Sometimes, it is really hard to be supportive when the other person is in trouble due to her own stupidity. I have to agree with her mother on this one. But, I can't say it because she needs someone. I don't like the decision that she's made regarding this problem, but she's the one who will need to live with the consequences in the future. She got her life back on-track, but with her (surprising and alarming) need for a companion, she almost derails. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call and shock her back to her senses.

  posted by me @ 12:03:00 AM

 
i don' t know why, but the fact that the anniversary of 9/11 is fast approaching is making me more irritable rather than sad. actually, i think i do know why. one of the things that really bothered me post-9/11 was the overwhelming tsunami of patriotism that flooded this nation. where was that nationalism before we got attacked? because it took a tragedy like that to make people proud of their country, i get the impression that the patriotism is faked. look around, the anniversary of 9/11 is being exploited to make money or to draw publicity. good Lord! look at the nfl kick-off party in times square. is that really commemorating the memory of the lives lost? also, why is it that asian-americans have to "work" at proving their patriotism? african-americans and hispanic-americans can join rallies or whatever and be totally accepted. however, for asians, it's difficult to be seen as an american. i remember reading some discussion boards that were actually discussing this and one person commented that when the middle-easterners were targeted, they commented with a sense of guilt mixed with relief, "at least it's not us". (this was an asian-american forum). when i read that, i couldn't help but think, that's how i felt, "at least it's not us". think about it, asians have always had a difficult time in the US. i'm not saying we were the only ones. look at slavery, and at the low wages being paid to the hispanics. but also, think of the cheap railroad labor in the 19th century. the chinese were exploited to expand the country. think that only germany had concentration camps? think again. there was the japanese internment during WWII. granted, they weren't killed in huge numbers, but their freedoms and property were taken away. there is no denying that america is a paranoid country. if something happens to shake its complacency, it overreacts to protect itself and more often that not, it's the minorities who end up being unprotected.

  posted by me @ 5:17:00 PM

 
Sunday, August 11, 2002. 935pm. Seoul, Korea.
this is my last night in korea for tomorrow, i shall be heading back to the good ol' U S of A. the sad thing is, i'm sitting at the computer playing games on yahoo! right now, i just spent a little over an hour playing alchemy and for the first time, i made it past the second round and eventually reached the ranking of wizard 1st class. what's sadder is that i was actually trying to reach that level. anyway, i'll be home in about a day, so hopefully, i'll be able to hang out with my friends and family. in two weeks, school is going to start so i'm going to have to start buying school supplies before the moms do. i don't have connection at home, so i guess i won't be updating this for awhile, unless something so interesting happens, i go to the library to blog. otherwise, you'll just have to wait until i'm back in champaign. or, you can call me ;)
2177217289.


  posted by me @ 7:43:00 AM

 
Thursday, August 8, 2002. 1104pm. Seoul, Korea.
today was a rather busy day. a guy from the church i attend offered to show me around sometime in the beginning of summer but due to conflicts in both of our schedules, we couldn't do anything until today. how ironic, i'm leaving on monday.....anyway, we met at the subway station and after 2 transfers, we went to chang duk gong palace. it was nice, i liked looking around and i think my perfect-me heart motive gets a kick out of viewing historical things, even more so because US doesn't have as much tradition as older countries. afterwards, we split up and i went to buy my sister some lotion set. the first place i went to, all the counters were selling the toner, lotion, and cream for about $60. then, i remembered that my cousin told me about another place that was pretty cheap so i went there and they were selling the entire set for about $30!!!! man, they were totally trying to rip me off at the first place. now, at the end of the day, i just want to rest because i've been walking all over the place wearing jeans and a white button down. yes, it was stinking hot!! judging from the weather yesterday, i thought it would be cool, but then, it didn't rain today and the weather forecast was wrong! it was more like 86 degrees than 76 degrees! feh.

  posted by me @ 9:20:00 AM

 
Wednesday, August 7, 2002. 817pm. Seoul, Korea.
thanks Cody for your brilliant suggestion! when i mentioned to Cody that i needed to change my schedule, he suggested that i download u of i direct on the computers at the pc bahng. so, i fixed up my schedule as best as i could and then promptly forgot what classes i signed up for. all i remembered was that i am taking korean 121 (reading and writing) and psych 322 (social lab). this isn't unusual. i normally forget what classes i have signed up for until the first day of class. well, i emailed the schedule to myself and just for the heck of it, i checked what my schedule looked like (i changed my schedule a couple of weeks ago). good Lord! i'm taking three 300-level english classes! sigh.....first semester is going to be all papers...............

  posted by me @ 6:25:00 AM

 
Monday, August 5, 2002. 140pm. Seoul, Korea.
no, it's not dandruff. when i went to the beach, i burned the top of my head and it's starting to peel. it's pretty nasty, i know. also, this is my last week here. i kind of regret not doing more things. i would use the excuse that people were too busy to take me around, but i could easily have gone out and done stuff on my own. while i spent a lot of my time reading comic books, i could still say that i had fun. it's weird, but i'm not really an active person, although i'm not really lazy, either. i like being able to chill with a book while listening to music. my cousins came down to seoul a couple of days ago and i'm looking forward to hanging out with them. i don't see them that much at home either because i'm at school most of the year and also, Sarah is coming back to seoul today so i'm looking forward to hanging out with her as well.

  posted by me @ 11:55:00 PM

 
Friday, August 2, 2002. 846pm. Seoul, Korea.
it was food poisoning! stinking raw fish. after i ate the hweh, i thought about how sashimi is at least put in the deep freeze to kill off any bacteria. since the hweh was freshly cut up, they weren't frozen. man, we got back yesterday and my cousin and his wife were still really messed up. my cousin was the worst off since he ate the most. man, we were so dehydrated when we woke up because of the frequent bathroom visits and the lack of any water, it was probably one fo the most painful nights in my life. seriously, the cramps in my stomach were so bad i thought i was dying. thank God i'm better now, although, i was feeling ok yesterday if not tired. we got back around 230pm and i slept from 3-830pm, even though i only meant to sleep for about 2 hours. then i went to bed again at 12am. had no trouble falling asleep. i guess that's what happens if you spend the night sleeping sitting up because it hurts to lay down or when you're forced to change sleeping positions because the two kids next to you keep shifting around.

  posted by me @ 6:57:00 AM