On Wednesday the 20th I went to my second big Biola Alumni event, accompanied by Tad, Amanda, and Amanda's boyfriend Ben. Before seeing Stomp at the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego, they held a lovely hors devours reception at the Bristol Hotel. Amanda and Ben met us at the condo and we carpooled down to the hotel.
The reception was on the top floor of the hotel, in a ballroom that was open air (there is a ceiling, it's just retractable.). I imagine it's a lovely location forn evening summer wedding reception. We mingled with a few of the people there and greatly enjoyed the food. Free food, even if it is appetizers, is still very welcome to us students. They did a little presentation about what's new with Biola, mostly building projects and the like. There was a current student there playing guitar and artwork on display by an alumna who lives in San Diego.
After the presentation they did the drawings for Biola apparel prizes (I didn't win anything, but Amanda did.) and we walked as a group over to the theater. Tad had studied the maps and directions and was able to lead the way, tkaing a short cut through Horton Plaza. We arrived in our seats just in time for the show to start.
It was quite an interesting and fun show. If you're not familiar with Stomp, it's a percussion group that uses every day items to make music. There were numbers using brooms, sinks with rubber gloves and water, decks of cards, newspapers, lighters, and trash cans. The lighters number was one of my favorites with the combination of the clicking noises and the flickering lights. It reminded me of the the book The Outsiders, hehe.
Something I didn't expect about the show was how much comedy was involved. It's all non verbal, but that made it even more fun. For example, in one of the numbers with brooms, one guy walks out with a mop, looks round, and then goes off stage to get the right "instrument".
After the show, we took a few pictures outside the theater, and then Tad went to get the car to pick us up. Amanda, Ben, and I enjoyed the stylings of a saxophone street performer, who ended up being joined by two of the Stomp performers, styling on the metal newspaper boxes. It was way cool. When they had finished, we walked up to say hi. Ben got his program signed, and we all took a picture with them.
I had a really good time. It was great to get to spend more time with Amanda (and Ben) and to have a fun night out in San Diego. :)
Showing posts with label Biola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biola. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Meeting the Family
In almost 5 years of dating and engagement, Tad's and my families had not met (with the exception of my Aunt Diane who met Tad's paretns when we were in Seattle). We all thought this was an important fact to remedy prior to the wedding.
Tad's parents and sister made the three day drive down from Tri Cities, spent the weekend enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather we were blessed with, and left Sunday to make the drive home. They were able to see some of Tad's and my favorite SD spots, meet my family, and participate in the first of the wedding events: my Biola bridal shower.
The Tildens arrived Thursday afternoon. While I was working on a group project and then in class, Tad helped them check into their hotel and unload the "treasure" his mom had brought down for him. I got out of class early and was able to go with them out to dinner. Upon Tad's prompting and recommendation, they decided to try the fondue place in La Jolla called The Melting Pot. Tad's whole family loves fondue, and Tad has been dying to go there since he first heard of it. The food was absolutely delicious! We shared three pots of fondue (one classic Swiss, one cheddar, and one spicy Mexican style), two different entres with shrimp, chicken, steak, vegetables, and a wide variety of sauces, and two pots of dessert fondue (bananas foster and dark chocolate with amaretto). Tad had thought it might make a nice rehearsal dinner location, but we decided it was not the best option based on time.
Friday was our fun in the sun day. Mrs. Tilden had requested going to the beach, and it was perfect weather. So first stop was Ocean Beach. There were surprisingly few people there and it was beautiful. Valencia had the most fun I've ever seen her have jumping in the waves. We might actually get her into my parents' pool this summer. ;)
Tad's dad requested taking the driving tour of PLNU and since it was already lunchtime, we stopped by Point Loma Seafood. Great choice, they absolutely loved it, which was not too surprising. It's been a family favorite since LONG before I was born.
Our final destination on the San Diego in a Nutshell tour was Seaport Village. Tad and I split off from his family for some just us time and explored the hot sauce and pet stores. His family enjoyed the specialty shops and picked up quite a few items, especially at the hot sauce store, lol. From there we met my parents and Steve at Marie Calendar's for the initial family meeting. It went rather well, slightly awkward as things like that usually are, but not bad. Stephen was the life of the party and kept us entertained. I love that kid.
After a light snack there, my family and I zipped down to University to meet Steve's astronomy club at a Chinese place called Wong's Golden Palace. Steve got to mingle a bit with some of his classmates and we discovered the best potstickers any of us have ever had.
Thus ended day one of my busy, crazy, fun weekend. I got back to my parents' house, went to bed, and then came day 2.
Tad dropped his mom and Jeana off Saturday morning and then headed off with his dad to a job fair for General Atomics in Poway. Raelene arrived shortly after and the five of us (me, Mom, Raelene, Mrs. Tilden, and Jeana) piled in my mom's Highlander and set out for La Mirada. It was a bit squishy, but we had an enjoyable car ride discussing a lot of "favorites" of everyone. :o)
Becky and Krista threw a beautiful shower for me. It was so wonderful to see so many of my close Biola friends. They had prepared so very delicious treats: pineapple and double chocolate cupcakes, macadamia nut kisses, strawberries, and hazelnut chocolate espresso beans, plus several kinds of delicious punch and iced tea. They started out by having everyone say their name, how they had met me and a favorite memory. This was really fun for me. Amanda talked about our crazy experiences on Winds tour junior year, Diana talke dabout going out for Thai food, Jennifer talked about Biola graduation and Narnia in December, Raelene talked about going home for Christmas our first year away at college, Becky talked about our crazy train trip to Tri Cities, Mrs. Tilden talked about going to Newport for Thanksgiving, and Krista talked about my first trip to Berry Cool.
We played several fun games including a "how many of these items do you have in your purse?" game, guess the famous couple who's taped on your back game, and guess how many kisses are in the jar. Mom won the purse game, and I came in second. In the famous couples game, I had Tarzan and Jane. They were very cute and included Valencia who had Pongo and Perdie from 101 Dalmations. A few of the other couples were Cinderella and Prince Charming, Adam and Eve, and Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Tilden guessed hers first (after Mom) with Lucy and Ricky.
I received some wonderful gifts from the girls, and opened all of them without breaking any ribbons. They have warned me to beware of their gifts at the San Diego shower, lol. The girls closed with a time of paryer for Tad and me. I cannot say enough how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.
Witht he guys waiting for us at home, we said our goodbyes and made a quick drive through Biola to show Mrs. Tilden. The menfolk plus my grandparents were waiting for us when we got home. We bbqed burgers and enjoyed a nice meal together. I accompanied the Tildens back down south so I could go to Mission with them on Sunday. Palm Sunday was the day that the licensed ministers served communion, so both Tad's family and I were able to be there for that. After church we went out for lunch at Anthony's in La Mesa before the Tildens hit the road for home.
It was a very crazy weekend, filled with a lot fo fun things. It's also a relief to have had our families meet. We ask for continued paryer for Tad's job search, for me to finish my semester strong, and for the wedding plans to continue falling into place.
Tad's parents and sister made the three day drive down from Tri Cities, spent the weekend enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather we were blessed with, and left Sunday to make the drive home. They were able to see some of Tad's and my favorite SD spots, meet my family, and participate in the first of the wedding events: my Biola bridal shower.
The Tildens arrived Thursday afternoon. While I was working on a group project and then in class, Tad helped them check into their hotel and unload the "treasure" his mom had brought down for him. I got out of class early and was able to go with them out to dinner. Upon Tad's prompting and recommendation, they decided to try the fondue place in La Jolla called The Melting Pot. Tad's whole family loves fondue, and Tad has been dying to go there since he first heard of it. The food was absolutely delicious! We shared three pots of fondue (one classic Swiss, one cheddar, and one spicy Mexican style), two different entres with shrimp, chicken, steak, vegetables, and a wide variety of sauces, and two pots of dessert fondue (bananas foster and dark chocolate with amaretto). Tad had thought it might make a nice rehearsal dinner location, but we decided it was not the best option based on time.
Friday was our fun in the sun day. Mrs. Tilden had requested going to the beach, and it was perfect weather. So first stop was Ocean Beach. There were surprisingly few people there and it was beautiful. Valencia had the most fun I've ever seen her have jumping in the waves. We might actually get her into my parents' pool this summer. ;)
Tad's dad requested taking the driving tour of PLNU and since it was already lunchtime, we stopped by Point Loma Seafood. Great choice, they absolutely loved it, which was not too surprising. It's been a family favorite since LONG before I was born.
Our final destination on the San Diego in a Nutshell tour was Seaport Village. Tad and I split off from his family for some just us time and explored the hot sauce and pet stores. His family enjoyed the specialty shops and picked up quite a few items, especially at the hot sauce store, lol. From there we met my parents and Steve at Marie Calendar's for the initial family meeting. It went rather well, slightly awkward as things like that usually are, but not bad. Stephen was the life of the party and kept us entertained. I love that kid.
After a light snack there, my family and I zipped down to University to meet Steve's astronomy club at a Chinese place called Wong's Golden Palace. Steve got to mingle a bit with some of his classmates and we discovered the best potstickers any of us have ever had.
Thus ended day one of my busy, crazy, fun weekend. I got back to my parents' house, went to bed, and then came day 2.
Tad dropped his mom and Jeana off Saturday morning and then headed off with his dad to a job fair for General Atomics in Poway. Raelene arrived shortly after and the five of us (me, Mom, Raelene, Mrs. Tilden, and Jeana) piled in my mom's Highlander and set out for La Mirada. It was a bit squishy, but we had an enjoyable car ride discussing a lot of "favorites" of everyone. :o)
Becky and Krista threw a beautiful shower for me. It was so wonderful to see so many of my close Biola friends. They had prepared so very delicious treats: pineapple and double chocolate cupcakes, macadamia nut kisses, strawberries, and hazelnut chocolate espresso beans, plus several kinds of delicious punch and iced tea. They started out by having everyone say their name, how they had met me and a favorite memory. This was really fun for me. Amanda talked about our crazy experiences on Winds tour junior year, Diana talke dabout going out for Thai food, Jennifer talked about Biola graduation and Narnia in December, Raelene talked about going home for Christmas our first year away at college, Becky talked about our crazy train trip to Tri Cities, Mrs. Tilden talked about going to Newport for Thanksgiving, and Krista talked about my first trip to Berry Cool.
We played several fun games including a "how many of these items do you have in your purse?" game, guess the famous couple who's taped on your back game, and guess how many kisses are in the jar. Mom won the purse game, and I came in second. In the famous couples game, I had Tarzan and Jane. They were very cute and included Valencia who had Pongo and Perdie from 101 Dalmations. A few of the other couples were Cinderella and Prince Charming, Adam and Eve, and Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Tilden guessed hers first (after Mom) with Lucy and Ricky.
I received some wonderful gifts from the girls, and opened all of them without breaking any ribbons. They have warned me to beware of their gifts at the San Diego shower, lol. The girls closed with a time of paryer for Tad and me. I cannot say enough how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.
Witht he guys waiting for us at home, we said our goodbyes and made a quick drive through Biola to show Mrs. Tilden. The menfolk plus my grandparents were waiting for us when we got home. We bbqed burgers and enjoyed a nice meal together. I accompanied the Tildens back down south so I could go to Mission with them on Sunday. Palm Sunday was the day that the licensed ministers served communion, so both Tad's family and I were able to be there for that. After church we went out for lunch at Anthony's in La Mesa before the Tildens hit the road for home.
It was a very crazy weekend, filled with a lot fo fun things. It's also a relief to have had our families meet. We ask for continued paryer for Tad's job search, for me to finish my semester strong, and for the wedding plans to continue falling into place.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Music, Graduation, Narnia, and Friends
My visits to Biola fall in very similar patterns from year to year since I make the traint rip up there for the same occassions every year: to celebrate Becky's and my birthdays, Symphonic Winds concerts, and graduation.
My good friend Justine graduated on Friday, and thus, I made a weekend trip out of it.
I took the train up to Fullerton Thursday afternoon and was picked up by Krista. Becky was finishing finals at CSU Long Beach, so that left Krista and I to amuse ourselves. We grabbed lunch from Baja Fresh and then went in search of gifts for Becky's elementary school band kids. After looking at some ridiculous things at Dollar Tree, we decided on giant chocolate snowflakes. We counted out what we THOUGHT was 23 and checked out. The cashier didn't want to count them and just scanned one 23 times. When we got the snowflakes to Becky, we discovered there were actually 26, oops!
Before meeting up with Becky, we stopped by Starbucks in La Mirada and ran into our former professor Yvana who happens to be expecting again. She told us that our other two profs from the major were on campus grading papers, so after we got our drinks we headed to McNally. It was nice getting to chat with 2/3 of the profs. We couldn't find Tonya, as she had been out to coffee with another former student and never came back. From there, Krista and I had an hour to kill and just sat in her car in the parking lot.
The main focus of our evening was Becky's elemntary school band concert. She ahs some really cute kids, and the other performances were cute too, especially the Kindergarteners singing. After the concert we did a late night Wendy's run and then went back to Becky's to crash for the evening.
I didn't get to go to bed quite as soon as I would have hoped. One of Becky's roommates was having a long last night with her boyfriend before the break. They were making cookies, watching movies, and generally being loud until at least 2 am, and didn't take the hint that I needed to sleep on the couch. Becky fell asleep on the floor, and when it became obvious there would be no moving her upstairs, I bid a curt goodnight to her roommate (at midnight) and went to sleep in Becky's bed.
Friday was a driving-all-over-the-place day. Becky and I picked up Jen from Hart and set out on some errands Becky needed to run. We grabed lunch from In N Out and were intending to see Narnia with Krista, but all 4 of us missed the showtime. Instead, we bought tickets for a showing after graduation and explored the big bookstore next to the theater. The cool thing is that I've seen all 3 of the Narnia movies, with Biola friends, in the Downtown Disney theater.
Becky and Jen went back to Hart to pack Jen's stuff up while I stayed at Becky's place to take a shower and get ready for graduation. Since Jen had some extra meals for the semester, she swiped me into the caf for dinner. It was fun reliving a Biola caf experience for the evening. She and I ate quick and ran over to just barely find seats in the gym for graduation. It was a very nice ceremony. I loved the speaker and the special music (a beautiful arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" sung by Donte and accompanied by the orchestra).
We found Justine no problem afterwards for hugs and congratulations. Then Becky, Krista, Jen, and I grabbed some quick snacks from the reception in the caf and zipped off to our movie. We made it in perfect time, just at the end of the previews. I loved it. I'm sad to say I didn't succeed in finishing the book before watching the movie, but from what the others said, it seemed like it stuck pretty closely to the story. What I loved most (other than the music, hehe) was how much of the Christian messages were left in. It was refreshing after the disappointment of them being changed or taken out completely in Prince Caspian.
Saturday morningI awoke, got ready, and had Becky "drop me off" at the Albertson's center to meet Justine. Upon arriving at Alberton's, Becky's car stalled, then would start and not go into gear. She didn't have her phone with her, so she called triple A on mine. They eventually came an hour and a hafl later, but we did enjoy hanging out and having breakfast at Starbucks with Justine. Once we knew Becky would be able to make it home safe, Justine and I set out for FullertonAmanda's house in Fullerton.
Amanda was busy baking Christmas gifts for her fellow Sunday School teachers, but we kept her company and caught up on life. She fed us lunch (in addition to broken sugar cookies) and then took me to the train station.
The rain made things complicated, but it was a weekend when I got to have quality time with 4 of my closest friends from Biola, which made it very special. :)
My good friend Justine graduated on Friday, and thus, I made a weekend trip out of it.
I took the train up to Fullerton Thursday afternoon and was picked up by Krista. Becky was finishing finals at CSU Long Beach, so that left Krista and I to amuse ourselves. We grabbed lunch from Baja Fresh and then went in search of gifts for Becky's elementary school band kids. After looking at some ridiculous things at Dollar Tree, we decided on giant chocolate snowflakes. We counted out what we THOUGHT was 23 and checked out. The cashier didn't want to count them and just scanned one 23 times. When we got the snowflakes to Becky, we discovered there were actually 26, oops!
Before meeting up with Becky, we stopped by Starbucks in La Mirada and ran into our former professor Yvana who happens to be expecting again. She told us that our other two profs from the major were on campus grading papers, so after we got our drinks we headed to McNally. It was nice getting to chat with 2/3 of the profs. We couldn't find Tonya, as she had been out to coffee with another former student and never came back. From there, Krista and I had an hour to kill and just sat in her car in the parking lot.
The main focus of our evening was Becky's elemntary school band concert. She ahs some really cute kids, and the other performances were cute too, especially the Kindergarteners singing. After the concert we did a late night Wendy's run and then went back to Becky's to crash for the evening.
I didn't get to go to bed quite as soon as I would have hoped. One of Becky's roommates was having a long last night with her boyfriend before the break. They were making cookies, watching movies, and generally being loud until at least 2 am, and didn't take the hint that I needed to sleep on the couch. Becky fell asleep on the floor, and when it became obvious there would be no moving her upstairs, I bid a curt goodnight to her roommate (at midnight) and went to sleep in Becky's bed.
Friday was a driving-all-over-the-place day. Becky and I picked up Jen from Hart and set out on some errands Becky needed to run. We grabed lunch from In N Out and were intending to see Narnia with Krista, but all 4 of us missed the showtime. Instead, we bought tickets for a showing after graduation and explored the big bookstore next to the theater. The cool thing is that I've seen all 3 of the Narnia movies, with Biola friends, in the Downtown Disney theater.
Becky and Jen went back to Hart to pack Jen's stuff up while I stayed at Becky's place to take a shower and get ready for graduation. Since Jen had some extra meals for the semester, she swiped me into the caf for dinner. It was fun reliving a Biola caf experience for the evening. She and I ate quick and ran over to just barely find seats in the gym for graduation. It was a very nice ceremony. I loved the speaker and the special music (a beautiful arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" sung by Donte and accompanied by the orchestra).
We found Justine no problem afterwards for hugs and congratulations. Then Becky, Krista, Jen, and I grabbed some quick snacks from the reception in the caf and zipped off to our movie. We made it in perfect time, just at the end of the previews. I loved it. I'm sad to say I didn't succeed in finishing the book before watching the movie, but from what the others said, it seemed like it stuck pretty closely to the story. What I loved most (other than the music, hehe) was how much of the Christian messages were left in. It was refreshing after the disappointment of them being changed or taken out completely in Prince Caspian.
Saturday morningI awoke, got ready, and had Becky "drop me off" at the Albertson's center to meet Justine. Upon arriving at Alberton's, Becky's car stalled, then would start and not go into gear. She didn't have her phone with her, so she called triple A on mine. They eventually came an hour and a hafl later, but we did enjoy hanging out and having breakfast at Starbucks with Justine. Once we knew Becky would be able to make it home safe, Justine and I set out for FullertonAmanda's house in Fullerton.
Amanda was busy baking Christmas gifts for her fellow Sunday School teachers, but we kept her company and caught up on life. She fed us lunch (in addition to broken sugar cookies) and then took me to the train station.
The rain made things complicated, but it was a weekend when I got to have quality time with 4 of my closest friends from Biola, which made it very special. :)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Biola Trip Fall 2010
Biola Visit Fall 2010
I was last at Biola in June when I celebrated mine and Becky's birthdays and went to the BYT Cats performance. It was high time to see my friends again!
Thanksto my schedule this semester, I was able to leave right away Friday morning. Tad dropped me off on his way to work at the Old Town trolley station. I caught the blue line to Santa Fe Depot where I purchased my ticket, and hopped on the train. The ride was uneventful. I sat across from an older couple who were on their way home from a cruise. I arrived in Santa Ana (the only station between SD and LA at which I had not been) and met Becky. We grabbed Krista at her place and got lunch at KFC. Quote of the day: Me "Becky, I thought you wore size 8 shoes." Kirsta "I wish I had 8 feet."
After lunch we went to a special shoe store for people with small feet to see if Krista could find some new dress sheos. Unfortunatley she didn't find any that worked. From there Krista went back to prepare for her birthday party, and Becky and I headed up to the Biola area. We had been planning on helping Krista get ready, but Becky's car needed to get taken in to the shop. She dropped me off at Biola and went to the auto repair place.
I arrived about 45 minutes before the Winds rehearsal ended, so first I got tickets for the Winds concert. I got cash from the ATM in teh SUB and decided to see if any of my Comm Dis profs were around. In McNally I ran into our secretary Marty, who was watching an ultimate frisbee game in which Dr. Corey was playing, and she informed me that Matt would have been around had he not had a family emergency that day.
I wrote a quick note tot he profs (which I left in the assignment drop box) and headed back across campus to the music building. I got back in time to hear a bit of the rehearsal and then surprise everybody. I hung out and chatted with people for a while and then Amanda suggested we get boba. She and I got to do some catching up about life and boyfriends, and Becky joined us once her car repairs were done.
Around 4:00 we bid farewell to Amanda, went back to Becky's place so she could change, picked up Jennifer from Hart, and picked up Justine from her house in Cypress. The 4 of us, though running late, managed to make it to Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney just in time to be seated. We were shortly by Raeleen, Emily, and Melissa. It was a fun dinner. Neither Krista nor I had ever been to Rainforest Cafe. Jennifer and I shared cocnut shrimp for dinner, and we all shared a bit of Krista's icecream sundae.
Becky, Melissa, and Raeleen had to leave to do other things from there, but the rest of us went back to Krista's house for games and goodies. Tia and Diana met us there. We played a game called "The Gam eof Things" which was really fun. There's a category like "Thing syou shouldn't do at the circus." Everyone write ssomething, and then you try to guess who said what. While playing we enjoyed mini caramel apples, frozen yogurt and nilla wafers sandwiches, jelly beans, and choclate. Yum!
We finished the game, and then it was time for cake! Funny story about the cake, the bakery had mispelled Krista's name, and gotten her age wrong. By the time we got back to her house it had been fixed though. It was delicious, Tollhouse chocolate chip with lots of purple frosting. Tia, Emily, and Diana said their goodbyes after cake, at which point the remaining 4 of us watched The Proposal. Overall a good movie, though some annoying assumptions about relationships.
Becky arrived close to the end of the movie to take Justine, Jen and me home. Becky and I got back to her place around 2:20 and crashed.
We were up bright and early Saturday (around 9:00) to go to the Vandoren Clarinet Festival at UCLA. Becky was performing in the afternoon with the LA Clarinet Choir. Another of the choir members had offered to drive both of us. At the festival we went to a couple seminars (one on the history of Buffet and Vandoren and one on being a studio clarinet player), did some shopping (I brought cigarette paper, which is for unsticking pads, and a piece by Ralph Vaughn Williams, a favorite composer of mine), and sat in on some performances. I really enjoyed getting to be nerdy and spend the day doing clarinety things with Becky.
Becky and I got back to her place with an hour before we needed to be at Biola for the Winds concert. We lounged around, eating rice krispee treats and discussing the menu for her graduate recital reception.
The Winds concert was great, as usual. The theme for the semester was "Traditional meets Contemporary". Each piece was matched with another, one old and one new, but with similar themes of motifs. Really cool idea. As per usual, we promptly drove over to the Fellers' for the after party. The food was the traditional Thanksgiving wraps and apple and pumpkin pie.
After two very full days and not enough sleep Friday night, Becky and I crashed at her place. The time change helped us get a little extra sleep, in addition to going to the 11:00 service at church. The funny thing, was we ended up 45 minutes late. Becky lost track of time while getting ready, so we headed out a little late anyway. Then I discovered I had forgotten my glasses (I had thought they were in my purse). We turned around for my glasses and went to get gas, since Becky's tank was on empty and we were late anyway. At the gas station Becky discovered she didn't have her wallet. Back to her place we went again. As we were returning for the wallet I realized I didn't have my phone. Upon acquiring both of these items, we went back to the gas station, and then to church.
Even funnier, after the service Krista found us, and told us she had only been there for 30 minutes. When she arrived at church, she thought she was on time, but was somehow an hour late. Still puzzling, we went to a pizza place called Gondola's for lunch and shared a BBQ chicken pizza and a canolie. The girls dorpped me off at the train station with just enough time to catch my train home.
I was last at Biola in June when I celebrated mine and Becky's birthdays and went to the BYT Cats performance. It was high time to see my friends again!
Thanksto my schedule this semester, I was able to leave right away Friday morning. Tad dropped me off on his way to work at the Old Town trolley station. I caught the blue line to Santa Fe Depot where I purchased my ticket, and hopped on the train. The ride was uneventful. I sat across from an older couple who were on their way home from a cruise. I arrived in Santa Ana (the only station between SD and LA at which I had not been) and met Becky. We grabbed Krista at her place and got lunch at KFC. Quote of the day: Me "Becky, I thought you wore size 8 shoes." Kirsta "I wish I had 8 feet."
After lunch we went to a special shoe store for people with small feet to see if Krista could find some new dress sheos. Unfortunatley she didn't find any that worked. From there Krista went back to prepare for her birthday party, and Becky and I headed up to the Biola area. We had been planning on helping Krista get ready, but Becky's car needed to get taken in to the shop. She dropped me off at Biola and went to the auto repair place.
I arrived about 45 minutes before the Winds rehearsal ended, so first I got tickets for the Winds concert. I got cash from the ATM in teh SUB and decided to see if any of my Comm Dis profs were around. In McNally I ran into our secretary Marty, who was watching an ultimate frisbee game in which Dr. Corey was playing, and she informed me that Matt would have been around had he not had a family emergency that day.
I wrote a quick note tot he profs (which I left in the assignment drop box) and headed back across campus to the music building. I got back in time to hear a bit of the rehearsal and then surprise everybody. I hung out and chatted with people for a while and then Amanda suggested we get boba. She and I got to do some catching up about life and boyfriends, and Becky joined us once her car repairs were done.
Around 4:00 we bid farewell to Amanda, went back to Becky's place so she could change, picked up Jennifer from Hart, and picked up Justine from her house in Cypress. The 4 of us, though running late, managed to make it to Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney just in time to be seated. We were shortly by Raeleen, Emily, and Melissa. It was a fun dinner. Neither Krista nor I had ever been to Rainforest Cafe. Jennifer and I shared cocnut shrimp for dinner, and we all shared a bit of Krista's icecream sundae.
Becky, Melissa, and Raeleen had to leave to do other things from there, but the rest of us went back to Krista's house for games and goodies. Tia and Diana met us there. We played a game called "The Gam eof Things" which was really fun. There's a category like "Thing syou shouldn't do at the circus." Everyone write ssomething, and then you try to guess who said what. While playing we enjoyed mini caramel apples, frozen yogurt and nilla wafers sandwiches, jelly beans, and choclate. Yum!
We finished the game, and then it was time for cake! Funny story about the cake, the bakery had mispelled Krista's name, and gotten her age wrong. By the time we got back to her house it had been fixed though. It was delicious, Tollhouse chocolate chip with lots of purple frosting. Tia, Emily, and Diana said their goodbyes after cake, at which point the remaining 4 of us watched The Proposal. Overall a good movie, though some annoying assumptions about relationships.
Becky arrived close to the end of the movie to take Justine, Jen and me home. Becky and I got back to her place around 2:20 and crashed.
We were up bright and early Saturday (around 9:00) to go to the Vandoren Clarinet Festival at UCLA. Becky was performing in the afternoon with the LA Clarinet Choir. Another of the choir members had offered to drive both of us. At the festival we went to a couple seminars (one on the history of Buffet and Vandoren and one on being a studio clarinet player), did some shopping (I brought cigarette paper, which is for unsticking pads, and a piece by Ralph Vaughn Williams, a favorite composer of mine), and sat in on some performances. I really enjoyed getting to be nerdy and spend the day doing clarinety things with Becky.
Becky and I got back to her place with an hour before we needed to be at Biola for the Winds concert. We lounged around, eating rice krispee treats and discussing the menu for her graduate recital reception.
The Winds concert was great, as usual. The theme for the semester was "Traditional meets Contemporary". Each piece was matched with another, one old and one new, but with similar themes of motifs. Really cool idea. As per usual, we promptly drove over to the Fellers' for the after party. The food was the traditional Thanksgiving wraps and apple and pumpkin pie.
After two very full days and not enough sleep Friday night, Becky and I crashed at her place. The time change helped us get a little extra sleep, in addition to going to the 11:00 service at church. The funny thing, was we ended up 45 minutes late. Becky lost track of time while getting ready, so we headed out a little late anyway. Then I discovered I had forgotten my glasses (I had thought they were in my purse). We turned around for my glasses and went to get gas, since Becky's tank was on empty and we were late anyway. At the gas station Becky discovered she didn't have her wallet. Back to her place we went again. As we were returning for the wallet I realized I didn't have my phone. Upon acquiring both of these items, we went back to the gas station, and then to church.
Even funnier, after the service Krista found us, and told us she had only been there for 30 minutes. When she arrived at church, she thought she was on time, but was somehow an hour late. Still puzzling, we went to a pizza place called Gondola's for lunch and shared a BBQ chicken pizza and a canolie. The girls dorpped me off at the train station with just enough time to catch my train home.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Walking with Jesus
I have been going through a lot of spiritual transitions over the past year. Last year was very difficult for me and only through the summer did I start to feel "normal" again. Recently, God has been working in me through the college Sunday school group at Mission, and I now feel that I am in a place where I can put this working into words.
We wen tthrough a unit talking about the passages surrounding Jesus walking on water in Mark. The passage immeidately before walking on water is that of the feeding the 5000. The disciples are grumpy during this miracle because they thought they were going to have a rest. Jesus performs the miracle and there are 12 baskets of food left over. They then get in the boat and are supposed to go to Bethsaida. It is while they are on the lake that they see Jesus walking on water. They don't recognize him and are afraid. Jesus had meant to pass by them, but since they are afraid, he gets in the boat and they don't end up at Bethsaida. The next passage is feeding the 4000. This time there are 7 baskets left over. Again afterwards they get in the boat, and the disciples have a conversation about not having any bread. They reach Bethsaida, and Jesus performs the miracle of healing the blind man where at first he says he sees people but they look like trees.
Discussion with the group is where things really fall into place for application. The disciples missed the whole point of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus can provide everything a person needs in abundance. This is even demonstrated by the fact that there was a basket left over for each disciple. He wants them to understand that he, as God, provides for them. But they don't get this, which is why they are terrified when they see him on the water and don't make it to Bethsaida. Jesus does the feeding of the 4000 to try to tell them again. This time the 7 baskets symbolize completion and wholeness. It seems that the disciples still don't quite get it, because they complain about not having bread. There is more conversation int eh boat that we don't know about, but Jesus must decide that they are ready for Bethsaida, because that's where they end up. With the blind man, Jesus makes it a point that it isn't enough for him to see, but not see clearly. Jesus wants him to see everything in perfect detail as it is.
So, summary of application, God can and wants to be our provider. He provides abundantly for us both with physical and spiritual needs. When he teaches us something, he doesn't give up if we don't get it the first time. He works to show it to us in different ways so we understand and learn more about him. And even when we think we see something (like the blind man seeing people as trees), he keeps working to make it perfectly clear for us. There is always something new for us to discover about God.
Now personal application to my journey. The trips int he boat that the disciples and Jesus mke made me think about the Footprints poem. Graduating from Biola, Jesus and I were walking along the shoreline together. Then grad school and roommate issues hit, and I feel flat on my face. I spent quite a while lying face down in the sand. At first I cried out and began to reach for God, but the pain overwhelmed me, and very quickly i dropped my hand and resigned myself to lie there. I felt alone and abandoned and felt as if I were drifting from God. As soon as I realized this consciously, I reached out to God and he picked me up. Throughout the summer he carried me, and I clung to him. I was terrified of falling on my face again. At the same time, I felt ashamed that I wasn't walking, simply being carried. But the suppor tof others, and God's reassurance made me understand that it is ok to let yourslef be carried for a time.
Now, entering year 2 of grad school, and with a better elader of college group, I feel ready to walk on my own feet again. I am stillleaning heavily on God, but this is a good thing. He is more than able to support me and provide for me. And I realize now, tha tthough I was walking on my own, yet next to Jesus, when I graduate drom Biola, I believed that I had learned everything about him.
I see now that I am only seeing trees when I want to see people.
I pray that he continues to show me more and more of his character as I walk with him.
We wen tthrough a unit talking about the passages surrounding Jesus walking on water in Mark. The passage immeidately before walking on water is that of the feeding the 5000. The disciples are grumpy during this miracle because they thought they were going to have a rest. Jesus performs the miracle and there are 12 baskets of food left over. They then get in the boat and are supposed to go to Bethsaida. It is while they are on the lake that they see Jesus walking on water. They don't recognize him and are afraid. Jesus had meant to pass by them, but since they are afraid, he gets in the boat and they don't end up at Bethsaida. The next passage is feeding the 4000. This time there are 7 baskets left over. Again afterwards they get in the boat, and the disciples have a conversation about not having any bread. They reach Bethsaida, and Jesus performs the miracle of healing the blind man where at first he says he sees people but they look like trees.
Discussion with the group is where things really fall into place for application. The disciples missed the whole point of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus can provide everything a person needs in abundance. This is even demonstrated by the fact that there was a basket left over for each disciple. He wants them to understand that he, as God, provides for them. But they don't get this, which is why they are terrified when they see him on the water and don't make it to Bethsaida. Jesus does the feeding of the 4000 to try to tell them again. This time the 7 baskets symbolize completion and wholeness. It seems that the disciples still don't quite get it, because they complain about not having bread. There is more conversation int eh boat that we don't know about, but Jesus must decide that they are ready for Bethsaida, because that's where they end up. With the blind man, Jesus makes it a point that it isn't enough for him to see, but not see clearly. Jesus wants him to see everything in perfect detail as it is.
So, summary of application, God can and wants to be our provider. He provides abundantly for us both with physical and spiritual needs. When he teaches us something, he doesn't give up if we don't get it the first time. He works to show it to us in different ways so we understand and learn more about him. And even when we think we see something (like the blind man seeing people as trees), he keeps working to make it perfectly clear for us. There is always something new for us to discover about God.
Now personal application to my journey. The trips int he boat that the disciples and Jesus mke made me think about the Footprints poem. Graduating from Biola, Jesus and I were walking along the shoreline together. Then grad school and roommate issues hit, and I feel flat on my face. I spent quite a while lying face down in the sand. At first I cried out and began to reach for God, but the pain overwhelmed me, and very quickly i dropped my hand and resigned myself to lie there. I felt alone and abandoned and felt as if I were drifting from God. As soon as I realized this consciously, I reached out to God and he picked me up. Throughout the summer he carried me, and I clung to him. I was terrified of falling on my face again. At the same time, I felt ashamed that I wasn't walking, simply being carried. But the suppor tof others, and God's reassurance made me understand that it is ok to let yourslef be carried for a time.
Now, entering year 2 of grad school, and with a better elader of college group, I feel ready to walk on my own feet again. I am stillleaning heavily on God, but this is a good thing. He is more than able to support me and provide for me. And I realize now, tha tthough I was walking on my own, yet next to Jesus, when I graduate drom Biola, I believed that I had learned everything about him.
I see now that I am only seeing trees when I want to see people.
I pray that he continues to show me more and more of his character as I walk with him.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Spiritual Growth
I have been aware for some time that the past year has held very few posts on spiritual or emotional growth. Though I created this blog to be my everything blog (thoughts, rants, funny stories, life events, etc) the emotional processing has decreased immensely. This postbreaks that streak, which I hope is a good sign of things to come.
Over the summer I have felt myself beginning to re-stablizie emotionally and spiritually. My prayer life has regained some of it's energy and I find myself in scripture more than I usually have over the last year. But things still aren't the same as they were during my Biola life, and I still miss Biola terribly. I decided that something that might help would be to watch the Biola chapels as they are posted on youtube. This will both help my Biola-sickness, and help feed me spiritually.
The two parts thus far on John 1 have been incredible. I particularly found things sticking with me during Dr. Klink's message, and after Fred Sander's chapel began a read through of the Gospel of John. But I don't have any profound thoughts on truth to share yet, which reminds me of the beginning of my Biola career. I couldn't blog at all for several months being so completely overwhelmed with everything. Perhaps my overwhelmedness (overwhelmment? *shrug*) is a sign of new start for me. The beginnings of new growth that I've longed for for months.
Please pray for me in this time. I am still in a sometimes precarious living situation, intermittent states of fear of being torn down emotionally, and in a secular environment almost everywhere. I know God can grow me anywhere, I just happen to find it more difficult to allow myself to grow here than in the safety bubble of Biola.
Over the summer I have felt myself beginning to re-stablizie emotionally and spiritually. My prayer life has regained some of it's energy and I find myself in scripture more than I usually have over the last year. But things still aren't the same as they were during my Biola life, and I still miss Biola terribly. I decided that something that might help would be to watch the Biola chapels as they are posted on youtube. This will both help my Biola-sickness, and help feed me spiritually.
The two parts thus far on John 1 have been incredible. I particularly found things sticking with me during Dr. Klink's message, and after Fred Sander's chapel began a read through of the Gospel of John. But I don't have any profound thoughts on truth to share yet, which reminds me of the beginning of my Biola career. I couldn't blog at all for several months being so completely overwhelmed with everything. Perhaps my overwhelmedness (overwhelmment? *shrug*) is a sign of new start for me. The beginnings of new growth that I've longed for for months.
Please pray for me in this time. I am still in a sometimes precarious living situation, intermittent states of fear of being torn down emotionally, and in a secular environment almost everywhere. I know God can grow me anywhere, I just happen to find it more difficult to allow myself to grow here than in the safety bubble of Biola.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Hollywood!
My family didn't make any particularly big plans for summer, partially because we had our cruise in January, and partially because of other expenses that came up, but my dad took the last week of August off from work. Thus Friday kicked off our family vacation time. The Biola Alumni Association planned an event to go to one of the Hollywood Bowl concerts, and since the Griffith Observatory is only a short distance from the Bowl, we planned a day trip out of it.
We ended up with a little extra excitement before our trip when my dad came home Thursday night to find water trickling out of the water softener in the garage. It became worse, to the point where we had to shut off the water to the house. This meant that we had to brush our teeth out of water bottles, and I didn't get my shower for the day. I greatly disliked the idea of doing a whole car trip, without having had a shower. Fortunately, the LA Fitness that my dad and Dave are members at agreed to let me shower there.
The Culligan man was able to fix the problem, and we left only about an hour later than originally planned. Our drive went pretty well until about 10 miles past Biola when we hit tons of traffic, and continued to hit traffic until we reached our destination, 2 hours later. We got lunch from a little golf course cafe and then drove up the hill to the observatory. The Griffith Observatory has beautiful views of the LA area. You can even see the Hollywood sign off in the distance. We browsed the exhibits for a couple hours, and then made the short drive over to the Bowl.
The Alumni Association provided a picnic dinner prior to the concert. We enjoyed chatting with alumni from different eras of Biola. Steve won a "I went to Biola" tshirt for answering that the eagle is our mascot. After dinner we looked through some of the Bowl shops, and then took our seats. The concert was incredible. It was an all Tchaikovsky performance, a coronation march for the czar, a violin concerto, Capriccio Italiano, the waltz from Swan Lake, and the 1812 Overture. The USC band joined in at the end of 1812 during the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen.
The conductor for the evening was a guest conductor, but I liked him very much. He was British and had a wonderful sense of humor. Some favorite quotes from the evening:
"The trombones have exited. They don't play in this piece (referring to the violin concerto)...this is a piece of beauty and enchantment."
"You can't ignore trombones, though it's well worth the effort."
"The percussionist would follow the music, allegedly,..."
During intermission we were given the delightful treat of chocolate chip cookies from the Biola cafeteria. While eating these cookies, I discovered that the people sitting directly behind me were Beardo and Ali Rader. It was nice to get to see some people I knew, and who were close-ish to my age.
Following the concert was an adventure I didn't expect. The Bowl parking is done in ferry ashion, cars are just all packed in. This is great for saving space...but it means that the people who get to their cars first, can't necessarily leave first. My mom and I ended up walking back to our car in what felt like a stopped freeway. There were break lights everywhere and people trying to figure out how to get out as soon as possible. We made it safely to our car, and in turn safely home.
It was a great way to start our week of vacation, and a wonderful first Hollywood Bowl experience.
We ended up with a little extra excitement before our trip when my dad came home Thursday night to find water trickling out of the water softener in the garage. It became worse, to the point where we had to shut off the water to the house. This meant that we had to brush our teeth out of water bottles, and I didn't get my shower for the day. I greatly disliked the idea of doing a whole car trip, without having had a shower. Fortunately, the LA Fitness that my dad and Dave are members at agreed to let me shower there.
The Culligan man was able to fix the problem, and we left only about an hour later than originally planned. Our drive went pretty well until about 10 miles past Biola when we hit tons of traffic, and continued to hit traffic until we reached our destination, 2 hours later. We got lunch from a little golf course cafe and then drove up the hill to the observatory. The Griffith Observatory has beautiful views of the LA area. You can even see the Hollywood sign off in the distance. We browsed the exhibits for a couple hours, and then made the short drive over to the Bowl.
The Alumni Association provided a picnic dinner prior to the concert. We enjoyed chatting with alumni from different eras of Biola. Steve won a "I went to Biola" tshirt for answering that the eagle is our mascot. After dinner we looked through some of the Bowl shops, and then took our seats. The concert was incredible. It was an all Tchaikovsky performance, a coronation march for the czar, a violin concerto, Capriccio Italiano, the waltz from Swan Lake, and the 1812 Overture. The USC band joined in at the end of 1812 during the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen.
The conductor for the evening was a guest conductor, but I liked him very much. He was British and had a wonderful sense of humor. Some favorite quotes from the evening:
"The trombones have exited. They don't play in this piece (referring to the violin concerto)...this is a piece of beauty and enchantment."
"You can't ignore trombones, though it's well worth the effort."
"The percussionist would follow the music, allegedly,..."
During intermission we were given the delightful treat of chocolate chip cookies from the Biola cafeteria. While eating these cookies, I discovered that the people sitting directly behind me were Beardo and Ali Rader. It was nice to get to see some people I knew, and who were close-ish to my age.
Following the concert was an adventure I didn't expect. The Bowl parking is done in ferry ashion, cars are just all packed in. This is great for saving space...but it means that the people who get to their cars first, can't necessarily leave first. My mom and I ended up walking back to our car in what felt like a stopped freeway. There were break lights everywhere and people trying to figure out how to get out as soon as possible. We made it safely to our car, and in turn safely home.
It was a great way to start our week of vacation, and a wonderful first Hollywood Bowl experience.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Free At Last
I finished up everything clinc-y on Monday, officially ending year 1 of grad school. WOOHOO!!!
Anja and I did some heavy cleaning of our share of the apartment, I packed up my stuff, and Tuesday morning I headed for home. First stop on summer vacation was pedicures for me and Mom. We were both adventurous and went for purple shades on our toes. I selected a blue-ish purple from the OPI Shrek collection called "Funky Dunky" while my mom went for a lighter purple...slightly crazy for both of us, lol.
Wednesday and Thursday were cousin-tastic. My second cousin Jennifer and her little boy Jason came over Wednesday for lunch and swimming. Then my cousin Kim and her girls Jordan and Madison met us at church for the VBS carnival. We watched the program, and then hit the carnival fun: pizza dinner, cotton candy, and carmel apples, oha nd some games and crafts for the kids. I really wish I had been able to do VBS at PLC this year, dumb clinic schedle. Oh well, hopefully next year.
We did jacuzzi when we got home, and the 3 of them spent the night. Kim had a convention in LA on Thurs, so mom and I watched the kids. We played, had lunch, watched Cats and Dogs with Tad when he came over, and then went swimming. The girls are adorable, but full of energy, so we were happy to relinquish them to their mom when she returned.
Yesterday I ran some errands with mom, which included our favorite sandwich at the Nordstrom's cafe. In the evening, my dad, Tad, and I went to the SD Biola send off event at College Ave Baptist. Ironically, we ran into a family from Mission there.
Throughout the week I've been working on finishing up my high school trips scrapbook and reading. I'm about half way through The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm really enjoying it, as I do most historical fiction set in the South. On the scrapbooking front, the highschool book is almost done, and I hope to get working on the cruises book, and eventually Biola.
All the while, I am NOT thinking about anything school related! =D
Anja and I did some heavy cleaning of our share of the apartment, I packed up my stuff, and Tuesday morning I headed for home. First stop on summer vacation was pedicures for me and Mom. We were both adventurous and went for purple shades on our toes. I selected a blue-ish purple from the OPI Shrek collection called "Funky Dunky" while my mom went for a lighter purple...slightly crazy for both of us, lol.
Wednesday and Thursday were cousin-tastic. My second cousin Jennifer and her little boy Jason came over Wednesday for lunch and swimming. Then my cousin Kim and her girls Jordan and Madison met us at church for the VBS carnival. We watched the program, and then hit the carnival fun: pizza dinner, cotton candy, and carmel apples, oha nd some games and crafts for the kids. I really wish I had been able to do VBS at PLC this year, dumb clinic schedle. Oh well, hopefully next year.
We did jacuzzi when we got home, and the 3 of them spent the night. Kim had a convention in LA on Thurs, so mom and I watched the kids. We played, had lunch, watched Cats and Dogs with Tad when he came over, and then went swimming. The girls are adorable, but full of energy, so we were happy to relinquish them to their mom when she returned.
Yesterday I ran some errands with mom, which included our favorite sandwich at the Nordstrom's cafe. In the evening, my dad, Tad, and I went to the SD Biola send off event at College Ave Baptist. Ironically, we ran into a family from Mission there.
Throughout the week I've been working on finishing up my high school trips scrapbook and reading. I'm about half way through The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm really enjoying it, as I do most historical fiction set in the South. On the scrapbooking front, the highschool book is almost done, and I hope to get working on the cruises book, and eventually Biola.
All the while, I am NOT thinking about anything school related! =D
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Birthday Celebrations Part 2
In my family, birthday celebrations get spread out over about a month. For exmple, the week I was home after finals and went shopping at Kohl's with my mom, that was the official start to my birthday month. Likely some event or outing that happens in mid July, will also be counted for my birthday. It's kinda fun that way.
Anyway, since Tad works starting in the afternoons Thurs-Mon, he agreed to take me home Thurs afternoon. Before coming up to PQ though we cashed in some of my birthday coupons. We shared lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (they gave me a zebra print cowboy hat to wear, it was interesting) and shared an icecream from Baskin Robbin's.
Tad dropped me off and visited a little with my mom before heading off for work. About an hour later, my cousin Michelle and her sister Kim's little girls Jordan and Madison arrived. I helped the girls make melty bead designs, and then it was swim time. Swimming pools are so much more exciting with little kids in them. I watched Jordan do about half a dozen summersaults and then tossed diving rings for her. Kim and the girls' dad Doug arrived just in time for dinner.
I got up bright and early on Friday to go to the train station. My mom dropped me off a little earlier than I neede to be there, so I had plenty of time to sit and people watch. My ride was uneventful (as some train rides can be very eventful). I sat next to two older ladies who were both going to visit family in the San Bernadino area.
I arrived in Fullerton pretty much on schedule and Valencia spotted Becky immediately after deboarding the train. Lunch was a special treat, we went to The Olde Ship, a very cute English pub not far from the train station in Fullerton. I had heard of this place on multiple occasions while a student at Biola, but had never been. Becky had been one time, and thus thought it would be fun to go again. The large group of people at the bar watching the World Cup definitely added to the atmosphere, as did our sweetheart of an English lady waitress.
We took a bit of time deciding what to have, but eventually Becky settled on the Dungeness crab cakes and I decided on the chicken curry. The food was excellent, and we spent quite a bit of time chatting and catching up. Quote of the day "Is there a capital of the Yukon? Are there even cities in the Yukon?" "Maybe, if you count trading posts and railway crossraods as cities. The rest is well..." "Nothing and snow." "Exactly! I've seen Balto, I know what it's like up there!"
After lunch we went to Becky's (kind of) townhouse. Becky is going to be living there in the fall for her second year of grad school, but is saving money by living with family in Rancho Cucmonga for the summer. For these couple weekends while she was playing in the pit orchestra at Biola, her roommates agreed to let her stay over. (Rancho Cucamonga is a good hour from Biola). I dropped my stuff off in the townhouse living room, and then Becky suggested we go for a walk outside. It was certainly a gorgeous day for a walk. We walked around the landscaped areas of the townhouse complex (which I hadn't seen before), walked around the La Mirada Veteran's Park, and then walked around the block.
We spent about another hour upstairs in Becky's room talking and cooling off, and then watched a couple episodes of friends before dinner. For a second year in a row, we picked Red Robin for our birthday dinner. Krista, Dorothy, and Melissa (another roommate of Becky's and Dorothy's) joined us to celebrate. I had a coupon for a free burger, and since Becky and I had had a large, late lunch, we split a bbq burger as well as a mint brownie shake. yum! Red Robin is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. After having our free icecream Sundaes, Becky and Dorothy took off to get ready for call time.
I rode with Krista to campus and we sat and talked by the fountain until it was time for the show, Cats, put on by Biola Youth Theater. Cats is an interesting show, there is only a very loose plot line; most of the show is individual songs about different cats. I did not know this going in, and spent the first act waiting for the plot to start. The cast gave a great performance though, the singing was good, and the dancing was amazing. I do believe the dancing was my favorite part :)
Krista came back to Becky's to hang out for a bit after the show. Becky opened her birthday gift from me, and we did some more chatting =) Saturday morning both of us slept in. When we did get up, Becky made us oatmeal. I packed my stuff up after breakfast and went to lunch (i get hungry very shortly after breakfast, lol) at Wendy's with Dorothy and Krista. Krista drove me back to Fullerton where I just caught my train. Unfortunately, there was track work being done this weekend, so I had to get off the train in Irvine and take a bus back to San Diego. Quote of the day: Conductor "If you are going to San Diego, you need to get off the train in Irvine and board a motorcoach...motorcoach being amtrak's word for 'bus'" lol
The bus ride went fine, long because of traffic, but decent enough. My dad and Steve picked me up from the station, and the rest of my weekend was spent relaxing at home.
Anyway, since Tad works starting in the afternoons Thurs-Mon, he agreed to take me home Thurs afternoon. Before coming up to PQ though we cashed in some of my birthday coupons. We shared lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (they gave me a zebra print cowboy hat to wear, it was interesting) and shared an icecream from Baskin Robbin's.
Tad dropped me off and visited a little with my mom before heading off for work. About an hour later, my cousin Michelle and her sister Kim's little girls Jordan and Madison arrived. I helped the girls make melty bead designs, and then it was swim time. Swimming pools are so much more exciting with little kids in them. I watched Jordan do about half a dozen summersaults and then tossed diving rings for her. Kim and the girls' dad Doug arrived just in time for dinner.
I got up bright and early on Friday to go to the train station. My mom dropped me off a little earlier than I neede to be there, so I had plenty of time to sit and people watch. My ride was uneventful (as some train rides can be very eventful). I sat next to two older ladies who were both going to visit family in the San Bernadino area.
I arrived in Fullerton pretty much on schedule and Valencia spotted Becky immediately after deboarding the train. Lunch was a special treat, we went to The Olde Ship, a very cute English pub not far from the train station in Fullerton. I had heard of this place on multiple occasions while a student at Biola, but had never been. Becky had been one time, and thus thought it would be fun to go again. The large group of people at the bar watching the World Cup definitely added to the atmosphere, as did our sweetheart of an English lady waitress.
We took a bit of time deciding what to have, but eventually Becky settled on the Dungeness crab cakes and I decided on the chicken curry. The food was excellent, and we spent quite a bit of time chatting and catching up. Quote of the day "Is there a capital of the Yukon? Are there even cities in the Yukon?" "Maybe, if you count trading posts and railway crossraods as cities. The rest is well..." "Nothing and snow." "Exactly! I've seen Balto, I know what it's like up there!"
After lunch we went to Becky's (kind of) townhouse. Becky is going to be living there in the fall for her second year of grad school, but is saving money by living with family in Rancho Cucmonga for the summer. For these couple weekends while she was playing in the pit orchestra at Biola, her roommates agreed to let her stay over. (Rancho Cucamonga is a good hour from Biola). I dropped my stuff off in the townhouse living room, and then Becky suggested we go for a walk outside. It was certainly a gorgeous day for a walk. We walked around the landscaped areas of the townhouse complex (which I hadn't seen before), walked around the La Mirada Veteran's Park, and then walked around the block.
We spent about another hour upstairs in Becky's room talking and cooling off, and then watched a couple episodes of friends before dinner. For a second year in a row, we picked Red Robin for our birthday dinner. Krista, Dorothy, and Melissa (another roommate of Becky's and Dorothy's) joined us to celebrate. I had a coupon for a free burger, and since Becky and I had had a large, late lunch, we split a bbq burger as well as a mint brownie shake. yum! Red Robin is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. After having our free icecream Sundaes, Becky and Dorothy took off to get ready for call time.
I rode with Krista to campus and we sat and talked by the fountain until it was time for the show, Cats, put on by Biola Youth Theater. Cats is an interesting show, there is only a very loose plot line; most of the show is individual songs about different cats. I did not know this going in, and spent the first act waiting for the plot to start. The cast gave a great performance though, the singing was good, and the dancing was amazing. I do believe the dancing was my favorite part :)
Krista came back to Becky's to hang out for a bit after the show. Becky opened her birthday gift from me, and we did some more chatting =) Saturday morning both of us slept in. When we did get up, Becky made us oatmeal. I packed my stuff up after breakfast and went to lunch (i get hungry very shortly after breakfast, lol) at Wendy's with Dorothy and Krista. Krista drove me back to Fullerton where I just caught my train. Unfortunately, there was track work being done this weekend, so I had to get off the train in Irvine and take a bus back to San Diego. Quote of the day: Conductor "If you are going to San Diego, you need to get off the train in Irvine and board a motorcoach...motorcoach being amtrak's word for 'bus'" lol
The bus ride went fine, long because of traffic, but decent enough. My dad and Steve picked me up from the station, and the rest of my weekend was spent relaxing at home.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
8 Days of Summer
Such is the life of a grad student that we don't get the whole summer off. From June 2nd to July 7th I have my dysphagia class two nights a week for 3.5 hours, and from June 7th to July 30th I will have clinic on M/W afternoons. I'm really looking forward to clinic, and the class shouldn't be bad, I'm just bummed I don't get to spend the time at home.
Anyhow, as I have a meeting on campus tomorrow at 9 am, I have to go back to the condo tonight. However, I've managed to have an enjoyable week here at home. And the summer bliss can continue in August.
My mom and Dave picked me up from the condo Thursday morning. We stopped for lunch at In N Out on the way home, and relaxed the rest of the day, including some jacuzzi time before bed. Friday I caught up on my tv shows for the week, and then had a CCLVI conference call. It was a much more exciting day for my roommate Anja, who got engaged that evening :D
On Saturday morning, my mom suggested we check out the sale at Kohl's. I came home with 3 new pairs of capris, and several cute, clinic appropriate shirts. We spent the afternoon at home, and then set out north for Biola. I wore one of my new shirts, and we snacked on edamome on the ride up. Needing a little more in our tummies before Christine's recital, we got strawberry cream scones and iced tea at Panera.
Christine gave a beautiful recital. She performed works from Brahms, Beethoven, Saint Sans, and Bizet. After the recital was a delightful reception with sandwiches, fruit, veggies, cake, and punch. I got a chance to catch up with quite a few people, including Monica, Becky, Krista, Dorothy, and Justine. And my mom got to catch up with Christine's parents and some oher friends.
Sunday after church was quiet until dinner time when Tad picked me up and we headed over to Del Mar to meet my friend Justin. I met Justin at a summer program I did at the California School for the Blind. We've minimally kept in touch over the last 6 years or so via IM and facebook. He happened to be in San Diego for the weekend visiting another friend, and offered that we could get together. Tad and I took him to Rubios (a SoCal favorite) and chatted over our tacos. After dinner, Tad brought me back home and I watched Old Dogs with my family.
On Monday, mom asked if I would go with her to volunteer at Braille Institute. After her job ended, she started thinking about volunteer opportunities and started volunteering in the talking books library at Braille in April. Now her friend Liz goes with her too. We picked Liz up and got a delicious lunch from Real Texas Barbecue beforehand. I was able to spend some time chatting with a couple of the other volunteers I know, and helped a bit with odds and ends things.
The rest of the week was pretty mellow. Tad came by for a bit on Tuesday after work. I went with mom to her Bible study on Wednesday morning, which ended up being just a potluck and chat time. Thursday afternoon I got frozen yogurt with Raelene, and then went back down to the condo.
Summer classes already? August, you can't come soon enough!
Anyhow, as I have a meeting on campus tomorrow at 9 am, I have to go back to the condo tonight. However, I've managed to have an enjoyable week here at home. And the summer bliss can continue in August.
My mom and Dave picked me up from the condo Thursday morning. We stopped for lunch at In N Out on the way home, and relaxed the rest of the day, including some jacuzzi time before bed. Friday I caught up on my tv shows for the week, and then had a CCLVI conference call. It was a much more exciting day for my roommate Anja, who got engaged that evening :D
On Saturday morning, my mom suggested we check out the sale at Kohl's. I came home with 3 new pairs of capris, and several cute, clinic appropriate shirts. We spent the afternoon at home, and then set out north for Biola. I wore one of my new shirts, and we snacked on edamome on the ride up. Needing a little more in our tummies before Christine's recital, we got strawberry cream scones and iced tea at Panera.
Christine gave a beautiful recital. She performed works from Brahms, Beethoven, Saint Sans, and Bizet. After the recital was a delightful reception with sandwiches, fruit, veggies, cake, and punch. I got a chance to catch up with quite a few people, including Monica, Becky, Krista, Dorothy, and Justine. And my mom got to catch up with Christine's parents and some oher friends.
Sunday after church was quiet until dinner time when Tad picked me up and we headed over to Del Mar to meet my friend Justin. I met Justin at a summer program I did at the California School for the Blind. We've minimally kept in touch over the last 6 years or so via IM and facebook. He happened to be in San Diego for the weekend visiting another friend, and offered that we could get together. Tad and I took him to Rubios (a SoCal favorite) and chatted over our tacos. After dinner, Tad brought me back home and I watched Old Dogs with my family.
On Monday, mom asked if I would go with her to volunteer at Braille Institute. After her job ended, she started thinking about volunteer opportunities and started volunteering in the talking books library at Braille in April. Now her friend Liz goes with her too. We picked Liz up and got a delicious lunch from Real Texas Barbecue beforehand. I was able to spend some time chatting with a couple of the other volunteers I know, and helped a bit with odds and ends things.
The rest of the week was pretty mellow. Tad came by for a bit on Tuesday after work. I went with mom to her Bible study on Wednesday morning, which ended up being just a potluck and chat time. Thursday afternoon I got frozen yogurt with Raelene, and then went back down to the condo.
Summer classes already? August, you can't come soon enough!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Beautiful Things
Life is full of beautiful things, including (but not limited to) weddings, friends, music, and small blessings.
On April 24th, Tad and I attended Elizabeth and Matthew's beautiful wedding at the Grand Tradion Estate in Fallbrook. The grounds there are gorgeous, and the weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding. We ran into Christine's family right after we arrived, and sat with them during the ceremony. True to a fairytale wedding, Elizabeth and her father arrived in a horse-drawn carriage.
The reception was held in a big banquet room in one of the mansions on the property. Tad and I had Shirley Temples with our appetizers and took pictures around the grounds. For dinner, we were seated with some of Elizabeth's friends from school and a friend of Matthew's from work. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with Bobby and Emily, though anything Emily or I said to each other had to be interpreted through Tad or Bobby, as I barely know any ASL.
The food, music, decorations, and company were all lovely. After the cake cutting, Tad and I got a chance to talk to the bride and groom a bit, which happened to be the first time Elizabeth and Tad had met. We'll have to find a time to go out with them sometime. =)
One of my favorite parts of the evening was the chocolate fountain, yum! The best man, maid of honor, and fathers all gave beautiful toasts, and then it was dancing time. I actually got Tad to dance a song or two before he started feeling too full from dinner. hehe All in all, we had a wonderful time, and are both very happy for the wonderful couple :D
The following Saturday (May 1), Tad and I made the drive up to La Mirada. We met Becky and Krista for lunch at Cabo Taco (right next to the dollar theater). Tad and I shared enchiladas, and the four of us shared about 3 or 4 baskets of chips, lol. As always when the three of us (Becky, Krista, and I that is) are together, it was quite fun. We hung out in Becky's living room for a bit after lunch before making a much needed stop while int he Biola Area.
Berry Cool
Becky had a concert to get ready for, so just the three of us went. It was delightfully tasty as always! We had some time to spare before dinner, so we went to the SUB to feed Valencia and pick out a game to play. We played several rounds of scategories before heading to Hart to grab Charlotte for dinner.
The four of us enjoyed some good ole In N Out and met Ginger back on campus for the POPS! concert. It was strange for me being in the audience. I've been to everal Winds semester concerts in which I was not a performer, but never a POPS! concert. This year's theme was "The Four Companeros" and was about 4 Disney sidekicks on a journey together. It was enjoyable =)
I was fortunate enough to get to talk to many friends after the concert (Amanda, Justine, Karissa, Beth, to name a few). We were also fortunate that there was an icecream social to partake in :P
Speaking of icecream, one of the small pleasures in life that Tad and I recently experienced was $0.31 scoop night at Baskin Robbins. We went one evening after class and each got the max of 5 scoops, heh. I felt somewhat guilty afterwards, but the Gold Medal Ribbon, Watermelon Chip, and "Wild and Reckless" (a delicious blue raspberry sherbet) were well worth it.
Slightly more important than icecream (but only ever so slightly) a recent small blessing has been that Tad has work again. His first project ended just before Easter, and he then found out that he does not qualify for unemployment in California until July 1, which meant he had basically no income in April. The Lord is good and always provides though, and Tad got called in about a week ago for a "short term project". Fortunately this project has and will involve a lot of overtime, so Tad should be ok until at least July 1 now. Praise the Lord!
And praise the Lord that this semester is almost over! We have been well assured that it gets easier from here, and this is very welcome news =)
On April 24th, Tad and I attended Elizabeth and Matthew's beautiful wedding at the Grand Tradion Estate in Fallbrook. The grounds there are gorgeous, and the weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding. We ran into Christine's family right after we arrived, and sat with them during the ceremony. True to a fairytale wedding, Elizabeth and her father arrived in a horse-drawn carriage.
The reception was held in a big banquet room in one of the mansions on the property. Tad and I had Shirley Temples with our appetizers and took pictures around the grounds. For dinner, we were seated with some of Elizabeth's friends from school and a friend of Matthew's from work. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with Bobby and Emily, though anything Emily or I said to each other had to be interpreted through Tad or Bobby, as I barely know any ASL.
The food, music, decorations, and company were all lovely. After the cake cutting, Tad and I got a chance to talk to the bride and groom a bit, which happened to be the first time Elizabeth and Tad had met. We'll have to find a time to go out with them sometime. =)
One of my favorite parts of the evening was the chocolate fountain, yum! The best man, maid of honor, and fathers all gave beautiful toasts, and then it was dancing time. I actually got Tad to dance a song or two before he started feeling too full from dinner. hehe All in all, we had a wonderful time, and are both very happy for the wonderful couple :D
The following Saturday (May 1), Tad and I made the drive up to La Mirada. We met Becky and Krista for lunch at Cabo Taco (right next to the dollar theater). Tad and I shared enchiladas, and the four of us shared about 3 or 4 baskets of chips, lol. As always when the three of us (Becky, Krista, and I that is) are together, it was quite fun. We hung out in Becky's living room for a bit after lunch before making a much needed stop while int he Biola Area.
Berry Cool
Becky had a concert to get ready for, so just the three of us went. It was delightfully tasty as always! We had some time to spare before dinner, so we went to the SUB to feed Valencia and pick out a game to play. We played several rounds of scategories before heading to Hart to grab Charlotte for dinner.
The four of us enjoyed some good ole In N Out and met Ginger back on campus for the POPS! concert. It was strange for me being in the audience. I've been to everal Winds semester concerts in which I was not a performer, but never a POPS! concert. This year's theme was "The Four Companeros" and was about 4 Disney sidekicks on a journey together. It was enjoyable =)
I was fortunate enough to get to talk to many friends after the concert (Amanda, Justine, Karissa, Beth, to name a few). We were also fortunate that there was an icecream social to partake in :P
Speaking of icecream, one of the small pleasures in life that Tad and I recently experienced was $0.31 scoop night at Baskin Robbins. We went one evening after class and each got the max of 5 scoops, heh. I felt somewhat guilty afterwards, but the Gold Medal Ribbon, Watermelon Chip, and "Wild and Reckless" (a delicious blue raspberry sherbet) were well worth it.
Slightly more important than icecream (but only ever so slightly) a recent small blessing has been that Tad has work again. His first project ended just before Easter, and he then found out that he does not qualify for unemployment in California until July 1, which meant he had basically no income in April. The Lord is good and always provides though, and Tad got called in about a week ago for a "short term project". Fortunately this project has and will involve a lot of overtime, so Tad should be ok until at least July 1 now. Praise the Lord!
And praise the Lord that this semester is almost over! We have been well assured that it gets easier from here, and this is very welcome news =)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Celebrating Biola Style
This year, instead of heading down to San Diego from LA after finishing finals, I did the opposite. I was at home for a day, and then headed up to the Biola area for the weekend. And what a weekend it was.
I rode up to Orange County on Friday morning with Anja. We had fun talking in the car, espeically about how wonderful it was to not have school for a month. She dropped me off at Krista's house where I hung out with Krista's brother and sister while Krista got ready. Soon as she was ready we joined Becky at her place where the rest of us got ready to go to Biola graduation.
Dorothy (the graduate among us) picked Sizzler for dinner, which is conveniently between Becky's townhouse and Biola. I shared a combination plate of steak, shrimp, and ribs with Dorothy. Yum, I had forgotten how much I like Sizzler! We ate quicky since we were a bit short on time. Becky's and Dorhty's rommate Melissa and I went ahead early to the gym to save seats. It was wonderful (as it has been every time) to be back on campus. I became very excited when we walked past the Biola Christmas tree.
The gym was decorated festively with more Christmas trees. The ceremony was nice. I knew a few of the other graduates, mostly music people. Afterwards, we went with Dorothy and her family to the reception in the caf. The caf was also decorated with Christmas trees and such, and had delicious dessserts, eggnog, and cider. My dad made the point later that if you lived in the area you could make a point to go to that every year, lol.
After the reception we went down to Hart to pick up Becky's sister Jen, and happened upon a lot of Hart alumni. I got to chat with Beth for a while about grad school, and compare the programs at SDSU and Redlands. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's thrilled with graduate coursework, haha
Saturday morning (after walking to Albertson's for milk) Becky made pancakes for her, me and Jen, which we ate with apple butter, very tasty. The rest of my Saturday was spent at Amy and Dave's wedding, which was beautiful.
I love weddings, love them, oh my goodness. Amy and Dave are friends I know, in a round about way, because of Valencia. Amy has a dog from GDB, and she was visiting Dave (who just graduated from Talbot) one week, and they came to a Symphonic Winds concert. My mom and Amy met in the bathroom with the two dogs. Amy and Dave are the couple that Tad and I went on a double date with to Hermosa Beach back in March (which happened to be the night before they got engaged).
Anywho
Their wedding was at the church Dave has been interning at. It's a small baptist church, with a tall steeple like a classic old church house, and very nice people. It was a beautiful ceremony, Amy sang a duet in Mandarin with her maid of honor, the wedding party read 2 Cor 13, they wrote their own vows, and at the end we all sang hymns together.
Immediately following the service was picture time, the favorite of which was the guide dog picture. Including Amy's dog Donna, there were five guides present. Donna was the star among the dogs, donning two different party dresses over the course of the afternoon and evening.
There was a reception in the church fellowship hall after the ceremony. Since they were also having a dinner reception, I assumed the church one would be just cake and punch. But they had a full array of food, including fruit and veggie platters, teriyaki chicken, california rolls, and several kinds of Chinese pastries. They had a slideshow of pictures of Amy and Dave and had a number of people say a message to Amy and Dave.
The dinner reception was at a restaurant across town called Happy Habor Seafood. Amy found a ride for me with one of her friends. We got a bit lost on the way, but found it a lot sooner than most of the guests.
The restaurant was a very nice, elegant, Chinese seafood place. Between receptions, Amy had changed from her traditional western wedding dress, into a traditional Chinese dress, red with beautiful gold embroidery. She and Dave looked great together with his matching red button down shirt. They're such a great couple!
Dinner was incredible, all nine courses of it! I tried several things I had never had before. Course one was jellyfish and a cold slice of beef. It was followed by delicious walnut shrimp. Then came the shark fin soup. Then there was shitaki mushrooms, bak choi, and abilone. Then there was the lobster, after which was the Peking duck. Next was the baked fish, and we finished off with a bowl of fried rice. Dessert was lotus paste cookies and red bean soup, both were amazingly delicious!
Amy and Dave came around to each table individually to toast and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They sent me home with a vase of beautiful red and yellow roses from one o the tables. Presently, they are in Waikiki, lucky ducks :)
There were several things I decided from the day. 1. I want an afternoon wedding, 2. I want a slightly fancier reception locaiton than a church fellowship hall (though I want the ceremony in a church) and 3. White cake with straberries in it makes a delicious wedding cake layer.
Sunday I wrapped up my visit with church at Grace EV Free with Krista dnd Jen and then lunch at Panda Express.
Below are a few pictures from the weekend:
I am no longer in the most recent graduating class from Biola, weird
What a beautiful bride Amy is :)
the centerpiece at my table at their dinner reception
me with the happy couple, isn't Amy's dress gorgeous???
I rode up to Orange County on Friday morning with Anja. We had fun talking in the car, espeically about how wonderful it was to not have school for a month. She dropped me off at Krista's house where I hung out with Krista's brother and sister while Krista got ready. Soon as she was ready we joined Becky at her place where the rest of us got ready to go to Biola graduation.
Dorothy (the graduate among us) picked Sizzler for dinner, which is conveniently between Becky's townhouse and Biola. I shared a combination plate of steak, shrimp, and ribs with Dorothy. Yum, I had forgotten how much I like Sizzler! We ate quicky since we were a bit short on time. Becky's and Dorhty's rommate Melissa and I went ahead early to the gym to save seats. It was wonderful (as it has been every time) to be back on campus. I became very excited when we walked past the Biola Christmas tree.
The gym was decorated festively with more Christmas trees. The ceremony was nice. I knew a few of the other graduates, mostly music people. Afterwards, we went with Dorothy and her family to the reception in the caf. The caf was also decorated with Christmas trees and such, and had delicious dessserts, eggnog, and cider. My dad made the point later that if you lived in the area you could make a point to go to that every year, lol.
After the reception we went down to Hart to pick up Becky's sister Jen, and happened upon a lot of Hart alumni. I got to chat with Beth for a while about grad school, and compare the programs at SDSU and Redlands. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's thrilled with graduate coursework, haha
Saturday morning (after walking to Albertson's for milk) Becky made pancakes for her, me and Jen, which we ate with apple butter, very tasty. The rest of my Saturday was spent at Amy and Dave's wedding, which was beautiful.
I love weddings, love them, oh my goodness. Amy and Dave are friends I know, in a round about way, because of Valencia. Amy has a dog from GDB, and she was visiting Dave (who just graduated from Talbot) one week, and they came to a Symphonic Winds concert. My mom and Amy met in the bathroom with the two dogs. Amy and Dave are the couple that Tad and I went on a double date with to Hermosa Beach back in March (which happened to be the night before they got engaged).
Anywho
Their wedding was at the church Dave has been interning at. It's a small baptist church, with a tall steeple like a classic old church house, and very nice people. It was a beautiful ceremony, Amy sang a duet in Mandarin with her maid of honor, the wedding party read 2 Cor 13, they wrote their own vows, and at the end we all sang hymns together.
Immediately following the service was picture time, the favorite of which was the guide dog picture. Including Amy's dog Donna, there were five guides present. Donna was the star among the dogs, donning two different party dresses over the course of the afternoon and evening.
There was a reception in the church fellowship hall after the ceremony. Since they were also having a dinner reception, I assumed the church one would be just cake and punch. But they had a full array of food, including fruit and veggie platters, teriyaki chicken, california rolls, and several kinds of Chinese pastries. They had a slideshow of pictures of Amy and Dave and had a number of people say a message to Amy and Dave.
The dinner reception was at a restaurant across town called Happy Habor Seafood. Amy found a ride for me with one of her friends. We got a bit lost on the way, but found it a lot sooner than most of the guests.
The restaurant was a very nice, elegant, Chinese seafood place. Between receptions, Amy had changed from her traditional western wedding dress, into a traditional Chinese dress, red with beautiful gold embroidery. She and Dave looked great together with his matching red button down shirt. They're such a great couple!
Dinner was incredible, all nine courses of it! I tried several things I had never had before. Course one was jellyfish and a cold slice of beef. It was followed by delicious walnut shrimp. Then came the shark fin soup. Then there was shitaki mushrooms, bak choi, and abilone. Then there was the lobster, after which was the Peking duck. Next was the baked fish, and we finished off with a bowl of fried rice. Dessert was lotus paste cookies and red bean soup, both were amazingly delicious!
Amy and Dave came around to each table individually to toast and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They sent me home with a vase of beautiful red and yellow roses from one o the tables. Presently, they are in Waikiki, lucky ducks :)
There were several things I decided from the day. 1. I want an afternoon wedding, 2. I want a slightly fancier reception locaiton than a church fellowship hall (though I want the ceremony in a church) and 3. White cake with straberries in it makes a delicious wedding cake layer.
Sunday I wrapped up my visit with church at Grace EV Free with Krista dnd Jen and then lunch at Panda Express.
Below are a few pictures from the weekend:
I am no longer in the most recent graduating class from Biola, weird
What a beautiful bride Amy is :)
the centerpiece at my table at their dinner reception
me with the happy couple, isn't Amy's dress gorgeous???
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Survival in a Foreign Place
The second blog I've written during grad school with the word "Survive" in the title, hmmm, do we see a trend here? haha
This was going to be just a blog about what I've been up to lately, but there was some profound thinking that went on in church today. Thus this shall be a mixed blog entry. Let's begin with the thinking and end ith the recap.
Today's message at the Flood was about growing to know God when we're in a foreign place. A foreign place can be just about anything, things that are painful and things that are happy. Physically being in a new place, entering a new stage in life, mourning, anything that puts you somewhere you haven't been (physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc) before.
Immediately my brain began listing all the different ways I'm in a foreign place. New stage of life? Check: it's called grad school. New location? Check: condo in a part of San Diego I didn't grow up in. New environment? Check: surrounded by non Christians post high school (much more different than I thought while still at Biola New place financially? Check: I'm broke and living month to month.
You get the picutre, I'm in an almost completely foreign place right now.
This got me to thinking, it's not wonder I've been feeling so completely out of my element. The speaker this morning (we had a guest speaker, it wasn't the pastor) likened these "foreign places" to the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. We aren't happy about them. We want to get straight from point A to point B, but God specifically puts us in those times to learn and grow closer to him.
All of this was comforting in a way. I've been feeling pretty lousy about my faith the last couple months, running around like a chicken with its head cut off makes making time for God even more challenging than it already is, and I've felt like I was starting to drift. But that's not necessarily it...I'm just wandering in the wilderness right now. I'm ok with that though, I know it means I'm supposed to be learning and growing, and I know God won't let me stay here forever.
Going back to the thought on being surrounded by non Christians, I had a sad realization about that. I definitely feel like I don't quite fit in my grad program. Not in terms of academics, I fit just fine in terms of the actual content of the program, but socially I don't. I don't drink (at least not more than a margarita every once in a while), I don't live or sleep with my boyfriend, I don't swear, for me "going out with the girls" is going to Cheesecake Factory...to get cheesecake, and my idea of a party is making cookies, eating lots of chocolate, and watching a chick flick, and if we're talking a CRAZY party there are also boys and a rootbeer keg.
I'm not the only Christian in the class. Out of 38 of us, there are at least 4 or 5 others, but the majority is definitely non Christian. Anyway, I realized, I'm *never* going to fit in, not with the girls in my class, not with future coworkers. Being a Christian sets us apart, lights are clearly going to stand out in the darkness. It saddens me to not be able to fully bond with a lot of the people around me. Thank goodness though for being connected at church and being surrounded by fellow believers there!
This concludes the "thoughts" portion of this blog, now on to what I've actually been up to.
The week after Halloween was awful in terms of workload, which made my second trip up to Biola this semester very refreshing. I rode up with Anja and James again and got dropped off at Krista's house. Becky met us and we went out for sushi followed by the most amazing Italian ice I've ever had.
Becky had a concert to go to that evening at Long Beach, so Krista and I watched hulu at her place until it was time to meet up with Charlotte for Boba. I don't like boba proper, but I love the teas, especially Thai milk tea. Yum! Once finished with our drinks we went back to Hart to hang out. I got to see Tia and Raeleen, and I hung out with Charlotte until Becky picked me up.
Saturday I had lunch at Chick Fil A with Amanda, who tag teamed with Krista and Diana. After they had eaten, the 3 of us went and wandered around Bed Bath & Beyond, smelling candles and finding interesting things like dog snuggies and marshmallow launchers. We spent a couple hours at the Biola library (me working on homework, Krista job searching) until it was time to meet Becky for dinner.
Krista had picked out Taps Fishhouse and Brewery for her birthday dinner. It was a very nice restaraunt, with quite good food. We shared a glass of white wine between the 3 of us and the complimentary baked Alaska they brought out for Krista. After dinner we spend over for the Symphonic Winds "Japan" fall concert, which was wonderful, as expected. And after that it was to the Fellers' house to feast on amazing Japanese food and yummy desserts.
Sunday morning I went with Becky and Jen to Redeemer (which was wonderful, as usual) and met Krista for lunch at Daphnes. Becky and I went to a fun "Viv la France" free orchestra concert, and then it was back to San Diego I came.
Last week wasn't so bad in terms of work (helped by the fact that we had Wednesday off) and I've had a very relaxing weekend. Last night I got to go out to In N Out and the last home football game with Raelene, Anja, and James. I hadn't seen Raelene for several weeks, so we definitely needed to catch up!
And that's my life right now...4 more days and I'll be with Tad again, and have a week off school. Life is pretty good right now :)
This was going to be just a blog about what I've been up to lately, but there was some profound thinking that went on in church today. Thus this shall be a mixed blog entry. Let's begin with the thinking and end ith the recap.
Today's message at the Flood was about growing to know God when we're in a foreign place. A foreign place can be just about anything, things that are painful and things that are happy. Physically being in a new place, entering a new stage in life, mourning, anything that puts you somewhere you haven't been (physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc) before.
Immediately my brain began listing all the different ways I'm in a foreign place. New stage of life? Check: it's called grad school. New location? Check: condo in a part of San Diego I didn't grow up in. New environment? Check: surrounded by non Christians post high school (much more different than I thought while still at Biola New place financially? Check: I'm broke and living month to month.
You get the picutre, I'm in an almost completely foreign place right now.
This got me to thinking, it's not wonder I've been feeling so completely out of my element. The speaker this morning (we had a guest speaker, it wasn't the pastor) likened these "foreign places" to the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. We aren't happy about them. We want to get straight from point A to point B, but God specifically puts us in those times to learn and grow closer to him.
All of this was comforting in a way. I've been feeling pretty lousy about my faith the last couple months, running around like a chicken with its head cut off makes making time for God even more challenging than it already is, and I've felt like I was starting to drift. But that's not necessarily it...I'm just wandering in the wilderness right now. I'm ok with that though, I know it means I'm supposed to be learning and growing, and I know God won't let me stay here forever.
Going back to the thought on being surrounded by non Christians, I had a sad realization about that. I definitely feel like I don't quite fit in my grad program. Not in terms of academics, I fit just fine in terms of the actual content of the program, but socially I don't. I don't drink (at least not more than a margarita every once in a while), I don't live or sleep with my boyfriend, I don't swear, for me "going out with the girls" is going to Cheesecake Factory...to get cheesecake, and my idea of a party is making cookies, eating lots of chocolate, and watching a chick flick, and if we're talking a CRAZY party there are also boys and a rootbeer keg.
I'm not the only Christian in the class. Out of 38 of us, there are at least 4 or 5 others, but the majority is definitely non Christian. Anyway, I realized, I'm *never* going to fit in, not with the girls in my class, not with future coworkers. Being a Christian sets us apart, lights are clearly going to stand out in the darkness. It saddens me to not be able to fully bond with a lot of the people around me. Thank goodness though for being connected at church and being surrounded by fellow believers there!
This concludes the "thoughts" portion of this blog, now on to what I've actually been up to.
The week after Halloween was awful in terms of workload, which made my second trip up to Biola this semester very refreshing. I rode up with Anja and James again and got dropped off at Krista's house. Becky met us and we went out for sushi followed by the most amazing Italian ice I've ever had.
Becky had a concert to go to that evening at Long Beach, so Krista and I watched hulu at her place until it was time to meet up with Charlotte for Boba. I don't like boba proper, but I love the teas, especially Thai milk tea. Yum! Once finished with our drinks we went back to Hart to hang out. I got to see Tia and Raeleen, and I hung out with Charlotte until Becky picked me up.
Saturday I had lunch at Chick Fil A with Amanda, who tag teamed with Krista and Diana. After they had eaten, the 3 of us went and wandered around Bed Bath & Beyond, smelling candles and finding interesting things like dog snuggies and marshmallow launchers. We spent a couple hours at the Biola library (me working on homework, Krista job searching) until it was time to meet Becky for dinner.
Krista had picked out Taps Fishhouse and Brewery for her birthday dinner. It was a very nice restaraunt, with quite good food. We shared a glass of white wine between the 3 of us and the complimentary baked Alaska they brought out for Krista. After dinner we spend over for the Symphonic Winds "Japan" fall concert, which was wonderful, as expected. And after that it was to the Fellers' house to feast on amazing Japanese food and yummy desserts.
Sunday morning I went with Becky and Jen to Redeemer (which was wonderful, as usual) and met Krista for lunch at Daphnes. Becky and I went to a fun "Viv la France" free orchestra concert, and then it was back to San Diego I came.
Last week wasn't so bad in terms of work (helped by the fact that we had Wednesday off) and I've had a very relaxing weekend. Last night I got to go out to In N Out and the last home football game with Raelene, Anja, and James. I hadn't seen Raelene for several weeks, so we definitely needed to catch up!
And that's my life right now...4 more days and I'll be with Tad again, and have a week off school. Life is pretty good right now :)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Settling In
I'm in the middle of my second week of fall classes and starting to feel comfortable with my routine. Mondays and Wednesdays I'm home all day working on homework or tidying up until I head to campus for class from 5-8. Tuesdays and Thursdays (starting next week when clinic starts) I'm on campus all day (8:30-8). Fridays I'm on campus from 9-3, and the weekends are spent doing homework and hanging out with friends. It's actually rather manageable, so far.
Thanks to bootcamp, the building is already starting to feel like home, though I still miss the Biola clinic workroom. The condo is definitely home, I just need to do a better job of getting into this thing called "cleaning"...yeah, about that...
I still miss Biola, but I do love San Diego so much, it's good to be back, and there are always weekends. Speaking of which, I am spending my entire Thanksgiving break with the Tildens. Thanks to university furlough days, I don't have class at all that week, and I'm off the Friday before. I'm really excited to get to spend another week with Tad's family, and to get to meet his extended family. It will be interesting to experience a holiday with a different family, hopefully it won't be too traumatic :o)
I best start getting ready for class now. If I get ready soon enough I'll have time to get a pumpkin spice sweet cream at Starbucks beforehand!
Thanks to bootcamp, the building is already starting to feel like home, though I still miss the Biola clinic workroom. The condo is definitely home, I just need to do a better job of getting into this thing called "cleaning"...yeah, about that...
I still miss Biola, but I do love San Diego so much, it's good to be back, and there are always weekends. Speaking of which, I am spending my entire Thanksgiving break with the Tildens. Thanks to university furlough days, I don't have class at all that week, and I'm off the Friday before. I'm really excited to get to spend another week with Tad's family, and to get to meet his extended family. It will be interesting to experience a holiday with a different family, hopefully it won't be too traumatic :o)
I best start getting ready for class now. If I get ready soon enough I'll have time to get a pumpkin spice sweet cream at Starbucks beforehand!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Back to the Bubble
After two weeks of intense, public school classes, I needed some time away. Time away from the stress of school, and time away from the secular world I was sheltered from during the 4 years at Biola.
It has been so strange, I went to public school my whole life until Biola, but during those 4 years I re-sensitized to everything. The difference is, now I'm a lot more comfortable and sure about what I believe than when I left high school. Still, the adjusting is hard, being reminded over and over again on a daily basis that not everyone believes what I do.
All that to say, I needed a fun weekend with some Biola people. I rode up to Orange County Friday afternoon with Anja and her boyfriend James. They dropped me off at Krista's house where I met up with both Krista and Becky. Becky drove us to Biola, and we spent some time roaming the halls of the music building.
I had about 16 hours notice that I was actually going to be in the Biola area, so most people were very surprised to see me, which is always kind of a fun thing. I stopped 4 different conversations simply by walking past the bandroom :)
Justine joined our party, and we made a very important stop: Commons. Nothing more refreshing than a Common Grounds' raspberry, peach smoothie. Commons now carries cupcakes so Krista got one for us to share.
Becky had already had plans for Friday night, so after our snack, she departed and the rest of us went down to surprise more people in Hart. We dropped in on Krista's last roommate Raeleen and Raeleen's current roommate Tia, stopped by to say hi to Charlotte, and hung out for a while in Amanda's room.
After a while everyone left for a bro/sis floor event (oh HUOD/Heat events!). Since Krista and I no longer possess Biola mealplans (fancy that) the 3 of us (me, Justine, and Krista) had dinner at Panera (am I using enough parentheticals?). And, of course, what Biola Friday evening would be complete without Berry Cool. Especially cool, I had filled my stamp card during finals week, so I only paid 16 cents for my fabulously wonderful honeydew fro yo :)
Justine dropped me and Krista off at Becky's townhouse. Since it was a characteristically hot SoCal Labor Day weekend, Krista and I opted for a dip in the pool. Swimming pools are amazing for hot, sticky summer nights.
We took advantage of the dvd collection at Becky's place and watched The Wedding Planner. Becky got home pretty soon after and we unanimously decided it was time for bed.
Saturday morning Becky made grits for breakfast, yum! She had a rehearsal for most of the afternoon, so Krista and I were once more let loose on campus. We spent a bit of time just chilling in Tia's and Raeleen's room chatting while they "worked" on homework. We left them alone to their homework and talked with Amanda in the upper lobby for a while until we decided to get lunch at Eagles.
Amberly met us at Eagles and the four us talked while Krista and I ate lunch. Krista and I spent some time checking email in the library, and I got to spend time sitting outside the library thinking and just being. That's always been one of my favorite places on campus. I love the trees by the library, and on weekends it's so calm and quiet there. Great place to sit and pray.
Krista and I spent the last hour before Becky came back playing a house rules version of Outburst in the sub. We made a really yummy pasta and salad dinner at Becky's and followed it up at Starbucks with Christine. We took turns sharing about our summers and boys over pumpkin spice frappuccinos, which are amazing!
Becky and I dropped Krista off at her house and made it back to La Mirada in time to see Up at the dollar theater.
Sunday Becky and I went to church at Redeemer, picked Krista up from Grace, and got lunch at In N Out. The girls dropped me off in Placentia where I met up again with Anja and James to come back down to SD I spent Sunday night at home so I could get a bit more time with my fam and a chance to hang out with Raelene.
It was so good to get to see my Biola friends again, and to just be on campus. It doesn't feel any different to me, which is great. It means I can just forget about everything else I have going on and enjoy my favorite place in LA. I came back very refreshed, which is good, because this will be a heck of a semester.
Also, apparently my internet browser just hates me, I still can't upload pictures with it, which greatly displeases me, but there isn't much else I can do, so oh well. For pictures of my life, see facebook, they're all there anyway
It has been so strange, I went to public school my whole life until Biola, but during those 4 years I re-sensitized to everything. The difference is, now I'm a lot more comfortable and sure about what I believe than when I left high school. Still, the adjusting is hard, being reminded over and over again on a daily basis that not everyone believes what I do.
All that to say, I needed a fun weekend with some Biola people. I rode up to Orange County Friday afternoon with Anja and her boyfriend James. They dropped me off at Krista's house where I met up with both Krista and Becky. Becky drove us to Biola, and we spent some time roaming the halls of the music building.
I had about 16 hours notice that I was actually going to be in the Biola area, so most people were very surprised to see me, which is always kind of a fun thing. I stopped 4 different conversations simply by walking past the bandroom :)
Justine joined our party, and we made a very important stop: Commons. Nothing more refreshing than a Common Grounds' raspberry, peach smoothie. Commons now carries cupcakes so Krista got one for us to share.
Becky had already had plans for Friday night, so after our snack, she departed and the rest of us went down to surprise more people in Hart. We dropped in on Krista's last roommate Raeleen and Raeleen's current roommate Tia, stopped by to say hi to Charlotte, and hung out for a while in Amanda's room.
After a while everyone left for a bro/sis floor event (oh HUOD/Heat events!). Since Krista and I no longer possess Biola mealplans (fancy that) the 3 of us (me, Justine, and Krista) had dinner at Panera (am I using enough parentheticals?). And, of course, what Biola Friday evening would be complete without Berry Cool. Especially cool, I had filled my stamp card during finals week, so I only paid 16 cents for my fabulously wonderful honeydew fro yo :)
Justine dropped me and Krista off at Becky's townhouse. Since it was a characteristically hot SoCal Labor Day weekend, Krista and I opted for a dip in the pool. Swimming pools are amazing for hot, sticky summer nights.
We took advantage of the dvd collection at Becky's place and watched The Wedding Planner. Becky got home pretty soon after and we unanimously decided it was time for bed.
Saturday morning Becky made grits for breakfast, yum! She had a rehearsal for most of the afternoon, so Krista and I were once more let loose on campus. We spent a bit of time just chilling in Tia's and Raeleen's room chatting while they "worked" on homework. We left them alone to their homework and talked with Amanda in the upper lobby for a while until we decided to get lunch at Eagles.
Amberly met us at Eagles and the four us talked while Krista and I ate lunch. Krista and I spent some time checking email in the library, and I got to spend time sitting outside the library thinking and just being. That's always been one of my favorite places on campus. I love the trees by the library, and on weekends it's so calm and quiet there. Great place to sit and pray.
Krista and I spent the last hour before Becky came back playing a house rules version of Outburst in the sub. We made a really yummy pasta and salad dinner at Becky's and followed it up at Starbucks with Christine. We took turns sharing about our summers and boys over pumpkin spice frappuccinos, which are amazing!
Becky and I dropped Krista off at her house and made it back to La Mirada in time to see Up at the dollar theater.
Sunday Becky and I went to church at Redeemer, picked Krista up from Grace, and got lunch at In N Out. The girls dropped me off in Placentia where I met up again with Anja and James to come back down to SD I spent Sunday night at home so I could get a bit more time with my fam and a chance to hang out with Raelene.
It was so good to get to see my Biola friends again, and to just be on campus. It doesn't feel any different to me, which is great. It means I can just forget about everything else I have going on and enjoy my favorite place in LA. I came back very refreshed, which is good, because this will be a heck of a semester.
Also, apparently my internet browser just hates me, I still can't upload pictures with it, which greatly displeases me, but there isn't much else I can do, so oh well. For pictures of my life, see facebook, they're all there anyway
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Surviving Bootcamp
Today is the last day of SLP (Speech Language Pathology) Bootcamp for us first year MA students at SDSU.
Thank goodness
It has been a crazy two weeks. Last week we had class from 8:30-4:00, with a lunch break in the middle, every day. Bootcamp is designed to get all of the grad students up to speed and at the same starting point before regular classes and clinic start. We've had our diagnostic methods and clinical methods classes, and have been meeting with our clinic supervisors.
I am so thankful I have the background from Biola. I feel so much farther ahead than a lot of the other students. Most of the Diagnostic and Clinic methods classes have been review for me, plus I'm not spazzing about clinic like everyone else is. Biola's comm disorders program is amazing!
I'm super excited about clinic, scared about classes though. I'm registered for 19 units. I never took more than 17 a semester at Biola! AHHH!!! I'm also having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to being in a public school again. Hearing people talk frankly about "hooking up" isn't exactly what I'm used to anymore. *sigh* Welcome to the world Lindsey.
Anyway, I had a very nice relaxing weekend (despite the crazy heatwave we're having). Raelene and I had dinner at Ruby's Diner Friday night, window shopped at Express, and came back to do a bit of facebook stalking. Saturday I got to hang out with a couple of friends from a ministry I was in freshman year, and spent the rest of the weekend staying cool and hanging out with Anja and her boyfriend James.
We tried out The Rock on Sunday, and decided we're a lot more comfortable with the Flood, as opposed to a rock concert rather than a worship service.
Oh and Tad helped me fix my computer so I can upload pictures to the internet again, so I'll be adding pics to my last few entries if you want to check them out :)
One more class, and then a four day weekend, yay!
Thank goodness
It has been a crazy two weeks. Last week we had class from 8:30-4:00, with a lunch break in the middle, every day. Bootcamp is designed to get all of the grad students up to speed and at the same starting point before regular classes and clinic start. We've had our diagnostic methods and clinical methods classes, and have been meeting with our clinic supervisors.
I am so thankful I have the background from Biola. I feel so much farther ahead than a lot of the other students. Most of the Diagnostic and Clinic methods classes have been review for me, plus I'm not spazzing about clinic like everyone else is. Biola's comm disorders program is amazing!
I'm super excited about clinic, scared about classes though. I'm registered for 19 units. I never took more than 17 a semester at Biola! AHHH!!! I'm also having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to being in a public school again. Hearing people talk frankly about "hooking up" isn't exactly what I'm used to anymore. *sigh* Welcome to the world Lindsey.
Anyway, I had a very nice relaxing weekend (despite the crazy heatwave we're having). Raelene and I had dinner at Ruby's Diner Friday night, window shopped at Express, and came back to do a bit of facebook stalking. Saturday I got to hang out with a couple of friends from a ministry I was in freshman year, and spent the rest of the weekend staying cool and hanging out with Anja and her boyfriend James.
We tried out The Rock on Sunday, and decided we're a lot more comfortable with the Flood, as opposed to a rock concert rather than a worship service.
Oh and Tad helped me fix my computer so I can upload pictures to the internet again, so I'll be adding pics to my last few entries if you want to check them out :)
One more class, and then a four day weekend, yay!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Behind Enemy Lines
Part 2 of the 6.5 page journal entry.
"This has been an emotionally crazy week. I think ti can be best summarized by something Ryan Low said in the senior prayer Sunday night, something Dr. Corey said Tuesday night, and something I said 4 years ago. Chronological order ready go. When Ryan was praying for us, he described us as 'lights planted behind enemy lines'. This really struck me. We are most certainly in a war, but not only that. We are fighting amongst the ranks of the enemy. And not quietly and sneakily. What do lights do? They shine.
Yes we are not to fear. We didn't just happen to wander across the battlefield and end up in enemy territory. God planted us there, and He has his hand of protection on us.
Fast forward to Tuesday night.
Dr. Corey described our path through life through the analogy of crossing state lines and being greeted by 'welcome to ___ ' signs. He said when they had moved out to CA, after they had passed the 'Welcome to California' sign, he looked at his son Anders who had tears running down his face. Anders said 'Dad, turn around, I want to go home.'
That's how Dr. Corey said we all are when faced with something new. One chapter closes, and we see the next "welcome to" sign and panic. We want to go back to the familiar, but that chapter is over. We can never go back. We can only move forward. But we never move alone, God is always with us.
And the third piece: wisdom from myself
The final thing came with the return of a letter I had written to myself as a freshman. The entire 3x5 notecard (in very sloppy handwriting) was covered in questions. 'Am I in band?' 'Do I have friends?' 'Are they lifelong friends?' I realized that how I have felt in the last couple weeks is exactly how I felt at the beginning of my Biola career: torn in so many different directions and anxious about what to expect.
Now to tie all this together
What I have been feeling is the dread of a new life chapter. I see the 'welcome to grad school' sign, and I want to run as fast as I can back to the 'welcome to Biola' sign. But I can't. And besides, I felt the same fear of the 'welcome to Biola' sign when it appeared on my horizon anyway.
God has been with me in my time at Biola, and I have no reason to believe things will be any different at SDSU. Christians aren't supposed to live permanently bubblized.
'Planted behind enemy lines'
It's time to leave the bubble.
I think that's why my trip to Romania comes at such a perfect time. I've benefited immensely being at Biola and grown so much. It's time to share that with the world, it's time to shine."
Romania journaling forthcoming.
"This has been an emotionally crazy week. I think ti can be best summarized by something Ryan Low said in the senior prayer Sunday night, something Dr. Corey said Tuesday night, and something I said 4 years ago. Chronological order ready go. When Ryan was praying for us, he described us as 'lights planted behind enemy lines'. This really struck me. We are most certainly in a war, but not only that. We are fighting amongst the ranks of the enemy. And not quietly and sneakily. What do lights do? They shine.
Yes we are not to fear. We didn't just happen to wander across the battlefield and end up in enemy territory. God planted us there, and He has his hand of protection on us.
Fast forward to Tuesday night.
Dr. Corey described our path through life through the analogy of crossing state lines and being greeted by 'welcome to ___ ' signs. He said when they had moved out to CA, after they had passed the 'Welcome to California' sign, he looked at his son Anders who had tears running down his face. Anders said 'Dad, turn around, I want to go home.'
That's how Dr. Corey said we all are when faced with something new. One chapter closes, and we see the next "welcome to" sign and panic. We want to go back to the familiar, but that chapter is over. We can never go back. We can only move forward. But we never move alone, God is always with us.
And the third piece: wisdom from myself
The final thing came with the return of a letter I had written to myself as a freshman. The entire 3x5 notecard (in very sloppy handwriting) was covered in questions. 'Am I in band?' 'Do I have friends?' 'Are they lifelong friends?' I realized that how I have felt in the last couple weeks is exactly how I felt at the beginning of my Biola career: torn in so many different directions and anxious about what to expect.
Now to tie all this together
What I have been feeling is the dread of a new life chapter. I see the 'welcome to grad school' sign, and I want to run as fast as I can back to the 'welcome to Biola' sign. But I can't. And besides, I felt the same fear of the 'welcome to Biola' sign when it appeared on my horizon anyway.
God has been with me in my time at Biola, and I have no reason to believe things will be any different at SDSU. Christians aren't supposed to live permanently bubblized.
'Planted behind enemy lines'
It's time to leave the bubble.
I think that's why my trip to Romania comes at such a perfect time. I've benefited immensely being at Biola and grown so much. It's time to share that with the world, it's time to shine."
Romania journaling forthcoming.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Bye Bye Biola
Oh goodness, I created this entry about 3 weeks ago, better late than never though right?
I spent the entirety of finals week trying to blog, but time did not permit. I ended up journaling this by hand after my computer (and the rest of my stuff) had gone home after graduation. The first chunk is just the events, the second is thoughts and reflections. Because of length, I'm making them two separate posts. Here we go!
"I'm writing this from the inside of my wardrobe. Kind of random, but it's silly, so I like it.
I've been trying to blog since Sunday, but never found time. Honestly, maybe it's best I didn't. I've been all over the place: both excited and anticipating graduation and dreading the closing of this chapter of my life. Being my last week as a student here, however, I have not been lacking in fun events.
Last Thursday was the Comm Disorders dinner. Teri spoke about professional, personal, and spiritual advice she wanted to pass on, and Krista and I shared an amazing flan
Friday night was senior dinner. My parents and grandparents were able to come, which was great, especially since my grandparents weren't able to make it for graduation. Fred Sanders, professor of the year despite being on sabbatical, spoke, and it was a great final dinner on Metzger.
Saturday morning we put on a Clarinet Club End of the Year Recital with solo and ensemble performances as well as a few original compositions. That evening I went out to dinner with Ally and Sara to Pizza Z to catch up on life before we all scattered after graduation.
Sunday morning was my last service at Redeemer. I'm so thankful I found that church, even if it wasn't til the beginning of my final year. Teri had the girls from her classes this semester over for dessert in the evening. She had this amazing strawberry pie, chocolate cake, and coffee. We played Pass the Pigs and wii bowling. I pwned at wii bowling, I was pleased. It was nice getting to spend more time with her and get to know her husband Jacob a little. They're a great couple.
Upon returning to campus, I scurried down to our check out all hall. Hart has a tradition of praying over the seniors at the end after they share what their plans are for next year. Immediately after we went to study break.
I had my last final Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday evening was Baccalaureate. It was a beautiful service. Dr. Corey spoke about moving through chapters of life and how even though it can be hard, God always has us where he wants us. A number of seniors shared about how God had worked in their lives in their time at Biola. Then we walked from Calvary Chapel to the belltower through a path of luminaries as bagpipes played Amazing Grace. Under the belltower we took communion and sang Be Thou My VIsion. This was particularly meaningful because we began our Biola careers with a communion service under the belltower at the end of move in weekend with our families.
Wednesday I hung out one last time with Kathleen at Golden Spoon. We walked around Toys R Us, and I bought her the Star Wars action figure she picked out as an early birthday gift. That evening I got ready for Winds banquet with Becky, Jen, and Justine and rode out to Downtown Disney with Amberly, Erin, and Rachel T. Banquet was really fun as usual. I sat with Becky, Jen, Justine, Matt, and Mark. Mark kept us thoroughly entertained prior to dinner. One word: "fail!" The senior tribute was really nice, and much to my delight, even though I missed one semester of Winds, I received a Senior Service Award.
I came back with Becky, Jen, Dorothy, and Casey and Becky, Krista, Jen, and I watched Amazing Grace. Thursday afternoon I got to meet up with Emily Joynes at Commons to chat, and in the evening I went to a double composition recital for Kenny Lindsey and Dave Martina. Friday morning we sat through 1.5 hours of graduation rehearsal. Slightly ridiculous, but we got our Biola Alum license plate holders and Bye-ola tshirts. I had rehearsal and then played my (hopefully) last graduation ever.
The craziness began Saturday morning. Becky and I got up at 7 to get ready. We found her family and they fed me breakfast and took pictures. Soon after I found my own family and went to line up. I discovered that when they said it took 45 minutes to line everybody up, they really meant it took 45 minutes for everybody to show up.
The ceremony was nice, a bit long though due to the combination of hot sun and 606 graduates (only 26 more than my high school class). George Verwer gave a nice message, nothing too insanely memorable. I enjoyed it more than my high school graduation. High school was very focused on the past, while this was focused on the future. After the ceremony I made a quick stop by Calvary Chapel for a few band hugs and then made my way to McNally for the Comm Disorders reception. Raelene got to meet a lot of my Biola friends and my parents got to meet my professors.
The 6 of us had lunch at Woodranch Grill and I opened my cards and presents. That was some very good food. Mom and Raelene helped me pack up the car and then they and Valencia went home. It was really hard watching her go. We've never been apart for more than 6 hours at a time.
We had one final Hart BBQ for the people who were staying over Saturday night. I finished up my Romania packing and checked in. On my way back to Hart, I stopped by the fountain to just sit and think for a while."
Stayed tuned for the second half, and so much more :o)
I spent the entirety of finals week trying to blog, but time did not permit. I ended up journaling this by hand after my computer (and the rest of my stuff) had gone home after graduation. The first chunk is just the events, the second is thoughts and reflections. Because of length, I'm making them two separate posts. Here we go!
"I'm writing this from the inside of my wardrobe. Kind of random, but it's silly, so I like it.
I've been trying to blog since Sunday, but never found time. Honestly, maybe it's best I didn't. I've been all over the place: both excited and anticipating graduation and dreading the closing of this chapter of my life. Being my last week as a student here, however, I have not been lacking in fun events.
Last Thursday was the Comm Disorders dinner. Teri spoke about professional, personal, and spiritual advice she wanted to pass on, and Krista and I shared an amazing flan
Friday night was senior dinner. My parents and grandparents were able to come, which was great, especially since my grandparents weren't able to make it for graduation. Fred Sanders, professor of the year despite being on sabbatical, spoke, and it was a great final dinner on Metzger.
Saturday morning we put on a Clarinet Club End of the Year Recital with solo and ensemble performances as well as a few original compositions. That evening I went out to dinner with Ally and Sara to Pizza Z to catch up on life before we all scattered after graduation.
Sunday morning was my last service at Redeemer. I'm so thankful I found that church, even if it wasn't til the beginning of my final year. Teri had the girls from her classes this semester over for dessert in the evening. She had this amazing strawberry pie, chocolate cake, and coffee. We played Pass the Pigs and wii bowling. I pwned at wii bowling, I was pleased. It was nice getting to spend more time with her and get to know her husband Jacob a little. They're a great couple.
Upon returning to campus, I scurried down to our check out all hall. Hart has a tradition of praying over the seniors at the end after they share what their plans are for next year. Immediately after we went to study break.
I had my last final Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday evening was Baccalaureate. It was a beautiful service. Dr. Corey spoke about moving through chapters of life and how even though it can be hard, God always has us where he wants us. A number of seniors shared about how God had worked in their lives in their time at Biola. Then we walked from Calvary Chapel to the belltower through a path of luminaries as bagpipes played Amazing Grace. Under the belltower we took communion and sang Be Thou My VIsion. This was particularly meaningful because we began our Biola careers with a communion service under the belltower at the end of move in weekend with our families.
Wednesday I hung out one last time with Kathleen at Golden Spoon. We walked around Toys R Us, and I bought her the Star Wars action figure she picked out as an early birthday gift. That evening I got ready for Winds banquet with Becky, Jen, and Justine and rode out to Downtown Disney with Amberly, Erin, and Rachel T. Banquet was really fun as usual. I sat with Becky, Jen, Justine, Matt, and Mark. Mark kept us thoroughly entertained prior to dinner. One word: "fail!" The senior tribute was really nice, and much to my delight, even though I missed one semester of Winds, I received a Senior Service Award.
I came back with Becky, Jen, Dorothy, and Casey and Becky, Krista, Jen, and I watched Amazing Grace. Thursday afternoon I got to meet up with Emily Joynes at Commons to chat, and in the evening I went to a double composition recital for Kenny Lindsey and Dave Martina. Friday morning we sat through 1.5 hours of graduation rehearsal. Slightly ridiculous, but we got our Biola Alum license plate holders and Bye-ola tshirts. I had rehearsal and then played my (hopefully) last graduation ever.
The craziness began Saturday morning. Becky and I got up at 7 to get ready. We found her family and they fed me breakfast and took pictures. Soon after I found my own family and went to line up. I discovered that when they said it took 45 minutes to line everybody up, they really meant it took 45 minutes for everybody to show up.
The ceremony was nice, a bit long though due to the combination of hot sun and 606 graduates (only 26 more than my high school class). George Verwer gave a nice message, nothing too insanely memorable. I enjoyed it more than my high school graduation. High school was very focused on the past, while this was focused on the future. After the ceremony I made a quick stop by Calvary Chapel for a few band hugs and then made my way to McNally for the Comm Disorders reception. Raelene got to meet a lot of my Biola friends and my parents got to meet my professors.
The 6 of us had lunch at Woodranch Grill and I opened my cards and presents. That was some very good food. Mom and Raelene helped me pack up the car and then they and Valencia went home. It was really hard watching her go. We've never been apart for more than 6 hours at a time.
We had one final Hart BBQ for the people who were staying over Saturday night. I finished up my Romania packing and checked in. On my way back to Hart, I stopped by the fountain to just sit and think for a while."
Stayed tuned for the second half, and so much more :o)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Closing Another Chapter
I am 11 days away from graduation...
This sentence brings excitement, sadness, relief, anticipation, fear, happiness, and a whole lot more emotions that I have to yet to pinpoint.
I am most certainly ready for the semester to be over, and I am very excited that my degree is almost complete. But I feel nowhere near ready to leave Biola.
Not that I don't feel prepared for grad school or the world, or real life..ok, so I don't feel prepared for real life yet, but the other two are fine. I just can't believe I'm leaving this community. The friendships I've made here are so much deeper than the majority of the ones I had in high school. A part of me is afraid that I'll fall out of touch with people like I did with almost everyone from high school. I have a feeling that won't be as much of a problem though. I have kept in pretty good touch with my Biola friends during the summers.
In any case, ready or not, here graduation comes. One week from today I will be done with my academic work. I had my last clinic session yesterday, definitely bittersweet.
For my personal enjoyment, here's what I have left for the semester.
Clinic
putting together my client's file
final eval with Tonya
Theo of Suffering and Disability
NOTHING!!! (finished yesterday morning =D)
Neurogenic Comm Disorders
Dysarthria case study (due by email tomorrow)
Spanish Lit
El Camino paper (due Thurs)
final (Tues at 1)
Capstone
NOTHING!!!! (I did my presentation and turned in my paper on the 1st)
attend class Friday
attend to finish research study for Matt next Friday
Symphonic Winds
student conductors Friday
graduation music Monday
BANQUET!!!! (next Wednesday)
graduate graduation next Friday
Romania rehearsal Sunday morning
ROMANIA!!!!! (May 24th - June 4th)
I also have a ton of fun senior/end of the year type activities interspursed with all that too
I can do this!
This sentence brings excitement, sadness, relief, anticipation, fear, happiness, and a whole lot more emotions that I have to yet to pinpoint.
I am most certainly ready for the semester to be over, and I am very excited that my degree is almost complete. But I feel nowhere near ready to leave Biola.
Not that I don't feel prepared for grad school or the world, or real life..ok, so I don't feel prepared for real life yet, but the other two are fine. I just can't believe I'm leaving this community. The friendships I've made here are so much deeper than the majority of the ones I had in high school. A part of me is afraid that I'll fall out of touch with people like I did with almost everyone from high school. I have a feeling that won't be as much of a problem though. I have kept in pretty good touch with my Biola friends during the summers.
In any case, ready or not, here graduation comes. One week from today I will be done with my academic work. I had my last clinic session yesterday, definitely bittersweet.
For my personal enjoyment, here's what I have left for the semester.
Clinic
putting together my client's file
final eval with Tonya
Theo of Suffering and Disability
NOTHING!!! (finished yesterday morning =D)
Neurogenic Comm Disorders
Dysarthria case study (due by email tomorrow)
Spanish Lit
El Camino paper (due Thurs)
final (Tues at 1)
Capstone
NOTHING!!!! (I did my presentation and turned in my paper on the 1st)
attend class Friday
attend to finish research study for Matt next Friday
Symphonic Winds
student conductors Friday
graduation music Monday
BANQUET!!!! (next Wednesday)
graduate graduation next Friday
Romania rehearsal Sunday morning
ROMANIA!!!!! (May 24th - June 4th)
I also have a ton of fun senior/end of the year type activities interspursed with all that too
I can do this!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
After the Storm
One week ago I was completely and entirely miserable. Thank goodness that is not the case tonight. I've been fighting with myself all week. Trying to deal with things, but not having the time to sit in the pain of all of it. It didn't help matters that in closing off the wound before it healed, I started pushing Tad away. I don't know where I would have been this week without him being so supportive. He really is amazing, supporting, accepting, and loving, even when I'm a complete emotional wreck.
I was able to start sorting things out in group last night. It was pointed out to me several times that I have been holding all the pain inside, pretending it isn't there. Later, while on the phone with Tad, I suddenly came to realize something he already knew, but I hadn't seen. I've been really, REALLY angry with my mom about this. not just in the last week, since at least Thanksgiving. That's why every time it's come up,I've exploded. Tad recommended I talk to my mom about it. So, with quite a lot of effort on my part, I brought it up again today.
We had a really good conversation. Nobody freaked out or yelled or got upset. She listened to what I had to say, and said she'd be willing to reconsider things. The downside is it looks for sure like Tad and I will be long distance for one more year, but I'm willing to wait.
In other news, I played my last Symphonic Winds concert on Saturday (not counting graduate graduation, Pomp & Circumstance doesn't count). It was a great concert, possibly my favorite of the 4 years. Becky did my hair really cute, curled with a bow like Shirley Temple. My parents brought me Berry Cool beforehand, and gave me flowers after. It's a beautiful bouquet, all different colors of gerber daisies, mums, and bright orange lilies.
Sunday was the disability event for theo of suffering and disability. We went to Redlands (which is rather far) to a Sunday School class designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It was a lot of fun. I can't get enough of working with people with disabilities, which makes it a good thing I'm majoring in a related field :o). Soon after getting back on campus from that I went with a bunch of people from the Romania team to a Romanian church service. The service was for the most part in Romanian, but some of the youth translated for us, pretty cool. I'm so stoked for the trip.
I think that's about it, other than some pretty fun times in the caf Tues for cinco de mayo, they had a lie mariachi band =D. Thanks everybody for the prayers, I really appreciate it :)
I was able to start sorting things out in group last night. It was pointed out to me several times that I have been holding all the pain inside, pretending it isn't there. Later, while on the phone with Tad, I suddenly came to realize something he already knew, but I hadn't seen. I've been really, REALLY angry with my mom about this. not just in the last week, since at least Thanksgiving. That's why every time it's come up,I've exploded. Tad recommended I talk to my mom about it. So, with quite a lot of effort on my part, I brought it up again today.
We had a really good conversation. Nobody freaked out or yelled or got upset. She listened to what I had to say, and said she'd be willing to reconsider things. The downside is it looks for sure like Tad and I will be long distance for one more year, but I'm willing to wait.
In other news, I played my last Symphonic Winds concert on Saturday (not counting graduate graduation, Pomp & Circumstance doesn't count). It was a great concert, possibly my favorite of the 4 years. Becky did my hair really cute, curled with a bow like Shirley Temple. My parents brought me Berry Cool beforehand, and gave me flowers after. It's a beautiful bouquet, all different colors of gerber daisies, mums, and bright orange lilies.
Sunday was the disability event for theo of suffering and disability. We went to Redlands (which is rather far) to a Sunday School class designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It was a lot of fun. I can't get enough of working with people with disabilities, which makes it a good thing I'm majoring in a related field :o). Soon after getting back on campus from that I went with a bunch of people from the Romania team to a Romanian church service. The service was for the most part in Romanian, but some of the youth translated for us, pretty cool. I'm so stoked for the trip.
I think that's about it, other than some pretty fun times in the caf Tues for cinco de mayo, they had a lie mariachi band =D. Thanks everybody for the prayers, I really appreciate it :)
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