Catching Up

Hey guys,
So I'm about 1.5 months behind or something so I will do a general recap :) no details!
And I'm going to break it down right here:
1. Rest of Winter Break
2. First Month of School
3. TCF Happenings (JJ+Marks, Accountability, EPIK, Reality LA)
4. MISC. (Leggings, Banana Pancakes, Housing, USC Culinary Sekrits [not really])

Rest of Winter Break:
Spent it primarily with family, Deniz, and Won.
For Won's birthday, we went to this place on El Camino called Cherry Sushi and it was really good :) Then the really cute manager took a picture for us keke. We went to see Up in the Air after that because Won has this strange man crush on George Clooney and yes, that is what I did.
The next day I saw Naynay, Winny, and Albert and we had PMT for a few hours :P haha
When Harker started again I basically went everyday to see old '09 friends, Won, and old teachers. It was good to reconnect :) I miss high school :(
Deniz and I probably gained 60 pounds over break.
Ooh, David and I had dinner at Elephant Bar and then Barrett joined us for desert, which was dericious. Afterward, we met up with Seany and Deniz and we went to Stanford to visit the Mandells on the first night of their second semester, which was fun. It's interesting to see how different their dorm life is and etc. but in general, pretty quiet granted we were there at like 11PM on a Monday. And we forgot to go to the Palo Alto Creamery!! Shame.
Hmm one highlight of my Winter Break was probably traipsing through SF with the guys and Masha and finally seeing Avatar in IMAX-3D. We left South Bay and drove to SF and had a really nice Indian dinner after wandering around and chilling in hotel lobbies. Afterward, we went to the Metreon and in search of snack food. We ended up wandering around some famous sculptures and waterfall installments and this AWESOME PARK but the police man said it was closed and we couldn't go :( oh well. For another day.
That's all I can remember.
ON TO USC! :D

First month of school:
I started the first two weeks feeling pretty behind :(
Chinese has been going well although we have quizzes every day so it's pretty overwhelming and time consuming to be studying for these quizzes/oral presentations/doinghomework/tests every night :(
Writing 140 is unsufferable. It's 8AM and terribly boring and I failed my first paper BLEH! Kind of.
Soci is boring and the room is really cold and the teacher is meeehhh and yah no good. I hope the class is easy though...
Comm206 is alright. I hear it's graded rather harshly so that's no good.
I JUST WANT A GOOD GPA :(

TCF Happenings
I also had to deal with making some pretty hard decisions when it came down to SEVERAL EARTH SHATTERING EVENTS IN MY LIFE. Actually, just one. But before that, I really struggled with deciding whether or not to go to January Jumpstart or Harker's Winterball and I was really feeling the pressure but in the end, I went to Winterball and I haven't regretted it.
On the same note, Mark Study has been an incredible blessing and enlightening process to which I look forward to every week. Also new in my TCF life, I have an accountability partner!

Alice and I have met three times already and it's been amazing :) The first night, we had dinner at EVK for their Asian theme night which was meh, but good conversation :) The last two times, Alice came up with the brilliant idea of going to the roof of SGM and having a picnic there.
Last night, the door was not propped open and a little light was blinking. We were very ready to run if the alarm rang, but God was on our side and we were able to sit and eat and talk for a couple hours.
LA IS BEAUTIFUL. Aside for the recent bad weather and smog etc., it's been really nice to be able to put everything in perspective. It sounds silly but I feel closer to God, because I physically am. I can see my whole campus (which is gorgeous and not that big at all), all of South Central, I can probably see Skid Row if I really looked. I could probably see the Hollywood sign and the financial district. Maybe tiny fashion district and little Tokyo. And I can definitely see downtown. LA is really a great place to be and is full of opportunities. But it's also a place of hurting and heartbreak; a pretty comprehensive look at the rest of America, and the world too.
It's been good to sit on the rooftop and talk about the burdens of my heart and have someone to share them with. It's also comforting to know that there is a God who created everything I can see from the top of SGM, and more. It's also saddening to realize that so many people have less than me. But it is encouraging to know that I have not yet accomplished God has put me here to do.
I haven't been to the tops of anywhere else but Alice says SGM is pretty baller in comparison so check it out :P If you end up getting chased by the DPS, don't blame me.

At the beginning of the semester, the TCF freshmen went to check out Epik and meet some of our brothers and sisters there. They had a testimony night and it was very comforting and inspiring to see their openness and transparency with each other. In the same vein, I can't express how grateful I have been for TCF. Last Saturday night, following Love & Influence, our car had gone to Ralph's to buy a little cake for Helena's 19th birthday. We then called two other cars worth of people and Alice from Southside to bring some candles. When we got to Parkside, the guys had brought a few upperclassmen and Alice had brought a whole army from Southside and it really made me want to cry because although Helena acted very embarrassed by the whole process of having been called into the hallway by two RAs and then being sung at in front of many many people, I think we really touched her heart. I think both her and I have really come to appreciate TCF and their loving on us. :)

A lot of stuff has been happening...

Last Friday-Saturday, TCF went to Love & Influence, yet another InterVarsity conference in Burbank. To be honest, it wasn't exactly life changing, although I found the application part very fun and the testimonies quite moving. Altogether, it was a good weekend to reflect on the practical ways to love on others with the love of God. It's good to feel God tangibly :)
I didn't sleep well at all, we had to sleep in a toy room in the Sunday School section and there were creepy dolls everywhere. We had stayed up till 1AM telling sekrits :) and I had tossed and turned for 4 hours, finally MAYBE sleeping at like 6, only to get up at 8. I had a dream about Parkside serving us Asian pancakes (the ones from Hong Kong? They're the best :))

Our mission that afternoon was to go out to the mall in Burbank and find a way to further God's kingdom with 5 dollars. Sound familiar? I was sent out with the same mission when I graduated high school and began school at USC with 100 dollars in hand. It was really difficult, we were in a group of 4, two of us from SC and one from UCR and another from a local school in LA. We ended up buying three cups of hot tea and talking to those Chinese masseuse people in the mall people tend to avoid. We had to speak in Chinese and learned that they had just immigrated and it's been hard getting by but they try to ever so often go to the local church and pray. It was immensely encouraging just seeing the hope and determination they had in coming to this country.
It was also very comforting to know that we had more skills than we had that could break things down (like language barriers). Nothing amazing, but we were able to share the burdens of these people and pray for their lives. Three people touched :)
Then we went to this church of Scientology shady store thing and it was hella freaky, no lie. They like tried to brainwash us or something but they left us alone after they saw that we were Christian (forgot about the Bibles we were holding...)
WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD jOIDFJ SO STRANGE. But for the first time, I was really aware of how it felt to be on the OTHER SIDE of a religion and learning more about a way of life I didn't quite want to be a part of.

Learning about what others did with their 5 dollars was immensely encouraging as well.

I also got to eat In n' Out, very satisfying :)

Two weeks ago, I began to go to Reality LA church instead of Evergreen and I've been LOVING IT. It's not far at all and it starts at 9AM instead of 1130AM. The worship is incredible, the messages are relevant and thought-provoking, prayer is important, and I can really feel God there with us. On a more shallow level, there are other college kids there! I don't care if they're from UCLA! It feels good to be with others in my age group and know that the messages are tailored to people of our generation and the things we are going through.
Last Sunday, we got into conversation with this HUGE MAN sitting behind me and we were casually chatting with him and his wife just about where we were from, what school we went to, and our SAT scores (??) haha yeah, turns out he went to SC too! He fist bumped us and we noticed a ring on his finger. That was not his class ring, it was his National Championship ring! He had played for the Trojans on our O-Line back in the 70's!! Super cool :) AND he's from the BAY! He went to Saratoga High. Funny how things work out like that :D

MISC.:
Just a few more important things that have occured in the past month:
I have now understood the appeal of wearing leggings as pants. I feel ashamed to do so, but do it often. It's just too comfortable. This feels like a sin.
A couple weeks ago, Sambo visited and we had a lot of adventures on the row, outside Trogro (TCF AND HARKER FUN :)), and in our room. It was pouring that weekend and for the first time in my life! I had some really delicious banana pancakes courtesy of Parkside :) And we listened to Jack Johnson's banana pancake soon "Can't you see that it's just raining..."
We had an excellent adventure hoisting her stuff over the fence because it was locked and the taxi was on the other side...5 minutes later, soaked to the bone :]

Also, I have discovered two important culinary experiences that have changed my life. 1. Chicken nugget Tuesdays @ EVK. I LOVE CHICKEN NUGGEST. I LOVE TUESDAYS (NOW). AUGHH!!
Also, LiteraTea! ADORABLE! I love tea stores and this store has the CUTEST deserts like mini-macaroons and they have bottles of Mexican Coke, Aloe, and delicious tea. I LOVE LITERATEA. AND THEY TAKE DINING DOLLARS YES. Been there twice in the past three days.

LASTLY, Housing has finally been settled, I'm rooming with SOLANDA on the second floor BOO and suiting with Mai, Dana, Ivy, and two three unnamed persons at the moment :)
God has been good. In terms of special interest housing (basically Parkside), all of the TCF-ers have gotten what they wanted. Looks like dorm ministry is a go! :)

That is all. Coming up this weekend...
1. Birthday celebrations?
2. LOVE LIFE (ANOTHER CONFERENCE TOMORROW) I think it's going to be good for me. Really good.
3. TCF woman's appreciation night <3 :) ruv TCF boys.
4. Sleepovers! (all of us are lonely due to Chinese new year and also the fact that all of our roommates have gone home for it.)
5. TWO PAPERS, ONE TEST (week 5) TWO MIDTERMS (week 6) AUGHHH

Good day! If you read all of that, you're amazing.