Semester's over!

Finally, the winter semester of 2013 is over! except finals. This semester has been super long, and was one of the toughest semester ever. I had a lot of writing assignments, which I am not very good at. This is probably why I struggled so much this semester. Well, it's all over now. I just need to take four finals and I am done!
I haven't taken a break since January 2012. I have been going to school for 16 consecutive months without a break, and I need one. I am going to take summer off and just relax. I am so excited about it, but I don't have specific plans. Probably it's not a good time to plan for summer, because I should focus on finals. But, as soon as I am done with my finals, I will plan for my summer and make the best out of it. Four months is not a short period of time. I will not waste my time, but make it valuable. I am so looking forward the semester to be over!

Group Presentation and Practice

Last Tuesday, in Mcom class, we had a group presentation. Our group's presentation was on Analysis of complaints against Apple and the iPhone. Our group met on Monday to practice presentation. The group practice wasn't enough for me because I struggle with presentations a lot. Thus, when I got home, I practiced more, and during the practice, I recorded myself presenting to see and hear myself in a third-person's view.

I personally believe the presentation on Tuesday went well, better than my expectation. I am sure that's because of the practice. Without going over the practice many many times, I would have not done the presentation as well as I did.
Practice is very important in many cases. Sometimes I am overconfident that I don't practice. But the result is not always good. I cannot change the result ex-post, but I can change the result ex-ante. Thus, it is always good and important to practice beforehand in order to guarantee good results.

networking

I went on a picnic to the Canyon Glen Park with the Korean Business Student Association yesterday. The purpose of the picnic was networking, and I decided to join it because I didn't know many Koreans at BYU and I felt a need tor the network with other Koreans.
We played some games and had a barbecue together. It was good to know other Koreans at BYU because we could share useful information about school. Many of them are in the Marriott School, and I was able to ask some questions about different majors.
I guess one of the major goals of networking is to share information, and without networking, we will fall behind. These days, I feel the importance of networking, more than any other times in my life. However, it is still not so easy for me to build relationships with others. I become very shy with other people when I hardly know them. Thus, I have been putting off going to such meetings. But I will participate in those networking events more often, and build valuable relationships. Changes are good and good changes are even better. So I will make good changes of myself.


Please do the survey at the following link about your experience at KBSA meeting:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WnBPQsOMGVHRFFSCoa4P6yrq11Sg6SdmmfVjCcP5Sak/viewform

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

I joined Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and we had an initiation banquet last Wednesday. Honestly, I joined this society because it would look nice on my resume. I went to the banquet because the dinner was free. So, I dressed up and went to the banquet alone, but there were a few people I knew, so we seated at the same table. I wasn't really interested in the society itself. Rather, I was more interested in the potential benefits as a member. But, as I was sitting in the banquet, I thought it might be a good opportunity to socialize and form relationships. In MCOM class, the professor and the guest speaker talked about the importance of relationship. In today's business world, relationship means a lot. I am a shy person, and it is not easy for me to approach others and initiate conversation. But, as I get to know more people in the society, I will be able to build relationship with more people. I don't want to use them for my success in the business world. Rather, I want to be a mutually beneficial source.Thus, I need to pursue my goal and become a successful person to contribute to the society.
Nowadays, I feel the importance of relationships even more. Even in everyday life, with my closest friends, it is very easy to hurt them and hurt the relationship. However, recovering the hurt relationship is hard, and maintaining good relationship is not easy. So I believe that I need to start learning how to maintain good relationship and start to care more about others and their feelings. I know it will take some time, but I know that if I can keep good relationship with my friends, I won't be able to have good relationship with others in the world out there.

GO DISABLE? GOD IS ABLE!

I went to Nick Vijicic concert last Friday at Utah Valley University. Nick is a man with no arms and legs, and he travels the world to give hope in Christ. He mentioned many memorable things, but one quote really struck my mind: "Go Disable? God is able!" When we place our weaknesses and disabilities in God, then our mighty God will use us.

I often feel like I don't want to share my weaknesses with others because I don't want them to look down on me. However, even though I cover up my weaknesses, that doesn't turn my weaknesses to strengths. I still have those weaknesses that I don't know what to do with. But when I bring those weaknesses to God, they can be used to glorify God because God shows that He is the One who turns weaknesses into strengths.
It works in daily relationships as well. People sometimes see things of us that we don't want them to see, but if we try to cover up ourselves, we will lose trust from them. However, if we admit our weaknesses, then it could improve the relationship and result in better outcomes than we thought. Disability, not being able, is not something that we need to be ashamed on, but rather something that we should treat as a chance for something better.
It is not easy to admit my weaknesses, but I will try not to excuse myself. I will rather accept my faults and seek for improvements. Also, when I admit and overcome my weaknesses, I will be able to bring hopes to others through Christ.

Writing, a difficult task

This week, I had the first formal writing assignment of the year, the memo. I knew writing is not an easy process, but it was so much harder to write formally. I had to revise the memo several times, get it proofread by others, revise again, and repeat the process. Now I understand that it takes a lot longer time and more effort to write a good, concise paper.
Not only with the formal writing, but with the less formal writings for other classes, I struggled as well. I thought the writing was not a big deal for other classes because they were not an English class. But I ended up losing quite a bit of points on my writings, mostly due to simple errors such as misspelling and grammar mistakes. If I proofread my papers even once, I would have caught those mistakes.
Writing is different from speaking in the sense that the errors in the writing are seen as a more serious problem than the errors in the speaking because writings could have been revised before submitted. Also, writings can be kept permanently.
I will take all of my writings more seriously from now on. I will put more efforts in writing, I will proofread, and I will take my writing to a writing center or TA's for revision.

Go fight only if you can Win!

I watched an online lecture from a successful business man in Korea. He was a lawyer in the Wall Street, and now he is a CEO of a jean company, James Jeans, in America. He said many things about his success, but one quote from him was very striking to me. He claimed that he has never failed. His secret to his success was that he only went fight in a "war" where he can win.
In Korean history, there was a legendary general who fought 23 times and won 23 times. He said he would not fight if he could not win. It sounds cowardly. However, he could not sacrifice the lives of his soldiers, Also, it is not an easy task to find out the likelihood of winning in a war, and that means he was a very brilliant strategist. More importantly, he kept preparing and waited until he is ready to win.
The moral from the lecture is that I need to prepare myself well enough that I win in a "war." I live in a world where many people easily challenge for success and easily give up, and it is hard to say that I am not that kind of person. I still have two or three more years of school until I graduate from college, but I will have many opportunities before graduation to face a challenge such as applying for a job/internship interview. I might have several interviews that I can try and I might be able to let some of the interviews be failure, and still get an internship. However, from now on, I will change my attitude. I will try really hard and prepare myself well for the interviews or any other challenges that are waiting for me, so I can win those challenges and never fail. I will start from small changes such as trying my best for assignments and tests. Of course, getting an A doesn't guarantee a success, but I will prove myself that I am capable of winning and I can actually do it.

I am an early adopter hahaha

Yesterday, I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. I wanted to have and needed a tablet so I can use while TAing and taking notes at school. I was a little hesitant because I didn't know what to get and because of the price. I was never a tech guy, and never an early adopter. I would've bought it like after a year, when everyone has a tablet, but my dad helped me finance it, so now I have it!
The Galaxy Note has so many cool features that I don't know how to use and I don't even know what they are (but I know they are cool). I am still trying to figure out how to use the tablet properly and effectively. I know the tablet can make my life so much easier if I use it well. I watched a lecture from a perspective designer who works for 11 different companies. He said he uses his smartphone as his personal secretary.
I also want to make a best use out of it, so that I don't waste my money on just a piece of machine that looks cool. Now, I feel I am a step closer to the fast changing world. It will help me communicate with others more efficiently and effectively, because of its portability and its features which were developed to help communication.
It will be a pain to learn how to use the tablet, but I am pretty sure it will pay back. My life is quite busy now for studying and working, but I will set a time to make an investment, studying the tablet, so I have a greater rewards in the future.

Mission: a command of God to his people

I attended a meeting on Friday, and the meeting was about God's calling for His children. The presenter talked about how God's purpose for us is shown throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. God wants us to worship Him and praise His and His Son's name.
A few weeks ago, a professor at BYU, who is in charge of the Christian club at BYU, talked to me about mission. I have always wanted to go on a mission, but the fact that I already spent two years on my military duty in my country kind of put me off. After the talk  with the professor, I decided to look more into the mission, and see if there are any projects that I can work on over the summer.
The meeting on Friday helped me more get more into going on a mission over the summer. I got a list of organizations through which I can go on a mission. I will be looking at more possibilities and find some projects that I can work on and be helpful. I am very excited!


The following is a link to a blog that I was looking at when I was looking for some possible projects: http://missionaryblogdigest.wordpress.com/

First Presentation Ever!

I gave my first presentation this week in my life of 23 years! I spent quite a bit of time to prepare for the presentation, but I was still nervous until I finished my presentation. I was so happy to be done with it. But, after I was done with my presentation, I thought it wasn't that bad actually. I wished I had prepared more, but it was a quite exciting experience.
We've got more presentations coming in the Mcom class. We are currently studying about presentations. I am a little afraid of giving a presentation in front of other people, especially in English. I believe that is because I am too concerned about myself. In chapters 11 and 12  in the text book, it talks about how we can give an effective presentations. I will use those guidelines to prepare a presentation well so that I can have confidence in myself and the presentation materials, but when I start giving the presentation, I will remember that, at that point, it is not about me any more but it is about  others and how they can get what I want them to get. If I remember that, I believe I can be more effective in giving presentations, and that will increase my confidence.

Afriad of job interviews

Last night, I attended a job-interview workshop conducted by Korean Business Student Association. In the workshop, there were some possible interview question examples to look over, mock interviews, and lectures from those who graduated from BYU a couple of years ago and who are in working fields now. I am not anticipating any job or internship interviews any time soon, but I just went there to get some guidance in how to prepare for interviews because I never had an experience with interviews and I thought it's the time to get started on job-searching and preparation for getting a job.
This workshop helped me a lot, but at the same time, it scared me out. Interview settings seem to make me nervous and intimidated. It seemed very difficult for a person like me to get interviewed in English. (Speaking English still makes me kind of nervous.)
Nevertheless, I am so glad I went to the workshop. I learned that to do well in an interview, I need to practice a lot and have a lot of real experience of interviews. I also learned that interviews are not just about answering the questions but also about the attitude, the verbal tone, the facial expression, and many others. Fortunately, I still have time to prepare for interviews. I kind of set aside the preparation for an interview, but I won't any more.
I am preparing for the grammar presentation in the Mcom class on Tuesday. I believe it will be a great experience and practice for an interview even though the settings are not exactly the same.
Also, from now on, I will start researching on companies that I am interested in, because showing my interest in the company is a very important part of an interview. Also, by doing so, I can find companies that I want to work for.

Second week of school: really different from the first week

Finally, the second week of a new semester is over. This week was a very busy, stressful week. I am still excited to learn, but I am a little overwhelmed by the amount of work that I have to do. I am taking only 15 credits this semester, and 3 of them are for the On-Campus Internship, but I feel like I already have no life.
Part of the reason I got so busy this week was that some assignments came up unexpectedly. They weren't given unexpectedly, but I just didn't see them coming. I try to plan ahead and get things done ahead of time, but I guess I didn't plan ahead enough this time. Some assignments for some classes are hard to follow when they are due and what I am supposed to do. However, that's just an excuse. I am responsible to figure them out and get them done by the due date. So, over the weekend, I will look at the syllabi and schedule the assignment so that I am ready for them. Also, I have a monday off next week, so I will get as much assignment as possible by monday night.
This week, I started working on the project for the On-Campus Internship as a team. We work for the Asian Chamber of Commerce in Colorado, and my role in the team is the Sponsor Liaison. So, I had to write some e-mails to the sponsor, and I thought of the formal business letters and proper grammar we learned in Mcom class. I still wasn't sure if I was writing correctly, but I hope my writing improves over the semester. I am glad I can have a real life experience to practice my writing.

First week of the winter semester of 2013

Thank God! First week of a new semester is over! First week is always exciting, but, at the same time, tiring. I had to figure out how the schedule is going to work, how fun my classes are going to be, and how nice my professors are. So far, everything seems great; I love my classes and I am excited to learn from those classes; I love my new professors as well. They seem to be nice and not boring.
I've already got homeworks, but it's BYU, so it is nothing unexpected. For some classes, I took the previous-level classes quite a long time ago, so I have some gaps in between, but I hope they get filled up pretty soon.
I am very zealous about learning and studying as of the first week. However, I found out that I am good at starting on homeworks/assignments, but not as good at finishing them, especially those in which I am not so interested. This is what happened to this blog assignment. I opened this blog up on the day that the assignment was given, but I have postponed posting until now.
So here is the deal: I have finished scheduling and setting aside time for doing homework. I will try to keep up with the schedule, and try to finish homeworks 2 days before the due dates so I have more time to improve my homeworks and I don't have to rush at the very last minute. Also, for the first few weeks of the semester, I won't have as much homework as other weeks. So, I will spend time reviewing rather than just killing time. Finally, I am so glad that I am taking an Mcom class and a Creativity class. I am a very shy person especially in American culture, so I have a hard time communicating with others. I hope to improve my communication skills and my personality through those classes.