Two times in a week!

I went snowboarding two times in week's worth of time! That's pretty incredible considering the resources my family and I have to pay for both the rental(we don't own snowboards) and the tickets for both me and my brother. Unfortunately (at times) and gladly (at times) I must snowboard with my brother because going up the slopes is such a rare occasion for the Asian family. Well, it's not so uncommon for Asian-Americans but Asians tend to regard this matter of snowboard riding as a once-per-winter thing, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. Snowboarding is wayy too fun to happen only once per year!

Anyways, it was pretty awesome. We (and my cousin who is a surprisingly good snowboarder) went to Steven's Pass. I slept about 4 hours give or take the time spent on a new iPod app, because I was too excited! Well, we got there, and we saw just a okay-for-the-weekend crowd of people. The last time I went (which was on Thursday of last week), it was probably half, maybe less. I was a little pissed off considering the irritated, sleepless state I was in, but the presence of the crowd with its excited murmurs and snow-related comments made the adrenaline flow even more.

We went up after about 30 minutes of get-ready-go. Curiously, my cousin was appalled by the fact that nobody used the safety bars on the ski lifts. I actually don't know if it's just the Pacific Northwest or a universal ski tradition. Does anyone know? =P Well, the whole thing was pretty funny because despite the mountain being much less groomed and more steeper than the ski mountains in Korea, my cousin said the ski lifts were the most frightening. I kind of understand where he's coming from, especially I came home and found this article in my latest headlines. Pray for Powder! So you don't lose your bum if you happen to fall from a ski lift. Ouaaaaa! I get goosebumps from just thinking about it.

After the lift though, I found myself considerably out of shape. I had done no physical activity since the last time I snowboarded 5 days ago, and my quads were hating on me like teenage guys on Justin Bieber. It was soo painful and I'm sure my bottom also cursed me a few times. Going down all Blues (go to the middle of the article) on the first run was a bad idea for a 6-time snowboarder. Sleep-deprived, jittery, newly scared of falling down ski lifts, I was completely energy-spent on the first hill. I had to rest at least 3 times for the entire run, which was about a mile or so long. I have never felt so old in my life. I sheepishly looked at young kids roaring down the hills while I rested my long-spent body.

Well, it turned out a little bit of energy in the form of DELICIOUS, HOT food was just the solution. A bacon cheeseburger with the best curly fries (it looked better than this) in the entire Pacific Northwest (food always tastes good after physical exertion) for 10 bucks! Sold.

Afterwards, I decided I was energized enough to try Mill's Valley, the backside of the pass. It was pretty easy after the curly fries. My cousin hated it because it wasn't groomed lol. I loved it. I actually like bumps, but only if there's some slush or better yet, powder on top. Bumps are small tests the mountain gives you to see if you're actually good at the board and at balance. Sometimes, you get air! So I went down and I decide, hey that wasn't so bad. On to the Southern Cross Chair. Experts hill? No problem. I take my unsure brother and cousin with me and I didn't realize the chair was so long!!! It took an eon to get up and the elevation increase was about 100000 feet. The entire face was triple black. Talk about pain in the butt

One nice thing about getting down was that nobody had gone there before, so it was powder for some of the runs. Very bumpy though (hehe).

Near the end, I had this one awkward ski lift with two other college-age girls. They seemed quite nice and all, but I didn't want to talk and they had their own conversation but by the end, the silence was quite loud. I tend to become very quiet when I don't have enough sleep or if I'm irritated and this situation had the worst timing. To make it worse, I fell down possibly in the worst possible way on the landing pad. When you snowboard and ride a lift, you have your non-prominent foot loose from the bindings and the landing is always a bit of a nuance. Well, the pad was bit too steep, and my right foot(non-prominent) got loose, my snowboard slipped backwards and I ended up eating the ice. Ugh. Some shy, over-grown 8th grader in a WSU jacket. Haha, or maybe the WSU threw them off?

All this writing --> practice for my non-started, non-existent story

Last blog post for a while

Sometimes Asians say their school year and summer break is reversed. In other words, school is so easy and relaxed compared to the loads and loads of summer classes, homework and volunteering their parents make them do. I'm right on par with them, except it's happening now, during winter break. I don't think I've ever procrastinated this much in my life...=( well, no, I once spent an all-nighter for a 2000 word essay due the next day, but that was only one project. Pshh

So, the things I need to get done by the end of next weekend.

University of Michigan supplement (two short essays)
University of Chicago supplement (two required essays, one optional essay which I probably won't do)
Chinese lyrics poster
Story draft for ENG 237
Another essay for ENG 237
Notes for AP Env. Sci.
last but not least, RSG daily study guides....for chapters Matthew, Mark and Luke. haha...I can see my serving ones shaking their heads.

So yep, 7 full and adequately hard projects to do over 7 days. Except, the college essays should be done by this weekend so my mother will take me snowboarding, which I REALLY want to do.Seeya guys, or as my good friend M likes to say, toodles!

*Edit*

I will probably be taking breaks by watching this match on ESPN3 replay.

What the poop?

Some Chinese phone manufacturers copy other cell phones...this one company tried to copy "oppo". Lol

Do you rike foole yerrow or haf?

^ Lol my win at being asian.

So I had dinner yesterday with some church family friends. We ate at Yea's Wok in Coal Creek. The dad of the other family (than my own) had been there a lot so he ordered dishes for all eight of us. I think we got either Kung Pao or Sweet and Sour chicken, I don't remember, but it was the best chicken I've ever eaten in the U.S. KFC doesn't come even close. Eating it reminded me of the delicious, never-to-be-forgotten Korean food - the yangnyum chicken. I could go forever and a half about how delectable and heart-warmingly delicious this yangnyum(which is the romanticized word for "spiced" and "seasoned" in Korean) chicken is, but I'll stop myself for the sake of keeping to the original topic. =P

Well, my original topic isn't so clearly stated (if you actually understood and comprehended what I was trying to say in my title, good job!! I was trying to say "Do you like full yellow or half?" in very badly translated Asian-english). I was actually getting at something interesting that came up during tea-time after the nice dinner. We were having coffee(oops, not tea) and coco(for the anti-caffeine young'uns) and I think we were comparing my childhood to my family friends' child. Child H isn't exactly a child - he's almost nearing 30. Anyways, we were talking about how much has changed for Asians living in the U.S. over the last 20 years. Back then, Asians were still not a standing and large minority as it is now (for some schools in my school district like Tyee Middle School, it's nearly 50%!!!). They were no cool Asian internet celebrities like Ryan Higa and even though Jackie Chan and other asian movie actors were on the rise, they didn't inhibit a normal presence in the America. Today, there's an Asian girl and guy in the wildly popular show Glee who can speak English well and are considered "American". I guess 20 years ago, Asians were still in the process of becoming integrated into the American society.

So, I asked H what it was like for him to grow up in a different environment than I grew up in. Then, we realized that he was born in the U.S., not in Korea, and I was born in Korea and spent half my life there. Oops!

Then H's mom said something that I found really interesting. She said that Koreans born in America are different than Koreans born in Korea. Even if the latter only spent 2 years after birth in Korea, she said there's still a little bit of a difference. It's very subtle but it is definite.

I thought about it for a while and I agreed with her for the most part. After I moved to Bellevue from Portland I really started to see the difference between just-arrived Asians and American-born-and-raised Asians. In Portland, I wasn't really aware of my Asian heritage because nobody really cared, especially me. When I moved up here, I began to look at myself and saw that I was stuck right in between the immigrated and Americanized Asians. I had spent just enough time in the states to be half Korean, if that makes sense. The way I dress is fully American, partially because my family doesn't pay lots of attention to fashion. The way I think and behave is becoming more Americanized, which is more relaxed and "cool" than the way Koreans act and think. Koreans are really expressive and like having close friendships. Americans with their individualistic values tend to keep to themselves, even among close friends. It's changing now as the typical "American" grows to include more and more types of people, and the Korean culture is becoming westernized. But still, I can see myself switching to the cool, individualistic personality at times. It's a little bit weird when I become self-conscious about it because then, I can choose to be either Korean or American in different situations.

I'm sure I'm not the only one here. Plenty of people I know moved here after being born in another country. I've seen them become Americanized and now, I don't know who they were before the transformation took place. Will this Korean-born heritage stick with me during my entire life? It's a question I can only answer long, looong down the road =)

I.

I am an athlete. Flick of the wrist, that’s my specialty. Be it a disc, a racket, a basketball, a baseball, I can do it all. Other than tennis, I have that special ability to connect with my receiver, understand his capabilities, and make the ball or disc float to the spot. People say wow when they see how much momentum I can generate with a simple flick. Some say it’s not impressive. It is, considering I haven’t worked on my ability like some people have. I picked up a frisbee, got inspired and threw it quite a bit. In less than a week, I was throwing 30, 40, 50 yards. I just knew how to spin it just right so it would land in the hands of the receiver and time the descent. I got a lot of praise and I was pleased.
The real intent behind me posting this is to give you the message. I gave up frisbee because it wasn’t big and I was good at it already. But I was discouraged to find that I was average in a high school team I joined. Talent doesn’t win games. Hard work does. And hard work comes with passion. Without passion, you get nowhere. I got a lot of praise and I was pleased, but I stopped there. What’s the point in that? It’s like a finding something you’re good at and giving it up because you’re lazy. Don’t give it up. Don’t undermine the talent you have. I assure you, any talent you have is a potential seed for something you can’t imagine.
When I started playing tennis, nobody expected me to be good. I was a scrawny kid with tiny shoulders and a big head to boot. I was bouncy and hyper, not a good combination for a good tennis player. I now play varsity in one of the top tennis teams in the state. We improved from one of the worst to a contender for the state title. But, my progress got limited by a rigorous educational course I enrolled in. Even then, I made excuses to not play tennis. I have homework, I have a project, my study group’s expecting so much, I got church, I’m tired. I regret it, but now I know. Don’t let people think hard work is for losers - they’re weighing you down. You’re not living your life. That’s what people who don’t have talent say. They say balance. I say passion.
The people I admire are people who follow their passion. They know what they’re searching for and they know the sacrifices they make. Others around them might dismiss him as insane, anti-social, weird, imbalanced, but the truth is - no one has their life completely figured out. Shit happens.

=)

I'm the kind of guy who likes hard-working, modest, bubbly, and honest people. Since I pay so much attention to these qualities in people, I became so sensitive to people in regard to these qualities....I just know when someone is truly hard-working or if they're a lazy butt....or if they're acting modest or ACTUALLY humble, or if they're truly honest or being down-to-earth just to appear honest. I get disgusted at people who are lazy but is all talk...sometimes I just wish I can shut them up with gorilla superglue, but sadly I neither have gorilla superglue in my pocket when I want it nor am I that mean to do it to them...I love people who are down-to-earth and are honest...and cheery. I hate puffing things up and getting way too caught up in expectations. I like things simple. It's just so demanding to talk with people who aren't down-to-earth. Ugh

Ahh completely random post! hooray

Step Back.

Not to sound arrogant, but I'm always looking at ways to improve myself. It's more negative than positive because I don't usually correct my faults. I end up going to bed thinking "What could I have done today?" instead of "Wow, I did all that? Good job John!". Hence the reason for all my gray hairs at such a premature age.

Well, to make myself feel better for not working on the AP Statistics Problem, I looked up a person whom I thought acted in a movie, the name of which I can't remember. I randomly guessed that to be Tom Hanks - he wasn't the specific actor I was thinking of, but I read his biography anyway. (Just FYI, autobiographies and biographies are always more interesting than fiction. Human life trumps imagination anyday). Like many great people in the world, Tom grew up in abnormal situations. His parents were divorced and he moved around a lot. He wasn't popular in school and instead of focusing on his studies, he watched film.

I'm the type of person who wouldn't do something without seeing a vision behind it. Of course, I am impulsive, but I'm often pensive about where my life is going. I'm scared. I'm frightened. I don't know who I'm going to be and how I will behave myself in whatever situation. Even if I am successful, I'm paranoid about my status. I have a feeling if I become CEO, I'll quit in a week because I just can't deal with the stress. Stuff like that runs through my head and I can't help but wonder how to great people become great and keep doing great stuff?

It's all about passion. Tom didn't really care about popularity in high school. He loved to watch film so he watched film. When the time came, he went into acting, and through connections, landed in an acting job. I kind of expect my life to play out like that. First, I would find what I love to do. Second, I'd keep doing it no matter what people say. Third, by some stroke of luck I'll land a job or a position. Fourth, by then I'll love what I do so much that I'll spend all my energy on it. Fifth, I'll become an expert and then I'll be considered great.

Of course, life doesn't play that way. You have to fight against desires and balance your life. Often, these great people sacrifice a significant portion of their life to what they love - even family, friends, and money. For me, I'd like to experience that. At 17, I haven't got much to lose. I actually am not pleased with how I'm handling things. In my family, I'm the one who is irresponsible, rebellious, and unconventional. All my friends and family consider me a child, or something other that doesn't deserve respect. I don't give myself respect - often I indulge and I spend. I give myself an excuse - that in good time, all this "wasted" time will add up to something great. But for a while now, I'm slowly realizing that I need to be productive and I actually need to try to become something great. Nothing should be so easy - I hardly spend my energy in homework. Barely on tests. Friends and socializing? Meh, I'm too shy and down-to-earth anyways. Tennis - well, tennis is one of the things I try hard in. But even that becomes childplay sometimes.

When I feel depressed, I keep telling myself, "you burnt yourself out during your childhood". To a certain extent, I did - my schedule from elementary to middle school was 1) school 2) homework 3) home. I admit, the coursework was hard and until 7th grade I spent all my energy on it. But, as the peer pressure caved in, I ended up indulging in games and whatnot. I wanted to experience what was on the other side of the wall. Experience is good, but it won't get you success.

So I guess a summary of all I've written so far is that I'm a crisis. Should I go for the experience or should I shoot for success? I've done both and both have their benefits. Success will get you attention, respect from all those around you, popularity, and a sense of accomplishment. Experience will surprise you and teach you. Maybe down the road, experience might become useful. By the end, experience will be the stronghold for appreciation.

Darn it.