Perfect Timing

God really does have perfect timing. I wanted a TA job at Brock SO badly last term, but He rejected it. Now when I least expected a job, I was given an offer. Let me tell you though, I was jumping up and down when I found out, but then, in a matter of an hour, I was reminded of so many things and that accepting the offer may not be so good after all. There were just so many emotions that day, my head really wanted this job but my heart kept saying that it wasn't worth it. Driving to St. Catharines once/twice a week just did not make any sense. It is kinda ridiculous actually if you consider all the other factors. But after talking numerous times with the two profs and my parents and really lifting the entire issue to God, things changed so drastically and I somehow became very certain that this is what He wanted me to do and so, in the end, I accepted the offer.

What is really interesting is that after teaching for a day, God slowly revealed his perfect plan to me.

- 2 classes back to back for an hour each

- these first years are very sweet and seem to be trouble-free - or less problematic than students from last year

- most of them are polite

- the drive to St. Catharines is awesome; hardly any traffic! - same goes with driving back home

- I get the entire room to myself during my office hours

What was even more perfect was that Pastor Adrian talked about slaves vs. masters in the context of employer vs. employee yesterday in Sunday school. It was such a good reminder of how my attitudes should be when I am dealing with students.

Praise the Lord for such a great opportunity. I pray that I will serve wholeheartedly, serving the Lord not my boss. I also pray that I won't threaten my students because of my authority, but instead, teach them with gentleness and love (Ephesians 6: 7-9).

What's up with Priscilla?

It's really been awhile since I last updated in detail. I haven't really been great at keeping in touch with people because I've just been really busy with school, studying and all that jazz. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten you. I am gonna be social again.... haha. Anyway, I have meant to write a long entry about what God has been doing in my life for the past months, but I just needed some time to gather my thoughts and jot everything down. My "life in review" isn't all that interesting, so please treat this as a disclaimer....haha

Christmas 2010

This past Christmas holiday was one of the worst Christmas breaks I've ever had because I had to prepare for an exam that I had to write at the beginning of January. I had to limit my time with friends because of my studying schedule and it sucked big time. It sucked even more knowing that the final exam was closed book and that I had to memorize the entire textbook. Psych isn't really my thing; I like learning about it but I usually do horrible on tests/exams so that's why I needed to maximize my time for it. But anyway, it is done now! Thanks for all your prayers! The exam went really well =D=D

Despite spending a lot of my vacation time facing the textbook, I spent A LOT of time with my family (which is always awesome). And I also spent a bit of time with the roomie, which is kinda rare considering we're always SO busy during school months and holidays. It is really good that we got to talk to each other face-2-face, rather than just talking on msn and phone. It is really different. I am just glad that we got to catch-up =)

High school reunion 2010

Speaking of Christmas, one of the highlights of this holiday was going to our RHSS annual Christmas party. I don't know, but it felt really different this year. I went each year except one, but I gotta say that this year was one of the best?? I mean, past years have been really good, but this year it was really different. I am not sure if it was just the people (which would not make sense considering we had the same people last year just a smaller number this year), or a change of location or something, but it felt very home-y. It really brought back a lot of memories! I am guessing it is the lack of people that made it really good; I mean, these were the bunch of friends whom I suffered high school with, whom I ate lunch with, whom I played sandman (ohh memories!) with, whom I did a whole bunch of things with... so it was great just seeing them again and catch up. I guess with the lack of people we really got to talk and share in a circle and did alot of stuff together (like playing the piano, singing and taking a group photo), rather than splitting into tiny groups the entire night. There were certainly other people that I wanted to see who didn't come so hopefully I will be able to see them sometime this year! =D

Year in Review 2010

New Year's Resolution

At the end of 2009, my new year's resolution was to be able to hold my tongue (Proverbs 10:19). It was VERY hard for me to do because I can be blunt and rude at times. There were days when I just couldn't hold it in because I was just SO angry at the person ....and I usually feel ashamed afterwards. There were definitely improvements from year 2008 though, but I still need to learn. So for this year, the only resolution that I have is to do better - to do better than last year.

In General

In general, year 2010 just wasn't that good due to many factors. The only thing that was "happy" was maybe my graduation...or the family cruise(it was really fun!). Hopefully 2011 will be better....

School

In terms of school, I completed the two courses at Mac. whoohoo! One of things I hate about Mac is that they tend to always give me a heart attack! I wrote my exam a couple days before the break and then a week later, it said that I had failed the course (like literally F) on my transcript!!!!! Now I know this is ridiculous because I know I didn't fail the exam since all the marks were posted on the website; but what really made me upset was that it could affect the whole SLP application since I was in the middle of writing it. Many thoughts came into my head because the fail grade was cutting it really close and no one could do anything about it till AFTER the Christmas break.... ahhhh... It happened to my before for my other course too and it took them ONE WHOLE MONTH to change that stupid grade. But everything got sorted out in the end, and the mark was changed. Praise God.

SLP

Applications have been sent out. Now I just have to wait and see. I won't know the result till April. I have thoroughly thought over this issue of going into SLP. I would be super delighted if any of the schools accept me (considering they only accept a limited number of people each year) but I would still be happy if they reject me. I don't exactly know what I'll be doing if I don't get in....perhaps this is the year that I finally get to go to KOREA?! I dont know. I've been wanting to teach in Korea for the longest time but every time when I had the chance to apply, something would always come up. So ya, I am kinda excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this year. But in the meantime, I'll just be home-schooling.......ohh...

Honestly, it would be great if I could step away from the academic industry (HAHAHA) and start working, but... two extra years of schooling could get me a better job. Then again, that would mean that when I graduate, I'd be 25 years OLD! sooo ya.. I'll just have to follow what God wants me to do with my life =) Please pray for direction....

Trip

Not sure if it is because I have soo much work for the month of March or something else, but I am just feeling so stressed and overwhelmed at this moment. Tonight I told my parents that I really want to go on a trip after I hand in my major research paper. I hope to finish writing by the beginning of July, make revisions by the middle of July and get it bound by the end of July... so I can go away for the month of August.

I am just really mentally drained by TA-ship and all these courses.

Where should I go?

Australia?
Hong Kong?
Vancouver?
Japan?
or maybe it is time I go to Korea and never come back...hehe.


I told my parents that I want to travel alone, but they really want to go with me...=.=

Mercy??

So I got really ANGRY today because students were being so DISRESPECTFUL. Angry, so so angry!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long story short, students were supposed to get their theses approved. They showed up 15 minutes before my office hours ended and expected me to sign their paper. They told me that they were busy with midterms so didn't have time to see me. THEY had OVER A MONTH NOTICE about this and they still decided to put it till the last minute.

I told them that they should have came to see me weeks earlier. They said, "well, busy with midterms, couldn't do it". We as TAs are also busy people and we can't accommodate every student!!! and it isn't FAIR to me, students or everyone else.

I stayed in the office to discuss some school work with my classmate after my office hours ended. At 2:25pm, this girl from my tutorial wanted me to approve her theses. Now at this point, I told her that my office hours are done! My TA friend even told her that we couldn't see her and that she will lose 5%.

Now, here I am thinking, what is the right thing to do? Tell her, that I can't approve her thesis or just accept her thesis? As a Christian, how much mercy should I give? If I accept her thesis, she won't learn from her mistake and won't understand the importance of getting things done early. However, if I don't accept her thesis, she's gonna lose 5%.

ahhhh.


How much mercy should I give?! should you always be merciful....even in ridiculous circumstances?!

God is a merciful so I should be too, but ........

TA-ship

Being a TA is really fun but at the same time, stressful and nerve-wrecking.

When you say the wrong thing that is different from the other TAs, you get blamed by students because you said the wrong thing.

I am scared because I said the wrong information to a student who isn't from my seminar/tutorial and my TA friend is not too happy about it cuz I made a mistake.


oh man, I made a really big mistake and I don't know how I am going to resolve it.


Please pray for me.

The MGS Family <3

Last friday was the last day for the majority of the summer students and a couple days before that was my partner Ryan's last day. I still remember the days when we had problems communicating with one another because of his stupid not-so-funny jokes. God is funny and faithful, because He helped build our relationship. He answered my prayers (almost immediately) because by the end, Ryan and I have really become good friends....eventhough he acts like a jerk from time to time. He backed me up in many situations and taught me alot of stuff about work and systems. We always ahve a good time when we chat about the most randomest things. hahaha. I can't ask for a better partner! Thank you God!

Ryan and I - the guy is 2 years younger than me
but he acts like he is older than me.

CJ and I - This guy is so sweet and hilarious. He taught me how to talk black and he even gave me a hiphop CD mix the last day of work cuz he knew that I love hiphop/rap stuff.

The GTA2 family. Two pairs of partners! We've gotten to know each other these past couple of weeks. We always have so much fun together in this section whether it be working, talking or just chilling.
I absolutely love this gta2family <3

The family portrait

Can you believe the girl in purple is only 15 yrs old? and the girl in the middle is going into university? I know, these girls are very mature.
But they are so funny and super fun to be with. =)

Georgia, Ryan and I in my cubicle - the 3. Georgia would never stop talking to Ryan and I. seriously. haha. She just never shuts up; but she's so cute!

The entire MGS family, summer students from various sections.

I really thank God that He gave me this job. Not only did I learn so much in Payroll & Benefits, but I really had a great time working with this bunch of summer students. Last year I had no one to talk to when I was bored, but this year I was able to talk to anyone when I had no work to do. God is so good to me! This is by far the best summer job ever! =)

There's a couple more days left till I am done. There are 3 of us left and it is really quiet during breaks and lunch hours without the loud people. I pray that it will be better over the days.

I don't know if we will ever see each other again, but I hope we will in the future.

I LOVE WORK! PTL!

I absolutely love my summer job. I am learning lots and lots EVERY SINGLE DAY! And I get really sad when I don't have work to do because that makes me really bored and that eventually leads me to talking to my partner....which leads to more summer students coming over to talk to us...which leads to managers coming over and "yell" at us.

Praise the Lord that I don't get "yelled" at because He gave me wisdom to refrain from talking so much and so loud. Praise the Lord that most of the time when the manager walks by I always have stuff to do.


I LOVE P&B!!!
I LOVE working for the government!

Praise the Lord!

so it's been about 3 weeks since I started working at P&B. I gotta say, it's been quite an experience. The first week went by so slowly that I thought it was never going to end. I had a partner who I had problems communicating with; I had to follow him around cuz I didn't have my own access card yet. I felt very uncomfortable at work because I didn't know anyone; the co workers didn't know who I was and didn't give me any work to do because they didn't trust me with them. There was a hard time getting to know some of the summer students because I was the "newbie". All in all, the first week and an a half of work was quite unbearable.

God really answered my prayers. My second week of work was a complete 360 degree turn. I felt alot comfortable with everything and most importantly, I was able to communicate with my partner. There seems to be this love and hate relationship between my partner and I; there are times when I just enjoy hanging out and talking to him about the most randomest things, but there are also times when I just hate his face and voice. Sometimes it just really bothers me when he does things that are soooo stupid and does not think about the consequences.

Everything went really well this week in terms of communicating with coworkers, partner and team leaders. I was so busy with work that I felt that the time went by super quickly. And I am really glad that my partner and I are really getting along and helping each other out (eventhough sometimes he prefers helping out another person, which really makes me mad because afterall, we ARE partners). I really enjoy talking to him and the majority of the summer students when I get really tired and bored from work.

The one thing that I am really thankful for is the number of summer students. Last year when I worked at the cabinet office, I was the ONLY summer student. I had no one to talk to when I was bored. I constantly had NO work to do. The only positive thing was that I was allowed to do was surf the net and write emails (to kevinL and Richard haha). This year, the summer students have been quite close over the past 3 weeks and I am really grateful for it. There are a couple of people whom I am quite close to and some whom I just find it hard to communicate with....

All in all, I am just so thankful for what the Lord has done. I asked and He answered (almost right away!). My partner and I are really getting along most of the time and I think it is because of this other girl who is extremely talkative and she gives us alot of topics to talk about... haha. Out of all the summer students, I think I can work with him the best. God surely knows what I need and what I am capable of.

There are still 4 more weeks to go in this job and I just pray that each week will get better and better. I pray that I can become better friends with the summer students and that I can spread the love of Jesus Christ to them.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

Prayer

It is 12:08am. I need to wake up in 6.5 hours. I can't sleep right now because I am too worried and scared about work.


Time to pray. nite.

First Day of Work - PTL!!!

- Woke up this morning at 6:15am.
- Ate breakfast.
- Went to Square one to take the 7:15am Go bus to yonge&sheppard.
- Go bus went really slowly due to traffic on hwy401
- Arrived at yonge&sheppard 15 minutes late.
- Ran to the sheppard subway station
- Had problems finding the right train going southbound to York Mills
- Finally found the correct line after 2 minutes of following this girl who looked like she was going to Southbound
- Got to york mills station in 2 minutes.
- ran to the TTC bus #122.... to find out that the next bus will come in 7 minutes. Panicked. Asked lady infront of me. She told me that the bus comes every 5minutes ish and that it will take about 15 minutes to get to Duncan Mill Rd.
-Time check: 8:35am; still waiting for the bus.
- Bus arrive arrives; started praying hard that I won't be late for my first day of work.
- Arrives at work at 9:00AM. Praise the Lord!!!!
- Did paper work; met a whole bunch of people.......

[edit]

- there are alot of summer students this year, all scattered on different floors. But people tend to take breaks and lunch together. Everyone is AT LEAST 2 years younger than me; some just graduated from highschool. It is very hard for me to "fit in" and talk to them cuz 1) I am not really an openminded person 2) I feel really old compared to then. I feel like I am a lot more mature than them 3) I dont know what to say to them if we don't have anything in common. I am really thankful for my mentor/helper tho eventhough I wish he was older than me. He can be really nice but sometimes I just want to beat him up him.

I am still really scared about going to wok. Please pray for me for wisdom, interpersonal skills, and intelligence.

I pray that each day gets better. sigh. I can't wait for the weekend! I want to do something fun!!!

In the midst of all this, I need to continue to Praise the Lord for giving me this job.