Doojin's Life: Annual Report for 2002
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Well, this has been another action-packed, eventful year of my life. Overall I would rate 2002 a 'good' year, as opposed to 2001, which was a 'bad' one. Here is my story:
1. Moving
: On June 29, I moved back to Kangbuk, near Kyongbok Palace. Both my home and work are now under the same roof. We are in a 30-year old building that faces one of the 4 gates of the ancient palace.
: Consequently I don't commute anymore, a blessing for anyone living in a city like Seoul. However, I have learned to force myself to go out and to do any kinds of physical activity; otherwise I will suffer from lack of exercise.
: Take a look at my home/work: www.djharch.com/magnolia.htm
2. Work
: From a business point of view, this has been a relatively good year. We had enough works to keep ourselves busy. In fact we had never worked harder before.
: We are currently working on a house perched on a sunny slope of Mt. Inwang, an 75-bed, orthopedic hospital facing Seonleung in Kangnam and an office for a publishing house near Hongik University.
: My office has started a series of talks and events called the Yeongchoo Forum, named after the palace gate nearby. It takes place once a month and is open to everybody. We invite as speakers architects, academics and whoever does interesting things worthy of hearing about. We will send you e-mail notices in advance. For this forum we've just furnished one room in the office, complete with A/V facilities, including a slide projector, a beam projector and a DVD system. We also use the room for client presentations and staff seminars.
3. Teaching
: Boy, am I a full-time teacher or what? I ended up teaching 3 days a week, at two schools in the second semester this year, almost killing myself. Hence the new year's resolution for 2003: maximum one school at a time.
: I will be an architectural design studio tutor for the freshmen class at Seoul National University next year.
4. Spiritual Life
: Those who know about my doubt and skepticism about religion, please be surprised to hear that I've started to go to church again. I even go to a Bible class every Saturday afternoon. And I'm doing all this out of my own will.
: It turned out that as I get older (I'm 40 this year.), I realize how fragile and limited our life is. We owe our being to divine intervention...... So I wanted to express my gratitude for staying alive and healthy. Pray for me, please.
5. Writing
: I'm currently working on a small book introducing architecture to children. This will take quite a while, since I can only do this over the weekends and holidays. The publisher is an old friend of mine and she has been quite good in waiting......
6. Hyunjoo
: My wife has been toying with an idea of starting a business of her own. She is a professional musician and teacher of Baroque music, but she feels she's also got an entrepreneurial spirit. (I agree.) The time is not ripe to tell what she's up to, but she's definitely living a different stage of her life.
7. Other family members
: All my family members are OK, except that both my parents went through a hard time early this year: my father had a surgery and my mother had a sudden loss of hearing in one ear. They are fine now.
: My brother and sister and the their extended family members are all OK. My sister's one year old boy, Yul, is reportedly driving his mother crazy every day, so I guess he's also getting his job done.
8. Hopes for 2003
: I hope to be more active in my profession in 2003. I'm currently involved in founding a new professional architects' association. (Visit www.ka2002.org) We plan to be more outspoken in social issues, speaking to general public as well as professionals and academics.
: I also plan to re-organize my life to heighten my level of concentration. I'm even thinking about not taking phone calls during certain hours of the day and seeing guests only on particular days of the week. Of course I don't mean to be rude to anyone and hope to come up with a wise solution for this. (Any advice?)
: In my private moments, I hope to travel more. I love to travel (Who doesn't?), but fail to make it happen as often as I want to.
Well, this is it for now. I wish everyone a wonderful new year. Be happy and keep in touch!
Yours Sincerely, Doojin