Here is my story of the recent events; and through how my stomach got turned from not knowing what I may be doing while being forced into an immediate decision.

So my job completely fell through. I knew the guy that was my employer was an asshole, but I think I didn’t want to think it. Finally a half hour before I left for England, which would be immediately followed by my flight to Korea, I got an email NOT from the employer but from an acquaintance that knew the employer. He told me that he doesn’t think the job will go through, and also he asked me to call him. I called him, and was informed that the employer really did hire not only one, but two new people, and he still hasn’t emailed me to tell me he did such. At which point I wasn’t even sure if I was going to England. My bags were packed, but I only had a one way ticket to England. So I scouted out cheap return flights that turned out to be not so cheap. Finally, I said screw it, I’ll go to England and come back a week later anyway. I’ll hope for the best with the prices, and if the best doesn’t come, I’ll just say I’ve put off my trip to England for too long regardless. Then I’ll get back home and actually make sure I have a job waiting for me for when I get to Korea.

By doing this, I’ve just cut out 1000% of the stress. I’ve stopped worrying about money issues too; which means that I’ll start a job midway into September, and leave early from the job the following year regardless of losing out on a year-long contract bonus.

I might even consider a job in a different country such as Japan or Dubai. It’s less likely given the logistics, but I’ll still consider it.

So I’m in England right now, and this is where my story is sitting. We’ll see what happens.

My nephew in England is extremely cute by the way. He doesn’t say “no” to anything like most kids. If he doesn’t want something he’ll just ignore you. But he will say yes a lot. I think he doesn’t say “no” because his name is Noah.

The House Party Show

I had a link to download the songs from the show. But I've learned that they download directly from a friends computer which really slows down his computer. So maybe sometime I'll figure out how to just post a song or two here by itself.

notes about the downloads you can't download:
- some songs didn't make it because the quality was just too terrible
- we never decided on a band name, so we just changed our name every couple songs
-the band itself consisted of 3-4 people
me: djembe, guitar, singing
doug: guitar, harmonica singing
allison: cello
justin(guest appearances): small djembe, backwards guitar(because he's left handed)
everyone else: backup vocals
-two notable originals: "held captive" by local rabbits, and "not coming back from this" by lemmingaid
-"held captive" had some audience conversation overtop of it about ultima online.
-"not coming back from this" was an impromtu original

China's Net Addicts
It's come to this. And of course China is the type of country to try to forcibly resolve these problems. i don't know what to say really. i just thought i'd mention this because i'm interested in China's development, and subsequent influence on the world; and also, I'm interested in technology's affects on our social realities.

Speaking of technology's affects: Baby Einstein won't make babies smarter. I think it's kinda funny how it seems like every time we as people try to replace something natural with something artificial it's invariably worse. it's a big lesson against short cuts.

an MSN conversation slightly edited.


m says:
i have a great art idea that i've decided i need to fulfill

N says:
whats that

m says:
oh wait, have you read my blog?

m says:
i just remembered i wrote a little something about it

N says:
not in the last few days

m says:
ok

m says:
then my idea is based around our digitally photographed world

N says:
hm

m says:
a world of instantaniety

m says:
a place that almost ruins imagination, and mental imaging

m says:
and takes away contemplation on any point

m says:
there are no more giant fish stories

m says:
you now know the fish was the size of their hand

m says:
so i'm going to go around with a pen a paper and just write down what i think would look like a neat picture, but not actually take the picture

m says:
besides, i think we accidentally convince ourselves that the camera doesn't lie, and we convince ourselves that the photo is as beautiful as the scene really was

m says:
but i distinctly remember looking at things that a photograph never captures as beautifully as my minds eye

m says:
after i write down the pictures i see, i will take the paper, and incorporate it into a painting that has abstract references towards the scene

m says:
essentially it is a jumping off point to start using your mental imaging center to produce and think on images more. a somewhat revival of that part of our brain.

TOP 10 WAYS TO DESTROY EARTH

http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_earth_mp-1.html

i had a great idea for an art project. it just needs developed a little bit more. i want to walk around with a note pad just write down what i think would look like a good photograph. my notes will be the artworks. maybe i'll even frame the pages artistically.

i remembered what i meant to write about. my last post was written because i couldn't remember. but now i do.

i think a petition should be started against media outlets. i think there should be a law put into place that bans any media outlet to report any crime perpetrated until the individual/company is proven guilty of the crime. the court of public opinion tears someone up even after they're found innocent because all these media outlets are too eager to report a story before a conclusion. i think individuals should be protected more than the rights of the media to push a sensationalist agenda.

it's hitting me. the sudden realization that i shouldn't be nearly as frustrated with the ignorant opinions put forth on the internet as i often am.
i read things like "you're an asshole, why do you even write anything" on some message boards. except take the example i use and make the grammar half as good, and the ignorance and arrogance increased 10 fold. and be sure to allow for many uninformed blanket opinions. once you do that, you've captured the essence of my frustration with people who write their opinions on the internet; you've also captured the essence of the mind of a teenager, or younger.

but the problem is, if i have a conversation with someone in the real world i can generally categorize their maturity almost before they say anything, and i can adjust my reception to that comment. however, with the internet, i need to wade through a bit a shit until i realize that this is probably some bored kid writing this stuff.

now i just assume that everyone writing anything on the internet is "that dumb kid", and then when they're not, i'm pleasantly surprised.

ze frank mentions on his site about this article http://www.orgnet.com/divided.html , and how we are bathing in what we already believe. which got me thinking about how incredibly profound this is. it is like each of us are wired to find a direction, and increasingly close our minds to anything that doesn't propagate our own beliefs. with this mode of thinking, we do not, and will not understand each others views except to the point of being able to properly rebuttal them. i know i'm guilty of this. i just wish documentarians, and news reporters weren't so guilty of this. i was reading a recent article by someone that was clearly in opposition of something i believe, and he made it absolutely clear that his article was going to be overtly biased(and actually not even factually correct in many cases). considering all of this, i more and more realize that debate is simply philosophical masturbation. if there is intent to actually change someone's view, there needs to be a personal and impassioned approach.

about 153, 000 people are proven absolute truth everyday. which happens to be the approximate number of deaths everyday.

i read about descartes simply because his name popped in my head, and i needed to know where i knew him from. it seems he's the founder of modern philosophy and the one who first said "cogito ergo sum"(i think therefore i am). i held onto that statement thinking that that is as far as we can define our reality with absolute certainty. but after reading a little bit about descartes, i have since learned that his philosophy further elaborated to say that we know we exist in some capacity because we think, but we also know that an outside world exists separate from our own thoughts because in the very least, there is sensory information that is not self-generated.

i sat in my car and drove, and thunk, and lost myself in idealism. there were four one hour car rides that i took and each were segments in absurd levels of daydreaming. granted, the last was a little bit of a wash as a whole.

1. i daydreamed about what i could do if i maximized free time with productive efficiency. this also called for extremely high levels of ability and confidence. but by the end of the car ride i had recieved 2 phd's, wrote and sold a screenplay, started a number of small businesses(which i passed the reins on), held successful art galleries, gave guest university lectures, briefly hosted a segment on much music, tried out public radio, wrote a book, and played some music and comedy clubs in my spare time. all of this was in a 2-3 time frame. also to be noted, i lied on many resumes, and i'm not necessarily interested in doing all the things within this daydream.

2. i daydreamed about being able to run as fast as a car for at least 7 hours. i think this was inspired by the traffic. subsequently i realized the chain-reaction of things that would be affected by this. Within my body, my eyesight and reaction time would have to be remarkably better, along with my overall body endurance. i'd also constantly live in fear of being shot because people are strange and want to kill success(john lennon). then i thought about getting a good shoe sponsor. then i imagined despite how neat it would be to run that fast and long i wouldn't quite be sure what else to do with it aside from lending myself to research, and being a good pro-athlete.

3. i daydreamed about extreme activism. i mean extreme in a good way, as in very productive. through past conversation it was deducted that the idealistic hippies gave birth to the superficial 80's, which beget the generation x, and led to now. "Now" is a time of so many causes; war and global warming for example. we could very well be a modern reflection of the hippy era, but we're not. instead we are the cynical generation. so much talk leading to very little. so i initiated a fight against cynicism and apathy in my head. i was extremely empassioned, and i even appeared on all the major talk shows including oprah. one point i made was that despite the abundant anti-war sentiments, it means nothing. saying to simply stop the war is denying any problems, or denying moral obligation to help a lesser country. even simple slogans like 'books not bombs' or whatever they are does very little, because adequate and feasible alternatives to the war are not provided. if however these protestors dedicated their time to creating programs that would replace the warring efforts, than this generation would be moving forward rather than stewing in cynicism. i make no true stance about the war, but rather a stance against those that say, rather than doing.
this was an ironic day dream though, because i'm pretty sure none of what i said or did in the dream will come to any fruition, or even motivate myself to start a forward moving activist group.

4. i was tired and my daydreams were very lax. the one interesting thing i noted about myself was that in conversation i will try to answer most interesting and debatable questions. such as... is technology helping or hindering people socially? anyway, during the car ride, i had a question for myself that i just kept getting stuck on, and i had the hardest time properly wrapping my mind around. so i did an imaginary space game. i imagined myself in my head in a classroom sitting in a desk as a student. i also imagined myself as a teacher. teacher me, put out the question, and student me raised my hand. now that the stage was set, i figured i could then answer the question better. i figured i just needed to contrive a situation in which i excel at hacking through questions. and actually, this worked. i did get my answer in the end. i didn't necessarily like the answer, but i got it.

those are the 4 car ride daydreams.

the lack of avenues for original expression make expressing oneself less interesting. hence naked blogs. naked in the sense of barely filled out. barely adorned in personal sentiments. my blog recently seems to act like a relay conduit. "here, this is something interesting i've found that you've probably seen so many other places; but i'll put it here anyway to play my part in internet cultural propagation." The internet is not so terrible of thing. it allows us to live more in our own minds and explore thoughts in a way more fluent towards the way our brains naturally work. If you consider that our brains exist within abstract space anyway.

so i am writing this stuff right now as a means of acknowledging the boundaries i exist in as a blogger. it is a sense of watching a movie but ignoring the scenes the director intends for you to become immersed in. Instead watching the movie and deconstructing the actual creation of any particular scene; along with deconstructing the accepted rules of defined symbolics. as an aside it is interesting to imagine how great the divide would be for someone one hundred years ago to understand the cinematic cues that have been constructed through so many years of movie making. A simple example would be the trend of using a shaky camera for action scenes. Prior to movies, this wouldn't make any sense because the human eye to brain connection adjusts it's visual signals for shaky movement to eliminate this effect in most cases.

anyway, this blogosphere is creating a common dialogue and it's so hard to predict what generally plateaued result from all of this will be. I of course say plateued because culture never stops evolving, but there are stable and level periods within it for a time. and that brings another question; how far do our internet awareness boundaries need to extend to create even a semblance of a plateau?

we are fish swimming in the internet ocean, and sometimes we may try to understand the water around us rather than just swimming.
(i know that sounds like it's trying to hard to be deep, but i'll live with it.)

i want this to be next door to me.

http://www.designverb.com/2007/06/11/tunnel-house

To me music is infectious. y'know, like crabs or goneria, or even zombieism(maybe it's spelled zombyism). except with music I typically try to infect others, unlike the aforementioned comparisons where in their case you infect but you don't intend to... usually. and hence here is my latest infectious note. http://iguessimfloating.net/assets/mp3s/TakeMeToTheRiot.mp3

someone said to me today that i really look like i'm on vacation. as if i exuded relaxation. it might be true.

So we played the best game of "horse" last night. actually it was pig, the shortened version of horse. for those uninitiated, this game involves one person shooting difficult basketball shots. if he gets it in, the other people playing need to imitate the shot. if they miss the shot they get one letter from the word horse. the first to spell the word loses.

anyway, i kinda purposely lost when doug asked if anyone has any dental problems. this was followed by his trick shot. he found a piece of lego on the ground, put it in his mouth, bit down, then punched himself in the nuts. and then did a layup.

i was the third person to get the lego. it was gross, but at least i didn't really punch myself, i only pretended. so, at that point i lost. but the next round involved putting a stick between your asscheeks, and hobbling up to the basket to shoot. finally the last one that ended the game was giving jack(a person there) a piggy back while doing a layup.

all in all i think i cried from laughing.

more korean music.

anyway, i'm in canada now. i expected arriving here to be like jumping into ice cold water. but really, it's like slipping into a hottub. it hasn't really taken me aback at all. so far the only thing that has tricked my head a bit is that i keep wanting to say a korean phrase here or there. also, there's quite a few less people around. i think some of the minor differences will wear away in my head. and others i think will be more exasperated. we'll see.

those catchy korean songs.

i'm just sitting here wasting my time in the pc bong waiting to take the bus to the airport so i can go home.

and in the meantime i'm posting catchy korean music videos.

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