Check Engine Light..

I got my first CEL code on my GS430 this morning.  I hate that yellow engine light that comes on your dash.. it's bright and annoying.  I remembered that Auto Zone offered free CEL diagnostics - so i went there today only to find out they stopped doing that 2 years ago due to legal issues.

So i called AMMCO to see how much they would charge.. and the guy says $40.  I told him to shove it up his butthole since the scanner costs $50.   I ended up buying it.. and have carefully unwrapped it so i could return it at a later date.

I remembered on my Prelude that around the same mileage a CEL came on for the O2 sensors.. lone behold, CEL P0135 came on for the GS430 - which is for bad O2 sensor.  I gotta take my car in to get this fixed.. i figure it'll run around $200 for parts and labor.  What a bitch!

Pics or it didn't happen

This is classic.. if you visit online forums you will be able to relate.

Fall Blues

Southern California just recently had a sudden change in weather.  It's gloomy, cloudy, rainy... just a totally depressing weather.  It was like 90 degrees not too long ago.  Makes you feel kinda lonely for no reason too.. where is the sun?!? 

Song of the Day: BES - Nothing Better

Brown Eyed Soul - Nothing Better.

This song has been around for a while and it's gotten very popular after singers like Nikkun from 2PM sang it on Korean variety shows.  Yet, the original is so good..



Lyrics:

내게 언젠가 왔던 너의 얼굴을 기억해
멈춰있던 내맘을, 밉게도 고장난 내 가슴을
너의 환한 미소가 쉽게도 연거야

그래 그렇게 내가 너의 사람이 된거야
못났던 내추억들이 이젠 기억조차 않나
나를 꼭잡은 손이 봄처럼 따뜻해서

이제 꿈처럼 내맘은
그대 곁에 가만히 멈춰서요
한순간도 깨지 않는 끝없는 꿈을 꿔요

이제 숨처럼 내곁에
항상 쉬며 그렇게 있어주면
nothing better nothing better than you
nothing better nothing better than you


이제 꿈처럼 내맘은
그대 품에 가만히 안겨있죠
한순간도 깨지 않는 끝없는 꿈을 꾸죠

이제 숨처럼 내곁에
항상 쉬며 그렇게 있어주면
nothing better nothing better than you
nothing better nothing better than you

nothing better nothing better than you

Do You Ever Forget..

 .. Your first love?  I guess that may depend on the level of depth sought to the question.  You probably won't forget, without amnesia.  Somewhere deep in your head, you will always know.. "ahh.. my first love was xxx". 

Then how about, "Do you still think about your first love?"  Is it different for men and women?  And does time make a difference?  I would love to find a study on this subject, because i just don't know the answers.  There's all these little variables that could make it impossible to answer these questions because one could argue the variations of love each person experienced. 

Someone who says, "I never think of my first love", could simply be mistaking his first bf/gf as love - and never  had the pleasure of experiencing true love.  It could be different for everybody.   For me, i still think about her.  Sometimes i cherish the memories, other times it's painful.  I often question myself if it would be better if i could completely forget - but the answer is always no.  I would rather torture myself with the memories rather than not relive the moments in my head.

To be fair, though, it could be my loneliness talking.. if i was in a relationship right now, i highly doubt i would be thinking about my first love.  What matters is what's in front of you, not what has passed.

Movie Review: Reign of Assassin (Chinese)

Did you like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"?  Then you probably will enjoy "Reign of Assassin".  The plot is based on the human remains of a Kung Fu master.  It is said that whoever owns the remains will gain overwhelming power.  One of the assassins that steal the remains double crosses her master and takes it for herself.  Then the cat and mouse hunt begins.

There are some really awesome action scenes in this movie.  And it was a sigh of relief considering the crappy movies Jet Li and Jackie Chan have been putting out there.  Michelle Yeoh does her usual thing, and her acting was good.  The male protagonist was a Korean actor (Jung Woo Sung).  I'm not sure if it was his real voice or a dub, but his Chinese didn't sound that bad.  Even his fighting scenes didn't seem fake.

The entire movie is in Chinese - and the US DVDRip has subtitles.

Bending swords are so cool!  I'd watch this movie more than once for the action scenes.

Rating: 8/10

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

Why are animations generally always good?  They tell such a great story.. HtTYD (How to Train Your Dragon) was no exception.  Great movie.  The synopsis is about vikings and dragons and their battle to co-exist.  I enjoyed it.  Is it worth watching once? Yes.  Is it worth watching twice?  Yes. 

Score: 9/10

Song of the Day: CN Blue - Love Light

I ended up liking this song after i found out that the leader of CN Blue wrote this song for Seo Yeon from SNSD.  They are a couple in "We Got Married" show - and it's so cute.  The lyrics are pretty good too.  One of those songs you get a guitar.. take a girl to the park at night.. and sing to her under the stars.



Lyrics: (sorry too lazy to write translation.  Google it if you're curious)

그댈 보면 얼굴이 빨개지고
그 댈 보면 가슴이 두근두근
아이처럼 수줍게 말하고
그 댈 보면 괜시리 웃음이
바 보처럼 자꾸만 그래
아마 내게 사랑이 온 것 같아

그대는 내 마음 속의 President
내 가슴의 별 수놓지
I’m Genie for you Girl
내 숨을 멎게 하지
그대가 원하는 건 다
너를 사랑하니까
내 사랑에 이유는 없잖아

그대는 Darling
밤 하늘 별빛보다 아름다워요
내 맘속 깊은 곳에서 반짝거리는
나 만의 사랑 빛

그대를 사랑해요 Darling
언제나 내 곁에서 빛을 내줘요
매일 밤 바라보고바라봐도 아름다워요
그댄 나의 사랑 빛

그 댈 보면 구름을 나는 기분
유 치해도 자꾸만 그래
아마 내게 사랑이 온 건 가봐

그대는 Darling
밤 하늘 별빛보다 아름다워요
내 맘속 깊은 곳에서 반짝거리는
나 만의 사랑 빛

그대를 사랑해요 Darling
언제나 내 곁에서 빛을 내줘요
매 일 밤 바라보고바라봐도 아름다워요
그 댄 나의 사랑 빛

그 대는 Lovely
저 하늘 햇살보다 눈이 부셔요
내 맘속 어둔 곳까지 밝게 비추는
나만의 사랑 빛

그대를 사랑해요 Lovely
두 눈을 감아봐도 그대 보여요
이 렇게 바라보고
바라봐도 눈이 부셔요
그 댄 나의 사랑 빛

Ahhh.. My Back..

Am I that old already?  Haven't hit 30 yet, but my muscles and back feel like 80.  For the past month i've been struggling with a bad back.  I think it started when i fell during soccer and didn't heal for the longest time.  When it started getting better the pain came back.  I think it's mostly healed again though.

Played basketball today and at least i haven't completely lost my touch.  I can still do my Tim Hardaway cross dribble and make my jump shots.  However, i'm so sore right now. 

My mom is coming to visit me from Korea on the 27th and we'll both be flying to Milwaukee Wisconsin to visit my sister and brother in law.  I haven't been there yet so i wonder if there's any interesting things to do.  I'll try to take lots of pics.

Jealousy is a Form of Love

Have you ever thought about this?  I always believed that to love was to not be jealous.  Yet can you honestly say that you've never been jealous?  Say for example that your bf or gf was getting attention from someone else and they were enjoying it.  Would you be jealous?  I would imagine that close to 99.9% of the people out there will say they would be jealous.  The 0.1% of the people are probably 80 years old and could care less if their partners are unfaithful.

Jealousy comes from the fact that you have something to loose.  Something you don't want to loose.  Or something you want but dont' have.  We could say you love that someone (something) so much, you become jealous.  There are also obvious levels of jealousy.  Lowest being the ones you just keep to yourself, and the most dangerous - the ones where killing is involved.

I'm not saying that jealousy is a good form of love.  If this world was perfect there would be no need for jealousy.  However, could we argue that jealousy is a form (or expression) of love?  I think we could.

In other news, sometime in July of this year Jeremy Lin from Harvard University was picked up by the Golden State Warriors.  His Taiwanese and the first US born Asian American basketball player.

 His 6'3, 200lbs and can dunk.  His pretty quick on his feet, but every replay i see he shoots and falls on his ass.  Jeremy, can you please stop falling on your ass?

You can watch some of his highlights here.

Song of the Day: Narsha - Be Ri Ba Pa

Narsha 나르샤 from Brown Eyed Girls released her solo single.  This isn't new, it's been out for a while and i didn't like the song from the start.  This is one of those songs that grows on you.

The Longest Sleep Ever!

So yesterday i ate some pizza.. then around 7pm i passed out.  I planned on taking just a hour nap, but when i opened my eyes it was 10am.  15 hours of sleep.. i think that's my new record (12 hours was my old record).  My body feels like a battery fully recharged though - and my mind is clear.

Have you slept longer than 15 hours before?

Food Review: Pat Bing Soo (팟빙수)

I have a confession to make.  I love Bing Soo, which is a Korean desert dish that includes Ice, Ice cream, sweet bean, fruits, and some type of sugar mixture.  You can get one at most Korean boba shops, particularly in Los Angeles @ Boba Loca for about $5.

Beginners make the mistake of not mixing the contents fully before eating.  Trust me, it's more delicious if you mix everything together to make it into a soup look-a-like. 

In terms of healthiness.. if you ask to leave out the cup of ice cream and remove the boba, it's beans, fruit, and ice so it's not going to kill you.  Hopefully you don't live somewhere in Louisiana.. i doubt you can find this delicacy there.

Ooooh.. New Layout!

It's about time!  Got tired of that old gray look.. now we have more blue and a semi new header logo.  Some of you old skool kids may recognize that design from Bjunkyard 1.5 - i forgot who helped design that.

Redoing everything took longer than i anticipated but i'm happy with the results.  Looks fresh and new :)  Also the "Time Machine" link works now.  Even though it only goes back to Bjunkyard 3.0.  I do have Bjunkyard 2.0 files on the server but none of the pictures work.. so i'm still deciding if i should link it or not.

Japanese Ramen!

I'm pretty sure i've wrote about Shin Seng Gumi a million times already.. but i went there yesterday with Noa and have to write about it again.

It was good.. really good.

1. Sapporo Beer
2. Hakata Ramen
3. Hakata Fried Rice

Good game.  Check out that facial expression.. "i'm in Heaven".

TV Show Review: Hawaii Five O

If you haven't seen it yet.. go download the first two episodes on EZTV.  Basically it's a remake of the classic show from the 70's.  Surprisingly there are two Koreans in the cast (Daniel Kim and Grace Park) - i never liked Daniel Kim in mainstream TV Shows particularly because there are many better looking Korean actors. After his big hit with "Lost" his being recognized.. but i think the show could have used someone else. 

In the first episode, Grace Park is told to get undressed to check for a wire tap.. which she does, and then is told to do a full body turn.  She works out.  Nuff said.

Fast paced show with lots of action.  Going to enjoy it.

On a side note, there are two other new shows i added to my list:

• The Event
• Nikita

The Event is a Lost wannabe show about aliens that live among us.  It tells a storyline of a few characters going back and forth between the past and the present to explain the plot.  A lot like Flash Forward. 

Nikita has Maggie Q.. nuff said.  I'm afraid the show may get canceled though cuz the plot just doesn't have the "umph".