February 28, 2005
Not only is reading week over, but I had my first day of classes back already. ARTS was rather boring today... we had a guest lecturer who proceeded to play us nearly half of Mozart's Don Giovanni. It's a 3 hour opera, and the class ran 20 minutes over. Not very impressed, although perhaps if he pared down his stuff more, it would've been better. It's interesting trying to pick out the trombone and the cello from the piece again, just like good old times at Fairwind (oh, man, I miss Ms. T!). I prefer my prof more nonetheless. As well, half the class disappeared from my sociology class. I guess people couldn't stand her lecturing from the textbook anymore. I wouldn't know, since I didn't actually read the text for reading week. :oP

Well, reading week went well! I can't believe I went bowling twice in the week! I scored pretty darn horribly on both occasions, and even being a social psych student, I will still make an external attribution of the balls being either too heavy or having too small of finger holes for me to fit through for ruining my game. Though really, I could never be as pro as master bowler Cecilia!

I also shopped a heck of a lot. Too much, I would say, as I look at my bank account and realize none of the money I got for Chinese New Year will be going into it. :o( I can't wait to work and see it fill up to happier amounts. *sigh* Splurges are dangerous, unless they are for the food bank, then they're fun!

Let's see... I watched 3 movies over the week. Hitch was a cute movie, and thankfully not dirty. Rare nowadays, I think. I liked Albert Brennanmen more than Dr. Date himself. And yes, Albert and Allegra are cute together, albeit being an odd couple. :oP But the movie was hardly original. Pretty much your average romantic comedy. I watched Cool Hand Luke on TVO since it had my favourite Paul Newman as the lead. It's from 1967, if I remember correctly. Very *interesting* film without much of a point. His character does some really strange things, like eat 50 eggs in 1 hour. I guess it's all part of illustrating prison life to the mainstream crowd. mean, what the prisoners did were the same throughout the movie - wake up, eat breakfast, get shipped to some deserted area to do some infrastructure work, get shipped back for dinner, play some card games, get herded to bed. There's also the prisoners idolizing Luke, and how he knows it and acknowledges it. Perhaps I should watch it again to understand it better. After this movie followed Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, another Paul Newman movie, though from 1990 (he would be in his late 60's). Another strange, pointless movie. Again, the message is too imbedded for me to figure out. I thought the costumes sucked in that movie. It was supposed to be the war period (I think WWII), but the clothes and sets sometimes looked like they were from the 90's. What I got out of it was that the parents were very conservative (the mother, interestingly played by Paul's wife Joanne Woodward, was terribly naive), and they raised a bunch of rebel kids. It depicted their suburban, upper class life, basically. Not much more than that. Maybe it was late. Hmm...

Anyway, the week ended off with the Annual General Meeting at church. It was 5 hours long, but relatively peaceful. It does get frustrating when things get discussed in circles for an hour. However, I get the sense that people are starting to figure out all the rules and regulations of the rigid Robert's Rules, so I suppose that's good. It would be nice to adapt it for our use. We'll see if it happens. Whatever happens, I just hope no one else gets hurt or hurt further. Lord, bring repentence and reconciliation.

That's all for now. I've procrastinated from stats long enough.

February 21, 2005
Well, it's official. I just checked JobMine, and I'll be an Arts Research Assistant at the Psych Department at UW for the summer. God is just so gracious to me. :o) Besides getting some psych work experience, it'll be nice to be able to be close the St. Jacob's for the summer, picking up fresh veggies, fruits, and pastries once in a while (or more, hopefully!). I really hope Marianne's NSERC comes through soon so we can start looking for a place together! There's also the possibility that Becca will be doing some courses in the 'loo for the summer. The more, the merrier!

My sister and mom suggested that I do some summer courses as well, so I looked those up yesterday, and that poverty course is being offered, taught by my sociology prof right now! I think I'm gonna sign up for it. I'm still thinking about doing HIST 254 through DE, but I dunno if I wanna do that many summer courses on top of working full time. We'll see.

Well, reading week is going. I still gotta watch all 'em lectures from LD, and write my paper too! But tonight, Becca and I are gonna fix supper (haha!). There's also my first attempt at using the bread machine to bake a loaf - herb and potato bread. I hope it'll be yummy!

Back to lectures...

February 20, 2005
I had a blast with the girls last evening... it's always fun hanging out with the MLs! :oD We sampled some delicious fare at Lucy's happy hour (our staple mussels, and also gator fingers, pulled pork nachos, escargot, smoked salmon gnocchi and coconut shrimp) all for a nice low price (well, considering). Then we had a rousing, though unfinished, game of Phase 10 (rousing indeed... haha!). We headed to Classic Bowl after, only to be confronted with no lanes available due to a charity event. So we sidetracked to Demetrie's for some desserts (funny thing was, people were abstaining from coffee, chocolate and ice cream for Lent - not all at once! - we made due though!), then headed back for the bowling. Man, I haven't bowled so bad since... I dunno when! Ceci, of course, did amazing (194!). Crazy bowling woman.

Well, I hope the rest of reading week will be as enjoyable. :o) Although,of course, I have to work on my Learning Disabilities assignment that's due this Wednesday. Hopefully after that, I can actually relax and not think about school for a while!

I hope you're all enjoying/have enjoyed your reading weeks!

PS: It was nice worshipping in the new sanctuary this weekend. I love the smell of the new wood pews. And that we now actually resemble a church! Yay!

February 18, 2005
Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow... today's ranking day, and He's provided me with a job and no continuous-ness! :oD Actually, out of the 4 interviews I had, I was offered 2, and ranked for the other 2. Strangely enough, it's the 2 that I did "worse" on that I got offered. Man, my references must've really wowed them or something. :oD

Now comes the actual ranking part of the deal. I think I'll hold off on it until tomorrow or the day after, just to make sure I'm ranking things correctly and that I'm ranking according to God's will. Nonetheless, I think however I rank the positions, He's behind all of it. So no worries there. :o)

As with the other details of life... hell week is over, and reading week starts today! Dr. Spencer is off on a conference, so no class today at all! I'm just waiting for Becca to show up here and we'll get things going for tonight's JOY festivities. The only damper in reading week is that I have a paper to write for PSYCH 312. Down with DE courses, assigning things to be handed in during reading week! Oh well, I think I'll start cramming it from Sunday to Wednesday at home. Then I can finally relax... mmm...

Also... Lent is... going. I just really have this big music dependency, and things are a bit frustrating when I can't relax with my tunes. But God has been telling me some interesting things through it about myself, so it's worth it. I just can't believe that I won't be able to put on a CD for another 5 weeks or so. Anyway, I really hope I can draw closer to Him during this time, and not waste my time doing other things that distract me from Him.

Well, until later - have an awesome weekend!

February 15, 2005
As part of my daily regimen of procrastination, I find new and exciting ways of wasting my time instead of studying for tests and prepping for interviews. It's my joy and pleasure to share with you the fruits of my hindrance. Today's special - a bunch of purity tests on a site I don't remember. Here are the short versions of my insignificant-to-the-world-and-to-myself results:

1. Here is the result of your EMO Test (How Emo Are You?) Purity Test
You are 64.2% pure in the EMO domain (you have 35.8% EMO in you). According to the scoring guide, your EMO experience level is: MELANCHOLY

My comments: How... sad (how... emo of a comment!). I don't even know how to interpret this one.

2. Here is the result of your Fandom Purity Test
You are 73.0% fandom pure (27.0% fandom corrupt). According to the scoring guide, your fandom experience level is: You are moderately active. You lurk a lot, absorbing everything. Don't be afraid to share your opinions and talents with the rest of us, though!

My comments: Lurk indeed I do! I used to be more active. But a thing called university and another thing called growing up (therefore realizing the world is bigger than TV) happened.

3. Here is the result of your Nerd Purity Test
You are 81.0% pure in the nerd domain (you have 19.0% nerd in you). Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 28%, based on a comparison of your test results with 378675 other submissions for this test.

My comments: Hmm... what's going on? If I'm not a nerd, then what am I? Wait a minute... I'm an artsie going to Waterloo. Not exactly the nerd department of the school.

4. Here is the result of your Socially Retarded Purity Test
You are 70.0% socially retarded pure (30.0% socially retarded corrupt).

My comments: I knew it all along! Which is something my psych friends would say, "That's just hindsight bias, silly. You didn't know it all along." But anyway, I'm 30% socially retarded! Or, the politically correct way - "introverted."

And now for some corrupt fun (seriously... it's kinda offensive, but if you're into Snoop Dogg (haha, that's me alright! :oP), check out Gizoogle.com, the original turn the whole world wide web into one big Snoop Dogg fest search engine. I read an interesting re-rendering of Mae's song Embers and Envelopes. Intriguing. Actually, I don't get it. :oP

Okay... quiz tomorrow and interview too! Gotta go!

Febraury 14, 2005

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Hope you're all stuffed full of chocolate. For Valentine's Day, I had a midterm and a test. My profs love me! They really love me! :oP

Mae is for lovers, apparently. :oD Added a counter and a banner for the exciting new album that's coming out... well, read the counter and the banner!

Back to studying 292...

February 12, 2005

*sigh* So much readings to do, and so little time. My fault though, having procrastinated so much these past two weeks. Well, at least Social Psychology is interesting. There's some interesting quotes about social injustice, like the following:

"...people are indifferent to social injustice not because they have no concern for justice but becaust they see no injustice." - in Social Psycholgy, 2nd Cdn. Ed., by David Myers and Steven J. Spencer (p. 436)

Well, to happier times. Alex came over this morning and made Marianne and I a complete breakfast, with sausages, eggs ("wallet" egg for me!), ham, toast, and yummy, yummy potato pancakes ("fresh from a box," as he said). It triggered the smoke detector one too many times, but the meal was much enjoyed. Mmm... potato pancakes... we shall have to do that again. :o)

In terms of Lent, things are going okay. Still haven't listened to my music, or turned on the TV yet, although I must admit I did play my guitar (which I'm not considering a part of my Lent). I'd really like to have some time to dig into scripture during this time, but I gotta read for my 4 tests/quizzes next week!

Finally, I've rediscovered some sites by which procrastination is really handy. There's Tickle (formerly known as Emode) where I discovered that I indeed am a "cool indie songstress" (hehe, yeah, right!), and Biblebanger.com where I found some cool new merchandise. My favourite thought-provoking ones are still Heavy Drinker and Narrow Minded, but I wouldn't have the guts to wear it just yet. I good one to share the gospel with is How Jesus Saved the World. I would wear Living Water, though.

Well, all for now. Back to readings.

February 10, 2005
Today, I had my second interview - Information Officer at Indian and Northern Affairs. Since it's a job in Ottawa, it was a phone interview where I was interviewed by 3 people. All in all, I think the interview went well, except for two questions - one about the mandate of Indian Affairs, and the other about the difference between and a census and a survey. I really just totally winged the first response (ai-ya... should've done more research... I was focusing my research more on the Corporate Information Management Directorate branch of DIAND rather than the whole department), but the second one I must thank all those boring classes in PSYCH 291 and 292 for getting me through! Of course, I still want the psych research job more than this one, but if this is where God puts me, I'll follow.

Silly JobMine is still holding out on my 2 remaining applications, one for the co-op department here and the other for the University Health Network. I don't particularly want the interviews, but we'll see what happens. I just hope they don't land on Monday or Tuesday of next week, where I have 2 midterms to write. That wouldn't be pretty. JobMine has informed me, however, of two rejections - the jobs at Health Canada and Homewood Health Centre. A-okay with me. Us co-ops, by third year, have hardened to the ill-effects of rejection. :oP Actually, those would've been my second and third choices out of my 6 applications, but it's all okay. That's how life is.

Anyway, I was chatting with Marianne about my stats class this term, and she helped me come to the conclusion that PSYCH 292 is not a bad class. In fact, it's the most interactive one, out of all my classes. For example, today, we got M&Ms in class to calculate confidence intervals of the occurrence of blue M&Ms. There are always slips of paper passed around to collect class info about siblings, provinces we've been to, what our hand span is, and also plenty of beads and dice to do probability. Math is not that bad, at least with us psych majors. :o)

And finally, a note about Lent. I haven't had any bad urges to turn on music or watch TV, but I think they are odd things to choose because I simply can't totally escape music or TV at home, at school, or wherever else. But then again, I'm reminded that we're not bound by the law because Christ already conquered it. So I'm not going to run away when, let's say, worship starts at church and people start singing music. However, I am, for the next 40 days, not going to initiate any music or television watching so to commemorate Christ's sufferings on the cross.

Okay, now that I've sorted out my head, I can start reading my social psych text. :o) Hope I haven't made you bored too much.

February 9, 2005
Today, there are two major events in my cultural life - Chinese New Year, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty days of Lent. Well, the former is more of a tradition for me, being Chinese, having been raised in Hong Kong for a part of my life. The latter, on the other hand, has generally been regarded by my particular denomination as more of a Catholic tradition.

Nonetheless, I think it's good to adopt the tradition of Lent, of fasting and abstinence, to commemorate Jesus' death on the cross. I think it's all the more appropriate for me since I still grapple with the enormity of his sacrifice, and how it all applies to me. Why not share, at least a tiny bit, in his sufferings to see what it's all about?

Interestingly enough, I first heard about Lent when I was a member of X-Philes For Christ (yes, I was a geek... I still am! did I ever mention that I have the XPFC shirt which came on the day of the premiere of the X-Files Movie? but anyway...). One of the ladies there was sharing about how she was giving up drinking coke for the season, and another I believe actually gave up being in the club (yes, it's that big) for the time period. I thought, "how interesting" (sorry, Nicky Gumbel). Since Pastor Sharon joined our church, I've also heard it brought up several times in sermons. Just yesterday, I read on Steph's xanga about Lent, so I'm finally ready (and on time) to participate.

Now, I'm a newbie into this whole new adventure, so I'm really winging it a bit and maybe should do more research into the whole situation, but for this Lenten season, I'll be giving up listening to my massive collection of music and watching television. I realize after my decision that perhaps Lent is more of a fast from food, but hey, I indulge much in music and TV, and I thought it would be appropriate to fast from these things. I attempted a music fast during the Christmas break, and it was largely successful, except for the fact that I did it for the sake of doing it. I spent some time in reflection last night and realized that I need to add God into the empty space. So silly of me to have forgotten.

Well, I think that's a good intro into the whole event. I pray that God will increase in me, and that I will decrease during this time of Lent.

And before I go, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

February 8, 2005
A few momentous things this evening to share about. First, I had my first interview of the term for co-op, with the Psych Department here at Waterloo. If I get the position, I'll be doing research for Dr. Hildy Ross. She's got some interesting research that she's conducting, including one that is dealing with recent immigrant families and how they resolve conflict. That definitely perked my ears. The interview went okay, although I think I could've done better, as usual. It's all in God's hands now.

Second momentous thing - Marianne, Mimi and I filmed our Butter Chicken(burgen) Epic. :o) Too bad I can't upload it, since it's 135MB big! Anyway, we did it in the spur of the moment, improv-ing all the lines because I just whipped out the camera and we started taping! It was great. Maybe I'll upload some pics that we took... although, of course, I should really be reading my social psychology or ANYTHING.

Third thing - I joined xanga. Yes, me, Victoria, who's had this GeoCities account for around 8 years, has cracked and joined xanga. Well, I don't plan to update that as often as I do this site, if at all. I joined for the sake of being able to e-comment on people's pages! But it does have some nifty features that would take me bunches of work to put here, so we'll see how things evolve.

Well, that's about it. I've procrastinated WAY too long today. :oP

SONG OF THE MOMENT

Monday - I thought about the sermon I'd heard
I should be nice at the people at work
Tuesday - I'll work without complaining
But with minimum wage my nerves are straining
Wednesday - Association calls looking for a donation
I need what little I've got for my vacation
Thursday - Stupid things, stupid people lacking in the brain
Why are all the stupid people driving in my lane

This is me, with my quirks and specialities
This is me, with my several personalities
Which is me - the real me?

Friday - Inspired to get things right
Thank God for Bible study last night
Saturday - Temptation dogs me from deep within
Sometimes it loses, sometimes it wins
Sunday - It all melts away
I start again forgiven for another week of living

It's obvious that I have many faces
Each day I'm glad God's grace is here to see
Just like the army
I can be all I can be when His hand's on me

Beneath the skin am I good or am I made of sin?
You can see the kind of person that I want to be
And you see the real me

"This Is Me", Hokus Pick (from Super Duper)
I just rediscovered my Hokus Pick CD after having brought it up from 'sauga to rip onto my computer. I've always likened them to the Christian version of the Barenaked Ladies - wacky and funny, serious when needs be. I don't know why I've stopped listening to the "more Christian" bands lately... their music really got me onto the pathway of following God. Anyway, I love the honesty and not-as-covered-up lyrics of HP. It really is too bad they're not in existence anymore.

February 6, 2005
We have finally moved into the new building! And it's absolutely awesome. :o) Thank you SO MUCH to the R&E team for putting it all together... I've only heard a glimpse of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that they put in. I think it's all going to pay off. For more pictures of our new church, click on the photo to your right.

I think the ceremony, as cheesy as the concept was, was awesome. Basically, after the 1st Chinese service, we marched as one church from the old building into the new. In the new part, we were assailed with the worship team leading the congregation in "Give Thanks," which is more than appropriate for the occasion. The praise and worship was awesome, and I think Jeff makes an awesome and energetic worship leader!

Pastors Sharon and Daisy and Uncle Timothy shared in English, Cantonese and Mandarin (go trilingualism!) a passage from the Bible, then we had Dr. Lam share a brief message. After that, it was a few more songs, and then to exploration of the new church! Unfortunately, I only had about 10 minutes of tape left on my video camera so I basically ran all over the new facilities and took a nauseating tour of the place. It's pretty crazy to think that it's now MY church. Too bad I can't be there for the first service ever in the new sanctuary. :o( But I'll attend eventually. :o) Anyway, it was fun smushing with the entire church into the gym for some yummy food that was pretty much gone by the time I finished taking those pictures mentioned above. Oh well.

Anyway, all for now. I'm waiting for dad to get back so I can head back to the 'loo. Take care everyone...

February 1, 2005, part b
*squeal!!!* The cover art for Mae's forthcoming album The Everglow is out! I think it has a kind of Le Petit Prince feel to it, which I find quite interesting. Also, the track listing is also available on the Tooth and Nail site. I've heard awesome things about the album from people whom I assume have heard it already. Some even say they're gonna make it big this year. But of course, it's all bias talk. :oP Nonetheless, I have high hopes for this album. I'm still waiting of my Destination: B-sides to arrive where I'll get a preview of the song "Suspension," which is also on The Everglow, but apparently has been redone so that it really kicks butt. I'm excited!!!

On a sad note, I think Mae cancelled their Toronto show. Boo. I do hope they come again, and I hope even more that I can go!

Alright... back to module 3 of Learning Disabilities.

February 1, 2005, part a
JOY Winter Retreat 2005 was awesome - I had a wonderful time. :o) God just really pulled everything together while I was there. Jackson's Point is pretty nice - I especially enjoyed the fact that everything was in the same building - the lodging, the food, the program. You could actually trek around in your slippers, without once slipping on a winter jacket! Crazy... I know! Thank you to all who helped out for the retreat - great teamwork, everyone!

For all our speaker sessions, we had Rev. Donna Dong from IVCF Canada lead a manuscript Bible study on Philippians 1 to 3. While it was slightly overwhelming since Paul really packs in a lot of stuff, several things stood out for me. In no particular order...

1. To know Christ deeper, be a servant, as he was a servant.
2. A life of servanthood is not solitary, it's a partnership with God. Obvious, yes, but a needed reminder for me.
3. I have to work out my salvation with fear and trembling.
4. Paul did not live a risk-free life, and yet he loved it. I need to step out in my faith too, as he did. Not to mention as Christ did.
5. This life is not about me, it's about Christ. I have to reprioritize my values to ensure Christ is at the top.
6. Choose to die, and be a servant. This is the lifestyle that is full of life and gives life.

I'm sure there were more lessons learned, but I'm still digesting it all. It's just awesome to be able to interact with God's word in the manuscript way. I should really look into doing it for the entire Bible!

Other things... bring back the clap, baby! :oD We had a really crazy, silly, retro time of worship on Saturday night, making a ruckus 'til 2:30 in the morning! Alan was saying how he didn't like certain elements of music that were common in songs of the 80's, so that got me wondering why claps were phased out. I mean, songs like "Shine Jesus Shine" and "Hosanna" are always so happy, and made even more joyful with the fun claps. Anyway, we tried to add random clapping to the more contemporary songs. You should really hear our rendition of "Majesty (Here I Am)"! "Majesty! *clap clap* Majesty! *clap clap* Your grace has found me just as I am *clap clap clap clap {pause} clap clap*..."

Oh boy. :oP Retreat was awesome. But I'm still feeling the lack of sleep! Nonetheless, thank you for meeting us there, God. :o) Check out Claudia's visuals. Good night!

SONG OF THE MOMENT

Lord, this heart must sing
Of all that You have done for me
The beauty of the cross
The greatness of your loss

So, I'll thank You for the day when you washed my sin away
I will never lose the wonder of the blood You shed for me
There could be no greater love than this through all eternity
So I'll thank you for the day when you washed my sin away

Help me understand
Just what it meant for You, Jesus
The holy King of all
Upon a sinner's cross

"Never Lose The Wonder", Tim Hughes
A new song learned at retreat. The second verse really resonates with me a lot, as I still grapple with what Jesus did for me. Thank you to Claudia and Jon for doing an awesome job of leading us in wonderful times of worship. :o)