a cooking lesson

I've been doing this college thing for some time now but just now remembered to document "a college moment."

I've done so in the past but I haven't lately, and so I begin my story. It's about 10:30pm on a Thursday night and school's been out for a while now for the older kiddies. I'm still bumming around Cville because I'm doing summer session and trying to lighten my workload come next semester. So one of my grad student friends comes over to the apartment I'm staying at and starts cooking this beef dish. He said he was coming over earlier to cook and I was like, "Go crazy." As he is cooking, one of my roommates who also is a grad student starts making brownies and cuts up some watermelon. As I am writing this the aromas of soy sauce and chocolate are mixing and permeating through the living room.

Now I realize this is nothing out of the ordinary. Just two people cooking in the kitchen at 10:30 at night. If it were a "regular" household, people would be winding down for the night. Nope, we were cooking and possibly going to eat again.

It is in this moment that I will miss the college life.

Amazing Grace

The grace of God is so beautiful. Words really cannot do this concept any justice. I can only relate an instance in my life to only a sliver of to how great it is. So this past spring semester I took this math class. I hate math, but this is a necessary evil that I had to endure. Since it was a necessary evil, I did not do too pretty and by that I mean failing.

Now I have to qualify what I mean by failing, since I am a person of two cultures. This is not "Asian failing" where you get a "B" or the inconceivable "C" and you're disowned and declared as not worthy of anything. NO! This is straight up, "Am I going to have to take this class again and will I get high enough on the exam so I can pass the class?" kind of failing. Naturally, I was ever anxious and was studying like crazy for the final.

After that monster of an exam was said and done, all I could do was wait. A couple days after the monster had shown its face, I saw the instructor for the class among the stacks of DVDs at the library. The first thing she said to me was I did not fail. This is somewhat disheartening when first hearing, but I'd talked with her previously about my chances of passing this class. She told me bluntly, which I had asked her to, that I was pretty much screwed if I didn't pass this exam. One can imagine how ecstatic and grateful I was upon hearing that I had passed. She was too. Although it shows up as D- on my transcript, I praise the Good Lord above for it.

In my moments of desperation, I was shown an instance of grace. I celebrate in the fact that I don't have to take anymore math in college and that I passed! Oooh, oooh, how amazing and sweet grace is!

Green-Eyed Monster

Jealousy has its ways of rearing its unwelcomed head every now and then. It just so happens that it has been happening to me a lot more lately.

I've been hearing a lot lately from random people ranting about how they were so close to getting an "A". Given, I used to be the same way, but after sometime of continuous humbling in college I've honestly become a bit bitter every time I hear someone rant about this.

To add insult to injury, I've lately been reminded of what people can do and what I cannot do. At the same time, I've also been reminded of what I have and don't have. So one can imagine how bitter I am not.

But through bitterness and jealousy, I've come to realize more and more of how imperfect I am and in a broader sense how imperfect people are. That is not to say that I'm better for it. No, far from it, it is just a reminder of how much more that I have to be grateful for what the Good Lord has already given me.

a closetful

I've seen this and have come to realize more and more that people are broken inside. People are always putting up a front of some sort to hide their true feelings and whatnot. I recently said to a friend, some people have a few skeletons in their closets while some may have graveyards.

Why the secrets? Why the shame? Is it because we want to show other people that we are not less than perfect? Is it because we do not like to be reminded that we have limits? Is it because we do not like to be reminded that we are human?

Maybe it is all of these. Maybe not.

so called invincibility

I've always heard about how young people think they are invincible. They are in a sense. They can eat whatever, drink whatever, do whatever, etc. etc. and yet not suffer from the long term effects of it until many years later, given they live to a ripe old age.

What many do not realize is that life is ever so fleeting. Sickness, handicaps, and the such all can inhibit one to fully live life. Knowing this, why do the young'uns still do such foolishness? Is it because they either they don't know any better, doing it out of boredom, or just for kicks?

If the end result is death and for the reasons listed above, why are the young ones still doing so? It probably cannot be explained, all I hope is that they wise up sooner than later.

something beautiful

A while back I heard my friend say that they stopped loving someone. Their remark had got me thinking. Can we stop loving someone? Is this possible?

After much thought, I concluded this cannot be so. Love comes from God and if our God is the living and everlasting God, than how can something as beautiful as love cease? Now I know I must sound oh so hopeless romantic, but still, think about it.

Many times I have heard the analogy of one's heart as a pie. Once someone significant comes into their life, they begin to share the pie with that someone. If for whatever reason that someone leaves, they also take a part of the pie with them. That part of the pie can never be reclaimed or put back.

How then can we stop from letting our pies be picked apart and left with nothing? We cannot but must trust that God will take care of us and help us find that someone who will not take it for granted.

under the weather?

Recently there has been this wave of hot weather, somewhere around 100+ degrees Fahrenheit more so humid making it extremely unbearable. Today, however was only a mere 85 degrees making today very comfortable.

So what is the point of me complaining about the weather? With this sudden drop in temperature made me appreciate the relief and that sometimes things are a lot better than they seem. Once you've seen the worse you don't mind seeing the bad.


Be grateful and appreciate what you have now. When it's gone, you might not ever get it back.