Jason Park

11:51 pm: So its that time of year again where I rate my quarter. Overall, A. Here are some reasons:

1. God blessed me with great friends. Whether it'd be at home or through school, especially at CCM, these were the people that lit up my day.

2. Bowling almost every week on Thursday nights. I came home at 3 am and had to wake up for ROTC at 5:30 am.

3. My unusual A's Ive recieved in class.

4. Getting left breathless and speechless everytime.

5. LA MARATHON! Everything about it. Finishing the marathon to all the free stuff I got. I think people owe me Lawry's. I swear, I didn't hussle anyone.

6. Boxing with the roommate.

7. Brother's appreciation night. I felt so accepted. HAHA

Next quarter, I'm going to work on discipline. Discipline in all areas of my life.

02:41 pm: People don't have integrity these days. I hate liars and people who try to extort money through lies. If you're gonna lie, don't make it obvious. It'll get me upset and it'll make you look stupid.

05:57 pm: So this is my entry on the marathon two weeks ago. (I copied and pasted it from XANGA)

Im hurting but Im glad Im hurting.

Interesting things I saw at the LA Marathon:

1. LA is filled with beautiful people. Thanks for the water, gatorade, bananas, oranges, and candy. They'll even give you twinkies and corn dogs (they had it on the stick like the ones on carrots for donkeys). Some guy even gave me 4 sausage links.

2. Once, you stop, your screwed.

3. Tylenol might really be a placebo. I would like to think it worked.

4. Warm Gatorade sucks and getting Gatorade in your eye sucks worst.

5. People are way to nice and they are motivating.

6. I ran next to the guy from DRUMLINE (movie, he was the guy that Nick Cannon had beef with).

7. The miles get longer and longer throughout.

8. People love Mexico.

9. LA Marathon just gives away free stuff. I think I got my moneys worth

10. Im really tired right now so Ill update later.

11. Posing for pictures makes me sane.

12. Pouring water is key to not getting a heat stroke but it'll make you chafe.

13. Power Gels aren't bad. When you hit mile 22, you'll wanna barf that sucker up.

14. I got 4 links of sausage. Other wierd things LA people give out: Beer! and Gimbab!

15. You get emotional towards the end. You kinda wanna cry but you just hold it in.

16. Lots of Free Stuff. I got like 48 water bottles, 24 english muffins, them Clif Shots, I suckered people into giving me free Robeks (jamba juice type of drinks)

17. Lots of bands were playing. Lots of cheerleaders were there. It's pretty much free publicity.

18. Doing it with a group is so much better than doing it by yourself.

19. The song "I love LA" makes you really love LA.

20. Too Many Trojan's.

21. Next year or whenever I run it again, I'll train smarter so it'll hurt less.

22. Missed Boston Qualification by less than an Hour. Those GUYS ARE NUTS!

23. P Diddy and Oprah have nothing on me.

24. A life accomplishment INDEED!

Here are some photos. Beware. I had to keep myself sane during the run. ENJOY

http://www.marathonfoto.com/order_assigned_photos.cfm?BFI=ed2d49jqkn&OID=13542005W1&BibNumber=14030&CustomerNumber=W58563&Currency=USD&Language=en


Heres my stats: http://results.doitsports.com/la/search.adp?refresh=3600&bib_list=14030

05:55 pm: Intensity...oh how I love thee!

02:23 am: You better start updating Michelle!

02:14 am: I realized, Im an expensive kid to feed. Rather than my parents cooking for me at home, they might as well take me to a buffet. It pretty much comes out to about the same price. I havent eaten at a buffet this week...yet. But it seems like every week since fall quarter, Ive gone once a week or so.

School is school. Im getting very weary and tired but I just have to press on. Nothing more I can do.

I just signed up for the LA marathon today. During the registration process, there was a section on how fast you would finish the marthon in. I put 5 hours and 30 minutes. Thats sounds reasonable right? Hopefully, I can hit under 5. If Oprah can, then I can.

Girl status: No moves yet but I will see her tomorrow, I think. I just need to grow some girl liking confidence.

Well, lately, I ve been thinking about my career with the Army. I guess we can't all be Infantryman. Its just all pride. Ive considered being a Chaplain though. Boost Morale.

02:08 am: So my quarter at UCLA has officially ended. Here are my thoughts about my first quarter at UCLA:

1. Its harder to meet new people and make friends as a transfer student (but its prolly because I dont have the guts to go out and make new friends).

2. UCI and UCLA, it feels the same, except theres a better sports program here. Maybe next quater, I'll be able to see and feel the difference.

3. ROTC and time management wasn't too bad this quarter. Hopefully, Ill stop being a hermit and start hanging out with people.

4. I should stop being so anal about keeping the apt clean. It makes me a control freak.

5. God wont push me to the point that I won't be able to handle a situation.

6. CCM was intimidating but it'll be a goal to go to at least half of the meetings next quarter.

7. ROTC isn't that bad and it isn't what I thought it would be but there are areas ROTC need to be improved on.

8. There are alot of good looking girls. I swear Ill get one next quater. :P haha

9. I'll try my best to be a nerd and study. I wont cram two days before the test.

10. FINALS ARE FREAKING 3 HOURS LONG!!!

Thats all I can think of for now. I rate my quarter at UCLA a C+. I guess it just wasnt what i thought it would be. HOpefully, next quarter will be a lot better

05:46 pm: Ever get those days where your abnormally hungry and can eat more than you normally can?

For lunch, I had:

An IN N OUT DoubleDouble. A Chicken Apple from UDOG. An 8inch Chicken Wrap. And DeeDeeRiese cookies (oatmeal and white chocolate). To top it off, I had a nice cup of Coke. Coke hits the spot.

I think for dinner, I will have Taco Bell and more cookies.

12:23 pm: So I was laying down at the gym in my APT complex because I was tired from my run and I decided to do some crunches because of the position I was in. While Im doing some crunches, I notice this black piece of stringlike material, all curled up, sitting on my tshirt. I stop my crunches because Im annoyed by it. I pick it up and what do I hold in my hands? Thats Right. SOMEONE ELSES PUBIC HAIR. JUST PLAIN OLD NASTY!

08:27 pm: I can't believe my first quarter at UCLA is about to come to an end. To be honest, my experience here at UCLA hasn't been what I thought it would and expected to be. I haven't made too many friends yet, but thats my fault. I sheltered myself way too much in ROTC. I guess the only thing that kept me on the drive this quarter was Ranger Challenge. I have my first final tomorrow, hopefully Ill be ready. Ill update later.
Cold Pizza is soooooooo gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!

07:06 pm: May 19, 2003

CREW HONORED AT SCHOLAR-ATHLETE BANQUET

Irvine, CA -- 24 members of the women's crew program were among a school record 170 student-athletes honored as 2002-03 Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes at the program's annual banquet Monday night (May 19) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Brock Beard, Ryan Booth, David Camacho, Jeffrey Chang, Michael Chen, Brad Cohn, Roy Culver, John Dashtara, Gabriel Francis, Daniel Gromis, Salah Haggag, Charles Hine, Stephen Kelly, Joseph Lynch, Kevin Margulieux, Michael Maxwell, Kevin Mothorn, Jason Park, Jimmy Pham, Christina Quel, Scott Ritter, Peter Skoutelas, Jerry Vaysman, Chris Wilderman were honored at the banquet.

This year's list of scholar-athletes brings UCI's total to 2,221 since 1984. The 170 honorees bests the old mark of 148 set in 1998-99. Requirements for this award include maintaining a 3.0 grade-point average (GPA) over three quarters or a 3.2 GPA over two quarters for freshmen. Student-athletes must also earn letters in their sports.

The Scholar-Athlete award was implemented by the Big West Conference to honor those student-athletes that have maintained a high level of scholastic excellence while participating in intercollegiate athletics. UCI expanded the award to include teams that do not participate in Big West-sponsored sports.

05:02 pm: Sacramento was great. The last race of the season. I can't wait for next year.

We make GRAND FINALS by .2 seconds.

In the GRAND FINALS, which we were supposed to be in last place, came out strong in 4th by 1.6 seconds to third to UCSD.

UCSD beat us last time by a 10 secs. This time, 1.6. How wonderful to end a season on a great note. None of us are dissapointed.

Screw my knee. I won't quit crew. It's on.

08:11 pm: What a great way to start a day with pratice at 5 45 in the morning, espicially it being the last practice of the year at Newport. So as the last practice of the year and the last practice before the next race, we had it easy today. The only thing we had to do was do warmups and do a race with the varsity. Guess who won? Yup. The Novice Boat beat the Varsity boat by about two seats. It was very close. I seriously was gonna die. I was pulling hard to make sure that whatever I worked for the whole year would show. And apparently it did.

Im heading up to Sacramento at 5 in the morning on Thursday. Im so excited. Were getting money, get to miss class, get free meals, and hotels. This is gonna probably be my last race ever. I'm 75% sure I am not gonna join crew next year because of knee problems. I wish I could continue because next year, there going to New Jersey. But I mean, I rather save my knee for later. If all gets well, then I'm gonna stay. I didn't work hard all season to just quit. And I also became a Scholar Athlete for UCI. Yeah, so I guess that pretty cool. So Im gonna do my best this weekend and make sure at the end, I cry. That this crying is for the pain I went through, the hard work I put in, the countless hours of off training and on training, sacrificing things I like, but most importantly, giving everything I had, throwing everything down. Wish the UCI Crew luck. And if you can, please give me a hollar on the phone during the weekend. Alright, I'm outties.

11:00 am: The RACE today was OKAY. We could have done alot better. We ended up 5th out of 6th, a boat lenght away from the other leading boats. Until today, we were undefeated in our waters. Im dissapointed. I wish I was 6'3.

10:58 am: Alrighty. Sit back and relax as I try to tell you my weekend.

A week after lent started, my roommates Carl (who gave up eating from 7AM to 7PM), Joey (who gave up meat), and I (not Catholic but ate lots of tuna and egg whites) decided to go to Las Vegas to eat at the Belagio Buffet because thats how they wanted to end lent. Sort of like a celebration. So finally the whole lent things end and we decide to go to Vegas. I was debating whether or not I should go because I was behind in my reading, like 200 textbook pages or so. But I did manage to somewhat catchup the night before we were going to Vegas. I still had lots to read but I planned on reading on the 4 hour drive there. So I pack pretty light with lots of granola bars and fruit snacks and water and a sleeping bag I got from Christmas.


Alright, so its 8PM and its time to leave. I took a very clean shower so that I didnt have to shower at Vegas (because I was gonna come the next night). I'm in Carl's car with Keith and Lycia and we gas up at Shell. That was where all the cars went to meet up before we left for Vegas. I start reading for a couple of hours and my flashlight dies out on me. I exchange the batteries and my eyes starts hurting because it was too bright. We decided to go to Popeyes because Joey was hungry but we missed the exit. Instead of stopping at Victorville for Popeyes, we decided to stop at Barstow to gas up and take a bathroom break. When we got out of the car, Carl hit me because of that "Out of State" liscence plate game. He supposedly hit me soft but it hurt like a mother. Funny thing happened.Weiw had to go pee so bad. He called Carissa like 40 times cause of it too see when the next stop was. Haha, anyways, I'm still reading and we get to stateline. There, I was strattling the stateline and I was at two place at once (Walk to Remember)! All of a sudden, my flashlight dies. I thought it was the batteries but I guess the light died out. I try to use Carl's cell phone as a light source but it was annoying because I had to constantly keep pressing the key to get the light to turn on. Finally, we get to Alfred's house, Jamie's cousin, and chill there for a while. We beat everyone there so we got out of the car and enjoyed a very windy breeze. I got cold quickly and got back in the car and started reading.

We unpack at the house and we decide to go to some $1 all you can eat pancakes place. We get there and go to some ghetto place. It was a scary casino. It was all small and creepy. Something about that place freaked me out. We order food. I got some two eggs, two sausage, home fries, and toast special for a dollar. It was alright. Not too bad, except maybe the eggs. When Keith poured syrup on his pancakes, some fool decided to put ketchup in the syrup. So he got a syrup with ketchup in it. It was gross. They were practicing expanding there stomach with the pancakes but I guess they got tired of the pancakes quick.

After, half of us decide to go to the strip to show Sam around Vegas. It was his first time there so he wanted to see what it looked like and stuff. We went to MGM Grand, New York New York, and LUXOR, just to check out the insides. We realized it was 4 in the morning and decided to head back.

We got to Alfred's house and some of the girls were drinking and whatnot but the guys, Keith, Carl, Steve, Sam, Weiw Weiw, and I wanted to go to sleep. We couldn't go to sleep because of two reason. One was because it was hot and second was that someone kept us up. So I decided to read but was too tired. Girls gave us crap about sleeping in our boxers but thats what guys do. We sleep in our boxers, half naked, so deal with it. Me, Keith and Carl wanted the bed but Linda and Karla called it. Carl and I tried to fight for it by pretending to sleep and not getting off. But I didnt want to fight anymore so I decided to be a nerd and go read. Everyone falls asleep but I stay up to read. I felt too tired and fell asleep.

Finally, the big day came. The Bellagio buffet. We decided to kill time by going to Circus Circus to play games. There were no fun games so I didn't play that much. After, we went to Bellagio for Brunch so that we could get both Brunch and Dinner but for a cheaper price. I decided to go use their gold toilets to empty out my stomach. It felt great. $29 for a buffet. It was well worth it. I started out with sushi, fried rice, scrambeled eggs, turkey, steak nuggets, cocktail shrimp, and dried fruit. I was reserving myself for dinner. I ate and after the first plate, I was kinda feeling full. I got up to walk around to get my stomach going. Carl and I started walking around the desert area and we see a Sorbet machine. We saw the Passion Fruit label and Carl wanted a sample. When we were about to turn back, we saw Alaskan White Crab. We ran over there and took like 10 legs each. Oh man, was it good. Then as we were walking back, we saw strawberry covered chocolates. It was a good thing Carl and I went walking because we were the first to get everything. When we got back, we showed the girls the strawberry chocolate and they got out of there seats quickly to get some strawberries too. I was seriously forcing myself to eat. I was shoving food in my mouth. I wanted to use my $29 worth. But then, I started feeling queezy and almost threw up. We decided to take a group picture and right when the second picture was taken, my stomach had just completed digesting the food. I was ready for the third round, well sorta. I got bits and bits of deserts, not finishing any of them. I just took like samples but it was okay. It wasn't great. We all decide to leave after being there for almost 3 hours. I think the waiter got tired of us. We walked around the Bellagio and took group pictures. We then decided to go to LUXOR again. I got some alcohol and drank because I just felt like it. Played video games at LUXOR but I was feeling really queezy. I started barfing in the bathroom and I felt bad for the worker because he heard me. He was probably disgusted. When I came out, he knew I was drinking cause he gave me a smile or something.

We then decided to go to the Strip to see some shows. Being me of course, I jump out of the car to take a picture. I try to go in but Weiw Weiw locks me out and the light turns green. So I jump to the sidewalk and decided to run after them. I lost them in less than 5 seconds. I remembered Carissa saying something about meeting at Treasure Island to the car. So I decide to run to the Mirage, which is next to Treasure, because if Sam was going to see a show, He would probably have gone to see that volcano. So I wait at the corner of the Volcano show for about twenty minutes. I start to worry because I realize that I don't have a cell phone and I don't have their cell phone numbers. I realized that I had Joeys cell phone number somewhat memorized so I finally decide to go to the phone booth inside Mirage. While I was walking, I saw someone like Joey and Jackie and it was them. Good thing I found them because I found the others too. After being lost, we decide to go to the Bellagio to see the water show. On our way there, we were handed porn cards and stuff and I felt bad for them. We walk through the Bellagio and watch three water shows. In between, we were talking about what escorts at Vegas looked like. Jackie was describing them to me because she lived in Vegas and could tell. On the way to Caeser's Palace, I saw one thanks to Joey's eye. Jackie said you could tell by the way they walk and what kind of shoes they wear. Yeah, that escort wasnt hot. We stop in front of Caeser's and we start to have a problem. Half of the people want to go back because they were tired or some crap like that so Carl gave his keys to Jamie so that Renee, John and Ashley can get back. We had enough seats for the rest of the people so we continue our sight seeing. Joey, Jackie, Carl, Carissa, Keith, Weiw Weiw, and I go to Caeser's and see the last minute of the Atlantis show. We were late and we didn't want to wait till midnight to see the next showing so we decide to go to Treasure Island for the Pirate show. We had 5 minutes to get there so we were pretty much speed walking. Once we got there, the show got cancelled due to some High Wind Advisory crap. Finally, we decided to go back home because I needed to be back at Irvine by 6 for my race.

We get to Alfred's place and we have a problem. Sam, Weiw Weiw, Carl, Carissa, Keith, Lycia, Ashley and I wanted to go back to school. We were promised that we would leave Saturday evening but it turns out that some peope wanted to stay an extra night. Luckily, Karla let us use her car to get back so our problem was solved. The problem was that at first, we only had one car going back that night and there were 8 of us that need to go back and only 5 could go. Good thing everything worked out. Thanks Alfred for being a great host.

We head out at about 1 in the morning. We stop by ARCO to get gas and get some snacks. Carl and I walk around and see this new Sprite drink. Sprite Remix. Once again, me and Carl find something new and good. It tasted so good. I had to get sleep in the car because I had a race in a coupd of hours. I felt bad because I was the only one sleeping. It was me, Carl, Keith, Sam, and Weiw Weiw in the car. We were talking about stuff, pretty interesting. There a group of great guys. All chill and kick back. Love every one of em. Soon after, I fell asleep until we got back to Irvine. Once I got back, I started to read again right before the race. Being the nice guy, Carl gave me his power bar for the race.

Vegas was fun and it was a good trip. Hopefully, we'll go again and have a good time. Thanks everyone.

12:38 pm: Lately, Ive been really short fused. I really dont know why. I yelled at couple of people the past couple days. Man, i gotta control it. Something happened and I dont know why. I gotta go figure it out.

07:43 am: Final Erg Test of the Season
So yea, at 6 A.M., I woke up for my last Erg test of the season. I knew I wasn't prepared. I haven't been on the erg machine for quite a while, perhaps the last 15k training I did was from the preparation of the previous erg test. The only thing going for me was me running almost every night.

I used the same tactic as last time.

1. Keep quiet.
2. Focus. Don't draw your attention to nothing. Keep everything to yourself.
3. Get everything out of your body so you weigh less.
4. Listen to music.
5. Don't give up. Give it my all. Have nothing left in me.
6. Keep in mind- Whatever hurts you only makes your stronger.

So with all this in mind, I was ready. Ready to take on the erg and beat the living crap out of it. It was one on one. Me Vs Erg.

Slowly, I strap on my feet to the machine and set the machine to 2000 meters. Then I turn on my faithful and inspiring music that has helped me to do my best and pull my hardest.

Ready, Attention, GO!

I begin my erg with a 200 meter sprint (an equivalent to about 20 strokes) and from there, all I need to do is hold my split of a 1:38. So there I am, erging my heart out, pulling about a 1:35 the first 800-900 meters. Then gradually, my split is getting higher to about a 1:38. I'm getting tired but something in me tells me to keep on pulling. THen a drop to a 1:40 with about 500 meters more to go. After that, I'm having trouble breathing. I'm getting cramps in my chest and I can't sprint. But I told myself, "only couple meters left to go. You've worked too hard, sacrificed too much to lose your spot." So I'm literally about to die. I'm not even sweating. With ten strokes left, I stop. I let the erg machine just roll the last ten for me. Screw it. I didn't improve. This is the only time that I wanted to be a little heavy so I could pull more of my weight. It's over.

As I try to get off the machine, I felt as if my lungs had collapsed. I tried to drink water but couldn't drink it. The water came back out. I couldn't stand and I forced myself onto the floor. I was laying in pain. Couldn't breathe. Then my friend, Sarah, saw me in pain and came and helped me. She told me to relax and put my arms up. It felt better but still hurt. Whatevers. I'm living and not dying.

The last part of my test came. My body weight. I took off everything that would weigh me down. Just me and my spandex got on a body scale. Slowly, gasping for air, I got on the scale. My weight fluctuated because I was breathing too hard. My coach told me to hold my breath. I did. Slowly, the numbers came out...82.0 KGS.

I got off the scale, put my shorts back on, and threw my shoes. I didnt't care anymore. Went to go see my erg time, a 1:46.9. That was a one second loss from previous test. So I converted the kgs into lbs in my head. So I realized that I dropped weight and lost a little bit of strength. I dunno. I didn't care. I felt as if I was the only one that did not improve at all. I probably was. But maybe and hopefully, my body ratio will be top 8. If it is so, then I can row the last two races, Newport Regatta and WIRA Championships, in the Novice A boat. We'll see.

I know I can't blame this erg test on the ulcer on the hand that I used to have. Yes, it did keep my training to a minimum. Yes, I happened to get that ulcer when I found my perfect stroke. Yes, I was out for two weeks. But thats just an excuse. In my world, excuses don't mean anything. It's for people who are lazy and unmotivated. It just a bunch of crap. Anyways...

Music to Listen to while I erged

1. 8 Mile- Lose Yourself- Eminem
2. Eye of the Tiger- Rocky Theme Song

Previous Erg test
Results: 6:45
Weight: 84.4 KG
185.68 LBs

Final Erg test
Results: 6:46
Weight: 82.0 KG
180.4 LBs
180.4 LBs

02:48 pm: My new sn- jpark1124
MY AIM got suspended because I supposedly violated terms. Whatever.

10:08 am: You will row twice on friday and eat dinner at the coarse after the second
row $10
Saturday night we will go out to dinner (no cost)
The hotel will provide continental breakfast
You will be given $45 to cover the cost of lunches and the $10 dinner
friday. I think lunch will also be provided on saturday by some of the
parent's. Parents and friends are welcome to visit you at the course and
hotel but remember we are there to race. There are seniors on both the men
and women's varsity, to them this is a big deal and to some a culmination of
4 years of hard work. Please be considerate!
Bring books to read to stay busy (study) No Footballs, Volleyballs,
Frisbees, etc.
DO NOT FORGET YOUR UNISUIT

09:32 pm: We have San Diego Crew Classic this weekend. I was supposed to row but I had an ulcer on my hand so I can't row until it fully heals. The thing is, I've worked hard and my ass off to get to Crew Classic and I'm pretty sure but not positive that I'm not gonna get to go because I'm not rowing. So I'm not gonna stay in a hotel with my crew buddies or get free money to buy food. So I'm sorta upset that I had to get injured and I can't go. All that I worked for goes down the drain.