what can i say? though He slay me, i will trust in Him. no more running away, Lord...

Amp'd Busted Commercial (better quality)

hilarious =D

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 4 people with my name in the U.S.A. how/'>http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

update time. let's be brief, shall we?

school has started - things are going VERY well. kids are ok... apathetic 8th grade class this yr. i have to stop comparing to my bomb group last yr! *sigh* different challenges, and 2 fights already btwn boys... why do boys have to beat each other up?!

ingrid and i opened our apt up to an iranian homeless woman that lives in westwood... wow, what an experience.

my principal has lymphoma, so he'll be on leave for awhile...

i love my church and my brothers and sisters there!

amen.

check out my pics!!

back and ready to attack!!

i had a really great summer with the cons (yay, tour c) and with my family (yay, whistler!) check out my pics and family pics for a great picture diary of everything!

this pic is of tour c (us) and the costa rican continentals at a host home btwn concerts for lunch and relaxation. we had just done 2 concerts at a church, and we were about to do another one in a few hrs.

praise God for always growing me in the most amazing ways... bring on the new year!

well, i'm off for another adventure...

follow along: Tour C - U.S. and Costa Rica)

pray for us. see y'all late august...

congratulations, revere c/o 2006!

and just like that, another yr is almost over. my first group of 6th graders are graduating...

how emotional these past few wks have been. the spring concert was AMAZING and flawless for the first time in 3 yrs. it's also the first time i've cried (and keep crying) over a graduating class that i will genuinely miss.

"... because i knew you, i have been changed for good."

thank you for the memories, revere class of 2006!

what a yr it has been...

oh yeah, and go see revere's production of GUYS N' DOLLS this weekend, may 5th-7th!

what an incredibly relaxing weekend away from all things revere...

ingrid, ba and i went to malibu and pondered how the houses there are built on the (unstable) sand b/c i've been encouraging my pessimistic father to move closer to the ocean when he retires. that's when i began to sing the old, Christian kid's favorite "don't build your house on the sandy land..." with an added comment, "well, they all must be non-Christians!" i love the beach...

we then passed a woman on the drive to the wonderful polish restaurant warszawa. let's just say, she paid a lot of money for the work done on her boobs. so my dad comments, "at least she won't have to worry about her nose if she walks into a wall!" hahahahaha...

and then my celebrant friend nancy and i went to disneyland today. while we were waiting for an animation show to start in california adventure, she saw a man in a row ahead of us and said that his head looked like it was smiling b/c he had a crease in the back of his head that looked like a smiley face. and it did... so she goes and asks him to put his sunglasses on the back of his head to make a smiley face. we were contemplating making eyes and a nose out of cotton candy, too, but refrained from that. then nancy says, "it's the happiest place on earth. even your head smiles." haha! and then, on our way out, we ran into dt and mike! what a great weekend it has been...

it's good to be held accountable by such respectable, Godly women in the Lord... thank you for your gracious rebuke the other night.

i've been given a lot of lessons in humility as of late - praise the Lord.

another wise quote: "why do you live your life waiting for something to happen?"

so my students weren't supposed to wander off by themselves at magic mtn yesterday where we went for a music festival. ingrid, milt oberman (teacher) and i ran into a 7th grader named jessica outside the gotham city gate area by batman the ride...

me: jessica, why are you by yourself?
jessica: i lost my friends
me: how did you lose your friends?
jessica: i lost my friends because i followed a large stuffed animal!

and the best answer to the "which rides did you go on, ms. ling?" question...
chicken tenders, funnel cake, 3 scoops of ice cream, roasted corn, hot chocolate and french fries!

oh so quotable naoko: like I told...someone...I wish BTSA was a person so I could punch it in the face

wow, the trip to florida was great. i was feeling burnt out at the end of the week before spring break, and i was fearing hanging out with kids for that chunk of spring break, but it ended up being a wonderful experience all around. praise God for these wonderful kids and for this opportunity...

many thanks to miranda and ingrid for giving shaun and me rides to and from the airport. you guys are the best!! thank you for your graciousness and sacrifice.

looking forward to all events leading up to resurrection sunday! =)

life is busy, but good.

~ kids are awesome; i'm really enjoying this last part of the yr for some reason. i really am going to miss these 8th graders a lot. bah, i get too attached... what a girl =P

~ new york was great! thanks to everyone that made it relaxing and special. you guys rock. i'm sooo proud of dr. kano. the new york city master chorale is amazing!! y'all should check them out if you get a chance to. mucho thanks to dixit for being a gracious host. new york is a great city yo.

~ guys n' dolls rehearsals after school, fri nite Bible study, worship practice, core group and choir practice all make for busy weeks that seem to zoom on by... june is only 2 months away!? then off with the continentals in july... wow, already.

~ florida in a wk for spring break with kids and 3 other teachers from revere. stay tuned for some crazy stories =)

~ praising God for every moment of life!!

love ya, tor! DISNEYLAND ROCKS!!! =D

so last two weekends/weeks were great... check out my pictures to get a glimpse into what's been going on. i am truly inspired by my blessed brother josh to take and post lots of pictures. and dropshots is great, too. God is SO good. He has given me such opportunities to travel and experience things...

i celebrated my dad's bday with an all-day trek to santa barbara, solvang, camarillo then sushi @ go's, dessert @ roy's and a romp around 3rd street! what a great day it was...

the hanks played a marvelous set at the knitting factory on the 27th. it was pouring rain that night, but there was a great crowd there. big japan, adam brody's band (he's seth on the oc) played as well... ingrid got a flat tire on the way to the show, but thank the Lord kenny was around to help! he saved the day, er night?

i went to the american choral directors association's western division conference in salt lake city this past wed-sat. it was in salt lake city, utah. what an amazing time i had there. people are so much nicer when you leave the big, crowded city. we had amazing choirs to listen to, great interest sessions and it was just nice to get away from la. i got to explore the city a bit on my own and ventured into lds and utes territory... ah, how i love exploring on my own!

it's funny how i felt completely inspired yet completely incompetent at acda... but it's the kick i needed to get me through the rest of this yr. and, as an added bonus, i got to see chris rhodes (ex-samohi choir), cecile blanchard (jams) and heather gold (manhattan beach ms). yay for getting to know more and more people in the profession!!

it was a great "retreat," but now i'm ready to get back to the grind! =)

...wah, nobody comments on my blogs =(

i've got that gooey feeling... yummy. i love mondays off. they are the best days off EVER!!

so i was reading our college pastor's commentary on "the end of the spear" movie, and he's right about the lack of the GOSPEL being clearly explained.

so many people are getting engaged/married this yr already! and it's only just begun. multiple friends of mine already have 5+ weddings to attend, and it's only mid-february! what's going on?! is it something in our water supply??

oh well, until it's my time... i'ma enjoy God's precious gift of singleness, baby! ;)

i'm getting bored of the monotony - here's to moving to sd and/or moving to europe within the next few yrs (yay, kristie)!! gotta enjoy the singleness while i can, right? what am i doing sitting around dreaming about stuff when i can actually go out there and do it?

ingrid and i took an impromptu trip to sd today. it was really great fun. we had brunch with josh and caleb at a place called hash house a go go in hillcrest. the portions there are CRAZY huge. just look at the pictures of the food - yikes. no wonder 31% of americans are obese... and i could go off about how it's so wrong that we're all so FAT here and other countries are STARVING, but i won't go there. ok, i already have...

but seriously, we're so blessed to be able to live in the states and be able to gorge ourselves at places like hash house.

i love sd! it's always a nice mini getaway...

today i got the opportunity to be an adjudicator at a so cal vocal association (scva) jr hi/middle school honor choir audition. thank God there was someone very experienced there to judge with me or i wouldn't have known what to do or how to do it. it was a really cool experience even though only 2 of the auditioners showed up! oh well... it was an easy morning, and since the site was john adams middle school (jams) in santa monica (yay, apryl!), i got to hang out with the wonderful cecile blanchard for a little while... yay for delving deeper into the vocal/choral world!

"end of the spear" was pretty good - go see it!

it's a rare thing to see my uncle martin b/c he lives and works in taiwan...

you must check this out! click on "watch." now this is what choir's all about yo. thanks, kenny:)

remember when... times were a lot simpler?

sometimes i wonder... ok, i always wonder why God allows things to happen the way it happens. i know that everything happens for a reason. sometimes i wish that i knew what ultimately God has in store for certain situations

cj mahaney put it really well in his Resolved "sovereign grace" sermon... "you will always be bumping into mystery when God is our subject because He defies all human analysis." and "as the years pass, hopefully there will be more humility to make you more comfortable with mystery." thank you, cj.

"God is God and i am not..." ~ steven curtis chapman

this picture is from dinner on saturday with music friends - good times, great memories =)

well, i finally have internet again after almost a week of nothing. i realized how much i rely on the internet, and now that i have a few more responsibilities than i did in the past, i need it more than ever. how did we ever survive without it? we could live without it... and life would be a lot more personal again. or would it? would people be too lazy to actually call or write?

so i decided that it was time to move on from my lj. yessirreee... so here we are. i just got home from a fabulous weekend at the RESOLVED conference in pasadena. john macarthur, steve lawson, rick holland and cj mahaney were the speakers. talk about intense... they're adding john piper next year!! i can't wait! i'm so thankful that i was able to attend this one. i was all set to attend last year's but my beloved grandpa passed away the weekend right before, so i ended up not being able to go.

if you haven't checked it out already, look at my PICTURES!! i love that site! you should get an account with them, too! it's so easy, and it's so much fun! haha... i should get paid. y'all think i'm crazy, huh?


and this picture --> is the front of an exhibit that's called "ashes and snow." i went to see it today after trying to go with a teacher friend yesterday (but it was closed for mlk day). it's an exhibit that's housed in a "nomadic museum" created out of steel cargo containers in the santa monica pier parking lot. the exhibit features photos and films of people interacting with animals... very zen. it's definitely something unique that you should see.

happy 2006 - take all of this year's trials and blessings with graciousness... and enjoy the life God has given you to live! to God be the glory!!!