WHAT'S IN A NAME? Hi there. I'm Phoebe, and I'm the youngest child in a family of four. My friends call me 'Sun' or 'Pheebs,' but at home I'm called 'Du-Song,' which is what my dad nicknamed me when I was born. In Korean, 'dul' means 'two' and 'song-ee' is a counter for flowers, so my name means 'two flowers.' I'm the second daughter, so I guess my dad thought of me as his second flower. He's a pretty creative thinker that way.
THE WONDER YEARS I was born in Seoul, Korea at 2pm on October 26, 1977. October 26th is a pretty important date to remember, by the way. Ito Hirobumi was shot on October 26, 1909, and seventy years later, when I turned two, Park Chung Hee was also shot. Interesting, no?
After attending a mere 6-months of pre-school in Shilim-dong, I moved with my family to the Pacific, Micronesian island of Guam when I was five years-old. In 1984, I was born again at Harvest Baptist Church, and am a member of the Evangelical Laymen's Church (ELC). While I have been eating my spiritual main courses at ELC, I've also been blessed with spiritual vitamin supplements from the following: Dr. Charles Stanley, Steve Pettit Evangelistic Association, Institute of Creation Research, International Testimony To An Infallible Bible, and Dr.Hal Lindsey.
For elementary school, I attended San Miguel Elementary School (K-2), Tamuning Elementary School (3), and finally, St. Anthony School (4-8), where I stayed until I finished middle school. Then I went on to the Academy of Our Lady of Guam, and graduated from high school with seventy five "young ladies of Academy" (as Sister Jerome would say) on June 1, 1995.
LEAVING THE NEST I spent most of the summer after my high school graduation holding down my first job. I didn't have to get a job, but I wanted to, just to put myself through the experience and get a taste of real life. It turned out that getting a job was harder than I'd thought it'd be, especially because I had no prior work experience. Well, "duh," I thought in frustration, as several prospective employers turned me away after finding out that I had no work experience under my belt. How would I ever gain work experience if no one would hire me because of my lack of experience in the first place? At least I learned how it feels to be rejected for lack of work experience and, if I am ever in a hiring position in the future, I hope I'll remember to give people more of a chance.
I put in a good two months of full time work that summer, and it was enough to get me itching to get back to school. After going on a family trip to Korea for two weeks in August, and delivering my post-h.s.-grad/pre-college-entry greetings to my relatives there, I was back on a plane. This time, it was just my mom accompanying me, and we were headed to a place on the other side of the world from Guam... Philadelphia. Or "Filthydelphia," as my friend who is a Philly native likes to call it. So one, terribly hot and humid August day in 1995, I arrived in Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Then one, blustery and cold May night in 1999, I found myself trying to keep warm inside a flimsy black graduation gown, wondering where all the time had gone, and how my tassle had made it to the "other side."
BEYOND THE BUBBLE Officially, I graduated in August 1999 with a major in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, with a concentration in Japanese. I can also speak a handful of unsavory German phrases, thanks to some Korean-German friends I met in Korea during the summer of 1990. Of course, they assured me that they were teaching me some "friendly" greetings, and it wasn't until I practiced my newly-learned German on someone and saw the appalled look on her face that I realized otherwise.
I still have a passion for learning languages and hope to better my Japanese and Korean, as well as learn Spanish and/or French. I really envy people in Europe who grow up speaking three or more different languages. My friend in Germany, for example, grew up speaking Korean in the house, spoke French and German at school, learned English from middle school until high school, and then studied Japanese in college. My goodness! When growing up, I always used to say that I'd be an ambassador someday, just like Shirley Temple Black. Now I'm not so sure about being an ambassador, but I still have a desire to work for/with the state department, before eventually settling down as a middle school teacher in some small suburban town.
In any case, before I go off and make any further, grandiose plans, I still have two years of active duty naval service to finish up. In Nov '99, I moved up to Newport, Rhode Island to commence six months of training, learning the basics of surface warfare at SWOS. After completing my training in mid-May '00, I packed up again, this time for a transpacific journey to Yokosuka, Japan, to report onboard the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56). I served as the ship's Ordnance Officer, after having been the First Lieutenant (Deck Division Officer) for the first year. I was fortunate to work with these guys each day. It was a highly challenging, but rewarding, experience. The officers and crew were great, and I learned alot while I was in Japan. Most of all, I learned how much I missed America and how much I had taken living in the mainland for granted. When I returned to the mainland for the first time in almost two years in late March/early April 2002, I wanted to kiss the ground on which I walked. I realized then that I had never quite appreciated being an American and living in America until I was forced to live overseas for almost two years. The military is good like that, in that it teaches one to appreciate things that one normally takes for granted every day. After a short break in duty here at San Diego, CA, and a month of training at Legal Officer School, I am off to my next assignment: Lemoore Naval Air Station, Lemoore, CA. Where is this place called Lemoore? Approximately 40 miles south of Fresno and about four hours' drive north of Los Angeles. This will be the first time in my naval service that I will be far from the ocean. I will miss it sorely.
POTPOURRI Aside from foreign languages, my hobbies include: words (spellings and etymologies); jigsaw puzzles; poetry; world history/geography; travel; camping; fishing; sailing; photography; movies; dance; basketball; tennis; pool; bowling; equestrian; and animals. My two favorite channels are The Movie Channel and The Discovery Channel, while my two favorite shows remain "Mad About You" and "Seinfeld." I'll watch anything, though. I guess you can say that I'm an equal-opportunity viewer. Hahaha. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that I'm extremely corny, so much so that I laugh at my own jokes all the time. =P
ART When it comes to paintings, some of my favorite artists are Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, Caspar David Friedrich, Robert Henri, and Pablo Picasso. George Bellows' painting, "The Boxer," is pretty rad too. In the fall of 1997, over Thanksgiving Break, my friend Mi-Young and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. There I discovered, and fell in love with, two magnificent paintings: James J. Shannon's "Jungle Tales," and Winslow Homer's "Veteran in a New Field." I definitely recommend the Met Museum to anyone; it was such a beautiful place. I also went to the Guggenheim Museum, but since I'm not a big fan of contemporary art, the architecture of the building impressed me more than its exhibitions.
GOOD READS Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth" tops my book list, but I also love tales by Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, and Rudyard Kipling. Here is a website that also provides some great biographical readings.
MUSIC I love listening to Irish music, as well as to Broadway musicals. In addition to being an oldies' music fan, I generally like light rock/pop sounds, and favor the sound of female over male vocalists. I'm currently really into Wendy Lee Ip, an up and coming artist I stumbled across on mp3.com. Not only are her piano playing and unique voice wonderful to listen to, but I really relate to her songs. She's the first female Asian-American vocalist I've discovered to my liking (I know Coco Lee's been on the radio these days, but her songs don't really hold much meaning for me), and I'm excited to see her popularity grow in the future. Her CD, "What's Normal Anyway?" is only $9.99, so if you like her music as much as I did, please support this terrific artist!
Wendy Lee Ip
Some other favorite female artists include Macy Gray, Britney Spears, Lauryn Hill, Natalie Imbruglia, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Natalie Cole, Jewel, Alanis Morrisette, Amanda Marshall, Natalie Merchant (Ten Thousand Maniacs), Paula Abdul, Susanna Hoffs, Belinda Carlisle, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Jaci Velasquez, Sarah Brightman, and Maria Callas.
As for male artists/groups, Francis Kim is another talented artist I've recently discovered. Francis' work inspires me to follow my own dream of writing a book someday. Francis wrote all his songs, and his lyrics are quite profound--he is not only a musician, but an introspective poet. His songs bring up various issues, and challenge you to open your mind. They are definitely not meant for the "polish"-ed kind of people.
Francis, thank you for your encouragement. I think you've got alot of talent, and am rootin' for you. The best of luck to you, my friend!
I also enjoy listening to The Beatles, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Peter Gabriel, John Denver, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Boyz-II-Men, KC & JoJo, 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, Savage Garden, CAKE, Barenaked Ladies, and LFO. I've been listening to some Korean music over the summer, and I've discovered that I really like S.E.S., some of FIN.K.L.'s songs, Young Turks, and Yangpa (Onion). Korean music is getting better and better, so I'll probably have more Korean faves to add to this list in the future. Regardless, my utmost favorite song will always be "Lady in Red," by Chris De Burgh.
Here are some sites from where you can download free music:
"THAT'S A WRAP!" Well, I think that was more than enough for this intro page. To throw in some random info about my personality, I'll just add that my bloodtype is AB+, that I started out as a leftie when I was little, but was forced to switch over to my right hand (I'm ambidexterous now), and that my favorite color is blue. You're probably wondering what this has to do with my personality. Well, I wonder about how true this is, but a friend of mine told me that type AB+ people are supposed to be very outgoing. Then for the leftie/rightie thing, I learned that people who are lefties use the right side of their brain more than the left side of the brain. Consequently, lefties are believed to be more artistic and creative than righties, but being ambidexterous, I think I'm at a personality crisis. :) Finally, according to a forward I received, people whose favorite color is blue are supposed to get along best with people whose favorite color is green. So far, it's proven true, since my mom and the majority of my close friends say their favorite color is green.
Hey, guess what? I'm a--
What color Yoshi are you? Come take the quiz!
In any case, I am an Idealist (eNFj) according to the Keirsey Personality Test. Check it out, and see in which category you belong.