Obligatory 2015 Reflection Post

Now it may seem really cliche of me to write a blog post reflecting on 2015, but I can't help it! This year has been so good to me in so many ways! I have grown so much in finding out who I am and really letting God take over my life. As I reflect back on the what I have done, I know I want to work so much more harder. My school and social life seem to dominate how I've spent my year and it has been beautiful: the good and the bad-- especially the good.

A couple of weeks before the new year was approaching, I began reminiscing and reflection about what I did this past year and how I've change as an individual. On first impulse I felt that 2015 was a place holder; a year that only contained time and nothing significant had happened, which is not the case because I started thinking about the people I grew with this year. In the book of Genesis, there is only one time, God says "it is not good" and that is when he sees that Adam is alone, to which He makes Eve. This not only proves that are we meant for relationship with each other, but a relationship with Him. Growth in relationship has been such a significant contribution to how I've been able to live life that I hope and pray that continues to grow.

I fully believe the Lord puts me in certain situations so that I may learn from them, which has allowed me to see various aspects of how to deal with things and I cannot begin to describe the support I had in that. My friends and family continue to be my foundation of who I am and why I'm still sane (well, maybe not completely sane), but I have walked with a handful of very close friends, who have helped me to discern and pray about certain situations that have risen in my life and I am forever thankful.  

Not only have I grown, but I have also accomplished some really cool things, I finished my first semester of my Junior year in college and I am now going in my second semester as a Junior (in the Spring of 2016). The workload this past semester has been crazy and I cannot have done it with the constant support of my friends, to which I was able to do two all-nighters-- the first two of my college career. Before the Fall semester of my Junior year started, I saw my younger sister, who is a Marine, graduate in South Carolina from boot camp! I took summer classes in San Francisco, became a fan of One Direction, and went to see them in concert (to which I've left a link for you to read)!! I find myself in constant disbelief of the amount grace that the Lord has blessed me with. 

I look back at 2015, and I look to 2016 with new hope and a life constantly lived with the presence of God. I take with me all that I've experienced and embrace many more lessons, adventures, memories, difficulties, and friendships!  

I look at 2015 as if I were departing with a homie (nodding to each other with respect). Sure, I could have started a new goal/New Year Resolution for myself and start it the next day before the new year, but I think the New Year means so much more. The New Year allows for new beginnings and a fresh outlook, 2016 calls for so many new things! Just recently, I've become a 5 Seconds to Summer (5SOS) fan-- thanks to my youngest sister, again-- not that it was a bad thing, I really like 5SOS and they're really talented guys! But along with the new interests, I also have set goals for myself-- rather than new year resolutions, I've decided to call then goals-- that I am very keen on sticking with! I look forward to what 2016 brings and I depart from 2015 as equals. 

Happy New Year and here's to new beginnings! 

Thank you for reading!

Summer Nostalgia: People

My Sophomore and Senior yearbooks!

As some of you may know, I'm currently on my summer vacation and as the month of May comes to a close, June is around the corner and during this time of the year it has become pretty nostalgic for me. A couple of weeks ago, I visited my old high school and I got to see some of my old teachers and a couple of my friends who are seniors now that I've missed a lot, and just thinking that around this time TWO YEARS ago-- I can't believe it's already been two years-- since I've graduated high school! That sounds so weird! I've always been used to saying, "I graduated last year"; "Last year, I did this..." or "Last year I did that.." I was so used to saying "last year," but now it's TWO years since its happened. 

Although, I don't miss the "high school" part of high school, I do miss the people. A little over a week ago, I got to hang out with one of my homies, which was so much fun! He's a senior in high school and I'm so excited for what he has planned for the future-- what he's doing now! While we hung out, he asked me about the kind of things we (my friends and I) do for fun, while in Redding at Simpson. I mentioned the dollar theater, Castle Crags, hiking, the lake, on-campus events, and Dutch Bos.-- all of which are pretty legitimate events and places to go to. But let's face it, Redding is a pretty small city and there really isn't much to do-- I apologize completely to the city of Redding and those that live there, I hope that statement does not offend you. But as I continued to think about the kind of things there are to do for fun, I probably made Simpson sound a lot more boring than it actually is, but now that I think about it, I didn't mention the people that makes Simpson fun! Throughout the academic year while at Redding, I continue to laugh uncontrollably, grow and live with such amazing, authentic, and crazy funny individuals that without them, Simpson would not have been as great as it is. 

That is where its been nostalgic. People. It's the people I went to high school with, graduated with, and shared memories with that, thinking of it now, haven't really talk to since my high school graduation. When I visited my old high school two weeks ago,I realized that after this class graduates (the Class of 2015) I will more or less know no one who attends El Cerrito High School. Well, besides my sister, who will be attending E.C. this upcoming fall, but that's besides the point. Due to graduation for the Class of 2015, I decided to look at my old year books. I reread my friends signatures and the paragraph/ page long entries about our time together and to tell you the truth, I laughed and almost cried. Trust me, I do not miss high school AT ALL, but I really miss the people I've gotten to know, all who I most likely will text/ call very soon! I should also admit, I probably wouldn't want to see the majority of the people I went to high school with just because it was high school. It's the people I've spent so much time with whether it were during class or on the softball field that I really miss hanging out with.

As I traced the hand writings of all of these people that I've spent 4, 3, or 2 years of my life with that signed my yearbook, I know without a doubt that we've all changed. I know I've changed that as I grow and become more of who I want to be, who God has created me to be, I want the people that I've become friends with to be a part of that. I know there still is social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and all that good jazz, but there's nothing like spending physical/ legit face-to-face time with someone and becoming closer in language. What I mean by "becoming closer in language," (it's something I learned in Philosophy) which means "communication." In other words, the only way we tend to get to know people and grow in friendship is through communicating: language. It's talking and listening that I feel has established friendships and stronger bonds between people, two foundation social interactions that have been eminent factors in my personal friendships: Time. Spending time with people. I guess you could say time is one of my love languages because, now having spent two years in college, time is important and continual. Knowing that someone wants to spend time with me means a lot. Knowing that as precious as time is, they want to spend it with me.

It blows my mind to realize how important relationship is. It's really cool to think that in Genesis 2:18, the Lord says, "It is not good for the man to be alone," which I have interpreted as, we (us, you, me, people) were made for relationship! Correct me if I'm wrong, but God does not say "It is NOT good," again throughout the creation account besides having seen Adam needing a companion. I feel that this is not limited to JUST a significant other, but with family members, friends, and acquaintances. It's meeting new people and growing in relationship that I feel closest with God. To learn and love his people that I may pursue and love as He does. So, not only will I be reading and running this summer, but also pursuing relationship!

Thank you so much for reading! You the real MVP!

I hope you have a great day!

-Jacky

Social Interaction

Hi Guys! I apologize so much for not posting a blog entry in months. I have to admit that I have been spending a lot of my time as a couch potato catching up on many missed episodes of various television series as I am currently on my summer vacation! Now that I feel that I want to invest more time on my blog, I have so many ideas and all the while, want you to get to know more about me while also sharing interests that I've attained. As of interests, I have gotten inspired to share more of the kind of person that I am, so here it goes! :D

Being an introvert, I have come to realize that I am not much of a people person. I don't like people looking at me when I walk into a room or have to do a speech in front of an entire crowd. Then again, I don't think many people would want to do that either, or just wouldn't matter at all the them. I'm not saying that these two specific scenarios automatically make a person an introvert; these are just some of the factors that many introverts might share. When I am faced with these two scenarios, I think that the only way to get to what I need done involves the multiple pairs of eyes shooting in my direction makes me want to retreat back into the comfort of my room. This also apply to meeting new people and worrying about not having much to say, showing too much of my weird personality, or being too timid to even be interesting.

Basically, I don't like attention. I guess this may be from being shy for the majority of my life or just having the lack of confidence or social interaction. "Social Interaction," I think may be the two key words in this blog. Not to say that I grew up in the means of today's" lack of Social Interaction", which may mean gluing my eyes to a bright screen. I mean being awkward 98% of the time, then again this awkwardness may also apply to today's technology- generation. Nonetheless, I had this mental state of shifting my fingers into a cross at the mention of social gatherings. I'm not saying I avoided every invitation to a birthday, wedding, or some sort celebration, I only avoided SOME of them. I'm probably making this more dramatic than it needs to be and it probably sounds like I'm this complete introvert that wants nothing to do with people. I don't blame you, that's just how I've described myself and made myself out to be in this entry. But since I've started college in the Fall of 2013, all of that dramatically changed.

Going to college with hundreds of new people I haven't met before was very intimidating, but I took a deep breath and gave social interaction a try. One of the main contributions for the lack of meeting new people I would say is High School. Four years in the same school meant hanging out with more or less of the people that I hung out with before. And if there were new people in my year or in the school in general, their faces would melt in all the other faces, which sadly happens in many public schools. But having graduated in 2013, I have had a lot of practice since then meeting new people and coming out of my comfort zone and I felt that it was the summer of 2013 that my life started to change. 

Besides making such great friendships at Simpson (the school that I am currently attending, which will resume in the Fall), it has inspired me to want to make more friendships and share the new profound love I want to share. I applied to be a Residential Assistant at the college I am currently attending and, for me, this is a very important role because not only does it have a huge responsibility, but I have entirely come out of my comfort zone. Being an RA means interacting with all the girls on my floor and not only limited to my floor, but the whole building and even to all the campus' residences and to be honest, I couldn't be more excited.

I have also realized that I love people. I love seeing the moment when I can look at someone and see their window of thought. What I mean by "window of thought" I mean is that when people are thinking, I can't help to notice a moment when I can see them, when all perception of social interaction is absent. A moment when that person has no realization of anyone looking at them and all guard is down. The person that they are, in a sense they show a part of themselves that is so rarely exposed. It's a single moment when you can catch the part of them when they forget that the world is watching.

In a millisecond, they are their true self and catching a glimpse of that is beautiful. Not to say that when they are realizing that people are looking at them that they aren't beautiful, it's just that seeing the person that they are is something that make them real, a sense of authenticity. Of course every person is real, but each person is different and seeing each individual's personality, each story, failure, accomplishment, experience, and trial that made that person who they are today is what makes everyone human. It's the kind of authenticity that I would like to see in more people I have met and will meet. I see the authenticity with my group of friends, my family, in my neighborhood, and at school.

People are inspiring, sad, happy, tired, excited, complicated, crazy, awesome, intelligent, and compassionate that I can't help describe this by mentioning "Doctor Who." For those of you who have watched "Doctor Who", you'd most likely understand what I'm talking about, but if you haven't, then I'll try my best to describe what I mean. Doctor Who is amazed with human beings. To be more specific, in the second series, episode 8: The impossible Planet of "Doctor Who," the Doctor is captivated of humanity and how complicated, intelligent, ignorant, and beautiful creatures humans are. 

I love the idea that every person has different qualities because each person has God in them that because God is so big he couldn't fit all his characteristics into one person. Someone you know might be sassy, quiet, talkative, or smart, all these qualities God possess. It is because everyone is a different person, people are the most complex creatures. I see this authenticity with people that surround me and people that I am so blessed to call friends and family, that they have inspired me and have led me to become the person that I am today.

So I encourage you, if you seem to keep to yourself or are scared to meet new people. I believe that by putting yourself out there and exercising Social Interaction would be an obstacle worth experiencing!

Thank you so much for reading!
-Jacky