after a full wk of day-long rehearsals, captives of ashland (the name of the musical) has finally run it's course.  we had a total of 4 shows, with 2 on saturday, all of which i think went pretty successfully :)  much as i'm going to miss playing with the band and the actors and all, for now i'm pretty glad/relieved that it's over.  it's been fun, but it's been tiring too!  i need my sleep :)

playing in the musical was really a lot of fun.  totally not what i expected coming into this semester.  i remember feeling very apprehensive about having to rehearse on sundays and "hell-week".  i didn't think i would have that much time, nor that i would enjoy doing that kind of stuff.  well i guess i do enjoy performing to some extent.  maybe that's why i'm in the praise team for manna.  playing in a band is such an awesome experience... praise team is somewhat like performing i guess, performing for God...  i feel so much joy playing :D

God has been so amazing this wk.  even though i had rehearsals pretty much every night, i found myself with more free time than i thought i would have had.  work also became easier this wk, so even though i had 3 problem sets and 1 lab report, they weren't as hard as they usually are.  God simply makes everything work together :D

ok now i just need to get some rest.  and vacuum my floor and get my room in order it is such a mess.  time to get my act together!

and texas is coming up :)

"For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; ..." Prov 6:26

wow.

[edit: i realized that this post presented women in quite a negative light.  haha.  of course i meant the above as an example of how women have tremendous influence.  so in defence of women, i shall post the passage all women fear!  Proverbs 31!]

(v10 onwards)
Who can find a virtuous wife?  For her worth is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands.
She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from afar.
She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household, And a portion for her maidservants.
She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength, And strengthens her arms.
She perceives that her merchandise is good, And her lamp does not go out by night.
She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hand holds the spindle.
She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her housefold, For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
She makes tapestry for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies sashes for the merchants.
Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all."
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates.

ack i just lost my entry.  but anyway i'll type out whatever i can remember.

today was the last rehearsal for the musical before it performs tomorrow.  the last run-through was very encouraging.  just abt everything was in place, except maybe volume control.  i'm excited!  i'm really glad that i got to play in this musical.  it reminds me so much of my strings days in acjc.  rehearsals everyday leading up to syf, staying back late in sch, playing the same things over and over again... good times, good times...

God has been really good to me during this stressful period.  work seemed to get a little easier this wk, which was good considering that i had much less time to work on the problem sets.  sleep hasn't been too bad either.  been working on 6-6.5 hours a night, which wouldn't have been enough for me last semester, but appears to be sufficient thus far.

i have to get down to doing my course selection for next semester as well.  choices, choices....  i'm trying to plan my courses so that i have no classes on friday, allowing me some free time to travel, maybe to NY and boston :)

thanksgiving is coming up real soon.  i'm going to texas with blake, the director of manna christian fellowship, along with some others to watch the football game between UT and texas A&M!  really excited abt that.  well not that excited yet, because all my focus is on the musical.  i shall rant and rave more abt texas once the musical is over.

today 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen went out for ice-cream.  while they were at the ice-cream shop, it started raining like cats and dogs.  the 2 freshmen were well-prepared with hoodies to shelter them from the storm.  the 2 sophomores however, weren't smart enough to bring an umbrella of sorts.  thus the sophomores ended up being drenched from head to toe, while the freshmen were nice and dry.

and you would think sophomores would be better prepared than freshmen eh :)

anyway today's rehearsal was pretty disappointing at first, but i guess it was a good wake-up call for everyone.  we missed quite a few cues (some were extremely crucial), and in general it was not at performance standard.  i think we can learn lots from this experience though.  we're learning how to work under stress, and we're identifying the trouble spots and ironing out the kinks.  it's going to be a great show :D

today was a much happier day for me too.  after coming back from florida i felt quite out of the whole sch thing, and the past wk was just rather confusing/tiring/no idea what's going on in my life.  today that cleared up somewhat, and i think that the Bible/verse reading in the morning definitely had something to do with that.  anyway do continue to pray for me :)

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep

We sing come Lord Jesus come
Come Lord Jesus come
Holy Spirit come
Holy Spirit come

for the uninitiated, one of my friends wrote a musical, and i'm playing the bass guitar in the pit band for him.  the show will be performing next thursday, friday and saturday.  as such, my whole wk next wk is full of rehearsals.  today i had a "2-hour" rehearsal go from 8pm to 1.20am.

thus hell week begins.

some of the thoughts (actually just 2) from today's Bible reading:

I just finished going through the Psalms yesterday.  It's interesting to note how even though we jump from one extreme emotion to another as we move from psalm to psalm (or even just within the psalm itself), towards the end of the book there appears to be a triumphant air about the psalmist.  Psalms 148-150, in particular, are just FULL of "Praise the Lord!", over and over again.  Maybe as we get closer to the end, the trappings of life begin to fall away (in our perspective, at least), and we see that life is really just about praising the Lord.

The second thought concerns the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.  The son doesn't say anything after v21.  I always wondered what the son might have said/felt after he saw the lavish grace poured on him by His Father.  how did he react?  how did he feel?  if you were the prodigal son, what would YOU have done?  You came back from the far country after spending all your dad's money, and not because you missed him but because you needed to fill your belly.  yet upon your arrival you are drowned in an ocean of grace that completely overlooks your grevious sin.  what would you say, what would you do?

I can only imagine
I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my hear feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence,
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah,
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day come
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship You
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

hi guys, i would like some prayer in regards to sch.  mmm i feel like i'm burning out a little bit in regards to math.  i guess it's just cos i spend so much time on it.... now when i look at my problem set for complex analysis my brain just shuts up and refuses to think.  i haven't reconsidered my major (yet) cos i think i still wanna do math (and it's quite the late to change anyways), but it's definitely wearing away a little at my mind.  so do pray for my mental state of health :)

i need to stop thinking and analyzing so much too.  it's not making me depressed, but it's making me tired.

here are some of the many, many, MANY photos that we took :)



boys acting cute


fireworks at the end of disney parade


sophomores!


i stole her glasses :)


all going underwater


obviously i haven't taken classes...


jon the shark!


boys in the pool :D

wow it's been awhile.  many things have happened since, and i would like to go through them chronologically.... let's see how things go.

last friday marked the end of the first half of fall semester i.e. 6 weeks of sheer hard work.  princeton was oh-so-kind to give us a week off from sch (while giving us hw and tests to do over the break zzzz).  friday to sunday was manna's fall retreat, which was held at new jersey christian academy.  i have to say that this retreat was quite different compared to previous retreats for me, mostly because i'm on the praise team this year.  as a member of the band, most of my time was spent practising with the praise team while the rest of the pple were mingling abt.  i guess it was partly cos of that that i didn't get to talk to as many pple as i would have liked.  upon much reflection i feel like i need to have more talks with more pple, conversations that are deeper than the superficial recounting of everyday life.  there is much that can be learnt from many pple, and there is much that can be gained for both parties.

the retreat's theme was on calling.  rev charlie drew came to speak (i bought his book, halfway through it right now).  i think i knew most of the things that he was talking about already, but it was definitely a good refresher, making the concepts really clear.  through his messages i was forced to reevaluate my life here at princeton.  why do i do the things i do?  i feel that there are some changes in my life that i need to make.  academics cannot be the sole goal of my princeton life.  important as they are, they are not life.  neither are they just tickets to a luxurious life.  i cannot make academics/math my god.

monday to saturday was spent in orlando, florida!  jon's (the manna intern) parents had timeshare in orlando, so he graciously invited some of us to join him.  there were 9 of us altogether- jon, ellen, andrew, angela, yoonju, angela, karen, dan and me.  even though most of us had some form of work to do over the break, we all managed to chill a lot too.

monday night was spent at universal walk, just walking around, not much i guess.  on tuesday we went outlet shopping!  i bought quite a few things.... well i haven't bought any new clothing for quite some time, my wardrobe really needs some sprucing up.  i actually managed to survive shopping with the girls :)  dan and andrew couldn't stand it though they ended up playing games in a toy shop :)

wed was chill day in the hotel, thu was disneyland!  disneyland was really coooool.  the rides weren't thrilling like six-flags-thrilling, but i guess many of the rides reminded me of parts of my childhood.  winnie the pooh, it's a small world, mickey goofy donald duck.... good times, good times...

i think we spent lots of time chilling in the resort grounds.  we went to the swimming pool and the hot tub a couple of times (maybe too many times), sat on the dock, played bball, volleyball, lying on the grass, swings and playgrounds..... so fun! :D  watched movies too.  and a sad basketball game.  lots of good conversations, i feel like i got to know the rest of them better.

now that im back on campus, it's so easy to slip back into the depressive mood.  but i wont.  God don't let me slip back into that mode.  life is so much more :D

to post some pictures soon.