30 things Me list

1. I like sports - I’ve been playing soccer since I was 6 years old. I've been watching European Football(soccer) since I was 10. I support Ulsan Hyundai and FC Barcelona. I sometimes consider soccer as a part of me. My life cannot be explained without soccer. As a matter of fact, I still play soccer as a Varsity team captain and I even organized a national-level soccer tournament. I also skied since I was 5 years old. I used to go to professional ski camps every vacation and won several city championships for a few years. I played club basketball when I was in middle school. It's still my 2nd favorite sports. I now play flag football in school. I ran 80m as a school representative in elementary school. I swam, I hiked, I boxed, I skated... Because I have great athletic ability, I can play almost every sport decently only by having a slight look at the sports.

2. I lived abroad; in the US - Experiencing a lonely life since young now remains one of the most memorable periods in my life. I often had no one on my side, like after having a fight with my host family member, and this rather let me able to stand firmly on my own, building a robust mentality. The only thing I regret is not contacting them so soon after finishing a life in the US that I don’t really have a strong connection with them.

3. I have 31 family members in my mother-side pedigree - My mom is the 7th child of 8 children of my grandma. 4 families out of 8 live in the same apartment village, allowing me to be raised in a me-charming environment. Every 명절 excites me since I get to see so many cousins and play with them. We now even have a bigger family since my oldest cousin sister is now married.

4. I am from Ulsan, Korea - Ulsan is one of the seven metropolitan cities in Korea. It is known for being a port city, one of the centers of Southeast Pacific trade. It is also the key of Korean ship production and is the city of Whales as it is probably the only place in Korea where you can see whales. I lived in Ulsan for my whole life except when I studied abroad in US(and KMLA). 

5. My favorite season is Spring - Because my birthday was in Fall, Fall used to be my favorite season of the year. But now I like Spring the best since I like the scent of spring and I like the warmness it gives right after Winter. I also like the warm but not burning sunlight it gives. I like the flowers blooming and the view they show. I like the excitement that the new start of a semester gives. 

6. I like people - I like people I know, I like people I don’t know. I like the fresh feelings the people I don’t know give to me, I like the love that people I know give to me. I like their front view, I like their profile view. Not the appearance, but the character, since people sometimes have a persona, such as myself, who I believe is genuinely kind but also unkind in some ways like when playing soccer.

7. My motto is to not lose myself - 25th waver 한승수 used to always tell me, "Do not lose yourself." At first, the phrase didn't really make sense to me. Why would I lose myself? Now it all makes sense. Kgosam life really stresses me out, often giving me a feeling that I really am different from myself in the past. Since then, to fully control myself, I set my motto as do not lose myself.

8. The weirdest foods I have eaten are baked pigeon and crocodile ribs - Pigeon, especially, startled me with its horrendous appearance. Looking like a skinny chicken but with different skin, gave me a weird feeling. I took a bite and the texture was pretty different from chicken skin. It was more slimy and tough. It was not as bad as I expected it to be, but I won't eat it again. Crocodile ribs were actually good since you can't really taste the meat and only taste the sauce. 

9. I have a younger sister - She is 2 years below me. She has a totally different personality from me. Apparently, she went to the same school as me her whole life; Elementary, middle, and high - even in the US. We used to fight a lot, but now we don't as we used to. Though fights in younghood brought us closer to each other - in fact, we are very close. 

10. I studied abroad in the US for a year and a half. - I lived in St. Louis, Missouri with a host family: Buttefields. This is one of the most memorable periods of my life. I was in 4th~5th grade when I went to the US. The memory is so vivid that I still remember the scent, the music, the atmosphere, and almost everything in the US. I really miss those good old days~.

11. Our family traveled around the world after my US life - We went to about 20 countries around 5 continents - North and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. We traveled for about 3 months. From luxury voyages in Europe to local, lowermost voyages in South America and Africa, I experienced both sides of the world, being able to enlarge my spectrum all the way from top to bottom.

12. My favorite number is 10 - 10 refers to a lot of things. 10 is the number for the best player in a soccer team. We also often use scales of 10 when we estimate or assess the value of something. 10 signifies perfection, as we now use the decimal system as our dominant number system.

13. My favorite youtube channel is 차쥐뿔 and Psik University - Both are very comical and give me transient happiness and relief. 차쥐뿔 is where Korean celebrity 이영지 invites other celebrities to her room and have a small talk show. Psick University is a comedy channel made by comedians and they have so many concepts to entertain people - from 한사랑산악회(hiking club) to Psick Show(Korean ver. of Jimmy Fallen/Conan Obrien show).

14. I used to speak almost 3 languages - I learned Spanish in the US and I was quite good at it. In fact, I was the best Spanish student in the class. When our family was in South America, where most people do not speak English at all, I was the translator for the family. With a Spanish book always in one hand, I did my best to talk to the local people whenever we had to. I appointed taxis for the next day, I made a bargain at the local market, I asked for tickets in the ticket booth, and I ordered food at the restaurants. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to improve my Spanish skills since I failed to apply for Spanish class when joining KMLA... I now am on my way to become a French speaker though! After mastering French, I'll give Spanish a second chance to become my language.

15. I like looking at the stocks - It is actually fun to look at all the charts going up and down. I actually bought about 4 stocks of Apple, which gave me about 20% profit. I used to have -30% of the profit when I bought Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Walt Disney. Thanks to people who said Disney is the most stable stock in the world^^ cuz it dropped like 50% not so long after I bought it. Thank goodness I managed to cover the loss. 

16. I cannot watch horror movies - I don't like horror movies. They give me anxiety, often Traumas, and I feel like I'm going to get a heart attack when I watch them. The last horror movie I've seen is Peninsula, a zombie movie, which is the follow-up version of <Train in Busan>. I should say <Get Out> is the most recent one since I watched the summary+interpretation video about it.

17. My favorite subject is English literature and Economics - I used to not like literature since it felt boring and useless. Once I decided to study harder, I just fell into it. Genius writings the poets have... Economics? I don't really have a reason. I just feel a strong bond with it.

18. My favorite brand motto is "Just do it" and "Taste the feeling." -  Just do it could fit into pretty much every situation in our life. We struggle to make a move, we often hesitate between two choices, and we stand aside from something that we feel like is not our job. Just do it gives solutions to all! Taste the feeling is what I call an aesthetic phrase. This one can advertise the brand better as it is directly related to the product. I like how it gives the feeling that we enjoy the atmosphere together with Coca-cola.

19. The best performance I saw on live TV was Superbowl 50's halftime show by Bruno Mars - He just rocks there. Dripping the coolness of his, his performance was literally legit. Not only Bruno Mars was insane at the show, but Beyonce and Coldplay were also excellent. I do like the one next year too, by Lady Gaga, which I saw it on live TV, but the 2016 one was way better. 

20. I used to play Clarinet and Piano - I played piano since I was 7 years old until I was in 6th grade. I started playing it again by myself since like 2 years ago because I regret forgetting almost everything I learned during the 7 years of my piano life. I also played clarinet from 3rd grade to 8th grade. I stopped playing it during covid season, being unable to participate in the school band, and I hadn't played it since then, so I literally forgot everything except for the basics. I kind of regret this too...

21. I really like board games - I have nice agility, which enables me to do well whenever I play board games. I think I mostly won the games that I played with my friends. Games that I usually played are UNO, 할리갈리, 부루마블, and Rummikub. 

22. I've been single for my whole life - 모태솔로, they call it. Unfortunately(perhaps fortunately), I have never dated someone out for my whole life! I've had chances though, but guess I kicked them out. I'm not looking for one yet, but I hope to have somebody with me someday. 

23. My expected height is 185cm for some reason - When I went to the hospital and took an X-ray photo when I was in 6th grade, the doctor told me that I would grow to 185cm; at least 180cm and at most 190cm. The problem is, I'm not even close to there yet;; I'm just a little short to be 170cm right now.  I had never worried about my height until last year and now I feel unsafe; what if I don't grow as much!

24. I've never broken my bone - Even though I played various sports and most of them carry a high risk of bone fractures, I've never had a fracture. I did suffer from a few ligament injuries - most of them being my ankles - but I never broke my bone: not even microfracture. 

25. The biggest astray thing I did was go over the fence - I actually have a big linkage with the act of going over the fences. The biggest misdeed(?) I did was to go over the fence after school just to have a quicker path to PC방. I also got in trouble at the vision trip for jumping over the window to get to my friend's room. I think I can't stand the situation where I feel trapped. 

26. I'm really bad at revealing the innermost cave of mine- Although I am talkative, I become laconic when it comes to my story. I thought I was just not telling people about how I feel or what I do. I recently(in the second semester last year) found out that I cannot. I tried my best to tell people - probably Sanghyo or Chelsea - my story or my lifelong doctrine, but I failed to do so... I do have this ominous, obnoxious feeling that this could one day backfire on me if I always keep the story - bad ones, especially - to myself.

27. I prefer being in harsh conditions - Especially in sports, I believe that the training must require immense concentration and hard works that bring you to your limits. Or else, you won't improve. I found out I also prefer the same air when studying. The intensity and the tension it gives may stress me out sometimes, but nonetheless, it is true that's not going to be mere stress. Just to justify my doings... this is one of the reasons why I procrastinate so often(efficiency is reason 1!)

28. I am a passionate kid - Why not students? Because I'm not always eager to study. I do love learning, but I have to feel a necessity or interest in the thing. I'm attracted to soccer so I do it so passionately, I feel a necessity to study these days since I have college admissions upcoming. Just like this, I don't do something for no reason. I always need a rationale behind it.

29. I love myself crazy - I'm very confident about myself. I can guarantee that no other person has more self-love than I do. I do blame myself in some situations, but it is only transient. Basically, self-love is the background, so I never get depressed so long because of something I deed wrong.

30. I read the air very quickly - I act as if I'm quite insensitive and dull, but it is actually the opposite. I read the air quite quickly, especially people's feelings. I use this ability in sly ways - when I play on people. I make fun of people or do mischief on them and stop just before they get mad. And even if they get mad, I can untangle their mood since I already noticed them being mad.