|
| Story of SharingA cool way to give this Thanksgiving season. For every story submitted,
Country Crock will donate a meal to a family in need. Take a couple of
minutes and reflect on the real reasons for the holidays!
http://www.spreadthesharing.com/StoriesofSharing/ | | |
| Goodbye XangaAfter six, yes, six years at Livejournal and on and off with Xanga,
I’ve decided that it’s time to move my blogging needs to Word Press.
Mostly, it’s because of the disorganized lazy blogging styles that I
had adopted, but with the category approach here, I think it will be
easier to track my thoughts and whatnot… plus change is good. :D
Hopefully
I will continue blogging.. with renewed energy. I think there is
something very special about blogging. Not only is it a freedom of
expression, but it is a tool that can be used to learn life lessons,
enjoy the memorable moments and express the painful ones. Feel free to
drop a comment… but I hope that whatever I say can somehow be an
encouragement to those around me.
| | |
| i had pho-take-out today. what an adventure. seriously.. first of all, you get your pho separated in three boxes! second, you get the raw meat.. still raw @__@, and thirdly.. you get the pleasure of not smelling like PHO after your meal :D!
Although I have to admit, that my body does not take Thanh Bros on the Ave very well... sigh.. it's only that restaurant too.. cuz I'm compleetely fine with the cleaner-but-slightly-more-expensive Thanh Bros up north. Sigh.. what i do for food.
Tomorrow is going to be a glorious day.. just so I can slightly vent/rant:
10:30 - BCMU: Assignment due
12:30 - AES: Midterm
3:30 - MGMT: Midterm
5:30 - BEDC committee meeting
6:00 - Talk: James Sun from Apprentice!
7:30 - TTIC/BASIC meeting
9:30 - Ideally. home. and rest. :D
Not bad, I can do all things through Christ!!! :D | | |
| Sing-Zao-Cao-MaiComing back home yesterday, I was greeted with some delicious Singapore Rice Noodles take out (sing-zao-cao-mai). The curry flavored noodles filled with shrimps, bbq pork, and veggies couldn’t help but make me remember a very memorable time during the summer….
It was the day when Hurricane Ernesto was going to affect New York. As the hurricane moved north along the East Coast, the news broadcasted it was going to be a horrible day, filled with 40+ mph winds, heavy rain (New York style of course), and all around horrible day to be out. On top of this, it was Saturday, probably the worst way to end a long week.
Even though Saturdays are supposed to be your best days (which was NOT true during my first summer), I didn’t have any expectations at all; however, I knew I had to at least try..I really wanted to get the ”it was a crazy hurricane day and I pushed against the odds” story.
Around 1:00 p.m. I got my first sale. It was a Columbian family who were doing some Saturday cleaning. Their nephew was there to help me translate, but I was able to talk to him about NYU, the Art Institute, and the photography program.. Anyhow, needless to say, I had accomplished my goal for the day.. I had won the battle of the hurricane. Yes!
Of course, working a crazy internship meant that the end time was 9:30 p.m… rain or shine.. and knowing that I just couldn’t do nothing all day (after all, it was much better sitting in a nice family’s warm house than outside in the cold and rainy weather), I decided to press on. Around 4:00 p.m., it started getting pretty bad.. the wind was picking up and with heavy rains, it was getting harder. I’m not going to lie, I stayed at SBUX for a good couple of hours and warmed up with a good ol’ Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Around 7:00 p.m., I decided to give it one more push and bike over to a very promising family’s house. I had met the daughter, a responsible 9th grade that hated math, earlier that week. When I went that day, her mom welcomed me with open arms. It was like… knock knock.. come in! You’re so wet!! Even writing about this make me smile because I was so well received into this stranger’s house, who also happened to be Asian. In my time of longing to be home and see familiar faces, God provided me with a warm-friendly-Asian family.
Before I had even tried to sell books to them, the mom told me to relax and have some corn. No matter how much I love food, I cannot express how good food can be when you’re cold and hungry… anything warm is like heaven. I am convinced that was the best corn on the cob I had EVER eaten.. no joke. After warming up and just talking about who I was, my interests, my background, all that stuff.. they bought the books! I truly believe that even if they didn’t want the books (which really would make no difference to me b/c I was soo thankful to be in a warm house that day), I would still have truly enjoyed my time getting to know some amazing people. I found out the mom, who was from Northern China, knew how to speak both Mandarin and Russian fluently! SO amazing. I found out so much about the daughter, and I truly felt like I had met a new friend (..at least connected through MySpace).. I seriously enjoyed getting to know her and whatnot. After probably a good 1.5 hours, I knew that I had to get going. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.. plus it was getting late.
I left my bike at their house and walked back to Starbucks (it was a LONG walk, but more time for me to waste before my ride would pick me up). I felt so happy and accomplished. Even though truthfully I hadn’t work the entire day, I met some amazing people, didn’t mentally quit, and just persevered the entire day. Going home and sharing stories with my other two roommates was also a good feeling… a feeling of pride in going through something so tough.
When we arrived home, we were all hungry and miraculously, my roommates (Caucasian and Peurto Rican .. both who normally hated Chinese food) wanted Chinese food! Praise God! We had gotten a menu from one of the families and ordered. My eyes immediately fell on this “Singapore Curry Rice Noodles” and I immediately thought that it would be the “sing zao cao mai” that was one of my family’s favorite.
The delivery guy came 30 minutes later, and never in my life did I appreciate someone more for what they did. I was able to empathize the hard work needed to do his job when literally, there were heavy winds and rain pushing against him. To show my appreciation, I gave him a large tip, thanked him gracefully, and literally scarfed down my beloved “sing-zao-cao-mai”. Never had I appreciated food so much. To this day, I truly think that was the BEST I’ve ever had (which I highly doubt, considering I was on Long Island). Never did I realize the value of “hard work” until that day and the joy that I received after accomplishing it.
| | |
| morning routineI've been able
to get into a morning routine this quarter... and I love it. I aim to
get to campus by 9:00 a.m. because I get free parking and actually have
a "morning". So after doing my daily exercise (haha.. basically walking
10 blocks to where I need to be.. not really exercise.. but hey every
little thing counts!), this past week I've been able to have some time
for myself.. and with God. Reading the Bible can be so refreshing in
the morning... and after giving my TTIC lesson this week, it's only
right for me to do it as well.
I've been fulfilling the
stereotypical life of Seattle-lites and have enjoyed my coffee in the
morning. When I'm early enough, I like to get a soy latte at U
Bookstore or Hotwire. After working at Starbucks, it's funny but I have
had a hard time to really enjoy coffee there, compared to the the
baristas that actually give their lattes love (especially with the
beautiful latte art!) I can really taste a difference in a good, foamy,
sweet soy latte vs ones that are flat, cardboard tasting. I want to put
in a plug with the Asian-girl-barista at UBookstore. I was observing
her and really appreciated the fact that she was clean!, made good
foam, and all around made a beautiful drink. :)
Sometimes I
wonder what my independent lifestyle will lead me to in life. The fact
that I'm not pushing myself to meet new people.. kind of scares me.
Maybe it's me growing up? I use to feel lonely at times when I didn't
see certain people on a weekly basis... and while I do see people,
lately it's not on a need-to basis, but more of a it's-nice-to-see
people basis. Will I be a old, grumpy cat lady when I grow up who's
only entertained by her four cats and then scrapbooks.. about her cats?
(I don't even like cats)
| | |
|
