12/31: really really REALLY weird day.. i woke up and the clock said 1... totally thought i was just dreaming so i went back to sleep, then i woke up again it was 1:30. if u kno me well enough u probably know that i NEVER sleep past 11 no matter what... i just get up naturally before then. ok so maybe winter retreat was really exhausting.. but 1:30!? so yea i woke up kinda irritated... and if it weren't cuz it's the last day of the year, i swear i would have forced myself to through the whole day and get up early tomorrow morning to avoid such a strange day. and plus the rain - made it seem like it was already getting dark only a couple hours after i woke up. kinda sucks knowing i pretty much let the last day of 2004 go to waste, but then again if the rain hit a day earlier, i would probably still be trapped in the mountain right now (cuz of the snow). i guess god had it all planned out... so anyways, about winter retreat. i didnt really get into any details last night cuz i was so tired, but yes i took a gazillion pictures, and yes they will be online. and of course the snow - i took dozens (literally) of snow pictures and sure enough a few of them turned out good enough to be my next wallpaper. (most ppl prolly dun know this, but i only use wallpaper pictures that i take myself). and of coures that means i'll finally be updating the wallpaper section of my site! check back soon and theres gonna be a few (i think 4) new additions! so anyways, didnt really do anythign today cuz i wasnt in the mood to.. but i DID talk on the phone with kathie all afternoon. oHh and steph called both of us and it bascially became a 3-way.. and at first they didnt even realize that. soo funny!! hehe so yea thats it for now. byebye!

12/30: all these years i've seen countless christmas movies and december calendar pictures, and never realized how incredible it would be to live in a real winter wonderland. monday evening we arrived at alpine meadows and learned our way around the camp. the next morning when i woke up, the whole world outside my window was white, and immediately i got dressed and ran outside to join others who were already outside playing in the snow. i've seen snow many times before, but nothing as beautiful as this - a whole foot-thick later of fresh snow, much of which nobody has set foot on yet. it was snowing pretty much the whole day on monday, and during quiet time i went outside anyway, despite the cold. i couldn't open the bible because it would get drenched before i finish reading any page. honestly i thought i was crazy for wandering around in the cold while most people kept themselves warm indoors. but god reminded me that living a christian life was never supposed to be easy, and there will always be sacrifices i have to make. the beauty of an unending horizon of untouched snow is like nothing i've ever seen before, and the only people who got to experience it were those who were willing to walk in the cold to see it. each time i irresistably took pictures, i realized the world i surrounded myself with was so beautiful that it never had to pose; it was always smiling, reflecting the love of god when he created it all and teaching me a new definition of worship. they were songs without words, songs without music... like nothing the human mind could describe. all i could do was think of the words "let heaven and nature sing... let heaven and nature sing...", over and over again. during the worship sessions i tried to position myself near the windows, so could occasionally look outside and be reminded of god's glory. and each time i looked outside, it was as if it were the first time, and i was once again humbled before god. pastor elijah preached about 'thinking outside of the box' and finding freedom. just living in the snow is in itself already a kind of freedom - i've definitely had my share of fun jumping around the snow, making snowballs big enough for me to fit inside, and even sliding down the hill with sleds. some people stayed indoors playing cards and games the entire time... i'm not saying its a bad thing, but i just feel that if i came up the mountain and still did the exact same things i usually entertain myself with, then the retreat would have lost its purpose. there was so much freedom out there that could only be experienced by those who were willing to accept it and see its beauty. i have to say that this retreat is one of the best ever, not only because of the wonderful moments i spent with my friends or the things i learned from the sermons, but because i have seized every moment of these few days to worship god by showing him how much i love his creation. i could sing at the top of my lungs, and speak to god out loud as if he were standing right in front of me, and everywhere i look, all i see is god's love overshadowing my own weaknesses. the more i wandered around the snow, the more guilty i felt, watching my own footprints stain such a pure image of heaven. it is through moments like these that i am reminded never to give up in life, because i know that one day, all the things i struggle with will fade away, and at last i will be perfect enough to be a part of the picture, dancing with creation, giving praise to our God.

12/26: ucc pplz should all be really excited now, cuz its time for WINTER RETREAT!!! yupyup.. and if ur not going, u suck! hehe j/k its gonna be soo fun though. i cant wait... this is one thing i definitely look forward to year after year. summary of today - cworship in the morning... we all got mcdonald breakfast =). went to malan noodle afterwards.. i didnt drive cuz my mom was staying at church in the aftenroon (for practice) and i figured i could jus stay with her then go to robert n catherines house for potluck at night so i can save some gas =). yea yea i know its not THAT much driving... but hey im going bankrupt after all taht christmas shopping. so anyways kathie called right when i got out of malan... then ken dropped me off at church and i kept talkin on the phone and guess wut, kathie decided to come pick me up n go to the mall! steph (lin) n her friend christina were supposedly there too but by the time steph turned on her phone she was already home =/. so me nkathie jus walked around n talked n chilled... oHh we went to Tilt.. played two games of air hockey. guess who won both games.. *smirk* muahahaha... and kathie intimidated me at first by telling me she hasnt lost a game since 6th grade. guess there's a first for everything =) hehe.. oH and kathie told the victoria secret person that i wnat the lil white doggies they have at the front, and then the person was all advertising to me.. duz she think i'm gonna actually walk out of there with 100 dollars of merchandise? hehe anyways i'm at the potluck rite now... i happen to have my laptop with me cuz i originally brought it on the car to work on apps during the afternoon. everybodys playin poker rite now... i kno im weird but card games and gambling really duznt interest me all that much.. so here i am updating this thing once agian (i dun have internet now but i'll upload it when i get online).

so anyways... this is proably gonna be my last update before retreat. i'm leaving tomorrow (noonish) and gonna be gone til thursday (probably evening). and u guys know how retreats work for me... no computer, no cellphone, etc. i dont consider it a "retreat" unless i'm actually retreating from my life, and that means no connection to the rest of the world. trust me it makes a really big difference if u force urself to do it. so yea... if u need me either email me or leave a message on my cell... i'll get back to u when i return. i was gonna pack tomorrow but i think i'll do it tonite so i can stay online and chat =). but unfortuately that means i prolly wont have time to update again. i guess i'll say my goodbye now. BYE!!!!! =)

12/25: happy happy christmas once again!! kathie called n woke me up and thats a good thing, cuz i never wake up so late on christmas.. actually it was only like 9:30 or 10... but still carol usually drags me up earlier. hehe anyways heres all the stuff i'm gonna have to make space in my room for.

12/25: (1:00AM) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! yea yea i know its past my bedtime... compositon portfolio stuff was taking forever. i'm about 2/3 done with the last song now... should finish by tomorrow (hopefully). i was really really encouraged by the countless IMs that kept popping up saying merry christmas... thanx everyone! and no i didnt open any presents yet.. thats gonna wait til i wake up (hey, the anticipation only makes it more exciting). anyways... count this as a christmas present if you will, but i just added almost 100 pictures! go take a look... hope u like them! okee thats all for now. i better go to bed before santa catches me awake... so goodnight! and merry christmas once again! =)

12/24: ok this is the guy i supposedly look like... his name is Yundi Lee

12/24: christmas eve already.. suddenly it seems like this week is passing waay too fast. at least all my shoppping is done =). wednesday i went with mom n carol to shop at brea and eat lunch there. i ran into candace in the way out! hehe then afternoon i continued working on my app.. theres so much work to do that i actualyl had to refuse to go out to play until i make decent progress (which i actually did =) ). while i was doing that my mom was at her friends house (jean a.y. and da-tong s.s.) and they got me n carol christmas presents. so mom came home and told me to go look on the car and i see THIS THING-

12/21: yesterday - woke up jus in time to have lunch =/ hehe went to souplantation with mom carol n howard. then met up with ken at the mall n started christmas shopping! ran into lotsa pplz... saw eve and her twin friends (hehe)... saw taryn at bath n body works... gosh i swear i havent been this stressed in the longest time. christmas shopping under pressure sucks!! seriou5ly i usually get all my shopping done waaay earlier (mostly online)... but now that theres not enough time to shop online, everythings soo much more expensive, and plus i dunno wut to buy =/. but ish ok... i almost finished by the time i left the mall. most of the gifts are realy random.. hopefully everyone will like them =). seriou5ly... ask ken... i was like ready to jump off the 2nd story of the mall cuz i was so stressed. so anyways... went home for pizza (dinner), then went to pick up rose n esther and to go life plaza! yupyup.. two more bobas for me. we got a shaved ice.... pretty crazy huh? o and esther is like a walking igloo... her hadn was sooo cold its not even funny! then we went to have crepe... kinda helped warm up a bit. anyways... went to my house cuz rose wanted a pizza. hehe... then went to esthers to work on *drumroll* a thousand-piece puzzle!! its one of those things that i always loved as a kid and still love now. and i get totally hyper over the puzzle... i start yelling at the pieces n stuff. rose n esther probably thought im weird =/. o and guess wut... i found out esthers dad is named calvin chang! isnt that a cool name? hehe jk so anyways... time passed sooo fast it did NOT feel like almost two hours... but when i checekd the time it was past midnight. surprised my mom didnt call to lecture me. hehe... but yea i didnt get to sleep until like 2:30. it was all worth it though =)

today - steph n kathie recruited me to help on their video project... today was our first day of work (thursday is the next)... went to pick up tiger, almost got lost! hehe then met with steph kathie tina chris n eric at church to film. one scene they were filming with the soundboard wall in the background (where me chris n eric were hiding to avoid being caught on camera unintentionally)... i was playing with the little explosive peanut can and i accidentally opened it so the big red snake thingy shot out into the air! maybe we can use that as a blooper? hehe... oh and kathie gave me a grandpa. am i THAT old? hehe its cool though... one of those lil head-bopping thingys... i'll put it next to my monkey that i already have =). on the way home the wierdest thing happened - some idiot gardener was trying to race me! yea i kno... wut da heck!?!? he was behind me at first then he suddenly went really fast n passed me and we stopped at a red light. then when it turned green he floored his pickup truck and did a BURNOUT. it was one of those old white toyota gardener trucks too... did he think he could accelerate faster than me? at least i dun have a bunch of lawnmowers in the trunk adding extra weight. and dun worry i didnt actually start any trouble with him cuz hes jus being an idiot and i had to turn on the next street. but still he was doing 70+ on fullerton. u kno how hard i would have laughed if a cop suddenly came out?

anyways, today afternoon - christmas shopping with ken, part 2. went to family christian... got a bunch of stuff. now i'm lik e90% done! hehe... cant wait to finish. ken came over n chilled for a bit until his bball game at 6. then afterwards i had a family steak dinner at home. yummy!!! hehe the rest of the night i started doing some actual WORK. yes i actually have work to do winter break, namely two things

(1) finish my app/portfolio for music major (its due the first week of school). this is gonna take a LOT of time, mostly to dig up my old music and organize them and rewrite wutever isnt clear enough. luckily i'm allowed to use my original UC personal statement again for this, cuz i REALLY liked my ps and it fits perfectly with this app. but still... i'm gonna force myself to work real hard on this, cuz i've already come soo far and i'm sooo close to having done everything i need to do. wish me luck =)

(2) post new pictures online. yup... FINALLY! lets see... so far i have old cue pics with steph n jenn, billy graham crusade, harvest festival, soul survivor tour, and ken's wedding (ken (wu) and kelley need to send me the pics first for that one). then i have the new college pics too... those might wait til next year though cuz im still msising a lot of pics that i need to get from various people. but yea, i'll definitely have my own pics posted before the break ends, so check back soon!

ok u kno the weirdest thing? emily (shih) jus IMed me and started talking in spanish and sounding all gangsta... its actually starting to scare me. then she sdudenly signed off =/. im gonna hafta call her sometime and find out wuts going on cuz im getting REALLY worrie.d hehe... anyways i guess this is enough writing for one entry. i'm soo glad its only tuesday.. this week is actualyl quite slow (in a good way, cuz i really need the extra free time). hopefully i'll have my app at least halfway done tomorrow, and the rest thursday. wish me luck! byebye!

12/19: went to church at 7:30 =/. *yAwN* but chinese worship with josh's team was fun.. we messed up soo much though cuz we were so unprepared. and during 2nd service the keyboard malfunctioned =/. it suddenly went on permanant sustain and wouldnt shut off so i had to stop playing and reboot. luckily it was only background pad/string stuff... then afterward the sustain pedal just died and wouldnt work at all. soo weird... someone remind me to tell the church staff asap, cuz im playing again next week and i really dun want that happening again! hehehe ohh guess wut.. denise n ling came to church today! so how long has it been since i saw them? half a year? more? prolly more... afterwards me ken n denise got in-n-out and then went to denises house to eat. gosh havent been there in a long long time too. then went to grandmas house cuz its her birthday! hehe.. happy bday! =) at nite had dinner with my family robert n catherines family and stephenie n ericas family. ohh and guess wut.. tomorrow im going CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! haha... about time huh? freakin finals... im usually done with all shopping by now (yes, i shop REALLY early). hopefully i'll actually make progress. for now i'll shut up and go work on my shopping list...

12/18: theres so many people nowadays who believe that it's impossible for guys to be in a relationship and keep themselves from getting too physical.. and theres so many people who find it hard to even believe that a true love exists. i always believed love was real as long as u understand what it really means... and today i witnessed true love with my own eyes. CONGRATULATIONS to KEN and MARIAN who got married today!!! im not gonna tell the whole story of how they met and everything rite now, but they both waited for God to lead them in their love lives, and God gave them exactly what they wanted. it's soo amazing everytime i think about it, and whenver i question my own morals regarding relationships, i can just think about ken and marian and it reminds me that i'm doing the right thing. thanks sooo much (both of you) for being such an inspiration to me (yea yea i kno... i should have said all this at the banquet huh? im not much of a public speaker though...). i wish you the best for your new lives spent together =)

12/17: all done... gosh i hafta say this was the fastest quarter ever. still feels like i just started... so anyways ucla decided to close bruin cafe for lunch today, cuz they knew everyone would be getting their smoothies and they'd much rather save money for themselves and let our swipes go to waste. wuteverz... i only had one left anyways. my rap final was alrite... i jus thought it was kinda ridiculous that we had to sit there for half an hour (actually more) waiting for the professor to show up to give the listening portion... cuz everyone was falling asleep already, and if it would actually make a difference in my grade i would definitely have complained. but ish ok... im jus soo glad its over. and i had lunch with yune afterwards.. that only made it better =). afternoon i jus packed n played underground. turns out i was leaving at 8 instead of 6:30. kinda pissed me off at first cuz there was so much i could have done if i knew i would be at school a few hours longger. and what about dinner!? i was NOT about to eat my last meal alone, even if i had that one swipe left. so when jen n van asked me to go to their apartment i didnt even hesitate. hehe... i must have gone REALLY fast on that scooter, cuz when i was passsing deneve some guy was like "JESUS!!" then he grabbed his friends (they werent even close to me) and pulled them aside. hehe... so dinner was really really great. finally visited jen n van as i promised a long long time ago. and cup noodles are great too! hehe.. not they they didnt wnana give me anything better... its cuz i didnt have that much time to stay. returned to my room just in time to finish packing.

ohh and forgot to mention... i finished underground! the ending was kinda corny actually... could have been much muchh more challenging. but still... its such a good game. and i beat the last level one-handed cuz i was on da phone with kathie at the same time =). so yea.. anyways... school's over... time for winter break. got some plans already... but still lots of free time, so feel free to invite me to anything u want =). to everyone who reads this - have a great great winter break... hope to get to hang out with u (if possible), if not then see u at school or sese u wherever i get to see u... hehe.. and merry christmas too! =)

12/16: two down, one more to go. history final was alrite... couldnt have done nearly this well without kathys help tho. hehe thanx again! i think i finished a bit too fast though =/. im always a fast worker but i try not to be the first one done, cuz i dun want the teachers to think im not taking it seriou5ly. but turns out we were supposed to give our test to our own TA and i was the first one in my class (some other TAs students finished before me)... owellz. glad its over... time to focus on the next subject - rap! haha... yes i actually have to study for that. in fact its really realyl hard! soo much stuff to remember. but anyways... for the more fun stuff - this morning emily was online!! crazy huh? felt like the world was gonna end. but yea.. of course its cuz shes all done with finals already (no fair!)... lunched with her yune n ky... dinnered with crystal! i was really surprised she asked me to join her for the last dorm dinner of the year. yea.. all us poor people that have friday finals...i think this is my first friday final ever so far. i usually go home a lot sooner... but ish ok. its encouraging enough to think that tomorrow by now its all gonna be over. final is 11:30AM... then i'll be back just in time to eat lunch. then at 6:30 i'm heading home. to everyone that still has finals - good luck!!! dun stress too much, and hope to see u again so i can say bye tomorrow! hehe... but in case i dont, byebye!

12/15: summary of the morning - woke up in time to get breakfast, then went straight to get an ice blend, brought it to my room and fridged it, then went to get a soda at puzzles on the way down to murphy (cuz i wanted to print out history notes without paying 5 cents per sheet... come on im a college student!), then came back to my room after finishing teh soda and studied while enjoying the iceblend. (oh by the way, peppermint ice blends are sooo good! i think its a holiday special flavor.. so get it while it lasts! =) ). then 11:30 yune called to see if i wanted to go eat. well um... i wasnt hungry at all, but if i didnt eat then i would prolly end up eating alone later, so of ocourse i went anyways. hey, i still have too many swipes. hehe... might end up being just about right actually.. we'll see about that..

something cool i saw on the way back from murphy - THE UNDERGROUND TUNNEL WAS OPEN!!! can u believe it!?!? i got to look inside! too bad i didnt have my camera, or i would run down there, get a few shots, then escape before getting caught. it was the door north of schoenberg (by the street).. it was just sitting open! and inside there was actually light... really bright light too. looked like a big storage room. but im sure theres much much more to it, so maybe one day i'll get to see the rest of it.

afternoon - study, study, and study. freakin history stuff... i was never too good at it. but turns out someone knew much more than i did - kathy! she called at nite and told me sooo much about WW1 and WW2... and suddenly now i feel soo smart! anyways, im pretty much ready i guess. tomorrow the final is at 3, so i still have a lil time to study. but for now, time to play Underground! =)

12/14: what can i say... today was simply amazing. lunched with jen - her first time in the dining halls this quarter (and the quarter's already over)! hehe.. then we chilled in my room til she had to leave. 30 seconds after she left (literally), i got a call from ken saying he's almost at ucla. yupyup... he and diana came to visit! =) cuz theyre freakin done wtih finals already.. no fair! i'd much rather start a week earlier and be done rite now. but wuteverz... i feel soo special everytime people visit me and this is the first time this year that my friends came specially to visit me =). ken didnt like parking meters (i wonder why.. haha) so after he came to pick me up at sproul turnaround we went to park on veteran (free 2-hr parking). and i saw jen again! haha... cuz she lives on veteran and she was on her way back. but yea.. we parked n walked back up to my room. remember last year when diana visited? it felt like shes a celebrity or sumthin cuz she knew everybody and everybody knew her! so yea, she went off to visit zillions of people and meanwhile ken and i chilled in my room. kay (from walnut) came to visit. she still remembers me even tho we met only once last year. hehe.. then we all went down to visit jessica. then me n ken went to see alex in dykstra, then brian (park) in hedrick. ken got to experience The Walk to hedrick. hehe... makes him love UCI soo much more. kinda funny how most of the people ken and diana visit are also people i know... brian and i were both at chaparral (middle school). now hes the president of hedrick! (hehe.. why else would a 2nd year be up there?). we called steph to see if she was in her room... turns out she was with ernest caleb and alicia! they said they were going to eat first... and like 2 minutes later we ran into each other at the turnaround. hehe.. so then me n ken went back to my room to chill... eric came over for a while too. then diana called to go eat in deneve. so heres the crazy part - me ken diana lisa nina and jo (all ucc people) were gonna eat together... then we went in and steph ernest caleb alicia and blessing were already there eating.. few seconds later we found alex and david at another table. too bad we couldnt all fit in one table. i heard nick wu was visiting too and was also in the dining hall. thats about as crazy as a ucc college reunion can get. hehe.. anyways we ate for like an hour and a half. ohh and right next to our table was my whole secret santa crew! i kept turning aroundt o evesdrop =). hehe so anyways after that we came to find herrick in sproul 4south.. turns out he was in jessica and karen (both from IV and sproul smallgroup)'s room! then back in my room me ken n diana watched this AACF video.. it was hilarious! they did a azn christian version of "Yeah". sooo good! =) then on the way out we went to say hi to jessica again then visited olivia n nelson in deneve. they would have stayed a lot longer except ken had to ge tback and also diana has work tomorrow morning. but still... what a wonderful way to spend a day that would ahve otherwise been spent entirely in my room probably playing nfsu2. hehe (by the way... i got a skyline last night! its soo beautiful.. i'll post pics sometime hopefully).

everytime people come to visit and i show them around campus, it makes me realize how much of my own college experience i'm missing out on. just by walking a couple times back and forth from the dorms, i ran into so many of my own friends... usually i could spend days or weeks without seeing them, but i guess its only cuz i didnt make the effort to step out of my room more. perhaps i didnt have enough time this quarter.. but thats definitely something i'm gonna try to work on next year (by the way, any suggestions for classes? check my AIM profile during winterbreak cuz i'll probably put up wut classes i need to take... lemme kno if theres anything u wanna take together!). to top things off, theres all the little presents today that made it feel almost like my birthday. jen gave me a lil bag of christmas candy.. at night right after i came back (after ken n diana left), andrea dropped off a bag of cookies she made. few minutes later ryan and richard came and gave me this chocolate brownie cake wuteveritscalled thingy... and they even brought milk to go with it. then we were jus chatting and they asked if i needed prayer... nothing specific at the moment i guess, but i mentioned me trying to switch to music major (the filing period is right now til janurary 7, so i'll be organizing my portfolio very soon)... and they prayed for me in my room. it wasnt any miraculous healing or anything, but it was the first time anyone stopped by my room specially to pray for me, and all this time i've been in IV i never felt this loved. after they left i was jus lookin at all the food on my desk (by the way, diana left a bananana in my room... guess it counts as a happy finals present. hehe)... so yea i was jus staring at all the food and thinking how amazing this day has been. i dunno why god made it all happen today of all the times it could have happened... but i guess i wasnt planning on studying today anyways, and having these great things in mind definitely will help boost my energy when i do start studying tomorrow morning. remember the beginning of my social revolution when i could think of my friends and it would give me the power to do just about anything? i think that same power suddenly came back to me =). happy finals everyone... have fun studying, cuz i know i will!

12/13: one down... two more to go. theory final was actually harder than i thought.. stupid question on the maxim thingy screwed me over.. and its like 10 points (out of 200).. otherwise the rest of it was pretty much easy. but yea... no A+ for me =/. actually i would be surprised if anyone got it... but yea its over now. i'm both happy and sad. theory 20A has been the best class i've ever taken in college so far. not only cuz its my first A in college, but mostly because of all the great experiences that came with it. it was a lot of work, but everytime i was in class i felt like i was at home and i looked forward to going everyday (yes, even for the final.. hehe). i still remember the first day i walked in to class soo scared that i would be rejected like i was in so many other classes, but at the end professor lefkowitz amazingly agreed to give me a PTE number to enroll even though i was almost two weeks behind already (10/12 entry). then my first day at keyboarding lab when i didnt know where the lab was (or anybody i could ask) but tiffany suddenly appeared... she was looking for the professor's mailbox (cuz we both had to turn in homework to his box). i just happened to know where it was, cuz i already turned in my work. and she just happened to know where the lab was. if that didnt happen i wouldnt have made it to class that day (10/14 entry B). then eventually i got to be friends with tiffany and we studied for the midterm together. then one day tim suddenly asked me to accompany him in his violin class. then kat got my phone # and me her n dan got to study together too. through all these experiences i got to meet friends - friends whos world i will one day be a part of. some of my classmates think i'm really smart at theory.. but honestly i have nothing to brag about, cuz it was a miracle that i got into the class in the first place. on that one day when professor lefkowitz used my counterpoint homework as an example for the whole class, all i could do was thank god in my head, because even though i just sat quietly through class everyday, god slowly helped me earn respect and helped me get noticed by the professor, TAs and students. and thats why i always try to be there when people need help with theory... just like god gave me all the things i know, i want to use it to help others when they need it too.

tiffany and yassmin came over this morning to go through some last minute questions for the final. then we had lunch together... then we met with deena and kat and we all walked down to schoenberg together. what a great way to kick off the last class meeting =). during the last couple weeks of class, i was studying in the library with a bunch of classmates and i mentioned for the first time that i'm not a music major. everyone was surprised in one way or another. i guess i've done my job of proving that i'm no worse than actual music majors. and god has definitely done his job of confirming once again that it is his will for me to study music. thanx everyone for making theory 20A as great as it was. i love you guys soo much! =)

12/13: its finals week... and dun be surprised if u see me out chilllin a lot this week, cuz i'm really not stressed at all.. finals are just a few tests that happen to be on the same week... i'll jus study wut i need to, do my best, and get the grade i deserve... thats all. i hafta say this is the best finals week ever, cuz everytime i feel like i'm too lazy to study, all i need to do is remember the beginning of this quarter, when i desperately prayed for the right classes to take and ended up in the three i'm in now. it couldnt have happened without a miracle... i dont care how hard it is, i know that god specifically brought me to the classes i took, and it's my job to work hard and do well.

yesterday after church i went straight back to school... spent the afternoon at kat's studying theory with her and dan. dinnered afterwards, then at night tiffany came to join too. we had the funniest conversation ever... it jumped from korea to dating to tri-tones... soo randoM! and we looked at some 'interesting' xangas... turns out lotsa people in our theory class have a whole nother life that we dont know about. hehe.. anyways that lasted til like 12:30... then i went bak to my room to sleep.

one last thing - not sure if i mentioned it before, but i already swore to myself that i'll be in bed at/before 1AM every day until finals are over. i'm only doing this cuz soo many times unexpected things come up at night that make me want to stay up, even though i know i shouldnt... and even though i usually claim my bedtime is midnight, i'm saying 1 this time only cuz theres no classes and i dun want kevin to have to shut up so early everyday because of me, and also cuz i really dun mind sleeping til like 9 anyways. but yea... 8 hours a day until finals. (and trust me.. .i'm only doing this cuz i'm so sleep-deprived that im totally desperate now). pleez be a good friend n help me stick to my own rules... thanx! =) and one last thing before i shut up - happy finals everybody!

12/11: saturday nite right now.. im gonna pack my stuff in a bit cuz i'm going to school right after church tomorrow to study theory. final is monday! i didnt study yet =/. should be alrite though... theres really not much to study cuz we should all kno the stuff from doing the homework. but yea... gotta do at least a little studying just to be safe. hehe anyways yesterday nite i went rowlands "winter wonderland" choir concert. saw soo many pplz i know =). carol and ally were in acapella... kat n esther in infusion. and i havent seen ally n kat in the longest longest time!! hehe kat did a solo! good job! hehe.. so my seat turned out to be like 3 feet (literally) away from the performers, so i didnt take any pics cuz i didnt wanna scare and/or blind anybody while they were singing. during one infusion song they all walked a big circle around the stage and esther passed right by me n she had this really funny glare cuz she wasnt supposed to look at pplz while on stage. and then on the final song (hallelujah chorus) ally was right in front of me.. like 2 feet away. n she kept laughing when i looked at her so i tried turning away most of the time. hehe oh and the most awesome thing happened afterwards - i got to see serena from yamaha group lessons. last time i saw/talked to her was like probably 8-9 years ago. thats about as crazy as it can get. hehe..

today - worship practice with stephs team... we copied the oniion flava version of "lord you are good" and it actually turned out really nice =). then afterwards we had lunch (me steph robert wilson vince danieL)... and then i went home to put up the christmas tree! finally.. hehe now our house feels really christmasy! but then again its nothing compared to my aunts house which was lik etotally decorated, cuz there were like 40 people tonight! yupyup... claymusic appreciation dinner party =). the food was like japanese buffet food... (kinda like onami!) sooo good! we played bingo and i kept losing =/ hehe and of course i played some nfsu2 upstairs with benben. lots to say about that.... time for a new paragraph!

ok so about underground 2 - even though i was pretty busy this week i still managed to have a LITTLE time to play... (plus all of last night after the choir concert). and im more and more convinced that it's THE best pc racing game that exists (and i'm only saying pc cuz i have high expectations for grand turismo 4... but then again the two games are really different so its hard to compare) . earlier this week i ran into a huge problem - new races stopped showing up on my city map! i didnt know wut to do so i got a new pontiac gto and spent all of my $50k suping it up. and NOTHING HAPPENED. still no new races... sucks huh? asked benben to help... he told me i had to get my visual ratings up to 6-star. and i was at like 4. the problem? NO MONEY! so yea... i was really about to declare bankrupcy and have to start the game all over again. luckily i checked gamespot and found some hints on how to earn some money (its NOT a cheat... thats one thing i admire about the game- there is NO cheat that lets u get extra money in the middle of a career... if u want money u hafta earn it urself)... so i saved myself. right now i got my 6-star rating and have a bunch of races i can do, plus a new sponsor (more money! =) ) and a new Evo! *soo happy* hehehe... seriou5ly though its such a great game. i'm about halfway done with it... maybe winter break i'll finish? hehe... lets wait til finals are over first...

12/10: wow... classes are over... time to start getting ready for finals. actually i'll wait til the weekend is over. hehe.. anyways yesterdays gospel choir concert was great, even though at first it seemed kinda bumpy. i guess i jus dun understand how it takes an hour and a half to deliver my keyboard... it was supposed to SAVE time (cuz my class ended at 5 and they wanted to practice by 5), but last week i walked back up, ate dinner, AND walked the keyboard down and altogether it took less than half that time. ok so im not really blaming anybody in particular cuz it was pretty much just a bunch of miscommunications n stuff, but at the end i still had everything set up on time (like 5 minutes before we started... hehe). having no time to warm up really screwed me up, but luckily we decided to drop one song cuz most people weren't ready. and it was in C# major - the one i would have messed up th emost on. the concert itself was really really good... gospel choir might be leading worship sometimes too starting next quarter, and hopefully they'll still want me to play for them. hehe..

other stuff that happened yesterday - did severin get a scooter!?!? i swear i saw one next to his jacket and backpack... not sure if it was his or some kid just left it from the previous class. but yea... the keyboarding final was pretty good. i got a 99!!!!! stupid bach chorale... i screwed up on the last two measures of my last song. ish ok though... i think i'll still shoot for that A+ =).

o and how can i forget... last night me sara emily yune ky vincent swathi n elena all got together for *drumroll* SECRET SANTA!! we all exchanged presents n chilled in swathi n elenas room (in canyon pt). i gave sara a bear.... vincent gave me a squeezy pillow thingy. i had soo much fun playing with it.. hehe oHh and i LOVE that pen that looks like a cigarette! =) hehe anyways came back really late... like 2:15ish... i guess ish ok just this one time cuz its a very special occasion. hehe.. not exactly good right before the last day of classes though.. and plus bruin cafe is soo slow nowadays with their smoothies so i barely made it to class on time today. so thats it... classes are over now. i guess im both happy and sad. but either way, for now i g2g get my mommy an iceblend (hopefully it wont be too slow) then pack to go home. so byebye!

12/08: yesterday- took the sightsinging final... jonathan was soo mean! hehe.. he asked me which voices i learned (for chorales 8 & 11) and i said tenor n bass (cuz i can swear he said guys only need to know the lower two parts... and most people i asked in class thought so too), then he told me i was supposed 2 kno all of it and he made me do alto! and he said i only had to do half of it, but when i finished he suddenly wanted me to finish all of it. hMm... last time i checked, i cant even stand hearing myself sing... not to mention sing for a final grade. i guess jonathan jus wanted to challenge me. hehe... (and yes thats a good thing =) ). seriou5ly i think he gave up quizzing me on intervals... last time in class me n tim were sitting in the back after the practice quiz and we both knew the right answers but like we never got called on! hehe... ok anyways enough of theory for now (yes, more to come lateR). yesterday afternoon - began work on my 7-page essay on rap. now HOW DA HECK do you write a 7-page essay on RAP!?!? hehe... i actually enjoyed the topic though - i wrote about how rap changed from a positive to negative influence to society. at least that was the first part. then i ran out of time cuz at nite was the 4-hour GOSPEL CHOIR practice! luckily the rain provided me with a perfect excuse to have david come and pick me up from sproul (cuz the keyboard doesnt like water). i wrapped it all nicely in puzzles bags. hehe... professional huh? j/k anyways... practice was GREAT. seriou5ly... 3 hours just flew right by.... i had no idea it was over so quickly. and it was a LOT LOT LOT better than last weeks practice. and this time i actually knew wut i was doing (i had the music transcribed n the sounds all set up right), so everything was much more in shape. still needs work though... we'll finalize it tomrorow at 5 during soundcheck.

today - lunched with crystal amy n grace... had the weirdest convo ever... crystal n amy laughed for like 5 minutes nonstop! then i went to music library to study with kat before class. it was the last day of theory! and yes i'm sad! and weird i kno... hey i'm already satisfied enough just being allowed in this class. the final is gonna be a bit harder than i thought, prolly cuz theres no extra credit (which guaranteed me a 100% on the midterm). i kno this sounds crazy, but i'm really considering shooting for an A+. u kno how rare it is to have an A+ in college? but if i dun go for it this time, i'll probably never have another chance cuz its only gonna get harder. so far the only thing i lost points on is homework (the rest is all small fractions of a percent)... homework i have like 93% total but thats only a quarter of the total grade, so if i get a perfect on the final then i have a good chance. wish me luck....

so guess wut i spent this whole day doing... LASSUS AND BACH!! the keyboarding final is tomorrow. i have 3 more lassus to learn and all three bach chorales. soo screwed... hopefully i'll learn fast enough and be ready by tomorrow, cuz i really want that A+. hehe... yea thats about it for now. tomorrow is gonna be the craziest day ever. peace is gonna come pick up the keyboard from sproul in the morning, then i will begin my 6 hours of classes (including the final), then go straight to Intervaristy to practice with the gospel choir one last time before the concert. its gonna be soo great =). *cant wait* okee g2g sleep now goodnite!

12/06: soo, when we hear of las vegas, most of us californians probably think about the Strip right away. well guess wut... theres a whole nother world in vegas that you havent heard about... and actually i love it =). so saturday morning our team went to ontario airport to rent two vans to drive to vegas. stopped at barstow to have lunch at in-n-out. then we arrived at vegas and passed the strip but didnt stop there... we went straight to the concert site - "Las Vegas Chinese Christian Church". pretty cool huh? who would have thought such thing existed... it was a pretty nice church too. the concert itself went pretty well, at least for our part. the program itself was alrite, but im pretty sure our songs and testimonies made it much better =) (and i'm pretty sure about that because the merchandise sold really well... hehe). the people at that church were really really nice, and afterwards they treated us to dinner in chinatown (yes theres a chinatown in vegas... just drive north up the strip and once u pass it ur in chinatown). then they brought us to the two houses we would be staying overnight. the next morning - got mcdonalds breakfast, then went back to LVCCC to get ready and lead worship for their sunday service. we decided to stay for lunch before driving back home... and guess where we were treated to... a buffet!! finally.. cant leave vegas without at least ONE buffet rite? hehe... it was the one at the rampart casino... great food once again =). after taht we went back to load all the gear, then said byebye to everyone and headed back to california. traffic wasnt too good and plus it was already really late when we left, so it was like 8 something by the time we got back =/. o by the way, before i forget, special thanks to kathy and steph for calling me a zillion times during the trip... i really enjoyed company while sitting on the car in the middle of the desert with everyone else asleep. (and grand caravans have really bad headrests, so i couldnt really sleep too well anyways).

so anyways... why was i in a rush to get back? i wanted to get to school quickly cuz kat n dan were waiting to do theory homework with me! i got to go to saxon for the very first time... gOsh its soooo freakin nice its not even funny... i had to take off my shoes cuz it felt like i was desecrating the place. some dude set off the fire alarm cuz he was blow-drying his fro. that was sooo funny... hehe anyways so we finished theory homework n chatted, then i went bak cuz i desperately needed sleep. i actually slept pretty well in vegas, but 6 hours in the car is really a killer... but wutever, i'll make up that sleep sooner or later.

today - its 10th week... and i'm officially beginning my new lifestyle - SWIPE LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW. hehehe... got breakfast, then got smoothie... then class, then lunch, then ice blend... then class again, then STuDY (yea its about time). dinnered with the secret santa crew - swathi elena vincent yune ky. (sara n emily couldnt make it). soo... wut kind of fruit best describes everyone? such a hard question... it was the most hilarious dinner ever. and seriou5ly my fruit duznt exist!! people wont believe me! hehe... anyways then later at nite we met up once again at bruin cafe. yupyup, more swipes =). they took like half an hour (literally) for my smoothie though... i had to yell at them so many times (im always really patient with my drinks but tis time it was so slow its ridiculous).

soo... the next few days are gonna be really crazy... sightsinging final tomorrow, 4 hours of gospel choir practice at night, then wednesday i get to work on my 7-page rap essay due on friday, which i have to finish a day early cuz im gone all day thursday for class then for IV. o by the way, this thursday for IV its the Gospel Choir christmas concert!! so make sure u come if u can. its gonna be really great, if i practice hard that is. hehe... so yea, thats all for now. goodnight!

12/03: if anybody is short on meal swipes let me know cuz i have 61 left =). so yea.. this week i've been maxxing out on smoothies and iceblends, and yesterday morning i even got up to eat breakfast by myself. hehe.. actually thats probably cuz i wouldnt have time for another normal meal for the rest of the day. classes went on til 5, then i had half an hour to eat dinner, go back to sproul, grab my stuff, and walk down to CS50 for intervarsity. and yes i said WALK. no scooter this time... cuz i had a bit too much stuff to carry. lets see... keyboard, monitor, and all the cables and pedals and stuff that goes with it. why my keyboard? for gospel choir i'm gonna go fancy again and do the two keyboards thing =). practice was right after catalyst.. i didnt even get to play thru the songs until then, and i was SOO NOT READY. i gotta admit God is always challenging me with new stuff to make sure i dont stop improving. in the summer claymusic was a huge challenge, then when school started theory class was a challenge (in many ways other than just the notes i'm writing), then having to push my sightreading skills to learn new songs to accompany tim in violin class. and now gospel choir - you guys probably all know how much i suck at jazz stuff. and i'm being totally honest here... those of u who were at any of the claymusic concerts, the jazz solo thing i did at the end of how majestic was MEMORIZED, not improved like it should have been. so even tho it sounds good, i'm really far from really beign good. and now i suddenly need to learn five gospel songs - by Thursday. o and did i mention i'm gonna be playing piano, rhodes, organ, two synths, pads, AND strings!? (that should explain the need for two keyboards.. hehe) *siGh* i feel so humbled everytime i struggle with transcribing stuff that other people improved on the spot. and one song is in C# major (whyy!?!?), so even if i memorize it its STILL hard. so yea... that basically explains wut ive been doing all day today. i'm leaving for las vegas tomorrow morning, so all the practicing i expect to do this weekend had to be done today. several hours of transcribing jazzy chords.... its kinda like trying to copy a book in arabic. hehe.. i gotta admit i had fun though. its so great to practice knowing i'm improving by the minute and that i'm constantly moving closer to learning something im gonna hafta learn sooner or later in this lifetime. but i still feel lik eim pretty screwed... its getting late and i think i'm pretty much done with the transcribing parts, so the rest of it can be left to improv (once i figure out the chords, that is). this actually reminds me of summer, cuz im in my room with everything set up in music mode (computer, wireless speakers n headphones, keyboard, remote controlled stereo, and my little clipboard where i'm writing the notes down). this keyboards been going EVERYWHERE with me these days - wednesday i brought it home, then to church for rehearsal, then back to school, and yesterday i brought it to cs50 for gospel choir, then back to my dorm, and now its back at home in my room. and tomorrow its going to vegas, then back home, then back to school. im trying to imagine wut it would be like now if jacob never let me use his keyboard in the first place... gosh it suddenly makes me sooo thankful its not even funny.

ok ok so i confess i havent been practicing "all day". for the past couple hours i was actually on the phone with kathy... she told me last time when we talked for 3 hours on the phone, i set the record as the guy she talked on the phone longest with. *feels special* hehe.. i definitely needed a nice phone conversation to get my mind off those jazz chords though. but hey, even on the phone i was still playing the songs as background music, so i wasnt wasting time. so anyways... i think i'll call it a day now. the rest of the practicing will wait until i come back from vegas. ohh and if ur wondering, i'm coming back sunday evening-ish, probably gonna have dinner at home then go back to school at night. it relally depends on when we can leave vegas though, so im not sure. but either way, tomorrow and sunday i'll be spending 8 hours on the road in the middle of a desert, so dont hesitate to call me and entertain me. hehe... so yea, guess thats all i have to say. byebye everyone! gosh actually i just realized its only like a day and a half... not really THAT big of a deal. but wuteverz... im gonna go sleep now. goodnite n goodbye!

12/03: its about time... the LA auto show FINALLY started updating their debuts & concepts list for next year. for the longest time it said 'check back in november' even though it was december already... and now its finally up =). its just a very brief list, but so far it looks VERY exciting. lets see... a dozen world debuts, including the new VW jetta (think sedan version of the new golf) and chevrolet HHR (think suv version of the SSR). theres lotsa stuff going on with the Concourse Hall companies too... debut of two ferraris - the f430 (new modena) and 575m superamerica (a maranello with beautiful targa top), and theres a possibility of a new debut from bentley. could it be the continental sedan? anyways, some other highlights: the Chrome paint version of the mercedes sl600 (by renntech) (its for sale at $400,000). american debuts for the new boxster, and the audi a3 and a4. 200mph chrysler ME412 concept, ford shelby cobra AND gr-1 concepts, and the hydrogen-powered bmw h2r. the website should be constantly, www.laautoshow.com. (and by the way im getting info from other sources too, thats why some of these cars arent on the site yet). so yea... great show coming up next month. i'm definitely looking forward to it already. =) (by the way, anyone wanna go with me this year? i'll post again when i find out wut day i'll go).

12/01: wow... december already. i'm soo not ready. seems like i havent had much of a break since the last update. but these past couple days have been awesome =). yesterday i woke up an hour n a half early to have breakfast with tiffany and help her with theory homework... turns out i woke up to hear a voicemail saying she wasnt gonna come anymore. i was really disappointed at first, but then i went to have breakfast anyways. ran into logan (from theory class) at rieber... so i didnt have to eat alone after all =). ohh and he's a scooterboy too! so he totally understands the advantages of having wheels on brunwalk, and also the humiliation of falling in public. hehe.. then i went to meet tiffany at the music library. so she got her homework done still. and plus i had an extra half an hour before class (at 11), so guess where i went. the sculpture garden! havent been there since um... the day i almost broke my leg. hehe... i havent spent nearly enough time meditating and thinking about this whole Revolution thing i'm letting myself go thru.. as each of my (physical) scars slowly heal with time, i cant help but think about the things i learned from it. i definitely gained happiness and satisfaction, and i'm slowly starting to look at people from a different perspective. but still theres more to learn... so there i was at the Garden thinking for the entire half an hour on the very same bench i was lying on a few weeks ago before the unsuccessful ride back to sproul. just lying there looking at the trees and the sky really makes me feel happy. it was soo beautiful... *siGh* i remember last year i used to do that every day. maybe i should start again. *prays for a good schedule next quarter*

dinnered with sara emily ky swathi vincent n elena... picked names for our secret santa thing. im not telling who i got =). hehehe so i got back just in time to meet with the sproul IV pplz and go to ackerman for *drumroll* the soul survivor tour!! its really weird how suddenly the place ive gone to watch dozens of free movies at suddenly became a big praise night. and of course tim hughes was great. and so was mike pilavachi. i got to meet tim at the end... had him sign some stuff and also took a pic =). (i'll post them when i have time). that was supposed to end at 9:30... but it went late and plus i had to stay to get my autograph =). but the downside of all that... gospel choir rehearsal was 8:30 and it was only gonna last two hours. (yea i kno... gospel choir!? peace recruited me to play piano for them... definitely a new experience for me, all this gospel/jazz stuff... but its about time i learn =) ). so i took a picture with tim hughes then got out of ackerman and ran and ran and ran and finalyl arrived at #2. i was sweating like crazy though... but had i arrived a couple minutes later, everyone would have left already. so at least i arrived in time to say hi and to apologize for the lateness (actually i already told them i would be really late... but not THAT late). but on the plus side, i got a ride back to sproul from david (thanks!!).

so that was yesterday. this morning went to breakfast with sara... she came on time! hehehe... had lunch with crystal n amy... then tiffany called to see if i could go to the music library to help her with hoemwork that was due today. so i went back n grabbed my stuff then went down to the library. and geuss wut i see - a whole table with about 10 desperate theory classmates frantically trying to beat the clock and finish their homeworks. i joined them jus for teh heck of it. it was relaly funny... never heard so much cussing about intervals before. hehe..

came back to my room after theory class with about half n hour to pack my stuff to go home! hahaha really random i know... but tonight is the only time to rehearse before the vegas concert this weekend. so i HAd to be there. went home first and ate dinner, then went to practice. saw jacob again =). he gave me some more stuff to work with... looks like we'll start jammin soon again (yaay!). then at like 11 we finished and my mom sent me back to school, and here i am now. how much crazier can it get - on a wednesday!? hehe.. and tomorrow i'll be having class all day again, plus IV and gospel choir practice (after catalyst). *yAwN* i should stop writing and go sleep huh? seems like a good idea... *feels smart* in fact thats exactly wut i'll do.

11/29: kathy sent me this email to call her if i can help on her personal statement... so i called her last nite. and we ended up talking for like 2 hours. that was great... didnt know our first phone convo can last so long, knowing how bad i am at coming up with things to say. at the end steph (lin) was online talking with kathy while kathy was talking to me on the phone.. so steph decided to start typing out 1 corinthians (we actually memorized on AIM a few times.. it tkaes realyl really long though!) and have kathy read it to me over the phone. i didnt bother doing my romans though cuz it was twice as long, and kathy would have to type it all to IM to steph. got back to school at like 11:30... but luckily all my hw was done. but i told kathy i would call her back when i get back to school... so we talked for like anohter hour =). at the end i HAD to go sleep cuz i woke up so early yesterday for worship. so this morning i was kinda lightheaded... almost ran into a car after class. in the afternoon i pretty much worked on a bunch of personal statements. hey at least it makes me feel young. well... i guess they're due tomorrow, so for everyone who applied, GOOD LUCK! =)

tonight was the last oniion flava practice this quarter. steve wrote a song for us! =). and we got to share about why each of us is important to the group. i was nominated for 'most sane' and 'most likely to get a job'. hahaha i got a lot of comments that really touched me and encouraged me. all this time i was playing piano week after week i never realized how much it really means to others until now. and its definitely one more clear sign that my piano ability is a gift from god. thanks everyone for your encourgement =).

played a few minutes of Underground at night.. i guess i'm settling with benben's idea of making me play on Hard. and yes its very hard... i keep losing =/. but on this one downhill drift i got a SIX DIGIT drift!! it said 'drift king' on the top. try to beat that! hehe =) anyways jus talked online with tiffany (yoon) and looks like we're gonna study tomorrow morning. gosh seems like i havent seen her in te longest time. but yea.. that means i gotta go to sleep early so i can get my 8 hours and make up for last night and the night before. tomorrows gonna be a great day... lotsa awesome stuff happening (one of them being the soul survivor tour with tim hughes and mike pilavachi =) ). i'll writ eabout that later. but for now, goodnite!

11/28: *yAwN* i had to be downstairs at 7AM for worship practice. didnt feel TOO tired, but now its starting to kick in. by the way its like 5 now and i just got home. the adult morning service went waaay overtime so we left later than expected. so yesterday was pretty good... we lunched at Onami =). and ur not gonna believe who i ran into... Kevin! yupyup my roommate! he didnt know i was going to san diego, and i didnt know he was going to san diego, and suddenly we meet up in the same restaurant. how much crazier can it get? hehe... so we all ate like crazy, then more shopping at the mall. tthen i came back n played underground with benben the rest of the afternoon. last night was the big skit program... pretty much everyone in the english group went only to see our own skit (we were stuck in the corner where we couldnt see (and could hardly understand) the other groups. our skit was actually really really good, and garland won 'best actor'! =). hehe.. i actually got to talk to more people during the skits... sat next to melanie during worship and accidentally popped her beautiful bubble =/. im soo sorry! hehehe then sat with ivy during the skits.. and got to meet a lot of riverside people. so for the most part i guess it was a Realty retreat... plus a few old people (the college group... most of which either came late, left early, or simply ditched). iono... i always see myself as a college-aged person who thinks like a high schooler (no time to write all the details here). and i think its a good thing... except its hard for me to participate in the discussions and learn from them. but overall i guess the retreat was a good experience. to my surprise, the part that touched me most was actualyl this morning during the chinese service (he spoke in english and pastor chen translated). his testimony was simply amazing (its the same one he told the english group thursday night (while i was still at home enjoying my turkey))... and afterwards when i was up on stage playing background music and watching so many people rush to the front to worship and to give themselves to christ... its funny how god speaks TO me while i'm playing piano. but it was definitely an amazing experience. so anyways... fast forward a few hours, and now i'm back at home. gotta finish up the last half of my theory homework... this week is gonna be a very busy one... i'll update on it as time progresses... but one thing i do have time for is reading peoples personal statements =). yea i know its gonna be due soon, and everyone is stressing like crazy now. i was talkin on the phone with ken on the car ride back from SD, and told him that i actually enjoyed writing my personal statement a couple years ago. i love being able to put my thoughts and feelings into words, and in the same way i love to read about my friends lives and how they put their feelings into words. kelley called me last nite n i helped her a bit... lotsa other people also asked for help... and yes i'm definitely glad to look over your personal statements before u send them in, so feel free to email them to me or call me or whatever else helps. but for now, back to theory homework. its a relaly long assignment but i should be able to finish it soon, unlike the 3-part counterpoint one that took FOREVER. so yea... time to get started. byebye!

11/26: (writing from san diego) - so yea.. thanksgiving was great. didnt sleep in cuz steph (lin) called. im glad she did though... in case i didnt make it clear enough, im always trying to get into the habit of sleeping early and waking up early. so yea, as long as its not TOO early, i totally dont mind waking up to phone calls. in fact i think its a great way to start off the day =). and of course, thanksgiving dinner was great. one of my favorite meals of the year =). with the help of benben, the home (downstairs) computer is finally reformatted and upgraded to windows xp. yea i kno, its about time =). and of course, we played lots of nfsu2. ben keeps making me play on hard... i suck though =/. hopefully i'll improve. hehe anyways we left for sandiego at about 9... got there in a bit over 2 hours. for the most part the retreat is like wut i expected... turns out steph (lin) was there (she told me yesterday morning when she called)... but she left already =/. for the most part its kinda lonely i guess... nothing much to do. the speakers are pretty good though, even though im really not a fan of heavy azn accents. in the afternoon we went to the mall a couple blocks away. then we got in -n-out for dinner. and now here i am at the computer writing this. im not gonna pay for internet (come on... cant u tell im broke enough? o by the way, i got my car back. definitely a good thing, even though i'm down by a few benjamins) . so anyways thats about it. gonna race a couple more times, then go to sleep. good nite!

11/24: wow... its only been a few days and now im home again =). happy (early) thanksgiving everybody! hehe... so quick summary of the week: monday - lunched with crystal, dinner with yune sara ky swathi and vincent. talked about this secret santa thingy we'll be doing. we spent like 203498324 hours working on the details. its not that hard!! hehehe it was lotsa fun though =). went to bruin cafe later at night... saw like a gazillion pepople i know... so THATs where everyone hangs out at night... ohh and i installed need for speed underground TWO (thanks benben!!)... its such an amazing game. this is about as good as a racing game can get. actually believe it or not until this week i havent played computer games on schooldays since the schoolyear started. im slacking a bit now cuz its thanksgiving break and theres really nothign much i hafta study for until finals. and yes i'm kinda addicted to nfsu2 already. hehe... if u see me playing make sure i dun play TOO much okee? anywayz.. tuesday - breakfast with sara again =). im soo happy... finally i have a breakfast buddy! played nfsu2 like the whole afternoon, then went to eat early cuz i wnated to go watch national treasure! it was a free screening... yea yea i know most people dont know about this one. its a lot more secret than the campusevents ones. the theater is much much nicer though (and its on campus!). ask me for details (and website to more screenings) if u want... sara n ky came to join me later.. the movie was GREAT. seriou5ly... i think its really good, as long as ur willing to accept crazy ideas like stealing the declaration of independence. the implausibleness is what gave it bad reviews, but i think its really creative, and so did most of the other people that watched it with me. so yea... it ended a bit later than planned though, so i didnt get to catch garden state =/. ish ok though... i saw garden state before anyways. so today... theory class was cancelled, so all we had was rap. we finished the second half of a video called 'scratch'. its about DJing and turntablists... i must say the video was really um... inspiring. seriou5ly... i want my own turntable now. probably not gonna happen, but i really wanna try it just for fun. theres something about DJs that just totally grabs my attention... anyways i ran into van on the way to class and we decided to lunch together. so she came over after class n we ate at covel with jessica. van decided to stay at the dorms the rest of the afternoon =). first in my room then we went to jess n crystals room. at the end jess van n me decided to go to the MALL! come on, shopping really isnt as bad as most people think it is for guys. so yea... we took the bus to the mall. i didnt even know there was a mall in westwood until today. it was really really cool though.. i love the lil air bridge walkway thingy and all the christmas decorations. we made it back just in time for dinner at deneve with crystal amy n shelly. i love the baked potatoes... too bad they ran out of bacon bits. i just took the whole bucket and dumped it on my potato then walked off before the chefs came out to yell at me. hehe... so yea, thats pretty much it. then we all said byebye n went back to our own rooms. then i went home and now i'm here updating =). im definitely gonna sleep in tomorrow morning, so i dunno if theres gonna be time to write before i leave for san diego (retreat). if not, happy thanksgiving everybody! enjoy your turkeys! (if i were a turkey, id rather be in iraq rite now... hehe) spend time with ur families and be thankful! hehehe alrite well i'll shut up now. o and in case u havent figured, i'll prolly disappear for a few days cuz i dun wanna pay for internet at the hotel (unless theres free wireless?). my computer will go with me though, so i can write the updates and post them when i get back (sunday... not sure wut time yet). but if u need me or anything just call my cell okee? so yea... goodnight everyone! and have a great thanksgivign break! =)

11/21: warning: this is gonna be a pretty long entry.. but then again the past few days have been filled with unexpected things (good and bad things), so i simply must write about it all. so yesterday (saturday) i went to the billy graham crusade again =). luckily carol told me that morning that it started at 6 (and not 7:30 like i thought, cuz thursdays was at 7:30). me n carol went at a little after 3. (trust me its definitley not too early)... i went to pick up ben, then catherine, then ken (at hongkong plaza). on the road we encountered some pretty amazing stuff... beginning on Pathfinder. luckily the one and only benben was quick enough to put his camera to good use =)

11/19: today is THREE of my friends bdays (may esther n carol)... and i was tellin my mom about it, then i came upstairs to go online and guess wut was the msn news headline. SEPTUPLETS TURN SEVEN. aAAAAH!! yea... random entry i know, but happy birthday to everybody =)

11/19: the downside of going to the crusade yesterday.. my knee injury reopened =/. i guess it was cuz of the tight seating and the constant standup-sitdown-standup-sitdowns. this morning it was bleeding again... not exaclty the best thing to see right when i get out of bed. but ish ok i guess... cuz i was still able to carry myself down the stairs to go eat breakfast with sara =). THAT was a great way to start the day. hehe... so in case ur gettin worried, i'm not in critical physical condition or anything, my hands are pretty much all healed (just small scars left)... right knee should be well in a few days. left knee (the worst part) will hopefully be ok soon. but i gotta be careful not to bend it too much.

and for those of u who are actually concerned, my jdbug is ok too =). the back wheel spokes actually cracked, but i kinda fixed it so now it still works fine, even though its louder and duznt go as fast. but good enough for me =). and of course, thats how i made it to landfair on time yesterday. hehe... ok well i just got back from rap discussion... turns out the professor agreed to give extra credit! im definitely gonna do it... its just a 1-page summary of some video on freestyling. hehe.. shoudlnt take too long. and its worth a whole letter grade. okee well i'll shut up now cuz i gotta go pack. then i'm going home! =)

11/18: quite an amazing day... i cant believe i was away from my room for a whole 12 hours. i think thats a record... so first i had class all day as usual. ended class at 4:52 and i was kinda nervous, cuz i was supposed to be on Landfair at 4:45 to get on the bus to go to billy graham. but then again is it actually possible to leave on time? i guess this time the delay of departure saved my life =). i actually made it from rolfe hall to the top of landfair in about 8 or 9 minutes (any guesses how? hehe). and sure enough the bueses were still there - and there was enough room for me to go =). ran into brian kuo (from mark 1... havent really talked to him much since then... until tonight!). so i had somebody to sit with n talk to on the bus =). traffic was pretty bad but we still made it on time. the rose bowl is HUGE. and it was amazing how two busloads of people actualyl managed to stick together the whole time without losing anyone. so about the crusade itself - simply incredible. its like a bigger version of harvest crusade... WAAAY bigger. i was just looking at the stage they built in the field and i could pretty much swear to myself that i would never complain about setup/cleanup for the claymusic concerts anymore. the stage unit was like 5 stories high (to hold the speakers for the whole stadium to hear). i wonder how it got up there... anyways then suddenly mercyme was on stage! wow.. havent seen them since the go show in march 03. bart has hair now! lots of hair! hehe... o and i finally found out how the band got its name! so one day they were rehearsing and trying to think of a name for themselves, and bart's grandma called and asked wut he was doing, so he told her he was thinkin of a name for the band. his grandma replied 'mercy me, go find yourself a real job...' and there it was. isnt that so cool? hehe anyways.. they performed 'here with me', 'undone', and 'i can only imagine'. i love all three of them =). then nicole c. mullen came up. WOW. wut more can i say? when she started singing the whole audience just kinda quieted down. she was sooo good!! she sang 'redeemer' (my favorite of all her songs), 'talk about it', and 'i am'. and then the thousand voice choir. just hearing so many voices project from the stadium is amazing enough. then billy graham. its so incredible that even though hes almost 90 years old he can still preach. so yea.. enough said about the crusade. o and it ended really on time (9:30), so i had plnety of time come back n finish my essay thats due tomorrow =).

11/17: (5 minutes after the last entry) im bacK! hehe.. yea yea i kno its past my bedtime, but i get to sleep in til 11 tomorrow anyways =). so um... theres lots of new additions (and subtractions) to my weekend schedule.. first of all, i stopped taking drum lessons. yea i kno, i didnt realy want to... but for various reasons i feeel its not the right time for me to devote myself to another instrument at this point. (i wont write all the details... ask me if u wanna kno).

next thing - thanksgiving retreat (in san diego): surprise surprise, I'M GOING! sorry did that sound sarcastic? it wanst meant to be... its seriou5ly a surprise even for me. ken definitely knows... i told him i was sure i wasnt gonna go... then suddenly im going again. why? basically its cuz steph n bens family is all going, and since we usually spend thanksgiving together, its gonna be really lonely witohut them, so my mom signed us up too. from wut i heard the speakers will be good... hopefully free time will be good too.. im not sure who else is going, so hopefully i wont be too lonely. i do know that kelleys going though =). anyone else? pleez lemme kno so i can start lookin forward to it! hehe... and of course i hafta apologize to everyone who might have wanted to hang out during thanksgiving break. the retreat will take up pretty much the whole long weekend (more details to come later), so im pretty much gone. thats one big reason i didnt wanna go to retreat at first. but then again as a result of this, i decided against plans for winter break that would take up large chunks of time. so yea... i guess i can survive another month before hangin out with my non ucla/non ucc friends. but i still miss all of u though!

wuts next... o yea claymusic. so during the irvine concert we were laughing about how all the testimonial videos had to do with las vegas. that definitely duznt mean that god doesnt love vegas people though. in fact, guess where our next concert is gonna be. hehehe yupyup 12/4 we're goin to vegas! sponsored by the same group as teh arcadia concert (i think), except its gonna be the vegas branch. but yea... definitely lookin forward to that already.

one last thing - and the one coming up soonest. the Billy Graham crusades! amidst my really busy schedule this week it was very very hard to find time to organize my schedule. as you may recall, after harvest crusade i said i wasnt gonna plan things the way i used to anymore cuz i didnt wanna end up disappointed again. so yea... i didnt exactly go around asking everybody if they wanted to come. so theres been a LOT of changes throughout the week, but heres the plan so far - i AM going home in the weekend, same time as usual. probably not gonna be at the sunday crusade (unless i have a ride back to school in the afternoon, and if tiffany is going cuz she said she might). thursday (tomorrow) i might go with intervarsity. i'll show up at the apartment a bit late though cuz i have class till 5, so if theres room for me then i'll go, if not then i wont. friday n saturday i'm leaving open so if anyone wants to go, i'll definitely be happy to join. thats as much as i need to say. isnt it soo much better (and easier)? no worries, no expectations... just sit back and let time make these decisions for me. actually thats kinda wut ive been doing all week. not worrying about working out every little detail of my life, but at the same time being responsible for what i do. once again, let the revolution go on. =)

11/17: lotsa stuff on my mind... im prolly gonna end up writing this as two entries. but anyways, its kinda weird how i get exactly one 'assignment' per day. sunday - theory homework. monday - history essay. tuesday - learn rachmaninoff song (details to come in a few seconds). today - rap essay. and the most amazing thing? i finished them all on time =). well sorta.. i coudl have made the rachmaninoff soo much ebtter if i started earlier. but yea... those of u who dun kno wut im talkin about, tim asked me to accompany him again! yesterday afternoon i practiced like crazy, then we rehearsed at 6, then i had dinner and practiced more, then bible study group, the practiced more until like 1AM. then woke up this morning adn practiced more. then went to rap class, and afterwards went to practice more. get the drift? hehe actually the drift stops there cuz it was time for the lesson. i was sooo not ready still, but at least i got through most of it with little mistake. its not even a hard piece... i just need to sightread faster. yesterday tim asked me if i enjoy accompanying.. n i honestly told him that regardless of how fun it is, its a given that i love playing piano, and i know this is definitely a kind of training i need to give myself sooner or later. so yea, i do enjoy it =). we walked back ot the dorms together after practice and talked abotu scooters. hehehe

as for the rest of theory class this week has been great. yesterday was jonathans section n we were doing intervals, and my half of hte room nominated me to answer. actually tiffany nominated me first then everyone else seconded. but its great to know that im slowly earning the respect of my classmates in my future major. then in todays class we were doing evaluations (soo early!?), and we took like an hour. hehe... so professor lefkowitz ended up not finishing the lecture on time. the result? no homework for the weekend =).

afternoon - as i mentioned earlier, rap essay. and talked to steph lin on the phone. its been really hard keeping in contact with her lately but we're still holding on pretty well. and its like a tradition now that shes always eating dumplings and im always drinking french vanilla tea. hehe... so i was hoping i could finish my essay at 5. when i finished it was 4:58. why 5? cuz i went to eat early dinner, then went to line up to watch Alexander! basically i overheard campusevents saying they would have free posters, so i really realyl wanted to go. even better? i ran into aaron at lunch and he decided to join me =). then shanon and marijana came too. i got there BEFORE 6 for the first tim ethis year... guess its actually a good thing to eat dinner by myself and control how much time i give myself. actually i ran into robert again! hehe... but we're really used to each other having to get up and leave already. so uMm.. the movie was pretty crappy. waaay too long! its like 2 hours something, and most of the scenes were dragged too long, and some of it was really corny n weird. so yea... thats my take on it, along with like 95% of other people i heard talking about it on the way out. but i did get some posters =). so its like midnight now... i jus got bak not too long ago and i think my hot water is done now so i'll shut up!

11/15: catching up with the past few days.. saturday i did theory homewerk all day.. it was sOo long!! =/ didnt even finish... then went to worship practice for stephs team, then i was gonna stay for SNL but it was like an hour past 6 and it didnt look like they were starting anytime soon so i jus went home to do more homework. but the "worship" we did at the beginning was really great! hehe... so anyways at home i did more theory.. STILL didnt finish =/. but i had a pizzookie =). yum yum..

sunday - went to kelleys house after church to help with her college aps. in case i havent stated this yet, jus letting all u high school seniors know that i'm more than happy to help with ur aps... i never expected to make it to ucla myself, and now that im here i think its only right that i help my friends the way others helped me. so yea... did apps all afternoon... brings back lotsa memories. actually rancho cucamonga itself is full of memories... im starting to learn my way around, even though i still get lost very easily. hehe oH and i stayed for dinner =). yummy food thanx to kelleys mom! hehe... went home at 7:30 and did more theory. almost finished... went back to school at like 10. finally finished homework!! *applause* hehe...

today (monday)- all of the sudden i'm back to school life again. but this time with a new attitude... i've officially changed the way i view myself in relation to my friends, and this adjustment only makes life much more enjoyable. i ended up bumping into robert for lunch and steph n linda for dinner. so i guess i wasnt all that lonely. at night worship practice turned out to be a lil party at steve's place. at first everyone was all confused (and kinda scared.. at least i was) cuz we had no idea wut the 'surprise' that steve n mike kept talkin about was... turns out we went to get boba in santa monica (steves treat... thanks soo much!), then went to his apartment to eat n watch Office Space. pretty funny movies. pringles only made it so much better =). and the stove was broken so we couldnt make the pizza, but then steve went and ordered pizza instead. oHh and the funniest thing - on the car ride back mike suddenly realized he still had steve's house keys! hahaha i wonder wuts gonna happen when steve leaves the house tomorrow. so um... yea, thats it for now. oH and it turns out theory homework is extended til wednesday cuz like nobody finished! should i get extra credit? hehe.. it was actually kidna funny walking into the hallway adn seeing a row of stressed faces all trying to desperately cram some good intervals before class started. but yea.. i have this essay due for history tomorrow morning, but i successfully finished it before dinner =). jus got back from covel after printing it out (yes i actually used my print account!! if i had enough tiem i would have done it at home though... hehe). so now at last i can relax a bit, and hopefully sleep well. no class til 11 tomorrow =). good night...

11/12: its soo great to be home again... had a lil family lunch at covel today (me, steph, ben, my mom, their mom)... then i came back home - one of few places i know i'll always belong. sometimes i think having a physical handicap is such a beautiful thing... i'm in too much pain to complain about little things that used to irritate me, and it forces me to be content with what i have. the bruises are big enough to constantly remind me that i'm weak, yet they dont prevent me from living my life and doing the things i usually do. i got to spend most of the day with rose and esther today. went to meet them at rose's house in the afternoon... helped rose with homework then went to esther's... found out she likes to play with puzzles too. hehe... that 1000 piece puzzle is soo great (but soo hard!) i went with them to their new cell group, and once again experienced the joy of being welcomed to a group of mostly unfamiliar faces. we played mafia and i got killed on the 2nd round (=/), but at least it shows the mafia people paid attention to me (hehe). o and i ran into peter who met me ONCE (a long long time ago... when i was helping betty n lucy pass out flyers for some church thing... and he was there too n i gave him a ride across the street to go get boba). and he still remembers me! after cell me esther n rose went to eat at life plaza (surprise? hehe), then went to watch the Incredibles. the movie was totally unplanned... i swear just this morning i pretty much accepted the fact that it would probably be one of those movies that everyone will watch but i wont simply because everyone would end up seeing it without me. guess it didnt work out that way =). and once again, Pixar impressed me with a great film. its like 1:30 in the morning now and i just got home... but somehow im feeling abnormally awake and happy for this hour. perhaps its the mocha frapp that rose gave me at her house. but more likely its because i'm simply so glad to be with my friends. in a lot of ways this reminds me of the 'miracle nights' during the original revolution. i think so far i'm relearning my lesson very well =).

11/11: so far, this quarter's been a pretty lonely one... yea i know a lot of great stuff has been happening, but regarding my friends, things havent been going nearly as well as before. at first i thought it was simply cuz everyone had schedules opposite of mine, so i always ended up eating alone. but slowly it became clear to me that the problem is in me. now that midterms are over, i got to spend a lot of time this week thinking about where i've gone wrong. it just seems like my school friends are getting by perfectly fine with or without me... and i'm always trying hard to get noticed. i always believed that the greatest friendships are when neither person needs each other, and they communicate out of free will. but how is that possible when i end up waiting desperately every day for people to eat with me and get no response unless i speak first? it seems like im always popping my head into places where i think i might belong, but these places have become so scarce that i know i'll eventually wear them out and have nothing left.

all i could do was seek wisdom from God... so this afternoon i went to the garden to meditate and reflect, just like i always did last year. seems like the garden is always overcrowded nowadays, and days like this are the only times i get to enjoy its beauty without distractions. i reflected on my attitude towards friendship, both in the past and right now.

"Amidst all this struggle, another story evolved in my life at around the same time. It was the story of my friends - my true friends, those who appreciate me for who I am, and don't let me go simply because we don't see each other. While I struggled to be accepted on the campus of Troy, I was welcomed by a new world of people. At first, it seemed rather foreign to me. But eventually, it became my world, and my only source of inspiration... As the weeks passed, my relationship with these friends grew stronger and stronger, and it became more and more clear to me that [they] were angels that God had sent into my life." -Under the Western Skies, introduction

that was the beginning of my "social revolution". as strange as it may sound, it was extremely significant to me considering the way i lived in the past. every friend was a miracle that i didnt deserve. several years have passed, and i got to experience the full spectrum of the social ladder. and somewhere in this journey i have taken a wrong turn. the revolution was God's response to several years of desperate prayers. but i ended up taking it into my own hands, making it as problematic as human nature itself. i prayed today in the garden for the beginning of a new revolution, rooted in the success of the first revolution but correcting its mistakes.

the first big thing that happened was that out of the blue i decided to go on the ride of a lifetime with my scooter. and it didnt lead to very satisfying results. being catapulted to the ground at 25mph was NOT fun. luckily i didnt break any bones... but i definitely got the biggest bruises and sores i ever had. so thats the first lesson God taught me- slow down. think before taking action. and of course, humillity. for a moment i was simply so thankful for being able to get up on my feet that nothing else mattered. i just stood there, not quite able to comprehend what just happened, and for the first few minutes my vision slowly blacked out, and all i could do was desperately pray for my own safety

it took me a very long time before i was strong enough to walk back to my room. but i made it back just in time for an IM from jackie. not long after that, kelley called me. then i went through the usual wait to see if anyone wanted to eat with me. i ended up alone again, but i guess i was in too much pain to complain.

the rest of the night i was in my room looking at the early entries of my journal, including the one posted above. sometimes its hard to believe how quickly people can change. in fact, my own journal has become a text for me to learn the lifestyle i want to live. i want to be humble. i want to be satisfied. i want to be grateful for the things i have rather than complaining for the things i dont have. and for the things i dont have that i need, i just want to pray and let god show me the best way to fill that need.

only minutes later, i got an im from rebecca with a link to a website. it was simply a chain letter - one of countless things i have learned to complain about and would usually delete before opening - but this time i read it anyways. it ended with these words - "If you got this email, it means that the person who sent it to you loves you and always will, no matter what." i know it sounds like a typical chain letter, but somehow this one has more meaning than any other. of the many Angels that shaped the original revolution, the most significant would probably be jackie, kelley, and rebecca. (its a long story... im not gonna go into detail now) but nowadays we often spend weeks without talking to each other. today all three of them remembered me and thought of me. upon that realization, all my pain seemed to have left me. just as God sent angels to fuel me years ago, he has sent them once again to remind me not to give up. so as this new revolution begins, i'm ready for whatever other surprises may come during the journey. may God let my physical scars remain until i have learned the lesson it comes with to its fullest extent. may God answer my prayers just like he did on the first revolution, and lift me out of this misery when the time is right.

11/11: quickk update... dinnered with my floor yesterday... i went to the bathroom before leaving then suddenly everyone disappeared! so i went everywhere searching for them... went to covel first, then rieber, then deneve, and finally found them =). hehe stupid stupid me... at nite i watched this movie with jessica n crystal.. its like 'when harry meets sally' or sumthin... pretty funny but sOo random!! anyways... had lunch today with flloor friends again. other than that nuthin much happened. i kinda wish i still had class... at lesat theres sumthin to do. cuz as u prolly kno, i simply cant stand being indoors for an entire day. but yea... hopefully someone invites me to do sumthin fun...

11/10: monday nite was worship practice... so i had to eat early. went to reiber n ate by myself, then right when i finished i ran into steph melissa n gloria who just came in. so i stayed for another meal. hehe... two meals for one swipe. great deal huh? not like i need extra swipes anywyas... but yea, then afterwrds oniion flava meets again =). i was kinda scared actually, cuz as u might already know, IV leadership requires a LOT of time, and so far i havent really been to anything other than worship practice and catalyst, and a few bible studies. had a talk with steve afterwards... turns out he didnt lecture me about my attendance. but yea... i got to explain my whole situation. originally i was almost about to question whether or not i should stay in the group (for various reasons that im nto gonna go into in detail now), but now that i know they can accept me for the amount of commitment im willing to offer, i'm definitely staying =). oHh and i was at bruin cafe and ran into gloria.. n she thought i was eating AGAIN! (3rd dinner)... haha luckily all i had was a soda, which of course was free =)

went to chill in jess n crystals room afterwards. took more pictures of doggies =). (yes yes i know... i'll post them online!!) went to sleep before midnight, just like i swore to myself. hehe..

yesterday - dinnered with steph rachel n alli! ate early once again cuz catalyst was at night (not on thursday cuz its a holiday). we met in moore 100... very different experience compared to CS50. but it was great =). jessica n crystals away messages said they were showering, so i figured they wouldnt be in their room for the next hour and i went to draw on the board. turns out they decided to do a super-quick shower so they saw me =/. owellz..

back in my room i was helping serena on some essay thingy for a scholarship. so it seems like we havent talked in the longest time, and turns out shes been doing some crazy cell molecular research thingy... she did a project on the 'analysis of ferritin expression in various cell lines with flow cytometry'. wut da fEck!? i didnt understand half of those words! *feels stOopid* the whole time i was reading her essay going hUh!?!... yea that was very very humiliating. hehe anyways...

monday wednesdays and fridays are fun now... cuz i get to search for crystal amy n shelly on the way to class. thank god for scooters =). lunched with crystal (amy had some lab thingy to go to =/). she almost dropped her tray! hehe it was soo close.. then theory class i got back my midterm... TRIPLE DIGIT BABY!!! how much better can it get? =). and now im back here in my room... no more class until friday! *soo happy* anyone wanna go have fun tomorrow? dun forget to invite me!

11/08: guess what... midterms are OVER babyyy!!! now all i gotta do is party until finals!! so uMm last nite me n tiffany went to eat at deneve at like 8:55 (it closes at 9)... so i got like every plate i could find before they stopped serving. hehe then we studied theory until like pretty late. i didnt complain TOO much about the lack of sleep tho, cuz its been like that for the past few days arleady and i figured one more day wont really kill. but tonight if anyone sees me online (or simply awake) before midnight, yell at me and make sure i go to sleep.

so midterms went pretty well... rap was kinda hard, but im pretty sure almost nobody in the class expected the first dozen questions to be stuff not on our study guide. so yea... im expecting a good curve. and theory should be good too... pretty sure i aced it... i want a perfect score but not sure if i got it. some foo finished it in like half an hour... thats freakin insane! either he gave up trying or hes beethoven's great great great great great grandson. we'll see when the tests are graded. violin class with tim was great too. i did mess up at few times, and apparently theres chances i might be accompanying him more in the near future, even though we're still trying to get the schedule worked out. but yea... thats it for now. no more studying for a very long time. *really happy* anyone wanna go hang out n have fun, lemme know! =)

11/07: pHeW... finally found some time to update! this was probably THE most busiest weekend in my life... and its not over yet, except i decided to let myself take a break. picking up from where i left off on the last entry.. thursdays (as u prolly know) are my busiest days, not to mention a midterm and a presentation. before theory class Tim asked me if i can accompany him monday (tomorrow) on some Variations piece for his violin lesson. the lesson is at 11... my class ends at 11 in the same building. perfect enough. i agreed right away =). then history presentation - turned out pretty good... especially when i took out a box of candy for everyone and announced where it came from (deneve dining hall)... after everyone cracked up the TA started sharing his own stories of when he and his friends used to compete to see who could jack the most stuff from the dininghalls. hehe... anyways after class i came back to my room just in time to grab my stuff (already packed) and go downstairs wehre my aunt was waiting. it wasnt easy carrying a backpack, laptop, keyboard AND big cardboard box at the same time. hehe so anyways we went to church for rehearsal,w hcih lasted til like 11. came home n started working on the Variations. u guys all know how much my sightreading SUCKS... and i never heard this piece before... so i practiced til like realyl really late, then finalyl went to sleep.

friday - slept through most of the morning, so it wasnt very productive. aunt picked me up at 3 to go to the irvine mariott. soo the concert turned out pretty good, at least better than i expected. but by the time we actually got on stage i was already half dead from all the setup work. it was just a big empty ballroom... so everything had to start from scratch, including the stage risers. and plus there were some contract conflicts with the hotel, which didnt really help us. but ish ok... everything worked out well at the end. except maybe some lil details. there were no spotlights, so it was either all bright or all dark. kinda killed the atmosphere, but the lightshow was great =). i just turned off everything for those few seconds. technically its a fire hazard... oops? *innocent smile* hehe anyways.. got home at midnight and i was STARVING. at least i got a boba in the afternoon =). but still... i dug out like every yummy snack i could find and pigged out... then went to practice the Varations until um... really really late. at last i was actually starting to learn the music pretty well, except i was so excited tha ti couldnt sleep afterwards, even tho its like 2:30AM. i ended up lying in bed listening to christmas music. haha yea i kno its so random. i was totally out of my mind.

woke up and listened to more christmas music. haha... i guess its nice to start the day right where i left off the night before. hehe... got mcdonalds breakfast =) (no more monopoly =/)... little did i know it would be the only normal meal for the day. so at noon we rehearsed at church... it went a lot longer than we planned, so no time for lunch. we all went straight to the arcadia community center and started setting up n stuff. actually me n ernest got there really really early, and there was nuthin to do. and we were all worried that we would be surrounded by 'old happy people'. hahaha anyways amy A.Y. got us CPK for lunch, but it took a while cuz of their stupid slow service.. we ate at like after 3. i almost finished a whole pizza. hehe then more setup... finished just in time for the program to start. its actually a dinner, but its at like 5:30, and since we just had pizza, nobody was really hungry, so we didnt eat too much. the program itself was great though. short but successful. hehe.. and it was only like 10:15 when we got everything back on the van. and of course, afterparty @ bananana bay!! haha wut a surprise =). so i had my huge plate of spicy shrimp fried rice. then came home at like midnight and um... you go ahead n guess the rest. hehe... yupyup i practiced Variations til like really really late. almost got it perfectly but still had a lot of work to do.

today - went to church and practiced variations. haha... finally almost good enough to settle with. oH and i told tim we would rehearse at 5 today, so i HAD to get my part down. hehe.. so church was great even tho i was soo tired. ken saw me and just knew from my face that i was really tired. hehe... saw kelley after church for the first time in lik eforever. her mom invited me to go visit again sometime. dunno when, but im lookin forward to it already. hehe.. then after lunch (at church) i came straigt to school. why so early? remember i said i have two midterms tomorrow? (wait.. did i say it? if not i did now.. hehe) yea... must START studying!! haha... and of course, practice those variations. so i got back at like 2:30 and studied. Rap midterm... pretty interesting even for studying. gotta memorize all these DJs and how they revolutionized hiphop culture. hehe.. studied for about an hour, then practiced variations (downstairs in the practiceroom) for an hour... then went to meet tim in schoenberg.

i was really really really nervous cuz i thought i woudl screw up like crazy. i did mess up but it wasnt THAT bad. actually we both messed up a lot. hehe i guess we're pretty much ready now. but yea... we'll find out tomorrow. anywyas then on the way back rose called me n we talked for a really really long time. then i came back for more studying and now im takin ga break updating this thing.

soo... rite now im waitin for tiffany for dinner... its 8 already =/ *dying of hunger* hope she calls me soon! then were gonna study for theory... duznt look too hard but theres a lot i hafta memorize. but on the brighter side, by this time tomorrow i'll be partying until finals!! hehe no more midterms! =). so yea... i'll go back to studying and waiting for dinner.. bybeye!

11/03: guess wut guess wut... andrea walked into the wrong room today!! hahaha i was sittin at my desk and she jus sudenly came in! exaclty wut i did yesterday, except she realized her mistake before i said hi. haha anyways today was pretty fun - woke up just in time for rap class... we watched this movie about gangsta graffiti artists and breakdancers n DJs n rappers n everything... and the class was all singing along with MC Hammer. hahaha that was stuck in my head for a pretty long time. ran into crystal n amy just in time to lunch with them. then i started my research project for tomorrow. guess wut i picked for my topic - Arnold Shoenberg. pretty fun research, especially cuz he used to be a professor at UCLA. ("schoenberg music building".. see the connection?)

o and heres sumthin pretty cool - originally my aunt was supposed to pick me up from school right after class tomorrow so i can go to claymusic rehearsal... then shes sending me back really late at night, just cuz i have one hour of class (rap discussion) friday morning. then right after that my mom will pick me up and take me home. pretty big hassle huh? well guess wut.. today after rap class the teacher ended by saying "NO CLASS FRIDAY". i was like *GASP* and even went to ask the TAs to confirm. but yea... class canceled this friday. in other words, i have friday off! which means i can go home after practice tomorrow! hehehe o yea and one more thing - theres a location change for friday's concert- cuz the church still has to pass these safety inspection thingys and cant be used until thats done. so the concert is moved to the Irvine Mariott hotel. hopeffully they have a sound system? haha... iono we'll see... im totally lookin forward to it though. but yea.. thats about it for now. still gotta practice lots. and thats wut im gonna do now!

11/02: i was coming back from the laundry room and my door was open, so i figured kevin must be back. then i went inside and suddenly realized my room has become a triple(!!) and until diana and candace said hi, i had NO IDEA i just walked into the WRONG ROOM. *smacks self on head* gOsh im soo stupid... did midterms screw up my mind THAT badly!? hMm... actually i thought my midterms were ok. history was probably decent (hopefully), theory (keyboarding/rhythm portion) i ALMOST got perfect!! dangit... i screwed up like one note on the one-handed part of Lassus =/. didnt even realize i messed up until Severin (the TA) told me afterwards. owellz... im still satisfied... its not everyday i get to walk out of a midterm knowing i aced it =).

i was kinda sad cuz nobody wanted to dinner with me.. so i walked to deneve and guess who i see at the first table - andrea candace diana and josephine! so i jus went n said hi... and they let me join them! *soo happy* dinnertime entertainment was great.. i felt like i was the only sober one. hehe the squirrel cheer was hilarious. so was everything else they talked about... i jus sat there n ate n laughed my head off. anyways then on the way back to sproul i suddenly remembered there was bible study tonight. haha... guess god jus decided to give me a lil reminder. turns out today wasnt actually bible study... we played this game called Pit. sooooo fun!! i totally agree with cindy - its fun cuz its soo random! haha then we decorated glue sticks. haha yea it sounds weird... if ur in the sproul IV community then ur gonna get one =). it was soo fun... apparently everyone though my drawings were really good. iono... haha ok anyways thats it for now. im bak in my room and i SHOULD be workin on my presentation for thursday, but i just finished my first two midterms and its kinda hard to get back to work already. hehe owellz anyways i'll go now.. bye

11/01: quick update on wuts goin on with this site - yea yea i know theres a LOT of pictures im supposed to put up. two sets of Cue pics with jennifer n stpehenie, more college pics, and harvest festival pics (from last night). the delay is mostly cuz it took the covel lab like 3 or 4 freakin weeks to set up their scanners... and the only reason i waited til school started was so i could use those super good resolution scanners for the cue pix. so yea... now they're already scanned and hopefully should be up soon.

those of u who know about the story of my father (which i posted a few weeks ago), im really glad that many people were touched by it. its definitely one of the most crucial events that shaped who i am now, and when the story changes other people's lives, it definitely gives it even more power. in case you're still looking for it, dont worry its not gone. just go to the archives and find 10/20/2004. all my other old posts are there too, if u happen to be lookin for anything in particular.

one other thing i havent mentioned much about yet - MIDTERMS! yupyup... its finally my turn. hehe... its so weird how my midterms are all in pairs this quarter... tomorrow is keyboarding/rhythm and history of western civ... thursday is sightsinging/dictation and history (second part), then next monday is rap and theory (lecture). oH and i just found out today that i have a project due on thursday. greeaaat... i swear it wasnt this early in the quarter. hehe owellz.... lotsa work to do. but the good thing - I LEARNED LASSUS!! both of them!! and the bach chorale too!! *soo happy* so i think that midterm's not gonna be a problem. history is gonna be hard tho... im pretty screwed. owellz i'll jus try my best.

soo last night i went to tiffany (yoon)s apartment to help her with counterpoint until um... 2:30AM. haha yea yea i know its pretty unbelievable considering i usually sleep no later than midnight. but i guess one night wont hurt =). so this morning i obviously felt kinda trippy... but rap class is always a good way to start the day. we were listening to eminem... then i came back to my room and switched to lassus again. haha such a weird transition... then theory class. gosh why do there have to be like 573213 different clefs!? treble and bass is already enough! hehe after class me n tiffany were gonna study together.. first she went to her locker to get.. fOoD! hehe she had this korean rice thingy... u jus open the package and microwave it and it tastes like fresh home-cooked rice!! sooooo yummy =). then we went to the music lab to practice... actualyl iw as jus practicing claymusic stuff most of the time.. but still i learned everyhting i need for the midterm. then i came bak to my room to study history... when tiffany got out of her evening class we had dinner at rieber. great way to relax from a long day of studying. and she still has an essay due tomorrow. poor her...

from dinner until now it was all tea, studying, and trance. i listenined to this new trance cd that rose gave me.. its like a lot of azn djs n stuff... they're soo good!! even tho they cant sing for jack. haha there was a rave mix of 'if ur happy and u know it clap ur hands'. its soo cool!! and they mixed 'yeah' by usher. the dj stuff was sooo great, except usher wasnt even in the song... and whoever tried imitating lil jon didnt do very well. haha... so i guess there has to be a better remix of that song (*cough*cough*) haha anyways... time for more hardcore studying. im definitely gonna sleep before midnight today... if u see me online after 12, yell at me and warn me. hehe... okee i'll get back to work now!