›February 2003
›November 2002

zandd.com: Recently, I had the pleasure of stepping out for an evening of partying with friends and friends of friends at a hot Korean club here in New York City. When you get to be my age (turning 30 this year) and position in life (engaged to a lovely woman, knowing what I want from life, thinking about home purchases rather than high end stereo equipment, etc.), you don't get to party much. My social life has pretty much revolved around the kitchen and my DVD player.

zandd.com: The following are a set of sketches, short fictional pieces that should be read as individualistic, yet evolving and connected within the same body. The last sketch is a sort of semi-prologue to the 5-part series to follow called Hakre Forlan Janktha. This is the transitional point between two stories, Quest of a Solitary and the series to come.

zandd.com: As you have probably guessed already, this column deals with religion, especially issues pertaining to Korean Americans and their experience with religion. Now there are a lot of things I could say, but to keep it simple, I just want us to take a step back and examine how religion affects us in our lives. That's the point of this column. So, no use of big words, no funky lingo, and definitely no references to Korean dramas (I hate those). Let us just discuss and for this month, let's look at the typical Korean church.

zandd.com: What is wrong with the younger generations these days? From what I see and from what I hear, a lot of kids today are smoking anything and everything, drinking, inhaling, injecting, and doing whatever else they can get their hands on. This not only disgusts me, but it leaves me in absolute disbelief. Are kids not born with brains anymore? Is common sense just a book? Can we not tell right from wrong?

zandd.com: You know, just about every God-fearing individual today gripes about what's wrong with our society today. Many talk about it, but most of them never really do anything about it. I happen to be one of those people who happen to gripe about things but never do anything about it. I can say that I am a student studying in college right now, having no time whatsoever to take up a crusade to change society from its ills. Yet, it could be considered a pathetic excuse to many because you have the freest time as a student and not as a working individual. With that said and done I would like to list the ten things that bug me most about society.

zandd.com: This month, I turn 17 years old. Seventeen years old. Can you believe it? Seventeen years ago, I was born on a hot, summer day in Seoul, South Korea. Seventeen years ago, you say your dreams came true when I was born. I say, the nightmare began 17 years ago when I was born.

zandd.com: Being a Korean-American student, one of the things we constantly hear from our parents is education. They stress the importance of education and nonchalantly remind us that we are the reason why they came to this country in the first place...this land of opportunity. I recall countless times throughout my primary education when my parents said I must go to an Ivy League university. They didn't care if it was Harvard, Brown, Yale, University of Pennsylvania...any Ivy League school. If worst came to worst, it had to be at least a top 25 university as told by the good U.S. News and World Report.

zandd.com: You have to love yourself before anyone else can love you. I don't remember where I had heard this statement, but it wasn't until recently that these words made so much sense to me. I had gone through a breakup, and every time I go through one of these, I have a time of reflection. I try to figure out where it all went wrong, what my role in it was, and what happened exactly. It usually helps to give me closure and realize things that I may have been blinded to.

zandd.com: Commercial announcement: Chris Chan Lee's movie about Korean American teens in L.A., Yellow, has been distributed as a video. Not sure if it'll be at a Blockbuster near you, but I've seen it at several smaller, independent video stores, so check it out. You may not like it (I wasn't sure I did), but nonetheless, it stands as a uniquely Korean American accomplishment. Besides, how often do you get to see Korean girls in hamboks getting down and dirty?

zandd.com: It's Saturday night and it's quiet out for a change. No cars honking, no crazy people yelling out in the streets (it happens more than you think). The TV is on mute so I can give my full, undivided attention to this article. The month of February looms about. No, I am not expecting flowers or candy. Who needs that? I got that last year. No...wait, forget it, I didn't get that last year, either, but, as all angry lonely single people say, "Valentine's is just a marketing ploy to make more money for Hallmark," or whatever. That's enough reason for me. Or is that sweetest day? Yes well, there's too much hype on this month anyhow. I expect to spend the day with none other than my sister and whatever other single friends I can find.

zandd.com: I made close friends with a girl in California. I'm originally from New Jersey. We decided to wait for each other but I don't know if it could work out. It's just an online and phone relationship right now. She's off to be a freshman in college and I'm going to be a junior in high school. I'm going to visit her in her dorms, but I'm worried. I don't know what to do.

zandd.com: I bought some catnip for my kitten the other day. What is catnip? It's an herb. Why do cats like it? Because it gets them high. Yes, cats go crazy for the smell and then they eat some of it and get high. So now my kitten is running around my apartment jumping all over on stuff and going crazy.

zandd.com: Time seems to run by at a quicker pace with each passing day. Every sunset marks one less day we have in our lives to live. Forgive me for the melodrama; this ambassador tends to get in a reflective mood when the seasons change. I know 21 is not such an advanced age to be, but as my college years draw to a close, I find myself evaluating and questioning the things I have done to this point. The blank pages of my life are no longer as empty, but now appear to be quite cluttered. Once again, thanks to those who responded to my article last month.

zandd.com: College is supposed to teach you a lot about life. Sure, books and classes can teach you the basic stuff, but I've learned that you can gain a lot of knowledge from the most unexpected of places. Take my cousin, CJ, for instance. Among other things, he's taught me how to love unconditionally. Another important lesson he taught me was how to argue successfully. All of this wisdom just happened to come from my 5-year old cousin on a Saturday afternoon while I was visiting.