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Corrie - What a terrific post! I love it! Thanks for sharing. I didn’t grow up Asian, but close enough, and I can deeply relate to your story. Just tonight I was asking my small group to pray, yet again, for opportunities in my field (I’m trying to make it in L.A. playing with a rock band–yes, seriously)! Sometimes it feels like it’s taking too long to get there, and then I am reminded of the little victories, like a job with Kanye West here or a trip to Nashville with my band there. There was a time when I told myself, “Play in a band?! Who does that?” And now I fully agree with you, “Of course! This is what I was made to do.”

Kate - Hi Jun, I came to your blog by a circuitous route (as one always does), through a heap of links to photography blogs. I found it an interesting coincidence that you were writing about inspiration, fighting and sacrificing for one’s dreams, etc, as I’ve been reading a lot on this topic lately and thinking about my own dreams and goals I’d like to accomplish.

I am just finishing up one goal that started as a bit of a pipe dream, which is volunteering in a women’s government ministry overeas. I’m Australian and I’ve been doing just this for the past year in East Timor. Now I’m considering my goals and dreams again… Millionaire, making an effort to fight climate change and maybe some goals closer to home look like they are going to top the list for now! :)

I really admire that you made such a change in what you spend your time doing every day. Hope this trip is fabulous, I’ll be keeping up!

Ted Nghiem - Man, I love your entries!!

I’ll cut and paste from my blog response:

My deepest dreams? A good question. I have and had many dream careers, dream plans and goals, and real plans and goals. When I was younger, I mean high school, I loved history so much that I just wanted to do anything in history. I guess that would have “set” me up to be a lawyer, which I enjoyed. Then I dreamt of being a video game programmer. Then it moved to be a Psychology Professor which I tried extensively for (and if you have followed me since Xanga, you could read my trials and stuff). Though I put that dream career on hold, I am now pursuing photography (wedding and travel!) So that is my new dream goal that I am actively pursuing. Though I will probably reapply for graduate school in psychology. How hot would it be to be a wedding/travel photographer with a Ph.D? :D

As for non – career dreams, I am pretty sure most know that I am an avid traveler. So while I have gone traveling internationally they have been 2 week journeys. And, hopefully, my next one will be a big one month back packing journey back into Ireland. But I would love to backpack for some time through Europe. The thought of traveling keeps me perked and giddy for a while and actually traveling keeps happy and in bliss for a very long time!

And what I am doing to make it a reality …
I believe that my choice to pursue graduate school for two to three years was a real sacrifice, though I believe was worth it, where I gave up “life” to try to get accepted into the programs. But, here I am pursuing photography now, with the goal of graduate school on hiatus. Now that I am not all about being accepted into graduate school, the other “realities” are so tangible I can smell them- bills, economy, global perils… I have happily invested a lot of time and money into photography, purchasing gear, portfolio building, running here and there to get my name out there, that while, in the short term is costing me, but I see the pluses in the long term for a recoup in investment, positive impact in my career, and passion.

My biggest obstacles are all in the short term. While I am investing time and money into the photography business, I am also saving up for my future travels.