Anteater vs. Bruin

I got accepted into UCI's MAT program. But I don't hear back from UCLA for about another month. Not becoming a Bruin could potentially shake things up in a very interesting way. Job and house hunting may have to come back into the picture. My teacher training and potential school districts may look very different too. And who knows what Simon will do!

But I don't hear back from UCLA for about another month.

Thought of the Day: Mice
Song of the Day: Bingo Players-Knock You Out

Let Me Serenade the Streets of L.A.

There are two things I experience every single day. Sirens. Marijuana. I hear the first. Smell the second. I wonder if the two are related to one another.

Living in Los Angeles has been interesting. Contrary to popular belief, New York does not have the worst traffic in the country; L.A. does. In fact, San Francisco and San Jose turn out to have heavier traffic congestion than the City of the Big Apple. I always knew I should "never be on the 405 at 4:05," but I now have a deeper respect (and pity) for those who have 1+ hour commutes to work every day. That can add up to a lot of unhappy hours.

I thought living in an urban area would mean having more parks with basketball courts where I can play with strangers and forget about my stress of the day. Residing in the city actually entails risking your safety in scary parks with drug dealers and homeless people or overcrowded courts with high school kids who can ball me up. I don't see my current basketball shoes getting worn out any time soon.

Koreatown is supposed to be dirty and polluted with immigrants and idiot gangsters who aren't really gangsters. I was expecting people always being drunk and acting like fools in front of food trucks. It turns out that people are a lot more civilized and the area is much cleaner than many of the parts I've seen in Seoul. Living in this weird ethnic enclave actually ain't so bad. It isn't even that weird anymore. I can totally see why my brother chose this area for our new home.

L.A. is not what I had expected, but it's good. L.A. is now my new home. Even with the relentless firetrucks and potheads.


Thought of the Day: Happy New Year
Song of the Day: John Legend-All of Me

D-14

I spent this past week hanging out a lot with my old co-worker, Brian. In our first meeting, we had coffee and went to go watch Fury. I really enjoyed this war movie and, as always, looked up all the trivia afterward on IMDB. Apparently, Shia Lebeouf became a Christian while filming Fury and had a very inspirational way of sharing about his experience. This is what it says on IMDB:

It has been reported that Shia LaBoeuf became a Christian while filming 'Fury'. LaBoeuf's actual words were, "I found God during Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f___ing bulls__t way - in a very real way. I could have just said the prayers that were on the page, but [...] it's a full-blown exchange of heart, a surrender of control." He commented that talking with Brad Pitt, who grew up in a conservative Christian home but rejected Christianity, and with David Ayers, the Christian director of 'Fury', helped crystallise his thinking.

Upon reading that quote, I looked up some of his recent interviews and loved the way he recounted his arrest story:

The second time I met up with Brian, we went to the DMZ and even got to enter JSA since we're American citizens. It was the one foreigner touristy thing I never got to do. DMZ was so-so, but JSA was pretty cool.

I'm actually technically standing in North Korea in that picture. I had one last meeting with him and a bunch of his friends for my last Thanksgiving in Korea with spicy pork ribs. 

After finishing up my GRE and finally sending out my grad school apps, I've been having some serious senioritis as my departure for L.A. has been approaching rather quickly. My mind is on overload as I'm packing up, meeting a million people, and still trying to squeeze in some math while I have some time. I don't know how I'm going to pass my CSETs. 

That new Star Wars teaser looks crazy.

Thought of the Day: 민속촌

Song of the Day: Yoon Do Hyun Band-나는 나비

Homeland from the Motherland

My brother's been telling me for years to jump on Homeland, but I continually refused after being convinced that it would just be another show like 24. But he somehow got my dad to start watching it. My dad somehow got my mom to start. And since my mom never watches anything and seeing how much she enjoyed it, I finally caved and used it as my break from GRE studies, which I will finally be taking tomorrow (bring it on!).

As the show centers on a POW who's been gone for the past eight years, I couldn't help but imagine that the show foreshadows a bit of what I might go through real soon. I, too, have been gone for eight years being tortured and brainwashed in the dungeons of Seoul. Just kidding. There was no brainwashing involved, but I suspect some of my American family and friends might believe that I've "turned." I'm prepared for all your FOB taunts and mockeries.

I just finished the first season, and I think the show's alright but not great. However, I thought this short parody was great.


Thought of the Day: Fulbright Building
Song of the Day: The Byrds-Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)

To Live and Die in L.A.

I've been studying at Starbucks several times a week for the past couple of months. They've been playing Christmas music since late October, so I've gotten a head start on the holiday spirit this year. Ironically, Starbucks in Korea is the only place that feels Christmasy in the country. I'm really looking forward to spending it elsewhere soon. But before that happens, I need a place to live first.

My brother has been house hunting for a while now, constantly asking me about living conditions, budgets, and all sorts of preferences and priorities we might have. I've never actually lived in the city of Los Angeles before, so it's been really tricky trying to give him an idea of what we would like. Some place cheap, perhaps? Not Compton or Inglewood. Not too much traffic. You can see why we're having trouble figuring out if such a place even exists in L.A.

But that is why we've adjusted our focus from West L.A. to Koreatown. Just when I thought I was finally escaping the world of Koreans, I find myself going to its distant cousin. However, I am optimistic about a couple of prospects that I've seen online so far. Besides, this area might even absorb some of the inevitable culture shock we're bound to face. It's also comforting to see my brother's positive reaction with our sights at K-town. It'll be so cool to have a pool again, too!

I never really liked this song until today.

Last Peppero Day, which means about a month to go!

Thought of the Day: Hampshire Place
Song of the Day: Otis Redding-Merry Christmas Baby

Mad Bum

Frisco, baby. We gets down, baby, up for the crown, baby.

Thought of the Day: Augury
Song of the Day: Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz-Deja Vu (Bay Area Remix)

12 모기s

From midnight to noon, I spent six hours of the night and six hours of the morning catching 12 mosquitoes;at least, I think it was 12. After around 4am, I lost count. After another sleepless night of cyclic buzzing, waking up, smashing, wiping, and going back to sleep, I woke up to find two more vampires hanging on the ceiling, waiting their turn to join the pile of tissue that was collected for all the corpses and stolen blood from the night. I thought rainy days were supposed to reduce the number of mosquitoes, not multiply it! I truly regret not getting that mosquito tennis racket thing.

Thought of the Day: Desktop
Song of the Day: 장미여관-오래된 연인

Nate the Great

I've been gearing up for the NBA by watching some preseason highlights and was surprised to hear that Nate Robinson had recently returned from ACL surgery. I have a bigger heart for basketball players who go through any major injury especially after spraining my ankle during a game yesterday.

Sprains can heal relatively fast, but tears and fractures are a different monster. All these injuries just remind me that we're all getting old and youth doesn't last forever. Remember when Nate Robinson used to be able to fly?



Man, I never knew Iguodala was able to jump and dunk like that.

I may have to retire from my basketball career...in Korea.

Thought of the Day: Deliveries
Song of the Day: Boardwalk Empire Theme

Videos

They say SF has the loudest fans in MLB. Gotta love the resilient Giants...even if it's only during the postseason.


웃찾사 > 개콘

Thought of the Day: GIANTS!
Song of the Day: Weezer-Ain't Got Nobody

Morning Videos

Thought of the Day: Cold Weather

Bye, Bye, Bye

Today is my last day at Whimoon Middle School. It would have been awesome if they had switched Monday's Sports Day with today's Speech Contest, but whattaya gonna do? I'm just glad that my last day happened to be on a Friday instead of a dreaded and awkward Monday.

I've been saying goodbyes to my classes one surprise at a time with lots of mixed reactions from students. Indifference. Anger. Sadness. Joy? Yesterday, I had one student come up to hug me with a bunch of students lining up behind him to shake my hand. I think the box of candy I was holding might have had something to do with that though. But I was really moved when an older student came by my room after school to apologize for his bad attitude and behavior for the past couple of years. A very humble gesture from a very arrogant adolescent. I never saw that coming.

As I went to my last rush hour subway this morning, I reminisced on many of the good times I had at this school. I definitely won't miss certain classes or the writing assessments I had to grade every semester, and I most certainly will not miss my subway adversaries like Mr. Sneeze and Mr. Phlegm. But like a nightmare come true, guess who just happened to want to say goodbye on my last commute to work?

Freaking nasty Mr. Phlegm. :(

Thought of the Day: 10x-20>180

The Beauty of Mount Math

"She said there was comfort to be found in the permanence of mathematical truths, in the lack of arbitrariness and the absence of ambiguity. In knowing that the answers may be elusive, but they could be found. They were there, waiting, chalk scribbles away."

-Pari, And the Mountains Echoed

I just finished going through my entire geometry book that took me exactly one whole month after borrowing it from a former student of mine. I've always had trouble explaining to people why I like math even though I'm not good at it. But I think Pari has come the closest to describing something I feel when I look at the uniformity of all the numbers and formulas that are universally true. It all just "makes sense" even when we don't understand every proof or theorem. But it's especially beautiful when we do understand the concepts presented to us. I hope I can become a great math teacher some day.

Thought of the Day: G2

Song of the Day: Far East Movement-Like A G6

Mount Math

I've been on vacation, but I don't even know what that means anymore. I dream of math problems in my sleep and daydream when I'm awake. I think I'm going nuts here.

I hope grad school is not overrated.

Thought of the Day: 명량
Song of the Day: Lesley Gore-It's My Party

Please Don't Sneeze (On Me)

I decided to wake up 30 minutes later than usual starting from this week since I don't have any work to get done at school. I was surprised to see that I was still able to get on the subway at a decent time, but that coincided in meeting Mr. Sneeze. Getting sneezed on by Mr. Sneeze, rather. Twice. The second time, I was able to smell his breath through the sneeze. Morning rush hour sucks. Mr. Sneeze sucks.

Thought of the Day: GRE Books
Song of the Day: Back to the Future Theme

JCVD

Dinko is probably the biggest JCVD (Jean Claude Van Damme aka Jesus Christ Van Damme) fan I know. One of the funny pieces of trivia he once shared was how Van Damme was infamous for hitting or kicking people in real life during fight scenes. Well, it turns out that the actor still has the Bloodsport in him after all these years!

I miss Lovefest.

Thought of the Day: Whey
Song of the Day: Katy Perry-Firework

ABsolutely

My brother introduced me to the P90X Ab Ripper X video a few days ago. I tried it for the first time and wanted to kill myself. That workout doesn't just rip your abs; it rips your soul. And I still look like Shrek.

Thought of the Day: Argentina
Song of the Day: The 5, 6, 7, 8's-I'm Blue

출근 준비

I was surprised to see so many people in red outside of COEX to watch Korea's first World Cup game at 7 in the morning. At one point, the giant screen turned off and made a lot of Koreans angry, but everyone just took out their cell phones to continue watching the game. I can't believe we didn't lose.

The World Cup has been so fun to watch this year. I'm actually watching the highlights of every single game kinda like what I do with NBA. I just hope all these super early mornings will be worth it.


Thought of the Day: 빨리 빨리
Song of the Day: The Beatles-Let It Be

Baskets & Goals

I've never cheered for the Spurs in my life, but I grew so much respect for them this season watching them play very unselfish basketball with the NBA's toughest coach. I'm happy for Parker and Timmy but still don't care for Manu.

So with the playoffs of my favorite sport coming to an end, I have the World Cup games to look forward to. Unfortunately, I have very little excitement or hope for Korea's team this year, but maybe such low expectations will protect me from disappointment, especially if I'm waking up at four or five in the morning.

Thought of the Day: Own Goal

Four Chords

I often have interesting conversations with the Chinese (language) teachers at my school. We have many similar yet different experiences with teaching our respective foreign languages to our students. For example, we can agree on many of the classes that are very active and hardworking while others are inactive and just make our work hard. But one major difference I learned today was that the Chinese teachers tried to incorporate music into their lessons, as in having the students sing along to some songs. I'd probably do more harm than good if I had to sing in front of my students, so I'll leave that teaching method to our non-English teachers. Godspeed, Mr. Kim.

Thought of the Day: D/C

Song of the Day: Axis of Awesome-4 Four Chord Song

No Pain, No Gain

As I'm coming to an end with my school contract, this is the last time I will have to grade all the school writing tests of the semester. The two topics for this semester that I've seen so far have been:
-writing a letter of apology or gratitude to parents
-writing a letter of apology or gratitude to family members/friends.

It's amazing to see how many students shout, lie, steal, and forget when it comes to their loved ones. Foreign language students are also brutally honest with their faults, so I read some pretty sincere stuff around this time of the year. And of course, I also get a handful of letters that say some of the most ridiculous things, intended or not. This year, one of the students wrote a letter of thanks to his grandfather saying:

I hope you are getting better from your cancer. Grandpa! No pain, No gain.

Probably not the best time to use American mottos to a dying relative, but you can see the encouragement behind the words. It's also funny seeing futile attempts at kissing my butt with finishing words of "I love you, Mr. Jung" written inside a lopsided heart with happy faces. I wonder if this is a tiny experience of what God sees and hears with our prayers. I probably crack Him up all the time.

Thought of the Day: 40 minutes