A lot of people ask me what “TJ” stands for and I tell them
it’s my Korean name, Taejin. I’m not ashamed of my Korean name.
it’s just a lot easier for Americanized people to say TJ rather than Taejin so
around 7th grade-ish I made the switch to TJ.
But at school, people continued to call me Taejin because I
knew people from elementary school who carried over to Junior high and I didn’t
want to confuse them so I continued to go by Taejin but then soon I was
introducing myself as TJ and it got really confusing for everyone around 10th
grade. People at church thought I was “TJ” and people at school thought I
was “Taejin.” Plus everyone butchers Taejin so there were many
derivatives of my name out there.
I realized I wasn’t the only one w/ two identities at church
and school.
There was David at church or Byun at school
There was Suk Woo at church or Sam at school
There was Judy at church or Chi Won at school
At least mine weren’t as drastic as those. Easier to
explain.
My parents were thinking about changing my name to Victor
when I was in 4th grade cuz we lived in Victorville. Victor
Moon. Sounds weird. I always liked Max. Max Moon
Another question is why does my sister have the name Jessica
and I have the name TJ? Well, my parents were set on Michael but when I went to
class, there were 5 other kids named Michael so the teacher told my parents to
pick a different name and they couldn’t think of any so we just stuck with
Taejin.
Anyways. I really like my name. TJ Moon.
Sounds cool and nobody will confuse me for anyone else. It’s not like
John lee or Peter Kim. I like my name
BTW. My name in Korean stands for “big
cycle” or “large circle” and I have no middle name
ok. so last night, instead of watching the Laker Game (trying to cut down on my stress level, i'm saving it for the finals), I watched high school musical 3. The first 30 mins of it was sooooo incredibly cheesy and lame, i wanted to scream and yell at the TV. How can people like this? this is so lame. is this what kids watch these days? It's like if Zack Morris and Co. sang their way through Bayside High. Basically. Troy is Zack and Gabriella is Kelly and screech is rocketman and so forth and so on.
Anyways, while i kept watching it, i have a new found respect for Zack Efron. I thought he was just another pretty face but he can sing and dance too. I was impressed. I was more into it at the end than in the beginning. That's all i wanted to say.
so for the past 3 weeks I've been reporting to Jury Duty. I got chosen for the case because I've never committed a crime, been involved in a crime, witnessed a crime, don't know any cops. NOTHING.
Anyways, my case was pretty severe, I don't want to mention it because it is dangerous to post information on my blog because I'm a little scared that the people in jail might come and get me, so I'll spare you the details.
The most interesting part about being a juror was the deliberation. I was so impressed that 12 strangers with different views on the world can come together and work together and end up with a unanimous decision. Why can't the world do this? Why can't churches do this? Why can't families do this? You just treat each other with respect and keep your mind open then I think we can all get along.
I was on the minority side of a 5-7 vote and I swayed everyone to see it my way. I was almost gonna go crazy trying to convince every single person. it was like mafia.. i was trying to convince all the civilians that this man was guilty.
I've been reading a book called yellow and before I read this book, I was pretty oblivious to how race affects my world. Granted, I grew up in Cerritos so diversity was never a problem in my life. But for so many asian americans, it is. They are discriminated against because of their race. The idea of model minority has been shattered and my views on affirmative action has taken a new twist.
Granted, I still believe hard work is the best way to live. We can't make excuse for ourself. But in order to make this country "equal for ALL".. we need to do our best to make it that way.
That's why when i went to my asian american church today, i told the pastor that we shouldn't go to korean places to eat. The few non-koreans may feel uncomfortable and out of place. the majority should sacrifice for the minority.
Anyways. The most diverse man in the history of the world has to be barrack obama. i may not agree w/ all his views on politics but he is the man. from a kenyan dad, hawaiian white mom, roots in Indonesia, LA, Chicago, Boston, divorced home. He has to be the emotionally healthiest man (cuz kids from divorced familiest are usually very affected) in america.
He represent what this country should be all about.
i just decided to blog since i haven't in a long time.
