30 things about myself

1.     Baseball

My life without baseball would be meaningless. I have gone to the baseball stadium often since I was in my mom’s womb. I spent 80% of my elementary and middle school life watching baseball. I have three baseballs with signatures of my favorite players on my dorm room desk and eight more of other players at my house. I actually like to watch any kinds of sports, including soccer, volleyball, ice skating, etc, but the reason why I like baseball the most is because baseball is not a game that everything is decided at once. There is a twist again and again throughout the whole game, and the game can be overturned after 2 outs in the 9th inning, while it is hard to reverse the game in the last minute of the soccer game. Also,  baseball game is a repetition of tightening and loosening, which means that a few climaxes of a game makes me even more nervous than the players on the field, while some parts is rather relaxing. 

2.    Diary
    I try to keep my diary every day. Because I think humans become the frankest when they are extremely sleepy or drunk, I keep my journal right before I go to bed. I am almost unconscious when writing it, so when I read yesterday’s diary the next day, I can see my honest thoughts – it’s so much fun. I have thought of the reason why I suddenly started to keep a diary. I am afraid of my happy moments to be forgotten in the future ㅡ not those grand moments that no one can forget, but those trivial moments that I feel a great pleasure and happiness such as times that I eat ramen at night with my roommates and talk about our first love or times that I did nothing with my friend sitting in an empty classroom but felt happy just because of the chips that we were eating. That’s why I consider diary a very important record of my life.

3.     San Francisco

I went to San Francisco every winter break since when I was 2^nd grade until 8^th grade. Since the winter break starts in Korea when the winter break ends in the US, I was able to attend private schools for 3 months each year. Going to the same school every year allowed me to see the same friend every time I go back. In the summer break, I went there for any kinds of summer camp that I could participate. I recently realized that I attended school for an entire year without any break.

↑me and my brother in the fourth grade

4.     FFT & Laos

Joining “For and From Them” is the best choice that I have made in my life. Any time I feel tough and difficult, I open up the photo album of our volunteer work. There is an emotional move after our activity that cannot be described into few sentences. Kids in Laos taught me more than I had taught them. Last year was especially special for me as a captain, because 9 alumni joined our volunteer work and our club was introduced in the newspaper and television news in Laos.

5.     Cheese

I love cheese. Cheese can make the best combination with any kinds of food in the world. I feel like even a towel dipped in cheese would taste awesome.

6.     Seafood

I cannot eat any kind of seafood. I can eat grilled fish and seaweed – these two kinds are all that I can eat among hundreds of sea creatures. When I was young, had a medical checkup and the doctor said I was exposed to mercury poisoning. That was because I ate grilled fish every meal. Since then, I had to eat only certain kinds of fish and no other seafood at all. Ten years of not eating them made my eating habits that way. The fishy smell of shrimp, crab, lobster, mussel, scallop, and any kind of sea creature makes me want to puke.

7.     Daegu

I was born and grown in Daegu for 16 years. Daegu is nice city to live in, except for the fact that the summer weather drives people crazy. I think the summer of KMLA is quite cool but the winter is intolerable. I saw more snow in my recent 3 years in KMLA than the snow that I've seen in my whole life. I do have a dialect, but I have put a lot of effort to get rid of it. There are several reasons for it, but the biggest one was that many of my friends asked me if I was angry even though I felt so jolly at that time. I wanted to change my tone of speaking.

8.     Singing

My mom used to be a classical singer. I was exposed to the musical environment since I was young. I won the first place in a nationwide singing contest when I was six years old. Because of that prize, I had an opportunity to record my song and other prize winners songs in the CD. My mom said the reason why she made me quit singing in 5th grade was because she did not want me to major in singing. 
* I do have the mp3 of this recorded song, but I wouldn't link it LOL😁

9.     Ballad

My favorite genre of song is ballad. I am not a huge fan of rock, dance music, and hip hop. I thought of the reason few days ago with my roommate and came up with a conclusion: since I am always hyper, I tend to relax myself with calm ballads. Also, I am a very sympathetic person, so the lyrics of ballads stimulate my emotional sensitivity and make me somewhat melancholy.

10.  Spanish

I learned Spanish since I was in 2nd grade. I didn’t learn the language continuously but I was always somehow involved to this language; there is a Spanish cultural center in Daegu where we can take DELE, and I went to there to learn Spanish about ten times a year for five years. I also took Spanish whenever I went back to San Francisco. I am really stressed out because of my Spanish quizzes, but I am proud of myself of taking all possible Spanish courses in KMLA. I love my Spanish teacher also😍

11.  Ice Skating

I was a speed skater for 4-5 years. I had participated in several championships and got some medals. At the timepoint where I had to specify my event – speed skating or short track – I stopped skating. My mom and I thought it would better to concentrate on studying. Well, I think it was a bad choice to quit. Recalling myself back then, I was the happiest in the ice rink. 

12.  Girl Scouts

I have been a member of Girl Scouts since 2008. At first, I wanted to join just because I liked the green uniform. I still participate in Girl Scouts activities when there are training, seminar, or field activities. The most constant activity that I do is emceeing the International conventions and students’ competitions in English. I feel the most engaged and proud whenever any foreigners come ask me questions individually or thank me for emceeing in English.

13.  Color purple

I like purple. I don’t know why, but when I see something with this color, my heart starts to beat. Some people say purple lovers are likely to be psychopaths, but who cares? I am very excited because the Pantone has selected purple as the color of the year.

14.  Photographic memory

I have a photographic memory. When I study hard, I remember the exact page number and the location in that page of certain information. But the side effect is that if I don't study hard enough, I do remember the exact page and location, but I cannot recall the exact information. I think I remember the exact picture taken by my eyes in any situation.  Memorizing is the only thing that I am good at, and this benefited me in many parts of life. However, KMLA has taught me memorization is not everything and can be useless.

15.  Highlight

Highlight is the one-and-only idol group that I have liked ever in my life. Succeeding with the group name “Beast,” they had to change their name because of the conflict regarding the renewal of the contract with their agency. They have now established their own agency and enjoying the 2nd peak of their career. Their fan letters and concerts make me cry. I have to go to their concert this year because they will serve in military at the end of the year. I will be extremely lethargic by then.

16.  Mirror

I like to see myself in the mirror. It’s not that I am good looking, but looking at the mirror just heals my mind and calms me. Or maybe, this can be just a habit. I look at the reflection of myself on the windows of every car in the street. I do not make any compliment or complaints about my face – just curious about how I look every second. I once looked at the window of a car in front of my middle school, not knowing that there was a person in that car. I was doing my hair, wearing a sunscreen and smiling. Suddenly, a person in the car opened the window, and he was a teacher of my school. That remains as one of the most embarrassing experience of my life.

17.  Loud voice, talkative.

I am extremely loud. I asked three of my friends to tell me any word that closely relates to me, and they all said “you are loud”. Yes, I do have loud voice. But what makes me a real noise machine is that I incessantly talk when I am with somebody else, in a loud voice. I don’t like the awkward silence with no one talking. The loud voice would have been affected by my loud mommy.

18. My life
     At the moment when I die, I want to recall my life as

 "Wow I lived a fun, exciting life rather than a glorious, honorable one." In my life, I want to engage in any activities or opportunities that interest me. I do not wan't to hesistate or give up just because the new challenge gives me less money or  honor. 

19.  Musical instruments

I had tried to learn many musical instruments. I learned piano for one and half year, violin for 3 years, and flute for 2 years. The worst instrument for me was piano, because I couldn’t control my left hand and right hand together. I do not play any of those instruments anymore because they were more of a stress producer rather than a stress reliever.

20.  Diet

I was very chubby – not fat – when I was young. When I was in 6th grade, I suddenly, without any reason, became afraid of myself reaching 60 kilograms (I was 59 I guess). I quit chocolate, which was my favorite food, exercised hard, and ate the least food that can keep me alive. I lost 9 kilograms. Stepping on the scale everyday made me want to lose more, but that was my best – the number would not go down any further. I gained weight again in KMLA, so after graduation, I have be strict to myself with my food. After this experience, I could be stricter and harsh to myself compared to the past when I was totally generous.

21.  My brother

I have a close relationship with my younger brother. I remember myself scolding my brother why doesn’t he listen to me when he was only 1 year old. I even slapped a one year old boy! I feel really sorry recalling back then. I think my brother is really nice because he listens to my story very well and does any of my favor. He is going over puberty now. He started to ignore me and be mean to me. I know that I must understand him, but treat him even more meanly to his sensitivity. When I come back to school after a 3 day- fight with my brother every time I go home, I always feel guilty about how I could not understand him even he is behaving better than myself in adolescence few years ago. I regret my selfishness toward my brother and my misbehavior during my adolescence.

Howbeit, he is my excellent, adorable brother.

22.  World Map
     Since I was a little girl, I really like to look at the world map or the globe. My dad is really good at geography, so we always played a geography quiz game whenever he had time. This was how we played:
    One of us spun a globe, randomly pick a country, and give hints like what the capital is, other countries that share the border, and the largest cities. Then, we had to figure out what the country is. From one moment, we made a list of countries that appeared in our quiz, and decided to visit all the countries on the list. I have been to 12 of them, and there are about 100 more to go.

23.  Tall

I was always one of the tallest girls in every school that I attended. I think my height is inherited from my mother, who is as tall as me. My father is just a little above Korean average. I also slept early throughout my whole life before attending KMLA; I slept at 10:30 in middle school. My eating habit of consuming a lot of dairy products such as yogurt, milk, and cheese has also contributed to my height. When I was young, I always wanted to be over 170cm, but now I think being shorter is better. I don’t get the point of the advantage of girls being tall.

24.  Confident

I am a very confident person. I have really high self-respect, so even someone says bad things about me, I am not that hurt. I know that I am a better person than they think – why do I have to care?

25.  Dramas than movies

I prefer dramas to movies. Since movies have tacit time limits, I can see how the director of the movie tried to squeeze the whole long story into two-hours long film. I am not that creative person, so I cannot recognize or imagine any implied parts of the story. Dramas seem more realistic and is more than 20 series of them, each lasting only 1 hour. I cannot fully concentrate for two hours long film – my concentration period is way too short.

26.  Shy

Many people do not know that I am a very shy person. I can never speak to strangers and never talk in front of people who are not that familiar with. However, once I feel comfortable with them, I laugh, speak, and joke a lot. There are many of my friends who told me that I am very different from my first impression.

27.  Shopping

I love shopping. Department store is my favorite place to spend my leisure time. Even when I do not buy anything, I am always satisfied with eye-shopping. My family affected this the most. My mom and dad both love shopping, especially clothes, bags, and shoes. I like shopping other items also, such as stationery items, food, etc.  

28. Handwriting  
     I like to write stuff. I feel a huge delight when I see a paper full of my hand writing.  That's why I write off everything rather than type when I study for the test. I memorize when I copy my notes, and never see that note again.

29.  Shower

I take a shower pretty often. Whenever I have too many thoughts in my mind that I cannot control them anymore, I go take a shower. Any complicated thoughts or worries become organized.

30.  Chubby face

My face is always chubby. I want to remove all the fat in my cheeks. Even when I lose weight, my face remains chubby. That makes my head look bigger compared to my body. When I gain weight, my face gets even chubbier. This makes my overall body even fatter, from the top of the head, all the way to the end of my feet.

So stressful!