So I saw Esther yesterday and the first thing she says is "omg... Your hair is big..." Translation: time for a hair cut. So I go to the hair place today and after cutting my hair, the gal asks me how I like it "styled." My first response was "sexy," but decided to just give the typical "you know.." guy response. So after throwing some wax in there and asking me to do my thing... She tells me that my hair is "pc" ? Huh? PC? Like Political Correctness? Yup. Just like that. She continues, "you know, some people want their hair all kinds of crazy, while other people go for the poindexter look. You on the other hand, you go a bit crazy but keep it within the limits... That's 'pc'" Hmmm.. the guy sitting across from me at starbucks, just ripped a nasty one. I glance up, and he gives me a wink... :\ I think this post is done now.

Ran across this story today while hitting up Drudge when I ran across this headline "Groomed eyebrows a headache at high school..." Hmmm... Interesting. My first thought was maybe someone got beat up for shaving their eyebrows? or maybe guys were being teased for plucking their eyebrows... not that I'm against that, I mean I don't do it, but to each his own (I suppose :\). Anyways... I click through to read the article and come to find out that kids are actually using their eyebrows as gang signs!

Police say gangs have co-opted the trend for their own use, with one gang's members marking themselves by shaving one line into an eyebrow and three lines in the other to symbolize 13. (STORY)

That's AMAZING! Gone are the days of "slingin the deuces" and throwin up the "\\//\\//est Side!" Now we'll really see who all the posers are! ;)



You know I can't help but imagine all the fathers or "late 30 somethings" who are going to try to be "hip" and shave up their brows... Hmmm.. ran across this photo... poor guy, shaved a barcode into his brows... (shaking head)


...Yup it's definitely mid-terms week.. more nonsense to come as I try to avoid going crazy...

So I spent some time a few weeks ago in the motherland.  Well not my motherland (although the majority of my caucasian friends wouldn't know) but Chinese peoples' motherland.  And better yet, in Beijing where it all happens.  Or will happen.. this summer... for the 2008 olympics... so long as Tiebet doesn't interfere, or is it China that's interfering with Tiebet? I'll leave that to those who are more familiar with the matter :\  Before I get too far off topic... here are some pictures:

Just thought I'd throw down a few words before my day gets started. First, I've met some new friends in the past couple of days, some really good people with a variety of backgrounds... I say that to say we were having a discussion yesterday over coffee... and I realized that I came to John's defense when the topic turned to his age of ~40. Hmmmm... I thought about it last night and I can honestly say that I don't believe 40 is old.. then again it's not to far from 30 right? :\

Well, Yonsei's Intensive Korean Language level 2 is over, and it's on to level 3! Level 3 is different in several regards from the first two levels. First, in the first two levels, you switch instructors after midterms, in level 3 it's the same instructor all the way through. Next starting in level 3 you get to choose an elective. In level 3 there are four: reading, writing, speaking, listening. Beginning in level 4 you can choose to learn subjects like korean culture, food, and even hanja, Korea's ancient language and alphabet (this is the foundation of Chinese, Japanese and Korean).

So recently, I've been noticing that in poor lighting my vision has been a little goofy, and even when I read in "decent" lighting I find myself squinting or straining... The thought of having glasses is a bit weird, since my vision as always been pretty good. The Korean "eyeglass" system is super efficient, and by efficient I mean cheap. I recall about 4 years ago going to get a "check-up" at the local eye doctor and paying something like $70 out of pocket for the eye exam. In Korea, eye exams are free, zero, zilch. And you can find any number of places while walking around that will give you a free eye exam. Glasses, including lenses start around $25 and can obviously shoot up to several hundred if you're one "those" people who need your glasses to have someone else's name who've you never met on them. My friend Hiro just needed lenses so we walked into ALO, he got his eyes examined, 100%UV/Scratch resistant lenses made and paid for in about 25mins. Compare that to the usual week to 2 week wait in the U.S.


Well, I found out that what the eye doctor told me 4 years ago was a "healthy" stigmatism was actually creating some blurriness that I was noticing during lower lighting. My eyes came back at 1.5 (or 20/15 US) for my vision with a slight stigmatism...so I took the plunge and picked up a pair of glasses, which actually make a huge difference. Being the "chill" guy that I am.. Figured I'd pick up some plain jane glasses...

It’s been a pretty interesting year so far. From a new relationship to new friends; from interpersonal struggles to a pride check from law schools, it’s been a pretty crazy start. I spoke with a friend the other day, Ms. D., we haven’t really chatted in a while, but it was good to talk to her. It was interesting a question she posed, it went something along the lines of: What do we do when we feel like there’s way too much to do and so little time to do it. Isn’t that an interesting question. I suppose there was a time when I felt like everyone wondered that very same thing, however, over the years I’ve come to discover that there are the few, the “dreamers of day” that are the ones that must deal with such issues. For most others who “dream in the dusty recesses of their mind” life is easy going, with plenty of time to be bored, to have fun, to hang out.

I told Ms. D about a recent video podcast I listened to from Mark Driscoll. I’ve mentioned him before, but just incase this is your first run-in with him, let me give you some background. Driscoll is the pastor of the biggest church in Seattle and one of the fastest growing churches in the country: Mars Hill (not to be confused with Rob Bell’s Mars Hill). He’s a thirty something with a wife and five kids, looks like your average guy who has a firm pulse on pop culture. (He can be seen often sporting the latest from Hurley and the occasional funny “Jesus” t-shirts) He is one of the top 100 most influential pastors in America and His church is the 2nd most innovative church in the country. Mars Hill is nearly 10,000 strong, made up of a lot of “single white twenty somethings who live with their moms, have Starwars blankets, can’t commit to their girlfriend and can often be found catching the latest Star Trek marathon” (paraphrasing Driscoll’s own words). He’s currently doing a series called “Religion Saves and 9 other myths” where Mars Hill received over 300,000 votes for what questions Driscoll should address. In the last message, Driscoll was asked to address the issue in Christianity he has the most challenge with. The idea of GRACE.

In the message Driscoll talks about some of his life goals: write 6-7 books a year, publish 300 books during his life; help plant 1,000 churches, he preaches some 5 sermons a week, travels extensively, and at the same time is a father and husband. He states that he struggles with how he’s going to accomplish any of that because whenever he looks at his tomorrow, it’s overwhelming.

I’ve felt that way before, and often I find myself in the same predicament. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t spend Thurs-Sat of last week writing 150 pages of a book like Driscoll, but I would propose that our goals are equally lofty. So back to Ms. D. I’ve thought about it for for a week now, how to answer her question. I’ve attempted to look at it in the most rational mindset I know how to. And no matter how many different ways I try to cut it, it seems to come out the same: You’ve got to sacrifice. Let’s assume that’s the “right” answer, so next question: What do you sacrifice? As I look through history and more recently, I see many people who have sacrificed a great deal. Whether it’s Einstein, Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Brittany Spears... I can hear some of you laughing at my list, but let me propose something. Each one of these people, in an effort to attain their deepest desires, has sacrificed. Einstein who married his cousin was it? And Brittany who’s been in rehab how many times and lost custody of her children. And in the name of what? For what? Those of you who know me on a more personal level, know that I struggled with this at age 20 while owning and operating a business, working a full-time job, attending school full-time and still not seeing ends meet. I find myself in another one of “those” situations. This semester I’m taking just over 30 credit hours (yes, 30), tutoring English several times a week, helping to lead a weekly bible study in Korean (and no, I’m not fluent enough to read the bible in Korean), growing a new relationship, trying to visit family from different cities every couple of weeks or so, getting everything ready to start law school in the fall, maintain and build on my existing relationships with friends back home, experience cultural life in Korea, and maybe even visit China for a few days. Needless to say, most days I don’t think I can do it all. However, I found a bit of hope in the words Driscoll eloquently delivered so I’ll point those of you in a similar situation, in that direction.

Watch the Video Here...


ORMars Hill Video Link

iTunes Podcast Link

My first Chinese New Year... with Chinese folks! Good times. Let me catch you up on some of the goings on in the past couple of days.

Spent on of my 5 days off at Building 63 with a really good friend. It's the tallest building in Seoul and yup, you guessed it: 63 stories high. It has an aquarium, shopping, dining, and a sky deck. And while earlier in the day I found a McDonalds that might look like it rivals Building 63, a quick look out of the window of the SkyDeck, shows you that you can't compare the two. The last picture of the skyline is high quality, incase you wanted to use it as a desktop image.





HIGH REZ Photo

On to new years. I spent the better half of the morning with my friend at Minto, it's a unique blend of coffee shop slash restaurant slash local hang out with free wifi. Originally it started as a small coffee shop in the late 70s early 80s that was opened by a local christian who wanted a local hangout for kids to be able to study and have bible studies. You pay per hour, or three hours to be exact. Basically you pay 5000won (about $5.50) for a three hour time slot. During the three hours you get unlimited refills on coffee, a variety of teas, you can get a cup-o-noodle, or bread. Once during the three hour period, you can get a latte, milk, ice cream and such. Pretty fascinating concept.

On to last night, the chinese housemates made dumplings and they let me help out. After eating a few pounds of dumplings and then a few pieces of cake which was part of my contribution, we decided to take a 15 minute hike in 12 degree weather to go light some roman candles. It was a good time for all.