backpacker

im leaving for my month long trip.

im taking my laptop (security reasons) (and i feel to attached to this apple), so ill try to chronicle my fun along the way, with some pictures.

have a great break!

my dinner:

i claim to be experimenting with cooking these days, so in order to make people believers, ill provide evidence.

this looks better in real life than it does in this picture (because of the flash and because..it just is)













(click picture for closeup)

on this plate:

lettuce w/ evoo & fresh ground pepper
veggie 'bangers' (sausages)
madras curry salmon
mashed potatoes (mixed with paprika, herbs & fresh ground pepper) w/ onion gravy
garlic bread (as you can tell, i was hungry while i was cooking, so i ate a piece of one)
german white wine

note: i couldnt make all this from scratch. i had to use premade curry sauce because i didnt have any ingredients to make it. haha. also, the onion gravy was something my housemate left, so i used some.

anyway. i gotta practice my 'food photography'. hahah.

the dinner was good. the wine was okay. and now im watching iron chef and falling into a slow food coma with some hot chocolate.

all my children

so.

some of my housemates left the house a mess. they were suppose to clean up their shit before they went home and i thought they would, but alas, when i ventured into the kitchen, there was food everywhere, unwashed dishes, cig butts, empty beer cans, 5 full garbage bags and tons of shit all over the floor.

the house gets inspected during the break, and if it isnt clean, the 'superintendent' calls in cleaners and charges the students living in the house.

man. fucking children. i live with a bunch of spoiled mothafuckin children who cant pick up after themselves.

and people wonder why i barely hang out with them?

sheeeeeeeiiitttt (c) state senator clay davis (the wire)

so instead of going to town today to purchase backpacking goods, i stayed in and tried to make the house and kitchen look decent. i tried to clean the dirt off the floor, but it was cake-layered. shit was uncleanable. i washed about 1/3 of the dishes before i got annoyed and just shoved them into other people's cabinets. i dont care if they grow mothafuckin mold up in those mothafuckin cabinets. as long as i cant see those fucking dirty ass dishes when i go into the kitchen, im fine.

man. i should have taken a picture of the mess just to show how bad it is.

anyway. now im bored out of my mind and wanting to drink.

but ill watch my batman/justice league cartoons and drink hot chocolate instead.

happy winter break yall.

nite & day

sexytime + brow


i love this song. and no, its not sad that i watched this video 10 times in a row.

the brow is amazing. look at that brow. and those denim clothes. wooo.

i keeps it gangsta

and they luvvv that shiettt (vol.2)
(i made a post but blogger deleted it for some reason. fucking blogspot.)
_________________________________________________

my fellow american exchange student friend allowed me to borrow her europe travel guide by lonely planet (best travel site in existence) and instead of studying and outlining essays, ive been reading this book all day. this book is the zeus of travel books and will make my month long backpacking journey easier (hopefully). it has everything i need to know about all the european countries. history, museums, events, clubs, bars, hostels, main attractions, key phrases in different languages, daily itineraries and fun facts. did you know that belgium is famous for its prostitutes that dress up as bears and have sex with their customers in the wilds of brussels? yea. that was a joke. i cant wait to eat a massive belgium waffle. i will have sex with it. glorious, sugary, carb sex.

i dont eat like i use to eat back home. my eating habits have changed. i use to eat whatever i wanted because food was so easily available and i could drive 5 minutes and get anything i wanted. now? shoot. i rarely eat food for its deliciousness. i eat cheap food so that i can save money or eat according to the date a food product expires. just today, my dinner was boiled potatos (that i laced with herbs, spices and cheese. it reminded me of appetizers you pay 10 bucks for at american restaurants) and blueberries. hahah. my blueberries expired last week, so i picked out the healthy ones and ate them. mmm. antioxidants. however, there is a positive side to my eating. ive started to experiment with cooking and its turning out better than i expected. last week, i marinated two pieces of salmon in white wine for 6 hours and then oven grilled it with herbs, fresh black pepper, garlic, chili and topped it off with this random sauce i made (i believe it was made with blackberries and white wine). it was AMAZING. i made some mashed potatoes to go along with it, and yea, i surprised myself. i credit IRON CHEF for this. my countless hours of watching iron chef is starting to pay off. all i do is go online, go to class and cook, so i think i can work my way up to achieving the title of IRON CHEF KOREA. yea.

i drink too much. well, when compared to the english and welsh, i dont drink at all. however, i do get tipsy two nights a week and i realized that my tolerance is not as high as i thought it was. this weekend, i had 4 screwdrivers and 4 beers and i was tipsy as shit. donald and helen can vouch for that. the thing is, when i get tipsy, im by myself. that would make me an alcoholic right? just an hour ago, i had half a bottle of baileys (more alcoholic than i remember) and 2 beers. its only tuesday. i gotta give up this european drinking habit before i leave, because ill need to be sober until i turn 21.

i already know what im going to post on the next update. stay tuned readers.

so my all nigther turned out terrible.

i wrote the shittiest essay i have ever written. i also realized that my grammer is terrible. i feel like a fob.

everyone should get last.fm.

www.last.fm

i want to be a songwriter. i end up writing things while not paying attention in class that could be great songs. most likely they will end up shit, but i can dream.

im planning a trip that will be one of the greatest trips of my life

and im hating it.

i dont even know what to do. i dont even want to book hostels. i just want to sleep at train stations and be a bum and eat grains and drink water.

bah. im gonna finish up on monday. im tired. besides, i have no money in my bank account.

mo money mo problems.

never, ever, drink absinthe

i got challenged to drink a shot with some absinthe and vodka mixed together.

i took it.

my throat burned for a good 15 minutes. i drank as much water as i could and i managed to drink about half a litre of my chocolate soy milk.

i am sooooo tipsy. wine, screwdrivers, and that horrible shot just ruined me.

im tired too, but i dont want to fall asleep, because i think i might fall into a coma. ahaha.

HOW DOES IT FEELLLL
TO KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU BABYYYY

goooodnight.

*update*

i have woken up. i feel horrible. i wasnt even drunk. its not a hangover either. i think my liver hurts.

its 3pm. i wanted to make myself an omlet but two of my fucking housemates egged someones house with it. i am not happy. i wanted an omlet. they got between my breakfast and me. that aint right.

music recommendations

i decided to recommend some new music once a week, because its basically consumed my time and i want to talk about it. i probably have music on as much as i can, in my waking hours. i will list the artist and album, a mini review, standout tracks, and my ratings.

john mayer - continuum.
one of my favorite releases of 2006. while i was never a huge fan of his earlier work (but they were mighty catchy), he caught my ear ever since i heard his live tracks. then, he released the john mayer trio live album, which was heavily blues influenced and really showed what he was capable of. this album is close to the top soul album this year. soul you say? yea. soul. it doesnt matter if hes white, because his style is soulful. much more soulful than other singers this year.

standout tracks:
i dont trust myself (with loving you)
vultures
slow dancing in a burning room
im gonna find another you

rating: 9/10


amy winehouse - back to black.
another good release of 2006. the music is quite alluring and her jazzy, mature voice fits the production almost too well. the songwriting on this album is high quality. each track allows you to delve deep into her mind and soul. hearing each song allows you to visualize the experiences shes been through from a young age.

standout tracks:
you know i'm no good
me and mr jones
back to black
he can only hold her

rating: 8.5/10

robin thicke - the evolution of robin thicke.
a white boy with soul. this year, we have seen a lot of soul artists drop albums, and the white artists have made albums that are strong contenders for the title of best soul album. this is definitely a r&b/soul album, unlike amy or john, this album does have a lot of love/sex songs, but is more instrospective than most r&b ive ever heard. robin thicke doesnt have a standard one trick pony voice like justin, but explores his vocal range throughout the whole album. from prince to marvin, the influences for his music is clear. seriously though, i love this album. there was an advance bootleg version that leaked earlier last year, which has a couple tracks that didnt make the final cut. those tracks were just as good as the tracks that made the final cut. check this out. if you are a fan of good music, you wont be disappointed.

standout tracks:
lost without u <---- YEAAAA I LOVE THIS SONG.
complicated
ask myself
teach u a lesson
lonely world
angels

rating:
9.5/10


more to come.

snakes around a boat.

water seems to be the main theme of my dreams for the past 3 days.

last night, i had two dreams which took place in the same setting.

the setting: a boat parking/photography/photo print shop on a tall wooden pier, but the pier was exclusive to the shop. almost like an oilrig. it was close to the shore, but you need a boat to get to shore. from what i remember, i could see the ocean, the sun, the sky, the shore, boats, people, and sealife when i looked out into the waters. it was more beautiful than any other ocean ive seen. (well, maybe not maui). the boats were parked in this giant swimming pool in front of the shop. now, i have no idea how the boats got there or how they left, but they were there. there were also a set of spiral stairs that went down, but ill save that for later. the shop itself was massive. it was about as big as my video store. the carpet was fuzzy and tan, the walls were white, and there were boxes all over the place. i noticed an office with some people in it, but it seemed like there was only one phone in there. the employees had no customers, so they were all sitting around talking to each other. also, my boat was one of those speedboats. it was sleek and sharp and white.

the dream: i came to the shop to park my boat. i told a tall skinny acney infested white guy with an afro full of curls that i wanted to leave my boat there overnight. he told me it would cost 229 dollars, so i wrote him a check and gave it to him. while he was processing my info, i stepped outside the door and checked out the scenary. i could see coral reefs in the ocean, people swimming, plentiful fish, the sun was hitting the water in an beautiful and yet undescribeable way, and the sky was filled with fluffy white clouds. anyway. he called me back in, told me the check cleared, and i was okay to come back. he started to ask about my camera and we had (what seemed like) a 5 minute conversation about cameras, photography, and what exactly goes into the process of printing photos. after that, i take snap some pictures of the view, and leave. end of dream 1.

the dream pt. 2: i came back the next day, around 8 or 9pm. it was really dark and my boat was the only boat left in the swimming pool/lot. i went up to the shop and met the same guy. he recognized me and told me to wait for a minute or two. so while i waited, i checked out the scenary again. this time, it was a full moon in the sky. the reflection off the water was quite beautiful. everything seemed exaggerated. the water was more detailed than before, the moon had more definition, the lights in the city were bright. basically, the whole view seemed to be glowing, glowing in the dark. it was off the hook. then the employee calls me over and tells me that they had trouble locating my key because i didnt do the paperwork properly. anyway, after a few small arguments, he finally finds my keys. i wanted to leave as fast as i could, so i grabbed them, said my goodbyes, and headed over to my boat. there wasnt a ramp or anything to get on my boat, so i had to jump in. i jumped in and approached off the port bow (upper left of the boat). i looked at the swimming pool the boat was in and noticed that there were empty cardboard boxes floating around all over. curiously, i started to try and grab as many of the boxes as i could reach, to see what was inside. i grabbed the first box, nothing. second box, nothing. however, when i grabbed the third box, there happened to be small yellow and white baby snakes. i got scared, and threw the box back in the water. as i was standing up to catch my breath, i noticed something moving underwater. it was on the ground of the pool, but it slid right past me. i creeped over to the starboard side and noticed a huge yellow snake swimming around inside the pool. it was basically this snake:



so im standing in the boat about to shit myself, because im thinking 'fuck. im dead. im dead. im so dead. that snake is gonna bite my head off and then probably swallow me whole.' then, the scene switches, and im at the spiral stairs at the shop. my housemates are there too, and the snake is now slowly crawling out of the shop and going down the spiral stairs. one of my housemates decides to pet the snake with her foot, and the snake responds gently, almost like a kitten. i swear, i heard the mothafucka purring. then the snake came up to me, looked at me for a good 5 minutes, and then HANDED me something. i looked at what he gave me, and it was very minature octopus and squids. they looked like flinstones vitamins, except they were alive. the scene the switches to my house here in wales. im in the bathroom, with these things still in my hand, except now there is some hot red pepper paste (고추장) in my other hand. i stare at the baby squids for a while, and then i drop them into the toilet. i start to flush the toilet, when one of the baby squids instantly grows about 13 inches and gets stuck inside the toilet. (it was like those sponge toys that grew in size when wet). i didnt know what to do, so i slapped the red pepper paste on my other hand onto the face of the squid.

and then i woke up to my ringtone, telling me that its 7am.

i got up, grabbed my pen and notepad, and wrote down everything i could remember. and here it is. blogged and saved.

snakes around a boat.

i need a woman.

so i think im starving these days, but the starving isnt showing. HA. for example, last night's dinner was like 8 pieces of fried tofu and a package of dried seaweed. today, all i had was a piece of toast with peanut butter (european pb is disgusting) and strawberry jam for breakfast. for lunch, i had a bottle of tap water disguised as evian. dinner was pasta, of which i laced with ground pepper and mixed herbs and *drumroll* ketchup. mmmmm right?

im having a hard time trying to plan my winter vacation. its coming up so soon, and i have yet to decide the first city i will crash at. right now, im trying to figure out a place to spend christmas at. for new years, i will be in edinburgh because they have some amazing festival every new years for a whole week. however, anything else than that, i have not planned. i would like to spend christmas in paris (because that sounds nice doesnt it?) but i feel like a loner going to paris to be all romantic with myself in a hostel bed.

do i fly around everywhere? or do i use the eurorail? WHAT DO I DO?! ive looked up advice and so far all the advice ive gotten sucks, and instead ive been reading stories about people hookin up with other backpackers during their drunken adventures. good times. hahah. i just want to cop out and fly back to cali to hang out with my friends and eat korean food and buy cds and be warm. bah. but no, i cant do that. i have a great opportunity here (one that im not taking full advantage of, ill admit that much). i mean, it costs 100+ pounds to fly to prague, and thats from the cheapest websites. freaking. actually now that i think about it, its not that expensive. i think ive just become a cheap bastard.

my biggest problem here is that i cant decide WHERE i want to go. i want to go everywhere. finland, norway, italy, greece, poland, russia, hungary, czech, scotland, france, spain, portugal, ireland, etc etc etc etc. i gotta buckle down and choose like 5 countries that i want to definitely visit. my 2nd less important problem is money. these plane tickets are pricey yo. thats why im looking into the eurorail option, but the rail doesnt really get me to places as fast and as efficiently as planes do. if i take the rail, i have to take the huge risk of missing my check ins at hostels and probably obtaining an ever fatter ass due to massive hours of sitting. however, how fucking great would it be to go through europe through all of its major train systems?

blah blah blah i need to get over myself. hahaha. okay. im going to dedicate this weekend to planning all this out since i found out my cannabis paper isnt due thursday. if anyone is willing to give me advice, please do. i dont care if you havent traveled in europe, i just need some friendly words of encouragement. I NEED. I NEED GOD DAMN IT. I NEED TOO. hahahah.

hopefully tomorrow i can get a ride from liz (my housemate with a car) (who is also cool.) so i can get my grocery shoppin on. im gonna make a list of what i should buy and probably not buy whats on the list. thats just how i roll.

im becoming addicted to blogging.

take it easy.

one of the most disturbing dreams ive ever had

i was some sort of lifeguard for this giant swimming pool. i would say the pool was about 10 feet deep and seemed olympic sized. i was swimming around and i noticed there were naked 1-3 year old babies swimming about. they were swimming like pros, knowing how to float and dogpaddle around their little area they occupied. i was watching them from underwater with my goggles on, just so that i could get a clear view of everything going on for a second before i came up to catch a breather. however, right as i was about to come up for a breath, i noticed that the babies stopped dogpaddling. i kept watching and glancing at all the babies, and soon enough, they started to drown. all of them. their bodies went from light and tiny to deadweight. it was as if they committed suicide, because all of them drowned without hesitation. i became horribly disturbed and starting trying to swim to each baby in order to save it. since i was still underwater, i could see about 6 babies slowly floating down towards the bottom of the pool. i tried frantically to swim to the closest baby, but the water was resisting me. the harder i would swim to save to the baby, the more the water would push me back. by the time i got about 3 feet next to the baby, i was exhausted and was desperate for air. however, i kept swimming, but then the baby dropped down even faster to the bottom of the pool. so i went for the next baby, and the next, and the next, and everytime i would get close the babies would drop to the bottom of the pool. i had to come up for air, so when i did, i looked and saw about 10 babies just floating on top of the water, all dead. i was mortified. then i put my head underwater to see if i could still rescue the babies, and when i looked into the water, there were dead babies all over the pool floor and other dead babies floating down towards the ground. i looked up from underwater to see the surface, just to see even more dead babies floating and facing me.

then i woke up.

and now i cant fall back asleep.

the macbook camera function

has turned me into a camera whore. when i want to waste time, i end up taking random pictures.

what has happened to me?!

for example:





bah. oh well.

No one reads this blog, so I'll just do what I want with it.

Today, I spent a grand total of 4.5 hours watching old 90's and 80's R&B videos from youtube and reminiscing about growing up with R&B. My parent's employees use to play R&B all the time during their shifts, so I picked up on a lot of it and listened to a lot.

This post. What is the point of it? I'm posting music video links because I want to. Shit, I love 90's R&B.

Janet Jackson - Anytime Anyplace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vqDHfNgtRA&mode=related&search

Usher - Nice and Slow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62NLQX3Zh84

Eternal - Stay
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iNSi3Qu-9OE

Boyz II Men - End of the Road
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_FdrJzImoPQ

Hi-Five - I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cUf7J-NYQv4

Mint Condition - Pretty Brown Eyes
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YCFyN4KlUDs

Brian McKnight - Anytime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLRLtIhMuG0

SWV - Always On My Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tP52Q_aoNE

Mary J Blige - You Remind Me Remix ft. Greg Nice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ1tZMIf-30

Subway - This Lil' Game We Play ft. 702
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E08ax6RYQR8

TLC - Creep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzb9anFDjWo

All 4 One - I Swear
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SnYESenjoGY

Al B. Sure - Night and Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZ7kM379mQ


I know this isn't 90's R&B, but this is probably one of my favorite videos that I've found on youtube.

Marvin Gaye w/ James Jamerson on the Bass - What's Going On / What's Happening Brother LIVE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s



Enjoy.

long, delayed update pt. 1

This post will be mad long (because I feel bad for my lack of updating, even though I really shouldn't give a damn), so skim through it if you have short attention spans. (and it will be divided into parts as well, since blogger keeps crashing when I try to publish this)

First of all, I can't believe its almost been a month since I've left home. I feel like I was in London yesterday, getting lost in the punk rock market streets of Camden Town or exploring museums for free in order to find asmusement. Sooner or later, it's gonna be winter break and I'm gonna find myself in Paris, lost, confused and probably poor.

I left home on Tues, September 19th. I actually finished packing the night before I left. I probably would have stayed up all night packing if it wasn't for my fucking amazing friends who forced me to pack (I see you Jess, John, Jeewon & Nima) and spent my last night in Cali with me. Anyway. My flight was at 5:25pm with Virgin Atlantic. The line was insanely long when I got to the airport (which was about 2:30), so it took almost 2 hours to check in. My parents stayed and waited the whole time. When I finally got my bags checked in and tickets, I realized what was about to happen and I dreaded it. I dreaded it because I knew I was going to bust up into tears and shit. I'M A MAN. I CAN'T CRY! haha. I gave both my parents goodbye hugs. I rarely have physical contact with my dad (it's the whole Asian Male thing), so it was quite interesting to give a hug to him. My mother was already crying her eyes out when I gave her a hug, so she wasn't helping me maintain my emotional manhood. My dad started to say something along the lines of how crazy this all is. A son of his, going to study abroad in the UK. He would have never guessed that I would actually do decently in college and manage to go study abroad for a year. He compared himself to his dad, and told me about how my grandfather would spend money on alcohol and smokes as soon as he made some, and now he feels that he has done somewhat better than my grandfather did for him. That hit me. My dad never opens up about that kind of shit, and then, on the hour of my flight, opens up to me like that. So you can imagine the emotional tension between my parents and I at this point. I try to end the goodbyes quickly, because I realized that I have to get to my gate within the hour. I start to walk up the stairs. All this time, I managed to stay emotionally stable, but when I started climbing up the stairs to get to the gate entrances, I started tearing up. It looked like a movie scene. No fucking joke. I was trying so hard to not cry. I held my breathe, I took deep breathes, I did whatever I felt was necessary in order to not cry. I managed to hold back, but I did drop a couple single tears. I turned around one more time, in the middle of going up the stairs, and bowed to my parents twice. Then I got in line for the security check, and didn't see them again.

The plane ride was better than a lot of other flights I've been in. I'd recommend Virgin Atlantic to anyone, fo real. However, I do have a few things to bitch about, because, I can? First of all, I requested a vegetarian meal and the meal I got was basically cheese and tomatos. I was hungry as shit, so I ate it, but after three hours, my stomach started to make some beast-like noises that scared the preppy middle aged british man sitting next to me. I had to go to the bathroom about 4 times within the 4th hour of digestion yo. Shit wasn't pretty. Literally. Another complaint I have was the fact that the plane was so damn cold. I dont know how the British roll in these flights, but the tempature had to be around 60f. California isn't even that cold at night. Also, the guy I was sitting next to gave me this snobby vibe that I really hated. I tried to talk to the man, but all he did was nod his head and go back to reading some British mystery novel that seemed like it was a rip-off of a Clive Cussler book, which is not a good author to rip-off from anyway. I met a white girl from Anaheim, who was visiting her relatives in Scotland. She supposedly works at Joe's Crab Shack near Downtown Disney and told me she would hook me up with discounts if I ever stopped by. I also crushed on this black girl that was a crazy mix of halle berry and naomi campbell. AND SHE HAD A BRITISH ACCENT. It wasn't one of those rough accents. The way she talked was so damn sexy. wooo. A-fucking-MAZING. Also, there were these two twin guys sitting across from me that looked like Abercrombie models. I swear, they must have modeled or something because they had the whole look and jaw structure thing going on. However, I can't explain their choice to ride in economy. Beautiful people don't ride in economy class. (ha) I was also told that the flight attendants would be cute, but no. Oh no. (yes, the UK has made me more superficial.)

TBC...

In my lifetime. (20 year celebration)

I know. My 20th birthday was on the 13th. I'm late with this post, but hey, there isn't anything wrong with me wanting to reflect on my 20 years on this planet, so bear with me as I type out some accomplishments, experiences, and other random shit about me, while sipping on a cold, refreshing bottle of Negra Modelo.

I have...

- traveled to South Korea, Mexico, Canada.
- lived in South Korea for 6 consecutive summers.
- lived in South Carolina, Texas, and California.
- lived in the cities of Charleston (S.Carolina), Goose Creek (S.Carolina), Dorchester (S.Carolina), Dallas (Texas), Garden Grove (Cali), La Palma (Cali), Cypress (Cali), and a few more.
- moved 10 times.
- driven through the entire Rocky & Appalachian Mountains.
- stepped foot in nearly 44 states. (excluding Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa.)
- traveled to South Korea, by myself, when I was 9. My dad thought this was a good step in me becoming a man. It did wonders, didn't it? *This was suppose to be funny, you know, a joke? HA.* Anyway, since then, I've been able to master airport travel without the help of the parents. *high5 for me*
- worked off and on for my parents since I was in 2nd grade. Beauty Supply, Beauty Supply, Beauty Supply, and now, Video stores.
- experienced racism and poverty that most people don't know about.
- eaten home-made escargo. (tastes like chicken & oysters)
- had a gun pointed at me and my dad.
- avoided becoming a stereotypical korean. (in some ways)
- avoided guns, drugs, gangs, and any other pitfalls that are suppose to be tied with growing up poor and/or growing up with Asian male angst created by the suburbs.
- went through and survived the KPOP phase.
- flown in a helicopter.
- been in a submarine.
- ran away from home. (my parents didn't even realize I was gone. This is because I came back home and wussed out).
- been beat up.
- bullied.
- witnessed a kid get stabbed.
- watched my grandfather's dead corpse get wrapped with straw binding.
- dabbled in Christianity since I was young.
- cried uncontrollably. (grandmother's passing)
- been in young, kiddish love.
- been heavily depressed.
- been hated.
- been in a bad car crash.
- probably purchased over a 1000 cd's in my life. I don't know where they all went.
- peed on many bushes.
- peed my pants inside a Wal-Mart. Specifically, in the toy section.
- crushed on MANY women.
- lost 25ish pounds.
- needs and wants.
- dedicated a year during elementary school to help out a disabled kid, whos name was Travis.
- survived 3 mini-hurricanes. Emphasis on 'mini'.
- become a klepto.
- stronger urges to go vegan.
- stronger urges to give up academia.
- wanted to throw it all away and become a bum.
- wanted to cut people out of my life.
- had two pet hamsters and swore to never have hamsters as pets again.
- never eaten dog before.
- sported a mushroom haircut for a few years during my young life.
- collected comic books, Marvel/DC trading cards, pogs, basketball cards, and Mad magazines.
- been angry because my mother threw away those collections without telling me.
- an unhealthy addiction to pillows and blankets.
- had a few near-death experiences.
- eaten live baby octopus.
- hated white people for a long time.
- always believed in UFOs, ghosts, supernatural beings, and the presence of intelligent life in the vast blackness of outerspace.
- been to DisneyWorld.
- eaten an obscene amount of chocolate thus far.
- fallen in and out of love with Hip Hop.
- always wanted to be a photographer.
- always wanted to be a music produer.
- realized that I'm only 20.
- realized that I still got a lot of life to live.

These are just some of the things that popped up into my head while reminicising about my life these past 20 years.

My life may not seem like much to some, but shit, it's mine, and it's the what I've done so far.