My Vita

Car that Stirs Your Soul

2011-07-03T21:43:00.005-07:00

Ever thought a movie about a car could stir up your soul?

Beauties of a film Hasselblad

2011-07-02T22:41:00.001-07:00

Took these photos around Newport Beach, CA with my Hasselblad

Freezing Beauty...

2011-05-13T22:17:00.001-07:00

Sub-zero temperature can lead to hypothermia, chilblains, frostbites, and eventually to death. It is amazing how such dangerous environment can be so beautiful at the same time...

Two Fifty Three Kelvin from Bart van der Gaag on Vimeo.

Place I want to be right now...

2011-05-08T20:20:00.001-07:00

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - (song is Please don't go by Barcelona) by Jon Rawlinson from WaterWideWeb.org on Vimeo.

Hoover Dam: May 2, 2010

2011-05-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia:

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named in honor of President Herbert Hoover.

What life should be about...

2011-05-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

Cars and Coffee, Irvine-CA

2011-04-30T20:30:00.001-07:00

Porche... Need I say more?

A beautifully restored Indian bike.

A Market: a perfect place to be on a Saturday morning.

2011-04-30T20:24:00.002-07:00

A Market, a beautiful little deli restaurant in Newport Beach, CA. I can't think of a better place to spend time on a beautiful Saturday morning.

Ducati Ride

2011-04-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Joon riding his Ducati Monster on a beautiful day in LA. Took this shot with my impressive Canon S95 while riding shotgun following him.

Laguna Beach

2011-04-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day at Laguna Beach CA. Can't get any better than this.

Best Marathon Training Book

2010-05-13T16:34:00.004-07:00

I have to say that this book as lived up to its highly reviewed standard. The book takes you on a 18 weeks training of training (each chapter is a different week). Initially, that whole idea of having to train for 18 weeks sounded crazy but I manged to keep it up and it was a perfect pace for me. The book goes through very specific and practical details regarding everything you need to know about running a marathon. I honestly believe that anyone can run a marathon if they followed this training schedule. I have 3 weeks left and I think I'm ready to go!!!

Square Format Project

2010-03-28T21:37:00.004-07:00

So this is my first photography project. I started it last December and finished it in March. The project is a collage of 80 square format photos arranged into a tile format. I decided to create this when I started my interest in square format photos. I'm really happy with how things turned out and looking forward to my next project, which I don't know yet.

Utah Valley Marathon

2010-03-26T09:03:00.004-07:00

So, something I've been wanting to do since high school was to run a marathon. I attempted to start training for it about 2 years ago but after 3 miles, I gave up. In January, I decided to just start and go for it all the way. So now after 3 months of training, I'm at 12 miles, signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon and on schedule to run the marathon. I'm pretty scared but at the same time exited. The marathon is on June 12.

I'm Back!!!

2010-03-23T17:05:00.003-07:00

So, It's been 13 months since I posted my last blog entry. I'm not why I stopped but I'm back and I guess that's important. I suddenly realized that blog was like my journal and that I need to keep posting. So hopefully I'll do a better job this time around.

Jun for MUSA President

2009-02-23T16:35:00.004-07:00

I have decided to run to be the next President of the Marriott Undergraduate Student Association (MUSA). I have been involved with this organization for over a year now and I feel that I can truly make a difference for all my colleagues in the Marriott school. Please read my election statement below and go to musa.byu.edu to vote for Jun!! Election is between Feb 25-27

Thank you!

Jun's Election Statement

I am the best qualified candidate to be the next president of MUSA because of my vision and my experiences.

I have a strong belief that the Marriott undergraduate program plays a crucial role in shaping you to become successful leaders in your careers. This belief has motivated me to serve you to ensure that your experiences here at the school will be a perfect balance of spirituality, intellect, and developing life-long leadership skills. I know that MUSA has the resources and the capability to make this possible, and if you vote for me, I will utilize my position as the President to best serve you and the school.

Furthermore, I have been involved with MUSA for over a year, both as Me2You Tutor and VP of Academics. This has helped me gain leadership skills and a great knowledge of the MUSA organization.

Thank you, and vote Jun for President!

Passion for Travel #2: 1000 Places to See Before You Die

2009-02-10T17:37:00.020-07:00

Continuing from my last blog...

Just over 2 years ago, I came across this New York Times #1 bestseller called, "1000 Places to See Before You Die". Maybe you can call buying this book a big mistake, cause I think I got more obsessed about traveling. Throughout the 900 pages of this book, it lists and gives a brief description of 1000 places that people should visit before they die (yea, like thats really possible) and it breaks it down into continents. Really concise descriptions of some of the most amazing places on earth. So, I bought this book and out of curiosity I marked all the places that I've gone so far, and its pretty depressing... So out of 1000 places, I've seen 44 places... That's like 4.4%. Sucks hu??

Anyway, I would really recommend this book to anyone who shares the dream that I have.

Here is the list of places that I've seen that's in the book (also not every places I've seen are included in this book):

Europe
1) Chatsworth House, Bakewell, England
2) London, England
3) Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, England
4) Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
5) York Minster, York, England
6) Vienna, Austria
7) Paris, France
8) Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France
9) Chamonix & Mont Blanc, France
10) Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany
11) The Acropolis, Athens, Greece
12) Venice, Italy
13) Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
14) Van Gogh Museum, Netherlands
15) Jungfraujoch, Bernese, Switzerland
16) Castle District, Prague, Czech Republic
17) Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic
18) Old Town Square, Prague, Czech Republic
19) Castle Hill, Budapest, Hungary
20) The Danube Bend, Budapest, Hungary
21) Rynek Glowny, Krakow, Poland
22) Wawel Hill, Krakow, Poland
23) Red Square, Moscow, Russia
24) Vikingskipheuset (Viking Museum), Oslo, Norway
25) Operakallaren, Stockholm, Sweden
26) Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum), Stockholm, Sweden

Asia
27) Hong Kong, China
28) Taal Volcano, Luzon, Philippines
29) Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
30) Phuket, Thailand

North America
31) The Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
32) Hollywood, California, USA
33) Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, USA
34) Ohau, Hawaii, USA
35) The Las Vegas Strip, Nevada, USA
36) New York City, NY, USA
37) Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA
38) Park City and Wasatch Range, Utah, USA
39) Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah, USA
40) Pike Place Market, Seattle, USA
41) The National Mall, DC, USA
42) The Smithsonian, DC, USA
43) Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
44) Teotihuacan & Nat. Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, Mexico

Like I said, these are not all the places I've been to, its just the ones that are included in this book. I'm actually pretty annoyed the fact that this book leaves Korea out entirely!! What were they thinking.

Anyhow, so I've lived almost a 1/4 of a century and only managed to cover 4.4% of what the book says I need to see before I die. If I kept at this pace, I would be 568 years old by the time I see all 1000 places. Now do you see why this book make me so much more motivated and at the same time sooo depressed????

So, in the end, I think I'm very grateful that God had made this work to be soo interesting and beautiful, cause if it weren't, I my passion would not exist anymore. So, just to sum up and just in case you haven't figure it out already, I LOVE TRAVELING!!!!

Passion for Travel, #1

2009-02-08T23:50:00.019-07:00

Just to reiterate, I’ve started this blog so that I can express the things I love the most in life (as my title states “Jun’s
Love and Life”). So far, I’ve written about my love for photography, guitar, skiing, and thought it was about time to
write about my love for travel!

If I had to pick one fortunate thing about my life, it is that I was born into parents that love traveling and thanks to them, I was exposed to traveling since I was very little. Interestingly enough, I hated traveling when I was a kid; maybe that was because our family travels weren’t always the comfortable trips. My father, who is the advocate of all the travels in our family loves to get the MOST out of our travels, meaning, seeing and doing everything we possibly can when we are at some place. Which can be tiring for a kid, as I was. Museums were extremely tedious (and there are A LOT or TOO MANY at most places we’ve traveled to, which is Europe). But as things change, I grew out of my immaturity and into adulthood (I know some of you may disagree that I have), and began to love and appreciate the different cultures and places that I was able to visit. It’s a shame, because I look back and I wish I had paid more attention to the places I had gone when I was a kid.

So here I am, at age 24, wishing I could just give up everything and just travel the world. Wouldn’t that be a great life?? Just dropping out of school to go travel has crossed my mind numerous times. Life is so short, and why not do it? Why spend the rest of my life in an office cubicle and be sheltered from all the various beauties that God has created for us to enjoy?? I guess the better way to achieve this goal is to work hard, make a lot of money, retire early, and just travel. I guess that works as well….

On the other hand, I think to myself, “should I really be complaining?” I do agree that I am extremely fortunate to be only 24 and have been to more places than most people in the world ever will in their lifetime. If my records are correct, I’ve been to just over 120 different cities/towns in 23 countries, in 3 continents (yes I do keep track of them). But I just don’t feel that is enough…

Anyway, so there is my dilemma with my love for traveling. One way or the other, I love traveling and I try to do as much as I can, whether it’s local traveling or overseas. The latter tends to me a bit more expensive…

My next post, I’ll be talking about the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”. Interesting book, and it’s motivated me to travel more!!!

To be continued…

Pictures:

1st (Top): Our family in Venice, Italy in August 1995

2nd: Our family in Bond Island, Thailand 2002, (where James Bond, Man Withe the Golden Gun was filmed)

3rd: Our family in the Philippines 1992

4th: My dad and I in Teotihuacan, Mexico, 2006

5th: Our family in the ice tunnel at Jungfraujoch, Swiss (aka, The Alps) in 2006

2009 Visa Freestyle World Cup

2009-02-08T13:35:00.008-07:00

One thing I never mentioned in this blog is how much I love skiing!!!! So that is my other passion and loving skiing makes me also love watching skiing events. For that past three years in a row, I've attended the Visa Freestyle World Cup and its amazing!!! Whats even better is attending this with the same friends for the past 3years as well!

Left to Right: Steve, Lauren, Jason, Me, Melissa, Jannifer, Eliza, Megan, Ryan

2008 Collection

2009-01-30T20:59:00.007-07:00

Here is a collection of my work from 2008. Hope you enjoy and visit: photo.net/photos/junsong for my full portfolio collection. Enjoy! (Please remember to turn the music off from the blog before you start watching this clip)

Winter in Utah

2009-01-19T16:15:00.007-07:00

Today was a beautiful Monday and since thanks to Martin Luther Jr. We didn't have school, which meant I got to go take some shots. Originally, I was planning on going up to Sundance, then hopefully through the American Fork Canyon, but when I stopped by the Vivian Park and I thought I was going to freeze my fingers off so I turned around. Yea I know I'm a girl, but its kindda hard to take pictures when you're so cold that you cant feel your fingers.

Anyway, I managed to get some shots though for the day. Enjoy!!

Deer Creek Lake: Winter

2008-12-30T19:28:00.008-07:00

Well, you gotta love Utah for its beautiful landscape. I don't know what I would do over here without the mountains!!! These were taken at the Deer Creek Lake in Utah. It was a beautiful day! Enjoy!!

San Fran to Vegas Continued

2008-12-27T23:17:00.004-07:00

Here are some more photos from my San Fran and Vegas Trip!

San Francisco to Las Vegas

2008-12-25T20:04:00.007-07:00

So, I had to go to San Fran to take care of some business and took this opportunity to take time to take some photos. After San Fran, I headed down to Las Vegas to meet some family members for Christmas. So in 3 days, I drove 1400 miles, with 800 exposures, and here are some samples from the trip.
For more pictures besides the ones displayed below, please visit http://photo.net/photos/junsong

Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach
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The only photo I was able to take on Baker Beach after dark before I got kicked off by the ranger
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Houses are soo beautiful in San Fran!!! I want one!
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Paris, France?? Not, viva Las Vegas!! I think the Eiffel tower looks better in Vegas than in France

Fashion Photography 101

2008-11-22T16:30:00.010-07:00

So my friend asked me to take some fashion photos for him for his portfolio so I gave it a go for the first time. Although I lacked some camera equipments to shoot fashion, I thought it went pretty well. All the photos were taken at the Joseph Fielding Smith Building at Brigham Young University. The models are: Courtney, Neil, and Andre. Enjoy!!

Visit http://photo.net/photos/junsong for more fashion photos!

More Passion: Classical Guitar II

2008-11-05T15:01:00.018-07:00

Journey to Passion

I started playing the classical guitar when I was 14. The reason why I decided to learn the classical guitar is a long story, but I somehow managed to take lessons for 4 years straight. Once I reached my final years in high school, due to having too much fun, I became lazy with practicing and eventually ended my lessons. Then went off to college and then LDS mission, so for several years I really didn't practice like I should have and lost some skills.

Interesting part of this is that all those years, I never really had the love or the passion for playing the classical guitar. I enjoyed it, but never would have called it my favorite thing to do. I began to realize how much I enjoyed and loved playing the guitar when I went off to England to serve my LDS mission for two years and lost my privilege to play the guitar. Its funny how people don't understand what and how much they have until they lose it. So this is what happened. I begun my journey of passion for classical guitars.

My passion for classical guitar was aroused when I couldn't have the pleasure of plucking a sweet melody of my guitar. Hence, when I returned back, I spent a lot of time and money searching for that perfect guitar for me, and once I did, I finally found my passion.

So why the Passion??
One might ask such question and there really isn't a straight answer. Having the ability to produce a sweet melody with your own fingers such as Carlos Domenicone's Koyunbaba is very gratifying experience. Playing or listening to a classical guitar music uplifts me and makes me want to be a better person (not that many things in the world can). So in summary, classical guitar is like photography for me. It is something that captures beauty that cannot be explained by words.

Check my videos at:

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJYZvdlpcz8
2) http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=503949805&
s=30&hash=e1a8d9306f36465e12491ff89185179a#/video/video.php?v=2394299805

More Passion: Classical Guitar I

2008-11-04T13:26:00.018-07:00

So, I just realized that I've titled my blog as Jun's Love & Life, which was meant to portray my love and passion in life, but I've only been posting my passion for Photography. So I've decided to blog about my love for music, specifically classical guitar.

First, what makes someone a guitar player?
Guitar is such a commonly played instrument. Everyone from teenagers who wants to be the next Kurt Cobain, to grownups hoping to woo the girl they are deeply in love with by playing the Delilah song . But there are people who play the guitar out of pure musical appreciation, and I would say that there are two main types of guitarists that fall into this category. One is the Jazz guitar player and second is the Classical guitarist. So in this blog, I'm going to talk about the latter type of guitar.

Second: What is a classical guitar?
Classical guitars are commonly known as nylon string, Spanish, or flamenco guitars. Nylon string is probably the easiest distinguishing characteristics that people can recognize about a classical guitar. The nylon string produces much lower tension and enables to produce much smoother and softer sounds than a steel sting guitar. Also, classical guitars have a slightly smaller body than a regular acoustic guitar and have less frets.

Third: How it classical guitar played?
Classical guitar is played very differently than a ordinary acoustic guitar. Instead of using a finger or a pick to strum and pick, in classical guitar, the 4 fingers of the dominant hand is used to pluck the individual strings. The index, middle and the ring finger are almost always used only for plucking the top 3 strings. Then the thumb is responsible for plucking the last 3 base strings. Also, all the plucking is done through the nail of the fingers, hence, classical guitarist keep a very well kept long nails, which are all individually shaped for the plucking of the string.

Fourth: What kind of music does it play?
Classical music can be very versatile, it can range from traditional classical music, to Spanish flamenco, to jazz and soft pop or rock music.

Here are some of my favorite Classical guitar composers and their music:
1) Recuerdos de Alhambra, by Francisco Tarrega
2) Asturias, by Isaak Albeniz
3) Koyunbaba, by Carlo Domeniconi

So hope that's enough for now and I'll be posting more on my passion for classical guitar on "More Passion: Classical Guitar II"

Love of Photography: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2008-11-01T21:11:00.004-07:00

People say that a picture is worth a thousand words and many reasons can be attributed to it. My love of photography can be explained by this proverb. Photography is a tool that enables us to capture the beauty that is in the eye of a beholder. It enables us to freeze and keep to ourselves the beauty that God has created all around us. Unfortunately, not every beauty that we observe can be capture by photography, but at the same time, photography enables us to capture beauty that our naked eyes cannot observe.

Beauty is what translates a picture into a thousand words. Often times, people ignorantly perceive beauty as only that which we are attracted to, but beauty lies in everything that arouses our emotion. Just like a movie, a play or music can, a picture has the ability to arouse our senses of fear, joy, love, uncertainty, curiosity and more. These emotions are what “a thousand word” is; because emotion is a language that cannot be portrayed simply in few words.

My love of photography is tremendously influenced by this ability to capture that “thousand words” or emotion into a single frame, and share it with others. Having the ability to allow God’s beauty to be seen by others is a highly self-fulfilling experience. I hope through this you have been able to better understand what photography means to me and the beauty that it holds.

Hope you enjoy my photos below and all that's yet to come.

Love,

Jun

More Utah Autumn: Deer Creek Rservior & BYU

2008-11-01T20:26:00.012-07:00

click on the image to view larger size :)

Utah's Autumn 2008

2008-10-25T21:54:00.007-07:00

Well Utah being a desert, it obviously doesn't have too much green, and since there aren't the Autumn here isn't soo pretty. But there are places that does get pretty nice, such as the Provo Canyon. So I managed to capture some beauty that exists.

Hawaii 27 September - 2 October

2008-09-17T21:06:00.007-07:00

So, just came back from Hawaii for my sister's wedding. She got married there and that allowed me to take advantage of our trip for some great photo shoots. Obviously, Hawaii is a beautiful place and had some opportunity to take some beautiful photos.

My Sister in from of the China Man's Hat Island
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A girl cliff jumping at Waimea Beach
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Line of coconut trees in from the the China Man's Hat Island

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UVF Boating with a Billionaire- 6 Aug 2008

2008-08-11T22:05:00.003-07:00

So, pretty sweet day. I’m doing an internship with a venture capital fund called University Venture Fund (UVF) and Jim Sorenson (the richest family in the state of Utah) is one of the Board members of our fund. As an office retreat he took us out boating at Echo Lake for the whole day.

Pretty sweet experience, you don’t get many chances to just go chill with a billionaire in your lifetime! Anyway, this was my second time wake boarding and it was fun, we had some good guys and not so good guys at wake boarding, but overall it was a sweet experience.

Jake doing his thing
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Jim Sorenson and Jake in the background
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Brennen doing his thing
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Me, trying to do my think!! LOL
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Us, chilling on the boat

More Pictures from Bryce & Zions Camping Trip

2008-08-04T15:49:00.008-07:00

Click on the image to view larger size
Come visit http://photo.net/photos/junsong
and rate and critique my photos!!! Thanks!

Bryce & Zions Camping Trip (24-17 July 2008)

2008-08-02T17:22:00.010-07:00

Just returned from an amazing camping trip to Bryce Canyon and Zions National Park. There were three of us at the trip, Jason DeMann, Colby Butchereit and myself. We spent the frist night at Bryce Canyon's Ruby's Inn, which turned out to be an amazing place to camp. Ruby's Inn had great fascilities, including showers, pools, and even hot tub!!! So it was nice having that after a long hike.

Second and third night was spend at Zion's National Park. We were able to do some amazing hikes and a great time. Here are the summary of hikes we've done

Day 1
Fairyland Loop @ Bryce Canyon total 8 miles rount trip

Day 2
Navajo and Peekaboo Loop @ Bryce Canyon total 5 miles round trip
Anglels Landing @ Zions Nat Park total 5 miles round trip

Day 3
Narrows @ Zions National Park total 9 miles round trip

Here are some pictures for ya!!!
(click on the pics for larger view)

Panorama Shot @ Bryce with Jason
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Sunset @ Bryce after a rainstorm
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Sunset @ Bryce after a rainstorm
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Narrows @ Zions
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Rainbow at Zions
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Review: Bogen-Manfrotto BO 190XDB with 484R Ball Head

2008-08-01T19:07:00.011-07:00

I just returned from an awesome camping trip to Southern Utah, Bryce Canyons and Zions National Park and just to make sure I can get some awesome shots, I bought a tripod to use when I get there. My best friend recommended that I get the Manfrotto BO 190XDB with 484R ball head. I paid approximately $130 from B&H photo and I'm very satisfied with is overall.

The legs are very sturdy and lightweight (3.5 lbs) at the same time and also the legs are independently adjustable so they are great for leveling on uneven surfaces. This is the first time I've ever used a ball head and it took time to get used to. I didn't think about this when I bought is but it is much harder to do landscape photos with a ball head since you cannot independently make horizontal rotation without affecting the vertical shift. I would say that was the only down side with the head.

For the legs, the only downside I can think of is the locks for the legs. Instead of the common quick release lock, BO 190XDB uses screw lock, which means you have to screw and unscrew every time you want to release the legs. Although this is disadvantageous, it was very easy to release the legs and worked very smoothly .

Overall, I would definitely recommend this tripod to anyone who is looking for a solid tripod for a good price value. I'm hoping to do a video review on this tripod so check back again sometime soon!

Pictures from Bryce and Zions

Taking panoramic shots at Bryce Canyon's Fairyland Loop (left and below right)

On top of Angels Landing in Zions. Because it was soo windy up there I had to weigh down the tripod with my backpack. (left and below right)

Burreston Pond Pope Swinging- 18Jul08

2008-07-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so decided to go back to the Burreston Bond, 30 min outside Provo with couple of friends. Jason, Colby, Eun-Jin and Nadja was there. We had fun with swinging into the pond, except for Eun-Jin who almost died (well pretty bad) by deciding to head to the top of the tree on her first attempt. She hesitated last minute and didn't hold onto the rope long enough. She let go half way through her swing and went into the shallow water. I think that shook everyone there up pretty good but she was fine. She did two more attempts at a lower point and manage to make the third one. Brave girl.

For me, I had fun, and got to take some fun pictures.

From Left: Colby, Jason, Me, Nadja, Eun-Jin

Me swinging into the pond

Photography 1

2008-07-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

Flower outside the BYU library
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I actually just took this during my birthday lunch at a Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos. Very good food!!

First Time

2008-07-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is completely new for me. Never been into blogs and now I have my own. Joon (my friend Joon) recommended that I start my blog so here I am. I'm probably gonna use this to mainly update my photos, travel info and just random life update. Oh and also, I know my heading sounds like Love Life, but its meant to mean more like things I love and my life.