You've come to the page of ultimate stalkery. (This might even beat Facebook stalking.) Congratulations!
I don't exactly know what you expected to find here, so I guess I'll start with how I got here and then just talk about other things. Don't worry: no math around here. If you want that, you'll have to visit other pages.
I think I wes destined to head to the UCs. I was born on July 2, 1982 at UCSF Medical Center. I grew up for the most part in Santa Rosa nestled in beautiful Sonoma County, and I graduated from Piner High School, class of 2000. I studied for 4 and a half years at UC Berkeley as an undergraduate (with a major in mathematics) and spent about 9 months in the real world (at Cal Performances) doing some programming. Then, I came back to my senses and enrolled in the Ph.D. program in mathematics at UC Davis.
Davis is an awesome place! I love the program here, and the city is much more than I thought it would be. Even though I just moved here in August of 2005, and even though I spend most of my time cooped up in my office working on math, this is just a good place to be.
My Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ. Plase feel free to ask me about Him. On April 2, 2006, I became a member of University Covenant Church. UCC is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, an Illinois-based denomination that I've known for a while (since I used to go to a covenant church in Santa Rosa). I'm not much of a denominational person (you might say I'm multidenominational), but there are some great things about the ECC, and they really help blow away the misconceptions about what a Christian church can be.
I grew up in a Korean-speaking church since this was comfortable for my parents, but it was tough on me. But I did get a lot out of attending San Francisco Korean Presbyterian Church in my youth and I received the sacrament of Christian baptism there. In my last years at SFKPC, I was involved in the choir. Once I started high school, I attended and eventually became a member of Redwood Covenant Church, where I also joined choir.
While at Berkeley, I had a spiritual lull and a great opportunity for a reawakening. I attended First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, though I never formally became a member. I also got involved with FOCUS, the college ministry at the church, and I worked in the multimedia ministry and played piano on the worship team in my last year. I also started finding a niche in childrens' ministry.
So at UCC, it was naturally fitting that I applied to be a childrens' ministry volunteer even before I made steps to become a member. We're doing this awesomely funny program called Kidmo, and I've been blessed to be able to hear such a good message in plain terms, and be entertained (and entertaining!) all at the same time!! I don't think I have time for this, but I also found out that they're actively seeking more piansts.
I began playing piano when I was five years old, and I've never really stopped playing (except for that pesky schoolwork thing getting in the way all the time). Though I stopped playing classical music before high school, I now regrettably want to get back into it. However, spending some time in jazz and rock gave me a chance to have a richer experience on the pian.
I've been in choirs all my life, though I wouldn't say I have a particularly nice voice to listen to. Still, I guess the ear training I've received helps enough that people want to keep me around. It seems that I do less vocal stuff than instrumental, however: I did choir in elemantary school, took a break during middle school, sang again in high school, and took a break as an undergrad. It's time to begin singing again!
Though I don't think I have the time, I'd really like to join the gospel choir here. Actually, I did some informal singing towards the end of my stay at Berkeley. A coworker introduced me to shape-note singing. Also back in February, I went to the Midwinter convention show of champions concert for the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA), and saw some people from the Redwood Chordsmen, whom I sang with informally while in high school. I want to get back into barbershop quartet music, and there are two local SPEBSQSA chapters in the Davis area.
But first, I really am an instrumentalist. My principal instruments are piano, clarinet, and trumpet. I played clarinet and trumpet starting in elementary school, and I've always been in bands, even while in college. Acutally, while I was in the Cal Band, I had the chance to "sub in" on emegencies for various instrumental needs, so I became a little familiar with alto and tenor saxophones, mellophone, marching baritone, sousaphone, snare drum, and bass drum. I'm also rusty as a flute player, and I'm trying to pick up guitar and trombone. I'm an avid arranger, though I wish I spent more time doing it. I had a vocal arrangement performed at my high school graduation and several pieces for marching band performed at California Memorial Stadium for football halftimes.
If you want to jam with some rock, funk, dixieland, or jazz, you should get a hold of me. If you need a pianist for your wedding or wedding reception, you should get a hold of me. If you have a book of songs from musicals, cartoons, movies, or "on the radio stuff" that you want to sing along to, call me if you want an accompanist. Maybe you need an emergency substitute piano or clarinet player for your band. Give me a call. I'm always looking for opportunities to play one-time gigs.
I haven't done much in the way of small bands yet, but I'm hoping that'll change one of these days. I played for a short summer with Berkeley-based Apogee and Concord-based Kid Moe. Since moving here, I've played a little with the Crossings band.
I started getting into dance at the beginning of 2005. I'm mainly a fan of lindy hop, but I also like salsa. I'm slowly working to improve my knowledge of ballroom steps and technique. I've done some minimal tap dancing for a high school musical. For the laundry list (I'm not saying I'm good at any of these), I've done swing (west coast, east coast / jitterbug, lindy hop, shim sham, jitterbug stroll, charleston), salsa, merengue, hustle, American waltz, and cha cha.
In summer of 2005, I spent a ridiculous number of hours swing dancing. Yet, the topper of them all was going to the Sacramento Lindy Exchange in March 2006. I danced 26 hours in 4 days, and you won't believe the times of the day that I was out dancing!!
I'm performing with Telemark Dance Troupe in May of 2006, and I also just started serving with City Gate Dance Ministry.
Unless my math is eating me alive, I'm at Midtown Stomp on Friday nights (except those rare weekends when I'm home visiting my parents, in which I'll invariably make a trip to dance at Ellington Hall in Santa Rosa). If ever I have another night of the week free (insert laughter here), I'd go dance Thursdays at Jitterbug Jam or Tuesdays at Club 21. There are also some off-chance days that I find myself in Berkeley or San Francisco, in which case I try very hard to dance at one of the local venues: Tuesdays for Tuesday Night Jump at Club Verdi (the weekly gig is by Stompy Jones. They're a barrel o' monkeys!!), Thursdays at 200 Grand or the 9:20 Special, and Saturdays at the Doghouse ODC. Even more rarely, I'll be free during the day in which case I can go to a free outdoor swing dance event: Lindy on Sproul on Saturdays or Lindy in the Park on Sundays. It'd be super cool if a similar outdoor thing happened in Davis. As you can tell, I'm sort of a fanatic about swing, so though I can't go to much, I do frequent the LindyList for bay area events.
Even less frequent to all this do I go salsa dancing on Thursdays at the Grad, or line dancing.
I absolutely love food, though I get busy and forget to eat it a lot of the time. One thing I definitely miss is all of the great Berkeley food. Oh, and food in San Francisco rocks too.