Only 1 day left before my departure for Seoul, Korea. This trip was probably the biggest spontaneous decision I’ve ever taken in my 19 years of life. You have no idea how nervous, yet excited, I am feeling at this very moment. My first trip across the globe by myself. My first time going to a foreign land in which I will be completely oblivious to what people will be saying. It is quite scary when I think about it. Heck, no time to wonder now. It only goes forward from here on!

Have you ever traveled alone? Please do give me some tips.

I’ve always had procastination issues when it comes to packing for trips. 36 hours before my flight, and I still haven’t filled any bags yet. It always gives me a headache to figure out what NOT to bring. Travelling compact is too hard for me, sigh. Airlines with their baggage restrictions aren’t helping me either. On the way back from all my other trips to China, I’ve had overweight issues with my luggage. Korea will be a new challenge indeeed.

Two weeks and a half away from Montreal. I sure think it’ll do me some good to be away for a bit. My only regret is to miss the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Again. Last year, I had missed it because of my summer course in physics. (Talk about frustration.) This year, at least, I’ll be traveling to somewhere new and exciting.

Let the countdown begin.

I have commitment issues with my blog, doesn’t it seem like it? Haha. It’s alright. There’s nothing like a trip to far far away to give me an urge to constantly keep in touch. For those who don’t know yet, I’m going on a trip for about 2 weeks and a half to Seoul, Korea. I’m leaving on June 30th. Only 6 days to go! I’m so excited. It’s going to be my first official trip going by myself. I take this as a mean to get away from my typical life in my hometown, but also as an opportunity of growth and self discovery. Certainly, this trip will also permit me to finally get closer to the Korean culture that I’ve been admiring from the other side of the planet since so long! Korean BBQ, bulgogi, Kpop, hanbok,  here I come! So if you want to keep up with what I’m doing during my trip, be sure to keep checking in here for updates.

So far, what have you done in your summer? How’s the completion of the to-do list coming along? Here’s an update on mine:

1. Keep blogging. – getting there.
2. Finish playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and start Final Fantasy XII. – still talking about it.
3. Print out all the pictures I’ve taken for the past 2 years. Send them to my friends. – I’ll wait til I come back from Korea.
4. Restart playing piano. – I have done a bit of it!
5. Restart singing. – Not yet.
6. Retake Japanese courses. – Change of plans. I’m crash learning Korean right now, for the convenience of my trip.
7. Learn at least 1 popular Kpop choreography. – Check! I learned Tell Me by the Wonder Girls!
8. Practice doing photography. – Check! Did a bit with Milton. Still need to continue.
9. Spend time with friends and family. – On going. So far, so good.
10. Read books. – Not yet.
11. Study in advance for future courses with Karen. :D – Will start once Karen comes back from her trip. We set August as a target starting point.
12. Clean my ROOM. *most important* – HHHHHMMMMMMM….
13. and of course…. TO SLEEP! – Big fail. Yet again!

I haven’t had a chance to get to so many things. So, what have I actually been doing? I work, dance, work out and watch TV shows. Indeed, it feels soooo good. Work and dance are pretty typical for me, but working out and watching TV?! Indeed, I have started doing a training program called P90X, done by many dancers. The people who have done it all end up being pretty strong. For the sake of dancing better and doing airsteps, heck. I’d do it!

Another of my addictions-distration is that I’ve been watching the TV Show “How I Met Your Mother”. It’s absolutely hilarious. Even sometimes, despite a less amusing day, after watching  an episode or two, it’d be likec omplete brainwash of bad things. :)

Please do share what you have been up to for the first half of summer. Any change of plans?

From May 21 to May 26 2009, I was in New York City having the blast of my life. This trip is forever unforgettable, because I had so much fun dancing and made so many new friends. The motive of my trip was mainly dancing. It was the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival (Frankie95), and nearly 2000 Lindy hoppers from all around the world were to attend. Imagine, the best dancers from all around the world, all in the same ballroom. :)

Frankie Manning is the man who had it all started for Lindy hop. Frankie is to Lindy hop, like Jesus is to Christianity! He’s the ambassador of Lindy hop. Air steps were invented by him as well. Basically, all swing dancers owe him what we have today. Thank you, Frankie, for bringing us this passion of yours. Unfortunately, the man passed away in April 2009. At 94, he was still dancing, oh yes he was. He may not be on earth with us anymore, but his passion will live for ever. I, for one, will help assure that!

Day 1
After what seemed like a ride that lasted forever, my friends and I finally arrived in New York City at around 7pm on Thursday. Usually, I tolerate long rides pretty well (been used to saying 12+ hours straight in a plane to go to China), but the unexpected difference between the American and Canadian climates made it all burning hell. Note: BURNING. It was my first time in the States in Spring. Next time, I’ll know. Later on, at night, I was supposed to roam by myself in NYC, because I didn’t have access to the Thursday night dance. Luckily, the event was selling some extra passes. Unluckily for me, at the cost of 50$ USD. To add the cherry on top, I had smartly forgotten my DANCE shoes back in Montreal. Thus, I had to beg the employees of K-Mart to sell me the last pair of shoes from a discontinued series. After a few minutes of puppy faces, they let me have it. THANK YOU, K-MART PEOPLE! Near 10:30PM, I finally made it to the ballroom. Wow. So many dancers. Every single dance I had that night was amazing. The bands also were amazing. It was the first time I heard Gordon Webster’s band play. I sure hope from now on that it won’t be the last!

Day 2
Friday was probably the best day of the entire week. First thing in the morning, my friends and I attended Frankie Manning’s memorial at the Presbyterian church on 5th avenue. Those who missed it, you have no idea what you missed! When I sat there, in that church, I was proud to be part of a historical moment. Benny Powell’s band were playing at the front. When the familiar tune of “How High the Moon” sounded, I couldn’t help but let tears quietly run down my cheeks. It was not only because the lyrics made a great connection to where Frankie would be now, but also because it’s a song that is marked deeply in my highschool memories. Ah, nostalgia~ “Somewhere there’s Heaven, it’s where you are. Somewhere there’s music, how near how far.” Two other things that will absolutely be engraved in my mind forever were actually dancing in a church (oh yes, I did!) and seeing the priests dance on the altar! “Can’t stop the Lindy hop!” Indeed, we were encouraged to express all of our emotions during the memorial. If dancing was what you felt like doing, then you were encouraged to do so.

After the memorial, everyone paraded to Central Park. A live band was playing incredibly fast music. Despite the infernal heat, people were still swingin’ out! Crazy! I’m honestly very happy nobody had passed out! Imagine yourself dancing in a sauna. Who in their right mind would do that? Well, a Lindy hopper maybe. :) Then, there was the famous World’s Largest Jack & Jill. I signed up for it just to have fun and help set the world record, but to my surprise, I was picked to go in the semi-finals! That was certainly unexpected.

Lindy hoppers parading in memory of Frankie Manning – Central Park, New York City
(Photo Credit: Jeong-Taek Lim)

With dance, comes food. For supper, I went to NYC’s Koreatown with my new Korean friends. -Real Koreans, eh Saeho? (I give you permission to hit me if you actually read this :P)- For the first time in my life, I had real Korean food. I ordered a Bibimbap (a mega mix of rice, vegetables and raw egg in humongous stone bowl). It had been such a long time I hadn’t been able to finish something I order in a restaurant. I felt really bad, because it was REALLY delicious. I blame it on the mountain of -free- appetizers we had. Seaweed salad, kimchi, radish, Korean PANCAKE, etc etc etc. The list goes on. What a party for the tastebuds!

On the left: eggs in a stone bowl. On right: seaweed salad, spinach (I think), cold noodles, and radish.

Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of my bibimbap. Google it up! :)

Hm, it’s getting late. I get carried away so much when I tell my travelling anecdotes. Part 2 to come, soon!

I went watching the freshly released X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night. As expected, the room was full; to my surprise, the movie met my expectations and made it to my list of “talk-about-it-to-your-friends”. Although my friend Alain told me that the real story from the Marvel comic books wasn’t exactly like as it was portrayed in the movie, it was still good enough to me to satisfy my childhood question of where did X-Men came from. Believe it or not, I use to be a fan of the X-Men cartoon when I was a kid! However, understanding limited English back then and being victim of constant random repeats of old episodes, I never really got the grasp of the X-Men story. Not chronologically anyways. Bottom line, X-Men Origins is not my favorite movie, but I still recommend it as it is good entertainment and a good refreshment for childhood memories. And of course….

Yummy, Daniel Henney <3

DANIEL HENNEY! Yes, you probably guessed right. Daniel Henney, model and actor, was the greatest motivation for me to go see X-Men Origins. It was quite curious to see Daniel play the character of an almost -I’d say- brainless and evil character. I am too used to Daniel’s image of the perfect gentleman, smart, strong, etc. Although he wasn’t a main character, I am still happy for him for getting a role on such a big budget Hollywood film. Go Daniel!

My Daniel Henney fangirl crisis didn’t stop after X-Men ended. I came home, and decided to watch his second movie (of 3 he was ever in, the other one being Seducing Mr. Perfect). In the middle of the night (or should I say morning), I watched My Father in which Daniel plays James, a Korean adopted by Americans. James decides to go to Korea to find his birth parents to discover that his father is a murder sentenced to be on the death row. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIE. My Father is based on a true story, the life story of Aaron Bates. Several scenes in the movie was so touching that I had to stop it quite a few times to wipe my buckets of tears. It made me reflect on certain topics from a different angle. What is family, ethnicity, sin, death, bliss, gratitude?

You can watch the movie on My Soju.com

If you do watch these movies, let me know what you think! Different opinions are always fun to hear. Any old/new movies you’d like to recommend me? While a junkie’s at it, might as well, right?

Hello all who have not lost faith in my blogging!

I am back, after a year of unannounced hiatus! I fell into a life of routine of too many things to do, and simply semi-gave up on blogging. With summer vacation approaching, I am thinking to give a rebirth to my shoeBox. My friends, who have been consistent bloggers, have inspired to me keep going.

A quick update on what I’ve been up to for the past year:

• I’m about to finish my first year of studies at Concordia Universtiy, doing a B.Comm in Marketing.
• I am still a hardcore lindy hopper. I placed 2nd in the intermediate Jack & Jill at the Boston Tea Party Swings 2009!
• I have been to Hong Kong, Guang Zhou, Quebec City, Boston, Danvers and will go to New York City soon.

My friend Jeong-Taek and I dancing at the Boston Tea Party Swings 2009 in Danvers, MA.

To motivate myself to finish my exams quickly, I will now list a (want)-to-do list for the upcoming summer. Did you know that by simply listing what you have to do, you are already more likely to actually get them done? I’m going to give it a try, and I challenge to you to share your summer 2009 to-do list too!

My summer 2009 to-do list in no particular order:

1. Keep blogging.
2. Finish playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and start Final Fantasy XII.
3. Print out all the pictures I’ve taken for the past 2 years. Send them to my friends.
4. Restart playing piano.
5. Restart singing.
6. Retake Japanese courses.
7. Learn at least 1 popular Kpop choreography.
8. Practice doing photography.
9. Spend time with friends and family.
10. Read books.
11. Study in advance for future courses with Karen. :D
12. Clean my ROOM. *most important*
13. and of course…. TO SLEEP!

I think that’s what I have in mind so far, but considering I have endless interest in everything, I will most likely be adding more. So what’s on your summer 2009 to-do list?

Sorry I haven’t been writing in here for a while! I’ve been busy with my dance life and school life (late assignments tend to stack up, hehe).

Since a few weeks now, my Swing dance club at school (MSDC: Marianopolis Swing Dance Club) and I have been intensively practicing for our upcoming show. Anyone who’s interested is welcomed to come see probably Montreal’s youngest Swing dance troupe perform!

Swing Fiesta!
Friday, April 11, 2008 at 6:30 PM.
Marianopolis College (room F-105)
4873 Westmount Avenue
Westmount, Quebec
Metros: Vendôme, Villa Maria
Buses: 66, 124, 138

Tickets: $8.00 in advance ($10.00 at the door)
Money goes to help our teacher Alain Wong for his 7-week bike ride from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico “promoting micro-credit as a tool to fight poverty”. Current amount raised: $750.00; the objective: $3000.00!

There are going to be 3 Swing dance choreographies and 2 Latin dance choreographies. My friend Ashley and I are also going to sing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, originally sung by Marilyn Monroe. We’re gonna serve desserts and drinks, and give a mini social dance lesson afterwards. Please come in great numbers to show your support! :)

The MSDC crew 2008! Front row: me, Wisit, Andy and Ilonka. Back row: Nicky, Ting Tin, Jonathan. Missing: David, Martin, Ashley.

Boston Tea Party!
This passed weekend (March 28-30), I went to Boston Tea Party, a major Swing dance event where Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing mix. There were performances, competitions, workshops with pros and lots of social dancing! My favorite part of the event was watching all the pros compete! I have watched a lot of DVDs, but watching the Invitation Strictly Lindy and WCS competition live brought the excitement to a whole other level! Max and Annie did a completely crazy aerial during their Strictly Lindy segment that drove the crowd nuts! The other absolutely amazing (and hilarious) competition was the Jack & Jill Crossovers in which pros of WCS must dance with a randomly chosen Lindy Hop pro! After a whole weekend exposed to WCS, now I really want to learn it! Social dancing to hip hop and R&B is fuuuun!

Here’s fun footage from youtube

It was my first “serious” competition at the Boston Tea Party. I participated in the Lindy Hop Intermediate Jack & Jill, danced with 3 random partners and made it to the finals! I didn’t win anything, but dancing at the finals with the 4th random partner was just one of the best experiences ever! All this motivates me to keep working on my dancing to become better! hehe!

Family for the weekend! <3 Back row: me and Anne. Front row: Aleix, Marie and Alain.

MSDC Practice today!

During the free period at school today, Alain taught us some cool Swing dance tricks! Flying in the air can be super scary, but doing these crazy tricks are probably the only times I’m not so afraid to have my feet off the ground! One note though: Swing dancing is not about these crazy aerials and flips! They are just very fun to learn and flashy during performances!

Martin is pushing me up in the air as I flip across. Wisit is in the back, spotting me in case I crash!

Here’s a clip of me doing the exact flip a few months ago with Alain.

Sorry for not having written in here for a while! I’ve been busy doing many things, exams being amongst them. Ai! But I’m back, and this time, with more stuff about the environment.

In my Environmental Ethics class, my teacher showed us a video (Story of Stuff) that was not only very funny but tell us the story of consumerism. Just the humour in the video makes it worth watching! It tells us how much our society are brainwashed to buy, buy, buy, buy and buy more! That isn’t truly the problem, because if you’re rich and you’re able to buy a lot of things, then good for you, right? The problems are found in the exploitation of natural resources to make those things you buy, in the process of making those products and disposing those products afterwards! Us, richer countries, we literally invade Third World countries, steal their resources because we don’t have enough anymore and then pollute their lands with factories because we don’t want to pollute ours. Other points in the video were made about the products we buy being fabricated with a multitude of extremely dangerous and toxic substances. It makes you doubt whether you’d die one day from the pen you’re using or the spoon you’re eating from, eh? the video also shows how people in society are stuck in a vicious circle to always work, work, work and then buy, buy, buy. It’s so true! It shocks me to learn that we’ve only been programmed to think this way ever since after World War II when people wanted to make an economic boom. The last part of the video showed viewers that we dispose 99% of what we buy. It’s an unconscious waste of money, thus of effort and time! All of our trash then gets burned and buried in the Earth, making our planet die 3 million times faster (okay, I’m exaggerating, but you get the point).

Anyways, enough said. Watch the video, have a great laugh and a good wake-up. It makes you think twice before you buy your next item. I’m not saying to stop going shopping; I know I wouldn’t be able to do that! It just…before sliding your credit card, or handing in those purple, green, pink and brown bills, think about if you really REALLY love that item that much, or need it at all.

On Saturday night, I was invited to go to Cage aux Sports with Alain and his brother Oscar to eat supper and watch the hockey game of the Habs vs the New Jersey Devils. It’s been a good almost 10 years since I’ve watched a complete hockey game like that, and to my great surprise, I really enjoyed it!

The last time I watched hockey, I had a really bad experience which just made me leave that realm for good. I was still in elementary school back then. One night, my dad brought me to a hockey game at the Molson Center (now called the Bell Center) to watch the Habs versus the Boston team. Somehow, watching the game live seemed 10 million times longer than watching it at home on television and I soon started to be impatient. The fact that the crazy woman sitting in back of me kept stridently screaming “GO HABS GO!” non stop really annoyed me too. We lost that game 9 to 2. By the end of the game, that crazy woman was cheering for Boston instead because the Habs were just doing too bad. As for me, I had lost interest in hockey since then.

Showing off a little bit of Montrealer pride! Go Habs Go!
(Logo of the Habs taken from Habs.com)

Watching the Habs winning 2 to 1 against the Devils on Saturday night sort of reawakened my interest in hockey. The Habs’ first goal was spectacular!~ It was a great experience to watch a lot of people gather up and cheer together. It was funny to see the table sitting behind us with a huge tank of beer as well; they were already so drunk at half of their tank emptied!

Lesson of day: what you gave you gave long time ago might deserve a second chance! It’s nice to always keep your doors open for new things, but also for old things! I use to hate tomatoes when I was a kid; now, I can’t get enough of them! And didn’t we all once, as kids, feared cooties from the opposite sex, and then grow up to find them damn fine? ;)

Here’s some jokes that I found super funny from Soompi Forums. Hope they bring a smile, if not laughter to you! Enjoy~

ROMANCE MATHEMATICS

Smart man + smart woman = romance

Smart man + dumb woman = affair

Dumb man + smart woman = marriage

Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy

______________________________
OFFICE ARITHMETIC

Smart boss + smart employee = profit

Smart boss + dumb employee = production

Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion

Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime

_____________________________
SHOPPING MATH

A man will pay $20 for a $10 item he needs.

A woman will pay $10 for a $20 item that she doesn’t need.

_____________________________
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

_____________________________
HAPPINESS

To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.

To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

______________________________
LONGEVITY

Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing to die.

______________________________
PROPENSITY TO CHANGE

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does.

_____________________________
DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

_____________________________
HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED

Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, “You’re next.” They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

With a title like that, you probably guessed that I hate Valentine’s day. Nothing personal really. Some hate Christmas; some hate Halloween; I hate Valentine’s day. I dislike the idea of it being some sort of pink fluffy cheap version of our commercialized Christmas. “It is a special day to let people know you love them.” Wasn’t it enough at Christmas? Now, 2 months later, we’re being convinced that we should buy expensive chocolate and flowers and diamonds…again?

I came across Child labor, war or pesticides for your Valentine?, an article by Diane Bartz. It made me think. Of course, whatever is said there applies for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, you-name-it. It talks about the (incredible) amount of pesticides used to grow roses (sad, I love white roses…), child labor involved in 40% of the world’s cocoa and war-financing diamonds (Blood Diamond, anyone?). Author of the article, Diane Bartz, suggested “Lingerie, anyone?” A member of Soompi Forums, under the nickname of Marrymehyori, brilliantly replied “No good, it’s made in sweat shops in Southeast Asia…” =)

Venus fly traps perhaps contain less pesticides than roses? :)
(Pon and Zi by Jeff Thomas)

A quick story about Valentine’s Day. Do you know where it actually comes from? Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Halloween, we celebrate the dead. Mother and Father’s day, well our parents. Valentine’s day (or Saint-Valentin in French) was actually originally a day to celebrate the Saint Valentine who, according to legend, secretly married young men and women during war times. Some king forbid young men to marry, because they were needed in the army and if they weren’t married, they wouldn’t have worries about their families and be fully focused on the battlefields. Of course, like most good ol’ Christian story, Saint Valentine got locked up and executed in the end. The tradition of writing little love notes and love wishes is apparently inspired from the prayers that Saint Valentine’s followers stuck in the walls of his jail cell.

One of my favorite love quotes from the Bible (yes, I’m Christian).

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4

If you haven’t told your loved ones that you love them, then be sure to do it today. And tomorrow. And after tomorrow. Happy Valentine’s Day! :)