Big Event 2012

I was remembering how awesome The Big Event 2011 was last year, so there was no way I could turn down doing it again. It is truly a rewarding experience that just gives you a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, regardless of how exhausted you become afterwards. Last year, I signed up as an individual, but this year was completely different. Being involved with the awesome Epic Movement, I became one of the group coordinators for the event, which is quite a leap from last year. Did my stress level rise? Nah, still zero.

As the 30th annual Big Event, it was also the largest, consisting of nearly 18,000 students who were up and willing to help the Bryan-College Station community. Epic Movement was pretty large, so it had to be split into three different groups working at three different sites. In general, all of our groups had to do yard work such as weeding and mulching. We were also tasked with window washing while other groups took part in destroying dog houses. Normal, everyday stuff, you know? Jeannie was the name of our host and she was very kind and humorous. It was a real pleasure to serve her and her hard-working family.

Afterwards, our group went to Beef Masters to eat 16 oz sirloin steaks for lunch, a very suitable reward for a hard day of work. So yeah, that’s The Big Event 2012 for you. Short, sweet, simple, and fun. Let’s do it again! (next year, that is…)

Here are some photos that I took, excluding the last one. Credits go to William Chen for that beauty. Just so you know, even more photos can be found on the TAMU Epic Movement website.

Design Mania

For the past day I’ve been taking the time redesign my website. It’s the first full-fledged layout redesign I’ve done in almost two years. The source code I used was from the Boldly theme generously offered by Site5. I’m glad I found it, as I was contemplating paying for a premium theme and saving time. I adjusted every last bit of source code and tweaked every image to my liking and I have to say, I’m quite proud of myself. They layout is far more stable, up to date, and performs significantly better than the previous theme. And do you see that big, beautiful Nivo slider on the front page? Awesome! It’s quite safe to say that layout well be here for a long time. Hopefully.

On another note, I forgot mention here that the TAMU Epic Movement website I’ve been working on is finally complete. We delivered it to them shortly after Christmas. Unfortunately, the site is a bit slow at the moment since we’re all still enjoying winter break, but it should start to pile up once the spring semester starts. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should! See what Epic Movement is all about and what I’ve been getting myself involved with these days. Order a shirt while you’re at it, will ya?

Alright, enough with the shameless advertising. Moving on to other things, School starts in less than two weeks. I find this hard to believe, time seems to be flying almost effortlessly and I’m not to ecstatic about it. I leave for Anthology in Dallas in exactly one week, so my time here alone running out. Darn, just when I was just starting to enjoy my peaceful time alone. Might as well continue to study more Korean and brush up on Calculus a bit while I still have the chance.

I got a girl

For Christmas, I got:

• A drawing of a girl from my sis (The character in question is of no significance.)
• Socks from mom (10 pairs to be exact.)
• Angry birds stickers (People still play that game?)
• Homemade cookies from an awesome classmate (You’re the best!)
• Handmade treble clef keychain from a fellow Epic Movement member (Thank you, it’s awesome!)
• Cash (Oh yeahh.)

Another normal Christmas, it went by smoothly and I’m back in College Station again, ready to continue where I left off. I signed up for a Christian conference event deal called Anthology for Epic Movement. It’s to take place literally right before school starts. It’s a bit pricey though. I wasn’t able to get scholarship funds for it, so I used my Christmas money on it instead. (Darn, there goes that electric toothbrush and shaver head replacement I was going to buy.) Hopefully it’ll be a good experience though, we’ll see.

Some people seem to be pretty greedy or depressed this Christmas. I’m sorry to hear that, but it will be okay. I’m sure there will be plenty more Christmas opportunities for you to get the things you want in life.

Other than that, happy holidays and God bless.

Another semester

Another semester has come and gone. This may only be the third semester I’ve been here,  but it’s been the best one to date. A lot of excitement, stress, and insight has been rolled up into this past four month period. Yes, there were lazy moments, but those can’t really be avoided no matter how much determination you start off with. This semester has made me much more smarter, active, and ironically, more malnourished. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t eating well until I returned home for Thanksgiving break. Compared to how I looked back in high school/early college, I’m getting kind of skinnier. I’m 22 years old and I’m at the point where two packs of ramen noodles aren’t enough to sustain myself, even for a snack. I have a kitchen and I’ll try to make full use of it from now on.

It’s still really difficult to wrap my head around how rapidly this semester passed. The months were like different chapters to me, each with a different theme.

September: School Spirit

The beginning of the semester defined what it felt like to be an Aggie. Everyone is excited to come back to College Station to get re-acquainted with their buddies all while making new ones. Before school starts, Northgate becomes packed every single night and everyone is just having a good time. School then begins, but nobody is worried. Football season starts rolling in and hypes up the entire student body. The term ‘exam’ is the last thing on anybody’s mind. This year is the first time that I attended any TAMU football games and I’m glad that I went. I spent a good amount of days yelling and getting my skin sunburned with everyone else at Kyle Field, something that everyone should experience every now and then.

October: Relax

October felt like a more relaxed month. Everyone is finally used to being back again, the school spirit hype is starting to get controlled, the weather is starting to get cooler, and it’s time to start focusing on studies a bit more. Midterms are approaching, but people don’t appear to be entirely too stressed. Overall, the environment is just simply relaxing.

October marked the month that I started to get more involved with Epic Movement. Being with Epic made me realize that I lost a lot over the past year in terms of spiritual guidance. When first left Killeen and came to College Station, I knew that TAMU had a great and strong Christian environment, yet I was too occupied with everything else to notice. Epic has not only reminded me of who I am as a Christian, but also helped me feel more at home.

November: Stress

Things are starting to finally swing in full motion now. Professors are starting to pull out the big guns and students are finally starting to feel the heat. People are still spending time with each other, but dealing with schoolwork seems to be the priority. November may have a small Thanksgiving break in the middle, but it’s more of a ‘catch up opportunity’ than an actual break. Schoolwork continues to pile up and everyone seems to be going crazy deep down inside which sometimes leads to not wanting to do anything.

No matter how crazy November gets, it’s still okay to take it easy. It’s not the end of the world and your final project isn’t really due until next month anyways, right? I spent a good amount of time (perhaps more time than I should have) taking it easy. Taking time during the weekend to wash windows and reach out to the community in historical downtown Bryan with Epic was very insightful. You come to learn about about the lives of local business owners and how they help contribute to the Aggies and TAMU. Going to a Gander Smith concert for your Delta Gamma computer science buddy isn’t a bad way to to take it easy either. ;)

December: The End

December may not be that long, but all it takes is half a month to finally wrap things up. This is it. Everything that you worked hard for is about to pay off. It’s just that these finals are in the way. It feels like an eternity spending the month to study for finals, but once you leave the classroom from your last final, it’s done. It’s all over… just like that.

Suddenly, everyone is leaving. That’s when you realize that it’s time to say goodbye and give your last minute gifts if need be (Christmas is just around the corner after all.) Winter break isn’t as short as it was when you were in high school. I won’t be seeing many of my buddies again for an entire month. So now, it’s time to sit back and take the time to reflect on the great memories that this past semester has brought me.

Final thoughts

To every single last person that has come to into or has been in my life this past semester, whether it was for part of the semester or the entire time, whether you felt close to me or not, I just want to say thank you. The hometown buddies from Killeen, the community of Epic Movement, all of the evil geniuses from Computer Science and Calculus, and even the people from previous chapters of my time here at TAMU, thank you all. It means a lot and this semester couldn’t have been as awesome as it was without you guys! THANK YOU!

For the Ladies

Last week, I took part in helping TAMU Epic Movement prepare our first Ladies Appreciation Night. It’s an event where the males of Epic take the time to serve and appreciate the women who help make Epic Movement what it is. I helped plan the layout and decor for the venue, while working with the photographer to create a photo booth. Others took care of cooking food, serving food, speaking, giving out awards, etc. The event was a great success and I’m glad to have been a part of it.

I didn’t take many photos unfortunately, the venue was far too dim, even for my indoor portrait lens. It may not be much, but here’s everything I have:

Here are even some more sweet photos, courtesy of a great photographer and friend, Matthew Wong: