faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

fresh perspectives :D

From Ben Jones to MIT class

"50 Things"

Dear Class of 2010,

This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, I'll begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys won't be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi).

As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought I'd leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.

Here goes...

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.

2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.

3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.

4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.

5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.

6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.

7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since.

8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors.

9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.)

10. Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.

11. Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.

12. When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids.

13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.

14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.

15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.

16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.

17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.

18. Take risks.

19. Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.

20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.)

21. Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.

22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.

23. It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.

24. When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience."

25. Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience.

26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.

27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part.

28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.

29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off.

30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.

31. Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.

32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.

33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.

34. Ask for help. Often.

35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.

36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late.

37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.

38. On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being.

39. Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.

40. Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.

41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.

42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.

43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.

44. Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.

45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught.

46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.

47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.

48. Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.

49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.

50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love. Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.

I MISS US

Year 1 sem 2: Bangkok


Year 2 sem 2: AKICON


Year 2 Sem2 Akicon


Year 2 sem 2


Year 3 sem 1


Year 3 Sem 1


Year 3 sem 1


Year 3 sem 1


Year 3 sem 1


Year 3 sem 1


Year 3 Sem 1


Year 3 sem 2


Year 3 sem 2


Early Year 4


Early Yr 4


Early Yr 4

Kinda miss people :(

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

—Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

I love this song :)

Please Lord, help me to do the best in everything I do.

somewhere only we know

and we're back to school...back to studio and overnighting and all those things architecture students know

sometimes, i feel i'll miss these memories when i'm out there and working...those lonely nights in studio, those lonely walks back to hall, those lonely times of frustration...yet there was camaraderie with friends who cared, and who could empathize...

i will treasure all my time here

Weary

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Oh I feel so weary. After work, I feel like I could lie and sleep forever. But the next day, I have to get up again!

Work isn't easy, man. And this is just an internship. Wah, imagine, after I graduate, my life will be this way...and there's no school to look forward to @@ yelps!

I need some waiting upon the Lord. Cos I need a renewal of strength!! Pray that my Phillipines trip will be rewarding and give me some direction in life...also, I'm going to try out for vertical studio, even if it might seem a bit out of the way, and my strengths don't really lie in that direction. Whatever it is, I think it will be an experience I may never have once I begin work. So, try I will, and if God wills, I will join.

email sent.

FLU

i feel very miserable because i have the flu and it's going to be monday tomorrow and i have work and i wish i were at home and i wish life wasn't so miserable and sad and boring and i wish my nose would unblock and my eyes will feel less sensitive and i wouldn't have that funny feeling somewhere down in my stomach.

i never used to get flu...i only started getting the flu last sem after i overnighted too many times for riba and then i helped a senior do model after that and then the next day i was sick. the first time i was sick with flu for nearly two years liddat. after that, i din get sick in china even though quite alot did but now i've come down with flu twice in two months.

:(

my immune system isn't as strong as it used to be. or maybe i just cannot take the working environment (i hate sitting down in aircon and working from morning to evening...and i hate having to squash all sorts of things into my evenings and weekends (i have two dates after work next week already...not that i dislike it, i'm happy to meet up with friends, i just wish it wasn't so squashed and i wasn't so tired)

work isn't even stressful! but i think i have to learn to say no when people ask me out sometimes...i'm kinda glad i didn't watch a movie with some friends last saturday because it was late...was the right thing to do. was exhausted and i went for first service...so would have been in worse state today if i did watch the movie :)

anyway, met up with chu hwai and thierry today for some chit chat...i was kinda sick so the whole thing was a bit of a haze, not very sure what we chatted about...i think there were cute guys somewhere...but not sure. chu hwai got to know some cute guys...errr, that is all i remember. and chu hwai was very hungry. yeah. haha. i remember that too.

anyway, i think i will go to sleep and hope i'll be okay by 7am tmr because i have to go to work.

I HATE MONDAYSS!!! D: