Chicago Day 1

Woke up at 4am to catch the 6:30am flight to Chicago for my very first out-of-town trip with GM for the Easter Musical. At first I was worried that because I don't know the brothers and sisters in the team too well hence I will feel awkward or what not but thankfully everything turned out well.
Our United plane was delayed for 1 hour (something was wrong with the communications system) but we arrived in Chicago before 2pm local time (Chicago is 2 hours ahead of Vancouver). Finally got to meet the local church and the choir that will be serving with us. It was interesting to see everything finally fall together (I have only seen the musical once almost 9 years ago so I don't remember a thing).
Unfortunately, we didn't really get to venture out around Chicago today as we were mainly devoting our time to rehearsals. We did manage to have meals around Chinatown twice though (the church is situated in Chinatown) but compared to Vancouver Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown is a lot more "dead" - there weren't a lot of people walking around.
Tomorrow night will be our first performance. I am most concerned about messing up my lyrics.

Ikea catalogue 2010

今天上班最高興的是收到了 IKEA 2010 catalogue. 拿著在手中可以imagine 到很多affordable possibilities (emphasis on affordable). 今年我房間的翻新大計包括買新的書櫃(加一點讀書的氣氛...), 一張舒舒服服的椅子 (不可以太舒服因爲是用來坐著看書, 不是坐著睡覺). 從寧波回來以後, 我已經把我的"工作空間"從我房間裏搬到basement的"study room" in a bid to up my productivity level (I read that if we dedicate one spot to one purpose only, our efficiency will increase.) Hopefully this is a good plan to make sure I am on time for most of my course readings this year. 畢竟都是UBC最後一年 (hopefully not the last year of my education), should really finish well.

UBC, what have you for me this year?

Currently listening: 遇見 - 孫燕姿

我願意

God must've known that I haven't been seriously singing in too long so upon coming back He decides to thrust to me a lot of singing "projects" and opportunities that I had no idea would be coming. GM@Chicago and Charles' wedding I expected but worship leading THIS Sunday?

God, sometimes I think You overestimate my ability to multitask. but it's all for You and I count it my honour to be able to bring worship and praise to You in any way and wherever possible. Thank You for entrusting me with all You have given me.

Currently listening: 我願意-王菲

Habits

Sometimes when I open the fridge, I still half expect to hear Dude's squealing and shuffling as he scurries over to see if he's getting a piece of carrot or a leaf of bok choy. Yesterday, mom came home and the first thing she said was "阿 Dude!" before she stopped and realized that neither Dude nor his playpen was there.

I miss you a lot Dude, I hope you've got tons of blueberries and apples wherever you are right now.

tutor kids, accounting, careers and such

now that the biggest thing of 2009 for me is officially over (i.e. my exchange), I start worrying about 2010 - my grad year and I'm not giving myself an easy time either as I find that recently a lot of the conversations I have with friends revolve around "jobs!", "co-op!", "careers!", "grad school!" or "graduation!" (and the occasional "CA!" or "CGA!" or even "CPA!" from my accounting friends). I am so uncertain about my future that I've started giving the answer of "being unemployed" when people ask me my plans after graduation.

But I think after having worked in Hong Kong for a month in July, I realized that it's not too hard to find a good paying job - at least not as hard as finding a job that one loves (or maybe I'm really naive). After having worked in a law firm and observing what real, non-TVB lawyers do, I realize that maybe this really isn't the job for me. This really starts worrying me because if a hefty paycheck is my sole greatest requirement for a dream job, then all I really need to do is work really hard and get myself some sort of license: lawyer, accountant, real estate agent, you name it. But that's not all I want (yes i am greedy). I want a good paying job but also a job where i can wake up everyday and go "wow I can't wait to start working today". I even dare say I prefer the latter over the former if I must choose. If my job is a 9-5 thing, that's already 8 hours - a third of my life dedicated to this cause. It better be something worthwhile.

So I suppose this is my God given theme of the summer as things that have been going on recently seem to be somehow related to this issue too. Having, for the very first time, an opportunity to actually pick and choose kids that I want to tutor for the coming school year, I figure it's not just about the money I can make anymore. More so, I want to tutor kids that I really think I can help and somehow be friends with them beyond the usual English tutor sense. I don't want to take in as many tutor kids as I want to anymore.

And then there's Brian Liu who's heading to Ontario to work with IVCF - someone who graduated and work a job not because it pays well but because it is important to him.

But beyond all this worrying and thinking, I found comfort from a least expected person who told me about his current sufferings working his accounting co-op job. As he told me his grievances and how he isn't really cut out for this kind of a job and it didn't turn out to be what he was expecting, I cannot help but think that less than 3 years ago I was also looking forward to an accounting degree until I almost got kicked out of Commerce and ended up doing IR which I am still doing today and really enjoying.

So why should I worry? God has always watched out for me.

Currently listening: Down to Earth - Peter Gabriel, from Wall-E
Do you feel you've been tricked - by the future you've picked? Well come on down.

The Last Bit of Hong Kong

Macau, the rain, the heat, time with Cheryl, the dinners...

But on the other hand, I'm coming home.