SPLOOZA BANANZA

One time, I got into a debate with someone about the need of learning to speak a second language. This particular person happened to be Korean, and he asked me why almost everyone in the world has to learn English. “In that case,” he said, “All languages should be banished, and everyone should learn just English. That certainly would simplify things.” I protested immediately, but my Korean was not good enough to beat him in this argument. (How ironic?) Language is culture that defines a particular country or region. Language is art in that the spoken words make music. Language is (Fill in the blank).

Both Korean and English are rather old languages that trace way back. Words come and go depending on the time period and trend, but more words are added than left out. There are some things that are impossible to say in another language because they are so unique to that culture. This is why each language is special in its own way. Yeah, we have to learn Spanish, French, or Chinese at school and suffer through the classes, but there is beauty in each language. Learn it. Own it. Appreciate it. Love your language (and others)!

I stayed at school today and took the late bus home. Well, not exactly home since it doesn’t drop me off in front of my house. I got off at Migeum station and got on another bus that took me home. The weather was really nice today. It was rather hot, I thought, but as the bus picked up speed, the cool breeze freshened my spirit. Normally, by this time, I would take out my iPod, turn on some Daft Punk, and doze. Today was different. I kept my iPod where it was and listened to the silence around me. The droning of the bus was music in itself, but something felt missing without my earphones. I realized that I have become hooked to my iPod! I had forgotten how to appreciate listening to the music of everyday life! I see every young person on the street with his ears plugged, listening to noise and ignoring the music surrounding him. Listen! There is music around you!

I thought I decided on my schedule, but lately, I’ve been having second thoughts. I’m seriously thinking about taking APUSH along with AP world. I know. I can already imagine you trying to stop me. Hey, I want to stop myself too, but you gotta hear my justification. First of all, if I take both APUSH and AP world, I’ll switch AP calc into calc. That will certainly lighten my load. Secondly, I realized that this is my passion: history and mankind. I can live without math. I can certainly live without science. But whenever I read primary and secondary documents about all the events in history, I’m just so drawn to them. Why do I care so much for this subject? I don’t know. It is as if I was meant to go into this field. Could it be God calling me? I feel I must indulge myself and drink all the knowledge I can of history, geography, economy, military, and culture. But even as I’m writing this, I’m torn in between taking and not taking APUSH. (It’s Hyde in me!) I must make further inquiry to my God.

Today during lunch, my friends and I somehow got into a conversation of everyone’s first impression. As I remember the first time I met my friends, memories flooded my head. I remember the first class that I went to last year (my first year at KIS) was PE class. I was so very alone, and I had no one to talk after roll call. Suddenly this tall, boyish looking girl asked me if I was new and hugged me. This sudden show of affection was not unwanted because I felt welcomed. That girl is now one of my closest friends. Her name is Beatrice.

I entered the busy hallway and made my way towards my next class. Kids were just rushing out of the room, and a senior girl waiting to get in asked a student coming out if the teacher was strict. The student’s affirmative answer made her groan in despair. As I was going in the class, I noticed that there were a lot of upperclassmen. The desks were arranged in neat rows, and the teacher stood in the front looking rather busy with papers. She was frowning and told the students to hurry and find their seats. I had to sit right in front of her desk. After a quick introduction, she went around the room asking why we decided to take that class. Sitting right in front of her, of course I was the first one to answer. I was rather intimidated by this tall lady. You know her today as Ms. P.

I can’t remember any other striking first impressions, but it’s so fun to look back at these things. I wish I had my life filmed so that I can look back at it. KIS was academically very tough, but at the same time, I think I was really blessed knowing so many awesome people and teachers. It’s already May, and although I’m excited, I’m also sort of saddened to think that school will be over soon. It’s strange how much pleasure I had through all the pain and load of homework from school. I’m afraid that soon they will be gone.

Rude, mean, but super sexy—these are some of the best known qualities of “bad guys.” Why are we so attracted to them? I have no idea. (If I knew, I would have a boy friend by now.) It’s funny how only good-looking guys can pull this off (well, with exception to Mr. Rochester). Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice is a prime example. He is very haughty and proud, but his good looks atone for his flawed character. He cleans up at the end so that he is no longer a bad guy, but he doesn’t lose his attractiveness. This proves that bad guys aren’t the only guys that girls like. Personally, I’m not so big on bad guys. I like nice guys with gentlemanly manners. Dear reader, when you read this post please reply what you think and what kind of guys (or girls if you are a guy) you like!

I used to never go to those college meetings, but yesterday was an exception. My mom came to school yesterday (I think it was her third time coming to school), and we listened to the new counselor’s lecture about college. I felt this earlier while picking next year’s courses, but I really feel uneasy about going to college. I don’t want to age! I wish I could skip college and go to the next phase of life.

At KIS, I feel like life is all about what college you go to because that’s what everyone talks about. (And I find myself talking about it all the time too!) The atmosphere just depresses me. I tell myself again and again that college is not everything. College doesn’t win you prestige or respect unless you give it.

You might wonder why I want to skip college. Well, college is not as appealing to me as a real job where I can really contribute to the society. But I guess I can’t contribute unless I have something, and I’m receiving education so that I can help the society. I even thought about joining Peace Corps, going to a third world country. Nothing is for certain, but I hope high school and college years can go by fast!

This whole missile thing and North Korea stuff—they have been making themselves news headlines for weeks past. Wondering what exactly is going on this world, I did some reseach and read news on internet and watched news on TV. To tell you the truth, I thought that international relation crap were only history like WWII or Cold War. I didn’t know they still happened in twenty-first century. Anyways, when North Korea shot missiles last Sunday, it apparently violated something that it signed with UN couple of years ago. Japan and U.S. are saying that Northa Korea should be punished for it while China and Russia are saying that they should be cautious. I don’t know what South Korea is saying. Before North Korea shot the missile, Japan said that if N.K. did shoot that they would shoot another one to put that one down. However, that didn’t happen although the missile landed only couple of hundred kilometers from the Japanese coast. The TV broadcaster was saying that maybe Japan didn’t have enough technological advancement to aim the missile directly at the North Korean one. Interesting, huh? It’s interesting to think that we are still making history today.

Before answering the question, it might be helpful to know what my pet peeve is. I’m peeved by complainers, and ironically, I’m one of them. I guess it would make me a hypocrite, and I think I’m your pet peeve too (gasp)! (No one likes complainers.) I realized this only recently, and I decided to make myself a goal of stop complaining. When I get a project, instead of going “WHAT?” my first approach would be to take it as it is. Complaining or not, I’ll have to do it anyways. So why not do it happily? So. Are you my pet peeve? I hope not, and I hope I’m not your pet peeve. Let’s all look on the bright side. Peace.

I had a really busy week, and before I knew it, the due date for the course list happened to be tomorrow. So I scrambled to fill out the green sheet, but then I realized that I had one too many class in my mind. I was vexed, annoyed, and irritated. I needed to cut down one class when I wanted to take all the classes offered. I really wanted to take orchestra and yearbook. Language was a must. I can’t take that out. This is the same problem that I faced last year (sigh). I made a very hard choice, and I decided to take out yearbook. I already sacrificed the classes I wanted to take for yearbook this year, and I felt that I owed myself to take other classes that I wanted and broaden my perspective of things. I’ll always have a special heart for yearbook because there are people who work really hard to make it work every year. Other people have no right to criticize and complain when they don’t know how much work is put into the book. I hope to join it again in my senior year, and hopefully, I’ll be a better addition to the team by then. I should stop writing since I have a huge deadline tomorrow, and I must finish my pages.

My dad is a typical Korean dad. Grave. Impassive. When I was little, I used to be scared of him. He was so scary when he was angry. In fact, he was the scariest person I knew back then. In third grade, my mom, my brothers, and I moved to America, and my dad stayed behind in Korea. We lived apart for six years. That was six years of separation and estrangement from my dad. That was six years when I was supposed to get closer to my dad, and it was taken from me. I have less than three years before I go to college. I have to cram those six years in the time I have left living with my parents. I wouldn’t even had this idea in the first place if I hadn’t known the extent of my dad’s love for my family. I always saw him as a very cold person, and I even questioned his love for me. One day, someone told me that Korean parents tend to show their love in different ways. My dad was just not good at it, but he wasn’t the only one. I too have a hard time showing my appreciation for my parents. But it’s harder to teach an old dog a new trick, so I’m trying to talk and spend more time with my dad. I’m finding out that he’s actually a really fun person to be around. When I open up, he will open up too, and we will have a good father-daughter relationship soon.