So. I got into both UPenn and Rutgers, yesterday.

Decision making time... I still have to figure out the whole money situation, and I also have to visit. I don't think I can just decide till Monday... hopefully Hopkins will be able to push my notification date by a week.

I didn't finish that homework I was working on at the Hut (from the previous entry); Danny and I ended up going back to my place to rest, get up early, and finish as much as we could.

Unfortunately, we just ended up taking turns hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock. Danny went home, I went to class, and neither of us finished the homework. Augghh!

Thanks to my lack of sleep, the rest of my day I was in a daze. I lost track of what we were singing once during praise time, so there was this uncomfortable wait as I found my spot again in the song.

Praise practice went surprisingly well... I worked the mixer and played bass at the same time. It was much fun...

Today, Jimmy and I picked up free hats and lunch at the Homecoming game. Man, it was packed. we're studying in the library right now, though he's gone back home to get his jacket. Tonight, I'm going to the KSA banquet... there will be pre-frosh there. Doh.

Sigh. My time here at Hopkins is ticking away...

The Hut. 3:45 AM. I've been trying to do this homework for a couple of days now and I still haven't been able to get even the first one done.

Why didn't I go to TA session?

Arg. Anyhow, it was fun an hour ago when Dustin Yoon and I engaged in a pen fight. We both had an arsenal of about 10 pens... arming our fists with pens bristling, we duked it out. I ended up victorious, but alas, I ended up accidentally stabbing Dustin... a little blood came out.

Pen fights... dangerous for the untrained. Be wary my young grasshoppers, for it is an art yet to be tamed in all its fury.

Clearly, it is 3:45 AM.

Small group today once again reminded me of how little my fear is of God, particularly of His wrath.

It's a humbling realization to see how little I really do believe in my heart what I know in my mind... it's even more humbling to see that it's largely due to my error in thinking that knowing spiritual truths is equal to knowing them genuinely in my heart. How do I personally follow Christ?

Christian tag lines like "die to self every day" sound so convicting, but have you, have I, have we fallen into the trap of being content with just verbally repeating to ourselves?

Anyhow, us four guys in the small group have picked things to keep each other accountable until we meet on Wednesday morning at 7 AM. Yogi will journal his quiet time every day, Scott will read The Two Towers, James will do his 15 page paper, and I will do my homework and not use my computer.

The problem with that last one is, I now have a real reason to open my computer that I had forgotten about when I made that pact: there are a lot of emails with important dates that I have to write down on my calendar, and they're all saved on my computer.

DANGIT. What do I do? This is important. I have to write down my dates for my FAFSA appointment, lunch with professor, getting tickets for graduation, etc.

God, please, help me figure out a solution.

Supervised usage?

I got back last night from the library at around 1:30, but I ended up sleeping at 4 AM. Danny came over to finish coping my class notes, but I think the brunt of the time was spent talking with Jimmy about life these days.

Ah. Life these days.

Well, I got up this morning at 8 and hauled my butt over to prayer meeting. Prayer meeting was good, we covered a lot of topics and we got to share (well, at least Scott, James Lieu, and I shared) about what were going through afterwards. When I got back I found that my old roommate John Yoon left a funny message on the machine. I'd tell you what it was, but you wouldn't really get it unless you knew him.

As Jimmy Choi fondly states, John Yoon is... the Golden Boy.

Anyhow, I will probably be working my butt off today. James Lieu was just standing here with me in the library as I type this... we just thought up of a plan for his website dedicated to his enormous shoe collection. We're thinking of calling it... "Lieu's Shoes." Heh heh. I'm typing this entry and probably will be doing so for the next couple within the library because I've unplugged my computer at home once again. I've actually been able to get studying done... hoorah.

Jane Choi, if you're reading this, drink a lot of water and go to sleep. All that blood gone means no fun, eh? (For the rest of you reading this entry, click her link on my link section to read about her recent entry about being tired out from blood donation.)

Ok. Eat? Study?

Dangit. Study.

The weirdest thing happened today.

At about 10:40 PM, as I was studying at M-level, I noticed a box being lowered into the glass-enclosed statue courtyard resides in the middle of M-level (see the pictures from April 4 for a better understanding of what I'm talking about). Turns out, it was full of 5 chickens, one of which went out and started hunting around for food.

Crazy. I wonder who thought of this... pretty funny, I'd say. It's caused a major distraction; it's now 10:50 and people are still sauntering over to watch them poke around. What is the significance of 10:40? If you've never been at my aprtment before, our clock in the living room is stuck on 10:40. Conicidence? Is 10:40 the twighlight zone?

*squawk*

The weather has been incredible for the past couple of days in this usually gloomy city...

Yay.

Anyhow, today I had an uncomfortable situation during my group meeting. I should have been more tactful about the way I did it, but I shot down a group member's idea for our robot and he didn't take it too well. We ended up arguing about it for about 20 minutes as our 2 members uncomfortably sat working on their own parts of the project. Naturally, the rest of the time was shrowded with the cloud of tension and I think we were all glad to disband.

During the last part of the meeting, I kept praying for Christ to just take control of my emotions and actions; I don't know if it was visibly so, but my hands were shaking. That usually happens when I'm placed on the spot; my body gets jittery, my mind shuts down, and I start to stammer. Explains why I've always had trouble with public speaking, etc. But anyhow, today's episode was an immediate reminder of my sinful condition... just after my study today on justification. I was listening to "So We Come" by Jimmy Choi and the words rang true with the study on Romans 1:16-17... We come and worship only by the grace given to us by God, only with Righteousness won by Christ. To see my instant propensity to sin puts me to shame... It's interesting how quick God can be in teaching the heart what is known in the mind.

If only our hearts are as quick in learning...

Anyhow, I'm about to find out about my U Penn app. I called them up and they said they'd call me in 10 minutes. As well, Rena stopped by with her sister who's visiting, which was cool. John Kim and John Yoon, my old roommates, are down here as well for the week... it's weird to see them back, but in a good way. I miss those guys... it'll be like Ivy 300 in the olden days.

Have you ever done 3 loads of laundry with 2 available sets of washers/dryers?

It took me four hours to get it all done.

Today was awesome... Danny came over for lunch, and we again went to get food from the Philipino Phenom. I'm telling you, she was in high, phenomenal form today... she realized that we were splitting a sandwich since Danny had no cash, so she made one for him on the side, no charge.

Phenomenal, I tell you.

Anyhow, today was a good day. I gave Scott dinner, and we went out for dessert... majorly got ripped off for the ice cream we got, but it was a good time. We had a really good talk about church and I really am thankful to God that He initiated and carried it through.

Who are you? Do you know whom you really are? That question lingers in my mind a lot. Does it bother you? If you don't think about it, maybe you should.

It's interesting... the concept of finding one's identity in Christ. I forget a lot about my identity in Christ... evidently, I don't spend nearly enough time as I should exploring it.

It's about high time that I do.

What about you?

After class, I practiced scales for an hour... MAN I stink. I guess that's why I need to practice. Jimmy Choi came in later and decided to do another take of an instrumental he recorded on my computer before... thanks to the Live Drive you all got me, it sounded phenomenal.

We ate at Egyptian pizza (mmmmm) with Paul Han in tow... it was a great night of food, fellowship, and conversation. I got to ride, once again, in Jimmy's souped up Integra on the way there... quite a ride, I tell ya.

Yeah. What a night. But I must sleep. Tomorrow is a lonnng day, and I've done nothing for the past 3 hours but bum.

Ok. later.

Man. Only 4 hours of sleep today. I was up late doing a lab... that didn't get done before I slept @ 5 AM. I got up at around 9:20 and did a rush job to finish it, but definitely, it was not a good quality report.

Anyhow, when I came back from the apartment, Jimmy Choi and Jimmy Su went at it again. I had to get out of the living room fast, because they were being too... friendly. Whenever I hear them say, "Tim, we thought we'd get you...", I shudder.

*shudder*

Church was cool today. Today's speaker was a 4th generation Chinese American professor (soon to be) at Reformed theological seminary, very young, very smart, very eloquent. He spoke about the Bible being God's redemptive story, about the hope we have in it.

Something to ponder upon once again.

Afterwards, we had a church picnic... it was really fun, and I got to hang out with the deacons, the UMAB people, etc... which is really hard to do, since everyone's so busy. A great time of burgers, sun, sports, etc... yay.

Just now, I've added comments to last Thursday's photo journal. Hope you like!