* from roughing it to glamming up *
it's been a weekend of fun fun fun!

it started with friday, then end of my busiest week since school started. i had my first exam in 11 years (i only wrote papers from second year on in my undergrad) and a presentation to give. but the weekend was just starting and there was much more awaiting me. derek, derek cheng, gordon and i set out with all the tents and food to sai kung. en route, we encountered the mtr disco train... doo doo do-do doo do-do doo doooo.

2 mtr trains, a minibus, a taxi, and 2 hours of strenuous hiking in the dark later (including getting lost in a marsh), we arrived at our destination: dai long wan. but it wasn't over. we had to set up the tents in the dark, find firewood in the dark, and then get the fire going. but the s'mores and shooting stars made it all worth it.

this is where we set up. not bad huh? the sand on the beach was the finest i've ever seen in hk. in fact, it reminded me of bali or hawai'i. now that's a rarity in hk. gordon and gabe slept on the tarp outside, and woke up at 5am to find more firewood. they managed to rekindle last night's ambers and the rest of us woke up to a nice breakfast fire :) we had sausages, granola bars, fruit, and more s'mores.

some of the boys decided to play baywatch, while some of the girls took an early morning nap ;) i can see why it's called 'big wave bay' and how dave nearly drowned the last time they came camping here. hehe. seriously, i was slightly surprised by how many people there were on saturday. we found out there was another group camping at the other end of the beach, and there was a group of about 10 people learning to surf, and another 8 or so different people hiking past us. by the time we decided it was time to go (we had eaten most of the food, gotten sunburnt, and exhausted all possible ways of frolicking on the beach), we had seen at least 20 other people on the beach.

we packed it all up and hiked a short distance to the neighboring beach and village, the one that everyone goes to. there was an organized beach clean up and lots of gweilos with garbage bags. after some investigating and negotiating, we managed to get two large speedboats to take us back to civilization.

if we didn't have enough excitement on the hike going in, we certainly did going out! it was the speedboat ride of death, let me tell you! imagine riding 'magic mountain' on water with no seatbelt, and that's only a fraction of what our 40 minute boat ride was like.

they may look innocent when they're sitting in the shallows of the beach, but once they got going, we were all screaming for our lives. another bus, another minibus, and we finally got back to causeway bay, 25 hours after we left central the night before.

so what else was happening? ben & suki's wedding, that's what! i had class at 2pm, so i missed half the ceremony, but the reception was the piece de resistence. next time i host a banquet, it's gonna be at the western market!
it was so beautiful and old world, and of course ben & suki looked amazing! even john snelgrove and ben wong singing mandarin love songs doesn't beat that. for more of the photos, go to my flickr.

and to top it all off? a day off! yippeeeee.

* photos *
i've uploaded some new photos from the past month or so. click on the flickr badge :)

* jazzy *
right. it's time. it's been at least 3 weeks since my last post, and way longer since anything of real substance. it's funny, whenever life gets interesting and i have way too many thoughts going through my head, the least i'm able to write. but it's a quiet saturday afternoon, and i've decided that i'm ready. so get ready for a long one.

first, i've been thinking a lot about change. how people change. for the better, hopefully. since starting my post-grad, there's been a lot of talk about the counseling process, social reform, and how people relate to their community, race, class, society, the world... fantastic stuff. from the micro to the macro level, how do people change?

i'm constantly reminded of a pivotal idea that i learned in my undergrad: the ideal place for people to change is a place of safety, not necessarily a place of comfort. in fact it is having discomfort in a safe place that best facilitates change. but so many people i see spend so much of their time and effort trying to stay feeling comfortable, or at least to avoid discomfort. they ain't got no chance in hell to change. change = expanding = growth in my books.

i suppose it was when i finally really grasped this idea, that i decided to always embrace change and discomfort. much of me still try to avoid the discomfort part, but i definately try to consciously embrace change when it happens. it's a good thing. so i supposed i've become quite a flexible and adaptable person because of this. i like to think that i could survive in almost any environment. case in point: i'm an introvert at the core, but i've recognized the need to express, verbalize, socialize, and connect with those around me. being a leader at 180 is not easy for me in this sense. there's a lot of expectations - expectations to always give and not necessarily receive - of me simply because of this title. i struggle with balancing this need to fulfill my call and being true to myself, and derek challenges me in this almost everyday, simply because he is the extreme form of an extrovert. we are the epitome of opposites attract.

i just finished reading blue like jazz a few weeks ago, and i was absolutely thrilled with it. because here was finally a book that was pure and honest about the christian life, without sounding impossible to reach. the tagline for the book is, "nonreligious thoughts on christian spirituality." i would think that very conservative christians would have an issue with this book, but someone who is anti-christianity would probably love it.

donald miller, the author, writes in a very simple, almost childish way that is really refreshing to me. he is obviously an intellectual who spends many hours and nights reading neitzche and marx and tolkien and other dusty old classics, and yet he can write lilke a 12-year-old but with the impact that speaks to everyone.

i suppose that's one reason why i liked this book so much. i've never thought much of fancy christian jargon, and have consciously tried to make sure that i never say things, and particular words, that would make no sense to someone who has never been to church. there was a time when i worried whether this made me less credible as a leader in the church, or appear less 'spiritual', but my internal argument always ends up with the conclusion that my personal goal is to be real, especially to the unchurched. and i was relieved to see that there is someone else out there who seems to have the same value.

i'm now in the process of trying decide what book to pick up next. i've read more books in the last 4 months than i have in the last 6 years. pretty unbelievable, huh? i've just started a short history of nearly everything, but it's pretty thick to carry around, and i wonder whether i should be reading something more relevant to school? one of my profs mentioned that we should read blink, but i've made a decision to not buy anything unessential until 2007, so i need to decide whether this book is 'essential' or not. unless some has it for me to borrow?