thoughts on graduating early

it’s less than 2 weeks before I gradate. It’s crazy that my formal academic career could possibly be entirely over (unless I decide to go to grad school but that’s another post). People also might think I’m crazy for graduating a semester early and not dragging out supposedly “the best time of your life.” so I’m here to write why I decided to graduate early - not to persuade you that I’m not crazy but more so to ease my nerves :p.

the main, objective reason is that I finished all the required credits for a major and a minor – done only because I took summer school J. Yep, I’m a nerd in the fall, spring, and summer, a year-round nerd!

i also find that my only reason for staying in school in the spring is fear. Fear of a new phase, of new people, and of a new lifestyle. And this makes me really sit down and think. is fear itself a good enough reason to stay an extra semester? Am I being a good steward of my parent’s money by spending money on another semester of tuition? is college really the only time in your life where life is great? if so, that’s depressing to know.

I see my friends who are currently in the working-world and it doesn’t seem too terrible. Yeah, work isn’t 24/7 fun and games, but it’s not like they’ve changed as a person. They’re not defined by if they’re a student or an employee – they’re still the same person. I’m not sure how this is relevant but somehow seeing how my friends are still the same after graduating is comforting to me.

BUT, I do have one regret from college… which is not marrying vince young in order to tie him down and make him settle at UT and thus we would have had a better football season this year. and just to clarify, this is not a completely selfish regret because a college degree for him is always useful.

i'm thankful for the state of california

went to cali for thanksgiving! it was soooo good and i got to do a lil bit of everything :) here are the highlights...

1. family
2. break from long-distance
3. universal studios/city walk (these are 3 of my 4 cousins :))
4. seeing old friends

happy bday jenny!

jenny's bday party was fun! great surprise (it's so easy to surprise jenny! haha), delicious desserts, fun pinata (although it had the strangest prizes inside...), and great friends :).

happy bday tiff!

great party idea to make personal pizzas!

potlucks galore

the weekend before thanksgiving break was a weekend where i indulged... and it wasnt even thanksgiving yet! nov. 17th was AACM's 1st annual potluck! the venue was perfect, food plentiful, fun company, and kickering.

props to phil for the tupperware potluck idea! we began the meal by filling up a tupperware with food -not to save for later- but instead to give to someone who isnt necessarily able to enjoy a thanksgiving meal. filling up the tupperware before we ate was to show that we wanted to give someone else our best and not our leftovers.

for international student ministry, we had our english corners over for a hearty thanksgiving meal. it was fun cooking and sharing a meal together. it was also neat interacting with americans, koreans, chinese, taiwanese, and brazillians :). it's interesting cause we laugh and enjoy ourselves so much more when the table's seated with people from all over.

AACM retreat

man, i cant believe i almost forgot to post about retreat! can i just say i LOVE our senior class? and i LOVE my family - go "flintstones"! (yes, i'm still in denial of our real name.)

summary of retreat: community is too good and campfire-time rocks my world.

mushashino

jen came to austin for the weekend and boy did i eat well! glad she got to visit me :). this is us at mushashinos, jen's fav sushi place. it was my first time sitting at the bar. wouldnt it be cool to be a sushi chef? bartender or sushi chef?

mi columbia

passion fruit and milk do not mix well.

love's found everywhere

"flintstone" family

aacm retreat family reunion! we had a traditional thanksgiving meal together and ended with smores and the rockets game. hao liu loves basketball more than his family and annie dai did not inherit shady-dating genes from the mother but from the father, david park.

i'm greedy for families

got to hang out and have breakfast at magnolia's with our favorite couple, marcus and jocelin :). they're super cute, totally crack me up, and make marriage seem like loads of fun. afterwards, we went to austin stone. it was my first time attending and i'm so thankful my dad and mom found this church.

H town

was in houston thurs (11/9) - saturday (11/11) for a target interview, which was actually pretty fun and not as nerve-wrecking as i anticipated it to be. got to hang out with laura and jory afterwards :D. isnt this a NEAT bike rack!?

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happy bday weili!

happy halloween!

christine and i went trickotreating for unicef. we were pleasantly surprised by how generous people were to give us free candy AND money (donations). it was fun seeing all the cute costumes, walking around, peaking into people's homes (saw pretty houses!), and seeing the community out and about. like our homemade costumes? together, we made a peanut butter & jelly sandwich :p

cleveland rocks

more pics on facebook. omg...am i finally converting to fb????