11/29

thankful for

1) getting to leave work slightly early for team outings

2) anecdotes -- most memorable was a story about the managing director's daughter and tooth fairies.
the daughter
(who believes in tooth fairies)
lost a tooth when she was in a trip to japan with her mother,
and despite tucking it under her pillow,
did not receive her prize (mother forgot).
the daughter apparently told the managing director about this when she came back,
and the managing director told her that
it was because japan didn't give the tooth fairy a visa.

3) the scenery during the walk back home.
the trotting passers-by,
the blazing lights of passing cabs,
the starless, but peaceful, sky
and the shuffled batch of walk-ups that line up before me

11/28

thankful for

1) another prayer answered, hallelujah! brother has received a job offer! 

2) the kitchen oven. bought unsliced samgyupsal on my way home, and instead of frying it, I decided to try using the oven. the result was some amazing samgyupsal

3) getting to read stuff like this. you'll have to read the next one (ep 4) to get the full picture. beautiful

11/27

thankful for

1) red bull -- really gave me wings today, and quickly too

2) being able to help someone with programming. tried programming something (though simple) in python for the first time today

3) Steven Colbert -- gave me a "oh no you didn't" moment.
    he was talking about the pope, specifically about a book he recently wrote about the birth of Christ.
    among other things ("angels didn't sing, they just talked") it seems the pope wrote that because there were no mention of animals in the Gospel,
    there were no animals in the manger.
    Colbert then says "you know what's also not in the Bible? (pause) the pope."
    and he himself is a catholic too.

11/26

thankful for

1) getting to try Lombardi's Pizza for the first time. the pizza was indeed pretty great

2) seeing my prayers for others being answered in the affirmative

3) able able to pursue my interest in computers. learned something new while playing around with them today

cocoa puffs

seriously craving cocoa puffs cereal all of a sudden..

made eating breakfast slightly enjoyable back in middle school.

11/25

thankful for

1) the nicely-timed subway trains that got me to church quickly despite heading out late

2) feeling relatively warm in the cold weather

3) getting the chance to listen to some classical music performances

11/24

thankful for

1) school rivalries, for something to look forward to and get excited about every year (but we lost today... it was the Game for goodness sake)

2) today's lunch, a beef brisket sandwich. it was a pretty awesome sandwich

3) heating in my room, the day got really cold and it's finally doing a good job with keeping the room warm

ghost

watched one episode of a Korean drama called "Ghost,"

which centers around cyber investigation,

which naturally includes scenes of

computer backups,

network tracing,

hacking systems,

and other computer-related things.

every time a reference to such things came up,

I ended up pausing the show

and think about the plausibility of what just happened.

overall, I would say that

they did try hard to make things accurate,

but it's cute.

maybe I'll write about it more if I get time.

11/23

thankful for

1) fresh morning air, always brings life inside me (but then I crash when I get back inside..)

2) USPS, despite being really slow, they still deliver

3) college friends visiting, brings back the good times in college

work

came to work early on black friday,

only to find my manager already in.

hardcore.

11/22

thankful for

1) friends to celebrate a holiday

2) pigs, for providing samgyupsal to the world

3) cards, for hours of fun

happy thanksgiving!

future

"a society grows great

when old men plant trees

whose shade they know

they will never sit in"


saw it in the internet,

thought it was a neat thing.

11/21

thankful for

1) like 20 alarms in 3 different alarm clocks, helps me get to work on time despite sleeping late.

2) a random comment on the code I was reading though at work, saying "what that hell!" made me laugh and somewhat felt what that person was going through.

3) 24-hour mcdonald's 3 minutes away. ah, the joy of a mcchicken past 12.

11/20

thankful for

1. easily accessible international communication, as I am able to hear from my brother whenever possible

2. vodka sauce--used it for the first time, and it's going to be a good addition to my cooking ingredients

3. chocolate raisins after lunch--guilty delight, and the chocolate+raisin sugar rush packs such a good boost

11/19

thankful for

1. the quick local-to-express swap in the subway

2. curly fries that a co-worker offered during lunch time

3. last-minute run for japanese bread only minutes before the bread shop closes

11/18

thankful for

1. MTA weekend bus schedules, for coming around more often than the weekend subway trains.

2. sunday morning breakfasts, specifically the bagel cream cheese and the coffee

3. self-service checkouts, really convenient stuff.


will I be able to continue this? let's see.

gotta start to find out.

free

first saturday in a while where I am free to do as I want (until the night, at least).

woke up with no alarm,

watched a Michigan game for the first time in a while,

got to do saturday laundry

and walked around in pretty good weather.

relaxing-- feels great.

"하나님 아버지"

하나님 제겐 참 두려운 게 많습니다
잘 모르는 것도 너무 많습니다
부끄러운 일은 헤아릴 수도 없고
지치고 힘든 때에도 그 때도
의연한 척 해야 할 때도 있습니다

그래도 하나님 아버지
하나님을 아버지라 부를 수 있어서
난 참 좋습니다

awww

just something scrapped from the web.

when I have kids,

I'm going to record them so much.

not to post on youtube,

but for them to see when they grow up.

I had so much enjoyment just seeing pictures of myself;

videos would be priceless.

french foreign legion

read about the French Foreign Legion,

a branch of the French military that accepts non-citizens.

as it is comprised in its majority by non-citizens,

the French sends it to any place that it has an obligation or interest to have a military presence--

warzones where France has promised to send troops,

peacekeeping in its own territories--

without hesitation, as their deaths have little significance for the nation.

however,

the Legion grants those who serve for at least 3 years

French citizenship if desired,

and is also allowed to change their name--

a kind of new beginning.

therefore the Legion attracts those

who want to leave their pasts behind

and have a new start,

in addition to those who want the adventure

or just want a decently paying job.

I've heard of it while learning modern history,

but I didn't know specifically what it was.

it's like one of those organizations that you only read about in stories,

where people can escape reality and find adventure.

however,

I can only assume that the reality of being in the Foreign Legion

would be less romantic as it sounds.

playlist

there's a coworker with headphones

that leak noise really generously.

his music playlist has been really funky,

ranging from what sounds like indian pop to katy perry (like one after another).

it appears right now he's listening to the theme of ghostbusters,

which I have to say is the song that threw me off the greatest so far.

the question

guest pastor during sermon today

made a side about the right/wrong about drinking/smoking/sensitive stuff.

he said that the focus shouldn't be on whether it's right or wrong ("people tell me there's no mention of smoking at all in the Bible"),

but more on what choice that can be deemed more righteous.

I can't say I haven't thought in this perspective before,

but it did give me a "you got a nice point" thought. 

sometime during the crossing,

I find out that

what I thought was the Styx

was actually the Rubicon.

recording

amongst those random pile of songs,

there happened to be a set of recordings from what I assume to be my brother's mp3 player.

by what I can tell.. around high school. 

one of the recordings have me talking to my brother,

telling him the plot of the book I was reading. 

it was the beginning part of the book, 

and hearing about meeting a prisoner in a field and  having a sister with a blacksmith for a husband, 

it must be Great Expectations. 

I can now tell that my English definitely had an accent of some sort (island influence),

and my Korean pronunciation is more muddled and crappy. 

I also pretty much snapped back at my brother every time he said something to me,

I was pretty surprised when I actually started telling him about the book when he asked. 

but yeah, time changes people.

greeting

walked past a convoy of parked military vehicles,

with soldiers standing around it.

I passed by one whose face was wrapped for warmth.

my intention was to say 

"thanks for coming around to help us during these difficult times"

but my words came out as 

"cold night, isn't it?" 

I still meant it as a friendly gesture,

but after saying it,

I'm thinking that the man might have taken that as a tease. 

I'm sorry, sir, and thank you for sticking around.

the prayer

Lord,

make me an instrument of your peace.

where there is hatred, let me sow love.

where there is injury, pardon.

where there is doubt, faith.

where there is despair, hope.

where there is darkness, light.

where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

for it is in giving that we receive.

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

light

downtown manhattan is back with power.

hot water!

the last couple of days were a good experience--

I'll never forgot walking in the darkness amongst rows of towering buildings--

but I hope no one will have to go through that in the future.

up

police: what bus do you need to take?
me: anything that goes up


filled my biggest cooking pot with water

and boiled it to get some hot water for washing in the morning.

power

apparently power will come back by 11pm saturday.
much longer than I expected.