4 Destinations of My Vacations

• Alaska to see the northern lights "Aurora"
• South Africa to see Cape Point and experience safari
• Venezuela to see Angel Falls
• New Zealand to walk in Milford Track

Goals of 2005

• Meet People
• Make Friends
• Find a Church
• Work Hard Play Harder
• Keep in Touch
• Skip Weddings
• Win 10 Games
• Beat the Cocks

A quick recap

It has been well over 365 days since I received my diploma. Let's look back at what I have accomplished so far with my degree in Marketing.

Flew between Japan and America...4 1/2 times

Good-byes: 3 times

Places I visited(outside SC): Honolulu, HI, Miami, FL, Key West, FL, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, MD, Washington D.C., Charlotte, NC, Raleigh, NC, Durham, NC, Gatlingburg, TN, Savannah, GA, Athens, GA, Commerce, GA, Atlanta, GA, Kyoto(JP), Osaka(JP), Tokyo(JP), Nagoya(JP), Yokohama(JP), New York, NY, etc

Sporting Events I attended: Clemson Basketball games, Clemson Baseball games, NASCAR NEXTELL Cup Atlanta 500, Clemson Football vs. NC State(W), vs Miami(W), vs Duke(L), vs South Carolina(W), MLB Season'04 Opening Game NY Yankees vs TB Devil Rays in Tokyo Dome, Oakland Athletics at Boston Redsox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, NY Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres at Atlanta Braves, NBA Seattle Supersonics at NY Knicks, etc

Weddings I attended: Seth & Ashley Young's, Will & Mary Katherine Fowler's, and Bert & Hannah Epting's(maybe more)

Mac's: countless and Pat gave me a Mac's shirt...I miss it

White House on President St.: countless and I left a mark on Andrew's new couch

Nick Pascazio: I cussed him out

...so I had a lot of fun in 2004. But in a way it was empty. Hopefully this year will be more goal-oriented, which I think will be because my life will take a little spin by the job starting in April, living in a different country after a 9-year journey in SC, and walking in the urban faster lifestyle. At least, I am hoping for a change.

Tokyo Baptist Church

I went to an English-speaking baptist church today. First of all, their 4th service begins at 3pm and I like it.　　I walk in and saw a diversed group of singers (one of them was a Japanese lady in Kimono and bouncing) on stage singing "You Are All I want." And then 2 Japanese girls got baptised...a black guy dumped them into water as a typical baptist church does in the South. Honestly I had never seen those baptism tubs or whatever you call it in person. I only saw it when Deion got baptised which was shown on Beyond the Glory. And then their pastor from Arizona gave a sermon and at the end shared with us that a couple from Iran accepted Christ this morning during the 3rd service and they are getting dumped next sunday.

I really liked this church a lot(except for the fact that the service lasted for an hour and 45 minutes). I had been there once before but it was okay then. It was almost a culture shock to see that many people from different places gather for the same reason. and they really encourage people to participate in ministries. But at the same time, it was really comforting that I almost felt like I was at a church back in SC...praise songs I recognized, people talking English, somewhat informal/casual manner of service, etc and a guy named Joel from LA came and introduced himself afterwards instead of passing the peace with me. He was about my age I think. There were some chicks too...

Maybe I have found my church

Horizontal Expansion

Today, my circle of friendship expanded from 3 to 8. It was quite awesome to be able to hang out with guys my age.

Howerver, I am yet to meet a female.

Mt. Fuji

I was gone to visit my grand-mother in Gifu for new years. On the way home, I got a clear view of...