hakuna matata

the faces of music

just watched my friends perform their guzheng/pipa, it was pretty amazing... i felt like i was in china in some palace courtyard or something, like royalty being entertained by court musicians. or in some chinese movie... quite surreal.

and then i realized how similar the guzheng is to the harp. sound-wise and the way you play it, kind of. the glissandos are pretty alike! and knocking on the wood part for extra sound effect. v cool! and then saw a bunch of other chinese instruments i hadn't really heard before... so interesting! music can be produced in so many different ways.

alright, back to my 3000word final.

exciting!

i was able to pray for my roommate who's been having bf issues... i don't even know why i feel excited about it and i feel like i've to tell someone. still debating on whether i should email people. or whether that's like boasting or something.

anyway, she asked me how i never get angry, cos she flares up pretty easily and throws tantrums (her own words, not mine). and esp so when her bf doesn't react in ways she expects and then she's disappointed (or rather, angry). i think to begin with, we just have different temperaments, i'm just more zen or something. but.. yeah, i was asking her about her relationship and stuff and it just felt so much like she had so much on her plate to handle and was so stressed. so i was just sharing that knowing that God's spirit works in us is so freeing because it takes away the pressure of me thinking i've to achieve everything on my own. just being able to trust is good. and i asked her if she prays.. (she's catholic so it's a little different) and then i prayed for her.

anyhow, although i'm not quite sure i had an answer to the anger thing (or maybe the solution was prayer), but she said she felt much better after praying so that was really cool. i guess i felt so glad that i was able to serve her and serve God at the same time :) which makes me think, it kind of is a testimony huh? but i wonder if my wanting to tell someone is craving man's praise... hm. the tale of the pharisee and the tax collector comes to mind.

end quarter blues

last night, at the last bible study for the graduating chi alpha people, my christian fellowship pastor glen was praying for us and a phrase just stuck in my mind - "as they take their last classes at stanford next quarter". i mean, there was definitely more to the whole prayer but since this is something i've been thinking about for a while, that's the phrase that stuck. it is so surreal. i've probably repeated this at least three times this year but i still can't get over how fast 4 years have flown by! i guess i did realize every year when i came back and had to adjust to being a "sophomore", then a "junior", and now a senior... it's kind of like getting older. somewhere in jc i kept thinking i was 16 and always had to count to figure out my age (happens sometimes now too) and i also cannot believe i'm turning 23 this year, it's scary [sorry to people who've had birthdays already :p]

and my pastor also told us that we'd be having a senior farewell sort of thing at the last chi alpha next quarter and that we should think about what we'd say (share) with the younger 'uns. haha. the irony is that i think i did spend time hanging out more in my sophomore/some of junior year, but not so much this year, unfortunately.. even so, my spiritual growth here has far surpassed that at home thanks to all the people i've come in contact with. and i guess the most important lesson is still the one from freshman year, when sean told me that if i just carve out that time for God, things will rearrange themselves in the remaining time. the way i see sunday morning as taken, that can be so for other things too (like chi alpha). actually that can still be applied to many other things.. but oh well.

i have no idea why i'm feeling so odd today. i think i need to sleep. hopefully that's it. and eat more oranges and less fried/sweet things. i am honestly so terrible at discipline when it comes to food. i blame america for this. and the dorm buffet dining system. haha.