Now that the intro sch-peel is done with….I have always had the knack for getting INTO fads, television shows, and music after its peak popularity.  Unfortunately, FRIENDS was one of those fads that I never got into during middle school and high school when the show was at its prime.  Everyone I hung around with in high school seemed to love the show,  they would quote the scenes and imitate the mannerisms of the characters {Most notably, the WOOOPAH episode!}, while I was quoting Next Friday lines that only a select few understood.  But recently, the Friends episodes have been coming on right around my bed time and so I decided “what the hell, lets see what the fuss is all about!”  OH MY GOD! I HAVE BEEN MISSING THIS!?  The show completely astounded me in how similar my situation on money issues, roommates, jobs, friends, coffee, and love were to the characters.  It was the first time I could honestly say a sit-com was actually relate-able to my life, unlike Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Martin, and Family Matters. (I realize now why I was called ghetto)  The life of a twenty or thirty something in New York, how brilliant!

Every show had its little resemblance to my life but one particular episode, the title of this blog, had an enormous emotional effect on me.  Here is a summary of what happens on the episode; Rachel and Ross have had an on and off relationship for the past 7 years, but one drunken night they do the “CHIMICHANGA” and now Rachel is a few months pregnant.  However, during this time Ross’s best friend, Joey, has a thing for Rachel but he knows he can’t do anything about it because he doesn’t want to do anything that would hinder his friendship with Ross.  Joey can’t sleep, eat, or live his normal routine life because all he thinks about is his love for Rachel.  Ultimately, Joey decides to tell Ross about his feelings for her and not surprisingly Ross is not pleased to hear about the situation.  Eventually, Ross decides to give Joey his blessing cause he knows Rachel and he are not officially together and also knows that Joey would treat Rachel like a Queen.  After the talk, Joey is a nervous wreck; he doesn’t know what to say, how to say it, where he will tell her, what she will say; his mind is going 100mph.   Finally, Joey asks Rachel to dinner and tells her they need to talk about something tells Rachel how much he loves her.  Rachel is in awe and in somewhat of a shock.  Sadly, Rachel doesn’t have the same feelings but still wants to remain lasting friends and wants nothing to change.  Joey is heart broken but oddly respects the decision and is somewhat relieved to have it all out in the open. The episode ends with both of them hugging…however through the course of the show he still longs for her and loves her uncondionally

With a few minute details added and erased from that episode and with substituting Joey to Won and Rachel and Ross to _______ and _________, you have just read one of the toughest moments in my life

One of the biggest issues that I have been struggling with has been about faith. Unfortunately, I hit a pretty big pot hole, pun intended, a few years ago that led me astray from God. It’s not worth mentioning the cause(s) in depth because … well it just isn’t, but the effects put me in a position where I doubted the existence of God.  This isn’t the first time I’ve doubted his existence but for some odd reason it felt so logical to deny his existence THIS time.

From a biological perspective; if a cell atrophies, it is completely destroyed and will never come back.  The human body is made of of millions upon millions of cells that go through a cycle of atrophy and rebirth.  Each cell has to face death at some point and when that time comes, nothing can bring THAT cell back.  Obviously, cloning and nuclear transfer methods can be utilized but nevertheless THAT same cell can’t be recreated.  With that said, I’ve been skeptical over the resurrection of Jesus.  His resurrection completely null and voided every single concept that I had learned throughout my undergraduate tenure at IU.  How does a human body come completely back to life after 3 days of no heartbeat or blood circulation? Again, from a biological stance, it can not resurrect.

The domains of Christianity and Science have placed me in a complex circumstance where I can’t decipher the two cohesively.  Am I supposed to believe in the miracles and extraordinary events of the bible or am I supposed to trust in my human instincts of truth and reality?

Would love to get some feedback…..

Is it really necessary to leave the middle urinal open when there is a dude on either side of you?  You aren’t gay if you use it, I PROMISE!  Just look straight ahead, look down occasionally to see if you’re not splattering, and for goodness sake don’t talk to the guy next to you!

He bleeds; we now know this because Elin cranked him in the mouth with a sand wedge, he feels remorse; we know this from his press release, and he undoubtedly feels trembling and nervousness; i.e. calling Jamie, his mistress, to change her voicemail to just her number.  (on a side note: at least we now know he has a nervous system. i always thought he doesn’t get scared on the first tee)  These are all humanistic features that we all possess.  He isn’t a robot, even though he looks like one on the golf course and during his post-round interviews.

We have scrutinized his every move on the golf course, thats the way it should remain – ON THE GOLF COURSE.  Leave him to deal with his “transgressions” in the privacy of his home with his family.  I don’t understand how knowing someone is HUMAN can cause such a commotion for it to be front page news and have every news station in the world cover this story. Normally, he is on the first page of the sports section in the Monday paper after a win and he would answer a question by saying his favorite cliche, “it is what it is.”  Exactly, it is what it is – HE IS HUMAN!

I think I finished myself into the awkward situation, which has its good with its bad.  Good is that I can move on and just do the normal things in my life without having to think about that certain someone continuously. No more drunken nights telling your friends how bad you want her and need her.  No more of, is she thinking about me mentality.  You’re free, you’re single, go out and just live life!

The bad is that it feels like a REAL breakup, so much time was invested into trying to get that one person, in whom you think has every possible intangible characteristic you can ever want, to fall head over heals for you. Intangibles that include; drive, integrity, intelligence, loyalty, beauty, etc. But alas, you (I) must realize you didn’t actually date and you have to cut your losses and just move on. (Easier said than done) The persistant chase without positive results lead to a depressed state of mind, knowing you did all you could but still she can’t see the same vision as you.  Ultimately, the sting will last but only time can mitigate the hurt from within.

I’ve learned that the infatuation must be mutual in order for a future, a one sided ordeal just leaves one person hurt…Me.  But with the many experiences of both love and heartbreak, it is another lesson learned in the pursuit of cracking the most impossible mystery on this planet: Women.

So you might be thinking to yourself, why have you lost respect for arguably the greatest player ever to wear a Bulls /(Wizards – I care to block this part of his career from my mind) jersey?  And here is my answer….

Charlie Sheen: “Do you like korean bbq?”

Michael Jordan: “uh….no”

WHAT A BASTARD! How does MJ not enjoy Korean bbq???~~!!!  Korean bbq is one of the joys of my life. Kalbi, boolgogi, saam-gyup-saal, and cha-dol-beh-gee on the hot grill of charcoal is my type of dinner.  Let me analogize what MJ has done to my psyche after seeing the commercial, he basically dunked on me and left his mushroom tattoo all over my already dirty sweaty face.  Consequently leaving me disgraced and in misery.  This has to be the worst thing to hear from the man I’ve idolized for so long.  I’ve grown up with Korean BBQ as being an intermediary amongst friends and family, and MJ has demolished what has been so sacred to me.  MJ has brought shame to the Korean community (obviously being a over-dramatic)  But through this shocking part of my life, I have found a new model citizen to look up to….. CHARLIE SHEEN ….. I’ll get Korean bbq with you anytime CHARLIE!!!

It kills me to write this b/c I’ve never told many people about this dark time of my life, it is a huge ego killer but here it goes.  During my eighth grade yr, I decided to join the Kahler Middle School football team.  A scrawny, short, Korean kid playing football, what a hilarious site right?! Well that was me.  All of my buddies joined and so I thought to myself this would be a great opportunity to display my athletic ability amongst my peers.  Hardly the case!  I failed to take into account how much taller, stronger, and athletic the guys were compared to me.  It was back then when I realized what the word athletic actually meant.  The word athletic doesn’t justify the actual definition, one has to see it to believe it.  But nevertheless I played 2nd string Free Safety and got a good share of minutes with 1.5 tackles for the season. One of those tackles coming from practice, the coolest tackle ever, and the half tackle from me jumping onto a pile during a kick-off return against our rival school. Pathetic I know!  You might be wondering why I’m talking about my 8th grade football career, and how a story of shoes turned into football?  It is b/c thus far I have failed to mention the cleats that made me the laughing stock for not only the football team but Kahler Middle School itself.

My dad gave me these all white, low-top, converse cleats that literally looked like golf shoes with football cleats under it, which he found in the storage from his store.  These shoes probably were sold sometime during the 70′s, there’s obviously a reason no one bought them, THEY”RE FREAKING HIDEOUS!  I had refused to wear such a monstrosity of a shoe, but my parents refused to buy me another pair of football cleats.  Plan B was to just wear my basketball shoes but Coach Denny said that I have to wear cleats in order to practice and play.  I whined again and again to my parents but they would not budge.  So against all my wishes, I wore these retro cleats and this started the endless laughter from my fellow teammates.  Everyone asked me why I had golf shoes.  Even the coaching staff had a field day with it, luckily the staff all liked me so it wasn’t getting exactly ridiculed by them but they still had their 2 cents.  It soon became a symbol of the Kahler Middle School football team, more like stigma, and because of these shoes my nickname had become White Korean, a total oxymoron but it made sense back then. As the season progressed the jokes and the laughter went away but the nickname still remained. UGH!  Eventually, students who attended football games started witnessing the white glow from my feet and this ladies and gentlemen started the demise of my pride.  Thankfully our team was so bad that year, that we didn’t reach the playoffs and the season had ended early.  A total opposite mentality you’re supposed to have playing a sport but this wasn’t about football anymore, it had become salvaging my dignity.  This tragic event, in my honest assessment, is the reason why I have such an infatuation of shoes.  

I intuitively swore that I would never be ridiculed for the shoes ever again and since that time I have not.  I ultimately blame my parents for the hell I had endured.  99% I take responsibility for things and will take the blame, but the devastation they put me through mutters no remorse from me.  Now my parents are in shock and awe of how many shoes I own and I tell them til this day, it is their fault.  (of course I receive a huge smack in the head and am told to refund the shoes but I gladly say NO!)  

To make a long story short, my high school and college careers consisted of Jordans, Doc Martens, Kobes, Hyperdunks, Pennys, Tmacs, Iversons, Lacoste, Converse (not the cleats), Vans, and etc.  Needless to say ….A LOT!  But like they say, all things must come to an end.  It saddens me to announce that I will be entering into retirement in my “sneakerhead” life.  On December 26th, the Countdown Package which consists of the Air Jordan XI and XII will be the last basketball shoe binge I will be making.  Even novice sneakerheads know that the Air Jordan XI is the mecca of shoes, the Alpha and Omega. (forgive me God).  Analogous to MJ ending his career as the greatest, I shall retire my “shoe game” by purchasing the greatest shoe ever to be put in production, and will lose $330 in the process…..SH!T!!!!!!!  

I would’ve put the picture of the XI and XII, but Nike still hasn’t confirmed the colors