cute

I have a bit of a crush on M. Ward. I've also known what it's like to crush on someone who doesn't even know you're alive! We've all been there I'm sure. :)

I covet Zooey Deschanel's cuteness.

Alabama, my heart, forever

This past weekend I made a pilgrimage to Alabama to visit several sacred sites from the civil rights movement. I am still trying to process this experience, but will tell you that I have been changed! Not in that church revival sense, but in that, I've seen something that I can't ever erase from my psyche sense. Like the first time you see a naked person. It's there forever. You've passed some rite of maturity, and you can never go back. It was like that.

I've gone to bed each night since returning from the pilgrimage with freedom songs stuck in my head. The images, sights, sounds, and yes, even tastes!, will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Haunt? More like, inspire. This pilgrimage has inspired me towards something new. A new understanding of freedom, justice, redemption, forgiveness, love. All of those trite, hackneyed words that are rubbed raw with abuse in our modern vernacular have all been made new for me.

Here are two posts I've written about the pilgrimage for Sojourners. And below, some footage I shot of the delegation marching across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma while singing "We Shall Overcome," on the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

JAY-Z = EPIC

Last night was EPIC in every sense of the word: going to the Verizon Center, being among so many people with so much energy, and hearing the greatest rapper alive do what he does best ... there are no words. It was such an amazing performance and oddly intimate, even though we were so so far away. Jay-Z puts on a "no frills" concert -- no dancers, no fireworks, just him performing his hits, one after another. He topped himself again and again, which is just so indicative of his incredible career -- he puts out a freaking amazing album, and then it's "on to the next one."

I went a little insane last night when he started my most favorite song of his: heart of the city (ain't no love). My roommate thankfully got some footage of Jay-Z handing it over to the crowd to sing the rest. Nothing beats the sound of thousands singing. Jay-Z put it well at the end: "There's a lot of love in this room."

A lot of love indeed.

You will hear me trying to sing the chorus and failing miserably, but I did not care one damn bit. I'll sing my freaking heart out for Jay.

Cassie and me before the show (photos from Cassie)

With our new friend after the show

mr. and mrs. incredible

My parents are in Israel right now, vacationing and visiting the Holy Lands. Here's what my dad sent me once they landed.

Mon Cher Jeannie.

We are alive and well. Currently, in a Hotel in Amman.

We went to Petra today. Also visited several ancient Edomite and Moabite cities.

We will cross over to Israel tomorrow.

We miss you, Jeannie.

Best wishes for you,

Daddy

Such a lovely letter, no? I think my parents are so incredible. The fact that they both grew up in South Korea, immigrated to the states in their teens (mom) and twenties (dad), obtained advanced degrees (mom: BA, MA; dad: BA, MA, PhD, MDiv), and continue to flourish in a country that was not their first home is astounding to me.

jay to the z

tonight!


Full report TK.

I call this one ...

... nerd love

bowling with "the axe"

Bowling is my least favorite activity in the world, but after this weekend I've had a change of heart. My roommate organized a bowling party at "Lucky Strike" in D.C.'s Chinatown. In the middle of our game, my friend Allison looks over to the lane next to us and says, I think that's David Axelrod. Sure enough, we look up at his scoreboard and it says, "Axe." In D.C., this is a big time celebrity sighting. We are just that pathetic.

Giggles, exchanged glances, nervous attempts to make contact ensued. Alas, the best we could do was take covert photos of him while pretending to take photos of each other (though my roommate did make some small talk with him, as you will see in the photo below). Blast ... the more I think about it, the more I wish we had said something to him. Ah well. What cracks me up is that at the end of this rather important week for the White House, all he wanted to do on Friday night was go bowling (and with this guy, no less!).

This weekend, roommate and I also went on a date to DC glassworks, a glass blowing studio out in Hyattsville, Maryland. It was a sweet little outing, and so cool to watch people make vases and sculptures out of globs of molten glass heated to more than 2,000 degrees!

the "Axe-man" himself! (photo credit: Heather W.)