Thinking of the future... (and my 100th post)

So... yeah, this is my 100th post. Just though I'd throw it out there. I like milestones :)

I attended Vancouver College's Commencement Exercises today (88th one since VC opened... I was paying attention ^^) as the representative of one of the "Big Three" student groups at VC: the Edmundian Association. Attending (and helping at) the Commencement was a big honor, especially as a grade 11 with my fellow Presidents/Execs of the Student Council and the Lettermen Association. So happy for the Class of 2012, what a defining day it must be for them. (I can imagine that I'll probably be very teary-eyed 364 days from now at my own graduation on June 26, 2013). It's a brotherhood, and it's a second family, so it's definitely hard to part.

But helping and watching at the Commencement today really made me think about my own future. In 364 days I'll be walking down that same aisle, sitting on a black chair for around two hours, (hopefully having not too much heat beating down on me while I'm doing so) and throwing my hat up in the air (and catching it, and then putting it right back on because I look terrible with hat hair.) Then, no longer under the wing of VC and my fellow classmates, I will be left on my own to fly, to take on new endeavors. What awaits me beyond VC is still unknown to me, and although I still have a lot of time to think, that time is becoming smaller and slipping away faster than I ever wanted it to be. Back in grade eight I wanted to graduate, but now on the brink of entering my last year, I wish time can slow to a stop. That would allow me to live life a little longer, experience more things, and find out more about myself before the time begins again and I am walking down that aisle. But I guess there's no thrill in life without mystery and experiencing the unknown.

Next year I will be helping with the first Encounter retreat in November (Encounter 64), singing in the Liturgy Choir, co-heading the Yearbook, and of course, now leading the first club that I knew I belonged to when I joined years ago: the Edmundians. All this I'll be balancing with school and Youth Ministry. Capable? Yes. Nervous? Definitely. Ready? Heck yes. I'm excited that I've received so many opportunities already, and hopefully all these opportunities will lead me to discovering my calling and being ready to take those first steps out of VC next year.

Yes, it's still a long time from now, but it's never too late to start thinking.

A thought...

"They say, give it time, give it time and it will fall in line..."

This is an absolutely beautiful lyric from one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite artists, "My Kind of Perfect" by David Archuleta. I don't know... it just seems like such a comforting thing to hear at this time.

Live in the present. The future will come, the past is gone. Trust.

The Last Beast

At last I have reached the conclusion of my (OK.. it's three parts now) Exam Week Saga.

Chemistry (nickname Chem - don't forget or it'll get mad) stares at me as it escapes its cage. I take some time to survey the different parts - and scan for potential Achilles' Heels. I stayed up all night the night before trying to conquer it. I didn't sleep much either - hopefully it was all worth it.


The match starts and Chem is fast - but not as fast as me. I manage to strike it a couple times; and as the two hours progress on I learn more and more about my enemy as I develop new strategies. 


Finally, a fatal blow sends Chem into a corner of the Stadium, unconscious. Again, the fate of Chem will be revealed to me while the Jury decides, but for now, the Portal is opened at the end of the Stadium and I am allowed to step into the Realm called Summer. 

Yeah.. so long story made short, it's summer! =P

Preparing to tackle the Chem monster...

After my bad experience with the Math 12 beast, I am spending extra time training in my Lair (ie. my room) for tomorrow. I tackle the last beast tomorrow... CHEMISTRY (nickname Chem...). I'm completely worried and nervous, but also, to be honest, I am completely exhausted. Only a couple more  hours to go... then I'm hoping for a productive sleep, and then assuming everything goes well, I should be able to leave the Stadium tomorrow in one piece.

So nervous!!

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about... refer to my previous post).

The effect four of the five monsters has on me...

Oh, the strength to persevere when you are that close to finishing should be so easy that it propels you to the finish line. But actually, I find that it's quite the opposite during this horrid exam week. Let's use the analogy I've been using this entire past two weeks...

A large, golden stadium lays out in front of me. Five beasts are trapped; ranging in different forms like dragons, bears, and large canines - stand in cages. Every time a beast is released, I have two hours to fight it; then I am not allowed to touch it again. I am allowed to stop fighting the beast after one hour if I  feel that it is already injured or dead so it doesn't hurt me. 


Day 1 - a canine-ish creature is released. This one's named English. I quickly tackle it and watch it sprawl unconscious after the two hours. It still squirms to this day - I am not sure if it is dead.


Day 2 - two monsters are released today, but not a surprise. The first, a tiny feline-type creature, called French (it likes its alternate name Français much more) I am able to out manoeuvre and kill in one hour and ten minutes. I lose a minuscule amount of points because there was a flaw in the way I tackled it. I'm not complaining.


Then the dragon - one of the biggest beasts in the Stadium get released in the afternoon. This one calls itself Math 12: the twelfth in a long line of monsters that have all been slaughtered. I manage to fight it, but injure myself and fall significantly to knock it down. It was my least successful battle (to date).


Day 3 - today. A large snake like creature, smaller than the dragon - gets released. This one calls itself Physics (it also likes to be called PH11... but that's a mouthful) I spend one hour and fifty five minutes trying to get a hand on it - and manage to - and it lays unconscious on the ground. Its results are to be announced.


Day 4 - the last day. In two days the last of the five creatures will be released. It's name is Chemistry (nickname Chem) - it is not as big as the previous two day's creatures... but still seems daunting. Tomorrow I will train to fight it. If I am able to successfully strangle this monster as well, I will be able to exit the Stadium and enter the Realm that is known as Summer Break.


To be continued...

Anyways, that was a very descriptive analogy of my Exam Week so far. I feel so tired and drained and I feel like I want to give up. (In all honestly, I actually do feel like I have been fighting four monsters right now - any of you ready fantasy novels?) I need to review a lot tomorrow. But the last stretch is so close. So close.

It's all about procrastinating...

So... I haven't written a blog post in a while.. and actually, coincidentally enough, I've been procrastinating a blog post as well :P

In all seriousness, I'm in the middle of exam week right now, and I've been especially busy these past couple weeks because I've already started a lot of things at school that will be picked up next year. Most of this work includes Yearbook, the Edmundian Association (VC's service group) and even a little Liturgy Choir stuff too. Next year's my Senior Year (do we call it that in Canada? Not sure...) and I want to make it count. I'm looking very forward to it.

But of course, grade twelve comes in one package: and that package includes exams. Yes, I'm not the type to actually prepare weeks in advance for exams. I usually find that if I paid attention in class and did my homework, one day of review (usually the day before) is enough for me to get a decent grade on it.

But how much of a day is a day? One of my largest weaknesses is... of course, PROCRASTINATION. I get easily distracted, and obviously studying isn't as fun as you know... doing other things. YouTube, Facebook, things like that. (Believe me, for January exams, I was stuck watching Ellen all day... and now in June I got caught up watching Pokémon opening videos. They're actually incredibly interesting, as boring as it sounds).

I'm going to insert a Catholic reference here. Doesn't the devil also work by procrastination? Later turns to much later. And then much later turns to never. Procrastination stops us from doing many of the things that we COULD do... if we do it now. And we get more done as well. Being unproductive and wasting time is Satan's way of causing us to not do the things we NEED to do.

So. I have a Physics and Chemistry exam this week that I should start studying for. NOW.

Lent 2012 - Making Sacrifices and Growing Closer to the Lord

Hey everyone! Long time no post... as usual :P

I'd like to take a little more deeper approach to this blog post than usual. As you all know (or not, that's OK ;D) we've been in the Lenten season of the Liturgical Year for a week now. (OK, a little more). How have your sacrifices been working out for you?

This year, I took a double approach to make up for last year's unproductiveness - I gave up secular music and I also gave up Facebook.

For the past week, I've listened to nothing but Matt Maher and Audrey Assad and a couple other CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) artists. It's an amazing experience. Every day in the car ride I felt myself automatically talking to God, speaking to Him through these songs. I can say my prayer life has been increased and I didn't forget to talk to God; like normally as often as I should talk. Well, I seem to talk to Him much more, that's what I meant. Yes, it was challenging. Many times I would find myself extremely tempted to push a button on my iPod that would send me to my favourites playlist. 111 of my favourite songs, all jam-packed into one convenient playlist of approximately three-four hours. I didn't though. That's not what Lent is about.

Lent is about bringing yourself closer to God. It's about thinking to yourself, what do I not need in my life? I want but I don't need? What is hindering or simply just blocking, shading my relationship with God? And sacrificing that in order to bring you closer to the Lord. It's hard. These 40 days are NOT easy, I can tell you that much.

And yes, I gave up Facebook. And if giving up secular music was tough, imagine me, the social butterfly, the one who spends hours on FB daily - giving it up. You're right, it hasn't been easy. Yes, I have been taking "sneak peeks" on Facebook. These past few days I peeked at my messages and my groups, peeking at the kind of things people are sending to me. What if it's urgent? I tell myself. Yes. I'm guilty, haha. My sacrifice of Facebook hasn't been that successful thus far, but I'm praying that it will. (At least I didn't look at any notifications or anywhere past the homepage ;D) Already, I found myself having so much more time to do homework, to write my novel, to release my feelings on the piano for half an hour. I found myself making more time to eat dinner too.

Giving up Facebook is hard!!! I have to admit it! My friends are holding me accountable, and I really appreciate them for doing so. Messages like "CHEATER! YOU'RE ON FACEBOOK! (lol)" really motivate me to just get off and stay as loyal as humanly possible to this sacrifice. (I should have clicked "appear offline"... but I do appreciate my friend for doing that). These 40 days are a kind of self-discipline for me. I don't need Facebook. It's useful and it's fun and it's a good time burner, but I don't need it. I am suffering from the lack of Facebook in my life but it's kind of a good suffering. It's an opportunity to grow closer to God. It's an opportunity to talk to Him more than electronically through Facebook friends.

This Lent, I want to challenge myself. These two sacrifices are extremely challenging for me, and I want to make the best out of it. I want to stay as loyal to it as I can. Lent is preparation for Easter, the biggest celebration of the Church. Talking to God and my desire to strengthen my relationship with Him will definitely help me through these 40 days.

I am praying and hoping that each of your sacrifices have been going well and you are getting something out of it; not just giving something up for "the heck of it".

Think this is pain? Try dying on a cross.

LORD, I love You. Help me to love You even more. Amen.

Exams...

Yes, Exam Week is once again among me. (Well... soon). So, studying. I'm intentionally making a sorta blank post to express my nervousness.

Well, looking forward to singing more songs after my exams ;D

New YouTube channel!

Happy 2012 everyone!

Wow, I haven't posted in a LOOONNNGGGG time. So here we go! What would I post about? Of course my new YouTube channel! Haha. I deleted my account TACevangelist (D,=) and created a new one to signify a new chapter of my life, a new outlook. Well, it's really not that deep actually. My thinking process was more like "I just want a new start on YouTube". And so I did.

You can check out my new YouTube channel at

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasChanMusic

Yes, I typed this address out a lot lately, so I've pretty much got it memorized ;D

YAY! I'm so excited! If you manage to see this post, I would VERY VERY much appreciate it if you could go to my channel, watch the vids (there are only three right now, haha!) and tell me what you think! And comment! And subscribe! and all that good stuff! Haha. =D

Off to do some Physics homework. Hope I can post on this blog more often!

TChan Goes Apple

Hey everyone! Just gonna be a quick blog post update. I've officially gone Apple! (Sorry Windows). My dad surprised me yesterday with a MacBook Pro for my 16th birthday! Long made short, I was ecstatic about getting a MacBook, because I've been eyeing one for a really long time.

A Mac is definitely not the same as PC, and I'm already adjusting to the changes. Finder instead of My Computer... getting used to Launchpad and Mission Control (that's a really cool name by the way...), ect. This morning I've successfully transferred my entire iTunes collection to my MacBook, which I was extremely thrilled. Also, FaceTime is great, and I've already called many of my friends and relatives to try out the cool application.

Another reason I wanted a MacBook was GarageBand, iPhoto, and iMovie. Well, mostly GarageBand. Now, editing music and making songs will be much easier! Well... once I figure out how to use it anyways. (More blog posts in the future!)

I'm sure I still have many things I have yet to discover about this MacBook Pro. But on Day 2, I'm already loving it.

Thanks Dad! =D