I think the Korean showed up! I have also fixed the Korean contents in my alcoholic beverage blog entry on November 19, 2003.

ºí·Î±×, ºí·Î±×... ÇѱÛÀÌ º¸À̽ʴϱî?? This is a test...

I haven't abandoned my blog. I think I am allowed a few days away from it now and then, though.

My face is starting to look and feel old. It's probably because I don't take good care of it like I used to. I don't clean it well enough, or hydrate it well enough. And meanwhile, it is exposed to even more pollution and smog because of the recent fires. I have several zits sprouting -- I have had major battles with two of them already, and they have grown gigantic in size now, with anger mostly. It will take a few weeks before they disappear -- the scar tissue will need time to grow out. Stuff like blackheads, freckles, wrinkles are all starting to appear simultaneously. I don't know whether I should put on acne treatment, or anti-wrinkle/wrinkle-repair creams on.

Some people like freckles. I have been reading magazines, particularly women's magazines like Cosmo, Glamour, and Allure (just to name a few that I subscribe to regularly). In recent movements, it seems that more imperfection is beginning to be accepted by the media. More non-wafer models appear. The entire Ralph Lauren Polo line is comprised of freckly girls with little make up. However, I have declined to follow suit of a simple pendulum swing. It's bound to swing back to the other side.

First it was the tanning. Then tanning was declared unhealthy and a cause of pre-mature wrinkles. So tanning was banned, then pale skins moved in for a while. But that didn't last long, and au-naturel looks came in, with freckles, little make-up. Then came the ever-reigning ages of bronzing. Everyone from Anna Kournikova to Catherine Zeta-Jones were like bronze statues. The bronze age came and stayed longer than the other movements, but now it is winter, and the pendulum has begun to swing to the opposite side. Now pale (un-tanned, un-bronzed) faces with detailed make-up is in high fashion.

My point is, I am not following trends -- moc croc skins may be in now, but next month it will be deemed a "DON'T" look; Alpha-hydroxy is the new retinol, but in exactly three minutes, its fame and glory will expire.

On a personal note... I don't like to look tanned (I was always the uber-geek girl in glasses -- the healthy, outdoors next-door-girl look wasn't good on me), but sunblock irritated my skin -- rashes, blistering, dryness, itchiness, mysterious small bumps, etc.. I tried everything from Elizabeth Arden to Neutrogena, some cheap, some not, some French, some Korean -- in short, almost everything under the sun to block the sun. I finally found a sun cream that had SPF 45 and felt good on my skin. That discovery was made in October -- although October was pretty hot, I am greatly disappointed that the discovery came to me so late in the summer(fall? But October is really Summer in Socal).

If, knock on wood, this incredible sun cream which irritates not my skin, becomes another has-been, I'll just go inject myself with cancerous skin cells, because that would be the end of my protection from the sun.

My day was boring, but not without excitement. Well, it was excitement indeed, but not the positive, tingle in your ears, excitement -- it was more like the growl-y feel you get in the bottom of your tummy in the onset of the stomach flu.

I had to report to work an hour early, because a customer wanted to come in at that time. I took care of business, then quickly went out to get some coffee and breakfast (which was a "morning bbang" I guess it means morning bread) which was fantastic, and then went to Assi Market to pick up some drinks for the office. I came back, cleaned the store, and then settled into playing a few good hands of Gostop. Then we had lunch -- Shane had mint chicken and thai iced tea, and I had the spicy garlic chicken and thai iced coffee (the cinnamon from their tea was too overbearing, so I decided to go for the coffee). Well, the iced coffee had milk -- I saw the lady pour it in. It wasn't too much, less than a cup. I've drank that much milk before with side effects that I could easily handle. Probably a little bloating at the worst. Well, I was wrong.

Around 3PM, the grumbling in the stomach followed a queasy sensation. It was uncomfortable enough for me to know that I was not going to be happy. This was the worst case scenario -- I thought that in worse case, I would leave work early. But the boss, who told us he wouldn't be here, came in. Furthermore, the toilet was broken and the water took a long time to collect in the tank, and so it could not be flushed more than once every two hours or so.

The gods must have felt sorry for me, because it turned out that my boss only came in for the mail, and left in about an hour. I told Shane that I am having a lactose intolerance attack, and since he knew of the erratic behavior that occurs when I am in the presence of dairy, he agreed to let me go early, sympathetically. I left 45 minutes before 5 PM, which was when I would have left work normally. And I have been feeling quite ill for several hours.

Yes, this was a lot more information than you would have liked. But it brings me to a question that I have been wondering for a while now: how, why, and since when, did I become lactose intolerant? I used to finish jugs of milk as a child! I read on Webmd.com that in worst case, a heart attack can occur when a lactose intolerant person consumes too much milk products. Since last summer, when I had two very ugly episodes, or rather conflict with the lactose intolerance that came to me, I have become keenly aware of my condition. It seems that my ability to digest dairy gets weaker with time. Just months ago, I drank milk and felt queasy but not too ill to work -- now, I drink a gulp of milk and I have to make 2000 trips to the potty! Trust me -- the sky looked a brown-yellow.

I smacked myself in the head all the way home -- I told myself that such little amount of milk could do me no harm, even though this was after my full discovery of my lactose intolerance! Why did I do that to myself? Last month when I had a similar reaction, I vowed to stay clear of all things dairy, especially iced coffee! I guess I have to renew those vows, because they didn't do too well this time. From now on, I will stay clear of milk and her friends!!! As god as my witness, I won't drink milk again! Thank goodness I bought those calcium supplements.

It's 11:45 PM. History exam on chapters 9 through 20 is in approximately 8 and half hours. Chapters read so far is... half of 9. That is NOT a good sign. The author of my history text is rather... dull. The author of my U.S. history book in the 11th grade was exciting -- the writer's last name was Bailey, and was always referred to as Bailey in my class. Now he made the Reconstruction interesting beyond belief! Mr. Nash, you, however -- made a pathetic attempt at scraping money from college students. This book is paperback, and yet costs a fortune, aside from the fact that the writing is as flat as the day-old soda sitting on my desk (from last night). For shame!

But in all seriousness, this book may be boring, but I may be exaggerating also, since I am feeling the angst of being short on time, due to my procrastination. I am not going to read the rest of the chapters. One can't consume the entire 1800's overnight. Yes, that would be my fault. It is this circular reasoning that gets me going round and round! I blame the author for the bland text, then I feel guilty for my harsh words and admit to procrastination (the highest crime for students), then I keep telling myself that I put off the reading because it was so dull. Eek!

For some reason, the Korean fonts are not showing up. I apologize. Please refer to the half-assed phonetic translation besides the words.

I've been nagging and yelling at Shane all morning about his wreckless drinking the night before. He was very embarrassed about the silly things he did, including bending my glasses (ahem, NEW glasses that cost a fortune nearly!). I know what a good amount of soju can do to a person. It's a powerful drink. Always drink responsibly!

I used to make soju cocktails as a living. I know some very good recipes. Although the recipes are out there, I know very few who can make them as tasty as I do. Actually, they taste good only to me -- some people think I tend to make them too sweet, drowning the bittery crisp taste of soju.

The most simplest and the most common soju cocktail drinks are the lemon soju and yogurt soju. For both of these recipes, you will need a bottle, one bottle of soju, a can of sprite, and some syrup.

And one part soju, and two parts sprite or 7up. Add lemonade powder (country time lemonade, etc). Add enough to fit your taste. Finish with a teaspoon of syrup, and mix well. It should taste like a lemonade with a bite. Soju is very high in alcohol content, so even a little bit can do damage. Cocktail soju, like soju, is consumed in shot glasses. Cocktail soju itself is served in a carafe.

For yogurt soju, which is one of my favorites, go to your local Korean market. They have yogurt that is in liquid form (I have yet to find a U.S. substitute). They are delicious by itself! The ones made by a company called "epoca" comes in little milk carton like containers. Add one part soju, one part yogurt, and one part sprite or 7up. Add a touch of syrup, and mix well. Epoca yogurt (I don't know if they are a Korean company or not) comes in may different flavors: original, peach, pineapple, etc. Try a variety to find your favorite! I like the original, peach and pineapple. Yum, Yum!

There's many other recipes available. Lemon and yogurt, along with strawberry, are the most popular flavors of cocktail soju. There's also cucumber (not my favorite to make or to drink, but some find it refreshing), Peach (this tastes like a peach soju smoothie!), Apple (this one is like a less sour version of the sour apple Puckers!) and more.

Soju is big in Korea. Men boast of their abilities to drink a number of bottles. For me, I can handle about a bottle and half before I start to lose composure. Some say they can drink more than 10 bottles, but that is definitely not good for the liver! Soju is made by several different companies, and although they are very similar in taste, each has their unique interpretation of soju (supposedly). If you would like to try a traditional Korean alcoholic beverage that won't knock you out, try ¸·°É¸®(mak-gur-li). It is an opaque, creamy white drink that has less alcohol. It is drank out of bowls, and is equivalent to the beer in the U.S. (as in a drink for the working class, traditionally speaking -- these days it's sold in traditionally themed bars.)

If you seek something with a zing, but not quite so bitter, try ûÇÏ(chung-ha) which is like a wine derived from fine rice. It is clear and colorless like soju, but a bit sweeter, and comes in a smaller bottle. For women, I'd encourage »ê»çÃá(san-sa-choon), ¹é¼¼ÁÖ(baek-seh-joo), or ¸ÅÃë¼ø(mae-chwee-soon), which are smoother and softer. ¹é¼¼ÁÖ and »ê»çÃá are the same thing, only manufactured by different companies. ¸ÅÃë¼ø is not as popular, but is a little bit more expensive than soju, but is delicious. It is made of a plum-like fruit called ¸Å½Ç. It is similar to the traditional ¸Å½ÇÁÖ.

As you may have noticed, many of the alcoholic beverages end with a suffix -ÁÖ, which in Chinese, means alcohol.

This one's for the kiddies -- no alcohol! Koreans are big on rice. ½ÄÇý(shik-heh) is a drink made from rice. It is sweet, yet has a certain taste that can't quite be described. It's indescribably delicious! Often times it will come with rice (that have been bloated with liquid) floating -- they taste good too. In some restaurants, they serve it like a light dessert. Now this is available in cans! ¼öÁ¤°ú (soo-jung-gwa) is a drink that is very cinnamon-ee. It has a bite to it. I don't like cinnamon personally, so this drink is something that I tend to avoid.

I got a call from my coworker about 9PM asking me to come out to LA. Our old friends were all there, so I decided to go. I knew there'd be lots of Soju drinking -- we used to be a soju-drinking bunch. However, I have grown since those days, and my tolerance for alcohol has also dimished. I had one shot of soju and coke afterwards. My coworker, on the other hand, got completely wasted, plastered. My coworker, Shane, has been like an older brother to me, and I have always regarded him as such. So when this guy was plastered beyond belief, it was my duty to make sure he arrives safely at home. For me to take an approx 180 lbs guy home was no easy task. I will write about it some other time -- I am very tired, and my glasses are bent out of shape (by Shane) and I can hardly see. I am going to take a shower, sip on some coke, and hit the sack. AND yell at Shane first thing tomorrow morning.

The lack of turbulence in the weather is increasingly boring! Give me some rain, some more thunderstorms, and rainbows! It is hard to extricate myself out of the boring patterns at work. I learned something new today. I once learned the difference between "already" and "all ready" in the 9th grade, and learned that both were equally correct, but were often misused. Now I learned that the word "alright" which I used in my previous post, is an incorrect word. Correct words would be "all right." Alright does still appear in some dictionaries, but in the definition, it does say that it is of "nonstandard" usage. Learning something new every day here.

It's almost Thanks Giving. Although it's not something celebrated by yours truly, it does mean time off from school AND work. So hurrah for those pilgrims and Indians and Quakers or whoever started all this. I am sleeping in on Thursday, stay up late and watch TV. On Friday and Saturday, I probably have work, but I should get off pretty early -- I'm expecting no later than 4PM for both days. Sometimes I wonder. Why Thursday? For many, it is opportunity of a 4 day weekend. For me, it often means one day of rest, followed by work. It would be better if it were on Friday. At least for me. But getting Thursday off is different than every other holiday, I guess.

Maybe I should start thinking about what I'm thankful for, and maybe the good vibes will give me some good karma. I'll see where that takes me.

More Words!

Turbulence: This is a noun. It means a state of violent agitation. We were frightened by the turbulence of the ocean during the storm. I guess this word is often used in describing the weather. The turbulence of the storm delayed my flight.

Extricate:It means to free or to disentagle. What in hell does disentagle mean? They should not use difficult words in definitions! But I get the gist of it. It's a verb. It means to free. Alright. Moving on. He found that he could not extricate himself from the trap. The girl realized that she would not be able to extricate herself while the psycho was watching her. Interesting sentences, if I do say so myself.

Reticence: This is a noun, it means reserve or uncommunicativeness. I guess like being quiet or aloof. Because of the reticence of the key witness, the case against the defendant collapsed. The taciturn man exuded an aura of reticence.

Ok. So at least I am keeping up with my vow to learn new words. Although it isn't as often as I had wished at first, I think it's alright considering. I had a lot going on these last couple of days.

I spent a lot of time today, doing what I like best. Surfing on the web, watching videos/movies, pampering (pampering, from my point of view, bothering, from the cat's p.o.v.), enjoying a luxurious cup of coffee... Since most of the exams and presentations were out of the way, I didn't have much stress. The anxiety of waiting for the nursing acceptance also simmered down. The history exam on Thursday seems like decades away, with ample time to study... I chatted on the phone with Crystal for nearly two hours, and the cat was actually affectionate today.

Since I got rejected for the upcoming semester's nursing program (Of course, the letter did say, "While it is certainly not impossible, it is rather unlikely that your name will be called for this application period") that means I will have to take G.E. courses and extra unnecessary courses the next semester. Which means I will have more time. I am probably going to take English 102, humanities 115 (mythology!), English 125 (Shakespearean), and either political science, or art history. But most likely, at least two English classes. I also haven't decided if I would go to winter session. I might -- it is a long time from mid-December to mid-February. Then again, I may not. I really do want to take either Shakespearean English, or English literature, or perhaps both. Alas, the Sunday is already coming to a close. It is truly a blessed day, this Sunday.