* tiny but powerful *

Yipes. Where did July go? I can't believe it's halfway through summer already. It's been an interesting month and a half, to say the least. A lot has happened and a lot has changed, and I'm always learning more about myself. God gives some tough lessons sometimes. Aside from all that abstract stuff, though, I feel like there's so much I still need to accomplish before the summer ends! Time to be more productive. :)

Jenny drew me a comic yesterday (at work, and then gave it to me when she came over for Part 2 of the online Core meeting). It's so cute and well-drawn...on a series of hot pink post-its! It's about Peggy Pig (who looks like a female version of Piggy-Thump) and Dan Duck, and their discourse about Peggy's new hairstyle: PIGTAILS! HAHAHA! ;)

Yay for good hangout time with Kari tonight. Thanks, roomie. (Well, apartment-ie, but that doesn't sound as good.)

It's raining! How weird! (Yes, Dad, I'll be careful on the road because the built-up oil could make the road slippery. You tell me every time. ;) )

Today is a blah day. Boo to tummy pain. :( This will be fun for sitting through a 1.5-hour presentation this afternoon. It's my supervisor's presentation, though, so I have to go.

Hustle Experience #2 can be characterized as Still Scary But Less So. I liked the teacher for last night's lesson WAY more than the guy who was guest-teaching the previous time (well, he comes back once a month). Being so much more comfortable with the teaching style made a *huge* difference for the rest of my night. Jeremy had also showed me a couple more common moves before we went, so I had a few more (shaky) building blocks under my belt. Brian Lee and Jeff Lee (the older one) showed up too -- yay! I danced with a handful of non-Stanford guys, so I was forced to exercise my newer following instincts (I still feel like my brain has to process overtime in order to just survive those dances). I made my partners have to stop and reset less than last time (which is one of the worst feelings I encounter as a follow; the only thing worse is smacking my partner in the face), so that was encouraging. I even do the raising-arms thing in a *few* of the moves, now. (I feel less stupid doing them with people I don't know, though; Kari agrees.) I still can only get the free spins part of the time, since I don't have the footwork/body-orientation down consistently, but at least that's "part of the time" more than before (which was mostly never). We left early, around 11:00. All in all I had a pretty good time. :)

"When you want it the most
There's no easy way out...
Don't give up on your faith...
That's the way it is."
- Celine Dion, "That's The Way It Is"

We just had a fire drill. Those are loud. And it's cold outside, too! Sigh.

Nabterayl: they're determined to make you cold
balee42: The air is out to get you, Tina.

It is FREEZING COLD in the office. BRR! Why can't people manage temperature control correctly??

Yay for phone time with Justin, too. :)

Yay for phone time with Eric (especially after over a week of conflicting schedules). It's good to be understood.

Justin: "I mean, if a girl was like 'I think I'm getting fat,' a response of 'you need to just get over that' would get [a guy] slaughtered in about 2.3 picoseconds."
HAHAHA.

Current Music:: InsideOut A Cappella - "Prayer of the Children"
This song is better with a smaller ensemble. I like. :)

Justin came to church today! So did Felix and Tracey! Yay! None of the three of them showed up to the contradance last night, though, which was sad. Maybe next time.

I love Castro Valley music. I love how our music program brings the whole community together. It's really incredible.

The Jenny Lin Concert last night was a lot of fun. It's hard for me to be an unbiased judge of how things went musically, but I really enjoyed a lot of the pieces that were on the program this year. The theme of the concert was "A Hundred Million Miracles: Let the first be peace on earth...", so there were a lot of songs about peace and love. I was pleasantly surprised by a variety of things. The program has gotten so BIG! They can no longer do joint band and orchestra pieces because they can't *fit* everyone on stage! It's amazing. The last time I coordinated (2000) there were about 130 musicians, which was already a really tight squeeze on stage. Last night they said there were ~180 participants this year, even drawing students from neighboring cities such as San Leandro, Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Danville -- it has really become an East Bay event, which is quite cool. (I was amused at my brother, though. You know how he's been gone on a road trip for 3 weeks? Well, this week he decided he still wanted to perform at the concert, so he jumped right back in as 2nd chair flute! Geez, that boy. He's good enough to do that, though, I guess.) The student coordinator ownership of the concert has really grown stronger, too, which makes me smile because that's what I had envisioned it to become when I was trying to build it up. The raffle prize drawing has gotten huge, since I guess more and more businesses donate each year now that the drawing is an established part of the concert event (it was harder the first summer we thought of the idea, because obviously no one had heard of it before). And the audience has been bigger and bigger each year -- the church looked fuller than I've ever seen it before, and I think they estimated an attendance of about 800. Yay!

The music, though -- I have to squeal for a little bit here. Part of what I miss about Castro Valley orchestras is the opportunity to play non-classical music. Of course it's great that the Stanford Symphony Orchestra is good enough to play more advanced symphonic music, but I miss playing things like arrangements of soundtrack themes, popular music, and musicals. The band last night played "Highlights from Harry Potter" (John Williams is awesome. I love John Williams) and "Lord of the Rings", both of which I thought were very well done. Hearing "The Liberty Bell" (by John Phillip Sousa, who is "to the march what Strauss is to the waltz," as the MC informed us) made me really want to polka down the aisles -- heehee. (I'd almost call it an irresistible urge, except obviously it wasn't.) The orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Waltz from Serenade for Strings, which brought back a lot of memories because Chamber played it for competition one year. There were several really great small ensemble numbers, too (Andrea Blunt always amazes me with her voice, and has for years, and she's only going to be junior next year!), and seeing Mr. and Mrs. Lin perform in the Taiko number was a special treat! Taiko is so cool to watch! Then the closing piece was a combined orchestra and chorus number of a medley from "Flower Drum Song" (Eric, you would have loved it).

My favorites by far, though, were "Prayer of the Children" and "World Anthem." "Prayer of the Children" is an a cappella song that the CVHS mens' ensemble sang when Ryan, Joey, Stan, and all those guys were in choir (I still think of 1998-2000 as the "good era"; I know I'm biased), and I remember being absolutely taken away by it back then. I wanted so badly to get a recording of their performance of it before we graduated, but I wasn't able to and I had completely forgotten about it since then. Hearing it last night made me cry. It wasn't performed as well as what I remembered, but it was like discovering an old friend. Wow. I've fallen in love with the song all over again. I want Testimony (well, the boys) to sing it! I wonder if I can get the arrangement from Ms. Sue. Ideas, ideas. :) Then, the "World Anthem," which opened the second half of the program, was equally as cool for different reasons. The idea behind it is that someone inputted 193 of the world's national anthems into a musical intelligence software, which then linked together notes, phrases, rhythms, harmonies, and words from all 193 anthems into one big, composite "World Anthem." Isn't that cool?? It's sooo cool!! (Ask me for the mp3!) It was perfect for the concert's theme, too. Props to Perry (my cousin) for finding it and making it happen!

Felix, Justin, and Jenny managed to catch the tail-end of the concert, but it's a shame they didn't get to see the rest. Jenny had to leave shortly thereafter to go home, but Felix and Justin and I went to get food at Baker's Square. Felix was going to stay in Castro Valley with me since he needed to be in the Bay Area (so he could pick up Tracey from the San Jose airport early this afternoon), but Justin ended up staying at my house too since we were all hanging out. What was REALLY amusing after the concert was that Justin kept getting recognized by CVHS people! He's famous in Castro Valley -- hahaha! Testimony performed at CVHS during winter tour, and I guess it makes sense that he might have been noticed more than the average Testimony person since he's the vocal percussionist, but it was still hilarious!! I laughed so hard every time it happened. And it was fun to see Felix again for the first time this summer. After Felix left, Justin came to dim-sum with me and my mom and my aunt today, where we ran into Mr. and Mrs. Lin! What an amusing coincidence. Mmm...good Chinese food... Yum. :)

Anyway, back to last night -- it was really good to the see the Jenny Lin crowd again, as always. Mrs. Lin was so cute because she was beside herself with excitement at seeing all the alumni come back. She kept exclaiming, "This is the best day, because I get to see all of you in the same place!" Andy Tung, Matt Wong, Alicia Lee, Marcia Wong, Wendy and Jelli, and a handful of other '02-ers were there, but sadly no one else from my class showed up (David, Woo, Andy, where were all of you? At least Theo has an excuse by being in Germany). Wendy and I were remarking on how weird it is not to be involved in the concert anymore, but it's also good to see it grow in the hands of the new generation of students. That's the real spirit of the concert, anyway -- the students own it and make it what it is, and the concert itself brings the old people and new people back together every year. It's just wonderful.

Congratulations, everyone, on a great concert! :)

I'm looking forward to the Jenny Lin Concert tonight, and seeing what the program has become since I left it. :)

Come if you can!

The 10th Annual...
Jenny Lin Summer Youth Concert
"A Hundred Million Miracles"
Fri. July 25, 2003 -- 7:00pm
Neighborhood Church
20600 John Dr., Castro Valley

I finally had some labwork today! It was easy, too, because I'm still more comfortable with the quantitation assays (from previous summers) than with the sequencing work I'm doing this summer. I miss being in the lab, oddly enough. I've only been in the lab maybe 4 times since Waltz Week, since I rushed to finish my major project step before I took that week off, and while my supervisor was gone I had a ton of data to analyze anyway. Being in front of the computer all day is slowly driving me nuts. Time passes so much more quickly in the lab! My brain has been feeling like mush recently, to the point where even sending email seems to require too much concentration. BLAST searching gets really tiring after awhile, and all the fungal species names start sounding like weird Harry Potter spells (Nectriopsis squamulosa, Verticillium pseudohemipterigenum... okay, that last one doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it?). Anyway, we have some new primer/probe sets that should be arriving next week, which means I'll soon have more lab time again. That'll be good.

There was a really interesting seminar talk earlier this afternoon. An FBI guy came to give a presentation about "Molecular Biology Needs and Solutions for Forensics" and how our company's technology is used in forensic sciences. None of the technical stuff was anything my department doesn't work with on a daily basis, but the talk was open to the whole company, so a lot of the people there hadn't had any exposure to this specific sector of the AB market. The speaker was really entertaining, and even though I didn't learn very much science stuff I *did* hear some interesting anecdotes and forensic science history.

Amelie was good the second time around, too (I saw it last summer with Erin and Big Tina). Graham brought the DVD over tonight, and we had ice cream to celebrate his getting a new job at Blogger/Google (congratulations, again!). But now I'm tired, so it's time for bed. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

Online meetings suck. Last night I was clearly reminded of why I abolished online Core meetings from Testimony (except when people are many miles away from each other and there is literally no other option) -- it's so inefficient! We only got through half of the agenda (but at least it was the more immediately-pressing and time-consuming half), so we'll have to continue next Wednesday. Go Core! Things seem easier the second time around.

My old supervisor just went around asking several people what Avogadro's number is, and he didn't find anyone who was sure about it until he got to me. Hahaha! It's been quite awhile since I've actually used Avogadro's number -- but evidently not as long as for most people here. I was amused.

Last night I tried to go to the VA dance, but there was no VA dance to be found. The auditorium was completely empty. It was very odd. So I went back to campus instead, checked my mail, walked around the Quad for a bit, and ended up at Roble Dance to peek in at the tango workshop. (I made sure not to have my dance shoes with me so no one could try to make me dance. I am going through a particularly anti-tango phase right now. I dislike it intensely.) Kari, Jeremy, Quentin, Megan, Becky, and George were all there, but the first four got bored with the beginning lesson and the intermediate lesson wasn't looking much better, so they left. George was actually bored enough with the beginning lesson to leave in the middle and drive over to the VA dance, but Graham and I had left by then. George said the posted schedule claims there was a VA dance last week and there will be another one next week, so we just happened to choose the one week there wasn't one. How silly. We'll just have to be more careful about confirming the schedule in the future (which was unnecessary last summer, when there was one every week). Someone reminded me that there's also salsa dancing at Alberto's on Tuesdays (why does everything happen on Tuesday?? I seriously think there's more dance stuff on Tuesday than on the weekends!), but I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try someplace new. Besides, Jenny was planning on spending the night at our apartment, so I waited for her to meet me at Roble Dance after her dinner at Roble (dorm). Once back at the apartment, we (okay, I) spent a long time being very confused by the TV. I never watch TV, so I didn't know how to get to the correct TV channels! I finally had to ask Kari for help. Sad. The only two times I've used the TV in the month that we've been living here were to watch movies on DVD. At least I figured out the DVD machine! So Jenny and I watched an hour of Buffy (this particular episode was very confusing. Maybe it just wasn't my night), and spent the rest of the night just talking in my room. She'll be staying over again tonight, too, since we're going to have an online Core meeting (i.e. Jenny and I together in person, talking to Jeff via AIM).

I realized last night that my pig obsession puts a significant amount of pink in my room. I really don't like pink. I own zero pink clothing. But there it is anyway, only because I like pigs. It's an interesting contrast from the blue-ness of everything else I have in my room. I still need a name for my new piggy. I can't continue my usual trend of being exceedingly generic (i.e. Bunny, Puppy, Piggy, etc.). I have to be creative? :-O

Current Music:: Nichole Nordeman - "Legacy"
I had dinner with Neal tonight. We went out for pizza. The pizza was good. The talking was good too. Then we walked back (Applewoods is only a couple blocks down El Camino) to the apartment, at which point Neal zeroed in on my guitar. Sadly, it was too late for me to make either of my phone calls (to Scott and Eric), but their non-business-hour work schedules make it more ideal for those phone calls to happen over the next two days, anyway. Neal became mildly attached to my guitar within a few minutes, so I made him play stuff for me (he's good!) and he made me play the piddly little stuff I know (I'm definitely not good). I learned a couple new chords -- whee! Sharing music is one of the best ways I know how to connect with people. Neal also made fun of my stuffed animals and laughed at me a lot. But I laughed at him too, so I guess it's fair. ;)

Happy Birthday, Scott!!

Kari and I went to see Charlie's Angels 2 tonight. It was fun -- not totally my type of movie, but it was amusing and had a few really good moments. Jenny agrees (jenono8 (9:36:32 PM): yeah... i saw it too.. eh... i suppose it passes for entertainment). Haha! ;)

It is so satisfying to see my account statements and my Quicken records reconcile *perfectly*. :-D

Current Music:: Jimmy Wayne - "Stay Gone"
It's a dancy weekend. I went to the Doghouse again last night with Justin, Kari, and Graham (the two boys hadn't come last time). The dancing was fun, but I felt less swing-y than last weekend -- maybe because last time just had the "first time" (of the summer) excitement going for it. I danced with a lot more new people this time, which was a good change. I really like the different style I'm able to settle into when I dance with non-Stanford people, and I wish I could retain it better outside of the Doghouse. One of my most fun dances of the night was actually with Phillip, the guy who saved us last weekend by driving car-less people to the towyard -- he's an awesome dancer! It felt like nearly the whole dance was full of stuff I'd never done before, but he was crystal-clear with his leads. All in all, the night of swing dancing was a nice contrast to the previous night's waltzing.

Church was good today. I was tired, but I love my kids. The class was smaller than I remembered it, but I guess that's normal for summertime. I wish Erin were here, though! Summer brings back good memories of when we first got started in Kids Community last August. :)

I think napping is in order for this afternoon. And reading. And writing back to Chi-En. And playing my violin. So much fun stuff to choose from. :) My dad and brother are getting back from their roadtrip today!

Green tea ice cream is my favorite! :-D

Bastille Day Waltz Ball was fun. :) There were a *ton* of Waltz Week people there. Several of them came up to say hi to me because they recognized me. The Baguette Quartet played very well, although I wasn't terribly into the two dances Richard taught during the lessons: La Java and La Valse Musette. The first is kind of penguin-like (and, if you're dancing with Brian, you get the Open Mouth Version), and the second is more of a survival technique for really fast-tempo waltzes. The lesson for the Valse Musette was really scary and dangerous (the average waltzing level just wasn't high enough to handle tempos that fast) -- my ankle got stepped on, so I sat out for the rest of it and watched (in distaste) as Richard taught a version of the cross-step foxtrot for fast waltz tempos (which Jeremy called Hesitation Cross-step. I don't like it; I dislike cross-step foxtrot enough already). I rejoined the dance floor when the Amelie waltz came on (yay!) -- Brian and I defied the cross-step and danced a fast rotary instead, causing Richard to remark as we passed by: "You guys make it look so easy!" Other amusing parts of the night included watching the Opening March and one of the mixers later in the evening. I'm glad I sat out of both of those! The March lasted something like at least 15 minutes, and it was insanely crowded, and at one point the head couple led the snaking line out the door, past the refreshments table, and back into the dance hall! That was hilarious. The mixer was...interesting, but I can't think of the right words to describe it. It involved ear-pulling and cheek-kisses. Yeah -- I'm really glad I wasn't in on that one. The Alameda Vintage Dancers did a great performance of the Can-Can, which was also amusing (and shrill). Overall, I was less in my element than I usually am for FNW, but it was fun anyway. Kari and I defiantly turned the only foxtrot number into a lindy. Brian and I had a lot of good waltzes and nice, calm polkas (I like classical/folksy polkas much better than Jammix polkas; part of it is the music style, and part of it is that Jammix polkas are SCARY). I still think La Java is weird.

Quote of the Night:: "Your clothing is causing strife in the community." - Brian (to me).

It scares me a lot to see the same issues I had with formerly close friends from high school come up again in current friendships.

Strictly Ballroom was absolutely hilarious. And I will never be able to hear The Blue Danube without having this year's Opening choreography run through my head. Becky and I had lots of laughs. Thanks for the fun girl time! :)

Sorry, I had no interesting thoughts occur to me while I was at work today. Zero. Out of character, I know.

Dinner/movie/hangout with Becky tonight! We're watching Strictly Ballroom because neither of us has seen it before. Sad, yes. But we're going to fix that.

I will probably go to FNW tomorrow in Berkeley (it's a special one: Bastille Day Waltz Ball). I probably will not come back to the apartment between work and the dance (since Menlo Park is most certainly not between Foster City and Berkeley). I probably won't come back to the apartment after the dance, either. Reasons for that include Justin or Jenny or both. Them, and the fact that home is conveniently closer to Berkeley and thus requires less post-dance driving. Sleepover! (Maybe.)

Current Music:: Vanessa Carlton - "Ordinary Day"
(Another good waltz! I'm a waltz nut.)
This is crazy -- there is SERIOUS turnover in a cappella officership for next year. I am the *only* returning officer out of all eight groups. Yikes...

[From Kari's profile::]

Daily News: My at-work aways are 8-ball responses. If you see I'm away, ask a question and see what my away says. It's like a ghetto 8-ball!

The 8-ball is never wrong:

JuKa828: I DEFY YOU, COMPUTER SECURITY. I DEFY YOU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auto response from Leggz1369: outlook not so good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JuKa828: *scurries back into a corner*

Oh yeah. I had a terrifying dream about spiders last night. Not monstrous-sized spiders like in the Harry Potter 2 movie, but giant-sized ones that would still be possible to find scuttling on a wall or around a room (though the ones in my nightmare were bigger than any ones I've ever seen in real life). I think it took place in my room in our old house, the one we lived in on the other side of Castro Valley when I was in elementary school. In the dream, my dad was the only one around, and he was brave enough to try to grab ahold of the huge spider long enough to attempt to flush it down the toilet (I huddled behind the door as he walked past with it) -- but somehow the spider managed to get out of the bathroom and started running all over the place -- and then there started being MORE of them!! And the spiders were red! *shudder* I kept trying to get away but I couldn't! I was shrieking all over the place. I don't remember how it ended or at what point I woke up. *shudder* Ewwww.

I think this dream might have been prompted by the fact that the big spider that used to camp out in the corner of the ceiling in my room disappeared two nights ago. It never used to move at all, and now it's gone! Where did it go??! I'm terrified it'll crawl onto my bed. GAHHHHH. :(

Hustle dancing was...eh. I had hoped to return with some semblance of self-confidence left, which I did but only minimally. Everyone's right; that place is an entirely different world of hustle. I spent the lesson being thoroughly frightened by the teacher. The sequence being taught wasn't super complicated, but it involved styling that is really not my thing. "Act sexy" is not an operable term in Tina Body Language. Most of the night I just wanted to hide in the corner, which I actually did for probably about half the time I was there. I was really grateful there were so many Stanford guys there. I only danced one dance with a non-Stanford person, and that was toward the very end, with an older man who said he's been teaching hustle for 20 years. He pretty much narrated all the moves for me and tried them multiple times when I didn't get it the first time, which I found incredibly helpful. I can see how other people might have thought he was patronizing, but I actually really appreciated the fact that he was trying to teach me some common hustle moves that I had never seen before in my life. The various free spin moves I find the trickiest because I still can't figure out the footwork timing. And then I also cannot do the arm thing. I never know when to raise my arm, not to mention I feel absolutely ridiculous doing it, and I'm afraid of whacking partners in the face or raising my arm right when I'm supposed to duck under a different arm or something. As you can see, I did not feel good about the dancing last night. I expected that, though. Going to the Doghouse for the first time (last summer) was also a thoroughly disheartening experience. That's why I promised myself I have to give hustle at least two chances. Swing dancing and hustle dancing outside of the Stanford world is *way* different, so the first time (or maybe first several times) is always a culture shock.

I did have a couple fun salsa dances and two-steps in the middle of all the hustle last night. Those dances were like an island of calm for me, because even though I don't consider myself good at salsa, at least I didn't feel bad about not being good at it. And I always love two-steps (though the music could have been better). The night overall took a lot out of me, though. Part of it was definitely the hustle music wearing me out. Another part was probably that I wasn't dancing much, and I felt very on-edge the whole time I was there (Neal said I was "oozing fear", or something like that). Maybe it'll get better next time. Next time won't be next Tuesday, though, because I want to go back and visit the VA Dance (a weekly event with a live band for the patients and workers at the Palo Alto VA Hospital), which George, Graham, and I went to semi-regularly last summer. I haven't been back there since Testimony sang some Christmas music for them over winter tour, and even that visit was really brief because we also sang for several other wings in the hospital that night. It'll be nice to go back and see some familiar faces. I also like being there because they seem to particularly enjoy having young people around, so it's an easy thing to do to brighten someone else's day.

A few things::
1) The creator of this comic (she called it a "syndicated cartoon") emailed me today for permission to publish a few of the quotes she found on my quote page (one of which was Justin's theory that, "If Tina were a superhero, you could defeat her by singing off-key"). I was amused. I wonder what she'll do with them?
2) Calvin and Hobbes is funny today! (Well, I guess technically it was funny 11 years ago.)
3) I am finally giving in to hustle dancing tonight. There's a pretty big group of Stanford people going, so I relented. I'm scared, though. Seriously.
4) I discovered the National Do Not Call Registry (Thanks, Ben Poon!). I am going to put it to good use. You should, too.
5) There are pictures of Bryan and Theo on Theo's xanga! I miss both those boys. It's still a little weird (but very cool!) for me that they're good friends with each other and have so much in common, because they each come from a different set of "my boys" (CV and Rinc) -- sort of like a collision of my two different worlds! But it makes me happy.
6) "James Ffffffffff..." is STILL funny to me! HAHA! I miss "Fe." (Felix) and "pH." (Phil), too. ;) Ah, and the chemistry references go flying. Justin wants to be "molybdenum oxygen" (for "MoO"). *bemused sigh*

Oh yeah. I would like to announce (again) that Justin is (still) my most faithful reader. ;)

On the way to work this morning, I heard Rebecca St. James' "Wait For Me," which I feel like I haven't listened to at all since two summers ago. The song really hit me anew. It's such a great message (and a great song, too). She wrote it to her future husband, whom she has (or had?) yet to meet.

"Darling did you know that I, I dream about you
Waiting for the look in your eyes
When we meet for the first time
Darling did you know that I, I pray about you
Praying that you will hold on
Keep your loving eyes only for me

I am waiting for, praying for you, darling
Wait for me, too
Wait for me as I wait for you
I am waiting for, praying for you, darling
Wait for me, too
Wait for me, as I wait for you
Darling, wait

...
Now I know you may have made mistakes
But there's forgiveness and a second chance
So wait for me darling
Wait for me."

Sometimes music can move me even more powerfully than a good conversation or a good time of prayer. I guess God uses music to teach (and re-teach) me a lot of things.

Current Music:: Deana Carter - "We Danced Anyway"
I just spent 3.5 hours on the phone with a most special Mr. Eric Lowe. I can't remember the last time I had a 3.5 hour phone conversation with *anybody* in recent history. There are few people with whom I can do that (just talk and talk, and yet also be totally comfortable with silence), but Eric is at the top of that list. (I also never cease to be amazed by his writing.) We even had trouble cutting off the conversation when we did; it took three attempts. It was wonderful to hear his voice and catch up with each other. This song is a tribute to you, Eric (as if you wouldn't have known that -- but I have to clue in everyone else, right? (Ah, good memories of freshman year)). Thanks for being the person who knows me better than anyone else, and for caring enough to stay that way. :)

"And the band played
Songs we had never heard
But we danced anyway
We never understood the words
We just sang, oh,
La la la la la la la laa,
And we danced anyway."

Well, "another night of not enough sleep" was an understatement. Last "night" included no sleep at all until 6:00am (which was intended only to be a nap, but at 7:30 I realized that there was no way I would make it to church). The night can be summarized by The Very Good, The Very Bad, and The Good In Spite Of The Very Bad, which I will henceforth expound to the best of my (tired) ability.

The Very Good:

The dancing was just awesome. I was totally in a swing mood, and I felt responsive in my following, and I had so much fun! We had a crazy number Stanford people there -- me, Jeff, Becky, Neal, Quentin, Megan, Brian, Kari, Jeremy, Tee Sing, Big Tina, Peter, Dave, Donia, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting. Seriously, it was a *huge* Stanford crowd, which was good because I got to dance with a lot of friends, but it was also bad because it was too easy to stand off in the Stanford corner and dance only with Stanford people. It's not usually like that, though, since there are rarely so many of us there on one night, so I don't think it's a problem if we just let ourselves enjoy it last night. I was glad that I convinced Brian to come (yay!), and I also had some fun conversation with Neal (and dances, too: during our first dance he said to me, "I like dancing with you! I can do dumb stuff." He then proceeded to lead an unusual move, which I managed to follow, and he said "See?"). I had a handful of great dances with non-Stanford people, too.

Speaking of non-Stanford people, a big highlight of last night was running into -- can you believe this? -- Melissa Olaeta!!! I hadn't seen her since we graduated three years ago! It was *so* random; she was just walking by in front of me, and I barely glanced at her face as she passed, but I recognized her in an instant -- my brain was just having a hard time reconciling it in the context of the Doghouse. Once we got the squealing out of our system ("Melissa??" - "Tina??!" - "Oh my gosh!!!" - "AH!! How ARE you?!" - etc.), we tried to catch up on the basics the best we could in that kind of a setting. She is an *incredible* dancer! It was such a pleasure to watch her dance -- she dances like those really good people who are regulars at the Doghouse (you know, they tend to dance over in the area by the DJ table, and everyone is just sort of in awe of them?). I remember she was already good at dancing back in high school (well, all the Mormon choir people knew how to swing dance! I remember them giving lessons to other choir people for Pops Concert numbers), but back then I didn't really have any idea what it really meant to be "good at dancing." I was privileged to dance the last swing dance with her (we switched off lead/follow). Anyway, Melissa is back in the Bay Area only for a few weeks (her parents have moved to Concord so she's not in Castro Valley anymore), and last night happened to be her first night at the Doghouse. Even just for that reason, I'm so glad I went! She and I exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, so maybe we'll keep in touch better and see each other dancing when we're both around.

Overall, it was just a wonderful night of dancing. Unfortunately, though, it didn't stop there...

The Very Bad:

Most Stanford people left before me, since they were going to Denny's for food (and I couldn't join them since I wasn't going back to the Palo Alto area). So I walked out with some other people who were heading to the parking lot across the street. Once in the parking lot, I became very confused. MY CAR WASN'T THERE. I was listening to a couple voicemail messages, so I was half distracted, and I thought maybe I had walked into the wrong parking lot. Looking in each direction, though, I realized that there wasn't any other open parking lot on the street. So I looked around again. And again. MY CAR WASN'T THERE. It wasn't sinking in. I was *sure* I parked on the other side of that van. What could have happened to it? It couldn't possibly have been stolen, right?? What was I going to do? I was becoming increasingly confused, increasingly aware of the fact that I was alone in a parking lot in the middle of San Francisco, and increasingly scared. So I decided the best thing to do was go back inside the Doghouse building so at least I'd be safe while I made some phone calls. On the way out of the parking lot, I overheard two guys (one of whom I had danced with) and two girls talking heatedly about calling City Tow. *WHAM* -- it hit me -- had my car been TOWED? I went over to ask these people what had happened, and they asked if my car had been towed too. I said, "Well, my car's not here, and I'm just really confused right now." It turns out that the two guys, Jason and Larry, had had their cars towed too (Connie and Amy were Larry's friends), and apparently this kind of thing had been happening regularly since a couple weeks ago. What happened was that the parking lot had changed ownership hands recently, and since the guy who used to be in the parking lot collecting money wasn't there, none of us had paid for parking. *Every* time I've been to the Doghouse there had been someone collecting money, and I didn't know where to pay since he wasn't there (only later did I see the little self-pay box under a badly lit sign in a badly lit corner). Several people each week have been getting screwed by the towing people -- it's absolutely ridiculous.

The five of us went back inside to see if we could find out how exactly to get our cars back. At this point I was just unspeakably thankful that I wasn't alone (if I hadn't found these people, I would have had to call and bother Brian (who was at home with his family in SF) because I was pretty freaked out). The four of them looked in their mid-20's, so I felt safe and comfortable with them. Back inside the Doghouse, we found a guy named Phillip who had had his car towed last week. He was SO nice about helping us out. He stuffed all five of us into his car (since I was the smallest person, I assumed my usual sitting position at the edge of the backseat, squished up behind the passenger seat -- exactly like I was sitting when 4 of us were crammed into Jeremy's backseat during Waltz Weekend), and drove us over to the tow place. Phillip tried to follow the tow truck that we saw enter the parking lot (it took *another* car), but the driver guy was really scary! He turned down the wrong direction on a small one-way street because he was trying to lose us (I don't know why he didn't want us to follow him), and when he pulled over to see what we wanted, he was really evasive about answering our questions. He was really gruff and creepy and scary-looking, and he finally darted in and out of the cab just long enough to hand Phillip a business card with the tow place's address on it. So we drove over there (it took maybe about 10 minutes; a couple exits down on the freeway), but no one was there to answer the door. Jason (who was, incidentally, the only non-Asian out of all of us) called the number on the card, and we were told that we'd have to wait an hour until someone would be back at the towyard to process our paperwork. It was going to cost $316 to get our cars out, but at that point we just wanted to get the whole thing over with. Actually, it was after 1:00am at that point, so my main worry was getting back to Castro Valley in time to take my mom to the airport -- we had planned to leave home at 3:30, since their flight was at 6:00. That meant that I had less than two hours to get my car back, and time was ticking.

Phillip was nice enough to take us back to his apartment (he lives in SF) to wait for the hour, and then he drove us back around 2:30. It took about half an hour to get everything cleared, so I was running significantly late for the airport run, but not late enough to freak out about it. I got home at 3:45, collapsed on the couch for 10 minutes, left again at 4:00, turned back because my mom forgot something, and left home for real at 4:15. I dropped them off at the airport at 5:00, drove back to my apartment by about 5:30, spent a little time outside enchanted by the sunrise, and (after debating whether I should just stay up straight through until going to church) finally died onto my bed at 6:00. I REALLY didn't want to flake on Kids Community this morning -- the coordinator specifically asked whether I'd be able to help this week since the other regular volunteer for my class is out of town, so I felt especially obligated to be there -- but I felt like a crumpled piece of paper when I tried to get up at 7:30, and I realized it would be a very bad idea to try to drive down to San Jose. Even if I made it there, I probably wouldn't have been able to make it back. So I collapsed back into a fitful sleep until about noon.

MORAL OF THE STORY:: If you're going to the Doghouse, DO NOT PARK IN THE LOT ACROSS THE STREET. I don't trust it anymore, even if I figure out how to work the self-pay box. I'm never parking there again.

The Good In Spite Of The Very Bad:

Even though all that sucked, I feel incredibly fortunate that it played out the way it did. I wasn't alone, and I didn't even have to make my own phone calls to scary people. Phillip was like the epitome of The Good Samaritan -- he stayed up an extra three hours to drive us back and forth to the towyard, he brought us into his home, and he fed us sandwiches, chips, and drinks during the wait. I met five very nice people, and we had some fun conversation ("Tell us something about yourself that makes you nerdy or geeky -- like, what would you say if you had to convince God you were geeky in order to get into heaven?"). I was safe, warm, fed, and in good company. From this, I would like to conclude that God is cool. I'm tired of writing, so you can connect your own dots. ;)

Current Music:: Martina McBride - "Concrete Angel"
Mm, it's been a nice, relaxing Saturday. Justin and I stayed up late talking yet again, but that's okay because there's no work today! I've started re-reading "Mere Christianity," because a couple good friends of mine have read it recently at my recommendation, so it'll be good to discuss it with a better memory of what C.S. Lewis wrote (since I haven't read it since freshman year) -- plus, it's just a great book, and you can probably never read it too many times. Jeremy brought over his copy of the Viennese Ball 2001 video today, so we watched the Opening Ceremonies plus all the other competitions and performances from that year, looking out for cool stuff we liked (or things we disliked enough to want to avoid). It was interesting to see all the older generation of dance people involved various groups, and to see what everyone looked like two years ago. I had a strange detached feeling seeing it all because I realized that March 2001 was long before I started dancing at all. It was akin to the feeling I get when I look at photos of my parents or relatives from before I was born. Anyway, that was interesting. Now I'm just getting ready to leave for swing dancing at the Doghouse -- we've got a pretty big Stanford contingent going tonight (Big Tina is back for the weekend!), and I've been feeling like going swing dancing after the past few weeks' predominant waltz flavor. I'm looking forward to it enough that I don't mind another night of not enough sleep, since I'll be driving my mom and aunt to the airport in the middle of the night, and I'll still be going down to San Jose for Kids Community early in the morning. Hopefully I'll have more fun than I did at last week's FNW. :) It'll be my first time there since January (which was the only time at all since last summer)!

Kari just got back, and she brought me pretty flowers and a stuffed piggy (another one to add to my collection. But what do I call this one??), though for no apparent reason. Isn't she sweet? :)

Today = good food, free stuff, fun games, paychecks (finally! They kept screwing up), unexpected surprises -- AND it's Friday. Yay!

Okay, I lied. Instead of amending my previous post, I'm just going to write a new one. So, the luncheon was...amusing. The intern coordinators were trying REALLY hard to get everyone into Hawaiian spirit. Each table had a "Hawaii Trivia" quiz, there was a hula hoop contest (the people who won were amazing), and a handful of raffle prizes were given out (e.g. Super-Soaker waterguns, banana split dishes, and other neon-colored stuff). At the end, everyone received an Applied Biosystems t-shirt (with Hawaiian print, kind of like my CVHS Class of 2000 shirt) and an Applied Biosystems beach towel. The latter made me laugh. A lot.

The scavenger hunt was fun but badly organized. Someone stole the whole envelope at the second clue location! Booo! So things sort of fell apart after that. And a couple of the clues were really stupid. But a couple of them were really clever and fun to figure out, so overall I had a good time. It was very reminiscent of the Mini-Game we had at the end of Sophomore College, except on an even smaller scale. Basically, it was just lots of people running around the campus scribbling furiously onto pieces of paper. No cars allowed (new rule this year). Anyway, it was fun. :)

And I have a pretty blue lei! Yay! (Haha, that rhymes!)

The luncheon ended a little early, so I have a few minutes before heading off to the scavenger hunt. Robert, the other intern, attacked me with a lei. However, it was blue, so I surrendered. Oops, time to go. There will be more in this entry later.

Current Music:: Joy Williams - "Every Moment"
This song is a good waltz. A fast waltz. :) And it has particularly happy lyrics! I want to dance to this. :)

If it weren't for an email reminder that was sent out at the end of the workday today, I would have completely forgotten that tomorrow is the Intern/Mentor Luncheon. It has a "Surf in to Summer" theme, and they want to have a "Best Dressed Islander" contest -- ah, geez. I'm tempted not to dress up at all, but I suppose I'll be a good sport and wear my brother's Hawaiian shirt which I borrowed for Testimony's Spring Show two months ago (oops. But I don't think he wears it anymore). If it weren't for a reminder from my supervisor Mike (who is now back from being away for moving), I would *also* have completely forgotten that tomorrow afternoon is the Company Scavenger Hunt, for which he recruited me to be on his team a couple weeks ago. So there really shall be no work done once lunch hour comes tomorrow, but who's complaining? ;) I've been really sick of staring at DNA sequences all day long, so this will be a nice break.

Tonight has been an interesting night for unexpected conversations with people I knew in high school. Matt was actually online (he only is once in a blue moon), so we chatted in a typical fashion for us nowadays (short, and fairly distanced). The other person I was surprised to get an IM from was Marcia Wong! I carpooled with her and her sister for all of high school. I would consider Marcia the person responsible for introducing me to Avalon. I remember how, on the way to school, we'd always be listening to: 1) 101.3 or a similar radio station, 2) VeggieTales songs, or 3) Avalon's "A Maze of Grace" album. Actually, she told me a funny story tonight: the car she used to drive was nicknamed "CCM" -- or the "Chucky Cheese Mobile" -- because it once had nacho cheese smeared all over it in the CVHS parking lot. I definitely didn't know that before!! Anyway, talking with her was surprisingly non-strained and actually very encouraging. I usually expect conversations like these (that is, with people whom I don't regularly keep in contact) to be rather wide-sweeping and superficial (not that it's not better than nothing! I'd still rather hear from people briefly than not at all). But this was actually a real conversation, and I felt safe telling her about some of the changes I'm going through in my life right now. That's significant because she graduated Matt's year (1999) so that means she *really* only knew the high-school-me. On top of that, I think I may even have gotten some closure about things that used to be a big part of my life back then but are no longer. Sometimes hearing things confirmed by someone else is an integral part of healing. And tonight I heard something very important confirmed. It's amazing how fellowship in Christ gives you such strong common ground that it can reach across even long stretches of time and changes in character. I was excited to hear that she'll be spending the next year on staff with Campus Crusade at Columbia! She just graduated from Duke and is still applying to med school, but I think the Crusade internship will have a lot in store for her for the coming year.

Due to getting wrapped up in those conversations, though, I didn't finish writing Chi-En a response to her letter. It was exciting to get mail from her the other day, so I'm hoping to send her something back in a timely manner. I really miss her! I wish she were around closer this summer. She's busy with LAUP (Los Angeles Urban Project, with InterVarsity), so there's not much opportunity for communication. I look forward to next month when it should be easier to keep in touch with her. Since I don't have very many close relationships with girls, it's really noticeable when the person with whom I usually find the most friendship and fellowship is gone. Of course I love my guy friends and all, but girls need girls. For some reason, that's an area of difficulty for me -- it's odd that I have so many close friendships with guys instead. I'm working on it, though.

And with that, I shall leave you guys with a Moo-ism...
TPiglette: I think the root of the problem
JuKa828: is irrational
JuKa828: HAHAHAHAAHAH
JuKa828: get it?

A lesson that sometimes needs to be re-learned:: God can't heal pain until you give it up.

It feels like a lot of what God brought up for me in Spain is being tested through fire. Why am I getting new Arrows that just land in the same old wound? If I'm supposed to be learning that it's a lie, why is life throwing me more supporting evidence? I'm sure there's a purpose for it, but it's still difficult. Difficult because it spans across so many of my relationships with different people. I guess that's what makes these Arrows hard to conquer. But at least it feels like a fight.

Hahahaha:

TPiglette (7:31:12 PM): Hey Qi!
unennennennium (7:31:16 PM): sup?
unennennennium (7:31:19 PM): how are you?
unennennennium (7:31:41 PM): I need to dance.
unennennennium (7:31:43 PM): :-)
unennennennium (7:31:52 PM): have you guys started on the Choreo yet?

He doesn't waste a second. ;)

Many thanks to Tracey for clueing me in! Even though there's already a link in my comments box, I think this article deserves to be linked in a real blog entry. That is so cool. Wow.

Most of you probably don't understand why I'm so swept away by this, but it just really resonates with my heart for music ministry. This is what I think music has the power to do. It's just so amazing.

I can't believe it. On the way to work about an hour ago, I heard MercyMe's "I Can Only Imagine" being played on *101.3*!!! I seriously triple-checked my radio dial and then double-checked it *again* just to make sure that I was really reading the number correctly. Star 101.3 is definitely not a Christian radio station. (Hey, cool -- the website itself confirms that my ears and eyes weren't just making it up!) But I guess the musical style of "I Can Only Imagine" does fit in fairly well with some of the music they usually play. I was just shocked to hear a CCM song on a non-CCM station. Pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. That just never happens. Wow.

Current Music:: Strauss - Walzer, Op. 388: "Rosen aus dem Suden"
I opted out of hustle dancing (again) in favor of a quiet evening with my violin, some overdue correspondence, "Changes That Heal", and a couple boxes of old photos. It was so nice to play my violin and work out some of the kinks that were plaguing my arms and fingers after many months of instrumental negligence. When Justin and I played through a couple Bach duets the other night, I was disgusted by how thoroughly I had lost my precision, but tonight much of it returned after some real drilling of scales and arpeggios (at least, improvement up until that all-too-familiar, difficult-to-pass plateau). I actually think that good bow control is much harder to get back than left-hand fingering. I'm not sure how it is for other people, but that's been my experience. Tonight I read through several old concertos I played during high school (Bach in a minor, Haydn in G, Mozart No. 4, etc. ...a fairly standard assortment) before I settled on my beloved Mendelssohn for a good 45 minutes. I really love that piece -- it has so much character and variety within it. I was surprised to find that a lot of the fingering patterns were still in my muscle memory, even after five years! (That's good, because I've lost the printed violin part and am left with just the piano score, which doesn't have any of my fingering or bowing written on it.) I think I'm much more musically intimate with the Mendelssohn than a lot of other stuff I've played in the past (the Lalo definitely comes in second, but it doesn't quite compare) -- and I guess that makes sense since they're the two pieces I actually worked on with an orchestral accompaniment for several months. It was really good to get my violin muscles working again. It felt like...home, really. :) I'd like to get back into tolerably good shape this summer, since I expect I may be taking lessons of some sort come Fall Quarter.

I didn't get around to starting work on a photo album like I had planned, but it was fun to flip through old boxes and compile a vague catalog of what photographic treasures I have stored away. I have a lot of stuff (particularly from high school) with which I just never got around to doing something creative. One of my projects for the summer is to organize these mementos into albums or scrapbooks.

I also intend to take advantage of the time I have available to read, since that just really never happens when I'm at school (it's often difficult enough just remembering to make time for daily prayer). Bryan recommended today that I read "Timeline" by Michael Crichton. Anyone else want to add suggestions for my reading list?

Other news:: We've finally decided which polka and waltz pieces we're going to use for the Opening choreography. I have finished reading Harry Potter 5. Chi-En sent me (and Kari, and Justin c/o us) a real letter (yay!). Work has been monotonous recently -- just a lot of repetitive computer work to crunch through the sequencing data -- but it's going well enough. I actually had a conversation (online) of significant length with Bryan today, which was a treat (I miss you!).

I'll leave you guys with something cute. We were given little goody-bags this Sunday at Kids' Community, with notes that said:
[ Kids' Community Volunteer Survival Kit ]
- A rubber band to remind you to be flexible and to help you snap back when you're stretched too thin.
- A hug and a kiss to let you know that you are loved. Let God's love be your strength.
- A paper clip to hold yourself together on the crazy days when the service goes 10 minutes over.
- A puzzle piece to remind you that you are an important part of the larger picture that God is putting together.
- A life saver for the times when you need to know that God is strong in your weakness.
- A coin to remind you of your value to the children and parents of our church.
- A snickers for when you need a good laugh.

I think it's a pretty good survival kit for life in general. :)

Quotes from watching Harry Potter 2 in Spanish last night::
- "He doesn't look like a Fang; he looks like a Drool." - Graham
- "If only we had a big *pig*, we could have a big Charlotte's Web!" - Kari, during the Aragog part
- "Lavanse las manos...ANTES DE TRABAJAR!" - Kari, creating her own narration, during the Chamber-opening part

I've also updated my quote page for the first time in 4 months. There are some old ones in there that were fun to relive. Enjoy!

Tina-the-Airport-Shuttle is still operating regularly. I picked up Jeff from SFO after work last night (but now he's staying put for the next 6 weeks, finally!). This weekend I'll be driving my mom and aunt to the airport in the middle of the night for their departure to Alaska, where they'll be going on a week-long cruise. And then I'll be picking them up after work 2 Wednesdays after that. So I'm definitely getting to know the local airports more intimately than usual. But that's okay, I don't mind helping out.

Justin and I never run out of things to talk about. It's fun, but sometimes (like today) it means that we end up really tired. Ah well. Thanks, Moo.

It's been a very pleasant weekend. Yesterday included going to dim-sum with my mom and aunt, some afternoon quiet time, some piano time, an afternoon walk at Lake Chabot (a place which has far too many Matt memories for comfort, but at least they don't always ambush me), a yummy home-cooked dinner, and watching "Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets." Today, I finally went back to Kids Community, which was fun! The classes were very underattended due to the holiday weekend, but it gave me a chance to catch up with Jim, the main teacher (it's really amusing how you can have conversations right over the kids' heads, literally). Jim is totally hilarious. When he's teaching or just talking to the kids, he sticks in humor that he knows only Connie and I will understand, which gives us the difficult task of trying to crack up as quietly as possible. It's so much fun being in his class. I am a little sad because summertime means that some kids will be transitioning into a higher class (one of my favorite girls has already made the switch...*sniff*). But it also means we'll be getting new kids, so that'll be good too. I attended the second-hour service by myself, since the people I normally go to church with aren't here for the summer, but I didn't mind. It was good to hear Pastor Keith again, and to have some real worship. It's been awhile. So it's great to be back. Tonight I'm picking up Justin from the airport, and then we're going to play some violin duets! I'm excited!

Oh goodness, I can't sleep. My mom and I watched the 2nd Harry Potter movie tonight. It was SCARY! I HATE SPIDERS! Ewwwwww. Snakes, too. EW. You all would have laughed at me because I was, at times, I was hiding behind my towel (I had just showered, after dinner). (Sorry if you haven't seen it, but it's been out for a long time so I don't feel bad mentioning the creepy parts. Besides, you all should have read Harry Potter by now. Come on, you know you want to.)

Ewwww. *shudder*

But I kind of want to watch it in Spanish! (Not now, of course. Never again at night.)

My mom is telling "When Tina Was Little" stories today. Evidently, I used to be scared of fireworks. I would cover my ears tightly and yell, "Moooommy! It's scary!!" (well, I yelled it in Chinese). And then, sometime when I was 2 or 3, we were driving around in the car and I pointed out the window and exclaimed, "Fireworks!" (again in Chinese, since I didn't know English yet, but this time not sounding scared). My parents were utterly confused, and kept asking, "Where?" until they realized I was pointing at the palm trees. I kept calling them "firework trees." Hmm...I wonder what other stories she's going to bust out with tonight...

One great thing about being home: there's a piano! I love how I can just sit down and fiddle around and sightread music and just be myself.

That's one of the main differences I've noticed between music and dance, actually. With dance, you're sort of obligated to be happy. You dance with a partner, so if you're not feeling 100% happy and enjoying the moment, there's always some level of play-acting going on (especially if it's not someone you know very well). At least, there is for me. So dance can be hard if you're not in the right mood for it. But music, on the other hand... I can be whatever I want when I'm playing (or listening to) music. It doesn't matter how I feel -- I can just *be*. I'm not obligated to be happy. I can bring whatever I want of myself to the music. And I love that.

JuKa828 (2:08:18 AM): TLBY
JuKa828 (2:08:24 AM): AKY
JuKa828 (2:08:33 AM): TLSHFUY
TPiglette (2:08:37 AM): HAHAHA
JuKa828 (2:08:47 AM): i can't stop halfway through!

Note to dancers out there:: Something you don't want to say to one of your partners: "Have you been practicing your waltz? Did you do Waltz Week? Because I see a marked improvement." Because if you think it's a compliment, well, it's really not. And it won't be taken as one.

Boo to tactless guys and creepy guys and overall what turned out to be a mediocre night of dancing. Sigh.

Stars in the sky. So many tonight. I wish I were one of them. Far, far away.

Happy Birthday, Felix!

And Happy 4th of July!

I'm trying to decide whether to spend Friday or Saturday, or both, at home with my mom. Implicit in that decision is the issue of Friday Night Waltz. To go or not to go? Good question. I'm very undecided. In any case, I'm really looking forward to returning to The River and Kids Community this Sunday. It has been way too long since I've last been at church. I miss it very much.

I just took out all the trash, put away the new groceries, and folded my clean laundry. I am strangely happier. :)

Add Posthumus' "Nara" to that list. Brian sent it to me last night (the one we danced to for his birthday waltz because it's one of his favorites). Mmm...awesome waltz.

I'm grateful it's a short workweek. Oh, and I'm feeling significantly better today. I always do. :)

Songs I've been hearing a lot on the radio::
- Lonestar - "My Front Porch Lookin' In"
- Lee Ann Womack - "I Hope You Dance"
- Daniel Bedingfield - "If You're Not The One"
- Vanessa Carlton - "A Thousand Miles"
- Dixiechicks - "Landslide"
- Matchbox 20 - "Unwell"
- Avalon - "Everything To Me"
- Kristy Starling - "Water"
- Shane & Shane - "Be Near"
- Twila Paris - "We Bow Down"
- Faith Hill - "Breathe"
- Faith Hill - "Cry"
- Jimmy Wayne - "Stay Gone"

Other music recently on my playlist::
- Brassworks - "Kalia's Waltz" (Metamora Waltz)
- Strauss (Walzer, Op. 263) - "Live, Laugh, Love" (Waltz Week's Exhibition Viennese Waltz)
- Vertical Horizon - "Finding Me"
- Plumb - "Stranded"
- Rockapella - "People Change"
- Fusion - "China In Your Hand"
- Big Daddy Weave - "Audience of One"
- Vienna Teng - "Between"
- Kristin Gundred & Joey Crane - "Another Day"
- Jonathan Lipps - "Hold Your Breath and Look To Heaven"

Right. Time for bed.

Blarrrg. Pain sucks. I am going to leave work early because I can barely sit up straight. Tonight will definitely just involve eating something small so I can take Advil, curling up in bed, and sleeping or reading Harry Potter. It would be nice to just skip tonight and have it be tomorrow already.

Tonight was fun! We surprised Brian with a birthday cake! After a much-needed post-work nap, I went over to Alicia's apartment in Kingscote and we baked a yummy lemon cinnamon-swirl cake (plus some adventurous frosting, which took us two batches to get right). She and Kristina and I went over to Studio 1 (where I'd never been before) around 11:30, which gave us plenty of time to come up with the idea of giving him a birthday countdown. "10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" Good times! (I sound like Justin....) I think Brian liked the cake, but I'm not entirely sure because he kept saying stuff like, "Well, I'm not dead yet." We also gave him a birthday waltz (four times up and down the hall, with me, then Alicia, and then switching lead/follow with each of us) and a birthday DDR game (during which I was pressured into taking one measly turn. That game really isn't my thing). I had an unusual amount of fun giving him his birthday card. It went something like this: "How to draw a cake: [insert four increasingly-complete scrawly drawings of a chicken.] [Then, at the bottom in the right-hand corner is written:] Mmm...chicken cake." HAHAHA! So random! And so appropriate for Brian! ;)

Each of the past two nights I have acquired new reading material. Last night Jeff lent me "Changes That Heal" (a book he's read four times), and tonight Brian lent me the new Harry Potter book. I also dug out an old devotional that I've never read, because at the time that it was given to me, I was in the middle of a different devotional book. So now I have plenty to keep me occupied. Summers are great.

Anyway, back to the real topic of this post:
Happy Birthday, Brian!
You're so old! Compared to me, at least. ;)

I know I'm up late again and I'm going to be tired again tomorrow, but it's all worth it. What are naps for, anyway?

Change of plans. No dancing for me.

- I forgot my security badge today. Boo.
- About half an hour ago, a plastic eraser cap flew over my cubicle wall and bounced off the extra chair. I still haven't figured out where it came from. I'm so confused...
- Speaking of office adventures, you all should hear about The Resident Brontosaurus at Kari's workplace. If we're lucky maybe I can get her to tell a story in the comment box...
- My supervisor came in for half a day today, much to my relief. He was MIA yesterday, which was supposed to be our one overlapping day between me being gone for Waltz Week and him being gone to move houses. But this morning we went over what I should be doing while he's gone, so I feel much better.
- My dad and brother are leaving on a road trip today. Have fun; I'll miss you!
- Tonight there shall be hustle dancing (assuming I have the energy). Gary, who's probably the most well-known hustle performer at Stanford, is offering a lesson to the Stanford contingent going tonight.
- Tomorrow morning I'm taking Jeff to the airport (a different one) on the way to work. I'm sort of his airport shuttle for the next couple weeks. ;)

I had no idea that Jeff Lee and I have so much in common. We talked for a super long time after I picked him up from the airport (through getting food for him and then, before we knew it, until 1:00am). So I'm really tired again today, but it was well worth it. It was unexpectedly refreshing to find someone who not only shares my Type-A-ness ;-), but also a lot of my cultural background and other personality tendencies -- and someone around whom I don't feel the slightest hesitation in relating it all back to God. Sometimes it's not easy being a perfectionist and Asian and introverted and the oldest child and Christian and a dancer and a leader, all at the same time. Thanks for an incredibly encouraging conversation, Jeff (since I know you read this). :) That was the first time in a long time I've had a conversation flow so easily.