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Happy New Year’s Eve!
Today is the last day of the year of 2016.
I recently posted a life update and now it’s the end of the
year.
I guess I can do a summary of what 2016 has thrown at me:
a)
I did the SATs. Honestly, that was pretty
uneventful but I’m glad I got the opportunity to do it. It allowed me to learn
about the (IMO) unnecessarily complicated process of applying to colleges and
universities in the USA. Almost 6 months later I still stand by that as I
continued to look into many higher ED options and it’s all tedious and
annoying. However, there are many resources out there to help navigate the
process (on line and in person communities and groups). I had the assistance of
the staff at GED Plus and Year Up which gave me some comfort and a sense of reassurance
that I was not alone.
b)
Leading off from that, my admission and
acceptance into the Year Up program in Boston. I personally don’t believe in
the concept of “coincidence” and this event has solidified that belief. Everything,
from the day I found GED Plus to my current internship through the program, was
like a laid out course/track that, if I took the right steps, I would end up at
an unexpected destination but one that would be a necessity. That is how I continue
to see it. In the end, it seems I made the right choices because I am here
because of them. I was blessed by the Lord God through all these events, just
happening one after the other. Like pieces to a puzzle, with each section being
completed the closer you get to the completed piece. I have not reached the ‘completed
piece’ yet but I believe that as long as I continue in my faith and walk with
the God of the Bible, I will get there.
c)
K-Pop, a topic I have yet to truly talk about on
this platform. I am a huge fan, since 2010 I believe, but my hyper-active
fangirling has declined over the years. From stanning and obsessing over every
group that was active, recently debuted and hot, I now have less than 10 male
groups I actively stan and follow, and around the same or a little more for
female groups I’ll list them sometime later). 2016 was not a good year for the
K-Pop industry and that’s putting it nicely. What I want to touch on is the
groups that disbanded and lost members that affected me. The groups are as follows:
Disbanded groups:
4Minute, KARA, Rainbow and 2NE1
4Minute: 2009 - 2016
KARA: 2007 - 2016
Rainbow: 2009 - 2016
2NE1: 2009 - 2016
Group member(s) departure:
Secret,
Miss A, 9Muses
 |
| Sunwha, formerly of Secret (now a rookie actress) |
 |
| Jia, formerly of Miss A (now solo) |
Euaerin, formerly of 9Muses
Minah, formerly of 9Muses
Hyuna, formerly of 9Muses (Bae!!)
Project group:
I.O.I.
Will disband next January after a year of promotions.
All the groups listed are groups that I stan (if you
haven’t noticed yet I’m a big girl group fan ;)). Most of these are a result of
bad management (Rainbow, KARA), low album sales (4Minute), contract
issues/ending (I.O.I, f(x)) or a combination of some/all of the above listed
(9Muses, 2NE1, Miss A). However, there were some positives: Jessica Jung’s 2
solo album releases since her departure from SNSD, B.A.P has been killing it
with album releases (i.e. Noir! GET IT!) and international rewards (MTV EMA
Korean Act 2016), I.O.I debuting (even though its only for a year), TWICE continuing
their rein as the trendiest group with awesome and catchy title tracks and
continuing to steal my heart and so much more. Here’s to an improvement to the
K-Pop industry in 2017. Cheers!
d)
Mobile Idol games – to sum it up: “I’M OBSESSED
AND IN IDOL HELL! SAVE ME FROM THIS PERSECUTION!!”
I play: Love Live School
Idol Festival (ID: 567399089)
Deresute a.k.a Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls
Starlight Stage (ID: 593535269)
Tokyo 7th Sisters (still getting used to it so I have no idea where the ID is XD)
The first 2
are main hooks. Add me if you want. BASK IN IDOL HELL WITH ME!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!
e)
Job – through Year Up I obtained a job. Well, it’s
the internship that’s part of the program but it’s still my first ever adult
job! It’s been a challenge. I’m an introverted
person so having to interact with 50+ people on about 3 floors can make someone
like that extremely paranoid (e.g. “am I annoying them? Did I do this correct?
Should I ask them for help or will they think I’m stupid?”). I have left than a
month left and I can say with confidence that it has changed my life for the
better. I have gained many technical and interpersonal skills that’ll be coming
along with me on my next job (whenever I get one) and my personal life.
f) Finally, my faith. If you didn't know, I am a
Christian. A follower of Jesus Christ. The Son of God. I don’t adhere to a
denomination anymore as I do not believe it is biblical. This year I attempted
to read the Bible in one year. Well…..heh. it could've gone better. I was following
The Bible Project’s yearlong guide and I was doing relatively fine for the
first 2-4 months of 2016. After I started Year Up, that flew out of the window.
With each month, the decline in the reading gap continued to widened. I tried to
get back in the groove of things and even restarted it twice but I just couldn't.
I lost the interest and passion which in turn became a burden. That was
something I really didn't want to experience. I want to have an open and
engaged heart and mind to read the Word that God left for mankind. During those
times the Lord opened my understanding to the fact that I had hardened my heart
to His voice in exchange for thinking logically. That was a hard pill to
swallow. Nothing is wrong with logical thing (we need it to interpret many
things in life) but not everything in the Scriptures will be comprehended in
this finite and corrupt human mind. I’ll be trying to read the Bible in its entirety
in 2017 but I might just go with the flow instead of following a daily guide.
Maybe that might keep me engaged and I’ll have my Bible commentaries to help
along the way.
So, that was long.
If you made it this far, thank you.
There were many other things that highly impacted my life in
2016 (e.g. the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United
States) but I don’t want this post to be an extreme downer.
As 2017 fast approaches me on the east coast of the USA, I want
to leave you with some words of advice, encouragement and hope:
“Continue your fight in whatever the Lord has placed in your
path. There will be challenging times, maybe even more than you have ever
experienced before but you are not alone. Whether it be friends, family,
significant others or someone outside your immediate environment, there is
always someone there for you. Don’t block yourself off from others (unless its
needed) but don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of by others (yes, it is
possible to be open and not be a pushover). Be open to change. Change allows us
to grow but remember it’s not always a smooth journey.”
I also want to thank you all who read this blog and its
infrequent updates for the past year. I can’t promise that I’ll be better at managing
my time (a work in progress) but I’ll still be here by the grace of God with
more content.
To all who have or have not experience it yet:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2017!
May God continue to bless you and carry you through this
crazy ride called life.
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