Day 120.

I needed some help with some things today and two friends agreed to help out so I'm very grateful for their time and effort. I know others couldn't help cause they couldn't get out, or they had lots of work, or whatever whatever so any help given was greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving up some of your time!

HAHA.

Day 119.

So an away student friend came back for an interview today. He was planning to go back to school after his interview, but because of car problems he has to go back tomorrow. He's a friend of a friend and he's new to church, but he still wanted to come to fellowship which made me :). If I was him, I'd be too scared to go somewhere by myself where I didn't know a lot of people. Our friend was still at school, but he called me to let me know that the friend was coming so that I could look out for him. How sweet!

HAHA.

Day 117-118.

I was a bit antsy last night and while it was still late at night and friends that were still up were only up finishing work they had to do, I found comfort from them. They took some time from doing their work to give me some words of advice and reassurance so thank you. I greatly appreciate you.

My homeboy texted me yesterday to see if I wanted to visit him at work. When I worked retail, I loved visits from friends and I remember he visited once and we went to eat during my lunch break so I thought I'd return the visit. I told him I would, but after thinking about it he suggested I go today instead since he would be busy with a lot of customers (because of the good weather) and so he wouldn't be able to talk to me and he didn't want me to be by myself. So considerate! That's why we friends. Anyway I went today earlier than the time I told him so pretty much right when his shift starts. I texted him earlier in the day to tell him about my antsyness so he wanted to talk and make sure I was doing okay. He's cool with the coworker he was changing shifts with and talked her into working a bit more so he could talk to me. He treated me to some food even though I offered to pay and took his break from a 6 hour shift even before he started his shift to talk to me. Thanks :)

HAHA.

Day 116.

AWESOME weather today. Tad bit hot. I would sweat by just walking around. Oh the joys of sweating so easily! Saw Viola today and it was a bit weird since she wasn't bundled up as usual. I chat with her a bit and gave her a little money to help. My last break was unproductive like all the others before and I'm a bit uneasy because I have group projects, but not uneasy enough. I still can't get myself to do it. So a friend and I made a deal to check up on each other to make sure we were doing our work. We took some time to procrastinate together before, but it's time to buckle down. Not doing a good job, but better than I would be if I wasn't being kept accountable. Thanks for the help!

HAHA.

Day 115.

Found out about this through a friend and thought it was a really good idea. There's been a war going on in Uganda for 25 years. The Lord's Resistance Army, have been terrorizing the innocent people in Central Africa and in 2005, they were driven out of northern Africa. Since then, they've been attacking isolated communities who virtually have no way of communicating with the outside world. The cries of the innocent victims go unheard.

During the 25 hours, people around me have been there for me to explain why I'm not talking or to just talk for me. I always forget how well my brother knows me cause we're rarely serious with each other, but he knows how to read me. Especially when I'm in a foul mood. I got pissed off at dinner so I just stopped talking to prevent me from saying something stupid. He was able to cool down the situation because he knew what was going in my head and settled the issue. Thanks for that.

HAHA.

Day 113-114.

Helped my momma and some of the kiddies wrap Easter eggs yesterday. My friend also came back to celebrate another year of birth so I helped with the planning and getting. It was FUN FUN.

Happy Easter! Helped one of the girls with last minute fix ups before the show so that she had it down. I'm proud of all the girls. They did so well!

HAHA.

Day 110-112.

Had a shorter day yesterday - woopwoop! When I got home, the girl from church that my brother tutors was there and her sister was there too. I was getting ready to make lunch so I asked everyone if they wanted to eat too some did. Decided to make some good vegetarian spaghetti and apparently it smelled good so I was happy haha. Got to hangout a bit with the sister and my cousin so it was fun. Nothing like spending time with each other and food!

I'm always reminded of simple acts of love when people think about me when I can't eat meat. Stayed at a friend's house with some friends and while planning what to make for lunch and dinner, everyone was extremely considerate about my not eating meat. I know it's a hassle so thanks for never going alskjdaisdlaksdmlakjsd when adjustments need to be made.

I witnessed how caring my friend is. This friend's friend, who's a new Christian, doesn't have a home church so my friend wanted to bring him to church and connect him to people so that when they come back from school, he'd have a church to go to. So he's been bringing his friend to church and connecting him to people in fellowship so that he feels welcomed. Just thought that was really sweet.

HAHA.

Day 109.

I didn't bring my laptop to work today and I needed to get a file so I emailed my brother asking him for help. He doesn't check his email often, but I hoped to hear from him. After a while I decided to just call him and I guess I woke him up cause he was a bit cranky. The file I needed needed to be converted so I gave him instructions and it took a bit of searching, but he got it done. I know he won't always be happy and willing..well he's rarely that, but if I need help, I know I can go to him and know that he'll pull through for me. Thanks for the (tough) love brobro.

HAHA.

Day 108.

Today was a bad day. I know it's lame, but I really think it's the hormones. I was stressed and just did not feel good today and as a result, I got annoyed and short with people. I took it out on my family when I should've dealt with it better. I was thinking about it and I realized that I've kind of forgotten the purpose of this blog/project. My past couple posts have been about how I experience/witnessed love which is great, but I haven't been so loving on my part. Gotta work on that. Help.

HAHA.

Day 106-107.

Saturday was a really rainy day. It just kept pouring and pouring. It was one of those days when using umbrellas didn't help. I had a dinner to go to, but I didn't want to go out in the rain so I asked my mom for a ride and she agreed without even knowing where it was. The majority of times, any dinner plans are in the city so she was even willing to drive me out there. I told her I had to go to the bank before and she asked me how much I needed. She gave me dinner money so I wouldn't have to go to the bank in the rain. So nice :)

The youth group at my family church throw a small show for the adults on Easter. Even though we prepared fairly early, Easter still sort of crept up on us faster than we expected. Naturally, a lot of the kids have stage fright and get the jitters. One of the girls I've been working with has been less and less willing to perform as Easter gets closer. I don't know if it's the nerves or because it's new, but she was saying she doesn't think she'll be ready for Easter. I was ehhh cause I thought she was just giving excuses, but God's been giving me the patience to work with her so I talked with her and reassured her that with practice she'll get better. And if she still didn't want to, she didn't have to do it next week. By the end of the day she was a lot better and a bit more confident. I drew out the things she needed to know so hopefully that'll help.

HAHA.

Day 105.

Today kind of felt like an adventure :) Haven't done so much on a Friday in a long while and even if I have, it's usually running errands by myself. From the moment I woke up until I got the R train, I was never alone and I really enjoyed the company. Most of the day was spent with two friends and I'd say during the span of the day we all did acts of love for one another. From going to school with them, buying breakfast/drinks for each other, making lunch for each other, helping with other tasks, following each other to the places we had to go..it was a very loving day. So while one friend was at an appointment, I went to the post office with the other friend. The post office we went to was pretty huge and we had no idea what line we were supposed to even go on. The people there were so nice though! This one lady helped us figure out what we needed to do and where we needed to go. When we were finally getting ready to check out, the clerk asked my friend if he wanted express mail. My friend had to get it mailed out ASAP so he said sure and the total came to $13 for one envelope! But the clerk then mentioned (even though he shouldn't have) that there really was no point in doing express mail as long as you mail it before the day it's due and you have proof that you did. So he saved my friend $8. After, we had time to kill until our other friend was done with her appointment and since she was with someone we all knew and the post office was right by Starbucks, we decided to get some drinks for them before heading back. I liked today. Reminded me of the summer kind of. Very stressless. Thanks for the good times :)

HAHA.

Day 104.

I felt a lot of love today. I was too tired last night to make lunch and I woke up too late this morning, so I kind of expected to spend money on lunch but I really didn't want to because I've (sort of) been trying to save money so I packed some fruits and hoped I wouldn't get too hungry today. I remembered that the Asian club at school was having an event so I texted my friend asking her to save me some veggies cause I have class in the Bronx campus Thursday mornings and I wouldn't have gotten back to Manhattan in time for the event. She gladly agreed and she saved me lots of food :) She even had a lot of work to do, but she waited until I got on campus then went to the library. I later met up with her in the library and I fell asleep without setting an alarm. Knowing when I had class, she woke me up in time. Because of my Thursday class in the Bronx I haven't been able to attend the meetings for the Asian club and most of their events are on Fridays so I haven't been able to attend so I've been pretty MIA. Today the club was going to a dinner excursion and I was finally able to go, but they were planning to go 15 minutes before my class was going to be over. I just told my friend to take everyone and leave and I'd just meet them at the restaurant, but she got the whole group to wait for me. Sweet! After dinner, I had about 2 hours to kill waiting for a friend. I didn't have any plans but if anything I was just gonna go to her school and wait for her, but another friend found out I had nothing to do and invited me to go to the gym with him and another friend. I didn't have clothes, but I ended up going to the gym figuring I could waste some time by just walking there. My friends had planned to work out, but knowing that I had nothing really planned, they instead spent time with me so I wouldn't be alone. I'm really grateful :) THANKS THANKS THANKS!

HAHA.

Day 103.

When I checked my phone this morning I saw that a friend who lives one stop away sent me a text to let me know that the R trains weren't working, but shuttle busses were running. It was really thoughtful of her to give me a heads up so that I could adjust my morning so I wouldn't be late. So I passed on the information to my brother. When things like this happen we (almost) immediately grunt and express our dissatisfaction with the MTA or the sick passenger causing the delay. I know that was one of my first thoughts after reading the text. But that's no good since we don't know the whole story. By the time I got to the train station, trains were running again, but I saw a fire truck and ambulance outside. I texted my brother to let him know things were running again. Later in the day my brother texts me cause he found out that someone had fell in the tracks and got run over. Reports - not sure how true they are - say that someone died. Scary and sad. I need to not get alskjdalsk just because things are an inconvenience to me. Especially when I don't know the entire story.

HAHA.

Day 102.

So I had some time today to talk to a friend I haven't seen in a while and he was asking me how ___ was and honestly it's been a bit hard. I have a hard time doing things and I've been feeling like I'm not taken seriously and without support, my self confidence is even more shot. He dropped some good/helpful/doable advice/suggestions and it just meant a lot cause he understood what I was struggling with. In the short while I've known this friend, I've seen him grow and I'm really glad he's someone I can talk to about serious stuff. Thanks!

HAHA.

Day 101.

Tonight was a good night with my cousin and brobro. Brian never has dinner with the family - for the most part, he never eats at the same time so he's got in habit of eating in his room. My cousin and I usually eat in my brother's room, but today, he was into his thing so we ate with the family. Usually dinner with the family means just eat and go - not a lot of talking. We worked out together yesterday so we were both sore so we talked about that at dinner which made it a bit more interesting. While I was washing the dishes, she chilled in the kitchen because she finished her homework early today. Usually she eats dinner and goes straight to her room to work. So she kept me company while I washed the dishes and we talked about how she's been preparing for the SATs. My mom gave her some oranges so she fed me some too. Then after we bombarded my brother's room and just hung out. A lot of laughs today :) Talking polar bears, accents, lots of Googling, more oranges and clementines, art work, eggs, and other things..a very good Monday night!

HAHA.

Day 100.

Now with all the texting and all, I don't talk on the phone a lot. Most of my phone call usage is calling my mom to let her know when I'm going home. Only recently..in the past 2 weeks (?) have I talked to friends on the phone for longer than a minute or two. It's no biggie since texts > phone calls nowadays. Today, while I was out walking my dog, I got a phone call from a good friend and at first I thought she misdialed, butt dialed, or forgot to tell me something earlier. When I picked up, I didn't expect what came out of her mouth. She actually wanted to talk talk. I don't remember the last time someone called me (without planning the phone call in advance) to talk. I'm not the best advice giver so I'm used to not being someone's first line of defense when something is going down. So my friend's phone call made me feel special and important and it was an "aww" moment for me. Thanks friend for making me feel so loved today :)

HAHA.

Day 99.

So I spent the day at a friend's place..a very very very very very very good friend :) haha. Earlier in the day I had to go to school and on my way back she (and her momma) asked if I had eaten lunch. I hadn't, but I wasn't eating meat so I told her I would buy something. But later for dinner, her momma was super nice enough to go to the supermarket to get veggies to make something I could eat. Turns out all the dishes were vegetarian AND she made her awesome 3 egg dish which I think she knows I like. SO GOOD! Anyway that was incredibly nice of her to do that :)

HAHA.

Day 98.

I had a late start this morning/day..I kind of woke up around lunch time. As I was waking up, my brother told me that he was getting ready to go play tennis with a mutual friend. By that time we would usually talk about getting lunch so he asked me if he wanted me to want him to pick some lunch up for me. I told him yeah so he left and said he'd call me back when he was on the way home to see what I was in the mood for. A little while he texts me back cause they changed plans and went to play tennis closer to home and they were gonna go eat after. So he calls me when he's done and asks if I want to go out to eat or order take out from home. I told him I didn't care so we went out to a diner (I love diner food!) and he knew I had to be home by 3 to leave so he made sure to make that happen. As we were getting the check, he put his card down and paid for all of us. So he helped me save what little money I had. And as I was leaving home he asked me if I had money since he knew I was staying at a friend's place tonight so I guess he wanted to make sure I was covered. Aw thanks!

HAHA.

Day 97.

So I haven't talked to/seen one of my good friends in a long while for reasons I will not say, but I had time tomorrow so I emailed her to see what she was doing. Last minute changes and my mom asked me to stay home to wait for a phone call and turns out my friend is going out to the city so things didn't work out, but she wanted to talk to catch up at least. So we talked on the phone and she updated me and ditto and it reminded me of things I've forgotten so it was good talking to her. I often forget to love in the midst of being angry/holding grudges..it's something I need to work on. Anyway, I kept farting and eventually had to poo so I asked her if she'd mind talking to me whilst pooping and she didn't so we did some toilet talking too :)

HAHA.

Day 96.

So Wednesday night is my drawing homework night and it usually takes a long time. The projects tend to be on a bigger scale and after working on it for so long, you need someone else's eyes and opinions. That usually means my brother. He's usually watching tv or playing video games, but whenever I ask him to take a look/for some advice/help he'll take time to look at my work and since he's a brother, he's honest. The past two weeks, he's been really helpful cause I've been getting stuck at a certain point. My brother's room is right next to mine and we always have the doors open. His room has the tv, but I don't watch when I'm doing my work so it gets kind of boring. Every once in a while he bursts out laughing and from time to time I would ask him what happened and he would either rewind back to whatever it was or take the time to explain to me. After a while I quit asking, but he knows what I like to watch/find funny so when he thinks it's something I would enjoy, he takes the time to tell me what happened. Doesn't sound like a biggie, but it makes doing homework more enjoyable than it really is.

HAHA.

EMAILS

I 've always loved receiving long emails, especially ones that truly tell me how that person is feeling and their cares about how I've been doing. I haven't received a really touching, long email in quite awhile, I guess schoolwork has piled up and a lot of my friends have been busy. Today I received two really loving emails.

The first one came from my mom. Since my parents had gone on a cruise, I had gone home for most of the week and cleaned, cooked and so on. One of the things I wanted to do to surprised them was to clean their room (mind you, my house is really messy!) When they came back, I was so happy. I really didn't remember that I had done that, and I wasn't looking to gain credit for doing something that I should have been doing. But my mom texted me and emailed me mentioning that she was thankful I had cleaned their room. Honestly, it's something I should be doing for my parents, but it made me happy that she was happy. She emailed me earlier today telling me how she was sorry that sometimes she and my Dad lost patience with me and Sharon, she told me about how scared my parents were about Sharon's back condition and surgery, my appendix surgery. She talked about how she always prays to God to give her patience and love as a parent. She even told me about how my Dad used to write her love letters (Aw). Most of all, she emphasized walking and being with God, that no matter what I should remember he is my master and creator. Sometimes I forget that my parents are human too, they truly make me wonder that if my parents are this loving and caring then how much more loving is my heavenly father. A lot of times, I rely on my parents too much, knowing they will take care of me when in fact, as they are getting older I'm the one who needs to take care of them. As the gray hairs on my dad's head keeps multiplying, and the walking pace of my mom continues to slow, I'll be the one who needs to watch their diet and health. Maybe this won't be for awhile, but it's always good to start, always good to let your parents know how much you appreciate them.

Another email I received was from an away student in Boston. I haven't spoken much to any of my high school friends, and just reading her email made me really glad of the fact that she was thinking about me. She told me how much she appreciated me as a friend, and that just put such a warm feeling in my heart. I know a lot of times we take friends for granted too, especially ones we see everyday and for me I had taken for granted many friends in high school. I think college has really taught me how to appreciate my friends more, I'm so glad God placed these people in my life to watch over me.

I guess today I didn't do as much loving, as much I had been receiving love. But love is also something we give and take, and experiencing love make me want it to overflow into everything that I do.

!

hmm..so in one of my classes, the professor wants it to be a discussion type of class but no one really participates. Usually, people are sleeping/on their phones or itouch. Also, people will sign in and then walk out of the class and never come back (which I never do! haha, just saying lol). But today, my professor finally decided to make everyone sit in a circle so she'll be able to see everyone and kind of force discussion. So when one of my classmates that I don't really know but have had a few conversations with came into the class, she saw us putting the desks into a circle. She asked me what was going on and I told her the reason behind the change of scene. I guess she realized she would not be able to sign in and leave without being noticed. She asked me to sign her in because she had a paper that she did not finish yet and it was due today and because she usually stays throughout the whole class, I told her I would because I know how schoolwork can pile up. I didn't know her name so she wrote it down for me and I tried to write her name the way she wrote it hahaha.

maybe that was unethical or something I wasn't supposed to do..but I've had those days before, so I empathized with her. And it might open doors to talking to her more eventually and invite her to church! cross yo fingers!

Oh, I also saw a girl dropped her id card and I think a gift card on the floor right in front of me. At first it didn't register and I was going to walk right past her because I was kind of late for class. Then I literally stopped, thought about it, and crouched down in my weird straight back sort of way and helped her pick up one of her cards hahaha. I must have looked like a foooool!

=)

-frostedflakesaremyfavorite.

Day 95.

A friend needed someone to help care for their son so I went this morning and it was pretty fun. I didn't know what to do at certain times haha, but I guess I'll learn! Man, being a parent is hard work!

HAHA.

Day 94.

A friend was working on his paper and asked me to take a look at it so I helped him edit some. After talking, he figured that the topic he chose didn't have enough information for his assignment so he decided to change it, except he didn't know what to change his topic to. I tried to help him think of something else and he liked one of the ideas. Not sure if he stuck to it, but I was happy to help!

HAHA.

Day 93.

My family church rents the building of an American church and today the English congregation needed the building right after our service so my mom invited everyone over to our house for lunch and just to hang out. I really like and really dislike having people over. Growing up, my mom would always invite people over. She would clean the house and cook loads of yum in yo tum food. As a kid I didn't like the cleaning and the helping with the cooking, but it was fun having friends over. Watching my mom be so hospitable has helped me want to do the same..but that doesn't always happen haha. I don't like the cleaning up before and after part and I get agitated when people don't even bother helping. I really do enjoy helping my mom cause she's always so appreciative so I was helping her today and I started getting annoyed cause everyone else would just watch/get in the way or just start racking up their plates ready to eat without offering to help. As I was bussing soups out of the kitchen I noticed that my forehead was all crunched up and I had my angry eyebrows on. It got really crowded by the kitchen and so I would shove my way out shouting "MOVE MOVE!" Then I remembered something I read.."The key to friendship with God, he said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward what you do." We can worship God by meeting Him in whatever we do and by doing it joyfully. It's for Him. So that helped me shift my focus/attitude and it was easier to serve in a cheerful manner.

HAHA.

help

Perhaps some of you have noticed, I haven't written on this blog for a while..
It hasn't been because I haven't had time, but more because I haven't really done anything nice towards anyone..
Hmm..just thought I'd ask whoever reads this to help pray for me that I would be more compassionate towards people, even if I don't like them or don't feel like being nice.

That would be a nice thing that you guys can do for me haha.
Thanks

-frostedflakesaremyfavorite

Day 92.

It's a close friend's birthday tomorrow. Her sister wanted to surprise her and but with her back in Philly it was a bit tricky. Her sister gathered some friends from back home to go ambush her in her Philly apartment and it was pretty successful. It was a day of celebrating and just spending time with each other which has been rare ever since her move. And for me, I just don't spend a lot of time with my family church friends outside of church so it was a good time. It's hard to love someone when you don't spend time with them, so I was able to love a little bit more than normal today. By getting to know people more in different areas helps me and reminds me not to judge based on what I think is true.

HAHA.

Day 91.

I don't often get to go to Costco when my mom goes, but my brother usually does. My mom tells me to just give my brother a list of whatever I need and he's been really good with it. I got annoyed cause my brother forgot some things last time or he would get the wrong thing. I was writing my list today and I realized that without him I probably wouldn't have food/snacks or products I need. I could tell my mom, but she usually forgets more than my brother haha. And in return I teach my brother all the different feminine products! Hahaha :) So thank you brother for always helping me - either with Costco and for buying me food and for giving me lunch/dinner money when I ask. For always taking care of me.

So it's a friend's birthday this weekend and I was assigned to be in charge of the decorations. Because of laziness, naps, and procrastinating, I left it all to do tonight. I got home and I just wanted to sleep, but I had to do it tonight. My brother and cousin were still awake so they helped me with the decorations and while it would've taken me 2-3 hours by myself, with their help we finished it in about an hour and half. So THANK YOU for staying up late to help me :) which allows me to sleep earlier.

HAHA.

updates

Having been MIA for a while. Life's been crazy since China. Actually it's just "work". I don' t like the term "work" coz it's ministry. Ministry has been taken over my life and made it kinda of crazy haha. But it's a good thing coz we learn to love God and His people more and more everyday in the mundane or chaos that we have to work through.

Still remember the vivid smily red faced of kids there. I thought that I could do something for them, but I ended up learning so much from them. These kids don't have much, but they LOVE to SHARE! They aren't like city kids who are spoiled and selfish. I gave them a couple packs of worm candies for them to share, all of them passed it to others before they themselves have it. I know they liked it, but they wanna make sure that others have it before them. Lovely kids!

Going back to work, I'm so thankful that I have such a great and encouraging boss. Like last week, when I didn't think I did well on one of the sermons, he encouraged me by saying that I've been doing well here. And that taught me that I need to learn to do the same to other staff as well! I can be stingy with encouragement at times and that's so not good. I need to stop being like a Chinese parent haha!

"You guys are awesome! =)"