just wanted to let you know that i'm safely home, all bodily parts intact, after series of heart-stopping (almost), blood-gushing-to-my-head adventures at King's Dominion. i survived through four roller coasters and coming from a gal who jumps out of her seat in movie theatres, this was a big feat... thanks be to God whom i sought after throughout the hours waiting in line. and to j, my seat partner who told me to be quiet whenever i let my voice take control of my fear. and many others who unconvincingly said these rides are a joke and that there's nothing to worry about. (sure...:)

on another note, i've rekindled my desire to marry the next Steven Curtis Chapman. i know, i should stop getting crushes on married man. after Mr.Ahn (#19!) now him? :P g'night!

have a wonderful weekend people!

i'm gonna go now because this ring pop on my finger is just a bit too heavy and is inconveniencing my typing. (mental note: don't ask for a big diamond ring later in life. actually i'll have to think about this one again :P)

i think i'll blog sometime over the weekend though... i don't know, just a gut feeling i have ;)

Friday Five
When was the last time you:
1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
as much as i love getting and writing handwritten letters, it's been awhile since i wrote a real letter. you know, the ones that begin with "Dear.." and end with "Love," all written in longhand. (and i used to get pretty good comments on my penmanship too.. like back in middle school:) i did send out a thank-you card to a professor who wrote me a recommendation a year ago. it was quite delayed, i know.

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
hmm... maybe these aren't the best questions for me. ah well.
okay, if my memory serves me right, i did make something from scratch! russian tea cakes during christmas holiday last year. if you don't believe me, ask around -- they were quite good :D

3. ... camped in a tent?
a real tent? if i can't count the one that my sister used to have in her room, then maybe in kindergarten. actually i don't remember.

4. ... volunteered your time to church, school, or community?
i'm on break from volunteering at a shock trauma center at a local hospital. i kinda like the hours there, aside from having to wear those floral bouffants.

5. ... helped a stranger?
i helped an old lady pick up her birthday card that she dropped on the floor. that was this morning at the gift shop.

I don't want to live my christian life in such a way that everything i do, say, mean, enjoy and apply can all be explained in terms of human activity. I wonder it to be that about life, ministry, relationships, woship, evangelism, conversion, and salvation that we are forced to say: God did this. -Alistair Begg

my attempt to separate work life from private life has failed as of this morning. ah well.. *shrug*

welcome, my pni cohorts! =) who's going out to lunch today?

i was somewhat nonchalant about it at home but slowly the saddness is setting in. here's a short and sweet article on today's game.

*sigh* i need to get something sweet to cheer myself up. :(

oh pooey.... :(

okay, need to get ready and get to work!

before the day goes by,

Happy Birthday, Joann!
sorry i missed the celebration of your 21st birthday.
with much much love, A

alright, victory goes to... *drum rolls* General Tso (and his chicken)! the battle was tough, against Johnny (and his corned beef sandwich) and gyroman (and his infamous gyro's). but no one can beat the general. *whew* there's finally peace in the world.

yes, it's monday afterall. =P

in my head on a monday morning

1) so i'm 22 -- turning 23 in less than three months -- and i would like to consider myself a lady by all means. (oh, be quiet, you) but this morning, a horrifying little thing that i saw in the mirror left me in a perpetuating confusion. i saw a pimple on my forehead. not the benign little ones i sometimes get but one of those that you wanted to put a band-aid on in high school. and i'm not in high school. no longer do i think that i'll marry prince william or have crushes on celebr.. okay, never mind the latterbut the point is, i'm not a teen! i shouldn't be getting any zits on my face. *insert my puzzled face* does this mean i can still hope for a few inches? ...

2) i haven't been craving chocolate as i used to. this worries me quiet a bit. am i sick?

3) why can't i walk and drink at the same time? i've tried again and again but failed. like this morning when i wanted to finish my glass of oj before i got on the shuttle bus. i spilled almost the whole glass, thankfully not on my white shirt nor on my skirt, but on the parking lot, leaving a nice little trail of oj from my car to the bus. i'm sure the passengers enjoyed the little entertainment as the bus waited for me, the last one to get on ... all the time.

i love monday mornings. don't you? (okay, that was a joke)

lately, some of the most profound and memorable conversatioins have been taking place in my car... especially with some awesome girls that i've been blessed to call my sisters. thanks, b, for sharing, encouraging and challenging me.

Rolling river God
Little stones are smooth
Only when the water passes through
So, I am a stone, Rough and grainy still
Trying to reconcile this river's chill

But when I close my eyes
And feel you rushing by
I know that time brings change
And change takes time
And when the sunset comes
My prayer would be this one
That You might pick me up
And notice that I am
Just a little smoother in Your hand
-Nichole Nordeman

i tend to recycle lyrics in this page as they hit a chord in my heart again and again, and tonight, i just want to remind myself that all of me is in His hand and no part of my life is overlooked by my Sovereign Father.

*yawn* time to hit the bed. an exciting week awaits me!

so summer has begun and more than anyone, i'm so anxious to know how July will turn out to be. it's a mixture of excitement and fear, i guess. sounds a lot like my summer last year, huh? since i've officially declared my leave of absence from volunteering (a.k.a. "dear ms. w, i'll be taking the next few weeks off... i'm sorry."), i can finally visit my friends up north. and the rest of the month will be filled with random things like going to a Judy Collin's concert with my dad. heh. honestly, i think i want to just spend it reading a few great books and The Book, spending time meeting friends that i've neglected for awhile, bonding (a.k.a. training) my sister who'll be leaving for college. i guess you'll find out as time unfolds :)

seems like i'm out of words for this page these days... i don't know what happened! *shrug*
just wishing everyone a merry jolly weekend =P (and i do wish it was christmas... so far away *sigh* )

p.s. welcome, my middleschool buddy! let's go find the others now.

i'm going to keep this really short because i know my writing won't do any justice in describing the past few days at the retreat. who would have thought that the youth group retreat which started with me taking double dose of pain-killers would leave me with this indescrible joy? and that i would leave the retreat center partially guilty for being blessed too much as a counselor, perhaps a little more than the students? i don't think that many teachers expected to see those middle school boys who wouldn't even clap for praise songs who hip-hop to "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord" and i would be coming home with cramps in my legs for jumping up and down with my small group girls to "God is Great." ... i know not everyone here is Christian, but if you saw the love that God poured on these kids, on the teachers and myself, and saw the changes in the faces of these students as we gave that last worship service this morning, it would be hard not to think twice about the existence of a supreme being who has an unreasonable love for his creation. *sigh* only if i can write better.

there's so much to tell -- from my girls who were so receptive to me even though i was a new face, the humbling encouragement i received as a sixth-grader described her awe of the Cross as she praised one night, meeting a pastor who had a vision to do missions in Indonesia (!), a deeper grasp of ephesians 4:11-13 as i looked around and saw God's servants from different cities brought together in a retreat center solely to serve a group of teenagers whom God loves so much and ultimate honor and glorify Him. oh and so much more, but i'll stop here. a big thanks to those who may have remembered me in your prayers as i shared how unready and hesitant i was about this trip! okay, wanna hear something funny? last night as we were munching on our midnight snacks generously brought in by the parents, one junior high girl who doesn't even know my name complemented saying, "you look so nice!" of course, i was very flattered and said, "oh thank you!" but she immediately added, "yeah, you look like you don't know anything!" ?!?!?!?!? all the counselors cracked up and i wasn't sure how to respond to such a comment. heh. i know she meant well, but .... i mean, did i look that content with chicken wings in my hands?

anyways... i don't know how i'm going to leave this body of Christ that i love so much.

help. ("i'm fallen and i can't get up." funny how this more-than-a-decade-old commercial will always be remembered. that's some powerful advertising, don't you think?)

anyways, like i said, help.

when i see someone i know who recently began blogging, xanga-ing, or livejournaling, there's a faint yet evil voice deep inside of me chuckling with words, "hehe, now you are hooked!" :P

tomorrow, actually today, is the Lord's Day and i shall rest from any online activity. and in the days to follow, i will be retreating from this high tech civilization. so here, i bid you farewell. byebye!

and yes, every sentence is a paragraph. incoherent and sparse. this clearly reflects my train of thoughts after midnight.

this is how i've been feeling regarding my blogs. (except that i don't think i've been that terrible in my spritual walk... or have i been insensitized? hm. nor have i been thinking about josh h. eversince i found out about his girlfriend, i stopped stalking him. and i haven't had tapioca puddings in a long time. ) hopefully it will change when i return.

in terms of life learning experiences, last week was the most educational in several years. and i didn't have to spend a penny in tuition! (can this be real? =) to use my favorite word, i had many epiphanies and now i'll just have to see how they will change things for me.

i received a really cute email yesterday that i wanted to post, but i discovered that these little blurbs of mine are the first to see when you type in "amy kim" under yahoo or google. i never felt such a mixed surge of flattery and fear at the same time like that before. so, to respect the sender, i will have to keep the entertainment to myself. heh.

. . . . . . .
i love this weather. bright and breezy. just the way i like it :D

finally friday five is back but since this week's questions aren't very applicable to me, i'm using a moldy one from February 1.

1. Have you ever had braces? Any other teeth trauma?
i had braces for a year in 8th grade. i'm sure i had to keep them longer but my orthodontist was worried that there weren't any doctors in indonesia to continue the check-up:) (little did he know that there are more high-tech equipments over there than here). so i started high school a little cooler sans braces (but still with curly hair and glasses). i still wear my retainers at night... so i might sound funny if you call me in the wee hours.

2. Ever broken any bones?
i fractured my wrist once in, again, 8th grade. it was in PE where we had to do high jumps and i landed on the floor instead of the mat. *ouch* i still remember crying as my teacher escorted me to the nurse. other than the fact that i had to play the flute with a fractured wrist, i was pretty happy about it -- it meant no PE for the remaining quarter! heh. i was never the athletic one.

3. Ever had stitches?
nope. not only was i the un-athletic one, i'm told that i was very careful since i was a baby. eg. when i was a toddler, i would only walk if i absolutely had to and i would stop walking if i saw something on the floor like a toy or a rock a few feet away. so i rarely put myself in risky situation that might cause me scars. but then there's my sister... that's a complete different story.

4. What are the stories behind some of your scars?
a few small scars on my face from chicken pox when i was 4? not too interesting.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?
i'm going to be productive! (as i always say but rarely do. *sigh*) but really, i should be productive. and tomorrow, i'll volunteer. go to a few meetings in prep for the retreat. a very low-key weekend i guess.

happy weekend, everyone!

next time, i'll avoid watching the world cup while getting ready, eating strawberry Nutri-Grain and drinking coffee in the car and eatching chocolate from Rome that a faculty brought in this morning. i'm too happy, hyper, fidgety to work. maybe i'll go outside and hug some strangers.

yay! Korea beat Portugal! i'm so proud of y'all!... even though i don't know your names!!

this means that i'll be trekking over to the market in the rain to get some korean food for lunch :D who knows, maybe i'll get some extra rice. heh.
hey, mister who's currently residing in cali, i think soccer is way cooler than football. they play with PASSION! :D (whereas football players are... um, barbaric? oh man, i'm gonna get some nasty emails.)

the sun has gone to bed and so must i. good bye... good bye....[chorus] good byyyyye.

have you ever felt like your mind isn't where it should be but you know where it should be and the ways to get there, but you can't quite find the time to do so? maybe i should run away from Civilization for awhile. ohhh... that would be so hard.

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head over all principality and power." Colossians 2:9,10

four hours of sermon on love, sex, and dating during the day was more exhausting that i thought. i was in a daze throughout the evening, throughout the meeting, and throughout my drive home. i am jealous of your pastor though.

(this time, you can be self-centered and think that this is you :)

before i forget,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sharon!

because it's your birthday, i'll forgive you for decorating my car with your purple hippo while i was gone, and for messing up my desk that didn't need your help to begin with. and because it's your birthday, i'll swallow my pride (once again) and say i love you.

okay, so my chicago story. hm... i have a problem recalling things in detail because my fingers get tired of typing after a while. (talk about lack of physcial activity here.) so if i don't write at a moment's time, i end up not blogging at all and i'm afraid that will be the case here :P but to put things in a nutshell...

my trip started off with a recent highschool graduate who sat next to me in the plane and kept me from my much wanted nap; it was 8 in the morning! he just went on about his life story, from how his grandfather who used to be a mortician is very ill to how i should listen to Metallica's S&M (or SNM?) album. and with 15 minutes left before landing, he says unapologetically, "so i guess i kept you from sleeping." at that point, i had already given up sleep and was munching on my Nutri-Grain.

most of that day was spent in downtown Chicago, walking around Navy Pier in an absolutely gorgeous weather which i heard was the first in June. and the next day was the wedding where I, at the last minute, took up the very important role of cueing the organist for the procession of the bride. (so... i sat there thinking, if i don't cue, my friend won't get married?!?? =) that's power! :P) witnessing my friends at the alter, i understood why marriage is called a "holy matrimony," how beautiful it is to the eyes of God and the people around them as they establish that special relationship as husband and wife. so beatiful that it makes people cry! the pastor at one point asked the groom, "do you realize that you are the complete answered prayer of the bride?" ... man, the pressure! oh yeah, the reception was fun too. i danced until my feet hurt. (and i haven't done that since.. like 3 years?)

and the next day :D all by unexpected incidents, a group of 5 girls ended up staying at the Hyatt (vs. what could've been Best Western) for free and drove around the city in a red hot Beetle, and walked around Rush St (apparently that's the hip part of the town, according to the conceirge at the hotel. it's kinda like Georgetown in DC with a bit more glitz) where we finished 35 plates of sushi at All-you-can-eat sushi bar that had dishes rotating on the conveyer belt. the highlight of the experience was the korean sushi chef who kept giving us complimentary plates including fillets of eel (me drools at this point) and mochi dessert things.. heheh. and if you know me in real life, don't listen to Chong's story. those girls have a skewed version of it which i don't agree.

the trip was worth putting off my med school apps and i was so thankful on my way home. (vs. feeling hesitant even on my plane ride to chicago a few days ago). hanging out with friends from baltimore in the midwest, seeing some friends for the last time for at least awhile :( but honestly, i'm so much better at saying good-byes, guys! no longer the bawling and hugging... i'm all grown up! (did i ever tell you about the time i cried so much for winter break in freshmen year that my some of my floormates thought i came from an abusive family and didn't want to go home? :D that was funny...)

alright that was way too long of a break. i should be fired. bye bye!

i'm back! :D

okay, more to come later... i'm kinda busy right now with a doughnut and a cup of coffee. laters!

i always like the song but this is the cutest by far. that little boy's sooo adorable :D i would actually want this song to be the last song at my wedding if i end up living up to the lyrics. highly idealistic, huh? :P otherwise, tony bennett's "the way you look tonight" will have to do. (sorry, jess... we'll just have to share the song. heh.) oh but then there's that Steven Curtis Chapman's... *torn*

until next time!

it's raining, it's pouring...
does anyone have an umbrella i can borrow?

i knew it was going to be a good day. someone just popped a Sound of Music dvd in his computer. :D it's been crazy at work lately. i watched South Park for the first time and geesh, it's the most politically incorrect cartoon i've seen so far!

okay, gotta go sing Climb every mountain...

you really don't listen, do you? tsk tsk... shame shame. :P

i'm really okay now. i guess i tend to go a little crazy late into the night. (but i don't morph into some scary figure) but thank you for your comments, criticisms and others. guess what? i got in for work before 9am! before 9! but because i skipped breakfast, the essential part of my day, i paid a visit to the cafeteria and grabbed a warm bowl of real oatmeal. not the Quaker's instant kind that i'm use to. and poured in cinnamon and brown sugar because i think i'll need that much sweetness for today :P that's my excuse.

it's a new day afterall. good day!

i really wasn't going to blog ... like forever. really. yes, my audacity should make you laugh. but i really need to vent and breathe right now. and if i call certain people up, i would just ask for consolation that i don't deserve and in return, share with them my frustrations and whines that they don't need.

so here it goes. *aaaaaaahhhhhh*
what is wrong with me? shouldn't i have learned by now that procrastination is my biggest enemy of all? (bad bad procrastination. if you were a sand bag, i would punch you like i'm jennifer lopez. i'm serious.) maybe i shouldn't have bought the plane tickets in such a hurry....

pooey.

*inhale * exhale* why don't i feel any better?
please refrain from commenting anything nice to this post. on a second thought, please don't comment at all. i deserve that silence treatment.

i keep getting red lights when i'm swiping my id badge to gain access to different buildings around here. does this mean i don't have to come into work anymore?

i feel as though, that as of late, my blogs have become an uncontrollable messy monster. must retreat.... must stay away... but before all that, must go to bed.

yay! it's time for me to go home. i've been waiting for this moment all day. *smile*

thanks guys for your responses and comments. rarely will i be posting questions like this. afterall this page is called moment-lite =) but after thinking about it, along with a verse that i posted on top of my monitor at home, i do think that body, mind and spirit all produce emotions, albeit conflicting at times. 'though i'm not completely convinced of this, we'll just leave it at that. maybe i'll ask my mom who knows everything. witty, too -- enough to keep me to believe that santa claus does live in the north pole until i was in 4th grade.

oh and those cookies that i couldn't bear to eat? i generously gave them to my coworkers. *amy gets a star for the day* whoever you are, "sinner," it looks like you know me very well!

not to sound too philosophical or anything, but this thought kept me wondering as i fell asleep last night: where do you think emotions fit in in terms of our body, mind, and spirit? it's not of the spirit.. i'm pretty sure of that. i don't think it's part of our mind for our mind includes our thought process and often i find my thoughts and logic clashing against emotions. so that would make emotions under the category of our body? so then... we shouldn't use our emotions to justify certain actions. for example, say, hypothetically that i went out with a guy with a horrible reputation and that short-lived relationship left me painfully hurt, i can't justify my mistake by saying something like .. "but i really liked that guy!" this might be a little far-fetched but isn't it analogous to a murderer who explains her actions by saying, "but i was really angry at him!." afterall, anger is an emotion. maybe that's why mary poppins said "Practically perfect people never permit sentiment muddle their thinking." *shrug* i don't know what i'm rambling about anymore.

maybe it's the overdose of food i've consumed in the past 24 hours. i just figured out that i had 2 lunches and 2 dinners yesterday, each very satisfying and filling meal, and in the past 4 hours of today, i had 2 meals. no wonder i can't eat my chocolate chip cookies ... *sigh*

alright, i have a feeling this entry might disappear later :P

look, comment box!
i had my reasons for not having them for months but ... *shrug* we'll see how it goes and then i'll decide whether to take in down or not. okay, gotta get ready. i hope it's a productive saturday. i actually woke up very early to go eat fresh bagels at Panera with my family. that's a fairly good start of the weekend, right?

shoot me, kick me, call me mean names if i blog again this weekend. via email, cell, aim... whatever means you see fit. i'll gladly take it in humility and guilt. laters!

so i did watch j.lo kick butt in Enough. and walked out feeling like i shouldn't date anyone until i earn a black belt in karate. i'm not kidding.

i forgot to bring a sweater to cover my eyes. seriously, i should avoid watching scary/violent movies. i make more of a scene than the movie itself. people who's been to movies with me know what i'm talking about... and it's way past my bedtime *yawn*