It doesn't get easier...

or "Eve of New Year's Eve Ramblings"

No matter how many times I do it, it doesn't get easier. Leaving home that is. Some people say that I'm fortunate to be able to come home every so often. I know it really is a blessing. But sometimes the silver lining comes with a tiny cloud: see, it gets kind of confusing sometimes living in two different worlds.

On the one hand there is Northfield - and all the independence, new experiences, different people... friends... brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world, and growth as a young adult. And on the other hand is Penang - with all its familiarity (which does NOT breed contempt in this case) and charm, the comforts of being at home, the dependence :), and of course family and friends I've grown up with.

Life is like a tectonic plate. Kind of like the one that moved and caused a 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. One moment everything is calm and normal, and the next, something changes and the after effects are monumental. A 1000km long faultline, a more than 1000km long journey to travel. Literally, the world changes.

But unlike the devastating effects of the recent earthquake, I think life does not necessarily have to result in a mud-covered Gurney Drive. Change. Change is good. Change is inevitable. I suppose it's what you make of it that really matters.

What am I going to make of the changes that are happening and are going to happen?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path

He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him

Walk by faith, not by sight

Even when the fig tree does not blossom... I will bless You Lord

For I know the plans You have for me... to give me a hope and a future

And, the "I Have Decided" of the 21st century (Imho):
Your Word is a light unto my path
Your love guides me through my darkest night
And even though sometimes Your ways I cannot understand
I'll never walk away because my future's in Your hands
I don't care what people will say, I'm running after You
It's You I'm following today, I'm running after You
I will run to You

Yes, it doesn't get easier. But it sure gets better.

Goodbye 2004. Hello 2005.

Jesus, my year is yours.

Breaking News

Dear all, just so you know, we're all fine. But please be in prayer. These are dreadful but exciting times we're living in. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.

Tidal waves death toll climbs to 15 in Malaysia

News Update by The Star Newsdesk

PENANG: At least 10 people have been confirmed drowned by three Penang hospitals as a result of tidal waves which hit the island from 10am Sunday.

According to the Fire and Rescue Department officials involved in rescue operations along the beaches near Batu Ferringhi, Mar Vista, Boon Siew Villa and Miami Beach, seven people have been reported drowned and eight others missing.

The Penang Hospital recorded three deaths, including a two-year-old girl, as of 4.05pm, while 31 people were seeking treatment at the hospital for injuries.

At the Balik Pulau Hospital, there were six fatalities and 21 injured while a check with the private hospitals found one died and 13 injured.

In Kota Kuala Muda, some 20km from Sungai Petani, at least five people have dead on Sunday as a result of tidal waves that hit the area.

According to Kampung Kuala Tepi Sungai village development and security committee chairman Mat Som Osman, 58, three 3m high tidal waves hit the area from around 1.30pm.

He said the tidal waves had affected an estimated 5,000 people from nine villages

Earthquake hits Indonesia, tremors in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangkok

News update by the Star's Susan Tam

PETALING JAYA: A massive earthquake hit the Aceh area Sunday and tremors were reported as far away as Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok.

Residents of several highrise buildings in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia were evacuated at around 9am (0100gmt) Sunday due to tremors following a strong earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra.

Highrise apartment and hotel residents in Penang and the Klang Valley were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Residents of Danau Impian Condominium in Taman Desa, Jalan Klang Lama gathering on the ground floor while waiting for Fire and Rescue Department and City Hall to inspect the building structure following a minor tremor on Sunday.-STARpic

Tremors were also felt in Alor Star and Pangkor.

A Meteorological Services Department official confirmed the incident.

An online update on the website of the Meteorological Services Division of Singapore National Environment Agency said the tremor was also felt in the republic.

It said the earthquake measured 8.1 on the Richter Scale.

Its epicentre was located off the coast of western Sumatra at latitude 3.4 north and 9.5 east.

The AP meanwhile reported from Jakarta:

A massive earthquake on Sunday rocked the northwestern part of Indonesia's Sumatra Island, causing dozens of buildings to collapse and triggering large waves along the northern coast, witnesses and officials said.

Nine people were killed as a result of the quake on the island's northwestern province of Aceh, where most of the damage was reported, el-Shinta radio station quoted a witness as saying.

It was not possible to immediately confirm the report. Electricity and telephone networks in parts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, were knocked out.

The quake was also felt in neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site recorded a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometers (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta.

It was centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) below the seabed, the Web site reported.

A local seismologist put the quake at 6.4.

The cause of the discrepancy between the two figures was not clear.

Residents in the towns of Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh in the northwestern province of Aceh reported large waves had hit coastal regions.

An Associated Press reporter in Lhokseumawe several houses had been damaged.

At least one had been swept away, he said.

In the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, dozens of shops and buildings collapsed, witnesses el-Shinta.

"The ground was shaking for a long time,'' Yayan Zamzani told the station.

"It must be the strongest earthquake in the last 15 years.''

Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire'' around the Pacific Ocean basin.

Need

Why is it so easy to become self-dependent? Pride.
Why is it so easy to get distracted by things that don't matter and to lose sight of things that do? Priorities.
Why is it so easy to get sucked in to routine but so difficult to center it on God? Hmm.
Why is it so easy to read Angels & Demons from cover to cover but a chore to pore over the Word of Life? Idiocy. Sheesh.
Why is it so easy to play the part but not be the part? Hypocrisy.
Why is it hard to surrender every part of me to God? Fear.
Why is it hard to trust... no questions asked? Doubt.
Why does it feel so strange? Unfamiliarity.
Why has it been so long? Who ever said absence makes the heart grow fonder?
God where are you?

I need you. Be the center. Be my source.

I need your love
I need your grace
I need to learn to need you everyday
I need to soar more than before
I need to need you more

Pre-Christmas Post

Christmas break in a nutshell

So here it is. The long awaited update. *grin* It's been such a blessing to be home for the holidays. And here's my attempt at chronicling what has happened the past three and a half weeks.

What Josh has been doing this Christmas break:

• Catching up with old friends in true Penang fashion over (what else?) ... FOOD. Here's Mace, Jami, Gabes and Noel who is kind of hidden. Yum. Japanese buffet. Mmm.
  
  
• Spending a lot of quality time with my family. Mom and Dad and Caleb and Mama are all doing great. So is Karsimah. And Niki! :) Isn't she the prettiest?
  
  
• Going to the first-ever Planetshakers conference in KL. This was just an amazing time. God rocks my world!
  
  Went down to KL with some people from my youth group. Eunice, Varsha, me, Hui Jen, Gary - in the picture - and Praeme, Ben, and a couple others were there too. I just wish more people could have gone. Just to get a glimpse of what church can be like! woohoo.
  
  I ran into an old friend of mine too, Jolyn. We were classmates since Standard One! It was a real treat to catch up with her... and I'm so encouraged that she is going on strong for the Lord. It was pretty cool too how we met up. She had prayed: Lord, please bring someone I know before I go in there. And then Josh came walking out of the bathroom! :) Talk about divine appointments eh?
  
  
• Seeing Batman, Catwoman and Robin at Sunway Pyramid. Ok, so it wasn't really a highlight. But I have the photos, so I thought what the heck.. :) It was pretty cool though. Heh heh. I'm just a big comic geek at heart I guess. I'd rather watch Spidey navigate the streets of Manhattan than... Catherine Zeta-Jones try to nab Ocean's 11. Well, actually,... Catherine... hmm. :)
  
  
• Yeah, it's been great being home. So many more things that I've been doing, am doing, and am looking forward to doing in the next couple of weeks before I head back to Carleton. But, yer Carleton folk, you guys are on my heart always! :) Miss you all. So, here's a pic from Laurie and Flo's to wrap this update up. Speaking of wrapping things up, I'm 98% done with my Christmas gifts! Woohoo!!! Until the next one, which I promise will be soon... Love you all.

 

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.

Week Seven

The dreaded week seven striked again. Last year, it was a horrible illness. This year it was unprecedented amounts of stress... and the return of the cough.

So as not to dwell on pity

My week, in a nutshell, was very tiring. Lack of sleep (we're talking about 5 hours or less a night) + a lot of work (French test, psych readings) + NATS singing competition next week + Mustard Seed + violin recital coming up soon + performing at studio class, etc = STRESSED OUT JOSH.

But what was good about the week, you ask

On Friday, the Hvass's (SoulZone Ministries) had a night of healing and prayer at their house from 9pm to midnight. It was an awesome time of soaking in prayer and extended worship - seeking God's face, and His will, and His presence, and His touch. We split up into small groups of five after a time of worship, and I went into the den with Gary, Will, Leslie, and a gal from St Olaf, Laura. We spent more than two hours just praying... when a person was prayed for, he sat on this really comfortable rocking chair, and the rest surrounded him.

So I got prayed for for about a half hour I would think. It was awesome. God spoke to me in many ways... about stressing out, taking on too many things (and He even specifically told me what to drop from my plate because really this term has been one of the most tiring and stressful terms for me...) and even an insight as to why my cough is persisting. I believe it may be related to stress! :) We'll see. I'm going to try and take things easier till the end of the term (how that's going to happen I don't know, because things are getting BUSIER... AND we have to start registering for next term... but I'm trusting God on this one). And then look forward to going home!

Hey, God's already working. Today, Saturday, I woke up at 2pm. And I had NOTHING to do!! What a change. I actually felt so strange... like something was wrong. But I have to confess that I created work for me to do... well, read on.

Access to the secret room... my precious

So Annie (musical arranging genius, Exit 69) has the key to the Midi Lab, which is a room, always locked, in the basement of the Music and Drama Center... and in this room are treasures untold. Computers hooked up to keyboards and Sibelius!! :)

I spent all of today (pretty much the whole afternoon, and then from about 8-ish till midnight, with a break in between when I met up with Rashika and gang for a break) in the Midi Lab. Arranging music for caroling this year. Woot!

I am so excited about caroling!! :) And it will rock.

So yeah...

Tomorrow is Sunday. And then the craziness will begin again. But for now, I thank God that at least I got a chance to take a breather today (sort of) and even have time to blog about this.

God, I need more balance in my life. And time to CHILL... and just be like Mary. I want to find the better part. Help me.

Who's Who at Carleton

Apparently, famous people do come to Northfield. Today, the people on the Kerry Edwards campaign trail came to... my college! Yes, there was a big rally in the concert hall of Carleton College. And in addition to Kerry's stepsons, who I would suppose are famous in their own right, there was also Ashton Kutcher of That 70's show and Dude where's my car? fame. Yeah, and I was just watching tv, and they even showed Carleton on the news. Yeah... it lasted all of two seconds: "Later, Ashton Kutcher went to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota". Saw the side of the concert hall flash on screen and disappear. Hélas, that was our two seconds of fame.

Storm

Tyler, Chieko and Erica came over for dinner... and we cooked up a storm. Seriously. We made baked salmon with mushroom and soy sauce, pek cham kay, french beans with minced pork, foo yong tan, tomato and potato soup (ha trying saying THAT), leftovers from House of Wu... Sorry, Rashika, I did invite you. :)

Thank God for SUNdays

Worship at church today: awesome. Weather: perfect. Tennis: YEAH! Thank God for SUNdays.

What a week!

Up a lazy river

What an exciting week it's been. Besides having tons of exciting school work, I also had a lot of other great experiences. Last week, for example, was midterm break. Initially I had planned on doing the standard midterm-go-up-to-the-cities-and-splurge thing, but then I thought to myself: I'm in Minnesota.... I need to get out to the great outdoors. So together with Emily, Steph and Tyler, we went to Cannon Falls, about 1/2 hour from here, and went canoeing on the Cannon River.




So, amazingly, it turns out that only Steph had been canoeing before. Tyler had been out once... on a lake, with his grandparents. And turns out, that I hadn't gone canoeing before... at least not in this kind of canoe... apparently it was a kayak that I had been out on. So, this was definitely going to be an interesting ride. Add to that the fact that the temperature was a not too balmy 50-ish degrees fahrenheit... which is approximately 11 deg. celsius maybe?... and you can see why I did not want to tip the canoe and fall into the cold waters of Cannon River.

Anyway, it was with a fair bit of nervousness that we all climbed into two separate canoes (Emily had decided she'd rather be with Steph who had been canoeing before, rather than two Asian city boys who felt more at home in a car battling thousands of motorists than on a canoe in a big river... okay, so maybe Tyler doesn't drive, but that's besides the point).

So, the first thing the guy tells us (oh btw, the place we rented canoes from was this dilapidated laundromat-cum-canoe-rental shack, where the owner lived in a trailer behind the building... even more cause to be edgy). Anyway, he gave us some instructions that began like this: "So, once you push off the bank, and make it past the current that goes this way, you want to continue on the right, and look 50 yards ahead for any rapids..." And at this point, I'm going "Waitaminute! Hold on! Current?? Rapids?? What???" All this in my head of course. Nothing would belie my cool and collected exterior. And then I had to ask... how long exactly is the trip? To which he replied with the degree of nonchalance only a seasoned canoe..er could muster: "Oh.. just about 8 miles". Ack.

Anyway, turns out, it wasn't too bad... well, maybe it was. 100 metres into our trip Steph and Em got stuck on shallow rocks... so Tyler and I tried to divert that and went left... onto shallow-ER rocks. So we were wedged pretty good... and the fact that we both probably weighed more than Steph, Em, her nalgene bottle, and the canoe combined didn't help at all. It was a funny sight, I would have to say... we almost tipped, and that would have been miserable, because we had a two hour journey ahead of us. So after much frantic prayers mustered amidst gargantuan efforts punctuated by "Puuuuushhhhh"... we managed to dislodge ourselves. Yeah, we could have gotten out, gotten our feet wet, but where's the fun in that?

So anyway, we went on our way... and it was beautiful! Simply magnificent! There is something about being out in the open, out in nature, rowing down a river, never knowing what was awaiting us around the bend... at many points, the river split into two going around an island, and we had to choose which way to go. Tyler and I usually went left, just because it looked safer... and there was this one time when we went left, because it was SO TRANQUIL, but after rounding a bend... we came across some mini rapids... mini because it was in shallow water, rapids because... the water flowed... rapidly... and that was kind of exciting. But, just being there, seeing blue jays... and eagles... and we even came really close to a crane or a heron... I don't know, I'm not a bird guy... that just flew over our heads... it really lifted my spirits, and made me realize how BIG our God is. And how BEAUTIFUL He must be.

And then, I got hungry. :) So anyway, this was us, 2 and a half hours after our tumultuous beginning... safe and ashore. Yeah!

Cannon River, created by God the creative creator... isn't it beautiful?

So, our souls filled with wonder, we proceeded next to fill our stomachs with food. Good ol' American food. Country Kitchen. This is Steph with her "Country Boy Burger"... it's bigger than her face. Seriously. But we were all FAMISHED. So that was my midterm break.

Joshua meets Joshua

Another incredibly exciting thing that happened this week was that Joshua Bell came to perform at my college. Once a year, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra performs at Carleton. Last year, Sarah Chang was the guest artiste, and this year it was JOSHUA BELL! For the uninitiated, Joshua Bell is only one of the BEST violinists around, Grammy-award winner, played the violin in the Red Violin soundtrack, among many other things. He made his debut performance at age 14... and he owns a $4 million dollar Strad!! Joshua Bell.com for more info. Anyway, the concert was phenomenal, he played Vivaldi's four seasons, then a movement from Mozart's and then played with the orchestra... and the best part? I had FRONT ROW SEATS! Anyway, at the end of the concert, some of us hung around... to take in the ambience, in awe at the virtuosity that we had just witnessed... me? I wanted an autograph! hehhehheh. Yeah, I got it, AND I got a picture too. I'm so inspired to practice. Well, maybe not to practice. But I sure wish I could sound like the other Joshua. :)

Other exciting happenings

Another exciting thing that happened over the weekend last week... was Homecoming. Yeah, we had a home game, and our football team won their first home game in four years! 55-14. Go Knights!

And oh yeah, last night I also went to my first ballet by the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia!. That was the only reason I went though... because they're good. And it was good... only it was a contemporary interpretation of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet... so it felt a bit more like West Side Story than Swan Lake. But it was good. And today, we had "Singles' Night" at FISH... haha... and we had sundaes, malts and then we went to SUMO to watch Spiderman 2! Sigh, still love the movie. "I've always been standing at your door". Oh yes, and I also watched all of Season 6 and I'm almost through with Season 7 of FRIENDS. It's so addicitve but so funny! I know, I'm sad. :D

So, it's been a crazy week. Lots of homework, papers due, appointments, ,meetings... but God is faithful. And God is good. It's super that in the midst of the storms of your week, He is STILL the calmer of the storm. And He is still perfect peace.

And... I miss home. And... you guys need to EMAIL ME! :) Love you all. Here's a pic of Mustard Seed. Yes we all need psychological help. Who knows, I just might be a psych major after all. 

A milestone of sorts, or Australian Open here I come!

Today marks another milestone in my life. This time, however, it was not something that will echo through the corridors of eternity. Or maybe it will. Who knows? But, I won my first IM tennis match of this term! Yippee yi yay. Yes, it's not a big deal, and yes I beat a freshman girl, but the thing is not so much that I won, but the manner in which the victory was secured.

See, it was just one of those days where as hard as one might try, it would seem impossible to get ahead in the competition. I held a game, she held a game. I broke her serve, she breaks my serve. It was infuriatingly s..l...o....w. At 4-4, I was ready to quit. I was so hungry! I had been playing for a while... and it was getting cold and dark... and I had wanted to cook dinner.

But not one to throw in the towel without a fight, I kept at it... and tried to pick up the pace. But so did she. Darn!

Finally, we were even at 7 games a piece. This is uncharted territory for me. Me who lost both of my previous matches. So Tyler yelled out "You play a tie break". At that point, all the "I'm hungry" thoughts became "I'm hungry for this win". Ok, so I didn't actually think those words, but hey...

Anyway, so yes, I won the tie break. And no, I didn't cook after. Too tired. And too hungry. So yes, I went to LDC. Eek. :)

It was great!

House of Wu

Yes it is a corny name. And yes they had a corny sign. But oh my gosh, I hadn't realized how much I missed char siew, siew bak and roast duck until I sunk my teeth into the delectable food! We also had bean curd and kai lan. We being me, Tyler, Jon, Vince, Erica and her sister, Jaynie, who is a Carleton alum and a real cool person. Good times!

(Yeah, just so you guys know that I miss food at home!! ARGH!)

Thank God It's Friday!

At the risk of going on blogger overload, here are some pictures I took while on my bike ride today. It was GREAT. It's beautiful today! Thank God it's Friday!! In the picture below, you can see the wind turbine that belongs to Carleton - yeah we're the first college in the US to own its own wind turbine. Yay?

Finally, COWS, colleges and contentment...

I went for a walk in the arb too...

Isn't it gorgeous?

Flexing my photographer muscle...

:)