RANDOM GIBBERISH: Back at work again, brain goes dead and thus the path to wisdom seems an uphill climb.
I need to take some more pictures… but of what?
TRAVEL TIP (courtesy of Chris & Sassy): Look into Hostels, world reknown, respectable and uber cheap!
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will
(…the journey continues…)
TRAVELING MADE DIFFICULT: I’m leaving for Beijing (as in China, for those who are geographically impaired) in under a month for Lunar break… I’m checking out some hotels and everyone keeps telling me about the Holiday Inn – Lido which is a great hotel and right in the middle of everywhere I want to be but its 80 bucks a night for 5 nights *ouch*. Maybe I should be going to Thailand or Bali. Anyhoo, gotta talk to some of the staff who’ve already gone so I can anticipate what to expect, I’ve heard the taxi drivers mob you as soon as you step out of the airport and try to rip you off by overcharging…
TRAVEL TIP (courtesy of Ryan Pierce): Only ride in the taxis that have a meter.
Ahh knowing IS half the battle. Anyone else have some sound advice and you might get posted like the lucky Mr. Pierce… and please no “don’t eat yellow snow”, that’s obviously a gimme.
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will
(… took a break from Return of the King…)
my day off *ahhhh*.
BORED? INTERESTING TV SERIES THAT YOU SHOULD WATCH:
1. “24″ – You simply cannot jump into this show, you need to find someone who has the first season on DVD and start there because all the other seasons build from there… the gist is, the 24 episode season goes through 1 hour of the day in the life of Jack Bauer, head of Los Angeles Counter Terrorism Unit, his family and co-workers as they try to stop an assasination attempt of a presidential candidate. Its got more plots than a cemetary… very addicting.
2. “The West Wing” - I’m not a big fan of the political arena but good Canadian Drew got me hooked on this show about the US government (yeah). This show is incredible, its about the people who work under the President and they encounter life working in government. It tackles all the hot-button issues and gives both sides a fair shake. Martin Sheen is the man as president! Just watching halfway through the first season you want to jump up and get involved in the local political process. Too bad I happen to live on the other side of the planet.
3. “Alias” - I got Drew hooked on Alias 
(He borrowed my 1st, 2nd, 3rd seasons and watched them in 1 week) as payback for getting me hooked on West Wing. Sydney Bristow is a secret agent for SD-6 which is a super secret division of the CIA until she finds out that SD-6 is not part of the CIA but is the enemy of the United States and thus she becomes a double agent for the real CIA to take down the sinister crime organization. If you like girl spy kicks-butt, then this is for you.
When I have down time I watch these to relax… great stuff. I’ll be going to China next month if anyone has other series that’s along those same lines I’ll swing by some store and pick up a season or two.
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will
(…and still watching the movie)
WELCOME OUR SPECIAL GUEST TO KOREA: The new student teachers have arrived and one of them being, Mel Secrest from good ol’ TFC… she’s still the outgoing girl I remember her to be from my college days of yore.
TSUNAMI TALES: This morning during a TCIS staff inservice several staff told of what happened to them while they were in Thailand, very serious stuff. I’ll paraphrase how one guy put this into perspective that made me think: “After the disaster, our security was shattered. There was no ‘salvaging the rest of the vacation’ because whenever we heard someone shout our instinct was to run, even though it was a shout of someone trying to having fun”.
IN CONCLUSION: I’m not having to deal with that but its always good to learn about and seek to understand something and see life from a different perspective through various circumstances. Currently, I’m still having to learn about how to properly grieve with John’s death. A good friend of mine said that grief is like gas: harder to quantify, see and manipulate to fit where you want it to go. Time to close but I see outside that its starting to snow!!! (gee, I hope Mel didn’t take me seriously when I told her that Korea has a tropical climate 
…just kidding). Keep seeking.
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will
(…and still watching the movie…)
WHAT I LEARNED OVER CHRISTMAS BUT REALIZED TODAY: Throughout most of my life, I can recall asking God, why didn’t He make me like so-and-so. Have you ever felt ashamed that you couldn’t do something like someone else could? I had this knack for seeing others’ strengths as my weakness upon which I needed to improve. For example I am a horrible speaker, I mean just ask anyone who has ever met me how many times I can stick my foot in my mouth in one sentence, you will be absolutely astounded!!! And yet I would hear my best friend preach and silently wonder why I couldn’t make such things understandable as he? So instead of seeing others’ strengths as my weakness, gotta focus on my strengths. If you don’t know what yours are, start complimenting others on their strengths and pretty soon they will point out yours. Ya dig?
DECISION MADE WHILE ON A BUS RIDING TO SONGTAN: That I will be happy/content to be “Will Gray” and seek the Lord to be the best me that I can (Lord help us all!).
GOD’S GRACE MANIFESTED: Had my first pilgrimage out to Songtan to open up ’05 and it was nice. While eating lunch at Popeye’s, I read Genesis 7 where God sends the flood, and I had to stop and sincerely thank God because I almost went to Thailand with the rest of the staff for Christmas break. You see, I decided to attend this evangelism conference in North Carolina which brought me to the States and if it hadn’t been for that, I might’ve been somewhere in the Pacific Ocean thanks to that tsunami… on top of that, I realize how my mother would’ve taken that, losing her dad and not knowing if I was okay. That would’ve been too way too much for her to handle. My prayers go out to the families who did lose someone, God please help them. Keep seeking!
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will
I finally broke down and went Premium and wasted so much time trying to do some funky stuff with by working on some xanga skins but to no avail… still learning so keep checkin’ back every now and then… in the meantime I present the new profile pic of Mr. Burns for your viewing enjoyment (dedicated to Rachel Freeze and her friend from high school, Brian); excellent.
Now its up to me to fight the call of jet lag to go to bed since 4:30pm. Must.. stay.. alert… not… give in… sleep… so strong.
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will
I can’t stand to fly. I leave for the airport in 2 something hours for a 9am flight back to Korea. I hate flying.
I don’t want to sleep, and since nothing wholesome is on TV at these hours, I am fiddling with my snazzy new compact flash card reader I picked up at Wolf Camera. Here are some pics from TFC (soup for you!):
Stained Glass in Williams’ Chapel
Stained Glass & The Falls
Closeup of the Falls
Extreme Closeup!!!
Falls Stream
Off to Korea I go! Keep seeking.
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will
