things i want to do but might never get around to

life is hard to schedule around. there are so many things that i wanted to do, and always thought there would be that DAY when finally my obligations would be over and i could explore new things. that date is usually the beginning of summer vacation. and then it became graduation (after my student hell and thesis were over.) and now it's something like "when i pay off my loans" or "when weight cutting season ends" or "when i've started having money to save." but the truth is, sadly, that maybe a lot of these things will never really happen.

1. Learn photography. My friend at MIT jinhock ong has been taking incredible photos, including one of my favorites, of a match between me and stanford at NCTA collegiates. here's another beautiful shot he's done recently, which prompted this blog entry:



2. Learn to professionally bartend. This came out of both a dreary boredom at home when i didnt have taekwondo (tuesdays and weekends, before i owned an Xbox) and a need to go out to a party scene more. I seriously considered bartending school, until many people convinced me that bartending school is just a waste of money. but now the problem is going out to a bar i like and asking for a job. somehow, i've found a temporary solution: two buck chuck and oblivion on xbox 360. tuesdays have never been the same.



3. Learn to breakdance. I went to a few breakdance club practices and felt ridiculously embarrassed. i always think that maybe knowing a few toprock moves would make me look better in general. and once in a while you see a music video that just glorifies breakdancing. but i think to actually get to a point where it's worth doing it alot, and i'd be good at it, i would have to be in a completely different world than i am in now. like LA.

4. Learn korean. I downloaded the Rosetta stone. i can say "airplane" and "girlfriend" (even in slang!) and personally i think if i spoke korean, i'd have an easier time interacting with all the koreans in taekwondo. whenever master baik starts speaking korean to the korean kids...it's super annoying for the rest of us. and when a korean coach talks to his player in korean there's definitely something in it that would benefit a non korean speaking opponent. but i stopped doing the rosetta stone regularly because i'd rather watch battlestar when i have my laptop, and it got hard after the ordinate and cardinal numbers. because they never tell you what something actually means...u look at the pictures and guess, like kids do. and i actually learned a lot making this image.



5. Learn japanese. i took a semester at MIT, got a C, but now i understand anime a lot more. such as: watasiwa THE MAN desu.

6. Buy a nice road bike. this is one of those that would have depended on me having about $800 cash to throw around because i've finally stopped paying off my loans and have been successful at saving. It's fun to bike in boston because it's flat and everything's reachable by foot, and there is a large bike messenger subculture there. it's fun to bike in san diego because it's warm and there are bike lanes everywhere. I would like to get either a nice new roadbike with all the new technology like a super light frame, or i'd get an oldskool track bike with the single gear, flat handle and only front brakes. that would be hardcore. or i can stick with my decent $100 roadbike in san diego and my $40 modded bike in boston. only problem is they squeak.

7. Finish the MIT Sport Taekwondo glory years documentary. Argh, the biggest weight on my heart right now. and the most space on my harddrives. and as the years go by i become afraid that such a documentary would no longer be relevant to the times, and that any interview, and my interpretation of that interview, would no longer have the heart that it would have had the day after we won the cup for the 2nd year in a row. but i still have the footage, and the relevant people are still around (albeit not much longer) so i have to do it soon. that's one of those things where it'll get done when i have some time...like summer vacation, or after i graduate, or after i stop cutting weight all the time for taekwondo.

UPDATE

8. After continuing to procrastinate i realized another passion of mine that will actually never get realized: art. and comedy. more specifically, comic strips. writing an intelligently hilarious comic strip and posting it on the web to see. sort of like xkcd. but another important aspect is to be able to effectively deliver punchlines through the use of the art and expressions of characters' faces. art is one thing that i started on and never continued with, so i had a bit of talent but it's regressed enough that i look at my childhood work and say "wow." so then i thought "web comics would be a good outlet, because you don't reallllly need to be able to draw." still, i have much more talent reading other people's webcomics and wishing i was as cool.

here's one i stumbled upon on facebook: