don’t forget about a thing called love

5/2/2011: I dedicate this to the most wonderful mother in the world. You really are one of my best friends, I love you mom. Happy 36th  Birthday! (Even though you look like you’re only 29). I hope I can make you smile with this goofy piece.

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Filed under: Celebrity Gossip

Alright… so by now, unless you live under a rock, you know that Bin Laden is dead and Roston Yoo had a hair style change. A few tabloids (i.e. jyu27.tumblr.com) have already released some shocking photographs of Roston and his new hair. I guess it’s time that I release a public statement about the mega sex symbol’s recent decision to get the perm.

January 30th, 2011: The Inspiration

There was a boy. He was a serious troublemaker and below-average student, but actually had potential to be one of the most intelligent student in the class. Naturally, this boy was one of Roston’s favorite students.

On the evening of January 29th, 2011, this boy was taken to a hair salon with his mother to receive a hair treatment that Roston would never forget for the rest of his life.

When Roston saw the boy, he was appalled. (Insert Korean interjection 쩐다, I think I used that right… Source: http://www.italki.com/answers/question/59136.htm). What kind of mother would put their child through such torture? It was worse than gruesome—it takes something amazing to turn a cute child into the face of a failure, or worse, a future pervert…

He could no longer see the child in the same light, but after the tears and laughter the hair brought to the teaching staff, Roston saw the boy’s hair in a new light. Mr. Yoo was inspired…

February-April 2011: Preparation & Self-doubt

It was a long couple months, as he realized he needed to grow his hair in order to achieve hair nirvana.  In the cold winter, it was quite helpful, as long hair could protect his head from the cold. Sharing his feelings with a few close friends, Roston struggled with the notion that one day soon he would be perm-ed.

He was afraid that the stress would overcome him; the transformation would lead him to eventual self-loathing. The star no longer knew if he was up for it, people said it would be ridiculous—people doubted him. Then he had an epiphany, a smoothie of reassuring facts blended into his head: 1. Roston is a man, if he couldn’t handle it any longer, he could just cut his hair short. 2. “When In Rome…” He would never, in a million years, do this back home; He had only one shot here. 3. He’s still the same good looking guy; we realized maybe a bad haircut could help him reduce the extreme attention from ladies.

What’s to lose? He was ready. It was go time.

April 9th, 2011: Operation

He walked into the hair salon like a boss. He sat down and told the lady “아줌마 파마 주세요.” (Basically, “Please give me the old lady perm.”) The hair stylist was shocked; she started to ask him a bunch of questions in Korea. Unfortunately, Roston is a fair, virtuous man, so he matched his level of Korean linguistic skills to the level of the hair stylist’s English linguistic skills, so he didn’t know what she was saying. He just stoically repeated the phrase. “아줌마 파마 주세요.”

Two hours later, she unraveled his hair, only realizing his hair was too powerful for her machinery. His hair was unfazed. He was back for much more potent round 2, and two hours later—his hair looked like this:

After looking at his hair, the stylist (among many other women in the vicinity) began to awe over the beauty that was created. Roston had hair to match the unparalleled beauty of his face. Unfortunately, he realized that the mission was not complete… he had not achieved the 아줌마 파마 (legendary old lady perm). To the stylist’s astonishment, Roston firmly told her that he would not pay for this perm, as it was not what he asked for. He asked for a style magazine and found a picture similar to this one:

Finally, he pointed to the picture and asked her once more. “아줌마 파마 주세요. 진짜.” (Please, REALLY give me the old lady perm.) Three hours later, the operation was successful. Curls.

Here is an enhanced, zoomed-in shot of his hair:

Present: The Result

Well, unfortunately, our PR team and Roston’s personal stylist won’t allow us to release any pictures of the immediate results of the perm, as Roston described his head looking like “an afro-microphone.” But with the help of his stylist Niandrew Foam, they gave birth to the Pamahawk.

As a free promo to his fans, we’ve released a still capture from his web cam show: Beauty Around the World with Roston Yoo Episode 370.

Roston was satisfied with his pamahawk until he had a fateful encounter with the man at Homeplus…

20XX: New heights

One day…

End of publication.

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yay, it’s over! -__________- lol. If you actually got to the bottom of this post, here’s a special treat for you!

This boy sneezed mid-class and begged for a tissue. Rather than grant him a tissue, the teacher called all of his friends and co-teachers to marvel at what we thought only existed in cartoon shows.

I guess I’m a little more than halfway there, but I’ve been staying in a lot more lately, been focusing on things other than just playing. Staying in gave me a great amount of time to think about… my experience here thus far. I have been here for around 7 months now, so 5 months to go.

First, I’m thankful for all of my USC friends that studied abroad this fall, because I got to read and hear the most amazing stories about how being abroad changes your life. Most of the times, I hear that it’s about the people you experience a new world with, and how most times, you all of a sudden realize you don’t have much time left, and you haven’t done anything on your to-do list.

You know how any trip goes, “Holy crap, I’m gonna be here for 6 whole months! Damnit…” “Feels like it’s been FOREVER! 4 and half months to go..” “Wow, halfway there! 3 months!” —-> Then all of a sudden it becomes “Shit, I only have a month left! NONONO, why did it come so soon??” And then you’re home.

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I guess I’m choosing to write some MONTH late kinda new years resolution (I guess I’m in closer sync with the Lunar new year). I’m making it public, hoping that I’ll feel more accountability for my words since there are people that will read this.

1. my most important resolution is private. but it’s there.

2. Continue studying KOREAN!! my 한글 studies started off pretty strong, but somewhere down the line I got a bit discouraged, realizing that even when I try, some people are still going to ridicule my efforts. f*ck the haters.

3. Try to be healthier. I got into a real winter mood, I’ve been packin on weight to keep me warm, because it’s freakishly cold here compared to home in CALI. As soon as it starts to warm up, I will start to walk stairs instead of taking elevators to go up one floor (hehe.. jk.. or am I?)

4. Invest more time into useful hobbies, watching tv/movies or playing games make me happy temporarily, but how will that add any value to who I want to be.

5. Smile more. :)

how many countries do you know where the legal age to drink and smoke is the same as buying a deck of playing cards?! ahahahah -___-

this is pretty pathetic on a few different levels.

SNOW!! hehe. a snowy winter’s something i never really experienced (although i love southern california weather). the holiday season away from home was unique—unique is as vague a description as it gets, but honestly, i never feel right sharing my precious thoughts with the internet. i’ll keep it short.

The day after Christmas, my coworkers and I traveled to the country side (mountain area?) and had a one-night retreat to inebriation and snow. here was our lunch/dinner feast.

When we arrived:

18 hours later:

isn’t that AMAZING!?

mmm.. 40 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s warm weather, which meant the perfect time to explore the snow.

snow

snizzow

the water down his face made it look like he was crying

my attempts at taking cooler pictures. HAHA -__-

i like this one.

workin hard

and because i didn’t want to lay in the snow to make a snow angel, i took a picture of a snowy angel.

in the living place.

No, weather.com, you have NO CLUE what it *expletive* feels like.

Found this on one of my student’s desk… apparently i’m dating this person, let me know if you know someone that looks like this.

just because they start at a young age…

doesn’t mean it’s okay.

this past week has been eventful: escalated tension between the two koreas, somewhat hectic week at work, SNOW!!!, korean culture’s “meeting” or a group blind date, and lastly, thanksgiving.

PART I. WORK

this week at work: a. long rehearsals for the kindergarten musical b. practicing  baby-justin bieber with elementary and middle school students c. mild confrontation with a small-minded manager

a. the musical. sometimes pictures do the job best. it was intense, they prepared months for this, memorizing entire plays/choreographed dances in english. here:

^look at their costumes (song festival)

^they’re only 5 years old…

^hehehe, snow white!! look at the witto animals

^he was pinocchio! if this boy is an accurate sample of the total population of kindergartners at SLP, his nose should be touching the camera…

^meet kitty! she was the antagonist from snow white.

^it was a long week. yet, as much as teaching little kids can be pretty tiring, at the end of the day, these kids are so cute, how can you not love it?

^Also, we also celebrated thanksgiving at school an SLP thanksgiving lunch feast. which leads to…

PART II. THANKSGIVING

Holidays are when you miss people the most, and thinking about the family and friends back home, I got a little sad, but even though I didn’t have the most picture perfect thanksgiving… the few close coworker friends that live on my floor (elliot house crewww, yeeeee) are slowly becoming a little family. We had a little potluck/thanksgiving dinner:

^young anne is a vegetarian in korea.. :’(

^green things and chicken nuggets

^YUMMY CRANBERRY GELATINOUS SUBSTANCE!!

^bitch, i’m a master chef! roston’s lemon-pepper chicken

cheese and crackers

the night ended with a candlelit story time and wine. in addition to the warm fuzzy feeling induced by alcohol, I had a warm fuzzy realization when the four of us could seemingly communicate just by looking at each other—a few glances around and we all knew we were laughing at the same thing. it was delightful to be a part of group telekinesis.

PART III. WTF KOREA T_T

So… if you heard the news, you know that some shit’s going down here in Korea. As much as many people believe not much will really happen, or at least civilians living in Seoul should be somewhat safe, nuclear weapons?!

I’m the kind of guy that constantly thinks about the worst case scenario but tries to pretend he only sees the best case scenario. When I think about it, I’m scared shitless. Nothing’s going to happen, but what if something were to happen? being worried about test grades, money issues, friend problems all seem trivial when you can potentially be worried for your own life.

for the first time, simply being alive was a big part of what I was thankful for during thanksgiving. assuming i make it home in one piece, these events somewhat sparked an epiphany for me to live life a little differently. super cliche quote but relevant: “Live as if you’ll die tomorrow; but dream as if you’ll live forever.”

PART IV. SNOW & MEETING

SNOW!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH SNOWING WHERE I LIVE WOWOWOW, about an hour ago, i walked up to the roof with the elliot house crew and had a snowball fight!! it’s so beautiful!! also, it is painful… it is very cold.

MEETING! it was interesting, part of korean culture has these blind dates that aren’t so awkward. only thing is i still suck at korean so i really have to continue studying hard!! thanks to the homie erick for settin it up!

wooooooooow long post, if you’re religious, pray for stability in korea!! miss you all, bye bye!