I accidentally on-purpose saw transformers last night. I meant to see die hard, but it apparentally wasn't playing, and then we noticed that transformers was there at midnight, and i wanted to see that movie much more.

disregarding the fact that suspension of disbelief is required, I will list the ways the movie defied logic.

(NOTE: POSSIBLE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE SPOILERS)

1. decepticons can kill any non-main character easily even when they are well armed. However, they have no ability to kill or even hurt a main character that might only be carrying a pocket knife.

2. each transformer has the ability to turn into any form it can scan, yet the autobots(the good guys) all choose ground civilian vehicles, and the decepticons (almost) all choose air military vehicles.

3. the transformers can change into something half the size that they are as robots.

4. as a follow up on the size difference, there is also a cube that shrinks from the size of a house to the size of a small microwave. this isn't so bad except that the box would be so massively dense at that size that a person could never lift it, but they do.

5. people in the movie are given important responsibilities that a transformer could do 20 times better. it's like watching professional athletes play their sport with grade school kids, and actually deferring to the kids, while the other team doesn't hold back.

6. the fact that more people don't notice giant clumsy robots hanging out outside.

7. how did they get that stuff out of the south pole, especially during that time period.

8. matters of utmost importance are delayed for illogical reasons. honestly, if it's that important, why is there any delay?

9. the incredible amount of serendipity.

10. the fact that any new robot created was instantly evil, yet the story claims that they were originally peaceful.

Of coures I still really liked the movie. I think all of the errors cancelled each other out.

My plane ticket: resolved. (I fly back to Canada July 5th. And because of the time difference, it was still be July 5th when I get back)

My potential new job: check

The souvenirs: working on it.

Interesting things to note: I'm giving the message at church this Sunday. I'm talking about perseverance.

Non-sequitur: I was thinking of getting an interesting new watch. The problem is finding a watch that is reasonably functional. http://www.tokyoflash.com/en/

Observations: There is a strange feeling of collision in my head. One thought is excited about going home, another is so worn out. It's like running a marathon, seeing and seeing the finish line a couple hundred metres away. While feel so tired, and want to celebrate, you're not sure your legs will support this notion.

I feel so lucky to be apart of a not so selective club. Ze Frank has been apart of this club, and... crap, I remember reading so many other disgruntled people's thoughts on this, that made them apart of this group too. However I can't remember who they are. Anyway, this wonderful group that I'm talking about is the pre-mile high club. It's called such because you get screwed by the airline before you even take off. Luckily, I wasn't screwed to the extent of jail bitch.

The situation:
Airline representative: Okay, can you just give me your email address so I can send you the confirmation of your changed airline date.

Me: Ok, it's t-h-e-m-a-l-c-o-l-m @ _______

Airline representative: Ok, so it is the + your last name.

Me: no no, it's the + my first name.

Airline representative: oh, that might be a problem.

Me: What? Why?

Airline representative: Currently, we have your first name, and your last name reversed in our system. You won't be able to board the plane if it stays like that.

Me: But I already flew here to Korea with the ticket like that.

Airline representative: It doesn't matter.


So, now i need to go through a dumb process of changing the name.

I shouldn't have went here. http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/ it made me homesick.

http://www.grendel.org/tsc/klosterman-enemies.htm

I read this article about nemesises (or nemesi i suppose) and archenemies. As a quick summary I will explain, you apparently need both of these people in your life to succeed. It is the hate and competition that drive you, or something like that. The differences between the two are that... actually I'll just copy and paste this blip.

RECOGNIZING YOUR NEMESIS •At some point in the past, this person was (arguably) your best friend. •You have punched this person in the face. •If invited, you would go to this person's wedding and give him a spice rack, but you would secretly hope that his marriage ends in a bitter, public divorce. •People who barely know both of you assume you are close friends; people who know both of you intimately suspect that you profoundly dislike each other. •If your archenemy tried to kill you, this person would attempt to stop him.

RECOGNIZING YOUR ARCHENEMY •Every time you talk to this person, you lie. •If you meet someone who has the same first name as this person, you immediately like him less. •The satisfaction you feel from your own success pales in comparison to the despair you feel at this person's triumphs, even if those triumphs are completely unrelated to your life. •If this person slept with your girlfriend, she would never be attractive to you again. •Even if this person's girlfriend was a hateful bitch, you would sleep with her out of spite.


So this got me thinking, who are these people in my life? I think the nemesis will be easier for me to find. I think the first one was probably my brother. Second, and probably the most beneficial was Johann Koorn, look him up on facebook if you want. He was the one that gave me competition for art. If he didn't move away after grade 9, I bet I'd be an even better artist, and he'd probably stay forefront as my top nemesis. maybe. After he left, I think my brother took the nemesis title again. This was about the time Brad started travelling, and maybe I was jealous or something. I guess this has mostly dissapated now. well as much as nemesi dissapate. And if I was to guess my latest nemesis, it would be Alison Bulger. My ex-girlfriend. The secret competition rages on. Maybe. I'd probably do better at it if i wasn't as apathetic.

I don't know my archenemy though. I'm sure if I did though, I shouldn't mention it. Maybe I'll go find one.

It has been a game since maybe 2 or 3 months ago to make my msn name subtle enough, and yet still indicative of my current situation/feelings. Or maybe just subtle poking fun at others on msn.

I think it started with the msn name, "self-deprecation is the height of cool" in reference to someone else's self-deprecating msn name.

and right now my msn name is "not enough corners".

Rather than just explaining the meaning though, i will present 3 options as to the meaning.

I think it will be more fun.

a) I keep rounding a corner towards success. but i'm afraid of the actual success so i constantly try to find more corners to round to postpone that possible outcome.

b) there were too many misbehaving children, and it felt like there just weren't enough corners to put each one in.

c) corners represent an unsafe area for children. so my subtle sarcasm is pretending to be the voice of the builders of my school's play area.

i need to post some cool, so i've stolen some:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp.html
For six weird weeks in the fall of 2004, Udo Wächter had an unerring sense of direction. Every morning after he got out of the shower, Wächter, a sysadmin at the University of Osnabrück in Germany, put on a wide beige belt lined with 13 vibrating pads -- the same weight-and-gear modules that make a cell phone judder. On the outside of the belt were a power supply and a sensor that detected Earth's magnetic field. Whichever buzzer was pointing north would go off. Constantly.
"It was slightly strange at first," Wächter says, "though on the bike, it was great." He started to become more aware of the peregrinations he had to make while trying to reach a destination. "I finally understood just how much roads actually wind," he says. Deep into the experiment, Wächter says, "I suddenly realized that my perception had shifted. I had some kind of internal map of the city in my head. I could always find my way home. Eventually, I felt I couldn't get lost, even in a completely new place."
On a visit to Hamburg, about 100 miles away, he noticed that he was conscious of the direction of his hometown. Wächter felt the vibration in his dreams, moving around his waist, just like when he was awake. [...]
When the original feelSpace experiment ended, Wächter, the sysadmin who started dreaming in north, says he felt lost; like the people wearing the weird goggles in those Austrian experiments, his brain had remapped in expectation of the new input. "Sometimes I would even get a phantom buzzing." He bought himself a GPS unit, which today he glances at obsessively. One woman was so dizzy and disoriented for her first two post-feelSpace days that her colleagues wanted to send her home from work. "My living space shrank quickly," says König. "The world appeared smaller and more chaotic."
[...]
During a long brainstorm session, they wondered whether the tongue could actually augment sight for the visually impaired. I tried the prototype; in a white-walled office strewn with spare electronics parts, Wicab neuroscientist Aimee Arnoldussen hung a plastic box the size of a brick around my neck and gave me the mouthpiece. "Some people hold it still, and some keep it moving like a lollipop," she said. "It's up to you."
Arnoldussen handed me a pair of blacked-out glasses with a tiny camera attached to the bridge. The camera was cabled to a laptop that would relay images to the mouthpiece.
I cranked up the voltage of the electric shocks to my tongue. It didn't feel bad, actually -- like licking the leads on a really weak 9-volt battery. [...] I walked around the Wicab offices. I managed to avoid most walls and desks, scanning my head from side to side slowly to give myself a wider field of view, like radar. Thinking back on it, I don't remember the feeling of the electrodes on my tongue at all during my walkabout. What I remember are pictures: high-contrast images of cubicle walls and office doors, as though I'd seen them with my eyes. Tyler's group hasn't done the brain imaging studies to figure out why this is so -- they don't know whether my visual cortex was processing the information from my tongue or whether some other region was doing the work.


and this....


Brain Generated Music: The user attaches three disposal leads to her head. A personal computer then monitors the user's brain waves to determine her unique alpha wavelength. [...] Music is then generated by the computer, according to an algorithm that transforms the user's own brain-wave signal. [...] the fact that the sounds are synchronized to the user's own alpha wavelength to create a resonance with the user's own alpha rhythm also encourages alpha production.
The music itself feels like it is being generated from inside your mind. Interestingly, if you listen to a tape recording of your own brain-generated music when you are not hooked up to the computer, you do not experience the same sense of transcendence. Although the recorded BGM is based on your personal alpha wavelength, the recorded music was synchronized to the brain waves that were produced by your brain when the music was first generated, not to the brain waves that are produced while listening to the recording. You need to listen to "live" BGM to achieve the resonance effect.
And now there's this brand new vaporware:
Project Epoc is a headset that uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs. Project Epoc now makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind.

dear blog,
i owe you one blog. it's been too inconsistant. and i have things to say i think. but apathy often prevails in times of exhaustion, or actual sociality. i guess it's not really a bad thing the sociality supercedes an articial world of binary and junk.

i am signed up for a ESL teacher job search website. Now i get tons of emails each day. maybe i do it just to feel popular. but really, can you take a job offer seriously from someone named wooky?

It's Buddha's birthday coming up. It's apparently a huge celebration. I think things such as Buddha's birthday, or Christmas are kinda ironic. Jesus and Buddha are such huge figureheads of 2 prevalent religions, and their foundations are in humility. Yet when we celebrate each of their births, it is ultimately extravagant. Very little piety is displayed, rather mass consumption, and parties. I guess given enough time, nearly anything can be transformed into something else. My compost is a good example. ugh.

The NBA is sucky right now. Maybe it's being sucky because i'm getting too into it, and it's giving me the hint to back off a bit. It's just like a relationship that becomes too obsessive. Anyway, it's sucky because i don't care about any of the 4 teams still playing. And also because Phoenix Suns were cheated by the NBA so bad. I guess double standards are ok when you're playing favourites.

After 6 months of attempting to plan curriculum for this school i'm working for, i've learned so much. Mostly i've learned what not to do, and how to fix it. I've recently started putting together my own curriculum. I only have an outline right now, I think it's a good idea. There are so many school's that need a good curriculum here, and i think i can do that. I'm going to bore you a little more with some explanation. Just recently, as in last year, the TOEFL/TOEIC exams format were changed. The TOEFL/TOEIC exam is a test for english proficiency, and it's invaluable for korean's to do well on it to do well on it to benefit the post-secondary education. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEIC . The format has been changed to incorporate a need for more listening and speaking fluency, not just writing. Since this is so recent, private english are now catching onto the trend of making their schools dialogue orientated but curriculum isn't fully formed for this type of teaching yet. That's where I come in, someone that jumps on a trend at the right time. hopefully.

i have other plans that i need to discuss later.

sorry i've left that creepy picture up headlining my blog for so long. things have been busy around here. i'm tired, and it's hard to concentrate on any particular thing. the jist of it is that all the korean teachers were let go/fired the other day. it really sucks because they were becoming really good friends of mine, and it also sucks because they taught the students academic. without them here we have to teach twice as much. but i've said to myself that i'm gonna suck it up because being a real teacher is twice as hard anyway.

anyway, here's a new painting i painted. i have another completed, but i don't have a picture of it.

this is great. the best bread ever:
http://www.hemmy.net/2006/03/10/human-bread/

the question is, would you eat this stuff?

ok, let's see if i can go through this list about the weekend. I could probably logically arrange this through chronological, or , but that's work that i don't care to do.

-kindergarten disasters
koreans seem to take safety as second place, and hence a kindergarten broke his leg as he tried to get out of a moving ride.

-jeju island
it is an island in the south of korea that has been created by constant volcanic eruptions. however the last time it erupted is out of recent memory. it is known for these little statues, and mermaid women. the whole group of us went there on the weekend.

-shjon's last daywhen at jeju i found out that shjon has quit. he started looking for a new job last monday, and found one on wednesday, and now he's done. he was sick of the constant inconsistancy from this school. i however am going to stick this out.
-shjon being violated
as a going away present shjon got violated. korean's have a tendancy to blur the gay lines because "there are no gays in korea". so men are more comfortable acting like how girls act with each other back in canada. at one point, when we were lying down, about to go to bed, this one ambiguous guy (pretty boy) latched onto shjon's back in a spooning action and said to him "girlfriend". jon and i couldn't stop laughing. we were crying. and the kid stayed on him for a good 15 seconds. and after he was received so negatively based on our laughing, he now seems to be afraid of shjon.

-korean words i've learned
i've learned how to say:
it's exciting, it's annoying, it doesn't matter, cute, who, why, what, where, when, and a number of other things. it's motivating me to try harder to learn.

-the older girls
i hung out with them most of the weekend. they stayed away from the politics of work. i liked it. but of course they're older, i'm sure i don't have a chance. sigh. not that knowing girls is about trying to pick'em up.

-the girls that don't speak any english
the two bosses daughters were cute. they're adopted, and they don't speak any english. so i tried to hang out with them a bit. i had some eye-contact with the one. but i lost out to someone that actually spoke korean.

-the korean teacher girls
they were distant the whole weekend from everyone. i don't think they wanted to be there. but along the theme of girls, they teased me that i was hitting on amy anytime i talked to her. but i wasn't really. i guess it's just fun to tease people about liking someone in any culture. by the way, amy has a boyfriend of 5 years, and i've learned my lesson about home wrecking.

i mention the idea of girls these 3 times just because it's always interesting conversation. but really, i'm realistic about dating koreans. none of that for me. i'll strictly stick to making out with them... or just pretending like i have a chance.

-the gash in my back
the second morning i woke up in jeju i stood up. the window was open. the window opens inward. and the window was right over top of where i was. it left this nice mark on my back.

-acclimating to floors
before i came to korea i was used to my super-comfy bed. but since then i 've gotten used to a rock hard bed. it feels great, now i can feel comfortable going to sleep on someone's floor. an example being when i fell asleep on a floor in jeju.

-gayness, or not
as i mentioned before, gay's don't exist in korea. you have to get used to the openness. since no korean is really worried about being accused they're gay.

-interesting diningthey ate the pig the first day.
the second day along the beach front we found these ladies. they have a bunch of fish in buckets. a few of them ate the orange ones. they just sliced them up, washed them and served them on those little stools with lettuce and sauce. i didn't eat any.

-the fake coldsore
i dripped hot syrup. on myself before i went to jeju. it went on my lip and burn me good. and it looked exactly like a coldsore for a week. it's just finally went away today. it was funny, someone that saw right after i burned myself asked me the next day with all honesty how my coldsore was.

-gostop
i played gostop the one night with the koreans. as soon as i joined we started kicking ass. we won about $30 the first hand. and that's huge since most time you only get about $2-$8. so i played it out the a number of more rounds, and then when we quit, the guy that i was playing with gave me $20. it was great. the next day i played with a couple of the westerners. and i didn't want to play for money, but they pull the pressure. and i cracked, and i lost $8. later, i played for no money, and i won a bunch. gah.

-the ways i've changed
i think i've changed in good ways. more mature. more independant. but also i've noticed that i've worked on almost every aspect of myself that i want to improve.
teaching - check
working out - check
basketball - check
painting - check
guitar - check
sociality - check
reading the bible - check
self created projects - check
independance - check
etc.

granted, i'm afraid that this motivation may be temporary based on my situation.

-even steven
i calculated all that i spent this weekend, and it equaled exactly 10 cents.

-unseshy swimmers
it's actually unsexy swimmers, but koreans pronounce sexy, seshy. it's because anytime an "ee" sound follows an "s" sound, the "s" becomes an "sh" sound.
anyway, there were stories that got around about these fantastic women in jeju island that swam and caught immobile sealife like clams. they could swim up to 20 metres deep and hold their breath for about 2 minutes. word of this got to japan, and the japanese thought, wow, these are mermaids, they're probably so sexy. then they got to jeju island and found that these women are the most unsexy women you could imagine. but they can get you some gooood sealife. i saw some of these women there, and yes they are interesting, and yes they are quite the dying breed. i guess girls these days just don't aspire to this type of glory.

-nicknames
there were so many nicknames passed around on the weekend. it was funny. some of the guys were named hot stuff, beefcake, sexyback, and i think stallion. the 3 daughters of the head managers were called cutie, pretty, and sexy.

-reused cups
i've found that koreans have no qualms about reusing any cup they find. they'll simply tap it upside down to empty the last previous drops, and then offer to pour you a drink. i quickly found a new cup, and then accepted. i guess they figured that the alchohol would kill any bacteria.

-understanding korean
the one white dude i was with actually understand korean pretty good. he carries on long conversations in korean actually. anyway, when him and i went through the airport security, apparently a couple of the security check girls said we were handsome men. they didn't realize that he understood korean. and that's why my goal is to understand korean.

MAN! i have so much to talk about this weekend. but i'm at the pc bong right now, so i don't want to type up all the stuff. so instead i'll just write point form note reminders for myself to write about later.

-kindergarten disasters
-jeju island
-shjon's last day
-shjon being violated
-korean words i've learned
-the older girls
-the girls that don't speak any english
-the korean teacher girls
-the gash in my back
-acclimating to floors
-gayness, or not
-interesting dining
-the fake coldsore
-gostop
-the ways i've changed
-even steven
-unseshy swimmers
-nicknames
-reused cups


i may or may not write about all these things, but i like making brainstorming type lists and then filling in what i want. i'll put in pictures too.

kids names i saw in yesterday's kindergarten class...

natasha
smile
lion
andra
bianca

hmmm, there were a bunch more, but i don't remember them.

maybe if today's kindergarten names are fun, i'll try and remember them better.

yesterday i ate pizza. it was a half and half pizza. half vege, and half with meat. i ate the last piece, a piece that didn't seem to have any meat on it. and then as i swallowed i tasted pepporoni on my palate. i know, it doesn't sound so bad, but then a minute later my gut hurt like hell. honestly, for 20 minutes my stomach was in the most pain i've been in since i've been here in korea. note to self, i'm never eating meat again. i wonder if the same feeling would happen to someone that ate a carrot after 5 years of no veggies.

we did curriculum planning at work yesterday.
the new direction we are taking with curriculum is spending 40 minutes on vocabulary, 40 minutes on dialogue, and 40 minutes on activities.

example dialogue:

Pay me Nine dollars.
Eight dollars?
No, I said nine.
I understand.
So you will give me the money now.


This isn't the exact dialogue we use, but if you look at the acrostic, some people are doing this. i know, a little immature, but still rather funny.

Secondly, we had someone convinced that once a week we are going to try express english accents from around the world. So each of us are supposedly required to put on a different accent. The girl we had convinced hesitantly said well she thinks a british accent would be easiest. and then we all lost it, we could hold in the laughter anymore.

i saw a shirt yesterday that said:

Jesus
I Will
Save You

i think it meant jesus will save you. but all of a sudden this shirt turns you into an ironic anachronic hero.

i got some new shoes, and right away i schooled some kids at least 10 years younger than me at basketball. nice. if there's one thing kids are good for, it's to make you feel better about yourself, particularly when doing physical activities. and for me, given that i'm not a big man, i need to go up against kids much younger. ones that i can push around.

in other news, i'm learning more korean because i'm now sitting amongst the koreans.

mah-shi-da means cool.

so, this happened to me.

i think i'll try and play the sympathy card. although i think i need to twist the story a bit, because i kinda did it while playing basketball, and there's nothing heroic or interesting about that. i'll think of something. there's some pretty girls around, and pretty girls always want to feel sorry for a guy in some way.

I thought this was genius.
http://votefortheworst.com/
it makes me appreciate american idol more.

i was as i am as i sat around and i thought too much it seems sometimes i do just that as usual i planned around roadblocks and first wave trends too late to avoid being sucked in like forests and forests holding the nuances of commonplace with a complete lack of commonplace because we are all flippantly bringing ourselves down into the moss of this make believe.


oh wait, i intended to write something that made sense. shoot.

This past weekend I...


finally finished the painting i was working on here.


Went to Yeouido to see the cherry blossoms. apparently they only last about 2 weeks. and after seeing them, i realized that this country is so deprived of floral diversity that something that is only kinda neat like the cherry blossoms becomes incredible.

but the yeouido park had a couple of white bunnies running around loose.

the next day i went to itaewon. it's to korea for westerners as chinatown in toronto is for the chinese. it felt weird being around so many westerners. jon wanted to buy a knockoff watch, so we were lead into a back alley shop to view the goods. the guy that served us had a business card. his name was cookie.

there were other fun shops there too. such as this one. look at it up close.

...and we found this genius idea there. "itaewon self-regulating anti-crime unit". i don't know what it means, but it sounds like it would work.
but the real reason to go to itaewon was to see the montreal vs. toronto hockey game. it was a re-run from the morning. and sadly as hard as i tried to not know the score before the game, it didn't work. but horray, toronto won, and they looked like they were headed to the play-offs... and then NY Islanders won the next day and knocked toronto out of the playoffs. so all in all it felt like a wasted victory.

and that was my weekend.

My new vow is to reply to any personal email to me within a week, annnnnd i now have a phone. so i'll extend this vow to phone calls.
My home phone number is 031-816-8999
toronto hours-
Sun. : 4am-12pm, 6:30pm-8pm
mon. -fri.: 7am-12pm, 6:30pm-8pm
sat.: varies, try anytime except for 1pm-7pm

i think i did the math right, i hope that is the hours i'm available if calling from toronto.

This is essentially what my mind feels like. I mean that simply as reflection of too many of my thoughts wanting to be somewhere important. And as they push forward they all lose their place. I'm pretty sure i don't have too much work to do, but i'm constantly unsatisified and fickle about the best way to organize. sigh. the ironic part is that i actually enjoy organization... to an extent.

APRIL FOOLS

i didn't really cut off both my hands in a freak accident.

sdo iiii cccvut oofdff bottthhh nmy hghanmdss oiin asaa fdfreaalk aaccciodetn..,., itttts raleely hhafrerrrdd tto tttyytpoe.

and here i am. and where i go. and anything. i'm not sure. let me get the manual. it's lost amongst the factual. simple things turn complex. complex blurs to simplicity. you ordered a hamburger. you got a nuclear war gift wrapped for the long haul. before the fall we'll see summer. before you go, get me another cola. get me another full one, no more half empty anything. anyway. there is a needle in the hay, i feign desire for the discovery. channels. flip on my side. worried about disgust choking me on my back. coming to conclusions i didn't know i had. maybe i borrow these things like library books. i must have fines. i must have... something.

yesterday's spelling test. the words were:
1. bookshelf
2. stereo
3. picture
4. chair
5.kitchen

puppies for sale on the street corner. it said 70% off(or that's what i assume). but i don't know what price it's 70% off of if it's on the street corner.

information. kinda in a cheesy format, but some things are interesting.

http://www.break.com/index/shift_happens.html

so the video is the product of my 2 days off. i meant to do my whole day, but the editing was taking too long. i apologize for the green words at the top, they're there because the only video editing program i could quickly get was a trial version, and trial versions do stuff like that to your videos. it's times like these that i wish i had a mac.

this is one of those things that i shouldn't mention in case it doesn't get done. but i will anyway. i'm currently trying to make a video of my daily work routine. it sounds boring, but i'll punch it up with special effects.... no i won't. but i'll put a good song on it, and least if you don't like the video, you can just close your eyes and listen.

the problem is, i don't even know if my video editing software works, or even how it works exactly. and secondly, i'm not sure i can put the video on here.

but i'd like to get your hopes high now.

high five.this is chai milk jam i got in japan. i like sharing, or giving away most food things i have. but i think this is one thing that i wouldn't want to share. yum. do you have any items like that?

http://little-people.blogspot.com/

i really liked this. it was quaint.

i avoided watching tv for almost a year, but then i finally plugged my tv in here. sigh. but i only get one english channel, and that is the army base channel. so if i have the tv on, that's the channel it will be.

every commercial looks like it costs about $100 to make; and i'm not sure if any are not geared toward military viewers. 'make sure you have all your documents in order', 'eat at your regiments cafeteria', 'be knowledged about new housing that you'll move to', 'sexual harassment is never acceptable'. The one i find ironic is when they inform the officers that if they speak about any superior officer, or speak about the president with contempt, that is an offense that can have them courtmarshelled. meanwhile, the shows that are aired on this channel, such as the late night shows, they make it almost a nightly ritual to degrade the president.

tonight, dan rather was on jay leno, and dan taught me something about the middle east situation. he said that the opium plant is the number one product in the area. it isn't exactly legal to grow, but no one can stop it at the moment. a lot of the opium is sold in central europe. and this is a very good funding tool for the 'terrorists'. dan told us that if you want to know how the war on terror is going, pay attention to how well the production of the opium plant is being limited.

I've been here exactly 3 months today. this is my calendar i follow. i actually use the other side of it. it looks like this(look below). it's not as pretty but i can write how much i spend each day. it's part of the routines i've taken up. along with reading each night, and doing push-ups and sit-ups. i can do 80 push-ups now. i'm saying this not to brag, but rather because if you are reading this brad, i know that you have always been competitive with me in the sense that i, being your younger sibling shouldn't be more physically able at anything strength related than you. and so if you're slacking on your push-ups, after hearing a number i can do, you will make sure you can do at least the same. you have 5 months to stay fair enough shape to compete with me when i see you next. maybe i should just lie. um, i can do 300 push-ups now.
yes.

i've been intending to post the blogs of all my co-workers, along with a site that they enjoy. but so far i have not gotten to that.

all i can post at the moment is:

malcolm:
furtherfrom.blogspot.com
(the redundancy is absurd)
recommended site:
bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com
also try this one if you like cute:
http://letsbefriends.blogspot.com/

i'm reading 'eats shoots and leaves' right now. it's making me very conscious of all my punctuation. that doesn't mean i will be better with it, i'll just now realize that sometimes people will pick apart my comma placement. actually, right now i'm semi dissecting why i put colons in the above section. but only semi.

i went for a gallery walk today. i now have tuesdays off because of the way the schedule is working. i like tuesdays off. i'd rather have my days off spaced out, and i like a day off during the week when more things like post offices are open, and things are generally less populated.

anyway, before i went on my gallery walk, i compiled a list from online of potential places to go. i left late, so i was very limited on how many i could visit. i wanted to go to the biggest one.

i asked some older guy what subway stop this one location was at, and after much trouble with the language barrier, he figured out where it was, and pointed to it on a small subway map i had. he even wrote out detailed directions to it that i could give to some korean to ask for help. of course the problem was that after he pointed it out, i realized it was on the exact opposite side of town, and i wasn't going to go there. and i felt bad that he was trying so hard to help me out. so i went on the subway anyway and i just asked the someone i sat beside where another closer gallery was.

i found one, it had photography, and it was ok. and i say another that just had a submarine made out of garbage.

then i went to a big bookstore and bought a book of korean expressions. i'm gonna have to start writing them here. they're awesome.


oh, by the way, when i stated that notion of a possible audience of 1 in my last post, it wasn't intended to be fishing for compliments.

ps.(do you do ps's in blogs?) sorry no pictures. i'm in a pc bong.

i don't write here nearly enough.
i don't post pictures nearly enough.
communication motivation is sometimes elusive.
and maybe the idea should be to reduce my standards.
maybe i should write even without exciting stories, or intriguing insight.
i think the internet can get people into a presentation mindset.
it instantly represents an audience, even though the audience may just be 1.
and with an audience in mind it seems it's appropriate to dress up words with poetic phrasing, and pretty pictures.

i don't always have pretty words, and poetic pictures though, or maybe i just don't care to take the time.

anyway, i'm just writing now to fill the blank space of me not writing. and it's somewhat appropriate that the blank space is filled with meaningless words.

i'm in korea right now. adventure on the other side of the world, and i'm writing about not writing.

here, i'll put a pretty picture here.i think all fast food should have clocks like this.

i've been meaning to do a list comparing canada to korea. i don't think i will. but one exists inside my head. i like both places for many reasons. and i dislike both for other reasons.

i will list some reasons why i don't like korea.
-you never know when things are going to be open or closed. hours of operation are optional, and even when they are posted, they're optional to follow. and actually, even when there's an open sign on the door, it doesn't mean the store is open.
-actually, sometimes stores close, and they leave up their store logo and everything. the only reason you know they're closed for good is because you never see them open.
-sometimes a place also keeps up signs, or leaves items on the shelf when they won't sell those items to you. they keep it there because they don't know what else to do with it. it can be very frustrating. especially when you go back a second time to the same store to try and buy the same item they didn't sell you last time; and you try to trick them to sell it to you this time, but no, of course they won't do that. instead they'll just put the item back on the shelf, and say it's not for sale.
-i can't stand the traffic lights. they leave the pedestrians waiting forever.
-the cars try to run you over.
-all the food is either meat, or too sweet. it's not good for me.
-there seems a distinct lack of organization about things.

and those seem to be all the major issues.
so in all consideration, it's not that bad.
-honestly, how many things about canada can you name that you don't like.
-expensive subway(ttc)
-worries about theft/vandalism/murder etc.
-poor work ethic
-there's others that i'm not thinking of, mostly because i'm not immersed in that culture at the moment.

i'll do my list of things i like about each country later.

Ok

So we were told the day before we left that we are going to japan. Amidst the numerous false announcements that we were going, it seemed only fitting that when we finally did go, it was with little warning. Luckily, the other supposed times we were going to go to japan allowed us to be prepared regardless…mostly. I actually didn’t really check out any tourist things, or really anything at all prior to the trip. I let everyone else do that, and when they said what they wanted to do I kinda picked and chose, but mostly just went with the flow. With only 3 days, most agendas you create are considered ambitious. Especially when 2 of those days are mostly taken up with arrival and departure plans.

i wanted to puncuate this list with lots of pictures. then i realized i had too many that i wanted to include, so i'll just put them on facebook instead under the category selected photos from japan. anyway...

So, the agenda was as follows…

-arrived, at the airport at about noon, and even cut in line to enter the country, to the chagrin of others, in order to get to the Korean embassy as fast as we could. We definitely had to get our visa requests in that day for them to be processed before we left.

-the irony was when we got to the area of the Korean embassy, and we met up with someone we cut in front of in line. And I think they got their work visa sooner than us.

-after much searching around the streets, we finally found the hotel we booked online. There’s a lot less English subtitles in japan than in korea.

-our hotel was in a more sexually exploitive district apparently(or that’s what we were told), but the hotel was actually a good hotel.

-finally at 8pm we were settled in, and we met up with a friend of a co-worker. She was a Japanese Korean who’s lived in Osaka all her life. I forget her name. it seems I always forget the names of Asians. I’m sure they have the same problem with us.

-we went to supper, and I noticed that Japanese cuisine is much better about accommodating vegetarians than Korean cuisine. I am a vegetarian in Japanese is watashiwa saishoku-shugisha.

-I wandered around taking pictures the rest of the night. Osaka is a very busy place up until just past 9pm when most things close. its still busy after that, but not nearly as much as before.

-I went back to my hotel and played cards with the others, and then went to sleep on my traditional Japanese bed. It was comfortable except for the pillow that was basically a big beanbag.

-I woke up early because I find it hard to sleep long in new places I’m not used to.

-I got my E2 visa. I’m FINALLY legal.

-I had pancakes at mcdonalds for breakfast which seems like the first time I’ve eaten at mcD’s for over a year.

-we went to Kyoto. And I saw an incredible temple that is actually printed on their 10 cent(or whatever) coin. I was actually very impressed by the historicity. Impressed enough that I bought playing cards from the souvenir shop for $9.

-japanese money is roughly equivalent to Canadian in the sense that 100 yen is about .90 cents Canadian. However they put their 100 yen and 500 yen in these small coins that look like they’re nothing in your pocket.

-after the temple, our group of 8 broke into 2 groups. I was now in a much more manageable group of 3.

-we went to the gates of heaven. It has about 9 gates leading up a mountain. Each gate is supposed to take you a step closer to heaven. We only went up 2 gates I think. so we were only kinda in heaven. There were lots of Buddhist prayer type things along the way. Apparently if there is a big rope tied around a tree it means that there’s a spirit in it. I didn’t participate in, or buy any religious related things because I think religion is a powerful thing that shouldn’t just be tried as a cultural experience. Especially when I believe that it contradicts my own faith. I did however buy a turtle keychain, which I promptly lost, and I’m quite disappointed in.

- we then went to an area that we thought was supposed to be where they geishas were. But it was entirely under-populated, and it was mostly just antique shops we saw. So we finally went in the opposite direction, and tada, lots of people, and lots of traditional looking shops peddling tourist related goods. I tried to buy plenty. Of course I’m not a shopper, and plenty still wasn’t a lot. I saw some traditional really tall wood geisha type shoes that cost over $1000. I didn’t buy them.

-with our ceaseless wandering, all we really had for supper was crepes.

-finally at 9pm we got some Japanese food. Well, it was food from a Japanese restaurant. I had deep fried cheese balls, and a pizza, and snow peas. The pizza was a tortilla wrap laid flat with pizza type things on it. In Japanese restaurants they actually charge you for just sitting there.

-my group of 3 finally went back to the hotel to meet up with the others.

-we couldn’t decide where to go, so we all tried on kimonos and took pictures.

-finally 5 of us just wandered and found a club in the basement of some place.

-there wasn’t many people in the club, but the bartender was from Africa, and we played connect 4 with him all night. He never lost, it was incredible.

-the music was mostly artists like kanye west, but then at one point the Japanese dudes busted out on the mics, and did some live rap.

-we finally went home really late, and just before we went in, jon wanted something to eat. So we went to the shop on the corner and he ordered chicken. We sat and tried to talk to this lady with too much make-up on. It seemed like we were waiting forever. Finally the chicken came, and it costs $22. I guess jon should have checked the prices first.

-I slept pretty soundly that night.

-the next day 6 of us went to an art gallery that was closed. So four of us left to go to Osaka castle. 2 stayed to go to a nearby imax. It is apparently the biggest in the world, but I still wouldn’t want to watch an oversized cinema with my limited time in japan.

-before we got to the castle, another person left to see some other galleries.

-so the 3 of us remaining saw osaka castle. it was really cool. It’s really just such an experience to see these aspects of other cultures up close.

-after the castle, we tried to go shopping. Although one person went to the namba district and me and another went to the umeda district.

-after walking around umeda for 15minutes because we couldn’t find shopping, we decided to go underground to the subway to try and find another area to go. And tada, the mall was underground.

-we were extremely limited on time, and finally the person I was with left, and I was alone wandering an underground mall trying to spend the last of my Japanese money.

-I had so many bags on me from having my big travel backpack, and my souvenirs, so I was tired, and I had to get back to the airport.

-after asking questions so many times I was able to find my way, and I met everyone at the airport in time to leave back to korea for 5:30pm.

-the airport was on a man-made island. Neat. After seeing japan from the sky, I understood why they needed to build it. Every available space was used up, except for the mountains. I’m sure they’ll even eventually need to learn to utilize the mountains more. I must admit japan is one of the coolest countries to see from above.

-the flight was only an hour and a half.

-I got back to korea, and I strangely felt comforted by being back home. I was happy to be able to be understood in Korean again. And it made me really realize how much apart of this city I’ve really become.

-I liked japan. It had an edginess about it that reflected my artistic sense. If you’re not familiar, post-modernism reflects a sort of raw aesthetic. It is about being exposed, and understanding and embracing things with all their dirt and ugliness. I feel I have an affinity for post-modernism. Atmospheres like japan breed new and edgy art styles, because it is so accepting of the latest thing. That’s one thing that appealed to me about the place, granted it carries with it a sense of superficiality.

-the problem is that raw atmospheres aren’t always the most ideal for living in. They just have a lot of character.

-so for now I like living in korea better. It’s safer, and more naïve. Of course this judgment is just based on a very short trip to japan. So it’s not worth a lot.

-one other fun observation about japan is that they love their bikes. These riders are so expert how they weave through people. There’s so many bikes that they need to put bike license numbers on them. And if they’re parked somewhere they shouldn’t be, they could get a parking ticket.

-and that was my trip.

dear blog,

IOU one long blog about japan.

lots of pictures
lots of stories
such an amazing time

look, cartoons for everything. even this door that has ambulances. i guess you have a less anxious nation when everything is friendly little caricatures.


this big rock looks like a whale. i bet that says whale on the side. either that, or do not ride.


i talked to some girls today. it was the funnest conversation i've had with koreans. it was four 17 year olds at church, and they only spoke a little english, but they were really trying hard to communicate. they would do little skits to try to demonstrate what they mean. for example, the one girl was trying to say that she saw me one time at the mall, and she waved, and i just ignored her. so she acted out with her friend how i snubbed her. and i apologized and said that i didn't see her. and then they were describing this one guy, and they said he walks like a penguin, and they demonstrated a penguin walk. and while they did that they said dui doon dui doon. i imagine dui doon dui doon means waddle waddle.

i think i'm going to use that word all the time now. it's good to incorporate useless words into your vocabulary when learning another language.

some pictures of the kids we were teaching.

to the left and ducking is angel. she was the smartest. and she always tried to help. one time some kid was being a brat with a balloon and she took it away from him and said he can have it back at the end of class.

the pouty one is kerry. she liked hitting me, but she was cute.
the bottom picture is self-proclaimed handsome david. everyday he went on about how handsome he was. in this picture i told him to be handsome.
there was another picture i tried to include but it's not here for some reason. and i'm on a public computer, so i can't get it here.

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Life’s for the living, so check me tomorrow. Actually no, but those were the lyrics to the song I’m listening to, and I needed some segway into a topic about life. I was playing it this weekend. Life. The game. Board game. Yes. What else do you do on a long weekend.

Anyway as I was playing I went to university first. Maybe a little reflection of my own life. And then when it was time to choose a career I had to randomly grab a career card. And of course I grabbed the ‘teacher’ career. With the teacher career you get to randomly grab another career card, and through chance I became an artist as well. And thirdly I had to pick a salary, which ended up being $30,000.

Funny,

I’m going to be a teacher, an artist, and the teacher’s starting salary is $30,000. it’s not entirely indicative of my life though. A) I never had kids in the game(which I think I’ll have in real life), and b) I had to pay someone $150,000 in technical repairs right at the beginning. Ugh.

In other news, I’m starting to read Shakespeare, and also, I spent the entire day organizing myself today. At least it feels semi-productive.

Mc Mong
(he's called that apparently because he looks like a monkey)here is a video of his. it is blatant rip-off of 'where is the love' but it's still catchy, and it give you some images of korea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHmDFzLLbfA

1. the start of the video is in a pc bang(bang, pronounced bong, means room). these things are all over the place.
2. the guys that are being all rough, are really about as agressive as i've seen koreans get. which is not at all. it feels really safe walking around here at any time of day or night...except for the really bad driving.
3. the word com-sa-nee-da means thank you, informally(to friends) you'd say com-sa, and to be really polite you'd say com-up-sa-nee-da. the girl in the video uses the really polite form.
4. i forget where it is in the video but you might notice that when someone gives something or receives something, their second hand that is not holding the item is either touching their heart(= really polite), or touching their shoulder (= fairly polite), or touching the inside bend in their elbow(= polite), or touching the hand that is giving the item, or pouring the drink, or receiving the pour (= ordinary polite).
5. finally, at the end of the video mc mong is eating food in a tent. this is a street vendor, and they are everywhere. honestly. it looks exactly like it is in the video, except that you'd see more people in the tent, and the street would be busier in general. probably filled with more street vendors.

some other korean artists that i know of are a guy name 'rain' on his website it says 'more higher, more wider'. and another band named 'in soon i' (i is pronounced 'ee').

thinking things through and realizing that cyclical contains us in it's million arms. i am as i was as i will be, i was always this, but i am always better. it keeps me smarter. it keeps me trying harder to surpass my father and fathers' fathers. to go farther, but really just deceiving myself because i am and will always be something other, no matter which way i spin it. new generations always survive in new contexts that can't properly be compared to the previous thoughts. i never previously thought i would feel as i do, except i always expect to feel contrary to my present tense with each next step. each chapter contained with each chapters rules of format and plot development. i am a story for you to read. i am a thought to be remembered later in nostalgia.

it's valentine's day. so fellas, here's a slick move from the book of justin timberlake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

in the news at my school in korea,
-hairy arms
-getting run over
-japan delayed
-and a crazy game called gostop

hairy arms...
apparently when you wear shirts that expose your arms, and you have some hair on them, kids like to pet your arms like you're a dog, or kids like to draw pictures of you looking like an ape. and it's not mean spirited, because they actually say they love the hairy arms. all in all, it's kinda strange. and for the record, i've never considered my arms to be that hairy. see.
getting run over...
i was afraid this might happen at some point. i mean given the crazy drivers around here that consider cars to have the right of way, not pedestrians, it only made sense that i would get run over at some point. basically what happened was that i've decided to run to the subway station from now on. i like it. but today, as i was running, i made a slight hesitation as i was running across a crosswalk because a car was coming, and that hestitation was enough to throw off my cantor, and it made me twist my ankle and fall. and of course as all good korean drivers do, once something is out of their vision(in my case being on the ground), it means go. and the car ran over my foot. the bottom of my shoe happened to be facing up as i was lying on my stomach, and the guy ran that over. i was ok, and i just kept walking because i didn't feel like telling the guy he was a dope. i'm sure he wouldn't understand anyway.

japan delayed...
yay!, we're going to Japan. yay, the plane tickets are booked. 2 days later... oh, remember how we booked your plance tickets to japan, cancel that. yes, of course nothing happens for us as we expect it to. and i've come to the point where i don't think anything will happen unless it's happening right then. of course we definitely will go to japan, because we need to get our work visas before the march opening of our school, but apparently not yet. we're going to osaka when we go though. so it should be exciting when it finally happens.
gostop...
it's a gambling game that i learned how to play the other night at a work party. then the next night, i bought some go stop playing cards and i played it for about 2 or 3 hours with some friends. and theeeennnn, i found out we played it for 2 or 3 hours WRONG. apparently there was a bit of trouble with the translation when they explained it to us at the party. but it's still a fun game. and now i'm gonna play it right. and if anyone wants, and they're really nice to me, i might buy them gostop cards. but only if you learn how to play properly, and you really want them... and you're really nice. here's 2 sites with the rules.

http://home.comcast.net/~t.sloper/gostop/rules.html

http://www.pd49.dial.pipex.com/pockets/games/hwa-tu.htm

I'm not saying I'm a big prorastinator...well, maybe sometimes. and blogs definitely are not a by-product of procrastination.

but anyway, here's a scientific link about it.

Sometimes there seems to be as many theories on a topic as there are people researching it. Fortunately, over the last 25 years, we have been testing these theories, trying to determine which one works best. Here we review four of the most popular theories of procrastination and consider the evidence for and against them. The empirical evidence comes from a recent meta-analysis, which is a systematic review of the all the literature written on the topic. The theory with the most support is Discounted Utility Theory, which is presented last.

or just go here: http://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~steel//Procrastinus/theories.php

it's essentially the same thing.

i've taken to drinking walnut milk instead of regular milk. i thought i'd explore the milk alternatives. I actually think this is the best tasting one yet. too bad, it's only in korea as far as i can tell. it seems like it should be healthy for me too, although i can't really find anything on the internet that talks about it. i'm one step closer to becoming a vegan now, although i don't think i could give up cheese. it'd mean i'd have to give up pizza. and also i recently bought a 100 pack of cheese slices because they don't really sell chunks of cheese here, and because it's cheaper buying in bulk.

oooo, that reminds me. the day i was grocery shopping and i bought the cheese, i was in this quaint grocery store. y'know, kids in grocery carts and all. and then i noticed the song being played on the radio sounded kinda strange. so i stopped and had to listen to make sure i wasn't just hearing things. and yes, that songs chorus really was 'if you suck ___ put your hands in the air, if you lick ___ put your hands in the air.' and yes, the verse really was a step by step instructional on how to be ultimately slutty in a club, and an instructional for the guys on how to... anyway, all in all it was shocking and hilarious seeing the koreans non-chalantly shop while one of the dirtiest songs i've heard was played on the radio. and it's not the first time. some of those rap songs played in the dollar store are beautiful.

and for no particular reason, here's a picture of jon making a snowflake. he was practicing for when he had a class that needed to make a snowflake.

Car horns in korea don’t just give a good solid honk. They honk, and fade out. It’s kinda funny how it deflates any anger that may have been put in the honk.

And I think most people have a leak in their mouth, because there’s always some gobs of spit around. Maybe it’s a word I haven’t learned yet, but they also often do that horking noise.

I sometimes sit at the end of the hall in my building. There is a 4x5 foot area that is like an enclosed balcony. It is supposed to be a smoke area. I sit here to use the internet, because I can’t get internet in my apartment. I also don’t have tv. Well, I do, but I don’t want it. For some reason I feel like internet isn’t as mind numbing. But I know it still is, but in a different way. At least with the internet I often type things, and I develop my writing skills… I guess. And sometimes I find recipes for pancakes(I know, pancakes are impossibly easy, but I needed to make sure that I wasn’t forgetting anything).

But then, the problem with the internet is that I need to sit out here to use it, and it looks kinda awkward to anyone coming home to this floor.

I just saw 3 girls go into one apartment. I hope they don’t all live there. These apartments are very small. I think I’ve seen some public washrooms bigger. I mean, I like the place, but I don’t think 3 people would be comfortable.

They advertise on doors a lot. I made sure they only advertised on one door tonight. Rebecca’s. hehe. I collected all the ads from all the doors.

I almost forgot, I got a business card today. It was from the new owner of the convenience store in our building. I bet you’ve never gotten a business card from your convenience store owner.

Happy Birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthhhhhhday kim jong il,
happy birthday to you.

GUESS WHAT! it's kim jong il's birthday today. i don't know how old he is, but isn't that neat. what do you get for a crazy dictator that has everything, even a kidnapped director to help him star in his own movies. i think i'd knit him a pair of socks, because that sort of thing comes from the heart, and you can't just buy that. and i'd write on the side of them some funny quip like 'you put the dick in dictator'. and we'd all have a good laugh.

anyway, my weekend pretty uneventful, aside from seeing my friend in Guri. i like his crowd. they're really... neat. it was one dudes birthday. and at one bar we went to there was a song playing in the background. and it was a song i've been trying to find the title for for awhile. so finally i could ask someone. and it's called ice cream by mc mong(because he looks like a monkey). or something like that. it's korean, and it sound like a complete rip off of where is the love. but i think it would neat to get a korean cd.

and the other neat part about seeing my friend is that he gave me a cell phone. now i just need to get a number for it. apparently receiving calls on it is free. horray.

maybe next weekend i'll actually explore seoul a little more.

granted i did go back to ipark, the huge electronic superstore. and i got my money back on an item that didn't come with an installation cd.(and i didn't have a receipt, hehe). and then i bought a new one. and the item is a USB lan thingy. it's basically an external device that allows you to get the internet. i know, i can already get the internet with this computer, but i built a mini satelite dish for the external one so it would boost the signal much further, and i could get internet from my bedroom. but of course i tried it out, and, sigh, it didn't work. so in the end it was still a waste of money.