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Sunday, 08 November 2009

christmas wish list

Before i forget. I really need (as in, I will probably buy it soon/as soon as i have time/over winter break or IAP...):
new socks. warm ones in dark colors preferred. (then no one can tell when they get dirty!)
Rain Boots.
a hat, maybe, that i can wear while rowing/running?
a new bike, or a new seat with a really long post.
to score higher than 50% on my physics exams. That would be pretty much make me believe in miracles if i didn't already.

i don't need but like:
scarves in bright colors
iTunes & bookstore giftcards
a time machine that will fast-forward me to two Saturdays from now.

i think this is my mood today. extra bonus points if you find the what the picture is titled.

Tuesday, 03 November 2009

amalgated thoughts

Cool things:

1. 5.13 talked about normal modes of molecular orbital theory in class Friday - we've been doing stuff with normal modes pretty much the entire semester of 8.03 so far, so it made me happy that my completely unrelated classes overlapped!

2. I feel like there was something else I liked about classes that I wanted to remember, but too late, because I don't remember it now.

3. Got an interesting email forward (not from uncle reggie...lol) about Worship and Work By Os Hillman
October 30

"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike" (Rom 14:5).

Avodah (Ah´-voe-dah) is a Hebrew noun used in the Bible that has two distinct yet intertwined meanings: worship and work. It is also derived from the Hebrew verb L'Avod which has two meanings; to work and also to worship. The dual meaning offers powerful wisdom for modern times for how we are to view our work lives.

Work, if done with integrity and unto God, is a form of worship in the biblical Hebrew context. There has never been a concept of segmenting our work from our faith life in the Bible. It is in the realm of the sacred to bring God into our everyday life. Hebrews did not set aside a "day of worship," such as Saturday or Sunday, but everyday is a place and time of worship. They did set aside a Sabbath day of rest.

It is a western idea to segment one's faith life from our work like. In the Middle East and Asia, their cultures would never separate their faith from their work life even though their faith foundations might clearly contradict Christian beliefs. When someone comes to faith in Christ from this area of the world, they have an easier time of assimilating their faith into their work because they have always done so.

God calls us to do our work as an act of worship to Him. Our work is not to be a place of sweat and toil, but an expression of our love, faith and adoration of Jesus Christ. Today, before you work, ask God to help you see your work in a new way as worship to Him.
4. It is November.

5. In the past 24 hours, I rowed with two boats I've never been on - the top varsity boat and then our novice team's, both times because people were sick. So i got to see where i fit in, between the really-set-and-really-fast and the really-tipsy-but-not-that-slow. The fact that i like rowing, and reading, and chinese, and writing, etc. always makes me wonder yet again - why MIT?? But there's no time to worry about silly things like that. I need to study for my 5.13 test (which is at noon tomorrow).

6. I love living on the Charles. (& waking up with the sunrises) How can can we not stand in awe and worship a God who makes this possible:

If they made a puzzle out of those, I'd buy it. =P

Friday, 30 October 2009

haha - highs and lows

Right now definitely counts as a high. It's the weekend, I turned in 2 psets (completed, but i'll probably be saying something less positive once grades come out) today, slept 5 hours, had ice cream and shrimp fried rice for breakfast, a pear and candy for lunch - shhh don't tell my mom - i usually eat "better" than that, but it was good! - attended all my classes & am not even tired! or at least that's what the half-cup of coffee/hot chocolate from this morning is telling me at the moment.

i've had time to daydream, time to breathe a little, to laugh with people, give hugs, and pray. time to breathe deeply while watching the sun rise and set over our beautiful, perfectly wide charles river (so smooth today!), to sing a couple of praise songs to myself and even one with Sandra/Sooyeon/Emily Houston at Next House yesterday morning.
So yes, even at MIT life can be blessed. I think it's what we choose to make it, and most of us are just too crazy-caught in doing, doing, doing that we forget to be.
Well i feel right now for the first time in a while that i am again - i am God's, i am human, and i have worth outside of what i can or cannot do.

Of course, I also spent part of 22.01 office hours breaking down the things i could study or need to do into about 31 separate items - now to go through and choose the most important, because i only have 72 hours or so to work with here. =P.

i guess the title is misleading because i don't have any particular lows at the moment, except for the constant not-being-in-grand-rapids-michigan. oh well.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

the devil's arithmetic

holding onto just one thought: it's almost november...the days go by, 1 plus 1 plus 1
and while there's a lot of people i've come to know and things i enjoy, my heart is still not here.

i feel like there's nothing interesting to report. i have a lot of people i need to email. tomorrow. or Friday...
168 hours in a week goes by so quickly.
23 days, on the other hand...

umm in other news Toah Nipi / InterVarsity retreat was nice.

don't forget ~
God is good.
Jesus loves you.

even if you don't get A's in your classes, that doesn't mean you're not trying your best. *nod*

Monday, 19 October 2009

i'm so tired

...of living for / the kind of joy that only lasts for a while.

so i fall on my knees / to get back on my feet again / and i cry out to You / won't You please speak to me.

i wonder when non-MIT people start to feel the heaviness of responsibilities on them, and often responsibilities that you discover you don't care that much about. some people have it earlier, i'm sure, and i doubt that being at MIT has that much to do with it, but it's definitely not easy here...
i love the classes and the people, but i don't so much like failing tests and the distance between here and Grand Rapids, MI. so many days when i'm tempted to just quit and transfer to Calvin College. (and why don't I, i ask myself...)

but this is just me being moody because
#1 it's cold here.
#2 It's COLD enough that it SNOWED today
#3 i'm tired
and #4 i'm putting off my work in favor of oooh look, blogging. i miss recording good days (and secretly ranting about the bad ones), but yea. we'll see...