1. joseph and i were married on july 26, 2003. i was 23. the next day i turned 24. there were about 1000 people at the wedding, with 4 receptions. but no limos. just friends..lots of friends

2. i like cooking for friends and family. i took amateur classes at FCI to make sure i wouldn’t feed them crap. but i have no aspirations in becoming a professional chef.

3. i like stupid movies. joseph calls it the “theresa network”. i’ll watch 13 going on 30, notting hill, and love actually whenever it shows up on tv and i’ve got free time. but some stupid movies will make me gag – most recently “enchanted”. but i also have a love for smart movies.

4. i used to go karaoke alot back in college. i like to scream into the mic, so i usually sing korean rock ballads. my favorites are lee seung hwan, and kim kyung ho

5. at church, i like to sing at the same octave as the guys when singing worship songs. sometimes it scares the people around me.

6. i love to drive. i miss having a car. my first car was an electric blue nissan altima, after college i bought an acura tl. i now own no car, but part owner or many buses and subway cars.

7. i like to play golf, but i’m not very good anymore. i’m a better coach/caddie.  in middle/high school school i used to play alot and actually had a decent handicap.

8. i grew up in inner city baltimore. alot of the stuff that happens in the Wire seems familiar to me.

9. i dislike curry, but will make it for friends and will eat it.

10. i LOVE rice. my comfort foods are rice with kimchi and seaweed soup on the side. it’s actually the first meal i ever remember eating. i hope this will be an early food for our daughter too.

11. i like to do crafts. i like papercrafting and knitting. i’m currently in the middle of doing a papercraft of pee-wee herman for a coworker, and i’m trying to knit a baby blanket.

12.  i ran into a coffee table when i was a kid. i now have a scar immediately underneath my left eye. most people can’t see it because my glasses usually help hide it

13. i’ve lived in 11 different homes in maryland alone (does NOT include dorms). 2 in nyc. for a grandtotal of 13. (how fitting…)

14. i’ve had the same cell phone number since 1998.

15. i don’t like chocolate. i had a traumatic incident in elementary school where i had some chocolate milk and shortly thereafter threw up all over my and my friends lunches. i’ll eat white chocolate sometimes tho.

16. i have a large family. 26+ “cousins” just on my mothers side. 26+ “cousins” on my dad’s side as well. i haven’t met everyone yet, so i’ve stopped counting. the ones i’m closest with are those i grew up with, and helped take care of as i was growing up myself.

17. i’ve always dreamed of owning my own business. i’ve already thought through my business plan, financing and 5 years worth of goals with high level milestones every 6months. my parents have owned at least 8 businesses that I am aware of/can remember.  most of my aunts and uncles own(ed) their own businesses as well; ranging from a furniture company to a cafe.

18. i scare most people the first time i meet them. it’s usually me being friendly, they just don’t realize it.

19. i hate the heat. when i vacation, i like places that are usually cooler and no beaches please.

20. i’m skeptical about alot of things.

21. i don’t like people who have a problem with or complain about something but don’t have suggestions on how to fix it.

22. i can drink heavily, but choose not to. my tolerance is hereditary.

23. i like offal meats. hearts, gizzards, feet, tongue, ears, marrow, intenstine, tripe, sweetbreads, livers, etc. i don’t eat them often tho. they are not good for you in excess.

24. i’m strangely good at dealing with customer service and getting what i want either over the phone or in person

25. joseph is my favorite person in the world. right behind my halmuhnee =P

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Post tags: 13 going on 30, acura tl, agapeshack, amateur classes, baby, blankets, buses, business, caddie, car, cars, chocolate, church, cooking, cousin, coworker, dad, drinks, facebook, family, food, glasses, heated, joseph, kids, kim kyung ho, kimchi, knitting, korean, koreans, lee seung hwan, love actually, lunch, milk, myspace, nissan altima, notting hill, Papercraft, parents, pee wee herman, professional chef, random, rice, rock ballads, s, seaweed soup, subway, subway cars, theresa, worship songs

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so i’m a big fan of this show called The Wire. I’ve only finished seasons 1 and 2. But I’m hooked! I’m curious as to why it only lasted 5 seasons, but perhaps the remaining 3 aren’t as good. In any case, this is a great show. For those of us who grew up in and around Baltimore, it’s a magical show; bleak but magical.

I recently read an article on CNN about The Wire and the overly bleak picture the show seems to display regarding the youth in Baltimore. [ref: http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/22/the.wire/index.html] And it made me sad.

Is growing up and living in Baltimore that hopeless? No. I know. I’m a college-educated, 20-30something asian american living what most probably consider “upper-middle-class”. But I grew up/worked in some of these neighborhoods.  Whenever I mention that I grew in these neighborhoods, people are shocked.

I was far privileged than many of the characters on the show, but what made me different? Joseph says that sometimes he can’t understand what I’m saying when I’m back in Baltimore talking to some of the “urban locals.”  So it’s definitely not the way I speak.

So what makes me connect to show? ….

My parents used to own a store called “Charles Carryout”. Thanks to Google Maps, I think I found it:

across the street used to be an abandoned lot. People used to park their cars there with no rhyme or reason.  My dad used to park our beat up 12yr old station wagon there. And next to the lot, i don’t remember ANYTHING as nice as the building that is there now, which sort of looks like an office building.

My parents lived above the store. My brother and I lived there on the weekends and summers. It was just a block or so from the projects and the schools were horrible. so my brother and i lived with my grandmother during the week (more on that in a future post perhaps).

what i remember most was running from the station wagon to the store to avoid potential gun fire, lewd comments, and getting harassed. entering the doors, and still being told to run to get behind the bullet proof glass doors that were locked at all times.

my favorite memories were playing ms. pac-man and centipede with some of the neighborhood kids. the guy who owned the video game machines would give us 20+ free credits when he emptied out the bins. other memories included playing/sleeping in tents that fit over the twin sized mattresses our parents bought me and my brother. the huge dogs that lived in the backyard. i only ever got to see them from afar since they were so scary.

just a little insight into my strange but fun childhood

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Post tags: 30something, 5 seasons, asian, brother, building, car, cars, cnn, dad, doors, games, glasses, google, grandmother, gun fire, joseph, kids, lewd comments, locals, locks, maps, memories, office, parents, rhyme, showbiz, sleep, station wagon, upper middle class

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it doesn’t sound very exciting. why would this be such a fun place to go to on a vacation so far away? i dunno. probably memories from when i was a kid. and i like history. history was always a subject i didn’t have to study that hard for, it just seemed to come naturally. ironically, i have one of the worst memories in history.

there’s plenty to do. they have different performances throughout the day. starting with traditional dancing:

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some seesaw and tight rope performances:

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then a reenactment of a traditional korean wedding. not sure if he looks very excited that he’s getting married for the 100th time:

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i guess horseback riding and archery were a big thing too:

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there’s also some old school playgrounds. here’s me attempting to swing. but failing due to some residual pain in my knee:

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then of course we can’t forget the food. joseph had the kalgooksoo with some grilled pork on a stick. i had soojaebi. the food at the village is really good. usually tourist spot food stinks, but they do a great job of trying to be authentic.

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whoops. i guess we forgot to take pictures of the pork =P

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Post tags: archery, colonial village, favorite places, food, horseback riding, joseph, kids, knee, korean folk village, memories, ns, tight rope, traditional n wedding

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every time we go to LA, hosive and i try to go to an amusement park. we’ve been to disneyland, sea
world, six flags: magic mountain, knott’s berry farm, and universal studios. i always want to go to
legoland, but after looking at prices and the hours their open, we decline and pick another one. we try
to take my grandmother and my little cousins. danny LOVES this, since it means we take my little cousin
out of school for the day (everyone should now say “theresa, you are the best-est cousin ever!”).

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since we usually head to LA during the spring right after easter, it’s low season at the parks; this is good
and bad. good because there’s usually no lines and bad because often times not all the rides are open
or the park is open for a much shorter time than during peak season.

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each place has it’s pluses and minuses. disneyland is small compared to disneyworld, but is still fun for
the little kids. sea world does a great job showcasing the animals with shows and interactive areas like
dolphin feeding times. knott’s berry was much more family friendly with a good combination of rides for
the younger ones and adults so both feel like they got something out of the park. the food is great too.
we even saw people going just for the food at the restaurant right in front of the park (who knew?!).

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universal studios was more rides that showcased movies. some were good and others were just cheesy.
the tram ride is a must only because you might get a chance to see something being taped. i think we
saw a shooting of “Princess Diaries 2″.

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my favorite thing about parks is the rides. particularly roller coasters! so far my favorite has been the
“X” at Magic Mountain. this thing is INSANE! you have no idea which direction you’re going in, if you’re
on a loop or going down a tall stretch, or even when it’ll be over. it works like this. there’s a pair of two
seaters that are on an arm. each two seater is on it’s own axis on the arm. so you’ve got two points…
one on the actual tracks and the other on the seat. as the arm is moving on the track, the seat is also
moving forward or backward on the axis. all of this means a CRAZY ride like you’ve never had before.
here’s a video of what i mean:

side note: i think i’ve been on only 1 of the 10 tallest roller coasters, superman. it might be fun to
check out the others too! 10 tallest roller coasters

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Post tags: amusement park, disneyland, dolphin feeding, family, food, kids, knotts berry farm, magic mountain, roller coasters, sea world, six flags, theresa, universal studios

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when i was younger, in my preteen years, i used to take swigs of liquor from open bottles 
and then try to add some water to hide it from my parents. here’s something to avoid similar goings on

[via: Sporty's - $14.95]

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Post tags: kids, liquor, locks, parents

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