LIE TO ME or... where it all began

As promised, I am starting my long list. I hope you're open-minded aka... ya'll ready for this?

It started with Lie to Me, starring:

Yoon Eun Hye (aka the Korean Amanda Bynes)

and....

Kang Ji Hwan (I thought he was the most attractive thing I had ever seen... I should have waited to make a statement like that)

Storyline:

It's a pretty involved beginning and, I will admit, the first episode was a bit rough  to get into. But at the time when I started the show, I had already watched episode 8 with my sisters so I had a little bit of insight into what I was getting into. Awesomeness!

The show starts off with the hero: Hyun Ki Joon. (My sisters and I had a running joke about calling him "Hunky Joon" :) Anywho, he owns a massive hotel and right off you can kinda tell that he's OCD. He has a particular thing with buttons being undone. I digress. You eventually find out that he's searching for his younger brother who let the country a while back because of some reason... which ends up being a girl, of course. I shall leave the rest of that to your viewing. No, I shant say another word.
Our heroine is the lovely Gong Ah Jung, also known as "Ah Jung-ahhhhh". (That will make sense to you later. :) She works for the government and after a mishap at an important event, she's feeling a little bit... undervalued. She goes to a club to get drunk and write her resignation letter on a napkin which is where she meets... nope, not the hero. She meets the hero's younger brother, Sang Hee. Sang Hee is a bit bored and he finds Ah Jung's drunken rants to be a bit amusing. Unfortunately for him, Ki Joon finds out that he's back in Korea and at the club and comes to crash the party. Sang Hee steals Ah Jung's resignation napkin and takes off. As both Ki Joon and Ah Jung follow him, they end up meeting and Ah Jung, due to a bee sting (yeah, I know) and her excessive drinking, collapses. Realizing that this crazy woman might just know something about his brother, Ki Joon takes her to the hospital and waits all night for her to wake up so he can ask her. She ends up knowing nothing and he feels bothered but she wants to repay him for her hospital bill. It doesn't end well. She's mad, he's mad. They part. The end. Or... not.

The other side to this story is in Ah Jung's past. In college she was madly in love with one of her school mates. She felt sure that if she passed her exam to work for the government, that he would notice her as more than just a study buddy and they could get married. Unfortunately, while she was doing all of her studying, her witch of a best friend ended up seducing and getting engaged to said man. End of friendship.
Back to present: Ah Jung is at a salon, getting her hair done when witchy ex-best friend AND husband (aka Ah Jung's first love) come in together. Ex-best friend proceeds to make Ah Jung feel terrible by saying "oh, you're not married yet? Well, that's all right. Not just anyone can get married, etc. etc. etc." At that moment, Ah Jung's phone rings. It's a sales recording, but Ah Jung pretends that it's her honey ("yahbo") just so that she can wipe the smirk off of the witch's face. It works.

And THIS is where the REAL story begins.

Through a series of unfortunate events (I suppose not so unfortunate), Hunky Joon is mistaken for Ah Jung's husband. The rest is for you to watch and find out. Hee hee. You will die laughing.

RATING: 9

On my scale of 1 to 10, when I first watched it, I rated it as a 10. I now rate it as a 9, simply because I have seen better, but not many... :)

Up next: Secret Garden

When you think He doesn't care, He showers you with LOVE

I'm sure many people have had similar experiences... life gets hard, sometimes really hard. And then some miracle occurs that turns your life around (or perhaps just your perspective). And we're so grateful and we thank Him every night in our prayers and promise to remember all that He has done for us. And sometimes we do. And... sometimes we don't.
As I'm sure many of you know, the past year has not been the easiest for me. There were a couple of times when I looked to the sky and said, "Heavenly Father, I'm trying really hard to understand why all this is happening to me. I'm trying to see it as a blessing but really, isn't this a bit too much?" Things just kept going wrong. Even as my life slowly started to improve and I didn't feel like laying in bed with a bag of almond M&Ms every day, there were still problems, things that I had to deal with. I got pretty frustrated.
And then, one after another, two miracles happened.
1) My sisters discovered Korean culture in the form of a tv show. I mentioned it here. (Go reread or read for the first time, or completely ignore- whatever suits you best.) I wasn't terribly interested at first... I mean, I've been a fan of Bollywood movies for several years and this seemed fairly similar to that so I wasn't against them. After some persuasion on my sisters' part, I sat and watched an episode. Two words. Life. Changing. I should probably dedicate an entire post to this. And I will. Once I finish my 12 page persuasive writing research paper. Ha. For now we'll just say that it started me down a major path. One that I never imagined or expected. Enough said on that for now. TBC later.
2) Acceptance into the India Study Abroad for Winter 2013. First thing people say when they hear that. "Wow." Second thing: "Why India?" I'm going to say it now and only once, so pay attention. I have no idea why India. It was pretty much a whim. I saw a big poster in the SWKT one day while walking to class and I figured that I didn't have much to lose. I applied, doubting that I would get into the program. I was sure they'd want me to focus on completing my degree so I could graduate. But somehow I was accepted. And then it was a great battle within myself. Should I be focusing on graduating or should I actually go to India? And what about the money? Thousands of dollars don't just materialize. And there were things that I wanted to do that I wouldn't be able to do if I did go to India. And then people started suggesting that I go someplace else. India is so very far away. Four months is a long time. It's not a clean place. It's so different there.... things like this. And even though I didn't want to, I started to get nervous. It took me a while to talk myself down. I kept telling myself that I needed to try something different. Stepping out of my bubble and into the real world would help me grow by leaps and bounds. I'm not a weak person; I can handle reality. But money was still an issue, as it usually is. So I went to the temple. The irony of it was that it was probably the shortest amount of time that I'd ever spent in the temple, but I still got my answer. I didn't know how, exactly, but I knew that everything was going to be all right. So I put my trust in the Spirit and pushed forward, putting down the payment to secure my spot and beginning the preparations. Despite the fact that I still didn't know how I was going to come up with the money for the trip, I didn't worry. I knew that He would provide me with the answer at the right time.
Two months ago, I received a grant from the government. Oh, what a blessing! It wouldn't cover the whole fee, but it would certainly help.
About a month ago, my mom told me to go to this Veterans Affairs website and fill out this form and submit it for a little financial aid. Thursday I received a letter saying that I my application had been accepted and I would be receiving the aid. According to my papa, $900 a month for up to 45 months. When I saw that, a huge weight lifted off my chest and I literally felt His love and I could feel Him saying, 'Yes, Christina, I do love you and I am looking after you.' I am so blessed to have a loving Father in Heaven who takes such good care of me despite all of the silly things that I do. He loves me unconditionally and He gives me great opportunities to grow and to experience incredible things. That is the beauty of this life.

Brave or My Very Own Disney Princess

The current Disney Princesses

Here's a little bit of info on a random part of my growing up years. I never had a Disney Princess that I thought of as "mine". I loved them all for different reasons but I never truly connected with one specific princess. I admired Jasmine for her spunk, Snow White for her graceful sweetness, Sleeping Beauty/Aurora for her innocence, Cinderella for her ability to forgive, Pocahontas for her courage, Belle for her acceptance, Ariel for her perseverance, Mulan for her resolve, Tiana for her dreams, and Rapunzel for her understanding. But never did just one jump out at me. (Okay, maybe Rapunzel did, but it wasn't exactly the same. She wasn't 'my' princess).
And then, at the midnight preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (AWESOME!) I saw a poster. There wasn't much to it; it looked like a deep green forest with a red blob in the middle. Upon closer examination, I discovered the blob to be a head of red curly hair. And something sparked. My friend Mikey, who I was seeing the movie with, pulled up the preview for the movie on his laptop. There still wasn't much to it, but I was intrigued and I kept thinking back to that red-headed girl despite the fact that I had no idea what the movie was even about.

Okay so it's not as foresty as I remember

And then an extended preview came out. And it was EPIC!!!! See here.

And I got all these bubbles in my stomach. This was someone who I could relate to. And it wasn't just the hair. It was the heritage and the "I want to let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen, shooting arrows into the sunset" and being brave enough to change my own fate. 

And I finally saw it yesterday with all of my princess friends. Merida is my hero. She is my princess. The movie was everything that I wanted it to be and more. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil it for you so GO SEE IT! But it fills my heart with so much happiness and excitement. And now I feel as though my childhood dreams are complete because I have my very own Disney princess.

Be Brave. Change your own Fate.

News flash: You can't please everyone

I'll tell you what now. Being a hero is not even worth it. Not even close. I should know. For the first time in my life, I thought I was a hero today. Turns out... I just caused a lot of drama and problems. And over what? This. Little ducklings. You wouldn't believe the amount of drama over these 5 little guys. You wouldn't believe it because I couldn't believe it and I was smack dab in the middle.
It turns out that rescuing ducklings from the storm drain isn't necessarily the good thing I thought it was. There's a lot of relief and clapping and back-slapping and then there's a pause. What to do now? Should we take them to the duck pond? Should we find the mother? We should definitely give the mom a chance to find her babies, for sure, right? Well, not everybody thought so. Whether a group decision or an individual, not everyone was going to be satisfied. So I set the ducks down in the shade with some water and went on my merry way. I'd done what I wanted to do for them and what happened next was not up to me, but up to the Almighty Creator. Perhaps by rescuing, I was doing a bad thing... survival of the fittest and all of that. Maybe they could have happily survived for a long time in the storm drain as opposed to getting eaten by a cat or run over by a car. Regardless, I did it and it was done. And then people started biting my head off. What did I feed it? It needs more water! We can't leave them alone, they need protection! I give up.

PEOPLE: They're cute, but they're DUCKS!

No good deed goes unpunished. All helpful urges should be circumvented. I'm just sayin'. Elphaba had it right. Morally, there's no right answer so I step away and say, "I just don't care anymore. Please leave me alone and I promise I won't go rescuing helpless animals anymore."

And there you have it.

....

Don't worry. If you fall down a storm drain and can't get out, I'd probably rescue you. But don't ask me to take care of you afterwards.

Vision

The title is for two reasons.

A) My poor doggy is going blind. It is so sad to me. She has been a light in our family for so many years, particularly the years that my mom had cancer and was going through chemotherapy. Her name is Theeb, translated from Thai to mean Angel. And she is definitely an angel. Best dog ever. Our neighbor used to say about our family, "They all have curly hair. Even the dog has curly hair." Yup, that's my little baby.

B) It is currently Vision Conference at work. Think of it as a company retreat. One person said, "We don't use the term 'retreat'. We call it a tactical withdrawal." Let me break it down for you: all of the full time employees are away for two days and all of the students get to play! Ahem. Well, we call it work, but it's basically permission for us to have a little bit of fun without being supervised by our bosses. I spent the time learning 한국의: vocab and double vowels. It's fascinating stuff! I'm also learning the lyrics to the song Love Like This by SS501. Should you like a listen, see here. CAUTION: View with an open mind and an understanding that this is a completely different culture. So don't be racist and make fun of them for stupid reasons. I am very passionate about this and will come beat you up with a noodle. You have been warned. Back to Vision Conference. Lots to think about and lots to plan for in the future. It requires a lot of thought and I am doing my best to look into my future, despite how that's not really possible. But I digress. Life, in each minute, is good and beautiful and I have very little to complain for.

There, you have been caught up.

Shout out to my Brissa! ;)

The Times That Try a Woman's Soul... and the times thereafter

It's been a while. I guess that happens when finals come up and there's a change in life's pattern... :) Needless to say, I survived one of the hardest years of my life. That is something to celebrate. First off, I completed my first semester as an official Geography major. And I've also come to hate the question, "So... what do you want to do with that?" Let's be honest. Some people know exactly what they want to do with their education. Some people don't and they go out post-graduation, and apply for a myriad of jobs. Sometimes it just works out that way because sometimes people are simply interested in LEARNING about something particular, not necessarily saying "I'm going to major in biochemistry because I want to make a lot of money as a doctor, because that is what my father did and what his father did, etc." Life doesn't always work out that way. Wouldn't it be awesome if it did? It was April 2012 that I was supposed to graduate. Due to my dedication to a certain dance program and my lack of foresight, I have changed my major a couple of times, thus pushing back my graduation date. Do I regret it? In some ways, yes. It would be nice to be completely done with school by now, the way I'm supposed to. On the other hand, I have learned SO MUCH! And I have lots left to learn. I have experienced a ton of things and I have yet to have the neatest experiences... like a study abroad in India. I may dislike school, but I do love to learn and I have gained a ton of insight from it. There. That's my shpeel on my upcoming super senior year.

Next. So... sometimes life is hard. And things start to fall apart. We've all experienced this in one form or another... unless your life is perfect. And then I hate you. Not really, but sort of... in an 'I love you' kind of way. Ahem. So during these times, we need something that we can hold on to to brighten our day or make us smile. This can be a person or an object and should ALWAYS be our Father in Heaven and our Savior. But that's beside the point. I am lucky enough to have bonded with my two older sisters this past month over something that is probably going to sound pretty ridiculous. Brace yourself. Ready? Korean Drama. There. I said it. Now, as silly as this sounds, it has changed my life. American media is dirty. And I didn't realize how bad it is until I watched something that is just as completely entertaining without all of the muck. Seriously, I don't think I've seen something so clean, void of bad language and innuendos since  I know you've all heard the saying, "Don't knock something until you've tried it" and I'm telling it to you  now. Really. Don't. Because you might just be missing out. Actually, I know you're missing out, but far be it from me to force my likes onto you. I just recommend it, is all. Continuing on. From this newly found awesomeness, I have begun to learn the Korean language. This has been in about the last week and a half. Okay, so it's not a common language and there really aren't many people who speak it here which doesn't make it that useful, but for some reason, I love it. I love the  90s pop culture, the bright colors, the hair that changes style and color every month, the boys that almost dress like girls...

SHINee

 Ask anyone who's talked to me about it; I'm very passionate about it. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. I've never been so happy to sit down and study before in my life! Korea. I watch their shows, I listen to their music (SS501, SHINee, etc.) I'm learning their language. This isn't something new. I've always been passionate about culture. Why do you think I did folk dance for 3 years? Why do you think I'm a geography major? I love the world and I love learning about the people in the world. Korea is just the most recent example.

It's important to find things that uplift you, that make you happy. Be it a person, place, thing, etc. And when life gets too hard to stand, kneel. That's very important too. :) Here's to the next day in a brighter future. Cheers!

Teach as you would be Taught; Learn as you would have others Learn from you

Do you remember what it was like to be young? To sit in school and listen to the teacher talk? You had your good days and your bad days. The days when everything went in one ear and out the other and then the days that what the teacher said filled your mind with wonder...
Sometimes it even still happens. Shocker.
Here's the purpose.
My success level the past several months has been approximately 1%. Everything I have tried out for since April has come back as a "Thanks but no thanks." And it hurts. The first time was the worst blow (which makes sense because it was the most important thing in my life, at the time, and I had worked the longest/hardest for it) and then there were smaller things that came after, but every time it came with a no. Can I tell you something you probably already know? NOs get harder and harder to hear after a while. You think it would get easier... but it doesn't.
So I have this good friend and some other not as good friends who suggested that I audition for this summer workshop called ReMix Vocal Academy. (As an aside: my voice is not the best. Sure, I can hum a tune, but as far as the serenity and purity... the tinkling sweet musicality of my vocal chords... not so much. It's not fingernails against a chalkboard though... just to be clear.) After some ponderage, I figured, "What the hey. I'll support my friendly acquaintances and audition. What's one more "no" to my repertoire? So I ended up picking a totally random song (Like a Prayer by Madonna? What?) and sent in... a jpg. Ha ha... oops. And it wasn't a good-looking jpg either. My mouth was wide open, chin pushed back-nearing double chinness, my hair is flying (I was in the midst of a rotation). See here:

Awkward, right?

Yeah, I know.

So at the time when I got an email back saying, (in more polite terms) "We cannot look at your audition video because you sent us a picture, genius."
At first, I just laughed at it. Because only I could do something like that. A little bit later, I saw my good friend and we talked about how I had auditioned. She knew about the jpg. And then my mind went, 'Uh oh. If she knows about the picture, then that means that....' Two people I very much respect for their talent had had a good laugh over my idiocy. Part A) I'm glad that I could be of use as comic relief. Part B) EMBARRASSING!!! And all of a sudden I was feeling like a total loser extraordinaire. Never fear, Good Friend talked me down out of my tree and after some thoughtfulness, I realized it's always better to laugh at yourself than to feel foolish about a silly thing like that. That being said, when you send in an audition for anything(!) make sure that it's a video and not an awkward, non-flattering picture.

That was my learning experience.

Now for my teaching experience.

I teach every Thursday for two and a half hours in the evenings. It has quickly become a bright spot in my week. These girls that I teach are angelic little devils, but weren't we all at that age? So yesterday I sat down with the senior company and we had a good chat about why they danced. We then talked about what dance is and how our motivation effects how we do. And after this good, deep discussion, I challenged them. "Always be genuine in everything you do."
Everything I teach those girls, is something that I wish that I had learned at their age so that I could have used it more as I transitioned. It is important to share the things, that we find important, with others, especially with those who look up to us. So maybe I don't have the best technique, but I can teach those girls some very important things that will, if utilized, change their lives forever.

Moral to all of this? A) Always be genuine in EVERYTHING you do. Don't take a second for granted. B) Be a good learner. Listen to the things that other people tell you. You don't have to use them all, but the truth is, your 'teacher' might have a greater insight on a specific situation than you. And C) Teach keeping yourself in mind as a student. Think about what you have learned and what has been most valuable to you. What do you wish you would have known five years before you actually learned it? Share your light, your energy, your passion. That is what makes a good teacher.