what it means... to be me...

Dear World,
Most of you already know me personally... but here are some details...
1. I am of Korean heritage
2. I was born in Queens, New York...
3. I grew up in one of the small suburbs of Bergen county NJ.
4. I went to college in Atlanta, GA
5. I spent a year in Santiago, Chile
6. I spent a year in Seoul, South Korea
7. I have two wild and deliriously cute kids, a/k/a monsters
8. I have been married for about 10 years now
9. I am 3 dozen years old
10. I talk ALOT

So for the next 10 days or so, I will be highlighting almost trivial facts of what it means to be me... here you go for number one...

1. My Korean heritage...


What I need to say is simply this. I don’t understand some of the things that I hear. Why do people insist on being such PITA’s? I don't get it. As if they get extra credit for being more obnoxious. I just had a great experience today with an older gentleman who “smelled like death”. Why is it that some older people don’t get it? Dude, please understand that you are inconveniencing many people around you. Would you understand that there is nothing too surprising…

Here are some fun Korean customs/superstitions that I found online. Thank you kissmykimchi.com

Why are any of these things of interest? I just want to point out to folks that a lot of what we learn and do is not logical.

• If you give a boyfriend or girlfriend a pair of shoes, they will leave you.
• Washing your hair on the day of a big test washes out the memories.
• If you sleep in a room with a fan on, you might die.
• Dreaming of pigs is good luck, dreaming of dogs is bad luck.
• Don’t blow a whistle at night or snakes will come.
• Shake your leg and you shake out the luck.
• If you give a boyfriend or girlfriend a pair of shoes, they will leave you.
• Washing your hair on the day of a big test washes out the memories.
• If you sleep in a room with a fan on, you might die.
• Dreaming of pigs is good luck, dreaming of dogs is bad luck.
• Don’t blow a whistle at night or snakes will come.
• Shake your leg and you shake out the luck.

My father is eating his lunch right now… He just finished, and he’s listening to some folksy music on some Korean Broadcasting System telecast. It’s horribly old sounding. Music like this and times like this just make me laugh. I’ve learned to not put my expectations on others, and it’s awesome to be able to accept the fact that we are totally different. It’s very interesting what a generation will do for your perspective on life.

One of the things that I left out of the above list is…
***If you are born with big ears, you will be rich!***

My father always would pull on my earlobes, to make sure that I had big ears.

Kim, Sang Gook is on the tube now. He’s the Korean Louis Armstrong. Has the same tonal quality. Please shoot me!!!