photo dump

I bought a camera off my friend, in my attempt to replace the one that was lost/stolen in argentina last year. i'm not sure if i really like it, maybe I'll actually shell out to get the one I want.















Why MIT people are awesome - no shame in putting on chemistry goggles to protect eyes from steam when grilling kalbi. Prove it like a theorem, baby!

















My little bro, the big cheese. Coincidentally, we ran into everyone we knew at the ballet, of all places. Including my best friend from college who I haven't seen in 2 years:

















"Wait, Gina, you have to open your eyes"

"I'm Asian - those ARE my eyes!"

random weekend happenings

Best weekend in a long while:

Training - Awesome joint workout with WS/CWB/CT/BT - 40 people, all good with a ridiculous number of national champions and varying team members to boot, at my school kicking hard. It was like Christmas and my birthday together. Greatest 2.5 hours of adrenaline I've had in a long time. A couple of my 8 year old girls came to watch, and during the water break (while I was dying and dripping) they banged on the glass as I walked by and gave me big grins and thumbs-up signs. So cute.

NYC Ballet - blessed by the generosity of a friend and former private student who is of high employment at the ballet, had prime seats for the closing weekend's performance of "Jewels". Not my favorite

Sue: "Scottie's the perfect build for a ballet dancer. The competition for boys isn't as stiff, so I bet they'd still take him now, at 14."

Scott: "Well, they did have me with those sparkly costumes"

Richard: "Oh really? For me it was the tight pants"

Maybe you had to be there, I'm not doing the sarcasm justice.

Good food - nothing like having a dongseng in town with the excuse to spoil someone (and self) by eating out beyond my normal 4 places on the UWS. Rosa Mexicano - slightly pricey, but I like it. And I'm very particular about Mexican food. Then I tried to introduce him to Pinkberry, though by the time we walked all the way down there, it had just closed. Dangit! So in the spirit of the asian yogurt flavor, we decided to go out for yogurt soju. After all these years, he still jokes about having to turn to the side while drinking with me. Or maybe it was bc we were in a krn place - surrounded by drunk kids who were mostly likely not 21. And I mean krn like we say azn. Go home and study, kids!

Bags - me : backpacks is like most girls : purses. I love North Face the way most girls love Coach. (Or whatever the expensive bags of the season are). I went there looking for a particular bag, and now I have 3 options and I can't decide.

Mangoes - Beard Papa's Mango Smooth Ice. So good.

Sick - No idea what it is. But it is. (OK this is not contributing to the 'best weekend' category).

small graces

Without going into gross detail or complain for no reason - it was a bad week.

I have severe difficulties with feeding the male ego when it is unnecessarily fragile and, for lack of more sophisticated terms - power tripping. I think there are just certain personality types in leadership that I just can't stand, and one is the insecure bruised ego that needs to exert dominance before all else.

The bitter irony is when you foresee problems, take measures to prevent them, warn against them - and then get chewed out publically for making suggestions that were apparently not in your place to make and have incompetant leadership direct the team the other way. Then to watch it unfold a few days later, fall apart, then be generally chewed out for not having thought to direct the project the "right" way (ie. the way you had suggested) - and then be the sole person at the office on a Saturday, correcting everyone else's mistakes.

And that's only the work-related strife. I also have beef with fair-weather friends, and more on beauracracy and forced brown-nosing. But those are topics for another time.

I came home from a late night in Bayside on Saturday, slightly recharged from the nasty week after an impromptu evening with a family out there, eating home cooked Korean food and watching Korean videos with my dongseng - when my doorman stopped me and gave me a bundled plastic bag. Had no idea what it was, all taped up - with how my week was going, it could've been a bomb. I just stacked the bills on top, and took it upstairs.

Upon opening the layers of plastic bags, I found a foil wrapped plate of home baked cookies wrapped in a pretty red bow, with a card on fancy paper attached. It was from one of my Taekwondo students who finally passed his black belt test, after a year of retrying the board breaks.

In the midst of all the chaos and disappointment, I was reminded of small graces. It's funny how when the world makes you feel so unappreciated and unloved, God will inject a little bit of love to remind you that your sacrifices are worth it. That for every 10 people who reject what you do for them, maybe 1 person will be affected for the better.















What a Kodak moment.















When he started taking private lessons with me, he was about 3 inches shorter than me. Crazy how fast these kids grow up...

q-life crisis

I love ACF. I love MIT alums. I love MIT TKD.

Why did I ever leave Boston for this miserable place?

Pinkberry. I knew it was awesome, but...not as awesome as the song. And wuder accidentally drooling while performing it.

Can I justify buying a Wii?

Mediocrity is apparently acceptable. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but...I forget sometimes that people come from very different backgrounds and personality types. Disappointed in general.

Quarter life crisis.

freaking fracking

The epitome of how I'm feeling:

It's hot and humid during the day, enough so that I'm sweaty and sticky just standing there. So I assume that flip flops, capris, and a polo shirt are not inappropriate. Not knowing that it's possible for the temperature to drop 20 degrees in the mere span of hours.

When I come out of TKD, it's raining. And windy. And cold.

So we hop in a diner to get dinner, and hoping to wait out the rain. By the time we leave - it's raining harder, and the wind is blowing sideways. It's COLD. Freaking fracking.

So I'm walking, pointing my umbrella forwards because the wind is blowing the rain straight at me - when my umbrella breaks. Not flips. Breaks. So at this point it's hopeless, and I toss it in the nearest trash can. I'm a few blocks from home, and swear I'm going to take a cab, but ADP won't let me and insists on walking home. (Easy for him to say, he had a half functioning umbrella). So now I'm just walking in the rain, getting soaked, cold - and then he leaves me at the corner instead of walking me home. Yeah those last 2 blocks sucked (my block is next to the river and consequently extra windy).

Note to self: always carry an umbrella and make sure it's sturdy - because if it breaks in a storm, you can't depend on anyone else to help you from getting poured on.

dislikes

You know what I really dislike? When you ask someone to hang out, and they say "I'll let you know".

Now, if that person is busy with work or school or some priority that is obviously pressing and they don't want to make a commitment that they will back out of - I can understand. And I also understand that not everyone is a planner like me, or has a ridiculous schedule that involves having to plan ahead. But when it's none of those things, and they're basically waiting to see if they have nothing better to do on that day, their other friends are busy, and that's when they want to hang out with you - that's lame.

I also dislike when people just flat out don't respond to your emails and then let you know later (like, on the day of).