Monday, January 24, 2005
Inside "The Rock". My first visit to the Alcatraz, despite the fact that I was born in SF and have been near the bay area for a huge chunk of my life. It was really interesting! We did the audio tour, and there were so many fascinating stories of prison riots, escapes, and prison life. Definitely worth seeing.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
tonight, jen went to see the New York City Ballet and went backstage to say "hi" to a guy we used to dance with, about 15 years ago. eek, I'm that old. Fifteen years ago, Andrew was a little boy about half my height, the little boy that all the girls doted on. He was so cute; he was cast with Jen and I in the Nutcracker "Chinese Tea" and even did a backflip on stage. Now he's this guy that's taller than Jen, a full time dancer with one of the best ballet companies in the world, dancing every night. So amazing... also he was telling Jen about his older brother, Mike, who was our year and used to dance too. I always used to practice lifts with Mike, that was fun. And now, Mike's married with four kids! I couldn't believe it. Again, he's my age. eek. Am I behind, or is Mike ahead? Destiny's a funny thing - we were at the same point in time at one point in our lives, but now our paths are completely divergent.
Also reminds me of another old time friend... a high school friend and I played the flute together and we were really similar - aside from other similarities, we both played the flute, and we both had exactly the same SAT score. She went onto college though, majoring in flute, and our paths diverged then. The funny thing is, 8 years later, we're back in the same city, studying almost the same thing (she's studying veterinary medicine). Weird how our paths diverged then merged again.
Also reminds me of another old time friend... a high school friend and I played the flute together and we were really similar - aside from other similarities, we both played the flute, and we both had exactly the same SAT score. She went onto college though, majoring in flute, and our paths diverged then. The funny thing is, 8 years later, we're back in the same city, studying almost the same thing (she's studying veterinary medicine). Weird how our paths diverged then merged again.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Nate Berkus, a tsunami survivor. On the Oprah show today. Nate's story and the other survivors' stories really brought the tragedy to life.
Monday, January 10, 2005
jet lag - i feel so out of it these days. this quote made me do a double take:
"The future is now here.
(But now here is nowhere to someone who’s cross-eyed)"
-Jason Mraz, in his journal
the tsunami really is everywhere on the news and on the internet, huh? it's so easy to be numb (like jet-lag numb) to the disasterous consequences of it, but the importance and severity of this event only hit me when I found out that Nate Berkus (an interior designer for Oprah, being the big Oprah fan that I am) was in the middle of it. By reading his personal story and a real account of what happened there, really brought it home for me. And in case you've been off the planet or in a plane like I have, here's his story told in the point of view of a 20 year old girl who met Nate in the midst of the tsunami.
"It was pitch black by 7pm, although we did have the light from the full moon. We took some bed sheets from the house and placed them in the field. There were 10 of us, and Nate. Nate’s partner Fernando was missing. He was on his own and asked if he could spend his time with us as he liked being in a big family. So he joined us on our sheets. The suspense that night was awful. None of us slept as we could hear the waves crashing onto the beach over and over again. The sound brought back all the terrible memories of the day. To distract ourselves we talked to Nate about his job, He’s famous in America and does a show with Oprah Winfrey. He has interviewed every single 'A' list celebrity. By the way, Brad Pitt is a pothead and has bad skin, Julia Roberts is down to earth, had no entourage and doesn’t wear much make-up and Renee Zelweiger is a bit odd. The list could go on.
...
We found out Daddy had gone straight to hospital because his leg was extremely painful. He later had to have surgery as it was badly infected. It went from a small cut to a potential amputation within 2 days. That’s how quickly infection spread out there. When I arrived in hospital I saw Nate. It was so nice to see his positive, smiley face. Especially in a hospital filled with the injured and dead. It was mayhem there. Nate still hadn’t heard anything about Fernando. We were in beds next to each other and he chatted to me whilst my wounds were literally scrubbed by the doctors- so painful. I then had a head x-ray, which showed nothing was broken. Mummy started feeling faint at the hospital and couldn’t stand up. So she and Daddy stayed whilst Nate, Laura, Guy and I were taken to the refugee house. There we were given clothes and food by Sri Lankans. There was also a chance for the no so injured to have a shower. In the evening, our group of 30 or so tourists, some of whom had become very close friends, were all split up. That was the last we saw of Adrian, Dave, the Wooley’s and Nate."
That girl's website is here.
A CNN report:
""We were completely devastated yesterday morning," Nate Berkus told CNN. "There was absolutely no warning."
Berkus, a regular contributor to "The Oprah Winfrey Show," said he and a friend were sleeping in a beachfront cottage at Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka's eastern coast when he heard a loud noise and the roof was ripped off.
Berkus, 33, said they were swept into the sea along with debris, animals and other people.
The two grabbed a telephone pole, he said, but lost their grips when a second large wave hit. Berkus told CNN that he climbed onto the roof of a home; his friend was missing.
Berkus said he and about 50 other survivors -- tourists and locals -- spent the rest of the night in a field, but were without water and food. Many of the group were injured, including a pregnant woman who had broken ribs, he said.
Members of the Sri Lankan army had taken a few of the injured away in helicopters, he said, and told the rest of the group that other helicopters would arrive at sunrise.
"It's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere," Berkus said. "I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK ... against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do."
Berkus said that lost everything he had with him.
"I'm sitting here with nothing -- no passport, no money, no anything, in shorts that somebody gave me ... the bottom line is, we desperately need help here."
"
article here.
"The future is now here.
(But now here is nowhere to someone who’s cross-eyed)"
-Jason Mraz, in his journal
the tsunami really is everywhere on the news and on the internet, huh? it's so easy to be numb (like jet-lag numb) to the disasterous consequences of it, but the importance and severity of this event only hit me when I found out that Nate Berkus (an interior designer for Oprah, being the big Oprah fan that I am) was in the middle of it. By reading his personal story and a real account of what happened there, really brought it home for me. And in case you've been off the planet or in a plane like I have, here's his story told in the point of view of a 20 year old girl who met Nate in the midst of the tsunami.
"It was pitch black by 7pm, although we did have the light from the full moon. We took some bed sheets from the house and placed them in the field. There were 10 of us, and Nate. Nate’s partner Fernando was missing. He was on his own and asked if he could spend his time with us as he liked being in a big family. So he joined us on our sheets. The suspense that night was awful. None of us slept as we could hear the waves crashing onto the beach over and over again. The sound brought back all the terrible memories of the day. To distract ourselves we talked to Nate about his job, He’s famous in America and does a show with Oprah Winfrey. He has interviewed every single 'A' list celebrity. By the way, Brad Pitt is a pothead and has bad skin, Julia Roberts is down to earth, had no entourage and doesn’t wear much make-up and Renee Zelweiger is a bit odd. The list could go on.
...
We found out Daddy had gone straight to hospital because his leg was extremely painful. He later had to have surgery as it was badly infected. It went from a small cut to a potential amputation within 2 days. That’s how quickly infection spread out there. When I arrived in hospital I saw Nate. It was so nice to see his positive, smiley face. Especially in a hospital filled with the injured and dead. It was mayhem there. Nate still hadn’t heard anything about Fernando. We were in beds next to each other and he chatted to me whilst my wounds were literally scrubbed by the doctors- so painful. I then had a head x-ray, which showed nothing was broken. Mummy started feeling faint at the hospital and couldn’t stand up. So she and Daddy stayed whilst Nate, Laura, Guy and I were taken to the refugee house. There we were given clothes and food by Sri Lankans. There was also a chance for the no so injured to have a shower. In the evening, our group of 30 or so tourists, some of whom had become very close friends, were all split up. That was the last we saw of Adrian, Dave, the Wooley’s and Nate."
That girl's website is here.
A CNN report:
""We were completely devastated yesterday morning," Nate Berkus told CNN. "There was absolutely no warning."
Berkus, a regular contributor to "The Oprah Winfrey Show," said he and a friend were sleeping in a beachfront cottage at Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka's eastern coast when he heard a loud noise and the roof was ripped off.
Berkus, 33, said they were swept into the sea along with debris, animals and other people.
The two grabbed a telephone pole, he said, but lost their grips when a second large wave hit. Berkus told CNN that he climbed onto the roof of a home; his friend was missing.
Berkus said he and about 50 other survivors -- tourists and locals -- spent the rest of the night in a field, but were without water and food. Many of the group were injured, including a pregnant woman who had broken ribs, he said.
Members of the Sri Lankan army had taken a few of the injured away in helicopters, he said, and told the rest of the group that other helicopters would arrive at sunrise.
"It's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere," Berkus said. "I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK ... against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do."
Berkus said that lost everything he had with him.
"I'm sitting here with nothing -- no passport, no money, no anything, in shorts that somebody gave me ... the bottom line is, we desperately need help here."
"
article here.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
a comic that was featured on NPR, called "Same Difference", written by Derek Kim. Pretty funny.
back in rainy nor cal. we had a long layover in Japan at the narita airport, and it actually ended up being really interesting. I wanted to eat udon in Japan, so we did... i also bought a shiseido sunscreen, some grape mints, and a green tea kit kat. really interesting! not sure when i'm going to eat the green tea kit kat. :)
class from 11 til 5 pm on Monday! *faint* ah, definitely back to reality now.
back in rainy nor cal. we had a long layover in Japan at the narita airport, and it actually ended up being really interesting. I wanted to eat udon in Japan, so we did... i also bought a shiseido sunscreen, some grape mints, and a green tea kit kat. really interesting! not sure when i'm going to eat the green tea kit kat. :)
class from 11 til 5 pm on Monday! *faint* ah, definitely back to reality now.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
tomorrow's my last full day in korea. kinda sad, but i'm trying to think of the last few weeks as a really nice Christmas gift. it's raining in nor Cal too. blah.
ice skating was so fun today... yesterday was really strenuous, but today was just really fun, trying to perfect my jumps (actually just one jump - the most basic jump that has no name b/c it's so simple :) and spins. I did three revolutions on a spin today! hehe my teacher told my sis that I should pay for lunch b/c of my success with doing three spins (it's a korean thing, paying for lunch for your friends when you have good fortune. kinda like spreading the luck and happiness around.) too bad I couldn't repeat the three-turn-spin though. tomorrow's my last day of skating! i kinda wanted to go to Lotte World to the indoor ice rink tonight, but everyone's starting to get sick, so I thought I should take it easy.
My new favorite fashion brand: Fiorucci. Too bad there are no stores in the US, but they have the cutest clothes. Kind of like a European Betsey Johnson.
Color of the moment: kelly green
Korean band of the moment: JinuSean (usually not a huge fan of Korean music, but Jinusean's hip hop is infectious and fun)
My plans for my last day in Korea: ice skating, seeing my baby cousin, going to our favorite ice cream store Red Mango, and packing.
ice skating was so fun today... yesterday was really strenuous, but today was just really fun, trying to perfect my jumps (actually just one jump - the most basic jump that has no name b/c it's so simple :) and spins. I did three revolutions on a spin today! hehe my teacher told my sis that I should pay for lunch b/c of my success with doing three spins (it's a korean thing, paying for lunch for your friends when you have good fortune. kinda like spreading the luck and happiness around.) too bad I couldn't repeat the three-turn-spin though. tomorrow's my last day of skating! i kinda wanted to go to Lotte World to the indoor ice rink tonight, but everyone's starting to get sick, so I thought I should take it easy.
My new favorite fashion brand: Fiorucci. Too bad there are no stores in the US, but they have the cutest clothes. Kind of like a European Betsey Johnson.
Color of the moment: kelly green
Korean band of the moment: JinuSean (usually not a huge fan of Korean music, but Jinusean's hip hop is infectious and fun)
My plans for my last day in Korea: ice skating, seeing my baby cousin, going to our favorite ice cream store Red Mango, and packing.
Monday, January 03, 2005
an interesting article... a little shocking to see it in numbers, quantified.
Brainy women face handicap in marriage stakes: British survey
(Article here)
LONDON (AFP) - A high IQ is a hindrance for women wanting to get married while it is an asset for men, according to a study by four British universities published in The Sunday Times newspaper.
The study found the likelihood of marriage increased by 35 percent for boys for each 16-point increase in IQ.
But for girls, there is a 40-percent drop for each 16-point rise, according to the survey by the universities of Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The study is based on the IQs of 900 men and women between their 10th and 40th birthdays.
"Women in their late 30s who have gone for careers after the first flush of university and who are among the brightest of their generation are finding that men are just not interesting enough," said psychologist and professor at Nottingham University Paul Brown in The Sunday Times.
Claire Rayner, writer and broadcaster, said in the article that intelligent men often prefered a less brainy partner.
"A chap with a high IQ is going to get a demanding job that is going to take up a lot of his energy and time. In many ways he wants a woman who is an old-fashioned wife and looks after the home, a copy of his mum in a way."
Brainy women face handicap in marriage stakes: British survey
(Article here)
LONDON (AFP) - A high IQ is a hindrance for women wanting to get married while it is an asset for men, according to a study by four British universities published in The Sunday Times newspaper.
The study found the likelihood of marriage increased by 35 percent for boys for each 16-point increase in IQ.
But for girls, there is a 40-percent drop for each 16-point rise, according to the survey by the universities of Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The study is based on the IQs of 900 men and women between their 10th and 40th birthdays.
"Women in their late 30s who have gone for careers after the first flush of university and who are among the brightest of their generation are finding that men are just not interesting enough," said psychologist and professor at Nottingham University Paul Brown in The Sunday Times.
Claire Rayner, writer and broadcaster, said in the article that intelligent men often prefered a less brainy partner.
"A chap with a high IQ is going to get a demanding job that is going to take up a lot of his energy and time. In many ways he wants a woman who is an old-fashioned wife and looks after the home, a copy of his mum in a way."
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Happy New Year's, everyone! We celebrated the new year's in style this year (for the first time?) at an official party at the newest, trendiest hotel in town, arguably in all of Asia. A new six-star W Hotel was just recently built in Seoul at Walker Hill, and it seemed like all of Seoul's socialites were there, esp the English-speaking ones. So strange how a lot of English-speaking gyo po's were there, incl us. A fortunate (for me :) turn of events allowed my lil sister to be with us, delaying her departure flight for one more day - at the airport, as they parked the car so that she could depart, she accidentally slammed the door on her finger and unfortunately, the door stayed closed while she yelled bloody murder. After a trip to the ER tho, she seemed fine and even partied with us last night.
Anyways, W Hotel was really cool - one of Jen's friends had rented a suite for Dec. 31 - Jan 1, in a room that costs 2,000,000 won (which is equivalent to $2,000 a night!!?!). The hotel was so exclusive - they were completely controlling who was entering the hotel and who was leaving, but as long as you spoke English, they let you do anything you wanted. So crazy, but it was really trendy with a red and white theme, a completely circular bed, a red jacuzzi bath, a plasma tv, and a beautiful view of the Han River. We partied American-style - due to the large number of international kids and met some interesting guys. It actually ended up being a lot of fun, and we rang in the new year's with style.
After that crazy late night, we kind of chilled all day today, doing my usual - eating and sleeping. I am eating way too much - I can't eat like this back in the states, I'm only eating like this b/c I'm ice skating every day. Except for today.
At any rate, I can't believe it's 2005! Happy New Year's, everyone!
Anyways, W Hotel was really cool - one of Jen's friends had rented a suite for Dec. 31 - Jan 1, in a room that costs 2,000,000 won (which is equivalent to $2,000 a night!!?!). The hotel was so exclusive - they were completely controlling who was entering the hotel and who was leaving, but as long as you spoke English, they let you do anything you wanted. So crazy, but it was really trendy with a red and white theme, a completely circular bed, a red jacuzzi bath, a plasma tv, and a beautiful view of the Han River. We partied American-style - due to the large number of international kids and met some interesting guys. It actually ended up being a lot of fun, and we rang in the new year's with style.
After that crazy late night, we kind of chilled all day today, doing my usual - eating and sleeping. I am eating way too much - I can't eat like this back in the states, I'm only eating like this b/c I'm ice skating every day. Except for today.
At any rate, I can't believe it's 2005! Happy New Year's, everyone!
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