Memo to self:

Don't talk to the male species on the plane/bus. They will mistaken Southern hospitality for something else and try to stalk you.

Will post more later.

Later...

On my way back from Atlanta to New York, I sat next to a dark haired, dark skinned man. He was really fidgety and sweaty, so I became very paranoid all of a sudden that he was a terrorist. (Fear is irrational, unfortunately leading to some prejudice). I offered him a piece of gum and started making small talk to try to figure out where he was from and what he was doing in NYC. From Peru, auto mechanic in Ohio. He's clear, not a terrorist (though I don't know what would be characteristics of a terrorist). Anyway, he got really excited that I was talking to him, so he continued to talk to me, which eventually got annoying because he kept nudging me and smiling at me. I tried to stop the conversation by working on the Sudoku in the back of SkyMagazine, but he asked me to teach him. After he figured it out, I let him work on it and told him I was going to take a nap, which I did for the rest of the trip. When I woke up, he asked me where I was going, how I was getting there, and if he could follow me since he had nothing else to do while waiting for his connection. :O Really?! I gave him a weird look, quickly got off the plane and hid in the bathroom till everyone on my flight had passed.

That is why I cannot talk to the male species on the plane anymore.

friend: http://www.amazon.com/SABRE-Compact-Pepper-Spray-Release/dp/B000UVTDLG/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_img_b
me: why are you showing me this?
friend: i read your blog. this has high reviews
me: LOL
friend: i read through some of it and thought it could be useful for you

Karate Kid

Being still and doing nothing are not the same thing. - Jackie Chan

To My Rock

Refuge, you're my refuge

When the world is shaken and nothing stands

I will hold on to Your hand, Refuge

The Game

For my friends back home in STL.


Also, there's always a (relatively) huge line to buy lottery tickets.

First Celeb Encounter

Once every week, we get to change out of our work outfits into casual clothes and go on field trips around the city. The first time we went out, I wore jeans and my DSP hoodie. Some interns that I was with forgot to bring a change of clothes and just wore their work clothes.

Anyway, as we were coming back from the field trip, we saw Clinton Kelly passing us on the subway steps. For those of you who don't know, Kelly is one of the hosts on TLC's "What Not to Wear." He's also one of the representatives for Macy's.

Some of the interns next to me yell, "Clinton! Clinton! We work for Macy's, we love you!"

He glances at us, and in his hilarious commentary says, "You two definitely look like you work for Macy's." He looks at me and says, "Sweatshirt, not so much."

Haha, pretty sweet. I didn't even need to go on the show for Clinton Kelly's fashion advice :)

Brooklyn Bridge and Body Builders

Macy's brought us interns on a field trip to the Brooklyn Bridge today. It really is a beautiful place and I would love to just sit there and enjoy the calming atmosphere.


Other random exciting observations:

1) Saw a Toyota Prius Taxi! (sorry for the blurry pic)


2) Saw some ripped body builders working out on a signpost on 34th and 7th. They did pull ups and used a rubber stretch band. The other one (not shown) is on the side doing push ups.

WashU NY Summer Party

The career center at our school organizes reunions/networking events in large cities throughout the summer, and today it was at New York. A bunch of us went and there were still a lot of friends that I didn't know were in NY this summer. Many of my brothers from my business fraternity were there, so it was good seeing them again, especially the graduates.

Afterward, we got gelato at GROM, which is this premium gelato joint with really fresh and full flavor gelato. I highly recommend it, especially the coconut flavor.


For the first time on the commute home, I talked to a stranger for the whole bus ride. She told me about all the jobs she has to work while being a single mother - working a wholesale job during the week and night shifts at a diner during the weekend. Then she told me about how she just divorced her husband a few years ago and how she shouldn't have been in that marriage in the first place. To be honest, she married him after two weeks of getting to know him, so it was bound for failure. It's strange that she'd agree because she's obviously a smart woman (graduated from NYU). What I learned from her is to not jump into relationships too quickly or else there will be consequences.

Craziness

A taxi almost ran me over this morning. I was legally crossing the street along with everyone else and the taxi across the intersection decides to run a red light and almost hits me. Oh New York.

Then for lunch, a friend and I meet up at some eating areas outside. We both packed our lunches because we're getting poor from eating out so much. I packed this beautiful mixed greens salad with strawberries, almonds and balsamic vinaigrette. This was the first legit salad I've ever made. I took a few bites as my friend makes her wrap. As she finishes making her wrap, I see a black woman walk straight for us and before I could say anything, she takes out a bottle of brown water and dumps it all over my friend's lunch and proceeds to drench my salad. She left as quickly as she had come. My friend jumps up and starts following her in an uproar, "Ma'am! Ma'am! EXCUSE ME." The crazy homeless lady continued to walk away without looking back.

A few weeks ago, the pastor at Ourpour Church preached about loving the poor. "Don't you wish all poor people were perfect poor people? The nice, funny ones? Well, those are almost impossible to find." I wish that lady were a nice poor person. But the trust is, she was rude, out of her mind and had no social awareness.

We found a cafe and split a sandwich and prayed for her. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

But man oh man, New York City is crazy.

Weekends

I don't think I've ever appreciated weekends as much as I do now.

Working in New York and commuting from New Jersey is just... exhausting. I wake up at 5:45am and catch the 6:30am bus that arrives in New York at 7:40am. After walking about 15 minutes, I start work at 8am and don't leave until 6pm. Then I don't get home until 8pm. By then, I have no energy to do much else.

Thankfully, we get summer Fridays, which means we only work from 9am-1pm. Hallelujah! This past Friday afternoon was super relaxing and was totally what I needed.

Also, today I went to a college/career fellowship BBQ from noon till 10:30pm. So fun! It was surprisingly refreshing to be around nerdy Asian people again.

Oh! And random observation: I was riding the bus in the morning and thought, "You know, there are a lot of different types of people who ride this bus. White men, Asians, African-American women... but its always African-American women who sit next to me." Right after I thought that, a white man looks at my seat and walks past. An Asian woman walked past. And an African-American woman sat next to me. "Good morning!"

Lay Down Your Life

I've been meaning to post a dream that I had a few nights ago, but haven't gotten the chance until now.

In the dream, I'm standing there and all of a sudden I see this black bear run towards me. I honestly thought I was going to get hurt or die, but it just ran past me. If I remember correctly, it passed me because this bear trainer/park ranger had distracted it and drew it to himself. The bear started suffocating him and the ranger couldn't breathe. Because I was too scared for my own life, I didn't try to help the ranger. He died.

I woke up and was severely bothered by this because I realized that I don't think I can lay down my life for others yet :(

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15: 12-13

First Day of Work

Being the control freak that I am, I practiced the commute to work on Saturday so that I wouldn't get lost and be late for work today. This morning, I arrived at the work site ten minutes before 9am. Then I get a message from my HR rep asking if I got lost. Apparently, they had sent out an email saying that we were supposed to start at 8am at the other job site down a few blocks. Unfortunately, WashU just switched email servers and emails to that account didn't make it through, so I didn't receive that email.

Goes to show that no matter how prepared I think I am, nothing is ever certain. Perhaps this is another lesson about trusting God.

On another note, I'm really stoked about the internship. The internship will include a lot of time on the job, a lot of time in training, and some fun time in the city. All the interns seem really great too and my team is really friendly. Can't wait to see how the rest of the internship unfolds.
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Checked out this placed called Alice's Teacup for dinner. It is based off of Alice in Wonderland and has this platter called The Mad Hatter (for two) which includes two pots of tea, three scones, two sandwiches, and cake. It was such a cute place with really delicious scones. I recommend it.

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I was riding with a friend on the subway, and as we got out, this tall guy with brown hair runs out of the subway and taps my friend on the shoulder and gives her a yellow sheet of paper. He runs back into the subway and looks at her and smiles. We read the sheet of paper which says, "I need to write this quickly because I think you're about to get off at the next stop! I normally don't do this, but I think you have the cutest smile I have ever seen. I'll never have the chance to tell you this if I don't give you this note, but perhaps you can look me up on facebook? lol" He gives her his email address and signs his name. I feel like this is something WongFu Productions would make a short about. It's such a cute short love story.

Except, I think it would be very creepy in real life. She agrees, so she's not going to contact him. But man! I thought these things only happened in the movies. I guess everything becomes reality in New York.

Road Trip to the East

STL, MO --> Cincinnati, OH --> Columbus, OH --> Philly, PA --> Paramus, NJ

Approximately 1000 miles in 20 hours.

This road trip was lots of fun and went by rather quickly. Thankfully, a friend from STL was able to accompany me last minute and keep me awake while I drove. She birdman-ed strangers and they asked for our number, but we escaped by driving to a rest area. We also learned some Cantonese from a tape. Ney sik mm sik teng guang dong waAah? We also collected maps from each state and took pictures of the "Welcome to..." signs. AND SAW AMISH PEOPLE.

Also, another beauty about this road trip was that I got to see friends at every city above. We spent the night in Cincinnati where we ate the most delicious raspberry chip ice cream (Graeter's) and home made pho. The next morning, we got breakfast with an old time friend from my summer at Stanford EPGY six years ago. Then for dinner, we ate at a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown in Philly with some other small group leaders from Chinese Mission Conference 2007. And now I'm staying with a really awesome and hilarious family in New Jersey so I can commute to NYC for work. Their church college/career ministry is also really friendly and welcoming. Hopefully I can get plugged into it this summer.