Heart

On November 21st, 2013, I embarked on a half day trip to and from Sham Shui Po, HK, capturing a just small portion of the city and culture's dynamic lifestyle in the selected snapshots.

In addition to experimenting with my camera's aperture and shutter speed, on my trek I documented my journey accompanied by a pink Post-It Note to feature in each shot (don't worry; I took down the post-it note after I was done shooting, just as I had explained to curious passers-by). I had to draw three new ones by the end of the day, but even so Post-It Notes are surprisingly sticky.

By the end of my journey the repeated weird looks from countless strangers, as well as the crouching and bending over, were taking their toll on my emotional and physical condition. Each angle got harder and harder to shoot, and I wondered if I had wasted my day. After a good shower and an evening dedicated to gleaning through these photos however, I have nothing but a wonder of life's beauty and richness.

A special thanks to everyone who went about their daily business despite the strange young photographer standing/crouching/sitting in their way!

Enjoy! And take a moment to imagine if Love were so prevalent and so visible in our city.

Piggybacking off of Moriah Peters

Hellooooo! Yes I did it again! Shameful blogger moment. The spotlight here is the product of someone else's labor.

I promise that I've really been working on a new post. I've actually been working on a few posts for the past several weeks. But today I completely trashed one of them so I was feeling totally useless. 

This song, among a few others, helped me regain focus. So I thought I might as well share it too, so that perhaps it may brighten your day. "Sunflowers."

Moriah Peters- "I Choose Jesus" acoustic

"He chose to love me when I felt unlovable"

I Hate Trigonometry

Did you ever face that mountain that was impossible to scale? I'm talking about that moment when you stop and think to yourself "Heh. There is no way I can take care of that. No way."

e.g. Double angle identities. Or rhetorical devices. Or broken friendships. Or a propensity for procrastination (Ha! I got you there).

And then as time passes, carry on with other areas in your life. You learn how to do the laundry. You clean your laptop's keyboard. You sympathize with a friend stuck in some complicated high school drama. You procrastinate some more. And then out of the blue one day, a hiatus in the routine, you remember your mountain. You look up at it, squinting against the sky to see its summit. "Oh hey that monstrous thing is still there. Not much has actually changed."

e.g. I still shut my eyes and curl into a fetal position when I come across sin2a. I still can't tell the difference between anaphora and apostrophe. Azure is still upset at Verdant because Azure accuses Verdant of ditching Azure for Verdant's new boyfriend (yes I habitually substitute colors for girls' names). And I'm totally writing this when I NEED to be finishing up a physics problem set.

You shudder. Go back to doing whatever you were doing before. But in the back of your head you wonder if this really is how you want to spend your youth. "Is this how I want to be remembered?"

(To be continued...dun dun dunnnn)

P.S. Last 2 minutes of MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! <3 (perfect day to get married if you want your spouse to remember your anniversary ;)

You DO have a bellybutton, Mr. Lunt.

It's ridiculous. Mr. Lunt has a deeply-rooted self esteem problem as he confesses to the love of his life (though I'm afraid that the mushy feelings are not reciprocated) that he does not, in fact, have a belly button.

But seriously. Wait. Think about it.

Mr. Lunt is a gourd.

This is relevant how?

Quick history lesson: in my first two years of high school I was an adamant disciple of my biology teacher. Like seriously. I loved her so much. I ended up taking 2 years of pseudo-college-level biology. That was quite a while ago. Not much has stuck, but a few things have:
1) gourds are fruits
2) fruits don't have bellybuttons

At least not on their bellies.

Hate to break it to ya, but you do have a bellybutton, Mr. Lunt. It's on the top of your head. It's the remains of your flower sepals and receptacle.

Yes that's a fruit. Ignore the fact that it's not a gourd.

(I can't believe I just spent like an hour of my life constructing an argument against a gourd's music video) 

Obligatory Boys Post (or, piggybacking off of Jamie Grace...)

(...because this lil blogger is too busy [*coughLAZYcough*] to write an independent post today)

I feel like I MUST have at least one post on boys. So...since I'm dedicated to giving you my best...here you are, Internet! My best! Or rather...someone else's best. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the one, the only, the amazing Jamie Grace!

Many of my own personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions are echoed by Jamie Grace in this video. Especially #4. Because that one's...actually kinda true ;)

This may or may not surprise you, but I kinda feel like relationships and purity are big enough topics for full, independent posts. Some other day! Remind me, because I sure won't write it on a post-it note reminder.

Ending this post on a musical note (Ha). This song was featured at the end of the above video.

(This lil blogger feels slightly guilty for getting away with writing so little actual text today. *snore*)

Until next time, faithful blog-stalkers!

Bible Burn: THE FINALE

Bear with me as I keep playing around with these fonts!

Quick Note: the Empress of Snark recently (as in 2 months ago...grr.) reformatted her entire blog. You'll notice that the link to her blog now reads "Arrows of Fortune." It's worth checking out! (after you read this post ;)

ALRIGHTY. Let's get down to business (now I got the song stuck in your head!).

I expect y'all to expect me to provide a sincere apology for taking so long to complete this final Burn post, and for holding you precious blog-stalkers in such suspense for over a week.

But ... thus is the nature of my swag.*

I know you're dying to know, so here is the BIBLE BURN data in an interpretable table

Books finished DURING official 72 hours

Books finished AFTER official 72 hours (times in hours:minutes)

Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi ----- Matthew Mark 1 Timothy 2 TImothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude

Luke -- 1:03 John -- 00:32 Acts -- 00:41 Romans -- 00:17 1 Corinthians -- 00:14 2 Corinthians -- 00:13 Galatians -- 00:06 Ephesians -- 00:05 Philipians -- 00:05 Colossians -- 00:05 1 Thessalonians -- 00:04 2 Thessalonians -- 00:01 Revelation -- 00:22

Total reading time after official 72 hours: 03:48
GRAND TOTAL: 72:00 + 03:48 = 75:48 HOURS

I'll admit that I was wayyy more chill while determining the individual books after the official 72. I timed each book separately. I ate spaghetti. I drank tea. I texted my best friend (who happens to be the author of Arrows of Fortune [remember to check it out after this post!]). I took major breaks in between books. Sometimes I went a full day without any progress at all. Buuut the chillaxness makes me feel a lot better about the final grand total ;)

I've heard some humans bring up the issue of so much reading over so little time. And I totally can see their concern as I fly over the text. There really isn't much in-depth absorption going on. But what I wanted to achieve over the 72 hours was a birds-eye view of the Scriptures: I wanted to see the big picture.
Now that I accomplished what I set out to accomplish (phew!), I think I want to go back and do a deeper study in Joshua, Ruth, Ezekiel, John, Romans... :)

Thank you for your enthusiastic (albeit silent) support during this challenge, precious blog-stalkers!

*This tagline was taken from the honored Master Holmes, my physics teacher. He used it in an assignment description, and I deemed the phrase an excuse appropriate for anything and everything. e.g. I destroyed another LED in this very assignment today. Oh well. Thus is the nature of my swag.

Hmm. Wrapping up a blog post with physics swag. I like it.

Responsibility? Say Whaaaat?

Enjoy a new (more readable) font!


(Yes. I'm sure you're aware that I'm putting off my final Burn update! I have a surpriiiiiiise :)

So. Responsibility. Ouch. It's a tough term to handle, and not just because it's confusing for my fingers to be typing so many i's alternating with so many consonants so nearby on the keyboard.

From taking out the trash to driving a two-ton piece of metal on the freeway, from raising children to managing one's own finances. Eek. Responsibility is a totally necessary, but also totally terrifying part of life! Terrifying because...? Maybe because responsibility is accompanied by accountability?
AH! Accountabili-what?

Okay slowing down. BLAH. So say something is entrusted to you, and it's up to YOU to complete the thing with reasonable success. But wait. What if something goes wrong? Who is there to blame? If your child grows up and spends half his life in prison, who's there to blame? If your self-formulated budget eventually lands you in incredible debt, who is there to blame?

Let's be fair. Human beings have a tendency not to be in control of things. Things as in, things in life that may or may not involve other fickle human beings. For example, this post. What if my loyal blog-stalkers HATE this post? They totally have a right to their opinions, and I can't be blamed for that. Brb, grabbing a virtual trashcan-lid-shield for virtual rotten tomatoes.
However, we CAN slap an at-least-slightly-responsible-for-likability sticker on the creator (mother. nurse. nanny) of this post, yeah?

Anyway, the point is that even though I may not be in control of results, I bear responsibility for my actions. Let's hop into our lovely hypothetical world: say, I did my absolute best in this post, and decided to neglect my entire life for a few days in order to use 100 hours putting my thoughts into this post, exhausting every scrap of knowledge and experience I have in writing blog posts..... WHAT IF (dun dun dunnn) y'all awful blog-stalkers simply shrug and sip your hours-old coffee in your cold mugs, disregarding the sheer genius, the blood and sweat and tears that were poured into these words? Well then HMPH you guys are cocky and mean (just kidding. kind of. I think). Really, what more was there that I could have done? What else could I have thought or said or did to procure a greater effect on my blog-stalkers? Well hmm. You know what? Actually I would be rather proud of myself despite the poor turnout. I would have had done my best, and if no one else likes the post, at least I did.

The situation is different if I had merely regurgitated on the screen to begin with. Yes, regurgitation of the brain. Get used to it. I know my English teacher and classmates have. Not a pretty sight, for either myself or classmates or blog-stalkers. I'd say that you and your virtual rotten tomatoes would be rather justified, should you encounter bits of my brain dripping out of your screen.

SOLEMN DECLARATION: I, me, and myself, are responsible for keeping slimy brain bits where they belong– not anywhere near you. We are responsible for doing a good (at least, neat) job.
In other words, you blog-stalkers have full and unreserved permission to hold the three of us accountable in regards to location of slimy brain bits.

Phew. As author of this post, I dub responsibility and the accompanying accountability.........scary. Scary but inevitable.


*raises trashcan-lid-shield*

Yes, this is exactly what I look like. Bowler hat and all.

After a thrilling episode of Cupcake Wars...

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!!!!

16:50 into the Burn -- picking up the Word at Deuteronomy 18
17:39 -- Deuteronomy down! Yay Pentateuch!
*refill food and water supplies before once again locking self in room*
18:45 -- Joshua down. Definitely revisiting this book!
*worship team from 19:50 onwards for about two hours*
22:30 -- swinging by a mall with a nice coffee shop
22:51 -- Judges down! Chapter 21 left me snickering to myself for a couple minutes. Really really really looking forward to the next book!!
23:00 -- ...Ruth went by way too fast.
24:02 -- 1 Samuel down!
24:51 -- 2 Samuel down!
26:18 -- 1 Kings down!
29:51 -- 2 Kings down! phew this is a heavy set of books to wallow through so quickly...

I'm almost halfway through the Burn in terms of countdown and I've only just passed the 24-hour goal (1 Chronicles 17).
Sidetracked by Cupcake Wars. Oops.

I should mention that I was taking note of interesting passages I'll want to study deeper after the Burn. I lost my compilation of notes halfway through the day though. :( Oh well. God's way of urging me to reread these books soon :)

One striking thing that I do still remember is the apparent rashness of Jehovah. Joshua 11:11, a single example among many passages like it. As I fly over the record of Israel's and Judah's early rulers, the recurring wrath and harshness of God towards evil instills in me a fear of God. Is the fear of God worth the lives of so many men, women, and children that were taken during the many battles of Israel's conquest of the Promised Land? I dunno. God is the judge of that, not me, simply because He is perfect Justice. He defines the rules of the game.

That may seem disturbing atm, but I only see a teeny portion of the big picture. God's ways are far higher than ours. He doesn't have to reveal His ENTIRE plan to us, but He may, step by step.

Over and Out!

4/5 THE PENTATEUCH

Greetings, Earthlings!!!

I. Am. On. DAY ONE of the Bible Burn!

...No. there is no actual combustion going on. My good ole Bible is in good shape.
In fact, it's being put to good use. And it's going to be in (very. very. very. very very very) good use for at least the next 65 hours.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This Bible Burn of which I speak represents something very simple: 66 books. 72 hours.

That is MAJOR CONSUMPTION of the Word of God! Can you say hardcore?

Okay okay. Bringing it all back to what's really at work here....I can only say that I am immensely grateful for this love of the Scriptures that my God has infused in me. He's pretty clear about the fact that without His initiation, nobody seeks after the Lord on his own. It is only by His grace that I am willing, if entirely unable, to reciprocate His love and at least respond in some tiny way.

The Bible Burn is one of them.

The saturation in Scriptures has been exhilarating so far. I'm about 7 hours into the 72 total hours-- here's how it's been going so far:

Grab a water bottle, lock self in room...
...aaand timer starts at 00:00 -- Starting at Genesis 1:1
01:15 -- Genesis down!
*complete a few chores, grab a few snacks*
02:54 -- Exodus down!
04:01 -- Leviticus down! I should mention that I had dinner in between chapters 3 and 4.
06:38 -- Numbers down! Phew!

It's been thunderstorming all day and it's actually pretty soothing. It's like the angels in heaven are cheering me on (in really really deep voices... o.O).

The Burn continues!

Over and Out. I leave you with a picture of something I'm working on in between chapters chock full of "sundry laws" and instructions for tabernacle-construction.