seoul food

My first full day in Seoul, and Andy and I have spent it just hanging out, and eating whatever we choose. There's been a lot of fried goodness so far, both sweet and savory. The other Andy gets in late tonight, and then I'm hoping we are gonna scarf down some meaty eats!

to seoul!

It's been incredible living at home this past month since the bar exam, but tomorrow I depart for my first real bar trip - three weeks in Korea and China. I've never set foot in Seoul, where I'll be exploring the country with two law school friends (Andy and Andy) and then traveling to China, where I'm hoping to meet up with a bunch of different family and friends in Shanghai.

I haven't been great updating my blog recently, but I can sum up the past month pretty easily - family, friends, food and Warcraft. I don't think I've done anything that fall outside of those four categories.

I'll try my best to update from Asia, as I'll have my handy new little (actually TINY) netbook. Hopefully I can get as much updating done real-time, as I leave for Australia one week after I return from Asia.

my neck is tired

From trying to see meteors.

all done

Aside from shipping a few boxes and some bathroom and kitchen cleanup, I am all done and wrapped up here in Chicago. Definitely sad to leave, but I'm really looking forward to moving back to California!

Also, I'm all done with the bar, which is very awesome! A lot of people had told me not to worry and the bar really isn't that bad, but I was still pretty worried. I would agree that the exam was not that difficult, but it's still probably the hardest test I've ever taken. The only reason why I think it was OK was because I studied like nuts this entire summer - 6 to 10 hours every single day for nearly two months prior to the exam. Anyways, I'm saving my celebration for November 20, when the results come out. Let's hope I pass!

:(

I'm starting to have serious doubts about my ability to pass this bar exam :(

like and dislikes

I really like Freaks and Geeks. I just finished Disc 3 of the series, and my feelings are mixed. I'm happy because I really like the series, but sad because I know it'll be ending soon. Too soon. If you haven't watched it yet, I suggest you go and check it out. Especially if you're a cheesy romantic nerd at heart (which I am).

I really hate studying for the bar. I was feeling prepared and up for it, up until last week, when I started feeling some slight pangs of stress. I think it may have been caused by my lack of studying while I was in New York though, as I'm feeling slightly better now that I am back in the mix of studying everyday (including have class Saturday and Sunday this weekend!).

photo project

I've been wanting to start my own photo project ever since reading about the 1000 Portraits project on Flickr. Here's what I've decided on: I will photograph all food that I consume for the next week. Basically, any non-liquid that goes in my mouth will be photographed.

I think this has a few consequences. First, I think I'll probably be less inclined to eat really crappy junk food since I know it'll be kept in the photo records (likely). Second, this may drive me to eat food that will be more fancy, since I know it'll get photographed (less likely). I have a feeling that it'll be a pretty boring set of photos of just the same old food I eat all of the time. Sadly, I don't eat at places like Per Se all of the time (or even infrequently).

glowing rectangles

For the 4th of July, my friends Andy and Andy hosted a little BBQ, which unfortunately got rained out (rain on the 4th!! What's up with that Chicago?!!). Anyways, we had a great time inside Andy's apartment and while I was there (feasting on bacon-wrapped, cheese-filled hotdogs and Korean BBQ tacos), I got to check out Andy's 23" widescreen LCD monitor. I'd been thinking about getting one ever since I first saw the deal on CNET's Cheapskate blog for a $179 24" new monitor.

I decided to pull the trigger yesterday (only $139 with the eBillme rebate!) and it got me to thinking about an Onion article about staring at glowing rectangles. In addition to the LCD monitor, there's definitely a part of me that really wants a Kindle as well. That got me to thinking about all of the glowing rectangular screens I own and use:

- TV

- Lenovo Ideapad

- Macbook

- PSP 2000

- Nikon D40

- Casio Exilim Z850

- Canon SD1000

- Blackberry Pearl

- iPod Nano

I wouldn't say that 90% of my time is spent staring at these, but I'd say a good 25% minimum, and maybe even more...

per se

I finally made it! In my opinion, Per Se was my best dining experience so far! Other near comparable dining experiences are probably Alinea, Gary Danko and Michael Mina. Of course, while I was in NY, I also visited some old favorites, plus another new place that had been on my list for a long time - Burger Joint.

thursday

Nothing too exciting yesterday. I stuffed myself during lunch at David Burke's Primehouse, with their three course $20.09 lunch. I opted for their gazpacho, dry-aged burger and some delicious dessert I forget the name of. In the evening I met up with some of the rugby grads at Northside Grill out in Wicker Park. We were thinking about going to Violet Hour, but it got vetoed as too expensive and too romantic for a bunch of dudes.