Katrina Relief Urban Plunge

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my first and last spring break I'll ever experience at Northeastern. Now why do I say that? Because I will be on co-op for the rest of my spring semesters after this year and will not be able to take a week off just to do whatever the heck I want to. Originally I had planned to go to New York with my roommates and just hang out in the city. I wanted to show them my hometown and what kind of environment I grew up in and how it's changed me into who I am today. But after talking to some people, I figured it would be best to spend my last spring break ever to do something life changing; I decided to go with InterVarsity to New Orleans to build houses and change lives.

The trip will start off with a 27 hour bus ride (don't ask me how I'm going to survive, because chances are I won't and I'll go insane) followed by a tour of the New Orleans disaster areas and where we'll be working. When the weekday starts up, we will begin to gut houses, build walls, and even knock down some. After a long day of manual labor, we're going to debrief, and settle into the word of God and... I don't really know, which is why I really have no idea what I'm going to expect.

I bought myself a moleskine book from Barnes and Nobles yesterday and I'm really excited to write in it throughout my trip. It's not going to be like any other journal I've had. Instead, it's going to be spiritually based and Christ Centered. I've always wanted a place where I can organize all my thoughts during fellowship and church, and I finally found the right book to! Plus, I get to finally use my awesome Hi-tech pens from Taiwan :) I wrote my first entry in it last night about my thoughts, prayers, and what the journal itself is going to be consisted of. Basically everything I just wrote above, and then some. There are a few private thoughts that I've reserved for my printed journal only. I figured it's time to stop posting all my private thoughts on the public database we call the Internet, which is why I'm really happy with my moleskine purchase. YAY!

A few prayer points I'd like to make for all you who still follow me:

• Pray for my safety as well as the others that I'm traveling with and pray that we'll change not just the people of New Orleans' lives but the lives of the people we're working with; especially those who are non-believers and are seeking.
• Pray that the non-believers will be open minded and the Holy Spirit will be able to work in their hearts as they begin to seek God.
• Pray that we will be continually renewed spiritually and physically so that we may be able to do God's work with all our heart, mind, and strength.
• and last but not least, pray that God's love will penetrate through our words and our actions throughout the week.

Thanks! I'll update in a week, after I get back with pictures, laughs, love, and lols.

Risk Taking

I feel like I'm constantly living in the moment, trying to seek out the next most exciting thing I can do while I'm young. In this year alone, I've ran around Orlando Studios with my sister going on every life-threatening roller coaster out there, I'm planning to go to New Orleans this spring break for Katrina relief, I'm going to go skydiving sometime this year, and I'm going all the way to China this summer to study Chinese and have a life changing break despite the fact that I may experience culture shock.

While all these plans are accumulating in my head, the one question that keeps popping up is when is the next time I'll be able to do that? That's the one thing that's driving me and I'm really excited to see where it takes me. I want to look back on this year through all my photos and just reminisce on how each event has changed me and what each moment has brought to me, whether that's a higher GPA, a new skill learned, or closer friendships. It's in my personality to be restless, and I would hate to waste my time doing things I could do some other time in the future. It's not every day that I'll be able to go on a plane and jump 2500 feet up in the air. It's not every day that I'll be able to go to China and learn about Chinese culture with THAT group of people. These once-in-a-lifetime events are what I'm after, what I'm craving, what I WANT.

With that being said, it drives me INSANE when people don't see my decision making as wise. They then try to avoid experiences that I force myself through simply because they want to live life safely. They want to do things that they could do during any other break because it's safe and comfortable. I'm sick of being in my comfort zone all the time. I'm sick of trying to convince them to look through my perspective. It's time to back away from them and let them live their lives. It's my time to venture out while I still have the time and money.

A New Year, A New Me

Not really. Just because it's a change of a year doesn't necessarily mean anything's different. I realized that I have neglected this page for way too long so now it is time to UPDATE!

School started in early January and it's been treating me well. Classes are amazing as always, with the exception of orgo, and friends are amazing as always. It's nice to know that I no longer have to worry about stuff like trying to plug myself in somewhere. I've already settled into college with a home church to permanently go to, and a solid group of friends that I can constantly go to in times of need. All I have to worry about now is my paper for my Inquiries to Arts and Humanities class and remember to post on discussion boards in Blackboard. It's all a matter of time management and trying to figure out where my time goes.

Lately though, I've gotten very lazy and apathy has steadily increased. My care for the world just doesn't exist. I hate volunteering my time and I hate talking about politics and social justice. Tell me again why I'm in a Social Justice Honors class and I'm giving up my last spring break ever to go to New Orleans to rebuild houses from the Hurricane Katrina disaster? Maybe there's some kind of message going on here. But in any case, it's not just my care for the world but my care for my own education as well. I'm no longer putting in as much time as effort as I did my first week of the new semester. I constantly procrastinate and push everything off until last minute. It's a terrible habit that I really need to kick, especially if I want to increase my GPA to get a nice co-op next year.

My summer plans are finally kicked into gear. I've submitted everything for my application to be a TA at CTY, my application to be an OL on Northeastern's campus this summer, and I've already been selected for the China Dialogue for all of July and August. All that's left now is to decide which one to choose. As of now, I haven't really given much thought to CTY because my chances of getting in are very slim and I could honestly care less about the program. I think I might drop the application altogether if I get into the OL program because I just don't want to deal with telephone interviews; I don't have time for them. I REALLY want to be an OL but it's such a competitive program, so I'm hoping and praying that I'll get the job. I wrote an amazing song for my 5-7 minute presentation during my interview, and I honestly LOVE the school SO much; I don't see why I won't get the job (just sayin'). My meeting for my China Dialogue is tomorrow so I'm hoping I will love the people there because if I don't then there's not chance in hell I'm going. I want to be able to like the people there so I can enjoy my summer and have fun. Hopefully everything works out. I'm leaving it in God's hands.

There was really no meaning in this post. I guess it was more to update on life and whatnot. It's Chinese New Year for another 2 minutes so Gong Xi Fah Tsai, Gong Hay Fat Choi to all!

I miss home cooked Chinese food :(