badminton

badminton is freakin awesome.  my history with badminton goes back to when i was really really young, and i played casual badminton with my parents.  i don't even remember if we played with a net or not, but, like other things i did when i was younger, i was pretty bad at it.  i presume.  fast forward a good many years..  and the next time i played badminton was marking period one of my senior year.  gym class badminton was pretty ghetto; we used iffy racquets that were sometimes bent funny, and a simple yellow rope as the net.  birdies, however, were actually new and legit.  i had a TON of fun in gym badminton, and i found myself picking it up really quickly, despite having not played for forever.  indeed, i think tennis is where 98% of all my badminton skills and badminton sense come from (and most definitely my badminton shots).  i realized i was quite good and better in comparison to everyone else that i played with in gym.  i spent most of my time playing with johnny, jordan, and ben chang, i would say.  naturally, i just gravitated towards playing with johnny on my team.  maybe because we played doubles together for tennis freshman year, but most likely because i'm closer with johnny than jordan or ben chang, by far.  when we played in gym, me and johnny defeated everyone else (and dominating all except one or two other doubles pairs), so we had a kind of natural badminton+partnership chemistry already.  anyway, marking period one ended, and badminton was over.  however, sometime late fall and early winter, i was talking to hilary, and when i was mentioning badminton in gym, she mentioned that their school usually hosts a badminton tournament.  instantly, i was excited about attending.  i brought the idea up with james fang, who is in our key club, and he actually said that they were actually thinking of hosting our own badminton tournament.  i continued talking to james and brian moon about it, really pushing them to bring it up and get it running.  it stayed a questionable event for a while, but then started becoming more serious as spring came along, since it was planned for near the end of the school year.  now in spring, also around the start of marking period three, me and johnny are pretty stoked for the tournament and decide to buy a net ($20), some legit racquets (identical $20 yonex ones for each of us), and legit birdies ($15 for six nylon ones).  we actually borrowed james' net right before we bought our net, so we just kept using james' net while we had it (as of right now, we still have it, and we still haven't even once set up the net we bought).  me and johnny proceeded to practice when we could (seeing as how tennis season was on), inviting others to play with us, such as jordan, kevin, gg, and raaj.  me and johnny would practice in the wind, in the rain, and practically in the dark, too, pushing the practice until we couldn't see anymore.  the net is still set up in my backyard, and there are two big spots on either side of the net where the grass is completely dead and worn out from playing badminton so much.  as badminton tournament rolled around, me and johnny got pretty stoked.  we were also pretty confident we were going to win, not in a cocky way, but just because we play really well together, and we also put in some good hours practicing together (mostly one on one, though, so no real doubles teamplay practice).  we had to register and think of a team name, and so we came up with "peace".  and the day finally comes along.  (and i finally start tiring of typing so many darn details.)  may 16, tournament at the PAL..  beforehand, i call johnny and i ask him about how we can match.  i know we have the same black adidas shorts, and the only shirt i know we have the same is the navy nike shirt, but he said it was actually moth-eaten, so peace to that.  then he realized we have the BOBA NITE shirts!  it worked out well because it was black and black, and people also said that our shoes almost matched, though i didn't really see how they did.  tournament was exciting and nervewracking.  honestly, me and johnny were nervous at the beginning of each of our matches, because we really didn't know how good people were, and we also heard that certain people were good, and whatnot.  johnny brought a gallon of fruit punch gatorade, which was cool.  everything except for the final round was timed, so i didn't like the pressure from the time at all.  however, we pretty much blazed(/peaced) everyone in every round, except for the alex lin-rodante duo, who we played in the semifinals and finals.  the finals was the only one we played with points, but even then, it was only to 12 points, which i feel is too short.  it was an intense match, with fierce rallies, and johnny and i took the win.

wow, what a proud and happy moment that was for me, and i'm sure for johnny too.  we finally WON something!  something that people attended and watched!  wooooowowoowowoow.  sure, the prize was $100, but that's just whatever.  more than anything else, it was fun.  badminton is definitely up there in the things i love to do, and the most recent addition to my "i love" list (yes, i actually have a list).  i am so stoked for playing badminton in the future.  this summer is going to be badminton-filled, i promise you.  me and johnny are going to check out the PAL and any programs they have and whatnot.  and then thinking about it in terms of college, the possibilities are so open.  i'm psyched.  badminton freakin rocks.

peace.

..

i wonder if anyone got our team name.

or that this entry is dedicated to our team colors.  :P

bootleg brawl.  lulz.

SO RANDOM.  my dad bought a wii.  with bootleg games.  and a bootleg gamecube controller.  sooooo funny, cuz me and johnny were playing [bootleg] brawl, and at first, it stopped at the title screen with the "can't read disc" screen, and we restarted.  then it worked and we played for five minutes, then the screen came up again.  maaaan, it's pretty bad, hahhaha.

i haven't updated in a while.  sorry.  tennis is fun.  me and ben are cool.  we lose most of the time though.  grr.  i hit a roxbury guy today with an overhead.  it hit him in the face.  he got a bloody nose.  i felt really bad.  :[

iphone is cool.

BADMINTON IS SO FUN.  me and johnny are gonna rip up that badminton tournament, no joke.

sour patch kids are yum.

lawn mowing season has started, and i'm making maddd moneys again.  one person even upped the pay $10 because "all the other prices are going up, like gas costs too!"  i'm like, alright, cool.

i'm going to rutgers.  school of engineering.

i have to poop.

peace.

this entry will be about my iphone (a little).  and iphone pics.  and me and jon and bo and our trip to illinois to visit u of i and wheaton.  and iphone pics from those.  and journals i wrote on my iphone while on the trip.  enjoy!  (bummer.  iphone pictures are 1600x1200 and photobucket reduces their size.  well, not that i wanted humongous pics, but i think photobucket might have messed with the quality too.  poo.)

i like this picture and i'm not sure why, i just took it one night.  (that's jordan's ipod, 80gigs dawg)

tell me what color mr. game&watch is, please, cuz if you think he's any color other than straight-up GREEN, then you're insane.

tell me that's not a BANGIN' tie.

baptism party at abel's house on easter sunday, pchu gave me a ride there, and check out how far away he parks..  hahaha.  (yeah, i dunno)

Illinois: Wednesday

March 26, 2008

packed in a hurry and went to bo's house at a little after 7 and
chilled there and talked with his cute little bro until like 9 when
jon got there and then i got bored and started falling asleep and then
we went to sleep and I slept with jon in the guest room and i played
with bo's touchy light and then we spent a lotta time playing iphysics
on my iPhone and I ate a slim jim and my canker sore hurt then we went
to sleep

Illinois: Thursday
March 27, 2008

we got up real early at like 6 or something and went to the airport
and found our way around pretty well except when we first went to try
to check in at this one place this person was instantly just like are
you guys lost and we were like yeah and so he directed us to where we
were supposed to be but we were like how in the heck did he know we
were lost but I guess we just looked like we were really that lost but
then we went on the amtrak things and we ended up going in the wrong
direction the first time and we felt dumb and then the amtrak was
randomly really smelly later and it was kinda gross but whatever then
we eventually got on the plane and we all sat in the same row and bo
got window and i got middle and jon got aisle and when we were taxiing
to the runway to take off we got the message that we were gonna be
delayed an hour so we were like aw dagger but it ended up being only
like half an hour so whatever and then I heard that it was delayed cuz
it was snowing at the airport in Chicago so i got excited and we took
off and we each had a muffin and a drink and basically spent the rest
of the flight listening to our mp3 players while sleeping and I
listened to a lotta jack Johnson and postal service and that was chill
EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT JON AND FRIGGEN BO ALWAYS TOOK UP THE FRIGGEN
GAY ARMRESTS GAY and then when we landed in Chicago at 11 I realized
bo's sprite somehow got onto my pants and he claims he dunno how that
happened so I'm like sure yeah and then we got our luggage and decided
to walk around for fun on those walking escalator things cuz it was
jon's idea and that was a pretty useless waste of time and then we
went to eat at this random food stand kinda thing and I bought a pan
pizza for seven dollars which was ridic and AH my canker sore hurt
then me and jon pooped together on cool sani seats which i had never
used before and those were cool and it reminded me of dcla but without
the crazy toilet paper antics and then it was snowing a considerable
amount so i was happy about that and we kept waiting for our bus which
ended up arriving twenty minutes late and so me and jon got on our
cool coach bus cuz we got a different bus line than bo so his bus was
three hours later so he chilled in the airport and did his hw and
stuff while we left first and we got on the bus and sat behind these
two Asian girls one of whom looked and sounded a lot like janice and
we laughed at that and then I got to see how flat Illinois really is
and me and jon once again just listened to our mp3 players and slept
on the whole bus ride which was like three hours too I think or
something like that and we got to u of i and when we got off it was
really cold and raining too and jack picked us up or rather just
escorted us back to the dorm at isr and we met all these random people
that I don't remember now and then me and jon went with jack to his
work at the music library which had mad books and mad music scores and
then I brought my bookbag with it laptop so I could do my physics
webassign which was due Friday and johnny helped me with some but I
only had 17 out of 52 done so I wasn't anywhere near done when we had
to go and dood walking outside in Illinois is so darn cold and windy
and then we went to hang out in tiff's room which was cool cuz she had
a keyboard and a cool bunk bed set up and oh yeah all the rooms at u
of i are pretty big so that's cool and then a bunch of us went out to
this Thai place to eat when bo got here and by then it was raining a
lot and just before we got out of the car it like super hailed for
minute or so that was pretty whack crazy/cool and I ate pad Thai seew-
ee beef or something like that with mountain dew and it was yummy and
then we all chilled in the restaurant and watched basketball on tv
which wasn't particularly interesting to me and then we went back to
jack's room and we all watched america's best dance crew for the
finale thing and jabbawockeez won which was legit and after that when
everyone went to ball I just stayed in jack's room by myself and
chilled on jacks's bunk and did my physics hw while chatting with
christine and then I finished like nearly all the rest of my physics
webassign hw and I was happy about that and then everyone came back
from ballin and some of them went to get chips and I didn't wanna go
so jon was a bud and got me some funyuns which we ate together later
even though my canker sore made it friggen hard to eat them and that
was annoying but then we all went to tiff's room and we chilled there
and ate ramen which was yummy even though i ate mine with a plastic
spoon which was pretty ghetto no joke and then we watched the guardian
and in the middle of it at like 4 am christine called me cuz she had
just woken up and I was like lol and then went back to the guardian
which is a really good movie but it was late when we watched it so I
fell asleep for the last quarter of it or so and that was kind of a
bummer but I figured I'd just watch the rest of it some other time so
it was fine and then I was able to go on tiff's silly MacBook and try
to finish the last two points of my webassign using the help christine
left me on my gmail messages but I was still only able to get one of
the two points and then i was like whatever and went to sleep even
though it was like 5 am and I slept in tiff's bunk zz dumb canker sore
zz

Illinois: Friday
March 28, 2008

tiff woke us all up at like 6 am to go to prayer meeting and yeah we
all got like an hour of sleep so we were mad tired and then at prayer
meeting we heard people speak in tongues which was an interesting
experience but also sorta creepy and eerie at the same time but yeah
then I sorta fell asleep during the small group prayer afterwards but
hey I was tired so you can't blame me and then we ate breakfast at the
isr dining hall and then i saw jon attempting to make waffles and he
had like the waffle batter stuff all over the waffle maker and I loled
a lot and jon was like yo what the crap and I was like reading the
instructions on the wall which said to first spray the thing and I
asked jon if he did and he was like huh what no crap and I was like
lol and he was trying to scrape the waffle stuff off of the pan things
and I loled some more and so he spent another like ten minutes making
another waffle while I went to eat and yeah their dining hall is
really cool cuz it has good main meals all the time but it also has a
mad lotta other food and cereal and junk and after that jack and tiff
and vince broughtbl the three of us to our admitted students day and
on the way there we saw this squirrel eating a banana and me and jon
were like whoa and then without hesitation vince just picked up a rock
and chucked it at the squirrel and then it ran away and me and jon ran
after it and tried to take a picture of it but it was too late cuz it
ran away and then we went to our thing and we each got an orange
folder but mine was like not cool compared to jon's and bo's which was
gay and then we heard the women's choir sing which was really cool and
then I sorta fell asleep in the opening session and then after that we
went to the financial aid session and I sorta fell asleep in that too
and then we split ways and I went to my engineering session where i
listened to four students talk about engineering studies and whatnot
and then i sorta fell asleep during that and then jon called me and we
went to go look at a series of three different stores that sold u of I
apparel and there was this store called te shurt and we loled at that
and jon and bo bought clothes from there but I only got one tee shirt
from there and we also went to the illini bookstore which is where I
got my orange sweatshirt and I'm unique cuz jon and bo only got navy
blue apparel which is cool but I was the only one who got something
orange and my sweatshirt is mad big cuz it's xxl and after all that
walking around in the cold we went to Steve xia's room where we
chilled and played smash and mario kart for like the whole time and I
was pretty chill with Paul lee and dood he is a hilarious guy to play
smash and mario kart with hahah and then we all went to CFC fellowship
and their worship session was mad good and they had like 600 people
there and a lotta koreans and their worship team is legit and then
pastor milo spoke which was cool but I sorta forgot what the message
was about cuz yeah I sorta fell asleep again and then I woke up for
the closing worship session cuz it was loud duh and then afterwards I
got this free CFC music cd and then ate pizza and pastor milo had a
coffeehouse which was pretty interesting but then i sorta fell asleep
near the end and I don't remember what he talked about near the end
and when it was done I was super tired and then we went back to
steve's room and we all played more n64 and I woke up again and we
played for a long time and it was a lotta fun and then it got late and
I went to sleep in steve's room zz

Illinois: Saturday  (morning)
March 29, 2008

so this morning i woke up and realized i drooled like mad on steve's
pillow and I was like oops and then vince jack and tiff brought us to
our bus stop area and we ate at jj's gourmet subs and it was mad yum
and then we walked around in te shurt store again one last time and
then we all got in the little bus and i rode shotgun and it was a good
bus ride cuz all three of us just slept the whole time and it felt
like only half an hour which was really cool and dan showed up at just
the right time at the parking lot of the mall and then we went to his
place and it all started when jon asked for a jacket to wear and then
he went in dan's closet and got a blazer and a pink tie and then bo
got a blazer too and then dan gave me this super gangster cloak and a
big money bling to wear and then all of us went outside and dan took
pics of us in various places with various poses and it was pretty
hilarious and we had a good time and then we went to dan's church for
his worship team prax and we just chilled in the random rooms and
couches that were there and we played hangman and stuff downstairs
because we were really bored and dan kept us there for like a few
hours or at least it seemed like that and I eventually slept on the
couch and while i was doing so jon stuck my hand down my pants a
little bit and it was mad weird and then dan brought us out to his
favorite restaurant joy yee's which is like an Asian place and we ate
mad yummy food and talked about male genitalia and the like while we
were eating so that was quite interesting

Illinois: Saturday b  (dan's church, afternoon)
March 29, 2008

right now I'm sitting with jon and bo in the lobby area of dan's
church and we're just chilling cuz they're praying right now and then
when they're done we're gonna go check out their praise team practice
and then dan's gonna bring us out to his favorite restaurant to eat
some good yum yums and I'm pretty excited for that cuz I'm like really
hungry right now and we also played some hangman downstairs and jon
had erectile dysfunction lol and I was the first one to figure it out
and right now I'm wearing my u of I sweatshirt and it's orange with
solid navy letters outlined with white

[my note ended abruptly here because jon took my phone and wrote the following note:]

Illinois: PB&J (jon's note)  (dan's church, afternoon)

on wednesday night we got to bo's and I slept (get used to it) and
then jon beasted my iphysics app so on thurs we woke up and bo was
like yo get up so we got to the airport and went on the monorail but
it was the wrong one bc were noobs but it smelled like butt and we got
to the terminal and we was like finally in amellica! then our flight
was delayed but we got there and then to the bus terminal but we was
hungry so we went allllll the way back to quiznos but we couldnt go
back -yo Preston just asked what it would be like to touch a guys
penis and some kid in suspenders is groaning so now Preston is
groaning too bc he's mean o wait I'm Preston I forget sometimes-
anyways we took a bus to uiuc and there was this girl that looked
exactly like janice and sounded like her too so she was essentially
janice and this other asian girl who was kinda good looking but in the
back there was a really cute white girl with nice hair but those
Korean girls were really loud and it was funny to eavesdrop but check
it out jon was like yo were gunna see them again and we did in te
shurt a tee shirt store where I bought my tee shirt and then we saw
them again at CFC jon was right I cant believe it so crazy man so we
got to uiuc and met everybody then we went to a good thai restaurant
and it was hailing dawg like legit hailing like crazy hailing and jon
got hit in the face with it but then we got back and I chilled in
jacks room and did hw like a good boy while jon played ball o wait I
forgot we watched jabbawockeez they're tight so then we went to tiffs
room and ate ramen and the funyuns that jon bought for me and I didn't
pay him back but its ok bc I know he loves me then we watched the
guardian but we fell asleep during it until we woke up one hour later
to go to prayer mtg and ppl spoke in tongues and it sounded like cars
and stuff but it was cool then we had breakfast and It was pretty
legit and jon broke the waffle machine bc he flooded it and didnt
spray the stuff then I watched the end of the movie while jon  slept
through jacks class then we went to our orientation thing and on the
way we saw a fat squirrel eating a banana but at the union building I
slept through everything and dreamed about touching men in their pee
pees but then went to lunch and then back to the thing and I slept
some more then we went to buy diesel Illinois stuff and jon looks so
good in it I watched him change and omg he's so hot and bo asked if
they had Z100 is he stupids but then we went to other places to buy
stuff and talked to some guys giving away cinnabon coffee and they
said uiuc was legit so I wanna come here just bc they said to then we
went to isr and played smash until our thumbs fell off jk then we went
to dinner and then CFC but I slept through that too but pastor milo
was there and had a great message that I missed but its ok bc everyone
was tired bc we only got one hour of sleep but their worship set was
crazy good and powerful then we went to the coffeehouse and i slept
some more but we had pizza and listened to pastor milo I think I'll
friend him on fb later and then we went back and smashed and slept and
jack tiff and vince woke us up and took us to the bus station then we
got on but the bus ride was legit bc we just slept I love sleeping
dawg we got at Wheaton and dan took pictures of me in a banging cloak
dude I looked mad hot and jon sported a pimpin pink tie and black
blazer and bo looked guido in his black jacket and bling but my cloak
was the hottest of all I was crazy hotz o yea I had bling too but then
we went to dan's church and now were just chillin here (see note 2)
wait no I am sleeping now man do I love sleeping ah the kid is making
weird noises again I wish I could wake up to laugh with jon but its ok
sleeping is good

-jon

Illinois: Saturday c  (before sleeping, 3am, this is actually the first note i wrote, after which i went back and wrote about all the other days)
March 29, 2008

we're in dan's room and everyone's asleep cuz we just finished
watching fracture but like during the guardian i fell asleep in the
middle of it and then saw the ending and didn't really know what was
going on but it's okay cuz I think we have the movie at home so maybe
I'll watch it later just luke I DOD with the guardian do it's all good
except my canker sore hurts like crazy and it us friggens huge and
friggen painful but whatever I guess it wasn't gonna go away this
weekend like I thought it was going to and I dunno why I'm not
sleeping but I kinda feel like writing in his note thing but now I
regret not writng in it everyday because I think it would have been
cool to have made uprnal entry things like christine does but yeah
Wheaton is aites I guess and I ate a buncha nerds so those were yummy
and right now I'm sitting in an armrest chair cuz there's no room for
me to sleep cuz there are only two bunks in the room and dan's
roommate has one and dan and jon have the other one and bo has the
couch which is pretty small for even him so I'm just stuck on this
chair by myself oh well but we did go to dan's favorite restaurant to
eat and it's called joy yee's and it's really yummy korean food and we
talked about male genitalia and the such and it was really good food
paired with quite interesting conversation which left me feeling
really bloated and I ended up pooping like a few mi utes ago before I
took out my contacts and sat down here to write/type this journal
thing out yeah now I really do wish I journaled everyday well maybe
I'll try to do a recap sort of thing when I get home but then that's
not as cool and I'll forget stuff and whatnot and we're getting up at
like 8ish or something today so that's only like five hours of sleep
which is gonna result in me being tired again and falling asleep durng
everything again which is gonna stink but man today was funny when the
three of us dressed up in dan's various outerwear and went out and dan
took pictures of us I can't wait to see the pics of me in my bling and
cloak which was totally awesome and then bo and jon in their blazers
and man we didn't get to play taboo tonight like we wanted to but
that'd okay and I did play smash with dan a few times but it got unfun
cuz he kept winning all the time which is not so cool and I hear
people peeing in the shared bathroom right now and brushing their
teeth at the same time unless there are actually two people in there
then that would make more sense and I wonder how long it would take me
to recap everything that happened at u of i because we were there
longer and more stuff happened there than here so iono but I don't
think I'd be content with having forgotten some things if I write
about it now ugh maybe I should stop being so OCD about this stuff but
I am happy I don't have piano lessons tomorrow and I think using my
iPhone for taking notes and writing journal entries is a cool idea
that I will be sure to use in the future when I go places and
experience cool stuff and actually I think I can spend all the time on
the plane flight writing about uiuc experiences instead of just
listening to music and sleeping and yeah that's a good idea whoo I'm
so smart yeah so I think I'm gonna go to sleep now cuz I really don't
wanna be tired all the time but man sleeping in this chair stinks dawg
peace

Illinois: bo's note  (sunday)

aites so its the last day for us at Illinois today and I think that we
all had a good experience here especially with uiuc and I really wanna
go now bc its so awesome and cool. so we're going to dans church right
now and we all woke up late and made dans old roommate wait for a
while and now we're on the car going there. we're leaving today and
I'm really sad bc I has so much fun here and its been like a retreat
and i cant wait for college if its gonna be like this but it prolly
won't be but that aite

we saw this picture outside while we were taking our ridiculous pics in ridiculous outfits, which should be on facebook hopefully soon, as long as i keep pestering dan about it.  :D

Illinois: Sunday
March 30, 2008

went to Sunday worship service at dan's church and their worship team
was pretty good and then we heard a message from henry kim which was
really interesting cuz it was a lotta sharing on his part and he was
hilarious and it kept my attention the whole time which was good and
afterwards we went to college group and ate and played with a lotta
animal crackers and then had small group with the three of us plus dan
and we talked about college and stuff and then we ate a Korean lunch
in the cafeteria which was yummy and once again talked about male
genitalia and the like which is like the norm now then dan went to his
drama team prax and the three of us came back on the shuttle bus and
then when we were going up the elevator someone else got off on the
fourth floor and as the door was closing I stuck my foot in the
doorway so the elevator door closed on it and my foot got seriously
legit stuck and it took me like ten seconds to get it out and jon was
cracking up about it as usual and then me and jon both had to poop but
he was a butt and took the bathroom so I ran down the stairs to use
the bathroom downstairs and I took a really long poop and then called
jon when I was going up the elevator to tell him to open the door for
me because i didn't have the keycard to go through the door but jon
didn't come and eventually someone opened the door and i went through
and it was really awkward and jon thought I was gonna call him when I
got in the elevator but that was actually when I did call him what a
dummy and then in the room bo and jon both took naps and i was there
writing these notes and being bored and I eventually played guitar
hero for the first time and it was an invigorating experience and I
liked it and then dan finally got back and we packed and used their
computer lab's ridiculously slow computers to print out boarding
passes and ate nerds and them we went to eat at the grill called the
stupe and we all had hamburgers and fries and then ate a crazy amount
of bear foot brownie or whatever it was called I forget but anyway
dan's so nice and then he drove us to the airport and we blasted
hillsong music the whole way and yeah I had a good experience at
Wheaton cuz the place was chill and everyone there was really nice too
then we got to the airport and my canker sore hurt a lot still and we
got on the plane and then we each got a sandwich and m&m's and a drink
and I had APPLE JUICE and we also got bags of carrots and we had the
most funniest time playing with carrots cu I had the idea of sticking
carrots up my nose and then we took mad funny pics with carrotinis
sticking out of random places LOL yo then my head hurt a lot so I went
to sleeps

all in all, a good trip.  a good visit.  a good university.  but sadly, i don't think i'm going there, because of the really high costs ($42k/year).  DAGGER.

HAY.  YOU.  do YOU know betsy chao?  (well in case you don't, here's a little bio.)

first off, good luck trying to actually catch me.  cuz i'm a ninja.  with a fan.  SHBAM.  yeah i'm cool.  ninjaninjaninjaninjaninja.

okay, fine, for real now.  i like bracelets.  weird ones.  a lot of them.  a lot of weird ones.  I AM NINJA BRACELET MASTA. 

i also like to make things blow up and make loud noises.  the things, not me.  i went deaf in my left ear from popping this flippin' huge brown bag.  (but you'd never know, cuz i'm a ninja.)

sometimes, though, i get caught up in the troubles of life and i get really lost.  like now.  look at the shrubbery!  help. 

SIKE.  I'M A NINJA.  NINJAS DON'T NEED YO' HELP HAHA.

LOOkit my ninja SKILLs.  FWOO PYOOOO.

one of my favorite things to do (when i'm not ninja-ing, and sometimes at the same time!), is sing!  i'm a fantastic singer, as you can hear from the above picture.  or see.  yeah.  just think of a good singer you know.  i'm better.  still notice all the bangin' bracelets that i sport.

COOOCOOOOOOOOOOOAA PUFFS.  ROOOOOOOOOOOAR.  (they might have been reese's, but "cocoa" is funner to yell.)

I ALSO LIEKS TO DRAW A LOT YEYYEYYYEY.  GO ME, GO ME, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY.

master.  piece.  jerk.  s.

my mom also drives the MOST FLIPPIN' COOLEST RADDEST AWESOMEST AUTOMOBILE OF WIN.

PEACE.

touched.

oy.  there are just so many things going through my mind right now.  and so many feelings going through my heart.  i feel certain, yet confused, at the same time.  feeling so close to God at this retreat has caused me to realize how far away from Him i've really been.  and what a bittersweet feeling that is.  but mostly sweet.  there are so many things i WANT to do.  it seems like a mountain, because the task is so daunting.  and an ocean, because of how deep it goes.  God works in amazing ways.  we've seen that in this retreat, in the speaker, in the worship, in the prayer times, in the activities, in the small groups, in the moments with friends, and in countless ways.  but you know what's awesome?  it doesn't end after the retreat's over and we come back home to school and work and responsibilities and life again.  God keeps working, He keeps touching lives, and He keeps breaking, molding, and shaping people.  and all you need to do is look for Him.  we've all left changed, but the change doesn't end yet.  and i feel like i need to say a lot in words.  i'm not sure why.  i want to say so much.  so much.

all of my relationships feel like they've turned over a new leaf.  like they've been given a quite welcome revision.  and a new push off in the right direction.  what will come of these has yet to be experienced. 

i feel happy.  revitalized.  encouraged.  challenged.  loved.  touched.  broken.  willful.  refreshed.