one day at a time... work hard, play hard, train hard...

So random... I think I posted a similar entry last spring.. last weekend, I ran into Coach Dre again (HS track coach) at a restaurant.. so random.. i used to run into him all the time, all over the place... slightly odd that it's continued through college and work life!!

Anyways, so because the WUSA crashed, many of the pro players are signing with the league that I played in last summer... apparently Brandi Chastain has already signed with some CA team.. pretty cool, except that my team for some reason is not playing in that league this year.. and there don't seem to be any other teams close by... sucks..

i'm kinda bummed cuz i spoke with a coach of a jersey team in a sister league to the one i played in, and he wants to see me play and compete for the position, but then he continues to say that i would be competing against a girl who played with the u21 national team. great, thanks, i'll just take a seat on the bench and go home crying...

i guess there are 2 options to take.. give up, which i've never quite been good at; or fight for the position... but is it worth the time and effort, and is it worth being the underdog the whole way through the fight? i don't know. at this rate, i've got no chance... believe it or not, today was the 1st time i stepped in my gym since probably november.. yeah, since i hurt my leg... my main form of exercise was walking to the fridge and grabbing food at work, and playing soccer once a week.. that kind of shows you where my heart's at.. if i really wanted to play, i would have been training the whole time through...

i often wonder why i want to play so badly.. is it to prove something to my family (coming from a typical asian family that encouraged education a lot more than anything else) that i can succeed in this sport and reach my childhood dreams that have constantly been greatly discouraged?? or is to prove something to myself... i really don't know anymore. am i still dreaming and setting myself up for failure?? i feel that God has something in store for me in this line of business... playing on the Peking U. softball team really let me see the gifts that God has graciously given me, and well, i see those gifts carrying over onto the soccer field with the members of a soccer team...

i'm confused.. clearly.. haha.. nothing new i guess.. yeah, i could just play for fun, but i'm never happy just "playing for fun.." i tried that this past fall... i guess i really need to keep the focus on the big man. in the end, it's ultimately about Him, not me or my childhood dreams or whatever... i guess i'll just try to focus on one day at a time.. work hard, play hard, train hard and not worry about what happens this summer.. what happens happens.. easier said than accept...

getting late...

confused

We had this National Sales Conference last week right in Philly. I thought I'd have a nice break by attending the conference, as things before the conference were really crazy as we got together all of our materials for a presentation we were giving (compliance is mad strict nowadays), but man, those sales people sure can party! Mike Egruzione (is that how you spell his name??), the US captain of the 1980 Olympic hockey champions, opened up our event with a great talk on teamwork... then we had this other speaker who was AMAZING to close the conference... apparently one of the top motivational speakers in the world or US?? (i guess they have competitions or something).. anyways, he was real good... spoke on the topic: "attitude is everything"... bringing people to tears and all.. wow. if you weren't motivated after that, well.. don't know what would. so clear that he was a Christian... the way he spoke, the language he used... wish you could've heard him.. real good..

the sales conference was great, except that it confused me even more! after the conference, you couldn't help but want to work for my company. i'm definitely excited for the co., as i think we're going to have a great year, but if you had asked me a week prior to the conf., you totally would have heard me saying.. "i don't know.. work is alright.. not sure what i want to do.. kind of want to go to china... teach, play soccer...," and leaning towards that direction, now, well, i may be leaning in the opposite direction. eek!

To make things worse, I got the privilege to help out with 2nd round recruiting yesterday and today...bad idea (but great too). It was really neat to be on the other end of the process, talking and actually interviewing people, and picking and voting on who I felt was a good fit for the program (quite a harsh process i must say). It was a great experience though, but really weird because it was me exactly one year ago, sitting in that same hotel room, having the same cocktail party at the same place... very odd.. met a few columbia kids too! There's definitely some impressive people in that crew, so I'm excited, especially since my overall top pick will be getting an offer for my position in my business unit! Hope he accepts!

Now I just have to figure out where the heck I want to go next year... hopefully not Indiana, but as I've been saying for the past 2 days... (i've basically brainwashed myself into believing that any location will be great cuz it's only 1 year), it won't be that bad. I'm not sure if the motivational speaker got to me, and now all of a sudden i have this overly positive attitude towards the work that i do, or if i've just sold myself and the program so much the past 2 days to recruits or what.. but I've successfuly convinced myself, and hopefully the recruits, that lincoln is great and the pdp program is awesome...well.. anyways, i guess i've just confused myself even more on what to do with my life.. i'll probably be around lincoln. it's hard to separate yourself now.. after telling the whole world that you love it and all. i really wish i could just take 1 year off to explore a bit, see if there's something else out there, separate from the financial services industry, that i'm more suited for.. well, i guess we'll see.

Anyways, i am exhausted and desperately need to catch up on sleep.. so goodnight!

PHS's famed Studio Band director, 'Dr. B,' dies

We may have complained about the endless sectionals and practices and "going down the line" sitting in utter fear, but I definitely appreciated and will continue to appreciate his passion for music and the drive he instilled in us to be the best of the best. Thanks for the incredible music education you gave us all, Gunga Din, and my red lobster. PHS's famed Studio Band director, 'Dr. B,' dies

By: Jeff Milgram , Staff Writer 12/30/2003

	Staff photo by Frank Wojciechowski Anthony J. Biancosino conducts the Studio Band in a concert given in his honor in 2002.

A teacher who inspired students to take up careers in music.

Anthony J. Biancosino, the director of Princeton High School's award-winning Studio Band who lost a battle against cancer Saturday, was remembered Monday as a teacher who inspired students to take up careers in music.
"His impact was huge," Princeton Regional Board of Education President Charlotte Bialek said Monday.
Known as "Dr. B" to students, parents and staff members, Dr. Biancosino, 57, was a music teacher for 35 years, 26 of which were in Princeton.
He was an inspiring teacher to "thousands of students," Ms. Bialek said.
"Many of them went off to careers in music. He was an incredibly inspiring teacher," she said.
The best known may be John Popper, the leader of Blues Traveler, who has said that his success in the music industry is due to Dr. Biancosino's mentoring.
"Obviously, we are all saddened by the news, even though we knew he was ill and had undergone surgery," Superintendent Claire Sheff Kohn said Monday. "He had such an incredible love of life and enthusiasm. ... He'll be a great loss."
Dr. Biancosino conducted his last concert with the Studio Band in June, when he announced he would retire. He had been on leave while battling colon cancer, but had returned sporadically to conduct the jazz band, which had played at two presidential inaugural balls.
In 2002, Down Beat magazine, the Bible of American jazz, presented him with an Achievement Award for Jazz Education.
"With the enthusiasm that Tony Biancosino exudes for jazz and its contribution to American musical culture, it's no surprise that ensembles from Princeton High School's music program win first place awards at festivals and get invited to play at presidential inaugural balls," Down Beat said in June 2002.
"He was wonderful and the students really loved him," Ms. Bialek said. She said Dr. Biancosino taught music at PHS at a level typically taught in college.
Dr. Biancosino was the founder and conductor of the American Heritage Wind Ensemble.
Dr. Biancosino's younger brother, Joseph Biancosino-Downey, will be the Studio Band's new conductor.
In April, the Studio Band beat eight other ensembles to be named the best band at the Dunellen High School Invitational Jazz Festival.
"They couldn't have done it any better," Dr. Biancosino said at the time.
At a concert in June 2002, Dr. Biancosino pointed to the Studio Band and said, "I always felt they were an extension of my family ... and that's how I treated them."
Before the June 2002 concert, Dr. Kohn said, "Tony Biancosino is an enthusiastic teacher, band director and person. I feel fortunate to have had him in my career and in my life."
Dr. Biancosino said the school has a duty to teach music and the payoff is what it does to the students. "They give everything," he said of his students. "At the end of the process, their lives are changed."
Trained as a classical musician, Dr. Biancosino told Down Beat, "When I entered teaching, I found a huge void about American music, specifically jazz. Many schools pay lip service — they'll have the ensembles that do jazz in the evenings, but they're not part of the curriculum."
He said if students can do jazz improvisation, "they can do anything." Members of the ensembles learn to apply music history, theory and improvisation to what they're playing.
"It comes right through the ensembles, right through the arrangements we're doing whether it's Count Basie or Les Brown, whatever we're doing," Dr. Biancosino told Down Beat.
And he uses jazz education as a base to teach other music, such as clas- sical symphonic works.
"My philosophy is if you can play a refrigerator, if you tell me you can play one, bring the refrigerator in. I want to hear it. And if you can play it, you're in. There should be no exclusion of any student because of the nature of the instrument. We're here to teach children. Let's give them an education," he told Down Beat.
Former student Peter Winarsky said he learned perseverance, confidence and discipline from Dr. Biancosino. "He really does care about the students more than anybody I've seen," Mr. Winarsky said in June 2002. He was one of about 200 students who belonged to PHS's Meat Club. Dr. Biancosino was the faculty adviser to the club, which held an annual steak dinner.
"He definitely has a great sense of humor," Mr. Winarsky said in 2002. "The humor just shines through. We bust each other's chops, but it's all in fun."

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Another ball drop, another year passed...

My brother and I spent our New Year's eating SPAM... yes, the stuff that comes out of the jar. It was actually surprisingly quite good.. my church friends were having an Iron Chef night (wish i was there to see the chef's at work), using SPAM as the main ingredient. Spam stroganoff, spam sticks, spam stir fry, spam with A-1, oh, spam pizza bagel??, and last but not least, chocolate covered spam... i think i'll lay off the chocolate covered spam in the future. :)

Definitely lots of fun being back with the brothers and sisters that I grew up with. It's really neat to see how much each and every one of us has grown up and matured. I'm so thankful for all of you! Who knows where I would have ended up if it were not for you guys/gals and our youth group and our Friday nights with Joshua's discipleship classes... Wow, how old were we when we started having those? 6th grade? Man, we're old.. anyways, now that we're old, there just never seems to be enough time to catch up and reminesce on our past...

New Year's resolution: QTs in the morning (please keep me accountable to that), & get my lazy behind to the gym!

Have a good one!

Does PowerPoint make us stupid? Tuesday, December 30, 2003 Posted: 10:42 AM EST (1542 GMT)

Yeah, technically it's not right to take things out of context... but I just couldn't resist using the headline. After spending all day at work powerpointing away, I can't help but wonder... is powerpoint making me stupid???