Random

wow. can't believe I just did homework for 10 hours straight.

My prof said the assignment should take about 1 hour, but it took me about 4 hours. -_-''

my butt is really sore right now.

There's still so much to be done. -_-


weeeeeee.

Drop

I just dropped the neuroscience course and it feels like 1000 tonne just lifted off my shoulders. yay!

I went to the first lecture on Monday and I hated it. The prof was speaking English but I had no idea what he was talking about. He talked WAYYYYYY TOO fast and half the time he was mumbling! I actually just checked the first assignment online and I had NO idea how to do it....let alone do well in it.

Thank God I only need this course for UBC. UBC offers this course online this January anyway... soo everything's good. God is good!

Thanks to those who prayed for me.

Man, I feel SO GOOD RIGHT NOW. Time for some icecream!

Back to school

I am back at Mac this year taking 3 courses. I am also taking 4 online courses concurrently with Athabasca University. It is definitely gonna be a busybusy term. I don't know how I am going to handle 7 courses. But I'll try.

What Pastor Adrian talked about yesterday was really helpful and encouraging. I panicked alittle when I realized that I had to take 7 courses this term, but I should not worry because God always provides. I should always remember God's goodness in my life and what He has done for me in the past. I shouldn't expect too much of God or myself. It is good to set high standards, but I know that I also need to be realistic. It is definitely impossible for me to finish 7 courses in 4 months, but it is okay, I am just going to take it one step at a time.

Back! (long overdue post...)

God has really been teaching me a lot lately. When I was working on my MA paper, He made me realize how impatient I was. I was panicking so much for the entire month of August cuz my supervisor was away and took forever to edit my paper. I had to email and call my colleagues to make sure I was on the same page as them. I was panicking so much that I was thinking I might have to postpone my graduation. The thing was, how could I not think that way when I still hadn't received feedback on my potential final draft, still hadn't gotten to the second reader, still hadn't gotten it proofread by a professional proofreader and still hadn't gotten it revised and bound..? By the 8th last day, I was contemplating/praying whether I should just be honest with my supervisor and email him to tell him that I needed to get it done so I could go on vacation. I honestly wasn't sure if I should email him, because that is basically rushing him and it is impolite. But at the same time, I really needed confirmation. A bunch of my friends told me to just be honest, and I am glad I sent him an email. Within the last 8 days before my vacation, he gave me back my feedback, the second reader read it in 5 hours and I got it proofread by a professional proofreader. phew! It was really scary! Throughout this whole thing, God really taught me to be patient. To wait and to have faith in the Lord at all times, and certainly in times of trouble. In the end, I was the 3rd person (out of 10 people) to hand in the paper. I thank God for this lesson because I am really not a patient person and I usually panic when things are done at the last minute.

I really thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to go on a cruise with my family this year. It's been a while since our family went anywhere. It was also a perfect time for me to relax from stressing over that MA paper. The whole cruise experience was really amazing, and just like how the motto of the ship says it, you really get to Escape Completely. You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want, . You don't have to worry about anything. God's just been constantly teaching me things and he continued to teach me stuff while I was away on vacation. One of the things that has engraved in my heart throughout this entire trip was the fact that the people who work on the ship work really hard to provide for their family. 95% of the workers were filipinos and I didn't know much about them till my family asked our two waiters about their job status. In the beginning, I thought it would be really fun working on the ship cuz you get free housing, free food, free this and that, AND you get to cruise around the world. FUN! But after talking to them, I found out that it is really hard work. They work for 10 consecutive months on the ship and then they get 2 months off. While on the ship, they work literally 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. They get time off (1-4 hour breaks per day where they are allowed to go on shore) but never days off -You are practically in prison. No freedom whatsoever. The two waiters told us they really need to provide for their children back home and it really sucks that they have to leave their family for 10 months. I certainly wouldn't want my husband leaving me for 10 months and I wouldn't want my dad to leave for 10 months and only come back for 2 months. Family relationships destroy like that because of a lack of communication. But these workers have no choice. They need money support their family. But then again, why have kids if you can't afford them? And I think that's one of the reasons why most of the workers are men. I can't imagine women doing the same things our two waiters did. And despite all that, you wouldn't be able to have kids. It is just impossible.

You can tell they really miss home because they got really happy when we asked them about life, food, language in the philippines. And when I busted out my limited tagalog, they were surprised and started teaching me simple tagalog. My heart ached a little every time I see them working so hard - lifting stuff, running back and forth, doing this and that, just because they trying to please us and make us happy.

It is not a right for people to serve us just because it is their job, but it is a privilege. Everyone deserves to be served. And so, we really need to appreciate what others do for us, whether it is small or big stuff, because they sacrificed their time for it.

Patience

I really need to learn to be patient. Waiting is the key to success... but how can I do that if time is my enemy??

These month has been really difficult. =( my supervisor has been giving me a hard time. Mac and Brock have been really stupid.... blah....


breathe in breathe out....

Games

I really like group games. It is interactive and fun. yay games! Funny how there's always a game that people play a lot each summer:

Summer 2010: Monopoly Deal (awesome game!!!!)
Summer 2009: Bang
Summer 2008: Settlers?
Summer 2007: ???


Friends are awesome!

Happy Times - Prelude

One of the things I love about life is spending time with people; whether it be with family or friends, I just looove spending quality time with them. I try to cherish every moment of it cuz I never know when it is gonna happen again. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I love linguistics, the fact that language and communication is so crucial to our lives just amazes me. Over the years I've come to realize that I can't live without friends, family or just someone to there to listen/talk to. Yaa... God's always there and He promised to never leave me, but everyone needs a physical being for support. The bible says it so clearly in Genesis: God created Adam and various animals, but they couldn't communicate/understand each other and so God created Eve to accompany Adam. We have this innate ability to learn and communicate with others (Sidebar: Don't know if the SS kids are learning anything, but I am actually learning a lot when I prepare lessons! )

However, one of the weaknesses that I have is that I get too dependent/attached to people... that I get really depressed when they leave or when I don't get to see them anymore. It doesn't matter if I've known for 10 days or 10 years, I would still be sad if I know that I wouldn't be able to see them on a regular basis. Yes I eventually forget about them and life moves on, but still, it is the interaction between people that I miss. When 80% of my friends from church left a couple months ago, I was REALLY sad by it...

Every girl likes presents, but I'd rather trade material things for time. When Zoe decided to surprise me on my birthday this year, I felt extremely loved because they actually didn't mind wasting time on me. I mean, Who am I? I am nobody. I am not a popular person in the church and I am not anyone special. But they still wanted to spend time with me because they treat me like a sister no matter the circumstances. It certainly made me feel extremely touched that day.

Everyone has a story to tell; and it is only when we sit down and listen to them that we can find out what is happening in their lives. It is funny how God planned all this, I mean, with people leaving the church, I actually had the chance to talk to some people whom I was quite intimidated by. Yes, I had to get out of my comfort zone, open up myself (if you know me, this is actually VERY hard for me to do!) and tried to get to know them...but it is really the only way to get to know others and make new friends.

So I guess it is not a bad thing that a lot of my friends left, because it really forced me (in a good way) to get to know other people; some whom I've gotten really close with in the past couple of months.