i had a good week at home. i got my brother the 1st season of friday night lights for christmas, and we watched 17 of the 22 episodes already. it's so good.
i also got a chance to catch up with a lot of people, starting with my yg's annual alumni get-together at the home of my former yg leader. i was standing in their home, remembering vividly the get-together from last year, which was the day before the urbana conference. it really did seem like yesterday. this year it was a younger crowd -- more people from my brother's generation showed up. it's always great to catch up with my yg leaders too. i think their lives are always evidently showing transformation and growth in christ. it's amazing talking to them and hearing about their passion for urban or youth ministry. it was also good to hear about their stories from their post-grad years.
12/23: s-y and i caught up with eric, the wu-dar. the only way we were able to make him hang out with us in the past was to do it by default: forcing our way into his home and then refusing to leave. naturally, we resumed this tradition.
12/24: watched ratatouille and letters from iwo jima with my family; intense. we had some church friends over for dinner -- "younger" families who are originally from the mainland. i played with some of the kids. one of the cute ones, who was 5 yrs old, beat me in chess. but in my defense, he also beat an uncle with a physics ph.d. (the uncle that used to test us with logic puzzles/physics problems during the carpool to our youth orchestra rehearsal.)
12/25: opened presents with my family (oh, they are hilarious.) went to an intimidating lunch where the chinese moms outnumbered the dads. (at least my dad contributed some comedic relief by making a joke about robots.) after dinner with a family friend, i watched paris je'taime (good film) with my brother and s-y, and chris came over afterwards. i don't think i've seen him in at least a year, but in a very "N" way, i always feel that we're able to pick up our friendship from wherever we left off. hm, though, he might not feel the same way.
12/27: attended a youth orchestra alum dinner with my family. it was awkward and weird -- why do my brother and i agree to go to such things?
12/28: caught up with sophia at her house in pford after getting my free haircut at scott miller & a cheap planner/funny postcard of bill gates from barnes and noble. ah, it is always good to catch up with sophia, because really, there are an endless amount of topics and ideas to talk about. and, she's really easy-going so even for an introvert like me, i have no problem talking for 4 hours at a time.
12/29: my family left today to visit relatives in DC. aileen was in town for a few hours, so i got to see her (and sophia) for a few hours. always good to catch up with her too. i think we can always find something to laugh about. stopped by another yg leader's home to chat for a few minutes. her girls are hilarious - her 7 yr old (already super "J") made a well-researched christmas list with 3 columns of info: where, name, and what it does. (one was "target, science kit, COOL".) headed over to my friend nicole's where we caught up and watched the patriots-giants game with her fam. she's the one friend from HS that i actually kind of keep up with. turns out that most people in HS rarely keep in touch anymore -- even ones who were fairly close. (i would have assumed that they would have, in a place like roc.) not that i had many close friends from HS anyway. i've definitely enjoyed keeping up with nicole because sometime last year, we recognized in an email that the majority of HS people had never addressed important cultural/racial/identity issues... and she had thought i would be someone good to dialogue with about those things. that was a significant "racial reconciliation" moment for me. (she is 3rd or 4th gen italian american, much like the rest of the roc population: white ethnics. as for me, i had a lonely time in HS figuring out where/how my background was different from majority culture as one of the few asian am in my class/school.) we're now able to talk more about social issues too, and i think the both of us have matured in our understanding of our faith to think more deeply about urban ministry issues.
i head back to cleveland soon before the national staff conference in st. louis, which i'm looking forward to attending. on the topic of catching up with friends, i might see kwok/jenn, jimmy, and possibly bev. i most definitely will with other staff from around the nation. yay!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
cleveland museum of art
12/20: my brother is here in cleveland! yesterday, we went to the "modern masters" art exhibit at the cleveland museum of art. i think i've enjoyed the exhibits at the cleveland museum more than any other that i've seen. (in may, crystal and i got free tickets to see the monet showing. it was amazing.) usually, when i go to museums, i become overwhelmed from the amount of art in the exhibit (visual overstimulation!! ahh), especially if the display isn't cohesive to make sense to me, a person with little "cultural capital" in the visual arts. the exhibits just overwhelm me emotionally.
but my time at the museum of art wasn't chaotic. each room was spacious enough for the viewer but small enough for a good collection of pieces. usually i get bored when reading the placards, but theirs were well-written, wry, witty, etc., explaining only the most intriguing works (for the right amount of information.) the pieces in each of the rooms were well-chosen so that i could pick out a cohesive theme, and each of the rooms were well-explained so that i could see artistic progression of the major modern movements.
i was overwhelmed at the end, though, because we experienced 50 years' worth of social deconstruction in 2 hours: we saw the impressionists (degas, monet), the post-impressionists (cezanne, gauguin, van gogh), one small room with the Symbolists, avant-garde (picasso), rodin (gets his own shoutout), a short Dada exhibit, and finally, the Surrealists (dali). it was great because we saw 3 different parodies of manet's "luncheon on the grass". i could definitely see how one these movements were challenging prior conceptions of art, nature, and the artist himself.
my brother just finished taking an art-hum class this past semester and was able to help me understand a LOT of these movements/works. i think my favorites were the cleveland-only displays of degas, this one von gogh with these two trees (with thick layers of paint), a rodin sculpture, etc. i enjoyed the "luncheon on the grass" parodies -- i liked seeing the progression of artistic movements.
i also like that the exhibit went to asia (china, japan, korea.) one viewer (i think from china) basically said that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see these works of art in person, rather than in a textbook. they, too, are able to get a chance to increase their cultural capital.... it reminds me that living near some of the greatest cultural institutions ("even if it is cleveland") is a privilege.
one other museum stands out in my mind: the african-american history museum in detroit. it's seriously worth going to see. apparently, the detroit institute of arts is a museum significant enough to be mentioned in the NYT's "53 places to visit in 2008."
but my time at the museum of art wasn't chaotic. each room was spacious enough for the viewer but small enough for a good collection of pieces. usually i get bored when reading the placards, but theirs were well-written, wry, witty, etc., explaining only the most intriguing works (for the right amount of information.) the pieces in each of the rooms were well-chosen so that i could pick out a cohesive theme, and each of the rooms were well-explained so that i could see artistic progression of the major modern movements.
i was overwhelmed at the end, though, because we experienced 50 years' worth of social deconstruction in 2 hours: we saw the impressionists (degas, monet), the post-impressionists (cezanne, gauguin, van gogh), one small room with the Symbolists, avant-garde (picasso), rodin (gets his own shoutout), a short Dada exhibit, and finally, the Surrealists (dali). it was great because we saw 3 different parodies of manet's "luncheon on the grass". i could definitely see how one these movements were challenging prior conceptions of art, nature, and the artist himself.
my brother just finished taking an art-hum class this past semester and was able to help me understand a LOT of these movements/works. i think my favorites were the cleveland-only displays of degas, this one von gogh with these two trees (with thick layers of paint), a rodin sculpture, etc. i enjoyed the "luncheon on the grass" parodies -- i liked seeing the progression of artistic movements.
i also like that the exhibit went to asia (china, japan, korea.) one viewer (i think from china) basically said that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see these works of art in person, rather than in a textbook. they, too, are able to get a chance to increase their cultural capital.... it reminds me that living near some of the greatest cultural institutions ("even if it is cleveland") is a privilege.
one other museum stands out in my mind: the african-american history museum in detroit. it's seriously worth going to see. apparently, the detroit institute of arts is a museum significant enough to be mentioned in the NYT's "53 places to visit in 2008."
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
ah. caught up on all my blogs and newsfeeds, gchatted with friends halfway around the world... for some reason, i am filled with hope. today is a good day.
next week, my brother will be in cleveland. we will explore ohio city, coventry village, and other "boho-chic" neighborhoods in this somewhat trendy-urban but rough-and-underground post-industrial city. we'll eat at shaker square, which looks like it belongs on the set of a movie, and attempt to pay for a meal at lola, (new) iron chef michael symon's tasty brainchild. we are the poor man's version of the finer things club.
my roommate and i have our mini-christmas tree up. this weekend, we'll be having people over; her IV students are coming over for a movie night and mine are sharing a xi fan brunch. we're going to project the movie elf onto one of our walls.
good times ahead.
next week, my brother will be in cleveland. we will explore ohio city, coventry village, and other "boho-chic" neighborhoods in this somewhat trendy-urban but rough-and-underground post-industrial city. we'll eat at shaker square, which looks like it belongs on the set of a movie, and attempt to pay for a meal at lola, (new) iron chef michael symon's tasty brainchild. we are the poor man's version of the finer things club.
my roommate and i have our mini-christmas tree up. this weekend, we'll be having people over; her IV students are coming over for a movie night and mine are sharing a xi fan brunch. we're going to project the movie elf onto one of our walls.
good times ahead.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
ROS'
Due to the nature of my work, my IV area (at least) requires that I go on occasional day-long silent retreats away from noise, people, and daily hubbub to listen for God's voice/direction. So far, the two that I've done haven't been very successful. My first one was in ann arbor, where I thought I'd easily find a place to go. It turned out to be fairly difficult - everything and everyone was a little too familiar, and I wanted to avoid running into someone I knew. And, many of the quiet places reminded me of terrible nights of paper-writing or studying. I opted for the law library, which I found to be a little too sterile for a retreat. Eventually, I ended back at tammy/enid/amanda/rose's apartment, where I cut my retreat short to cook and eat dinner with tammy. (yay.)
My second one was a few weeks ago here in cleveland. I decided to go to Julia + Theresa's apartment, which is directly above mine. Theresa and some of her friends from the cleveland clinic decided to eat our pre-thanksgiving potluck leftovers, so I then decided to go sit (in my car) by the lake in the park nearby. An hour later, I realized that I had forgotten to turn my lights off. a'derrr, especially since I was sitting in my car the entire time. So, a friend ended up taking me to get some jumper cables and help start my car. (I also called M. Papai, the ohio divisional director, for help. he's so good at everything.)
Slightly deflated, I headed back to Julia and Theresa's place for some quiet. I went into the apartment, saw that the lights were on, thought that was weird, and then proceeded into the living room where I found this:
"MANU?!! where did your legs go?"
Our 6-ft tall friend Manu (from the clinic) enfolded inside Julia's sheepskin rug like a giant zhongze, taking a nap. I thought it was so hilarious that I LOLed and woke him up. And that was pretty much the end of my retreat of silence.
My second one was a few weeks ago here in cleveland. I decided to go to Julia + Theresa's apartment, which is directly above mine. Theresa and some of her friends from the cleveland clinic decided to eat our pre-thanksgiving potluck leftovers, so I then decided to go sit (in my car) by the lake in the park nearby. An hour later, I realized that I had forgotten to turn my lights off. a'derrr, especially since I was sitting in my car the entire time. So, a friend ended up taking me to get some jumper cables and help start my car. (I also called M. Papai, the ohio divisional director, for help. he's so good at everything.)
Slightly deflated, I headed back to Julia and Theresa's place for some quiet. I went into the apartment, saw that the lights were on, thought that was weird, and then proceeded into the living room where I found this:
"MANU?!! where did your legs go?"
Our 6-ft tall friend Manu (from the clinic) enfolded inside Julia's sheepskin rug like a giant zhongze, taking a nap. I thought it was so hilarious that I LOLed and woke him up. And that was pretty much the end of my retreat of silence.