Very interesting results from a fortune telling website.
Although it sounds strange, some of these could be true.

★妳常會覺得錢不夠用，想賺更多的錢，這是因為…

★這輩子妳常會為「錢」而困擾！

★妳跟妳的另一半，至少有一人會因工作需要時常出門。

★妳對家人很好，為家人做不少事。

★妳的老公在工作上，很容易受到他人（或上司）的肯定。

★妳的老公這一生中，會花不少心思在工作上。

★妳的老公看似給妳自由，不干涉妳，但長久下來會是感情的地雷。

★「家務事」會成為妳跟老公之間緊張關係的導火線！

★妳的老公跟妳的某位家人不大對盤，這會造成妳的困擾！

Happy Birthday to my dearest~~

I did not realize time flies so fast.  A few years ago, we were celebrating his 21st birthday at a Chinese restaurant.  Now, his family is celebrating his birthday in China.  If we had a compass of life, would we know how things turn out?

Counting the days, it's not very far from my birthday.  It's scary to think that I'm getting old.  Today, I just attended a coworker's retirement party.  Better yet, IBM already hired him as a contractor after his retirement, so that we could continue to borrow his expertise.  Hence, we called that party a "see you later" party vs. a "good bye" party.  This is the second retirement outing I attended in a week!  Man, I think that more and more people I know will be retiring very soon.  I don't know where would they find people to fill the jobs...and they are not new hires jobs...it takes months and years to understand how things run..especially in big blue.

So what am I looking forward to this year?  The answer is I just want to survive.  With MBA classes and a demanding job, I would be lucky if I can get some sleep at night.  I really hope that I could apply what I learn and gain more experience.

It's so hard to predict the future...things always turn out the other way around.  But I learn that having low expectations actually makes me happier.  I guess I expected too much in the past?  Don't care now...I just need to survive and get my MBA done.

Once again God (not NyQuil nor anything else that I tried in the past 3 days) works its magic!

I'm feeling better today after taking some cold medicine last night and slept for 10 hrs.  My mind is clearer.  At least I don't get a headache doing calculus anymore.  I found my TI-83 plus from a storage box.  Ever since I got my financial calculator in college, I haven't touched it.  I didn't know if it will work.  I replaced the battery and amazingly, the screen started to flash.  I tried hard to remember from entering simple calculations to graphing equations.  The math assessment test does not require advanced math, but a graphing calculator does give me more confident when doing derivatives and checking max and min (yea!~).

I spent most of the day studying and going through the math CD.  The calculus section is the most "foreign" to me, as it was stone-age when I learned it.  All the derivatives rules made me dizzy, but I manage to write them all down in a tiny note.  Since the assessment test is online, I have better chance to pass it if I keep my notes clean.  At the end of the study, I have 20 pages of notes plus a formula index card.

I feel like I'm ready for the test, but just lack that energy boost.  So I peeked in my refrigerator and took out a small piece of sweet potato pie.  After cutting back my appetite for 3 days, any sweet treats look like gold to me.  After I finished it, I feel like I'm really ready for the assessment test.  The sign-in process is very straight forward.  The fact that the test does not time me makes me very comfortable to go through it at my own pace.  I submit my answers after I checked the answers twice.

And then the results page comes up:
You scored 100% (100 out of 100) on QuantPrep. The passing score is 80% (80 out of 100).
Congratulations!

Woohoo! 100%!!!  I think my calculus teacher would be very happy if she knows I passed the test based on what I learned from her 7 yrs ago.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." ~2 Corinthians 12:9

Thank God...

Every girl loves the Cinderella story. We believe love would exist at least in children's books and tv screens.  What happens if this is not the case anymore.  What if even the Bachelor couldn't find love among 25 gorgeous women?

I'm glad and also sad that I was curious enough to watch the Bachelor finale last night.  I have not seen any other episodes this season, but certainly I was expecting a normal ending--the bachelor, Brad, would pick one of the girls, and send the other one home.  This heaven for the lucky girl and hell for the unfortunate girl ending would be very typical.

However, it changes in a split second.  Here's a recap from ABC,

"Brad is excited as DeAnna arrives, saying that she has all the qualities he's always looked for in a wife. He admits that as hard as it was to say goodbye to Jenni, he's even more scared and nervous about what he's going to say to DeAnna.

She arrives in a short gold gown and Chris leads her to the garden. In voiceover, we hear her say she can't wait to see him again and that it's the happiest she's been in a long time. She's not sure if she's going to end up engaged to "the most perfect man I've ever met" or if she'll end up in a limo going home with a broken heart. If he proposes, she intends to say yes, saying she'll be the happiest person in the world.

She joins Brad and he tells her she looks beautiful. He says he's never met anyone like her in his entire life. He remembers the night he met her and the first time he kissed her. He asks, "Remember when you told me that marriage for you is one time and one time only?" and he says he feels the same way. He tells her he just said goodbye to Jenni and DeAnna smiles, starting to become confident of what's coming next.

Brad seems to get a case of nerves and suddenly walks away. He comes back after a moment and takes her by the hand and says he's going to be completely honest with her. He has so many feelings for her and just wants to spin her around and give her the diamond ring, but he can't look her in the eye and tell her that he loves her, he says sadly. He refuses to give her any promises that he can't keep. "I have to tell you goodbye," he says.

"I don't understand," she says, starting to cry. She doesn't understand how he can watch her walk away if he really has such strong feelings for her. She believes the difference between them is that she's sure, and he's not. "Do you know how much I care about you?" he asks and she says, "No, I don't."

She says she thought she had everything figured out, until this moment. "This is why I don't wear my heart on my sleeve," she tells him and Brad hugs her.

"What happens when you regret your decision?" she asks him and he admits he doesn't know. He says he's sorry, but he has to walk her out, right now. At the limo, he tells her, "I'm sorry, so sorry," and gives her a long hug."

I can't believe it.  It is so crude for him to say that he can't look into her eyes and says he loves her.  So does that mean he has been faking all these times?  I would understand if he says he cannot marry her, but not loving her is  just too harsh.

Poor Jenni and DeAnna.  I think both girls are better off without him.  Who knows what happens in the future if they did get married.

I wonder if ABC would still run the next season as usual and how many girls are brave enough to get on.

I took the courage to skip work today, hoping to explore something that I wanted to try for a long time - volunteering.  Some people are really good at it, but some people like me always have too much excuses.  I am so glad that I didn't allow myself to have any excuse this time.

I woke up early today as if I need to go to work, except I am in casual clothing rather than business attire.  The place to volunteer today is Blythedale Children's Hospital, which is about 20 minutes from my home.  I have been to many hospitals, but this is the first time that I met staffs who are so nice and sweet.  This hospital is definitely one of a kind.

There were thirteen of us there including me. We were divided into different groups, and I along with two other ladies were assigned to work with children from two to five years old.  I originally signed up for older kids, but they needed more people, so I went to join the younger kids' group.

I do not have much experience with kids, especially kids in age two to five.  My cousins are at least in the teens and there are no little kids in our family.  It is definitely a challenge for me.  I started to play with them, but I don't know what to say.  The other laddies were so good at it that they immediately get along with the kids.  Being left out, I try to find other kids who are playing by themselves.  I guess I must be very boring because no one seems to notice me.  A while later, a little girl asked me to play with her.  We played play-doh and she was having a lot of fun. 

After some time, the little girl had to go to therapy and I moved on to work with other kids.  I approached a kid who was lying on his back and was mumbling words in his mouth.  The other lady and I were trying to pick him up, but he started to chew on anything that he could grab on.  A teacher came by and quickly sat him straight and held his back.  She told us that he could not sit up or walk by himself.  I saw the teacher singing to him and he became to quiet down and smile.  Kids are so natural.  If you treat them well and give them attention, they will behave well.  Although I still think these kids are spoiled most of the time.

When the teacher left, I was left alone with the kid.  Because he could not sit up by himself, I had to hold him and support his back all the time.  At first he started to chew again, but he stopped when I replicated how the teacher pet him.  He also seemed to like the singing and I started to sing the only children song I know, the ABC song.  He totally quiet down and listened very carefully.  Then I spent some time to play with him in the toy kitchen, and soon it was lunch time.  That was the end of working with kids.

After lunch, we helped out on Halloween decorations and goody bags.  The hospital staff thought we would need a whole afternoon to do it, but we finish it in just over an hour.  We laughed that it was because we are IBMers, and we always work hard and work fast.  At the end of the day, I went home feeling I have made a difference.