WWP

Honor a wounded warrior at WWP Proud Supporter.

More Asianness!

Jay Chou is an Americanized Chinese singer. He starred in the Americanized film "Curse of the Golden Flower," which just so happens to feature one of my favorite actresses, Gong Li (I think she's absolutely gorgeous). Gong Li also starred in "Memoirs of a Geisha," but she doesn't speak English, so she memorized her lines by rote (impressive, considering the emotion in her lines). But, I digress. This is one of my favorite Jay Chou music videos.

And this one is just plain awkward.

Minorities

There are so many African-Americans and Latinos on base that I started anxiously searching for Caucasians. Insane, since I'm Asian.

Profiling

Earlier this week, The Sergeant needed to stop by the classroom before his lunch break ended, and when we entered the room, two other soldiers were already inside. Later, The Sergeant informed me that one of them, Sergeant Ostrich (not his real name . . . obviously) had invited us to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. The Sergeant told Sergeant Ostrich that he wasn't sure if I would eat Mexican, to which Sergeant Ostrich replied that he didn't think I looked like someone who would eat Mexican food (in Sergeant Ostrich's defense, he did preface that statement by saying that he meant no offense). Well. I immediately told The Sergeant that we would be happy to accept his invitation, and so we will be having dinner Sunday evening.

I've never had Mexican food.

Have You Honored a Wounded Warrior?

We are currently over 20% to the goal of $250. If you've not already donated, support a wounded warrior and ensure that this generation's wounded warriors is the most successful and well-transitioned by donating at WWP Proud Supporter.

10 Things I Like About You

About six years ago, my Pastor's wife invited the young teen girls from our church on a girls' night out. We spent the night in a nearby hotel, fellowshipping and bonding. One of the events of the night was to create a list of ten qualities we wanted in our future husbands. We dubbed the lists "Ten Things I Like About You," and gave them to our parents to keep until later and review. Since then, I've reviewed and revised mine, but only one has changed. I've also added two "optional" (read: two requirements that aren't required only because it would throw of the title of the list) traits. This is my list, as mentioned in my Bucket List.

Christian
- He must have a personal relationship with Christ. We should be on similar levels spiritually and able to challenge each other to grow. Bonus points if he's Pentecostal.

Supportive
- He must be supportive of my ambitions. Bonus points if he's willing to travel the world.

Intelligent
- His intelligence should be comparable to mine. Bonus points if he's got street smarts, since my common sense only occasionally jumps out of the negatives and into the positive percentile.

Understanding
- He must understand and accept who I am, my needs and wants. I do not believe in changing for others, and I would never ask him to change for me. Love is unconditional.

Conservative
- He must share my beliefs and values. I am unwavering in my support of the first amendment, second amendment and support of the military. I also believe that authority can and should be challenged from time to time.

Respectful
- He must respect me, himself and others, regardless of whether they are above, beneath or on his level.

Ambitious
- He must be able to support me (though I will be more than capable of supporting myself); he must have a drive to accomplish and succeed.

Devoted
- He must be loyal to me, as I will be loyal only to him.

Trusting
- He must trust me, and I him.

Strong
- He must be physically strong so that I feel protected. Physical strength is not based solely upon hand-to-hand combat skills. Proper sight alignment and trigger control are also viable criteria, though preferably at a ranger greater than mine.

*Fatherly
- He should be good with children and want his own.

*Humorous
- He should be able to make me laugh.

The last two are optional, but not. :]

Bucket List

A bucket list is a list of things you'd like to accomplish before, well, kicking the bucket. This is mine.

celebrate independence day in washington, d.c.
be kissed under fireworks.
visit washington, d.c. during the cherry blossom festival (with a significant other).
dance in the piazza san marco on a moonlit night.
eat duck tongue in wenzhou.
see the pyramids in egypt.
spend a day daydreaming on the battlefields at gettysburg.
have a picnic in a meadow.
visit williamsburg. <-- To be completed this evening!
finish at least one of my never-ending novels.
marry a God-fearing man (whom i love and meets the 10 things i like about you).
subsequently terrorize the world with kidlets.
go skydiving. maybe.
expand L2.
earn at least an MA in either political science, history, journalism or middle-eastern studies.
search for my biological parents.
learn to swing dance.
earn at least my third degree black belt in tae kwon do.
learn how to drive manual.
learn how to unassemble and reassemble an ar-15. preferably mine.

In My Opinion - Professional Sports

The other day, I was doing work in the cafeteria. It was around lunch time, and a middle-aged woman sat down in front of the television nearest to me. She changed the channel to a soap opera, which I endured for an hour, before her lunch was over and she went back to work. A few moments later, a man sat down nearby, and I waited until the woman left before I stood up to change the channel. Unable to find Fox News after about three minutes of searching, I settled for CNN another news channel. No sooner had I sat down than another man walked over, changed the channel to ESPN, and sat down with the first man. Enraptured, they stared at the cathode ray tubes while I packed up my stuff and passed three other televisions, two of which were broadcasting ESPN, on my way out of the cafeteria.

Professional sports are both a horrid waste of time and an ingenious distraction. Ignorant people who can't be bothered with important issues, such as politics, become caught up in a world of which they will never be a part. They wear the jerseys of their favorite athletes (which I never understood -- why are you wearing that jersey if it's not your name and you're not related?), they get angry when "their" teams lose. But, when people are so involved in something as inconsequential as sports, people of that mindset are obviously not as wholeheartedly involved in other affairs of the world (which is a good thing). Professional sports irk me. And yet, when I see the people who are so devoted to them, typically it makes me happy inside that these usually aren't the people forming the world's policies.

Mochi

Mochi is one of my favorite Japanese snacks. Mochi is made of glutinous rice and traditionally served around New Year's. The Sergeant and I currently have three boxes of daifuku (mochi stuffed with filling) -- red bean, taro and green tea.

Aeri's Kitchen

Want even more Asianness? Yes, I just made up that word. Check out Aeri's Kitchen. Aeri has a ton of Korean recipes (complete with Youtube how-to videos and yummy photos!). According to my Facebook stalking, she and The Sergeant plan to exchange recipes.

Black Sesame Sweet Soup

Apparently, I'm on an Asian kick this year, so I'm just going to roll with it.

During my freshman year of college, I met a Chinese ESL student whom I befriended. During my first visit to her dorm, she offered me a bowl (actually, it was a Glad plastic storage container) of some sort of sweet, grey soup (or something to that effect). It had the consistency of sludgy water, but I thought it tasted good. I forgot to ask her what it was called, and it wasn't until recently that I found something similar in an Asian grocery store. After mixing up a cup, I realized that it was the exact same thing. And that if you don't add cold water before adding hot water, it congeals and looks likes sludgy water. I like to make the soup thicker, anyway, so it has a consistency more along the lines of thin mud. Yum.

The soup is Vietnamese, but it's also popular in China for supposedly keeping grey hair at bay (something to do with the fact that it's good for the blood and liver). It's also good for the kidneys, so the packaging claims. I have the instant version, but it can also be made by soaking rice in water for an hour, then grinding it in a blender with toasted black sesame seeds and later boiling it with some water and sugar.

Koreans & Church

While I was waiting for The Sergeant, a Korean hairdresser walked out into the waiting room (presumably to see how many people were waiting to be serviced). She glanced at me, did a double take, nonchalantly meandered to the seat in front of me, picked up the newspaper, and asked, "Are you Korean?" The rest of the conversation went as follows:

Eun: Yes, I am Korean.

Kim: Ah, ahnyounghasaeyo.

Eun: Ahnyounghasaeyo. I don't speak Korean, I was adopted.

Kim: Ah, you were adopted?

Eun: Yes.

Kim: You very pretty.

Eun: Thank you.

Kim: I saw you, you so pretty, I did not know if you were Korean or not.

Eun: Are Koreans ugly or something? Yes, I'm Korean, and thank you.

Kim: You go to church?

Eun: Yes.

Kim: That's good. Where you go?

Eun: I attend church in Pennsylvania; I'm from Pennsylvania.

Kim: Ah, Pennsylvania? You should come to my church.

Eun: I bet it's a Korean church. Where do you go to church?

Kim: It's not far. How long you here?

Eun: Only until next week. I'm with him *gestures to nondescript area on the other side of the wall.*
Kim: When he leave?

Eun: Next week.

Kim: Next week?

Eun: Yes.

[The Sergeant finally enters the waiting room.]

Kim: You should come to church. They have translators. Hold on. *disappears into barber shop*

Eun: First, "Are you Korean?" Then, "You go to church?" They're all the same, and they think I'm one of them! We need a huge picture of Jesus.

Kim: *presents pamphlet and continues to give us directions to the Korean church* I hope to see you soon!

The end.

Bibimbap

The Sergeant and I have begun frequenting a local Korean restaurant. Bibimbap is by far my most favorite Korean dish, so obviously it's the only thing I've ordered from the menu.

USAA Military Group Card

Support the Wounded Warrior Project with your credit card. The USAA Military Group Card makes a contribution to the WWP with every active account. Just make sure you're responsible enough to have a credit card, because those credit relief commercials on television disgust me, and if I find out that one of my acquaintances has or is using one of those programs, I'll shun you for life. True story.

Mobile - Haircuts

The Sergeant is getting a haircut. I wish I could have my hair cut for less than $10.

Mobile - Lunch

The Sergeant is on lunch break until 2:30pm. At Panera some random, middle-aged man asked The Sergeant his age and if he could kill his daughter. Southerners.

U.S. Army Ranks

U.S. Army Ranks

Eun: I was reading in the caf when 20 or 30 soldiers came in, and even though the rest of the caf was empty, they just had to sit where I was sitting and be loud. They filled up all of the tables along the wall and then sat down on the couch on either side of me. One of them was using the f-word.

The Sergeant: What rank were they?

Eun: I don't know, I didn't look.

TS: We need to teach you how to identify ranks.

Honor the Fallen - July

According to Honor the Fallen at Military Times, these are the following men who gave their lives for our freedoms this month:

Army Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25
Marine Cpl. Larry D. Harris, Jr., 24
Army Sgt. Jordan E. Tuttle, 22
Army Pfc. David A. Jefferson, 23
Air Force Capt. David A. Wisniewski, 31
Army Spc. Morganne M. McBeth, 19
Army Sgt. Johnny W. Lumpkin, 38
Army Pfc. Jacob A. Dennis, 22
Army Spc. Clayton D. McGarrah, 20
Army Sgt. Andrew J. Creighton, 23
Army Pfc. Edwin C. Wood, 18
Army SSG Christopher F. Cabacoy, 30
Army Spc. Louis R. Fastuca, 24
Army Spc. Keenan A. Cooper, 19
Army Spc. Jerod H. Osborne, 20
Army Spc. Roger Lee, 26
Army Pfc. Michael S. Pridham, 19
Army Pfc. Anthony W. Simmons, 25
Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel G. Raney, 21
Army Spc. Robert W. Crow, 42
Army Spc. Joseph W. Dimock II, 21
Army Sgt. Donald R. Edgerton, 33
Army SSG Jesse W. Ainsworth, 24
Army Sgt. Shaun M. Mittler, 32
Army Spc. Carlos J. Negron, 40
Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Roads, 20
Marine SSG Christopher J. Antonik, 29
Army Pfc. Nathaniel D. Garvin, 20
Army Spc. Christopher J. Moon, 20
Army 1st Lt. Christopher S. Goeke, 23
Army SSG Christopher T. Stout, 34
Army SSG Sheldon L. Tate, 27
Army Pvt. Brandon M. King, 23
Army Spc. Chase Stanley, 21
Army Spc. Matthew J. Johnson, 21
Army Spc. Jesse D. Reed, 26
Army Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher, 24
Army SSG Leston M. Winters, 30
Army SFC John H. Jarrell, 32
Marine Cpl. Dave M. Santos, 21
Marine SSG Justus S. Bartelt, 27
Army Sgt. Jesse R. Tilton, 23
Army Sgt. Matthew W. Weikert, 29
Army Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28
Marine Cpl. Joe L. Wrightsman, 23
Army 1st Lt. Robert N. Bennedsen, 25
Army Sgt. Anibal Santiago, 37
Army SSG Brian F. Piercy, 27
Marine Cpl. Paul J. Miller, 22
Marine Cpl. Julio Vargas, 23
Army 1st Lt. Michael L. Runyan
Marine Lt. Col. Mario D. Carazo, 41
Marine Maj. James M. Weis (according to Military Times, his age was 371. . . .)
Army Pfc. James J. Oquin
Army SSG Conrad A. Mora, 24
Army Spc. Joseph A. Bauer, 27
Army Sgt. Daniel Lim, 23

I list only names, ranks and ages because I've learned that the rest of the information is frequently unreliable (mainly the cause of death and location).

A Funny Story (Not Really)

A few evenings ago, I whacked my head off of the corner of the bedside table. Impossible, you say? Remember, this is the same woman who, in the darkness, in her own home, walked straight into the wall instead of the doorway. I ended up with an absolutely ginormous and incredibly painful lump right at my hairline on the left side of my forehead. It even bled a little. It looked pretty epic then, but now it's just a small bump with a scab. The end.

Also, future blog entries may be posted via mobile phone due to the cleaning staff and the fact that I'm chained to the desk because I have to use an ethernet cable. And I thought my college was the last place to acquire wireless Internet access.

Wounded Warrior Project

Have you donated to the Wounded Warrior Project yet? Honor and support a wounded warrior at WWP Proud Supporter.

Current: $55
Goal: $250