This week has been full of ups and downs. It's been really good hearing about how people were so blessed at Winterfest, and seeing the ways that people are incorporating what they learned into their lives. But there's also been a lot of not so good things happening this week, and I've seen and talked to a lot of people who are in pain for various reasons. My heart has been both rejoicing and aching this week.

This weekend, I need to work on my African American religion paper, and do my poli sci reading. There. I've written in down in a public domain. Now I must actually do it.

So for African American religion this week we read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr, as well as articles about Mahalia Jackson, the famous gospel singer, and Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist from Mississippi. First of all, if you have not read this piece by Dr. King, go and read it this very instant. "I Have a Dream" is inspirational. "Letter" is intellectual, informative, inspirational, emotionally wrenching and brilliant. And if you are a Christian, a woman, or a person and have not read about Fannie Lou Hamer, read about her right now. This woman was amazing. She made me really reflect on what type of Christian I am-- the kind who would endure the most horrible realities and conditions for the sake of justice and obeying God's will, or the kind who would watch injustice pass her by without lifting a finger and console myself with meaningless acts of pity?

DUDE. This morning I woke up really early because I had a Charlie Horse in my calf. Dang, those suckas HURT. It woke me out of my wonderful slumber, and I was in so much pain and making so much noise I woke my roommate up. Oooops. Seriously, I could feel the knot in my calf. Groooooss.

I'm just not in a happy mood right now. It's just me and my thoughts at this point, and I think I'm in for another restless night.

Oh man. Back at school, back to the grind. But it's all good, cause Wintefest was amazing. It's always good to get a reminder of God's faithfulness and love, and I got a whole lot of that this weekend. From seeing CindErica and her prince Doug, to chapter prayer on Sunday, I had a wonderful time and was just continuously blown away by the way God worked in our chapter. I will never forget the look on JoeChang's face on Saturday and the way DavePaek just celebrated, and I'm still smiling thinking of what a FUN time we had praising, praying and singing until the late hours on Saturday night. I just hope that we can keep this feeling and remember what God taught us. Hooray for Winterfest!

So I just wanted to let everyone know that the Grammy Awards were on Sunday night. Guess who won the award for Best Pop/Gospel Album? That's right ladies and gentlemen. My favorite band, JARS OF CLAY, for their album "The Eleventh Hour." HOOOORAY! Dude, I love this group, and I'm glad the Grammy's do too : ) Does anyone know how I can start writing them letters a la "Dear Bruce Springsteen" or "Stan"? Just wondering. I feel like I should get on top of that.

DUdes. Guess what? First week of spring quarter, my friend Jane is coming the Monday till the Thursday, Susanna is coming Thursday until Sunday, and then Minsoo oppa is coming the next Wednesday through Sunday. CRAZY! Crazy FUN! Can't wait.

My struggles with school continue. Senioritis.... oh man....

Hey..... Spring comes and guess what comes with it? That's right, I'm so happy.... BASEBALL SEASON!! WOooo HOOOoooo! In case you're not my friend and you don't know this about me, I am a huge baseball fan. In particular, I am a HUGE San Francisco Giants fan!! It breaks my heart that Dusty is gone, and that my team from last year is scattered to the wind. I'm so sad that Russ, Jeff, David, Kenny, Shawon, Tsuyoshi and a whole bunch of other dudes are gone. However, I'm always gonna keep it real with my Giants. I mean, I stood by during the dark days of the mid 90s. So I guess I can wait another ten years for a Series appearance, and forever for a Series win. I really want to go to Arizona and catch some spring training someday. Anybody wanna come with??

I'm writing this down right now so I never forget it: ChristineByun, Thanksgiving, Naperville, at the toll... "Christine, get in the car!!!!"

Good quote: "If music is a religion, then Karaoke is a cult." I saw it on a beer commercial.

Happy Birthday to yoooouuuuuuu.... Happy Birthday to yoooooouuuuuuuu.... Happy Birthday Dear Tina Yaaaaaaaangggggg.... Happy Birthday to yoooooooooooouuuuu..... Happy Birthday Tina!! You're 22!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Alright. Enough of the mushy gushy. Here's what I've been thinking about lately: bad things. Seriously, I have trouble sleeping because I just start freaking out and worrying about really crazy stuff. I've been thinking about contingency plans just in case someone starts following me or harassing me, and lots of other weird, paranoid stuff like that. There's more stuff that I've been freaking out about. But I'm not going to write about it. Cause if I do... then maybe it will happen. And that would be BAD.

Ok, I'm obsessing about something new lately. I tend to obsess about things when I find something that I fancy. I'm big into google searching and stuff. Anyways, Jars of Clay. I love this band. Now that I say them again for the 8th time on Sunday, my obsession has been renewed. I just wish that somehow they could read this and know how great a band I think they are. Sigh. I know! I'm crazy obsession girl! Seriously, I was thinking today that I would write them letters and then they would want to be my friend. It would be like that book "Dear Bruce Springsteen" or whatever it was called. About that boy who would write to Bruce Springsteen every day. Or like the song "Stan" except I'm not crazy and blond. I would write to Jars of Clay everyday. And then they would come and sing to me and I would be the happiest girl on the planet. Oh man. I better stop. I think I'm getting choked up.

OH MY GOSH. I am such a FREAK!

I broke one of my pairs of glasses. I think they dropped on the ground, and my chair (with me sitting on it) ran them over. I bent them back into shape, but they're just not quite the same. Ooooops.

Yesterday I went to the Jars of Clay/Caedmon's Call concert! It was aweeeessssooommmmeee. Seriously, Jars of Clay is my favorite band of all time. I love their music, I love their lyrics, I love Steve/Dan/Matt/Charlie. They are great. And they are SO GOOD live. Seriously, I've seen them live many many time, and everytime they are incredible. I went with Julie, and she liked it too. I'm glad we could share the coolness of Jars of Clay together : ) Jars of Clay albums are some of the only ones I can listen to while studying. So I've heard each of them about a million times. Oh, and Caedmon's was GREAT. I haven't seen them live since freshman year, and wow, I forgot how good they are live. The kid who plays piano/organ/guitar/drums is awesome. It was kind of weird without Derek there, but it was still cool. Now I gotta go and get the new album. Hooray for CCM!

I decided that I want to write about my home church, Bethel KUMC. Man, I realize how much I love my brothers and sisters there. I've gone to this church my entire life, so there are certain people I've known since I was a babe. But there are also people I've known for a couple years. All these people, no matter how long I've known them, I consider my family. Back at Bethel, they're doing 6:30 prayer meetings to pray for a new pastor. We've been pastorless for a long time now. I gotta say, I've been trying to wake up at 8:30 to pray with them. I'm not as diligent as the folks out there, and I know I'm wimping out by praying at 8:30, but I've been trying. I have to admit though, many times it ends up being me sitting up, setting up my alarm for an hour later, saying a little prayer in my head, and promptly falling back asleep. BAAAD ME. But I'll keep trying! Anyways, I love those crazy fools out there. Mad love to Jane Kim, for sending out an awesome email full of praises and going ons back home. Also, mad props to David Han, for his blog. When I read it, I can almost hear him talking. And that's suave. (I'm sorry David! I couldn't resist!!)

So I had this whole schedule planned out for today. How much of it did I follow? Big fat nothing. My life is crazy right now. Must focus. Must organize. Must... sleeep....

Hey! Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your day was wonderfull Mine was uneventful. My valentine was Tina Yang, who gave me a very nice cookie and chocolate. Love you! Went to Focus, hung out with Grace, Emmy and Byun in M310. Goood times.

Oh man. It's official, I really am the most unproductive person student ever. Seriously, I haven't studied/read/worked in soooo long. Why? I'm just too busy going to meeting, sleeping and watching TV. Get it?

Hey, Saddam Hussein-- YOU SUCK. Hey, Kim Jong Il-- YOU SUCK. Seriously, war, weapons of mass destruction, nukes-- all that stuff really sucks. Can't we all just get along?

Long day. Class 11:00-12:30, work from 1:30-3:30, class from 3:30-5:30, Norris Count 6-8, Greek IV 9-10:30. Just got home. Pretty tired. But Greek IV was goooooood. Dude, I love the book of Ruth. It's awesome.

Here's a funny conversation I had with Tina. What can I say? I love my friends!
Phileofish220: maybe it means you should come visit
Phileofish220: :-D
hyu: or.... you should come visit
hyu: how many times you been here, foo?
Phileofish220: hahha...
Phileofish220: i was just there friday!
hyu: oh yeah
hyu: but not to visit me!
Phileofish220: it was a double-header
hyu: hahah
Phileofish220: visiting hannah and corban
Phileofish220: ;-)
hyu: that's sweet
hyu: do you talk to all the girls like that?
Phileofish220: hahha
Phileofish220: no...just you
hyu: stop you're making me blush
Phileofish220: isn't double-header a baseball term?
hyu: yes tina. yes it is.
Phileofish220: hahha
Phileofish220: nice
Phileofish220: see, only for you
hyu: you know the way to my heart
Phileofish220: would i resort to the baseball-isms
Phileofish220: hahah but i do
Phileofish220: :-D
hyu: ok, that's it
hyu: tina
hyu: will you be my valentine???
hyu: :-*
Phileofish220: hahah...
Phileofish220: oh my! how exciting
Phileofish220: and i thought i wasn't going to have a valentine
Phileofish220: tee hee hee
hyu: oh guuuurl
hyu: you always got me
Phileofish220: awww yeah...
Phileofish220: :-*

It's Monday! Dude, this weekend was awesome. Well, it was really fun. Friday night after Focus, I slept! Yay! Saturday, I hung out and went to Target. Yay. But the real highlight was chillin' with the girls!!! Woooooo! We ate dinner (for free!!) at Baja Fresh, then later that night we watched "How to lose a guy in Ten Days." Man, that movie wasn't that great, but I LOVED IT. Soooo cute. Kate Hudson is so cute, that even when she's psycho, she's still cool. Matthew McConaughey is HOT. Really charming, sexy, southern, hot. And dude-- Kate Hudson's clothes in this movie are awesome. I love the way she dressed. Overall, this is a great great girl movie. I'm glad I didn't watch it on Valentine's Day, cause then I would have gone home and cried. But watching it with the girls made me very happy : )

Midterm paper due Wednesday. I have one more paper at the end of the quarter, and then three finals, and then I"M DONE WITH COLLEGE!!!! Craaaaazy.

Last week, I met Abraham Lim, the director of "Roads and Bridges," at Willie's Food Court. He looks very different than he looks in the movie. Lost some weight, grew some facial hair. I realized that I'm not very good at meeting people-- I don't have very good social skills. Ah well. Guess I need to work on that.

Hey, so the roof of my brother's girlfriend Joanna's apartment caved in last week because of a busted pipe, and half of her crap is unsalvagable because of water damage and asbestos damage. Anyways, this kid in her afterschool program wrote this funny letter on her behalf. Read it. It's very funny.

CONGRATULATIONS to SWEET Tina Yang for taking the LSAT and kicking its ass!

DUDE. Read this article!! This congressman is on crack! Seriously, I took a class on Japanese-American internment last winter, and this guy should think about taking one too. Maybe he'd learn something about the nature and reasoning behind the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans, and see just how misguided and ignorant he is. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/06/congressman.remarks.ap/index.html

I am very tired. I didn't get much sleep this week, a combination of studying for midterms and being a stress ball, and I babysit the two cutest little boys in the world this morning. Maybe I should take a nap. You see, I'm not much of a nap person. I never have been. I feel like when I nap, it messes up my sleeping schedule, and makes it even harder for me to fall asleep at night. Also, when I wake up from a nap in the middle of the day, I usually feel like crap. So, that's why I don't usually nap.

Dude. My brother is cool because he is Angry Asian Man. I'm very proud of him, and I think his website rock. I get so mad/upset/offended when I read the hate mail that he gets. I mean, it still shocks me that there are so many dumb, ignorant, mean, racist, horribly horrible people out there. Let's face it-- this world is not perfect, and racism exits. Racism against Asian Americans exists. I think Phil is doing an amazing job pointing that out. So to all those racists out there sending my brother hate mail-- YOU SUCK.

What should I do for spring break???

Just got back from Core.
AAAAHHHHHHHH! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!!
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Oh man. Tired. Very tired.

Yo, I have two midterms this week! Have I studied? No. Have I read? Barely. Senioritis does not just apply in high school. This is my last quarter, and I'm definitely feeling it. BAAHHH.

Going to watch Salman Rushdie tonight. I'll write all about it next time : )

Hooray for weekends! Last night I was talking and hanging out with Joy till the wee hours of the morning, then I got to sleep in late today. I was a big blog of nothing all afternoon-- basically, I wasted space. And ate bi bim bop... yummmm..... I then headed off to Evanston Public Library to study. I sat down, and promptly fell asleep for like 45 minutes. Why do I even bother?? I swear, whenever I go there to study, I fall asleep. But do I ever learn my lesson? No. Of course not. Moving on, I had a nice dinner and hang out time with Melissa, JohnHoffman, Meaghan, Dan SK and Laura. Then I went home and read poli sci and Russian Lit. So that was my day!

Want to know the most exciting part of the day? I got a surprise phone call from SWEET GELA PARK!!!! WOO HOO! It was awesome talking to her and catching up. Makes me want to go to the motherland just to see her. I always have fun talking to Gela, cause she's cool and chill and wise and fuuuuunny. DUDE. I MISS YOU.

Hey, so yesterday I babysat Corban and Elias. Those kids have grown so much, it's crazy. Corban is a real person now, and Elias is running around, climbing stairs, being cute. So fun.... so tiring. Corban thinks I own the entire sorority house, and basically has the run of the place. This kid is so funny-- whenever he comes, he asks where Jess (my former roommate and co-babysitter) is, and how he wants to play with Jess. Last time, when I told him that Jess wasn't here, he replied by asking if she was sleeping. Then, when I found out that Pat was coming over to help babysit, I said "Corban, guess who's coming?" And the kid screamed, "JESS!!!" And I was like, noooo..... Pat! It was funny. Maybe you had to be there. Anyways, all the girls here love those kids. I think mainly because they're small and cute.

FOCUS yesterday was awesome. ChristineByun gave her testimony. It was so so awesome. As I sat next to Emmy, and listened to Byun reflect on college, it made me realize how much we've gone through, and how we've all grown up together. I remember when she was going through some of those struggles, and to see her honesty and the way that's she's matured and grown was really encouraging and really touching. Yay Byun!

So I've gotten a lot of people telling me that they read my report on the Etiquette Dinner of Shame. Most people can't believe it. I've talked to a lot of people who were there, and most of them were pretty offended, or at least shocked. A few people don't agree with my opinion, and think I'm unnecessarily making a big deal out of nothing, but hey, they have a right to their own opinion, and that's cool. But I have a right to mine, and I was really offended. The Alumni Association and Class Council will definitely be getting an angry letter from me. However, I don't think I'll be writing to the Daily, because I'm not a big fan of the Forum section, and the Daily as a whole. So, if someone out there also feels strongly about this (they are free to write a letter. But I gotta say, yo, what's up with that little article about the etiquette dinner in Friday's daily? Was the reporter even there??? She makes it seem like it was a big party, and Nonie was Miss Manners kindly imparting her infinite etiquette wisdom to the masses. What a load of DDONG. And you can quote me on that.