Progressive Dinner

In response to my good friend, Tim and his recent blog post, I shall tell you about the grand adventure of our best and last Progressive Dinner with our youth group.

Once a month, our youth group does an event which we have titled SNL (Sunday Night Live). The high schoolers in the church meet on the first Sunday of the month and we get together and hangout, do a fun activity, etc. This month, we had a progressive dinner. If you do not know what a progressive dinner is, basically, it is a multiple course meal in which you eat each course at a different location. For our dinner, we had four courses and thus traveled around town to four different houses. Usually, these things have a theme and you can come dressed up and make it even more fun than just eating (but let's be real, eating is already pretty fun.....). This time, the theme was "Black and White: Wear as little color as possible." Now, initially, I was just going to wear a black and white dress and call it good, but then Tim called me and was like, "Hey! I'm going to use face paint and make it look like I walked out of an old black and white film, want to join me??" Um, Tim, HECK YES I WOULD!!

So Sunday evening, me and two other of our friends spent an hour painting ourselves grey and channeling our inner 1920s-30s selves to shine through in our new found appearances. Unfortunately  we ended up channeling a little bit of zombie too.....

Needless to say, we turned quite a few heads when we walked up to join the others...

The night was fun and fantastic and now, I know what my Halloween costume will be for next year....

Ode to the Centennial Sate

An ode written for my English class last month.

Ode to the Centennial State
Kristina Lu


O Colorado – The Mile High State - eclectic and relaxed,
Thou soaring mountains are like majestic abstracts;
From the peaks to the plains, a reminder of God;
The subtle browns and soothing greens, there is no greater laud;
A statement of thy culture, a statement of thy beliefs, a statement of thy vitality;
O Colorado, what a home you are to me!

And how art the exuberant colors of your light;
The sunrises, the sunsets: I need not exaggerate;
Each day, a stunning, aurulent greeting;
Each night, a colorfully regal final meeting:
A silhouette of cinnabar and brilliant peach,
The mauve range against a flammeous speech,
Starry night; O what a home you are to me!

We natives are so lucky, proud, and spoiled;
Our state! Our land! A place so beautiful without toil,
Dear bright Colorado, you treat us well:
How healthy are we, a tribute to you;
Kick back, relax, take a hike or two;
The powder’s great and so is the view!
O Colorado, a happy home you are to we!

And yet the world is grand and vast,
A place full of many other scenes to make the past;
Some far more eccentric and others less blessed,
A world worth seeing nonetheless.
But no matter the venture where or when,
There’s a place of returns, the Traveler has an origin;
O, Colorado, you are that place of home to me!

And down-to-Earth, thou art so rad and free!
You embody the power of our canyonous River,
You capture the freedom of a noonday skier;
A leader of Green and an attitude to match,
A spirit of adventure and limitless acts;
Diversity – an encouragement; unity – a fact;
O dear sweet Colorado, what a perfect home you are to me!

Booth Birdies

Since yesterday's post was so long, this one shall be short.

Working in a quick service restaurant, I see all types of people - young, old, moms, dads, babies, teenagers, etc., etc. Some take their food to go, others eat it in; but the best part about those who eat in are the things you subconsciously learn from them. These are the people that have time, or have made time, to slow down and enjoy their meal and spend time together (granted that they are in a party greater than 1) and not rush right out the door and eat in the car. I do not mean to shed any sort of negative light on those that have to take it to go - I am occasionally one of them - but I admire those that slow down a bit despite our rushed, time-conscious culture in America.

With that being said, my favorite stereotype of in-store guests are what I am now affectionately calling "The Booth Birdies." Booth Birdies are those couples who will consciously choose to sit on the same side of the booth together just so that they can be near each other. I see this a lot with elderly couples who have been married for decades, yet they still desire to be near each other even when they are just enjoying a chicken sandwich together. Here, they have plenty of room to spread out and even each have their very own bench! But they still choose to sit side by side.

I'm sorry, but to me, when I see this it is the most adorable thing and symbolizes an act of true love that I hope to one day find. I am in no rush to find the love of my life, but when I meet him, I hope that we can be Booth Birdies together anywhere and everywhere we go.

A Day at Keystone!

Yay! The WiFi is working again which means I can post about my awesome day of snowboarding yesterday - this is going to be a long one!

Spring skiing. It's always a bit of a gamble, but when it's good....it's good. Yesterday was one of those days. My dad and I day-tripped it up to Keystone Mountain Resort in Summit County for a final "hurrah!" before the season comes to a close. We left about 7am and arrived up at the resort somewhere around 9am. Depending on where you're from, two hours may seem like a lot of time or nothing at all, but either way, it was time well spent. I absolutely love spending quality time with my dad. We always have the most interesting conversations about anything and everything. He is one of those people who gets you thinking critically but does so in an engaging and non-aggravating way (unlike those who just like to play devil's advocate just because they can). Others may find our conversations mundane and uninteresting, but they're definitely things I will miss when I move to Boulder for college. Yesterday, we talked about all sorts of things, one of the topics being how we look at the topic of efficiency in our everyday lives and our work lives and how sometimes we can try to do things too efficiently and in turn make them less efficient. Stuff like that. Some of our most memorable and interesting conversations have been about the phenomena of the "tipping point" and the "the economy of free." But anyways, that's another post.

We arrived at the resort and were ready to hit the slopes! The day started off beautiful and sunny and around 37 degrees Fahrenheit and fortunately, the runs were not that slushy! Perfect weather!

 

First, we hit the back side of the mountain in the Outback where there was gorgeous glade skiing and soft but not slushy snow along the main runs; nice base, too. There was virtually no one on the mountain due to the fact that the season is in its last week and the majority of the state had its spring break the week before. We rode those slopes for the majority of the morning before turning in for lunch about noon-ish. About this time, a storm was rolling in and the clouds made the sky so dark!

Nonetheless, we turned in and had a pleasant sack lunch (which I consequently crushed during my shenanigans on the slopes) at the Outpost lodge on I believe the 2nd Mountain. Somehow I managed to use a soda can as a cookie cutter on the side of an apple during one of my epic, unintentional flips when I biffed it hard for no good reason what so ever. But hey! Who cares? The soda didn't burst and I still thoroughly enjoyed my mangled ball of a squished PB&J. I honestly cannot remember what else I ate for lunch, but who really wants to hear about my meals anyways? That's right, very few. But, even the sorely disinterested cannot deny the interest in........wait for it........BAM! Cheesy fries!! No ski trip is complete without an order of fries, cheesed or not. 

No ski trip is complete without fries!

By this time, it had been snowing hard and the outside accumulation had amounted to about 1+ inches in a matter of a half hour. But it was fantastic, for once we got back out there, there was all this fresh new snow on all the runs, ungroomed and begging to be taken on. The sky was terribly cloudy and the snow was falling pretty hard, but there was virtually no wind which made riding through the snow, freakin' fantastic! The only downside was the lack of contour definition in the snow due to the little sunlight that came through. This caused my downfall time and time again throughout the day, but more on that later.

After lunch, we had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my friends from the Springs, Ben, and his buddy Alex. They took me (Dad went back to the car to exchange his sunglasses for goggles) to see this secret fort that a friend of theirs had built earlier in the season. Now, I shall never reveal the location of this fort, but let's just say it is hidden somewhere in the trees and is made out of loads of broken tree branches and pure architectural genius. We spend the remainder of the day riding the front side of the mountain and eating up the fresh snow (figuratively). The snow was not quite powder for it was slightly sticky, but fresh enough to definitely change the dynamic of the day in a positive way.

We soon made our way over to "Area 51" aka, the terrain park. Now, I'll preface this by saying, I suck at jumps and I let my brain take too much control when it comes to boxes and such. Sounds illogical, but seriously, over thinking a jump is like writing your own death sentence. You've just got to go for it. This is a skill I have not yet mastered... Typically, Ben, Alex, and I avoided all of the rails and ramps and doo-ickies that those crazy kids fly off of, and we headed straight for the jumps in our naive aspirations to at least be able to catch some air and effectively land it without killing ourselves (at least this was my mindset). Needless to say, Ben and Alex were much better than me, but we each had our own spills. The first round of jumps, I actually landed mine! I was so surprised and excited! Unfortunately, that was our practice run and we didn't film any from that first time. By the second run, my dad had met up with us and was willing to do the filming in addition the filming I was to do for Ben with his phone (I don't have that footage). I'll just let the video speak for itself (I am the first one, Ben second, Alex third):

Aren't I just the most graceful thing you've ever seen?? Alex was the only one who had a perfect run though on this take; Ben happened to biff it pretty hard after the second or third jump which you can't see on this video. Totally worth it, though.

                                  

                                            Ben on the lift

      

Dad at the summit of the Outback.
That's Breckenridge in the background.

After that, they closed the terrain park lift so we headed for the base (it was almost 4 o'clock by this point). Just before, however, I managed to face plant over small ridge I couldn't see due to the lighting and slammed my head on the ground and slid for a few feet. The fall did disorient me briefly, but I quickly recovered and was fine. I later found, though, that that fall had caused my shirt to rub against my stomach so abrasively that I ended up getting a small "rug burn" on my stomach. I like to describe in terms of using a strip of carpet as a slip-n-slide.... Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but still, I have about three dime-sized burns on my stomach right next to my belly button. That's no bueno for anyone!

By the time we reached the bottom it was past 4:00 and we were forced to retire. During the regular season, Keystone offers night skiing but unfortunately, they were done with that for the season and so our day came to a satisfying end. We said goodbye to Ben and Alex, packed the car and headed for I-70 to take us towards Idaho Springs for some delicious grub. We stopped at Beau Jo's Pizza - Colorado style pizza - and enjoyed a pie together before trekin' it on home!

Colorado style pizza = massive crust meant for honey dousing

That was the end to our perfect day at Keystone and some wonderful father-daughter time, doing one of the greatest things Colorado has to offer together. Can't wait for next season!

The Morning

By nature, I am a night owl. There is no possible way for me to even attempt to go to bed any earlier than 11PM, and even then, I crawl into bed and grab my phone because the middle of the night is my designated "YouTube time" where I watch all my vlogs that I subscribe to etc., etc. However, despite my late night shenanigans  I still set my alarm for Saturday mornings at 9AM. Without doing so, I just feel flat out legthargic and unproductive the entire day. Plus, I usually work Saturdays from 2-11PM and if I got up any later than that, I would feel like I didn't have a day at all.

That being said, this morning was like all others. I got up around 9ish and went about the usual routine, however, I found that this morning was so incredibly beautiful and mild that I just had to sit outside and eat my breakfast of Apple Spice bread from Great Harvest Bread Co.

As I sat there outside on my deck, enjoying the slight breeze and springtime sunshine and listening to the newly returned birds chirping away, I was contemplating my feelings and thinking of God sitting on that bench next to me. I am no good at praying, but I like to imagine Him sitting next to me and us just having a casual conversation like friends would. And as I sat there, I told Him that something didn't feel right; I was not completely content even though nothing at that moment could have been better.

And I realized that it was because of the face that nothing at the that moment could have been better that I was strangely discontent. But truly it was because of this that I had left "my first love, Jesus" (as my mother always says) by the wayside. I don't mean to be all "Christianese" and cliche, but it is funny how true that statement is sometimes. If God is enough to fill us up completely and eternally, if you're not content, then He must be missing.

Took this this morning with the lovely sunshine coming through the back door.

Long Time, No See

It's been a while, I know. But hey, I wouldn't blame you if you did not notice I was missing. I even forgot about this little blog here. But hopefully I'll use it more. I don't honestly know what this blog is supposed to be but I think I'll just use it as a random space for anything and everything about my life going forward.

Less than two months until graduation and my life is about to truly begin. What does that even mean? I shall chronicle my days through this blog, whether anyone reads it or not. This will be for me. Like a journal, but online and with out all the super juicy crap that no one wants to hear about and I don't want anyone to know. Don't get me wrong, you're welcome to read, please do! But I apologize for any lack of theme this blog may have or level of consistency, this is just me and my lovely life.

This will be my life in snapshots and idioms.

College Application Essay: Take 1

*** Note: The following is written entirely by me and unauthorized reproduction of this work is prohibited. Thank you. If you wish, leave a comment with your thoughts; I am not entirely sure I like this essay so input is welcomed. ***

My name is Kristina Lu and I know not.

            I have a passion for the world, for other countries. So often we forget that we are not the only people here. The world does not center on us. Everyday millions of people are living their lives in different cultures in different countries, speaking different languages. The world is not a mythological place. People are living in places immediately unknown to us, yet, they are just like us; maybe they are thinking the same thing right now, even. Perhaps someone in France is experiencing her first kiss right now, or somebody in Africa is playing a game of soccer with his buddies. Who really knows? So rarely we stop to think about these things.

            But we should. At every moment of every day, 7 billion people around the globe are living out their everyday lives just as you and I are right now. As a Christian, it is my belief that God is watching all of these people – understanding and loving each one. Although I know it to be inevitably impossible, I want to be able to love and know them all, too.

            As I sit here at my desk typing this essay in modest Longmont, Colorado, I cannot help but imagine where I will be in the next three, five, ten years! Perhaps I will be typing yet another essay or report, but instead I may be sitting en una plaza in Spain doing work for a class in which I am studying abroad or an international company I may be working for. Maybe I will be sitting in a lecture hall in one of the wonderful states of America enjoying a stimulating discussion with my peers and classmates. Once again, who knows? Only time will tell.

            And it could be that my dreams are farfetched and impractical, but that does not mean that they are not attainable. It would be my suggestion to all people who have faced this type of discouragement to respond with the question, “who knows?” The rhetoric is almost irrefutable for, truly, no one knows everything exclusively – only God does. And so, as we are indeed only humans, it then becomes the beauty of not knowing the future that makes aspirations desirable. It is like former representative Barbara Johnson once said, “For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.”

            Up to this point, I have written 403 words expressing this notion of content for uncertainty, desires, and longing to know about the world outside of the U.S.; however, I must admit, this is not a natural mindset for me. I am one of those people who need to know things, get things done. Uncertainty has the ability to tear me apart. But, in essence, all of this – my desires coupled with my thirst for knowledge and my passions, etc. – all contribute to a major growing process (which may or may never be finished). It is by being strong in my uncertainty and all of those “who-knows?-moments” that I believe I will continue to develop and know and aspire to more and more.

My name is Kristina Lu and I know not, but I look forward to the surprise.