It's been over a month since moving to Boston and working in the "real world," and I will update this slowly fading xanga (has everyone switched to blogspot now? that is a nicer place to write long thoughts).

I'm living in a mentality of: "this is just a summer job...school's starting in august" gotta get out of that mindset soon! I still feel like I'll be going back to Cornell in the fall. I miss the campus a lot.

Here's a picture of the view from my room:

And here is a picture of a mirror in my room:

I guess I'll post more pictures later...the rest of the apt is pretty unfurnished still, and I haven't taken new pictures yet. I'm almost done with putting up all the posters in my room, based on a picture I took of my old room in Eddygate 5C. Oh yeah, I also really miss Lucky Bamboo and Zeus:

Lucky Bamboo's luck ran out on the day I graduated from Cornell, finally dying after "hanging by a thread" for over 2 yrs. And Zeus is with Tiffany Y now, I think...:)

That's all! more pictures later, hopefully...or maybe a couple months from now! hehe.

It's the beginning of the semester, so that means I can:

-read something for fun
-hide in my room more often without feeling guilty
-improve...and have more hope that I can improve
-do things like this: 我想用中文写字. 我就想用中文跟人沟通. 我不在意，我本来就是一个fob.

I know this xanga isn't the place for serious musings (I really only use it to put pictures up I guess), so maybe this is one of the reasons people have been signing up for "real" blogging, on other blogging sites. Maybe I should find another site to write down real thoughts...but I know I'll end up having this amusing paradox of feelings: 1) not wanting anyone to read my real thoughts 2) still hoping that someone out there will read them and understand. Vanity is a funny thing, isn't it?

"...when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;..."

我的一切要是能更爱耶稣，要是鸟歌或者人的声音都听不见，那也是幸福。

Home again for winter break. : )

Set up the Christmas tree tonight. I'll put up some pictures later.

Also just watched one of the saddest movies ever. : )

I would really like to learn japanese.

I realized I forgot something at Cornell...Lucky Bamboo, my bamboo plant. Ugh, this is pretty bad, because bamboo is not a cactus plant. Man, keep hanging in there, Lucky Bamboo!

Some selected pictures from "Pottery with YP". hehe. I helped YP finish some of her pieces at the Pottery Studio in Willard Straight. These came out of the kiln a while ago, but it took me a long time to post these pictures.

I experimented by mixing certain glazes...here's a nice result of two different "greens" (sea green and um...something else. I forget):

Another one with different blues.

and this one turned out especially nice! The colors are very interesting..but I think it might be because I wasn't very good at mixing the glaze, or maybe my glazing technique is just bad.

Yepp! : )

"Friend of God" by Chris Tomlin and Israel Houghton (Passion 2007).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U0fdcIhXzw

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4

Maybe we can sing that at CBS sometime?? (we sang it during this combined fellowship thing last year, and it was reallyyy good) : )

I went home for about 2 weeks, and now I've been back in Ithaca for a week. When I went home, I left my camera in Ithaca, so I couldn't upload the last installment of "Cooking with YP." So here it is!

This time, we made pizzas and pasta.

Starting with the pizza: It wasn't a regular pizza...hehe! Instead of tomato sauce, we used pumpkin puree with pesto mixed into it. Ooh yeah, I think YP added cinnamon to it too...

So, first we spread some of the pumpkin mixture on a Boboli crust, then added "pizza cheese" (a mix of mozzarella and some other cheeses), a layer of diced tomatoes (Wegmans-made...it's used for bruschetta), sausage, and then topped it with feta cheese (a very good combination with the pumpkin flavor).

YUMMM it was soooo GOOOOOD! hehe I forget what we decided to call it...something like, "Pumpkin Pesto Pizza."

Pasta: YP had leftover spaghetti that we needed to use up. And we just cut up peppers, onions, and broccoli, and sauteed them with sausage, and then mixed in the pasta.

Finished! :)

And we also had a treat...We kept it in the freezer for a while (because I didn't have ice). :)

And that concludes "Cooking with YP." Hehe, up next we'll have...POTTERY STUDIO WITH YP!!! hehe sort of...I helped YP finish some of her pieces at the pottery studio, and they're still in the kiln, so I'll post pictures in my next entry. I hope all the glazing will turn out nicely.

Hm....since summer in Ithaca is pretty much over, I would say that cooking (and spending time) with YP was one of the best things about this summer :) THANKS YUE PUI!!