Earlier today, my parents and I went to a buffet to get some lunch. There wasn’t anything particularly special about this buffet, other than the strange blue lighting near the serving tables.

This was my original plate of food; I got a little bit of everything that seemed like something I would want.

After my main plate, I got an extra plate of just sushi. My mom got these color fish eggs that I thought were interesting to look at, so I took a picture.

Finally, we had dessert. I had a little bit of sherbert, as well as mini cakes.

I overate so much that I skipped dinner.

Since the end of my summer internship, my quest to earn my bachelor’s degree is officially over. A naturally following question everyone has been asking me is what I’m doing next. I haven’t revealed anything specific because I don’t reveal things to the public unless I am 100% certain what I announce is what I am really going to do.

So here’s the long-awaited answer to the question, “what’s next?”

I will be attending Northwestern University, studying to earn a Master of Science degree in secondary education with a focus on social sciences. My expected graduation date is sometime near 2015, at which time I will be officially licensed and certified to teach at the middle and high school level.

This does not necessarily mean that other plans I might have hinted at have been discarded. I may still try to work towards those goals, but they just happen to be postponed for the moment. My choice to pursue secondary education was not forced upon me by any entity, and was completely voluntary in the sense that it is something I wanted to do and something that I will enjoy doing.

That is my official announcement; any information conflicting with what I have stated can be safely overlooked as a false rumor. Like always, thanks for all of your support and your continued curiosity of my well-being.

I went to a frozen yogurt shop called Red Mango today with some buddies from my martial arts acade­my.

I’ve been to a Red Mango before in Madison while I was there for university, and it wasn’t much different than any other fast food store – you go up to the counter, look at the menu, ask for what you want, receive it, and pay for it according to the price listed on the menu.

However, the one we went to was different – it was essentially almost all self-service.

I grabbed a cup, and assumed that the cost of the yogurt would be by cup. As a result, I loaded my cup with as much as I could fit inside.

When I went to check out, I realized they don’t charge by cup, they charge by weight.

Mine ended up being almost a pound.

I got my car emission tested today.

Emission testing is mandated by the government in the United States in order to ensure environmental protection. All vehicles are required to get examined once every few years.

While my car was being tested, I was asked to sit inside the safety/waiting area. The test only took less than two minutes, but I managed to snap a photo while I was waiting.

My parents and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant earlier today for lunch.

For my meal, I decided to have beef and broccoli with rice – something not too different than what I usually like to eat, so I don’t end up ordering something that I really don’t like.

The beef tasted noticeably different than beef I would find in other restaurants, and I’m assuming it was the Vietnamese style of seasoning the beef. Regardless, it tasted great and I enjoyed my meal.

My parents, on the other hand, decided to try pho, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup. My mom got seafood, while my dad got beef (I think).

My mom is known for pretty much liking and enjoying any food. But pho was so pungent and reeked so much of animal fat that even she couldn’t finish, and barely ate half her food. My dad had the same experience, but was able to finish a bit more than my mom did.

Apparently, my parents saw this restaurant advertised in the Korean newspaper, and word-of-mouth claimed that the flavor of pho at this restaurant would be a good match for people already used to Korean food. It clearly wasn’t the case for my parents, so if you plan on doing something like this, it might be in your best interest to ask for a small sample, rather than ordering two massive bowls of Vietnamese noodles and soup.

I came across a coupon for a buy-one-get-one-free deal at KFC.

I paid about $5 and ended up getting two of these huge boxes of chicken. I effectively got them for $2.50 each, so I was pretty satisfied about how much food I got for so little money.

Then I opened it up, and realized that the amount of food inside was dwarfed by the size of the box.

Small things come in … big packages?