Hello all,
Earlier tonight I saw a special on one of the major news shows-not quite sure which one. Maybe it was 20/20. I was utterly dissapointed at how the station handled this report and what message it relays onto the viewers.
The report was about sex offenders who target children. Now don't get me wrong. It is morally defying to sexually pursue a 9 year old boy or girl if you are a 35 year old man...that goes without saying. However, my dissapointment comes when the reporter put these sex offenders in the light of being some sort of "monsters". These people who commit these crimes are human beings with metnal illnesses and a distortion of reality. But does this constitute them to be monsters and viruses of mankind? NO! These are but humans who need help and must be at our most sensative concern. Instead of barking at them and sending back into their holes, we msut reach out our hands and help them overcome. Most of the subjects that were examined on this report did admit that they had a problem and were seeking help but the reporter's great disdain and digust was still very apparent and extremely degrading to these oxygen breathing, 4 limbed human beings.
If you accept the very core of this situation you will come to understand that these people possess a mental illness...so do we all to some degree...and we are all entitled to help. Since when has anyone barking at us about our issues helped us overcome anything at all? The way this reporter downgraded the subjects as human beings will only make them go back and feed their depression and anxiety which undoubtedly stirs up their warped view of reality. I rememebr one particular case dealing with a sex offender who was willing to speak on camera. Witha very sad face and almost helpless demeanor, he admitted his issues and stated he was getting help. The reporter then scowls "then why must your violate these kids?" in such a degrading way that the subject interviewed cried helplessly not knowing why he cannot control himself.
What we must understand is that all humans are born with defficiency in many forms...be it big or small, they are defficiencies. Asking a sex offender why he cannot stop violating is liek asking an obese person why they cannot stop overeating. With these uncertaities, some of the afflicted peopel will go seek help...yet we STILL scowl at them like they are lower forms of life.
We need to help these people if we want to get anywhere in keeping our children safe from sexual offenders.
Too many people only live in one world...and that is their own. Ths leas to several misunderstangings of why peopel are the way they are and why they commit such actions. We must consider that there are 6 billion lives on this planet with 6 billion stories. What you expect to be a given norm may not be understood by one who has been deeply traumatized by some event or tragedy. That must be considered. Help and support must be there for those we are afraid of if we wish to get anything accomplished.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Training/Trombone
Trombone has been ok lately...but has it ever been great? Hahah. I guess its just part of being a student. I just sent off a tape today for a solo comp. It is notorious for having very flawed and questionable judging, however. One of my friends has entered 3 times in the past and he has yet to be invited to the finals...and I he plays in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra...while the kids who made it to the finals of this competition over him are delivering pizzas. Nevertheless, despite sketchy judging, i wanted to send a tape and try to get an opportunity to compete...the judging is not under my control, however. The tape was pretty good for only having recorded it for about two total hours. My pianist was amazing and she was very inspiring for me...quite possibly the best accompanist in town- a Juilliard and Yale graduate and married to the Houston Symphony's Asisstant Principal Horn player. She really liked how I played and I'll be happy about that. My next recording project is goign to be for the taped audition of a summer music festival called Music Academy of The West in Santa Barbara, CA. I really want to go to this one!
Throws training lately has been...ehhhhh. I've been focusing an lot on shot-put lately because indoor season is coming up and discus isnt held until March when outdoor season begins. I did hit 55 ft one day whitch is a personal best for me but it was very short-lived. The following days I could only pull a 53-54ft at best. Then most recently, today, I would onyl get 51 ft- an obvious sign that my body needs rest as I am sustaining a sprained index fingure and a sore left calf. 60 ft would put me in place to make nationals and I think I am well capable of that by Janurary. All of us at UH are well capable of it... but boy, I cant wait for discus!
I have found a modeal thrower in Lithuanian Virgilius Alekna. He is the bes thrower in the world and gold medalist of the past two olympics in Sudney and Athens. I am looking up to him and we are pretty much identical in size. 6'7'' 285lbs- of course, he has more msucle, however...something I am working on! But yeh, Ive been really trying to model my appraoach after his.
On friday I did a plyo-circuit with my coach and he absolutely kicked my ass. This revealed a few very sore weaknesses of mine whitch is cardiovascular strength and mental toughness to remained focused even when extremely fatigued...and also some much more needed muscle gain for to promote consistency and strength. These will be other goals of mine going into the Holiday training period alogn with my goals of trimming body fat and becoming a bit more lean.
As soon as school ends, itll be about 3-4 free days then BOOM...im back into it takign 2 mini-mester courses ((2)3 hrs courses everyday), training, and maintaining a trombone practice schedule. I will have no winter break...its ok thogh...ive been eating enough cookies to keep me happy. I always have abox of cookies in my car.
Ok guys, ill hit yall up later
-JL
Throws training lately has been...ehhhhh. I've been focusing an lot on shot-put lately because indoor season is coming up and discus isnt held until March when outdoor season begins. I did hit 55 ft one day whitch is a personal best for me but it was very short-lived. The following days I could only pull a 53-54ft at best. Then most recently, today, I would onyl get 51 ft- an obvious sign that my body needs rest as I am sustaining a sprained index fingure and a sore left calf. 60 ft would put me in place to make nationals and I think I am well capable of that by Janurary. All of us at UH are well capable of it... but boy, I cant wait for discus!
I have found a modeal thrower in Lithuanian Virgilius Alekna. He is the bes thrower in the world and gold medalist of the past two olympics in Sudney and Athens. I am looking up to him and we are pretty much identical in size. 6'7'' 285lbs- of course, he has more msucle, however...something I am working on! But yeh, Ive been really trying to model my appraoach after his.
On friday I did a plyo-circuit with my coach and he absolutely kicked my ass. This revealed a few very sore weaknesses of mine whitch is cardiovascular strength and mental toughness to remained focused even when extremely fatigued...and also some much more needed muscle gain for to promote consistency and strength. These will be other goals of mine going into the Holiday training period alogn with my goals of trimming body fat and becoming a bit more lean.
As soon as school ends, itll be about 3-4 free days then BOOM...im back into it takign 2 mini-mester courses ((2)3 hrs courses everyday), training, and maintaining a trombone practice schedule. I will have no winter break...its ok thogh...ive been eating enough cookies to keep me happy. I always have abox of cookies in my car.
Ok guys, ill hit yall up later
-JL
Monday, December 05, 2005
Training Journal Entry I (12/5/2005)
So...welcome to the Blog/Training Journal. I think it'll be cool to inform you guys of my training aside from my usual rantings on this blog. So, I will indicate every training journal entry as I have witht his one (see above title). This will help me see monitor my progress and also give you guys some news on how I am doing- killing two thing swith one missile!
The semester is winding down and my strength has shot up a lot...not near where it will be eventually, but the progress is great. I came into the beginning fo the year barely able to bench press 250 lbs. My max on the Bench a few weeks ago came out to about 325 lbs. My squat at the beginning of the year could go no furthur than maybe 275. My max a few weeks ago came out to 425 lbs. Im VERY happy with these gains especially considering that these gains are a result of only a few months of training. There is still, howeverm quite a ways to go.
My strength has gone up and so has my weight. I went from 270 lbs to 285 lbs in a matter of months. Good news is, my body fat percentage has stayed the same at about 17% thus indicating the growth of muscle mass I gained. However, right now I am too fat for lack of better words...I will go into the christmas break with the goal of trimming up and maintaing my strength progression. I'm going to have to montior my saturated fats intake and incorporate more cardiovasicular excercise into my training schedule. My ideal body for season is 275 lbs and 10-12% body fat. It's going to take some work and breaking of bad habbits. I've been hitting up McD's and other fast-food establishments about 1-2 times a day!
Our strength coaches are goign to give us a winter work-out and I will be training hard over the break with my throwing patnas. I'm lookign forward to that very much! One thing that has been great about throwing is the support and guidance I'm getting from my coach and fellow throwers here. It truely is a great place to be. I'm very supportive of them, they are supportive of me...and theres one common goal for everyone...throwing shit really far.
Just as my strenght has increased, my throwing has increased dramtically as well. When I picked up the discus this past summer after two years off, I barely scratch 155' feet. It is now December and I am at about a solid 170'...sometimes throwing 175'. Shot-Put wise, I am at about 52' and hopefully for our firsty indoor meet in Janurary, I will hit 55+. ZThsat would be a great mark to build on for the rest of the season. Discus doesnt start until outdoor season which is in March. My goal for the first meet is 185'. I think I can do it...
So there it is...my main focus over the break is to get my body in better shape and more fit. I have undoubtedly increased my strength but now it's time to lean up the body and shed fat. This is gonna be tough.
See you later,
JL
The semester is winding down and my strength has shot up a lot...not near where it will be eventually, but the progress is great. I came into the beginning fo the year barely able to bench press 250 lbs. My max on the Bench a few weeks ago came out to about 325 lbs. My squat at the beginning of the year could go no furthur than maybe 275. My max a few weeks ago came out to 425 lbs. Im VERY happy with these gains especially considering that these gains are a result of only a few months of training. There is still, howeverm quite a ways to go.
My strength has gone up and so has my weight. I went from 270 lbs to 285 lbs in a matter of months. Good news is, my body fat percentage has stayed the same at about 17% thus indicating the growth of muscle mass I gained. However, right now I am too fat for lack of better words...I will go into the christmas break with the goal of trimming up and maintaing my strength progression. I'm going to have to montior my saturated fats intake and incorporate more cardiovasicular excercise into my training schedule. My ideal body for season is 275 lbs and 10-12% body fat. It's going to take some work and breaking of bad habbits. I've been hitting up McD's and other fast-food establishments about 1-2 times a day!
Our strength coaches are goign to give us a winter work-out and I will be training hard over the break with my throwing patnas. I'm lookign forward to that very much! One thing that has been great about throwing is the support and guidance I'm getting from my coach and fellow throwers here. It truely is a great place to be. I'm very supportive of them, they are supportive of me...and theres one common goal for everyone...throwing shit really far.
Just as my strenght has increased, my throwing has increased dramtically as well. When I picked up the discus this past summer after two years off, I barely scratch 155' feet. It is now December and I am at about a solid 170'...sometimes throwing 175'. Shot-Put wise, I am at about 52' and hopefully for our firsty indoor meet in Janurary, I will hit 55+. ZThsat would be a great mark to build on for the rest of the season. Discus doesnt start until outdoor season which is in March. My goal for the first meet is 185'. I think I can do it...
So there it is...my main focus over the break is to get my body in better shape and more fit. I have undoubtedly increased my strength but now it's time to lean up the body and shed fat. This is gonna be tough.
See you later,
JL
Monday, November 28, 2005
Recent Happenings
Friends and Colleagues,
Thanksgiving has passed and I have had my good share of rest and gluttony.
Right on Thanksgiving day, my mom and I left for a church conference that was held in LA right near the airport in the Westin Hotel. It was real cool. However, the real eventful moments happened during a random discovery expedition taken by me and a few friends of mine fron Austin that were also at the same conference. Since the conference had scheduled no time for us to see the city of LA, we decide to escape for one night and travel through the city of Los Angeles via public bus system! We boarded a bus near our hotel and took it an uncertain direction. Wew were slowly creeping into the ghetto...I was a bit concerned yet very exited to see the gehtto of LA first hand! It wasn't until a very helping lady on the bus realize dthat we were tourists and suggested that we head toward hollywood. We looked at eachother and said "sweet". We got off to make a connection to another bus and as I looked around, I notice that everyone was black...haha....this was obviously one of the blackest areas I have ever seen. A nice lady at the bus stop who was also waiting informed us that we were in Inglewood which is a section of LA that is known to be pretty black. I hear about Inglewood as a few rappers are from there. From Inglewood, we took the bus no 210 towards Hollywood. This bus was awful, bunch of homeless people and the odor was nothing short 0f smelling like PISS. Anyways, it was still fun to be in the LA Ghetto...haha. And the bus we were on was riding on CRENSHAW BLVD...ever heard of that one? I asked one fella on the bus how far we were from Hollywood and he told us that we would bne sitting a good 45 minutes. Well, that was kinda depressing so we diecided to stop somewhere along the way to get out and see random parts of LA. So we did...and we ended up in apart of Korea Town...otherwise known as K-Town. Everything was Korean. Unfortunately, everythign was closed down and all we did wa sjsut walk around and burn claories from the big thanksgiving dinner we had at the hotel.
From there, we hopped the bus again and at this point, it was well into the night and transportation comion back home had become a huge qiestion mark as we had no diea when the buses would still be runnign when were done terrorizing hollywood. Nevertheless, we got to Hollywood and compelted on journey to seeing LA. Once we got to Hollywood, we saw alot of cool things and a lot of weired people. There is a museum lined up on Hollywood street and alady gathered us in somehow and told is there was a free exhibit...we were like...."wy not?" The exhibit was about the famous American writer/philosopher L. Ron Huffman. It whole thing was pretty cool. Somewhere in the middle of the exhibit, the tour guide introduced us to a religion that Hubbrad had began...the religion known as Scientology. Yeah, thats the stufd Tom Cruise is going crazy about. I was only itnerested in learning of it but not interested of converting...but she did give in dept detail that was very interesting...the tour ended, the lady was awesome...and we were out...on the way out, as we got to baout 100 yards away, we look up towards the museum and realize that this is a huge 20+ story building that has a sign ont he top in huge letters, "Church of Scientology". So that was funny...haha, no wonder this lady was goign in dept on scienbtology...and then as we walked around hollywood more, we saw more and more buildings devooted tot he promotion of Scientology...nethertheless, the exhbit about the man behind Scientlogy was so interesting. You guys should read up on him.
It was about 12am at this point we decided to find some "only in Hollywood" grubb before we left out random journey of LA . We ended up at a place called Johnny Rockets and the food was delish. Buses steopped working at this poitn so we took an LA cab back tot he hotel for the fee of 50 damn dollars to make our LA themed jouney complete.
All in all, I think our journey of LA was magnficant despite having ended up in the ghetto and hind of lost in random places with jsut hte three of us at niht in the closed down city of Los Angeles. We seriously shouldve brought a camera. We literally jsut got bored, hopped on arandom bus, took it to a random place, then we began apursuit of ending up in Hollywood...it serious was an epic journey that I enjoyed every step of the way...if you guys ever go to LA...just travel it with random bus routes and maybe...jsu tmaybe,...you might have as cool trip as we did.
Ite guys,,,,damn school tomorrow...see you guys on the flip flop.
-JL
Thanksgiving has passed and I have had my good share of rest and gluttony.
Right on Thanksgiving day, my mom and I left for a church conference that was held in LA right near the airport in the Westin Hotel. It was real cool. However, the real eventful moments happened during a random discovery expedition taken by me and a few friends of mine fron Austin that were also at the same conference. Since the conference had scheduled no time for us to see the city of LA, we decide to escape for one night and travel through the city of Los Angeles via public bus system! We boarded a bus near our hotel and took it an uncertain direction. Wew were slowly creeping into the ghetto...I was a bit concerned yet very exited to see the gehtto of LA first hand! It wasn't until a very helping lady on the bus realize dthat we were tourists and suggested that we head toward hollywood. We looked at eachother and said "sweet". We got off to make a connection to another bus and as I looked around, I notice that everyone was black...haha....this was obviously one of the blackest areas I have ever seen. A nice lady at the bus stop who was also waiting informed us that we were in Inglewood which is a section of LA that is known to be pretty black. I hear about Inglewood as a few rappers are from there. From Inglewood, we took the bus no 210 towards Hollywood. This bus was awful, bunch of homeless people and the odor was nothing short 0f smelling like PISS. Anyways, it was still fun to be in the LA Ghetto...haha. And the bus we were on was riding on CRENSHAW BLVD...ever heard of that one? I asked one fella on the bus how far we were from Hollywood and he told us that we would bne sitting a good 45 minutes. Well, that was kinda depressing so we diecided to stop somewhere along the way to get out and see random parts of LA. So we did...and we ended up in apart of Korea Town...otherwise known as K-Town. Everything was Korean. Unfortunately, everythign was closed down and all we did wa sjsut walk around and burn claories from the big thanksgiving dinner we had at the hotel.
From there, we hopped the bus again and at this point, it was well into the night and transportation comion back home had become a huge qiestion mark as we had no diea when the buses would still be runnign when were done terrorizing hollywood. Nevertheless, we got to Hollywood and compelted on journey to seeing LA. Once we got to Hollywood, we saw alot of cool things and a lot of weired people. There is a museum lined up on Hollywood street and alady gathered us in somehow and told is there was a free exhibit...we were like...."wy not?" The exhibit was about the famous American writer/philosopher L. Ron Huffman. It whole thing was pretty cool. Somewhere in the middle of the exhibit, the tour guide introduced us to a religion that Hubbrad had began...the religion known as Scientology. Yeah, thats the stufd Tom Cruise is going crazy about. I was only itnerested in learning of it but not interested of converting...but she did give in dept detail that was very interesting...the tour ended, the lady was awesome...and we were out...on the way out, as we got to baout 100 yards away, we look up towards the museum and realize that this is a huge 20+ story building that has a sign ont he top in huge letters, "Church of Scientology". So that was funny...haha, no wonder this lady was goign in dept on scienbtology...and then as we walked around hollywood more, we saw more and more buildings devooted tot he promotion of Scientology...nethertheless, the exhbit about the man behind Scientlogy was so interesting. You guys should read up on him.
It was about 12am at this point we decided to find some "only in Hollywood" grubb before we left out random journey of LA . We ended up at a place called Johnny Rockets and the food was delish. Buses steopped working at this poitn so we took an LA cab back tot he hotel for the fee of 50 damn dollars to make our LA themed jouney complete.
All in all, I think our journey of LA was magnficant despite having ended up in the ghetto and hind of lost in random places with jsut hte three of us at niht in the closed down city of Los Angeles. We seriously shouldve brought a camera. We literally jsut got bored, hopped on arandom bus, took it to a random place, then we began apursuit of ending up in Hollywood...it serious was an epic journey that I enjoyed every step of the way...if you guys ever go to LA...just travel it with random bus routes and maybe...jsu tmaybe,...you might have as cool trip as we did.
Ite guys,,,,damn school tomorrow...see you guys on the flip flop.
-JL
Monday, November 21, 2005
Keepin' y'all posted
Friends and colleagues,
A lot has happened since I last wrote but I forgot about half of it. Training in both throwing and music so far have been awesome. Throwing wise, I am reaching new distances and stronger lifts in the weight room. Trombone wise, Im starting to gain some good perspective on playing.
However, let me dedicate this entry and share the fact that I just absolutely love music. I mean, It's one of the only things that I am sure about in my life...and that is that I love music. Even if by some odd happening, I do not end up being a performer, I will still love music. And of course, this is mainly classical and jazz I am talking about. My life has been extremely stressful lately and I have been feeling like people don't understand me. Music, though....music is where I live. Music is my reality...music is where I can be understood. I have found no greater joy than what I feel when I hear a heart gripping melody of Brahms or a weeping plea by the hand of Beethoven. it is truely divine. I wrote this knowing well that it has a risk of being cheesy but I can say it no other way or find another means of sharing this...this fact that music is what I speak, eat, breath...music is what I go to ...music is where i come from...music is where I live...music is what sustains my life...what a pleasure it is to share music with everyone else! Please, just believe me on this one.
Some things coming up:
-Los Angeles during Thanksgiving Break
-Finals
-Sending in tape for International Trombone Association Competition
-Training my azz off
Alright, dudes... keep it classy
-JL
A lot has happened since I last wrote but I forgot about half of it. Training in both throwing and music so far have been awesome. Throwing wise, I am reaching new distances and stronger lifts in the weight room. Trombone wise, Im starting to gain some good perspective on playing.
However, let me dedicate this entry and share the fact that I just absolutely love music. I mean, It's one of the only things that I am sure about in my life...and that is that I love music. Even if by some odd happening, I do not end up being a performer, I will still love music. And of course, this is mainly classical and jazz I am talking about. My life has been extremely stressful lately and I have been feeling like people don't understand me. Music, though....music is where I live. Music is my reality...music is where I can be understood. I have found no greater joy than what I feel when I hear a heart gripping melody of Brahms or a weeping plea by the hand of Beethoven. it is truely divine. I wrote this knowing well that it has a risk of being cheesy but I can say it no other way or find another means of sharing this...this fact that music is what I speak, eat, breath...music is what I go to ...music is where i come from...music is where I live...music is what sustains my life...what a pleasure it is to share music with everyone else! Please, just believe me on this one.
Some things coming up:
-Los Angeles during Thanksgiving Break
-Finals
-Sending in tape for International Trombone Association Competition
-Training my azz off
Alright, dudes... keep it classy
-JL
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Do What YOU Want to Do
Friends and Colleagues,
Im going to rant about something and not give much attention to grammar and just blow through this thought and submit it...I will try my best to make sure you can understand it, however.
My church is a great church. It is indeed. However, I still consider this place a germ pool of the wrong ideals of life... Now, the christianity part is cool...I dig it... However, I could not disagree more with the attitude of the congregation on issues regarding how to raise children and guide their ambition. I am confident that this is a problem with much of the kids raised in asian households and I am using my church as an example. Well, hell, not just asian people...all people in general...especially high school kids.
Now, I consider my life to be a perfect blessing... and I am veeeeerrry thankful for that no matter how many obstacles my family has faced. One thing that I will have to give props to my parents for is the fact that they really let me do what I wanted to do...infact, when I make huge decisions...sometimes dealing with money, my dad never seems to fail me always saying "if it helps you and you need it, then I will help you". And be sure about it, we are NOT a finacially well off family. It was that trust my dad always gave me. I ended up playing 4 sports, excelled in most of them, and also evolved into an enthusiastic student of music...none of which was forced upon me by my parents.
Some would not be able to trust their children as much...but thats when you give it to God and pray that he may guide your kids...im sure that's what my parents did...in fact, I know that's what they did.
However, I am saddened at the pressure some of these kids allow themselves to be in...it is a problem stirred by the parents, society, and the kids themselves letting these things pressure them. I bring up my church because I feel that this is resonated loudly in the Korean-Amreican culture (yet, is also something families of all races are guilty of). I hear about kids groaping and whining about how busy they are and how much they "have" to do this and that... but that's the problem...these kids are pressured so much into doing so many things and dont experience the grattitude of doign these things upon their own will.... hence feeling like they "have" to go to tennis practice,,,good for the resume into Harvard...thats why they do tennis. Last time I checked, tennis was agreat sport for the sake of enjoyment. If anyone contantly lives with the mentality that everything is on a "have" to do basis...they are not enjoying what they are doing. " I have tennis lessons, then SAT study, then piano lessons, then tutoring...oh man, my life sucks right now"---this is terrible and i cringe when i hear kids talking about this stuff...and I become mad at two things; 1) How unfortunate it is that these kids have allowed themselves to think on terms of merit thorugh activity rather than fulfillment and 2) how much their parents and society have instilled this horrible mentality. When people take on these self enriching activities, it should be done through love and and understanding...not a pursuit to gain prestige that can be visible on their resume. Sports, music, art, volunterring...etc.....this should all be done out of love, concern, understanding....not be done to build up merit capital. When you embark on an acitvity, it should be done because YOU want to do it-Because you might find some enjoyment in it...you dont take initial steps towards participating in activites through thoughts of merit or social acceptance...
Existence is such a great gift. I am always one to encourage that people do as much as they can and live a lfie of thanksgiving and fulfillment. However, I just totally disagree with the atrocities happening with kids today. Kids pursue and work hard with the goal of " it will look good on my resume...or it will look good to the college admissions". Excuse me, but what the FUCK. Activites should be done for the sake of humanity... I just dont agree with this shit. Im pretty pissed right now as I write more.
It is my demand that more parents encourage rather than force the issue... one parent at my church wa sso puzzled at the fact that I did so much in HS and my parents had jsut baout no input on what i did...she was so puzzled...and as a result i was puzzled...am i not supposed to be able to activate myself in so many things...must my parents do it for me? It saddened me...parents jsut do not trust their kids...and parents have beciome so obssessed witht his worldy view of success that they feel the need to interfere with what their kids really want to do...im so happy right now that I throw and play trombone...these are things that I did out of love...not out of what i am "supposed to do". Now, certain things mus tbe forced...and their can be exceptions...but the mindset of doing for the sake of merit and not love is so horrible. It is also horrible to pass these terrible pressures on to your children...lives are being numbed daily...it makes me want to cry.
In somewhat related topic, here is a copy of a letter I gave to UH as they asked for me to write about my intent relating to my chosen area of study...i hope you enjoy it...it has no editions; this is what i gave them:
Im going to rant about something and not give much attention to grammar and just blow through this thought and submit it...I will try my best to make sure you can understand it, however.
My church is a great church. It is indeed. However, I still consider this place a germ pool of the wrong ideals of life... Now, the christianity part is cool...I dig it... However, I could not disagree more with the attitude of the congregation on issues regarding how to raise children and guide their ambition. I am confident that this is a problem with much of the kids raised in asian households and I am using my church as an example. Well, hell, not just asian people...all people in general...especially high school kids.
Now, I consider my life to be a perfect blessing... and I am veeeeerrry thankful for that no matter how many obstacles my family has faced. One thing that I will have to give props to my parents for is the fact that they really let me do what I wanted to do...infact, when I make huge decisions...sometimes dealing with money, my dad never seems to fail me always saying "if it helps you and you need it, then I will help you". And be sure about it, we are NOT a finacially well off family. It was that trust my dad always gave me. I ended up playing 4 sports, excelled in most of them, and also evolved into an enthusiastic student of music...none of which was forced upon me by my parents.
Some would not be able to trust their children as much...but thats when you give it to God and pray that he may guide your kids...im sure that's what my parents did...in fact, I know that's what they did.
However, I am saddened at the pressure some of these kids allow themselves to be in...it is a problem stirred by the parents, society, and the kids themselves letting these things pressure them. I bring up my church because I feel that this is resonated loudly in the Korean-Amreican culture (yet, is also something families of all races are guilty of). I hear about kids groaping and whining about how busy they are and how much they "have" to do this and that... but that's the problem...these kids are pressured so much into doing so many things and dont experience the grattitude of doign these things upon their own will.... hence feeling like they "have" to go to tennis practice,,,good for the resume into Harvard...thats why they do tennis. Last time I checked, tennis was agreat sport for the sake of enjoyment. If anyone contantly lives with the mentality that everything is on a "have" to do basis...they are not enjoying what they are doing. " I have tennis lessons, then SAT study, then piano lessons, then tutoring...oh man, my life sucks right now"---this is terrible and i cringe when i hear kids talking about this stuff...and I become mad at two things; 1) How unfortunate it is that these kids have allowed themselves to think on terms of merit thorugh activity rather than fulfillment and 2) how much their parents and society have instilled this horrible mentality. When people take on these self enriching activities, it should be done through love and and understanding...not a pursuit to gain prestige that can be visible on their resume. Sports, music, art, volunterring...etc.....this should all be done out of love, concern, understanding....not be done to build up merit capital. When you embark on an acitvity, it should be done because YOU want to do it-Because you might find some enjoyment in it...you dont take initial steps towards participating in activites through thoughts of merit or social acceptance...
Existence is such a great gift. I am always one to encourage that people do as much as they can and live a lfie of thanksgiving and fulfillment. However, I just totally disagree with the atrocities happening with kids today. Kids pursue and work hard with the goal of " it will look good on my resume...or it will look good to the college admissions". Excuse me, but what the FUCK. Activites should be done for the sake of humanity... I just dont agree with this shit. Im pretty pissed right now as I write more.
It is my demand that more parents encourage rather than force the issue... one parent at my church wa sso puzzled at the fact that I did so much in HS and my parents had jsut baout no input on what i did...she was so puzzled...and as a result i was puzzled...am i not supposed to be able to activate myself in so many things...must my parents do it for me? It saddened me...parents jsut do not trust their kids...and parents have beciome so obssessed witht his worldy view of success that they feel the need to interfere with what their kids really want to do...im so happy right now that I throw and play trombone...these are things that I did out of love...not out of what i am "supposed to do". Now, certain things mus tbe forced...and their can be exceptions...but the mindset of doing for the sake of merit and not love is so horrible. It is also horrible to pass these terrible pressures on to your children...lives are being numbed daily...it makes me want to cry.
In somewhat related topic, here is a copy of a letter I gave to UH as they asked for me to write about my intent relating to my chosen area of study...i hope you enjoy it...it has no editions; this is what i gave them:
James Lee
Letter of Intent for Spring 2006 admission
My Intent through My Musical Studies
Now, for the sake of providing a more clear ambition of what type of occupation I would like to have, I would have to say a job as an orchestral trombonist would top my list. So I’ll practice my excerpts and the discipline of orchestral playing to achieve this goal. Though it is a beautiful job to have, it will be only that…my job. For as long as I will consider myself a professional upon graduation, my life will be devoted to sharing the blessing of music with others and sustaining the strongest force of human communication. I find it quite disappointing that many students put the pursuit of occupations in front of purpose in their study.
I am also blessed with an opportunity to accompany my musical pursuits with a career in track and field as a discus and shot-put thrower. Upon graduation, I will resume my training as an athlete and give Olympic birth my best shot. The disciplines of music and sports go hand in hand as they both require responsibility that is resonated directly through performance. I am hopeful that I can be in a position to pursue these two ambitions at a place like U of H where I can receive world-class training in both…but yes, my intent and only intent as a musician is to rock the world.
Monday, October 10, 2005
21st birthday weekend and Dallas
Hello all,
I spent this past weekend in Dallas and my birthday was Friday. I could pretty much only make it up to Dallas for a visit once this semester and it just so happens that I chose the perfect time. Here's why
-bday weekend
-the recital of a dear friend of mine
-the return of two other SMU evacuees
All in all, I must say it was a great weekend in Dallas. Although I am happy with my life decision to transfer to Houston, I must say that I truely miss being at SMU and it makes me so angry that I could not pursue track and field there due to a lack of a men's track team! Doing track and music at SMU really would be the perfect situation. They threw me a party and it was fun... I got to see a lot of old friends and I was touched when people came by to wish me happy birthday.
The next day, I went and saw Charlene (SMU oboe major) and TJ's (SMU clarinet major) joint recital and as is the case with all recitals, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a very well played recital, indeed. Recitals by professionals are very touching but seeing your own colleagues in recital is something special. I had the pleasure of being stagehand. Fate kind of reared it's familar head with me...it turns out, that every recital that Charlene has ever played, I was a stagehand. The weekend that I was availiable to come up was the weekend Charlene had scheduled a recital months in advance...how could I avoid it? I had to be stagehand. One thing I have missed dearly is watchign recitals. UH has been having recitals and such but my schedule lately hasnt allowed me to see them. Seing arecital this weekend in such afamilar place really placed me back into that peaceful musical refuge.
In other news, I had a pretty good lesson last week with my trombone teacher here. Things are finally starting to kick back up and I'm beginning to feel my stride in playing. I also taught my high school kids today and did it rather well I must say. Teaching is something that I'm real proud of. I do have some young teacher's flaws in my teaching but I think my overall apporach is working extremely well for the most part. I expect a lot out of these kids and they seem to respond. The ones who didn't I encouraged to quit for the sake of not wasting each other's time. I've only lost 2 students...everyone else understands what I expect of them and they do it...it's awesome. I really emphasize the importance of being responsible and playing for the sake of...well, playing. Some of these kids get trapped in the competitive aspect of playing and have lost understanding of the gratifying experience of bringing love and respect to their playing and their audience... Im really glad to be able to influence a wave of young players to directly influence and shape their musical pursuits how ever far they take them.
Now I must go do Math HW and study for a math test... just 3 of my 21 hrs of class.
Stay tuned!
-JL
I spent this past weekend in Dallas and my birthday was Friday. I could pretty much only make it up to Dallas for a visit once this semester and it just so happens that I chose the perfect time. Here's why
-bday weekend
-the recital of a dear friend of mine
-the return of two other SMU evacuees
All in all, I must say it was a great weekend in Dallas. Although I am happy with my life decision to transfer to Houston, I must say that I truely miss being at SMU and it makes me so angry that I could not pursue track and field there due to a lack of a men's track team! Doing track and music at SMU really would be the perfect situation. They threw me a party and it was fun... I got to see a lot of old friends and I was touched when people came by to wish me happy birthday.
The next day, I went and saw Charlene (SMU oboe major) and TJ's (SMU clarinet major) joint recital and as is the case with all recitals, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a very well played recital, indeed. Recitals by professionals are very touching but seeing your own colleagues in recital is something special. I had the pleasure of being stagehand. Fate kind of reared it's familar head with me...it turns out, that every recital that Charlene has ever played, I was a stagehand. The weekend that I was availiable to come up was the weekend Charlene had scheduled a recital months in advance...how could I avoid it? I had to be stagehand. One thing I have missed dearly is watchign recitals. UH has been having recitals and such but my schedule lately hasnt allowed me to see them. Seing arecital this weekend in such afamilar place really placed me back into that peaceful musical refuge.
In other news, I had a pretty good lesson last week with my trombone teacher here. Things are finally starting to kick back up and I'm beginning to feel my stride in playing. I also taught my high school kids today and did it rather well I must say. Teaching is something that I'm real proud of. I do have some young teacher's flaws in my teaching but I think my overall apporach is working extremely well for the most part. I expect a lot out of these kids and they seem to respond. The ones who didn't I encouraged to quit for the sake of not wasting each other's time. I've only lost 2 students...everyone else understands what I expect of them and they do it...it's awesome. I really emphasize the importance of being responsible and playing for the sake of...well, playing. Some of these kids get trapped in the competitive aspect of playing and have lost understanding of the gratifying experience of bringing love and respect to their playing and their audience... Im really glad to be able to influence a wave of young players to directly influence and shape their musical pursuits how ever far they take them.
Now I must go do Math HW and study for a math test... just 3 of my 21 hrs of class.
Stay tuned!
-JL
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