last day of the year
it feels like it should be momentous, or special, being the last day of 2004. but it was a fairly normal day, perhaps representative - got to relax a little, did my usual thing, rushed through some parts of the day, saw some friends, laughed as always, even a few disappointments. it was a good day.
plans for new year: trying to take it easy for a little bit - we cancelled skating lesson b/c this is probably going to be a late night. it might be fun to casually skate though - although our time with our teacher is so short. skating every day has been a little tough on my weak unsporty self. today my crossovers were really hurting - sharpening my blades made it harder for me, for some odd reason - and my teacher told me that I had to do them until I fall over. great. so Korean.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
it's supposed to snow tomorrow, sounds romantic, ice skating with falling snow. hopefully it won't be whirlwind sharp tons of snow, but lightly falling snow. ice skating seems to be getting harder, somehow, my crossovers seem to be getting worse. i know it's insanely fascinating, but i'm going to talk about my crossovers anyways. i can't grab my edge and transfer my weight evenly. i'm blaming the hard ice (b/c it's so friggin' cold, about -10 below in Celsius), not due to my lack of skill. :D i'm starting to jump now! my teacher gave me this jump, back cross overs, and spin combination. i think it'll take me about two years to do comfortably, but i'm having fun attempting it.
tomorrow's the last day of the year! it's really been a great year.
tomorrow's the last day of the year! it's really been a great year.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
sleep post-Christmas
it's slightly alarming how much I sleep these days. I take naps in 3-4 hour chunks at a time - this morning, I was so upset when I felt like I was getting sick. :( I only have a few weeks here and I don't want to spend a week of it, sick, not ice skating. I had to cancel ice skating lesson today - I felt bad b/c my ice skating teacher was already at the rink, an hour and a half early, waiting for us. How come I get sick all the time?? There are so many fun things to do at night, too, that I haven't done at all. Ah well, heard from another classmate who is being a vegetable too. Maybe it's normal then. :)
Christmas was lovely~ woke up early for presents with our immediate family, then went ice skating for about half an hour by ourselves, without our teacher. The rink was nice and empty, no little 6-yr-old speed skaters (skating much better than me) cutting me off. Then we went to the Christmas church service - it was really nice. And then the madness began - about five families of relatives came over. The kids were so cute - they sang songs, opened presents, and we all ate so much. My mom really went full out this year - the food was really good, esp the pineapple cheesecake. My mom also ordered fried turkey - yum.
ah, recovering today. hopefully I'll get better soon.
it's slightly alarming how much I sleep these days. I take naps in 3-4 hour chunks at a time - this morning, I was so upset when I felt like I was getting sick. :( I only have a few weeks here and I don't want to spend a week of it, sick, not ice skating. I had to cancel ice skating lesson today - I felt bad b/c my ice skating teacher was already at the rink, an hour and a half early, waiting for us. How come I get sick all the time?? There are so many fun things to do at night, too, that I haven't done at all. Ah well, heard from another classmate who is being a vegetable too. Maybe it's normal then. :)
Christmas was lovely~ woke up early for presents with our immediate family, then went ice skating for about half an hour by ourselves, without our teacher. The rink was nice and empty, no little 6-yr-old speed skaters (skating much better than me) cutting me off. Then we went to the Christmas church service - it was really nice. And then the madness began - about five families of relatives came over. The kids were so cute - they sang songs, opened presents, and we all ate so much. My mom really went full out this year - the food was really good, esp the pineapple cheesecake. My mom also ordered fried turkey - yum.
ah, recovering today. hopefully I'll get better soon.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
In Korea, you don't burn CD's, you grill them. ("goo wuh") Like bbq.
I got mistaken for a high schooler today. Not sure whether or not to be offended or flattered. But high school?? Come on, that's 10 years off, that's a lot.
More blisters today after two hours of skating... it was time to go when I took my first big fall, a forward dive into the ice flat on my face, like a belly flop. I have a nice bruise on my knee now. I feel like I'm regressing - my teacher said the second day is usually worse b/c you get confident and forget the basics and rush through things. It's still fun. ;) We were telling our teacher that Jen lost a lot of weight after ice skating - he said it's true, not b/c of the exercise but after an hour of skating, you don't feel like eating. It's true too. That should be the next big thing, the ice skating diet. Like the new South beach.
I got mistaken for a high schooler today. Not sure whether or not to be offended or flattered. But high school?? Come on, that's 10 years off, that's a lot.
More blisters today after two hours of skating... it was time to go when I took my first big fall, a forward dive into the ice flat on my face, like a belly flop. I have a nice bruise on my knee now. I feel like I'm regressing - my teacher said the second day is usually worse b/c you get confident and forget the basics and rush through things. It's still fun. ;) We were telling our teacher that Jen lost a lot of weight after ice skating - he said it's true, not b/c of the exercise but after an hour of skating, you don't feel like eating. It's true too. That should be the next big thing, the ice skating diet. Like the new South beach.
Monday, December 20, 2004
My first day of ice skating! i did everything from skate forward, skate backwards (hard), forward crossovers, backward crossovers (really hard), and feeble attempts at a spin and a jump (it's hard to get off the ice ^^). my teacher's so nice - he gave us two hours today. it's nice b/c the rink is close - we can walk there from our place, even though it is outside. i was SO happy that all the little kids went home before I started my lesson - it would have been embarrassing to have them watch me. And I only fell like three times! ;) Ah, note the lovely matching colors - from my blue gloves to my beige scarf. ah well, it was freezing cold today; puddles were frozen on the way to the rink. 
Oh! And we saw Phantom of the Opera, the movie... it's out in Korea, not sure when it's out in the states. I went in expecting the worst - people were lamblasting it on the broadway websites. The singing was pretty bad (I think Michael Crawford, despite his age, still would have been a much better pick for the Phantom - he has to be the angel of music! He has to sing meltingly well) and, eek, I hated the fact that Minnie Driver was dubbed. There are so many great Carlottas on broadway, it would have been so easy to pick one of them to do it. Raoul also should have been more classically trained. The best thing about it was the best parts of the musical - the orchestration, and the music (everything but the singing). On top of that, the imagery was beautiful. The sets, and, for instance, Emmy Rossum LOOKED like a Christine more than anything else about her performance. In all though, it was a good movie minus the singing - they really tried to show more the Phantom's side of the story, which is an interesting and heartbreaking twist.
ah another busy day done. still having some trouble adjusting to the time. should head to bed soon.
Oh! And we saw Phantom of the Opera, the movie... it's out in Korea, not sure when it's out in the states. I went in expecting the worst - people were lamblasting it on the broadway websites. The singing was pretty bad (I think Michael Crawford, despite his age, still would have been a much better pick for the Phantom - he has to be the angel of music! He has to sing meltingly well) and, eek, I hated the fact that Minnie Driver was dubbed. There are so many great Carlottas on broadway, it would have been so easy to pick one of them to do it. Raoul also should have been more classically trained. The best thing about it was the best parts of the musical - the orchestration, and the music (everything but the singing). On top of that, the imagery was beautiful. The sets, and, for instance, Emmy Rossum LOOKED like a Christine more than anything else about her performance. In all though, it was a good movie minus the singing - they really tried to show more the Phantom's side of the story, which is an interesting and heartbreaking twist.
ah another busy day done. still having some trouble adjusting to the time. should head to bed soon.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
ah it's 6:40 am, but 1:40 pm in CA time. So it feels like I slept in, even though it's dark.
-5 degrees Celsius today. My mom just came in and announced it. But b/c the wind is going to blow, it's going to feel like -10. great. I'm comfortable in 70 degree weather; anything below that is hard for me.
It's been so crazy the past two days! I've hardly been at home, which is good. Jen came last night, so it's going to be even more of a whirlwind. Because she lived here for 8 months, she wants to visit all her old haunts, and I get to enjoy the fruits of her research. ^^ Today, going to go ice skating for the first time - I'm a little apprehensive, I think I'm going to die. Hopefully it'll be ok on my ankle - my dad thinks tho, I'll still do it even tho my ankle hurts. :D Plans are: ice skating, lunch at Market O, see my little cousin Taehyun, gelato stuck somewhere in there... hopefully not all the things above after a sweaty ice skating session. maybe my sweat will freeze. ;)
We went to Myung dong yesterday. I always feel like I'm not really in Korea until I go there. We went to the world's largest Coffee Bean, according to Sarah, who is apparently an avid Coffee Bean newsletter reader. The best part was, I finished all my Christmas shopping yesterday! Now I can focus on getting gifts for myself~
-5 degrees Celsius today. My mom just came in and announced it. But b/c the wind is going to blow, it's going to feel like -10. great. I'm comfortable in 70 degree weather; anything below that is hard for me.
It's been so crazy the past two days! I've hardly been at home, which is good. Jen came last night, so it's going to be even more of a whirlwind. Because she lived here for 8 months, she wants to visit all her old haunts, and I get to enjoy the fruits of her research. ^^ Today, going to go ice skating for the first time - I'm a little apprehensive, I think I'm going to die. Hopefully it'll be ok on my ankle - my dad thinks tho, I'll still do it even tho my ankle hurts. :D Plans are: ice skating, lunch at Market O, see my little cousin Taehyun, gelato stuck somewhere in there... hopefully not all the things above after a sweaty ice skating session. maybe my sweat will freeze. ;)
We went to Myung dong yesterday. I always feel like I'm not really in Korea until I go there. We went to the world's largest Coffee Bean, according to Sarah, who is apparently an avid Coffee Bean newsletter reader. The best part was, I finished all my Christmas shopping yesterday! Now I can focus on getting gifts for myself~
Friday, December 17, 2004
24
From start (getting to the airport) to finish (coming into my parents' house in Korea), it took about 24 hours... what a long time to travel. Some good things happened though - my flight from SFO to Korea was so booked that they were asking ppl to give up their seats. In return, they would book you on the next flight to Korea, with a layover in Tokyo, in business class. I kinda held out til the end - was deciding if I wanted to make my parents pick me up later in Korea, but the thought of going economy for 13 hours = not attractive, especially in a non aisle or window seat. So I took the chance. ;) Chi told me I should have bargained for a first class seat, but ah well, I was happy. So I traveled comfortably in business class - got offered champagne, had a cabernet sauvignon with my filet mignon for dinner. :) It was actually pretty good too! The best part is having a nice big seat though, that leans back far enough to let you sleep. Even better though, when I got to Tokyo, that flight to Korea was overbooked too, so they bumped me up to first class~ wow, talk about a different world! They take your coat as soon as you walk in, and they treat it like gold - so strange, I'm used to just crumpling up my jacket in the overhead compartment. They refill your green tea every 30 seconds, and your seat goes all the way horizontal - a full out bed. It was fabulous~ too bad the flight was only two hours. You could also adjust the curvature of the seat. And in front of you are a few bookshelves to put your magazines, laptops, and a closed side compartment where I kept my purse. It's weird, they give you your own space. I loved it :) The service was so obsequious, I'm not used to it... I was sort of sleeping when we were landing, and a flight attendant came to reset my seat in the original position and when I jerked awake b/c my seat started moving, the flight attendant told me to go back to sleep, he'll do it. I almost started cracking up... how can you ignore the fact that someone is moving your seat??
Oh, and the cherry on top of the sundae was that the airline lost my luggage, on top of being two hours delayed. My poor parents were waiting outside til 11:30 pm, but it was great to see them.
Just chilling today - waiting for my luggage, digging through my mom's closet for clothes, and ignoring my dad while he takes pictures of my every move. My dad and I took a walk along the Han River today, very pretty. We were looking for the ice rink, so maybe I could take lessons there. No one was there today though.
My vacation has begun!
From start (getting to the airport) to finish (coming into my parents' house in Korea), it took about 24 hours... what a long time to travel. Some good things happened though - my flight from SFO to Korea was so booked that they were asking ppl to give up their seats. In return, they would book you on the next flight to Korea, with a layover in Tokyo, in business class. I kinda held out til the end - was deciding if I wanted to make my parents pick me up later in Korea, but the thought of going economy for 13 hours = not attractive, especially in a non aisle or window seat. So I took the chance. ;) Chi told me I should have bargained for a first class seat, but ah well, I was happy. So I traveled comfortably in business class - got offered champagne, had a cabernet sauvignon with my filet mignon for dinner. :) It was actually pretty good too! The best part is having a nice big seat though, that leans back far enough to let you sleep. Even better though, when I got to Tokyo, that flight to Korea was overbooked too, so they bumped me up to first class~ wow, talk about a different world! They take your coat as soon as you walk in, and they treat it like gold - so strange, I'm used to just crumpling up my jacket in the overhead compartment. They refill your green tea every 30 seconds, and your seat goes all the way horizontal - a full out bed. It was fabulous~ too bad the flight was only two hours. You could also adjust the curvature of the seat. And in front of you are a few bookshelves to put your magazines, laptops, and a closed side compartment where I kept my purse. It's weird, they give you your own space. I loved it :) The service was so obsequious, I'm not used to it... I was sort of sleeping when we were landing, and a flight attendant came to reset my seat in the original position and when I jerked awake b/c my seat started moving, the flight attendant told me to go back to sleep, he'll do it. I almost started cracking up... how can you ignore the fact that someone is moving your seat??
Oh, and the cherry on top of the sundae was that the airline lost my luggage, on top of being two hours delayed. My poor parents were waiting outside til 11:30 pm, but it was great to see them.
Just chilling today - waiting for my luggage, digging through my mom's closet for clothes, and ignoring my dad while he takes pictures of my every move. My dad and I took a walk along the Han River today, very pretty. We were looking for the ice rink, so maybe I could take lessons there. No one was there today though.
My vacation has begun!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
ah what a day. the best and the worst, i think. it started with the three hours of sleep (which is about half of what i usually get during finals week, but there was so many details in pharm that i didn't know yet :P) and then the final, which actually turned out not to be the worst part of my day. wow, thinking about today, actually i was busy! then we went out to lunch to celebrate bernette's XXth's birthday (happy late bday, bernette!) with a huge crowd at Pluto's. That was fun. Then my next task was to find a pair of ice skates so I can start to learn in Korea - that was the hard part. They closed part of the 5 freeway (how can you close down part of the 5 freeway?!?) and getting around it took roundabout route and about an hour in traffic. not fun. and when I FINALLY got to the ice rink where they sold the ice skates, no one was there at the store... and I was about to kick myself for having driven all that time to get here for no reason. but for some reason, i was about to take off when my guardian angel, in the form of an old man carrying a windex bottle, just started to ask what I was looking for, and was so nice to me (I think I needed a friend at that moment). I think he owned the place - he said the shop was separate from the ice rink, but helped me pick out a pair of skates and helped me pay for them!! I was so happy - now I can take lessons with my sister instead of sharing one pair of skates.
The best part was hanging out with my friends - we had a Christmas party at Randie's house. It was so much fun, nothing extraordinary, just talking and hanging out and eating too much food and taking pictures. we played the friends game - the game that they played on the tv show, "Friends". It was perfect - you learn a lot about your friends. We found out who among us had been in a cat fight~ hilarious. (you know who you are ^^) The mistletoe also created an awkward moment with three guys. :) The gift exchange was fun too. I got a Starbucks gift card, which was perfect to feed my recent pumpkin spice latte cravings. (are cravings seasonal, too?)
I guess in all it was a perfect day. The bad with the good. Busy, but good.
The best part was hanging out with my friends - we had a Christmas party at Randie's house. It was so much fun, nothing extraordinary, just talking and hanging out and eating too much food and taking pictures. we played the friends game - the game that they played on the tv show, "Friends". It was perfect - you learn a lot about your friends. We found out who among us had been in a cat fight~ hilarious. (you know who you are ^^) The mistletoe also created an awkward moment with three guys. :) The gift exchange was fun too. I got a Starbucks gift card, which was perfect to feed my recent pumpkin spice latte cravings. (are cravings seasonal, too?)
I guess in all it was a perfect day. The bad with the good. Busy, but good.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Sunday, December 05, 2004
early morning in southern CA
ah, what a great weekend it's been - full of family and food. It's like Thanksgiving all over again. My aunt is such a great cook - she made my favorite dish on my first night here, chicken galbi... YUM. It's better than eating at restaurants, and I think I missed real Korean food (not like my attempts at it). I use her same recipe for kimchee chigae, but it never tastes the same. I think when I told her that, she was secretly happy. ^^
Old Town was so beautiful last night - all these decorations. There was a lot of red, not b/c of the Christmas decorations, but thanks to the USC win in the USC/UCLA game... school pride was so frenzied, so many people there. Sarah should have won her USC sweatshirt. ;) We had to wait 80 minutes for a table at Cheesecake Factory, which was fine b/c we walked around during that time, but it was pretty crazy still. We browsed around our old stores and stopped by the new Lush store that opened there. It's huge! Bigger than any London, Korean (except for the one in Apgujong), NY, or SF stores that I've been in. It was lovely. On the menu at Cheesecake: tiramisu cheesecake and a red raspberry martini. yum.
Beverly Center today! After Sarah drops me off at a Starbucks near USC while she goes and rehearses for four hours. eek. That'll hopefully give me enough time to go through five musculoskeletal lectures today. That's my goal. Finals are coming up, but I don't feel the pressure yet.
ah, what a great weekend it's been - full of family and food. It's like Thanksgiving all over again. My aunt is such a great cook - she made my favorite dish on my first night here, chicken galbi... YUM. It's better than eating at restaurants, and I think I missed real Korean food (not like my attempts at it). I use her same recipe for kimchee chigae, but it never tastes the same. I think when I told her that, she was secretly happy. ^^
Old Town was so beautiful last night - all these decorations. There was a lot of red, not b/c of the Christmas decorations, but thanks to the USC win in the USC/UCLA game... school pride was so frenzied, so many people there. Sarah should have won her USC sweatshirt. ;) We had to wait 80 minutes for a table at Cheesecake Factory, which was fine b/c we walked around during that time, but it was pretty crazy still. We browsed around our old stores and stopped by the new Lush store that opened there. It's huge! Bigger than any London, Korean (except for the one in Apgujong), NY, or SF stores that I've been in. It was lovely. On the menu at Cheesecake: tiramisu cheesecake and a red raspberry martini. yum.
Beverly Center today! After Sarah drops me off at a Starbucks near USC while she goes and rehearses for four hours. eek. That'll hopefully give me enough time to go through five musculoskeletal lectures today. That's my goal. Finals are coming up, but I don't feel the pressure yet.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
so funny~
regarding the apprentice:
"On the show, one of the Pepsi people said geography wasn't cool," Litinsky told The Associated Press Friday. "I think geography is cool. It's fun. Maps are cool. State capitals are cool. I can't apologize for liking geography."
the apprentice is on tonight! what a weird study of crazy human behavior, I must admit.
yum - starbuck's pumpkin spice latte.
regarding the apprentice:
"On the show, one of the Pepsi people said geography wasn't cool," Litinsky told The Associated Press Friday. "I think geography is cool. It's fun. Maps are cool. State capitals are cool. I can't apologize for liking geography."
the apprentice is on tonight! what a weird study of crazy human behavior, I must admit.
yum - starbuck's pumpkin spice latte.
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