For those who may still read this blog, well, I'm home for Summer!! I don't have H1N1, so if you want a break from studying for mid-years/prelims/Alevels, call me!! haha

I've just started this 'Something A Day' thing, where i aim to put up a photo or something creative everyday. I also now have a pro Flickr account thanks some awesome friends in Oregon! So i'll have all the memory i want to put up all this stuff! :)

Yup! this is what i did last weekend! 'The Rescue' to raise awareness for Joseph Kony's abducted child soldiers in Uganda. The idea was to abduct ourselves from our comforts, walk quite a distance to the camp site and wait to be rescued. Being rescued meant that we had media covering the event and someone of political or popular culture influence came and pledged to do something about what is going on in Uganda. I was in Portland with about 500 other people and we wrote letters to the political people of Oregon, made art and contacted media networks. (We were trying to get HARRISON FORD to come rescue us, plus Brendan Fraser, cos they were filming some movie nearby. But they didn't show :( ) We got rescued in the end by Amy Roloff (who i had never heard of) from the reality TV show 'Little People Big World'. So that in a sense is pretty awesome because her speech and the cause will be on their show for MORE people to watch!

I've probably been pretty skeptical about what good any protesting anything will do,(Good Singaporean mindset, plus you could get arrested in singapore) I mean what can little me do? But the point of it all is expressing your view and getting people to think about it! I can't go down to Uganda and stop the war but if i can get the attention of those who can do something about it isn't that great?

I was sitting there listening to the Watoto Childrens Choir, kids who have been rescued from Uganda, and they were awesome! They sang this song that went "I am not forgotten, I am not forgotten,I am not forgotten. God knows my name!" I realized that yeah we're here trying get attention for this forgotten injustice but its the world that has forgotten about this, because God has not forgotten them! Yes, there will still be suffering in this world but its never becase God didn't remember his creation in some part of the world. He knows. and it breaks his heart too...

I probably had more to talk abt but i better post this before it becomes too old news..

Last weekend this couple from church got married, and the bride walked in with 'Life in Technicolor' by Coldplay! how cool is that? played live too! Apparently she had this pact with all her friends that they would not at any cost play Canon in D at their weddings, so she picked coldplay! so awesome.. I would love to do do something cool like that! got to find a guy who will let me do insane stuff like that! hahah :)

OK finals are officially done!! super duper happy!!! Now i'm allowed to be excited for BRRRRAAAAZZZZZIIIIIILLLLLL!!! :) :) :) I cannot tell you how excited! I just got an email from my host family! and they don't speak much english at all.. SO! this will be a BIG adventure! hahaha i have no idea what i'm getting myself into.. So guys, i would really appreciate some prayer for communication. i want to be a good guest and really love the people i meet. but so far i know "Como Estas" meaning "How are you?" and you respond with "Muito Bem Obrigado" which is "Good! Thank You!" and "Boa Noite" is "Good Night!" hahha yup! I don't think i've really explained what i'm actually doing. Basically, i'm going with a few people from the youth group i attend (here i have grauated to 'College Group' haha), including the youth pastor and his wife, with one of the students who's going back home to Brazil for good. Total of 10 people! Oldest being Joaquim the Brazilian guy who's 30, and youngest being me, the troublesome non-American citizen minor person. Hahah it was hillarious the amount of trouble i get myself into. all of which they did not anticipate.. funneh. BUT it all worked out and I'M GOING ON THURS!!! super excited! So, we're going there to spend time with the people there, the church here has some ties with a couple churches there, and hanging out at an orphanage. But i wouldn't call it a mission trip because we don't really have a program or anything planned, so we're going there and just seeing who we meet and what we can do.. I am so taking my camera! and i am so so excited! Pray for me!! I will tell you guys ALL about it after!

HAHAH!! jkjk :)
getting old ah?! haha 18! my gosh!
okok check your mail!! (if you haven't already)

I really love reading postsecret.com! sometimes they're just so honest and artful. though sometimes, very crude and immature, but, ah well, such is life. But i really hate how you can only read the current week's postcards; he's trying to get you to buy his book! haha Anyway, i found this forum where people put up their favs. SO here are some on that page that i found beautiful or amusing..

















:)

I'm currently in the BRAINERD computer lab trying to print my photo project on these massive printers. You'd think their size would mean they'd be faster, but no. i think i've already been here a half hour and its on page 7 of 18!!! hahah an i have none of my other readings or hw to do here... perfect.

What have i been thinking about? well, choices about the future. spring term is considered the future too.. and i'm praying hard that i get the classes i need even though i only get to register in a week and seniors start today. i cannot wait to up my standing and maybe i'll actually get to pick what classes i want. I HAVE DECIDED! i need to take a PE class. been wasting away in winter, storing up the fats. gosh i'm going to look gross in brazil. BUT i'm going to come back and work it off! oh man, totally trying to convince myself. yeah, so i need a PE class.

But more importantly, they're been a bunch of other things i'm mulling about, trying to see where God wants me to be, what He thinks is best. you know that hymn? "i don't know about tomorrow, la dah dah dah dah, but i know who holds my hand" :)

For whoever still reads this, hah not many, just wanted to tell you guys abt my photo taking adventure this week. I had to 'document a process or activity' using the shot types we learnt in journalism class so after many failed attempts at various different activities, i managed to go take photos where my friend Adelle works, Moss Street Children's Center. The kids were amazing! Kids and camera! the best hour and a half ever! this would be my dream job, seriously. i would not ever call it work! i know this sounds totally cliched and whatnot but its just that those kids are totally innocent and honest and beautiful and they let me in on it.. and that is just the best thing ever!

OH RIGHT! and you can see the photos by clicking the magic button!

Just wanted to tell you guys the odd interesting things i've been learning!
(in point form, cos my brain is totally scrambled)

1. I don't know what i think is most important so we start at number 2.

2. I've been trying to learn a little Portuguese and i discovered that!
everyone in SIngapore/Malaysia and pretty much around there, unknowingly knows how to day hello in portuguese! Oi! hahha cool right! don't believe me? watch the first few seconds of the video!


3. I learnt in visual comm class, talking about typography, what my school logo is based on. (haha sorry i couldn't find a better logo) The outer ring is the shape of our football stadium, Autzen Stadium, and the inner ring is the shape of the track field, Hayward Field. I'm pretty much in a school built around its sports. University of Nike.



4. i learnt something i found so poetic and beautiful at church on sunday. You know that verse where Peter asks Jesus how may times he has to forgive some annoying guy, and Jesus says "seventy times seven" (mathew 18:22) I don't know about you guys, but i've always been told "oh! in those days! 490 was a BIG number! like how 5 cents was worth a lot more!" But Jesus said somethign way more poetic than a statement whose meaning is lost with inflation. He was probably refering to Genesis 4:23-24, a story about Cain's son Lamech. he was an awful guy. killed a man because he stubbed his toe or something? and he was so vengeful about life, he proudly told his TWO wives (btw, this is the epitome of the guy you do not want to marry, also first recorded bigamist) "hey i killed a man, but don't worry about people coming after us because if people will kill seven times if Cain is harmed, I will kill seventy times seven times if someone tries to hurt me!" SO Jesus was saying that for infinite hate, we are to give infinite forgiveness.
Isn't that just goregeous?

hope that wasn't too preachy and had a bit of the beauty that got me.

Well, it has been long.
(i need to purpose to start an entry without the "gosh, i haven't updated in ages" thing we go through everytime)

La Jetée [warning: 26 mins long, so yeah.]

I watched this short film in photo class yesterday! It was interesting because it is made up of only still photographs and only like 3 seconds of film footage. Cool story too! For you guys who've read Time Traveler's Wife, that was SO inspired by this. Also inspired '12 Monkeys', have not watched it but it apparently has Brad Pitt as a psycho so, hmm. Interestingly, this film was also mentioned in my Visual Comm class last week, so i quite like how all my classes are somewhat interrelated this term. with the exception of math, of course.

Validation [also its 16 mins. haha]

So if you did watch La Jetee, here's happy feel good short film, just to neutralize it. TJ Thyne from Bones. Cute story, albeit cheesy but hey, v-day is round the corner! haha 

for you guys doing orientation, stay hyper!
those in orientation, stay alive!
and those not in orientation yet, it will work out..