went back to the presbyterian church for their special combined service. cantonese church services are fun. i like it when i get to learn both chinese/cantonese and about the bible at the same time.

main takeaway from the sermon is to reflect on the authenticity of my faith. to not just say yes on my lips, but do another thing. that i should examine my heart and not my actions. God's grace is extended to all and this grace transform our hearts and mind, and that faith without action is DEAD (James 2:17), but by true faith, actions and good works ensue.

they had so much food. had conversations with old people. talked about malaysia and different cultures with food. talked about the pains you get when you start getting older. the members here have known each other for decades, and it made me miss home. i realize I won't get to experience growing old with a church, if I do achieve my dreams, and immigrate, then I'll be moving from church to church, it made me think about where i'll grow roots, and where I'll be settling down in the future, and how that shapes my life as i grow older.

weather was so hot it was worse than malaysia. so glad it's getting colder from now. really made me appreciate the fact that i'm in SF and weather is basically perfect. and how much weather affects well-being.

tried to study but kept context switching between paper trail, and the ray embeddings project, and fixing regression homework, and other stuff.

can't wait for finals to be over. studying for exam is one of the most time-consuming, stress-inducing, mentally exhaustive tasks, with little ROI depending on how you learn and how the exams are structured. I suppose you learn the value of deep understanding of concepts, and having high precision in your responses, and being able to perform under pressure.