honey nut cheerios

Right. This joins my list of things NOT to purchase from the convenience store with my plus dollars because it's so darn awesome/addictive I snacked on the entire thing in just two days. Quite scary cuz it's like... 12 servings....

This is so bad for me.

"CAN HELP" LOWER CHOLESTEROL.
I'VE GOT SUPER HIGH PROBABILITY OF LOWER CHOLESTEROL NOW.
BEAT THAT.
HAH.

At least it's way healthier than potato chips.

At least it's not deep fried and is "made with whole grain guaranteed."

Not that the "guaranteed" part matters very much since I already consumed it with such non-stop gusto. And not like somebody's gonna go prove it wrong and demand for compensation anyway.

This, and Honey Maid graham crackers. Too awesome to purchase. What is the logic lol.

error bounds

When you try really hard and it still doesn't pay off? A positively skewed distribution of time against effort, area of which is success. After the peak, weariness sinks in and everything backfires.

Matthew 11 : 28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

continued...

"Take my joke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my joke is easy and my burden is light."

***

Suitemate gave me a packaged azuki dorayaki! :D

Bought as a souvenir from Chicago...

That she got from the chinese guy she somewhat scored after landing in US only 2 months ago... 

Tau sar!!! :D Cheered up my dreary calculus revisions...

***

So where's this peak? Oh come on..........

AVP/Snowy the bear

AVP (which stands for Academical Village People (?!), an extremely energetic all-male acapella group whose members are famous for suddenly losing their shirts mid-song) had their concert in McLeod Hall (pronounced as mac-cloud) last weekend and I went for the Friday one (leaving Jenson to wait tables alone; felt kind of bad doing that but Maggie let me off and I covered his Saturday shift anyway) and it was a ton of fun!

Mainly to support Michael (Lapuz) who's one of their newest members! :) Honestly, just watching them kinda makes me tired, haha! Have I already mentioned how ENERGETIC they are?

Which makes one wonder what they had for dinner or something. Five Red Bulls each? (Or Monsters? There was a bunch of people giving out free Monsters outside Old Cabell yesterday lol)
Well I actually happen to know the answer... the blond bassist (I LOVE BASSISTS) with glasses (who apparently also drives one of the shuttles on grounds) called into Nihao for a humongous order of general tso's/sesame chicken. And a lone random order of tofu lo mein.

AVP Prevents Forest Fires! My ticket against depressing phil notes... yes I bring notes to concerts...

Went with my PAFN family! :) Michael's babies all out to support him.

Kim! :) The nicest PAFN grandma ever.

The program they handed out had this random cat/AVP member drawing contest:

MY PICTURE CAME IN SECOND!! D': I WANTED THAT FREE CD! D':

"You know I like my chicken fried."

Michael's solo!! 'My Own Worst Enemy - Lit.' LOVED it!

They did a randommm (but then again, it's the AVP after all) parody of Romeo&Juliet.

Mr Chiseled Butt and tenor(?) in miniskirt.

Check out random guy only in his boxers at the back.

Michael!!! :)

GREAT JOB AVP!!!! Didn't matter if your last song (Mambo No. 5) wrecked. :)
I had a ton of fun that night and smiled till my cheeks hurt. :) Can't wait to find out Michael's AVP nickname next semester!

squiggle box (p-->q)

Philosophy is like comparing apples to oranges.
Comparing newborn kittens to Dorito chips.
Comparing curly hair to an exit sign.
Comparing a blue pen to a black pen.
Comparing cinnamon waffles to the color purple.
Comparing the flowers of spring to cement.
Comparing cheesecake to an excellent pair of sneakers.
Comparing unicorns to God.

How can you generalize things like that?
Aren't they discrete issues that have no initial correlation to each other whatsoever?
Twisting words to form equations out of the blue.

"It would be stupid to say to your physics teacher, "Hey! My experiment failed because my ball bearing has free will! It wasn't my fault!"

Why is this something that I graciously accept?

Because of mercy?

My name is Grace?

plus 13

We made cottage cheese pancakes after church last Sunday!!!!

With the cottage cheese I desperately packed out of Runk cuz I had leftover swipes for the week...

I just clapped and cheered as my sister fried/burned them up in butter.

:D

Most unattractive pile of the most glorious and moist pancakes ever.

Yeah, even Plus 13 is too much for me. I guess I'll explain to those who don't know... first-years in UVa are (completely forced) to adopt a mandatory meal plan and the usual/default one is Plus 15, where you get 15 swipes into any dining hall a week (which starts every Wednesday), and a set number of Plus Dollars, which you can use to buy food from any of the campus restaurants in UVa.
Which basically entitles you to 15 huge buffets/binges. I downgraded mine to the minimum for a first-year (Plus 13 - thirteen swipes per week with more Plus Dollars, you guessed it) and I still find myself left with about 5 swipes every Tuesday.
What to do? I started packing my sister and Albert some weird supplies. Been stuffing to-go boxes with produce from the salad bar. They have tons of broccoli in their fridge now, haha.

All taken while still maintaining the honor code! :P

And made apple (crumble) pie. :D

Crumble armor.

Once again, aesthetically unfit for a restaurant...

Why am I left with so many swipes at the end of each week?
Well sometimes it's because I use Plus Dollars:

Extremely disgusting sushi from the Pav in Newcomb that's horribly overpriced - about 11 USD

You saw this before: Blueberry parfait from Wilsdorf

From the Carpe Donut truck outside the amphitheater! Apple donuts!!!! SOOO delish! 

Overpriced dumplings from the dumpling truck at the amphitheater.

Skinny cow ice-cream sandwich from the convenience store

But mostly it's because I've been terribly spoiled by stuff like these:

ULTIMATE COMFORT FOOD: leftover zheng zhu yuk with hot fluffy rice...

Cubed pork from Nihao. :)

Nihao steamed pork dumplings.

The famous pandan chiffon cake I've been going a bit mad over.

Yah, the happiness....

Cutting a cloud...

A lovely eggy cloud...

I'm making a list of Malaysian foods to reproduce!
So far, I've got:

1. Pan Mee
2. Hainanese Chicken Rice
3. Pau
4. Rotiboy
5. Claypot rice

Any more suggestions? :)

bread without yeast

What does it really mean to love? 


To love somebody whom you have to cast out? 

Deuteronomy 13 : 6 - 8

"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods,' do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him."

Unfavorable in the world's view? Not "Christian thinking" when he doesn't even believe anyway?

1 Corinthians 5 : 13b

"Expel the wicked man from among you."

What does it mean to love somebody till your heart aches so much? My heart is full of concern for you! I am mourning!! Do I care more about mere feelings, or do I care more about the future? Of course the latter! I need bravery; you need bravery; we all need bravery; we all need God. In the world, tolerance and sincerity are all coveted values, but in this world, truth is compromised as well.


To truly care is to confront. 

Proverbs 27 : 6

"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

otak digoreng penuh pedas

*facebook chat with my fellow malaysian whom I dragged into working at nihao with me*
Me: Yum yum, eh I just had Indian curry with beef from my shift today!
Jenson: ...
Me: SO GOOD!
Jenson: WAIT did you say you had INDIAN. With BEEF...
Me: HAHAHAHAHA YAH I KNOW I REALIZED--

Cuz Maggie doesn't let me get kambing! Closest in terms of taste is beef I guess? Somewhat gamier than chicken.

HAHAHA.

Random black girl: So this is called the 'How Are You' cafe? O.o

In the common room at Dillard now, getting reading done before my CF large group. 

Brain fried, came online, typed a huge email, then Jenson came and facebooked me a whole lot of crap. 

Sometimes when I talk to him my face hurts because I bang my head too much. *face palm* THE THINGS THAT COME OUT OF HIS MOUTH....

Jenson: Look I got two Obama shirts because I donated 75 USD to support him. SUPPORT OBAMA!

Me: Omg 75 bucks. That's crazy. 

Jenson: I SUPPORT OBAMA. :D *damnnn proud of himself*

Me: Oh? So, why do you like him so much? Actually, what's his newest manifesto? I haven't been keeping up to date with the political issues here...

Jenson: Huh I dunno. You don't need a reason to support somebody.

Me: ....... omaigosh this is the leader of the entire country you're talking about here... *thinking a whole lot of thoughts I shouldn't publish here, just fill in the blanks*

Jenson: COME SUPPORT OBAMA WITH ME! :D
Me: .......................

*bumped into him in Runk dining hall*

Jenson: HAI I'm sitting with my core group!

Me: OH really? :D That's so nice, are y--

Jenson: *interrupts* But I'm not Christian!

Me: Oh that's oka--

Jenson: I used to be though.

Me: Oh? What happe---

Jenson: But now I'm not. I'm agnostic. :D I walked away. :D Want to join me? :D *goofy laugh*

Me: o.O *oh. my. goodness.*

*in the middle of facebook chat late at night*

Jenson: I dowan sleep again tonight. I think I'll die.

Me: Jenson you damn bad you keep me up on facebook talking about... gay people...

Jenson: Grace if I die... 

Me: Zomg.

Jenson: will you visit me?

Me: I will visit you and sprinkle rose petals on your nose and make you sneeze in your agnostic afterlife.
Jenson: Just bury me in satin... oh wait my pillow is satin... just bury me in my pillow then...


Jenson: Why is it 'Moves Like Jagger'? Jagger is damn old isn't he? That's like... an insult... *goofy laugh* Eh eh, the song should be "Moves UNLIKE Jagger' har har *goofy laugh* damn stupid....
Jun Liang: HAHAHAHAHA OMG PLEASE GET TWITTER PLEASE PLEASE, HAHAHAHA...

By the way, the weather is wonderful now! I'm in SHORTS. In mid-October!!!

Sister: This totally means it's suddenly going to get very very cold in the winter, watch out.

Rugby field

Art museum near Rugby Road!

rock-ribbed!

Take the road less taken... and then look back?

Why do you look back?

Don't! Run through the trees with a spear in your hand and a smile on your face!

Unicorn beliefs

Studying philosophy is stupid.
^Said like an engineer. Short and precise.

Fine fine. That was childish. But sometimes, really. 

Studying philosophy is like studying something that is full of (large, gaping) holes and trying to use it to scoop water. You come up with all sorts of terms and ideas and arguments and in the end, you don't have an answer. Because you cannot have an answer. It is beyond your cognitive abilities to even know if there is a God or not.

Although philosophy is really, really interesting, you can't help but wonder if these guys were just plain bored when they came up with these stuff. Did they not have anything else better to do? How do philosophers earn money? Is this why I'm in the e-school? I honestly just spectate the debating around me, going hahaaa really? That's what you think? That's like a super long version of the one-liner I have in my head now...

Studying philosophy just lengthens the amount of time (and effort) reaching the same conclusion you otherwise would have reached (while being a whole lot less confused) as a happy simple God-loving child.

End of rant.

Professor: Like in the chapter of Job when he whined, "whyy is there evil in the worlddd?" all God did was tell him, "shut up, you weren't here when the world was created so whadaya know?"

46g of sugar

Chemistry building outside the window! :)

It's raining now and my new rain/winter boots (that were from the junior boys section in Leesburg's Timberland outlet, lol) are in my sister's car, darn it.

Currently chilling in Wilsdorf with thoroughly soaked sneakers, eating a yummyyy blueberry parfait (with granola, but honestly they just taste like cookies), telling myself that my clean healthy day just went out the window.

Why is it that people introduce pseudo-healthy things to me, causing me to develop a taste (yum yum yum) for them, and then finding out that they're actually saturated with sugar and are incredibly bad for you?

Did you know that granola and low fat yoghurt are bad for you? At least the commercial ones anyway.

Right, so I just ingested a whole lot of sugar. Time for me to start my engineering research!

limbo

It's the same kind of limbo, the one in which you procrastinate because you don't want to do calculus homework.

It's not that you don't want to do it (the homework, in this particular analogy), it's because you've spent the last four hours getting a string of wrong answers. Becoming completely discouraged, you then spend the next five hours hanging out on Google+ complaining about it to everybody else. Then on a final desperate account, you discover that you managed to cram all that (doable) work anyway under half an hour (at about 1.15 a.m.)

You know what you should do but you don't, because the initial moves are the hardest. That's the concept of momentum after all. The heavier it is, the larger the force required. 

Math is hard, but it only took a couple of hours. 

What about something that had taken over 5 years? Is it going to continue like this for another 10, or 20 years? Are you going to stay in that kind of limbo, in this illusion of happiness? You can't stay like that for the rest of your life. You can't procrastinate, because the longer you wait, the more you suffer. Compromising transient, impermanent joy for something that could have been so much better. Why do you disappoint the person who brought you up? She knows what's best for you. But forget her, she's still human. Why do you disappoint God?

Do you even believe anymore? What happened to your faith?

Stop being in denial!!!!! We are all so mad at you because we love you so, so much.

2+2=5's the correct formula

Went for a 5.5 mile hike two days ago for almost 3 hours. It was wonderful. Such great company and a beautiful view to boot. I'm so glad I went. Almost didn't.
After about 2 hours (led by a woman who won a 10K race or something just the previous day), my sister and I lingered at the back of the group, tried not to complain, started coming up with theories on how to walk with.. more ease (?) and ended up in mild giggling fits. :)

The air was so fresh; it was so easy to just breathe, if you know what I mean...

"Trinity gang"

And with so much physical activity comes some need for "damage." :)

HOME-COOKED FOOD!!!!!! *melts in praise and thankfulness to God*

A pound of minced pork from the farmer's market!

Zheng zhu yuk Hakka style (minus the salted egg) in the new industrial 30% off Calphalon steamer!

Paired with chard, green beans, Nihao leftovers, and wonderful, soft rice.

Baked even more fluffyyyy pandan chiffon cake. I ate three quarters of the ENTIRE cake, not kidding.

Then board games with sister's friends and we called it a night. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

I need a salad

My butchered waffle.

I really should stop bingeing in the dining halls. I need to eat with other people and be social.
Other people meaning people who have decent, normal eating habits with wonderfully strict table manners (i.e. people who don't run back and forth from the food tables like a freaking... squirrel...(?) ) who prefer talking rather than thinking up creative ways to eat dessert with whatever resources we have (i.e. I am a horrible influence on Jing Yong hahaha).

Jing: Okay I think I am done. This is good. Chicken, potatoes, and veggies. Good.
Me: Are you sure? They have a 'top your own sundae' bar today.
Jing: What's that?
Me: You don't know what a sundae is?
Jing: Sunday?
Me: Sundae ice-cream.
Jing: Sunday?
Me: SundaE.
*this went on for some time... dude ever heard of McD's sundaes?*
Me: Real ice-cream (as opposed to the soft serve we have all the time). And there are multiple toppings, like coconut, whipped cream, chocolate chips, fruit compote... which you can use to top off that brownie over there, or you can crush some wafer cones over it, or you can use it to sandwich those chocolate chip cookies...
Jing: *glare*
*pause*
Jing: *walks over and helps himself*
Me: *silent evil laughter*

HAHA. I'm mean.

What I don't get is chocolate chips in ice-cream. It freezes, becomes tasteless and gets stuck in your teeth. With the cold, you lose the wonderful smell of chocolate; ever heard of the sense of smell enhancing the overall taste experience?

Chocolate chips are an abomination in cold desserts.

Sister: Cold desserts are an abomination overall.

Anyway. The waffle above. I made that myself (obviously) with the waffle pans that are forever available at all three dining halls (Jeremy be jealous). Put chocolate chips in it (that melt wonderfully) and didn't spray enough non-stick spray. Whoops. Spent five minutes wrangling off the thing and subsequently topped it off with chocolate soft serve and sugar-free (HAHA may as well) fake maple syrup.

Mmmm yum, crispyy....

Chem pre-lab.

Interesting dessert they had in Runk the other day.

Which was... super disgusting... Ew. Whipped cream. Trashed it.

I feel like crap. Tomorrow's gonna be a clean day. Need to clear all the junk food out of my system.

My fishy companion almost every breakfast. I need real friends.

first care package!!!

I GOT MY CARE PACKAGE!!!

MUAHAHAHAHA.

KAYA'S IN THE OBLONG THING

GUESS WHAT'S INSIDE GUESS GUESS GUESS

WHEEEE, but you can't see the heong peng though...

Dismembered tau sar peng.

THANK YOU TACH!!!! :D

YOU'RE THE BEST!