Sunday, November 23, 2003
we are the champions...ha, sorry about that. cal beat stanford 28-16 in the 106th big game, go bears!
now that we're done with that...let me return to the beginning. was going to do another memento-ish blog, but i figured it'd be easier to keep things straight if i started from the last time i blogged.
friday afternoon, walked down to shattuck and virginia (about half an hour's walk) with haoren to get a birthday cake for yingxim (one of my s'porean friends). realized that we didn't know what kind of cakes she likes, other than her not liking cheesecake (how is that possible?!). decided to go with chocolate, coz that's always a safe bet.
went for the bonfire rally at night at the greek theater...was basically a stanford-bashing, cal-spirit-boosting kind of affair, but it was mighty cool...well, for about 5 minutes it was really hot, when the bonfire was raging, but other than that the night was freezing. (as an aside: it reminded me of God providing a pillar of fire at night for the israelites in the wilderness, now i can appreciate how much of a difference fire really makes). it was pretty awesome being in a whole crowd of cal fans, was certainly an emotional moment, and i think it's amazing how people can feel so "bonded" over something like a football game. my favorite "item" was the two vintage mic men...they were 60 and 70 plus years old, but had so much energy, they were jumping around all over the place and led the cheers really well too.
after the bonfire rally, went to celebrate yingxim's bday...had the chocolate cake, then watched shrek, think it was my 4th or 5th time watching it, but it was still as good, although it's hard to find people who catch the more subtle disney spoofs like i do, you really have to have had grown up watching disney videos everyday to appreciate it fully, i think. i fell asleep during the part where shrek and princess fiona had their "misunderstanding" and went their separate ways...the sad music was simply too soothing, ha.
that was friday night. yesterday i went to susan's house (one of my navigators friends) to watch the big game. there was so much food there it was crazy...i was still stuffed by the time i got back at 2 plus in the morning last night. she's a fantastic cook! the big game was insane...well, not really, for the first half it looked like cal wouldn't get very far, stanford scored within the first quarter of the game, and cal didn't manage to catch up till the third quarter...their 7 fumbles and how many (3, 4?) turnovers in the first half didn't help. and the refs weren't very friendly either, there was a field goal that should obviously have made it, but both refs ruled that it didn't. how did that happen? but cal pulled through in the end, awesome team that they are, to smash stanford 28-16 (as earlier reported) ...once again, go bears!
after that we drove down to stanford for an event called big praise, which was basically the fellowship groups on the two campuses coming together to worship God and praise him. there weren't as many people there as i expected there to be, but it was still good being able to overcome school rivalry in Jesus's name and just lift him in praise and prayer. the worship was really really loud, and to be honest, i wasn't really getting into it at the beginning, maybe it had to do with being at stanford, maybe it was just the unfamiliarity of the songs, but it was hard to stay focused on worshipping God. and i've got to make a confession, their soundguy really irked me, coz he kept running around trying to fix the guitar, the mikes etc while worship was going on...and i thought that was really distracting and unnecessary, but then again...being so judgmental is not really in line with the spirit of worship, so all throughout thinking that i was also thinking, God forgive me, ha. after the first set of worship we broke up into small groups and prayed for each other (cal for stanford and vice versa) and i think everything started getting better after that, it really helped me get into the spirit of things, and i was really able to lift my voice up in prayer for the two campuses - campuses that are so richly blessed in talent and resources, campuses that are filled with bright young people who are motivated and highly-driven to succeed, who if won for Christ would be able to make such a difference in the world because these are the people likely to become future leaders and groundbreakers of this nation. it just blows me away what a position we are in to make a difference in the kingdom, college is such an opportune moment to win people who are already hungry and searching for answers. Lord, help me capitalize on the chances you give me to share your love. one thing the worship leader said struck me, we are only as close to God as our desperation for him. it really made me ask myself if i am desperate enough for God, and i thought...sadly, the answer is probably no. someone else went out to pray that the fervor with which both schools supported the football game would be the same energy that we channel into furthering God's kingdom, and i think that's something that we totally need to apply in our lives. i was just thinking about how an avid bridge converter i am...i mean, how many of you are results of my "bridge evangelizing"! if i only shared the gospel with that same passion, man...i'd be much more productive a christian than i am now.
(i was reading ezekiel today...came across a beautiful passage, from chapter 47..."i saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...it was a river that i could not cross...fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing". may i be such a tree.)
after we got back from stanford, went to jenny's to play board games. i learnt how to play settlers, which is kind of like risk, except a more civil version. heard eric and abner talk about the game so much, but never got the chance to play it till last night...i won too! but i was kinda sleepy after that, so decided to sit out the second round. a group of other people were playing loaded questions, which is such a funny game to watch...think i laughed myself half-hoarse just watching them play.
when i finally got back to my dorm, it was about 2 in the morning. the funniest thing happened. tracy was sitting outside our room talking on the phone, so i asked her why she didn't go into the room. she told me she thought i had been sleeping in the room all along, so she didn't want to disturb me. she must have got a shock when she saw me walking up the corridor! ha...total opposite of the other time when she was already in bed and i thought she was still out so i left the lights on and the door unlocked. funny funny.
well, that was yesterday...long day. today's sunday (again!)...thanksgiving week too, yeah. the chungs are coming up tomorrow, but i don't think i'll get to see them till wednesday, and then i'll drive down with them to LA to visit all my friends there. yay, so exciting...but it also means i'm not going to get very much work done. studied hard (well, pretty hard) this morning before coming online. went through my psych notes, read my english reader, then started on chinua achebe's things fall apart, reading it for the 3rd time...assigned reading for my english class...at least it's a good book so i don't mind reading it.
my s'porean friends asked me to go oakland with them this morning to eat dim sum. i was sorely tempted, but still quite full from yesterday's barbecue, and anyway i have to go to church...the idea of dim sum is so good though! ah well, only another month before i'm back in s'pore, then i'll be able to have good and free (read: parent-paid) dim sum, ha.
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now that we're done with that...let me return to the beginning. was going to do another memento-ish blog, but i figured it'd be easier to keep things straight if i started from the last time i blogged.
friday afternoon, walked down to shattuck and virginia (about half an hour's walk) with haoren to get a birthday cake for yingxim (one of my s'porean friends). realized that we didn't know what kind of cakes she likes, other than her not liking cheesecake (how is that possible?!). decided to go with chocolate, coz that's always a safe bet.
went for the bonfire rally at night at the greek theater...was basically a stanford-bashing, cal-spirit-boosting kind of affair, but it was mighty cool...well, for about 5 minutes it was really hot, when the bonfire was raging, but other than that the night was freezing. (as an aside: it reminded me of God providing a pillar of fire at night for the israelites in the wilderness, now i can appreciate how much of a difference fire really makes). it was pretty awesome being in a whole crowd of cal fans, was certainly an emotional moment, and i think it's amazing how people can feel so "bonded" over something like a football game. my favorite "item" was the two vintage mic men...they were 60 and 70 plus years old, but had so much energy, they were jumping around all over the place and led the cheers really well too.
after the bonfire rally, went to celebrate yingxim's bday...had the chocolate cake, then watched shrek, think it was my 4th or 5th time watching it, but it was still as good, although it's hard to find people who catch the more subtle disney spoofs like i do, you really have to have had grown up watching disney videos everyday to appreciate it fully, i think. i fell asleep during the part where shrek and princess fiona had their "misunderstanding" and went their separate ways...the sad music was simply too soothing, ha.
that was friday night. yesterday i went to susan's house (one of my navigators friends) to watch the big game. there was so much food there it was crazy...i was still stuffed by the time i got back at 2 plus in the morning last night. she's a fantastic cook! the big game was insane...well, not really, for the first half it looked like cal wouldn't get very far, stanford scored within the first quarter of the game, and cal didn't manage to catch up till the third quarter...their 7 fumbles and how many (3, 4?) turnovers in the first half didn't help. and the refs weren't very friendly either, there was a field goal that should obviously have made it, but both refs ruled that it didn't. how did that happen? but cal pulled through in the end, awesome team that they are, to smash stanford 28-16 (as earlier reported) ...once again, go bears!
after that we drove down to stanford for an event called big praise, which was basically the fellowship groups on the two campuses coming together to worship God and praise him. there weren't as many people there as i expected there to be, but it was still good being able to overcome school rivalry in Jesus's name and just lift him in praise and prayer. the worship was really really loud, and to be honest, i wasn't really getting into it at the beginning, maybe it had to do with being at stanford, maybe it was just the unfamiliarity of the songs, but it was hard to stay focused on worshipping God. and i've got to make a confession, their soundguy really irked me, coz he kept running around trying to fix the guitar, the mikes etc while worship was going on...and i thought that was really distracting and unnecessary, but then again...being so judgmental is not really in line with the spirit of worship, so all throughout thinking that i was also thinking, God forgive me, ha. after the first set of worship we broke up into small groups and prayed for each other (cal for stanford and vice versa) and i think everything started getting better after that, it really helped me get into the spirit of things, and i was really able to lift my voice up in prayer for the two campuses - campuses that are so richly blessed in talent and resources, campuses that are filled with bright young people who are motivated and highly-driven to succeed, who if won for Christ would be able to make such a difference in the world because these are the people likely to become future leaders and groundbreakers of this nation. it just blows me away what a position we are in to make a difference in the kingdom, college is such an opportune moment to win people who are already hungry and searching for answers. Lord, help me capitalize on the chances you give me to share your love. one thing the worship leader said struck me, we are only as close to God as our desperation for him. it really made me ask myself if i am desperate enough for God, and i thought...sadly, the answer is probably no. someone else went out to pray that the fervor with which both schools supported the football game would be the same energy that we channel into furthering God's kingdom, and i think that's something that we totally need to apply in our lives. i was just thinking about how an avid bridge converter i am...i mean, how many of you are results of my "bridge evangelizing"! if i only shared the gospel with that same passion, man...i'd be much more productive a christian than i am now.
(i was reading ezekiel today...came across a beautiful passage, from chapter 47..."i saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...it was a river that i could not cross...fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing". may i be such a tree.)
after we got back from stanford, went to jenny's to play board games. i learnt how to play settlers, which is kind of like risk, except a more civil version. heard eric and abner talk about the game so much, but never got the chance to play it till last night...i won too! but i was kinda sleepy after that, so decided to sit out the second round. a group of other people were playing loaded questions, which is such a funny game to watch...think i laughed myself half-hoarse just watching them play.
when i finally got back to my dorm, it was about 2 in the morning. the funniest thing happened. tracy was sitting outside our room talking on the phone, so i asked her why she didn't go into the room. she told me she thought i had been sleeping in the room all along, so she didn't want to disturb me. she must have got a shock when she saw me walking up the corridor! ha...total opposite of the other time when she was already in bed and i thought she was still out so i left the lights on and the door unlocked. funny funny.
well, that was yesterday...long day. today's sunday (again!)...thanksgiving week too, yeah. the chungs are coming up tomorrow, but i don't think i'll get to see them till wednesday, and then i'll drive down with them to LA to visit all my friends there. yay, so exciting...but it also means i'm not going to get very much work done. studied hard (well, pretty hard) this morning before coming online. went through my psych notes, read my english reader, then started on chinua achebe's things fall apart, reading it for the 3rd time...assigned reading for my english class...at least it's a good book so i don't mind reading it.
my s'porean friends asked me to go oakland with them this morning to eat dim sum. i was sorely tempted, but still quite full from yesterday's barbecue, and anyway i have to go to church...the idea of dim sum is so good though! ah well, only another month before i'm back in s'pore, then i'll be able to have good and free (read: parent-paid) dim sum, ha.
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