2009 recap

Greetings family, friends and curious internet surfers!

This year has been quite a big one for me, and I had ambitious plans to send a newsletter along with my Christmas cards detailing what I've been up to in 2009. After all, I figured I would have nearly seven months of free time after graduating in early May, and even counting after finishing the bar in July, I'd have a full five months before starting work. Of course, we all know how time flies, so without any further adieu, here is my year in review!

Big events:

- Law school graduation (May) - It was a great three-year run, but I'm definitely ready to move on!

- Business school graduation (June) - An equally great two-year run, and I don't think I could have lasted a third year!

- Took the bar (July) - Easily the hardest test I've ever taken.

- Moved back home to Pasadena (August) - I wasn't sure how things would work out once I moved back home, but now there's no question that I'll miss spending time with my parents and eating home-cooked food every night.

- Passed the bar (July) - Whew! Thankfully, my ten weeks of studying 6-10 hours per day, 7 days a week, paid off!

- Moving to San Francisco (starting December 28) - Now it's time for me to start the next leg of my life, and I'm very excited that I'll be back in San Francisco after a four-year hiatus. Although I'll miss my parents, this means more time with family and friends in the Bay Area (including my nephew Matthew)!

Places I went:

This was a pretty big travel year for me, as I wrapped up grad school and went on a plethora of trips.

Bahamas (January) - Long weekend in Freeport with the Kellogg Rugby Football Club. Although we lost our match, we escaped the fiercest storm of the winter, and plus I got a mohawk!

Wisconsin (February) - I tried my hand at snowboarding in the Midwest, and the rumors are true. It's flat out there.

Peru (March) - Had a great trip with my parents and younger sister visiting Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca during the first half of my spring break.

Los Angeles/San Francisco (March) - The second half of my spring break included hanging out in LA and SF. I got to see my nephew, baby cousins and also the World Baseball Classic championship game at Dodger Stadium!

Durham, NC (April) - Traveled once again with the rugby team for the Duke MBA Rugby World Cup and left as the winner of the loser's bracket (losing only twice to Columbia)!

Auburn, CA (May) - Lauren and I ventured into California gold rush territory north of Sacramento for Amy and Brett's wedding.

New York, NY (July) - While taking a short study trip (we still put in at least six hours a day in our hotel room), Lauren and I went all out and treated ourselves to a no-holds-barred, decadent and truly memorable meal at Per Se. Gerald, thanks for getting us the reservation!

Pasadena, CA (August) - Not technically a trip, since I was moving back home, but I did make it in time to attend Mark and Erin's fun wedding.

Korea (September) - Toured Korea with the Andys, as we went all around Seoul (including the DMZ area) plus took the train down to Busan where we hit the beach and sampled the local sefood - including live, raw octopus!

China (September) - From Korea, I flew to Shanghai, where I hung out with a bunch of school friends. Apart from Shanghai, I climbed Huang Shan with Howard and Matt, and visited Shenzhen and Hong Kong with Jack. Plus, along the way, I got to see a bunch of old friends from Berkeley.

Australia (October) - For the next big trip, Lauren and I went down under and traveled the length of the eastern coast of Australia, traveling to Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns (Great Barrier Reef), Melbourne and Adelaide.

Seattle, WA (November) - I've wanted to take a domestic train trip for a long time, and I finally made it happen with a 35-hour train ride from Los Angeles to Seattle. I was accompanied by Dave, a law school buddy, and we also got to hung out with a few other friends in Seattle, including my old fraternity big bro and my younger sister's best friend.

Arizona/New Mexico/Texas (November) - In lieu of celebrating Thanksgiving at home, I took a bus trip with my parents and grandmother to visit the American Southwest. We made it out to White Sands, New Mexico, as well as Carlsbad Caverns (also in New Mexico), passing through Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso.

All in all, it's been a whirlwind year for me. It seems like just yesterday that I was ringing in the new year, and now I'll be going forward with my new career in just a few weeks! I've been horrible with my blog these past few years, but updating it regularly will be one of my new year's resolutions, so please feel free to visit the site next year to see what I've been up to.

Happy holidays, season's greetings, and best wishes for an incredible 2010!

Warmly,

Mike

the clique

left to right: Blue, Paulina (Blue's wife), McTater, McDrake, Jennifer (Dalbert's wife), Dalbert and Yusaku

mike wu, esq.

I passed! Now to catch up on nearly half a year's worth of postings. I'll try my way to work backwards: Seattle -> San Diego -> Australia -> China -> Korea -> Graduation

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).