life's an experiment

why is emeril always on the food network when i watch!? argh.

i always like to pretend i'm a big sister to my friends' little brothers (i.e. lawrence and jeffrey). not sure why, but i find it fun :). anyways, i found out jeffrey (laura's little bro) went to homecoming with president bush's neice, ashley bush!! laura googled her and i saw all these pictures of her and her family + random facts about her. i guess one role of an older sister is "appointed stalker".

this past week i've been really really tired. i have no energy and when i'm tired, i'm highly irritable, whiney, and a butthead. sorry for anyone who has to deal with me when i'm like this! i think my family has been the people who have seen me like this the most but it's come to the point where many people have seen my grumpy-self. sigh. SO, i decided to do something about this! the rules: exercise 3 times a week, drink as much water as possible, eat a balanced meal (vegetables!), try to get 7 hours of sleep each night (363 now closes at 1am), eat breakfast every morning, no coffee :(, and wake up at a consistent time everyday (9am?). i'm going to run this experiment for 2 weeks and see if there's a difference (if i'm still tired). wish me luck (because i really do need it)!

a million little pieces by james frey

i've been somewhat consumed by this book for the past week. i first heard about it through oprah's book club and wanted to read it to see if oprah's books lived up to all the hype. this book is about a drug addict struggling through rehab and is probably his last chance with life. the author has a unique, simple, and heart-felt writing style. he writes his experience with such detail, i sometimes feel like i'm going through rehab myself! what keeps me flipping the pages is wanting to find out how someone with absolutely no hope left in his life eventually (i think, i hope) finds hope, purpose, life, and recovery...

anyways, i havent finished the book yet because someone requested it at the PCL so i had to return it early :( i couldnt help but feel kinda sad when walking away from the library without this book. it's okay though, i'll be getting it back in a few weeks!

congrats simeon on your mcats!

october 13th: we found out at 2am simeon's awesome mcat score and decided to go out to starseeds to celebrate. i cant believe i went! better yet, i cant believe grace freaking went! i'm getting too old for these late-night outings and eatings, but it was def worth it and it was a blast. i almost felt like a freshman again :p

^ 34, baby! and simeon styling.

^ the group (minus photographer mark) at starseeds. this place is pretty cool. very austin-y and it's open 24 hours! everyone tried the breakfast tacos.

random

today's discovery: my dad got a freaking ipod. what the heck!?!? my parents are more cool than me! sigh.

we won our first football game!!! WOOHOO! go cows!!! it was such an exciting game! :) we had one touch down after another and the best part was that everyone was involved and got to have their own personal "glory moment"

my parents are leaving for china on wednesday morning at 6am for a 2 week vacation. they're going off for what i like to think of as a "mini-honeymoon". i'm thankful they have the opportunity to go :)

sour cream pie at marie callender's is delicious.

this picture always makes me smile...
^ this was jen and i in san francisco. we always get along during our vacations because we both try to be on our "best behaviors". for the past 2 days jen and i have been getting along :) must be the change of weather or something. haha.

excerpts from Prayer: finding the heart's true home by Richard Foster

chapter 2: prayer of the forsaken, talks about the times in our lives when we cant sense God's presence...

"can u see how our very sense of the absence of God is, therefore, an unsuspected grace? in the very act of hiddenness God is slowly weaning us of fashioning him in our own image. like aslan, the christ figure in the chronicles of narnia, God is wild and free and comes at will. by refusing to be a puppet on our string or a genie in our bottle, God frees us from our false, idolatrous images."

"Through all of this, paradoxically, God is purifying our faith by threatening to destroy it. we are led to a profound and holy distrust of all superficial drives and human strivings. we know more deply than ever before our capacity for infinite self-deception. slowly we are being taken off our vain securities and false allegiances. our trust in all exterior and interior results is being shatters so we can learn faith in God alone. through our barrennes of soul God is producing detachment, humility, patience, perserverance."

here am i, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word - Mary (Luke 1:38

am i the only one?

AHHHH! today when i was doing my business, the automatic toliet flushed on me FOUR times. i kid you not.

why do automatic toliets hate me??

in the news

a mom gives birth to her 16th kid. i dont even want to imagine how crazy that must be! guess what her baby's name is? johannah :x

the earthquake in south asia has killed at least 23,000. maybe i'm totatlly out of the loop, but was there even that much coverage about this? the hurricane/mudslide in guatamala is something no one seems to talk about either. maybe it's because i've been stuck inside studying with little contact with the outside world (?). whatever the reason, please keep them in your prayers.

question: does anyone know the estimate of how many people died from hurricane katrina?

addict in the making

today's my second day in a row to drink coffee. ive always liked coffee but something about this cold weather makes me crave coffee like no other.

someone stop me now.

happy bday laura!

wish i could have celebrated my soulmate's bday with her :(


happy bday miss laura! love you like crazy and cant WAIT to see u in two weeks!

happy bday mok!

^ sophomore-mok

^ junior-mok

i was hoping to write about how you've grown and changed so much within this past year but i really cant tell since there's cake all over your face. maybe next year i can write a deep post about how much you've grown and blossomed IF you finally learn how to not get owned.

:)

happy bday, jonathan mok!

my weekend at home (finally)

i have no idea why everything's being underlined...

anyways, after THREE failed attempts to try to go home, we finally made our way back to houston :)! friday night was great roommate time :) we went to the park & the mall for some good shopping and food court food. i got a study bible! it's funny how im 20 years old and i still call my mom to ask if i should buy a leather covered bible or a hardback covered bible. hehe.

^ am i the ONLY person who played spider on the swings when i was little!?!? at least i know i'm not completely alone bc jen was the one who played this with me :D (yep, i bring others down with me! muhaha)

^ tire monster. as a little kid, i thought this "playground equipment" was so dumb and useless. as a little more grown up kid, i still think this "playground equipment" is still dumb and useless. do i lack imagination or something??? sad.

friday night i got to see someone i've been anticipating to see for the past 3 weeks!
^ i dream of them while in bed *blushes* note to self: ikea has some awesome furniture

^ i love her. enough said.

^ i really like building things! please keep me away from the toy store because i am SO close to buying myself a whole bunch of legos :x

saturday i practiced being a mother by dropping off my "kids" at their braces appointment and running errands for a birthday party :p. then time with mi beloved familia at this pho place supposedly only viet people know about. you dont get thirsty after eating their pho because they dont use msg! that's something UNHEARD of for me!

i made this tiramisu cake(?) from a box. it tasted alright because how can tiramisu taste that great when you make it from a box, right??? maybe it's because i used a starbuck frappucino drink to soak the ladyfingers instead of amaretto :x haha. i am smart.

at night we all went to the astros game. thank you shawn (and indirectly meson) for the tickets! GO ASTROS. i <3 berkman and i even have a jersey to prove it :)
^ "just attack it" - andy wong

^gooooooooooooo astrosssss!!!!!!!!! FUN GAME. fav part of the game: 7th inning stretch (this never changes), hot dogs, laughing at whatever lawence shouts out, and cheering/jumping up and down/yelling/high-fiving.

You and Me

I look from face to face…the smiles…the joys…the fears. They are all real.

I am glad we are in this together. I pray for an authentic community. I pray that the faces

I see now will be clearer to me. I see myself looking at this picture 5, 10 years from now.

Looking at the faces of my Co-Laborers, my confidants, my trusted friend in battle

My best friends. I know that we will wrong each other and at times deviate from our God

Who brought us together; But I look at this picture now, and I know…We will rise above it.

Because I am proud to be in this picture…I know I was placed in this picture by our God.

Each and every one of us were. And this picture will not change. So I will come back to this…

Time and time again this year. And I will remember God’s purpose…His promise…and His Love.

Because I know you are here for me…And I will do my best to be here for you.

I love you all. Thank you for standing here with me.

love, meson

vteam field trip

game: we had 10 min in the dollar store to buy the coolest thing we could find and later on we played white elephant with our items :) also had dinner together at cici's, which i havent been to in forever! i used to go ALL THE TIME when i was little! yay to team bonding and fun!

fun gummies

zoots & icecream

^zoots has a cool logo. dinner was delicious :p but came in small portions

^best ben & jerry's experience EVER bc of our awesome combo of coffee (trade certified, too!), vanilla heath bar crunch, and half baked. yum.