Here we are

A Place of My Own

2010-01-27T22:53:00.003-05:00

This one's a bit of a sad read, but it explains why Korea is so dear to me. This is going into the book...

Growing up with a father in the military had its pros and cons. A definite con was the inability to acquire life long friends due to the fact that we were constantly moving. Our family was forced to move every four years and get stationed at a different military base. A definite pro was the ability to see many places. Among the entire time my father was employed by the United States Army, we were forced to uproot our family to five cities in three states and one country other than the United States. These locations included Atlanta, GA, Frankfurt, Germany, Killeen, TX, Honolulu, HI, Houston, TX, and El Paso, TX respectively.

Being an “army brat” meant that I was never really given the chance to form strong relationships with my family. All six of my father’s siblings were also working in different branches of the military, which meant that no one was residing in the same location for a long period of time. I have never in my life lived next to a family member, other than presently living next to my husband’s family (which I consider to be my own now). Drifting from place to place made it hard for me to find a place that I could call my own.

Despite living in all of these areas, the one place that has made the most impact in my life is a little town in South Korea called Dong Du Chon. This was the place that my father met my mother years before I was born. She left her family to travel around the world and ultimately retire in the United States. This was the place that we constantly found ourselves going to when we needed a vacation. We used to visit Dong Du Chon every summer for several years during my elementary school days. Since I spent a good 10 out of the 52 weeks in a year visiting family there, it helped fill the void of not having family members present year around.

Dong Du Chon is about an hour train ride away from Seoul, South Korea. It is a major foreigner town that houses a United States Army base called Camp Casey. After Korea was split into it’s north and south sides, my family migrated from the north to the south into this little town and established a residence there. It is a small-condensed town that acquires most of its income on entertaining the foreigners.

When I was a little girl, my mother, brother, and I used to take a taxi from the Incheon airport to my grandmother’s house. The drive was a good hour away and when we finally reached our destination, my brother and I would argue over who would enter the house first. The first person to enter the house would be immediately snatched by grandmother and held onto for what seemed like hours. My grandmother would hold us tight and cry because she was so happy to see us again.

In the mornings we would wake up to music being played in the street by men pushing around carts with toiletries and other miscellaneous objects that you could purchase for a small fee. If we needed to purchase any food, we would walk down the street to a little food shop. Right next to the food shop was a little restaurant that sold chapaghetti (a black noodle dish), and right next to the little restaurant was my Aunt and Uncle’s video shop. Up the street on the other side of my grandmother’s house was a beauty salon that my mother once owned and operated before she moved away with my father. Kids ran around and played on the street that my grandmother lived on because cars seldom drove there.

Every year we looked forward to visiting my family in Korea. When my father retired from the military, he left our family to seek out a life of his own. It left my mother, brother, and I constantly struggling to make ends meet. That inevitably left us with no money to visit Korea anymore. As the years passed, many things changed. I constantly yearned to visit my family. My grandmother would call often crying so much because she missed us. That made my mother avoid her calls. I was left with constant reoccurring dreams of me, as a little girl with pigtails, riding a tricycle down the street where my grandmother lived. I would ride my tricycle from the food store to my grandmother’s house. My grandmother was always eagerly awaiting my arrival.

I was given the opportunity to visit my family in Korea sixteen years after our last visit. I went there with my mother and my then 2-year-old son about a year and a half ago. A lot changes in 16 years. The street that my grandmother lived on was widened to allow an easier passage for cars. Her house, which actually encompassed 5 separate living areas that could be accessed through the outside, was torn apart and condensed to two living areas. One of the living areas housed my uncle who owned the video shop and his three daughters, while the other was rented out. He closed his video shop and his wife left him to live with another man in another city in Korea. My grandmother was moved to a nursing home and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This little area that had once felt so warm and comfortable with lots of love, was reduced to an abandoned home with family members broken apart. The street was empty and free of kids running around and having a good time.

I’m not sure if I can ever integrate my past views with what it has become in the present. With all that has changed, I still remember the little street that I went to visit every year as a child. I remember the love I felt and the cohesion that existed between my family and me. I will always remember my grandmother crying tears of joy, and my brother and I walking down the street in the rain to my uncle’s video shop to rent a movie.

Geeze Luize it sure has been a while

2009-11-11T01:05:00.007-05:00

It looks like the last time I wrote a post was over a year ago. I'm really good at keeping up with these types of things.

I think I might copy Mandie and start a twitter page on the things that Connor says. Maybe I'll just post it on here. He's been talking so much lately, I'm sure I'll appreciate his quotes in the future.

As of lately he has said:

"I'm Batman. Daddy's the tick! You're Arthur".

In other news, Toby has mono, the "kissing disease". He must have been making out with some 15 year old. I hope he enjoyed it because it will be weeks before I can give him a real kiss again.

Don't let me down

2008-08-05T09:23:00.003-04:00

I've been sick for days. The days are becoming weeks. When they turn into months, it'll subside.

G-chat

2008-06-30T14:48:00.003-04:00

"Chat is disabled".

What a piece of bologna, huh? At least I only have a couple of more months at this place...

CTS

2008-06-27T16:52:00.003-04:00

We're sitting down and he looks up at me. He's waiting for a reaction; some type of motion, to signal him of what to do. I’m calm and I smile at him. He thinks about it and smiles back. He gives me that look to show me he cares.

26 months 29 days and 35 minutes. I wouldn’t take back one day, and it keeps getting better…

Bachelorette Outing

2008-06-02T08:37:00.003-04:00

Kate and I went to Buddakan on Friday night. Mmmm...I absolutely love that place. We met up with Toby, Chad, Charlie, and Mark afterwards. They were a few blocks away from us eating sushi at a Japanese Karaoke bar. It's funny how Toby and I can't seem to be apart, even on our Bachelor/ Bachelorette outing.

Kate really made me feel special and I appreciate that very much. She's one of my favorite people in PA. Thanks Kate!

Little tid bits about yours truly

2008-05-29T12:25:00.002-04:00

1. I pee a lot.
2. I usually start unbuttoning my pants before I actually get to the bathroom stall.
3. When I laugh, my whole body laughs; I just can't keep straight.
4. I'm addicted to warm chocolate chip cookies. I can eat 15 of them in one sitting.
5. You'll rarely ever see me drinking a carbinated drink. If I attempt to drink one, I'll really only drink 1/4 of it.
6. I used to be a vegetarian, I now enjoy eating the fat off of a dead pig.
7. I'm not as politically inclined as my lover, but I do admire his passion.
8. I have a hard time sitting like a regular person on a chair. I usually have to curl my legs up in the chair, or do the little korean squat on the chair.
9. I used to be in plays and recitals when I was in elementary school, now I fear a crowd or attention.
10. When I am drunk, I am a lot like Toby when he is sober...yack yack yack.
11. I'm not good with phrases..."what am I? Chop Suiy?"
12. I like to sip on coffee. I usually only drink about 1/3 of a cup of coffee at one time and end up wasting the rest. I started only filling my coffee cup up 1/2 way. It's a shame that I still have to pay full price.
13. I like to eat my cake from the inside out. I'm not too crazy about the frosting on the outside.
14. I only like sugar and glazed donuts. Keep it simple.
15. I never know what I want...but I always definately know what I don't want.

That's all for now.

Diet

2008-05-29T12:19:00.002-04:00

So this personal training thing has not been working out so well. I've been too tired and busy to meet with the trainer at night, I can't seem to wake up before 7:45am in the mornings, and the weekends are out of the picture. My mother has been making pancakes for breakfast for the past few days and I can't sem to resist them.

So I think I gained the 5 lbs that I lost. You can officially call me "fatty".

Toby is over 200 lbs now and he is looking good! Everyone be prepared, there just might be a push up contest during the wedding festivities.

Wedding Progress Update

2008-05-27T12:08:00.002-04:00

Cake- We found a place to bake our cake. It's going to be a lemon pound cake...Toby loves lemon.

Rings- We went to a few different jewelry stores that all pretty much had the same rings. We wanted something simple, but if we were going to spend money, the customer service had to be perfect. Helzberg Diamond did a good job, so we made our final purchase there.

Tuxes- Toby, Mark, and Chad got fitted for their tuxes on Saturday. We have to take little Connor in some time this week. I'm hoping we will hear from Tom soon...

M.O.H.- I've decided not to ask anyone else to fill this spot. Being a last minute pick/ replacement is far from being special.

Bridal Shower(s)- not happening.

Best Man- M.I.A.--I hope you're okay buddy.

Bachelor's Party- I think Toby's coworkers are going to take him out--but friends, please, take him out for a good time. I think he'll enjoy a guys night out.

25 days

2008-05-20T14:25:00.002-04:00

I'm a little upset right now. Without going into too much detail, my maid of honor will not be attending my wedding. That has left a very sad vicki reflecting on her life with friends and wondering how so much hope and faith can go into people, with little coming back. I'm so goddamned tired of trying.

I have 25 days until my wedding. I finally made an appointment with a bakery. I'll be there at 7am tomorrow morning. That's one thing down.

I'm still figuring out what to do about alcohol at the reception.

Potty Training

2008-05-19T09:47:00.003-04:00

Connor did not want to put on a diaper last night after his bath. He ran around for about an hour with his little undies on before he finally decided it was time to potty (all over the floor). We introduced him to the potty training bowl when he was about 15 months old, but all he wanted to do was play with it. Now I think he understands that he has to sit on it rather than take it apart. We just have to get him to sit on it when he's ready to go.

This is going to be an interesting time for us all. I'm sure we'll have a lot of running around and cleaning to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU

lethargy

2008-05-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

There are constant sounds filling my head right now; snap, crackle, pop….I really enjoy rice crispies cereal…plus the constant thudding on the window reminding me that today is going to be a wet day. “It’s a good day for the ducks”.

I’ve been awfully tired this week; lethargic to say the least, lethargic and fatigued. I’m not sure why; I’ve been going to the gym regularly, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep. I’ve been a day behind all week, thinking Tuesday was Monday, Wednesday was Tuesday, and Thursday was Wednesday. I’ve misdated everything since Monday. There must be something in the air, unless it’s the fluoride finally getting to me.

I finished the spring semester last week. I didn’t do as well as I usually do.

Organizational Studies- B
Computer Concepts- A+
Justice Studies- B
Societal Statistics- A

I don’t think I have received a B in almost 2 years. Oh well. It was not easy with all of the stress at work, plus planning a wedding on my own. I should try not to be so hard on myself. I am excited that I am done though, except I find myself with lots of free time during lunch and breaks.

I’ve started reading Muhammad Yunus’ “Banker to the Poor”. It’s an excellent book on how he founded the Grameen Bank. I enjoy reading about real life stories and about those selfless people who really try to make a difference in the world. I hope to one day make an impact on the needy around me. Money is such a silly thing to worry and fight about; it’s what divides us, and what ultimately ends some of us.

Anyhow, I’m sure I’ll be back later today to give some updates on the wedding. I need to make some warm tea and take a walk.

Stimulus Check

2008-04-30T14:52:00.000-04:00

In case you are interested in seeing when you'll get yours, visit this site: http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=180250,00.html

Those assholes make the value of the dollar go down and hope that a $600 check will make a difference.

This and That

2008-04-24T17:00:00.005-04:00

My boss, the Sr. VP of Operations got laid off a couple of days ago. I really liked the guy and it was a very sad couple of days. It turns out our Columbus office is moving to another division and we were a little heavily staffed. I have two thoughts on that. First, great! we'll finally have our management team back in our office. Second, crap! that means we're losing half of our business. We'll see how things turn out and if we're all out of a job by the end of the year.

It probably wasn't a great idea to blow all of our savings on the wedding....but at least none of it is on credit. That really makes me feel grown up. :)

I caught the disgusting, inconsiderate, unsanitary waste of a human- painting the toilets with her piss and blood. She happened to rush into the bathroom just as I was finishing up. She rushed right out, and I of course had to see if it was her. Should I tell her something? She's kind of taller than me, rugged, and a little mean looking. She'll probably try to shank me in the parking lot, seeing that she comes from the "hood". Although I have been feeling pretty confident since my personal trainer told me that I was very strong.

Gosh you guys are silly. I'm not violent. I'll just tell her coworkers, the scarier girls, that I have formed an alliance with.

Just for the record, Toby's wedding numbers are a little off. I'll give you a quick breakdown.

Main Chunk:
$4000- 2 nights at Joseph Ambler Inn
$2500- 2 hours of drinking during the reception
$5500- Ceremony/ Reception

Other Items:
$100- handmade invitations---sorry if some of the glue came off of yours.
$350- cake (i'm hoping to not have to spend more than that)
$200- flowers (I may put together some flowers myself)
$500-$1000- wedding favors/ gifts for family and bridal party
free- videography by Mandie and Damian
free- rehearsal dinner hosted by Sallie Derr and sister Gee

Am I missing anything? Toby and I are still talking about whether or not we want a photographer. He thinks it's a waste of money. If you know of anyone who will give us a good deal, let us know. If not, and you have an awesome camera, please bring it to the wedding and take some pictures!

I'll be mailing out the third set of invitations within the next few days. If you have not received yours yet, then it probably means we were not going to originally invite you. WHAT!? I'm just joking, I ran out of supplies and didn't want to send out crappy cards. Toby has a huge family you know? Those people like to reproduce! I love them. :)

Trying to Keep Track

2008-04-21T10:25:00.002-04:00

School

Organizational Studies Assignment that was due yesterday.
Statistics Assignment due Wednesday
Frontpage Assignment due on Thursday
Computer quiz due by Thursday
Organizational Studies Assignment for this week, due this Sunday
Justice Studies discussion board post due Sunday
Justice Studies quiz due next Tuesday

Work

It looks like there are a new set of employees in our neighbor's office. Woohee! More collection agents to say hello to.

Wedding

I've been searching for flights for my best friends from El Paso. They are so expensive and depart at shitty times. It looks like the cheapest we can get leaves on Sunday morning at 5:55am. That's not going to work, especially if we're going to be partying all Saturday night after the wedding. The trains don't run that early, which means we might need to hire a driver to drive all of my out of town guests to the airport. Any volunteers?? Does anyone know of any sites or flight agencies that I can contact to get a good deal on tickets?

Research Paper

2008-04-19T01:13:00.000-04:00

I finished! I finished!! 6 straight hours of working on this paper has left me zombified.

10 pages is not relatively short...I'd like to take back that comment from my previous post.

I also made a mistake on the bullet points I left a couple days back. RFID chips were not created from the events of September 11th, VeriChips were. VeriChips are the rice sized chips that are being implanted in humans today. RFID chips come in many forms and VeriChips are just one of them.

I'm going to bed now. Tomorrow consists of cleaning, speech therapy for Connor, and playing video games with Chad and Mark. I'm so excited. :)

Flouride is good for you...I think

2008-04-18T17:20:00.000-04:00

Connor had his two year visit today. He is 32 lbs and 38 inches tall.

At the end of the visit we asked the doctor to give us another prescription for vitamins. He said "would you like vitamins with flouride or just flouride?" Wow, what a question! I knew something was going to stir up from those choices, and Toby's facial expression confirmed my instant assumption. Toby made a point to tell the doctor that flouride was toxic and that it was not going to be given to our son. The doc was floored. I mean why wouldn't he be; he's been giving flouride to all his patients and his kids and probably genuinly isn't trying to harm them. Toby is going to put together a little packet of information for him, just to kind of open his mind.

Now I'm off to finish my paper. It's such a beautiful day, it's such a shame to waste the day away working and studying.

RFID Chip

2008-04-17T23:23:00.000-04:00

I am working on my paper for my Justice Studies class. It's a relatively short 10 page paper, but I've only got one page down so far. Nine more to go by midnight tomorrow.

Here are some interesting facts about the RFID Chip:

Created by a company called VeriChip Corporation with intentions to insert chips into humans.
Inspired by the events of 9/11--firefighters were getting hurt and hospitals were unable to identify them or get their medical records.
Initially created to carry medical information for hospitals. It would allow patients to go in and get scanned and instantly know what insurance a person uses and what their medical history is, in the cases of dimentia or memory loss.
Some companies have forced their employees to insert chips into their body so that they can be identified for high-security projects.
Baja Beach Club in Barcelona has individuals who have inserted chips in them to carry their credit card information, to eliminate the need for carrying around any wallets, purses, or bags.

This kind of stuff makes me think about the idiots who support this movement. Think deeper and try not to let us evolve into a species that can no longer rely on self-sufficiency.

Our privacy could be at stake...it's a good think this "movement" will probably never happen. There is too much controversy over moral.

I have homework?

2008-04-15T16:42:00.000-04:00

I think I might have a panic attack. I just realized how much school work I need to get done by the end of this week.

Essay on organizational frames (due last Sunday)...the best I can hope for now is a C.

Justice Studies test (due by midnight)

Essay on RFID chips and how they are violating our liberties (due Friday)

Justice studies discussion board (due by Sunday)

Skills assignment (due by Sunday)

Next Week:

Justice Studies video discussion on whether or not Walmart is good for us (due Monday)

Statistics Assignments 3 & 4 (due by Wednesday)

Justice Studies discussion board (due by Sunday)

Organizational studies assignment (due by Sunday)

This doesn't include my final exams.

I'm going to be begging Toby and my mom for help with Connor.

Life lately

2008-04-14T14:50:00.000-04:00

I've been busy....so busy.

School
I have three more weeks until this semester is over. I'm not sure how I'm going to do. My computer class has been quite easy, as always. I'm struggling to keep up with my Organizational Studies and Justice Studies classes. And I'm really falling behind on my Statistic for Society class. I need to remember this when Fall registration begins. I just have to keep reminding myself that I have one year left...

Work
Work has been busy. We've acquired some new neighbors who apparently have way too much testosterone. I try to say hello to everyone, but I think some people aren't used to it and think I'm trying to say something more. No man...just hello please. I have to say, they do keep me entertained though. Last week someone got arrested for trying to buy lunch with a stolen credit card. A couple weeks before that, the cops came by to talk to one of the employees for having their truck block two spots while housing a dog in the back seat. A couple weeks before that we had to put up signs in the bathrooms to remind people to throw away their tampons. And a week before that, we had to report to HR and our attorneys the instances of intimidation our fellow employees were having. It's been interesting.

The Wedding
I have one more set of invitations to mail out. I hand made all of them. Unfortunately, Michael's stopped selling the pearls I was attaching to the invitations, so some of them look a little different than the others.

I bought my wedding dress on Friday. It's stunning. My mother actually picked it out for me. She saw it on a manakin and asked the bridal consultant to bring it to my dressing room. Her eyes glimmered while the bridal consultant's mouth dropped. It was a very convincing buy, I'll say.

I still need to work on party favors, gifts, a photographer, a florist (unless I put together my own flowers), and....I'm not sure what else. I've got 9 weeks to go. Talk about procrastination.