BANG

After 5 days of freedom from my last exam in early may, I kicked myself straight back into school for the summer and some massive volunteering. I am thoroughly excited in taking bio during this summer as I am really developing an interest in the material that’s being taught. The more I dive into the sciences, the more I am struck with awe of the whole complexity. Volunteering has been a thrill learning all the techniques and especially the jargon. My summer has been busy and exciting in the educational aspect but I am pushing myself towards exhaustion.

Rushing from one place to another, I’ve began to plan things around myself, a lot. It’s easy to justify your faults especially arriving late with such a tight schedule that you have made the effort because you did indeed ‘rush’. But really, the highest priority on the list is none other than yourself. It’s not far from a person that is self-absorbed.  It incredibly easy to get lost in your hectic schedule that you being to forget the meaning of all and your priorities. I think I almost lost sight of it until Ted pointed it out to me. Selfishness is one of the things that I struggle to admit because I am in a strong denial that I don’t care about others more than myself. Evolutionary speaking, it is inherent for us to be selfish for our own survival, the whole idea of ‘darwinian fitness’. That doesn’t cut it. Altruism does exist among those that may or may not be related with expected benefits for both parties. But I believe in selflessness that doesn’t involve calculating the costs and benefits and this is something that I’m trying to learn as a growing Christian. The more I analyze the little details of my life, I can see the little subtle things that I do and unknowingly do as a habit that really is selfish. As stubborn as I am sometimes to change when I am given the opportunities to learn selflessness, I am repenting and working on it.

I’m beginning to realize how important it is to take a day of Sabbath to really help recharge and put your life back into the right perspective. It’s a time to really let yourself tune out all of that noise in your life and really listen for His voice. As students, we’re so caught up and worried about our GPA  and planning our future career that our achievements become our worth. We become defined by our marks, wealth, our prestigious professions and successes. What is left of you when all of that is stripped away? Naked in shame? I am learning to not let myself be defined by my successes because I am not only setting my expectations on a higher pedestal but I’m creating this ‘SuperYi-Min’ that I begin to live by. Failing to achieve it will make you depressed, frustrated, and perhaps more driven to get it. What’s even worse is when your parents create this superwhatever for you and set this as your own goal. dYou will become exhausted, burned out, fall hard on your failures all to attain such an unhealthy and superficial goal. It’s beyond discouraging. Your superwhatever will kill you. The meaning of my life is not defined by my SuperYi-Min. Should yours?

“And the only way to not be killed by it is to shoot it first. Yes, that is what I meant to write. You have to kill your superwhatever. And you have to do it right now. Because your superwhatever will rob you of today and tomorrow and the next day until you take it out back and end its life. Go do it.” – Rob Bell from Velvet Elvis

Goodbye SuperYi-Min.

TWO AM rambles

At 2am in the morning,

• still suffering from my terrible sleeping schedule (sleeping at 2-4a.m. and waking up at 12-2pm)
• brooding over upcoming exams (I don’t end until May 6th, damn U of T)
• trying to be productive by cleaning up my desk
• being proud of my brother’s Grease performance tonight at VPCI as Vince Fontaine!
• craving for a fish fillet sandwich from Wendy’s but they don’t have it anymore !
• counting down the number of days until May 6th
• watching my dog sleep and snore, it can get amusing
• wanting to do more nifty & crafty projects
• becoming less and less coherent
• sleep is kicking in, but not after some “Eclipse” reading (and no I am not a hardcore fan)

BOSE

Just received my Bose Around-Ear Headphones in the mail today. It’s refurbished but I got them with an awesome sale. So far, it sounds, looks, feels just as good as a brand spanking new one. Although there as been complaints about its construction, it seems it’ll be okay if take extra good care of it. Sound is awesome. Good bass and literally feels like you’re beside the singer. Sexy. Finally, quality listening for my ears.

Bose box

Bose around-ear headphones. Sexy !!

Bose around-ear headphones and all it's glory.

Smooth like a baby’s cheeks

For the past two days my knees have been experiencing those really crappy days where I can’t walk without a noticeable limp. Sitting on the subway yesterday to head to school, I began to brood over my knees and prospect of reinjuring it.  A couple of stations later, a lady sat beside with something huge on her back. At first I though she was carrying some funky looking bag from the corner of my eye. Well, whatever I thought it was happened to be the mother carrying her baby on her back. Catching a few glimpses of the baby, I observed his mother looked white (no racial discrimination intended), but the little baby seemed to mixed with a hint of asian. Regardless, the baby had nice black hair and pink rosy cheeks from the cold. I decided to mind my own buisness until I felt something tugging on my arm. The baby boy stared at me with this adorable “curious” look of his. I smiled back. He giggled and hid his face in his mother’s chest. I gave him my finger to hold and he kept playing “shy” with me. I think my heart almost melted. His mother laughed and commented he just loves attention. Never really had an experience where I was ever overwhelmed by a baby’s cuteness. Definitelywarmed up my heart and almost forgot that I was brooding a few minutes ago. Did my little goodbye to the baby and walked out thinking, “I admit defeat to that baby’s cuteness”.

A date

A calm chilly night.

A few skating in the small outdoor arena and trees with Christmas lighting situated slightly away.

Bodies pressed against each others to stay warm while doing a little waltz.

Two stars glimmering in the blank painted sky.

A long overdue post

Finally certified to drive by myself but just in time for the new driving regulations to be imposed. Lovely. Next on my driving list, do some persuasion so I can conquer the highways.

Other than making people feel scared while I’m behind the wheel (I’m not a bad driver, seriously), these past three months have been sheer pain, agony, stress, and trying to plough through everything. Although, I must admit I have impressed myself with my new studying habits. (You don’t want to know what I was like last year.) My commuting distance and time is pretty good compared to 1.5 hours for the others. Still trying to find a fine balance between studying for all five subjects. I have to say, organic chemistry and I are still not in good terms, as opposed to physics which I was fearing so much about in September. A part of me wishes that I lived in residence but with the massive amounts of distractions, I wouldn’t be able to shun it all away.

As the holidays start making there way here, I have decided I will be cooking up a storm with a book I borrowed from a friend, Joy of Cooking. Time to get all my basics down and be a real home chef, or something like that. I think my mom already knows of this hidden agenda and bought me so much cookingware. She has jokingly stated the kitchen is now my new lab, as long as I don’t blow up anything, or burn any pots. So many recipies and so little time ! Indeed, the joy of cooking…

A is for Atom, B is for Binary Code, C is for Cellular Membrane

I was browsing through wists the other day and clicked a link that led me to a sudden realization how nerdy people come to be. Behold! Nerds having nerdy babies. FTW! It puts my 6 year old version of me to shame for only knowing things like animal names and the colours of the rainbow. I think I might need to get a hold of these some day for my future children. Go the link below and get a glimpse of these brilliant nerdy baby flash cards.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14416771

Attention all dog lovers!

If you absolutely love dogs then I highly recommend for all of you to read this book Marley and Me by John Grogan. It tells the story of a young Labrador retriever, Marley,  who is brought into a family at a young age up until it’s last days with them. It really is a heartwarming and touching story of a dog making such an unforgettable impact on Grogan’s family. The last few chapters of the book, I admit, really brought tears into my eyes and I just had to have my own dog, Lassie, lie beside me as I’m reading. I learned of this book after looking at the favourite reads on a pamphlet that was being distributed by the Toronto Public Library. Since then, I’ve been recommending it to all my dog lover friends, and I’m even trying to get my mom hooked on to this. If you want to learn more about the book visit the website: http://www.marleyandme.com/

Believe it or not It gets better! I was actually browsing movies online and I found out they’re making Marley and Me into a movie with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. It’s being released in December 2008 but that doesn’t stop me from being excited. Be sure to read the book and then hit the theatres once it’s out!

Angry Little Girls

I absolutely adore “Angry Little Girls” by Lela Lee. They are cute, witty and undeniably funny. Here are the comics that are making my day. Click the links below to see the comics. Enjoy!

Why are you still with me?

You no date asian boy.

I\’m happy to see you.

No secrets

The seventh must fall !

Anyone that has taken at least one music harmony class, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m finally making progress in piano theory as I’m taking Grade 4 (Intermediate) Harmony and History this summer. Yes, everyone drones on about having to go to school everyday and the fact that we spend about 4 hours doing homework (for those who actually do it), but I rather like it. I’ve made big improvements in basic harmony progressions, which makes me wonder why I didn’t pay more attention to it back in Grade 3. How I dreaded those dominants sevenths and now there’s the leading note seventh chord and secondary dominants. All the effort spent on doing homework at Robarts have really made me get a better grasp of these basic resolutions. I find Grade 4 history more concentrated on analzying the actual pieces rather than learning the biography of the composers. Definitely much more exciting since I get to really listen to different aspects of the piece. When I stepped foot into those classrooms, the thing that immediately that caught my attention was how the teachers had a starking similarity to other teachers I know.