Television Makes Me Lose Faith In Humanity

So I got home from work today and flipped on the TV to catch C-Span, CNN and whatever Primetime comedies would be on and quickly became disappointed. On the news, there was footage of U.S. Soldiers wounded (and some killed) from an attack in the Middle East being drug into make shift hospitals. I feel like I'm on a thin line of sides, that is I don't agree with any kind of war that involves physical violence because of matters that are due to the inability to think things through, but I do support the troops now that they are there. They are sacrificing so much to protect this country, years of their life, family, friends, and possibly their lives. I just think it's a shame that it has to resort to the way it is now. We can build airplanes, send men to the moon and develop pills that will allow men otherwise incapable to maintain erections, but we just can't seem to not piss people off. A lot of good thousands of years of humankind has done, huh?

So that was enough of a "downer" so I flipped channels to catch a news report about young girls and how naturally vicious they are. They cited films like "Mean Girls" and some old experiments as well as conducted some of their own. In their experiment they took a dozen girls from Jr. High to College that previously didn't know eachother and housed them together for a weekend. After the first day, they were split into different rooms in small groups. In each room was a computer that had internet access, instant messenger, digital cameras and cell phones. Within a matter of a few hours cliques formed and rivalries started. The fighting got so intense, they ended up cancelling the experiment. It is so sad.

Luckily, "My Name Is Earl" was on next and that always leaves me with a good feeling. I guess the sad thing is the one positive program I caught this evening was a fictional sitcom, but I'll take what I can get. So now, time for bed again.

G'night,
-Rod

30 Minutes and It Will Have Been 5 Years...

It's hard to believe that in half an hour it will be 5 years since the 9/11 attacks back in 2001. I just turned 19 a few days earlier and before that I had just arrived on campus to start a brand new college career. I know the last thing the world needs now is another "I remember where I was on 9/11" story so I'll stop there as far as that is concerned. The reason I bring it up is because it's amazing how that event happened right at the beginning of a sort of "coming of age" period in my life. The world had changed forever and I was old enough to know what was happening, how the world was before then and would probably live long enough afterwards to know how the world would be. I was thinking of this a couple days ago and started tearing up thinking about it all. How do you describe what happened to those who weren't around yet or weren't old enough to know what happened? How do you get across how much that changed everything? How many lives it changed? How just over 5 short years ago, families used to wait at airport gates for their loved ones, and how just over 5 years ago, there was a set of twin towers that towered the NYC skyline. I remember studying about Pearl Harbor, the different wars and even about what Hitler did to the Jews, but I remember this veil of fictionousness that still clouds what I know about those events. It's not that I think the events weren't important or happened, it's just that I was, at best, years from even existing in the world and all I knew about these events were from worn and stale pages of text books growing up. I don't want future generations to see 9/11 like that. So back to my original question - How do you tell someone about this? How do you convey how tragic this was? How do you show how even through the tragedy, this brought out the true heroes from our society? How do we try and show future generations that it doesn't have to be this way again? If we can learn from our past, we can finally see these huge historical tragedies always trail back to the human incapability of compromising and learning to love each other. In the end someone somewhere was so selfish and so sure that they were right and that the world needed to be at their hands, they gave the signal and in moments, the world would change forever. It's stupid. If you think about it, there's not much evolution there from the caveman resolving issues with clubs and dragging away their spoils. The only thing that has evolved is the club, not the heart. The only thing that can change is with me. Only I can love someone more. Only I can choose to smile at someone today. Only I can choose to be better than those before me. I can wish the world would change all I want, but only the individuals in the world can choose to love, to smile and be better than those before. It's all any of use can do. Maybe if there's enough of us that are willing to love eachother just because it's the right thing to do, we'll finally be able to see this world for what a potentially beautiful creation it is.

With this 5-year Anniversary coming up, a lot is running through my head. A couple days ago I went to see the new film, "World Trade Center" and was pleasantly surprised. The film did have some big names in it, and a large budget, but it still managed to keep the story focused on the positive light. It wasn't about terrorists or even the buildings coming down, it was about two of twenty survivors and their families. There are millions of stories, and it's a shame we won't ever know all of them, but at least here we can see a glimpse of a few.

Now, as I've been writing, it's 6 minutes past the new day. Today I think will be the greatest tribute to all of those victimized that day. I will attend a brief memorial service in the morning, but I will still go to work go on with my normal day, just with them in mind. As Margaret Cho said, "No matter what the terrorists do, I refuse to be terrorized." And I hold that philosophy, I have learned, and I have those lost in my thoughts, but I refuse to live terrorized or in fear of those whom will, in the end, finally see how self-righteous they were. None of us can change the world by trying to change others or force others into what we believe, only by living by what we know is right. I hope I never forget that lesson and that those after I am long gone will always remember.

Soli Deo Gloria,
-Rod

100 Things...(imported from MySpace)

100 Things About Rod You May (or May Not) Know!

1. The genre of films I hate the most is romantic movies about historical or semi-historical events. (i.e. Pearl Harbor, Titanic)
2. The only type of fast food I hate is take-out Chinese.
3. Some of my favorite things are of groups I hate...for example:
4. My favorite movie is Moulin Rouge (a romantic film based on a historic place) and...
5. My favorite place to eat fast food is Panda Express (take out Chinese).
6. I don't really drink much, often times months will pass before I have another alcoholic beverage.
7. I have never smoked a tobacco product, but...
8. Once in Jr. High at a party a bunch of kids were smoking corn cobs and I tried it once but coughed for days and never did it again.
9. I've never done any illegal drugs.
10. I graduated from high school early and...
11. Attended Indiana University of Kokomo for a year.
12. I graduated from Greenville College with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Music in the Spring of 2005.
13. I was named after a stripper.
14. I have written dozens of songs for other artists but...
15. I had never performed them live until Dr. Johnson talked me into a live show my last semester at college and...
16. That show was recorded and is now available internationally (Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, iTunes, TowerRecords.com, BestBuy.com, etc.)
17. My favorite band of all time was a little-known group called "aleixa"- a pop/techno/industrial group with a killer chick vocalist.
18. My favorite male vocalist of all time is Joe Cocker, that guy can turn any song into a classic.
19. My favorite female vocalist of all time is Angie Stone, she often gets bad songs, but her natural voice is incredible.
20. My favorite musical artist as a whole is Tara VanZanten. She has everything: looks, a great voice, and vocal agility that shames the greatest legends.
21. I hated Napolean Dynamite the first time I saw it but it quickly became one of the funniest movies I'd ever scene as soon as my friend Elizabeth started quoting it.
22. As of today (May 30, 2006) I have never seen "The Godfather".
23. I have over 200 movies in my DVD collection.
24. As of Today (May 30, 2006) the number of songs in my iTunes library is 8,750 and every single song is 100 percent legal. (Updated: July 3, 2006 - 9,101 songs) (Updated: Sept. 6, 2006 - 9,511 songs)
25. My navigational skills are usually only 10 percent effective, but no matter how lost I ever get, I always eventually find my way around.
26. My first pet was/is Sparky (the mouse) I got him in April of 2006.
27. Sparky had a girlfriend who was a field mouse that snuck indoors to consumate with Sparky at night. One night I finally caught her and kept her in a holding cage until the next morning when I planned to get another cage to connect with Sparky's. She escaped the cage and lept off my 3rd floor balcony to her death on the pavement below. (I'm not even kidding.)
28. One of Sparky's favorite foods is fresh peanuts, but he can't eat through the shells, so when he wants to eat one, he picks it up and holds it up to me so I can crack it open for him.
29. I am currently employed by BEL.com (a leader in Pro Audio/Video) as the Director of Marketing.
30. The engraving on the back of my iPod reads: Be Alive {Rod Kim}
31. I almost always order the same drink when I go out to eat: ice water with lemon. I usually only deviate from this 2-3 times a year at most unless I'm getting a combo meal at a fast food resturaunt.
32. After August 5th, 2006, I will have been a best man for a wedding twice. (First for Cory and April Thatcher, second for Jeb and Dawn Templeton.)
33. I own all four Margaret Cho DVD's.
34. I loved the Mortal Kombat games 1-3. In Junior High, I played all the games, knew all the codes and even went to see the live tour.
35. One of my weaknesses is Rita's Water Ice. Anyone that doesn't live on the East Coast probably doesn't know what that is, and it can't be explained until it is experienced. Check out my blog post for a pic: Blog Post July 2004
36. I've never owned a rubber duckie.
37. I share the exact same birthday as college buddy/co-worker/former roomie, Nick Marques. Check out his blog here.
38. I can play almost any type of instrument at least at an elementary level except drums...I have no rhythm.
39. I am a horrible cook. Once I baked cookies with a now ex-girlfriend (who was a horrible cook as well) and somehow they rose like muffins. They also tasted like fruit punch because we had no sugar, so we substituted with Kool-Aid.
40. I pronounce the word "pecan" as "pee-can" not "puh-kahn" because I'm not French...haha.
41. My freshman year of college, my friend Kevin and I bet eachother that the other would find their soulmate and get married before ourself...Kevin lost that bet...hehe.
42. I was a Store Support Manager at Wal-Mart Superstore at the age of 17.
43. I hated Vin Diesel as an actor until I saw Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Granted, he didn't have an Oscar-winning performance, but he portrayed every guy's dream of a tough bad-@$$.
44. I am 5' 10"...
45. 200 lbs...
46. Have black hair...
47. and fake blue eyes.
48. In the last year, I've had numerous moments of Deja Vu.
49. I keep up with my reading by making sure I'm always currently reading at least one biography/memoir/autobiography and at least one religious devotional/inspirational book.
50. The last two albums I purchased were Spring Clock Wonder: A Confessor Moon EP and India.Arie: Testimony Vol. 1. Click on each of the titles to check them out for yourself.
51. My favorite indie album of the year is Kevin Reeves: It's About Time. Check it out here.
52. If I were a superhero, my weakness would be my knees. The joints in my knees are those of an 80-year-old and there are more battlescars there than anywhere else on my body.
53. My guilty pleasure of the year is Natasha Bedingfield, I love the positive and upbeat nature of her music, not to mention she has a killer voice.
54. I thought Mandisa should have won American Idol.
55. Since I started this list a few months ago, my pet mouse (Sparky) died and I got a pet hamster named Thor.
56. My favorite ice cream flavor is spumoni.
57. I spent my 24th birthday alone at Universal Studios Orlando and it was a blast.
58. My favorite color is blue.
59. I believe in soulmates.
60. I was lead tenor in my high school choir.
61. The first time I was offered drugs was in Cincinatti, OH by a bum on the street while visiting my good friend Kevin Richardson in seminary, I declined.
62. I hate missing weddings and will go to far lengths to make them...
63. But I hate going to funerals and will often chicken out at the last minute and turn my car around before arriving.
64. I graduated from college with the Music Technology award (tying with good friend Josh Smith).
65. I am addicted to VitaminWater, a result of working sound crew for several VitaminWater promotional events.
66. I still get choked up every time I visit Ground Zero.
67. I had a foreign object removed from my left wrist 2 years ago that left a scar that appears to be a suicide attempt. The object ended up being an 18-year-old piece of pencil lead I must have lodged in there when I was a toddler.
68. If I could have any superhero powers, it would be the ability to fly and the any other powers that would allow me to survive doing it (i.e. able to breathe at high altitudes, etc.).
69. I once built a pirate ship fort out of post-it notes when I was 5. My parents were not pleased.
70. When I was an infant, my parents worried because I never crawled. I am told that one day I saw something across the room I wanted and just stood up and walked over to the other side of the room to get it and walked back to where I was like I had done it forever.
71. When I am confused (which is often) I will give a blatant "deer-in-the-headlights" glare at whomever I am speaking to until all details are clarified.
72. One of my favorite female artists is Shakira, but...
73. My most despised song of all time is "Hips Don't Lie", what the heck does this song mean anyway?
74. I can't dance, most people don't believe this until they see me on the dance floor.
75. I learned to read music before I learned to read words, my kindergarten teacher was a demoted music teacher.
76. The first DVD I ever bought was "The Prince Egypt" for $29.99 when DVD's were new. It was stolen my senior year of college.
77. When available, I drink Orange Juice like water. At one point in my life this actually caused health problems.
78. When I'm at home, I like everything dimly lit, probably because most of my life is bright and loud. The dimness gives me a sense of calmness.
79. Although I am technically proficient at the violin and a number of string instruments, I envy my younger brother for his mastery over the violin-being able to play by reading music and by ear with incredible accuracy.
80. I have little interest in sports and often do not know what people are talking about when they discuss any kind of popular sports.
81. I am a terrible liar and show lots of hesitation and other obvious body language when attempting to fabricate a story.
82. I don't mind when people disagree with my beliefs or I disagree with theirs as long as neither tries to push it down the other's throats.
83. I hate driving, but late night quiet drives will often help me unwind.
84. I love to travel and see the world.
85. I love to tell stories to others, whether they care to hear or not. I'm trying to get better at gauging this.
86. I have a hard time stepping into a church because of bad experiences with them, although I believe it is important to nurture a spiritual life and still attempt to go to church on Sunday mornings whenever I can.
87. I often fumble my words when speaking to anyone and unconsiously trail off into a loosely (if at all) related subject.
88. My first e-mail address was M3F_Rod@yahoo.com. M3F stands for Mix Master Mighty Faith, a nickname given to me by my youth pastor while I was in junior high because of how much I loved music and was involved in the church.
89. I currently drive a '98 Pontiac Bonneville but would prefer to drive a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle considering I live alone and rarely transport more people than myself anywhere.
90. The first CD I ever owned was given to me as a Christmas gift from my parents along with a Discman, the album was Green Jelly.
91. The first CD I ever purchased myself was the CD single of Joan Osborn's "One of Us".
92. I've never recieved a speeding ticket.
93. I'm not sure if it is a cultural residue from my parents coming from Korea, but I still slightly bow when greeting someone older than me or in a position of authorty.
94. I hate stereotypes, but I don't dismiss them because I believe they are often based in truth.
95. I drive to Maryland from Delaware to get groceries.
96. My wardrobe has clothing that ranges from Small to XLarge. because my weight changes dramatically on a frequent basis between 175-220 lbs. depending on how I'm eating and how active I am.
97. It's stereotypical, but I love taking photos and collecting them.
98. The first time I ate sushi was in Indy, with good friend Elizabeth Lee and her significant other, Michael.
99. I once got food poisoning from a Chinese resturaunt in college and was unconscious for about 12 hours before getting better.
100. I have often been told that even though I am a generally positive person I fixate on the 5% of what is wrong in a 95% perfect situation.

And 24 Rolls Around...

So I'm wrapping up my trip to Florida and had one of the greatest B-day's yet, but more on that later...

My good friends Kevin and Brooke got married yesterday and it was just as unlikely in my mind as Jeb's was about a month ago, but I guess things like this always seem unlikely before they just happen. I'm glad I got to be here for this, I feel like it's always a great honor and compliment to be a part of these kinds of things, it's so amazing- friends that always seemed to feel unfinished finally seem so happy. It's a very rejuvinating experience. Even better, there's friends I haven't seen for a while around as well. It's amazing how growing up has made it even better for us to spend time together.

After the wedding celebrations came to a close, I turned 24. Since I was the only one left in FL (everyone else had left this morning), I headed to the Universal Studios Resort and spent the second half of my day at Universal Studios. It was really cool because most of the rides push single people right to the front of the lines. I hardly had to wait and got to go on every ride except Back to the Future and Shrek 4-D. And since it's Florida and rain comes in and out, yes, I was the Asian in the poncho.

After the park closed, I headed to a pasta place on the CityWalk. I had a Vegetable Risotto that was absolutely perfect. It's one of my favorite dishes, except if it isn't prepared right, I hate it. So it was great to have a good dish of it. I finished the meal off with a dish of spumoni ice cream. Spumoni is my favorite ice cream. The pistachio part is my favorite but for some reason it has to be with the other two flavors to taste great. I've gotten just pistachio ice cream before, but for some reason, it doesn't seem as good. I guess it's like that in life - I'd love to have all my experiences be pistachio, but in reality there's that as well as cherry and chocolate. I still like cherry but I almost hate chocolate ice cream. But I can enjoy all three flavors and still appreciate the pistachio more.

So all in all today was a great day and I enjoyed every bit of the entire weekend. Right now, however, I'm watching movies in my hotel room and going to bed and head back to Delaware tomorrow morning.

Have a great one everyone, may life be kind to all of you my friends...
-Rod