Gratitude

Gabriel Choo
Torrey Academy Banquet Speech
Delivered Friday, May 29, 2009

*Deep Breath* Torrey Academy – the final Frontier, these are the voyages of some overly intellectual students, their 3 year mission, to explore strange, unheard of authors, to seek out ancient truths and age old questions, and to boldly Read, what no normal person has ever read before!

(Joycelyn, you owe me 5 bucks)

Haha, that’s what Torrey Academy would sound like on TV.

But in all seriousness, I just wanted to express this evening, all the Gratitude and Joy I feel. If you asked me what the best thing about my education was, my answer, without a Doubt would be Torrey Academy. How can I narrow down all the wonderful, Wonderful things Torrey is to me? There are the little things: the blinking cursor on an blank screen write before you start the reflection essay that’s due tomorrow morning, the countless inside jokes and references built over hundreds of hours of discussion together, or even the time when our tutor made us go hug a tree! Then there are the big things: that first day of class, when you come out of session knowing that you don’t know anything, or that “ah hA” moment, when the concept you’ve been struggling with as a group suddenly clicks and EVERYTHING makes sense, or the Wondrous moment when you look around the room and you realize, I Love these People.

And when it comes down to it, perhaps the greatest thing the Torrey has given me is Love. Love for the deep friendships I’ve made, Love for the Breathtaking joy of being a part of this academic Community, and best of all, falling deeper in love with the Love that moves the Sun and the furthest Stars. These past 3 years have just been an Endless Chain of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

I suppose the best way to describe Torrey Academy would be to compare it with a stained glass window. In those piercingly beautiful sheets of structured light, I see so Many colors of glass form a Wondrous and structured whole. And as the light of the Sun is filtered through that glass and shines through it, beautiful Images of grace, redemption, and Love are silently told. Yet, these individual bits of colored glass never lose their uniqueness but find their greatest fulfillment by being a part of a greater whole. That is what Torrey is like. For in the same way that the light of the sun shines through a stained-glass window, the Light of the Son of God shines through this Community, illuminating our Hearts and our Minds with the thoughts and writings of great thinkers and Christians - of ages past.

These years have been the best of my short life and for these experiences, I will always be grateful. So thank you my friends and colleagues, Thank you Parents, Thank you Tutors, thank you Administrators, but most of all, thank you God for making Torrey Possible. I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful evening.

An Announcement

Guess who got a license to drive?

oh yeah. =]

Guess who splurged on their gift card and bought $15 worth of Godiva Chocolate?

Oh Yeah.

Guess who loves Torrey?

OH YEAH! =D

A Sad Story

=[

The other day, I had finished watching a lot of tv and movies...

then I went outside.

And the first words that popped out of my mouth?

WHOA!!! The grass is in HD!!!

>_<

Let us hope this event does not occur again....ever. ;P

"To Boldly Go Where..."

Today was (I think) the official beginning of farewell to senior year.

So many memories.

So many happy memories.

So many beautiful memories.

Lest you think I shall be stuck in the past, I assure you, I look to the future with a stout heart and good cheer.

But I guess I just wanted to remark that if this was it -if tonight I (by God's grace) were called to enter Christ's courts, I would not think this life ill spent -because I have known you my friends.

If today my life were demanded of me, I would have no regrets.

It has been one of my greatest joys and privileges to come to know you all over the years (how few and short they seem!).

Many were the times when I'd look around at everyone and think to myself, "This truly is, a wonderful life".

And so it is, it truly, truly is a wonderful life.

How many can say that?

"We few, we happy few..."

In Which I Join the Bandwagon

Who knew imovie could be so easy to use!

Here is my humble offering.

I hope I get to make more of these in the future!

=D

If you're having trouble viewing the video, it's on private (my classmate's a bit picky about being on the internet) so email me if you want to watch it. =\

You Know You're Over the Deep End When...

You went ahead and pre-ordered this book six months ago. =D

It CAME TODAY!!!

YEAAASSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

I Love you Amazon. =D

Singleness isn't a Bad thing...

I'm still pretty young as human beings go.

But I'm already beginning to feel the pressure to get on the path to getting married.

Now dating isn't a bad thing! (Friends who know me can attest to the fact that I'm a hopeless romantic!)

But perhaps there's a problem when even my dad sits me down for this kind of a lecture.

"Son, I'm a bit worried about you, when I was your age, your mom was already hopelessly in love with me."

=P

It's such a relief I guess to realize that I don't have to be married to another person in order to become a whole person.

Not that I wouldn't want to get married at some point in the future ;)

Realization was prompted by this podcast.