I remember

mom & dad:

happy 26th anniversarry!

grateful to be one of your kids,

Z

firsts in my second thanksgiving

Beberapa hal menarik yang gua alami di Thanksgiving tahun ini.

1. Pertama kali kecelakaan mobil nubruk kijang, brekkkkkkkkkk! Setelah dikonfirmasi ternyata bukan rusa, tapi kijang. (Kijang kok dilawan???)
2. Pertama kali road trip sejauh 1600 miles, total (kira2 2300 km, kaya bolak balik Jakarta-Medan kali yaa?) dengan mobil.
3. Pertama kali pergi ke Atlanta.
4. Pertama kali hunting 'black friday' (belanja sehari setelah Thanksgiving utk ngejar bbrp barang murah dan... DAPETTTT! Cihuy!)
5. Pertama kali naek mobil polisi,
6. Pertama kali naek mobil derek
7. Pertama kali naek 'taksi gelap' (adeeuuhhh ternyataaa di Amrik yang negara hukum ini tetep aja ada yg namanya taksi gelap! *geleng-geleng*)
8. Pertama kali naek mobil rental (yg terakhir ini 'sakit ati dah').
9. Pertama kali nyetir mobil overnight dlm rangka pulang dari Atlanta ke Lynchburg.

So....laughter? Tears? Joy? Pain? Nervous? Regret? Happy? Guilt? Relieved? Tenang, disini kumplit semua ada kok. Dan atas semuanya gua cuma bisa say thanks to the Lord. He keeps me and watch over me. And He is good indeed.

ps.
btw soal mobil, keliatannya dlm bbrp waktu dekat ini gue bakal dapet mobil baru nech gara2 mobil gua rusak berat dan insurance company lebih milih untuk ganti daripada perbaiki. doain ya supaya gue dapet mobil bekas yang gak bermasalah.

flow

Setelah berjuang menyelesaikan itu term paper systematic theology/ST dan test tiap hari yang seru2, akhirnya hari ini terlewati dgn baik jg. Thanks Lord! That's it????? Ga kaleee. Masi ada tugas2 lain menanti. Cross-cultural church planting dan PDM class masih harus dibikin papernya. Belom lagi gue mesti selesain "utang" lama yaitu project terjemahan Boy Meets Girl yang sudah dipatok terbit April 2007 di Indo edisi bhs Indonesia-nya. Hehehe... my first book translation, btw. Ing eeng!!! Abis itu masih hrs siapin bahan utk 'teaching simulation' dan final comprehensive exam ST. Duh ko kaya jadi banyak gitu ye...

Thanksgiving kali ini biasa aja kecuali tempat yg gue blm pernah kunjungi adl north Atlanta hari kamis dpn.. asyik! Lynchburg hari ini sudah mulai 'menyeramkan' krn 5000 students non-Lynchburgers pada mudik... kemana2 sepiii, namanya juga kota kecil mungil. Rumah gw pun bakal sepi krn semua rata2 anak rantau.

Ada yang lagi terpikir yaitu kemungkinan semester depan gua cabut dari kantor Admissions Dept. Well agak menyedihkan sih, tapi gua tertarik utk jadi graduate assistant di School of Religion. Selain dpt tuition gratis ganti 10 hr assistantship seminggu, lumayan dapet pengalaman utk ke depan. Pasti menarikkkk. Masih tahap pertimbangan sih. Mulai Spring 2007 semester nanti gua bakal ambil M.ML program di Rockbridge Seminary - Springfield, MO (online) for my third program dan tinggal tunggu keputusan mrk diterima or kagak. So ini bakal bikin gua gak akan "gak sibuk." Liat aja deh. Sebetulnya yg gua lagi kejar adalah Southwestern Seminary krn mrk ada program Christian Education dgn church music minor. Cuma anehnya email gw kok ga dibales2 gitu nape..... Mungkin dah kebanyakan students... So hidup dijalani saja dengan sebaik2nya. Gua tau pasti Tuhan punya maksud dlm setiap alur hidup, walaupun skrg segala sesuatunya spt masi blurr. Kalo masih gak ada respon dari mereka, gua bakal balik tahun depan. (dan jadi pengangguran???? hahaha, B.Th/'babu Tuhan' kok pengangguran...). Kalo diterima di Southwestern, gw gak tau bayar sekolah dari mana, berhubung satu dan lain hal... tapi kata TY liat burung2 di udara Bapa pelihara, nahh masa seh pembantuNya gak dipelihara...???? Jadi biarkan hidup ini mengalir, yang penting gua tau gua gak berada di sungai yang salah. Gitu dulu deh.

buruaaaaan....

Can't wait until these 2 weeks are over. This week I have to finish up my Systematic Theology I term paper, which demands a lot of concentration. For me, the philosophical facet in this lesson is somehow more dominant than the theological one. Man, it's a headache. When I began my paper, I have 2-3 questions unanswered. And now after a while, I realize that there are at least 4-5 other questions and they're all remain unanswered (LoL). I'll keep the unanswered remain unanswered, shut down my curiousity, grab my laptop, write down my findings, and leave it all up to Him.

Next, I still owe a little work of my worship intensive last two months ago. Next week will be an interesting one: a mid-test for Ministry of Teaching class, Purpose Driven Ministry class, and Cross-cultural Missions class. Wew!

These past few weeks are quite sketchy, that's what my roommate said. (I assume that it means finally he's learning how to wash the dishes..) Oo and by the way, we're having a contest, it is called: "who's going to bed early" contest. A couple days ago I went to bed unusually earlier. Last night he went to bed way too much earlier, about 8PM.... (*whatt the ...*). So I let him win the contest. "OK, you got it," Next time, the contest will be "who's cleaning up the sink??" I'll make sure he won again. hehehe..

Ok, gotta get back to work now. Peace!

the tale of two brains

Jumat - Sabtu kmrn ceritanya gua ikut IMPACT 2006: Men's Conference di Thomas Road Church. Awalnya ga gitu minat ikut sih tapi akhirnya gua semangat jg dengan melihat berbagai topik2nya yang seru. Well, selama seminggu ini kesibukan lumayan meningkat dan badan udah kerasa capenya bukan maen. Nah, acara ini mulai dari sore jam 5-10 mlm. Wewww, gua awalnya ga yakin gitu. Yg lebih gila, Sabtunya itoeee... mulainya ga tanggung jam 7 pagi! Gile biasa gue bangun jam 9 aja udah bagus... ini jam 7? Dengan kondisi badan cape semingguan? Nah, akhirnya gua ikut juga. Salah satu breakout session yang cukup menarik adalah ttg Healthy Sexuality. Ternyata ini bicara mengenai perbedaan men & women, dan tentunya bukan ttg seks doank. Kita nonton pembicaranya lewat DVD. Judulnya: A Tale of Two Brains - by Mark Gungor, Laugh Your Way America! Orangnya emang kocak banget jadi topik yang super serius ini dibikin nyantai. Sepanjang dia bicara gue denger sambil bikin catatan di notes, in English.

You'll find it interesting. Some of these are generally true, some of them would have exceptions.

Men's Brains - Women's Brains

• Men's brains are comprised of 'little boxes'. These boxes don't touch each others. They will discuss only what is in that box.
• Women's brains are like 'big balls of wire', anything is connected to everything. They are driven by energy called as emotion.

• Men don't care.
• Women can remember everything. They can talk about everything.

• Speaking about boxes, men have a box with nothing in it. This is the 'nothing box.' In fact, this is their favorite box! They will go to this box whenever they are stress. This nothing box can be: fishing, watching TV, newspaper.... etc.
• When women are stressed-out watching men hooked up in their 'nothing box', they will ask men, "What are you thinking about?" Do you know their answer?

Nothing.

A researcher from University of Pennsylvania found out that men can think about nothing and still breath. (lol)

• Men tend to use less words.
• Women repeat everything they say.

There is another research done through a nursery room in a church. A boy who's doing nothing and just sit down kept his mouth opened. (aaaa....). A girl who's doing the same kept her mouth opened but it looked as if she was talking (aoaoaouaoa...).

Different meanings

Men and women perceives different meanings of some words like for instance:

• 5 minutes. When a man says 5 minutes, it's usually like: Hey, you have 5 more minutes! (they're dead serious about it) When a woman says 5 minutes, it could be any time.
• Nothin. When a man says nothin, it's nothin. When a woman says nothin, you can be sure that it means 'somethin.'
• (Sigh) in motion. When a man sighs, he is thinking, "Aaaah what a wonderful day!" When a women sighs, it could be something like, "Why you never understand....?" or something like, "You're an idiot..."
• Go ahead. If a man says that, they're usually plain. If a woman says that, they usually sighs afterward.

Women's brain usually has extra RAM's while men's brain usually comes with basic minimum requirements.

Men have what they said as selected listening.

Men are single-tasking, women are multi-tasking. That's why we can find that men has a certain profession, such as: the greatest chef.

Warning

• Do not give vital information to men when they are seriously doing something. When you do this, usually men have their 'defense mechanism' and that is "uhuh.... uhuh.....uhuh.."

Ok. Menarik juga sih sebetulnya. Pas kemaren di classroom orang2 pada ketawa2 karena kebanyakan mereka baik itu young adults or older people ngerasa yang diomongin disitu walaupun konyol tapi itu betul terjadi. So terserah penilaian yang baca. Tuhan ciptakan kita dengan keunikan berbeda, tapi tujuan tetap sama untuk memuliakan Dia. Amin.

the healing heart

Shattered heart forced to heal
as greatness unveils thine soul.
Hope whispered in the distance,
to recover thine lost love.

'Tis night brings tender passing,
healing thine soul with glorious blunder.
Caus' not one or two,
but dissipated nights of dreams.

Sadness comes to end,
happiness conquered hate.
Love sprouting -- sadness shrinking,
hope has come again.


(grhess)