i’m so excited

i’m not a very exciting person.  i’ll be the first to admit that.  i don’t get excited over much.  some of my friends were asking me what i do get excited about to which i replied, i don’t really know.  and they said something that made me think.  they said, “i can’t wait to see what you get excited about.”  i wonder what i’d get excited about.  i wonder what that one thing is that i’ll just be like, “that’s it, that’s what i have to be doing.”

i’d say i’m pretty talented.  and i don’t mean to brag, but i don’t really put a lot of thought or effort into what i do.  it makes me think about if i did get excited about something, i wonder how much more effort i’d put in and how amazing i’d be at whatever that is.

what do you get excited about?

year in review

i think the year in review post is my favorite post to write out of the whole year.  i think i’ve written one ever since i started blogging on xanga.  it’s pretty cool to go back and read them and see how much stuff i’ve experienced and been through during the years.  so this is 2008 for me:

– started seminary at columbia theological seminary, it’s good to be back in school and studying something that i enjoy learning

– phileo retreat

– first adult trip to new york and philly to be the opening act for miss vintage at bryn mawr with fred

– alex and eve’s wedding in durham

– richie and sarah got married in cali

– lots of monopoly (formation of the list)

– crystal and suk’s wedding in columbia

– thomas-suh graduated!

– multiple dx fundraisers leading up to the dx short term trip in the summer

– took greek and bonded with some awesome brothers at school

– karis-wide retreat

– me and tom’s first mo-hawks 🙂

– phil and zenia’s wedding in atlanta

– started chang|e one’s mind

– watched summer olympics in beijing (on tv)

– ignite 2008

– tony moved out

– took a month-long break visiting different churches in atlanta

– started writing songs

– led worship at emerge for intervarsity where stan and i encountered scorpions

– started a staff position at church

– first ever sandwich party

– my first “sermon” at tech acf

– performed with “the fu” at northern star coffee house

– started a relationship 🙂

– thanksgiving at home

– first time voting

– HeeLY moved in to PSV

– crispy and kat’s graduations!

– eunj and les’ wedding in atlanta (first one in a while i didn’t have to do anything for.  thanks guys!)

– christmas in vegas with the family

a lot happened in 2008.  and i’m sure i missed a lot things that happened.  i was going through old xanga and wordpress entries and whatever i could remember and we all know how awesome my memory is…

back in eastern time zone

i’m back from vegas.  you wouldn’t think a 3 hour difference would have that much of an impact on your daily schedule, but it actually did.  adjusting back wasn’t so bad, but going there was kinda rough.  vegas was pretty fun.  it was pretty cool to be in another part of the country.  and all the stores were open so christmas didn’t really feel like christmas.  here are some of my observations from my week in sin city:

addiction sucks – while walking through the casinos, i saw so many people who looked like they’d been sitting in the same slot machine seat for hours and hours, or maybe even more than that.  i played a couple slots so i could see how it could be addicting, but my heart just ached for people who are addicted to gambling.  i wanted to just go up to them and grab them and tell them that life is more than trying to win money, that there are relationships out there that are more important.  they all looked so lonely.  they didn’t look like they were having any fun.  i prayed for them while walking through the casino.

bathroom breaks or activity breaks? – my family uses the bathroom more than anyone else i’ve ever met.  i think we stopped by every single bathroom in vegas.  instead of taking a break to go to the bathroom, i felt like the trip was taking a break to do stuff in between bathroom visits.

everyone thinks that they’re right – especially in my family.  this makes things about 200x harder to get things done because we have to argue first about who has the correct information (including myself).  it makes for some funny, yet frustrating moments.

food is hecka expensive! – and not just food, but everything!!  geez, where’s my dollar value menu at?!

in-n-out is overrated – i think i might be hanged for saying this.  i thought it was alright.  i think people hyped it up too much.  unless vegas in-n-out is not as good as cali in-n-out.  but i would think it’s about the same.

the grand canyon is pretty big – understatement of a lifetime.  this thing is huuuuge, gigantic, colossal, massive, etc.  and i think i almost fell in.

i like conversations with random people – in elevators, gift shops, with retail workers.  i like talking to random people.  it’s fun.

the bellagio is freaking awesome – it’s got to be the nicest hotel i’ve ever seen.  too bad we didn’t get to stay there, but man, you can tell they put a lot of effort into making it look freaking nice.

cirque is freaking awesome – we saw mystere at treasure island and it was freaking amazing.  i would suggest everyone to watch some kind of cirque show if they can.

that’s it from my vegas vacation.  i’m glad to be back home.  back to my quiet, self-reflective life 🙂

they will see us waving

…from such great heights

if there’s one thing i’m afraid of, it’s heights.  i hate heights.  my knees get really weak and i feel like i’m gonna fall to my death even if i’m just standing on a chair to change a lightbulb.  there’s just something about being high up that just scares the stuffing out of me.

this week, i’ve somewhat conquered my fear of heights.  i’ve been put in so many high places this week, it’s not even funny.  if you didn’t know, i’m in vegas this week on vacation with my family for christmas.  and also, if you didn’t know, vegas is full of high hotels.  so here’s my week of heights:

1) our family’s hotel room is pretty high up and we have a balcony view of the strip.  so i got up my courage and stepped out on the balcony and looked straight down.  i even hung out on the balcony one night just looking out on the city.  in yo face!!

2) we went into paris hotel and went up the eiffel tower replica.  it’s pretty high up.  half the size of the original, but the original is freaking high anyways.  so we got to go out on the observation deck and i got to record the bellagio water fountain test show.  in yo other face!!

3) today we drove to the grand canyon and got to step out on the ledge of the grand canyon.  i didn’t go all the way to the edge, but i got pretty darn close.  my mom on the other hand, who i get my irrational fears from, walks straight up to the edge, looks straight down and mockingly calls me a scaredy-cat.  however, i did get to redeem myself.  me and my sister went out to the skywalk which is this glass walkway over the grand canyon.  i went out there like a champ and looked straight down.  in yo motha’s face!!

so me and my sister were talking about fears of heights.  for me, i’m afraid when there’s no barriers preventing plummeting to your death.  as long as i know there’s some kind of safety measure, i’m cool.  my sister on the other hand, just doesn’t like to look straight down, barrier or not.  which i find interesting because i think my sister’s one of the bravest people i know.

so what kind of heights-fearer are you (if you are one)?  are you less afraid with a barrier?  or are you less afraid with just open space?

my christmas wishlist

my paper’s finally done!!  i am now a free man from the chains that are fall semester.

so with exactly one week left til christmas, and countless christmas songs heard everywhere, i thought i’d share my christmas wishlist.  cause that’s what christmas is all about right?  riiiiiiight….

for people to be more considerate – for people to put things back where they left it, clean up after themselves, not cutting people off, letting people out of turns when there’s a red light.  you know, the usual.

spend time with friends and family – i’ll be doing plenty of both in the next week.

to not be lactose intolerant – ahhh… i wish.

a child’s laughter – because isn’t that the greatest gift of all?

what’s on your christmas wishlist?