help! my jaws hurt when i chew and i'm losing my voice...my health is rapidly deteriorating! the only thing that can help me now is more halloween candy.

hang in there de, the friday workday is almost through. afterward you can run through the streets of baltimore, rejoicing and shouting, "the upper waters must be clear for the lower waters to be clear!"

omg, pain in the buns. :( I'm so frustrated..
:*(
..but it's just work, it's just work. And it's friday too, right? right.

de: hehe, i liked the soybean malt proverb better.

uh-oh. so before i fell asleep last night i felt a lump in my throat. i thought, this better not be me getting sick. i woke up this morning and the lump was still there. my throat feels a little scratchy, my voice is cracking a bit like a teenage boy's... and i found out that the "sick" coworker that i talked face to face with yesterday actually had pneumonia. NOTE: if you're sick, stay at home!!! don't go into work and spread it!!!

fro: i think i know what you mean. i've woken up very disturbed by certain dreams. do you wonder where in the world some of them come from? but i couldn't help cracking up at the fact that do was a part of one of your unpleasant dreams. OH DO, where are you?!

...these macs are driving me crazy...hm, i don't know. we can think about upgrading our blogger. on racism: yesterday i was walking to the bank when i saw this homeless guy. we had very brief eye contact, but he started yelling profanities at me. i just blocked it out (this is a talent of mine), but he ended the verbal assault with "go home." that i heard loud and clear. and i thought, "home"? i'm assuming he meant china since that's probably where he thinks i'm from. i wasn't really mad, just upset. upset that he's homeless, and he's angry, and he's certainly not going to get any money from me. and sad that racism still exists, even in downtown dc, and that it still hurts me.

20 Things sounds great. Let's do it, flo! (i haven't signed up yet.. maybe tomorrow..)

(eh? it changed...)
yeah, too many boatmen send the boat up the mountain.

de, i have this sneaky suspicion that those proverbs sound slightly off in any language :) i plan to use one the next time someone asks me a tough question.

unsuspecting person: when will this publication be coming out?
me: even though you say soybeans make soybean malt, i would not believe you.

ro, na doo! (moi aussi!): yes, yes and yes. :) dreams are so funny. I love dreams.
And I love your link to the k-proberbs, they're great :)
( i'm sure they sound a lot less random when they're used in Korean)

recent dreams
i've been having really vivid dreams these days. yesterday on my way back from work, i saw two gloves lying on the ground. i felt so bad for whoever lost them. they were just plain gloves made of fleece and wool, respectively, but i had been looking for my own gloves (which i finally found). that was the other thing, i had been wondering where i had stored my scarves and gloves because it's been so cold lately. ANYWAY, so i had a dream that someone handed me a pair of gloves last night. i thought it was real.

when you're having a completely outrageous dream, do you think, "hey! this can't really happen!" in the middle of your dream?! i do this. i think i'm practical down to the bone. also, when you're having a really pleasant dream, do you try not to wake up? hehe, i'm guilty of doing this a lot. and finally, when you flip sides in your bed, does it alter your dream? yes, yes, and yes.

About that glow-in-the-dark cake, yo, that's nasty. actually there weren't any pic's.. i guess i can't say that til i see it;
But what happened to good old fashioned natural foods?
esp. with desserts and sweets, everything has to be dyed blue or black or something gross like that, or bleached white. yeccch. We eat way too many chemicals and preservatives. EVERY day...

frowhodo, where are you? ...are you at the brother blogger?

on the contrary. i think it is the very fact that my dad chose to stay in the states, and the fact that we are *here*, right now, that tells me about what my parents valued and envisioned. i'm thankful that i'm living in america. i can't imagine growing up in korea anymore. so don't worry, because it's true, your actions speak louder than your words.

wasn't last night frijjing? and so rainy. my dad got stuck on 695 and 495 for almost two hours. when he finally got to my apartment, we were both really hungry.

v: dad, i have to tell you something. woomi garden only has a buffet during lunch
d: (looking crestfallen) it's not buffet for dinner?
v: (not knowing whether to crack up or be sad with him, i go for the latter) but we can go to a buffet if you want!
d: let's go to ilmee buffet
v: (realizing she's going to overeat if that's the case. thinks about it for a split second) yeh, let's go!

you've seen me eat right? now imagine ronnie senior, who can pack it in three times as much as i can. we ate SO much bbq meat last night. i was going strong the first round, feeling a bit fatigued the second round, but gained my strength back for the last round. KO! (that's knockout in boxing, no?) by the end of the night, we both smelt like marinated, grilled kalbi.

i found out another interesting thing about my dad. so before i was born, in a land far, far away that smells like kimchi, my dad was an engineer with daewoo. he came to the united states partly because he volunteered (he was smitten by american chocolate given out by GIs at an early age. he's a "western thinker" in many ways), and partly because they needed to transfer people to the U.S. branch. my mom did not want to go, but i've always known this. what i didn't know was that my dad quit daewoo to stay in the states. they were going to send him back after three years, but i suppose he thought living in the states was his destiny. so he made that decision to leave an enviable job, the rest of his family in korea, and try to pursue the american dream with only his wife and three daughters.

he told me this in the car as we were driving back last night. "that's not fair!" was my first reply. "why couldn't they have let you stay? why was your only choice to quit?" he said that was the way it worked back then. there was no system to let you stay on longer. i was quiet for a long time, and i tried to imagine what he must have gone through, making that decision. deciding for the rest of us what our future would be like...

i saw again that there's a lot of my dad in me.

hey hey (we're the monkees), i'm eating dinner with my dad tonight. i was so confused. i thought woomi restaurant was in kensington, not wheaton md. so don't worry about calling me back de! i'll tell you all about it tomorrow. i'm sure i'm going to have funny tidbits :) YOU NOTTA FUNNY CROWN GHIRL!

um, can we be creatures? that usually gets a child's attention. ok, too bad i don't like your normal cat and dog, etc. so let's think about that. but creatures that can drink tea and eat scones. ooo, can we have a knitting shop? so, it's winter time and we're making clothes and accessories for the other forest creatures. let's be squirrels!!! and de can be the human that tries to feed us nuts and bolts and we can bite her...

whoa whoa, why am i scandalo? did i do something?! ...yeh, i'm bored too. is there somekind of game we can play over blogger? ah well. fro, let's begin our story.

mmm, main subjects can be fro and ro? a tall friend and small friend. ok, now it's your turn.

i've really got to stop checking my guestbook. you're outta control ron!!!

http://www.inkspotted.homestead.com/

i just came back to write that my tongue is on fire from the raw onions in the fajita...but sacre bleu (is that right?)! fro has returned, and with a vengeance. again i found myself clutching onto the keyboard and shaking softly with laughter. by the way, my lips are spicy again :) hehe

de, perhaps at this point you should send mr. x (for eXcuse me?!) a firm, brisk, and somewhat polite email telling him that you are swamped with work; that you have no time for this silly business; and WHAT THE HECK DOES HE WANT. i'll beat him up too. well, i'll kick him in the shins and run away.

i am happy as a pea in a pod. why? because i'm eating a chipotle fajita the size of a small missile.

de, don't write back to the guy. find out who he is. ask your coworkers.
fro, where are you hon?

The way my coworker was teasing another coworker yesterday reminded me of my brother when we were growing up.
I'm telling you, he used to have an uncanny skill for finding my greatest weaknesses and knew exactly how to probe them, and thoroughly enjoyed doing it, as a great joke. He couldn't stand seeing me be very serious about anything, or start being all up on myself. I guess it was just too tempting for him.
As much as I despised it then (and being young, you know you make a really big deal about everything anyway, and the worst of it is that there's nowhere for you to go, cuz you live with him you know), I think back and it makes me laugh. I guess it turned out to be a good thing -- you know, building character, keeping me from thinking too highly of myself, that kind of thing.
Siblings are such a funny funny thing. And I miss my (punk) brother, he never calls anymore...

// ok, the same guy just emailed me again today - "Good morning Denice How are you today?"
freeeaky. what does he want?? whatdaheck do i do..?

// oh yeah, and the poor mouse fell for one of the sticky traps overnight. (I tried to tell you to get out, little one..!)

happy birthday andolf! did you get my present? :) it's just for fun mind you.

"And I—in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with
seeing your likeness."
psalm 17:15

how did i not catch that verse before? that's so amazing. the bible is like buried treasure.

Dearest Frodo,

my bathroom breaks are getting longer
and my verbal skills aren't getting stronger
so yes let's curl up in that nook
and combine our creativeness for a book
one where i can write what's on my mind
one where you can leave armpit holes behind
and we can dream by that chestnut-fueled fire.

oh how i really want to do this :)
de, i can't believe you tried to feed the squirrel a metal nut!?!

oh fro! haha.
can i get a cut of the royalties too? ..i'll be.. the maid/gofer/chestnut roaster of the team. :)
..and yeah, that's right about the nut. i felt bad cuz it was being so super friendly but i didn't have any kind of real food to feed it.

// eww, gross, it feels like 9:30. I am definitely and will always be against daylight savings. i heard that ben franklin came up with the idea as a joke, but somehow we ended up doing it. Crazy, making a whole country to turn their clocks twice a year.
The rest of the world is normal. (i don't think anybody else does it do they??)

oh no, de, have you turned your affections to yet another mouse? i remember your mouse story from hh 914.

d: we had a mouse while you were away
v: what?!
d: i was sitting at my desk and i felt something soft on my feet

...it went something like that. you also like squirrels if i recall.

d: i fed a squirrel on my way to class
v: what?!
d: i held out some food and it climbed up my leg
v: (thinking: "i hope it wasn't rabid, i hope it wasn't rabid")

i looked at our *brother* blogger page today. some strange stuff going on there. frowhodo, have you gone over to the funk side?

// aw, ro. God redeems and vindicates. Don't let it get you down ok? We love our ro.

// i came back to my office to find half our staff screaming and wailing and cracking up - turns out we have an office pet. A cute little brown mouse ran from cubicle to cubicle around our entire floor, & we spent several hysterical minutes chasing him with phone books, anti-static spray, and sticky traps. HiLarious. He really was pretty cute.. and not very fast. I'm kinda hoping he doesn't get killed, poor thing.

i think about the way i used to be, and the way i might have reacted. but i am not the same, and i have to tell myself the truth over and over.

hello rofro.
first of all, there weren't no ghettoness. no gangster neither.
(and watch those bal'mer cracks, ms. ro-from-dee-cee..!)

and a hello to pistachio and chip :) how lovely to see you in my bldg, even for just a minute (chip, you know my lunch offer still stands).

// I'm so thankful for our visitors this past week, Prof. O. and Everyone. [And I appreciate Darren Clarke so much.. not just for his GREAT electrics, but he just seems so grounded. know what i mean?] It's just such a blessing to be exposed to other Christian leaders running for the Lord in their calling, and also get a sense of what all is going on spiritually nationwide.

// also- what in the world are you supposed to do when a stranger emails you, "Good Morning Denice". It's a city employee but I've never even heard this guy's name before. hm. i feel slightly stalked.

thank you fro. i love the way we ricochet. you reminded me of some things...

* last friday night, veronica, florence, dorice and denice became rofrodowhodo. and what started out as semi-serious and ladylike ended up in ghetto driving (de + proper hydraulics = baltimore gangster) and giggles. there's nothing wrong with that :D i enjoyed it so much. yes, let's do dinner again soon.

did you feel like you were in limbo this whole weekend because of daylight savings? i felt like saturday was noday and sunday was saturday and today should just be napday. i don't mean to make anyone feel envious but i slept thirteen hours straight, from saturday to sunday. well, i suppose if that doesn't make you feel envious, it'll make you feel gross. reminded me of those glorious high-school days.

it's rather quiet...

good morning hobbits.

let's discuss our weekends. and i only bring this topic up because i have something to share :) last night my coworkers held a progressive dinner. hopkins sisters you remember the wonderful, eat-till-you-pop memories of our last progressive dinner? so it was held at three apartments in dupont, all within walking distance of each other.

ok, i stop here until i have more motivation. are you there?!