* tiny but powerful *

A year ago today, Bryan Lung challenged me to a blogging marathon. This year, Bryan appears to be rather busy, but I'm going to blog anyway. It was interesting looking at my December 2001 blog archives. It's been...quite a year since then. The portion of 2002 that belonged to sophomore year really sucked, but after that it got better.

Exactly a year ago was also when I changed my blog template to look like this (minus the exact colors) -- I added the comment system, the counter, the poll (which is currently out of commission), the cell spacing, the Piglet icons, and the various things in the left column, all on January 1, 2002. No changes for this year, unfortunately. I'm happy with the blue-ness of it all, and the fact that NO one else has a blog that looks like mine (I started blogging back when there were only 4 uber-simple templates available, one of which I tweaked, and the originals have long since disappeared from the selection page).

Last night was SO much fun. I went out to a Japanese restaurant with Theo, Wootae, David, and Andy, as planned. I hadn't seen Woo and Andy in *forever*. It was fun to hang out with the boys I went through all 7 years of orchestra growing up with. (I guess for Theo, it was 9 years of orchestra, and Andy and I went to the same elementary school...but as a group we met in the 6th grade.) Just sitting in the car listening to the four of them joke around with each other was oddly comforting -- it was nice to realize that I still know their voices and speaking mannerisms like the back of my hand. We caught up with what everyone is involved with in college now (David and Woo are at UCLA, and Andy is at UCSD), and our different musical exploits, and our churches/fellowships, and our living situations. David and Andy had a "dinner for two". ;) I guess we all must look slightly older now, but they all really just look the same to me. They're the same boys. And I miss orchestra with them. Speaking of orchestra, though, we had some more orchestra people of the slightly-younger sort join our get-together when we returned to my house for games and a movie. Wendy and Marian came over (it's quite funny how so many of us live in Palomares), and so did Jo (Theo's sister) and Kenneth, who aren't exactly orchestra people but we all know each other from church and family ties. Josh and Joe (also from East Bay Alliance, but not CV people) stopped by briefly, too. My mom did her amazing-hostess thing and fed us lots of snacks and drinks and dessert. We originally intended just to watch a movie, but we got distracted for a couple hours by some card games, my guitar, all the food, and an Audrey Hepburn movie playing on TV. "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" finally began around midnight. It was really wonderful to hang out with everyone again. I commented, though, that I was glad Theo was there because otherwise I usually feel outnumbered by the UC-ness of high school gatherings (Wendy and Jo are at Berkeley now, and Kenneth is a senior at Davis). It's definitely been awhile since we've gotten this particular combination of people together -- usually we clump by the different school years, or by current college, or by home church. I think it was also the last time some people would be seeing each other before school starts, so it was nice for that purpose too. (David and Wootae are leaving soon for the college retreat for Bread of Life Church in LA... small world, huh?) Pictures are here.

I suppose I should write about Testimony's Christmas Show and Winter Tour while it's still 2002, hm?

:: [ Christmas Show 2002 -- Dec. 7 ] ::
In the words of Blung, "we turn back the pages to December 7, 2002, the night of Testimony's Christmas show, A Star-Struck Christmas." Actually, let's turn back the pages even further than that. Reflecting back on our Christmas show this year, I can only say that God has his hand in our show preparations from the very very beginning. Even early in the quarter, I was amazed at how quickly the new group was learning music and polishing it for performances. We had two dorm shows and even a senior home gig as early as November. I am so glad that this year's Testimony seems to be grounded in prayer (though, of course, there's always room for improvement) -- I'm certain we couldn't have pulled off Fall Quarter so well otherwise. I had had a bad feeling about Christmas show ever since we realized its horrible timing; with Thanksgiving being so late in November, there was no choice but to schedule the show for the weekend between Dead Week and Finals Week. (Christmas shows do NOT happen before Thanksgiving.) But God really helped us through it as we started preparations super early (you name it: memorizing songs and show order, skit writing and rehearsing, teaching choreography, poster and flyer design) and asked for prayer support from all the campus fellowships. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I feel so amazingly blessed to be working with this year's Core leadership; I feel like all our strengths complement each other so well, and I never feel so unified and supported as when I'm with these three people. Thanks, guys -- I don't know how my first year directing would be without you. My first show as director was amazing, and it was all thanks to God's gracious provision and blessings. Seriously...going into the weekend, everyone kept asking me if I was nervous, and how did I feel about the show? Of course I was nervous, but honestly I couldn't really have asked for things to be much better. I feel like we prepared to the best of our ability and we'd given up the show to God in prayer and in our hearts. I think we handled "Hell Week" well; I was able to rehearse ALL of our songs during the first two rehearsals after Thanksgiving, which gave me great peace of mind about not having the group back together until 2 days before show. Dress rehearsal night went just about as insanely long as other dress rehearsals have gone (read: late late into the night), but I can honestly say that I didn't feel stressed out by it. My overly-optimistic goal of being done by midnight (hey, it's good to shoot for something, right?) was certainly not met, but coming out of the rehearsal I felt much less tired than if any of our last year's dress rehearsals had ended that early. Here's a huge thanks to all the alumni who helped us out that night, giving feedback about balance and staging and everything. ALL of last year's tenor section, plus a tenor from the year before, came over to Manzanita to stick it out with us till the end -- go TENORS: Steve, Jeff, Gavan, and Joon!
      I bet you were wondering when I'd start talking about the actual show night. ;) To start off, we couldn't have gotten the Kimball side of Manzanita Dining Hall all set up in time without the generous help of many friends who were called upon at the last minute. (Special thanks to Qi, Graham, and Jeremy, Kari's/my dance friends who were *super* with helping out!) We realized several days before the show that there was a Ramadan dinner function scheduled for the Castano/Lantana side, and there's NEVER anything else going on in Manzanita in the weekends -- until this year. So that meant that we couldn't move all the chairs into the Kimball side and all the tables into the other side until the dinner was finished. But God was faithful with everything, of course, and all the last minute complications were smoothed out with enough time for us to settle down and start the show with a calm frame of mind. And as we entered the stage (following a great opening set by Talisman), I can honestly say that I wasn't worried at all about how the show was going to flow. With all our early planning and rehearsing, I felt confident in the group's ability to pull off a smooth show -- and what a great show it was! I knew the skits were hilarious to us, but I had no idea that the audience would like them so much; remembering show order went along without a hitch; and although our music wasn't at its absolute best (I think we sang better during dress rehearsal), nothing went awry and I was quite pleased with how we sounded. Chi-En's testimony, in my opinion, went very well...she didn't sound nervous and she engaged well with the audience. We had an amazing audience turnout, too -- the room was packed! -- and we were pleasantly surprised with a standing ovation at the end of the show! We were shocked and didn't quite know how to react, so we just stood there and smiled like dorks until the applause died down and we could continue with our closing song. And as Bryan said, whatever happened that night was all God's doing...I heard stories of people who really felt touched that night, people who were moved not just by our voices but by something God did in that room. I agree wholeheartedly -- just the mere acts of what we were doing on stage wasn't remarkable enough to illicit that kind of a response from the audience. God really filled that room that night, and I can only hope that the evening meant more to people than just another a cappella show. I cannot tell you how psyched the show left me -- I was on an emotional high from it for days afterward, and I know for a fact that it helped me get through the first couple days of finals (inconveniently SO soon after the show).

:: [ Winter Tour 2002 -- Dec. 13-21 ] ::

{blog in progress, check back later for update}

After a bit of scrambling, I was able to scrounge enough old spare computer accessories -- monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. -- to hook up my school computer here at home (and even get online via AOL). This means that I was finally able to:: 1) retrieve the installation files for Noteworthy Composer for our home computer, 2) access my Quicken files, and 3) access important information held in my Eudora folders. A corrollary to #1 is that I've been able to start arranging! Woohoo!

The second day at the Chinese doctor was less painful, but everything still hurts.

I didn't have to go today, though! Because I refused to, since I'll be getting together with some old CVHS orchestra friends (and I didn't want to have the uncomfortable patch of Chinese herbs tied to my back). Tonight will be dinner with my boys (Theo, Wootae, & David, plus Andy), and then Wendy's joining us for a movie at my house. I'm very much looking forward to the evening.

I am feeling the culture clash. Big time.

I hurt more now. :( A lot. :(

Happy Birthday, Wendy and Tiffany!! :)
Does anyone else think it's odd that the two penguin fanatics I know have the SAME BIRTHDAY? ;)

-----

Tiffany, Aaron, Uncle Clark, and Auntie Yolanda left to go home to New York in the afternoon. They fly standby because Uncle Clark works for TWA (which I think now belongs to...American?), so it felt like a familiar story when I heard about their alternate plans in case they couldn't get on their flight as standby (poor Bryan has had some really incredible airport experiences). Last night we weren't even sure they even had a chance of making it home, since the JFK airport was closed temporarily due to storms. But I guess everything went well today. I already miss little Aaron...he seemed to stick to me wherever I went the last few days, so the house feels really quiet now. On the bright side, I finally get to sleep in a bed!

On the note of the health of my back (see, that was related to the comment about the bed), it's still not in very good shape. My parents are insisting that I go to an orthopedic therapist/Chinese herb medicinist (?) for at least the next three days -- the one my dad went to when he was having back problems right before his surgery. My mom is going to take me there tomorrow (well I guess according to the timestamp that would be today). I'm not really sure what to expect, but my dad said it made a huge difference for him, so I guess we'll see what happens.

And speaking of my dad, a lot of people have been asking how he is, so thanks for your concern. My dad is home and recovering quite well. He even got released from the hospital a day early (so that was my excitement about him coming home the same day I returned from tour), and he's eating more-or-less normally now -- enough to enjoy Christmas dinner with everyone. And last night I even saw him rolling around on the ground playing with Aaron, so I think his surgery wound is healing well too. We're still waiting on some news from his doctors, but all in all everything is good so far.

Testimony Core had a very long meeting (read: that was an understatement) online last night, but we emerged triumphant with a nearly-finalized song set for Spring Show. The decision involved choosing new repertoire, including a few songs for which we'll be creating new arrangements. So hopefully I'll be able to use the remaining time on winter break to work on my arrangements, and contribute ideas to the arrangements being headed up by other people. It's been awhile since I successfully completed an arrangement, so I'm excited to get started on these songs that hold so much significance for me.

The plan for the weekend includes:: more sleep, getting together with family friends we haven't seen in a long time (Sophia is back from Boston!), arranging, playing violin/piano/GUITAR!, and seeing friends who will soon be on vacation or otherwise occupied up until I have to back to Stanford. The old orchestra gang is planning something fun for Dec. 30th, so I can't wait to see Woo and Andy and everyone (and Theo and David too, of course)! Oh yes, and I promise I really do plan on writing about the huge Testimony things, too. I just need to reserve a large chunk of time to do it, because I have so much to say.

At the mall I ran into:: Diana and Rida Chow, Pam, Monica, Becky Guyon, Everett and Leona Chan, Devin, and Shaila and Sandhya. What a small world. ;)

I was supposed to have jury duty today, but the automated instructions from the Hayward courthouse phone recording last night said that my summons-group didn't need to report for the morning roll call, and we were supposed to call back between 11am-12noon to check whether we needed to report in at 1:00pm. The instructions this morning said we didn't need to report for the afternoon roll call either, so there goes my jury duty for a year! I thought I was finally going to see how this all works, but I guess not. Oh well -- I'm not great with new situations anyway. Now... to shop, or not to shop? I hate big crowds and I'm not a big shopper, but if there's any time to do shopping it would be now, I suppose.

CE Chien (11:50:33 PM): my gosh. i'm going to have my wedding on the planet of naboo.

Meet my littlest cousin, Aaron Eng::

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We had SO MANY relatives in the house today! Aunts and uncles from both sides of the family, and so many cousins! Both my parents have their look-alikes/act-alikes in the house! My dad's younger brother TOTALLY looks like him right now, because he's wearing an outfit that my dad would wear, and he's also parading around the house with a videocamera. And my mom's younger sister TOTALLY sounds like her, especially when they laugh! It's SO FUNNY! The house was so full of people, it was wonderful! Four full families, plus another aunt, and another cousin, and a set of grandparents. Some people have left now, but we've still got about half of them here. Mmmm and we're having pumpkin pie and milk tea for dessert!! Yummm.

Family: what a wonderful reminder of God's greatest gift to us. Jesus came to give us relationship with God, and to exemplify what all relationships should be about.

May the Lord bless you and keep you all, and may He show his amazing, faithful, and redeeming love in your life, too. :)

My family is on a movie craze. We just finished watching a movie for the third night in a row. Tonight's was "Lilo and Stitch", and the previous two nights were "Minority Report" (we watched it twice because it was hard to catch everything the first time!). Since getting back from tour, I've been really unmotivated to do anything other than bum around the house. I think I'm sort of in my brain-dead mode. The only time I've left the house (except to drive my dad places) was on Sunday when I went out to see Meggy, who's back from Paris!! Shaila and I went over to her house, and we watched "A Walk to Remember" with all the appropriate girly reactions. (I am SO in love with the song "Only Hope"...and it's even a waltz!! I really want to dance to it sometime!) It was so fun to see Meg and Shai again! What was hilarious was that we were all almost completely matching. Shaila and I were both wearing black shoes, medium blue jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a black coat; Meg was almost the same too except for a black sweater. Meg showed us a few rolls of her pictures from Europe, but there were still many rolls she hadn't gotten back yet, so I'll have to see the rest of them some other time.

Home life isn't exactly normal -- we have relatives visiting from New York for the week (so I'm still sleeping downstairs in a sleeping bag), but it's all worth it because I'm having so much fun with my new baby cousin! He's actually nearly two-years-old now, but it's the first time I've met him, and Aaron is ADORABLE. He's just now learning to talk (mostly in Cantonese) so it's really cute to hear all his new words. He calls me "ah jeh!", and his current obsession is spinning around (slowly in place) in the front hall and then collapsing in laughter. I'll post some pictures here once I've downloaded them from my camera!

Yup, that's right... my parents got me a digital camera for Christmas, but they gave it to me early so I could take pictures with it on tour! Yay for pictures! I took a TON over the course of the week, and one of my main projects for the past few days was setting up my photo-hosting account on pbase (thanks for your help, Tim!). So, I am pleased to announce the launch of my real photo repository (the link on the left column has been updated, but if it's not working the site address is http://www.pbase.com/tpiglette). I've uploaded the pictures my brother took of Christmas show, too, as well as various random ones I'd had on my Stanford webspace. Click around and enjoy the pictures! (I hope to collect some old ones from last year's Tmony and summer dance people, too.)

No time yet to write about Christmas show and winter tour. Over the weekend, hopefully. :)

Tour is over! I'm home! And exhausted! Jenny just got picked up! Relatives are here! MY DAD IS HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL!!!!!! :D So much is going on! Call me! :)

Testimony is leaving campus this morning for the rest of our winter tour. Our first gig last night at Stevenson House (the senior home where we performed for SOCS) went really well. Our next gig is the Stanford Hospital, today after lunch, before we head to Castro Valley, and then Rancho Palos Verdes later in the week. I'm so excited! I would sound more excited too, except I'm tired from cleaning and packing last night. ;)

There are so many things I wanted to blog about before tour got underway, but that's not going to happen. So we'll see how good of a job I can do keeping up my journal on tour (yeah, right) and how good my memory is in about a week. We'll be staying at my house from tonight till Wednesday morning, so I might come back to post our Castro Valley schedule here, for any of you who might want to catch us sing! Otherwise, I'll talk to most of you when I get home after tour on Saturday Dec. 21. Happy Winter Break!

I feel like someone let all the air out of me.

Blah.

At least the Core meeting should cheer me up.

Ahhhhhhh, I'm done! Pchem sucked. A lot. But I'm done!

I think I may have just completed my best quarter at Stanford so far.

Elaboration will be forthcoming. Overall gist:: God is good. :)

Early to bed again. I was telling Karl and Felix today as we were biking back from the 131 final that it's ironic that I've been getting consistently more sleep during finals week than during the rest of the quarter, ever. Oh well, it's a good thing. Part of it is that my back has been killing me this week. Well, not really, so Mom and Dad please don't freak out. :) Tonight's studying was pretty strained. Our study family is really tired. And I shall leave you with another quote.

"China looks like a chicken." - Felix
"Really?" - Phil
"Yeah." - Felix
"Okay." - Phil
*pause*
"Yeah, a chicken without legs." - Felix

Ochem was...okay. I hope. It wasn't an impossible exam; it was just really long and somewhat tricky. I felt like I was as prepared as I really could have been. I'm really mad at myself, though, for not filling in some preliminary stuff the first time I went through the test. For a few problems, I thought through the question and decided I would come back to reevaluate and fill things in then, but at the end I got stuck on a mechanism problem and the end of the time period took me by surprise, so I left some things blank that I really could have gotten partial credit on. Boo to me. :( Overall, though, I think there's a possibility that I did well enough to hit the mean. I really, really, really hope I did.

3 down, 1 to go. Tomorrow's is going to be the hardest one.

I miss the violin.

Why this is hitting me now, I have no clue. It's hitting me hard, though.

I think I'm having an identity crisis.

I slept in late this morning, after a fun night at Late-Night with Bryan, Kari, Justin, and Adam, to unwind after my two exams. We spent probably like an hour just quoting lines from our skits and laughing hysterically at them all over again. ;) Then I finally watched a few episodes of the real Celebrity Jeopardy over at Justin's room (nope, I hadn't seen them before). Today I've been studying ochem all day over at Castano. We'll be meeting up for more studying after a dinner break. Things are definitely getting to that all-too-familiar stage of "everything is funny".

Tina: "Do you guys want to meet back up after dinner?"
*long pause*
Tina: "Guys?"
Chris: "Sure, I'd be up for that."
*both look at Karl*
*more pause*
*Karl looks up at us, says nothing, and returns to his notes*
Tina: "Karl?"
*Karl looks up again*
Karl: "Oh. I thought it was a rhetorical question."

Math was WAY harder than I thought it would be. SO much harder than the midterms. Ugh. For like 2 hours I completely blanked on how to find the particular solution to a system of ODE's. I mean, what the heck?? I've been doing this all quarter!!! I eventually remembered how to do it, but not solidly enough to figure out the hard problems. Sigh. I hope I scrounged enough points to hang on to my A in that class. I really needed this to be my good class.

I am so tired. And we're just getting started...the likely-impossible exams are yet to come. :(

2 down, 2 to go.

ChemE went well. :) I finished early, though even then I was still one of the last people left. We definitely studied the right stuff last night. :)

1 down, 3 to go! Time to do lots of ODE problems.

TPiglette (7:32:52 AM): I take it you are up ;-)
Auto response from Fefoofix (7:32:52 AM): weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

A ChemE textbook, copyright 1965::
"Let the difference between these temperatures, Tr - T, be called error. Clearly, the larger this error, the less we are satisfied with the present state of affairs and vice versa."

Hahahahaha. Sleep didn't help; that's still funny!!!

I am going to bed early tonight. And then I am going to wake up early, take a shower, read some more about control theory, and go take this ChemE exam. Math didn't get much of my attention today, but I think I'll be okay with the 6 hours between exams tomorrow. So I am actually going to get nearly a full night's sleep tonight. Those of you who know me know how utterly weird this is. See, my study family has a good influence on me. Oh yeah! :) (By the end of our studying tonight I was pretty delirious. Everything somehow became funny.)

Show went soooo well! God is sooo amazing and SO faithful! I have so much on my mind that I want to share but I really have to go study now! I have two finals tomorrow: ChemE (which is actually just a third midterm) and Math. Booo! :( But at least I slept a lot last night: 11 hours! I figured that I'll really need it for my 8:30am ChemE exam tomorrow morning...enough to skip church completely today. I'll have to update later about show, but for now, thank you to all of you who came!! Your presence and support means a lot to me! :) Alright, time to study control theory and ODE phase portraits. But that's okay because I'm so happy from last night's show!! :D

I am SO EXCITED ABOUT SHOW TONIGHT!!! :D

PLEASE COME!

Change of plans:: girldate dinner. :)

God is good. Always.

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Don't worry, I'm alive. (I know it isn't often when I go more than a day without blogging.) So, I finally finished the last class-day of the quarter. I turned in my last problem set in my 9:00 class, went to all 4 of my lectures today, spent some time in the chem library, and attended the ChemE review session from 4:00-5:00. I am pooped. Back isn't happy either. Perhaps I will nap. Must be happy for dress rehearsal at 8:00! :)

I just discovered Kristin's Livejournal! And this whole time I thought she was merely ignoring her Blogger site. Oh well, at least now I know. I really miss all my friends who are abroad.

Tonight is my last Crusade meeting until March. :( Next quarter (until Viennese Ball), I won't be able to miss the first half hour of Opening rehearsals like I had permission to for this quarter. I've known this for awhile, but it hadn't hit me that my last large group meeting was so soon.

Today I am very very tired. There is a random Jammix tonight, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna go. Opening rehearsal already conflicts with half of it, so I might just stop by on my way back to Mirrielees, but it depends on what terms my math problem set and I are on by then. Speaking of Opening...tonight should be interesting, after two weeks of no practice. :P

Since some of you have been asking, yeah my back has still been hurting. It's pretty much a day-by-day thing, or even hour-to-hour. This morning's classes weren't so good. Overall, it's not as bad as the worst it got last month, but it's all averaging about the same. At this point I'm just sort of resigned to living with it.

I think it's time to pray.

Well, tonight's caroling was an interesting adventure. No one from any of the other a cappella groups were able to join us, so it ended up being about a quartet and a half of Testimony people for most of the time (i.e. me, Kari, Justin, Uchenna, Gavan, and Ssonia). Megan, Annie, and Ming (non-Tmony) showed up with Steve (blindfolded for his birthday celebration) around the time which should have been the end of our caroling. We kept going for quite awhile though, even though there weren't many people there listening to us, because we were just having fun sightreading music and singing old arrangements and making up new ones. There was this one man there, named Jeff, who sat and listened to us for a long time, and I think he's actually going to come to our show on Saturday! How random, but cool! Caroling is such a rewarding experience; I love it when passersby stop for a moment and leave with smiles on their faces. Granted we didn't sound very nice tonight (whoo boy :P) but with some practice we'll be ready to do this for a whole week on tour! Seriously, it was a great "appetizer" for tour and it really motivated me to look forward to that week with Testimony. It reminded me of how great it was last year to sing for people just to brighten their days and show them how God's love can be shared through the amazing gift of music. Our tour schedule for this year is slowly shaping up as I'm getting in contact with people to arrange singing gigs, and it's surprising to see how appreciative people are that we want to sing for them. The upcoming tour -- and preparing for this Saturday's show -- are great reminders of why I sing with Testimony and why I believe so much in what we do.

I'm just sort of living day by day at this point, just finishing what I need to for the current hour and making mental (or literal) notes on my constant to-do list. Classes are barreling on, even though I wish we had a *real* "Dead Week" so I could study the comprehensive material instead of having more new stuff thrown at me. I'm not going to freak myself out about finals yet, though. This quarter I actually have a fortunate finals schedule. My harder finals are later in the week, and 24 hours apart (as opposed to the Mon. night/Tues. afternoon/Wed. morning string of exams I had last fall). I do have two finals on Monday, but they're the easier ones, so I'm glad for that.

I'm trying really hard not to let the stress of the week get me down, for many reasons. It's important not only to me but also for the people around me. Unfortunately, it might mean that I'll have to shut out a lot of the world as I squeeze out maximum productivity with my time, but I want the time I do spend with people to be more beneficial than detrimental. If I am being grumpy to you, please tell me to go pray, okay? :)

BOOO to scheduling conflicts. SERIOUSLY. :(

1) There is a Ramadan dinner scheduled for Saturday night in MANZANITA. It goes from 5:30-7:30, and they probably won't be cleared out until 7:45. We needed to start setting up at 7:00! This is not good! We'll need to recruit lots of help in order to move all the tables to the Lantana side and all the chairs into the Kimball side quickly enough. :(

2) Bio42, Chem173, and E50 are all offered in the same time slot next quarter. I'd hoped to take two of the three, but now I can't! Bio42 will win out, since I really need to retake that class. But I really need to take those other classes too. :(

3) ChemE120A has two weeks of Tuesday night lectures from 7-10pm. This is a problem for Tmony rehearsal...

No more conflicts, please! :(

So. Here we are, Dead Week. It's also supposed to be "Hell Week" for Testimony (i.e. the week of show) but I'm trying not to let it be that. We've been trying to prepare early so as not to stress out the group during Dead Week. (Dead Week is such a misnomer.) We'll still be having extra rehearsals tonight and Thursday, in addition to dress rehearsal on Friday night, but our usual Tuesday rehearsal is going to be replaced with an joint-a-cappella caroling trip in downtown Palo Alto with whoever of the other Stanford a cappella groups can make it. I also have all my usual problem sets due (pchem Wed., math Thurs., and ChemE Fri.) plus a presentation to prepare for Chinese. Boo to having problem sets due 3 days before finals. :( And Opening is still going full swing, because we can't afford to lose any more time -- we already had the past 3 rehearsals cancelled due to Big Game and Thanksgiving. And then there's Tmony tour details still in the process of being planned. But, I can do it, right? Just need to rely on God's strength and faithfulness. :)

I'm back! :) Problem sets, here I come.

It was so wonderful to see David again! We went down to Starbucks and chatted there until they kicked us out. Basic conclusion of the night: we're getting old. ;) On the way back up towards home, Wendy called me back with perfect timing for us to swing by her house (she lives a block away from me). It was too bad that we couldn't get in contact with her for the coffee outing, but she had a good time visiting with people her year at Carol's house, and in the end David and I were able to see her too, so it was all good. Wendy's sister Judy was home too, so the four of us hung out and joked around like old times. It was sooo good to spend time with them. I think I'm going to have a silly smile on my face until I fall asleep. :o) In other news, my church plans for tomorrow morning have changed; I won't be going down to The River as I'd originally thought. Instead, I'm going to go to East Bay Alliance (Theo and Wendy's church; also where I briefly considered my "home church" for awhile when I was actually home in CV long enough to necessitate going consistently to a church other than The River) and talk with the pastor about the possibility of Testimony singing for them at Sunday service in two weeks when we'll be on winter tour in the East Bay. I can't believe that's only two weeks away! Just have to get through finals...

[PS: Let's see if David actually comes to read this like he said he would. Hi, David! ;) (Say hi in my comment box!) ]

ACK! I almost forgot!!!
Happy 20th Birthday, David Hsu!!!
(You and your measly three months of age you've got on me...)

I just called his cell phone to wish him a happy birthday, and he's actually still in town! So I'm about to go have coffee with him (and hopefully Wendy if we can get ahold of her)!!! I haven't seen him in months! YAY!
*Note: I don't actually drink coffee. I like hot chocolate. :D

I just had a wonderful morning with Shaila. :) We met for breakfast at Doug's (very popular place for breakfast dates during school breaks -- in fact, we ran into Trisha and Pam there doing the same thing!). Then we had some extra time before she had to be home to get ready for a wedding, so we went over to the Village and walked around and browsed through stores while reminiscing about high school days and sharing about current things. It was so weird to just hang out at the Village again -- I really haven't done that much since I graduated. Shaila and I were noting that the Village has a very distinct smell. It might just be the cute, quaint little types of stores that show up every 50 feet, but there's definitely a distinctive smell. It reminded me of how Matt and I used to go there a lot after school, just walking and talking. Anyway, Shaila and I spent by far the most time in Jordan's Books, a very cute little books-and-cards-store. We ended up in the back and found all the old series we used to read (or didn't read) when we were little:: Boxcar Children, Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, Goosebumps, Animorphs, The American Girls, Anne of Green Gables -- we had so much fun looking through them! We also found really funny books like, "A Young Girl's Etiquette Guide" (How To Be a Good Host: ...make sure your friend has a pillow and a nice stuffed animal to sleep with!), and "The Paranoid's Pocketbook for Life: Things You Never Thought To Worry About" (When you go to a really nice restaurant and your dish is very beautifully arranged...that means someone's hands have been all over your food!). Whoo boy. That was fun. :)

It took my brother and I about three hours this morning/afternoon to get a good enough take of the 2 movements he was trying to record for the Stanford Fine Arts Submission. Once we finally finished, I drove back to campus in hopes of being able to drop it off at the Undergraduate Admissions Office, even though they're closed for the long weekend. Luckily, I found a neat little pile of similarly labeled envelopes sitting outside the front door of Old Union, presumably where the postman dropped them off. So I appropriately buried Tim's tape in the pile. Mission:: accomplished!

Yet another mission accomplished:: shopping for my Testimony outfit. Chi-En had asked me to shop for pinstripe pants for her as well, since she's too busy this weekend. I was able to find several pairs of good pants at my first stop (yea Mervyn's!), so I decided to nab all of them at the post-Thanksgiving sale prices and return the ones we won't need later (since the San Antonio Shopping Center is so close by). I also went back to the fabric store to buy more of the blue scarf fabric, because we underestimated the first time, so when my mom and aunt were helping me cut the fabric last night we realized that there isn't enough to make the styles we'd wanted. But now I have enough fabric -- and even matching-color thread! With my aunt's help (she's being sooo nice), all the scarves should be completed by the time I leave home.

Movie time with the family! :)

I just had the long-awaited pleasure of sitting down at the piano and playing music aimlessly without some self-imposed time limit. On MY piano, nonetheless. I've missed the feeling of keys beneath my fingers whose response I've learned to predict. Thanks to Graham, who lent me a book of Beethoven sonatas, I'm able to relive some of the music I put hard work into for Certificate of Merit four years ago (wow, it's really been that long?).

Tonight I will be helping my brother record a tape of himself playing the flute (with me on piano; convenient to have a built-in accompanist, eh?), for submission to the Stanford Undergraduate Admission as part of his application. Why, oh why, does he wait till the last minute? :P Oh well. It doesn't seem so long ago that I was recording my own two tapes.

"I thank my God every time I remember you." - Philippians 1:3

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I am HOME! YAYAYAYAY. :D I waited long enough last night for the traffic to be beautiful on the drive home. I've barely been able to go home at all this quarter, so it's REALLY nice to be here (I think the only time I came back was for post-audition retreat with new Tmony). And I slept sooo much last night. Teehee!

I showed my mom my Viennese dresses last night, and she loves them! In fact, both my parents like the white one better than the blue one -- how ironic that I was so worried. ;)

We're just going to have a small Thanksgiving dinner this year, with just our family (and my aunt from Hong Kong who's living with us right now). For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has always been a huge extended family gathering with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents in the area, but I can understand why my mom would rather have something small this year. I think I'm still going to go over to one of my aunts' house today so I can visit my little cousins Amanda and Ashley.

One piece of sad news:: I'd forgotten that my parents do this trade show for their handbag business every year (well, for the past three years) over Thanksgiving weekend. That means that they have to go there to set up the booth for most of the day tomorrow, and then they'll be busy with the convention all day on Saturday and Sunday. This makes me sad. :( I was planning to go back to campus after church Sunday morning anyway, but it still means I'll have less time with them than I'd originally thought. Sigh. Oh well -- I'll just make good use of that time to study and get together with high school friends, and reserve evenings to be at home.

Last night, a friend of mine from high school IMed me from out of the blue and asked me to answer a quick question for her. She said, "Answer the question, 'Who am I?'"

Marcia Wong, CVHS Class of 1999. I hadn't talked to her in years, I think. She was my carpool to school for three years before I was able to drive myself (after which I was her sister's ride to school after Marcia graduated). She was in orchestra with me for many, many years. I remember the drama that happened junior year of high school, when she went to junior prom with Matt. We'd already been together for 5 months, but due to my parent situation we'd assumed I wouldn't be allowed to go, so he never "asked" me and I never asked my parents. Then Marcia asked him, and he decided to go... and wow, that was not a fun thing to go through. I didn't get angry with him (we never fought with each other, for two and a half years), but I remember clearly how difficult that night was. More memories of Marcia include how she introduced me to CCM... I definitely associate Avalon's early album, A Maze of Grace, with sitting in the backseat of her family's car.

I was slightly pressed for time when she asked me her question, and I knew better than to ask what kind of answer she was looking for. So, I told her: "I am Tina Wong -- a musician, a dancer, and a follower of Jesus Christ." Then I got involved in a phone conversation with my dad, and by the time I got back to the computer she had signed off.

I wonder how she received that statement about myself. She definitely doesn't know the Tina who is a dancer, and she doesn't know the Tina who is in a real relationship with God, either. I was "Christian" in high school, and that was all. She did know me as a musician, but even that has changed -- I'm not in orchestra anymore, and instead I direct an a cappella group.

I wonder who Marcia is now. I'll ask her the next time I get a chance.

Lunch was good. My dad's appointment got delayed, so I went over to the Stanford Hospital to meet them (my dad, my mom, and my aunt) for a quick bite at the cafeteria. Then I went to Chinese class to take my quiz, but I skipped math so I could walk around campus with them for a bit. It was good to see them. I know I'll be going home really soon (tomorrow night) but I wanted to take advantage of getting time with them anyway.

I've been hearing a lot recently from my friends who are abroad in Europe, and I miss them dearly. :( I've been so busy that I haven't gotten my act together to write to them, and I feel really bad about it. Megs has been sending me postcards from Paris, Emily has been writing emails from Spain, and Erin has been updating her blog from Italy. Kristin hasn't written much from Germany, but I did respond to her last email, at least. I'm going to sit down and do some serious writing over Thanksgiving! I'm also looking forward to seeing Wendy and Shaila and other high school friends this weekend. Here at Stanford I get so swept up in the busy-college-life culture that it's hard to pluck myself out of it and keep up old ties on a consistent basis.

I hadn't realized how much of my life here is tied to the rest of Core. I mean, not with Core stuff, but with the three of them as my friends. Kari left this afternoon, Bryan is leaving tomorrow morning, and Eric is leaving in the early afternoon...and the prospect of being on campus after they're gone (even though it's only until tomorrow night after the Bay Area traffic has died down) is surprisingly disconcerting. It's not even that I necessarily spend every minute of my life with them, because I don't; it's more the idea that they just won't be here. And, it's not that they're my only close friends here, because that's not true either; I still have Chi-En, and Justin, and my roommates, and my class friends. But when those people aren't on campus, it just feels like...well, that they're not on campus. When Bryan, Eric, and Kari are gone, it feels like part of the campus is gone too. Hrm.

Please pray for my dad. No details, but prayers for his health would be appreciated. In any case, I get to have lunch with my dad tomorrow after his doctor's appointment here. :)

::Friday, 11/22:: - It was Evan's birthday, so Neal, Katie, Rebecca, Alison, and I ambushed him in his room in Roble and dragged him over to the Swing Kids dance at Elliott. Ambushing is fun. We almost threw him in the shower, but then decided that would've delayed the dancing. The Swing Kids dance was pretty fun, too. Well, except for some things, but I've griped enough about that. Justin is getting to be a very good dancer! Kari and Justin and Kristin and I went out to Denny's afterward for dessert. Vanilla + strawberries = Yum. :)

::Saturday, 11/23:: - Woke up bright and early, out of my love for the Opening choreographers. :P Normal Opening rehearsal was cancelled because of Big Game, but they were holding a "review/extra practice" for the people who needed it, and I was asked to help out. Kari came too, halfway through. I spent most of the 2 hours teaching one guy the polka choreography. I had to teach Qi some of the choreography too. :P Kari finished choreographing the lindy section for HYAMLC while we were there - yay Kari! And it was fun to do the Testify choreography together in front of a mirror. :)
       I just realized that Saturday was a very Kari day. Saturdays usually are, but this one was moreso in particular. Anyway, we had lunch at Wilbur, where we ran into a whole bunch of other Tmony people (reminded me of Stern last year). Then we went petticoat/dress-shopping for Viennese! We weren't successful in the petticoat search (for me; Kari already has one), but--much to my surprise--the dress search was actually fruitful. I usually hate dress shopping (especially formal dress shopping) because I NEVER find anything in my size. It is sooo frustrating. Anyway, we went to the Jessica McClintock outlet in South San Francisco. (Kari and I cannot drive into SF together without missing our exit the first time.) To spare you the details about dress shopping, let's just say that I found two dresses that ACTUALLY fit me! One white one for Opening (which Kari absolutely loves, but it's not quite my normal style so I'm really worried that my mom won't like it...I hadn't realized how much I care about her opinion until I was seriously anxious about it for the rest of the night!) and a really pretty blue one that *I* love, which I'm going to change into after the Opening Ceremonies. I only found the blue one because I gave up dejectedly on finding the needed white one, after everything I saw was too big for me. Kari found the white dress for me at the very end, just as we were about to leave. It's really not my style of dress, but I decided that finding a dress that actually fits me (and that was so inexpensive) is so rare that I better not pass it up. This means that, since each guy in Opening contributes $30 towards the girls' dresses (since their tuxes are sponsored by a tux company), my Opening dress only cost me $15. The blue one, which I'm much more excited about, was only $49. Kari found an awesome dress too (also for after the Opening dances) -- it looks SO amazing on her. Outlet shopping is definitely the way to go!
       Returning triumphant from shopping, Kari and I met the boys at Wilbur for another fun and productive Core meeting over dinner, which was followed by learning and practicing the lindy choreography for Christmas show. I'm so excited about show; it's going to be so much fun! And after that, we all headed down to Mountain View for Gavan's housewarming party at his new condo. We entertained the guests (well, the other half of the guests, i.e. those who knew Gavan from wushu, as opposed to we who know him from Testimony) with a set of three songs, sung with a mix of Tmony 2000-01 and 2001-02 members (Gavan's two years). Fun times. :)

::Sunday, 11/24:: - (I'm running out of storytelling energy, so this is going to accelerate.) A particularly fun day with the K-1 kids (so cute!). Attended second service with a couple friends visiting The River for the first time. Went straight to Testimony rehearsal, 1:15-4:15. Returned to my room immediately for a nice long nap. Worked the rest of the night on the ChemE problem set, punctuated in the middle for a brief Tmony skit rehearsal (the skits are sooo funny!).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!! :o)
I'll see you SOON!! I can't wait to be home! :)

I found an old stack of silly stationery (think: Keroppi and teddy bears and large cartoon piggies and monkeys) from, like, middle school that I loved to collect but for some reason never used. I figure, what the heck, why not start now? ;) Hahaha I am so amused writing on this stationery. It's SO SILLY!!!

TPiglette (3:20:47 PM): hehehehe
TPiglette (3:20:50 PM): I'm using...
TPiglette (3:20:57 PM): Keroppi stationery!!!! :-D
Bryguy683 (3:21:02 PM): Noooo!
Bryguy683 (3:21:11 PM): I can't use a Post-It with THAT!
Bryguy683 (3:21:13 PM): :-P
Bryguy683 (3:21:17 PM): I'll look like an idiot!
Bryguy683 (3:21:19 PM): LOL
TPiglette (3:21:26 PM): no you won't!!!!!
Bryguy683 (3:21:28 PM): Just you watch, I'll beat your stationery...
TPiglette (3:21:29 PM): aww come on
Bryguy683 (3:21:37 PM): It's on, Tina.
Bryguy683 (3:21:39 PM): ;-)
TPiglette (3:21:42 PM): HAHAHA

JuKa828 (3:37:10 PM): HAHAHAHAHA
JuKa828 (3:37:13 PM): oh, geez
JuKa828 (3:37:16 PM): stationery wars
TPiglette (3:40:12 PM): HAHAHAHA
TPiglette (3:40:14 PM): I am so amused
TPiglette (3:40:18 PM): I gave Eric stationery
TPiglette (3:40:22 PM): his is "Sweet Monkey"
TPiglette (3:40:34 PM): "My name is Ki Ki! I am a monkey. I like forest and banana."
JuKa828 (3:40:59 PM): HAHAHAHAHA
JuKa828 (3:41:02 PM): hahahahaah

Tmony girls' shopping trip:: Successful! (well, as in, we decided on a cool look, though some people still need to shop for a specific item.)
Bible study dessert outing @ Max's:: Fun, but it made me sad and contemplative.
Alto sectional:: Not wholly successful, but we worked through stuff that really needed to be worked on.
Girldate w/ Chi-En @ Trancos:: Long, giggly, encouraging, and challenging. Meep. ;)

This morning's classes:: Sleepy...
Prayer buddy lunch w/ Nalani:: Fun! Yay!
Math lecture today:: Um...no.

Last night's Opening rehearsal was significantly less frustrating than usual. I shall leave unsaid the theories about why. It also seems that I have completely lost my ability to concentrate on my math homework. This is not good, seeing as it is due in 4 hours.

Midterms, Round Two:: 6/6!
Total Midterm Count for Fall Qtr. 2002:: 10.

The last one sucked. And I can't believe finals are in 2.5 weeks. This is a never-ending marathon. Math problem set due tomorrow, too.

To sleep or to grocery-shopping?

Music. Music will make everything better. Well, not without God. But nothing makes me feel closer to God than music, so we're all good.

I've been studying pchem all day, and the impending doom is settling in. :( At least Testimony rehearsal was good. I didn't get to review some of the songs I had hoped to tonight, but we got through nearly all of the Testify choreography - yay! And I am totally excited about this other choreography that Kari is working on. ;)

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:33-34

I'm trying... *sigh*. Please pray for me, that in the midst of everything I am involved in, I would continue to know that my greatest and only purpose for living is honoring God.

I can do math. I can do Chinese. I can do music. I can do dance. I can even pretty much do engineering. But why the heck can't I do chemistry???

No, I didn't go see the meteors. I was exhausted and not in the best mood by 1:00am. I think part of me felt like going this year couldn't possibly have compared to last year, so perhaps those memories were better left intact. I was also really cold, even sitting inside in my apartment, so braving the cold outside wasn't very appealing. So, at 1:00am, I crawled into bed, half entertaining the idea of waking up around 2:30 just to step outside on Escondido and watch the meteor shower for awhile from here. Well, that didn't happen. I slept till about 15 minutes ago. This is good in the resting scale, but not on the studying scale. Pchem is going to kick my butt.

My nose also just started bleeding profusely. That was by far the worst bloody nose I've had in my entire life, and probably also the most random. At least it stopped pretty quickly, though.

Dang it. This should NOT be a problem. Some patterns are better broken.

Wow. I'd nearly forgotten: Meteor shower tonight!
I thought they said *last* year was our "last chance." :-P Oh well, I'm not objecting to another meteor shower. When I went last year up into the foothills with a car full of Tmony people (we laid down with our heads in the middle of a circle on a blanket and looked straight up and sang songs), that was probably one of the coolest experiences of my entire sophomore year. Looking back in my blog archives, I see that I never got around to writing about it. Maybe I'll combine it with a this year's story, if I find the time and energy to go out tonight. It was sooo amazing last year.

I got a 103/111 on my math midterm!!! :D The mean was a 98. :)

THE CHEM171 TA'S FRUSTRATE ME TO NO END. UGH.

Tmony rehearsal was good tonight. :)

Quote page is updated, finally! Go see.

Pictures from Ragtime Ball::

Testimony Past & Present -- Ragtime Ball, 11/16/02



[L to R::] Steve, Megan, Gavan, Annie, Eric, Tina, Chi-En, Kari, Justin, Michelle.


.


...Plus Some More Testimony -- Ragtime Ball, 11/16/02



[Top::] Jenn, Steve, Megan, Gavan, Katherine, Eric, Annie, Tina, Justin.
[Bottom::] Chi-En, Kari, Michelle.
[Not Pictured::] Bryan, Jason, Adam, Jenny G., Sandra.

Let's see how quickly I can type up a story about the past 48 hours. ;)

Friday's FNW was so much fun! Jeremy (my waltz partner for Opening Committee) came up to Berkeley with me, and there we found Wendy and Chris Wong (both from my high school). Unfortunately, due to bad traffic (101 and 880...fun) and parking woes, we didn't get there until after 7:30, so I didn't have time AT ALL to try and find Shaila. :( :( :( By the time we got there, Wendy and Chris had already started the beginner's lesson. I tried to go through the lesson as a lead, but I kept getting snagged as a follow. I was more successful during the intermediate lesson, though. It was sooo good to see Wendy again!! She picked up dance pretty well and pretty quickly, from what I could see! Graham also showed up for the dance (after the lessons), and he and Jeremy were very nice in dancing with Wendy a lot. YAY WENDY! :) Dances aren't very conducive to talking, though, so I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Winter Break when I can hopefully hang out with her again. Anyway, I did come back to Stanford after FNW, since I had given Jeremy a ride up to Berkeley. The drive back was a breeze, luckily, since traffic is totally clear after midnight.

Saturday, I was up bright and early for a completely full and packed day. Kari and I went to Opening rehearsal at 9:00, since Qi asks us to arrive early to help people review and practice the choreography. We were totally matching -- khakis, navy blue top, the same dance shoes, AND a white sweater/cardigan -- because we weren't going to have time to change before leaving for Testimony's gig at a senior home later that afternoon. It was really funny. Rehearsal itself...uh, no comment. Core meeting over brunch was fun and productive, as usual. I'm feeling better about show prep. Testimony's performance with the Senior Outreach Concert Series went pretty well! SOCS is a conglomeration of Stanford musicians who put together a short program for residents at senior homes. Yesterday's was at Stevenson House in Palo Alto. I think it was a really good gig for us, and they really want us to come back during our winter tour! The other performers at SOCS were really amazing, too. Yay for good music and good variety. :)

After I got back from SOCS, I had like half an hour to get ready for the dance festivities of the night. Felix had asked me to accompany him to the pre-dance stuff for AASA's Screw Your Sib, since his little sib was going to the dance. I now have pretty flowers on the kitchen table! :) We had a very nice dinner with a huge group of people, at Piatti in the Stanford Shopping Center, and then went down to Cupertino Village for pearl milk tea with just the four of us (me, Felix, his little sib Mike, and his date Liz). While we were there, Felix surprised me by finding me a cup of green tea ice cream, because he remembered that it's my favorite flavor...cute, no? :) Anyway, during dinner, I had a good time chatting with all the freshmen at our table (Felix and I were the only non-freshmen. That was interesting), and I met someone who's living in Paloma with Jenny this year. One weird thing is that I'm still trying to process some of the significant discomfort I had at first about being with such a completely Asian group. It got a lot better over the course of dinner, so maybe it was just the side of me who is terribly shy around new people. But it was definitely something I wasn't used to. Meh...like I said, I'm still trying to process it.

We made it back to campus for Ragtime Ball around 10:00. I had had an interesting time trying to figure out what I could wear that would be appropriate to both SYS and Ragtime Ball, since I knew I wouldn't have time to change. I settled on a semi-formal black dress with a swishy skirt part (the one I lent to Erin at the last minute for Viennese last year...heh, she wore it before I did). The swishy skirt was fun to dance in. :) I had a blast at Ragtime! And I didn't get injured! Yay! There were really amazing performances by a lot of dance groups (which I know a lot of people in), including Swing Time, Double or Nothing, Danse Libre, and Cardinal Whirlwinds. That last group is a new square dancing group, and Jason is doing it!! Whee! It was so awesome to see so many of my friends perform with their dance groups. It was also really great to dance with all my dance friends whom I rarely see, since I never have time to go to Monday Night Dance or Dance Lab or anything (basically, anything other than Opening rehearsal, where I now only dance with Justin Svec and Jeremy). OH!! *DEMARA* was down here from Oregon for the weekend! It was so good to see her! We had a nice warm fuzzy Rinc moment when the two of us found Bryan and Eric at the dance. Teehee. Oh, and yes, Bryan FINALLY came to dance thing! He hasn't been dancing at all this year! Silly Bry! I shared my only rotary waltz of the night with him, towards the end of the night in the other room where they were playing DJ'ed music. I was very sad that the live band didn't play any fast waltzes. But I guess it's good that I got to do so much swing dancing, since that doesn't happen in Opening. I think my favorite swing dance of the night was with Neal. I don't know why, but everything just *worked*, nearly seamlessly, for that dance. I also finally got to dance with Scott! Heehee...yay for musician dancers with a super solid sense of rhythm! That's my standpartner! ;) Ah, yes...Embarrassing Moment of the Night:: coming in last with Graham as the anchor couple in the first heat of the One-Step Relay (Kari & Justin, and Quena & someone (?) were also on our team). I still hold that we lost because we were following the rules and ACTUALLY only stepping one step to each beat. :P Oh well. I had a nice cushion of Tmony people to hide behind afterwards. ;) There were SO MANY Testimony people at Ragtime last night! We took a huge picture (well, a series of huge pictures) at the end with the Tmony alumni + current members. I'll post the picture here once I get Megan to send it to me. Let's see, who was there... Kari, Megan, Jenny Gonzales, Sandra Liu, Chi-En, Michelle, Jenn, Annie, Katherine, me, Steve, Gavan, Adam, Eric, Bryan, Justin, and Jason. Testimony 2001-2002 was DEFINITELY the most well represented year -- we had 2 out of 4 sops, 3 out of 4 altos, 2 out of 3 tenors, and all 4 basses! And of the 4 people who were missing, 2 of them are definitely dancers but they just weren't at the dance. ALTOS were definitely the best represented section...there were SIX of us! GO ALTOS!!! Hehehehe. I was so hyper at the end of the dance. (You can probably tell that from the excessive usage of exclamation points in this paragraph!) For some reason I get a lot more hyper around old Tmony. I don't know why? But it was fun. "MEEP! meepeppempemppepeememep~" HAHA!

And that brings us to today. It was wonderful to see the K-1 kids again this morning, but evidently my back didn't like the sitting/crawling/playing. I'm better now, having lied down for awhile. It took its toll on my Sunday productivity, though. Speaking of which, I shall now go pick at my ChemE problem set. Felix and Phil are working on it upstairs, but I don't feel like working with people right now. I think I had too much people time yesterday. Right now I'm really appreciating having the apartment to myself, since Janet went home for the weekend and Abby is in Hawaii for the weekend (yeah, random).

Okay. To Laplace tranforms. :P

(It's annoying when Blogger won't let me publish my updates. Like now, for instance. So I will use the opportunity to tell you what music I am listening to. Brian Lee sent me a whole slew of mp3's of waltz and swing music after Kimball's thing on Thursday. Now I have all the music I love dancing to! Current Music:: Mecano - "Hijo de la Luna")

First service with the kids wasn't so good for my back. :( So I'm back early, and I'm going to go journal for awhile in the other room where I can rest my back on something squishy. (Don't even think about it, Justin....) I have SO much to tell about my weekend! Later...

I'm about to embark on the fun stuff of the weekend. :) I'm going to stop by the Opening dance "workshop" in Kimball, and then alto sectional 4:30-5:30, and then I leave for Berkeley! Yay! I'm going to try to meet up with Shaila while I'm up there (she can't come to the dance, though, because her a cappella group is having their concert tonight! I wish I could go hear her sing!). And Wendy is finally coming to a dance thing! Yay!

For tomorrow:: Opening rehearsal 9:30-12, Core brunch meeting 12:30-1:30, Tmony gig at a senior home in Palo Alto 2:00-5:00, pre-dance festivities (dinner, etc.) for AASA's Screw Your Sib, and then Ragtime Ball. Call my cell! I may or may not be back tonight.

I am toying with the idea of staying in Berkeley tonight, either with Wendy or with Shaila, before driving back to Stanford for dance practice tomorrow morning. Hmmm.

Thoughts::
1) Chem sucks. We got our exams back. The mean was 66/119. I did not make the mean. I was, however, roughly half a standard deviation below the mean.
2) I am so not motivated to go to math today.
3) I am sleepy. This contributes to Thought #2.
4) I miss my family. :( I called my mommy today but she was too busy to talk. :(
5) Thanksgiving is really soon. Like, two weeks away. This does not mean good things for show prep. Nor for tour planning.
6) I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WENDY AND SHAILA TONIGHT!!! :D

Midterms, Round Two:: 5/6.

Chem continues to be the bane of my existence.

Justin says that that exam was so hard it hasn't even sunk in because he's in shock. I guess I'm so used to chem exams being exceedingly horrible that it doesn't shock me anymore. What's novel, though, is that I still can't perform well on tests even the second time through this stupid class. I feel like I understand the stuff we go through in class but I can't apply the concepts to new huge complicated molecules and I can't regurgitate the reactions the way they want us to. BLAH.

Midterms, Round Two:: 4/6.

Math was okay. I made some stupid mistakes and I forgot how to integrate te^-2t, but I finished the exam and it wasn't that bad.

Chem, however, sucks.

Study sessions practically spew quotes...
- "I wish I had a relationship with my model set." - Chris Bruner
- "Those are very two different things." - Felix, while explaining his previous night's dyslexia between the words 'amine' and 'anime'

The next 29 hours are most likely going to be rather unpleasant. But you know what? This song is still true.

Current Music:: Caedmon's Call - "We Delight"
We will bow our hearts because
We are free as we raise our hands
To give You glory
Father of life and love and infinite worth
We're delivered by blood
It flows from the tree, draws us near to You
Vessels of Your mercy
For the invention of man
Glorious Trinity

We delight in the law of Your Word
We delight in the Son who was perfect from birth
We delight in the day he's returning to earth
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah!

:)

It's a good waltz, too! :)

We got our 2nd ChemE midterm back this morning. I guess I did okay. One thing I am annoyed at myself about is that I ALWAYS miss all my points in one big chunk. I got 30/30 on Q2, and 30/30 on Q3, but only 7/30 on Q1 because I got stuck. The other weird thing is that I totally thought the 2nd day (Q3) of the midterm wasn't as bad, and I knew I messed up the first day (Q1 and Q2) ... but that was the complete opposite of how my study family felt about the exam. They thought the first day was good but somehow missed the Taylor expansion series on the second day. I find this odd, seeing as we all study together, so ostensibly we should know more or less the same stuff, right? :P Anyway, so I got 74.4/100 (scaled up from 90) for the whole test, which is almost exactly what I got on the first midterm, 75/100 (just above the mean). And yep, you guessed it, I missed all 25 of *those* points at the end of the 2nd problem on the first midterm, because I got stuck on the system of differential equations and forgot to use the integrating factor method, since I'd only *just* learned it in Math 53 a few days earlier. Poo. I honestly just didn't understand Q1 on this midterm, though, at least. I get more annoyed with myself if it's just a math thing. I wonder what the mean for this exam was.

Yesterday's and today's problem sets were painful, but at least they're out of my hands. Tomorrow's midterms are not going to be fun. :(

What was nice about last night, though, was that Testimony rehearsal totally cheered me up. It's funny how that happens. I'd been working on the pchem problem set almost straight from 4:00pm and I was really really frustrated by the time I headed over for rehearsal at 9:00. But I stepped into Braun 106, and as I saw my members enter the room, it was like my heart was smiling. I couldn't really explain it. Chi-En and Kari got me laughing, like they always do, and I think I really needed that just then. It was like I'd almost *planned* on being stressed out by rehearsal, but God had other ideas. ;)

In other news, Wendy says she's free to come to the Berkeley Friday Night Waltz on Friday!! I've been wanting to bring her to a dance thing FOREVER! And I haven't seen her in sooo long. I hope everything works out so I can make it to the dance!

"This is bull." - Phil
"Oh-nee!" - Karl
Hahahahaha. Hahaha. HA. Oy.

I am not feeling good today. I don't know why. Blah.

It's November 12. But I was prepared for it this time. And it's not raining. :)

Math is taking a long time. :( Which means that I didn't get started on the 171 today, like I had hoped to. I'm not looking forward to having two midterms on the same day this Thursday. If it had to be two, though, I'm glad one of them is math. But the Kimball dorm show Wednesday night is bad timing. I just need to make good use of the rest of tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow night before rehearsal.

Someone informed me on Friday that 75% of our ChemE100 grade is already determined (more or less). The midterms we've taken are 25% each, and homework is 25%. That means the final is only worth 25%. That is SO WEIRD for college!!!

Wow. I'm tired. :P I just took a long nap, after a long day. I helped out in the 2nd-5th grade class in Kids Community today, which was fairly uneventful (as far as interacting with the kids goes) because we watched a Veggie Tales video about Esther and then went into "big church" for the closing worship because the current message series is about Why Worship Matters So Much. It was cool to meet some of the older kids, but I really missed the K-1 kids because I haven't been in that class for 3 weeks now (two weeks ago I was gone on the Crusade retreat, and last Sunday I was sick and my back was acting up). I can't wait until next weekend when I can see all of my kids again. :D Anyway, then after KC I attended 2nd service for myself, and then rushed back to campus for Testimony rehearsal at 1:15. Everyone was pretty low-energy at rehearsal today (including me) so we took lots of breaks and had some good prayer time. When I got back, I was definitely in need of a nap. So I took one! Yay! ;)

So, I have plenty to be working on tonight, including a math problem set due Tues., a pchem problem set due Wed., and studying for my 2 midterms on Thursday. But first...I think I'm going to clean up the kitchen. It's kind of yucky. And I also need to do laundry at some point. And go grocery shopping. :P Oh, the things that get put off when you get bombarded by midterms! Phoo.

I'll tell all about Alto Hangout next time. :)

Kari sent me a song today. She said it reminded her of (what she knew of) me and Matt. She was right.

(Sorry. The other formerly-significant date is approaching, so I guess I'm still contemplative.)

Michelle Branch - "Goodbye to You"
Of all the things
I've believed in
I just want to
Get it over with
Tears form behind my eyes
But I do not cry
Counting the days
That pass me by

I've been searching
Deep down in my soul
Words that I'm hearing
Are starting to get old
It feels like
I'm starting all over again
The last three years
Were just pretend
And I said

"Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything
I thought I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that
I tried to hold on to"

I used to get lost in your eyes
And it seems that
I can't live a day without you
Closing my eyes and
You chase my thoughts away
To a place where
I am blinded by the light
But it's not right

And it hurts to want everything
And nothing at the same time
I want what's yours
And I want what's mine
I want you
But I'm not giving in this time

Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything
I thought I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that
I tried to hold on to.
The one thing that
I tried to hold on to.

Blogger is FINALLY letting me update! The server has been down all day. :P

Anyway, I have like 5 minutes before our Core meeting, so this has to be quick. Last night was a lot of fun: I watched Harry Potter with Graham, and then went over to Kimball for the Opening party. This morning I had Opening rehearsal, brunch with Opening people, and then now I'm back here. We have a Core meeting from 3:30-4:30, and then the Super-Cool Testimony Alto Section will be leaving campus for an adventure. ;) We're going to Chi-En's brother's place to cook dinner, bake, hang out, and in general just have a fun girls' night and perpetuate alto hilarity. I'm not sure what time I'll be back, so that's why I'm blogging now.

Health update:: My back is, in general, doing a lot better. It still gets tired from stuff like more than 2 hours of class or dance practice, but daily functionality has been much more pleasant the past couple days. My mood seems to vary linearly with the state of my back, though, and I'm trying to figure out which is the cause and which is the effect. On an unrelated note, I got a random bloody nose during the middle of Opening rehearsal this morning. That was weird.

In other news, my Opening partners have been finalized. My polka partner is Justin Svec, and my waltz partner is Jeremy Sugerman. Yay! :)

Off to my meeting! Leave me a comment! ;)

Well. That wasn't so bad. I think.

Tina is very busy. TSF is due tomorrow. Tina is done (thanks to wonderful parents), but other people are not. They are having a party right now in Stern North. Very exciting party. Tina will also stop talking in the third person now. So, Bible study tonight was good. Classes today were also good, except for psycho math professor doing crazy stuff with imaginary numbers. I got a 96 on the Chinese midterm. Yay for easy midterms. Boo to bad midterms, like yesterday's and tomorrow's. Perturbation theory and Taylor expansions. I like how I'm learning the necessary math for ChemE pretty much on the fly. Note to future ChemE's:: DEFINITELY take Math 53 before ChemE 100. They are not kidding about it being a prereq. Sometimes prereq's are stupid, but this one is serious. Anyway, at least math is still pretty easy right now. I haven't been paying too much attention to ochem lately, which will probably come back to bite me next week. Oh well, that's what I have this weekend to study for, right? Mmm, what else is going on... Opening:: no comment. :P Tmony:: the Okada dorm show went wonderfully!! Another dorm show scheduled for Kimball next Wednesday. Core:: We have fun. ;)

To everyone who has been trying to communicate with me via email:: Sorry for being slow to respond -- I'm not ignoring you! I hope to be more on top of things soon.

I'm trying really hard not to give in, but it's really really hard. I've made it all the way to November already without crying about school this quarter. But this morning just made me feel exactly like last year. I feel like I'll never be good at anything ever again. :( I think I'm the stupidest person in the entire ChemE junior class.

If only all my midterms could be as easy as that one. :P

Well, I just took midterm #1 of 6, for the second round of midterms this quarter. I'm counting the ChemE midterm as 2 because it's being split into 2 class periods (this Wed. and Fri.) which, to me, is like taking 2 exams.

It was really, really nice to have my parents here last night. Even my dad helped with cooking the fried rice, which Bryan and I enjoyed eating (yummm). (Side note:: Mirrielees 3A wing is kind of like a black hole. I know too many people who live in that hall.) AND, my parents graciously offered to complete my last 4 Opening TSF letters for me today (they took stationery with them last night), so they'll be coming again tonight after I'm done with Testimony rehearsal, to deliver the letters and massage/medicine-ize my back again. That means I only have two half-letters to finish (one for Tmony, one for Opening), and then I'll be totally done with TSF!! I'll actually personally only have written 12 of the 24, though. My parents will have done the other 12 for me, because they said they'd rather have me be resting my back instead of writing evil TSF letters. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad!! You're the best and I love you!

TSF progress:: 17/24.
And my mom is cooking for me!!

It's really nice to be taken care of. It's been a long time. :)

My parents are coming over tonight to help me write TSF letters and rub Chinese medicine on my back (they're very insistent about the latter). Aren't they the best?? :D I wonder what it is about a mother's touch that is so therapeutic.

Right about now is when I'm really glad that Mondays are my free nights. No rehearsals or meetings or *anything*. Yay! My MWF morning 3-classes-in-a-row still isn't very fun for my back, though. The first two are fine, but the third one is pushing it. I need to figure out what to do about that. =/

Ah, yes. Quotes from yesterday's chemE/pchem problem set session::
- "Pluggin' in, pluggin' in!" - Chris Bruner, singing, yes to that commercial tune.
- "Blood, everywhere!" - Felix (of course I'm not going to give you the context) ;)
- and Jim said something about not being pretty but no one would repeat the quote for me so I lost it :P

And I was only there for the afternoon part, because I had rehearsal after dinner -- I wonder what else I missed. ;) Things tend to be just unbelievably funny after you've been struggling on one problem for hours.

My roommates are watching Beauty and the Beast in the other room and making very cute running commentary as if they've never seen the movie before. They're cute. ;)

Oh and I think Testimony rehearsal was good for my back. :) God is good. Always.

It seems as if my back doesn't like Sunday, or something. :( I didn't make it to church this morning, because I was still coughing and I didn't want to get the kids sick, in addition to the fact that my back has not been in good shape since late last night. I don't know why it got worse again! I had a pretty easy-going day. Except for the last half hour of Opening rehearsal yesterday morning, I guess -- I think the 2.5 hour rehearsal (extended from the usual 2 hours to make up for lost time around Thanksgiving) was pushing it. I took a long afternoon nap to make up for it, though, I had hoped. Anyway, yesterday we also had our record time shortest Core meeting (I think), despite some miscommunication about meeting place and time. Yay Core. ;)

Testimony had our first gig of the year on Friday night, at the Interfaith Celebration. I think it went very well, excepting some tempo problems (but that's normal for performance jitters). :) "My Jesus" and "TLBY" sound so good in MemChu! Then Kari and I went to Friday Night Waltz at the Palo Alto YWCA. That was fun too. I finally danced with the legendary "other Jeff Lee" (i.e. not Crusade Jeff). And he knows me as the "other Tina" too, because he dances with Tina Chan in Danse Libre, so that was kind of funny. Then, after Kari dropped off me and Miriam (who was going to spend the night in Rebecca's room, which is directly across the hall from Eric's room) at Mirrielees, we decided to invade their (Rebecca/Eric/Neal's) roleplaying game going on in the 2nd floor lounge. I watched for awhile, and that was quite interesting as well -- now I finally know what it is that Eric obsesses over. ;) Oh, and I discovered that the Mirrielees piano is now in the 2nd floor lounge!!! And it's been tuned (or so Eric claims)! YAY!!

Time to chip away at my to-do list:: math problem set (Tu), chemE problem set (W), pchem problem set (W), study for Chinese midterm (Tu), study for chemE midterm (W, F), write TSF for Tmony (Th), write TSF for Opening (W), and prep for Tmony rehearsal (tonight). Hmm...that's a lot. :P But I will be okay. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/11/01/BA172669.DTL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 1, 2002 (SF Chronicle)
Castro Valley to cast vote on cityhood
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer

       Castro Valley is a hilly East Bay enclave of 58,000 crisscrossed with bridle trails and boasting safe neighborhoods and family-run shops.
       But a pitched battle -- complete with shouting matches, name-calling and allegations of campaign sign-stealing -- has erupted in the last year. The issue: the impact of cityhood on a community that once claimed some of the nation's biggest chicken farms and still retains an easy, almost rural, quality of life in the midst of suburbia.
       "It has been a very passionate issue," said Steve Dimick, a five-year resident who wants Castro Valley to become a city. "Fears are being put out as facts."
       On Tuesday, residents of the largest unincorporated community in California will decide Measure Q, a plan to incorporate Castro Valley and allow it to create its own local government, including a mayor and council and a police force.
       Incorporation would cut the community's ties with Alameda County government, which today fixes Castro Valley's streets, provides sheriff's patrols and regulates development.
       "We want to take control of our own destiny," said Bonnie Dettmer, executive director of the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce, which is supporting the measure.
       "If you want home rule, you've got to become a city," agreed Sal Tedesco, a 32-year Castro Valley resident and president of pro-incorporation Citizens for Castro Valley. "You shape and control your own future by having control of your own tax dollars."
       But pro-incorporation forces have been fighting an uphill battle to win over longtime residents, who have defeated repeated attempts to incorporate in the past.
       A decade ago, a citizen petition failed to collect enough signatures to study incorporation, and when incorporation last came up for a vote -- in 1956 -- it was defeated.
       "We will all agree that there are benefits to local control, but do you want to pay $3 million for another layer of government?" said Glenn Carlson, founder of an anti-incorporation citizen's group called TRUTH, whose red "No on Q" signs are posted on lawns and at intersections all over town.
       "Most of my customers are against it. They just don't believe they can make it work," said Janet Lemmons, 41, the owner of Rowell's Saddlery Shop, a Castro Valley fixture since 1942.
Carlson and other opponents fear that the 11.5-square-mile, newly incorporated city would not be able to afford to pay for existing services. And they are not swayed by a recent county study which found that the new city would not only be self-sufficient, but have a surplus of $1.6 million.
       "They've reduced services to try to get the budget to balance," he said. "We're looking at a 26 percent reduction in uniformed police officers."
       Carlson said he also thought that pro-incorporation backers had relied on economic forecasts that are too rosy. In poor economic times, opponents fear, a city strapped for cash would bring in new revenue by trying to raise taxes or by promoting new developments.
       They point out that the Measure Q campaign received $10,000 from a housing developer who had planned to build 59 homes in the Castro Valley area before the passage of Alameda County's Measure D prevented that.
       Castro Valley resident Beth Palicz fears that one day that winding canyon of golden hillsides and oak trees on the way to the horse ranch on Cull Canyon Road where she works could become crowded with tract homes.
       "There are enough cities to visit," said Palicz, 59. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to preserve our country setting."
       These are the kinds of arguments that frustrate incorporation backers, who say there are concrete problems that emerge without local leadership.
       There's the giant and bland-looking office building on Castro Valley Boulevard that was built over residents' objections. Some streets have sidewalks, while others don't.
       "We're going to have better services and more responsive services if we do it ourselves," Dimick said. Cityhood is contingent not only on the passage of Measure Q but also on voters' approval of two funding measures on Tuesday's ballot: a new 10 percent hotel tax and an extension of a utility users' tax that is set to end in 2009.
       Voters will also select five City Council members from a slate of 19 candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot, to take office only if Castro Valley incorporates.

E-mail Kelly St. John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle

My back was so happy this morning!
But then I went to class. :(

Seriously...I woke up and was like, Wow. And I moved to sit up, and was like, Wow, that wasn't too hard!! And I felt really good until halfway through my first class. But this is a good sign, right??

I did, in fact, go to all of my classes this morning. And I wrote two TSF letters during my 11:00 class (which is just a "TA review" for 171...the TA's are SO ANNOYING. Yes, Erin.)! Quote from one of the TA's, when asked about whether a particular equation only applies to ideal gases:: "No, that's a general equation. But...there is a question as to whether it is completely general or not." What??! :P

Wow...it's actually looking like I have a fairly clear weekend. :) And Testimony is singing tonight! :)

My coughing has curbed considerably since I've been awake.
Does this mean that being upright is good for my cough?
Boo to paradoxes. :P

I really want to go to the Halloween Concert tonight (very similar to what the SSO did last year, except this year the Wind Ensemble is doing it) but I'm not sure if I'm going to be in the shape to go...

I am sick. :( Stupid cold that's been taking over the campus! I'm coughing a lot, which makes sleep not very restful for my back (but poor Moo has it much worse than I do), and I'm not sure whether I should go to all my classes today. I do have to go to Chinese, at least, because I have to take a quiz.

Last night, I had a nice dinner with Eric at Wilbur, went to a nice 30 minutes of Crusade meeting, and then went to Opening rehearsal. Most of Opening rehearsal was good (though I realized that pas du basques hurt right now), until the end when we were running through the waltz choreography and someone kicked me in the SAME SPOT where I had my worst bruise from Jammix last Friday. Blarg. And then the girls got our stationery for TSF writing (yup, Tmony and Opening have the same TSF session; fun for me and Kari, huh?). But then the night was redeemed by a very fun girldate ;) with Chi-En. We met at Late-Night and hung out there and came back to Mirrielees and hung out here until we both fell asleep. She woke up at some point in the middle of the night and went back to her room (I think she realized that both of us sleeping on my bed didn't allow very much comfort for our similarly problematic backs). I proceeded to sleep straight through until about 20 minutes ago.

Off to Chinese...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about where I was during this time of year, x number of years ago. I've been reflecting a lot about how I've changed and how my life has changed and how interesting it is to compare these different points in my life. I guess today's date in particular sticks out to me (most of you know I'm a big numbers person, so my pattern-oriented mind always remembers dates really well). Two years ago today, Matt and I broke up (after the 2-3 week process of doing so).

What else has come to mind?

- Five years ago, on Halloween, I made my first phone call to Matt about something else other than a pre-calculus question.
- Four years ago, I was already learning Calculus. (I really had no idea how important it would be in college.)
- Three years ago, I was writing my college essay for the Stanford Early Decision application. It took me *forever* to write, because it was about a very personal issue that I was still wrestling with at the time. I wrote about why I had stopped going to church.
- Three years ago, I thought Matt and I were going to get married after college. So did everyone else.
- Two years ago, God brought me to Stanford. Two years ago, God put me in Rinconada, and He blessed me with the people I lived with, to teach me what it means to walk my life with Him.
- As mentioned above, two years ago, Matt and I broke up.
- Two years ago, my roommate was a very special Emily Dawson. I miss you, Em.
- One year ago, I started singing.
- One year ago, I started dancing.
- One year ago was the last time I had to go to Cowell for anything. I had a terrible abdomen pain that made it difficult to sit or walk or do anything. Curiously enough, it also coincided with my first set of midterms fall quarter, like this yucky back thing going on right now. (You can look at the October 2001 archives.)
- One year ago, I had my faith tested in a way I had never experienced before. I had never prayed so hard for my family.
- One year ago, I was still terrified of praying aloud in a group. I always froze up--literally--and no words would come out.
- One year ago, I had no idea how tough the coming year would be.

Today?

Today, I am amazed by the truth of God's amazing power, grace, and faithfulness. That's not some doctrinal recitation I'm pulling from the Bible. This is about what God is doing in my life--about what He did for me, and in me, just yesterday.

Today, I think I am more of the person God created me to be.

Janet and I had fun and silly roommate time last night. ;) I love you Jan! :)

Goodness gracious. I was NOT with it during rehearsal tonight.

The 171 problem set is really, really hard. :( Phil, Felix, Karl, and I have been working on it since 4:00pm (we're like a little family sitting around the table! aw), and it is not budging. Boo to complicated derivations. At least this is my last problem set of the week.

By the way, we got our 171 midterms back this morning and it was every bit as bad as I thought it was. Blah.

I took a nap this afternoon to appease my back and missed math lecture in the process. Oh well.

Don't worry about me, I'm hanging in there. :)

3 hours of classes = owww. :(

Highlights from tonight's ChemE pset session::
- "We can do it, we can do it! We can help a Cinderella!" - Karl, singing, yes it was random
- update, 12:23am::
      "Oooooh" - Karl.
      "Karl, don't OOH unless you got something." - Phil
- update, 12:41am::
      "Heyyy..." - Phil.
      "ARE YOU OOH-ING?!" - Felix

Tina's back has been very very unhappy. I was miserable during the closing time of the Crusade retreat this morning (read: it was bad enough to make me cry), and Eric had to drive back and take me straight to Vaden (formerly Cowell). It went from being a restricting-movement pain to being an intense-constant-wrenching sort of pain. For about an hour, it really really sucked (until the Advil I took kind of kicked in and I'd been lying down in the car for awhile). So I went to Vaden and finally saw a doctor, and she says she doesn't think it a problem with a disk or anything, but rather it's probably really bad muscle strain/spasms. I've been told not to sit up for very long and to do prescribed back exercises and take prescription doses of Advil and ice the area periodically. So, I missed Testimony rehearsal today, and instead spent the afternoon reading and resting. Since I'm not supposed to be sitting much, I won't be at my computer much either. Calling my cell will be the best way to reach me for awhile.

Ugh. Opening rehearsal was NOT fun today. My back was hurting, and I was feeling light-headed and sorta dizzy the whole time. I had to sit out the first 10 minutes because when I stood up after stretching out my back I felt really dizzy. We were working on pivots today, too. And the next segment of the polka choreography. I really wish people would understand that IT MATTERS WHERE YOU COUNT 1-2-3-4 versus 5-6-7-8. Because if you teach it one way and then with the music it works out to be 4 counts later, IT CONFUSES PEOPLE who are trying to LEARN it. Yeah, I know I wasn't feeling great to start with this morning, so I was probably just easily irritable. But, for goodness' sake.

At least last night's Jammix was fun, despite the various dancing injuries I sustained. Bruise count = 3. :P Actually only one of them is bad enough to hurt a lot, but that one is looking pretty bad. Anyway, aside from that, I had a great time. I got there kinda late because I stopped by to visit Chi-En first, after going out to dinner with my parents. I'd forgotten how crowded it gets at these things! It was really good to see everyone I know through dance, though.

Dinner with my parents and my aunt was really nice. I've been so busy that I haven't really had time to keep in touch well with my family. Finally one of the procedures has allowed the doctors to detect what's wrong with my dad's digestive system (the bleeding that happened about a month ago). There's still a lot of talking to be done yet, but I'm really relieved that they're finally figuring things out. It's scary when you can't find what's wrong.

Well, I'm hopefully leaving in about half an hour for the Crusade retreat. I am REALLY looking forward to it. Midterms have worn me out and the fact that I got so easily frustrated this morning signals that I need to get away and refresh myself with God time. It's kinda funny because we're going to Camp Loma Mar -- which is where I was a counselor for Outdoor School during high school, and which is also where I was during this same weekend last year, except that it was for the SSO retreat! I'll be back tomorrow in time for Tmony rehearsal at 1:15. Have a great weekend, everyone. (PS: Don't forget to change your clocks back an hour tonight.)

Two pieces of news::
1) I am now OFFICIALLY declared in Chemical Engineering! FINALLY!
2) I got a 92 on my math midterm!!!! AHhhhH! :D The mean was 88, which is still really high, but I'm actually ABOVE the mean! And, 5 of the points I missed were stupid mistakes, even. Math is somehow the only subject at Stanford (other than general engineering courses) that I can get A's in. Funny how I determined during SUMaC that I could never be a math major. :P

I found some fun dance skirts at the Drama Dept. costume sale today! YAY!!!! My favorite one was only $1 and I'm probably going to wear it to Jammix tonight. ;)

My parents are coming to have dinner with me tonight!! :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS WALLIS!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!
*big mushy hugs^100* :o)

WOOHOO I am finally done with my super long day! I skipped ChemE and Chem131 lectures this morning to study for Chem171, which still turned out to be horrid. Then I came back here for lunch and a shower (yay for showers, they are so cool). Then I drove a car full of ChemE majors for a field trip down to Guidant Corporation in Santa Clara. They're a biomedical engineering company that makes cardiovascular products like stents and other things that I don't have the patience to explain here. The tour was really cool. I was hoping to find Andy Tung (CVHS '97) who has been working there since he graduated from college in 2001, but, to no avail. One of the tour guides knows Andy, though, so I sent a hello message through him. After the field trip, I had a very nice but rushed prayer buddy dinner with Michelle at the CoHo. It was really nice to relate to her in a new context (she went on the SSO Tour with me, and now she's in Testimony!). I found out that we have uncannily similar experiences with regards to school at Stanford and needing time off. It was really *really* encouraging for me to see her (now a senior) having recovered from a bad first couple years and now is passionate again about school, enough to apply to med school whilst facing all these "model pre-med" students who seem to swarm the Stanford campus. It gives me hope for the future. Seriously. :P Anyway, so after dinner with Michelle, I went to half an hour of Crusade large group, and then the remainder of Opening rehearsal until 9:00. No comment about rehearsal. :P And then I just got out of leading our alto sectional (we had to reschedule because the IV and Crusade fall retreats are happening this weekend). I love my altos. They are so good at learning music! And I feel like we're really starting to bond as a section. I'm looking forward to our alto dinner outing in a couple weeks. I'm also looking forward to Bible study tomorrow! :) And I can enjoy the Crusade retreat this weekend without any midterms hanging over my head! And tomorrow I'm going to visit Applied Biosystems in the morning to deliver Testimony CD's and visit with my summer coworkers! Yay for fun stuff!

So, in short, though I am really tired and my back still hurts, life is good. Poo on midterms. Life is still good. ;) More importantly, God is always good.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" - Jeremiah 29:11-13.

Bryguy683 (11:29:53 AM): pfy2 :-)