camping

here are a list of some awesome things:

• my dad telling me we're going to leave at 6:30am, but letting me sleep in until 7:30 (that never happens)
• my mom giving me the $16 she found in my pants when doing my laundry
• using that money to buy ice cream bars for everyone
• figuring out how to assemble a 9x17 ft tent
• sleeping in a 9x17 tent
• on battery-powered aero beds that my dad bought because he thinks he's too old to be sleeping on rocks and sticks
• camping in yosemite on a warm, orange-tinted october day, even though my toes fell off when it went below 30 degrees at night
• wearing the same clothes for 40 hours
• not wearing makeup
• getting a site close to the bathrooms, even though my mom didn't see where I was pointing and instead, walked .25 miles up the hill to the next bathroom
• throwing rocks at random things while gathering firewood
• building a campfire without lighter fluid
• watching my dad try to add a log that is literally bigger than me in our fire pit
• eating spicy korean ramen for lunch, dinner, and breakfast
• eating 4 s'mores (yes 4)
• waking up, walking out of the tent, and seeing a BEAR in the next campsite
• climbing rocks to a waterfall, even though I slipped and got my shoe wet
• my mom having like 12,000 korean wetnaps
• my bro not paying attention while driving down a steep and windy road because we finally got reception to KNBR 680 and were listening to the Giants game
• the Giants going from a 1-2 score at the top of the 9th with one man on, 2 outs and a 2-2 count to scoring 2 more and wining the game
• checking the Cal game score (35-7)
• my bro saying he'll drive until we need to fill up again, which never happened. sucka!

cheers choi family!

puzzles are frustrating

i hate planning vacations. i used to like it... but now i hate it. it's like putting together a 1000 puzzle piece together that only has 2 colors. it's really rewarding if you finish it, but otherwise it's easier to just give up.

"They're not even TRYING!"

When you go to Disneyland for the first time with different people you learn a lot. This weekend I learned that there are two types of people in this world:

1. The ones that go to Disneyland from park open (8am) to park close (midnight), creating a FastPass strategy to ride every ride at least once, literally running to CA Adventure to make the Aladdin show, efficiently planning bathroom breaks and when to buy the turkey legs, limping because your back hurts and you have shin splints but still ride on one more ride before crawling back to the car where everyone falls asleep and the driver has to belt BBMak out of tune to stay awake but he's not mad because it was SO WORTH IT.
2. And then there are the ones that eat lunch in Downtown Disney, show up at the park at 12:30pm, have a relaxing quota of 4 or 5 rides, make other people to buy them the pineapple floats, and don't even care about World of Color because they want to leave at 8:30pm.

I'm not hating, I'm just saying there are two types...

In all seriousness, the trip was mega fun even with nubs from category B. Not without it's points of stress. At one point Jon/Liz need to pee and Jer/Steve were falling behind, but Clay/Marg/Helen are literally running with Marg yelling, "They're not even TRYING!"

I ended up pausing, then yelling, "Just leave them we have 2 minutes before the show starts GOGOGO!" The last thing I saw was Steve's face looking at us like we were lunatics. But the Aladdin show was crazy awesome.

I was sorry to leave you guys :( Really was sorry...

That's my boss('s boss)!

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=461233863

"It changed my life."

From time to time, I say this phrase. But you should know, there are certain criteria for something to truly merit this statment:

1. Can't be obvious like moving into a new apartment, getting a smart phone, or believing in Jesus.
   
2. Must be either uncommon OR not revered by the common. Sex would never apply. Neither would homemade chocolate chip cookies, because who doesn't like homemade chocolate chip cookies? Only aliens and crazy people.
   
3. Must change the way you think, live, eat, breathe, move, feel, or do. Not necessarily all of the above, at least one of them.
   
4. Every time someone mentions it you think, "Oh ya, that totally changed my life."

Now, the top 10 things that have changed my life (so far):

1. Gourmet mac & cheese -- I have always loved mac & cheese. I'd rather never eat any dessert ever again than give up mac & cheese. I was, and still am, a big fan of Kraft, both the stove-top box and microwave packet varieties. But having "grown-up" mac & cheese makes me fall onto the floor. We're talking smoked gouda and bacon, buffalo chicken mac & cheese, 4-cheese (goat, colby, cheddar, and parmesan) with herbed bread crumbs...
2. How I Met Your Mother -- one of the few shows that makes me laugh so out loud I need to clap my hand over my mouth because otherwise I sound like a crazy person because I'm by myself.
   
3. Skinny belt around the waist over a long cardigan -- ~2x per week
   
4. Expensive haircuts -- Nothing crazy, like $50-70. I used to loathe my hair, but now realize that it was just because I refused to spend more than $10 on a haircut. I'm not a boy.
5. Inductive Bible study -- I've been reading the Bible my entire life, but it wasn't until I did this form of intensive, scholarly, be-confused-then-figure-it-out type of study that I finally understood the wisdom behind the words. Mark Study made me understand why we use words like "glory" and "lamb" when looking the life of Jesus.
   
6. Eyebrow pencils -- If you look at pictures from college and before, I have no eyebrows.
   
7. Wicked the musical -- Changed my life because I still break out in song or listen to the entire soundtrack at least once per month.
8. Business as Missions track at Urbana '06 -- Set my foundation and belief that the the purpose of business and the economy is for social change, not profit.
9. Not looking at the clock before I go to bed -- Finally stopped calculating how many hours of sleep I would get and then having trouble falling asleep because I would be thinking, "I'm only gonna get X hours of sleep." I got this trick from Dani. I've been waking up more well-rested ever since.
10. Interval training on a treadmill -- I hate running. Hate it. It's uncomfortable and boring and tiring. But interval training gives it some pizazz. I can now run 3-4 times a week without wanting to hurl my body off the treadmill.

Mondays

Oh my goodness, what a long day! But no, not because of work.

After work, hit the gym and stayed on the treadmill an extra 7 minutes (yes it makes a difference!). Then instead of running to catch the shuttle, I stayed a little longer and sat to eat dinner. One hour commute, got home, showered, cleaned up a bit, then finally settled down with my computer to watch some useless TV and see the latest in my inbox. But oh no, not such a calm night. You know what happens when the entire bottom part of my Gmail screen fills with chat windows and I can't read the bottom of the email threads? I actually turn off my TV because I need to concentrate (and if you know me, you know my TV is always on).

VIDEOCHAT SEATTLE BABIES TAHOE SWINGDANCING APRIL MAY JUNE JULY VEGAS PISMO SAN DIEGO CALENDAR BIRTHDAYS CALENDAR FINDMEABOYFRIEND MINNACOMEHERE CALENDAR LUNCH CALENDAR TAHOE WOOT!

No wonder I don't have a hobby. But if the rest of my days and nights are filled corralling friends and debating trip options while making lunch plans, chatting with friends, and typing "lol" a lot more than I have recently*...well then, my life is full and I'm a lucky gal :)

*To be explained another, non-Monday day

How much would you pay for this meal?

Giant steak, glazed baby bok choy, and a healthy portion of mac and cheese. How much would you pay for this meal? Cuz I paid less than $5, and it took less than 30 minutes to make. From Whole Foods no less.

Take that Rachael Ray!