As the term draws to a close

It is now 2 a.m. In less than 12 hours, I will be on the plane heading back to the land I came from: Malaysia. *selah*
It's amazing isn't it? My friend Rashika has a blog called "Between Three Worlds" and while I can only lay claim to having two worlds at the moment - Northfield, MN and Penang, Malaysia - it's amazing that I can spend two different parts of my life in two very different places. The more I think about it, the more I realize how blessed I am to be here at Carleton, how Jehovah Jireh - the Lord our Provider - has given me more than I could ever ask for or imagine.

Cooking up a storm

The day before finals. Friday night. A bunch of friends came over to, essentially, get rid of our leftovers... and boy, did we cook up a storm! We had Sri Lankan styled fried rice, green curry chicken, black pepper chicken, Indonesian curry chicken (can you guess what ingredient we had a lot left over?), vegetable soup, beef broccoli noodles... and wonderful fellowship. Amazing! :)

That thing called work

Finals went well. For the most part. And I was so thrilled to finally turn in my very first psychology paper. I researched the "model minority myth" - very interesting topic. I'd be more than happy to talk to anyone about it, if you're interested :)

Birthdays

It was one week after Cheryl's 5th birthday on Sunday. Her Christian birthday, that is. She invited Christ into her life 5 years ago, and she decided to get baptized at Rejoice! And what a blessing it was - she invited a lot of people - and a lot of people showed up. And she gave her testimony - powerful testimony - that moved people to tears. Praise God for Cheryl. :)

Sunday was also another special person's birthday: Alex Lim. My good friend from Singapore. So anyway, Steph and I masterminded a surprise "party" for Alex... and while we intended to buy a cake, Steph somehow made it so that *I* had to bake a cake instead! me! Bake! gosh... see what living in a house with 6 girls does? So I learned how to bake a cake... all on my own... with Steph grinning from ear to ear as I tried to decipher the instructions: put 3 eggs? do I break them open first? hehe. Anyway, this is the cake I made for Alex. The cake is triple chocolate, the frosting is triple chocolate... and so I name it the Chocolate Sex(tuple) Cake! haha. Ok, that wasn't the smartest name... but I baked the cake. So there!

So a whole group of us showed up at Alex's room at 11:59... just to celebrate the end of his birthday with a big bang. Brought non-alcoholic wine and the cake... it was a blast! :) This is us, crammed into Alex's tiny Musser room. :)

Well, that is it for now. I am coming home! I am so excited. This holiday is going to be very much needed. I'm going to the Planetshakers Conference in KL from Dec 1 - 4, going to be kept busy with the Fasollado Singers, and going to spend quality time with family and friends. What more could I ask for?

All praise and glory be to God. He really is the Faithful One who never changes, the rock on which I stand. And it's His infinite grace that brought me through this term. Phew. I leave you with a pic fresh off the ... camera... taken in Rashika's beautiful Sevy suite.

Goodbye, my Carleton world - I will miss you, but I will be back. Hello, my Penang world... did ya miss me? :) 

Count your blessings, name them one by one

In one of my "oh my gosh I'm turning into my dad" moments, the words of this old hymn came into my mind. Wait. On second thought, I don't think it was an "oh my gosh I'm turning into my dad" moment - more of a "I've heard my dad preach so many times" moment, because the funny thing is I don't even KNOW this song, but I remembered the lyrics to it. And... oh my gosh, I'm rambling. Stop. Josh. Stop. Okay. So these are the words:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

And at the end of the term, 10th week, I thought that this would be a great thing to do. While I will certainly not be able to remember everything that happened, I'm going to chronicle whatever does come into my mind, beginning with this past week I suppose.

Caedmon's Call

Yeah! Caedmon's Call came to Lakeville, MN!! I know! And a big group of us went up to see them live in concert. BUT. I didn't get to go. I stayed back for Sola Scriptura, and also because I felt that I didn't necessarily have to jump at everything... and I thought I would prefer an easy night rather than driving up to Lakeville and back. So okay, not exactly stellar excuses. But where's the blessing in this, you may ask. And I will tell you.

Well, when they got back, a couple of us were hanging out in the basement of Parish. And guess what Erica got me? Well, don't guess. I'll show you!  
Yes, it's a 100% original AUTOGRAPHED (by Cliff Young) copy of Caedmon's Call latest album... with MY NAME ON IT! :) Heh heh. Thanks, Erica, you're awesome!

Thanksgiving: Why should it only be on the last Thursday of November?

Last Saturday, Will and Cully Craig (some of you have seen the picture with me and the two boys - those are their sons, James and Liam - I love them!! :)) invited a bunch of international students from the Christian community to their place to share in a thanksgiving meal with them.

At the Craig's for thanksgiving.

Crazy naga attacking bread

Will attacking the turkey

Besides the scrumptilicious food and edifying time of fellowship around the table, it reminded me of the importance of being thankful - not just for the BIG things that happen, but for the little things that we take for granted every day. Like getting up for class, being late, and running outside, and while unlocking your bike, suddenly pausing to see what was rustling the fallen leaves... and to find the plumpest squirrel scampering about in the last days of fall. Or walking home on a brisk night, and looking up and stopping to witness the wonder of God in the stars and the night sky... regardless of the Northern Lights. Or for the very fact that there I was halfway around the planet, thousands of miles from home, and yet I felt at home in the midst of people who loved God and showed the love of God to me.

Exit 69: The Fall Concert

And on that note, a big thank you to my legion of "fans" who came to the concert to show their support and love. I was immensely blessed. My "entourage" as Tyler put it made up probably more than three rows in the concert hall. And all the notes and messages of encouragement and excitement - Ming Mei sent me an email with six CONTINUOUS lines of "Josh's concert! Josh's concert! Josh's concert!" on the day of my concert. And for the embarassing shout outs... "You're hot, Josh" "Yeah he is" "Yeah Josh" *grin*

Exit in concert

But thank you for doing that. And for being there. I love you all.

And for the friendships that I have made here that I am so undeserving of. For the love shown to me and the acceptance and encouragement given to me. Thank you all.

And for the ma po to fu, Tyler. :)

Truly, count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

The One I Love

I thought I would share this song with you all. Throughout the course of this term, in addition to the stresses and strains of a crazy fall term, I've been struggling with the question of love and relationships in particular. And over and over, the Holy Spirit keeps reminding me of this verse:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you
Matthew 6:33

Many times it's difficult to wait. It's painful to wait. But when we hold on to the promises of God for our lives, that He has plans to "give you a future and a hope" or as the Message bible puts it:

"...plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for..."
Jeremiah 29:11

... then we begin to realize that when we place ALL our trust (not some of it, not areas where you feel "safe" about giving to God... but ALL our trust) in Him, it's the safest and most exciting place to be at. Only HE knows the plans He has for us. Only He has the perfect master plan for our lives. And with that realization, I wrote this song... to the One I Love, the One who has all of my days in His hands: Jesus.

I pray this song will bless you.

The One I Love

You are the One who knows me
You spoke the word and my life began
You are the One I love

You are the One who holds me
All of my days are in Your hands
You are the One I love

And I could live all of my days
Searching for endless ways to say
I thank You, I need You
I love You my Jesus
And still it would not be enough
For all You've done and all You are
You are all this heart beats for
My dearest friend
My beginning and end
You are the One I love

You are the One who never changes
Your mercy and truth have bound my heart
You are the One I love

You are the One who is faithful
I'm falling into Your arms of grace
You are the One I love

(c)2004 Joshua Yeoh

Also, true story. :)

Friend: Can we sing the one I love?
Me: Which one is that?
Friend: The one i love, you know...
Me: Which is that?
Friend: by Joshua Yeoh.


Ok so it's funnier when you actually hear it being said.

Father of Lights

Sunday was (is - it's only 7:08pm now) a glorious day. Church was great. We celebrated All Saints Sunday. And I lighted a candle for my great grandma, my Chor Chor! :)

It was a pretty uneventful day - but an extremely beautiful one. The sun was out, the sky was clear, and if it were a little warmer, it would have been perfect. But that's not why I'm excited. Why am I excited you ask?

For the first time in my life, I saw the northern lights!. Yeah, just a couple of minutes ago, I ran into one of my housemates, Pam, and she was very excited. So we both stood outside our house, tried to turn off as many lights as we could, and just contemplate God's awesome creation. Being in Minnesota, I am beginning to understand why people say they encounter God in the splendor of nature. I mean, not that I dislike living in Penang, or in a big city (I still consider myself very much a city boy), but with all the hustle and bustle and buildings and lights, it's easy to miss out on the splendor and grandeur of His majestic creations.

It was magnificent! At first it wasn't very bright, but then it was like green lights being shot up into the sky. Almost like Batman's signal, you know? But prettier. And it was like a magical display of lights. Like you would go to the Musical Fountain in Singapore, only this was a million times more beautiful, and NATURAL. It was AMAZING.

I tried taking photographs, but ran low on battery. And it's kind of hard to take photos of it anyway, so the Nordlys Northern Lights website will have to suffice, for those of you who live in Malaysia, or anyway below the artic circle. :)

The Northern Lights

What causes them?

Northern lights originate from our sun. During large explosions and flares, huge quantities of solar particles are thrown out of the sun and into deep space. These plasma clouds travel through space with speeds varying from 300 to 1000 kilometers per second.

But even with such speeds (over a million kilometer per hour), it takes these plasma clouds two to three days to reach our planet. When they are closing in on Earth, they are captured by Earth's magnetic field (the magnetosphere) and guided towards Earth's two magnetic poles; the geomagnetic south pole and the geomagnetic north pole.

On their way down towards the geomagnetic poles, the solar particles are stopped by Earth's atmosphere, which acts as an effective shield against these deadly particles.

When the solar particles are stopped by the atmosphere, they collide with the atmospheric gases present, and the collision energy between the solar particle and the gas molecule is emitted as a photon - a light particle. And when you have many such collisions, you have an aurora - lights that may seem to move across the sky.

In order for an observer to actually see the aurora with the naked eye, about a 100 million photons are required.

Enjoy! I'm off to the Accidentals' Concert. Chieko is singing. So is Andrea and Sophia (who are also in Exit). And then to the Bridge service at St Olaf. It's going to be a good night. Except for the studying part afterwards. *grin*

See you guys real soon.

NATS pretty cool

NATSing

Date: Friday, November 5, 2004
Venue: St John's University, Collegeville, MN

I took part in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition. This competition saw the best of the midwest region converging to compete in this audition-styled process of a competition. I was in Division 6 (we're categorized according to age) and scheduled to sing at 4:30pm.

9 Carls in total went to this competition, and a bunch of them left at the ungodly hour of 6 in the morning. I was more fortunate. One of my housemates, Pam, was taking part too and she was going to drive up later. So we left at noon. Which is a big improvement on 6am, no?

Anyway, after a 2 1/2 hour journey, we arrived at St John's. We registered. Waited. Warmed up. Waited. And finally 4:30pm came about.

I sang in the Alumni Lounge. It was kind of a big room, and there were three adjudicators sitting in front of me. Just as I was about to start, one judge interrupted and voiced her concern over the length of my first piece - which she claimed would last 5 minutes if sung in its entirety. We only had 10 minutes. So I had to make last minute edit of my song. Only sang half of the first song.

So I sang "Pietà, Signore!" by Alessandro something or other, "Was Ist Sylvia?" by Franz Schubert and "The Roadside Fire" by Ralph Vaughn Williams. I thought they went well. Other than my throat feeling kind of strained - a combination of incessant coughing and nerves I think.

So later on, after everyone was done, we headed off to the hotel where some of us would be staying should we advance to the semifinals. Then we went for dinner, on Ben and Rick (two of the voice faculty from Carleton), at Old Chicago. I ordered deep dish pizza, foolishly thinking it would be like the one I had at Chicago. Nah, no such luck.

Anyway, it was a good dinner, and good company. And although I didn't make it into the semifinals, it was a good eye-opener in a lot of ways. It was definitely a good experience for me, and while I can't say I am looking forward to the next NATS competition, this would be something that I can look back on and say: Hey that was a milestone for me.

I am a life blogger

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What kind of blogger are you?

Purpose-Driven Procrastination

Yes, I am procrastinating. I made it through about 30 of the 80 some pages I have to read tonight. But it's been a great night. Sola was great - we had discussions about everyone's favorite topic: RELATIONSHIPS. Especially in relation to dating. It was a lot of fun. And then great conversations followed on the way home... plus I got to eat one and a half mooncakes! Yum. Hey, when IS mooncake festival? Oh and on when I arrive in Singapore, we're all going for supper!! Yeah, Fran, we will come pick you up! 1 am? :D

Anyway, purpose-driven procrastination? I thought I would share a song with you guys (since it's been a while) and because I pray it will be a blessing. This was written spring term last year when I was going through a low time. And this is the first time something like this has happened, but the song kind of wrote itself in 2nd person. Like someone was writing to me. Or should I say Someone was writing. It was as if God Himself was speaking to me through my song! And writing this song was a huge turning point for me that term...

So if anyone of you is going through a rough patch in your life, imagine that this song was written for you. Click here to listen to it.

Song For Joshua
When you're walking through the valley
Only shadows light each day
When it seems that Hope's deserted you
You're left alone to find your way
When all the things that once surrounded you
Have all but lost their gold and shine
And you're trapped here with the pieces
Of a grey and broken night

Do not fear or be worried
He has promised to be with you
Even when you cannot feel Him near
Know He's here
So be strong, have good courage
Let His promise bring you strength
Though the night is full of sorrow
Know His joy will come tomorrow
And his love for you will never change
And his love for you will never change

May every day you walk with Jesus
Be a glimpse of who you'll be
Though this earthly life will falter
Look toward eternity
Let the peace that passes understanding
Guard your heart and soul
For the God who clothes the lilies
Is the One who makes you whole

(c)2004 Joshua Yeoh

One more pic - this is me and Rashika. Oh wait... Zorro and Madame Zorra! :) 

Sunday Funday

Thanksgiving at the Cabin

Sunday was excellent. After a great service at Rejoice!, we (the 10 some Carls who attend Rejoice!) were invited to Flo and Laurie's for lunch. Flo is a 60-something year old lady and Laurie is her attendant. We went to Flo's cabin outside of Northfield - and it was gorgeous. More pics to come later - Ming-Mei took photos. But it was BEAUTIFUL. And the company was excellent! And the food? They spared no expense. It was an all out thanksgiving lunch - we had turkey, vegetables (different kinds - baked, etc), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, pumpkin cake and apple pie,... ooh yum... and they even gave us favors - caramel popcorn - to take home! God bless them. It was a very welcome reprieve and escape from the doldrums of seventh week.

Happy Halloween

This year I was prepared. Well kinda. I was still fixing my costume 15 minutes after the FISH House Halloween party started. I was.... ZORRO! :) Yeah. Here I am with the Incredible Hulk (Dave Derksen), Indiana Jones (Bryan) and the... japanese monk (tyler)? :)

At midnight, we all went to the chapel for the annual Halloween Concert. The orchestra, all decked in Halloween costumes, played some music and there was a contest for best costume too... which went to "the solar system"... haha. Anyway, it was a lot of fun... except I quickly found out that trash bags and perspiration don't mix very well. :)

Chance meeting or divine appointment?

Later that night, at about 1:30am Erica remembered that she had met Imran at the CMC and told me... so I biked over to the CMC and met up with Imran! It was an edifying 1/2 hour just catching up with my brother-in-the-Lord. He's a GREAT guy!! But that made my day, anyway.... So today, I have a NATS preview at 5. I just spent much of today trying to memorize my words... God help! Please pray for me. :) But it'll be good. It'll be fine... because I'm going home soon! Yeay! This pic is of the President of the college, Rob Oden, who was Indiana Jones. It was funny. 

Oh and one more thing: I'M GOING TO PARIS!!! I turned in my commitment form today. So I'M GOING TO PARIS! Spring 2005.