1. St. Louis Art Museum
2. French Toast Tower @ Crepes, Etc. for lunch
3. Won #1 team in Marketing Strategy class... last class EVER.
4. Held last GIG on the Prodigal Son :'(
5. DSP Banquet @ The Highlands in Forest Park

What a great day last day of classes.

I DON'T WANT COLLEGE TO ENDDDDDDDDDD. My friend told me, "If you think about it, we've lived 1/3 or 1/4 of our lives already." Man time is too short.

Mom Arrived

My brother is in town for an international Robotics competition, so my mom tagged along. He's busy until Sunday with the competition, but my mom will be here to enjoy St. Louis.

Got dinner at California Pizza Kitchen today after shopping for my banquet/graduation dress. After tasting the Thai Chicken pizza, I realized that I've eaten so many green curry pizza's from Thai Pizza that Thai pizza will never be the same. I'm truly going to miss Thai Pizza on the loop :(

Running out of time

Breaking lent never tasted better! Shroom 'n Swiss Red Robin Burger.

Today was a day of running out of time.

1. Went to Red Robin for lunch, but had a DSP meeting that I had to get back by 2:30pm for. The waiter was too slow, and we didn't leave until 2:30 :( As the biggest J (Meyer's Brigg) you will ever meet, this was very distressing.

2. Looking at my schedule for this week, I have wayyy too much to do and too little time to do it in. Especially since my mom is coming on Wednesday, I want to reserve time to spend with her, but there are so many events, meetings, and things to get done while she is here. I need more time!

3. This is the last week of classes. That means the semester is really winding down! Everyone is having their senior send offs this week: Asian Christian Fellowship, DSP, and Outpour. I WILL BE LEAVING SOON!

Time is running out.

This makes me extremely sad, and I want to cry every time I think about leaving the amazing people that I've met. But at the same time, I'm really happy with how I've spent my senior year. I hope I continue to use my time well.

Resurrection

Had another great Sabbath today!

1. GIG outing to Crepes, etc. + Resurrection passage = most premium brunch
2. CSA Talent Show: Jordan and Tim serenade :) Fun, fun, fun, fun!
3. Aristocats concert: Lucia Breaking Free
4. Easter Vigil @ Cathedral Basilica
5. Debriefing with my suitemate <3

What I value most about my relationship with my suitemate Lindsey is being able to come home and debrief about my day with her. She's able to call out different areas of my life that I need to work on, but brings it up in a manner that doesn't make me feel like she's judging me. I'm so blessed to room with her this year!

Today we were talking about the implications of Jesus' death and resurrection on the Jewish culture of the Old Testament. If you know the answers to any of these questions, please enlighten me!

• If the curtain in the temple split in two signifying that you no longer need a High Priest to talk to God, do Jews still need to talk to God through a High Priest type of person, or do they talk to God directly too even though they don't believe in the Gospel of Jesus?
• If Jews don't believe in Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice that died to forgive our sins, do they still practice animal sacrifices to atone for sin? If not, how do you atone for sin?
• A lot of Christianity revolves around the importance of an eternal life through Jesus after death. However, there is little mention of an afterlife in the Old Testament. What do Jews believe about the afterlife?

Passover Fail #2

After yesterday's fail, I've been trying so hard to make sure that I don't eat bread. When getting a meal, the lunch lady asked me if I wanted bread with my meal, and I almost yelled, "NO!" haha. Then after our senior Ring Ceremony where we get our class rings, there was a reception with lots of deli sandwiches and bread, which I had to force myself to avoid. Success!

Afterward, I went to DSP where we were writing cards to the graduating seniors, and there were snacks galore! I saw the donut holes right in front of me, so I popped one into my mouth and realized, "NOOOOO, it's leavened bread!" Dang you desserts! Always sneaking up on me. Maybe I should just avoid desserts until Passover ends.

Tuesday Tea

Since I have class until 4pm usually, I always miss Tuesday Tea at the DUC. However, we got out of class early today, so I went over to the DUC to get lunch and realized that there was tea. Right when I got there, the cafeteria workers brought out the desserts, which are definitely the best part of Tuesday Tea. I jumped up in excitement and beat the crowd to get a few pieces of pastry.

While drinking my tea, I asked my friends, "Guess what? I'm trying to observe Passover this year!"

"What does that entail?" They asked.

Right as I took a bite out of the mini-muffin, I said, "I can't eat leavened brea... NOOOOOOO!"

Fail. But just because I've failed this once doesn't mean I should completely give up my efforts, so I'm going to keep trying to observe Passover.

Passover

In an effort to understand more of the Jewish background as a foundation of Christianity, I decided to observe Passover this year. This entails giving up eating chametz, also known as leavened bread or grains that are fermented. Furthermore, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe don't eat kitniyot, which encompasses corn, rice, grains, lentils, peas, and beans. Before Passover, there is a massive cleaning of the house in order to get rid of all the chametz in the house. Because back in the day, kitniyot used to be stored in the same bags as chametz, they were also forbidden in case they were contaminated by chametz.

All of this is done in memory of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The story is that Moses and God brought plagues to convince the Pharaoh to free the Jews, who were slaves at the time. The last plague was that all the firstborns in Egypt would be killed by the Angel of Death. However, the Jews were told to cover their door frame in lamb's blood, and the Angel of Death would see the blood and pass over that household and spare the firstborn. After that, the Pharoah let them go, but they had very little time to exit Egypt... so little time that they weren't able to let bread rise or leaven (about 18 minutes).

My experience with Passover so far makes me think that a big focus of the feast is on the fact that the Jews had to exit Egypt quickly. I shared this observation with a friend of mine who is a Jew, and he asked what else I thought it should be about. "The passing over of the blood stained door frame! Hence the name Passover." He then said that that part of the story isn't hardly focused on in the Jewish Passover feast anymore. Interesting!

Thurtene Carnival

Today I got to be a kid again. Each year, one of WashU's secret societies, Thurtene, hosts the nation's largest student run carnival with fun rides, carnival foods, and awesome greek facades with performances.

Lauren, Kenith and I first rode the fun dizzy rides before eating delicious funnel cake covered in a melted Snicker's ice cream bar. Then we went to watch the Beta/Chi-O performance about one nerd's quest to be cool and a book-hater's metamorphosis into a book worm. It was such a great show! The songs were witty, and the script included references from pop culture, classic novels, and WashU culture, which enabled audience members from all ages to enjoy the show.

In the play today, Beta/Chi-O were teaching the kids that reading is fun. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things was to lay in bed and read for hours and get lost in a book. I think that's why I like inductive Bible studies so much. When analyzing a passage, it means so much more when you insert yourself into the story as one of the characters and try to see things from their perspective. In GIG, we've been slowly following Jesus and this week we will follow him to the cross. We'll see how that goes!

Alumni Reunion Weekend

Had a wonderful sabbath today.

1. Bonded with brothers in the biting cold and wind while setting up our funnel cake booth for Thurtene.

2. Ate free Pappy's while meeting amazing DSP alumni, such as this sweet man who graduated in 1949!

3. Supported friends and half my floor at Luau, while eating yummy coconut jello. Later in the evening we watched Lilo and Stitch while making leis.

4. Learned that the key to hitting a racquetball is to watch the ball. Doubles is actually really fun.

5. Helped market and sell homemade crab rangoons and scallion pancakes at the ACF booth for Night Market. Tonight reaffirmed that I really do love sales, but also taught me a lesson in humility and setting aside my pride.

Remaining Bucket Lists

WashU Bucket List

1. Paint the underpass
2. Study in the law library/cafe
3. Thurtene carnival rides and watch a show
   
4. Get more involved in DSP
5. Go on a campus tour
   
6. Go to the Kemper Art Museum
7. Take a paper to the writing center

St. Louis Bucket List

1. Grant's Farm
2. Cohokia Mounds
3. St. Louis History Museum
4. Casino
5. Jewel Box in Forest Park
   
6. Float down a river
7. Scape Bistro
8. Niche
9. Cherokee Street
   

Lost and Found

You really don't appreciate things until they're gone. Yesterday, I lost my student ID sometime between going to church at 5pm and midnight. Life with a student ID is smooth sailing. The moment that I lost it, I realized that I could hardly do anything: can't use meal points, can't go to the gym, can't get into dorms, can't print out homework, etc. The worst thing was that I've had the same ID since freshman year, until this month, when I've lost it twice. After searching every inch of my room and suite, and back-tracking my path from yesterday, I still could not find my ID. Then I get an email from the mailroom saying that my snapfish photos came in, but without my ID, I wouldn't be able to pick it up. So I decide to go buy a new ID from the Women's Building, but call WUPD just in case someone turned it in. "Hi, my name is Joy and I lost my student ID between 5pm and midnight yesterday and was wondering if anyone turned it in." "Yep, we have it."

YESSSSSSSS BEST NEWS EVER! That totally made my day. I might have even kissed my ID afterward...

The whole scenario reminded me of the lost sheep/coin/son parables, where the person finds their lost object and rejoices over it. Even though I was ecstatic to find my student ID, I would definitely rejoice more over someone deciding to follow Jesus. My prayer is that the lost be found.

Matt & Kim

Matt & Kim, a band from Brooklyn, came to perform at WUstock today. They were a very entertaining couple that really knew how to hype up the audience, and trust me, the WashU crowd is hard to please. My favorite part was when they threw out deflated balloons and had the audience blow them up and tie a knot. On 1-2-3, everyone threw up the balloons to make one of the most beautiful spectacles on the Swamp I've seen in my four years.

What's better was that the weather was absolutely perfect for laying out and lounging in the grass. Spent a good couple hours reading and napping in the sun while listening to the various bands perform at WUstock.

Bloom

The flowers bloomed today in front of the business school. Their sweet aroma greeted me as I walked out of the building back to the dorms. I love Spring.

Spring also seems to be the time when relationships really bloom. We've had all of fall semester to meet new people and get comfortable with each other. This semester is when we realize that the school year is nearly ending, and that we should make the most of our relationships with what time is left. I'm really fortunate to see a lot of my friendships blooming this year.

Birthday Cake

Happy 21st Gary! Wow... I can't believe how quickly these kids are growing!

Also, Belinda made the most amazing brown sugar and cinnamon cake for Gary's birthday. I've decided, she's going to make my wedding cake in the future :)

Senior Toast

Currently, I'm sitting in the library with an Asian glow, thanks to the champagne that WashU provided for our Senior Toast this afternoon. The chancellor announced our 2011 commencement speaker: Elie Wiesel, author of the Hollocaust novel Night and Nobel Peace Prize winner. What an honor!

On another note... 46 days until graduation. Say what?! Time is too short...

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

For tonight's floor program, we got fresh doughnuts from Krispy Kreme! I ate two donuts: the chocolate cake donut, and the original glazed.

The chocolate cake donut is rather deceiving. It stood out from the rest of the donuts in the box because it was a different color and looked like it had a fun texture. Turns out, it had hardly any flavor, and it was dry and crumbly. Next, I got the original glazed donut, which looks the most plain and boring, but turned out to be the softest and sweetest donut I've eaten.

Goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover.

Harry Shum aka Mike Chang from Glee

Harry Shum Jr. came to speak for WashU's Chinese Student Association speaker series about being an Asian in the entertainment industry, and afterwards he signed autographs. My life is complete! xD

He was a great speaker who was professional but entertaining at the same time. He talked about his struggles of being the odd one out when he was child from always moving around. It was encouraging to hear that he didn't start dancing until high school yet he got to be where he is today.

Highlight: "When I first started, my friend dared me to try out for the dance audition. Since I refused, he offered to pay me $10 to try out. I thought to myself, 'Ten dollars... that's 10 value meals!' And I tried out." HAHA

His story makes me wonder though. Harry went from being the odd one out that was always bullied to being the well-loved Mike Chang on Glee. When Jesus publicly healed unclean people so that they would be accepted back into society, was it similar to Harry's story? Perhaps not to the same extent as that of celebrities, but you catch my drift.

Sensasians

Today was the premier of WashU's first Asian interest a capella group called Sensasians. This was their first concert, and they were fantastic! Not only did singing a variety of Korean, Chinese and Thai songs prove their lingual talent, but also singing in tune with choreography demonstrated all the hard work they poured into the group. I can see this group becoming very successful and prominent on campus in the future, and it is exciting to be at the beginning of it all!

I believe that this is a great illustration of how WashU provides opportunities for students to see their visions come alive. Most of the campus organizations are grassroot movements created by students with a passion for their ideas to create change that brings value to the community. If WashU is representative of the world, then it is encouraging to know that our generation has to ability to create and impact the world.