Entry 001-Day 1

12.25.2001 (12:15pm CST)

We have now left and are starting the long car ride. Estimated duration of the trip is 20 hours. Current time is 12:15p.

The weather is pretty good for driving; it's very cold outside, but at least it's nice and sunny. I haven't entered  the bored stage yet, and I find that this litte PPC is quite amusing. Ahh... Okay. I'm bored now.

Entry 002

12.25.2001 (4:39p CST)

All right, we've stopped at a gas station, after having driven on the highway for two hours straight. It wasn't too hard (though I got aches in my arms and legs). I can't believe that we're driving all through Christmas! We're somewhere in southern Indiana at a gas station called "Moto Mart". In case you wantec to know, the price of gas here is $1.07 a gallon. All right, they're back now. See you later!

Entry 003

12.25.2001 (5:25 CST)

Oh great, I've lost my stylus. Here I am, trying to write with my finger with quite alot of difficulty. Screw this, I'll write later.

Entry 004

12.25.2001 (9:03p CST)

All right then. I can start writing now. Things have been going pretty slowly, we're still in Tennessee and it'll be at least another 8 hours until we reach our destination. How boring! There isn't much to do in this van except eat, sleep, and write in this PDA. It's too dark to play the new Game Boy Advance and there's nothing better to do, so I'm writing in Pocket Word to pass the time. I don't know what I'll do once the battery runs out, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I've tried to give some thought on what I'll do once we get to Florida. I'd like to finally get certified for scuba, but I guess I'll have to get a wetsuit first (fat chance of that happening). Well, I guess I'll write later. See ya!

Entry 005-Day 2

12.26.2001 (05:09 EST)

Switching over to Eastern Standard Time now. We're now about 50 minutes away from our destination. I've barely managed to get any sleep tonight. There is a dull reddish glow in the disrance. I'm gonna sleep the first chance I get. This was a horribly long trip and I'll be glad to get it over with ASAP. Anyway, I really hope this trip was worth the trouble. Either way, I'm not looking  forward to doing anything like this again.

Entry 006

12.26.2001 5:39 am EST

We're finally outside the guy's house, and I'm as tired as hell. I do not like sitting in a quiet car in the middle of the night. I remember from somewhere that Florida had some of the highest levels of crime. I'm not sure if that'll affect us, but it's enough to keep you cautious. I know this sounds stupid but I'm sorta worried that we might not make it back home. Hey, what can I say?

Entry 007

12.26.2001 (6:04 am EST)

We're now in the guy's house and i'm beginning to really feel tired. But it's 6 in the morning and it's time to eat... Later! Actually, let's keep talking. The townhouse/apartment is pretty descent, through I think its a bit small for three kids. Two boys and one girl. The oldest boy is in college, the second is a junior in HS. I don't know about the girl but I'll find out soon enough. I'm glad that all the driving is finally over. It's about time too; I don't think that I could have stayed awake much longer. I must say, the weather is not all that I hoped it would be. It's pretty cool (warmer than Naperville, but still below 50 f). The air is very clean, though.

Entry 008

12.26.2001 (7:24 am EST)

Finally I'm getting some real sleep. With srill no real idea of whats happening today, I lose consciousness.

Entry 0094

12.26.2001 (12:55 pm EST)

All right I'm awake now. Apparently, these people aren't as poor as someone had thought. I'm still lying down on my makeshift bed and still haven't really met any of the kids here. I'll do that soon.

Entry 010

12.26.2001 (14:21 pm EST)

Just finished eating. Had a friendly talk with the family's kids.

Entry 011-A-Day 3

12.28.2001 (3:08 pm EST)

A lot has happened since the last entry. We went through Disney World. We went to the Magic Kingdom, which is pretty much the center of the resort. I wish we could have gotten a big souvenir for memorabillia, but I guess we're too cheap for that. Anyway I wish we had more time to stay... It really is pretty cool. The parade and the fireworks show was a bit underwhelming. Disney World is a huge place; 47 square miles. Magic Kingdom was huge, but it's not even a quarter of the resort. We'll be going to another section in a day or two. Right now, I'm in a line for a boat ride in Sea World Orlando.

Entry 011-B

12.28.2001 (5:25 pm EST)

Sea World Orlando

Right now we're in Sea World. It took some convincing to get us here, but it was well worth it. I've done things here that I've always thought of doing. I played around with a sting ray. Which was coool. Now I'm sitting in the Seal and Otter stadium with a hillarious mime/pirate. More later.

Entry 011-C

12.28.2001 (10:17 pm)

Holiday Inn Hotel

I'll just start where I had left off. The show was called Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island. Despite the stupid sounding name, it is an awesome show. I won't go into a full review, but I'll tell you some stuff: the show has some amazing animal training involved. The seals, the otter are well trained (with a few exceptions) and the human actors pull off some of the funniest live action scenes. The black pirate performed the best of them all with the funniest moves and lines) Pirate: I don't even want to know (when Seamore is sitting on Clyde as he looks into the hole - I know that it doesn't sound right but it was quite amusing to the older half of the audience.)

Anyway we had a lot more fun today. For the record, let me say that today was the best day in recent memory. Let's backtrack a little. Okay, a lot. One of the first attractions we went to was the Dolphin Nursery. It's just a little (relatively, of course) pool that houses young dolphins. For some reason, I felt like I was supposed to have some mental/emotional connection with them. It was one of those deep mind things. Well anyway, a while afterwards we saw the Key West Dolphin presentation. It was better than other dolphin presentations I've seen. I'd like to work with and learn from those "creatures" someday. Maybe they could be the answer to...

Soon after I went to the Dolphin Cove. The Dolphin Cove is a place where anyone can feed, and pet Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. While I was there today, I thought it was cool. It was the first time I ever touched a b.nosed dolphin. Of course, since I didn't have any fish, they were pretty much ignoring me as I petted him/her. The dolphins are very apathetic to the touching and petting and just care mostly for the food.

Now that I think of it, it just seems wrong. I mean its like forced exhibitation; the dolphins allow themselves to be touched by hundreds of strangers a day, and in exchange they get pieces of fish. Of course they don't complain, but that's because of how they were raised, and the only way they know to live. Take a dolphin from the wild and try the same. I know that Seaworld has good intentions, but they probably don't know the unseen damage they are causing to the dolphins. I for one wish to see the species in their natural  state.  Well, towards the end, the two biggest events were the Shamu Rocks America and the Finalie. We missed the afternoon Shamu show, so we just played around behind the stadium. While the little ones were playing with the fake dorsal fins, I wandered off on my own. While I was walking, I felt like I was being attracted towards the orcas. I was compelled to get closer, and even considered sneaking past the fence. The sun was down, and no onr was watching... It would have been so easy! But my common sensE took over and I restrained my inner instinct. I stayed back. Did I miss a chance of a lifetime? I'll never know.

At 7:30 that day, we saw the short but cool Shamu Rocks America show. The preshow events were hillarious. Live camera feed was sent to the big screen in the middle as the cameramen took different views of the audience. They put up funny bubble remarks like "whe e's the bathroom", and "kiss me stupid" (by the way, the guy that had that last bubble words actually kissed his wife, which got roars from the rest of the audience.) As for main show...  It was very well done. I don't know about the orcas but the trainers looked like they were having fun... and I caught it all on camera - including the camera-fatal water blasts. At the beginning of the show the trainers made it clear that the 11,000 pound orca could soak the first fourteen rows of seats. We sat at the sixth or seventh row. Around the middle of the show that 11,000 pound orca began swiping his/her tail at the audience, splashing the salty sea water all over. I was recording the event with my trusty TRV-17 and, thinking it would be cool, decded to wait until the last second to duck the camera in the case. The camera was safe but I was soaked. No big deal. It was a cold night but it wasn't so bad. The big one came towards the end of the show. The trainer was signaling to the audience on one side of the stadium. Shamu (that's who I think it was) then started to slowly swim to the spot, closer and closer to the edge of the pool. At the edge just ten feet away from the audience, Shamu turned upside down with his tail flukes sticking out of the water. The smarter half of the crowd started running. The rest got completely soaked in Shamu's mighty kicks. His "kicking" threw hundreds of gallons of sea water at the audience (I got it all on camera...). The kids were screaming for joy... the adults... Anyway, Shamu returned to the center to get some mo fish from his trainer. I was peacefully taping the action when I see through the viewfinder, the trainer point towards my direction. I blinked and looked up. The ainer was pointing straight at me! I wasn't expecting that. For a while as Shamu swam towards me, I debated whether to run like the rest of the people around me. Half of me wanted to leave and save myself from a cold night drenched in seawater. The other half said to stay and enjoy the experience of having a whale soak you to your bones. Then I felt the camera in my hands. The expensive Sony MiniDV camcorder... Then I knew that I had to stay. I had to do my job. Everything slowed down as Shamu kicked tge water up and straight towards where I was sitting. I kept the camera trained on the water for as long as I thought it was safe, and then ducked it behind the case as the blast of water hit me and everything I was holding. I was soaked completely with salty Shamu water. I just sat there for a while, dripping wet as Shamu went away. Oh yeah, for a second, IH and JH were on the big screen, completely wet. The show ended right there. JH wasn't happy about getting wet, which I thought was amusing since he wanted to get wet in the beginning.

The last thing we saw was the Finalie. It was an amazing show of lasers fireworks and projections. A very nice way to end an awesome trip. We went to the giftshop, bought a few goods, for me a Sea World T-shirt that says "Protect It" with orcas in the background; a keychain with "Alexander" on it; and a ceramic orca ornament; and a poster. That was the end of our trip to Sea World Orlando. Then we went back to Holiday Inn for our third night in Florida.

Entry 012-Day 6

12.30.2001 (2:08 pm EST)

Kennedy Space Cebgnter - Orbit Cafe

Okay, I've got a lot of catching up to do. On the 29th, we went to the Disney MGM Studios, but I'll talk about that later. Right now we're in the Kennedy Space Center. Talk later in a sec. Gotta eat lunch.

I forgot to talk about the 3d IMAX movie we saw. We got those all-cool polerizised glasses and saw a movie called "L-5: The First City in Space". It was a story about a girl who lives in the first space city called L-5. The movie had a plot, but its clear that its purpose is to show a realistic image of life on a space city. It wa  pretty well made considering it was just a 40 minute show with SFX worthy of  Star Trek. 3d wasn't the center of the movie, thank God for that.

After the movie, we headed towards the memorial for astronauts who lost their lives. Thirteen astronauts were lost during the life of NASA.

Entry 013

12.30.2001 (2:50 pm EST)

Line for KSC bus tour

Now we're in the line for the bus tour oof the center. Okay, now we're on the bus. I believe we'll be going around the historic launch pads of the old space missions. According to the information here we'll probably see at least one shuttle on the pads. The tour guide/driver is talking now. Gotta go.

Entry 014

12.30.2001 (3:19 pm EST)

We just came off the bus and are about a mile from launch pad 39, the place where most of the shuttles are launched. Unfortunately, there isn't any shuttle on it. Now going in... But first, let me talk about the bus ride so far. We saw the vehicle assembly building, or VAB. It's where the shuttle and the boosters are put together.

Entry 015

12.30.2001 (4:13 pm EST)

KSC Tour Bus

We're back on the bus from an awesome view of the launch pads. From atop the huge building (that I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of) we could see the VAB and several launch pads. It was quite an awesome sight.

Entry 016

12.30.2001 (5:48 pm EST)

Near main visitor complex at  KSC

We're back from the bus tour now and I'm sitting in front of some huge rockets, Saturn V being one of them. The last presentation we saw was the lunar theater showing the years before, and until Apollo 11's landing on the moon. I got some new insights into the meaning of space travel and humankind's "destiny". For the first time, I thought of space as an Human endeavor instead of an American one. And I think I can begin to understand what great meaning it had (going to the moon) to the past generation. It really was an achievement of the entire human race.

We left the Space Shop. I bought a KSC badge and a poster.

Entry 016 Day 7

12.31.2001 (12:03 pm EST)

St. Augustine, FL

We just came out of our hotel in St. Augustine. It was the crappiest Holiday Inn I've been in. I don't know why, but I was acting aggressivly. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I badly needed to take a piss on the way there. When I finally did... damn! It took like two minutes and when I was done, I felt almost numb. Never had I ever! That's just something that happened while we were their. The true reason for my behavior was because of my sensitivity to my surroundings and my difficulty in being myself. I've had that problem for a while now but I didn't become fully conscious of it until yesterday. I really need to have a better grasp of just being myself and being less self-conscious. This morning I went to the beach and w the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. It wasn't the huge encounter that I wanted it to be. It was too cold for swimming without a wetsuit, and we didn't have much time to play around. All we did was take a few pictures.

Well we're on our way out of Florida now and heading to Atlanta. Since I've got some time, I'll finally talk about our trip to Disney MGM Studios. It was actually hot in the studios, probably close to eighty degrees. What I liked about MGM was that the place was more of a realistic image of Disney whereas the Magic Kingdom was more about Disney's dream.

They had a few rides, but the coolest place was the making of animation presentation. Oh, before we entered the presentation, I wandered around behind the lot where apparently, only cast members are allowed. It was an unlit and pretty dark. I looked around and found a small room which looked like a small coffee room. There were newspapers on the fridge so I stepped inside for a second. I left the room hoping that no one saw me. I continued to walk around to unlit area. On one end was a walkway to a parking lot behind a building. I think it was one of the administration buildings. For some reason I wanted to take a pictue of myself in front of it without shoes on. I don't know why. But while I was pondering whether I should, a staff member suddenly entered the darkened area! I hid behind some bushes and I watched him. He looked went into the coffee room and looked around as if he was expecting to find somone there. It suddenly struck me that he might have seen me earlier when I went in. He stood there for a while then left. I started breathing again, and vowed to get out of there. But just then, I heard another person coming in my direction! I hid behind a wall by the parking lot, but he was heading in that direction! I had just a few seconds to think of what to do; it wouldn't be good to just stand there. I considered bailing and running to the parking lot. I thought of rushing him and running back to the line. I peeked through the cracks in the wall and saw him just about to come around the corner! I didn't think, I just moved. I walked towards him with as much confidence as I had left. Just as he saw me, i said "Hi" in the most professional sounding voice as I could. I could see from his name tag that he was a cast member. He just looked at me, replied "hi" and kept going towards the building. I kept going until he was out of view and then breathed a huge sigh of relief. Too early. As I was about to cross back over the fence, a woman saw me. She asked if I was looking for the animation department.  I realized that she thought I was a cast member! Just then another man appeared. It was the same man that had looked into the coffee room! I was at a loss for words. I said no and tried to make up some excuse for being in a cast only area. Apparently, she figured it out that I wasn't a staff member and she asked if I was a guest or a cast member. I quickly said that I was a guest and went over the fence leaving the two confused staff persons before they called park security. And that was the end of that ordeal.

Back in line, the tour was about to start. We saw a short movie about animation with Robin Williams. After that we went in for a short demonstration by an actural animator. There they showed the place where the actual artists worked. Disney has two studios where animators make the movies; the old one in Burbank California and the one right here. We saw portions of two new upcoming Disney movies, Treasure Island and one about a Hawaiian girl and dog she finds and names Stich who is actually an alien from space. Weird. The Disney movies take around four years to complete so both studios work on several cocurrently. The trip to the studio renewed my appreciation for Disney (I had previously thought of Disney in the same way I did of Microsoft). Well, anyway, I throughly enjoyed the trip to MGM studios.

Entry 017

12.31.2001 (2:25 pm EST)

Some distance from Jacksonville FL

We're about fifty or so miles from Jacksonville and heading north. The weather here is considerably cooler here than in Orlando (around 60°) and getting colder by the mile. The change in climate is quite visibe. The leaves in the trees here are brilliant colors of orange and red, while they were all green back in Orlando. We stopped by at Subway. I ordered a turkey breast meal, with everything but onions. But the funny woman started putting onions in the sandwich anyway, before she realized that I didn't want onions. Southern people... While I was heading back to the car I saw a really noisy car with an interesting bumper sticker. It read: "American by birth, Southern by God's grace" and it had a confederate flag. Interesting culture down south. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was a member of the Klan. While I was throwing the trash out, i got my fingers caught in the damn trash bin, and now i have some stinging cuts on my fingers. Ouch!

We just passed by two cops in the middle of the highway. When we did, the surrounding traffic speed dropped about ten MPH. Ha!

Entry 018

12.31.2001 (3:04 pm EST)

We crossed into Georgia a bir ago. Most of the temperate trees here are stripped of their leaves, and it's even colder here. I guess temperatures to be in the mid fifties.

Entry 019

12.31.2001 (5:18 pm EST)

I can the the sun a bit over the horizon casting his last rays of golden light on daughter Earth. The sun is setting for the final time this year and the world will move on. The first year of the century has only a few hours in it and what a year it has been! Much has happened this year and I can't help but feel a strange emptiness as I see the sun setting. In reality it isn't much of a change; the sun will rise tomorrow just as it did every day. And even I will wake up tired as I did yesterday. But the feeling that I am leaving something behind is still lingering inside. It's been like that for me every year since well, last year. Two thousand and two (2002). It's going to take some getting used to. it seems like it was just a little ago that we celerbrated the 2001 new year, and a little more since the millenium celebration. Geez! I need to learn to live in the moment instead of dwelling on the past. But I'll set goals for the year. In 2002:

·         I'll publish my first book; what a grand goal that is!

·         I'll finish a part of the New World story; that won't be easy (considering that I made the same goal nearly two years ago)

·         Stay in Naperville North; I don't care how, I've got to finish school there...

·         Get certified in scuba; its about time

·         Go out with a good friend (of the opposing gender)!

·         Have a memorable, good time!

·         And many more...

Two thousand two will be the year of Alexander Skyrien!

Entry 020-Day 8

01.01.2002 (1:13 am EST)

The time has finally come! It is now the beginning of a new year! Two thousand two is here (along with a bundle of new goals). This shall be a glorious year! About an hour ago in the New Years Eve church service, we counted down the last seconds of 2001. Before that, the pastor gave a inspiring sermon about forgetting, trying, and pressing on. There is still a lot that I need to learn, but a few of the most important things are Forgetting, Trying, and Pressing on. These three things should be my new method of living. When I look back at 2001 I see a year that just came and went. I don't have any strong regrets as I did about 2000, but things weren't... I don't know! There are... were things that I'll never forget about 2001. September 11th of 2001 will always be in my memories, as will many other things. I look forward to this new year as a chance to get things right. And I won't mess it up!

But before I continue, I'd better talk about what we did before the service. The church was the United Methodist Korean Church of Atlanta. The pastor is the same one from the church we used to go to in Evanston. I could vaguely remember him and his kids. He has two daughters and twin sons. I don't quite remember his boys, but older girl (a year older than me, i think) was the person that let me "borrow" the Berinstein Bears books seven years ago. The younger girl I remember more clearly. I used to be with her in Sunday school, and thee last thing I remember her saying about me was "He tries to be funny, but really is not." That statement of hers hurt me more than she knew. I have Ms. Halverson, my second grade teacher at Willard School, to thank for my silly sense of humor at the time. Well anyway I sort of got reaquainted with the two boys Jonathan and Eddie. It was a good thing that I went to the yout  gruop meeting (more of a party than anything). There were at least thirty kids there. I don't know what to say about them. The girls in general seemed a bit too snobby. Anyway, we had a Yüt no ri tournament. I had last played the game in sixth grade in Korea, and today I found out how much fun it really is. We divided into teams of five and each took turns throwing the sticks. Only one person on the team knew how to play at first, but everyone quickly got the hang of it. The amazing thing is, among the eight teams, we were the champion team! Also WJ got a prize at the jaegi kicking contest. We went into the service at around 11 o'clock. There were at least three hundred people in the congregation, something that i haven't seen in a long time in a Korean church. That's the way a Korean church should be. The service was quite interesting, and when it was over it was a few minutes into 2002. We're sleeping at the parsonagr tonight. It's really a nice home. Well it's getting late.

Today is the last day of our vacation trip. Thanks to this Pocket PC, I've recorded my thoughts and feelings, as well as the actual events and will never forget this trip. But as I said before, I'm looking forward to the New Year. I gotta go. It's late. Time for me to rest.

Entry 021

01.01.2002 (4:38 pm EST)

Somewhere near Atlanta GA

We're now at the end of our week long trip and heading back home. We met some old family friends, went to great theme park resorts, saw a grand ocean, and done so much more! And still there's so much more that I'd like to do! The Lion King song has quite some meaning to it. You know, "There is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done". There really is so much more things to be done here, so much more to see, and to feel. And this doesn't just apply to this trip, but all of life. It is now a new year, and there is more to do. Well... this trip has wound down to a close. Well worth the time.

Now we're leaving the South behind and heading back home to the north. It's getting really cold really fast. Now on interstate 75north @ 78MPH. ETA: 10 hours. The gas prices in Georgia are really cheap; about 92¢ a gallon! That's plenty cheaper than the $1.17 in illinois and a far cry from the $2.50+ that it was this summer. Hmm.

Entry 022

01.01.2001 (7:44pm EST)

We're somewhere near Nashville, TN. Just ate a Burgar King dinner. A double whopper with cheese for me.

Entry 023

01.01.2001 (10:27 pm EST)