August 29, 2011

To the guy on his bike...

To the guy on his bike who I almost knocked off,

I apologize. Honestly, I just woke up and I didn't even see you zooming down the road and by the time I saw you (or rather, heard you...never have I ever heard "Woah!" said with such fear...), I was just like a deer in headlights. I'm sorry I just stood there and I hope I didn't completely ruin your day. Ride safe and I promise to look both ways more thoroughly.

Sincerely,
Eden
I'm glad this didn't happen.
On another note, I started school today. I'm in the middle of yet another two/three hour break and I hate it. I just want to go to school and be done, but with the classes I'm taking, the best teachers are teaching at these sporadic hours. But hey, now I know that I will have time to blog on Mondays. Maybe.

It's ridiculously hot here. I don't like it at all. Plus, I keep on forgetting that this is a freaking desert so I'm constantly dehydrated. If you see me on campus, no matter where I am, just tell me to drink water. Chances are I just forget to hydrate and I'm just drudging along. Or better yet, remind me to buy a water bottle or something. I just need to drink water....
Also, there was an independent student newspaper here at BYU back in the day that died because of lack of funds. But, it is being revived. Guess who has her own column. That's right. Me. I'm supposed to represent the Asian at BYU (I wonder why...) and it was fun finishing my first article. But anyway, if you want to see this article in all its glory, please donate a little bit. It would stink to have done all this work and not to even have a first copy. So on behalf of BYU's Student Review:
thestudentreview.org/donations

Anyway, lots of love and prayers for my family and friends on the East Coast. Update on my family: they're doing fine. All of my town has no power so that means it will take at least a week to get things running again.

I hope you all have a beautiful day.

August 25, 2011

Hurricane Irene.

Hopefully, you've heard about Hurricane Irene.

So, a couple Sundays ago, we had a whole Sunday school devoted to hurricane preparedness. An area authority of my church felt inspired to talk about it to the congregations in the area. They began the presentation with the statement, "The last major hurricane to hit the NYC area was September 21, 1938." And according to weather patterns and stuff, we were long long long overdue for one. (ready4tomorrow.org)

I was at the gym today and was gasping for air, not because my cardio workout was too much. It was because I was watching the weather.
While I am here in Utah, my family, friends, my home is in Connecticut. I saw my heart rate soar on my cardio machine.

I had just barely finished storing water for my family before I left for the airport. And the week before I left, I finished their 72-hour kits.

There was also an earthquake in Virginia that my sister felt in Connecticut. I received her text on Tuesday:
Earthquake! The kitchen cabinet was rattling but i though a big truch was just driving by the house Hehe
I had friends in Virginia, but they're all good. They just said that the "house was making some weird noises."

Blah...I'm just worrying right now. Almost every single home in Connecticut is surrounded by trees and power lines.

My East Coast readers, please be safe. Charge your phones, buy water, food, batteries.

I don't know, I may be overreacting, but I'll be praying for you guys anyway.

August 22, 2011

Back to school.

Today, I bought five college-ruled, 70 paged notebooks, two cases of 12 pencils, one case of 10 pens, and one folder. The total came out to be $1.48. Also, my most expensive textbook, coming in around $150, I got for $50. That's right. I know how to save money.
So, here I am, back in Utah. I got in late Saturday, early Sunday. Saturday was the strangest day for me. My family and I went to Flushing, Queens, with some friends when all of a sudden, I spotted someone in the corner of the dim sum restaurant we were in. My older sister and my brother-in-law's friends, who recently moved to New York, were just finishing up. Out of all the places in the world, we bumped into each other in that restaurant. I love them much. They were the ones who got me General Conference tickets last April and the October before. And they're genuinely good people.
I love dim sum.
Then, on the plane, my friend's mom had the seat across the aisle from me. And it turned out another family in my ward was on the same plane. One was attending a wedding, the other was having a wedding. Too many weddings.

Anyway, when I got off the plane, all of a sudden, I realized I couldn't really breathe. My friend's mom was trying to talk to me but I kept having to cough and catch my breath. I cursed Utah's arid air and high elevation, Connecticut's moisture-saturated air, and my own body. Had my body not been accustomed to Connecticut's humidity, then Utah's dryness probably would not have gotten to me. The high elevation...meh.

I am quite excited for this year. I'm trying to figure out if I want to change my major to Public Relation and switch my Anthropology major to a minor (which would help with my PR major). It's still in the works. Either way, it'd be easy for me to make Anthropology a minor; I just need to take 16 credits of Anthropology classes. I'm also taking a Anthropology class on China and I am totally psyched for that. I've really gotten in touch with my roots this summer.



(Sadly, none of the "good" pictures came out well...these were the best.)

Still jet lagged and tired. And it's hot here. And dry. And there are no trees. On the plus side, gas is at a more reasonable price. But I don't own a car.

August 14, 2011

Spiritual gift of faith

Being a child of a member of the bishopric means having to hide from him in your own home in order to avoid giving a talk. Inevitably, our paths crossed and I was asked. I gave my talk today and the theme was spiritual gifts. I chose to speak on the spiritual gift of faith.
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Reading the scriptures, saying your prayers, attending church, and so on are commonly known as the “Primary answers” but there is a reason why we have been taught these from the beginning. These are the essentials for building faith in Christ; it is how we exercise our faith in Christ.

We’ve always learned that you had to first exercise faith in order to accept the gospel and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Spiritual gifts then come through the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was initially confused when I learned of the spiritual gift of faith. One had to exercise faith to receive the gift of faith? What is the difference between the initial faith and the gift of faith?

C.S. Lewis describes faith in The Screwtape Letters as “when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do [God’s] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys” (40). Faith is actively acting on what you know you should do.

We also know that faith is one of the “first principles and ordinances of the gospel” (Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith 1:4). And Alma taught the poor in Chapter 32, our initial faith “is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” and “any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.”

The gift of faith is a stronger, deeper faith, an almost perfect knowledge that Christ is there next to you, that if you ask, you will receive. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “this gift takes root in our hearts as hope and, nurtured as a seedling, will eventually flower into knowledge and bear the fruit of eternal life.”

It was the gift of faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to crumble. It was the gift of faith of the three Nephites that they should not taste death. It was the gift of faith of the brother of Jared that allowed him to see the Lord.

August 8, 2011

Social networking.

I did it. I deactivated my Facebook.
I know, I know. "Why Eden? Why deactivate in the last month of summer?" To be honest, it's so I can see if I can do it. That way, in the middle of the year when I'm swamped with work, I can say to myself, "Hey friend, you were able to survive without Facebook for a bit in the summer, you can do it again."
Me telling (threatening?) myself "You can do it!" in the bathroom mirror, where many pep talks have been given.

Unfortunately, once my main social network was deactivated, a part of me yearned to be connected to the outside world digitally. And it burned within me with such passion, I've taken on more home projects to keep myself off my laptop. For example, I've decided to help my family update their 72-hour kits and food storage in case of hurricanes or, more realistically, zombies (I had another zombie dream except this one was a prequel to my recurring one). Also, I've been working out so I can better outrun the brain-sucking living dead.
But you can tell how well that's going because...
...I stopped working out. I was so good from April till about three weeks ago when the darn heat wave got the best of me. Though good news: I did cardio today because *drumroll* we got air conditioning! It finally happened after ten long hot summers of complaining!
...blogger was calling to me. Do you like what I've done with the blog? I decided I had enough of my "faces" background...apparently, there can be too much of my face.
Too much?
Anyway, so since I've been gone from Facebook (really since Wednesday night), I fixed up by blog, strained my thumb while texting--not really--and went crazy on Twitter--where I decided to follow as many Asians as I can--and on Tumblr--which I now admit I have had since late June (edenwen.tumblr.com). It's like I'm trying to desperately fill up the time I would have spent on Facebook on other social networks! Blah.

Also, I realize now that you guys probably won't be reading this for another two weeks (when I'll be back in the social network) since I've done all my blog promotion on Facebook. Shoots.

If you are reading this now, you are a fine, loyal follower of mine. I love you. Or I gave in shortly after posting this and decided to reactivate. If this happens, I give you permission to call me a weakling.

August 1, 2011

Worse case scenarios.

No, not a zombie apocalypse (but I will get into that recurring nightmare another time). (Oh, and can I add that I'm glad I'm not in Utah for the Annual Zombie Walk? I think I would die of a heart attack.)

I'm a thinker. Before making decisions, I like to think everything through. Oftentimes, I think too fast and miss important steps. Other times, I think myself into a hole, create implausible situations, and scare myself. For example, especially after watching "When a Stranger Calls," I start thinking of different scenarios, mainly worse case scenarios, that could happen when I babysit. 
Like getting a Calvin to babysit.
Rosalyn is my babysitter hero.
Like losing a child while playing Hide-and-Seek.
But this one scenario came to pass. You ever worry that the animal you are petsitting died? Um. Well, let me tell you that when it happens once, the worry increases. 

I was petsitting two chickens. I let them out into the gated area in the morning, I put them back into the coop at night. When I went back one evening to shoo them into their nesting area for the night, I felt like I entered a crime scene. Feathers were everywhere, the ladder to the coop was on the floor, and one of the chickens was squawking. I peeked into the coop and the other chicken was not in there. Shoots. What happened? I looked around. No blood, just feathers. Then I saw it. In the back corner of the gated area, there was a hole leading to the outside world. I slowly walked towards it and saw that the area was dugged out. Loose grass littered the area and I stood there. I stood there sweating as I thought of what I was to say to the family of six kids, to the parents who bought the chickens, to the oldest child who received the chickens for her birthday. 

I spoke with the parents who told me to keep the live chicken in the coop, but have the window open. Everyday after the...incident...my mind kept on floating back to the poor lone chicken in the coop. Will whatever got the other chicken break into the coop with superanimal strength and strangle that last one too? Gah!

But the owners returned and I have nothing to worry about any more...but I still feel bad. 

Blah.

Random update: I'm a couple weeks behind on the Bachelorette. The second I logged into Facebook, statuses ruined the surprise. I'm peeved.