University of Waterloo 2000-2006
*disclaimer* - this one is a DOOZY. very very VERY very VERY very very very VERY...long. y'know after writing very that many times, it doesn't even look like you spelt it right. :S
UWCCF grad dinner has come & gone. kinda relieved 'cuz i didn't know what to expect. were the organizers gonna make each grad go up & do a little speech? i wouldn't have known what to say. were the organizers make us do something embarrassing? well they did make us play a game, but luckily they ran out of balloons before i had to pop any. :P but all in all, the night was pretty relaxing. despite all of the stress i heard ppl were going through, i thought it went relatively smoothly, even well organized. thank you to the organizers for a fun night.
i think i'm finally feeling it. don't really know how to describe it, but it's a bittersweet feeling really. just the fact that you're leaving Waterloo, leaving CCF, leaving familiar faces, leaving an area that you've been accustomed to for 6yrs. met a lot of great ppl during my time, & really grateful to be exposed to such good ppl.
grad dinner made me start thinking about my time at Waterloo. us grads are so close to the end now, it's kinda surreal, yet sad at the same time. i just felt something in my heart when ppl were sharing. it felt heavy, & i could really feel my heart beating inside. it almost made me want to shed a few tears, but all i could really do is listen to them speak, look around the room, & just smile. :)
so, this is my reflection. i bet most of my memories here at Waterloo will be non-academic.
move-in day, September 2000. the frosh crew thought my brother was moving instead of me! thought that was pretty funny. the same thing happened when my sister moved into McMaster 2yrs earlier! he must look old! :P
frosh week, i only did the first day worth of stuff, & a bit of the 2nd day. i wasn't really into the whole thing. i guess i was really introverted & shy. didn't want to do any of those drinking games too (if they even had any). i ended up just hanging out with Jeff & Lawrence playing Worms 2 & exploring the campus on our own.
1st & 2nd year are years i'd probably like to forget. i think i remember crying a couple times in my room in 1st year, especially in my 1b term. i already lost my co-op portion of my Science & Business degree 'cuz my 1st term was pure crapness. after 1b, i was already out of my program. 2a started in General Science, didn't fair any better, & 2b i was completely out of Science. i was even asked to sit out the term or risk never getting back into any program in Science faculty ever again. i figured, i'm never going to go back into the Science faculty again, so i dropped all my Science courses & continued with my Arts courses. these were the dark times of my academic career. very low point in my life. i felt so worthless.
Summer 2002. i played on this team called 3 Scoops in the Mississauga Chinese Baptist Church (MCBCSL), my 4th team. this was the summer i actually started going to church on a regular basis. even though i've been exposed to various church-related events & activities since grade 12, i didn't start going until now. i don't know why i started going on a regular basis. but i've always maintained that i went to learn more about God & for that reason only. but in the back of my mind, i think half the reason was that reason, & the other half was to see my friends there. my groups of friends seemed to have shifted too, away from the highschool group i normally hung out with almost every single day of the summer to the group of friends i had at church.
anyway, that summer i also reapplied to get back into Waterloo, but this time i applied for an Arts program. i tried to get into the Psychology Major program, but as luck would have it, i don't got the marks (that's a given), so i got accepted into a 4-yr General Arts program. so yes, i got a 2nd chance! i worked for my dad, & since it was mandatory for me to sit out two terms before i could go back to Waterloo, i had to find work over the Fall term too before i went back in the Winter term. found jobs at Mayne Logistics Loomis (which is now DHL), & Nissan Canada Inc.
so back to school in Waterloo in Winter 2003. living with Jeff, Ben, & Lawrence was really cool. we lived in the same yellow shack for like 2-3 years before we all started to branch off & live elsewhere. Ben & Jeff would be on co-op for some of the times. but yeah, memories of living in that shack would've been the squabble between Jeff & the guy that lived in the basement. making Jeff paranoid of getting a wedgie while he was washing the dishes, or even getting shot at with a tennis ball (hockey). testing our accuracy by shooting at a wooden plank in the living room. playing Smackdown on the PS2, playing NHL 2003 on Lawrence or Jeff's computer. playing an April Fool's joke on Ben by completely messing up his room (even got that on film). playing squash at the PAC. killing spiders with duct tape & leaving them there. watching NHL hockey, playoff football, American Idol...HAHAHA..lots of memories living with those guys.
stayed in Waterloo for the Spring 2003 term, but i was mostly only in Waterloo for 4 days a week. i'd normally go back home every Thursday with Lawrence 'cuz we both played MCBCSL on the same team. marks were slowly on the rise, but they were still hovering around the minimum avg i needed. so that was kinda sucks.
Jeff & i reunited to live at WCRI in Fall 2003, my first term there. it was interesting living with him in a double room. but man, i've never seen someone sleep sooo much! you ppl think i'm bad, Jeff was worse! haha..& then there'd be those movie nights where Rebecca would come over, or we go to her at V2. the keyboard mashing that signify that Jeff's PISSED OFF! haha..i would laugh every time. i think during this time, it was when i started to go to CCF somewhat regularly. but i still didn't attend church in Waterloo, i didn't particularly like KWCAC all that much, but i still attended MCBC back home.
Winter 2004. i was living alone in WCRI. it was a different experience for me. never lived alone before, i've always had someone to hang out with. i decided to try & get more involved with ppl i lived with, so i joined a couple intramural teams. i tried out broomball & indoor soccer with WCRI ppl. broomball didn't stick, but i played indoor soccer. i was still playing badminton at the badminton club. but i guess living alone was a good thing. i guess i could say that i was able to concentrate a little more on studies & turned out my best term of my university career since i started.
Fall 2004. living alone again at WCRI. Jeff & Ben were both offstream, & Lawrence was living in either Kershaw or Carver. i was still stuck on 3rd floor A-Div. it was such a bitch to move my crap up there. but anyway, school was school. my marks were still improving somewhat. there'd always be that one course that would pull down my avg. ironically it would be a psych course. logic just doesn't work with psychology courses. bah! anyway, this term, i attended CCF. didn't really know why i went. maybe 'cuz i felt alone? because there were ppl i knew there? but in any case, i still went. to learn. joined Men's Cell, my first cell group i've ever joined at CCF.
Fall term was also the first time i've ever played ice hockey! it was a thrill! it was really fun. even though we lost all but 1 game in the regular season. but it was a great learning experience. in a way, this experience also allowed me to get to know some ppl in CCF that i never knew or really talked to before.
Winter 2005. i was reunited with Jeff & Ben in a little basement apartment on Albert Street. not very far from our yellow shack. it was interesting living with them again. we didn't do any of that NHL game craziness, maybe a little more PS2ing. i own them in Tiger Woods 2004. :P & Smackdown! there was more ice hockey, & this time we were winning. we even made enemies with a team last term. we're still enemies with them today. :P but anyway, love thy enemies right? :P also went to another cell group that dealt with Relationships. i think the highlight of this term was saran wrapping Jeff's room. hahaha..that was jokes.
Fall 2005. everyone i came to Waterloo with back in 2000 has graduated. still living in WCRI, but with Betty, Lorna, & Gabe. in a Christian point of view, i really feel that this is the term that has really changed me & i think i really have one person to thank for that. if it wasn't for his invitation, i don't think i would've grown as much as i have, nor would i have felt this close to finally accepting God as my saviour. Alpha was such a great experience for me. it really allowed me to just ask all those "weird & stupid" questions, & really challenge for those answers. i guess as a person that was brought up in an atheist family, i can kinda look at the Bible critically, & ask those questions that just doesn't make sense to me. the Alpha bunch were great & brought a lot of insight, questions, & answers. plus the food was good! ;P despite how picky of an eater i am. :P
so i guess in this term, i was really, encouraged to go & actively SEEK God rather than having a laid back approach to it. i finally started going to church here in Waterloo, going to Community Fellowship Church (CFC). i really like it, it's very interactive. the speakers are good, funny, & really pound the point home. the worship teams are awesome.
this term also gave me one of my best single academic performance in a class. it's the first time i got 90+% on anything, TWICE, & in turn, my highest final grade ever in a course. booya!
now i'm embarking on Winter 2006. my final term here in Waterloo. well, at least i hope so! :S it BETTER be!! still livin' at WCRI, but only Gabe was replaced with Cynthia. the term's been an interesting one, personally. i've had my share of smiles & frustrations. still attending CCF whenever i can, still playing hockey (this time in the intermediate level), still going to CFC. things are a little different. no cell group this term, a really light course load. really crappy marks. i'm not happy about it. but, i'm gonna turn it on for finals. mwahaha. started to have my weekly talks with Eric about a month ago, those are good for me. grad dinner was really nice & really pounded in me that..you're gonna be out of here in a month exactly.
my thoughts were really disjointed eh? all over the place, nothing even flowed. but that was my reflection.
just looking back, it's surreal kind of. i don't know if you see it, but i see it. i see how God worked, it's crazy. hindsight. 1st & 2nd year were completely brutal for me. i even thought about doing things i would never dreamed of doing. drinking & smoking. i'm so glad that i didn't end up doing any of that, & i still won't. not even on my wedding day. but oddly enough, all this crap that was happening to me was BEFORE i started going to church regularly back home at MCBC. was God really working in me? giving me a 2nd chance at school at Waterloo. starting me off slow & building me up as the terms went on by. answering every prayer i had without me even realizing it. each term, marks improving, papers were getting written better with better results. tests taking were getting better. i always prayed that hard work will pay off & upon graduation, it has finally paid off. isn't that incredible? praise God man! He surrounded me with brothers & sisters who would pray for me, who would become such great friends, just encouraging you to keep going. i'm really truly blessed that CCF was there for me, & God really impacted my life in no other way i thought it could.
graduating is a bittersweet feeling right now.
thanks everyone. everyone who WAS in my life, who IS in my life, & who is GONNA be in my life.
there's only ONE thing left to do.
Green Day
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Another turning point
a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist
directs you where to go
So make the best of this test
and don't ask why
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf
of good health and good time
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth
it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
UWCCF grad dinner has come & gone. kinda relieved 'cuz i didn't know what to expect. were the organizers gonna make each grad go up & do a little speech? i wouldn't have known what to say. were the organizers make us do something embarrassing? well they did make us play a game, but luckily they ran out of balloons before i had to pop any. :P but all in all, the night was pretty relaxing. despite all of the stress i heard ppl were going through, i thought it went relatively smoothly, even well organized. thank you to the organizers for a fun night.
i think i'm finally feeling it. don't really know how to describe it, but it's a bittersweet feeling really. just the fact that you're leaving Waterloo, leaving CCF, leaving familiar faces, leaving an area that you've been accustomed to for 6yrs. met a lot of great ppl during my time, & really grateful to be exposed to such good ppl.
grad dinner made me start thinking about my time at Waterloo. us grads are so close to the end now, it's kinda surreal, yet sad at the same time. i just felt something in my heart when ppl were sharing. it felt heavy, & i could really feel my heart beating inside. it almost made me want to shed a few tears, but all i could really do is listen to them speak, look around the room, & just smile. :)
so, this is my reflection. i bet most of my memories here at Waterloo will be non-academic.
move-in day, September 2000. the frosh crew thought my brother was moving instead of me! thought that was pretty funny. the same thing happened when my sister moved into McMaster 2yrs earlier! he must look old! :P
frosh week, i only did the first day worth of stuff, & a bit of the 2nd day. i wasn't really into the whole thing. i guess i was really introverted & shy. didn't want to do any of those drinking games too (if they even had any). i ended up just hanging out with Jeff & Lawrence playing Worms 2 & exploring the campus on our own.
1st & 2nd year are years i'd probably like to forget. i think i remember crying a couple times in my room in 1st year, especially in my 1b term. i already lost my co-op portion of my Science & Business degree 'cuz my 1st term was pure crapness. after 1b, i was already out of my program. 2a started in General Science, didn't fair any better, & 2b i was completely out of Science. i was even asked to sit out the term or risk never getting back into any program in Science faculty ever again. i figured, i'm never going to go back into the Science faculty again, so i dropped all my Science courses & continued with my Arts courses. these were the dark times of my academic career. very low point in my life. i felt so worthless.
Summer 2002. i played on this team called 3 Scoops in the Mississauga Chinese Baptist Church (MCBCSL), my 4th team. this was the summer i actually started going to church on a regular basis. even though i've been exposed to various church-related events & activities since grade 12, i didn't start going until now. i don't know why i started going on a regular basis. but i've always maintained that i went to learn more about God & for that reason only. but in the back of my mind, i think half the reason was that reason, & the other half was to see my friends there. my groups of friends seemed to have shifted too, away from the highschool group i normally hung out with almost every single day of the summer to the group of friends i had at church.
anyway, that summer i also reapplied to get back into Waterloo, but this time i applied for an Arts program. i tried to get into the Psychology Major program, but as luck would have it, i don't got the marks (that's a given), so i got accepted into a 4-yr General Arts program. so yes, i got a 2nd chance! i worked for my dad, & since it was mandatory for me to sit out two terms before i could go back to Waterloo, i had to find work over the Fall term too before i went back in the Winter term. found jobs at Mayne Logistics Loomis (which is now DHL), & Nissan Canada Inc.
so back to school in Waterloo in Winter 2003. living with Jeff, Ben, & Lawrence was really cool. we lived in the same yellow shack for like 2-3 years before we all started to branch off & live elsewhere. Ben & Jeff would be on co-op for some of the times. but yeah, memories of living in that shack would've been the squabble between Jeff & the guy that lived in the basement. making Jeff paranoid of getting a wedgie while he was washing the dishes, or even getting shot at with a tennis ball (hockey). testing our accuracy by shooting at a wooden plank in the living room. playing Smackdown on the PS2, playing NHL 2003 on Lawrence or Jeff's computer. playing an April Fool's joke on Ben by completely messing up his room (even got that on film). playing squash at the PAC. killing spiders with duct tape & leaving them there. watching NHL hockey, playoff football, American Idol...HAHAHA..lots of memories living with those guys.
stayed in Waterloo for the Spring 2003 term, but i was mostly only in Waterloo for 4 days a week. i'd normally go back home every Thursday with Lawrence 'cuz we both played MCBCSL on the same team. marks were slowly on the rise, but they were still hovering around the minimum avg i needed. so that was kinda sucks.
Jeff & i reunited to live at WCRI in Fall 2003, my first term there. it was interesting living with him in a double room. but man, i've never seen someone sleep sooo much! you ppl think i'm bad, Jeff was worse! haha..& then there'd be those movie nights where Rebecca would come over, or we go to her at V2. the keyboard mashing that signify that Jeff's PISSED OFF! haha..i would laugh every time. i think during this time, it was when i started to go to CCF somewhat regularly. but i still didn't attend church in Waterloo, i didn't particularly like KWCAC all that much, but i still attended MCBC back home.
Winter 2004. i was living alone in WCRI. it was a different experience for me. never lived alone before, i've always had someone to hang out with. i decided to try & get more involved with ppl i lived with, so i joined a couple intramural teams. i tried out broomball & indoor soccer with WCRI ppl. broomball didn't stick, but i played indoor soccer. i was still playing badminton at the badminton club. but i guess living alone was a good thing. i guess i could say that i was able to concentrate a little more on studies & turned out my best term of my university career since i started.
Fall 2004. living alone again at WCRI. Jeff & Ben were both offstream, & Lawrence was living in either Kershaw or Carver. i was still stuck on 3rd floor A-Div. it was such a bitch to move my crap up there. but anyway, school was school. my marks were still improving somewhat. there'd always be that one course that would pull down my avg. ironically it would be a psych course. logic just doesn't work with psychology courses. bah! anyway, this term, i attended CCF. didn't really know why i went. maybe 'cuz i felt alone? because there were ppl i knew there? but in any case, i still went. to learn. joined Men's Cell, my first cell group i've ever joined at CCF.
Fall term was also the first time i've ever played ice hockey! it was a thrill! it was really fun. even though we lost all but 1 game in the regular season. but it was a great learning experience. in a way, this experience also allowed me to get to know some ppl in CCF that i never knew or really talked to before.
Winter 2005. i was reunited with Jeff & Ben in a little basement apartment on Albert Street. not very far from our yellow shack. it was interesting living with them again. we didn't do any of that NHL game craziness, maybe a little more PS2ing. i own them in Tiger Woods 2004. :P & Smackdown! there was more ice hockey, & this time we were winning. we even made enemies with a team last term. we're still enemies with them today. :P but anyway, love thy enemies right? :P also went to another cell group that dealt with Relationships. i think the highlight of this term was saran wrapping Jeff's room. hahaha..that was jokes.
Fall 2005. everyone i came to Waterloo with back in 2000 has graduated. still living in WCRI, but with Betty, Lorna, & Gabe. in a Christian point of view, i really feel that this is the term that has really changed me & i think i really have one person to thank for that. if it wasn't for his invitation, i don't think i would've grown as much as i have, nor would i have felt this close to finally accepting God as my saviour. Alpha was such a great experience for me. it really allowed me to just ask all those "weird & stupid" questions, & really challenge for those answers. i guess as a person that was brought up in an atheist family, i can kinda look at the Bible critically, & ask those questions that just doesn't make sense to me. the Alpha bunch were great & brought a lot of insight, questions, & answers. plus the food was good! ;P despite how picky of an eater i am. :P
so i guess in this term, i was really, encouraged to go & actively SEEK God rather than having a laid back approach to it. i finally started going to church here in Waterloo, going to Community Fellowship Church (CFC). i really like it, it's very interactive. the speakers are good, funny, & really pound the point home. the worship teams are awesome.
this term also gave me one of my best single academic performance in a class. it's the first time i got 90+% on anything, TWICE, & in turn, my highest final grade ever in a course. booya!
now i'm embarking on Winter 2006. my final term here in Waterloo. well, at least i hope so! :S it BETTER be!! still livin' at WCRI, but only Gabe was replaced with Cynthia. the term's been an interesting one, personally. i've had my share of smiles & frustrations. still attending CCF whenever i can, still playing hockey (this time in the intermediate level), still going to CFC. things are a little different. no cell group this term, a really light course load. really crappy marks. i'm not happy about it. but, i'm gonna turn it on for finals. mwahaha. started to have my weekly talks with Eric about a month ago, those are good for me. grad dinner was really nice & really pounded in me that..you're gonna be out of here in a month exactly.
my thoughts were really disjointed eh? all over the place, nothing even flowed. but that was my reflection.
just looking back, it's surreal kind of. i don't know if you see it, but i see it. i see how God worked, it's crazy. hindsight. 1st & 2nd year were completely brutal for me. i even thought about doing things i would never dreamed of doing. drinking & smoking. i'm so glad that i didn't end up doing any of that, & i still won't. not even on my wedding day. but oddly enough, all this crap that was happening to me was BEFORE i started going to church regularly back home at MCBC. was God really working in me? giving me a 2nd chance at school at Waterloo. starting me off slow & building me up as the terms went on by. answering every prayer i had without me even realizing it. each term, marks improving, papers were getting written better with better results. tests taking were getting better. i always prayed that hard work will pay off & upon graduation, it has finally paid off. isn't that incredible? praise God man! He surrounded me with brothers & sisters who would pray for me, who would become such great friends, just encouraging you to keep going. i'm really truly blessed that CCF was there for me, & God really impacted my life in no other way i thought it could.
graduating is a bittersweet feeling right now.
thanks everyone. everyone who WAS in my life, who IS in my life, & who is GONNA be in my life.
there's only ONE thing left to do.
Green Day
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Another turning point
a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist
directs you where to go
So make the best of this test
and don't ask why
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf
of good health and good time
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth
it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
spun by b at 10:04 p.m.
2 Web Spinners:
heh, so many things change in university...i remember going through changes of my own, especially the whole seeking and accepting Christ parts. it has definitely been lots of fun having you around, makes me wish you came out earlier.
graduation is not that bad/sad...things will definitely change but one thing that will not change is that we will all be friends, brothers, and sisters forever.
later
JT
awwww Benson!!!
really enjoyed your post & reflections!
science sucks in university eh? lol
lucky you... only a couple more weeks!
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