不要停止,你們的堅忍和忍耐,應當加倍...

you know that place between sleeping and dreaming, that's where i'm waiting...

how many teeth are in a horse's mouth?

ladies and gentlemen, hold your breath and brace yourself for the suave, heartbreaker... mr francis bacon:



well, here's an interesting story i read in my history of psychology textbook, written by the man above:

"in the year of our lord 1432, there arose a grievous quarrel among the brethren over the number of teeth in the mouth of a horse. for 13 days the disputation raged without ceasing. all the ancient books and chronicles were fetched out, and a wonderful and ponderous erudition, such as was never heard of in this region, was made manifest. at the beginning of the 14th day, a youthful friar of goodly bearing asked his learned superiors for a permission to add a word, and straightway, to the wonderment of the disputants, whose deep wisdom he sore vexed, he beseeched them to unbend in a manner coarse and unheard-of, and to look in the open mouth of a horse and find the answer to their questionings. at this, their dignity being grievously hurt, they waxed exceedingly wroth and joining in a mighty uproar, they flew upon him and smote his hip and thigh, and cast him out forthwith. for, said they, surely satan had tempted this bold neophyte to declare unholy and unheard-of ways of finding truth contrary to all the teachings of the fathers. after many days of grievous strife the dove of peace sat on the assembly, and they as one man, declaring the problem to be an everlasting mystery because of a grievous dearth of historical and theological evidence thereof, so ordered the same writ down."

so much for philosophical wisdom!

semester done.

consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin:
and yet i say unto you,
that even solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall he not much more clothe you,
o ye of little faith?
- Matthew 6:28-30

與我同住

夕陽西沉，求主與我同住；
黑暗漸深，求主與我同住!
求助無門，安慰也無求處；
常助孤苦之神，與我同住!

渺小浮生，飄向生涯盡處；
歡娛好景，轉瞬都成往事；
變化無常，環境何能留住；
懇求不變之神，與我同住!

我深需主，時刻需主眷顧；
若非主恩，怎將試探抗拒?
誰能如主，時常導引扶持；
無論風雨晦明，與我同住!

...abide with me!

the master carver

how slow the forming...
how hard the blows...
but i, the stone, must come to know
in my own person, my own soul,
thy will, thy purpose here below.
o master, now i plead to thee,
cut off my roughness, form my face,
refine my feelings, make of me
a fit reflection of thy grace.
yea, haste the day when i may kneel
before thee and great elohim.
accepted, peaceful in thy home,
at last like thee, each grain of stone.
-j. devn cornish


is there no other way?

"Lest We Forget" - Rudyard Kipling

i know i have been complaining a lot lately.
i know i have no reason to.

general conference was amazing. my first time in the conference center, my first time listening to the prophet speak at conference, my first time interpreting for the world, my first time hearing the grand mormon tabernacle choir.. and the spoken word reads:

When all is well and life is good, we tend to forget those who have made our present comforts possible: the teachers, parents, ancestors, and others who've sacrificed in our behalf. We drive on roads we didn't build, or we eat food we didn't grow—we all enjoy benefits and blessing that have come from the work of others. How often do we pause to acknowledge this? Do we sometimes enjoy the peace without remembering the peacemakers? Do we seize opportunities without giving thought to those who provided them?

We appreciate our blessings more deeply when we choose to remember those who have made these blessings possible. How fully can we appreciate a beautiful performance of music without considering the hours, even years, of practice behind it? How sincerely can we enjoy the gifts of nature—the starlit skies, the flowering fields, the panoramic sunsets—without remembering the God of creation?

Before the children of Israel entered the promised land, Moses reviewed with them the laws and blessings they had been given while in the wilderness. He understood that their prosperity in the land would only be as good as their memory of how they got there: the guidance they received, the lessons they learned, the daily sustenance they were given. Moses counseled, "Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life."

If the Giver of all good is always close to our hearts, our lives will be enriched by the reverent memory and acknowledgment of our every blessing.

the mandarin interpretation booth

the salt lake temple... with a little of the conference center poking out at the background

Helping Hand

picking up life where u left off, or from the pieces on the ground isn't as easy as it sounds.

it involves concentrated effort and focus, things which i obviously lack. sometimes, all you need is someone to reach out a hand to you- so u can grab it, and together with that friend, hoist yourself back onto your feet again, then you can continue your upward climb.

i bought a franklin covey planner today, cost a bomb, an atomic bomb. the rational: i need a new sense of motivation to sort my life out again, to assemble the broken pieces and puzzle them together into a coherent picture.

repentance is such a refreshing principle, don't we all need it ever so badly?

oh let's go back to the start

come up to meet ya, tell you I'm sorry
you don't know how lovely you are
i had to find you, tell you I need ya
and tell you I set you apart
tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions
oh lets go back to the start
running in circles, coming in tails
heads on a science apart

nobody said it was easy
it's such a shame for us to part
nobody said it was easy
no one ever said it would be this hard
oh take me back to the start

i was just guessing at numbers and figures
pulling the puzzles apart
questions of science, science and progress
do not speak as loud as my heart
and tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
oh and I rush to the start
running in circles, chasing tails
coming back as we are

coldplay - the scientist

Wishful Thinking

how shall i...
stand by you but let you go
hear your cry but stay my hand
share my pain but keep my sorrows
love your soul but not your heart

Beaten Down

a little red ant walks up the hill
a noble task he thinks and feels
getting tired but on he trods
wishing he had encouraging nods
... ... ...
the rain came down and washed him out
the little red ant continues him to go up

i tried to write a poem, but guess i'm not that talented. trying to personify myself as a little red ant climbing a hill is indeed an uphill task. maybe i should just speak plainly.

do you ever feel beaten down?

so here i am, finally, in cougar-town. is has been wonderful thus far, in fact i'm in the library right now, taking a break from reading all my textbooks. school's been fun except for the absurdly amount of readings that i have. other than that, this has been a dream come true.

the past week or so has been filled with meeting people and adjusting to this new life that i have embarked upon. it's really quite exciting and the opportunities ahead of me are endless.

america... the land of opportunity... and ignorance of the rest of the world.