It has been an interesting month I must say.
8/7 Last day of work
8/8 Tim Kim's Wedding
8/9, 8/10 Pack
8/11 Move to SoCal
8/12 Unpack/Pack for Hawaii / meet up with Michelle Jay
8/13 Fly to Hawaii (Crack of Dawn flight...)
8/13-8/19 Hawaii with family... Back to back adventures... did not hang loose.
We went snorkeling twice, woke up at the crack of dawn (left the door at 6:15AM) to see pearl harbor, went to north shore twice, went to waimea falls, went to giovanni shrimp shack, saw sea turtles, went to a lu'au, went to dole plantation twice, went to see a magic show, went to all these beaches, (however only briefly to see the view...), drove all over the island and a bunch of other things...
All I wanted to do was relax and enjoy the beach (which was literally in our backyard) and chill by the pool and read a book sip on a pina colada or strawberry daiquiri (which I did do for half a day... felt sooo good) and when I feel like it jumping into the pool and swim for a little and then come back out to read and sip on some more good juice.
I did meet up with Hannah Whang who also happened to be in Hawaii. I also bumped into one of my best friend Sunny and his wife Kat at a shrimp shack. It was the most random thing. It was awesome to see him. (I was one of his groomsman) Providence that we met for sure.
8/19 Flew out of Hawaii (got upgraded to economy plus for free because they ran out of economy seats...)
8/20 Met up with Grace and Susan in the morning, Esther Lee for lunch, Jessica Ian in the afternoon, Sunny and Kat for late night dessert
8/21 Met up with Laura Kwak for breakfast, Esther Sung, Steph Lee, and Kimberly Mar for lunch and coffee, Albert and Connie for late afternoon boba, Jaime Kim for late night dessert
8/22 swung by David and Jenn's engagement party on my way out to LAX to take the red eye flight to JFK
8/23 JFK, dropped of my luggage at my apt (my roommate happened to be there already), and went to Redeemer for church. Sooo tired... almost knocked out even though Keller was preaching. (He preached on David and Bathsheba)
Had dinner with Hanna Park and then slept at my god-sister Alice's place
8/24 got the keys to my place, moved in... met my roommates, and then went to target.
Target without a car is brutal. Going there is okay... but coming back and lugging all that stuff was hard... plus the subway stations were platform stations instead of underground... so I had to walk up the stairs with all that stuff... plus going back to my place is all uphill!!! =/
Had dinner with Beth at Joe's Shanghai... (in chinatown) she really liked it. haha I thought it was quite good as well. She helped me run some errands as well... gave me a 10% Sephora discount! I needed lotion and facewash. Also went to Kmart to pick up some misc things and Old Navy to pick up some flipflops.
8/25 went to fairway market to buy some groceries and went to craigslist to find AC and rice cooker.
Went to chinatown again to pick up some rice and chinese groceries and drinks... and then picked up some dinner.
Fixed my linux computer to run adobe flash player with sound... yay pandora works!!! phew... I dunno how I'll live without pandora. =D
8/26 made a turkey sandwich with roasted garlic hummus spread along with romaine lettuce and tomatoes on a raisin walnut bread (freshly baked!) and now typing up this blogspot...
I did have a couple of reflections yesterday as I went out on an adventure to Chinatown...
I think I really fit in here... I walked out of my apartment with my hair spiked, shades on, headphones plugged in to block out the sound of the world and a book to read. People asked me about the subway system (which is the express train and which is the local train) When I transferred at Penn Station, people would be running and some people would be walking briskly... lo and behold I noticed people around me walked just as fast if not faster than me... I mean it is rare that people walk as fast as me but I guess here it is a commonplace. I think people are trying to make up for the lost time that are involved in waiting for the subway or sitting idly in the trains... The insane amount of people really makes me alive for some strange reason... Maybe it's because I feel like I belong or I feel apart of the crowd... As I see those tour doubledecker buses I can't help but feel that I am now a part of new york... to those visitors I am a new yorker who is busy running around... with things to do, places to go, people to meet.
My second reflection happened at the BBQ shop where I was ordering my food. These two chinese ladies were ordering and talking about the price of a BBQ duck and chicken... From the look of things, it seems they don't have much to live on and what immediately hit me was my past. My past here... our family didn't have much to live on. Coming to Chinatown to pick up groceries, my mom would try to find the cheapest food but yet the most fresh. We were barely making ends meet. It brought about a nostalgia that I haven't felt in a while... As it was my turn to order, I ordered a cheap BBQ chicken and BBQ duck over rice... it was only 5 dollars. I pulled out my cash and reflected man... 5 dollars is nothing to me. How did I get this far. How was I able to make money and now even afford luxury that other people would have never imagined... eating at restaurants that cost around $150 per person. Those chinese ladies would probably flip out. Now, I am ordering a humble meal at 5 dollars. Don't get me wrong.. the food was good. It was good for me to be around "cheap" places because I am able to reflect and see how much God has carried me through... By the grace of God, I am what I am. I hope I don't forget about my past to see how much God has blessed me. Maybe this might mean more adventures to chinatown... who knows.
This weekend I'm going to Boston... my friend Lauren is going to Tufts for her PhD and I will be visiting some of my other friends... School starts after Labor Day...
I'll post more later... =)
kevin
