The sad state of the Korean exchange rate. See that jagged line that looks like a blue outline of a mountain; that is the one year projection of what converting Korean Won into Canadian Dollars looks like. The lower the line dips, the less Canadian money I get for sending Korean money that way. As you can see at the moment, and starting since the moment of january this year, that line has been plummeting like Newton's law. What this means is, if I sent home 5,000,000won (approx. $5000) which is a realistic lump sum I may send, at the current exchange I will get $5,448.47CAD. But if I was able to send the same amount at the peak of exchange(in January), I would get about $6050.00. that's a difference of $601.53. It's absolutely annoying. I've been waiting months for the exchange to start increasing, but it just keeps going down. I think I'll just need to wait a little bit longer. I've found a 5 year plodding of the exchange rate:
It seems that this so far presents itself as a cycle; and every January the rates become much much better. So I'll wait, and hope that there's currently enough money in my bank account in Canada to hold off my monthly student loan payment until then. gah.

I just found this statistic about the average anual working hours of selected countries. and this explains a lot about koreans. and i feel even worse for them. it isn't just perception that they're working way too much. they're statistically working way too much.

japan and back. not nearly as exciting as last time. although, certain issues made it at least interesting.

i woke up at... no wait, i didn't wake up. i didn't go to sleep because we had to leave at 5am. Ben and I got on a bus to the airport flew to Fukuoka Japan in 80minutes, and found the korean consolate there with relative ease. however, we also found it to be closed for a japanese holiday. after finding our hotel at 12pm, we wasted time until 3pm, our check-in time. some of that time wasting consisted of calling our school to inform them, we really can't get a work visa in two days because one day is a holiday. later, and i believe because the lady at our school is probably a bulldog, we were informed that we actual will be able to get the visa processed in one day.

once i got into my hotel, i crashed for 5 hours. then Ben and I walked around Japan at night. Fukuoka is not a tourist destination. Ben was offered 5-10 minutes for $30. You can guess what the 5-10 minutes was for.

the next day we got our work visa. we also met some other ex-pats getting their work visas too. although they didn't have the benefit of it being processed in one day like us. we weren't allowed to tell them either. so at one point we snuck away when we had to pick up the visa. we gave some vague excuse like 'we have an appointment with someone'.

after that we came home. nothing exciting. world travel has become de-glamorized. maybe it's just because it's for business reasons. i assume that businessmen feel the same way. maybe not.

I found out that I'm mostly immune to mosquito bites. Well actually, i just confirmed it. however, it doesn't mean at all that i'm immune to incredibly annoying buzzing in my ears while i try to sleep. it's kind of funny, it took me months to learn to sleep on rock hard mattresses, and now i'm being kept awake by the bugs. anyway, i don't leave my window open anymore.

i'm mostly adapted to my new living. at least to the point where i'm singing loud enough to make you cringe, and i'm walking around naked before a shower. the beauty of living alone. korean towels don't afford you the opportunity to walk around with just a towel on, they're essentially the size of floor mats.

i went for a long walk around my town to discover it. i found the red light district, and i found a subway station that has professional looking ping pong tables set up. looks like i'm buying a paddle.

teaching english is easy. the curriculum is straight forward.

on the weekend, i climbed a mountain. a mini-mountain. i think a mountain is 1000m. what i climbed was 850m. however, you soon realize that even that leaves your legs sore for a week. the annoying thing is, you think you're special, but then you look over and see an old korean lady at the top too.

i went to a different part of the seoul metropolis. i learned that you should know where you live before you venture out. i had some bus adventures trying to find home again.

my schedule is 3-10 mon-fri. which kinda encourages my bad sleeping habits. i'll fix myself sometime.

3 days of work finished.

revelations.

my last job in korea was at a school that was completely new. everyone there knew as much about the area, and had as many friends around as the next person, which was none. granted, a couple of us had friends that lived on the other side of seoul.

the thing i now realized that i missed in my last job was the history through the carry over staff. there are intertwining friends and traditions through teacher to teacher. the best is this 3 bedroom apartment that has always had at least one old staff living in it, so when new people move in, they keep everything in the apartment, and then they add their own touch. it looks so lived in. regretfully, the school is finally letting the lease go on the apartment.

so far the job is good. easy. everything is prepared mostly. i work 3-10pm. i'm thinking of taking up the violin or cello in my free time. depending on the prices. it could be a bad idea, but i'll look into it.

the first week is not even finished, so i'll wait to give a fuller review then.

i've had a pretty bad percentage of frustration with airlines given the number of times i've flown compared to how many times i've been frustrated. and after reading many other stories of annoyance from other interwebbers, i've decided that the airline industry is pretty screwed up, and it's only getting worse with terrorist paranoia, and gas price increases.

my problems mostly had nothing to do with either issue unless you count that increased gas prices caused me to be over-elated and had me jump on a plane ticket that was half the price of every other ticket i'd seen. and that ticket i got actually turned out to be incredibly wearisome.

shortly after purchasing a one-way ticket to korea i received a phone call from the airline asking if i have all proper documentation for a one-way ticket. interesting. i of course had no follow up documentation to help me out so she told me to call the embassy and make sure that it was alright. I called several people, the embassy, the korean school I was going to work for, other friends in korea, and asked them all if it was alright. nothing seemed amiss, but nothing was absolutely definite. I figured if all else failed I had enough money in the bank in korea to allow me safe passage.

When I got to the airport it was a different story. it seems that regardless of my confidence of the flight being ok, they have an absolute no fly rule unless you have a visa, or a ticket out of the country, because if you don't then the onus is on the airline to fly you back.

I didn't understand this before, but they made it more than clear as I was standing there ready for check-in, and they wouldn't let me. They gave me a number to call to book another flight out of korea. Since i needed to fly to japan for my visa anyway i booked a flight for japan. of course i was not able to book a flight with their airline because they did not fly where i needed them to fly.

so what happens when you can say you have a ticket but you can't prove it. of course. nothing. so i said if i bought some internet time on my laptop to show the email confirmation. funny story, i ran to the other side of the airport to try and get the internet when it turned out i could get the internet right there. it cost $10 just to show an email confirmation of my ticket. and it turned out they couldn't even use that confirmation because it didn't say the ticket number.

to get a ticket number i had to go back to the payphone and call this new airline to get my ticket number from the ticket i just bought an hour ago. this process usually takes much longer, but after 10 minutes on the phone i was able to get it.

i raced to check in finally at 9:40 with my plane leaving at 10am. as i got through i luckily found out thatthe flight was delayed.

and now it's 10:20 and i'm boarding. see you in korea

it's become habit for me to stay up all night the night before I fly. Actually, I think it's kinda funny thinking I could develop a habit in regards to flying, since I never thought I'd be flying as much as I have been. I don't think I'll do or be a lot of things. Thinking this way is best for creating low expectations. And low expectations are best for quelling disappointment, or making the fulfillment of such things that much more gratifying.

I got a job in Korea. I think I got it not because I said "yes" but because I didn't say "no", if that makes sense. I think I was being the job equivalent of a playa. I sent my resume to so many jobs in Korea, and I wanted to court all of them as long as I could. When one job was offering me something, I'd only tell them no to something I definitely didn't want such as teaching kindergarten. Then they'd usually tell me that they might have another job for me, so they'd get back to me. So then the job I eventually took didn't have anything I didn't exactly dislike so I just didn't say no. I ended up in contract negotiations in gmail chat. Next thing I knew I had a job, and my ticket for Korea purchased.

The new dynamic of coveting is done through litigation.

look who's suing google.

i never really studied history, but i think in the time of kings and queens, pharoahs, and other such rulers each of which had to constantly watch their back. Greed prevails, and whoever can benefit will try to kill the ruler. Skip ahead a few years and it seems that the biggest name still has a target on them. The difference is that rather than killing, people just have to sue them.

i thought i'd write about recent events with me. but i'm not quite sure what to say that's interesting yet. i'll post some pictures from england later.

i thought of a question.

if you had access to the internet that was 5 years into the future, what would you look up, or download, or do with it?

I asked my friend and he said, what if the news talked about great imminent disaster 3 years from now, and then all of a sudden all internet activity stopped completely at that point. What would you do then?

it sounds like a movie to me. someone make it.

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.