Twin Cities Terrorist, Catostrophic Golden Gopher Massacre, Ooot N ABooot

So I went to the Twin Cities this past weekend to watch the Hawkeye-Gopher football game. The last Gopher game in the Metrodome.

What I witnessed, was tragic. Sad. Embarassing...and I loved every second of the 55-0 drumming the Hawkeyes put on the Gophers. HERE's to YOUm, y many Minnesotan friends who constantly give me the razz-matazz for being from Iowa and thus apparently not as cool or as "good" of a human as they are. Congratualtions on your 4 game losing streak to close out your season Gophers... College football. Who cares about it. Me.

Meanwhile. The Hawks are looking forward to a warm weather bowl game... Do I enjoy savoring this horrifically beautiful loss for the Gophers? Do I enjoy recalling the streams of maroon and gold clad Gopher fans heading forlornly to the aisles and exits midway through the 3rd quarter? Yes. Yes I do.

Not enjoyable:
Entering the Metrodome last night, I was standing in line with what felt like a million other fans, the majority being Hawkeye Faithfuls, and the 5 other guys I went to the game with. "For some reason unknown to me," the 5 of them managed to walk right through the security and ticket takers no fuss. I on the other hand was forced to empty all of my coat and jean pockets, the entire contents of my wallet, and got patted down head to toe. Apparently I fit the profile of a suspicious/dangerous individual. I kid you not, that really happened. Racial Profiling? It's really hard to say for certain. At any rate, it was uncomfortable and made me LATE to the opening kickoff. AND THAT made me MAD.

Summation of Weekend:
--Awesome time in downtown Minny with 1000s of Happy Hawkeye fans amidst a sea of embarrased Gopher followers, altogether drinking away the awful/glorious memories of the game earlier in the night.
www.the508mpls.com
www.solera-restaurant.com
--A temporary fulfillment and subsiding in the hunger pangs for Korean food the past 2 months
http://mirrorofkorea.com/
--A Menu squared away for Thanksgiving--HOORAY!
--A peek into TC Real-Estate...eesh.
http://www.skyscapecondos.com/

Dreaming Dangerously?

I question whether I dream too much. [if the frequency with which I dream is bad] And I find myself in somewhat of a conundrum, division of reason from rational. I often wonder if I am a Greedy Dreamer. Or if I'm just greedy in general. Thoughts in this blog, stemming from a multitude of points:
-from the Economics of the Present day
-The possible Economics of the Future
-the truths of Capitalism in the Free World (and perhaps more importantly the secrets as well)
-reflections on living in a Third World Country...

A dream that's really strangling me lately:

Someday I would love to have 2...3...restaurants. Jeeze. haha--laughing at myself..."enough said, The rest of this post is null and pointless...I'm greedy." Or 1 would be fine. I'd love it for the challenges of owning and maintaining my businesses, for the pleasure of making food for people...I'd love it for "all the right reasons" [passion for cuisine, service to others, sharing of self, and the educational opportunities I could provide people while dining in my restaurants]. Educational opportunities like buying and eating locally, sustainably....eating healthy and balanced meals... I would love it for the insatiably daunting hours and unspeakable labor required. TRULY. I WOULD. I DO ALReady. I think I could cook for 48 hours and not even blink. I bet I could cook for 3 days and not even blink... i mean...I don't sleep as it already is, so sleep deprivation wouldn't be an issue. And dammit I want to be SUCCESSFUL. As in "WOAH. Wow. Nationally renowned."

Why stop there Jackson. Who am I kidding, I would love it for the cushy amenities that come with the territory....the wine vineyard estate land that I have partial ownership of in Napa, not to mention the envious real estate in Tuscany that I afford and the house that I bought and restored on it... The trips that I take for both business and pleasure...the privileged destinations and eateries I add to my tally-list.....[this is where most of my dreams typically turn]

BUT: I see danger in pursuing such a dream. The danger of losing site of the marginalized...the danger in becoming part of the problem rather than a solution....the danger in becoming "yet another beneficiary of fame & fortune" and being so consumed in the career that got me there that I lose track of the REST that is me. *Because dear god, I hope Hope hope HOPE freakin' HOPE, that I am more than "a Chef...a Restaurateur....a business owner." I Hope that " I " am more than a Tuscan Villa. More than VIP status at French Laundry in Yountville, Napa, CA. http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
I hope that the " ME of the future" includes a drive for Activism toward justice, education, music, community, FAMILY, and WORLD. In environmental responsibility. In equal opportunity. In livable wages. In the basic necessities of LIFE.

*Inhale.

And so, I try to convince myself that I'd do something radical years down the road. Something fullfilling. Something that rids me of the guilt for the years of narrow-scoped, self-centered lifestyle it would seem I'd have led. My dream includes retirement to a third world country..maybe Namibia...maybe a different African nation...or South American or Latin American...where I would simply take the "Big Business USA Money that I'd earned/invested/obtained".....and start pumping it into their societies....building roads. and schools. hospitals. things that we take for granted....paying teachers...buying BOOKS and Educational Materials.....SHOES....Pencils....NOTEBOOKS/paper.....

It's a great dream...but a dream that scares the hell out of me. For all the right and wrong reasons. To pursue or Not to Pursue...that is the question.

RANT!

When did it EVER become appropriate and acceptable to begin playing Christmas Commercials BEFORE Halloween!?!?! While I'm sure some retailers and advertisers would prefer to slip past my friction by calling them "Holiday Commercials"-- there's NO freakin' way Bing Crosby's "12 Days of Christmas" is Not a Christmas Ad; IT IS!

www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/media/24adco.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss -

Stuart Elliot highlights the undertones of my deprecation in this article. The over-all acceptance of Early Christmas Advertising, whether it's print, online, or audio media, is telling of the Nation that is "US " [of A]....always out to make MORE money. Not just to "make money"...it's to make "MORE Money". There's a difference.

And conveniently, the marketing branches of retailers around have brain-washed us all into thinking we're saving money by ordering Christmas garb and gifts early. Honestly. I think we have finally come to a point in the evolution of the human brain where we are either Unable to read-between-the-lines and past the enticingly vague, literary advertising catch phrases like "Special" "limited" "SUPER" etc. or we're just too tripped out on caffeine, fast food, and stupid to realize how numb we are.

When I come across ads I think, "why...what makes it special?" "Just HOW limited is this product?" Because my instinct tells me, somewhere in Pennsylvania or Ohio there's a gigantic-ass warehouse with palates stacked 200 feet high and 300 yards long full of X, Y, and Z. But I guess with just over 3 million psycho-brain-washed-consumers in the country even that one warehouse isn't enough to keep us all happy. Good thing there's about 5 more in New York, and a dozen in California.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE CHRISTMAS. But early ads are like getting a vaccination where the nurse hits the bone. *believe me it's sick...I watched a guy turn 4 shades of green and purple simultaneously in 7th grade. Worst stomach ache of my life, and I only witnessed it. [Probably the worst Hepatitis A shot of his life too] Black Friday makes me feel the same way. I mean we are a country that practically has a National-Go-Spend-Money-Like-There's-No-Tomorrow-And-Feel-Free-To-Swear-Cuss-Trample-Speed-Steal-And-Endanger-Anything-In-Your-Way-Day. Haha...if there were ever a National Holiday with that many hyphens I would sure as hell take part.

Conclusion: I don't want to hear about "White Christmases" without snow falling...or wreaths with big red bows on front doors and icicle lights hanging from the eaves. And I DON'T want to hear Mariah Carey telling me all she wants for Christmas is me, when I'm still 3 weeks away from enjoying my annual-food-coma (turkey and stuffing induced...okay and pumpkin pie).

Waiting for Baby(ies

I have no concrete ground/first-hand-experience to base the following presumptions on:

Waiting to have a baby must suck!? It has got to be like waiting to get out of the hospital (I suppose in theory it may literally be just that)...bad analogy.

It has got be like the internal turmoil of a 9 year old adolescent during the month of December....at that age, with that much Christmas music constantly bombarding your senses day in and day out (*there is a post soon coming about Christmas music/commercials), the Advent calendar has been ransacked of chocolates beneath the numbers 14-24 by the 12th of the month, and all presents have been shaken, lifted, and anaylzed at least 5 times a day.

Side note: unless your childhood was like mine, where presents weren't put under the tree until like 2 days before Christmas---what a jip!!

Back to babies. I'm not going to elaborate on what it is/takes to undergo 9 months of a person growing inside of you, let alone the process of getting that person out of you.... but I have a friend who's having a baby--Soonish. Very soonish. Days. Hours. And I constantly catch myself, double checking for text/picture messages on my cell phone---and my battery has never been below 2 bars for the past 2 weeks.

*Baby talk makes people weird...and I have noooooo desire to have any of my own at this time---but dammit I bet this baby is going to be beautiful. I want pictures. Now. And I'm tired of waiting. Today, I am THAT 9 Year Old.

Dear-ish Part 2.

HAHAHA... (in my groggy state from the previous post I failed---maybe intentionally--to include details)

...and as we departed our separate ways, she to my boss' car and I to my father's rickety-multiple-accident-survivor-of-a-Ford-pick-up-truck on a side street, she threw out a "It was nice to meet you, Jackson." *Dude. How rude of me?!

I coyly, peeked my face back around the corner of the building and returned sentiment with a smile and "Pleasure was mine.." *You're a moron Jackson.

[walking toward me]
"I feel like I should kiss you, since you've never kissed an Asian..."
[to my boss]
"Yeah, he's never kissed an Asian.."

And what on earth could I do and say in the moment, but submarine myself with that ridiculous scrambling-smile and an, "I don't know...I think you'll have to work a little harder than that to earn my first Asian kiss..." *As previously mentioned, You're a moron Jackson.

It was at that moment that I came out of the coherent-communication-clouding dream world I had been floating through the past 2 hours.... and stage whispered aloud, "You're an idiot Jackson!?" Yes it's true. I effin' talk to myself in tense moments...Thank god she wasn't in earshot.

So I desperately tagged on, "But I'll be in the Cities the 22nd and 23rd..." And in truth I would/will be...

And as she and my boss opened the doors to their ride of departure, she began to play hard to get, retreating with a forced, "Ohh?! No, you had your chance mister.. " :o)


*OKAY. so the combination of these two posts likely don't depict the entire story.

Like the fact that I picked up her tab, or that earlier in the night my boss had brought up the subject of Asian babies, and that she wants one, and that Miss-3L-Hamline and myself should work on that....[though we unanimously agreed that Asian babies are by far the most-adorable/cutest/most-attractive babies of all ethnicities] Or that my boss had also said, "So see, she can be the main provider while you are at culinary school, and her law career is taking off, and then you two can...[insert conversation about Asian babies and the two of us having them]..."

I don't necessarily believe in kissing on first dates, nor am I opposed to it, [and in this instance] nor do I necessarily believe in kissing on first introductions....nor am I opposed to it.

Let's face the facts: *You're a moron Jackson. A funny one. A nice one. A likeable moron. And you need some practice at getting phone numbers...but you're not a complete loss. Just a little whimsy. And you do have nice hair, and great hygiene and smell-superb even when you work out.

C'est la vie, Miss-3L-Hamline...c'est la vie...

...oh dear...

Okay... it's 2 something A.M. and I'm getting up to work in about....5 hours....

But I am a ridiculous mess of Sleepless in Decorah. Work tonight was utterly dreamy....

Who met/totally connected with another A-K (who grew up in a similar small town of Upper Midwest SE-MN) that is a 3rd year Law Student @ Hamline, who knows his boss(es), while he's bartending tonight>>>? This guy. Who was crazy-obviously-smiling-too-wide-too-often over himself and checking his hair and giving extra attention >>>? This guy. Who made the best cocktails he's ever made tonight>>> This GUY.

Wow. So lame. I'm laughing at myself....really. But it's nice.

Renewal of a World. Of a Country. Of a People. Of a Life.

At 10:00 PM C.S.T. on November 4th, 2008, The United States of America elected Senator Barack Obama as its new President Elect for the 2009-20012 Term.

Up to this point in my life, I have had a handful of exemplary people--role models, teachers, instructors, leaders (not necessarily adults either)--whose actions and words have given me vision and guidance toward resolutions to various difficulties and struggles I have engaged. I have silently harbored, endured and long wrestled with enormous questions, mystery, and a complex desire within myself--mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically--to identify; and to belong. To a place. To a community. To a label (because this is the current world which I live in....a world that is sold, comprised-of, persuaded-by, and educated from labels and categorizations). *Point in case: this blog has a function called "Labels for this post" ... Dramatically Ironic.

Tonight...amidst perhaps one of the most important speeches I've ever heard, I have found some relief to my internal turmoil through President Elect Barack Obama's words, in his campaign mantra, in his character... Relief in the witnessing of the way in which he stood with his wife and how he lifted and kissed his daughter... Relief in how he embraced his closest family and friends...and most importantly in the tone of his voice, the expression on his face, and how he addressed and spoke to my own heart (not to mention every listening ear in the world via tv's, computer broadcasts, and radios).

For a long long time....more than I care to disclose in detail, I have not wanted to be here. To be associated. To be labled under the titles and headings which I often have little choice in toting behind my name, my character, my identity. For a long time I have struggled with the label as an "American." It has haunted, confused, angered, saddened and befuddled me in contrast to the other label I bear as a "Korean" or more specifically a "Korean Adoptee."

But tonight I believe. I believe and feel like I have purpose, and value, and impact here...in Iowa...the Midwest...America....as an Iowan. As a Midwesterner. And as an American. A Korean American. An American Korean. A Korean Adopted American. Tonight I've regained what I've always hoped and sometimes thought I have understood about myself. Tonight I have found renewal in my capability to believe in a possibility, to believe in an ideology, in theology, in human-self-determination and independence, in the impact one voice can make, in the ability of the human spirit to unify...in the potential for the dreams which I write nightly in my private journal to come true....

Tonight I feel empowered, inspired, and encouraged in my Belief in Change and my Hope for the people of the world, of my countries, of my American Government, and of my own ambitions, dreams, and life goals...and I am soo ready to be part of the reason those things find success.