it will be like this forever

Blog Template, India, Bike Helmets

2008-08-27T12:51:00.004+09:00

I finally finished editing all my India photos, and I'm working on the first of a series of posts right now, so sit tight, tomorrow or the next day you'll definitely get to see some India.

Also, since the little flash applications I made to display my photos stopped working a few months ago, I've decided to go ahead and upgrade my template to one of the new ones from blogger. So please forgive the ugliness of the blog until I customize.

Speaking of upgrading...The number of boy toys and gadgets after which I lust seems to be increasing lately. After stepping up to the new motorcycle, all of a sudden my helmet seems really noisy and when I start going fast the wind kind of lifts it up off my head and the chinstrap chokes me. So anyway I'm thinking about buying a helmet that costs more than $30. Which one do you like?

Take a Ride

2008-06-22T12:57:00.005+09:00

Leaving for Seoul tomorrow and then India on Tuesday, enjoy this night time ride through Daegu with me as I depart from Kyungbook University, drop off Door at her house, race down Riverfront Drive, tool around downtown, and then head home.

I'll try to update a time or two while in India, but no promises...See ya!

Motorcycle Recipe

2008-06-15T22:43:00.002+09:00

Two excellent dishes that I learned how to make recently -

A. Kimchi Bacon Cheese Fried Rice
Believe it or not, I did not make this one up on my own. It's incredible. Refrigerated or slightly undercooked rice is best.
Ingredients: Rice, bacon, fresh(er) kimchi, cheese (cheddar or mozzerella), veggies such as potato, onion, broccoli, corn, carrots, anything you like, and 1 egg per serving. Sesame and olive oil, salt and pepper.
1. Dice veggies and bacon, prepare rice.
2. Sautee the veggies, kimchi, and bacon in a little olive oil until the bacon is halfway cooked.
3. Mix in the rice, add some sesame oil to flavor.
4. Fry it up, and then fold in the cheese until it's melted.
5. Separately fry one egg, over easy, for each serving and place it on top of the plate of fried
rice.
6. Enjoy.

B. Chris's Impromptu Kalguksu
While not really knowing how to make Kalguksu 칼국수, I just sort of winged it and came up with something quite nice. I promise it tastes much better than beanie weenies on bread with ketchup and cheese.
Ingredients: Kalguksu noodles (flat asian wheat noodles, about 1/8th inch thick), some kind of broth (I used powdered beef broth, but anything salty will work), spicy red and/or green peppers, long, thin, green pumpkin (not cucumber, zucchini would probably work) potato, and any other veggies you might like (I included broccoli, tomoato, red onion). I think meat should probably not be used with this dish, but if you need some protein, tofu would work. There's also a side sauce that's made from spicy red pepper, onions, sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce.
1. Slice veggies into long, thin strips appropriate for picking up with chopsticks. Spicy red pepper should be sliced into thin little cylinders.
2. Prepare your broth. It should be very light, not very salty at all. Simmer and add noodles. 3. While noodles are boiling, lightly stir-fry veggies in sesame oil to soften them up and add flavor.
4. Prepare side sauce: Fill a small tub with chopped red pepper and onions. Pour a mixture of about 2/5th soy sauce, 2/5th vinegar, and 1/5th sesame oil over the pepper and onions, set aside.
5. Ladle cooked noodles, along with some broth, into a bowl and add your veggies. Add sauce
to taste.
4.

Recent Events

2008-06-15T14:38:00.006+09:00

Wihanddi (far right), one of my chinese classmates, his girlfriend Lyoja, and Hyeonghoon, our Korean helper student.

I highly recommend this book, recommended to my by Ian. If it were ever made into a movie, it would be the most expensive movie of all time.

Hongeun is tired of pretending to be a little indian. Now she's totally indian.

The korean version of the garden gnome.

Mike, Ian, and I did this martial arts temple stay at Golgulsa 골굴사 last weekend. It was a little underwhelming, complete with bitchy british broad who had been living at the temple learning Sunmudo 선무도 for 2 years and still couldn't string a complete sentence together in korean, yet seemed to hold us in disdain for not being as enlightened as she. It was probably the closest we'll ever get, though, to having studied under Pai Mei from Kill Bill. Oh and we rode our motorcycles there! from Burger King! (photo stolen from STL Mike's blog - see link at right)

Later it was off to another temple, Donghwasa동화사, this time with Hongeun. Donghwasa is probably one of the better temples in Korea, complete with what I believe is the largest standing stone Buddha in the world (not featured), pagodas, one of which Hongeun managed to hold in her hand, a beautiful stream with a wishing well under the water, some lichen and inscription-covered stones, as well as giant 봉황알 God-bird eggs, next to which was a sign that said "If you touch these god-bird eggs you will have good luck", but as we were about to touch them, a monk walked by and told us that we were not, in fact, allowed to touch them. Finally, we spent the next hour walking along the stream adding to the cairns that were interspersed along the stream bed. And then back home for some awesome kimchi fried rice!

And finally, last night, after watching Planet Terror (awesome) with Mike and Ian, I shot this photo from my porch, and then we had a big gay photography party.

Love, Donuts, 이순신, and Me.

2008-05-14T22:49:00.007+09:00

Two weeks ago Door and I made an epic 5-hour journey on the motorcycle, all the way down to Tongyoung (통영), home of Lee Soon-Shin (이순신), Korea's most famous naval hero. First stop though was Milyang (밀양), Door's hometown and an eponymously titled movie.

Below is the view of the love motel district of Milyang as seen from the love motel room we occupied that night. Note the curtained garage entrance at bottom-left. It's so you can bring your mistress/second girlfriend/prostitute and park your car without anyone knowing you were there. You also pay upfront at love motels and leave the key in the elevator on the way out, all without the clerk ever seeing your face. Sounds super sketchy right? Like there should be cum all over the walls and cigarette burns on all the pillows? Well they're goddamn swanky! Nicer than any Holi-fuckin-day Inn I've ever stayed in and super cheap too, anywhere from $30-$50/night for a room that might have a jacuzzi, big screen TV and king-sized heart-shaped bed as well as an array of colored lights to get you in the mood at night.

That night we went to Milyang's festival and met up with Door's totally nice friend Sujin, and rather hot friend Jiyang (홍은아 질투나지마 니가 더욱 섹시해). There was also another friend, Jinsook, not pictured.
For dinner it was pots of Makgeolli and barbecue pork cut straight off a pig we saw rotating on a spit. Good times, good times.
The next day we checked out Youngnamru (영남루) one of the most famous Jeongja(정자)(gazebo?) in Korea. This sort of Jeongja was apparently used by aristocrats, who sat here all day wining and dining, playing musical instruments and practicing their calligraphy while watching over all the peons below toiling away in the fields. Can I get a resounding "Ready to serve"? Oh and I almost forgot, Jeongja means 'gazebo' as well as 'sperm' in korean, derived from different chinese characters, so those aristocrats were totally makin' some jeongja on the jeongja. Ha.

We departed Milyang, and after a lovely afternoon of riding, arrived in Tongyeong. From Tonyeong we took a ferry to Hansando (한산도), the island where General Lee's famous defeat of the Japanese invasion fleet took place. I wonder if Lee Soon Shin and Robert E. Lee would get along? They'd probably make some incredible friend chicken. Anyway...Hansando...

And the next day we found this incredible masterpiece of a T-shirt on the street in Tongyeong. Meating people in my carears sounds EXTREMELY signillcant. Especially if Mickey's involved.

Our last meal consisted of things found at the bottom of the ocean thrown into a pot of boiling water and red pepper paste (me), and raw sea squirt chopped up and mixed with rice and veggies (her). I don't know why I took a photo of this food and not the awesome raw fish we had the previous night. We found a little open-air street market, and within sat a row of little old ladies surrounded by tubs of various fish/sea animals flopping around or not. Across from the old ladies was a row of restaurants, none of which, curiously, had a kitchen. Quickly we discovered that what you had to do was tell one of the old ladies, "Hey, gimme that fish please!" and she would grab it, chop its head off, skin it, and cut it into sashimi-sized slivers all while it was still flopping around, and then hand it to you on a plate. Next you took the plate into one of the restaurants, which would supply you with all the dipping sauces, side dishes, and booze you could possibly want. We had an awesome, drunken evening eating the freshest possible sushi EVAR and drinking soju+beer boilermakers. Needless to say, after that night, neither of us were happy with the food below, even the Korean, and so first...
I screamed an exasperated "Ee Soon fuckin' Shin!" and then it was off to...

Dunkin Donuts, where we satisfied our taste buds with yummy donuts and coffee.

Goodbye Tongyoung, Lee Soon-Shin....

Monday was Buddha's B-Day, and Sunday I went to Haeinsa (a temple) with Mike and Ian. It was a good ride, took the new motorcycle, which I had to jump start the entire day by pushing it really fast down a hill, and popping the clutch in first gear to turn the engine over. The bike's a piece of shit. I've already had to do all kinds of maintenance on it, and today the kickstand broke. Arrghh. Anyway, photos of Haeinsa...

Women, Hot Cars, Monster Bull Balls

2008-04-21T23:33:00.009+09:00

A few weeks ago the World Supercar Show at the Exco exhibition hall here in Daegu. Armed with my camera and a superhuge raging boner, I accompanied Mike, Ian, and Leo to one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced in my life. Most of of the girls, while thin and attractive, could have benefited from a few situps and/or laps around the block, and so didn't really fit into their spandex very well, which made their 'sexy' poses pretty awkward. But then there were gems like this sultry lady below:
Obviously the showgoers were mainly men, but the way the ladies were displaying themselves as if they could be purchased along with the car was simultaneously arousing and disgusting. The only way that I could take so many photos of scantily clad women without feeling too embarrassed was to convince myself that I was being an 'artistic' photographer, unlike all those 'other' assholes who either shot endless frames with their cellphones, OR if more phtographically inclined, used big penis lenses for a more 'professional' look. There were some exciting machines to be seen at the show, like the Lamborghini in the first photo, and this awesome Aprilla bike below.
The highlight of the show and by far the sexiest women there were the awesome trio that rocked out on their bedazzled keytar, violin, and upright bass(not shown for relative lack of sexiness). The violinist was by far the most attractive, and when the three of us (Leo had run off to the bathroom at this point) saw her our collective jaws dropped. Luckily we managed to snag a shot of us together and declare our love to them before they made a quick exit, not looking at all happy to have been playing bedazzled instruments in front of hundreds of horny men while wearing tacky , midriff bearing outfits.Finally, after getting bored/worn out, we left, and I for one was probably feeling more horny and animalistic than ever before in my life. Hot women and expensive cars are a dangerous mix, and the show affected me in a way that I will never forget, and am not sure I want to re-live again. --------------------------
Intermission:Start
--------------------------
Chris at his best.
Billibowl! If you mix pool and bowling, you get a really fun bar game. If this hasn't been imported to the US yet, someone get on it, you could make a killing.
--------------------------
Intermission:End
--------------------------
Fast forward a few weeks and...
I went to the 청도소싸움축제(Chungdo Bull Fighting Festival) on Wednesday with my new special lady friend, Door. Most koreans pick lame English names like Jenny, Sunny, or god forbid, Candy, but Door decided to work with what she's got, and uses her last name, 문(Moon), which can be translated as 'door', to great effect. Door and I went to the bullfights, and...

Saw this massive wooden bull carving that was made from a date tree that had been struck by lightning! Don't even tell me that doesn't scream POWER. RRRrrar! or Moooooooo!
This guy, who looks as if he's never been sober for a day in his entire life, was also interested in the wooden bull.There was also a giant chia pet-style squirrel, who was apprently being robbed of his shubberies when I snapped this shot.And this baby was rockin' the backseat with his gramma, who seemed rather perplexed by the plastic bull wearing a football? helmet.Door also seemed a bit confused when it became difficult to drink from this cup after she chewed it to bits.But I reassured her that it is OK to chew on your cup, and she hugged me and we took a photo.On to the bullfight! It was pretty fun. In Korea, the bulls fight each other, and the fights not over until one bull turns his back and runs away. Most of the fights lasted for only a few seconds, when one bull would get bored or decide the other bull was his friend, but a couple fights lasted for over 30 minutes, and resulted in blood-bathed bull heads, and sometimes the bulls would strain so hard they would shit all over the place and their huge bull balls would recede into their bodies. Eventually, we decided that we felt sorry for the poor animals, and left, but not after a bottle of soju and some green onion pancake!
It was a great time, and I seem to have found a really cool woman. So don't expect frequent posts from no on, cuz I've got better things to do!

Rad!

2008-04-10T17:09:00.003+09:00

Check this guy's awesome improv rendition of 'House of the Rising Sun' on a diatonic accordion. Rad!

Some Korean Music Videos

2008-03-27T13:59:00.003+09:00

This one's by a band called Hot Potato. Thanks to the lyrics being written across the bottom of the video, I can vaguely make out that this song is about everything going through it's cycle and changing except the singer.

3rd Line Butterfly. This song makes me wanna drive cross country in my car and not worry about anything.

This one is by Humming Urban Stereo. In the beginning of the song all of the women in dude's life ask him, "Don't you love me?" and the rest of the song is about lovin'. The sign he holds up says "My Love".

Rainy Sun MV - Regret. Dude's voice is awesome. Can't make a word of the song out except about halfway through where he says "You bastard".

Finally, the hungarian suicide song, "Gloomy Sunday". Not Korean.

Have I just been in Korea too long, or is this not good music? The longer I'm here, the more good music I run into. Originally it was really disheartening to think that the only music in Korea might be the vapid, soulless, derivative crap that is played day in day out everywhere you go, but I guess it's the same at home too, no? I mean hell, until I left Arkansas, the only non-crap I had to listen to was classic rock and whatever indie rock band came to Vinos (did here some good music that way, like when the Misfits came!), and I don't think it was really until the proliferation of the MP3 that not very commercial music became easily accessible. At any rate, I'm happy to be continuously finding a small number of good korean bands to listen to. Enjoy. Oh, but if you're sad, don't listen to the hungarian suicide song, or you will kill yourself.

Some Random, Totally Achronologically Posted Photos (Is That Even a Word?)

2008-03-25T00:03:00.022+09:00

Hello Moto...

Oh yeah, subtle pink...

A beautiful moonlit evening in Daegu...

Music teacher eats 떡볶이ddukbogki(not sure if I spelled that right in either language)...

The calm before the storm. About 30 seconds later, in a burst of laughter accompanied by a sweeping arm gesture, she sent both our coffees flying through the air and all over everything, but luckily for me, mostly her skirt, which was completely soaked. It started to get sticky so she went out and bought a little pink miniskirt for $10. Unfortunately for me, then she went to church...

Gayageum strings...
Balance...
See ya!
Scary tree #1 (I'll send you a signed lithograph for $100)
#2

These are my Korean Studies classmates. As you can see, I am the only non-chinese person except for the teacher, who is the older looking guy left of center...
When I went up to Seoul to purchase the projector, I also purchased a new camera lens (30mm f1.4!) and took pictures of this guy being very passionate in front of what used to be Namdaemun (Seoul's ancient south gate) before it burned down a few weeks ago...
Here he is giving a fervent speech about something or other. Did I mention that the bum who burned down Namdaemun said in an interview that all the bums in town used to have bum parties inside? Apparently one corner was for the party, another corner was where they threw all the empty soju bottles, and a third was for pooping. Not sure about the 4th corner...Group sex?

Here is Leo sporting the 오배근 tshirt!

My steed and I took a trip up into the mountains while everyone else was in Thailand or Japan or whatever...
Here's Murray's new motorcycle! Now I have a riding buddy.
This man does not have an afro.
Neither does Mike.
Beautiful.

New House!

2008-03-24T23:42:00.011+09:00

Here it is, the new house! I live in a little asian house! These photos are from the day I moved in, so it was a bit of a mess. I' have since rearranged, and if I ever fully unpack and decorate, I will post some new photos. Here's the bedroom, since transformed into a kickass living room, complete with duct-tape couches and a 6-foot movie screen (wall) thanks to my new projector.
Kitchen. There are two refrigerators - one was left by the previous inhabitant, the other given to me by the school as per our housing contract. Kegerator pipedream in the works. Oh and I have a yogurt maker! You can't see it amidst all the trash in this photo, but every few days or so I mix a liter of milk with maybe 8 ounces of existing yogurt, pour it in to the little individual serving-sized ceramic containers, place them in the machine, press the 'yogurt' button (I can also ferment soybean paste with this thing) and 8 hours later the best yogurt EVAR is ready for consumption.
Bathroom. That toilet seat was kinda nasty so I bought a new, totally rad one.
Here's what has become the guest bedroom/storage/laundry room. Yes I have that many rooms.
This room, which for the first few days was exclusively the helmet beer room, is my bedroom.
And here we have the boileroom, which I only enter to fiddle with the levers that control which rooms get hot water for floor heat (I can only afford to heat one room at a time). The boiler itself is super loud and has to be filled eveyr so often with some kind of mysterious 'heating oil' which comes via a big truck with a long hose that pulls up in front of my house, blocks the entire street for aabout half an hour, extends the hose about 50 feet up to the second floor of the house, and fills my tank like a giant car.
And the air-con man. He was a cool guy.
Finally, the view from my roof, complete with kimchi pots that have been there god only knows how long.

I was on TV!

2008-03-11T19:49:00.002+09:00

The other day, the local news chanel, TBC, came to my college to film a spot about this 79 year old guy who is attending classes here. They followed him around the school, filmed him at his house and eating lunch with the other students (who are all 18), and then had me teach a pretend English class with him. I'm not the best actor, but I got to speak Korean on korean TV! Awesome. Maybe I'll be a movie star soon, like those bad american actors who were in all the Hong Kong kung fu movies. Anyway, here's the link.

Help me choose a photo!

2008-02-26T00:04:00.005+09:00

I joined the Seoul Photo Club challenge, so you can submit whatever photo you want o and they have weekly challenges, for which you are allowed to submit only one photo. Sometimes the challenge has a theme, and sometimes it's an openf korea. Oh and the winner's photo is printed in the 'Expat Living" section of the local English newspaper. I've been going through some of my better photos, but characteristically, I cannot decide which photos would be best to submit. Take a look below, and think about what an English language newspaper in Korea might like to print for the public to see, and give me your suggestions.

I Only Ate Pancakes Today

2008-02-24T19:31:00.001+09:00

Guantanamo Comes to Main Street U.S.A.

2008-02-14T09:27:00.004+09:00

Watch this video:

And here's a photo of the guy who was in charge of all this. Disgusting. Go here to send them a nasty email.

FBI Deputizes Business

2008-02-13T10:37:00.000+09:00

Make sure you read this article from Information Clearinghouse if you haven't already subscribed to it.

The article details how the FBI is recruiting corporate elites to spy on US citizens in return for special top secret intelligence. Apparently members of Infraguard, name of this organization, are also given special rights to 'protect their infrastructure' with lethal force if martial law is declared.

Let's all say this together - *FUCKING SCARY*

Grow:Island

2008-02-10T14:52:00.000+09:00

Check out Grow:Island, a sort of environmental puzzle game from some Japanese guy. Your goal is to build a properly functioning island by clicking on items in the correct order. For instance, if you click on 'architecture' and then click on 'electronics' immediately afterward, your little man cuts down the forest and the comuter immediately gets infected with viruses, and you've essentially lost the game. It took me a couple hours to beat it, and when you do, some crap in Japanese comes up and it looks like he's working on a second level. Anyway, this game is an engaging, free way to spend a couple hours.

Awesome!

2008-02-05T19:50:00.000+09:00

I'm the lead singer in the (almost) one-man death metal band, Drastique. That's amazing. I've googled my name before and only lame crap comes up, but this is cool. I'll be buying their album presently.

...And a bike ride downtown

2008-01-29T19:58:00.000+09:00

Here's me riding my motorcycle from my house to downtown. I promise I did not do anything the koreans don't do during the making of this video, and make sure you notice the kid in the red shirt jumping out of the way.

A Leisurely Walk Through Mr. Chris's Neighborhood

2008-01-28T16:21:00.000+09:00

I took my camera with me walking up the mountain behind my house yesterday, prefocused it and took a picture about once every second or so, (about 1800 photos in all) and then put it all together on the 'puter. This video gives you a good idea of what my neighborhood is like, and shows you why I like living in Korea; everything I need is within a few moments walk of my house. Restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaner, tailor, my workplace, even a mountain, complete with old ladies hulahooping on a helicopter landing pad, are right outside my doorstep.

오배근!! Round 2

2008-01-26T01:58:00.001+09:00

I revised the t-shirt. It turns out neither of the t-shirt shops I found had brown shirts, and the brown/pink/yellow combo was everyone's favorite. I went back and reworked the hands to make them a little smoother, warped the text a little differently, and added a mass of crazy cranes! You may ask, "Why crazy cranes, cute Chris?" and I would tell you that cranes are on the heads side of the real 500won coin, and I thought a whole gaggle of them flying out of the clapping hands would really tie the shirt together ㅋㅋ. What do you think? I guess sooner or later I'm gonna have to go ahead and print them. I think I like the black one best, and yellow #2. The white birds on black shirt just really pop and almost look radioactive or something with the pink and blue. The yellow looks a little more sk8er style maybe.

2008-01-24T10:21:00.001+09:00

The first song he plays is the korean national anthem, Jimi Hendrix style. Awesome. Only a nerdy korean kid could do that.

I've gone and done something horrible...

2008-01-23T02:50:00.001+09:00

It's 3am and I just finished watching Rendition. I don't teach any classes these days because it's winter vacation, so I just kinda show up at work for a couple hours and go home at lunch time. Sounds awesome, right? Well it is pretty awesome, but the reality is that I'm reverting back to my college days sleep cycle, where I get up in the morning, do some stuff, go home and take a nap, and then don't go to bed till 3 or 4. Tomorrow I'm not even going home after work, I'm just gonna stay out all day doin stuff. Fo sho. Anyway rendition was really good, definitely incited some good ole' anti-government hatred in me. Ohhh and Meryl Streep was such a cunty bitch. I do wish there had been more ending, like they repeal the law that allows them to 'render' people to other countries for torturing. And the word render...You can render beef at the slaughterhouse, you can render video files in Final Cut Pro HD, and render...humans to 3rd countries for torture? I guess the word is used because the prisoners are technically tortured by the 3rd party and not the US so civil rights laws don't apply? Regardless, 'Render' seems a little out of its element. (Sorry watched The Dude this past weekend).

Oh yeah and I went to a sex shop this past weekend too. They had little silver cockrings, various dildos and vibrators, and even a tiny little woman doll whose body ended with a regular sized vagina where her legs should've been. Weird.

I feel like I'm going through menopause...

2008-01-18T01:21:00.000+09:00

...not that I have any idea what that would feel like, but for the last few weeks, ever since I got back from home really, I've been alternately feeling really happy and excited about the world, my life, and everything, and then suddenly...the opposite. For the longest time I've sort of prided myself on being very even-keeled, the only drawback to that being that I tend to be apathetic to a lot of things.

But anyway, a lot of things are going well for me right now, I got a job at Daegu Polytechnic College working 12 (no not 21) hours a week at a nice campus teaching hot blue collar chicks (and dudes too I guess) AND I'll most likely have enough free time to attend the intensive korean language course at a neighboring university. The only real work I've done since I got back was teach 3 days of camp to super cute 9 year olds, and that was fun. So basically until the end of my contract I just have to go to school for a couple hours each day and let them know I haven't fled the country. This next year will probably turn out to be a good opportunity for me to perfect my Korean and then maybe move on to something else (grad school?), but just when things are looking up, (not that they were ever looking down) amidst waning spasms of happiness, an overwhelming and foreboding sense of loneliness and disinterest is moving in. (If any freaky religious people are reading this, please don't post a comment) Why is that? At first I sort of thought I was getting bored of Korea and just wanted to travel somewhere, but not matter what I think of doing, nothing really seems to get me excited, and there's nothing in particular that I really want to do. I guess I just don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing...Why do I want to learn Korean? Is living here really that interesting, or am I just fooling myself into thinking I'm cool for living 'abroad'? Would somewhere else be better? The answer to all these questions is a resounding "Hmmmm..."

It's my damn mother's fault. She's such a party-pooper. I swear, all my life, my parents (mostly mom) crushed every creative impulse I ever had. My most vivid memory of this, and I think the time I came to realize what she was doing, was when I was about 8 years old or so. I remember having this inflatable duck-shaped inner tube that we would fill with air and take to the pool right? Well I had the awesome idea that since helium-filled balloons floated into the air, then if I filled the duck raft with helium, I, too, could float into the air with it. Yes I was a fuckin' tard alright? But I remember being so excited about it, but no matter how much I asked to be taken to the party supply store to fill the tube with helium, mom wouldn't let me. It wasn't like she was mean about it and said "That's fuckin stupid Christopher" or anythign like that. She just got that look in her eye, made that simultaneous tongue-against-roof of mouth clicking and sighing sound, and crushed my dreams.

The same thing happens every time I make plans for ANYTHING, and while I was at home during Christmas, all she did was A) seem perplexed at why I like Korea even though I've lived here for 2 years and even though she knows nothing about it nor has the desire to, B) complain to me about when I'm going to come back "home" "for good"(although home was specified as not necessarily being Arkansas, just somewhere my mom thinks is alright to live I guess. She said I should go to San Diego, or New York, but definitely not San Francisco, because they're too liberal) and C) nag me about when I'm going to "do something" with myself, which as far as I can tell means go to a city on her list of acceptable cities and go to grad school and study or get a job doing something she doesn't think is weird or "too liberal".

I know everyone's mother is probably like this to some extent, and I shouldn't let it bother me, but can you not see how that would get a man down? There's nothing like your mother to knock you down a notch.

I guess the worst thing is not my mother though, but the fact that, if I "did not choose wisely" as they say, it gets harder and harder to make a change later in life. Or does it? I mean, if after 5 years in Korea, I suddenly decide to make an about face and do something totally different, is it really that much harder to do being 30 than 23? I don't know.

Also, it's in my nature to try new things, but not in my nature to stick with any one thing. It's so predictable it's not even funny. Every time I pick up a new hobby, skill, genre of books, etc...I delve into it just to the point where I'd really have to commit to it to get good, and then I switch to something else, because I'm afraid that if I just commit to that one thing, I'll miss out on all the other fun things to do. Well that's all fine and good, but I need something that I'm really good at/knowledgeable about by which to identify myself, don't I? Again, my answer is "Hmmm..."

This is absolutely the most whiny crybaby post EVAR, and I apologize.

노출

2008-01-15T22:36:00.000+09:00

I learned a new word today, 노출 (nochule), which means 'exposure', and is used to refer to women who are showing too much skin. Here's an example video.

The video is of some celebrity, 곽현화 (Gwak Hyunhwa), who was apparently scolded in the media for this nochule. But the guy who posted this video superimposed text throughout saying things like "you call this nochule? Where's the nochule? If you're gonna call it nochule you've gotta show at least THIS much skin" (the last photo of Britney). Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny, and now I can tell girls that they should try a little more nochule.

오배근!!

2008-01-14T00:12:00.001+09:00

Friday night, Murray, Mike, Ian and I played poker; Texas Hold 'em to be precise. It was the most fun I've had in a long time, and we all got pretty into the game. Murray in particular, kept tossing down his 500 won coins (pronounced oh beck one in Korean) and yelling his approximation, "Oh begguhn!", accompanied by a few hardy claps, no matter what he had in his hand. Or so we thought, because after a few hands it became apparent that he was just trying to confuse us so he could take all our money. Anyway, it was so funny, I spent about an hour this morning making a t-shirt design from last night's memories. Here's the result. For those of you who don't read Korean, I wrote "500 won" in Korean, but mis-spelled it so that it sounds the way Murray was saying it last night. This may be too much of an inside joke to be funny to anyone but the four of us, but if you're interested, I'm planning to get a bunch of these made, so I'd be happy to put you on the list. They'll be about $5-$8 a piece. Just don't tell the Daegu Immigration Office, they might deport me for having a second income outside of school.