Oh the Humanities!

(Or Why I decided to major in Philosophy)

First off I couldn't resist:


Caption: I just Kant do it!

Okay, okay Horrible, aaah-I-want-to-hit-my-head-against-the-wall pun I know! =P

On a more serious note, here are some main reasons, not all of them, but a good overview I think...

1. It's something that I think I want to do for the rest of my life. Learning to love God with all my mind, is it not a worthy goal? Essentially, I want to wake up everyday, go to work and teach people how to love God. The best thing is, it's a journey that carries over into the next life. Who can know the depths of God? There is no end to His Love.

2. It seems like a good avenue through which I can channel my talents. I'm not spectacular, but I'm not totally incompetent either.

3. It's a great springboard for studies in Theology. Which I plan to pursue in graduate school.

Thinking back, the book of Proverbs has also highly influenced my decision.

My only regret is that with Torrey Honors on top of this major, and all my spare units devoted to Business classes, I won't hardly have any time for music classes. =[

But that will be a moot point if I don't first finish my application essay...haha...

Does anyone know of any people who are affiliated (teach, have taken this major, etc.) with this major at Biola? Is this a wise decision? I want input! (Please)

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Clip on Happiness

Another shameless plug for Pushing Daisies.

They can't touch!

Oh and they're such well dressed Checkities!

Reflections on Love

Oh God, I don't love you, I don't even want to love you, but I want to want to love you!
-St. Teresa of Avila

O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess!
I feel too much thy blessing. Make it less
For fear I surfeit.
...
You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,
Such as I am. Though for myself alone
I would not be ambitious in my wish
To wish myself much better, yet for you
I would be trebled twenty times myself,
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times
More rich, that only to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account. But the full sum of me
Is sum of something - which to term in gross
Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpracticed;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn;
Happpiest of all, is that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Myself and what is mine to you and yours
Is now converted....

-Portia, The Merchant of Venice

Lord, if this be pleasing unto thee, let it be so.
Lord, if it be to thy honor, in thy name let this be done.
Lord, if thou seest it good, and allowest it to be
profitable for me, then grant unto me that I may use this to thine honor.
But if thou knowest it will be harmful unto me, and no profit to the health of my soul, take away any such desire from me...
Deal with me as thou thinkest good, and as best pleaseth thee, and is most for thy honor.
Behold, I am thy servant, prepared for all things; for I desire not to live unto myself, but unto thee; and oh that I could do it worthily and perfectly!

- The Imitation of Christ pg. 19

Need-love says of a woman "I cannot live without her"; gift-love longs to give her happiness, comfort, protection - if possible, wealth; Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him, will not be wholly dejected by losing her, would rather have it so than never to have seen her at all.

-Lewis, The Four Loves

My Song is love unknown
My Saviour's love to me
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
O who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?

-Passiontide Hymn

Teach us to care and not to care.
Our peace in His will.

-T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday

What is this face, less clear and clearer
The pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger-
Given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye

-Eliot, Marina

Do not fear the conflict, do not flee it. Where there is no struggle, there is no virtue. Where faith and love are not tested, it is not possible to be sure if they are really present. They are proved and revealed in adversity

-St. John of Kronstadt

Things my little sister has done to me...out of the goodness of her heart

Generally speaking, I love my sister but sometimes...

Mom: Isn't Aaron cute? (That's my two year old cousin)

Me: Awww, he is he is. *squinty eyed smiles*

Mom: All two year olds are cute...they can get away with murder.

Joycelyn: Yeah Gabriel, I mean, even you were cute at some point!

sigh...

So I was pulling into the garage and Joycelyn opens the door while I'm still driving.

Me: What are you doing! Where's your brain?! Did you lose it?

Joycelyn: Nope, but I was looking for yours...

Oh the Humanity!

You know that wonderful fuzzy moment right before you fall asleep when everything is right with the world and you've said your prayers etc.? Yeah..... imagine me in that moment and then

BUGAUGAUGUAGBOOOO!!

Yeah....that would be Joycelyn. Hiding beneath my bed. That wasn't a goodnight for sleeping. Nope. Nutin. Nada.

And if that wasn't bad enough, when I woke up....

You know, I don't know about you, but I have a pretty full bladder in the morning. So I stumble into the bathroom that we share all bleary eyed from lack of sleep (plus I don't have my glasses on so I'm legally blind [not really]). So it's pretty standard routine from here on out right? Sigh. Not happening today. To be blunt. Joycelyn had put plastic surround wrap over the toilet. Yeah....

Big. Big. Big. Mess.

I was noooot happy.

And to round out a perfectly horrendous april fools, I found out that my toes were painted glittery pink. Did I mention they GLITTERED.

P.S. Joycelyn says to take notes Talia and Jane...

Dating...

My parent's rules for dating:

Me: So, what's a good time to start dating?

Mom and Dad: You can't date until after you're married

Me: ..........

Me: ........... O.O

Yeah.... =D

(For those of you who are even slower than I am, that was a joke) ;)

Numbers 47-100

Okay, I promise this won't be about me...(Don't know any other way to survive it!).

Think of this as a list of things I'm grateful for.

Oh, by the way, for those who have not read the earlier post, go read that first.

47. Pushing Daisies. You have no idea how smarmily romantic, quirky, funny, hopeful, warm and fuzzly this show makes me feel. Blargh! They had better not cancel it!

48. KUSC. The last classical radio station in the LA area. It's commercial free and member supported (which means we donate to keep it runnning). Been a member for 2 years now. =] Where would I be without classical music 24/7? My only complaint is that they keep all the good stuff in the wee hours of the morning from like 1:00 am to 6:00 am...haha but then again that might be because I listen to it at that time most often! One of my favorite programs on the station is Sunday Morning Sacred classics. Oy! Such beauty to make men weep. Go visit and stream from online at KUSC.org

49. What is the purpose of life? Love God and Love man? This is coming up mostly because I'm really struggling with the major in College thing. Philosophy or Pre-med? Ahhhhgg! Main problem: Parental expectation. How do I convince them that Philosophy majors can actually make a decent living? (I'm thinking Proffesorship here). Sigh. I'm also very aware of the expectations that they have had for my future. Curse you Asian stereotype! I want to be able to come to the end of my life and know that I've used my gifts to the best of my ablilities to Love God and those around me to the fullest.

50. Listening to KUSC right now. Dang it, they really do keep all the good stuff for the night.

51. I'm so so grateful for the ability to buy the books I want. There's something about being among my books that gives me a sense of homeyness. What's in a home?

52. I'm actually really sick right now. I haven't slept well for two weeks going to bed way way past midnight. sigh.

53. I'm going to be taking lessons with Mr. Peter Yazbeck, quite a exceptional teacher, this sunday. I am not ready. Sigh. Oh Rachmaninoff, Oh Bach help me unlock your secrets!

54. I know I mentioned it before, but the Trinity and the Incarnation and the Atonement are just such wonderfully awe inspiring doctrines. I'm quite speechless (although I hope that doesn't happen during presentations).

55. I shamelessly collect change from around the house. I scour the gap in the sofa between the cushion and the frame, the countertop, etc. Makes me feel like a pirate...Okay, that was about me, but oh well.

56. Shakespeare is hilarious. Here are some interesting summaries our class came up with:

57. Twelfth Night: Love is a revealer and a concealer of identities.

58. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Love is like being awake and Love is like dreaming.

59. Much Ado about Nothing: Love is like war and Love is like peace. Love is like dying and Love is like Living. "Come lady, die to live this wedding day."

60. Seriously! KUSC keeps the best stuff for this insane hour of night! Dvorak, Bach, Tchaikovsky! Where are they in the day?

61. That was unfair...haha...

62. Tomorrow is Mid Rags. That means a one-on-one interview with my tutor to discuss my progress this quarter. Oy! We'll also be brainstorming for Term Paper topics. I'm thinking The Madness of Love in Phaedrus and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

63. I've got a really bad headache. I flunked my Statistics test today, but I get to drop it. =[ There goes my 102% in the class. Talk about over-inflation!

64. Torrey and Wheatstone Academy are the best things that have happened to me since Jesus.

65. The Life of the Mind requires an integration of a person's entire being which includes the Head the Heart and the Hands. To be a whole soul and to strive to be re-created in the Image of God. That is worth living for.

66. What does it mean to be made in the Image of God?

67. Goodness.

68. Truth.

69. Beauty.

70. The Trinity.

71. Faith.

72. Hope.

73. Love.

74. God is Love.

75. Those were huge huge statements. Let's start thinking about them and living them out.

76. Movies. What is their purpose? Been talking with Christian alot about them. He should meet Joshua Sikora (I've never actually met this director although I've seen him up close).

77. Medival Philosophy fascinates me.

78. Next goal. Read Lewis' The Discarded Image.

79. I hope I can accurately and excellently argue for why it had to be the Incarnation had to be enacted by the Second Person of the Trinity.

80. Oh, I just started driving with a permit last week. Parent's eyes are twitchy to say the least. haha. I like driving. It's very relaxing. Now if only I could lean how to park...

81. I wrote a letter to my future self when I was 12 years old. There was this mind blowing statement, "I hope you become someone I can be proud of." Yikes! Talk about living up to expectations! From myself! (Though not in the way one would think). Am I someone that I would admire? It's hard to think of oneself as a temporal being, how much of my 12 year old self is inside of my 16 year old self? Naomi wrote on this topic a few weeks ago on the Wheatstone Forum.

82. Speaking of which, I haven't yet received the newsletter...

83. I miss Peter Gross. We need to have a good long talk about Music, Bach, Oxford, Life in general!

84. Miss Holly Vanderwall has yet to fulfill her promise! =] I regret that we didn't get to talk further about Oxford!

85. I'm slowly becoming an Anglophile. Mostly because of the Inklings. I must get into the history more.

86. I drink Soymilk. Been drinking it for 7 years now. Non-o-that Dairy stuff. Then my mom switches to Almond milk because some obscure study says that Soymilk lowers male reproductive cell counts. LIKE I'M GONNA NEED IT ANYTIME SOON! Sigh. I miss soymilk.

87. I prepared a sermon the other week. It went well. I learned alot. Now I must work doubly hard on humility. That is true wisdom. Humility is endless.

88. Turn this number on its side and you get double infinity. Speaking of which, the infinity logo for the car, is quite brilliant. It manages to depict a road stretching into the infinite distance within the symbol of infinity. Cool.

89. What is it like to know Romance? Teenage hormonal issues aside, the concept really fascinates me. That a man and a woman (go Prop 8!)would willingly be together and strive to be "one flesh". So united that they become one. Not I, but we. Thy will O Lord be done.

90. Do you think I'll ever get married? Mr. Bartel is getting married. "You're no good to others if you aren't any good to yourself". Must work on that...

91. This whole concept of striving to be worthy of the Goodness, Truth, and Beauty I've been shown. But most of all, the Love that has been lavished upon me constrains me to strive forward to the mark of our high calling in Jesus Christ. To Know Him and His death that I might share in His resurrection. "Who do you say I am?" Go read the reply. Believe it. Live it. (Advice for myself)

92. The year I was born. It so happens that the coming generation will have relegated me to the past century. The really influencial people of my generation will be the 21st centurians. Oh well.

93. Nine is the square of Three. Dante would love that. I like math and patterns, just not the way it's taught. But that's more my problem...I hope.

94. Wow, I'm actually coming up to it. For those of you who've gotten this far, it feels like slogging through and staying awake somewhere in the middle of Metropolis during the Homer Marathon.

95. Which reminds me, tomorrow I'm going to be dead. Literally.

96. The Jesus Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

97. Denominations. What the heck are up with those? I don't even know the denominations of any but a handful of my classmates! Why don't we ever at least ask so we can understand where an argument is coming from? Obviously there's the danger of getting into doctrinal squabbles and Torrey is trying to foster Mere Christianity, but I'm surprised by this absolute shyness that we have when it comes to denominations. For crying out loud, one of my closest friends only found out I'm a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church last week! Why are we so shy about this?

98. Ooooh, wrapping up are we. Well that's good because I really really want to sleep. God. Torrey. Piano. Eat. Sleep.

99. Two Squares of 3. The difference between 1 and 2 is infinitely greater than that which is between 2 and 3.

100. It's a wonderful, wonderful Life! =D

Please!

Okay, Pushing Daisies is in trouble! If you haven't watched the show before, do do so. Noooooooo!!!! They might cancel it!

Watch this wednesday at 8pm on ABC.

Now's the time people!

here's a 5 min. Recap.