Thursday, July 26, 2007

it's time for.

Change.

This girl posted at 10:00 AM

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

closer.

time flies when you least want it to. and it's slow and painful when you want it to go fast. i remember this concept etched in the farewell gift from sam.

it can't be any more true.

home is where my heart is. but i can't help but fall in love with life here. in this beautiful place. in this screwed-up but yet fascinating country. where there's an adventure that awaits everywhere. where i see God's amazing creation and His gift to us, day after day. He has been ever so faithful and He has graciously provided. He has been my pillar of strength when everything is not right. He comforts and He loves.

thoughts about leaving seattle really makes me sad. but thoughts of seeing everyone at home makes me smile. the family. sam. melody (when she returns that is). louisa. carlene. all my darling friends in school. in church. the pastors.

when i return, a good number of friends would have graduated and stepped into the world. where the REAL life starts. it's kinda strange. yet so exciting.

time is really a funny thing.

Labels: homecoming, seattle, thoughts, time

This girl posted at 2:43 PM

Sunday, May 06, 2007

trip down south.

portland was just a typical american city. it's oregon's answer to seattle. it has a rather quiet downtown. it has quirky neighbourhoods. it has mountains all over. just like seattle. so we didn't really see anything new or out of this world.

but i still love my portland trip. i had great company. 6 of us singaporeans - shian chi, yinyin, suhui, jieying, alvin the only guy and me. we had a room to ourselves at hostelling international. it was fun. there were great things to do too.

the damien rice concert was amazing. i'm biased because i like him. but objectively speaking he overused his alternative distortion microphone wayyy too much. i don't know why he liked it so much because it made his voice lose all its essence and warmth. so the best parts of the concert were the songs with just him, and him playing the piano or guitar, with the warm sounds of the cello. ahhhh. and those familiar songs from O. i'm surprised he only did 2 songs from his new album 9. the ever popular 9 crimes, and me, my yoke and i. banter was less than the singapore concert. but i now know the stories behind several songs of his. and me having a general admission ticket means i had to stand in front with all the tall caucasians. so shian chi and i managed to squeeze rather front so we got a pretty good view.

i love great concerts. sometimes i wished i lived in US just because the concerts are so frequent and cheaper too.

there was tons of shopping done in portland too. i love it when oregon state is tax free. why isn't washington state tax free too? 8.8% is really too much. shian chi and i shopped a lot downtown, buying stuff for ourselves and gifts for friends back home.

and the other highlight of the trip was our roadtrip to mt. st. helens. that legendary volcano in our geography textbooks that blew its top in 1980. it was AMAZING. the drive up was amazing. just 2.5 hours of mountain ranges and valleys and meandering streams and rivers and a crater lake. it's good that we rented a big Ford Expedition SUV to fit all 6 of us. so we could stop anywhere along the road shoulder to take pictures. and roadtrips are always fun 'cos you get to sing songs and snack and eat. and the rest slept a lot in the car but i couldn't 'cos i was the navigator and the one that keeps alvin the driver from speeding or dozing off or veering into the wrong lane. we made 2 stops at 2 visitors' centers but we couldn't get to the one closest to the volcano 'cos it was still closed for winter. darn. we were just a few days away.

then we decided to hit the factory outlets! we knew from friends who have been to portland that the outlets are not accessible by public transport. so since we have the car, why not right? and all of us were shopaholics. hurhur. including alvin. with no tax and a huggee factory outlet with many many shops, it was irresistable. but i already spent a LOT at downtown portland. so shian chi and i bought very little. haaa. and on the way home to portland we got detoured off I-5 by the police and almost lost our way. but we kept our cool in the dark dark roads and highways and found the way home. had nice chinese food for dinner at chinatown too. =)

then on the last day we were supposed to return the car with a full tank. so we drove around town looking for a gas station for like 30 minutes. and we were late for returning the car. lots of drama that morning. haha. but we managed to talk our way through to prevent them from charging us another day. muaaahahaaaa.

love the portland trip. =)

now i'm at gerri's house. long story. will blog another day. my sisters are here! and i love gerri's kids. =) the sweetest ones i've seen.

Labels: portland, travels

This girl posted at 12:42 PM

Thursday, April 26, 2007

a mother's courage.

a beautiful photo essay. a single mother and her dying son. her son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. my dear bioscience friends you'd find this really familiar. remember our cancer lab?

anyway it nearly made me cry. it won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. i've meant to post this soon but it just slipped my mind. the photographer, Renée C. Byer, was a former Seattle Post-Intelligence (one of the 2 major newspapers in seattle; the other being the seattle times) photographer.

the link for the flash presentation is here. do watch the presentation with captions.
the link for the official site is here.

Labels: news, thoughts

This girl posted at 3:52 PM

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

spring brings renewed hope.

spring is here. one week after the tragedy the things are still fresh in my head. i can only take comfort in God. who provides great comfort and joy in the midst of trials and suffering. there's always a reason for everything. sometimes we may not understand. but He has a plan.

i attended the vigil for the victims of the massacre organized by UW's students' union. it was solemn, and it stressed the importance of unity. to prevent ethnic discrimination.

after the short vigil, the clock bell chimed 33 times in honor of the victims, including the shooter, as we bowed our heads in silence. i closed my eyes and prayed, the many times i've prayed since the tragedy. and i stared at that candle in front of me as darkness started to fall. i remember Matthew 5.


after the vigil a crowd of people gathered in a circle to pray and i decided to join in. as i heard each prayer, praying for almost everything i could think of. no ethnic discrimination. the shooter's parents. the victims. the families. the community. the university. the administration. the student leaders. the korean community. love. comfort. faith. hope. i was filled with peace.

i'm glad for spring. everything around me looks beautiful. i'm reminded of God's grace and His amazing creativity everyday. even when things may be bad, readings and midterms, travel headaches and all, i can find comfort and most importantly, joy in the Lord.

oh yes. and a new found love for reading God's word. =) i'll miss seattle terribly. and the life i have here. but i'm also looking forward to be back. back with family, sam, friends, bethany, hugo my darling dog and the food.

be gone in 2 days to portland for sight-seeing and a damien rice concert. =) =) the rufus wainwright concert was sooo good. soooo good. he was charming and has a magnetic personality. his eccentric gay sense of style shines so brightly. haha. his dress theme for himself and his 7-man band is stripes and brooches. he had like 4 shiny diamondy bling brooches on his striped jacket, striped shirt and striped pants. haha. so funny. i'm not the elast bit turned off by his clothes (although i think i'd be if i saw a guy wear that on the street). he sang songs from his new album, to be released in mid-may. it's good!! although i still prefer his quiet songs, just a guitar or a piano. he's a great pianist!! ohmygoodness he's good. and he also sang some old songs, like the Art Teacher and One Man Guy. the crowd was good, really excited and psyched to see him. and he bantered effortlessly with the audience. i took a video and 2 photos. because silly me forgot the camera. argh. will upload soon.

hehhh. damien damien concert yayyy.

Labels: damien rice, life in seattle, rufus wainwright, virginia tech

This girl posted at 3:44 PM

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

when death hits a little too close for comfort.

this morning in class my political science prof wonders sadly, why do such things happen in america so often.

Gunman kills 32 in Virginia Tech rampage

By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history Monday, cutting down his victims in two attacks two hours apart before the university could grasp what was happening and warn students.

The bloodbath ended with the gunman committing suicide, bringing the death toll to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy, perhaps forever.

The rest of the article is found here ( http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=WVEC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ) and everywhere else. i clicked on every link there was on my "news" bookmarks on safari, and everywhere i went (except channelnewsasia.com), the headline just screams out the unimaginable.

i sit at my desk on the other side of the coast and i don't really know what to think. i thought about the victims. professors, students, my age, or even younger. their lives ended on a normal day of class with no warning. i thought about the families. they never got to say goodbye. i thought about the friends. i thought about the gunman. an asian male. calmly moving from room and room. shooting and reloading. shooting and reloading. finally shooting himself.

i couldn't really think anymore so i drowned myself in work. assignment for philosophy of science class. but here i am again, wordlessly moving from page to page, reading reports streaming in.

echoing my professor, why why why? sometimes i really want to ask God (and get an answer straightaway) why He allows such things to happen.

just barely 2 weeks ago, a shooting also took place way too close to home. details here ( http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003648679_uwshooting03m.html ). one UW staff member was shot 5 times by her ex-boyfriend/stalker, before the guy turned the gun onto himself and shot himself. on UW campus. it was horrifying and very very sad. she did everything she could to protect herself from the psycho, but he still found her. i was shell-shocked because it was really just around the corner (ok about 8 blocks away from where i live), but i took comfort in the Lord and the fact that it was a personal thing. it wasn't a random act of psycho-ness. it wasn't a shooting rampage.

this virginia thing, major shooting rampage. it was random. he just shot everyone in his sight. mercilessly.

okok stop. i am not as depressed as i sound. it's good that i had a good 40 min chat with sam. it's good i'm drowning myself in studying for my political science quiz on wednesday. ok. chat with sam really helped. i don't think he knows what big difference he does to my mood.

well, life goes on.

Labels: life in seattle, news, sam

This girl posted at 3:47 PM

Thursday, April 12, 2007

He gave His life for us.

As little children we would dream of Christmas morn
Of all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find
But we never realized a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

*We were the reason that He gave His life
We were the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by we learned more about gifts
The giving of ourselves and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day a man hung crying in the rain
All because of love
All because of love

I finally found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him (every part to Him)
And all that I do every word that I say (you know I’ll be saying)
I’ll be giving my all just for Him, for Him (every thing for Him)

We are the reason that He gave His life
We are the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give (all that he could give all)
To show us the reason to live

#He is the reason to live
don’t you know do you know the reason
that He came, oh He came to save us
when he gave His life for us
He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave everything (everything that He had He gave)
To show us the reason to live

Don’t know how I could thank Jesus all that he had all..

-Avalon's We Are The Reason

easter came and went. i'm glad i went for maundy thursday, good friday and easter sunday services. the one that really spoke to my heart was the easter sunday one. and i was glad danny went with me. the pastor gave a good message about the meaning of Jesus's death on the Cross and His resurrection. what effect it had on His disciples, and what effect it had on us. it was a fresh new way of looking my risen God, and very insightful. i'm also glad i got to talk to t. chen kee and pastor mitch on msn, as well as looking at easter concert and easter lunch pictures on blogs. =)

now i'm looking forward to listening to pastor charlie's maundy thursday and easter messages on mp3. i'm looking at my faith and salvation in a greater light now. i feel blessed.

anyways school is overloading me with readings and more readings. all thanks to my electives. but i shall be strong in God's grace! looking forward to shopping at lynnwood, a neighbouring city outside seattle, rufus wainwright concert, damien rice concert and travelling around portland, my 2 sisters' arrival here in seattle (yayyy!!), kayaking and whale-watching at san juan islands and planning my summer holidays to los angeles, las vegas, grand canyon, hoover dam, yosemite national park, san francisco, and the caribbean. hope my budget works out. haaaa.

oh yes. there's always those midterms and quizzes and readings to dampen my mood. but i have joy in the Lord! =)

Labels: damien rice, easter, life in seattle, thoughts

This girl posted at 7:40 AM