It's really funny how many people come across my site when searching the Internet for "boooooooooobs." How disappointed they must be when they stumble across this.

posted by iyr at 1:38 PM|

 
I'm back. I'm still jetlagged. I think I'm still thawing out, too. More to come, maybe some pictures, even.

posted by iyr at 1:15 AM|

 
I'm in New York. It's snowing. 'Nuff said.

No, wait, there's more.

I believe the word "blizzard" was used. My Golden State ass had to look up "flurries" in the California dictionary, and guess what? It wasn't there. No wonder people run to the left coast and don't look back.

Troubling, considering I only applied to three California schools.

posted by iyr at 11:02 AM|

 
Call me Youngju-ssi for the next few months... till July, to be exact.

That's right, I'm leaving on a five-month English-teaching stint to Korea next month. I'll be chillin in the motherland, getting in touch with my roots and connecting with my people* while teaching English to a bunch of shigol kids and letting them teach me my native tongue at my cousin's English hakwon (apologies to those of you who don't speak Korean). And getting a studio and a salary to boot! I'm such a cliche.

Now before you tell me how lucky I am, or how jealous you are, lemme just tell you one thing: I'll be NOT in Seoul, but in Cheonju-- a city 3 hours south of Seoul that lays claim to fame by being the birthplace of dolsot bibimbap and Mama Roe. Aww yeah. It's all good, though... I like Cheonju, and I think it'll be good for me to be there because I'd be afraid of partying too much in Seoul. Being in Cheonju will keep me grounded, and if I ever feel the need for 12-hour clubbing sessions or to play with all the other expat partiers in Kang Nam, I can hop just hop on a train for a weekend jaunt.

Ppppbbbbb... who am I kidding?? Like I'm that cool and party that much. But yeah... if I want to go to the shijang at 3 AM for some fobolicious clothes that I will never wear in the U.S., same deal.

So yeah... if any of y'all decide to go to Korea between the months of February and July, come on down to Cheonju! I'll be happy to buy you a sizzling bowl of mixed meat and vegetables with burnt rice at the bottom... I'll even throw in a bottle of makkuhlee. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?

*When I was a kid, I was always jealous of the indigenous tribal peoples that I saw on TV cuz they always referred to their "people." As in, "My people were swindled out of our land by the white man and given some diseased blankets and fire water in return." (sidenote: can you believe the U.S. pulled that crap?!?!). Couldn't make references like that as a Korean... it just sounded lame!

posted by iyr at 2:02 AM|

 
Happy 2005 everyone (a bit late, I know)!

Too much happened in 2004 for me to enumerate in the obligatory re-cap, but here are my year highs and lows.

Highs
- Finally quitting my spin doctoring job to start my career
- Adopting Ono
- Scuba diving and hang gliding
- (Re)Discovering the true depth of God's love and redemption

Lows
- Breaking up is hard to do
- Going back to spin doctoring as a paycheck player
- Taking out my sideview mirror the day after I picked my car up from the body shop

All in all, there were definitely more highs than lows. Wonderful.

As for 2005, bring it on, baby. I'm so ready for this year and all the exciting changes that it brings. I can't wait. Oh, and I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, thus the lack thereof.

First lesson learned in 2005: bangs + Iris do not a pretty girl make. To wit:

*pictures removed because they were too obnoxious.

posted by iyr at 2:41 AM|

 
This year, it was a little difficult to get into the holiday spirit in the days leading up to Christmas. There are a few choice phrases that I could go without hearing for the rest of my life, namely the two following:

"Let's remember everyone, Santa has the same letters as Satan."

and

"But 167 is still a good score!"

First of all, yes, the message of Christmas has become rather diluted and bastardized in today's over-commercialized age, and there should be less emphasis on presents and wish lists and more on the miracle of God condescending to walk among men. But come on now! Saying something like that is just killing holiday cheer with a bunch of sanctimonious poopoo.

Second, I know that saying the second is meant to make me feel better about my score, but in the end 167 does not equal what I was aiming for. Not that I don't appreciate the efforts and the spirit and truth of the statement (and the fact that people say it out of love), but it's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. Ultimately, however, while my vanity may take a huge hit (which is a good thing, I know), when I die, I won't be remembered nor judged for how I scored on one test-- so I'll live. I'll turn to Jeremiah 29:11, say Amen and life goes on. That said, I'm lying if I say it's not hard to stay focused on the God's will be done part of that whole process, but these are the times that try our souls and so it's all that much more important.

That all said, I actually ended up having quite a nice Christmas. No deep and profound insights, no miracles, but quite simply, I'm blessed to have a lovely family to spend the holidays with and who will stuff me full of good food and remind me what the season is really all about. I'm also fortunate to know people who will gather from near and far to trade white elephant gifts (some who even appreciate my small contribution, the beauty of the first season of Sledgehammer), one of whom even brought extra gifts so that everyone could go home with something. I hope you all had as nice a holiday.

Merry Christmas.

posted by iyr at 11:26 PM|

 
By special request from blog explorers Manolo and Sampras, here is a recap of Saturday night.

I set aside my Saturday night to do some bonding with some high school friends, one of whom was in town for the holidays from the Far East. We didn't have any definite plans but the evening coordinator, ChunLi called me and told me we were meeting up with a bunch of '98 Wolves in Hermosa Beach. I almost flaked because I was a little wary of whom the crowd would include, but when I called Chun Li she wasn't too keen on the idea, so I said I was in for fear that she would spinning bird kick me or yap yap me to death if I didn't.

So, we got off to a late start because Chun Li and Schuster went to a Chinese FOB concert where Chun Li lost her keys, delaying our start time till about 12:30 AM. When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised to not see some people and see others (I'm a terrible wench, I know). CS, a girl friend I hadn't seen since high school and I had a joyous reunion, but I think it was partially fueled by the libations. Regardless, it was good to see her and she was happy to see me (she told me lots of times). We had a few drinks, blinked once or twice, and then it was last call. When it was time for CS to leave, she came to give me another hug, and she picked me up, lost her balance, and I felt us timbering over onto her backside. We landed with a thud, her head banging on the cement ground, limbs akimbo with me on top of her like a ton of bricks. I quickly picked myself up off her and tried to see if she was ok. She sat up, shook her head and said, "Wait wait... can I just tell you how happy I am to see you?!" It was very sweet. And painful. I felt horrible, like the random anvil that falls from the sky on the unsuspecting cartoon. And it didn't help any that a few perverts in the crowd made some suggestive comments.

I hope I haven't done any permanent damage to CS... she's an itty bitty girl, and while I'm not large and in charge, 100 lbs of anything hurts. :(

posted by iyr at 1:55 PM|

 
New movies I would like to watch soon:

The Aviator
House of Flying Daggers
Spanglish
Vera Drake (not sure if it's still in theatres)
Meet the Fockers
Hotel Rwanda
Ray

Anyone have feedback about any of these? Anyone wanna go? Let me know. =)

posted by iyr at 10:59 AM|

 
After I wrote my Jeopardy! post, on a whim, I submitted my name for the Jeopardy! contestant search. And lo and behold, this ended up in my inbox this morning:

Congratulations! You have been selected for an appointment in our upcoming Jeopardy! contestant search for the Los Angeles area. We have reserved the following appointment for you:

When: Thursday January 20th Time: 2:30pm

Where: Culver City, CA

You must RSVP within two business days of receipt of this email to secure your place in the audition. When you RSVP via email, please provide the following:

1) Date and time of your invite
2) Your name
3) Your City & State

blah blah blah blah...

We hope to hear from you soon!

Best Regards,

The Jeopardy! Contestant Department

HAHAHAHAHA! I've already sent in my RSVP. I guess it's a good thing that I held onto All About the Civil War-- time to start reading. Wish me luck!

posted by iyr at 10:53 AM|

 
So this morning, I was running late for work (I'm freelancing again at my old company) as a result of hitting the snooze button a few (try 4) too many times, so I thought what the hell-- I'm already late, so may as well be really late but look presentable (and you wonder why I never made it past Account Exec). So I got a little extra dolled up (as in, slacks, not jeans; boots, not flip flops; lipstick, not chapstick) and walked out to my car.

While I was pulling out of the parking garage, our building maintenance guy stopped me to hand me a new set of keys and some friendly conversation. I like him because he calls Ono Fifi and says how Fifi reminds him of a poodle he once had that he named Mohammed. Well that, and he sealed off my flat tire once. He does fatherly things like that for me and my mom. Nice guy.

So anyway, as I was pulling away, he said, "Boy, you shore is pretty! And in that black sweater! Mmph, woowee!"

Laughing, I pulled my car out of the garage and was feeling kinda fly on my way to work, until I really thought about what he said, particularly the last part. It's kinda like getting a catcall from a man that you look at like your grandfather. It's just not right. And it holds about as much weight as Calista Flockhart.

Oh, well.

posted by iyr at 1:12 PM|

 
I'm posting a lot because I want to get that darn picture of the LandRover off my front page. I suppose I could delete the post, but... I don't wanna. Anyway, I feel chatty. Post-LSAT euphoria, I suppose. So here are the thoughts rolling around in my head...

I don't like when people refer to my former boyfriends as "your ex." I mean, ok, yeah, that's what they are and all, but I just hate that phrase. It just seems like such a 40-yr-old unhappy divorcee term-- as in, "My first ex is a deadbeat and won't pay me alimony or child support, so I married my second ex for his money and then ran off with the pool boy/tennis pro/golf caddy." (Perhaps I've read too much Danielle Steele in the past.) Anyhow, they have names, so whenever possible, please refer to them as such, because for the most part they're still important people in my life and the designation "ex" seems to diminish that somewhat. Not to mention, it just clumps them into some arbitrary category, when in fact they're very distinct individuals in my life. (This makes it sound like I have soooo many, when I've really only been in two "real" relationships.)

It seems I've been losing weight-- I've heard from various people that I look smaller than before (note, this is different from being a little person, something that tchang, who reads this site but never comments, likes to remind me that I am every chance he gets). Hooray! I don't know what I've been doing to cause the weight loss, but I'm thinking about quitting Coke (I know, I know, but for real this time) and seeing if even more weight drops off. More than the weight though, I think it's important since I don't want to get diabetes (which is more common in people that drink lots of soda) and I figure Coke can't be good for my bones and women are at risk for osteoporosis and all that scary stuff. *Sigh* Growing up is no fun.

Let's see, what else what else... oh yeah, I think God has been doing many things in my life lately. He's giving me a season of refreshing and renewal and I'm so humbled by it all. 'Tis wonderful. :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for bearing with my scattered thoughts.

posted by iyr at 12:01 AM|