Good versus evil. Does it truly exist? What are the gray areas? Do good people do bad things?

Good and evil truly does exist. It's true that some people do bad things for the sake of their family, but some people are just plain evil and cruel. Kim Jung Il, the leader of North Korea, what good is he doing? For his people? nothing. He sucks up the treasures and every little thing they have for his glory and pleasure. He is an example of pure evil. He does nothing for the sake of his people, but rather everything for the sake of his own  pleasure. Period. End of Story.

America vs. Korea

So what is this blog about? America vs. Korea? Some may think it's about education or diet or food, etc, but what i'm talking about is pets.

I was driving to school this morning. Hot as hell, empty fuel, etc. I filled up my car with gas and started driving again. I stopped at a stop light and just stared out of the car window and looked blank. All of sudden a blue hyundai pulls up and rolls her window down for her dog. I stared at that dog for a moment. Then its owner hugs it and kisses it like it's her baby. I realized then how much America values their pets. Shameful to say, In Korea, people actually eat their dogs. Even though I'm Korean, valuing pets in America is something Korea should try. What happened at the end? I just drove to school thinking about writing this on my blog. =)

3 weeks Left

Well people? We only have 3 weeks left in school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just counting how many days we have left and we only have 2 weeks and 1 exam week left! 2 exam weeks for some of you. =P
Let's do our best and get A's on our Papers and Exams!!

Write a movie review

I recently watched a documentary called "Waiting for 'Superman'". The documentary explained how America's public school education system was failing. United States stands on 25th place among the whole world according to national research. It also talked about Teacher's Tenure, where teachers can't get fired after few years of working, and how that led to even more of failure in Public Education. It gave very interesting and truthful facts about America's public education. Overall, I thought it was a very interesting movie and i recommend watching this documentary.

- How do you decorate your room? Is it a reflection of who you are?

My room? hmm...very simple. I have a baige wall paper. One bedroom. A desk. A closet. A trashcan. mhm....pretty simple. I'm only in that room maybe 3 hours a day, except my sleeping time. It really doesn't reflect me. I just don't care about my room. lol

Praise Night

Last night, our church had a Praise Night where different churches would come to our church and share fellowship, watch skit and body worship, and praise God altogether. This wasn't just an ordinary praise night. This was a first praise night for our Korean ministry, English Ministry, and Youth Group all joined together to make this happen. Our church was divided into these three groups and felt so segregated, but through this we had high hopes to bring each and every one of us closer together. We prepared for past 3 for this praise night, however, the result at first wasn't very appealing to me. There was only 4 people from other churches and rest of the seats were filled with our own church members. At first, i was very disappointed, but later on, i realized something. I realized that maybe it was God's work that not too many other churches came. Maybe he was trying to tell us that we, our own church group, must become united first, before we praise as one with our church members. Through this praise night, our KM, EM, and YG became closer to one another and felt like we were more united.

I'm a B.A.?...

-       What is the most badass thing you have ever done?

Uh...what is the most badass thing i've done.... The most badass thing i ever done is going to jail. Ever since i got permit, i had a HEAVY foot. I got my first speeding ticket during my permit period. After i got my license i got 2 speeding tickets. Soon after my 2 speeding tickets, i got a reckless ticket and went to a jail. No, It's not really a badass thing, but hey, at least i went to jail, right? lol

Basketball Fan

-       Were you a VCU basketball fan before their recent accomplishments?

To be perfectly honest, i was never a basketball fan. Not just to our VCU team, but to any basketball team. I was just never interested in shooting balls through hoops, but not anymore. Ever since I heard about VCU's sweet sixteen I've completely fell in love with basketball. I memorized couple of our team members' names, which is a big accomplishment for me, and kept track of their games. I love the excitement and the sound of swishes of three pointers. If it wasn't for VCU basketball sweet sixteen, I probably never enjoyed watching basketball team. GO RAMS!

Job in Richmond Day to Day Life

Ever since I came to America, I lived in Richmond and only in Richmond. I lived here and grew up here with my family and friends. As I grew, I needed money, so i began to work. The first job and only job i got was Cold Stone Creamery and still in college, i work there. I love working at Cold Stone. Yes, there is free ice cream, but you get it over it real quick. The reason why i love to work at Cold Stone is because of the family i have there. Our Cold Stone family is completely different from other stores. People may become friends in other store or work places, but in our Cold Stone, each and one of us considers each other as a family and care for one another. This is why I haven't quit even though i work there for such a long time. This is the reason why I LOVE my job.

My Dream at the end of the road

Lately, I have been confused rather if i should follow money or follow what i really want to do. I want to be a musician and a chef. I know, weird combination, but that's not the issue here. My issue is that rather I should become a doctor for the money or become a conductor or a musician for my satisfaction. I would like to know what everyone else thinks. What will my dream at the end of the road look like?

Spring break starts this week.

Well, everybody knows we just had our break past week, but for me, my break started this week. During the spring break, I ate and sleep, ate and sleep, etc, because my car was broken, however this week, i had a hell of a week. This week there were two birthday partys. My friend and my cousin celebrated their birthday and had a party all day and all night. We went out and ate. After we ate, we came back and watched a game on TV. what game? must i say? SWEET 16~~~ We watched VCU play Florida. It was just an intense game. They were almost all time just one point away from each other. Who won? Note telling. =) I guess you should have watched the game. GO VCU! anyhow, this week was truly a break for me. =)

Best worst job ever.

My name is John and i work at a cleaners. I am 35 years old and i am in love with my job. Cleaning shirts, pants, suits and ties all day, everyday. Yes, I even work on Sundays so everything will be done in time on Monday. I started this job since i was 22. My parents retired and handed down the business to me. Ever since then, i threw away school and followed this path. There's not a single thing that i hate about this job. I love when i see the customers come in and leave with a huge smile in their faces, complementing what great job i have done. Also, i love to see the result of my hard effort. I have many customers who come in and tells me that they have been everywhere to get this stain out, but no cleaners could have done. That's when I get this challenge where i NEED to get it out, and it's my pride to get that stain out. 9 out of 10 i get it out, but other times, i just accept it and learn from it, so that next time i can get it out. I also love hard labor. I sweat 7am in the morning when i open and don't stop until 7pm when i close. After all that hard work, it feels like i have done something today. I hate wasting my time, so earning money through hard work makes me feel proud and good at the end of the day. Well, this is my dream job and i am in completely in love with it. =)

Should it be Embarrassing?

As my FI class ended, I walked over to Franklin Street to take a survey for my Psych 101 class. I took it in 20minutes and headed to commons for lunch. On my way back, I saw a strange man doing weird..........movements? It was at the Monroe Park and there really was a guy acting "weird". I got closer and realize it was a student in my Psych 101 class. I guess he was practicing martial arts? He had a headphone on and was kicking forward. Because i happened to be a Taekwondo instructor, i realize he was trying to do a kick. Despite his kicks were horrible, I thought it was little embarrassing to be practicing martial arts in public. I am not ashamed of martial arts, but i thought practicing in public for everybody to see was just too weird. Is this something to be embarrassed of? Am i the only one thinking this way?

Do you ever regret in your life?

ah...this week has been extremely hard for me. I missed out on school a lot because I got into car accident. My 2011 Hyundai Sonata, I bought it last year and paid and still paying every monthly for it with my hard earned money, but now it is in repair shop. Sometimes, I say to myself, "Man, I am glad I bought this car", but when I got into car accident past week, I said, "Why the fuck did i buy a brand new car at my age?". I made mistakes and had regrets in my life, but i have to say, this is one of the biggest mistake of my life. How often do you regret about the things you have done in your life? Lately, I've been regretting a lot of things. I've been regretting why I didn't apply to better college, because for the rest of my life, i will never if i was smart enough to get into UVA or even MIT. I guess this is an vicious cycle. Once you start regretting about a big things, you start making a list of things you regret....or at least i am. sigh. -_-

Speech of a Harvard Student

I personally don't think there any good speeches. I think every speech can meaning differently to each unique person. To me, the best speech i ever heard was our school;s Valedictorian's speech during the graduation.
I don't really like speeches. I think it's boring, but not his. From the beginning to the end, I was completely hooked in. I guess what makes a good speech to me personally is a speech that has good meaning, but also funny at the same time. Our Valedictorian made into Harvard. Maybe that's why he was so good, but he kept his speech funny, interesting, and meaningful.

Call of my Life

Person 1: Hello?
Person 2: Hi~ What's up?
Person 1: nothing much, how u been?
Person 2: To be honest, i'm not doing too well.
Person 1: Why? What's wrong?
Person 2: I feel like there is a barrier between me and God.
Person 1: Explain.
Person 2: Well, I fell in love with God when I was in 7th grade. I went to my first Praise Night and I just completely fell in love with church and God. I always thought church was a boring place, and a place to meet friends, but ever since that night, my view towards Christianity has been completely changed. However, lately, I started do grow this hesitation and disdain in my heart about going to church and i just can't figure out why.
Person 1: Hmm, here, get a bible and read this. 1 Samuel 3:7, "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, the Word of the Lord had not been revealed to him." You're just like Samuel right now. God has given you something during that Praise Night and you fell in love with it, but you are holding onto that piece for too long and been blind by it. You do not know how God works yet. God is trying to give you something more, but you keep looking back, where you should be looking forward and expect greater things from God. I think you should pray and ask God what you need to do next. You know the problem, now ask God to show you the way.
Person 1: Wow....Thanks man, that really helped me. I'll pray to God right now! thanks so much bro!
Person 2: What are friends for eh? =)
Person 1: click*
Person 2: click*

Fourth Piece to My Soundtrack Memory

First Concert
Inspired by: Canon in D by Pachelbel
Lyrics that I like: None

________________________________________________________________________
    I have been playing my violin since I was twelve years old. I was sixth grader back then. I began orchestra by joining my orchestra in my middle school. I didn’t know why I did it, I just did it because it looked easy. I rented a violin and started to play, and surprisingly I was pretty good. My parents bought me a $2000 violin and told me to work hard at it, and I did. Now, it has been nine years since I played violin, and thinking back, I don’t think it was waste of time or money at all. Playing violin for past nine years gave me experience and wider knowledge about classical era and pieces.
    My all time favorite orchestra piece is Canon in D by Pachelbel. Last week, I went to my friend’s wedding. When I was in sixth grade and performed my first concert, we played this piece: Canon in D. It sounded great, fun music to play for violinists, and it also had some challenges parts where I practiced and mastered it. Ever since that concert, I almost never played again. It was in the back of my head, but never really played out that piece, but when I entered the wedding, this was the piece that they were playing. I sat and just listened to the piece. It reminded me how much I grew, and how much effort I put in to become a great violinist and a musician. As the groom and bride entered, the piece ended and I attended the rest of the wedding.
    This sound track is a lot more different from my previous ones. My previous ones had deeper meaning to it, but this one piece, Canon in D, just reminded me of sixth grade “me”.

Human for Sale!!

Slavery has been around since 1400 B.C. when Jews were slaves to Egypt. It was presumed that slavery ended in 1865 as 13th amendment was formed, but even now in 2011, slavery still exists in another shape or form.

Modern day slavey is known as Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking is an illegal trade of human beings for force labor or prostitution. A prime example of human trafficking is the "Red light District" in Amsterdam.  Most of the girls have been involuntarily forced into prostitution and sex-orientated businesses. This should not be allowed in US nor in any of other countries. Slavery ended back in 1865 and it should stay that way.
Slavery should not be still existing, even if doesn't acquire hard labor.

Third Piece to My Soundtrack Memory

One Final Piece
Inspired by: Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov
________________________________________________________________________
    The clock is ticking with its long black hand with every second, and without realizing, the moment that we all were waiting  for has come. The light dimmed and yellow light brighten up on the stage. Thirty different faces sat on a black chair with an instrument in their hands, some shaking and some excited. When that 7’o clock hit, it was our time to shine.
    At 6:30, everybody began to arrive at school and went into the room and grabbed their instruments. We all sat in our positions and tuned up our instruments. There were violins, violas, cellos and basses. We got out our black folders and took out our pieces for that evening.  Every eye watched and followed the movement of our conductor’s hand and began to play along the beat.
    At 6:55, we stood just outside the door of our auditorium. We finished our rehearsal and waited for that signal to come in and get into our position. Some were shaking hands with people passing by and some were re-tuning their instrument, but no matter what they were doing, we all had one purpose that night; to perform in our one last final orchestra concert. Everything was in place and perfect, I mean perfect. Our instruments were in good condition, our moral and hope was high, even that one kid who always ran to bathroom second before the concert was ready.
    Every single one of us practiced and practiced for past three months just for this night. As 7’o clock hit, we went in, sat and waited for our Concert Master. I was third chair, first violinist during this concert. Yellow light was shining on our faces and our sheet music and, have never been this excited before. As the Concert Master walked out, we applauded with our feet, while audience applauded with their hands and whistles. We had six different pieces to play. Concert Master had his solo, Assistant Concert Master had his and finally I had mine, but somehow I don’t remember that well about any of our solos. We played through our solo pieces and went with the concert. If I had to summarize our concert with one song, it would be our final piece: Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky Korsakov. As we played, the tension, the suspense, the climax, the dynamic and the excitement and joy filled us up! Every bow movement was aligned and played like one instrument. Every heart on that stage beat like one that evening. We did our best and played with everything we got. In a matter of minutes, the final piece was done, and claps and whistles came from every corner of that auditorium.
    I had to say, my school had a pretty damn good orchestra. No, I lied. Our orchestra was the best one in chesterfield. Some shed tears as they realize that concert just now will be the last concert that we will play together as an orchestra. It ached my heart too, but this is how life works. There I met my orchestra and it was there where we all said our Good-byes.

   

I can live without technology...I think...-_-

24 hours per day. I am probably on either computer, TV, or cell phone for 20 hours of that day.
Time Spent:
Facebook: 3 hours
Cell Phone: 3 hours
Internet (tetris, poker, blackboard, etc) : 10 hours
TV: 1-2 hours

So i've decided to live one day (Tuesday) without TV. Why? Because it's the easiest. I know that i cannot operate without Facebook or internet or cellphone. So how was it? It wasn't that bad. I had to miss out on few shows and news, but those i can always go on Youtube or Hulu to catch on. Also, because i only spend like an hour or two, it didn't affect me too much. =P

That picture.

April, the sun is out and smiles are everywhere
I study my friends' bright young faces.
Young and filled with passion.
We hold colored boxes
and bags of gifts in our hands.

Some in dress and some in jeans with shirts
we stand outside of Outback Steakhouse.
There's a girl in the middle with a beautiful smile
a smile that brightens up the whole world.
She has never been any happier before.

On her hand, she has a cone shaped hat
that says, "You're 18!".
On her hands, she holds a cake
made from the hands of her friends and written
"Happy 18th Birthday!"

Death of Jesus

The death of Jesus Christ is one of the most influential events for all of humanity. It's where the Christianity began. Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was crucified on a cross. Nobody really knows the true reason why Jesus was crucified. Some say it because he was blaspheming God and some say that it was just God's will. Jesus had done many miraculous things and yet, the prophets and priests and Jews cursed him and spat at him. Now it has been almost 2000 years since Jesus Christ was crucified, and over 2.1 billion people believes in him and became a Christian. I for one am an example of follower of Jesus Christ.

I called my friends about this. We talked for hours about this event. Many of friends grew up with me at the same church so most of them agreed with me. We believe that Jesus Christ was our savior and through him, we will return to our Father in Heaven. But, I had a one friend who denied Jesus Christ. She believes that there is no God and is totally waste of money and time to serve God and the church. 

I can't really say who's right and who's wrong because i wasn't there. To me, it is real and it really did happened. There is no right or wrong. It just all depends on what one choose to believe in.

Second piece to My Soundtrack Memory

Never Ending Faith
Inspired by: “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crown
Lyrics that I like:

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
________________________________________________________________________
    Everybody has that feeling in their stomach where they just know they can’t do it, whether it be a interviewing for a job, taking a MCAT, or taking SAT to get into college that they want. But, there’s always that depressing and self doubting feeling in our gut that keeps us away from retrieving our highest goal. Not only that, there’s a fear in our heart that keeps ourselves from reaching for our dream.
    However, did you realize that it always works out at the end? Even it may have taken us million times, it works out at the end. Did you realize that?
    I didn’t fully realize until I heard this song. I heard this song when I was in high school. I was taking my SAT on a gloomy Saturday. The weather was horrible, I had a bad headache, it seemed like nothing would work out. I thought to myself, would I be able to go to the college that I want?
    As I drove down that small smoke tree driveway to get to my SAT center, I listen to this song.  Even though I heard this song so many times, I never realized what lyrics meant, but somehow, on that day, the lyrics reached out to me.
    This wasn’t the matter of getting good SAT, or getting into the college I want. It was matter of listening and believing in God.
    Though there may have been obstacles during this day, I went to the SAT center and took my SAT. I will be perfectly honest, I wasn’t too good at taking SAT so my score didn’t even pass 2000, but I knew everything was going to be alright. I didn’t know where I really wanted to go honestly, but now I think about it, where I wanted to go was where God wanted me to go. God has put me in VCU and I am more than happy with it.
    I had GPA of 4.3 during high school, enough to get into better college. Some people asked me, “Why did you come to VCU?”, “You’re retarded for coming to VCU”, but I think not. I believe and I entrusted my life that day. To me, everything did work out. I came to college that I wanted, even though there was a “giant” standing before and laughing at me that day.

Who am I?

I see and consider myself as somewhat "The Conflicted". If our society never valued college as the only way to become successful, I probably wouldn't have went to college. And because the society valued college so highly, our parents now pushes their children to go to college, or at least my parents did. My current goal really isn't to go to college to learn. I chose to go college because first, i was brainwashed by society that college is necessary to be successful since i was a kid, and second, I actually believe that way. I'm not a prodigy who has an amazing cooking skill or business skill to skip college and become successful, which is why I need to go to college to learn more and become successful. I don't know what I'll do next 10 years, but I know that I'm gonna get a job after college and make alot of money and raise a happy family. This is why i see myself as "The Conflicted". I don't really care about more education, but just enough for me to get a great job and enough to make money to raise and take care of my family.

First Piece to My Soundtrack Memory

New Broken Heart
Inspired by: “What Can Faith Do” by Kutless

Lyrics that I like:
Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you’re stronger, stronger than you know.

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do
________________________________________________________________________

    I am sitting in a boring class yet once again and listening to my teacher talking about the Missouri Compromise. As the class ends, I go to lunch and get ready for the next class in English. My middle school life has always been repetitive and boring. There was no surprise, no excitement, no nothing. Everyday I wake up, wash up, eat, ride the bus, and go to school. Once I’m at school, I go to class, onto the next one, eat, have bathroom break, back to class, then back to bus and home. I started to wonder, why my life is so casual and no different from the kid who sits next to me in English class. Well, all that changed soon, too soon.
    When I was in 8th grade, I came home and everybody in my family didn’t look too good. I thought it was just because they had bad day, so I didn’t really care. I ate and took shower and came out to the living room. Suddenly, my parents and brother gathers around and tells me that mom was diagnosed positive for breast cancer. I was devastated when I heard it. “Everybody falls sometimes”, but I never though I could fall down this badly. For next few days I was depressed and worried. I prayed and prayed silently for hours for those days, but there was no answer. I needed to “find the strength to rise”, but I couldn’t find any, at least not until the Sunday of that week.
    I was a Christian and a firm believer since I was born, or I remember at least. I went to church every Sunday and never missed out. Somehow, the worship and praise of that week was the most blessing and helpful worship of my life. It was then I heard this song. When I praised “And I've seen miracles just happen, Silent prayers get answered
, Broken hearts become brand new, That's what faith can do”, I realize something. I realized that even though there was no answer from God right at that moment, as long as I believe in him and have faith in him, everything will be okay. Just like the lyric said, my silent prayers were answered just after a week. “From the ashes”, we rose back up and believed that my mother will be just fine. After surgery and treatment, she was completely cured from breast cancer.
    Many people say that it was the doctors and the expensive technology that cured my mother. It may be true and it probably is true, for them at least. For me, after listening to this song, I believe that my strong faith in God has cured my mother. This is a song that changed my Christian life and saved my mother.

Screw the Speed Limit

          I thought for a while about what I should write about for this week's blog. Finally, I narrowed down do a topic: Speed Limits. Why are there speed limits? Should there be a limit to where speed limits should be applied? or should there be no such thing as speed limit?
        
          There are millions of people out there who designs and strives to create faster and better cars everyday. Once we build one, we produce them and sell them to make profits. People then uses them to get to places, rather it be work, school, home or even far away, but there is always one thing that keeps these great cars from performing at its best: speed limits. Why do we even create cars that can go over 100mph if we can't even go over 80mph? What's the point of paying such a huge amount of money of cars if we can't even use it as we want?

         I understand there are safety procedures when it comes to driving, however, I don't think there should be speed limits everywhere. I think there should be speed limits in neighborhoods, schools and places where there is high probability of hurting people. On the other hand, i don't think there should be any speed limits on main road and high-way. I have never seen anyone on takes a stroke and takes a high in the middle of highway.

        What do you think? Should there be speed limits? limited speed limits? or no speed limits at all?

What do I want in my life?

In my life, I want to...

1. become a successful musician.
2. become a well known world conductor.
3. become an amazing pharmacist.
4. have a loving family.
5. have 4 kids.
6. have a million dollar house with an elevator. 
7. have 3 pet dogs.
8. make a trip to every country.
9. get my dream car(s).
10. want to make my parents proud.
11. want to teach at a university. 
12. live a life with no regrets.
13. street race.
14. form a world known Christian Band.
15. want to bring peace between North and South Korea.
16. want to make a even better social network than Facebook.
17. go up to Moon.
18. come back down safely from Moon.
19. Travel to the end of the universe.
20. Get sucked into Black hole and live to tell.
21. make better relationship with my brother.
22. make a school where kids who can't afford school can come for free.
23. make a hospital where patients who can't afford treatment can come for free.
24. Visit all my old teacher and thank them.
25. Create a Time Machine.
26. Compose a classical song.
27. To be able to play Vivaldi 4 Seasons on Violin.
28. Become the Concertmaster of Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
29. Own Starbucks company.
30. Get in a street fight and win.

What can I do now to make these happen?

1. I can practice and learn as much as I can about music and practice my instruments.
2. I need to study hard now and get into good pharmaceutical program.
3. I need to find a girlfriend now who I can love only and who will love me only to have an amazing family.
4. I need to become successful pharmacist or a world class conductor to get my dream cars.
5. I need to form a band now to have a well known Christian band.
6. I need to work out and exercise more often now.