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So it's been a pretty exciting week here in Seoul, with the olympic spirit in full swing, Koreans are practically glued to their television sets. At the top of the list might be Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park who nabbed Korea's first ever Olympic gold in swimming.
Next you've got the crazy soccer games (two of which I've caught). It seems like every discussion I've had with my debate students ends up a conversation about the olympics.

For those of you who can't keep your faces glued to the tube, here are a couple of medal count links you might find helpful:

This first one is courtesy of the infamous Yahoo, whose board of directors is still in tact btw. It ranks based on total number of medals.

This one is the official count by the Beijing Olympic Website and ranks based on number of gold medals.

Finally, I just wanted to throw down an excerpt of a pretty interesting article I read on ESPN.com

No way met no quit.

"I changed," he said. "I thought, 'That's ridiculous. I'm at the Olympic Games, I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts, I'm going after it.'

"I just got a super charge."

What transpired during the final 50 meters was the stuff of Disney movies. It was the kind of thing that should land Lezak a co-starring role with Phelps on cereal boxes and network morning shows. And if Phelps does complete the great eight and pocket a $1 million Speedo bonus, he should cut a check for one-eighth of that total to the guy who kept the quest alive: Jason Lezak.

It's a great piece to give you a jolt of patriotism... ESPN ARTICLE

And last but not least... I'm going to be kick'n it with Scholar Jon and Big EZ this weekend. Should make for a good time.. I'll also get the new camera I ordered.. so hopefully I'll have some very amateur pictures to throw up on my newly created flickr account... See you soon!

So I was studying the logic of sampling today and I ran across an intersting bit of information that made me think back to a converastion rockstar and I had about the infinitude of God.  Regarding sampling, statisticians assume that the population being sampled is  inifinitly large and therefore "every sample is 0% of the  of the whole.  This might be a stretch and It could just simply mean I need to take a break from listiening to this lecture, but I wonder if it has any implications for our conception of God? Consider that God by definition must be an infinite. While J.P. Moreland goes into great lengths to discuss the concept of an actual infinite which I will not go into (primarily because rockstar and I already discussed it until our heads hurt).
If God is an infinite being then all that we can ever know about Him is equal to 0% of Him.
If God is love, than all that we can ever know about Love is equal to 0%.
If God is mercy and grace, compassion, humility, faithfulness, we can only ever know... 0%.

I forget where I read/heard this, (maybe driscoll?) but I remember someone saying that the gap between God and man is infinitely great. And so whether you're Billy Graham or the serial murderer who repented moments before execution, we might as well be in the same place. My original thought on the aforementioned comparison was to use Billy Graham and Satan or Ted Bundy, except, according to much of theology, salvation through acceptance of Christ allows us to bridge that infinite gap between us and God. Upon writing that, my first thought is: "If the gap is infinite, how is it bridged?" Perhaps because Christ, being God is also infinite? Maybe this post is just an excuse for me to take a break... and proof that my mind is melting... or maybe I just needed to write it down so I could come back to it later?

btw: My good friend scholar jon arrived in Korea a couple of weeks ago... He's been throwing up some pretty interesting posts. I encourage you to drop him a visit and check out the mind of someone experiencing Korea and all it has to offer for the very first time! Jon's Emmaus Road Blog

So I'm back in Seoul after spending some much needed time away reflecting, contemplating, showing Louie the beauty of the 오토바이... and just taking some time to recover. As I got off the bus last night in Soul, I noticed a particular smell... not necessarily bad, but not exactly pleasant either. I was talking with my housemate this morning and told her about it, she commented, "Ahh the smell of metropolitan Korea." Hmmm.. Interesting. As I got back to my room and proceeded to take a shower the subtle scents took me back 11months ago to my first impression of the "mother land" as some refer to it... I remember the excitement, the anticipation, and then the shear exhaustion of my first transpacific flight in over 20 years. Anyways, it's amazing how the slightest scent or voice can take us back days, weeks, even years... translate us for a few breathes... I'm glad to be here another year. The opportunity to study, work, learn, teach, give, experience, I welcome them all.

Oh yea... I saw my other roommate just a few mins ago... His first words, "Nice to see you're back... you gained weight, ha ha ha" My response... yea 2lbs, thanks for noticing.. :P On vacation, all the comments were "wow, you're small" or "you look sick, you need to gain some weight" or "man, I don't even recognize you." Here, they're just the opposite, how a few miles can change people's perceptions so much... It's good to be back.

So I was hanging out with Jane and Christine last night, it was good to see them and have some dinner. Nothing like a little naengmyeon and galbi to help catch up... Anyways, afterwards we went to this cool little place to have a drink and met up with some of their friends. As we're sitting around the table talking one of the girls next to me looks over and tells everyone (in Korean) that I look like this really famous actor from American movies. Visions of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li start running through my head.

For a moment I even had flashbacks to elementary school when kids would ask me to show them karate because I was asian, and obviously if we had smaller eyes, we should have learned karate from an old drunk war vet while growing up...anyways... Then she named the actor: I clench my teeth as I hear the name Tom Hanks. What? are you serious? Then it started to make sense... She was native Korean, so I suppose if i look a little bit like "whitey" (as my other friend describes it) then sure.. okay Tom Hanks.. "But which Tom Hanks?" I asked. To which Christine responded, "the younger one." Hmm.. Tom Hanks from Big? After a few mineutes of trying to imagine the implications of being told I look like the "Big" Tom Hanks, I felt I could accept it as a compliment. Nope, too late. The actor had changed, and a couple of the girls were describing another movie... really great acting, really handsome star... yup that who I look like.. that guy.. but what was the movie? Wait for it... The Shawshank Redemption. Yup, I've just been told I look like Morgan Freeman from Shawshank :\ (maybe Elliott and I are closer than I thought?) Now I can't help but laugh... Okay.. I look over that this girl and try to squeeze out a.. "thank you?" to which she replies that it's "the other guy." Tim Robbins? My response, "thank you?" and we should call her a cab, because she needs her sleep.




I'm thankful for ridiculous comparisons from both sides of the ocean regarding we "exotic blends" ;) including the awkward situations they bring and the laughs that follow.

So it's been a while since I last threw some thoughts up into this great cloud we call the blogosphere.. I know, I generally blog during midterms and finals when I should be studying.. but this time around I didn't get a chance to study too much for my finals, so I'll make up for lost time.

Earlier this week while teaching a contemporary issues course, I found myself presented with the age old question of "Is money necessary for happiness?" Needless to say, there were a variety of opinions on the topic and it was interesting to hear the different view points from Korean students, especially the ones that come from fairly affluent families. In the course of our discussion, I referred my students to an article that simply stated that people are generally "happier" when they journal. (or blog in our cases) Either way, the article said that people who journal/blog can go back and reflect on the things they're thankful for and see how their lives have, over time changed, had ups and downs and regardless of the difficulties, these "journalers" (or bloggers) tend to appreciate their lives more than people who don't.
One thing I'm at at fault for, is not taking enough time to stop and be thankful. To fully reflect on how many tens, if not hundreds or thousands of things I could be thankful for... So starting today, I'm going to work on making it a habit...

Today I'm thankful for friends: To top the list would be rockstar. It's amazing how in a world of 6 billion people, all of who have differing personalities, desires and goals, we can find someone and be able to share our entire life with them. Rockstar and I, on many levels, are pretty different. He's creative, I try... I'm tall, he tries... He sings, I try... By the way, did I mention I was tall? ;) Anyways, in the past several months, I've had the opportunity to give to him and receive from him more that I could have imagined. Sometimes I hear people talk about "divine appointments." If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to the crossing of two (or so) paths with a destiny set by God. I truly believe with all my heart rockstar and I have that. I'm still not quite sure what we'll accomplish or how else we're going to continue to help each other, but I'm confident that we will.

Of course I can't forget people like the one and only Mr. Farmer, The Good Doctor and soon to be Mrs. Good Doctor, LM3 and ToriM3, Matt Brunk whose brutal honesty is refreshing, Mentor Tracey Beal, and the slew of friends in Korea including the gyopo of all gyopos... and the countless others...

For you all I am grateful....

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).

A lot has been going on since I last put thoughts to keyboard, here are some in no particular order:

1) I was inspired by a blog about eating dark chocolate
I'm a fan of chocolate, dark chocolate to be specific. And to be more specific, the 72% variety. So when my good friend blogged about the nuances of enjoying a piece of dark chocolate, I must say I was inspired.

2) Sent in my letter of acceptance to Duke Law School

3) Applied for a tourist visa to China
Do you know that a tourist visa costs over $130 for an American to get a visa!?!?!? Highway robbery I tell you! Anyways, I also secured the hotel for my trip, the Westin Beijing Financial Center. Looks pretty cool, it should be fun, except neither my friend or I can speak any Chinese, but I suppose if we did it wouldn't be as adventurous right?

4) Finished reading "Blue Like Jazz," "Rules for Revolutionaries," and "I Isaac Take Thee Rebeka"
So I tried reading Blue Like Jazz once before and couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. I'm not quite sure the reason, but I really disliked the book. I mean, really, really disliked it! Anyways, so I thought I'd give it another shot and I must say that in the couple of days it took me to read it, I fell in love with Donald Miller... Well not with him, but with his writing style and the book. If you've ever wondered what becoming a Christian is like from a non-christian's point of view is, or if you've never considered yourself a Christian, or if you sometimes find yourself wondering if after death comes an eternity filled with pools of vanilla wafer pudding... (don't know why I threw that last one in there?) This book is for you.

5) Visited family

6) MC'd a Music Competition at the Korean Language Institute
Not so bad?

Had a rough night, thought I'd sit down and put some thoughts to keyboard. Why is it that life is so hard? I mean, it's not that hard except that we have to deal with people. And if we didn't have to deal with people, I don't know how many of use would consider it worth living. Have you ever wondered if God was just playing a cruel joke on us? I mean think about it, we're creatures that crave and desire community more than probably any other animal in existence, and just about every problem we have, comes from the communities that we crave. Then again, I should probably point out that the highlighting moments of our lives also come from the communities that we live in. When friends gather at Peter Piper for a little shoot-out tourney or when two finally get engaged (it was only a matter of time), or even when you just get to share some late night chicken and laugh about swallowing gum (I guess you had to be there). Anyways, maybe it's not that cruel of a joke after all. Don't they say everything is relative? Perhaps we wouldn't recognize or appreciate the good aspects of the communities we live if we didn't have to occasionally, (or even daily) have to deal with the nonsense.

On to other things, going to visit family tomorrow, going to China in three weeks... Let the good times roll...

As mentioned, I'm loaded up with a slew of courses this semester and have been waiting for some books that my mom was supposed to forward on. When I came home today, I was delighted to see two packages. Of course my first thought was, School books, nice. Then I opened the package...

Now, I could be frustrated that I haven't received my books yet, but on the other hand, it's actually kinda funny, and besides, who can't use another weight loss cookbook! So in the words of Louie Armstrong, quoted in Joe's recent blog...

...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

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.

(Updated 2/8/08)

Okay it’s next time ;) thought I’d through together a few things about my Intensive Korean class. So far the group is pretty interesting. First there’s teacher 2.0a; she’s what I could consider a “typical” korean girl. Cute, in a 14 year old cousin sort of way, easily embarrassed and not one to be very forceful. Then there’s teacher 2.0b who’s totally not your typical Korean. I’ve heard that she hold some level of seniority at the school, and boy does she walk around like it. The first day of class she came in wearing corduroy pants, Puma shoes, and a turtleneck. As rockstar would say, “she’s rock n’ roll.” Then there’s Hiro, one of five Japanese students in my class. He’s probably in his late forties, has two daughters? and is in Korea studying the language for his job. He works for a Japanese company whose clients are increasingly more and more Korean. There are two girls that I would say are fairly “typical,” there’s the “80’s guy” someone didn’t tell him that tight jeans and turtlenecks left 25 years ago, and then there’s the “stripper.” There’s one girl from Hong Kong, pretty straight forward. Three girls from China, one, Boo-kie looks like a little doll, to quote the Ravi, “her pudgy cheeks make her eyes look like an afterthought” but she’s sweet and of course the baby of the class. Then there’s the Chinese guy who looks mid thirties but is actually early twenties. Hmmm. Rounding out the group is the Brazilian Korean with a brazilian first and middle name and the last name Won. She looks a bit like a Brazilian Lucy Lu to me, except her parents are both Korean? Of course then there’s me, the gyopo (korean abroad) who brings American humor and entertainment to the group. :D I have to say that I’ve been blessed with another great group of friends. I still keep in touch with the last class. Mai, Liene, Zhui-Fong, Nanupa, Elle, and Teacher #1.5a.

Okay, So here goes. Long time no blog ;) It’s been a pretty crazy time since I’ve returned to Korea. To be honest, I still haven’t worked my way down the list of people I was supposed to contact, so what have I been doing? Reading... a lot. Going to 20 hours a week of intensive Korean and occasionally doing homework for the class. I spoke to Tall Kate today, so that was good. I’ve had the chance to touch base with rockstar, the kids, mr. firefighter, big love and even the rents on a couple of occasions. Well I’m sitting here at Caribu Coffee, my almost favorite hang out, except I can’t get my wifi working for the life of me, heck my MacBook Pro can’t even see the network! Ahhh, so I’m surfing the internet on my iPhone while I’m writing this blog, which, means I won’t be able to upload it until I get home later tonight. And at the same time, I’ve decided that because I can’t get online, I definitely can’t do any homework while I’m here. So... Since people are going through withdrawals at my sudden absence from the blogosphere, I’ll point you in a couple of directions: First there’s the list of friends: joe, elliott, jon, kt, sam, vaka, and missy. Then there are the power house Marks: Batterson and Driscoll. Batterson, pastor of NCC in Washington, DC is a dynamic speaker, whose “boy-next door” charm and humor makes him an easy listen along with his almost daily updated blog make him a keeper. Then there Driscoll: pastor of the one of the fastest growing churches in the country, the largest church in Seattle, a published author, theologian, and all American “white guy” make him a great place to start if you’re into fire breathing, dry wit, and layers of sarcasm. Not only has he read literally thousands of books, but his ability to decipher biblical texts almost unparalleled. So there’s a couple of places you can go if you ever find yourself in need of a good blog or two. Keep in mind that I’ll keep the blog roll - rolling as time goes on. Also if you're interested in checking out some rad pictures, a good friend of mine here in Korea is sort of a photographer extraordinaire. Her name's NaeKyoung and she actually just published a travel guide to London, (written in Korean of course) but anyways, she's definitely an up and coming so you can check out her pics and buy her book too!

Until next time


The cover of NaeKyoung's new book.. it's full of photographs she took...

Blogging for the new year.

Today is December 31, 2007, it’s a Monday and I woke up at 7:30AM. I must say that I feel particularly different about this new year, different than I’ve ever felt. Over the past two days, especially yesterday after hitting up Dr. Fredrick K. C. Price’s church with Elliott, I had an intense urge for solitude. I was slightly torn because I feel like I have a commitment to the guys (rockstar, big love, and bradly) to stay engaged and interact with them during this road trip. At the same time, I feel an unprecedented desire to plan, reflect, and consider. This morning rockstar and I woke up early and headed to the beach. It was a the nicest of mornings, the weather was perfect, the beach was virtually empty, except the dedicated surfers out catching the occasional ridable waves, and the sky was blue. (At least as blue as it can be in Los Angeles) I’ve been dealing with two major issues this year in my personal life: the Sovereignty of God, and change. The first, which I started blogging on before, is something that goes hand in hand with the second.

As we sat on the beach, eating our bagels and drinking our respective favorite Starbucks concoctions and talking; the topic of our futures and the current moment and places in our lives saturated the conversation.

I can’t help feeling like so much has happened this year. As I sit here now in our room, big love, rockstar and I, all blogging while bradly is fighting off his cold, I can’t help but seeing a year full of very high highs and heart wrenching lows. The roller coaster of events, I could not have predicted in my most wildest of imaginations; not just me, but even within the “circle of trust” that I consider those dearest to me, we were all taken for a ride. ... For the first time in my life as I look at this past year, I can say that I feel a sense of movement. My first choice of words was “accomplishment” but I’m a bit hesitant because I don’t know that I feel like I’ve necessarily accomplished anything. But I am quite certain that I have started. For those of you who know me, I’ve always been the mover and shaker. Always doing, moving, working. Isn’t it strange that with everything I’ve done and always seem to be doing, that everything we all seem to be doing, so often we don’t make any headway, no achievement, no advance. We seem to accomplish so many things and yet can’t say that we’ve made any progress of worth. 2007, while by many standards I haven’t accomplished much if anything, I feel like I’ve made movement.

The second area I’m dealing with, change, is the area in which I see the most movement. I’ve been dealing with a lot of change this year. Applying to law schools, two and a half months in DC, mending broken friendships, changes in family, four months in Korea, and immense change within the “circle of trust.” I can’t say exactly when I started feeling it, but it seems like one day I looked up and there it was: CHANGE. As rockstar and I were talking at the beach, we couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the situations we’ve been involved in this past year, and while many were and are still very difficult to close, they seem to be necessary to teach us. For me, the biggest lesson I learned this year, might be simply: I need to change. I wish I could say that many years ago I had this realization, but I can’t. No, it was only in the past 12 months, through a number of unpredictable events that I found myself accepting of, perhaps even longing to be changed. Having just realized this at the age of nearly 27 (or 28 if if we’re discussing my Korean age) I realize I have so far to go, and while my movement in 2007 has been measurable the distance that lies ahead seems just the opposite.

Another first, I can say with all certainty, that I am uncertain of what 2008 holds for me. And at the same time, I am more confident of 2008 than I have ever been of any upcoming year. The “ifs” of 2008 seem daunting so I’ll begin this new year with one of my resolutions and areas of development... WORRY LESS, TRUST MORE...

Happy New Year... God Bless

It's 1:30PM and Christmas is half way over. It'll be another year before this day is here again. I was talking with a friend from Korea last night, and for some reason I had a thought. How cool would it be to one Christmas, charter an aircraft and start at the international date line and from there fly around the world and for once, enjoy 48 hours of Christmas... My friend reacted by asking me why in the world I was talking about that and why I decided to mention that in the middle of our conversation... I can't say that last night I knew why; today I might have a little glimpse.

Wonder. There is no other day in our calendar that expresses the idea and concept of wonder than Christmas. We live lives filled with schedules, tasks, alarm clocks, commitments and daily routines. So often we jump from static day to static day without taking a moment to sit in awe, to sit in wonder. Wonder lives all around us, from taking a moment to sit and be overwhelmed by the vast night sky and countless stars that were placed with intent and purpose, to meeting friends, old and new and then just sitting back being in awe, practically paralyzed at the amazing set of events that brought us together. I was talking to Brad yesterday while we were running errands and we just started thinking about the sets of circumstances that brought us together and brought us to where we are today. We talked about rockstar and I and the no less than a hundred specific and unique events that all had to happen in order for us to be friends. For Loui and Vic and the sovereign set of events that not only brought them into friendship but even recently into marriage. And even how I recently made a new friend in Korea and found out that some 27 years ago we were born in the same city in Korea. Then a few months ago, through a crazy set of hundreds of specific actions we were both unaware of, ran across each others' paths and are now building a remarkable friendship.

Joe mentioned in his blog that he's never quite gotten used to the "Phoenix Christmas" and I can't say that I have either. I'm staring out the living room window and watching a pair of green palm trees swaying in the 65 degree breeze, with a blue sky in the background and a swimming pool in the foreground. Hmmm...

I'm learning so much about myself everyday, and for me it's a difficult process. I feel challenged, sometimes moment to moment, to discover that about myself I have yet to know, to develop those traits which already exist in me, and starve out that "nothing good" that lives in me. And while I can confidently say that I have very little idea what I will look like 5 years, I am more so confident that the person I am on my way to becoming is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Don't take this too personal, I mean unless it applies to you, then take it how you will. Let me start by saying that I'm not writing this from any position of authority or a pulpit from which to glare down and point my finger... I simply wanted to climb on my little soap box today and yell for a minute so here goes...

What are friends for? I mean, what is the true definition of a friend? While I haven't committed to a full meaning of the idea of friendship, I feel like I'm well on my way. Jesus said that there are such friends that stick closer than family. I think that there are two parts to friendship and as the theme of Married with Children states.. "you can't have one without the other" First, there's the part that makes you feel all giddy inside, you know, the part that people most often dream about when they think of best friends. This is the "marshmallowlly goodness" of friendships. It's the having common interests, having someone there to talk after a death in the family or a glowing first date. It's having someone who plans your surprise birthday parties or writes you a farewell card that you leave on your desk and read when you need to be inspired. It's having someone there to smoke a cigar with just because you didn't want to be at home, or having someone to laugh at you and give you nicknames like "baby huey." Then there's the "burnt outer crust" of friendships. These are the parts that most people don't enjoy, as a matter of fact they avoid them all together. This is the part when it hurts to be a friend; the part of true self sacrifice, the part where unlike most of our daily routine, we take a moment and put aside our goals and priorities and make the friend our only priority.

I've never been good at the "burnt outer crust" but rockstar always has. I was talking with him today about a particular situation that brought me heartache. While often I think that he and I are so different occasionally something simple yet profound happens and it reminds we why we've been friends for well over a decade.

It's true that we're more and more becoming a world of I's My's and Me's, and that hurts me. Why do we expect to find anything, especially in the dealings with another broken human being, with no burnt outer crust? It amazes me. I wish that on occasion we would forget about the importance of ourselves and our feelings and for that moment give to a friend. As I was telling rockstar today, if I'm struggling through something and he's my friend, he'll do whatever is within his power to help me, even if it hurts him at the same time. Too often, we call ourselves friends and yet are not willing to hurt with the other person, instead, we simply tell the other person to continue to hurt for our sake.

On a high note, I just got a phone call... ;)

"Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling... of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? - c.s. lewis.

Well the first half of my study in Korea is coming to an end. As a matter of fact in 12 days I'll be in Phoenix probably eating breakfast at Parsons' with good people. In an effort to go out with a bang, I decided to take my classmate up on his offer to introduce me to some "authentic" korean food. So last night my one classmate and I, (JweeBong, He's Chinese) decided to go to Oh-Jo-Doe's house (He's from Uzbekistan) and share in some good food and conversation.