intervarsity). i was always too lazy to find out when/where it was, but it was actually pretty fun. not sure how much im gonna commit to it, cuz its gonna interfere with the campusevents movie screenings... but i think this quarter theres very few movies planned, so it shouldnt be a problem.

sooo anyways... gotta do some more counterpoint for theory class... this suspension stuff is pretty insane. so many rules and so hard to make it sound right. but luckily its only two problems... so it shouldnt take THAT long. so yea... i'll shut up n get to work now. byebye!

10/24: time SNU once again - soo i think i left off on friday last time. i was gonna get lunch by myself... then luckily i ran into a huge gang of IV pplz... so i got to join them =). then i went to crystals room n took pics of the doggies. (yes i'll post them online eventually). friday nite i started feelin a little sick... but i was happy cuz i wanted to get sick for a logn tiem arleady. i had this cough for like a whole month that never wnet away, and i wanna jus get sick and suffer a few days and get it over with, cuz ive been having troouble talking normal without choking all the time. so anyways... a little sleep got that sickness to go away. as for saturday, i went to macaroni grill! hehe.. for reals this time. cynthia got a reservation =). (thanks!) and jasmin n jackie also came (everyone else at SOLD was gone...). the make-ur-own pasta thingy was soog ood. and i LOVE how the whole table is a big drawing paper! hehe afterwards me cynthia n jackie went to SNL... luckily they barely started meeting yet when we got there, so i didnt feel too guilty for bein late. then after that we went to little cafe, but somebody backed out on the boba-sharing deal =/. anyways... went home... did stuff on the computer, then went to sleep. today - wilson mentioned me in his sermon! hehe... and he thought i wasnt there but i was, cuz he wnated me to go up and share. ish ok... im nto a good public speaker anyways. got to talk to jen n steph again... feels like i havent seen them in the longest time. after church i went to find rose, cuz she brought this model car she wanted me to sell on ebay for her. turns out its a yatming.. so its probably gonna get her about 10 bucks. then she decided to screw it and just let me have the car. wow... *feels soooo loved* thank you sooo much rose!!! guess this is my first christmas present this year =). beautiful pontiac vibe gt-r model. hehe anyways then afternoon was claymusic practice. yupyup i havent really mentioned claymusic in a while, so i guess i'll update a little on it.

of course, we're practicing because we'll be on stage again soon =). 9/5 full concert in irvine, 9/6 leading worship. its been soo long... i almost forgot the songs! hehe gotta practice hard! and yes theres gonna be some changes to the playlist, so even more practice for me. but of course, now that i have a keyboard in my room, it shouldnt be a problem.

anyways after two hours of practicing, i came home n frantically packed everything to bring back to school... there was so much stuf fi had to get done. but a yummy hotpot dinner definitely helped =). so yea... then i came back to school. this weeks gonna be exciting, cuz im going bowling with yune and the rest of her pre-law frat tomorrow night! first time ever goin to santa monica. hehe... actually wait.. was curryhouse in santa monica too? anyways thats it for now. i better shut up and finish unpacking. hehe... byebye!

10/21: soo remembebr i said i was gonna write about why i brought a monitor to school? well first of all lemme sum up the week so far. monday- i didnt hafta wake up early to go eat breakfast at rieber... cuz crystal had noodles for me! yUm =) i followed her entire morning routine - go to deneve to 'pick up' amy... then walk to class together (their classroom is rite next to my rap class, had lunch with them at 11... yea i kno its early, but at least they wanted to eat with me =). worship practice at night. i'm officially called "elephant hunter" now. haha... and yes we actually practiced for like the first time! anyways then back @ the dorms, van came over n we ate at puzzles. tuesday - ran into shanon in schoenberg! gosh i pretty much never see my old floormates around... until now. hehe theory class was really kickback today - we jus messed aroundo n the keyboards for like 3/4 of the class. i asked sara if she wanted to get dinner... and we ended up having like a whole huge table of pplz =). at like 7:15 i suddenly decided to give a shot at going to watch Alfie (steph n gloria were there... and so was thao... but id idnt find out until i already decided not to go cuz i thought no one was going). thank god for scooters =). scootering in the rain is a lot of fun... pretty scary, but as long as i turn slowly its all good after the movie (it was crappy by the way... pretty pointless), it was raining realli hard and everyone was like panicking (especially those who had no umbrellas)... and i was like 'hMm... screw it since i'll get wet anyways, mite as well get it over with fast' so i jus opened my scooter n rode thru the rain. that was sooo fun. i got soaked thoguh. hehe... actually i had an umbrella with me... but i didnt use it until i was walkin uphill, and that dried me up just in time to return to sproul. wednesday (yesterday) - lunched with yune.. dinnered with kevin & gang. it was really cold... i had like 134030234 cups of tea thruout the day. im starting to LOVE going to the breezeway at night wne its really cold and drinking tea while talkin on the phone. hehe oH and debbie updated her homepage with a new chatterbox and me n melody happened to be there posting at the exact same time, so it basically turned into a chatroom and filled up like twice in the first 30 seconds. hehe... anyways... that brings us to TODAY. so last nite i got a surprise visit from sara (and later emily who locked herself out.. hehe)... and sara came up with a really brilliant idea. this morning she became the first human being i had dorm breakfast with this quarter!! yea i kno... pretty sad huh? kinda explains why im always hesitant to wake up early n eat. i did hafta get up almost n hour early to eat with sara, but it was worth it =). o and finally the dining halls decided to do sumthin really smart - they extended this year's breakfast hours to 10 instead of 9!! ive been wanting that to happen all last year. so today i actually got to eat at 9. so iw as actually awake (and alert) before class at 11... but of course a whole day of class still wore me out pretty badly. i acme back for a 10-minute dinner (banana & cereal) break before IV... mainly cuz i had to grab that monitor (come on.. did u think i was gonna bring it with me around campus all day?) so last week's intervarsity turned out pretty hectic, especially when i played half of 'humble king' in the WRONG KEY (who da heck told me it was in G!?) cuz i couldnt hear myself at all. i checked the soundboard and i was like pretty much on max volume. wutdaheck!?!? so yea... to give the sound people a break, and also to make my life easier, i brought my own monitor =). so today i got to turn myself up as loud as i wanted and it didnt bother anyone =). i think that monitor's coming with me ever yweek from now on. hehe... so anyways, i ran into steph n her friend eric on the way back... we walked together n talked about president stuff. haha.. got food @ bruin cafe and went back to my room to eat. and that brings us once again to the present. in other words, time for me to shut up.

10/20:

10/17: SNU... lets see... saturday went to piano lesson cuz i gotta prepare for possibilities of auditions soon. im soo not ready... lotsa work to do. after that i went to rose hills... i'll write about that in detail on tuesday. anyways at nite i went to watch shark tale with rose n esther. pretty funny movie =). sunday - lunched with ken n had a grea ttime talking afterwards. yea... thats about it. haha... so now im back at school. luckily it wasnt raining, cuz i didnt have anything to cover the keyboard with when i brought it off the car. yupyup... the rs70 is finally in my dorm =). for the most part its gonna be played on headphones, but i brought a little monitor anyways... i'll explain why after thursday. hehe okee thats all for now... byebye!

10/15: wut da heck is this foo doin at 99 ranch market?!?!

10/14: music theory (20A) is HARDCORE. mon tues wed AND thurs... 2 hours a day. monday & wendesday is counterpoint (l'ecture'), tuesday is keyboard & rhythm, thursday is intervals & sight-singing. lotsa work... but also lotsa fun. monday nite i spent several hours making up homework... turns out professor lefkowitz decided to give me full credit instead of partial =). tuesdays class was SUPPOSED TO be in schoenberg 1402... but i guess my schedule lied... nobody was there and some old person was using the room practicing piano and singing opera or sumthin... i was about to give up and leave.. then suddenly i ran into tiffany, a gurl who switched into theory clas the same day i did... she also had an extra day to make up homework but she didnt know where the professor's mailbox is... so i took her to the mailbox. then i told her id idnt know where the classroom is, and she took me there! it was so amazing how we ran into each other... i swear if she didnt show me where the room was, i would still be searching right now and not find it. its in the freakin BASEMENT in some labratory room. haha... but i walked in and i was like WOW... this is my class!?!? the closest thing ive seen was the masterclasses at JOC jamborees... each person had a really nice keybaord and headphones... and the teacher didnt even mind us playing in our headphones when he was talking. this is realyl the first time i get to play piano DURING class. and i love it!! =)

then wednesday's theory class - most college students are too lazy to do reading assignments... but i was so happy i actually got in the class that i read both chapters 3 AND 4. then when i went to class n sat down i noticed the gurl next to me had her entire chapter 3 homework finished. and so did the guy in front of me. and i thought it was due next monday. apparently the professor assigned it last week before i entered the class. but still... thank god i found out early... i started workin on it rite away (during lecture). luckily it wasnt too hard... its all on basic rhythm... so i pretty much learned it in piano lessons already. and a little bit of drum lessons in the summer definitely helped speed things up =). so at the end i actually finished it... and less than a minute after i finished, professor lefkowitz told the class to pass in the homework. WOW... how much closer could it get? and u kno the funny (and sad) thing? the gurl behind me probably thought i was crazy cuz i was panicking and writing like a maniac through the entire first half of class. and then when the professor said to pass in homework that gurl was like '*GASP* isnt the homework due monday!?!?" o and the professor duznt accept late work. poor her... i guess one homework wont hurt THAT much.

soo... enough about music theory. what about my history class? typical history class... most peopel find it touch to stay awake. but at least its better than my old class. and i totally love the discussion. the TA is totally nice and as long as we're participating, he really duznt care wut we're doin in class. so at the beginnign we got these papers with pictures of marie antoinette, king louis the wutever number (theres too many of them), and robespierre. me, chris (the guy next to me who i just met), and the two people stiting across from us all found the same way to entertain ourselves. i dont have all their papers with me, but heres wut mine looks like:

10/14: quick summary of the schoolweek... sunday nite when i got back to my school, there were balloons everywhere in andrea candace n dianas room. turns out they celebrated candaces bday which was actually in the summer! haha... and they offered me the last cupcake =). then i went to visit emily since she left me a note on my door and made me feel special. also there were yune sara n kitty. *mEOw!* haha j/k dun kill me!! *innocent smile*... monday: lunch with kevin n danny at deNeve... ran into steph n david =). monday nite- worship practice @ URC for the first time... moving the gear down 3 stories (with no elevator) is pretty tiring... but at least we actually practiced! hehe and when mike told shannon he locked the key inside the storage room she totally fell for it!! *laughing soo hard* =) anyways... tuesday - didnt have time for lunch so i had bananas. hehe... dinnered with kevin n his gang... kev tried the exothermic reaction trick on suzie n she totally did not fall for it!! haha i successfully helped crystal n jessica fill their jar of m&ms. its so great how theyre on the 2nd floor cuz i pass their room everytime i take the stairs to my room... and i love surprising them everytime... once i walked in when crystal n amy were watching anime and they didnt notice me for the longest time! and once i kept peeking my head in for like a milisecond... and this time i rolled oranges into their room =). anyways uMm.. wednesday i had lunch with yune n her friend tina... in the afternono jen came to visit =). havent seen her since 0 week!! dinner was kinda sad cuz nobody wanted to eat with me... so i went by myself and ran into yune again! haha so it wanst that bad after all =). ran into joy on the way back to sproul... we're in teh same history class... maybe we shoudl study togehter sometime? hehe anyways the rest of wed night was spent in 233 again. i think jess n crystal are prolly sick of seeing me there already =/. hehe hopefully not... then today - VERY crazy... class from 11 til 5, then IV from 5:30 til nite... which means no breakfast lunch AND dinner (except the cereal and fruits that i smuggled from the dining hall yesterday). but i got a clam chowder bowl when i finally went back to my room. forgot the fork n knife though, so i had to take care of the bread with my hands =/. nobody saw me though so ish alrite. hehe so yea.. here i am writing this entry. and like i said earlier, this is a BRIEF summary... so i guess i'll shut up before it gets any longer...

wait... one more thing - tuesday was kelleys bday and wednesday was jennifer(huo)'s bday!! happy bdays to them =) i IMed jennifer for the first time since like... her bday last year? hahha... yea its been long enough. and she still remembers me! *soo happy* ok yea... thats it, now im really gonna shut up...

10/12: "and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

the past week has been a difficult battle for me, and this was the verse that helped me through it. for those of u who dont know, i'm dropping engineering and switching my major to music, but since i'll have to apply as a 3rd year, all i can do now is try and fulfill all the general requirements so that when i get in, i won't be too far behind. my three classes for this quarter were originally spanish2 (foreign language req.), history3b (social sci req.), and cultural history of rap (humanities req). everything was going well until i found out last monday (10/4) that i was getting kicked out of spanish.

to fulfill my foreign language requirement, all i needed was to pass level 3 or higher in spanish. even though i took 4 years of high school spanish (which technically counts as passing college spanish 4), the department website said i could place myself in any level i wanted. so i chose spanish 2 (to review what i forgot over the past year so i can take spanish 3 and fulfill the requirement next quarter). but it turned out the department wouldn't let me stay in spanish 2 since it was 'too easy', and so i (along with about a third of my class that also had the same problem) had to go the the office and petition to stay in the class. the counselor told me i should be in spanish 5, and that my chances of staying in spanish 2 are very small. but all i needed was level 3, and i didn't plan on going any further than what is necessary.

monday afternoon - i sat in the garden asking God what to do. then i had an idea - rather than attempting the near-impossible task of trying to stay in spanish 2, i petitioned to move to spanish 3 instead, figuring that with a little more effort i could probably catch up (especially since the spanish 3 textbook is the same one i was already using for spanish 2). i figured God was simply telling me that i didn't need to waste a quarter in spanish 2, but rather i should move on and challenge myself to complete my entire foreign language requirement in one quarter. so i submitted my petition for spanish 3.

wednesday - i was scared to check the petition result, especially since i never had a successful petition attempt in the past. but to my surprise, the department approved my request, allowing me to take spanish 3. immediately i went back to my dorm and placed myself on the wait list for spanish 3, hoping the class would have extra space for me.

thursday morning - i went to my new class, and the instructor told me to wait and talk to her afterwards. so that's what i did, except she simply ended up telling me she was busy preparing to teach the next class, and that the class was already full. (the last opening was taken by a girl who talked to the teacher right before me, but since she was a grad student, she had priority over me). the instructor told me to speak to another instructor who taught at the same hour, but she wasn't much better. she said she was busy too, even though a few seconds later found her drinking coffee and talking in the hallway. at least she allowed me to go back and sit in her class the next day. but chances of me getting in were still small.

i didnt know what to do next; i did nothing wrong, and suddenly i was short 5 units, which would bring me to part-time status and cause various problems (including loss of financial aide). back in my room i began searching for a new class to enroll in. it was already a week into the quarter, and almost all the classes were full already. to make things worse, whatever class i ended up in, i would already be behind, and would probably end up with 0's for whatever assignments i missed. but i was desperate; as i kept thinking about Romans 8:28, i knew that God wouldn't shatter me unless he had something better planned for me. as i cried silently in my heart, i prayed that i would understand how such a disaster could be good for his purpose.

i continued searching for classes at the computer, and somehow stumbled upon the music section. when i took the theory qualifying exam a few weeks ago, mr. bradley (the advisor) told everyone that classes for this quarter were already full, so it would be impossible to enroll in theory until next quarter. but i decided to click the music link and see for myself. it turned out the theory class was still open, with plenty of spaces left. immediately i went to the music office to talk to mr. bradley. he told me that i passed my test, but needed to get the professor's permission to enroll. back in my room, i put aside my old class schedule and began a new one. i decided to forget about spanish entirely; with the petition already passed, i can easily enroll in spanish 3 next quarter with no problem. even though i was yet to talk to professor lefkowitz about letting me into his theory class, i assumed a yes and placed the class on my schedule along with my rap class. it conflicted with my history 3b time though, so i removed history too (also partly because it didn't really interest me), and began searching for a new third class that could fit the open time slots.

it was about 3:15 when i found one - history 1c (which fulfilled the same GE as history 3b), which was worth 5 units (a perfect replacement for my lost spanish units). the class sections were all full though, and i knew i couldn't wait another day to get off anymore wait lists. then the craziest thing happened - it turned out one of the discussions was from 3 to 5PM on that very same afternoon, and so i left my room immediately, and made it to the classroom at 3:30. after apologizing for interrupting the class, i briefly explained my situation to the TA and asked if there was any chance of me getting a PTE number (which lets me enroll in the class). it turned out he was one of the friendliest TA's i ever met, and he asked me to stay in his class after guaranteeing me a PTE number. there were no chairs left in the room, and the whole big table was filled already; i can swear i thought he was playing a joke on me when he said there was room for me. but he told me to email him for the PTE number, and that's what i did.

all these trips to and from campus, visiting office after office, plus having to do homework for both the classes i was already in and the ones i wished to get into, definitely stressed me out. the weekend helped me relax a bit, and when i did think about my problems again, it was when David (the history TA) emailed me back with the PTE number for his class. as for music theory, i couldn't find professor lefkowitz on friday, so i had to wait until yesterday (10/11) to actually show up in theory class and speak to him. we talked after class, and as expected, he told me that catching up with the class would be extremely difficult. i explained that i have studied theory before (with my piano teachers) and found most of his lecture topics familiar. after a short talk, he gave me the PTE number, and even gave me a day to complete the past homework assignment for partial credit. it was a lot of work (a week's worth of homework), but i agreed gladly. victoriously i returned to my room and completed my class schedule.

so by getting kicked out of spanish, i discovered an opportunity for music theory, and through that i replaced history 3b with another history class that interests me much more. even better, i actually made it into theory, and have taken a step into my future life as a music major. if that's not good enough, mr. bradley now remembers my name, after telling me i scored extremely well on the qualifying exam. as i chased after God's purpose for my life, things worked for the good of its fulfillment, even though i didn't understand every step of the process. it was God who brought me into this battle; i let him take command, and we won the victory. God helped me do what i thought was impossible, and i will continue trusting in him and never letting go. whatever troubles may come, all i need to do is believe that there is a purpose for my suffering, and that purpose will be revealed to me.

10/10: gonna get back to school really late today... so i guess i'll do my SNU while im still at home. first of all, congratz to BALDWIN and uncle KEVIN for being ordained as pastors!!! hehe... so anyways rewind to saturday - worship practice with josh in the afternoon turned out to be the same time as orchestra practice (orchestra moved their time today cuz lotsa pplz couldnt make it). it was sooo funny cuz when i had drum lessons it was also during orchestra time, and so sometimes i would randomly appear and say hi to steph... and she just naturally assumed i'm always there. so one time i wasnt there she called me n shes like 'where are u!?' and i was like 'um... where am i supposed to be?' hahaha so today out of nowhere i appeared again... we did a lil piano-violin duo thingy... it was fun. hehe o and steph hooked me up with dinner that the church prepared for the orchestra =). then we did our daily romans-corinthians thingy n she went home n i went to SNL. actually now its officially called the Journey. the journey cell? haha iono... pretty cool name though. so since i already ate, i got to go home afterwards n SLEEP. o wait... actually not yet. rewind once again - yesterday (10/9) was also venus's birthday! so i called her for the first time in FOREVER. hehe.. ok yea thats it for saturday.

sunday (today): got to church @ 8 to practice.. i brought my rs-70 cuz yesterday when we practiced in the english sanctuary, i had soo much fun doing B3 effects... and the a-90 downstairs duznt have a good B3. the only problem? i had to get the keyboard out and back to my car right after evening service worship. so i asked kevin to play when the pastor was praying, and i jus climed on stage n unplugged everything and ran off with the keyboard. hehe o and by the way, the pedal is still brokened, but luckily i made it temporarily work. its REALLY ugly though... i showed josh and hes like 'wut thats ur pedal!?' hehe yea u should see it sometime...

sOo wut wut happened between the services (i only went to xperience)? took a walk around church with kelley in the morning... talked about lotsa stuff... and found a scary garden spider. haha and we went back inside n *pOoF* ken (yeh) was there!! (by the way peoplez.. dun forget to RSVP for you-know-what!) hehe... glad to see him again =). after xperience i chilled with steph jen n rebecca (she came to church today!)... stephs parents got hook-ups to some really nice FREE food... and i bought a $1 boba again =). finally... the old days are back... good quality 1-dollar boba at church! *soo happy* hehe then i went to find rose cuz i promised we were gona go eat n hang out and i was supposed to help her on homewerk. yea yea i know... wut about the after-ordaination party at the park that everyone else went to? well i promised rose first, so i let her decide where to go. and she agreed to go join the picnic =). steph (lin) saw my car and she called me to make sure it was me... then i parked and me n rose got our food and ate (most ppl were done already and just chillin)... and the whole time steph couldnt find me! i was jus sitting wehre everyone else was! but then again... there were like 200 pelple. hehe... steph decided to take me to meet her friend kathy - i heard alot about her before... shes also a piano freak and she n steph always play together... and we both wanted to meet each other (especially after we talked n played piano over the phone yesterday). so first steph n rose got to meet each other.... then we walked up the street (kathy lives like right behind the park)... and then when we got there steph introduced kathy to me and to rose, who she just met a few minutes ago. it was so complicated but so funny. so yea... we messed around with piano stuff... played lotsa jay chou. haha and kathy was nice enough to give us all a ride back to the park =).

then me n rose went back to church and i helped her with homewerk as promised... and she gave me this yummy dried seaweed thingy from taiwan. hehe then evening service - we wer SUPPOSED to meet n practice at 4:15 but some pplz *cough* didnt show up until like 4:50! so anyways we worshipped again then when the pastor prayed i snuck out my keyboard to the car... and i took rose home and i went home... and ate dinner... and packed... and now i'm here writing!

the next door neighbor's fire alarm just went off... and it kept buzzing for the longest time. nothing happened (a cop came afterwards and he just walked around then left)... but i swear i felt like i was back at school already. haha... so anyways... got lots more stuff to bring to school this week. more pictures and decoration stuff... (i still need pics... so pleez donate!)... an umbrella (cuz my old one fell apart =/)... some more cds... o and my lil doggie! yupyup cant wait to bring it to jess n crystals room and take pics of it with the big doggie =). and the biggest dillemma now: should i bring the rs-70 or not? jacob still wants me to. im starting to want to myself... especially after realizing several people in the dorms also brought keyboards. if i bring mine, that means i'll prolly need sumthin to cover it in too so it wont get all dusty under my bed (i'll set it up only when i need it). but it would definitely enhance my (already exciting) dorm life. so yea... i'll think about it. hehe... soo one last thing before i shut up - heres a brief update on my classes. things are still progressing, though very slowly (cuz i'm not physically at school). dun remember how much i wrote about this last time, but rite now everything is under control, but not at its best. so even if things dont work out (im prolly gonna find out tomorrow), at least it wont really cause me much trouble. but then again im sure that if god brought me through this on purpose, im gonna get SOME good out of it... and thats the part i'm excited to find out =). thanks everyone for your prayers... i'll write about exaclty what happened as soon as it all gets settled. for now, pleez keep prayin for me. thanks! =)

10/08: sooo great to be back home again.. these past couple days have been incredibly um... long. so basically my classes didnt turn out the way i thought they were supposed to... i'm trying my best to believe that god will make everything work out ok... but its REALLY hard. everything just seems to be going up and down and up and down... when will it finally settle down?

anyways... all that stuff aside, heres a little randomness. today i was comin home from school with steph n her mom... and on the freeway i saw this old chevy Astro... and some fool decided to remove the chevy grille and switch it for a cadillac escalade grille. WHY!?!!? were people actually supposed to think he had a cadillac minivan? (even though the grille itself looked like it was worth more than the rest of the car combined). wuts next... a big rolls-royce angel standing on the hood?

randomness, part 2: i went to play with my doggie and found this scary looking RED spider... so i taunted it slowly until it was next to the pool, then went *fliCk!* with the big saw i was holding, and the spider went in the water. it was floating though.. and it jus walked around slowly on the water... kinda like Jesus. hehe... then i put a bunch of ants in the water n they kept grabbing the spider and makin it go crazy. after a LONG time that red spider finally realized it could climb up the side of the pool. but u kno the weirdest thing? the spider climbed DOWN - into the water... and it kept walking deeper n deeper... duz it not realize that it cant breathe? (at the end it went into this lil water pipe thing at the bottom, so im sure even when it needs to breathe, its prolly too late. so no more scary red spider to worry about...)

anyways... last thing before i shut up - even though these few days were pretty crappy, my friends were still there to cheer me up. i was in jessica n crystals room for a looong time today n i kept playing with that doggie thing (the one i always play with when i go there). o yea and im gonna bring my little one next week so they can keep each other company. hehe... i'll take pics of them too =). something totally unexpected happened tonite - lucy called me!! haha yupyup i was soo happy... n then steph (lin) called too... she has SAT2's tomorrow... so everyone pray for her n wish her luck! =) o and its emilys birthday today! so i gave her a surprise call =). soo great to talk to her again... i thought she forgot me or sumthin =/ ok anyways... yea thats about it for now. plans for the weekend? hmm... maybe get a haircut? n then worship practice (with josh) and SNL cell (finally!), then sunday church... o and baldwin's gettin ordained!! CONGRATZ!! =) hehe alrite anyways... as usual everytime i go home i suddenly feel sooo tired. rite now im staring at the bed next to me and wishing i'm on it. and now that im gonna shut up, i'll probably be on it soon...

10/06: havent bought cds in a long time... but check this out =)

10/06: i always love week 1... its the time when all the people that make fun of me for having a scooter suddenly learn to shut up after realizing how many other people saw the advantage of having one. hehe... i saw like almost a dozen pplz already... hMm anyone still up for starting a ucla scooter club? hahaha ok anyways... classwise everything is finally starting to kick in... the week started kinda crazy (as those of u who talked to me these few days prolly know).. but today some amazing stuff happened, and even though not everything is settled yet, things are starting to look good. praise God =). and thanks for all of u who prayed for me... pleez continue doing so. i should have everything settled by tomorrow... then i'll write about it all here =). anyways lemme briefly summarize my classes this quarter:

SPANISH 2: yes i kno... im taking spanish once again. i actually like the class... but then again this is where all the problems are happening. more details to come later.

HISTORY 3B: "history of Science"... interesting concept. a bit too philosophical for me, but it shouldnt be too hard, at lesat i hope not. our TA gave us chocolate during discussion =).

HISTORY OF RAP: now THIS is where all the fun is happening... ok before u start thinking "wut da feck??", yes this is a real class and yes i'm actually taking it. it counts as african american history credit... great way to get rid of a GE huh? =) so yea... as i expected, the class is like 50% black... and theres like 2 azns. and theyre all like thugged up n stuff... i feel like such a frerd (freak + nerd). yea... its sooo fun though. today we talked about "Gangsta Rap". (yes thats actually wut it says on the syllabus). and eventually we'll be talkin about MCing and DJing techniques... and "turntablism". apparently theres actualyl such thing. haha... dun worry... i dun think i'll start freestylin anytime soon, at least not in public. but hey... who knows.......

soooo yea thats it for classes. other stuff that happened this week... monday: i ran into crystal like 5000 times today. it was soo weird... and she got lost at royce cuz she wrote the wrong room number. so she missed class. hehe anyways... buncha floormates invited me to dinner with them =). i was soo happy... cuz seriou5ly i felt really bad for not spending as much time with my floor as i shoudl have... last week i missed like all the floor dinners cuz i was busy. but they still love me *sooo happy* =). hopefully it stays this way for hte rest of the year. hehe anywayz then tuesday had lunch with emily yune n a bunch of their friends. me n emily stayed there n talked for like FOREVER. gosh we have so much to talk about... i was telling her my story... (u kno... um... yea that one) and later i went to her room n continued. and i didnt even finish yet. haha gosh i talk too much. then at night - the second free screening, TAXI! at first like nobody wnated to go except me and yune, then we rounded up a whole gang of people and had dinner, then went to line up. ok next time if i dont get my butt out of the dining hall by 5:45, someone yell at me and push me out. and if that duznt work, throw food at me. if that duznt work, throw a cup at me. seriou5ly its too early in the year to start slacking... i need to ge tmy usual spot at the front of the line! hehe ok actually it wasnt THAT far back... and we still got good seats. but still felt kinda weird. hehe but yea it was sooo fun anyways. me crystal n amy had this weird obsession over lil sticky gluey things in the gift bag. haha.. o and the movie... yes it was great. not a strikingly amazing movie, but definitely hilarious. some black woman turbocharges and rices up her freak TAXI... i luv that part when she found out she had to ride in a lil Daewoo and shes like 'eww i aint gettin no daewoo on my hands!'. hahaha... then after the movie we chilled in amys room. then came bak to my room and got a call from steph li... turns out she was with albino nolan eugene n shaw right in front of sproul! so i went out n chilled for a while. came back inside and stopped at crystals room cuz she told me about some 'pink spotted dog' earlier and i was totally confused. turns out victorias secrets decided to plant a bunch of pink doggies around the dorm, and whoever finds one can bring it there to get a free hat. not that i really need anything from victoria secrets, but hey it was fun searching. me n crystal went thru like half of sproul and then i found one!! it was in the 4 south laundry room between the two machines. hehe now its sitting on my desk looking at the door. anyways... yea yea i kno this entry is gettin too long. fast forward to today - classes til like 6PM =/. i had a 45 minute break and turned on my cellphone... and steph (lin) called like right when i turned it on. weird... hehe but yea it was fun riding my scooter one-handed while talking on the phone. at the end i almost forgot i still had a class... anyways then i got back at 6 totally tired and wishing someone would want to have dinner with me. and i get out of the elevator and guess wut... a bunch of floor pplz were waiting there to go down for dinner! and they invited me =). that was like... soo perfect. hehe we went all the way to hedrick. when we were leaving carol (my friend next door) asked everyone to take an apple for her. apparently she didnt realize the potential of our floor.. especially the more experienced 2nd years. *smirk* anyways we ended up with like a lifetime supply of apples. on the way back some random person saw us and was like 'ooh... soo many little apples!' HAHAHA that was hilarious. ok anyways then i came back to my room and here i am now. i think my cup of tea is ready... so i'll go enjoy that now. byebye!

10/03: me again... u kno... when i wrote that last update the internet wasnt even working... so im gonna upload it wiht this one. hehe so i came back to ucla with a bunch of stuff... took me two trips to get them all in. lets see... i brought a HAMMER, a pack of SCREWDRIVERS, and a KNIFE. what for? well i think the housekeeping pplz decided to ignore my third work order (switch my desk shelf to a better one)... so i decided to do my own work order. those of u who saw my room prolly kno wut im talkin about. so i flipped the shelf upside down, took apart the built-in lamp, and drilled a hole thru the backboard so i can use the outlet. i jus need a big piece of cardboard... then its all done. wut else did i bring? my photo album!! yupyup... time to decorate again. hMm... the brown tackboard never really pleased me, so now its completely different. come n take a look some time =). its not done yet but im open to suggestions... i got one comment already - "it looks good (for a guy)". i guess thats a good thing. haha oH and one more thing - HERES UR CHANCE TO FEEL SPECIAL FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR! hehe... i need more pictures for my wall.... (full size 4x6 pics)... if u have any pics of me and u that u want to donate, i'll gladly use them for my wall. and trust me, based on experience from last year, pictures on the wall are GREAT conversation starters. so yea... ok i guess thats it for now. the internet finally works again =). time to upload this baby online!

10/03: u kno wut i havent done in a very long time? SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATEs!!! (or SNUs for short)... now that school started, my weekends are eventually gonna get crazy busy again... for now its still pretty chill, but defnitely still fun. so friday afternoon steph called me n asked if i was goin to Boris. hMm guess she assumes im a member now? hehe i said i'll see... then it turned out i had nuthin to do at nite, so i went to boris. hehe... partly its cuz i couldnt make it for cell on saturday - cuz i went to dinner with a bunch of SOLD pplz (cynthia nina steven jasmin)! =). we planned on going to macaroni grill... then it turned out they didnt accept same-day reservations so cyntha n nina went early to wait. they said the wait was like an hour... then it became two hours... then 20 minutes... then 20 minutes later they said another hour!! and it was the SAME freakin person telling us the time. wut an idiot... they need to learn to earn customers' trust. so anyways we went to TGI fridays instead. hehe... still great, but at least the line was only 20 minutes... and they actually overestimated. so yea... ate at TGIF n had fun =).

sunday (today) - kevin told me my hair looked totalyl different today... and he also said i dressed better than before. im like 'hUh?' cuz i didnt feel any different in front of the mirror this morning. sermon was great... i love the way pastor chen presented the 'heart for china' thingy... people actually accpeted wut he said n it was cool. nayways then after service jackie gave me a lil wooden turtle! i luv it... thanks! =) and today the big lunch gang decided to go to *drumroll* KINGSWOOD. wut da heck... who said we all had too much extra money!? haha but yea i went anyways... and at the end priscilla and melanies mom decided to treat EVERYONE. and when we found out we were all like *gAsp!!* haha it turned out she just won a big game of mah-jong... so i assume shes the one with the extra money. hehe it was a nice surprise though. i dun think shes gonna be reading my site, but if she does, THANKS!! hehe anyways then 3:00 went bak to church for practice with josh's team (we're leading next sunday). had lotsa fun... playin jay chou n everything. then came home n packed n *pOoF* now i'm back in school!! haha... so thats it for this weekend. toorrow will kick off the first full schoolweek. hehe... gotta get ready for it. bYe!

10/01: soo for those of u who are wondering... it looks like this quarter im gonna be able to go home friday afternoon again (cuz my class ends at noon). yesterday and today i onl yhad one class - spanish... turns out that tyrannical dictator-of-a-professor didnt teach my class... it was somebody else... and shes really nice =). o and i said my name was 'calvino'. hehe theres still a lot of stuff i hafta take care of regarding classes... hopefully i'll get that done on monday. rite now i'm back at home again =). its soo weird.. suddenly im at home n it feels like the past week at school was all just my imagination... like it never really happened at all. seriou5ly i think both home adn school is sooo great... gosh i love my life. haha ok anyways i'll shut up now...

09/30: welcome week has been great... so great that i didnt hav etime to update. hehe anyways heres my 2nd year college life so far- sunday nite moved in to sproul, saw kevin (my roommate) again... we're gettin along very well and i hope it stays that way =). jen came over to visit... then afterwards i went to visit steph (my cousin.. now a freshie at ucla!) in delta. met a lot of friends at delta (and on my own floor too). didnt stay up too late tho, cuz i had my placement exam monday morning.

monday - woke up n got breakfast, then went to take the exam. it was freakin easy... there were only like 10 people taking it... and two of them had scooters (one was me) =). floor meeting at noon... got to meet most of the pplz on my floor, or at lesat the ones that showed up.... hehe then had lunch with kevin and the 406 guys and more... went all the way up to hedrick. the stOopid ketchup exothermic reaction thingy was sooo evil!! haha it was funny though... im such an idiot =/. owellz guess its good to learn from my mistake... hehe then um... *thinks* o yea alex called me n found out i was going to freshmen convocation. so i went to meet with him and michelle and went down to the royce quad place together... and i saw antonio there! wow... havent tlaked to him since i left troy and it turns out we're in the same school again! o and i started my first Op - fruit punches. remember last year? this time i made my first trip with a backpack, got free BBQ, brought back a bunch of punch, then went back for more. total? 27 bottles of fruit punch... or 35.16 pounds (not including bottles). so yea... if ur ever thirsty, stop by my room =). then um... brought the goodies back to my room just in time to go to IV worship practice... and so oniion flava reunites once again! hehe didnt really practice (cuz there was no keyboard or bass) but we spent most of the time talking and praying n stuff and we all go tot share about summer. it was soo fun. later at nite van n jess came to visit me... then we went down to 2nd floor to meet with crystal james n brianna. gosh jess n crystals room is like insanely decorated. u should go see it sometime. (and yes i did take some pics.. hopefully those will be online soon). james taught me 'the random game'... i love it!! hehe... so anyways that was monday..

tuesday - didnt sleep too well the night before cuz of the freakin fire alarm malfunction (actuall yits the 2nd time, but i was gone the first time =) ). 4AM IN THE MORNING!! stupid alarm... they better let that count as our fire drill. so i woke up at like... 11? haha and if u know me well enough u prolly know that i can't sleep that late even if i try. so yea... stupid alarm. anyways then i called van (cuz she wanted to go with me to IV barbecue... yes another barbecue! hehe) and it turned out she was right outside my door. haha so we went to sunset rec field and got yummy fresh KOREAN BBQ & RICE. but there were no spoons, so everyone ate like beasts. it was pretty fun i guess. got to see all the cool IV pplz again... played games for the pizza party just like last year, except this time vishwasa won so if i invite myself to the party, i'll be the only azn. hehe anyways afternoon i didnt really have plans, so i went to the sculpture garden for the first time this year. came back just in time for floor dinner... my first floor dinner! hehe i felt kinda bad that i didnt have time to hang out with my floormates... but floor dinner was great. went up to hedrick AGAIN. haha... met the people living next door to me. i guess theyre the only ones that will actually pass by my door (since its like near the way end of the hall).

wednesday - had lunch with kevin james jess n crystal at rieber. afternoon... went with alex n delwin to check out the textbook lending thingy in kerchoff... then came back n chilled on their floor. o and i saw jon too! they live on the same floor! =) then the big night - the first movie screening - I LOVE HUCKABEES! first i went to meet with sara n emily and a bunch of other pplz and we had dinner at hedrick... then we went to get blessing and went down to line up. hUge line... its like longer than the troy line! seriou5ly it was insane... and the late pplz didnt get in of course. we actually had pretty good seats. and the movie was great. i'm not an existentialist, but a lot of the movie's themes are very insightful... and it was funny too =). anyways then after the movie everybody got lost in the huge line.. i went to blessings room cuz sara n emilys cellphones were in there. so i brought them back to sproul... eventually sara emily n yune came to find me as expected. hehe we jus chilled for the rest of hte nite until i wnet to sleep.

so anyways... if u didnt get my point yet, welcome week was great. hehe... my first class (spanish) is today... hope that turns out well. for now i'll finish my tea (breakfast) and get ready to go. bybeye!

09/26: at last, summer's come to an end, and its time to prepare myself for a new start. actually, i think that's what 've been doing already in the past few months. to a lot of people my summer may have seemed boring, simply cuz i didnt have summerschool or work, and i spent a lot of time and online. but in reality this summer has been probably the most productive ever. in fact, i havent been bored for several months already, after realizing that every moment of my life has a purpose and is not meant to be wasted in boredom. to conclude the summer i'm gonna use this entry to say a few special thank-you's...

thank you God for making this summer as fun and productive as it was - i knew from the beginning that i would have a lot of free time, and when i prayed that you put this time to good use, you sent so many angels to my life to remind me not to give up.

thank you ClayMusic and everyone involved in it for allowing me to be a part of such an awesome group. performing for a tour has been my dream for years, but until this summer i never knew it was possible. you showed me how much there was for me to learn, and helped me to learn it.

thank you Jacob for having so much faith in me. everytime i questioned my own decision to become a musician, you helped me not to give up. you gave me so much more than i could ever ask for, and through you i know that god is always guiding me as i follow his will.

thank you Stephanie for being a friend that no one else has ever been to me. through you i realized the power of commitment to god and also to each other. i never understood what true friendship really means until i met you.

and of course, thanks to all the people who had me tutor them, as well as yamaha. god sent you to my life this summer so that even when i spent most of my time at home pursuing my god-given passion, i could still earn enough money to enjoy being with my friends and be satisfied with what i had.

now that i'm back at school, a lot of things will be different, even from last schoolyear, and im sure i'll have a lot to get used to. i always say that my feelings about starting school are neutral, simply cuz i treat every schoolday with the same happiness i have in the summer. but to be honest, i'm a bit nervous about what to expect in the near future, and also very excited, especially when i remember that god sent me to ucla because he has a great plan for me that will one day become clear. for now, i pray for the strength to trust him in every way as i begin this new chapter of my life. may his will be done as it is in heaven.

09/26: gotta go pack for school so i dun have much time to write... but to sum up a very long and productive day... umm ok so i went to the car wash thingy in the morning... got my car n my moms car washed.. then went to yahama for the last time this summer (*soo sad*) n then came home for lunch and got ready for the concert... so i was in my moms car n we're like already in pomona about to get off the freeway when amy a.y. and samuel s.s. called to ask if i could go back to church cuz theres no keyboard amp. haha great... so we went back to church, got the amp, then made it to pomona again. then we found out samuel s.s. left the keyboard sustain pedal at home. greaT... luckily he called someone else to bring it over =). anyways we finally got everything set up n ready. one problem though... i guess i got a bit too excited and i broke the roland pedal!! and its jacobs too *feels sooo bad* the whole thing just cracked in two pieces!! guess im gonna buy a new one soon... cuz i simply cant stand not having a pedal to play with. hehe but obviously the handicap made it REALYL difficult to play the roland parts during the concert. ish ok i still lived... o and the really funny thing - when they were moving the drum set they lost one of the screw thingys, so one of the little cymbals had no screw on the top. so during the concert ernest hit it pretty hard n it was like *dOinG!* and fell off! o and it fell between the drums and the shield, so he couldnt use it for the rest of the night =/. heeh ish ok..

09/24: very fun day =) steph (liang) told me she hasnt had boba for soo long so i said we should could go today, and i also had to drop carol to church for worship practice, except i was supposed to take jess too but carol couldnt reach her the whole afternoon. so me n carol left and went to dbhs to get steph and guess who we see... jess! haha turns out her cellphone died and she was frantically trying to connect herself with the rest of the world when suddenly me n carol showed up. hehe n then steph came out too... o and i got to meet steph's friend wendy cuz she said hi to me on the phone earlier. hehe ok anyways so went to church, dropped off carol n jess (gosh the security guard was probaby like 'wut da heck is he doing here AGAIN!?' hehe) and then went to pick up jennifer n went to diamond plaza (surprise?). to kill time we went to Cue. (surprise!?!?) hehe o by the way, the cue pics from august and from today will be online next week, cuz i can finally go back to school n use the super good scanner. anyways... then we ate at little cafe... $4 for a hUGE plate of spicy chicken. sooo good!!! hehe and then of course BOBA. i drove over to tien-ren only to find the entire parking lot full (and my original spot by little cafe alread ytaken). so i had 2 drop off steph n jen first and then park at... the GAS STATIOn. haha i jus pretended i was gettin gas =).

anyways then i figured that since i was already takin steph n jen to cellgroup (at priscilla/melanies house) and that steph was gonna go back to my house to meet with her parents after cell, why not just stay there with them? so i went to Bob-Charis (Boris?) cell... i really liked it =). o the game was sooo fun! lets see if i can still remember all the things im bringing to mexico... hMm *thinks* alcohol, beer, cereal, a duck, an elephant, fritos, a goose (gun?), a hi-lighter, iguana, jack daniels, kimono, lime, a mexican (hehe), nachos, opium, personal items, quesadilla, raincoat, salsa, truck, umbrella, violin, and a wombat. hehe yaay i win! =) anyways so cellgroup was great. cant go to sold or snl tomorrow cuz of the concert, but i still had my share of fellowship this week =). then before bringing steph back to my house we stopped at the hilltop place to talk. gosh i love that place soooo much... im gonna miss being there once school starts *crying* so yea... that was today. very very fun.

so heres the plan for the rest of my summer - tomorrow morning go to rowland choir's car wash... then yamaha (my last time there! *sniff*) then go to pomona for sounccheck/rehearsal/wutever... then the concert. dinner afterwards? hehe we'll see... and the sunday church, the come home n finish packing and i'm on my way! hehe o and in the breaks between all those events - STUDY. i studied some theory already... pretty much remember everything. hope i'll do fine. anyways i better go get some sleep now.... goodniTe!

09/23: its exactly one week from my first day of class... for those of u who didnt know, im gonna move in sunday evening around 6 to 7. pretty much done with all the packing already, except laundry stuff which i'll take care of right before i leave. still working on my class schedule though - one thing thats confirmed rite now is that (believe it or not) i'm re-taking spanish, since i need up to level 3 for music major. (i chose spanish simply cuz i arleady know some so it saves me a lil work). the only problem is that bruinwalk.com gives me enough evidence that the professor is a tyrannical overlord, and so i don't exactly want to spend too much time there.. so i'm gonna start on spanish 2 (so it helps me review 1 and ge ready for 3)... then i can finish it in two quarters =).

last nite was more rehearsing... i got there really early and steph lin suddenly showed up cuz she was pickin up her sisters. hehe and steph liang was upstairs helping in one of the classes, so i went to bug her for a while. so um... practice was fun, especially cuz we all got boba again =). theres lots of stuff to prepare for saturday tho... cuz the church duznt have a sound system or a drum set, so we have to use the english congregation set (poor ernest has to take it down and set it up again...). o and we're gonna bring the mackies from the ucc concert. and to solve the transportation problem, some of the guys decided to go rent a freakin U-Haul to get everything to pomona and back. hehe... o and about the concert, we decided to keep the light show (due to popular demand and also cuz its fun and pretty). from wut i hear, the church is doing a LOT of promotion, including newspaper ads n stuff. but of course i dun wanna expect too much and be disappointed, so we'll jus wait n see.

anyways.. tomorrow i'm gonna start doing something i didn thtink i woul dneed to do anytime soon - STUDY. ok lemme explain... so i finally talked to the music dept advisor this week and even though i can't officially apply for the school until later in the year, one thing i do need to take care of is the theory placement exam - monday 10AM... so for those of u who are dying to meet back at school again n hang out, im really sorry but thats gotta be pushed back til monday after my test. its not like a pass or fail thing though... it just determines wut class i get into, and if i prepare a little i think it should be no problem. but yea... im soo glad this long major transferring process is finally getting somewhere. o and by the way, for those of u who still want to take classes with me, im still open for suggestions on writing, humanities or social science GEs... preferably easy ones. hehe ok well its gettin late and i'm gonna shut up now. byebye!

09/22: part two of my college experience entries. this one's about how i chose my major and learned through my mistakes...

one thing many high school students don't realize is that once they get into a good college, the struggle isn't over. college classes are much more difficult than high school ones, and at the end there are more exams just like the SAT that you have to take to get into good grad schools, so you can get a good job with a stable income to support the family, and so on. in this "ideal life", the struggle never ends, and the more you have achieved, the more you will want. yet on the day you inevitably approach death, neither your diploma nor your money will mean anything to you. people often choose their majors or careers based on what provides most money, or what society considers a good field. but in reality, God made us all with unique personalities, which include a particular passion for certain activities that may not mean much to others.

most people nowadays don't know their heart; i didn't know mine when i first entered UCLA. my main hobbies were cars, computers, and music. of course, the logical choice that everyone seemed to agree on was to major in engineering and minor in music, since engineering jobs guarantee a much more stable income, and music seems more suitable as a hobby. after realizing that UCLA didn't offer a music minor, i had no choice but to stick with engineering alone. fall quarter ended, and i realized that my engineering classes simply didn't interest me. so i prayed that God would open my eyes and help me see who i was made to be.

through my devotions, i learned that since it's human nature to work best when you enjoy what you're doing, our hobbies and interests are a good sign of what our purposes are. the problem is that most people nowadays don't even know their own interests, because they have learned to love the things that everyone else around them loves, and over the years have forgotten their own self. that's why so many people complain that they are bored when they don't see their friends during holidays, or when their computer breaks; they simply forgot how to be themselves.

we work so hard all our lives to have a good future, and whatever that may mean to you, it ultimately gives you two things - HAPPINESS and SATISFACTION. happiness as today's world sees it is a shallow emotion that can only be satisfied by obtaining the things we desire, and most of these desires exist only because everyone else seems to have it too. don't get me wrong, i'm not telling you not to work hard. effort is always important, no matter what you're doing. but while some of the things we want are worth striving for, others are simply a temporary desire that eventually disappears unfulfilled. i'm not saying it's bad to become doctors or engineers. the only problem is that many people choose these paths simply because they provide good income and are praised by our society. when you let others pull you away from your heart, there will always be an emptiness inside you that makes you feel incomplete.

these are the things i thought about when i spent hours every day sitting by myself in a garden and searching for my heart. by then i already knew i would eventually leave the engineering department. it felt like a great loss at first, but it left no empty spots in my heart. however, there was another empty spot that i wanted to fill up, and i realized it's been that way since i separated myself from the piano when i entered UCLA. the more i thought about it, the more clear it became - the world cannot define the things that make up a "good life", because the definition is different for everyone. we might all want to be rich, but is it really worth a lifetime of stress just to obtain a few years of "good" living? the only thing that really makes your life "good" is if you find your heart and follow it wherever it takes you. with that in mind i decided to switch my major to music. of course, it wasn't easy explaining my decision to my family and everyone else who cares about my future, because as a musician i may never experience the "ideal" life that everyone wants me to have. but on the day i take my final breath, i can say that my life has been good from the beginning until the end, because i have spent it on the things that bring true happiness to my heart.

pretend you are among a group of people stranded on an island, with no computers, movies, or malls. everyone must work to help themselves and others. some will build houses while others educate the children. some will write songs while others paint pictures. no one is ever bored, because everyone has an important duty to fulfill. in this society, what role will you play? this might seem like a crazy way of living, but history has proven it to work, and the truth is that every role played in this primitive society can also be applied to the present, and in the same way you can enjoy your role on the island, you can find joy in your role in today's society, regardless of how much you get paid, or what others think of you.

i often compare the process of searching for your heart to mining for gold - you can't pick out the gold until you separate it from the mud. you can't find your own heart until you separate who you truly are from what others have turned you into. you can start searching by considering the things you enjoy doing when nobody else is around. or consider your hobbies and interests that don't require being praised by others. try to isolate yourself from the world on a regular basis, because it shows you the insignificance of all your temporary desires compared with the true happiness of knowing your heart. of course, sometimes it's still good to consider other people's opinions, because others may understand you in ways that you don't. but never let others restrict you from being yourself. once you have found your heart, it will be as beautiful as gold removed from the mud, and the more of it you see, the more you will know you really want it.

no matter what you choose as your major or career, life will always be difficult. the best you can do is spend it on something you enjoy, so that even during the most difficult times, you will know you're simply doing what you were created to do. remember, life is a gift from God, and he gave it specifically to you for a reason, not so the world can surround it with mud and hide it from you. ask God to show you your heart and he will definitely do so, because he wants you to fulfill the purpose he made you for. even if following your heart means making little money or being looked down upon by others, don't be afraid, because money doesn't last forever, and relationships can be broken. but your heart will always be there to guide you, beacause God gave it to you from the moment you were born, and it will stay with you until the end. follow it, and you will never lose your way.

09/21: its that time of the year again when so many people are stressing over college apps... im pretty sure i told most people this aready, but if u need help on essays or have any questions about college, i'm always glad to help. god brought me to ucla not so i can brag about being in a good school, but so i can share my experiences with you. here's the first section of a 3-part series on my college exeperiences. this one's about how i applied to ucla and got accepted...

for those of u who dun know me, i graduated from Troy, an extremely competitive high school that students had to take an exam to get in. when it came time to apply for college, there was more stress around campus than i've ever seen before; students had spent the past three years doing whatever they could to get good grades, SAT scores, and everything else needed to look good on college apps. at Troy you're either on the top (honors/AP/IB students) or the bottom (those who couldnt keep up with the high standards and fell behind), there wasn't much room in between. i belonged in the latter group, but don't get me wrong - i was not one of those total slackers who didn't care about their futures. just like everyone else, i wanted to get into a good college. but with grades that i knew weren't good enough to guarantee me into any decent schools, i applied to 5 UCs not expecting to be accepted to any, and i already prepared myself to accept the fact that there was a possibility i might be one of the few Troy graduates to end up in a community college. but the one thing i understood that many others didn't was that no matter how much we all wished to end up in our particular 'dream schools', the final decision was not in our hands.

so that's the first thing i learned - DON'T WORRY. if you think about it, it's really just a waste of your energy and emotions, because no matter how stressed you are, it won't change a thing in the final results. if you ask me what i think is the most important thing to keep in mind when applying for college, i'll probably tell you not to worry, because when people stress too much, they tend to forget other important things, including the one i conder second to not worrying.

BE YOURSELF. one main reason that people worry so much is because they work so hard to make themselves 'better' than they actually are. remember that God each of us for a unique purpose that no one else can fulfill, and if you let him take control, he won't fail to direct you, regardless of whether or not you know his plans. some people were made for prestigious universities, others community colleges, and nothing is wrong with either, as long as you believe that you're simply trying to be yourself and live the life that you were meant to live.

being yourself is especially important when it comes to the essay portion of college apps. for schools that don't require a personal interview, the essay is the only way for them to know you as a person. grades simply can't do justice, because studying hard does not mean that a person has the skills to survive and succeed in today's society. schools want to know you the way you are, not the way you pretend to be. write your essays honestly, and include both good and bad things about yourself (if you make yourself sound flawless, then they already know you're hiding something). perhaps this might not make you look as good as you want. but it's ok, because a fully honest application eliminates any need to worry. what colleges will see in your essay is the very person that God made you to be, no more and no less. in other words, even if you get rejected from a school, it simply means that you aren't meant to go to there.

a more detailed description of the essay (there was only one required essay when i applied) that brought me to UCLA: i wrote about playing piano, what it means to me, and how it impacted my life. it was pretty much the only talent i had to offer, but it was definitely enough. i mentioned in my essay that despite having more homework and more responsibilities as i got older, i still continued to learn piano until the present (when i wrote it). that's something colleges love to see - consistency. to be honest, doing community service (volunteering at hospitals, cleaning the park, whatever) really doesn't help you get into college at all. all your friends are doing the exact same thing, and the schools know that you're doing it only because you have to. an extracurricular activity (sports, music, etc) would make a great essay topic, especially if you've been involved in it for long enough that it can demonstrate your commitment.

but what if you don't have any talents or experiences to write about? it doesn't matter. even the smallest and most random topics can catch a reader's attention. my friend wrote her essay on the significance of her purity ring, and she got accepted to Yale. the point is to pick a specific topic and elaborate well on it. long, random lists won't do, because everyone can come up with a huge list of good things about themselves. a good topic can be as simple as an object you treasure personally, or a vacation that you consider significant, as long as you can explain your point well. and of course, don't forget that college essays are not the traditional 5-paragraph essays used in high school classes. the point is to make your sentences flow while maintaining good (perfect, if possible) grammar. the best way to do this is to read it out loud, or have someone else read it to you, and see if it sounds smooth (same idea as SAT2 writing). when you have a well-flowing essay with strong points that let the reader see its writer, you know you did your best.

what if you still don't end up in a good college? the truth is that wherever you end up going, it's the very place that God wants you to be. and following God means that you have nothing to worry about, because the things you worry about are His responsibilities and not yours. i know many people from Troy who stressed way more than i did, and some even graduated with a full IB diploma, and right now we're all at UCLA together. don't get me wrong - working hard is definitely NOT a bad thing, but only as long as it doesn't force you to take God's responsibilities into your own hands. after you have tried your best, the college decisions are all in God's hands. wherever you end up going, know that you're there for a reason. and remember, be yourself. your college years will have an impact on the rest of your life, and it is much better to spend these years finding your true self than to be forced to live a life you were never meant for.

09/20: one week left of summer... im finally starting to take care of some school business. first thing - picking classes. so i called the music major guy today and he told me next monday (first day on campus) will be the theory exam, so i'll definitely take that (gotta start studying!). i also need to take a foreign language... should i do spanish french german or italian? any suggestsions? and to all u ucla pplz... if ur taking any social science/humanities/writing classes, pleez lemme kno so i can try n be in the same class as u! (yea yea i kno its late to pick classes... dun worry i waited on purpose =) ). second thing i did - wash my scooter!! that thing's been too dirty since the day i got it (i bought it used)... and today i finally washed it completely and now its so nice n shiny =). cant wait to ride it down bruinwalk again!

09/19: cellgroups yesterday were great... after SNL we went to pueblo burger to get dinner and brought it bak to church while playing mafia. today i got to play for worship in english service again... seems like forever since i last played for english worship... cuz i havent had a chance ever since wilson decided to disband his old team. but i guess its a good thing, cuz during this 'break' i matured so much both spiritually and musically, and the way i see myself as a worshipper on stage changed a lot too. so yea... thanx steph for invitingg me to join her new worship team.

update on claymusic - it turns out i'll still be playing for this saturday's pomona concert... cuz josh injured his hand (hope he gets well soon!!). i guess its a great way to end my summer, cuz all this concert stuff is pretty much the biggest thing i got out of these few months. after saturday we get to take a break for a while... so far theres two other scheduled events - one in the first week of november, and a christmas concert! (hope it duznt conflict with winter retreat, cuz i know i cant miss retreats!) a lot of people are suggesting to have a second UCC concert... cuz the first one was so crowded that lotsa ppl came and left cuz they couldnt get inside. if that does happen, its probably not gonna be too soon, cuz its too close to the first concert. so yea... still some exciting things for me to look forward to =)

yesterday i did the most amazing thing.. i figured out how to work Cubase!! i was jus randomly trying stuff and it jus magically worked! so i called jacob rite away (cuz hes been trying to help me figure it out for the longest time) and when i told him it works he was like 'wahohohohohoho!!!!' it was sooo funny... i never heard him sound so excited before. and then earlier tonight i found out that i can play on the keyboard and record myself and put it on a cd! so maybe if i get bored i should record some stuff for fun. hehe... gosh im sooo happy now.... and i would stay up all nite playing with cubase, but i didnt sleep much last nite and i gotta make it up tonite. hehe so um... yea i guess i'll shut up now.. goodnite!

09/16: my summer's comin to an end faster than i thought... and for the most part my schedule's pretty insane... weekends are all filled already, a few weekdays are still open. i'm definitely still up for hangin out, or even visiting highschool friends like i did last year.. so wutever u wanna do, feel free to ask me, n pleez do so early =).

anyways um... some of u mite remmeber in the beginning of summer i said i was gonna write about my college experiences, simply cuz lots of people ask me about college stuff and i want to make the things i learned available to everyone else. dun worry, i didnt forget, in fact its gonna be a series of two or three entries. i'll probably post the first one soon...

people who call me often at night probably know that my mom is aLWAYS on da phone at nite, and since my cell gets no reception at home, i have to go on a little journey to the top of the hill where i can actually hear the person on the other line. biking up that hill is a killer... but i definitely enjoy it. i spent a LOT of time up there in the past few weeks, mostly to call steph lin... the view is simply amazing... everything up there is so nice except the people that occasionally go there to do drugs =/. but then i jus leave them alone and they leave me alone too. today this car came n parked across the street, and out came this whole family of japanese tourists (or immigrants? iono...) they had their typical azn loud/squeaky voice screaming ecstatically in japanese. and one guy was like 'oh look theres tokyo!' and then they all laughed like crazy. i dun get it... i jus stood there n continued talking on the phone and didnt look back. but they kept on taking pictures... and maybe i was in the way =/. oopz...

anyways... quick summary of the weekend to come - tomorrow im goin to carol's recital... saturday im supposed to go to SOLD (i think they planned on moving it to saturday) except nobody seems to be updating this week's plans yet... hopefully i find out by tomorrow or im gonna hafta go with one of my backup plans (theres like 50... i dunno why everyone chose saturday to do everything). and then SNL cell at night. i cant wait... i seriou5ly learned soo muhc from it already.then sunday... rose said she might go to church again! *soo happy* havent seen her in forever. *sniFf* ok anyways i think i should shut up now cuz im out of stuff to say... byebye!

09/15: spent lots of time with jacob in the past few days - he came over yesterday to help me out with learning how to use sequencers... it's soo freakin complicated! i cant seem to get the MIDI thing working. anyone know Cubase and wanna help? hehe anyways then me n jacob played around with my cars for a while. jacob got me this brush thingy from taiwan thats supposed to be for chinese paintings or sumthin, but he got it so i can undust my cars without scratching them. and it works soo well! i dun hafta be careful with any details... jus go wHoosh n the car is clean! =)

anyways tonite i went with jacob chang n terry to see chick corea at this jazz club in hollywood. i loved it, except for the fact that i'm bankrupt =/.. u guys all know i rarely (if ever) spend over 20 bucks iin one day... today was like double that. haha but it was soo worth it... chick corea played on a motif8 - the same keyboard i used for sunday's concert! but why da heck does he sound so much better!?!? seriou5ly those guys are insane... the whole time i was jus sitting there going "wow" and "hUh!?"... (and i thought bill cantos' lil improv section on "how majestic" was jazzy enough... hehe) these people spent several decades studying this stuff and now they're this good... i better start learning quick.

random thing - on the way to the club traffic was pretty bad, n there was this one motorcycle trying to weave past an SUV... so the motorycle was switching from the left side to the right side, and suddenly the suv braked... and the guy on the bike almost fell off! hehe and after the concert we all went to chill at denny's (theres two dennys one block apart from each other... isnt that weird?). i had just enough money left for a root beer =/. (thanks jacob for sharing some food =) ). we left at about midnite, and we were outside some dude randomly came up to us and he was wearing a new led zepplin shirt so terry was like 'nice shirt' and the dude looked all happy n hes like 'i just bought it tonight!' then when we were walking to the car he followed us and asked for change. i wasnt about to give him jack cuz (1) i had like a buck left in my wallet and (2) how da hailstorm did he get that new shirt!?. but i guess the others were a bit more compassionate... except the security guard (who was also talking with us earlier) gave us a lil signal to not give the guy anything... n then he started yelling at that guy and telling him to leave, and he didnt leave so the guard cussed him out and told him to get off the property or he'll get arrested... he still stood there so the securityguard was like 'u dont believe me huh? i'll get u arrested rite now' n then he ran towards him and the guy ducked n hid behind a bush! hahaha that was sooo weird... anyways i'm definitely pretty jazzed out for the day already... better go get myself some sleep... *yAwn* goodnite!

09/14: sorry that last entry ended so abruptly... i was WAay too tired to continue. had to wake up at 8 cuz i went to jessicas house then we went to ucla! hehe ok so basically jessica has a job interview thingy on campus n she asked me if its worth driving so far... and i was like 'why not jus hang out there while ur at it'... and i ended up going with her. so she had her interview... then we went to chill at jen's apartment and went to diddy riese with a bunch of pplz... n then on the way back me n jessica stopped at crystal's house since it's like right next to the freeway. and crystal gave us like a complete tour of her house (since its my firs ttime there) and gave us sooo much food =). there was this really cool ice cream, its like "moose tracks" flavor or sumthin. she said she'll give me more if i help vaccuum for her next time. duz that mean i dont get any just for visiting anymore? hehe

next stop: puente hills mall - jessica had to return her jeans at anchor blue, except they forgot to give her a receipt so she could only get store credit. adn at first the guy said she could only get like 6 bucks store credit cuz the price for those jeans went down to 6 bucks already. n then he decided to be nice and give her like 13 instead. that sounds about right since she got it on sale. the guy said its cuz he knew he forgot to give out a few receipts. but then after jessica exchanged her jeans for a shirt, she was like 'thanks! have a nice day!" n then she jus turned around n left - WITHOUT HER RECEIPT. hMm... so was it REALLY the store's fault last time? hehe...

dun think i mentioned this yet but andy (my cousin) and my aunt n uncle came to visit from atlanta this weekend! and last nite was their last night with us, so of course we decided to go n have a big dinner - at onami! gosh that place is like the BEST... unlimited seafood buffet =). steph wanted tiramisu but there was only one slice left, so she took the whole cardboard thingy underneath it. and when the waitress came to clear our table she thought we ate the entire tiramisu! hahaha that was hilarious. o and at the end everyone was like packing the dessert to bring home. gOsh we wer esoooo desperate! hehe n then back at steph n ben's house we stayed there until my mom thought it was time to leave cuz carol has school today (muahahaha)... by that point i was soo freakin tired and also so um... *bUrP!*... ok u get my point. so um... got up at like 10:30 today. everyone else is like hafway done with school already. but a least i got my sleep =). and now that i'm finally cuaght up with my life again, i guess i can finally shut up!

09/13: if there was a fire at UCC last night, lots of ppl would have been screwed, cuz the chinese sanctuary was definitely not meant to accomodate 500-600 people. i guess the 100+ people who (unfortunatley) didnt fit into the main room would have (fortunately) been the first ones to make it to safety. in case ur worried, there wasnt really a fire at all, even though i wouldnt mind adding some pyrotechnics on stage (hehe). but then again i guess those glow sticks definitely made up for it. so yea... in case u dun see where i'm getting yet, last nites claymusic concert was awesome =). other than a few decorations (plants, stain glass in the back, etc), it was hard to recognize the stage as the same one used by hte worship team just a few hours ago. o and thanks to the sound team (and samuel s.s. who decided to bust out the Mackies that the church bought a long long time ago but never used)... it didnt even SOUND like the same sanctuary. so before the concert started the band (more specifically the instrumentalists) were all chillin in the backstage room... n then we took a peek out the door.. and it was like completely filled already n they were telling people to raise their hands if there were any empty seats next to them. these pplz actually came early, and did i mention 99% of them were ASIAN!? haha so yea then it all started. on like the 3rd song people finally stood up (based on previous experience, apparently most asian crowds tend to prefer sitting even for fast songs)... i tend to feel so much more confident on stage when everyone's standing, cuz then i can stop feeling like everyones sittin there staring at me. haha ok so yea... then after that song i dont think a single person sat down, cuz it was time for TecHNO. yupyup... the light show. everyone was soo hyper and lotsa pplz were screaming n stuff. it was soo fun! o and thanks to tony, who decided to hook us up with a multicolor spotlight, the stage wasnt any less decorative than the monterey park concert. ok so maybe the whole concert wasnt PERFECT, at lesat for the instruments, cuz we all screwed up at least once. i missed one of my entrances on the prelude... jacob kept on playing when it was supposed to be drums n vocal only... david broke a string... ringo ALMOST dropped his stick during his solo but he caught it =). haha oH and the vocals werent perfect either... my aunt (better known as amy sand... songwriter and lead singer) messed up on one part too... on one song she was supposed to lipsync to a recording... but they played the karaoke version instead so she ended up having to actualyl sing it all. so yea... none of us were perfect. but i guess everything still turned out well...

i was surprised how many english congregation ppl showed up... oH and earlier when i said the crowd was 99% asian... the remaining percent is anna aven. hehe so after the concert we took down the stage and that took forever... but there were enough people helping to make it quite fast. and then eventually everyone else left except for the team and a few friends... and then of course it was time for the afterparty! this time its garden cafe... actually i wasnt even sure if we were gonna go eat, cuz i already had dinner... (they provided fried rice for everyone before the concert... and plus a buncha pplz were BBQing in baldwin's backyard and i wanst invited!! but the smell brought me there and i got to chill with them n enjoy the food too =) ). i ended up goin to sleep at like um... 1:30? 2:00? not THAT late... except for one problem: i had to wake up at 8 this morning. why? i'll write that in the next entry...

09/11: *yAwn* jus got back from the DB concert... turned out way better than i expected. and also much more tiring. ok anyways... rewind to yesterday morning. 10:30AM went to church (again) to practice (AGAIN)... this time for the instrumentalists (me jacob david n choe). and i thought i didnt get enough sleep the night before (cuz of that boba)... david slept ONE HOUR. haha... so we tried to finish all the electric guitar songs first so he could go back n rest. and then shao ping a.y. (ah yee) saw us there and immediately went out n got coffee for us. (thanks! =) ). well practice went WAY longer than i expected... and at the end david decided it wouldnt help if he wnet home early to sleep, cuz he had to work at 6. so we took a lil break n wnet to lunch. that place next to pueblo burger... i love it! if u order fried rice u get a boba for 50 cents!! so yea.. .i was happy =). plenty of caffiene to keep me going. hehe anyways we practiced til 3:30 (yes... i actually counted - 13 hours of rehearsals this week (not counting meal times).

i got this hilarious voicemail... ally called me n when the voicemail started going she was like 'hey esther its calvins voicemail! leave a message!' n then esthers all 'oH is it recording now?' 'yea!' 'o hey calvin!!' blah blah blah... haha o and this guy was like 'i like you' out of nowhere. haha... interesting. anyways cell group (SOLD) at nite was great. yes we actualy had cell. haha... so far the plan is to change our meeting time to saturday afternoon.. kinda like BIG. hope that works out. oH and jackie shot me with a rubberband! in the eye! ò.ó that was painful.. but ish ok i still luv u! haha ok then i went home cuz my moms cellgroup is there n steph (liang) was waiting for me... then after everyone else left i played nfs5 and me n ben watched my hilarious replays. haha ok so yea that was yesterday....

steph (lin) didnt call me yesterday. its the first day i spent without talkin to her since um... the day she first called me. i was soooo sad.. but she called me this morning =) (yaay!) so yea... still memorizing romans 6 every day. and shes doin 1 cor 13. its actually pretty fun pointing out every little gramatical error when we're memorizing. hehe ok anyways then the rest of today - pretty much covered in the last entry. 3:30 wnet to load stuff from church with ernest. luckily i had an SUV and ernest took his parents' previa... we brought the keyboard (big), kb stand (huge), amp (heavy), drumset (huge and heavy), drum shield (u get the point) and more. freeway was jammed like crazy so it took us forever to get to db center. its actually a really really nice place (even tho the sound system sucks). its like a big formal dinner thingy... there were like iono... 300-400 pplz? pretty exciting... choe wanted to leave halfway thru the program but we had a closing song so he couldnt go anywhere. and then after the last song ernest showed me his drumstick... he broke it... but not like in half... it split vertically... soo weird!! haha ok anyways then we put everything back on the car n went to church n set it all up again. and guess who was in the sanctuary... tony, samuel s.s. and jacob! they were already playing with the risers and setting up the stage for tomorrow. yupyup.. big concert is less than 24 hours away! i soo need to practice. hopefully i'll have some time at church tomorrow. otherwise im (x)==='ed. o by the way that's a screw. haha ok so um... its 11 rite now. actualyl got home earlier than i thought. i doubt tomorrow will be this early. but still, it wont matter after tomorrow cuz im DONE! (of course i'll always be lookin forward to additional tour dates! hehe) ok so i'm lik eabout to pass out any moment now. hopefully i'll land in my bed.

09/09: the big weekend is finally here... 9/9 group rehearsal (night). 9/10 instrumentalists rehearsal (morning). 9/11 load drums/keyboard/amps/whatever from church (3:30). setup at Diamond Bar Center (4:00). soundcheck & rehearsal (4:45). dinner/concert (6:00PM). return gear to church (whenever event is over). SLEEP (hopefully not too late). 9/12 church morning). soundcheck & rehearsal (1:30 - right after lunch). concert (7:00PM). afterconcert dinner (hopefully? those are always great). SLEEP (i dont care how late cuz i get to sleep in). just like that and *pOoF* the weekend's over!

BILL CANTOS IS INSANE. seriously... how does he do all that crazy jazz improv stuff? i can barely follow even after writing out all the notes! those of u who heard the cd, i'm talkin about track 02 ('how majestic'). i pretty much have the others down already. but that one's gonna take me a lifetime to learn. i spent half the morning and afternoon practicing and its STILL hard. wish me luck....

ok so its about midnight now and i jus got bak from rehearsal. this morning they got a few amigos from home depot to help prepare the stage. yes we finally found risers!! so all the instruments get to stand on a platform in the back, and the drum set is gonn abe on a super high platform! (so if ringo drops his sticks then he better have backup ones ready. hehe...) o and now that we're talkin sticks... it's really realyl likely that on sunday's concert there will be 25-cent glowsticks available. baldwin happened to be watching when we practiced the rave song (track 06) and he said it was cool. at least its like nothing UCC has ever done before. hehe gOsh i cant wait to see the crowds response on sunday. o and by the way, u kno why i'm actually staying up late to write this thing now? we were almost done rehearsing when uncle michael suddenly appeared with some surprise treats - BOBA! thats the best thing about working with a bunch of chinese pplz. hehe i kno... its kinda late to have boba. but owellz =). it was sitting rite in front of me so i kinda couldnt resist. so i figured even if i try to go sleep now, the caffienes probably gonna keep me up. so mite as well wait. hehe alrite i have nuthin left to say so i guess i'll stop here.

09/08: insanely funny convos last night -

(10:21PM)
eve: oo calvin wutz ur cell # ?
eve: im gonna add u
eve: loL
calvin: oHh
calvin: *gasp*
eve: loL
calvin: wow.. u actually want my #
calvin: *surprised*
calvin: ok its
eve: LOL
calvin: (911)***-****
eve: okee
eve: whoa
eve: 911 area code?
eve: WEIRD
calvin: yea
calvin: its pretty cool
eve: what if osmeone press like the area code
eve: and then
eve: forgot to pres the rest lol
calvin: yea
calvin: thats why
calvin: it sucks to be gullible
calvin: *falls off chair laughing soooo hard*
eve: O.o;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

(10:31PM)
jennifer: LOOOK CALVIN! -----------> DO U SEE IT?
calvin: seewut?
calvin: *looks around*
jennifer: hahaha make u loook
jennifer: lolll
calvin: OMG!!!!!
jennifer: AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH
calvin: *gAsp*
jennifer: 8-)
calvin: ur sooo mean!!!

(10:36PM)
jennifer: omgg did u feel the earthquake yesterday????????
jennifer: ANSWER ME!!!!!!
calvin: wait
calvin: ther ewas an earthquak!?
calvin: wHen/
jennifer: yeahhhh!!!!
jennifer: are u serious!!!
jennifer: u didn`t feel anything
jennifer: i was in the middle of night
calvin: *gAsp*
jennifer: like around 4 am
calvin: i was totally asleep
calvin: haha
jennifer: it wasn`t bigg...buh u can feel it
jennifer: ARE U SERIOUS??? I DIDN`T KNOW ABOUT IT?????
calvin: nope =/
calvin: im so stupid
jennifer: yeaaa u are!
jennifer: gosh
jennifer: hahaha jk
calvin: aWw
calvin: *feels very stupid*
jennifer: HAHAHAHA MADE U THINK THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE
jennifer: =P
calvin: OMG
calvin: WHAT!?!?!?!?
jennifer: ur so funny calvin
calvin: *duznt believe this*
jennifer: u crake me up

(10:43PM)
jennifer: did u realie believe me
calvin: yea!!!
calvin: =/
jennifer: ur are u jay kaying
calvin: no i seriou5ly believed it!
calvin: both times too!
jennifer: LOL
jennifer: sucka!
jennifer: hahaha jk
calvin: if u told me half an hour earlier
calvin: i would have asked my mom if she felt it
jennifer: ur worst then eveee
calvin: cuz she went to sleep already
jennifer: hahaha
calvin: dAng thats a huge insult
calvin: i'm worse than eve
calvin: haha
calvin: =/
jennifer: hahah
jennifer: its okayy
jennifer: did u read the what i wrote in ur gbookiee in ur home page?
calvin: u signed it??
calvin: *soo happy*
calvin: omg im gonna check now!
jennifer: yeaaah
jennifer: LOLL JK
jennifer: HAHAHAHAH
jennifer: buh i`ll sign it right now
jennifer: hahaha
calvin: OM(freakin)G!!!!
jennifer: LOLLL
calvin: dAng
calvin: stoppit!!!
jennifer: hehehe
calvin: *going crazy*
jennifer: ur so funny
jennifer: hahahaha
calvin: dUde
calvin: THREE TIMES
calvin: in one night!!!
jennifer: ;D
calvin: wut da hailstorm is wrong with me!?
calvin: ok ok calvin calm down1
calvin: note to self: dont believe ANYTHING she says!

dAng... i got owned =/ hehe... well at least she actually signed it at the end (even though i didnt believe her until i checked after she signed off...)

09/07: email from ally (9/01) - (after giving me her phone number) "but my cell will always be on though... ( I even take it with me when I'm taking the shower...) hehehe I know, weird... "
my reply - "soo do u actually answer the phone in the shower? haha if i ever find out wut time u shower i'll purposely call during that time =)"
her reply (9/02) - "*Laugh Sooo Hard* Emm... I take shower at different times everyday... so... hahaha... and I don't answer them when I'm IN da shower~~~ *bwuhahahaha* your plans failed~~~ hahahaha:

sOo... today was the first day of school for rowland... carol goes there now and she has three classes with ally! (bio spanish n choir) so at nite carol told me she was havin trouble figurin out sumthin for spanish class so i was like 'oHh u can call ally!' and she thought it woul dbe weird so i said i would call for her (i never called her before either actually). n so i worked up the guts to call allys cellphone... and she actually answered. but you'll never guess wut she happened to be doing when i called........

09/06: there was this huge praying mantis on my window... scared the crap outta me when i first saw it. but its soo cool... its my second time ever seeing a mantis in nature (not counting the ones ppl caught/bought for bug collections... pretty fun to watch actually... especially this one cuz it was soO freakin hyper. he walks really slowly... like one foot at a time... n then suddenly starts running.. i think hes tryin to attack the little bugs. hehe... i watched him for like 10 minutes... then he was doin the slow walking thing again and suddenly *boiNg!* he jumped off the window and disappeared into the darkness! haha... hope it comes back soon. anyways its gettin close to my bedtime... those of u who have school tomorrow, go to sleep kids... dun be late to school! haha... hMm maybe tomorrow morning i'll go down my phonebook n call every highschooler so they get embarassed if their phone rings on the first day of class. hehe j/k dun worri u know im not that mean =) but yea im gonna go sleep myself... goodnite!

09/06: didnt have anything planned for today, so i decided to go watch the claymusic vocalist practice. (by the way... is there an extra practice for instruments too?) of course i kinda expected i would be doin more than 'watching'... at the end i pretty much played my part for the whole set. hehe... ok so we got to that techno song and the whole team decided to learn how to do the figure 8 rave tthingy! hehe so far the plan is that after the song before that, i'll rush back to the soundboard area and play with the lightswitches throughout the song... kinda like strobe lights! not that extreme though, cuz not everyone in the audience will be young n energetic... and we really dun wanna be held responsible for anyone having a heart attack during the concert. but trust me the effects are REALLY COOL... like nothing the chinese sanctuary was ever used for before =). oH and while we were takin a break i was sent out to get goodies for the team... at quickly's! hehe... yupyup we got like 8 drinks. haha i felt like such a pig carrying it all. but at least i got my boba =). oH and while the vocalists were raving on stage, me n uncle samuel were in the back (i was doin the lighting FX and he was doing cd player and sound balance) and he decided to turn on the 1000+ watt woofer in the front of the stage. gOsh that thing is crazy!! the whole church was shakin! haha they better warn everyone with health problems to not sit at the front left section! hEhe anyways...

09/05: church was soo awesome today... ken yeh came back to visit! hehe i was downstairs with steph n jen when he came n even tho i looked that way i didnt see him until he suddenly appeared next to me. haha o n then ally came today! finally! *sOo happy* hehe so me n esther were introducing her to all these pplz... and in service we made her stand up n introduce herself cuz its her first time =). n then i was like 'did u kno they make all the new pplz go up to the front n dance?' and she totally fell for it!! *laughin soo hard* haha anyways after theyy left i was talkin with steven n his friend ray... wow i actually REMMEBER his name!! haha... all those lil tips he gave me really helepd! we were talkin about paintball... i know NOTHING about paintball so i felt like an idiot... hehe owellz then i wanted to get lunch but they alrady sold out =/ but luckily my mom had a bag of dzong-dzz's (wut are those called in english again?) so then i went n sat by kelley n karen. havent seen them in a while too... o and apparently i wasnt the only one that wasnt informed about cell on friday. hehe ok anyways... thats about it for today. o and i havent posted journal pictures for a while... so heres a few pics of my doggie =)we gave him a bath today so now hes in the house! hehe isnt he so adorable? =)

09/04: u knO... its so cool how everytime i feel sad n i dun kno how to let it out, i jus stay online and suddenly i would get some unexpected IMs from unexpected ppl (that usually dun talk to me often) and that would totally cheer me up. hehe... so anyways last nite kylie suddenly decided she wanted to play pool with me again. and the weirdest thing... i won so many times! haha... and at the end my rating actually went higher than hers =). and the last game it froze =/ but then she didnt wanna go back anymore... i felt bad tho cuz i really suck but i kept on accidentally winning. hAha... maybe next time its gonna go back to normal?

09/03: soo i checked SOLD's xanga earlier dis week and saw sumthin about goin paintblaling on sautrday. so i assumed cell was cancelled... then earlier today (6:30) i checked it jus for the heck of it and guess wut... cell's at julias house! so i ate fast n went... and then i knock on the door and NOBODY ANSWERS. so i call n nina/julias mom picks up n says that she knows cell is supposed to be there, but both nina and julia are NOT HOME. so then i call andy i find out they decided to cancel cell. wut da Hailstorm!?!? yea yea i know we're not supposed to meet if theres no advisor (cynthia couldnt make it from wut i heard)... but how about LET THE MEMBERS KNOW!? unless i'm STILL not a part of the cell... come on guys we can do better than this rite?

09/02: random clip from an email i got from ally this morning: "I think I started liking you now... but READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY, don't think it the wrong way, I meant, I like you as a friend, because I found out that YOU ARE WEIRD LIKE ME TOO!!! You are sooo weird, and I like weird people!!! And you know, weird people are soooo COOL!!! They are, actually, we are sooo much cooler than the normal people~~~ emm... by normal I meant... emm... I don't know... but... normal people... you know what I mean??? Yea, so... those...normal people, yea... Anyways... it's kinda late, and I remembered I have to do something in the morning, but I forgot... so I think I better go to sleep, and try to remember what I've forgotten... but, what if I just forgot why I've forgotten, and just forgot what I was forgetting, and forget to forgot...??? uhh???"

uMm... i'll take that as a compliment? hehe... shes not the only one that says im weird... and im sure u probably agree with her. but hey at least i dun take my cellphone to the shower with me!! hehe...

anyways i jus bought 4 cds today... sixpence none the richer self-titled, sixpence "divine disconent" (the newest one i think), amy grant single, and PFR "disappear". price? $8 (for all four) =). if u want the same deal i got jus ask me n i'll hook u up! hehe anyways the last few days i've been insanely trying to figure out how to play the piano version of FIR's "lydia"... gosh that last part is like impssoible! im starting to think they used more than one piano there... but then again i wont know until i try. hehe... so wish me luck! =)

09/01: last sunday after church some mexican dude came up to me n told me he left his bible the day before (at the seminar) and he asked if i knew where he could find it. i really had no idea either... but i couldnt exactly refuse to help cuz he came specially to find his bible. so at first i was thinkin maybe go to the main (chinese) office n ask them... then i decided maybe see if baldwin was upstairs. so i brought him upstairs jus as pplz were gettin ready to leave. baldwin wasnt there but instead i saw anna... so i stopped her n asked if she knew where the bible was. and u kno wut she said? "it's in my trunk". WOW... *big sigh of disbelief (and relief)*... even if it was just a coincidence, we were sure lucky...

so anyways... this week i spent over 6 hours on the phone with steph (lin) so far. my cordless phone ran out of battery TWICE (from full charge). haha... so i'm at home not exaclty doing much... and she's at home and put in charge of her two little sisters all day while her parents are at work. and after the seminar we both decided to do daily bible study... so we got to talk about wut we learned n stuff... (yea all u seminar pplz dun forget... engraft romans 6 n 1 corinthians 13! hehe) so that definitely made my week productive. im still working on romans... gimme a few more days and i'll have it memorized =)

one more thing: jessica came over today =). she came to pick up a math book for next schoolyear... but then it turned out i didnt have the right book =/. *feels sOo bad for making her come for nothing* at least we got to hang out for a lil though... hope that helped make up for the missing book. hehe and of course we're gonna go to curry house before summer ends rite? i'll take that as a yes... dun forget! hehe...