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1.   T h e C h i A l p h a G r o u p

Cornell University chapter, Fall 2001

Chi Alpha is a Christian Fellowship on campus that I go to. Unfortunately due to the nature of the name, some people think we're a Greek frat house. :-) It stands for Christ's Ambassadors. In Greek, "chi" is the first letter in the word for Christ, and "alpha" ditto for ambassadors. There's a little blurb about it in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11-21. We're not a very big group (especially compared to a couple other fellowships on campus which have more than 100 students!), but the upside is that Chi Alpha is very cozy and fosters close friendships among its participants. There are no cliques here. The left photo features Serendipity Rinonos and Esther Pullen. They make up the core of the female members in the group. To any lady who might be reading this: come on, please join us! We need more Venus blood. :-) This photo was taken after a concert by the Cornell Symphony, of which Serendipity and Ethan are members. A very rare shot there in the middle - a photo of Chi Alpha taken by Cornell Yearbook staff in the fall of 2001. Not easy to obtain, that. The last photo is Aaron McGowan and I on the lawn outside our church. If by any chance you'd like to give us a visit (and we hope you do!), we meet at the Anabel Taylor Hall Café every Friday night at 7:30 pm. Micah Spiwak, our campus pastor, was recently transferred by the Assemblies of God in early 2004 to minister at a different church, so at the moment Ricardo Ekmay is leading the meetings. Email him for more info. Trust me, you'll love it! That's an unconditional guarantee.

More Chi Alpha photos and tidbits

2.   T h e H a p p y H o u r G r o u p

So named because every Friday after classes, the four of us would meet for lunch at either Okenshield's or Ivy Room and spend the whole afternoon chatting or just hanging out. Some of my most memorable moments were during Happy Hours. Since classes were all over and the weekend was just starting, we had no worries and could just relax. One time we were having so much fun talking that we were the last people to leave Okenshield's! The left photo features, from L to R, Melody Hung, me and Yvonne Lau. This was sometime early in 2001, and we were dining in Okenshield's. The green book you see on the left is César Franck's Violin Sonata, which Melody and I performed that semester. We're actually quite a musical bunch - Melody and Serendipity play the violin while Yvonne and I play the piano (Yvonne is even picking up the guitar). Serendipity Rinonos, the fourth member of our merry group, appears in the second picture. Over time we have become an extremely close-knit group of friends. Happy Hour will not be quite the same anymore this coming fall, because Serendipity is graduating to pursue higher goals. At the risk of sounding too sentimental (especially for a guy), I want to say we'll all miss you! Godspeed and best wishes in everything you'll be doing.

3.   T h e G. J. R. G r o u p

G.J.R. stands for George Junior Republic. It is a boarding school located about twenty minutes away from Ithaca, that houses troubled boys from ages 12 to 18. Kids who go here may have serious disciplinary and behavioral problems, or may have suffered from abuse. From what I have heard, it is for kids whose problems are not serious enough to be sent to prison, but who need to be sent to a school that can keep them under strict control. During the fall of 2001, some students from C.C.F. (Cornell Christian Fellowship) wanted to do something to help these kids. Among these guys were some worship team members. They decided that one thing they could do was to help lead worship during the Saturday morning service at G.J.R., since at that time there weren't any musicians. The pastor was having to sing hymns with the kids a capella. It turned out to be a great idea. Starting last November, they began to go to G.J.R. on Saturday mornings. I, having heard the news from my friend Tasi, loved the idea and joined them just a week after as keyboard player. That's most of us in the left photo! Took a while to get everybody gathered, but we managed. In the right are some of the crazy Cornellians who help out in G.J.R. From L to R: Dan Gallucci, Tim Clark, Tasi Perkins, me and Alex Sheh. In the very beginning only a few G.J.R. kids attended the service, but lately that number has risen to more than a dozen, which is really awesome. Since the rules at G.J.R. are strict and wouldn't allow us to visit the kids in their dorms, our only opportunity to minister to them is during the Saturday morning service. May God continue to bless this ministry as He has done!

Due to various considerations, we apologize that the "More G.J.R. photos and tidbits" link previously located here has been removed.

4.   T h e A. G. Y o u t h G r o u p

L: The Ithaca Assembly of God youth group, during the Assemblies of God Youth Convention in Syracuse, March 28-30, 2002. M: Our very own Pastor Micah Spiwak, his beautiful wife Valerie and their son Isaiah. Rock on! (nb. Pastor Micah has in early 2004 moved on to greener pastures. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.) R: Crazy photo of David Sotero (left), Mike Melice and me. We had just come back to Ithaca from the convention. Photographed by Elisha Chaffee in the van.

5.   T h e N o P a r t i c u l a r G r o u p G r o u p

On the left are Professor Malcolm Bilson, David Kim and me. David and I are piano students of Prof. Bilson, who is a world-renowned and extremely accomplished pianist and teacher, especially in the field of antique keyboard instruments, such as fortépianos. This photograph was taken in his home on April 28, 2002, and Prof. Bilson was performing a private recital of three Beethoven sonatas to several of his students, in preparation for a concert in Palermo, Italy. Humphrey Lee and his beloved BMW 323Ci appear on the right. We got to know each other about a year ago when he asked me to give him some manual driving lessons. Nowadays he is the proud owner of his BMW and we talk often about various car stuff. Please visit the automotive gallery for more photos. There are many more friends of mine that aren't on these pages, but that doesn't mean you are any less a friend. All of you are very dear to me, and I just want to say I love you all! :-)

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Background: McGraw Tower, a.k.a. the clock tower, located on central campus
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