-I am a naturalist. I love nature, try to understand every detail hidden inside nature. Therefore I regularly go outside and observe all kinds of species I encounter. I take the photo and categorize based on taxonomy. This changed me a lot; I take my camera whenever I go outside, recognize the distribution of certain species at the certain place, and absorb nearly every information to my knowledge. I have a lot of things to write about, but there is not enough space to type in one section. So I'll talk about this below, one by one.
2. Svalbard
-Last summer, I visited Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. There, what strikes my eyes were mountains covered with barren soils and rocks. I expected white icebergs since Svalbard is 'Arctic', but ices only existed high on the mountain. Once, I had a chance to have a talk with Leif-Arild Hahjem, a Norwegian meteorologist who stayed in Svalbard from 1984. Among his long speech full of Norwegian accents, I still remember when he pointed me a green grass growing near the institutes. He said such plant should not exist in Ny-Alesund. And that imprinted me how severe current Global Warming is. Visiting Svalbard was chance to enlarge my knowledge and envision my future. I can realize what ultimate goal should I have as a future ecologist.
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| Beautiful scenery, but shouldn't be like this |
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| Climbing an iceberg without an ice |
3. Insect, Birds, and Mammals
-The reason why I decided to major ecology is until now, I can't specialize my interest. I like insects, birds, and also mammals as same as other species. It is hard to decide which kinds of creatures I should focus on. For me, every species is equally intriguing, impressive, and interesting. Maybe I can figure it out later after gaining more experiences and knowledge. Thus, my current choice is 'ecology', which can deal with entire ecosystems and lives.
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| Scorpionfly(Panorpa Coreana). Found in campus |
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| Watch out! In DMZ, mines are everywhere. |
-Between the first and second floor in Dasan building, there were dozens of photos about wild lives in DMZ. I constantly visit there and observe the variety of endangered species facing critical threats of extinction. The entity of DMZ itself is ironical, the remnant of bloody civil war is now heaven to wild animals. Even though I'm not interested in politics or diplomat, this place reminds me tragedic memories whenever I visit.
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| Drying specimens. |
5. Specimens
-If you visit 2nd floor in Dasan building, you can see my insect specimens. January 2017, biology teacher Mr. Han introduced me insect laboratory in SNU. From there, I learned how to deal and make insect specimens. Last summer, I made my own insect specimens in KMLA to use during GLPS. Anyway, making specimen is one extent of nature observation. I can precisely identify the species and learn deeply about the insect's anatomical structures. But there was 1 tradeoff through specimens: other students started to think me as a cold-heart insect killer.
6. Kumdo(Kendo)
-Kumdo is only sport I interested in. I first learned Kumdo when I was 8, but not systematically. After I entered KMLA, I began to learn 'real' Kumdo. From basic pose to competition, learning Kumdo was one great joy every morning. But great joy comes great responsibilities. Mr. Kim ordered me to come Kumdo morning exercise instead of gymnastics, therefore I have to wake up 6:10 every morning these days.
7. Cartoon drawing
-I used to draw a cartoon and uploaded at KMLAonline, students' homepage. The cartoon itself was simple(or sloppy), I only draw stick figures with huge initial on the head for identification, but somehow I uploaded for years. Of course, there was no such main theme inside the cartoon. I usually draw some 'unusual' or 'wicked' event I saw during my freshman year. But when formal headmaster resigns, I draw a cartoon for satire.
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| MSG Life. |
Since I became sophomore, I stopped uploading a cartoon. I faced lots of tasks and exams and I had no time to spend 2~4 hours to draw the cartoon. Maybe after the college application, I will draw it again. Maybe.
8. Paleontology
-I always wanted to be a paleontologist, a scientist who looking for fossils of ancient creatures like dinosaurs and mammoths. Those enormous but vanished creatures stimulated my curiosity and aspirations of learning. That is why my Facebook profile image is T-rex skull taken in Smithsonian(The photo has been unchanged for last 2 years and I'll not change it forever). However, nearly 3 years in KMLA altered my interests and thought, thus my current dream job is an ecologist-person who study entire ecosystem, not one specific creature. But still, paleontology remains in one of my personal interest, influencing me in many aspects.
-I like martial arts as an extension of Kumdo. Sometimes, I watch traditional martial arts performances through Youtube, try to mimic what I saw. These days me and my roommate Dongwook practice and perform martial arts inside the dorm. Dongwook is fascinated with Chinese martial arts: Wing Chun and Zui Quan. Besides, my interest is martial arts using weapons like sword or stick. In room 1005, martial arts training is a daily routine.
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| Giants of the Lost World. Maybe some of you saw this. |
10. Giants of the Lost World
-Due to my interest in paleontology, I'm now translating 'Giants of the Lost World' by Donald R. Prothero. Maybe some of you saw that I was wrestling with a weird-looking book with dinosaurs cover. It is a book of extinct creatures in South America continent, explaining all kinds of marvelous creatures from Paleozoic to present. With Mr. Kim, geology teacher, I'm planning to publish the translated version this year.
11. Star Wars
-Everyone has their favorite movie. For me, Star Wars series is my favorite. Of course, I like other movies like Jurassic Park or Pacific Rim, but there is no doubt that Star Wars is best among them. I first met Star Wars through 'The empire strikes back', and fascinated to Darth Vader(and also to his theme, Imperial March). Last year, I saw Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and nearly cried. How on earth I can remain calm while our mighty lord Vader slaughtering Rebel scums!
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| Lord Vader in Rogue One |
12. Photography
-Even though I'm in TTL, my photography skills are horrible. Compare to my roommate Dongwook Kim, one of the most skillful photographers in KMLA, my skill is worthless to say. Actually, I started to take a photo in order to identify species I met, not for artistic or self-development purpose. So my subject is always living creatures and I practiced only to take 'identifiable and clear photo'.
13. Suncheon
-I live in Ilsan but Suncheon is my another hometime. I lived in Suncheon with grandparents before I entered elementary school. There, I had really nothing to do except farming with grandparents. And I had chances to met various insects and become familiar with them. Life in Suncheon was short, less than 1 year. But that experience is one of the most influential events in my whole life. Why? Because there, I first decided to study ecosystem. In other words, I found what I love in Suncheon.
14. Sibling
-I have a sibling, 2 years older brother, but we are not in such a lovely relation. Frankly speaking, I don't like him. Despite, my brother influenced me in various fields like biology. He has a great interest in animals, especially insects, but I can swear I'm slightly better than him.
15. Comics and Animation
-Reading comics and watching animation is one of my hobbies. Unlike my academical interest, I usually prefer Sci-Fi or Fantasy genres in such sub-cultures.
16. Yu-gi-oh!
-Maybe some of you already know that I 'still' play Yu-gi-oh! card game. I first started it when I was 10. And from that moment, I'm still playing this card game with the same deck(Cyber deck) for almost decade. Once, I had a chance to enter state championship, which can directly lead to Yu-gi-oh! World Championship. However, I resigned because I had to go 'νμ'. That was one of my worst decision in my life ever.
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| Cyber End Dragon. My favorite card and ace card. |
17. Charles Darwin
-I heard Charles Darwin when I was very young, with his splendid theory of evolution. I was fascinated not only because of Darwin's theory but also because I made appropriate reason to skip Church every Sunday. My parents, pretty docile Christians, gave up taking me to church when I rebutted them mentioning Charles Darwin. This was quite important to me since from that moment, I can sleep until noon on Sunday.
18. Bo-staff
-In room 1005, it is possible to find interesting tools for martial arts training. Not only bamboo swords for Kumdo but also 4 feet bo for training bo arts. I trained bo staff skills through youtube and books and now I can perform a little.
19. Ignorance
-I'm not close to idols, vocals, bands, and drama actors. What people called 'basic common sense' doesn't work for me. When one classmate made a speech commemorating David Bowie, I had to search google who the hell he is.
20. Field guides
-My one weird habit is, whenever I saw new field guides, I buy it right away. But the problem is, I don't think deeply about how to use it. For instance, during the vision trip, I bought field guide of 'shark'. Until today, I didn't have a chance to see and identify sharks in the wild.
21. GLPS
-I participated in GLPS twice, 'summer' in 2016 and 2017, because insects are common in summer(winter also has lots of animals like birds and mammals, but little boring). In GLPS, Nature Observation(or FOP) is my only interest. Sorry for Eric, but Head or PA is none of my business.
22. Lego
-Lego is the first toy I bought on my own. I like Lego, but I like mixing every piece into one. It doesn't matter how they look, colors, even the series. Whenever the pieces fit into each other, I fused them and make Kimera.
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| Young Pagrus major (μ°Έλ) caught in Ulleungdo |
23. Fishing
-Fishing is my one hobby. Since I entered KMLA I go fishing every winter vacation, which is a rare chance for me to observe aquatic species.
24. Video games
-I used to play PlayStation 2 when I was 6. My father bought a PlayStation for my birthday and Christmas present, one present on two occasions. My first game was Tekken 4. The PlayStation itself has broken long ago, but I still play Tekken series. Maybe some of you saw me playing Tekken in the arcade when we went skiing this winter.
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| Yoshimitsu in Tekken series. I still use this character |
25. Nonchalance
-Sorry to say, but I'm really poor at names. In fact, I still don't know the name of some 21 wavers. I know their faces, but matching the exact names to person is total hardship.
26. Noodle
-Noodle is my favorite types of food. I'm strict to foods, but generous to noodles. But if somebody asks me the reason of processions, I have nothing to say. What I can only say is, "I like noodles because I like noodles".
27. Ushanka
-I like my hat Ushanka-what people call a funny looking Svalbardian hat. Fluffy and warm, it helps me to stand the ferocious cold in KMLA winter. Some friends ask me whether that hat made of polar bear's fur. Actually, it was dinosaurs'. My Ushanka was made of polyester, fiber from petroleum.
28. Color Black
-My favorite color is black, but no special reason. Maybe because the color black can absorb any other colors, even white. For a realistic reason, I prefer black because black clothes taint less.
29. Modern technology
-I'm not familiar with what people called 'modern tech' like cell phone, laptops, MP3...
30. Prepare
-I put nearly everything in my bag, in order to deal with any kinds of situations. 2 AA batteries, sewing box, cutter, tweezers, medical scissors, half-feet ruler, USB, glasses cloth, a small edge from MacGyber, Scotch tape and etc... My friend Bryson really owed me on this.
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