비노와 사촌 진의 고양이 오리오 beno w/ kaela's cousin jean's kitten oreo
오후 539p: 오늘이 2004년의 첫날예요. 어떠세요? 새해복 많이 받으세요. 오늘 아침에 아름다운 캐이라 황 떡만두국을 만드렀어요. 맜있어요. 칠면조의고기 만두였어요. 소고기 돼지고기 않았어요. 캐이라 정말 수고 했어요. 우리의 친구 쥬리 같이 먹었어요. 우리의집에서 먹었어요. 539p: 2day's the 1st day'f 2004. how r u? happy new yr. this morn, the beautiful kaela hwang cooked dduhkmandoogook. it was delicious. it was turkey mandoo. it wasn't beef or pork. kaela really werked hard. our friend julie ate w/ us. we ate @ our house.
어제밤에 우리의 친구 브라인 정의 집 새해 파티 갔어요. 어, 사실은 처음에 저의 아버지와 수와 그라이스와 스티브와 메이슨같이 저녁식사를 먹었어요. 우리가 호움타운 뷔페에서 만났어요. 그때 가족이 우리집 방문했어요. 새로운 호움타운 뷔페 한개 우리집 가까이에 있어요. 지금 막 열었어요. 약2주전이었어요. 어쩼든 그다음에 브라인의 새해 파티에 갔어요. 쥬리가 우리같이 갔어요. 그리고 나중에 우리의 친구 제이슨이 파티에서 우리를 만났어요. 나중에 제이슨와 쥬리는 우리같이 우리의집에 돌아왔어요. last nite, we went to our friend brian chung's new yr's party. uh, aktually, 1st we went to dinner w/ my dad, sue, grace, steve, n' mason. we met @ hometown buffet. then they visited our house. a new hometown buffet opened right by our house. it just opened. that was like 2 weeks 'go. neway, after that, we went to brian's new yr's party. julie went w/ us. also, our friend jason met us there. later, julie n' jason came back to our house.
작년의 남은 것 last yr's leftover:
1115p: of course, i'm not used to writing "2004" instead'f 2003 quite yet. 2dasy, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i got a very late start to the day. we went to ikea to buy a couch, which'll be delivered 2morrow, then to the gym, n' then to safeway marketplace @ the rivermark. i don't think i'm just "trying to be cute" by saying "safeway marketplace @ the rivermark." i believe the sign aktually sez that. that's a recent trend w/ safeway n' new urbanism, which i noticed both in the sobay n' in sf. heh, u c, on new yr's eve / new yr's (late nite / early morn), jason n' i sort'f discussed the idea'f whether or not the silly valley's ne less'f a suburb than orange county n' ne more'f a metropolis, etc. of course, i know that san jo is not as metropolitan as sf. 'member my big rant 'bout this on bronx's junkyard forums, where hyun really tried to tease me hard 'bout the whole "san jo: suburb or city?" issue. ppl know that'll get me talking! ha. funny: right now, on korean tv (channel 28), i'm watching some dokumentary 'bout the tech industry, n' right now they're talkin' 'bout the silly valley n' agilent technologies. whenever they have news footage'f tech industry stuff, now, i always look 4 my company's produkts cos i know that virtually every chip in the world is made w/ equipment that my company makes. neway, i digress!!! it's interesting that i have cn "new urbanism in both sf n' san jo / santa clara / etc. u c, new urbanism is sort'f a modern day reaktion 'gainst suburban sprawl. young professionals 'round my age don't want the ho.hum suburban life, thus they want sumpthin' more urban. critics'f new urbanism'll say that new urbanist communities r very artificial; n' yah, they have a pt. however, it's funny to c that not only do young ppl look down 'pon suburban sprawl; they also find new urbanism to be more convenient than ol' fashioned real urbanism. the real, original urban communities'f sf r 2 real 4 some yuppies 2day, apparently. thus yah... there r some new urbanist communities in sf that have safeways that say "safeway @ blah blah blah," etc. safeway n' albertson's r battling 4 territory in these new urbanist communities.
uh, by the end'f 2004 u'll want me to shuda#!!@% up 'bout this whole "new urbanism" thing; it'll be ur most despised wurd. ha ha. oh yah, 'bout my list'f things i grew very annoyed w/ 'bout 2003... i sed: "some unnecessarily overused terms in 2003: 1) outsourcing, 2) metrosexual, male, 3) recall elektion / governator, 4) weapons of mass destruction, 5) paris hilton, 6) las vegas, 6) wingman, 7) fo' shizzle, izzay, etc. 8) rustic /artisan;" but i 4got to add "ashton kutcher." l man! that guy got way more exposure than he deserved last yr! speaking'f ashton kutcher, last nite @ julie's, we watched charlie's angels 2: full throttle (which has ashton's gf demi moore). we also watched bruce almighty.
these days, we do watch korean tv on channel 28, n' i like it. i think pops in seoul is on 2nite. i think ppl w/ cable n' the int'l channel know 'bout pops in seoul. hrm... it's still the dokumentary 'bout the tech industry. it's totally sumpthin' i'd watch in 1'f my classes. 1'f my profs always used to show dokumentaries like this 0.5way thru our long class as a break. she'd usually just show part'f a dokumentary cos'f the lack'f time. neway, we watch several shows on channel 28, such as nonstop, in your eyes, n' uh... that drama w/ kim minjong, where he plays a filmmaker... oh yah! it's called 진주 목걸이 (pearl necklace).
yesterday nite, we went to julie's apt. she made dinner 4 us, we watched those movies, n' we ate some roll cake from sogo bakery @ lion market. sogo bakery's such a good bakery!
i can't believe my almost 2 week vakation from werk's almost over! on mon, i return to werk. i only have 1 weekend left. altho' i go back to werk on mon, i'm still estatically happy that skool doesn't resume till later this month. auh, it's such a nice break not to hafta werk 10-12 hr days n' then try to study or go to class, etc.
1217a: yesterday was sat, n' now it's teknically sat, but u know how i am 'bout those things: it's really still sat nite in my mind. on sat, i woke up in the morn, went to rite.aid, went to costco, went to big k (kmart) which is closing down, went to hangook market, n' went home. later, toby n' betty came down. we went to lunch @ tk noodles on stevens creek blvd, over by de anza. we went to sogo bakery to get a green tea mousse cake. we went back home. toby n' betty came in. brian chong came over to return a scarf to me that i left @ his house during his new yr's eve party. i joked 'bout how that's the kind'f thing gurls do to guys that they like. ha ha ha. well, the afternoon w/ rush rush, n' the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went over to my mom's place 4 hot pot w/ grace, steve, n' mason. it's crazy: mason can really talk now. i mean, of course, he's not like a big orator yet, but he's expressing some'f his opinions 'bout eating n' what's fun n' what's yucky, etc.
after dinner, kaela n' i filled up my car w/ some'f our garbage from my mom's house n' brought it back. oh yah, @ my mom's house, we ate the green tea mousse cake. we dropped off dvds @ blockbuster on the way home. then we unloaded the car n' headed off to fremont to meet up w/ fahad, but i couldn't get ahold'f him on his cell n' didn't know how to get to his house, so we eventually just had to go home. [later, after a shower] 1247a: yah, now i've showered.
2day/2morrow's sun. that means we go to church. that means, on mon, i return to werk. have i toldju? during this whole 2 wk hiatus from werk, i've just kept having nitemares 'bout skool; i kept having bad dreams 'bout skool.
2nite, after we came home, we watched 진주 목걸이
(jinjoo mokguhli, pearl necklace).
오후 1006p: 오늘 저는 직장에 돌아갔어요. 오늘 월요일예요. 2day, i went back to werk. 2day's mon. 지금 아름다운 캐이라 황 하고 같이 아브래즈 조우 2을 봐요. now, i'm watching average joe 2 w/ the beautiful kaela hwang. i never talked 'bout average joe (1), but i should have... if i hadn't been so bizzy back then. it was obviously the most publicised tv show'f 2003, n' well... altho' i don't really condone trash tv; i gotta admit it was ok n' brought up a sort'f interesting issue... n' it did so much better than mr. personality or whatever that show was where the guys wore masks. u c, that show sort'f had no pt cos it was s'ppose to make the bachelorette pick a guy based on personality n' not looks, but... u could tell certain things 'bout the guys' appearances thru their masks, such as their height, weight, build, (to some extent) ethnicity, etc. the average joe 1 was pretty kewl cos, yah, the guys were pretty interesting... well, some were... n' yet, in the end the bachelorette (or whatever i should call her) on the show still picked the so.called "good looking" guy over the "average joe." personally, i believe good looking ppl can also have good personalities, so i think that it's fine that she picked the so.called "Good looking guy." furthermore, the final "average joe," Wasn't avg as he was a millionaire, n'... geez, i think those folks @ nbc did their best to rig the game so the sekret millionaire'd be pitted 'gainst the "pretty boy," u know? well... in the end, it's all just trash tv, n' nbc's refusing to yield to fox this season... that's all. oh well.
i saw a kewl article on the silicon valley metro website: "Arrested Development: One year closer to the mallification of Silicon Valley" all the recent developments in post.internet.boom san jo that i like, other ppl critise; n' i totally appreciate that they offer an opposing opinion! check out this quote: "But if you're a south San Josean, you no longer need to drive to Valley Fair. Instead, you can visit the renovated Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge Mall, which now looks like Valley Fair. Yes, Oakridge--that old-school San Jose mall--the one we all rode the 27 down Blossom Hill to visit when we were teenagers; the one whose dumpy theater let us sneak into R-rated movies; the one that housed such suburban perfection as the Time Zone arcade, Music Land, Taco Villa and Bullock's--has now gone the way of upscale monstrosities like Valley Fair." i like valley fair, i like santana row, i like rivermark, i like the new oakridge. however, i realise some ppl consider these places 2 artificial. u know, i've already spent a good chunk'f my life in the urban jungles'f bezerkeley. i enjoyed it 4 all it was worth. furthermore, i wasn't 1'f those homebody berkeley students who didn't explore sf. i exploited berkeley's proximity to sf n' enjoyed the cosmopolitan landscape it offered. i do know what true metroplises r n' am not a person who grew up in a suburb n' only know suburbs n' not real cities. other ppl, who grew up in my time or b4, when san jo was more just a suburb'f san francisco, some 50 miles south, still wish that san jo had more urban grunge, more'f that fragrance'f ppl's peeing on the street, etc. :-/ sure, if i'd never lived newhere but suburbs, i might've ended up w/ this complex'f wishing my hometown'f san jo had more'f that kewlness faktor that comes w/ urine soaked streets, etc. eh, as long as the silicon valley maintains or else increases its level'f "liberalness" in its politiks, i'm fine. sure, we've now got nicer things, but 4 the most part, as a city or region, we've managed to "keep it real." 1nce i start noticing that we're not "keepin' it real," i'll be pi$$ed; n' yah, @ that pt, i'd prefer that ppl peed in the streets just like they do on telegraph ave. u know how it is 'round here? in the silly valley, u do find mansions. however, u don't find so many "gated communities." supermike n' i 1nce discussed how awful gated communities r. gated communities separate the rich from the poor n' create hostility. just think: if u build a gated community, that just means u, as a filthy rich person, r just gonna get jumped by the angry, poor ppl on the other side'f the gate 1nce u leave ur gated community. in urban areas, where there rn't so many gates or land btwn the rich n' poor areas, i think rich ppl r better 'bout taking care'f the community, u know? after all, sf n' nyc have lots'f rich ppl n' very hi co$ts'f living, yet the ppl, 4 the most part, vote 4 gov't that takes care'f every1, not just the privileged. neway, my pt is that i do like valley fair, santana row, rivermark, n' the new oakridge; but i totally appreciate these newspaper columnists / authors who present their opposing view. that's totally kewl by me.
yesterday was my last free day b4 returning to werk. i was glad i sort'f made it to church cos, yah, that's how i wanted to spend my last free day; receiving some spiritual enlightenment. however, i got to church very late. 'round 945a (church begins @ 950a), i received a fon call from ikea's delivery service midnite express. the woman on the fon asked me to clarify the time i wanted our coach to be delivered. we had selekted the 400 - 800p time slot on the form while @ ikea, but the woman sed she had it down as "400 - 800a." ?:-o huh?! who the heck'd want their furniture delivered @ 400a?!?! well, sure, the company's called "midnite express, but... whuh?! neway, i clarified 400 - 800p. then she sed that the delivery truck was in our area right then, so they wanted to come earlier. i sed after 1200p'd be fine. then she called the driver, n' he sed that they had to be back @ the warehouse by 1230p, so they had be come over w/in 30 mins. whuh?! well, i was sort'f happy to get the couch early, so i agreed to it. i told kaela to go off to church 1st w/o me n' then i'd come join her. the driver arrived sometime after 1000a. he apologised n' sed he'd thought he had our couch in his truck but didn't. i called up the delivery company, n' they sed they just had to deliver it on mon (2nite) instead 400 - 800p. well, 2day @ werk, i got a call 'round noon. it was a truck driver 4 ikea's delivery service company, n' he sed he wanted to drop off the couch soon cos he was in the area. eh, i agreed to it n' went home just a li'l b4 100p to meet him. we got our couch. now, we have plenty'f furniture.
on sat nite, this past weekend, after having hot pot w/ my mom, grace, steve, n' mason, we tried to meet fahad @ his family's home in fremont, but i couldn't contact him n' didn't know exaktly how to get to his family's house, so we had to give up after driving a bit 'round fremont..
2nite, after werk, i werked out @ the company gym a li'l. i've been trying to lift more weights these days. i dunno; since it's winter, it just cms right to do more weightlifting rather than cardio. *shrug*
651p: i've wanted to keep u better updated, but i've been, of course, very bizzy. i reached a big milestone accomplishment thingy @ werk 2day, so i'm happy. sumpthin' i've been werking @ 4 the past coupl'f months or so got done... it felt good to hear "congratulations." yah, i was very happy.
these days, all my $$$ goes to the house n' house things like furniture. i dunno; what did i spend my $$$ on in the past? snowboarding?
[later] 1011p: i came home from taekwondo sparring practice a while 'go, almost an hr 'go. i put 2gether a bookshelf we got @ target. it's a dark brown, wooden bookshelf. i guess it's nice; but it does feel weird to spend my $$$ only on furniture... not like i should try to spend more $$$ newhere, but it's just not my usual thing, right? or am i just maturing? @ the same time, i gotta admit: sometimes it is fun to put furniture 2gether. it's sort'f like building model aeroplanes or sumpthin'. maybe this is just what yuppies do; altho' i'd never call myself a yuppie. i thought i was 1nce 2 hip to be a yuppie, wasn't i? <:-( yuppies r the kind'f ppl who get bagged on in the silicon valley metro n' maybe in the sf bay area guardian or sf weekly, etc. those r all good papers, i think. *shrug* then 'gain... what do i know? u should ask some1 more knowledgeable 'bout print journalism, like phil.
well, taekwondo sparring practice was fun. considering i haven't sparred in ages n' haven't been doing taekwondo much over this "winter break," i was surprised @ how much i could still move 'round. we had guests: mark's friend ernest n' his gf joyce (they came b4, n' we went to eat @ korea house on el camino near san tomas), n' this dude lawrence that i talked to on tues on the fon cos he was 1nce from berkeley taekwondo. right now, i'm eating jjajangbap, which the beautiful kaela hwang cooked. i can't type in korean right now cos i'm telnetting in n' typing this. i guess i could've typed it in notepad n' ftped it up to the server. neway, i'm on kaela's 'puter right now cos my 'puter's really messed up. i even bought a new 450w power supply 4 it 4 really cheap on ebay, but it's still being fussy. *sigh* tech troubles... i don't have time to deal w/ 'em! this jjajangbap's very good. i don't think kaela put zucchini in it, altho' i did buy some 4 this from safeway, the last time we went to the nice safeway marketplace @ the rivermark.
oh, hey! i wanna thank antonia 4 signing my gbook. that was back on 2004.01.04; i've aktually put up a new set'f gbook qs since then. please sign the new version! :-)
last monthversary, i took kaela to emile's, a french restaurant in downton san josé, perhaps the nicest french restaurant in san jo. *shrug* we had their prix fixe dinner 4 the nite, n' it was very good. they had this split pea soup @ the beginning that was just totally unlike ne other. sure, we all like andersen's split pea off the 5, but man! this soup was really good! it tasted so fresh. well, hey, i wrote a review on dine.com, so why don'tchu just read that:
last nite's prix fixe included a wonderfully done split pea soup, a asian.fusion style grouper w/ daikon sprouts n' tobiko "caviar, " a bacon wrapped medallion of beef w/ some kind'f cute, fried potato, n' a pear cornucopia'f veggies, a gruyere cheese mixed greens salad, n' a grand marniere soufe. it was great! i gotta say: the portions in san jo restaurants r much bigger than portions in san francisco restaurants. altho' san jo is hardly a suburb nemore w/ its downtown nitelife n' "new urbanist" communities, i think the co$t'f living's still a li'l less, so we maybe cling on to the suburban ideas'f quantity in cuisine; altho' we don't have a claim jumper here or nething.
oh! so that's what i wasted my $$$ on b4 i started $pending it on furniture n' home stuff, eh? *shrug* well... that was a special occasion, it's being our monthversary n' christmas n' all... u 'member that i didn't really totally feel like i gave kaela a christmas present this yr: i bought her her new palm zire 71 like in nov or so... n' she sed it was ok if that was her christmas present. well, ok... but i wanted to take her to a nice dinner 2, u know? if i weren't wasting my $$$ on furniture n' homestuff; maybe i'd be trying to buy a nice 'puter or sumpthin' since mine stinks so badly right now. 4 months, i've talked 'bout how much i've wanted to buy a bike, so i wouldn't hafta drive to werk, but that just never happens. i've pondered buying weights (4 exercise), but really... that's not a smart move cos it's just better to go to the gym: u'll be more motivated; n' if u hurtchurself, there'll be ppl to take care'f u.
oh yah! on sat, kaela
n' i r gonna teach taekwondo @ a local korean skool! isn't that funny?
heh. it's cos ben was s'pposed to do it 4 shim sabuhmnim, but ben's
gotta go do his army reserve duties; so well... we'll do it!
morn: last nite or else early this morn, i woke up in a sweat from a nitemare that i had received a "c" in my "spacecraft dynamics and controls" class. i was so freaked. in my dream, i got a 60 out of 100 on my 3rd midterm of 3. i just checked my grade online: i got an "a." :-) woohoo! i feel everything's coming up "beno," the way milhouse sez "everything's coming up milhouse." yesterday, i had that big accomplishment @ werk. last nite, i had a good taekwondo sparring practice n' put 2gether furniture. 2day, i got the good news 'bout my grade. *sigh* i'm very happy... but more than that, i should be n' am just plain thankful. b4 the christmas break, i had so much stress: i had sooo muchskoolwerk, sooo much pressure @ werk (n' so much was going wrong 4 me @ werk), n' sooo many things to take care'f w/ the new house. now? things r better. things r going great @ werk. i feel, aktually, that my whole group has accomplished 'lot; so i feel really optimistic @ werk. skool: i'm glad last semester turned out well, but i know i gotta werk hard next semester as well. 'member: i'm really worried 'bout my master's project. i gotta put in lots'f extra time on that soon. same w/ werk: altho' i'm glad i accomplished what i did; i know i gotta keep werking hard. i feel this is a good way to start out the new yr. i feel good; i feel positive. i still have plenty'f housewerk to do, n' i guess that just never ends. [later] early afternoon: i'll be taking my lunchbreak very soon. i gotta go home n' take apart our kitchen table w/ kaela hwang. u c, after we assembled the table, which we bought from anton @ people's furniture, we noticed a crack on 1 important wooden part. anton sed he'd exchange the table 4 us, so he's coming to pick the old 1 up this afternoon n' drop off a new 1.
[later] 628p: i think it's 'bout time to leave werk on a fri eve, don'tchu? i'm gonna take kaela out 4 our monthversary 2nite. early... that's cos we're s'pposed to go snowboarding w/ ken n' gordon next sat, so i wanna do this this weekend. i'm gonna take her to turmerik in sunnyvale. it's s'pposed to be a nice n' fancy indian restaurant. we'll c.
2morrow, we teach taekwondo to li'l kids. on sun, we host couples' bible study @ our house.
1218a: it's mon morn / sun nite. on sat nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i watched 시월애 (shiwuhlae, english name: il mare. if u can read korean, u can check out this page to read 'bout it: http://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/siwolae/siwolae.htm. after that, we watched our weekly 2 episodes'f 진주의 목걸이 (jinjoouy mokguhli, which means "pearl necklace." on sat, during the day, we went to teach taekwondo @ the 실리콘 밸리 한국 학교 (silicon valley korean skool). maybe kaela's favourite story from that class was when this li'l ~6 yr old kid in the line i was holding paddles 4 sed "hey, ur hair looks like mine!" heh, heh... kids can be so funny. after that, we went to 한국 마켓 hangook market to get some groceries to cook 4 2day's bible study @ our house. on sat, after eating a late lunch @ home (kaela cooked some 비빔밥 bibimbap.), we went to costco. costco was sooo packed!!! 'twas 'round 445p. oh, b4 costco, we went to goodwill to donate some stuff n' to orchard supply hardware to exchange a plant. b4 we went to goodwill, i changed a ceiling mounted lamp in our house. @ costco, we bought lots'f fud n' household stuff. we bought some costco sushi to eat 4 dinner.
upes, by "2day" i meant "yesterday"... i mean... when i was talkin' 'bout the bible study... that was aktually yesterday. neway, yesterday, we went to church. then we came home to sort'f clean up the house b4 bible study. ken n' grace came over to give us a desk n' a gift'f 2 cappuccino cups that say "caffe latte." me, cos'f that, i say they're "latte" cups, but kaela sez they're cappuccino cups. eh! either way... i guess, in so i married an ax murderer, mike meyers sez, "hellooo! campbell's cup o' ccino," n' he's holding a cup like these. ken also took 'way the cabinets on the side'f the inside'f our garage. we've been wanting to give them to him since we moved in cos we need the extra space to park both our cars more easily n' he wanted cabinets. right as ken left, 정 목사님 chung moksanim arrived 4 the bible study. other ppl soon also came. bible study was very fun. i was so happy to have ppl over, n' it was just a really good experience in general.
after bible study, after cleaning up, kaela n' i watched 축재 (chookjae, english name: "the festival.") on kbit, ch 28. chookjae's an earlier film by 임권택 im kwontaek, the guy who made the famous movie choonghyangdyuhn. it was sort'f depressing, yet beautiful, somewhat deep, n' educational 'bout more traditional korean culture, all that confucianist n' buddhist stuff.
on fri nite, i took kaela to turmerik, a fancy or "upscale" indian restaurant on s. murphy in historic, downtown sunnyvale, an area that reminds me'f a mix'f stanfurd's university ave n' san rafael's historic downtown... in a good way... 4 the most part. it's a nice, quaint area. there r several clubs n' bars, but hrm... personally, i don't think it's as happening'f a place as either santana row or downtown san jo... like, it cms a li'l 2 much like a place that engineers that immigrated to the silly valley from other parts'f amerika would've hung out in back in the late 90s tech boom cos they didn't know where else to go. i can imagine that. however, my saying that doesn't make it sound as nice as it really is.
1023p: honestly, 2day, i felt a li'l groggy. i dunno why. it's not like we drank alkohol last nite or nething. *shrug* neway, i went to werk. oh yah, on my way out'f the driveway, i noticed that the garbagemen refused to pick up our recyclables... or aktually, they rejekted some'f our recyclables; they did take some. they left a note that explained that we can't just mix everything 2gether n' that we gotta cut up cardboard boxes down to under 3' by 3'. yah, i knew it'd come to this. neway, i came home to eat lunch. the ppl from people's furniture had dropped off our new dining table. we returned our old 1 cos'f a crack in the wood. they took it away from us on fri, n' they dropped off the new 1 2day. that was pretty bad timing cos we really could've used it yesterday. oh yah, we were really excited 'bout cooking dinner 4 the bible study on sun. we made 해물파전, 조랭이 떡볶이, 매운 닭구이, 군 만두... (haemool pajuhn, joraengi dduhkbokki, maeoon dalkgooi, goon mandoo... it was fun. even if u know what dduhkbokki is, u very likely don't know what joraengi dduhk is. i saw it @ hangook market, n' thought that it was just cute dduhk, but some ppl from the bible study who'r more recently from korea knew that joraengi dduhk is a kind'f dduhk from a specific region, n' it's aktually 4 joraengi dduhkgook (soup). well, i had some dduhkbokki leftovers 4 lunch. after werk, i went to the gym @ hamilton n' meridian. i tried to do more weightlifting. man, i haven't done 'nuff cardio lately. i ought to do more.
2nite, 4 dinner, kaela n' i cooked some pasta (fettucini) w/ spam lite, asparagus, zucchini, onion... just a big mix'f stuff, u know? it's hard to keep the kitchen clean, but i try.
late, late morn; almost lunchtime: 2day's wed. hrm, now it feels like this week's moving a bit faster. yesterday, some'f my cowerkers sed it felt more like thurs or fri than tues. *shrug* i didn't think so; yesterday, it felt like a totally normal tues. *shrug* the only thing 'bout this week's that last week was our 1st week back after the winter holiday break. how's life been? schroedinger: thanks 4 signing my gbook. i hadn't heard from u in a while... n' u could say, "likewise" cos i did take a bit'f a break/hiatus. i'd like ppl to sign my gbook, but maybe that presidential elektion question's 2 serious, huh? i noticed that schroedinger cms to like the green party, n' i think they're fine. i didn't list ne green party candidates on that question; i know. what i still resent 'bout the green party right now's that they create a distraktion that lets the evil republikans win elektions that they don't deserve to win. ralph nader's sister was my anthropology professor @ berkeley. she referred to herself in the 3rd person when referencing her own writings in her lektures. some profs do that. in fakt, in some cultures, it's perfektly acceptable 4 a person'f higher rank to refer to himself/herself in the 3rd person. neway, back to the presidential elektion q: maybe i'll add a "abb" option -- "anyone but bush."
[later] ~lunchtime: in general, life's been pretty good, as i've been saying in my recent journal entries. this morn, i got a li'l bummed out cos i heard from some1 that my chances'f getting into a particular program @ my company rn't so good cos they're s'pposedly not recruiting @ sjsu. i reminded them that i got my bsme from berkeley n' hope that'll keep me in the running; but i dunno. i still hope to land a permanent position @ my current company, but this makes me more motivated to look elsewhere, n' i shall. i was so happy @ the end'f last week that i can now raise my gpa on my current résumé! i'm very happy 'bout my grades from last semester but'm now just nervous 'bout the upcoming semester.
i heard that kodak's now discontinuing u.s. sales'f film cameras. isn't that interesting? every1's switching over to digital pix instead'f film. here's the y! news article: "kodak to stop selling traditional cameras in u.s." oh, the article aktually just sez they're gonna stop selling traditional film cameras. they're gonna keep selling disposable film cameras... n' maybe some others... however, they're definitely focusing more on digicams. hey, whadya think: is it cheaper to print out ur own digipics on a printer @ home or to have them printed @ a foto place or costco? digifoto paper has gotten pretty cheap, but inkjet cartridges r still expen$ive. this past weekend i printed out lots'f digipics cos i realised we need to fill up foto frames 'round the house. we have lots'f those flip frames, which r sort'f like foto albums. i have yet to move over my ol' foto albums from my mom's house. while browsing thru the digipics from the past few yrs, i worried that i look dorky in all these pics. i thought i looked better than that. i almost felt like making a new yr's resolution not to take nemore goofy shots. 1'f our good friends made that resolution a few yrs 'go. don't i have ne pics that make me look more dignified n' studly? heh... well, i guess i look somewhat dignified in our wedding pics... but i didn't wanna have just wedding pics in the frames 'round the house. "the picture you see is no portrait of me." that's from a new order song, right? it's a song from their technique cd/album, right? while browsing thru those digipics from recent yrs, i also wondered if i look older nowadays. some ppl say that men look better as they mature. i worry that that's not true; but i do! aktually believe that many women look better as they mature. sure, a "cute gurl"'s "cute," but a good.looking, somewhat mature woman can be more "sexy," right? ha ha, now it sounds like i have some kind'f sr citizen fetish or sumpthin'... ha ha, but i don't! [later] 836p: 'member back when i werked @ ebmud? there was this dude named jeff sumpthin' sumpthin', this big, ultra politikally conservative fellow. he had 2 favourite sayings: "what's better good, ol' p@$$% or ol', good p@$$%" n' "there's nuthin' better than middle.aged women... cos they know what to do!" yah, those r pretty vulgar sayings, but they're his not mine. neway, yrs later, when i told the beautiful kaela hwang 'bout this dude's "middle.aged women" quote, she sed he just sed stuff like that to make himself feel better, since he's middle.aged n' his wife's middle.aged, etc. eh, i dunno. there's nuthin' like 28 yr.old men... cos they know what to do! hrm... that just doesn't sound very appealing in ne kind'f heterosexual way, huh?
neway, 'nuff'f that stoopid nonsense talk! this morn, i was really bummed 'bout that whole "not recruiting from sjsu" deal. life's pretty good these days; but yah, i'd love to know that i'll have guaranteed employment in the future... since i've now experienced real unemployment. the idea'f unemployment's scary. however, i went to the bathroom, sat on the can, n' prayed, n' realised the whole "daily bread" concept. god provides 4 us day by day, n' i don't need to demand that i have everything i need 4 the rest'f my life. i can only ask that i have what i need to get thru 2day. in ne case, i've been blessed w/ a good edukation, good experience... i can feel somewhat secure that i'll be employable whenever the time comes 4 me to find 'nother job, etc.
[later] 1101p: after werk, kaela n' i went to costco to buy some shampoo cos they have some coupon that gives u a free conditioner w/ the purchase'f shampoo. since my hair's relatively short, i don't really use conditioner. we bought a costco rotisserie chicken n' some salad 4 dinner.
it's really frustrating that none'f our 3 'puters really function w/o some probs. right now, my home 'puter is totally nonfunctional. our laptop crashes on me all the time. kaela's home 'puter? she doesn't use it much cos she uses the laptop. i guess it's the healthiest'f the 3, but it still has some probs. :-( i dunno what to do 'bout this situation. i can't get to ne'f the files on my home 'puter. this laptop has matlab, n' i really need to use matlab 4 my master's projekt n' other skoolstuff. *sigh* i am scared cos i really need to have a healthy 'puter 4 my skoolstuff. :-(
934p: sorry 4 the lack'f updates. we went snowboarding 2day @ dodge ridge. yesterday, i had bad fud poisoning. :-( do u know where 2day's title's from? it's from the simpsons, episode 9f11, entitled "selma's choice. in that great episode, homer eats some really old, giant hoagie, the leftover of a 10.ft hoagie from his company picnic. obviously, he can't finish it all off in 1 sitting, so he werks @ it 4 a week n' gets fud poisoning. 'round 343a yesterday, in the middle'f the nite, i felt like homer. well, no... when i woke up n' got ready 4 werk, i felt like homer. homer was insisting on taking his kids to the (fiktitious) theme park duff gardens (a slight parody on busch gardens) but then faints cos'f his illness. i was shivering like homer yesterday morn but went to werk where i continued to shiver but werk hard as the dedicated werker i am.
thurs nite, i had 'nother fun taekwondo sparring practice. i dunno why, but sparring practices really feel good to me lately. i'm not as excited 'bout olympic style taekwondo sparring as i used to be, nor am i usually as excited 'bout it as most'f my taekwondo friends. i mean, that's only cos lately i've been more into demo taekwondo, traditional taekwondo, n' like self.defense kind'f stuff. however, lately, thurs nite taekwondo sparring classes have gotten me pretty pumped up. perhaps 1 big reason that i'm enjoying it is that many more black belts have been showing up 4 sparring practice these days. it's so much fun. however... :-( my sjsu msme classes start in a coupl'f weeks on jan 29. after that, i can't go to tues or thurs taekwondo class. :-( :-( :-( i'm going to be very sad cos i have never gone more than like a month w/o doing taekwondo. i dunno what i'll do, but we'll hopefully find a way to do some taekwondo on some alternate day, maybe on the weekends. we'll c.
yesterday, after werk, i came home to go right to sleep. well,
aktually, when i got home kaela was talking to our neighbours. oh,
thru.out the day, my stomach got better. i shivered 'lot, but i
didn't eat, n' i started to feel a li'l better. then the beautiful
kaela
hwang brought me a taro milkshake taro
drink. her cowerker had given it to her. i dunno why, but
her cowerker tends to give her stuff 4 her n' me to eat... n' i guess
drink. yah, it was a tasty drink; but after i drank it, my stomach
started to hurt 'gain, so when i got home, i just wanted to sleep.
i stayed awake n' watched tv tho'. later, peter park (bronx'f the
world famous bronx's
junkyard stopped by to chat w/ us.
941p: as i sed yesterday; yesterday, gordon, the beautiful kaela hwang, n' i went to dodge ridge. 4 each'f us, 'twas the 1st time. how was it? well, lemme tell u: dodge ridge is sort'f a bargain resort. i've toldju b4, snowboarding, 4 kaela n' me, is not some ritzy, snobby, upperkrusty leisure aktivity: it's much more'f an aktive, athletic sport. we go snowboarding, not to lounge 'round the lodge n' drink brewskies w/ our ol' prep skool buddies whom we've gotta catch up w/ as we went to diff ivy league universities, etc. we make lots'f daytrips to tahoe cos it's cheap, effektive, n' gets the job done. sure, 1 can argue we ought to have a cheaper hobby, but well... we do what we can to make it a cheaper hobby. in ne case, u need to know that dodge ridge is not in tahoe. dodge ridge boasts that it is "the closest snow" to the bay area, as it is 160 miles 'way from sfo aeroport, situated a li'l north'f yosemite or sumpthin'. to get there from the silly valley, 1'd take 680n, 580e, 205e, 120e, n' 108e. that route takes u past pleasanton, tracy, manteca, n' oakdale. dodge ridge's in pinecrest, ca. dodge ridge is located in the stanislaus state forest; it's some kind'f more state.run ski/snowboarding park. it's definitely a "no frills" kind'f place. u know... i'm totally not a republikan n' thus some ppl'd say i'm prob'ly more 4 gov't run stuff as they'd assume i'm a total kommuniste or sumpthin'. whatever. i do appreciate a gov't that does more 4 its ppl instead'f just letting the rich get richer n' the poor get poorer, yet i do find it kind'f humourous that dodge ridge is this sort'f state.run snow resort, n' it's totally a "no frills" place. back in the cold war days, ppl prob'ly would've joked that this is what a kommuniste snow resort'd be like. eh. do u know what boreal mountain playgroud right on the side'f i.80 on the top'f donner peak in tahoe is like? do u know what mountain high "sourthern california's closest winter resort"'s like? [later, midnite 2004.01.19] they're both pretty "no frills" places, where... well, it's not the best snow. it's not the nicest amenities. it's not the best variety'f terrain... but well, u get to ride the snow. dodge ridge fits in this category. 1 funny thing i noticed is that the site boasts how it's closer than tahoe: it sez dodge ridge's 160 miles from sfo, while kirkwood's a whole 161 miles from sfo. >X-D ha ha ha! 1 whole mile closer! the thing is: 1) the roads to tahoe have more lanes thus easier traffik since local yokels tend to drive slow as if purposely to frustrate ppl who bring $$$ to their local ekonomy by coming to snowboard/ski, n' 2) the snow in tahoe is worlds better. i had a great time @ dodge ridge, but tahoe snow is much, much, much better! the fud @ dodge ridge is a teensy bit cheaper but has no variety. that day, kaela n' i shared a chili dog n' "way nachos." "way" 'pparently's like "supreme," u know? these "no frills" resorts aktually r pretty good 'bout catering to snowboarders cos they build relatively nice snow parks n' freestyle terrain. that's kewl. u c, snobby skiers r more into the downhill stuff, not the terrain parks, so these dinky li'l resorts know what to do 'least to find some favour 'mongst boarders.
on our way back, we stopped in tracy n' ate pho.
on sun, kaela n' i went to church, then ikea, n' then to amc mercado 20
to watch cold mountain. later, @ home, we watched a movie
called aje aje bara aje on ktvn/kbit ch 28, a movie 'bout buddhist nuns.
오후 704: 지금 사무실에 아직도 있어요. 예, 요즘 아직도 바빠요. 학교에 되돌아기를 좀 걱정해요. 1월29일에 학교 계속해요. 반학년 하나만도 있어지 만 걱정해요. 예, 사실은 그냥 기도 하기 필요해요. 그래요.
어제 오후에 영화 cold mountain을 봤어요. 아름다운
캐이라 황랑 제가 영화를 봤어요. 좋은 영화 었어요. 좀
놀랐어요. 이런 미국
남북전쟁의 영화를 싫어할것 같았어지만 좋아했어요. 이야기가
좋아요.
오후: 모래가 음력설날예요. 어제가 아람다운 캐이라 황와 저의 6번째 monthversary. 6개월동안 결혼 했고 있었어요. 어제밤에 캐이라가 큰 저녁식을 만들었어요. 어떤 동양식사요. 특별한 씬가포어의 오댕 국수 국을 만드렀어요. 많이 맛있어죠. 오늘 오후에 그 남은식사를 점심으로 먹었어요. 캐이라가 다른것도를 만들었어요. 어떤 중국식 야채 생선 하고 어떤 시금치와 버섯을 만들었어요. 다 맛있어요.
이주말에 스노보딩 갈까요? 응, 제가 모르겠지만 많이 가고 싶어요. 갑시다! 아이이이~~~! 다음주에 학교가 다시 시작해요! :-o 아아아아~~~! 저 어떻께해요?! 다음 다음 월에 fahad의 교혼식 있잖아요. 정말 이것으로 아무것도를 안했고 많이 해아되요. 저 bestman 이잖아요. 많은 걸 해야 되요.
앗! 정말 저 요즘 매일 기도 해요되요. 매년 요즘 사업에 대단히
바빠같아요. 아마 크리스마스와 설날 곧 긑났기 때문에요. 잘
몰라요. 요즘 너무 많이 먹고 너무 우동 안하죠.
오후: 오늘 월요일예요. 어떠세요? 전 괜찮아요. 오, 금요일 직장에 좋은 소식을 좀 들렸어요. 제 원하는 인터뷰를 받알게요. 희망 있어요. 이걸 들때 너무 행복하고 고마워요. 3월5일에 인터뷰 있겠어요. 준비해야되요.
토요일 아름다운 캐이라 황 같이 아침: 오늘 손님 어떠세요? 전 괜찮아요. 오, 학교가
목요일에 게속하겠어요. 오, 좀 걱정해요. 오늘 화요일예요.
이 주말에 스노보딩 안가같아요. 토요일 아빠 같이 어떤 대만
춤의공연을 가보겠기 대문에요.
오후: 손님 시간 있을때 제 방명록 좀 사인 해주세요. :-)
evening: darren (idigu), thanks 4 signing my gbook. yes, every1: please sign my gbook when u can. i know i haven't been good
'bout translating the korean text in my journal lately. sorry.
it's not like there'r things i wanna hide or nething. i'm
just writing in korean... just cos. 그냥 대문에요. well,
where did i leave off in english? uhm, i talked 'bout the movie
cold mountain. i liked the story. even tho' i don't
get so excited by the civil war etc., i liked the story. lessee...
what else? well, lately i'm just sort'f nervous cos skool resumes
on thurs eve. this past sat, we went snowboarding @ sugar bowl.
i spent fri nite waxing n' tuning our boards. on sun, we
went to church. it was fun. then we went to valley fair.
we have some gift card credit to spend. it's not like we've
got 'lot'f ca$h to throw 'round these days, but i guess it's nice to buy a
few things w/ the gift card, u know? then on sun nite, we went w/
chuck n' julie to watch a midsummer night's dream @ the san
josé rep theatre. it was quite an interesting play.
afterwards, we had some drinks n' snacks @ e&o trading.
last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to the gym. btw, if u
haven't checked out kaela's website in a while, u should go c how she's
remodeled it. i guess she's still werkin' on it, so check back
'least now n' then. i really need to redo my website!
:-(
2nite, we'll go to taekwondo. after 2nite, i won't be able to go
to taekwondo 4 a long time cos'f my class. :-(
i have not watched the movie lost in translation.
i worried that it'd be yet 'nother movie that uses an asian country as a
backdrop, saying that asian culture is so weird n' backwards, etc.
i hear the movie's s'pposed to be pretty good cos it got lots'f award
nominations. well, out'f these award nominated movies, i 1st wanna
c lotr3. 1017p: check out this article, when u have time: "coming soon - tap water with a different taste" on y! news. the article discusses how sfpud next week'll start using chloramine instead'f chlorine to clean their water. i don't get it. we were using chloramine @ ebmud a long time 'go! *shrug*
2morrow skool resumes. 2nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i met up w/ my classmate friends dave n' brian n' brian's friend janey @ joy luck place's noodle n' jook joint 4 dinner. wow, joy luck place's preserved egg n' salted pork jook's really good! the fud's a li'l more expen$ive there than @ shk (sun hong kong) in berkeley, but the fud's better, i think. afterwards, we went to fantasia to get some boba drinks. last nite, after my last tues nite'f taekwondo 4 the semester, kaela n' i got boba drinks there. *sigh* <:-( i'm so sad that i can't go to taekwondo on tues n' thurs nites this semester. :-( i hope to get some'f the other u.s. taekwondo academy students 2gether on some other nite'f the week 4 some kind'f praktice. so what's up? 1 thing i 4got translate out'f korean into english was how i've got my interview 4 1'f the permanent positions @ my company coming up on march 5. it's the position i really want. man, i really need this job. i gotta get myself ready 4 the interview. it's on the day b4 fahad's wedding.
i can't believe skool starts 'gain 2morrow. yah, it was a long winter break. man, i really got used to it. <:-/
dude, u should check out this deal: sipix digicam free after rebate
hrm, sometime, we gotta go grocery shopping. this weekend, a whole bunch'f my ol' hi skool friends r going to tahoe on sat. kaela n' i rn't going. 'nother thing i didn't translate from korean into english is that, on sat, kaela n' i r going w/ my dad to watch some taiwanese dance per4mance. yah, so no tahoe 4 us. i'm a bit disappointed that i won't be able to go w/ all my ol' hi skool friends, but well... neway, we don't have as much'f a budget 4 snowboarding this season... however!!! lift tix r much cheaper this yr cos'f lots'f good deals! $39 @ sugar bowl via safeway, $39 @ alpine meadows every day, $35 @ dodge ridge via save mart, $36 @ boreal... aktually, boreal always has $10 fri 4 students; isn't that crazy?! i never 1nce got to take advantage'f that deal, n' i can't now cos i'm werking n' can't take fris off. heavenly tix r $52 instead'f $64 via albertson. kirkwood tix r cheaper thru costco. i think a 4.pack'f diamond peak tix @ costco comes out to $29/tic. there's lots'f good deals.
there's this korean aktor that kaela n' i c all the time on korean tv that looks like jerome. i never catch his name, but he really looks like jerome w/ glasses on, n' he speaks in korean like jerome. thurs morn:
i can't believe it's already the last few days'f january. i
don't even know who's playing in the superbowl: new england? carolina?
[later] there's this tasty nugget, scooby snack, doggy treat beef jerky
that i gotta get from costco. when we went to dodge ridge, gordon
brought them, n' he reminded me that ryan had brought them w/ us on our
tahoe fishing trip last summer.
[later] afternoon: as far as popular amerikan musik, what's hot these
days? i like outkast's "hey ya" n' no doubt's "it's my life."
[later] evening: think 'bout how stephan pak always used to boast 'bout
being a no doubt fan down in tustin (orange
county) way b4 they were popular. where's linkin park from?
*shrug*
well, i'm gonna be going to skool soon. *sigh* it feels so
weird. i haven't been to skool in uh... over a month! i've
adjusted to life as just a werking guy w/o skool... however, now it's time
to convert back to full.on combat mode: skool + werk, etc. student
+ werking dude + homeowner + husband ... heh... oh well, 2morrow's fri!
ha, can u believe it?
[later] 1149p: i went to skool. b4 my class, i got a bk veggie
burger meal @ the burger king on campus. class was pretty good, but
2day was totally just an intro. after class, i went to the gym n'
werked out. then i came home. kaela had cooked spam curry.
even tho' i wasn't very hungry, i ate plenty cos it was good. :-) 1235a: right now, i'm sort'f watching jay leno's tonite show.
honestly, i like jay leno's philosophies the least out'f all late nite talk show hosts. i think both david letterman n' conan o'brien, in general, have better views or whatever. 2day's the last day'f the 1st month'f 2004.
yesterday, (which feels like 2day @ this pt), i had my 1st session'f my masters projekt class. man, that really makes me nervous that i've gotta wrap up my projekt in the next coupl'f months n' then graduate. i also have my "advanced control systems design" class, u know. these days, i go to werk, then come home 4 lunch, n' go back to werk. my lunchtime might vary a li'l. i like coming home during my break, so i can check up on the house, etc. i dunno; now that i own a house; yah, i am sort'f protektive'f it, etc. of course, i wish i had more time to pull weeds, etc. neway, 2day, i went to my class; n', in the evening, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i watched lotr3: the return'f da king @ amc mercado 20. yah, it was a pretty good movie; but i felt the ending kind'f dragged on. *shrug* i guess i'm just not as much'f a lotr fan as some other ppl. i did enjoy the movie tho'. every1 does, right? funny: we watched the movie 4 free cos my boss gave me 2 free movie tix 4 christmas. then, cos we used our amc moviewatchers card, we got a free jumbo popcorn n' soda. wow, that was fun. we had lots'f popcorn n' cherry coke. "chicka cherry cola..." is that what savage garden sings in "i want you"? i liked that song waaay b4 it was popular! heh heh, that's always fun to say, right? well, the movie started @ 605p n' let out @ 'round 930p. after the movie, we ate dinner @ the mexicali grill right there. kaela had these good mole rojo enchiladas; n', cos i really needed to eat some veggie, i had the pollo tostada. since i don't wanna get fat, i didn't eat ne'f the shell. u do know how bad those tostada salad bowls r, right? so the elf dude is agent smith! ha ha ha... i kept waiting 4 him to say, "mr. annnderson...." after dinner, we went to albertson to use this $10 off $50 coupon i got in the mail when we moved.
in the silly valley, we have lots'f expressways (expwys). they rn't freeways, but they're not ur typikal local streets like avenues, boulevards, roads, etc. they have less stoplites n' sometimes have exits instead'f intersektions. the speed limits r usually 45 mph if not maybe 50 mph. there rn't usually many houses on expressways. they usually have @ 'least 2 lanes on each side. some'f our important expwys r: almaden expwy, lawrence expwy, san tomas expwy, montague expwy, capitol expwy, central expwy... there r some other less important 1s like southwest expwy. my dad taught me to drive freeways by taking me down central expwy near sunnyvale, where it's more like a freeway. we didn't live newhere near central expwy, but he always researched good streets to take me to to practice driving. sometimes i'd ride in the car or drive on san tomas expwy @ nite n' pass streets like homestead, stevens creek blvd, n' el camino real. back then, i lived far 'way from these streets, but now we live pretty close to them. back in the 1980s n' early 1990s, when i drove/rode past stevens creek blvd on san tomas expwy, it didn't look like such a happening place; but sometime in the past decade, that intersektion received a jumbo barnes & nobles; so it's much more lit up @ nite, u know? i don't mean to say that the existence'f a barnes & nobles indicates cosmopolita or nething. u know i'm always trying to tell u how office space could never happen in the silly valley cos that setting was waaay more'f a "typikal amerikan suburb" w/ the addition'f a few hi.tech companies, a place more like pleasanton, u know? neway, just think how the silly valley area's changed in the past decade. really, santana row's a big development. neway, these days, it cms like stevens creek blvd's pretty happenin' w/ santana row, valley fair, n' lots'f other biznesses as it goes from san jo to santa clara to cupertino. it is santa clara 4 a bit, right? it doesn't just go from san jo to cupertino... or does it? neway, the intersektion'f stevens creek blvd n' san tomas expwy sort'f stands out as an intersektion'f 2 important silly valley streets. if u turn north on to san tomas from stevens creek blvd n' drive a bit, u'll hit the famous el camino real. back in the 1980s n' decades b4 that, el camino (i think) was sort'f famous 4 cruising. i guess that meant lots'f kids in low riders'd cruise that strip. i believe there r still some signs that designate the street as a "no crusing zone" as a result'f that. nowadays, it's just packed w/ lots'f asian biznesses, as i've sed many times b4; mostly korean n' indian. personally, i feel that el camino real is sort'f boring east'f san tomas expwy. when u go east on el camino real away from san tomas expwy, u'll go past the scott blvd, where my office is (just a li'l north) n' then pass santa clara university, after which el camino real sort'f turns into the alameda. to me, the interesting stuff is wet'f san tomas expwy on el camino real. on el camino real, from san tomas expwy to 'round wolfe rd, there's tons'f kewl stuff. after that, 1nce u get deeper into sunnyvale n' then palo alto, it's still kewl. i like el camino real. neway, cos el camino real gets better after san tomas (going west) as opposed to what it's like east'f san tomas, i say, "life begins @ san tomas."
if u know 'bout silly valley geography, ponder this: camden ave starts in almaden valley. leland hi skool's on camden ave in upperkrusty almaden valley. if u drive away from almaden valley on camden ave, u'll pass hillsdale ave, where there's a target n' a 24 hr fitness. then u'll pass union ave, where there's a carl's jr, where there used to be a dunkin' donuts, n' where there'r a coupl'f strip malls: 1 old, 1 new. then u'll pass bacom ave., where i used to hang out as a hi skool kid after i got my driver licnse. right by the intersektion'f bascom n' camden, u've got guitar showcase, a place i went to 4 the guitars n' 4 the dj equipment. when u go just a li'l further, u hit hwy 17, which can take u south to santa cruz or else north, where it turns into 880, onto oakland/berkeley. after u pass hwy 17, camden ave soon turns into san tomas expwy. san tomas expwy takes u from more'f the suburbs deeper into the heart'f silicon valley. as i sed, u'll pass important streets like stevens creek blvd, homestead rd, n' el camino real. after passing the major bizness road el camino real, u'll soon pass some industrial, hi.tech office space n' soon hit hwy 101. u can take hwy 101 south down to los angeles or north up to san francisco. of course, sf'd be the much closer destination from this pt. a bit after u pass hwy 101, san tomas expwy turns into montague expwy; n' u'll find urself right smack in the middle'f the heart'f silicon valley. u'll pass offices 4 companies like agilent teknologies (sort'f a competitor to my company, i guess), sun microsystems, n' cisco. u'll pass the much talked 'bout, new rivermark neighbourhood: the heart'f silly valley's famous testament to new urbanism. the rivermark has townhomes in a variety'f sizes n' kind'f megastripmall down in a much more tasteful fashion than they do it in those regions that promote suburban sprawl. u know what i mean by "suburban sprawl," right? i'm, of course, talkin' 'bout the segment'f amerikan culture that believes that, since amerikans own cars, we might as well live far 'way from the hustle n' bustle'f the city, out where land is cheap n' then make lots'f jumbo strip malls w/ big parking lots n' big, big lit up signs telling every1 that u've got all the major "big box" stores, all the popular family restaurants (where the servers must wear 31 pieces'f "flair" each [office space allusion], n' the most recent fast fud franchises (such as quizno's, cold stone creamery, etc.). i guess most'f amerika subscribes to "suburban sprawl," eh? well, the silly valley's quickly growing to rejekt it n' is quickly adopting new urbanism: the idea that it's ok if we don't each own our own ranch but instead own a decent home that's near places hip ppl hang out, etc. neway, after u pass the rivermark n' go deeper into milpitas, u'll pass 880 (u've already passed 880's former self, aka hwy 17) n' the great mall (the outlet mall, sumpthin' like ontario mills). then u'll pass 680. 680's an interesting freeway cos it's also known as 280 1nce u pass the intersektion'f 680/280 n' 101. also, @ that pt, ur direktion'll flip. u'll go south on 280s, cross 101, n' then be driving on 680n. do u understand why this happens? if u know nething 'bout the shape'f the san francisco bay, then u'll be able to figure this out. u c, 280 connekts sf to san jo, if u'r driving south on it. then it aktually turns to follow the contour'f the sobay (south bay) n' travels in a more easterly direktion. then it crosses 101 n' turns 'gain to follow the sobay's contour n' heads north to pass towns like fremont, pleasanton, concord, n' cordelia, where it merges in w/ hwy 80 to bring u to sac(ramento) n' more importantly lake tahoe!!!! woooooo! tahoe! :-) neway, 1nce u drive on montague pass 680, the road'll turn into landess avenue. u'll pass kaela's office, where u should go to buy or sell ur home w/ her, n' then drive right into the eastside hills. if u know silly valley geography as well as silly valley sociology, then u'll have a much greater appreciation'f my discussion 2day. by driving on this 1 single rd, u've gone a very long distance. w/o making a single turn, u've gone thru such a variety'f neighbourhoods. almaden valley is quite a bit diff from northeast san jo. someday, u should check out y! maps n' c 4 urself how interesting this whole camden ave, san tomas expwy, montague expwy, landess ave deal is. it's much more interesting than u think. u just think u know everything, eh? well, shoot! u didn't know how interesting what i sed is, but later u will!
if u don't understand the silly valley 2 well but 'least understand cali4nia sociology to some extent, then u'll realise the significance'f how i mentioned certain hwys: 101, 680, 280, 880, 80... u should notice that i didn't call them "the 101," "the 680," "the 280," "the 880," "the 80"... however, unlike some norcal folk, i'm totally tolerant'f socal transplants' appelation'f our freeways as the this n' that... that's totally kewl by me. in fakt, it's almost flattering! X-D u c, socal has such a better freeway system than norcal. if a socal person refers to hwy 880 as "the 880," it makes me feel like they're more accepting that freeway as a real freeway... n' well... that really means sumpthin' to me. u know? it's like if i tried to bake french bread, n' a french person tasted it n' sed that my bread was as good as baguettes he/she ate in france. well, shoot! i certainly don't expekt him/her to say it's better than baguettes from france, thus 4 him/her to acknowledge my bread like that'd be such an honour, right? neway, let it be known that norcal'll always accept socal transplants... 'specially'f they're those much talked 'bout "hot socal women"!!! ha ha ha. >X-D i dunno; that's just 1'f those blaison populaires that develop @ uc berkeley where norcalers n' socalers come 2gether, u know? guys get 'round to saying that socal gurls r pretty good looking, in general, etc. however, shoot, that's all sort'f a generalisation n' all, of course. i don't mean to diss norcal women... heh, but i got myself a hot socal woman! ha ha ha. so if she ever calls it "the 880," i'll be fine w/ it. however, i dunno if i ever heard her say that, but i know jerome used to say it now n' then.
the show that the jerome.look.alike aktor was on is 3층집 사람들 (the 3.story house ppl) n' is known in english as happy tenants thanks to the arirang tv netwerk, which teaches english to koreans in korea n' korean to native english speakers wherever. if u buy a satellite dish from ken, u'll get to watch it all the time. someday, i'll pick up my ol' satellite dish from my mom's house n' hook it up. it still werks, i just gotta get it someday when i've got more ca$h to pay 4 service, u know? heh.
i'm confused: what is the notrious msg?!?!? i know darren (idigu) cms to like them, but i dunno what they r.
btw, (it's 236a now.) if u don't know what "blason populaire" means, u do need to find out by ne means necessary cos u should know the basics'f folklore studies, u know? it's just 1'f ur responsibilities as a human being. 1000p: 월요일예요. it's mon. what's up? i went to werk 2day. i came home to eat some odds n' ends 4 lunch. after werk, i went to the gym. in a couple'f day's the date'll be 2004.02.04. that'll be lots'f 2s, 0s, n' 4s. later, the date'll be 2004.04.04, or "04.04.04." crazy, huh?
on sat, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i did not go snowboarding. 'member? i sed we weren't gonna. as i sed, on fri nite, we went to watch lotr3: return'f da king n' to eat dinner @ the mexicali grill, etc. sat morn, we woke up n' went to the palmer chiropractic college open house cos kaela likes that kind'f stuff, u know? 'member: i went to palmer chiropractic college's clinic this summer 4 chiropractic treatment from my friend brian cheung's cousin clayton wu. i only had to pay $5 a visit, as opposed to the typikal like $60~100+ a visit that ppl usually pay 4 chiropractic visits. the open house gave us lots'f free fud. i ate 2 much. u know, when i was a kid, i took a field trip to palmer chiropractic college n' looked @ cadavers. i've toldju this story b4. it was back when i was in this program called lyceum. hrm, i wonder if they have a website, then i can better explain to u what lyceum was. here u r: http://www.lyceum-scv.org/public_html/index.htm it's an interesting program. u should check out the link n' read 'bout it. neway, yah, as a kid i saw cadavers there. on sat, i saw cadavers. luckily, when i went 4 chiropractic treatment back this summer, they didn't make me look @ cadavers. ha ha. neway, cadavers don't totally gross me out; they don't scare me or nething. however, they make me not wanna eat meat! i don't like cadavers. neway... after the open house, we went to tri.city sporting goods store to return these glove liners that kaela bought back b4 our 1st snowtrip'f the season. tri.city's having their famous 30% off sale right now. as u know, i say that tri.city's the best place to buy snowboards n' ski equipment. i don't hang out much w/ ppl who buy ski equipment, but yah... i've taken many friends to tri.city to buy snowboards. it's really a good store!
4 dinner, we met up w/ my dad n' sue @ 금봉황 geumbonghwang, aka china
china, 4 buffet. their buffet's pretty good; but i noticed that their nigiri sushi fish slices have gotten thinner. the 1st time kaela n' i ate buffet there, it was their grand opening, n' they were very generous w/ their raw fish. after dinner, we went to the taiwanese cultural center in sunnyvale somewhere 'round 237 n' 101 off lawrence to watch some taiwanese dance per4mance. hrm, it wasn't what i expekted... or well, i should've expekted sumpthin' like this... but... well, i don't think the group was that professional, but they did a variety'f dancing. 1st off they did a bit'f that pop muzik, back up dancer type stuff... u know... like when u c baby v.o.x. videos, etc? neway, the 2nd song they used was a mandarin version'f 이정현의 "미쳐" (lee junghyun's "michyuh"). if u don't know, that song's the ringtone that i programmed into my fon. it was featured in benomix4집. kaela get's annoyed w/ these mandarin cover versions'f korean songs; but personally, i think imitation's the sincerest form'f flattery. @ the cupertino village fantasia, we hear lots'f mandarin versions'f korean songs. yah, it's funny: in taiwan, they cm to watch lots'f korean dramas translated into mandarin n' listen to korean gayo pop muzik translated into manadarin. kaela doesn't like it cos she sez these taiwanese young ppl should just learn korean. :-/ well... yah... i did... but i wouldn't say that every1 who doesn't sucks or nething... yah, it's been interesting these past few yrs to c lots'f taiwanese/chinese ppl get so into korean stuff. u know there's this ol' 1980s alphaville song called "big in japan." it some song 'bout how u know u'r popular n' famous if u make it big in japan, u know? well, u know what? i think aktually, u know u'r all that if u make it in taiwan more than in japan. *shrug* sun, we went to church. after church, we went to fry's. it'd be ages since i stepped fut or foot inside a fry's cos i just don't feel i have $$$ to $pend on stuff 4 myself these days, u know? after fry's, we went to valley fair. 4 dinner, since i was just 2 tired to think 'bout cooking, we used kaela's free $7 rubio's card to get us some tacos. every1 know their fish tacos r good (altho' the fried fish tacos @ the valley fair location rn't as good as the 1s i've had @ the el cerrito location), but they now have these carnitas street tacos that r really good!!! after dinner, we went to target @ sunnyvale town centre.
tues morn: this y! news article "Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S." sez, "After years of trailing Japan and Western Europe, where cell phones have long had color screens, e-mail, music, video games, cameras and other accessories that make American cell phones look backward in comparison, handset makers are finally pushing a new generation of units on the domestic market that offer the full range of functions available elsewhere."
afternoon: yah, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i've been pondering getting new cellfons n' plans. we're still gonna stick w/ verizon cos they have the undisputed best coverage out'f all the providers out there. i think they have some kind'f free, unlimited mobile to mobile deal right now. i've gotta talk to ken. 오후(밤) 1042p: on mon, the big news everywhere was that janet jackson showed her breast @ the superbowl 0.5time show. i guess justin timberlake ripped off her top or sumpthin', n' the costume didn't have nething under or sumpthin'? i haven't cn the uncensored footage n' have only cn the newsclip over n' over while @ the gym, where i can't hear the audio. s'pposedly, ppl r complaining that there's 2 much filth on tv etc. cos'f that. me, i'm a total berkeley liberal, right? however, i aktually agree: yah, there's 2 much filth on tv these days. i just feel there's lots'f trash, like ppl on tv shows r really trashy, slutty, perverted, etc.
on mon n' tues nite, the beautiful kaela hwang
n' i watched 눈으로 말해요 (nooneuro malhaeyo) on ch28, as
we always do. i felt really sad after the mon nite episode cos the main male character got dumped by his gf. yah, i felt really bad 4 him. i started 'membering: single ppl really go thru 'lot. me, i'm happy i've found the 1 4 me. i'm very lucky. however, yah... i 'membered now that single ppl go thru can go thru all sorts'f pain n' heartache. also, single ppl can really play w/ each others' feelings/emotions, etc. i really felt 4 this guy, right? then i thought, "how come i never feel so much emotion after watching amerikan tv shows?" u know what i think? i think in amerikan tv shows, like relationships r usually diff from the kind'f relationship i c in korean tv shows. like, 2 often in amerikan tv shows, a guy n' gurl c each other, eye each other 4 a while, exchange flirty pickup lines w/ sexual undertones, eye each other some more, then make out n' have sex. then, a few weeks later, some1 gets dumped when the other gets all horny 4 some1 else. >:-/ u know... some ppl'd say it's all really passionate, that we're all passionate sexual beings w/ needs, so i shouldn't be such a conservative prude n' just accept the whole freelove thing n' accept that ppl have sex w/o deep emotions, etc. >:-/ i don't like watching such shallow relationships. >:-( yah, in korean dramas, often there'll be a couple that r so coy n' shy w/ each other even after months'f going out. yah... true, that's so 1950sish, so leave it to beaverish. furthermore: is that even a good way to have a relationship?! after all, it cms like the couple doesn't really know each other, u know? "where's the passion?!" u say. i dunno... i'm just sick'f how love n' relationships r shown on tv. it's all so cheap, u know? like, on "reality" love shows, it cms like it's pretty mandatory that the ppl make out. i think it's really disgusting, personally. like, reall, when i was single, i would never have kissed a gurl unless i really liked her, u know? to some extent, these ppl just want attention. i mean, shoot... yah, every1 has some amt'f sexuality, but like... they don't always hafta be so nasty, u know? i don't mind when movies n' tv shows have sexual images or sexual situations, etc.; but lots'f what i c on tv isn't very sexual or erotik, just plain trashy!
neway, some amerikans, when they c asian culture'd say that it really is like how 'merika was in the 1950s. ppl r so uptight, guys wear suits, women r more likely to be housewives... as i sed, i'm such a berkeley liberal, but u know what? i think the 1960s aktually gave amerika some bad things. i mean... the 1960s gave amerika lots'f good politiks, i guess. the whole equal rights thing n' racial/gender equality thing r good. however... i think i think there r some bad things that sort'f came out'f the 1960s: drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, sloppy dress habits n' grooming... *shrug* neway... i'm glad the 1960s gave us more like anti.discrimination legislation, etc.
2day, i was very bizzy @ werk. in the afternoon, i had to put on a "bunny suit." i had class 2nite. after class, i went back to my office to werk on some stuff n' wait 4 mark to call me. mark called me, n' i met up w/ the us taekwondo bunch 4 dinner @ 장모집 (jangmojip). it had been so long since i went to a korean hof type place, so i pigged out. :-/ it sucks that i don't get 'nuff exercise, but the fud was just so good. yah, i worry 'bout not getting 'nuff exercise cos i seriously have hi blood pressure! :-( really: i can't eat so much sodium, n' i need more exercise n' less stress! i'm not kidding! listen: i'm very much set on not becoming a career werking man who werks sooo hard to pay off his mortgage n' isn't appreciated @ all by ne1 n' doesn't get ne exercise n' has hi blood pressure n' dies'f a heart attack! i need to get exercise. i need to get more exercise!
please sign my gbook n' tell me how much u like cing nasty, slutty ppl on tv pretend to be so horny just to get attention n' how much u love george dubyah. it's been so long since i put ne pics up on my journal, but i plan to do so sometime soon. 1219a: it's now tues. this weekend, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went snowboarding w/ our friend from church jane. we went to sierra@tahoe. last yr, we had the double whammy season pass that let us go to sierra n' northstar all the time; not this yr. this yr, we're getting more variety. we don't make nearly as many overnite trips as we did back in the heyday, back when $$$ flowed much more freely. yah, back then, i was more willing n' able to spring 4 a hotel/motel room, etc., u know? these days, we mostly make daytrips. however, this past weekend was sort'f diff. we snowboarded 4 only 1 day; but we aktually drove up on fri nite, stayed @ jane's parents' house, n' then hit the slopes, then drove home. on fri nite... well, 1st i had my master's projekt class. that ran late. i came home n' hastily packed. we drove up. we ate in.n.out on the way in pleasanton. it was raining. the burger joint filled up w/ lots'f teenagers. sat morn, we ate some mcyukyuk's sun, we went to church. after church n' bible study, we went to galleria market w/ other church ppl to eat lunch. kaela n' i got some 빈대떡 (bindaedduhk), 오댕 (odaeng), n' 떡볶이 (dduhkbokki) from the vendors outside. afterwards, we bought some 붕어빵 (boonguhbbang). that's a really hi carb diet, u know. it's sooo hip to be lo carb, but i'm still eating hi carb now n' then. after galleria, kaela n' i went to the sunnyvale trader joe's. then we hurried to couples bible study @ 목사님 (moksanim [pastor])'s house. there was also lots'f fud there, n' i feel i really ate 'lot this weekend.
yesterday (which is more like 2day 4 me since it's 1243a)
was a very bizzy day @ werk. i'm really bizzy these days. u know, v.day's coming up. fahad n' wendy's wedding's coming up. man, i wish i had more time to write this journal. have u noticed i haven't had many pics up in my journal so far this yr? yah, i feel bad that i haven't been able to do much w/ my journal lately. :-(
2nite, i werked till ~800p. i pretty much werked a 12 hr day. then i werked out in the company gym. i stayed @ my werk till 'bout 1000p. then i went to albertson to buy some juice, milk, n' cereal but ended up buying other stuff 2: anchovies, lunchmeat, n' oranges. 2day, i have a big, big credit card bill due. it's a huge bill cos'f all the furniture i bought back in december, u know? i've got a li'l bit'f a cold right now. afternoon: 2day's such a spring day... in the middle'f feb.
v.day's in 2
days. it's so warm n' sunny outside right now. during my
lunchbreak, i met up w/ the beautiful kaela hwang
@ wireless dimension (ken's n' ryan's store) to pick us up a coupl'f new
lg vx6000 camerafon [later]: from y! news, "Men, Having Friends Is Good for the Heart" - "Men who have many friends they can turn to for support are
significantly less likely to develop heart disease, findings from a new
study show."
yesterday, i was very bizzy@werk.com; very bizzy. i didn't get to eat lunch till after 400p, 'round 500p. 2nite, i have
my "advance control systems design" classs 700-820p. 2morrow, i have a presentation to do in my master's project class. also,
2morrow's ken's b.day. it's gonna be 'nother bizzy weekend.
that's not a bad thing.
[later] evening: i just talked to ken 'bout kaela's n' my possibly
doggsitting moonah 4 a weekend or so.
moonah a big, black
"akc" german shepherd.
[later, aktually 104a, 2004.02.13] whoa, didju know buy.com
morning: according to the lg electronics us website, here r some specs 'bout our
lg vx6000 fons:
[later] afternoon: it's cloudy 2day. will it rain 2morrow?
i have a presentation in a li'l over an hr. 오후 219p: 오늘이 미국의 대통령의날 예요. presidents' day... 오늘 좀 이상해요. 제가 집에 있지만 아름다운 캐이라 황이 집에 없어요. 2day's sort'f strange. i'm home, but the beautiful kaela hwang isn't. it's rarely like this, 'specially not during the day! if it's ever like this, it's in the evening. 아침: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang n' my 7th monthversary. :-) well, it's a thurs 2day, so we really can't do 2 much to celebrate. :-/ i have my "advanced control systems" class 2nite 700-820p. yesterday, i werked 'nother 12hr day, which happens now n' then. i've gotta werk hard since i have the interview 4 my permanent position coming up in a couple'f wks. feb's a short month.
what did u do 4 v.day? i took kaela to dinner @ cascal, a tapas restaurant in downtown mtn view (mountain view). mtn view's really improved in the past decade! castro st used to be such a dinky, li'l st. now it resembles a st in sf soma or so; nice (내이스). we ate tapas: a caeser salad w/ anchovies, roasted quail w/ some kind'f berries, roasted monkfish, lamb oaxaca tamale, [a li'l later] sun, we went to church. after church, we went to dimsum w/ david n' youmi in milpitas @ a restaurant in the 99 strip mall. it was good. after that, kaela had an open house in sunnyvale. i werked on my controls hw in my office n' also had a bit'f "werk werk" to do. roland came to visit us. he arrived on sun afternoon n' left on mon afternoon. on sun nite, we ate dinner @ 금봉황 (geumbonghwang, china china) on el camino. it's so close to our house! :-) we like it. we ate sizzling rice seafud soup, 깐풍새우 (gganpoongsaewoo, fried prawns in "garlic" sauce), n' szechuan chicken. 'twas very good. the restaurant was pretty crowded 4 a sun nite. afterwards, we went to santana row to stroll cos we were so full. since 'twas so cold, we ended up just going to borders. we saw tim fong studying his law skool stuff in the café there.
mon was pres' day, as u know. roland helped me move my dj coffin out'f my mom's house n' into kaela's n' my house. 4 lunch, we went to the tk noodles in the milpitas 99 strip mall. i bought some new windshield wiper blades @ kragen. 'twas a rainy day. kaela n' i went shopping later. i got measured 4 my tux 4 fahad's n' wendy's wedding in march. 4 that, i went to men's wearhouse on stevens creek blvd @ winchester blvd. after my thing, while kaela ran some werk errands, i walked in the rain to valley fair. i sort'f window shopped n' started cynically thinking that all clothes look the same now: tons'f neon, fluorescent colours. n' what's w/ this look'f wearing 2 polo shirts @ 1nce?!?! it's just so abercrombie & b!tch can sell u 2 shirts instead'f 1; double the profit$!!! who really wears 2 neon polo shirts @ 1nce? kaela n' i used to have lots'f macy's gift cards from our wedding, but now we've used up that credit. we aktually used lots'f it on presents 4 other ppl. otherwise, we spent it on pots n' pans, bedding... i bought a kenny cole shirt 1nce n' some facial soap, as u know.
we wanted to buy some shams. u know what shams r? they're big pillows 4 ur bed. we had to run btwn vallco macy's n' valley fair to get them. we had a surf city squeeze smoothie @ vallco n' a coupl'f pastries from grain d'or there. we were s'pposed to go to the gym, but we didn't. valley fair, vallco, then back to valley fair... then we went to safeway@rivermark to grocery shop. we came home n' ate pasta.
on sat, (i'm not being very chronological here. i'm going back to v.day.) in the morn, we went to a special couples' v.day spin class @ the hamilton/meridian bally gym. i think we were the only couple there. 'twas a 90 min class. after that, we ate lunch. where? uh... oh yah, boston market @ hamilton n' bascom. then we met up w/ mark, grace, n' dennis. kaela showed mark n' dennis some 4plexes that they were interested in buying. the rose garden neighbourhood's very nice! have u cn it?
[later] 138p: i'm @ home right now 4 lunch, eating some frozen fud n' typing on my 'puter. someday soon i gotta go to osh to buy a lawn mower, fertilizer, a fertilizing cart thingy, a sprayer (4 the hose), some small, hand gardening tools... morning: if u ever need to get ahold'f me urgently by e.mail n' i'm not @ my desk in my office or @ home, u can e.mail me @ "[my fon #]@vtext.com]." u know u can do that? most ppl have cellfon's w/ txt msging now. if the person u'r trying to reach has verizon, then u can e.mail [that person's fon #]@vtext.com. of course, if a user gets 2 many text msgs, then he/she'll get charged per msg. we get 100 free txt msgs/month on the plan we have now.
[later] bloggers will inherit the earth. u've heard the saying, "the geeks shall inherit the earth," right? of course u have; every1 has. it's a very common saying. i s'ppose a variant might be "the nerds shall inherit the earth." other variants might be "the geeks will inherit the earth," "geeks shall inherit the earth," "geeks will inherit the earth," "nerds shall inherit the earth," n' "nerds will inherit the earth," right? well, i say "bloggers will inherit the earth" cos bloggers r just kewl ppl... altho' i don't call my "online journal" a "blog."
[later] after lunch: i believe we're snowboarding 2morrow.
[later] up till now, n' maybe still, my "recent" / "handheld edition" journal fits in my 1100kb allotment on avantgo. i guess my journal's small so far this yr cos 1) i haven't been writing 'nuff, n' 2) i haven't had many pics or graphics. yah, i ought to. it's been kind'f kewl to be able to carry my yr's journal w/ me everywhere on my handspring visor edge, but eh! we'll c.
2day @ lunch, my group @ werk.com went to taxi's hamburgers @ the mercado off 101 @ great amerika parkway. i had a turkey burger w/ a side'f curly fries n' some diet pepsi. during my projekt class, which always runs late, we had some cookies that 1 student brought cos the prof sez we should take turns bringing cookies each wk. i ate 3 cookies n' realised that i used to have really healthy eating habits where i really didn't touch sweets, u know? like, if some1 were giving out cookies, i aktually might've passed. i know that's sort'f atypikal, but i used to do stuff like that, i think. i think most ppl never pass up free cookies, u know?
*sigh* i've gotta get totally readjusted to the hi.stress life i had last semester as a werking guy getting his master's degree. it was intense last semester, n' i gotta get back into the tuff mode to deal w/ the fakt that it's still intense this semester. in fakt, it's prob'ly more intense. i've gotta submit my master's projekt @ the end'f this semester. i'll need to get my report hardbound. on her website, my projekt advising prof has a list'f students who have done research under her supervision. i felt really honoured to c that she updated the list n' had added my name n' projekt title a few weeks 'go: http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/wdu/Homepage/Du.htm. (that address's case sensitive.)
i need to go to osh sometime n' buy a lawnmower, fertilizer, that fertilizing kart thingy, a nozzle 4 the garden hose, some handheld garden tools... i've sed that b4 here, i know; but i really can't 4get to buy these things b4 the sales end, u know? our front n' back lawns r really small, so i'm tempted to buy a "push" mower, a nonmotorized mower. 4 not that much more, i can get an electrically powered 1. i'm sure i don't want a gas powered 1, but how r elektric mowers? r they convenient? do they recharge or what? *shrug*
[later] 903p: yesterday, as i sed, was the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 7th monthversary. it was thurs. i had to werk. i had a very bizzy day. after werk, i went to class. after class, i went to the gym. on my way home from the gym, i stopped by the cheesecake faktory @ valley fair n' got a slice'f choco godiva cheesecake 4 kaela n' me, to celebrate our monthversary.
b4 stopping by the cheesecake faktory, i got gas @ the rotten robbie on hamilton, west'f bascom, east'f winchester blvd. i noticed that gas was sooo expen$ive: $1.93/gal. it was awful. i figured, "shoot, might as well fill up cos i guess gas is just expe$ive these days." after i filled up, i saw that the arco on winchester blvd, north'f hamilton, had 87 octane gas 4 $1.83/gal. then i noticed that the chevron down the rd had 87 4 $1.91/gal. whah?! then i saw that the hansra n' the sumpthin' sumpthin' petroleum (generik places) were 'both like $1.99/gal or sumpthin'. whah?! why's the generik stuff more expen$ive than the designer, brand.name gas?! is it some kewl thing to be alternative now?! i wish i had bought the techron instead. 755a: i woke up early this sun morn cos we sort'f went to sleep
early. not really early, but we went to sleep right after
진주 목걸이 (jinjoo mokguhli), which ended @ midnite.
(they show 2 episodes in a row on ch 28.) feb's quickly coming to a
close as it's a short month... but is this yr a leap yr?! why yes,
it is!. that means 1 extra day... 1 extra day to do my master's
projekt, 1 extra day b4 my big interview 4 the permanent position @ my
company, 1 extra day until i turn 29, 1 extra day b4 i gotta start christmas shopping...
this is an elektion yr. now more than ever, altho' i've sed it b4,
this nation's divided into 2. in the past, i wouldn't have been so
partisan, even tho' i lived in such a politikal hotspot as berkeley. really, back then, i wouldn't be so partisan; but, in this day n' age, it's hard not to be. this nation's @ civil war. :-/ well, there's no real civil war, no guns. it's uh... a civil cold war? heh, now that's just silly to say. neway, this nation's obviously very polarised. every1 knows that! even the obviously conservatively biased media admits to that. the term "liberal media" is so lame cos it's so obvious that the media isn't on the side'f the liberals these days. i mean, @ best the liberal can find a friend in npr, but that's 'bout it. in the morns, i 1st wake up to the sound'f npr, then to korean news on the tv; then i change the channel to nbc's today show. there's such a diff btwn npr n' nbc's today show. it's not that npr's so liberal; it's just that nbc's so conservative. after all, arnold schwarzeneggar began his whole gubernatorial campaign on nbc's tonight show w/ conservative nazi jay leno. i know i'm just being silly calling him a nazi, but our nation's @ civil cold war, so all's fair. speaking'f cold, in cold mountain the saber rattlin', young southern punks bust into nicole kidman's dad's church n' yell "we got our war! we got our war!" heh, just imagine that happening in this day n' age in amerika w/ all the enmity btwn conservatives n' liberals. "where is the love?" the black eyed peas sang, way back in 2002. indeed, "where is the love?" "What's wrong with the world, mama? People livin' like they ain't got no mamas." those r the opening lyrics to the black eyed peas' 2002 hit song "where is the love?". is that considered a good rhyme these days? "mama" n' "mamas"?!?!?! now that's what's wrong w/ the world 2day. neway, the song speaks the truth in that our nation has 2 many probs @ home to be off killing ppl in iraq these days. "proud to be an american. ashamed of our president." it's a civil war: u'r either a bush backer or a bush basher, n' yet ralph nader wants to run as an independent candidate 4 the presidency. @ this pt, i think it's obvious who the next president'f the usa should be: john kerry. i dunno if ppl say he copied howard dean, but kerry s'pposedly has a blog on his website, n' we know as a fakt that "bloggers will inherit the earth," so this alleged blogger 'least ought to inherit the white house.
n' yet i ask, "where is the love?" if u r a bush backer, r all ur friends also bush backers? r u sure? if u bash bush, do u only make friends w/ fellow bush bashers? personally, i have friends on both sides'f this politikal chasm, which isn't just 'bout the man in the white house but 'bout all sorts'f issues that've been 'round, it cms, since the beginning'f time. shall we just agree to disagree? well, my grandpa told me to stay out'f politiks in order to live a long, healthy life. basikally, politiks just boils the blood, right? or does it just angry up the blood? i'm not sure but i know 2 things: 1) politiks angries up n' boils the blood. 2) now is not the time to be an apathetic bystander 'bout politiks. now is the time to rock da vote. "you the man! you the man!" "dude, watch out for the man. don't trust the man. don't sell out to the man. the man's always keeping us down." "you the woman!" u never hear ppl say that. it's nice when ppl get 'long. it's nice to have peace. it's a shame that this nation's @ civil war. i don't think this politikal chasm is the fault'f the "liberals."
moving on to further discussion 'bout current politiks, 1 could chat 'bout the latest sf same sex marriages. that's all over the news. the conservative media obviously loves to make a circus out'f the great state'f cali4nia, as we saw w/ last yr's ridiculous gubernatorial recall elektion. "look at those freaks on the west coast," they say. on our car ride back from tahoe last nite, the beatiful kaela hwang saw a truck on the road w/ some name'f some rice company on it n' pted out that some rice is grown in cali4nia, but most'f the rice we buy is imported from out'f the country, while other amerikans eat nonasian style rice such as uncle ben's. she then mentioned "the san francisco treat," mistaking that slogan as belonging to minute rice; but i corrected her n' explained how "the san francisco treat" used to be rice.a.roni until the company freaked out that they were being associated w/ homosexuals. what the heck?! it's just rice! is eating a certain brand'f rice gonna make u catch gay? maybe amerikan consumers more feared that eating rice.a.roni'd turn them into conscientious citizens who believed in treating homosexuals as fellow human beings, straight but not narrow. i don't know 'bout u, but when i vote i consider how jesus loved the ppl whom the rest'f society despised n' how forcing a young gurl to give bear an unwanted child who'll just have a tortured life isn't gonna bring either the mutha or the child ne closer to christ n' comprehension'f god's 4givness. it's 854a sun morn, n' i'm not 1 to preach.
yesterday, kaela n' i went to tahoe. we left @ 710a w/ the
intention to visit alpine meadows 4 their $39 lift tix, good every day 4
the rest'f the season. we'd 4gotten that this past week was "ski
week" 4 local k-12 skools, so tahoe was gonna be totally jam.packed.
on our way up to tahoe, i made great time. we stopped @
mcyukyuk's 4 tasties n' still made it to tahoe in ~3 hrs. that's
how it used to be always, but these days there's usually 2 much
traffik to make it to tahoe in 3 hrs. then 'gain, back in my berkeley days, we'd depart 4 tahoe no later than 600a. there's less traffik @ that time. when we got to alpine we saw a big backup on the 89s, n' i quickly caught a glimpse'f a green "sold out" sign in the middl'f the entrace to the access rd up to the parking lots. accordingly, i quickly busted a "'u'ie" on the 89 n' headed back to squaw valley usa, where lift tix co$t an outrageous price cos squaw's just a shade less'f a snobby, luxury resort than heavenly. earlier, i had sed we could either go to alpine 4 $39 or dinky, li'l boreal 4 $36. to beginners terrain doesn't matter, but u gotta understand we're not beginners so we do care what kind'f slopes n' snow we hit. after turning away from alpine, we were not gonna drive all the way back up donner peak to ride boreal; so, yah, we just went to rip.off squaw. (we didn't go to rip.off (v) squaw! we went to rip.off (adj) squaw.) squaw valley usa, as the atmosphere reminded us, is disneyland on snow. on ur way home, they hock popcorn, pretzels, hotdogs, n' corn on a cob. we rode mostly on the red dog part'f squaw, over by the resort @ squaw creek. @ lunch, we took our meal @ the li'l snack area @ the resort @ squaw creek. lemme tell u: that place has the nicest bathroom i have ever cn @ tahoe snow resort but the most expe$ive fud i've ever cn in tahoe... well, not necessarily the most expen$ive fud i've cn, since u can always go to a more upscale dining facility, but it has the most rip.off fud i've cn in tahoe. man, i don't even wanna tell u the price they charge 4 a hotdog cos u'll faint. ha ha! well, i still think heavenly's the snobbiest most elitist place in tahoe, but wow! the resort @ squaw creek was such a upper tax bracket environment. how was the snow? it was pretty good. u know... i really need to get back to the terrain park. i found li'l ledges n' bumps to jump off of, but it's not the same. also, it feels kind'f weird to be doing tricks n' stuff down a run crowded w/ average skiiers that totally gawk @ u, u know? ha ha, i'm basikally saying, "i'm so bad@$$ that i'm a danger to the publik cos other ppl on the snow ended up crashing n' falling while watching me in amazement @ how bad@$$ i am." ha ha ha! i know that's what u read/hear, but all i'm saying is that ppl who never watch freestyle boarding r really impressed when they c some dude jump, spin, twist, this n' that, n' i get sort'f self.conscious; while @ the terrain park, i'd just be just 'nother joe shmoe wannabe, n' no1'd pay ne attention to me, n' i'd feel fine. on our way home, i avoided traffik by taking the 5 to 205 to 580 to 680 instead'f just 80 to 680. that helps cos i realise that ppl who ski/snowboard tahoe come from 3 places: 1) san josé n' vicinity, 2) walnut creek n' vicinity, n' 3) marin county / north bay. taking the 5 instead'f just the 80 eliminates more than 2/3 of the returning tahoe traffik! u understand, right? however, the commute back from tahoe combines all those bay area folk w/ the local sactown/tahoe traffik. it's so interesting to look @ the license plate holders n' realise that 'least 90%'f the ppl who go snowboarding/skiing r from the bay area. the locals don't ski/snowboard. yet, explain to me gobacktothebay.com. that site is a "liberal" site that assumes all bay area visitors to tahoe r a bunch'f bush backin' nazis n' should just take their d@mn suvs right back down to the bay area. ever heard'f a li'l town called san francisco? ever heard'f a city called berkeley? these r examples'f communities in the bay area that rn't so brainwashed by the amerikan conservative media. i mean, it's un4tunate that some ppl in the bay area don't have a conscience, yet the whole "i hate bay area yuppies coming to tahoe" mentality'f some tahoe local yokels makes no sense, as we all know tahoe has no industry to support itself n' relies on bay area buck$ to survive. by this rant, i'm referring to those particular incidents i had on snowbomb.com.
when we did go back to to the bay, i told kaela that i'm very unhappy that we never eat korean fud these days, so we had our dinner @ 청기와 (chunggiwa, blue stones) on el camino real. we ate 아구 매운탕 (agoo maeoon tang, spicy monkfish stew) n' 오징어 볶음과 우동 사리 (ojinguh bokkeumgwa oodong sari, spicy mixed squid w/ udon noodles). ah, i miss spicy seafud stuff.
2day, i'm 154.6 lbs n' 5.1% body fat. how r u? please sign my gbook n' tell me to go back to the bay n' just believe in whatever jay leno preaches from now on.
[later] 945p: this morn, we went to church, after church, we went to
valley fair. we bought kaela some clothes n' stuff. then we
went grocery shopping @ hangook market. 2nite, kaela made daegoo
maewoontang 4 dinner.
*sigh* there's sumpthin' i've wanted to talk 'bout here, but i
can't 'member. :-( don'tchu hate that feeling? as i don't
get 'nuff opportunities to post entries these days, i can't afford to miss
a chance to say sumpthin' i wanna say, u know? *sigh* oh well... :-( it's
sun nite right now.
mon afternoon: tues morn: last nite, i heard the weatherman say, "get ready to get soaked" or sumpthin' like that. it's nice when the weatheman can pretty much boldly guarantee sumpthin'. yah, it rained this morn. it wasn't 2 bad on my morn commute (if u can call my 6 min drive down the block a "commute"). a few sprinkles may've touched my scalp thru my short, black hair. 2day's date: 2004.02.24. 1nce 'gain, that's 'lot'f 2s n' 4s: 3 0s, 3 2s, n' 2 4s.
[later] this morn: george dubyah condemned same-sex marriages n' aktually asked 4 a constitutional ammendment to ban them. there's just absolutely no christlike, compassionate love 4 fellow humans in anti.gay legislation. closet case pansies support anti.gay legislation.
[later] afternoon: last nite, i left werk sometime after 800p. i went to orchard supply hardware (osh) to buy an electric lawnmower, weed.killing herbicide, n' a handheld weeding tool. afterwards, i went to the sunnyvale towne center target to look 4 the 11.piece set'f miracle blade 3 knives advertised in their circular n' online weekly ad. i didn't find the set. on my way back home i filled up on designer petrol @ the chevron on el camino near lawrence. 87 oktane co$t $1.95/gal. is it $1.95 or $1.959? i haven't noticed the 0.9¢ lately, but i'm sure gas stations still do that. some chinese dude was sittin' in his car, chattin' on his cellfon as he filled up. later, he accidentally almost drove off w/o disconnekting the nozzle n' hose from his gas tank! when i got home, i made us some 육개장 (yookgaejang) 4 dinner.
[later] afternoon: [later] 921p: i've been sitting in my car in the parking lot'f cupertino village (the 99 plaza), in front'f fantasia, waiting 4 kaela to join me 4 some boba drinks. she went to taekwondo practice 2nite, n' i went to my "advanced control systems design" class, which i have every tues/thurs eve, as u know. kaela's prob'ly taking care'f werk bizness right now, n' that's fine. i'm hungry. i wonder what's 4 dinner but know i shouldn't eat 2 much cos i haven't exercised 'nuff lately. i need more exercise as i shouldn't have hi blood pressure. maybe we'll have either 우동 (oodong, udon) or 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn) 4 dinner. *shrug* i've got lots on my mind re: skool n' werk. also, i'll be helping w/ 2 weddings this yr, u know. i have my big interview on march 5.
this eve, @ werk.com, i filled up my starbucks h2o bottle w/ green tea instead'f plain h2o. i also did that yesterday. wed morn: 2day, the bay area has a rainstorm, lots'f violent weather. ha, maybe the conservative nuts'll say this is a noah's ark flood to purge the land'f same.sex marriage condoning sinner liberals. ha ha.
[later] afternoon, lemme tell u: if u like cute things, u should check out this site n' look @ their li'l push button ikons: http://photographytips.com/page.cfm/1. yah, very cute.
[later] late afternoon: @ lunch, i ate 우동 (oodong, udon) w/ kaela @ home. yum yum, udong. yum yum, kaela. :-)
[later] 1103p: what a nite! i stayed @ werk till 1015p.
as i drove home in the rain, i felt my car pull hard to the right.
i pulled over n' saw i had a flat! i fixed it w/ a fix.a.flat can
n' went to the nearby chevron to pump it up. after that, i
discovered the tire had no leak, but the valve stem cap had malfunktioned.
u know what kind'f valve stem caps i have, right? back
'round christmas, i
was so excited to get these colourful valve stem caps that tell u when ur tire is flat by changing color. well, i soon realised that was sort'f a so.so idea cos, well... if i'm gonna look @ my valve stem cap to find out my tire's flat, i'll prob'ly have already cn the flat tire in the process, u know? well, 2nite, i found that the plastic valve stem cap had sprung a leak n' was letting air out. *sigh* that really sucked! oh, by the way, it's now 1243a on 2004.02.26. i'm werking overtime on this journal entry! ha ha.
on sun nites, kaela n' i watch korean movies on ktvn ch 28. this sun's movie was 꿈 (dream) by 이태원 (lee taewon). it's a story 'bout a buddhist monk who's infatuated by this gurl that comes to visit the temple. these sun movies r often historical movies n' teach us 'lot 'bout korea's buddhist side more than nething. it's weird, we c so much korean buddhist stuff every sun nite. ha. koreans in amerika, 'specially korean.amerikans in my generation really try to pretend korea's so christian n' doesn't have the buddhist culture that countries like china n' taiwan also have. the 2 weeks prior to this sun, the sun movies were these old, old 1980s or 1970s taekwondo movies. they were like bruce lee movies but 'bout korea n' w/ taekwondo fighting instead'f kungfu. they were really fun to watch altho' old. the storm is really raging outside! 937p: 저 체육관에 있어요. i'm @ the gym. 2day, my werkday was totally booked w/ mtgs. i'm happy that the tasks the company, or 'least my group, gives me rn't typikal intern duties but real, professional, full.time engr tasks. i like that; it feels good. however, i still gotta interview a wk from 2morrow 4 the aktual "permanent" position. i've really gotta get the job. recently, i got 2 fon calls from nasa/ames research 'bout jobs. it's nice to be getting calls 'bout jobs. i like it. i feel like things r picking up. grey skies r gonna clear up!
@ lunch, the group i had mtgs w/ went to rivermark quizno's. :-) toasty! i had a small sierra smoked turkey on their famous ciabatta bread. i cm to get that 2 much. i ought to try other sandwiches there, but i don't often feel like eating the fatt'ning stuff, u know? someday, i'd like to have a good philly cheesesteak 'gain. when i was a fat kid, my dad 1nce bought these incredibly awesome cheesesteak sandwiches, but i dunno where he got them from... somewhere here in san jo. *shrug*
rt now @ the gym, the tvs r playing extreme makeover n' the stereo's playing paula abdul's "forever your girl." earlier, they were playing electronic's song that goes "whereever (or however?) i look it clear to see that i love you more than you love me" n' the pet shop boys'... i 4get which song but a good 1... was it "what have i done to deserve this?" maybe. they keep bouncing btwn "modern rock hits'f the 1980s n' 1990s" n' "1980s top 40." earlier they played some catchy huey lewis (i think) song that i'm sure i used to really like (split infinitive) n' still just now enjoyed. now, they're playing the 1980s scottish group big country's only song "in a big country." 830a, sat morn: how r u? please take a few mins to sign my gbook! :-) it's a li'l chilly in the 'puter room or "office" here in our house. i'm conflikted 'bout whether to turn up the heater or not. right now, it's @ 55øf, which basikally means it's turned off. my fingers get cold when i type. u might not know 2 much 'bout our house cos i don't give out lots'f details 'bout it here, i know. sometimes ppl (like jeanna) say i give 'way 2 many details in my journal n' ask, "rn'tchu 'fraid'f stalkers?" well, i've answered that question b4 like this: 1) i try to be a nice guy n' hope that makes it so less ppl wanna come after me n' kill me etc. 2) i think i'm not totally helpless altho' no superman by ne means... what i mean is: it's the martial artist's worst mistake to think that he/she's safe n' invincible cos he/she's studied martial arts, even if it's been 4 more than a decade, but the study'f martial arts along w/ good, solid martial arts philosophy does somewhat empower a person to some finite extent. i know u can't lower double knifehand block a bullet or hand grenade n' am thus relying more on pt #1 than pt #2 in those cases but am just saying there's extreme worth in pursuing some martial arts edukation 4 urself when u can. when u realise this, come on n' join us over @ us taekwondo akademy, unless u'r closer to berkeley, in which case, u ought to head right 'way over to ucmap. in either case, we'll c u @ 1'f those really soon, k?
"benomix.com: bigger than google!" wow, that's extreme blasphemy, u know? if a person sez "i'm bigger than microsoft." every1'll have a good chuckle (*snort* *snort* *push up glasses*) n' go on w/ their happy existences, knowing u just sed sumpthin' like "i'm bigger than the devil!" however, we all know that entities like linux n' google represent all that's good in teknospace. @ my office, there's this bookshelf w/ a sign that asks ppl to take a book n' leave a book. i haven't taken a book from the shelf but 1nce left a copy'f wired magazine. on the cover'f that magazine's linux's originator linus torvalds n' the caption "leader of the free world." uhm, check out this website: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/torvalds/. is it linus torvald's real website?! u've got to be kidding! it looks almost as primitive as mine! *sigh* i've really gotta contmeporise my site. have u cn the beautiful kaela hwang's personal website lately? well, she has 2 websites: her personal n' her bizness. in ne case, both look better than this piece'f prehistorik ddong! i need to bring my website up into this century/millenium. we're no longer living in the 1990s! ... the glorious 1990s... heh! don't sob!!! haven'tchu noticed nething?! we're no longer in that blue funk (yes, i know blue funk's written in red.) that immediately followed the era'f the matrix n' pets.com, etc. yes, we've all gotta admit the yrs 2001-2003 were sort'f the dark ages 4 amerika, as many amerikans decided to stop thinking n' to let republikans back into control'f the gov't, but hey! u know? we never know: maybe the demokrats'll regain control this yr n' the ekonomy'll recover. heh, as i sed: i was never this partisan b4; but it's just that this country's simply @ civil war, n' it's extremely hard to be in the middle as the conservatives keep grunting that u'r either w/ them or 'gainst them. when u say that n' ur breath reeks'f cannabilised human flesh, it's harder 4 ppl to "go w/" u, u know? heh... i know i'm just being silly; n' maybe sometime this yr, this civil war'll end, n' then we can all love each other 1nce 'gain. in ne case, i believe the ekonomy's already gettin' better, 'member? just go to the movies here in da silly valley n' witness on the screen all the myriads'f employment ads the theatre's paid to projekt onto the screen. mechanical, elektrical, n' 'puter engineers cm to be in demand.
i know kaela n' i went to the movies last nite. we
watched 50 first dates altho' there were many, many, many lines full'f thousands'f ppl waiting to watch mel gibson's s'pposedly controversial film the passion of the christ, which opened this past wed. i can talk more 'bout that later, 'specially after kaela n' i watch it 2morrow afternoon w/ our church group. 4 now, lemme say that 50 first dates's an extremely cute romantic comedy. :-) i mean, sure, there r more warm n' fuzzy romantic comedies such as this past christmas season's love actually, but man! this movie had such a kick@$$ soundtrack full'f islandish cover versions'f kewl 1990s cure songs such as "lovesong" n' "friday i'm in love." the sndtrk (or "ost," as we really ought to say) also has kewl islandish covers'f such kewl 1980s oldies as the car's "drive," spandau ballet's "true," n' modern english's "i melt with you." when u get a chance, u can buy the 50 first dates ost
now 'bout the passion of the christ: 'gain, kaela n' i'r
watching it 2morrow, so i'll have much more to say 'bout it after
that. last nite on conan o'brien's show, 4 the 1st time, i
saw a clip from the movie when conan interviewed the star. kaela
was sort'f surprised to hear that mel gibson isn't starring in the movie, but i reminded her that if he did that'd be just a li'l 2 self.promoting, like mr. burns' film on the simpsons. furthermore, mel already martyred himself 1nce, thru braveheart. the today show keeps saying that the passion of the christ is sooo controversial cos jewish.amerikans r outraged that it puts blame 4 jesus' death on jews. hrm... really? that makes me guess it'll be the 1 movie this yr shown in the big theatres that doesn't negatively portray asians! ha ha ha ha. nah, mel'll find a way to have some clumsy, unrealistically dorky chinese guy come deliver some egg foo yung n' scream sumpthin' like "whah?! mee no tipee?!" shame on the asian aktor who sells himself/herself out to pick up cheap roles like those! yet those who do say those r the only roles available. 'member b.d. wong's mission statement that sez he promises to refuse roles like those? hrm... cynics'd scoff, "well, b.d. wong ain't 'xaktly a household name." which asian aktors r household names? russell wong, jet li, jacky chan... of course lucy liu (if we use "aktor" in the genderless, unisex, or co.ed sense)... yah... i wonder who's the most recognisable asian aktor/aktress in amerika? heh, i know u want to say william hung, but he's yet to make a movie or tv show (besides his famous few secs on fox tv's american idol) as far as i know... [later] 1113p: i'm aktually now @ the capitol/aborn bally gym 'bout to write to u more 'bout my "pre.thoughts" 'bout the passion of the christ while stretching. last nite, right b4 we went in to watcy 50 first dates, kaela n' i saw plenty'f ppl exiting a couple'f showings'f the passion of the christ. they all looked so glum, not joyous @ all! jesus died on the cross 4 our sins to save our souls, right? that's good news, right? this movie must be depressing n' gloomy as well as gruesome n' violent. a laser printed, paper sign on the window'f the amc mercado 20's ticket box office warns that the passion of the christ's rated r, violent n' qruesome, n' in aramaic n' hebrew w/ english subtitles. shoot! those statetments convince me that the passion of the christ'll be a good movie. my wise, wise 9th grade world cultures teacher @ leland hi skool mr. charles sullivan sed no good movie is rated less than r, n' he was right! that's cos real life's rated r if not nc.17 or better yet "category iii"! no real movie 'bout jesus isn't in aramaic n' hebrew. now, i wonder: didn't "conservative christians" boycott the last temptation of christ? yet "conservative christians" r supporting the passion of the christ. u realise why, right? u c, the whole s'pposed controversy 'bout the passion of the christ's negative portrayal'f jews's a ploy by the conservative media to rile up the troops'f the "morale majority" to hate liberals 4 always saying everything conservatives do offends them. "how dare those liberals, jewish n' all, diss our saviour?!" publicised "controversy" never fails to get the mindless masses into theatre seats! just spread a rumour that asian.amerikans r offended by n' those boycotting ur movie n' u'll end up making billions'ff all the ppl that'll come support ur movie just 4 that!
[later] 202p: after the gym, i went to the atm n' then to the story rd lee's sandwiches to get lunch 4 kaela n' myself. i hadn't driven 'round eastside in so long that i got a li'l lost. traffik in eastside was sooo horrible 2day. 2day's a beautifully, azure skied day after a wk'f storms here in the bay area. i guess every1 wants to come out while it's not raining. kaela's werking in her office 2day.
[later] 517p: i mowed our lawn w/ our new mower! it was so kewl!!! neway, i've gotta go pick kaela up from werk now. ttyl. mon lunchtime: [later] afternoon: tues morn: my timex helix works watch; which has a digital compass, thermometer, altimeter, barometer, n' chronometer; does not keep track'f the yr, so it didn't know we're in a leap yr. cos'f that, i thought yesterday was the 2nd day'f march n' 2day's the 3rd; but my handspring visor edge 'least knows 'bout leap yrs n' thus gives me the correkt date. that's why my journal entries have the correkt dates 4 yesterday n' 2day.
it's sad: my timex watch's face has gotten a bit scratched. i should put a screen protector on it, like those used 4 handhelds. wed morn: i didn't get 'round to mentioning to u yesterday that i went home yesterday @ lunch n' mowed the lawn, the backyard lawn. ah, it was such a beautiful, sunny day yesterday, a beautiful, sunny, blue.skied day! on my short drive from the office to our house during lunch, i couldn't help but wish i were in tahoe. (please check the tense'f that "were.") it had rained pretty much all last week n' this past mon here in the bay area. up in tahoe... when it rains here in the bay area, it snows in tahoe. ah, last sat must've been a totally bodacious day on the slopes. (if we're all wearing neon colours as if it were the 1980s 'gain, why can't i use the wurd "bodacious"?) un4tunately, last weekend, the beautiful kaela hwang had to werk. in ne case, these days, i have lots'f random tasks to which to attend, u know? 4 example, mowing the lawn... whenever i have the opportunity, i try to tidy up the house, here n' there. i can always c tidying up that needs to be done. the place could always be tidier. u know i have my big, big interview this fri. i have this big info session / orientation thing to go to on the thurs afternoon b4 the interview, @ the embassy suites hotel. funny, i'm s'pposed to meet @ this hotel. other candidates r flying in (or driving) from whatever "top tier" universities in this country. i live like right next door to the hotel, practikally. funny. applicants from local universities, such as berkeley n' stanfurd do not get a free hotel room, unlike those coming in from university of michigan, m.i.t., or wherever… aktually, i heard that they rn't even considering students from university of michigan this time. they weren't gonna let me interview as a san josé state (sjsu) student either, but i kept emphasizing that i'm a berkeley alumni. they're being very selektive 'bout whom they hire, n' that scares me 'li'l, but i gotta keep in mind: 1) i'm a kick@$$ engineer that can kick all these other candidates' butts, n' 2) i've got so much experience here @ my company n' other places. i've really gotta figure out what i'm gonna wear thurs n' fri! i have hw to turn in on thurs eve in my "advance control system design" class. i have hw due every thurs eve.
since i've been so bizzy w/ mowing lawns n' getting' ready 4
interviews, etc., i haven't really been that good w/ my journal entries as'f the past coupl'f days. aktually, i really wish i had been more produktive this past weekend. :-( isn't that sumpthin' 4 which we all can always hope? sun, we hung out w/ friends from church pretty much the whole day. i still haven't sed 'nuff 'bout our viewing'f the passion of the christ. on sun nite, on korean tv (ch28), we watched the movie seventeen. that's a really kewl movie. i had heard 'bout it b4. i was happy to watch a recent movie 4 1nce. that movie 'prob'ly came out in 1999 or so. kaela n' i were also very happy to watch a movie that wasn't sooo depressing 4 1nce. 'member? we've watched 'lots'f these movies that show traditional, korean, buddhist culture. these movies r made by such critically acclaimed korean filmmakers such as the 춘향뎐 (choonhyangdyuhn) guy. these movies r very beautiful but somtimes pretty depressing, u know? 4 example, that movie 꿈 (ggoom [dream]) 'bout the buddhist monk was very depressing. neway, seventeen was a really kewl, fun movie; n' i could figure out when the movie was made cos'f the muzik: i heard songs like fin.k.l.'s "ruby," sechskies' "couple," etc. it was very 1998/1999.
while i mowed the lawn during lunch yesterday, i felt so 4tunate, so blessed. who else gets to mow his lawn during lunch?! i felt so happy 4 lunch yesterday, i ate a ham sandwich n' a dannon fruzion driinkable yogurt. these days i think i eat 2 much 4 how li'l exercise i get. 1 thing, these days, i've been pretty consistent 'bout eating breakfast. i keep hearing 'bout the importance'f eating breakfast in relation to maintaining a good weight n' shape, u know? speaking'f diets, lemme tell u 'bout how i read in men's health 'bout the importance'f eating w/in 45 mins'f werking out. u c, some ppl say u shouldn't eat late @ nite. however, back when i was on the cal taekwondo team, we'd 168 or koko house every single nite, late! 'member? however, back then i reached a minimum wt'f ~137 lbs!!! right now, i'm 'bout 150 lbs, but whoa, 137?! how could i be eating such bad.4.me fud, so late @ nite, but be losing so much weight? well, it's cos i was eating w/in 45 mins'f a good, hard werkout each nite! isn't that interesting?
[later] afternoon: so how was the passion of the christ? if u asked me, "was the passion of the christ a good movie?"; it'd be sort'f like asking, "is the bible a good book?" [later] (it's the "good book," right?) it's indeed a gruesome n' intense movies. @ times, i felt like i was watching a marilyn manson muzik video, not a mel gibson, wholesome, christian produktion. in case u don't know, i'll tell u that this movie's 'bout jesus's last 12 hrs as a human.
[later] [later] (still afternoon, or else sort'f early eve): so how r u? i know a couple'f ppl have recently signed my gbook: kaela n' phil. thank u very much. does ne1 know why phil's geocities id's "citygod"? i wonder if ne can tell me. i realise that, as kaela pted out, i didn't give my gbook guests the option'f saying dubyah'll be the next president'f the united states. however... since he's the current president'f the united states, he can't be the new 1, right? @ the same time, i didn't mean it like that. what i really wanted to ask was who'll be the president as'f next yr. u understand? my question was s'pposed to imply that dubyah will get ousted in this nov's elektion 4 sure, that we won't hafta wait till the 2008 elektion to get a new pres. ne way, i know i just haven't been very kind here recently to my republikan friends. really, i don't like ur candidate, but u ppl r still alright w/ me. i think many readers, who would've otherwise signed my gbook, avoided it cos they either felt 2 much pressure (from themselves) to pick the aktual winner'f the demokratic primary or else really want dubyah to stay in office 4 'nother olympiad. shall i change the options 4 that questions to "dubyah, kerry, n' nader"? personally, i really wish nader wouldn't run 'gain. sometimes, i feel i'm hoping 4 the best but expekting the worst... (r u gonna drop the bomb or not? i guess that just means i wanna be 4ever young.)
i've been saying that the job market looks much better a' y! news agrees, but last sat's sj merc begged to differ w/ its headline, "jobs still in the pits." 월요일 우후: 봄이 오고 있어요! 요즘 날씨 따뜻해요. 이 지난 주말에 파하드와 웬디의 결혼식을 다녔어요. [later] eve(ning): so spring is rapidly approaching like crazy. these days, it's really warm. this past weekend, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i attend fahad n' wendy's wedding down in palos verdes estates @ la venta inn, on a hill overlooking the pacific ocean. we flew down to socal on fri eve n' return on sun eve. wow, so much has happened since the last time i updatedchu. yah, i surely have not been as good w/ updating lately as i have been in the past. sorry.
well, my "recent" journal entries still fit w/in my 1100k allotment on avantgo. as i sed b4, that means i have all my journal entries from the current yr w/ me @ all times on my handspring visor edge. it's nice, but i guess i shouldn't write less just to achieve that. eventually, my "recent" journal entries'll exceed 1100k, n' i'll just hafta let that go. that's just how that is.
so what's been going on? last thurs, 2004.03.04, i had my orientation 4 my big, big interview. from 400-700p @ the santa clara embassy suites hotel, i sat in a room n' listened 'bout my current company, while sittin' w/ a bunch'f college students. i guess i was the only current employee there interviewing 4 those positions. there were 30 interviewees there, mostly from georgia tech. 'bout 0.5 the room cmed to be from georgia tech. the next largest group was from cal (berkeley). there were 3'f us from san jos&ecaute; state. however, i'll always consider myself more'f a berkeley student, not so much a san josé state student. is it just cos i'm more proud'f berkeley's prestige? no, it's not just that; it's also that undergrad is the real college experience. grad skool, it's sumpthin' else! i don't feel like a college student. i'm a career, werkin' guy who takes classes in the eve to get a master's degree. however, last yr, i was a full.time grad student, on campus all day. man, do u 'member what those days were like?! u know, so many'f us were unemployed during 2002. think 'bout that. so many'f us had nice jobs in the yrs 1998-2001 or so... n' then so many'f us were unemployed during 2002. do u 'member what 2002 was like? 4 me, i gotta admit, it was sort'f relaxing not werking n' being a full.time student. however, just like 4yr undergrad university life isn't the real world, neither is being a unemployed, full.time grad student.
neway, what was i talkin' 'bout?! i s'ppose i was talkin' bout the interview or, aktually, the interview's orientation. well, all the out'f town students got all their travel expe$es paid 4. i told my ol' classmate friend gilbert that he should take me out to dinner on his travel expen$e account, but eh! i also knew i had to go straight to class after the orientation. that's what i did, i went to class, my "advanced control systems design" class. after my class, i went back to my office 4 a short bit. then i went home. in ne case, i spent the rest'f the nite gettin' ready 4 the interviews.
the next morn, i had 4 interviews in a row starting @ 830a. i interviewed w/ 3 technikal interviewers n' 1 hr interviewer. if i had gotten the afternoon interview slots, i would've had betty's sister as the hr interviewer. they gave us lunch. i ate 'lot cos i had skipped breakfast. after lunch, we toured 1'f my company's facilities. it's kind'f funny to take a tour'f ur own company w/ a bunch'f other ppl interviewing 4 the same position. that's the funny thing: while other ppl were interviewing 4 a job, i was sort'f interviewing to keep my job, u know? well, after the day'f interviewing n' touring i went home n' packed 4 the trip down to socal 4 the wedding.
we flew southwest out'f sjc to ont. when we landed, kaela's mom picked us up w/ jeanna. kaela n' i took the car n' drove out to lakewood to attend the rehearsal dinner thingy @ this totally awesome halal indian restaurant called shahanawaz, i think. that was the best indian fud i'd eaten in a very long time! ahhh, it was sooo good, n' we ate sooo much! it was very much fun to chat w/ fahad, wendy, vince, n' fahad n' wendy's families. well, after that we just went back to kaela 's family's house, kaela n' i. i was s'pposed to spend the rest'f the nite finalising my speech/toast, but i ended up playing ape escape on the ps1 (playstation 1) instead. (where's that "what rhymes with playstation? weighstation!" bit from? i heard that somewhere.) in the morn, i werked on finalising the speech.
sat, we ate lunch/brunch @ kaela's family's house. after that, we left 4 the portofino hotel in redondo beach. we checked in. the hotel looked nicer on the website... however, i did appreciate the seals. we could watch seals play in the ocean from our room. they'd sit on buoys n' knock each other off. they swam n' jumpd out'f the water in synch. can u believe that? just in their own natural habitat, they already learn to do tricks. it's crazy. well, after kaela got ready, we drove off to la venta. we got lost n' were really late. i felt so bad, since i was the best man! :-(
neway, 'twas a beautiful wedding. the ceremony was very short. i carried the ring up to the alter n' gave it to the judge when asked. @ the reception, i made a toast/speech. the fud was really good, n' the meat was halal. that was the 1st time, i'm sure, that i saw fahad eat beef. the cake was chocolate. it was very beautiful. the dance muzik: they had lots'f those typikal wedding songs, but they also played some smiths, morrissey, n' cure. fahad really likes the smiths n' morrissey, u know.
[later] 824p: 4 the past ~20 mins, i've been werking out @ my company,
right by my cubicle. on 눈으로 말해요 (nooneuro malhaeyo, known as in your eyes in english, thanks to arirang tv), 장기웅 (jang giwoong) (or 장대리님 [jang daerinim, agent jang]) werks out on the roof in his underwear during the werkday. i'm lucky, heh, heh. 2nite, i was so torn btwn werking out here or @ bally total fitness. well, i'm here now, stretching. [later] 847p: still here, stretchin' n' lifting... shall i ever be as fit as i was right b4 the wedding? when was i healthier: during my cal taekwondo team days or else right b4 the wedding? in 1999, i was very lean w/ great cardio. in 2003, i was more muscular, not that i've ever been buff or ripped. [later] 854p: still here...
the weather's been so warm, n' i'm thinking it's already spring boarding season. springboarding... ha ha. this past wknd was the uc open taekwondo championships up in berkeley. of course, kaela n' i missed it; but others from us taekwondo attended n' participated.
[later] 1106p: 운동하기후에 식품쇼핑 갔어요. 화요일 아침: 수요일 아침, wed morn:
[later] 4 our bible study this sun on "relationships and roles," we're s'pposed to read
1248a: man, these days i never have clever names 4 my journal entries! i haven't titled my entry yet, but by the time u read this sentence (by the time i post this up on the web), i shall have. i've been sooo bizzy these days w/ skool n' werk!!! very bizzy. last nite, after my bizzy, bizzy_day@werk.com, i went to visit my committee chair advising professor. it was kind'f late cos i had to wait to borrow a laptop from my cowerker. neway, @ 1st i couldn't find her, so i decided to go to the library to pick up some book that i had reserved thru interlibrary loan a coupl'f weeks 'go. i had sort'f 4gotten what it was that i reserved. neway, i walked thru the nicely mild precocious spring nite air to the san josé pride n' joy, the martin luther king, jr. library. well, i noticed there were lots'f cops 'round. also, earlier i was a bit frustrated w/ the lack'f parking 'round campus n' even in the garage. i found out what was going on, when i passed close by a kron4 news van: sideshow arnold was in town gettin' interviewed right on our sjsu campus. (the only reason i'm saying "sideshow arnold"'s cos'f that "sideshow bob 4 mayor" episode'f the simpsons where sideshow bob turwilliger (or however u spell his name...) gets voted in as the republikan puppet mayor'f springfield. apparently, the name'f the episode's "sideshow bob roberts" n' u can read all 'bout episode 2f02 @ http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F02.html. i can't spell turwilleger, but i can spell schwarzeneggar. wolfgang castlemeyer? no! rainier wolfcastle!!! boy, i sure haven't had time to watch simpsons lately... n' that's taking it's toll! neway, i went to library to pick up my book... which turned out to be 3 volumes, each as thick n' heavy as a big, big diktionary! man! it was a good werkout. after that, my professor called me, n' i met her in the lab.
neway, *sigh* i'm really tired right now. 2morrow, i have a very full day. i'm gonna do some very important labwerk all day n' then go give a presentation on my master's projekt @ skool @ 400p. u 'member my projekt title, right? "image processing for machine vision based auto-calibration of wafer-handling robots"... i dunno why akademic paper titles gotta be so long... but i guess in this case, longer's better or sumpthin'. *shrug*
there's so much i'd love to chat 'bout here on my journal; but, lately, i just don't have the time. :-( i wonder if i've used up my 1100kb on avantgo w/ my recent journal entries yet. *shrug* well, how 'bout if i put up a coupl'f pictures? in that case, i'm sure to go over my 1100kb!
i'm hoping to hit the slopes on sat. we'll c. there've been times when the beautiful kaela hwang n' i drove up to tahoe on fri nite but stayed in sactown on the way up n' completed the drive in the morn. in a way, that's kind'f silly: it's sort'f like driving up from san jo to berkeley but taking a rest 4 the nite in a hotel in fremont. ha ha, well, it's not that bad.
4 a long time, i've known this, but i haven't mentioned it here yet, i don't think: kaela n' i r getting baptised this easter, 2004.04.11. yah, didju know? prob'ly not...
speaking'f religion, i read this great article in christianity today in my company gym 'bout christians in the demokratic party. yah, it's such a misconception 'mongst narrowminded amerikans that only republikans r christians. i saw a bumper sticker 2day that read: "if god exists, then capitalism wouldn't." hrm... i do appreciate a pt that sticker makes: the whole capitalism thing really isn't very holy, u know? however, i'm not a kommunist, n' i do appreciate kapitalism cos i get paid 4 doing my job, etc. the thing is: i realise that my support'f kapitalism is not very holy... in fakt, it's sort'f a sin cos support'f kapitalism's a form'f greed, w/o doubt. so... well, the way i c it, all'f us kapitalists r sinners that keep on sinning. some christians say that homosexuality is a sin. well, in that case homosexuals r sinners who keep on sinning, if they r practicing homosexuality, right? likewise, all us kapitalists r sinners who keep on sinning cos we're practicing greed. *shrug* dunno what to make'f that... however, i think that 1 sin's not as bad as 'nother, that all sin is equally bad in god's eye. *shrug*
u know how there's all this hype 'bout sf gay marriages lately n' that dubyah even went as far as to do sumpthin' as ridiculous as ask 4 an ammendment to the constitution to ban it? n' u know how the media can't stop talkin' 'bout sf gay marriages n' mentioned 2day that san jos´ is officially recognising these gay marriages? well, in ne case, what do i think'f homosexuality n' christianity? well... i've sed b4 my unpopular belief that jesus was neither hetero nor homo but asexual. however, the bible does have text that sort'f condemns homosexual akts, right? right. n' it has plenty'f text that condemns just plain 4nikation including that'f the heterosexual nature. in ne case, is it right 4 christians to support anti.gay legislation? after all, r we not just trying to ban a sin? isn't that what we should do as good christians? me, i say u. if ne'f us christians really care to save the soul'f a gay person, why should our 1st step not be simply to make friends w/ an openly gay person. why should our 1st reach out to gays be sumpthin' so negative n' hateful?! how many christians who support anti.gay legislation aktually have gay friends? me? honestly, my closest friends r all hetero. however, i do have some friends who r gay here n' there. well... like, have i talked to them 'bout christianity? if my aim really is to bring my gay friends to christ, why shouldn't my 1st move be just to plain talk to them 'bout it rather than to attack them maliciously 'bout what sins they have. shoot! there's so much in the bible 'bout not being like that! it's like the whole mary magdalene story, u know? personally, i don't believe jesus would support anti.gay legislation. @ the same time, he wouldn't support premarital sex whether it be hetero or homo. does that make postmarital homo sex ok? now, to me, that's sort'f debatable... but in ne case, there r worse sins in this world to think 'bout... n' the sins that i think ought to be punishable by law... well, they don't include all this hoo ha hoo ha... in that christianity today article i read 'bout a bumper sticker that i haven't cn but find very clever: "what would jesus drive?" ha ha ha, that's great! it's a environmentalist sticker; n' as a christian, i totally appreciate it.
neway, it's 124a, n' i gotta be @ the lab by 800a up n' running! man, oh man! it's gonna be tuff. as spring rapidly approaches n' the air fills up w/ flowery scents in the nite, i know that when the climate gets as warm as it was in july last yr 'round our wedding, it'll be hard to sleep. in winter, it's hard to wake up cos i just wanna hibernate like a bear, but in summer i can't sleep @ nite cos it's so hot, n' then i wake up in the morn cos it's so hot.
i wonder if i've gone over my avantgo limit now. if so, u'll notice that i'll remove entries from the begining'f the yr from this recent entries page. u'll always be able to read past entries in my archives, u know. who does, tho? even i don't! ha ha ha... well, u should! 948p: 2day was a hot, sunny day in santa clara. yesterday, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went snowboarding @ alpine meadows. it was a pretty good day, i s'ppose. u c, alpine meadows has 1'f the best deals 4 a day'f snowboarding in tahoe. $39 gets u a lift tic, compared to like $62 or more @ heavenly, u know? it was a hot, sunny day. the snow was very soft. the day started out kind'f bad cos i lost my lift ticket n' lost kaela here n' there when we took diff routes. however, the day got better. i was happy to get lots'f nice jumps in n' stuff. u know, this season, i really haven't ridden rails much. however, i think i've improved my form in diff, silly, li'l tricks n' 360s n' stuff. i've taken better care'f my back on the slopes, so my back doesn't hurt @ all, but my legs a bit more sore. in the past months, my problem was that i was a lazier snowboarder. yesterday, i made a conscious effort to tuck and bend my knees more while jumping, so i don't land w/ my back bent over, u know? it looks very unkewl n' hurts my back neway... but i was doing that in the past few months just cos i had gotten lazy. we got to have a portobello shroom burger w/ garlic fries @ lunch n' saw peter tsai. when we got home, we went to sushi o sushi 4 dinner n' took a short walk 'cross the street to return the rented lost in translation dvd @ blockbuster. i had rented that uh... thurs nite? i 4get... or was it fri nite? ah, yes... 'twas fri nite, after my presentation in my master's projekt class. that presentation went well. it was a warm eve(ning), n' we master's students were sort'f "stuck" in a warm room 4 4hrs, from 400p to 800p, on a fri eve. fri, during the day, i had sooo much werk to do... all this lab testing. i got 'lot done, but i know i can always do more, u know? yah, that's sort'f a werkaholic's motto, huh? *sigh* i dunno... i do have a bit'f pressure@werk.com cos u know... i hafta make sure i land the permanent position. 오전 1232a: 오늘 (어제) 아름다운 캐이라 황 하고 제가 진돗개를 바닸어요. 여성 진돗개... 예 이름이 "순이" 예요. 만히 만히 귀여워요! 그리고 너무 똑똑해요. 1249a: i'm surprised that i haven't it my 1100kb avantgo limit yet. that's strange. well, i'm sure these 2 pics'll push me over: 2nite, we went to petco fri morn: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 8th monthversary, wedding monthversary. :-) also, 2day's andy wang's b.day. happy b.day, andy. last sun, kaela n' i went to costco. we bought some nice things like blueberries n' a pineapple. it's good to eat fruit. i picked out this hi.fibre, blueberry cereal. i treated myself to a nice pushbroom. :-) heh, does a pushbroom make me happy? well, a clean driveway does. dude, does that make me sound really domestic? domesticated? *shrug* i dunno; but i feel very blessed right now: beautiful wife, beautiful house, beautiful doggy. heh. these days, i'm just so nervous cos i'm s'pposed to hear back 'bout that "permanent" position. <:-/ i feel so jittery, nervous, n' anxious. i wanna put more'f my $$$ into mutual funds. i've been thinking that ever since i went to that financial planning class @ my werk last week. hrm... do i just sound that much like an "all.grown up" person? marriage, home ownership, doggy ownership, mutual funds... clean driveway... lawn mowing... eh, who'm i kidding? i'm still immature!
[later] dude, as 4 asian politiks, isn't it crazy that the taiwanese president was shot n' the korean president was impeached? 2day, our president talked 'bout the 1 yr anniversary'f the iraq war.
[later] lately, the weather's still been absolutely beautiful in the bay area. since i'm outside more now, cos'f dog walking, i need to wear sunscreen n' hats.
[later] afternoon: i took my cowerkers to lunch to celebrate my new position! :-) u don't hafta spread this, but i was the #1 candidate, so i get a signing bonus. now, i really feel blessed!
[later] i know u guys don't watch 진주 목걸이 (jinjoo mokguhli, pearl necklace), but u should in order to answer that age.old question: "what do u do when u discover that ur fiancée's aktually ur long, last li'l sister?" it cms like we all find ourselves asking that question all 2 often. just kidding; but it's a great show. 809a: i'm clonflikted 'bout whether to go to fresno or not w/ the beautiful kaela hwang nor not. she's going in order to show our friends some income properties. i've already walked sooni, so i s'ppose she won't go crazy w/o me here. i'm very proud that she lasted so long yesterday w/o cing us. when we 1st got her this wk, i was so worried 'bout her separation anxiety, but it's getting better. she really likes her home in the backyard n' cms to take pride in it. she doesn't do ne damage to the backyard. she does do 1 funny thing. on mon nite, @ petco, we bought her 1'f those huge bone.shaped, rawhide chewtoys. that nite or else the next morning, she buried it. she didn't dig a deep hole. that'd be bad. she just moved a bit'f loose soil n' covered it up. u could totally c it poking out from under the dirt, so it was so cute. all those things that ppl say doggies do, all those things u c in cartoons; they really do! ha ha.
yesterday, kaela took my car, but she was stuck@werk.com, so she couldn't drive me to my class. instead, i took the 304 vta bus from my office to downtown san jo n' then walked to campus. after class, i took the light rail to great amerika n' the 57 to somewhere near our house n' walked. it was sort'f fun n' interesting to take publik transportation, n' all vta rides r free thanks to my transportation pass provided to me by the university as a student. altho' i love saving gas n' saving the environment, i've gotta admit that being able to drive on a regular basis does give me a huge advantage in my career n' edukation. yah, it's really un4tunate, in a way. i hate to think'f myself as sooo privelaged etc... but yah, having a car let's me werk later n' still make it to class. i get more done. i think i'm a good engr n' a good employee... n' a good student... yah, like, i don't like to think that my successes thus far, as modest as they may be or whatever, have been somewhat helped by the nice background i've had. do u know what i'm gettin' @? i really appreciate all the help n' support my parents gave me thru.out my life, like the fakt that we could live in a nice neighbourhood n' that i could go to a nice skool... n' that i was able to have a car ever since i got my license, etc. u know? it's not like my family's really aristokratic or nething; but yah, they've provided 4 me when i needed help, u know? after all, kaela n' i were able to crash @ my mom's house 4 a yr, right? i dunno; some ppl'd say, "what parent wouldn't let his/her unemployed, full.time student kid live w/ him/her?!" eh, that's not so much the pt. i realise now n' then that i've had a somewhat spoiled upbringing. however, i know 'least my parents to some extent each made sure i wasn't 2 spoiled, right? well, 4 1 thing, if i was that spoiled growing up, wouldn't i not even think 'bout stuff like this? don't "rich kids" go thru life just expekting to get handouts from their parents n' w/o ne shame?
maybe i'm just thinking more 'bout this cos i rode the lightrail yesterday n' saw several panhandlers. i considered giving $$$ but didn't. i dunno; was that wrong? i had gotten the great news 'bout my new job. i'd even received my salary n' signing bonus info! i was very pleased w/ it. i dunno if u readers realise how much mechanical engrs get paid, usually; but well, i'm satisfied w/ my salary right now n' even more satisfied w/ the salary i'll get in a few months.
[later, after washing some dishes] 836a: now that i own a house, i've been looking into putting more $$$ into mutual funds. lemme tell u: when u'r a kid, u think that "saving $$$" means throwing into ur savings acct. now that we're older, that is sooo wrong. if u throw ur $$$ into a savings acct, u'r losing out due to inflation n' might as well just spend it on things that make u happy instead. real investments r, of course, real estate n' mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc. @ that financial planning class i went to @ werk.com, the financial planner teaching the class highly recommended robert kiyosaki's book rich dad, poor dad. yah, i'm curious, very curious. i've, of course, cn his infomercials on late nite tv, yet would never spend the $$$ to buy his real estate investment seminars or tapes/cds or whatever he sells. howver, i've noticed that his book is selling very well, n' ppl cm to thnk ok'f it. the whole idea that real estate's a good investment, that's a total given, n' i'm already totally sold on it. however, now that i have sunk $$$ into our house, what should i do w/ the rest'f it? well, i guess 2 things: 1) invest wisely, n' 2) spend it on things that aktually make us happy. ok... that's not the holiest'f lists. if i were that good'f a person, i'd say i'd give it to charity, heh. well, yah... however, 1 thing i've heard in robert kiyosaki's infomercials that i do belive in these days is this: if u have $$$, hording it doesn't make u happy. if u don't use it to do thing things u really wanna do in life, u lose ur ambition. well, the most important thing is this: a penny save is not a penny earned. it never was, n' it never will be, thanks to inflation. u understand? perhaps u can even say: a penny saved is a penny spent. ha ha. well, i dunno if i'd go that far, but maybe some ppl would. it's important to spend $$$; but, true, u gotta do it wisely. wisely spending it doesn't mean not spending it. i think wisely spending it means 1) spending it on things that truly make u happy, 2) getting 'least somewhat decent deals on the things u buy, not just paying waaay 2 much 4 the things u buy, n' 3) spending it on investments. hrm, maybe u could say, u gotta spend ur $$$ on things that payback either in $$$ or happiness. *sigh* heh, this is such a republikan, "greed is good" a la michael douglas's character in wall street paragraph. yah, these r some'f the most replublikan wurds u'll ever hear me say, n' i won't say them often. i understand that republikans believe that u should let rich ppl be rich, so that it encourages amerikans to try harder, werk harder, n' make more $$$. to them, nuthin' in life should come w/o hard werk, no matter how disadvantaged or disabled u r. it's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish, they say. eh; i dunno if i buy all that, but i do know that it's better to invest ur $$$ than to pretend it doesn't exist. in my earliest days as a werking engr, i guess i was almost a li'l ashamed'f making $$$. i was living in berkeley 'mongst students w/ lots'f young, student friends. i was worried that buying a house would make it 2 apparent that i was making a somewhat ok living, u know? i gotta emphasize: it's not that i'm mr. moneybags, it's just that, things like investing in real estate r easier than u think, n' more beneficial than most young ppl realise. mon ~noon (circa noon, 'round noon): i didn't talk yet 'bout what the beautiful kaela n' hwang n' i did 4 our 8th monthversary. kaela werked hard that day n' got home sort'f late. if u 'member, i told u that i took the bus n' lite rail home from skool. when i got home, i played w/ sooni. she's not really a puppy; but sometimes, she akts like 1. when kaela came home the 3'f us went to santana row. we had a nice monthversary dinner @ the yankee pier, outside. 화요일 오후, tues afternoon: yesterday morn, i signed my papers 4 my new position. that felt good. basikally, i'm gettin' a big promotion, u know? :-) the new position, aktually doesn't start till aug 2; but i'll just keep werking my current position till then. cowerkers asked, "don't you wanna take a vacation in between?" well, i don't mind: 1) i believe it makes all the paperwerk n' bureaucracy stuff easier if i don't have a gap in between. 2) i surely don't mind werkin' n' gettin' paid. 3) i don't mind my job; i really don't. i like it. 4) altho' i know we gotta travel more, we have a doggy, whom we can't leave @ home alone. we'll c. maybe we'll be able to take a short vakation sometime. we'll c.
on fri nite, @ the yankee pier, i had this grilled blue marlin (swordfish) w/ sesame soy glaze, red potates, n' cole slaw. that cole slaw must sound funny, but that's cos u get to pick 2 sides, n' i picked cole slaw as 1'f them (n' red potatoes as the other). the beautiful kaela hwang had this really good grilled sea bass. i liked her fish better. sooni was very well behaved, n' sat w/ us out on the patio, along the street, by the sidewalk. our dining neighbours were very nice to her. they were also dogowners, altho' they didn't have their doggy w/ them. the waitress liked our doggy 2. the waitress brought me my dish. it was a fish steak on top'f some cooked greens on top'f some red potatoes. yah, i've cn seafud dishes like this b4 @ places like skates, etc. it's pretty typikal to put a fish steak on top'f some starch, u know? i noticed that the potatoes were a bit cold n' told kaela. i think the waitress noticed i was unhappy 'bout sumpthin', n' came back. she asked, "sir, do you like charred?" "hrm," i thought "i guess it's healthier not to eat carcinogenic, burnt fud." "no, aktually i don't," i replied. she apologised n' took 'way my plate. she came back w/ a plate w/o the greens. heh, we had a few chuckles n' laffs @ that pt. the waitress hadn't sed "charred," as in burnt, but "chard," as in "swiss chard," which i 'member from the foothill dining commons up @ berkeley. u c, even if u speak perfekt english, it's still a messed up language, eh? heh heh.
[later] 'member: u can come to our baptism on easter, if u want. this's a totally open invitation. it's @ san josé first korean christian church, on the morn'f april 11. the church's located on arques just north or west'f lawrence expy, by fry's n' applied materials, the #1 maker'f semiconductor manufacturing equipment!
[later] 902p: after class, i'm waiting 4 kaela by fantasia. wed morn: 2nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i gotta go back to h&r block to finish up our taxes, which we started on sun afternoon. we also went to costco on sun afternoon. we've been going there more lately, as u c. yah, costco sort'f symbolises the domesticated life if u don't think 2 hard or whatever. *shrug* i dunno. as i've sed b4, it's important to separate maturation from aging. hrm, 1's a "i.o.n" noun, the other's a gerund. 4 better parallelism, i could've sed "it's important to separate maturing from aging." it's important to differentiate maturing from selling out. some say, it's important to differentiate settling down from just plain settling. neway, we've all gotta pay taxes, n' that's sort'f part'f growing up, right?
phil huang passed on this important article/discussion/whatever to me: gay or asian? this website talks 'bout an article that appeared in details magazine. usually, i consider details magazine to be more intelligent n' socially responsible than other "men's magazines" such as maxim, fhm, n' stuff. i don't read playboy (no1 ever does; they just look @ the pics!), but i have received a few issues'f maxim, fhm, n' stuff, which all feature fotos'f scantily clad women but no naked women, unlike playboy or penthouse, which's really just straight up porno (or pr0n, as cyberkids say to throw off search engines by intentionally switching the "r" n' the zero that replaces "o.") jeanna 1nce sent me a link 4 a free fhm subscription, so i get those. however, i found out that the articles r extremely juvenile in their offensiveness. it's not even just a matter'f politikal correktness etc. but just a matter'f our not all being a bunch'f immature 12 yr olds to young to buy mags w/ pics'f "real" naked women. i'm sure u've heard many college boys say, "maxim's for pu$$ies! real men read playboy!" 웃기네! literacy's sexy, eh? (real men read the beno journal.) pics'f naked women make many adolescent boys sin, but we all know they can be nice sometimes n' not the main prob w/ 2day's men's magazines. obviously, the main prob w/ 2day's men's magazines's that they brainwash li'l boys into conservatives. their immature articles that bash france 4 not supporting dubyah's iraqi war imply that men gotta be conservatives, which isn't true. cynical scoffing boy'd then ask, "so, beno... u want a pinko, liberal men's mag w/ pics'f hairy berkeley lesbians w/ saggy +!+$?" no; some ppl'd label me a conservative cos i do believe that women should maintain their appearances. then 'gain, some ppl'd label me gay cos i also believe men should maintain their appearances. in the days b4 "metrosexuality" became the trite buzzwurd it is 2day, our taekwondo master friend jang inkwon sed it best as he replied to an interested man in sf's castro. the man asked, "are you gay?" master jang replied, "no, i'm korean."
[later] lunchtime: i came home n' cooked pasta w/ asparagus, artichokes, onions, shrooms, n' trimmed bacon, which sort'f stands in 4 proscuitto. i usually never by or eat bacon, but i had a savemart coupon 4 a free pack. i usually never buy or read immature, so.called "men's magazines," but i had a url 4 a free subscription.
[later] 1053p: so some ppl'd say that asian guys, as a generalisation, tend to take care'f their looks. in that case, if u r just a typikal brainwashed amerikan who thinks the term "metrosexual"'s so hip, then u might say that many asian guys r metrosexual. if u r just totally clueless, then u don't know that "metrosexual" refers to guys who r heterosexual but take care'f their looks. obviously, so many amerikans've a prob w/ metrosexual guys n' accuse them'f aktually being homosexual n' not just metrosexual. whatever. personally, i think it's important that we all, whether male or female, take care'f our looks. *sigh* i know; i haven't gotten 'nuff exercise lately. :-( 654a: i've been awake 4 some time now cos i woke up to sooni barking 'bout sumpthin'; i dunno what. i'm thinking'f taking her 4 a short drive to the bank to get some ca$h. *shrug* i had a pretty good jog w/ her last nite. we jogged over to this nearby park n' then to 교포 시장 gyopo sijang. i took her 4 that jog, while the beautiful kaela hwang cooked some kimchi jjigae n' dooboo juhn (i guess that's what u call it... fried tofu.). sooni n' i made great time, but i got a fon call on our way back, so i started walking instead'f jogging. i guess sooni noticed i was distrakted by the call, so she decided to pull this way n' that way in order to sniff everything in existence. doggies do that, u know. when we got home, kaela ate. 2 costco trips 'go, we bought a flat'f gordon biersch blonde bock. wow, it's not as lite'f a beer as we'd thought we'd 'membered. it tastes darker than it aktually is. hrm... i concluded that it's just that we're now used super lite beers like michelob ultra etc. u know health studies say that drinking wine, beer, or some kind'f alkohol 1nce a day can be good 4 ur heart. notice: meidkal doktors've sed that drinking alkohol can be good 4 u n' that maybe drinking coffee or definitely drinking green tea's good 4 u. however, they'll never say that smoking 1nce a day's good 4 u in ne way. out'f all these substances that ppl abuse, u really shouldn't smoke.
@ fry's right now, there's this viewsonic 18" flat panel tv/monitor on sale 4 $499 after rebate. man, imagine that! we could sit in the living room, watch tv n' werk on werkstuff on the 'puter all @ 1nce. it sez u can watch tv over ur data. so u can watch n' werk, right? that'd be kewl. i think someday, i'd like to get a tv/monitor like that. right now, we totally live out'f 1 room, our bdrm. if we get a tv out in the living room, we'll spend more time in the rest'f our house, i know.
oh yah, i wanna thank this person bing 4 signing my gbook! i've really gotta update those 'q's. i need to answer them myself. let's say this is the last call 4 gbook signatures 4 this round. then i'll answer the 'q's myself n' change 'em.
name: 비노 황 beno hwang
tues afternoon: originally, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had planned to snowboard this past sat. however, we cancelled cos i felt we just had 2 much stuff to attend to: kaela had werk to do. i had car maintenance to do, n' i had to build some kind'f trap to stop sooni from jumping over the fence. in the morn (on sat), i dropped my car off @ a shop in sunnyvale. kaela n' i went to costco w/ sooni. sooni's not allowed inside, so each'f us had to take turns watching / holding onto her. we had breakfast @ mcyukyuk 's on lawrence by 101 n' visited fry's, where kaela bought a handsfree kit. ppl who like dogs love sooni, but there'r ppl who hate dogs n' r scared'f her wolfish shape. after fry's, kaela dropped me off to get my car. i went to home depot to get materials 4 sooni's trap. i spent the afternoon building the trap while kaela werked.
oh yah, on fri nite my class ended early. kaela had werk stuff to do, but later we ate a nice dinner @ the mccarthy ranch pasta pomodoro. we ate outdoors n' kept sooni w/ us. after dinner, kaela went to wal*mart, n' i waited outside w/ sooni.
sat nite, we ordered a sausage n' shroom pizza from pizza chicago n' had ken n' grace over. i went to safeway@rivernark to buy some salads n' found a purse in a shopping cart, which i handed over to the manager. after dinner, we watched starsky and hutch @ amc mercado 20. [later] 943p: i just took sooni 4 possibly her last walk w/ ovaries n' a uterus. 2morrow morn @ 600a, i take her in to get spayed. i felt sort'f sad 2nite. well, when i came home from werk, i ate a quick dinner'f a microwaved janguhgui (unagi) over some leftover rice. then i took sooni to the nearby petco to buy her some treats cos these beggin' strips were or sale. i know they're pretty much just junk fud 4 doggies, but eh... it's her last nite w/ ovaries n' a uterus, u know? after petco, i went to the gas station. i hoped that sooni'd stay in the car, but i had to let her out n' hold her leash as i pumped gas. as i drove home, i thought 'bout her gettin' spayed 2morrow n' felt sad that she is such a purebred of a rare breed n' won't get to pass on her genes. however, i'm sure if we let her go unspayed, she'd end up getting pregnant by ne ol' breed'f dog, so she wouldn't have valuable purebred jindotgae puppies neway. that's my guess. *sigh* it's 2 bad, tho', i know. spaying's just the right thing to do 4 pets.
i know my journal cms to be all 'bout sooni these days. last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to taekwondo practice. we could cos i'm teknically on spring break, u know? we brought sooni w/ us, n' she behaved pretty well. a few times she got all excited n' wanted to come in, but she just put her head down n' slept thru most'f it. i feel good when she's able to chill like dat. after practice, kaela n' i got boba drinks from fantasia. i got the drinks while kaela walked sooni 'round cupertino village (the 99 mall).
i'm sleepy n' should go to sleep early so that i can wake up to take sooni to get spayed.
well, what else can i talk 'bout besides our cute doggy? i heard that starbucks is gonna start selling customised, burned cds @ their stores. notice that ppl don't say really say starbucks ?cafés but starbucks stores? come to think'f it, i haven't hung out @ a café in a while, have i? if i were more'f a student, i would, i guess.
oh yah, bernard... bernard huang! thank u 4 signing my gbook. thurs early eve: i picked up sooni from the clinic after her spaying. she looks sad, disoriented, n' as if she's been crying.
[later] sooni sighs when she's bored n' yawns when she's tired.
[later] i made some spicy fried rice just now. [later] 832p: i'm gonna go back to werk 4 a bit 2nite cos i took some time off in the afternoon to pick up sooni, etc. i'm gonna take next mon off as a floating holiday in order to study 4 my upcoming midterm. oh, 2day's april fool's day. 830p: the 2nd episode'f a 1 hr'f the simpsons's 'bout to start. how r u?
2day's date's 04.04.04, as u know. "die, die, die," that
means. 851p: last week, i skeduled 2day as a day off from werk to study 4 this thurs's "advanced control system design" midterm. i stayed home 2day n' studied @ the kitchen table. i'm definitely not done studying but feel i've made decent progress so far. i went out during lunch to pick up the beautiful kaela hwang from her office n' have lunch w/ her @ tk noodles @ the barber ln 99 mall. as usual, i had a #8 combination egg noodle soup n' a #65 strawberry squishee drink. we had a relatively quick lunch. afterwards, i swung by home depot to pick up a bit'f rabbit proof fence (bunny proof fence), which i use as sooni proof fence (it's just this cheap, green, vinyl, netted stuff u use in veggie gardens.) n' a $1.97 woven rug, which sooni'll sleep on from now on, so she won't wanna go into our carpetted rooms or nething, hopefully. right now, as i type, she's sleeping on that $1.97 rug. it was amazingly cheap n' nice. i wonder where they get these rugs so cheap. r they made by underpaid werkers or by some automated machine?
i sat @ home most'f the day, @ the kitchen table, studying. thru.out the day, i saw sooni try very hard to stay 'wake n' then get droopy eyelids b4 nodding off to sleep. it's really cute. she's sick right now, tho'. :-( i think she has some kind'f cold. i'm thinking she must'f caught a "kennel cough" from her stay @ the human society clinic when she got spayed, vaccinated, n' chipped. cos she has a cold, she's been snoring 'lot. even tho' it's sad that she's sick, it is very cute when doggies snore! heh heh. sometimes, she snores loud n' wakes herself up. i know ppl do that 2. very much un4tunately, cos she's sick, she's not eating. that's very bad cos she's already anorexic. she eats so little. u'd think doggies'd wanna eat everything in sight, but she's very much not fud.motivated. she's getting very skinny. when we 1st got her, she wasn't eating. then we got her to eat some 4 a while; but, now that she's sick, she's not eating. :-(
on fri nite, kaela n' i had dinner w/ dave yee n' cal le. it was very fun. they drove over to our house. then, we drove'em over to santana row, where we dined outdoors @ cazuelas. mmm... they have great mexican tapas! it was very fun. i had a great time! cazuelas' guacamole's really good. i know guacamole sounds so mundane in comparison to all the hip, kewl tapas dishes u've undoubtely experienced, but their freshly made guacamole (some ppl call it "guac," i know.), which is made to order beside ur table, is awesome! their freshly made corn tortillas r also awesome. we ate some chicken in mole sauce, some prawns or shrimp in mole sauce, some filet mignon, n' some hongos (shrooms). ah, it was all so good. also, it was so fun to catch up w/ 2 ol' friends.
on sat, kaela n' i refereed @ the "american open" taekwondo tournament hosted by sky martial arts (yoon sabuhmnim) @ chabot college. i center reffed the whole time. my throat was so sore afterwards from all the shouting. i barely had a voice to cheer 4 ben n' ernest. ben sparred our ol' friend leo 4 his gold medal.
yesterday was sun. daylite savings time started yesterday @ 200a. we went to church. surprisingly, we got there relatively on.time. cos it was the 1st sun'f the month, the em congregation ("em" = "english ministry") enjoyed some donuts n' our famous "donut cake" in celebration'f april b.days. i was so full from those pastries, that i didn't feel much like lunch afterwards. we went home n' well... i guess we cleaned up stuff or sumpthin'... oh yah, we did yardwerk! oh man, i was saying b4 that our neighbours must hate us cos they maintain their landscaping so well, just as the previous owners'f our house prob'ly did, n' we've been so bad so far. well, we did lots'f yardwerk yesterday. then i drove kaela out to south san jo, where she took some digital fotos'f houses 4 an appraisal she's werking on. after that, i finally could say that i was not full nemore from that blueberry donut n' slice'f donut cake (w/ rainbow sprinkles), so we went to galleria market to buy a coupl'f 빈대떡 bindaedduhk n' a coupl'f 김치부침kimchi boochim from the 2 아줌마 ajoomma that run that weekend 포장마차 pojangmacha. we had brought sooni w/ us out to the house foto shoot, (which was a like a safari, cos kaela mostly shot from the car), n' we had her w/ us @ galleria. the sunny weather was quite brisk, so we ate in the car instead'f @ the outside picnic tables in front'f the market's deli area. then i took kaela n' sooni out to cupertino's stevens creek county park, where we walked a li'l down to look @ the creek n' @ some horses. when we got home, i found a tick on sooni's fur, but it had not bitten her. phew, good thing i got the tick off'f her! when we had just gotten out'f the car @ the park, kaela sed the place looked like a place that'd have ticks. b4 we went home from cupertino, we stopped by target on stevens creek blvd, n' i bought some laundry detergent.
2day, 'round 700p, i went 4 a ~45 min walk w/ sooni over to 교포 시장 gyopo sijang n' back. it was quite brisk outside 2nite.
ha ha, it's really funny how we don't have a proper, portable water dish 4 sooni. u c, they make these kewl, cloth water dishes (which can hold water), that u can take w/ u n' give ur doggy water wherever u go. instead, i carry these red dixie brand plastic cups, which we have plenty'f cos we bought them from costco 4 that time we hosted the couples' bible study @ our house. the funny thing is, ppl who've been to college parties know that these r typikal cupes u c @ house parties... so they're basikally known as "party cups," which would typikally contain some keg beer, a tequilla sunrise, a screwdriver, or sumpthin' like that. heh, it makes me chuckle now n' then to c sooni passed out (asleep) next to her red party cup; she just looks like a "party animal," u know? neway, i know i talk 2 much here 'bout our doggy, but i think the pt u gotta take from 2day's long blabbing 'bout sooni's that it's sort'f cute when she snores.
u know, kaela n' i r getting baptised this upcoming sun (easter sun). church service starts @ 1000a, but our baptism, which takes place during the korean language service, as opposed to our usual english language service, 's @ noon. plz feel free to come to san josé first korean christian church this upcoming sun morn to c this. u can get there @ 1000a or @ noon, either way. the church is on arques by lawrence expwy, near fry's electronics n' applied materials, the world's #1 maker'f semiconductor manufacturing equipment: we make the machines that make virtually every new microchip in the world... or sumpthin' like that.
ok, the time's now 933p, n' i should get back to studying. c ya. i guess 2day's sort'f my own personal "dead day," altho' thurs' exam's a midterm not a final. it's just sort'f interesting if not ironic to say that since yesterday was 04.04.04. tues morn: last wk, my cowerker eric sent me this url, which i meant to share w/ u right 'way:
http://dogbreedinfo.com/jindo.htm this webpage very, very accurately describes sooni. 1243a: y! news article "Avoid Logs to Avoid Ticks, Experts Say" mentions researchers from robert lane's uc berkeley lab: "Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, used themselves as bait to see where the greatest risk of picking up a tick was, and found logs were the worst places to sit."
2nite (as in yesterday) i had my "advanced control systems design" midterm. i studied hard 4 it. i hope i did ok. i felt pretty good after finishing the test, but as ppl discussed the answers, i didn't feel as good. it's not that i had wrong answers... but i felt that my answers just weren't as good as the they could've been. do u know what i mean??? well... sometimes grading's subjektive, u know?
what's been going on? well, this week, i studied. what else? 2nite, i ate el pollo loco's pollo bowl 4 dinner. on my way home, i found the beautiful kaela hwang n' sooni walkin' down our street in the dark. sooni recognised my car; how cute! i picked them up n' drove over to the nearby el pollo loco cos i was hungry n' hadn't yet eaten dinner even tho' 'twas ~945p. 4 lunch, i had a turkey burger, seasoned criss.cross fries, n' a diet coke last nite (as in 2 nites 'go), kaela cooked some pasta. earlier this week, i had bought some portabello shrooms from albertsons. i marinated them earlier in the evening, walked sooni, n' studied. later, when kaela came home, we went to petco to buy some dogfud etc. we went to the cupertino petco, hoping that dukkyung'd be werking, but he wasn't. what else have i been eating lately? 1 nite, kaela cooked 새우 김치 순두부 saewoo kimchi soondooboo (shrimp n' kimchi tofu stew).
2nite (as in last nite), i was so happy cos i uploaded sechskies' "couple" onto my lgvx6000 as a ringtone! :-) i also uploaded some graphics. i've gotta upload more kewl ringtones. this lgvx6000 to pc cable from gomadic's sooo kewl! u've gotta get 1! it also let's u dl ur pics from ur lgvx6000 to ur pc. that's very important. i'll be putting up more pics here soon. surprisingly, i still haven't gone over my 1100kb avantgo limit!
don't 4get: this upcoming sun, kaela n' i r gettin' baptised; so u can come, if u want.
i bet u expekted i'd inundate u w/ sooni pics. well, here's a pic'f this kind'f wildflower that's been growing 'round our house lately. it's very pretty.
오전 1248: 어제 아름다운 캐이라 황과 제가 세례를 받았어요. :-) yesterday, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were baptised. i've been telling u here 'bout it 4 a while now, n' it happened. last nite @ 200a (sat nite / sun morn), kaela's parents arrived @ our house. they sort'f surprised us w/ their visit. we had thought they weren't coming, but they changed their minds on sat n' told us on sat eve that they were gonna drive up right then. i'm glad they came. my mom came to witness our baptism. even tho', kaela n' i usually attend 사효세 제일교회 san josé first korean christian church's english ministry, we were baptised during the korean service. it was very interesting. n' yes, getting baptised really meant 'lot to kaela n' me. well... in the past, i always believed in the idea'f "spiritual baptism," that u become a total n' maybe complete christian as soon as u accept in ur heart jesus christ as ur lord n' saviour. in that sense, i figured, yah, as soon as u believe that, u'r guaranteed to go to heaven when u die. however, the idea'f a water baptism... i guess i've come to c the importance'f it. it's important not just to believe in ur heart but to be committed @ 'least to the point to announce in publik that u've made this commitment to follow the bible n' god. well, it's now done. we went thru w/ it.
2day during our lunch, i was talking w/ our friends david n' youmi
'bout how all 4'f us just got baptised @ a korean church altho' david n' i r taiwanese. well... does it matter? does it mean nething? why wasn't i baptised @ a taiwanese church? well, i think the more basik question in that direktion is "why don't i go to a taiwanese church?" well, i very much like our church. i really do. i really like the atmosphere, the congregation, chung moksanim... when the 4'f us 1st started going to fkcc (as it's acronymised), we really appreciated how chung moksanim tolerated all our questions. there was never ne "u just gotta believe it" kind'f talk. he was very open, honest, n' understanding. n' yah, most'f the ppl in the english ministry congregation r like that 2, n' we really appreciate that. yah... it's a church, amongst all the churches i've attended that i really like. do u know what churches i've attended? well, on a regular basis @ some time or 'nother, i've attended canaan taiwanese christian church, oakland's christian layman church, n' now san josé fkcc. i've been to a few others here n' there like berkeley's huge first presbyterian church (i was aktually an employee there 4 a while: a dishwasher.), new church (which's right 'cross the street from my ol' 2520 hillegass ave apt), sf vineyard... hrm, i guess i've visited some other korean, chinese, n' taiwanese churches here n' there. i can't necessarily 'member them all. in college, aktually, going to an aktual church wasn't my main spiritual aktivity but rather attending intervarsity christian fellowship (ivcf). however, many christians say it's important to have a church as well as fellowship. aktually, 4 a while after graduation from berkeley, i was going to christian layman's services on sun morn's but wasn't really having ne kind'f "fellowship." "fellowship" is basikally interaktion w/ other christians... in sort'f a spiritual/social mix, u know?
on fri nite, after my master's projekt class, in which i presented, i picked up kaela n' sooni from the li'l strip mall on el camino n' bowers that has petco, hanmi bank, sushi o sushi, 양평 해장국 yangpyuhng haejanggook, 길목집 gilmokjip, hana maki sushi, arirang noraebang, hana dvd, juicy burger, etc. we went to look 4 a restaurant w/ outdoor seating in sunnyvale. we tried p.f. chang's in the cherry orchard strip mall, but they don't have outdoor seating. we ended up @ the pasta pomodoro in the same strip mall. just a few wks 'go, we were @ the mccarthy ranch pasta pomodoro. now that we bring sooni w/ us to restaurants now n' then, we sure cm to like pasta pomodoro 4 their outdoor seating! :-) yah, lots'f these italian restaurants have outdoor seating w/ those inefficient patio heaters that i surely appreciate more now. i had this pollo griglio, n' kaela had that malfadine w/ fettucine... i think that's what it's called.
on sat, we left the house early w/ sooni n' picked up mark n' dennis to look @ some more fresno properties. wow, we're all getting pretty familiar w/ fresno n' fresno real estate investments! we had lunch @ a panda express on shaw in fresno. after all, i wanted chinese fud on fri nite... if only p.f. chang's had patio seating... we came back 4 dinner, expekting to meet up @ ken n' grace's but cancelled in order to get ready 4 kaela's parents' arrival.
ah, it's late. it's 127a. i gotta hit the hay 'specially
since i obviously gotta wake up early to walk sooni as usual.
[later] mon morn: last nite, i watched on ktvn.nc / ch28 the 2001 movie 물고기 자리 the pisces. i was looking 4ward to this movie since earlier last week cos i had checked the ktvn.nc website n' saw that a relatively contemporary movie was playing; n', in fakt, i had recognised the title, prob'ly from browsing yesasia. after all, it's nice to get sumpthin' diff from all those historik movies 'bout buddhist monks n' this n' that, filmed in the 1970s or 1980s, u know? if i get into a discussion of 물고기 자리 the pisces i'm gonna spoil the movie 4 u, n' i think u should watch it... not that it's the greatest movie in the world, but it's better than some crappy movies here n' there that u c, u know? after all, right now in the amerikan movie theatres, there really rn't many good movies. i s'ppose the best movie out right now's still the passion of the christ. i c ads 4 lots'f stoopid movies these days. neway, i dunno if i'm saying 2 much 'bout 물고기 자리 the pisces if i tell u that it's 'bout a gurl who's obsessed w/ a guy... in what i'm guessing is a fatal attraction way. u c, i never saw fatal attraction, but i think i sort'f understand what the gist'f it is. hrm, i'll continue discussing 물고기 자리 the pisces, but write in some light grey font, so that u'll hafta selekt the text, if u wanna read it, u know? eh, it's not like that many'f u'll really ever watch this movie, so nevermind. the movie's sort'f depressing cos it sort'f implies that true, deep love's often 1.sided, right? or *shrug* is obsession n' lust really true love? i think many'd say no. it just sounds like right to say that obession n' lust rn't true love, right? some ppl'd define "lust" as some kind'f desire that goes 'gainst god's will in that a person who lusts puts the thing/person he/she lusts after b4 god, u know? have u heard that b4. that's how some christians'd define "lust." other ppl define "lust" as simply romantik or maybe sexual love. u know that a song that'd i've like thru.out the ages's depeche mode's "a question of lust" from their 1986 black celebration album. it's a very pretty ballad, n' u've often heard/read me quote from that song's chorus: "it's a question of lust. it's a question of trust. it's a question of not letting what we've built up crumble to dust. it is all of these things and more that keep us together." personally, i've always that that's pretty true in good relationships, but in saying that (as a christian), i'm defining "lust" simply as "romantik love," not this putting this or that b4 god, etc. as i've always sed, in regards to that song, i feel "lust"'s "romantik love," "trust" is that "brotherly" kind'f love (or "friend" kind'f love), n' "not letting what we've built up crumble to dust"'s kind'f a "family" kind'f love, not that u should have a romantik relationship w/ a family member à la 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli. 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli n' 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeho r definitely my favourite shows on tv right now, n' i wondered last nite as i washed the dishes after the movie if korean dramas or other asian dramas'll someday break into the amerikan.dominated mainstream global market just as japanime has broken into that market. in the amerikan market, japanime is mostly appreciated by kids n' then a more cult.like adult following, right? well, do u think asian dramas could get that kind'f following 2? after all, don'tchu think that there r 'least some amerikan ppl who r sick'f the trashiness'f amerikan soap operas? :-/ 4 a while, stoopid shows like entertainment tonight tried to say that amerikans were loving australian soap operas, but i never really saw that catch on. i saw a few'f them get shown on like sat or sun afternoons 4 a while, i think. however, i think the appeal'f those was aktually that they were trashier than amerikan soap operas, wasn't it? mexican tv has lots'f soap operas 2, i've noticed, but i'm guessing they also sort'f follow the amerikan style; but i'm not sure. 1 very big diff from amerikan soap operas in asian dramas, as i've sed b4, is that they emphasize family bonds n' some'f the more routine, daily aktivities in a household. in that sense, i feel they're so much more realistik. asian dramas r a bit more candid; 4 example, 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeho has scenes that take place in the office restroom, not in a nasty way, but just in a way that sort'f pts out the truth that some ppl tend to use the restroom now n' then in their lives. neway, back to ruining the movie 물고기 자리 the pisces 4 u... in the movie, the obsessed gurl breaks into the guy's apt n' confronts his gf who happens to be sleeping alone in his bed. after experiencing this, the gf tells the guy that she thought she knew what love was but now, she thinks that she really doesn't love the guy in comparison to the obsessed gurl so she breaks up w/ him. that kind'f statement endorses obsession as a deep, true love. i dunno; in a way, i think true, true love's when obsession goes both ways. 1.sided obsession's pretty unhealthy; i think most ppl'd agree. i believe it's hurtful to both the obsessor n' the obsessee. some guys'd say it's so flattering n' all if a gurl were to obsess over a guy, but it hurts the obsessee to hafta rejekt the obssessor, u know?
[later] on sat eve, kaela cut my hair cos'f the baptism n' just cos i was getting sooo shaggy! it was rather warm in fresno on sat, n' it was fun to have sooni w/ us there! :-) she was very well behaved in the car! she slept 'lot during the drive to n' from. 4 dinner on sat, kaela n' i ate 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn @ home. on sat, i received a shipment from yesasia: albums from wax, bada, cherry filter, a club gayo one shot remix set, n' the 진주 목걸이 o.s.t. jinjoo mokguhli o.s.t..
[later] afternoon: earlier this afternoon, i went to campus to talk to 1'f my master's projekt advising professors. it's nice, warm, n' sunny outside. i neglekted to tell u that i bought a pair'f nice maui jim sunglasses a coupl'f weeks 'go on ebay. i received them that fri that kaela n' i went to dinner w/ cal n' dave. they r really nice glasses, n' i like them very much. a long time 'go, i didn't know 'bout maui jim sunglasses. then some yrs 'go, i bought kaela a pair. i found out they're really good. now that i have a pair, i really know they're really good. the world just looks more beautiful thru maui jim glasses. (what an endorsement, huh?) really! cos'f the nice, polarised lenses, i c colours more brilliantly cos i can c thru bright reflektions. really, things like flowers on trees n' colourful leaves look so nice! maui jim sunglasses r usually kind'f expen$ive, but i got them 4 pretty cheap on ebay. tues afternoon: i was disappointed last nite cos ktvn.nc / ch28 was down last nite, so i couldn't watch nooneuro malhaeyo. yah, lately they've had many teknical difficulties. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were very frustrated that the station was having all these awful teknical difficulties during the climax of sat's climactic episodes'f jinjoo mokguhli. >:-( i was saying that the korean video stores must've sabotaged the broadcast so that ppl'd come to their stores to rent the video recordings'f these shows, u know?
[later, wed morn, 2004.04.14] last nite (2004.04.13), i decided to name this journal entry "better luck tomorrow 2004" cos yesterday's date was 04.13, n' those r sort'f 2 bad luck numbers, u know? of course, me? i don't totally believe in luck, as u know. my philosophy, as u've heard/read me say/write over n' over 'gain is that bad luck n' good luck is aktually just ur perspektive on ur current situation n' how u choose either to focus on the good things happening in ur life or the bad things happening in ur life. well, altho' yesterday wasn't the worst day'f my life, thank goodness, it was not the greatest. thurs morn: yesterday, i tried to reserve a spot 4 sooni in a 6.wk doggy training class on sat morns @ a skool in south san jo called happy tails to you.
done w/ ur taxes? kaela n' i finished last min w/ h&r block's e.file service. they're 2 expen$ive, so we probably won't go back there next yr!
[later, 'round noon] a few wks 'go i came up w/ an observation 'bout my current 2 favourite tv shows (spoiler alert), 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli n' 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeyo: 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli's 'bout a guy n' gurl who falls in love n' then discover that they're aktually siblings (not to spoil it 4 u), while 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeyo's 'bout a guy n' gurl who akt like siblings (but really rn't) n' then fall in love w/ each other, (gain, not to spoil it 4 u). 금요일아침: 금요일이고 난 사랑하고 있어. fri morn: friday i'm in love. i haven't heard ne cure in a while.
[later] a couple'f good deals i've cn on buy.com [later] have u ever used the word "comprise"? here's the m-w.com definition 4 "comprise.":
One entry found for comprise.
Main Entry: comprise
funny, i looked it up cos i was gonna use that debatable 3rd sense. yah, i guess i've heard it used that way so many times i thought it was ok... 'specially since i am an engr, n' it sez it's used in that 3rd sense in "scientific" n' "technical writing." yah, that's true. however, when i tried to check the wurd w/ ms wurd's thesaurus, i couldn't justify my usage. ah, well, now, i understand. 월요일 아침: 오늘이 아름다운 캐이라 황과 제 9개월 결혼 기염일예요. 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 9th (wedding) monthversary.
on fri eve, after my class, we aktually left sooni @ home n' went out 4 fri nite dinner @ the sunnyvale cherry orchard pf chang's. while waiting 4 our table, we went over to borders bookstore. we ran into my cousin lisa n' her husband (my cousin.in.law[?]) henry, n' we talked 'bout doggies 4 a long time, since they have a 1 yr old yorkie. pf chang's was so crowded. ppl can argue whether pf chang's is asian.fusion or americanised chinese fud; but kaela n' i enjoy visiting the restaurant now n' then n' aktually really like the décor. then there r ppl who'd criticise going to a restaurant just to enjoy the décor, but well... u gotta live life now n' then... whatever floats ur boat, this n' that... we like good décor n' atmosphere now n' then. to eat, we had hot fish, long beans, n' chicken lettuce wraps. dessert? no way! we were so full. hrm, funny; i just realised that we ended up back in sunnyvale 4 dinner on sun nite.
sat, we took sooni to the happy tails to you dog training class, as i sed we would. i hadn't received an e.mail from the instructor that told me not to bring our doggy to the 1st class. upes. we brought sooni. @ 1st, we tied her out to a post outside the classroom, which is located in a strip mall on santa teresa blvd @ cottle rd. the instructor kept hearing jingling behind her from sooni's collar n' asked the class, "is there someone outside?" i told her sooni was waiting outside, n' she told us to let her come in. as sooni's (un4tunately) a "velcro dog" (1 that wants to be stuck to her owner(s) 24.7), she was happier inside on the floor by our feet. the instructor used her as an example several times n' sed that, altho' she might not be well.trained yet, she's well.behaved. i'd like to think so, n' i'd like to think she's made quite a bit'f progress in the past month n'll continue to do so; or maybe progress @ an even faster rate.
after the class, we went to expo on almaden expy near blossom hill rd n' hwy 85. kaela went in to order some address numbers 4 our house, while i rested in the car w/ sooni, w/ the cd player on. later, i went in the look 4 a classy "beware of dog," but only found a coupl'f options to order a custom made sign. when we were ready to leave, i realised the cd player had 1nce 'gain drained my old car battery. :-( i had to get a jump from our neighbouring parked car. then we went to costco to eat a polish sausage n' combo pizza lunch n' buy a new car battery. afterwards, we hung out w/ ken @ his house 4 most'f the afternoon. we walked our dogs to the nearby starbucks n' back. later, we went to petco n' talk to duk kyung n' get some dog fud n' stuff. then we went to sogo to pick up a b.day cake. u c, sat nite, we celebrated 3 b.days: julie's (april 17), duk kyung's (april 16), n' mark's (april 2). we went home. brian chong 1st showed up. we ordered 2 tasty pizzas from pizz'a chicago, a new sort'f favourite'f mine cos they have some pretty gourmet n' healthy toppings, including soy cheese. we ordered a "the untouchables" (bbq chicken w/ smoked gouda) n' a "joliet jake" (portobella, shiitake, crimini, n' button shrooms w/ dried apricots n' basil). kaela ordered the pizzas both w/ soy cheese altho' only the "joliet jake" comes standard w/ soy cheese. i didn't even realise our "the untouchables" had soy cheese. wow! i'm sure the others also didn't realise. julie showed up next; then mark. duk kyung didn't show up. we knew he was werking @ petco till 900p n' that his parents gave him a surprise visit from oregon. un4tunately, more us taekwondo academy ppl couldn't show up, but we had fun. mmm... sogo mango mousse cake!
kaela n' i taped 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli n' haven't yet watched our weekly 2 episodes. we did watch something's gotta give on dvd on sat nite. it's pretty funny.
sun, we went to church. 'twas 정 목사님 / chung moksanim's last day. :'-( it's really sad to c him go, n' we hope to c him 'gain in the future. @ church, we ate this awesome chicken teriyaki lunch, that the english ministry (em) congregation specially prepared 4 pastor's last day. after church, kaela n' i brought her kia sportage 4 our monthversary, last nite, i took kaela to dinner @ il postale on washington near murphy in ol' town sunnyvale 'cross the street from sunnyvale towne center, which's a dead mall 'cept 4 macy's n' target. we had caesar salad w/ anchovies, lobster bisque, fettucine w/ shellfish, a thai sesame prawns pasta, some kind'f blackberry sorbet, espresso drinks, n' johannisberg riesling. the fud was great, but i sort'f regret ordering that asian.fusion dish @ a pretty traditional italian bistro. i think i would've been better off w/ an italian dish like kaela's. the thai prawns pasta was a li'l bit 2 salty. the portions were very big. as i've sed b4, u get so much more 4 ur $$$ in silly valley restaurants v. sf restaurants. i've been eating 2 much n' exercising 2 li'l!!! >:-( after dinner, we needed to walk, so we did some shopping @ target.
last nite, the korean movie was 체인지 / change a silly, lighthearted comedy from 1996 or 1997.
[later] [later] this morn @ werk.com, i made coffee in our area's "coffee station." somehow, the ground got into the big serving cannister thermos thingy w/ the pump. it tasted pretty bad, n' i overheard other ppl talkin' 'bout how yucky the coffee was. i heard 1 guy joke that it was turkish coffee, which i've had @ la mediteranée in berkeley. (i think turkish coffee's s'pposed to have grounds in it.) tues morn: this morn, i had a weird dream: i was @ some1 else's house w/ the beautiful kaela hwang n' sooni. sooni was in the yard. from the window, i saw sooni chewing on some electrical cable n' went out to stop her. then sooni wasn't a dog but a li'l gurl; like she was our kid. weird dream, huh? well, i hope i'll be a good dad when we do have kids.
wed morn: last nite i put 신미나의 "전화 받어" shin mina's "juhnhwa baduh" (answer the phone) on my lg vx6000. now, i havs 2 mp3s on there as ringtones: that n' sechskies' "couple." i really like having mp3 ringtones! u should check out gomadic.com 4 fon/pda/pc cables!
this morn, my office had cake to congratulate our hr (human resources) person who's getting married on sat in carmel n' going to the canary islands 4 a 3.wk honeymoon. the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 1.yr anniversary's coming up faster than u'd expekt.
@ this pt, i have many journal entries that i wrote but haven't yet put online! also, i need to change my outdated gbook! *sigh* of course, i'd love to change/update my entire site! it's all so outdated! fri morn: "tgif," some ppl say. yah, me, i'm glad it's fri. however, i don't like how each day brings me closer to my master's projekt's due date. i really wanna finish skool n' graduate. however, i dread finalising my paper n' taking my final. :-( so pat tillman, who went to my hi skool (leland hi skool) n' graduated 'round my time n' went off to be a futbol star in arizona, died in afghanistan in the army. he must've been nelson's bro mike's friend. they were prob'ly on the futbol team 2gether. neway, the news is talkin' 'bout his death quite a bit. william hung's promoting bally total fitness now: y! news pic link. me, these days, i don't get 'nuff exercise. :-( i can't wait to graduate.
last nite, i added 'nother mp3 ringtone to my fon: 바다의 "새로운 날에" bada's "saerowoon nalei") ("a new day"). this 1 i looped pretty well, so i didn't use to much'f the song. it's so much fun to have mp3 ringtones on my lg vx6000!
[a li'l later, still morn] i have these 99¢ blockbuster dvd rental coupons: http://a948.g.akamai.net/f/948/166/1h/blockbuster.qrs1.net/D7/images/coupon.gif
. now, i'm wondering what dvds r out right now that r worth cing. i just checked rottentomatoes.com. even tho' i like using y! movies to check local listings, their dvd n' reviews sektion aktually stinks pretty bad. like, why can't i search 4 a movie by ratings (as in how many stars, not g, pg, pg.13, r, nc.17, xxx, etc.). like, often, i just wanna know what's the most acclaimed movie out there right now, so i can watch good movies instead'f stoopid 1s. ok, after browsing rottentomatoes.com 4 a few secs, i can think'f a few movies: 21 grams, jack black's school of rock, julia roberts' mona lisa smiles (altho' it only got 35% on the t.meter n' ppl call it a wannabe, female dead poets society), n' that scarlett johansson pearl earring movie... oh, girl with a pearl earring.
[later] 417p: i'm waiting 4 my master's projekt class to start. 월요일 점심, mon lunchtime: not enuf time 4 a good update, thus outline...
just now, i was typing a bizness e.mail n' typed "maybe we can find a makeshift solution." then i double.checked to make sure i had an "f" in "makeshift." phew, i did. ppl close letters w/ "regards" n' "best regards" yet never "better regards" or "even better regards."
this morn, i jogged w/ sooni n' saw this miserable plush fuzzy in the gutter. :-( i didn't go home 4 lunch 2day. i did later go home in the afternoon to try to put the laundry out, but the load that was already on the laundry racks wasn't yet dry altho' it was s'pposedly like 92°f outside 2day here in santa clara. tues afternoon: this morning, i got curious 'bout using y! msgr from my lg vx6000 (w/ verizon service). i'm really lovin' the fakt that i can do so much on my fon, like use aol im (aim), msn im (which i don't use), take lots'f pics (i like how the built.in cam has lots'f settings.), n' have mp3 ringtones). i wanted to exploit further the fakt that i have a really hi.tech fon, so i thought i'd try mobile y! msgr on it. whoa! i got like 35 y! msgs via txt msg right 'way; msgs that ppl have sent me since like jan'f this yr, but that i hadn't received cos i almost never log into instant msging (im) services these days. lots'f the msgs were spam, i'm sure; but others were strangers complimenting me on the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my wedding picture that i have up these days in my y! profile. it's 1'f those pics we took in korea, in which we're wearing hanbok. yah, i got a bunch'f compliments, comments, n' questions 'bout that pic. also, i got msgs from strangers asking 'bout taekwondo. well, those msgs were from months 'go. memory2584, koreagirl999, kay_cee2010, mp713, theausgman, cww86627, munky11392, badyque, ewelicious, micheal_duke, a_normal_dude, laurie197527, acmescreennamegurl, azraaieffendi, mueblescolombia, angela_shiseidocosmetics, dan_von_templar, linyuf214, mos_mos4, aptyp_18: sorry i didn't reply.
yesterday was a scorcher in the bay area. it was 93°f in san jo. when i checked y! weather in the morn, they 4casted 92°f 4 santa clara, but i dunno how hot 'twas. i didn't go home 4 lunch cos kaela wasn't coming home, n' i wanted to get sooni used to the fakt that i can't always come home to c her during the day. it's 2 hot to take her 4 a walk during the day neway. also, i shouldn't be in the sun so much! on sat, when i went to my mom's house to pick up my summer clothes, when i put on a short sleeve shirt, i realised that my arms have gotten really pale. i'd rather not be in the sun 2 much n' don't care 4 tans, but i realised that it did look a bit funny cos my face'd gotten a bit tan, but my arms were so pale. it's been hard to avoid exposing my face to sun cos i gotta walk/jog sooni in the morn, u know? also, it's just plain hard to keep ur face from getting sun exposure cos it's ur face. i want to avoid skin cancer n' have healthy skin; but i can't walk 'round w/ a veil or even a sombrero. :-/ as i stayed in my cubicle (cubie) thru the lunch hr, i ate a chicken ciabatta melt from the company cafeteria. it was just ok: the chicken didn't taste fresh, n' the pesto mayonnaise was certainly fatt'ning. later in the day, i swung by home 4 a quick few mins to put out some laundry n' check on sooni. 'gain, i didn't take her 4 a walk or nething, just stopped by. in the eve, after werk, i brought a company laptop home n' continued werking while sittin' on the ground'f our beautiful backyard patio, while sooni chewed a bone on the lawn. her idea'f spending quality time w/ me is if i sit n' watch her chew her bone. she figures it's fun 4 her, n' fun 4 me. :-/ she really likes me to watch her chew her bone! it was sooo hot yesterday eve. 4 dinner, i ate a gardenburger veggie riblet over some salad. it was good n' lite. later, i exercised a bit by lifting my 25 lb dumbbells n' doing some crunches. then i jogged w/ sooni in the warm nite air. kaela was @ her women's bible study. oh, b4 going home after werk, i stopped by rite.aid n' savemart. @ rite.aid, i bought some hand lotion cos my hands'r always so dry. @ savemart, i bought some fruit n' stamps.
the past coupl'f weeks, i've started most days off w/ homemade fruit/yogurt/juice smoothies. oh, n' i add some 동추 dongchoo (the herb we got from 제주도 jeijoodo) as my boost (like jamba juice has "boosts"). (weren't they originally called "juice boosts"?) 4 lunch, i ate some frozen dinners. kaela came home during lunch, altho' she was delayed. my mom visited us during lunch. i was surprised. she was there to get her realtor key from kaela.
[later] 1147p: i went to class. i was happy to get a 100% on my previous hw. phew. after class, i did some grocery shopping @ the safeway @ valley fair b4 mtg kaela @ fantasia@cupertino_village.com. i had a taro freeze w/ pearls n' no whip cream, n' kaela had a green bean freeze w/ pearls n' no whip cream. beno, your subconscious mind is driven most by Imagination
This means you have a deep desire to use innovative ideas to enhance your life and influence the world around you. This drive influences you far more than you may realize on a conscious level.
Your need to be innovative drives how you look at new opportunities and the kinds of experiences in life you choose to have. On an unconscious level, the reason you may be so driven by imagination is your fear of destruction, the opposite of creation. When you are unable to create due to restrictions imposed by your environment or even ones you unwittingly impose on yourself, do you feel trapped or confined? You may find these feelings of unease only get better when you find another outlet for your imagination.
With such a strong creative orientation, you are willing to entertain a broad spectrum of ideas at any given time. The world is a fuller, richer place because you can contribute new ideas to any experience. Your natural curiosity inspires those around you and encourages them to come up with ideas they wouldn't have thought of without your help.
Though your unconscious mind is driven most strongly by Imagination, there is much more to who you are at your core. wed morn: i haven't gone to werk yet, it's a li'l early right now, but
i should get dressed n' ready. i woke up so groggily this
morn, but i knew i had to walk sooni. i just walked her 'round the
close couple'f blocks 4 ~20 mins. sometimes she sniffs n' sniffs n'
sniffs an area'f ground but doesn't pee or poop. this morn, i had a
system: i count to 8, n' if she doesn't start peeing or pooping, i pull
her 'way. well, it's important that i don't discourage her from
pooping n' peeing outside, so that she doesn't start doing those things in
the house. she's very well housetrained, so she never poops
or pees in the house. i gotta encourage her to poop or pee outside
on our walks. in fakt, we're s'pposed to teach her to poop n' pee
on command!
last nite, after i posted my entries, i discovered that i
finally hit my avantgo limit on my recent entries. as i sed b4, the limit 4 a
single webpage on my avantgo account's 1100kb, n' i'd expekted to have hit
that a long time 'go but somehow didn't. well, i guess having a
coupl'f pics in yesterday's entry pushed me over. if some1
else has an upgraded avantgo acct, they can still dl my recent
entries to their pdas, but not me. i always wonder if
there's even a single person out there besides me who has the beno
journal on his/her pda. i doubt it. please let me know
if u do; just curious.
well, i should go to werk.
[later] still morn: we've all read the book the giving tree
[later] still morn: last nite @ safeway, i bought a coupl'f these safeway brand s'pposedly healthy frozen dinners 4 2 (ppl). that's a great idea: 1) usually frozen dinners have been made 4 1 person or else a whole family. however, these days couples wait longer b4 having kids, so there r prob'ly many, many other married or cohabitating couples like us who don't yet have kids n' who appreciate convenient, frozen dinners made 4 2 instead'f 1 or 4~6. 2) we young couples like to be healthy, 'least i hope others do, as we do. definitely, i think in the bay area there r many young, professional couples who don't yet have kids n' who try to be healthy. i can imagine that; that's why there r so many'f these "new urbanist" condos n' townhomes, right?
cherry filter's a kewl alt.rock group. u can buy their cds via my link from yesasia. some'f their song lyrics r kind'f cute... like check out these song titles: "낭만 고양이" ("nangman goyangi," which means "romantic kitty") n' "오리 날다" ("ori nalda,' which means "the duck flies"). like, jaurim, they're a co.ed, modern, hard rock band w/ a female lead vocalist. i can imagine that some'f their influences might include evanescence n' linkin park, altho' some'f the more pop stuff might now n' then remind me more'f april lavigne or shakira.
[later] still morn: yesterday, i ate 'lot'f microwaved frozen fud. that's sort'f depressing, huh? *shrug* it's convenient. however, i worry that frozen dinners have 2 much sodium n' preservatives.
this morn, i had a dream. i hope i 'member to tell u 'bout it later.
[later] yesterday was b&j's free cone day, n' 2day's b&r's free scoop nite. thurs late morn: last nite, after leaving my office, i stopped by fry's elektronics to get some button batteries 4 my laser pointer, which i use 4 presentations regarding my master's projekt. (should i write "master's projekt" or "masters projekt"?! else, should it be "master projekt"?) i also browsed thru the tvs. a coupl'f weekends 'go, during that multiple b.day party we hosted, brian chong kept trying to convince me to go out n' buy a tv cos our living room doesn't have a tv. i told him that i've been holding out 4 a flat panel. ideally, i'd like to have a low power consumption lcd tv, but i know they're really expen$ive. some ppl might even say they're "hecka expen$ive," altho' i'm sort'f under the impression that that type'f speech's going out'f style.
[later] after fry's, i came home n' continued werking on my job stuff on a borrowed laptop. i played w/ sooni some n' lifted my dumbbells some. it's been 2 long since i've been to the gym; i really wanna go!
the beautiful kaela hwang came home n' we went to get takeout from armadillo willy's cos we had a $10 gift certificate when we moved in. we shared a large order'f baby back ribs. we know it's not 2 good 4 doggies to eat bones, but we gave sooni some bones. we watched 집으로... / jipeuro (english name = "the way home"), a good movie that involves the bunny (mashimaro). [later] 1137p: these past coupl'f days or so, i haven't had energy to jog w/ sooni. instead we just go 4 walks. i had a jamba juice 2day. aktually... i could've gotten 1 4 free after buying 1 if i'd had the coupon w/ me... but what would i do w/ the extra smoothie?! i had the jamba juice @ the skool jamba juice (sjsu). i had a mango mantra, 1'f the lite jamba juices w/ that fake fat splenda stuff. i'm fine w/ that stuff. after class, i bought some stuff @ safeway. i went home n' ate a coupl'f gardenburger patties. as i sed, i've been eating 2 much frozen fud lately. last nite, kaela n' i were @ the same strip mall as the safeway i went to 2nite... i mean, armadillo willy's is in that same strip mall.
in da news: "google to go public in $2.7 bln offering" "florida cat found in san francisco" sooni has a microchip in her somewhere.
u know, last nite, i was looking @ those nice tvs @ fry's, but i've thought 'bout sumpthin' b4, n' ken noticed it 2: maybe we don't wanna get 2 nice'f a tv cos ppl'll be able to c it from our front window n'll be tempted to steal it. >:-/ hrm, yah, that's really bad! it's not like we live in a bad neighbourhood, but there'r bad ppl all over... mon morn: now that my graduation's coming up in less than 30 days, i often dream 'bout what i'll do after graduation. it's funny cos werking full time cms like such a vakation in comparison to werking full time + going to grad skool. ppl ask me what i'll do w/ all the "free time" after graduating. ?:-/ i hope to live a less stressful life, that's what. i definitely feel i've put my life on hold... to some extent. while in grad skool, i managed to get married, buy a house, n' get a doggy. i'm extremely surprised that i was able to pull that off, but it's not cos'f my own ability, of course. i want to say it's all been such a blessing from above. @ the same time, i'm also thankful 4 support from my parents. i mean... have u heard'f stories where some kid accepts jesus christ n' christianity in hi skool n' does sumpthin' like saying grace b4 a meal n' then the nonchristian parent scolds him/her saying, "i bought that fud 4 u, not god!" well, my parents've never sed nething to me like that, no. however, my gut feeling's that they'd feel a bit shafted if i simply sed, "i owe all my recent, surprising accomplishments soley to god." i dunno what to say, but i feel very blessed by god; i can't deny that.
perhaps other christians who grew up in christian families n' only hang out w/ fellow christians never hafta reconcile the christian world w/ the nonchristian world, but that's not me. i have plenty'f nonchristian friends, n' many'f them r pretty much antichristian. i don't live in a bubble; neither did jesus. yet jesus kept a close team'f disciples who would pray w/ him etc. thus, ppl in my fellowship group @ berkeley sometimes pretty much chided me 4 not having christians as my closest friends, my tight inner circle. furthermore, the christian friends i did have as my closest friends didn't really discuss spiritual matters w/ me. is that still the case 2day? *shrug* it's funny, but the close friends back then who discussed religion n' spirituality w/ me were prob'ly mostly antichristians. by "antichristian," i'm not just saying "all 'nonbelievers' (or worse yet 'unbelievers') r werking 'gainst us hi n' might christians," this n' that... no, i'm saying some'f my closest friends in college really bashed christianity. we had great, intellektual talks 'bout religion, they had great, intelligent things to say, n' yet they still respekted me w/ my beliefs in the end. is that really so bad?
well, how is my circle'f friends these days? well, now that we're in san jo in this post "cal taekwondo p. crew era," who r my friends? well, if u look @ my lg vx6000 fon, u'll c that i can categorise my contakts. what r my categories? "us taekwondo" (academy), "gyohwe" ("교회" = church), "ol' san jo" (hi skool friends n' the like), "berkeley" (college yrs friends), "sjsu buds" (engineering grad skool classmate friends), "cal taekwondo" (self explantory, include the ol' p.crew et al), "kang gamoon" (kaela's family), n' "hwang gamoon" (my family). i think the ppl i mainly hang out w/ these days r u.s. taekwondo academy ppl, fkcc (church) ppl, n' ol' san jo ppl. much'f our taekwondo skool goes to our church, so that sort'f overlaps. also, a few'f the ppl @ church went to hi skool w/ me, so that set could overlap, but it aktually doesn't. into which category do i put the beautiful kaela hwang? she fits into almost all'f them.
i really like my lg vx6000 cellfon cos'f the camera n' the mp3 ringtones. i like having all these kewl mp3 ringtones, but i rarely hear the other 2'f the 3 i have n' usually just the 1 that set 4 kaela. i don't get that many fon calls these days. other friends don't call me much. contrast this situation to back in the cal taekwondo p.crew hey day: "my fon would've been a friggin' mp3 jukebox!" ha ha. (please refrain from profanity.) these days i spend some'f what li'l free time i have reading 'bout how to be a better pack leader in order to train our doggy sooni better. expert authors say i need to maintain my position as the alpha male'f the house. back in the cal taekwondo p.crew hey day, andy aktually joked now n' then that i was the "alpha male." as the leo egotist that i am, i was very flattered by those kinds'f comments. do i regret not having my fon ring "off da hook" 24.7 w/ crew members asking me where we'll hang out next? i miss it, but i don't regret my current situation. need i remind u that i praise god 4 all the blessings in my current life? i'd love to organise more social events n' hope to do so soon. i want to be more social n' socially aktive, but i've put that all on hold 4 the sake'f my master degree. it does require discipline n' sacrifice to be a student.
on fri nite, while kaela n' i ate our fri nite dinner @ santana row's pasta pomodoro w/ sooni on the floor, i stated that i feel we both (un4tunately) have potential to be (or hi risk'f becoming) werkaholics. ("we just can't live w/o werkahol!" [later] afternoon: this wknd, kaela n' i watched big fish on dvd. as i enjoy folklore n' excellent movies, i really liked big fish. it reminded me'f the joy luck club. i hope i'm not the only person who thinks that. i mean, i hope ppl don't think i'm weird cos i think that. weird is good. i believe in subverting the dominant paradigm... oftentimes.
in amerika, my religion is vastly misunderstood by its followers as well as its opponents.
the recent news speaks'f u.s. soldiers sexually torturing iraqi prisoners'f war.
[later] evening: wknd rundown:
this past wk, korean tv's been out/down. :-(
[later] 901p: i'm still in_my_cubie@werk.com. am i here late cos i'm a werkaholic n' just can't live w/o werkahol? *shrug* nah, i'm just here cos i do need to do my time n' have tasks to do. also, i have hw to do, n' kaela's having womens' bible study @ our house, so men rn't s'pposed to be there, n' sooni's taken care'f. well, last time kaela hosted womens' bible study, sooni jumped over the fence n' ran 'round the neighbourhood n' all... but i trust sooni's being good 2nite. @ lunch, i went home, n' kaela n' i ate 녹차 냉면 nokcha naengmyuhn (green tea cold buckwheet noodles). 2nite, 4 dinner, i ate a j.box zesty turkey pannido. how was it? it started out good, as i felt it was sumpthin' like a vietnamese sandwich. however, as i kept eating this long sandwich, i realised it had way 2 much mayonnaise. waaaay 2 much! otherwise, it was a decent sandwich. :-/ i wanted to eat sumpthin' healthy 2nite. *sigh* oh well. i really don't wanna get fat, but i can't get much exercise until the end'f this month, after i graduate. i can't wait to go back to taekwondo!!! i miss it so much! it's nice that sooni can come to practice w/ us.
[later] 1040p: i'm home, in our "office." i wonder if i should take sooni 4 a short walk. yah, prob'ly. it's kewl to c kaela's women's bible study cos, well... back in berkeley, some'f my guy friends sed that gurls just don't get 'long w/ each other as well as guys get 'long w/ each other, but these gurls cm like they get 'long, so i'm glad to c that. tues late morn: "you will have a long and healthy life," reads a 4tune cookie 4tune i found in my wallet just now. i don't 'member from where i got it. likely a chinese restaurant... the lucky nums on the back read "31 46 11 12 7 27." unless u'r some kind'f total weirdo who never eats chinese fud, most'f u amerikans prob'ly have a 4tune cookie 4tune lying 'round somewhere. dude, what kind'f weirdo doesn't eat chinese fud? every1 eats chinese fud!
in the rivermark new urbanist shopping plaza, a new indian restaurant serves "desi chinese" fud. my indian cowerker sort'f explained desi chinese fud to me, but i really hafta eat it to understand. indian.style chinese fud... there's plenty'f korean.style chinese fud, amerikan.style chinese fud, mexican.style chinese fud...
am i strange? 전 이상하나요?
r u coming to my graduation? plz let me know. 저의 졸업에 오시겠어요? 저희에게 알려주세요. 연락 해주세요. 연락 바람...
[later] 1139p: hi. how r u? wed morn: last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i started watching the 21 grams dvd, which i rented from blockbuster last sat nite. it's an interesting movie, so far. (it's) definitely a beautifully filmed movie, but big fish's more "my kind'f" movie than this. u know what my kind'f movie is, right? :-/ well, my kind'f movie definitely should involve some kind'f romance. i know that sounds gurly to some, but that's just cos those'f u who think that r insensitive oafs. many'f my guy friends r pretty romantic, i think. guys think 'bout relationships, etc. n' romantic stuff. in fakt, i've often thought guys r defintiely more romantic than women. *shrug* do u know what i mean? i dunno. maybe that's just sumpthin' that single ppl talk 'bout, as i really haven't thought 'bout those kinds'f things lately.
last nite, after my class, i drove over to fantasia @ the wolfe rd 99. i waited 4 kaela n' sooni n' sort'f napped in my car. i was so tired n' a bit hungry. we got our boba drinks this morn, sooni got all riled up cos a squirrel got caught in the green bunny.proof net that i put up to help contain her in our backyard. she was bred to be a hunter, i know. however, i think she's starting to understand to some pt that we don't want her chasing fuzzies everywhere. i think she feels bad 'bout it, altho' her nature makes her do it. it's sort'f like when ne'f us procrastinate from our werk or study by writing e.mail or journal entries. we know it's bad, we feel bad 'bout it, but it's just in our nature, etc.
[later] on fri afternoon, my division'f my company's having an employee appreciation event: we're going to campo di bocce: the home of bocce in silicon valley. address = 565 university ave; los gatos, ca 95030. fon = 408.395.7650 fax = 408.395.7596 e.mail = bocce@campodibocce.com
[later] as i sed b4, kftl ch28's been down 4 the past wk or so, so we haven't been able to watch korean tv. last nite, ch28 broadcasted a msg that sed they'd be back on the air @ midnite. they did return, so j hope to watch korean tv 2nite. it'll be 가문의 영광 / gamoonuy yuhnggwang / family honour / "my funky family."
[slightly later] @ lunch, i went home n' walked sooni. kaela came home n' cooked 수제비 soojeibi, n' we ate it.
[later] pet food express has self.service pet wash! we gotta check that out.
[later] 825p: :-( i just check ch28, n' korean tv's not back. :-( kaela's making a 고구마 피자 gogooma pizza (sweet potato pizza). :-) i eat 2 much n' exercise 2 li'l. 목요일 아침 / thurs morn: 손님 어때요? how'r u? 금요일 아침 fri morn: whoa, check out this deal: 5/16 deal of the day: quickplay+ 128mb pen drive mp3 player only $44.99 after
rebate 946a, sat morn: i'm waiting w/ sooni 4 happy tails. earlier, i dropped the beautiful kaela hwang off @ the compaq center 4 a christian womens' conference. then, i walked sooni up n' down willow glen's lincoln ave.
[later]351p: lately, i've had some pretty selfish prayers answered: on thurs nite, when i got to campus 4 my class, i aktually quickly prayed that i'd find parking, n' i found parking. on fri afternoon, after bocce ball, when i got to campus, i prayed that i'd find parking n' i found parking. both times, i just sort'f prayed cos the idea popped into my head that maybe i should pray to find parking. both times, @ 1st, i thought, "eh, i don't c ne parking. oh well, i guess it's just not god's will; i guess it's not in his plan." then i found parking. i mean... it's not that it's hard to find parking @ sjsu during the late hrs that my classes r, but what i was aktually praying 4 was a close parking spot, right @ the curb near the entrance'f the engineering bldg. parking's such a trivial thing; it's not like i was praying 4 a single morsel'f fud to calm my growlingly empty stomach, no. i wasn't praying 4 protektion from a violently abusive spouse. i wasn't praying 4 'nother day to speak deep, emotional words to a dying loved 1. i prayed 4 such a trivial thing: a good parking spot. it was such a greedy thing, yet god answered my prayer. else, u could say: 1) i got lucky, or 2) it's just the odds that u'll find a good parking spot now n' then. back in my sr yr'f hi.skool, i think i mentioned sumpthin' christian to my fellow bassoonist in my youth orchestra who wasn't necessarily a spiritual or christian person as far as i knew; but he started telling me that some university's research on quantum physiks proved that human "volition" (i think he sed, albeit that m-w.com defines "volition" as "an act of making a choice or decision") -- else basikally wanting sumpthin' to happen -- affekts probability. he sed, researchers tracked the position of electrons n' found that if they wanted the elektron to turn up @ a certain position @ a certain time, it'd more likely turn up there. the dude i was talkin' to sed this explains why ufo fanatiks more often end up spotting ufos. *shrug*
do u find my faith: 1) tacky, 2) stoopid, 3) ridiculous, 4) mundane, 5) condescending, 6) judgmental, or 7) foolish? in 21 grams, u meet some1 who'd be easily labelled as a "religious fanatic." would u label me a "religious fanatic"? personally, i'd hardly find that reasonable. me, i need to be more spiritual n' have a stronger relationship w/ god / jesus / the holy spirit. it's 2 bad that i don't, n' it's not enuf 4 me just to say "it's 2 bad." @ the same time, all u non.christians tolerate me better cos i am who i am n' not some1 u'd label a "religious fanatic." we christians have heard numerous, numerous sermons 'bout how "god hates lukewarm christians." often these sermons say that u gotta go on a missions trip n' evangelise, or else u'r just a lukewarm christian whom god hates. >:-/ i dunno, man; i'm sorry, but i don't buy that. i think that kind'f talk involves 2 much generalisation, n' every1 has a diff situation; really! god has a diff purpose 4 each person. however, many disciples'f christ'd say that god's purpose 4 every christian still must involve evangelism. well, each'f us has his/her own style'f evangelism. i'd like to think i've led some1 to christ b4. i know i've encouraged certain ppl to go to church b4; 'specially in my hi.skool days back @ canaan taiwanese christian church (ctcc).
2day, ever since i came back home in the early afternoon, i've had lots'f 'puter troubles. >:-( u c, all i wanted to do was to werk on my master's projekt report n' maybe some werk from werk.com, but all sort'f bad things happened: i wanted to dl some video footage i shot yesterday nite'f sooni playing fetch w/ me. as i dled that footage from our camcorder via firewire, i discovered i had accidentally taped over footage'f mason from last weekend. <:-o >:-( *sigh* i was very disappointed. then as i let that footage dl, i started up the laptop i borrowed from werk. it beeped crazily n' refused to start up. <:-o uh.oh! then i decided to try to plug it into the wall outlet, instead'f running it off battery. to try that, i had to unplug kaela's laptop, to which i was dling video footage. i tried to turn on the werk.com laptop, but it still didn't turn on. then i went to kaela's laptop n' discovered the screen had gone black n' blank n' the 'puter had shut down. i tried to restart it. it refused to restart. <:-( now, i'm in a big mess! i have no laptops to use, n' i want to werk on things including very important stuff. :-( now, i'm waiting 4 the answer to some prayers! :-( so this is how it feels to make a desperate prayer as opposed to a prayer 4 convenience! i trust that god'll take care'f me 1 way or 'nother.
[later] 503p: i'd like to pause from my worrying 'bout 'puters (which ought to be eliminated n' replaced by trust that god'll take care'f this mess 1 way or 'nother) n' thank ppl who've recently signed my gbook: 1) the person who spammed my gbook 4 the sake'f curing pleural mesothelioma, the private entry person, manolo (who's promoting barcelona-es.net, jerome, n' kathi. thank u very much! i'm not 2 sure who kathi is but wonder if she's 1'f the kathy's from church. i think so, but i'm not 2 sure. i'm not 2 sure what "dink couple" is but guess it means "disciples in new korea." ?:-( yah, puzzled.
kathi, u "always drool after reading about the many places [kaela n' i] go eat out at?" well, heh heh... aktually, lately it's been pasta pomodoro over n' over cos they don't discriminate 'gainst dog owners; thus just like a true european eatery, i s'ppose. well, u know what? last nite, kaela n' i did go somewhere other than pasta pomodoro. @ 1st, when i got home from my class, i thought maybe we should leave sooni @ home n' take a break from italian; maybe hit up a nearby indian or korean joint. it's been so long since we went to a korean restaurant, n' we used to hit up korean restaurants on el camino every single day 4 lunch. what korean places on el camino real would let us bring sooni n' eat outside? i thought maybe 옹고집 onggojip, 난다랑 nandarang... they both have tables outside, but i worry they're just 4 old bizness men to smoke @. >:-( i'm sure those ol' 시골뜨기 아줌마 @ 옹고집'd love sooni! (
시골뜨기 아줌마 = shigolddeugi ajoomma = ol' country bumpkin women) well, kaela really wanted to bring sooni cos she's so cute, n' i had to agree that sooni is so cute. i then suggested we try to hit up some joint in the rivermark. yup, we did. we went to piatti. do u know what piatti is? well, u know what santana row is, of course; n' santana row has straits café n' left bank. straits café n' left bank both have original locations in ritzy, glitzy palo alto, aka stanfurd territory. piatti is also a restaurant that has an earlier established location in palo alto, but piatti aktually currently has 15 locations, so it's now a bigger company than these other 2 restaurants. now that i've made myself sound pretty knowledgeable 'bout bay area cuisine, even the good stuff outside'f sf, n' after i've now aktually visited www.leftbank.com, i can prove to u all that i'm totally bsing, as straits café doesn't have a palo alto location! their locations r: larkspur, menlo park, pleasant hill, san josé, n' san mateo. well, u've gotta admit: those r some really ritzy neighbourhoods!
neway, last nite, the sun didn't set till *shrug* sometime a li'l past 900p. we sat out on the patio'f the rivermark piatti. 'twas a bit chilly, but they turned on the patio heater. ppl who walked by n' who couldn't c sooni cos'f the wall blocking their view prob'ly thought we were either really crazy 4 wanting to eat outside on a brisk evening like last nite, or else the restaurant must really discriminate 'gainst ppl like us. heh, well, they don't; i'm just joking. what did we eat? we shared a "warm napa cabbage salad," which had some totally awesome prosciuitto or sumpthin' in it. kaela had this shroom risotti. i s'ppose shroom = funghi. i had this awesome seared ahi, which they warned me would be rare in the middle, to which i assured them would be completely fine w/ me. personally, it's good to eat animal raw now n' then. it's been 2 long since i've had some 육회 yookhwe, n' i'd sure love some sometime. they did have carpaccio on the menu as an appetizer, but i figured i didn't need to go so fancy, u know? we did share a bottle'f fontana pinot grigio tho', if that's 2 fancy 4 u. *shrug* we were 2 full from dinner 4 dessert but had our usual espresso drinks. i hope u know what those r by now. afterwards, we went walked 'round the rivermark. walking 'round the rivermark isn't as nice as walking 'round santana row. they're both pretty hip, trendy places; but santana row's more'f a weekend place, while rivermark's more'f a place u go during lunch as a break from ur hi.tech, silly valley job. we went to the blockbuster there to rent a movie or 2. the blockbuster there isn't a full.sized blockbuster. if u know what berkeley like, then u know 'bout the 2 blockbusters: the 1 on shattuck n' channing the 1 on durant by telly. the 1'n durant is convenient 4 the hi.rise dorm dwelling university students, but it's a baby blockbuster, not a full.sized blockbuster. it doesn't have a big library'f dvds. this rivermark blockbuster's like that. luckily, the blockbuster near our house is bigger but has longer lines. in that sense, it's like the shattuck blockbuster in berkeley.
now that we have our own house n' doggy, we cm to be doing more'f these "blocbuster nites" as opposed to doing our "amc moviewatchers" nites. it's aktually cheaper to rent movies than to go to the theatres. :-/ however, it's nice to be outside now n' then i s'ppose. moreover, we still don't have a nice tv, u know. *shrug* sometimes i wonder if i should've joined that blockbuster rewards club thingy. else, would it be worth it 4 me to do netflix or that monthly blockbuster program? *shrug* well, 1nce korean tv comes back on, we'll spend more'f our tv time on that, i hope. i hope it comes back soon. 월요일 아침: 어제가 어머니의 날였어요. 우리의/저의 가족이 우리잡에 방문하셨어요. 하고 저희들이 저녁식을 만들였어요. 매운닭구이와 잡채와 두부전... oh yah, yesterday, in my entry, i mentioned that we visited the rivermark blockbuster on fri nite, but i neglekted to mention what movies/dvds we rented! the gurl with a pearl earring n' 튜브/tube... the gurl with a pearl earring was a beautifully shot movie w/ very artistic sets. however, i gotta say that i was rather disappointed w/ the lack'f plot. :-( to me, it's cms like some1 liked the painting n' heard that there was a story behind it, but didn't really know the story behind it... it cms like no1 really knows the story behind it. instead'f trying to make up a story behind it, it cms like the filmmaker decided instead to make a movie based on only what fakts he/she knew 4 sure. it cms like not much happened in the movie, u know? neway, it was beautiful. oh, but i wish it wasn't in english. as always, i prefer the authentic language w/ subtitles. 'member: that's what really impressed me 'bout the passion of the christ. really, i didn't go 'round saying the passion of the christ was a good movie just cos i'm some kind'f #%!@&in' relgious fanatik, etc.
[later] last wk was our "italian wk," as i sed; but, on sat nite, we couldn't resist quitting that trend n' hitting up 명동순두부집 myuhngdong soondubujip 4 some long awaited, good korean fud. i had 곱장 순두부 gobjang soondubu, n' the beautiful kaela hwang had 버섯 순두부 buhsuht soondubu. afterwards, we quickly shopped 4 groceries @ 갈러리아 마켓 galleria market. we walked sooni. we fell asleep b4 midnite. amazing, huh?
[later] last nite, we watched the 튜브/tube dvd. imho, 'twas the best aktion film i'd cn in a while! [later] (afternoon) i don't just mean the best korean aktion movie. it's not necessarily the best ever, but recent aktion films haven't been all that great, n' 튜브/tube's much better. tues morn: i'm very concerned 'bout skool. <:-( this wknd's 'puter probs really set me back. rt now, i think we're sending our vaio laptop to vaioshutdown.com to be fixed.
[later] 수요일 오후 / wed afternoon: w/ the amerikan military's uanacceptable n' inappropriate torture of iraqi prisoners of war n' the recent retaliatory murder of an amerikan civilian in iraq, i'm even more sure that we have 'nother vietnam war here, just w/o all the sicko stories of stds (sexually transmitted diseases).
(borrowed from http://www.clarkson.edu/~winklebh/vietnam2/buffalo.html)
buffalo springfield
"for what it's worth"
there's something happening here
think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
there's battle lines being drawn
i think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
what a field-day for the heat
it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
paranoia strikes deep
we better stop, hey, what's that sound
the candy skins did a decent cover'f this song in the early 1990s. sure, our current war differs from vietnam w/ the lack'f selektive service. 금요일 아침 / fri morn: 어떠세요? 요즘 저희는 많이 많이 바빠요. check out www.sanjosegasprices.com b4 u buy ur next tank'f gas! didju know that since the end'f 2003, gas's cheaper in the bay area than in socal?! it's true! check it out! 화요일 아침 / tues morn: as the san josé sharks r in the 2004 western conference stanley cup playoffs, the silly valley's take a bit more interest in hockey n' san jo's home sports team. i guess i've heard 'lot more 'bout sports lately cos lots'f my cowerkers r enthusiastic sports viewers. i can't help but be a li'l more interested, u know? most'f my life, i haven't been much'f a sports viewer, but i'm just a li'l more interested. the sharks r now 2 n' 3 w/ the calgary flames. they had tied it up on sun in calgary but lost last nite here in san jo. i found that out by checking their website this morn. their opening, "splash" screen was http://www.sjsharks.com/sharks/crunchtime.htm. it reads: "2004 stanley cup playoffs: it's crunch time!" yes, it's crunch time. crunch time, indeed... cap'n crunch? yah, just call me cap'n crunch as i've got so much crunching to do. compared to me, u don't even know the meaning'f crunch! i crunch stuff like u 4 brkfst! heh heh, no offense intended. u say, "none taken."
recent gbook signing vistors, thank u! 고맙습니다. i really appreciate the communication! michelle, kathi, phil, dieter: thank u. dieter: i assume ur name's pronounce "dee ter" n' not "die eh ter," like a person on a diet, right? it's a shame that i can't read flemmish n' a slightly lesser shame that babelfish wont' give me a flemmish to english translation. phil, u say, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." feel free to elaborate. @ 1st, that quote really depressed me. u know why? cos i try to get out n' experience diff things in this world, experience diff cultures, eat diff cuisines, watch diff kinds'f movies, listen to diff kinds'f musik... but i'm bounded. i have a master's projekt to present 2morrow, an oral defense. i have a takehome midterm due thurs. i have a final next tues. there's only so much i can do these days, n' i can't experience all the things that exist in this world. every day, i think 'bout my list'f things i'm gonna do after i graduate. i feel like a prisoner w/ a list'f things i'm gonna do after i get out. i feel like that quote accuses me'f being closed minded, when it's not internal restriktions that keep me from experiencing more but external conditions. i dunno; maybe i'm just taking it the wrong way.
i also quickly pondered if that quote was 1'f those "all u jesus freaks r a bunch'f closed.minded, playa hatin' bigots" type statement, but we all know better than that. i wonder if readers wanna tell me, "you've been such a d@mn jesus freak since you went back to church. beno, what happened? you changed, man. you used to be cool!" i feel i've encountered this attitude some 4gotten time in the past, over a few yrs 'go. when i heard that a few yrs 'go n' if i were to hear that now, my response'd be like lisa simpson's response to her brutha bart in her dream future as president: "no, i wasn't!" i was never cool, only "kewl." ha ha; besides that, i really never was cool, u might say. do u know how long 'go it's aktually been since i started believing in the salvation'f jesus? sophmore yr'f hi skool... what was i like b4 that? well, i wasn't that cool or maybe not even that kewl! *shrug* i was a sk8er boi b4 that, i s'ppose, but 1 w/ that twisted, upper middle class, suburbanite mentality. sure, "no new taxes" n' "we shouldn't hafta take care'f those lazy, unedukated peasants downtown" sounded ok to me. am i the only 1 who suspekts an ultraconservative politikal agenda behind the rock group cake's catchy hit "short skirt long jacket"?
dr. henry blackaby n' dr. richard blackaby in the may 17 entry'f their book experiencing god day-by-day say, "is it possible to teach a message from the bible but not from the lord? yes! the scribes and pharisees did this regularly and left their listeners spiritually destitute. is it possible to counsel someone with advice that seems appropriate and reasonable and yet is contrary to god's word? of course! whenever you teach, counsel, or share a word of encouragement, be very careful that the words you share are indeed from the lord and are not just your own thinking. otherwise, you could become a false prophet."
in berkeley n' to a lesser extent @ sjsu, i've cn bible.based cults. @ berkeley: students for the truth w/ their 1,000 godmen, the moon unification church next to the foothill residence hall's laloma complex, absk (berkland baptist church's asian baptist student koinonia), sf church of christ... wouldn'tchu hate to c me list ur church here? the big berkeley churches n' fellowships that i felt weren't cults included intervarsity christian fellowship (ivcf), asian amerikan christian fellowship (aacf), campus crusade for christ, korean central presbyterian church (kcpc), first pres (my emloyer 4 a short time, when i werked as a dishwasher)... "dude, beno! what a hypocrite!" that's why my (paternal) grandpa told me to avoid politiks n' religion. i'm sorry; "i can't say i'll try, but i'll try to try." (bart simpson) if u take a stand, u'r closed.minded; if u'r open.minded, u'r a hypocrite.
false teachings: i write 2 much n' read 2 li'l. that's bad. i'll try. 4 a sec, i wondered if "i'll try" was a song title. it prob'ly is, but the song i was thinkin'f was edwin mccain's "i'll be" somewhat featured @ the wedding reception'f the beautiful kaela hwang n' beno as the 2nd to last slow song. imagine: "i'll try to be better when i'm older. i'll try to be the greatest fan of your life." not quite as romantik, non? et nous français savons toutes choses romantiques.
there's a new, (how do u say tongue.in.cheek, ou... satirical?) movie coming out called saved that cms from commercials to poke fun @ conservative christians. ["why does jesus have to be white?" "of course jesus is white!"] i wondered now n' then if the produktion'f this movie intended to mock the recent success'f the passion of the christ. i loved the aramaic instead'f english, n' u know i hate english dubbing instead'f subtitles. however, why did jesus hafta be portrayed by a more angloish caucasian? uh, did u want an asian jesus, beno? no, but if we gotta be all accurate in the ethnicity'f the aktor who plays jesus n' thus (not have an asian jesus), then why not an aktor w/ stereotypikal jewish features? wow, beno! i dunno whom that paragraph didn't offend!!!
[later] early eve: last fri, i didn't have class. kaela n' i brought sooni to pet food express for a (self service) bath. she was a li'l scared but did pretty well. kaela n' i ate @ the sunnyvale, cherry orchard pasta pomodoro. i aktually had lasagne there. 'twas ok, but not that great. :-/ kaela. of course, had melanzane. altho' we did share a small spinaci salad as a starter, we saved room 4 dessert: ricotta n' marscapone cheesecake. 토요일 아침 / sat morn: since i've been so so sooo bizzy finishing up my graduate program, thus i have not been good w/ updates. i left off w/ last fri. i left off talkin' 'bout last fri, n' now it's already sat of the following week. time flies when u'r werking super, super hard. it's been a tuff wk. i had to turn in my master's projekt report, do my master's projekt oral defense, n' turn in a takehome midterm. *sigh* i dunno where to pick up w/ my updates since i missed so much.
well, on sat morn, we went to our happy tails dog training class. later, we went to mitchell park in palo alto 4 this taiwanese culture festival, where we met up w/ my dad, sue, n' my cousin lisa, her husband henry, n' their parents. we had some good taiwanese street vendor fud. we didn't stay long cos i had to get back home to keep werking. oh yah, on fri nite, the beautiful kaela hwang, sooni, n' i stopped by blockbuster on the way home from dinner @ the sunnyvale cherry orchard pasta pomodoro. i told kaela to pick out some videos, so she could watch videos while i werked on my skool stuff. on fri nite, we watched calendar girls. well, kaela fell asleep, so she rewatched it while i werked on stuff on sat. lessee, on sat nite, i took a break from studying to eat homemade pizza n' watch down with love. it's a really cute movie. i liked it... altho' it has 2 much smoking. i dunno; i guess they wanted to recreate how smoking wasn't known to be so unhealthy back in the 1950s n' 1960s; so they showed lots'f smoking; but that bothered me. sun, we went to church. we ate lunch @ galleria market's 포장마차 pojangmacha. then we went home; i resumed my skoolwerk. oh yah, besides those 1st 2 movies, kaela also picked out american pie 3: american wedding n' die another day. i didn't get to watch those, but kaela did. i think she fell asleep during die another day, n' we had to return it. she tried to watch that on thurs nite. american wedding, i don't 'member when she watched that, but i didn't watch it. i'd like to, someday, i s'ppose. this past week, i spent most my time in the office n' ate lots'f office cafeteria fud. sooni n' kaela got very neglekted this week. i 'member i ate a frozen dinner 4 dinner on tues nite, some healthy choice beef merlot dish. mon nite, i prob'ly ate leftover homemade pizza. as i haven't been exercising lately, i shouldn't eat so much! on mon n' tues, i visited zion press in santa clara to get my master's report copies spiral.bounded. i found them thru the y! yellow pages. it's a small, efficient print shop in an industrial space run by these 2 korean bruthas. they don't do hardbinding, but they gave me a great price on spiral.binding. i dropped off 1 copy 4 hardbinding @ the sjsu student union's print shop. i was on campus on mon, tues, wed, n' fri this week. well, on wed, i did my oral defense. i passed! man, it was such a relief. i feel much better after that. however, i've had lots'f other pressures: 1) @ werk.com, i have a big, big conference next mon-wed, n' i've had to prepare lots'f stuff 4 that. 2) i had a takehome midterm to turn in. 3) i have a final on tues eve. on fri, i went to submit my midterm, as i got a slight extension from my prof. oh yah, i got sick. i've had a cold since thurs or wed. yah, i guess i've been sick since wed. did i mention that last fri i ate @ armadillo willy's w/ my cowerkers? heh, not that that has nething to do w/ my being sick; i just like to talk 'bout what i eat, u know? yah, u know.
on fri, 4 lunch, i had a burger king on fri nite, i took kaela out 4 our 10th monthversary. :-) that was on wed. i took kaela to amber india in santana row. that was the fanciest restaurant i've been to in a long time, the fanciest dinner we've had in a long time... n' we haven't just been eating burger king all week, u know? it was such a nicely, hiply decorated restaurant. man, i can't empahsize 'nuff how much i recommend that u visit amber india in santana row! it's awesome. however, it's not cheap! aktually, it's very pricey. i'm sure many ppl rn't used to paying so much 4 indian fud, but this fud is so good! we had this sea bass, this portobello shroom n' artichoke dish, this dumpling dish (sumpthin' sumpthin' kofta), a coupl'f expensive (not really worth it) naan, n' an un4tunately overpriced but good bottle'f 2002 chateau st. michelle eroica riesling. oh, n' we had a coupl'f chai tea in the end. so amber india has traditional indian fud n' some contemporary inventions. it's really good. we skipped the typikal tandoori or lamb stuff, even tho' i'm sure they're good. oh yah, we received our wedding album finally from jade photography. if u come to my graduation, u can c it then.
i have my final on tues nite, till then can ask me "whatchu gonna do when u get out of jail?" as in the tom tom club's ol' 1980s club hit uh... what's it called 'gain? u know the song. mariah carey used a sample'f it 4 her 1990s song "fantasy," which that li'l chinese gurl sings in rush hour, right? what's that song called? i wanna say "life in heaven," but i know it's not. it's got some more hip name, like "ecstacy" or sumpthin'. hrm... of course, since i'm a dj, i have that cd in my box, but i'm 2 lazy to check. "whatchu gonna do when you get out of jail? i'm gonna have some fun. what do u consider fun? fun, natural fun. what am i gonna do after my final? i have a list, i think:
월요일 아침 / mon morn: after a kwik google, i realised that the tom tom club track's title's of course "the genius of love." how could i've 4gotten?! "whatchu gonna do when u get out'f jail? i'm gonna have some fun. what do u consider fun? fun, natural fun." are those the lyrics, or have i misheard sumpthin' here. back in the boomin' late 90s 1'f the sf indie newspapers (either sf weekly or sf bay area guardian) had an article 'bout misheard song lyrics, in which they used a term 4 misheard song lyrics. i 4get what it was. i'm sure i could google it up. hey, have u yet established a "googlealert" 4 ur name? like, i've set up a googlealert, so i get e.mailed each time a new mention'f "beno hwang" comes up on the web, u know? u could either say i'm paranoid or vain/egotistical. hrm, un4tunately it's the latter, but i'm glad it's not the 4mer. i don't wanna be a paranoid person: i don't wanna be a person w/ 2 much to hide (be naked n' be free). so what am i gonna do when i get out'f "quote unquote jail"? i wanna wash my car. someday, i wanna wash sooni 'gain, but that'll prob'ly be later as dawna from happy tails on her website suggest that dog owners wash their doggies just 1nce every 4 months). i gotta put up those address numbers, which r really beautiful; wait till u c them. i gotta do yardwerk. i gotta do other housechores. luckily, our house aktually isn't a totally disasterzone right now. i dunno; it helps that we've had guests now n' then these past few wks. it's good that kaela has the women's bible study meet @ our house now n' then cos it makes us clean up; i like that. of course, sooni leaves lots'f fur here n' there; but that makes us vacuum more, n' vacuuming more's good... 'cept 4 the waste'f elektricity; but it's worth it; cleanliness is a worthwhile cause! household cleanliness is a worthy cause. well... the 1 thing i gotta do when i get out'f "quote unquote jail" is to get some exercise!!! grrr! grrr! grrrrrrrr!!!!! u know, there'f this hip, new, trendy vacuum cleaner out, well marketed to us neo.yuppies: to borrow an ol' phrase from the 1990s, "it's hecka expen$ive!" however, i'm curious if it'll pick up sooni hair more efficiently than our current euro.pro bagless stick shark w/ hepa filter. 목요일 아침 / thurs morn: it's been a hektic week so far, n' i guess the fun don't stop. i want to be all done w/ skool. i took my final on tues nite, but my committee chair prof wants me to revise my projekt report. i was pretty disappointed as i already gave her a 200.page, hardbound report. *sigh* i feel i've gotta werk so hard, n' it doesn't stop; but i guess it'll all be over soon. i really wanted to be all done after taking my final. to some extent, it was a merciless final 2, u know? all'f us students were pretty beat n' didn't have energy 4 a full.on final. i dunno; every1 sed they didn't have ne energy to study this past weekend, but i never know if ppl r just bluffing, u know? we had a take.home midterm to turn in 4 that class just last wk. the prof busted 2 guys 4 cheating on that midterm, n' honestly i'm glad cos i never get those kinds'f advantages since i'm @ werk all day n' so bizzy. i have no interaktion w/ ne'f my classmates. in fakt, i have no interaktion w/ ne1 these days, it cms... i mean, i interakt w/ my cowerkers, but i feel bad that i've really abandoned my friends this semester.
[later]mon - wed'f this week (the past 3 days), i was @ this big engineering n' teknology conference 4 my company, a big, big event @ the santa clara convention center. i was demoing some stuff related to my master's projekt, n' i even had to demo it to a bunch'f bigshot execs including 1'f the founders'f the company. it was crazy, pretty exciting; n' they fed us well. every day, they gave us brkfast n' lunch. on mon n' wed, they gave us dinner. neway, i can't go into details 'bout the conference, of course, cos it's corporate intellektual property etc., but it was a big event.
i really can't wait to get on w/ life. i graduate this sat afternoon. i have my black cap n' gown. i have a black tassel instead'f an orange 1 cos i'm a master's student. i've really gotta get back to a regular routine'f exercise!!! i can't wait 4 life to return to normal, as it cms like i've had a carrot dangled on a string in front'f me 4 so long. some1 keeps pulling the string 'way from me. i don't like that. i wanna graduate n' get back to exercising. [later] am i a man'f routine?
the beautiful kaela hwang has signed my gbook. thank u. [later] (next) mon's memorial day. i keep 4getting that cos i can't think past my graduation.
[later, afternoon/eve(ning)] books to buy:
[later] oh, i 4got to mention: last wed, kaela n' i watched in america on dvd. 금요일 아침 / fri morn: 내일 졸업 할게요. i graduate 2morrow. it's fri; last nite it rained. this morn, i went to the garage to shut off the automatic sprinklers. hrm, i just realised that it is very nice to have automatic sprinklers.
what have i been eating these days? well, mon-wed, i ate lots'f tasty, catered conference fud. on wed nite, the beautiful kaela hwang made a tasty asparagus n' shroom n' olive n' basil pizza. yesterday, we ate 물냉면 moolnaengmyuhn 4 lunch @ home... that n' leftover pizza. last nite's dinner? unagidon... 장어구이밥... i eat 2 much n' exercise 2 li'l. :-(
we have a church bonfire @ ocean beach 2nite. s'pposedly, we can bring sooni. i worry she'll come home totally smelling like bonfire smoke. i hope we can take here 4 a self.service dogwash 2morrow morn. the pet food express dogwash was good, but the sunnyvale petco [later, ~lunchtime] a coupl'f nites 'go, i felt that sooni really stunk like doggy. i gave her a greenie (a minty breath.freshning doggy chew) n' later washed her w/ those doggywash wipes. doggywash wipes r quick, convenient, n' relatively cheap, but u really still need to give ur doggy a real bath now n' then, u know? 2day, @ werk, i feel i stink. i guess it's time to wash this sweater. maybe it didn't dry well last time i washed it. i feel very self.conscious 'bout my smell. i wish i had some cologne or sumpthin' to cover up this smell.
[later] 1013p: kaela got us a futon 4 the "guest room," which used to be the "exercise room," even tho' we didn't exercise there but just threw our stinky gym bags there. cos we were waiting 4 people's furniture to deliver the 1st of 2 boxes, which the dude 4got the 1st time 'round, we missed the church bonfire. :-( we ate some convenient safeway chinese.style shrimp stir fry thingy... 1'f those meal in a bag thingies... 4 lunch 2day w/ my cowerkers, i ate a togo's chicken fajita sandwich lunch special. 'twas funny cos the togo's we went to is so close to our house. it's weird to drive praktically past ur house on the way to lunch w/ ur cowerkers, u know?
[later] last week, i turned my application 4 participation in the graduation ceremony a day late. i worried. i hope they call my name! i hope my name's in the program. <:-/ 일요일 오후 515 / 515p sun: 어제 저희 존업 했어요. yesterday, i graduated. 화요일 아침: 와, 오늘 6월이 시작해요! 믿을수 없어요. 이 지난 3일 주말에 많이 먹었어요. 먹기는 멈추지 않았죠! 정말로! 운동 많이 많이 필요 해요. tues morn: wow, june starts 2day! i can't believe it! this past 3.day wknd, we ate lots! the eating didn't stop! really! i really need to exercise.
[later] 요즘 졸업하기후에 많은 할일이 있어요. 그리고 불행하게도 요즘 많은 사고 싶은것 있어요. these days, now that i've graduated, there'r many things i hafta do. un4tunately, these days, there'r also many things i wanna buy. 아름다운 캐이라 황이 저희에게 졸업선물으로 바비큐 화덕을 주었어요. 멋있어요. ":-)" 아니면 "^.^". the beautiful kaela hwang gave me a bbq grill as a graduation gift. it's kewl. 뭘 아직도 사고 싶어요? tv, new desktop 'puter, new laptop 'puter, bike, shower door, outdoor/patio dining set, ... [interrupted]
[later] 오후 / afternoon: 비려간 책을 돌려주기로 도서관에 갔어요. 점심때 갔어요. 점심으로 jamba juice를 먹었어요.
[later] 아직도 오후: 이 지난 주말에 뭘 먹었어요? 금요일 점심으로 togo's fajita chicken sandwich lunch special @ benton togo's (kiely n' benton, near santa clara post office)... 같이 일하는 사람 같이 먹었어요. 금요일 저녁 식사로 저 중식 새우 볶음 같은걸... 캐이라가 만들었어요.
토요일 아침식사로 계란 오믈렛... 아니... 달걀 오믈렛... 그래요? 계란 아니지만 달걀예요. 아무래도, 점심을 안먹었어요. 하지만, 저녁식사를 많이 먹었어요. 졸업후에 친구 하고 가족에게 저녁식사를 샀어요. 저 멋있는 퓨전 월남식 식당 시트로넬에 데려갔어요. 만히 만히 먹었어요. turmeric fish, some kind'f halibut, cubed nieman ranch filet mignon, a grilled chicken salad, seafud bouillabaisse... 더욱 많은 것!!! 많이 많이 먹었어요! 그때 santana row의 blowfish sushi to die for에 친구 같이 갔어요. 저기 좀 술을 같이 마셨어요. 좀 cocktail 것... peach nympho (보숭아 음료) 하고 sake cosmo (일본 사케 술 음료)... 그리고 에다마메를 먹었어요. (일본식콩) 저 음료가 많이 많이 약해요. 별로 많은 술 없어요. 응, 그때 아직도 더 먹었어요! 친구 같이 한국 호프 포인트에 갔어요. 저기, 좀 맥주를 마시었고 떡볶이 하고 통닭 하고 낙지 볶음을 먹었어요. 운좋게 저기 덕경과 덕경의 형이 저희보다 더 먹었어요. 이걸 읽을때 많이 마시기같지만 사실은 별로 많이 마시지 않았어요. 그냥 너무 많이 먹었어요.
일요일... 아니!!! 토요일 아침에 아침식사전에 한국 마켓 갔어요. 저기 빵 하고 배 쥬스 하고 오믈렛을 만들기의 야채를 샀어요.
일요일 아침에 교회 갔어요. 예배후에 집에돌아갔어요. 성경공부 안갔어요. 집에 돌아오기후에 캐이라의 동생 재이의 생일 잔치 점심으로 가났어요. 옹고집에 가봤지만 폐점 했어요. 그래서 청기와에 갔어요. 저기 떡보쌈을 많이 먹었어요. 오, 정말 많이 먹었어요! 고기를 많이 먹었어요. 그리고 아직도 안멈쳐요.
저녁에 저희들의 친구 마크가 저희들을 cheesecake factory에 데려갔어요. 저희는 fish tacos을 먹었어요. 캐이라는 중식 shanghai wonton salad을 먹었어요. 모든분 cheesecake slice 2개를 같이 머었어요. 마크의 교회의모사님과 사모님을 만났어요. 저 교회가 한국 교
회 이지만 영어 목사님과 사모님은 백인 사람이세요. 사실은 이상하지 않아요. 오래전에 저희 다니는 대만교회가 이것 같아요. 하지만 이분이 많이 젊아세요. 저희들 같아세요. 오래전의 대만교회의 목사님과 사모님은 대만갔는 선교사님들 이셨고 대만어와 중국어 좀할수 있셨어요. 하지만 이 한국교회 목사님과 사모님은 한국말 안하시고 별로 한국인 안같아세요. 지금 여기 저희를 이해해주세요: 이 분이 너무 좋은 사람 같아세요.
월요일이 memorial day (미국의 전몰 장병 기념일) 예요. 점심으로 저희들의 친구 로란드을 yan can에 만났고 같이 먹었어요. 순이도 같이 갔어요. 오후에 저희들이 보바 음료를 마셨어요. 어제는 저의 엄마의 생일도 예요. 엄마의 생일잔치으로 토다이에서 저녁식을 먹었어요.
[later] 1212a, 2004.06.02: upes, it's now the next day... 'least according to the clock on my 'puter. i didn't get a chance to finish my entry, nor did i get a chance to translate what i wrote. sorry, u'll hafta wait. 수요일 아침: 읽는 손님이 어때요? 요즘에 인플레션이 많아요. 그리고 요즘 금리가 좋아요. 그래서 요즘이 아마 어떤것을 사는 좋은 시간인것같아요. [later] mid.afternoon: now's a good time to buy things, especially houses n' semiconductor manufakturing equipment! yesterday, i received in the mail a paycheck stub 4 a sizable bonus. sans doute, i feel blessed these days. i'm able to maks my mortgage payments n' then some. (i pay off extra principle.) however, w/ interest rates so low, i wonder if it's silly to pay off extra principle right now. well, i figure it's better than letting my $$$ rot in the bank. *shrug* stocks r doing so $#!++y these days, which'd lead the fool to think it's a good time to buy stocks. it sort'f is, i guess... it's better than throwing ur $$$ into the trash or in the bank, but far from as good as investing in real estate. sure, a diversified portfolio's important, but it cms to me that these days u should buy a house (n' a microchip making machine) b4 buying stocks... these days... w/ inflation as big'f a wurd as it was in the late 70s n' early 80s or whenever it was such a big wurd, i wonder if i need to stock up on spam. mmm... tasty spam... now there's an investment, u mfin' neo.alex.keaton wannabe! kids these days only know michael j. fox as the dude from some old, old show called spin city. dude, it's all 'bout teen wolf n' back 2 the future!
a month 'go or so, in my last order from yesasia, i bought wax 4집. @ times while listening to it, i thought, "wow, lots'f muzik these days in sort'f retro80s," but then i'd 'member, "oh yah, wax's debut hit was a reincarnation'f cyndi lauper's 'she.bop.'" (of course, i was thinking'f "오빠 (oppa)." unless u'r totally out'f it, u know the song.) it's not just wax nor just korean muzik. i've noticed hip spanish pop muzik à la viva 105.7's sort'f retro80s. viva 105.7 kicks major @$$, n' i always hope we'll someday have a similar radio station'f 4 korean pop muzik. mas musica pop y rock en español! viva ciento cinqo punto siepte!
on sun nite after the cheesecake faktory, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i walked sooni to blockbuster n' rented jack black's (the) school of rock n' the hours. we have yet to watch the hours, but we watched (the) school of rock, n' i 'membered that we 1st saw jack black in john cusack'c hi fidelity. isn't it crazy that he now gets to be the star n' be in movies w/ gwyneth paltrow? i wonder how his collaboration w/ ben stiller envy is.
last nite, i made my "glorious" or "triumphant" return to taekwondo. 2day, honestly, i'm a li'l sore. after praktice, a small group'f us got boba @ fantasia n' pho (월남 쇠고기 국수) @ pho hoa: duk, his bro chan, julie, kaz, kaela, n' me.
2day's been a decently bizzy werkday, so i couldn't go home as planned 4 lunch. instead, i ate an unhealthy teriyaki beef sandwich @ werk. 'twas not the best thing i've ever eaten, n' as i was hoping 4 sumpthin' like berkeley's café espresso experience's bulgogi sandwich, i was majorly disappointed n'/or bummed!
if c kaela n'/or me @ this coming wknd's u.s. olympik taekwondo n' judo team trials @ the sjsu event center, where i graduated this past sat, please say hi.
yesterday, my site got a whole lot'f hits from soompi.com users cos some1 posted my site up on their forums as a pager code reference. u know, bronx's junkyard (forums n' all) is back up, right?
nelson's like the dude from big fish in that (altho' he's a good guy) he has this set'f stories he tells every1 he meets that his ol' friends r sick'f. let's make a nelson story anthology! if 4 no other reason, this it an excellent praktice'f folklore study, as the true skolar simplk defines folklore as oral tradition. (legitimate folklorists r ppl like prof alan dundes.)
[later, 956p] lemme tell u, i'm creating this anthology'f nelson's stories not to mock him, not @ all; but rather cos this is a serious study in folklore. nelson's what we call an aktive bearer'f folklore. he's spreading oral tradition. lots'f this stuff happens to a "fof"'f his: f.o.f = friend of a friend... (it also means friends of falafel, doesn't it?) (upes! it's not "fof," it's "foaf," friend of a friend!) nelson's a good friend, a really good guy. i want to preserve these stories'f his in writing. the things he talks 'bout, they get immortalised thru his oral tradition. in that sense, i'd love to find out that he's told stories'f my going to cluck u. chicken n' doing the 911 challenge, as he was there. i'd be flattered. neway, think'f this more as a tribute than nething... altho', yah, i have a bit to say in rebuttal'f some'f the stories nelson tells 'bout korea.
[later] 1107p: 2day was a bizzy_day@werk.com. i wanted to hit up the gym after werk, but stayed@werk.com 2late. instead, i lifted my dumbbells @ home n' took sooni 4 a jog. when i got home, kaela got home from the gym n' we ate 빈대떡 bindaedduhk that her mom made n' brought up last weekend. 2morrow's thurs; crazy. 목요일 아침 / thurs morn: 미국인 너무 많이 영양가 없는 간식을 먹어요: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=350&e=3&u=/kpix/20040603/lo_kpix/10265 무론 새로운 소식 아니요. 저희는 너무 많이 영양가 없는 간식을 먹어요? 잘 몰라요. 아, 안녕 핫에요, 읽는 손님. 어떠세요, 오늘은? 저희는 괜찮아요. 오늘 아침에 더 일찍 일어났어야 했어요. *한숨* 요즘 아침 900 회사에 도착해요. 음, "회사" 아니면 "직장"예요? 아, 그래 이틀전에 태권도 연습하기하고 어제밤에 운동하기대문에 오늘 몸이 좀 아파요. 좋지 않아요. :-( 요즘 아침 900 직장에 도착하지만 더 익찍 도착하고 싶어요. 오래전에 아침 800 아니면 700에 도착했어요. 그겋지 아니면 저희 그냥 꿈을 꾸었어요? 그냥 꿈을 꾸고있어요? 그냥 상상하고 있는가요? *한숨* 매일 아침에 순이를 산책시키야 하잖아요! 매일 아침에 아침식사를 먹어봐요. 집에 아니면 사무실에요. 항상 저희들이 순이보다 먼저 머거야되요. 순이가 먹기전에 저희들이 먹어아되고 순이가 이걸 보야되요. 알겠어요? 왠지 알겠어요? 모이를 쪼아먹는 순서 대문에요.
[later] still morn, late morn: so what's up? bless the gbook, when u can. it feels good to be exercising 'gain. on fri eve, we have private dog training w/ dawna caldwell'f happy tails to you dog training. as i've sed, we need to teach sooni to be nicer to other doggies. <:-/ sat is the u.s. olympik taekwondo / judo team trials @ the sjsu event center. sun's couples' bible study.
do u get ur $$$'s worth @ todai? the beautiful kaela hwang n' i sure don't. we don't eat 'nuff. however, we enjoy what we eat. in that case is it not that we do get our $$$'s worth? nelson 1nce made an excellent comment: in amerika, buffets can never be that good. they can never be as good as they can be in asia. u know why, right? in amerika, 2 often n' 2 easily, a fat, overeating fud addikt'll come n' clean out ur buffet n' bankrupt u! no matter how ridiculously hi'f a price u set, u just can win 'gainst an obese, overconsuming, fud.obsessed amerikan! u c, in asia, u don't get that nearly as often (even despite amerikan tourism), so u can have nicer buffets. ever heard'f some chain called "crazy buffet"? it's just now making its entrance into the silly valley w/ a lokation on winchester blvd n' 'nother on el camino real. steve sed he discovered that it's aktually very well.known.
i hadn't heard from my ol' college friend eileen kim in ages, only knew that she was attending seminary, but recently found out she's a missionary soon to be if not already in the czech republik.
it cms to me that now's a good time to buy stuff. however, i'm not stoopid; i do think 'bout funding my tax.sheltered ira: save it 4 a rainy day à la new order's hit single "regret" from their "republic" album. [2004.06.04, comment: aktually, it's "save it for another day. it's the school exam; and the kids have run away."] putting ur $$$ in da bank's hardly better than stuffing ca$h in btwn the mattress n' boxspring; but 1) we don't have a boxspring, n' 2) the rain'll come someday, bringing w/ it need 4 car repairs, house repairs, medikal bills, compensation if sooni chews up some1's chihuahua... we're very blessed now but don't need to spend recklessly like fools or nouveau riche (bling bling).
our 'puters rt now have so many probs. <:-( i often wonder how best to remedy this situation: buy a new desktop 'puter, buy a new laptop 'puter? fix our 'puters despite major opportunity co$ts? listen! time = $$$! from what i understand, my company'll give me a brand spankin' new, kewl, personal laptop in aug. however, i worry that i shan't be able to use that laptop to make home movies or werk on my dj stuff. what to do?
@ the moment, according to y! driving direktions, we live ~6 mins from
my werk. starting in aug, we'll live ~2 mins from my werk. obviously, we're not moving but my office lokation'll change 4 my new position. w/ current, outrageous gas prices can i afford not to get a bike?!
[later] 오후/afternoon: 점심시간에서 집에갔고 우동을 만들었어요. 집에서 캐이라하고 같이 점심식사를 먹었어요. 먹기후에 저희들이 순이를 산책시켰어요. @ lunch i went home n' cooked udon. i ate lunch w/ kaela. after eating, we walked sooni.
this morn was overcast, but now we have a cerulean sky in santa clara: sierra azul. let's relax! let'f destress. 금요일 아침: 아... 금요일이야... 오, 좋아, 좋아... 안녕 하세요, 읽는 손님. 어떠세요? 어제... [가로막했어요... 나중에] 어젯밤 valley fair에 갔고 쇼핑했어요.
[나중에] 오후: 같이 일하는 사람들 같이 점심식사를 먹었어요. 1'f my cowerkers is getting married next wk n's leaving 2nite. we went out to lunch @ st. john's over by lawrence expwy in sunnyvale. i had a jalapeño chicken sandwich. rt b4 i got married, i think, my cowerkers @ the time took me to st. john's. it's a burger joint but also some kind'f pub n' tavern, i s'ppose, sort'f like kip's. i guess it's an engineering frat boy hangout, in a way; but i don't mean that in a negative way. i think it can be a good place 4 guy friends to hang out.
2day's fri. mmm, that's good. [later] i wonder when the beautiful kaela hwang n' i should host a bbq.
oh yah! my sister grace n' steve r having 'nother baby. i could say, "i'm gonna be an uncle 'gain," but does that make sense? mason'll have a li'l sibling; he'll be a big bro.
[later] did u hear that sony's gonna stop making new cliés? crazy, huh? this is interesting: i wonder if this is really the beginning'f the end of palmos. up till now, i've figured that palm os:pocketpc::macos:windows; however, do u think palm's losing now worse than macos? just like macos relative to windows, palmos provides convenience n' agility. pocket pc is a slow os, n' the devices that run it r big n' bulky. also, why feed the microsoft pig? sure, nerds argue that pocket pc is more powerful, n' they r right. however, don't slick playas n' nerds alike wanna be able to enter that hot chick's number/e.mail into their pda right on the spot w/o having to wait 4 their pda to boot up, etc? well, the tekno unsavvy cynic'd scoff that only a nerd'd carry a pda n' the real slick playa'd write the hot chick's number on the palm'f his hand not into a palmos.based pda. however, listen up: we live in the silly valley, so even the slick playa'd better wise up n' learn to give in to the fakt that microchips run the world. if we were real palmos fans, we'd argue that palmos:windows::linux:windows in order to give palmos a bit more credit.
247p: i'm in valley fair women's macy's.
[later] 915p: ugh, it's such a warm evening! ok, i'll just sit in my jeans n' "wifebeater" instead'f having this short.sleeve button.up on top. ok. yah, it's really warm. so what's been up? well, mirei antonia, thank u 4 signing my gbook. i should answer those qs (questions) myself soon. ok, so what's been up?
on fri, i came home from werk. then we had dawna caldwell'f happy tails to you dog training come meet w/ us re: sooni. it was a good session. she got us started on clicker training. u know, there's so much to being a good dog owner. mark (lee) sed that we'll be good parents cos'f the way we take care'f sooni. i hope so. the beautiful kaela hwang made a good comment 1nce: some ppl say that owning a doggy is good praktice 4 raising a kid. other ppl say it's totally diff n' so irrelevant. this 2nd group'f ppl is totally wrong. it's not that keeping a dog isn't like raising a kid; it's that so many ppl r bad dog owners. that's true. some ppl think we give sooni so much attention. maybe; however, we don't spoil her. we make sure she doesn't get the whole queen'f the house / 공주병 / princess syndrome that so many pampered doggies get. 4 example, lots'f small doggies such as pomeraniens or malties rn't kept in check by their owners. u c, big doggies; their owners know they can be a threat n' menace. ppl don't like big doggies jumping up on them etc. however, small doggies often get 2 many liberties: like, when they jump up to get attention, ppl think it's cute. when they nudge n' yip to get pet, ppl think it's cute. however, if a big doggy pushes n' barks 4 attn, ppl don't tolerate it. so, my pt is that we don't spoil sooni, we just give her lots'f attention cos we're trying to train her. sooni's almost 3, so we've gotta akt fast. her original owners were most likely not good dog owners. i'm glad dawna tells us there's hope 4 sooni. however, it was a li'l sad 4 her to pt out to us that the original owners definitely lied when they sed they were giving sooni 'way cos their daughter grew up n' didn't want to take care'f a doggy nemore. i c the light n' realise she's right: just think; sooni's way 2 cute'f a doggy to give 'way just cos u'r kid doesn't wanna take care'f her. the parents would've done it. the thing is that sooni's not that problematic'f a doggy, i think. i think there're millions n' millions'f doggies that behave worse than her. after all, she's housetrained (doesn't poop or pee in the house... altho' she may pass gas now n' then), she's very nice to most ppl, she rarely barks, she stays well in the house while we're gone, n' she doesn't harass ppl 4 fud, u know? her 1 prob's that she's often not nice to other doggies. however, i'm realising now, after reading many doggy books that it's most likely a learned behaviour: maybe her original owners taught her not to be nice to other doggies. also, i suspekt that i, myself, have made it harder 4 her to socialise w/ other doggies. ever since the 1st time she cmed to get ruff w/ some bull terrier @ santana row, i guess i was scared to let her get close to other doggies, so i always pulled her 'way, n' that lead her to believe that all other doggies mean bad news. i understand it better now. altho' i always thought i had sooni's full respekt. . . [unfinished entry] 월요일 아침: how was ur wknd? how many ppl prefer wkdays over wknds? i'm certain there'r some. i s'ppose an obvious gbook q's "what's ur favourite day'f the week?" 4 me, it'd definitely be either fri or sat. would some ppl say sun instead? *shrug*
last thurs nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i tried to watch the hours on dvd but fell asleep. on fri nite, we watched it. honestly, i didn't like it much cos it's just plain depressing. >:-( back freshman yr'f berkeley, i was in english 20 or sumpthin' w/ phil (huang). we were assigned to read virginia woolf's to the lighthouse, but i honestly couldn't pay attn n' kept falling asleed. :-( sometimes i think it's hopeless that i'll ever be very literary, u know? in case u don't know, the hours is sort'f 'bout virginia woolf or 'least heavily involves her. i think i watch plenty'f feminist cinema.
last wk, i received lots'f packages in the mail: dog books from amazon, dog treats from ebay
[later] afternoon: recently, in the shower, i thought 'bout some cure lyrics: "i'm coming to find you if it takes me all night, a witch hunt for another girl. for always and ever, it's always for you. you're just the most gorgeously stupid thing there ever was in this world." however, the true lyrics to the cure's "a night like this" cm to be"i'm coming to find you if it takes me all night, a witch hunt for another girl. for always and ever is always for you. your trust, the most gorgeously stupid thing i ever cut in this world."
[later] last thurs eve, kaela n' i went shopping @ valley fair n' had dinner @ the cpk (california pizza kitchen) there. kaela had this chicken walnut waldorf salad, n' i had this jambalaya linguine. we shared a tiramisu as dessert. it felt so good to be out on a thurs nite now that skool's over.
[later] early eve: the smashing pumpkins did do a cover'f the cure's "a night like this", right? i'm not imagining that, right? in fakt, didn't james iha share the vocals w/ billy corgan or sumpthin'? let's google up an answer! oh, according to some sources, james iha does all the vocals 4 that track, ok. 화요일 아침: 안녕하세요. 읽는 손님이 어떠세요?
a: 아주 귀여운 개를 기르는군요. 수놈입니까, 암놈입니까? [later] late morn: on sat, we watched lots'f judo n' a li'l taekwondo. we ran into a few berkeley taekwondo familiar faces, n' we really liked that! :-) i do miss berkeley ppl. u know, i werk in a field that's often thought'f at not so "ppl.oriented," yet in my personal life, i really value ppl. the team trials event was very long. honesly, the judo matches sort'f bored most'f us taekwondo ppl, but we understand n' knew that the taekwondo matches prob'ly bored lots'f the judo fans. @ dinnertime, a bunch'f went w/ the stanfurd folks to some vietnamese restaurant on santa clara. honestly, the beautiful kaela hwang didn't much enjoy the fud, altho' the company (as in the ppl we hung out w/) was fine. both kaela n' i felt stomachsick from that meal. it was pretty overpriced.
[later, still late morn] on sun, we attended church in the morn. we lunched galleria market's wknd pojangmacha. as usual, we had 2 빈대떡 bindaedduhk n' 2 김치 부침 kimchi boochim. we bought some groceries n' went home. oh yah, @ church, i found out a family @ our church owns melody cd, the korean muzik store on el camino real. after we dropped off groceries @ home n' dilly.dallied w/ chores etc., we made a quick trip to valley fair. kaela needed to get her glasses fixed @ lenscrafters, n' i needed to return some shams. (pillow cases... most unmarried men don't know what shams n' duvets r.) we went to couples' bible study. our friends' puppy bit thru kaela's shirt sleeve, n' she was not unhappy as it was the shirt i got her 4 our engagement portraits. we left early. later, we went grocery shoping @ the rivermark safeway. we came home n' ate uh... oh yah! kaela has gonna make brown rice 김밥, but that didn't werk, so we ate some kind'f makeshift 비빔밥 bibimbap. we started watching our 러빙 유 (loving you) dvds. bronx's junkyard types'll know this kbs miniseries best 4 the lead aktress: 김유진 eugene (kim)'f the ol' gurlypop trio s.e.s. i like korean dramas as they r just sooo much more romantik than nething on 'merikan tv.
yesterday, kaela n' i met @ home 4 a mish.mash lunch'f spinach salad n' expired tofu bratwurst. last nite we aktually both went to the gym; i hadn't visited the gym in 'bout 2~3 months!!!
[later] afternoon: [later, still afternoon] i've gotta read fud labels avoid nething w/ "hydrogenated" as well as high fructose corn syrup. let's all try to eat healthily.
i think ppl should be allowed to bring dogs into restaurants, but ppl should not be allowed to smoke.
[later] 1052 p: if u r asian.amerikan n' w/ internet access (i.e. breathing), then u get borderline spam mail from s.b. woo n' the 80-20 gang. i saw an interesting spam mail 2day, interesting 'nuff that i'll put it up here, i guess:
ELECTION TIME. 'Tis an opportune time for AsAms.
Astute Americans use elections to get the 2 parties to do things
for them. AsAms must learn to do the same. But, first, know the
differences and similarities of the two parties, highlighting those
features that are of particular relevance to AsAms.
Above all, REMEMBER that political parties act in their own interests. If we have the unity to deliver a SWING bloc vote, then the two parties will compete to serve our rightful interest in order to win our bloc vote in the NEXT election.
Join 80-20 today. Friends, we really need your help in the election year. We need a BIG war chest and a BIG army.
'bout politiks, we all know that while some'f us were watching the u.s. taekwondo n' judo olympik team trials, 4mer president reagan passed 'way. u should definitely read phil huang's take on all the hubbub n' hype over reagan's death. i'd feel bad being 2 harsh on a dead man, but i guess amerikkka is a country @ civil war, so we've all gotta grab our guns n' pitchforks n' join 1 side or the other, u know? *sigh* it sucks, but i dunno; maybe it's true. 목요일 아침: 오늘 저의 누나의 33번째 생일예요. happy b.day, grace (my sister grace).
a wk 'go, last thurs nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' went shopping @ valley fair, n' it felt so relaxing to be out on a thurs eve(ning) (n' not in class). mon eve, it felt great to be @ the gym 1nce more. (recall the diva [디바] cover'f the carpenters' "yesterday once more.") yesterday eve, kaela n' i went to petco it's almost summer. doesn't that thought cheer u up? doesn't summer bring w/ it memories'f jerome's introducing ppl to nox's 1 semi.hit "미치도록 (michidorok)"? *sigh* good times... however, let us not 4get that 2000 happened 4 yrs 'go; n' furthermore, 1999 happened 5 yrs 'go. it's so easy to live in that past cos they were fun times; fun, web.surfin', start.uppin', dot.commin', matrix.watchin', phantom.menacin', 노래방in' (noraebahngin'), 168in', 꼬꼬.하우스in' (kkokko.housin'), 아바론.clubbin' (avaron.clubbin'), cal.tkd.p.crewin' days. it's easy to live in a past like that, rt? our nasdaq tech stocks were soaring, yet u gotta admit that ppl were more socially conscious, environmentally friendly, globally aware, culturally tolerant, n' thus better amerikans than we c 2day. (the amerikkkan gestapo's coming to kill the 1stborn son'f each household, but if u put up an amerikkkan flag outside, they'll passover ur house. apparently, the blood'f an innocent foreigner, smeared on ur door'll also do.) back in 1999/2000, we were already scoffing @ the gangsta rap n' gangsta requiem rap'f mid.1990s: "how many bruthas fell victim to the street? rest in peace young blood; there's a heaven for a g." 2day, we send our young bruthas n' sistas off to die in iraq. did u know that esteemed leland hi skool alumnus pat tillman died by friendly fire?!?! i never heard that on nbc's today show but read it on phil's website.
what's better 'bout 2004 than 2000 or 1999? affordable flat panel lcd displays; affordable dvd+/-r/rw; dirt cheap dvd playas; affordable laptop 'puters; hybrid cars; camera/camcorder fons; affordable, miniature mp3 playas; affordable digital camcorders; dirt cheap multiple megapixel digicams; better websites; affordable dsl; wi.fi! n' wireless lan; solar.powered, rechargeable garden lites; n' beno's now being married to the most wonderful woman in the world! i gotta admit; life's better 4 me now, n' i wouldn't trade it 4 a hundred yr 2000s or a million yr 1999s.
[later] ~noon: it's good to eat more fibre. what's 4 lunch? *shrug*
[later] 오후/afternoon: @ lunch, i went home. the gentle leader that dawna caldwell'f happy tails sent us arrived. sooni aktually wore it ok, n' i took her 4 a walk. i tried to make it fun, more fun than usual. i tried. *shrug* i hope sooni does well w/ it! 4 lunch, i ate a southwest caeser salad, 1'f those packaged salad kits from safeway. while out walking or walkin' sooni, i accidentally left my cellfon (휴대폰) in my car in the garage, but i needed to keep, sooni amused n' thus didn't bother to return home 4 that or the hat i 4got. my mom called n' left a v.mail to remind that i saw ronald reagan in 1980 in idaho falls. yah, i'd already thought'f that. i've cn 2 presidents in person from afar: ronald reagan n' george h. w. bush, 2 republikans tho' i grew up to be a demokrat. i think toby saw 1'f the 2. he wanted to take a pic, but his camera battery died; so, out'f anger, he popped the battery in his mouth n' felt a tingling sensation. last time i talked politiks w/ toby, which was ages 'go, he was a republikan. 금요일 아침: 아, 금요일예요. 항상 금요일에 기분 좋아요. 금요일이 저의 좋아하는 요일예요? 잘 모르겠지만 아마 그렇죠. *으쓱* (*shrug*)
this morn was reagan's funeral. as i viewed it on the ultra conservatively biased nbc today show, i knew 4 sure ppl'd make a big deal out'f the hollywood scene'f nancy reagan's kissing the flag.draped casket. i knew ppl'd compare that image to that'f jfk, jr @ his daddy's funeral. nancy reagan was ronnie's 2nd wife, right? wasn't reagan a divorcé? which hollywood aktress was his 1st, do u 'member? jane sumpthin' sumpthin'.
from http://www.tokorea.com.cn/yule/stra_prople/god/nonamec.htm:
"friday night" - g.o.d.
맘 이맘 부풀어오르는 이밤 right alright it`s friday night
[later] early eve: u don't know, but kaela n' i r buying a new sony vaio laptop cos our old 1's got 2 many probs, etc. *sigh*
[later] 744p: i'm sitting in the lawrence expwy costco's parking lot. my day started ok, but sometime rt after lunch, it took a huge nosedive n' turned ultrastressful. :-( kaela had told me that she wouldn't go to costco to buy new tires 2day cos'f her cowerker's wife's funeral, but it ended early n' she headed to costco n' needed me there 4 my costco membership n' car. she does need new tires. then my prof called me, n' i found out i hafta do a bunch more werk on my master's projekt report but that i should show up @ skool ~530p to collekt all the necessary signatures. kaela met me @ my office n' i drovh us over 4 that. then, since we were far 'nuff south we stopped by my mom's house to pick up some things, including sumpthin' kaela needs 4 werk 2morrow. then we headed back. i was planning to go to church 4 praise nite, but kaela's car'll be done sometime btwn 800 n' 830p. kaela fell asleep in the car. i went in to let ppl know what i have to do n' that i'll try to come back. now, i'm in the costco parking lot. kaela's asleep. i guess i'm waiting 4 the tire center to call kaela. i c her car in their bay or garage. i guess they're werking on it, but i'm so stressed out. :-( i'm not happy on this fri nite. :-( 토요일 오후 1239 pm, sat: rt now, i dunno what to do. it's sat. the beautiful kaela hwang's @ werk. me, i'm home w/ sooni n' a long to do list'f stuff i should do 4 werk n' skool. yesterday started as a pleasant fri, but as the day progressed, the potential 4 having a fun, relaxing wknd sort'f faded. :-( cos i had to go pick up kaela from costco's tire store, i started feeling obligated to take a laptop home n' werk on some matlab code. then my prof called me n' told me'f all these revisions she wants 4 my paper, so i should werk on that. also, cos i needed those 3 signatures, i had to leave werk early n' felt more internal pressure to take werk home. my classmate friend has a b.day party @ shanghai 1930 late 2nite. i wanted to take kaela to shanghai 1930 4 dinner, but the party starts @ 1100p. it's not a dinner party, but a club party. the sf asianam club party scene's interesting like that. i want to celebrate dave's b.day, but i have pressure 'bout getting to church on time 2morrow morn.
i feel so overwhelmed. last nite, when kaela went back to werk after costco's bizzy tire center finally finished w/ her kia sportage 701p: we went to my mom's house. sooni ran 'round the backyard. we went to my sister n' steve's house. sooni ran 'round the backyard. we went to the rose garden. we walked sooni 'round the perimeter as dogs rn't 'llowed inside. wow, the rose garden is prob'ly the nicest neighbourhood in san jo. altho' there r likely wealthier n' snobbier neighbourhoods; the rose garden neighbourhood is expen$ive yet has character n' true class.
well, i guess we'll do shanghai 1930 2nite 4 dave's b.day. 일요일 저녁 (오후) 652p: 체육관에서... is a good day 4 bay area sports fans a day when l.a. teams lose? dodgers v. red sox; lakers v. pistons: dodgers r losing, but lakers'll prob'ly win. 월요일 아침: so... the lakers n' the dodgers lost yesterday. wow, was that the best day in bay area sports in a long time then? *shrug* some bay area sports fans complain 'bout l.a. sports fans, saying they're so annoying. r they just so annoying cos their teams win? :-/ i've heard some sports person say that l.a. is maybe the best sports city in the u.s. well, it's easy to hate the lakers cos so many players on that team have inflated egos. neway, i'm not a sports guy, so i won't talk 2 much 'bout sports.
maybe lucky 4 u, i haven't talked 'bout church stuff in a long time here. yesterday, we had a guest speaker rick park 전도사님 (jdsn or "juhndosanim"). 1 thing he touched on was living a moderate life. yah, even tho' i've talked 'bout how now's a good time to buy n' $pend, i guess it's important to think a li'l 'bout the diff 'bout what u need v. what u want. funny, if u visit target, they have these posters that advertise various produkts: the posters each feature a person w/ the produkt n' then either the wurd "need" or "want." funny.
on fri nite, when the beautiful kaela hwang went back to werk, i changed my car battery, sumpthin' i've been meaning to do 4 wks if not months. after he heard that kaela n' i had sears auto center install kaela's car battery, bernard huang told me that it's really easy to change a car battery, so i should do it myself in the future. a few wks 'go i printed out a webpage 'bout changing car batteries. i followed those instruktions. what no 1 warned me 'bout is that when i get the new battery connekted, the car alarm may blast in my face.
yesterday after church, kaela n' i had 냉면 naengmyuhn 4 lunch @ 청기와 chunggiwa (blue stones). as usual, i had 세끼미 냉면 seiggimi naengmyuhn. kaela had 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn.
on sat nite, kaela n' i never made it to sf, to shanqhai 1930. instead we had a good time by ourselves @ a local korean hof called 난다랑 nandarang on el camino. u c, we came home from our day'f walkin' sooni n' visiting family. then we fell asleep, which i figured was a good thing if we'd be out late in sf. however, we fell asleep 4 2 long, i guess. when we woke up, i realised it wouldn't be worth it to travel up to sf just to party it up 4 a short time n' come home. originally, i wanted to drive up to sf, eat dinner @ shanghai 1930, party it up a li'l, n' then come home. however, when we woke up, i realised that we prob'ly wouldn't have time to eat dinner @ shanghai 1930. *sigh* i was pretty frustrated, unsure what to do w/ the nite, u know? well, kaela n' i went to this korean hof that we've been curious 'bout 4 a while. it was very fun! :-) we had 양념 통닭 yangnyuhm tongdalk n' 소시지 와 새우 볶음 sosiji (sausage) wa saewoo bokkeum. the waiter recommended shrimp (saewoo), saying it was fresh. the fud was really good. we had a couple bottles'f 오비 맥주 o.b. maekjoo. yesterday, after the gym, we went grocery shopping @ the rivermark safeway. 'xaktly a week 'go, we were there grocery shoppin'. it cms to me that we spend an avg'f $80 each time. :-/ hrm, r groceries not getting more expen$ive? man, i really c inflation! i think we've gotta stock up on spam n' other nonperishables.
oh yah! after lunch, we went to 금성 비디오 geumsuhng video, which i think is the closest korean video store to our house. we originally wanted to rent the end'f 진주 목걸이 jinjoo mokguhli. the store owner sed that ktvn.nc'll start showing it 'gain next week. i think he sed they'll start from the beginning. he also asked sumpthin' like "why do u wanna watch such a depressing show? don't u young ppl wanna watch sumpthin' happier n' funnier?" we rented a few episodes'f a few shows. last nite, we watched 결혼 하고 싶은 여자 gyuhlhon hagoshipeun yuhja (the gurl who wants to get married). it was fun, but i gotta admit that's it's a bit 2 gurly 4 me. u know how i don't like ally mcbeal? like that... but luckily not nearly as bad.
요즘 매일 아침 커피를 만들어요. these days, every morn i make coffee. i used to make sumatra coffee, but we ran out'f that, so now i make starbucks organic guatemala coffee. as i've sed b4, i prefer dark, rich coffees. i like espresso n' french roast. i don't really much like guatemala coffee, but if i add in some fat free irish cream coffee mate, i can enjoy it. in this case, it's more like "milk coffee." yah, un4tunately, i've been drinking coffee a li'l 2 regularly. :-(
this morn, i took sooni 4 a short jog.
[later] last nite, 4 dinner, kaela n' i ate a safeway rotisserie chicken n' some salad. funny, when sooni saw us eating the salad, she looked like she couldn't care less that we were eating; but when we whipped out the chicken... whoa! she definitely was thinking, "hey! u didn't tell me u had a chicken!" even tho' she was still well.behaved, we hadn't cn her so interested in our dinner in a long time. after we finished eating, we gave her some bones.
i'm really glad i took sooni 4 a jog this morn cos i really need exercise!
[later] last thurs eve, kaela n' i went to valley fair. afterwards, it was late, but we got some 짜장면 jjajangmyun to go from 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang. we brought it home n' ate it while watching 러빙 유 (loving you). this wkend, i guess on fri, we finished watching the kbs miniseries.
[later] 오늘 점심에서 집으로 돌아갔어요. 어젯밤의닭 남은 식사를 먹었어요. 벼를 순이에게 좀 주었어요.
sometimes i feel i have plenty'f ups n' downs in life. u could sort'f call it "drama," but it's not the exciting, fun.to.watch kind, u know? maybe "it's just me." in all honesty, i haven't felt verk "sure'f myself" or self.confident these past few days. constantly, i feel overwhelmed n' undermotivated. i s'ppose this slump started on fri. :-(
[later] @ lunch, i went home, ate some leftover chicken from last nite, n' gave sooni some'f the bones. i hope she's happy. i wonder if i'm hittin' the gym 2day or what. 화요일 아침: 금요일이 저의 좋아하는 요일이면 화요일은 어때요? <:-? 저 잘 몰라요. *shrug* 어제 저녁 체육관에 갔어요. spinning class에 갔어요. 좋았어요. 집에 돌아왔을때 저는 순이를 산책시켰어며 아름다운 캐이라 황은 김밥을 만들었어요. 어제 캐이라의 새로운 laptop 콤퓨터가 왔어요. 많이 멋있어요. 오! 어젯밤에 북가주 한국 방송 ktvn.nc ch28 계속했어요.
[나중에] http://www.80-20initiative.net/flagproject.html talks 'bout a proposal 4 asian.amerikans to join 2gether in displaying usa flags on july 4 to "erase our foreigner image." ever since 9.11, usa flags sure have been more popular. what do u think'f this idea? in 1 sense, it is prob'ly a great idea cos, yah, 2 many ignorant or else unin4med (likely older generation) non.asian amerikans do perceive us asian.ams only as foreigners. however, it's sort'f a shame that, while amerikans'f certain other ethnicities may burn the flag as an exercise'f 1st ammendment freedom'f speech, we asian.amerikans need to hide behind it as a magik shield that'll hopefully shield us from racial hatred altho' we can't necessarily count on it. neway, i'm not dissin' this flag idea nor the flag itself. i am an amerikan 미국 사람. the other day on npr (perhaps the last honest source'f news?), i heard a great editorial piece 'bout ray charles n' his rendition'f "america the beautiful." 수요일 아침: 어젯밤 태권도 연습에 갔어요. cos i drank so much coffee so regularly earlier in the week, yesterday, i severely suffered from caffeine withdrawal. i did not like it. 싫어해요. 태권도 연습후에 팬태지야 fantasia에서 보바음료를 받았어요. mon was like christmas 4 kaela n' me cos all this internet.ordered stuff came to us: kaela's sony vaio laptop, kaela's maui jim nani sunglasses, n' my ben sherman jeans. my jeans. i've gotta exchange them cos they're a bit 2 butt tight. :-( i tried on a pair @ macy's that fit great, but they must've been a diff style/cut. i got these on ebay. i wanna go to the ben sherman store in the great mall (in milpitas) to try to exchange them.
요즘 읽는 손님은 어떻게 지내고 있어요? 전 괜찮은 것같아요.
[later] 오후/afternoon: dog friendly santa cruz (http://www.lighthousedogs.com/friendly.html), dogfriendly.com's city guide: santa cruz, california (http://www.dogfriendly.com/server/travel/uscities/guides/w/cities/wonlinecityCASanta_Cruz.shtml), the county of santa clara - places to take your dog (http://www.parkhere.org/content/0,4745,chid%253D162737%2526ccid%253D30101,00.html)...
[later] @ lunch 2day, i went home. i ate 2 soy hot dogs: 1 w/ guacamole n' 1 w/ kimchi. i ate 2 0.5 cobs'f corn. i vacuumed my car a li'l. where's my sunglasses case?! ah! i just found it in my bag! i walked sooni. i did 'lot during my lunchbrk. *sigh* do u think i'll be the type to try to be a "superdad"? what'll life be like when kaela n' i have kids? u know how i think 'bout dog ownership's similarity to parenthood. 목요일 아침 / thurs morn: 안녕 하세요. 오늘 어떻게 계세요? [a li'l later] *sigh* un4tunately, these days, i still have plenty'f stress: rt now, my transcript sez that my graduation was denied, n' i guess that's cos my prof still hasn't assigned me credit 4 finishing my master's projekt. *sigh* i totally finished my report on time, but i used the 4mat that i used in berkeley. there was never ne defined 4mat 4 a master's projekt report, only 4 a thesis. *sigh* this stoopid master's projekt report thing just won't end, n' i'm so frustrated.
last nite, i picked up the beautiful kaela hwang from her office n' went to the great mall in search'f a ben sherman store, which we did not find. we did each eat an auntie anne's pretzel tho'. then we stopped by home to drop off kaela's car n' say hi to sooni b4 going to macy's @ valley fair to look 4 sumpthin', a present 4 some1. however, we didn't find it. we went home n' ate soy hot dog beanie weenie. sooni had a very good dinner last nite cos i gave her some leftover 양념 통닭 yangnyuhm tongdalk scraps as well as some beanie weenie, along w/ her normal fud. the trainer sed it's totally fine that she eats table scraps now n' then as long as she eats after us. however, i'm starting to think we'd better cut back on the table scraps cos she's getting picky 'bout what she eats, u know? did i mention the 현미 김밥 brown rice kimbap that kaela made earlier this week? uh, was it on mon nite?
u know that i read lots'f books on dog training by certified animal behaviourists, right? i mean, i read stuff written by professors not just so n' so. in ne case, these animal behaviourists, who r basikally specialised psychologists, i guess, have 'lot to say 'bout how 1 big gap in communication btwn us n' our doggies is that we're primates n' they're canines. it's sort'f depressing how they keep reminding us that we're just primates, just big apes but w/ opposable thumbs. when training a doggy, u give her a command. if u repeat it cos she didn't listen, then u'r demonstrating ape.like behaviour, apparently. that whole repeating a command while getting frustrated, that's what apes do n' 'pparently not a behaviour compatible w/ doggies.
i really miss watching 러빙 유. hrm, it's funny to say that, i guess, since we finished watching it. neway, it was such a fun miniseries, n' i miss it. i 'member, as a kid, my dad teased me cos i liked to watch the weekend japanese dramas, even as a li'l kid. he teased me, saying that i liked to watch japanese soap operas more than amerikan soap operas. as i've sed b4, asian dramas r romantik, while amerikan soap operas r cheap n' trashy.
if u've been to our house in the past few months, u know that sooni's fur gets all over the place. kaela n' i read that jindo shed 2ice a yr, n' we're guessing that those 2 periods each last 6 months. sooni fur, couldn't that be a name? "soonifur," like "jennifer"... yah? ha ha, imagine naming a daughter "jennifur"! ha ha, that looks like some kind'f benospelling! ha ha, she'd get so much cr@p from other kids, huh? they'd say she can't spell her own name, etc. however, there'r ppl w/ alternate spellings'f names, 4 example "cyndi" or "sindy" instead'f "cindy"... n' whose to say "kaela"'s more correct than "kayla" or "kaila"? "kayla" looks like a total white, "americana" name, while "kaila" looks hawaiian.
do u know what i mean by "americana"? well, i think the concept'f "americana" validates the existence'f a legitimate "white.amerikan" culture. "americana" means that wasps rn't all "white trash." i can understand that, in the whole ethnocization'f amerika, it's easy 4 caucasian amerikans to feel left out, to feel like they're always referred to as "the man," that they've lost their place in amerikan society. think 'bout michael douglas in falling down. 'member, jason lee gave me that dvd 4 my b.day last yr. it was a hot topik in the early to mid 1990s: the white man felt left out, like he was always the antagonist. well, i s'ppose the concept'f "americana" ('least the way i think'f it) sez that white amerika has a culture 2. altho' we've gotta stay 'way from the whole white power, kkk idea, we can say that "comfort fud" is a cuisine that can sit amongst indian fud, chinese fud, korean fud, mexican fud, etc. personally, i hate the term "comfort food" when used to describe pork chops etc., but that's what amerikan society has come to accept, u know? well, i figure the whole "comfort food" craze'f the late 1990s, which was a reaktion to all the fusion n' cali4nian cuisine'f the 1980s n' 1990s is a big part'f this "americana" concept. fusion cuisine in the 1980s was sort'f premature or immature, it wasn't quite ready yet. back then, fusion fud meant pesto potstickers n' teriyaki spareribs. i think there've been lots'f improvements to fusion cuisine thru.out the 1990s till now.
last nite, i didn't find the ben sherman store in the great mall cos there is no ben sherman store in the great mall. i had misread the website: it's not that there's a ben sherman store in the great mall but that some store called mojos in the great mall sells ben sherman stuff. if u 'member, the reason i was looking 4 a ben sherman store is cos the jeans i bought on ebay fit a li'l tight. what do u think? they're 32 x 32, which's s'pposed to be my size, should i just keep 'em n' wear 'em? uh... sheesh, i know u think it's a totally gurly n' less than male heterosexual question, but skrew u, if u think so. heterosexual males do need to worry, "does this make my butt look big?" well, does it?! maybe i was just pulling them up 2 hi; i don't need to be steve erkel. (i hope u kids rn't 2 young to 'member... what was that show called??? family matters???) i have 'least a coupl'f pairs'f pants that r 31 x 32. i don't wear them as much nemore. u've got to admit that i was slimmer in those 1999 cal taekwondo team days. however, as vain as it sounds, i'm sort'f glad that in the past coupl'f yrs i've put some muscle on my upper body.
[later] 1224p: i'm on the sjsu campus, drinking an aloha pineapple jamba juice as i wait 4 my prof. [later] back @ the office. my car's cd playa keeps skipping, so i stuck the cleaning cd in it. i just let the cleaning cd keep spinning in there, hopefully knocking some dust off the lens. while it does that, i listen to the radio. usually, i listen to viva 105.7, but cos there was a commercial on during my short morn commute, i switched to 104.9 4 a while. this afternoon, i heard the ol' smashing pumpkins tune "today." the naive listener thinks that "today is the greatest day i've ever known" is a really optimistic lyric, but the more intelligent listener knows that this song's 'bout suicide. suicide's not a good thing, altho' this song's rather beautiful imho.
last wed eve, when kaela n' i were @ pasta pomodoro w/ dave (from my classes), a bee landed on sooni's side, she was getting nervous n' sort'f bitting @ it. kaela took out a water gun n' shot the bee a few times, n' it fell off. 2day, while drinking my jamba juice outside, i saw a yellow jacket n' thought 'bout that incident n' also 'bout the time we saw a puppy eat a bee @ the rivermark peet's coffee.
[later] late afternoon: just now, i was so hungry. i was very tempted to duck out n' get some fast fud. instead i visited the vending machine. rold gold pretzels rarely tasted so good w/o beer. 토요일 오후 225p, sat: 오늘 아름다운 캐이라 황과 저희의 11번째 monthversary. 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 11th monthversary (wedding monthversary). we're going to shadowbrook restaurant in capitola to celebrate. back b4 christmas, kaela won $100 there from her office party. this should be fun. un4tunately, we can't bring sooni.
on thurs eve, we had our private doggy training w/ dawna caldwell'f happy tails to you dog traning. i'm so glad sooni's been pretty good 'bout wearing her gentle leader. she's also ok w/ her muzzle n' crate/kennel. i think she's getting better w/ other doggies... but she still needs more werk.
kaela n' i've been watching the sbs miniseries drama 천국의계단 (chungookuy gyeidan) on rented video tapes. the english name's stairway to heaven or heaven's staircase. we love it, n' kaela's addikted. last nite, we stayed up to close to 400a, watching.
last nite, 4 dinner, we brought sooni to the rivermark n' sat outside in the brisk, brisk evening air @ yoyo sushi. the weather reminded me'f sf, n' the waitresses were so reluktant to come out to serve us cos'f the cold air. eh, it wasn't that great'f a restaurant, but it's 1'f few japanese restaurants w/ outdoor seating, @ 'least that i know'f... i guess the owners r either cantonese or vietnamese. it's not that i can't distinguish btwn the 2 languages but that i heard the staff speak both. we ordered 2 much, n' kaela had to pay cos i accidentally left my wallet @ home cos i changed clothes after werk. we had their ufo roll, their dynamite roll, amaebi, sake (salmon), n' beef sukiyaki. it was cold outside, so wanted some warm fud, rt? sooni got to eat some beef from our sukiyaki after we ate more than our share. we only let her eat after we're done; the whole pecking order thing. we strolled after gorging, n' i ran into my cowerker kiy, who's my next door cubicle neighbour @ werk.
so what's up? on thurs, b4 doggy training, i went to skool to talk to the dept chairman 'bout my master's projekt report. i really wanna wrap up this issue asap. i wanna get on w/ life!
[later] 1 thing u need to be surprised how li'l i've talked 'bout here is kaela's new sony z1 vaio laptop that is almost the world's most extravagant 'puter, u've got to admit. besides having some super.powerful ati video card 'long w/ its centrino cpu, it's got a built.in dvdr/rw writer, ieee1394 firewire, memory stick pro slot, 802.11b/g, bluetooth... it's crazy! my gbook answers:
name: 비노 황
화요일 아침: 아, 화요일만예요? 아이...
South Korean Hostage in Iraq Wins More Time -Mediator(y! news)
[later] mark sent me this msnbc.com article 'bout women v. men n' finaces. here's a good quote: "pet peeve - Putting off buying a home because you want to wait until you find a man and get married:
Nothing is sexier then a woman who owns real estate. Most important ? nothing is more crucial to your financial security than owning a home. Men never put off buying a home and neither should a woman."
[later] mon eve (still @ werk, but should leave to the gym soon): yesterday's church picnic was so much fun! :-) [a li'l later] we went to huddart park in uh... which city? uh... peninsula... snobby town... uh... uh... [later] 1057p, 2004.06.22: oh yah, woodside.
so i heard the militants in iraq killed kim sunil. when u spell it that way, it looks like an indian name.
these days flags r @ 0.5 mass, 0.5 staff, 0.5 mast, or whatever they call it. r ppl still doing this 4 reagan?! it's been how many wks now? we ought then to do this 4 every president that passes 'way, including demokrats. or shall we keep our flags down until this awful war's over?
yesterday was the longest day'f 2004, n' the beautiful kaela hwang n' i played tennis @ the nearby hi skool. we brought sooni w/ us. 711a: whoa! i'm hearing/watching the most obviously right wing biased interview'f president bill clinton by nbc today show's katie couric. wtf! she starts out by saying the only reason ppl r buyiwg his book is to find out more 'bout his ol' affair! whuh? what a #@(*!ng biased piece'f $#!+!!! now they're trying to bag on kerry by matt's saying that kerry's not as popular as clinton.
[later] on a lighter note: 2day's foxtrot comic courtesy'f y! news. 목요일 아침: 안년 하세요. 어떠세요? [나중에] 다음월 31일이 토비의 벳티의 결혼식예요. [later] early evening: it's been a long, werk.packed wk. 2morrow's fri.
[later] 1107p: i don't feel good. i caught a cold this wk from the beautiful kaela hwang. i've been feeling pretty bad, n' 2nite i've started to get irritable in that pms way, u know? it's just ur typikal male.pms nite. i've been so_bizzy@werk.com lately, n' i haven't had time to update on the things i've done lately. i'm sort'f counting on having time to do a real update this wkend. *shrug* 금요일 아침 fri morn: 벌써 금요일 다시 왔어요. 미들수 있어요? 미쳐요. 금주 빨리 흐렸어요, 빠리 갔어요. 어젯밤 아름다운 캐이라 황과 저희는 천국의 계단을 보기 끝났어요. 다 봤어요. last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i finished watching 천국의 계단 (chuhngookuy gyeidan, "stairway to heaven"). this wk flew by.
[later] yah, as i sed b4, i haven't had time to give u a real update. i haven't talked 'bout shadowbrook yet even. if u've already read my recent entries, u'll notice "a glitch in the matrix." there's an asynchronicity or whatever in 1'f my recent entries. lately, i've been writing pretty much all my entries on my handspring visor edge. i think 1 day, i accidentally started writing a continuation'f 1 entry @ the end'f 'nother... thus an asynchronicity or whatever. the day jumps from tues back to mon n', i think, back to tues.
[a li'l later] on tues nite, kaela n' i skipped taekwondo practice cos we had dinner w/ my dad, my profs, n' some other'f my dad's old asme friends. asme = american society of mechanical engineers. we ate @ this chinese restaurant called fluorishing gardens on monterey rd. the dinner was skeduled 4 630p, but we were late as it's hard 4 me to get out'f werk b4 700p these days. *shrug* i dunno if i should come in earlier or what; but i always get in some time b4 or 'round 900a. *shrug* as it's summer, yah, i should try to get in earlier. in fakt, it's funny cos in the colder months, i was getting in earlier. i would wake up like @ 600a n' walk sooni as the sun rose.
some things i'm thinking'f purchasing from fry's or wherever:
[later] after lunch / 점심후에: [later] instead'f "best regards" or the dreaded "sincerely," my cowerker signed his e.mail "HTH." what does that mean? "head to head"? "heart to heart"? "hard to handle"? "hard to hold"? what if i wrote e.mails like this:
hey ted,
can you give me the exq-5 report from tvd?
(Y)
[later] evening: i should leave werk soon. what's gonna happen 2nite? s'pposedly, 2morrow, i hafta werk @ an open house. funny, huh? i'll werk as a real estate agent sort'f.
토요일 오후 200 (sat, 200p): i'm @ 6398 camden ave, werking as a real estate agent... sort'f... i'm hosting an open house. it's my mom's listing, n' the beautiful kaela hwang's @ betty's bridal shower ("toby n' betty" betty). their wedding's next month; crazy, huh? it must be hektic 4 them, but i didn't get a chance to really talk to toby on thurs when he called. this wknd's his bachelor party in las vegas, but i told the guys i can't go. *sigh* already, u know i'm not a big fan'f las vegas 4 several reasons. i know i should've made an exception 4 my good, longtime friend toby in celebration'f his getting married, but *sigh* i mean... it just didn't cm right 4 me to go, u know? i dunno. after all, i figured i could use the $$$ to buy them a better present instead, u know? u know i didn't really have a bachelor party. i mean... u know how the nite went: we had a co.ed wedding shower, n' then the guys n' gurls split up. nelson took me over to his friend's house party, an 1980s them party. i had a good time, but it wasn't really a "bachelor" party, u know? n' i'm totally fine w/ that. i know some ppl'd say a man's not s'pposed to talk 'bout what happened @ his bachelor party, but u know... 4 the most part, i try not to do things that i wouldn't talk 'bout to the publik... not that i'm a sinless man or nething like that! far from it! there's a diff btwn recognising that u'r a sinner n' rejoicing in the fakt that u'r a sinner. :-/ neway, i dunno what the guys r doing in vegas rt now, but like... i mean, on an unrelated note; me, i've never done those bachelor party things, namely gone to a strip club. never. as a stoopid freshman in my foothill dorm @ berkeley my area hired a stripper to come n' strip 4 our very pious, devout christian ra (ra = r.a. = residential assistant = the dude or dudette that busts u 4 doing bad things in ur dorm). it was really silly. some woman came n' stripped down to lingerie, while sort'f dancing to u2's mysterious ways, which is really interesing since 1990s berkeley christians considered that song a very spiritual song. neway!!! the whole nudity, sex, n' sin thing sure is overpublicised! really, not every1 biggest temptation 4 sin is a naked human body, etc. there r many other sins in this world besides sexual lust, u know? appreciation of the human form (or function) doesn't necessarily equate to sexual lust, u know? just think: there're so many wonderful pieces'f art that depikt the female, naked body, u know? r they durty pieces'f trashy pornography? no, they're not. in fakt, 1 must differentiate btwn erotica n' pornography, u know? *shrug* ha! the cynic scoffs sooo hard here: "yah, guys sure dl a lot'f computer erotica!" yah, yah, scoff all u want; i don't give a cr@p. *sigh* we've gotta really re.examine human nature n' furthermore human sinful nature n' stop just assuming everything u c on nbc is true.
neway, i'm here @ this open house. if only u had a time machine, u ought to travel back in time after reading this n' come visit me. time n' space, u know? space.time continuum... fly me to da moon. it's a durn hot day here in the almaden valley. i'm here, right 'cross the st from my elementary skool alma mater: simonds elementary skool. rt now, i have no guests. perhaps that's cos it's such a durn hot day here in the almaden valley. do u know almaden valley? it's 1'f the snobbiest neighbourhoods'f san josé, 1 could say. certain areas'f it r really ritzy. it's not necessarily the snobbiest or richest neighbourhood in the silicon valley or the bay area. it's not necessarily the most elitist or "white." i grew up here in the almaden valley, n' things've changed. in general, i'll definitely say w/o doubt that it's a better neighbourhood than it was when i was growing up. definitely, we've got even more mansions here now than we did back in my day. me, i grew up in a modest 2.story, middle.class home. ... :-o ough! i just witnessed a horny mourning dove akting like a horny pigeon, chasing a female mourning dove cross the fence. in ne case, where was i? oh yah, the almaden valley... yah, i grew up here, playing youth soccer: almaden valley youth soccer league or whatever... our colours, back then were green n' yellow. heaven knows what they r now. *sigh* while growing up here, were there ne fast fud joints? well, when we 1st got here when i was in kindergarten, there was a taco villa @ the via valiente plaza off of almaden expwy near rajkovich. (i 4get how to spell that street's name, but it's pronounced "ray ko vitch" n' looks like some kind'f indian or eastern european name, i guess...) uh, did rajkovich exist back then? i 4get. it was a li'l more'f a modest neighbourhood when my family moved in, n' then the wealth'f silicon valley just sort'f poured in, u know? silly valley... more mansions popped up on the hillsides. it's a valley. here, in the real almaden valley, we don't have those (whadya call'em?) big box (?) stores. the via valiente strip mall has a pw supermarket n' now a longs drugs. it has a round table pizza that, a long time 'go, used to be pizza world or sumpthin' like that... *shrug* i don't think i ever really visited pizza world, altho' my mom, after finishing some computer programming nite skool class had a party there w/ her class, i think. i did, however very frequently patronise round table pizza. i was a very fat kid n' could pretty easily finish 0.5 a large king arthur's supreme pizza by myself in 1 sitting. maybe it wasn't that easy, but i could've done it. w/ the thick crust, i would've failed, but w/ the thin crust i would've been such a success n' was! ...if u call that success. i apologise 4 the train'f thought style'f writing, but i gotta mention here that all i ate 2day so far was a bowl'f "red berry" special k 4 breakfast n' a cup'f lowfat strawberry cheesecake yogurt 4 lunch. new paragraph... the almaden valley was 1nce orchards, as was the rest'f silly valley. almaden valley, i s'ppose, was 1nce sort'f known 4 its quicksilver (mercury) mines. the 49er gold rush prospektors needed mercury to extrakt gold from *shrug* other stuff. i've hiked in the quicksilver park hills many, many times as a kid. i was a cub scout, u know. i hiked there w/ cub scouts, w/ my family, w/ my good childhood friend, n' w/ church (i think). back in the 1980s in the park, u would find either good, nature.lovin' hikers or else pot.smokin' stoners (trying to smoke pot w/o gettin' caught), u know? those were the original ozzy.heads, 1s that would never have imagined that ozzy osbourne would have his own tv show w/ his wife n' kids. me, i totally don't condone the use'f marijuana. however, i don't need to talk 'bout that now. instead, i'm s'pposed to write more 'bout almaden valley. *sigh* well... *shrug* i grew up 'mongst pretty elitist n' sheltered kids. i say that only in retrospekt. as a stoopid, fat kid; i obviously accepted all that as the norm. u can understand, can'tchu? if not, that's 2 bad 4 u. kids 'round me really worried 'bout wearing the right brand.named clothes, u know? designer this, designer that. however, no! we weren't quite beverly hills kids. we didn't really know hi fashion. we didn't really know all that gucci, prada, fendi, escada stuff or nuthin'. don't think that i'm saying that we were 90210 n' all, no! we weren't. we were just @ that level'f snobbiness that required every1 to shop @ macys, u know? it could've been worse. santana row didn't yet exist. instead, it was just that (pardon my ukranian) $#!++y li'l town n' country village mall. ha! someday, some wise@$$'ll refer to "that $#!++y li'l santana row"!!! ha ha, "rotflmao," as some ppl say. (other ppl say, "rotflmaoymfbamf," just imagine that @$$ isn't the only wurd there that might be considered obscene. heh heh. me? i really don't swear much.)
as i've got off.topik 'gain (i think), i request to start a new paragraph. is this a long entry? i'm typing on my targus stowaway keyboard connekted to my handspring visor edge. b4 i get further off topik... almaden valley! well, as gordon n' i discussed on our way to dodge ridge w/ kaela back this past winter, the almaden valley had less asians when we were younger. however, 1 must realise that the asian population in the almaden valley peaked. 4 a while, it went up; then it dropped, i believe. or 'least "the delta" or 'the rate of change" decreased. engrs use that term "delta" a li'l or 'lot. when i was in hi skool @ leland hi skool, the asian population, 'specially the asian immigrant population really shot up. asian immigrants were mostly from taiwan, i'm sure. the next biggest group'f immigrants? i dunno; i think they'd prob'ly be south asians (indians), right? yah, mainland chinese or hkers (hk = hong kong, of course) n' koreans were definitely up there 2. (however, i never really knew if these mandarin speakers were direkt from the mainland or else immigrants via taiwan or what, u know? it's a really fuzzy area in definition.) 4 a short time 'round my graduation, a 99 ranch supermarket existed near but not in the almaden valley. it was off blossom hill. i believe that x.street's snell, but my memory sometimes stinks. as i grew up, my dad'd really try to get me to 'member street names, saying that someday i'd hafta drive n'd need to know the names'f streets. obviously, i was somewhat reluktant but the knowledge sort'f seeped in here n' there but not 100%. that 99 ranch had a fatal flaw, w/o ne doubt in ne1's mind: the 99 ranch developers failed to buy out the entire mall n' convert it into an asian mall. that was such a fatal flaw, but i'm sure the developers weren't to blame as i'm sure they tried. that 99 ranch had to close up shop not 2 long into my college yrs. that event really defined the end'f the asian influx into almaden valley. that event proclaimed way up hi on a mtn top that cupertino, el camino (sunnyvale / santa clara), n' saratoga had ultimately triumphed as the top east.asian bizness/commerce areas. [just a tad bit later, after helping some guests] let's not be 2 stoopid tho' but rather keep in mind that ppl don't necessarily all wanna live right by the shops that they patronise or operate. el camino real rt by our house in santa clara is filled w/ korean n' indian biznesses, but the houses in my neighbourhood r mostly filled w/ white ppl, i think. still, just think: can u possibly argue that cupertino is not a city w/ lots'f asians? of course, cupertino's most famous to the world as apple 'puters' headquarters. does apple employ lots'f asians? *shrug* do i know ne asians that werk @ apple? do i know ne ppl that werk @ apple? when i was in hi skool, 1 mormon family @ my skool, their dad werked @ apple.
2day, to drop kaela off @ betty's bridal shower n' later pick her up so that she could let me into the open house n' then take my car back to the bridal shower, i drove thru cupertino n' the area'f san josé that borders saratoga n' thus is often mistaken 4 saratoga. it is filled w/ asian biznesses. u c real asian biznesses such as asian cafés, not those fake chinese restaurants that really cater to the so.called amerikan palate. u know? u jive? u c signs in chinese, 1s that really say stuff, not just jibberish icons that spell out some senseless poetic mumbo jumbo that discribes some restaurant as li'l dragon house or little hong kong or flower gold lake this or that... chinese characters sure look nice n' catch ppl's attention even when they don't say nething. some 2nd generation asian.ams like to poke fun @ the asians back in the muthland, saying that they're so easily impressed by english wurds on a t.shirt. in fakt, ca$hiers in korea always sed my signature was so "멋있어요" ("muhsissuhyo") or "멋있다" ("muhtittda") depending on how 4mal they wanted to speak. they were just impressed @ how fast i could write roman letters, u know? well, shoot! i wish i could have a kewl korean signature like 장나라 아니면 짱나라 "jjang" nara, right? yah, i can sign my name in korean as beno hwang or else hwang myuhngrok, but it never looks that kewl. uh... was i not speaking 'bout the almaden valley? no, i switched over to discussing asian demographics in the silly valley. ok.
well, 1'f the set'f guests that came was a asian mutha w/ her 10 or 11 yr old son. she sed she had 'nother son in leland hi skool. personally, i was a li'l surprised cos i thought she looked a li'l young to have a kid in hi skool. middle skool? ok, but not so much hi skool... but we all know that as we mature ppl look younger to us, right? neway, i mentioned that i grew up in the almaden valley n' went to skool right 'cross the st, etc. her son had just finished simonds elementary skool, n' she sed she had lived in the almaden valley since the late 1970s. that means, she'd lived there b4 i did, so i s'ppose she could tell u better 'bout its history. however, i'm the 1 writing here, n' i sure talk 2 much, in general (if u know me), so u'r stuck w/ my rendition whether u like it or not! in ne case, i'm off the almaden valley topik 4 now n' on to asian demographics in the silly valley. well, what's there to say? there r lots'f asians in the silly valley. taiwanese n' mandarin speakers basikally own cupertino n' the area near saratoga, n' koreans n' indians own el camino real in sunnyvale n' saratoga. those r just obvious fakts. now what 'bout the east side? i really haven't spoke much 'bout the east side. i guess, i'm just a west side kind'f guy like yoo seungjoon, that b@d@$$ mofo! ok, let's move on to discuss east san jo n' milpitas etc.
when u go 2wards the east hills, the demographics do change, n' u can't deny that. i think 2wards the east, that area used to be pretty chicano.dominated. during the 1980s thru 1990s n' then much furthermore in during the glorious dot com days, i guess the east side turned into a jumbo li'l saigon. definitely, the *shrug* southeast asians really took over the east side. u want a good vietnamese sandwich or else authentic pho? well, shoot! u should've joined bally total fitness w/ kaela n' me n' we could've hit up some really good vietnamese joints 2gether, don'tcha know? altho' i grew up in san jo, i don't know 'nuff 'bout vietnamese culture to discuss those cafés w/ the scantily, skimpily dressed waitresses w/ the silikone breasts. i've never been to 1 but used to hear lots 'bout them when we 1st moved back to san jo.
so east san jo is very vietnamese n' southeast asian. as u move along up north along 680 or 880, u'll go thru some north san jo areas b4 getting to milpitas. asian demographics? yes. i believe it's still pretty vietnamese out there. *shrug* then u get to milpitas, n' u get the 99 ranch mall on barber lane. on some weekend day, prob'ly over 0.5 a decade 'go, my mom n' i visited that barber lane strip mall; n' my mom commented that it was so crowded n' humidly cloudy that it felt just like taiwan. *sigh* yah, i can imagine. i mean... now i can [do] more than imagine, as i've visited taiwan 2ice since then. barber lane's 99 ranch mall gets very crowded. u can get great taiwanese n' chinese fud there, but i haven't hit up that spot all that much lately. 4 1 thing, it is extremely crowded n' the parking search... well, if i were to say it rivals trying to find a student parking spot @ san josé state university's garage on a weekday morning in fall, i'd be sooo lying cos that's reallybad. rather, hrm... on a bad day @ barber lane, it's almost like trying to find a shaded parking spot @ valley fair on a spring or summer day. u, of course, know that the parking space hunt @ valley fair is worst during the christmas season cos u'r a smart person since u'r reading the beno journal n' all, u einstein, u! i imagine there r 'lot'f taiwanese n' chinese professionals living in milpitas. uh, it doesn't take much'f an imagination 4 that; it's aktually very obvious. ok, well, if u travel more north up 880 u'll hit this trio of cities: fremont, union city, n' newark. some ppl think that fremont, union city, n' newark constitute the "tri.cities" else or the "tri.city," which is mentioned in the name'f tri.city sporting goods, which i believe is the best place to buy snowbarding equipment. me, i always thought the tri.cities were fremont, pleasanton, n' dublin; after all tri.city sporting goods used to have a store in dublin, i believe. *shrug* some1 who really knows what he/she's talkin' 'bout (unlike me) can give u a real answer. neway, when u get to fremont, i believe the demogrphics do shift. 1st off, fremont has lots'f indians n' south asians. if u want to challenge my statement, feel free; but i'm pretty certain. the fremont - newark - union city area also has lots'f pinoy/pinay. u know 'bout manila taekwondo, right? rn't they in union city? or... hrm... what was the place that chals/charles/chulho went to 4 taekwondo as a kid? oh, was it manila taekwondo? maybe. if u want a real answer instead'f my stoopid answer, maybe u can ask him. there r other pinoy taekwondo skools in that area, i'm pretty sure. union landing has a jollibee's. i've yet to go to a jollibee's, but i know they have some kind'f hamburger w/ a fried egg in it. union landing's always crowded w/ lots'f youngsters... lots'f hi skoolers or else community college kids, i guess. 'nother area'f the bay area that cms to have 'lots'f pinoy/pinay is the south san francisco / daly city area. some ppl call daly city "dc" (d.c.). only recently did it dawn upon me that san mateo can be translated as "saint matthew." 4 that, some ppl'd call me really dense.
ok, earlier this wk, i knew i'd be sitting in this open house writing my journal entry; but i'd that i'd be doing a recap'f the wk's event instead'f trying to lekture'n asian.am demographiks in the bay area. after all, i'm hardly qualified to do that! however, u prob'ly have less ammunition to argue 'gainst my belief in what events took place in my life this past wk, right? *shrug* i dunno; i s'ppose if i claimed to have won a free throw contest 'gainst some nba all.star this past wk, u'd argue that i was lying. well, no, i didn't; n' i never sed that i did. what else did i not do this wk? get 'nuff exercise. i'm ultimately unhappy 'bout that. i really should've gotten more exercise this past wk. i was s'pposed to go to the gym on mon but played tennis on the longest day'f the yr outside @ the nearby hi skool w/ kaela n' sooni on the side instead. u know what? that's totally fine w/ me. that was totally appropriate. i'm glad i played tennis on this past mon nite instead'f going to the gym. however, why didn't i visit the gym on wed nite? oh yah, i went to uh... what did i do? well, i guess i stayed @ werk.com late n' then took sooni w/ kaela to petco. yah, that's what we did. sooni needs to be fed, u know? on tues nite, u know, we went to dinner w/ my dad, sue, my profs, n' my dad's asme buddies. we know that. after that, we went to rivermark safeway to do a slightly abridged version'f our wkly safeway@rivermark shopping trip. as u should know or might not, we got groceries @ costco on sun afternoon, didn't we? yes, we did. i also wanted to hit up hangook market or galleria market, but we didn't. instead, i washed my car, mowed the lawns, etc. those r important things, u know. u really do know. also, on sun, i believe, we tried to buy toby n' betty's wedding present. we failed, if i 'member correktly, but ended up getting it on thurs nite, right? right. thurs nite was my big male.pms nite. the hi.lite'f that nite, i s'ppose was eating 곱장_순두부@명동순두부.com gobjang soondubu @ myuhngdong soondubu, but my stuffed sinuses prevented me from really enjoying the dinner to the max. u know, it's now possible to have non roman characters in domain names, right? u can have hangeul domain names, but i'm pretty sure 비노믹스.com'd be only visited by me. :-( rt? oh! how sad, right now, i have 2 howling, li'l doggies in the garage behind my chair in this open house's eating area (connekted to the kitchen). i heard that the doggies r a daschund n' a mop doggy, but i... [a li'l later] i was gonna say "i have yet to c them," but the owner's son just came in n' went to the garage n' i caught an infinitesimally short glimpse'f the mopdog. neway, the doggies were both howling. i think they were howling cos they could smell or hear the son approaching the house. ha, i'm not saying that the dude smelled bad; it's just that doggies, as u'f course know, have good senses'f smell or else a good sense'f smell.
ok, so back to my recap'f the wk: no, i didn't get 'nuff exercise this wk. on thurs, b4 going to the mall w/ kaela to pick up the wedding present, i went to the university to discuss my paper or projekt report w/ my dept's chairman. he clarified what i need to do to make sure i graduate in may 2004. as u know, it's now june, but the dept can ensure a retroaktive graduation date 4 me as long as i revise my paper to fit their strikt format. it's all formatting stuff. the profs n' the dept r fine w/ my paper's content; it's just formatting. now i just saw that horny mourning dove 'gain. 'lright, what else happened this wk? hrm... well, as i sed, we finished watching chuhngookuy gyeidan (stairway to heaven). those'f u stuck in the 1970s w/ ur musik r likely curious whether the show used the ol' led zep tune or not. well, if u'r a real zep fan, uh... i guess i should apologise cos they did use the led zepelin tune... a totally muzak, elevator muzik version.
[later] 849p: speaking'f "stairway to heaven," the benocritic ought to pt out that this entry is full'f 1 particular thing (not a 4.letter wurd): i keep talkin' 'bout sins n' stuff like that n' either pting out that i don't do them or else trying to justify whatever questionable behaviour or opinions i have, u know? the astute benocritic knows this n' *shrug* sez "worst... entry... ever!" or sumpthin' to that effekt. *shrug*
well, kaela picked me up in my car from the open house. i was really hungry. we picked up all the open house signs i had set out in the hot sun. we drove home. i ate some ribs that kaela brought from the texas.themed bridal shower. we gave the bones to sooni. oh yah, b4 i realised that kaela had ribs, i ate a microwaved soy hot dog. we dilly.dallied n' planned to take sooni 4 a bath @ pet fud express. we dilly.dallied 2 much; by the time we got there, they'd closed their self.service pet wash 4 the nite. i think the manager could tell i was really disappointed, so he gave us a coupon 4 a free pet wash! :-) even tho' i like petco we walked sooni 'round the strip mall n' tried to get in contact w/ ken n' grace cos we were hoping to do dinner w/ them or sumpthin'. well, i reached ken, but they were having dinner w/ ken's parents. we took sooni w/ us to 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang. earlier 2day, i noticed that they'd set up a backyard.style dining table on the paved area btwn their bldg n' the parking lot. i wondered if they'd let us sit out there n' eat. yup, they sure did! we loved it! it was awesome. the manager woman came out n' sed "오, 멍멍, 안녕!" ("oh, muhng muhng, annyuhng!" n' kaela n' i got a kick out'f that since we love the wurd muhng muhng so much as u know.
1051p: i'm watching mvs (musik videos) i dled via hinet recorder from bronx's junkyard. in korean musik videos n' movies, the korean countryside looks so romantik. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were there last summer during our honeymoon. most'f the time we were in the bus. we got out n' walked in the mtns here n' there. kaela didn't like the lack'f clean bathrooms. i, on the other hand, enjoyed the lack'f clean bathrooms. ha ha, just kidding. we say that the next time we go to korea we'll stick to 서울 seoul n' maybe 제주도 jeijoodo. the vids i've watched just now: 성시경의 "차마" sung shikyung's "chama," 김창현 kim changhyun's "eternity," n' wax's "관계" "gwangyei," which doesn't take place in the countryside but maybe in boosan or somewhere.
2day, the church had a picnic 4 the graduates... which meant me n' jane. earlier, all graduates from elementary skool, middle skool, hi.skool, college, n' grad skool went in front'f the korean ministry congregation to be recognised n' receive this wooden cross necklace, a candy necklace, n' a present. i'm wearing this wooden cross necklace right now. it's been a long time since i wore a cross necklace. i dunno; i like it, but u know, when i wear a cross necklace, i do sure feel pressure to make sure i'm behaving n' akting my best, u know? n' well... why isn't that a good thing? *shrug* 2day's picnic was fun, n' i got to bring sooni. she behaved pretty well. she played w/ lots'f kids n' played well. there was 1 incident, where this li'l black chihuahua.like doggy came running up to her. she looked scared, then like she was ready to fight. i pulled on her leash, n' she jumped into my lap! i yelled 4 the owner to come take the li'l doggy 'way, n' this woman came n' took it 'way... but it was so funny to have sooni on my lap, looking kind'f scared'f this chihuahua dog. ?:-/ i'll have to ask our dog trainer dawna what she thinks'f this.
b4 the picnic, after church (btwn church n' the picnic), i quickly stopped by fry's to buy a replacement vacuum cleaner filter 4 our euro.pro bagless stick shark vacuum cleaner n' a kvm switch. heh, i aktually purposely bought a model made in taiwan instead'f china. earlier this week, when kaela n' i were @ macys, i was talkin' more 'bout my refusal to buy shoes made in china. *sigh* yah, italian shoes r uh... usually a bit more expen$ive.
after the picnic, i met up w/ kaela @ the pet fud express on stevens crk blvd. we gave sooni a bath. when sooni n' i reached the self.service bath area, i guess memories clicked in sooni's mind, n' she didn't wanna go, but i made her go. we bathed her. she was sort'f reluktant, but man! she looks n' smells sooo much better now!!! afterwards, we drove home, dropped sooni off, n' went to 한국 마켓 hangook market.
yesterday, b4 we left the house, i received my latest yesasia shipment'f musik cds: boa's latest, cool's best of compilation, this current hits dance compilation, n' uhmjunghwa's latest. in my car right now, i'm listening to cool's best of compilation. ah... so many good memories, u know? this 2.cd set has tracks from 1994 to 2003... or is it 2004? man, in ne case, that's a long time... i mean... of course time is relative... but i mean, in 2day's pop muzik world, that's a relatively long time. just now, i've been watching this 코요태 "체념" koyotae "cheinyuhm" video. i haven't been really paying attention to the video n' thought, "wow, they look so young. this must be an old song!" soon after, i realised that the kids i saw dancing in the video were 2 boys n' a gurl imitating koyotae's dance moves 4 that part'f the video... i mean... i don't really understand the plot'f the video... 1'f those kind'f weird videos... but 4 that part yah, these kids were dancing as if they were koyotae.
aw, shoot; i gotta put the trash n' recyclables out. *sigh* chores, u know?
월요일 아침 / mon morn: this morn's such a mon morn. [later] 'lot'f ppl r on vakation 2day. i guess it's pk vakation season, huh? how r u? *sigh* most likely, u won't answer me. ppl usually don't... when i ask here. it looks like a beautiful day out there. however, when it's sunny outside, i don't wanna be outside so much. i prefer to avoid sun damaging my skin. bronx's junkyard recently posted up a bunch'f new mvs (muzik videos). they're mostly boa, i guess. 4 a long time, i've been meaning to express here how much i miss the days when all my friends had up.to.date blogs or web journals. 'member the good ol' days when the beautiful kaela hwang, joon kim, n' jerome (ri) had web journals? ah, those were the days... 아 옛날이야... spking'f 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang, i've thought 'bout making my own "dogfriendly" webpage, 'nother list'f restaurants that let dog owners bring their 멍멍 muhngmuhngs. however... i realise that 1 reason more "dogfriendly" sites don't exist is cos ppl like me know we can't inundate these generously tolerant merchants w/ doggies. sooni might go crazy, n' the restaurant owners might grow not so tolerant'f doggies. :-( in ne case, i really need to update my website! however, i'm really not good @ web design. :-( i need to get some physikal exercise this wk!
yesterday eve(ning), we ate 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn 4 dinner. earlier, @ 한국 마켓 hangook market, we bought a small package'f 생선회 saengsuhnhwe (sashimi), n' we put it in the 냉면 naengmyuhn. yesterday, @ the bbq picnic, i ate a hot dog n' a chicken burger.
u know, 4 the past month or so, every so often i thought 'bought the whole asian.am scene. by "the asian.am scene," i'm referring to the asian.am art/film scene, the asian.am politikal/service scene, the asian.am club party scene... like, a montd 'go or so kaela n' i saw a bit'f an episode'f stir on ktsf 26. stir is an asian.am "magazine show," i guess u could call it, prob'ly geared 2wards young asian.ams: hi.skool thru yuppiehood. u knon magazines like a magazine? i'm sure this show has tried to head in that direktion. i guess it features local sf bay area asian.am artists, musicians, personalities, n' celebrities, etc. while watching the show, i noticed sumpthin' n' started talkin' to kaela 'bout it: how come so much'f the "asian.am" scene's geared 2wards singles? there's always so much talk 'bout "where can i meet asian guys/gurls?", "how do asian guys percieve asian gurls, n' how do asian gurls percieve asian guys?", "what do u think'f interracial relationships?", "what do asian guys expekt'f asian women, what do asian women expekt'f asian guys, n' how does ethnicity/race affekt expektations n' gender roles?", "who's the cutest/hottest/sexiest asian.am celeb?", etc. personally, i'm pretty talked out on those subjekt; n' they now barely interest me. @ my age n' ttage in life, some'f those topiks don't apply as much as they used to. what if asian.am media n' web communities focused more on asian.amerikan marriages n' starting a family as asian.amerikans? i think a magazine did that a li'l. i thought, @ 1tym, that kaela should've started an asian.am wedding planning service; a professional service, u know? i think i understand the overwhelming emphasis on younq single life in asian.am media: ever since our youth, amerikan media has really skrewed w/ our self.perceptions as sexual beings. amerikan media tells young asian.ams that they r sex objekts, 1 way or 'nother. furthermore, asian men r subjekted to a retaliatory emasculation by amerikan media. asian women r told they r good 4 nuthin' but sex, that they're all just prostitutes. it's quite a confusing msg 4 young asian.am kids' n' many might carry w/ them emotional scars/baggage. aktually, perhaps more confusing than their self.perception is their perception'f asian.ams'f the opposite sex*. thus maybe single asian.ams really feel they need some sort'f support group.
in a way, in the past few yrs, i've sort'f receded a bit from the "asian.am" scene. it's funny, the expert n' well.skooled benoskolar (1 who's studied beno's life) might pt out that my cultural aktivities really changed over the decades: in hi.skool n' early college, my aktivities were all taiwanese things. then in late college, my aktivities were more pan.asian/asian.am. now, 1 might say my aktivities r more korean/korean.am. the antagonistik benocritik scoffs, "pfft! what a #!!@*in' sell.out. he prob'ly hates his taiwanese heritage." that's very untrue, as the well.versed benoskolar knows. i really don't speak mandarin. i've tried, but i have yet to learn it well. so many taiwanese events end up in mandarin; n' those r the more culturally authentik events, if u know what i mean. if u don't know what i mean, then i'll just head 2wards being blunt. the young taiwanese events/groups where ppl don't spk mandarin but english instead were often uh... rather "amerikanised" n' @ best r the same as the pan.asian/asian.am events/groups, n' so yah... during college, i shifted from those taiwanese groups, which r 2 often only 'bout overseas politiks as opposed to domestik ethnic affairs, n' over to the pan.asian/asian.am/api/aapi scene. as i've sed earlier, i've found the "asian.am"/api scene to be overly concerned w/ those sf club parties n' pickin' up on the opposite sex. those that rn't like that 2 often r just the asian lgb (lesbian, gay, bisexual) groups. n' u know what, right? thru.out college n' beyond... well, u know the whole durn, overtold story 'bout how i was indeed looking 4 my "asian roots" n' ended up getting more involved w/ korean culture than chinese culture cos i could read n' write korean but not chinese, cos i was more involved in korean aktivities than chinese aktivities, n' i just felt more compatible n' com4table w/ the culture etc. it was never nething 'gainst taiwanese or chinese culture, just matter'f where i felt most com4table.
[afternoon] let's bring dat funky beat back like a 1990s party mix n' get back to the original discussion'f asian.am media/community. so yah, in recent yrs, i've felt more com4table w/ the asian.asian scene as opposed to the asian.am scene. in that sense benocritics can cry out retrofob or fobabee (wannabe fob). "retrofob" makes no sense cos i was as born in the u.s.a. as ne bruce springsteen song. the "retro" in that term'd imply that i'm going back to sumpthin'. there'r lots'f white guys who go to asia to study, learn the language, party, n' say that they're so immersed in this other culture. if 1 were to criticise an asian.am 4 doing the same, he/she ought to be shot or 'least locked in sooni's stinky crate 4 a while, since i'm not much in favour'f the satanic rite'f capital punishment as it's known as in the u.s. if i go to a club or bar (n' i do), i like to hear korean muzik n' have korean.style drinks n' snacks. i like korean muzik, tv, n' movies. the last time i was @ santana row's blowfish sushi to die for on my graduation nite (a joint founded by john lennon's son, i 4get which), i realised sumpthin': it's a bar n' restaurant w/ a total japanese theme, a very contemporary japanese theme, but do i as an asian man really feel a connektion w/ it?!?! yah, think 'bout it!!! think 'bout, ponder, n' consider sunset strip's miyagi's niteclub n' sushi restaurant. besides the sushi n' architecture n' maybe 50%'f the clientele, what's so asian 'bout it?! in the few yrs, i've been repenting from the 2nd gen asian.am's biggest sin: rejekting genuine asian culture as the fobby n' backwards nonsense'f our parents yet buying into the distorted, bastardised version that mainstream amerikkka peddles!
just mull over 4 a few hrs how many 2gen "i sei" asian.ams rejekted 한약 hanyak "chinese medicine" from their parents cos it was steeenky but'll chug down gallons'f ginseng n' don quai laced sobe. think 'bout the "i sei" yuppies who rejekted accupunkture as primitive witchkraft but'll do it every wk as "alternative medicine" paid 4 by their health benefits. think 'bout the gen 2 kids who had no respekt 4 buddhism as a religion until richard gere n' his gerbil friend came out'f the buddhist closet! heh, even tho' this makss the 2nd gen as.am kids'f the turn'f the century sound bad, @ least they're not as bad as the 1980s as.am kids who's proudest asian moments included listening to the vapours' "turning japanese," a song 'bout masturbation, n' cing boy george in a kimono! >X-D neway, all u as.ams that rejekted asian ways, repent now or spend the rest'f ur life locked up in mtv's dubbed version of 화산고 / hwasango (volcano high). if u'r not careful, u might end up stuck in quentin tarantino's kill bill series, right?
[later, 741p, in the company gym] "secular v. christian asian.am organisations," now there's a topik i haven't discussed'n ages! [later, 929p, home] some ppl'd complain that i have this topik "secular v. christian asian.am organisations." they'd complain that i ought to have it as "secular v. religious asian.am organisations," but get real. r there really asian.am religious organisation' of other faiths? i mean, really! i mean, if they're buddhist organisations, they're usually either asian.asian, not really asian.am, or else just plain amerikan, u know? well, if u'r smart, the exceptions to my rule that u ought to bring up r south.asian.am religious groups!!! if u brought that case up, then u'r smart. yah, think those hindu n' muslim groups do qualify as asian.am religious groups. neway, this particular topik'f secular v. religious/christian asian.am groups is way 2 heavy 4 now. let's fight 'bout it some other day, k? i mean, we'd obviously hafta get into the concept'f young asian.am ppl using churches as pick.up joints etc., n' that's just 2 much 4 me to think 'bout right now, u know?
[later] 1111p: i connekted the kvm switch, but i'm using 2 monitors: kaela's desktop n' my desktop. i feel that i'm just doubled my screen space! :-) [a li'l later] oh shoot! it doesn't werk w/ the tilting scroll wheel! kaela's wireless intellimouse is a wireless intellimouse 2.0, so it has the tilt wheel, but it's not werking thru the kvm! :-( shoot, @ this rate, i might hafta return it to fry's! [a li'l later] no, it is werking, the tilt mouse! it does werk. *shrug* i dunno why it cmed not to be werking a sec 'go.
[later] 1156p: well, looking 'bout on what i wrote 2day, i feel the entry's not that great. of course, ppl think i'm being rather subversive 2wards the whole apa/asian.am movement. *sigh* that's not the pt. i wholeheartedly support the movement. just, as an insider, i wanted to provide some construktive criticism n' pt out how the apa movement could better serve its community as a whole. i know the downside to speaking up like i did: already, there just isn't 'nuf posi+ive cohesion in the apa community. panasian.amerikan ethnicity... i really do still support it. check out this kick@$$ secret asian man comic strip from a few months 'go:
thurs morn: this morn, while reading the latest issue of laptop magazine, i pondered whether i should bother getting a new mp3 playa to replace my broken creative labs muvo or just skip to 1'f these new personal multimedia playa devices that play video files such as wmv, asf, avi, mpg, etc. well, now that i think 'bout it, i should get a mp3/wma playa / thumbdrive, just to have quick portable storage n' a way to have mp3s in my car via tape playa adapter, u know? they're relatively cheap on ebay
금요일 오후 218p, fri: 4jx2004's comin' up in a coupl'f days. i haven't been good 'bout updating my journal this wk. this wk, i've been very produktive @ werk.com, n' i got more exercise than i'd gotten in months! on which days did i visit the gym? tues-thurs, i believe. last nite , the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to taekwondo praktice. afterwards, we had an awesome dinner @ 난다랑 nandarang :-) -- 감자탕, 닭똥집 볶음, 오댕국, 야끼토리... gamjatang, dalkddongjip bokkeum, odaengook, yakitori... 토요일 아침 845a: 2day's the b.day'f many'f my ol' time friends. i 'member cos i've had to go multiple b.day parties on july 3 b4. i 'member sam lee, alex kim, n' eugene kim all have b.days 2day, so @ least those 3, but i know there r more. just think: what's so special 'bout july 3 - 9 months? what is july 3 - 9 months? well, the same as july 3 + 3 months, namely oktober 3. well, happy b.day, guys! i mean... guy n' 2 gurls. funny, all 3 names could be guy's or gurl's... but more commonly guy's. 수요일 아침: 오래만에요... [a li'l later] yah, i surely have not had much time to update my journal lately, altho' i have a few measly entries that i haven't yet uploaded to the web server. how r u? i'm ok. u don't know yet, i guess; but the beautiful kaela hwang n' i spent the 4jx2004 (228th usa independence day) in chino w/ kaela's parents n' sister jeanna. we rented an ekonomy car from avis via *hotwire*. it co$t $19.95/day - $10 discount = ~$60 after taxes. we wanted to save wear n' tear on our cars. we brought sooni w/ us n' had a fun time.
dude, seriously; where do i start this journal entry?! i feel so behind n' thus hopeless! where do i start?! "where do i begin?" isn't that a quote? in ne case... *sigh* yah, besides being out'f town, i've also lost opportunities to update cos i've been werking very hard lately. i wish ppl'd understand... but then 'gain... *sigh* i really shouldn't werk 2 hard @ the risk'f becoming a werkaholic that can't life w/o werkahol, u know? really! *sigh* it sort'f feels now that i had more time to relax/play when i was werking n' going to skool than now that i'm just werking... altho' i always dreamed that i'd have more time to relax/play after graduation. u know what, my graduation paperwerk just went thru 2day. as'f 2day, i'm really a sjsu msme graduate! :-) neway, 1 could say that the grass's always greener on the other side, right? i mean, i used to tell every1 how much i dreamt'f this promised land: life after graduation, where life isn't werk + skool but just werk n' then relaxation n' play, u know? well, i've gotta admit: i think i do have it a bit easier now than a couple'f months 'go. yah, i'm pretty sure life was tuffer then. yet, how come i managed to find more time to jog w/ sooni back then?! *shrug* what is it? is it that i've finally gone back to gettin' some exercise now n' then? maybe; after all; sheesh! i really abandoned exercise this past semester n' am so very glad that i'm finally getting back to gettin' some exercise!!! i dunno if u understand how happy i am to be gettin' some exercise. it really makes me feel better. u understand?! i want to exercise 2nite, but i'll be helping toby w/ some wedding muzik stuff.
i feel bad. ever since our wedding, when i'm a groomsman, i feel i haven't done a good job. really! i ok that i did a good job as ken's best man. however, u know i feel guilty that i didn't werk as hard as fahad's best man. he didn't ask much'f me; n' he sed that he didn't. however, it cms like we asked sooo much'f our wedding party in comparison, u know? i guess ken n' grace n' then kaela n' i had very diy (do.it.urself) weddings, more us than ne1. however, i dunno; fahad had many'f their services taken care'f; otherwise the bride's side took care'f more, fahad admitted. w/ toby n' betty? *shrug* hrm; i think they did 'lot on their own... maybe betty's got her gurls werking 4 her. *shrug* however, toby surely hasn't asked much'f me. however, 2nite i'll help him w/ wedding muzik stuff. weddings... u know? *sigh* putting on a wedding's such an ordeal... but neway, weddings n' graduations r pure celebration! :-) i'm sure baby births r 2.
ok, so what's been up? i sort'f got sidetracked just now. well, on fri eve, after werk, kaela brought me to avis @ the sj mineta aeroport. i picked up a bright red pontiac sunfire, which they consider a subcompakt car. i didn't have a choice. neway, it was roomier than i expekted. kaela had planned to bring up a tv from her parents' house. however, i wanted a small, fuel.efficient car. well, this sort'f split the diff, u know? to sooni's slight dismay, this car was a 2.door; so she couldn't easily stick her head out the window, u know? well, i picked up the car n' brought it home. we loaded up the car w/ our hastily packed bags. i asked our neighbour bill to take out our trash n' recyclables. we left the house... uh... @ what time? hrm... i think it was 'round 745p or so, but i 4get. hrm... i know i picked up the car sometime shortly after 600p. *shrug* well, we heard there'd be lots n' lots'f traffik, so we sort'f waited it out, u know? we drove down 101. @ 152, after a missed exit n' a u.turn, we stopped @ gilroy's in.n.out 4 dinner. i had an animal style burger n' kaela had an animal style cheeseburger. [later] so, maybe u'll ask me, "how was the socal trip?" it'd be very nice'f u to ask that. well, how was it? it was good. yah, there was plenty'f traffik on the way down. we stopped @ the bakersfield exit to get some mcdonald's coffee n' soft serve. sooni got to walk 'round n' eat the end'f our soft serve cone. it was pretty warm @ nite. i guess it was almost midnite @ that time. there were so many other ppl who had stopped @ that truck stop 4 a break. i think from there, kaela took over the driving. we stopped in west covina (i think) 4 gas. we got a bit lost somewhere on the 210 (i think) looking 4 the 71. we didn't know that we were looking 4 the 57 to connekt to the 71. i know we took the 15 somewhere. *shrug* neway, we got to kaela's parents' house sometime 'round 300a or so. it was so much fun in the early morn (like 3 hrs later) to hear kaela's sister jeanna scream when she stepped out'f the room n' saw sooni in the dark. kaela told me that sooni was just as shocked / scared. it's just like in a cartoon, u know? somebody runs into a monster, n' both scream, u know? sooni is a quiet doggy. she doesn't bark much. she didn't bark then, so i was telling kaela that i can imagine that, altho' she made no sound, there was a big exclamation pt 'bove her head. ha ha ha >X-D sooni's such a funny doggy! :-) jeanna was on her way out to werk; that's why she was going out so early, u know?
well, sat, what did we do? well, i took sooni 4 a walk in the late morn. then sooni escaped from the backyard cos kaela's dad's employees left the gate open. in order to catch sooni, had to get in the car n' drive. u know how that werks: whenever she runs away, 1'f us has'ta jump in a car n' start driving. altho' she loves to run 'round n' cause trouble, she loves car rides even more, luckily. i drove her over to grand ave, past the chino spectrum, over on the other side'f the 71. i saw great clips was having a $4.99 haircut sale n' that henry's marketplace had a tent in front'f it that was giving away fuze drinks. upes, i left my free bottle'f fuze in kaela's parents' fridge. heh... well, i hope somebody enjoys it. it's a green tea fuze. well, i went to the atm w/ sooni. then i went home. later, i went back out to get a $4.99 haircut from great clips. man! i really needed it! i hadn't had a haircut since b4 my graduation. oh yah! i hadn't had a haircut since my master's projekt oral defense!!! that was a looong time 'go! ok, what else happened on sat? *sigh* good question... hrm... i would've thought that kaela n' i went out in the afternoon, but i can't 'member where we might've gone. :-/ oh yah! we went out to rowland heights to life plaza to get bogo (buy 1 get 1) strawberry boba. [later, while eating my pork tenderloin cafeteria lunch] lessee; sun was 4jx2004. what did we do? i 'member being a li'l frustrated earlier in the day cos we didn't do nething, n' u know... i tend to like to be aktive now n' then. i took sooni 4 'nother walk. on sat n' sun, we walked 'cross the street to don lugo hi skool. the 4.h club there has some cows, including a "panda cow"; that's what i call this particular 1. it has the same color scheme n' pattern as a panda bear. later in the day, in the late afternoon, kaela n' i took sooni 4 a drive, but we didn't go as far as i had planned cos it was already dinnertime n' socal always has such bad traffik, u know? after dinner, kaela's parents took us to 온천 onchuhn (sulfur hot springs). it was in lake elsinore. whoa, to the uncultured amerikan, this korean.amerikan hot springs resort must be the absolute oddest sight!!! ok, u pull off this ol' ghost townish dusty road in the boonies n' into the parking lot'f this ol' roadside motel that, from the roadside, looks pretty norman batesish, u know? the gravel parking lot is packed, n' the cars r nice cars that u wouldn't expekt to c @ a motel like this unless some biznessman were having a by.the.hr experience, i guess... if u wanna think perverted thoughts... well, 1nce u get out'f the car n' walked up to the gates, u c tons'f korean families picnicking on the grass w/ a family'f kittens. well, from there on, it just looks like a publik swimming pool kind'f place, 'cept there's motel rooms. apparently, korean.amerikans drive from all over socal to visit this resort. the main attraktion is this li'l jacuzzi w/ sulfur springs h2o. well, when i was a kid, my parents took me to some hot springs in idaho, i guess. that hot springs was really sulfuric. i suspekted that, even tho' the hot springs bath surely was refreshing, it was sulfur h2o mixed w/ normal h2o. or maybe the hot springs there just doesn't have as much sulfur as the 1 i went to in idaho w/ my parents. *shrug* well, i sat 'round the hot tub w/ a bunch'f senior citizens. i swam in the pool w/ a bunchf' kids. almost every1 there was korean, 'cept 4 1 chicano family i spotted. kaela figured that some1 in that family werked 4 a korean family, n' the employer brought them there. yah, prob'ly; i saw them w/ this korean family, n' they cmed to be baby sitting the kids, but *shrug* i dunno... well, it was fun n' refreshing. it was also fun to drive the rental car extra miles, since i had unlimited miles. afterwards, kaela n' i really wanted sumpthin' cold like 팥빙수 patbingsoo. after we stopped by home, kaela n' i took off to search 4 some 팥빙수 patbingsoo. well, we tried that greenland market, but the li'l fud stands were closed. we ended up back @ rowland height's life plaza 4 some taiwanese style tsua bing, which is essentially the exakt same thing w/ some minor variations, u know? well, we also ordered some oa jien (oyster egg pancake). on bronx's junkyard forums, some kids were saying how life plaza has gone downhill n' is just a teenybopper hangout now. wow, they r sooo right! the fud, drinks, n' service there have totally gone downhill! i notice that part'f the prob w/ the service is that all the werkers r pretty young n' inexperienced. oh well... still, diamond plaza's pretty kewl. they've set up some stands on the outside now, n' that reminded us'f taiwan's great nite markets! :-) we went upstairs to cue (i think it's called) n' took a set'f japanese neoprints. is that place called cue? or is that the billiards place next door?
[later] evening: we saw firewerks from the car n' from kaela's house. unlike in norcal, in socal, firewerks r legal 4 the avg schmoe. sooni was in the backyard but got scared'f the firewerks, so she came in. when kaela n' i got home, we saw a beige doggy in our headlites. "whuh?" we wondered, "did sooni escape?!" then we thought, "how come she looks all weird, stretched out, n' big?!" it wasn't sooni! some stray dog had wandered over to kaela's parents' house. weird. later, kaela sed her dad sed that earlier sooni'd cn that doggy n' growled @ it.
on mon morn, we had to leave. conveniently (in the sarcastic sense) sooni escaped from the backyard n' was off terrorising the neighbourhood. [later, 1122p] luckily, we could count on her wanting to jump into the car as we took off 4 norcal. :-) phew... [unfinished entry] 목요일 저녁 628p: i'm still@werk.com. 150a: i never have time to update my journal these days. i feel kind'f bad cos i've been stuck@werk.com 'lot these days. i dunno what to say; u should think that my company has very good produkts cos ppl like me werk hard. @ the same time, i dunno; maybe hearing that i'm @ werk so much worries u? *shrug* well, i definitely don't wanna be a werkaholik who just can't live w/o werkahol. *shrug* 2day (as in yesterday, i was doing lots'f chores. i was unable to update my journal; but i had lots'f thoughts on my own, that i had to keep to myself... unless i find time to write them out now. me, i feel that i don't "have a thought" unless i dokument it... most likely here, u know? i'm a bit addikted to on.line journalling, i s'ppose u could say. i'm unsure if that wurd usese 1 "l" or 2. *shrug*
neway, while doing my housechores, i thought 'bout how lately, since i've been stuck@werk.com, i feel that i don't feel much nemore. uh, u need me to further explain what "i don't feel much nemore" means. well, think 'bout this: back freshman yr'f cal, i told my iv small group how my life just didn't have that much emotion nemore. like, in hi skool i felt i had lots'f drama, but in my freshman yr @ that time i felt i didn't have much drama. perhaps it was cos i had yet to build strong relationships or friendships (whatever u wanna call 'em) w/ ppl @ berkeley n' was, instead, having more shallow relationships/friendships. (plz don't get confused: by "relationships," i absolutely am not referring to "romantik" relationships... just a more mature way'f saying "friendships," u know?) maybe... *shrug* in ne case, that's what i sed freshman yr to my iv small group, n' i felt a li'l in that direktion these past few wks. do u know what i mean? like, i'd gotten 2 content w/ my life in that i was finally done w/ all that drama'f fulfilling my msme graduation requirements, i've now got a beautiful wife, a beautiful house, n' a beautiful doggy... n' i was stuck@werk.com all day n' into the evening, so i didn't have much'f a chance to think 'bout life. do u understand? like, what was left to pray 'bout? what was i s'pposed to pray 'bout? well... 2day (as in yesterday), i felt like i encountered troubles n' trials.
yesterday (as in 2 days 'go), the beautiful kaela hwang got a nice, delicate sweater stuck in the washing machine. when i got home from werk on fri evening, i tried to get it unstuck but w/o 2 much luck. ("doing the unstuck" is a cure song from their 1993 release wish. uh, wish came out in 1993 not 1992, right? i think so.) these kinds'f situations sound really trivial, 'specially to those'f u who don't own ur own home yet, etc. however, these kinds'f situations r aktually really stressful n' frustrating. what to do? should we call up some washing machine repair shop?! *shrug* then... urgh, 2day (as in yesterday), uhm... kaela backed her car into mine on her way out in the early afternoon. now my "millennium forester" 1nce 'gain has damage to its body n' needs repair. <:-/ what to do? *sigh* things to take care'f, right? things to pray 'bout...
some'f u prob'ly were so frickin' glad i stopped talkin' 'bout prayer n' spirituality/religion. well... heh, i dunno if u want me to apologise or what. 2day (as in yesterday), while doing chores, i thought: "ppl these days don't really apologise." after all, when was the last time u apologised 4 sumpthin'. i dunno, but to me it cms like in this world or 'least in this country there sure is 'lot more bad attitude such as "i don't need to apologise 4 nething!" n' it cms to come from an "i am what i am" kind'f angle. *shrug* *sigh* like, when do ppl apologise? when do ppl admit they're wrong?! it cms to me that in societies w/ more hierarchy, ppl r 4ced to apologise more often, u know? i feel in amerika, since we so much believe in equality, we don't have as much hierarchy n' thus do have more'f this attitude'f "i ain't apologizin' 4 nuthin'!" *sigh* think 'bout this: does it ever cm like u don't hear many sincere apologies. instead, u either hear shallow apologies, or else justifikations n' excuses instead'f apologies. instead'f apologisin', ppl hold grudges n' figure, "well, u'd better remember this incident the next time i do sumpthin' bad to u... n' i plan to do sumpthin' bad to u someday!" n' along the same lines, justifikation cms to often come in the form'f "well, i don't need to apologise cos u did sumpthin' bad to me some finite time 'go." *shrug* well, in case u've got the wrong idea, kaela did apologise 4 denting my car, so i'm not writing this w/ that in mind or nething. furthermore, i know i'm more guilty'f this reluktance to apologise than many ppl. *sigh* let me just blame it on amerikan tv as i always do! (ha ha ha.) don't ever 4get: "kill your television."
"i love tv." this past wk, kaela n' i rented the final 4 episodes'f 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli. watching 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli after this long break from it felt like a class reunion or sumpthin'. we got reacquainted, u know? well, every1 knows that now that 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli's over, it's all 'bout 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn. however, since kaela n' i r just so behind the times, 2day (as in yesterday), we went to 금성 비디오 geumsuhng video n' rented the ol' drama 겨울의 연가 / gyuhooluy yuhnga. i think the english name's "winter sonata" or sumpthin', right? it's an ol' drama n' is very popular across asia now that it's been translated into chinese n' japanese. kaela n' i saw a li'l story on a korean magazine show 'bout some japanese fanatiks'f that show.
since u cm to be letting me go on 'bout korean entertainment, i wanna finally talk 'bout sumpthin' i wanted to talk 'bout 4 a while. u know how on bronx's junkyard some ppl were really raving 'bout the movie 어린 신부 / uhrin shinboo ("child bride") n' the main aktress (문근영 moon geunyoung)? (i think the lead aktress played the child version'f some important female charakter in the super.famous, ol' korean drama 가을 동화 / "gaeul donghwa" ("autumn fairytale").) neway, the movie's 'bout some 20.sumpthin' dude that's 4ced to marry a hi.skool chick cos'f his grandfather's dying wish or sumpthin'... uh, maybe u should read the synopsis'f the movie instead'f taking my wurd 4 it cos i honestly don't 'member what the gist'f the movie is as i haven't yet cn it. neway, u know how nelson always jokes 'round that he wants a really young gurl? well, i s'ppose this kind'f situation might be to his liking, but *shrug*. in ne case, when i heard 'bout this movie, i was thinking: "is it this rather pedophilic?!?!?!" i mean, shoot! didn't that fad'f having super.young korean gasoo sort'f go out'f style? i mean, 'member when s.e.s. n' fin.kl were so young?! n' well... no 1 really topped boa in youngness n' popularity, right? as u all ought to know boa has a new album these days, which i already have: boa 4집: my name boa. we all know the album's title doesn't make 2 much sense; oh well. in ne case, i'm not all that impressed w/ the album, i've gotta admit. u know how i was disappointed in her 3rd album? well, i'm not all that pumped up 'bout this 1 either. on bronx's junkyard, jerome put up lots'f videos'f boa per4ming "my name" on various korena muzik shows. i've cn some'f these videos n' saw the aktual mv (musik video) on arirang tv's pops in seoul on thurs nite. it's pretty obvious that boa's stepped up the britneyness'f her dancing, heading more 2ward the risqué, i s'ppose... i mean only since she's like 17 yrs old or whatever, u know? the way i c it, tho', this li'l gurl sure shakes her hips 'round 'lot n' does these s'pposedly sexy dance moves, but *shrug* i mean... she's really just a kid, imho; n' like, not to like diss on her or nething, it's sort'f like a robot doing so.called sexy dance moves, u know? hey! i'm not dissin' on robots: i make robots 4 a living n' all, u know? boa's currently featured track "my name"'s a li'l 2 "i'm a slave 4 u" 4 me; but, on the other hand, an album that i'm currently diggin' is 엄정화 uhmjunghwa 8집: self control. honestly, listening to the tekno tracks on disc 1'f that 2 disc set made me want to dj 'gain asap. un4tunately, on wed nite, when toby came down w/ his friend audrey to werk on toby n' betty's wedding muzik, i let them take off w/ my whole coffin. well, it's not "un4tunate" necessarily: i want toby n' betty to have good muzik @ their wedding. in return 4 helpin' w/ the muzik, toby took us out to dinner. we were originally s'pposed to hit up rivermark's baja fresh; but, as it was closed, kaela n' i redirekted our group to mezbaan the indian restaurant w/ desi chinese fud. n' i apologised to toby 4 bringing us up a notch in price range.
how was this past wk? on tues, we went to taekwondo praktice. wed was that thing w/ toby. on thurs, kaela n' i had dinner @ kubota sushi on 5th st in sj j.town. we ate some sushi such as spicy tuna roll, mirugai, amaebi, n' perhaps hotate or sumpthin'. we also ate some'f their fusionesque small plates that might be referred to as japanese tapas if u'r that kind'f person: green onions rolled in beef, garlic potatoes, oysters n' croquette... nething else? *shrug* well, we shared a large asahi. u know how we like them asian lagers. on fri nite, we went to church 4 this praise n' prayer nite, altho' we were really late. after the church event, a group'f us had a late dinner @ the santa clara pho hoa. kaela n' i used our bogo (buy 1 get 1) coupon to each have a #7 (rare flesh n' tripe) w/ nonfat broth n' steamed sprouts. we also each had a 3.bean drink thingy. on sat, we had dimsum @ bamboo garden (or whatever it's called) near sunnyvale's town center: all sorts'f seafud dumplings, etc. we had mango pudding. on sat eve, kaela n' i had a "부부 빙수" (booboo bingsoo, previously advertised as "couples patbingsoo") @ galleria market. it was awesome. we also bought some 붕어빵 boonguhbbang (fish.shaped pastries filled w/ red bean).
i've still gotta get sized 4 my tux 4 toby n' betty's wedding! as i was doing housechores all day, i didn't get out to do that.
do u know 'bout the pic below? did i talk 'bout this incident?! b4 we drove down to chino 4 our most recent trip, i opened the trunk to pack our things, n' sooni got so excited 'bout going on the trip that she jumped right into the trunk!!!
2day's 2004.07.11 (sun). if u go to a 7.11 store, u s'pposedly can get a free squishee! 월요일 아침: how r u? how was ur wknd? mine involved lots'f housechores, but i had plenty'f fun. yesterday, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i hosted our church's couples bible study. i had lots'f fun w/ that. i have so much fun w/ church stuff but worry if i'm having 2 much fun n' not doing enuf besides having fun. <:-/ i need to do more in.depth bible.reading, etc. yesterday, during the normal em adult bible study n' also during the couples bible study (or 'least the conversation afterwards), we talked 'lot 'bout pentacostal churches n' all this faith healing n' revival stuff. i never realised that, altho' my beliefs n' views may be labeled as liberal, my preferred worship.style is very conservative as i'm very uncom4table w/ the concepts'f speaking in tongues, faith healing, exorcisms, etc. my personal take on spirituality is that it requires lots'f logical thinking, intellektual analysis, n' then also lots'f emotional introspektion, etc. i personally am not all that com4table w/ really outward displays, etc. i don't like televangelists, etc. i'm using lots'f "etc."s 2day.
i think kaela n' i had lots'f fun cooking 4 the bible study. i know i did. we cooked: 미역국, 된장 찌개, l.a. 갈비, 흑돼지 불고기, 닭똥집, 골뱅이 무침... (miyuhkgook, dwenjang jjigae, l.a. galbi, heukdwaejibulgogi, dalkddongjib, galbaengi moochim...) of course, me, i only handled the bbq stuff. it was so fun to use my new coleman portable propane bbq!!! i accidentally only cooked 0.5 the galbi, so we need to have 'nother bbq asap.
i just thought'f sumpthin': in tv commercials u hear these 2 terms: "hi-speed connection" and "wireless phone." who the heck uses those terms in real life?! u've gotta be really unhip n' unkewl to use those terms. instead, kewl ppl say "broadband" n' "cell fon." neway, that's just my humble opinion.
we all know that kaela's n' my 1st wedding anniversary is coming up exaktly a wk from 2day.
yesterday, i finally put up that address numbers that we bought from expo. they look very nice... i hope. i hope i put them up straight n' equally spaced. however, while i was installing the numbers n' hoping that they'd be straight, i 'membered how supermike used to tell me that only gay guys care if the stickers on their snowboards r applied straight n' that we (as 2 single hetero guys) oughtta have poorly aligned stomp pads in order to get chicks on the slopes.
[later] ~lunchtime: i realised 2day that toby's bachelor party is thismonth on the weekend'f the 25th not last. *shrug* i'm confused n' a bit surprised that the guys would take toby to vegas the wknd right b4 his wedding. i hope i didn't spoil ne plans by discussing the bachelor party early here. i just figured that toby was having his bachelor party on the wknd'f june 25 cos that's when betty's bridal shower was. i'm confused. i'm totally confused. i'm thoroughly confused. in ne case, i sed that i wouldn't be able to go, n' i still don't plan on going. as i sed b4, i have a bit'f an aversion to las vegas even tho' i know that i ought to make an exception 4 sumpthin' like this. *shrug* in ne case, it's mason's b.day party that wknd... funny, i know that kaela's friend linda has a co.ed (or else so.called "cowed") wedding shower on the 25th down in san diego. funnny how these 2 pre.wedding events happen on the same wknd. neway, yah... i personally think the co.ed wedding shower's a better idea than the ol', traditional guys' bachelor party n' gurls' bridal shower or bachelorette party. *shrug* 목요일 아침: so how've u been? what's been up? what's been up w/ u, what's been up w/ me? well, w/ me, yah, i've been 2 bizzy w/ werk. i attended the famous semicon west on tues in sf @ the moscone center. it was a huge, huge, huge tradeshow. i guess it was a pretty fun day. in fakt, it fun just to be in sf. it's hard to believe i used to go to sf every weekday to go to werk. back when i lived in berkeley, i went tosf 'lot more. i mean, besides 4 werk, i went 4 fun 'lot, u know? *sigh* the bay bridge... sf's a beautiful town w/ beautiful architekture n' beautiful nature. that's somtimes hard to find in 1 place, n' sf's a small, dense city.
[later, late morning] dude, i sure wouldn't mind watching farenheit 9/11 sometime. it sure sounds like a lot'f fun. just now, i was reading part'f this y! news article: 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Brings News to Theaters" 워요일 아침: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 1st wedding anniversary. last wk romy havard sent us an anniversary card. that was very nice'f her, n' we appreciate it sooo much. yesterday, my mom gave us a card n' picture frame. yah' we need to print out more pix! :-)
4 our anniversary, i took kaela to the ritz.carlton in 0.5 moon bay. we ate dinner @ navio restaurant there, spent the nite, had breakfast, took a yoga class, n' had a massage n' spa thing.
[later] evening: duk kyoung watched our house n' sooni while we were gone. last nite, we took him to the sunnyvale cherry orchard pasta pomodoro as a thank u. maybe sooni prefers sunnyvale to be "soonivale." 수요일 아침: 월요일 아름다운 캐이라 황과 저의 첫 번째 결혼 기념일이었어요. mon was the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 1st wedding anniversary. on mon eve, kaela took me to dinner @ tamarine restaurant in palo alto (546 university ave. [btwn webster n' cowper], palo alto, ca 94301; 650.325.8500). if u aktually have a good memory, then u'll 'member that brian chong brought us to tamarine sometime this past winter cos the restaurant itself was having an anniversary party. funny, huh? yah, that nite i drove kaela n' julie up to palo alto. do u 'member? a chp pulled me over cos he sed i was going fast, but i really wasn't going very fast n' explained to him, i had simply sped up cos the car on my right wasn't letting me into the exit lane, n' i had to speed up to get out... i mean, it's not necessarily a really good excuse cos the most law.abiding driver would've just slowed down or missed the exit. however, the chp officer knew i wasn't a young punk out to race or nething, n' that i wasn't drunk; n' so he let me go. don't ever use that excuse w/o my permission cos that's my excuse. seriously tho', i wasn't going very fast; n', in fakt, we weren't even in a hurry! we were just casually making our way up to palo alto, up the 101 that nite. i think brian had had a housewarming party or sumpthin' earlier that day. my sjsu classmate friend kent van was there n' so was my cowerker eric's roommate who werks 4 our corporate competitor or whatever u call it. in ne case, yah; kaela took me to tamarine 4 dinner. we luckily found some parking near the restaurant. even on a mon nite, this ritzy stanfurd neighbourhood was so crowded. i s'ppose rich ppl never cook 4 themselves, eh? tamarine is prob'ly the nicest vietnamese restaurant around here, isn't it? like, i definitely like citronelle 2, but i think tamarine is a notch up in poshness n' fanciness. i mean, u can argue which is overall the better restaurant, 'specially if u take budget into consideration, but well... i mean, tamarine is more'f a luxurious restaurant, u know. what did we eat? uh, we had asian pear salad, hobo's purse soup, scallop coconut curry, n' mekong bass. we also had these figs w/ coconut aisukuriimu desert n' a bottle'f 1999 schlumburger riesling. it was a very delicious dinner, of course; very tasty. u prob'ly dunno what hobo's purse soup is cos it's not like a common dish or nething. well, it's some kind'f seafud (like a fishball or shrimpball) wrapped up in a cabbage leaf n' tied up w/ a green onion. oh yah! we also had some crab wontons 4 appetizer. it might sound like we really pigged out, but these r small plates, tapas style, u know? that's a rather common way to eat @ posh restaurants these days, right? i know we prefer this style cos we like to taste lots'f dishes w/o piggin' out. the restaurants prob'ly like it cos they can charge u lots 4 li'l, right? eh... whatever. btw, i didn't mention that we went to lunch @ straits café on geary blvd in sf on sat. there we had their appetizer sampler w/ stuff like samosas, chicken satay, etc. then we had some kind'f rado dado or roga roga or sumpthin' salad, which had bean sprouts, cabbage, sweet potato, n' peanut sauce. we also had some kind'f "origami" sea bass, which was a (small) sea bass filet baked in a paper box w/ some shrooms n' peppers. it was very good, but kaela had a stomach ache. do u know what we ate @ the ritz carton's navio restaurant? we had the nite's tasting menu, which included uh... well, i 'member the delicious raw tuna w/ tenessee caviar, the lamb medallions, some dish w/ lobster n' "hen'f the woods" shrooms n' gnochi... uhm, i 'member a sorbet dish n' the final desert'f aisukuriimu n' some kind'f chococake. there were other dishes; i'm sure'f it. they were li'l tasting.size dishes. there was also some cold cantaloupe melon n' shrimp soup that was served in a demitasse as a sample compliments'f the chef. fud, fud, fud. fud n' celebration. i told kaela i don't want a fud.related b.day celebration this yr. last yr, on both'f our b.days we really pigged out, n' that kind'f disappointed me, i s'ppose. do u 'member how bad it was? like, 4 kaela's b.day, i took her to an oversized sushi lunch @ sushi o sushi on el camino. then 4 dinner... uh, we went to spiedo. 4 my b.day, kaela took me to an oversized 순대와 떡볶이 soondae n' dduhkbokki lunch @ 장저 순대집 jangtu soondae n' todai 4 dinner.
presents instead'f fud? *shrug* well, on mon nite, kaela gave me an anniversary present; an anniversary present that "really rocks!" mpgio mg-603f 256mb mp3/wma/etc playa w/ fm tuner n' voice recorder!!! dude, it rocks! 1) it has korean font on its nice, hi.res, backlit screen!!! 2) it has some really cute graphics, like when u turn it off u c this teddy bear sleeping! it rocks! oh yah, do u know how small it is?!?!?! it's smaller than most lighters! it's crazy! kaela bought it on ebay, as it's not sumpthin' commonly sold in amerika. *sigh* doesn't it suck that we don't get all the cool gadgets in amerika, the 1s that u can get in asia? *sigh* oh yah, altho' it does need a special cable 4 data xfer, it can be used as a thumbdrive. it's really kewl! even the earbuds that came w/ it rock! the earbuds that came w/ my ol' muvo 128, which un4tunately broke when i dropped it last dec(ember) when i was in a big, big hurry to submit my final exam 4 my "spacecraft dynamics n' controls" class, were really bad. i'd really like to ebay off that broken muvo, even if i can only get like $5~10 4 it. it's nonoperational, but maybe some1 can fix it n' use it.
neway, so yah... i don't want a really fud.related b.day. well, heh... tho' this might some contradiktary, i s'ppose if i get a free dinner @ todai, that'd be kewl... but eh! basikally i don't want kaela to waste $$$ stuffing my face 4 my b.day. it's not necessary this yr. my b.day's just 1 month 'way. i'll turn 29. well, in general, i don't expekt nething from ne1; no big deal. seriously!
kaela's b.day's a wk b4 mine, n' sooni's observed b.day is the wk b4 that. all our b.days fall on sats! :-) we all have wknd b.days this yr. that rocks, doesn't it? i like it; i really do. what do we do 4 sooni's (observed) b.day? *shrug* (i say "observed" cos we know she was born in aug but r unsure'f the day.) should we take her to the beach 'gain? maybe pt reyes? *shrug* some mag article i read suggested having a doggy b.day party, where friends come n' bring gifts 4 ur doggy. altho' i can't imagine gifts, i s'ppose sooni n' many other doggies do enjoy the whole pack (human pack) coming over n' giving attention, right? *shrug*
[later] last thurs nite, i bbqed the leftover raw 갈비 galbi 4 dinner n' ate lots'f meat. on mon, i had taco bell 4 lunch: a ranchero chicken soft taco n' a 0.5 lb bean burrito especiale, which was 99¢. the ranchero chicken soft taco was $1.59. i also had a small soda, n' my total was $3.85. yesterday, during my lunchbrk, i grocery shopped @ albertson's. i ate a smart ones frozen entrée 4 lunch. this morn, i ate an albertson's pina colada lowfat fruit on the bottom grade a yogurt. i wished it were nonfat, but only lowfat was on sale. last nite, after our excellent (most excellent) taekwondo praktice, kaela n' i got boba drinks this morn, i thought 'gain 'bout how we need asian.am dieticians, ppl who won't just tell u to eat grilled chicken n' steamed broccoli in order to lose weight. when u read 'bout good diets, they never include fud that asians n' asian.ams like us want to eat. those diet menus r so geared 2ward ppl w/ an otherwise meat n' potatoes diet. there r fuds in every culture's diet that can be good or bad, right? *shrug*
[slightly later] 2day n' yesterday, i've had a stomach ache.
[later] 오후 /afternoon: what r some (web)sites u read when u'r bored? (is this a good gbook q? 1 site that is somewhat interesting to me is slickdeals.net. mark lee 1st told me 'bout this site. u can find some good deals on random things n' get a few freebies here n' there. i also know'f fatwallet.com from kaela's brutha jay, but mark sed it's not as good these days. i dunno, i think slickdeals has its ups n' downs 2.
in ne case, speaking'f gbook kaela recently signed my gbook on mon. b4 that, some dude named "beno" (not me) signed it. thank u! :-) i've gotta change those qs!!!
more than that, i've gotta hit the gym... n' hit it
hard!!! let us not 4get how much i've been eating lately. heh heh. do u want to hear (read) my thoughts on health n' diet n' exercise? i figure we should all avoid eating fat. that's my #1 rule. ("you're still my no. 1.") next, like every1 else on the planet these days, i think 'bout protein n' carbs. those r such buzzwurds; they're disgusting, so disgusting. if i've been doing muscle.intensive exercises like weight lifting, i try to eat more protein while still gettin' them carbs. if i'm gettin' ready to do more cardio.type exercise, i try to eat more carbs n' thus less protein. in ne case, i try to minimize fat n' maximize fibre (uk spelling). i try to avoid hi fructose corn syrup n' drink lots n' lots'f h2o. [later] as u know, i love spicy fud, but i must monitor my sodium intake. also, i s'ppose bad cholesterol's bad, huh?
is there nething u want these days? i keep repeating myself, but i think i need a new pair'f everyday "bizness casual" shoes that rn't made in china. support countries w/ more conscientious labour praktices!
oh yah! yesterday was mason's b.day! (mason's our nephew.) he's been heard asking, "where sooni?" deep down inside, rn't we all asking that same q? yes, i think so... especially when she jumps the fence n' gets loose. when she's lost, she asks, ""where sooni?" 목요일 아침 / mokyoil achim / thurs morn: 어젯밤에 저희들이 너구리를 봤어요. 아룸다운 캐이라 황과 순이와 저는 작은 너구리를 봤어요. 일요일 아침, 820a sun morn: 오늘 일요일예요. 저희들은 오늘아침 교회 갈게요. 2day's sun, n' the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r going to church this morn. what's been up? drop me a line sometime, k? a wk 'go, i was hangin' out @ petco i can't believe that next sat is toby n' betty's wedding. so this wknd "the boys" r in vegas. obviously, i'm not there w/ them, but *sigh* i dunno what to say 'bout that. u know i'm not a big vegas fan, but *shrug*. i guess it's good that i didn't go to vegas cos yesterday was mason's 2nd b.day party. when my sister called to 'mind me'f the party earlier this wk, i obviously had to think, "should kaela n' i bring sooni or not?" however, immediately i sensed that there'd be lots'f other kids there n' that it might be a complicated situation, so it'd be best not to bring her. it's not that i expekt to her cause probs w/ lots'f kids 'round (unless those kids happen to be canine), but eh! i figured it'd be better not to put her in a weird situation right now, since we're heavily training her. on thurs, fri, n' sat, we sort'f pressured her into accepting the presence'f other doggies. on thurs, my cowerker eric went to the santa clara doggy park. i emailed him @ werk.com earlier this wk to tell him to let me know if he's ever going to the doggy park. on our last visit w/ dawna'f happy tails to you dog training, i asked her if it'd be a good idea to tell a friend to let me know if he's going to a doggy park ever, so that i can bring sooni to the doggy park n' expose her to my friend's dog thru the fence.
u c, last sun, we had to skip bible study cos we met dawna @ hellyer dog park in south san josé. (when i tell ppl where almaden valley (my childhood neighbourhood) is i tell them truthfully that it's in the southern part'f san jo, but it is not in the area that ppl commonly refer to as "south san josé." this area's the southern part'f san josé that is near hwy 101, aka "the 101." this neighbourhood is quite east of almaden valley. since almaden valley's west'f this area yet east'f los gatos / saratoga, etc. i told my college friends muts(ubu) n' shingo (2 japanese.amerikan dudes) that almaden valley is south central, upon which muts totally cracked up. @ the time, i didn't know that l.a. ppl refer to the sort'f "bad part"'f l.a. as "south central." now, i'm much better skooled in socal culture.) dawna had us meet her @ hellyer to expose sooni to other doggies thru the dog park fence. she believes that sooni's not ready to aktually enter (split infinitive!!!) the doggy park but needs just to c other doggies thru the chainlink (chain.linked?) fence. we totally agree. when the 3'f us arrived @ the dog park, there were doggies in the park, n' we started to bring sooni near the park. a man w/ a husky was leaving to his car, n' approached us. dawna warned him that sooni's not yet friendly but sed that we'd appreciate his help in training sooni. as the man approached sooni akted aggressively 2wards the other doggy, so we "correkted" her, i.e. (1 4get who but) 1'f us pulled down (jerkingly) on her gentle leader n' growlingly scolded her. (it was prob'ly dawna. she does it so well, as she's the pro.) the man sed he wouldn't mind helping us, but un4tunately after cing us scold sooni, he (obviously not much'f a dog trainer type person) took his husky to his car n' took off. dawna was very disappointed as (well, 1st off he didn't really help us @ all) that teaches sooni that if she growls @ doggies that she doesn't like that they'll go 'way, u know? 1'f our biggest goals in training sooni is to convince her that her growling n' lunging won't make other doggies go 'way, so she needs either to put up w/ it or rely on kaela n' me (her masters) to deal w/ the situation. un4tunately, (we dunno if it was coincidence or what) when that man left the doggy park, all'f the sudden, all the other doggy owners inside the park (on the other side'f the chain.linked fence) left. whuh?! well, kaela hypothesized that maybe every1 belonged to some dog.training class n' that the class had just ended. *shrug* neway, dawna expressed her disappointed in that since she really wanted sooni to visit the doggy park, so that sooni'd be exposed to other doggies. if there's no other doggies there, then it was ptless to be @ the dog park. well, later an old man came w/ a friendly doggy, which sooni growled @ thru the fence. well, we tried to werk sooni w/ that doggy, but the owner cmed to be a bit annoyed w/ us. neway, dawna sed it would be a good idea if i asked eric to tell me when he'd be @ the dog park, since that'd guarantee the presence'f 'least 1other doggy.
on thurs eve(ning), we brought sooni to meet robin, eric's doggy. robin's so friendly. we've noticed that other ppl's (well.trained) doggies always make good eye contact w/ humans. obviously, we're training sooni to be like that by clicking her training clicker n' "treating" her when she makes eye contact w/ us. it was really funny to watch the dog park. yah, lots'f li'l short fights break out, but they're not really fights, more like short sparring matches, i s'ppose. i guess that's when ppl say, "they're just playing." obviously some doggies have diff personalities from other doggies. some like to run up n' play w/ other doggies so readily, while others'd prefer to be left alone, etc. there was this labrador retriever that kept running up to eric n' asking him to kick his (the lab's) tennis ball. it was really cute, but wow! that doggy'd play w/ ne1. jindos'd never be like that, right? this past wk, we kept hearing the term "northern breeds" in reference to sooni n' jindos. we kept hearing that northern breeds r independent n' 1.person doggies. yah, altho' sooni likes ppl, she doesn't go running off w/ just ne1. after all, u've heard ppl call golden retrievers "sluts" etc. right? neway, on thurs, we put sooni thru 'lot. we really stressed her out. on sat, i realised that on thurs, we or 'least i've been the "typikal asian parent": i scold sooni 'lot n' pressure her, but i don't compliment her 'nuff. *sigh* yah, i know i've gotta be better 'bout that. u c, i know 4 sure i've gotta do that cos on thurs when we came home, sooni totally turned into a rebellious teenager cos'f all the scoldings i'd been dishing onto her. (dog's have very interesting minds 2, u know.) neway, i had a big scuffle w/ sooni on thurs nite after the doggy park cos she stole a 호박전 hobakjuhn (fried squash) off'f kaela's dinner plate that she left on the coffee table. we ended up banishing sooni to the backyard overnite. in the morn, she was better.
on fri, we exposed sooni 4 a while to our 'cross.the.street neighbour ed n' his big, brown doggy chewie. we'd always thought chewie was a guy, but she's a gurl. she's a mature, older doggy. sooni does better 'round mature doggies cos they don't care so much that she's a punk. they just sort'f roll their eyes @ her n' leave her 'lone. younger doggies, they have more energy n' try to challenge her; they think, "geez, what a punk" or "geez, what a b!tch" n' try to put her in her place. c, she doesn't always "start the fight," but often she provokes it w/ her attitude n' stares. neway, kaela n' i gave sooni a good walk. then we went out to dinner n' a movie. i had a stomach ache. 4 lunch on fri, my_group@werk.com went to cluck u, (aka university chicken). u 'member the location'f my famous 911 challenge, right? neway, i ate 4 devil bites w/ global thermonuclear sauce. that's the spiciest sauce they sell on a normal basis, which is much spicier than most amerikkkans can handle but far, far, far from as spicy as their 911, which is a total special case. as much as i love spicy fud, i gotta admit that the 911 is pure poision, but well... i did it that 1tym. on fri @ lunch, altho' both times that i went there w/ my cowekers they kept begging me to do the 911 4 them, i had to deny them. i just had my 4 "global" devil bites, a cole slaw, n' a large diet coke. ok, it's 940a now. i've gotta get ready 4 church. i'll talk to u later. [unfinished entry] 월요일 아침 mon morn: this is my last wk in my cubicle, my last wk in this office. next mon, i start a new position (w/ the same company). (i'm sort'f starting a new job but not changing companies.) the fakt that i'm starting my new position next wk indicates that august starts next wk. crazy! can u believe that? i think u can't but am not that sure.
[a li'l later] i really didn't finish yesterday's entry, but we had to get to church. we were really late. :-( i prefer not to be late to church, u know. i dunno where i left off updating u. there's a good chance that u don't care, so why should i care, right? "상관 없어," u say. 예, 예... 알았어요," i respond. so what's been up? well, did i perhaps leave off talkin' 'bout sat? on sat, we brought sooni to c.a.r.e. so that she could c other doggies n' get handled by strangers. in the afternoon, we went to mason's 2nd b.day party. we brought him this mega.bloks toy car set 4 a present. it has a red sportscar n' a black n' white cop car. mason gets to build the roadways. the cars can roll up n' down. the set comes w/ all these standoff thingies, so u can have elevated roads, etc. we also brought mason a happy b.day balloon. that was maybe the 1st time we attended a 2 yr old's b.day party, but i dunno. i mean... of course, i went to my own 2nd b.day party, n' the beautiful kaela hwang was most likely @ hers. when we arrived, we saw several kids n' parents, as well as my parents. we ate plenty'f veggies n' dip n' cheese n' crackers n' seafud salad spread stuff. there was a variety'f beer n' soda in the cooler. kaela usually likes lite, lite beers; so we weren't sure what she'd like in the cooler, so we tried several. she liked 1'f them... uh, some kind'f pale ale... uh... i 4get what it was, but it had a green label n' was not the typikal beer from that company. like, it was some kind'f special brew, u know? it wasn't gordon biersch, but it may've been sumpthin' like henry weinhard's or heineken or sumpthin'. i totally 4get. then we tried 2 other beers 4 kaela: some new orlean's lager n' then a bass ale. she disliked both, so i had to finish them n' thus had 3 beers. i know some guys drink 'lot, but *shrug* me? to me 3 beers = 0.5 a 6.pack. i was far from drunk but was told my face was turning red. :-( steve (my bro.in.law, my sister grace's husband) bbqed some bratwurst, burgers, n' chicken breasts. i didn't eat ne buns but plenty'f flesh. really! i'm not a protein diet type dude! my sister grace also made a good potato salad. i wonder'f some ppl say "tater salad." prob'ly... i ate 2 much. i ate way 2 much. mason had a "bob the builder" b.day cake (from aki's). that must've been fun! mason is a big boy. he looks like he's 3 yrs old, not 2. after the b.day party, kaela n' i walked down the block n' 'round the corner to the willow glen peet's coffee on lincoln ave. i had a small cappuccino n' kaela had some kind'f medium caffé freddo. kaela drove us back to santa clara in my forester. even tho' i wasn't drunk from the 3 beers, it's always best not to risk it, right? we went to 금성 비디요 geumsuhng video to exchange our 겨울 연가 gyuhool yuhnga video tapes: the 1st 0.5 4 the 2nd 0.5. on the way to the b.day party earlier, we had stopped by the winchester blvd (near budd) safeway to get the happy b.day balloon. there, we had cn some beautiful blueberries n' some cute watermelons. we 4got to go back to buy them after the b.day party.
[a li'l later] on sun, what did we do? well, i woke up early, as u know, n' wrote a journal entry. (aktually, u'll only know this if n' when i get 'round to uploading yesterday's unfinished entry.) i werked on transferring my korean musik videos from my desktop 'puter to kaela's superkewl sony vaio laptop, so that i can burn them to dvd w/ her on.board dvd burner. man, that laptop kicks some serious majorly obese @$$, as ppl say. however, cynics'd try to "harsh my buzz" by saying that 2 months from now that 'puter'll be old news, etc. whatever! it's good to be on the cutting edge of teknology as much as possible, i figure. i gotta burn those videos n' mp3s etc. on to dvd. recently, i bought 100 dvd-rs from some online place. u understand that dvd-r n' dvd+r r diff, right? they're just 2 diff competing 4mats like beta n' vhs, i s'ppose. luckily some burners do both, but i believe that ours only does dvd-r, but i'm not sure.
neway, yesterday, we went to church. we were late. we had a bible study session, but it wasn't bible study. instead our good friend john kim (there's many john kims in this world.) sed his farewell (as he's moving to socal) by taking our bible study class out to pho hoa. he's an extremely nice guy. after lunch, kaela n' i went grocery shopping @ galleria market, the korean market. we bought lots'f fud. man, i don't get it: how come i cm to be eating so much lately?!?! why'm i piggin' out? *shrug* well, after grocery shopping n' coming home n' doing random things, kaela n' i took sooni out 4 a walk in saratoga, up n' down big basin way. after walkin' a bit, we sat down at the blue rock café, i think it's called. *shrug* we had italian sodas. italian sodas r always so overpriced. :-( that café puts out a bowl'f water 4 doggies like sooni. while walkin' up the street, b4 that, we ran into a man walkin' 2 doggies: a shiba inu n' some sort'f spitz. all 3 doggies (including sooni) were somewhat related... that "northern breeds" term 'gain, i s'ppose. after we dropped sooni off @ home, kaela n' i went to the safeway@rivermark.
[later] lunchtime: i'm @ home, typing on my home desktop 'puter, w/ sooni on the floor next to me. i've been eating lefover 볶음밥 bokkeumbap (fried rice) from last nite's dinner. the bokkeumbap has some'f the leftover bbqed animal flesh from mason's b.day as well as some soy sausage. it has some veggies n' egg. man, sooni'd love to eat this! i'll give her a li'l later. b4 i started eating lunch, i came home, picked up sooni, n' went to the bank to depo$it a check. man, i eat 2 much these days. i definitely gotta hit the gym 2nite; hit it very, very hard! *sigh* i dunno why i'm eating so much. *shrug* yesterday eve(ning) @ rivermark safeway, we bought 'lot'f fud. we went grocery shopping 2ice in 1 day. :-/
i'll try to post up some new pics (or pix) soon, so check back frequently. :-) btw, this sat is toby n' betty's wedding.
[later] afternoon: since kaela n' i recently had our 1st anniversary n' attended mason's 2nd b.day party, ppl including us have wondered when we'll have our 1st kid. we've been married 4 1 yr now, n' i s'ppose some ppl think that's 'nuff of a "honeymoon" period or whatever u call the time u spend as a married couple w/o kids. i dunno. it cms like some "younger generation" types always tell us to wait as long as possible b4 having kids, while the "ol' skool" folks pressure us hard to have kids asap. most non.asians n' non 1st gen asian.ams tell us to wait, but "asian" asians especially family / relatives ask 4 kids. sung wants us to have kids. traditionally, ppl followed a very strikt timeline, i s'ppose:
화요일 아침 tues morn: hrm, even tho' lately i haven't been writing much in korean, i do put the day n' sometimes time in korean. r u learning? ha ha. well, it's not like i'm that great @ the korean language. it's sort'f like when marge simpson sed she wanted to teach piano lessons to put lisa thru college: "i figure i just have to stay one lesson ahead of the kid." it's the 2nd day'f the last wk'f july, the last wk'f my current co.op_position@werk.com, the last wk b4 my_new_position@werk.com, the last wk b4 august, which is the birthmonth 4 our whole household. yah, aug is a month full'f b.days. in fakt, it's also the birthmonth'f my brutha.in.law, my sister's husband steve. lots'f b.days! imagine if we went to todai 4 a free meal 4 every1's b.day... 'cept 4 sooni's, since they won't give her a free meal, i figure. ha ha. every yr, i wonder where can i get freebies on my b.day. i believe shadowbrook restaurant in capitola has some kind'f "birthday club" or sumpthin'. that's a pretty nice restaurant! well, u can always go to chevy's n' get ur free dessert n' sombrero! howzabout chuck e. cheese's? do they have a b.day special? last yr, 4 the beautiful kaela hwang's b.day, we hit up malibu grand prix in redwood city. johnny tien, michelle martinez, roland dong, n' brian chong joined us 4 that. hrm, i feel a bit anti.social lately. i mean, i feel that we haven't been doing social things lately. is that true? i'm glad we 'least had lunch w/ church ppl on sun. i haven't cn my ol' buddies ken n' nelson in ages. i'll c toby this wknd, obviously. berkeley ppl??? i hope to hang w/ jerome when he finally visits norcal. yah, i feel i haven't cn my friends n' hung out in a while. *shrug* sometimes, i get nervous 'bout inviting ppl to do stuff. do u 'member when i was such a social organizer? well, i don't feel much like that these days. i dunno why.
every wed eve thru aug 28, the city'f sunnyvale has a street festival, but i'm worried i'll c a big, fat sign that readsl: "no dogs allowed." that's what i saw outside their farmers' market. :-( oh, apparently, santa clara has its own farmers' market! well, i should've guessed that'd be the case. sat may 1 - oct 30, 900a - 100p, jackson st btwn homestead n' benton. u think it'll be also "no dogs allowed"? *sigh* prob'ly, huh? however, we should try to go w/ sooni sometime; otherwise we should just go to get some fresh veggies n' fruits.
yesterday, i started a topik that i couldn't finish, a topik i shouldnt've started if i couldn't finish, u know? i was talkin' 'bout the whole "life plan" / "life timeline" issue; how some ppl wanna get married by a certain age n' have kids by a certain age; yet in this day n' age, ppl r holding off on marriage n' kids n' mostly 4 the sake'f career n' well... $$$. it's quite trite to say that modern society has sacrificed "family values" 4 the sake'f $$$, status, n' pleasure ('specially sinful pleasure). [later] "family values" is a very exploited n' abused term, as u c. that's 2 bad / un4tunate. as much as ppl rag on my 4 being a pinko, liberal f@*&head, i do very much believe in family values, u know? i do hope to have kids someday n' hope that i'll be a good dad. as i sed yesterday, most'f our friends cm to be single. i dunno; is that true? after all, maybe that's why i haven't gone out as much as i used to: maybe it's hard to mix married n' single folk, huh? i suspekt that is a big issue. really! i imagine it's hard to mix single n' married folk n' also hard to mix ppl w/ kids n' ppl w/o kids. i dunno, if that's true, it's also un4tunate. (i used the term "un4tunate" 2ice just now.) well, is it also hard to mix unmarried couples n' single ppl? yah, i think so. is it hard to mix unmarried couples n' married couples? :-/ no, i don't think so; but it's hard to find other couples in gen'l 'mongst our friends, it cms. as i sed, it cms like most'f our friends r single. u know what else? it's hard to mix werking ppl n' non.werking ppl... or else students n' career folk. that's a prob i've cn b4 in the past. the big prob w/ that is, un4tunately, budget: werking career folk r kewl w/ doing stuff like going to nice restaurants or culturual events that require $$$ etc. students n' not.so.employed folk r on a tighter budget. in the past, i tried to get every1 to hang out 2gether. :-/ obviously, i sort'f got "burnt" in the process eventually, u know? "i don't wanna hang out w/ those stoopid, irresponsible, immature punks!" "i don't wanna hang out w/ those rich, snotty yuppies!" yah, yah, yah... altho' i haven't necessarily "heard it all b4," i certainly have sensed it. also, there've been issues w/ mixing cultures: "amerikan", asian.amerikan, korean, taiwanese/chinese... i want ppl to get 'long, as u know. 수요일 아침: i wanna thank ppl who recently signed my gbook: heejin n' "private." thanks! i've been meaning to update/change the gbook qs (questions) 4 a long time now but haven't yet found the time.
do these band.aid healing strip scar removal things werk? i read some reviews on drugstore.com 4 the curad version'f this produkt: the reviews were very mixed. some ppl sed they werked like crazy; others sed they totally suck. *shrug* i thought 'bout trying them on some scars on my hand, mostly "bag burn" scars (from punching bags), but these things r close to $20/box! :-o the other day (mon eve) after the gym, i stopped by rite.aid to buy some bandages. the normal band.aid bandages were $3.99 - $1 mir (mail.in rebate), while this box'f weird curad silver strip bandages were $2.99 after "temporary price reduction." i decided to give the silver bandages a shot. [a short while later] oh, how funny! i was just thinking, "do they make bandages that blend in w/ darker skin?" then i read 'bout these scar.healing produkts, "The new products were developed specifically for so-called hypertrophic, or thickened, scars and for keloid scars, which are ball-shaped protrusions that occur more often among blacks and Asians than whites." weird, huh? oh yah, that quote was from http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/people-places.asp?ArticleID=85799.
go out n' buy some elektronics n' gadgets, etc.: PluggedIn: Back-To-School Gadget Prices Take a Fall (y! news)
there r some things i need to get sometime such as more sunscreen, some nimh aaa rechargeable batteries... someday i still need to pick up an external ieee.1394/usb2.0 hard drive enclosure in order to pull data off the ol' sony vaio laptop. aktually, i really ought to bump that up in priority. if i can pull the data off, (burn it to dvd-r), n' 4mat the hd (hard drive); then i can ebay
[later] 816p: i'm @ the men's wearhouse, waiting to pick up my tux 4 toby n' betty's wedding this sat. the store's bizzy, n' i've gotta wait a while. earlier, i was @ the gym, lifting. on mon nite, i took the spin class @ the gym. last nite, we went to taekwondo praktice then pho afterwards; finally some social interaktion. (duk, julie, n' paul joined us. on mon nite, kaela cooked 된장 찌개 dwenjang jjigae. 2day, my cowerker took me to lunch @ the mission city deli/café. i'm guessing that the owners r korean cos it had that sufficient grounds / espresso experience feel.
[later] 1115p: so i tried on my tux @ men's wearhouse. is the men's wearhouse s'pposed to be a store 4 rotund men? i noticed 2day that most'f the clothes 4 sale were l, xl, xxl, etc. ?:-( *shrug* yah, i dunno. this is the 2nd tux i rented from there this yr. when we came home 2nite, kaela n' i ate 녹차 물냉면 nokcha moolnaengmyuhn (cold green tea soup noodles). u can buy the packages'f this stuff @ ne korean market pretty much.
oh yah, 2day, 4 werk, i had to go to fry's. since i was there, i bought myself some nimh aaa batteries but opted 4 a brand not made in china, which meant i got 2 batteries 4 $8.99 instead'f 4 batteries. :-/ panasonic nimh aaa batteries r made in japan. lenmar nimh aaa batteries r made in china, while their alkaline rechargeable aaa batteries r made in korea. i had to buy a couple'f routers 4 my company. it just so happened that i found a decent brand @ a good price, a produkt made in taiwan.
speaking'f politiks, 2day @ the gym, i saw the demokratic national convention on abc. man, we've got a real battle now: we, as good amerikans, must make sure that dubyah's kicked out'f the white house n' that kerry/edwards get in!!! 목요일 아침: how r u? this morn, i took sooni 4 a walk. we walked down to the corner liquor store n' back.
[later] 오후: 2morrow's my last day in this cube, n' i'm leaving early 4 toby's wedding rehearsal, which i found out just now is semi.4mal. good thing he told me; i was planning to show up in jeans! it's funny: the day after i interviewed 4 my new position was fahad's wedding. now the day after my last day @ my current position, the wknd b4 i start my new position, is toby's wedding. isn't that weird?! i was fahad's best man n' am gonna be toby's groomsman. there's 1 more wedding this yr: the beautiful kaela hwang's hi skool friend linda n' kevin's in sept. i hope i don't get fired right b4 that! :-o no, hopefully, i'll get a promotion right b4 that! >X-D nah, that wedding doesn't count in this trend cos linda's really kaela's friend not as much mine... n' i'm not a groomsman or nething there. heh heh...
cos 2morrow's my last day in this cube, i've gotta clean up. man! moving, 4 me,'s always such a pain cos i'm such an awful packrat. :-( i've gotta 'least 'member to take home my personal effekts. that's whatchu call'em, right? i've also gotta 'member to unistall my personal software n' delete my personal files, etc. 월요일 밤, 848p (mon nite): i'm sittin' @ my home 'puter. i started my new position 2day n' received my new ibm t40 thinkpad laptop, which i'm to use 4 my werk, etc. i hope i can get some personal use out'f it now n' then, right? it's not a superkewl suped up laptop like the beautiful kaela hwang's sony vaio zwamp3. [later] kaela came home from her apptmnt w/ some clients n' her gym werkout, so i got interrupted. i feel like i haven't updated in ages. i was bizzy this weekend w/ toby n' betty's wedding, of course. after the wedding on sat, kaela n' i hosted phil down here in santa clara. it was a fun wknd. aktually, the whole wknd, i kept telling ppl this: "over the past yr (my last yr'f grad skool), while werkin' full time n' going to skool, not only has my threshold 4 stress gone up, but my capacity (n/or ability) to have fun has gone down. :-(" *sigh* @ times, this wknd, i wondered if i've turned into an overmatured werkin' guy 2 fast... when i should never be an overmature werking guy, u know? neway... this is the stuff that makes me feel pretty frustrated. i mean, ppl can tell u, "oh, you hafta remember to have fun and not just be a corporate sellout," etc. but shoot, u know i've gotta have a career. u know i can't be a bum 4 the rest'f my life. i don't want to be a bum 4 the rest'f my life, u know? i do like being able to own a house n' stuff. u do realise that i'm gonna hit 29 in a few wks n' that means i'm nearing 30, right? what's worse: to be overmature or immature?
on fri, kaela n' i rushed up to oakland to the dunsmuir estate. it's a beautiful place. the drive up, being a fri late afternoon was pretty bad. i found out on thurs nite that it was gonna be a semi.4mal rehearsal. i was expekted to wear a suit n' tie. i had to find a good shirt/tie match, etc. i felt bad cos i was late to the rehearsal. yah, as i just sed, the place was beautiful. it had ducks, squirrels, goats, goat.hearding doggies... it was beautiful. heh, it was crazy to c so many ppl i hadn't cn in ages, but i s'ppose i saw even more ppl that i ahdn't cn in ages the following day, right? right. the wedding party rehearsed the processional n' recessional 3 times. it was a nice day. kaela n' i had to pee so badly but the restrooms were locked. after the rehearsal, we hurried over to the rehearsal dinner venue, restaurant peony in oakland's chinatown, in order to use the restrooms. ah, we hadn't been in the east bay in so long! it's been so long since we visited berkeley. i really miss berkeley n' even more miss the friends we left there. :'-( however, *sigh* yah... we don't visit berkeley ever. in the past, i usually thought'f myself as a person who enjoyed the company'f others. don't i? yet, as i've sed in recent entries: i just don't c other ppl much these days. :-/ neway! that sounds all depressing (prob'ly just cos i'm in a momentary not.so.good mood at this moment 2nite but hope to be over it in a 0.5 hr or so [it's 935p right now on a mon nite.]), but this wknd really cheered me up in that sense; meaning i did finally get to c ol' friends instead'f being cooped up n' just wishing i had human interaktion, etc. well, i was explaining to phil (who is such an understanding friend) that there r lots'f times that kaela n' i do do things just by ourselves, n' why shouldn't we? we're a couple... not just a "going.out" couple, but a real married couple. shouldn't we have a healthy relationship? some ppl think that a healthy relationship means that the couple is constantly exposed to other ppl. that's how i always felt. if u 'member reading the stuff that i never let ne1 read b4 then u 'member that i sed that i would never want a relationship where the couple lives in their own li'l world. i always felt that a healthy couple is exposed to other ppl, some big group'f friends. however, in the past few yrs, i did realise the importance'f a couple's aktually doing "couples" stuff now n' then. after all, what if a couple always was around other ppl n' never alone? then who's to say that the couple aktually won't get to know each other intimately? (n' i don't mean nething perverted by that necessarily...) single guys always dream'f that gurl who won't take him 'way from his friends (but who's of course still a hot chick, no doubt). well, have u asked urself what u r willing to sacrifice w/ a relationship or else a special some1? *shrug* ne1, i'm only talkin' all this relationship talk stuff cos i was talkin' 'bout relationships till 430a on sun morn w/ phil. that's the kind'f stuff phil n' i've been known to do, u know?
ok, the wedding, etc.? well, i picked up my tux from the men's wearhouse on wed eve, as u know. u know what we did on thurs eve, right? or no? kaela n' i met up w/ taekwondo ppl @ 장모집 jangmojip 4 dinner. aktually, we met up w/ them @ the 태권도장 taekwondojang (a href="http://www.us-tae-kwon-do.com" target="_blank">us taekwondo akademy), n' then we, as a group, went over to 장모집 jangmojip. we had a big, tasty dinner 2gether. lots'f fud. it cmed like we kept buying alkohol yet i didn't really drink ne. i guess ppl were trying to get our friend ben drunk. there was lots'f meat, but i didn't eat that much meat cos i'm honestly not all that into 삼겹살 samgyubsal cos i don't like eating so much fat, as u know. instead, i ate lots'f 닭똥집 볶음 dalkddongjip bokkeum. i also had a decent 'mount'f 양념 통닭 yangnyuhm tongdalk. i didn't know that julie n' others had such a good bond w/ the employees @ 장모집 jangmojip. i s'ppose we should go there more often. the staff have such cute 앞치마 apchima (aprons).
ok, fri! yah, what more's there to say 'bout fri? i videotaped lots'f it, i s'ppose. we had a big, phat dinner @ peony. man, lately, i've been eating 2 much n' exercising 2 li'l. :-( it was a typikal chinese banquet, i s'ppose; but very good, no doubt! it was kewl to c ol' friend n' just ppl in general. as i keep repeating, since i was in grad skool n' werking full time these past 2 semesters... *sigh* yah! i just really didn't get out much n' wasn't exposed to ppl! *sigh* neway... i s'ppose honestly u could blame my not gettin' out as well as out to meet up w/ friends etc. on my bizzy werk/skool skedule; or else u could also blame it on sooni if u'r a mean@$$ mofo cos it's true that she has kept us @ home more n' also 'way from ppl since 1) if u hang out w/ us now, u've gotta tolerate a doggy, n' 2) kaela n' i try now n' then to go out w/ sooni (right?), like take her to outdoor restaurants, etc. so she can be out n' 'bout. cos'f that if u wanna hang out w/ us, u've gotta tolerate our tendency to go to outdoor restaurants such as pasta pomodoro or else ne'f the other nice places in santana row. however, if u'r gonna tell us that we suck cos we own a cute doggy like sooni n' r aktually trying to be good doggy owners, then maybe u've gotta ask urself if u r aktually what sucks. *shrug* (it's just a hypothesis, man.) (i mean shoot! s'ppose kaela n' i have kids b4 others 'mongst our friends. in that hypothetical case, will all our friends ditch us cos they don't wanna be 'round parents but'd rather stay young n' far 'way from parent.type ppl? we don't do that, do we?) neway... where the heck was i b4 i went on this semi.rant? ok, fri nite? it was delicious fud. many'f us'll chuckle 4 a few more days 'bout how the restaurant, on their sound system, kept repeating a midi version'f richard marx's "right here waiting" over n' over n' over. ugh! we were all so sick'f the song after 3 or 4 hrs'f it, u know? the following afternoon, either best man paul or else toby himself (i 4get.) told the groomsmen that he felt even more sorry 4 the staff cos they hafta put up w/ it every day. oh yah, i think it was toby who sed that cos i think paul replied, "i s'ppose if i werked in a restaurant in china i wouldn't be able to tell 1 chinese song from another." eh, even tho' that was a somewhat witty comment, i think he would be able to tell... after all, it's not like that midi version'f the song had lyrics in ne language... n' our friend jeffrey sed that that song was very popular in taiwan even tho' i think his visit to taiwan that he was using as a reference was a bit outdated personally. when did kaela n' i visited taiwan? more recently than 2000... n' i didn't notice ne obsession w/ richard marx. ppl had good taste in musik, if i 'member correktly. *sigh* neway, we pigged out n' then drove back down to the sobay via 880s. we tried to sniff 4 bread but didn't smell ne. u know what i mean, right? the bread faktory...
sat, how was sat? well, hrm... i woke up early to go pick up my dj/party lites from my mom's house in san jo. i took sooni w/ me since i knew i had to spend some quality time w/ her since we'd obviously be ditching her 4 so much'f the day cos'f the wedding. seriously, i want to be a good dog owner, not 1 that neglekts his doggy! >:-( cos'f the wedding, kaela n' i missed out on a us taekwondo akademy santa cruz beach trip. coincidentally, our friends mark n' grace had to miss the beach trip 4 some other wedding. neway, i took sooni to my mom's house to pick up the lites but aktually didn't even let her out'f the car. instead, i just very quickly fetched the lites from the garage n' left. i suspekt that i didn't even shut off the engine, etc. on my drive out'f the almaden valley, i figured that i needed to give sooni a walk in order to qualify the morn as quality time. there's a nice li'l park on the corner'f camden ave n' meridian ave. it has grass as well as a hiking trail. uhm... heh, lemme make a confession: that park's layout does remind me'f a park that phil showed me in irvine. (as much as i keep preaching that san jo is not like orange county, i've gotta admit that.) i 1st thought that i'd just walk sooni 'round the grassy area but later decided to take her up the very short hiking path up to the top'f the hill where 1 can get a somewhat decent view'f the almaden valley altho' there r many far better vista pts 4 the almaden valley. after that i came home. i had told kaela to keep sleeping when i left to run that errand. i came home n' she had followed my suggestion. i left sooni @ home n' went to big lots! n' albertsons. i bought home cleaning supplies @ big lots! n' fruit from albertsons. i came home; n', when kaela was ready, we went late to our apptmnt @ care 4 sooni's quick training session. in case u 4got, we take sooni to the companion animal rescue effort, so that she can be exposed to other doggies n' to some unfamiliar ppl including this 1 big woman who may or may not remind sooni'f the vet that so frightened her. this woman, who's aktually good w/ doggies, purposely tries to annoy sooni in order to exercise her tolerance'f annoying ppl, u know? it's really important. well, after that, kaela n' i hastily gathered things to take w/ us to the w hotel in newark, the place where the wedding party was s'pposed to get prepped (pepared). i hurried there so much n' really did a bad deed to my brakes. geez, on fri n' sat, i really put my car thru 2 much since i had to be in such hurries, u know? aktually, when i got to the groomsmen's room, i was shocked to find that the guys weren't ready @ all but were just loafing. apparently, the groomsmen were waiting 4 the fotographer since he was to fotograph us gettin' ready. that makes sense. it's nice to have pics like that. i dunno; since i cm to be in a not.as.posi+ive as i need to be mood n' cm to be bashing myself here n' there, lemme say that i wondered from time to time during this whole wedding thing if i'm really as vain as i am, in that i cmed to care 2 much 'bout how i looked 4 the wedding, u know? i dunno; i sincerely apologise if my vanity has ever cause u or others hardship cos i know it's not good to be vain n' that i need to avoid that kind'f behaviour. neway, the fotographer eventually got there, n' we got dressed. kaela looked very nice. the wedding party ppl sort'f caravaned to the wedding site altho' not really well. we battled plenty'f traffik, yet when we got there the gate to the wedding site was locked. we all had to wait out on the street in our cars. lessee, how was the wedding? uhm, lessee... well, we spent some time setting up the place. i tried to be helpful. the wedding party had some pics. lessee... well, as expekted the ceremony started a bit late. it was a beautiful ceremony tho'. in case u don't know, their friend jarvis was the officiant. jarvis n' his now wife (then gf) irene sort'f set toby n' betty up, which is a fun story. me, i aktually drove toby to the cocktail party @ jarvis's @ which toby n' better were s'pposed to meet... i mean, they aktually had met earlier, but this party was where they both knew they were s'pposed to meet a an interested person yet weren't made aware'f who that interested person was, etc. *sigh* that was a long time 'go now, i s'ppose. it was a star wars party. neway... it was a great ceremony, n' i was happy to c ducks. after the ceremony, i thought that the wedding party was gonna take more pics, but we didn't. kaela n' i hit the snack table pretty fast cos we hadn't really had much'f a lunch or nething. we also enjoyed some nice, hot hors d'ouvres such as some stuffed shroom n' some 'crab/cheese on a toasted slice'f baguette' thingy. we enjoyed singing from a big megagroup consisting'f members'f the uc men's octet from various yrs n' others'f toby's singing groups from cal. it was amazing! after the guys sang a few numbers, toby n' betty approached the patio, n' toby joined the group. he sang his awesome rendition'f doby grey's "drift away," whihc predated the uncle kracker version. toby's "drift away" was always my favourite tobysong... i think. a bit later, we went in 4 dinner. as usual, the wedding party was introduced. there were toasts, n' dinner was served: salad, fruit (pineapple n' strawberries n' cream), veggies w/ hollandaise sauce, tri.tip, n' salmon. it was a good dinner, n' i was way 2 stuffed, u know? oh, earlier, while enjoying the muzik n' just relaxing after the ceremony, i chugged down 2 golden ale blonde beers. i had a glass'f red wine just to give my dinner setting a 4mal look, but i didn't really drink much'f it... only w/ the tri.tip (the whole red meat / red wine thing). after dinner, to my surprise, there was more excellent singing. geez, many'f us had to agree when some1 (i think it was kaela.) sed that the event was aktually 2 events in 1: 1) a wedding n' 2) a concert. it really was. it was unbelievable. toby sang billy joel's "uptown girl" as that was, i guess, the song that really drew betty's attention 2wards toby. btw, the bride n' groom looked great, no doubt. *sigh* what an awesome nite. altho' there were no tosses (bouquet/garter), there was, of course, cake.cutting n' dancing. the cake was 0.5 chocochip n' 0.5 passionfruit. as our table was mostly toby's dorm friends as well as phil, who was my dorm friend, the passionfruit cake brought back memories of the pog (passion orange guava) drink served in the berkeley dorms. *sigh* wow, it was easy to reminisce that nite! u know, don't look back in anger. never look back in anger n' never look back in sorrow. instead look back w/ fondness'f the beautiful memories u made. reminisce. u've always heard me say that i believe that perhaps there's no such thing as luck but only ur perception'f ur current situation. (if u choose to focus on the posi+ive things, u might say u have good luck; but, if u choose to focus on the negative things, then u might say u have bad luck.) interestingly 'nuff, a speaker i listened to 2day @ werk.com preached 'bout how attitude makes all the diff: that u can approach life w/ a good attitude or a bad 1. yah, i 4get 'xaktly what he sed; but his speech was sort'f like my idea'f perceiving the good in life or else the bad in life... which, i realise, isn't a notion peculiar to me. tsss... plz don't believe that i'm that egotistical: i've sed b4 that i'm often egocentric but less often egotistical. *shrug* would u believe that? plz try ur best to imagine that that's true. thank u. toby made a premixed mix cd 4 his friend audrey to play on my dj equipment. as kaela n' i were so burnt out b4 the total end'f the dancing, we got ready to go, n' i told audrey to take my coffin (that's whatchu call the case that holds dj equipment) back to her place, as she had been borrowing it 4 the past few wks (if u 'member). by the time we aktually left (after saying important good.byes n' c u laters), the dancing had all come to an end. toby made a good mix, but i s'ppose the dancing part'f the reception didn't go on as long as ours... ha, the benocritic says that i'm being an egotist n' trying to discuss our wedding when i ought to be discussing toby n' betty's wedding, n' the benocritic has a good pt. [unfinished entry] 목요일 아침 thurs morn: i started my new position @ my company this wk. b4, i was a co.op; now, i'm a "new college graduate." this is a "regular full time" position, but it starts out w/ a 6.month program, which involves some training n' rotations w/in the company. yah, so far, i'm having fun. my current cubicle is near betty's sister sandy's. however, i hear i won't be @ my cubicle all that much cos i'll soon be off to do "rotations" @ certain divisions'f the company, n' they'll be located @ whatever bldg they r. i've gotta say... i dunno if i've sed this b4 here, but i aktually don't plan on being a teknical, research, labwerk type guy 4 my whole career. i really hope i can move into engineering management kind'f stuff some day. i dunno; it's not that i think that kind'f position pays more or gets more respekt, but i just wanna be more'f a ppl person in a way or sumpthin'.
[later] so what's been up? well, yesterday eve(ning) jerome came to visit the beautiful kaela hwang n' me down here in santa clara, as he's staying in the east bay right now 4 the month'f aug. yah, he got in a wk or 2 'go or so. man, it's really fun to c friends 'gain, u know? u know how i feel 'bout this. i was really happy to hang w/ jerome. kaela n' i brought him over to 난다랑 nandarang (aka "chopstix and hamburgers"). [a li'l later] jerome... he's 2 nice; he bought us our dinner... n' it was a really good dinner: 골뱅이 무침, 양념 통닭, 감자탕, 딸기 소주 (golbaengi moochim, yangnyuhm tongdalk, gamjatang, ddalgi soju lessee, what else has been up? well, i've been getting to know my cowerkers. on tues nite, i was 4ced to miss taekwondo praktice ( :-( ) cos'f this welcome reception @ el torito, where we pretty much just hung 'round the bar. i enjoyed 2 99¢ tacos, which were made fresh. that was pretty kewl. afterwards, i met up w/ kaela n' sooni @ taekwondo praktice. *sigh* i was sad to miss it. kaela n' i took sooni over to the cupertino wolfe rd 99 ranch mall to get 팥빙수 patbingsoo / tsua bing from fantasia. while walking sooni, i aktually ran into john kim from church. he recently moved down to irvine w/ his wife n' son but still comes up here 4 werk. it was good to c him.
yesterday, i didn't go to the gym. i tried to clean up the house a li'l, i gotta admit, b4 jerome showed up. yah, maintaining a house (aka housekeeping) sure takes time, u know? we're gonna host some kind'f bbq 4 our friends this sat @ our house. hrm, shoot... i gotta buy a patio set soon, don't i? orchard supply has some. i s'ppose i gotta expekt to lose 'bout $500 to this, huh? i mean: 1) we've gotta get sumpthin' nice not tacky n' 2) the advertised prices in their circular ads don't include the umbrella or umbrella base, eh? *sigh* [unfinished entry] 1215a: shoot, i just started writing my entry n' pushed some wrong combination'f buttons n' thus lost the sentence i had written. neway, no big loss; just 1 sentence... i sed that 2nite (as in yesterday), the beautiful kaela hwang n' i held a li'l bbq. man, i feel bad that i didn't do a good job inviting ppl. i mean, in fakt, most'f the ppl who r reading this journal right now prob'ly should've came, i s'ppose. i mean... i dunno; it was mostly like our friends from us taekwondo akademy (mark, ben, dennis, dukkyung, julie) n' then a li'l group that was sort'f bronx's junkyard oriented (jerome n' darren) n' then nelson/mike/vivian. it wasn't a big group. yah, really, more'f u prob'ly could've come. as i was telling nelson, when u own ur own home, u'r not gonna throw a "rager" or a "raging party." 1) u care 'bout the condition'f ur home, n' 2) u care 'bout the value'f the neighbouring property 4 'least the impakt it has on the worth'f ur home. the whole idea'f holding some "keg party" sort'f goes out the door when u own ur land n' ur dwelling, u know? 'least that's how i feel. i dunno; sometime w/in this next 6 months, i'll try to have some kind'f social funktion 4 my cowerkers cos our li'l group's s'pposed to be really social... like a dorm! heh... kaela noticed that right 'way that our group feels like a dorm floor/suite. it's true. on fri, we volunteered @ a kewl place called r.a.f.t., which is some kind'f "resource" sumtphin' "for teachers." it's a non.profit organisation that accepts personal n' corporate donations n' then uses those resources to distribute skool supplies to teachers @ a low co$t (or a lo co$t). it was a fun volunteer event. then, we had a bbq. kaela joined us 4 the bbq. i guess she was the only spouse n' nonemployee there, but i hope she had a good time. we had lots'f burgers n' doggies.
[much later] 757a: so i slept 4 a while, as i often do @ nite n' now am awake. i don't sleep in often. i s'ppose, as i consider this sleeping in. i've teknically been awake 4 a while now, just listening to npr, the last honest source'f news in amerikkka, u know? neway, where did i leave off updatin' u? yah, good question. [a li'l later] 816a: ok, so where did i leave off updatin' u? i talked 'bout the bbq on fri nite. i already toldju 'bout when jerome's visit on uh... wed nite, n'... lessee i can tell u 'bout thurs eve/nite n' more 'bout fri.
on thurs nite, i missed taekwondo sparring praktice. i came home earlier than usual from werk n' sort'f hoped that this'd be a regular thing now. kaela cooked. her dish was sort'f a hybrid'f 육계장 yookgyeijang n' 해장국 haejanggook. i mean, it was sumpthin' that combined ingredients from both but was diff n' had lots'f clear noodles in it. i mean, she sort'f made it up, i guess; there's no name 4 it. it tastes better than how i'm describing it. kaela had to go off to take care'f a rental property. i considered going to taekwondo sparring praktice, but i was 2 full. instead, i walked n' jogged w/ sooni from our house up to galleria market n' back. we jogged/walked really far, aktually cos i didn't necessarily take a really direkt route. i sort'f walked thru all the li'l korean shopping strip malls along the way n' back, u know? we walked past melody cd n' video, a korean muzik n' video store owned by some family from our church. i noticed that café aroma @ el camino real n' halford looked like a great place to enjoy 팥빙수 patbingsoo outdoors w/ sooni on the floor, u know? well, sooni n' i walked/jogged really far. we came home, but kaela still hadn't come home but eventually came home.
on fri, yah, i went to werk. oh yah, on thurs n' fri i had mcyukyuk [a li'l later] 845a: i took a short brk to visit a website: joi.ito.com cos i heard'f it on npr. i dunno; they were saying it's a really famous blog, so they asked 4 his opinions on blogs, i guess. hrm, blogs... is this journal blog, or is it a journal? *shrug* this dude joe or joi or whatever, on npr, was mentioning a blog called "baghdad burning" n' some blogs from iran n' then talked 'bout how he hopes that real news journalists'll blog or sumpthin'. hrm, yah, i s'ppose some ppl wanna hear 'bout real issues in blogs, things that really affekt the world, etc. some ppl really think globally. others just wanna hear juicy bits 'bout ppl's personal lives, u know? some'f these ppl r total voyeurs. 4 example, (now i'm jumping ahead'f my update) nelson, last nite @ our house, was totally diggin' some chick's xanga blog that he sez he regularly visits, some chinese.amerikan gurl from hawaii, i think. well, admittedly, she's a decently attraktive gurl, n' it cms like nelson enjoys her plentiful photos she posts, but he was really diggin' some post she put up 'bout her older sister squirting her w/ breast milk. :-/ the remaining guests @ our bbq @ that time debated whether that story was true or if she just posted it up to get attention cos seriously ppl do that, u know? there's plenty'f ppl like that on the net. u know, if a decently attraktive gurl has a blog n' puts up like sexy pics'f herself on the net n' includes some near erotica in her blog, she's gonna get lots'f hits, n' some ppl r egotists like that. after all, my b.day's in a coupl'f wks thus i'm a leo, u know? however, i'm not that type'f egotist, u hafta understand. i admit: i am egocentrik 2 often, n' i regret that. however, i think i've sort'f weaned myself 'way from being a total attention seeker, haven't i? well, shoot! even if i were like these female internet attention seekers, if i went 'round posting pics'f myself wearing a diff pair'f panties each day, uh... i'd be sure to attrakt a kind'f attention that i wouldn't really want necessarily. heh, so am i saying i don't want homosexuals reading my journal? no, i don't really care who reads my journal, as long as they enjoy it, u know? do i want to attrakt female attention thru my journal? no, i never sed that. do u sense that i try to do that? i hope not. or *shrug* if i did, would it be bad? well, i think my wife wouldn't like that, n' many ppl frown 'pon that kind'f behaviour. yah, i think i'd have less respekt 4 myself if i were like that, wouldn't i? yah, i think so. 'member, thru.out hi skool, my peers really raised me to disrepekt flirtiness in guys n' gurls. in other wurds, we raised each other up to be "playa haters," some ppl'd say. isn't that weird to think. what does "playa" mean, u know? originally, "playa" meant a guy who "played" women, a guy who used woman 4 1 nite stands, etc. later, it evolved into 'nother wurd like "dude," just referring to ne guy, u know? *shrug* weird. other ppl'd say, "wow! u ppl were so uptight in hi skool, eh?"
ok, back to the recap, etc. on fri, after my werk bbq, kaela n' i went 'round town looking 4 a fridge 4 1'f her rental properties. we were gonna go to a movie afterwards, but i was really 2 tired. i wake up early these days, u know.
sat: i woke up early n' went to my company gym in our campus by fry's elektronics. i lifted weights. i took a shower there as i was 2 tired to shower the nite b4, etc. well, i s'ppose regardless'f whether i showered the nite b4, i often shower after exercising as that's sumpthin' some ppl do, u know? aktually, u do hafta understand that i don't sweat much. i dunno if u know that or not. lemme tell u: 1) i don't sweat much, n' 2) i aktually don't stink much. of course, most ppl won't believe #2, but it's true i don't stink much! i really don't! do u believe me? if i were to do 30 mins on the precor/stairmaster during lunch n' go back to werk, u wouldn't mind sitting next to me, i say. u wouldn't. i don't stink.
afterwards, i went to orchard supply hardware (aka osh) to buy a few things such as a propane tank adapter hose, a filled liquid propane tank, n' a heater dukt to replace the 1 i accidentally ripped a while 'go. i thought 'bout going to 한국 마켓 hangook market to pick up some marinated 갈비 galbi n' some 닭똥집 dalkddongjip (chicken gizzards), but i figured i'd best head home in case my wife woke up to a benoless house. yah, she had woken up, eaten some oatmeal, n' was watchin' some silly sat morn discovery kids shows. in a li'l bit, after i ate 2 servings'f instant oatmeal, from a box i bought from costco on fri, when i stopped by there to buy oatmeal, 2 cases'f kirkland bottled h2o, n' uh... what else? uh... oh yah, some clorox toilet tank tablets... nething else? uh... oh yah, some white grape n' white peach juice... ok, so after i ate that oatmeal, we took sooni to care 4 her weekly training sesh there (sesh = session). afterward, i looked 4 a place to feed kaela, as i sed we'd go on a "date" to do our couples bible study hw (homewerk). yah, we get these homewerk assignments, where we're s'pposed to sit down n' talk 'bout this n' that. i mean, we have a bible study book w/ discussion questions. well, i tried to take her to this malaysian restaurant called layang layang on de anza blvd cos i thought i saw an outdoor patio table w/ an umbrella. we needed an outdoor place cos'f sooni. however, when we got there, we were disappointed as the patio had an umbrella w/o a table or chairs. honestly, deep inside, i was very unhappy to c that. in fakt, deep inside, i now sort'f resent that restaurant. how could they tease me like that, u know? well, kaela n' i tried to hit up 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang cos we know they have a nice outdoor table w/ an umbrella n' the owner woman likes sooni. un4tunately, there, we found a table full'f 아저씨 ajuhssi (older men). *sigh* well, i had 1 more idea, n' it turned out to be an excellent 1, if i can say that 4 myself. heh heh... we hit up the indian tandoori chaat house on stevens crk near lawrence, near the pet fud express. that indian chaat house rocks, i gotta say. i mean, that was our 1st visit, but i learned that it's a pretty kewl place, n' i recommend it. it has somewhat shaded outdoor tables. i prefer that over a deceptive umbrella w/ no tables or chairs. layang layang, i resent u! indian chaat house place on stevens crk near lawrence expressway n' pet fud express, u've made my good guy list. u know? (i'm unsure if it's a "good guy" list or a "goodguy" list.) neway, u guys rock! the fud was pretty good n' decently priced, i s'ppose. we had this vegetarian lunch plate n' some aloo tikki, which is basikally a potato croquette. it was all really good. after that, we drove over to café aroma n' had some tasty 과일 팥빙수 gwail patbingsoo (fruit n' red bean shaved ice). it was awesome. café aroma rocks! there's outdoor tables n' the 팥빙수 patbingsoo rocks. so they make my goodguy/"good guy" list. support those 2 joints, eh? otherwise, 'least patronise them. some dude panhandled there, n' i gave him 50¢. yesterday was very, very hot. i was driving 'round, gettin' 2 much sun n' wanting to use the aircon/ac. 4 most'f the day, i didn't cos i had sooni in the car w/ her head stickin' out the window. she's very cute when she does that, u know, right? in case u 4got, i s'ppose i can provide u a visual aid from the past:
[later] 224p: dangit, we were late to church 'gain. i guess i feel bad cos it was partly my fault both times cos i was off typing on my journal in the morn. :-/ i just wanna keep u guys updated. <:-/ shoot, now it's aktually time to leave to couples' bible study. :-o 1'f the couples lives in the rivermark, n' we're mtg there! :-) kaela n' i r eager to visit a house in the rivermark.
[later] 1007p: so we went to couples bible study etc. it was fun but a smaller group 2nite 4 some unknown reason. it was kewl to chat w/ our new pastor, pastor rick park. up until 2nite, kaela n' i hadn't gotten a chance to chat w/ him n' to ask him questions, etc. it was nice to hear his thoughts n' wisdom, etc. man, our host made some good thai fud! :-) usually, ppl cook either korean fud or euro.amerikan fud. it was pretty kewl to have sumpthin' diff, u know? wow, what a good cook. :-)
uhm, shoot, i haven't done a good job w/ updating as i sort'f left off n' didn't pick it back up. i dunno 'xaktly where i left off, somewhere 'round yesterday afternoon, right? i discussed how i went over to petco in the late afternoon to get sooni some treats, right? her bag'f rawhide chew toys. by the time i got home, guests had started to arrive 4 our mini bbq party. man, i felt so bad cos i really burnt lots'f the meat. 'twas like i was just burning animal flesh 4 some awful ritualistic sacrifice! <:-o <:-( >:-( yah, that was no good! :-( i wasted lots'f meat that way. [unfinished entry] 월요일 오후 / mon afternoon: [later] 826p: now, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r having dinner @ tony & alba's pizza on stevens crk n' winchester. rt now, kaela's inside ordering, n' i'm outside @ a table w/ sooni. [later] 953p: now, we're home. b4 going home, kaela stopped to get gas 4 her kia sportage. [later] 1146p: i'm sleepytired. u know, i can't stop pondering how i feel i used to be a more interesting person. can u? plz, help me not grow 2 old 2 fast. help me stay young. what does it take? *shrug* when u'r young, u want to be older, rt? *shrug* aktually, i dunno 'bout that notion. personally, i've worried 'bout getting old since i was 8!!! i dunno if u realise that or not. maybe not.
4 lunch 2day, kaela n' i ate packaged 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn @ home. 1057p: how r u? i hope u'r well. while walking sooni 2nite in the mild summer nite weather, i thought 'bout life: i've gotta make sure i don't burn out. i like my job n' my company but gotta make sure i don't burn out. [later, after a shower] maybe i gotta "take it easy."
금요일 1218a: 2nite (meaning yesterday nite), the beautiful kaela hwang n' i attended taekwondo sparring praktice. since kaela 4got her taekwondobok top @ home, she sat out n' kept (mark's) grace company. 일요일334p: yesterday, as u know, was the beautiful kaela hwang's b.day. :-) a whole crew'f us from us taekwondo akademy went to great amerika. it was very fun! :-) [later] the nite b4 (fri nite), i took kaela to a b.day dinner @ stoa restaurant n' wine bar in palo alto just off (the) 101 (live jazz tues, fri, sat). it's a vegetarian restaurant n' very good. y'all oughta check it out, yo.
[later] 1138p: i wanna give u guys a real update, but i'm really tired. :-( 2day, kaela n' started renting n' watching the much praised 파리의 연인 / paris uy yuhnin. 월요일 아침: 어젯밤에 저 많이 피곤했어요. yesterday, church, lunch @ cheesecake faktory, shopping @ valley fair, washed sooni @ pet fud express, walked sooni @ santana row, dropped sooni off @ home, video swap @ 금성 비디오 geumsuhng video, grocery shopping @ hangook market, home, dinner of zarusoba / 메밀 냉국수 / meimil naenggooksoo, ... so what's up? will lei, thankj 4 signing my gbook. i've really gotta switch out the qs.
[later] this morn, i'm in a semiconduktor fabrikation process class, where the teacher sounds like woody allen. i can only guess that he's from ny.
[later] just now, i ate a tasty red bean bun from 빵 굽는 마을 bbang goobneun maeul ("baker's village"). on sat morn, after pickin' up mark n' grace w/ sooni to go to great amerika, i bought a b.day cake n' lots'f buns from 빵 굽는 마을 bbang goobneun maeul. the 아줌마 ajoomma there gave me 2 free red bean buns.
a coupl'f things i gotta buy: 1) 9v battery 4 smoke detektor n' 2) swifter wetjet "maxi.pad." do u know what #2 is? it's a mop.
how r u? r u frustrated or happy? optimist, pessimist?
sat @ great amerika was very, very fun. we rode almost all the major rides, won stuffed animals, n' ate a strawberry funnel cake. i gotta say; these days i have issues w/ spiritual/politikal issues. we all know that the politikally liberal christian faces lots'f abuse. u know the following story? when i was in hi.skool. my church's fri nite youth fellowship was, 4 a time, led by a pastor from the english.language, "american" church from which we rented our space. he was. u know, a conseative, "anglo" male, who enjoyed duck hunting (not the nintendo version). 1 fri nite, he pulled out a dollar bill n' rhetorikally asked us kids what it was. when we @ best gave him the obvious answer, he sed the objekt was "liberal democracy." he proclaimed that liberal democracy was only interested in $$$ n' what mortal humans want as opposed to what god wants. 4tunately most'f us were hi skool seniors n' already bound 4 berkeley, northwestern, wellesley, etc. we were polite 'nuff to listen but smart 'nuff not to buy into the campaign. i've sed over n' over that i have conservative n' liberal friends; n' my personal views n' beliefs can seriously piss off both! 수요일 아침: 2day, i'm still in my semiconduktor class w/ the ny prof. 2day's my ol' friend eileen kim's b.day as well as madonna's n' some1 else i spoke to recently, prob'ly a cowerker. (i 'member hearing 'bout it n' mentioning madonna's b.day.) happy b.day.
yesterday, @ lunch' i accidentally left my handspring hey, y'all watchin' the olympiks or what. to my surprise, this yr's olympiks games r somewhat entertaining to watch. what r some fun sports to watch? obviously taekwondo n' snowboarding... but there's no snowboarding in the athens 2004 games. if there were skateboarding in the olympik summer games, i'd surely watch! what r some other fun.to.watch sports? well, sometimes, i don't mind watching hockey or futbol (or, as u yanks call it, soccer). soccer is such an int'l sport. our church has a men's softball team n' sort'f a volleyball team. some ppl cm to want me to join the softball team 4 a li'l next month. i might. if it were a soccer (futbol) team, i'd be happier, i think. still softball, or 'least baseball, is a more universal sport than amerikan football. 'member ymca 야구단 yagoodan? stereotypikal asian church guys always like basketball, but i don't love basketball.
u know where i haven't been in a while? oakridge mall... yet i don't really need to go there cos valley fair's closer n' still better. back b4 the mid 1980s, i s'ppose oakridge was better. i feel i need new everyday werk / bizness casual shoes. i've pondered hittin' up dsw (designer shoe warehouse) on stevens crk near valley fair. didn't the great mall have a dsw? does it now? i'm still avoiding shoes made in china, as well as other produkts made in china.
someday, i wanna get back into muzik, but i got lots'f yardwerk ni' housechores to do. i need my dj epuipment back from audrey. i like taking fieldtrips w/ sooni. i want to take her to sf n' berkeley.[later] i don't mind partly sunny, mildly warm, breezy days here in the beautiful bay area.
oh yah! i'm so stoopid 4 4getting to mention sumpthin' super important!!!! yesterday, my 1st annivery present to the beautiful kaela hwang finally came in via fedex! i ordered this over a month 'go, n' it finally came in. a reproduktion'f jack ventriano's painting dance me to the end of love on canvas. 4 both'f us, it's a favourite. it's such a romantik image, so i hope u now understand why i got kaela kitchen knives n' a clothes steamer 4 her recent b.day.
[later] push the limits'f teknology; go out n' buy some elektronic gadgets. u might think i'm kidding, but i'm not. make pizza not war. i think 'twas round table pizza that, in the 1980s, boasted "no soy fillers" in its pizza cheese. nowadays. i'd pick soy cheese over fatt'ning cow's milk cheese. capitalism is not christian but, @ best, a necessary evil. [later] do u 'member a 1980s atari video gam9 called reactor? do u 'member the 1980s (video) game console intellivision? how 'bout intellivision ii? as always, subvert the dominant paradigm.
as i sed, we're watching 파리의 연인 / paris uy yuhnin. i admit that this drama challenges my language skills as the parts that rn't in korean r in french! btwn 7th n' 11th grade, i took 4.5 yrs'f french. language aktivities n' musik exercise my right brain.
[later] yardwerk to be done: mow lawns, trim potato trees, cut cactus, deweed, clean up japanese maples.
stop global warming.
[later] 1216p: now i'm @ home 4 a lunch'f leftover 순두부 soondubu. oh yah, i cooked soondubu yesterday. yesterday, after class, i went to the hamilton bally's gym. then i went to rite.aid to buy some things. then i picked sooni up from home n' brought her to the santa clara doggy park. then i came home n' cooked soondubu.
[later] after lunch 오후: how r u? i've really gat to change my gbook qs. i've already answered the qs myself.
i have mentioned the current mcyukyuk [later] i've also gotta trim the creeping roses n' backyard shrubs. i need some leather gardening gloves, so maybe i should stop by big lots. i'm a bit sore from lifting yesterday. 2nite, we have taekwondo praktice, n' @ the end, we'll hafta do some 90 pushups n' 150 crunches, rt? i 4get how many we've gotta do, but it's more than last wk.
수요일 아침: make sure u replace dubya w/ kerry in the white house this fall. yesterday, i accidentally wrote "수요일" (sooyoil, wed) when i obviously should've written "화요일" (hwayoil, tues). upes. maybe u don't know, but i aktually added to yesterday's entry. as of rt now (821a), i have yet uploaded the addendum. 'member when i used to write to my aktual journal file thru.out the day n' request u to check back often? do u 'member when i used to telnet into my server from my handspring yesterday, when i came home, sooni was in the driveway. she jumped the fence 'gain. >:-( she has issues. some pre.teen boy on a bicycle was trying to play w/ her. she looked anxious to go inside the house. *shrug* we're s'pposed to meet dawna 2nite @ the santa clara doggy park.
on mon eve, when i shopped @ rite.aid after my werkout @ the hamilton ave bally's gym, i bought a box'f curad silicone scar.removing patches cos they were on sale, n' i wanted to try 'em. silicone... my friend told me that my mouse/keyboard gel wrist pads feel like fake breasts. i guess i don't hafta ever touch fake boobies out'f curiosity cos i already know how my wrist pads feel. how 'bout that? healthier wrists n' a husband less likely to fondle strippers; isn't teknology great? neway, i'm wearing a small, silicone patch on the back'f my rt hand. the produkt's instruktions meation that the user my cut ne'f the 21 patches in the box if the scars small 'nuff. of course, this yields more patches. i did that, but now i realise that i should cut circles not squares. mechanical engineers "know wat ahm talkin' 'bout." stress distributions, etc... w/ s#arp corners, such as in a square or rektangle, tend to lift off more easily. the region @ the tip'f a corner doesn't get "much love" from his neighbours cos he doesn't have many. thus, in order to prevent lift.off, we should amputate the corners or round 'em off. mechanical engineers make the world a better place.
cos my b.day's this sat, maggiano's li'l italy sent me a $10 coupon, n' pasta pomodoro sent me a coupon 4 a free entrée. the maggiano's coupon expires 2004.09.13 (i think), n' the pasta pomodoro coupon expires 2004.08.29.
coupons... this wk's orchard supply hardware circular ad includes a $10 off $50 purchase coupon. i really could've utilised that when i bought my liquid propane tank on 2004.08.07. oh well... i was @ osh yesterday to buy gloves: leather palm gardening n' rubber dishwashing. [later] b4 osh, i visited big lots! n' albertsons, which now has a self.checkout lane. @ albertsons, i bought a loaf'f whole wheat french brd n' a small tub'f meza brand hummus. @ big lots!, i looked 4 leather werk/gardening gloves but found none.
@ the intersektion'f almaden expwy n' blossom hill rd, there's a rite.aid drugstore that was a long time 'go, payless drugstore. as a kid, i often visited payless w/ my parents n/or sister. a long, long time 'go, there was a supemarket next to payless, where 2day resides an officemax or office depot. what kind'f market? a pw super or food villa? i 4get but believe a nob hill foods resided 'cross the street. pruneyard mall on bascom in campbell had a food villa.
[later] 오후: i had a lunch mtg n' had a grilled veggie pesto sandwich from the company cafeteria 4 lunch. last nite, kaela n' i went to taekwondo praktice. i was rather sore n' didn't really per4m all that well. we didn't hafta do all those pushups n' crunches. after praktice, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had boba drinks sat's my 29th b.day. i'm almost 30. ppl say i look younger. *shrug* whadya think? what do ppl say 'bout my peer friends? do they look ~29? is it good to look young or what?
[later] 1051p: after werk, i hurried home to pick up kaela n' sooni n' go to the doggy park. we had a good session, n' dawna sed we've been doing well. yah, i guess the past few wks sooni's done some good things. after the doggy park, kaela n' i went to santana row's pasta pomodoro in order to use my free b.day dinner certificate thingy. i had the salmone pomodoro, n' kaela had the fruitti di mare w/ fettucine. we also had their aspargi appetizer n' a small caesar salad n' a coupl'f glasses'f wine. it was a great, awesome eve. santana row was so lively 4 a wed nite. well, i guess on summer wed nites, santana row has a free outdoor movie. 2nite's movie was ben stiller's meet the parents. it was 2 cold 4 us to sit n' watch, but we walked 'round santana row w/ hot drinks from fantasia: taro milk tea 4 kaela n' almond milk tea 4 me. we walked w/ sooni right into z gallerie. it was kewl. the staff was so friendly w/ sooni. kaela n' i found this nice, framed asian duck wood carving, n' i decided to buy it. yah, we've been sort'f acquiring art to decorate our home, i guess. i really like the ducks cos it's a pair n' reminds me'f the story'f the mandarin ducks or whatever. i mean, i'm sure it's s'pposed to remind me'f that story.
yesterday, btwn werk n' taekwondo praktice, i did some yardwerk: i mowed the back lawn n' trimmed bushes, etc.
[a li'l later] 2day, @ werk, i got this pair'f headfons w/ a microfon attached. i wondered if i should give voice recognition 'nother try. i 'member trying it out a few yrs 'go, prob'ly back when xp 1st came out. it didn't werk 2 well. maybe i can give it 'nother shot sometime; just 4 fun.
there's $1.91/gal gas @ the sunnyvale costco, according to sanjosegasprices.com. i don't get it: i hear that oil prices have hit a record hi, but the prices i c r cheaper than what i saw a few months 'go. well, what i'm guessing is that the prices'll shoot way up in sept. :-( *sigh* that'll suck. *sigh* well, someday, hopefully, ppl'll all drive hybrid cars, etc. yah, someday, we should all get more fuel efficient vehicles, otherwise alternative fuel vehicles.
u know what i feel i need? new shoes... heh, i've sed that b4. yah, i dunno; i feel i need new bizness casual shoes, as i sed. what to do? i saw a pair'f shoes @ br (banana republik). they were made in uh... :-/ i 4get... somewhere like turkey or romania... all i know is that it wasn't china, n' yah... u know, i don't wanna buy shoes made in china. i dunno, tho'; those shoes look 2 much like the shoes i have now. i dunno. i want to get a pair'f shoes that is casual 'nuff to wear w/ jeans yet 4mal 'nuff to wear w/ slacks. is that a tuffy? *shrug* n' of course, i want them to have style!
2morrow i have a bizzy day. i dunno; werk is bizzier these days than ppl sed they would be. i mean, ppl sed that my new position'd be a bit'f a relief 4 me; but i'm not so sure. it feels like i have lots'f werk to do still these days. i dunno, man; i've gotta say: my company's really industrious. really, we're the #1 in our industry, n' it's cos ppl werk do hard.
so r u watching the olympics these days or what? 222p: @ the moment, i'm werking from home, taking some online training classes 4 my company. these opportunities don't come up often, so i gotta cherish them. this morn, i was @ the office, of course. @ lunch, my group went to sneha indian buffet near lawrence n' central expwys. i tried not to eat 2 much, u know? i don't need to superstuff myself; no need to gorge. i haven't had many opportunities to exercise this wk. :-( yah, that sucks. on mon, i had a good weightlifting sesh (session) @ the gym. on tues nite, i was sore @ taekwondo praktice, but it was still good to be gettin' some exercise. since tues nite, i haven't gotten ne exercise. i haven't jogged w/ sooni this wk. last wk, i did. yah, i've gotta get more exercise asap. neway, i didn't eat 2 much @ the buffet, but i did eat. 2nite, the beautiful kaela hwang's taking me out to dinner @ santana row's left bank. i asked kaela to tell them to give us an outdoor seat 4 sooni, n' she did. oh, i just checked out their website: i didn't know that the casse croute snack bar there is run by the left bank! :-o well, i haven't ever yet patronised them but have been curious from time to time what casse croute is. cos'f the indian buffet lunch, i'm a li'l sleepy this afternoon. my cowerkers concurred that they 2 were all sleepy after the indian buffet, u know? according to the left bank's online menu, u can get a "hamburger américan with pommes frites" 4 $8.75. c, that's why i complain that carl's jr.'s "six-dollar burger" is such a stoopid name: burgers @ nice restaurants co$t 'lot more than $6! what were they thinking?! instead, they should've 'least called it "the eight-dollar burger" or sumpthin', u know? well, the left bank "hamburger américan" can, 4 $1 more each, come w/ ur choice'f portabella, avocado, bacon, or cheese (emental, bleu, or cheddar). wow, u could aktually have like uh... uhm... $12.75 burger or a $14.75 burger if they let u have multiple kinds'f cheese!
[later] 410p: 2day's dave yee's b.day. rt now, i'm tagging 'long w/ kaela as she does her werk stuff. we're @ a sunnyvale rental townhouse. 월요일 아침 / mon morn: i'm now in my new office, which i'll use 4 the next 10 wks, i guess. even tho' this office bldg campus is very close to our house as it's pretty much right 'cross the street from our church n' the sunnyvale fry's; it's, i guess, the campus that is furthest 'way from our house, i realised this morn. i mean, shoot! we pretty much live right in the middle'f my company. it's like if i werked 4 apple computers n' lived in cupertino. out here, it's applied materials' country. our house's relatively equidistant from most'f the campuses, but i realised this morn that this is prob'ly the furthest. there's also a campus in hayward, but that doesn't really count in this comparison/discussion. i guess there is 1 particular campus that is still the absolute closest; but they're all close.
neway, this past wkend, i guess i celebrated my 29th b.day w/ friends n' family. 29... friends pted out that its my last twenties b.day. my next b.day'll be my 30th b.day. *breath* eh! i don't mind gaining more age. i spoke honestly when i told a coupl'f older friends @ church that cing them made me unafraid to turn 30. when u'r a kid, n' the only ppl u c that r over 30 r ur parents' friends n' ur teachers, u think 30 is such a big number; but now that i have lots'f friends over 30, i realise it's no big deal. ppl used to say that it was bad not to have kids b4 30. ppl also used to say it was bad not to be married b4 30. eh, nowadays, ppl push those things off further n' further. the having kids thing tho', it's obviously a health risk 4 the baby n' the mom, so i dunno if ppl really should keep trying to push it out further n' further.
[a bit later but still morn] i guess i sort'f wish i had wrote an entry on my b.day, so that i could have a 2004.08.21 entry, but i didn't. oh well... i had a good b.day. the nite b4, on 2004.08.20, the beautiful kaela hwang took me to dinner @ left.bank@santana_row.com. we had a great dinner, n' man! sooni got tons'f attn (attention). we sat outside @ a cute, li'l table. sooni sat on the ground n' 4 *shrug* a coupl'f hrs or more, every1 on the sidewalk came by n' pet her. it was unbelievable! geez, she became a santana row attraktion, n' santana row oughtta pay us to bring her! well, we had a kewl dinner: spinach salad (w/ pecans n' goat cheese n' a dressing similar to what kaela always makes out'f red wine vinegar n' olive oil), 0.5 dzn oysters, bouillabaise 4 kaela, n' 0.5 a duck 4 me. we were 2 full 4 dessert. we didn't order a bottle'f wine, but i had a large stella artois biere, n' kaela had this st. bart'stini cocktail. afterwards, we walked 'round santana row 4 a while. man, the nite weather was so good that i really didn't wanna leave! well, kaela sed it got kind'f cold after a while, but *shrug* it really could've been colder. *sigh* yah, it was a beautiful nite. we got some coffee drinks from fantasia. we strolled 'round. i know it makes us sound so yuppie, but i really like santana row.
i guess i didn't mention that on thurs nite (2004.08.19), 4 our 13th monthversary, kaela n' i went out to a movie. we never get to watch movies nemore, it cms, cos we never have time. well, the last time we went to the movies, when we watched catwoman (which isn't as bad'f a movie as ppl say), kaela got a free movie tic cos'f our amc movie watchers cards. as it was our monthversary, i was thinking maybe i'd take kaela out 4 dinner n' a movie. however, kaela's office had this open house thingy @ lunch on thurs. she brought home tons'f leftover fud n' werk to do @ home. kaela werked on her stuff, n' we ate some leftover satay chicken n' eggrolls. i walked sooni n' knew that most'f the movies @ amc mercado had a showing 'round 700p or 730p n' 'nother 'round 1000p. well, i realised we wouldn't make it to the 700~730p shows, so we just sort'f stayed @ home n' waited 4 the ~1000p shows. i guess kaela had werk to do. i s'ppose 'nother reason we didn't go to dinner was cos kaela was gonna take me out to dinner on fri n' i took kaela to dinner the fri b4, u know? ('member? stoa, the elegant vegetarian restaurant in palo alto w/ live jazz...) neway, on thurs nite (2004.08.19), we watched spiderman 2. lemme tell u: it's a much better movie than the 1st 1!!! seriously! it really bugged me that, in the 1st 1, peter parker was such a simplistic, goody goody guy... so 1.dimensional! this time, he's much more realistic, w/ much more emotions, u know? i really like that. not to ruin it 4 u, but spiderman 2 does leave an open door 4 'nother sequel. eh! i'm sort'f sick'f sequels in a way... i wouldn't mind watching a movie that didn't totally set the path 4 a sequel. 4 example, altho' i tell u that catwoman was a much better movie than ppl say it is, i wish it didn't have that kind'f ending that leaves room 4 a sequel. i really would've been fine w/ a totally contained story w/ a definite beginning n' end. of course, spiderman 3's more likely to happen than catwoman 2, but i think both'll happen in the next yr or so.
[later] afternoon: during my lunchbrk, i went to lunch w/ 2'f my cowerkers. we went to filfela on el camino, near kaela's n' my house. it was so.so: it's rather overpriced n' not as good as some middle eastern places i've been to in berkeley such as eat.a.pita or the now extinkt beirut. beirut was awesome; 2 bad they're gone. i had a falafel sandwich lunch special, which is a falafel sandwich, fries, n' soda. that co$t $6.49. c? it would've been cheaper @ eat.a.pita, wouldn't it? maybe i'm just in an illusion. maybe prices have gone up there now 2. i do 'member being shocked 1nce by a price increase there.
sat, during the day, kaela n' i brought sooni to berkeley. i don't think i talked 'bout this yet; i'm pretty sure. well, ok. in the morn, kaela n' i went to the hamilton/meridian bally's gym. we werked out. then, we came home, washed up, picked up sooni, n' went to berkeley. ah, it was a good b.day! i like to exercise, n' i got to exercise. i like to go to berkeley w/ kaela n' sooni, n' i went ot berkeley w/ kaela n' sooni. when we arrived in berkeley, i got off the 24 @ claremont ave n' drove up to college ave. i hadn't driven down college ave in ages. i drove us past party safeway n' the elmwood distrikt. i drove us past the ol' 2520 hillegass ave apt bdg, n' kaela n' i noticed sumpthin' very interesting 'bout the neighbourhood: tons n' tons n' tons'f 4 rent signs!!! whah?! berkeley rental apts were always so hard to get back when we lived in berkeley! now, the reddy realty 2520 hillegass ave apt bdg n' its evil twin next door both have vacancies! whah?! we drove up bowditch n' down bancroft 'cross oxford to go pick up our good friend roland. we kept cing 4 rent signs n' came upon a conclusion: 'lot'f the berkeley alums that used to rent apts in berkeley have now gone off n' bought houses. i think so. thus, there's more available rental housing 4 students. also, the university has built more dorms. we picked up roland n' headed off 4 the durant fud ct. to my pleasant surprise, we met up w/ the berkeley taekwondo demo team. they had finished their praktice n' were having lunch. man, that made me feel really good. roland n' i got lunch from bear ramen house, while kaela went to thai basil. i ordered 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn. i didn't look @ the menu n' just walked in n' ordered it. after the dude accepted my order, i looked on the wall menu 4 it. ah, apparently, they sell 김치 비빔냉면 kimchi bibimnaengmyuhn 4 $5.95. that's kind'f expen$ive, i realised. i sat brought my fud to the outdoor table, where ppl were watchin' sooni, but then i realised that i hadn't fed the meter! i jogged over to the meter n' discovered it was broken. ah, i love those broken berkeley parking meters! they often break altho' the 2 hr time limit is "strictly enforced." i jogged back. ppl sang happy b.day to me while my mouth was full'f noodles. ha ha. ah, what a bunch! it was good to c 'em 'gain. after lunch, roland, clarence, kaela, sooni, n' i walked 'round the berkeley campus. we walked by the campanile, by the doe stacks, n' into dwinelle. it was fun to bring a doggy into a berkeley classroom bldg. i love that 'bout berkeley, how u can get 'way w/ stuff like that. some'f my ol' instruktors brought doggies to class! :-) sooni was very interested in everything, it cmed. she was bizzy exploring n' sniffing, u know? 'round 400p or so, we headed back to my car parked on bancroft way near the ucpd. on our way back we saw a very interesting wedding party: a horse.drawn carriage n' a cable car shaped bus pulled up to the mlk jr student union. hip hop muzik was blasting from speakers on the cable car bus. the party was very happy. they were gonna have some big party in pauley ballroom. well, after watching those ppl 4 a short while, we went to my car n' drove up to lawrence hall'f science's parking lot. we enjoyed the beautiful, beautiful view. it was fun to watch sooni cos i could tell she was also very interested in the view. she's a smart doggy. she knew she was looking @ sumpthin' diff n' interesting. i dunno if she's ever had such a nice view b4, u know? well, it was very windy up there. we got back in the car n' drove 'round tilden park n' back down. we dropped clarence off @ his car n' brought roland to his place. roland gave us some nice b.day presents. then we headed down to the sobay.
we went to 난다랑 nandarang, a bunch'f us us taekwondo akademy ppl + nelson/mike/vivian. it was fun! :-) we had lots'f fud n' some beer. kaela got me a b.day cake, a tiramisu b.day cake from café aroma. mmmm! u'd hafta be dead not to enjoy a cake like this! :-) it was very good, very tasty. after our dinner, some'f us went off to 노래방 noraebang @ 아리랑 arirang.
on sun, kaela n' i went to church in the morn. i found more inspiration thru pastor rick's msg 2day than others in recent wks. heh, yah; i'm just being honest. after service, kaela n' i hurried off to meet my mom @ joy luck place in cupertino's 99 mall. we had an awesome dimsum lunch. man, joy luck was sooo crowded! my mom had gotten there earlier to get a ticket to wait 4 a table. interestingly, this woman let us trade tickets cos her number was 'bout to be called n' her party wasn't yet ready. that was kewl! we got our table much faster that way! :-) after lunch, kaela n' i walked 'round the 99 mall but quickly ran into yumi n' david from church, so we chatted w/ them 4 a while in front'f pinky winky n' then @ fantasia. 'bout 300p, we left 4 home. i got ready 4 church softball praktice. kaela n' i brought sooni w/ us. kaela werked on her stuff on her laptop, while i prakticed w/ the church guys. i hadn't played softball since... man, i dunno when... perhaps early hi.skool? yah, i prob'ly played softball 4 sbty or church stuff. (sbty = south bay taiwanese youth) *sigh* it's crazy: i hadn't played softball in so long. by the end'f praktice, my hands were very sore. @ the end'f praktice, 2 gurls from church, heather n' jessica showed up w a strawberry b.day cake 4 me! wow! i was pretty surprised. pleasantly surprised... i didn't know ppl'd do this 4 me! really, that made me feel good. after eating cake, we were thirsty cos we didn't have drinks, so we went over to the nearby 7.11 to get drinks. since i had eaten so much sweet cake, i just got a propel water, no soda or nething.
i didn't realise how late it had gotten. it was almost 700p when we left 4 home. kaela n' i went home, did a li'l bit'f housechores, n' ate packaged 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn while watching more'f 파리의 연인 / paris uy yuhnin.
have u been watching the olympiks? u heard 'bout the hamm guy n' how he won his gold medal over the korean gymnasts cos'f a grading error, right? how come the u.s. always takes advantage'f the koreans in the olympiks thru mistakes from the judges?! the speedskaters?! i'm not complaining this as an "asian pride" thing but cos it just makes the u.s. look like such poor sports.
[later] late afternoon, early eve: so i wonder when/where should i buy a softball glove n' what kind. ne suggestions? i think i should get a softball glove n' a pair'f batting gloves cos i got a blister from batting yesterday.
[later] 834p: ok, after werk, i went to the company gym to lift weights n' do 15 mins'f precor. i stretched a li'l, then left. from there, i went to costco to buy gas n' then fud. i was very thankful to get an awesome parking pace; but 1nce i got in, i was sort'f unsure what to buy. well, i bought a chicken. i dunno why. i just feel i haven't had much protein lately, i guess. i also bought a big pack'f habanero sausages; more protein. then what else did i buy? i bought a hunk'f cheddar cheese. u know dawna has us giving sooni cheddar cheese as a hi value treat. it makes her listen, u know? even tho' doggies can't eat cheese as a regular diet, u should give 'em almost whatever it takes to make them listen when they're in training. it's better to have a fat doggy than a doggy that runs off n' gets run over, right? i bought grapes n' uh... a 2.box pack'f these protein bars that i also bought a while 'go. they're prety good, i guess. (really! i'm not a protein diet guy!) well, after costco, i came home. i was ecstatic to find that, even tho it was almost 800p, sooni had stayed in the backyard all day ok. yay! she didn't jump the fence or nething! :-) i gave her a piece'f cheddar cheese to reward her, but it was a piece from the old block we bought from albertsons or safeway a long time 'go. i changed clothes n' brought sooni to the santa clara doggy park 4 a short training session. there weren't all that many doggies. 1tym last wk, man! there were sooo many doggies! i dunno what was up that time. *shrug* neway, it was ok. after walkin' sooni 'round 4 a short while, i came home. i guess that brings me almost up to the present. i still haven't eaten that nice, hot chicken. instead, i warmed up 3 leftover eggrolls. u know 'bout the leftover eggrolls, right? kaela's werk had all these eggrolls, n' she brought a whole bunch home. i just ate 3'f them: not 2 good 4 a protein diet or ne kind'f diet, 4 that matter. well, i was thinking i'd wait to dig into the chicken, wait till kaela comes home... but i dunno... she's still not home yet, n' it's now 842p. *shrug* what to do? hrm, i 'member now that this rotisserie chicken's good w/ tortillas n' salsa, but i don't have ne'f those things. i guess when u eat it like that, it's like el pollo loco, u know? heh heh.
[later] 846p: ok, i'll eat some'f the white meat'f the chicken. kaela prefers dark meat. right now, i'm also watching this class on semiconduktors over the net. it's 4 my werk, u know? 화요일 아침: 읽는 손님이 어떠세요? right now my 2004.08.20 entry's titled "the thirteen-dollar burger," but i really dislike that title n' wanna change it. i dislike it cos: 1) i didn't aktually buy or eat a burger that day, 2) i don't wanna mislead ppl into thinking that i aktually spent $13 on a burger, n' 3) aktually, u can buy a $20 kobe beef burger @ some other fine dining establishments. thus, "the thirteen-dollar burger" is a really stoopid, stoopid name! >:-(
dude, i've gotta exploit my pasta pomodoro free dinner coupons right now, n' i also gotta use my $10 off maggiano's coupon sometime.
[later] 오후 afternoon: i had a long staff mtg n' then went home 4 lunch. i ate 3 egg rolls, some seedless red grapes from costco, n' a li'l bit'f leftover chicken. i was very full. i shouldn't eat so much.
[later] i'm still watching that semiconduktor class. i don't think i mentioned how the teacher looks n' sounds very nervous in the video. i sort'f feel sorry 4 him as i watch the video. <:-/
yesterday, @ the company gym, i lift weights; but i'm not very sore 2day. after some lifting sessions, i'm really sore, n' i feel like i had a good werkout. i dunno, but i think i heard somewhere that soreness isn't a prerequisite 4 bldg muscle. is that rt? if so, that contradikts "no pain, no gain," i s'ppose. hrm, or is that u must be sore in order to build muscle? *shrug* i think i'd best consult an expert such as roland as far as this, huh? he'd know.
btw, i updated my gbook a while 'go. i kept 4getting to mention that, n' no 1 has signed it since i changed it, but u can! :-) that change in qs was long overdue!
the nite'f my b.day, after all the festivities, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i came home. she fell asleep on the couch on top'f me... but i knew i needed to carry her over to our bed. i was in a very bad position, n' i think i hurt my back picking her up. thus, 4 my 29th b.day, i ended up w/ this old man feeling in my back, u know? :-/
i'm titling 2day's entry "spouses w/ benefits" cos i finally enrolled kaela n' i in our kaiser hmo plan 2day. "friends w/ benefits"? no, spouses w/ benefits!
u know, this afternoon, i was writing an e.mail to our friend jason lee, who's currently in taiwan. the ibm thinkpad t40 that i use has these silly buttons by the arrow buttons that bring u back a window or 4ward a window. u konw how those nice 5.button mice have those kinds'f buttons? well, this laptop has them on the kbd in that place, n' i accidentally hit the back button, so i lost most'f the e.mail. luckily squirrelmail sort'f saves some'f the e.mail. neway, there was sumpthin' i wrote in that e.mail that i wanted to cut n' paste into this journal entry; but 1) i lost it, n' 2) i 4get what it was. it was either 'bout my family's history in taiwan or 'bout movies. *shrug* cos webmail tends to gobble up long, important e.mails; ppl might consider using a keystroke capturing software, the kind that suspicious spouses put on 'puter's to catch adulterers. 'member? 1'f my co.werkers last summer put that kind'f software on my 'puter. i guess it was cos we were sort'f competing 4 a position... but then i left that company 4 my current company. that jobs wasn't a great fit 4 me neway, altho' the company n' office were very fun. if i werked there now, would i be allowed to bring sooni to werk? *shrug* i'm sure i would be allowed to bring her to the bbqs.
"a picture is worth 1,000 wurds." it depends on the size'f the file. i have tons'f pics that i wanna share w/ u. i wish i would upload those pics n' show them instead'f typing so much. i have very nice pics (or pix) to show u. *sigh* i'll upload them when i get a chance, but i just never cm to get a chance. don't 4get that "when i get a chance," i gotta remove the hard drive off'f our old sony vaio laptop to grab the data off'f it by putting it in a usb2.0/fi.wi enclosure. 목요일 아침 thurs morn: so what's up? s'pposedly, if u go into a br btwn now n' 2004.09.30, u can get 10% off of a $100+ purchase if u mention code brw2wf3, as that is some di$count i'm s'pposed to get as an employee'f my company. hrm, i wonder if i should buy some clothes. *shrug* i cm to be missing a coupl'f shirts here n' there, which i might've accidentally left @ my mom's house, i s'ppose. do i dress ok 4 werk? well, 4 the past few wks, i had to dress a li'l more 4mal than usual cos'f the training program thingy i'm in now. they expekt guys to wear slacks/khakis n' a button up shirt, etc. 4 a typikal engring position, tho', jeans r pretty ok. on 1 occassion in the past few wks, i wore suit pants, a button up shirt, n' a tie. on 'nother, i wore the pants n' shirt but no tie. (i mean, i wore a diff but similar shirt.) neway, do i need more clothes these days? *shrug* neway, i just wondered cos i saw that di$count.
so what's up? [later] i keep asking, "r u watching the olympiks?" i guess i find it a li'l bit fun cos i usually don't watch 2 much sports, but 4 1nce i'm ok w/ it. like, if x.games is on, i'll definitely watch... 'specially if it's a snowboarding event or a skateboarding event.
[later] early eve: some links to get me started on softball... i mean, restarted (since i played softball as a kid)...
u know, i'm not so great @ ball sports, but i don't regret that i focused my athletic endeavours'f my younger yrs on boardsports n' martial arts. after all, every tom, dick, n' harry knows the sports that r s'pposedly as amerikan as apple pie, right? heh... i mean... i don't necessarily mean to degrade baseball/softball, basketball, n' amerikan futbol; but i'm just making a pt. well, i don't need to feel 2 sorry 4 makin' such a remark cos all the baseball/softball fans can laff @ me as i fumble @ the bat, etc. it's like those foolish 2nd gen asian.am kids that go 'round saying 'fob this, fob that' to immigrant asians; but when they go visit the muthaland... look who's the fob now! 아~~~ 금요일이다. it's fri. :-) sometime in the near future, i'd like to buy a wireless digitial media receiver to hook up to our tv in the living room. i think i need 1 that werks w/ 802.11b instead'f just 802.11g. of course, 802.11g's faster, but we don't have an 802.11g netwerk just yet. i saw kewl digital media receivers @ fry's, but they all sed 802.11g. i dunno if they'll werk w/ 802.11b. *shrug* this morn, i was reading computer shopper magazine n' saw an article 'bout some 802.11b digital media receiver that they say streams video more consistently than most 802.11g units. hrm... i 4get the name'f the produkt tho', so i'm having a hard time googlin' it: @home? @play? sumpthin'... i.sumpthin'@play, i believe. *sigh* 2 things i wanna buy soon: 1) wireless digital media receiver n' 2) wireless print server (i think). i dunno why i need a print server; u'd think i wouldn't need to use the printer much @ home cos i can print@werk, but i want to print out pix now n' then; that's all. i haven't printed out pix in a while. the printer rt now's plugged in via usb to the beautiful kaela hwang's desktop 'puter, which she never uses now since the ethernet card cms to be busted. do ethernet cards get busted? cos if it's not the card, i'm not sure what it is. the cynikal it (i.t.) guy'd say (like the cynikal it guy in snl skits), "well, why don't you test it?! it's so easy to test the computer to see if the network card is busted or what! you can just pull the one from your computer and put it in hers!" well, i would, but haven'tchu noticed?! i never have 'nuff hrs in a day. :-( i always have sumpthin' to do, usually housewerk. i have lots'f housechores to do, u know. i've got things to do.
yesterday, after werk, both kaela n' i went to taekwondo sparring praktice. oh yah, b4 praktice, @ home, i pruned this giant cactus in front'f our house. it was a somewhat dangerous job cos i needed to avoid getting hit by falling cactus limbs, u know? kaela's dad pruned off some limbs back during easter. he took the limbs home n' transplanted them. u can do that?! apparently so... he planted them in some pots @ their house. kaela sez we should do the same w/ the limbs i amputated, but man! they're huge! pile'f amputated, green cactus limbs looks like some kind'f outerspace alien cadaver. it's kind'f freaky, i think. oh yah, while cuttin' the cactus, i could c it bleed out some white milky liquid. curious kaela dipped her finger in the milk n' tasted it. that was a big mistake. she sed it burned her tongue n' was suffering 4 the rest'f the evening/nite. well, we went to taekwondo sparring praktice. as always, it's great exercise. i'm glad i didn't get hurt. i'm glad no 1 really got hurt this time, i think. i clashed knees 1nce kind'f hard, so i iced it last nite, while kaela n' i were watching korean tv. physikally, i was a better taekwondo sparrer back in my cal taekwondo (team) days; but i believe i'm mentally a better fighter now. i've always believed that w/ taekwondo sparring, some wisdom just comes w/ age. un4tunately 4 many ppl, some kind'f downgrade in physikal ability accompanies that, i guess. i definitely would wish that's not the case w/ me, but i dunno. i worry it is. :-(
aktually, lemme tell u: as much as this sounds so egotistikal n/or conceited (what?! u expekted better'f me?! ha! this'll teach u to expekt better'f me!), i firmly believe i'm in better physikal shape now than 10 yrs 'go. few guys my age can say that. i'm better now @ 29 than i was @ 19. just think: in late aug 1994, how was i? well, u gotta admit, i had finished 1 yr'f berkeley n' thus was 1 yr into my extreme weight loss thru taekwondo. last nite, i was telling ben 'bout how i went from 190+ lbs down to where i am now ~150 lbs. (well, @ 1 pt, i was @ 139 lbs, but that was definitely way 2 skinny. i'm not an anorexic!) (keep in mind that i also grew in height during college. on my 1991 16 yr old driver license, i was 180 lbs @ 5'9". now i'm 5'11".) (what's that in cm/kg? 175.26 cm / 81.65 kg in 1991 v. 180.34 cm / 68.04 kg in 2004...) (keep in mind, 4 taekwondo "traditional" weight classes, i had to stay under 67 kg / 147.7 lbs in my competition days.) i was telling ben that, since i was a fat kid, "i've learned my lesson." i don't wanna get out'f shape. [later, late morn] neway, so i'm in better physikal shape now than i was 10 yrs 'go (n' much better than i was 11 yrs 'go).
however, u've heard me say many times that i worry that i was a more interesting person in the past. back in college, i was more into muzik. i was playing guitar on a regular basis n' djing 1 party every month... [later] back in college, i was sort'f known to cook s'pposedly fancy things now n' then 2, u know? i've gota admit, some'f that was just to procrastinate, of course. don't 4get, students can always procrastinate from studying by cooking or grocery shopping, u know? they can always justify it by saying, "well, u gotta eat!" when kaela hears 'bout the stuff i cooked in college, she gets jealous cos she pts out that i don't cook those things nemore. well, i always say n' gotta say, "those dishes may sound fancy, but they were very fatt'ning, full'f cream, etc. these days, i steer 'way from those kinds'f dishes n' prefer to cook asian fud cos it's healthier." back then, i cooked w/ more meat, i guess. i dunno. maybe 1'f these days i'll try to cook up 1'f those ol' dishes just 4 fun. neway, i sure was more into musik n' cooking back in college. (of course, back then, i couldn't afford to go to really nice restaurants, huh?) (n' these days some ppl'd say that i go to nice restaurants more often than i should! well... some ppl...) neway, just think: toby used to say that he n' i were "sensitive men, not gay! just sensitive!" hrm... u think? i'm not overly sure where he came up w/ that. was i ever that "sensitive"? i feel i've often been accused'f being insensitive! however... is it that i used to be a more sensitive guy? (am i now just a 터프 가이 / tuhpeu ga-ee / tuff guy???) well, this morn, while gettin' ready 4 the day, i reflekted on these thoughts (cos'f my short discussion w/ ben last nite outside ryowa ramen house on villa st. in mtn view near castro st [not the gay 1... just the sensitive 1]). u know what i thought 'bout? maybe, i'm now a better personal physikally, but i used to be a better person in other ways, like i had more varied interests n' was into cooking n' muzik more n' was maybe just a more fun person (it's scary to say.) however, maybe it's that somehow ppl, society, or media taught me that in the yrs btwn college n' now that it was more important 4 me to be more athletik n' in better physikal shape than to be that "interesting" or "sensitive" guy i used to be. u think? am i more superficial now? was i exposed to lots'f superficial ppl, n' thus i became more superficial? do u think so? well... on the posi+ive, more op+imis+ik side, maybe it's all a change 4 the better, i.e. i balanced myself out better. maybe it was time to take care'f other aspekts'f myself. of course, this whole discussion sounds rather egotistikal even 4 me who always sounds as more egotistikal than u thought was humanly possible. well, my real concern is this: am i good husband? would kaela rather have a fat slob'f a husband who can play guitar pretty well n' cook some fancy.sounding cream.covered dish? well... the thing is: that was me 2. if i ever wanna try to do the things i used to do... 'least it's not learning sumpthin' totally new. i do wanna pick up guitar 'gain. i used to play pretty well. i don't nemore... but i wonder... maybe i can pick it up 'gain. ('member the "sensitive guy" from the funny 2000 elizabeth hurley brendan frasier movie bedazzled?! ha ha ha! maybe i can play the guitar n' become like him... again.) (i didn't make that many dishes w/ cream! *roll eyes* many'f my dishes had diced roma tomatoes. the major "cream" dish i made was clam chowder from scratch. that was some really fatt'ning stuff!)
even tho' politikally, i can be considered a somewhat liberal n' progressive guy, sometimes 1 might criticise me 4 being kind'f resistant to change in my own life n' thus, in a way, "conservative." honestly, do i take criticism well? maybe i hear it, but do i ever take aktion 'pon it? hrm... u know, as a kid, i was relatively unwhimsikal. i knew what i was good @ n' stuck to those things... 'least more than other kids. some kids wanna try everything. they wanna try little league then quit. they wanna try skateboarding then quit. then wanna be a cub scout then quit... me? as a pianist, i knew i was a pianist. i think i was pretty good. i was always doing those certificate'f merit examiniations n' those piano teachers guild auditions... i always had to do recitals... yah, i really think i was ok. (benocritik remark: then 'gain egotistikal beno always thinks he's ok. pshhh.) i knew i was a soccer player. honestly, i was a bad soccer player, but i really wanted to stick to it n' played from 2nd to 8th grade. i knew i was a cub scout n' was in it from uh... 3-5th grade, right? i think i was sort'f "steady neddy" as a kid, very consistent. then in hi skool, i think i started to try to do 2 many things. i guess our hi skool kept emphasizing that we needed to have extra.curriculars. geez, did they really think we'd all go to private skools? after all, publik skools don't really care 'bout extra.curriculars that much. i tried to be an officer in many clubs. maybe it's cos i'm such an egotist, but i kept wanting to be the leader of this n' that. am i a leader? am i a good leader? we'll hafta talk 'bout that more some other time. (i mean, of course we don't need to talk 'bout that ever, but we all know i'm such an egotist, so we can count on my talkin' 'bout that eventually, right?) (btw, r we still in the leo starsign? i'm a leo, n' kaela's a leo; but i believe i'm considered a "late leo," right?) all i know 'bout my trying diff things in hi skool is that my mom pretty much told me by the end'f my sr yr that i was spreading myself 2 thin. i was playing guitar 4 church all the time as well as 4 my own silly, li'l "garage" band. i was trying to excel in my piano as well as be in marching/concert band on clarinet n' bassoon n' do san josé youth orchestra as a bassoonist. i was president'f the taiwanese youth group n' vice.president'f the french club. hrm... really! i believe there r some hi skool kids that did 'lot more than i did, but i guess my mom worried that i never had time to study n' sleep. eh! i dunno... it was fun, i guess. from ~3rd or 4th grade on, i really wanted to be a social guy. i didn't wanna be this introverted, quiet asian kid, u know? do i try 'nuff new things? i do know i don't travel 'nuff. yah, i feel really bad 'bout that n' get lots'f bad feelings 'bout that, but *sigh* i'll try... i'll try to travel more sometime soon. of course, we'll always need to find a sooni.sitter, so i hope dukkyung'll be up 4 it when that day comes. do i try 'nuff new things? well, i'm trying out this softball thing rn't i? like, i know i'll never be the best softball player, but i'll try it out. similarly, i know i'll never be a great tennis player, but i like trying it now n' then. i'm resistant to change.
[later] last nite, after taekwondo sparring praktice, kaela n' i dropped sooni off @ home n' went to meet the other taekwondo ppl @ ryowa ramen house in mtn view. there, i ate their original ryowa ramen dish 4 $6.50, n' kaela ate their soybean ramen, which doesn't have whole soy beans in it (as we expekted) but has 된장/dwenjang/miso in the soup, i guess. i dunno; i think i'm not the biggest fan'f ramen houses. when i go to bear ramen house in berkeley's durant fud ct, i get korean dishes like 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn or 자짱밥 jjajangbap. the only ramen house i've ever really liked is katana.ya. even tho' i had fun last nite @ ryowa, i still think the only ramen house i've ever really liked is katana.ya.
[not much later] i just realised sumpthin': i feel like the type'f ppl in my training program (relatively young, recent college grads) ought to call me "beno," but they call me "bernard" cos it's werk. yah, i just realised that that feels kind'f weird.
[later] afternoon: it doesn't so much feel like summer nemore but more like fall. perhaps, 4 me, it's cos my b.day's already passed. now, summer can end, n' fall can begin. when we were up in berkeley last wknd on my b.day, it was move.in wknd 4 the young students. tues this wk, i had this hektic run 'round day. b4 my morn werk mtg, i tried to go to campus to pick up 2 hardbound copies'f my "thesis" / report from the student union's print shop. i got there but couldn't find parking in time, so i had to go right back to werk to attend my mtg. after my mtg, i went back to campus n' succeeded in picking up the 2 books. it was hard to find parking cos it was the 1st wk'f skool! i was ignorant n' 4got that this wk'd be the 1st wk'f skool @ san josé state. on my way out, i ran into 1'f my committee profs n' gave him his promised copy'f my "thesis," (which is teknically a report not a "thesis," but i don't mind calling it a "thesis" cos sooo much werk went into it, n' i don't want ppl to think it wasn't as much hard werk as it was). it was sad to hand over the book cos i had just picked it up, n' well... man, i really want a copy 4 myself... or *shrug* i dunno... like, it looks so nice all bound up n' all... it's expen$ive to make hardbound theses tho'. :-( i just had 2 made 4 the 2 profs that need hardbound copies. the 3rd prof sed it wasn't necessary. handing over that book was like giving birth to a child n' handing it right over to adopted parents. neway, it doesn't feel like summer nemore cos the sun rises later n' sets earlier. the weather report 2day sed it'll be a hot, hot wknd. yah, in the bay area, it tends to warm up when skool starts. then, sometime in oktober, it'll get quite cooler (diff from kewler). can u believe that? *breath* i saw halloween candy 4 sale @ a rite.aid last wk, didn't i? can u believe that?! halloween candy sales indikate the beginning'f fall, rt? i s'ppose we skipped the back2skool sales n' went rt to halloween. did summer just zoom by?
did we have a good summer? (i know what u did last summer.) well, summer started out very hektic w/ all the bizzywerk involved w/ getting my projekt (or "thesis" as i call it) accepted. that was a headache, i gotta admit; all the 4matting stipulations?! ugh... yet, i know it was a necessary hassle, yah. so summer started w/ that, i s'ppose. then i werked really hard cos my projekt@werk.com really ramped up, n' they wanted me to wrap stuff off b4 leaving to my current position, right? lessee... how was june? well, ... [interrupted, later] http://www.prismiq.com/ [interrupted, unfinished entry] 토요일 아침, sat 830a: wow, u gotta check out the spanish version'f sesame st. big burd isn't yellow but has a colour scheme more similar to a peach.faced loveburd! :-) it's very cute, u've gotta admit! maybe this link'll give u a good pic: http://www.facpya.uanl.mx/anfeca/primera_etapa/4coloquio/plaza-sesamo2.jpg. otherwise, u should google up a good link: http://images.google.co.kr/images?q=plaza%20s%C3%A9samo&hl=ko&lr=&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&sa=N&tab=wi u've cn the recent set'f olympik graphics on google, rt? our friends @ us taekwondo akademy were impressed w/ the inclusion'f a graphic 4 taekwondo, but i had a good feeling they wouldn't overlook taekwondo cos the artist is a korean.am guy, rt?
i had a weird dream this morn. in my dream, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were chasing an off.leash sooni 'round our neighbourhood. we chased her into a neighbours house. somehow we knew that the ppl who lived there were a pastor n' his family, but 4 some reason, we found our ol' friend jeff kao hanging out there. *shrug* we knew that there was some doggy in that house, n' sooni went in to check out the doggy, but we were skared if she was gonna play nicely or not. neway, that was my weird dream this morn. thru.out the past month, i've had other dreams that i meant to share w/ u, but kept 4gettin'.
1'f the dreams i had in the past month happened on the morn'f 2004.08.15, the day after kaela's b.day. u c, our friend ben, who was in the us army, was tellin' his story'f what he did on 9.11 in germany, n' so i had this weird dream that some terrorist aeroplane hijacking like 9.11 happened 'gain.
[a li'l later, while watchin' plaza sésamo] kaela just reminded me: u know, this wk, i recieved a pager from my werk... 'gain. well, now u can page me if u want, even tho' it's more likely that u'll call me on my cellfon, n' that's prob'ly good 'nuff. it's not as common to have a pager these days, u know? man, it's just 'nother thing 4 me to hang from my belt, u know? i'll only wear it during bizness hrs. ont a single person has paged me yet. in fakt, i haven't even paged myself to test out the pager yet! i don't even know if it werks.
oh, here's an important question!!! is bob the builder real claymation or is it digital animation made to look like ol' fashion claymation? 일요일 아침, sun morn 847a: earlier this wk, i read 'bout icube's play@tv in computer shopper magazine. i saw that newegg.com's selling it 4 $159.99 after mir (mail.in.rebate), so i ordered. woohoo, i hope it's all it's cracked up to be. heh heh... it's hard to get good fdbk 'bout produkts that r sort'f so much on the cutting edge, huh? the reason i want this item's cos i dl so many muzik videos from bronx's junkyard but never get to watch them. i s'ppose the avg amerikan doesn't yet dl 'nuff video to want this kind'f item, huh? i mean... now that kazaa's gone n' all, right? b4, u could dl good movies, etc. now? hrm... like dlable digital media's sort'f catching on, i s'ppose. definitely dlable digital audio's catchin' on fast, w/ itunes, etc., rt? however, video? like, what makes dlable digital media appealing, 1st off, is the opportunity'f gettin' stuff 4 free. however, that's usually not legal n' thus frowned 'pon in amerika. in other countries, those kinds'f copyrite laws etc. rn't so striktly en4ced, i s'ppose, so ppl get 'way w/ it more. i mean... we could argue whether that's good or bad, but... well, obviously, the rt thing to say is that it's bad, that it's stealing... but geez, honestly! there r so many cheap ppl in amerika as well as other countries that'd love the chance to dl a good movie 4 free, u know? well, the only solution's just like what the digital muzik industry's trying: having cheap, altho' not free, n' legal movies 4 dl. r ppl companies sellin' this? well... the prob so far, that i've noticed, is that companies don't really do this 'xactly. instead, they're renting movies out via digital dl, but... u know, ppl'd like to buy digital movies 4 very cheap n' keep 'em on their hard drives 4ever... n', of course, never watch them 'gain... it's just that we amerikans have always been packrats, collekting all sorts'f junk in our garages, n' now we're doing the same w/ digital media, packing our 300gb hard drives full'f media we'll never listen to or watch 'gain. however, companies still gotta cater to that awful addiktion. neway, i like the idea'f this icube play@tv that'll bring digital media from my 'puter in the home office to the tv in our living rm over a 802.11b wireless connektion @ a more consistent rate than most similar produkts do over a 802.11g connektion... according to computer shopper. man, i hope the produkt doesn't disappoint.
i've sed b4 that the wknds r a good time to shop on ebay 2day we have church in the morn. i s'ppose i have softball praktice this afternoon under the burning hot sun. i'm not as much looking 4ward to softball praktice now cos yesterday was so hot.
on fri nite, we went to our church's movie nite n' potluck. the movie was miracle. after werk, i went to costco to buy a meat lasagne, which we baked n' brought to the potluck. miracle was a better movie than i had expekted. i'm totally not a big sports movie fan, n' miracle'll never be my favourite movie, but it did remind me what it was like to be an athlete trying to win sumpthin'... i mean... not like i was ever some bigshot olympian, but back in 1999 when i was on the cal taekwondo team... heh... geez, i was barely on the team... just on the team 4 1 yr... well, u can rag on that all u want, but still... what's important is that it was a very big experience 4 me. i mean, i know i'm not some bigshot athlete, but it means 'lot to me that i had that chance to be on a collegiate team, this n' that.
[later] yesterday eve, toby n' betty came down to return my dj equipment that toby borrowed 4 the wedding. they took us out to dinner @ pasta pomodoro 4 my b.day... but i also had my e.mail that gave me a free dinner 4 my b.day, so i guess i sort'f took myself out to dinner, ha ha. however, i guess they took the beautiful kaela hwang to dinner, so that was my special b.day thingy, right? heh heh. neway, it was fun! :-) we went to the sunnyvale pasta pomodoro, n' kaela n' i got to bring sooni, as usual. :-) i had the chicken marsala, since i could pick ne item, including the more expen$ive 1s, heh heh. 월요일 아침 / mon morn: there's $1.88/gal gas @ some place called "moe's" on mckee n' 33rd in east san jo. that's pretty cheap these days. is it really called "moe's"?! that's what sanjosegasprices.com sez. however, that station's also sort'f x.listed as "gas stop." whadya think? did some1 just make up the name "moe's"? shrug, i guess 1'f us has gotta drive out to east san jo 4 some cheap gas in order to find out! ha ha.
i joked w/ the beautiful kaela hwang that 2day's newspaper headline'll read "consumer confidence up 12%" cos we sure spent 'lot yesterday... or well... it's not that we really "spent 'lot," but that we bought lots'f things. the obvious diff is that we didn't buy ne "big ticket items." we didn't buy ne cars or even tvs, so well... neway, yesterday was a bit'f a shopping spree, both online n' offline. in the morn, b4 church, i bought that icube play@tv, as u know from yesterday's journal entry title. 1 thing u might not know is that, soon after, i went on ebay
was it on sat nite? uh... i saw the 3rd round'f steven lopez's gold medal olympik match v. turkey. it was interesting to c the special 호구 hogu (chest protektors) that they wore. these hogu have some weird shoulder pads on them that make them look like some kind'f klingon uniform, as i was telling our friends @ us taekwondo akademy on our y! groups page.
[later] early afternoon: as very much expekted, this wknd was very hot. oh yah, on sat, in the mail, i received the 20 amc movie tix i ordered thru my company's employee di$count program. it's really kewl: i got each tic 4 $6 as opposed to $10 (adult) or $8 (student). woohoo! that's really kewl. i like that. well, it means that in the next yr, kaela n' i gotta watch 10 movies @ amc theatres. eh! that's not hard. oh yah, the tix rn't valid 4 special engagements tho'. that means, we can't use them on opening nites, i s'ppose.
*breathe* so what else is up? well, it sure feels like autumn's approaching. we didn't go to the mall this wknd, but i know the stores r full'f fall fashions, u know? it's back2skool time. even tho' it has warmed up a bit in the bay area, i know it's fall. the sun rises later n' sets earlier. on sooni's morn walk, i noticed it was cloudy n' a bit chilly. a few wks 'go, i really, really enjoyed this 1 morn walk where it was cloudy n' overcast but warm! ahhh, it felt just like asia! i loved it! well, now it's diff. pretty soon, i'll always hafta wear a jacket, etc. *sigh* well, we're that much closer to snowboarding season. this labour day wknd, kaela n' i'll go to our church's retreat. however, duk'll be guarding our house w/ sooni, so don't think u can break in or nething just cos i sed here online that we'll be out'f town. they'll both be living @ our house n' r a vicious duo to ne1 stoopid 'nuff to think they can break in cos we're gone. they'll also be there when kaela n' i go to socal 4 linda n' kevin's wedding. *sigh* it'll be sept in a coupl'f days. 2morrow's the last day'f aug. aug's a great month. i think aug's my favourite month. *sigh*
[later] midafternoon: i think the republikan national convention started 2day in madison square garden in ny. i'm not a republikan but just mention this cos it's what's on the nbc today show these days, u know? 화요일 오후 tues afternoon: how r u? last nite, i burned my 1st dvd. well, i've burned dvds b4 4 my company, but those were just data dvds. last nite, i used the beautiful kaela hwang's superkewl sony vaio z.wamp3 laptop to burn some wedding video footage from mini.dv tape to dvd! :-) yah, a while 'go, our friend jason lee sent us the footage from our wedding, so i dled the footage from 1'f his tapes to the 'puter n' used sony's click to dvd software to burn it to viewable dvd. it's pretty kewl. this morn, i tested it out, n' it werks.
2day, i had a lunch_mtg@werk.com, so i ate @ the company cafeteria. i had this teriyaki chicken sandwich. it wasn't nearly as good as those @ café espresso experience in berkeley, but it wasn't bad, i s'ppose. last nite, kaela n' i both went to the gym. it took me a very long time to go to the gym from my office. san tomas, of course, was very crowded. on my way back to our neighbourhood, i took lawrence expwy, but it was also very crowded. @ the gym, i lifted weights. then i did a li'l bit'f uphill running on the treadmill; just a li'l. i took a shower @ the gym n' then left. kaela had a bizness aptmnt n' told me to go to buy some 호박 hobak, shrooms, enoki shrooms, n' onion. i tried to get those things @ 한국 마켓 hangook market. i saw ben's friend jung werking there. i did find those items cos they were sold out. i left hangook market n' went to galleria. galleria its own website w/ lots'f (money-saving) $$$.$aving coupons: http://www.galleriaplaza.com. u know, galleria has its own farm. i s'ppose that's why their produce is often better than hangook market's even tho' hangook market, overall, is a bigger n' prob'ly better market. *shrug* then 'gain, i like to support galleria market sometimes cos it's in santa clara, n' thus they pay taxes to the city we live in, u know? *shrug* neway, santa clara n' sunnyvale, they're both good cities.
u know, i've gotta admit that lately i have felt lots'f sort'f "stress" going to church. i dunno. i like our church n' really enjoy hangin' w/ the ppl there. however, i just get such mixed msgs n' end up w/ sort'f a confused heart... not so much a confused mind but a confused heart. i dunno. basically, i have feelings to sort out. 1 thing that i'll say i dislike is the plans that the english ministry has to separate from the korean ministry. some ppl have sed that they're already separated neway. well, i think it's a bad idea cos the connektion to a korean.speaking community helps the english congregation maintain a broader perspektive. 1 can sum it up as if god's wurd doesn't stand in all languages n' across all cultures, then it doesn't stand @ all. i have issues w/ this stuff. well, i don't wanna just have a gripe session here online, but it's just that i've had lots'f pent up emotions 'bout things lately, that i gotta let some out whether or not this is the most construktive avenue or not. i'd hate to think that i'd consider switching churches, especially since 1) i like to try to get 'long w/ ppl n' make things werk n' 2) in some ways, i resist change in my life. until i find a better way to deal w/ these issues, i'll just have to hope n' pray that i can sort out issues internally. some may criticise that that's not the best way, but *shrug* sometimes it is. of course, as u know, we're off to a retreat this coming labour day wknd n' sooni n' duk'll be guarding our house in our absence. it's not that i think our church is a bad church or like ne'f those korean bible.based cults such as those u find in berkeley preying on nervous, insecure students; but that i have issues w/ certain viewpts or else the way they're presented. just as a reminder, i have no appreciation 4 dogmatism. well, i say these seemingly awful things yet must emphasize my delite when leaders show maturity in their approach to handling debatable topiks. wars rn't won w/ just 1 battle. a person shouldn't try to change another's mind on the spot thru just 1 end.all argument. i appreciate instances in which someone knew i had a differing viewpt, acknowledged the fakt that my viewpt came from intelligent, intellectual, biblical sources, n' yet held fast to a completely opposing viewpt n' valued my existence 'nuff n/or demonstrated christ.like love 'nuff not tell me to "go burn in hell, u liberal f@ck!" still, i don't think that "liberal" should be such a nasty wurd. it isn't a 4.letter wurd. @ thanksgiving, don'tchu appreciate a "liberal" serving'f mashed potatoes?
is it that our move from berkeley to the silly valley really put us in that much more'f a conservative environment? (keep in mind that the silly valley is not orange county n' 4tunately lacks a nixon library.) instead, i feel that the entropik breakdown'f society has led us to this current dark ages. i 'member the good ol' days, in which ppl cared 'bout the environment n' rights 4 minorities n' women. i 'member the good ol' days, in which ppl knew that the wurd "terrorist" did not equate to "arab" but that militant, disgruntled amerikans unabomb just as much as ne1 else. i 'member the good ol' days, in which hate was not a family value. i 'member the good ol' days, in which christians knew that spreading the wurd meant introducing nonbelievers to christ's love deep down inside, not 4cing kids to fake prayer in publik skools. i 'member the good ol' days, in which christians knew that they could encourage 1 'nother to hold fast to god's commandments thru compassionate counseling rather than mean.hearted legislation. i 'member the good ol' days, in which christians recognised that irresponsible, premarital, heterosexual sex was a more widespread sin than committed, homosexual marriage. i 'member the good ol' days, in which ppl ate healthy fuds instead'f polluting their bodies w/ animal fats n' cholesterol. i 'member the good ol' days, in which ppl cared 'bout 1 'nother n' showed love n' compassion. i 'member the good ol' days, n' i miss them. thus, am i not 1'f these "conservatives" 'f which 2day's publik speaks so highly? 목요일 아침: how r u? u realise that it's sept now, right? i wonder if it's hit me yet. i might still think it's aug; not sure. do u realise that i've changed my gbook since the last time ne1 signed it? i'd like it if u signed it. :-) *breath* so what's up? i'm trying to relax n' not so much stress out, u know? is there nething to stress out 'bout? *shrug* i dunno. werk's ok. as u know i'm doing this 10.wk rotation projekt rt now. the interesting thing's that my supervisor, under whom i've only been werking 1 wk, is quitting to move back to hk (hongkong) to be w/ his dad who's sick. that sort'f put me in an awkward situation cos i just started, u know? however, i realise these things happen.
2day, we celebrate b.days. it's nelson's b.day, n' it's betty's b.day. happy b.day! they were aktually born on the same day, meaning the same yr.
on tues eve, kaela hwang n' i went to taekwondo praktice, where we kicked paddles. afterwards, a bunch'f us took out our friend joyce to dinner cos she's leaving 4 med skool @ uc davis. we went to 장모집. it was so fun cos we got to bring sooni w/ us n' tie her up outside the door, where lots n' lots'f ppl came by n' pet her, etc. korean ppl know how to treat a jindo. it was really fun. i ate so much. i ate 2 much. we had lots'f 양념통닭 yangnyuhm tongdalk, 차돌배기 chadolbaegi, 아구찜 agoo jjim... it was awesome. :-) i ate way 2 much n' woke up in the middle'f the nite w/ a stomach ache.
[later] 오후 / afternoon: speaking'f stomach aches; as i told kaela, i just had a rotten lunch. on mon nite, kaela cooked this 해물 전골 haemool juhngol (seafud casserole). (maybe it as more'f a stew than a casserole.) neway, the leftovers sat out in a pot 4 a coupl'f days. then, i put them in the fridge. 2day, i tried to eat it the leftovers 4 lunch, but it was very sour. i called up kaela 4 advice on that matter, n' she sed it was rotten. ugh. *sigh* instead, i microwaved up some safeway selekt frozen beef stew. it was a bit'f a stressful lunch, i felt. :-( no 1 likes to eat rotten fud.
on mon nite, we ate that dish n' watched 풀 하우스, which is full house, unless u'r a smart @$$ n' wanna say it's "pool house." *roll eyes* neway, it's not the stoopid, ol' amerikan show w/ bob saget n' the olsen twins, but a new/recent korean drama. u'll c it advertised on korean yahoo! all the time these days. we watched the 1st 2 episodes. it's pretty kewl. we still haven't finished watching 파리의 연인 tho'. however, it is possible to watch more than 1 series @ a time, rt? why not?
oh yah, yesterday, my icube play@tv wireless digital streaming media receiver came in. i came home from werk n' played w/ it, trying unsuccessfully to configure it to werk w/ my ol' amd athlon 'puter. well, i had to give up 4 the time being cos i went to help mark move furniture @ his mom's house. they're painting. after that, mark took me n' ernest to dinner @ the newest location'f 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang, which is praktically right freakin' 'cross the street from our house! man! i can't believe it! on sun nite, we went to the stvns crk blvd (cupertino) 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang w/ sooni, u know. instead, we could've gone to the el camino real 1, which is rt here in good ol' santa clara! lemme tell u: 옛날 짜장 is an awesome restaurant!!! this santa clara location also has outdoor seating, which'll be great 4 sooni! :-) i can't believe this! if only i could be as much'f a carb.loader as i used to be, then we could eat @ 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang every nite w/ sooni outside! :-) then 'gain, on tues nite, sooni behaved sooo well, tied up outside'f 장모집 jangmojip. she was sooo good! the werkers gave her a cooked pork bone, which she devoured. she loved it. every1 loved her. lots'f ppl outside played w/ her. we could sort'f c her thru the tinted glass door.
oh yah.... icube play@tv... i got it set up last nite, after dinner. it werks! it really werks! un4tunately, the 802.11b signal isn't 2 strong from the home office to our living room tv. i think the signal'll be much, much, much better from our office to our bdrm tho'. we'll c. now, we can watch all those muzik videos n' shows i've dled from bronx's junkyard. man... i really wanna figure out how to record those drama episodes off'f kbs.co.kr. :-/ these days multimedia web page coders have lots'f tools to embed file urls etc. so that we can't so easily capture them to our hard drives. :-/ i mean, obviously hi.net recorder kicks some serious @$$, n' getright's a good tool; but companies r doing things sort'f get in their way, etc.
i recently had some prob paying my car insurance online. there was some glitch or mistake that left me w/ no insurance 4 the past coupl'f months! :-o it was awful! however, 2day, i finally fixed the prob, n' i got my car insurance back! phew. not only that, i got ~$50 knocked off my bill cos they now know i'm married n' not single. i added the "unlimited towing" option 4 $4.
since duk'll be guarding our house w/ sooni this wknd, i feel we should go out n' buy some fud n' drinks to stock up the house. :-/ but what?... *shrug* what does duk eat n' drink? maybe i should go buy some 라켠 ramyuhn? some soda? hot pockets? *shrug* i realise young guys like convenient, microwaveable fud. i should start there. maybe some cookies or sumpthin'? doughnuts? i really think i've gotta stop by albertsons or somewhere 2day after werk. 금요일 오후 fri afternoon: labour day wknd starts 2day or whatever. i guess u could say it starts whenever u get off werk 2day. 2day, 4 lunch, my cowerkers went to sneha indian buffet 'gain cos it was some1's b.day. i eat 2 much these days n' don't get 'nuff exercise! >:-( i don't like that @ all.
[later] last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i skipped taekwondo sparring praktice. i guess part'f that was cos i didn't feel so well. i feel like that was cos'f the rotten lunch i ate, but i dunno. i s'ppose kaela pted out that didn't make sense, that i couldn't possibly have gotten fud poisoning cos i didn't really show symptoms. neway, maybe i just had a hard day. instead'f going to taekwondo praktice, we tried to take sooni to the watson dog park. we found our way to watson park but didn't find the dog park. :-? *shrug* i dunno where it is, but online research insists that its there somewhere. watson park's located near e. taylor n' 22nd st. when we arrived, we saw lots'f chicano guys playing soccer, very serious soccer. we walked 'round the park w/ sooni. then we walked the adjacent empire gardens elementary skool. afterwards, we went to look 4 fud, n' i really needed to go pee. since i was so pressed 4 time cos i needed to pee, i was forced to go to santana row, knowing that we'd find an outdoor restaurant that'd love sooni n' a bathroom. (i mean... we'd find a restaurant n' a bathroom.) *sigh* we went to consuelo. we ate 2 much. i dunno why. it was very stoopid to eat so much. i mean, the fud was good; but we really didn't need to have so much'f it, n' *sigh* *shrug* it's not good. we had this caesar salad type dish, this stuffed portabello hongo dish, this scallop hacha dish, this green chili mole chicken dish... that's 4 things. we didn't need to eat so much. >:-( i was so stuffed. we walked 'round santana row in amazement'f how not crowded it was 4 a thurs nite. weird. i dunno what's going on. 2day, i wondered if it's cos ppl didn't go out on thurs nite cos they left 4 vakation over this 3.day wknd. *shrug*
so what's up? *shrug* no 1's signed the newest version'f my gbook, huh?
i dunno. i'm not unhappy these days, but i feel like i'm not as happy as i should be, n' that it's my own d@mn fault, u know? like, i feel i must be taking life 4 granted, etc. *shrug* prob'ly... basikally, i feel really "blah" lately, n' i s'ppose i don't like that. by "blah," i don't mean that i feel down or depressed; no. i'm not depressed. i just don't feel that much in either direktion. like, i'm not sad but not really that happy, but i should be. i should be joyous. [quite a bit later but still afternoon] i guess i have this nervous feeling inside my heart that i don't like. i really dunno what it is. 토요일 아침 sat morn 854a: dangit, is it that gas prices really do go up on wknds? sometime earlier this wk, like on thurs or so, i saw that that so.called "moe's" gas station in east san jo (mckee n' 33rd) had $1.81/gal gas (according to sanjosegasprices.com). however, 2day the cheapest gas is $1.86/gal @ that same stn. shoot. yesterday, i needed to refill n' wanted to fill up @ costco, but i didn't have time, so i just bought ~2 gals @ the nearby valero 4 $2.02/gal. *sigh* 2day, we leave on our church retreat. i need gas 4 that. shoot, what the heck? how come gas prices shot up? i heard that oil fell to a record 6.month low! then 'gain, do u 'member when i sed in my journal that i heard that oil hit a record hi, but that the gas prices i saw were rather low; n' thus i suspekted that gas prices'd skyrocket in sept? well, beno; now it's sept!
sept often has that back2skool feel. even tho' college starts in aug, i'll always 'member sept as the back2skool month cos my k-12 yrs were like that, u know? albertsons's 'lready selling halloween candy, as i sed b4. isn't it insane? i mean, stores were selling halloween candy back in aug.
last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i took duk kyung out to watch harold and kumar go to white castle @ the amc mercado 20. i used my superkewl $6 movie vouchers. maybe i should buy more? i bought 20'f them. yah, maybe i should've bought more. *shrug* how was the movie? it was pretty kewl; but i dunno... as i've been saying @ times that i've 4gotten to how to have fun, i found some parts sort'f immature; even tho' geez! it's not like ne1 should expekt some oscar winner movie out'f this. i told duk kyung it was a movie 'bout a korean guy n' an indian guy just doing nuthin', sumpthin' like dude, where's my car? even the movie itself pokes fun @ itself 4 falling into that category. there r some blatant inconsistencies in the movie, which we al noticed; but eh! those don't really phase us. it's just stuff like, "why is it nite n' then day n' then nite?", etc. i mean, if u'r really immature or anal u'll freak; but eh! just deal w/ it. i'm still glad we saw it. like, on bronx's junkyard forums, there were some asian.ams that promoted the movie saying, "go watch it! support asian.ams in movies!", etc. on the flip side, there were some certain asian.am uncle toms that sed stuff like, "i will not go to see harold and kumar just cause it has asians in it." geez! way to sell out to "the man," buddy! do u hafta try to subvert every attempt that asian amerika makes to try to get an equal foothold in society?! the 1 thing 'bout harold and kumar, relative to asian.am cinema, that sort'f irks me is that it's sort'f a decade behind in that it's still sort'f like those films in which some young ppl deal w/ their asian.am identity relative to this white/black dominated amerikan society. do u understand? i mean, sometime, i'd like to enjoy a film made by asian.ams 'bout asian.ams but w/o ne emphasis on the fakt that they r asian.ams in a white/black dominated society, but that they're just ppl. do u know what i mean? sumpthin' close to that is charlotte sometimes. however, the hapa filmmaker intentionally casted a hapa as the guy who steals gurls in order to make certain asian guys go off n' say stuff like "white guys are always stealing our women" kind'f crap. he purposely casted a hapa cos, well... u could say they're teknically wrong cos the dude that's stealing the women is 0.5 asian... but i dunno... our filmmaker friend jason sed that, when it comes down to it, in hollywood hapas rn't given the same treatment as "full.blooded" asians, but r treated like whites... unless that other part isn't white, then well... don't be a smart@$$; u understand what i mean! so... what can i saw 'bout harold and kumar go to white castle? it stars the superfamous john cho n' this dude kal penn. the theatre was packed w/ asians - south asians n' ur cjk asians. in san jo, it's prob'ly more accurate to say cjkv since there's a big vietnamese population here. i mean, u could tack on as many letters as u want if u think that some asian ethnic grp'll complain 'bout being slighted, but don't 4get that i don't even consider myself as chinese buy taiwanese yet usually just say "cjk asians." it's un4tunate, but pilipinos 2 often get left out in these somewhat demographic discussions. i realise they feel marginalised, n' that's why they've, @ times, split off from mainstream asian.am sociopolitiks. do u know what i mean?
[a li'l later] 941a: oh, while we're on the topik'f south asian cinema, didju realise that this new reese witherspoon vanity fair movie's by an indian direktor n' takes place in india? i mean, i know i'm not a literary person but didn't realise that i was this illiterate! wow, why don't we go c it? unless u'r 1'f those uncle toms that's gotta akt all b!tchy n' say, "no, i will not go watch vanity fair just cause it has a south asian director," etc.
ok, so we leave to our retreat soon. i need to walk sooni. i need to pack. *sigh* what should i expekt from this wknd? i dunno cos ppl won't tell us; n' honestly? that really frustrates me. i don't like that; i'll tell u the truth. what's the agenda 4 the wknd?
yesterday, i went to albertsons to buy some fud 4 duk kyung 4 his stay @ our house w/ sooni. u know that the nearby albertsons has a self.checkout area? i toldju that, right? home depot also has this these days. i like it. some'f u might say that u prefer the ol' fashion way where u gotta make stoopid small talk w/ the ca$hier, but well... i'm totally fine w/ this. some ppl'd say this is an example'f teknology gone wrong, but i'm ok w/ it.
u know, i'm very unhappy 'bout not getting exercise lately! 월요일 밤 855p: 오늘 노둥절예요. 2day's labour day. we spent the wknd @ the retreat, which was held @ this very interesting 요세미티 광양 기도원 / yosemite gwangyang gidowuhn / yosemite desert prayer center. it was a very interesting place, as it was the 1st time 4 the beautiful kaela hwang n' me, altho' not the 1st time 4 pretty much all the other participants. there were 'bout 20'f us, i guess. it's this big house out in oakdale, that i guess diff korean churches use 4 retreats. it has this sanctuary, which ppl affektionately call in english "the barn." it's a pretty nice place 4 a retreat, altho' i guess "well.used," heh heh. it was a good retreat. i learned 'lot; i've gotta say. heh, lemme preface nething more i ever say 'bout spirituality w/ a big notice that i'm really not qualified to say much 'bout spirituality, that if u really want to learn the real stuff, u really should talk to a qualified pastor, etc. heh... i dunno. i just worry ppl take what i say in the wrong way. *shrug* i mean... heh, there r certain basik things that i'd always wanna share w/ u, such as how we r all sinners by nature but that jesus died on the cross 4 us. however, heh... nething more? well, i dunno... just 'member that i sort'f think aloud out here, so well... is the saying, "take it w/ a grain'f salt"? maybe. [benocomment: i guess i just don't want to be a "false prophet."] neway, i guess... i'm just saying that the retreat was really good, n' i feel i learned 'lot. i think i learned 'lot 'bout god, jesus, the church, my fellow church goers... i think we got more issues out in the open, etc... i mean... ha ha... that sounds negative... what i really mean to say is that we had good discussions. also, we ate 2 much. ha ha. yah, i dunno why; but we ate constantly, n' it's funny cos pastor rick pted that out 2. it was a very funny thought to think that we came out to this retreat n' were just continuously eating, as if we were being 4ced to eat. ha ha.
oh yah! we aktually went to yosemite 4 a li'l bit on sun afternoon. altho' some ppl were disappointed w/ the brevity'f the trip; personally, i was just so appreciative'f getting to visit the place i've been wanting to visit all yr, it cms. i dunno; like, ppl've been talkin' 'bout yosemite trips so much this yr, that i just totally bought into the hype n' well... i mean, u guys think i never wanna travel, but i dunno. i did wanna c yosemite. 4 the past few months, i figured it'd be 1 trip where we could pack up our car, put sooni in, n' drive off. i figure that's less hassle than other vakation ideas. also, i wanted to marvel @ all the beautiful nature, of course. it was beautiful. i hadn't been to yosemite since i was a kid. usually, when i go on an outing, i'm the driver; but this time, kaela n' i got to sit in the back'f a hi.tek minivan n' watch these kiddie dvds where 김지호누나 (kim jiho noona) n' 꿍따리 아저씨 (ggoongddari ajuhssi) dance 'round w/ a bunch'f goofy kids. i fell asleep 4 some'f the ride back. oh yah, our trip to yosemite was very brief, but we grabbed lunch from the yosemite village grocery store. i had this sandwich n' some rotten macaroni salad. man! what awful luck! i dunno why i ate rotten fud 2ice in a wk. i thought it was just some really sour mustard they put in it. when i mentioned that it tasted sour, our friend sitting 'cross from us sed that it smelled rotten, n' kaela agreed. yuck. well, i didn't eat ne more'f it. bleh! >:-p yuck!
well, duk kyung took care'f sooni while we were gone. i think sooni really missed us, but she sure cmed to miss kaela more when we got home. i'm figuring it's cos she was w/ duk kyung the whole wknd, so 'least she got to be 'round a male human; but she missed having a female human 'round. *shrug* kaela assumed sooni'd miss me more, but nope. it's really funny. there've been times when we came home after a long absence n' she couldn't wait to greet us. on days like that, she might be waiting by the back door. we tell her to sit n' wait. she'll wait 4 me to say "ok" to come in. 1 time, she really missed us. i made her wait. i opened the door. i made her wait longer. then i enthusiastically blurted out, "ok." really quickly, she cocked her head back n' then charged right in!!! it was hilarious! she was so energetic that time. she can be very funny. 1tym, she was in the backyard, sittin' in the backyard. she wanted to go 4 a walk, but i think she had given up on the idea'f my taking her 4 a walk. i hid the leash behind my back n' opened the door. she looked @ me but wasn't terribly excited. then i quickly pulled the leash out from behind my back n' showed it to her from afar. her ears perked up, n' she came running 2wards the door so happily! heh heh... as i sed, she can be very funny!
neway, yah, duk kyung took care'f sooni n' watched our house. i hope it wasn't 2 much'f a burden 4 him n' hope we can take him to dinner or sumpthin' to pay him back 4 his generosity. as i had sed, i stocked the fridge n' freezer 4 him. i hope he had a good time. 화요일 아침: i haven't really gotten used to the fakt that it's now autumn. :-/ maybe i wish it were still summer. *shrug* do i? i dunno. time flows. 세월은 유수. [a li'l later] i'm planning to go to taekwondo praktice 2nite. i dunno why not. i haven't gotten ne exercise lately, n' i've been eating quite a bit! i still don't comprehend why we pigged out so badly last thurs nite @ consuelo. >:-/
[later] 오후: it's a new wk, a short wk cos'f the labour day holiday. i didn't know that the garbage was gonna be collekted yesterday, so we didn't ask duk to put it out. :-( that means we missed the garbage pickup n' the trashcan must really stink. hrm, do u think i really don't have nething interesting to say? maybe not. am i finally tired'f talking? :-/ prob'ly not. u know me... i'll keep typing 'bout myself till the cows come home, much to ur dismay. *shrug* 수요일 아침: so it looks to me that the latest kewl fon (in amerika) is the lg vx7000, huh? it's a cdma fon w/ a camcorder, n' it's 3.69" x 1.89" x 0.98". i dunno, maybe there's a samsung fon that's better. in ne case, u can be sure that in korea, there r fons that can totally kick these us.available fons' butts. let's take a look @ the korean lg elektronics site: ok, they've got the lg.lp2000 n' the lg.lp 3010 mp3 player 1mp camera fon. the lg.lp8900 camerafon has 2 color lcd screens - 1 on the outside n' 1 on the inside. yah, i wonder what's like "the cellfon to end all cellfons"? or 'least the best fon available in the world right now. *shrug* i'm just wondering this cos y! news had some article 'bout nokia trying to sell some smaller fons now. yah, i feel that nokia's really been in a rut lately. didju know that nokia, b4 the started making cellfons, made furniture?! no, i didn't confuse them w/ ikea. i learned 'bout this in 1'f my recent engineering tranining classes @ werk. i dunno. they sure had a great run w/ the 5100 n' 6100 series. the 8100 series did ok, but lately i feel they've been in a rut. i kind'f admire them 4 bravely going out on a limb w/ their n.gage series of game fons, but... *shrug* i really haven't cn ne good fons from them lately. most'f their recent fons have been 2 big. lately, it's just been lg n' samsung w/ the best fons. of course, if u want a fon w/o ne kewl features, what u should get is that tiny, tiny panasonic fon. that 1 is so small! i heard the battery life sucks tho'. :-/ yah, 4 a while motorola was totally kicking butt w/ 1st the star.tac series, then the v60, etc. but then they went the way'f nokia in that they couldn't keep a small shape while adding features. the best example'f this, of course, was the t720 series, right? that was 1'f the 1st color lcd screen cellfons in amerika, but it was so much bigger than the v60 that preceded it. neway! i'm not in the market 4 a new fon, nope! i'm totally content w/ my lg vx6000 rt now. i just like to hear 'bout n' c all the kewl gadgets that keep coming out, u know?
yah, yesterday, i looked @ my credit card bill n' 'membered that i've been spending 2 much lately. i got this new job / promotion n' got a raise along w/ it, but now i'm buying health insurance n' investing in my 401k n' company stock plan, etc. yah, i'm very glad to be doing the 401k in order to get back on track w/ investing 4 my retirement. i was good 'bout that a few yrs 'go but also lost lots'f my retirement fund to the big crash'f 2001, etc. after all, we all did, didn't we?
[later] last nite, we had an awesome taekwondo praktice. we did lots'f continuous paddle kicking. we did those drills where 2 ppl hold paddles on each side'f u, n' u go back n' 4th kicking 1 then the other; nonstop. it was awesome! i hadn't werked out so well in ages! this sure beats lining every1 up behind 1 pair'f paddles, u know? when u do that, u have 2 much dead time. i got good exercise n' was happy.
afterwards, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i took sooni to the cupertino 99, where kaela n' i, as u expekt, got boba drinks from fantasia. 목요일 오후: 새로운 노키아 한드폰을 봤어요? have u cn the new nokia cellfon? nokia 7280... u should check out the new nokia 7260, 7270, n' 7280. even tho' i sed nokia's really been lagging, 1 thing they have been trying to do is come out w/ stuff that's really diff, huh? the 7280 doesn't look like a fon. i don't even c a keypad. is it 100% voice aktivated? well, if nokia finally puts out a big hit, it might catch up to samsung n' lg; but where's motorola? when will motorola put out its next big hit?
so what's been up? last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i met up w/ my dad, sue, grace, steve, n' mason 4 dinner @ formosa restaurant @ the corner'f de anza blvd n' prospect (1655 s de anza blvd; cupertino, ca 95014; 408.257.1120). we had so much fud. *sigh* what's going on? how come i've gotta eat so much these days? :-/ well, we had a good dinner. [later] it was a really warm afternoon. to get to the restaurant, i drove down wolfe rd, which turned into miller. i took a rt onto prospekt n' hit de anza blvd. it was interesting to drive thru the lynbrook neighbourhood. it's a nice suburb. i 'membered 1nce going to some dimsum restaurant w/ the cal taekwondo party crew (p.crew) over @ bollinger n' miller. we brought jang sabuhmnim w/ us, n' the interesting thing 'bout that day was that grace n' steve met up w/ us. this was a looong time 'go, obviously, prob'ly 1999 or so, right? yah, the summer'f 1999. *sigh* can u believe how time flies? after eating dinner, kaela n' i went down to almaden valley to pick up sumpthin' from my mom. while @ my mom's house, i was so fascinated w/ how i can't 'member all that much 'bout what life was like living in that house w/ kaela n' my mom. :-/ it wasn't that long 'go, but i don't 'member all that much. >:-/ geez, is it that all i 'member 'bout my life is the past few months: life in our santa clara house w/ sooni? >:-/ why can't i 'member how life was like back in 2002-2003? i dunno; i wondered if maybe life was really stressful during that time, so i chose to block it out from my memory. is that rt? *shrug* is my memory no good? if so, then i hope u understand why i find it so important to have this journal/blog. i'm so scared that someday i won't 'member nething i did during my life, so i insist on dokumenting my life as i live it... @ the same time as i live it... i'm sure some ppl really hate my journal/blog. online journalists n' bloggers always have naysayers n' haters, u know? *shrug* i s'ppose many'f these critics just hate us cos our journals/diaries or up on the web, n' they think we should just keep private diaries. yah... i s'ppose that would be 1 alternative... but *shrug* i dunno... why do i have an online journal? *shrug* *sigh* well, as i sed b4, i'm a very open person. i believe i shouldn't have nething to hide... altho'... well, that'd be quite an exaggeration 4 me to try to say i don't censor my journal a li'l! i'm not 1'f those types who write out every single durty thought that goes thru their mind, u know? *shrug* u know what i mean... some ppl blogs that talk 'bout all sorts'f sexual stuff, etc. no, i don't wanna have that kind'f blog. neway!!! it felt nice to drive in the warm, late summer nite! it was very warm.
this wk's a short wk cos'f labour day. this morn, i had 2 mtgs in a row. oh yah... did i mention? next wed, i'll be in berkeley recruiting 4 my company @ the cal career fair! i'm really excited 'bout that cos i've never gotten to be on this side. many times, i was on the other side. i was always the 1 asking 4 a job, handing out my résumé, etc. this time, i get to accept résumés; n' assess them, u know? :-) i like it. ah, i can't wait. well, this morn, my 1st mtg was re: that. i went home after my 2nd mtg to pick up some leftovers from last nite's dinner n' bring it back to werk to eat w/ my cowerkers. i let sooni into the house when i was home cos she wanted to come in, but i hope she doesn't complain later that it's 2 hot inside the house. >:-( hopefully, 2day won't be as hot as yesterday, etc. we have 2x.paned windows, so we're s'pposed to keep 'em shut thru.out the day to keep the heat out. however, sometimes, by the end'f the day, it's warmer inside than outside, if there's a nice breeze outside. 2nite, we're going up to palo alto (stanfurd country) to have dinner w/ 1'f kaela's publik health classmates will. u might know him from his recent beno's gbook entry. as'f now, he's the most recent entry. while reading 'bout the upcoming career fair @ career.berkeley.edu, i read that there's now a publik health undergrad major. i c.
4 a while now, i've been contemplating writing a essay about how owning a dog teaches u to be a better christian. someday... 금요일 아침: no new cellfon news 2day... instead, have a look @ this y! news article: "Want to Write Cal's New Fight Song?" so how r u doing? last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i met up w/ her sph (skool'f publik health) classmate will n' his gf judy @ n.o.la in the middle'f stanfurd country. (535 ramona st; palo alto, ca 94301; 650.328.2722) [later] lately, we've been eating 2 much n' exercising 2 li'l. shoot, i should've brought my gym stuff w/ me to werk 2day. :-(
"therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. each day has enough trouble of its own." -- matthew 6:34
911p: 2day, i came home from werk a li'l early. 2day was the big company bbq. 2 much sun! it was pretty fun. s'pposedly we weren't allowed to bring family or friends, but i saw that, after a while, the sekurity guards stopped checking n' some ppl snuck in their spouses... n' doggies!!! geez! if i had known, i definitely would've brought kaela n' sooni! :-( however, they specifically sed that we could not bring family or friends. :-( neway, we had lots'f meat n' other fud. 2 much sun, as i sed. it was very warm. there was a silly cover band playing. my cowerkers in the training program thing all went on stage n' danced 4 the audience to "sweet home alabama." i dunno who picked out that song, but *shrug* u know... the ppl in my program r pretty young, so they wanted to do that as long as every1 did it 2gether, etc. i don't think ne1 even noticed that we were up there dancing 4 the audience cos ppl were sort'f not paying attention to the stage but doing things like playing cards @ the picnic tables etc. ha ha.
neway, i left werk a li'l early. i came home n' did some chore.ish stuff. like, i did some 'puter chores n' fixed a clogged drain in our master bdrm bathroom shower. i s'ppose i should've just sed "master bathrm," not "master bdrm bathroom." neway, i think there was just lots'f mineral deposits in it narrowing the area of flow, so i put lots'f clr down the drain. i didn't c ne hair clog or nething. maybe it was a combination'f the mineral deposits n' a li'l bit'f a hair clog. basikally, the mineral deposits were causing a narrowing artery effect, u know? a coupl'f days 'go, i ordered a really cheap usb 2.0 2.5" hdd enclosure. i opened up our old sony vaio laptop, removed the 2.5" ibm travelstar hdd, n' connekted it to the encloure. un4tunately, i couldn't get it to werk! >:-( i dunno what to do 'bout that. is it that this mtg usb 2.0 to ide 2.5" hdd enclosure just isn't ne good? i was pretty shocked to discover how li'l dokumentation came w/ that device. it's 1'f those typikal, cheapy made.in.china thingies, u know? *sigh* *shakes head* *sigh 'gain* i dunno what to do; i wanna pull data off that drive n' sell the ol' laptop off on ebay
b4 kaela came home from werk, i took sooni out 4 a short walk. in the eve, we went to valley fair to buy sumpthin' - a present. then we went to eat a moderate dinner @ the new tungkee noodle house closest to our house. we're gonna go out 2nite to meet up w/ will n' judy @ harry denton's club rouge, i guess. that, as u should know, is in sf. 월요일 아침: the great tan beno... "we found some kind'f tan mini husky." (that's what our 'cross the st neighbours sed in a v.mail 1 day back in march or april, when they found sooni on their lawn while the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were having lunch after church @ galleria market. well, i don't 'member 'xactly what they sed, so i prob'ly wouldn't normally put that statement in quotes, but they did say "tan mini husky," n' i find that very humourous.) neway, fri was my company's bbq, n' sat was joyce's going 'way party @ seabright beach. recently, i've gotten 2 much sun exposure. i s'ppose some ppl think it's really healthy to be in the sun; but i think 'bout how the sun damages n' ages skin. :-( whenever they show the rural areas'f korea on tv, i've noticed that ppl who farm 'lot have lots'f wrinkles. that's bad. i do wear sunscreen but not enuf. aktually, i aktually bought more'f that jack black double duty or whatever spf 20 face lotion @ this peninsula beauty store in palo alto on university ave on thurs b4 dinner @ n.o.la. heh, "peninsula beauty"... i know that sounds fruity, but guys gotta take care'f their skin 2. *sigh* whatever. i mean... shoot, i'm just talkin' 'bout sunscreen here. u don't want skin cancer, do u?
oh yah, on fri, kaela n' i met up w/ her classmate friend will n' his gf judy @ harry denton's club rouge, where apparently beyond entertainment was hosting a party. i didn't know b4hand that it was gonna be a beyond entertainment party, so i thought it'd just be a nite @ 1'f those clubs where the "deejay" puts on various "popular dance trax from the 70s and 80s." no, it wasn't. we had a great time, n' i realised that i really miss hangin' in sf. :-( i really miss the atmosphere. i spent so much'f my time trying to convince ppl that the silly valley isn't total "suburbia" as u know it n' thus has more in common w/ cosmopolitan cities like sf than ppl realise. it does, but since i'm very familiar w/ both, i know the important differences, as opposed to the unimportant differences. that sounds cocky, but i do.
[later, after going home 4 lunch n' a quick sooni walk n' coming back] sat's bbq @ seabright beach. on sat morn, i woke up n' thought i'd do sumpthin' useful w/ the time in btwn waking up n' when roland met up w/ us to carpool down to santa cruz. in the end, i didn't do nething really useful. i guess i could be frustrated n' stressed 'bout idle times like that. hrm... well, why give myself more stress than i already have. it's not that i'm saying i'm really stressed. after all, going 'round saying u'r stressed is sort'f self.prophesying, rt? i mean, u can make urself more stressed than u really r or could ever possibly need to be if u just go 'round telling ppl that u r so stressed. would i be stating the obvious if i say "optimists r happier ppl"? that's sort'f an empty statement, isn't it? neway, lately, i feel like i'm hearing that the pursuit'f happiness isn't necessarily a good raison d'être. yah, maybe so... the so.called "pursuit'f happiness" isn't necessarily a spiritually holy endeavour. after all, many cults prob'ly trap young, naive ppl w/ an opening line, such as "are you happy?" perhaps that's a dangerous question. [later] on fri afternoon, after i came home from werk a li'l earlier, i managed to accomplish a couple'f things. 1) i removed the 2.5" floppy drive from our old vaio, n' 2) i unclogged the shower drain. hrm, i think i already discussed these things w/ u. ok, well, on sat morn, i don't 'member doing 2 many useful things. :-/ however, i thought i did do sumpthin' somewhat useful. oh yah, i was experimenting w/ the icube play@tv unit, hooked up to. . . [interrupted, later] 1040p: . . . the tv in our bdrm.
2day, in the company bathroom's mirror, i noticed that i'm really tan from the sun. it looks like we took a trip to hawaii or jamaica. 화요일 아침: 읽는 손님이 어떠세요? 목요일 오후: here's a news story that's kind'f old, from 2004.08.23: "human chips: more than skin-deep" sooni has a microchip implanted in her skin, so that some1 can id her if she gets lost. what 'bout implaning these chips in ppl? *shrug* i don't think it's a big issue, even tho' it's the stuff that aktion movies r made 'bout. ha ha. u know? 금요일 아침: 아아아~~~ 금요일이 왔다. 좋아. i haven't updated my journal in a while, but i've been reading others'. normally, i write 2 much n' read 2 li'l; which is bad just as is talking 2 much n' listening 2 li'l, which i know i tend to do. sometimes, i make a conscious effort to talk less n' listen more.
i guess i need to give u the update on what went on in my life this wk:
[later] 오후: aktually, i started writing that silly outline b4 noon, but now it's after noon, as u can tell. otherwise, u'd hafta assume i predikted the future. ha ha ha. if i could predikt the future, i hope i'd find out better info than just what i'll eat 4 lunch, etc. that ham n' cheese sandwich sure wasn't worth it. >:-( @ my company, if u get to the cafeteria late, u kind'f have slim pickin's, i've gotta admit. u realise that we went to 길목 gilmok on sun eve n' then 'gain on tues? we've been eating out quite a bit lately, 2 much... i guess i felt like it wouldn't be useful to go to the grocery store to buy produce that'd rot since we're gone this wknd. *shrug* i cooked 1 nite... when was it? mon nite. i didn't discuss that, huh? mon nite, we went to the gym, both the beautiful kaela hwang n' i. afterwards, i think kaela had some bizness to take care'f, but i went home n' cooked some pasta. i brought the leftovers 4 lunch the next day. 토요일 아침 825a sat: of course, sept's flying by. we shouldn't expekt otherwise. time always flows. it flows like a river to the sea, to the sea. hrm, speaking'f songs i used to play n' sing 'long to on the guitar, i just woke up from a dream where i was s'pposed to play a song on the guitar n' sing 'long. funny. u know, it's been a long time since i did that kind'f thing. :-( in my dream, i still had my ol' black n' white elektric guitar that al liu indefinitely borrowed from me. when i ran into him @ ken n' grace's wedding, he told me he'd buy me a new 1 n' keep my old 1; n' i told him to wait until i bought a house'f my own, so i wouldn't just clutter up my mom's house, u know? well, hrm, i wonder if i should ask him 'bout it now or what. *shrug* in my dream, i was in the middle'f playing the guitar solo 4 the cure's "just like heaven," where u use the top 2 strings, while leaving the top e string open the whole time, n' the e string broke. *sigh* yah, i do miss being a more musikal person; but geez, u know... some1's gotta vacuum, mop, n' do dishes, u know. that's how it is. i mean... where else does my time go? i s'ppose if i didn't have this silly online journal, i'd have more time! really, these days, i don't really waste that much time on the internet or nething. i werk, of course; n' ppl think that, oh, ol' werking folk always sell out their youthful aktivities 4 the sake'f their career. u know, it's not the career thing... like, i think my job, in some ways, keeps me youthful cos i werk w/ young, brilliant ppl - prodigy types. yah, my werk keeps me youthful, but things that make me feel old? well, i have lots'f housechores n' yardwerk to do all the time, n' i'm not 'bout to hire a gardner or maid, of course. gardner? well, some ppl say it's silly that i don't hire a gardner, that $50/month'll save me so much time. however, my 2 next door neighbours do their own yardwerk, n' same w/ the neighbour i talk to 'cross the st; so i'd be ashamed to hire a gardner. neway, i think it'd be a waste'f $$$, n' also the gardner'd hafta be friendly w/ sooni, n' that's prob'ly more than he'd expekt to hafta do, u know? it'd be like hiring a dogsitter n' gardner! ha ha ha. i think if some strange men came into our backyard w/ a loud, noisy, gas mower, she'd freak out! as much as i talk 'bout what a good, well.behaved, ppl.loving, friendly, cute doggy sooni is, she isn't necessarily a really brave dog. i know that, n' dawna sez so 2. it's true. oh well...
on thurs nite, when we were dining w/ ken n' grace, ken told me that sooni's original owner tom chung owns a store called auto sound plus on de anza blvd very near duk kyung's petco yesterday i woke up relatively early n' jogged w/ sooni out to el camino real n' back. i jogged past the big.o tires. u c, i did that cos i wanted to c their hours cos a while 'go, i bought this oil change di$count card thing from some door2door salesman. yah, i don't like door2door salesman, so i wonder, sometimes, if i should've refused to support that method'f sales n' should not've bought that card from him. however, it did sound like a really good deal, n' it is... i think. neway, 2 use that card, i should get my next 4 oil changes @ big.o tires. it's very close to our house, n' kaela noted that i should drive over their w/ sooni 1 morn n' walk her back home, n' then kaela can drive me back to get my car. well, since kaela kind'f wakes up just in time 4 her werk, i worry that she might not have time to drop me off @ the auto shop. *shrug* well, big.o tires opens @ 800a mon-sat, so maybe i can do it on a sat morn. *shrug* well, not 2day cos i'm down her in chino, while sooni n' duk kyung defend our house.
sept's flying by, n' soon it'll be okt. soon it'll be halloween. we saw some cute doggy costumes 4 $5 @ target 일요일 아침 1105a sun: 치노에 있어요. [later] 1154a: so yesterday was linda n' kevin's wedding @ st. denis cathedral in diamond bar w/ a reception @ the summit house in fullerton. [later] 1205p: we hung out w/ s.mike n' phil n' the beautiful kaela hwang's hi skool friend jennifer in the evening. 1st, we met up w/ s.mike @ the brea mall. then phil joined us. then we piled into kaela's parent's black acura n' picked up jennifer from linda's relatives house. it was funny cos it was like a partymobile, u know? think 'bout the vengaboy's vengabus song. ha ha ha. well, not really... it was fun to hear s.mike n' phil talk cos, as i was telling jennifer, s.mike n' phil r mostly friends w/ me not as much w/ each other, so even tho' they both live in socal, they don't call each other up n' hang out or nething. neway, i didn't realise that if i put them 2gether, they'd have so much to talk 'bout, not cos they think 'like, but cos they have very diff pts'f view, but r intellektual n' intelligent 'nuff to sort'f debate 'bout issues n' then still have friendly banter afterwards. lately, i've really missed that. instead, i've encountered ppl who'll disagree, shout out a few absolute, generalistic insults 'bout each others views, n' then refuse to associate after that, u know? after all, the media has really polarised amerika: u'r definitely either a pinko, commie liberal or a gun nut, psycho nazi conservative. u have ur choice; pick 1. s.mike, when he was in berkeley would've considered himself more'f a liberal; but, after spending time in virginia, he admits that he's much more conservative n' a republikan now. still, i can hang w/ him cos he's not a psycho nut. sure, he owns a gun, but he's not a gun nut. he's even been known to talk 'bout the 2nd ammendment, but he's still not a gun nut. i never mind hearing an opposing viewpt from my beliefs, but i do mind having ppl present it in a totally illogikal n' absolutist manner where i just don't c ne intelligence, u know? i mean, same goes 4 ppl that agree w/ me. 4 instance, when i watched the protests in nyc outside the republikan national convention, i viewed on tv some ppl who sounded really unintelligent. altho' they sort'f agreed w/ me on some issues, they honestly sounded really unintelligent as they just hurled insults etc. however, u've gotta understand: nbc purposely showed footage'f those ppl cos nbc has such a conservative bias that they knew they were poorly representing republikan opposition n' purposely showed that misrepresentation, u know? i'm sure there were more intelligent ppl out there protesting in front'f the republikan national convention, but they didn't show them on tv. neway, that's not what i'm here to talk 'bout: i just wanted to say, it was really fun to hear phil n' s.mike talk 'bout these current event issues. as i told them, it was like listening to a radio talk show. i was driving, n' these 2 were in the back having a very interesting conversation. i dunno; i'd like to think each'f them walked 'way w/ respekt 4 the other n' the perhaps the other's beliefs. *shrug* i think that's a sign'f intelligence.
[later] 407p: i'm waiting in the ont aeroport, using their free wi.fi... 'least i hope it's free. i didn't say nething that sed it'd co$t me. :-/ *shrug* well, 2day's kaela's n' my 14th monthversary (wedding monthversary). shall we have a chance to do sumpthin' 2nite? (i was taught to use "shall" when speaking in the 1st person, as opposed to "will." i'm sure many'f u have learned n' believe differently. oh well.) neway, i'm asking "shall we do sumpthin' 2nite?", altho' u want me to ask, "will we do sumpthin' 2nite?". well, right now, we're @ the aeroport. we fly in @ 600p, n' jane's gonna pick us up, as she dropped us off. i figure we should try to treat jane n' duk kyung to dinner as they each helped us out on this trip, u know?
[later] 423p: so we spent this wknd in socal. we went to the wedding. 'twas a catholic wedding, n' i guess neither kaela nor i'd been to a catholic wedding b4... or have we? *shrug* i mean, kaela knows she hasn't, but me? i dunno if i have or not; after all, i've been to sooo many weddings! well, it was a nice wedding. it was a pretty long ceremony, n' we're not used to that, i guess. *shrug* then 'gain; me, i've been to protestant weddings where it felt like we had a whole sun service along w/ the wedding. those weddings included lots'f praise/worship singing stuff, u know? it was really like a sun service. yah, i've been to several weddings like that. neway, in fullerton, we had lunch @ the summit house. kaela n' i both opted 4 the beef meal as opposed to the chicken option. kaela met up w/ several'f her ol' hi skool friends. our table wasn't full, but had 2 empty seats. it wasn't a big wedding; as in, linda n' kevin didn't invite a whole lot'f ppl. there were several toasts/speeches by the bride n' groom's family members. after the meal n' some dancing, linda n' kevin did the korean 폐백 pyeibaek ceremony. many chinese ppl know this wurd pyeibaek better as paibai, which in general cms to mean honouring'f ur elders/ancestors, etc. i know, i've done paibai taiwanese style, in which... well, no wedding necessary... my grandpa in taiwan had me take incense n' bow to a pic'f some ancestors, etc. well, when korean.amerikans talk 'bout 폐백 pyeibaek, they assume it means just that wedding ceremony thingy. kaela n' i didn't do pyeibaek @ our wedding, but we took pics in traditional pyeibaek outfits in korea, as u know. it was funny; the korean fotographers basikally direkted linda, kevin, n' kevin's family, telling them what to do, what to say. like, traditionally, pyeibaek's sumpthin' u do in private; the parents sit the kids down, there r some very interesting.2.watch ceremonial aktivities, but the main pt's 4 the parents to give the bride n' grooms some heartfelt wurds'f wisdom. these days tho', korean.amerikans cm to do pyeibaek mostly just to display/exhibit a bit'f korean culture to their friends n' family, u know? it's a bit diff, i guess. it's a chance to be "really korean." after the wedding, kaela n' i went home to her parents' house, where i changed out'f my suit n' into jeans n' my recently purchased berkeley ringer t, as they call 'em. then we went out to brea mall to shop 4 pants 4 kaela, since she only packed skirts n' to meet up w/ phil n' s.mike, as u know. 월요일 아침: it's often a li'l harder to start a mon after being out'f town the whole wknd, u know? yesterday, when we got back to the silly valley, we realised it felt so cold n' chilly. it felt like winter. in fakt, i was planning to title this entry "instant winter" instead'f "instant autumn" but then decided 1) it was a bit much'f an exaggeration n' 2) if it were instant winter, then we'd have snowboarding... but we don't. i can't wait 4 the new snow season to start. it's fall. well, when does fall officially start? 2morrow? *shrug* lemme check; hold on. [a few secs later] ok, i just googled up "fall begins" n' ended up @ sugarqube.com, an egreeting site, i guess. they have cards 4 "fall begins." apparently, fall begins (in the northern hemispere) on sept 22. believe it... or not. do u believe it? can u believe it? it's time to wear brown. dude, if u'r wearing white as if it was mid.july, u'r very mistaken. i've gotta pack up my summer clothes, it appears. [a li'l later] last nite, i walked sooni when we got home, n' it was a bit chilly. well, 1st off; when we got home from the aeroport (after jane dropped us off), we opened the door n' found sooni rt there by the door. instead, we had expekted her to be in the backyard, but duk kyung had left her inside. later @ dinner, when jane told us that it had rained in the silly valley in the morn, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i figured that duk kyung must've left sooni inside cos it was raining. i c. well, she was fine. when we got home, she looked perfektly content w/ being inside. we were a bit surprised cos she was stuck inside w/ all the lites off. when we leave her inside @ nite alone, we usually leave a lite on 4 her.
the san josé mercury news online news story headlined "transportation promises kept" talks 'bout the new ramp that connekts 85 to 101 in so san jo. just think: a coupl'f yrs 'go, kaela n' i could've really used that ramp plenty all those times we commuted from my mom's house to bally gym!!!
so it's fall. or, heh! it'll soon be fall. i wondered: "what's special 'bout fall?" well, besides halloween n' t.giving, u've got the 2004 presidential elektion this yr. *sigh* a nation divided, i tell u! [a li'l later] i really hate how the media's really tried to polarise this country. we could be a better country, i think.
i know kaela's sister jeanna recently got a bike n' rides it 4 her commute. 4 a long time now, i've wanted to get a bike, so i could sometimes bike instead'f driving. it still hasn't happened. however, *shrug* lately, i've been spending 2 much; so i tell myself not to think 'bout buying nething, u know? mostly, i s'ppose i've been $pending 2 much on dining out. well, it's all part'f being a social person tho'. i like to c friends, n' i guess i've owed ppl dinners here n' there, u know? i dunno if i've mentioned this, but since i got my new position, i got a raise. however, i also started investing in the employee stock purchase plan n' my the company.sponsored 401k, so that n' paying 4 health/dental insurance brings my biweekly paycheck back down to where it was b4. on fri, i received my $5000 signing bonus. i know i've bragged 'bout this b4, but since i was s'pposedly the #1 pick in my interview group, i received a $5000 signing bonus, but wow! do u realise that taxes make a $5000 signing bonus more like a $2850 signing bonus? well, i'm not 1 to complain that much 'bout taxes cos in the end, i believe govt needs taxes in order to make sure every1 in society is taken care'f 'least 'nuff so that every1 has a chance to have a decent life. in all seriousness, i'm not saying we need to be kommunists, but i do think that trickle down ekonomiks is obviously a failure n' that the whole idea'f giving rich ppl more tax brks in the end is bad.
i just saw the silliest online poll: "do you think public opinion polls influence your opinion? (possible answers) yes, no, sometimes..." ha ha, the 1st wise@$$ thought i had was, "wait, b4 i answer that, i need to c the results of a public opinion poll on it!"
[later] did i mention that, while using the wi.fi in the ont aeroport, i browsed thru the ol' 1998-2000 version'f my beno journal? *sigh* it was really interesting to read what i had to say back in 1999, u know? well, shoot... it was interesting to me. it was interesting to read those thoughts cos 1) hangin' w/ s.mike n' phil really brought me back to those days (more so s.mike, i've gotta admit, cos i specifically hung out w/ s.mike 'lot in those days; phil, i've hung out w/ pretty consistently since fall 1993, u know?) n' 2) recently, i've been talkin' to my ol' friend bernard huang (who also went to leland, berkeley, n' sjsu) 'bout his recent relationship breakup; n' yah... i s'ppose the last time i had 1'f those was way back in 1998, rt? i'm not a relationship expert, n' it's been a long time since i talked 'bout those kinds'f issues, i think. if some1 were to ask me how to survive a brkup, i guess i'd say that my #1 rule is to keep busy by constantly making urself a better person. [later] as i keep saying, sometimes i think i'm sort'f stuck in 1999. 4 instance, my philosophies n' views can sometimes be bashed as being stuck in 1999, right? i mean, back then it was ok to be a liberal, as opposed to 2day, where it's such a dirty wurd. also, i still wear clothes from 1999, rt? some ppl think that i'm vain n' must buy lots'f clothes all the time cos i just love cing myself in new clothes. aktually, i think i don't buy new clothes much.
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went to albertsons to buy some groceries. i plan to cook 2nite. after albertsons, i went home n' ate 2 ol' turkey burger patties, which i cooked on fri morn in btwn a pair'f buns. i also ate some leftover lamb from that nite @ menara last wed. i also ate some wheat thins. i took soon 4 a short, short walk 'round the block. she was well behaved. i'm glad she can be so well behaved. i didn't have put her gentle leader on all the way, just the normal collar part'f the gentle leader. she was still good. we have big goal 4 her: in oktober, linda n' kevin'll visit on their way up to seattle. they're moving from temecula to seattle. they'll have their greyhound mix boston w/ them. how'll sooni reakt to a guest dog? we'll c. luckily, sooni's had an ok history w/ older, brown dogs, n' boston's an older, brown dog. *shrug* i dunno why that is, but those kinds'f doggies r somewhat ok 4 her. *big shrug*
yah, 2nite, i plan to go to the gym / hit the gym. then i plan to cook. we'll c. do i 'member how? ha ha ha. lately, we've been dining out 'lot. :-/ last nite, we were @ 명동 순두부집 myungdong soondubujip w/ jane. we wanted to take jane out to thank her 4 driving us to/fro the aeroport. that was very nice'f her. it cms like i give out 'nuff rides that i hope ppl'll give us rides now n' then, rt? *shrug* i dunno; maybe i don't give out rides as much as i used to. back in berkeley, it cmed like i was always givin' rides. these days, luckily, i don't drive that much. i'm happy that my office's so close to our house. the furthest place i go on a regular basis, these days, is the hamilton/meridian bally gym. man, i wish they had a closer lokation. it sucks that they don't.
[later] 아직도 오후: during my lunchbrk, while i was @ albertsons, i saw their display'f beautiful, orange halloween pumpkins sittin' on haystacks out in front'f their store. i was very tempted to buy 1, @ their 3 4 $10 price but then reminded myself that it's not even yet oktober! i dunno; when should we buy a pumpkin? yah, i think we should buy 1 soon. however, i'll bring kaela w/ me, so we can pick it out 2gether. i don't want her to complain that i picked out an ugly pumpkin, altho' there were sooo many beautiful pumpkins... n' as she well knows, they all need good homes, rt? "who'll save all the pumpkins?" she'll ask. in that case, i prob'ly should've bought 1? *shrug* "we hafta save the pumpkins," she'll say.
[later] 이른 저녁: can u believe how autumnish it is these days? *sigh* wow, it's really crazy, i s'ppose. fall... how do u feel 'bout fall? how do u feel 'bout autumn? it's sort'f back2skool time, i s'ppose. it's not as hot as it was a coupl'f wks 'go. it sure isn't. wow, it rained her on sun? hrm, wow, really? just think: halloween, elektion day, t.giving, christmas, new yrs, v.day, easter, ... can u imagine that? eh, don't worry... i know that kind'f talk makes ppl think that they're getting old when they're not. aktually, i think i think less 'bout aging now than i did in the past. as i sed yesterday, i feel that my werk environment aktually makes me feel younger, which is sumpthin' i know few ppl prob'ly say, rt? i dunno, which'd make u feel younger? werking w/ a bunch'f older ppl, such that they're always calling u a kid? or werking w/ lots'f younger ppl, such that u feel like u'r 1'f them n' thus young? *shrug* whadya think? i dunno; i guess i should feel blessed n/or lucky but more likely blessed that ppl say i look young 4 my age. 화요일 아침: 읽는 손님이 어떠세요? oh yah, thanks to "yee" 4 signing my g.book. r u related to nelson? *shrug* maybe not. yesterday eve, i went to the gym n' did spin class. i didn't get to the gym till later than usual cos i stayed later @ werk n' then had to fight traffik as usual. i guess i wish i could've gotten there earlier to lift some weights. oh well, we can't do everything, can we? sometimes u just gotta accept that, i s'ppose. *sigh* well, u should make every effort possible to recycle. it's really simple, u know? reduce, reuse, n' recycle; it's so easy. i really hate litter. i hate cing litter on the streets! this past wknd, while the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were in socal, my cowerkers did a beach cleanup thingy. i wish i could've joined them, but u know... the wedding n' all. oh yah... i didn't mention that we went to todai on sun, did i? 4 lunch on sun, 4 kaela's mom's b.day, we went to todai in puente hills mall. yah, a coupl'f yrs or more 'go, we went there n' this waitress dropped a tray n' thus splashed hot sauce all over us. the restaurant had to buy kaela's bro jay a new shirt. they offered to pay to dry clean my coat, but it was really pretty much a raincoat, so all i had to do was wipe it w/ a wet paper towel. raincoat; can u imagine that? it's gonna be rain season in not 2 long. crazy crazy.
speaking'f crazy crazy, i think duk kyung was talkin' 'bout $5 pizzas @ li'l caesars, n' thus i asked if li'l caesar's stopped doing their bogo (buy 1 get 1 free) "pizza! pizza!" campaign. did they?
so after the gym spin class, i went home n' started cooking that ol' smoked salmon n' asparagus w/ dill n' capers pasta dish that my sister taught me to make a long time 'go. it started out well but ended rather disastrously in my opinion. i felt i overcooked everything, n' i had to start the milk sauce over 'gain cos i experimented w/ adding some white wine to it, but then the milk curdled. ugh! *sigh* it could've been done much faster. when i'm unfamiliar w/ a dish, i tend to overcook it, i s'ppose. i don't like overcooked salmon.
kaela n' i r almost @ the end'f 파리의 연인 / parisuy yuhnin.
[later] last nite, after eating the pasta, which i felt was not very good, we also shared a drumstick aisukuriimu cone thingy, a caramel 1. ("aisukuriimu" is aktually japanese; if i were to use korean there, it'd be "aiseukeurim.") i've often avoided desserts cos'f their fat n' caloric content, but it's nice to eat sumpthin' sweet now n' then.
oh yah, 2day, ken's sending ryan over to install a pair'f digital satellite dishes @ our house 4 us to have digital satellite tv including korean digital satellite tv. crazy, huh? yah, ken's gonna split the acct over several households, so we'll be paying much less than usual, s'pposedly. i 4get how much.
[later] 오후: 요즘 어떠세요? 가을 좋아지만 싫어요? 날씨 어때요? 여기 요즘 날씨 좋아요. 덥지 않아고 춥지 않아요. 오늘 비가 안와요. 화창한 날예요. 금요일 아침: i think i should cut back on my $pending. in recent months, i s'ppose this whole summer, i think i $pent quite a bit. i dunno. what did i $pend so much on? well, i think i went out to eat 2 much. i'll try not to go out to eat 4 lunch much, not even to the company cafeteria or nething. i'll try to eat @ home or else bring lunch more often, rt? yah, i think that's a good idea. where else can i cut some co$ts? *shrug* i wish we could cook @ home more, i s'ppose. i mean, we do cook @ home, but 2 often we get lazy. 1 thing is the brown rice we currently use; it takes 2 long to cook, so we just give up, n' go out sometimes. :-( brown rice is tasty n' healthy. hrm, u know on mon how i made that awfully done smoked salmon n' asparagus fettucine? well, maybe i'll try to go back to cooking more'f that kind'f stuff instead'f just asian fud, since it doesn't require rice. heh... yah, i dunno. that's 2 bad. however, maybe it's good cos sometimes we cm to want that fancy.shmancy.sounding eurofud, n' then go out; n' it co$ts 'lot. or... u know what? maybe this past summer we went out to eat 'lot cos we wanted to bring sooni out n' eat out on the sidewalk/patio. that's true. maybe as the weather cools down, we'll be 4ced to eat @ home more. yah, maybe. hrm, i feel like we should do 1 more bbq b4 it gets 2 cold. i have that big tank'f liquid propane, u know? u know, i have that 1 big tank'f liquid propane n' also 2 li'l, green, disposable tanks'f liquid propane. *sigh* yah, when should i bbq 'gain? *shrug* on wed nite, during dinner, i suggested to the beautiful kaela hwang that we host t.giving 4 my family this yr. i figure it'd be nice to have ppl over to our house 4 t.giving. i mean, unless my mom insists on having it @ her house. then we'd yield. however, i figure it's better not to have my sister host it cos she's pregnant, rt? she's pregnant, n' they already have mason to watch. i think it'd be good to have it @ our house. *shrug* i also wonder if we have friends that don't have a family to go to over t.giving... well, like friends w/ family that's far 'way...
hrm, i wonder if there'r friends i haven't talked to in a while. i've pondered having a rule'f e.mailing a random ol' friend 1nce a wk or sumpthin'. would that be a good idea? *shrug*
on okt 9, @ ortega park in sunnyvale, sometime 'round noon, we'll do yet 'nother taekwondo demo.
*breath* so what's up? how's life? if u have a blog or journal, i might read it. recently kaela n' some1 named esteban signed my g.book. thanks. thank u very much. others? ne others'f u wanna sign my g.book? plz do! if u'r reading this rt now, i think u should sign it.
2nite, w/ my cowerkers, we're going to malibu grand prix in redwood city. 2morrow, we might hit up berkeley 4 a bit.
u know, i guess 'lot'f life is waiting, isn't it? sometimes, u feel u need to take a proaktive role. however, sometimes u'r wrong n' just need to wait. *shrug* "dude, what r u talkin' 'bout?!" yah yah yah... i know; it sounds like i'm trying to talk 'bout some big issue in my life n' am just beating 'round the bush or sumpthin'. do u 'member the ol', ol' baby v.o.x. song "ya ya ya"? i just thought'f it cos i wrote out "yah yah yah." *sigh* that was now yrs 'go, huh? u know how there was recently that well.publicised korean "snowy concert" @ uc berkeley's haas pavilion? did u know that the main stars baby v.o.x. did not show up?! i heard they had a visa prob. @ the same time, ppl sed, "hey, they've per4med in the u.s. b4? what's the prob? i think they just ditched cos every1 hates them cos'f that stoopid song where they used 2pac's sample w/o permission." *shrug*
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went to 1 bank, withdrew $5,000 or $5k in ca$h, drove it over to 'nother bank, n' depo$ited it. yah, it's kind'f crazy to handle so much ca$h. after that, i went home. i wanted to get my car washed, but i then decided it would take 2 long. i walked sooni n' ate a lunch that consisted'f frozen fuds: a mini red baron pizza or whatever n' a black bean adobo forkless gourmet bun. oh yah, i also ate a fuji apple. 사과를 먹었어요. 순이를 산책시켰어요.
earlier this wk, on tues nite, kaela n' i finished watching 파리의 연인 / paris uy yuhnin. yah, it did have sort'f a weird ending. i've gotta say, these drama writers do vary the endings: not all endings r sad, not all endings r happy, not all endings make a whole lot'f sense, etc. u know how u sometimes hate movies that have prediktable endings? well, these dramas usually don't have really prediktable endings. now that we've finished 파리의 연인 / paris uy yuhnin, we'll continue watching 풀 하우스 / full house. ('gain, not the cheesy, lame 1980s bob saget / olsen twins show!)
"get on up, get on up, everybody get on up. 두 손을 하늘로; 허리 한번 돌려봐." -- 신미나 "돌아"
[later] oh yah, u were wondering if i'm waiting 4 sumpthin' big to happen in my life! well, nuthin' in particular; it's just that i feel life is sometimes a waiting game. like, rt now, i still feel i'm sort'f in this young career stage'f life, n' well... sure, i wonder when i'll feel a li'l more mature... in a good way. sure, i own a house n' stuff now... but well, this example'll sound really materialistik, but i wonder when i'll be able to have a house w/ all that home automation stuff i wish i could have someday. u know... i'd like to be able to call up the house from my cellfon n' confirm that all the doors r locked, that a lite in the kitchen is left on 4 sooni, etc. *shrug* when'll i be able to watch a webcam'f the inside'f our house over a secure connektion from my cellfon? i'm sure that's not 2 far off, rt? *shrug* neway, ha ha ha! u guys must be laffin' ur @$$es off @ me cos what does hi technology have to do w/ maturity?! ha ha ha... well, u know that my mind's a li'l twisted, n' all... but *shrug* well, yah, this paragraph doesn't make a whole lot'f sense... but i do wish we could all drive alternative fuel vehicles, of course. it's just a matter'f time, rt? *shrug* 일요일 오후 1259p, sun:
월요일 아침: 어제 추석 송편 샀어요. 맛있어요. yesterday, we bought some choosuhk songpyuhn. songpyuhn is a rice cake (떡 / dduhk) that is steamed w/ pine needles. "choosuhk," if u don't know, is the korean name 4 the asian moon festival. i s'ppose w/ all this talk 'bout halloween n' t.giving, we all 2 easily 4get that 추석 choosuhk (or the asian moon festival in general) is the absolutely most ultimately unbeatably most important holiday'f the autumn season. there's no doubt 'bout that. ok, i admit that i say that w/ some hint'f asian pride, heh heh. hey listen yo; i was telling kaela hwang that there's halloween candy n' christmas candy but thankfully there's no t.giving candy! also, we could dress sooni up 4 halloween n' christmas. she should be a reindeer 4 christmas cos she has a good colour 4 a reindeer, n' when she looks @ u, she often has the innocent eyes'f a reindeer, u know. what 'bout 4 halloween? we saw a cute pumpkin costume @ target so what's up? it's mon. how r u? u ready to sign my g.book? i'd like u to. please sign my g.book. thanks.
[a li'l later] hey, didju ever hear'f this story? "a life forever changed"... it's 'bout jill mason n' alan liu, who were run over by a drunk driver while biking. apparently alan liu was an engr @ applied materials. hrm, this happened this past april. i should've heard 'bout this, but maybe i was just way 2 bizzy werking on my master's projekt @ the time. *shrug* neway, it's a tragik story.
have u heard'f the ogo instant msging device available thru at&t ? apparently it's like the blackberry, but it's being marketted 2wards youths. the service co$ts 17.99/month. the device is a like a cellfon w/ instant msging, but it doesn't have voice services. check out this artikle: "hands-on with the ogo" @ engadget.com. that artikle has some pics. i 1st read 'bout it in this y! news artikle: "at&t wireless sells dedicated messaging device," but that artikle lacks pics. [later] y! news 2day also has this artikle 'bout how living in suburbs, cos'f the time u spend driving instead'f exercising, is bad 4 ur health: "study: living in the suburbs can make you sick."
[later] last nite, kaela n' i watched more'f 풀 하우스 / full house. it's really funny n' interesting. yah, i guess rt now, we're watching 풀 하우스 / full housen' 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn. 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn's also very interesting, but it's more dramatik n' less comical, u know? like, 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli wasn't really comical but just dramatic, n' same w/ 겨울 연가 / gyuhool yuhnga. u know, we've really gotta make a database'f all the korean dramas we've watched. we should keep track'f, not just the aktors/aktresses, but things 'bout the story n' what netwerk it ran on, etc. so many'f the stories involve some richboy n' a not.so.rich gurl, 'cept 4 진주 목걸이 / jinjoo mokguhli, in which that situation was reversed.
[later] 너구리, 강아지, 다람지, 고양이, 송아지, 병아리, 비들기... nuhgoori, gangaji, daramji, goyangi, songaji, byungari, bideulgi...
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went home, warmed up leftover 짜장 jjajang, n' cooked some 우동 oodong (udon) noodles. i mean, i poured the 짜장 jjajang over the 우동 oodong. we didn't have nemore normal noodles, so i used the 우동 oodong noodles instead. it was pretty good. i wanted to take sooni 4 a walk, but i felt that i had to get back to werk, u know? i also ate a fuji apple while waiting 4 the noodles to cook.
last nite, in the shower, i thought 'bout sumpthin' i've thought 'bout many times b4: do i aktually do nething these days to $ave $$$? i mean, really... is there nething i do that $aves $$$, that gives me an advantage over other con$umers, etc.? :-/ u know when i was in college (undergrad) i was quite a bit more frugal n' did lots'f things that saved $$$. 4 example, i ate pretty frugally... relatively... n' i only bought clothes that were on $ale, usually like clearance sale. what else? uhm, i had a very cheap apt. i didn't have a cellfon n' had ways to make free fon calls from campus fons. toby cut my hair. ok, that's 1 thing that i still save $$$ on: kaela cuts my hair these days. what else? hrm, well, these days, i don't drive much cos i werk close to home. what else? in the recent past, i was able to $ave $$$ by dling muzik n' movies from the internet just like everybody else n' his/her mom. however, that's all dead now, so that doesn't count... 'cept i do get to dl muzik videos from bronx's junkyard, thanks to jerome n' peter et al. lessee... how else do i $ave $$$, n' how else did i $ave $$$? well... hrm, i haven't washed my car in a long time. ha ha ha. that's not a good thing. uhm, i dunno... yah, like i sed, i used to be more frugal n' also cmed to have more "hookups" back in college or sumpthin'. *shrug* nowadays, i feel like a normal consumer. i do look 4 good deals n' sales, etc. i feel i'm justified in saying that u can't call me cheap. i dunno how much that's worth. :-/ there r things i'd like to buy but don't. *shrug* c? does that count as saving $$$? not really, rt? otherwise, i could make millions'f $$$ buy wanting more things that i don't get, rt? ha ha ha. *shrug* [later] it's kind'f funny that some'f the things i want r sort'f whadya say... n-1 generation stuff... or maybe more like n-2... do u know what i'm saying? basikally, old stuff... i mean, a generation or 2 behind in teknology. 4 example, i've thought 'bout buying a vcr n' a scanner. why? *shrug* yah, i sometimes have a hard time 'membering a good reason to buy a vcr. the scanner? well, there's pics n' negatives i wanna scan such as the negatives from the wedding studio pics we took in korea.
[later] oh yah, while i'm talkin' 'bout how i'm not $aving $$$, lemme mention that, since we postponed our mtg w/ dawna caldwell'f happy tails yesterday evening cos'f dawna's illness, kaela n' i went to valley fair b4 going grocery shopping @ 갈러리아 / galleria. @ valley fair, i got my esq watch's battery replaced 4 $10 @ that kiosk run by the vietnamese family. then i bought us the miracle blade iii set from the as seen on tv store. do u 'member? 4 kaela's b.day, i thought i bought her that set, but i aktually only bought her the knife block n' 4 steak knives. i was s'pposed to buy the knife set, n' that block n' the extra 4 steak knives were s'pposed to be an add'l accessory, u know? upes. neway, i bought us the knife set, as it was being sold @ the cheapest price i'd cn 4 that set. it sells 4 $39.99 @ target w/o the citrus juicer, but i got us the set w/ the juicer 4 some $33.45 or whatever. i guess knives like these r cheaper than those nice wusthof or henckels knives partially cos they're manufaktured in china. u know that i question the labour praktices'f china n' thus boycott shoes made in china. i always check the tongue. i also avoid clothes made in china. however, when it comes to elektronics n' other household items, i often 4get to check. *shrug* i dunno. well, if u 'member, when i bought the kvm switch 4 our desktop 'puters n' the router 4 my werk, i purposely bought stuff made in taiwan as opposed to china.
[later] it's really autumn. uhm, when is 추석 / choosuhk / the moon festival??? is it now? i think it's now, but i'm not sure. [a li'l later] 저녁: it's definitely autumn, as sept's ending. it'll soon be okt.
oh yah, 'gain, while we're on the topik'f my not $aving $$$, yesterday, b4 going off to the mall, kaela n' i went to sf framing in sunnyvale on el camino real, where we dropped off our vettriano "dance me to the end of love" 4 custom framing. these custom frames r expen$ive, n' the frame co$ts more than the digital canvas reproduktion itself. i'm glad tho' that the dude werking there sed our repro was very, very good quality n' well worth the price i paid 4 it. i think i paid less than what i sed i paid. i 4get. ok, i just checked my ol' credit card bill online n' found out i barely paid less than what i sed i paid. in other wurds, what i sed was pretty accurate. neway, the frame co$ts like 2x as much as the painting. funny, huh? [a li'l later] curious 'bout the aktual artist jack vettriano, i googled up his name. 1st off, i got lots'f links to sites that sell print repros'f his paintings, but the rt combo'f wurds led me to sites that had some info on the aktual artist. he was born in scotlland in 1951 in a mining town or sumpthin'. i think his dad was a miner. 4 his 21st b.day (that'd be in 1972, eh?), his gf gave him a set'f watercolour paints, so that's how he got started, i guess. his 1st exhibit was in 1989, so i guess he was uh... 38 yrs old. oh, hrm... according to portlandgallery.com, "jack vettriano is represented exclusively by portland gallery." oh yah, aktually, b4 i even thought 'bout researching the aktual artist, i wondered to myself, "where can i c the original 'dance me to the end of love'?" i dunno. i guess maybe some person owns the original painting? *shrug*
[later] 758p: 나쁜 도깨비... i just battled a monster. i came home after werking out (weights n' abs) in the company gym. the sun had set by 730p 2nite, n' i saw the beautiful full moon b4 it crouched behind some autumn clouds. it reminded me'f the pic'f "the bunny" (마시마로 / mashimaro) sittin' on a branch w/ a coupl'f monkeys, looking @ the full moon. as u know, "the bunny" had just finished explaining to the monkey that the image in the moon is that'f a bunny unclogging a toilet w/ a plunger. the more traditional asian folklore sez that the moon has the image'f a bunny grinding rice w/ a mortar n' pestle type contraption. neway, i have that pic'f 마시마로 / mashimaro ("the bunny") sittin' on the branch w/ the monkeys on a folder that kaela bought 4 me from life plaza the time we drove down to socal. i saw the beautiful moon while sittin' in moderate traffik on the only big street i drive on my current 5 min commute from werk. it must be 추석 choosuhk rt now, eh? the moon was so big n' beautiful. i came home, n' our house was dark, so i set the timer 4 the lites that lite up the maple trees to go off just a li'l earlier. it feels like autumn, doesn't it? i entered our house. b4 i turned the lites on, i saw sooni in the dark backyard being a good gurl. i let her in. as i'm hungry n' was hungry, i went to the fridge n' got some coldcut turkey 4 myself. w/ more lites on, i looked over 2wards the box that we keep lots'f sooni's doggy treats n' grooming equipment. on this yellow bag'f doggy biscuits that was stickin' out'f the box, i saw the humongous, gargantuan spider. i couldn't believe my eyes. i wondered if it was a plastic toy spider. it was incredibly huge. u know how the wurd "ginormous" (pronounced "jai.nor.mous") is really trendy these days? well, shoot! this spider was beyond ginormous! it was bigger than the whole universe! neway, i took a closer look, n' it sure was a real spider. whoa! @ 1st, i asked sooni if she wanted to catch it, but she couldn't c it. (she's 2 short.) it was huge! i took our empty 1.5l plastik bottle'f 굿모닝 / gootmoning / good morning 현미쌀 음료 / hyunmissal eumryo / brown rice drink (sort'f a tasty korean horchata) n' used it like a small club to whack the spider on the bag'f doggy treat. the impakt made a big smack noise, n' sooni got a li'l startled n' backed up. i had a good feeling that the spider must've gotten 'way n' ran down further into the cardboard box. i got a maglite. a coupl'f weeks 'go i pulled that maglite out'f the utility closet to give to kaela to take sooni 4 a walk in the eve. it was a dark eve. i think she 4got to bring the flashlite that nite, but i 4get. u'll hafta ask her. that flashlite aktually doesn't belong to us, i think. yah, i just checked the lens'f the flashlite; it's not ours. i think some repairman left it @ my mom's house after installing the furnace or sumpthin'. on the lens, w/ a black sharpie pen is written in all caps "lydon." how many batteries does this maglite use? maybe 6? it's a good club. it's the kind sekurity guards n' cops use, u know? i know ken likes these maglites. well, i used the maglite to shine some lite into that cardboard box in btwn bags'f doggy treats n' the like, things like greenies. 2wards the bottom'f the box, on top'f a white plastik bag, i saw that huge spider. i looked @ it 4 a while, it wasn't moving but was definitely still alive. i looked @ it a bit. then i got ready to strike. i turned the lite off n' turned it 'round to use its base as my weapon. much like the way "the bunny" grinds rice, i was 'bout to use that blunt object to pound the creature. this wasn't just a spider, it was alien v. predator, both monsters in 1! i inhaled, exhaled, n' made my offensive move. 'gain, the impakt made a loud sound, but sooni was more prepared 4 it. i turned the lite back 'round n' back on. i shone it into the box n' saw that the spider had ran 'way deeper into the box into a li'l pocket made by the white plastik bag. hrm, it looked rather trapped to me. i looked @ it a bit more but new i could defeat it despite the probability that a spider like that, w/o a web, must be a spider that defends itself w/ powerful venom. i turned the lite off n' got ready to use it as a weapon 'gain. this time i tried to smash it by sandwiching it w/ my flashlite base btwn 2 surfaces'f the plastic bag. i thrusted the lite's base into the box. there was a bit'f a clink sound. i knew i must'f incidentally hit the ceramic christmas doggy bowl that kaela n' i bought 4 her 4 very cheap @ macy's 1tym. the bowl came filled w/ some doggy biscuits n' co$t @ most $5; i 4get. neway, i saw some lifeless legs stickin' out from that sandwich 4med w/ the 2 surfaces'f the plastic bag. 'pparently, the plastik bag pocket i saw earlier was the flimsy plastik material con4ming to the shape'f the bowl. knowing i had triumphed, i went 'head n' used my blunt weapon to smoosh the spider more, maybe grinding it like "the bunny" grinds rice... that is if "the bunny" were to grind rice instead'f unclogging his toilet. 싫은것: 거미, 개미, 수파리, 나방... dislikable things: spiders, ants, flies, n' moths...
i meant to come home b4 sunset n' mow the lawn n/or prune some potato trees, etc. upes. sooni needs a walk. 화요일 아침: happy choosuhk. why doesn't google have a choosuhk graphic up? <:-? they usually do. *shrug* is it not choosuhk yet? this morn on kbs news, the anchorppl were wearing hanbok, so it must be choosuhk.
[later] 오후: 4 lunch, i had this shrimp pasta salad from the company cafeteria. it was pretty good n' not that expen$ive. yah, so i bought lunch 2day even tho' i sed i'd try not to buy lunch so much but rather eat @ home or bring lunch, etc. well, i couldn't go home during lunch 2day cos i had a lunchtime mtg. 2morrow i have an early afternoon mtg, so i dunno if i'll be able to go home or what.
while we're on the topik'f fud... so yah, on sun nite, the beautiful kaela hwang cooked some good 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn. it was very good. last nite (mon nite), kaela cooked this awesome 고들어 구이 godeunguh gui (in the toaster oven), n' we ate it w/ 쌍추 / ssangchoo / lettuce... this is whatchu'd call 쌈 ssam, where we take the lettuce (kind'f like protein style), put some 쌈장 ssamjang on it, put some rice in it (not like protein style), put some meat or (in this case) fish in it, put some 김치 kimchi or else other 반찬 banchan it it, wrap it up (싸다 ssada), n' eat it. kaela also cooked some miso soup. she's got a bit'f a cold. yah, it sure sounds like i'm making her slave 'way w/ cooking n' cleaning, even when she's sick etc. well, i appreciate her cooking, the cooking she's done the past coupl'f days. if we cook 2nite, i'll cook. on sun, when we bought groceries @ 갈러리아 galleria, i got us ingredients 4 떡볶이 dduhkbokki, which is (i guess) 1'f my specialities, if i have ne.
[later] this y! news artikle is very, very, very relevant to my field'f werk n' edukation n' everything: "INTERVIEW: Sony Chases Rivals in Image Chip Race"
[later] 저녁 654p: 2day, we left sooni inside all day, n' i couldn't come home 4 lunch or nething cos i had that lunch mtg. neway, when i came home, sooni was a good gurl n' had been a good gurl all day, i guess. however, i wanted to figure out where she had been sleeping, since she sleeps all day when we're not home, i guess. i took off the slippers i had just put on when entering the house after taking off my shoes. then i took off my socks. i walked 'round the house barefoot feeling 4 a warm spot. i found it in the carpetted computer rm / office. aha, so that's where she sleeps during the day, eh? ok. i ate a bowl'f maple n' brown sugar oatmeal n' went outside to pull some weeds.
[later] 1142p: it was a tuff nite. we had taekwondo demo praktice, but kaela n' i were really late. i absolutely hate it when i'm late to a class/praktice that i'm s'pposed to lead. it really makes me look bad, u know? i really hate that. @ praktice, i thought i lost my wallet. it was really frustrating cos we left the house in such a hurry, u know? after praktice, we went to fantasia 4 boba. 수요일 아침: check out this y! news artikle: "hayek sitting pretty with 'betty la fea.'" a yr or 2 'go, the beautiful kaela hwang (kaela la bella?) n' i saw all these billboards advertising 4 betty la fea 'round the silly valley, which every1 knows has a big chicano/latino community. apparently, betty la fea was a very, very popular n' successful telenovela, which i can only guess is the latin amerikan equivalent to the asian 드라마 deurama (or i think in japanese, it's dorama). apparently, abc is gonna translate the series n' recreate it 4 the non.spanish.speaking amerikan audience. isn't that crazy??? just imagine if they did that 4 a korean drama. which 1 would they pick? hrm... i dunno, but it cms like either 가을 동화 or 겨울 연가 could be called the most popular drama in recent yrs; i dunno. as i've sed b4, tho', korean dramas differ greatly from amerikan dramas in that they tie in lots'f the asian belief in family values n' family pride, etc. u just don't c that in amerikan shows. i mean, obviously u c shows 'bout families, parents n' kids, parents n' kids getting into scandals, this n' that... but it's not the same. in amerika, there just isn't the kind'f culture that revolves so much 'round how u respekt ur ancestors, n' elders, etc. also, asian dramas r 2 innocent 4 the general amerikan audience. they just wanna c desperate, horny ppl w/ no morals.
[later] as u well know, rt now, we're watching kbs's풀 하우스 / full house. the main aktress is the famous 송혜교 song hyeigyo, but i didn't realise that until after a long while. i know she's very, very popular @ bronx's junkyard; but, b4, i wasn't really sure who she was. i'm sure she was in a very popular drama b4... uh, maybe it was 가울 동화 / gaeul donghwa? i dunno; i'm rather clueless 'bout 가을 동화 / gaeul donghwa even tho' literally every1 n' his/her mutha saw it, whether in its original korean language or else translated into some dialekt'f chinese or else japanese. i just know that i saw the name'f the lead aktress n' noticed it was some1 very popular, n' jane sed the lead aktor's the very popular 원빈 won bin. when i 1st started watching 풀 하우스 / full house, i thought 송혜교 song hyeigyo sort'f looked like 전지현 juhn jihyun (famous 4 엽기적인 그녀 / yuhbgi juhkin geunyuh / my sassy girl); but u know what? her demeanor/behaviour on this show aktually 'minds me'f grace adler on will and grace. as i was watching, i thought, her behaviour really reminds me'f some amerikan aktress/character... i knew it was some1 from a comedy, whether a movie or tv. then it dawned on me.
[just a li'l later] this morn, while i was walking sooni, all'f the sudden, sooni got in her alert mode. i didn't know why. i didn't c ne other doggy, no kitty, not even a 다람지 daramji (squirrel). 강아지 업서, 고양이 없어, 다람지도 없어요. then she quickly lunged n' bit a fuzzy li'l cactus! *sigh* i usually brag 'bout how we have such a smart doggy, but... well, she didn't get hurt, i don't think; but she might've felt a li'l stoopid afterwards. the cactus was 'bout the size'f a bunny.
from http://www.lg.co.kr/h_lg/tree/200101/15.htm: “성수야, 아빠 곰은 뚱뚱해 엄마곰은 날씬해 이렇게 불러야지.”
“아니야, 아빠가 아빠곰은 날씬해 엄마곰은 뚱뚱해 이렇게 부르라고 했어.” 목요일 아침: what's up? 요즘 어떻게 지내요? i had some dreams last nite, but i don't think i 'member them. maybe they weren't that exciting. i think 1 related to 'puters, so yah... not very exciting. this morn, i took sooni 4 a walk n' noticed falling autumn leaves. the air sure was colder n' more brisk than in previous wks. the sun rises much later. during the werkday, sooni doesn't want to stay in the backyard. i s'ppose, when i try to put her outside in the morn, she thinks it's 2 cold; but i know it'll warm up as the day progresses.
[later] do u know the uc berkeley student publikation the heuristic squelch? i'm sure most berkeley alums n' students know it. it's sort'f a satirikal, comedy newspaper... or well, it's now more'f a magazine than a newspaper. it's evolved quite a bit since i was a student @ cal. in fakt, i'm sure ppl from my sister's generation'd be totally shocked to c how it's totally evolved into a pretty good looking magazine as opposed to the primitive newspaper it was back in the 1990s. ha, i don't mean to put such a value judgement that would say that magazines r worth more than newspapers, no. we all know that our good friend phil huang wrote 4 the daily californian, uc berkeley's "real" newspaper. in the past, the heuristic squelch would often poke fun 2 the daily cal, u know? basikally, in the past, the heuristic squelch was more'f a parody'f the daily cal. the publikation looks much nicer now, but i like it less. sorry. r u familiar w/ theonion.com? i found out 'bout this website like in 1999 or so. it's a satirical comedy site that pokes mild fun @ amerikan politiks, culture, n' society; much like nbc's saturday nite live. however, i think it's a li'l bit tamer than snl. well, i think the heuristic squelch has become more like theonion.com. i'm sure it's cos nowadays kids grow up w/ the internet, n' thus the current batch'f berkeley students r used to finding kicks n' giggles or even "$#!+s" n' giggles on the net, u know? so yah... i'm guessing the current writers grew up reading theonion.com. so now it's more like theonion.com n' not so much a parody'f the daily cal. i liked it better in the past. the humour was quite a bit more localised; i mean, it wasn't as universal more just jokes 'bout stuff that happens in berkeley; but that was fun. now, i noticed, it has more legitimate advertisements, which is prob'ly why it can afford to look nicer while still being a free publikation. in the past, it had lots'f fake ads but much fewer real ads. neway, i just wanted to give my humble opinion'f that publikation since i picked up copies'f a few recent issues when the beautiful kaela hwang n' i visited berkeley 2 times 'go (not last time>, but the time b4).
[a li'l later] last nite, since kaela's sick, i cooked some 미역 우동 miyuhk oodong. (miyuhk is a kind'f seaweed.) i didn't put 미역 miyuhk in the soup, no; rather the 미역 miyuhk was in the noodle dough. do u know what i mean? 알았어요? basikally, i ... [interrupted, resumed later] opened up the packaged n' was surprised to find green noodles! i wondered if they were moldy but realised what was going on n' even sniffed to make sure they were ok. they were ok. in fakt, they were delicious! i put lots'f things in the 우동 oodong (udon), n' it took a long time to make: 오댕 odaeng (friend fishcake), 양배추 yangbaechoo (cabbage), 양파 yangpa (onion), 버섯 buhsuht (shroom), n' 당근 danggeun (carrot). it took me a long time to prepare dinner last nite cos i had lots'f dishes to wash. yah, on tues nite also, i had lots'f dishes to wash. i've had to wash lots'f dishes lately, i s'ppose; n' u know what? my dishwashing gloves finally just totally wore out! the fingertips wore thin n' ripped. n' u know what? these rn't cheapy gloves but more heavy.duty 1s. *sigh* well, time to buy new gloves. i threw 'way the old 1s last nite.
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i got a carwash (or a car wash? no, i think it was a carwash.) n' did a li'l bit'f grocery shopping @ albertsons. i bought some new dishwashing gloves. 4 my lunch meal, i nuked some canned progresso lentil soup n' drank some 오렌지 쥬스 oreinji jyuseu [later] i wonder what we should do 'bout snowboarding this yr. here r some options:
[a li'l later] 저녁: ok, i check craigslist, n' there r indeed ppl looking to make a group'f 15+ to get the group double whammy passes. kewl. well, many ppl r aktually charging $10 extra! can u believe that? so they're like making $$$ off'f this. i'm surprised northstar/sierra hasn't shut them down. 금요일 아침: 10월이 시작해요. [나중에] 요즘 날씨가 좀 추워요. 가울이 명확히 왔어요. 오늘 아침에 순이를 산책시켰을때 앗! 너무 추워요. 사실은 겨울 올때 더 추워겠어요.
[나중에] 오후: last nite was the kerry v. dubyah debate. b4 the debate, i figured that kerry's popularity would go up after the debate since, we all know that every time dubyah opens his mouth, his popularity falls cos ppl 'member how he keeps saying dumb things. we watched part'f the debate, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i (n' sooni?). it was interesting, i s'ppose. yah, dubyah just kept saying the same stoopid thing. i s'ppose his mind just can't really process more than 1 thing @ a time, etc. he also looked pretty pi$$ed thru.out the whole debate. ha ha. maybe he would've preferred just to skip the debate. didn't schwarzeneggar skip all the gubernatorial debates? i 4get. neway, i hope the debates benefitted voters, heh. *shrug* yah, i hope ppl c that john kerry can be a good president, a good leader, etc. after cing the debate. i hear there's gonna be a 2nd debate sometime 'bout domestik issues. now, w/ that i dunno how dubyah'd ever dream he could per4m well. after all, he doesn't really have ne domestik policies. in fakt, u could say he doesn't have ne foreign policies either. we've all cn that witty bumper sticker: "yeehaw!" is not a foreign policy. that's true.
well, as my last item (i think) 'bout politiks, do u know what a yellow dog democrat is? if not, go 'head n' click that link (http://www.petloveshack.com/yellowdog.html). ok, aktually lemme give u a brief idea'bout yellow dog democrats. a yellow dog democrat is an unwavering democratic party loyalist. i've heard (folklore kicks #$$.) that the the term comes from the idea that a "yellow dog democrat" would always vote 4 the democratic candidate, even if the democrats nominated a yellow dog. ha ha, cute image, eh? well, further, more serious internet research taught me that it's a very southern term n' also has roots from late 19th century trade union lingo. apparently "a yellow dog" was a coward that would stoop to signing a contract w/ his employer saying that he would not join a labour union. *shrug* neway, apparently, there's also a newer term "blue dog democrat," which apparently refers to "an open-minded democrat willing to support some conservative policies," according to http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990929. here, maybe a better resource 4 learing 'bout "yellow dog democrats" is http://www.yellowdogdemocrat.com/history.htm or just http://www.yellowdogdemocrat.com.
i s'ppose u can also check out http://www.bluedogdemocrats.com or http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/welcome.htm. as i've sed b4, since the media is trying to create a civil war in this country, they've been trying to equate "republikan" w/ "conservative" n' "demokrat" w/ "liberal," n' that's just not necessarily the case! there is such a thing as a "conservative demokrat" n' such a thing as a "liberal republikan."
whoa, what?! there's such a thing as a green dog democrat?! check out http://www.eurolegal.org/greendogdem/greendogdem.htm, but u'll hafta scroll 'lot down to learn nething.
2day, i came to werk a li'l earlier than usual n' ate brkfast here. from the cafeteria, i bought this unhealthy 2 eggs, 1 bacon, 1 sausage, 2 pieces'f french toast meal. a "grand slam" type brkfast 4 $3. it was pretty good but unhealthy. @ lunch, i met w/ my old cowerkers @ barn thai in sunnyvale on e duane ave. i had spicy eggplant w/ chicken. it was ok.
[later] back to current events: so i read on y! news that mt. st. helens erupted 'gain, the 1st time in 18 yrs, eh? wow. i've been to mt. st. helens, u know. that was uh... hrm... back in the late 1980s? or... yah, i think so. neway, reading 'bout this volcanic eruption made me think 'bout visiting hawaii's volcanos, since they're so beautiful, rt? *shrug* 일요일 아침: check out this san jo mercury news article: "school districts checking false residency claims." the article talks 'bout how many parents in the silly valley fake addresses in order to get their kids into hi skools in either the fremont union or los gatos / saratoga distrikt. the fremont union distrikt includes some'f the most sought.after n' prestigious skools in the area: monta vista, homestead, n' lynbrook. the only really desired skool, imho (in my humble opinion), in the los gatos / saratoga distrikt is saratoga hi. yah, back in the 1989~1993 period, when i was in hi skool, i knew'f kids faking addresses to get into my alma mater leland hi skool; which, @ the time, was very, very hi.ly desired. back then, yah, parents really wanted their kids to go to leland, n' it had such good test skores n' so many national merit skolars, etc. now? well, i hear it's a diff story. now, what the article doesn't mention - n' i'm debating whether this is 4 the better or 4 the worse - is that most parents who fake addresses 4 the kids to go to a better skool, as far as i know, r asian. yes, indeed... this isn't cos asians r more dishonest or have less morals but cos asian parents (not 2 sound like i have 2 much asian pride) care sooo much 'bout their kids' edukations. so many asian parents in the silly valley want their kids to go to especially monta vista n' lynbrook. i mean, i've gotta admit, as things r now, i'd want my future kids to go to either monta vista or homestead; but maybe the hi skool close to our current house'll get better. it's not a bad skool, but u've gotta understand what skools like monta vista, lynbrook, homestead, n' saratoga r like. well, they have super hi test skores n' so many ap classes n' national merit finalists n' students that go off to prestigious universities such as berkeley, etc. also, u need to understand just how hi the asian population is @ skools like monta vista, lynbrook, n' homestead. i s'ppose the saratoga hi asian population must've risen in recent yr; but back when i was a kid, i didn't know saratoga as such a major asian skool. back then leland hi was such an asian skool, but i hear it's not nemore n' has also just plain gone down. about leland, u can debate whether the chicken or egg came 1st, but the way i c it is that, since the almaden valley wasn't as welcoming'f the asian community as cupertino has been, asians moved out'f almaden n' into cupertino, n' then leland went down n' monta vista went up, u know? i mean, i hate to perpetuate or support the stereotype that asian students r all such good students; but, well, as an asian.am that grew up w/ many asian peers, i've gotta say that, yah, 'mongst asian students in the silly valley, there r a disproportionately large 'mount'f good students. now, what's sad to think is that there r prob'ly many good, smart asian students whose parents can't afford to live in cupertino or saratoga, n' so the parents fake addresses to get their kids into the prestigious skools in those neighbourhoods. this crackdown on these parents who fake addresses? i gotta wonder if they r specifically targeting these asian parents, especially in saratoga, which has a history'f being an elitist kind'f region, u know? can u imagine? *shrug* i mean, think 'bout how health inspektors that inspekt restaurants have a bad history'f purposely targeting asian business owners. i hate to think this current effort is sumpthin' like that. could u maybe call it "akademic genocide?"
2day's sun, n' we'll go to church @ great exchange aka grx. on fri nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i attended grx's t3s ("it takes 3" south) small group, which is a bible study 4 married, engaged, n' seriously dating couples, based in the south bay, as oppsed to t3n ("it takes 3" north), which is based somewhere up in the peninsula. it was very fun n' brought me back to my berkeley days, in a good way. *sigh* now, i'm not 1 to say bad things; n', like, i don't want ppl to take this in the wrong way, but i really liked t3s cos it was refreshing to get to use my brain n' think 'gain during a bible study... uh, ok, :-/ i hope that didn't come out wrong... like, it's just that in the past yr, n' i won't say 'xaktly where i've been, in some (not all) bible studies i've been to, ppl have expekted to be spoonfed their beliefs, ppl have wanted to be told what to believe. it cmed like no1 wanted to take an aktive role in discovering their set'f beliefs. however, @ t3s, ppl approached issues from all sides. ppl contributed lots'f intelligent insight to discussions. i was dumbfounded, as i was no longer used to thinking @ this level during a bible study, even tho' i felt like i "came home" n' was in an environment similar to my berkeley iv (intervarsity christian fellowship) groups. to me, that's a good thing. so far, as i sort'f expekted, my grx experience is like combining my college ivcf w/ the church i went to in college, which is christian layman in oakland; n' all these things, in my eyes, r good. or i guess, i mean, they're 'least good signs.
on sat, kaela n' i went went w/ my applied materials cowerkers to habitat 4 humanity to help build houses 4 low income families. kaela n' i arrived @ the site later than the rest'f my cowerkers did. they got there on time, but we were late. habitat 4 humanity werks on a strikt skedule cos they've gotta train volunteers to use dangerous equipment n' stuff like that. they couldn't let kaela n' me do the aktual house construktion, but we got to build a tent that the volunteers n' werkers'll use. 1'f my cowerkers was also late, so he helped us. when we 1st got there n' were awaiting instruktions, we also conversed w/ 1 other latecomer who was volunteering from some first presbyterian church in los altos. as i would've expekted, lots'f churches volunteer 4 habitat 4 humanity. after we built the tent, there wasn't 2 much more 4 us to do, even tho' my cowerkers had plenty to do cos they were construkting the aktual house. well, we all had lunch 2gether @ a very nearby taqueria. kaela n' i shared a small bowl'f menudo n' a large horchata. kaela wanted soup cos she was sick, but we both felt bad cos lots'f my cowerkers r from india, where u don't eat cows, n' there we were sittin' w/ a big bowl full'f cow parts. yah, i felt a bit bad 'bout that. lots'f my cowerkers were curious 'bout our menudo cos we were the only 1s @ our table w/a big bowl as opposed to a burrito or sumpthin' like that. so, i kept having to say that we were eating cow parts. it was good, but i couldn't finish the big "small" bowl. it was just 2 much animal, u know? 'least, this 1 didn't have a foot in it. apparently, menudo typikally has a calf's foot. after lunch, the 3'f us who built the tent didn't have much to do. even tho' our cowerkers stayed the whole day, the habitat 4 humanity organiser told us we might as well leave, not cos they didn't appreciate our help but cos there wasn't much more we could do. kaela n' i took a short drive thru sf. we stopped by the safeway near j.town so that i could get kaela some cold medicine n' odwalla. then we just drove home. sf was beautiful tho'.
1nce we got home, i immediately started on plenty'f yardwerk. i did lots'f yardwerk in our backyard. i pulled so many weeds n' trimmed hedges n' trees. there was so much werk to do, n' i'm glad the backyard looks much, much better now. man, i'd let our landscaping really go bad, u know? aktually, i still gotta mow the lawn. the backyard lawn is sooo overgrown n' tall. it's such a jungle back there!
after i did yardwerk, kaela n' i watched a couple'f episodes'f the sbs 드라마 매직. then we went grocery shopping @ albertsons n' picked up new videos @ 금성 비디오/비디요 / geumsuhng video. @ albertsons, we ran into jane, so we invited her over to dinner @ our house even tho' we were just planning to eat simple 볶음밥 / bokkeum bap / fried rice. i cooked dinner; n' yah, jane came over. it was kewl. i like having ppl over.
밤 905p: in the late morn, we went to great exchange convenent church's 2nd service, which starts @ 1100a or so. we had lunch w/ david n' youmi @ 명동 순두부집 myuhngdong soondubujip. i had 섞어 순두부 sukkuh soondubu instead'f my recent usual 곱창 순두부 gobchang soondubu, since we ate menudo yesterday. later, we went to costco. heh, @ costco, sumpthin' interesting happened in the parking lot. these 2 guys in a pickup truck offered to fix the dent in my car from kaela's accident 4 really cheap. yah, some ppl might say they looked shady, but i could tell they were also definitely ppl eager to werk 4 extra $$$ on the wknd by offering a no overhead, skip the middleman kind'f service, u know? i figure sometimes it's good to give the "li'l guy" a chance, u know what i mean? 4 example, i think u should all get verizon cellfons, but don't buy ur fon from a verizon corporate store or radio shack or wherever! instead go to ken's house n' buy 1 from him, or have him drop it off w/ u. he'll get u a much better price! ironically, in this case, u save by adding a middleman, but the pt is that big bizness sometimes wants to make a big profit off'f u, while the li'l guy is willing to cut u some slack in order to break into the market or survive in the market, etc. (of course, when it comes to buying semiconduktor fabrication equipment, stick w/ the biggest company u can find!) [interrupted, later] 1109p: neway, these 2 guys sed they could fix the dent 4 really cheap, so i let them have a shot @ it. i watched them do it. i realised it's not as hard as i thought, i s'ppose, to remove the interior panels n' hammer out the dent. they did an ok job. it could look better but definitely looks better than it did b4, so i paid them off. sure, they're out to make $$$, but they cm like ok ppl.
2nite, we went to the great exchange convenant church (grx) membership class @ pastor dave's house. man, i felt so, like, refreshed. i feel like i'm back in a familiar environment, more like "what i'm used to." u know what i mean? like, i really like how "not being judgemental" is such a hi priority @ this church, not that i don't understand the importance'f accountablility but that i'm glad this church is also fully aware'f the misuse'f accountability. i really feel good 'bout the doktrine'f the church n' pastor dave, etc. i dunno if i've sed it here b4, but i'm totally not just shopping 'round 4 a church whose ideologies n' beliefs totally jive w/ mine or make life "convenient" 4 me. i'm not just looking 4 a church that'll be lenient 'nuff so that i can get 'way w/ as much sin as possible or nething! no, i'm totally willing to hear 'bout how we're all sinful beings, every1 including me. i'm also totally willing to hear that the christian ideologies that i grew up w/ in the churches i've attended in the past r totally wrong... i'm willing to hear that, but i also need to know that all these issues r up 4 discussion, n' i like how i feel that @ this church. i dunno; pastor dave himself warned me not to think rt off the bat that this church definitely'll offer everything we want. 2nite, kaela n' i were willing to sign up 4 membership if that's what he expekted, but he didn't want us to. he told us to stick 'round 4 ~3 months n' then decide. that's great; i'm glad we're not @ a cult, that's 4 sure. i'm very much 'gainst bible.based cults, as u know.
[later] 1128p: bernard n' michelle, thanks 4 signing my gbook. it really means 'lot to me. :-) yah, michelle, i'm sorry that we're not going to our 4mer church nemore, n' we really miss the ppl there... i feel really bad that it just cms like we left n' didn't tell ne1 'bout it, but... i, personally, just didn't know how to go 'bout it. i have an e.mail that i've been writing to pastor 4 quite a while, it just sits on my 'puter, n' i don't send it cos i'm never sure if it's done. :-/ it cmed like the rt thing to do, but now that i've waited this long, i can believe that i might never send it but dunno. neway, we don't hate ppl @ our 4mer church or nething. in general, we just came to believe that it didn't provide the rt environment in which god wants us to grow, learn, or worship. :-/ *shrug* i wish the best 4 the church. neway, if i run into ppl from our 4mer church, i hope we can talk ok. i s'ppose i feel really 'bout 'bout leaving rt @ the beginning'f the softball season, but well... 1) softball was pretty much the last thing on my mind when i was thinking n' thinking n' thinking n' thinking 'bout where god really wants me to worship, n' 2) i guess 'least i didn't leave in the middle'f the season in case i aktually became an essential player. *shrug* neway, i hope 'bout ppl @ the ol' church, that we can still be friends even tho' not churchmates, rt?
this past yr, man! i feel i've experienced so much (spiritually). i mean, shoot! we did get baptised this past easter, kaela n' i. *sigh* yah, we've really experienced 'lot. *breath* it's the kind'f time, where, i dunno, i just gotta say that god is really alive. life has just been really dynamic, u know? i mean, i rejoiced that god pulled me thru grad skool n' has given me a stable career situation 4 the time being. uhm, many'f u might now know 'bout kaela's sort'f career change: she's still werking as a realtor, but uhm... heh, if u haven't heard, this'll be a shock... she's starting chiropraktic skool @ palmer college of chiropractic west 2morrow. yup, 2morrow! yah, she's really sekretive 'bout stuff like this until it aktually happens. me? u know i wouldn't be like that, but *shrug* that's her style, n' i've got mine, i s'ppose. *shrug* so neway, heh... i s'ppose some ppl might learn 'bout her new career path rt here in my silly journal, but *shrug* i mean, shoot, u were bound to find out someday, no? *shrug* neway... so there's that. there's the fakt that we acquired sooni into our home; which, i've really gotta say, has been an extreme objekt lesson 'bout our relationship w/ god. i mean, shoot! there's the obvious human:god::dog:human analogy, which is *shrug* not necessarily correkt, as god is much more almighty than we r even relative to a canine, but *shrug* i s'ppose i can imagine that dogs sort'f view their masters as some kind'f godlike beings. n' that's a good objekt lesson, i realise. many times, when i hear sermons, etc. i think, "wow, that applies to dog ownership." ha ha. like, 2day... @ grx, we started a series on the 10 commandments, n' how we need to realise that god gave us the 10 commandments cos he loves us. yah, i've pondered in the past few months how god tells me to to do things n' gives me rules but i can't necessarily figure out why. like, maybe there r some things that god sez r sins, n' i as well as most humans'll protest n' say, "geez! that's not a sin! how could that be a sin?!" but then 'gain... think 'bout how sooni would love to lunge @ other doggies or run 'round the neighbourhood offleash if she could. i tell her she can't, just as god has given as so many thou shalt nots. she has no clue why she's not 'llowed to lunge @ other doggies or run 'round off leash, yet i keep telling her not to, n' she's sometimes obeys... not cos she understands why it's bad, but cos she loves me n' knows it displeases me if she does so. just like that, we need to follow gods commandments, not cos we understand why they're rt or can justify them or make sense'f them, but cos we love him. neway!!! thru.out the past few months, i've learned 'lot 'bout how if i go 'round talkin' as if i know the wurd'f god better than i do, that it's just plain heresy, so i've warned u, in the past, not to take my wurds on sprituality w/o some caution, u know? n' i've sed b4 that i wish i could someday write an essay 'bout how dog ownership teaches u to be a better christian or whatever... but eh! u know how i always wish i could write pieces like that but still resort to this primitive method'f textual vomit, i.e. my journal. oh well...
neway, 2nite, i have a big assignment 4 werk that i've been werking on @ home. i s'ppose this is making up 4 the late hrs i haven't much put in these recent days. in gen'l, i've gotta say that my company is very produktive, n' ppl werk long hrs, but lately i haven't werked the hrs i used to... but i s'ppose my werking late 2nite on a sun nite @ home might sort'f make up 4 that... or no? *shrug*
sometime in the past coupl'f days, kaela n' i received our sample ballots, n' i started to thumb thru it but haven't really read the whole thing. u know, in the past i thought i'd be open to vote 4 nondemokrats now n' then. in fakt, when my good, smart friend eric chang told me to vote 4 his professor in a berkeley local elektion, i did even tho' that candidate was a republikan since eric kept saying that dude was'f good charakter, etc. eric had pretty similar politikal values to me, i think; but *shrug* neway, he prob'ly thought thru his politikal values much more than i have ever. *shrug* neway, i used to think i'd be open to vote 4 a nondemokrat, but after briefly skimming thru the sample ballot, i wondered if i am a yellow dog demokrat. *shrug* 월요일 오후: a bible verse i just happened to read last nite on http://bible.com/dailybibleplan/niv.html, which i've always really liked.
as i don't wanna commit heresey by talking 2 much 'bout this as a lay person (not a clergy person) n' thus have ppl think i'm aktually trying to preach or nething; i'm not. i've just always liked this verse, u know? jesus was a friend to all kinds'f ppl. i dunno; my mere mentioning this verse prob'ly makes some christians' blood boil. i know some christians'll preach so much 'bout how christians should be in the world but not of the world, etc. true. ppl'll pt out that jesus didn't hang out w/ sinners just to hang out n' be friends but to save them n' tell them to repent. *sigh* well, i dunno, man... u've don't just talk 'bout repentance rt off the bat, u know? thus, do u just then avoid being 'round "sinners"? or do u accept that perhaps the process'f convincing ppl that jesus came to give salvation 4 nebody who wants it takes a while, so u might as well make it a bit more pleasant n' be friendly, etc. *shrug* neway! i sed i'd avoid heresy, so i shall.
2day, 4 lunch, i went w/ my cowerkers to 소공도 순두부집 sogongdo soondubujip, what most nonkorean language knowing ppl usually just call "tofu house." it's a very popular restaurant in this santa clara el camino real neighbourhood, but i've always felt 명동 순두부집myuhngdong soondubujip provided a much more authentikally korean environment, u know? yah, i prefer 명동 myuhngdong or else 청기와 chuhnggiwa. however, even despite the fakt that i ate 순두부 찌개 4 lunch yesterday, it was kewl to have korean fud w/ my cowerkers 4 1nce. it was my cowerker's b.day, n' he requested korean fud. he's chinese, not korean; but, u know, chinese ppl really like korean fud 'lot 2. i dunno; have i ever met a chinese person who didn't like korean fud?! in gen'l, i don't meet ppl who don't like chinese fud, but i've met some. chinese fud is known to have many diff styles, so i think every1 can find some style they like. 4 instance, most koreans prefer the so.called korean style chinese fud, which really isn't just korean style but really beijing.style w/ sometimes some influences from korea due to the immigration'f chinese ppl into korea. heh, i just make a pt'f this cos well, u know, i sometimes encounter that kind'f 2nd gen korean.am that doesn't really know his/her own culture n' insists that 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn is purely a korean invention w/o ne chinese influence, etc.
[later] last nite, i stayed up kind'f late to werk on my werk thingamajig. this morn, i woke up early to continue werking on it. it was dark this morn cos it's now autumn not summer. man, just wait till daylite saving time ends. then it'll be brite in the morn 4 a while, then back to dark n' then really dark. i wonder how the weather'll be this yr. i heard on the radio or more likely saw on tv this morn that this yr in the bay area is colder than usual. 4 the past few wks, we didn't have the clock radio set to go off, only the tv timer. thus i woke up to a min or 2'f japanese news, then korean news, n' then the dagnabbed nbc today show. now, i turned the clock radio back on, so that i can get a more fair n' balanced account'f the news via npr b4 watching the news thru nbc's eyes, u know? in ne case, when i finally get out'f bed each morn, i've gotta brush my teeth etc. n' then walk or jog w/ sooni. i dunno which takes less time. if i walk, i put on the clothes i'm gonna wear to werk. if i jog, i change into werkout/jogging clothes n' then go 4 a jog. well, we more quickly cover ground while jogging, but jogging requires me to change 2ice, u know? in either case, i'm s'pposed to spent 20 mins each morn w/ sooni walking or jogging, according to the experts. thus, even if i cover ground more quickly while jogging, i still then need to cover more ground in order to fill 'least 20 mins, rt? yah, i try to spend 'nuff time w/ sooni in the morn. well, now kaela needs to get to skool in the morn, n' so she leaves earlier. in a way, that's good 4 me cos it helps get me off to werk earlier, u know? of course, it'd be nice if kaela n' i could c each other longer @ home in the morn. :-/
w/ kaela's starting skool, our starting attendance'f a new church, n' my somewhat recent start'f a new program @ werk, kaela n' i have been mtg many new ppl. how often does that happen in life?! i mean, consider how when u go off to college (university) u meet lots'f new ppl. think 'bout that. then u prob'ly settle in w/ a certain set group'f friends, u know? then after u graduate, perhaps u get a career job that u'll keep 4 a while. there, u meet a bunch'f new friends... but hrm, i don't think there's ever a time in ur life that really rivals the beginning'f ur undegraduate university period as far as the number'f new friends u meet. of course, some ppl'd argue mtg new ppl doesn't equate to mtg new friends. yah, i might say that some ppl r just jerks like that n' oftentimes jerks like that r proud that they r jerks like that. however, other ppl r just shy, etc., n' w/o doubt, we don't all need to be "buddy buddy." 4 example, in anthro 3, uc berkeley's intro to social anthropology class, we talk 'bout how euro.amerikan culture has this idea that u can call some1 u don't know all that well ur friend, while indigenous amerikan culture has quite a contrasting belief that u really need to spend ur life w/ some1 b4 u call him/her ur friend. *breath* now what 'bout me? (what 'bout u?) i dunno, but i do like having friends. i'm not an antisocial person or a hermit. however, i s'ppose my social attitude isn't the same as back in the good ol' p.crew days, rt? *shrug*
[much later] 1038p: we had taekwondo demo praktice 2nite @ 830p. i was pretty exhausted after werk. i had a long day; a long, full day@werk.com. i'm tired. 2morrow, i have a big presentation to give. *sigh* yah, i've got things to do. 화요일 오후: 2day i had a big presentation @ give @ werk.com. i'd devoted lots'f my time these past few wks to werk on it. i'm glad it's over. it was a group presentation, 4'f us. it went well. afterwards, the 4'f us went to lunch. they asked me 4 a suggestion, as far as a lunchspot, so i led them to the pupuseria @ lawrence expwy n' poinciana. it was very good. i'm sure it was very fatt'ning 2, tho'. i had 3 pupusas ( each stuff w/ sumpthin' a li'l diff but all w/ cheese) n' a horchata salvadoreana. the horchata was good! it was diff from the typikal white mexican horchata; it was brown. my cowerkers n' i joked 'bout how horchata's just the water used to wash rice w/ some sugar added to it. we joked that this brown horchata was made from water used to wash really dirty rice! ha ha. well, it was good. i was sooo stuffed after that lunch! i did feel good, tho'; cos we finished our presentation n' got pretty good acceptance n' fdbk etc.
last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to taekwondo demo praktice @ 830p. it sure was weird driving off to taekwondo praktice so late. the sky was totally dark already. we're used to going to praktice @ 730p these days w/ a bit'f setting sun, u know? *sigh* pretty soon, daylite saving time'll end, n' it'll be dark when i get out'f werk. :-/ it's crazy. or, well... maybe it's not that crazy but that season's just change. *shrug*
last nite, i prakticed my 외발 턴 키크 webal turn kick, my 1.legged 날아방 narabang. i hope it was just that i hadn't warmed up much, but i sure couldn't kick n' jump as hi as i used to! :-( i'd like to praktice demo kicks more. we have our demo on sat, so it sure is much to late to be saying that now, u know? *sigh* it's 2 bad. i 'member when taekwondo was a bigger part'f my life. *sigh* however, *shrug* i s'ppose i had to sacrifice a li'l, u know? i didn't have much choice. how could i have kept up the level'f praktice i had back in berkeley? since moving down to the silly valley, i've reprioritised my life 4 sure. i dunno; i still really like taekwondo, no doubt; but i've realised that i had to cut back the 'mount'f time i spent on it, i s'ppose. the way i c it, i've sort'f thought'f taekwondo as having 3 parts: 1) basics (good 품새 poomsae, good form, etc.), 2) 겨루기 / gyuhroogi / sparring (obviously), n' 3) 시범적인 것 /shibuhmjuhkin guht / demo stuff. u know? in the past, i would've really wanted to be good in all 3, 'specially 1 n' 3... or well, no... b4 that, i sure was more interested in 2 n' 3... like, when i competed, etc. i'm not expekting to go to the olympiks. however, i'm not necessarily an "all or nuthin'" guy in that sense. i still enjoy prakticing n' learning taekwondo even tho' i don't expekt to go to the olympiks. some ppl i know feel that if they can't win nationals, they might as well quit, u know? in that sense, i never really understood why som many guys wanna play sports like basketball when they know they'll never make it to the nba, not in 1,000,000 yrs; no way, no how! like, i'm definitely not 1'f those ppl who say they won't praktice taekwondo unless they know they can win nat'ls, but i think i'm still rather competant in taekwondo n' snowboarding, n' that keeps me doing those things. i s'ppose i'm saying if i know the gap in skill level btwn me n' the "pros" was as big as the gap btwn most guys who play basketball n' the nba playas, i don't think i'd enjoy my sports interests as much as i do, but i dunno. like... i'm not saying i'm so friggin' bad@$$, but like... well, do u get what i'm saying? the whole relative skill level thing?
neway, my priorities have changed. i think i've focused now more on my career as an engr. i mean; sure, some ppl'd call that selling out, in a way. why can't i just be an unemployed snowboard bum that does taekwondo n' djs? "keep it real, dude!" *shrug* i'm not not keepin' it real; i've just shifted / "reorged" my priorities, rt? *breath* [later] 'bout priorities, well u know in the past yr (more than that) i returned to church, i.e. i started going to church 'gain after a bit'f a brk. thus, yah, i do have kind'f diff priorities, u know? well, 4 starters, i definitely try to worship @ an aktual church each sun, u know? also, i s'ppose pretty much ne church asks u not just to attend sun service but also to attend a "small group" or bible study, rt? these things take time, but well... a christian's gotta have his/her priorities straight, rt? we've gotta prioritise how we spend time, $$$, energy.
neway, as far as putting my career as an engr a notch up in priority, yah, i have, i s'ppose. i feel better 'bout my engring stuff now, u know? after going to grad skool n' werking @ my current company, i feel i've learned a bit, n' i feel more confident, etc. it's a good thing, rt?
heh, i noticed on sun eve that pastor dave'f grx sure likes to say, "it's a total god thing," n' stuff like that. "god thing." i'm sure lots'f altrock n' punk grps in the 1990s considered that 4 a name! think 'bout "the jenny thing." "tjt," ppl abbreviated it. neway, think 'bout that term, "god thing." i mean, i'm sure if a 1990s.style altrock or punk grp were to use it 4 a name, there's 'bout a 78% chance they'd be using not necessarily out'f reverence but just 4 the shock value'f the wurd "god," u know? after all, wasn't there some kind'f 1990s rock grp called "god#@*%," in which the "#@*%" wasn't "#@*%" but "f@ck," u know? now, there's an immature beg 4 attn if i ever saw 1! just think back to the 1990s when i would occasionally say "it's all good" or "s'all good." i 'member 1tym hearing some1 @ iv (intervarsity christian fellowship) mutter under her breath in response to that, "it's not all good." i've heard other christians say "it's not all good," in reference to the idea that christians should not fall into just accepting everything in this world. thus, "it's not all good," they say. 수요일 아침: my blog / journal presents a fair n' balanced view'f the world, as u know. even tho' i'm obviously a big proponent n' supporter'f doggies, lemme show u a cnn.com (yah, i know it ought to be a foxnews.com article) article 'bout a negative incident: "pet dog kills 5-week-old infant: jacksonville, florida (ap) -- a 5-week-old baby left alone by his grandmother died after being mauled by the family dog." that's awful. last nite the 2 vp candidates had their only skeduled debate. wow, i was so surprised that it was much more mellow than the presidential debate. i s'ppose cheney sort'f keeps his temper a li'l better than dubyah, but apparently he still resorted to cutting edwards off n' lying that they had never met b4 even tho' they had. cheney was trying to say that edwards had such a bad attendance record in senate that they had never met, but apparently that was a total lie cos they'd met on various very well dokumented occasions. it sucks, but in a televised debate, when u lie like that, many stoopid ppl'll end up believing u n' never do follow up research to keep u in check, etc. u know? sucks. i know edwards had a good pt when he pted out that even tho' the dubyah administration call their war a "war on terror," they gave up their hunt'f bin laden who really orchestrated the 9.11 attack n' went after saddam saying that al qaeda's in iraq even tho' al qaeda's a bunch'f other nations. true. their war isn't a war on terror, we all know; it's just a war 4 big oil n' big profits 4 halliburton.
neway, last nite was honestly a pretty crappy nite 4 me: the beautiful kaela hwang n' i missed taekwondo praktice, the toilet cms to be broken, i might be getting sick, n' kaela broke her cellfon during the day. yah, she dropped her lg vx6000 n' broke the enclosure, the casing, whatever u wanna call it. it aktually still werks, so i put some tape on it 4 her. however, man... like, her antenna recently broke off, while we were in socal, n' she'd just bought a new 1 4 $10 last wk or so. ken sez maybe she should get a new fon, the new motorola. *shrug* what's the new motorola? that mpx220? otherwise, the lg vx7000 looks good to me. both r bigger than the lg vx6000 tho'. :-/ *sigh* i dunno. the toilet? the toilet's not clogged, no. rather, there cms to be sumpthin' wrong w/ the pump. this toilet has a diff kind'f tank. it's weird. when u open the tank, u'll find this li'l barrel that has a pump in it. 1tym, i mistakenly dropped some kind'f scrubbing bubbles or whatever fizzy tablet thingy in the toilet tank thinking that was what it's 4. i was wrong. it was 4 the toilet bowl. later, i put a clorox tank tablet in the tank. well, i dunno... the chlorine in these produkts cms to have caused some oxidation on aluminum parts on that barrel. i wonder if that's caused some probs or what. in ne case, kaela pted out that maybe we can get it fixed under our home warranty. i certainly hope so. otherwise, what the heck was it good 4?! however, now that she's back in skool, i guess she doesn't have time to figure that stuff out 4 us. *sigh* i mean... life's good, but i feel there's 'lot more i'll hafta do on my own now, u know? *sigh* oh well... neway, we missed taekwondo praktice. kaela's still sick w/ a cold, n' she... i dunno... she wasn't feeling well n' stuff... n' i had to stay home to... *shrug* to take care'f her or whatever. *sigh* we only have 2 more opportunities to praktice 4 our upcoming demo on sat. just 2 more hrs basikally... i'm totally not satisfied w/ the 1 kick i'm doing 4 a brk, totally not satisified. i've really gotta praktice, but i didn't get to praktice last nite. *sigh* oh yah! so after a while, i took sooni out 4 a jog. un4tunately, she pooped soon after we got started, just as we went down the block n' 'round the corner. thus i had to take out the plastik bag n' scoop it up, even tho' it wasn't much. it's hard to jog w/ a plastik bag w/ doggy poop, so i just walked her down to the corner korean liquor/grocery store to throw the bag 'way in the trash can outside the store. i walked/jogged some more. then i got a bad stomach ache! ugh, i felt it was so unfair that she got to defecate but not me. *sigh* i quickly went home. well... *sigh* neway, i s'ppose the nite got a bit better cos kaela cooked some salmon n' put it over salad. we ate that n' watched the 1st episode'f mbc's 단팥빵 / danpatbbang. it's an ok show, but we prob'ly won't start watching it rt 'way. the 금성 비디오 geumsuhng video dude lent us the 1st tape 4 free, but then we'll hafta rent the rest. he does that 'lot to try to get us hooked, u know? that's kewl. however, we've gotta 1st finish watching mbc's 황태자의 첫사랑 / hwangtaejauy chuhtsarang / (the crown prince's first love). we have the tapes 4 that. then, well... maybe we'll stop renting tapes n' just watch korean (satellite) dish.
while watching 단팥빵 / danpatbbang, i kept thinking that the lead aktress looks n' akts like 장나라 jang nara. u know, it's not that "all asians look alike"; but, u know, certain ppl resemble each other in some ways. recently, i've wondered, "do i look like ne1?!?!" i must, but whom? whom do i resemble? maybe i'm not a good person to answer that question cos i c myself in the mirror every day n' perhaps know my own face 2 well. what if u just knew me thru pics? then whom would u say i resemble? *shrug*
[a li'l later] 2day, i have several personal tasks to do in sunnyvale. u know, i werk in sunnyvale rt now, rt? on slickdeals.net last wk, i found a $10 off $10 coupon 4 wine.com. i bought a $10 bottle'f riesling, n' wine.com shipped it via ups, requiring an in.person signature'f an adult over 21. since i werk during the day, i'm having them hold the bottle 4 me @ the ups pickup lokation in sunnyvale, so i've gotta go there. also, 'member our vettriano "dance me to the end of love" that we're getting framed @ sf framing in sunnyvale? well, it's done, so i've gotta go pick that up. funny, sf framing's in 1 direktion, the ups pickup office is in the other, n' my office's in the middle. *sigh* also, during lunch, i'll go home, not just to hang w/ sooni n' eat leftover 볶음밥 bokkeumbap (fried rice), but to meet up w/ ken who'll install the rest'f our dish netwerk stuff. we don't have taekwondo praktice 2nite. even tho' we badly need it, s'pposedly we can't praktice 2nite cos the 도장 dojang'll be closed after the 검도 guhmdo class.
[later] i feel yesterday's presentation @ werk.com was 1 milestone 4 the month. the next milestone is the upcoming taekwondo demo on sat in sunnyvale's ortega park. after that? well, yah, i feel a li'l bit more relaxed, i think. i'll have a big, big, big projekt deadline @ the end'f the month 4 werk.com. still, i dunno; i'll feel like i can focus on just 1 thing... kind'f... i know halloween's coming up, n' i'm sure 'least 1'f my groups'f friends'll wanna do sumpthin', rt? *shrug* i feel i need a costume. as i've sed, i have a chef hat but no chef suit. maybe i should buy a totally new costume, sumpthin' diff? *shrug* what?
[later] 오후: i went out during lunch n' did all those things. [later] i went 1st to the ups station. i picked up my free bottle'f riesling. aktually, it co$t me $1 cos i guess the bottle was $11 - $10 coupon = $1. then i went to pick up our painting. it looks beautiful. by that time, i realised i need to get back to the office to werk. i drove back w/ fine art n' fine wine, thinking, "geez, these r the 'finer things' in life, eh?" *shrug* rt? doesn't it sound like i must be some elitist snob having wine n' a painting in my car like that? but, eh! it was a ~free bottle'f $10 wine n' a digital repro'f the painting transferred onto canvas. the frame co$t more than the painting! it's beautiful tho'. it's not like ur typikal poster print, u know? it really looks like an original painting. the frame we got, i like it cos it's classy, not 2 gaudy. u know how some asians in asia like that really flowery, extravagantly gaudy look, like what u c @ the lotte hotel? like, we knew we could head that direktion, but i think we held it @ a good level'f fanciness. these days, yah, i'm still trying not to $pend 2 much, but... *shrug* it's hard... n' obviously i can't expekt not to $pend ne $$$, u know? well, i went back to the office but later in the afternoon, i still had to quickly stop by home to let ryan in to install the dish netwerk stuff. wow, we have korean tv on dish as well as all the movie channels. i didn't know, but ryan sed that we're getting all the movie channels uhm... 4 free... uh... yah, i didn't know 'bout that. neway, i ate the leftover 볶음박 bokkeumbap, while he was up on our roof adjusting the dishes. after he finished everything, i had to go. oh yah, he showed me the motorola v710. it is a kewl fon, but it's not necessarily small. it has a colour screen on the inside n' the outside, n' it has a 1.2 mp camera w/ video capability. it has bluetooth. i dunno. whadya think? ryan sed it's much better than the lg vx7000, n' well yah... the specs show that it is. oh yah, the motorola v710 plays mp3s. hrm, it has expandable flash memory. oh yah, the camera has a built.in flash. whadya think? size? 3.71 x 1.95 x 0.92 inches... it's not small. i wonder if u can extrakt pics from the fon via its sd card? i don't think u can transfer data via bluetooth, but i dunno.
[later] 저녁: 2001 anapamu dry riesling, that's what i bought from wine.com 4 $1. anapamu dry riesling from monterey county.
[나중에, later] 밤 837p: so i'm now watching 풀 하우스 / full house on kbs w/ english subtitles. hrm, even tho' i understood 'nuff'f the korean to enjoy the show, now i realise that i missed 'lot'f jokes n' stuff that i didn't understand. wow. after werk, i went to kragen to pick up some armour all wipes n' some other thing... like, this carwash wipe thing. 'member how those 2 dudes took the dent out'f my car? well, they left some greasy stuff on the surface, so i wanted to take it off w/ some carwash wipes. after kragen, i went to 한국 마켓 hangook market n' bought some groceries. i came home to make sure that sooni wasn't stuck inside in the dark. i cooked some 조랭이 떡볶이 joraengi dduhkbokki. now, i'm just waiting 4 kaela to come home from the gym. i wish i could've gone to the gym 2day cos i surely need exercise, but... *sigh* oh well... man, my neck hurts from a full day'f werk in the office, i s'ppose. my throat was sore 2day. i think i'm getting a cold, but... *shrug* 2004년10월07일, 목요일 아침: 어제밤에 순이를 산책안시켰어요. last nite, i didn't take sooni 4 a walk, but i should've. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i ate the 조랭이 떡볶이 joraengi dduhkbokki that i cooked n' watched 1 episode'f 황태자의 첫사랑 / hwangtaejauy chuhtsarang. after that, kaela sort'f fell asleep cos she's been really bizzy lately w/ skool n' werk, u know. i watched some dish netwerk tv. i checked out the korean channels as well as the english channels. well, aktually we also get some arabic n' plenty'f spanish channels. we get lots'f those premium channels like hbo n' showtime, but we don't get the ppv channels 4 free or nething. uhm, i hate to say this, but i realised last nite that there sure is a lot'f junk on tv! :-/ i guess i already knew this n' shouldn't have needed to be reminded. man! why is there so much junk on tv that i can't understand why neboody'd watch? there r all sorts'f old, stoopid movies n' reruns'f shows i sure don't wanna watch! uhm, 'gain, i hate to say this, but i'm aktually even disappointed w/ the korean channels. like... *sigh* they sure have lot'f news on all the time. i wished that they'd have lots'f dramas on all the time n' musik videos!!! however... :-( they don't. i guess i sort'f dreamed that this package'd include kmtv or mnet or whatever... upes... we get mbc (which is called mbn cos there's already an mbc, which is an arabic channel), sbs, n' kbs. there's arirang, but we'd hafta pay even more to get it. arirang is the amerikan channel in korea neway. on that channel they have korean language lessons, etc. on sbs, they're playing 파리의 연인 / parisuy yuhnin, which u know we've already cn; n' on kbs they're showing 풀 하우스 / full house, which again u know we've cn. these particular broadcasts might have english subtitles; which, as i've sed already helps me catch things like jokes etc. however kaela n' i both think that the absence'f subtitles helps us learn korean better cos it 4ces us to figure things out instead'f just reading english, u know? [later] neway, i hate to say it, but i'm kind'f disappointed w/ the programming on dish... :-/ i mean, if u like tv, then maybe u'll like it; but i guess i should've 'membered that, in gen'l, i don't like tv. well, there r lots'f movies on, so well... like it sort'f means we don't hafta ever rent dvds, sort'f.
funny, when ryan was over installing the dish stuff, he was saying that he likes to watch the korean game shows cos the gurls r hot. ha ha, i sed, well, on korean tv, they only let good.looking ppl on tv. ha ha... i dunno; that's not totally true, but sort'f. n' ryan sed danny had sed that, in korea, if u'r ugly u never c the lite'f day. heh, *shrug* i dunno... definitely, i think appearance means a bit more there, in that u can't be a slob, etc. yah, u'r expekted to make an effort to take care'f ur appearance, etc. however, personally, as u know, i think that is very important. *shrug* neway, i think the game shows that ryan's thinking'f r the 1s that have celebrities as contestants, so... yah, that's a li'l diff, rt? *shrug*
this morn, i took sooni 4 a jog down to el camino real n' back. she pooped 'lot. i couldn't believe it. well, i guess she's had days like this b4. it's cos i fed her 2ice or 3ice (thrice) yesterday, i 4get. also, she was kept indoors 4 a long time yesterday, rt? well, she pooped 'lot. u know, when i walk... i usually say "good morning," "hello," etc. to ppl, but i dunno if i should or what, u know? like, some ppl r into that kind'f "howdy doody," "hi diddly ho" kind'f shizzle, but many others rn't. perhaps it goes back to that whole euroamerikan v. other ppls' view on friendship, etc. like, i know asians more often do not appreciate the whole hi diddly friggin' ho dealio, u know? while, older euroamerikans praktically expect n' demand that whole deal. i heard a relative piece on npr this morn. a superconservative harvard university prof wrote a thesis that sez amerika's prob is that it doesn't have a unifying culture, that ppl should just give up n' accept the anglo.protestant culture as the one amerikan culture n' that the biggest threat to this country is immigration from mexico cos'f the propagation'f a differing culture. hrm, personally, i totally disagree. *sigh* yah, n' other intellektuals also disagreed w/ this harvard prof, saying that despite the variety'f cultures in amerika n' the philosophies that go 'long w/ them; amerikans, despite their varying ethnicities, do all hold onto certain principles'f individuals' rights etc. the harvard prof sed that immigrants should 100% accept "amerikan" culture, but some smart person pted out, well what should they accept? if u say they should accept "amerikan" culture, then they might as well accept the whole "blood n' cripps" gang culture. would that be good? it's certainly 100% amerikan. after travelling, i am 100% convinced that amerika's sole strength is its diversity! n' that's a very big strength, so "conservative" amerikans should stop trying to knock it. u know, honestly amerika is a superpower; n' what makes it great is its diversity. neway... back to the whole friggin' "hi diddly ho, neighbourino" dealio. yah, i usually say "good morning" etc. i think i was raised to do so. this morning, an old euroamerikan man passed me, as i was walking sooni, n' i sed, "good morning." he sed, "good morning." then, this asian woman was walking 2wards us. i pulled sooni off onto the st, n' we walked on the st, but she wanted to get back on the sidewalk. that woman, i guess was scared'f wolfish sooni, n' got onto the st. personally, i'm sorry to say, i'm offended by that. to me, it's as if some1 saw my kid n' assumed he was a street punk thug n' thus refused to walk on the same sidewalk as him. i didn't say "good morning" or nething. she passed by n' didn't say nething. then 'nother woman passed by, uhm... i hope this doesn't come off wrong but, to me she was of unidentifiable ethnicity... i don't mean that as a bad thing! no! i just couldn't tell. neway, i was still in a foul mood cos'f that previous incident, so i didn't say "good morning," n' neither did she. *breath* well, yah... i try to do the whole friggin' flanders bit ("stupid sexy flanders!"), but well... i understand, i s'ppose when it's not the thing to do. when in rome; they had that great 1980s hit "the promise," which i enjoyed in 6th grade. when i was in richland, washington, visiting my dad in 1994, the summer after my freshman yr @ cal i took a walk by myself down 'long the columbia river. some college.aged gurl passed by on the walkway n' sed "hi" etc. i was surprised, but i sed hi. the thing is that in cali, young ppl rn't friendly in that way. u know? in cali, by default, young ppl give each other attitude n' ignore each other. it's even more so in socal than in norcal.
[later] 오후: during lunch, my group'f cowerkers went to china stix on el camino real near scott blvd 4 our cowerker's b.day. i ordered their 짬뽕 jjambbong / chao ma mien. it was ok but not spicy 'nuff. i'd 4gotten to tell them to make it extra spicy. i stopped by home to pick up a coupon i got from the val.pak coupon envelope in the mail yesterday. the coupon sed 1¢ honey pecan prawns w/ a $30 purchase... @ dinner time only. well, i tried to use it, but they rejekted it cos it was lunch time not dinner time. nuts. (walnuts n' pecans) my group'f cowerkers r pretty young, most r younger than me. in fakt, @ lunch, i'm pretty sure i was the oldest. there r some in the group that r older than me, but i don't think ne'f them came 2day. [later] my 4tune cookie 2day sed: "you will receive gold by the bushel." my cowerker, the b.day boy, was sitting next to me, n' his 4tune cookie sed: "happiness is right next to you." ha ha ha. oh yah, my cowerker sitting 'cross from me, his 4tune cookie sed: "you will get new clothes." ha ha. 금요일 아침: 처음으로 michelle 와 kelly (llamrei) 방명록을 사인했어서 고마워요! 1st michelle n' kelly, thanks 4 signing my gbook. kelly, yah, we're having some serious toilet probs, as u can tell from the title'f 2day's entry! 1) the main (or whatever u call the bathroom that's not the master bath) bathroom's toilet's sloan flushmate lo flow pump is somehow buster, prob'ly cos'f those toilet tablet things! now, last nite, our master bathrm toilet's clogged, prob'ly due to 2 much tp (teepee, toilet paper) gettin' flushed down. 4 this, i'm thinking that i've gotta let the tp disintegrate n' plunge 'lot... like the bunny. so 2morrow's our demo, n' i feel, as i sed, that that's a milestone 4 this month. i sort'f just wanna get it over w/, u know? last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i did go to demo praktice. we broke boards. after the praktice, we went brought sooni home n' then went out to dave n' busters to meet up w/ kaela's new chiroprkatic skool friends. i met jack n' rachel, n' we played some pool. wow, i can't believe i won the game'f cut throat! kaela n' i ate lots'f d n' b fud: their avocado n' shiitake nachos, 'tato skins, n' some chicken poblano soup. that's 'lot'f fud, u know? we also each had a couple'f tropikal juicy cocktails since it was happy hr, u know?
[나중에] 오후: 아, 금요일이야~~~ 정말 좋다. 그렇지만 오늘밤에 태권도 시범을 연습 해야되요. 그럼... 야! 아자 아자 파이팅! 아니면 아짜 아짜 화이팅! 야, 저 잘 몰라요... b4 i went to my lunchbrk, i found a fry's ad in the werk.com bathroom n' saw that they're having tons'f free after rebate n' cheap after rebate sales 2day cos'f some grand reopening'f a fremont lokation. well, i decided to check it out. man! the sunnyvale fry's rt 'cross the st from my office was packed! what the heck?! i was taking a late lunchbrk, but all these ppl were there in the afternoon. crazy! uhm, as much as i hate to admit that there's a stereotypikal engineer look, i could seriously tell 95%'f the ppl there were engineers. it was so packed! geez, ppl! don'tchu hafta go werk?! or well, they were all on lunchbrk like me? do they all werk rt 'cross the st from fry's? well, i'm sure i wasn't the only 1 there from my office. i didn't find most'f the elektronics or 'puter things featured cos they were sold out; believe it or not. i did buy a $4.99 brinks fire retardant digital lock box to keep important docs safe from the heaven 4bidden housefire that must not happen. kaela n' i talked 'bout gettin' 1'f these 4 a while, so i figured 4 $5, why not? well, it was $14.99 - $10 mir (mail.in.rebate), so i've gotta make sure they pay up, u know? after fry's, i went home n' ate leftover 조랭이 떡볶이 joraengi dduhkbokki. i hung out w/ sooni but didn't walk her. :-( i'm sure she would've loved to go, but i only have a finite 'mount'f time 4 lunch, even on a fri, u know? i've got werk to do.
쿨 9집, "그대, 20m, 나"
길을 걷다 전화해 그댈 보고 말하죠 하마터면 그대와 마주칠뻔 했었죠 그대 내곁을 스치는 이게 마지막이기를 그 나래를 많이 좋아해요. i like that song. it's very pretty. it's a ballad. sometimes ppl prob'ly think that cool just has silly songs, but they have some romantic songs now n' then.
[later] oh yah, during lunch, while i was home, a plumbing company called (pennington plumbing) cos'f my home warranty claim. they'll come by on mon to look @ our toilet.
[later] 저녁: most'f u prob'ly have never cn our us taekwondo akademy y! sports groups page, but the main page pic always cracks me up so hard! even tho' we've had "better" pics since that pic, i still haven't changed the main page pic cos it cracks me up so much. why? cos we have this y! groups page 'bout our taekwondo skool, n' u c a pic w/ ppl in 태권도복 taekwondobok, but we're like totally not doing taekwondo! X-D like sabuhmnim's talking to steve about steve's hurt finger or something, john n' julie r playing w/ big, pink baloons, kaela's putting her hair up, n' brian's... *shrug* maybe watching kaela put her hair up. *shrug* furthermore, there's some1 sittin' on the floor doing seemingly nuthin' in the background. it cracks me up so hard! i mean, shouldn't i pick a pic where we're all serious? where we look like mean martial artists? ha ha ha.
[later] 밤 1150p: i came home from werk, unclogged the master bathrm toilet, watched some korean tv including episode 2'f 매직 / magic, went to demo praktice, ate pizza that 사모님 samonim bought us, came home, watched the presidential debates on cnn. we gotta show up @ serra park @ 900a 2morrow morn. i guess i don't wanna stay up 2late 2nite. (don't 4get, "2late" isn't a misspelling or typo. rather, "2late" is an old cure song; a b.side, i s'ppose to their hit "lovesong.") i'm glad we have 'least 1 werking toilet.
so the debate? well, 1st off, dubyah tried to make jokes n' all; but don't buy into his whole sideshow bob approach. after all, if u have no solutions to issues like unemployment n' healthcare; u end up trying to stir up laffs to steer the focus 'way, u know? it's very obvious that kerry's so much more intelligent, n' i can only hope amerikans make the smart choice n' not just buy into immature pranksterism, u know? 601p: korean dish kicks @$$! korean dish netwerk... we can watch kbs, sbs, n' mbc. as u know, @ 1st, i was disappointed @ the amt'f junk that was on tv, but now, i'm totally diggin' what good stuff there is, such as 뮤직 뱅크 / music bank. man, this kicks @$$. i sure would love to record music bank n' pass it on to the all the 한국 가요 / korean gayo / kpop fans on bronx's junkyard!!! man, it's so much fun to be able to watch music bank!!! i mean, i still wish we had korean mtv or mnet or whatever... but oh well... this is kewl. 2day's show featured ses's 김유진 singing a coupl'f songs from her 2집 2nd album 810303, which is apparently named after her birthdate, n' se7en singing 'long w/ special guest jinusean!
2day, we did our "big" taekwondo demo @ sunnyvale's serra park. 일요일 밤 921p: i'll tell u more 'bout yesterday's taekwondo demo etc. soon; not so much cos u wanna hear 'bout it but cos i wanna talk 'bout it. heh heh. i've toldju b4, it's just that i wanna dokument my life in case i 4get stuff. my obsession w/ dokumentation, i hope that makes me a li'l bit better'f an engr... *shrug* i mean, i've always felt that lack'f dokumentation causes probs w/ engineering werk. neway, i'll tell u more 'bout yesterday's demo soon. however, i guess i'll talk 'bout 2day 1st.
2day, we woke up ok even tho' i drank 3 beers @ bj's last nite, when we were there 4 dinner w/ some'f my ol' hi skool friends. i usually don't drink so much beer in 1 sitting, but we ordered 1 pitcher, but that wasn't enuf to go 'round, so we ordered a 2nd pitcher, n' that was 2 much, n' well... i hated to c it go to waste, n' same w/ every1 else. neway, i didn't get drunk or nething, n' it was very good beer. i didn't drive home tho'; the beautiful kaela hwang drove us home in my green subaru forester. ok, last nite, kaela n' i met up w/ ken, grace, gordon, n' jimmy @ the bj's brewery @ oakridge mall. man, oakridge mall was sooo crowded yesterday eve. we showed up 'bout 745p, n' the parking lot was sooo crowded!!! it's crazy how much oakridge has changed. i know i sed that several months 'go; maybe even a yr 'go. however, now that there's a huge target b4 i go on to tell u more 'bout sat nite, lemme tell u that a kohl's dept store recently opened on el camino real in our korean/indian.amerikan neighbourhood. kaela n' i really have no interest in kohl's, but on thurs nite when we drove to taekwondo praktice, we had to battle tons'f traffik due to kohl's grand opening. kaela n' i were pretty surprised at what a big deal bay area residents have made 'bout kohl's grand opening. we just don't think it's that interesting, but i s'ppose i hope it is good 4 the city'f santa clara, huh? i do like our city, n' i guess i hope it's helps our ekonomy or whatever.
neway, on sat, we met up w/ my ol' hi skool friends. we had dinner @ bj's. our 2 pitchers'f beer were 1 bj's hefeweizen n' 1 beamish stout, sumpthin' like guiness. i usually prefer lighter beers, but the stout wasgood. well, it's not that i dislike stouts, but i dunno... i do enjoy lite lagers, etc. n' figure they're not as bad 4 me, so i can have them more often. *shrug* u hafta understand that i'm obviously not a guy who drinks beer to get drunk but cos i enjoy the taste. same goes 4 wine; i drink it, not to get drunk, but cos i like the taste. well, i ordered this cajun chicken pasta. kaela ordered this chili n' cheese stuffed potato. the fud was ok. to be realistik, i can't say that it was spektacular or nething. it was not bad, but it just wasn't all that. while we were waiting 4 our table (n' we waited a long time), the staff passed out free samples'f some cheese pizza. i thought the pizza was pretty good. maybe we'll hafta order pizza there the next time we're there. *shrug* however, i don't imagine hanging out @ bj's on a regular basis, so i dunno when the next time'll be. after dinner, kaela n' strolled 'round oakridge a li'l, n' we flipped thru books in borders.
2day, kaela n' i went to the early service @ the great exchange. u know, u should really listen to some'f the recorded sermons online on their website. i really like pastor dave's msgs/sermons. plz have a listen sometime. b4 church, i pressed us some espresso 4 my signature 두유 latte... or what should i call it? 참두유 latte? i gotta make the distinktion that it's not just a normal soy latte. it is a soy latte, but it's not the kind'f soy latte u get @ starbucks. i make it w/ korean 두유 dooyoo, which is diff from the typikal soy milk that amerikans drink. it's a much richer, creamier kind'f soy milk. neway, so yah, i made a triple shot dooyoo latte, thinking that kaela'd share it w/ me cos she's usually a total caffiene fiend, as u know... but well, she aktually didn't want ne. 7nbsp; she sed she didn't drink ne coffee this wk, so she was gonna keep it up. that's good! i'm happy 'bout that. neway, when i drink that much coffee, i get dizzy. i felt that. later, this afternoon, i felt a total caffiene crash. oh yah, 2day, we signed up 4 a couples retreat in morgan hill @ a hotel. it's just a 1 nite/day thing. it must sound like we go to 'lot'f church retreats, huh? *shrug* well, since we, uh, switched churches... *sigh* *shrug* well, yah... this retreat sounds really interesting. they have a special guest speaker. it's 4 married, engaged, or seriously dating couples. well, after church, we came home, ate leftovers from bj's n' did housechores. i hope our house looks a li'l cleaner. i hope. later, kaela n' i brought sooni to pet fud express 4 a wash. right when we were 'bout to arrive @ the shop, brandie, laura, n' roland showed up to visit us in the sobay, so we told them to meet us @ pet fud express. kaela n' i washed sooni. she's so beautifully clean! :-) oh yah, earlier @ home, i picked up sooni. that's special cos she usually doesn't like ppl to grab her, but she let me. *shrug* well, i think it'd be nice if she always let me pick her up, so i could carry her into stores like a purse dog, u know? i mean, she's ~35 lbs, i guess, but if it meant that i could take her into stores like a purse dog, i guess i could use the exercise. ha ha. neway, we ate dinner @ 난다랑 nandarang (which is called "chopstix and hamburgers" in english). we had 떡볶이 dduhkbokki, 해물 파전 haemool pajuhn, 감자탕 gamjatang, n' some chicken wings or skewers dish that sort'f bewildered us. *shrug* the owner kept pushing it. i wanted to order their yakitori type chicken skewers; but in the end, he pretty much insisted on giving us chicken wings. *shrug* he sed it was their daily special this n' that. *shrug* neway, the fud was good, n' sooni got to eat lots'f pork bones from the 감자탕 gamjatang, so i think she was happy. the waiter sure really liked her. oh yah, charles kunzman met us there, n' he was saying that the waiter'd steal sooni. ha ha. yah, i'm sure lots'f ppl'd like to steal sooni! ha ha. later, the waiter told us he 1nce had 2 진돗개 jindotgae. he had paid $3k each!!! can u believe that? is sooni worth $3000? i guess so. *shrug* well, ken did say he heard he could sell sooni 4 thousands'f dollars. :-/ uhm, i guess it's sort'f 2 bad we can't breed her cos i got her spayed; but *sigh* there's 'nuff breeding 진돗개 jindotgae 'round; n' who's to say she would've yielded ne'f those extremely valuable purebred jindo puppies? *shrug* *sigh*
ok, so how was yesterday's demo? oh, it was fine. we showed up @ serra park @... well, we were s'pposed to be there @ 900a, but kaela n' i showed up like @ 930a. the demo team didn't get to run thru the demo b4hand. we warmed up n' stuff. we helped setup 4 the 삼사 (shimsa / promotion test). the promotion test took a very long time, n' we got restless n' hungry but helped out. oh yah, as expekted, we brought sooni w/ us. unexpektedly, we encountered 2 other soonis. sooni was the li'l sooni, n' there was also a medium sooni n' a large sooni. the "medium sooni" was a white jindo (백구 baekgoo, that's what u call a white jindo like sooni), n' the "large sooni" was a 10 month old, white akita. both belonged to families'f taekwondo students testing. the "medium sooni" n' the "large sooni" played well, but our "li'l sooni" got in a short fight w/ the "large sooni" n' pretty much lost. i hope knowing that she can't always win dissuades her from starting fights, but i dunno... she's... *shrug* i don't get her sometimes, when it comes to this, u know? i mean, think 'bout that time she wanted to fight that huge, huge malamute @ the east san jo pet fud express! geez! what was she thinking?! she would've gotten shredded to bits! *sigh* the "large sooni" (the akita) was seriously funny cos it seriously looked like a jumbo version'f sooni: all the body proportions were the same but the size was just bigger, u know? like, the shared the same shape, but the "large sooni" was just a huge version'f her! it was really funny. neway... u'r wondering why i'm talkin' bout doggies, when i sed i'd talk 'bout the taekwondo demo.
well, the demo went pretty well. almost all'f the boards broke; n' most'f them didn't just break, they shattered! i think everything went pretty well. i was a bit unhappy that i didn't break my 외발 차기 webal chagi / 외발 턴 키크 webal turn kick board the 1st time but the 2nd time. obviously i wanted to break it on the 1st try, but... *sigh* oh well.. 'least it broke n' broke pretty well. as i sed, most'f the boards really shattered. like, u know a board break went really well, when the board breaks into more than 2 pieces, u know? well, that's 1 way to tell it went really well, but heh... don't go off thinking that's a rule or sumpthin'. after the demo, we ate some lunch. the parents'f the kid students prepared a potluck picnic. it was good. afterwards, kaela n' i came home. it was a really sunny day. i thought it was gonna be kind'f cold, but it sure wasn't. we had way 2 much sunshine aktually. on sat, after the demo, kaela n' i just sort'f watched tv n' relaxed n' then went out to that dinner thingy.
2morrow, a plumber from pennington plumbing'll come to look @ our sloan flushmate toilet.
월요일 아침: it s'pposed to be pretty hot 2day. aktually, this wknd was much warmer than i expekted. it's now oktober, well into oktober. the weather had started cooling down @ the end'f sept. it had cooled down quite a bit! now, it's warming up 'gain. weird, huh? in fakt, i think i recently had a dream, in which i went to tahoe n' saw snow on mtns. [a li'l later, like mins later] neway, it's s'pposed to be warm 2day, but when i took sooni 4 her walk this morn, i wasn't that warm. i'd 4gotten to wear my jacket as i left, but i didn't feel like going back 4 it. i figured i'd just keep moving to try to stay warm, u know? [a li'l bit later] *breath* so i wonder if it'll warm up 2day. y! weather sez it'll be 80°+ this wk, here in the silly valley. do u believe that? in gen'l, do u usually believe weather reports or no? (like some other ppl, i often say "blah blah blah or no?" as opposed to "blah blah blah or not?" well, 'least when i'm typing... i'm not 2 sure what i say in rl [real life].)
2day, btwn 100p n' 300p, a plumber'll come to look @ our sloan flushmate toilet in our main bathrm. i'll hafta go home to meet the plumber whenever he or she comes. (even tho' i say "he or she" to be politikally correkt, i honestly expekt it'll be a guy. nonetheless, as much as ppl think it's kewl to be conservative n' bash the whole idea'f politikal correktness; in reality, ppl should be politikally correkt when possible. i'm sorry, but that's true. i'm sorry, but in most cases politikal conservativeness is wrong.) i noticed well that when i talked to the person @ the plumbing company to arrange the apptmt, she specifically called the plumber a "technician" instead'f a "plumber." heh, that's interesting. "a plumbing technician," does that sound more sophistikated than "plumber"? after all, lab techs n' elektricians r called "technicians," rt? *shrug* well, if they wanna be called "technicians," then let them be called "technicians," i say. in many cases, ppl have the rt to be called what they want, u know? i mean, if i wanted to be called "the emperor'f amerika," ppl wouldn't buy it; but well... in some other cases, i think it's fine.
oh yah, @ the demo on sat, dukkyung kicked my hand when doing his double jumping front kick break (not the scissor kick, but the "1, 2" double jump front kick). the 4th finger on my rt hand turned really, really blue n' swelled up on sat. luckily, later in the day yesterday, the swelling went down, n' it now looks more normal. on sat, it was so swollen, it looked like a cartoon, u know? it was ridiculously swollen. i'm ok.
[a li'l later] so i sed that the taekwondo demo was a big milestone 4 this month, n' that i'd feel much relieved after it was done, etc. well, now it's done. what's my next milestone? *sigh* i hate to think that i necessarily purposely look 4 challenges in my life. or... well, is that ok? i mean, it's good to have challenges in life in order to build urself up, rt? however, maybe it's a matter'f how u approach them, etc. i s'ppose what is definitely not ok is to look 4 "stressors," in ur life. in fakt, i could very well believe that we should pretty much do 'way w/ that term "stressors." i dunno how it ever got incorporated into my casually used lingo. well, i have some idea, but man... what the heck?! take a step back n' realise what these so.called "stressors" really r. in aktuality, these so.called "stressors" that we stress 'bout r aktually just challenges, n' what r challenges but, in aktuality, opportunities? let me diagram it out 4 u.
neway, so "what's next on my plate?" (as some ppl say...) *shrug* i have some projekt deadlines coming up @ werk.com, i s'ppose. those r pretty important. what else? there's church stuff to take care'f, such as getting settled in @ our new church, etc. *shrug* i dunno; perhaps goals w/o a definite timeline or deadline r less likely to cause stress? yes or no? @ the same time, perhaps projekts w/o a definite timeline or deadline don't get done. *shrug* *breath* what do i want to accomplish btwn now n' the end'f the yr? yah, good question. like, maybe i should take care'f some financial stuff. what is there to take care'f? well, i wish i could invest my $$$ in a better way, as u know. i'm pretty sure this vul (variable universal life insurance) is not a good method 4 me, but what can i invest in? eventually, i do wanna invest in real estate, but i don't think that's my immediate financial goal; rather i need a more short term investment rt now in order to save up 4 later when i can really invest in real estate. *shrug* uhm, i do wanna fix my 'puter so that i can get back to doing dj stuff sometime. :-/ when'll that happen? *shrug* u realise that i haven't done ne dj stuff since we moved into our house? it's almost been a yr since we moved in. *sigh* what else can i try to accomplish? well, as i sed b4, i think in the process'f reprioritizing my life in the past coupl'f yrs, i've put more much needed focus on my career, so well... i'm not a werkaholik who can't live w/o werkahol, but i do feel more goal.oriented w/ my career n' also more confident, which i like.
yesterday, pastor dave's sermon was 'bout modern idolatry. as he sed, we amerikans sometimes don't so much deal w/ idols such as wood carved statues or golden bulls that we bow down to, altho' nonehtnik amerikans sometimes prob'ly don't realise what it does mean to be involved w/ cultures, in which u do deal w/ that kind'f idolatry, i s'ppose... in ne case, yah... to many amerikans 2day, idols rn't so much statues that they bow down to but rather other things that take them 'way from god n' a spiritually righteous path, etc. 4 instance, werk, career, edukation, pursuit'f social popularity, politiks... those can all be idols. however, diff ppl have diff idols. i mean... i know some christians absolutely abhor the phrase "to each his own" ("to each his/her own"), but in this case, i think it's really true cos diff things distrakt diff ppl etc., u know? neway!!! i'll avoid heresy n' just remind u that u should check out pastor dave's sermons on the grx website. thanks.
[later] via the evite.com site, i navigated to the siliconvalley.citysearch.com page n' found their list'f dog friendly dining spots:
[later] 'bout the elektion, there's a big pt that needs to be emphasized: u know how the media has defined the wurds "conservative" n' "liberal" to the publik as "saving $$$" n' "spending $$$." that's totally false, as we c that this "conservative" president dubyah doesn't necessarily save the country ne $$$ but rather spends it on rich ppl. get real ppl! most'f u'll never make 'nuff $$$ to benefit from dubyah's tax policies. i'm pretty d@mn sick'f hearing ppl say that they vote republikan cos'f they hate taxes. guess what, ppl; u'r always gonna hafta pay taxes, n' most likely, w/ republikans in control, u'r paying much more than u deserve to pay relative to how li'l the rich pay.
[later] 오후: i went home to meet the plumbing technician ron. i'd 4gotten that the beautiful kaela hwang told me to make sure the dude fixes the thing the first visit cos the home warranty companies scam their customers by billing them by the visit, so if the plumber dude sez he hasta come back, they'll charge 4 2 visits. urgh! nuts! i'd 4gotten 'bout that. he sed he had to go buy a replacement cartridge 4 the flushmate thingy, that it'd prob'ly take a while, so we'll hafta skedule 4 him to come back 'nother day. >:-( we'll c if they bill us 4 2 visits, but all he did was take 1 look @ the tank n' say the easiest thing'd be to replace the cartridge this n' that... oh well. we'll just hafta wait n' c... n' if they try to charge us 4 2 visits, i'll argue 'bout it, pting out that we're 'bout to decide whether to renew our policy or not. i mean, yah... the worst they can do is charge us 4 2 visits, n' then i won't renew our policy 4 sure.
[later] 저녁: also during lunch, after the plumber left, i took sooni 4 a walk. since i was giving her chopped up leftover hotdogs from sat's potluck picnic, she was very attentive to me. when we got home, i tried to pick her up 'gain like yesterday, since i was so happy she let me pick her up. she didn't like it 2day. she kept running 'way. then, i picked her up, n' tried to give her a butter cookie, which she really likes. she was 2 nervous to eat it. she was sort'f scared'f me after that, it cmed, so i hung out w/ her 4 a li'l bit more b4 leaving back to werk. in the end, i put her in the backyard 4 the rest'f the afternoon, cos she had that panicked, panting look. *sigh* i felt bad cos'f that, n' while doing my labwerk, i thought 'bout it more n' wondered if this is what it's like to be a parent, u know? maybe i'll have good days w/ my kid(s) n' then bad days w/ my kid(s), u know? 화요일 아침: yesterday, i started voting. i don't 'member signing up 4 an absentee ballot, but i guess i did cos last wk, i received 1 in the mail, both the beautiful kaela hwang n' me. i'm still pondering whether i'm a yellow doggy demokrat or not. i s'ppose if i'd been a poli sci major @ berkeley, i'd know better the exakt definition'f a yellow doggy demokrat, more than just that it's a person who always votes demokrat. well, just to let u know that i'm not necessarily closed.minded, let me tell u that i'm a li'l undecided 'bout a few ballot items, mostly local measures n' even a couple big state propositions! aktually, also 4 some local city/county representative elektions, more than 1 candidate cms fine. i guess the thing is that ppl in our neighbourhood r, in gen'l, all pretty smart n' responsible; so we're not choosing necessarily btwn a bad candidate n' a good 1, but btwn 2 good 1s.
yesterday, i read that the 80.20 initiative n' sb woo officially endorsed john kerry 4 president... "with reservation." *shrug* i s'ppose the "with reservation" just means they expekt him to help asian.ams, so *shrug* in ne case, he's the official asian.am candidate, so well, if u care @ all 'bout the asian.am community, then u know u hafta vote 4 kerry n' not dubyah. of course, there r some ppl out there that don't care, n' they're just bigots n' racists, so oh well.
[later] 오후: 2day, 4 a short bit, i went on a li'l "field trip" w/ my cowerkers. afterwards, a few'f us went to eat lunch @ the great rivermark plaza. 2'f us got fud from baja fresh; others elsewhere. i had the tres tacos combo, which was way 2 big. ugh, i had 1 chicken, 1 steak, n' 1 fried fish taco. crazy, huh? also, it came w/ chips. ugh. 2 much fud. i felt kind'f sleepy when i got back to my office but soon recovered.
[later] 2nite, kaela's going to some chiropraktic seminar or sumpthin', so she won't be w/ me until after taekwondo praktice. that's diff; in the past few months, we've always gone to taekwondo praktice 2gether.
vote 4 these ppl:
[later] u know, lots'f propositions n' measures have misleading titles or names. i don't get it. why do they hafta be so deceptive? i mean, what if they twist the name in order to trick ppl who aktually oppose the proposition/measure to vote 4 it but then lose the ppl who aktually support it?!
[later] 708p: ok, so i'd best get dressed 4 taekwondo praktice now. 수요일 아침: yesterday, i didn't do a great job updating u on what happened on mon cos i was 2 bizzy talkin' 'bout politiks despite how my grandpa told me not to get involved w/ politiks in order to live a long life. well, it's true that 'bout politiks maybe i should chill a bit; but then 'gain, 'bout politiks, maybe it's true that i'm not doing 'nuff. after all, we should do all we can to ensure we steer this country in the right direktion. 4 a stronger amerika, vote kerry. neway, i shan't talk 'bout politiks 2day. my grandpa also told me to stay 'way from religion, but i can't really do that. i mean, i guess i'm not a pastor or nething, so i'm 'least staying that much 'way from it, but i shall be a spiritual person w/ a relationship w/ god. neway, i don't plan on giving u a big lekture on spirituality 2day either. we'll c.
well, on mon nite, the beautiful kaela hwang's ol' college friend nancy came to visit us. we went out to dinner @ 청기와 chuhnggiwa ("blue stones" on el camino real @ flora vista). we ordered a li'l 2 much fud: 아구 agoo (monkfish) w/ 떡보쌈 dduhkbossam (ricecake wrappers), 낙지 볶음과 우동 사리 nakji bokkeumgwa oodong sari (mixed up oktopus w/ udon noodles), n' 버섯 불고기 buhsuht boolgogi (bulgogi w/ shrooms). the servers also gave us a dish'f 잡채 jabchae 4 free cos they're nice. neway, it was 2 much fud 4 us.
on mon, b4 going out to dinner, i went to werkout @ my company gym. i ran into a few'f my cowerkers from my current program thingy. we werked out 2gether a li'l. it's nice to have a spotter sometime, u know? in that case, i can sort'f push myself harder, rt?
yesterday, b4 coming home after werk, i went to a safeway in sunnyvale, 1 that i hadn't been to b4. i bought some tortilla chips cos we have salsa from costco but no chips. i also bought some oreinji jyuseu [later] so do i hafta get a halloween costume? i think i need to get 1 4 sooni as well as some halloween candy 4 trick.or.treaters. i expekt some, n' i expekt to be generous w/ the candy cos i don't think i'll get all that many, u know? i 'member last halloween @ my mom's, we barely got ne trick.or.treaters. i might as well've just given the whole darn bag to the 1 trick.or.treater that showed up. ha ha, just kidding; but imagine that? if i ever did that, the kid better be appreciative, rt?
[later] shoot, i think i lost my locker lock. on mon, when i went to the company gym, i was 'bout to lock my locker but couldn't find my lock in my bag. luckily, it was a really cheap 1. i think i bought it @ big lots! it was a key lock. i guess i'd prefer a combo lock, so that i wouldn't hafta carry a key w/ me during werkout, but it was a very cheap lock. i'm not really afraid'f ppl's brking into my locker, 'specially @ my company gym. i think the riskiest gym locker room i'd potentially use is the east san jo bally's, but that's not even that risky.
[later] u know what? it was a coincidence as soon as we got dish netwerk, the ktvn ch28 started having very broadcasting probs. kaela wondered if we were just not getting the signal well cos'f the dish mounted on our roof, but i checked the ktvn website, n' they admit that they've been having broadcasting probs lately on ch 28. crazy.
[later] 오후: during lunch, i went to this retirement investment planning class thingy. *sigh* yah, i wonder how i can better invest my $$$; while, of course, i wanna avoid scams, w/o doubt.
[later] as i sed b4, 풀 하우스 / full house was honestly 1'f the best 드라마 dramas i've cn so far. as i sed, the lead aktress is 송혜교 song hyeigyo, apparently very popular from her role in 가을 동화 / gaeul donghwa; but i didn't realise until 2day that the leading man in full house was the popular singer who goes by the name "비 / bi (bee) / rain" but whose real name is 정지훈 jung jihoon. 목요일 오후: last nite, i stayed up 2late ('gain, "2late" is a cure song.), making a dvd'f our recent taekwondo demo. the dvd looks really good, but the audio doesn't werk. :-( i have the aktual movie file stored on the beautiful kaela hwang's laptop, so i hope to show it to the group 2nite on that. that way they can hear the pleasant soundtrack. :-) ha ha.
yesterday eve, i werked out @ the company gym. after i left my office, i rushed home cos i knew sooni was sittin' in the house alone in the dark. i put her leash on n' walked her to the
nearby petco since i took sooni 4 that long walk last nite to petco, i missed the 3rd n' final presidential debate. i heard kerry still won. it's obvious he's the smarter guy, but i just hope amerikans in the midwest, east, n' south'll vote 4 a smart candidate not just a lunatik cowboy. dude, seriously! what is up? how can so many amerikans be out'f their minds?!
[later] so what's up? this morn, i ate a bowl'f special k red berries. 금요일 오전 1256a: lately, i haven't written journal entries @ this time'f nite, have i? last nite, i stayed up till 300a making a dvd/movie from fotage'f our demo last sat. yah, i stayed up 2late, but the video turned out really well... then when i checked out the dvd, there was no sound. :-( why? *shrug* neway, i'll try to fix it eventually. however, 2nite @ dinner @ 장모집 jangmojip after praktice, we watched the .avi file on the beautiful kaela hwang's beautiful laptop. i wish ppl could've heard the sound editing n' soundtrack, but they still enjoyed it.
well yesterday was a bizzy_day@werk.com. i came home 4 lunch, ate a coupl'f habanero sausages w/ salad n' salsa. sooni was very sleepy during lunch cos i kept her up so late last nite. (uh, u understand that "last nite" means the nite b4 yesterday.) i quickly ate my lunch n' went back to werk. after werk, i went to target 2nite (as in yesterday nite), i went to sparring praktice. my knee was sore all day, so i put on a knee brace. i got so worn out while doing hogoo drills b4 sparring. i got charlie horsed in the left thigh by julie while sparring, n' that hurt really bad 4 the rest'f the nite. aktually, it was not a good nite'f sparring. i guess i'm glad i didn't get really hurt, but i definitely didn't like the charlie horse, u know?
well, after praktice, sabuhmnim took the demo team out to dinner @ 장모집 jangmojip. i tied sooni outside, but she wanted so badly to come in, n' that really caused probs after a while even tho' the staff @ jangmojip love sooni n' were aktually very tolerant'f her. later, kaela n' i realised that she was misbehaving so badly prob'ly cos she was thirsty. yah, i couldn't find her li'l portable, petco h2o dish 2nite, but i tried to giver her some h2o earlier by pouring it into my hand 4 her.
phil's gonna visit us this wknd from socal.
maybe i'll write more later 2day.
20041015a
[later] 금요일 아침: from s.b. woo'f the 80.20 initiative:
Our "Hope & Fear " are what led us to Kerry.
First, MORE HOPE for winning equal opportunity in workplaces e.g. in
getting raises, promotions and rising to the top.
Second, LESS FEAR of having our civil rights violated, if, God forbid, a war breaks out between the U.S. & an Asian nation, say North Korea.
THEREFORE, vote for Kerry/Edwards for OUR OWN SAKE. last nite @ 장모집 jangmojip, when i arrived w/ sooni, this middle.aged, korean couple was so enamoured by her n' were talking to me 'bout how they had this certified purebred jindo. they talked to me 4 a bit. then when they drove off, i saw that they drove a green subaru forester just like mine! isn't that crazy?
[later] 오후: @ lunch time, i went home; but, b4 i went home, i stopped by the neighbourhood blockbuster to pick up a free non.new release dvd rental. i didn't spend 2 much time looking 4 a title. i started in the foreign films sektion. i saw a couple'f films'f interest but continued into the drama sektion. i picked up catfish in black bean sauce. i've heard things 'bout this movie, prob'ly good things, but've never cn it. it's a weekly rental, so we have time to watch it, i s'ppose. i also have a free new dvd rental to use during this month n' 1 more free non.new release dvd rental.
4 lunch i ate 1 leftover habanero sausage from yesterday. i also ate some chips n' salsa, n' an apple. i s'ppose that really doesn't sound like a good diet, huh? to make matters worse, i ate 2 krispy kreme doughnuts during a werk mtg this morn: 1 regular, plain n' 1 frosted chococake. that frosted chococake kind'f doughnut was prob'ly my favourite kind from dunkin' donuts as a kid. later, i started liking those blueberry frosted from winchell's. what kind'f doughnut do u u most like? maybe u can tell me in the comment box'f ur next gbook entry.
[a li'l later] i need to buy new tires soon, sometime b4 the snow season starts, i s'ppose.
[later] late afternoon: this morn, during a mtg, i found out my manager went to the same hi skool as me: leland hi skool. funny, huh? he was telling a story 'bout how his classmate brent jones grew up to be a famous 49er pro futbol playa. i knew very well that brent jones went to leland cos they made a really big deal 'bout it when i was in hi skool. i think he was the grand marshall @ our homecoming parade 'least 1nce if not more. man, my manager told me 'bout my ol' neighbourhood n' how it looked b4 i got there in 1980.
i've been bizzy@werk.com 2day, so i guess i feel good that it's fri 2day. 2nite, we'll go to our great exchange t3s small grp. i guess i'm a li'l disappointed that our small grp meets on fri cos that means we can't go out on fri nites 4 dinner, etc. i dunno. it meets every wk, but i don't think ppl'd have a fit if we missed it every 1nce in a while 4 sumpthin'.
duk was telling me in an e.mail that i should enter sooni in this petco [a few secs later] as i sed, phil's visiting 2nite thru this wknd. i wonder what we should do. i think he sed he's bringing a friend w/ him, but i didn't quite get that. well, what fun things should we do? *shrug* i know i've gotta mow the lawns, but would i be a bad host to ditch my guest(s) inside w/ nuthin' to do while i mowed the lawns? well, it's gotta be done sometime, n' i ought to show phil what the married, "suburban" life is like. ha ha ha. maybe we can go to some fun restaurants like hukilau hawaiian restaurant or... *shrug* what?
u know, it's funny... my manager was telling me stories 'bout my neighbourhood back in the 1970s n' early 1980s, n' in our lab, we listen to kfox, this classik rock station. i'm hearing musik from that era. it really brings me back. "owner of a lonely heart"? ha ha! steve miller band's "the joker"? that's homer's favourite song: "some people call me the space cowboy? yea yeah... some people call me the gangster of love. some people call me maurice. woo woooo... cause i speak of the pompitious of love" i hear led zep, paul mccartney, beatles, eagles, don henley, glen frey, tom petty, ... i hear songs i prob'ly heard in the movie "midnight mile," which i thought'd be more exciting than it aktually was. after making ken, grace, n' kaela go to that movie w/ me, i apologised.
[a few mins later] man, i've gotta set a li'l $$$ aside cos i have a huge property tax bill to pay next month, some tires to buy soon, n' my car reg fee (not that much) to pay in dec. furthermore, i'll have christmas presents to buy in dec.
[a li'l later] i think phil'll be happy to hear that i've recently been so exposed to classik rock. yah, in berkeley, i had 2 big classik rock influences: phil n' toby.
[later] 657p: i'm home now. i started making a boboli pizza w/ shrooms, garlic, n' anchovies. kaela helped me by putting on the garlic n' anchovies. i told her she should go walk sooni, so she's doing that now. kaela spent the whole day @ skool. she does that now. i think sooni'd like to c us more, n' well, i come home 4 lunch sometimes, as i came home 2day; but i still do have a career to take care'f, so well... yah, some days i can't come home @ the end'f the day that early, u know? now that it's fall, the sun goes down earlier, n' we can't leave sooni @ home in the dark, u know? rite now, on sbs, 매직 / magic's on sbs. ha ha, the main charakter's in a 떡볶이 dduhkbokki eating contest. ha ha, i'd love that! it's not how much u eat tho' but rather how fast. hrm, it's not as enjoyable to eat fast. as i sed, 2nite, we go to our bible study group. [a few secs later] dangit, the pizza got rather browned. 일요일 아침 905a: 2day's my dad's b.day. happy b.day. happy 61st b.day.
well, i aktually skipped a day in updating. i s'ppose lately i've been updating pretty much every single day, non? ("non" est "no" en français.) well, i skipped yesterday. so what's been up?
2day's sun. it's now 954a. since kaela stayed up 2late studying, we're missing 1st service n' instead going to the more crowded 2nd service 2day. i should walk sooni now while it's not raining. phil n' amy'll come back 2day, n' they'll stay till 2morrow. 월요일 아침: it's mon. it rained quite a bit on sat nite n' sun. this is the 1st "storm" 4 the bay area this season, i s'ppose. since amy n' phil visited us this wknd, they reminded us that this so.called "storm" is really nuthin' compared to rain in oregon. well, i also sed in response that we know it's not really a big storm, but that it's just the 1st rain'f the season, n' that's why ppl r making a big deal'f it. heh. i hope it's snowing in tahoe.
u know, on sun, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i got to church late; n' i dunno, un4tunately, i get sort'f discouraged by that, even tho' i guess i shouldn't. afterwards, kaela n' i went grocery shopping @ the rivermark safeway, aka "safeway@rivermark." (should it not be "safeway@rivermark.com" or sumpthin'?) after that, we went home. we stayed inside while it rained outside. i guess i did some housechores n' stuff like that. i 4get 'xaktly what i did, but i know i made a lo res version'f the taekwondo demo video n' posted it up on our us-tae-kwon-do y! groups page. i guess i was kind'f sleepy yesterday afternoon, but i didn't nap. 4 a late, late, late lunch, kaela n' i ate some 우동 / oodong / udon. we watched some more 황태자의 첫사랑 / hwangtaejauy chuhtsarang. what else? *shrug* i dunno; i guess we didn't do much special yesterday. earlier, i told kaela that i wanted to go buy a halloween costume, but we never did that. oh well. even tho' i'm trying to save up $$$ 4 new tires, property tax, vehicle registration, n' christmas presents, i figure we'll definitely attend some kind'f halloween party this yr, so i need a costume. i guess the current exorbitant price'f gas is a li'l bit'f a deterrent from going out shopping, but well... u gotta do whatchu gotta do, i s'ppose. otherwise, what? should we never leave the house? i guess it'd be nice to use publik transportation; but un4tunately, the silly valley does need to do 'lot more to develop its publik transit system. i mean, 'least it exists! i've ridden the light rail n' buses/busses b4, yes. i've always wanted to get a bike in order to save gas when i make short trips, but i never bought a bike. u know that.
when phil n' amy got back from their trip up to berkeley n' sf / marin county, we asked if they wanted to go get dinner or what. they also had eaten a late lunch. kaela n' i were apparently hungrier than them. well, i sed we should go out n' get some fud, if 4 nuthin' else, 'least to show 'em sumpthin' more than just our house, u know? well, as we got ready to go, sooni got so excited cos she thought we were taking her w/ us. kaela n' i felt so bad 4 her, so we told phil n' amy that we should take sooni 4 a short walk to the end'f the block b4 going. it wasn't raining; it was a break in the rain. it had been raining most'f sun afternoon. it was a bit chilly, but we didn't stay out 4 long. aktually, sooni was very disappointed in how short we were out. well, kaela n' i took our guests to 청기와 / chunggiwa / blue stones on el camino real n' flora vista. we just ordered a li'l fud: small orders'f 해물 김치 두부 파전 haemool kimchi dooboo pajuhn n' 잡채 jabchae n' then 닭구이 dalkgui. it was a good amt'f fud. after that, we just went back to our house. i told amy n' phil that i really wish i could show them more'f the silly valley cos i need to emphasize that the silly valley has so much more to c than ppl realise. however, i do concede that sf is a bigger attraktion w/ a bit more important sites'f interest, so i'm glad they 'least hit sf up while they were here. @ the same time, even tho' i do appreciate the beautiful nature that marin county has to offer, i gotta contest that the silly valley has sites that well rival theirs. sf is definitely supreme in the bay area, but well... after that it's sort'f a free 4 all, if u know what i mean. if u don't know what i mean, what i mean is that each region has sumpthin' to offer, so u can argue 4 1 or 'nother. after all; napa, sonoma, berkeley, the sobay, santa ruz, n' marin county all have diff kinds'f kewl sites, but it depends on ur interests n' mood, u know? i mean, if u go to napa n' simply have lots'f $$$ to burn, u'll have a good time; but lemme tell u! if u go there as just 1 guy by himself on a wkday w/o plans to blow lots'f $$$, u'll soon realise that napa cms like just ne ol' agricultural, boonies town! ppl assume that the sobay's just sooo suburban, but well... maybe some areas r, but there r areas'f the sobay that have a definite, special charakter n' charm. i can't emphasize that 'nuff.
well, 2day's mon. some ppl'd say "it's back to the grind." eh, maybe... 2day, i have a dental apptmnt. i skeduled my apptmnt w/ the closest dentist to our house, n' it happens to be @ this korean dental center. i didn't plan it that way, it just turned out like that. in order to use my dental n' health insurace, i skeduled a dental apptmnt n' a health checkup 4 sometime. i sort'f 4get when.
[later] 오후: so i went to my 치과 약속 / chigwa yaksok / dental apptmnt. so yah, it was @ this korean dental n' medical center rt by our house. it's sooo close, it's crazy. ha. neway, it's honestly not a really fancy office. yah, it doesn't look really ritzy or nething, but the place is very efficient. i didn't expekt to get a full cleaning 2day on my 1st visit, but whadya know? they did it! when i 1st walked into the office, i was surprised cos some1 from our ol' church was werking the receptionist desk, but then she told me i was @ the wrong desk, that the dental desk was the 1 next to hers. well, my teeth feel clean. after the apptmnt, i tried to stop by the j.box drive.thru to buy some lunch on credit card since i didn't have ne ca$h on me, but it was taking 2 long, so i went back to werk w/o lunch. after werking 4 a while, i ate a protein bar, but i really didn't have lunch 2day.
r u scared 'bout the flu vaccination shortage? i dunno if i am or not. i mean, in gen'l, i'm very worried that there's not enuf vaccination to go 'round. however, i dunno; i know i can try to stay healthy, but heh... we can each only try rt? yah, i guess all in all, i'm a bit worried 'bout this vaccination shortage. after all, this is s'pposed to be amerika, isn't it?! geez, rn't we s'pposed to be healthy ppl? we're s'pposed to send medical help to other countries cos we've got such good healthcare here, rt? *sigh* well, u know what's gone on, rt? it's cos the republikan gov't hasn't done cr@p 'bout healthcare 4 the past 4 yrs.
from a y! news reuters article "Bush, Kerry Trade Sharp Attacks on Terror, Iraq": President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry traded sharp accusations over Iraq and the war on terror on Monday, with Bush condemning Kerry's "strategy of retreat" and Kerry saying the administration's Iraq policy had been "hijacked by ideologues." kerry's very much rt. however, the prob w/ his statement's that neither dubyah nor most'f his supporters understand the wurd "idealogue," so i just worry 'bout this fate'f this nation in that sense. have u ever heard dubyah use a sophistikated wurd in ne'f his speeches or statements? i mean, seriously! ne1 who took the sat has a larger vocabulary than him! 화요일 아침: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 15th wedding monthversary. last nite, after werk, kaela n' i met @ home. we took sooni out 4 a quick walk 'round the neighbourhood. i made reservations 4 us to go eat @ maggiano's li'l italy, since kaela really wanted to go there badly a while 'go, but they wouldn't let sooni onto their patio. well, since it's now not outdoor dining weather n' thus there's no chance that sooni'll dine w/ us, i figured we might as well go there. well, we did. i hadn't felt so stuffed in a long time. definitely, it's a restaurant that, un4tunately, encourages overconsumption. oh, it's good fud, yes; just way 2 much'f it. we had the maggiano's salad, the 0.5 order'f rosemary chicken (which we believe was still 1 whole chicken), the mostaccioli w/ eggplant, n' a bottle'f 2003 beringer premier johannesburg riesling. afterwards, we had some coffee: kaela had a decaf latte, n' i had an espresso. we did not finish all the fud but took lots'f it home. it was very good tho'. we sat 'round the restaurant 4 a long time 4 me to be ok to drive, n' we also walked over to borders to browse 4 a while. we looked @ cooking n' doggy magazines.
[later] while in my lab, hearing classik rock on kfox, i've heard bruce springsteen's "born in the u.s.a." a coupl'f times in the past wk. that song made me think. it reminded me, as corny as this sounds, that i should take more pride that i was born in the u.s.a.! i was born here in this country! i don't need to tolerate ne1 thinking that i'm less'f an amerikan 4 who i am, what i believe, how i look, what kind'f fud i eat, what kind'f musik i listen to, what kind'f tv i watch... i'm an amerikan! i appreciate culture, n' i appreciate intelligence, n' i'm an amerikan. i don't need to tolerate ne1's telling me i hafta have this texas rodeo clown 4 a president; i'm an amerikan! i was born in this country. i could run 4 president myself. dubyah has always had so many inside connektion and has exploited all'f them to get where he is 2day, running the most conservative administration in the history'f this country. he's treating the war like a video game, not that video games rn't fun; but there r real young men n' women out there dying. thus, we need a real soldier, a real veteran as commander.in.chief. keep in mind that dubyah's running a much more conservative white house than his dad. it's extremely offensive to me that he does this all under the guise'f being a christian!
neway, 'nuff politiks 4 now. nov's coming fast, n' the truth must be told b4 voters go to the polls. however, well... i only have so much blood pressure margin to give, u know?
@ the risk'f sounding like a politician w/ a campaign, i pledge that i'll never let my career or personal endeavours prevent me from being a family man who'll take care'f my kids (someday) n' love my wife. i wanna werk hard, yes. i wanna do well in my career n' be a loyal employee, yes; but i'll never sacrifice my family n' marriage.
[later] yesterday, i wanted to post up this mass e.mail that a friend from our ol' church sent out:
Please take a moment to relax your mind and humble your heart to focus on Christ. Allow God to be the only person on your mind while you read this prayer. If we can take the time to read long jokes, stories, etc., we should give the same respect to this prayer. Friends who pray together, stay together.
If you pray this prayer, change the number in the subject box before
forwarding the message so people can SEE how many people have done so.
Dear Lord, I thank You for this day. I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning. I'm blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you. I ask now for Your forgiveness.
Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.
Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.
Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over. Let me continue to see sin through God's eyes and acknowledge it as evil. And when I sin, let me repent, and confess with my mouth my wrongdoing, and receive the forgiveness of God.
And when this world closes in on me, let me remember Jesus' example -- to slip away and find a quiet place to pray. It's the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits. I know that when I can't pray, You listen to my heart. Continue to use me to do Your will.
Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong that I may help the weak. Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others. I pray for those who are lost and can't find their way. I pray for
those who are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don't know You intimately. I pray for those who will delete this without sharing it with others. I pray for those who don't believe. But I thank you that I believe.
I believe that God changes people and God changes things. I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every family member in their households. I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.
I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem,
circumstance, or situation greater than God. Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight. I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees them and every mouth that confesses them willingly.
This is my prayer.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Just repeat this phrase and see how God moves!!
Lord I love you and I need you, come into my heart, please.
Pass this message to 8 people except you and me.
Don't ignore and God will bless you. Know that you are already blessed by the person who sent this to you. [later] it's raining quite well 2day here in the silly valley. this morn, sooni aktually didn't wanna go outside. i asked if she wanted to go to the backyard to poop or pee, but she refused to go newhere near the door! ha ha. i guess she'll sleep 2day. *shrug* it's raining quite well. i hope it's snowing well in the sierras. boreal has its opening day as oktober 31. can i snowboard on halloween?! oh, wait. halloween's on a sun, n' i'll be @ church helping w/ the harvest fest. oh yah. however, maybe we can hit up boreal the following sat? *shrug* i'd like that. i wanna get 'least 1 daytrip in b4 starting the real season, u know? i wanna do some preseason boarding this yr instead'f starting the day after christmas like last yr. aktually, did we start on dec 26 or 27 last yr? *shrug* neway, last yr, our 1st trip was that 1 w/ mark's group, rt? i thought so, but i'm not sure. hrm... in ne case, we've gotta do more boarding this yr!
i wondered how this past few days' rainfall compared to historical records. i clicked on the "records and averages" link on y! weather, but that 1 just tells me the avg n' record temps n' the avg rainfall. what 'bout the record rainfall? the record hi in oktober 4 santa clara was 101 °f on 1987년10월05일. that was when i was in 6th grade... no 7th grade. imagine that. yah, i 'member some hot autumns when i was in middle skool. those were the draught yrs, rt? *shrug* i 'member leaving my bedrm window open @ nite to catch a li'l breeze n' hearing when in rome's "the promise" or some omd coming thru the window from my sister's radio in her bdrm. funny, huh? omd = orchestral maneuvers in the dark. i guess it was kind'f hip in the 1980s 4 uk groups to have those acronym names just as it was kewl in the 1990s 4 korean groups to have those acronym names such as ses (sea eugene shoo), h.o.t. (high five of teenagers), baby v.o.x. (voices of expression), fin.k.l. (fine killing liberty [whatever that means]), nrg (new radiance group), dj doc (disciples of children [i think but 4get.]), etc. neway, it's fun to look @ historical weather records, isn't it? well, it's fun when u 'member when those records were set. 4 example, the record dec lo temp was on 1990년12월23일: 19 °f in santa clara. yah, wasn't that the yr when lots'f ppl's pipes froze n' burst? hrm... lemme tell u 'bout global warming. i just noticed that most'f the record his (highs) happened in the past coupl'f decades, but most'f the records los (lows) happened b4 the 1970s! dude, that's a li'l scary! [later] i s'ppose after talkin' 'bout politiks n' religion, it was only rt 4 me to move rt onto the weather. i don't talk sports, sorry. last nite, the boston red sox beat the ny yankees in the al (amerikan league) playoffs. "should we talk about the weather? should we talk about the government?" from r.e.m.'s "pop song 89"
오후: 2day i had a lunch mtg n' brought a lunch. i packed leftovers'f the ravioli w/ sausage n' sweet peppers that kaela made on sat. that was at, rt? *shrug* yah, i think so. yup. kaela brought the pasta from last nite's maggiano's dinner. she also divvied up the chicken btwn us. she cut up the chicken n' put some in each'f our pastas. she also packed each'f us some bagged santa fe caesar salad, 1'f those ready.pac style salads. i had a pretty big lunch. it's not raining now.
저녁: in the mid.afternoon, i took a short brk to go home n' walk sooni. she didn't really want to be outside all that much still. it started sprinkling while we were out, n' she didn't like that. however, when we got home, n' 'twas time 4 me to go rt back to werk, she cmed to wanna stay out in the backyard, so i left her there. man, as i was leaving the driveway, there was this woman slowly driving past our house. some odd reason, when i meant to step on the brake, i somehow step on the accelerator n' zoomed rt into the street, cutting her off. i dunno why. she gave me some durty look, n' i waved my hand as a mediocre apology. i dunno why that happened but am just glad i didn't get into an accident!
[later]651p: it's not that warm. i guess i should get ready to go to taekwondo praktice. i dunno if kaela'll go or what cos she's sleeping on the coach rt now. *shrug* yah, i dunno... neway, sooni's also sleeping on the floor. i s'ppose i won't bring her cos she'll just get wet sitting outside. it wasn't really raining when i came home, not really, maybe just a li'l. however, i think the rain's gonna pick up 2nite. i ate some chips n' salsa when i came home. i also just now ate 1 "fun size" snickers crunch out'f our supply'f halloween candy. 수요일 아침: last nite, i went to taekwondo praktice w/o the gurls; "the gurls," referring to the beautiful kaela hwang n' sooni. kaela came home from skool or wherever n' promptly fell asleep on the couch. sooni, on the other hand was sooooo revved up to go to praktice, but i worred that if i ditched kaela w/o some companionship, she'd be p!$$ed. neway, i worried that it'd be 2 wet 4 sooni to sit outside the dojang. however, during praktice i really regretted not bringing sooni cos it wasn't raining, n' the 검도 사범님 guhmdo sabuhmnim looked so sadly disappointed that sooni wasn't waiting 4 him outside 4 a walk. it was aktually pretty sad. we kicked paddles @ praktice, but ppl left the door closed, n' the air inside got sooo stuffy n' disgusting w/ the stench'f sweat. if sooni'd been there, ppl would've been reminded to prop the door open, i think. [later] well, we had a decent praktice full'f kicking paddles, but i realised i feel so out'f shape. i dunno if i'm really that out'f shape or if i just need to build up my "winter endurance." i feel it takes a diff kind'f endurance to per4m athletics in the winter, do u know what i mean? *shrug* maybe i'm just imagining things. neway, after praktice, i went straight home. kaela cooked 4 us some chili cheese stuffed baked potatoes. they were very good! :-)
this morn, i woke up relatively early. i guess we went to bed @ a sensible time 4 1nce last nite. it was rather dark when i woke up, but i wonder how much darker it'll be in the morn after daylite saving time ends. when does it end? [a few secs later] ok, according to http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html, we fall back "at 2 a.m. on the last sunday of october." we spring 4ward "at 2 a.m. on the first sunday of april." ok; so we fall back on halloween this yr, eh? sounds 'bout rt. u know, i particularly 'member the "fall back" (the end'f daylite saving time) in 1987, when i was in 7th grade. is that rt? or was it 1988, when i was in 8th grade? *shrug* hrm... i 'member going to "natural helpers" camp n' coming back on the "fall back" day. was that 7th or 8th grade when i was in "natural helpers." do u know what "natural helpers" is? u'd think it had sumpthin' to do w/ environmentalism n' nature, but it doesn't. rather, it is or was a peer counseling program in middle skool. the administration or faculty selekted us as ppl who cmed sensitive to the emotional needs'f our peers. hrm, funny, huh? it cms like i take so much flack or whatever these days 4 being insensitive. hrm... *sigh* neway, they figured we had the gift'f helping our peers thru emotional probs, n' *shrug* maybe. i dunno, but we met like 1nce a month n' discussed what kinds'f probs we were talkin' to our peers 'bout. while some natural helpers told stories'f helping their friends avoid suicide, teen sex, alkohol, drugs; i didn't have ne good stories. 1tym, a friend from band told me how he was depressed 'bout sumpthin'; i 4get what; but i think he was saying that he felt sort'f dissed by some peer; he felt some sort'f inequity. i 'member listening to him sort'f gripe n' hoping it was somewhat therapeutic 4 him. the program instrukted us not to give advice but to ask questions that help our peers think thru their probs themselves, u know? i hope i did so. *shrug*
[later] ohio, florida, n' pennsylvania: think smart. vote kerry.
[later] 오후: did i talk 'bout this morn? i think i did. i got up relatively early. after kaela left, i took sooni 4 a walk 'round the neighbourhood. it was quite chilly outside altho' not raining. i guess i'm glad it wasn't raining, so i could walk sooni.
[later] 1158p: 2morrow i'll write 'bout catfish in black bean sauce, which kaela n' i watched 2nite. when i came home from werk 2day, i picked up sooni n' took her to petco 1212a: over the wknd, i went on ebay
clarence, thanks 4 signing my gbook!
[a few secs later] holy smokes! boreal's set their opening day as thurs, oktober 21!!! whoa ho!!! [a few secs later] only 1 lift'll be running, n' tix'll be $22.
[later] 1243a later 2day i'll talk 'bout catfish in black bean sauce, but not now. now, i hafta sleep.
[later]목요일 아침: 2nite, linda n' kevin visit, bringing w/ them boston, their greyhoundish mix doggy. boston's a really nice doggy, n' they've gotta bring him w/ them cos they're moving on this trip. they're not gonna ditch him as they move. i worry 'bout how sooni'll take it. kevin sed he's willing to leave boston in the truck, but well... it's kind'f chilly @ nite here. i dunno. i'd like them to meet sooni 1st w/o boston, to c what a nice doggy she can be. then when boston comes up, she'd best be on muzzle, i s'ppose. :-( boston's a pretty mellow dog, n' that helps the situation. if boston were a yipyappy, hyper li'l $#!+, then we'd be in more trouble, u know? heh heh.
"[no] bush plate gets bashed": this y! news story talks 'bout a car w/ the license plate "no*bush" that recently got badly vandalised by a dubyahlover. the title'f the article's sort'f misleading cos it really makes it sound like a pro.bush license plate got bashed, but no. i tell sooni not to poop on the lawns'f ppl w/ kerry signs but to poop on lawns'f ppl w/ dubyah signs, but she doesn't really listen. she just poops where other doggies have previously pooped cos that's how doggies do it.
[later] sometime, i've gotta buy a new padlock n' a shower squeegee. when? *shrug* i should also buy some snacks 4 dukkyung. hrm, what does dukkyung wanna eat? maybe i'd best hit up albertsons during lunch n' pick up some mini frozen pizzas n' mini doughnuts n' some bananas, etc.
yesterday, on nbc's today show i watched chris matthews call bill clinton "the first black president." wow, i never heard it put that way, but he was saying that president clinton was good to afrikan.amerikans. i guess so. really, have the republikans done nething good 4 minority groups lately? i wonder if "conservatives" consider minority groups "special interest groups." prob'ly... so while conservatives r ok w/ politicians supporting gun nuts n' the tobacco industry, they don't like politicians supporting asian.ams, afrikan.ams, chicano/latino.ams, etc. *sigh*
u heard that dubyah on bill o'reilly's show sed that the south vietnamese didn't help themselves in the vietnam war n' that's why they lost, rt? so he's telling vietnamese that they just plain suck, eh? u know, when i was down in garden grove w/ johnny n' raymond a few yrs back to go watch that silly li'l taekwondo demo competition, the hotel we stayed @ was hosting some vietnamese.am grp's fundraising party 4 some republikan candidate. according to the 80.20 grp, the vietnamese.ams r the only grp that still support the repbulikans. why? after being told that u suck cos u didn't fight 4 ur freedom, why do u still listen to these ppl?
last nite, kaela n' i watched catfish in black bean sauce, a movie 'bout a vietnamese brutha n' sista who get adopted n' raised by an afrikan.am family in socal. it's a pretty interesting movie.
[later] 오후: dangit, there's sumpthin' really wrong w/ my handspring visor edge during lunch, i went to osh n' albertsons then home to eat leftover spam curry that kaela cooked last nite. i fed sooni n' left her in the backyard 4 the afternoon. i hope she doesn't get into ne trouble out there.
[later] how r u? when u have a chance, plz sign my gbook. thanks. 금요일 아침: last nite, linda n' kevin came to visit us on their way up to seattle, n' they brought w/ them boston, their doggy. when i saw that the beautiful kaela hwang had arrived home n' that linda n' kevin had apparently coincidentally arrived @ the same time, i put sooni's muzzle on. earlier, i prakticed the muzzle w/ her by putting it on her n' giving her some turkey lunchmeat to make sure she associated the muzzle w/ good things, u know? well, i cautiously opened the door 4 them, but sooni's quick. she darted right out n' was on top'f boston. b4, i wasn't sure if i should put her leash on or not cos i didn't wanna provoke "leash aggression." well, she was all over boston, n' boston was phreaked out! kevin didn't know sooni had a muzzle on n' thought she was biting boston, so he started kicking sooni. heh, i thought was a bit excessive, but he didn't know she had a muzzle on, so it's definitely excusable. neway, maybe that helped teach her not to do that. well, when she saw that ppl were coming in w/ boston, sooni ran right back in the house to protekt "her territory." u know how when she escapes, it usually takes a long time n' a car ride to get her back in? well, since she wanted to protekt "her territory," she was rt back in! ha ha. well, as usual, even tho' sooni has those kinds'f outbursts, she calms down n' mellows out fast. like 5 mins later, u wouldn't even know she recently had a big outburst. well, it took her a li'l while longer to calm down cos she was nervous 'bout the muzzle, u know? however, 1nce she calmed down, she was pretty calm 4 the rest'f the nite. @ 1 pt, kevin n' i let boston n' sooni get close to each other cos boston was curious, n' then sooni lunged @ boston (w/ her muzzle on). after that, boston growled every time sooni looked @ him. ha ha. really, they're both good doggies, but sooni's just a bit'f a b!+ch when it comes to other doggies, u know? oh well...
[later] this morn i took sooni 4 a jog out to blockbuster to return the catfish in black bean sauce dvd. 2nite, we go off to the grx couples retreat, a 1 nite, 1 day event.
[a li'l later] so i really dunno what to do 'bout my pda situation. hrm, should i buy a new 1? there's a $50 mir (mail.in.rebate) 4 the palm 72 rt now. @ the same time, i'm on a bit'f a mission to cut back $pending, u know? w/ snow season coming up, i've gotta save $$$ 4 snowboarding n' a new set'f tires. [later] i have the big property tax payment to pay off soon. that's gonna hurt; it's gonna hurt bad / badly. i'll try to live w/o a pda 4 a while, i guess. *shrug* if only there were a way to get some more $$$. hrm... well, hey, do u wanna buy a handspring visor edge off me? ha ha ha. *sigh* i have a coupl'f things i could sell off to make like $20 total. ha ha. seriously, i have an extra pcmcia 802.11b card to sell off. aktually, more importantly, i've gotta pull the data off the old vaio laptop's hd, put it back into the laptop, n' then sell off the laptop. that's more important. is there nething else i could ebay
neway, how r u? plz sign my gbook when u have a chance.
[later] 오후: during lunch, i went by spirit (the halloween superstore) b4 going home to eat n' play w/ sooni. i browsed 'round spirit but didn't necessarily find nething i really liked. costumes co$t 'bout $20~30 but can go over $45. i left spirit n' went home. funny, sooni was sleeping in the guest room. u know why, rt? it's cos boston slept in there w/ kevin n' linda last nite, so sooni feels she must've lost that territory cos she'd be neglekting it. ha ha ha! she thinks she needs to reclaim that territory 'bout sleeping there during the day or sumpthin', i guess. well, i ate some old leftover chicken from maggiano's that was in the fridge. i also ate 2'f those costco chili pepper sausages n' some green grapes. i guess i ate 'lot'f protein. hrm, i feel i need to get more cardio/aerobik exercise n' burn off some excess stuff. well, i did go jogging this morn. *shrug* someday, i'll make it to the spin class 'gain. someday... last nite, i did werkout in the company gym, but i did mostly weights, a li'l ab stuff, n' then stretching. kaela'd stayed late @ skool, n' so i figured i was justified to go to the gym. well, when i came home, i found neglekted sooni out on the lawn. she doesn't like being abandoned, i guess. *sigh* thus, she jumped the fence n' wreaked whatever havoc she wreaks on the neighbourhood when she does this. *shrug* when i found her on the lawn, i knew the best way to make sure she goes inside is to give her a ride. i took her 4 a ride in my car. we went to the drive.thru atm to pick up some ca$h; that's all. i'd wished i brought the dvd to return to blockbuster but didn't. 'least i jogged over there this morn to return it.
[later] i really wanna watch the dog whisperer on the national geographic channel. i caught a bit'f 1 episode, but i'd like to c more.
[later] even tho' i like sanjosegasprices.com as a website that lets us "comparison shop" 4 gas, i noticed that the forums there r kind'f full'f those conservative gun nut types who come by to find gas 4 their jumbo monster supersized vehicles. i noticed lots'f that conservative talk on the forums, all this "i hate kerry" kind'f talk. u know, it makes no sense cos ppl who r worried 'bout saving a penny here n' there on gas most likely rn't in the income bracket that'd benefit from dubyah's tax policies.
[later] check out lipsum.com, www.subterrane.com/loremipsum.shtml n' www.lorem-ipsum.info/generator2 4 some fun info n' experience w/ "lorem ipsum." 일요일 1234p: 자줏빛... 사람들은 녹색이나 보라색이나 오렌지색 얼굴을 가지고 있지 않습니다. where did i leave off talking? *sigh* since i no longer have a pda/handheld, i don't get to refer to my journal as much as i used to. :-( i've gotta say that i've been thinking n' thinking n' thinking these past few days if i should go off n' buy a palm zire 72 w/ the $50 mir (mail.in.rebate) or not. i mean, i guess i do need it, but can i afford it? after all, i hafta 1) pay the property tax bill, 2) buy new tires 4 the snow season, 3) go snowboarding, 4) buy christmas presents, 5) pay vehicle registration. *sigh* what should i do? :-/ yah, i'm really conflikted. sometimes, i need to find a fon nombre fast, n' i used to take out my handspring visor edge ok, neway, there's more important things to talk 'bout than material things, rt? this fri nite thru sat eve, the beatiful kaela hwang n' i attended the grx couples retreat @ the holiday inn express in morgan hill off east dunne ave. it was very close to home, but we all stayed @ the hotel. that made it sort'f like a jumbo sleepover party, i s'ppose. honestly, since we had sort'f a *sigh* not that great experience w/ the last retreat we went on @ our old church, i was kind'f nervous 'bout going on this retreat but soon found out my nervousness was really ridiculous. it was a great retreat w/ an excellent speaker that talked 'bout material relevant to married, engaged, n' "seriously dating" couples from ages 20~35+, u know? there were many couples there w/ kids as well as many w/o, like us. we met so many kewl ppl. it was great. the special guest speaker was professor donald sunukjian'f talbot skool'f theology, which is guess related to biola university. (apparently, it is just plain part'f biola university, u know?) dude, seriously, he's a weel studied, well.versed, intelligent person w/ good things to say.
[later] 406p: neway, the retreat was very interesting to us cos it was in morgan hill @ a hotel, not off in the mtns in cabins, etc. that was totally fine by us. i figure maybe it's sometimes best to keep "ruffin' it" n' "spiritual studies" separate, u know? u don't need to go into "nature" to have a retreat all the time. some'f the time, it's kewl; but it doesn't need to be all the time. on our way down to morgan hill, kaela n' i bought some mcyukyuk drive.thru well, this morn, we went to the early service @ grx. after eating some snacks (doughnut/bagel), we came straight home. we watched some korean tv n' ate beanie weanie that kaela cooked. i really appreciated her cooking.
[later] 506p: ok, i found the remote control. i'm dling the manual from the internet. [later] 655p: 2day's been quite a lazy day. the pizza from pizz'a chicago just got here. u know what? sooni handled the pizza guy's presence @ the door very well. she just stood behind me the whole time. she didn't try to get out or run up to the guy to sniff him, etc.
[later] 1130p: we ordered 2 medium pizzas from pizz'a chicago cos kaela's 2 classmates were over studying 4 their chiropraktic skool midterms. they were good pizzas. 1 was the uh... hrm... lemme check the website cos i 4get the names'f the pizzas. all the "specialty" pizzas have names related to chicago, mostly names'f sports celebrities. ok, we had 1 joliet jake (4 kinds'f shrooms [shiitake, portabello, crimini, n' button], dried aprikots, n' fresh basil) n' 1 white sox (no sauce just olive oil brushed on crust, mozzarella, provolone "cheeses" [i dunno how many kinds'f provolone. *shrug*], fresh garlic, roma tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, n' sundried tomatoes). i ordered thru their website. last time, i ordered via waiter.com. i wish i had known i could still do that. i could've earned more waiter.com points 2wards free fud. *sigh* nuts. on both the pizzas, i specified soy mozzarella. it's funny cos i know in the past big pizza franchises bragged 'bout how they didn't use soy fillers in their pizza chese, but now i want soy cheese. funny... well, i figure it's healthier. *shrug* neway, both the pizzas had add'l types'f cheese (besides mozzarella), n' those were only dairy.
after dinner, i took sooni 4 a long, walk. we didn't walk very fast. we took our time, walking in the brisk oktober air. ah, it really did feel like autumn in the silly valley. i recognised the feeling from earlier yrs in my life. this truly is silly valley in autumn. well... then 'gain, maybe it felt a li'l more like winter. ha ha ha... yah, 'twas a bit chilly out there. we walked down to the rite.aid plaza n' 'round the petco 2day was such a lazy day. *sigh* after church, i didn't go back out until i walked sooni. crazy, huh? i could've gone out to get shopping done that i can't do during the werkwk (workweek), but i figured i'd better prevent myself from $pending ne $$$. what do i need? i think we need a new shower squigee. is that how u spell it? or is it "squeegee"? nuts, i dunno. what else? maybe we could use some groceries. *sigh* maybe i should've gone out to buy these things. *shrug* i dunno. during the werkwk, i go to werk. after werk, these days, i rush home to take care'f sooni cos i know kaela'll still be @ skool. in the past, i didn't worry as much 'bout rushing home cos i knew that kaela had come home from werk n' let sooni out/in, made sure she wasn't sitting in the dark. now, no; i've gotta come home. lately, i haven't gone to the bally's gym, nope. @ best, i squeeze in a quick, quick werkout @ the company gym. i dunno. maybe what i've gotta do is come home, check on sooni, n' then go out to bally's; but it takes so long to battle commute traffik to get there. :-/ i s'ppose what makes making the trip out to bally's worth it is classes such as the spin class, huh? well, i haven't gone to the spin class in a long time. @ my werk gym, i have some cardio machines, weights, n' weight machines. i don't have a real bench press (or "benchpress") setup like @ bally's, but i have sumpthin' similar but w/ some safety thingies. it's not quite as good but not horrible. *sigh* i s'ppose i wish we had either 24 hr fitness or club 1 membership. :-/ we still have a yr'f our bally's membership to use up. *sigh*
well, it's sun nite. it's now 1151p, n' i feel like sleeping. i feel like showering b4 sleeping. uhm, however, earlier kaela was 'bout to do the laundry but paused the machine n' 4got 'bout it. a while 'go, i resumed the machine, not realising that i should've taken my shower b4 starting it back up, so that i'd have 'nuff hot h2o, u know? *sigh*
*sigh* yah, i'm still thinking 'bout the things i've gotta pay off this season:
월요일 아침: this morn, i woke up to nbc's today show. i heard the news that my company's cfo resigned but that it was definitely to other personal interests not cos'f ne financial situation related to my company. wow, it's interesting to wake up to news 'bout ur company while still in bed, u know? i knew that i'd read more 'bout it when i got to my office. [later] well, i got up @ a decent time this morn. i watched interviews'f presidential candidate john f. kerry n' incumbent vice.president dick cheney. i listened to ppl talk 'bout schwarzeneggar's campaigning 4 dubyah n' president bill clinton's campaigning 4 kerry. [later] when i finally really got out'f bed. i took sooni 4 a medium.length jog. i passed this 1 house in our neighbourhood w/ a bush/cheney sign. that house n' sign always irk me. 2day, i saw the owner pulling out'f the driveway in his suv (which had a bush.cheney sticker. he started to back out, n' sooni n' i waited 4 him to go. then he noticed us n' stopped. sooni n' i went 'head, but i didn't give him a smile or wave or nething altho' i tried not to give him 2 durty'f a look even tho' i think i might've.
u know, i do have republikan friends, n' some r gonna vote 4 dubyah, i know. after all, being a christian means u'll be 'round ppl who go 'long w/ the "conservative christian" politikal view, the whole "moral majority" thing. i mean... i really don't mean to bag on it that hard, n' i do worry that i'm offending my politikally conservative friends. i've gotta say tho'... this wknd, while @ the retreat, the beautiful kaela hwang sed aloud to a dubyah voter friend that we're voting 4 kerry, n' i immediate backer her up even tho' i personally was a li'l timid 'bout bringing it up so quickly. personally, i gotta say that it does bother me that churches tend to be biased 2wards ne 1 politikal party. i mean... ppl could accuse me'f just saying that cos it cms to me that churches tend to be biased 2wards the republikans n' that i wouldn't say that if more'f the churches i'm 'round these days were biased 2wards demokrats. *sigh* no, that's not necessarily it. while i was in berkeley; there n' then i totally had backing from churches in my politikal views. w/o doubt, i had plenty, plenty'f church friends who were demokrats n' attended the affirmative action rally led by rev. jesse jackson. however, as much as i'm proud that the silly valley's more "liberal" than ppl think it is, i've gotta admit that in churches, i've found the atmosphere to be more politikally conservative than what i'd been used to in berkeley. of course, some ppl'd argue that that's not saying much cos berkeley's such a liberal town, this n' that. well... i don't care if u label berkeley a "liberal town" or what, but u've gotta admit that berkeley's an intelligent town. ppl in berkeley these days rn't so much "uneducated hippies" but rather very akademically respektable ppl. many, many skolars n' alumni n' instruktors live in that area. it's a diverse community, n' u'r absolutely wrong if u don't believe that there's a lot'f christians in berkeley, including many intelligent, spiritually grounded christians w/ politkally so.called "liberal" views such as mine. well, in these last few days near the big elektion, u know... i might say some harsh things 'bout the opposing party, but well... i do have opinions 'bout these matters, n' well... i do want my candidate to win cos i do believe he's best 4 the country. i personally do not believe the incumbent administration's doing it's job rt, n' i want put others who will in their place.
on fri nite, 1'f our new friends @ our new church mentioned that she's voting 4 our opponent cos'f the abortion issue. i've gotta say, i've got more respekt 4 that than when ppl just say they're voting republikan 4 tax brks. ppl mention the tax brks cos it's something ppl'f all faiths can understand: $$$. when ppl say their voting 4 the tax brks, they sometimes say it apolegitikally like they're saying, "i know the democrats do more to support civil rights and the rights of women and minorities, but i can't resist the tax breaks." they often say it kind'f goofily as if the tax breaks r a silly, guilty pleasure. hrm... i've sort'f grown rather annoyed by that justifikation tho', especially when i hear it from christians. even tho' i think that abortion should not be outlawed by gov't but rather prevented by edukation n' counseling the way the demokrats mostly go, i think i have more respekt 4 ppl who say they're voting 4 the republikkkans cos'f the abortion issue than cos'f taxes cos saying u'r voting cos'f tax brks just supports greed. is it that i support "tax n' $pend"? no! that's just a term the republikkkans made up. what i do believe is that the gov't has a responsibility to take care'f its ppl. i believe that we amerikans have a responsibility to make sure the most un4tunate 'mongst us r taken care'f; n', yes, that should be done by the gov't. n' 'gain, 'bout the abortion issue; i don't think abortion is good, but i just don't think it should be prevented thru legislation that bans it but rather thru edukation n' counseling.
i've had a bit'f a stomach ache 2day. kaela sed she had a stomach ache as she left this morn. hrm... i have a pretty set goal@werk.com this wk. i hafta finish a specific projekt n' write up a presentation on it. it's rather straight4ward. next wk, i give my presentation, then move to a diff division. it's pretty interesting. [later] i'm still unhappy 'bout my pda/handheld predikament. [later] 1 thing that sort'f helps is having my own laptop these days. in fakt, since i have my own laptop these days, i hadn't used my handspring visor edge i wonder when i should go grocery shopping this wk. i'm not looking 4 ways to throw 'way $$$, but we've gotta eat, don't we? i wonder what i should cook this wk. *shrug*
even tho' jerome'll make fun'f me 4 this, i aktually like se7en's 2집 album. it's laffable cos he's sort'f a teenbopper singer, u know? some1 like justin timberlake, usher, or (as i sed to duk kyung on sat nite) tevin campbell. in that sense, yah, he n' his muzik r really cheesy yet rather catchy. i sort'f chuckle, when i hear the song "se7en's love," where he sings, "나... unh, one two three four five and six... 조금은 더 기아릴 수 있어요. seven... 내겐 이 시간들이 너무나 길지만 또 unh, one two three four five and six... 아직도 더 생각할 게 있나요 seven... 이잰 그대 미소 기다린 나를 위해서 꼭 웃어줘요." "i... unh, one two three four five and six... can wait a little more. seven... for me these times are so long, but... unh... one two three four five and six... i think i can still think 'bout it. seven... this time, surely smile for me who's waited for your smile." i've wondered if i could be a teen hearthrob singer w/ a song w/ lyrics such as "b is 4 how badly i want u. e is 4 how i'll give everything to u. n is 4 how i'll never leave u. o... oh oh oh, i love u."
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went to blockbuster to pick up 'nother free non.new release dvd rental. @ 1st, i thought my coupon was also good 4 new releases, so i chose eternal sunshine of the spotless mind; but the ca$hier pted out it had to be a non.new release. earlier, i wondered if i should purposely pick a movie that kaela doesn't wanna watch, so she'll just not watch n' instead study. yah, i wasn't sure, but when i went back to look 4 a non.new release, i ended up picking up the mothman prophecies, which kaela'll definitely not wanna watch. that'll make her study! ha ha. after blockbuster, i swung by the nearby post office to mail off my absentee voter ballot. no use trying to convince me to vote 4 ne particular candidate; it's all sed n' done. i hope u all make the rt choices. after that, i went home n' quickly ate lunch. i didn't have a very healthy lunch. i ate the last slice'f leftover pizza n' then some lime tostitos w/ salsa. it was a very unhealthy lunch. i spent time w/ sooni but did not walk her. it's s'pposed to start raining 2nite. i left her in the backyard when i left. 2nite, i hope to go to the gym after werk. which gym? company gym or bally's? i think bally's. if so, i should come home, let sooni in, n' then drive off to the gym. we'll c. i'm still a li'l stressed 'bout what to cook 4 dinner this wk. *sigh* :-/ "asian or non.asian?" is 1'f the 1st big decisions. well, prob'ly both, of course. u know what we haven't had in a while? 만두 mandoo!
[later] 922p: i werked out @ my company gym. i 4got my gym shoes, so i had to wear just my normal bizness caz (casual) / werk shoes. cos'f that, i just lifted weights instead'f doing the cardio stuff i had hoped to do. after werking out, i went to my office to gather my things n' go home to c sooni. i was happy to find that, even tho' she was left in the dark in the backyard, she didn't jump the fence this time unlike on thurs nite. :-) good gurl. i came home, i let sooni in, i sat 4 a few mins, n' then i went grocery shopping 갤러리아 마켓 / galleria market. hrm... i bought lots'f easily prepared fud: tons'f refrigerated 우동 udon, refrigerated 짜장면, some frozen 만두 mandoo... when i checked out, i was thinking the 아줌마 ajoomma might'f thought, from my items, that i was a total 총각 chonggak / bachelor. ha ha. seriously, it looked like bachelor fud! neway, i came home, i cooked myself some 우동 oodong, n' yah... i felt like a bachelor... or like a single dad w/ sooni 'round as my kid. kaela was @ skool, studying this whole time. [later] while cutting cabbage 4my oodong, i saw that part'f the cabbage was red n' wondered what kind'f weird cabbage it was. then, i noticed that it was blood. i had cut myself! i dunno how. i hadn't cut myself cooking in a very, very long time. maybe it's cos we didn't very s#arp knives b4 i bought these miracle blade iii knives. 화요일 아침: how r u? whether u've done it already or not, why not stop by my gbook n' say hello. last nite, it stormed. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i woke up the sound'f sooni @ our bdrm door. i think she was trying to open our locked door. she knows that if she turns the handle n' pushes, she can sometimes open doors, but we locked it, i think. i dunno if sooni was scared or what, but it was storming like crazy outside. it sounded like the whole house was taking a good, strong shower! it was pouring. i opened the door, n' sooni came in. kaela sed that sooni prob'ly thought the house was gonna fall down, so she came to wake us up. kaela wondered what sooni would've done if the door had been left open. she thinks sooni would've woken us up. kaela wondered if sooni would've jumped on the bed to wake us up. me, i think she would've 멍멍ed (barked). i went to the back door n' saw that the rain was really pouring down. the entire covered patio was wet, n' water was gushing out'f the covering's gutter. i went to the front window n' looked out. the rainwater had flooded up past the curb. wow! it was amazing n' very exciting. i went back to bed n' enjoyed the sound'f the pouring rain. as i fell back asleep, i was a li'l disappointed to hear the rain let up. even tho' i know i un4tunately won't have a chance to hit tahoe 4 a coupl'f wks, i really want lots'f snow to fall. i can't wait to hit the slopes, n'... *sigh* i've really gotta go snowboarding a bunch this yr. :-/
1 song i really like these days, altho' it's a cheesy teenybopper bubblegum ballad, is se7en's "문신" (tattoo). these days, i enjoy using the windows media player crossfader enhancement. man, it does depress me tons tho' that i haven't djed in a long time. :-( [later] last nite, while eating my 우동 oodong, i watched episode 23'f 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn. it's a very captivating show. :-) i'd cn episodes after this 1, but i think kaela n' i missed this episode, n' it was a major turning pt in some ways; so, even tho' i knew the outcome'f the show, it was fun to figure out how things went from pt a to pt b, u know?
this morn b4 werk, i took sooni 4 a medium.lengthed walk. i made her wear her new raincoat. she doesn't love wearing clothes but tolerates it 4 our sake. it wasn't raining, but the coat shielded her from dripping water from tree branches above, i s'ppose. rt now, the sun is shining after the rain like in that cheesy boyband ballad. that was 98°, rt? yah, a quick google srch told me that the song's 98°'s "because of you."
[later] dude, have u cn the new oqo??? it's a winxp 'puter that almost fits in ur pocket. it has a 1ghz trasmeta crusoe cpu, 20gb hd, 256mb ddr ram, "3d accelerated graphics" w/ 8mb vram, 802.11b, bluetooth®, qwerty thumb kbd w/ mouse buttons/trackstick®, usb1.1, 3.5mm stereo headfon jack, microphone, digital pen, n' removable li+ battery w/ 3hr life. dimensions: 4.9" x 3.4" x 0.9"; weight: 14 oz. crazy, huh? guess how much it co$ts. well, w/ win xp home, it's $1899. w/ win xp pro, it's $1999. to add ms office small biz edition pre.installed: +$300. man, that's 1 killer handheld, but compare that to the $219 (after mir) palm zire 72 that i'm still holding off till 'round christmas to buy cos'f my current nonabundance'f $$$. oqo... man, that's kewl. heh heh... neway, i s'ppose i have a look but don't buy approach to gadgetlust @ the moment, rt? ha ha. yesterday nite, kaela told me i have to pay the h2o/elektricity bill, which she had previously been paying, cos she's now not really werking since she's in skool. man, why did we ever waste so much h2o on the lawns? no wonder the backyard lawn grows so well! yah, i've had a feeling we've been giving it 2 much h2o. the grass's so tall that sooni has not been able to walk thru the grass in a long time, 4 the past month or so. instead'f walking thru the grass, she has to leap over the grass. she cross the lawn in 'bout 4 or 5 leaps.
[a li'l later] as far as adjusting finances 4 our current life situation, i s'ppose 1 way to try to live more w/in our current means is not to go out to eat as much. yah, i think that's how it'll hafta be. i bought 'lot'f refrigerated 우동 oodong n' 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn last nite. hrm, 2day i have a lunch mtg, n' i usually gotta buy lunch 4 lunch mtgs. :-( lunches @ werk.com rn't that expen$ive if i stop by the 1 werk.com cafeteria that has cheap prices on the way to the mtg. like, i can get a decent lunch r $2.50~3.50. that's better than blowing $8.50~$12 @ a restaurant, rt? 'bout a yr 'go, i used to eat lunch w/ kaela always. every single day, we'd go out to eat, usually @ korean restaurants on el camino real near my company. then we bought our house, n' i started going home 4 lunch, often eating frzn dinners or else maybe leftovers. @ that pt, kaela stopped mtg me 4 lunch. instead'f mtg up w/ kaela 4 lunch, i started mtg up w/ our house! ha ha ha. imagine: "i've got a lunch date w/ my house." ha ha ha. well, since we had just bought it, i was always worried 'bout the house n' wanted to check up on it. then a short few months later, sooni arrived. @ that pt, i started having to go home during lunch to check up on sooni. i think eating @ home's cheaper n' maybe sometimes healthier than eating out 4 lunch. i dunno; frzn entrées n' canned soups have waaaaay 2 much sodium! that's awful. i don't want to ingest so much preservatives either.
[later] i wonder if i stink. sometimes, by some mistake our clothes don't get dried well n' then end up stinking. i wonder if the sweater i'm wearing stinks. i feel like i smell that awful mildew smell, but then when i sniff my sweater i don't smell it. ah, is it my jeans? do my jeans stink? it's hard to sniff my jeans... no, i s'ppose i can sniff the cuff. i can even sniff my knee, but i'm not gonna sniff my own crotch! ha ha ha. well, i'm not sure. my jeans either smell like fabrik softener or mildew. [later] yah, as i sit here n' smell that scent as i do my werk, i'm more n' more convinced that my jeans didn't dry so well n' got stinky as they sat went in the hamper, folded up as if they were totally dry. *sigh* so i just hafta wash them 'gain, eh? man, there's lots'f housechores to do all the time... all the time! [later] man, i totally do not look 4ward to going thru the rest'f the werkday smelling like this! :-( i wonder if i should go home n' change on my way to the lunch mtg. in that case, maybe i could save a few bucks by grabbing some fud from home 4 lunch? is this possible? i'm not so sure it's possible.
[later] 오후: so on my way to the mtg, i did stop by home. i sed hi to sooni, changed jeans, n' grabbed some santa fe caesar salad from the fridge 4 lunch. 2day, i'm listening to 쥬얼리 3집 jewelry 3jip on mp3, n' i've realised i've really neglekted what a decent album this is. heh... i guess i sort'f tucked this direktory'f dled mp3s 'way, 4getting that these songs r aktually pretty good. it's just that 쥬얼리 jewelry's such a teenybopper gurlypop group, that u know... i'm inclined to assume the album'd just have 1 or 2 polished made.to.be.hits singles n' then the rest'f the album sucks. however, that's aktually not true. the whole album's aktually pretty good n' has a variety'f sounds. i sort'f figure groups like 쥬얼리 jewelry, 샤크라 chakra, n' sugar r sort'f 2nd gen gurlypop groups, while groups like s.e.s., 핑클 fin.k.l., n' baby v.o.x. r the original, 1st gen gurlypop groups. of those "original 1st gen gurlypop" groups, only baby v.o.x. is still a unit. humourously, u could argue that that's cos none'f them have 'nuff talent to exist as a solo akt. ha ha. seriously, i dunno if ne'f them can really sing. in s.e.s., we all figured 바다 bada was the best singer, but i totally always knew 유진 eugene also could sing. in fin.k.l., ppl always knew 주현 joohyun was the real singer. yah, even tho' 효리 hyori also has a solo singing career as well, i still think 주현 was the real singer 'mongst them. 수요일 아침: i wonder how many trick'r treaters we'll get @ out house this halloween. 1nce 'gain lemme reiterate my stance on halloween as a christian: some so.called "conservative" christians like to bag on halloween, saying it's a satanic holiday. hey, ppl've been saying that since the days'f laura ingles wilder's little house on the prairie (not the tv show, the book). (dude, now why the #@*% would u use that book as a chronologikal reference?! well, it's cos i 'member reading it or being read it [i 4get which.] in 3rd grade or so n' reading/hearing that there were townsfolks that complained 'bout "all hallow's eve" aktivities.) is halloween a satanic holiday? well, i would say it's just 'bout kids n' trick n/or treating, but recently party promoters have been throwing these adult halloween parties such as these exotic erotic halloween balls, etc. those parties make halloween less'f a kids thing n' more'f a sex thing. have u ever heard ppl say that halloween's a gay holiday? i've heard it. i heard ppl say that halloween's a gay holiday cos gay ppl always hafta pretend to be ppl that they're not; but on halloween, they can, 4 1 day, akt n' dress like the persons they really r inside. now, even tho' i believe it's written in the bible that akts'f homosexual sex r sins, i don't believe it's the christian's responsibility or rt to demean, harass, belittle, or oppress homosexuals. however, some "conservative" christians cm to think it is. u know, amerikan media has really brainwashed ppl into being so focused on sex, u know? thus, certain "conservative" christians r just following the ways n' philosophies'f the world by buying into this. in ne case, yah... some so.called "conservative" christians r very much against halloween, saying it's a satanic holiday. however, u know what my view is? well, many christians know that amerikan society has totally messed up our holiday that commemorates jesus christ's birth: christmas. they say that amerikan society has totally commercialised it into being all 'bout christmas trees, santa claus, rudolph the red.nosed reindeer, teddy bears, n' candy canes. that's true, n' that's a bit awful. commericialisation has stolen the true meaning from christmas. well, commercialisation has also stolen some'f whatever satanic meaning there is in halloween! i'll go 'head n' buy into the black kitties, n' candy; but i won't necessarily buy into the running 'round naked, celebrating hedonism, lust, sin, etc. after all, b4 u so.called "conservative" christians go off labeling me as a "liberal" sinner who's sold myself off to the sinful secular world, don't 4get that i'm quite a frickin' prude, when it comes down to it. i do have morals, plenty'f morals, plenty'f bible.based morals.
ok, 'nuff 'bout religion, politiks, n' all that uhm... "nonsense." what's been up? lessee; yesterday nite, i went to taekwondo praktice w/o the beautiful kaela hwang. as u c, since kaela's gone back to skool n's always @ the library studying, i'm getting used to doing stuff w/o her, i s'ppose. i dunno; i guess it really sucks; but i've gotta. i took sooni w/ me tho'. ha ha. yah, she sat outside really well. there's this nice rug outside the dojang's door, n' she curled up on it. it was very cute, but ppl had to make her move every time they wanted to go thru the door. @ praktice, we kicked paddles. it was a good praktice. i was happy not to have ne twisted ankles or arthritic joints last nite. i liked getting to praktice double kicks. last time we did lots'f double kicks, my left ankle was twisted, so i couldn't really do double kicks, cos u need both feet, etc. yah, it felt good. ben brought this new de anza kid to class. this dude sed he trained @ berkeley 4 yrs 'go when he was a freshman in hi skool in castro valley n' sed he recognised me. uh, i didn't recognise him, but i'm sure he's telling the truth. that happened 'lot in berkeley taekwondo. i had lots'f visibility, n' so ppl knew who i was, even if i didn't know who they were. this kid's pretty agile n' reminded us old fogies that we're old fogies. ha ha. after praktice, i took sooni straight home n' ate a bachelor's dinner'f 2 sausages w/ grilled onions. when kaela finally came home n' saw what i ate she laffed n' pted out that it was indeed totally bachelor fud!!! while washing dishes, cooking, n' eating, i watched some'f the mothman prophecies.
[later] 오후: in lab, as i sed, we listen to kfox classik rock, n' i just heard that there'll be a total lunar eclipse 2nite. a total eclipse'f the moon... heh, do u 'member when i used to play the nikki french dance mix cover'f "total eclipse of the heart" @ all those intervarsity n' asian parties in college? ha ha... ah, those were the days, eh? hrm, is this a real emergency broadcasting system alert? i think it is! a big thunderstorm's headed 2wards northwestern santa cruz county. wow. i rarely hear real emergency broadcasting system alerts! *sigh* when can we go snowboarding??? i'm even tempted to take a vakation day to hit the slopes! i just heard an ad 4 albertsons sale'f heavenly season passes 4 just $299. i gotta say, i don't love heavenly. i really don't. however, that is a good deal. well, it depends on the blackout dates, but it sounds pretty good. when'll i get to go snowboarding?! i'm a snowboarder, don'tchu know?
[later] during my lunchbrk, i 1st went to walgreens. i thought 'bout the things i need to get: dental floss n' some kind'f clr (calcium lime rust remover) n/or some kind'f liquid plumb'r in order to unclog the master bathrm shower drain. i thought 'bout where to go n' concluded that target [later] last nite or the nite b4, i went on friendster. after not being on there in a long time, i rediscovered their search feature, where u can search 4 classmates, so i figured i'd search 4 fellow berkeley grads from 1998. i saw lots'f faces that i didn't recognise n' then 1 i really recognised. he's an old, old friend that many'f my friends know cos we both did taekwondo. he totally dropped out'f our social circle after getting into some pyramid scheme biznesses. i don't wanna mention his name... but yah... neway, i saw that his displayed msg on friendster sed sumpthin' like 'don't bother talking unless u make $100,000 a year after taxes. if you don't, we have nothing in common." hrm... u know, in the past, i really enjoyed hanging out w/ him, but yah, ever since he got into these pyramid scheme biznesses a few yrs 'go, talking to him sure wasn't the same. i never wanted to mention to him that i had ne $$$ concerns cos he's immediate response turned asking me to join his pyramid scheme, which i absolutely did not want to do. if i sed i didn't want to, he'd akt offended. i dunno if he was really offended or if that was a sales taktic or what. i mean, how can u expekt ur friends to join ur pyramid scheme so much that u'r offended if they don't?! that's not rt. when i went off to grad skool, i had lunch w/ him, n' that was the last time i saw him. he was very sincere n' genuine when i last talked to him. we had very good, down to earth conversation. i think deep down, he's a really good guy but that, 4 the sake'f his bizness, he's gotta put on a certain attitude n' do a certain akt. i can imagine. it's like those scumbags @ that american investor's group seminar series that kaela n' i attended a coupl'f yrs 'go. they're not out to help u make $$$ thru real estate but r just making $$$ off'f the high admission fees 4 their seminars. i dunno; i still believe that it's true that real 4tunes r only made thru real estate investment, not thru werking; but well... u've gotta werk 1st to build capital to invest in real estate(s), of course. what i've also cn is that ppl who claim not to have a lack'f $$$ r often aggressively tapping into their credit. is it ok to be in debt? man, rn't ppl in this country rather obsessed w/ having material things rt here, rt now? what 'bout a retirement fund? 1 reason, i s'ppose, that i've gotta watch my $pending all the time is that i've been puttin $$$ into my 401k n' employee stock purchase plan, etc.
i also put lots'f $$$ into my flexible $pending acct, but i wonder if i should cut that. i went to the dentist, n' i'm gonna go have a physikal exam next month @ the physician. however, i dunno if i'm really gonna $pend all that i thought i was gonna $pend. i think if kaela goes off n' buys new contakts, that'll get me closer. maybe that'll be 'nuff. well, yah... kaela's gotta get new contakts this yr in order 4 me to use up my flex $$$.
[later] funny, rt now on kfox, they're playing peter frampton, i think. it's the song from that dude on homerpalooza, when cypress hill stole his guitar effekts box. "do u feel... do u feel... do u feel?" that scene... ha ha ha. man, phil'd love to watch me listen to all this classik rock. really, i'm not really a classik rock guy, but it's interesting, n' i do like some'f the songs. i can sing 'long to some'f them. man, i miss playing guitar. [later] now they're playing dire strait's "money for nothing" (and the chicks for free). i 'member when this song came out in the 1980s. u know, in my ideal world, we'd listen to kpop in the lab, but of course that ain't gonna happen in amerikkka. however, more realistik, i'd hope we could listen to 1980s new wave / modern rock, modern alt rock (1990s~2000s), or else hip hop. however, i s'ppose that ain't gonna happen. if engineering labs play muzik, they always play classik rock, rt? *sigh* [a li'l later] yah, why can't i hear some erasure or pet shop boys (psb)? ok, to stay more on the straight side, how 'bout some new order? or to stay more 2ward rock than eletronika, how 'bout some smiths or cure? well, every 1nce in a while, i've heard r.e.m. on the lab radio. that's nice. dude, how 'bout some depeche mode! ok, u could tell me just to be thankful that my lab doesn't listen to country muzik! that's very true.
[later] from the ny times, 2004.10.22:
Some people who could be considered for the Supreme Court, according to interviews with several Democratic advisers:
Harold Hongju Koh, the dean of Yale Law School. Professor Koh, a widely admired scholar who has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations, would be the court's first Asian-American member. 저녁: i'm still@werk.com, but i guess it's 'bout time to go home. b4 this, i had a decent werkout @ the company gym. i lifted weights, not free weights 2day but weightlifting machine weights. i did 20 mins on the stationary bike. i gave myself a decent 'mount'f resistance. i did a few ab exercise then hit the shower. i left the kitchen fluorescent lite on when i left sooni after lunch. i hope she appreciates that.
[later] 927p: so the boston red sox won the world series 2nite. [later] 944p: 2nite, i ate 만두 mandoo 4 dinner. [later] 1003p: ah, that song i hear on korean dramas n' from other rooms @ 노래방 noraebang is boyzone's "no matter what." ah, i c. 목요일 아침: aktually the beautiful kaela hwang should get the credit 4 2day's entry title. i was rather sleepy last nite. kaela n' i watched an episode'f 결울 연가 / gyuhool yuhnga on kbs last nite, n' then i went to sleep while she stayed up n' studied. i think i quickly fell asleep. it was rather chilly in the house when we awoke this morn to npr n' nbc's today show. after finally getting out'f the warm bed n' changed, i took sooni 4 a walk in the brisk morning air. it's chilly out there. i sure'd like to go snowboarding. lemme tell u, i am by definition a snowboarder, so i must get my @$$ out to the slopes asap.
i need new tires. i dunno which to buy. i mean i know'f some suitable tires, but i'm debating btwn a few n' more. should i stay w/ yokohama or try a new brand? i know there's a big sale on michelin tires rt now. r they good? r they safe? *shrug*
from votenowar.org e.mail:
“Election officials in other swing states, from Arizona to Wisconsin and Florida, say they are bracing for similar efforts by Republicans to challenge new voters at polling places, reflecting months of disputes over voting procedures and the anticipation of an election as close as the one in 2000. ... Some officials said they worried that the challenges could discourage or even frighten others waiting to vote.”
The lead editorial for the New York Times titled “Election Day Misdeeds” (October 26, 2004) states: “Aggressive challengers have been known to bully poll workers, many of whom are elderly and have only limited knowledge of election law. ... There is a long history of challengers targeting minority precincts and minority voters. It is troubling that in Ohio this year, the Republicans appear to be focusing much of their effort on Cleveland, Dayton and other cities with large African American and Latino populations.
“One of the gravest dangers is that partisan teams ... will challenge many, if not all voters in selected precincts with the goal of slowing voting to a standstill. In Ohio, every challenge will require a deliberation over whether the person in question should be allowed to vote. In presidential elections, lines in urban polling places are often hours long under normal conditions. If the challengers can add ten minutes per voter, waiting times may become so long that thousands of voters will simply give up.” from powerbar, connect ca$h code good 4 2 free musik dls from sony connekt: PBA1X44Z6YGZ man, if i had a pda/handheld, i'd write down that code there 4 me to use. instead, in order to 'member it, i'm putting up here in my journal, where some1 could steal it n' use it instead'f me. it's a 1tym use code, not a free 4 all coupon code or nething.
[later] this morn, while walking sooni, i kept thinking 'bout that praise song we sing @ church that goes "oh god, let us be a generation that seeks, that seeks your face, oh, god of jacob." ah, i just googled up a song title: it's "give us clean hands" by chris tomlin. i found the lyrics @ sing365.com:
We bow our hearts So give us clean hands We bow our hearts So give us clean hands Oh God of Jacob
(Give us clean hands)
So give us clean hands Oh God of Jacob Oh God of Jacob
i like the song as long as it's played/sung in a style that's not 2 countryish. "oh god, let us be a generation that seeks, who seeks your face, oh god of jacob." i heard 1'f those ultra.conservative, so.called christian politikal leaders 1nce say on some late nite infomercial (prob'ly on pax) that he was so happy that gen y is turning out more spiritual n' "conservative" than gen x. hrm... i dunno, man. i think it totally is true that gen y's more politikally conservative than gen x, but i think gen x has just as much christian revival as gen y; just that, in gen'l, gen x christians took a more intellektual n' holistik approach to seeking god than gen y, if u ask me. am i gen x or gen y? when the movie reality bites came out, i was either a sr in hi skool or a frshmn in college; i 4get. when did beck's "loser" come out? was i a sr in hi skool or a frshmn in college? :-? yah, i 4get. i could always google up an answer, but i don't necessarily have time rt now. ppl have sed that gen x was a bunch'f "slackers," while gen y is more ambitious, more ready to go out n' make $$$ n' be kapitalists. hrm... yah, sure... making $$$ + kapitalism = christianity. u know that i so much do not buy that. neway, i'm not sure if "my generation"'s gen x or gen y cos it cms like we 1975 babies r definitely 2 old to be gen y yet a li'l 2 young to be gen x. can we be gen xy? i think i've heard that term b4. i guess i'm kewl w/ it. "oh god, let us be a generation that seeks, who seeks your face, oh god of jacob." i don't think that refers to a generation such as gen x or gen y. i think that refers to a generation such as all who exist on this earth rt now.
in recent months, i kept hearing in sermons n' msgs the story'f how abram/abraham let the pharoah take his wife sarai/sarah by letting the pharaoh think sarai/sarah was his sister not wife. that way, the pharoah, instead'f knockin' off abram n' taking his widow 4 a wife, would say, "yo, abram! whassup? dude, u'r sister's foine. lemme hook u up w/ whate'er u want. just help me get w/ ur sister." the pharoah hooked abram up w/ all sorts'f blingin' $#!+. later, the pharoah had a dream in which he realised that sarai was aktually abram's wife. he gave abram back his wife n' sent him off. thru this, both sarai n' abram survived. hrm... what can be learned from this story? hrm, what have ppl told me 'bout this story?
[later] 저녁 초에: 4 lunch, i went w/ my program cowerkers (the young folks) to krung thai #1 @ 640 s. winchester blvd. [later] i had the chicken w/ green beans. i asked 4 it very, very spicy. it was a good lunch.
2day, in lab, we're aktually listening to kfog not kfox, n' it's quite a diff! i guess i knew this already but'm totally noticing how kfog plays more contemporary musik n' includes 'lot more female artists! this sure is closer to what i find more ideal 4 a werk environment radio station, altho' i'd still prefer alice 97.3 or else what live 105.3 was back in the 1980s n' earlier 1990s. i know that live 105.3 these days is more'f a modern metal station than a "modern rock" station, what is was in the 1980s n' 1990s. hrm, true; u could argue that what kfog's playing now is what live 105.3 played back in the 1980s n' 1990s; true. however, they obviously neglekt all that eurostyle elektronika that a 2nd gen asian.am like me's gotta love. ha ha. 그요일 아침: a bible passage 4 2day...
[later] from a votenowar.org e.mail:
ha ha ha, oh kfog, they gave 'way a prize 2 some1 living in berkeley, but the "deejay" called it bookeley! ha ha ha! that's rather clever, n' i'm surprised that i hadn't heard it b4. yup, it's the halloween season. this morning, i took sooni 4 her morning walk w/ her pumpkin outfit on. they're now playing ministry's 1980s song "halloween" on kfog. i didn't think they played stuff like this on kfog! wow, seriously! kfog nowadays is what live 105.3 was in the 1980s n' early 1990s!!! this is crazy. i mean, even tho' early 1980s ministry such as this was eurostyle synthpop, in which alain jorgenson even sang w/ a fake british accent, they still don't play erasure, depeche mode (sometimes referred to as d.mod), or new order, do they? i wonder if they'd 'least play new order. they're more rock n' guitar.based, ain't they? [later] "furry happy monsters"??? is that what this parody'f rem's "shiny happy people" sez??? a quick glace @ a google srch cms to tell me that this "furry happy monsters" is aktually sung by rem! it cms to be have been produced 4 sesame st. plaza sesamo... hrm... u think? well, rem, u've gotta admit, r good ppl. they appeared in a simpsons episode, don't 4get! ha ha. ah, now they're playing the ramones' "pet sematary." i believe it really's spelled "sematary" in the song n' movie title, isn't it? well, a quick google'll answer that q, rt? [later] 오후: apparently, on kfog this wk, they started playing this jazzy tune titled "dance me to the end of love," by some female vocalist.
[later] a while 'go, in the lab, we switched the radio from kfog to channel 104.9, so now we're listening to contemporary musik... of my generation? *shrug* 4 lunch, my group went to sweet tomatoes by costco. 토요일 밤 822p, sat: 2morrow's great exchange's 2nd annual harvest festival. if u have kids, u should bring them by our church. we'll have fun games, fud, balloons, etc. even if u don't have kids, maybe u should swing by. 4 'least some'f it, i'll be werking @ "the duck pond." :-) u know i like ducks! :-) 오리를 많이 좋아해요!
yesterday turned out to be a very stressful day, i hate to say. yah, my group went out to lunch @ sweet tomatoes, n' that was fun. it's nice to eat fud that's a li'l healthy, u know? after that, i had to do lots'f werk, lots'f labwerk. i got rather worn out. after werk, i met w/ the beautiful kaela hwang n' her classmate rachel @ costco, so that they could use my card in order to buy stuff. man, yesterday, i was really stressed 'bout how $$$ sure cms tight to me now that kaela's not werking. she told me i hafta take care'f the fon/internet bill now. b4, she was taking care'f the fon/internet n' elektricity/h2o bill; but not nemore. *sigh* yah, there r those things out there that i'd sure like to buy someday, but i dunno, man. it sure cms like i've gotta have a big freeze on $pending 4 a while, u know? it doesn't feel good @ all. like, i haven't felt so much in such a long time that i'm aktually "trying to make ends meet." :-/ u know, since i got my promotion a coupl'f months 'go, u'd think i'd feel like i have more $$$, but u know what? my take home pay's aktually the same. it's not cos'f taxes, no. it's cos'f health/dental insurance, flexible $pending account, 401k, stock benefits... i'm trying to put $$$ 'way 4 the future, as in my eventual retirement. however, even tho' i'm $aving $$$, it sure doesn't feel like it cos i guess i wish i'd c more $$$ go into my bank acct, which is aktually rather foolish cos, rt now, $$$ in a $avings 'ccount sure isn't good, since intere$t rates r still rather low. i dunno, man. i dunno what i can do to $tretch my $, $ave a li'l here n' there, or make a li'l extra here n' there. 'gain, i'm never looking 4 a pyramid $cheme or nething to "do on the side," no. however, man... *shrug* ok... neway, what else has been up? after costco, we came home. i was very stressed cos costco took longer than i'd planned, i guess. i'd originally planned on buying some so.called "cheap" costco gas afterwards, but i had to rush rush rush home cos i'd realised that no1 had gone home to turn a lite on 4 sooni, so she'd been sitting in the dark, alone @ home, which she hates. ugh. i rushed home. kaela boiled some refrigerated 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn, n' we watched an episode'f 매직 / magic on sbs. i thought we were going to our t3s (tee three south; t3 = "it takes 3.") bible study, but kaela sed she had to study. she told me to go by myself since she knew i was responsible 4 rounding up human resources 4 the harvest festival, but... 1) i was way 2 worn out from the hektic werkday etc., 2) my car had no gas since i didn't fill up @ costco, n' 3) i knew i'd feel very awkward showing up w/o a spouse / signifikant other @ the bible study, 'specially since i'd be so late. i just went to sleep early instead.
last nite, i kept waking up to bad nitemares. i 4get what they were 'bout, but u know what? in each dream, kaela n' i still lived @ my mom's house. i mean, that wasn't the bad part'f the nitemare, necessarily; but yah, in each that's how it was. yah, i 4get what the nitemares were 'bout, but i kept waking up. i didn't like the nitemares. *sigh* that was weird, i've gotta say. why did i have so many nitemares? why??? it was a very bad feeling.
this morn, i took sooni 4 a walk. we walked down to the nearby hi skool, walked 'round the campus there. then i came home, dropped off sooni, n' went to prep the harvest fest. i saw that the bible study ppl aktually did lot'f werk last nite. i felt sooo awful cos i was s'pposed to be in charge'f that effort but felt that i totally flaked. :-( i felt so bad. *sigh* i hope ppl can 4give me 4 that. well, i helped prep, n' we prayed a bit. then, i had to rush home cos kaela called, saying we had to rush sooni over to the cupertino petco well, we went. we had lunch @ yankee pier there. do u know where yankee pier's original lokation is? if u guessed "larkspur," u'r rt! so yah, yankee pier is aktually yet 'nother santana row restaurant that originally had a lokation in some ritzy ritzy neighbourhood n' then opened a 2nd lokation in santana row's new urbanist shopping/dining venue. neway, kaela n' i had a rather nice lunch. i didn't plan on having this fancy'f a lunch netime in this uh... *shrug* netime in this period'f time. i've been figuring that the 1 place i could scale back in order to try to "make ends meet" n' "live w/in my means" would be the whole "dining out" thing. 4 quite a while now, tho' i've been saying that. *shrug* i mean, shoot; compare this to back in the glorious late 1990s when kaela n' i could go out to nanyang gourmet burmese restaurant on oakland's college ave on a random mon nite just cos we needed to eat. back then, kaela was a grad student. i was werking 4 the startup. later, the ekonomy tanked n' all; but *shrug* this whole late 1990s was a totally diff era, u know? *sigh* uh... hold up! this wasn't the late 1990s, as u know, cos kaela n' i didn't get 2gether till the very beginning'f 2000... duh! ok, so this was aktually the early 2000s. yah, i guess the ekonomy still hadn't quite tanked yet, huh? obviously, 2001.09.11 was the big turning pt. ok, well... *sigh* neway, 'member when we could do that? it's funny cos yah... 'gain, gross income back then was aktually much less than it is now; yet, why do i feel more like i'm "making ends meet" now? well, yah... i obviously have mortgage payments to make now; yet 'gain... mortgage payments r investments, just like my 401k n' stock plan things, u know? *sigh* i dunno, man. i guess just not having the same 'mount'f $$$ being stowed 'way in the bank sure is making me nervous. well, then what should i think? should i feel com4table not having ne net increase in my $avings 'ccount? well, shoot... the real, wise investor'd say, "yes." it's true that $$$ in the bank is aktually $$$ wasting 'way. $$$ in the bank loses value cos the interest u earn can't keep up w/ inflation. that's totally true. i really ought to have $$$ in stocks n' bonds, mutual funds, etc. however... i dunno, man... i was just raised to be more cowardly 'bout investing, u know? *sigh* i dunno, man. it's true, i, like every1 else, lost tons'f $$$ to the big stock market crash in 2001. what can i say? but does that mean i aktually should've just kept my money in a jar or tucked btwn mattresses? *sigh* *breath* ok ok ok, lemme get back to talking 'bout what we did 2day!
well, what did we eat? kaela n' i shared a yankee pier salad to start. it has feta cheese, fuji apples, n' walnuts. or were they pecans? nope, a quick check'f the online sample lunch menu tells me that they were "spicy" walnuts. hrm, they weren't very spicy to me! well, kaela had the grilled perch over mashed yukon gold potatoes w/ a side'f spinach, n' i had the overpriced grilled alaskan halibut over the same mashed yukon gold potatoes but w/ lake blue beans, which r aktually, to my surprise, green beans. sooni sat so nicely w/ her cute pumpkin costume on. so many passersby stopped to pet her n' comment on her. we weren't even sitting on the main sidewalk but in the alleyway breezeway. still, ppl came up to us. we walked 'round the row (can i call it that to be kewl? ha ha.) 4 a very, very short bit n' went home cos kaela wanted to go back to skool to study more. i stayed @ home n' continued to watch the mothman prophecies but still haven't finished. even tho' kaela's scared'f the movie; i'm finding that it's not so much of a horror movie as it's sumpthin' like the x.files! yah, i'm still not finished, but i gotta return the video on tues, elektion day. well, kaela called 'round 500p cos the skool was closing or sumpthin' n' sed that she was bringing some classmates over to watch some instruktional video. man, i knew that our house was an absolute mess n' worried 'bout that. what could i do? u know? it's waaay beyond being able to do sumpthin' in 0.5 an hr or nething. *sigh* the place's a dump, n' there r so many dirty dishes in the sink, n'... ugh. well, they all showed up even sooner than i expekted. i really could not've done nething. kaela told me to move the vcr/tv combo from the bdrm to the living rm, so i did that. when every1 got there, i got ready to take sooni back to petco, so that i could buy the doggy bed that kaela told me to buy sooni. i also planned to go visit ken after that to drop off the his wetvac n' borrow some software cds. i hung out w/ duk kyung 4 a while @ petco. he informed me that there'd been only 3 contestants in the competition but that sooni, un4tunately, would prob'ly not win cos there's this old man that comes every single yr w/ intricate handmade costumes n' wins every yr n' would prob'ly win 'gain this yr. well, since it's 913p now, n' i haven't yet received a congratulatory call; i s'ppose we did not win the $25 gift cert nor the entry in the drawing 4 a yr's supply'f science diet. *sigh* well, duk kyung's last day @ petco's 2morrow. we prob'ly won't shop as much @ petco after this. instead, we might buy more'f our pet supplies from pet fud express cos they're a more conscientious company. otherwise, i know we can buy stuff online, etc. neway, sooni's been a bit spoiled these past few months since we were able to use duk kyung's nice employee di$count. well, i swung by ken's. it was so dark so early, u know? 2morrow, daylite saving time ends, so it'll be even darker. man, i wanted to put a lite on timer 4 sooni, so she won't be sitting in the dark, waiting 4 us to come home. hrm, where do i have an extra desk lamp? i know i had 1 from the ol' berkeley hillegass ave apt. it was aktually vince's, but he didn't want it n' let me have it. i dunno where it is. did we bring it over from my mom's house or leave it there? if we left it there, i wonder if it's still there or not. :-( *sigh* well, i noticed that the streets 'round blossom valley sure r more crowded these days n' am sure that's cos'f the recently improved oakridge mall. well, after returning the wetvac n' picking up some software, i went back home. kaela had cooked some pasta 4 her classmates, but they'd finished it all. i ate a microwave mini.pizza n' a small can'f mandarin oranges 4 dinner. oh well. neway, while they study their video in the living rm, i should werk on my presentation 4 werk. i want to tell them that i'm glad that they're studying @ our house, even tho' it's so messy, cos 'least i get to c my wife a li'l this way. seriously, it's better this way, u know?
[later] 924p: oh, u know what? i didn't talk 'bout thurs nite's taekwondo praktice, did i? u know me, i like to chronical my life completely, so i'd best say sumpthin'. well, i brought sooni w/ me to our thurs nite taekwondo praktice. i was aktually stuck in lab pretty late but eventually got out, went home, picked up sooni, n' rushed off to praktice. i missed the lap.running @ the beginning, which we do every nite, but i got to stretch n' do all the sparring. there r lots'f young guys now. they've got 'lot'f energy n' un4tunately make me feel like an old man. i dunno. ever since i came back from the longest brk in my life from taekwondo, i feel my sparring may have changed styles or just al2gether gotten worse. ha ha. i noticed last nite i threw my double kicks than i ever did in the past. even tho' i always prakticed double kicks 'lot. i never felt i really had the opportunity to use them in the past. u c, under jason han's sparring instruktion, i learned to stick w/ the lowest denominator, that is, use the simplest technique necessarily to score, to hit. i learned that it's totally useless to use a double kick where a single kick'll suffice. however, i dunno... thurs nite, i felt like i finally saw the places where i could use double kicks, those somewhat small windows'f opportunity, u know? *shrug* maybe u don't know. i guess part'f the reason i could use double kicks was cos, while sparring the youngsters, i 4 some reason had the confidence to stick in the close battle long 'nuff to use double kicks. i dunno... who knows? *shrug*
well, after praktice, i took duk kyung out to dinner to thank him 4 watching sooni while kaela n' i were @ the grx couples retreat last fri nite. ben n' this new kid matt both sed they also wanted to eat. some1 mentioned 서울 순두 양평 해장국 suhool soondooboo yangpyuhng haejanggook. that's a long name, but that's what the sign sez. i guess the official name, in english is "sui tofu," which i think is aktually the chinese translation'f part'f their name, rt? i tied sooni out outside. she was very well.behaved! :-) most'f us ate 해장국 haejanggook. i asked 4 "선지 없는 것 / suhnji uhbsneun guhs," but they gave me blood cubes neway. even tho' i like 순대 soondae n' those taiwanese rice cakes w/ blood, i don't like pure blood cubes.
[later] 1005p: well, kaela's classmates left, n' i told them that i'm glad they studied here so that kaela could be home. i saw sooni in the living rm. (i've been typing in the office this whole time.) she totally loves her new bed! ha ha ha, u've gotta c the smile on her face. uh, u don't know what a dog's smile looks like? dude, if u saw her face rt now, u'd know what a doggy smile looks like! 일요일 저녁 559p: no trick'r treaters have showed up yet. i expekt some will. *shrug* last nite, we got 1 extra hr'f sleep cos'f the end'f daylite saving time. how often does the end'f daylite saving time coincide w/ halloween? i have sooni sitting here next to me in the eating area or dining room. she's all dressed up in her costume in case trick'r treaters come by. i have her tied to the chair w/ her leash. i dunno where her tie.out is. it's so weird: i'm missing several things from the doggy backpack! i'm missing the tie.out, some compressed rawhide bones i just bought 4 her yesterday, some goober sumpthin' treats (peanut n' chicken flavor)... what? did we leave the backpack open 1tym yesterday n' let stuff fall out?! did we?! if so, it would've been @ santana row, rt? *sigh* i dunno. or was it @ petco well, this morn, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i woke up an hr "early" n' carved jack.o.lanterns out'f the 2 pumpkins i bought from albertsons a long while 'go. i realise now that pumpkins get cheaper than what i paid if i wait till closer to halloween. *sigh* well, i s'ppose they'll be really cheap starting 2morrow morn, rt? *shrug* well, kaela n' i carved 2 relatively nice jack.o.lanterns. i should go out n' take some pics'f them! hold on plz.
when i went out to take the pics'f the jack.o.lanterns, i heard young, screaming trick'r treaters outside. i s'ppose it's only 611p rt now. it just looks so dark. i s'ppose they might come pouring in 'round 700p. [a li'l later] hey! i got my 1st trick'r treaters! yay! heh heh... i wonder how much candy to give out. :-? i know i've gotta ration it a li'l, but i don't need to have extra. should i get into costume? oh, i hear more coming! heh heh... yah, i really wonder how much to give out. what if i run out?
well, 2day, i werked @ the grx 2nd annual harvest festival. b4 that, well... in the morn, we went to church. after that, we met up w/ ernest, joyce, n' mark @ 청기와 / chuhnggiwa / blue stones 4 a big lunch'f tons'f meat n' a li'l bit'f fish. :-) we had lots'f uh... 차돌백이 chadolbaegi, uh... n' lots'f other beef. heh heh... i 4get what kinds... there was also 2'f those big ol' rib eye steaks that 청기와 chuhnggiwa gives out in their combos. we had the #4 combo. we also ordered some awesome 은대구 양념 구이 eundaegoo yangnyuhm gooi. it was awesome. :-) we were really stuffed afterwards. :-) i like 청기와 chuhnggiwa. most nonkoreans think that typikal korean fud's korean bbq, but it isn't. still, if i had to recommend a 숯불집 / sootbooljip / korean bbq restaurant, i'd prob'ly 1st recommend 청기와 chuhnggiwa. i, of course, really like the 떡보쌈 / dduhkbossam / rice cake wrapper stuff. ah, it was a good lunch. yah, after that, kaela n' i went home. i knew i was s'pposed to head off to the harvest festival rt 'way to set it up, but i also knew this'd be some precious few mins i could spend @ home w/ kaela, so i stuck 'round a while doing a few li'l housechores w/ her. then i went to the harvest festival.
lessee, what to talk 'bout next? should i go 4ward in time n' talk 'bout the harvest festival or backwards in time n' talk 'bout the church service this morn? i wonder if u care that 2day's entry is very nonchronologikal. well, 2day's church service was 'bout commandment #4, honouring the sabbath or uh... observing the sabbath. man, pastor dave always preaches in such a good, realistikally applikable way! i really like how he emphasizes we don't need to make absurd rules just 4 the sake'f making rules but that what we really need to do is honour god w/ our hearts n' our lives n'... man, i dunno how to put it. u shouldn't read what i regurgitate from his sermons neway; instead, u should go rt to the source. that means 1) read the bible, n' 2) visit the grx.org homepage n' listen to his sermons on mp3, u know?
ok, well, how was the harvest fest (jumping 4ward in time)? well, i hosted the duck pond booth, as i sed i would. 4 1 ticket (guests purchased 4 tix 4 $1.), a kid could pull 2 ducks from our wading pool. if the ducky had a smiley face on its bottom, the kid got a stamp on a card, which could later be traded in 4 fun prizes. :-) later in the afternoon, we had a special deal, where all the booths gave 'way 2x prizes, so each smiley face was worth 2 stamps. we also added in "super ducks," which were ducks w/ the "superman" logo on their bottoms, which awarded 2 stamps; but w/ the special 2x prize policy, awarded 4 stamps. neway, i interakted w/ lots'f young, young kids. i had a smile on my face 4 like 3 hrs straight. i s'ppose this might be what it's like to werk in disneyland. is it? my face almost hurt from smiling 2 much. ha; i dunno; as u know, i'm normally a relatively cheerful guy, so i usually try to smile. it was a fun event, but we noticed that there might've been more "young adults" than li'l kids. our church is filled w/ lots'f young adults. @ the end'f the event, i wondered what my life would've been like if i'd gotten involved w/ a young adult church like this back when i was younger. *shrug* i dunno... i don't think it could've happened. or could it have? *shrug* i mean, i was in intervarsity christian fellowship thru.out college. however, rt after college? u know that 4 a while, i stopped going to church. why? *shrug* well, i just got bizzy w/ the whole "being a megasocial guy" thing, u know? i s'ppose i was reluktant to going back to sacrificing time to worship god n' fellowship w/ other believers, etc. un4tunately, i have a bad history'f tending to be a "lone ranger christian." i know i haven't always been very good w/ fraternising w/ other christians. *sigh* it's awful but true.
where's sooni's tie.out?! i can't bring her to taekwondo praktice w/o a tie.out. 2day's duk kyung's last day werking @ petco. if i don't have it 2day, i might hafta pay full price 4 it later. n' what happened to those compressed rawhide bones? i gave her 1 in the car yesterday nite, but hrm... man, sumpthin' just ain't rt. stuff must've fallen out in the car last nite. the goober treats? those i might've accidentally left @ the taekwondojang; that might be what happened. *shrug* *sigh* i gave 검도 심사범님 guhmdo shim sabuhmnim the bag, so that he could give some to sooni. after that? i thought i put them back in the backpack. after that we went to 서올 순두부 양평 해장국 suhoool soondooboo yangpyuhng haejanggook, where i tied sooni out outside. then after that, i brought sooni home, w/ the tie.out still on her. then what? did i c it on sat? i thought i had it w/ me in the backpack. *sigh* so i s'ppose it either fell out in the car, or i lost it. :-(
on sat nite, kaela gave me a haircut. i have a big presentation 2morrow afternoon 4 werk.com. i've gotta finish it 2nite. [later] man, i need more candy! what am i gonna do?! give out persimmons?! it's so funny cos joyce was telling us a story 'bout her mom's giving out a dried up persimmon n' a dried up kiwi to 2 very disappointed trick'r treaters cos she didn't really understand halloween, i guess. ha ha ha. she sed the li'l gurl who got the dried up persimmon looked in her bag. since joyce's house was the 1st house on their journey, she knew where the dried up orange thing came from, so she sadly cried to her mom, "mommy! i got a tomato!" ha ha. man, i don't wanna make kids cry w/ persimmons! what to do? *sigh* i was 'bout to take some leftover lollipops from the harvest festival, but this other couple also expekted trick'r treaters, so they got it. *sigh* i shouldn't have rushed home so quickly but instead gone to albertsons or somewhere to get more candy. nuts. *sigh* i can't give out vitamins, n' i definitely can't give out glucosamine chondrotin. dog fud? so far, i've cn lots'f princesses n' ninjas. i saw a li'l spiderman, whom i think i also saw @ 2day's harvest festival; i'm not sure. maybe it's just a really popular costume; but the kid looked familiar. i'm pretty sure he pulled ducks from my pond this afternoon. u know, i haven't made much small talk w/ these trick'r treaters. even tho' i'm trying to be better, i'm not 2 good talkin' to kids, i feel. i guess it's cos i don't know if i should akt like a young guy or more'f a parent type, u know? oh yah, parents n' kids've both commented on sooni's pumpkin outfit. "dude, that's a tight dog!" 1 ninja kid, as i was putting candy in his pillowcase was chanting, "throw it up, throw it up!" ha ha, kids these days, man. [a few secs later, after washing some red seedless grapes] shoot, property tax is due 2morrow. i should pay it now online. hrm, there's a 2.5% charge 4 paying online. maybe i'll just drop it off @ the post office 2morrow morn? [later] the payment's s'pposed to be just postmarked by 2morrow, so i s'ppose i can drop off the payment @ the post office 2morrow morn. man, the property tax is quite astounding. i mean, u might think i'm totally insensitive to those who vote republikkkan cos they think that we need lower taxes, but man, i do know what it's like to pay 'lot'f taxes. this is quite a big load i've gotta drop w/ this payment. i do understand. it's just that, in the end, i do believe gov't must take care'f its ppl, n' i can accept the fakt that i do need to pay taxes, that we all do. furthermore, we shouldn't tax more those who have less as opposed to those who have more.
hrm, i noticed that my next door neighbours turned off their porchlite, which they usually don't turn off. hrm, maybe they ran out'f candy! i bet that's what happened. me? heh... i resorted to giving out lots'f magic maro candy, which i bought 4 kaela a long time 'go from 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market cos'f its cute mashimaro packaging. 554p: daylite saving time ended yesterday, so it sure feels later than it aktually is. man, i'm thinking i've relaly gotta get a lite on a timer 4 sooni now. i can't believe how dark it is now, n' it's not yet even 600p! 2day, i had my "big presentation" @ werk.com. i spent the whole day listening to presentations from my cowerkers. un4tunately, i feel mine didn't go well. i think the aktual powerpoint .ppt/.pps file was great, but i didn't have time to praktice it well or nething, so i ended up fumbling 2 much. honestly, i'm a bit disappointed w/ myself n' went home feeling rather discouraged. the last time i did a presentation 4 this grp'f cowerkers, it went very well. *sigh* is it that u just can't win 'em all? i can't believe it's already nov. we can now put halloween behind us n' worry/think 'bout what/how to cook 4 t.giving. 2morrow, i start werking w/ a diff dept/div/grp @ werk.com. i s'ppose it's kind'f exciting to have this planned change. i'll be reporting to the bldg closest to our house, so i'll really not have much'f a commute. i love how i never have much'f a commute, werking 4 this company. i really appreciate that cos i do know what it's like to have a tuff commute like when i had to commute from berkeley to the presidio heights neighbourhood'f sf every morn. a simple commute from the east bay to downtown sf can easily be taken care'f by bart, but i couldn't bart to presidio heights, no. i still wish i had a bike to ride to werk instead'f driving, even more so now that gas's even more expen$ive.
2day, i sent off the property tax payment. *sigh* that's 'lot'f $$$, but 'least last fri was payday, i s'ppose. u know the dream'f someday owning a new pda keeps drifting into my mind. *sigh* i'm still trying to hold off until the christmas season. i dunno, definitely, the leading candidate's the palm zire 72, but i wonder if i should consider other options. 'f course the amazing oqo's not an option unless i win the lottery. it looks a bit still 2 bulky to fit in my pocket on a regular basis, but even the palm zire 72's got me worried. is it 2 big to fit in my pocket on a regular basis? it'll definitely fit into baggy cargo pants pockets, but will it fit in tighter pockets of jeans? besides being a bit big, could it also be a bit 2 heavy? *shrug* those palmone treo's sure cm kewl, but i still really don't think i'm ready to replace my lg vx6000 w/ a pdafon/smartfon. since i can uh... get quite a good deal thru a certain credit card rewards hookup on sony produkts, i really wish sony still made pdas. theire last clie sure looked like a pda to end all pdas. it's almost an oqo but not really. that final sony clie was very kewl, but i don't feel com4table buying a discountinued produkt. i still wanna stick w/ palm os over windows 2003 mobile or whatever they call pocket pc these days. hrm, palmone does also have its tungsten line/series. should i consider those? after all, i don't necessarily need a built.in camera since i've got 1 on my lg vx6000 cellfon/handfon but could use extra 'puting power. r they more powerful? after checking the palmone site, i know that the tungsten t5 does have a more powerful cpu as well as 256mb ram n' a 160mb flash drive.
[later] 658p, i made this spreadsheet:
i went to z.gallerie to exchange the asian duck carving thing we bought there a couple'f months 'go. last wknd, the beautiful kaela hwang noticed that the mat that the carving's mounted on had come unglued from the framed casing thingy. i brought it there n' showed it to them. they're gonna order 'nother 1 4 us. i dealt w/ several ppl. the last guy i had to talk to was kind'f anal (as they say). he 1st tried to argue that they didn't need to do nething cos 1) it was past 30 days, 2) he sed i might've purchased it damaged @ a reduced price, n' 3) he sed maybe i kept it in a unusually hot environment. i told him that i wasn't expekting a refund (even tho' the manager had offered a full refund earlier), that i bought it @ full price, n' that i kept it in a normal house environment. he was 'bout to start ordering me the replacement but then sed the 'puter showed they had 1 in stock in the store. he went to look 4 it, but i found it 1st. it 2 was damaged such that the mounting mat thing had come unglued. he then sed sumpthin' like 'c? that's why i need to check if u bought it damaged on sale...' however, that just goes to show that if u keep it in a normal environment, @ a normal temp it can still get messed up @ no fault'f the consumer, u know? neway, he ordered me a new 1 n' sed it'd take up to 35 days. i worried tho' that maybe i should've gone w/ the refund cos i don't want the 2nd 1 to get unglued also. *sigh*
after z.gallerie, i went to the gym. i just did cardio stuff 4 1nce. i did the elliptical trainer thing w/ the arm thingy. i saw kaela's classmate nick there n' talked to him b4 going to stretch. i showered @ the gym n' left. i went to safeway near valley fair on the way home to buy some very "staple fud" groceries; stuff like milk, oreinji jyooseu [later] "It's what you do that makes a difference. When I turned my boat in Vietnam into an ambush ... I didn't see George Bush or Dick Cheney at my side." - john f. kerry go big blue!!!
[later] 1105p: when kaela came home 2nite, we shared the last mint skinny cow aiskuriimu sandwich.
[later] 1108p: unless u've alredy voted via absentee ballot as i did, go out 2morrow n' vote 4 kerry. 4 a stronger amerika! seriously, it's time to bring this country out'f the dark ages! kerry's the right man to lead us! 화요일 아침: go out n' vote 4 a stronger, safer, more prosperous america 2day, i.e. go out n' vote kerry into office as our president. this morn, i saw voters lined up outside'f polling places as i drove sooni to blockbuster to return the mothman prophecies. i ran out'f time, so i un4tunately couldn't really give her a proper walk.
from y! news, "Nokia and Good Technology Tie Up in Mobile E-Mail"; do u 'member who good technology is? a long time 'go they made that awesome "soundsgood" mp3 playa springboard module 4 my handspring visor edge. man, that mp3 playa module gave me many, many, many, many great hrs'f entertainment. man, i can't believe handspring didn't further support/promote/develop it's visor line. the whole springboard concept was genius, n' they dropped it! do u realise the handspring visor edge only had a 33mhz processor? if only they'd kept the same form faktor / shape / size but put in a 416mhz beefy processor w/ a 320 x 320 colour screen... man, in that case, the handspring visor edge would've been 1 killer pda/handheld! [later] ok, i'm spending waaay 2 much time obsessing over the idea'f getting a new pda/handheld. *sigh* i just dunno what to do. i mean, yah, i trying to stick to my plan'f waiting till christmas season to buy nething, but i'm not sure what to get. *sigh* won't some1 make a small, compakt palm os pda/handheld that's very powerful n' has all the kewl features? i found out that the palm zire 72 doesn't have 802.11b, just bluetooth 4 whatever that's worth! :-/
[later] 오후: from y! news, "Apparently the blogs are saying that Kerry is ahead in one or two of the swing states and that's why the market dipped," said Lisa Hansen, head trader at Transamerica Investment Management, referring to the blogs, or Web logs, which are a mix of news, gossip and opinion." [later] 'gain from y! news, "It is the unofficial word of Democratic wins on the Internet blogs that are dragging the market lower suddenly," a New York trader said. [later] sure, it's not good that stock prices fell, but it is good news that kerry's winning. apparently, defense, pharmaceutical health care, n' medical teknology stocks fell. yah, i understand why defense stocks might fall w/ kerry's winning, but why the others? *shrug* import'f medicine? neway, isn't it interesting how the press's talkin' 'bout blogs so much w/ this elektion? ha ha. it's funny cos some magazine article writers talk 'bout how they wish google'd filter out blogs. i get lots'f traffik to my site cos'f googlers that find sumpthin' they're googlin' 4 on my site. i think that's fine. i provide useful info. [a few secs or mins later] so i'm looking @ the updated y! news map'f states, elektoral votes, etc. 'pparently, indiana, kentucky, n' georgia all majorly suck; but vermont has smart, patriotik ppl. [later] 저녁: ok, rt now, based on y! news data, good states = maine, massachusetts, connecticut, new jersey, delaware, maryland, dc (not a state), illinois, n' vermont. states that suck = oklahoma, tenessee, alabama, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, virginia, west virginia, kentucky, n' indiana. crazy, huh?
on nov 19, i'm s'pposed to do this 5k "fun run" 4 my werk, apparently. it's sort'f mandatory. heh... i've gotta do it @ 630a on that fri; can u believe that? i also have a physician's apptmnt, that day. is that ok? that's also the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 16th wedding monthversary. hrm, i wonder if we can still go out that nite even tho' we have t3s bible study skeduled 4 every fri eve? we can either make an exception or go out on 'nother nite. *shrug* well, i wonder if we can go snowboarding on that sat, nov 20. my cowerkers r planning to go on nov 13. in fakt, some r planning to go on nov 6, this sat. i wish i could go on the 6th, but i hafta take sooni to her training lesson. i do plan on going on the 13th tho'. i refuse to have 'nother bad season.
[later] 926p: i went to taekwondo praktice, kicked some paddles. i gave some 감 / gam / persimmons to 검도 심사범님 guhmdo shimsabuhmnim cos kaela n' i've eaten so many'f these that i picked from my mom's tree. we like 'em, but i figured i should give some to him 4 walking sooni so much. it's a bit chilly out 2nite. b4 praktice, i ate some pb.j sandwiches, 2'f 'em. now, after praktice,m i'm not hungry, so i don't think i'll eat dinner 2nite. i saw that kaela left a subway sandwich in the fridge, but i dunno if it's 4 me or 4 her lunch 2morrow or what. *shrug* i'm really not very hungry. when i got home i turned on the tv to c what's on. i'm sort'f watching gothika rt now, but i dunno; it doesn't cm to be that great'f a movie. :-/ i guess i could watch the elektion coverage, but *shrug* well, i know the media's saying it's such a close race, n' i guess it is; so i'll just let be "a close race" n' wait 4 further news later. i'm thinking'f instead watching an episode'f 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy jokguhn online. b4 praktice, i poured that harsh liquid plumb'r stuff down the shower drain. i hope it's not killing our pipes 2 badly. *sigh* i really didn't want it to come to this, but the drain was really clogged. i wonder what kind'f mesh screen thing i can put over the drain to prevent it from clogging 'gain. [a li'l later] oh yah, later, 'round 1000p, ernest's coming by to borrow our camcorder 4 us taekwondo national championships. he n' joyce r going to compete there this wknd. [later[ now, i'm watching kcsm ch 60, where they're playing a 2003 dokumentary called arirang: the korean-american journey. as i was watching it, i thought it must've been filmed in the 1990s or 1980s cos well... u know, i'm just not cing these kinds'f stories nemore 'bout some asian guy on tv talkin' 'bout how he was picked on as a kid 4 being asian, etc. i mean... i guess i take it 4 granted that i live in cali where ppl r much more open.minded 'bout race, etc. like, this dokumentary has a very "east coast asian" feel to it, imho (in my humble opinion). 수요일 아침: i s'ppose the results'f yesterday's elektions show that this country's really headed 2wards a certain direktion, n' it's not a good 1. i'm not sure where we went wrong, but we sure have. we're headed 2wards being a country where $$$ n' greed mean everything. u'll either have $$$ n' lots'f it or not have it, none'f it. we're headed 2wards greater materialism than we already have. i hate to think 'bout how many more jobs'll be outsourced, how much more unemployment we'll face. we're headed 2wards more terrorist attacks w/ less n' less cooperation n' support from the rest'f the world. we're headed 2wards the end'f publik edukation. if u want an edukation, u'll need to pay 'lot 4 it n' have wealthy parents. even more than now, we'll be a gas.guzzlin', oil dependent nation. green land'll disappear faster than it is already. the skies'll be smoggier. our lakes, rivers, n' bays'll have more chemical's. maybe we'll start cing blinkies - 3.eyed fish. healthcare'll be only 4 the rich. the rest can be left to die 4 all the gov't cares. we'll c the rollback'f civil rights. will minority bizness be shut down? will women still be allowed to vote? n' u'r ok w/ this?
i'm an adult male. luckily 4 me, i am a protestant christian. i have a good job but more importantly a good edukation, good, experience, n' a good skillset. i speak english fine. even tho' i don't break the 6 ft mark, i'm decently tall 'mongst fellow amerikans n' in much better physikal shape than the avg amerikan. i feel i can hold my own. n' 1nce this survival'f the fittest breaks society down even further such that it's all a free.4.all, literal kill or be killed, take whatever u can get world, i'll be glad i'm relatively well.trained in hand.to.hand combat. i can hold my own. @ that time, all the fools who voted us into this world... i dunno if i'll be able to say the same 4 u. don't kid urself.
[later] on a much liter (lighter) note... check out this y! news reuters "oddly enough" article (it's awesomely funny!): "'Come Bite Me!' Right...": TAIPEI (Reuters) - A man leaped into a lion's den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts. "Jesus will save you!" the 46-year-old man shouted at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away. . . . the article's kewl cos it deals w/ taiwan n' christianity. the downside to that is that i guess it shows a rather foolish side'f both, heh... neway, @ the awful expense'f that poor, zealous evangelist, it is a rather funny story. i've been taught that animals don't have souls n' thus can't be brought to salvation. *sigh* *shrug* i dunno, man. i'd sure like to c sooni in heaven. other ppl say, "all dogs go to heaven." that's a nice thing to think. neway, here's 'nother kewl animal story from y! news reuters "oddly enough": "Service Dog Calls 911 After Owner's Fall": RICHLAND, Wash. - Leana Beasley has faith that a dog is man's best friend. Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler, phoned 911 when Beasley fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the service dog unlocked the front door for the police officer. "I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call," said dispatcher Jenny Buchanan. "The dog was too persistent in barking directly into the phone receiver. I knew she was trying to tell me something." Faith is trained to summon help by pushing a speed-dial button on the phone with her nose after taking the receiver off the hook. . .
[later] 오후 초에: i aktually went out to lunch w/ the beautiful kaela hwang 2day! :-) we went to 명동 순두부집 myuhngdong soondubujip, just like the good ol' days! :-) kaela had some 해물 순두부 haemool soondubu (jjigae), n' i had 항아리 수제비 hangari soojeibi, which took a long time to make. it was a good, quick lunch. :-) i hadn't had lunch w/ my wife in a long time, n' i was very happy to be able to 2day. when i woke up this morn, i felt a sore throat, so i needed sumpthin' warm n' soupy 4 lunch. u know, in my new cubicle (which is temporary, just 4 the next 10 wks), i put up some pics to make it more'f a "home," let's say. i have a pic'f kaela n' me in korea. lemme think, what area is this? it's uh... hrm... i don't think it's 명동 myuhngdong. it's, uh... it's where we ate pizza hut, rt? neway, i have that pic, the famous pic'f kaela, sooni, n' the big stuffed bear we gave to andrew n' eunshin's daughter, n' a pic'f sooni w/ my semicon west (tradeshow) badge. i think these pics'll make this cubicle a happy cubicle. :-)
oh yah, up until a li'l while 'go, i know my benomix.com domain name was having some probs. those probs r fixed so u can use my benomix.com url n' e.mails etc. i guess back @ the end'f sept, i switch domain name services. i'm paying much less now. i sacrificed a few bells n' whistles... then 'gain the old domain name service had so many'f features, n' i honestly didn't know how to use some'f them.
[later] was that pic in korea'f kaela n' me taken in 압구정 abgoojuhng? is that the neighbourhood?
u know, sumpthin' i recently saw sumpthin' kind'f funny/interesting on tv. on kbs, i saw an episode'f the kids show 하나 둘 셋 / hana dool seit / (1 2 3), n' @ the end'f the episode this woman comes out n' teaches the kids some basik yoga stuff. she looked very familiar. then i realised it was that yoga / hanrobics teacher we had on our ucmap 용인대 yongindae trip back in the summer'f 1999! i'd cn her picture in a korean newspaper sometime last yr. she must be like the most famous yoga teacher (yogi) in korea or sumpthin'. i 'member her cos that class was a li'l weird 4 us young ppl. like, she kept telling us to tighten our anuses, but the korean.2.english translator kept saying "sphuncter annus." it was weird cos he was a korean dude that spoke such good english that i would've believed he was a 2nd gen korean.am, but when he got to the term "anal sphincter," he kept saying "sphuncter annus." of course our group'f young ppl chuckled like crazy cos it was weird having this li'l woman w/ a huge, floppy bow in her hair keep telling us to tighten our anuses. later, she came by, looked @ my dry feet n' sed i looked sick. i was sick cos i had a bad stomach ache, but i aktually lied to her n' sed i wasn't sick.
[later] i just received my pg&e e.bill. living in santa clara, we only get gas from pg&e. our bill was 2x what it usually is. what happened? is the co$t'f gas going up that much? or is it that we had more guests last month, so we used more hot h2o 4 showers? or did we cook more? do laundry more? *shrug* we haven't fired up the furnace yet this season. 목요일 아침: i'm very sick 2day w/ a cold. last nite, i stayed home n' didn't go to the gym. i microwaved some chunky soup, sumpthin' like chicken n' sausage gumbo. i got under the blankets on the couch n' just mindlessly watched tv. well, semi.mindlessly... i've gotta admit that since korean's not my 1st language or nething, when i watch korean tv, i do need to process things in my head a li'l more than usual, i s'ppose. eventually, the beautiful kaela hwang came home n' cooked a serving'f 욕계장 우동 yookgyeijang oodong. on tues, during lunch, i came home n' cooked the 1st serving'f this 2.serving pack. it's pretty good stuff. on tues during lunch, when i cooked, i 'gain accidentally cut my rt index finger, the same finger i cut last time. what's up?! 'least this time, it wasn't so bad.
this morn, i did my part to "start the healing" or whatever they say; i sed "good morning" to a republikan. this man owns a big, white samoyed down the block n' 'round the corner. i know he's like me in that he spends 'lot'f time w/ his doggy n' comes home during lunch to walk him/her, etc. maybe u could say we have similar "family values," but some ppl don't consider doggies family, so u could 'least say we have similar "dog owner values," 4 what that's worth.
[a li'l later] so besides shopping 'round 4 a new pda/handheld (which i'm resolving not to buy till 'round christmas, i'm also looking 'round @ new tires. what brand/model should i buy?! in the past, i always stuck w/ yokohama, but i've come to realise that the models i've been buying r overpriced n' not that great. yokohama does have better models. however, i'm thinking'f maybe switching to continental or dunlop. i want sumpthin' that's got very, very good snow traktion, good handling, n' decent value. [later] so recently, i've paid the utility bills, the mortgage, that crazy.big property tax bill... what else? well, i've still yet to pay the homeowner's insurance bill, that'll come up soon. then in dec, i'll hafta pay my cali state vehicle registration. in comparison to that property tax bill, vehicle registration is such small peanuts! man! *sigh* the things i could buy w/ the $$$ i pay in property tax! if i didn't hafta pay property tax, i could buy a big.@$$ plasma tv, u know! neway, as u know, as i've sed, i am a person who can accept the fakt that i've gotta pay taxes cos the gov't must take care'f its ppl. my jr yr hi skool us history teacher, who was a pretty good man (i think), always sed, "there's nothing certain in life except death and taxes." sure, that's very morbid, but it's true that u've gotta pay taxes. it's just an awful shame that amerikkkans r tricked into letting the rich folks pay less taxes than the good, honest werking ppl. oh well, whadya gonna do? the elektion's over.
yesterday, y! news had an mildly interesting article 'bout demokrats' wanting to emigrate from the u.s. n' immigrate into canada. yah, after i heard the bad news 'bout the impending doom'f the u.s., i thought to myself, "geez, this sure gives me less reason to stay in amerikkka." i mean, already, the conservatives hate me cos i'm asian n' tell me to "go back home" even tho' i was born in ann arbor, michigan. thus, i'd never dream'f dwelling on that particular thought. however, i found that article mildly interesting. u know, i've been to other countries where the gov't doesn't necessarily take care'f its ppl. when i visited hk (hong kong), i saw that ppl were either super rich or else super poor. there wasn't much'f a middle class. u understand that that's where we're heading now w/ amerikka, rt? no doubt 'bout that... i've cn disabled ppl on streets in east asian countries, begging 4 change, begging really hard cos they can c i'm a traveler. i think, so far, in amerika, most differently abled ppl r better taken care'f than that. i'm sure we're headed 2wards that not being the case. i've cn pretty bad classism n' racism in other countries, n' well... there's definitely still racism in amerikkka 2day. it'll get worse, n' classism'll grow like crazy. well, knowing all this, do u think the current situation n' outlook'd make me love amerika just a li'l bit less? "nothing's changed i still love you, oh, i still love you... only slightly, only slightly less than i used to, my love." -- the smiths' "stop me if you think you've heard this one before" i wouldn't say i love my country ne less; but, yes, we've heard this 1 b4, 4 yrs 'go in 2000. the so.so artikle sed sumpthin' 'bout demokrat leaders saying that we shouldn't emigrate n' should stick 'round to make sure this country gets its necessary reform, n' yah... that's true. amerika's strength is in its diversity, n' i believe that still makes it the best place to live. we just hafta make it werk.
[later] 'nother article from y! news reuters:
GENEVA (Reuters) - God has no place in politics and should not have been used by churches in the United States to influence the presidential election, a council representing 342 Christian groups around the world said.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) told U.S. member churches in a letter that they should not ask whose side God was on in an election but only offer "a moral and spiritual compass for their community, their nation and the world."
The letter by WCC General Secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia chided some U.S. churches for presenting God in partisan terms.
It was released late on Wednesday.
Preachers in some U.S. churches, mostly among conservative evangelical Protestants but also some Catholics, made clear during the campaign that they preferred President Bush over his Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry.
U.S. experts said that Bush's Republican Party had made an unprecedented effort to court church-going voters and that some churches had played a new role in the election by closely twinning politics and religion. . . . u hafta understand, george w. bush is not a good christian. he's just exploited christians in his rise to power. i heard 1 2 many christians say oh, "the bible says you are to support your leader, so we need to support the president." r u kidding me? yes, i know it sez that, but where were u while the extremists impeached president clinton? was jesus republikkkan? no. was jesus a demokrat? no. jesus wasn't an amerikan! face it; if most'f these so.called christians in amerikkka saw jesus in the flesh, they'd write him off as a terrorist!
[later] 오후: during lunch, i went home, ate some microwaved costco shumai. then i tried to install the furnace filter but it was the wrong size. i took out a measuring tape n' found it was 1" 2 tall (wide). stoopid me, i didn't bother to measure the length (as opposed to the width). i went to osh to exchange the filter. i hope i got the right size. i measured the width as 15.5", while the ol' filter was 16". it seriously would not fit. i aimed to buy a 15" x 20" filter, but didn't c ne. instead, i bought a 14" x 24" 1. *sigh* i hope it fits.
[later] dude, check this out: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041028/photos_od_afp/041028172332_mrc67h0v_photo0&e=16. kaela n' i've talked 'bout the need 4 sumpthin' like this. it's a camera u put on ur doggy's collar, so u can c what he/she does all day. i assume it's a wireless webcam, but i dunno. ok, now check this out: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041102/photos_od_afp/041102161040_mekr7w6d_photo0&e=12. it's 'bout canine massage classes in tokyo. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041102/photos_od_afp/041102161040_mekr7w6d_photo1&e=7 is 'nother picture'f the same story. what's up w/ all these y! news - reuters pics'f japanese ppl n' dogs 2day?!
i don't think i mentioned that yesterday i went to blockbuster to pick up yet 'nother free non.new release dvd. i picked up billy elliot cos 정 목사님 chung moksanim sed it was his favourite movie.
[later] 밤 930p: rt now, i'm sort'f watching 형수님은 열아홉 / hyungsoonimeun yuhlahop on sbs. 2nite, kaela n' i ate dinner out. we went to the very nearby vip 중화요리 / vip joonghwa yori / vip chinese restaurant, which is a korean.style chinese restaurant. i thought 'bout having some 짬뽕 jjambbong cos'f my cold, but kaela really wanted to try out their 깐풍 새우 gganpoong saewoo, so we ordered rice fud w/ a "small" order'f hot n' sour soup, which wasn't very small. we ate 2 much. we had that 깡풍 새우 gganpoong saewoo n' also bokchoy n' 표고 pyogo / shiitake shrooms / "black mushrooms." it was 2 much fud, those 3 dishes. my mom called while we were eating n' told me to eat lots cos i'm sick. the 아줌마 ajoomma who was serving us also kept saying "많이 먹어" / "manhi muhguh" over n' over n' over, so it was rather drilled into my head to keep eating, u know? we overate. 2wards the end'f our meal, we thought we'd take leftovers home, but then we looked @ the dishes n' realised there wasn't all that much left n' resolved to finish it all. *sigh* the fud was a bit 2 salty, kaela n' i both felt. i ended up eating lots n' lots'f rice to tone down the saltiness, u know? hrm... i dunno what to say 'bout this restaurant. the 아줌마 ajoomma sure was very nice n' a very, very attentive server. however, :-/ so far i think it's just so.so. honestly, i think 금봉황 geumbonghwang's better. also, maybe 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang's also better. *sigh* well, i'm sure, 'specially since it's close, we'll give it 'nother shot someday. we'll c. as much as i'm a proud norcal fanatik or whatever, i've gotta admit that 북경 bookkyuhng down in garden grove does serve very, very good korean.style (more accurately, "northern style")chinese fud.
well, u c, 2day, i had to drop sumpthin' off @ 'nother bldg during werk. after that, i swung by home to install the furnace filter n' walk sooni. kaela called me. we decided that i should just stay home n' wait 4 her, so we could go to dinner, n' we did. after dinner, i dropped call off @ home n' went back to my office to wrap things up n' pack up. after that, i went to albertsons to buy a few groceries. i'd given my keys to kaela, so i didn't have my albertsons savings card thingy that's on my keychain. i tried to enter my cellfon # but it didn't werk. i wondered if maybe we registered w/ kaela's cellfon #? if so, it'd prob'ly be her old 1. *shrug* well, i entered my mom's home fon, n' that werked. i bought a dzn jumbo aa eggs (4 우동 oodong), a 2pac'f those tasty forkless gourment chipotle chicken buns, n' some packaged white shrooms. nething else? oh yah, i bought this jar'f 4.fruit preserves. i chose that particular brand cos it had sugar instead'f corn syrup. 'member, i avoid hi fructose corn syrup. a while 'go, i wondered 'bout whether to buy heinz tabasco kick'rs ketchup or else wait to buy some corn.syrup.less trader joe's organic ketchup. wait, is there "no sugar added" ketchup? is that the trader joe's ketchup? i 4get... neway, i went 'head n' bought that heinz kick'rs ketchup that day cos i knew it was my duty to spite those wacko republikkkans who were boycotting heinz cos'f teresa heinz.kerry. well, after albertsons, i swung by the 도장 dojang to drop off copies of our demo dvd. i stuck 'round to watch a li'l sparring. it's so diff to watch only n' not participate. it was interesting. well, i don't like being sick. :-( this afternoon, it rained. 금요일 아침: happy b.day, toby.
[later] 오후: i just read 2 blog entries 'bout the recent elektion. 2 christians each described why they voted 4 the 2 different candidates. it was really kewl to read the 2 1 rt after 'nother, just by chance. just in case u'r wondering, the 2 bloggers were jeanna (the beautiful kaela hwang's sista) n' bernard huang (aka "the other bernard"). i've always wanted to read a piece like what jeanna wrote, but i always thought i would've ended up asking darren wong to write it as a "liberal," christian lawyer. maybe u realise now why i've been rather upset @ how media helped extremists portray so.called "liberals" as being christian.haters n' so.called "conservatives" as moral christians. obviously, the demokratic party leaders r realising what i've been saying all 'long, that ppl need to realise that demokratic party principles r based upon the bible n' republikkkan party principles rn't necessarily so. sun, 449p: in the news, yah, we hear'f lots'f demokrats finding blame
in various ppl or plat4ms, etc. 4 john kerry's loss. i hate to join
in, but i feel i hafta. i think a big reason that the demokrats
lost the white house elektion is that they focused 2 much on the nerds,
while the republikkkans captured the freaks n' geeks. rt?!
after all, john kerry per4med superbly in the debates, showing that
his intellekt is far, far, far superiour to that'f dubyah.
it was rather obvious. john kerry has so much more going on "up
there" than "the monkey puppet" does. however, the gen'l amerikkkan
population, un4tunately, is neither smart 'nuff nor edukated 'nuff to
appreciate that. the focus on john kerry's superior intelligence
only appealed to the nerds among us, while the freaks n' geeks went w/ the
monkey. u know what i mean, rt? freaks: the majority'f jesus
freaks (i'm a jesus freak.) went w/ dubyah cos the republikkkans played
foul n' used churches to tell christians that they had to vote 4 dubyah. obviously gun
nut freaks voted 4 yeehaw dubyah. geeks: after thumbing thru a
recent issue'f some magazine called maximum pc (i think), i realise
that there's a big segment'f the amerikkkan population that is not
smart but is fascinated w/ geeky things. do u 'member when
milhouse proclaimed, "i'm not a nerd! nerds are smart!" yah,
that's true. many amerikkkans lack the edukational backgrnd n'
intellektualism to be nerds but enjoy playing pc n' video games.
have u cn pc games lately? many'f these war strategy games 4 very
popular these days. i think many geeks get absorbed in this
military image, n' they think that it's ok that the candidate who
wasn't a real solidier can run a proper war just like a geek can sit behind a
'puter screen n' command troops to cyberviktory.
2day, i saw on tv that some demokrats r blaming sf mayor gavin newsome
4 the loss cos, in the past yr, he brought into the nat'l publik spotlite
the issue'f gay marriage, letting republikkkans flat out lie that
kerry'd legalise gay marriage. he never 1nce sed that, but so many
voters were brainwashed into thinking he did. in a way, i almost
agree w/ these ppl who blame newsome, but no... @ that pt we're just
trying to find an aktual person to blame, n' that kind'f
scapegoating isn't necessary. if u wanna find a scapegoat then
it was irresponsible amerikan christian leaders. or was it the
fault'f demokrat party christians like myself who didn't speak out 'nuff
when it was necessary? yah, prob'ly. in ne case, i think
the demokrats foucsed more on nerds than queers.
neway, homosexuality was 1'f the most overhyped non.issues'f the
elektion that got into the minds'f 2 many. lemme tell u, a while
'go, i realised that by logik, ppl who persecute homosexuals r homosexuals
themselves, u know why? ok, u really only have 2 options as far as
what to believe as far as homosexuality:
here's 'nother thought: how would most christians approach ministering
to some1 who's undergone transgender surgery?
well, it's sun. that was not a sun sermon as i'm not
qualified to speak as ne kind'f religious leader or nething.
however, i did need to say my piece as a christian very fed up w/ ppl
who've recently used my lord's name in vain.
yes, 2day, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to church @ grx. don't worry;
it's not that the good folks @ great exchange convenant church tell me i
hafta be a demokrat. i'm just thankful 'nuff that they officially
bought into this fallacy that christians hafta be republikkkans. @
the same time, yah... i did feel rather uncom4table on fri nite when some
ppl starting well.. b!tching that the bay area's full'f demokrats n' thus
republikans can't get ne respekt. i dunno; there's plenty'f
b!tching to be done from both sides. i was very irked when i heard
some1 use the term "the religious vote" as her official explanation'f her
republikan vote. ok, ppl can say that abortion n' homosexual
marriage r christian issues. however, we should think'f
everything as a christian issue! caring 4 the poor n'
disabled the way jesus did, that's a christian issue. loving ppl'f
all races not just a "chosen race," just like jesus did; that's a
christian issue. neway, what can be done, eh?
i didn't update yesterday, didn't write an entry. well, fri
nite, we went to our t3s bible study grp n' made christmas boxes full'f gifts
to send abroad to juvenile viktims'f war, famine, poverty, etc. (it's called operation christmas child.)
after werk, i went to big lots! to pick up some toys, hygiene supplies, n'
skool or craft supplies. i hope i picked nice stuff. kaela
n' i each made a box. the grp mixed n' matched stuff that we each
brought to make the boxes. it was pretty fun, but i'm finding that
often, i'm pretty tired from a long werkwk on fri eves.
on sat, what happened? hrm, i went to the company gym. i
had a good werkout. 4 lunch, kaela n' i ate oodong @ home. i
cooked 2 much. i guess i put 2 much stuff into it, u know?
after that, i drove down to almaden, where i grew up, to bring sooni to
her training session w/ dawna caldwell'f happy
tails. kaela stayed home to study, but i brought sooni to go
hiking in quicksilver w/ dawna, where we hoped to watch her interaktion w/
passing doggies. we walked 'lot n' saw a few doggies. dawna
sed sooni's improved 'lot, n' i totally agree. she cms to think
this might be the best sooni'll ever be. she doesn't necessarily
growl @ other doggies or try to fight when she's on leash under our
command, but we can't trust her to behave when the other doggy gets 2
close. she does think that it's a good idea 4 us to try to werk 1
on 1 w/ other doggies, perhaps w/ her on muzzle. that's good.
i s'ppose we should look 4 those opportunities. she also sed
maybe it's ok now 4 her to go c a vet but on muzzle. that sounds
good.
during the training class, as we hiked, i had to go pee so badly but
had to hold it. after the class, i thought i'd hurry to my mom's
house to use the toilet, but i saw a portopotty over @ parma park, where
they've torn down my childhood library n' kommunity center in order to
build a bigger, better 1. i pulled over, ran into the portopotty w/
sooni's leash hanging out the closed door. it must've looked funny
in that hi profile lokation rt off'f bizzy camden ave to c this doggy on a
leash hanging out'f a portopotty! ha ha ha. well, after that
i went to my mom's house, picked persimmons, n' picked up a few things.
this time, sooni was good. she didn't crawl under the fence
cos i put a brick over that gap. she just relaxed on my mom's
backyard lawn. it was very cute.
after that, i went over to ken's house. they had 2 new "teacup
pomeranians" there. ken n' grace r keeping this female or "bitch"
named kona, a li'l brown 1. they recently sold off this white male.
while i was there, grace's mom came to visit n' brought w/ her mimi
n' coco, the 2 miniature pomeranians. miniature
pomeranians r aktually bigger than "teacup pomeranians." the
white male was sold 4 $800, which sounds like 'lot; but consider that ppl
pay $3k ~ $5k 4 a jindogae like sooni, rt? heh heh...
i left ken's house after a while, n' my mom called to ask where i was
cos she wasn't home when i went to pick persimmons. she told me to
meet up w/ her in the washington mutual (wamu) parking lot, but over
there, there's 2 wamus rt 'cross the st from each other, so i 1st ended up
@ the wrong 1 but eventually ended up @ the rt 1.
i came home. kaela n' i ate mandoo n' leftover oodong 4 dinner.
we watched som korean tv. then i sort'f took a nap in the
middle'f the evening. i woke up when kaela came into the bdrm from
the living rm where she was studying while watching sex and the
city, which i really have no interest in watching. (i always
thought it was called sex in the city, but it's not???)
oh wait, she was watching that earlier in the eve, b4
we watched a coupl'f korean dramas. that's rt. neway, i was
tired n' took that nap, not 2 sure if i was napping or retiring 4 the
nite. however, when i awoke, i was inspired by pastor dave's msg on
honouring the sabbath last wk, so i decided to stay up late to finish up
some werk 4 werk.com instead'f putting it off till 2nite (sun nite).
i'm happy i did, n' i wanna tell pastor dave 'bout this. i
feel good. 'round 200a, i e.mailed off the results'f my werk, n'
2day, i was able to devote the day to worshiping or worshipping god n' to
relaxing as god intended me to. well, the important thing, pastor
dave sed, is to reserve 1 day a wk to avoid all "income.earning aktivity,"
n' i believe i managed to do that so far 2day. it's 550p.
i've $pent $$$ but have not made ne 2day. ha ha.
2day, after church, kaela n' i sort'f went shopping. 1st, we
went to dsw (designer shoe warehouse), where kaela used some certificate
n' some coupon to get a pair'f kangaroo casual sneakers. they're
really cute shoes. after that, we went to valley fair, where i
wanted to go. on our way, i did c a man holding a "bring the troops
home" sign, a us flag, n' a peace sign flag. i waved. he
gave a peace sign. i gave him back a peace sign. i guess i
should've honked. however, there was this 1 time, when a nice old
lady had some good sign protesting dubyah's dumb war, n' i honked, but it
was funny cos the car in front'f me wasn't moving even tho' it was a green lite, so it looked like iw as honking to tell
that inattentive driver to go. well, i hoped the honk served 2
purposes, but i worry that ppl think that i was just honking out'f road
rage n' not cos i do believe it's wrong to dubyah to have a war
just 4 oil as opposed to tracking down the real terrorists in afghanistan.
neway, i did notice that the guy w/ the sign was a south asian man,
i thought that must've been tuff. u 'member when, rt after 9.11,
polls proclaimed that afrikan.ams were finally the 2nd most hated race in
amerika cos the #1 was arabs? at that time, #3 was south asians cos
"they resemble arabs." isn't that awful? so undoubtedly some
ignorant, stoopid "conservatives"'ll say "look @ that terrorist w/ his
anti.war sign!" man, that's tuff, u know? must we minorities
be 4ced to be uncle toms or else be called traitors? don't we also
have a rt to voice our opinions 'bout our korrupt gov't? neway, we
went to valley fair n' ate sushi @ sushi boat, which is pretty good.
their sushi boats have pretty creative sushi. well, 1tym, we
went to the westgate sushi boat, where they were having some cheap sushi
special nite, n' that time the sushi was pretty conventional, u
know? however, the sushi was decently expen$ive 2day, i've gotta
admit; but the quality was very good. we looked 'round valley fair
a bit, but i really didn't buy much. w/ some credit on our macy's
card, i bought a men's facial cleanser cos i'm running out'f my ol'
bottle. yah, i 'gain bought that california north brand.
kaela bought some conditioner, n' i think that's it, rt? rt.
yah, i didn't really feel like $pending $$$ just yet; but i did look @
some nice clothes. i never have much clothes 4 autumn. i
have lots'f summer clothes. b4 lunch, we did view in person
the awesome palmone tungsten t5 pda/handheld. it's pretty awesome!
:-) we also saw this really kewl sony t.series laptop that's pretty
darn small! it's still got a dvd burner as well as a firewire port
n' 802.11g. kewl.
after a short, short walk 'round valley fair, we came home. i
got rt to doing yardwerk n' housechores, n' kaela went off to starbucks to study w/ a classmate. i did give
sooni a short walk this morn, but i s'ppose i hope i can walk her 'gain
2nite sometime; but i wonder if i should go shopping @ target or rite.aid
or walgreens. i definitely need a new battery 4 my garage
door opener remote, but i wonder if i wanna buy other things. *sigh* eh, better
not look 4 ways to $pend $$$. it's funny. there's
this li'l thing on mbc rt now 'bout this tree whose exposed roots aktually
flat out look like a woman w/ her legs spread wide open. it's
rather obscene n' hilarious! i dunno how that tree got like that,
but yah... it's very hilarious. i'm typing 2day's entry via telnet on
kaela's vaio laptop. [much later] 1003p: so u may've noticed
that my journal entry 2day's all in english since i'm typing via telnet.
i'm now typing via telnet from my (werk.com) laptop. so i
finally left the house in the evening. when kaela left to study, i
thought i'd go out sort'f shopping. 4 the past few months, i keep
thinking, "wow, there's so many li'l things i gotta go out; but i never
have time during the wk, so i should go out on wknds to get these things."
however, what r these things? *shrug* housekeeping items,
toiletries, hardware, groceries... when i'm not @ werk, i spend so
much'f my time taking care'f sooni, rt? well, after doing lots'f
housechores, housekeeping, n' home maintenance tasks, i figured i should
finally go out. where? *shrug* i figured i could go out n' buy a
new garage door opener remote battery. however, i tested the remote
'gain, n' this time it werked. hrm... well, i thought 'bout
going to target to buy a new squeegee or to fry's to buy a new europro
bagless stick shark vacuum filter. well, sooni wanted to stay in
the backyard, so i put her in the backyard n' went out. i felt
kind'f free. it was "daddy's nite out." i imagined having to
tell my kid, "i love u very much, but sometimes daddy needs some time to
go out n' do daddy things." ha ha. well, i drove by fry's,
thinking i could buy a new remote battery n' vacuum filter, but discovered
it was already closed n' kept driving up arques 2wards sunnyvale target.
i passed the kitkat club n' chuckled 'bout that "daddy's nite out"
/ "daddy's gotta go do daddy things" thought. (in case u didn't
know n' couldn't figure out, the kitkat club's a strip club.) well,
i ended up @ the sunnyvale towne center target n' went in. i was
happy to find it open. i wondered what i'd look 4. well,
what do i normally look @ @ target? heh, doggy stuff? so i
finally got time away from sooni, n' the 1st thing i go look 4 is doggy
stuff? ha ha. no, i went to look 4 a vacuum filter 1st, but they
don't have that 1. well, then i looked to c if they had
doggy santa hats, but they don't. they have doggy christmas collars n'
bracelets but no hats. i looked @ other things. i like
browsing target cos they have everything in 1 place. i like their
cute baby things like baby outfits n' baby toys. i didn't plan on
buying nething after not finding the filter cos i know i have this $5 gift
card that i want to use but 4got to bring. why do i have that gift
card? well, a while 'go, i saw u could buy these very cute rubber
ducky gift cards, so i bought 1 4 myself. i just put $5 on it, so i
could aktually buy it yet not hafta invest much in it, u know? i
browsed the store. eventually, i chuckled to myself in my head, "if
i'm just gonna go out n' window.shop, why did i come to target? the
pt'f window.shopping's to go look @ stuff u dream'f buying, but
target's still a somewhat modest store... i mean, if i'm just gonna
window.shop, i could've gone off to santana row to browse thru $300
shirts or sumpthin'." a long time 'go, kaela n' i were @ this
target, n' kaela went to use the restroom. a security guard kept
her from using that bathrm cos she sed they were waiting 4 a shoplifter to
come out so that they could bust her. later, when we were dining
sometime w/ grace n' steve, they mentioned that the sunnyvale target's
kind'f ghetto, so i told them 'bout that shoplifting story. then
steve laffed n' sed sumpthin' like 'u've gotta be pretty down n' out to be
shoplifting from target cos if u'r gonna risk so much getting in trouble,
u might as well 'least shoplift from macy's.' yah, heh... he's rt.
well, here i was, window.shopping @ target. well,
shoot; i was 1st trying to window.shop @ fry's, but it was closed, u know?
that's my excuse. on my way out, i noticed that they
have this new sektion called "the 1 spot," where they have $1 items,
including a whole pet supply sektion!!! i saw a
retraktable leash 4 $1!!! that's an awesome deal, but
that partikular leash is waaaay 2 wimpy 4 sooni but perfekt 4 a
purse dog... u know, some kind'f pomeranian, poodle, or a bichon frise.
there were some other kewl things, but i think they were also
pretty much just 4 purse doggies. well, i managed to leave target
w/o droppin' ne $$$. i went off to trader joe's. there, i
bought some "mandarin hefeweizen" (i'm not sure cos i have yet to examine
the box 2 well, but i think it's orange flavored hefeweizen [wheat beer]),
a pair'f chicken frzn burritos, a box'f latkes, a 0.5 dzn tiger's milk
bars, n' some trail mix. i came home n' ate some'f the brown rice i had started cooking earlier (it takes a
long time.) w/ some asparagus "maki" (asparagus
rolled in thinly sliced beef) from costco n' a li'l bit'f salad. it
was pretty good. kaela was studying @ starbucks. she called me n' sed she was going
to dinner w/ her classmate(s) @ myuhngdong soondubujip, but i'd just eaten
some leftover mandoo from last nite's dinner @ that time. when
kaela came home, she told me they aktually ended up going to gilmok
instead cos myuhngdong was way 2 crowded. i can imagine; it gets
crowded on suns (sundays).
월요일 아침: 2day i received this puzzling e.mail:
Hello! Again, i hope to hear from you. during my lunchbrk, i went home. i ate 2 things: a microwave personal pizza n' a black bean adobo forkless gourmet bun. i s'ppose i'm not eating all that healthily these days n' worry that i'll start showing some extra poundage. hrm... how can i eat more healthily? besides the fat n' maybe the carb content'f my fud, i'm worried 'bout my sodium intake. i'm a pretty salty guy these days.
if i were to name a kid matthew cos'f the biblikal matthew, then i wouldn't name him matthew but mateo. i had that thought sometime during sun's sermon. it's just that i know that so many asian, 'specially korean, kids in my generation r named after biblikal ppl, 'specially the disciples, but why must they all be matthew, mark, luke, n' john? if ppl continue that pattern, why not use mateo, uh... marcus, lucas, n' juan or sumpthin', u know? there's also lots'f kids named after old testament prophets such as daniel, isiaiah, ... well, we know 'bout ken's twin cousins hosea n' hobab or hobab... uh, i'm not sure how he spells it, but since the beautiful kaela hwang hired them to paint a townhome, i'm sure she knows. peter, james, isaac, timothy, jacob, joshua... maybe there'll be more kids named jude now cos'f like jude law n' other recently famous judes. *shrug* ok, well, we all know what's the best name from the bible! that'd be the ol' testament name'f "beno"!!! :-) "The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The son of Jaaziah: Beno. The sons of Merari: from Jaaziah: Beno, Shoham, Zaccur and Ibri." -- 1 chronicles 24:26~27 however, my name's pronounced "bee noh," while this name might be pronounced "beu noh," 'least that's how it's fonetikally written in 한글 hangeul.
[later] yah, after cing that awesome palmone tungsten t5, i'm leaning more 2wards getting that as opposed to the palomone zire 72. however, it co$ts more. :-(
check this out... i just now found out 'bout the www.christiansforkerryedwards.org website. that's my akt'f "2 li'l, 2 late," n' that's awful. however, check this out, sumpthin' i read there:
For more detailed information, you may wish to view or download the IRS Publication 1828, "Tax Guide For Churches and Religious Organizations." The document is on-line at Careful adherence to these IRS guidelines will protect the integrity of the church's ministry and tax-exempt status. i know so many protestants voted 4 dubyah cos they couldn't stand the idea'f having a 2nd catholic president, sure. this akt'f religious discrimination was not really talked 'bout much, but i wonder why ppl haven't asked me 'bout my feelings on this much? well... heh, i guess it's obvious. ppl wanted to discriminate 'gainst the catholic while not admitting to it, of course. i'm totally a protestant, myself. how would i feel 'bout having a catholic president? i would be fine w/ it. imho (in my humble opinion), catholics r also christians. there r some other bible.based religions n' cults which i would not consider christian, but i consider catholicism to be a kind'f christianity. yes, imho, protestantism n' catholicism r 2 kinds'f christianity. would i ever be a catholic. i really don't think so. @ the same time, i don't really think i'd ever be a baptist either. edwards's a southern baptist. i'd never been a member'f or regularly attended a denominational church, but our current church grx apparently belongs to the evangelical covenant denomination. in the past, i've attended churches (not necessarily regularly) that were presbyterian n' baptist. i'd visited a taiwanese lutheran church 1nce. i've been to an anglican service in durham, england. i've now been to a catholic wedding. aktually, back in hi skool, i went to a catholic funeral 4 a student as part'f the band. most'f the asian baptist churches i've visited kind'f scare me w/ overbearing ideas'f accountability n' extereme emotionalism. however, i'm sure there r some baptist churches out there that i'd be com4table w/, but i dunno. if i were to go to a prebyterian church, i'd apparently rather it be a pcusa church n' not a pca church. 화요일 오후: 4 lunch, i had this chicken pasta salad thingy. the cafeteria gives large portions'f that, n' i have leftovers in the fridge. [a li'l later] gadgetlust: so i've been thinking more now 'bout the palmone tungsten t5 instead'f their zire 72, as i've sed. yah, un4tunately, it's a more expen$ive unit, but it's rather supercharged. however, buying a new pda/handheld's gonna co$t more than just the price'f the new pda. lemme tell u, when i get a new pda/handheld, rt'ff the bat, i know i've gotta buy a couple'f things: 1) the updated version'f ray solutions' hantip korean font software n' 2) a sd wi.fi (or hopefully wifi + memory) card. [later] shoot, apparently, hantip doesn't werk 4 palm os 5, only palm os 4.1 n' below. hrm, how 'bout this diotek software? that looks somewhat promising. it looks like ray solutions is sort'f a disfunkt operation now, n' hantip development ended a long time 'go. *shrug* apparently diotek claims to be the de fakto standard 4 korean palm os support, etc. the sandisk sd wifi card only werks 4 the palm(one) zire 71 n' 72 (i think) n' no other palmone devices! the sandisk 256mb+wifi sd card does not werk 4 ne palm os devices. doesn't that suck? however, palmone itself is selling a wifi sd card 4 quite a hi price, but i think it werks 4 the tungsten t5, etc.
[much, much later] 1138p: i just watched billy elliot on dvd on my laptop. it was a very good movie, but i dunno why. i know 정목사님 chung moksanim sed it was his favourite movie, n' i don't understand why; but i can understand that he could, u know? u know what i mean? like, really... i dunno what's good 'bout it, but i know it's good. hrm, 1 funny thing is that it takes place in durham county, n' i was just recently talkin' 'bout how i was in durham.
well, 2nite, after werk, i went to costco. i picked up the beautiful kaela hwang's contakt lenses n' her friend rachel's pics. i also picked up some mini.dv cassettes or tapes or cassette tapes. i picked up some seedless red grapes. what else? oh yah, i also bought some odwalla 오렌지 쥬스 oreinji jyooseu so what's up? *shrug* i think i'm all talked out 'bout politiks 4 now... 'cept 4 1 thing i wanna re.emphasize: many, many, if not most'f my close friends r aktually republikans, i've gotta say. yet, most'f my close friends who r republikans r not christians or else just nominally christian n' not prakticing or nething. i just feel i've gotta re.emphasize that cos man... u know i'm very upset 'bout the whole idea'f how churches told their congregations that it's somehow biblikal to vote republikan. when it all comes down to it... when it all comes down to the truth, it's not "the christian thing to do" to vote republikan, n' it's also not "the christian thing to do" to vote demokrat. ppl need to accept that. however, since this country's been so biased 1 way, i do feel that ppl need to emphasize the other side. n' that's all i'll say 'bout politiks n' religious 4... *shrug* 4 2day, i s'ppose. it is 1154p now after all.
so 정목사님 chung moksanim liked billy elliot. u know, i was just thinking a few mins 'go 'bout how 정목사님 chung moksanim told us he had a black belt in taekwondo. pastor rick told us he did taekwondo but was more into boxing. pastor dave was a collegiate wrestler. isn't that kind'f interesting?
so what else is up? well, i guess my i'm going snowboarding w/ my cowerkers on sat. i can't wait; this'll be fun. i really wanna go snowboarding 'lot; i really wanna go snowboarding often this season. i've gotta buy some new tires. ben, who werks @ costco tires, but who admits he can't get me a deal better than what i've found on tirerack.com, sez i should check out dunlop tires or else stick w/ yokohama. he's been suggesting 4 a while that i go check out america's tire co. on stevens crk blvd, that they might be able to get me a good deal. i hope so. 오전 1245a: 비가 와요. it's raining. i hear the rain, but i'm sittin' on our living rm couch watching sbs's 인기 가요 / inko gayo; which, 'long w/ kbs's 뮤직 뱅크 / music bank, rocks!!! sooni's sleeping in her bed, n' that's really cute. :-) have u watched billy elliot? well, if either u've watched the movie or r just plain familiar w/ british slang, lemme tell u that just cos i keep saying our doggy's cute n' don't mind dressing her up in clothes, n' talk 'bout going shopping 4 clothes does not mean i'm a "poof." well, furthermore, just cos i've used the wurd "homosexual" so many times in recent journal entries to refer to the blatant lies that the republikkkans spread 'bout the demokrat's stance on gay marriage etc. does not mean i'm a "poof." "poof..." ha ha, that's a cute wurd. ha ha.
well, we're well into nov, so u ought to know that my nexts big challenge is making t.giving dinner. i mean, i dunno if the beautiful kaela hwang's up 4 doing this daunting task, doing most'f this daunting task, helping w/ this daunting task, or what. i dunno if i'd be a male chauvinist pig to think that she'd be interested in doing so or what. since she's always studying, i figure i'd best be prepared 4 "the worst," which'd be that i'd hafta do the whole thing myself. i dunno; i really don't know. however, i know we have a coupl'f recent magazines w/ some t.giving recipes. where r they?!?!?! i aktually bought 1'f them from santana row borders a while 'go, 'member? hrm, lemme think: where did we eat dinner @ santana row that nite? oh, of course; 'twas maggiano's 4 our 15th monthversary.
last sun, when kaela n' i were @ valley fair, we saw the new ritzy pet accessories store. we also saw the new funky chic (the term 4 the kind'f fashion where u shell out big bucks to look poor) store metropark. they have a small pet accessories sektion, which they call metrobark. ha ha, that's a cute name.
[later] 아침: dude, i can't wait to go snowboarding this wknd. 2nite, i should start getting our gear ready. i'm not gonna wax our boards just yet. i'm thinking it's best not to ride on a newly waxed board on ur 1st ride'f the season, u know? i shall, however, try to get the rust off our edges. i don't like riding on rusty edges cos i feel the vibration due to the rust. i think we'll be hitting up alpine meadows on sat. i'm very happy cos dukkyung sed he'll stop by our house n' walk sooni on sat. that's kewl. we've gotta leave early in order to go to alpine meadows cos 1) it's not the closest north tahoe resort, n' 2) it fills up, n' then they rejekt ppl.
[a li'l later] this morn, i took sooni 4 a jog. in order to get ready 4 next fri's 5k run, i've been trying to go on decently lenthy jogs, but, well, i should make 'em longer than i've been. [a li'l later] this morn i washed dishes b4 going on the jog.
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i did 'lot. i returned the billy elliot dvd to blockbuster cos it was due by 2morrow @ noon. then i went to america's tire co. on stevens crk blvd to order new tires. ben recommended them. i dunno; the price aktually wasn't that cheap, but he told me they provide very good service. well, i guess i'm trying them out. in my head, i calculated the diff btwn buying them there n' having them installed v. buying them from tirerack.com n' having them installed. hrm, i think it's a li'l more expen$ive thru them, but i'm not sure. [a li'l later] yah, after checking tirerack.com 'gain; yah, it's li'l more expen$ive @ america's tire co.; but ben sez they're good cos they throw in a good warranty thingy n' free balancing, etc. hrm, we'll c. neway, after that i stopped by home n' walked sooni. b4 i walked sooni, i ate some leftover rice w/ a fried egg. it wasn't much, but i knew i had leftover pasta salad in the fridge @ werk.com. i guess i sort'f made 오믈라이스 omeul rice (omelet rice). it was good weather during my lunchbrk even tho' it rained last nite. i wonder how much it'll rain the rest'f the wk. *shrug*
[later] i'm having a listen to this ministry of sound track "protect your mind." it's a pretty kewl track n' makes me miss djing. :-( last nite, while studying, kaela tuned our dish netwerk receiver to a sirius satellite radio station that was playing some eurotrance musik, n' it was pretty good stuff. i miss djing. i need my table back from toby, on which i place my coffin w/ my cd turntables n' mixer. i realised a li'l while 'go, that, in order to get back into djing, i need a pda/handheld. heh, of course, that's just an excuse; but really! it was very helpful to have all my dj "recipes" ready on my handheld n' have bpm lists ready there as well as bpm counting software! *sigh* i miss that. ministry of sound's "pearl river," here's 'nother good track. hrm, ministry of sound isn't really a muzik grp, rt? it's like a dj grp or sumpthin', isn't it? cos i 'member having a dled file'f "till i come" or 1'f those atb tracks, n' it listed ministry of sound as the artist, but that's really atb, rt? so i dunno who the aktual "artist" is 4 these tracks, do i? [later] u c, i've got the crossfader enhancement running on my windows media player, so i get mixing btwn the 2 tekno tracks. it's kind'f kewl in a way, but it's also like listening to a really bad dj, the kind that makes me so frustrated that i'm not the 1 mixing, u know? *sigh* so i'm really missing djing @ this pt. i can match the beats instead'f having this ka.thunk, ka.thunk, ka.thunk sound that u get w/ crappy djs. 목요일 아침: dude, is it already thurs? *sigh* it feels more like wed. what up?! i don't get it. that means 2nite's taekwondo sparring praktice, 2morrow's t3s grx couples small grp, n' the day after that's snowboarding w/ my cowerkers. crazee! next wk's the 5k run 4 my werk, so i've been trying to jog more but didn't jog this morn. :-( i realised yesterday that when i jog w/ sooni down to el camino real, that's only 0.7 miles, 1.4 miles round trip. when i jog down to 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market, it's only 0.8 miles, 1.6 miles round trip. i've gotta jog ~3.1 miles 4 the 5k run. yesterday, after werk, i went to the gym. i got on that elliptical trainer w/ the arms thingy? u know what i mean, rt? if not, maybe do an image google on "elliptical trainer arms" or sumpthin' like that. neway, i set out to do 3.1 miles on that. i did it in like 40 mins or so @ a relaxed pace. i think that elliptical trainer's easier than real running tho'. i guess i'll finish the 5k run in 45 mins to an hr. yah? ok, using yahoo! yellow pages, i've determined that if i jog to kadam n' kadam jewelers on el camino real in sunnyvale n' back; then i'll have jogged 3.0 miles. should i try to do that then? i guess i'd better try to do that sometime. maybe sometime next wk, like mon eve or sumpthin', as long as it doesn't rain.
@ the gym, i lifted weights n' did that elliptical trainer. i streteched n' then took a shower. after the gym, i stopped by z gallerie to pick up our replacement duck artpiece. then i went home. i ate 2 portabello shroom gardenburger patties w/ some french bread. nuts, i meant to bring the rest'f that french brd w/ me to werk w/ some jam. i 4got. yesterday... i s'ppose this is silly, but i took out our snowboarding gear from the garage closet n' put it in my car, in order to get ready 4 sat. i can't wait to go. i s'ppose 2nite, i'd better get my outfit ready, etc. ha, it's not that i care what how i look (u really think i'm that vain, eh?) but that i need to make sure i can find all my snow clothes. originally, i thought it'd be what the call "spring weather," but it appears that it'll be a bit colder than that. do we still have 2 face masks, or did we lose 1? i 'member we could only find 1 last season.
u know, there aktually wasn't much good on tv last nite. i s'ppose there was 1 episode'f 형수님은 열아홉 / hyuhngsoonimeun yuhlahop, but that's all. u know how i have those coupons 4 free non.new releases from blockbuster? maybe i should've rented a dvd yesterday. otherwise, i should catch up online on episodes'f kbs's 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn. aktually, there was 'nother interesting show on last nite; what was it? oh yah, i guess since the rerun'f 겨울 연가 / gyuhool yuhnga ended on kbs, they started playing 상두야, 학교가자! / sangdooya, hakkyogaja! / (hey sangdoo, go to skool!), which stars 비 / bi / bee / rain. i think the 미니시리즈 miniseries just started! does it sound like i'm watching 2 much tv these days?
[later] 오후: i'm watching a video'f myself giving a presentation 4 werk.com a while 'go. do u hate watching urself in videos? do u hate cing pics'f urself? well, me? not necessarily. ha ha. that prob'ly sounds vain, but no... i don't mean i love to c videos n' pics'f myself. i sometimes cringe, but well... i've gotta watch this video'f myself n' give a self.evaluation, u know? last wk, i printed out a lot'f digipics. often, ppl take digipics on their digicams n' dl'em to their hds (hard drives) n' never print them out cos it's a hassle n' not that cheap. well, last wk, i printed out a whole bunch. it was quite a task to cut all the pics out'f the 8.5"x11" foto paper, u know? back b4 digital imaging was so prevalent, i used to take many, many, many pics w/ my canon elph 35mm film camera. i compiled lots'f foto albums. i guess, aktually, even b4 i had that elph camera, i took lots'f pics. i like pics; u know that? i'm by far not a professional or even "avid amateur" fotographer, but i like taking pics n' don't mind having my pic taking to dokument my existence on this planet, etc. i'm 29, eh? i have this pic'f my on my 29th b.day party @ 난다랑 nandarang, me n' the cake w/ candles. hrm, where did the cake come from? i 4get. oh yah, i think the beautiful kaela hwang got it from café aroma.
[later] so it looks like i'm gonna sell off my icube play@tv unit to some1. i'm taking a li'l bit'f a loss on it, but well... i realise now it was a rash decision to purchase it in the 1st place, a definite akt'f gadgetlust.
2day i realised that i've been kicked out'f the y! group'f our old church. i noticed that i stopped getting e.mails from them, but i never aktually left the group myself. apparently, some1 else kicked me out. oh well, that's fine. 금요일 오후: from y! news reuters article "Calif. Jury Finds Peterson Guilty of Killing Wife": "The case attracted widespread media coverage, perhaps because many Americans were taken by the story of how an attractive, typical California middle-class couple was struck by tragedy." i personally never found all that much interest in this case n' felt it was overhyped, but maybe that sounds really insensitive. *shrug*
[later] yesterday eve, i come home from werk, expekting to attend taekwondo sparring praktice. however, the beautiful kaela hwang called me. she was out shopping w/ her classmate friend rachel after their midterm. they were @ valley fair. [unfinished entry] 월요일 아침: well, we went up to sierra@tahoe on sat. it was awesome. i'm glad, 4 the beautiful kaela hwang n' me, even tho' we had a shortened season last yr, we were able to jump rt back into it @ the start'f the day w/o ne silly "warmup" run or nething. we both just dove rt in. that was kewl. rt now, by the beginner run, sierra has a rail park. un4tunately, on sat, i just felt 2 chicken to ride rails, only boxes. i did ride jumps, prakticed backside 3s (360s) n' stuff like that. most'f the day we rode westbowl, so it was more "freeride" 4 me than freestyle, u know? well, man... it was an awesome day; 'twas truly awesome to board 'gain!
well, where did i leave off updating u. earlier this morn, i uploaded a coupl'f overdue entries. it appears that i left off updating on wed or 'least talkin' 'bout wed nite. well, thurs? yah, i ended up not doing the taekwondo sparring praktice even tho' i stopped by to give dukkyung our housekey, so he could soonisit on sat. i chatted it up a bit w/ the homies. then i met up w/ kaela n' her classmate friend rachel @ 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang on el camino real. i ate 짬뽕 jjambbong, while the other 2 ate 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn. they give u plenty'f fud there, so i was very full. on tues nite, i had sooni wear her yellow raincoat cos it was sprinkling here n' there, now n' then.
fri; what happened fri? well, i went to werk. @ lunch, i went to lunch w/ my ol' cowerkers. we luncheoned @ una mas on el camino real @ san tomas expwy. i ate a foghead burrito, which has bbq chicken, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, black beans, n' other stuff. when i came home after werk, i did some housechores, as i usually gotta do. then, kaela came home from the gym, n' we went to krung thai #2 w/ her classmates to celebrate her classmate's b.day. we ate 'lot'f fud. un4tunately, @ the end'f dinner, i spilled a full glass'f ice h2o on my lap. i hate when stuff like that happens. *sigh* neway, lots'f thai fud... after that, we quickly stopped by walgreens on winchester blvd b4 going to t3s grx couples small grp, where we discussed compassion n' 4giveness. we sort'f related that to our marriages, i guess. well, kaela n' i left rt after the study to meet up w/ clarence @ our house. clarence went snowboarding w/ us on sat, so he spent the nite @ our house on fri.
sat: yup, on sat, we woke up early, met up w/ my cowerkers n' went snowboarding. on the way off to tahoe, my carload went thru the mcyukyuk drive.thru, but i guess only kaela n' i got some greasy, fatt'ning brkfast. i drove rather swiftly to sierra@tahoe. we got good parking. however, when we got to the ticket booth, we saw that the resort was jampacked! un4tunately, the window i went to had a jammed ticket printer, so we had to wait a very, very, very friggin' n/or frickin' long time to get our tix. well, we hopped onto the slopes n' rode to westbowl where spent most'f the day. un4tunately, westbowl's snack bar / cafeteria isn't fully funktional yet, so we couldn't eat chicken adobe soup but had to settle 4 overpriced chili. well, we had a full day'f riding/boarding. the backside was closed. on our way back, my carload stopped in placerville, 1st @ starbucks 4 hot choco n' then @ in.n.out 4 dinner. i had a 2xmeat animal style, n' kaela had a animal style chzburger. she sed the meat was 2 pink n' exchanged it 4 a new 1. i drove us home. clarence n' i stayed up a bit n' chatted b4 he left 4 sf. dukkyung had come n' hung out w/ sooni during the day. he had a classmate over 2.
on sun morn, dukkyung came over, n' we took him to the great exchange covenant church 4 the early service. matt whang from taekwondo also met us there. after church, matt drove us over to east san jo to eat pho @ pho bang. after that, we went home. duk, kaela, n' i finally finished watching the taekwondo olympics tape that roland gave us. i'll convert it to dvd someday. it's easier to watch dvds than tapes. [later] after duk left, n' kaela went shopping n' to the library; i went to burlingame to sell off my icube play@tv to some dude from craigslist in order to cut my losses. yah, i took quite a loss on that purchase cos, as i sed, it was a rash n/or brash akt'f gadgetlust, u know? well, 'twas nice to collekt some ca$h, to get some ca$h back, i s'ppose. after that, i went to target [later] this morn, i took sooni 4 a short walk. u know, if u have all the mp3s 4 보아 4집 boa 4jip n' play 'em all in order in windows media playa w/ the crossfader set to 10 secs, u can get some nice sounding transitions btwn tracks. i mean, it's not as if a real dj mixed them, but it sounds decently continuous. speaking'f muzik, i really like the worship muzik @ grx on sun. 1 song i hadn't heard b4 that i really liked was todd agnew's "grace like rain." i dunno how the original recording sounds, but the way the worship team/band played it on sun, it had more'f a modern alternative feel. lots'f christian worship muzik these days has that amerikan altrock sound that un4tunately kind'f borders on country. i s'ppose that folksy sound kind'f 1st started off as a down to earth rock sound, sort'f like stuff from groups like r.e.m. n' live, but then it just got more n' more twangy n' stuff, u know? i'm ok w/ some'f that, but i dunno... i'd like to hear more christian rock that takes a more contemporary feel, maybe something that's kind'f didoish or uh... maybe more ambient teknoish. 1 thing the worship team/band did on this past sun that was diff was they took the an ol' hymn n' played it in a more contemporary style, n' that was kewl. [later] 오후: sun's sermon/msg/lekture was on adultery n' the 7th commandment "thou shalt not commit adultery."
on fri, i've got the 5k fun run / turkey trot to do in the morn. my plan's to sneak sooni into this event n' jog w/ her 4 the 3.1 miles. i dunno; i worry they'll kick her out; but the run is @ mission college around their campus n' the surrounding streets. it's all outdoors; i don't think there should be a prob; but i dunno. ppl can be not.so.understanding sometimes. *shrug* of course i think it's awful that yipyap doggies r allowed into stores while more normal size doggies rn't. that's awful. if i could just walk sooni rt into valley fair mall, n' walk w/ her 'round everywhere, she would behave so well; but she's not allowed to, i s'ppose.
[later] 밤 1130p: after werk, i went to america's tire co. on stevens crk blvd to have my new dunlop sp5000 tires installed. while they werked on my car, i walked over to bevmo to look @ 2003 wines, as kaela sed we've gotta buy a whole bunch cos 2003 was our wedding yr. then i walked over to circuit city n' then cost plus n' then back to the tire store. after that, i went home. i took sooni 4 a 3.1+ mile jog to praktice 4 fri's 5k run. we jogged from our house to kadam n' kadam jewelers. i was never so glad to c that south asian jeweler. i put on the piper gear snowboarding backpack i bought from the snow expo several yrs 'go. i put a small bottle'f h2o in there, sooni's tie out, my wallet, my cellfon, some soonitreats. i dunno why i brought the tie out, but i just figured that if i was running that far, maybe some opportunity to go into some store or sumpthin' might come up, n' in that case i'd hafta use her tie out. we did need some rice, but imagine picking up a 25 or 50 lb bag'f rice n' jogging back home. ha ha. it was a good jog. i guess it must've been the longest distance sooni n' i've ever jogged. i could tell it wasn't all that easy 4 her, but she did it. my shirt n' jacket were drenched w/ sweat when we got home. i'm not sore or nething, so that's great. i can do fri morn, no prob. :-) the fun run / turkey trot's @ mission college. i really hope i can sneak sooni into it. well, when i came home, i cooked some refrigerator 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn, but i fancied it up by adding a sunnyside up egg.
oh oh oh! i 4got to tell u!!! 1st when i got home, i had to battle 'nother 1'f those monster spiders! ugh, it was huge! it was on the ceiling in our hallway. i knocked it down w/ kaela's 검도 guhmdo shinai. then sooni chased it n' bit @ it, n' then i smashed it w/ the swiffer wetjet mop. it took several hits b4 dying. man, i hate those monster spiders! where do they come from?! i don't wanna keep finding them. well, sooni's great w/ hunting bugs n' spiders. she really did what she was bred to do by chasing down that spider. it was great. even b4 i knocked down the spider from the ceiling, she totally understood the plan. i pted up @ the spider, n' she was focused on it, knowing that i'd knock it down. it was great! great teamwerk, u know?
well, after dinner, while watching tv, i talked to toby on the fon 4 a long time. 화요일 아침: so yesterday eve, sooni n' i jogged out to kadam n' kadam jewelers, as i sed. this morn, i jogged w/ her out to el camino real n' back. that's mmm... maybe not quite 0.5 that distance. yah, it's 'prob'ly like 0.333 or 1/3 that distance. my legs weren't sore after last nite's jog, but i think they're a bit sore now. i'm sure that's cos it takes time 4 muscles to get sore, so they prob'ly r aktually sore cos'f last nite not cos'f this morn. i plan to attend taekwondo praktice 2nite w/ the beautiful kaela hwang. yah, it's rather tragik how she's skipped so many taekwondo praktices since starting chiropraktic skool. taekwondo was always good 4 my akademics. when i do taekwondo it raises my energy level n' ability to focus on tasks, my mental discipline, etc. when i regularly attended taekwondo praktice during college, i could go to praktice 4 1.5~2 hrs n' then go home n' study. compare that to going home after class, watching tv 4 a few hrs, eating dinner, saying u'r gonna study, but then watching more tv n' checking e.mail n' surfing the web, u know? it's important to have an aktivity that adds some disciplined routine to ur life. taekwondo's exaktly that. man, aktually, it was also too bad that kaela'd been skipping praktices cos our dojang already needs more'f a female presence these days. ever since i've been there, i've always cn it be more male.dominated, n' that's bad. i noticed that so much'f the uc martial arts program's success is rooted in how the good gender mix provides a much more positive n' enjoyable social atmosphere. it's not that i think taekwondojang should be places where guys n' gurls meet up, a meat market; no. not every1 needs to find his/her spouse @ the taekwondojang even tho' it's not necessarily a bad place to find 1. however, a good gender mix really makes ppl interakt better. i mean, if a dojang's all guys, then the guys start getting 2 competitive, n' then all their ruff edges start clashing 'lot more. when u throw more females into the mix, they behave in a more civil manner, u know that? they're more gentlemanly, in that case; n' that's important in making the place a fun place where u want to train. that's so much more important in the long run than some not.so.wise martial artists realise. some martial artists just want a ruff environment where guys rumble n' beat the #@$% out'f each other; but really... how long can most guys keep training on a regular basis in that kind'f environment?! hrm, it's funny, but i've definitely cn a similar phenomenon in churches. well, it's hard to get more females to join a martial arts skool, even harder here in the silly valley than up in berkeley where women have more'f an egalitarian view on things, in that they're more willing to take on the challenge'f being a female martial artists while so many ppl have the misconception that it's more'f a male's pursuit, etc. i 4get, but some1 sed that, in order to get women into taekwondo, u've really gotta get them interested in competition. *shrug* is that what that person sed? i 4get, n' i 4get who sed it. well, i think women join martial arts to study self.defense as well. however, maybe that person figured that that gets old 2 fast. yah, maybe so. i think fitness is maybe a better goal; but then we need to do more intense cardio werkouts, maybe. i think it was very kewl that 윤사범님 yoon sabuhmnim started that mafit (martial arts fitness) class @ ucmap. i wonder if that's still going. that was really good. i think these taebo/kwando classes really need to be taught more in a martial arts setting than they've been so far. they need to be more tied in w/ real martial arts n' not just aerobics.
man, i feel good that i've been jogging lately, n' i feel great that we went snowboarding this past sat. this is my winter fitness routine, i s'ppose; heh heh. i guess i haven't been to the gym in a li'l while, not so far this wk. i do need to lift weights, of course; but since we do some crazymad number'f pushups after each taekwondo praktice, i never want to be sore on tues or thurs nites, u know? hrm, i'll prob'ly skip thurs nite's sparring praktice to ensure that i'll be able to run on fri morn. in that case, i could lift weights on wed eve @ the gym. *shrug* on the other hand, i could jog 'gain on wed eve n' lift weights @ the gym on thurs n' give my legs a rest? yah, maybe that's a better plan. *shrug* i'm starting to get really nervous 'bout trying to sneak sooni into the run tho', i've gotta admit. i'd really like it if kaela came n' could take sooni back home if she gets kicked out. i hope so. she has some midterm on fri tho', n' she's still worried 'bout midterms.
she gets 'lot'f midterms in her skool, u know. i dunno if u've noticed or not. last nite, she was out really late studying 'gain. the way i personally figure it, tho', is that if u have so many midterms all the time, it ends up being more like quizzes or in class homewerk. they don't get much homewerk; like, they don't have problem sets or design projekts like engineering students do, u know? 1 thing 'bout midterms v. engineering hw is that 'least midterms r tortue w/in a finite 'mount'f time. w/ engineering skool, profs can be very insensitive 'bout ur time restriktions. prob sets, design projekts, lab assignments, they can all be sooo time.consuming. the thing 'bout engineering skool's that it's not just memorisation. some ppl i knew who studied biology in berkeley told me they were really disappointed in how much biology's just plain memorisation n' not much else. yah, in engineering skool, u often get to have notes or books during ur tests n' of course during ur takehome assignments; thus u'r not so much expekted to memorise equations, theorems, formulas, charts, etc.; but u r expekted to be able to come up w/ solutions that u may not have ever cn b4, u know? like, the prof might teach u ways to approach a prob, but when u get a new assignment or a prob on an exam, it's not gonna have a cookie.cutter answer based upon stuff u've cn b4. rather, u'r expekted to be able to... i dunno... deduce n' infer 'lot, u know? i guess, this all stems from the idea that engineering werks w/in a finitely bound, realistik world. if it didn't, profs could expekt u to memorise solutions to every single problem possible, but that's not realistik, u'r mind has finite capacity. thus rather than memorise solutions wurd 4 wurd, u've gotta be able to understand certain more basik concepts well 'nuff to devise a solution on the spot; n' there r often multiple solutions that r different yet all correkt, u know?
[later] just when u thought i was done talkin' 'bout politiks, lemme tell u that 2day's boondocks rocks: http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20041116/lbo041116.gif yah, boondocks n' foxtrot r kewl. neway, seriously, i think i am gonna chill n' refrain from talkin' 'bout politiks 4 a li'l while, since i'm not out to be hated by every1, u know? i'm sure i've offended ppl w/ things i've written, but *shrug* i've also been very offended w/ things i've heard ppl say, n' well... i think we all just need to chill, rt? @ our old church, the pastor sed we should not have this "where is the love?" attitude, but i totally disagree n' still disagree. i still believe "where is the love?" is a very good question. maybe i would like the world better if every1 agreed w/ me on all issues; but that's not realistik, n' as an engr, i've gotta werk w/in realistik bounds, as i always say. in that case, it's better we do need to set some guidelines 4 mutual respekt ahead'f pushing certain beliefs no matter how rt we all know we r.
this morn, i saw footage from iraq related to an amerikan soldier's killing an unarmed, injured iraqi rebel. war's war, they say; n' i dunno if i, if i were in that situation, would be courageous 'nuff not to fire n' kill the man on the ground who appears to be injured n' helpless but could be aktually fooling me. that was such a saving private ryan moment, huh? i mean, that footage really made us realise the realities'f war. i say that i don't know if i could've been courageous 'nuff to do the rt thing if i were in the shoes'f that particular u.s. soldier; but no matter how sword rattlin' we r, we should admit that the soldier committed a grave war crime. having friends who served in the military, i totally feel 4 the guy n' wouldn't ever rag on him that badly 4 what he did; but i'm just saying that we need to realise that that was a war crime. it's not that the soldier was so much a bad person 4 doing what he did, but that this war is bad. if i were still pushing my politiks, i'd say, "it's not that the soldier was so much a bad person 4 doing what he did, but that dubyah is."
[later] 오후: i went home 4 lunch. i fried 3 pieces'f spam; fried or grilled. i didn't use oil. i made 3 baby spam sandwiches. yesterday, @ albertsons, during lunch, i bought a whole wheat baguette or whatever u call that big ol' french bread loaf. it's not a skinny loaf like the baguettes i'm used to calling baguettes, but it's like what i guess u might be used to calling just "french bread." i cut 3 slices'f the bread, n' bisekted each slice to make 2 sides'f a sandwich. i put a slice'f fried/grilled spam in each sandwich w/ heinz tabasco kick'rs ketchup on 1 side n' albertsons yellow moutarde (mustard) on the other. as i cooked n' ate sooni stared @ me n' my fud. all i could tell her was, "yah, sorry; it really is as tasty as it smells! maybe better!" well, after i finished eating those sandwiches n' some red seedless grapes, i gave a li'l bit'f spam to sooni @ the bottom'f her fud dish full'f science diet oral care. our trainer dawna caldwell'f happy tails always sez there's nuthin' wrong w/ feeding ur doggy a li'l human fud, but what's most important is that u eat b4 ur dog does. that's true. while i ate i printed out a few pics on foto paper on kaela's 'puter n' printer. hrm, would it be more worth it to print pics @ costco or target i like pics, as i sed. i really do. i like to capture life, capture moments, dokument history. i'm no avid fotographer, as i sed; but, as i don't stop saying, i really like pics. the last time i printed out pics, i printed out this nice pic'f s.mike, phil, kaela's friend jennifer, kaela, n' me outside el torito grill in orange county. that's a nice pic, but i noticed 2day that as it was sitting on our coffee table, some envelope from some health insurance correspondence to kaela got stuck to the pic cos'f the adhesive on the envelope's flap. nuts, there's a big ol' paper blemish over phil's face now. *sigh* i guess the pics ruined now. i've gotta print out 'nother 1.
advertisers n' magazine writers r hyping up the fakt that many digicam users take so many pics w/o ever printing them. they're trying to get ppl to buy some new "easy.to.use" digipic printers. @ the same time other advertisers tout elektronic devices that display digipics so conveniently that u'll never need to print them out. hrm... they really want us to buy both, don't they? well, even tho' i don't feel i've got the funds to buy all those things, i hope u do; cos some1 needs to stoke the ekonomy, u know? after all, i am gonna do my part really soon whenever i buy my new pda/handheld. u know i'm still eyeing the palmone tungsten t5. seriously, pda/handhelds r good things! if u don't have 1, u should get 1! u know, it's crazy how nice, small, n' affordable digicams have gotten!
[later] oh yah, speaking'f pics, do u 'member how i sed that i bought a doggy pic frame from target but couldn't find it? i discussed this in yesterday's entry "praktice run to kadam n' kadam", 2004.11.15. last nite, i checked the receipt n' noticed that the ca$hier never rang it up, so i guess i, in effekt, did not buy it.
[later] this morn, b4 werk, i ate the last'f the uh... almond honey bunches'f oats cereal. i think i should buy some more cereal sometime, since i bought milk yesterday 4 cereal. i should've bought some baking potatoes yesterday. we have nonfat sour cream 4 potatoes but no potatoes. we also don't have chili 4 potatoes. it'd be nice to have baked potatoes w/ lowfat turkey chili, nonfat sour cream, nonfat cheddar cheese, n' green onions / 파
[later] lemme ask u, did that fluorescent colour trend i noticed back in feb'f this yr ever really take off? i think hot pink took off 4 women, but i dunno 'bout other flourescents.
[later] 1 potato, 2 potato, 3 potato, 4... i also wouldn't mind having potatoes to cook curry. it's funny; kaela n' i make curry w/ spam, but spam's already so salty by itself. we really ought to go back to making curry w/ chicken instead. we also use potatoes to make 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn. 1tym recently, kaela made 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn w/ spam. we usually make 짜장면 w/ ground turkey. u know, 1'f these days, i'd like to put some fresh shrimp into 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn. i'd like to cook my own 삼선 짜장 / samsuhn jjajang / 3 flavour black bean sauce. *sigh* cooking can be fun, but washing dishes is usually less fun. chores, chores, chores, u know?
while listening to random tekno track mp3s, i really miss djing. :-( dude, i'd really like to throw this amber "above the clouds" track into a mix. sure, the track sounds kind'f dated, very 2003, but i dunno... what is kewl/hot these days? what do the kids listen to these days? has tekno totally gone out? i don't think so. i'm sure some young adults still dig tekno. @ taekwondo praktices, ben puts on tekno. hrm, of course, tekno keeps evolving. teknorave from 1992 sure doesn't sound like teknorave from 2002 n' beyond, u know?
수요일 아침: i'm really not into the whole protein, atkins, or south beach diet fads. ppl can argue 4ever on both sides, i know. i just read a y! news health - reuters article that sed "Several recent studies have shown that while diets such as high-protein regimens can help weight loss, the effects are short-term." the article's "Want to Lose Weight? Eat More, Study Finds." personally, i don't really believe in protein diets but instead think that u should eat lots'f veggies, fruits, grains, protein, ... is it that i believe in the ol' "square meal" that was preached when i was a kid? or do i believe in the fud triangle that came out when i was in hi skool or so? *shrug* well, i was telling duk n' matt when the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were eating pho w/ them on sun afternoon, that i think if u just stick to asian fud, that's a pretty healthy diet. definitely, i believe in eating a variety'f fud, a li'l this a li'l that, a li'l organik fud, a li'l tire cleaner, a li'l fruit, a li'l bug spray, a li'l tofu, a li'l paint remover. ha ha ha, just kidding! >X-D
[a li'l later] 1 more y! news article... this 1's 'bout (animal) hunting by internet: "Texas Officials Wary of Plan to Hunt by Internet." personally, i find hunting to be an atrocious aktivity n' don't approve'f it. yah, yah, yah, i know sooni disagrees, but as long as she's in my household, she'll hafta live by my rules n' limit her hunting to bugs.
[later] so what's been up? yesterday eve, kaela n' i went to taekwondo praktice. man, lots'f ppl've been sick lately. i think kaela suggested that maybe it's cos'f the current shortage'f flu vaccine. *shrug* maybe so. we originally were gonna take 사빔님 sabuhmnim out 4 dinner 4 his b.day. however, he declined or 'least sed he had to go home n' sed we could do it on thurs. maybe he felt weird cos it was just us "young" folks n' none'f the older, more korean guys, u know? well, a grp'f us went off to pho hoa neway. kaela n' i dropped sooni off @ home, picked up a coupon, n' changed out'f our sweatty clothes which we wore under our 태권도복 taekwondobok. sooni looked very disappointed 'bout being left @ home, but she has to deal w/ that. i've read that the alpha male'f a pack decides who goes out hunting n' who stays in the den, etc. kaz, ben, ernest, duk, matt, kaela, n' i went to pho hoa. [quite a bit later] kaela n' i both had small #7s w/ "nonfat" broth (i dunno if i believe it.) n' steamed sprouts. we also both had a combo bean drink each. i like pho, but it often gives me a stomach ache. this morn, i woke up w/ a stomach ache. nuts.
well, i went jogging w/ sooni this morn. we prob'ly only jogged 0.5 miles @ most. i think 2nite i'll take her 4 a longer jog. as i was telling kaela yesterday, i'm getting nervous 'bout sneaking sooni into the 5k run. now, it doesn't look like as casual'f an event as i thought. :-/ *shrug* i think it'd be best if kaela was there to take sooni home if necessary. then 'gain, 'member how i was scared to bring sooni n' kaela to the company picnic but then saw that other guys had snuck in their wives n' 1 dude snuck in his doggy? *sigh* what to do?
during lunch 2day, i went to costco. i dunno what i was looking 4 really, besides cereal. i guess i wanted to buy some baking potatoes, but of course they only sell jumbo jumbo bags that u'd use to feed elephants / 코끼리들. the costco baking potatoes were huge tho', perfekt 4 stuffed baked potatoes à la spud bruthas, u know? is spud brothers still 'round in berkeley? what did i buy then? well, i browsed 'round. the past few times that i've been to costco i surely did not have the luxury'f browsing 'round. 'member? the past 3 costco trips: 1) i hired those arabian cheech n' chong guys to fix the dent in my car, 2) i met up w/ kaela n' her friend rachel after they'd finished most'f their shopping, n' 3) i quickly grabbed some oreinji jyooseu n' grapes when i went to pick up kaela's contakt lenses n' rachel's pics. 2day, i got to notice how much good stuff costco does have. often, it cms like they have all sorts'f garbage that bourgeois amerikans ogle over just to find out all their neighbours have the same stuf as them, u know? [a li'l later] imagine having the same furniture, same lawn dekorations, same bathroom accessories, clothing, n' tires as ur neighbours n' eating all the same fud as them 2. i think i've sed b4 that having costco tell u what to eat sure is 'lot more convenient than thinking 4 urself, rt? well, 2day, i noticed some kewl things here n' there. 4 instance, they have a ceiling mounted digital dimming flourescent lite. should we replace the ceiling.mounted lite fixture in our master bdrm w/ this 1? it ain't 2 expen$ive @ ~$25. sometimes i wonder if we should replace the floodlite in the backyard w/ a motion detekting 1 (~$16.79), so that if sooni's out in the backyard in the evening, she can have lite if she wants it, rt? *shrug* what else did i c? well, i saw some kewl fuds, 'specially in the frzn entrée sektion. i had a few free fud samples: some paradise valley mashed instant mashed potatoes n' some 너구리 nuhgoori/neoguri (raccoon) 김치 라면 kimchi ramyuhn, some ziegler's apple cidre/cider. honestly, i was tempted to buy some'f the 너구리 김치 라면 nuhgoori kimchi ramyuhn cos it tasted so good. i know that stuff's so bad 4 me tho' n' have thus resisted it so many times @ korean markets, rt? i dunno, man. w/ kaela studying so many late nites, leaving me to eat by myself, u know i've been opting 4 more "convenient" fuds these days, rt? un4tunately, oftentimes convenience comes @ the expen$e'f healthfulness. (is "healthfulness" the proper term here? i 'member always learning that "healthful" refers to environment, but does it also apply to fud?) well, what did i buy? some centrum per4mance vitamins, some 99% fat free chicken chili (a 6.pack'f cans), 3 lbs'f foster farm turkey cold cuts, a 2pac'f total w/ strawberries [later] 924p: 지금 형수님은 열아홉을 봐요. rt now, i'm watching hyuhngsoonimeun yuhlahob. after werk, i went home, picked up sooni n' went to the mercado strip mall to run the 5k course we're running on fri morn, which covers an area'f mission college n' then the back parking lot'f the mercado, behind the movie theatre et al. u wanna hear 'bout sumpthin' kewl? well, while running by mission college, i noticed these signs that sed "caution" n' had a pic'f a burdy on it. while running back to the car, we passed 1'f these signs, then i saw a burdy just like the pic sittin' on the fence rt under the sign!!! 'twas so kewl. it looked so beautiful! i looked more closely @ the sign: "caution - western burrowing owl area." ah, so that's what that burdy was. yah, i saw it rotate its head the way owls do. it was smaller than i'd expekt owls to be. it was such a beautiful sight!!! wow! neway, i ran w/ sooni back to my car, picked up my things n' backpack, n' took sooni 4 a short walk 'round mercado, where i could sit down @ a table outside'f jamba juice, ponder if i should shell out $$$ to buy a smoothie, decide not to, pour some h2o into sooni's portable h2o dish, n' then drink some h2o 4 myself. this run 'round the aktual race course was easier than mon nite's praktice run to kadam n' kadam. i guess i ran more than 3.1 miles that nite. that nite, i was wearing a backpack. 2nite, i wasn't.
well, instead'f wasting $$$ on a jamba juice or a scoop'f ben & jerry's or a 2x2 @ in.n.out, i came home n' cooked some 우동 oodong. man, whenever i cook 우동 oodong, i add so much stuff to it, so it's waaay 2 filling. *sigh* i can't finish all this fud. oh yah, while waiting 4 my 우동 oodong to cook, i did> eat sumpthin' like 3 slices'f lunchmeat, huh? *sigh* this is way 2 much sodium!!! no good! neway, what did i add to the 우동 oodong? well, 4 starters, 'twas 미역 우동 miyuhk oodong, so it had seaweed in the aktual noodle dough. u know what i added to it tho'? 1st, i added some wontons. kaela bought these from 99 ranch a while 'go. the package calls them shepherds' purses or sumpthin' like that. crazy, huh? pretty good stuff... then i added a coupl'f round 오댕 odaeng (fried fishcake). then i added some very, very, old shrooms 버섯 buhsuht, some 양배추 / yangbaechoo / cabbage, some 파 / pa / green onions, some 고추장 / gochoojang / red pepper paste, n' a jumbo egg. argh, that was 2 much! i always try to be so gourmet when cooking otherwise mundane things, eh? i really overloaded it. i think 'twas 'nuff fud 4 2 ppl!!! *sigh* why did i try to eat it all. i couldn't finish, so there's leftovers.
well, kaela's of course still out, studying. she does that rather often; so, yah, that's why i eat 'lone n' cook like this, u know? u know, i've gotta go out sometime n' get kaela a new stomp pad to replace her snowflake stomp pad that fell off. :-/ last wk, my cowerkers n' i stopped by winter sport aka winter sport warehouse near lafayette off'f 101 to pick up a whole mess'f coupons that got us lift tix @ sierra@tahoe 4 $40 a piece. we can also use them @ northstar, but northstar wasn't open yet last wknd. i believe it opens t.giving wknd.
man, my stomach's so full'f fud @ this moment! why did i eat all that? :-/ maybe i eat 2 much these days. it's a good thing i'm jogging so much cos i'm eating waaay 2 much!
[later] 1133p: a li'l while 'go, ernest stopped by to return our camcorder n' chat. kaela came home while he was here. 2morrow's thurs. i don't plan on sparring 2morrow nite, in order to ensure i'll be ok to run on fri morn n' perhaps board on sat. 금요일 늦은아침: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 16th wedding anniversary. i'll take her out 2nite. we'll skip our wkly t3s grx bible study. i already let them know via my response to the evite. i guess i have plans to take her out to a nice dinner. i can go 'head n' say where i'm taking her cos i won't post up this entry till afterwards. also, sadly, kaela doesn't read my journal these days neway. :-( i'm taking her 'gain to 7 restaurant. sometimes it cms like we always go to a new restaurant each time we go out, but some restaurants r just really worth revisiting, u know? i s'ppose i'd prefer to spell it se7en cos'f the recently popular korean 가수 gasoo; just like how i juvenilely spell "one time" "1tym."
[li'l later] so we'll go out 2nite. 2morrow, maybe we'll go snowboarding, but as i look @ the resort conditions, i'm getting discouraged. the snow just doesn't sound very good right now. this was 1 disappointing start'f the season only cos we had big storms back in oktober, n' now it's sunny. if only the resorts went 'head n' opened fully back in oktober, u know? those prob'ly would've been some good days on the slopes. i mean, i know a few'f the resorts opened in mid.okt, n' that's kewl; but i know they only opened a coupl'f lifts each. *sigh* man, i dunno; these days in norcal, it's not 2 warm; it's rather chilly n' brisk n' sometimes foggy; but we don't get 'nuff precipitation! from now till june, i hope it rains every single day during the werkwk n' then's sunny every single sat. :-) i don't mind if it rains kitties n' doggies on sun (n' thus blizzards in tahoe) on suns, since i can't board on suns nemore cos'f church. kaela n' i used to board 'lot on suns when we weren't going to church during the 2001-2002 n' 2002-2004 seasons, but as'f last season, we stopped doing that, u know? i've always heard that northstar has a christian sun worship service on the slopes, but hrm... i know i've tried to go b4, but i'm not 100% i've ever been to it. if kaela n' i don't snowboard 2morrow, we'll get lots'f other things done, i s'ppose. well, i dunno 'bout kaela; by default she studies whenever she's not doing nething else; but me? i'll do housechores. 4 sun's grx t.giving luncheon, each t3s couple's s'pposed to roast a turkey. i'll try to pick up a frozen turkey this afternoon n' defrost it. then we can roast it on sun morn. church this sun starts @ 1230p cos many ppl'll be off on the young adults' retreat. i hope duk n' matt come w/ us 'gain.
[later] 오후: this morn, b4 i started writing, i did the 5k run. kaela brought sooni n 'handed her off to me. sooni only ran the last 2 laps w/ me. the 1st 2 laps were long ('round the mission college sports fields n' the mercado parking lot), the 2nd 2 laps were short laps (just 'round this 1 mission college bldg). 토요일 아침 827a: 안녕하세요. 어떠세요? how r u? well, we're not in tahoe, nor r we on the road to tahoe. i figured that tahoe just doesn't have 'nuff snow yet. altho' i'd like to rack up a big number'f total days on the slopes 'gain this yr like 2 yrs 'go, i realise now that in the past i prob'ly made some unwise decisions in insisting on going to tahoe even when the conditions were very much not worth it, u know? *shrug* i dunno; i mean, i do wanna be the best snowboarder possible. ever since i started doing bs3s (backside 360s) on a regular basis, i've sort'f hit a plateau, in a way. what's up w/ my current reluktance to ride rails? u know? i've gotta literally hop back onto those rails. i should try doing some grabs w/ my 360s. more importantly, i need to get bigger air in gen'l. lately, even tho' i'm more skilled, more experience, wear a helmet, n' now have decent health insurance; i've been more'f a chicken, i've admitted. well, i'm glad i don't get hurt; i don't wanna get hurt. however, i s'ppose i should push myself a li'l more now n' then. neway, most'f the resorts r open now, but they're open like 25% @ best. i'm really disappointed in that. this yr's early season has been a real disappointment, only cos the big oktober storms really got our hopes up! >:-( *sigh* yah, it's no good. :-(
well, last nite, i took the beautiful kaela hwang to se7en, where we had a baby spinach w/ baked brie, bacon, n' shrooms; a crabcake w/ mango; some skatefish w/ sumpthin' sumpthin' frisée; some short ribs w/ some kind'f potatoes n' sprouts; n' a chocoraspberry soufflé. oh yah, we each had a couple'f cocktails (kaela: some kind'f berry limondrop n' blended laughing monkey; beno: maxim (a champagne cocktail) n' a "se7en cocktail")n' then kaela had some tropikal green tea, n' i had a single espresso. the dinner started out really lousy cos we were seated next to this annoying, annoying table'f 6, where a couple'f middle.age or older men were sitting w/ these 4 ladies including some really loud, loud bimbos, that had the most annoying laffs! >:-( when i made the reservation, i specifically told them to give us a table good 4 a couple on a date. i usually ask 4 that. however, man, this party'f 6 was awful. maybe they were drunk. i dunno. i wasn't sure if maybe some'f the bimbos were rich n' used to getting their ways or sumpthin'? they were sooo annoying, n' kaela n' i couldn't hear ourselves talk. i went up to the maitre d / hostess n' complained. i dunno; i didn't mean to sound 2 pi$$ed off, but i wanted them to know i meant bizness. they let us move to 'nother table. kaela sed 1'f the men, while we were sitting there, looked over w/ a sympathetic look, like "man, i'm sorry these bimbos r so loud; i really am." i dunno what to say 'bout that situation cos 1) i s'ppose ppl have a right to go out to a nice dinner, relax, n' unwind w/ friends; but 2) they sure don't need to be that annoying n' inconsiderate; @ the same time 3) is it the restaurant's fault that we were uncom4table? if the restaurant had been less responsible, they would've told me to confront the other party, but that's honestly inappropriate, cos i do believe they have a right to have fun, n' that the restaurant as a bizness i pay to serve me should know better than to seat a couple on a romantik date next to a loud party, 'specially when i specifically told them what kind'f party'f 2 to expekt. well, i'm glad they moved us, n' i tipped them well 4 it.
after dinner, kaela n' i swung by the homestead n' kiely safeway to pick up a $5.69(?) turkey to roast 4 grx's t.giving luncheon 2morrow. i s'ppose this turkey roasting'll be a praktice run 4 thurs's, u know? man... *sigh* i've got 'lot'f werk to do by thurs: 1) clean the house (which is an unbelievably daunting but necessarily task), 2) set the menu, 3) ... well, 1) n' 2) r seriously bad 'nuff. yah, i s'ppose all this t.giving biz is 'nother major reason we're not on the slopes 2day.
yesterday, i had that 5k run, where kaela helped me "sneak in" sooni. i was so worried that they wouldn't let sooni onto the racecourse. in the morn, i left the house late cos i wanted to make sure b4 i left that kaela was ready to drive over w/ sooni. i got to the race a li'l late. as i was walking up to the start line n' doing my express check.in (cos i picked up my race nombre on thurs morn), i heard the gunshot 4 the beginning'f the race. it took me a while to get my nombre safety pinned on etc. well, i started off sort'f walking n' started chatting w/ my pregnant cowerker. she asked if i was gonna walk the whole thing as she was, but i had no intention'f doing that n' sed it'd be 2 cold not running a li'l, n' i meant that. it was very brisk! when, i did my praktice run on the racecourse on wed nite, it wasn't this cold. the chilly weather does add a faktor to the difficulty'f the race, even tho' the race @ only 5k'f length was not very difficult. i called kaela a few times to get updates on where she was. she took a while to get out'f the house, so i agreed to finish 1 lap b4 she got there. then, i expekted to meet her 0.5way thru the 2nd lap in the mercado parking lot. however, instead, she brought sooni to the starting line, so i had to go 'head n' finish the 2nd lap b4 picking up sooni. as i sed, the last 2 laps were really short laps, just 'round this 1 bldg or so. thus, sooni ran w/ me on the 2 short last laps. kaela got some camcorder video footage'f us. then she took off to class, n' i hung out w/ my cowerkers 4 a li'l n' ate a muffin n' drank some h2o n' apple juice. then i went home to clean up n' get dressed.
@ lunch, my werk had this fud fund or fud fun fest. i heard it called both things. neway, it was a fundraiser event 4 2nd harvest fud bank, just like the 5k fun run was. 4 $5, i bought a burrito, rice, beans, chips, n' salsa. i watched ppl play some games such as a tug.o.war tournament, a dunk tank, pie throwing, this car smashing thing... then i had to leave 4 my doktor's apptmnt, a physikal checkup. it was @ the kaiser hospital here in santa clara. my primary care physician is milton chan, d.o. a d.o. is a osteopathic doktor. i guess i was pretty curious 'bout having some1 other than an m.d. as my pcp. neway, he's a pretty young guy. i can't imagine that he's much older than me if @ all. he told me i'm in fine shape n' that i shouldn't worry 'bout coming in 4 annual checkups yet, that i should just come in every 2 yrs. i'm not a hypochondriac, so i'm fine w/ hearing that. he asked me 'bout my diet, n' i mentioned that i'm eating way 2 much packaged fud these days. he told me to watch out 4 that, n' i guess i'm glad that i heard that from some1, u know? it's not like i'm superglad that i spent a $10 deduktible just to hear some1 say sumpthin' i already knew, but it does help to have some1 say it, u know; ha ha. while talkin' 'bout my ill packaged fud habit, i mentioned that kaela's in chiropraktic skool, n' i guess i was a li'l surprised that he didn't know that this area has palmer college of chiropractic west (1'f the top chiropraktic skools) nor the length'f chiropraktic skool. *shrug* i mean, i guess i was even more surprised later when i confirmed w/ kaela that "d.o." meant doktor'f osteopathy or osteopathik doktor, since osteopathy is a li'l similar to chiropraktic, n' so... *shrug* neway! this guy's a good guy, so *shrug* i guess he might just be not from 'round here originally, so... *shrug* i'll let that go, etc. i hafta go back to the hospital some time get my lab tests done. i originally thought i was gonna do them yesterday @ the apptmnt, but it makes sense that i didn't.
well, what'm i gonna do 2day? *sigh* many wknd days r like this. i start out w/ so many wonderful options, but as the day progresses, i find that i waste time. :-( 일요일 아침 901a: apparently, berkeley massacred stanfurd 41:6 in the big game yesterday. wow! cal... 월요일 아침: target [later] so yesterday was the grx t.giving party/lunch. duk n' rachel came w/ us. kaela n' i roasted a turkey, 1'f ~20 turkeys that i guess other couples from couples small grps brought. i did like ours. we combined several techniques that we read 'bout or saw on tv. this turkey was a praktice run 4 thurs's. there was lots'f good fud. i really like our church, n' i wish i could do more w/ them; but i definitely wanna participate in church events 'long w/ kaela cos well... i dunno, several reasons. i just don't wanna go to church events by myself since we're a married couple. 4 me, church is definitely sumpthin' kaela n' i should do 2gether. however, i know she's always bizzy w/ her skoolstuff now, so... *shrug* oh well... i really don't want ppl @ church to think i'm purposely not socialising w/ them n' not attending more events etc. i dunno... it was kind'f weird that we didn't really get to talk much w/ ppl from our small grp yesterday, didn't really c them last sun (cos they tend to go to the late service not the early service like us), n' skipped bible study / small grp on fri nite 4 our montheversary festivity @ se7en. i hope they don't think we're purposely avoiding them. these past 2 wks, we've brought duk, n' i'm really hoping he decides to come to grx on a regular basis. he's a rather spiritually mature guy, imho; but i know the amt'f time he can spend @ church is sort'f limited. 'least that's what i gathered from his church habits when we were all @ our ol' church. i know he's a good, spiritual, righteous guy. i think his brutha who's a missionary influences him 2. i was telling duk n' matthew (who also visited last wk) that i felt a li'l bad cos they really should get to know more'f the young, single ppl, yet kaela n' i tend to hang more w/ the married couples. it's kind'f awkward; but maybe only if i think it is.
[later] man, i just found a recipe on epicurious.com that looks "hella good": tamarind-honey lamb kebabs on mashed yams mmm mmm mmmmmm!
yesterday's sermon/msg was 'bout t.giving. pastor dave n' pastor bobby thanked all the volunteers @ the church. pastor dave talked 'bout not underestimating how god can use each n' every 1'f us. he told us not to feel unworthy cos'f past sins n' not to feel incapable cos'f inexperience, that god sometimes uses us in ways we'd never expekt n'd never expekt possible. the service was huge cos we combined the 915a n' 1115a services into 1, huge 1230p service.
after church; duk went to study, n' rachel came over to our house. we planned to hit up the gym 2gether cos rachel had a 3.day bally's trial membership. we had to sit n' digest 4 a li'l while tho'. kaela took sooni 4 a walk. some dog escaped from its yard n' got in a fight w/ sooni. oh yah! i didn't talk 'bout sat...
well, this isn't chronological, but... on sat, after cleaning up the house, kaela n' i brought sooni to vasona lake park in los gatos upon dawna's instruktion. on our way, we stopped by 한국 마켓 hangook market in sunnyvale on el camino real to pick up some "picnic" fud n' some 현미 쌀 / brown rice. kaela went in, while i watched after sooni n' took her 4 a short walk. kaela picked up some 김밥/gimbap, 순대/soondae, 빈대떡/bindaedduhk, n' 옥수수빵/oksoosoobbang as well as some beverages. hey, can u believe there's an 옥수수빵.kr website? yah, ever since they started giving out hangeul domain names, u can have stuff like that. i could be www.비노믹스.com, but no1'd use that url. after all, how many ppl aktually use benomix.com to get here?! neway, so we went to vasona on sat afternoon. the sun sets so early now, but we milked it 4 every last drop on sat, i s'ppose. it took us so much longer to get out'f the house than we had hoped 4, of course. we really needed to tidy up the house since t.giving's coming up on thurs. we walked 'round the park. it was cold 'cept 4 the sinking sun. even tho' i hate being in the cancerous sun, its radiation sure was warming us up. we sat on the top'f the dyke (i guess that's what u call it. *shrug*) n' discussed what we'd cook on thurs. we brought sooni there cos dawna sez vasona has lots'f doggies; n', as u know, our main task w/ her is to get her exposed to other doggies n' teach her to deal w/ it. we passed by a few other doggies, n' sooni was relatively good. she still had the urge to pick fights or whatever now n' then; but, in gen'l, she's great. after vasona, kaela n' i brought her to pet fud express 4 a bath. we also got her a santa hat n' some treats.
ah, 4 dinner, kaela cooked some amazing 찌개 jjigae. she never knows how much i love it when she cooks this kind'f korean fud. we had such good rice 2 cos she mixed in all these beans n' grains n' stuff. we watched a coupl'f episodes'f 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn online. it's a very exciting drama.
well, back to the future or 'least back to not so much in the past; i.e. back to sun. so rachel, kaela, n' i changed into gym clothes, n' i drove us to the hamilton bally total fitness. they rejekted rachel tho' cos they sed she already did a trial membership w/ them n' wasn't eligble to come in. they were so "anal," 'bout it. (it's so funny how the wurd "anal"'s seeped into basik, amerikan english vocab; when it's really a rather vulgar wurd, 'specially since ppl don't even say "anal retentive" now, just "anal.") instead, we went to the east san jo, aborn square / captiol expwy bally total fitness. kaela n' i hadn't been to that lokation in ages! it is the nicer san jo lokation, but it's just no longer convenient 4 us. we werked out 4 a while n' then went to pho bang, where rachel's roommate kendra met us. kendra's also a student @ palmer w/ the rest'f them. to our surprise we spent 1.5 hrs @ that li'l restaurant. even tho' kaela n' i live here in the silly valley; matt, who just moved here from castro valley, aktually just introduced us to this restaurant last wk. it's really funny. it's interesting when these young kids show they aktually know some pretty good stuff, such as where to get good fud, etc. i admit: i often underestimate youngsters. 화요일 늦은 아침: it's the tues b4 t.giving. last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went grocery shopping @ safeway@rivermark. kaela likes that lokation cos it's a li'l fancier than the other safeways in more traditionally suburban neighbourhoods. rivermark is not a traditionally suburban neighbourhood but rather a new urbanist kommunity. their slogan is sumpthin' like: "the homes aren't cookie cutter and neither are your neighbors." sumpthin' like that... i $pent 'lot on groceries. we're trying to cook some creative stuff. my sister, when she cooks, she cooks really creative stuff. i don't wanna disappoint her by just making really mundane stuff, u know? our turkey on sun turned out well, i think. kaela sed the breast portion turned out a li'l dry, but i didn't have ne meat from the breast, just a li'l from the wing. last nite, kaela n' i didn't really eat a proper dinner. after werk, i wanted to hit the company gym but realised that i'd 4gotten my shoes, so i went home. i watched an episode'f 오! 핖승 봉순영 / oh! pilseung bong soonyoung n' then took sooni 4 a short jog. i wasn't sure whether to eat or not cos kaela wasn't home yet. 4 1nce she wasn't off studying but instead went to fremont to check on a rental property that she's managing n' also stopped by tri.city. rt b4 kaela came home, i started cutting some old asparagus to make pasta. when kaela got home she pted out that we had no pasta sauce. *sigh* i didn't know that. a while 'go, she had her classmates over to study, n' she cooked them pasta. i was off w/ sooni @ duk's petco from my werk, i have a pass to enter the san josé downtown ice rink 4 free n' let 1 guest in 4 0.5 price. it's valid from nov 24 till jan 17. i should take kaela ice skating asap.
[later] 오후: i had a lunchtime mtg n' a morn mtg. i'm gonna have 2 back2back afternoon mtgs. it's a day full'f mtgs! in fakt, i was s'pposed to squeeze in 1 more mtg this morn, but that was impossible. bizzy, bizzy! b4 my lunchtime mtg, tho', i went home. i took sooni 4 a short walk n' microwaved a lean cuisine thai chicken frzn dinner to go. during my lunch mtg, i ate that n' a gigantik/ginormous fuji apple. i also had a lemon snapple tea. i let sooni eat her leftovers from her dinner last nite, while i was home. i didn't want her to feel that she's always starving cos we neglekt her, u know? well, on thurs, she'll be sooo happy! there'll be sooo many ppl @ our house to play w/ her, n' that'll make her very happy. i know she'll be wagging her tail. :-)
did i mention that yesterday i bought some folding chairs from costco? i think i did. i bought 4'f 'em, when i went there during lunch. man, there's sumpthin' else i wanted to tell u but kept 4getting. :-? i know i 4got to mention that on fri nite, after our monthversary dinner, kaela n' i watched a dvd i bought a long time 'go from a seller on ebay. the movie was 내 여자친구를 소개합니다 / nae yuhjachingooleul sogaehabnida / windstruck. it's kind'f a romantik comedy, starring 전지현 juhn jihyun who is superfamous cos'f her role in 엽기적인 그녀 / that gurl who's strange / my sassy gurl alongside 차태현 cha taehyun, who's also stars in the mbc drama 황태자의 첫사랑 / hwangtaejauy chuhtsarang / the 1st love'f the crown prince w/ 성유리 sung yuri'f 핑클 fin.k.l. muzik fame. 내 여자친구를 소개합니다 nae yuhjachingooreul sogaehabnida is a cute, li'l movie. the english title'f windstruck aktually makes more sense. usually, i don't like translated title, but this 1 aktually is better. erm... 'cept it sort'f gives 'way 2 much'f the ending, i've gotta admit. i s'ppose that's why the original korean title translates to "i'm introducing my gurlfriend, "let me introduce my gurlfriend," or "meet my gurlfriend," etc. 전지현 juhn jihyun cms to have gotten herself into sort'f a typecast as being the cutely, tuff, tomboyish gurl, huh? then 'gain, what was her role in 시월애 / shiwuhlae / il mare like? well, aktually, 시월애 / shiwuhlae is sooo overshadowed in her filmography by 엽기 적인 그녀/ yuhbgijuhkin geunyuh / my sassy gurl, which made a whole generation'f asian.am boys fall in love w/ korean women. just think 'bout the millions n' millions'f asian.am boys who, after watching my sassy gurl declared that they wanted to marry korean gurls!
[later] 저녁 701p: a few hrs 'go, i 'membered what i wanted to talk 'bout here but kept 4getting. we got a new toilet in our main/hallway bathrm!!! it's an awesome toilet. the home warranty company took care'f it. not bad. it has 2 flush modes, in order to save h2o: u can pull/push up to do a "partial flush," so u don't use 2 much h2o, or u can push down to do a full flush when u uh... u know... after u've been sittin' on the seat 4 a while n' all. it's pretty kewl. well, yesterday, i came home in the evening to werk@home while the plumbing technician ron installed our new toilet. aktually, it's just a new toilet tank; the bowl's still the same. neway, after he finished, i left sooni @ home n' went back to my office.
well, it's 703p. we'll be going to taekwondo praktice 2nite, but kaela's still not home from skool. i hate being late, but it looks like we'll be late 'gain. :-( after werk 2nite, i went to costco to buy a plsatic folding table to accommodate all 8'f us 4 t.giving dinner on thurs. oh, i also bought a cheesecake faktory pumpkin cheesecake. costco... yah, there's stuff there. *sigh* these shopping trips r always dangerous cos it's easy 4 me to convince myself i'm just doing a chore but then end up $pending all sorts'f $$$ i shouldn't $pend. yah, i've gotta think 'bout how i can save $$$ all the time, u know? i used to be more frugal. well, i haven't bought ne clothes in a long time, so that's 1 way i'm saving $$$. it's not 'nuff, but i hope it's a start. as u can c, i still haven't bought that palmone tungsten t5 pda/handheld. however, i do plan to... someday. u know, b4 i shell out all that $$$ 4 it, tho', i wanna make sure diotek hangeul font stuff werks on it cos i know it's a new version'f palm os n' that that makes a big diff. :-/ 수요일 늦은 아침: a couple'f yrs 'go, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i saw on tv a show that declared diestel farm turkeys r the best turkeys. i guess i'm on a mission 2day to find a diestel farm turkey, if possible. they're apparently sold @ consentino's, lunardi's, n' whole fuds.
i had a li'l bit'f a hard time waking up this morning, but i dunno why. maybe i didn't sleep well. that must be it. last nite, we went to taekwondo praktice. i didn't exercise or praktice much but mostly held paddles 4 the color belts. afterwards, a grp'f us went to eat dinner @ 길목 / gilmok / corner place, rt by our house. the owners there love sooni n' say they have their own jindo, as i've toldju b4. it was duk, ernest, joyce, kaela, n' me. what did we order? 불고기, 육계장, 해물파전, 닭또리탕... boolgogi, yookgyeijang, haemool pajuhn, n' dalkddoritang... it was such good fud! *sigh*
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went out to the santa clara consentino's on homestead rd by lawrence expwy to buy our beautiful, delicious diestel turkey ranch turkey. i wasn't sure how big'f 1 to get n' was just nervous 'nuff that the butchershop dude'd tell me sumpthin' like "u needed to have pre.ordered those a wk 'go!" while waiting 4 my #28 to be called as the display sat @ #26, i noticed that consentino's sells both the whole turduckhen 4 ~$70 or the turduckhen roast (w/ sausage stuffed inside the hen) 4 ~$26. wow! neway, when i talked to the butchershop dude, i asked if i could still get a turkey. he sed yes n' asked me what size. i asked him what sizes were left. he told me sumpthin' like 12, 14, n' 16... 2 the spur'f the moment, unsure'f what to say, i sed, "14." however, he checked his clipboard n' sed that they were aktually out'f 14. then he sed sumpthin' that confused me, n' i told him just to give me the smallest they had, n' then he sed sumpthin' else that confused me... sumpthin' like "12, 14." thus, i thought he did have a 14 lber, but i think what he was saying was that it was a "12.14-lb" turkey. well, i got a 12.14-lb turkey, i think. otherwise, it's a 12.4-lb turkey, a ~12-lb diestel turkey ranch turkey. it was freeeaaakin' expen$ive. consider this: the ~16-lb manor house frozen turkey we bought from safeway 4 the grx church t.giving lunch co$t me $5.69. this 1? it co$t me like $25!!! <:-o i could've gotten a foster farm fresh turkey from costco 4 79¢ per lb. crazy crazy! i cm to be goin' frickin' all out w/ this turkey day thingy, eh? *sigh* well, i also bought some parsnips n' italian parsley. while @ this supercrowded cosentino's, i realised sumpthin' important: in santa clara, korean ppl go to 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market to get korean fud, n' rich white ppl go to cosentino's to get rich white ppl fud. seriously, i hadn't cn such a white kommunity since i stopped werking in marin county. it reminded me'f trader joe's in san rafael cos lots'f ol' aristocratik white women think it's their birthrt to push their shopping carts 'round the produce sektion w/o ne regard to where other ppl r standing n' stuff.
[later] cosentino's is closed 2morrow, but i wonder if other grocery stores or supermarkets r @ least open 4 a li'l; i'm sure they r. man, it was a bizzy lunchtime, n' i didn't take sooni 4 a lunchtime walk. instead, i ate a microwave trader joe's chicken burrito n' started brining the turkey. 일요일 오후 452p: thurs was t.givinggiving we nite, we spent some time preparing t.givinggiving fud. some things but not all things; we could prepare some things ahead'f time, u know? not all things... uhm, we stayed up pretty late preparing fud.
thurs morn, we woke up. we went to the gym w/ kaela's classmate friend rachel. we went to the east san jo / capitol expwy / aborn square bally total fitness. when i went to the locker room, i discovered i lost my master lock combo lock that i recently bought! argh! i liked that combo; it was easy to 'member! i went downstairs n' bought a new master lock combo lock 4 a ripoff price, as u'd expekt. the combo's not as good. :-( i lifted weights, but i had an embarrassing episode when i started my 2nd bench press set, i didn't rest long 'nuff. *sigh* when i got to nombre nine, i didn't reach the safety hook thingy n' stoopidly didn't give that extra emergency boost to push the bar to the safety hook thingy. i ended up w/ the bar on my chest, stuck. i had to call out, "uh, can u give me a hand?" 1 older man ignored me, but luckily a younger dude helped me out rt 'way. i know i couldn't have died from that mishap, but i think i could've gotten hurt; thus i'm very thankful 4 that dude who helped me out so readily, u know? well, we had our gym werkout n' went home. we cooked. we cooked all day, cooked n' cleaned. kaela did most'f the cooking. i thought i was gonna do more cooking, n' i admit i was wrong.
[later] thurs's t.givinggiving dinner menu:
well, originally, i totally expekted that the guests would include my mom, duk kyung, julie, my sister grace, our bro.in.law steve, our nephew mason... w/ kaela n' me, that'd be 8 ppl. thus, i bought those 4 nice folding chairs n' folding table from costco. well, the day b4, julie left me a msg that she was 'pparently going to reno w/ her cousins. then, when my mom showed up on thurs eve, i found out that grace, steve, n' mason were in socal. i had no idea. our table shrank from 8 to 4; it was cut in 0.5. i was very surprised. well, we had a great dinner, n' sooni was very happy to get some scraps. funny, my mom's watching sbs's all in dubbed into chinese on ktsf ch26. kaela n' i never watched that drama. it's a li'l older than when we started watching kdramas (korean dramas) on a regular basis, u know? it takes a while 4 kdramas to get translated/dubbed from korean into mandarin, cantonese, n' japanese. my mom explained the show to us. un4tunately, i couldn't get the tv to do sap (stereo alternate programming) to get mandarin instead'f cantonese, but my mom could still read the chinese subtitles. later, we explained to my mom n' duk what sbs's magic's 'bout. it's crazy that magic's 'bout to end. is 형수님의 열아홉 / hyungsoonimeun yuhlahob also 'bout to end? :-/ i 4get, but i think kbs's english subtitled rerun'f 상두야, 학교가자! / sangdooya, hakkyogaja! is 'bout to end. *breath* yah, it's crazy; so many good kdramas, no doubt! *sigh* it's crazy to think that we didn't used to watch kdramas. we're so into them now. i totally wanna watch kbs's 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn; but kaela n' i r so behind n' can't catch up to the episode that's currently airing. i'm trying to get us caught up by watching the old episodes online, but it's hard to catch up. every time i catch a glimpse'f the current episodes, i realise that the show's getting more n' more n' more exciting, such that no 1 should be able to stand not watching it! it's so awesome. i guess while cooking on wed, we watched some'f that show, didn't we? or hrm... were we watching old episodes'f kbs's 오! 필승 봉순영 / oh! pilseung bongsoonyuhng? i 4get... or both? neway!!! i gotta get back to talkin' 'bout this past wknd.
on fri, we woke up in the morn as duk kyung returned to our house. duk kyung walked sooni while kaela n' i got ready n' then drove us to valley fair mall, where we shopped the whole day. we got there 'bout 800a, when we originally planned to be there @ 600a. ... [unfinished entry] 월요일 아침: i didn't finish my entry yesterday. i 4get why. maybe 'twas cos i started watching tv, or else i went to shower n' then sleep; i 4get. i managed to summarise the whole t.giving wknd but failed to finish the details. i like to give lots'f details, as u know. hrm, i almost wrote "i like to give lots'f details of course," but i'm trying to minimise the use'f "of course" in my daily vocab cos i realise that i use it in a very demeaning way much 2 often. do u know what i mean? i've realised 4 a long time now that i tend to belittle ppl in a way by telling them that they ought to know this or that even when it's not sumpthin' obvious. 1 example's from when i used to give jeff kao rides to/fro werk in sf every single day. after driving him 4 several wks or months, i guess he asked why it always stinks when u get off the bay bridge on the oakland side. i told him sumpthin' like 'of course it's cos'f the waste water treatment plant.' uhm, i don't think i sed nething like 'of course it's cos'f the waste water treatment plant, u stoopid, ignorant, dumb$#!+ #@*% #@*%! u don't deserve to live!' no, i sure hope i didn't. however, i do 'member that jeff responded, "well, how would i know that? i didn't werk 4 the water company." since he knew that i used to werk 4 ebmud (the h2o company), i felt he was a li'l offended by the way i phrased my answer to his question. i know; i've gotta watch it. i'm trying not to say "of course" or "u know that!" or stuff like that. i think my dad sometimes used to say stuff like that to me n' maybe that's where i picked up this bad habit; but that's no excuse.
[a li'l later, after taking a survey @ www.chilis-survey.com 'bout our visit to chili's in vacaville on our way home from squaw on sat] i need to buy a few things: 1) replacement razor thingies 4 my norelco 4807xl shaver (hopefully, i'll find a better price than target [a li'l later] this morn, on the ch11 news i heard 'bout the new ibm/sony/toshiba processor. since i'm now in the semiconduktor manufakturing equipment industry, i was very interested. read 'bout it on y! news: "Sony, IBM, Toshiba Give Details of 'Cell' Chip".
also, i guess this morn, i read 'bout how aktress julia roberts gave birth to twins: a boy n' a gurl. that's what kaela wants to have. i dunno if that's gonna happen but she'd like to get both done @ 1nce, basikally.
well, i left off my recap'f the t.giving wknd by mentioning that kaela n' i went shopping w/ duk on fri. well, we went to valley fair n' hit up some'f those special morning sales. it was pretty kewl helping out the u.s. ekonomy. heh heh. [later] well, kaela n' i $pent lots'f $$$, which is... *shrug* a good/bad thing... who knows? we took advantage'f some good sales/deals. we bought some presents but un4unately bought more 4 ourselves than 4 others. me, i've really been needing some additions n' changes to my aging wardrobe; seriously. i know i often look like the last movie i saw was the matrix, i.e. the 1st 1, not 1'f the 2nd 2. now everything's retro 1980s, but i haven't really totally bought or boughten into that. kaela n' i noticed a good while back that all that lacoste n' izod stuff from the 1980s is back. 1nce 'gain, it's not just korean ppl flippin 'their polo shirt collars up, but kaela'll still make fun'f me if i do it. 4 the 1st time in my life, i bought some clothes from amerikan eagle outfitters. in the past i never really loved their clothes cos i figured they were just 'nother fratboy outlet like abercrombie n' b!tch, but i guess i purposely patronised amerikan eagle on fri to spite abercrombie n' b!tch cos'f their anti.asian hiring praktices, i.e. i wanted to give their direkt competitor some bizness. we ate lunch @ the fud ct. kaela n' i shared some genghis khan mongolian bbq. in the morn, b4 we left, we all ate some strawberry [later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i tried to get 'lot done. i 1st went to blockbuster to get a free non.new release dvd rental. i chose some recent japanese movie w/ an english title'f warm water running under a red bridge. i'd never heard'f it, but the description on the back'f the box sounded somewhat interesting, like it'd be a good movie, u know? well, i tried to pick out a movie really quickly cos i had other things to do. i wanted to go to rite.aid to investigate the idea'f replacement blades 4 my ol' norelco 4807xl shaver n' to buy some shower spray n' zit ointment thingy. well... since i couldn't make a rt turn out'f blockbuster into the leftmost lane 4 a left turn or even the middle lane 4 a straight shot across el camino real on bowers/kiely, i instead made a rt onto bowers n' 'nother onto el camino real n' headed 1st off to the bank to depo$it some checks n' then back eastward on el camino real to stop by walgreens to do what i originally wanted to do @ rite.aid. recently, i've wondered if walgreens is cheaper than rite.aid, target, longs drugs, etc. *shrug* well, i couldn't find shower spray cos i guess that's 2 hi.end'f an produkt 4 walgreens, which i s'ppose's a li'l more "ghetto." i did buy the freakin' zit cream, which was totally not on sale but perhaps cheaper than other places? *shrug* i bought a tacky li'l shower drain mesh cover thingy to make sure our nice shower's drain doesn't get clogged w/ hair 'gain. that wasn't on sale either, n' i wondered if i should've tried big lots! 4 that. :-/ i saw that 144 ct boxes'f kleenex tissues were 2 4 $3 (or $1.5 each) @ walgreens n' felt very disappointed that i bought them 4 3 4 $5 (or $1.66 each) yesterday @ target. :-( u hate that feeling 2, don'tchu? i felt a bit more disappointed cos i bought 3 boxes yesterday @ that higher price. :-( i didn't find those replacement blades 4 my razor. later, @ home while browsing thru ads, i wondered if it's a better deal just to buy a whole new razor 4 $30~50. after all, my ol' shaver, which my dad gave me 4 christmas 1 yr isn't doing all that great: 1) the stoopid nicad batteries got so many bubbles in it (i guess) that it barely charges up. (i despise nicad batteries!) 2) i dropped the blade cover, n' some pieces broke off such that it doesn't stay on the shaver nemore. 3) it's just plain old. in my life, my dad's given me 3 diff elektric shavers 4 3 diff christmases, n' now i understand why: it's a better deal to buy a new shaver instead'f new blades. there'r some hi.end shavers 4 like $120 or so. then there r some lo.end shavers that only operate on corded power 4 like $39.99, which is just $10 more than a set'f replacement blades. it does suck to throw 'way a durable good tho', doesn't it?
neway, after walgreens, i went home to eat some leftover 대구 매운탕, which kaela cooked last nite. i started to warm it up on the stove in the big pot in which kaela cooked it last nite. i sat down @ the kitchen table n' ate a green bean pastry as i let it warm up. a bit later, i smelled gas. argh argh argh! gas stove never lit up, so i was just filling the house w/ natural gas!!! :-o aaaaaaaah! i quickly shut off the gas n' dared not turn it back on n' ignite the stove 4 fear'f blowing up the whole house. i wondered if sooni smelled the gas b4 me. she did wanna go into the backyard but often does nonetheless. well, i was way 2 scared to fire up the stove. instead i ate a leftover chicken taco w/ guacamole from chili's. oh yah, we stopped by chili's on the way home from squaw valley on sat nite. i haven't mentioned ne'f that yet, have i? oh... upes. man, that means i really have not yet given u much'f a t.giving wknd update! well, i ate that n' then microwaved some mashed sweet potatoes n' stuffing (carb intensive meal, eh?) after i felt it was safe to use the microwave. i dunno; earlier, i was scared'f the small risk that the microwave might cause a spark that'd cause the whole house to explode. *sigh* what a troublesome lunch! well, i tried to clean up things 'round the house a li'l during lunch. i left sooni in the backyard n' returned to werk.
[later] maybe i should give a better update. where did i leave off? i did talk 'bout what we did on fri. sat? well, we woke up early. i took sooni 4 a walk 'round 550a, while kaela got her snowboarding clothes on. we met up @ my office's parking lot w/ my cowerker sharath. we drove up to tahoe. along 680, it rained quite a bit. in fakt, it sort'f stormed @ 1 pt. maybe it also rained 'long 80; prob'ly. we stopped somewhere in sactown 4 some j.box brkfast n' arco gas. i ate an ultimate brkfast croissant that has egg, ham, cheese, n' bacon. kaela had a sausage croissant. we both got combos. kaela liked the reindeer antenna ball, so i had to purchase 1 4 99¢. when we got to the mountains on the 80, we hit lots'f snow, lots'f it. the traffik slowed way down. ppl w/ 2wd vehicles chained up. i was happy to have my subaru forester w/ my new dunlop sp5000 tires. still, man! visibility was very, very, very low, n' traffik was bad. it took us 5 hrs to reach squaw valley usa. we met up w/ kaela's classmate friends helen n' sna. (i'm not sure how to spell his name, but "sna" is my best guess.) well, b4 we met up w/ them, i had to de.ice the locks on the snowboard rack! i can't believe they froze up! it almost felt like everything cold.weather.related that could go wrong did. i used all my subaru millennium forester resources to get us to tahoe, it cmed. i used the heated, elektric (12vdc) windshied defroster that s.mike gave me to warm up the locks to open them. by the time we met up w/ helen n' sna, they told us we should wait 1 more hr n' buy 0.5 day tix, so we did. $39 4 0.5 day tix. it was not a great day'f snowboarding. sure, the mtn had plenty'f fresh snow from the big storm we drove up in, but the only slopes open were 2 flat 4 real powder riding. instead, we all got stuck in the powder. the reason kaela n' i often just stay on the red dog squaw lodge express side'f squaw valley usa's cos the rest'f squaw these days is 2 skier.oriented n' not all that snowboarder.friendly, which is all 2 reminiscent'f heavenly. where r the jumps? grrr! the ride, honestly, was rather boring on sat, n' i do kind'f wish we'd gone to boreal instead. we only got to board 4 3 hrs. we spent 14 hrs on the road on sat. the drive home was filled w/ tons'f awful traffik, tons. we, as i sed b4, stopped in vacaville to have a somewhat late dinner @ chili's. i hadn't realised that we skipped lunch. while waiting 4 the 100p start'f 0.5 day tic sales, kaela n' i drank a 16.oz nf hot choco. (nf = nonfat) in the late afternoon, @ the gold coast lodge, we shared an extremely weak small hot choco n' a not.that.great oatmeal raisin cookie. as usual, all the fud was overpriced. well, while @ chili's, i tried to call duk but couldn't reach him n' thus txt msged him instead to ask 'bout sooni. later, while i was gettin' some gas in pleasanton, duk called back n' apologised that he 4got to visit sooni. :-o he had been watching alexander (the movie, the big flop movie) earlier. he asked if i still needed him to visit sooni, n' i had to say, "yah, if it's not 2 much trouble." when we got home after 1100p, sometime btwn 1100p n' 1200a, duk kyung was over. sooni really missed us after not cing us 4 17 hrs. that's a long time 4 her.
on sun, duk returned to our house w/ his friends sera/sara/sarah n' judy, who r both freshmen @ scu (santa clara university). kaela n' i took sooni 4 a quick walk 'round the block as the 3'f them waited @ the house 4 kaela's classmate friend rachel to join us in attending great exchange convenant church's 915a service. we were a li'l late, but it was a great service, in which pastor dave chae talked 'bout "thou shalt not steal" as part'f our weekly 10 commandments series. after the service, we had a chance to talk to some ppl. i was happy to chat w/ susan n' gregory'f our t3s grp cos, as i sed, i feel really weird that i haven't talked to our bible study grp in a long time. it's just that we've been trying to bring some newcomers to grx lately, so we haven't had as much time to bond w/ our uh... "older" friends. it's hilarious to say that cos kaela n' i r aktually pretty much newcomers ourselves. like, we've only been @ grx 4 like what? 2 months? well, after chattin' n' having some bagels n' doughnuts, our grp left the church n' met up 'gain @ 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market 4 lunch. i bought us 3 빈대떡 bindaedduhk n' some 팥죽 patjook. we sort'f shared fud @ our table, so i got to have some'f dukkyung's 물만두 moolmandoo n' some'f judy's cali4nia rolls, etc. we grocery shopped a li'l. then rachel drove kaela n' me back home, where they did some skoolstuff. later, rachel left, n' kaela kept doing her skoolstuff. later, i drove kaela to michael's in sunnyvale n' went to sunnyvale towne center's target to do some shopping. then i picked kaela back up, n' we did even more grocery shopping @ 한국 마켓 hangook market. when we came home, kaela made that 대구 매운탕 daegoo maeoontang. it was a delicious dinner, n' kaela'll never understand how much i appreciate it when she cooks fud like this. we watched 매직 / magic, as i sed, n' were extremely disappointed w/ the crappy ending to such an otherwise good miniseries.
[later] 늦은 오후: so what's up? what's going on in ur life? i s'ppose i ought to answer my own gbook questions, so that i can give u some new gbook questions to answer. yah, i'll try to do that sometime. well, how r u? i can hardly believe nov's now coming to an end; it flew by. 'member when i was saying that the big challenge'f nov'd be the t.giving dinner? i dunno; since kaela was willing to do most'f the cooking it was pleasantly anticlimaktic 4 me, in a way. aktually, even kaela sed that the cooking was easier than she expekted. perhaps the hardest part was acquiring all the materials, yah? *shrug* i dunno; in gen'l the biggest prob in my life lately has definitely been just dealing w/ how much kaela's not 'round these days cos she's off studying w/ her classmates. i recently realised that, being the pathetically macho guy i feel i hafta be, i don't tell her i miss her but instead just accuse her'f not caring 'nuff 'bout our marriage etc. by always being gone. *sigh* it's tuff, man. i know it's tuff 4 her, but it's also tuff 4 me. i s'ppose in more ways than i admit on a regular basis, she's an inspiration in my life, n' w/o her more regular presence, i often dunno what to do w/ my time / my life. u know, i'm always wanting to be more'f a settled down "family guy" than i should, in a way... some ppl prob'ly don't understand, but others fully understand. i dunno; just sort'f coincidentally, in the past few months or so, i cm to be exposed to many more ppl who discuss things like such quote unquote "family values," etc., rt? while i'm off arguing that it's possible to be a politically progressive, christian dude; my worst critics r prob'ly off saying i'm senator john kerry off on the campaign trail w/o a strong teresa presence. ain't that what the kerry critics sed? that teresa was never 'round on the campaign trail? that that made it look like he had a weaker stance on things like quote unquote "family values," which the republikan party 4 so long has been claiming to have mastered? over the past yr or so, we've heard all 2 much 'bout how the christian woman's role's to support her hard werking christian husband, etc. these r some serious wurds, perhaps some seriously fightin' wurds. what i mean is that i surely know some christian women who have very strong feelings on both sides'f this issue. i know some good, christian women who say that literal interpretations'f obedience'f a wife to her "master" have no revelance to modern society. then there r others that insist a woman must always do only exaktly what her "master" commands. should women be allowed as clergy? our church does not allow women pastors but our evangelical covenant denomination does. (to learn more 'bout the evangelical coveneant church, plz visit: www.covchurch.org.)
[later] 저녁 630p: i came home to meet kaela cos she stopped by home b4 just now going off to study w/ her classmates. b4 coming home, she went to safeway@rivermark n' bought a baguette, not the small kind, but the bigger kind. i ate some'f the french bread n' am now watching some tv but still hope to hit up bally total fitness 2nite in order to get my card stamped. 1nce 'gain, they have those stamps that earn u a prize (t.shirt this time) n' an entry in some big drawing. i dunno; i'm still going, rt?
[later] 1120p: 2nite, i went to the gym. aktually, i 1st went to best buy @ santana row to buy a new hepa filter 4 our euro.pro bagless stick shark. there, they charge $19.99, which is $2 more than fry's, but they have it in stock. u know, a new bagless stick shark co$t $39.99 @ target, so 4 the price'f 2 filters, i can buy a new vacuum. :-( i'm very annoyed w/ this style'f bizness model. :-( it encourages ppl to be unenvironmental. it encourages waste. it's awful. i don't like it. the whole elektric shaver thing n' this vacuum cleaner thing. grrr! well, i saw lots'f kewl gadgets @ best buy. i wish i could buy an external dvd writer sometime. :-/ well, sometime... hrm, what kewl stuff did i c? :-? well, i didn't find the pda/handhelds there. i saw just how amazingly cheap digicams have gotten. kaela can't find her canon elph digicam battery charger. i saw that they have a somewhat "universal" digicam battery charger @ best buy 4 $29.99. that's an option. however, i wonder if we can find it 4 cheaper online. *shrug* well, i know that online stuff can be cheap but the fakt that it's often in aktually impossible to return stuff is a big turn off.
well, @ the gym, i did 40 mins on the elliptical trainer. it was getting really late, so i didn't do nething besides that n' stretching. i showered @ the gym. then, i went to rite.aid, rt b4 it closed, to buy a new garage door opener remote battery. well, after that, i hurried home. i was hungry on the drive home, so i dug into the costco pack'f pacific gold turkey jerky that i put into the car b4 going to the gym. hrm, is it turkey or beef? yah, i'm not sure n' am 2 lazy to go check. kaela was home when i got home. sooni was sleeping in her bed just as she was when i left her. i warmed up the 대구 매운탕 daegoo maeoontang w/o blowing up the house n' ate it w/ the awesome rice that kaela also cooked yesterday. she doesn't cook just plain ol' rice. rt now, she mixes 현미 쌀 / hyuhnmi ssal / brown rice w/ sweet rice, mixed grains n' beans, n',this time, chestnuts.
[later] midnite, 2004.11.30: while @ the gym, i got the idea to make a new yr's resolution next yr to write less in my journal entries n' to use that time instead to get back into djing. does that sound good? after all, who really likes my journal? now that even kaela's not reading my journal, i really wonder just how much i'm wasting my time by writing it 'specially writing as much as i do. maybe it's all just such a waste'f time, maybe so. *shrug* 화요일 오후: can u believe nov ends 2day? [later] 저녁: just now, i went to jamba juice w/ my cowerker cos they have a bogo (buy 1, get 1 free) coupon online rt now. funny, on our way over there, my cowerker who drove was trying to change lanes, but a silver mustang blocked us. as the car passed, i realised it was 1'f my old cowerkers from when i used to werk rt 'cross the street from where i werk now. crazy. well, i had an orange dream machine smoothie. 수요일 아침: 2day, my cowerkers r going to amber in santana row 4 lunch! woohoo! amber's the classiest n' best n' un4tuantely most expen$ive indian restaurant i've ever been to. @ lunch, they apparently have a buffet, an expen$ive 1. well, i'm totally up 4 going. u know, it's really interesting how important south asian culture is to the silly valley.
2day's the 1st day'f dec 2004. we should all accept the fakt that this yr's christmas season's well underway. keep in mind that in the 2002 yr, i let the christmas season begin nov 1, 2002.11.01. can u believe that by autumn'f 2002, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had moved out'f berkeley n' into my mom's house in the almaden valley'f san jo? *sigh* i keep associating the yr 2002 more w/ berkeley life than silly valley life, but this means that my berkeley days r much deeper into my past than i cm to realise.
[later] last nite, i went to taekwondo praktice, where we kicked shields 4 1nce instead'f kicking paddles. afterwards, a grp'f us guys went to 서울 곰탕 seoul gomtang 4 dinner, where ben, ernest, duk kyung, n' matt had 차돌백이 곰탕 chodolbaeki gomtang, while i had 해장국 haejanggook, n' mark had nuthin' @ all. i wanted to order it w/o 선지 suhnji (blood), but i made a linguistic mistake common 4 non.native korean speakers. when the 아줌마 asked, "선지 없는게요?", i clumsily answered, "아니, 선지 없는게요." that was such a "yes, we have no bananas" answer. i didn't hear what she sed n' @ 1st thought she asked sumpthin' like "선지 있는게요?", to which my answer would've been more appropriate, i'm assuming. now, the thing that's the common non.native korean speaker mistake is this: in korean, if someone asks u a negatively phrase question such as "are you not going out?", then you respond confirmingly with "yes" and rectifyingly with "no"; which differs from a twisted language like english, in which you would respond with the opposites: "no, i'm not going out" or "yes, i am going out." in korean: "안나가니?" confirm - "네, 안나가." negate - "아니, 나가." well, i dunno what i was thinking when i made that mistake, whether i just heard her wrong or if my awful dependence on english language principles kicked in. *shrug* the waitress even confirmed w/ me a li'l later "선지 나와요," n' i was 2 embarrased w/ my mistake that i just went 'long w/ it instead'f admitting my mistake. my punishment 4 not having better korean language skills? i had to eat blood. i'm aktually ok w/ eating blood in such a unkosher manner when it's in 순대 soondae or else those tasty, taiwanese sweet rice cakes; but i don't usually cubes'f blood in my soup. well, to make this fear factor challenge a li'l more bearable, i mushed the blood cubes into the 해장국 haejanggook, so it was more like having bits'f ground beef in my soup. in that case, it aktually wasn't 2 bad. u know, the last time i ordered 선지없는 해장국 suhnji ubsneun haejanggook @ 서울 곰탕 seoul gomtang, it also ended up coming w/ 선지 suhnji. geez, they really want me to get my iron, eh?
well, i went home after we talked 'lot. i felt kind'f bad that ppl talked 'bout sparring so much, n' i haven't been sparring lately. 'specially since we were in an all.guy grp, that made me feel like ppl thought i'm a wuss 4 not sparring lately. i resolved to go to sparring praktice on thurs cos'f that. it's not that i don't like sparring but that lately, i've been opting to skip sparring praktice to make sure i'd be ok to either run or snowboard, u know? i think ppl might be annoyed that i really pushed the whole concept'f korean style demo taekwondo earlier this autumn. korean style demo taekwondo really differs from amerikan style demo taekwondo, which is more like extreme martial arts, extreme sports, n' breakdancing. korean style demo taekwondo's much more militaristic, sumpthin' more like doing marching band or military drill team. that's what i like; but it's a hard package to sell in this country. it's what i had the cal taekwondo demo team do, when i led them. however, if i dwell on that, it'd be like al bundy dwelling on his hi skool futbol days, u know? instead, i should 'member that it's better to do olympik style sparring taekwondo instead'f no taekwondo @ all. lately, tho', i'm really ashamed w/ my lack'f endurance while prakticing sparring. i used to have much better endurance. *sigh* maybe i should revert my cardio/aerobiks routine @ the gym to what i used to do, which was setting the resistance to a very, very low value n' then sprinting as fast as possible 4 long periods @ a time. in recent months, i've instead set the resistance higher n' maintained less ridiculous speeds, which i hear is better exercise. i hear u burn more calories n' get better physique that way. yah, my werkouts in earlier yrs were more geared on just making me a better taekwondo martial artists. in more recent yrs, i've geared my werkouts more 2wards attaining a better physique, u know? that's why i've been doing more weightlifting, etc. does it help? *shrug*
well, it's dec now, n' it's very chilly. every morn, i hear 'bout frost advisories on the nbc 11 news. last nite, i put plastic shopping bags over our 3 baby palm trees. it's funny; in the morn, i hear the weatherman say that we've gotta bring our pets indoors, @ which pt i think 'bout how good sooni has it. we don't just throw her in the backyard n' have her live out there like her previous owner did. dawna'f happy tails sez that sooni sure lucked out, 'specially when u compare how we treat her versus what she's heard'f how her previous owner treated her; n' i agree w/ dawna. i must emphasize that kaela n' i don't spoil sooni. rather, we treat her decently n' do what it takes to keep train her well. u've gotta reward a doggy in order to train her/him well, n' that's not the same thing as spoiling a doggy. "nilf," which means "nuthin' in life is free." that's the motto'f good doggy trainers. sooni might get nice things, but she has'ta werk to earn them. (btw, "nilf" isn't the same thing as "milf," in case u didn't realise. even tho' "milk" was popularised by amerikan pie, i think i aktually heard it 1st from brandie.) 목요일 아침: yesterday, i started out my journal entry (plz refer to "the 25 days'f christmas" from 2004.12.01.) so happy to be going to amber in santana row 4 lunch, but my cowerker who arranged the get2gether n' i were both rather disappointed w/ the lunch buffet dishes. we agreed that in the eve, 4 dinner, they have much better, more unique, n' more creative dishes. the lunch buffet co$t $13.95, which is very expen$ive. the dinner dishes r also very expen$ive, but they r so much better.
yesterday, i had a decently_full_day@werk.com. @ the end'f the day, after the sun went down so early, i went home to spend time w/ sooni, since i didn't c her @ lunch. i did some housechore stuff: 1) i did the dishes since i'm trying to resolve to leave the kitchen sink empty as opposed to full'f dishes as its default state. 2) i peeled a whole bunch'f persimmons n' put them in the fridge. 3) i mixed up a bunch'f rice in order to imitate the beautiful kaela hwang's 영앙밥/콩밥 youngyangbap/kongbap concoction. sometime this wk, i hope to cook some chicken curry. in recent yrs we've been cooking spam curry instead'f chicken curry cos neither'f us really like handling raw meat. however, i realise that i've been eating way 2 much packaged fud n' thus way 2 much preservatives n' sodium, so i sort'f set out to cook normal chicken curry instead sometime soon. well, i realised when i mixed the rice that that wouldn't happen last nite cos 1) i didn't have that much time, 'specially since this 현미밥 / hyuhnmibap / brown rice takes so long to cook, 2) we didn't have ne chicken, 3) i had t.giving turkey to finish up, 4) i didn't feel i had quite 'nuff turkey to cook turkey curry, n' 5) i figured the turkey was seasoned n' had 'nuff'f its own flavour such that it shouldn't be wasted on curry. *shrug* well, i mixed the rice n' let it soak in h2o. we do that sometimes but not always, n' i'm not sure why we do it when we do. we definitely like to wash rice b4 cooking it, but *shrug* i dunno why we sometimes soak the rice, 'specially since we don't always soak it.
well, after i set the rice soaking, i took sooni w/ me n' went out 4 a li'l bit. 1st, we went to costco to purchase a tank'f gas @ $2.099/gal. then i drove south on lawrence expwy, exited on el camino real, n' parked my car @ the albertsons / big lots! / osh strip mall. we got out, n' i took sooni 4 a short walk 'round that neighbourhood. we walked a li'l 'round the aptmnt neighbourhood, then thru the strip mall that has pizz'a chicago, citibank, n' the fish market. then we turned a rt after afghani house, 'cross from the best western inn santa clara n' saw a set'f new townhomes called villagio betoni or sumpthin' like that. then i lead sooni back to el camino real n' 'cross it to where 한국 마켓 hangook market is, passed 나라 은행 nara bank n' burger king [later] 오후: well, last nite, after my werkout, i showered n' drove back home, stopping by the valley fair safeway to pick up some tide w/ a touch'f downey n' 2 carton's 오렌지 쥬스 / oreinji jyooseu / orange juice. 2day, during my lunchbrk, i went over to valley fair cos i received from kennethcole.com as well as roland a 40% off already di$counted merchandise coupon. i really debated w/ myself whether to bother to go or not. well, in the end i decided to go. well, the store was pretty ransacked already n' had a very long checkout line. i looked 4 presents n' stuff 4 myself but, sorry, i didn't find nething, not 4 u, not 4 me. i went upstairs, bought a rockin' red bean bosion boba drink on tues nite, i sort'f succumbed to peer pressure by going out w/ the guys to 서울 곰탕 seoul gomtang when i knew it would've been more economical to go home n' eat leftovers. yesterday @ lunch, i sort'f succumbed to peer pressure n' went to amber 4 overpriced lunch buffet when it would've been more economical to go home n' eat leftovers. 2nite? well, i hope to cook some chicken curry or sumpthin'. i have that rice soaking 4 some reason, n' i'm not totally sure why; but i hope i steam it n' eat it 2nite, i s'ppose.
lately, i've been trying to wash dishes more regularly as not to leave the sink full'f durty dishes by default, as i sed earlier. also, tho', lately, i've been $pending 2 much time shopping @ supermarkets n' drugstores! *sigh* 2 much walgreens, 2 much rite.aid, 2 much target [later] 밤 1122p: this eve, i came home to a sooniless house. i opened the door, n' no sooni. then i 'membered that i left her in the backyard, assuming i'd go home during lunch instead'f going off to valley fair. upes!!! i went to the back door, n' still no sooni; @ which pt, i knew it was bad. i opened the door n' called out 4 her. nuts, she'd gotten out! i looked in the front; no sooni. i walked down the street n' a li'l 'round the neighbourhood. i had to pick a direktion she'd walk in. i figured that this morning we turned left as we left the house, so i turned rt. no sooni. *sigh* i worried. did the dog catcher get her? did she get hit by a car? did she get dognapped? <:-o *sigh* then 'gain, she's very quick, agile, n' very smart. she's pretty tuff. well, i went back home cos it was so cold, n' i needed to pee. i wondered if i should just wait 4 her to come back cos i can alwas be pretty sure that she will. as i've sed so many times b4, it's rather charakteristic 4 jindo to escape. every1 sez, they'll roam 'round the neighbourhood, as far as they consider that their territory extends, n' then come back home. i stayed 2 home a li'l n' waited, but i just got 2 nervous n' worried. i got in my forester n' drove 'round slowly. 'gain, i turned rt as i left the house. i made a short circle 'round a couple'f blocks that way n' ended up back @ our house heading 2wards the direktion that would be left leaving the house. then i saw sooni, trotting in from that direktion very quickly, eager to go into the house. she
saw me, but ran past my car 2wards the front door. i guess she really wanted to go into the house. however, i usually reward her 4 coming back home w/ a car ride, rt? so i took her 4 a spin. we drove out to the li'l korean strip mall @ the corner'f homestead n' kiely. i put on her leash. i parked the car near togo's, n' we got out 4 a short, short walk. i'd never been to that strip mall. it's interesting. there's a korean herbalist, a korean pharmacy, a korean asian medicine doktor, a korean yoga skool, a small korean grocery that's cms to specialise in veggies, a korean "skincare" n' makeup salon (kaela always insists that there rn't ne korean makeup salons up here, but there sure is!), a 숯불 갈비집 sootbool galbijip, a korean boba café (or is it chinese? *shrug* the sign's in korean, but the tv plays chinese musik vids. *shrug*), ... was there other stuff? oh yah, there was a "curves" gym, n' a korean dry cleaner. oh yah, n' the 나드리 nadri gift shop that we used to always c commercials 4 on tv... there was some other korean stores, but i 4get. neway, we walked 'round the strip mall then past the mission station usps (post office) n' then back to the car. then i drove us home.
i washed dishes n' then cooked turkey curry. i didn't have all that much leftover turkey, so i threw in some'f that korean veggie 소시지 sausage. i cooked the rice n' that curry but then shut off the stove n' took sooni w/ me to taekwondo sparring praktice.
i got pretty rocked @ sparring praktice. i feel so humbled after spending so many weeks n' months away from taekwondo sparring. i used to spar, but man... it'd been a long time. *sigh* i dunno, man. i felt like such a hasbeen! i wish ppl knew i used to be much better, not great, but better than this. *sigh* man... neway, i don't wanna give up; i wanna get back to where i was n' better. however, man... when i was @ my prime, i used to praktice so many more times per wk. i was better when i was in berkeley, but doing taekwondo @ berkeley also crushed my spirit in certain ways, n' i found a new energy sparring w/ new, diff ppl when we came down here. now, i feel crushed 'gain, n' well... i'm gonna try my best to get better tho'. i got pretty rocked 2nite, but i'm glad n' thankful i didn't get hurt, u know? well, after praktice, i went home.
kaela was home. i warmed up the curry n' ate some. we've got lots'f rice. we have lots'f curry n' rice. i'd better eat some curry rice 4 brkfast 2morrow. it's just that i've gotta eat_lunch@werk.com 2morrow cos'f this thingamajig.
oh yah, so i've got a theory 'bout how sooni got out 2day. well, a few wks 'go, i learned that the pg&e gas meter readers (we get our elektricity from silicon valley power not pg&e in santa clara.) come on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd'f each month. we're s'pposed to keep sooni inside on the 1st 3 days'f the month. however, the new month sprang up on us so fast, as i sed. *sigh* this morn, sooni wnated to stay outside, so i let her, thinking i'd come home 4 lunch, rt? *sigh* nuts. well, my theory's that the pg&e meter readers have a standard procedure 4 doggies like sooni. sooni's pretty protektive'f our house. i'd believe she growled n' barked @ the intruder. the meter reader prob'ly maced her! i noticed that she's scared to go into our backyard now, n' that's not the 1st time she's been like this. i think every time the meter reader find sooni in the backyard he/she maces sooni, reads the meter, n' leaves. sooni escapes when the meter reader comes, i think. i'm not sure if she jumps the fence afterwards or if the maybe the meter reader lets her get out? *shrug* neway, yah... she's scared to go out to the backyard now. she really wants to go to look out the back door, in that she wants me to open it 4 her, but she doesn't go out. she looks out'f the door really suspiciously n' then doesn't go out. *shrug*
well, the wknd's gonna be here soon. how's this wknd gonna be? christmas shopping or what? *sigh* 금요일 아침: didju know that the dish "welsh rabbit" contains no rabbit? i knew that b4 but was recently reminded when i was searching 4 appetizer recipes on allrecipes.com. welsh rabbit is some dish w/ lots'f cheese n' bread. read more 'bout it @ http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Welsh%20rabbit. oh, kewl! encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com has an entry 4 "jindo"!!!! check out http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/jindo! well, there's no entry 4 "beno." nuts. well, lemme try to write 'bout stuff'f more signficance in order to start making my journal entries more concise in an attempt to start writing less in my journal. that's my new yr resolution 4 2005, isn't it?
to start off, i should answer my current round'f gbook questions n' then change them:
i've now just replaced my gbook qs w/ new 1s, so plz sign the new gbook!!! :-) thx n/or thnx.
i'll go 'head n' give u a dbl whammy n' sign it myself now (or 'least answer the qs here, as i usually do...):
aktually, b4 answering my own questions, there was 1 thing i should've done: jeanna, thanks 4 signing my gbook!
y! news technology - reuters article "Mobile Phone Cheats Mar S.Korean College Exam" by jack kim n' moon haewon... 토요일 오후 sat 343p: i'm in_my_office@werk.com. i came in to do a li'l werk... just cos i'm such a hard werker. ha ha ha. *shrug* is it that funny? *shrug* well, shoot... i dunno, this morn, i went to pack boxes'f fud that my company applied materials donated to the 2nd harvest fud bank 4 our 9th annual holiday fud drive thingy. i gotta say, i love werking 4 a company that has a conscience n' serves the community. they've also sponsored the san josé downtown ice rink as the main sponsor. i dunno who the other sponsors r... oh, i just checked the website. (http://www.sjdownton.com/eve_eve_ice.html) it's apparently called "knight.ridder's downtown ice presented by applied materials," so maybe knight.ridder, the publishers'f the san josé mercury news is the biggest sponsor? *shrug* i dunno how it werks. neway, i get to go there 4 free cos i werk here n' can bring 1 friend 4 0.5 price. doesn't ne1 wanna go ice skating w/ me??? i told the beautiful kaela hwang 'bout this great deal, but she's 2 bizzy w/ studying to go skating w/ me i guess. maybe when her finals r over? till, then i can take some1 else, but maybe it'd look 2 not.so.straight 4 me to go ice skating w/ 'nother guy n' then scandalous if i take a female friend. ha ha ha. can i just go skating by myself? ha ha ha. heh, i seriously don't love ice skating that much; i'd rather be snowboarding. that's 'xaktly what my front license plate sez, n' it's true. :-) why can't adults skateboard in a skatepark just like they ice skate on ice rinks?! it's very unfair, n' i don't like it. >:-(
well, neway!!! back to my topik: this morn i was packing boxes'f fud, n' that was fun. originally, kaela was s'pposed to join me, but she went off to study instead. well, 1st, she went to get an oil change n' walk sooni while getting her oil change, but she had to do that during the fud packing session cos'f her plans to study w/ her classmates. the fud packing event's really big. over these 9 yrs, we've packed over 1 million lbs'f fud, apparently. i was telling our t3s grx bible study guys 'bout how our company doesn't have a holiday party but just has this fud packing
event. greg in our grp sez that his company nvidia's like that 2. wow, i didn't know. that's kewl. yah, i think i've also cn nvidia's name on some'f these kewl community, cultural, charity, n' volunteer events, huh? it's nice to think that some silly valley big corporations do have a conscience. neway, after the fud packing event, i went straight home. i ate more leftover turkey curry, n' honestly, i'm sooo sick'f it. *sigh* when i cook, i cook 4 'least me n' kaela, but she doesn't eat w/ me much these days n' hasn't even been eating these leftovers w/ me cos her classmates do lots'f meals 2gether n' even have leftovers from those meals to share 2gether. man, i dunno if i should cook then. *shrug* i sure don't like eating all these leftovers, but i figured cooking fud like this was better than just eating packaged fud. i figured it was healthy n' ekonomical, but lately, i've been wondering if it'd aktually be better 4 my physical n' mental health to go out to eat by myself more often. *shrug* *sigh* then 'gain, i also eat @ home to spend time w/ sooni. she's like a daughter to us, u know? well, i ate my leftover curry, sort'f had to 4ce it down, i guess. ha ha... then i put sooni in my car n' drove out to el camino real n' bowers where i returned the dvd'f warm water under a red bridge @ blockbuster n' then took sooni 4 a decent.length walk, where we walked from blockbuster to the strip mall @ the corner'f el camino real n' calabazas that has the vietnamese "slave labour" car wash, the indian aisukuriimu shop, 조선 면옥 josuhn myuhnok (korean noodle n' bbq restaurant), richard suh farmers insurance agent, the muslim grocery, blinky's sports bar (which isn't nearly as kewl as it sounds), a liquor store, an ol' ladies' hair salon, a small h2o store, n' some hidden indian bakery. oh yah, that strip mall also has the great 옹고집 onggojip restaurant. well, i walked there n' then crossed el camino real over to where brian chong's dad has his adam chong u-save tax service, where bruce lee has his hair salon, where the 검도 guhmdo lady werks @ 장모집 jangmojip (where the taekwondo bunch often goes), n' sharon 꽃집 ggotjip (flowershop) (which used to be a pc 방 / pc bang / internet gaming place). i walked us past the silicon valley pet hospital where sooni freaked out 'bout the vet so long 'go. oh... ha ha ha! while walking down our 1st leg'f el camino real on this li'l circuit, we past a "windman" in front'f a furniture store which scared sooni but also intrigued her. ha ha ha! u know what i mean by a "windman," rt? those man figures made out'f some flag.like material set above an elektric fan such that they dance to attrakt customers from nearby car traffik. well, we walked back down el camino real, n' then i took us thru the savemart / rite.aid / office max / hometown buffet / 디티털 씨티 digital city strip mall n' back. i wanted to take her 'cross the street to the petco i've thought 'bout that issue in the past few months, n' i hadn't thought 'bout it so much since graduating from berkeley. in berkeley students encounter panhandlers all the time. it really challenges christian students especially. 1 could say that the current regime that sez that christians need to be "conservatives" r in effekt telling us that we christians should think "just skrew 'em" 'bout those less 4tunate than us w/ the whole republikan "trickle down" ekonomics kind'f thought etc. some christians'd say that it's the job'f the church to give fud n' help to homeless ppl only if they agree to say that they believe in jesus, basikally, pay lip service. n' then there r the "fud not bombs" types that say that christians suck cos'f that n' that fud handouts should be given w/o ne such attachments, that u should give cos u genuinely care, not cos u have a religious agenda that aktually might be more'f a political agenda than a spiritual 1. well, shoot! my pt is that there's 'lot to be sed 'bout this topik. after all, i even read an editorial in some independent newspaper that sed that panhandlers serve a spiritual role in society, n' that we should respekt them cos'f that. *shrug* we could argue till the cows come home. ha ha. neway, can we not agree that the whole concept'f panhandlers does challenge christians' beliefs? after all, the simplistik but tragik scenario involves when a christian has a good heart n' gives $$$ to a needy panhandler but then the panhandler keeps asking n' asking n' asking 4 more. 1'f my ol' hi skool friends, a very smart dude, a christian, gave up some $200~300 to a panhandler who sed he'd pay him back but never did. that guy was a scammer. he approached me b4 i heard that story, n' i gave him some $3 or so n' no more than that. he wasn't homeless n' didn't even say he was but tried to lie 'bout some kid he needed to buy baby formula 4. i later found out he was a liar, n' i think he came up to me w/ the exakt some story on a later occassion. still... i'm ashamed to say that most'f my fellow christians do far 2 li'l in their so.called attempt to imitate christ when they encounter panhandlers, n' i'm also guilty. do we christians really fathom just how genuinely well jesus treated such ppl?!
neway, it's 421p. i'm still in my office. after going home, dropping off sooni, peeing, n' gathering my stuff, i came to the office. i did some werk, but now i'm hoping to go christmas shopping. yah, i'd like to go now. we'll talk later, 'k?
[나중에, later] 924p: so i went $hopping but barely bought nething. :-( i mean, it's great not to $pend $$$, but i'm on a mission here to get gifts 4 my friends n' family, rt?! well, i've already bought some gifts, but i gotta get more. [later] 1056p: 2nite, @ valley fair mall, i ate 3 rubio's chicken street tacos @ $1.29 each. when i 1st heard 'bout rubio's from hyung kim (1'f my undergrad yr friends that i met from hanging w/ fahad, vince, stephan, ed, et al), who was overly excited 'bout how the el cerrito's rubio's was opening up. yah, that was a long, long time ago, back when el cerrito plaza 1st reopened in its present incarnation. kaela n' i tried out that rubio's n' its deep fried baja fish tacos n' were blown 'way. we loved it. later, after we moved down to the sobay, we tried out the valley fair rubio's, which opened later than that el cerrito 1, but were a li'l disappointed cos the fish was so greasy. i wondered if maybe the deep fried fish was premade, had gotten cold, n' was then thus refried. >x-p keep in mind that that's pretty much what every fast fud franchise burger joint does w/ their fries: they're fried 1nce @ the faktory, frozen, n' then fried 'gain @ the shop. gross? *shrug* i sort'f think so, but i dunno... (of course in.n.out fries their fries from freshly cut potatoes, but ppl've sed that in.n.out fries r an acquired taste.) well, 2nite, i had 3 street tacos, opting to purchase the individual tacos à la carte, as opposed to purchasing the combo, in order to save a few cents. well, i was quite disappointed w/ how small the portions were. i 'membered that their street tacos were small but had 4gotten that they're this small. they're cute; i've gotta admit. i did not purchase a beverage, 'gain to save $$$. i did pick up some hot salsa n' 3 whole jalapeño peppers as well as some ice h2o. oh, i also picked up 2 lime wedges. (now, the fakt that i mention all this cr@p just go to show why i had no choice but to consider making a new yr's resolution such that i won't write such long blog entries, rt?) neway, dinner was not very filling. i shopped more after that but left valley fair empty.handed. i went to orchard supply hardware, hoping to pick up a size 0 firescreen but was very disappointed to find out that orchard supply has not received ne firescreens yet this season even tho' they've been advertising them. i'm majorly disappointed. i have this kewl $15 off a $75+ purchase i was hoping to use on this firescreen. :-/ maybe i should just go to home depot. if they don't have them, shall i consider buying some ridiculously fancy shmancy, overpriced, stylish 1 from expo??? *shrug* heating the home w/ burning wood is bad 4 the environment neway. :-/ however, would it save on my heating bill? well, lemme ask u this? do u think i'm strapped 4 ca$h these days? ha ha ha, i'm sure u'r answer is that u don't think 'bout stuff like that! of course, i'm just so egotistical that i assume that ppl wonder all those things 'bout me, etc. ha ha ha. well, i dunno; i don't think i'm "strapped 4 ca$h" necessarily; after all, my cup runneth over, n' god takes good care'f me. however, i've gotta admit that since kaela went back to skool n' has thus not been werking as much, i've been more worried 'bout $$$ than netime since i got my recent job position n' salary, u know? when i 1st got my current position w/ its salary, i really felt blessed. i don't make a whole lot. in fakt, most sources'd say i'm aktually underpaid n' that i've always been underpaid thru.out my career @ the diff companies i've werked @. well, i'll tell u this: i've never taken a job just 4 the $$$. i told a cowerker friend that recently, n' it's true. i've taken jobs 4 experience, stock options, environment, n' flexibility; but never "just 4 the $$$."
did i talk 'bout this hat i'm wearing in the above pic??? :-? i think i did. i write so much in my journal entries that it 4ces me to 4get what i wrote, rt? hrm, upon, browsing my archive (2004 archive), i realise that i didn't. well, uhm, on fri, during lunch, i went back to wintersport (the snowsports store on laurelwood in santa clara near lafayette, visible from 101 n/or the 101) n' returned the bakoda metal stud stomp thingy that kaela didn't want. her ol' snowflake stomp fell off, so she was only using the 0.5'f the dakine spike square that 1'f us put on her board above the ol' snowflake stomp, which wasn't grippy 'nuff 4 kaela. i always use the dakine spike square cos it's really grippy. seriously! i could ride a whole blue square intermediate run w/o strapping in if i wanted to, u know. neway, i went to return that stomp thingy. the dude asked if i wanted to exchange or get a refund even tho' when i bought it he sed i could only get store credit. i asked, "i can get a refund?" he then sed i could only get store credit. well, i bought this hat w/ that store credit plus $4. it's a sort'f "army green" dakine beanie w/ a bill, sort'f like a baseball cap, but not that big. i later saw on matt whang's website that he also has a hat like this, so man... i hope i don't look like i'm copying that li'l kid. ha ha ha. his is black n' prob'ly isn't a dakine hat, just cos most ppl prob'ly wouldn't think'f getting a dakine hat rt'ff the bat, but *shrug*
when i came home from shopping 2nite, kaela was home studying w/ her friend rachel. kaela had cooked 1'f those safeway frzn meal.in.a.bag thingies. how come no 1's eating my turkey curry?!?! *sigh* i ate some'f that safeway stuff n' had a slice'f the leftover pumpkin cheesecake. i needed sumpthin' sweet after all the spicy stuff i ate earlier. i need to exercise. i wish i could've gone to the gym 2day instead'f wasting my time @ the mall. 4 much'f the time, i've gotta admit, i just sat, staring off into space, feeling kind'f depressed. that's bad, huh? :-/ i dunno; i'm sure my winter depression's setting in, isn't it? [later] 1159p: it's almost midnite. 일요일 오후 일찍 1228p: we went to church 2day. in case u don't know, we go to the great exchange covenant church, n' i highly recommend it! i recommend it 4 u. our speaker 2day was min tak, who's an attourney. he talked 'bout the 9th commandment in our 10 commandment series: thou shalt not bear false witness. we had a decent grp'f our friends @ church 2day, n' i felt good. i felt like i was 'round ppl i knew... i mean, we drove over as helen, rachel, the beautiful kaela hwang, n' me, n' we were s'pposed to meet w' duk kyung n' his longtime oregon friend sera (or sara? sarah? *shrug*), but just everywhere around us, we were able to say hi n' chat w/ ppl we knew. it felt good since there were times when we didn't know ne1 'round us. however, even when we didn't know ne1 'round us, we still really liked the church cos the pastors there give such good msgs/sermons n' the praise team puts on such a good worship session. it's awesome. recently, i ran into this gurl amy @ church w/ whom i 1nce counseled @ the taiwanese.amerikan youth leadership camp (ta. 4 a while now, kaela n' i've been in touch w/ this couple victor n' ilana, n' ilana's good friends w/ my ol' friend andy huang w/ whom i went to the taylc, berkeley, ivcf (intervarsity christian fellowship), n' christian layman church. i heard he's gonna be a pastor soon? *shrug* or is he a pastor (already)? 2day, we ran into dennis, mark's ol' hi skool friend, who bought a 4.plex w/ mark from kaela. it's really awesome to run into ppl like this @ church. it makes me happy in a way that helps fight the whole winter depression thingy that i wonder if i'm getting rt now or not.
last yr, did i get winter depression? i think i was simply much 2 bizzy w/ moving into our new house to think 'bout it. i 'member getting quite frustrated w/ all the $$$ i was putting down 4 new furniture etc. i thought it rained more last winter. y! weather sez it'll start raining in the bay area 2morrow n' thus snowing in tahoe. i hope so. dude, i'd love to go snowboarding next sat, but i think kaela might have sumpthin'. well, if she's just gonna study 4 her finals, then maybe i'll just find some friends to go w/ up to tahoe. *shrug* it's s'pposed to start raining 2morrow n' cosequentially get warmer.
[much later] 903p: i've gotta take out the trash. this
afternoon, we went to the century 21 alpha holiday party, which was @ avalon niteclub in sunnyvale on lawrence @ homestead. of course this 100-400p party was nite in a niteclub atmosphere even tho' it was in the niteclub. rather, the boss brought his swing jazz band n' played while we had some sandwich platters, egg rolls, n' desserts. ppl swing danced. my mom was there. as much as she doesn't know, it's nice to c her. my sister's families nearby, but i don't get to c her. i was honestly disappointed that they couldn't come 4 t.giving. i wish i could say we'll host 'nother family dinner get2gether in order to c them, but i've gotta admit that i don't have the energy to put that on n' wouldn't dream'f passing that load onto kaela, no way. well, i ended up spending most'f the day @ home. kaela n' rachel studied here, n' duk even hung out here w/ us. it was really kewl to have a coupl'f young ppl over. it reminded me'f college life, u know? 'member the hrs we spent hangin' @ jerome n' andy's? or the hrs that ppl spent @ our ol' 2520 hillegass ave. #218 apt? ah... heh, those were my college days, n' well... as much as i honestly don't wish to dwell on my past or wish i could relive them, i do cherish those memories. in fakt, i guess i wish i could go pick up those ol' foto albums out'f my mom's garage, huh? yah, someday, huh?
so what's up? plz sign my new gbook. it'll only be up until sometime 'round new yr's cos'f the questions. in fakt, i might even need to take it down sometime 'round christmas, rt? neway, check it [out], n' i gotta take out the trash. hold on. [later] 921p: i'm back. i took out the trash, took out the recyclables, n' swept the leaves off the driveway into the street gutter, which isn't really a good thing. last wk or so there was some big truck that came by w/ a enormous vacuum cleaner on its back that sucked up all the leaves from the curbside. i don't think that things gonna come 2morrow. instead, it's gonna start raining, n' then my pile'f leaves is gonna dam up the gutter. that's bad. i hope i don't flood my driveway, but i just wanted to do sumpthin' to get those leaves off my driveway. now, that's what i did. didju have a chance to sign my gbook?
i hear wal.mart 월요일 아침: as much as i really don't care all that much 'bout futbol américain, i'm rather angry that the bowl championship series (bcs) system totally stole the cal bears futbol team's rose bowl bid 'way from them! that's so messed up! argh! we were s'pposed to c roses this yr! apparently, the ut (universit of texas) longhorns' coach went on tv n' begged 4 votes or sumpthin'? apparently, that's being cn as sort'f a durty move on his part. *sigh* neway, it's really funny cos my company's based here in the silly valley w/ lots'f cal n' stanfurd grads, while our manufakturing's in austin w/ lots'f ut grads. i also have lots'f cowerkers here from ut. i've always felt sort'f a rivalry btwn the aktual states'f cali4nia n' texas, so this is really funny. ppl r really proud to be cali4nians or else texans, rt? neway, so the texas longhorns'll play the michigan wolverines in the rose bowl, while the cal bears play the texas tech red devils. it's funny, if cal had gotten its rightful place @ the rose bowl, they would've played michigan, huh? n' michigan's my parents' alma mater n' my birthplace, university of michigan ann arbor. wouldn't that've been really weird? would've been rather interesting, huh? well, now, there's still a cali4nia v. texas rivalry in the holiday bowl tho', isn't there? also, now, we can cheer that michigan beats ut n' that we beat texas tech, so we can cheer 4 2 viktories over texas, rt? u know, the korean nat'l soccer team's also called the red devils, huh? 붉은 악마 boolkeun akma... that's why u always c those "be the reds! t.shirts n' accessories.
[later] this morn, i woke up @ 600a when the tv n' alarm went off. that's how the beautiful kaela hwang has them set up. the radio n' tv go off @ the same time 4 an hr then shut off. i don't like that cos i stay awake 4 almost an hr, being over.stimulated w/ tv n' radio. then i fall back asleep @ 700a n' wake up late. also, kaela can easily sleep thru both of those as well as the loud alarm that can wake up doggies down the street, which isn't as bad as the old alarm clock we had in berkeley, which could wake up doggies in the next town over n' across the bay. neway, kaela can sleep thru all'f those, but i can't. it hurts my ears so badly, so i sometimes put a pillow over my head to muffle it out, but then kaela doesn't wake up, n' then if she wakes up late... :-/ she sez i was s'pposed to wake her up, but i have tried... *sigh* neway, i don't like that morn routine. however, i've gotta admit, i dunno what's the best solution, i really don't. if i set the alarms 4 700a instead or sumpthin', then what? would the same thing happen but an hr later?! i'm rather upset that 4 the past few werkdays, i have not been getting out'f the house @ a time w/ which i'm satisfied. i'm very dissatisfied w/ the time @ which i get out'f the house. plz understand that every morn, i've gotta take sooni 4 a walk 'least 'round the block. i've gotta make time 4 that. i try to eat brkfast. 2day, i ate a pb&j sandwich on bread toasted in the hello kitty toaster than my sister n' steve gave kaela n' me @ our wedding shower thingy. oh, i ate 1 bj&j sandwich n' nother sandwich w/ just jelly. maybe i've gotta skip brkfast in order to get out the door earlier? is that the solution? is that a good solution? these days, it's harder to wake up cos it's cold n' not as sunny, since the sun rises later. as i pulled into a parking spot this morn @ werk.com, i considered resolving to pick up my outfit 4 each day the nite b4. that'd help, wouldn't it?
as i've mentioned b4, in recent wks, i've spent way 2 much times @ places such as costco, rite.aid, walgreens, longs drugs, safeway, albertsons, target [later] 오후: well, during my lunchbrk, i aktually (believe it or not) met w/ kaela @ home 4 lunch! :-) kaela cooked this semi.instant, refrigerated 볶음 짬뽕 bokkeum jjambbong. i appreciated that she did that. however, we both realised that that packaged meal had waaay 2 much sodium. [later] neway, we ate lunch. i ate n' read the "circular" ads @ the kitchen table, while kaela ate n' studied @ the couch. after i ate, i tried to tidy up n' did the white laundry. then we both left the house. sooni wanted to go out w/ us, but i told her to stay. she needs to understand that kaela n' i decide whether she goes out or stays @ home. that's how it is in a wolf pack, n' that's how it is in our house.
tim fong talked 'bout an awesome, awesome site in his blog: yuebing. tim sez, "Evidently one of the most popular web pages in Japan is about one person and his pet rabbits. Every day he updates the page with a picture of the rabbit, known as Yuebing. Evidently the rabbit likes to pose with stuff on top of its head." dude, that's 2 awesome. yesterday, i showed it to kaela, n' she sed that sooni needs a site like that. :-/ no, she hasn't visited my journal much these days. ha ha. (w/ all the pics'f sooni, it's almost already that, rt?)
[later] geez, i never got 'round to talking 'bout the dream i had this morn. i had this dream that i was trying to call kaela, 'cept on my cellfon/handfon, i couldn't get the speed dial to werk, so i kept dialing toby, joon, dave yee, duk, ... *shrug* then i got connekted to toby. toby wanted to talk to me, but i wanted to call kaela. uhm, then there was some weird disneyland parade down telegraph ave. *shrug* neway, just b4 i was 'bout to call kaela, i realised in my dream that it was just a dream n' instead opted to wake up. altho' it was nice to wake up from that stressful situation, i felt it wasn't a satisfying end to my dream. ever feel like that? ever get the feeling that u wanna go back into a dream to resolve a situation to ur satisfaktion? 아침 늦게는: it's nice to buy cheap things to save $$$ n' try to live a simple life, but have u realised just how often cheap things r made in countries w/ bad labour praktices? i mean, basikally, so often, "cheap things" r made in sweat shops, u know? it's awful, n' we should beware'f that, u know? i check labels n' boxes to find out where my merchandise is made. it's 2 bad that i can't always by "made in the u.s.a.," but i do try to buy more'f my stuff from countries w/ fair labour laws.
[later] 오후: last nite, i went shopping. i did some shopping @ rite.aid. aktually, i did lots'f shopping there. then i tried to buy a gift @ big lots! but didn't find the advertised item. i went home. i ate a sandwich. then i went back out. 1st i drove out to the gym, the hamilton bally total fitness. there's a rite.aid there, so i exchanged the broken $10 paper shredder i just bought from the homestead rite.aid a li'l earlier. i went to the gym. i just did 30 mins'f precor. i showered n' went to valley fair, where i bought 2 more presents. i found a very nice present 4 the beautiful kaela hwang. it's a very nice present but since i had this special coupon, i got it @ quite a nice price n' w/ free gift wrapping. i feel like i should get her more cos it didn't co$t as much as i expekted cos'f the coupon. :-/ in ne case, i hope she likes it. while looking 'round, i saw lots'f nice clothes 4 women. man, if only i had more time (it was almost 1100p!!!), i would've bought lots'f clothes 4 kaela cos i saw lots'f nice stuff that i could've gotten 4 relatively cheap! *sigh* in fakt, i really wish i could've done that. well, after shopping, i was very hungry n' couldn't wait till i got home to eat, so instead i went thru the j.box drive.thru n' ate a "small" jumbo jack combo meal that's not very small. 4 my beverage, i opted 4 minute maid lemonade instead'f my more usual diet coke cos i didn't want ne caffeine so late @ nite.
[later] 1149p: tim fong, thanks 4 signing my gbook! u have a great journal. i'm glad u stay on top'f current events better than i do! i haven't cn u @ a bookstore in a while. u studying ok? 수요일 오후: i'll try not to write 2 much 2day. i didn't write much yesterday, but i guess i wanted to. 2day, i'll set out w/o much intention to write a whole bunch, u know? well, it's a rainy day. yesterday nite, it looked like it wouldn't rain 2day, but we got a pleasant surprise. i call it a pleasant surprise cos rain in the bay area usually means snow in the sierras, snow in tahoe. this morn, i woke up ok. i fried up some latkes from trader joes; frozen 1s. i guess these potato pancakes come already fried, so all i really did was make them that much unhealthier by adding more grease to them. :-( last nite, after taekwondo praktice, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to fantasia to get some warm drinks. kaela had almond milk w/ taro balls, n' i had milk tea w/ taro balls. then we went home, where kaela cooked some packaged japanese 오댕국 odaengook ("oden" in japanese). 2day, @ lunch, i ate @ the company cafeteria; i had this good lamb stew w/ a breadstick n' some pretty good but wilted cabbage salad. [later] after eating lunch @ the cafeteria, which was @ another campus from where i usually werk these days, i stopped by home n' took sooni 4 a walk. it started raining as i arrived @ home. i put sooni's raincoat on her, n' we went out. she didn't like the rain tho', i guess. as it started raining harder, she looke more uncom4table n' displeased. she was very happy to get back home n' inside n' didn't wanna go back outside.
2nite, kaela n' i r having dinner w/ some'f my ol' hi skool friends @ buca di beppo in pruneyard. it'll be kewl. these days, i guess cos winter's approaching, i feel like i eat 2 much. i try to exercise, but it's hard to make time sometimes. the winter weather makes me wanna eat more [quantity] n' eat more "hearty" (i.e. unhealthy) stuff (un4tunately).
[later] 저녁: so what's up? when u have a chance, yes, plz sign the current edition'f my gbook!!! 목요일 아침: last nite was a li'l bit'f a hard nite. it was hard to eat such a huge quantity'f delicious buca di beppo italian fud. ha ha. well... it was a hard evening. originally, it sounded like the beautiful kaela hwang was just gonna meet up w/ our friends n' me @ the pruneyard buca di beppo after studying w/ her friends. in that case, i thought i'd go to the hamilton bally total fitness to werkout n' then go to dinner. however, when i came home, i found kaela @ home, werking hard on her real estate stuff. that was fine, but then she left later to go study. we were s'pposed to meet up w/ our friends @ 730p @ the restaurant. well, i just hoped she'd make it fast. after kaela removed her skeleton n' left, i lied down on the couch n' tried to relax n' watch some tv. cos'f the long werkday, tho', i got sleepy n' fell asleep. i awoke to my fon ringing. 'twas ken telling me that they were all waiting 4 us @ the restaurant. i know buca has a messed up policy'f not seating a party till every1's there. i hate when restaurants have policies like that. it's just plain poor customer service, if u ask me. those kinds'f policies show that a bizness's more interested in making more profit via volume than thru providing quality service 4 repeat bizness, u know? neway, apparently, i had missed ken's earlier calls, so ken had called kaela 2. ken told me to come on my own 1st n' have kaela meet us there. i called kaela. she was still w/ her classmates studying but told me to wait @ home n' that she'd be home soon. having been woken up so suddenly, i was so dazed n' confused! i was in such a stupor! i was very cold cos i'd turned off the thermostat to save a li'l $$$, u know? kaela eventually got home. i drove us in a hurry to the restaurant; but since i was so dazed, it felt like a dream. i felt sick. i wondered if i was coming down w/ a cold. we got to the restaurant, n' the party had indeed been seated @ an undersized table. it was ken, grace, sid, al liu, n' jimmy. jimmy scooted over to make room 4 us 2. there was tons n' tons'f fud. apparently nelson had been confused n' thought the dinner was 2nite (not last nite), n' so nelson, mike, n' vivian were absent. *sigh* what a blunder, man! 2 much fud: some meaty meaty pizza w/ pepperonia n' sausage; some roasted chicken w/ mashed potatoes, tomatoes, n' shrooms; (sort'f dry) clam linguine; eggplant parmasagne; garlic cheese bread; n' a coupl'f pitchers'f marzen biere. crazy, huh? some1 sed "finish up," but that would've been ridiculous. there was just way 2 much fud. al liu sed he'd still buy me a new elektric guitar n' amp 4 taking my old 1s. it was kewl to hear 'bout al's recent christian ministry aktivity w/ homeless ppl. it was kewl cos i'd recently been thinking 'bout that n' recently wrote 'bout that kind'f stuff in my journal. neway, since kaela found the beer to be 2 dark 4 her taste, i drank her portion as well as mine. they gave us pretty big portions. cos'f that, i asked her to drive us home. it was pretty late by the time we got home. i werked on ordering some pics via snapfish. u know, each time u make a new acct under a diff e.mail, they give u 30 free prints. a while 'go, the offer was 50 free prints. aktually, the number is randomly generated, so u hafta open n' close ur browser to get a new nombre if the 1 u c isn't 30. neway, kaela studied till she fell asleep on the couch. since she fell asleep on the couch, after i showered i figured i'd better also sleep on the couch even tho' it was uncom4table. :-/ i woke up this morn @ 600a n' noticed that kaela wasn't on the couch but had gone off to shower n' get ready. i felt very unrefreshed, so i went to the bed n' slept a li'l more.
this morn, i ate some'f the leftover garlic cheesy bread (cheezy?) n' some'f the leftover eggplant parmasagne. i took sooni 4 a short walk n' sed "good morning" to ppl i saw. it was wet on the ground but not raining.
[later] 오후: dude, this may sound nerdy, but i currently find dimmable cfls (compakt fluorescent lightbulbs) very interesting. our house has many dimmer light switches, so we always thought we had to use incandescent lightbulbs, but it turns out that we might have the option'f using dimmable cfls. 'member? a while 'go, i saw a fluorescent lite fixture @ costco that was a fluorescent lite w/ digital dimming. hrm... interesting... no?
2day 4 lunch i had a not.so.healthy cobb salad from the company cafeteria. man, why can't i eat more healthily? :-( i had to eat @ werk instead'f going home to eat w/ sooni cos i had a lunch mtg. i'd sort'f 4gotten 'bout that this morn. kaela asked if i wanted to take some eggplant parmasagne 4 lunch, n' i told her i'd come back home to eat it. upes. i need to exercise more n' eat more healthily. *sigh*
i figure we might be able to go buy a christmas tree 2morrow evening, no? kaela's bizzy w/ her exams, so we haven't had a chance yet, i s'ppose.
"i see friends shaking hands, saying 'how do you do?' they're really saying, 'i love you.'" -- from the song "what a wonderful world" i like the louis armstrong version, n' i also like his version'f "moonriver," written by henry mancini. how many'f u have aktually watched breakfast at tiffany's? it sure is a popular late 1990s altrock song. who's that song by 'gain? i now 4get. a google search 1st turns up everclear, but i think that's wrong, unless they did do a cover (version); did they? i believe, rather, that the 2nd answer'f deep blue something is correkt. wow, 1 hit wonder, eh? otherwise, plz refresh my memory on 'nother deep blue something hit single. this leads me into my next thought, which i've had 4 a couple'f weeks now: how is my life diff now from back in 1999? well that's obvious... in some ways... ok, how'm i as a person diff now from back in 1999?" have u ever dug thru my ol' online foto albums? have u done that recently? can u tell me how i look diff now from back in circa 1999? in recent months, when i look @ pics from back in that era (the hey day'f the cal taekwondo party crew, etc.), i notice a few things: 1) my hair was sometimes longer than i 'member it was. 2) my skin was more tan back then (cos i didn't wear sunscreen, which is bad). 3) maybe i did look younger 5 yrs 'go. when i was a kid, i think my sister rented breakfast at tiffany's, perhaps on betamax. i didn't watch it in its entirety but caught glimpses'f it. back in 1999, i hadn't yet watched the movie in its entirety. i still haven't watched it in its entirety, but i think i would like to, despite its negative, "yellow-face" portrayal'f a chinese neighbour. i know that picture'f audrey hepburn from the movie's so famous. i think many ppl love that pic but haven't ever cn the movie.
these past couple'f days i've been listening to mp3s off a cd.r i burned'f old songs i dled from kazaa back when kazaa still had mp3s. these songs were "old" back when i dled them, n' i dled them quite a while 'go, maybe almost a yr 'go? *shrug* some'f the songs r some kewl spanish songs i discovered on viva 105.7, which is a kick@$$ radio station. others r just plain old english songs. i have some old songs by garbage n' no doubt. garbage:1990s::evanescence:2000s; true or false? *shrug* i feel they have a somewhat similar sound. when i was an undergrad @ cal some'f my guy friends from my foothill dorm days really drooled over garbage's lead singer shirley manson. i guess, they figured she was sort'f a goth queen, huh? hrm, "goth queen" sounds like i'm referring to a not.so.hetero male. "goth princess"??? *shrug* no doubt has consistently put out good muzik, huh? it's funny how i'd 4gotten that their "it's my life" is a cover'f an ol' 1980s new wave hit. who was the original artist? a quick google tells me that it was talk talk; true? i do like the current u2 hit single from their decently hyped how to dismantle an atomic bomb album. what's the title? uh... apparently, it's "vertigo." ah, i didn't really realise its title but have enjoyed it in all it's i.pod hype.
[later] last nite, i ate plenty'f unhealthy fud. 2day, i'm drinking lots'f h2o. that's a li'l funny tidbit (or "quirk," as phil might say) 'bout me; if i feel i've eaten unhealthy things, i tend to flush out my system w/ lots'f h2o. (yes, i realise that the chemical symbol should be "H2O," u kapitaliste pig!)
[later] from ehow.com: how to keep a christmas tree fresh
금요일 아침: yesterday eve, the beautiful kaela hwang, sooni, n' i went to the santa clara home depot on lafayette to buy a christmas tree, a christmas tree stand, n' a wreath. i skipped taekwondo praktice. setting up the tree took a while, then i thought i was gonna go to taekwondo sparring praktice, but i realised that if kaela's home instead'f out studying, i might as well spend time @ home. she called it "family time," kaela, me, n' sooni! ha ha ha. we didn't really eat much 4 dinner, just some leftover eggplant parmasagne from the nite b4's buca di beppo feast. we watched an episode'f a new korean drama that has started on sbs 남자가 사랑할때 / namjaga saranghalddae / (when a man loves), starring 고수 go soo, whom we know from the ol' mbc comedrama (that's a term i just coined 4 comedic daramas...) 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeyo. the female lead, we're wondering if she's also from 눈으로 말해요 / nooneuro malhaeyo. was she the gurl downstairs (명희? myuhnghee?) that liked 장기룡 janggiryong (고수 go soo's charakter)??? well, the website sez the aktress's 박정아 park juhngah. i don't know. she does look like that gurl, but i dunno.
late last nite, after i woke up from a short nap on the couch, i dug thru my ol' cd collektion n' ripped some'f my ol' "modern rock" cds to mp3s. i'm talkin' 'bout ol' depeche mode cd5 (maxi.singles) from the 1990 violator album n' some erasure n' new order. that's some old stuff. i also ripped the cause & effect "you think you know her" cd5. now that's a 1 hit wonder grp, eh? i dunno why, but i just got a li'l nostalgik 'bout my "mod" life back in the late 1980s n' early 1990s.
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went to the santa clara mission station post office to pick up a used ieee.1394 firewire pcmcia card that i bought on ebay on my way back to the office, i went to the mcyukyuk's 'cross the st from my office n' bought a 5.piece chicken selects meal. *sigh* i'm very unhappy 'bout always eating so unhealthily these days. it certainly sucks; most definitely. have u heard ppl say "mos def" instead'f "most definitely"?
[much later] 1112p: after werk, i went to 갤러이아 마켓 galleria market to buy some groceries n' baked goods. kaela met me there. we went home, n' i cooked us some 떡볶이 dduhkbokki. i used this 떡 dduhk that we bought a li'l while 'go that is so kewl. instead'f being tubular, they're shaped like li'l cute shapes like shrooms, doggy bones, stars, 4.leaf clovers, fishies, n' stuff like that. they're so kewl! :-) well, it's been a quite nite here @ the hwang residence. 2morrow, i'll go w/ my cowerkers to northstar. kaela'll be here. she'll werk n' study. yah, i feel bad 4 ditching her, but i told my cowerkers i'd go w/ them, u know? 'nother thing that's not that great is that no experienced boarders r going w/ me. i'll likely hafta board 'lone.
so we saw the new sbs drama. it's 마지막 춤은 나와 함께 / majimak choomeun nawa hamggei / (dance the last dance w/ me), starring 지성 ji suhng from the kbs drama 애정의 조건 / aejuhnguy joguhn (as well as 1'f those live muzik shows) n' the singer/aktress 김유진 kim yoojin from the famous gurlypop grp s.e.s. n' the kbs drama miniseries 러빙 유 / loving you.
so, when we drive down to socal this holiday season, do we take my car? my forester? 일요일 밤 1108p: i'm gonna hafta do a quick summary'f this wknd cos i just don't wanna spend 2 much time writing journal entries nemore, as i've recently mentioned.
월요일 아침 1217a (일요일 밤): i'm pro gun control thus i'm pro.life since i'm anti.death. even tho' the clown shows r over, let's not 4get the real issues as opposed to politiks as worldly society'd like us to believe they r. i personally cannot support a man who calls himself a "good steward of the land" in the middle'f a presidential debate w/ no deeds to justify that. in saying that, he was in effekt taking the lord's name in vain, n' as a christian voter i can't support that.
[later] real morning / late morning: i saw an ol' dokument that was dated 99.09.04 or sumpthin' like that, n' i was confused cos i'm so used to this decade n' thus dates more like 04.09.04, etc. 4 (2004.09.04). crazy how time flies, huh? @ the grx christmas banquet i ran into an ol' friend from my berkeley ivcf (intervarsity christian fellowship days). she sed i looked the same, that i haven't changed. really? she hadn't cn me since 1998. i dunno; do i worry that i look older that age's taking its toll on me or whatever? *shrug*
[later] a long time 'go, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had a short silly conversation: she thought the nbc today show hosts katie couric n' matt lauer were married, but i disagreed. months later, i saw a billboard on a bus that advertised nbc ch11's morning newsteam, sumpthin' 'bout brent n' laura garcia-cannon (whom r prob'ly married) n' then katie couric n' matt lauer. the way the put those 2 pairs 2gether made me wonder if indeed katie couric n' matt lauer r married. i always meant to google up an answer, n' this morn i 'membered 4 1nce to do that. no, they're not married. however, that's a funny, funny thought cos, i think, as a kid, i always thought that the male n' female anchorpeople were a married couple. ha ha ha. i 4get, on some ch recently, i think ktvu fox2, the 2 main anchors were both women. i 4get which ch. neway, that's great. i do think woman power n' women power or womanpower or even grrlpower r all good things.
오후: during my lunchbrk, i 1st went to costco to fill up on $1.89/gal gas, as i did on fri eve, after dinner, after kaela passed out on the couch. 1) by "passed out" i mean "fell asleep." don't go 'round thinking the 2'f us r always gettin' drunk off our @$$es n' really passing out. it's just a term i use! 2) i don't think i mentioned, in previous entries 'bout fri nite, that i went to costco w/ sooni to fill up on gas. originally, i think i thought 'bout going somewhere afterwards, i 4get. oh yah, i originally (on fri nite) was gonna go to the atm, but i cancelled those plans n' returned home w/ sooni to be w/ kaela, even tho' she wasn't really awake, was she? i 4get. neway, during 2day's lunchbrk, i 1st went to costco to get $1.89/gal gas. then, i went home n' ate a turkey ham, turkey bologna, n' cheddar cheese sandwich on old wheat bread toasted in our hello kitty toaster that my sister grace n' her husband steve gave us. i ate that n' some leftover 짜장면. then i took sooni 4 a walk 'round the block. i brought some cubes'f cheddar w/ us. i cut that rt b4 we left. i let sooni walk on a normal leash instead'f the full gentle leader in an attempt to wean her slowly off the gentle leader. 2day she was good, but un4tunately, many times, if i try to wean her off the gentle leader by converting it into a normal collar/leash, then she starts pulling. 2day, she didn't pull. on our walk, i met 1'f our neighbours way down the steet. he's a japanese.amerikan dude, heading 2wards middle age, named henry. i always noticed that his vehicles on his driveway have lots'f "kerry-edwards" stickers, so i already understood that he must have some similar politcal views w/ me. he's a machinist/carpenter currently looking 4 werk n', yes, dissatisfied w/ "the current administration." in a way, we come from very diff walks'f life, but in a way we're similar. he starting talkin' 'bout how society these days is so strikt n' talked 'bout a woman he knew who got arrested 4 publik drunkeness n' lost her job. *shrug* (i wasn't 2 sure how to respond to that.) on the topik'f "the current administration," yah, i had to mention that i am dissatisfied w/ how well outsourcing's encouraged, etc.
[later] i hope to hit the gym 2day cos i badly need exercise. this morning, i took a short jog w/ sooni. she needs the exercise 2, i figure. since it's winter she's usually cooped up @ home inside, n' i s'ppose that's why she's more tempted these days to jump the fence when we leave her out in the backyard like yesterday, when my mom found her. *sigh* i figure she must have that "u never take me newhere nice!" thing going... after all, she's a gurl, n' that's what gurls say. i think i have some errands n' shopping still to do this eve b4 or after the gym. i s'ppose these days i try to do those kinds'f errands b4 hittin' the gym so that i miss the big rush, but i dunno... when i do that, then kaela comes home to a benoless house, i s'ppose. man, since i was a kid, the finiteness'f time in each day has always frustrated me. u know, i hate to admit this, but i've sort'f pondered baking christmas cookies to pass out to friends n' family... :-/ i know; that sounds pretty domesticated, n' yah, my cowerkers tease me 'bout being all domesticated, etc. well, shoot? how's a 29.yr old, married engr s'pposed to behave? i'm not 'llowed to bake cookies? ha ha ha, well, lemme tell u... i don't bake very good cookies neway, not even from those premade cookie batter sausage thingies. last yr 'round this time, i made a horrible attempt, a disastrous attempt. the cookies were sooo gross! 1'f my friends was recently writing in his blog 'bout a clubbing experience n' sed if he went clubbing 'lot, it'd affekt his spiritual life. i respekt his saying that, but i've been in sort'f debates 'bout "should christians go clubbing?" i love muzik. i love dancing. clubbing was never a "meat market" 4 me, it was 'bout enjoying muzik. i like listening to bands; i like listening to singing grps; n' i like listening to djs... uhm, if they're good... sometimes, when i like muzik, i wanna move my body n' thus dance. drinking? yah, i like the taste'f festive drinks, n' they match the atmosphere; they complement it. do i ever intend to get drunk, wasted, or smashed? uh, not nemore. did i ever? well, i never used alkohol as a drug, but i think, in the past, i did let friends try to make me drink more than i wanted to, u know? neway, that was in my younger days; i'm not a kid nemore, n' i think my friends r also more mature than that these days. scantily clad women n' a sexual atmosphere? pfffft... u c skin @ swim competitions, u c skin during ballet per4mances... ppl dress in less clothing cos clubs r hot n' sweatty, full'f moving ppl. u don't go swimming in jeans n 'a sweatshirt, n' u'r not gonna enjoy dancing in a club dressed like that either. yah, i've had these debates b4. i'm trying to argue w/ my friend but just feel like discussing the issue. i like what pastor dave sed 'bout the issue. yah, he sed he, himself, wouldn't go clubbing, but does he think it's wrong 4 christians to go clubbing? he sed sumpthin' like "there are 3 or 4 principles i'd be willing to die for n' that... [meaning the idea that christians shouldn't go clubbing] that's just not one of them." i understand, there r some sights @ a niteclub that could cause a man/woman to sin. however, ppl get tempted by diff things, n' so... it's really not an "open n' shut" case or nething.
[later] 1012p: after werk, i went to the hamilton bally total fitness. i lifted weights n' then did 30 mins on the precor. then i stretched, showered, n' left. i was gonna do some christmas $hopping, but then i found out kaela was home w/ sooni, so i figured i should hurry home. well, i did a li'l christmas $hopping. i then tried to get us a size 0, satin nickel, glass fireplace screen. it was very frustrating! apparently, none'f the stores 'round here (neither osh nor home depot) received size 0, only size 3, which no 1 wants! apparently, i'll hafta go to a fireplace store or maybe order it online. :-/ i came home sometime after 900p. i ate a turkey coldcut n' cheddar cheese sandwich. hrm, i ate 3 sandwiches 2day: 1 4 brkfast, 1 4 lunch, n' 1 4 dinner. :-/
[later] 1037p: oh yah, @ the gym, i saw on the news that scott peterson's gettin' the death penalty. :-/ he's a cold.blooded killer, a murderer. how wouldju think i'd feel 'bout that? :-/ u know, christians shouldn't 4get that jesus died on the cross 4 all sinners that will accept him. would scott peterson ask 4 4giveness n' repent? *shrug* why can't i find more ppl who say abortions should be 4bidden by federal law n' the death penalty 2. instead, i find all these ppl that say that abortion should be 4bidden by federal law cos it's murder but capital punishment is fine. on the other hand, i also find all these ppl that say capital punishment is wrong but abortion is okay. why is capital punishment not murder? how is capital punishment not murder? cos the criminal committed a crime, it's now ok to murder him instead'f letting his judgement be left to god? :-? it's ok to preclude the criminal's life n' prevent him from ever asking 4 4givence from god thru jesus christ n' repenting? think 'bout that famous question' 'bout 'oh, how would u feel if such n' such, such n' such...' sure, of course, if such a hideous crime was committed to me, i'd want revenge... but my wanting revenge'd be an awful sin. :-/ n' that's ok? do states use capital punishment to carry out revenge, to ensure the safety of its ppl, or else out'f convenience? i dunno, man. i mean, believe it or not (really, u have the choice!), i'm not trying to convince u to believe what i believe... necessarily... after all, i think u know my stances on such issues; after all, so many ppl'd quickly brand me a pinko liberal berkeley commie, rt? n' in ne case, after such a hyped up yr'f politiks, i truly am sick'f talkin' 'bout politiks. :-/ really, i am. i dunno; i really wanna make this the absolute last "politcal" entry 4 this yr n' just lay it all to rest... 'least 4 this yr. heh... certain things still just make me very sick... how ppl who say their votes support "family values" don't realise that those votes r also supporting greed, the tobacco industry, irresponsible gambling, n' prostitution. if u can stand nemore political talk ('specially that mixed w/ spiritual talk), plz read "why kerry lost" on the christiansfordean.info website. n' if u'r still up 4 more, plz read "evangelicals and the republican smoke screen" on believersagainstbush.org, an article about the republikkkan's misuse'f the abortion n' gay marriage issues, etc. 화요일 아침: this christmas, if i don't get over my gadgetlust, i think i'll try to buy myself 2 presents: 1) a palmone tungsten t5
[later] 오후: 4 lunch 2day, i had this southwest chicken salad from my company's cafeteria. i haven't gone home to c sooni yet 2day. oh, u know what? i've signed up to donate blood 2morrow afternoon. can u believe that? i've never donated blood b4. uhm, honestly, i've always been just a li'l scared 2. however, i'm just gonna go 'head n' do it 2morrow, i guess. i'm doing it thru a blood drive @ my company. as i've sed b4, my company's very good 'bout giving back to the community, n' i like that.
[later] i saw a funny, funny link on tim fong's xanga: ipod (what next? after the the u2 ipod...) 수요일 아침: i'm having a surprisingly bad morning. >:-( i woke up to a cold house just a li'l bit later than i expekted. the local news was on as part'f a li'l gap in nbc's today show. i had a li'l bit'f a stomach ache. i went to get ready in the hallway bathrm w/ plans to take sooni 4 a jog. when i came out, the beautiful kaela hwang was all pi$$ed off @ me 4 not waking her up. she's got finals now, so even tho' i knew it like 730a or so, i thought maybe she was going to skool just 4 her final, which might've been @ 1000a or sumpthin' like that. neway, my morning got off to an awful start. i steamed some 호빵 hobbang (red bean buns). i got dressed to take sooni 4 a jog. in order to carry less stuff, i separated my car keys from my housekeys n' then left. shoot, i accidentally took my car keys n' not my housekeys. i turned the doorknob. shoot, i usually never lock the door from the inside but somehow managed to goof up n' do it 2day. argh! well, i knew'f a special way to get in if all else failed. i decided to take sooni 4 the jog 1st n' then come back in re.enter thru my special way. well, we went 4 a short jog. i had left the buns steaming on the stove, so i didn't wanna be out'f the house 2 long. i got worried tho' while jogging. what if i ran into some1 who wanted to chat n' chat 4 a long time. i should never leave the stove on unattended, i tell u; never! well, neway, i went back home ok w/o encountering ne1 or nething like that. i re.entered thru my special way. i got dressed 4 werk n' left the house eating 2'f my 3 buns, leaving the 3rd maybe 4 kaela or whatever. as i got in my car, i realised i 4got my pager but figured it wasn't worth going back 4. [interrupted, later] then when i got closer to my office (which isn't far @ all from my house), i realised that i also 4got my security id badge; d'oh. i figured i'd go thru the thorough procedure 4 obtaining a temporary badge instead'f making a u.turn n' risk being late 4 the mtg i had setup 4 this morn. *sigh* well, things r better now. while i was in my mtg, kaela aktually sent me a txt msg n' apologised 4 what happened this morn, n' that's nice. it really is. we should all stop thinking of apologising as such a "losing face" kind'f aktion but rather as a real akt'f asking 4 4giveness n' acknowledging our sinful nature. we can't, on our own, be perfekt.
richard alfaro, thanks very much 4 signing my gbook. i really appreciate it. "laughing at the christmas lights, we remember from december..." from the cure's let's go to bed... that's a lyric i think 'bout when i read that "a christmas u like" is the "batman smells" version'f "jingle bells," since u'r a big cure fan. i guess u must also be a big bart simpson fan? heh heh... u mention that it "surprises" u that u n' i have the same taste in musik. well, yah... lately, i've been listening to my ol' collektion'f 1980s ~ early 1990s mod rock. i have mod rock / modern rock roots, no doubt. @ the same time, yah... i like quite a variety'f musik. ppl who frequent my journal'll know that i'm aktually really into a wide variety'f korean musik n' a li'l bit'f spanish.language pop n' rock muzik. i dunno; what r the bounds'f my musikal taste??? well, i shoul discuss that soon. in the meantime, lemme tell u, richard, that i really appreciate that u've stopped by my gbook n' left a msg. i also really like "a foolish arrangement" by the cure. yah, i think my favourite's still "just like heaven" despite it's pop musik aura. last nite, i was thinking 'lot 'bout the "lovesong" b.side "2late." well, hopefully, u'll get the cure double cd soon. take care, richard. every1 else, plz stop by n' sign my gbook! thanks.
well, what r the bounds that define the vektor space known as my musikal taste or "beno's musikal taste"? hrm... well, 1st off i have mod rock / modern rock / new wave / alt rock / eurosynthpop roots. well, the very 1st stuff i listened to when i was in 3rd~4th grade in 1983~1985 was top 40, whatever was popular in those yrs; crap like van halen, hall n' oates, prince n' the revolution, lionel ritchie, billy ocean, phil collins... then in like 5th grade or so, i started getting into depeche mode cos my sister was gettin' into all that mod stuff; depeche mode, cure, r.e.m., u2, new order, pet shop boys, erasure... live 105.3 modern rock! thru.out middle skool i bounced btwn this "modern rock" n' top 40; back n' forth, back n' forth. @ times, i wanted to be a kewl, popular kid @ skool, instead'f a dark gothpunk alternakid, so @ times, i got familiar w/ stuff like guns n' roses n' def leppard n' salt n' peppa even tho' i think i really still preferred mod rock. thru.out hi skool, i really mixed it up. i still was totally into my eurosythpop n' mod rock but also let myself get sort'f exposed to some urban hip hop n' stuff like that. yah, aktually in middle skool, i did 2. heh... shoot, if u read my stoopid benomusik page, u'll learn all 'bout my musikal history... why should i retype it all here?! well, i guess i set out to write this paragraph as more'f a summary than a repeat'f what i wrote on that page. ok, 4 starters, i'm 1'f the subset'f amerikans who still does not like country musik! sure, i'll tolerate some pop countryesque tunes by country musicians such as shania twain or uh... faith hill, etc. however, i'm still totally turned off by real country musik. it's disgusting that cos'f all the pseudo.patriotik, unhealthy hooplah that's developed in the past few yrs that we cm to hear more country musik than we used to... u know, jazz is what's really amerikan. if we're trying to be more "patriotik," we should play more jazz musik. i like jazz, but it's always more like "background musik" 4 me, just as it is 4 lots'f other ppl, i'm sure. i'm kewl w/ rap n' hip hop, but it'll never be my main kind'f musik. i much more prefer tekno, what's been called "rave" or "teknorave," even tho' i've never been to a rave n' most likely will never ever go to 1. i'd go 4 the musik if i ever go, but i'm never ever gonna promote or condone drug use. u know, i've always hated how there's the term "sex, drugs, n' rock n' roll." wtf? why do ppl connekt those 3. i'm a musik fundamentalist n' keep them separated. u know, recently, i realised that rap/hip.hop is the new rock. basikally, rap/hip.hop's here to stay; it'll always be here.
[later] 나즌 아후: i gave blood 2day. 2day, kaela came n' picked me up 4 lunch @ 명동 순두부 myuhngdong soondubu. i had 섞어 순두부 suhkkuh soondubu. i asked 4 it to be very spicy, but it wasn't, so kaela asked the waitress to bring me some 고추장 gochoojang. kaela had 버섯 순두부 buhsuht soondubu. the place was pretty crowded, which is expekted of a bizness day lunch. b4 going back to werk n' studying, we stopped by 빵굽는 마울 bbanggoobneun maeul to buy some bread n' then home 4 me to pick up my badge n' pager n' 4 kaela to pick up her laptop. we sed hi to sooni etc. 2nite, i plan to stay @ home n' wax/tune our snowboards. no gym werkout 4 me 2nite. 1) i've got things to do. 2) i gave blood 2day. honestly, i feel a li'l lite.headed, but i think it's just psychosomatik, rt? 1 thing's 4 sure tho'. i've got hi blood pressure n've gotta stop eating so much sodium. it's aktually rather imperative! less sodium n' less stress...
last nite, after taekwondo praktice, i drove down to ken's house w/ sooni. i stopped by the taco bell drive.thru on homestead near san tomas b4 continuing on the short journey. i ordered 1 0.5-lb beef n' potato burrito, which was waaay 2 salty, n' a medium (pink) lemonade. i went to ken's house, tied sooni out to a palm tree outside, n' went in to setup kaela's new superkewl motorola v710 camcorderfon. it's pretty crazy stuff. it's not as small as the lg vx6000, but it's got a better camera. in fakt, it's a "camcorder." i think it still uses a cmos chip instead'f a ccd tho', yah? *shrug* here r some hilites'f the specs:
well, me? i've still got my lg vx6000. i werk it pretty hard. i do my y! msgr n' aol im (aim) w/ it. i send txt msgs, take lots'f pics, n' use mp3 ringtones via hacks. *shrug*
[later] so yah, i gave blood 2day. i was very fast, they say. afterwards, i ate 3 whole cookies. 1 was some kind'f nutty cookie shaped like a crescent moon. 1 was a chocochip cookie, a bit buttery. the last 1 was some kind'f snickerdoodle. i also ate chips n' salsa n' pretzels (the hard kind) n' drank a small cup'f oreinji jyooseu. i was a 1st time donor.
[later] 1034p: so i waxed n' tuned our boards 2nite. well, i didn't do much tuning, just a li'l. it was exhausting 'nuff just doing the waxing. it took the whole evening. i tried to eat healthier 2nite cos i know i've gotta lower my blood pressure, but i dunno... i ate some pastries from 2day's purchase, which isn't a good meal. i ate 1 forkless gourmet beef n' broccoli bun, which had 2 much sodium. :-/ *sigh* well, hey, check out this article 'bout all these superunhealthy burgers that've come out lately n' how well they're selling: "hardee's, carl's jr. cash in with backlash burgers." man, that's pretty bad stuff. i've never had a "six-dollar burger" yet, not a whole 1. 1nce kaela bought 1, n' i had the leftovers. i don't think i've had nething more than a 2×2 @ in.n.out, but i think i'd be up 4 like a 4×4, 'specially if i were to split it w/ some1. i have had a double whopper b4. i 4get if it was a double whopper w/ cheese or what.
duk's friend sera/sara/sarah(?) sed that 한국 가수 유승준 korean singer yoo seungjoon (who ditched his mandatory korean army service) n' fled to amerika's now a christian singer in oregon. yah?
hey everyone, yah, plz sign my gbook! 목요일 아침: how many days till christmas? 9?!?!?! uh.oh! man, my christmas shopping's really sputtery, it sort'f starts n' stops, starts n' stops. :-/ did i get u a present? uhm, did u get me a present? heh heh... isn't that just the eternal predikament? to whom do u give presents? group gift exchanges help solve that prob, no doubt; but the prob still survives.
[later] ok, dude; the geek question'f the day is: "do i lose hit points for donating blood?"
[later] sometime soon, i've gotta use the "travelmemory" and "freebie" coupon codes on snapfish, sometime soon. i should take lots'f pics. :-)
[later] seriously, i need to eat less sodium, less salt, less packaged n' "convenience" fuds! *sigh* w/o doubt, we eat 2 much packaged fuds; even when we cook, we use packaged ingredients 4 shortcuts. don't 4get, a few yrs back, back when i lived in berkeley, i had almost low blood pressure. ever since i moved down to the sobay, my blood pressure has shot up. :-( well, that's 'nother new yr's resolution 4 2005, no doubt: lower my sodium/salt intake, lower my blood pressure.
[later] 오후: i was s'pposed to go to lunch w/ the grp i'm werking w/ now, but i think they 4got 'bout me n' left w/o me. :-( this is the 2nd time sumpthin' like this has happened, n' it's sort'f depressing. :-( i wonder if i'm just not a fun person to werk w/ these days. i feel that i'm always bugging ppl 4 stuff, n' now i worry that ppl r avoiding me cos i'm always asking 4 them to do stuff 4 me. *sigh*
[later] so i went to albertsons to buy some groceries: 6 cups'f nf nsa (nonfat, no sugar added) yogurt, some big fuji apples @ 10 lbs 4 $10 (aka @ $1/lb, which doesn't sound like as good'f a deal), some bananas @ 79¢/lb., a pint'f nf milk @ 4.3¢/oz, n' 24 single rolls'f charmin tp 4 $5.50. i thought i'd buy more stuff, but *shrug* i dunno what else to buy as a guy who needs to watch his sodium intake n' lower his blood pressure. *shrug* i went home. i toasted the last'f the white bread that we bought from 베스타 vesta bakery (inside 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market) n' made a sandwich w/ 2 slices'f turkey coldcuts w/o n' dressing (i.e. no ketchup, no mustard). i also ate a hard.boiled egg w/o the yolk. on my way back from albertsons, i had eaten 1 li'l guatemalan banana. i ate 2 peeled oreinji. [later] oh yah, our friends dave n' emily r gonna have a baby boy next april. that's kewl. very much congratulations to them.
[later] hey, what r u doing 4 nye2004? (or do we call it nye2005? *shrug*) i was just now looking up nye parties in the area. i guess there r some club parties in sf. they're expen$ive, but i figure kaela'll get on my case if we end up not doing nething. :-/ we've had 2 boring nyes in a row. hrm... yah, the nye club parties co$t upwards'f $50/person. hrm, @ that price, u could go to disneyland 4 nye, but u'd hafta be in socal. i fun nye that i had was way back in my undergrad days when ken organised it n' had us all go to the cliffhouse restaurant. that turned out to be superkewl, but that was ages 'go. 금요일 아침: this is a very important article that every dog owner must read: "he just wants to say 'hi!'".
[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i went home n' picked up the beautiful kaela hwang n' sooni. we tried to go to pizz'a chicago, but it was 2 crowded, so we went to 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market's deli market thingy. it was such a beautiful day, so we wanted to eat outside w/ sooni. who'd ever think we'd get to have such a nice outdoor meal in the middle'f dec?!?!?! the bay area kicks @$$, n' it kicks it hard! i had 육계장 yookgyeijang, n' kaela had 쫄면 jjolmyuhn. kaela thought everything was 2 spicy, so i had to finish that fud, n' she went back in n' got some 전 juhn (fried stuff... like pancakes, sort'f...). (i eat 2 much these days!) afterwards, we swung by the nearest see's candy to pick up some gifts, thinking that i was s'pposed to get a 30% company di$count, but they told me it was only @ the sunnyvale store. *sigh*
2nite, we're having dinner w/ my family @ krung thai. 2morrow we're going snowboarding @ boreal. duk'll come over n' play w/ sooni. sun, we'll go househunting w/ toby n' betty. it'll be a filled wknd, u know?
i worry i'm like that 2 often, 2 into airing my own opinion, 2 li'l into really understanding things. :-( i'll try to be better.
berny, thanks 4 signing my gbook. u rock, obviously. rock on! i answered the question u asked by leaving a comment 4 u on ur webpage. sorry, i lost ur contakt info. aktually, i wanna reprint my msg to u here:
hey berny,
4 some reason i've lost all ur contakt info. i dunno why it's not on my palm desktop.
neway, in response to ur gbook entry on my site, ur journal entry did inspire me to write more 'bout clubbing, but i'm not necessarily mad that u quit clubbing or nething, but i feel it's very misunderstood in the christian community, that ppl make way 2 many assumptions. like, @ my old church this 1 dude that's older than me but akts like a kid totally dogged on clubbing n' gave all these vivid descriptions'f what sinful lust palaces they r... but he's never ever been to a club. it was so ridiculous to me cos when i c the scenes that he thinks he's describing, all i c r wallflower kids waiting 'gainst the wall 4 some1'f the opposite to come ask them to dance, just like @ a bret harte middle skool bronco nite or @ an sbty dance... except these kids have aged some 5~10 yrs, u know? neway, i have much more to argue w/ that dude than w/ u. u've aktually been to clubs, n' u've 'least cn what's out there n' can discern (is that the rt wurd) whether it's rt 4 u or not. even better, u don't go off saying that i shouldn't go. u know that even tho' a certain aktivity or scene might cause 1 man to sin or fall 'way from god, it aktually might be a place that god wants 'nother man to be in order to best do his werk in this world. so yah, i don't have beef w/ u or nething, don't worry.
neway, can u e.mail me ur contakt info (beno at benomix dot com). i don't get why i don't have it. i think i must've stored it in my ol' motorola v60 fon n' maybe never entered it into my palm desktop. *shrug*
~beno [late]r last nite, kaela n' i went over to my cowerker dinesh's condo 4 his housewarming party, where we ate lots'f li'l caesar's pizza n' had some miller lite beer. i liked the jalapeño n' shroom pizza; it was very good. we watched the season finale'f nbc's the apprentice. yah, this dude kelly one. *shrug* i totally don't follow those reality shows, so i had no clue who he was, but he won, beating this gurl named jen. 월요일 아침: it's now christmas wk. 2day's the 3.yr anniversary'f the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my wedding engagement. isn't that crazy? time really flies. 세월 유수. seiwuhl yoosoo. time flows.
this was a pretty bizzy wknd. on fri eve, after werk, kaela n' i hurried to meet up w/ my family @ krungthai (#2) on n. winchester blvd, near valley fair mall. we had a big dinner n' then went over to my sister's house to chill n' eat aisukuriimu, cookies, n' tea. our nephew mason's funny.
on sat, kaela n' i went snowboarding @ northstar. it was a pretty full day @ northstar, n' we stayed almost completely on black diamond runs, which was a big diff from my previous wk, where i was mostly on blues in order to stick w/ my cowerkers who rn't so experienced @ snowboarding. this time, kaela n' i stuck mostly to the backside, which i found to be a really yuppie hangout. there were 'lot'f these asian yuppie types. i mean, i s'ppose i could fall into that category, but i dunno, man... i prefer, on the slopes, to hit up more'f the terrain park kind'f area, not so much this downhill "skier type" terrain, but i do still like this kind'f run. this is the kind'f place where i praktice riding fast n' jumping while riding fast. jumping while riding fast is diff from totally freestyle jumping, where u do more tricks n' stuff like that. it was total spring conditions up on the slopes. [took a brk, later] we ran into my ol' hi skool friend jin lee on the slopes. we had a very full day'f snowboarding even tho' we took a lunchbrk n' ate a bowl'f chili w/ cornbread n' a "ranch salad." the ranch salad was a really good deal cos they gave me a meal portion, but the menu only had a side order portion listed @ $3.03 (the weird prices r cos'f the even/flat prices after tax). on our way home, we stopped off in roseville to get some hot choco @ starbucks. when we got out'f the car, the car next to me had a bush.cheney sticker, so i figured, "man... we're in that kind'f town," but then we went into starbucks n' the staff was aktually pretty diverse, u know? we made such great time on the road up n' down. we came home n' dukkyung was over playing w/ sooni. we wanted to take him out to dinner but he had plans to go out w/ friends, so we stayed home n' ate some steamed 만두 mandoo. man, i was rather tired.
on sun, in the morn, i went 4 a quick jog w/ sooni. then dukkyung came over, n' the 3'f us went to church @ grx, where pastor dave gave a great christmas msg. afterwards, we tried to take dukkyung to lunch 1st @ original pancake house in cupertino that was 2 crowded n' then @ yas persian restaurant in saratoga that was closed. we finally succeeded in buying duk lunch @ ringer hut nagasaki champon. it was good stuff. in the afternoon, kaela n' i went up to show toby n' betty some houses. wow, i'd 4gotten how nice houses up the east bay can be. sure, some'f the houses r older just as they can be all over the bay area; but man, they're nice n' the neighbourhoods r nice. man, we really saw some'f the kewl areas that really exemplify the best'f the bay area. u know? the bay area has good, edukated, cultured ppl. well, after doing real estate stuff, we all went to dinner @ 168. wow, the owner there still 'members me. i told reminded him that we moved down to the sobay, n' that's why we don't show up as much as we used to.
[later] hrm, i feel like there's sumpthin' i need to do 2day, but i totally cannot 'member what it is. *sigh* is it sumpthin' i need to buy? sumpthin' i need to drop off? *sigh* i dunno. like, i know that i do need to do some super last min christmas $hopping. :-/ 2nite, vince n' fahad r coming down to visit us. that'll be fun.
[later] 오후: lately, i've got quite a bit to do @ werk cos i'm in the process of trying to find a "permanent placement" position as my "rotational" program is soon coming to an end. i've gotta try to get interviews n' stuff, u know? sure, it's a much better position to be in than to be searching 4 a job as an outsider, but it's still a bit stressful, n' 'least the managers cm to understand how that can be. it's gotten cold 'gain here in the silly valley; 1nce 'gain, cold n' dry. the lack'f precipitation's aktually really great 4 sooni cos that means she can go out more n' do stuff like wait outside our 도장 dojang during our taekwondo praktices still. [later] 저녁: believe it or not, days r already getting longer... slowly.
[later] 623p: now i'm home, cleaning up 4 when fahad, wendy, vince, et al.
maybe it's a sign'f my gettin' older that i feel these days that fashion changes so fast. like, i think some'f the styles'f the early 2000s have totally given way to totally retro 1980s stuff. kids used to curl up the bills'f their baseball caps, but nowadays the fad's to leave it totally straight. i don't wear such baggy jeans nemore. instead, i get bootcut "lo.rise" jeans. man, just how long'll it be till acid wash denim makes a comeback??? whadya think? it's funny, but 4 quite a while now i've noticed that i can tell if sumpthin' i'm watchin' on tv's old by how women's eyebrows look. ha ha. it might sound really subtle to some guys, but *shrug* i've noticed these things.
a while 'go, i wrote a short passage that hilites the top events'f 2004. i've yet to post it here but soon shall. 1055a: 벌써 성탄철이에요. it's already christmas. in recent yrs, since corporate retailers n' starbucks start their commericial christmas hoopla/hooplah on nov 1, by the time jesus's observed b.day rolls 'round, it sort'f springs up on me cos by then i'm rather tired'f waiting. u understand, don'tchu? seriously! it was really bad 2 yrs 'go, my 1st yr'f grad skool, when i was studying in starbucks 'lot. normally, as a grad'f berkeley, i'd never study in a corporate coffeehouse, but that yr, the beautiful kaela hwang was werking @ the santa clara county health dept, n' i wanted to wait 4 her in her close vicinity. sometimes, i studied instead @ the campbell roasting co. in the pruneyard mall, but often i studied @ the bascom/hamilton starbucks.
well, we're down here in chino now w/ kaela's parents n' her whole immediate family rt now since her bro n' sis came here 2. i've been really sick w/ some kind'f flu. (no flu vaccines this yr thanks to... oh yah, i'm not gonna talk 'bout politiks 4 the rest'f the yr.) we had 1 crazy drive down to socal on thurs nite. we started so much later than we wanted to. i thought we'd leave in the afternoon, but i ended up staying @ werking up until 500p or so. we, being as disorganised as we usually r @ home, did not yet pack until i got home n' stuff. i don't feel quite as bad rt now, but yesterday i woke up feeling pretty good but felt sicker / more sick later on. i don't think that'll happen 2day; i hope it doesn't.
[later] 1158a: well cos i've been bizzy, i haven't updated u well. on wed, @ lunch, i went to dave n' buster's w/ my werk division 4 a party. i got to play some video games. the fud was ok. on wed nite, i brought kaela to arcadia restaurant in downtown san jo 4 our 17th wedding monthversary / 3rd engagement anniversary / christmas. we had an awesome dinner. arcadia's an interesting restaurant. it sort'f masquerades as a traditional amerikan restaurant in that the menu items have sort' mundane names such as tuna "pot roast," lobster "corndogs," "banana split," chocolate "milkshake," etc.; but then the aktual dishes turn out to be supercreative, unique inventions. if ur a cali4nian n' realise the restaurant has such a modern name as arcadia (which was 1nce duran duran album), u'd prob'ly expekt sumpthin' more than pot roast, corndogs, banana splits n' milkshakes, but i wonder if the joke's on all the bizness travelers to silly valley that stay in the beautiful marriott hotel, in which arcadia's located. maybe they expekt typikal amerikkkan fud n' then get punk'd w/ this gourmet fare. ha ha. the restaurant has been described as amerikan n' contemporary amerikan by dine.com, but i thought it was a li'l fusionesque, n' kaela called it cali4nian. after thinkin' 'bout it, i think kaela it it rt on the nose. what did we eat? an arcadia salad (prob'ly the least unique dish, but we needed some greens... ur somewhat typikal garden weed salad w/ bleu cheese, candied walnuts, n' vinaigrette), an ahi tuna tartare (altho' made w/ what sushi chefs'd consider scraps'f maguro, this mix'f raw tuna, scotch bonnet infused sesame oil, pinenuts, n' raw quail egg was sooo awesome!) served w/ toast (not really special toast, i've gotta admit; maybe a li'l reminiscent'f the white bread u get @ asian bakeries), sea bass on risotto 4 kaela, scallops on potatoes w/ "amerikan" caviar 4 me (i dunno why it's "amerikan" caviar, but i suspekt the restaurant's trying to appease hicks who would skip out on french or russian caviar.), n' this awesome "banana split" (carmelized banana w/ fresh n' fancy toppings). we had a "0.5 bottle"'f 1999 trimbach riesling. @ turmerik, we 1nce had a 0.5 bottle'f 1997 trimbach riesling, so i knew to expekt good quality riesling from this vineyard. kaela had a decaf nf latte, n' i had a single espresso in a demitasse. wow, i wonder if i should get double espressos cos single espressos r rather small. well, originally, i wanted to take kaela to christmas in the park as well as the downtown ice rink presented by applied materials, but we both agreed 'twas 2 cold 4 us that nite. i'd already started to get sick. christmas presents... i gave kaela a brown dkny down coat (1 that i feel she can wear on a more everyday basis), n' she gave me the palmone tungsten t5 i've been wanting 4 so long! :-) it came w/ a hard case n' a 128mb sd card. :-) it's such an awesome handheld.
well, thurs, @ lunch, we went w/ my program cowerkers to cpk in valley fair. it was crazy 4 them to pick cpk in valley fair on 1'f the bizziest shopping days 4 the yr, rt? we ate out on the patio cos the inside was 2 crowded. i was already sick, n' eating outside prob'ly didn't help. the patio heater was good but maybe not good 'nuff. kaela n' i shared their rendition'f pad thai, which is their thai linguine. we also shared a 2.in.a.bowl soup, where u pick 2'f their thick soups which r served in the same bowl. obviously they lay down some kind'f divider n' remove it b4 serving it to u; that's the secret. quickly, kaela n' i did some christmas shopping after lunch, n' i went back to werk. it took a frustratingly long time to drive 'round that area on thurs. of course, that was cos'f the date being 2 days b4 christmas, n' thus every1 was doing last min $hopping. i could feel the road rage. i hope no1 got 2 hurt, but i saw lots'f accidents. *sigh* what a hateful, hate.filled world we live in! well, on a happier note, sooni's a cute doggy. :-)
on thurs nite, we didn't get out'f town till late. we had to drop off presents n' cards w/ various ppl. we ate a togo's large pastrami sandwich 4 dinner in the car. we got it from the togo's in blossom valley on blossom hill rd., near oakridge mall, near golfland, near the light rail train tracks, near baja fresh, near ariake sushi. pastrami's always #9. :-) it was a good sandwich. our car was so packed w/ baggage, snowboarding equipment, presents, sooni, soonistuff. it's fun taking sooni on long trips, i gotta say. on the 5, we drove thru some very, very, very dense fog. kaela n' i were both rather nervous, n' i think that made sooni nervous, so she couldn't sleep. doggies sense ppl's emotions, u know. they pick up on things very fast! i felt sooo sick. i had the chills. i'm sure i had a fever. i had to go into a gas station market n' buy 2 tylenol tablets from $1, n' i 4got to get a receipt 4 my fsa acct! grrr! (fsa = flexible $pending acct; thus i s'ppose "fsa account"'s a redundant term.) kaela drove 4 a li'l, but i know her nite vision's not great, so i drove more. 1nce we got near the grapevine the fog n' traffik cleared up. it was quite an unsafe trip. as i sed, kaela n' i were a bit nervous. we arrived in chino like @ 400a. i didn't sleep 2 much on thurs nite.
on christmas eve, we hung out w/ kaela's family. we went to lunch @ 북경 bookkyung (peking gourment inn/restaurant) in garden grove. it was a great lunch, but i felt 2 sick to enjoy it, un4tunately. afterwards, we went to irvine to visit kaela's bro jay's rented townhouse, which is really nice but uh... sort'f looks like a college guys' place. 5 ppl live there in the quail hill area townhome. we had some drinks @ a starbucks. . . [interrupted, ate some 빈대떡 bindaedduhk later] 107p: we had a slight fiasco there when they served kaela caffeinated chai instead'f decaf chai. i joked, "that'd never happen in peet's" to kaela. . . [unfinished entry] @ the end'f the yr, i usually try to say sumpthin' thoughtful 'bout the past yr @ the end'f the yr to sum it up. this yr, i ran out'f time. @ this pt (2005.01.06), i'll try to write an 에필로그 "epilogue" to the 2004 edition'f my journal.
2004 top events
i guess it's the "in thing to do" this yr to sum up the yr in pics. several blogs i view have picture collages. me, i'm 2 lazy, but i'll post up 'gain all the pics from this yr! :-)
의
얼글 비누 좀 잦아려 갔지만 메이시스 찔의 제품을 안팔아요. 우리
메이시스의 선물 카드 있어요. 어떤 캐리포르니아
노르드표 얼굴 비누를 샀어요. 일요일밤 쥬리 호고 처크 같이 극을
가봤어요. 산 호세
레퍼토리 티어터의 미드 섬머 나이트스 드림을 봤어요. 그때
이 앤 오
트래이딩에 좀 마실것 하고 간식을 머겄어요.
재미있었어요.
lost in translation
2004 spring semester's eve
. $20 - $20 = 0, not bad! well, if u buy it, please use my link. :-) ha, the other day i got a 15¢ check cos some1 used my link to buy sumpthin' from kaplan
, the test prep ppl. :-) i dunno who did it, but thank u! :-) the postage on the check co$t 37¢; ha ha.
마지막 첫수업일
movies to watch:
life begins @ san tomas
big in taiwan
http://www.falafeldog.com
한드폰
토끼 양복 :-)
do u know what that is? in a semiconductor fab(rication) plant, u gotta keep a very clean environment. they call the rooms "cleanrooms," in case u don't know. neway, i had to go into a lab that's sort'f a simulated fab, so i had to get suited up in a "bunny suit," which is a hood, a jumpsuit, mask, goggles, boots, n' gloves. i was blasted with air b4 i entered. it was sort'f fun.
land w/ a straight back
4 brkfst, n' then got to the crowded, crowded resort 'round 1030a or so, i think. yah. it was a beautiful day. there was plenty'f fresh, fresh snow n' a blue, blue sky. it was the best day'f snowboarding so far this season. i told myself not to be lazy. u c, i realised that recently, i've been a really lazy snowboarder. sometimes, when i'm snowboarding w/ other ppl n' there's maybe some guy that's also pretty experienced w/ boarding n' can go fast, my competitive side comes out, n' i say i gotta be faster than him. in that case, i just keep my board flat n' bullet down w/o turning or carving. u c, i ride a really short board, a 151cm. i don't mind flooring it, since i really feel like i'm still in control, even if i let my board go full throttle, u know? i've gotten used to it. however, unlike other modes'f transportation, w/ snowboarding, going faster aktually means doing less. in a way, it takes more effort to go slow than to go fast. i'd gotten lazy. well, this weekend, i told myself not to be lazy. instead'f just bulleting down the slope, i told myself to do whatever it takes to have fun. my 1st love in snowboarding has always been more the tricks n' jumps than just going fast, u know? i realised sumpthin' else: u know how i sed that the big jumps don't hurt my back, but the li'l jumps sometimes do? i found out why! previously, i thought it was cos i was compressing my spine landing on the flat instead'f landing on a downward slope, which'd dissipate the impakt into 4ward movement. that might be true, but i realised what has really been hurting my back is my bad tendency to land w/ my upper body leaning 4ward when i'm not really prepared. 4 example, on the boardercross run, i sometimes try to hit a whole bunch'f jumps in a row, n' i'm sometimes not ready 4 each jump, so i end up landing w/ my upper body leaning 4ward... n' yah, that ends up hurting my back. i made a conscious effort to land w/ my knees, not w/ my back, to land w/ my back straight instead'f bent over. when we got home on sat nite, we ate @ 옛날 짜장 (yeitnal jjajang): 짬뽕 (jjambbong), 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn), n' 고추잡채 (gochoojabchae).
lgvx6000
s.
after we got our fons, we went to huong lan on serra way to get
vietnamese sandwiches, drinks, n' spring rolls. it was so warm n'
sunny outside.
has musik downloads
?!
dang, check out thelg website: even tho' i like the vx6000,
the cdma fons they've got in korea r so much better than what
we've got here!
more lgvx6000
대통령의 날
7th monthversary
hrm... n' some dish w/ hearts'f palm... 4 dessert, we had a choco soufflé cake w/ some coffee aisukuriimu. [later] of course, i also had a demitasse'f espresso, n' kaela had a nf latte. so often kaela takes a pic'f me w/ a demitasse after dinner. i have so many pics'f myself w/ demitasses. i should make an album just'f those pics.
alternachic petrol
it's fri 2day. 오늘 금요일예요. how r u? plz sign my g. book when u can! :-) i haven't gotten many responses lately. :-(
leap day approaching
this pic's from 2004.02.05 when i wore a "bunny
suit" 4 werk.
남은 매운탕
how u 2day. 4 lunch, i went home n' ate leftover 대구 매운탕 (daegoo maewoontang) w/ the beautiful kaela hwang.
lawnmower man
@ lunch, i went home n' ate leftover 육개장 (yookgaejang) w/ the beautiful kaela hwang. this morn, 4 breakfast, we both ate leftover 대구 매운탕 (daegoo maewoontang). we've had lots'f homemade korean fud lately. what's 4 dinner 2nite?
강아지꿈
오늘 아침 / 어제밤에 꿈꾸었어요. this morn / last nite i had a very vivid dream that the beautiful kaela hwang n' i owned a medium.sized, brown, white, n' black doggy, some kind'f beagle or sumpthin'... a hound? 'twas the most vivid dream i'd had in wks if not months.
day full'f mtgs
passionfruit
@ buy.com
. if u buy it, plz use my link. :-) beggin' 4 change here, u know! cyberpanhandler... in ne case the movie was really funny. u know it stars adam sandler n' drew barrymore, right? funny, it also has sam astin'f lotr fame, but his char's much diff here from there! he's gonna be in 'nother comedy really soon, isn't he? 'nother movie that's very much diff from oscar nominated lotr3, right? speaking'f that green, bushy eyebrowed monster who lives in a garbage can, the oscars r on this sun eve.
no lawn mowing
yesterday, on leap day 2004, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went w/ our church group to watch the passion of the christ @ amc mercado 20 @ 315p. b4 that, we luncheoned w/ church ppl @ chili's on el camino n' lawrence.
i went home to
eat lunch: a leftover springroll from sat, a healthy choice chicken dijon
frzn dinner, n' an expired, albertson's strawberry 
nf yogurt. b4 i left 4 lunch, i considered quickly
mowing the backyard lawn during my lunchbreak, but it was raining.
[later] yesterday, i was s'pposed to mow a lawn 4 my mom, but it was 2
dark by the time we exited the movie. rt now, i've really gotta
organise my life. i have my... [interrupted]
don't leap over leap day.
lawn mowing lunch
i really wonder what i should wear thurs/fri. i think i'll wear a tie on fri. i think. i haven't worn a tie to a job interview in ages cos engrs don't wear ties.
봄이 오고있어요.
아직도 날씨 좋아요.
오늘 손님이 어떠세요? 전 괜찮아요. 아직도 날씨 좋아요.
matlab things to do
오늘 할일 목록:
install matlab on floating laptop (done)
altho' my manager n' supervisor r out 2day, i still have plenty'f werk to do here @ the office... i mean, aktual werk werk... i'm not including my hw n' master's projekt stuff... i mean some'f my master's projekt stuff is direktly relevent to the company, but i know some'f it is more personal in nature. as u can c, i do 'lot'f matlab... 'member? i used to say that i'm the matlab genius, heh heh.
2day's really a bizzy day! 바쁜 하루죠.
relationship n' roles bible verses to read
1100kb?
i took this pic on our last trip up to squaw valley w/ my lgvx6000 camerafon.
alpine meadows... finally!
진돗개
2 pics 4 march
the beautiful kaela hwang n' me @ alpine meadows on 2004.03.13
sooni
, where our friend dukkyung werks, the 1 on de anza blvd a li'l south or west'f stevens creek. after that, we ate @ yiasoo; gyros. oh! by "2nite," i mean yesterday. yesterday, i had a very bizzy.day@werk.com.
8th monthversary
fresno real estate
yankee pier
blackened greens
put some 맥주 in the 냉장고
lcd tv? someday...
e.mail: beno at o c f dot berkeley dot e d u
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash!): http://www.benomix.com
new yr's resolutions? didn't i answer this way back in jan?!?! i must've resolved to keep a nice house or sumpthin'... i think i resolved to graduate.
please describe what u were like 10 yrs 'go.
purple.haired alternadude... i went to alternarock concerts w/ fahad all the time. i didn't study hard 'nuff in berkeley but didn't party much either. i played guitar.
who should be the new u.s. president?: kerry
please give me a fortune cookie fortune: you will get married in less than one year. (in bed?)
what's a bread u like? altho' i do enjoy them buttery, asian bakery breads; in a case like this, i'll hafta vote 4 some kind'f healthy, hi.fibre, whole.grain bread.
do u try to eat healthily?: yes
pizza, pasta, mcyukyuk
take a right @ the next left.
wed afternoon: 2morrow morn, i bring sooni to the nearby silicon valley humane society to get spayed n' chipped. i'm teknically on spring break right now.
볶음밥 del fuego (bokkeumbap del fuego)
sa sa sa
study day
dogbreedinfo.com
midterm done
@ our company cafeteria. sooni was a good gurl 2day n' didn't jump over the fence @ all. phew! she has a cold tho' n' sneezes 'lot. i know she has a stuffed up nose.
wildflower
부활절과 세례식
better luck tomorrow 2004
공사공사십사
wed morn: 2day's date has more 4s in it than yesterday's. do u have a lucky number? [later] as u know, altho' it's not really a "lucky number," the beautiful kaela hwang n' i have a special number. 'twas the num that we both coincidentally used 4 each other's speed dial back b4 we were going out.
행복한 고리를 받으세요.
comprise
:
Pronunciation: k&m-'prIz
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): com-prised; comp-rising
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere
1 : to include especially within a particular scope
2 : to be made up of
3 : COMPOSE, CONSTITUTE
usage Although it has been in use since the late 18th century, sense 3 is still attacked as wrong. Why it has been singled out is not clear, but until comparatively recent times it was found chiefly in scientific or technical writing rather than belles lettres. Our current evidence shows a slight shift in usage: sense 3 is somewhat more frequent in recent literary use than the earlier senses. You should be aware, however, that if you use sense 3 you may be subject to criticism for doing so, and you may want to choose a safer synonym such as compose or make up.
9 months
to the precision auto tuning (or whatever it's called) on stevens creek blvd (near san tomas expy) 4 an oil change, brake inspection, n' tire rotation package. while waiting 4 her car, we strolled 'round valley fair, where we shared a large banana 
mocha boba 
@ bosion fusion.
man, i can't wait to graduate. hey, that sort'f rhymes! 2day, @ lunch, i went home, ate pf chang leftovers, n' walked sooni. i really need exercise!
fatherly dream
2 mp3 ringtones
earthday
2day's earth day n' thus also ben & jerry's free aisukuriimu day. [later] 649p: i'm waiting 4 my class. earlier, the beautiful kaela hwang told me that ben & jerry's free aisukuriimu day's not till the 27th.
99¢ blockbuster nite
바람
바람이 임의로 불매 네가 그 소리를 들어도 어디서 오며 어디로 가는지 알지 못합니다. (요한복음 3장8절)
the wind blows wherever it pleases. you hear its sound, but you cannot tell from where it's coming or where it's going. (john 3:8)
gutterbunny
don't let ur bunny turn into a gutter bunny!
inkblots
i took this inkblot test: http://www.megat.co.uk/quizmo/quiz.php?quiz=126,n' it sed that i'm "abnormally kind." now, i took the tickle.com inkblot test n' got the following results:
sooni on 2004.04.19
standing 8 count
by shel silverstein, right? it's a very touching story, n' the thought'f it stirs up emotion inside me. in that respekt, it's like dr. seuss' oh, the places you'll go!
. in ne case, story'f the giving tree describes how the things 1 wants out'f life change as 1 matures n' gets older. i guess it's sort'f like the 1960s quasi.folk song "(the) circle game." how have the things that u want in life changed as u matured? that'd be a good gbook q... someday. however, a few days 'go, i did already change my gbook qs, so please take a sec n' sign the new version'f the gbook. while u'r @ it, yah... please discuss how the things u want in life have changed over the yrs by writing in the comments sektion or by e.mailing me! :-)
someday we'll get a nice tv.
somewhere over the rainbow
allusion to the simpsons) yah, i worry; i worry 'bout that. the way i am now is not the way i plan to be 4 the rest'f my life. i plan to change my life after may 29, or maybe even just after may 25 (my final). is it that i plan to be a new man? do i plan to be a new man? "i'm looking at the man in the mirror," sang michael jackson, back when i was in middle skool. back then, i enjoyed that tune. wasn't michael jackson's life better back then? we'd hafta ask him. how 'bout u, do u plan to be who u r now 4 the rest'f ur life? if not, what do u plan to change? gbook time!
중화 반점
italian week
(뽀뽀???): kaela - green bean, beno - lychee; as usual both w/ pearls but no whipped cream on our frosted drinks. when we got home, i was still hungry, n' we tried to finish the pasta lefotvers from kaela's mon nite women's bible study, which she hosted. it was a bad idea to try to finish all that pasta. i was so stuffed, n' yet we still didn't finish. i'm very upset that i eat so much these days n' don't exercise. i hate it.
456
friends ends.
last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i watched the series finale'f friends
along w/ the rest'f this country. i never loved friends; but, as i watched the clip show b4 the episode, i realised that i've watched most'f the series thru.out the past decade, mostly thru syndicated reruns. do i like the show? well, it has its funny moments, i admit. who's ur favourite friends charakter? i think my favourites r joey n' phoebe cos i find 'em the most interesting. u could say they're the most airheaded, but i just think they're fun to watch. i'm sure ross's a good guy, but his lack'f commitment always bothered me. 1 movie i notichd on rotten tomatoes' dvd sektion that i wanna watch's far from heaven. 'nother's jack black's
school of rock.
parking n' puters
tubular earrings
toilet talk
some ppl talk on their cellfons in the restroom, not me. in there, we find a whole variety'f sounds diff from those in the outside world. don't those sounds travel over the cellular air waves? most ppl know the slogan 4 las vegas tourism: what happens in vegas stays in vegas. i hate that slogan cos i just don't approve'f promoting sin so blatenty n' shamelessly. however, i'd like to believe what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom. furthermore, what happens in the toilet stays in the toilet.
persian springrolls
stephen stills, 1966
what it is ain't exactly clear
there's a man with a gun over there
telling me i got to beware
everybody look what's going down
nobody's right if everybody's wrong
young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind
everybody look what's going down
a thousand people in the street
singing songs and carrying signs
mostly say, hooray for our side
everybody look what's going down
into your life it will creep
it starts when you're always afraid
you step out of line, the man come and take you away
everybody look what's going down
stop, hey, what's that sound
everybody look what's going down
stop, now, what's that sound
everybody look what's going down
stop, children, what's that sound
everybody look what's going down
sanjosegasprices.com
it's crunch time!
1) the chick changes her name from kitty to karen. isn't that to avoid association w/ kitty dukakis
2) the chick n' dude meet @ megacorporate citibank.
3) the chick trades in her mg 4 a white chrysler lebaron. isn't that cos "europeans r all a bunch'f socialist pigs, n' white's the color'f the ppl who ought to be in power"?
4) the dude wants a gurl w/ "good dividends," more proof that thing song's 4 those alex keaton type berkeley college republikans.
whatchu gonna do when u get out'f jail?
"spicy tendercrispy" chicken sandwich meal. is that what it's called? or is it "spicy crispytender" chicken sandwich? in ne case, it was fatt'ning n' greasy; n', just to make matters worse, i had onion rings in my meal. b4 that, i went to buy my graduation attire: the gown, the cap, the black tassel (as sjsu graduate students wear black tassels), n' my gold (engineering) hood. :-) i get to have a hood!!! woo hoo! i can't wait.
the genius of love
endura
other ppl wana sign? let's communicate!
ok, the latter 2 rn't books, but they're nice things.
graduation eve
also has a self.service dogwash.
졸업
많이 많이
lemme tell u
does this sound like a man who
has had 'all he could eat'?
st. john, u'r so fierce.
parentpraktice
woolf woolf!
how r u 2day? it's mon morn; how was ur wknd? mine was pretty good. we spent most'f sat @ the u.s. olympik taekwondo n' judo team trials @ sjsu event center. "event" or "events" center? *shrug* [later, still morn] i think it's singular.
, n'러빙 유 (loving you) kbs miniseries drama dvds from yesasia.
러빙유
b: 암놈입니다.
maybe peeing on the toilet seat should be considered a crime punishible by law!
(Being brief, the following is not comprehensive)
The Democratic Party mostly counts on folks in big cities, African Ams., Hispanics, immigrants, union households, and liberals (people who believe in change in order to cope).
http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html or PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu
80-20 special Assistant
P.O. Box 527340
Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK of the check.
happy b.day, grace!
to get sooni 순이 a muzzle, a bone, n' some more training treats. we really appreciate 덕경's employee di$count! it's funny; he's got a tamed.down version'f a mohawk haircut rt now. ah, to be young n' free, free'f the stylistic constraints'f corporate amerikkka! after petco
, we dined @ the cherry orchard pasta pomodoro w/ dave yu from my classes. oh, of course sooni was w/ us! i ordered the salmone [sic, the 'e's cos it's italiano.] sumpthin' sumpthin', n'f course kaela had her usual, melanzane fettucine. 'twas a brisk eve, n' we appreciated the gas.burning patio heaters.
$29 - $20 mir = $9 w/ free s&h
friday: the good, the bad, n' the ugly
(작사:박진영, 작곡,편곡:방시혁)
감 예감 좋은 예감이 드는 이밤 tonight's the night oh friday night
오늘밤 오~오늘은 왠지 월급탄 밤 기분이 삼삼 한밤 아침부터 왠지 좋은예감
yeah, it's ok 자 기분 좋아 yeah feel alright 자 어디든 가
우리 쭌이형 태우 호영 데니 다 모두 나갈 준비 됐니?
어두워진 거리를 미끄러져 나가는 우리들 g.o.d. 다섯남자들 주머니 꽉 찬 시계는안봐
uh! you want me? i want you too then tell me? i'll come to you
맘 이맘 부풀어오르는 이밤 right alright it's friday night
감 예감 좋은 예감이 드는 이밤 tonight's the night oh friday night
드디어 도착한 클럽 앞에 들어가려고 기다리는 사람들의 줄이 늘어서고 서로 의식하고
저마다 자기들의 무게를 잡고 마음의 준빌 시작하낟 이제 곧 있으면 시작한다
오늘의 승자는 누구 일까 또 어떠한 커플이 탄생할까
선수입장~~ 들어간다 자 들어간다 g.o.d.가 나가신다 모두모두모두 비켜나라
자 울려 퍼지는 음악소리 자 돌아가는 조명들이 금요일 밤이 온걸 알리네
자 어서 이밤을 즐기세 좋아 기분좋아 그대와 나 오늘 멈추지마 음악 멋진 음악 흘러나와
and it'll feel alright pump it every say tonight's the night tonight's the night hey ho tonight's
the night tonight's the night pump it every say tonight's the night tonight`s the night
ho ho ho ho tonight the night tonight the night 이제는dance time come on stage 어디지
오 저기서 우릴 부르지 우리들을 향해서 손짓하지 자 우리들의 무대다 어서 비겨라
남자들은 비키고 여자들은 남아라 그리고 보아라 you want me? baby baby you can have me
맘 이맘 부풀어오르는 이밤 right alright it's friday night
감 예감 좋은 예감이 드는 이밤 tonight's the night oh friday night
backyards'f the silly
valley
, i took sooni 4 a long walk on her gentle leader. it was somewhat relaxing, i s'ppose. i wonder if i should take sooni somewhere now. if so, where? c?! dog ownership's like parenthood... 'least, good dog ownership. it's 100p or even 106p, according to my watch as opposed to my handspring. what to do?!
bay area sports
flag day
the waiter brought plenty'f 안주 anjoo (bar snacks, which r sometimes fancier than ur typikal amerikan bar snacks). it was so much fun to eat, drink, n' listen to korean muzik. kaela pted out that there were very few wives @ the hof. if there were females, they were really young n' came w/ a young group'f mixed gender friends. we didn't c other married couples, but we saw married men in groups w/o their wives. yah, i know: i have a fun wife! i really had a good time. :-)
stars & stripes
soy hot dogs
sooni was such a good doggy during taekwondo praktice; she just sat outside n' was all calm n' everything. :-) i like that! of course, it felt so good to praktice taekwondo! :-) heh, when we got home, we had sort'f a weird dinner'f sort'f odds n' ends: corn on da cob, soy hot dogs, chips n' guacamole. the beautiful kaela hwang sed 'twas like a picnic; n' she was right: it was like a picnic! we've gotta sometime have a bbq.
soy hot dog beanie weenie
11 months
u expekted me to say, "maekjoowa tongdalk."
e.mail: beno at o c f dot berkeley dot e d u
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash!): http://www.benomix.com
religious affiliation? nondenominational protestant
techie or fuzzy?: techie... of course if "fuzzy techie" were an option, i'd pick that... but it's not.
what do u have in common w/ beno? love 4 the beautiful kaela hwang
please suggest a good fud/beverage pairing: 1997 trimbach riesling w/ indian fud from turmerik
which'f these best describes ur preferred living style? (country bumpkin, suburbanite, cosmopolitanist, neo.urbanist): i sort'f wanna pick "neo.urbanist," but most ppl'd consider our neighbourhood a suburb n' thus me a suburbanite. can i say "neo.urbanist @ heart"? well, that's unfair cos it wasn't a choice 4 u in this multiple choice question. thus, i'll just say "neo.urbanist" n' let the critics have their day.
if i were to give u $85 n' sed u had to spend it by sundown if u look back @ my "fud n' beverage pairing" question, u'll find 1 fast way to drop $85 n' more! of course, i'd take the beautiful kaela hwang.
additional comments: tumerik n' tamarine... who comes up w/ these names?!
korean hostage
vast right wing conspiracy
just 1'f those [male pms] days
다람쥐와 너구리
i lunched w/ my cowerkers @ el torito, had a pronto lunch combo w/ chicken tamale n' tortila soup.
(-.-)
(")("),
beno비노 황 부동산
now, i return u to ur regular programming. the almaden valley... yah, it's a quaint place. however... i personally think it's very misdefined. the geographical definition'f the boundaries'f almaden valley or else the almaden valley were diff than what ppl commonly use 2day. back in our day, when we sed "almaden valley" or "almaden," we were referring to the region bounded by:
in our somewhat narrow definition'f almaden valley, we were sort'f beeing snobby n' elitest by making sure that certain neighbourhoods which weren't as posh @ the time were excluded from our definition. well, the dot com age came n' went, n' wow! all'f san josé really cleaned up while i was 'way @ berkeley. yes, it's diff now. some wise@$$es'd say it's more orange county now, 'least in the area near the almaden valley. is it? no. to the unedukated, yah... the similarity btwn certain areas'f san josé n' orange county r very captivating. however, the edukated person must realise that silicon valley, or what was called "orchard valley" in the earlier 20th century has quite a diff history than orange county, 1 that ensures that the silly valley'll never be orange county. am i dissin' on da o.c.? no, i'm not. however, the unskooled can sometimes be so ignorant n' not know that the silly valley is not necessarily suburbia as they know it. neway, i'm gettin' off topik. i'm now talkin' 'bout the whole silly valley, when i was s'pposed to be discussing just the almaden valley.
cos'f our dukkyung hookup, i gotta say that pet fud express surely is a really conscientious, customer.oriented store, u know? the 1st ever pet fud express was founded on mlk jr. way in berkeley not 2 far from where kaela n' i used to live! :-)
캐이라 황 - kaela on the way to the bridal shower
비노 황 - beno @ the open house
순이 황 - sooni wearing her gentle leader
다람지와 누룽지
doesn't that look like fun?!
aktually, sooni's really nervous in this pic.
random mumblings 'bout asian.am this that
* i purposely used the wurd "sex" cos gender is a social construkt.
sight n' sound... to go
, n' i can find 1s w/ lcd displays that can do korean hangeul font, i believe.
best exercise week in a while
ol' friends' b.days
trying to ketchup thru 4jx2004
it was a nice warm day, if i 'member... uhm, no; it was 2 hot, if i 'member. we drove back home via local streets mostly... we saw lots'f asian biznesses. we went home 4 dinner. then we called up joon. we met him @ the block @ orange. we watched shrek 2 w/ him n' had such a good time hearing that his ol' jindo teddy's so similar to sooni! wow! they both hate h2o. they both need car rides to get them back home after running 'way. hrm... all sorts'f other things. like, we've noticed that sooni's not always the typikal jindo, but teddy's just like her! kaela sed that it sounded like teddy's sooni's soulmate, but teddy's like 10 yrs old, joon sed. shrek 2 was hilarious.
20040708
"once again with feeling" (btvs [buffy the vampire slayer] allusion)
붕어빵 boonguhbbang
부부 빙수 booboo bingsoo
주부 비노 househusband beno does some housechores n' is gonna vacuum u up!
soon in the trunk'f our rented pontiac sunfire
20040712
20040715
벌써 1년
tamarine n' 엠피지오 mpgio
i just thought'f sumpthin'. [a min(ute) later] a few entries 'go in "20040712" on 2004.07.12, i sed that unhip, unkewl ppl say "wireless phone" n' "hi.speed connection," while hip ppl say "cellfon" n' "broadband." well, no! kewl ppl don't say "broadband" either; that 2 is more'f a wurd only used in commercials, right? kewl ppl say "dsl n' cable modem," don'tchu think? i now think that "broadband" is a pretty spent term, isn't it? what r some wurds that r more current? well, the other day i liked saying "wi.fi n' fi.wi," in which "fi.wi" refers to ieee.1394 firewire.
from fantasia. i had a frosted green bean, n' kaela had a frosted mango. the mango drink now friggin' co$ts a whoppin' $4 believe it or not! other frosted boba drinks r mostly still $3.50, 'cept 4 the frosted caramel latte or whatever. the frosted mango drinks r really good right now cos they've got 'lot'f fresh mangoes. phresh n' phunky, 'f course... phresh, phunky, n' phat! phugu instead'f fubu? "fugu me," homer sed, demanding his blowfish / puffer fish sushi. 북어 bookuh... in ne case, after we had our boba drinks n' walked sooni 'round the cupertino 99 plaza, we went home, watched simpsons (even tho' it sucks that upn44 has shown that same dang spelling bee / ribwich episode a zillion times in the past coupl'f wks), n' ate some costco shumai.
작은 너구리
mason's 2nd b.day party
w/ dukkyoung while he werked. while there, sung (sungjae park) called me. he told me he was moving back to korea n' was hoping to c kaela n' me 1 more time. i called up kaela on 3.way calling cos she was driving home from werk @ that pt. we talked 4 a while, n' sung kept begging us to have kids cos he sed his ol' friend n' roommate that he was visiting in chicago @ the time had a nice life w/ a house, wife, n' a baby. heh, as if we can have kids just cos our friend requests it... ha ha. sung told us to e.mail him later in the wk so that we could try to meet up on thurs nite or so. i e.mailed him a coupl'f times, but we never heard back from him n' didn't end up mtg up. :-( *sigh* it's 2 bad. i imagine the next time we c him is whenver we visit korea 'gain. i dunno when, but someday we ought to do a taiwan/korea trip. it's funny cos those r definitely countries i could visit 4 werk if i found myself in the right/wrong position. i mean, i say "right/wrong" cos i wouldn't mind going to those 2 countries a li'l 4 werk, but i surely wouldn't want to be in a position that required me to travel all the time. i don't think my wife or doggy would appreciate that, i figure. in fakt, sooni cms to prefer that i werk@home, but that ain't gonna happen.
as usual these days, i had such a bizzy_day@werk.com. in the afternoon, i was stuck in lab n' didn't get much hydration. i s'ppose that yielded my evening stomach ache. neway, kaela n' i had dinner @ the mexicali grill @ the mercado right by the amc. originally we set out to watch spiderman 2, but the 1030p show was sold.out, so i got us a coupl'f tix to catwoman instead. @ lunch, 1'f my cowerkers sed, "when i saw the trailer i thought, 'that movie looks horrible, i've got to see it." he was referring to halle berry n' her leather outfit. well, kaela n' i ate our mexican dinner. i had their tacos de pescado (fish tacos), n' kaela had their mole enchiladas. i had soup, n' she had salad. i chose soup cos i thought it'd help my stomach. heh, i figured that a li'l carbonation'd help my stomach, but (stoopid me) instead'f a nice sprite 
, i opted 4 a pint'f tecate. u prob'ly think i'm pretty stoopid. heh, well, i had never had a tecate, n' i wanted to try a mexican beer other than corona. i ate lots'f chips n' salsa, thinking the junk fud'd buffer my stomach. neway, after 1 fish taco, i had to quit. my stomach was full n' not feeling that great. we went to our movie. the theatre made us line up outside 4 the movie even tho' it had such a measly turnout 4 its premier nite! i can't believe amc mercado makes ppl line up 4 movies outside so much. 'least it's summer now. in the cold winter, it'd suck. u c, they're just so concerned 'bout teenagers jumping from movie to movie 4 free, u know? however, i hate it when biznesses deal w/ loss prevention by sacrificing customer service. i abhor that. while sitting in the theatre waiting 4 the movie n' 4 kaela to come back from starbucks, i surfed the web on my verizon lg.vx6000. i read that catwoman was an awful movie. i saw that on imdb.com, it received 2.5 out'f 10. well, i didn't have much expektations. however, wow (maybe cos'f that) i really enjoyed the movie much more than expekted. catwoman is not a bad movie! it's aktually pretty fun. it's a comic book movie that shows that women, especially minority women, can be superheroes. obviously, that's kewl. i dunno; personally, i didn't like spiderman (the 1st 1) cos spiderman's not that deep'f a character, he's just goody.goody this n' that, u know? i keep telling ppl, that 'round the time spiderman came out ben affleck had daredevil, n' i totally preferred daredevil to spiderman. spiderman had so much bad cg, that it was pretty much just a cartoon to me. however, i do plan to c the sequel sometime; altho' i'm more looking 4ward to watching will smith's i, robot soon, despite the fakt that npr pted out that it's so untrue to isaac asimov's book. 'member, i werk in robotics!
last wk'f july
obviously, ppl these days (in amerikkka) r having kids (or "starting families") later n' later. i think ppl put off having kids mostly cos'f career. i think ppl also mostly put off marriage cos'f career. [later] i dunno. i think most'f my friends r still unmarried n' w/o kids, but i somehow always have lots'f younger friends.
not as social?
doggy tracks
keno hwang, last nite (2004.07.27) @ home
off the laptop n' recover some $$$, u know? i'm very, very happy that 1) i got a slight raise recently 4 my current position, 2) i'm getting a bigger raise when i start my new position, n' finally 3) my new position pays more than i originally expekted, as they gave me a revised offer a li'l after i accepted the original salary. however, i still gotta keep myself/ourselves on a budget. i've gotta make sure we save some $$$ somehow. i dunno where to put it necessarily cos bank accts pay out diddly squat in interest n' stocks pretty much all suck right now, it cms. *shrug* mutual funds? yah... well, i've gotta do some research. neway! lemme still emphasize that real estate or real estates (as the beautiful kaela hwang sez) r still the best investment. u c, i've noticed way 2 many young career ppl (mostly guys) drown their $$$ into dead n' still dying even more stocks n' funds. it looks to me like those ol' time labourers taking their daily wages to the doggy track! those ol' time labourers, i guess making their daily wages wasn't good 'nuff; but what kept them alive was the hope'f taking their daily pay to the tracks to win big. *sigh* i c young (guys mostly) engrs n' bizness types take their salaries to etrade n' ameritrade n' just totally sink it! why?! i mean, me, i've done the same, n' i regret it. why do i do that? why do we do that? do we owe wall street a tithe? must we make a sacrificial offering? i dunno. so where should we young professionals invest our $$$? well, 1st off, real estate, obviously... then what? *shrug* buy lots'f material stuff? pay off more'f the mortgage? *shrug* yah, i'm @ a li'l bit'f a loss here. i s'ppose i don't mind hearing a li'l bit'f advice, but i don't need spammers sending me info on some stock tip or hedge fund! >:-(
last day as a co.op
august: a new hope
1st_wk@my.newposition.werk.com
). we even got to bring sooni! :-) she sat on the ground as we ate outside on the patio. 난다랑's (nandarang's) really kewl! :-) it was very fun. after we ate, we tossed sooni som pig bones n' cartilage from the 감자탕 gamja tang. she wasn't interested in ne leftover 골뱅이 golbaengi. *sigh* good times, i tell u! :-)
순이의 생일
happy meals 4 lunch, 2 days in a row! u c, right now, they're giving 'way these 25th b.day'f the happy meal mini.beanie babies, n' they're really cute. thus i'm off collekting teeny.beanies 'gain. feel free to roll ur eyes, plz.
after caf&caute; aroma, i dropped kaela off @ home, where she took a nap or siesta (i'm unsure which), while i went off to target in sunnyvale to buy some collapsible outdoor chairs. basikally, i falied to get us a patio dining set cos i wanted to hold out 4 sumpthin' nicer, but i needed to get some outdoor chairs, so i bought the $7.99 folding outdoor chairs w/ armrests from target. they werked fine. now we have 3'f these, but my original 1 that i bought 4 ken's bachelor party fishing trip has a footrest. we never ended up using our chairs during that trip. oh yah, after i bought those chairs, i stopped by 한국 마켓 hangook market in hopes'f gettin' some 갈비 galbi n' 닭똥집 dalkddongjip, but they were out'f both, so i just got a li'l 돼지 갈비 dwaeji galbi (pork ribs). i didn't get much but should've gotten more in retrospekt. i thought i marinated sufficient 매운닭귀 maeoon dalkgui @ home, but it turned out to be not really 2 much. when i came home from that shopping trip, i woke up kaela n' picked up sooni to take her to dukkyung's petco to get her some treats 4 her b.day. well, i bought this doggy fence to keep her 'way from the doors while we're gone, so she won't cos trouble. that's not her present. i dunno what was her present from me, aktually; but i did buy her a 1.31 lb bag'f rawhide chew bones. i figured she'd like those. i bought her small 1s so that we won't have nasty chewed rawhide bones lying 'round attrakting ants.
t n' a pizza
how r u? it's now my 2nd wk @ my.new_position@werk.com. [later] my handspring visor edge's aktin' buggy 2day by shutting off by itself now n' then. i hope this prob goes 'way. <:-/
we went to a rotten robbie on winchester blvd in campbell 2wards saratoga. i haven't been out there on winchester in a long time. is michi sushi out there? i heard that place's pretty good.
don't wanna burn out
types
1stsparring praktice in ages
kaela's b.day was aug 14.
more details on kaela'f b.day great amerika trip
it was very sunny yet 4tunately not overbearingly hot. bumper cars, top gun, delerium, vortex, demon, drop zone, loggers run... we have lots'f pix. i won kaela a stuffed cow @ the 'wiffle ball in the bushel' game. kaela beat me @ this "firefly" game to win a patrick the starfish. who was there? mark, grace, dukkung, ej, john suk, ben, ernest, joyce, joyce's friend evan, kaela, n' me... it was fun. i hope kaela had a good b.day. she sed she was happy pretty much every1 went on all the rides. i.e., ppl didn't chicken out. i did get kaela a couple'f b.day presents: miracle blade iii n' a "professional" clothes steamer. i admit: it looks like i'm telling her to cook n' clean, but i'm not.
dance me to the end of love
@ home. thus, i never completed my rant on the persecution'f politikally liberal christians. during my lunchbrk, i thought 'bout how i really need an aktual page on my website that discusses my spiritual faith, my politikal beliefs, n' my other philosophies. it's un4tunate that i cm to like to hear myself talk n' read myself write. i'm not as bad as u think i am.
teeny beanies, non? i have 2'f the orange 1 n' 1'f the baby blue 1. kaela recently got the purple 1. personally, i want the hamburglar/cheeseburglar 1.
scar removal
n' pretty much give u realtime updates'f my life thru.out the day? *sigh* someday wireless comm'll be advanced 'nuff to allow each n' every1'f us to have a webcam broadcasting 24x7, u know? that'll be kewl, n' u know it.
from fantasia: mango 4 kaela, green bean 4 me.
the thirteen-dollar burger
29번째 생일
spouses w/ benefits
out of my element: ball v. board
cuttin' cactus
plaza sésamo
icube play@tv
. that's my li'l sekret. if u'r looking 4 a hi.ly sought after item that'll normally get lots'f bids, try shoppin' on sun morn. i still believe that most ppl bid on ebay
during the werkday from their cubicles, while hiding from their managers n' procrastinating! me, i don't bother w/ that. my belief is that wed morn's the worst time to be on ebay
as a bidder. however, here's my sekret: i think it's best to skedule ur item 4 sale to end on a wed morn. :-) u'll get all those cubicle werkers to bid on ur item, rt? rt. neway, a li'l while 'go, i bid on some korean dvds on ebay
.
consumer confidence
n' bought some korean dvds. (if u haven't noticed, i'd like u to use that particular ebay
link when u ebay
, so that i get some spare change out'f the deal: just 'nother 1'f those stoopid kickback deals. i gotta admit tho' that i think i might 4get to use my own link sometimes. i haven't cn a single cent yet.) after church n' sunday skool n' a small 미역국 miyuhkgook lunch @ church, kaela n' i went shopping... sort'f... it's not like we hit the mall or nething. we didn't step foot inside valley fair or onto santana row... much to ur surprise, i'm sure... but kaela sed last wk that, 4 my b.day, she'd buy me a new pair'f shoes, since i've been saying 4 so long that i need a new pair'f werk / biz.caz (how do u abbreviate "business casual"?) shoes (which rn't made in china). we went to dsw, which is designer shoe warehouse. she bought me a pair'f black lace.up kenny cole shoes. i looked 4 a long time 4 a pair'f shoes that i liked that wasn't made in china. it sucks that popular brands such as skechers n' diesel r totally made in china, so shamelessly. luckily, some kenneth cole shoes r made in europe, etc. it really sucks that lots'f these hip, trendy, kewl shoes r made in china. i saw lots'f pairs 4 good prices that i liked but had to boycott. i'm a consumer w/ a conscience; sorry. eh! i do sometimes slip n' buy sweatshop this n' that... but i try to avoid them. just as i was 'bout to give up on the store, i found this pair. phew. kaela also bought a coupl'f pairs'f shoes, n' i threw in a 3pac of black socks. after that, we went to aaron bros art mart in search'f a frame 4 our digital on canvas repro of jack vettriano's dance me to the end of love. the ppl there told us to bring the painting in to best match it to a frame. it was hot outside. we went to jamba juice to get smoothies. while we sat @ a li'l table in the air.conned shop, drinking our smoothies, we noticed lots n' lots'f young korean families come in, n' i sed it was like we were still @ church. it was really interesting. kaela sed the non.asians in the store looked sort'f bewildered, etc. it looked to us that they all came from some nearby church. neway, after jamba juice, we drove off into the heat, n' went to sportmart on el camino in sunnyvale. there, i bought us each a softball mitt n' a softball. oh yah, as u can c, we didn't have softball praktice yesterday. i hate the idea'f buying equipment 4 hobbies n' interests n' not using the equipment, so i hope kaela n' i do praktice playing catch, etc. sometime. in ne case, kaela also pted out it's good to have this stuff 'round, so that when we have kids, we can play catch, etc. kaela also wanted some werkout tops, so i took care'f that. then we went back out into the heat. we drove home. sooni was home. we took her to petco
to c dukkyung n' get some treats. duk sed he was gonna meet his friends 4 dinner @ café ophelia just down de anza blvd from his store. he sed his friends werk there n' were gonna hook him up w/ some free dinner. he invited us to join him, but we were 2 hungry to wait 4 their meetup time'f 900p or 1000p. kaela n' i drove by the restaurant, as we had spotted some outdoor, umbrella.covered tables in front'f it. when we pulled up, we noticed that the restaurant surely did not look like they'd serve ppl @ that table, so we gave up on that n' headed off to 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang. that was fun. we both had 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn. it was tasty n' fun. it started to cool off a bit outside tho'. after dinner, we walked sooni 'round the nearby parking lots, etc. then we went home. we need to go grocery shopping, but... well, we didn't go last nite. @ home, we took out the trash. i had to load those pruned off cactus limbs into the garden waste container. it was really like moving a alien carcass.
beno's conservative rhetorik
sept begins
where in the world is watson park? (yo, watson! what's up, dude?)
leaving 4 retreat
노동절
missed garbage day
3.person paddle drills
i had a frosted lychee, n' kaela had a frosted green bean - both w/ pearls n' no whipped cream. the current ca$hier should realise that standard 4 us. the previous ca$hier figured it out. kaela walked sooni 'round while i got the drinks, then i went to find them. i found them, n' we kept walkin' 'round. some ppl talked to us 'bout sooni, n' it was interesting to speak in taiwanese n' mandarin, as i haven't done that in a li'l while, u know? neway, of course, every1 loves sooni. it's so cute when sooni cs some1 leaving a restaurant w/ take.out bags n' then she walks up n' sniffs their bags! ha ha ha! she does that 'lot @ the cupertino 99. (i guess it's aktually called "cupertino village.") over there, some restaurants have kitchens w/ a that goes out, as opposed to just having a passage thru the restaurants' main entrances. sooni likes to try to go into those entrances as she smells the fud, i guess. it's very cute.
formosa restaurant
will n' judy
. :-/
tan beno
그냥 작은 안부
sooni has a microchip, u know.
recruiting @ cal career fair, etc.
)
guitar dream
. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i ponder walking sooni by that store n' cing if the original owner notices, etc. *sigh* we wonder how sooni'll reakt. she's still spent most'f her life w/ him not us. would she want to go back to him? i'm 99.9% sure we treat her more nicely n' that she has a better life w/ us. i think she knows that, that she's never had it better. however, *shrug* yah, i wonder. would she want to go back to her original owner? i wonder if maybe she really would not want to go back to her original owner cos she has it so well w/ us. maybe if she met him 'gain, she'd be scared, thinking that she'd lose the com4table life she has now. *shrug* i definitely hope she wouldn't lose her discipline if she met her original owner. i mean, like, she wouldn't c him, n' 'member the bad habits she used to have, etc., would she? u know, when we 1st got her, she had a bad habit'f snapping @ ppl. she wouldn't bite them but would open her mouth n' akt like she was going to, if they did sumpthin' she didn't like. however, we've trained her not to do that. now, if u touch her in a way she absolutely does not like @ all, she'll lick u n' push u 'way w/ her tongue. she realises that ppl don't like getting slimed. she has 2 ways'f licking: 1) licking u the way doggies kiss ppl n' 2) licking u to get u to go 'way. neway, i wonder if she's jogging w/ duk kyung rt now.
. what 'bout costumes 4 us. i think kaela has a costume, but me? last yr, i was a prisoner. this yr? when kaela bought me my prisoner costume from the halloween store in berkeley during their clearance sale, she got me that prisoner costume as well as a chef hat. i don't, however, have the rest'f the chef costume. *shrug* yah, what to dress as this yr? i'm sure lots'f gurls'll be catwoman cos'f the recent movie that flopped. i've sed many times that catwoman wasn't as bad'f a movie as ppl say. i s'ppose catwoman's a good costume 4 women, but it'll be a shame if every woman has the same costume, u know? funny; it's so funny how there can be juvenile, childish costumes n' then those adult, sexy costumes. wasn't there some comic strip where a single woman showed up to a halloween costume party in 1'f those childish, baggy bunny suits, while other women were dressed as sexy playboy bunnies? heh... yah, that'd certainly lead to a feeling'f being out'f place. how 'bout these s'pposedly sexy costumes 4 a guy? like, some guys might dress up as tarzan or uh... some kind'f scorpion king, shirtless warrior. however, geez... u obviously need to be built 4 that kind'f revealing costume. well, u know... i've sed many, many, many, many times that it's harder 4 a man to live up to society's image/body standards than a woman cos a woman's just expekted to be skinny, while a man's 'xpekted to be lean n' muscular. as bad as it sounds, to be skinny, u just need to control ur diet n' do lots'f cardio... just burn off lots'f calories. even tho' those calorie.burning exercises can be tedious n' repetitive, they're relatively easy. building muscle? well, u gotta lift weights n' stuff, mostly. i think that's harder cos well... 1st off, u've gotta find all the weights @ the gym n' hope that other ppl rn't using them, etc. n'... well, like u can't just 0.5.heartedly/mindless lift weights, or else u'll drop the weights on ur face. w/ calorie.burning cardio exercise, u just hop on the machine, zone out, enjoy some muzik, n' keep going. *sigh* then 'gain, many ppl say that u burn more calories lifting weights than doing those cardio machines. maybe they're rt. *shrug* me, i've gotta do more ab exercises these days. i liked the situp benches they have @ the aborn sq / capitol expwy bally's gym.
14th monthversary
instant autumn
salmon n' asparagus fettucine
okt 9 taekwondo demo
malibu grand prix
금 (fri)
토 (sat)
일 / 오늘 (sun / 2day)
추석 송편
a couple'f wks 'go, as i toldju. *shrug* ha, as i was telling kaela, we could dress sooni up 4 t.giving... what? a pilgrim bonnet? an indigenous ppl's costume'f some sort? *shrug* wait, i think kaela sed we could dress her up as a turkey. ha ha ha. *shrug* neway... *sigh* those r just some silly thoughts.
well, rt now, the carcass is still in the box on the white plastik bag. i'll hafta go retrieve the carcass sometime. i'll probably use the vacuum. i slayed the monster. it was an awful monster, not the cute kind; no, an awful, evil monster!
즐거운 추석 받으세요.
when we came home, i found my wallet buried under a bunch'f clothes. *sigh* i cooked us some mish mash dinner: leftover 짜장 jjajang w/ some new noodles. i didn't know we had more 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn noodles; i had thought we were out, so i used 우동 oodong noodles 4 yesterday's lunch, 'member? however, i was wrong; we had more. i also warmed up the miso soup n' ate it w/ some rice. i had to wash lots'f dishes in the process'f fixing up this fud. *sigh* as it was 추석 choosuhk 2day/2nite, i kind'f wish i had made a better dinner, but *sigh* oh well... no time.
cactus bunny
“곰 세 마리가 한집에 있어/아빠곰 엄마곰 아기곰/아빠곰은 날씬해 엄마곰은 뚱뚱해/ 아기곰은 너무 귀여워/으쓱으쓱 잘한다.”
time to start planning 4 the snow season
that i bought from albertsons.
화산
menudo
친구들을 사귀기
"예수께서 마태의 집에서 앉아 음식을 잡수실 때에 많은 세리와 죄인들이 와서 예수와 그 제자들과 함께 앉았더니. 바라새인들이 보고 그 제자들에게 이르되 어찌하여 너희 선생을 세리와 죄인들과 함께 잡수시누냐. 예수께서 들으시고 이르시되 건강한 자에게는 의원이 쓸데 없고 병든 자에 게라야 쓸데 있느니라. 너희 는 가서 내가 긍휼을 원하고 제사를 원치 아니하노라 하신 뜻이 무엇인지 배우라 내가 의인을 부르러 온 것이 아니요 죄인을 부르러 왔노라 하시라."
--마테복음 9장 10~13절"while jesus was having dinner at matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. when the pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "why does your teach eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" on hearing this, jesus said, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. but go and learn what this means: 'i desire mercy, not sacrifice.' for i have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
-- matthew 9:10~13
우선 순위를 명확히 하기
sunnyvale runaround
tv 쓰레기
toiletless
[later] neway, kelly (llamrei), thanks 4 the toilet tip! we've gotta keep that in mind. i dled the service manual from the flushmate.com website, n' i'll take a closer look @ it 2day, but i did file a home warranty service req or whatever they call it. *sigh* however, they sure have not called me back, altho' they sed they would! geez... neway, so we have no aktual werking toilet in our house! that's pretty bad, huh? *sigh* the main bathrm toilet, to make it werk, what we've gotta do is manually dump w/ a bucket a bunch'f h2o into the bowl n' thus 4ce the contents'f the bowl down the drain or whatever u call it. geez, this is uh... 1 step 'way from having an outhouse, isn't it? ha ha ha... ugh, maybe it's not that funny but serious but oh well...
이제서야 간신히 그댈 잊어 가는데
그댈 못본것처럼 태연한척 지나치는 나
수많은 추억을 추마등 스쳐가듯이
내 사랑 마지막 우리 마주치지 말아요
앞만보고 걸어요 이제야 겨우 잊었는데
뒤를 돌아보지 말아요 나 그대의 뒷모습을
돌아봐도 그럼 내 모습을 볼 수 없게
다행히도 그대는 못본것만 같아요
거리를 걷는 수많은 사람들 속에서도
왜 네가슴은 아직도 그렇게 그녀를 쉽게 찾아 낼 수 있는건지
애써 너를 못본척 고개 숙여 걷고 있지만
달라진 너의 작은 모습하나까지도 다 느껴지는 나인걸
넌 다가오지마 우리 마주치지 말아요
땅만 보고 걸어요 이제야 겨우 잊었는데
뒤를 돌아보지 말아요 나 그대의 뒷모습을
돌아봐도 그런 나를 볼 수 없게
그대 지나쳐 갈만큼
어느새 그대를 다 잊어가는데
다시 우연히 만나도 쉽게 인사도 할만큼
oh 난 잠시 돌아봐도 될까요
가던길을 멈추고 그대의 뒷모습이라도
이게 마지막이 되겠죠
날 이 순간 기다리는 그대아닌 누군가를 만나려 돌아서면
태권도 시범
순이 세마리
neway, i'm talkin' 'bout last nite, not 2day, huh? hrm, well, i didn't tell u 'bout last nite b4, so i guess i aktually hafta start w/ yesterday nite.
there, i'm so much more amazed. *sigh*
애기 곰과 아빠 곰
(aegi gomgwa abba gom)
10월의 여름
pessimist
less'f a pessimist
healthy thinkin' "stressors"
challenges
opportunities
i think i'd already heard 'bout all those dog.friendly dining spots via dogfriendly.com. i've thought 'bout visiting willow street but not the los gatos 1. instead, i was thinking'f the original willow st pizza on willow st in san josé's willow glen. why would i ever instead go to the los gatos lokation?! u know, u'll find that a lot'f newspapers n' publikations, when they talk 'bout things to do in the silly valley, they'll totally focus on the campbell area. keep in mind that i coined the term "the bascom circuit" in hi skool, back in 1992~1993, k? yah, i know the more artistik, kewl, hip types in the silly valley like to talk 'bout that whole campbell area as being a place where u can find things like pubs, breweries, arthouse movies (@ pruneyard), good record/cd shops (rasputins, streetlight, tower), berkeleyesque paraphernalia (@ that paramount imports store that i used to frequent when i had chin length, colourful hair), etc. yah, if u'r a rock n' roller hipster, then the campbell area can be a good fit 4 u. after all, not every1 wants to be a silly valley yuppie or a mallrat, u know? neway, yah... definitely the silly valley publikations focus a bunch on the campbell area; but, as u know, i prefer to focus on the whole santa clara / sunnyvale / el camino real region, where i feel u find more "cultural" biznesses... heh, well, by "cultural," i s'ppose u know i mean "asian." neway, even tho' i don't wanna have ppl flock w/ their doggies to our favourite soonifriendly dining spots, i feel obligated to give some kind'f "shout out" to a few'f these nice biznesses:
1 reminder tho': just cos these places like sooni doesn't mean they like all doggies. sorry, but it could be true. *shrug*
swing voter
li'l ankle twist
, reduced fat wheat thins, nonfat yogurt, nonfat milk... nething else? i 4get. then i went home. i wanted to go to praktice earlier than usual since i didn't hafta wait 4 kaela since she was @ some seminar thingy. however, i ended up getting caught up watching sumpthin' on korean tv... oh yah, it was some buffyesque show; i s'ppose it's the korean equivalent to buffy the vampire slayer. on my way out'f the house, i step on kaela's sneaker n' twisted my ankle. cos'f that, i had a pretty discouraging praktice. i wish i had sports tape, so i could've taped up my ankle b4 praktice. *sigh* :-( yah, i don't like having a twisted ankle.
walk to petco
, where i bought her a bag'f hill's science diet oral care doggy fud, using duk kyung's awesome employee di$count. petco has this deal, where, 1nce u buy 10 bags'f the same kind'f doggy fud, u get 1 bag free. we've bought 6'f these small hill's science diet doggy fuds, so i hope to hit #10 someday. the small bags r not a good deal. instead, we ought to buy the big, bulk bags. those r a better deal. well, i walked sooni to petco n' back. as soon as we got home, kaela got home. she cooked us some uh... well, sort'f a 비빔밥 bibimbap or else a 김치 찌개 kimchi jjigae w/ rice mixed in. i'm not 2 sure which classifikation it'd fall under, but it was very good. we watched a couple'f episodes'f mbc's 황태자의 첫사랑 / hwangtaejauy chuhtsarang / the first love of the crown prince. @ 1 pt in the show, we heard a doorbell.like sound in the background. sooni started 멍멍ing / muhngmuhnging / barking. wow! that must mean her previous owners had a doorbell! we don't. weird. so i guess we must know what their doorbell sounds like.
preview'f sooni's costume
n' bought a few things: 2 bags'f halloween candy (twix n' snickers crunch), a halloween costume 4 sooni, a shower curtain liner, n' some doggy treats that were on sale.
this is a pumpkin costume. halloween costume contest. i don't think he knew that i got sooni her pumpkin costume already, but yah... i'll consider entering her to wint $25. she is cute, so... *shrug* i just hope she can behave 'mongst so many animals. as i told duk, i don't want her to be known as the pumpkin that ate so n' so's poodle. do i mention how i thought 'bout entering her pic in that trader joe's pet contest? she'd surely win, no doubt. they pick 1 pic each month. she could win every month, i think; but i dunno if they'd allow that. that'd be weird neway. however, i could enter her pic @ diff trader joe's lokations, rt? neway, i'm sorry this journal's become so much'f a sooni journal.
아빠의 61번째 생일
. duk kyung's quitting petco soon, so we had to stock up a bit. we bought a huge bag'f science diet oral care, some greenies, a whole bunch'f doggy treats, a 3.pak'f disposable doggy dishes (4 h2o when we're out w/ sooni), hrm... what else? it cmed like we bought 'lot. i thought, "geez, sooni's so spoiled." well, it didn't co$t 2 much cos duk kyung gave us a gift card 4 sooni's b.day. originally, he gave her this doggy bed, but sooni didn't really take to it, didn't really use it. thus, duk kyung gave us a gift card instead. neway, duk kyung's employee di$count's great 4 us, but we're losing it soon as he's quitting. kaela n' i looked @ rain poncho's 4 sooni, but i figured none @ petco were that great n' all were prob'ly overpriced. i didn't buy 1, but then it started raining last nite.
sunny rainy wknd
15th monthversary
chili cheese stuffed baked potatoes
to meet up w/ dukkyung to give him the key to housesit/soonsit on fri nite, while kaela n' i r @ the grx couples retreat. 'gain, they're a tuff duo, so i advise that u don't sneak 'round our house while we're gone. kaela agreed that we should get sooni a raincoat from petco, so i did.
boreal opens!!!
n' bought a cable 4 99¢ that connekts an a/v signal from rca outputs to our sony mini.dv camcorder. that way, i can record onto mini.dv stuff from our satellite dish such as muzik shows, etc. the item was cheap, but i haven't heard from the seller myung s. park'f l.a., ca. i went back to the item page to check who the other 2 buyers'f the 3 cables up 4 sale were. i looked @ 1 dude's fdbk n' saw that all his other purchases related to buying medskool stuff to study to become a gynocologist. hrm, i sure hope he doesn't combine his gynocological studies w/ his camcorder equipment in a bad way! i sure wonder when that cable'll get here.
now. i know devices like these don't live 4ever, n' mine's greatly outlived its expekted lifespan. however, not buying a replacement was prob'ly the 1 frugal thing i've been doing these past coupl'f yrs. :-( if i were to buy a replacement, i think i'd buy the palm zire 72 but worry that it'll be 2 bulky to carry in my pocket all the time, the way i do w/ my visor edge. *sigh* what to do?
sooni's housemate
off? old cellfons?
grx couples retreat
@ that pt since i used to carry it all the time in my pocket cos it's so small n' thin. if i were to buy a new pda, it'd prob'ly be the palm zire 72, which isn't as small or thin but has so many kewl features. i wonder if i'll be disappointed w/ its bigger size tho'. :-/ the reason the visor edge was so good was that it was totally portable, rt? well, the palmone / handspring treo smartfon pdas r pretty portable, but i don't think i'm ready to switch fons. i like my lg vx6000. *sigh* i wonder if we're heading 2wards palm os driven smartfons or what. i definitely would not get a smartfon/pda that doesn't run on palm os or else mobile windows 2003 (or whatever they now call pocket pc). really, so far, palm os's still better than that mobile windows 2003 stuff. *sigh* i dunno what to do.
chicken; i.e. kaela had the 3 chicken selects meal, n' i had the grilled chicken on wheat bun sandwich meal. we ate in a hurry as i drove in a hurry fighting southbound fri nite commute traffik. 2 many french fries... the gave us monopoly game pieces, but i accidentally threw them 'way w/o looking @ them when we got to the hotel. :-( yah, i was sad 'bout that. i sure could use whatever best buy prize they're giving 'way. maybe they're giving 'way a palm zire 72! [later] 438p well, no, they're not. we had 3 "seminars" w/ dr. sunukjian. it was very kewl. he talked 'bout 1. honouring our parents as adult couples, 2. roles of husbands n' wives in marraige, n' 3. uh... sex in marriage. heh, it's funny to write out, but in the 3rd seminar, he basikally sed that married ppl hafta have more sex. that's true. i think ppl have a very twisted view'f sex these days cos'f what media has done, u know? (eh, maybe i shouldn't get into that here.) we got fed well @ the retreat. i s'ppose we had fud thru the hotel's catering service. they gave us some kind'f semi.continental brkfast, a sort'f amerikanised chinese fud lunch, n' a meaty mexican fud dinner. we had plenty'f snacks here n' there. we came home 'round 900p or so on sat nite. i called duk kyung when we got home n' told him he didn't need to stop by to c sooni if he couldn't. originally, i had told him to come by cos we wouldn't get home till like 1100p, but i guess we finished b4 i thought we would. i was very happy the church didn't try to inundate us w' info during the retreat by making us get up early n' stay up late listening to sermon after sermon. i think 3 "seminars" was just rt. i can imagine some ppl'd try to squeeze in 6 in 2 days; but no, i like how we had 3 seminars n' then lots'f time to get to know other couples. duk kyung didn't get my v.mail, so he came over neway, n' we talked n' sort'f watched some korean tv. i tried to record music bank on our mini.dv camcorder, but i couldn't get it to werk rt. :-( [later] 457p: i dunno where the manual or remote control r 4 our camcorder. *sigh* man, there's stuff like this that i can't find ever since we moved.
plaza. both these plazas have lots'f korean stuff. there's some dude running 4 a local office named mario bouza who's running on some platform, saying that we need to clean up el camino real, that it "hardly looks like an all-american city." hrm, kaela pted this out to me, n' we're pretty sure he's referring to the korean n' indian n' persian biznesses. so does he not like these biznesses? does he not like the non.english signs? does he think koreans, indians, n' middle.easterners cannot be amerikans? lemme tell u, personally, i strongly believe that these cultures r exaktly what do make santa clara an all.amerikan city! thus, i voted 4 his opponent gap kim, no doubt.
then after all that, i'd like to get a new pda/handheld, rt? *shrug* i dunno what to do. what i'm thinking rt now is that i'll try my hardest to survive till the christmas season w/o a pda/handheld. i'm hoping that stores'll have big sales on them then. i believe palmone'll still have their $50 mir then.
ripped jeans n' bandanas
as much. 4 example, i used to write more'f my journal entries on my pda/handheld, rt? nowadays, i write most'f them on my laptop. even in recent days, tho' i was mostly reading my journal from my pda. i used to do more e.mail from my handheld, n' i used to surf the web more from it. isn't that crazy? 'member when i used to carry 'round the gomadic cable n' dial.in from all sorts'f places? in fakt, while kaela n' i were in d.c. 4 those 2 wks doing taekwondo demos, my handspring was our primary way'f getting online, wasn't it?
windows media player crossfader
walgreens cheapest?
'd be 2 expen$ive, that long's n' rite.aid'd be the next level down, n' that walgreens'd be the cheapest. i dunno why, but walgreens always cms to be a li'l ghetto n' thus good in this situation. heh. *shrug* well, i went there. when i got there, i saw in their ad that they had some kind'f liquid plumb'r 4 79¢. "kewl," i thought. well, i found some cheap generik dental floss. i dunno 'bout the quality, but it was the cheapest there. i then saw some clr, but couldn't find that generik liquid plumb'r. well, i saw some fancy liquid plumb'r sumpthin' snake. i thought 'bout it. i know liquid plumb'r type chemicals can be really kill ur pipes. i know that. thus, i figured maybe i should spend the extra few bucks n' buy this nicer stuff in hopes that it might be nicer to our pipes. i thought 'bout buying some sports tape n' sports tape underwrap but decided to buy it later in hopes'f saving some $$$. *shrug* man... i dunno man; does it sound like i'm cheap? well, shoot; u know what i'm saving my $$$ 4! property tax, homeowner's insurance, new tires, vehicle registration, utility bills, christmas presents, snowboarding, a new pda/handheld... i've really gotta watch my $pending.
What is likely to matter most is whom Mr. Kerry would nominate to the Supreme Court. With no vacancies on the court in more than a decade, there is heightened expectation that the next president will have one or more opportunities to choose justices and shape the court for years to come.
짜증짜장
“Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots,” reports the New York Times of October 23.
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idols
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let this be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idols
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands--Oh God
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands--Oh God
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
Oh God of Jacob
Give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands--Oh God
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
찬새 다섯
누가 복음 12장 1~7절 luke 12:1~7 그 동안에 무리 수만 명이 모여 서로 밟힐만큼 되었더니 예수께서 먼저 제자들에게 말씀하여 가라사대 바리새인들의 누룩 곧 외식을 주의하라 감추인 것이 드러나지 않을 것이 없고 숨은 것이 알려지지 않을 것이 없나니 이러므로 너희가 어두운데서 말한 모든 것이 광명한데서 들리고 너희가 골방에서 귀에 대고 말한 것이 집 위에서 전파되리라 내가 내 친구 너희에게 말하노니 몸을 죽이고 그 후에는 능히 더 못하는 자들을 두려워하지 말라 마땅히 두려워할 자를 내가 너희에게 보이리니 곧 죽인 후에 또한 지옥에 던져 넣는 권세 있는 그를 두려워하라 내가 참으로 너희에게 이르노니 그를 두려워하라 참새 다섯이 앗사리온 둘에 팔리는 것이 아니냐 그러나 하나님 앞에는 그 하나라도 잊어버리시는바 되지 아니하는도다 너희에게는 오히려 머리털까지도 다 세신바 되었나니 두려워하지 말라 너희는 많은 참새보다 귀하니라
meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "be on your guard against the yeast of the pharisees, which is hypocrisy. there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. what you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. "i tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. but i will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. yes, i tell you, fear him. are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? yet not one of them is forgotten by god. indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
In a medical study being published today, scientists have concluded that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has resulted in the deaths of at least 100,000 Iraqis, "and may be much higher." It further revealed that most of the 100,000 Iraqis who died were killed in violent deaths, primarily carried out by U.S. forces' airstrikes. "Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children," according to the study. The study was designed and conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad (The Lancet, October 29, 2004).
오리 못
4 the halloween costume contest. i was so worried that there'd be all these yipyap purse dogs there that sooni'd wanna bite; but the store was aktually quite empty or 'least void'f dogs! wow! well, aktually, there was 1 doberman pinscher there. sooni was the 1st contestant 4 the contest. the staff adored her. she had her pumpkin outfit of course. we walked 'round the store but didn't c duk kyung. we bought sooni some compressed rawhide bones. then we went to santana row 4 lunch cos kaela sed we might as well parade sooni 'round in her cute costume.
만성절
??? i don't get it.
도깨비불? 호박등? we've never opened the package or tasted the candy. each candy's individually wrapped. it appears to be fruit flavoured but has palm oil n' thus a hi fat content. uh, i hope the kids eat it. ha ha. it's prob'ly good. i hope parents'f li'l kids rn't scared by its cute korean wrapper n' thus throw it 'way, scared that it's poisonous. i also grabbed all this old candy out'f our living rm coffee table candy jar, lots'f random stuff. *sigh* well, it's 818p, n' there's a definite lull rt now. i wonder how late kids trick'r treat. if i were a kid, i'd go till 'least 1000p. oh shoot! is there a simpsons halloween episode on now?! well, shoot, the dish netwerk guide sez it's x.files rt now. whah?! x.files ended a long time 'go. what's up? wait a sec! this is the x.files movies! whah? why does dubyah have a commercial on fox rt now? whah? he was off talkin' 'bout how he's such a religious guy this n' that. hrm, i'm not sure if it was a commercial or some kind'f clip aktually put on by fox. in that case, do they also give john kerry time to talk 'bout his spiritual life?
transition to nov
, bread, cereal... i also bought some special k bars, some'f that 'xpen$ive "tasty nugget" beef jerky, n' 1 pack'f hillshire farms mesquite smoked turkey. on the way home, i opened up the luncheon meat n' ate it w/ a coupl'f slices'f bread. man, don't only bachelor's eat packages'f lunchmeat on the way home from safeway after the gym 4 dinner??? ha ha. (kaela was studying @ her classmate's place.)
대선
that's great it start with an earthquake, birds and snakes, and aeroplanes...
2 much na+ (sodium)
"Council of Churches: God Has No Place in U.S. Politics"
happy b.day toby
$pending, not $pending
so what does this matter? it's just that, as i've sed b4, it's not
that i question that matters like homosexual akts or abortion r sinful in
god's eyes, i just do insist that jesus never showed us that we r
to go out n' make legislation that bans these things. u know, in a
way it gets down to fundamental question 4 christians like me: "would u be
happy if it was a federal law that all amerikans must be christians?"
if it were, u'd sure have 'lot'f ppl who'd hafta call themselves
"christian" but would have absolutely no love 4 god n' jesus.
would my fellow christians think that'd be pleasing under god's
eyes?
homosexuality is genetik.
homosexuals r born w/ predisposition to be tempted sexually by ppl'f
the same sex. the bible sez that homosexual akts r a sin, so
we should werk w/ homosexuals to keep them from sinning.
however, since homosexuality is genetik, then apparently god
made them homosexual, so we should have respekt when
interakting w/ them, cos they 2 r made in god's image.homosexuals choose to be sinful ppl n' choose to defy god.
in that case, then u'r saying that homosexuals have the same
temptations as the rest'f us but r just weak n' give in to sin more
easily than us. if so, u'r saying that u 2 r also tempted by
ppl'f the same sex but just have better willpower than homosexuals.
is that how u r? i guess so, if u think this
way. personally, i'm not sexually tempted by other
males. however, if u think homosexuals r just naturally
depraved ppl who deserved to be persecuted, then i guess u 2 have the
same sexual temptations but feel u have the rt to persecute cos u've
overcome those temptations.
yah, that's sushi w/ rice wrapped in maguro (tuna, raw) w/ tobiko n' quail
egg
it was pretty tasty.
free loveburdies?
제목: RE: LOVE BIRDS
i guess craigslist had a glitch? *shrug* i am selling a gigabyte brand 802.11b wireless ethernet pc card on craigslist, so maybe the anonymous e.mail addresses got switched? *shrug*
보낸 사람: "s xiong"
날짜: 2004-11-8, 월, 9:52 am
받는 사람: anon-47651759@craigslist.org
우선순위: 보통
환경 설정: 전체 헤더 보기 | 인쇄용 보기 | Bounce
i saw your ad listed on craigslist.org regarding two birds. Are they parakeet? if
so are you giving them away for free? i love birds. i have a parakeet (male, baby
blue) and looking to get another one. I am interested. I hope to hear from you. I
am willing to take both birds and give them a warm and loving home for them.
I used to have own a female bright yellow for 3 years. Two years ago, i have the
window open and she flew away. It broke my heart. I still misses her alot. I
decide to go and get another one which is male baby blue, and been having him since.
Thanks!
after i ate the pizza, i put sooni's raincoat n' her n' took her 4 a short walk, while i ate my forkless gourmet bun. these r pretty darn good, as i've sed in the past. however, like most packaged fud, they still have 2 much sodium. :-(
마태복음 5장13절
"너희는 세상의 소금이니; 소금이 만일 그 맛을 잃으면 무엇으로 짜게 하리요? 후에는 아무 쓸데 없어 다만 밖에 버리워 사람에게 밟힐 뿐이니라"matthew 5:13
"u r the salt'f the earth; but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? it's no longer good 4 nething, 'cept to be thrown out n' trampled by men."
Members of the clergy do not give up their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech under the IRS guidelines. They may endorse candidates in their role as individual citizens, but may not do so in their official capacity as pastor or staff clergy. If personal endorsements are made, clergy should make it clear they are not speaking in an official capacity of their church. Such individual support, according to IRS guidelines, should not take place at "official church functions, in official church publications, or otherwise use the church's assets."
listen, that wasn't a msg to all those awful churches who told their congregations to vote 4 dubyah. no, that was a msg to all the clergy who wanted their congregation to vote 4 kerry, a msg to play fair. not only was it morally wrong 4 pastors to tell their congregations to vote 4 dubyah, it was illegal! u know, it sound like it's our job now to find out all the churches who told their congregation to vote 4 dubyah, n' have the irs take 'way their nonprofit org statuses!
durham
i went to taekwondo praktice where, we did down.the.line kicks as well as paddles. after praktice, i came home n' ate some safeway low.fat turkey lasagna that kaela baked, some bagged salad, n' some packaged melon n' pineapple. oh shoot, i left my chicken pasta salad @ werk in the fridge. nuts. maybe i should eat it 2morrow 4 lunch. *shrug*
not a poof
selling off play@tv
peterson arafat
praktice run to kadam n' kadam
. i dunno, does it sound like i'm fascinated w/ target
? it's a good store, in a way, cos they've got such a variety'f merchandise n' i think they're not as evil as walmart, rt? *shrug* neway, u know, target
aktually isn't always cheap tho'. sometimes stuff really isn't that cheap there. well, i went there to buy some gloves i saw last time that were $2.99 but now have a 20% discount. they're cheap, n' i don't wanna wear my nice br merino wool gloves when i walk sooni in the cold cos i don't wanna get doggy treats all over them since i s'ppose i can't launder merino wool stuff 2 often, u know? well, i was planning to buy those cheap gloves but then saw a pair'f convertible mittens (4 men) 4 $9.99 - 20%. u can fold over the top'f the mittens to uncover fingerless gloves, if u know what i mean. u know what i mean? *shrug* so yah... i $pent a li'l bit more than i planned. i also bought some other stuff: a new rubbermaid shower squeegee 4 $3.49 to replace the 1 that fraktured, a cute snowman kitchen towel 4 $2.99, a turkey roasting bag 4 99¢, n' what else? oh yah, a doggy pikture frame. hey, where did that go? i dunno if i've cn it since coming home. that was $1 from their 1spot area. where is it? did it fall out'f the bag in the car? did kaela find it in the bag, think it was cute, take it, n' put it somewhere??? shoot, i'd best find it. oh yah, i also bought a box'f reduced fat wheat thins 4 $1.66. then i went to fry's to look 4 a replacement air filter 4 our euro.pro bagless stick shark, but only found 1 returned item, so i didn't buy it. i saw other stuff there tho'; browsed. rt now, fry's has the palmone tungsten t5 4 $379, that's $20 off the msrp. then i went home. it sure gets dark early these days, but until dec 21, it'll keep getting darker earlier in the day, rt? i thought 'bout going grocery shopping but instead went home to do housechores n' hang w/ sooni. later, when kaela came home, i took her to 갤러리아 마켓 galleria market to grocery shop n' then to 전주 돌솥밥 juhnjoo dolsotbap or whatever it's called , a korean restaurant next to galleria. kaela had their 영앙 돌솥밥 yuhngyang dolsotbap, n' i had 염소 전골 yuhmso juhngol, which is goat casserole. we were stuffed. we went home n' watched tv. i did more housechores. kaela wanted to eat some gelato, so we ate some gelato from the freezer. oh yah, b4 that, we ate some 감 / gam / persimmons.
print or port?
than @ home? it is a bit'f a hassle to 4mat the 8.5" x 11" page w 3 4" x 6" pics n' 1 li'l minipic in the excess corner, print out the sheet, n' cut the pics out'f the sheet. yah, i won't lie; it's a bit'f werk. a wk or 2 'go, i printed a whole bunch'f 4"x6" pics n' a bunch'f minipics. i spent 1 eve that wk cutting them out.
praktice run @ racecourse
, a 2pac'f pacific gold teriyaki turkey jerky (even tho' we'll soon be very sick'f that burdy)... did i buy nething else? :-/ not that i 'member... i was tempted to buy a few other things such as some frozen teriyaki chicken sub sandwiches, which i deemed 2 fatt'ning, a $5.49 pack'f "spicy" maki sushi w/ avocado, which looked rather unripely yellow. i considered buying a 300.oz container'f tide laundry detergent 4 $17.99, but i know i saw the same price @ target, where they have more variety'f flavours or scents. i also saw the same price @ albertsons, but they only have 2 varieties: regular n' w/ bleach. target had several other flavours. i think i was tempted to buy some other frzn fuds, but i worry that i've gotta save space in the fridge n' freezer 4 t.giving fuds, no? i noticed that in the fresh meat sektion, they have lots'f mildly interesting ready.to.cook entrées such as some kind'f steak stuffed w/ portobello shrooms. yah, i'd cn that b4. i saw some korean lady there in the checkout line that looked familiar n' thought maybe she was from the old church but then figured w/ finite certainty that she's the waitress @ 장모집 jangmojip that does 검도 guhmdo @ our 도장 dojang. after costco, i went home cos the lunchmeat does requires refrigeration. i made 2 li'l sandwiches w/ the remaining whole wheat french bread, the new lunchmeat, the ol' albertsons yellow moutarde (which is almost gone), n' the heinz tabasco kick'rs ketchup. 'gain, i had to tell sooni that my lunch was indeed as delicious as she thought based upon her smelling it.
16th monthversary
dinner@se7en
big game viktory
mon b4 t.giving
target has a paper shredder w/ wastebin (recycling bin) 4 $29. i wonder if i should buy that. i hate how those stoopid, stoopid credit card banks keep sending applikations cos it's risky to throw those in the recycling bin unshredded since it's so easy 4 some1 to come buy, steal them, fill them out, n' get a credit card under ur name. they also have some nice stockings on sale. i should take the beautiful kaela hwang over there to c. i think last yr she wanted to buy 1'f these nice velvet, blue stockings, but i wouldn't let her cos it wasn't on sale, n' well... i've gotta save $$$ sometime, rt?!
t.giving groceries
that day. it must've been the day b4 halloween, that sat. neway, when i came home every1 had finished all the fud, so i guess that's why i had no clue that we had no more pasta sauce. *sigh* we usually have quite an overabundance'f pasta sauce. well, i didn't cook. i ate a few slices'f lunchmeat. i ate some black sesame junkfud. then kaela n' i spent a long time planning out thurs's menu. then we went grocery shopping. we spent such a long time @ safeway@rivermark, n' i was so hungry. there's been other times when kaela got so fascinated w/ all the fancy stuff @ safeway@rivermark that we ended up spending a long time there. we spent 1.5 hrs there. u know what i hate 'bout safeway@rivermark tho'? it's 2 often ransacked n' empty. it reminds us'f the college ave. safeway @ the border'f berkeley n' oakland, the 1 i always affektionately referred to as "party safeway." neway, when we got home, sooni was sooo starving! as u know, she's not 'llowed to eat till we eat. when we don't really eat a proper meal, she suffers. kaela noticed that sooni was shaking/shivering. really, i think it was cos the hunger really hurt @ that pt. u know when she's hungry cos she stares @ u n' listens very obediently.
turkey burrito
추수감사철
blowing up da house
's $29.99.), 2) shower spray (i don't understand this stuff. is it just h2o or alcohol? neway, the beautiful kaela hwang really believes in this stuff, so i keep buying it.), 3) some acne cream stuff (cos i do get facial blemishes now n' then.
total cereal, which i bought from costco a while 'go. yah, i was tempted to get an auntie anne pretzel but didn't. [later] amerikan eagle outfitters was so crowded w/ li'l teenyboppers. man, i haven't been in such a teenybopper.filled environment in a long time, but i know i shouldn't have such a kenny cole dominated wardrobe neway. i took advantage'f a good deal @ men's express. *sigh* man, kaela n' i used to "live" @ valley fair. i used to joke all the time 'bout how express is where women shop 4 clothes n' thus panda express is where pandas shop 4 clothes, etc. kaela n' i used to "live" @ valley fair back more 2wards when we 1st moved to san jo / the silly valley. we prob'ly hung out there the most when kaela was werking @ the publik health dept nearby, n' i was a full.time student. then after kaela quit that job our presence @ valley fair prob'ly dropped just a tad. then, later, when we got our house, our presence there prob'ly fell a li'l since our financial priorities shifted altho' we still liked to hang out @ valley fair. then, 1nce we got sooni our presence @ valley fair fell thru the floor since they don't allow sooni.type doggies there, only those silly yipyap purse doggies. that kind'f policy really frustrates kaela n' me cos we know sooni's not gonna pee on nething, she's not gonna bark... she's a good doggy. we spent 800a~500p @ valley fair. during the day @ the mall, duk kyung met up w/ his 2 japanese gurl friends nami n' ren. after shopping, duk kyung drove us 2 back home n' came in 4 some t.giving leftovers, as we watched more krdrams. heh, u know... while writing yesterday's entry, i'd 4gotten that we did indeed c the final episode'f 매직 / magic. it's just that the ending was so unsatisfying that we sort'f blocked it out'f our memories!!!
keno@squaw.com
칠면조와 타이어 / chilmyuhnjowa taiuh / turkey n' tire: the diestel ranch turkey n' 1'f my new dunlop sp5000 tires
frosty end to nov
[later] 2day @ lunch, i went home n' ate more leftover 대구 매운탕 daegoo maeoontang. then i took sooni w/ me to lozano's santa clara carwash 4 my $9.95 + $1 tip carwash. while they washed my durty, durty car, i walked sooni over to that santa clara park on el camino real n' lincoln st. (apparently, it's "civic center park," according to the park facilities map pdf file. that makes sense since it's rt by the civic center.) it was a nice day. my car's clean 'gain.
the 25 days'f christmas
turkey curry
'cross halford to where u've got chevron n' kohl's, n' then 'gain 'cross el camino back to our car. from there, i drove us to an atm n' then home. i dropped sooni off @ home n' went off to hamilton bally's gym 4 a werkout. in a way, i like my new routine'f werking out later in the eve so that i can skip the traffik on the streets n' crowds in the gym. @ the gym, i ran into my ol' classmate hugo n' chatted w/ him 4 a bit. i lifted a li'l. i benched 145 lbs instead'f my usual 135 lbs. i usually don't push myself since i don't have a spotter, but i also don't get much bigger muscles, u know? i wouldn't mind a li'l more muscleage, but *shrug* i'm still just don't have the kind'f time req'd to get seriously buff. :-/
like on mon nite, when i got home, kaela was home w/ sooni. i told her how i'm opting these days to werkout later in order to avoid crowds n' traffik. she studies w/ her classmates so late neway. [later] well, when i got home sooni was eating her dinner. it's funny. on mon nite, when i came home, she was sleeping in her bed (if i 'member correktly), so she didn't run up n' greet me when i came home. (kaela had already come home.) last nite, 'gain, sooni didn't come greet me @ the door cos she was eating. funny. well, the li'l prob w/ kaela's already feeding sooni was that i hadn't yet eaten dinner, n' we're both s'pposed to eat b4 sooni cos doggies view eating order as a very direkt indikation'f rank in the "pack," u know? well, i had to eat still, so i warmed up some leftover t.giving turkey. oh yah; i 4got to mention that on tues nite, kaela came home late, bringing w/ her a big model spine n' a full skeleton (4tunately just a plaster molded replica, not the real thing). yah, the skeleton, to me, 's a bit freaky, u know? i mean, i'm the 1 btwn the 2'f us that can tolerate horror movies, but having a full skeleton in my own house sort'f makes me feel a li'l uneasy, 'specially since it rt now sresides in our living rm. neway, as i was eating my turkey, well... i totally lost my appetite cos the meaty meat started to remind me'f cadavers. i sure don't werk 'round cadavers much, but i've visited kaela's skool's cadaver lab on 2 occassions, as i've sed b4: 1) when i was a kid on a "lyceum" field trip / seminar n' 2) when i went to the open house w/ kaela in feb. i told kaela that i couldn't eat my turkey nemore cos it reminded me'f human cadavers, but she just sed that cadavers look more like beef. ha ha ha. neway, my loss'f appetite was sooni's gain. i fed her the rest'f my plate'f turkey. that was quite a bit'f meat. she ate 'lot last nite!!! she ate her regular portion'f doggyfud in addition to all the turke i gave her. this morn, on our walk, she pooped quite a bit. @ 1st i was very amazed; then i 'membered that she ate so much last nite. i hope she's a happy doggy.
(it'd be quite a long time since i had 1! 오래만이네!), n' left my nice parking spot to drive rt back to werk. @ werk, i ate some mysterious leftover pasta. kaela brought it home, but i dunno 'xaktly where she got it from. *shrug* it had some'f that uh... spirally, curly pasta w/ some broccolli n' ground meat in tomato sauce. we don't usually cook pasta like this. lately, we've been making pasta w/ spam. yah, we sure eat 'lot'f spam, eh? neway, since i made that somewhat silly trip all the way out to valley fair, i didn't c sooni @ lunch, not 2day. however, since i plan to attend taekwondo sparring praktice 2nite, we'll spend some more time 2gether.
... well, that's not just a drugstore, but... *shrug* 2 much safeway n' albertsons... *sigh* i dunno; what is it w/ me? why is it that ever since college i have this obsession w/ all this household shopping? as i've sed 2 many times, i often have 2 much'f a tendency 2wards the domestic life. would i be a "househusband" if i had the chance? :-/ i dunno, man. however, i feel like i'm sort'f living so.called "the werking mom's" life. maybe i should resolve not to do so much'f this household shopping cos it is a dangerous way to procrastinate w/ other things in life. as i've sed b4, i'm prob'ly gonna resolve this next new yr to write less in my journal.
cheesy bunny
name: 비노 황 beno hwang 황명록
e.mail: 비노 앳 비노믹스 닷 캄 아니면 닷콤
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash!) http://www.benomix.com - the domain name's fully funktional 1nce 'gain!
what was the last movie u saw? warm water under a red bridge - quite a disappointing japanese movie. it's a li'l humourous, very perverted, but absolutely not pornographic. it's got a whole bunch'f references to sexual stuff, but don't worry or do worry: it doesn't have ne nudity... oh 'cept 4 a guy's butt. it sounded like an award winner from its box's description, but it really disappointed me! >:-(
what's a wurd u use when u'r angry? 아이시~~~ aiyeesh...
what's a wurd u use when u'r happy? woohoo!
on avg, how often do u do laundry? on avg 1nce every 2 wks... lately? 1nce a wk...
which'f the following do u use/consume/ingest?: tobacco/nicotine, coffee, caffeinated soda, "sugar" soda, diet soda, beer, wine, liquor/cocktails/spirits, vitamins, supplements coffee, caffeinated soda, diet soda, beer, wine, liquor/cocktails/spirts, vitamins, supplements
what ringtones r on ur fon? 신미나 - "전화 맏어" (shin mina - "juhnhwa baduh"), 젝스키스 - "커플" (sechkies - "couple"), 바다 - "새오운 날에" (bada - "saerowoon nalei")
additional comments: u need to blog less.
name: 아직도 비노 황 beno hwang 황명록
e.mail: 아직도 비노 앳 비노믹스 닷 콤... 그리고 benoburdy at gmail dot com n' benoburdy at vtext dot com to txt msg my fon...
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash!): as always, http://www.benomix.com
how was ur t.giving? don't celebrate t.giving, hosted t.giving, visited parents, visited in.laws, visited friends, vacationed, snowboarded, shopped, watched futbol, played futbol, exercised hosted t.giving, snowboarded, shopped, exercised
what do u want 4 christmas? oh, the list could go on n' on, rt? palmone tungsten t5 pda/handheld w/ diotek 한글 hangeul support, a nice glass fireplace screen that fits, a good external usb2.0/firewire dvd-rw/+rw burner, a good mtn or "comfort" bike to get me to werk w/o petrol, maybe that "tv everywhere!" wireless a/v signal/remote device that'd let us watch dish netwerk from our bdrm tv instead'f just the living rm tv
what's a christmas song u like? fin.k.l.'s "white"
new yr's resolutions? 1) to blog less n' do musik stuff such as djing more; 2) to gear my gym werkouts more 2wards being a better taekwondo sparrer 'gain; 3) to cook creative dishes more often
new yr's prediktions: tech stocks'll make a big rebound, n' real estate'll continue to climb, 'specially in the bay area.
when do u wanna snowboard w/ beno? i want to snowboard w/ beno every day
additional comments: tag, u'r it!
what's "spare" change?
in the same strip mall as luce (the korean café that used to be "coffee?"), 길목 gilmok (korean restaurant), n' sushi o sushi (korean sushi restaurant); but i had to go pee so badly, so just took her back to the car park @ blockbuster. i past a man that looked like he was gonna ask 4 $$$. i didn't look him in the eye but walked past him n' drove off. later, i saw him get into a car w/ some1 n' wondered if he really wasn't panhandling. i dunno. *shrug*
isn't this the kind'f pic ppl use 4 musik album covers?
gathering friends
's evil. is that true? *shrug*
dream warriors
, big lots!... my cowerkers have teased me 'bout how i sound like such a domestic. i've really gotta quit it.
j.box drive.thru on a rainy nite
prewinter eating
hardcore eating
@ home depot:
tannenbaum
. i figure if i get this n' an external usb2.0/ieee.1394 dvd+/-rw burner then i can do all the video recording stuff from my laptop instead'f always using kaela's. the ieee.1394 fi.wi card was cheap, but man... the external dvd+/-rw drive? i'll hafta drop a li'l bit'f $$$ 4 that, n' that's why i'm still waiting even tho' they really rn't that expen$ive. seriously, 'puter stuff isn't very expen$ive these days, rt? if u need 'puter stuff, just go out n' buy it, man. in the old days, 'puter stuff was so expen$ive, not nemore.
frozen powder
the last political spew... 'f 2004
presents 4 myself... sometime... *shrug*
pda (if diotek comes out w/ a version'f it's korean hangeul software that werks w/ the t5's palm os [i think they have.]) ($359.99 w/ free hard case after mir @ buy.com
w/ free shipping) n' 2) an external usb 2.0 / ieee.1394 (firewire) dvd±rw drive. i have so many options as far as a dvd±rw drive:
: 4 ultimate utility, since i want to record lots'f korean musik shows from our dish netwerk receiver... (single or dual layer) ($279.99 @ buy.com
w/ free shipping)
: 12× dvd+r write, 8× dvd-r write, 4× dvd+rw rewrite, 4× dvd-rw rewrite, n' 16× dvd.rom read; 48× cd.r write, 24× cd.rw rewrite, n' 48× cd.rom read... i use plextor cd drives in my desktop. i have a superold (old skool) plextor 412 scsci cd.r drive n' a plextor 40× cd.rom reader. i've heard plextor's a very reliable brand 4 optical drives. (single layer only) ($189.99 - $30 mir = $159.99 @ buy.com
w/ free shipping)
: cheaper than others but slower... (single or dual layer) ($149.99 @ buy.com
w/ free shipping)
blood donor
노하기를 더디하는 자는 용사보다 낫고 자기의 마음을 다스리는 자는 성을 빼앗는 자보다 나으니라 ~잠언 16장32절
better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. ~ proverbs 16:32
nye2004 plans???
i fed sooni. i let her go out, n' she didn't wanna come back in. >:-/ aktually, earlier, when i was eating my sandwich n' egg, i was outside w/ her. the weather was beautiful. i'm sure she missed being outside more, but i am a bit upset @ her 4 jumping the fence last sun when my mom found her out on the street. *sigh* neway, i left her in the backyard when i left go back 4 werk, but i hope the beautiful kaela hwang'll be home sooner rather than later. she's done w/ her finals 4 this 0.25.
outdoor lunch in dec
미련한 자는 명철을 기뻐하지 아니하고 자기의 의사를 드러내기만 기뻐하느니라 ~ 잠언18장2절
a fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. ~ proverbs 18:2
3rd engagement anniversary
성탄철
(written after 2004 in 2005)
now, plz view the 2005 edition'f the beno journal!