what did we start anew

i have newly arrived in new york. landed august 18th and my last week in hong kong and my first three days in new york were very busy. that seems to be the most common theme in my life: busy. hopefully i now resume blogging.



first cooked meal in my new kitchen.



new apartment. new room. new set up.



more of the nice new minimalist, white beige colored room.



and as of late possibly THE most exciting? new dslr. (thank you mommy, scot and charlotte for all of your contributions. and thank you summer job for earning me the rest. and thank you God for giving me eyes to see, a desire to take photos, and some actual ability with cameras, plus the gift of the dslr)

what did we furnish pt II

we could be in hotel maintenance

all furniture (most) courtesy of IKEA

yes sometimes curtains take hours to put up....thank you thank you jan

what did we wait for

new apartment.
waiting for ikea delivery.
supposed to be studying.
taking photos instead while climbing dangerously onto window sill.

keys to my own

wow. God is so great.

finally. today. may first.
i (with my fabulous housemate) have the keys to our own apartment.
one bedroom conversion.
120 sq ft all of my own private bedroom.
furnishings and decoration of my choice.
flooding sunlight.
hardwood. formica tile. carpet. eight steps of stairs.
ours.

what did we SEEK

copy and paste of a section of a conversation with di:

"i had / still have / still stressing about price
but i feel like
i truly tried my best
and this was my first time and i mean - God works in this even when i am unconscious of it
plus my parents are being super understanding
so at this point of no return i feel like rather than being mournful and guilty and sad - i need to learn to be grateful, joyful and learn from the experience"

it's true. the past two and a half weeks have been stressful beyond almost any other period of time in my (still young) life. apartment hunting, looking at more places than i can now recollect (somewhere around twenty five), dealing with brokers and people and understanding what we need and what we want and what we should do is like pushing something harder than it is willing to bend but forcing it to be flexible. like gently bending a plastic spoon to touch both ends together - practically impossible, incredibly difficult, ridiculous. "i don't know" "ok" "i see" have just been on repeat for me and they're all such neutral nothing statements that mean so little.

today at about 11:00 i received the news that we had for sure received the apartment we hoped for. i was ecstatic. i literally jumped up and down. then this evening the stress struck again. how did i end up at this price? how did i feel like i deserved this? how did i result at this? and why was i feeling so guilty?

thank God for church and people at church who truly mean it when they ask you how you're doing, can see the stress in your face and sit you down to talk to you about your troubles in detail and then pray for you. i'm feeling increasingly at peace with where i am and what i'm doing. i believe there is meaning and intention from God in every detail of my life - even my rent. i am happy. i want to be happy being happy. and at peace.

what did we do for the last 10 days

the last ten days were crazy. so intense.
i completed a 3d body in time assignment consisting of a 2x2x2' cube which i wore to and back from school
i completed a 2d 3 week assignment consisting of 13 digital frames of a narrative about a north korean child refugee
i did not sleep for a full 27 hours
i tried to catch "bobby" the mouse with a shoebox
i, with nicole, organized and successfully executed a (pretty amazing if i can claim it) surprise birthday party for erin and janice
i finally broke my lent fast with a peanut butter swirl brownie and ice cream
i saw four brothers in Christ baptized
i looked at, with neha and joint with her, 16 apartments