Kevin Kwak’s Blog

I was walking out of the library tonight only to find the rain pounding to the ground. USA TODAY was wide and thick enough to protect my head from getting pounded by the heavy rain. While I was running in the cold and rainy weather to get to my parked car, it reminded me of that one day when I was walking home from junior high school. The walking distance was a good three miles from the school to the house and takes thirty minutes to get there. It was pouring rain and I was walking home. I still remember that single day because I actually enjoyed walking in the rain, getting completely soaked, from the top of my head to getting my socks all wet. My shoes were drenched in water because I stomping in the puddles and streams on the curbway. It was a beautiful day actually to walk in the rain because the sky was light from the sun hovering above the rainy clouds. I reached home and took one of the warmest and most suiting bath ever and made myself a cup of hot cocoa.

A big fat F was handwritten on the corner. I was devastated when I received my scantron paper for the finance course. I couldn’t look twice so the scantron was tossed into the bagpack. As the professor continued to call out the student’s name, my name was called out again. Was it a mistake? I retrieved the scantron from my bag and what do you know, it was not mine. I exchanged it at the end of class and all day long, I had a wide grin on my face despite the rain.

Optimistic people say that an opportunity comes ONCE every week. I’m trying very hard to be optimistic and to be positive at all times. I’m learning to keep a positive attitude and although a long process, the results are rewarding.
When it came to getting ready to get into the workforce right after graduation, two doors was shut closed on me. I was still very optimistic. And what do you know, a new opportunity opened up recently and I see great potential in the new direction that I plan to follow. I can’t believe but it’s true, opportunities do come ONCE very week, we just need to see the bright side, seek elsewhere rather than wait for the closed door to open once again. God is wonderful because Jos timing has been perfect so far.

March 2006 is quickly approaching, and that means March Madness, also known as the month of missions. Campus ministries started some of their fundraising events and our english college ministry is beginning to prepare for summer missions to Kenya, Africa.

I am in my last year in college and I have yet to go off-shore to another country. Few brothers and sisters have asked, “Are you going to summer missions?” My response is “No, I can’t go this summer.” I usually get the same response, “How come you aren’t going to summer missions?”

Ever since I’ve joined campus ministry during my second year in college, my spiritual walk and relationship with God and church involvement grew substantially, to the point where my life completely revolved around God. I was raised under a christian home all my life and I had always been joyful because I lived inside a bubble which I was completely satisfied. The bubble popped (a whole new topic, next time) during my senior year and I still find myself rejoicing because of my christian walk.

However, as summer approached, I was on my knees before I went to bed, begging God to send me to missions. As earnestly as I can, I prayed. Three years have passed and I have yet to go.

I always envied those that went to summer missions. I felt so left out during my young years in college because all campus ministries, whether it be KCCC, KCM, CCC, and churches, all college christians ever talked about was how excited they are to go to their assigned country. I listened to their excitement and have encouraged each and every mission trainee to do well and have an awesome experience. But deep down, I was bitter because I wanted to partake in such experience with them. I never understood why my prayers were not answered but I can see why now….

God is challenging me. God needs me as a sender. Because of the circumstance of which I am in, I have accepted to become a sender. I am going to donate and help out those that are in need of financial support. It doesn’t matter if I don’t even have enough money saved up for myself, I want to help those that are in need with contentment.

It isn’t finance. It isn’t because of my spiritual level (funny how someone asked if it was that), whatever that means. It isn’t because I’m scared. It isn’t because I want to go to summer school and graduate early.

I know one thing for sure. Without hesitation, I will go. I’ve been ready for the past four years. Thank you Lord.

Although a very stressful week, the weekend makes it up for all the stress, good stress thatis.

I took my car to the Honda dealer to get two engine-related services. The total estimate came out to be $780.00 and I was devastated. The engine light was on and I know I had to get the car serviced soon because the more I drive with that state of condition, the engine and important bolts and pieces will get affected. I took the car to the dealer Friday afternoon, picked it up five hours later, and to my surprise, both services were covered by warranty. The acceleration felt sooooooo smooth. *tears of joy*
For your information, one of the two services had been covered under a warranty program which had been expired two years ago. But thanks to some online source, I contacted the Honda corporate and the warranty was awarded,hence the free service. The other service, I thank God for covering my butt.

Drove to a barber shop a mile away from my place. The hair cut costs only eight bucks.
Funny thing is, I didn’t expect the barber to put so much attention, to spend that much time, to see that much effort put into a $8 bucks haircut. Felt like a $25 haircut service. It was funny and a bit irritating at the same time (because it took way too long).

I had my first Pink’s hot dog tonight. Back in my high school days, the school bus drove down La Brea to get to the 101 freeway each day and I would always see Pink’s hot dog restaurant. Afternoon or night, that small hot dog restaurant had crowds of hungry customers waiting in line. Pink’s is to hot dog as In-N-Out is to hamburgers and I’ve heard some crazy stories where celebrities order Pink’s hot dog and get it delivered by airflight to their place.
I never had the time to stop by Pinks and I live very far from the Los Angeles restaurant. Finally, after praise practice, I took my buddy and my empty stomach over to Pinks. I think we’ve waited in the cold for about good 20 minutes to order our dinner. The line behind us never ceased. Amazing. As we got closer to the ordering line, my mouth literally watered. The hot dog was very good but a bit expensive when compared to the Costco’s hot dog/polish dog. It was a good experience at Pinks but not a place where I would visit again in the future. I’ll stick with Wienerschnitzel or Costco hot dog. Better yet, I’ll buy my own buns and hot dog and add grilled sliced onions, chopped lettuce and tomato, cheese, and what not. BTW, their nacho cheese chili cheese fries was tasty, but the calories it contain might be off the roof.

Fox’s 24 is such good drama. I highly recommend to all.
The best television show ever created to this day. But who watches television nowadays. Heh, I just borrow the season dvd collection sets. Commercial-free, non-stop heart pounding drama.

To end this blog, I just watched South Korea win GOLD medals in several short tracks in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Korea owns short track. Exciting.

Read the following article in the school newspaper. The story itself is frightening and not because of the surgical procedure, privacy issue, or the unknown issues that such experiment will introduce, the very thought of how the 666 barcode will be imprinted in either the forehead or the right hand of humans has been answered here. With such advancing biotechnology, even Christians can be easily deceived into getting the barcode. Scary, isn’t?
You can do your online research if you’re not sure what the 666 barcode is. The barcode (Mark of the Beast) originated from the book of Revelation in the Holy Bible and plays a major role during the rapture. Wikipedia explains it quite well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast_(numerology)

ID Tag Poses Security Issue
Signals from identity chips embedded beneath the skin may be duplicated

Two employees of a Cincinnati surveillance company recently had identity tags implanted under their skin, raising huge privacy and security concerns.

The company CityWatcher has reportedly become the first American company to use radio frequency identification technology embedded in living humans.

RFID chip manufacturer VeriChip, however, claims readability on their product from up to 15 feet away. With readability from such a distance, suddenly it becomes feasible for a company to install RFID readers throughout its entire building so it knows where everybody is at all times.

And if a company can do it, why not a city? Why not a state, or the entire country? Tracking an entire population is no longer in the realm of science fiction.
Source: http://www.thepolypost.com/story.php?story=3099

Los Angeles city has it good. You don’t see the Republic of Korea (South Korea) national soccer team playing a match with other national futbol teams in New York City, not in Dallas, nope not in Seattle, but only in Los Angeles. It sure is good to live near in sunny California.

On February 15, 2006, the Republic of Korea futbol team held a friendly match with the Mexico national futbol team. Just for your information, hispanics and Mexican-American ethnicity are the fastest growing ethnic group in the Los Angeles city (county too, maybe). The substantial growth of Mexican-Americans and hispanics population is mind-boggling. Once you know the statistical number of current hispanic residents in the Los Angeles city, imagine 75,000 (estimated) hispanics all in one place. Yes, all of them inside the Los Angeles coliseum stadium.

I wrote an extensive entry, which can be found at the 2006 FIFA World Cup thread.