Readjusting

so i've been back for about 2 months now, give or take a few days. what i'm learning is that 3.5 years is a long time. adjusting to the life in the states hasn't been easy. but each day gets easier and i'm sure that soon enough, i'll never think about moving out of the country again... or not. only time will tell, i suppose.

the other day, i made my first all-english cd (yes, cd. my car is old. do we have a problem?) in over 4 years and i wanted to share the songs on the list. of course, most of the songs, the first time i listened to them was when i decided to buy them off itunes "best songs of 2011" list, so it doesn't have any personal meaning to me. i just happened to like the 30-second (mostly less) clip i heard. anyway, without a further ado, the songs.

1. lmfao - "party rock anthem"


2. aziatix - "be with you (rock mix)"


3. taio cruz - "dynamite"



4. flo rida - "good feeling"


5. snoop dogg & wiz khalifa - "young, wild & free"


6. far east movement - "so what"


7. usher - "more"


8. pitbull - "give me everything"


9. aziatix - "slippin' away"


10. lupe fiasco - "the show goes on"


11. diddy - "coming home"


12. bad meets evil - "lighters"


13. gym class heroes - "stereo hearts"


14. bruno mars - "the lazy song"


15. far east movement - "rocketeer"


16. aziatix - "nothing compares to you"


17. b.o.b. - "nothin' on you"


18. bruno mars - "just the way you are"


19. one republic - "good life"


20. muse - "starlight"


enjoy.

method of giving

in the past, i would pay attention to what my friends would say they wanted (but wouldn't or didn't buy for themselves) and when the appropriate time came, if i felt moved to, i'd get it for them. before anyone gets the wrong idea, there are a few conditions that must be met for this gift giving to happen. one, you MUST be explicit in what you want. speak clearly so i hear you. two, you can't expect it. this means that if you and i are good friends... probably not gonna happen like this. lastly, i'm NOT gonna buy you something expensive. not b/c you're not worth it, but b/c i ain't rolling in the money like that.

and the most important aspect of this exercise was that this had to be done in secret, b/c i didn't want my friends to know. in order to keep my identity a secret, i would even go as far as lying to my friend's face. why?

well... gratitude (just like compliments) makes me feel REALLY uncomfortable. i also didn't do it so i could be thanked. i just wanted to do something nice for my friend, that's all. in addition, i wanted to pretend that i was a gift-giving ninja, giving gifts to friends in secret. however...

the last 2 times i did the gift giving thing, i couldn't do it in secret and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that i now truly know the meaning behind the words, "it's better to give than to receive." i hope someone else can say that about your response to their present.

merry xmas.

Freedom

reasons i like being bald:

1. it makes me look cooler.
2. piggybacking on reason #1, b/c i look cooler, i feel more confident.
3. i save money (no shampoo, combs, wax, paying for a haircut, etc.).
4. no bed hair or hat hair. ever.
5. i don't need to wait for my hair to dry after a shower.
6. i don't waste precious time styling my hair.
7. lastly, there is a sense of freedom from not having hair. i can't explain it, but it's a real thing. ask anyone who's bald. =)

1 Week Later

it's been a week since i started working at c2 and i like it. working with kids seems like something that suits my personality very well. perhaps it has something to do with my maturity. but it's surprising to me how long i've lived believing that i didn't like kids. i wonder why i thought that at all. kids are awesome. =)

A Pick Me Up

this song never fails to make me feel better. never. i hope it will do the same for you. =)

United We Stand

one of my favorite parts of saturdays in the fall happens when michigan wins. my favorite part is after we win, seeing the crapload of activity on fb celebrating our win.

first, there's the status updates. then there's the flurry of activity as everyone scrolls through their news feed, liking every status update about michigan's victory. then come the pictures from the people who were at the game. then there's another flurry of activity as people like and comment on the pics. even if we never have any contact on fb, if your status celebrating our win shows up on my news feed, you get an automatic like.

it makes me wonder why we (me included) care so much.

today, i was watching the game with the sound on and we weren't playing well. so to change the tempo, i watched the game on mute and the momentum seemed to shift. then when i turned the sound back on, we had that debacle of a situation where a td became a 25-yard double penalty. needless to say, i put the volume on mute and didn't turn the sound back on for the rest of the game. doing whatever i can to help. =)

it will never cease to amaze me how a game can unite us and more than that, to lift our spirits. i mean... it's just a game, after all, but... it feels like it's SO much more than that. and b/c we won today, as long as nothing truly tragic happens tomorrow, i will remember this weekend as a good one. just b/c we won today. go f***ing blue, let your nuts hang.

Gratitude

yes, i'm gonna be boring and talk about some of the things i'm thankful for on this day. look at the title of this blog.

first, i'm glad i lived in korea for the past 3.5 years while my dad visited the motherland often. the reason for it is now that i'm back in the states, it's like he and i share a secret b/c no one else in my family knows what it's like to be over there. so that's been kinda nice, since we have an understanding and something we can talk about.

second, i'm thankful for my aunt. the one who owns a restaurant in georgetown with my uncle. the fact that she owns a restaurant has nothing to do with what i'm thankful for, but i just wanted to be specific about which aunt i was referring to, since i have a HUGE family. so back to my aunt. oh, also, what i'm going to say next isn't a knock on anyone else in my life. understand that. but my aunt, she gives off the sense that she's REALLY listening when i talk to her. it's like she sees into my soul. hahaha. also, she gives me the sense that she deeply cares about everything i say. if you got many people like that in your life... to quote doc holliday, "i don't."

third, this is boring, b/c it's typical. however, it doesn't make it any less true. i'm thankful for my family. it seems to me that my appreciation for them grows with each year. we ain't perfect, i mean, it still feels like there was some sort of a family gm that drafted us to put us in the same family. =) but even with our imperfections, i wouldn't change anything about us right now. and honestly, isn't that almost the best thing you can say about anything in the world? that you wouldn't change anything about it?

fourth, i'm very thankful for tonight's ravens vs. niners game. it reminded me of why i liked football. it was low scoring (16-6), but it was still a very enjoyable game. in the 3 weeks of football i've watched since i've been back, that game was the best game. by far.

ok. i'm done.

False Start

for reasons i don't want to get into, i had to change the name of my blog and the url yesterday. but i think this is a bit more me anyway. so on that note, let's say this is the official first entry of this blog. i'm gonna keep the other one up though, just b/c i really like the pic in it. so then why don't i just put that pic on this entry? b/c look at the title of this blog, that's why. =)

here's another picture i like.


not that i know a lot about music and can talk about it intelligently, but i feel comfortable when i'm listening to it. i put up the video for this song before on my xanga, but it got taken down from youtube. so i'm putting it up again just in case you didn't see it. enjoy.

Something New

i've been with xanga for over 9 years, but perhaps the time has come to switch to something new... b/c change is good. let's see how this goes. goodbye, xanga.