Korean Class for Free!

Dr Choi who is a korean college professor at UB asked me to get a group of pple interested in studying korean during the summer ... FOR FREE!!! So anybody interested, pls talk to mua and I can tell him when we get a group of 5. This is an opportunity that few can pass up!! (unless you already have him at school) But even if you do have him for korean now, it'll be better in this group cuz it'll be much more personal and close. Must warn you tho, it will be challenging because learning a new language will need alot of effort put in and self-studying on your own. That's what I'm expecting.

It's been 4 days since I've written in this..what the heck...this week has just whizzed by...

Yesterday night, went to watch the Wiz put up by BIA. It was very entertaining, and I can appreciate the amount of effort and work that they put into it..that was the most important. But I went away with a bad kinda feeling... after the show, the cast were outside, and I knew them from before, so I freely told them that they were really good..blah blah blah...but then I felt that they saw me as being fake or something...especially marteen, who played dorothy. I did not know her at all, i only knew her name, so when I told her she was really good and other well-deserved praises, it was like...I'm such a suck up...saw it in her face. I wasn't meaning to be like that, but i felt like one. But it's true!! She ws really good. or maybe i was just interpreting her facial expression wrong..maybe she was just tired and was upset with any mistakes she made. psh....humans are so difficult to understand man. anywayz....

Okay..here's the tentative plan for after high school:

1. Go to STF for a year
2. study at UB for 2 years
3. transfer to Boston U or a better school if I can get a scholarship.
4. try my bestest to get into Yale for graduate school...hopefully with some sort of financial aid.

Alright..I've decided..I'm going to sell as many candies as I can for the AP exam. And I'm going to take the AP exam...if I get a 4 for credit...cool, then i can take another course in college...if I can't..that's okay, cuz at least I know I put the effort in and not be lazy. so how about i go study right now...

what am i doing right now? I'm sitting in front of a computer in my school library while eating a fast break which i realy don't need. what do I want to do? I want to be in the gym trying out for softball...but it's not gonna happen this year cuz of transportation difficulties. argh..i'm so mad. So next year, if I do want to play volleyball or softball..i will have to have my license and a vehicle (except motorcycles). So I need to be going to my driving lessons and be finished with them as soon as possible so at the end of april or later, I can go for my license. But I need the mula to pay for the friggin test...so my friendship bracelet business will be back. also..i need a car...shoot.... my dad is thinking of getting another car though..so maybe i won't have to pay for that, maybe just gas. If that's the case, it would be so shweet. If that's not the case..haha...goodbye volleyball and softball...shoot...can't get a job cuz of my visa. this really sucks...

I have one and a half days to lose an inch off my tummy so i won't look like a balloon when I'm wearing the dress I got for the Barnum Festival coronation ball on sunday. was that a run-on sentence?? oh well... I'm gonna go on a soup diet...I just started with dinner 2 mins ago. man..should have done that like 3 days ago :(. Anywayz, Mrs Orman from church very graciously helped me find a dress at Syms (next to BJ's), a place filled with formal attire and prom dresses and formal dresses...also have casual wear. I got my dress for $50! That is soo good. It's a lavendar dress that covers everything...except the arms, and looks really good at the same time. Mrs Orman is the best shopper ever..EVER! And she has such a good heart, even though her feet were hurting from an illness she has, she still believed that she needed to help me. She did such a good job..i don't think i would have been able to find such a good dress at such a good price. THANK YOU MRS ORMAN!!

I don't think I'm gonna get queen for Barnum Festival..ironically..I believe the girl from shelton high will be queen. I have a chance at princess, but I don't want to count on it and be disappointed. Really excited about it :D

i don't want to take the AP english exam...and it's not because of the money cuz we're fundraising with freakin candy bars. It's cuz I don't want to study for something i know I won't be able to do that well in. and anywayz..I'll be going to college at UB..so it'll be free..and freshmen english will help me even more with my english. I feel bad not taking it..i feel like I'm obliged to take it by my teacher..like it's an insult to her if I do'nt take it..freak man

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And don't use your non-irishness as an excuse not to celebrate this day and the man nicknamed St. Patty. St Patrick was the topic of the sermon at church on Sunday, and I learned alot about his life and what he contributed to the Christian world. This sermon was given by an irishmen, Mr Devine.

St Patrick was a boy of 15 when he was captured by slave dealers from Great Britain. He was brought to Ireland where he worked as a shepherd on the cold icy hills for Irish warlords. Patrick (he wasn't a saint then) had every reason to develop resentment towards the irish warlords and his capturors, but he did not. Instead, he prayed to God out in the pastures, each day averaging 100 prayers! His spirit man strengthened: he wrote in one of his confessions "the psirit was in me and fervent"; and his relationship with God was established for future guidance and direction.

After 6 years, Patrick received a vision of a ship waiting near by that would bring him back home. Patrick followed and reached Britain soil once more. However, he received yet another vision where the people of Ireland were calling to him. His family thought he was crazy, but Patrick followed God's direction to go back to live as a model for the Irish people to follow. The Ireland was a land of Pagans and Druid priests, human sacrifices and war, as well as worshipping of spirits and natural objects. Patrick brought the spirit and values of the gospel to these people. In the Bible reading, it said that you are great if you bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. I don't remember exactly what, and the bible verse in the church bulletin is wrong. But anyway, Patrick brought the gospel to the ends of the earth, to a people who had no idea about Christ or one almighty God.

Patrick had no written course to follow, he had to rely on the guidance of God. He was able to be so in tune with God's direction because of the foundation he laid while in the pastures praying. Patrick went through Ireland escaping Druid priests while establishing monasteries everywhere. He was able to love the simple people and connected their God of Oak to the cross that Jesus was crucified on saying it was also made of Oak. So the people caught on and by the end of his life, St Patrick had converted the whole of Ireland to Christianity. But what's with the fighting over the different kinds of christianity? I'll look into that later.

Without St Patrick, Christianity would have taken forever to be what it is today. During the dark ages, the monasteries were the only places of light. With the monasteries and schools that St Patrick set up, the life of Christianity prevailed.

Some of the lessons we can learn from St Patrick's life:
1. Live for the sake of others
2. Love your enemy (St Patrick went back to his Irish Warlord and paid him for having him as a slave!)
3. Never deterred by realities of the situation
4. Positive light
5. Action oriented
6. Forgiveness
7. Always credited victory back to God.

If you read the whole of this post, give yourself a pat on the back! :D

Isn't it gorgeous? Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this is the most detailed view of the heavens with around 10,000 galaxies in it's scope. What is most fascinating about it is that it shows how the universe looked like trillions of years ago, just 700 million years after the Big Bang - although it was taken just recently!! This is because the light of those galaxies take trillions of years to reach us. That's crazy to think about, that something can appear like it was so long ago but be totally different at the present time. Those galaxies may not even be there right now. amazing...

Click on the pic for the full article

When I was 7 to 12, my dad was the pastor of my church. I always remember this one speech that he gave to us kids during a youth workshop. He talked about the power of prayer and how to pray with impact.

Prayer is like a wish, a sincere wish that you send to a parent, God. Every person in this world has a wish. It is very easy to make a wish. How do we make our wishes God's wishes? We have to make them for the public, for others. Prayer works best when we pray for someone else because we should be concern of others before ourselves. So what if you want a car that you've been eyeing for a while? You can pray to God to help you get it so you can use it for the service of your family, friends or a higher purpose as well. Remember to carry it out! Therefore, the things you do are more centered around others.

Visualization of the prayer is even more important. It makes the prayer a reality with the power of our mind. Our mind is a very amazing tool we have that we do not even have full grasp of. Say you want to pray for your dad who is sick. You can visualize a spiritual power acting like a sieve going through your dad's body, catching the sickness and cleansing your dad so he recovers. Set a day as a goal for your prayer to work and pray hard that he will be well by then so he can..go to work..you name it. Setting a day will help you be determined to fulfill it and also to show god that you are serious about what you are praying about.

So, here's the overview to a good prayer:

1. Pray for others before yourself
2. Visualize your prayer
3. Set a day as a goal for your prayer to work.

With the combination of prayer for a good cause and the sincere manifestation of our mind's visualizations, our prayers can really have a big impact on the people around us and they will be answered.

If anyone has tips on making a prayer more impactful, don't hesitate to say something on the taggie.

my hectic week has ended..and my hectic weekend has commenced!

have a barnum festival event today..it's a indoor picnic, supposed to be casual..dunno what to wear tho. man..wish i were at the MA workshop...haiz...but i couldn't cuz of this.

WEnt to the informal reception for the Barnum Festival. I haven't stood on my feet for that long in a while...good thing i wore my school shoes which are simple, flat bottomed, but nice. Had my hair half up in a bun (better than i thought it would be), had a blue blouse and black pants with blue pinstripes...what I wear to church..heh.

it was held at the discovery museum lobby...and i thought we were going into a room afterwards and would have dinner. To my surprise, the whole thing was to remain in that room with us just talking and mingling. They had cookies, punch with real strawberries, and a fruit platter :D.

I thought that all the contestants would be from Bpt..but there were contestants from schools all over! But not far far away like danbury or wallingford. Schools included Masuk, Barlow, Lauralton Hall, Fairfield Prep, Central, Harding, Shelton..a whole bunch. A very pleasant surprise was meeting Mike from Shelton High. He was on a reality TV series on Discovery Kids Endurance. He was the first one I met going into the museum..pretty cool. He plays the piano too, since 7, which is also the time I started. He likes pineapple......he lives in shelton..and he has a sense of humor...that's what he has in common with me. Yeah yeah...it may seem like I was so enthu about talking to him cuz he was on TV..but I think he's really outgoing..which is cool. But shouldn't try too hard to talk to him on saturday (indoor picnic), cuz he prolly thinks I'm like a fan so i wanna talk to him. do you get me?

Well..before today's event, i knew i was outgoing and stuff..but i exceeded my expectations. Starting conversations with the other contestants came really easily to me...and I was able to sustain it..kind of leading it. so that's a good thing...

Negative things: I couldn't remember pple's names...shouted over to this guy whose name I thought was christian to say good bye..then iremember later that christian was someone else. duh.
: forgetting that i met a person and saing to them 'oh i haven't met you yet' and shaking their hand..embarrasing man.
: some unnecessary and embarrasing hand movements..but it was only once i think..
: said wow too many times..which is surprising. I usually said um or whatever. haiz..

well...i'm relaly tired..ahhh...goodnight.

Jon Peter Lewis!!!

I am SOO glad he got into the top 12. OMg....I jumped up and screamed when he was picked...unique singer, great personality .. the dancing is a plus..

I suspect that Matthews guy is gay...but he's a wonderful singer. :;shrug::

I haven't been writing much interesting things...apologize for that. So...I should probably make up for that with a very engaging and inspiration post......but....I don't have one. heh.

Well..I can tell you that I am now a great patronizer of lotion...I've neglected my skin and it's been ashy since the first day of winter. So my skin has taken its toll from the cold and dryness..is that how u use 'toll'? oh well

tomorrow is the second last JA meeting. thank goodness. I expect that next week we'll have a party...no..we're too poor for that. haha.

just played an invigorating game of twister with my bros and friend Hannah. it was fun, great muscle building game.

i'm sooooo glad it's the weekend...whooo!! and tonight at SLAM, there's gonna be a really good speaker..talking about part 2 of the DP, which i started reading. thank goodness it's not chapter 1 and 2 again... can't wait.

AP english exam is coming up....gotta pay that freakin $82 real soon...gosh. Maybe i shouldn't take that test, i mean, if i know the info, i know the info...just don't know if I'll be able to do so well on the test that i can get college credit. So if i don't do well..the $82 would go down the drain. blah..

Here's a tip to cover up the occasional fart that you couldn't keep in there (i just figured it out..it's NOT from experience)... okay, puff up your cheeks and act as if you had just made that sound with your mouth. it works better if you can show the pple around you who noticed that you can imitate the sound.. (cannot guarantee results :)

OMG!!! I've finally signed up for driving lessons! 5 minutes ago. Propz up to the girl (prolly 19) at the driving school who so speedily and efficiently went through the procedure and all the info about driving lessons. I could have started lessons tonight....but got a bio test to study for. Lessons are monday to thursday, 6-8pm...and i don't have to come everyday.... here's how the system works: There are 11 lessons altogether..and they teach them in a round. So monday, lesson 1, tuesday, lesson 2...blah blah blah...and it just keeps going. So the lessons just keep repeating. dunno how the teachers stand it tho..

Since i got my permit on 12/17/03, i will be able to take the driving test in april this year. that is SOO soon..i don't know what to do with myself. but i dunno if i'll be getting it that soon..cuz of insurance and stuff. grrr... wonder how much insurance is reduced by going for classes. ::shrug:: now i'll have the opportunity to interact with sheltoners...white pple everywhere. i dunno..it's quite scary. and I'm the conspicuous chinese person that rings up 'she bangs' in their head. omg....at lunch the other day, this girl sang that song cuz she saw the vietnamese freshmen throw something out in the garbage. william hung..you really killed the asian reputation..

it is soo warm right now..i'm in my shorts and a really baggy tee...with my hair up. turned down the heater...

HEY! the interview went good. My outfit was very nice and put together...according to my standards, usually i can't match for nuts..haha. So they take your pic, wait in the waiting room for the person before you to finish....got to know one of the bassic contestants, she was nice. then your go over to this other room with a big oval table..and there's 3 judges sitting across. They told me to shake the hands of all of them, so i had to go around the table, cuz it was difficult to reach across.

Okay, so i sat down, they asked me questions..general questions, and stuff about the festival. I think i should have directed my answer to all of the judges, instead of the one that asked me the question, often times the lady judge. When i told them about this blog, and how it got it's name address (extraterrestrial from my initials), one of the judges that had not moved a facial muscle but to talk actually chuckled..so that was a good accomplishment. Overall, i think i did okay...of course everything could be done better...but it was good.

The most difficult part of this is the post interview period...kept on comparing myself to pple i knew who became king or queen. grr...i'm just gonna have fun even if i don't get anything. thank gosh it's over...

did i mention i lost 4 pounds??!

quite nervous about the interview now.......it's in 4 hours!! whoo..calm..whoo. gonna find out more about pt barnum just in case they ask me..wish me luck!