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Or is it just me? ‘Cause as I got my haircut today here in NJ, I noticed that even more hair was white. And I don’t know if it’s because my black hair is blacker than jet black, but the white hair seemed even more white. Maybe it was due to the dark purple cloth they used to wrap around me for the haircut but boy, I don’t think that the white hair could seem so white!!! 
White hair… I only have the Proverbs to comfort me, I suppose… I better be really wise then!!! 
So while we are here in New Jersey, we decided to go to Flushing, NY, the “other” Korean town.
There are two things I hate about driving in NYC… traffic and tolls! It costs $6 to cross George Washington Bridge, and then $4.50 each way on Triboro Bridge for grand total of $15! 
Well, my father told me of Queensboro Bridge that has no toll! But boy, was it a pain! We had to get on Harlem River Dr., pass the Triboro Bridge exit, and continue on FDR Drive. Get off at exit 12 to the 59th St. to get on the Queensboro Bridge. Then fight through more traffic to get onto I-495 and then to I-678 north and then to get off at the Northern Blvd. Now you are at the Flushing! Whew!! After much white hair developing from the torrentuous driving and very confusing roads, we were there!
Still, I don’t know how people do it in NYC… people are so much more rude on the road than in Texas… even compared to Houstonians!! 
We went to several Korean bookstores for the kids’ educational purposes… and Korean bakery, and ate late lunch at ??? (Keum Kang Mountain) Restaurant. So so food…
Driving back wasn’t so hard… just tested more of my patience with more traffic and more rude people! Maybe I won’t come back from Texas anymore!! 
As wonderful as my kids are, they can be, and are, very taxing…
Here’s the rundown of my past 24 hours…
1. To relieve Soojin’s sleep deprivation, I slept with the kids and JJ woke up TWICE through the night crying for mommy. Had to keep telling him to just sleep and leagve mommy alone so she can rest. 
2. Had to drive the family up to good ol’ Citizenship and Immigration Service building in north Houston through the treacherous downpour.
3. After working for few hours, I came home to two kids who soon managed to infuriate mom by making the Christmas tree fall down.
4. Even after the severe punishment of time out, we went to local Clear Lake United Methodist Church’s nativity presentation. As good as that was, the smell and the indoor and heat made me dizzy.
5. After coming home, Anna and JJ still did not listen to me and I lost it. I told them that I won’t play with them ’cause I’m mad. I’m so tired and worn out…
Anyone wanna drop by and watch the kids for me so I can veg out or something?!! May day… may day!
So it’s the Black Friday… I wanted stay far away from the malls and stores…
But we have to eat still and so with the day off, I suggested that we go to Komart. After having lunch with my good friend, Paul Minifee at Pho Binh, we started to head off in that direction. Half way there, Soojin suggests a sneaky one… “We could stop by IKEA since it’s on the way…” Oh how innocent are those suggestions, eh? 
Well, so we get there about 1 pm. Soojin is all lost in the “presence” of IKEA. This is the one store that she said that she could either work at or live at!! As much as I do like some of their stuff and how ingenious some of their stuff are, I do hate them for few other reasons…
1. It’s freakin’ huge!! It took us nearly 3 hours to get through the store at “relatively fast” pace!!
2. Sure they’ve got some great stuff for real cheap… but when you get 20 to 30 of such things, they still add up HUGE!!
3. Did I mention that it’s big??!!
I am not good at shopping… so needless to say, after 3 hours there, I was exhausted! Soojin did notice that I was about to crash so she felt a bit guilty… but still didn’t stop her! And after 3 hours with the kids, they also began to get very cranky and irritating and demanding after all that… At least, JJ was well distracted with those blue arrows for him to keep searching for. 
Whew… I’m tired… IKEA… How I love to hate you!
In the year of 1988, Korea held its first Olympics. However, to do so, the government had to take down the slum areas of Seoul to try to improve its image. Additionally, there was no concept of “rights” to inmates. This movie captured the disillusionment and the sadness of those times while staying true to its message.
Though I didn’t shed a tear physically, my heart cried inside … Korea, like many countries, have loads of secrets that need to come out in the open. I pray that movies like “Holli-Dei” will awaken the people around us to kick us out of our ignorance.
This is for the victims of injustice… If you feel brave enough to see the movie, let me know…
roughly translated:
When mommy goes to dig some oysters,
The baby is left home alone
And as he listens to the lullaby from the tide
He falls asleep lying on his arms.
Well, I begun the song again as I tried to put them to sleep… only to be stopped… here’s the run down…
Me: ??? ? ???
Anna: ??, ? ? ????
Me: Uh… it’s an island… anyway, ? ?? ??…
Anna: ??, ?? ????
Me: Um… ?? ?? ??…
Anna: What’s ???
Well, you get the idea… with JJ, they both practically stopped me every other phrase of the song… 
Oh well… the inquisitive mind wants to know… It’s frustrating… but cute at the same time… oh well… welcome to fatherhood!
There’s one thing I can’t stand… kids who are spoiled. Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I spoil my kids with love as much as possible but there’s also a wrong and bad kind of spoiling, the kind that makes the kids behave badly. So it’s my life’s goal to make sure my kids aren’t that way. I want them to grow up to respect others and their property the way they’d want to be treated.
Well, boys sure are difficult. JJ is proving to be quite a handful. While Anna loves to help out and obey us fairly well, JJ on the other hand, doesn’t. He’s quite defiant actually. We’ve told him over and over. On top of that, he knows that he’s loved so it aids in his being defiant. Soojin is not helping in that department (but he’s so cute)!
But in the event of disobedience, we have to be firm. That happened… again… tonight. After bathing them, I let them play a bit. Well, to my not-so-surprise, I find out that JJ drew on the wall with a green crayon! Oh he knows better. He probably figured I’d just slap his buttocks a bit and move on… well, this wasn’t his day. I took him aside and talked to him about what he did wrong, what we had told him not to do (which is not to draw on walls and that’s what papers are for). I took the official punishment stick (aka. wooden rice scooper ??). I gave him good slap on his hands. And thighs.
I hate these displinary moments… but I refuse to let my kids grow up improperly. I understand more and more what my parents had to go through… inside. This hurts. Whoever said that love hurts, knows a lot about life. This time, very literally. I told him as before, that whenever he got punished, I’d be as well, to share in his pains, and as an act of my taking responsibility in my shortcomings as a parent. My thigh and hands hurt.
Whoever tells me that spanking and disciplining is easy don’t love their children. But I didn’t want to cry in front of my son. Not yet anyway… perhaps on the rainy days of his teenage hood. The innerds of my heart hurts whenever I discipline them. I don’t know why but this time was more difficult… perhaps it’s because I know that I will have to repeat this more with my son in the future. In the mean time, after the explanation (aka. the lecture), I hugged him. And massaged his wounds. This must be what God’s grace and mercy must be like. And this must be like how God feels after spanking us for our disobedience. I held him for good five minutes until his tears somewhat stopped. Then he ran to his mom. I do hope he grows up to understand… but he won’t truly… until he becomes a dad himself.
Here’s to all the dads that had to discipline their kids but loves them to the end…