boundaries

fresh start

    

days like today are the kinds that give me hope for my future. I really do believe that I've left my laziness behind as I have started a number of things all fresh and new. I've committed to posting on this blog daily, I've started going to 6am morning prayer, I spent an hour doing miscellaneous activities at the gym, and hopefully later I'll dust off my cello and play a bit of music :) it's amazing how much I've done today already, and it's only 10:30AM!

I am a little sleepy at this point having been awake for 5 hours already...and I'm debating whether I should get a coffee or not. Dunkin Donuts is my favorite, but it's too far to work right now... I also need to go to the bank. once I bought a card for a friend and it was the cutest little card I've ever purchased. it had something to do with going to the bank. a very particular card that was. I think perhaps it was a shade of purple. which is my favorite color. I think.

speaking of favorites. I've discovered my favorite kinds of flowers... my two favorite kinds of flowers are sunflowers and daisies. at first I wasn't sure why--they kind of just attracted me the most.. but when I thought about it more I figured it out. on top of being just plain pretty, they're wild and free. and they have so much company. fields of daisies just sounds so dreamy--this is probably a result of watching the korean movie "daisy" (which I highly recommend btw)... and fields of sunflowers are just so warm and useful (to look at and to eat) and they remind me of the images framed inside the windows of the speeding marchutka buses in the kyrgyz countryside.

one day I want to get photographed playing in a field of flowers like that.

moleskins and inspiration

At some point working in the computer lab today I decided that I was going to go to the closest bookstore and take a browse. Sometimes I need to do this in search for inspiration—they only way I can really quit the pattern of idleness. Unfortunately, I have yet to develop the self control that will enable me to cold turkey my lazy-like tendencies and get up, wake up, and move forward.

My search for inspiration was a success. I know God is to thank for that :) My initial goal was to buy a pretty moleskin. And if you’d forgive me for taking a tangent I want to say that these days I find that I’ve been more attracted to plainer things. Or maybe to put it in another way I’m appreciating the art of simplicity. So I found my moleskin, 3½ x 5½, soft covered, black, and wonderful, but I wasn’t convinced that it was time to leave…so I flipped through some digital photography books and eyed some of the journals by the exit. and that’s where I found it :)

By the journals on the second floor of Barnes & Nobles in Kenmore is a tower? of sorts, I don’t know the name of the thing, which holds a number of Harvard Business Review books…books? that almost look like pamphlets because of their size and length. I was drawn to the title Managing Oneself and only quickly flipped through the pages before I was determined to make it my purchase. :D

I’m about two-thirds through the book now and I’m already enlightened :) a book that only hours before sat untouched and unmarked, now contains markings and fingerprints all over its pages, thanks to me. I guess I’m almost done now, but I know that it’ll take a greater endeavor in order to let the words soak and seep in, and of course, even longer to actually apply it to my own life.

I highly recommend buying a copy! It’s not every day that you come across a piece of literature that is compact and meaningful. If you’re frugal you can always borrow mine, as long as you promise to give it back in a decent time frame :)

a sweet movie

if you have time to bum around like me watch this korean movie :) I didn't get tooo attached to the story. just the right amount, I think.

http://www.mysoju.com/heartbreak-library/

hand picked *edited

...from the 2009 unofficial boston guide! *and other sources

summer is always a good time to get to know boston better. here's a list of things that I want to experience or places I want to explore...or further explore:

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (students $5, in 1990 the museum fell victim to the largest art robbery in US history when 13 major works were stolen including several Rembrants, a Degas, a Vermeer, and a Manet!! Tues-Fri and concert series on weekends)
• Boston Public Library
• Bunker Hill Monument (294-step spiral staircase for an awesome view of Boston, the Harbor, beyond)
• Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market
• Freedom Trail (walk)
• North End (in general!)
• Fresh Pond Reservoir
• Haymarket
• Castle island (bring things such as kites)
• Mount Auburn Cemetery (because there is a tower in the middle of the cemetery that has one of the best views of Boston and Cambridge for free!)
• Inman Square (Central Square)
• Kendall Square Cinema (independently owned movie theater!)
• Kendall Square T station mechanical instruments
• Somerville Theater/MoBa
• Boston Pops (student rush tickets are $10 available @5PM for tues performances)
• Coolidge Corner Moviehouse
• Duck Tours
• The Clayroom
• Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary
• MIT Museum (free Sundays 10am-12pm)
• Hatch Shell movie screenings (free friday nights 8pm)
• BU Observatory (free wednesday nights 8:30 weather permitting)
• Stargazing at Gilliland Observatory, Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science - Free every Friday night from 8:30 - 10pm, weather permitting. Features a computer-controlled Celestron CGE 1100 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope; call 617-589-0267 to confirm the schedule (if weather conditions seem iffy) and to find out what's on view.
  

the beginning of a new relationship.

hello to living again!

it might sound strange, but I felt like I've been kind of dead and lifeless for a while now (some odd months or so). I can confidently claim that today the curse was broken :] YEAH!! I just want to shout and run around and jump all over the place because I feel alive again. LIVING life and living life free.

good segue opportunity here! so I somehow stumbled across this blog that I really love reading and it's made a big impact on some of my thoughts as of late. It's the website I quoted in the previous entry (jasonsalamun.com). that man is an annointed writer fo(r) SHO. he says it so simply and yet it's so profound and it's great that he can put it in words the way he does. his blog is named "live free"... I love that. after some more thought I'm going to rename my blog too, I think. or give it an actual name.

so what is all this about the beginning of new relationships? you're curious right? first relationship that I'm choosing to "restart" is this! this blog, that is..!

if you haven't noticed, (you probably haven't if you're even reading this because I don't really publicize my blog very often so I don't have many readers) I don't make posts very regularly on this blog. would you like to know the reason why? the reason why is because I edit too much. it will take me hours upon hours to come up with one post. and after fleshing out the very thing I wanted to say in the words that I thought were most appropriate, I read over it another dozen of times and I realize that I don't want to expose my personal thoughts/ideas on the blog afterall. result? many, many deleted posts.

so there have been multiple posts that have been made on this blog that probably never made it to the eyes of other readers simply because I was too paranoid/uncomfortable keeping it posted for longer than a few hours or even a day. silly right? 

I have come to an understanding that this is not healthy at all! I love blogging, and it shouldn't be so frustrating and uncomfortable and nerve wrecking to do so! this is a free space me for me to share my thoughts without worry or care and here I am making it worrisome for no good reason. 

now I know that I feel free to write casually because this is a blog right? not a book. it's a blog. it's raw and it's exciting.

so I'm going to start a new relationship with my blog here at eyc-original.blogspot.com. I am going to try to commit to writing everyday, whether I have a truckload of things to say or not... to commit in this way and write a little something expressing myself. because it's good to express yourself. and let it all out instead of keeping it inside yeah??

I'm going to write more of my thoughts instead of simply posting things that I like from other people (always giving credit where credit is due). the name of the blog is eyc-original and yet I've cowered from sharing my own original thoughts! well.. that being said it's hard to have completely original thoughts because there is always something that you are influenced by.. but I suppose the way you interpret it kind of makes it your own original thought in a way perhaps? perhaps. 

there's another relationship that I feel like I'm having a brand new start to as well. and no, it's not with a mortal man...hahaha.. :) it's with Jesus Christ. so maybe it's a little strange to say it's a brand new start because it's not like I decided that I'm a follower of Christ just yesterday...but it feels new because I have a new understanding in how I feel about it and how to approach my faith and development of my faith. more on that later though :) because it's time to go! 

seek the truth- for the truth will set you free.

esther

"Beer and Jesus" from blog by Jason Salamun

Picture yourself at a backyard BBQ party.

There’s conversation and laughter

Kids are running around playing.

Many of the adults have a beer or a Mike’s Hard Lemonade in hand.

According to Scripture, is this a sinful picture?

When it comes to Christians and alcohol there are various points of view.

a. Satan made it and I don’t want it.

b. Satan made it but I secretly enjoy it.

c. God made it but I don’t want it.

d. God made it, I say I don’t want it, but I secretly enjoy it.

e. God made it and I enjoy it.

I used to be an option c guy.

Then an option d guy.

Now I’m an option e guy.

Why?

I read my bible.

It changed my mind.

Like Deuteronomy 14:26.

Or Psalm 104:14-15

Or John 2: 1-11

And many more.

Then there’s Jesus.

I love Jesus.

He’s my Savior and my great example.

He drank.

See Matthew 11:19.

And it wasn’t mere grape juice.

Jesus also never sinned.

2+2=4

I can do what Jesus did.

It’s a problem to apply our morality to Jesus.

It actually works the other way around.

Jesus is better than religion.

But we do have a few guidelines.

Don’t get hammered.

Be of legal drinking age.

Don’t make it your god.

And in all things, love others.

Because living free isn’t just about what we can do.

It’s who we can love along the way.

So let’s go back to the original picture.

The BBQ.

There’s conversation and laughter

Kids are running around playing.

Many of the adults have a beer or a Mike’s Hard in hand.

According to Scripture, is this a sinful picture?

Assuming we’re loving God and people, no.

It’s actually a wonderful picture of community the way God intended it.

A little drop of Isaiah 25: 6-9

So whether you drink or not, it doesn’t matter much to me.

You have a conscious.

Follow it.

But it’s not the voice of a preacher, parent, or your old youth pastor.

It’s the Spirit of God inside of you.

I could say more but I’ll leave it at this:

You’re free to worship God and enjoy his creation.

And if you do drink a beer or sip some wine, remember 1 Corinthians 10:31:

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Enjoy your beer knowing God is the great Brew Master.

Just do it in love.

neverending

I seem to be very skeptical in believing that it's summer already.

:(

so maybe the temperature is higher and there are fewer students populating the streets. maybe I'm not enrolled in 10 million classes. or practicing cello. just kidding I don't do that anyway. but I don't know, I don't know~ just doesn't feel like summer! it feels as though spring semester never ended. I'm still exhausted--if not both physically and mentally, then simply mentally. I haven't been able to recover from fall semester, winter break, and spring semester, sadly. 

one goal for this summer: 

RECOVER! be refreshed emotionally, mentally, and spiritually!

Depth of mercy,

Can there be Mercy still reserved for me?

Can my God His wrath forbear,

Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

There for me the Saviour stands,

Holding forth His wounded hands;

God is love! I know, I feel,

Jesus weeps and loves me still.

-Charles Wesley