Blurbs From Eunee's Mind (and Life)

Today was the last day of classes for my first semester back in school, and I must say that I am relieved and happy about it, although I cannot believe that it's already over! I just checked my grades for my Biostats exam and I did quite well! I was so excited I called my friend Sylvia and jumped up and down, sharing the news with her. I'm so excited because I was quite anxious about this exam. My final grade hasn't been posted yet, but still, I got to see my grade for the final exam. Anyway, it is quite amazing to find myself at the end of my first semester. I have at least 7 more semesters to go before I'm finished, but hey, who's counting? Heh heh. I have adjusted to a new life and a new climate. It definitely is different out here, compared to southern California; and the weather? Well, let's just say that I laughed at myself when I told my friend this morning that it was a comfortable 43 degrees Fahrenheit, even with it feeling like 38. It's about 50-so

Today is the 3rd time it has snowed since I have been here. You saw my first snow experience (or if you didn't, you can click here to see it). The 2nd one came and went in the blink of an eye - with no telltale signs that it had come at all. But today, it made its presence known. Have you been hearing about the severe storms that have been hitting the midwest? Well, we got it here today. This morning it was very pretty - and I bundled up in excitement. But in the time it took for me to get myself together and out the door, it quickly turned into tiny little pieces of ice - my classmate called it rock salt. Pretty accurate. By the time I got to campus, it had turned into lots of different sizes of pieces of ice, and the roads were slushy and slippery. I was walking to class from the parking lot and as is my habit when the umbrella is up, I listened to the sounds of ice bouncing off my umbrella, and I concluded that it was much noisier than rain. It didn't have that soothing sou

When Sylvia was visiting me for the week of Thanksgiving, she told me one day that she needed caffeine in order to stay up for the rest of the night (we were going to be up late doing things so she figured caffeine would be of help). So I insisted that she try Dunkin' Donuts. I told her not to worry; she'd like it. So I took her and got her a small coffee with cream and sugar, and then I watched her try it for the first time. There's a picture of her at the bottom of this blog where she's got her eyes closed, enjoying her Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I remember one night (yes, she drank coffee more than once during the week she was here!), we got some coffee and I had to run to the bank. I parked and asked her if she wanted to come in with me; she said no. So then I asked her if she wanted me to leave the radio on. "No," she replied, "I'm just going to sit here and enjoy my coffee - just me and my coffee." Ummm....OK then! I laughed and left her al

So I said that the train trip into Manhattan was a bit of an adventure because - of course - we took the train. We also happened to be heading into Manhattan on the day before Thanksgiving. When they called the Wednesday before Thanksgiving one of the biggest (or is it THE biggest?) traveling day of the year, I had no idea they also meant rail travel.... We had decided not to stress about catching an early train and thus got on the train maybe at about 1 p.m. To our amazement the train was packed!! Fortunately we had bought our tickets about an hour earlier so we did not have to stand in the looooong line for the ticket machines in the station! I had never seen it so packed!! It was primarily due to all those students going home after their last class (yes, we were catching the train from the Stony Brook station which is right on the edge of our campus). Oh joy.... As we piled into the double-decker train (as I call it), we grabbed a couple of empty seats - me several rows in front of

My dear friend Sylvia came to visit me the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and then left this past Saturday. It was so good to see her and to spend some time just having fun. While I did have work to do and had little sleep on some nights, we managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun. =) The Saturday she arrived, I had to circle JFK 3 times because I couldn't find the terminal sidewalk where you pick up passengers, and then couldn't find her because she was waiting at a different terminal while I was looking for her at another. Thank goodness for cell phones. So finally, I circled again and then met her at a different terminal (she took the Air Train to Terminal 1 while I circled back). Joy oh joy. I am a bit irritated with the signage here in New York; they're not very clear and they're kinda last minute - you know, turn right here, RIGHT NOW because when you're going 45 miles an hour, you really don't need any preparation other than a small sign three feet before

So the cold weather I was waiting for has arrived. The other night we had a freeze warning during the daybreak hours (3 a.m. to 8 a.m.) and the temperatures that night dipped down to 28 degrees! And with the decrease in temperature, I am happy to say there has been a decrease in crickets - outside AND inside. Granted it's not frequently that freezing, it's still chillier. It's definitely jacket-and-scarf weather, reaching maybe only a high of 50 - usually only in the mid to upper 40s. So it has been COLD for a native tropics and warm-weather kind of girl! BUT I must say that I'm adjusting alright and have not yet found myself bundling up till I feel like I can roll my way to class. I've heard it doesn't start getting too bad out here until mid-January, so maybe I can prolong my tire changes until December or something. We shall see. The leaves have changed colors, for those trees that do. The firs, of course, remain continuously green or white-tipped, making me

Although a change in weather will bring its own little concerns such as getting anti-freeze for my car and new tires to drive in snow (in the event it does snow soon), I am looking forward to it for several reasons, one of them being NO MORE CRICKETS. If the superstition that crickets are supposed to be good luck is true, I must have loads of luck to last me till January. I have had a steady stream of cricket invasions in my apartment over the last two months since I've been here. (Wow....can't believe it's been over 2 months already!) Anyway, while the situation has improved to where I can have several cricketless days, from time to time those little buggers still find their way in. One would hope that the word has spread - no cricket has ever left alive out of my apartment, save a couple that were fortunate enough to be in my kitchen because then the door is right there so I just sweep them out. Still I've pretty much had it. I was eating dinner last night and heard a

OK, no my cognitive overload did not cause my frizzy hair - although it's fun to think of it that way. The 83% humidity today on Long Island caused my frizzy hair! Yeah - a natural reaction to humidity apparently for me. It's days like these I wonder why I even bother to blow dry my hair all nice and neat (actually today I got smart and didn't do that.... so much for cognitive overload - apparently I had enough non-overloaded brain cells to think ahead like that!). So what of this overload? Ah well, it's just that in my Social Work Theories class we were focusing on cognitive-behavioral theories, and I was in charge of presenting it and facilitating discussion. It was actually quite interesting. It's also interesting going into such discussions knowing that people in your class don't necessarily see the merits of these theories. I mean, I see the merits simply on the basis that it was part of my job for the last 5 years! I don't buy the theories in whole, bu

So just as I said in my previous entry, my stay in Montreal deserves its own blog entry - and so here I am, typing away at my keyboard again. I arrived in Montreal at about 8:30 p.m. and being hungry, I mentioned it to my friend. She immediately stated that we need to find food now, before things close! Huh? I was a bit befuddled but I chalked that one up to my exhaustion from being confined to steel containers with windows. So, we went looking for something to eat. Fortunately we did not have to go too far as there was a food court right there. Then my friend proceeded to warn me as I looked at my choices, "Set your expectations real real low." Okay.....now I was a bit more confused. But I just let it go. That was my introduction to Montreal - a city where almost everything closes down at 5 p.m. except for a few eateries, some cafes, and all the bars and clubs. Yes, even the mall closes at 5 p.m. I don't think I've ever had to hustle to get to the mall before it clos

Okay, so I didn't learn my lesson and decided that before things got hectic for both my friend and myself, I'd take a trip up to Montreal to visit her. Yes, Montreal, Canada.... Although a flight to Montreal takes about an hour and forty minutes max, the cost is the same as flying home to Los Angeles from New York. So, in the interest of saving money (a round-trip student fare from New York Penn Station to La Gare Centrale - Central Station - in Montreal, Quebec is a whopping $100 and change), I decided that although the train-ride is 10 hours long, I would do it since I had tons of reading to do for school. So I awoke (or didn't really sleep actually) at 4:30 a.m. to make sure I was on the 5:59 a.m. train (at the latest) out of Port Jefferson into Penn Station. When I got to Penn Station in New York, I started to panic when my reservation # would not bring up a reservation for me on the Self-Ticketing Machine. Oh boy.....I HAD confirmed at home, but what was going on?!? I

So it has been over a week since I've been here now - actually it has been 2 weeks - and those moving adventures have now been filed away as memories and lessons learned. School has begun and so has my adjustment to a new state, new city, new school, and new life. My mother left yesterday which was sad, but I had to remind myself that I was here in New York for a reason. I dropped her off at JFK International Airport and then took a parkway along the south shore to drive from the airport to Brooklyn Heights where I was to meet my nephew and drop off some goods for him (namely ramen and a package his mother had sent to me to give to him). Making the drive to Brooklyn Heights from JFK took more time than driving from my apartment to JFK (which is usually an hour and a bit)! Yes, traffic IS really bad in New York. I'd venture to say it might even be worse than L.A. BUT most of my drive enabled me to see some sights and forget for a moment that I had been sad. I saw the Statue of L

This is the last installment of my initial adventures in New York during my first weekend here. The date was Sunday, August 26th and we were accompanying my nephew to his dorm in Brooklyn Heights (right across the water from Manhattan). I don't think I mentioned that it takes a while to walk anywhere from my apartment. The previous day we walked for 45 minutes to the nearest grocery store. At the pace we were walking, it would probably have taken us an hour to the train station. The bus? The nearest bus stop is probably about a 30 minute walk - I might look into it; the only problem is that it stops running after 8 or something ridiculously early like that. Doesn't help when I have classes after 8. . . . Anyway, we called a cab since we are taking 3 bags - one each - and none of us were in the mood to be dragging them down the road for an hour to the train station. . . . We got to the train station and found that the train had been delayed due to some technical difficulties. I

My third adventure picks up the next evening (that would be Friday - less than 24 hours after we've been in New York). My nephew (who missed his flight earlier) has now made his way across the continent, courtesy of Virgin America, and was with us as we returned our rental car. We turned everything and dragged his bags through the AirTrain once again, heading to the Long Island Railroad (or the LIRR as it is abbreviated here). Now if ever I get married and take my kids around on a trip or something, I'd imagine it would be very similar to what I was experiencing tonight - purchasing AirTrain tickets for everyone (mom, nephew, and me), making sure to purchase LIRR tickets, finding the elevator, answering questions about where we are headed, all while rushing to catch the train because it had just pulled in and if we were to miss it, we would have to wait another hour for a train to our destination. Once on the train, we relaxed a bit, but of course I had to inform my mother that

My second entry about my adventures in New York picks up shortly after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in the wee hours of the morning. We landed after 1 a.m. and walked for what seemed like hours, taking elevators because my mother preferred them to escalators, and finally arrived at baggage claim. At baggage claim we realized we would need a cart for our 4 suitcases and 2 carry-on luggages. So, of course, the cart-dispensing machine does not work. There were workers bringing in carts from outside and we had to follow them to obtain a cart. I followed them all around the carousels and finally got one after 5 minutes of flashing money, handing over money, and trying to get my hands on one to actually roll away with me. We got all our baggage onto the cart and went to take the AirTrain (a train that connects all terminals and other stops such as rental car places, hotel shuttles, and public transportation). Rolling a cart full of baggage when platforms are uneven can b

My move to New York has had its fill of adventures - and not the fun and exciting kind either. Still, I guess they all add to the experience and transition of moving from one coast to another. And now that I've done it, I know what to do differently if I move again to another city. I will have to recount the adventures in parts, so I start with Adventure 1. Amazingly enough, the adventure started in L.A. I got to the airport with my mother and my nephew in tow, leading the way to the self-service check-in. We all had e-tickets. I get to the computer and for some odd reason I'm the only one who can check in. Ok....this isn't looking good. I get my bags checked in and of course, one of them is 3 pounds overweight. I was charged $25 for this overweight luggage. I paid it since I couldn't repack and I've flown with heavy luggage before and have never been charged. This was the least of my worries. My biggest worry hit when my nephew was listed as having a reservation bu

I spent last weekend apartment hunting. Actually, I only spent one day viewing apartments - saw only three apartments - and made my decision to rent the first one I saw. In some ways it's amazing because who would have ever thought that on the first day I would rent the first apartment that I saw. My friend and I were planning to spend both Saturday and Sunday apartment-hunting, but we were done by 4 p.m. Saturday. What a relief! Finding an apartment turned out to be easier than for my friend to get into New York from Houston! She was supposed to get in 9 p.m. Friday but had called me to say she was delayed and getting in probably at about 10 into LaGuardia. I was supposed to rent a car at 10 p.m. so I said it was okay. So I went to the airport to meet her and ended up waiting till midnight, only to hear that her plane had been diverted to Philadelphia. Apparently they needed gas, but they were also waiting to figure out if they would have the passengers spend the night or take off

Out of 23, 2 are no longer of this world. Families are in distress and government officials are in a frenzy to sort out this situation. A situation that no words can describe.....as if the world needs another hostage crisis, as if the deaths of soldiers and civilians in the Middle East conflicts have not been enough...... Pray for the Korean hostage situation and pray for all those who are caught up in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My friend came across this quiz after I had her take the Chocolate Lover's one from my previous post. I guess she thought it was fun because the chocolate one came out pretty accurate. And since we're fans of X-Men, she thought it would be fun. Indeed it was. She came out to be "Cyclops", and the description was hilariously similar to the kind of person she is. She's got this look that really could "kill" if it were indeed possible. I have no doubt that the meaning of the phrase "If looks could kill" was derived from someone who had a look like hers - just once sharp glance/stare, and you were disintegrated on the spot. You Are Cyclops Dedicated and responsible, you will always remain loyal to your cause. You are a commanding leader - after all, you can kill someone just by looking at them. Power: force beams from your eyes So then I took mine. And..... the outcome was even more hilarious. I don't see this to be similar, but my friend rolle

I found this on a random blog that was listed on a page I happened to click on. I thought it was a bit fun since I really really like chocolate, especially dark chocolate. So I took this little quiz and whaddya know! My results came out to be..... (And no, I didn't know which answers went with which chocolate!) :P You are Dark Chocolate You live your life with intensity, always going full force. You push yourself (and others) to the limit... you want more than you can handle. An extreme person, you challenge and inspire the world! What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

I didn't know it would be this complicated, but I guess I should have known - considering I'm doing a cross-country move. I'm moving from Los Angeles, California to Stony Brook, New York. Why? Yeah, I've been asked that many many times, even after I tell them my reason. I'm going back to school. Why? Why indeed. That's a whole 'nuther post. :) So, I've been browsing websites like crazy lately it seems - Craig's List primarily, and some others - to look for housing. I've chosen to live off-campus for several reasons - one of them being a strong desire to live on my own, sans roommates. On-campus housing doesn't offer that option for me as a graduate student, unfortunately. I've finally decided that I can't just do the internet thing; I have to go and visit, check out the apartments, settle on one, and then come back to ship my stuff. But even that visit to NY seems to bring with it complications. Ah well....all details to sort out. Fun

I don't know how busy travelers do it. I know it's a bit crazy but it turned out that I had an almost back to back trip. I had made plans to go to Washington, DC last Thursday through Monday even before my decision to go to Korea. So, I returned on the 11th and then was in the air again on the 17th. I thought it would be alright and for the most part I was. But sleep still eludes me at the right time and finds me at the wrong time. I guess there really isn't a "wrong time" to sleep when I work from home, but it doesn't help when I find myself wide awake at 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. but sleepy at noon and 5 p.m. Melatonin? Well, it helps to a certain degree....once ingested. But I have not been taking it these past few days....Perhaps I should try it again. But anyway, my trip to DC was so much fun! I met up with old friends and enjoyed the entire weekend. It reminded me that sometimes old friends are those comfortable friends that have known you forever - the good an

I'm home again - in Los Angeles. It is good to be back home, in my own bed, in my own house. It's also good to have access to my own car and all the things one leaves behind when traveling. But I do miss my family, immediate and extended, who live in Korea. I also miss the food and the shopping. I don't miss the crowds, and I sure am glad to have my personal space back. My body hasn't adjusted to the Pacific Standard Time Zone yet and so here I am, wide awake at 1:40 in the morning. I was sleepy at about 8:00 p.m. but sleepiness has since left me. Maybe I should find some melatonin..... I don't want to be jet-lagged for too long.

Minus about 3 hours on the subway, I spent an afternoon in the city of Seoul walking around the Deoksoo Palace, Myeong Dong, and Namdaemun Market. Even though I'm Korean, being in Korea is always an interesting experience for me as I have never lived here before. My longest stay was about a month and a half - and that was when I was 9. The sights, the sounds, the smells - all so fascinating. The food and the shopping are always my favorite as there are so much one can't get in Koreatown, Los Angeles. :) I took dozens of pictures at the old Korean palace - too many to put up here. If you want to see more, go to my Google album .

What horrifying news I watched unfold beginning yesterday. A gunman on a university campus shoots and kills 32, and then kills himself.... And then today we discover his identity...the one who decided to end 32 promising lives...... And to my shock, he is Korean.... It is always terrible to hear of these things, but it seems to shock us more somehow when it turns out to be someone of the same ethnic background as oneself - and being Korean myself, you can imagine how shocked I am. I don't know any of those killed, but my heart goes out to their families and friends. I pray for their comfort and their peace in the midst of this chaos and hurt....

Yes, I can say that it is a happy ending. What a difference a day can make! Yesterday I was incredibly sad at the prospect of not seeing my cute dog ever again. My blog posting yesterday might have provided enough evidence of my sadness. But today I am elated because we have found him and he is at home with us again! Where was he found? Someone finally called us to say they had our dog. He was in someone's yard in our neighborhood - maybe about 8 or 9 blocks away. I wasn't there to receive the call but someone else in my family was. When they went to pick up Snoopy and inquire as to where he was when they found him, they were simply told that he was sitting outside their fence and so they brought him inside. My sister-in-law told me she was inclined to think that they wanted to keep him but may have either listened to their conscience or seen the flyer that I had posted at the grocery store less than a block away from the house where Snoopy was found. Either way, I am just than

This is my dog Snoopy. I should say, "our" dog, but often I feel like he's mine really. Bathing duties fell to me, usually, and since my parents moved out, I usually fed him. But above all, he was the first one to greet me when I came home and the last one who would look at me with that "You're going out?" look when I would leave the house. But why is most of this in the past tense? My beloved dog has been missing for 3 days now. He ran out of our yard while a visitor pulled into our driveway and the family members who were outside did not keep an eye on him or close the gate behind the car that had pulled in. So, although he's about 8 and a half, almost 9 years old, I'm told he took off down the street quite quickly. I suppose he's not ready to be a senior dog as of yet. It has been a sad weekend for us, walking the neighborhood and driving around, and then today we started posting flyers. The hardest moments for me are when I come home and nigh

I was reading a blog today and realize that people write books on these things, so I might as well write a blog entry on it. There are lists of things you should do before you turn 30, or 40; and there's also that book of 1000 places you have to see before you die. While it is true that there are some things well worth doing and some places well worth seeing, what of those who don't, or can't? Can we say that their lives were not well-lived? I think not. There are plenty of people who have lived amazing lives but never really did all the things that are "listed". What of those who lived before our time? They essentially never "blogged" or drove or anything too technological but they lived meaningful and great lives that are an inspiration for others. So I came up with a list of things to do before I die. Of course there are a bunch of personal things too but the bottomline here is that it's how you live your life that matters. And within that, it is

Quotes....I like quotes and am frequently in the habit of collecting them. I have a list, quite long list, of good quotes that I like to refer to now and then, or post on my other blog, or just pass along to friends if I find them profound or particularly poignant at a certain point in time. There's something quite delightful in finding a quote that conveys an idea so perfectly or contains a bit of wisdom or makes me nod my head in a thoughtful manner. Some of my favorite quotes come from Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln while others are simply old proverbs. Yet other favorite quotes of mine come from people I did not know until I stumbled across their quote. I enjoy that though - as it allows me to learn about a new person. Here's one I'll share with you today: “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark I also have a section at the bottom of this blog where I have a quote to share. Check it out from time to time; it does chang

I went to New York in January and, having been there several times already, I created a new list of things to do. On that list was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - better known as The Met. I had never been there and since I enjoy musems, I've been told it's a must-see. So, I went...and discovered that this was not just a museum. It was THE museum. :) What an experience! Although it's been a month now since I've been, I remember vividly two things - how tired I was after spending 4 hours there, and how overwhelmed I was at their collection! It was a truly amazing 4 hours, although I had to give up reading all the little placards that I usually enjoy reading. My mind couldn't take anymore historical facts! Yes, my brain was fried by the time I left. Among the exhibits, I enjoyed the Egyptian Art exhibit the most next to the Armor and Weapons exhibit. :) Here's a picture of the Temple of Dendur that is set up in the Met - a gift from the government of Eg