PJCFK

Post #111: Dedicated to: Love's to Blame; Joel and Luke

Peace, Justice, Compassion, Forgiveness, Kindness.

All of these qualities Jesus Christ had, and more.

Father David ended his homily with a question that got me thinking...who has the courage? How many of us have the courage to, in our daily lives, live out peace, justice, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, and everything else the Bible notes?

I wish I did. I'm working on it. Someday, I hope I will. I need the patience, first.

Snow Dreams

Post 110: Dedicated to: Bad Girl Good Girl; Miss A

(Happy Birthday to D- and F-!

Two of my favorite people in the world who, consequently, make up like 1/3 of my blog readership. You guys rock and are wonderful, and I hope you have/had fantabulous days! No more teens for you both!)

When you really want something to happen, or are super excited for something going on the next day, do you ever dream about it?

It happens to me all the time. I think the very first time it happened, I was probably a freshman in high school. S- and I had made plans to go shopping (yeah, plans to go shopping...not such a big deal now, when I can drive myself over to the mall whenever I want...but they were absolutely a big deal back then, when my mother had to be my chaperone. Plus, I had no money to shop. So I had to save up for a while, and thus did not go shopping very often. Oh, how things have changed...damn you, Amazon.com and your free 2-day shipping.) and I was so very stoked. I made a list of everything I wanted to get, and also estimated prices, so as to not spend all of my money. We made a list of stores we wanted to hit and places to possibly eat during. It was going to be awesome.

That night, I dreamt about going to the mall. Now, I hadn't been to the mall in my town in a while, and I knew things at the mall had changed, although I didn't quite know how. So in my dream, the mall was weird. And not like any mall I've been to before. To enter one of the stores, I had to go down this really long, winding ramp into a room that was dark and weird. Not creepy...just weird. I can't remember now if that dream was that fulfilling or not...but I can tell you that the shopping trip probably wasn't awesome. Good, but not awesome.

But anyway, fast forward 5 years and here I am today, still dreaming about things that I'm looking forward. Which, last night, was a snow day. Yes. A snow day. It had been crazy snowing steadily since, like, 6 p.m. Luckily, I had eaten an early dinner and was already in my room when the snow hit. But I was making several trips to the basement (5 flights of stairs. Kills me each time.) to do laundry, move clothes to the dryer, get clothes...etc. Every time I passed the first floor, someone would hurriedly walk in, shivering and completely covered in snow. Rumor had it, we were getting 6-8, maybe even 10?!? inches of snow.

So, since snow days happened once or twice last year, I thought....ooo, yess, maybe my professors will cancel classes! Especially since two of my professors live off-campus, and it would probably be a hassle to drive over because of snow-ridden streets and traffic. Mind you, I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3 back-to-back, hour and half classes. And not that I don't love my classes...but snow days are just awesome.

So as I was dropping in and out of sleep starting around 7 a.m. (I guess I was just too excited for my snow day I initially woke up so early, which never happens), I was dropping in and out of dreams. I dreamt that there was, indeed, a snow day, so all my classes – and work – were cancelled. It was awesome, but weird and didn't make sense in that way dreams usually are.

But, alas. No professors cancelled classes. I trudged to three back-to-back hour and half long classes from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Didn't have time to eat breakfast (just grabbed an apple and banana), which was a huge mistake and not one to be repeated.

Dreams. Dreams that don't usually come true in the morning. So weird.

Bowling

Post #109: Dedicated to: Breathe Again; Sara Bareilles

My school has a physical education requirement, where you must take 6 quarters of p.e. classes before the end of sophomore year. I have one credit left.

And yes, I decided to go bowling.

There are a lot of different options available...there's a once a week pilates class (that I took last year. My abs almost died.), there are club/intramural sports you can join, there's a martial arts class, there are independent fitness classes (I did self-paced running twice - had to run at least two miles every day for 5 days a week. Got a workout, at least), there's a beginning hip-hop class (which I also took freshman year...and learned that I cannot spin around once without getting dizzy. Life lessons.), yoga...

But this time around, I decided to take it easy. Yeah, bowling probably isn't the most athletic of sports – although, let me tell you...some of those bowling balls are ridiculously heavy – but hey, it's fun!

So today I bowled two games. What was my score? Oh boy...I can't even remember exactly what it was...but at the end of both games, my score probably ranged somewhere from 50-70. That's right. Watch out, bowling leagues, here I come!

My goal at the end of six weeks: reach 100. Or surpass 100. I'll keep y'all updated.

Mature People

Post 108: Dedicated to: Big Fish

http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/05/09/truths-for-mature-people/

Copy and paste into a new tab. Do it. Now. I assure you, as you read the list, you will laugh and chuckle at at least five items. At least. Or if you're like me, try-to-silently-laugh-so-as-not-to-disturb-my-suitemates-at-2-am-but-just-end-up-shaking-in-my-chair at numbers 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16...you get the point.

Because, ya know...we're all fairly mature people now. ;)

Airplane Etiquette

Post 107: Dedicated to: Lost and Gone Forever; Guster

Some people just don't know how to behave on airplanes and in airports. No, scratch that...they know. They just choose not to be decent people.

It's funny...airplanes always reveal certain characteristics of a person. They bring out the worst (or the best) in a person.

There's that guy, the really obnoxious, pushy one who finds fault with everything and demands to be upgraded. Then there's another guy, who helps old ladies stick their carry-on luggage in the overhead compartments, and does it with a smile. There's always a fat man who ends up sitting in the middle seat. Or, even worse, a small child who won't stop crying. Most of the time there's some girl or woman who's talking on the phone – talking very loudly on the phone, while you're trying to sleep. There's the typical arm rest hogger. There's the couple who walks in dead last, when only middle seats are left, and beg (or force) some poor, comfortable passenger to sit in a middle seat in another aisle so the two of them can sit together. Mind you, they couldn't get up early enough the day before to check in on time so they'd have better boarding numbers. There's the cute boy you always wish will come sit next to you, but...oh...wait...hello, fat man.

Airplane etiquette. It's a thing.

Beautiful Day

Post #106

It is such a beautiful day outside. This is what Southern California winters should always be like.

Imagine

Post #105: Dedicated to: Baby When the Lights Go Out; Five

I say this all the time. Books are amazing. I love reading. They take me to a faraway place where I don't have to be me. I live the lives of the characters for just a little bit.

I just wish I had all the time in the world and all the money in the world to buy and read all the books I ever wanted to. I used to be that girl...the one who everyone thought was crazy because I'd rather stay up until 5 am finishing a book I just bought instead of sleeping like normal people. And of course, I'd be just fine (albeit a tad tired) at school the next morning. Oh, how I wish life were still that simple.

Now, I've become another girl. One who hands down will choose sleeping over reading, because sleeping is hard enough to come by as it is. Sometimes (no, not sometimes...all the time) I really wish I was someone who did not need, or even want, a lot of sleep. I wish I could live off 4-5 hours a day – and function perfectly fine, without getting cranky – and I would wake up early, and be productive in the morning. Productive reading, writing, doing homework, whatever. Just not sleeping. At the moment, though, this scenario is more than highly unlikely. It's impossible.

But anyway...some of my favorite reads this winter break:

- 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. I started (and finished) this book during finals week. (yes, I should probably have been doing work instead of reading. was it worth it? of course it was.) A bit dark and creepy, considering the entire plot of the story revolves around a dead girl who pretty much haunts the 13 people who she blames (ish) for her suicide. But an amazing read, regardless. Makes you think of what impression you make on other people, and how tiny actions that may not mean anything to you might affect those around you.

- Only the Good Spy Young, by Ally Carter. 4th book in a series of (hopefully only) 6. I've been following this series for a while now...and as great as they are, I must say, I really am not a fan of series. Or at least, the whole waiting for the next book to come out part. Because the next installation in this series comes out next year. Yeah. Like, in 12-13 months. Ah, well. Anyway, I feel like these books draw out the inner CIA-wannabe in me and make me want to be like Sarah in Chuck. One of those...no family or friends anywhere so she turns to the CIA and becomes the best spy alive kind of girls. Which, again, is highly unlikely, if not impossible. But a girl can dream, right?

- Leap Day, by Wendy Mass. This book was on sale at Borders for only $1.99. I always worry about books being on sale. Why are they so cheap? Did they not sell? Does this mean they are horrible books and no one wants to read them so books stores everywhere are just trying to get rid of them? What's the deal? But I loved this book. (And had read it before...can't remember, where or when, though.) Loved it. Especially because it is in the exact style that I started writing my middle-grade novel. (One that I really really really really really hope to finish one day.) Also because it takes you into the minds of everyone around you. And not only that, but tells you all about their future and how things are going to end up – happily ever after, or not. And I love knowing what happens to everyone, even if they're not the main characters. Such a great steal and such a good read.

So this is it, at the moment. Yes, I should be arranging the boy band medley I've been meaning to get started on and need to finish before I'm back at school. Yes, I could have been reading books that I'll actually be reading this year in class, like Northanger Abbey or Atonement. But nope. I've been reading these books. These young adult, chick-lit-y, my-english-professors-would-disown-me-if-they-knew-I-read-and-enjoyed-these, books. And in the five days that are left between me and school, I'm going to read as many more as I can.

Dear Mama

Post #104: Dedicated to: For Your Glory; Matt Maher

Happy Birthday! I wish I could say this to you in korean, but I've lost so much of the language, it's rather sad. Thank you for being my mama for 19 years now, and for being the greatest mom ever. Thank you for pushing me but supporting me at the same time, for making me work hard but telling me to simply do my best. Thank you for sending me random texts everyday reminding me that God loves me and you and dad love me. Thank you for cooking all my favorite foods when I'm home, for giving me money to go out and have fun when you rarely spend money yourself. Thank you for how hard you work each and every day so that I might have everything I could ever want, and thank you for setting an example of how to pray and live my life for God. Thank you for understanding my faults, forgiving my sins, and apologizing first when I was too stubborn to do so. I am indebted to you for the rest of my life, and I can only hope that when I grow up, I can pay you back for all the difficult times and stress I've caused you. I love you lots!

Winding Down

Post #103: Dedicated to: My Princess

There are so many things I wanted to do when I was home. Eat this, buy that, read this, finish that, meet them... Have I done all of those things and more? Ha! Hardly.

I'm only home for 10 more days...where did the month go? This time last year, I was longing to go back to school. I missed campus, I missed my friends, I missed everything about school...but this year, not so much. Sure, once I'm back, I'm bound to adjust to my schedule of classes and work, and eventually, I'll be fine. But for now, I'm holding on to everything I can at home.

Because who knows when I'll be back?

p.s. I love the fact that I go to a school in which an important campus-wide email is sent out to everyone, notifying students of the tragic news in which two trees had to be cut down. Love it.

The Holidays

Post #102: Dedicated to: The Proposal

I'm kinda bummed that the holiday season is over.

1) Christmas trees and decorations

I can't wait until I have my own place and am able to decorate however I want, whenever I want. White trees, ornaments, and Christmas lights galore! Welcome to winter wonderland.

Also, Christmas decorations outside in the city. Or just Christmas lights in neighborhoods. I absolutely love lights wrapped around trees. I could just sit inside a cafe sipping a cup of hot tea staring outside at decorations all night long.

2) Ugly sweaters

Ugly sweaters...and ugly sweater Christmas parties! Fairisle knit patterns? Yes, please! Snowflakes and Santas? Even better. Add in potluck parties with friends, games, and secret santa, and you've got a recipe for a wonderful evening.

3) Yummy Christmas goodies!

It always seems as though Christmastime brings family and friends together...to bake. (They don't even have to be Christmas themed...although that's always a bonus.) But I'm sure no one's complaining! Gotta love baked goods, especially with a mug of hot chocolate. Yum.

So, holiday season 2011...I'll be ready to see you again in 362 days! Can't wait.

p.s. Watching The Proposal makes me want to go to Alaska. So beautiful. Also, Ryan Reynolds is awesome. And beautiful.

Write and Dream

Post #101: Dedicated to: Rocketeer; Far East Movement

(This is going to be my Christmas tree one day. Well...with some lime and turquoise splashed in there too.)

I've realized that my blog has become a space for me simply to rant and rave about things I am angry, frustrated, or annoyed about. And while that may be fine...it's not why I started a blog in the first place. I've just become lazy, and I definitely hate being lazy (although I sleep a lot...sleepiness = laziness? Debatable.). So...

New Years Resolution #1:

Post more often. Post random things. Post old memories. Post photos. And then write. Write about anything and everything that strikes my fancy. Because when I write, I dream. And that's the reason I started this blog. To write, and to dream.

I hope everyone's Christmases and New Years were memorable! Mine was classic (extended) family time...and although I personally came across some bumps in the road, it was a fairly wonderful week. It was great to see everyone again, and I'm blessed to have so many aunts and uncles and cousins in my life. Apparently next year, we're planning a Christmas/New Year trip to Hawaii!!!! My first time! I can't wait :)