As I re-read parts of the memory book, what strikes me is that Steve is essentially the same dude post-college as in college...pretty direct, likes to take charge, has a million ideas floating in his head, very caring about people and overall, extremely goofy. His interests in cooking, fishing, rock climbing, cats, handicraft, Asian American arts, cultural activities, multi-dabbling, and qualities of optimism, intensity, a childlike wonder, people-centeredness and passionate caring are all some of what I observed.

I recall how Steve dreaded first-year Korean class. Ms. Cho, our teacher, was not particularly kind to Korean-Americans who mumbled and stuttered through Korean class. During one occasion at the end of freshman year, Steve and I and a bunch of other friends were studying for the final exam in my room in the wee hours after midnight. Steve, who couldn't keep up with us, fell asleep and we were trying to keep him engaged by occasionally poking him and see if he could subconsciously soak in what we were studying.

But Korean class pysched him out (in fear) so much that he automatically shut off and would not budge at all despite our attempts. But for this one split second, he got up and said in a real freakish voice "I HEAR YOU...EEUHHAHHAHAHA!" and then he went back to sleep. My three other friends and I were all dying in laughter but Steve got his butt whupped during the final exam the next morning.

I saw him linger and suffer through chemistry and math classes too. He probably should have chosen to be an English major from the get-go but of course we are dealing with a person who wanted to do and study everything – if that were ever possible.

Steve actually was a Bible study leader at a dorm during his second year of college. He was always very sincere. But like many people at the U of C, faith became a very difficult issue because of all the questions both intellectual and emotional. I think we struggled with similar issues in our first years of college, being somewhat optimistic to a naive degree about people and things, but certain experiences did us in. We both had hard time focusing in on school, had parental issues, ran into a never-ending desert in our Christian faith and often felt lost without a center. I internalized and vented most of my anger but Steve seemed to have carried himself better. He experimented, fiddled and kept better distracted. I recall the silly mountain climbing wall he set up, his dabbling in the kitchen and the occasional fishing expedition. I always looked up to Steve in a way because I felt that he was more balanced, better adjusted and able to find healthy distractions through his seemingly endless interests.

One thing I so much miss is singing next to him in church. Steve tended to sing in this loud bassoon vibrato, and I tended to sing very loud back then too. The louder I sang, the louder he would sing. I would sometimes try to harmonize to the songs. When I harmonized, he would follow too – often all off-key and VERY LOUD. The funny thing was he wasn't aware he was off-key the louder he got. But he always would just sing very naturally with a lot of feeling and sincerity, which gave me a big, quiet smile inside.

What impressed me most about Steve was his honesty and sincerity. He approached issues searching with openness, with certain childlike wonder and sometimes so overly head-on that people made fun of him, threatened to kill him (Ji Chung) and almost tore him up (Jimbo and Dan Gang during football).

He's extremely loyal as a friend, generous and thoughtful. The times I stayed over his place or just lounged around, he was always so accomodating and easy to talk to. And who could forget his goofy, caveman laugh...

-Scott Kim

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