Hooray for not having to go to work! I am enjoying this vacation tremendously. Yay.

Urbana starts today! I hope those suckas have fun. Ah, Urbana.

I have a lot of things to get done the next couple days.

Seriously- I've run out of things to say.

Merry Christmas! Celebrate the birth of our Savior with love, joy and peace, that extends to all people and all places. Rejoice!!

Guess where I am? HOOOOOME!! Yay! I'm very excited to be here, despite the raininess. It's good to be home, hanging out with the fam... me, Phil and Sar are hanging out in Phil's room, watching a movie and chillin. As usual. NICE.
So, I have been awake since 3:30 AM EST. Traveling sucks. A lot.
Going to church tonight for service, and some Christmas Eve shenanigans.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello. I'm at work today and tomorrow, and then it's back to rainy Sunnyvale, CA. I cannot wait. Back to mom and dad, Phil and Sar, InNOut, BKUMC, Cupertino Village, Linnet Ln., Valley Fair and all that good stuff.
But until then, I have to suffer here at the office. Honestly, I know that I'm being spectacularly unproductive. I just can't focus on much at all. I've spent a ridiculous amount of time looking up Lord of the Rings stuff today-- particularly Karl Urban aka Eomer. He was kind of weird looking in the movie, but I sensed some hottiness. So I looked him up, and lo and behold, the man is a hottie. Wooooow.
Speaking of hotties, I never wrote about my Hugh Jackman encounter. Last weekend, I headed to New York City to hang out with friends. Jess and I caught the Saturday evening performance of "Boy From Oz," a musical based on the life and music of Peter Allen. Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of the musical-- the storytelling was a little uneven. However, Hugh Jackman was BRILLIANT. Not only was he gorgeous, but he could sing like crazy, and dance like crazy, and he was a wonderful actor. The was the show was set up, it allowed him to interact with the audience, and he had a quick wit and a lot of charisma. Everyone loved him. Go watch this show, if only for Hugh Jackman.
So on Sunday, I went to church as usual to NCC. I got there, and ran into JiYoung unni, who is the younger daughter of one of my mom's college friends who lives in Maryland. And then the two of us ran into Jeanie, who is the older daughter of my mom's other college friend, who lives in Virginia. It's kind of crazy-- the three of our mom's have been friends forever, and are still really close. Anyways, I haven't seen Jeanie since I was a kid, so it was cool to see her and meet her husband. It's nice having people you know around. Yay for family friends.

Alright. First things first. Let's just call this post....
DEATH BY MOVIES
Yesterday, I took the day off work and watched ALL THREE of the Lord of the Rings movies at the Uptown Theater in D.C. Fellowship started at 1, Two Towers started at 5:30, Return of the King started at 10:30. The experience kicked my ass up and down the street-- in more ways than one.
First of all, Frank and I got to the theater at 8:40 AM. We were maybe forty people back. We drank coffee, read, stayed warm, made friends with the people around us, etc. It was pretty fun. A bunch of people in line were dressed up-- and when I say dressed up, I mean dressed UP. Highlights: guy dressed as Gandalf doing magic tricks with the ring; girl dressed as a hobbit walking around barefoot with hair stuck to her feet (and it was damn cold yesterday morning); girl dressed like Galadrial who actually ended up looking like a man in drag; lady dressed like an elf-ears, cape, brooch and all- smoking a cigarette on the curb; teenage girl dressed like GOLLUM- she was wearing a white unitard, and a gollum wig that was flesh colored and just had strands of hair coming out. Also saw the kids who sold us the tickets cause we were "Asian" and took a picture with them.

Now this is what kicked my ass, in the "oh my gosh I feel like somebody put me in a bag and beat the crap out of me I think my head is going to explode I feel like death" kind of way. Watching the first two movies was painful. I mean, I really enjoyed them, still cheered at all the right parts, etc. But the extended scenes, as cool as they are, really do slow down the pacing of the movies. I did a lot of fidgeting, snacking, napping. And that's like 7 hours of movie right there, on a huge screen, loud sound, etc. Great, wonderful movies-- that gave me a huge headache.

On to.... RETURN OF THE KIIIIIING! Which kicked my ass in the "holy crap that was awesome it kicks ass all ass including my ass" kind of way. Brilliant movie. I think it's my favorite, because it has the awesome action of the second movie with the good characterizations of the second, and I feel like they paced it really well. The acting in this movie was sooo good. Aragorn-- so manly, so kingly, such strength. Viggo is brilliant. And Sean Astin-oh man, his Samwise Gamgee kicked my ass. He brought so much heart and emotion. Also, props to the dudes who played Faramir and Denthor-- Denthor was freaky freaky, and Faramir was very noble. Everyone else was great great great too. Honestly, I think the weakest actor is Orlando Bloom-- very very hot, but he seems to only have two facial expressions-- smug look and furrowed brow/concerned look. But he still rocks. Honestly- I have a big of a crush on pretty much every guy in this movie. Except Denethor. and Gollum.

The visuals in this movie were also great. Battle scenes were INTENSE. Shelob was DAMN SCARY. Minas Tirith was BEAUTIFUL. Big elephant dudes- DAMN. The way they took all the crazy creatures/places/people from the books and realized them so beautifully--I can't say enough about how great this movie looked. So I'll stop now, and make you go watch it.

I highly recommend this movie. I was very pleased by the way it stayed fairly true to the books, and it was a beautiful ending to a beautiful trilogy. It paced the big action scenes and the journey of the ring together really well.

The movie ended around 2 AM. I hailed a cab, got home, and crashed. I felt beat up and broken. But happy too, cause I had just watched a great, entertaining movie. That had hot guys fighting, girls kicking ass, funny looking animnals. Good times.

So here's a big HOLLLA to Return of the King. It was great watching it with all the crazies, hooting and hollering at all the fun parts. But I will NEVER again watch three movies in the theater in one day, not even if it's the Life Story of HannahYu Vol. 1-3 or The Greatest Movie Ever Made Pts 1-3. And yes Phil-- I now have a leather ass.

Side note-- I was interviewed by nbc 4 news, and apparantly they aired a bit of me! A couple of my co workers saw me on TV! Crazy! I wish I could have seen it. Then I would know what it feel like to Christine or Ankur. Kind of.

I'll update about my super fabulous New York trip soon. As soon as my eyes stop burning and my head stops aching.

Today is Thursday. I feel like it's next Wednesday. This week has been soooooo slow. And I'm soooo tired.

Ok, so I am such a caffeine addict. Every morning I have a fat cup of tea, and then in the afternoons I have a diet coke. This afternoon, I didn't drink the diet coke, and now I feel like I'm going to die.

I'm returning Anne of Avonlea today. I think I watched the last forty minutes of the movie every night this week. There's something about the last scene
"I still have three years of medical school left. And even then there won't be any diamond sunbursts or marble halls." "I don't want sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you." AHHH. I freaking love that scene. I love Gilbert. Who says you can't fall in love with fictional characters? I'm in love with Gilbert and Mr. Darcy.

And Aragorn. Return of the Kings next week!!! Trilogy Tuesday! I can't believe it! The ancticipation is mounting. Frank and I are trying to figure out what time to get to the theater. First show starts at 1. What do you think? See, I don't really care about getting good seats for this one or Two Towers. I just want good seats for Return of the King.

Going to NYC this weekend. Can't wait to see my girls, watch a show, walk around. It's going to be veerrrry exciting.

Hey! I just realized that I've been blogging a little over a year. I started it before Thanksgiving last year. Cool.

Tomorrow is the ABA Holiday Party. It's a lunchtime cruise on the Potomac. I hope I don't get seasick.

What a weekend! Joy took her LSAT on Saturday, and I'm quite sure she kicked it's ass. After she got back from her test and I got back from work (Saturday meeting), we headed to the outlets for some shopping. Unfortunately, the outlets were and outdoor shopping kind of place, and we froze our asses off. So, not so much shopping got done. Later that night, we held the JoyPark Freedom Party. Bunch of friends came over for some crazy hijinks and shenanigans. Goooood times.

Anne and Gilbert 4-EVER! Woke up very late on Sunday, and then we went to the video store and rented... ANNEOFAVONLEA! AnneofGreen Gables was checked out, or else we would have rented that too. But AnneofAvonlea was brilliant. I don't really like how they combined so many parts of the books together and changed all that stuff, but it was still excellent... the acting was great. I love GilbertBlythe! Where is my GilbertBlythe??!! Just so everybody knows, AnneofGreen Gables and AnneofAvonlea DVD's are on my Christmas wish list : )

Going Bowling NU is going to the Motor City Bowl in Detroit! Yay! Admittedly, this bowl is not as cool as say, the Hawaii Bowl, but it's great that we're going to a bowl game. I will be watching the game on Dec. 26. You should to. Or, if you live in the Midwest, you should go! College football is fuuun.

Giants rule My favorite baseball player, Mr. J.T. Snow, resigned with the Giants for another season. I really didn't think he'd come back, but he took a contract with a huge pay cut so he could stay with the Giants and stay in the Bay Area. What a guy!!! If he didn't have a wife and a kid, I'd marry him. Hm. J.T. Snow v. Gilbert Blythe. Now that's something to ponder.

Married people I read in my brother's blog that Miriam and Minho got married. Wow. Don't really know either of them, but I have memories of both of them. Man. I remember going to elementary school and junior high with Miriam, and seeing her occasionally in high school... and when I was in junior high, I thought Minho was cuuuuute. Sooo... congratulations to them!

My sister is a smarty Sarah did very well on her research paper. And I know she'll kick ass on her finals today and tomorrow. And then the lucky bastard gets to go home tomorrow and scare Minsoo with Chewbacca and drive the Taurus and hang out in Minsoo's room. She's so lucky.

Jess Ko is a superstar Because she is talented and strong and brave. And cause she's an ass-kicker.

It's FRIIDAAAAAY! HOOORAAAY! Friday's are wonderful.

First snow It snowed last night! And it's supposed to snow today! Hooray! The funny thing is, it snowed a couple inches last night-- depending on where you were, probably 2-6 inches-- and so a bunch of schools in Maryland and Virginia are closed. Those wimps! This would never happen in Chicago. There's something about the first snow that makes me happy, that brings back a sense of wonder. But then it gets slushy and gross and cold, and I snap out of it.

Return of the King Seriously. Getting so excited. Aragorn! Legolas! Eomer! Be still my heart!

Good luck Good luck to my roommate, who's taking the LSAT tomorrow. Good luck on finals to all the NU kids. Good luck especially to my kid sister. You're a smarty pants, you can do it! You're better in school than your brother and sister combined, you just gotta kick some ass. YE! And MAD break a leg to Jess Ko on her auditions. You can DOOOO it!

My Christmas wish list is coming soon.

My commute this morning was a nightmare. What usually takes 20 minutes took me an hour and a half. Talk about miserable.

I think I'll do all my Christmas shopping online this year. Maybe. I'll do a lot of it online at least. Cause I hate crowds, and I hate lines, and that's what the mall is during Christmas season. A big crowded line.

Dream... or nightmare??? Last night I had a dream that J.T. Snow got traded to the Dodgers. It was weird. Thank goodness my dreams aren't prophetic, or else JT would be wearing the evil blue, I'd be married to Will Bailey and Ankur would have lost his phone. Again.

Oh my goodness. FUUUUn weekend. Basically summed in three words: eating, laughing, farting. It was great to be around people whom you can eat, laugh and fart with in great quantities.

I got to the airport Wednesday after work, anticipating huge lines. It took me about five minutes to check in and get through security. No lines. So I had two long hours to kill before boarding. Bought a book and a magazine, and managed to amuse myself. I arrived Wednesday night about an hour before Jason and Susanna, and the fun commenced. Thursday we spent the day hanging out in the dorms, walking around Wellesley and cooking. We cooked a full out Thanksgiving meal-- turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc-- in a Wellesley dorm kitchen. Awesome. We ate until we thought we were gonna die. Friday we walked around Boston- Copley Square, Fanueil Hall etc. We ate at Legal Seafood on the Boston Harbor, once again until we thought we were gonna die. Then we got back to the dorm and did some praise and worship. Awesome. Saturday we walked around Wellesley, ate Thanksgiivng leftovers until we were stuffed and then Sarah and I had to leave. What a wonderful weekend.

Highlights: hanging around people who know you and love you. Someone would start singing, and everyone would join in at the top of their longs, no matter what the song/jingle. When someone called out "dance" everyone had to stop what they were doing and dance. Touching bellies. Haha game. Sleeping on the hard hard ground. "Mr. Aragorn." Sigh. It was so fun.

So now I'm back at work. I think the thing I'm most looking forward to is Trilogy Tuesday. It's gonna be AWESOME. I'm getting sooo excited to watch Return of the King. Hooray!

I went shopping yesterday and bought cool shoes, a cool radio and a cool cardigan. No more spending money!! Bad Hannah!

Oh, and by the way, I think the commercialization of Christmas has reached a new low this year. I can't believe how early they started putting out the Christmas decorations at the mall, and how Christmas music is being pumped out of the speakers everywhere. Did you hear about that lady who was trampled at an after-Thanksgiving sale and had to go to the hospital? Cmon people. Christmas is about wonder and joy and love and birth. Not about sales and parking spots and what to get your second cousins's mama's friend's brother. Peace.