Triple STEM And Composition
Bye Bye Mental Health
Winter
Math 135
CSE 143 (dropped)
ENGL 131
AMATH 351
THE SECOND QUARTER+ REFLECTIONS
Winter quarter 2019 had a very rushed start. I had to fly in a day early to move out of Haggett Hall and avoid paying an extra $4000. Luckily, Andrew came in clutch to pick me up from the train station and introduce me to the new humble abode. The whole process all happened so quickly that it could've gone terribly, but Andrew made it nice and smooth. We then celebrated with dim sum in Chinatown afterwards!
New Home
The Boysz + Yunje (formerly known as 바지 벗어) gathered one last time at the end of winter break to send off Dan to YWAM. Who would've guessed that after coming back from college for the first time, we decided to not play League of Legends, but have prayer meetings? Visit our old high school and get banned? There is never a dull moment with these brothers and sisters back home, and coming back after a long autumn quarter was a great reminder of the wonderful communities I was fortunate to always have.
Dan's Babes 1-6 + Yunje
While this photo doesn't feature all of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, no words can't begin to describe how much both the Korean and English Ministry has crafted me into who I am. They pushed me into Korean school as a child (in turn making me "half Korean"), supported me through all my struggles, and gave me numerous opportunities to serve and develop as a leader in the church and out on the mission field. Numerous times I backed out of going to church with my friends as a child, but I followed Samuel to IPC in the sixth grade (when it was a way different place), and I just kept going. God sure does work in mysterious ways.
IPC Family
Back to the present. For my first meal with Andrew at the condo, we settled on hot pot. We bought some vegetables and meat, messed around and made a strangely delicious spicy sauce, and enjoyed some "Nathan For You" episodes. Watching "Into The Spider-verse" in the middle of the night was a great decision too. Even though Andrew lost our parking pass, somehow we evaded paying the $37, and only paid $7 for our brief night in downtown.
First Home Cooked Meal
On a side weeb note, Dragon Ball Super: Broly released in American theaters in January 2019. While I had only seen some blurry recording of it from some dude in Japan, its release in America meant I could finally watch it on the big screen! Obviously I'm too cheap for that, so I settled for a less blurry and more focused recording of it. I won't give a review, but overall, as a long time Dragon Ball fanboy, I loved it. The crisp animation, an uncharacteristically well written plot, and the return of many old characters in different lights made the wait worthwhile.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly
Seattle and UW Symphony: Side by Side
Sometimes it feels like all the money and time put into music didn't amount to much outside of leading worship at church, and after high school, I wasn't even playing cello anymore. It's nice, however, to have somewhat musically trained ears from all those years to appreciate some music. That's why I went to Seattle's gorgeous Benaroya Hall to watch the UW Symphony and Seattle Symphony perform. When I watched the UW Symphony for Ryan 哥哥's class, they performed one of my favorite pieces from my high school repertoire: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2 op.18. The occasional event like this is always a wonderful refresher and reminder that all those years weren't meaningless.
My mother refused to let me get a haircut in Seattle, since it cost an extra $17 for a doofy looking boxhead cut. I couldn't wait until I flew back, so I let the ever persistent Audrey cut my hair. In the short time I've known her, Audrey has been a wonderful friend, and someone that somehow convinced me to let cut my hair. She's been an entertaining gym buddy, and a great person to study with (when she actually focuses). She also somehow took one shoe from the condo too. (Sorry about that, Andrew.) And oh yeah, I kind of recommend Audrey's hair salon.
My mother refused to let me get a haircut in Seattle, since it cost an extra $17 for a doofy looking boxhead cut. I couldn't wait until I flew back, so I let the ever persistent Audrey cut my hair. In the short time I've known her, Audrey has been a wonderful friend, and someone that somehow convinced me to let cut my hair. She's been an entertaining gym buddy, and a great person to study with (when she actually focuses). She also somehow took one shoe from the condo too. (Sorry about that, Andrew.) And oh yeah, I kind of recommend Audrey's hair salon.
My mother refused to let me get a haircut in Seattle, since it cost an extra $17 for a doofy looking boxhead cut. I couldn't wait until I flew back, so I let the ever persistent Audrey cut my hair. In the short time I've known her, Audrey has been a wonderful friend, and someone that somehow convinced me to let cut my hair. She's been an entertaining gym buddy, and a great person to study with (when she actually focuses). She also somehow took one shoe from the condo too. (Sorry about that, Andrew.) And oh yeah, I kind of recommend Audrey's hair salon.
A year ago from this day, I let a bunch of friends cut my hair in my garage!
Haircuts?
Pork Belly Rice Bowl
Throughout winter quarter, I began to notice that I was starting to lose a lot of weight. I thought it would be maybe 10 pounds; I didn't expect it to be 22 pounds. When I started running out of money, I resorted to cheap grocery eats. Nice little Korean style meals plus volleyball until you drop must have kept me in shape!
What The Nani
갈비찜, 사모님 approved
STRANGE EVENTS OF THE QUARTER
Back in Chicago, a polar vortex with wind chills below 50 hit. The last time this happened (in 2015?), everyone freaked out. The fire department had special directions like constantly boiling water to maintain humidity levels, as our homes weren't designed to handle Antarctic level cold. This time, however, while schools were still canceled, my parents still insisted on going to work... and having fun at the same time.
Polar Vortex,
Thriving Parents
Meanwhile in Seattle, a record amount of snow fell (around 12 inches?). In Chicago, 12 inches could be dealt with easily; if we were lucky, maybe there would be a late arrival. In Seattle, the hilly terrain, the general lack of snow equipment (because snow is so uncommon), and overall inexperience with snow meant Washington entered into essentially a statewide emergency. Store shelves were emptied out completely, and people prepared to be stuck inside their homes for a little bit. It wasn't that bad, but we still lost about a week's worth of school.
When It Snows In Seattle...
VOLLEYBALL PROGRESS
My time in college, I've been trying to focus on improving my volleyball game, particularly my shoddy hitting form and my vertical because one time senior year, my father asked me if I could still get off the ground. So after losing all this weight, and more consistently hitting the gym, I've decided to document this journey.
Midway through Autumn Quarter. I think the net is low too.
Beginning of Winter Quarter. I think the net is close to men's but not quite.
End of Winter Quarter. Full men's height net. Still need to hit harder and jump higher.
MNPQ (MEANINGFUL NEW PEOPLE OF THE QUARTER
Last quarter, I talked briefly about Jonathan and his impact on my time at UW. Now I introduce the meaningful new people of the quarter (MNPQ) because I always enjoy reflecting on how and when I met some of my closest friends and mentors.
We Love Seoyoung
Long Lost Twin Alida
WINTER QUARTER REFLECTION (04/01/2019)
Looking back on this quarter, a lot has happened. I've met many new people, and I found out a lot about myself. What do I care about? How do I react when things become most dire? Taking three STEM classes and a composition class forced me to pull at least one all nighter a week to complete my assignments, resulting in me ditching enough math classes for Dr. McGovern to email me asking if I was okay, and my mental health going down the drain. Midway through the quarter, and fresh off sleeping at 8am, I decided to drop CSE143, and pursue a different career path. To pursue something I enjoyed, not a lie that promised a good job in a thriving computer science industry. That's how I came to mathematics and applied mathematics. It still involved the coding I enjoyed, but focused more on how math tied into research, work, etc. Since then, everything has been going a lot smoother.
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Regarding spiritual life, winter quarter was all over the place. I ditched church a couple times, and formulated an uncharacteristic amount of excuses to accept that I was ditching (frankly, a strange feeling). This was among the many struggles and trials I went through this quarter. Church was always my own choice to go to, and where did KPPC stand on helping me grow and being detrimental to my spiritual growth? I had already seen some members leave KPPC. Another struggle was the balance of where my plans stood with my parents' plans for me. While they wanted me to do an internship at a big name company, I wanted to serve on missions in Nicaragua and Chicago ICI. All these things led me to be in a terrible mood and constantly worried about life throughout the quarter. I was even more toxic on the volleyball court :(.
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Above all, the biggest realization (thanks to Joanne) made was recognizing my "need to feel needed." While people tended to tell me things, I needed to recognize that I'll never be able to be there for them physically/emotionally/mentally, and that ultimately I needed to lift these things up to God in prayer. To pray more passionately, and to be persistent in prayer for those around me—this was the biggest message of the quarter pertaining to having a "childlike faith," not (as Samuel put it) meaningless quarrels about theology that lead to nothing.
At the beginning of the new year, 안목사님 and 안사모님 prayed I would find a community here at UW. Ironically, somehow I stopped talking to Samuel (An) all of winter quarter only to receive an unexpected, yet very nice catch up call from him at the end of the quarter. He fell asleep and that's how I met Seoyoung! Although the community in Seattle is still developing, my Church (with a big C!) community is always growing and always a blessing to me. I was blasted with this reminder during spring break.
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Looking forward to Spring Quarter and all the new revelations God has prepared. As Samuel said, it's time to stop being boys of God.