As of Sept. 13th, 2008: Purchased a plastic soprano recorder (Yamaha 302B) because of my childhood nostalgia.
Some notes are forgotten or the recorder is not capable of making such tones.
Not sure...I'm quite lost these days and as a consequence, I cannot focus well.
I thought playing recorder may help to regain my clear thinking.

As of Jul. 21st, 2008: Read some books about investments. Still cannot understand the picture of the investment world
where I can find an empty space for myself. Simply open an account and buy an index fund within IRA limit?
I don't want to drop my brush! I need an strategy to for my own brush stroke of investment.
I need to be smart, brave, and open to survive in this world.

As of Jun. 19th, 2008: Return from proposal reviews in astronomy as a facilitator (who does chores).
Meeting an awesome chair and observing the very complicated procedure is an exciting piece of memory
but the statistics for the decision making process was poorly designed.
I feel sorry for some dropped proposals with relatively low average grade due to an outlier.
A few got lucky thanks to a high valued outlier.
My lesson is that astronomy needs more statistics in various ways.

As of Jun. 13th, 2008: I love Chicago because of one piece of painting by El Greco.
Since I met his painting in Chicago, I always look for El Greco whenever I go art museums.
Such eager even drived me to visit Spain!
There is a special exhibition at the Boston fine art museum about spanish arts around his time and I haven't been there yet! Alas~

As of May. 7th, 2008: I've watching some DVDs of ballet dancing (went a few times Wang's theater).
Many of them are choreographed based on stories from fairy tales and novels. All of them
are just fabulous to watch. Russians are beautiful as themselves. Americans are wonderful and powerful.
Until yesterday, I haven't seen french ones but I was in question why American ballerias do not
have pretty foot poses, especially en pointe. Since American ballet follows the trandition of Russian,
I had a same question to Russian ballet. Russian ballerinas absolutely beautiful and dance gorgeously
except their en pointe, which seems to me it's a bit short of elegance that they generally maintain
other dances and poses. The french ballet that I was La Sylphide, very classical ballet.
Although the techniques might not be difficult as modern ballet, their poses, particularly en pointe looked right to me.
(I'm not a ballet expert and terminologies may not be suitable. Please, correct me if you happen to visit my website and read this.)

As of Apr. 15th, 2008: By accident, I got an audiobook, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiyosaki.
I never read a book about how to make money before this book. Although the book does
not provide the strategies of making money, it tells enough about what is making money.
I don't think I'll get out of the chicken little status soon enough but I hope that
I can be finantially educated sooner or later. Someone recommend The little book that beats the market.

As of Feb. 20th, 2008: I'm very grateful that I work here in many aspects.
Even better, no worries for the flu season. Always around the corner of season change,
for teachers and students, it's hard to escape from being sick.
Yet, I do miss the time. Going school by 7am to review my lectures for 8am class.
Many are sleepy but looking at some bright eyes boosted my day.
I may not be a gifted teacher (you have to be borne with it) but enjoyed
the communication with students. Life is a coin.

As of Jan. 25th, 2008: Still busy without knowing why
Many ideas are piling but not capable to make them into final products simultaneously.
Envy people who write many papers!

Anyway, worries over tax and my welfare, thesedays!.
When I depended on my parents a decade ago, I used to get $100 shoes,
$100 t-shirts, $150 skirts, a couple of hundred dollar worth jackets, etc.
Now I'm relying on $20 shoes, $20 jeans, $50 jacket, etc. Complete deflation!
My younger brother has a house of his own in Seoul, but I live in an old
apartment with so many old and broken stuffs.
I am afraid of getting sick, my car's breakdown, and any thing sudden which
requires huge financial responsibility, obviously I cannot afford.
Maybe I'm not working hard enough to get rid of these worries!

As of Dec. 26th, 2007: I have been busy and worked hard but what have I accomplished?
Well, after reading all (I believe) novels by Tracy Chevalier, the author of Girl
with a Pearl Earring, I got a few books by Alison Weir and Philipa Gregory
who depicted the turmoils of the Tudor dynasty in the 16th century.

As of Feb. 23rd, 2007: First proper donation, $30. I think a few times
I gave money to poor people on the street but never donated to an organization
I received an email my concert dress was sold and the check is ready to
be sent. Since I had good time of singing in State College Choral Society,
I felt debted and I ask that $30 can be used for some other purposes, such
as buying flowers for Russ or guest performers. My wish was granted and I
felt good. Donation seems not a bad idea when one truly indebted to the group.

As of Feb. 20th, 2007: Getting close to 2 months at CfA. I want to mention
one annoying part against my high anticipation toward using Harvard
libraries. They may be well known for their great collections but they
do bag search. Everyone has to show what's inside in their bags. You have
to open every pocket of your bag although there are electronic devices
preventing thefts. One surprising discovery is they tear pages from books.
People still books everywhere even in Harvard.

As of Dec. 19th, 2006: All works for math/stat 415 are done. Numerous thanks
and a few complaints - I know regardless of hard work, there are always people
who cannot succeed: primarily they did not synchronize with their teacher's style
or missed too many classes which leads missing useful infos. I put a hell lot of
efforts this time. I didn't mean spending much time for the lecture, itself. Contents
are rudimentary. Yet, not easy to be grasped by a first timer. I spend most of my
time to pay attention to these first timers. So diverse my students were... Some were shy
so that they never spoke to me. Some were too proud and never spoke to me
As long as they were satisfied with their works, I felt fine. But for those,
working hard but couldn't understand contents well, I spent lots of time to help them.
Some might have disappointed at the final grades but I followed my rules initiated
at the beginning of the semester. Some tried to scare me but I don't want to be partial
or to change the rule. Anyhow, it was a quite different experience to me compared to
stat401, which course I taught 3 times, a few years ago. Maybe it was due to
the homogeneity of students (stat401- senior engineers, math/stat415- math, stat,
actuarial, education, computer science, anthropology, and some graduate stduents).
Overall, I'm glad it's over. Really look forward to working at CfA and Harvard.

As of Nov. 8th, 2006: Whenever I read/listen Othello (Shakespeare),
I become so sick of him and so angry with him. He is so pathetic.
I'm afraid such an awful and absurd thing might happen to me as it happened to Desdemona.

As of Oct. 18th, 2006, among books I recently started, "The mysterious flame of
Queen Loana" (by Umberto Eco) is strikingly giving me the very same
sensational feeling which I got from novels by Milan Kundera.

Commentary appeared in NYTimes, Oct. 3, 2006
Numbers are male, said Pythagoras, and the idea persists

I've been in love with Jane Austin's novels for a while.

As of Sept. 27th, 2006, my book reading project began and I resume my hobby,
wondering around libraries.

As of Sept. 26th, 2006; after two conferences in Seattle, my commencement,
my parents' visit, two on-site interviews, 3 weeks of teaching, a lengthy
exam for another interview, eventually ceased due to lack of physical
endurance as well as courage - I realize that I didn't have any courage to say
that I quit teaching and move on to a better paying job - and finally declining
the position at JPMorganChase (Fortune 500 2006, ranked 17th); now I have a little time
to reflect on those ordeals, all happened during the last one and half months.
I'm not sure whether I was wise to turn down the offer. Furthermore, dropping
out from another interview at the financial company in NYC might be another
stupid decision. The hiring manager sounds super enthusiastic, who seems to
know how to draw the best of people. As knowing myself is extremely sensitive
and good at numbers (bad at names, though), as long as my job involves data
analysis, I know I'll be o.k. That means working at CfA will be a nice opportunity for me.
I dreamed working at CfA as a female astronomer (First half of the 20th century,
although there were not many female scientists, CfA had some and those female
astronomers contributed a great deal on spectroscopy). However, it may not be
a wise choice of pursuing ideals. Most of times, being realistic rewards better.
I just wish the best can come out of the decisions I will make in the future.
I wish I could be more courageous as well to pursue the best in me, not for others.

As of May 19th, 2006, I am writing my dissertation and going to finish it soon.
I can feel that I know a lot more than last year and before. I have better
understandings in statistics and related fields. Everything has become so
interesting after knowing why the ideas work and why the methods are adopted.
Moreover, I appreciate works of other people more because I know how hard
to make them happen. Ideas are come along easily as one experience more,
but making them come true needs lots of commitment.

As of May 1st, 2006, Triangle area (North Carolina) looks very different
from when I first arrived here (Jan. 17th, 2006). Trees are full green and
and the sky is very blue. I'll miss this place.

As of Apr. 21, 2005, among many interesting books,
An introduction of Modern Cosmology, written by Andrew Liddle
drags most of my attention. Instead of Peeble's book, if this
was my text in cosmology class 10 years ago, I might be
a cosmologist by now. Anyhow, it's a quite well written cosmology book for a beginner.

Thesedays I'm fond of Mozart's Music, especially his operas.
Listen "Queen of the Night" from The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflo"te) sung by Sumi Jo.
You'll know why I'm so fascinated.
Someday I'll complete his piano Sonaten. Someday...

My all time favorite composer is J.S.Bach. Among his many works,
I love BWV1043 the most. Bach was not emotional but very pious; however,
Largo in BWV1043 made me cry some years ago. This was the only music which I
cried on in my life. I always wonder what Bach felt when he composed it.
And there are more toxic music pieces. Here are some.
Some Bach played by Glen Gould can be heard (Korean)