If you've just clicked the link on my email to this blog, thanks for actually reading my email!

Unfortunately I've been told that I don't update this blog as frequently as some people would like, so I'll do my best to keep things interesting.

I'm sure my next few months in Korea will inspire some good entries. Until then, here's my "Life So Far" list:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld/Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you were not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been laid off from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Leave of absence

I've started another blog for the time being, to record the next 6 months in Manila. The only reason why I've had to switch is b/c this new blog will be a little more pg13. So, my two readers, won't you join me at Tagalong with Nora?

See you at the Max

Who remembers this? "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!! I'm so.. I'm so scarreeeddd!!!" Oh, Jessie. (Who, btw, is uh... busy)

Children of the '90s, feast your eyes on this gem:

Sorry for the lack of posts, my brain has given up.

I am running at half capacity. My daily ritual consists of waking up at 11, turning on the Food Network for background noise, bothering friends at work on GChat, leaving the house for some forced exercise, then returning home to cook dinner and a few Law & Order episodes. Not to mention shopping for clothes I don't need nor should be spending money on. (But I found a white suit for $28.. $28! And shoes for $7. And I got a $100 dress for $36. And shirts for $7! This is why I blow my budget every month.)

Summer won't be like this for too long though. When my health law class is over at the end of June, I'm packing things up and heading out of Boston. After that I'm heading to DC for a few weeks, then out to LA to visit Lillian (AND eat at Mozza!), back to DC to get ready to drive to Louisville with Jeff, up to Chicago where I'll get to see my parents, go SKYDIVING at Skydive Chicago, and hopefully attend my friend, Eugenia's wedding, off to Manila until December, then Korea in Jan!

I have no idea where life will take me in 2010...

Tribute to Beef Jerky

I know what you must be thinking: Really? Beef jerky? Those dried out tooth-busting strips of shoe leather? My dad introduced my sisters and I to this oral festivus when we were young and it's stayed in my heart ever since. Not the most sophisticated of culinary treats, no. Mind you, this is the same man who fed his children cans of corned beef hash and corn for breakfast. (The "corn" in "corned beef hash" was a natural cue to combine the two in his mind.) But jerky's salty, it's chewy, portable.. Awesome.

A week ago I ordered 2 lbs of World Kitchens Old Fashioned Beef Jerky from Amazon. I finished it in less than a week. I've gotten over my self-disgust and am officially craving the salty crack again. What's a girl to do? Order more, of course.

This time I got Old Fashioned, Brown Sugar, and Hot and Spicy.

The shitty umbrella monopoly

Why do stores sell shitty umbrellas?? I've wasted too much money on stupid umbrellas that, without fail, end up in a trash can after I've battled with it for four blocks on sprightly New England days.

It's not like you can avoid them. Trust me, I'm that idiot in the middle of the store opening them, swinging them around, shaking them.. But it's not like you can recreate gale-force winds inside a CVS. And those bastards lure you with the "wind-proof" double vent (doesn't work), a release button that opens the umbrella for you (for the truly lazy), and ones that are so small you're able to stick it in your bag and take it with you anywhere (four blocks to the nearest trash can).

Sure, you can avoid it all and lug a giant golf umbrella down the sidewalk. But I'm 5'1" (5'2" on a good day) and those things are longer than my legs. If I carried one with me and opened it up on a windy day I'd be Mary Poppins'ed into traffic and Mass Ave roadkill.

Listen, umbrella-makers of the world: I understand you're making money hand-over-fist by continuing to put worthless pieces of crap in your stores. But do consumers and landfills a favor and give us something that actually works.

Makes me proud to be Korean

First came kimchee and bulgogi. Then Pinkberry and the korean taco truck. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next Korean sensation: Ely Kim.

Ely, if I ever see you on a dance floor, I'm going to hurt myself or pop a button trying to keep up. But damnit I'm going to try.

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.