entre les trous de la mémoire

I believe this was my first time spending the holiday alone. Wasn't so bad, actually:

Cooked brunch with several of my friends at one of theirs apt. I made a stack of choco. chip banana pancakes. Those were very delightful =)

Went to a bakery to get a cake for my roommate's family, they invited me to their house for Thanksgiving dinner. And I really appreciated their hospitality.

Came back to my room around 4pm-ish. Took a picture of window-reflection randomly (yep, the one above). Had a quality nap for three hours till 7pm.

Cooked a little. And that was my little Thanksgiving dinner with the self. (There was almost no one in the building, so I took the advantage of the kitchen as much as I could, and I even sang while cooking, that was cheerful.)

Ate an apple. Way to be healthy.

Tried to call couple of friends but failed. I should have figured that nearly nobody would be available on Thanksgiving night for a talk. But at least I got to chat a littlε with one friend online which made me more than just happy.

Started on a date with my guitar ;)

Did a reading on Psalm 100, and loved it!

Listened to some favorite music. And headed back to bed again.

It was a refreshing day to do some reflections, and I had a relaxing time communicating with God without distractions. I know my life is gonna get back to the same old hectic status after these couple of days, and just thinking that made me cherish the day even more.

"For the Christian, thanksgiving is not just a day but a way of life." and that is dead-on.

God is too good, I'm content and can't ask for more...

Friends! I know it's kind of early to talk about Christmas music, BUT you have to get fully prepared for it because time just going to flash by after Thanksgiving, at least that's been my experience. Anywho, I recently have been obsessed with this ONE new Christmas record called "A Very Rosie Christmas" by Rosie Thomas. I love it! Rosie Thomas is amazing, and what is even cooler about this indie/folk songwriter is that she's from our lovely Seattle! She released an incredible debut in 2002 called "When We Were Small" and that totally got me even though I heard it like 3 years later. I love pretty much every single song of hers. If you haven't heard of her, defly go check her out. I'm sure you will love her music. The song "Why it can't be Christmas all year" from the Christmas record is so good, and it sounds just so Christmas, the feeling of "cannot-be-any-other-holiday". It makes me a little sad at the same, don't know why.

"A Very Rosie Christmas" should be required listening this Christmas, go listen to it on Amazon or iTunes, I promise it will worth it =) Ohhh, actually I think the song "Why it can't be Christmas all year" is free on Amazon, and that is even better.

Well, other than that, I pray you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving with the lovely fams!

*Hey, those of you who are not going home for the holiday, make sure you give me a call, 'cause I'll be around and we can hang out =)

So bascially this year's Ballard Jazz Walk is finally here, this Thursday Nov.20th. Starting from 7:00pm in 11 different venues featuring 15 artists both local and out-state. I really wanted to go, but highly likely I won't be able to make it. For three reasons: 1. I have to work; 2. It's during the week and transportation is an issue; 3. 60% venues are 21+ admission. This is really sad. Just picture how nice it would be to walk around in a jazz-y ambiance the whole night. And plus Geof Bradfield will be there, and I have always wanted to hear his "Urban Nomad" live since it came out not so long ago.

I'm passing out the information to those of you who are interested and are 21+ and are also free on thursday night. Defly go check it out, and please bring back cool experiences to share with me. I guess after thursday I will be counting down to Ballard Jazz Festival 2009 April 22nd to 26th. My 19th birthday is during that week, very exciting!

Wow, I'm really planning ahead...

This is crazy; me and Steph actually led out music service last night at vespers, for the very first time. It felt TOO GOOD, and I'm so doing it again! I never thought I would even want to try out at any point. First of all, I'm not good at playing guitar, at all; second, definately not in public/in front of everyone; last but certainly not the least, I'm the type of person who doesn't try/do things out of the comfort zone, my friend Nick pointed that out and encouraged me to work on it. I consider it as being a personality flaw of mine. I'm always lack of courage and timid in certain situations, BUT I think I've been improving much recently. Being able to lead song service means a lot to me, more than just a breakthrough, and I was very surprised that everyone liked it and thought it was really good. God blesses each of us with different talent, and I'm very thankful for the admin skill that I can have. Before I thought that I should just be cool with that talent, and musical related talents only belong to the musicians, so music can't be my thing. However, I discovered that God has given more than I thought, WAY more. Like that I can lead music service, when nobody else is available to do it. This is just an example, but what I really want to conclude here is that God will bless you with a certain talent that you never had before when others need it for good, and it is all up to whether you receive it or not.

I just want to encourage you like my friend has encouraged me: you never know until you try.

Simple, but truth.

I don't know how am I going to write this blog, and I don't even know where to start. Because there's too much I have on mind to write about and it's literally overflowing and I can't put it together.

I got baptized last night, and that was the best decision in my whole entire life. I had been talking to a friend about this since May, and just wasn't sure when I should do it. Yesterday during Sabbath service, I felt God was asking me and I just couldn't hold my tears back. Tears of joy. I was too excited and couldn't even think the whole day yesterday espeacially at my baptism. So I didn't get to say everything I wanted to say there, because there was TOO much to say about accepting God's covenant. It is incredible how much I've grown in Him since the first time I heard His Name. I can never know enough. I have had so many ups and downs during the journey. But he's never given up on me. I just go speechless when I look back. He picks me up when I stumble and walks with me when I'm encouraged. And I know I can walk even further and further and as far as I want with Jesus, and I can't wait for that. He's been great to me, and it hits me hard everytime I think about His unconditional love for me. The Lifehouse "Everything" skit is such a good visual demonstration, and it tears me up. I feel like the more I get closer to God the more I realize how sinful I am, and I just want to surrend all to Him, wholly. I know that Satan is going to drag me down trying even harder than before, and the journey is long, the road is hard. But I'm not afraid because I've realized the truth. Jesus's always here with me and He's bigger than everything. Life starts and ends, and it is that depressing. However, it can't be just that life is meaningless. Because there's gotta be something to it that makes it meaningful and wonderful. And that "something" can only be Jesus the Christ. I love the Savior endearingly with all my heart and am so in awe of Him. I want to live for Him and it's such a privilege to know that I can, as being a new creation in Jesus.

Thanks all my friends and my family in Christ. You guys are amazing! I have to quote one of my fav verses here again Jeremiah 29:11-12. God's plan is always flawless. He placed me in the right place and right time to meet you guys, and it is just been amazing since then. I'm so blessed. Beyond words. I feel like I live in a dream and don't want to wake up from it. And, I don't have to. What a fortune! It is just too good to be true. This is what I told Tommy yesterday after the celebration.

I want to share the good news with my parents too, who I will be seeing in a month. They are two great people and the ones I love tons and want to be with for ever in heaven. I desperately want them to know Jesus. If you can, please pray for them and for me as well that God will use me as His speaker talking to them. And I highly appreciate it.

Thanks so very much Lord, is never enough to say... we love you and please come soon!

1 Peter 2:9
Peace.

I was reading something, and a couple of sentences stood out and retrieved my sad memories. Now I'm feeling sad all at a sudden. I'm going to take a nap to block those memories from leaking out of my head.

I've been trying to avoid the readings that have the potential of reminding me of my sad and pitiful stories, but it's inevitable since only epic writings bring emotions.

This is pathetic.

I forgot to mention this song by Brooke Fraser in the last post. It goes well along with it. One thing I like this song is the visual lyrics it provides. Delicate.

Love is waiting - Brooke Fraser

In the autumn on the ground, between the traffic and the ordinaty sounds
I am thinking signs and seasons while a north wind blows through
I watch as lovers pass me by
Walking stories, whos and hows and whys
Musing lazily on love
Pondering you

I'll be waiting for you baby
I'll be holding back the darkest night
Love is waiting til we are ready, til it's right
Love is waiting

It's my caution not the cold
There's no other hand that I would rather hold
The climate changes, I'm singing for the strangers about you
Don't keep time, slow the pace
Honey hold on if you can
The bets are getting surer now that you're my man

I could write a million songs about the way you say my name
I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again
And like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start
Neither should I rush my way into your heart

Take it as you want it.

So I have this wonderful roommate this year, apparently we requested each other to be in the same room. She's the type of girl that Aces in every hard math class and computer class pretty much. Extremely smart. Very rare. I consider her to be a nerd. And, the update is that she's in a relationship now, with another equally nerdy guy. It might sound just as normal to you because you probly hear things like this all the time. But I feel it is such a bizarre and surprising happening, not mentioning the insights. I'm very happy for her after all. One point I got out of this is that no matter what kind of person you are what type of personality you have, there is always a right someone of opposite sex for you. God will bring you that person, before that takes place, don't be anxious but just wait patiently and enjoy your singlehood at the same time. However if you have already received that blessing, appreciate it as much as you can, and grow together with him/her, be the acoountibility.

Do not rush, no pushing your way thru, since this is very especially serious.

Be sure to follow God's perfect plan in every way and be rejoiced in doing so. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Yes, you guessed it, from the title. The thing is I've had several blogs before, but I slacked off on all them because of whatever reason. So I closed all of them early this year and had decided to stick only with the private one. I had this weird mind-set of blogs being an online diary thing, and thus should they be private. I don't think like that anymore though, and instead, there are actually things you can write about in a public permitted blog after reading couple of my friends'. They are really good. Like Steph's blog "Shared secrets". Interesting.

And thanks for tommy asking me about the whole blog thing, that was a motivation there =) Potential words/sentences are worth being looking forward to. We will see how this blog is going to go along with my life.

I'm kickin' it!