Sorry for the lack of pictures below -- they'll be back in 24 hours.

In times like this, I am ashamed to be part of a race of savages. This is a short clip of what went on in the Korean Congress, over the impeachment of the current president. The current president is very well loved by the people, and 70% of the population (approximate) are against the impeachment. In congress, 197 votes were for the impeachment, and 2 were against, with about 40 who "boycotted." So in this country, congress doesn't represent the people. Not only that, they resort to fighting physically. Throwing things such as chairs, grabbing another rep by their neck tie, pushing and shoving, and more. It's a disgrace to have the whole world see these things happen through actual footages. Short, stout, bald men and a few women, in black power-suits, throwing chairs around! It's a freakin' circus.

Some more photos from Yahoo News:

There's a candlelight vigil going on now, as there are in Spain for the 199 who died yesterday in the terrorist bombings. The theme? Can't we all just get along?

They are halting gay marriages. You know, I've seen so many interviews and explanations, and I see so many valid reasoning for legalizing gay marriage, but not a single valid one for the opposite. I'm no militant revolutionary, nor am I a conservative republican. But I see so many people who want this, and I also see that no one would be hurt from this legalization. I mean, if gay people got married, would it really hurt you? And remember that this is a secular nation. You can't bring your gods into this.

In this life, there is so little love to go around -- there is truly a lack of love on this planet. Too many disease, too many wars, and too many hearts broken. About 3000 people died just in 2001 in NY, and about 200 people died today in Spain. In the Congo and Colombia, people are still warring against each other. When there's so many evidence that there is a lack of love, why would you deny love from the people who are willing to give love? This is not like abortion. I can understand both sides of the controversy, but gay marriage isn't killing anyone. It doesn't hurt anyone, but benefits so many. Think of the fact that just a few decades ago, interracial marriages were not legal. See how ridiculous that was.

You love Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and you love Will and Grace. You may believe that homosexuality is "wrong." I guess that's your opinion and I respect it. But beyond that, you have to think of what is fair, and if equal opportunities are given to each individual. Isn't that what makes the U.S. so great? Stopping gay marriages -- that's not too different from stoning widows to death because they had sex after their husbands had long been dead (somewhere in Africa). I do strongly believe that with time, this will become legal. Don't drag this out longer than it has to -- there's too many people's happiness involved. In a depressing age like this, with wars and AIDS and making ends meet and taxes and everything else that is just so hard -- the least you can do is support something that can make thousands of people happy. Who knows. It would pass around to you in the form of good karma.

I know my reasoning isn't too sound, but I'm tired of this. I am cyber-applauding to the individuals who showed up to get their marriage certificates -- congratulations to you all. I am just so tired of hearing the ignorant bigots with the big voice yelling out stupid stuff. Yes. Stupid! (I really hate that word, and I had to use it twice already!)

I've been busy.

That's normally a great thing, because I feel alive. But time flies when you're feeling alive, and oh look. It's already Thursday. I've had a lot of work to do, and the excessive heat wasn't helping at all. Before school started, I was sleeping a good nine hours a night (I know, a little too much) and then mid-February, I had to jump to surviving on just six hours. At this point my body is feeling a bit sluggish, and I think even with 35 hours of work and 15 units of school, I'll make it if I prioritize things a bit better.

Yesterday at work, it hit me, that I am going to have to get more sleep in somehow. If you know me, you know that I need sleep. Of course everyone needs sleep, but once in a while y'all can go a day or two with less sleep. Not me. Anything less than eight hours, there'll be hell to pay. Even at the greatest get-together with friends or a party, if I know I can't sleep in the next day, I'm going home. If I know that one more drink will push me over and make me stay up all night puking, believe me, no amount of alcohol can tempt me. I need my sleep.

The way I found out yesterday was the first time ever that this happened. I went to the bathroom, and while I was there, my nose felt a bit itchy, like I'd sneeze or something, so I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand. Then I found my hand, covered in dark red blood. Gory, I tell you. I washed it off and thankfully none of it got on my clothes, but the blood would not stop flowing! I soaked tissue after tissue with blood, and although it probably wasn't enough to call 9-1-1, I've never really bled so freely, especially from my nose! After what seemed like hours, it finally paused, and I went on with my day. I guess that was my body telling me to give it a rest!

You know, it really feels good to get up in the morning, real early. And I'm not a morning person. When I open my eyes around 6:30 -7AM (I do this naturally, without the alarm going off -- then I go back to sleep and have my alarm wake me up again) the world seem so serene. Especially now that summer is here. The birds are chirping, and just the right amount of sunlight brightens my room, and a cool breeze caress my toes. It's beautiful -- my window gives me the most incredible view of mornings.

Since I am taking today's blog to blab on about random nothings, I'll write about a gripe. A pet-peeve, if you will. Yes, another one. I was reading Glamour magazine, one of the magazines that a journalism instructor once called "smut." (In that class, I always felt like I was sinning by indulging in guilty pleasures like Glamour, Cosmopolitan and etc.) There was one little section, titled: "Gizmo of the month." It featured various gadgets and briefly named a pro and con for each. This month was by-lined: "Finally! Affordable digital cameras that take crisp, print-worthy shots."

My first complaint would be regarding the first one, which is the HP Photosmart 735. The "only gripe" it says, "Its 16MB of storage space is relatively stingy." Now, you can't write that as a con for this item, if basically all the other items have 16MB of storage. You gotta find something unique that is bothersome! The second one was the Canon PowerShot SD10 DIgital ELPH. The only gripe, it says, "Looking at a screent (not a lense) is awkward at first." Of course there are other (namely cheaper) digital cameras that do not have the little screen, all the ones named on this page were of that caliber. All had little LCD monitors that showed what the photo would look like. Again, this cannot be the "con" of this item, if it is a characteristic shared by all the others on that list.

For this one, the pro, or as it says, "Why we love it," states "It's the cutest camera we've seen and prints directly from some printers." Ok. The word "cutest" just discredits the source. It could have said that its red color makes it stand out from the sea of silver-colored cameras, or whatever. Also, many other cameras do print directly off a printer (some of the new photoprinters anyways).

I can't believe that this was titled "Affordable digital cameras." For a magazine that is not geared toward the upper class, I can't believe this! There are plenty of other digicams that are under $200 that are very stylish, functional, and worth the acclaim! There is absolutely no need to splurge on a $399 camera, unless it is something you specifically desire. Or you had a gift certificate of $400, like I did, then a Canon S400 isn't too bad.

This magazine is geared toward working moms who juggle a career and kids, and have to scrounge for cheap shoes and at-home, DIY hair dying kits. I was really appalled, because I really like this magazine. And although it costs so little for me to enjoy this spectacular magazine, if I see something that I could have written and done a better job standing on my head while eating a oreo-cookie pie, I am outraged.

A person named Rebecca Freed wrote this, or compiled this info. I am ashamed of you! I am sure she had written brilliant stuff before, but something like this really sticks out. Come on. Do the research. I know it's small -- fills up only a third of a page, but on a monthly magazine, a magazine sold world-wide, you need to try harder. Perfection is not required, but have the decency to recognize that the reader would know some of these things are ... well... stupid. Come on, "The memory card is about $20 more than others?" All of these come with one included in the manufacturer's box! And what size memory are you talking about? I know space is limited, but I have to expect better. If I am paying to read something, it better be good. Or it'll be "smut" like that instructor said. 'Nuff said.

OMG... Hahahahahahaha...

Jesus Demands Creative Control Over Next Movie

Disclaimer: Not for the uber-religious at heart.

After just a few days of spring, summer barged in full force, head on. Currently at 85 degrees Fahrenheit, expectant high temperature is a whopping 90 degrees! It's HOT!

The Great Haemi

In 1999, I had to find an apartment and quickly. My family was getting evicted, among other things, for having a chihuahua in a "no pets" building. That building was horrible and the landlord pretended to be impeccable, always chiding us for running, or parking my car slightly askew, or getting visited by my cousin too frequently (he thought my cousin lived in the apartment, which was true, although temporary, and that's a whole another therapy session). So after receiving the notice, I said to myself, "good riddance" and went on a desperate search for an apartment in a decent part of Glendale, my hometown since 1990.

The rent in Glendale has nearly skyrocketed since 1990, and this was the first time I had to look for an apartment -- so far, the only time I've had to. It was hard finding something that fit our budget, and yet was in a liveable neighborhood with a garage/parking lot. They also had to take pets, because I wasn't willing to be parted from my beloved "Jjang," the chihuahua. (Jjang in Korean is a slang term, loosely equivalent to the English slang, da bomb.)

I searched through the LA Times and found a place. The price was right, and it was in a pretty good place. I went to visit it, and I fell in love. It was just big enough for my family + pet, and it was bright. It had the most adorable kitchen, and the whole place was just so darn cozy, and I don't mean small. We moved in later that month.

This apartment, which is the very place I am typing from now, is on Myrtle Street. I found nothing odd, but some time after I moved in, I realized that Myrtle is a character from The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite books, and a must read for all high school students. Not only is Myrtle from that novel, so is Daisy, which happens to be my English name. Daisy, of course, in the novel, runs over Myrtle with Gatsby's car. It is an odd coincidence, but it's really small and I'm probably connecting too many non-existent dots, but to me, it's pretty neat. I feel like something out of the roaring 20's, something from Fitzgerald novels. His characters are always so dramatic and yet fabulous.

I was reading a few other blogs by people I've never met, and came across this one: laStella*, which is written by a Janet Kwok, as mentioned in the Harvardblog. In the blog, she uses a pseudonym, which got me thinking. Maybe, I should get a pseudonym. Wouldn't that be romantic? Now if I could only find one to suit me... I don't know since when, but using your real name is so bleh. I recall an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The narrator hates her name, Esperanza, and wants something else for a name, such as Xexe the X. Of course, Cisneros did write it up more eloquently than my one sentence summary, but Xexe? The X? Not for me.

If I were to have one, I would need something bold but romantic, sharp but softening, innocent, but not without a bite. Too much to ask for in a name? Something very feminine, but with a strong connotation. Something like the name Chanel except that's so plebian. And no Indian names like Pocowhachamacalla or Thunder Thighs. Maybe a man's name, but something that melts like bittersweet dark chocolate on my tongue. Claude. Pangloss. Like George Elliot, but I wouldn't want to bite off from her. Perhaps Grendela. That was a joke.

Of course, if I were to write something to be published, like a novel or something, or perhaps paint something marvelous, I would definitely need a pseudonym. Not because I want to hide, but because I'm just fabulous like that. Ultimately, when I die, I would just have to be known as "The Great Haemi." Because I will be great, and will be remembered as such. Which reminds me. If I want to be great, I should get to my school work and tackle MacroEconomics by its achilles heels. Sometimes reality feels like sandpaper, scrubbing against my gentle, gossamer daydream.