i almost forgot...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

last week, my mom, my sister and i attended a wedding at bethel church. an unni who was a part of calvary presbyterian church's youth group when i was in middle school got married. when we first received the invitation in the mail, i was surprised that she was marrying so early given the fact that her older sister (in her late twenties) has not yet married.

but the real shock was when i walked in the church and saw a picture of her and the groom. when i first just glanced at it while my mom was signing the guest book, i only thought the groom looked really familiar. i didn't think much of it until my sister yelled, "kevin choo?!"

i looked again at the picture and then his name written under it. and that's when i realized that he was the older brother of one of my closest friends from middle and high school!

it was a shock mostly cuz i never would've thought they would end up marrying each other. i remember him being a pretty popular guy... and a lot of unnis would befriend so young (my friend) just to become closer to him.

besides that, all i remember is so young yelling at him for going to the bathroom with the toilet seat down and spraying on the seat... and her wanting him to stop wearing boxers with holes in them. i also remember the walls in his room were covered with posters of women in bikinis.

mi hyun unni, on the other hand, had just come from korea and was attending esol school. i remember late night truth or dare games with her and other unni's (one being her younger sister) when we would confess to each other who we like and other typical girl secrets.

with memories such as these, it was definitely weird but also really heartwarming to see the two up there professing their love for one another.

but more than that, i was particularly excited to meet friends, oppas, and unnis that i haven't seen in a long time. this is why i love weddings... it's like a big reunion.

all in all, the wedding was great. the bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome...

and they lived happily ever after.

i miss my old friends. friends from elementary, middle, and high school.

what i love most about being with or talking with old friends is that i am free to do and be whatever i want without even a slight concern of what they might think of me. i can be me, or i can not be me... but regardless, to them, i am just me.

i am that same little girl who couldn't sign up for lunch because she knew no english but memorized the first and last names of all the kids in the class.

the 4th grader who wore socks that come up to the knees and capris before they became popular.

that orchestra geek who always carried a big heavy cello on the school bus.

the shy 6th grader who had biggest crush on the 2nd-chair violinist but had no courage to admit it.

the girl who always ran into the screen of the balcony thinking that it's not there.

the fob who didn't know how to distinguish between the different pronounciations of "year" and "ear."

the girl who cried after all-county auditions almost every year because she thought she did horribly.

the only junior in high school with 9 years history of perfect attendance (thank goodness i didn't make it to 10 years in senior year).

the dorky senior who had no driver's license and walked to the bus stop and rode the yellow bus to school every morning and afternoon in rain or snow, while everybody else drove their cars to and fro school.

the girl who borrowed a dress from a friend to wear to prom so that she wouldn't waste money on such an insignificant occasion.

...and the list goes on.

a friend is truly someone who knows all your faults but loves you anyway.

*special waves to kimmie, sam, royela, steve, susan, bryan, melody, hye na, so young, irene, jim, eric, abby, lauren, yelena, rebecca, angie, georgann, josh, john, dan, and joe!!

i miss you guys so much.

<3

it's kinda late to post this now... but...

HOPE CHAPEL COFFEE HOUSE 7 PM
1600 W. Seminary Avenue
Lutherville, MD 21093

i'll see you there!~ ;-)

wow, what a day.

went to bed last night at 2am, woke up this morning at 6am, studied until 3:30pm, took an exam at 3:45pm, went to division advisory meeting at 6:15pm, auditing class at 7pm, home at 9:30pm, ate dinner at 10pm.

i tried to stay up all night, but the cans of cherry coke and vanilla coke did me no good at all cuz i fell asleep at 2.

by 3:30pm, i was studying the middle of the last of the ELEVEN (long) chapters that the b. law exam tested us on today. and boy, did i feel unprepared. obviously, i didn't even get to finish looking at all of the material, let alone go back over what i read.

to be frank, at least several times during my long hours of study, i had moments of deep frustration at not only my teacher's unreasonable demands and expectations but also at the book. stupid book not only as thick as the yellow pages but contains wording as superficial and vague as it can be.

anyhow, i knew oh so well that it was not gonna be an easy exam, so as i rushed down the stairs of the library, all i could do was pray.

following the pattern of the day, again, i ran out of time and didn't have the chance to go over the answers on the test. walking out of the room, i realized that i have never felt so uncertain about a test before... EVER.

actually trying to forget about my miserable two and a half hours, i ran to the division advisory meeting, to which i was already 15 minutes late. somebody asked me what i thought of the test, and i only answered, "it was hard." when i finally got settled in a seat and took the time to looked around, i noticed that there were people from my b. law class with facial expressions of extreme disgust, frustration... and one girl was even crying.

really, in my past three years of college, i had never seen so much tension over an exam among my classmates before.

i can already tell this school year will be a memorable one. it has definitely gotten off to a start that is out of line with my expectations.

it's funny how my class developed a bad habit this semester of skipping class together as a whole group. because roughly the 25 of us (seniors in the accounting program) have been in most of the same classes since freshmen year, we have gotten to know each other pretty well. this year there are 4 classes that most of us are in together, and it definitely calls for situations when circumstances make it really tempting to give in to peer pressure and just not go to class.

like tonight's 7 o'clock class after our intense exam. only about 9 people showed up. it's actually better than last time when we got back our b. law tests when only 8 people showed up. last night, 5 people showed up in tax class after the accounting fair. on the night of our auditing exam, 6 people showed up in b. law.

i'm sure our teachers just love us. i actually can't blame them for tonight's class though. it turns out that i wasn't the only one who got little sleep and had virtually nothing to eat. i hear they went to olive garden for bread sticks and salad... so our auditing teacher kindly offered to bring us bread sticks and salad next time we have our b. law exam. i have to say though, it was pretty painful sitting through 2 hours of straight lecture in such state of extreme hunger and tiredness.

anyway, on a brighter note, i've been listening to a variety of CDs in my car lately. normally, i would listen to one CD for at least several weeks before i switch, but i don't really know what brought about my fickleness. i listened to rachel lampa, rebecca st. james, steven curtis chapman, passion, hopkins' very own adoremus, etc.

it's funny how you attach specific memories or perhaps memorable "seasons" to certain songs that you really enjoyed during that particular time. as i listened to various CDs that i accumulated over a period of many years, i came across some that instantly opened up a flood of memories, both good and bad.

there was one that reminded me of joe & gyju's wedding only because it was stuck in my head the entire time i was in chicago. the wedding gave rise to another thought... which led to a different thought... and i eventually found myself in my car with my mind moving endlessly from one thought to another to another... and enjoying every bit.

thinking of joe & gyju reminded me that today (10/24) is joe's birthday. HAPPY 26TH, JOE!! remember, CORAM DEO FOREVER!!! :-D

alright... well, i think i'm gonna go recover from my day now.

thank God that i will wake up to a whole new day tomorrow morning~*

i'm going on a field trip to nyc tomorrow! my international economics class and another class (money & banking) will be getting a tour of the federal reserve bank... i wonder if i'll see alan greenspan? probably not.

anyhow, i guess i'm excited. a little.

today, my mom invited some people from her church over to our place for dinner. it was one married couple that came from korea not long ago and another young mother of two kids.

the couple's 17-month old girl was so adorable that i forgot i had all this studying to do. her name is ae reen, and my mom says she reminds her of me when i was a baby (no really, i'm serious). y'see, she's not the really pretty baby with great features (my mom always said i was not a pretty baby... my sister was actually). but she has these really small facial features and makes these extremely cute expressions. she even says things like "umma," "unni," and "mung-mung" (my dog). man... you had to be there.

the other two kids, 3 and 5..... wow. one kid kept jumping on my bed and jumping back and forth from my bed to my sister's bed (which is like 4 feet away from mine). when i told him nicely to stop jumping, he said a series of words i couldn't understand, came over to my desk where i was sitting, and hit my right arm really hard twice with both of his hands. when i said "ow, that hurt!" he said he meant for it to hurt and left the room.

funny kid. i sat at my desk for a minute or two with a red spot on my arm thinking, what just happened.

he loved mimi... even though he tried to feed her a toy car. when i took it out of her mouth, one of the tires was missing on the car. hmph.

after they all left, i had to rethink my dream of having 4 kids. at times like this, i do consider reducing that number (that many people tell me is a bit too high... including my mom), but then again, i can't help but soon give in to those cute, innocent smiles and the transparent, pure spirits of children that bring me great delight.

i think i'll stick with 4. :-)

at the library...

and the studying madness continues.

hmm.

it's sunday already. the week just flew by.

so today, i went to barnes & noble to study. i met this nice black man who offered a seat at his table for me to sit in. having come down to either taking his offer or leaving the bookstore since there were no other empty tables, i decided to join him. and being my usual unfriendly self, i immediately opened my book and started to read after saying my short "thank you."

he was much more amiable than i. after about an hour, i got up to get some coffee and took a short break (looking at magazines, etc.). when i sat back down, he introduced himself as something phillips (don't quite remember his first name... starts with a j though) and initiated small talk.

he told me that he usually comes every saturday to study. i didn't remember seeing him before, but when i told him i usually try to make it out on weekends too, he offered to save a seat for me next time. i then quickly changed the subject and asked him if he was a student. he answered, no, he works at hopkins. when i told him what i study, he mentioned that his brother is an auditor and said i should come work for hopkins as an auditor. he was glad to hear my auditing teacher does actually work there.

he definitely wasn't some sketchy, mental person, but still i wasn't sure whether he was just being really friendly or being weird. he seemed like a perfectly normal and kind person. i wonder if he's a doctor? perhaps a nurse? a professor? maybe i'll ask next time...

anywho, it was a good thing i ran into m, c, and k. had dinner with them and came back to study some more... though by that time i couldn't keep my eyes from closing. what do you expect, i was reading about tax. by the way, my exam is on wednesday... prayers will be greatly appreciated!

on a side note, m, no need to feel embarrassed about taking half-hour dumps... i mean, you did eat a lot for dinner. ;-)

on my way home from school tonight, i saw a dead deer on the side of the road. i felt a sudden burst of anger inside me as i drove past the poor animal and silently cursed the careless driver who hit it.

how quickly i forgot how close i got to hitting one just last night. i think it might've been the same deer...

i'm in my school computer lab, having written a quarter of a page for a 3-page paper that's due tonight, and i'm thinking about how much i want chocolate cake.

is it anyone's birthday today?

i love the smell of fall. reminds me of korea and of happy childhood memories. i've been wanting to korea really badly as of late... and random "smells" have helped to strengthen this urge to be back in my hometown. i was even thinking maybe if my already-tight budget somehow allows, i'll make a trip during spring break next semester as sort of a graduation celebration.

hopefully, i'll find a job soon enough to secure the trip. though i have to say it feels really good not to work during the school semester. i can study all night or watch "the sound of music" if i wanted to and not worry about being half-asleep at work. this semester, i've slept in many more mornings than all mornings in my college career put together! it's been great... but i know it must come to an end sooner or later, eh?

on my drive home from school today, i was literally one foot away from hitting a deer. after coming to a screeching halt, i had to let myself calm down before i started driving again. and i could feel my heart beating for the next 30 minutes. i'm warning you: PLEASE don't go over 40 mph on mays chapel rd. at night! (hehe.... shame on me, i was going like 50)

wow... it's almost 1am, and i've done absolutely everything i could possibly do besides studying. see, i'm even updating my blog... and now i'm really sleepy. it looks like tonight will be another long night... or should tomorrow be a long morning instead?

the latter sounds like a better idea... g'nite mis amigos.