What a day!

9:30 AM - Woke up, showered, hung around
10:30 AM - Drive to meet up with ATD
11:20 AM - After a couple of missteps and miscommunications, we made it to Reba's house. Hung out. Ate.
12:30 PM - Left for the Greyhound @ Center City Philly.
1:40 PM - Got ticket. Boarded.
2:00 PM - Sketched a scene from the bus in my journal. Slept.
4:00 PM - Once at Port Authority in NY, bought a ticket for bus ride to Parsippany. Met a guy in line.
4:30 PM - Bus ride home.
5:30 PM - Hung out at CompUSA while waiting for Dad to pick me up. Settled in, called Jimmy, slept.
7:40 PM - Left for an adult cell group meeting with my folks and brother.
11:30 PM - Arrived at my brother's apartment.

Ok, so basically, in a matter of one day, I was in Philly, NY, Parsippany, and New Brunswick. Crazy, huh?

Oh! it's 12! Happy birthday, Edmund.

Well, Jimmy and I made it up quickly and safely to Jimmy Choi's apartment. It was weird... Jimmy Choi lives in the same apartment complex as this girl I used to give rides to and from church during high school. Anyhow, Jimmy took us to Buca Di Beppo, which had some mighty fine Italian.

Afterwards....

Jimmy and Jimmy took it upon themselves to violate and torture me. I was not amused. They forced me down and held this girly rabbit hair band to my head and took my picture...

Scary.

Ok. I go sleep now.

Today was a good day. After running errands, I was going to get a haircut this morning... but Edmund was studying at the library, so I couldn't pass up the chance to hang out with him for lunch. Times with people are never to be passed up, you know? Especially if they're cool. As well, it's his birthday on Sunday (everybody wish him a happy birthday) so cheer him up... he thinks he's getting old. Psshhh.

Edmund, you're a cool brother. Happy Birthday.

Anyhow, I went straight to class down at Peabody; it was ok, a little tiring since I got like 3 hours of sleep. I've been haywired all day (Ed can attest to that). Tonight, I'll be heading off to Jimmy Choi's place up in Conshohocken, PA, a suburb north of Philly... very near where I used to live. Very cool.

Ok, I'm off to clean the apartment a bit then go to philly.

Arriveduci.

Well, I sure stayed up last night getting ready for this week. Hopefully this will be a good, memorable break.

And productive, since I have a homework, a lab, and a midterm as soon as I get back :-)

Well, I'm at Danny's right now and we're finishing off "Rat Race." Everybody, say hello to Rena since she's watching me as I type this.
Ok, gonna go now. I just wanted to wish everyone a good Spring Break. And if you're not in college... heh heh. too bad.

Humor of the day:

So, today I get my offer letter for admission for the Masters Program here at Hopkins. It was addressed to:

Mr. Timothy Kang
10 East 33rd Street
Apt. 300D
Baltimore, MD 21218

Yet, the greeting is:

Dear Mr. Patronik:

Hmm... so... is it to me, or to this guy with last name Patronik?

Right.

Anyhow, it's time to go to Danny's.

Good night.

What a day so far:

- Glued Jimmy's headphones back together after breaking them by accident
- Marinated and baked chicken wings
- Installed Windows XP
- Worked on website
- Bummed around
- Tried to work on Dynamic Systems lab.... and failed, miserably.

What's up next?

- Dinner
- Study
- Plan out weekend and Spring Break
- Party at Danny's

HA! Check this picture out. I've had it on my harddrive for a while.



Sorry Brian Song, but I couldn't resist.

A new day! And a nice day it sure is outside... sunny and 60 degrees. A little on the chilly side but still nice.

I've acquired some more pics, and have been working on the popup picture window template. It'll have commentary soon... so watch out!

Ok, time for the library. Maybe I'll be productive...

Again I reiterate, 3.5+ years, and I haven't learned. :-)

When I went to drop of my books at the library, I thought it'd be nice to see if anyone was there. The library is essentially the student union of our school... at least, M-level, the main level, is. People actually do study there, but mostly it's a gabfest going on there. It hit me... for all the time I've ever gone to the library, maybe 10% of it was actually productive because of me being stupid enough to think that I'd actually productive on M-level.

3.5+ years, and I still haven't learned.

Ok. Good night. Enjoy the pictures.

Tonight was a great evening, folks.

Jimmy and I made fresh potato chips and fries, complete with salt and vinegar. It was very tasty... oily... and oh so... oily.

Check out the pictures section; it is now officially up. I'll be adding commentary and streamlining the viewing of the pix... so stay tuned!

Wow, what a good practice today. I practiced guitar for about an hour; today's regimen was focused on strumming. I used a program called "Fruity Loops" as both a metronome and pattern trainer... it's really cool, basic point and click. I've been trying to train myself speed, consistency, endurance, and a good ol' sense of rhythm... I'm especially trying to get down a 1/32 strum.

By the way, I'm on my way to putting pictures up. First up is the trip to Boston last January. Jane and Amanda came down to hang out here with everyone; at the end of that week, Jimmy, his—ok, now he's our—friend Dan, and I drove up with them to hang out in Boston. What would have been a 7 hour drive (we actually were making quite good time) ended up a 14 hour doozy... thanks to this tractor trailer that stopped all traffic RIGHT before an exit were about to get off of. We sat parked on the highway for 3 hours... it was crazy. We then ate at this quaint little Friendly's in NY; I think three of us had this meatloaf platter thing because it came with a free sundae. Finally, after we made it back and dropped Dan off, we hung out in Boston for the rest of the weekend (after a solid 5 hours of sleep). Wow, it's already been almost 2 months since then.

Time sure flies.

Speaking of time, I should finish putting up those pix and get to my schoolwork.

After Mechatronics, I went in to talk to Dr. Okamura about the test.

Dangit, I messed up on the last few. I guess I'm not part of that elite few that will get an A.

This Hexxagon game is quite addicting. Stay away... stay away...

So, last night I gave my computer's power cord to Jimmy. The computer was distracting me too much for me to study for my midterm... which by the way was good till the end. The last couple of problems stumped.

Danny's over for lunch again. I feel bad for him.. he had both the same exam I took and Phys Found at 4. Poor Danny.

Ok, I'd write more but I gotto go cook. I'll be back.

Whatever you do, don't go to this website. It has stupid little addicting games that steal your life away.

Don't go there, I tell you.

Darnit, did you have to click on the link?

Well, it's almost 8:00 and I just finished my BK dinner. Time to get going with this midterm study session. What subject? Design and Analysis of Dynamic Systems. For all you engineering folk, it comprises of applied diff. eq. to model mechanical, eletrical, thermal, and fluid systems. Requires a bunch o' basic physics and stuff. Not so bad of a class, pretty straightforward.. just gotto do it.

For all of you non-engineering folk, it's a bunch of math. We draw lots of pictures and lots of equations... and then we solve them.

Sounds like fun, eh?

Anyhow, I just read what I've written so far and it's stunning how boring this all is. Ok. Time to stop being boring. Good day.

Studying, rather, the motivation to study, has been difficult. I havea midterm tomorrow but every time I sit down to work, I get all antsy; after about 5-10 minutes, I end up doing something else for 10-30 minutes. I don't like that ratio; it'd be nice to be antsy about doing something else for 5-10 minutes and absorb myself in studying for long periods of time... but man. I really have to fight to get focused.

Anyhow, before I go to Burger King with the Supes—make sure you check out his website as well, the link is under Jane's—I'll finish that random thought.

This is my hope for myself and for others... is it possible for us to make an effort to not always assume we have "figured someone out?" I.e., I think to a certain extent we can, but it'd be cool if we made an effort to just accept what we see and move on with it. There's more to everyone than we can see at the moment.

Ok. That's my touchy feely thing for today. Time to eat some greasy fast food.

Darnit. Have you ever woken up to realize that you have a nasty crick in your neck because you slept wrong all night? I have to go throughout the day with my head tilted to just function. The pain... the horror...

Danny Dokko, stop laughing.

Here's a random thought.

I find that I tend to this as well...but one thing I notice that has a big impact on relationships is the phenomenon of "figuring someone out." I think that's one of the biggest problems within relationships... we think we've figured out the personality of someone and instantly pass our judgement over them. What are some problems with that?
1) Life is boring - the relationships become stale and we start to get "sick of that person"
2) Life is unhappy - who's honestly happy when they're complaining about someone else's foibles? We also start acting towards the people in ways that will only make them respond more negatively than before.
More on this later. Danny Dokko is here. And I must entertain him.

A new day. I'm about to go off to class.

So, I've started Leviticus. It's not as scary as I thought it'd be... so far. It's quite interesting, actually. Quite detailed... God requires a lot for Himself...

Today in class, I stole Danny Dokko's pen cap. As he tried grab it from my hand, he stabbed himself with the pencil I was holding:
"Ow. Excuse me while I remove this piece of lead from my hand."

It was quite funny.

Just caught the last part of today's Nightline special on the World Trade Center six month anniversary. Ted Koppel was checking out the processing center in Staten Island where NY policemen, firemen, etc. take all of the remains and sift through them for any sort of personal identification. It's a 24 hour operation located on top of an old garbage dump, where the debris goes through many layers of filtering until money—over $45,000 of loose change and cashe has been collected—

That was the main point Koppel seemed to get through: only in America would there be a massive effort undertaken to help bring closure to the families still grieving over lost ones.

That made me really think... not just about the patriotism of what he was saying but of simply the liberties that we enjoy in this country. We have so much, yet it seems we still seem to complain more about our state of being than ever before. We're picky about the food we eat, the grades we get (and don't get), our jobs, etc... At least, that's something from which I've not escaped, I admit. Has 9/11 changed things? Has it changed things for me? Am I more grateful? Is my life changed by a deeper sense of grace? Am I thinking too hard?

"Back" to studying.

Dag. It's already 11 PM. This evening is a prime example of how I end up handing assignments late, etc. etc. After review session, I got back here around 8:30. Since then, I've done nothing. I started to read something on the net, and chat a little, and next thing i know, it's an hour past. So, I thought I would be a little more productive and focus on practicing guitar. Didn't work so well, because I kept reading the series of articles I was reading. The worst part is, they were not important. Stupid pieces of humor that really contributed nothing to my brain except a good laugh. Maybe for 10 minutes, that's fine.. but for over an hour? Not good.

I finally snapped to it and focused; I worked on my strumming regimen: endurance, syncopation, and the combination of both. Man, it's tough to keep learning and developing. But hey, I gotto keep working at it.

Anyhow, so, it's 11 and I need to get studying for my midterm on Wednesday, as well as other stuff.

One thing I'm hoping I can get done before I graduate: a personal art project that is a culmination of all I've learned so far artisically and with my engineering stuff. Dunno what. Maybe a song. Maybe something visual. Maybe something both. Or, maybe nothing at all.

Boring life? Maybe. So sue me.

Quiet time has been up in the air lately. I've gotten to this point to which I frequently get: what book of the Bible do I start going through next? I was thinking Leviticus, because I've never studied it before and it seems that I should. Maybe going through all that detail about how specific one must be to worship/approach God will teach me a deeper grasp of His Holiness.

Anyhow, there's been a lot of prayer topics bouncing around in my head today... I wish I could just drop everything and just sit and pray. But, it's time to get ready for Dynamic Systems Lab.

I'm about to go off to class, but had to get a little blurb in. For some reason, I've been very tired for the past 2 days... keep falling asleep. Let's hope that I don't have mono. Last Friday, I shared some ice cream with 4 guys from my intermedia studio group. Maybe I'm being paranoid.

Maybe.

Ok. So, today I go to the library to study, and I fell asleep. LIttle did I know, that whilst I was in my state of bliss, Danny Dokko took it upon himself to take my shoe. So, when I woke up and packed all my belongings to go home, I bent down below the desk to put on my shoes—yes, I sometimes take them off to let my feet breathe—I found one missing, and the other with a note that said, "Clue: Your buddy has been 'reserved.'" Instantly, I knew the culprit... by his handwriting, and by the virtue that a mutual friend was working at the reserves desk during that time.

To top it off, I was in the FARTHEST POSSIBLE SPOT in the library from the reserves desk; I was studying at the far end of D-level, the lowest level in the library, while the reserves desk is on the opposite end of the library on M-level (ground floor). Meaning, I had to walk all the across the floor, take the elevator, and walk the rest of the way to the reserves desk with only a shoe on. No phsyical harm done of course, but yes, some funny stares.

I got it back. But man. I have to admit, he got me good.

Let the games begin.

For once, I actually woke up at at 7:10 today. Usually I repeatedly hit the snooze until 8:00, but today only once. It was good, I actually had time to do a good job of ironing and grooming.
At church, I had a great time playing bass... it's just so fun. Kenny Choi, the speaker today was pretty cool, but I'm not sure what his main point was; commitment is better than dedication? Know "the religion of your fathers" in your heart, not just in the head? Anyhow, the message was a character study of Jacob. He explained the passage—Genesis 28:10-22—of Jacob's dream as he was running away from home, and how that time became the point where dedication to God became a true commitment. Hm. when wll that time be for me?

Anyhow, I had the pleasure of eating lunch with the UMAB pharmacy/nursing students today in the fellowship hall. They're really cool; I hope that these relationships will really become true "iron sharpening iron" experiences...

It's just strange to see how within Hope Chapel, there are so many different worlds. Some people still don't really know each other—nor the existence of each other—and it sometimes saddens me that they don't make the effort to. I'm just hoping that over time we'll learn as a whole to branch out and really get to know each other... how can we do that?

Ok. Nap time. Estoy muy cansado.

When I said it's REALLY time to go study, I packed up my stuff and headed off to pick up a bite to eat, visit Angela along the way (to deliver a letter to her from Jane), and go study.

What really happened: I got my food, realized I had forgotten the letter, and ended up talking to Angela for half an hour. Of course, by then I had to go to praise team practice.

So basically, today was really not study day.

But, bible study at practice on Luke 13:1-9 was very eye-opening and humbling. In short, what I personally got out of it was that Christ always was making the point of what real spiritual people are like.
1) They are broken and humble; they're willing to admit their absolute need for God.
2) After they receive His blessing, they respond by constantly returning to Him in thankfulness and by constantly striving to do His will.
Both characteristics are extremely hard to come by; I can attest to that personally. I don't really admit my need for God until something bad happens. And, after I cry out for His help and receive it, I find myself instantly forgetting about what He did and just go back to being my old self. I'd try to give an example right now, but this post is long enough as is... email me if you want me to elaborate. So, yeah... I really got a lot out of it... thanks Edmund for leading it. Your bible studies always stimulate my heart and mind.

Afterwards we ate at Chile's. Gyju presented her idea for a night where the praise team members would present their own personal take on what praise and worship really is, why they're in the team, and what God's been doing through this calling... interesting. I like. Go Gyju.

Ok. Good night.