1. Revealing the (lack of) knowledge among/of a particular first year medical student(s):

me: carotid arteries
M1: eh? hm i've heard of those before...
me: huh..? you are very much playing with me
M1: ...i'm not
M1: i know it's on the neck somewhere but i don't know anything else about it
[We/I then continue about oxygen/energy usage...]
Response from the M1: " this topic is too advanced for me at this stage of my training"

[A bit later in the convo]
M1: see see! thank you =D
M1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray513.png
M1: so... i didn't know carotid was THAT big
me: hahahaha, it is very big sir
me: it's very important. if you get stabbed in it, it'll hurt very much
me: not only physically but probably physiologically.
M1: uhm, i'm pretty sure if you get stabbed anywhere, it would hurt psychologically =P
me: yes yes, i'm sure that too
M1: oh ... HAHHA, you said physio* [me: yes i did] not psycho*

2. Revealing the "influence" of Zodiac signs: My mum comes up the stairs and starts stroking/petting my head. I squirm away.

mum: do you not like it?
me: you're petting me! I feel like a dog!
mum: but I always like it when dad strokes my head/back [muses] perhaps that is why... where do dragons like to be pet?
dad: dragons just go *chomp*

Happy Christmas Eve, all! =)

Ah, it's been awhile again.

Biggest announcement(s) of change since last entry:

• I am (hopefully officially) graduated from Northwestern University with a BS/MS in Biomedical Engineering!
  • This means I am no longer a student. And, to make it all the more final sounding, (much to my dismay), my Wildcard expires on 12/31/10.
  • Nevertheless, I'm not so ready to sever ties just yet: I still have unfinished work both for research lab as well as for the part-time work (unless Northwestern also kicks me out of that since I took it up as a student; seriously, how do these things work?)
  • Congrats to Chiarng, fellow graduate in 4.25 yrs w/BS/MS as well!
• I finally got a new camera! I am very happy with it. =)

In other news (I say this phrase way too much), the last month of school has been quite busy. For some reason, the last stretch of my college career seemed like one long unmotivated mad dash to finish things last-minute (or, rather, be forced to turn in uncharacteristically poor/sad quality work) all the way up until Friday morning. I might note that the original actual due date of my last official assignment was supposed to be Thursday evening.

Interspersed in between, thankfully, were little bouts of fun, as usual, ranging from mini study parties to Secret Santa/Christmas parties to the Christkindlmarket. Pics will come later after I upload them.

Hm, I like the numbers 12/12/10. In actuality, I'm already in EST, so it is no longer that date, but... let's pretend I'm still in CST for a little bit more. Just so I can enjoy the nice even numbers. :P

Oh, Chicago, you never fail to amuse. It finally flurry-snowed today. Granted, there's been no accumulation, but there's definitely been little white thingies floating around and pelting the brave souls hurrying along their way today.

The ducks, geese, and sea gulls by the lakefill also got their fair share of pelting from all sorts of edible precipitation, i.e. 1.5 loaves of bread, 1 bag of tortilla shells and an assortment of other random snacks such as very chewy fruit&nut granola bars, some cookie crackers, and even a pack of wasabi peas. Chiarng and I joked that this was their Thanksgiving holiday feast – delivered to them in a manner almost worthy of the description, "manna from heaven."

Depressing:

• When you wake up before the sunrise but you don't get to see it because you're in a (2nd floor) dungeon all day.
• When it's dark by the time you leave said place because sunset has already occurred by the time you're out.
• When you've been home for less than 6 hours during the past 46 hours. And only 4 of those hours were spent sleeping (the other hours were most likely) spent showering and preparing to leave once again).

But you know what? Praise God for...

• Waking up early: Even though I didn't get to enjoy the sunrise itself, I got to see and experience the world presented in a different new light as dawn unfolded. I was pretty grumpy and terribly groggy about being awake by 5:30am, but the lyrics "As morning dawns and evening fades, you inspire songs of praise" continued to pop into my head as I wound my way through completely empty streets and parking lots. It was literally just God, creation and me; for once, I got to enjoy that sense of complete stillness and peace on an otherwise crazy busy campus.
• Being warm while in the dungeon: They turn the heaters pretty high sometimes – and I was definitely much warmer for the majority of the day than if I'd been in my apartment all day.
• Friends: hugs, prayers, car rides, escorts, chips, gummies, vitamin water, lotion, keys, bed, etc. All these were given/provided to me at some point during the 46 hr. Even though those 46 hours were crazy hectic with me literally running from meetings to classes to lab to hangouts to church events/meetings to what-not (and to home very occasionally), etc. I'm incredibly thankful to have such wonderful friends who brighten up my day (or night) with little things here and there. I feel so blessed. =)

H-games was last weekend! It was filled with lots of fun and laughs amidst marshmallows, duct tape (on the ground), empty/flattened pizza boxes, dizzy people, blindfolding of people, crawling over/under people, etc., etc., and - of course - much tugging back and forth of a poor rope (tug-a-war).

5th year of H-games. We've gone from 3 LGs to 7 LGs. =) [Joy Lee, Nikon D90]

Congrats to the other N. campus team (DCAF!) for winning the 'coveted trophy' (haha)! =)

I find this picture so incredibly happy and adorable. [Photo: Joy Lee]

Java got 2nd. Apparently it was quite the happy surprise. :P [Photo: Joy Lee]

I'm currently listening to the soundtrack of "How to Train Your Dragon" as I attempt to multitask while assembling this entry. I might also add that I'm extremely tempted to watch the movie itself, but as it's already past 12 and I have (sadly) better & more pertinent things to do... (one of them being sleep), I'm forbidding myself. [Now, if I had an external monitor... that might be a different story. Ah, the things I would be able to do (with more ease) if I had one...]

-points upward- That was actually written last night. It is now the next night, and... I am still listening to the soundtrack! :P – most notably because Brenda and Grace are currently my apartment(!!), and we all really enjoy the soundtrack. :) [I feel like I haven't seen these girls in ages (seeing each other in group contexts don't count since it's so impersonal). One of Grace's first comments (besides the very initial "Your apartment is so warm!"): "I feel like I haven't seen you in such a long time. Your hair's longer!" Haha, way to characterise the length of time in hair length. :P] Ahh, I love listening to epic-sounding soundtracks.

In other news, the past two weeks have been crazy with a mash of actual schoolwork, job search adventures, lots of meetings, and lots of hangouts, and a farewell to a friend of 4 1/12 years. In terms of schoolwork, I got to experience the feeling of leading a 80 minute class: it wasn't fun and re-established my firm desire to never become a professor. In terms of meetings & hangouts, I don't think I've ever gotten back to my apartment so late (past 12am) so many times as I have these past two weeks.

A sample of hangouts:

After-ACCESS = Study party @ Seabury [10/22/10]: Half of us studied while the other half... didn't – actually, change that ratio to "a few" and "most", respectively. We didn't actually settle down until about 11pm, and, by that time, many were too tired to study so they either entertained themselves with Seabury's nice TV downstairs, sleeping, or doing various other things such as watching videos of Asian artists (SJ, SNSD, etc.).

After-ACCESS = Pumpkin party @ Goodrich [10/29/10]: N. campus hung out as a mass group in the basement of Goodrich. We carved four massive pumpkins, made pumpkin pie, and watched "How to Train a Dragon" as well as "Prince of Egypt." Nevermind that we ended around 2am, by which time not too few people (mostly - no, all - guys) were passed out on the couches/ground: It was a hodgepodge of messiness, noise, and (surprisingly) fun. =)

I also hung out with Cece, Chiarng, and Alice on Sunday night. It was the first time we ever got together, but we made quite a nice dinner for the 4 of us, followed by a super banana-y banana bread and a ton of cranberry-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (half of which we burned b/c the shelf was too close to the bottom ><). We ended the night by watching "How to Train Your Dragon" (I didn't actually watch it on Friday night) and "Bolt" – yes, two computer-animated movies geared more towards kids; but! as a bonus, the movies had Chinese subtitles, which greatly amused us as the second movie had funky translations every now and then. XP

We also sent off a dear sister, Char, back to HK on Friday. The week(s) leading up to it involved a lot of hangouts, prayers & blessings, and, of course, pictures. :P

Dinner w/ (some) juniors (who I'm still tempted to call sophomores by accident ><). [Photo: TimLin]

MMT mtg @ 8:30am in the morning. We were... not very awake if you can't tell.

Dinner @ 527 Cafe – followed by photoshoots of everyone w/Char. :P

And one last silly photo. :)

We be silly people. At least the ones who went to UG Retreat. =P [Photo: JoyLee's Nikon D90]

(for) one hour: I decided to see how the lighting and sky would change.

5:20pm / 5:58 pm / 6:07pm / 6:22pm

(for) two days: I decided to make food.

 
Banana bread (w/Char) yesterday / 紅豆湯 (red bean soup) today [pristine beans pictured]

I'm currently dying of laughter as I browse through my dad's pictures from his recent business trip to Beijing (my mum went along). Excerpt of some captions: "on top of one of the 'fake mountains' [next picture] "and in front of 'fake lakes' with fake bridge.. why did I go there? ok, the trees are real." / "No camera in front of my belly!! what a surprise." [he's as much of a perpetual photo-taker as I am.] / "Bird's Nest at night. One of the about 1000 I took that night." [ah, I see I'm not the only one who likes to take a million shots of the same frame. :P] / "color-coded apartment buildings so you can tell your friends: "oh, I live in the green building". Wait.. there are two green buildings, never mind.."

"I think they don't want people to step on the grass but you probably need an advanced degree in English to figure that out." - Dad
(Seriously, how did they get that translation ..???)

Perhaps that's where I got my silly captioning skills. ;)

Also some other random things to share: DCB 's [SMS (Shine)] MV is insanely cool (seriously, stop animation using Lite Brites... o_O?!?). I also really like the lyrics as it reminds us how God's love is enough – indeed, overcomes and surpasses anything we experience in this world, whether it's joy or pain, even in times of sorrow. Glyu also recently shared Starfield's [Saving One] album with me. I love their music. "Saving One", "Rediscover You", and "Absolutely" have easily made it into my list of favorite songs. =)

In other news, life has been good – I would say, very blessing-filled. =) Granted, I'm not immuned to the stresses of this world which are manifesting themselves in the form of a sudden increase in schoolwork this week and the career fair this Thursday (wait, that's tomorrow! Shoot, I still have not done any research); but, ever since retreat, I've experienced much more... peace about life. Yesterday's LG (Yeah, JAVAAA!!) was wonderful as those of us who went to retreat shared about how God was working - not only in ourselves but also in others. Through it all, I really got to see a glimpse of how God really spoke into each of our lives, addressing our needs and answering so many prayers. So many times we secretly get discouraged when we feel like God's not listening to us; but, just hearing testimonies from others really confirms how great He is working! Praise God for the work he's been doing. May we continue to be sensitive to His calling in our lives to surrender to him.

Finally, last quick points of sharing (ask me to expound upon these in person; I feel like if I did it on 'paper', it would take another age): other convictions from retreat –

Be content - not in the sense that I grow lazy, but rather that I'm not constantly wishing I were in some other circumstance.

Be still - and know that He is God. What with the added 'stress' of research, job searching, and being a co-leader, I get so "busy" and worried that I forget that God's got it under control. The focus of that last sentence being the last 5 words.

Be satisfied - in Him. As humans, we're bound to secretly compare ourselves to others. Myself included. God's response: "What is that to you?" He has his unique plans for each and every one of us; there's no need/point to compare.

In short, be CSS! (Haha, oh dear, HMCC does really make you think in acryonyms. XD [For those of you who don't know, CSS is a style sheet language for websites.])

Life Group 2010-2011: JAVA!!

Here are some pictures incompletely representing the people in our LG who attended Retreat. =)

 
All of the guys; some of the girls. (Hopefully will get a complete LG picture from Joy eventually. Hehe, I can't wait to see how those turned out. XD)

The leaders of the Javans!

So what about Java?
Remember [the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean] story? We're the coffee bean. We transform our surroundings through God's love and the Gospel: Transforming lives, transforming the world. =)

For we are to God the aroma of Christ... - 2 Corinthians 2:15a

HMCC's 2010 Undergraduate Retreat was this past weekend (10/15-10/17). I actually attended it even though I am not quite an undergrad anymore. It felt a little odd. Not to mention, introducing myself at group gatherings was a bit awkward: "I, uh, just recently graduated from Northwestern and am now a first year grad student." The usual replies are widened eyes and/or "Ohhh"s especially if they then ask for the major/field (or I tack on) "in BME."

On another note, the retreat itself was an extremely much-needed break and time away from the worries of this world. As exhibited by the previous entry, my mind's been so tired from being stretched all over the place with the "things I should be doing" – so much that I literally went there with a completely blank list of expectations. Thankfully, I returned with a box (or, perhaps, I should say brain) stuffed full of realizations and convictions.

I didn't learn anything new, per say, but I definitely received a wave of reminders that hit thankfully terribly close to home. (That sounds rather contradictory – "thankfully terribly" – but... what can I say: I enjoy contradictions; they generally make life/musings more interesting.)

With the theme being "Follow Me," the sessions were jam-packed full of messages about what/who we were living for and how we were to do it: Live for Jesus wholeheartedly, committedly (I probably just made that word up), fearlessly, faithfully. PSeth's talk on Saturday night was especially powerful for me as he hammered out "The One Thing: We must demonstrate our commitment to follow Christ by our obedience" [emphasis added]. (It actually somewhat reminded me of a similar message that PJimmy shared through the 4ever ACCESS series (of which the overall theme is "to follow Jesus means to trust in Him") a few weeks earlier: surrendering our "idols" (things that we love too much, i.e. grades, relationships, future, acknowledgement/praise from parents/others, etc.) as we learn to trust in Jesus.)

Commitment is demonstrated through obedience, but obedience requires surrender. And then, if one wishes to make it even more entwined: obedience is developed through faith, which is carried out through obedience. Unfortunately, I've been trying to carry out my commitment (to devote this year to serving in the church) without true obedience or surrender. Over the past few months, I've been constantly ambushed by people and companies about job searching as the post-grad future looms all the nearer, as I observe those who are working (brother, friends, parents, even professors). In the process, my heart's grown increasingly stubborn/doubtful towards God – not because of anything He's done or not done, but rather because I'm worrying so much. In doing so, I've unconsciously tried to yank the GPS from God's hand, type in some random destination, and wander off in my own direction. No wonder I've slipped into quite the unhappy, confused state.

I'm reminded of the passage about faith and deeds [James 2:14-26], especially the beginning,

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. - James 2:14-17.

[Sidetrack: I actually like PJimmy's silly example about faith as well: you see a chair which claims that that it can support you; you can examine it, poke it, knock at it, etc.; but it's not until you actually plop down on that chair that you demonstrate faith in that poor chair. Or, perhaps, in another more extreme case: you lose your balance on the edge of a cliff and off you go, tumbling down the cliff; you see a twig sticking out; you can look at it, (perhaps nerdily but hopefully speedily) calculate and contemplate whether it can hold your weight; but it's not until you reach out to grab the branch that you've exercised faith and trust that the branch will hold you; and, in this case, save you from imminent doom/death.]

Although I've maintained that I know (and even assured/encouraged others) to trust that God has plans for each and every one of us and that God will provide/work in His own timing, the majority of that "head knowledge" has remained ... well, head knowledge. It worked for awhile and wasn't much of a headache since my immediate/near future was still set in stone until graduation – first with a BS in June, and then with an MS in December. But now, being a mere 2 months away from the second landmark and having taken up the commitment to serve as a (co-)leader in HMCC until at least next June, I am faced quite literally with the conviction and challenge to transform that head knowledge faith into action by, as mentioned earlier, obedience. And it starts with surrendering my future plans to Him.

It's interesting to see that all the keywords/key ideas (commitment, obedience, surrender, faith) in my pre-retreat post were hit upon during retreat. Coincidence? I think not.

And by interesting, I meant unsettlingly amazing and powerful. Even as I struggled and prayed about it on Saturday night, I could already feel God slowly healing the pain and confusion I've been experiencing these past two months.

Time to hand the GPS unit back to God. Time to follow Him.

My mind struggles to remain focused these days. It's not like I have a million and ten things on my to-do list: it's more like I simply have a bit more variety in my to-do list. Well, that's not entirely the reason either because most of those items have always been on the list (though I guess I do have a bit more than, say, last year). It's more like the aftereffects of a cacophonous collision/explosion and reordering/reorienting of priorities & responsibilities and desires & hopes through surrender, obedience, and trust.

I need to let go – of doubts, of fears – and have faith that He will carry me through – for the sake of those whom I love, for the sake of the gospel. May my heart remain true to the commitments I've made for this year.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4:6-7]

Debatably one of the most random but awesome 2 days I've had in quite awhile, brought about by rather all-over-the-place/haphazardly (un)planned events. Even though the hangouts were a bit scattered/squashed between meetings and such (... though it's probably the most lax weekend I've had in a very long while), it made me realise how much I've missed my fellow 2010s. And the completely unexpected surprise (which seriously left me dumbfounded and in disbelief for a good 10 minutes at least) was definitely worth the feeling of being (very successfully) tricked.

I love my friends, and I've definitely missed the many laugh-until-you-tear moments that always fill our gatherings.

Mini reunion after 2.5 months. =) [Photo: Chang's camera]

Have you ever stopped in life just to cherish the current moment/state of things? Not so much because it's some special moment (though those are definitely worth cherishing as well/even more) but simply because you exist and have the ability to enjoy.

I had one of those moments today just as I was about to take a nap. The sun happened to come out just as I walked into my room and, what with the shades pulled down all the way, it cast the most wonderful creamy warm glow around the room. I literally just stood there in the middle of the room and... enjoyed the moment, taking in everything in my room: my terribly messy desk, the notes and photos plastered on my wall, Vanadium toppled over on my bed, my various jackets hanging haphazardly behind the door, my interview clothes (the top/suit hanging neatly on the clothes rack, the pants strewn across my mini dresser). I was reminded of how thankful I was: to be in my position (lifestage included, even though it still feels rather awkward if I think about it too long :P), to have the opportunity to possess all these things (yes, I cherish basically almost everything even down to the very pen, or hairband), to be alive (praise God, <3 family).

So many times these days, I find myself rushing through life, going through the motions of completing one task/activity after another. In doing so, (as silly as it sounds), I forget that I'm not some kind of robot but rather, a human being - very much alive with the capacity to think, experience emotions and... be happy!

I still have my spontaneous, super random happy moments (they're usually silly small things like using my homemade yarn sponge-replacement scrubbies, using yummy smelling shampoo/conditioner, or seeing cloudless blue skies), but it's almost as if I'm surprised to find myself being happy. (Does that even make sense?)

Despite my desk being superbly messy, I actually enjoy glancing at the corner every so often because I'm always greeted by an obnoxiously bright but adorably cute, neon yellow, grinning insanely widely smiley tennis ball. It serves as a hilarious silent reminder to enjoy life every once in awhile.

I believe we were made to be joyful creatures. The ability to experience joy in even the simplest of things is something I've always cherished.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. [Psalm 118:24]

Autumn is definitely (or should I say, defiantly) tiptoeing its way into Chicago/Evanston – first, with the goldening of the treetops lining the West side of Sherman, now with the blustery weather. Today was cold enough for me to pull out my beloved brown cotton peacoat-like jacket as I wandered my way (still in flipflops, though) to the Taiwanese Night Market. My toes ended up feeling like they'd been fridged by the time I walked home an hour or so later.

(Random: the title of the entry is borrowed from a movie's working title)

Happy Equinox and 中秋節快樂!

The moon didn't disappoint tonight. At first, we were worried because the forecasts have been predicting stormy-proned/like weather, but the clouds parted long enough for us to enjoy a clear hour or two of pure moonlight! =)

Actually, it was an absolutely gorgeous night: the moon was so bright that it completely drowned out everything else in the sky – well, everything except Jupiter, which hung near the moon in the form of a bright orange dot. The moon was even bright enough to illuminate the greenery along the Lakefill and playfully dapple its way across Lake Michigan. The sky was likewise a smooth gradient with the darkest being a deep navy blue (a.k.a. distinctly not black!) which faded into red-orange the closer one's eyes wandered towards Chicago: it made for a spectacular, beyond picture-perfect shot incapable of being captured through anything other thanthe human eye.

At first, I was going to bypass the opportunity since I had (and still have) a load of work before me, but remembering how excited Char was about celebrating the occasion with her mom's little mailed gifts, I decided, since I was already outside (due to a meeting @ Annenberg), that I might as well enjoy the moon since it was out as well.

The gifts were actually pretty, legit Chinese paper lanterns. Helen, Joey, Teddy, and I all learned from Char how to drip wax onto the lantern to secure the candle (it actually takes some skill, especially when there's the wind blowing from the lake and bugs being attracted to the light), wind the wire around a (chop)stick (in our case) to hold it, and play! We lazily wound our way very relaxingly towards Norris, while Joey tried very hard to build himself a mini-torch. (It didn't work.) We also tried to get some lantern pictures even though none of us had real cameras on us; yay for technology(aka phone cameras – though... mine is still only 1.3MP XP).

Other than that, school's been surprisingly busy outside of classes (but still in the academic world): I've spent more hours poring over research work than I have during the entire summer. It's rather ironic since I'm actually neither getting paid (ha, I wish) nor taking it for any credit, a.k.a. this is pretty much all free labor at my expense (brain and time-wise). And, yet, I find myself using any bit of my 'spare/free' time playing with formulas in Excel or scrawling away in the lab notebook (which I'm trying to take better care of, documentation-wise) – yes, even if it means I'm sitting outside under the Silverman bridge at night.

I make use of not only time but also wi-fi whenever I can. ;) [Photo: HelenKim, phone]

In about 17 hours, I will be attending my first class of my first quarter as a graduate student. It will also be my first class of my last quarter as a graduate student (hopefully/perhaps). It's a weird feeling.

Last week, I felt almost prepared to be one as I attended the various orientations; however, with those being now a week removed, I feel once again like a student caught in between undergrad and graduate school, not quite fitting anywhere: I've just graduated from undergrad, and I'm well on my way to graduate with an MS in a quarter... and I'm only a part-time student. It makes for a self-confusing identity: I sometimes feel like I'm not much of a student at all. o_O

Earlier today, I attended the Norris activities fair to help out with ACCESS, but as we had too many people squashed in the corner, I had the liberty of wandering around a bit. I then had the pleasure of running into old friends who I haven't seen in a rather long while, both those in my year (generally, the greeting is a surprised "Why, what. why are you (still) here" :P) as well as younger ones (who generally just have a look of "huh" well-versed in looking, instead, politely surprised and excited). I've sorely missed seeing some of my friends, and unexpectedly running into them made for rather happy and excited moments. I love the moment of surprise when one catches the eye of a familiar old friend in a sea of new fresh faces. =)

I then finally handed over Chang's bike, lock&key as well as a jacket over to Grace (yes! one more transaction complete out of... probably at least 5 more [seriously, I'm like the person who sorts out fellow recent grads' leftover-items-to-bequeath-to-younger-ones]). Dinner at Allison (courtesy of Glyu who swiped me in) proved to be amusing as I met a few more freshmen: one of them seems to love creating nicknames for people – nicknames such as "Rae" for Grace and "Libby" for Olivia. A stroll up Sheridan and a quick invasion of CCI (once again, courtesy of Glyu) later, I found myself hanging out with yet a few more freshmen at Norris@ Night. Apparently, they were all pretty "huh/whoa"-ed when they learned about my graduate status; guess I really don't look like one [hm, I wonder if that's a good or bad thing]...

Well, here's to a new (super short) stage of life: grad school, yeah!

I'm excited! Today is the first day since last Thursday when I did not wake up between anywhere from 6 - 8:30 to be somewhere by 9am. Yay! :D

This past weekend (Thurs - Sat) was our church's very first Ministry Teams Retreat in preparation for OCR [Operation Campus Reach - our term for reaching out to new students]. It took place at Lake Geneva, WI and involved, in short, a lot of worship, prayer, learning about pride/humility, and revisiting the church vision amidst a general atmosphere of a dedicated and super fun community. [That wasn't a very short description, was it. Also, the lack of parallel structure in the list slightly bothers me.] Of the ministry teams, MMT turned out to be the smallest with a total of 5 people – but that's okay, it meant more opportunity to bond with one another! Observe [all photos are taken by/on Joy Lee's Nikon D90]:

Helps: they won the ministry teams challenge/sports thing. Figures, since they're the ones lifting all the heaving items every week. :P (Though, at least I can say I got Josh out in dodgeball in the passive manner, haha.)

 

Hospitality: they hospitalize people with their smiles (among other things)! They also stole Twang from our team [Twang has now been on every ministry team]. Nevertheless, their pyramid was super sweet and cute.

 

Multimedia: we like to stack ourselves – into totem poles and pyramids. The pyramid was not very fun; I felt like I was slipping the moment I got on, and ET almost died under the weight; Grace is also too tall. XD

 

Over half of us also happened to be wearing a variety of colorful colors during group activities; Anna and I noticed this almost immediately, so we yanked people aside as soon as the activities were done to snap a pic. There were actually other people wearing colorful shirts, but (for a variety of reasons including sweatiness, impatience, or occupied) they did not join to expand the rainbow. Still! It's a pretty sweet gradient.

This past week was a flurry of events as students – first, new and then returning students – made their way back on campus. It began with a mad dash as MMT scrambled to prepare and print the flyers for our OCR events (– that made for a fun experience as we were uttering silliness/nonsense while cutting the flyers at Kinkos @ 2am in the morning. The end products, however, are beyond sweet-looking and totally worth the time we put into it :D). Interspersed in between all the OCR preparations was also new (graduate) student orientation – for myself! (ahh, something I haven't experienced since 4 years ago): it began broadly with all the new grad students being welcomed at Pick-Staiger (we filled, perhaps, 70-80% of the hall) and hanging around Norris for free lunch, workshops, and resource fairs (which I dragged TimLin to – he now has a TGS [the graduate school] shirt to prove it.) and ended with a BME grad orientation on Wednesday. The BME orientation was nice as it included free breakfast, lunch, AND dinner – which all (grad) students most love. Meeting the new as well as current grad students was also very enjoyable as the atmosphere felt quite different from hanging out with undergrads. It also, oxymoronically, made me feel young and old at the same time: young because I am now at the bottom of the ladder again, yet old because I'm now at the next stage beyond/above undergrad and because I know about some of these classes more than the returning grad students – I guess it's to be expected since I'm a BS/MS. :P

Finally, we held our first OCR event on Wednesday night: an ice cream social completed with a lot of ice cream, a lot of games and a lot of students. It was super loud and super fun. (I even managed to give myself battle scars [aka rug burn] from playing Spoons, haha.)

[Photo: mix from Chiarng's Canon S90 & Anna's Canon SD1400]

People are returning! It's crazy weird since I've had to say so many goodbyes at so many different points along the summer and, as a result, spend the remaining parts of it with an increasingly smaller group of friends – most of them being the recent graduates, Helen, TimLin, and Twang. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm ready to be social again. :P But! Having more people back is fun. (You don't get sick of seeing the same people day in and day out. [KIDDING]). It makes for a happy occasion, especially when we gather over meals, hehe.

My place has hosted two meals within the last two days: yesterday's being a small gathering of the recent grads (Char, Chiarng, John, and me) eating leftover beef noodle soup. Today's gathering consisted of 3 of those grads plus Chrissy, TimLin, and Harry; we had salty broccoli, mashy eggplants (it was quite good), a concoction of Korean rice cakes with bean spouts and suan cai, and teriyaki chicken w/"pan-fried" noodles – all very delicious. :) [I'm actually super glad that I've been deep cleaning the apartment slowly since it – well, minus my bedroom, which is quite the mess, especially my bed/desk area – is now presentable for the public to see.]

Of the things on my desk, a number of them are actually little trinklets that Grace brought back from HK: they include an unkillable plant that survives on sunlight solely (and gears, I suppose), an iPod cover that eats the apple symbol, a red panda keychain thingamajig, a Picori dangly thingamajig, lots of hairties (.. XD), among other generally rather amusing things.

It's been a rather physically relaxing yet mentally stressful weekend with little doses of happy excitements/amusements every now and then.

[For your amusement, these stresses are even finding their way into my dreams: yesterday's involved me being on campus – albeit, apparently, it had been altered so that one section now contained a "maze" of rock structures (cf. Bryce Canyon) in the middle of the campus. Now, I was doing a number of things: contemplating/planning out experiments for the current research project (which should actually be happening right now); coordinating/helping people move in (to a dorm that seemed to be a mix of Allison & Shepard); and wandering through the campus to take pictures of the "recent developments" in between running various other school-related errands. What was slightly strange was that even as people were passing me by in the main lobby of the dorm, I was also somehow in front of my desk in my apartment talking to various people online. (I guess my dream self can be in two places at once). And even while all this was happening, my dream self also somehow knew it was Labor Day as I could hear, see, and smell that people were having BBQs/potlucks on the driveway down below next to my apartment (this doesn't actually exist in reality)... Yet, here I was, in my dream, trying to accomplish a zillion things, scrambling from one place to the next in a rather brisk, sometimes half-running pace. Needless to say, it felt a bit deja vu-like waking up and remembering that it was, indeed, Labor Day. Talk about confusion...]

As for the random doses of amusement, these included playing with Photoshop a little bit to create a rather silly piece [which will be shown later], making use of snail mail, and visiting Chang's apartment – not once, but twice within the last four days. =)

Friday: TimLin rather spontaneously asked if I'd want to go downtown to Chang's for dinner. Tempting. We eventually carried it out with Twang, Char and our bag of various groceries (Chang's chicken from her old apartment, carrots, and potatoes [that we discovered were too sprouted to be eaten ><]). I got kicked off the Intercampus during our first attempt by a rather strigent driver; the next driver was much kinder and nodded us in without so much a glance at our cards. We got there, walked a total of 2.2 blocks, and -tada!- arrived at her apartment – so close to Ward! Tim tried to slip by the doorman, but the doorman came after us even as we (quite luckily) found our way to the right set of elevators, . After I'd stated Chang's name, he paused for awhile and then exclaimed, "The new girl! Ah." and let us go.

Chang's apartment is so nice! She actually gushes about it in her recent entry "A Smooth Transition" [yes, I like plugging people :P], so I'll spare you from any more (well, besides the next sentence). I especially enjoy the white/bright-ness of the place, the very nice 'walk-in closet' with shelves in addition to the usual hanging area, and the fact that her studio has both hardwood and carpet. I think I've been inspired by her as well as Hsin-I to have my future home have all those qualities at least. Heh.

Anyway, we had delicious curry (it lacked potatoes, but the mushrooms added a very nice touch) that night. Mmm.

Yay for self-timer (even though it looks like someone else should be between Twang and me... -__-). [Photo: TimLin's Canon SD850]

Sunday was the actual formal Housewarming party completed with pita & (4 different types of) hummus, chips & homemade guac (it contained apples ;) – personally I really liked that touch; I actually wish we'd tried to dump more in, hehe), lots of curry chicken drumsticks, chicken pesto pasta, banana bread, and chocolate fudge brownies [I think?]. (Notice a trend here in the choice of meat? :P I think Chang will be legitimately sick of chicken soon, haha.) Once again, a very good meal with everyone incredibly stuffed even before desserts. As such, quite a bit of the dessert still disappeared before we had to hurry our way to church.

Another self-timer photo, same set-up, same view – but this time, everyone is evenly spread out. :P [Photo: Chrissy's Canon SD1100]

An adventure with the crew from the HaKim residence & TimLin on 09/02/10: it involved...

Passing by a group of 20 or so Kellogg students. They happened to be hanging around Kellogg – no, doing some silly dance routine outside Kellogg; they also happened to take up the entire walkway in front of the South entrance. Even as we approached them, Louisa remarked, "I bet they would never have imagined a group of students walking by this late at night." (it was, perhaps, about 9pm.) We stood there rather 傻眼-ed, watching/staring at them for a good 15 seconds at least. Finally, TimLin muttered, "Okay, okay, off we go, through them, through them..." in his this-is-terribly-awkward voice. The Kellogg students laughed at our bemused/confused expressions (we suspect they may have been a little loopy).

Discovering that the Tech courtyard contains a decent vegetable garden with at least tomatoes, green peppers, some kind of melon/squash, (legit/huge) sunflowers, and basil! What topped off the discovery was that "everyone is welcome, all summer, anytime!" (granted that you sign in, which, obviously we didn't then)! Louisa also discovered that the tomatoes grown there are, indeed, tomatoes. In her words (after eating an orange tomato), "It tastes just like a tomato!"

 
Lou was extremly excited about the tomatoes. :P And the sunflowers are really tall – at least 8 ft I would say. :D! [Photo: TimLin's Canon SD850]

Observing the coming of a thunderstorm! It actually started dripping a bit as we walked towards the lake, to which Anna (the HaKim's new flatmate; I think she may be from Canada(?)!) joked, "Do they have sprinklers here?" She received the responses, "Yes, we have campus sprinklers... they water the concrete/parking lots, too!" from Tim, while Chrissy responded, "Our campus is so waste--ful." Actually, this exchange happened as we passed by the Allen Center and then decided to still head out to the Lakefill.

Walking along the rocks/artwork bordering Lake Michigan. We passed by all 3 relevant rocks (to me at least, haha). I also learned that still waters disturb TimLin, as does the reflection of red on a lake (from the sky/light pollution at night). He also thinks that the fake lake looks like a guy "squatting." Helen was also feeling restless and wanted to give a piggyback ride; I offered to be the load. :P

Taking pictures of the approaching lightning! Tim, at first, did not want to do it as he complained of needing a tripod. However, the increase and prettiness of occasional flashes of lightning convinced him to attempt some pictures as we crossed the bridge at the south end of the Lakefill. He got a pretty sweet picture after several attempts. :)

So cool! [Photo: TimLin]

Getting caught in the rain. Even as we were walking towards Norris, big splatters of rain started falling, which then turned into a serious downpour. We ran for Norris, made it there decently dry still. It didn't seem like it would let down soon, so Helen decided for us, "Next destination! [The overhang by] Block Museum!" The rain happened to increase just as we ran across the plaza; by the time we got there, we were, perhaps, 80% soaked. There was mourning about their respective shoes from the Ha's: Chrissy about her leather sandals (which she wore socks with, by the way), Louisa about her flats. Louisa then chose the next destination – the library. Soak level by then: 110%. Next destination: Kellogg. Soak level by then: 115%. We were greeted by cheers (or silly/drunken (who knows)/jolly jeers?) of those who had been dancing earlier. -___- Next/final destination: our intersection. Soak level: 150%. Each of us were supersaturated with the rainwater and dripped wherever we went.

It was a pretty epic, planned but spontaneous night adventure.

Also, because others have been more faithful about blogging, here are quick recaps of the previous days from TimLin. I like his blog because each short blurb is accompanied by an artsy photo (all taken, of course, by him). I should learn about 'being succinct' from him (but I really do like details at times: It makes for amusing memories when one looks back!). Anyway, here they are ... with random quotes from each respective day.

Fifteen: Chang's moving! (8/31). Upon seeing her room/apartment strewn with random things, all remark to each other, "Chang says she's 90% done... do you see it?" "Hm, not really." Chang: "Really? I'm almost done!"

Sixteen: Chiarng's bday* (9/1). (*is actually 9/2) In response to hearing said person's GoogleVoice voicemail greeting, Tim shakes his head "Chiarng, you're going to be a grad student..." (Guess the contents of the voicemail. Hint: it uses only one word – multiple times – in a singsong fashion).

 
Actually, I like the photos he used, so I'm re-posting them. :P [Photo: TimLin]