Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in albertii's LiveJournal:

Monday, April 30th, 2007
12:24 pm	regrets and apologies Howdy! i haven't been very diligent in updating live journal. my deepest apologies. once this finals week is over, i shall get back to it. in the mean time, i shall be studying. i've been posting a number of photos on my google photo upload site ( http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along ) incidentally, i also have a backlog of photos, but i'll get round to that as well. over this summer, i'll be going down to Dallas for a summer camp, more details at http://www.projecttransformation.org/ i'll be leaving winfield in 2 weeks time and will spend approx. 12 weeks in Dallas (which is in Texas) have a great week. take care and God bless!!! Yours truly, Albert Ong II p.s. i got a hair cut. army style... second-army style, to be specific. Current Mood: energetic Current Music: the sound of my neighbour's air con. (my room mate's out, so i offed his radio) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
11:12 pm	10th Piece 10th Piece; Jazz 9t   Dearest ones,   Salutations!!!   I missed out some important info in the last e-mail; this is some of the facts to fill out the already detailed previous issue. Memorization list of songs for choir; Bonse Aba, MLK (Stands for Martin Luther King, I think there’s a subtitle “Sleep”) City Called Heaven Go 'Way from My Window Beautiful Savior (rearranged in parts, 1800s edition) Nunc Dimittis, Not While I'm Around (Men only) Horizons, http://play.rhapsody.com/kingssingers/streetsongs/horizons?didAutoplayBounce=true Like As the Hart Lord, Thou has been our refuge   The 4 jazz combos play songs mostly by famous jazz composers (such as Charlie Parker). My combo only performs Au Prevav (by Charlie Parker) and Blue Bossa (by Kenny Dorham). The only combo that does not have sheet music is the last combo consisting of seniors (4th year college students) or higher (like grad/post-grad/ex-students) and they have a finale of randomly churning out melodic snazzy tunes that are improvised with each other on the spot.   I had a registered mail slip (in my local school post box) which I had to go to the post office to collect (while I was on the way to the bank to make a deposit), and had a pleasant surprise today to find a birthday card in the mail! =) Thanks Guys and Gals, Uncles and Aunties from back home!!! J It is a pleasant reminder to know I am remembered.   While I am on this topic, I just realized I had somehow missed out talking about my birthday party as well. (the first few photos of the album labeled 18th ) It was a lot of fun. However, I was so spent after the choir tour that I might have been a little too tired to fully appreciate it. Anyway, I got a bunch of gift cards to Walmart and Wendy’s. The host parents do know their way to a foreign student’s heart. (Just kidding, I’m not so money minded, there’s are other more important things to life like cars, condos, clubs, etc… Haha)   Talking about money, the mother of the girl I tutored Chinese to emailed me yesterday and told me the little girl was dreading the lesson in the morning and that we shouldn’t continue the lesson. That was a surprise, though I could feel it coming. She was a sociable little 3 ½ year old bundle of energy who would do better in a class type of setting with friends to interact with.   I also outsourced the Sunday Church playing (at the Veteran’s home, I recently found out it’s called Fuller’s House of Prayer) to a fellow Asian Sensation (not that I’m very sensational, but it has a nice ring to it =P), Budi Taniwan (the piano extraordinaire who plays the piano mostly by hearing and sings like Pavarotti; he’s a music major by the way). I was visiting my host family’s church (Burden UMC) one week when I needed someone to take over and just gave him the job. Incidentally, both Keynotes (an outreach team) and World Witness Team (another out reach team) are both traveling out of town this week. *sigh*   On a happier note, I had more time to myself yesterday evening, and attended the Builders-In-Ministry workshops that were ongoing. The afternoon early-bird workshop was mind blowing; challenging me to rethink concepts of what worship is, styles, etc… The evening key note speaker Dr. Swenson (MD) was by far the most impressive evening speaker I’ve heard in a non-church setting; his topic was about stress, time margins, and statistics of how life has changed from 10 years ago till now. I’ll elaborate more soon. God-willing, by Friday night, I hope to put my thoughts on paper this week. In the mean time, here are some of them for your viewing pleasure;   1.      Of TV, movies and video games- the visual effects intrigues the mind, provoking emotions that have been scientifically proven to increase the level of adrenaline (which causes fatigue after the initial feelings of rush), and secondly consumes precious time and energy which could be better spent. 2.      Of  television in particular- television desensitizes in that television programs expose us violence (in kung fu action flicks and ) harsh satirical humor (in comedies), the jading hard realities of life (in news, that may on hindsight prove inaccurate) and  imaginary fantasies (like romance, adventure, horror, etc…) 3.      Of movies and popular culture- there are good lessons that one can learn from some movies, but the current state of our movies is that the majority of them tend to be unwholesome, since Hollywood makes movies which sell (hence their focus would be of financial gain rather than intellectual or moral advocacy. For the ardent movie lovers out there, of whom many are my closest and dearest friends, can you honestly reply that you learned something good that you can apply to your life from the last movie you watched? Neither can I. However, allow me some hypocrisy to highly recommend a few movies. Home run (by Rain Tree Pictures, Singapore- a Jack Neo movie), Finding Neverland and Brotherhood (a Korean war movie).In some instances, mankind’s history cannot be described by words (and left to one’s imagination to fathom), but require accurately researched reenactments to convey the depth of emotion and situation. 4.      Of video (and other computer based) games; There have been online articles written about the more recently developed cutting edge computer games. Some of the articles I’ve read advocates that computer games are able to develop a player’s observation, team work, (online) social skills, marketing skills, etc… But I am absolutely certain that for each of these virtual activities, there has to be a real-life activity that would have the same benefits (such as bird watching, hunting {I know some people here who like to hunt, America is called the land of the free and the brave [in a traditional American song] for good reason}, getting a job (I never really understood the importance of PR skills until I had a job), etc..). Furthermore, being in a virtual world numbs one’s responsibility as anything ‘bad’ that happens has no long-term effects, since there is a save and restart option. Could this be part of the reason for this generations seeming apathy towards responsibility? The increase in hiring/firing as well as the apparent break down of the social family unit (seen in the increase of divorce rates, latchkey kids, teenage pregnancy, abortion rates, etc…) could effects of the removal of one’s moral sense of responsibility from one’s actions. 5.      Of Christians and the apparent lack of evangelism; If Christ has called us unto Himself, delivered us from sin and death, and given to us His living Word, why are we not able to share the gospel with others, according to the directions of the Great commission (Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.) . If we are branches of the vine, where are our fruits?     Have a Blessed week!!!!!!!   In Christ’s love, Albert Ong II   p.s. for the sake of debate, before I (probably will) present some ecumenical arguments, this is for the sake of setting the context; http://aomin.org/index.php?itemid=1749; link courtesy of a family friend in Canada. (but please don’t read too much into it, I sometimes mislead people about the context of my topic due to my inexperience)   http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/19th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/20wentieth end note: i used a song for memorising the names of the 12 disciples. my only quiz so far this week was for discipleship class, it was on the gospels, it wasn't that hard, but it wasn't easy either. Writing down the 10 commandments came out as an extra credit question, which helped somewhat. (good thing i paid attention in Uncle Lye Sum's sunday school class) http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/t/w/twere_12.htm  Current Mood: only 1 quiz so far this week;) Current Music: a song memorized for a quiz: There were 12 disciples,... (Comment on this)
Friday, February 23rd, 2007
10:57 am	a month of backlog oh dear. I have fallen way behind in updating live journal (and thankfully it’s my only ‘fall’ as far as I can tell).   This will be short and sweet, I got off work at the library (finished at midnight) covering for someone else and it’s late. I’m writing chronologically from where I left off the last time. If you spot typos, forgive me. I’m tired, although somewhat less so than last week and the week before.   I realize it’s been a month and a day since I’ve updated. I remember last month I mentioned that I seem to be going along a log curve increase where the space in between post was always getting 2 times more. This is entirely unintentional.   Something I wrote on the 24th regarding Dr. Andy Shepperd-God has blessed him to be a fine listener, as he even said so himself that he listens well. He sure does. Very perceptive fine Christian gentleman. It helps he was educated overseas for a while, so he empathizes well with international students (like myself). It seems that counseling training in handling students (new, old and international) is done quite well here, as a number of other teachers I spoke to show a lot of concern over how I’m doing, specifically so regarding feelings of home sickness, culture shock, etc… so many categories to list, but I would not do it justice by listing down everything. However, the issues I’ve heard foreign students face, they’re quite real. Maybe someday I’ll counsel a foreign student like that too J   Perhaps it is because that Dr. Andy Shepperd is the academic dean, but I really started thinking about the point of education (the “real” goals that it should be directed at) after talking to him. I probably have gone through similar topics in GP (general paper) class in JC (Junior College), but certain issues never really resonated as deeply as they do know. Is my life’s goal changing? Maybe it’s just the culture shock still that makes me more sensitive.   Sight-read about 15 hymns almost at their singing speed for 2 hours before barely touching my jazz. Reached my room, open the drapes.. stared blankly outside.. sat on the bed. In 10 seconds, I was out like a light. Woke up at 1 am when my room mate came back from the (nearby) warehouse where they (the media students) were shooting a production. Vincent was directing it today.   Logged into my laptop, it did a copy of me 4 ½ hours earlier. (i.e. it crashed)   Comp crashed right in front of me. How little control have I over mine life. It is God that gives, God that makes the increase (and the decrease). All I am called to do is to be a faithful servant.     (Albert II ran out of his allocated space on Google’s Picasa web folder, and so deleted the first 10 folders to make room for new photos)   [A II reminds self to keep this short and sweet]   Photo Folder 9; Had heavy snowfall a month back which led to classes being cancelled one afternoon at 3 p.m. Incidentally, I had finished class before that.   Went to a fund raiser concert at Messenger Hall (the same place where the Martin Luther King Jr. service was held) Bought a 24 liter Coleman container. A lot of these thermal plastic containers as well as drinking fountains (water coolers) are made in Wichita, KS.   Went down to Burden UMC with my host parent’s for a Sunday as they worship there. As it was the first Sunday of the month then, they had a game of ping pong and Bingo going. Went to Witchita for “Tosca” opera practice. The drive took about 45 minutes to and fro at the speed limit. Drivers here are all at the speed limit on highways, and usually over by a fair bit. Interestingly enough, the convention hall where we rehearse have different exhibitions each week.   Found myself going down to Walmart with different room mates of one room (the international guys from Reid Hall 103), on 4 occasions over 2 days to buy various supplies. Super walmart down by Ark City (20 minute drive) has almost every thing I have seen a shop have. They even sell aquarium fish and accessories at low prices. I got a scientific calculator at almost a quarter of the price that my book shop here had listed.   Shopping never seemed important until I have to handle my own groceries/supplies.   Basketball (or sports in general) in America is always huge event. I cannot do justice without a proper (i.e. lengthy) explanation, so I’ll just say that it is crazy and leave it to your imagination.   Went for 2 soup dinners in one week with Don and Betsy Drennan who invited my room mate, Keren Telemantes (from Mexico, graduating this semester in accountancy) and I for the rotary club’s and the lions club’s habitat home fund raising soup dinner. I quite enjoyed it. The rotary club is an international club that prides itself on the social work it has done globally. The lion’s club soup dinner had a guy in a lion soup walk around greeting people. It was funny how he had to hang onto his headpiece which didn’t seem too stable, and he could greet us but couldn’t quite hear us when we responded or asked him questions.   Occasionally, we (the internationals) hang out for an hour or two at the College Hill Coffee House. They’ve board games there you can play for free, as it’s the culture here to have various entertainments in cafes. Singapore has only recently caught on. The diverse types of board games here are evidently well used, and reflects on the creativity (and flexibility) of American minds. It’s a cultural thing.   Saturday soon came and I had to go down to “Donna’s Design” (the neatest one-stop home interior décor shop) which was traditionally used by the College for making tuxedos. The tux cost $170, but for the training and performance experience I get in choir, it’s worth the money. Good things in life don’t come cheap. But the best things of all are free. I managed to get a buddy to take me down town to get the tux, and took a little detour to the mall in Witchita (an hour’s drive from Winfield). I must’ve spent about US$60+ on 9 shirts, and got Budi an “I got issues” shirt from a college shirt retail shop for around $7 (I’ve to get a picture of that some time).   We celebrated Budi Taniwan’s (Music ministry major sent by his church to study here) birthday (see picasa folder 11ven). Budi is the oldest freshman around (this was his 30th birthday), but this is his second degree. His first degree is in real estate. We had the celebration in Wroten Hall, and it continues to amaze me how well Americans can really decorate a place under limited financial and time constraints.   (one week passes)   Album 12ve starts off with some random shots showing how the snow is mostly gone (cleared by a very efficient maintenance crew). The photos of the people wearing yellow or orange shirts is the Improvisation Team (Improv.) It is stand up comedy taken to a new level of entertainment where some students are able to take it as a academic subject. After the impressive 9 lives show the night before, I had seriously considered joining as well, but sensibly realized it just wouldn’t be possible for me (as I’ve a packed schedule) in the near future. I borrowed a friend’s younger brother (in a manner of speaking) as it was sibling week and it was for students and their visiting siblings that this Improv worshop was being conducted (but a few students had 2 or 3 siblings). Anyway for the workshop, it was rather ‘qin chai’, they kinda accepted anyone who showed interest, and I had great fun (and lots more ideas for more games which engages your creativity).   That evening, Vincent, Hilary, Keren, Meg and I went down to the Ark City Chinese restaurant. Chinese food here seems to come mostly in buffet style dinners. Anyway, I needed the Chinese food in Ark City. It’s so much closer to the way food is prepared in Singapore than the Vietnamese-Chinese Buffet Restaurants we have in Winfield.   I joined Keynotes (one of the Evangelistic music outreach teams that travel to different churches on a monthly or fortnightly basis to sing) this Sunday as they were going down to Burden UMC, my host family’s church. World Witness Team was going down to Dodge City (about 3 hrs away) and I wouldn’t be able to go for the choir opera practice if I followed WWT.   Anyway, my host mother fetched me back to Winfield in time to carpool with the choir people at 2pm to go to the Wichita convention centre for practice. I can’t recall what the displays that week showcased (here’s me regretting not updating on a more regular basis), but I do remember seeing bathroom/bathtubs, luxury speed boats and displays of vintage cars on the different weeks I walked pass the convention display hall on the way to the rehearsal rooms.   (another week passes) [refer to photo album 13th, photos are somewhat jumbled]   [no photos] I swim in some bermudas. Never would I imagine that I would one day miss swimming (and all the swimming lessons my thoughtful mother signed me up for) that used to give me aching shoulders and hungry bellies. I am so out of shape, but still, my previous swimming lessons puts me a class above normal swimmers. I mess with Budi’s swimming speed (he was their fastest I think, apparently many Asians can swim well), and the 6 or 7 of us later play shallow pool water polo.   We ice skate on Saturday night. Unfortunately, my camera battery went flat before I entered the skating rink. I relived my trauma for a bit, then bravely go into the rink only to discover  I had been issued blunt skates (I could exchange them for a better pair, skating that night only costs only $6.50 per person on a special group deal)   Joel Alejandre (Mexico), Vincentius Putera (Indonesia) drive down to Lawrence city to help me buy a car going at a very reasonable price. There, Mark Chan (a fellow Singaporean, look for familiar army style plastic black-rimmed glasses) brings us to a local church in Lawrence city   I hang out a lot with the “international” clique. They are some of the best people to hang out with on campus, though I feel we shouldn’t let it become too habitual till walls start to form due to the cliques.   Discipleship organizes spaghetti dinners where everyone brings an item to dinner at a house that has been opened up for such a dinner. I brought the spaghetti sauce, while Vincent (who drove me to the Caldwell’s house, also the guy sleeping on the coach in this album) brought the drinks. This was considered a good dinner, as only 3 people didn’t showed up. All in all, we somehow only ended up lacking the meat for the spaghetti sauce, and our host joked about us being vegetarian for lent. I had a long conversation with Dr. Chris Caldwell, the philosophy professor. His wife, Dr. Delilah Caldwell, also has a doctorate in philosophy, and she used to work as a librarian in Southwester College’s Memorial library until recently. Currently, we have Dr. Beth Sheppard (Dr. Andy Sheppard’s wife, she holds a doctorate in Greek Theology I think) as our library’s director. I feel like we’re very much surrounded by very intelligent (and humble) people who “seeketh not their own”, but serve in their respective duties. Now that I look back, I always had such people, but just never appreciated them for who they are while I was in Singapore.   That week, I played for the international team in the Futsal intramurals and we did quite well. As we were walking back to our various accommodations, Dimitri and I went to investigate the cause of a huge crowd gathering by the side of the road in their pajamas. This was about a 100 yards from Wallingford on the road opposite Cole Hall. It was then we found out someone had burnt pop corn on the third floor of Cole Hall and set off the fire alarm, causing the commotion. They had to wait till the fire truck came to see that it was safe before they could return. Dimitri is the visiting Belarusian scholar by the way, and is the largest facial profile in the 13th night photos album. The next day, a Friday, had a choir practice in full swing for the choir tour the following week. After lunch, I had a RAD (Research Across the Disciplines) lesson at 1:10, where I learnt to use the library’s complex search engines properly. Many online journals and e-books can be accessed from the library’s search engines by one with the proper know-how, and many of these available scientific journals do cost a fair bit (and are rather useful for the ardent researcher). However, I feel that my class didn’t really appreciate the lesson Dr. Beth Sheppards had been invited to give (see bored/sleepy faces in 13th album). For discernable reasons, a phrase I memorized in GP comes to mind; Youth and Education are wasted on the young.   In the afternoon, I spent an about 45 minutes watching the turtles and fish swim. It is really relaxing to do that. The turtle was able to prop itself on a rock and remain motionless (if unprovoked) for the entire duration I kept watching it. The moment it was feeding time however, the turtles and fish went into a feeding frenzy.   [reminds himself again, short and sweet!]   (Another week passes, Valentine’s day comes and goes)   People are reminding me to update my live journal/post the web email/blog. If only I did it then, there would be less to do then. And I wouldn’t be so tired then. Or using so much Singlish saying “then”. [berates himself about the short and sweet]   Had a Black History night where a James Brown look-alike performed. He really imitated James Brown quite well I guess, based on my observations of the expressions on the various countenances around me. I finally realized that the private improvisation lessons on jazz styles are paying off. I finally appreciate the jazzy snazzys, the du-dabs, swings, bossa beats, etc… I have heard the styles in Singapore before, but it’s different when I’ve the real deal in teachers explaining (and painstakingly going over jazz rhythms) for me how jazz should be played.   The next few photos in album 13th are friends I’m making. We had another snow fall that was moderately heavy before choir tour. But I’ve heard that buses can handle the snow (being heavier, maybe?)   My laptop starting acting up and I had Microsoft outlook reinstalled at the laptop centre (and conveniently picked up some photos of the lap top centre and its personnel)   One of the nights, I joined the tri-Beta (Beta Beta Beta, one of the greek style sororities, but it’s a science sorority that is headed by various bio/chem/physics professors. The tri-Beta president works for Dr. Charlie Hunter in the bio labs as well, so I got to know him. One of the things the tri-Beta has a habit of doing is planting black cats all over someone’s front yard (upon request by other people we know that they know the folks being pranked). It wasn’t that hard, and the ground was surprisingly soft for a winter climate (so I thought, it was certainly easier than my experience of digging trenches on Pulau Tekong) Jinxing is a tradition. I cannot explain it well yet, so I’ll postpone the discussion on ‘jinxing’. Anyway, I forgot to bring my gloves and my fingers were oh so cold after just 20 minutes of out door ‘work’ jinxing in the snow.   [tri-beta is really cool, the following week after choir tour, I went for the next meeting that came up and we had taken out the GPS (global positioning satellite) devices for a game. We formed teams and had to follow the stored locations on the GPS device to hunt for boxes with clues to a riddle. The professor in charge then, Dr. Rick Calleshaw   (couple of days past)   Choir Tour!!! I get so excited about it I back the night before, double check my items… go to work on Thursday morning (at 8:30 am) and promptly forget about my 10:30 class >.< anyway, I found out the homework about the class (Applied Creativity-Ultimate! Challenge) and finished it before it was due (like 2 minutes before the lesson on the following week =D, no worries, it was really simple, just come up with 10 things that the locals find interesting about Winfield) [I’m taking liberties with the proper progression of time here] Met outside the choir rehearsal hall ready to go at 12:30pm, loaded up the bus with suit cases and people   Choir tour log   Left on time; Dr. Gardner was pleased. Bus traveling time – 2 hrs 20 minutes Light snow fall in Pratt, about 3 inches. Bus drives well through snow   Reached about 3, unloaded/siesta/rested till 3:30pm’s practice   During the siesta, I observed two accomplished pianists (see first photo in album 15) Roger Klein (biology sophomore) and Matt Miers play an improvised duet with a walking bass line, jumping jazz melodies and harmonies that blended everything together. After a while, Nathan (a marine biology freshman, actually a good drummer rather than a pianist) came in and did something on a few bass notes so I could get a photo with 3 people playing (but either Roger or Matt playing alone will be impressive enough, they have very well-trained hearing abilities and a very developed good finger dexterity on the piano to match it)   The Church’s interior was a soft baby blue. They had this one heart made of balloons left over from Valentine’s which I used to good effect. The couples in album 15 aren’t ‘real’ though the use of the balloon as a prop looks really convincing.   Rehearsed from 3:30pm till 5. I wouldn’t do justice in just saying that the choir concert was all fun and neglect to mention the hours of practice we have together to sound as good as we do. The emotional weariness is something to contend with. It’s a good thing the choir was very efficient, due to the working style of our choir director to be orderly in all that his organization’s organization.   Ate at 5:30   Changed to concert attire at 6:30   Concert started at 7:00 till almost nine   Stayed over at Courtney’s grandparent’s home (they volunteered to host 4 guys, so I stayed with Budi, Blake Carter and Cody Davis) – good food, good conversation and good company – learned the macarina   That night was the most fun night I’ve had so far since I landed the US. Incidentally, half of the group ‘partying’ at our host’s place were music majors and had a good sense of rhythm/beat/tempo …well, music in general =P   2nd Day (February 16); Dr. Gardner was happy that we left on time again   Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their stay with their host families.   Visited Pratt High School’s choir where we sang and were sung to.   We went to the world’s largest hand dug well. The whole choir trouped down into the platform near the bottom of the well and sang there for about 15 minutes. The acoustics were a once in a life time experience. There’s so much about my trip that I want to describe, but the words will not do justice. So once again, I’ll let your imagination fill in the blanks.   Reached the Dodge City First United Methodist Church again around 3:30pm, unloaded and set up before realizing we didn’t need the risers. Church has pretty good acoustics as well as a state of the art interior design, so good it was a tad bit extravagant to the point that the members are pampered (as compared to other overseas churches I’ve been to in Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia and Scotland even ( I cannot say the same for Singapore, a lot of churches back home are too well off =D which is a good thing I guess, and balanced-views training, have to include that it could be a bad thing as well). We had to rearrange their stage, and it was then I realize that the altar on which the Holy Communion is set on comes in 2 pieces, and that both pieces can be made fairly lightweight for easier transportation.   Pretty much the same rehearsing and singing schedule as yesterday.   Stayed in this guy’s place whose daughter’s were away for the weekend, so we could use their rooms to sleep in. He was in the midst of gaining custody, and wasn’t quiet as prepared for us as our previous hosts were. This reminded me of the different social “family unit’ mentality that we have in Singapore (although Singapore is becoming Americanized to the extent that we have a rise of typical Western family issues and that people like me are using more ‘Z’s instead of ‘S’s.)   Our host  knew how to play jazz, and did a bit of composing himself.   We reached our rendezvous point (the church) early. The plan was for 9:30am but an announcement given last night said to reach church at 9:00am. I got to play 3 hymns (sight-reading) and impress a small group of friends before the bus came and I helped to load the luggage cheerfully (I bet the rest got as little sleep as I did and are really as cranky inside and wish to just let the angst out but what they need is a smile (I am not a betting man, but I would bet on this).   We visited the Boot Hill Museum, which show cased the rich history of the American Mid-West and separated fictitious Hollywood stuff from the real deal (which the museum claimed to be more dramatic than cowboy films). The museum stated that what had happened in Dodge City during the era of the gold rush was what made the stuff of legends, and sometimes were more incredible than the fictitious Hollywood cowboy flicks. This is partially due to the tough stance that they had to have as Dodge City had been in one of the old gold trails. The historical information was impressive, being well-documented in their write ups they have about one of the marshals who was a classic shoot first ask questions later type.   More or less free and easy till 12:30pm, but I had a tummy ache and skipped lunch (and that’s why there is a bit more writing here)     02/23/07 After dinner, there was a chamber orchestra concert that impressed. The arts here in such a small college is truly well developed. There are “high art” music performances at least three times a month and side attractions at various coffee houses, public areas and restaurants where pro professionals (I liberally use this terminology as the standard of music abilities here are beyond even the professionalism I even knew existed) (and I get to attend all this for free!! Haha, my kiasu faucet laughs in glee XD) Chamber orchestra finished around 8 pm, after which I practiced my jazz piano (I’m in a jazz combo and we’re doing our debut alongside 3 other more seasoned jazz combos at the down town restaurant on Friday the 23rd of February at 7 pm). All 4 of the jazz combos are taught by Scott, an old dude who redefines the meaning of patience. I am not exaggerating. He is patience personified. When I get the chance I’ll talk more about him.   Worked at the library for 3 hours tonight (9-12pm). Covered duties for someone who had to study for a test (but I get to clock the hours).   Okay, I haven’t done any reading on math or biology tonight (except on some interesting facts on Deep Sea Angler Fish for a project which took me about 4 hours) due to writing all these. But it was worth it. Something always seems needed to be sacrificed. I’d like to reiterate here about one thing I’ve learnt, good things don’t come cheap, but the best things of all are free.   02/24/07 Zzz.. fell asleep before I managed to send this. It was kinda funny, I did my writing (i.e. my typing) in the library so I wouldn’t wake my roomie, but the moment I got back to double check some names on my choir tour booklet, I slipped off into sweet blissful sleep…would was rudely interrupted (as per normal) at 7 am by my morning alarm.   A class was timely cancelled this morning so I’ve time to send this.   well, i hope you find this enjoyable. thank you for the time you've taken to read some of my thoughts. Take care and God bless!!! Yours truly, Albert II   p.s. I feel like in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve learnt to understand things a little more figuratively. ß I wrote this down last night. Now that I look through it in the day, I have no idea what I meant! I feel like Pharoh who had Joseph interpret his dream.   p.s.s. I’m trying to get used to American spelling. Fortunately the grammar remains the same.  i missed out a few things, as you'd see in the photos that there are occasional photos that don't seem related to the text various photo albums that are related to this post;  http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/11ven http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/12ve http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/13th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/14th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/15th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/16th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/17th http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/18th Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: some rap on my room mate's lap top. i don't recognise it. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
3:21 am	even 7s and and unfinished 8ve aria Cheerios from a winter wonderland!!     White out   (a brief synopsis after my previous update till now)   Contemplating a lot more about what I’m doing here and what it is to live life. Friday (12th January) brings about classes that keep me busy, so much so I lack time to think the depressive philosophical thoughts that is my trademark melodrama.   I find that it’s not that hard for me to complete assignments ahead of classes. I think the standard of education in Singapore more than prepared me for this college level of difficulty.  It’s not very time consuming and is indeed good training for the discipline (and character) to meet deadlines.   Wandering morosely alone, I observe the opulence that this land is bountifully blessed with. I had a few discussions with various informed citizens about America’s needy, their poverty and the community’s effort to ease their plight. However much we do, there is still always a stark difference in our lifestyles. In Singapore, there are movements to help the poor, to make the young more aware of social injustices, but there will always be the rich in their affluent comforts and the poor with their material lacking. A familiar phrase comes to mind “the poor ye will always have with you”.   Sleet fell through the night. It is something like miniature ice cubes (mini hail stones) that pelt ‘pitter patter’ on the roof tops, windows, spectacles, etc… From a distance, it looks like snow, but it’s much heavier and packs into smooth icy slicks on the ground which makes traveling on ice skates more sensible than shoes. It crunches slightly with crisp sugary footsteps when one treads on the surface, and ices over windscreens. It takes considerable effort to remove it from windows and sidewalks.   The various older folks I interview claim never to have seen anything quite like it all their years that they’ve resided in Winfield, KS. Then again this is Kansas, the state with the greatest difference climate in the States. It amazes me that it is called the breadbasket of America, despite its rather extreme climate. It all started after the Civil War when the victorious North realized that a fair part of agricultural systems in the South was destroyed during the war, and there was still a constant stream of immigrants coming in from Europe (which had it’s fair share of famines, wars and other human/natural disasters). Out of this situation, Kansas (then an untamed land) was developed; farming communities planned, towns mapped out, hardware stores, banks, iron works and carpentries placed strategically every few dozen miles to serve the farmers. At one time Kansas was so successful that it’s residents claimed it as the breadbasket of the world.   But I digress, what I’m trying to say is that Kansas gets a substantial amount of moisture, unfairly more so than many other parts of the Earth.   Another aspect that the people here seem to have been blessed with is a good sense of humor. There’s this “Disciple-sheep” shirt, which has the words “Jesus loves Ewe” on the back. Sometimes, they do carry these puns too far.   Anyway, I have also made many good friends who are very willing to help in whatever way they can. I was casually walking down to the library after having lunch at the cafeteria when I ran into a group of international students just about to go out for Chinese (i.e. Chinese buffet). Even though I wasn’t going to lunch with them, they tried persuading me to go anyway, and eventually just gave me a ride anyway to the library (a 2 minute drive away).   Another thing I cannot understand is the number of good friends I seem to have. It just doesn’t seem fair for the new Asian kid on the block (i.e. me) to be on such good terms with so many already. It just isn’t… fair. People are just so nice down here (it might be because it’s a small college, as compared to the large state colleges).   After reading a inter-disciplinary encyclopedic volume of marine biology (I think I’ve been influenced by a few professors to have an interest in marine biology) for about two hours, I returned to my somewhat cluttered desk (my room mate is quite neat, but he doesn’t complain about my lack of order, I try to keep it tidy though).   I had a momentary breather snapping shots in my rooom before Vincent Putera (an Indonesian) came breathlessly to my door asking if I would like to go along for dinner at my biology professor’s place, as his gf, who works as a laboratory technician, was invited for dinner and asked to invite some of her friends over as well. Pleasantly surprised, I eagerly consented and ended up spending a most delightful evening getting to know some more international people. There was Dr. Hunter,  Dr. Hunter’s wife Lynn, one of his daughter’s Claire, her friend Helena (I think I got the name wrong.. but it sounds something like this), Mike (who works Tuesdays and Thursdays at Southwestern as a pottery instructor, incidentally Helena’s father), Ann (Mike’s wife), Naiser (16 year old from Kazakhstan or Kakhistan), Vincent, Hilary, Pablo (aka Paul), Kishimjan (a nursing student who happened also to be from Kakhistan) and I. After a dinner of chilli (which is a stew of ground beef, a stock of vegetables, brown/kidney beans and some other wholesome ingredients), we played Cranium (2nd time I played it in 2 days, incredibly fun!). There are many aspects to the game, guessing a song which a team member hums, acting like a famous person (which saying names or places) for team members to guess, charades, play dough modeling, sketching out objects. The pottery teacher was incredibly skilled at using play dough, Dr. Hunter was able to spell words backwards without much problem, while I found I was able to sketch with my eyes closed. To my delight, I could draw a perfect pentagon without looking.   After the game, we watched The Illusionists (I was mesmerized by the movie for about 20 minutes before I remembered I really wanted to give up watching movies, among other slim profit margin self-indulgent time-burners, and so I slipped to the basement to play the piano. There, I bumped into Dr. Hunter and found that he had been outside a while chopping wood and was carrying more wood inside for the fireplace. His fireplace had this huge metal piece on top to make it more fuel efficient (all my biology teachers so far seem to be rather eco-minded). What surprised me was that He was able to perform the task he sets for himself despite an operation to his spine that had made his movements less lithe than before. To quote Hilary, “after his stroke Charlie even had to relearn basic task from scratch, such as buttoning his shirt and people though he would have to give up teaching. But he persevered on and is a real inspiration to us students”   Later that night, Dr. Hunter drove us back home to the dorms (through the sleet, but the efficient road maintenance crew kept roads in good working conditions). He mentioned (with a hearty laugh) that he might not invite us back after losing to us (we played International kids vs. Americans), before driving back to his place (about 15 minutes away). What a jolly good fellow.    Vincent and I had just played Cranium the night before and had many of the answers memorized :-P, but then, so did Claire and Helena =D.   [Picassa folder “8ve” starts here, photos somehow got jumbled]     Sunday, the fourteenth of January saw a continuation of heavy sleet fall and the morning service at Veteran’s home was cancelled (the Pastor is Rev. Harold Gross). I got a ride back (we chatted about how almost all the churches were closed but people would still go to the football game this afternoon) to the dorms by 11 am, in time to catch Vincent (who just got up) and Hilary (waiting outside his dorm, upset that they were going to be late, again. Rather unusual, I thought, for the girl to wait for the guy instead of vice versa). So I had a pleasant walk to church in the falling sleet with the two delightful characters. The church was half empty (or half full according some cheerful low-voiced sister of my very good friend) as most of the (wiser perhaps?) older folks stayed indoors. Reaching back to the Reid apartments (where many of the junior and senior year people stay), we saw the a number of the college kids just finishing up their worship service that they held in the common area due to many of them not risking life and limb out on the ice.   They’d have fun dunking each other in the snow though. After that, I played a crazy game of ice soccer on the sleet outside. It was hilarious, the ball would bounce, roll in a different direction and we’d all skid pass on the sleet. After that, I was invited to go sledding down the slope at the “77” steps. Sledding was an enormously satisfying thrill. Like riding a roller coaster, but with no safety measures. The coveralls I was issued while in armor came in handy, as it kept me dry (and thus warm).   Sleep from the sheer exhaustion had seldom tasted so sweet.     Monday, January 15th was Martin Luther King day, so for the second week in a row, we didn’t have a Monday of classes (and hence no discipleship too).   Woke up late. Such a waste. Waking up late makes me so unproductive.   Had lunch at the cafeteria. Many students and faculty. Quite packed. Heard somebody met with a sledding accident. Thankful yesterday was safe.   Went to visit Don and Betsy with my room mate Antony “Tony” Mutuma. Had meat balls with salad for dinner. Betsy does cook really well. She had a recipe that had grains in the meat balls. Found Don in the little house-shed next to their home that they rent. He was patching up the place with wooden boards.   After dinner, I went to the Martin Luther King (MLK)service (7pm @ messenger hall). The A Capella choir sang beautifully. It was almost like a service, with a ‘message’ from one of the letters MLK wrote while he was in jail. The college religion (and philosophy I think) HoD gave a moving speech. There was nary a dry eye in the house when he was done reading what MLK wrote about discrimination. He thanked his class for coming down (even though it was compulsory for them, that was when I realized less than a quarter of the college students attended the MLK service).   Dropped by the library after the service. Discovered the library provides hot cocoa and tea upon request. A kind librarian (my unnamed friend, who will remain unnamed) kindly consented to taking out the tea for a photo (he’s a really easy going, good-natured fine Christian gentleman) shoot while he was subsisting on the hot cocoa powder (just the other day, I found out in Cranium that chocolate is made from the cocao tree, not the cocoa tree. Sw33t.   [Oh dear, my mom is chasing me to go to sleep(online, that is). Haiz, old habits of staying up late die hard, I’ll quickly end it.]   One class I really enjoy is Sign language ; 4-5:10 at Wroten Hall. I’ll go into detail another time.   Another is the discussions we have in Research Across the Disciplines. They are MIND-blowing.   Had a short discussion with one of my professor’s;  (to read the bottom 'white' text, highlight it, i know not why i hide it in plain sight.) The American education focuses on training everyone, the breadth of education, rather than a depth on the ‘elite’ crème de la crème that Singapore nurtures.   Over lunch on Thursday, I also met Dr. Phil (a literal man of the often referred to figurative radio talk show personae), HoD of history. He’s an “Arminian” Baptist and we had a very interesting discussion. I very much enjoy these debates I am getting myself into. The academia here debate very properly (for lack of a better word, like maturely). Bishop Wilke, sitting next to me that lunch, was very kind to invite me to dinner on the coming Sunday, to which I had hastily consented, forgetting a prior commitment to rehearse with an opera (it’s a Italian opera called Tosca, have to sing some words in Latin, I am ever so thankful it is a short portion for the choir parts) in Wichita. He gracefully accepted a very apologetic explanation over the phone a few days later. (Albert II mentally scolds himself not to be so blur)     A friend in Canada sent me a link to a very novel Christian radio site. I think it’s novel anyway, I’ve never seen anything like it. Whether it be proves beneficial or detrimental, that remains to be seen. Can too much of a good thing be bad?   Foundation Bible College: http://www.fbcradio.org/listen.aspx   according to the person who sent me the link, “there's a dial-up (low-bandwidth) version that u can use to play it in the background without disrupting ur heavier downloads.” In sobriety and rest, Take care and God bless.       Yours truly, Albert II     p.s. seems like the time I take to update this blogamail is increasing by an exponential factor of 2 (for those who took a or c-Mathematics would understand.    I wish I would get round to these updates more often, but time and tide waits not for the sailor upon the seas of knowledge, exploring uncharted  waters to unknown lands. Through mythic routes, I see,…   Much as mine soul desires to continue waxing lyrical, languor overwhelms mine willing spirit.     Current Mood: blank Current Music: the hum of the heater (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
11:11 pm	Volume 1 Act 6 Nutshells Act 6 Scene 1 (Friday) Since the last update, Albert II stayed over at Don and Betsy Drennan’s place where he had the opportunity to meet new people and inlay his leather driving clothes with a peach coloured fleece glove from Betsy. (first 2 photos) Betsy : Hey Albert, how are you? A II : I’m good thanks, mostly cold from the chilly wind that keeps freezing my fingers. Betsy : Do you know you can slip in a woolen inlay in your gloves? Wait here, I’ll look around for a pair (rummages around upstairs and comes back a short while later) look what I found, I bought an extra pair of fleece gloves and forgot to return it (opens the plastic wrapping and passes the fleece gloves to Albert II) A II: Thanks a bundle Betsy, (slips the fleece gloves inside his leather driving gloves), they fit perfectly Don walks in. Don : *ah-hem* Betsy : aren’t the gloves warm now. I learned this trick of using an in-lay from Don. Don : I learned it when I was in the marine corp. it was a G.I. (Government Issue) Joe thing to do then. (Albert II ponders about the indirect influences the army has on the resident population) [later that day] Don : Hey Albert, get ready.. we’re leaving the house at five thirty. (reminisces) my mother used to say it’s better to be an hour early than 5 minutes late. Betsy : Hold your horses Donald Dean, there’s still fifteen minutes. [We’re meeting Don Jr. (Donald Dean Drennan’s oldest son) and his wife Jane for dinner.] A II : okay, one last piece (chooses a short hymn from the hymnal in front of him then packs up to go. [that evening with live jazz music in the background] Don : (takes out 3 one-dollar bills) see that bowl right there by the piano, I’m putting these in that bowl Betsy : let Albert do it A II : er.. okay (takes the bills from Don, walks over to the piano and drops the notes in the huge glass bowl {shaped like a wine glass}and goes back to his seat) Don : (calls to the waiter) hey, could we have some cinnamon fries? Waiter : Sure, I’ll be right back Don : albert, you’ll definitely like this (winks) but for me, it’s a no no Betsy : (rolls her eyes) it’s his blood suger, I don’t let him have too much sweets [the waiter comes back with the cinnamon fries] [Don stealthily sneaks a cinnamon fry from the basket and Betsy swats his hand away from the cinnamon fry basket] Act 6 Scene 2 (Saturday) A II : ‘morning Don! Don : heya morning (yawns) didja sleep well? A II : (picking up the slang) sure did. Is Betsy up yet? Don : nah… I’m the early riser, but you’re welcome to play the piano to wake her up she has to get up soon anyway. We’re having breakfast with mah cousins Bob and Bill, their wives are Bwana and Nancy (respectively). [obviously, Albert II didn’t play the piano that early] [Albert had a very long conversation with William (some people call him Bill) Drennan from which he remembers very little] Bill : …. Romans 6:8 ….. ……. C.S. Lewis? Here.. lemme write that down (writes down a title) … . …….. …….Romans 6:8 …. I totally agree with what you’re saying .. …. A II : uh-huh. .yeah… (distracted by a toddler at an adjacent table that keeps staring at him) Uh… yeah.. uh-huh Bill : …. Romans 6:8 .. …. …. …. [at some point, the breakfast ended and Albert II went back to the Don and Betsy’s place to grab his stuff to move over to Drew Langston’s place after lunch. Betsy was making tic tac toe boards (see photo) whilst Albert II was playing some hymns. Betsy found him an adaptor to charge his camera so he could continue taking photos. He also dropped by the library as he found he could print stuff out from his wireless laptop to any online printer in the school. Outside, about 200 robins and woodpeckers (and about 5 other species Albert II was unable to identify) were flying around but Albert II was only able to capture shorts of a few of them.] [Basketball game : Announcer does a spectacular introduction to all the players as they run in and do their routine (looks pretty cool, like a dance) to warm up. Guys won by about 85-80, girl’s team won about 75-55] [Albert II meets Drew Langston (third year) at the basketball game, drops his sleep over stuff at Drew’s apartment , meets more new people] Drew : Hey dude, come in… A II : Hi guys Kari : were you knocking at the door a long time? We thought we heard something… Drew : Yeah, sorry man, we were talking to someone at the kitchen door. Here, have a caramel sweet, these are really good. (gives Albert II one as they walk into the living room) Kari : Hi Albert, I’m Kari? would you like a sour worm? These are really good. A II : thanshks, bgut gno thanshks, muh keeth ar shtuck ong shum gery good gcaranel, ash Drew shaid it wash greally good. Kari : yeah, that one’s like toffee. So what kind of food have you not tried in the states that you would really like to try? [Albert II thinks real hard for a minute, remembers something a good friend back home told him about the snail shells on a plate, then un-sticks his teeth before replying] A II : Escargos Drew and Kari: ‘Ooooooo….. Kari : I think there’s a place down town called Olive garden… [and so Albert II gets to try Escargos soon.. he hopes] [Albert met Vincent (Indonesian), Hilary (Burmese), Jason Maisog (Pilipino), Joe (US), Scott (US), they’re all in the photos somewhere or another (it’s in Reid apartments) incidentally, they are mostly Chinese as well. Most of the guys just came back from a road trip to Toronto, Canada where they went to the place with the world’s tallest building. They are obviously exhausted and most are in a half-asleep zombie state. Nevertheless they stayed up till midnight to tell Albert II about SWC, the other international students and the discipleship program] [Finally when he gets back to no. 7 Warren apartment (his parents will be horrified at the unearthly hours he stays up to and the insane hours he wakes up at too) Meets Joseph and Eric (Drew's apartment mates) before crashing on the sofa bed with his laptop] Act 6 Scene 3 (Sunday) [Albert II wakes up at a finally decent hour, (of 7 am, to read a good amount of the replies that came in (finally)) walks over to the Drennan’s place at 10, meets the Drennans as they come back from breakfast and walks to church with them] [In church Albert II is a bit restless, but he won’t tell you why. Met Budi (sunglasses, an Indonesian here to learn Christian music ministry) Had a free lunch of cream chicken soup, crackers, salad and cake at church (the youths were serving, sounds like dinner fellowship, except this was lunch). After that, went with Joe, Budi, Jason and Vincent for a Chinese lunch (remarkably similar to Singaporean dishes). A typical conversation would sound like this; ] Jason : ha, Budi is fat (with a distinct American accent of one living in the US since 11) Budi : say you’re sorry Jason : am not (taunting tone) Budi : no really, say you’re sorry Jason : am not Budi : say you are. Jason : Okay! I’m sorry you’re fat. A II : …*stunned silence* (the rest of the table laughing away) [Albert II has finally met his match in people (very many) who aren’t serious, conversations are really interactive and with this bunch, absolutely hilarious. Every other line is a one-liner, the line that isn’t the one liner is usually us laughing away] [they finally finished a serious conversation that kept drifting thanks to the frequent (funny) interruptions after which they all went together with Albert II to help shift his stuff to the his dormitory room. Albert II felt that the lounge is really nice, though the room is a little old, the photo after the lounge picture is their room in Reid] [A couple of hours later, Albert II found himself going to Wal Mart to buy hangers, an alarm clock, extra soap, batteries, files, pencils and food stuff at bargain prices. After which, he dropped by Dillion’s (the Wal mart of groceries] Act 6 Scene 4 (Monday) [Albert II spent most of the day rearranging his schedule, lining (Americans don’t understand the word Queue, it’s literally not in their dictionary) up for requested add/drop subjects. Quiet day. Nothing too much happened.] Act 6 Scene 5 (Tuesday) [First day of school!] [First lesson, Bio lab Albert II was very surprised at the 5 fossils he got to examine closely (the professor, Dr. Kenneth C. Hunter said to be careful not to break them or he would break the students, he’s a really jovial fellow. Tells a lot of cool stories.), and how tricky they were to identify.] [Following 2 hours of bio lab, Albert I had a strong opinion that creativity was something one couldn’t teach, but inherently possessed. He guessed it was possible to hone creativity and was disappointed by the rowdy class (not too noisy though, Albert’s Primary Five Class wasn’t as well behaved). Applied Creativity Course (from a Hand Out) : Description; Hands on activities featured from several disciplines; most based on primarily in the fine and applied arts. Activities to include optional modules from fields which require creative responses to real world problems. Within multi-disciplinary framework, students introduced to a wide variety of creative possibilities. Course Goals: Every person possesses a wonderful and unique capacity for creativity. This course is designed to empower students in a variety of creative processes and to encourage self-expression, exploration, and discovery through experiential creative exercise. (Albert II thought that was a very flowery way of saying that this course is to encourage creativity) Write a notebook based on what happened in creative class activities Final presentation 40 points Participation 30 points Attendance 10 points Notebook 20 points (Albert II was thus reassured creativity was a quantifiable subject) (Notebook) Could be used for future employment or university presentation Notebook entries should have ideas and techniques from class. Activities; American Sign language Visual/writing creativity (art I guess, I’m not sure) Jazz music Cooking Writing a 10 minute play Scrap booking Final presentation on Thursday 3rd of May (Albert II took up American Sign Language, as he learned a LEeeetle bit in Singapore, but a certain incident was a culture shock to him) Student (girl) : Hey Mabel (teacher’s name changed)! Teacher : Yes ma’am? Student (girl) : can we write in our note books? Teacher : sure, anything that you think might improve the presentation [(it was a culture shock for Albert II to hear students calling teachers by their first names and a teacher addressing a student as ma’am.) The A Capella choir had a rehearsal that day, and for the first time, Albert II felt so lost in singing as they had been training together for a semester already. The rest of the day passed in a blur where Albert II changed his Private Piano for Private Improvisation (on the piano, but more jazz instead of classical, A II thinks Wen Jun will like such a class) and spent a lot of time talking to a myriad of very interesting characters. Thus, Albert II had to stay up till 11 pm (but we all know he actually stays up a lot later than that) to finish the biology reading assignment, on a topic he had hardly covered in Singapore; *drum roll and scary music* Evolutionary development.] Act 6 Scene 6 (Wednesday) [Albert II gets up at 6 am, tries hard not to disturb his room mate (Anthony from Kenya, freshman first semester). A little restless and ends up going downstairs to find a dorm mate (Harmano from Brazil, the other freshman first semester), dragging (figuratively) him out of bed for breakfast, where he meets Gee (junior year) and Marla (assistant soccer coach) who are also from Brazil. Though Albert II is unable to understand the Portuguese that the 4 sitting around him (Paulo joined a bit later, the 5th and final Brazilian in the college), he finds the breakfast pleasantly peaceful. Especially pleasant, as the cafeteria was so unusually quiet. (many students are late raisers and wake up mostly in time for the first class)] [First class; College Algebra, one handout of about 40 or 50 questions] A II (Soliloquy) : Hey! This looks like O level mathematics.. lemme see how fast I can do this (struggles to call up his mathematical mind from the dark (and dusty) recesses of his underutilized brain) Hm…. Let’s see. Yeah.. I remember this… hmm…. (50 minutes later, Albert II walks to the front, trying not to draw stares) A II : Hey ma’am! I’m done =) Ms. M.A. Nichols : Okay, ... By the way, 0.7575 is not an irrational number.. it ends at the 5 A II : whoops =P yeah … (corrects his worksheet) Ms. M.A. Nichols : and just write your name down on the top A II : heh.. yeah.. I tend to be a bit careless about that. (proceeds to do so before handing up the week’s assignment) A II (Silent Soliloquy) : Yay, no more maths assignment for this week! [Albert II then goes for his Biology lecture next, and wonders in amazement as Dr. K.C. Hunter covers in 20 minutes what he spent 3 hours the night before struggling to understand. Stunned, he goes to the library to research more on the topic of adaptation and forgets to go for the school’s (non-compulsory) Chapel from 11 to 12pm] [12 pm at choir] Budi : Hey Albert! How come I didn’t see you at chapel? A II : oh shoot! (people here usually say dang it, Albert II is still getting used to it) I totally forgot about that! I was in the library at that time and it completely slipped my mind.*sighs* I’ll go next week. Budi : *shrugs* okay. (Albert II continues struggling to catch up with the choir’s high standard of sight-singing, choosing to switch to bass as there is a lack of basses and a fair number of baritones already) [1:10 pm at Research across Disciplines (class of around 22) You might see that Albert II has forgotten to go to the cafeteria for lunch! Haha, how blur…. Not really, he didn’t have time to do so today. Anyway, the cafeteria will cash the unused credits for snacks (but can’t exchange the food credits for money)] Prof. M.E. Boucher; Hi everyone, I hope you have your Longman Research Across the Disciplines book.. *looks around* A II : *muttering to his neighbour* I was hoping she’d say we wouldn’t need it. It’s a whooping US$40 for such a small book and I want to return it to the bookshop. Jake : heh heh heh. Prof M.E. Boucher: We are going to do journalistic investigation today. Everyone, please pair yourselves up and introduce your partner. Find out 3 things, the name, place that he or she is from, and something that people don’t generally know about the person, but something that the person wouldn’t mind sharing with the rest of the class. Hopefully it will not be some deep dark secret… *back ground laughter in class* Jake : Hi, so.. where are you from? Your hobbies? A II : Well, I’m from Singapore, (illustrates further seeing Jake’s blank look) it’s kinda at the tip of Peninsula Malaysia. I like playing soccer, but I can’t join the team here as my mom thinks that it’s too dangerous. I also like playing badminton, reading.. yeah… especially reading the Bible. What about you? Jake : well, I’m from Augusta Kansas, I’m a business major, I play golf, I once bowled a perfect 300 game (Albert II goes “wow, I’ve never even bowled before”), oh yeah.. I play the guitar. A II : that’s neat. Prof M.E. Boucher: well class, you may start introducing your partners Elyse : well, this is Dalvan .. he’s a religion major..etc.. Dalvan : this is Elyse, .. she’s… (there were many interesting stories, too much to type here, not that I can remember everyone’s stories either) Neil : .. Brean : … Jessica : … Kacy : …. [about 10 people later, Jake whispers to Albert II that he likes Dance revolution, and Albert II whispers back that he plays the piano] A II : this is Jake from Kansas Augusta, he once bowled a perfect 300 game. *small round of wows and applause from the class* Jake : this is Albert from Singapore and he plays the piano Dalvan (interrupts) : what kind of music? A II : *surprised* well.. church music Dalvan (boldly interrupts): could I see you after class? My church is looking for a pianist and… [The teacher lets the rest continue introducing their partners till the last one finishes, they talk a bit and they get off early from class, much to the delight of the students] [And so after class, Albert II talks to Dalvan about playing for a non-denominational mostly African American congregation who meets up at the Veteran’s Home on Sundays. It is a small congregation, made up of some blacks, whites and a few Mexicans. Dalvan tells Albert II that they have a prayer meeting on Wednesdays, at their Pastor’s place (Albert II feels a chill down his spine from a deja vu)] [That afternoon, Albert II brings his room mate Tony down to Don and Betsy’s place for a chat. They end up staying till dinner time and meeting Allan and Susan Norton for dinner at Biederman’s downtown. Biederman’s served chicken that night (free chicken refills) before heading down to the prayer meeting (Don and Betsy gave him a ride to be on time at 7, ever the pampered Albert II that he is), after saying goodbye to Susan, Allan and Harmano who were going down to the airport to pick Mark, an Irish student who’s going to be Harmano’s roommate.] Act 6 Scene 7 [Albert II wakes up a bit later than usual as he stayed up till twelve plus chatting with the newest addition too the international community of students, Mark (from Ireland), and then stayed up with Vincent to order books at a discount (US$50 less for the biology and the algebra text book) from half.com (neat website, a branch-off from e-bay)] A II (Soliloquy): My first class at noon, choir, and after that I’ve a jazz piano class at 3:30 pm followed by a sign language class (for applied creativity) at 4:00pm. Looks like I finally have time to finish clearing my emails and homework, not that I have a lot of either. I guess all the free time is to do what Alicia says it is for (i.e. to study). What a wise old younger sister I have. Well, maybe at least I can clear my paper work and watch the basket ball game tonight. There would be a lot of supporters as most of the school is around, unlike the previous game. Well, i also have a Ground Zero meeting about a team going up to Dodge city and having a conference for college youths to come to Christ on the 20th of January. It's going to be a long winter night... Author's footnote : to be read in tandem with http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/6th Current Mood: productive Current Music: Kenyan newscast from his room mates laptop (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, January 5th, 2007
12:39 pm	episode 5 : spending time with older folks                                                    RESTRICTED Form1206 date of enlistment: 07010                                        Type of service : NS (ORD loh!) Mailing address: no. 25 100 College St.                       ORD date : 060106 Winfield, Kansas                                                          ex-UNIT/COY : 421 SAB/ER United States of America pictures to be used in conjunction with this form are not attached, but can be found on; http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/5th Dear Sir/Madam,                              CD-ROM DRIVE NOT RESPONDING I, 3SG ALBERT ORNG MEAN WAT III, S8656228G wish to report that the CD-ROM drive in the lap top i received on the 3rd of January, 2007 at 1710 had a faulty CD-ROM drive. The faulty disc drive was discovered by the laptop lab's technician while he was installing the driver for the web camera which i was to use for video calls. He immediately (and effortlessly) replaced the cd-rom drive and it then worked. The whole series of events began the morning of the 3rd of January 2007, when the early morning winter sun shone strong through the blinds. There was a deep aching in my heart for home (that could be partially due to a late breakfast, especially after getting up early). After clearing the pile of email enquiries about settling in (more chatting than emailing). I proceeded down to the admissions office house (ref. http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/4th ) with the chilly morning breeze kept out by a heavy (synthetic) fur coat. There, Mrs. Leslie Grant had fixed me an appointment with Dr. Tracy Federick (at the administrative office building), to advise me on the subjects that I was to take. I then signed up for major in biology (pre-med track, though I might be going more in a research direction), a minor in psychology (starts in fall), a discipleship class ( 1.5 credits, similar to Sunday school) and an applied creativity class (a choice of the various compulsory classes, as Dr. Tracy put it, i had to take it because i am a student) As i still had space for more credits (1 credit is 1 hour a week), I also signed up for private piano class (1 credit, i didn't know you could learn this here too). They also offered courses in various musical instruments and sports, of which the saxophone course and the al capella choir caught my interest. Unfortunately, neither my subject advisor nor I knew if there were saxophones available for borrowing/renting and i had to audition for the al capella choir before i could include it in my time table, so we KIVed those 2. (As it is, i was, i was only 0.5 credits away from max credit of 16 hours a week, it's okay to exceed by 1 credit to 17, but for 18 i need the Dean's approval, quite a strict rule) While at the Finance office, someone who used to work at the admissions office before (a senior named Andrew, tall basketball player) was sent to help me with the chore of my administrative paper work. There were logic puzzles in the finance office's waiting room. Thus, we occupied ourselves with the somewhat (a certain friend's home we know have lots of these) familiar wood and metallic logic puzzles. [at this point in typing out the email, i have to comment on a book by Clive Staples Lewis, The Abolition of Man, which i picked up on the book sheld outside. After reading about 20 pages, it blew my mind] Andrew next brought me upstairs to the lap top office in order to register my official school's email (albert.ong@sckans.edu, i haven't used it yet, but i will) and obtain my laptop (which will still belong to the school, but at the end of th 4 years (the bachelor's degree time to finish), i can purchase it for US$50 when i graduate). There was a problem with the latest wallpaper (for january), and so I only went back in the evening to collect the lap top. So we went back to the admission's office where Leslie brought me out to lunch at EL MAGUEY's, a mexican restaurant (photo 2 to 4). There, we bumped into Elmano (photos 5 &6) (Elmano's from Brazil) and Roberto (the school's soccer coach), so we had lunch together and i found out a bit more about soccer and the intensive daily training schedule. Therefore i concluded i could not join the soccer team. However, the coach mentioned i could play recreationally. There was a futsal (street soccer) team that was to be started. Next, Leslie drove me to Winfield's County Bank in Town to set up my bank account (photos 6-11), before i was picked up by Susan Norton (green fleece coat, photo 12) to go to Don and Betty Drenan's place (dark blue and brown sweater, photo 12) to meet them. There, i met Larry (widowed) (photo 19 in a dark brown sweater and had dinner with him. Susan Norton then gave me a ride back to the college to pick up a lap top. The wallpaper couldn't get working, but there, i met Elmano (again) in the laptop lab who was waiting with a brazailian lady (mara, not in picture). Mara was in the Brazailian national woman's soccer team in the last two olympics. I met the academic dean (photo 18) who was talking to Susan Norton (who was waiting for me in the car :P to give me a ride back to Don and Betty's place for dinner, they are SOOOooo nice to foreign students... well.. i think they're just nice to people in general =). over dinner, i learnt of a habitat home programme where members of the community build homes for the poor, the refugees and the families who generally have no where to stay. I have so much more to say, but I got to go to Don and Betty's place now. Your obedient soldier, 3SG Albert Orng Mean Wat 050106 [No signature is required as this is computer generated]                                                      RESTRICTED p.s. the 1206 is an army form for missing/damaged items. i borrowed the style as it has a rather narrative style for describing events. i have so much more to say about the other interesting older folks i met.. but i do not have pictures as my camera battery ran outta juice. my charger has a different plug from the one they use here.. so until i find a working charger, it'll be a lot less pictures. p.s.s. if you're still puzzled about the 1206, ask anyone who has been thru army. i won't be online so much over the next few days. Current Mood: rushed Current Music: the frentic rhythm of my keyboard (Comment on this)
6:08 am	Dear diary/blog/blogamail, i hope my friends in Singapore are doing fine. With school starting, a lot fewer of them are online to talk to me. It's been nice to have so many people ask how i am doing, but I would like to know how they are doing too. there ain't nobody who seems to wanna send an email to me saying they are alright, though a lot of emails come asking how I'm doing. oh well. i guess they'll be fine. only if something isn't going well then I'll probably hear about it. in this case, no news should be good news. but somehow, there's this nagging feeling I'm missing something... hai. I got up again at 3 this morning, must be due to sleeping too early last night. I ended up falling asleep an hour after dawn, (must be vampiric blood, feel so tired once the sun's up.. or maybe i am just tired=P) Maybe I should sleep a bit later to get a bit closer to the normal cycle of sleep patterns. Farai and I left the apartment late morning to head over to the student admissions office. After walking ten minutes, we went down a the long flight of 77 steps that led to the college's main entrance, and passed a mound (1st photo) made by students of previous years. Southwestern college students are also known as Moundbuilders for the reason of building mounds. Inside the cosy student admission's office, i had to wait 20 minutes while Leslie Grant, the transfer and international students admissions counselor, was busy handling someone else. The waiting room was like a condo's showroom (with a hi-fi set playing soft music. the music masked discussions that people were having in adjacent rooms) and I snapped a few photos of the place (inside and outside) while waiting (3rd to 7th photo), read the two local papers (outdated by a month at least, one showed a foot of snow while the other had people walking around in tank tops, probably just opened for this semester's admissions) and saw an interesting copy of TIMES which was titled "science versus God", and had a spirited debate between an evolutionist and a creationist. I only got halfway through each of their case before my turn was up. Rather short waiting time, maybe it helps that i'm there a week early. there wasn't much that could be done today, except to put me in touch with a subject advisor for enrolment to plan my time tables. You see dear diary/blog/blogamail, it was declared a national mourning day (see flag in photo 8) for the passing of ex-president Ford and all the major instituitions like the banks, commercial offices, etc.. were closed for the day. Making an appointment to see my subject advisor (so technically i'm the advisee) tomorrow at 11 am, i proceeded back outside and up the stairs to find Farai at the financial aid office in the administrative building. there were a number of murals and a sun dial (which was off by about an hour and a half). I noticed a fair amount of animals (i used to think they'd hibernate, but maybe not all animals hibernate) and a very devious cat which would run suddenly when i'm about to take it's picture. It somehow knows when i'm about to take and would purposely spoil my shot. anyway, i caught a shot of the birds before they flew off. the decour inside the administrative building was nice, but what particularly caught my eye was the fire drill warning on wall. it had a tornado precaution instruction :D on reaching the financial aid office, i looked for Farai, but was told by the staff that he left about half an hour ago. having some time, i wandered around in my large grey (synthetic) fur coat and a nikon camera, looking more like a japanese tourist than the student i am taking random shots. of the college. there were very few people around, although i did bump into a few people including some guy in a blue coverall who i thought might be the janitor. when i finally got back to the apartment forty-five minutes later, i cooked a light lunch of the ramen (instant sort) which i bought from the supermarket yesterday. had a chance to use the chopsticks(to pose for the camera, thanks lil' sis!). i was going to complain about the state of disrepair the seniors leave their kitchen in, but i think i'll just put the photo (a picture is a thousand words) on instead... anyway i tidied up a bit after lunching. must've swept up more nutrients lying around then i had for lunch. hopefully i'll be able to put more entries down on you, dear diary, but i'm falling behind in my schedules reading.. looks like a late night for me for a change, then maybe i can wake up later too. i'm not sure where all my friends (and family) are doing now. no one except some canadian guy was available to chat today. but if i could see them, i would like to ask them to take care and wish God's blessings be on them. i'll end here, for now. -From the cheerful desk of Albert II (temporarily using Farai's laptop till he can get his own) nb: Sarah Soh Jia Jie coined the term blogamail to describe this form of journaling. it's apt. Current Mood: creative Current Music: i walk by faith, each step by faith. (Comment on this)
5:42 am	Blessed New Year from the US central Time Zone! Hi again everyone, this is once again with an early chapter of Albert II's life studying in the states. the reasons he came to the states a week early was mostly to adapt to the winter climate, take his driving test and get over the time zone difference. However, he sorely regrets not being able to spend the new year celebrations with his close friends. to recap what has happened so far, he flew off from changi airport on the 29th of December at 0600 hrs (+0800 GMT SG time), transited at tokyo's narita airport to mineassota before taking an interstate flight to land at Wichita airport on 29th Dec at 1615) (-0600 GMT US CENTRAL time). From there, Dan (one of the college staff) picked him up and after a brief drive (an hour) to Southwestern college, deposited Albert II at no. 14 warren apartments within Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. Being bone weary, Albert II's imcomplete recollections of that first cold and lonely night was mostly having dinner and then sleeping from 10 pm - 4 am. From there, he spent saturday reading (or trying to with his eyes closed and head bowed on the table in humble submission... to the call of sleep) and a short part of sunday in a nearby church (Grace United methodist, winfield) which was a mere 15 minute walk away in the freezing winter wind (which made Albert II feel like the walk took very much longer, and actually, it did take longer as he kept stopping to take photos and was late for the service =P). for supper (or dinner as Singaporeans tend to call it) that Sunday (31-12-06), Albert II followed Farai (his temporary sophomore year flat mate) to the nearby College Hill Coffee (which sold more than just coffee) for the last supper..of the year. To their dismay, the place was closed that day. Farai wanted to go back to the college apartment while Albert II opted to walk around and explore for a place to grab a bite (in the dark winter night, shows he's either really brave or really stupid). Hitting the main road after 20 minutes of walking in zig zags, Albert II noticed a pizza hut 150m down the road under a familiar welcoming Pizza Hut sign. Even though only the take out and delivery counter was open, Albert II's heart swelled generously comforting his cold and hungry stomach (the tribe of freezing toes was a bit too far away). Making his order from behind the counter, Albert II noted he could observe the making (photo 1) and baking (photo 2) of the pizza during the 20 minutes he had to stand around waiting for his order. At least he could have some warmth in the shelter of the outlet before his long (and cold) trek back. It was a rather uneventful walk back except for a wrong turn (or two) in the unfamiliar darkness of 2-3 blocks, though after a short prayer, Albert II's adventure ended 5 minutes safely back in the apartment. Finishing half of the large chicken supreme pizza instantly concussed Albert II on the couch downstairs (it's a 2 storey apartment ) for about half an hour before he woke up to leave the rest of the pizza in the fridge and crash in his own bed upstairs. Today, 010107 found Albert II waking up at a finally sane time of 6 am (he thinks.. kinda hard to tell in winter) with enough of a mind to take a few photos of the dawn (3rd and 4th photo). After a short struggle against sleep which Albert II took 5 minutes (considered short, winter is so sw33t to sleep in) to previal, he dragged himself out of his unmade bed (5th photo) to do his morning reading while waiting for the sun rise (6th and 7th photo) and found a mirror in the adjacent room (2 rooms upstairs, both twin shared) which he used to take a photo of himself without looking like he was pointing a camera at himself (photo 8). Exploring around, the rooms in the misty morning first light, Albert II noticed that the guys who usually inhabit these rooms have lots of small change in transparent glass containers (photos 9, 10, 11) . CleaRly Cold hard cash stored over this winter. Went to the nearby (and slightly over priced) mart just a 5 minute drive away with Albert II's temporary flat mate Farai and his friend Asimi (who drove both Farai and Albert II) , who also form zimbawae (but not the exact same place). (12th and 13th photo) It had a tonne of food, mostly carbs and meat.. the fruit and vegetable section struck Albert II as being relatively lower in ratio than what he was used to back home in Singapore. anyway, he got some shopping done (with an appropriately healthy ratio of mean to veg of course =). we took a long time as Farai was kinda distracted by his handphone.. he had an overseas call (from zimbawae i think) which started 15 minutes before we left the apartment and lasted till we actually finished getting all our groceries) Albert II should try to convince Farai to use skype if he like long distance calls as it would be a lot cheaper. the arrangement of the mart together with other various stores was like a rail mall, not having the shortage of space and building upwards towards the heavens (or downwards towards.. the.. erm. deeper place in the earth) (photo 15) while going to lunch (Asimi drove a car belonging to a friend of hers), Albert II saw a local with an amazing constituition to resist the cold in just a yellow tee shirt and pants (photo 16, the local is washing the car) after a short drive, the party arrived at the college hill coffee (photo 17 -25) for take away (even though it looks like a nice place to eat, Asimi needed to return the car soon and couldn't stay). The place was rather cosy and Albert II met Southwestern college's biology HoD and his wife (lady in blue photo 19) who were on their way out. Albert II also managed to get Farai and Asimi to pose in front of the shelf of various coffee powders (photo 20, Farai is orange). there was also a display of some interesting jewelry and semi precious? stones(photo 21) and observed the other two rooms (photo 22 and 23). Albert II played chess against Asimi (photo 24) who said she was in the school team, to which Albert II replied that perhaps then their game would be short as he wasn't good (Albert II thinks that is true as he is actually Really good at chess, nowadays) and guess that the false modesty caught Asimi off guard perhaps.. as for a school team player she made a few early game mistakes after she played well made defensive opening, but halfway, Farai's and Albert II's order arrived and at that point, Asimi said Albert II was winning (counting the number of pieces taken) even though Albert II felt it should have been considered a draw due to the lack of time. anyway, Asimi then sent Farai and Albert II back to the apartment before she returned the car. Albert II had a heavy lunch of a turkey wrap (photo 25 and 26) and pasta salad (US $8 for Albert II's breakfast, lunch and dinner combined into one meal, Albert II's way of saving $$$ and eating less, just eat a super filling meal that cost more, so he'll be too guilty to buy any more food or eat anything else for the day) Albert II then went online to write his periodical (it will be very lengthy periods in between once school kicks into full gear) emails, and was suprised by a long-time friend coming to chat online with him, discovering more things about friends and families (paradoxically knowing more than he did when he was back home). until next time, Albert II wants everyone to take care, and wishes everyone God bless!!! In Christ's Hope, Albert II ( p.s. Albert II finds this style of emailing is more fun than blogging =) at least he can choose who he wants to read it and doesn't have to remind his friends to check his blog when he post something new, and he can use the third person unlike in blogs, which sound wrong in writing with such a perspective) p.s.s http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/3rd Current Mood: artistic Current Music: He fills me every moment and i want no more (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 31st, 2006
12:00 pm	Having landed, today's still new year's eve Hi once again all, i know it's a bit soon, but the muse of writing is encouraging, even if i am less than eloquent atm. the bowl is going on over the new year and indianapolis is playing miami, it does get distracting. (but i meander a bit from my topic today... and i didn't come to the states to talk about american foot ball =P) so after i landed, i had dinner before crashing. i noticed that the mood among the usually jovial americans was a bit somber, that i attribute partially to the death of ex-president ford(flags all around are at half-mast) as well as the still on-going war in iraq. (they pronouce it eye-rug) anyway, i had a quiet past 2 days (or nights.. yes, i was quite affected by the time difference despite what my boast that i was already in that time zone) reading and writing a bit. reading a book by john calvin that joel gave me atm. every sentence is like a point and it's taking me a LOOoooong time to finish the thin booklet, not that i am complaining :P i do have a fair bit of time to read. as you can see in the first pict, i went to an american methodist church for the first time. i attended Grace united methodist as it was the most convenient. but as you can tell from the photo, most of the people who attend it are quite advanced in age, and it's not too big a church (i was seated in the back row as usual). interestingly enough, the preacher was someone who had been to singapore before (he works for johnson and johnson), and attends wesley methodist (the one up fort canning hill) when he's around here (just realised i still speak as if i am in singapore).. last time he was in singapore was in last october. the speaker mentioned that the biology hod in southwestern college attends that church too. but i didn't get to talk to the teacher, heard he was probably changing out from his choir robes. 2nd photo was taken outside the church. the bush is actually below knee level, but the perception i took it from makes the bush look like a tree to the untrained eye. heh, i'm digressing again. the windows are quite nicely tinted, and there's a double door to keep out the cold. third pict is slightly further outside, from the church's car park.. as you can see, there's a very thin layer of snow on the ground. 4th photo is the college entry sign. 5th pict. is the sport's hall. on the way in. it's not very clear, but on the window is painted the mascot of the college tat they use for sports, the black cat (affectionately called jinx) i don't know if that's the christian college way of showing their unbelief of superstition, but i hope that's the reason they use it as their mascot. (there's apparently a real black cat that lives in the gym) 6th pict is of some lavenders i found growing out of some partially sheltered ground (i think they are lavenderes, but i didn't stay still long enough to look, i was COOOOoooold). i notice an interesting car parking style (7th pict.) that seems quite compact. the king park probably refers to martin luther king rather than a real king, i think =P the cars are getting frosted over...(see photo 8), photo 9 is where i am staying temporarily till i get my perm dorms when it opens. the room i'm at is the ones with the sofas outside. there's an orange stray cat with a blue bell collar that sleeps on the sometimes frosted sofa. poor thing, it is adorable, but fat for a stray. i haven't got a photo of it, yet. pict 10 is a close up of one of the nearby bushes. somehow, it catches the snow a lot better. or maybe the ground seems to melt the snow faster. anyway, i've seen snow up close and felt it for the first time. feels like the texture of slurpee in 7/11. and it looks like a coniferous christmas tree. except still in the ground. that's all for now. Blessed New year, since it is still the new year's day. take care and God Bless. In His Faith, Albert II p.s. please check out the hyperlink for the photos http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/2nd Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: MTV (not my choice) (Comment on this)
12:00 am	Finally getting round to talking about my flight Hey Everyone! this is Albert II from across the atlantic or the pacific depending on whether you're looking east or west.. (actually singapore is next to the South China sea ) anyway, Blessed New Year!!! this is coming rather late after i landed... uncle chee keong's right, i didn't feel the lag hit till the afternoon, then i was concussed till 3 am yesterday and couldn't get to sleep :P anyway, thanks for coming to see me off, i really appreciate it. 1st photo attached are you guys,... minus a few lims (or limbs as thomas would say when we're feeling lame) and wen jun who was taking that photo, the other group shot had half of alicia ;-) (hee, too early in the morning after a very long and late night joel ;-) thanks for the journal dude. i'm making it useful taking notes of the books i'm currently reading) so anyway, there was a scan of my hand carry twice, and i had to put my coat and shoes thru the x-ray machine too. They did a brief body search after that, but as everyone was subject to it, it wasn't so bad. i was kept awake a lot during the flight due to a baby crying.. and a running nose. the second photo is on taken at the first stopover of japan's narita airport, the interesting thing being one bin partitioned out for various recyclable and non-recyclable materials. it looked a lot like changi, quite a modern airport with another scan of my hand carry even though i was on a transition flight. It was about 8 degrees celcius outside the airport and i could really feel the chill thru my thin coat as i walked from the plane to the airport. it was an hour's wait before the next flight, and i read a bit and looked around a candy shop (almost all the items in the shop were already gift wrapped and priced around S$7-15. The items were just so kawaiii! 2nd flight to minneasota i slept a lot better ( the aisle seat idea was great uncle chee keong! i could go to toilet guilt free without disturbing others next to me) i talked a bit to this japanese lady and her brother's friend seating next to me. it was an interesting conversation as their english was rather weak and we communicated partially with chinese characters in writing (japanese is partly fan ti zi) about various animes (never thought being an otaku ((anime fan)) would help start a conversation. Found out that there is more than shinto buddism in japan. She was a mahayana buddist (i think=P), but like most japanese, don't really believe very strongly. and interestingly, she wore a cross necklace. i asked her about it, and she said it's quite common among japanese people. she works as a saleperson (like thomas, dunnoe why i make friends with sales ppl so easily.. must be because i like to talk =D) in a renovation company for bathrooms and kitchens. it cost about S$16k to renovate a cabinet, dish washer, stove set. quite expensive i think. the third photo was taken en route to minneasota at cruising altitude (more than 20k feet in the air, not sure how many matters that is =P) but at that height, the clouds look like ground below us.. like the desert dunes. at minneasota (think might be wrong spelling of the state) i had about 2 hrs to burn and ended up eating a pecan apple for lunch. i was spoiled for choice at the food court with a choice of ben and jerry's, burger king, some grills, pizzas, sandwiches and salads for lunch. (fourth pict.) the restaurant names are mostly quite humourous, check out the wok and roll shop name in the picture. =D there was also a cool dude in a medieval dressing and playing a renaissance harp. (5th pict, that's a real person in there, not a statue :D) i think he is one of the public performers are employed by the airport. anyway, the harp music was beautiful in the short time i could listen to it. some more interesting restaurant names are attached (picts 6 and 7). the connecting flight was rather uneventful except for me dropping my memory verse card pack (sorry mom =p) when i fell asleep on the short ride to wichita air port. one of the pilots help me search the whole plane (it wasn't a big plane) except we finally found the card pack in the slot in between the seat i was in and the adjacent seat =P once i landed, Dan Falks (one of the staff at Southwestern college) picked me up and we waited about 25 minutes at the wrong luggage belt before driving an hour to southwestern college in winfield. thank God i didn't lose any luggage, i was a bit worried the transfer might go wrongly. we saw a train charge past, and i realised why so many early superman cartoons have speeding trains as part of the climax. i guess it is a common sight to see cargo transported by freight trains in the states (8th pict.). after that, i had dinner and crashed.. too tired to take more photos at that point in time.. =P i'll end here for now. until next time. God bless. In His Hope, Albert II p.s. pls see hyperlink for photos http://picasaweb.google.com/2.be.along/1st Current Mood: tired Current Music: nothing's registering in my tired mind (Comment on this)