Daddy 2 Daughters

Fight or Flight – master your fears!

Fidgety — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:00:39 +0000

I have what I hope turns out to be good news girls. I talked with your grandma and I think she is finally going to come over here and visit us. We have been talking about it for a long time but there was always some kind of problem. We finally had a frank talk about it the other day and she revealed her reservations. She said that she has a hard time staying anywhere away from home. She says that it is a deep seeded fear and it make her feel very uncomfortable. But she said she will work on it and plans on coming over to spend some time with us next summer. A lot of things could happen between now and then so I haven’t told you girls yet because I don’t want to get your hopes up. I hope that it all works out.

But there is a good lesson for you girls here. As you go through life you will have your own fears and difficulties with things. If you don’t address these they will continue to be with you your whole life. The best way to deal with these things is to run right at them. There is a natural instinct in people for fight or flight. If you choose the flight option then that problem will always be there and you never know when it will come back to haunt you. So take those things that you have difficulty with and turn them into kitties instead of letting them grow into lions. I don’t know what your particular difficulties or fears will be but examples are public speaking, fear of losing your job, fear of failure, etc. You girls are amazing and I want you to get everything out of life that you can. But if you let your fears control you then it will close you off from so many opportunities. Remember that there are very few situations in life where you should follow your instinct for flight.

This is your birth Sudona. I won’t go into the full story of your birth here because I have already made a full post about it in the past.

This is your first day of life.

Mom had to recover.

Third day of life – getting used to things.

Finally made it home. See, you were a duck from birth.

I think you’re a little too young to start drinking coffee.

We already have a close bond!

Finally got your mom to let you spend some time out of your cocoon.

Avya records an Commercial for a Securities Company

Fidgety — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:00:54 +0000

Back in the studio. You recorded another commercial for the second day in a row. This one you did not do as good a job. I think part of the reason is that you felt a little burnt out. I am sure your mom did a good job of keeping you entertained and having fun but I just don’t think you were interested in taking direction. Anyway, your mom encouraged you and got you to do what the director wanted. TV commercials can be a little tough at times because they will shoot the same little clip over and over again until they get exactly what they want. After a couple of times you girls usually get bored and don’t want to keep doing it. So it comes down to your mom being able to make it fun so you will keep doing it. I know it is a lot of work for your mom and I don’t think she really gets much credit for all she does. I will put the video up once in comes out on TV.

Reading Update – Jane Eyre

Fidgety — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:00:04 +0000

Yep, we finished another book and you loved it. Actually I have to admit that I liked it a lot too. The book was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. We thought the ending was quite surprising. The beginning of the book really effected you to. I could tell that you were really sad that she was treated so poorly. I tried to use it as a way to get you to appreciate what a great life you have.

Picture gotten from www.amazon.com - click on picture to shop

Avya’s Lamian Apartment Commercial.

Fidgety — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:00:01 +0000

I guess that audition tape was pretty good because you got chosen for two commercials. Unfortunately, both commercials were being shot on the same day. Your mother was really frustrated. So, she called one of the agents and said that Avya wouldn’t be able to shoot the commercial on the day they had scheduled. The agent called the production company and told them and they said they could shoot Avya’s segment the following day. We were so happy because this meant you would get to be in both commercials.

This is the first of the two commercials. Your mother said you did a great job and everyone really loved you. You had a lot of fun because you got to play with a bunch of other kids. We are still waiting for it to air but once it does I will try to get a copy of it and make a post about it.

Here is a video your mother shot and some pictures from the shooting.

Things are falling into place.

Fidgety — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:00:50 +0000

Well we finally got the go ahead from the building owners. They didn’t want to ‘destroy’ the image of their building so they didn’t like our plans to resurface the whole front and side of the first floor to make the place look like an old Japanese house. So, we had to give that idea up but we still needed to press to be able to use the front area for enclosed seating. I came up with the idea (Saena now claims it was her idea) of doing it with glass so it would match the building image. The owners were open to that so that is how we are going to do it.

Today we went and spent several hours meeting with the interior designer to go over the details and go through their bid. It was an interesting meeting and having you there Avya even made it more interesting (difficult). We are getting pretty excited and a little nervous at the same time. But the location is so good that there is pretty much no way that we won’t make money. It really comes down to how much money we make. It really is just a test of our business acumen.

You know I don’t like making posts without pictures but I am sorry to say girls that we haven’t been able to take a lot of pictures these days. I think we usually do a pretty good job of taking pictures regularly and the fact that you girls do modeling work we always get pictures from that. But we have been really busy with our new restaurant, my back problem and the multitude of other things we have been trying to do these days so we have not taken a lot of pictures. You girls do lots of things I wish I had pictures of but I don’t. If there were only some way to record you 24 hours a day 7 days a week. But that would take to much time to edit down to the interesting parts. Also, I think there are events in one’s life that it is better to forget.

So, I don’t have any current pictures to write about so I will use some old pictures. All of these pictures are from February 2000.

Here are some kids I was teaching at the time. I wonder where they are now?

Your mother looking at you Sudona and knowing that we would be meeting you for the first time soon.

Your mother always hated these pictures of her bare belly.

My first picture with you Sudona. I already knew we were going to share a special bond.

I don’t remember how we got these clothes. Did we buy them or were they a gift? I do remember us holding them and playing with them and being so excited that soon you would be coming out and wearing them. We thought everything was so cute at that time.

These were the pictures that your mother wanted – shirt down. That is the reason she has such a big smile on her face.

Getting Old!

Fidgety — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

I got the strangest pain in my back the other day. It was right between my shoulder blades and it caused me so much pain that I couldn’t sleep for more than about 4 hours and even when I was sleeping if I moved it caused so much pain I would cry out. It was really strange, like nothing I had ever had before and I couldn’t figure out anything I had done that may have caused it. That worried me even more. On top of that, when I would get up and walk around the pain would slowly go away and after about an hour the pain was 95% gone. Because of my worrying I talked to your grandmother and she said it may be due to a dry lung sticking inside. (She had the medical term for it but I can’t remember what it is right now.) When I looked that up it didn’t match my symptoms so I started to look for things that matched my symptoms. I finally matched it up to Thoracic Spine Pain. But there was no clear cut cause. There were lots of possible causes, including cancer. This scared me even more and I decided to go and see a doctor as soon as I could.

I met with a local doctor and she treated me for the flu. I was pretty annoyed with this and made an appointment to go see another doctor at a large hospital. I met with the doctor and she asked questions and then had an X-ray taken of my back. She said she was looking for Bamboo Spine. Fortunately that was not the cause but she didn’t have any ideas after that so she sent me to a spine specialist. I went and talked with him and he was pretty baffled by the symptoms also. Where is Doctor House when you need him? (A reference to a popular TV show these days.) The spine specialist said that he was sure that it had nothing to actually do with my spine. He thought that it was probably nothing more than a muscle spasm issue. But he said he would send me to an internal medicine specialist and they could do a CRT or MRI if I wanted. But his suggestion was to give it some more time and see if it would just go away. I went back to the first doctor and I told her what the spine doctor said and she agreed with him. I asked your mom and she agreed with them also. So, I asked the doctor if she could give me something to help me sleep. She prescribed a muscle relaxant and Valium. I took those for a few days and the pain eventually went away. I have to say that the Valium was not like people have always said it would be. I never go any kind of high off of it. Was the dosage so small or did she slip me some sugar pills?

Now the pain is gone but it was kind of a wake-up call for me. I realized several things from this experience. First, I am getting old and will probably experience more of these random ailments. Second, I need to get a full health checkup and start getting ones regularly. Third, I need to stop smoking. The thing that kept running through my brain the whole time was that the smoking had finally caught up to me and now I had cancer. And finally, I need to get health insurance. I have always thought I was invincible and the cost of medicine in Korea is so cheap that just paying for any visits or medicine is cheaper than paying the premiums. Now I realize that there is always the possibility that I could get something really bad or some accident could happen and that would take away the money we have worked so hard to save and invest for our future. You girls and your mother have always had insurance, I have just not gotten any because of my belief of invincibility and it is such a pain to get it because I am a foreigner in Korea. Now I realize that it is worth the hassle.

I don’t like posts without pictures so her are the required pictures.

Here are some pictures of you mother and I playing on New Year’s Eve 1999. I can’t believe how much younger we looked. This was a huge event so the street was packed with shoulder to shoulder people. Your mother had a belly with you in it and I was very protective so I didn’t want people pushing against you. When one guy push and I pushed back I almost got in a fight with him. That’s what I remember from this.

Sudona From Birth

Fidgety — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:00:28 +0000

I have felt a little guilty for a while that I only had this blog and photo site set up and running since Avya’s birth. But Sudona you have to give me a little leeway here. When you were born there was no such thing as YouTube and I don’t know if there were blogs and photo sites. If there were blogs I am sure they were not all the popular and the software was not there to easily set one up and maintain one. I did have some homepages but nothing self hosted. I didn’t even have my own personal web address at that time.
I have had plans on updating the photo site from the time you were born to the time Avya was born but it takes a lot of work and time so I have not been able to get around to it. Well, I finally took some time today and was able to get through the first 8 months of your life. Once I am done I will be able to easily make posts comparing Avya to what you were doing at the same age. I think that will be pretty interesting. I may make some posts using those photos but I don’t have the ability to go through and remember ever detail like I have been able to go through with you and Avya over the last 3 and a half years.

Here are some pictures of your mother with you in her belly Sudona. Your mother always hated these pictures but fortunately I was able to talk her into letting me take them.

Sudona’s Chinese School’s 100 Year Anniversary

Fidgety — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:00:42 +0000

I think I have said enough times Sudona that I don’t really understand the Chinese or Korean education systems. But it doesn’t really matter whether I understand them or not, you are in the Chinese education system and so it is your experience. This means that these will be your earliest memories when you get older. So, I just encourage you and talk about my experience as a way to bond with you, not to try to say my experience was better or worse.

So, in Korea (and I assume China also) schools have big parties and days off for their school’s founding day anniversary every year. I don’t understand this but it is your experience. This year was your school’s 100 year anniversary so it was even a bigger deal. Matter of fact it was so big that you started to practice a class performance last year and thus all the students stayed in this same class had to stay in the same class even thought they changed grades. Also, it was written up in all the newspapers in Korea and important government officials and Chinese ambassadors showed up.

So here are some pictures and video I took of the event.

As soon as you showed up in the classroom Sudona all of you girls decided that you needed to go out and check out what was going on.

All the classes set up booths and tried to sell something or do something that would generate some money to give the school. At this booth you could put on traditional Chinese clothes and take a picture in front of the picture of Tiananmen Square.

Your class was moving to the grounds to listen to a bunch of speeches. Yippee, fun!

Dragon heads for the dragon show that would be put on later.

You with your classmates.

Picture of the stage and all the important people.

Stuff one of the classes was trying to sell.

Thought this was a good picture showing that you go to school right in the middle of a big city.

They painted the whole school just for this big celebration.

Can you read the English? It says “6th Grade / Obedience” – For some reason that word just rubs me the wrong way. Especially when used in a school environment.

A picture from the top floor of one of the buildings.

Banners for the centennial.

Release of balloons.

All the important people ready to press some special buttons.

I guess the buttons made the plumes of smoke go off.

The dragon show was pretty cool.

Each class did their presentation.

Your class waiting to do your presentation.

This music was really cool. I could have listened to it for much longer.

One of the booths. I guess this is traditional stuff from one of the areas in China.

Here you are Sudona doing your class presentation.

They had noodles they gave out to all the people for free. You are waiting in line to get your noodles here. You said the noodles tasted like crap.

Avya, you had some big commercial meeting so you didn’t show up until later with your mom. I took you to the kindergarten area so you could play.

Now it is time for the sports competition time of the day. The centennial portion of the day went so long that they sports part was cut short.

Can you see Avya and your mom?

Getting ready for your race.

You won the gold medal again. That’s three years in a row. You started talking about trying to make it all 6 years in a row.

Of course Avya wanted to play with your gold medal. Later I took from her and put it in your mom’s purse. You came looking for it and I said Avya had it. When she did have it I said Avya must have lost it. You started to tear up so I quickly told you I was just joking. You didn’t find it to be that funny.

Your mom is really looking good these days. She has been exercising regularly and eating healthy.

Getting ready for the tug-of-war. You said when your class practiced against other classes your class lost every time. So, when you won this first one your class was so happy. Unfortunately, your class lost the next one so your class came in 2nd place.

Trying to keep Avya entertained. Boy do I need a haircut.

Audition For Some Commercials.

Fidgety — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:00:57 +0000

I don’t know why I haven’t put these up before. This is one of your audition tapes. The way things typically go is that a production company lets some modeling agencies know that they are looking for a model for their commercial. They go through their models and finds the ones that fit the requirements that the production company is looking for. If they have an audition tape available then they send it in to the production company. The production company then chooses their group of top models and has them come in to meet with them directly. Then they narrow it down to the final three and either they ask for another meeting or they go through the audition tapes again and decide on the model they want to use. I can’t tell you how many times both you Sudona and Avya have made it into the final three. It seems like both of you have made it into the final three of most of the commercials that the agents have sent in your audition tapes for. For you Avya the percentage of times you have been chosen once you have made it into the top three has been pretty high. For you Sudona the percentage was lower. I think a lot of the reason for that was that you looked too Western and they were looking for Korean kids. I think the only reason you even made it into the top three in many of those cases was because you were so cute/pretty that they wanted to use you but when they thought about it they thought it would be too strange for a little Western looking girl to have two Korean parents in the commercial.

Anyway, your mother has been to so many of these meetings with agents to create audition tapes that she started just asking if she could make them herself and send them in. This doesn’t work all the time but in some cases they accept this. This is one of those audition tapes your mother made of you Avya and we sent it to them over the net. Your mother has done quite a few of these but this is the first one I think I have actually uploaded to YouTube and posted about it. I don’t know why I didn’t do this with the previous ones.

Christmas Gift Ideas for my Girls

Fidgety — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:00:47 +0000

Yep, Christmas time is just around the corner. I can’t believe how fast this year has flown by. So, both of you girls are getting older, bigger and more mature. This means that the gift ideas I have to come up with shouldn’t be really childish. I guess the gifts for you Avya should still be pretty childish because you are only 3 but I think you would like things that are more challenging.

Okay, lets start with some things that are running through my mind for you Avya.

First, you are really into barbies these days so I am thinking that may be one thing. Sudona, we got a lot of barbies for you but you were never really into playing with dolls.

Click Image to go to item

You have lots of barbies but only one Ken doll so maybe we should get you a get doll too, or instead.

Click on photo to go shopping site.

One other thing that I am considering is a bike. We got a bike for you Sudona on your third birthday and you were quickly riding it. But, we felt that you were more physically advanced by your third birthday than Avya. I think Avya could be ready now.

Click on image to go to shopping site.

Okay, you have started reading this year Avya so I would like one of your gifts to be something that will help you to continue to have fun in reading. I am not totally sold on this product so I will have to keep looking but this gives me some idea.

Click on photo to go to the shopping site.

Okay, now some ideas that are running through my mind for you Sudona. You are not a little girl anymore so you don’t have much interest in toys anymore. This actually makes it a little more difficult to find things that would be good for you.

First, you are really into clothes fashion these days. So I am sure some of your gifts will be clothes. I’m sure you wouldn’t like these actual clothes but I had to use some kind of picture.

Click on image to go to shopping site

Now, you have begging us for a cell phone for the whole year. Many of your friends have one and we would feel more comfortable with you going out to play with your friends if you were carrying one. So, if I can talk your mother into it I think you will get one for Christmas. If you do end up getting one it will just be a basic one, we are not going to get you any fancy smartphone.

Click on photo to go to shopping site.

One more thing that has been running through my mind. I have talked for a year and a half about getting you a computer. I think with the way computers are integrated into our lives and how they will be even more so in the future I need to get you on a computer and make it at regular part of your life. What I have been thinking about is one of these little netbooks.

Click on image to go to shopping site.