Yes!! I am a lowly insect now (see right column)! That's such a large upgrade from my previous "insignificant microbe" status!

The world is slowly coming to an end.

Friends, the long lived series I had grown to love immensely, is winding down to a close. With only a couple of more episodes left, it is tearing me apart, piece by piece with each of the remaining episodes. I am so sincerely happy, because I get to see a new episode, but then so intensely saddened, because it would be one episode closer to the finale. As it is with Sex and the City. The four women who lit up the small screen were an inspiration to me, not just in their singledoms, but their courage and the ferocity in which they approached life. They are four extremely well-educated and smart ladies, who knew what they wanted to do, how they wanted to do it, and did it well. They are so different from each other and yet complemented each other well as friends and companions. Frequently, women's friendships break down after a major life-changing event, such as marriages and having babies -- women do tend to introvert into their lives, blocking out the outer part. It is sad, but true. If I had to juggle a career and a baby, how would I ever have time for friends? These days, men do pick up their share around the household, or at least aids in household/domestic work, but women, more so than men, are the required sacrifice. They alone have the ability to breastfeed a child, and they alone can give birth and they alone have to go on maternity leave. But Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, through thick and thin, maintained strong bonds as friends. They are quick and witty, made good money, they stand up for what they believe in. I am reluctant to accept that they are fictional -- although they are not without their problems, they have it all. But they too, are coming to the end of the chapter. My only hope is for the movie that is being talked about, to be out in 2005 if possible. And for Friends, I can only hope that its spin-off, Joey with just one of the original cast members, would be as great as the original.

I am devastated that two of my favorite shows are coming to an end. I am at a loss for words. And although they haven't actually ended yet, their inevitable fate puts me in a grievous mode. I can only hold on tighter to the remaining shows, such as ER, The Simpsons, and even more. Some may chide me and tsk their tongues in contempt for my pleasure in television. But every individual must have a vice; some, such as myself, need many guilty pleasures to ward off bad karma from all the stress received from worldly things. Television is one, chocolate is another, extended hours of sleep, a third. Some refer to this as being some sort of syndrome -- a collection of symptoms that classify extended singlehood. Some say that I need to get laid (oh, how bluntly they do tell me so!). But why would I need to? The glowing warmth of the television set is all the comfort that I need. Ah, TV -- how I love thee!

Beowulf, Revisted

If I had hesitated one moment before signing up for an English literature class, it was because of him, Beowulf. During the past several hundreds of years, Mr. Beowulf has become a staple in English literature of the Middle Ages. Having no access to the syllabus of the course, it was a chance I had to take. I do have a keen interest in literature, particularly of Europe, and particularly during the late middle ages and renaissance, and even post-renaissance and modern literature. Being able to get a glimpse of Shakespeare would be reason enough to take the course -- he makes me giggle with joy like a teenager in the presence of Orlando Bloom. Sure, one could read it all on their own and discuss it ad nauseum, but there is a difference in reading it with a class. The class moves as a cohort through the literature, and each reader sheds a new light on an old text. It is a fabulous experience.

But I did cringe for a moment before registering for this class, despite the fact that it was such a fabulous class! And that is all because of said Mr. Beowulf. He is almost always the first thing to be covered in such an English class, and at least for me, always the most displeasurable. The epic is lengthy, and while pagan, it is scattered with words such as the Almighty, and Lord, and has odd-ball names like Hrothgar. The plot hardly interests me -- watching old paint crack off the corners of the ceiling poses more excitement. Something about Beowulf killing some monster called Grendal, then Grendal's mom gets upset (I mean, what mom wouldn't be??) and Beowulf kills her too. Big whoop.

I am not too fond of the way it is written either. When you read, you have to start imagining a picture from the words you are reading. However, with just the simple words, it is hard to imagine the full picture. Sometimes reading between the lines, or picking up on connotations of words/phrases also aid in the imagination. So when I see the name Beowulf -- I always see this half-wolf half-man (actually it is more like a furry man with a grey wolf's head). He's carrying some sort of medieval weapon -- one of those sticks with a spiky metal ball attached to it. A tattering strip of leather is carelessly strewn about his nether regions, and his feet are as hairy as the feet of the hobbits in LOTR. Grendal, of course, is green. He's a large monster, not too unlike the Hulk, only not so incredible. The name Grendal just screams green, doesn't it? Well, his mother, looks just as dim-witted as her son, but has green hair, which is adorned with a pink ribbon. I could probably draw you a picture.

Of course, since this isn't even written in real English, the supposed hero Beowulf speaks like a true barbarian -- his vocabulary is mostly monosyllabic with sounds like "ooh" "eeh" "ah-ah" and so on. I just want to yell out to the instructor: "Come on, when do we get to the good stuff?" Thankfully, Beowulf should be over in two weeks time (it is a once a week class) and perhaps we'll move on to Chaucer. Chaucer, thankfully, has a great sense of humor, which I understand.

Just FYI, for the class, the required text book cost over 60 bucks, and the text is actually separated into three volumes, A,B, and (surprise!) C: The Middle Ages, The Sixtheenth and Early Seventeenth Century, and finally, The Restoration and Eighteenth Century. I'd be pissed if we did not read through all three volumes, as it did cost me an arm to buy it. Well, it is getting very late. I need to get to bed and prepare for a long day at school tomorrow -- I know it is very unbecoming (thus exacerbating my uber-geek image) but I am just so excited about tomorrow's classes. I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep! Perhaps I should attempt reading Beowulf -- that should do the trick!

I love Blogger. It's fabulous, friendly, and above all, it is free. But recently I've encountered that anyone who's anybody in the blogosphere utilizes Movable Type. Frankly, I have no clue as to what it is, but it seems to be somehow related to Typepad. Well, regardless, I went straight to the source. I found its description a bit arcane -- mystical, difficult, and definitely beyond my blogging abilities. I saw that a lot of bloggers actually purchased blog templating services, such as Blog Moxie (to lazy to post links, please excuse). They had fantastic looking skins. Although I am still very proud of mine, I was definitely impressed and fascinated by the professionals' work.

I'm drifting off topic again! Well, while I truly love Blogger and all the freedom it encompasses, I found a fatal flaw. It doesn't come with comments (the ability for readers to leave comments and thereby interact with the blog-keeper). Of course just the matter of having comments is one all too easy to solve. There are a plethora of people out there who provide the comments function, for free as well. Well into the second year of blogging, that has sufficed well enough for me. However, after much perusing about and around, I realized that others, namely those who utilize Movable Type, have a function that allows the recent comments, regardless of the entry it is tied to, to be listed separately, neatly, in a little column. That must come in real handy. I'd never know if someone went through one of my old posts and decided to make a comment. Unless I go through all my posts and check to see if I have any, which is ridiculous.

I am really weighing in on this Movable Type/Blogger thing. With something like Movable Type, I'd have more functions, and more control over the little things, like layout and graphics. But it ultimately costs me money, which is a big negative. I am already paying for an account at Villagephotos.com to have my photos/images hosted and externally linked. I really do believe that the U.S. is the land of the free. I mean it literally. I want everything for free -- especially since I am a starving student (although the ever increasing measurement of my waist says otherwise) and can't afford many luxuries.

Tonight is my first class for English literature. I think it is from the really early days (i.e. 500 AD?) until the Renaissance literature. I hope it's good.

Just as I had suspected! Cingular and AT&T have finally said their I Do's. The two companies have merged -- or rather, Cingular purchased AT&T at a whoppiing $41 billion, which, I believe, makes it the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., surpassing Verizon. I had seen several mergers in the past -- AT&T was a merge that was done several years ago when I first entered this field -- Airtouch was swallowed up by a group, now called, Verizon, formally called Airtouch, GTE, etc. etc. Cingular came as a result of its parent's divorce/marriage. Formally Pacific Bell, it joined hands with other landline companiese in the South, South West, and became SBC, and their wireless service, became Cingular. What does this mean for the consumer? Probably close to nothing.

Two days ago, someone scraped my mom's new car (her eight-month-old Hyundai Elantra) causing about two feet of denting and discoloration on the front left portion of the car, as well as part of the door. My mother was devastated, and it happened while the car was parked. Thankfully, the person left their info, including the license number. I called her, and she told me that she had no insurance. She's willing to fix the car, but she's strongly requesting that the services be done at her brother's body shop. It would be preferable for my mom to have the insurance company handle it, but since she has no insurance, and I'd rather not pay anything -- what can I do? My mom went to the police station and they said that they won't even file a report for something like this. Geez.

Mmmm~~ I had a good day. It was relaxing. I think I ate four times, which is 100% more often than usual. I often skip breakfast, have a hastened lunch, then a slow dinner infront of the telly, but today was different. I keep reading about how five smaller meals instead of three (or two in my case) larger meals can help maintain a healthy weight by balancing the blood sugar levels at a stable level throughout the day. It is hard when I work from 10 - 7. I do have a customer oriented job, and in a Korean oriented office, eating snacks during non-lunch work hours would not look acceptable. Especially when most Koreans look at me as though I was an overfed oaf (I am taller and quite a bit larger than the average Korean woman -- I am not petite as many people stereotype me on-line!) although I am more than quite normal by American standards. I grew up with Mickey D's and Coca Cola -- what did you expect?

Well, nevertheless, I would genuinely like to eat five times a day. I often get home after 7:30PM so even dinner is at a pretty late time. Prime time actually.

I have been thinking... about starting another blog. Yes, another one. I wanted to start a log where I record my personal commentary on the books I read -- or at least I plan to read. I think this might be a blog that may not live to see it's month-aversary (PEOPLE! It is not one month anniversary, or six months anniversary -- the word anniversary in itself contains the prefix designating that it is an YEARLY thing! So to the many lovers out there who anally celebrate their four-and-a-half-anniversary, it's not the correct usage of the word, anniversary. It's just a pet peeve of mine. Sorry.) simply because I don't know if I'll keep writing it, or if I'll keep reading the same book until I finish it and do this reading thing continuously and consistently. I should, but I know that my willpower isn't strong and I shoudn't start something outright and outrageously when I am not certain that this may last. So I started a little temporary version of it on my geocities website (address not listed for my sake -- and for yours too, so that you won't be exposed to yet another abandoned, orphaned blog!).

I wrote about Bingley and Darcy -- if I were a high school English teacher and assigned that book to be read, I would know the perfect assignment to assign: compare and contrast Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. It seems like the exact thing that any HS teacher would have assigned. I guess I'm supposed to hate Mr. Darcy at this point (chapter ten so far) but you know what? I like him. He reminds me of myself. I'm full of pride and haughtiness. Although I don't want to be, but I am never ever tolerant of those who posess a lower level of intelligence or work ethics as I do -- although I may not be as rich, I am pretty sure that if I were a Hilton sister, I'd be just as haughty too. Sometimes I am glad that I didn't get to go to the college of my dreams. It was a very humbling experience that I probably was in much need of. Otherwise I might have appeared to be much similar to Darcy. So, in short, by association, I like Darcy. I don't like Bingley too much at this point, because he is just so plain darn nice. Not nearly as critical as a human being should be. It's really early in the novel to tell, but that's what it looks from this point.

As I gain more knowledge of the English language, I am increasingly irritated by grammatical errors, and spelling errors. I am VERY sure that I make many errors. For example, ending a sentence with a preposition. Ever since I became aware of it, I try my best to avoid it, but sometimes I still do use it. When other people make the mistake, I am just so annoyed. That writer's impression on my mind just plummets into the level of ESL people. Such wretchedness! Of course, people to whom English really is a second language, I can excuse completely. However, to those who only speak English and were raised speaking it, you should know the simple rules of grammar. I am not saying that you should be able to identify a dangling modifier in a sentence -- a rare few would be able to do that. Even yours truly, self-proclaimed uber-geek isn't likely to do that on a regular day to day basis. But observing grammatical rules seems to me, is essential. It is how you respect a language. By being completely ignorant of them and their usage, or at the very least, ignoring them, is a complete disrespect for the language. And the English language is a great language. Every language is great. But since most of you American gringos speak just one language, it is imperative that you speak it well. Not speak it good, but speak it well. Many would recognize that "speak well" is correct, versus "speak good" but just the same rare few would be able to tell why. It is appalling. At the high school level, this should all have been sorted out by now. Well, just ignore my ranting. It's probably full of more errors, grievous errors than I would ever know.

Let me at least say this -- because I have the right to say it. Please use a dictionary. Please spell correctly. Unless it is a rare typo, it really does demean the quality of your writing. Sometimes I wonder: just who am I talking to...?

There are a few blogs that I stalk. Some I found through other bloggers' links, and some I come across randomly. Snazzykat's blog was one that I stumbled upon randomly, found it to my liking, and visit on and off. Today I found a post that was not too unsimilar to one of mine (written just three days ago, on Saturday, the 14th). Somebody evidently stole her blog design, word for word, script by script, and had the nerve to not leave any sort of credit! When it happened to me, I was outraged! I was very displeased, and I lashed out on my blog (where it is appropriate). But when that person apologized and deleted promptly the blog in question, I felt, kind of, that I over-reacted. He was evidently a newcomer to freely designable blogs (may Korean blogs/websites have a rigid template that they have to use). He didn't know much, and he was interested in learning.

I remember a time when I was the same guppy, trying to feebly grasp some html knowledge. I am not boasting that I know all, or even that I am at an intermediate level. There were times I used other people's templates, because I just didn't know better. I didn't know how. But I learned. So when I thought about myself and how I was at that time, I came to feel a bit sorry for the accused/convicted. I even wrote a brief note, apologizing that I was so passionate with my language (see below, written in Korean). I went to his Korean blog and saw that he was just a regular human being, not the scar-faced thief that I had imagined.

Of course I could be wrong. And I was! This person, after deleting the blogspot address where he copied and pasted my blog, went to another, namely, the previously mentioned Snazzykat's blog, and copied and pasted hers. Only with hers, he did a better job, because he switched the photos and most of the links, and got his own tag board, while with mine, he even copied and pasted the exact wordings of my blog entries as well. But nevertheless it was an exact replica of Snazzykat's blog, and I just cannot believe that this creep just went ahead and did the exact same thing? Stealing a loaf of bread, because your family's starving is one thing. Stealing a blog design is completely different. You were caught once. Why do it again? The same crime?

There are plenty of blog templates at blogskins.com. I go there frequently for inspirations, because it helps me think outside the box, as well as inside it too. You don't want the birth of your new blog to be received in such hostility. Do the right thing, please.

This week I finally start school! Yes, I may be just being true to my uber-geek roots here, but after spending two months of blah I really need some zings. And I can find it at school. My mind is like a sponge. I seriously absorb anything and everything I come across. I can process some heavy duty informaiton, whether it is oxidation reduction reactions, fundamentalist perspective of democracy, or following the Democratic party's Pow-wow with Kerry and Dean. Technically, I could still provide myself with much stimulation if I tried -- I could really pick up that clarinet and learn to play it, or actually open up that old Japanese text book, but being a self-starter is just so not me. I need someone to shove it down my throat, so to speak. I work well under pressure -- in fact, I probably work only under pressure. It's something I should really work on changing, because it is bad, bad, bad -- but very difficult! Anyways.

I will be taking two English classes, which can be heavenly or hellish, depending on a variety of factors. The instructor and I need not to be on the same page, but at least reading the same book. If a majority of the class is taking the class simply to complete their general education, I will probably dread going to class for the rest of the semester. Those types of classes are an exact replica of a high school class, complete with its set of class clowns, the nerd minority, the snobs who associate with the clowns, and those who try to sleep with their eyes open. Not too motivational for a learning environment -- not at all!

Sometimes the chemistry between myself and the instructor doesn't quite match up and I end up feeling ousted from the class. It may be an English class taught in the U.S., but often times the instructor and the students don't communicate in the same language. They may use the same words and diction, but somewhere in the medium, the meaning is lost. That's pretty much when the D's and F's start to appear. I hope I'm not in for that this semester! There is nothing like a bad grade in an English class that ruins the enthusiasm for the semester. Well, it is the more upper (! more upper??) English classes that the general education does not require, so I am hoping that my classmates will be not nearly as hopeless as the English 101 batch.

I am taking economics, namely, macroeconomics. I had a brief rendezvous with econ back in high school, and I did not like it one bit! All I remember is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I'm willing to give everything another chance, and I really do think that basic knowledge in economics would be valuable for me. I honestly do believe that I have a pretty good foundation in stuff like music, history, literature, math, chemistry, and so on, but in some fields, I am just very unaquainted. In my pursuit to be a well-rounded individual, I must have basic concepts of economics etched into my brain somewhere. So that is why I am taking econ. It's a challenge, but I feel confident that I will emerge victorious.

I am taking a mythology class -- it's kind of like taking an English class, I think. It should be very interesting -- I really love reading about the different mythologies that exist, and unfortunately, since I took Spanish over Latin, I missed out on a lot of the toga-adorned gods and goddesses. I think I'll enjoy the class immensely, as well as learn a thing or two.

Art History 101. That's pretty much a G.E. class too, but I like art, I like history, I'm trying to make it as appealing as possible. It should be alright. I'm actually pretty hyped up -- I think I have an interesting array of liberal artsy courses lined up for the semester, and I should receive more than enough stimulus to awake from and keep out of this coma I seemed to have been in for the last two months!

My brain needs food~~~~

Well, aside from all that nerdy-talk, does anyone use Netscape? I downloaded netscape, but found that my page does not load at all! Neither does my brother's page, whose blog template was written by me (by hand). The background color shows up (my page is just purple) and I could hear the music clip playing, but there's nothing! No picture, no writing, no symbols... just purple blankness. Does my page only load up correctly in IE? I want to fix this once and for all, but I'm just very very stuck! Well, any info, as always, is appreciated.

Found some interesting sites: Peter Grigor's domain; Lovablelosers.