My storm calmed

Last Thursday in our Group Investigating God (GIG), we sent people off with the challenge to identify a storm in their lives and to trust that Jesus would take care of them and calm the storm.

Today, Jesus calmed my storm. Because of Bro-Sis week and banquet, I only had last night to finish my mounds of reading for today. Even after staying up til 6am trying to finish my reading, I still had some left. But God saved me and stretched time by canceling my first class so that I had an extra hour and a half to get my readings done! HALLELUJAH! God is good.

Bro-sis Banquet: Bro Revealed

To top off the end of Brother Sister Appreciation week, the girls threw a banquet for the guys to show our appreciation for them. This was the first year that there was a theme: Southern.

Outfits: plaid, sundresses, boots
Food: soul food
Decorations: jars with straw, cotton flowers, etc
Entertainment: Shooting turkeys, cow tipping, chewing gum spittoon, etc

Man, it was such a happy celebration. The week of secrecy is over :( But the appreciating doesn't have to stop!

The picture above is with my amazing secret brother Phil. He spoiled me rotten with his thoughtful gifts and haikus. I can't wait to get to know him more! :)

Bro-sis Day 5

Bro, thanks for the encouragement, the career fair went really well! By the way, I really loved today's Haiku - it's my type of humor.

Haikus can be fun,
But they don't always make sense.
Refrigerator.

Thank you so much for the WashU Camelbak Nalgene water bottle. I've wanted it since last year's bro-sis, but someone thought I was their secret sis and got me a bottle. But it turned out I wasn't the sister, so another sister got a random water bottle haha. There was a period of about a month where I had one of these water bottles, but I lost it :( So thank you! Now I have no reason to be dehydrated :)

Bro-sis Day 4

Brother, you are simply amazing. Matt Choi came to deliver my present, which was wrapped in red tissue paper with a blue origami lotus flower as the bow. Today's haiku read, "A rainy Thursday. This small treat from Italy, Makes clouds go away." IT SURE DID! I don't know how you knew that my favorite pasta is Pasta Carbonera, but I ate it all up in front of Matt and made him pretty jealous :)

Also, today was the first day of my second-semester GIG! GIG= groups investigating God, which is a safe place where non-Christians can engage with the Bible and learn more about who this Jesus person is. We went over the Mark passage where Jesus calms the storm. The invitation was to identify storms in our lives where we are afraid, and to bring it to Jesus and trust that he will calm it and take care of us. I'm excited for next week!

Bro-sis Day 3

I nearly died today when I saw my gift. First, I had to open the blue and yellow box, and a message read, "Fruit is sometimes nice, But cases are never fun. Power up with rice!" Then I had to lift up the pull tab, and there was a paper crane with a Bible verse, "Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak and slack, for your work shall be rewarded" from 2 Chronicles 15:7. Then, I unwrapped my gift and found pineapple fried rice in a pineapple! Bro, you truly are amazing. It tasted delicious and looked so beautiful, and I don't know if you know, but pineapple fried rice is my favorite fried rice! In addition, I was planning on pulling an all nighter on my case, so when this was delivered at 11pm, I nearly died of happiness. Thank you so much!

Bro-sis Day 2

BROTHER! Why are you so amazing? I LOVE today's gift! You were really creative in showing Park Mudd colors and the pirate flag :) The wrapping was red, white and black tissue paper, with a fork "flag" sticking out of it with the message, "Forget the snowman, Here is a smiley fruit man; all organic fruit." You even spelled out my name in mango... mad skills bro. Not only do I love mango, I REALLY like being organic. And the fruit man is so cute! I wonder if he looks like you... :)

Bro-sis Day 1

Today is day one of one of the most epic ACF weeks of the year: Brother Sister Appreciation week.

Brother, you must have read my mind, because every time I thought of a gift I wanted, I got it! First, I wanted so badly to ride on the Horse and Buggy that was on campus for George Washington week. Right when I was thinking that, it pulled up behind me and the lady asked me if I wanted a ride to the DUC! Success! Then, I was wishing that I could get a stress buster session with Kevin Liang, the only other masseuse better than me. Lo and behold, when I walked into Bear's Den, he was ready to give me a massage! So thanks brother for reading my mind!

When I got back to the dorm, Nolan brought me my real present. (I wonder how you know Nolan). I opened the red and blue origami box, and inside was a custom-made fortune cookie that said:

"To my dear Sister,
Something for your Monday thirst
Remember, shake first."

Along with that was an aloe drink bottle that was wrapped in matching red tissue paper and light blue ribbon. Bro, I really like my present. The custom made fortune cookie was really creative and thoughtful, and you somehow knew that I have been dehydrated for a long time and needed a drink. Thanks!! I can't wait to see what else you have in store :)

Recurring Dreams

I've been wanting to write a post on all my recurring dreams, so here it is. Anybody able to interpret my dreams?

1. Location: amusement park. I will almost always walk past the spinning dumbo-like ride on my way towards the fastest and tallest roller coaster. And it is almost always right after a thunderstorm, so the ground and rides are still wet, and the sky is dark. Most times I never make it onto the ride, and other times I get on, but find out halfway through that my seat belt isn't working, so I have to hold on to dear life to make sure I don't fall out. (Had this dream last night)

2. Location: a giant mall. There are three locations that I usually end up in: the food court, the department store, and the elevator. With the food court, I know I want a certain type of food to eat, but I keep wandering around to look for it and can never find it, so I just settle for something else. In the department store, I almost always have to walk past the perfume area to get to the discounted backpack area. (For almost all of high school, I was obsessed with buying a new backpack.) Finally, the elevator is always the freakiest, because it is never a normal elevator. Once, it was a lounge-type of area with circular red velvet cloth. You sit in it, and it spins, and then you're on the right floor. Other types of elevators are ones that are on the 100th floor and drop really quickly to the first floor. Scary.

3. I really need to pee in my dream, so I rush to a bathroom, but can never find a good stall. The seats are missing, or there's no door/stalls, or the toilet is clogged. Therefore, I usually settle for the working toilet with no door that is far from everyone else, but the moment that I begin to pee, a massive crowd of people walk my way and stop in front of my stall and I can never move/escape without exposing everything.

4. While boogie boarding or collecting shells on the beach, I see that the waves are getting bigger and bigger. I run further up shore to higher land, and keep running until I am against a building. Then the wave becomes so large that it smashes me into the ground or into the building. Sometimes, I even make it into the beach condo, and the wave still crashes into the window and comes through. Can never seem to escape it.

5. I'm inside a building and a tornado is so close that I can see it. After a mad dash of trying to find shelter, the tornado rips through the building, but we're all okay.

Art Hill Fountains

One of my favorite places to getaway and meditate is the water fountains on the bottom of Art Hill in Forest Park. Hearing the gushing of water from the fountains and watching the sun glisten on the ripples of the pond puts me in a state of trance where I can escape in my thoughts.

I feel like my relationship with God right now is like this water fountain, a hybrid between still water and a living spring of life. The water, God's life giving love, is continuously moving, but I'm just storing it up for myself and not letting it flow out of me. God, may you break down the dams that I have erected so that your love may gush out of me.

Double Consciousness

Black Anthology's Double Consciousness show blew my mind. This was definitely the best written production I've seen at WashU.

Excerpt from the program: "Double Consciousness" references a term coined by W.E.B Du Bois which means the unique ability of African Americans to view themselves not only from their viewpoint but also from the viewpoint of others, namely white Americans. Likewise, the expectations of others cause individuals to morph behavior, personality, and mannerisms to fit others' image themselves, regardless of race or ethnicity. They, too, then battle with double-consciousness.

One storyline in particular hit a little close to home. Jordan, an African-American student who is so busy serving on four exec boards, sees his life crumble apart as he cannot fully dedicate himself to all his activities. His teammates lose their trust in him because he can never finish his part of a project because he's so busy running to all these different meetings. He comes home every night to his only friend, Jack Daniels. He becomes an alcoholic because he realizes that he cannot live up to the expectations that everyone has for him. He wants to be the perfect African-American man that has everything going for him, but falls short of that mask he wears. Though I am far from mirroring Jordan, there are definitely parts of my story that resemble his, especially feeling like I need to meet these lofty expectations of being the best, being perfect.

Favazza's

To celebrate the DSP pledging ceremony, our family went to a nice Italian restaurant on the Hill called Favazza's.

The restaurant definitely has a family feel to it, with old and young alike. The pricing is moderate, and the taste definitely outweighs the price you pay. Our group of 32 was rather difficult to accommodate, but their friendly staff were happy to rearrange our seating to fit us all. The food came our really quickly, too.

My dish is the penne special with salmon, spinach, and red peppers in a buttery cream sauce. The flavors meshed really well together, especially the cooked red peppers, which I'm usually not a fan of. However, it was a bit too salty in certain bites. But overall, I highly recommend Favazza's if you haven't been before.

... and then I found a dollar

Multiple lessons were learned today:

1. Psalms 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for He grants sleep to those He loves.
2. Start assignments earlier.
   
3. If you see a dollar bill on a window sill in the DUC, think about whether it is a psych experiment for a second, then take it anyway :)
   

Ride in the back of a police car

At approximately 3:40pm today, I rode in the back seat of a police car. It was surprisingly very much like sitting in the back of any other sedan, except that I was locked in and couldn't get out until the police woman opened the door.

Fortunately, it was not because I did anything wrong. It is that time of year where I need to send in my out-of-state extension form for my vehicle tag renewal. Part of the form is having an officer verify that my car is, indeed, in St. Louis.

During the two minutes drive from WUPD to Wohl garage, she was telling me about how the officers prank each other. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, it was a very interesting afternoon to say the least...

Francis Field

This is the view of Francis Field that I see walking back from the business school everyday.

Fun fact: Francis Field was the home of the 1904 Olympics track and field.

Another fun fact: It will likely be the site of Relay for Life 2011, and you should support me! click here to support me

Camera iphone app

You see this retro square photo? Thanks to the amazing Hipstamatic iPhone app, I can take polaroid-like photos again! With this app, you can switch "lenses" that change the color of the photo, and "film" that affects the texture of the border. Very cool FREE app :)

Technology is ridiculous these days.

Super Bowl Commercials 2011

Click on the name of the commercial in blue to watch on youtube.

Favorite commercials:

1. Doritos - House Sitting If I had a superpower, it would be the ability of solving anyone's problems with a hug. If that doesn't work, then I'd want the ability of bringing anything back to life with Doritos :)
   
2. Bridgestone - Carma Too cute! Save my life, and I'll save yours. Peace.
   
3. Volkswagen - The Force It is really interesting to see the marketers twist the story so that the audience would fall in love with child Darth Vader as he tries to use the force.
   

Most awkward:

1. Doritos - The Best Part Talk about invading personal space! And I thought I was awkward...
   

Best Parodies

1. Original: 1984 Apple's Macintosh Classic. One of the best commercials in history.
   Current: Motorola Xoom Honestly, I don't think this one does as good of a job breaking out of the mundane norm because the white is so bright, and because the climax is not as dramatic.
   
2. Original: Coca-Cola Mean Joe Green Another classic frequently alluded to
   Current: House - Churro Hilarious! House is so much meaner than Mean Joe Green. Very well done.
   

Guest Post #1: Jerelaiah on LNYF

::Drumroll:: Today we have our first guest post from Jerelaiah on this thoughts on LNYF. Enjoy :)

LNYF 2011.

Best Lunar New Year Festival yet.

Not just because of the dances, which reached new levels this year. We coordinated Lion to be more fun, interactive, and to have more choreography. They even have names now; courtesy of Wendy, the red/black is Cinnamon, white/gold is Sugar, and the little one is Pepper. Sending Pepper out into the audience was a stroke of genius. We got the crowd off to a good start and as the opening act to the show, I think it helped set the tone for the rest of the evening. Have fun, enjoy what you're about to see. It was the best Lion dance I've seen/done in the 4 years I've been here.

Fusion, Chinese Fan were particularly impressive to me. But none of the other acts came off as contrived or unnecessary. Even the skit, traditionally a part that makes the audience cringe in its cheesiness and over-the-top ridiculousness, was excellent. Enough humor, seriousness, and a conclusion that made sense in that it wasn't really a conclusion to the main plot at all but rather focused on the overall theme of Reflection. And the audience ate it all up; they laughed, cheered, ooohed and aahhed in a way that was far more involved than in years past.

We often shared space with Tinikling, practicing in the rooms large enough to accommodate their giant bamboos sticks and our tall lion costumes. I had the pleasure of shooting one of their practices. The fun they had (and we had in our own practices) was indicative of the atmosphere of LNYF. These were unique experiences we were having, unique cultural traditions we were learning together. College is all about those special experiences we can't get anywhere else.

Like Senior Dance. Between the booty drops, body rolls and general ridiculousness, I never had so much fun with people I barely knew before these past couple weeks. Lion Dance was my focus, my main mission. Senior Dance was my party after having accomplished said mission.

Joy was a great partner. We practiced, we drilled our steps. And we still messed up some in the Saturday show (I mean, we only started learning the dance 6 days before the show...). But we still killed it. I've experienced a lot with Joy, from our Freshmen Drama-mime to sticking 5 people in a car from STL to LA to a penguin parade at the zoo; this crazy senior dance we did together will last a long time in the memory bank. I'm not a great dancer. All the footwork and coordination one can gain through sports doesn't really translate well, but still, we were indisputably awesome because of how much fun we had as a group of seniors.

In any case, LNYF was a blast. It's been less than two days since our epic show. I miss the hell out of it already.

LNYF Senior Dance

Understanding that I only have one semester left, I am trying to make the most of my time here at WashU. This involves doing things that I haven't done before, including dancing in our annual Lunar New Year Festival. So... I signed up for senior dance, which is a silly and fun choreographed dance to current pop songs (... and Spice Girls). It was fun dancing alongside my classmates, especially since I don't see them that often.

My one regret of college is not doing this sooner. I wish someone told me freshman year that I shouldn't wait until senior year to try new things and make the most out of what WashU has to offer. But hey, at least I'm doing it now and enjoying it.

Corny lesson of the day/semester/year: Milk WashU for all it is worth. If life gives you lemons, squeeze out every last drop. Live each year like it is your last.

Guest post from Jerelaiah coming soon...

Lunar New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Night Lights

These late nights practicing senior dance for LNYF has left me without words, so I apologize for the less-than-inspirational blog post. This is a view of the lamp light through the icy branches, and the view of campus at night.

Btw, the snowflakes were pretty legit today.

Snow Day

Due to inclement weather, all of campus is shut down except the police department and dining services. The road conditions are getting worse and the university has asked students to stay inside when possible. Hopefully the electricity doesn't go out...