Continuation of "I kissed dating good-bye". Last blog I posted the habits of defective dating, now on to one chapter I really liked. The chapter called "The Right Thing at the Wrong Time is the Wrong Thing". Harris talks about how God has given us different seasons in our life, each with a unique emphasis and focus. We should not try to skip or rush through the season of singleness, because God wants us to maximize our freedom and flexibility to serve Him. The next chapter talks about purity. Purity and impurity is not separated by a fixed point. Purity is a direction, and a persistent determined pursuit of righteousness. This direction starts in the heart, and we express it in a lifestyle that flees opportunities for compromise. Harris goes on to tell a truly touching story of how two friends of his shared their first kiss at the altar on their wedding day. Now that's love fueled integrity!
Near the end, Josh speaks of principled romance, here are some steps he suggests when you've met someone 1. Remember relational responsibilities (your relationship w/ family, friends, and God) 2. Seek a deeper friendship first 3. Watch, wait, pray 4. Define the relationship's purpose: pursuing marriage 5. Honour their parents 6. Test and build the relationship in real-life settings 7. Reserve passion for marriage

Well, I'm done "I kissed dating good-bye" and it wasn't what I anticipated. I expected to be stabbed by the truth, but I was reminded instead. All my friends in rez that read it told me it was like a slap in the face, so I was a little nervous going into it, unsure of what parts of my mentality has been wrong. Thanks to all those special people in my life who has helped me stay in the right path all along, cause I really enjoyed reading it and it's assured me of what God's plan is for me. = ) This book really came at a right time. Just when I felt like an old maid again, hehhe, perhaps b/c there aren't a lot of frosh left 'unhooked' (even in ACF), this book came and clarified my stance and my priorities. = )
At the beginning of the book, Joshua Harris talked about the negative tendencies of dating. Here are the 7 Habits of Highly Defective Dating: 1. Dating leads to intimacy but not necessarily commitment (he talks about how w/o commitment, there shouldn't be intimacy) 2. Dating tends to skip the 'friendship' stage of the relationship (he stresses how important it is to get to someone beyond all the surface stuff) 3. Dating often mistakes a physical relationship for love. 4. Dating often isolates a couple from other vital relationships. 5. Dating, in many cases, distracts young adults from their primary responsibility of preparing for the future. 6. Dating can cause discontentment with God's gift of singleness. 7. Dating creates an artificial environment for evaluating another person's character.
More notes on the way. = )

This week went by so fast. There were good and sad times as well. The good part was, I had a chance to spend time with family and friends. The sad news is that our church's beloved P. Ben and Vivian is leaving us. = ( I know I shouldn't feel this way, it's pretty selfish of me, I know. But I also feel that I've taken him for granted all these years, never thinking of the possibility that he might not be around in the future. And now the future is here. That's why I want to go home every weekend just to see them a couple more times. I know that the Lord will bless his next church, and their english ministry.
I've started reading "I kissed dating good-bye" yesterday, and now I'm almost done. It is like nothing I've read before about the issues of dating and whatnot. It's changed my views already, and I would totally recommend it to those who haven't read it yet. It's by Joshua Harris, and P.Ben lent me the sequel "Boy meets Girl" as well. I'll let you know about both books at the end of this week, and I'll try to write up a sypnosis for those that don't have time to read it. = P

Wow. That's the word to describe residence life. My floor is just phenomenal. 3North at Essex Hall is easily the most twisted, and energetic group of crazy maniacs I have met at Western. Yes, I live in 3N. We had photos taken today of our floor for the yearbook, and someone came up with a good idea to get everyone to wear boxer shorts and make speech bubbles to add on just to stand out. Hours before the designated time people already started strolling around in short shorts or boxers. What a scene. :p During the photo shoot was when I realized why they wore shorts, it was because you can easily pull your sweater/shirt over it, so it looks as if you're not wearing any pants. This one guy went all the way, and came shirtless, and held newspaper to himself, as if he was naked. ewwww. As I took the elevator back up to my room, everyone crammed in the elevator (all 30 of us). I think we were at twice the capacity. The elevator just kept beeping, but it moved, very, very, slowly. I felt extremely claustrophobic, and it got so stuffy, some dumb girl thought it'd be fun to start grabbing others. double eww. So this is what my floor is like on a regular basis, and this is when they're sober! Just for the record, I did not wear boxers, nor did my non-conformist asian groupie, and I was already in the elevator, when they all came in. Now back to studying!

Well, my reading week (more like slack week) has come to an end. So, what have I accomplished in these 8 days? I got lots of sleep, got lots of time to catch up with TV shows, got lots of time with friends and family, but didn't spend enough time on school work. I made myself sit like a bump on a log and study, but nothing sank in, cause my mind is already wandering off to what I'd rather be doing. So why study when you know you can't? I know that's not a good mentality to have, but it's how I felt. I now foresee a long week of cramming ahead, cause I'm such a good procrastinator. = P The highlight of this break was when my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. = ) That totally made me forget about the disappointment of the exam I had just bombed. And for Hannah's sake, we also saw a good film by Andy Lau (called Infernal Affair(s)). Although I still have concerns about the ending. = P