3 months, 12 days later it arrived—my dan certificate. i even got an id to put in my wallet and show all my friends. how cool is that. i wonder if the id will get me into bars? hmmmm…
be fresh. be well…
countdown to sf: 1 month, 27 days
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
the "dan"
deery-lou.
3 months, 12 days later it arrived—my dan certificate. i even got an id to put in my wallet and show all my friends. how cool is that. i wonder if the id will get me into bars? hmmmm…
be fresh. be well…
countdown to sf: 1 month, 27 days
3 months, 12 days later it arrived—my dan certificate. i even got an id to put in my wallet and show all my friends. how cool is that. i wonder if the id will get me into bars? hmmmm…
be fresh. be well…
countdown to sf: 1 month, 27 days
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
golden sea of posters
deery-lou.
it's election time here in korea. for the past couple of weeks i've been seeing korean woman standing on corners with sashes. at first i was unclear as to what they were doing then it all came together. they're out there trying to get support for their candidate. if there's one thing i noticed about korean is that they like making posters, signs, etc. they have them for everything. so it only makes sense for them to have mini-posters for all the candidates. i've noticed the many faces posted on fences all along my walk to and from school. these posters are quite the colorful sorts. i find them quite interesting to stare out. perhaps its due to their strange backgrounds. they kind of have a teletubby feel to them. these posters have a tendenacy to make the candidate on them seem so appealing and lifelike. quite the opposite to the ones at home which are usually on either on a blue or red background. i must admit i'm not very political which is probably not such a good thing. but these posters made me want to get involve. maybe we should jump on this bandwagon back home. i've always been scared of the candidates that ran in the states. they all seem to have the same stale typical politician look to them. not really sure why i find these posters so fascination. it could be due to the fact i'm in awe with anything asian these days. i still believe there's an asian person trapped inside my body somewhere. and they're screaming to get out. then again who really knows why we like the things we do. we just do. anyway…wednesday's election day. we get the day off. sweet! hopefully i'll get some work done for the upcoming exhibit. need to get on that. but i'll probably end of wasting the day doing nothing. i would go out and vote but i can't. oh well. here's a glimpse of the smiling faces i've been seeing for the past couple of months. tell me wouldn't you want to vote for them too?
enjoy your day.i know i will.
be real. be fresh. be well…
it's election time here in korea. for the past couple of weeks i've been seeing korean woman standing on corners with sashes. at first i was unclear as to what they were doing then it all came together. they're out there trying to get support for their candidate. if there's one thing i noticed about korean is that they like making posters, signs, etc. they have them for everything. so it only makes sense for them to have mini-posters for all the candidates. i've noticed the many faces posted on fences all along my walk to and from school. these posters are quite the colorful sorts. i find them quite interesting to stare out. perhaps its due to their strange backgrounds. they kind of have a teletubby feel to them. these posters have a tendenacy to make the candidate on them seem so appealing and lifelike. quite the opposite to the ones at home which are usually on either on a blue or red background. i must admit i'm not very political which is probably not such a good thing. but these posters made me want to get involve. maybe we should jump on this bandwagon back home. i've always been scared of the candidates that ran in the states. they all seem to have the same stale typical politician look to them. not really sure why i find these posters so fascination. it could be due to the fact i'm in awe with anything asian these days. i still believe there's an asian person trapped inside my body somewhere. and they're screaming to get out. then again who really knows why we like the things we do. we just do. anyway…wednesday's election day. we get the day off. sweet! hopefully i'll get some work done for the upcoming exhibit. need to get on that. but i'll probably end of wasting the day doing nothing. i would go out and vote but i can't. oh well. here's a glimpse of the smiling faces i've been seeing for the past couple of months. tell me wouldn't you want to vote for them too?
enjoy your day.i know i will.
be real. be fresh. be well…
Sunday, May 28, 2006
warhol party k-style
deery-lou.
once again i found myself subway bound to head into seoul for an evening of drinking, dancing, and music. the festivities started out at chen's nabi jib house warming party. although the weather was crap [it was raining] it didn't stop a few die hards to enjoy drinking on a rooftop in hongdae. i managed to polish off two glasses of wine and 1.6 liter of ob beer. i love that its called ob. if only they knew. the party came to end around 9:30pm when we all decided to head out for the evening. there were alot of different events happening so once we all got to the destinated area we split off. betsy and i went to chill at seom for a bit. we had some mojitos and chatted about buffy the vampire slayer. sigh...oh how i miss you buffy. after our drinks were done we decided to head off to club aura for the 60's velvet underground party they were hosting. upon our arrival a korean ska band was playing. they pretty decent. after them was a band called nunco who had a very 80s feel to them. they looked very devo-ish. the leader singer had on a motorcycle helmet and one of the other members had a searchlight on his head. hmmm...one of their songs reminded me of the b-52's circa planet claire. the final band of the evening and the sole reason we were there was the mustangs. once again these guys completely rock. they even brought out two body builders to flex during one of the songs. as if it could get any better. not really a fan of the muscle boys but they definitely nice to look at. the crowd was definitely rocking out. it was great. i felt so alive. thats what their music does for me. happy, happy. after the gig they had a dj playing tunes. we spent the rest of the night there dancing and drinking. we finally left around 3:30am. outside we ran into chen and decided to check out club ff for some dancing. that was bust seeing that the music completely sucked. chen and i decided to call it a night. which was probably wise since at this point i had a splitting headache. back at chens we chatted for a bit they eventually passed out.
video of the mustangs:
on sunday chen and i chilled out on her rooftop for most of the day. it was a beautiful day. eventually we headed out and made our way to hanam market [the international market]. finally after 3 months of planning to go there i went. got myself some flour tortillas and 2lbs of cheddar/monteray jack cheese. the cheese cost me $12. it still kills me knowing i paid that much but its so worth it. we then stopped off in haybanchon for lunch. haybanchon is close to the military base and itaewon so you can only imagine the crowd. we went to philly's for some western grub. i had a sheperd's pie and fries. the food was awesome but the group of westerns there were quite annoying. while we were there they managed to bash australians and gays. chen and i just looked at each other. this is why i avoid this area. people like that suck. after our meal we headed back to the subway were we parted ways. it was time to go back to ansan and veg out. which is exactly what i did.
photos from club aura:
be real. be fresh. be well…
countdown to sf: 1 month, 28 days
Friday, May 26, 2006
the wonder speech
deery-lou.
there are times i absolutely love my job. this weeks speech:
wonder woman
wonder woman, wonder woman
all the world's waiting for you
and the power you possess
in your satin tights,
fighting for your rights
and the old red, white, and blue.
wonder woman, wonder woman
all the world's waiting for you
and the power you possess
in your satin tights,
fighting for your rights
and the old red, white, and blue.
bullet proof braceletsi found an mp3 of the wonder woman theme online so i could play it for them. they all seemed to like it. the whole week they kept asking me to hear it one more time. jeff upon hearing the song told me he doesn't like singing. it was great watching them recite the song. most of them did fairly well. jordan manage to say "and the old red, white, and yellow". of all the colors he blurts out yellow. i guess for those of us from u.s.a it just seems natural to say red, white, and blue. in peter's class we had some extra time so i decided to show them an episode from the wonder woman tv show. they kept telling me too much talking. no understanding. they wanted to see wonder woman fighting so i fast forwarded to the fight scenes. they were impressed with her bullet proof bracelets. harry asked me if the bracelets could deflect superman's heat vision. where do they come up with this stuff.
in ben's class i've been showing them an episode from the old batman tv show. of course it's from season three that featured batgirl. when i was younger i got excited when i saw batgirl riding across the screen on her batcycle during the opening credits. that meant she was on that episode. score!! didn't really care too much when she wasn't on. when robin appeared on screen ben yelled out "he has on green panties." panties seems to be a favorite word among them all. i tried to explain to them they aren't panties but his costume. they didn't care. in their mind he was wearing panties and so was batman. they loved the fight scenes with the giant POW! BAM! WHAM! it was quite fun watching it with them and telling them what was happening. oh the joys of teaching batman.
the bat gangbe well…
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
pins & needles
deery-lou.
i'm beginning to feel like a human pin cushion. each day as i head to the acupuncturist i cringe with the thought of him pressing into my chest to find the pressure points. its a pain that makes me almost laugh. yes, i say almost cuz i do my best to keep the laughter in. the other day as i lay on my side i could actually feel the pins inside me. when i moved my arm the muscles shifted and i felt a constant rush of pain. i was very close to asking them to pull out the pin but i soon got use to it. its the kind of pain that on one hand hurts but on the other feels good. its like you can actually feel it working. the side effect is that i'm starting to bruise. i went in again today. the assistant was saying something to me about the doctor. she was holding up two fingers. i assumed she meant that the doctor was gone and would be back soon. she took me to the room. as usual i removed my shirt and lay on the heated table. when the doctor appeared i was surprised to see that it was a new one. i think he was just as surprised. he couldn't really speak much english. i had to tell him where the pain was. he said something. i nodded. he ask me to remove my socks. then he put some pins into my feet, legs, and arm. this time around i was sans pins in my chest area. the assistant turned the heat lamp on and there i lay for 15 minutes or so.
i must say that laying there with pins in my body and a heat lamp turned on me is the most relaxing time ever. my mind wandered. i love that feeling when you are awake yet so relaxed that it feels like you are dreaming. my thoughts drifted back to high school. i'm sure a lot of that had to do with reconnecting with some h.s. peeps on myspace last week. it had me thinking of friends who have come and gone, choices made, how comfort can come from the least expected, how great that time was, etc. it was my own personal slideshow.
as i took my trip down memory lane earlier today i couldn't help but wonder how happy i am with its outcome. of course i would have done some things differently. wouldn't we all. but for the most part the decisions i made were good ones. i wish i had the self-confidence i do today. and that i came out much earlier but thats adolescence, i guess. besides i believe that everything happens for a reason. while i laid there in my semi-conscious state my mind wondered to the time we had gotten a place at the sea horse motel in new smyrna beach. not really sure why we were there but we were. there was a bunch of us sitting on the bed. i remember getting upset. we were talking about life and such. then the topic turned a bit personal. a few people mentioned how they were embarrassed to be my friend. [bs] had made a comment about how he didn't want me to meet his parents because i was different. they talked about the way i dressed, acted, and even spoke. i remember thinking that these people were suppose to be my friends. i took it personally. as anyone would. afterall i was only 16 or 17. i remember crawling under the table in my drunken state and crying. what stands out is that [mo] came to comfort me. [mo] was a tough guy. not one i could ever imagine having a sensitive side. and the thing was that he and i weren't really even close. he grabbed a beer for us both and joined me under the table. i'm not exactly clear of what he said, but it was something like this: "do not give a shit what these people think", and "to be yourself". even thought the exact words escape me i do know that what he said had a lasting effect on me. i never really spoken about this before. mostly because i wanted to forget about it and the other cuz its somewhat embarrassing. but as i sit here today i realize "what the fuck do i care". and the truth is i don't. in a strange way that event has had a lasting impact on me. for the last few years its entered my subconscious. its only now that i can accept it.
from there i jumped to my friendship with [ss]. the two of us hung out for almost a year together and then it sort of fizzled out. i still saw him around here and there but it was never the same. i'm sure the reasons for the friendship ending were somewhat childish. at the time they felt reasonable. i actually tried getting in touch with him once. i never heard back from him though. not even sure if it was the right number. sometimes i wonder what would have happened if we had stayed such good friends? would that have meant my close friendship with [wc + sh] wouldn't have happened? which brings me to [wc + sh]. i knew them both all through high school but it wasn't until the summer after my senior year that the three of us became so close. and truth be told, i'm not even sure how that happened. all i know is that i had one of my best summers ever with those two guys. the best part being that i'm still really great friends with them. i use to see [sh] quite often when i lived in the bay area. he lived there, too. [wc] i don't see as much but we have a bond that will never be broken.
my thoughts then began to wander outside my immediate group of high school friends. to those i met as clubs, parties, etc. you see i always found myself just slightly outside. never really in the center of it all. who i hung out seemed to change every 6 months or so. which was cool cuz i get to meet so many great people. two that had the most impact on my lives were [e + d]. they went to winter park. i was at lake brantley. again i'm not sure how we connected but we did. i had great times going to the beach with them, visage, or just hanging at e's house. after i went to university i kept in touch with them for awhile. then unfortunately it sort of faded. i saw e a few years ago and of course we did the whole "let's stay in touch" but really didn't. hopefully one day our paths will cross again. until then i still have all the great memories and the joy division album they gave me. miss you guys!
nostalgia is such a crazy thing. i love how it can simply be brought about by the slightest thing. i'm sure as i continue to go to acupuncture my journeys into the past will continue as well. whether or not i share them all— thats another matter. don't really want to bore you all with my high school flashbacks. however, it is a part of who i am. a part that i can't change. nor do i want it too. for as tough as high school was being in the closet, self-conscious, etc. i had an awesome core of friends that made that whole experience worth it. some of them i still speak to today while others are distant memories. then there are the ones that i didn't hang out with so much in high school but am good friends with now. go figure. the experiences i had, the places i went, the people i met, etc. made me who i am and thats what i'm thankful for. to all of the peeps i had contact with back in the day i wish you well. perhaps our paths will meet again some day.
speaking of high school, my best friend back then had a child while we were seniors. i use to babysit for her sometimes. i can remember driving around in my jeep with baby [k] in the back seat. well—baby [k] isn't a baby anymore. on sunday, may 21 she graduated from high school. now i feel old. [jc] did an excellent job raising [k]. [k] is smart, pretty, caring, etc. and i'm not just saying that cuz i'm a faux-uncle. i only wish i could have been there to see her graduate. i hope she knows that i was there in spirit and with always be with her whereever her life takes her. best of luck to you [k]. and to you [jc] be proud. be very proud. love and miss you both.
be proud, be real, be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 2 days
i'm beginning to feel like a human pin cushion. each day as i head to the acupuncturist i cringe with the thought of him pressing into my chest to find the pressure points. its a pain that makes me almost laugh. yes, i say almost cuz i do my best to keep the laughter in. the other day as i lay on my side i could actually feel the pins inside me. when i moved my arm the muscles shifted and i felt a constant rush of pain. i was very close to asking them to pull out the pin but i soon got use to it. its the kind of pain that on one hand hurts but on the other feels good. its like you can actually feel it working. the side effect is that i'm starting to bruise. i went in again today. the assistant was saying something to me about the doctor. she was holding up two fingers. i assumed she meant that the doctor was gone and would be back soon. she took me to the room. as usual i removed my shirt and lay on the heated table. when the doctor appeared i was surprised to see that it was a new one. i think he was just as surprised. he couldn't really speak much english. i had to tell him where the pain was. he said something. i nodded. he ask me to remove my socks. then he put some pins into my feet, legs, and arm. this time around i was sans pins in my chest area. the assistant turned the heat lamp on and there i lay for 15 minutes or so.
i must say that laying there with pins in my body and a heat lamp turned on me is the most relaxing time ever. my mind wandered. i love that feeling when you are awake yet so relaxed that it feels like you are dreaming. my thoughts drifted back to high school. i'm sure a lot of that had to do with reconnecting with some h.s. peeps on myspace last week. it had me thinking of friends who have come and gone, choices made, how comfort can come from the least expected, how great that time was, etc. it was my own personal slideshow.
as i took my trip down memory lane earlier today i couldn't help but wonder how happy i am with its outcome. of course i would have done some things differently. wouldn't we all. but for the most part the decisions i made were good ones. i wish i had the self-confidence i do today. and that i came out much earlier but thats adolescence, i guess. besides i believe that everything happens for a reason. while i laid there in my semi-conscious state my mind wondered to the time we had gotten a place at the sea horse motel in new smyrna beach. not really sure why we were there but we were. there was a bunch of us sitting on the bed. i remember getting upset. we were talking about life and such. then the topic turned a bit personal. a few people mentioned how they were embarrassed to be my friend. [bs] had made a comment about how he didn't want me to meet his parents because i was different. they talked about the way i dressed, acted, and even spoke. i remember thinking that these people were suppose to be my friends. i took it personally. as anyone would. afterall i was only 16 or 17. i remember crawling under the table in my drunken state and crying. what stands out is that [mo] came to comfort me. [mo] was a tough guy. not one i could ever imagine having a sensitive side. and the thing was that he and i weren't really even close. he grabbed a beer for us both and joined me under the table. i'm not exactly clear of what he said, but it was something like this: "do not give a shit what these people think", and "to be yourself". even thought the exact words escape me i do know that what he said had a lasting effect on me. i never really spoken about this before. mostly because i wanted to forget about it and the other cuz its somewhat embarrassing. but as i sit here today i realize "what the fuck do i care". and the truth is i don't. in a strange way that event has had a lasting impact on me. for the last few years its entered my subconscious. its only now that i can accept it.
from there i jumped to my friendship with [ss]. the two of us hung out for almost a year together and then it sort of fizzled out. i still saw him around here and there but it was never the same. i'm sure the reasons for the friendship ending were somewhat childish. at the time they felt reasonable. i actually tried getting in touch with him once. i never heard back from him though. not even sure if it was the right number. sometimes i wonder what would have happened if we had stayed such good friends? would that have meant my close friendship with [wc + sh] wouldn't have happened? which brings me to [wc + sh]. i knew them both all through high school but it wasn't until the summer after my senior year that the three of us became so close. and truth be told, i'm not even sure how that happened. all i know is that i had one of my best summers ever with those two guys. the best part being that i'm still really great friends with them. i use to see [sh] quite often when i lived in the bay area. he lived there, too. [wc] i don't see as much but we have a bond that will never be broken.
my thoughts then began to wander outside my immediate group of high school friends. to those i met as clubs, parties, etc. you see i always found myself just slightly outside. never really in the center of it all. who i hung out seemed to change every 6 months or so. which was cool cuz i get to meet so many great people. two that had the most impact on my lives were [e + d]. they went to winter park. i was at lake brantley. again i'm not sure how we connected but we did. i had great times going to the beach with them, visage, or just hanging at e's house. after i went to university i kept in touch with them for awhile. then unfortunately it sort of faded. i saw e a few years ago and of course we did the whole "let's stay in touch" but really didn't. hopefully one day our paths will cross again. until then i still have all the great memories and the joy division album they gave me. miss you guys!
nostalgia is such a crazy thing. i love how it can simply be brought about by the slightest thing. i'm sure as i continue to go to acupuncture my journeys into the past will continue as well. whether or not i share them all— thats another matter. don't really want to bore you all with my high school flashbacks. however, it is a part of who i am. a part that i can't change. nor do i want it too. for as tough as high school was being in the closet, self-conscious, etc. i had an awesome core of friends that made that whole experience worth it. some of them i still speak to today while others are distant memories. then there are the ones that i didn't hang out with so much in high school but am good friends with now. go figure. the experiences i had, the places i went, the people i met, etc. made me who i am and thats what i'm thankful for. to all of the peeps i had contact with back in the day i wish you well. perhaps our paths will meet again some day.
speaking of high school, my best friend back then had a child while we were seniors. i use to babysit for her sometimes. i can remember driving around in my jeep with baby [k] in the back seat. well—baby [k] isn't a baby anymore. on sunday, may 21 she graduated from high school. now i feel old. [jc] did an excellent job raising [k]. [k] is smart, pretty, caring, etc. and i'm not just saying that cuz i'm a faux-uncle. i only wish i could have been there to see her graduate. i hope she knows that i was there in spirit and with always be with her whereever her life takes her. best of luck to you [k]. and to you [jc] be proud. be very proud. love and miss you both.
be proud, be real, be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 2 days
Sunday, May 21, 2006
group-e's
deery-lou.
another weekend has come and gone. i had my second round of acupuncture on saturday morning. starting to feel alot better. i love acupuncture! around 5 pm i headed off for seoul. chen was having a mini gathering at her new hongdae pad poetically called nabi jib [butterfly house]. we sat around drinking wine, eating pringles, and talking trash. afterall it is all about trash talk. topics of converstion: boys, music, art, boys, and more boys. welcome to high school. later we were off to fishhook [not sure if thats the name or not] bar where a bunch of bands where playing. chen had gotten a text saying the mustangs were going to play. thats all we needed. the show rocked. the mustangs keep getting better and better. the drummer played the entire set shirtless and for the last song took of his pants. sweet! everyone enjoyed the show and i believe we added two more fans [ruth and arleen] to "the officially unoffical mustang fanclub" or toumf for short. i really need to get a life.
hangin on the rooftop
the club's motto seems to be "are you fish?" that became the question of the evening. and one that i think i'll use when i'm home visiting in august. they had some stickers. i took one. chen put one on my chest. we are silly. but we aren't fish. arleen managed to bust in on msl while he was in the bathroom. at the time he was washing his hands. at least we know he has good hygiene. from the fish bar chen, olivia, and i went to seom. seom is the bar that's sponsoring the photo exhibit. i met vincent. he's one of the owners and also going to be in the exhibit. we had mojitos. it reminded me of the the time adawg had a small intimate gathering where she served mojitos and mac and cheese. too bad i didn't have any mac and cheese that night.
from seom we rendezvoused with ruth, arleen, and betsy at club ff for dancing. thats where we stayed until 4:30 am or so. there was talk about getting food. chen and i bailed out and headed back to her place. i crashed hard. in the morning or should i say afternoon we hung on the roof a bit then decided to go get food. lunch/dinner was had at jenny's cafe. that seems to be the new favorite place to go. we did some walking around hongdae but i was in no mood to shop. felt very tired and hot. i headed back to ansan around 5 pm. spent the rest of the evening watching tv.
a random events from the weekend:
[betsy, young-min, and i were sitting outside at club ff when some random guy came up to us and just stood there]
stranger: this makes for an awkward moment
me: what does?
stranger: this. [he looks around smiling]
me: well, sometimes life offers us strange moments
[i then turn to direct my attention back to betsy and young-min who both said nothing. the stranger stood there a little longer until his friend came in]
be well…
p.s. i "borrowed" the photo from chen's myspace. thanks chen.
countdown to sf: 2 months, 5 days
another weekend has come and gone. i had my second round of acupuncture on saturday morning. starting to feel alot better. i love acupuncture! around 5 pm i headed off for seoul. chen was having a mini gathering at her new hongdae pad poetically called nabi jib [butterfly house]. we sat around drinking wine, eating pringles, and talking trash. afterall it is all about trash talk. topics of converstion: boys, music, art, boys, and more boys. welcome to high school. later we were off to fishhook [not sure if thats the name or not] bar where a bunch of bands where playing. chen had gotten a text saying the mustangs were going to play. thats all we needed. the show rocked. the mustangs keep getting better and better. the drummer played the entire set shirtless and for the last song took of his pants. sweet! everyone enjoyed the show and i believe we added two more fans [ruth and arleen] to "the officially unoffical mustang fanclub" or toumf for short. i really need to get a life.
hangin on the rooftopthe club's motto seems to be "are you fish?" that became the question of the evening. and one that i think i'll use when i'm home visiting in august. they had some stickers. i took one. chen put one on my chest. we are silly. but we aren't fish. arleen managed to bust in on msl while he was in the bathroom. at the time he was washing his hands. at least we know he has good hygiene. from the fish bar chen, olivia, and i went to seom. seom is the bar that's sponsoring the photo exhibit. i met vincent. he's one of the owners and also going to be in the exhibit. we had mojitos. it reminded me of the the time adawg had a small intimate gathering where she served mojitos and mac and cheese. too bad i didn't have any mac and cheese that night.
from seom we rendezvoused with ruth, arleen, and betsy at club ff for dancing. thats where we stayed until 4:30 am or so. there was talk about getting food. chen and i bailed out and headed back to her place. i crashed hard. in the morning or should i say afternoon we hung on the roof a bit then decided to go get food. lunch/dinner was had at jenny's cafe. that seems to be the new favorite place to go. we did some walking around hongdae but i was in no mood to shop. felt very tired and hot. i headed back to ansan around 5 pm. spent the rest of the evening watching tv.
a random events from the weekend:
[betsy, young-min, and i were sitting outside at club ff when some random guy came up to us and just stood there]
stranger: this makes for an awkward moment
me: what does?
stranger: this. [he looks around smiling]
me: well, sometimes life offers us strange moments
[i then turn to direct my attention back to betsy and young-min who both said nothing. the stranger stood there a little longer until his friend came in]
be well…
p.s. i "borrowed" the photo from chen's myspace. thanks chen.
countdown to sf: 2 months, 5 days
Friday, May 19, 2006
chatting with sexy girl
deery-lou.
this morning when i awoke the muscle pain seemed to be worse. i could barely move without it hurting. i decided a trip to see the acupuncturist was needed. the one i usually went to has since closed down so it was off to find a new one. young noticed one the other day so we went there together. it was a total score cuz the doctor actually speaks english. he put some pins in my chest then turned on the heat lamp. it was the best 15 minutes i've ever had. afterwards the assistant placed a heating pad on my chest. the table i was laying on had heat coming out of it as well. i love getting acupuncture. my next appointment is on saturday. hopefully this plus the meds will do the trick. i don't like pain.
so this week my classroom got wired up for the internet. that was probably a huge mistake. hi, internet access all day. hehe. one of my students asked me if i was chatting with a sexy girl. is that what they think i do? well they're not that far off are they. it was actually quite funny. i then asked vicky if she likes to chat with sexy girls and she said yes. the whole class laughed. i do find haivng the computer in class to be quite helpful. now if there's something they don't know i can try to find a picture online to help them out. internet rules!
i also found myself reconnecting with some old high school friends. i love myspace for that. just when you think you won't hear from someone they magically appear. its like having a reunion without actually having to go to the reunion and dealing with all the people you don't want to see. not sure whats in store for me this weekend. have plans to go to seoul to see chen's new place. the verdict is still out. i'm going to wait to see how i feel tomorrow. i hope everyone has a good weekend.
be well...
this morning when i awoke the muscle pain seemed to be worse. i could barely move without it hurting. i decided a trip to see the acupuncturist was needed. the one i usually went to has since closed down so it was off to find a new one. young noticed one the other day so we went there together. it was a total score cuz the doctor actually speaks english. he put some pins in my chest then turned on the heat lamp. it was the best 15 minutes i've ever had. afterwards the assistant placed a heating pad on my chest. the table i was laying on had heat coming out of it as well. i love getting acupuncture. my next appointment is on saturday. hopefully this plus the meds will do the trick. i don't like pain.
so this week my classroom got wired up for the internet. that was probably a huge mistake. hi, internet access all day. hehe. one of my students asked me if i was chatting with a sexy girl. is that what they think i do? well they're not that far off are they. it was actually quite funny. i then asked vicky if she likes to chat with sexy girls and she said yes. the whole class laughed. i do find haivng the computer in class to be quite helpful. now if there's something they don't know i can try to find a picture online to help them out. internet rules!
i also found myself reconnecting with some old high school friends. i love myspace for that. just when you think you won't hear from someone they magically appear. its like having a reunion without actually having to go to the reunion and dealing with all the people you don't want to see. not sure whats in store for me this weekend. have plans to go to seoul to see chen's new place. the verdict is still out. i'm going to wait to see how i feel tomorrow. i hope everyone has a good weekend.
be well...
Thursday, May 18, 2006
X-ray
deery-lou.
i got myself a chest x-ray today. i debated about whether or not i really needed to do so but figure its better to be safe than sorry. as i mentioned in a previous blog i took a nasty fall while attempting to do a spinning turn kick. that kindo of makes me sound tough huh. spinning turn kick. anyway during the course of the week the pain sort of shifted from my lower chest to upper chest. on monday it really didn't seem to hurt so bad. on tuesday while doing some extreme stretching i got a sudden rush of pain in my upper pectorial area. i couldn't do sit-ups, jumping jacks, and even trying to do my poomse hurt like a bitch. seeing that the pain was still lingering on wednesday and my over the counter muscle pain killers weren't working the people at work suggested i go see a doctor. this morning young came with me to the bone doctor. he also happens to be a parent of one of our students. but thats really besides the point since i don't even his child. so there i am at the bone doctors with young, the doctor, and two assistants. the conversation is flowing around me and i know they're speaking about me but i have no clue. its like being a life-size doll. you go where they point and do what they say. i told the doctor about the incident and my pain via translation through young. he could actually speak a little english but not so sure he understood my fast talking. the only words the x-ray tech spoke were "ok". i basicially let me put me in the various positions needed. it took all of 5 minutes. back in the doctors offices i watched as he placed my x-rays up on the light table. its kind of surreal to be looking at your insides while the people around you are talking in korean. the doc could have been telling young about all these awful things that were wrong with me and i wouldn't have had a clue. luckily, nothing was broken. the doc thinks its one of two things: 1. something with my lung or heart or 2. simply just some muscle irriation. he's going with #2 as am i. he prescribed me some meds and said that if i didn't get better in a few weeks and i should another doctor. now i have all these pretty pills to take: green ones, pink ones, white ones, etc. and i i just tell you that i paid under $10 for the office visit, x-rays, and meds combined. makes one think what the hell is wrong with the health care system in the states. i paid $50 just to step into the kaiser office. bastards!! i decided to lay low the rest of the week. mainly meaning no tae kwon do. hopefully the pain with go away soon. it totally hurts every time i laugh, cough, or sneeze. of course this week i get a case of coughing. go figure. does someone hate me up there? some good news to report. as of today my class is all internet ready. yeah!! now i just have to lug my laptop to school everyday. i also found someone locally who can order me memory and instal it for me. now i don't have to go to the crazy computer area. life is good!
be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 14 days
i got myself a chest x-ray today. i debated about whether or not i really needed to do so but figure its better to be safe than sorry. as i mentioned in a previous blog i took a nasty fall while attempting to do a spinning turn kick. that kindo of makes me sound tough huh. spinning turn kick. anyway during the course of the week the pain sort of shifted from my lower chest to upper chest. on monday it really didn't seem to hurt so bad. on tuesday while doing some extreme stretching i got a sudden rush of pain in my upper pectorial area. i couldn't do sit-ups, jumping jacks, and even trying to do my poomse hurt like a bitch. seeing that the pain was still lingering on wednesday and my over the counter muscle pain killers weren't working the people at work suggested i go see a doctor. this morning young came with me to the bone doctor. he also happens to be a parent of one of our students. but thats really besides the point since i don't even his child. so there i am at the bone doctors with young, the doctor, and two assistants. the conversation is flowing around me and i know they're speaking about me but i have no clue. its like being a life-size doll. you go where they point and do what they say. i told the doctor about the incident and my pain via translation through young. he could actually speak a little english but not so sure he understood my fast talking. the only words the x-ray tech spoke were "ok". i basicially let me put me in the various positions needed. it took all of 5 minutes. back in the doctors offices i watched as he placed my x-rays up on the light table. its kind of surreal to be looking at your insides while the people around you are talking in korean. the doc could have been telling young about all these awful things that were wrong with me and i wouldn't have had a clue. luckily, nothing was broken. the doc thinks its one of two things: 1. something with my lung or heart or 2. simply just some muscle irriation. he's going with #2 as am i. he prescribed me some meds and said that if i didn't get better in a few weeks and i should another doctor. now i have all these pretty pills to take: green ones, pink ones, white ones, etc. and i i just tell you that i paid under $10 for the office visit, x-rays, and meds combined. makes one think what the hell is wrong with the health care system in the states. i paid $50 just to step into the kaiser office. bastards!! i decided to lay low the rest of the week. mainly meaning no tae kwon do. hopefully the pain with go away soon. it totally hurts every time i laugh, cough, or sneeze. of course this week i get a case of coughing. go figure. does someone hate me up there? some good news to report. as of today my class is all internet ready. yeah!! now i just have to lug my laptop to school everyday. i also found someone locally who can order me memory and instal it for me. now i don't have to go to the crazy computer area. life is good!
be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 14 days
Monday, May 15, 2006
happy teachers day!
deery-lou.
today was teacher's day. of course that doesn't mean we get the day off. instead the children come to school bearing gifts. well…at least some of them do. i decided to give out bad points to all those students who didn't give me a present. don't they realize this is the time to brib their teacher with lavious gifts. obviously not. i will how to instruct them for future teacher's days. so here's a run down of some the gifts:
1. milky ginsing drink
2. rice cakes
3. two cakes
4. 5 pairs of socks
5. a bag of assorted candies
6. a box of belgian candies
7. an orange scent plastic rose
8. a letter
9. a ceramic apple toothpick holder [at least i think it is]
i'm going to share number 8 [the letter] with you kind folks.
To Ethan teacher Sungyung APT 7/1803
Hello Ethan teacher. I'm Henry. I write the letter to you in first time. I write the letter to you, because today is teacher's day. Thanks to you you teach English for me. Thanks you good answered from my questions too. I have good talking from English, because you teach me very good to me. One more time, I thanks to you. But I don't good action to you really. I speaked Korean very much. I don't listened your said…I'm very sorry about that. From this time, I will had good action in class. Good bye ~! (I'm sorry I write wrong write letter rule)
today was teacher's day. of course that doesn't mean we get the day off. instead the children come to school bearing gifts. well…at least some of them do. i decided to give out bad points to all those students who didn't give me a present. don't they realize this is the time to brib their teacher with lavious gifts. obviously not. i will how to instruct them for future teacher's days. so here's a run down of some the gifts:
1. milky ginsing drink
2. rice cakes
3. two cakes
4. 5 pairs of socks
5. a bag of assorted candies
6. a box of belgian candies
7. an orange scent plastic rose
8. a letter
9. a ceramic apple toothpick holder [at least i think it is]
i'm going to share number 8 [the letter] with you kind folks.
To Ethan teacher Sungyung APT 7/1803
Hello Ethan teacher. I'm Henry. I write the letter to you in first time. I write the letter to you, because today is teacher's day. Thanks to you you teach English for me. Thanks you good answered from my questions too. I have good talking from English, because you teach me very good to me. One more time, I thanks to you. But I don't good action to you really. I speaked Korean very much. I don't listened your said…I'm very sorry about that. From this time, I will had good action in class. Good bye ~! (I'm sorry I write wrong write letter rule)
May 14th 2006
— From Henry —
— To Ethan —
— From Henry —
— To Ethan —
HAPPY Teacher's day!
thats a whole lot of thanks in there. now if only i can get them to write a reader-friendlly letter i'll be in business. gotta love it though. when henry came to class he apologized for not having a present. he's too much sometimes.
we had a mini pizza party in taekwondo. that was cool. then my kwanjangnim gave me this onion drink which is suppose to be good for your health. everyone was saying how good it was. they couldn't fool me. i watched sahbumnim's face as he tried to drink it down. when in korea…it was like drinking cold onion soup with a weird aftertaste. don't think i'll be going back for more. i gave both my kwanjangnim and sahbumnim a small present. tonight i'm going to make them each a cd. hehe. i'm sure they are going to hate my music but what the hell, right.
be fresh. be happy. be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 17 days
we had a mini pizza party in taekwondo. that was cool. then my kwanjangnim gave me this onion drink which is suppose to be good for your health. everyone was saying how good it was. they couldn't fool me. i watched sahbumnim's face as he tried to drink it down. when in korea…it was like drinking cold onion soup with a weird aftertaste. don't think i'll be going back for more. i gave both my kwanjangnim and sahbumnim a small present. tonight i'm going to make them each a cd. hehe. i'm sure they are going to hate my music but what the hell, right.
be fresh. be happy. be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 17 days
Sunday, May 14, 2006
brownie balls
deery-lou.
i have discovered my greatest enemy here in korea. its the dreadfully delicious brownie ball [see above picture]. no matter how i try to stay away i can hear it calling out to me, "come eat us, ethan. we are yummy. very good for you." these little devils were discovered oneday when i stopped off at this bakery near my school. this little bakery rocks. i had passed by it many times before but nothing ever caught my eye. everything looked blaah. but now that they are under new management everything there looks and tastes yummy. the husband and wife that work there are super friendly. sometimes they even give me free stuff. as you can probably guess i go there quite a bit. its my favorite place to go for snacky-snacks. my other two favs from the bakery are these sticky bread things that are stuffed with potatoes. so good. then there are the little creme puffs i discovered a couple of days ago. they kind of remind me of the creme puffs my grandmother use to make. so much for all the weight i lost doing taekwondo.
this week has been pretty uneventful. i managed to take a fall in tkd trying to do a spinning turn kick. somehow my elbow ended up crashing into my upper rib cage. ouch! i've been self medicating myself on muscle relaxants for the past 4 days. that also meant i skipped class on thursday and friday. my master probably thinks i'm a whimp. oh well. the body just doesn't seem to hold up like it did in my youth. i did get a new red taekwondo t-shirt on tuesday. how exciting is that! i was hoping it was going to have a cute anime character on it. it didn't. its our summer uniform. now if only i could get new pants. my old ones are so big i have to turn the waistband over to keep them on.
this weekend i stayed home to try to rest up. i thought about being productive but decided against it. most of the time was spent chatting, watching tv, and eating. although i did manage to edit down my images for the exhibit. so i guess in a way that's something. what else? its been one week and two days since i've had a coke/pepsi. the first couple of days was quite brutal. my body was actually craving it. now i can do without. i'm not even tempted when i see a bottle of coke in the store. i am going to allow myself a milkis here and there. i'm not really sure if its a soda or not. its some sort of carbonated milk drink that tastes like a sweet tart. not a drink you can get addicted to on a daily basis. i've also just discovered these yogurt drinks you can buy at the corner store. i love the fact that i'm still finding new things here.
the other exciting thing is that spring is here! i picked some daisies the other day. they were growing along the side of the road. daisies make me happy. i took chelsea, one of my students, on friday to pick some. she was grabbing a handful for her mother. on the way back to school she looked down at her bouquet of daisies then at me and said, "aren't these beautiful." then she took a big sniff and remarked at how they don't smell good. thats when i told her that not all flowers smell good. some are meant soley to admire their beauty.
be fresh. be flora. be well…
countdown to sf: 2 months, 18 days
Thursday, May 11, 2006
poems by brent
deery-lou.
i've been forgetting to post these. here's a collection of poems by brent. it makes me so happy to see a student express his creativity. these are the edited version. i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.
A Market Play
watermelons for sale!
watermelons for sale!
carrots for sale!
carrots for sale!
very noisy
the market is noisy everyday
noisy sounds
Rainy Day
if rain is coming, if rain is coming
will i see a snail with it's small house?
will i see a long jumper or a green frog?
no, no, no
i will see a butterfly
hiding behind the petals.
Goldfish
goldfish
how do yo sleep?
are you swimming, standing up, or laying down?
do you drink or not?
i ask them.
Birthday Present
what is my birthday present?
i can't wait.
mom and dad know what i want.
i know what mom and dad think, too.
The Scarecrow
everyday
all the time
the sparrow flies away
the magpie flies away
everyday the scarecrow stands
and sees them when they come.
Watermelon
watermelon, watermelon
one bite
two bites
big seeds, spit and play
spit the seeds out and play
watermelon, watermelon
that's all of them for now. more to come. innocence is a great thing.
be well...
i've been forgetting to post these. here's a collection of poems by brent. it makes me so happy to see a student express his creativity. these are the edited version. i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.
A Market Play
watermelons for sale!
watermelons for sale!
carrots for sale!
carrots for sale!
very noisy
the market is noisy everyday
noisy sounds
Rainy Day
if rain is coming, if rain is coming
will i see a snail with it's small house?
will i see a long jumper or a green frog?
no, no, no
i will see a butterfly
hiding behind the petals.
Goldfish
goldfish
how do yo sleep?
are you swimming, standing up, or laying down?
do you drink or not?
i ask them.
Birthday Present
what is my birthday present?
i can't wait.
mom and dad know what i want.
i know what mom and dad think, too.
The Scarecrow
everyday
all the time
the sparrow flies away
the magpie flies away
everyday the scarecrow stands
and sees them when they come.
Watermelon
watermelon, watermelon
one bite
two bites
big seeds, spit and play
spit the seeds out and play
watermelon, watermelon
that's all of them for now. more to come. innocence is a great thing.
be well...
Sunday, May 07, 2006
saturday night live…
deery-lou.
saturday started out as a gloomy day. rain, rain, rain. i had plans to meet chen in seoul to see the mustangs at club ff. the problem was that i was having a hard time motivating myself. i spent most of the day watching tv. for those of you who didn't see the season finale of otl—OMG!! it was so good i had to watch it twice. towards the end they played a zeppelin "babe i'm gonna leave you". speechless. now i know why i love teen dramas so much. the acting was top notch. this show is so much better than that other crappy fox teen show which will remain nameless. they ended the season with some major cliffhangers. usually i enjoy cliffhangers except when the life of the show is on the line. since upn and wb merged its not sure if oth is going to be picked up. aaahhh! its like popular all over again. they canceled popular and we never found out what happened. i can only hope that oth gets picked up. this boy will be extremely sad if it doesn't.
after my fill of oth i decided i needed a nap. lazy much! i got up around 5pm and still couldn't decide if i was going to seoul or not. i figured a nice hot shower would give me the energy i needed to rally. it didn't. i forced myself to go anyway. afterall if i'm going to be a band stalker i can't let being tired stand in my way can i? at the station i grabbed a much needed cafe latte in a cup. it comes with its own straw. fancy that. shortly after i started to feel much better. thats why i realized part of my tiredness was due to me decided to quit coke this weekend. me thinks my body was craving my daily ritual of caffeine. at my first transfer i grabbed another cliac. why stop at one right? by the time i reached seoul i felt alive and ready to rock n roll. while waiting to hear from chen i decided i needed a green tea latte. who really knows what i was thinking at this point. i met up with chen and some others at naibi. its a chic-hippie bar where you take of your shoes, sit on cushions on the floor, and be mellow. they have a sand room, a pond with incense burning from hangers, etc. its actually a pretty cool space. we stayed there a bit then went other to club ff to catch the mustangs. the two bands before the mustangs were pretty good. both were k-bands. one of them sang covers. it was all right. then the mustangs came on. they freakin' rocked the house down. during the second song the lead singer/guitarist busted a string. so punk. while he fixed it the bassist and drummer continued to play. then with freshly stringed guitar then finished off the song. these guys keep getting better and better.
later on i went with betsy to meet up with some of her friends, while chen went to check out this new drum bar. around 2am or something i got a text from chen telling me that the mustangs were at the drumist cafe. of course i bid farewell to betsy and company and made my way to the dc. later on i found out from betsy that her friends thought i was mad because i left. umm hello mustangs! the dc was set up similar to naibi minus the pond. it was good vibe to it. the staff were extremely friendly. i'm not a 100% but i think the manager was flirting with me. allow it is korean so i could be completely wrong. while chillin at the bar some people started drums. it was cool. as things were winding down the guitarist from the mustangs asked me what i going to do and then asked if i wanted to go dancing. i looked at chen and we were both like YES! so off we went with the mustangs to dance. we met two other guys from the band plastic day [at least thats what i thought he said]. their band name might actually be painted box. the verdict is still out. after stopping by m2, then the drummer getting stopped in the street by two girls, where we got to watch some foreigner pass out in the street, we ended up at ska. it was 4am and they wanted a $10 cover charge. the guitarist and rebecca were already inside. the rest of us stood out front not really wanted to pay. chen and i decided to head back to ff. especially since we could get in for free and i wasn't sure how much longer i was going to last. we spent a little time at ff then headed home. as we walked to the motel it was starting to get light out. another all nighter in seoul. chen and i stayed up a little longer acting like giggling school girls. i don't even remember half of the shit we were laughing about. i know at one point we busted out in valley speak. oh the crazy antics.
on sunday we left the motel around 2:30pm. we grabbed some lunch at jenny's. the mushroom sandwich there is yummy. then we went to her friend brandon's to drop off some stuff. brandon was havin a little roof party so we spent the rest of the day hanging and chillin there. he's got an awesome space. it makes me want to move to seoul like tomorrow. reverting back high schoolers chen and i decided to have a private conversation by texting each other from across the room. a little snippet of what we were saying:
ethan: we are so high school
chen: like totally. lets meet behind the gym 4 a smoke.
ethan: 4 sure totally. hope the teacher doesn't bust us.
eventually we got ourselves busted. this one guy closest to us thought it was funny and joined in on the joke. we played it off as being too lazy to talk to each other. before heading back to home chen, betsy, and i stopped in at club aura for one final drink. the drummer, who works there, and the guitarist were both there. they said hi. we are so in. but the question is: just how old am i? i love it. life couldn't be better.
be fresh. be hs. be well…
saturday started out as a gloomy day. rain, rain, rain. i had plans to meet chen in seoul to see the mustangs at club ff. the problem was that i was having a hard time motivating myself. i spent most of the day watching tv. for those of you who didn't see the season finale of otl—OMG!! it was so good i had to watch it twice. towards the end they played a zeppelin "babe i'm gonna leave you". speechless. now i know why i love teen dramas so much. the acting was top notch. this show is so much better than that other crappy fox teen show which will remain nameless. they ended the season with some major cliffhangers. usually i enjoy cliffhangers except when the life of the show is on the line. since upn and wb merged its not sure if oth is going to be picked up. aaahhh! its like popular all over again. they canceled popular and we never found out what happened. i can only hope that oth gets picked up. this boy will be extremely sad if it doesn't.
after my fill of oth i decided i needed a nap. lazy much! i got up around 5pm and still couldn't decide if i was going to seoul or not. i figured a nice hot shower would give me the energy i needed to rally. it didn't. i forced myself to go anyway. afterall if i'm going to be a band stalker i can't let being tired stand in my way can i? at the station i grabbed a much needed cafe latte in a cup. it comes with its own straw. fancy that. shortly after i started to feel much better. thats why i realized part of my tiredness was due to me decided to quit coke this weekend. me thinks my body was craving my daily ritual of caffeine. at my first transfer i grabbed another cliac. why stop at one right? by the time i reached seoul i felt alive and ready to rock n roll. while waiting to hear from chen i decided i needed a green tea latte. who really knows what i was thinking at this point. i met up with chen and some others at naibi. its a chic-hippie bar where you take of your shoes, sit on cushions on the floor, and be mellow. they have a sand room, a pond with incense burning from hangers, etc. its actually a pretty cool space. we stayed there a bit then went other to club ff to catch the mustangs. the two bands before the mustangs were pretty good. both were k-bands. one of them sang covers. it was all right. then the mustangs came on. they freakin' rocked the house down. during the second song the lead singer/guitarist busted a string. so punk. while he fixed it the bassist and drummer continued to play. then with freshly stringed guitar then finished off the song. these guys keep getting better and better.
later on i went with betsy to meet up with some of her friends, while chen went to check out this new drum bar. around 2am or something i got a text from chen telling me that the mustangs were at the drumist cafe. of course i bid farewell to betsy and company and made my way to the dc. later on i found out from betsy that her friends thought i was mad because i left. umm hello mustangs! the dc was set up similar to naibi minus the pond. it was good vibe to it. the staff were extremely friendly. i'm not a 100% but i think the manager was flirting with me. allow it is korean so i could be completely wrong. while chillin at the bar some people started drums. it was cool. as things were winding down the guitarist from the mustangs asked me what i going to do and then asked if i wanted to go dancing. i looked at chen and we were both like YES! so off we went with the mustangs to dance. we met two other guys from the band plastic day [at least thats what i thought he said]. their band name might actually be painted box. the verdict is still out. after stopping by m2, then the drummer getting stopped in the street by two girls, where we got to watch some foreigner pass out in the street, we ended up at ska. it was 4am and they wanted a $10 cover charge. the guitarist and rebecca were already inside. the rest of us stood out front not really wanted to pay. chen and i decided to head back to ff. especially since we could get in for free and i wasn't sure how much longer i was going to last. we spent a little time at ff then headed home. as we walked to the motel it was starting to get light out. another all nighter in seoul. chen and i stayed up a little longer acting like giggling school girls. i don't even remember half of the shit we were laughing about. i know at one point we busted out in valley speak. oh the crazy antics.
on sunday we left the motel around 2:30pm. we grabbed some lunch at jenny's. the mushroom sandwich there is yummy. then we went to her friend brandon's to drop off some stuff. brandon was havin a little roof party so we spent the rest of the day hanging and chillin there. he's got an awesome space. it makes me want to move to seoul like tomorrow. reverting back high schoolers chen and i decided to have a private conversation by texting each other from across the room. a little snippet of what we were saying:
ethan: we are so high school
chen: like totally. lets meet behind the gym 4 a smoke.
ethan: 4 sure totally. hope the teacher doesn't bust us.
eventually we got ourselves busted. this one guy closest to us thought it was funny and joined in on the joke. we played it off as being too lazy to talk to each other. before heading back to home chen, betsy, and i stopped in at club aura for one final drink. the drummer, who works there, and the guitarist were both there. they said hi. we are so in. but the question is: just how old am i? i love it. life couldn't be better.
be fresh. be hs. be well…
Thursday, May 04, 2006
wacky olympics revisted
deery-lou.
back in the days when i attended teague middle school we had something called wacky olympics. wo was held every year of middle school. although by the time i was in eighth grade it seemed to be losing its bang. i think wo came to its final demise shortly after i left middle school. wo was broken down by grades: sixth, seventh, and eighth. it was a day of competing in "wacky" style olympic games. the teams were according by homeroom. each homeroom came up with a "wacky" name for themselves. one year i believe my team was called dzurus's drumsticks. we made our shirts by drawing on t-shirts. no fancy ones for us. the events included relay races, egg races, tug-o-war, etc. i'm sure you get the picture. at the time i hated it. thinking back on it now it was fun. although during the 3 years of middle school my homeroom never won.
why am i talking about this now? well, on thursday i went with christine and anna to an elementary school where some of our students attend. they were having physical education games. similar to that of the "wo" without the wacky events. they had races where the students had to jump a huddle, tumble on a mat, and then race to the finish line. students were awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place stamps. there was also a jump rope contest, where six students jumped at once. for entertainment the 1st graders did a dance. it was quite cute. i saw several of my students there: jeffrey, charlette, jordan, caroline, alex, and brandon. towards the end they had a running race with some of the moms. now that was classic. that was followed by a tug-o-war with the parents. as i stood there and soaked it all in, it made me think of the "wo". part of me wanted to join in. but i didn't. i spoke with a couple of the moms. one told me that i was handsome, while another had said i lost a lot of weight. its great to see how dedicated the parents are in their children's lives. we never had parents at the "wo". then again they probably weren't invited.
of in the corner near the entrance of the school there was man selling various small creatures: bunnies, mice, chicks, some other kind of chick that was yellow and black and very tiny, and a chipmunk. it was kind of sad. for one thing the very tiny chicks are only 10 cents. so you know what that means. they have a life span of 3 days or something. one of my students brought one to class the other day. we named her "chirpy". sadly when i asked about chirpy the following day she was on her death bed. the students didn't seemed to be phased at all. most likey cuz they can turn around and buy another one for a dime. i felt like buying them all and setting them free. wouldn't that be funny. they all looked so sad. well, except the mice. they appeared to be having a ball. all the chicks were chirpping non-stop. it was just strange to see him selling animals at the school. i don't think that would fly back home. i'm glad i got to experience the big games. its the little stuff like this that makes life grand.
today [friday] was children's day. so that meant no school. yeah for children's day. especially those of us children in our 30s. spent the day being lazy. watched numerous tv shows. oh, and i did manage to clean my bathroom. i'm so productive. on a different note. i am now addicted to cold noddle soup. i've been having it for lunch all week. one word: yummy!!!
be fresh. be childish. be well…
back in the days when i attended teague middle school we had something called wacky olympics. wo was held every year of middle school. although by the time i was in eighth grade it seemed to be losing its bang. i think wo came to its final demise shortly after i left middle school. wo was broken down by grades: sixth, seventh, and eighth. it was a day of competing in "wacky" style olympic games. the teams were according by homeroom. each homeroom came up with a "wacky" name for themselves. one year i believe my team was called dzurus's drumsticks. we made our shirts by drawing on t-shirts. no fancy ones for us. the events included relay races, egg races, tug-o-war, etc. i'm sure you get the picture. at the time i hated it. thinking back on it now it was fun. although during the 3 years of middle school my homeroom never won.
why am i talking about this now? well, on thursday i went with christine and anna to an elementary school where some of our students attend. they were having physical education games. similar to that of the "wo" without the wacky events. they had races where the students had to jump a huddle, tumble on a mat, and then race to the finish line. students were awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place stamps. there was also a jump rope contest, where six students jumped at once. for entertainment the 1st graders did a dance. it was quite cute. i saw several of my students there: jeffrey, charlette, jordan, caroline, alex, and brandon. towards the end they had a running race with some of the moms. now that was classic. that was followed by a tug-o-war with the parents. as i stood there and soaked it all in, it made me think of the "wo". part of me wanted to join in. but i didn't. i spoke with a couple of the moms. one told me that i was handsome, while another had said i lost a lot of weight. its great to see how dedicated the parents are in their children's lives. we never had parents at the "wo". then again they probably weren't invited.
of in the corner near the entrance of the school there was man selling various small creatures: bunnies, mice, chicks, some other kind of chick that was yellow and black and very tiny, and a chipmunk. it was kind of sad. for one thing the very tiny chicks are only 10 cents. so you know what that means. they have a life span of 3 days or something. one of my students brought one to class the other day. we named her "chirpy". sadly when i asked about chirpy the following day she was on her death bed. the students didn't seemed to be phased at all. most likey cuz they can turn around and buy another one for a dime. i felt like buying them all and setting them free. wouldn't that be funny. they all looked so sad. well, except the mice. they appeared to be having a ball. all the chicks were chirpping non-stop. it was just strange to see him selling animals at the school. i don't think that would fly back home. i'm glad i got to experience the big games. its the little stuff like this that makes life grand.
today [friday] was children's day. so that meant no school. yeah for children's day. especially those of us children in our 30s. spent the day being lazy. watched numerous tv shows. oh, and i did manage to clean my bathroom. i'm so productive. on a different note. i am now addicted to cold noddle soup. i've been having it for lunch all week. one word: yummy!!!
be fresh. be childish. be well…
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
doll phenomenon
deery-lou.
there seems to be a great doll phenomenon thats sweeping across korea. mostly with girls in what i would say are probably in their early twenties. these dolls have a unique yet humanistic look to them. if you remember i mentioned these dolls back in november when i stumbled upon one i wanted in a store. they're like cabbage patch dolls for adults with money. hehe. what makes these dolls so popular? and do we need to thank japan for the whole doll craze? anyway this past weekend while walking around hongdae i kept seeing all these girls carrying their dolls. as i sat in ordinary cafe with chen the number of girls i saw with dolls started to increase. where are they getting them? chen told me to go ask some random girl-carrying doll but i was too lazy to get out of my comfy seat. plus i was feeling a bit shy. we left the cafe to hit artbox. before we could get there though i saw yet another girl with a doll. chen went up to her and asked her where she got it. instead of explaining to us how to get there the girl took us there. this is why i love korea. the random acts of kindness. the shop was on the third floor of a building that was about 2 blocks from where we were. i'm sure i had probably passed by there numerous times while in hongdae but never knew it. it was like doll heaven. there were dolls in cases, doll parts, clothing, etc. i wanted them all. i actually found a few that i really liked. unfortunately they were limited editions and the salesclerk told me i would have to go to japan to buy them. foiled again. it was kind of hard to figure out which ones you could buy. i asked the salesclerk and she told me to the counter and pointed to dolls in boxes. none of them really appealed to me. mostly likely cuz i couldn't tell what they looked like. however, as i said the store was filled with doll parts which means i can make my own. how exciting is that! very! the process is somewhat overwhelming. you first have to select a head. once you have one its times to pick a body, legs, arms. then there's selecting the eyes, makeup, hair, etc. we haven't even gotten to the clothes yet. so many options. needless to say i didn't have one made. not yet anyhow. i got a feeling if i decide to purchase one its going to be quite expensive. and can i really justify spending alot of money on a doll. why do i want one so bad? am i really an asian girl trapped in a boys body? sometimes i think yes. all i can think about is making myself a white haired sullen goth boy.
there were two limited editions dolls that chen and i both had to have. but as i said they weren't for sale. at least not yet and not in korea. chen wanted black cat lucas, while i was drawn to white cat chris. here's chris's story:
tuff cat
nice chaps
white cat chris
short shorts
sigh...who knows. perhaps after white cat chris's big debut in japan he'll be available to purchase. if not i can always try to duplicate him by making one myself. i could have stayed in the store forever. just looking at all the dolls and their accessaries. we figured it was best to leave otherwise i would have busted out my credit card. we ventured up to the fifth floor to check out the figure store the girl told us about. there i was in yet another heaven...action figure heaven. i love them after a year here i'm starting to find the stores that make me happy. we browsed around the shop for a bit. on the way out we opted to take the stairs. on our journey we spotted a doll cafe. inside the patrons sat reading, drinking, and eating cakes with their dolls. yes...they all had dolls their. i'm so there once i purchase mine. hehe. on another floor we found yet another cafe, not a doll one, that looked to have a really cool garden patio to sit out. definitely worth checking out the next time i'm in the area. oh, i almost forget. alot of these girls also have carrying cases for their dolls. they kind of look like guitar cases. sweet!
i can't wait until i'm a full fledged member of the doll carrying crowd. until then i'll have to settle on pleasant day dreams...
be fresh. be doll. be real. be well...
there seems to be a great doll phenomenon thats sweeping across korea. mostly with girls in what i would say are probably in their early twenties. these dolls have a unique yet humanistic look to them. if you remember i mentioned these dolls back in november when i stumbled upon one i wanted in a store. they're like cabbage patch dolls for adults with money. hehe. what makes these dolls so popular? and do we need to thank japan for the whole doll craze? anyway this past weekend while walking around hongdae i kept seeing all these girls carrying their dolls. as i sat in ordinary cafe with chen the number of girls i saw with dolls started to increase. where are they getting them? chen told me to go ask some random girl-carrying doll but i was too lazy to get out of my comfy seat. plus i was feeling a bit shy. we left the cafe to hit artbox. before we could get there though i saw yet another girl with a doll. chen went up to her and asked her where she got it. instead of explaining to us how to get there the girl took us there. this is why i love korea. the random acts of kindness. the shop was on the third floor of a building that was about 2 blocks from where we were. i'm sure i had probably passed by there numerous times while in hongdae but never knew it. it was like doll heaven. there were dolls in cases, doll parts, clothing, etc. i wanted them all. i actually found a few that i really liked. unfortunately they were limited editions and the salesclerk told me i would have to go to japan to buy them. foiled again. it was kind of hard to figure out which ones you could buy. i asked the salesclerk and she told me to the counter and pointed to dolls in boxes. none of them really appealed to me. mostly likely cuz i couldn't tell what they looked like. however, as i said the store was filled with doll parts which means i can make my own. how exciting is that! very! the process is somewhat overwhelming. you first have to select a head. once you have one its times to pick a body, legs, arms. then there's selecting the eyes, makeup, hair, etc. we haven't even gotten to the clothes yet. so many options. needless to say i didn't have one made. not yet anyhow. i got a feeling if i decide to purchase one its going to be quite expensive. and can i really justify spending alot of money on a doll. why do i want one so bad? am i really an asian girl trapped in a boys body? sometimes i think yes. all i can think about is making myself a white haired sullen goth boy.
there were two limited editions dolls that chen and i both had to have. but as i said they weren't for sale. at least not yet and not in korea. chen wanted black cat lucas, while i was drawn to white cat chris. here's chris's story:
The time has come. They finally arrived and their memories splash endlessly... Elegant, but Sensitive. Serious, but Lyrical. Lazy, but Shy. When a black cat’s falling asleep, he quietly opens his eyes...Good bye, my dear boring days.
tuff cat
nice chaps
white cat chris
short shortssigh...who knows. perhaps after white cat chris's big debut in japan he'll be available to purchase. if not i can always try to duplicate him by making one myself. i could have stayed in the store forever. just looking at all the dolls and their accessaries. we figured it was best to leave otherwise i would have busted out my credit card. we ventured up to the fifth floor to check out the figure store the girl told us about. there i was in yet another heaven...action figure heaven. i love them after a year here i'm starting to find the stores that make me happy. we browsed around the shop for a bit. on the way out we opted to take the stairs. on our journey we spotted a doll cafe. inside the patrons sat reading, drinking, and eating cakes with their dolls. yes...they all had dolls their. i'm so there once i purchase mine. hehe. on another floor we found yet another cafe, not a doll one, that looked to have a really cool garden patio to sit out. definitely worth checking out the next time i'm in the area. oh, i almost forget. alot of these girls also have carrying cases for their dolls. they kind of look like guitar cases. sweet!
i can't wait until i'm a full fledged member of the doll carrying crowd. until then i'll have to settle on pleasant day dreams...
be fresh. be doll. be real. be well...
coca-cola zero
deery-lou.
i've been seeing the fancy black labels of ccz all over korea. last weekend while hanging out with chen i asked her about it. she told me it was suppose to be zero everything but still have the taste of coca-cola classic. as everyone knows i love my ccc. so what do i do? i decide to give it a try. hell if i can cut out a lot of the crap and still have the taste of ccc why not. yeah, no. basically after trying it twice i came to the conclusion that its diet coke in a new label.
due to my curious nature i decided to look up ccz on the web to see what makes it so different than diet coke. here's what someone had to say on the matter:
Demystifying Diet Coke(s)
i've been seeing the fancy black labels of ccz all over korea. last weekend while hanging out with chen i asked her about it. she told me it was suppose to be zero everything but still have the taste of coca-cola classic. as everyone knows i love my ccc. so what do i do? i decide to give it a try. hell if i can cut out a lot of the crap and still have the taste of ccc why not. yeah, no. basically after trying it twice i came to the conclusion that its diet coke in a new label.
due to my curious nature i decided to look up ccz on the web to see what makes it so different than diet coke. here's what someone had to say on the matter:
Demystifying Diet Coke(s)
For those of you who have expressed confusion over the many forms of diet and sugar free cokes now available to you, I offer an explanation, because I was confused so I did the research. Thanks to Bevnet and the Coca Cola 800 customer service number for contributing supporting facts.
Diet Coke - Although it came out two years before “New” coke, diet coke that we’ve enjoyed since the 80s is the sugar free form of new coke. In other words, it’s based on the formula for the “New Coke” that wasn’t released yet (it debuted in 1985) when Diet Coke hit the market (1983), and is also now no longer available. (the New coke). Coca Cola has no plans at this time to discontinue the aspartame based Diet Coke, as it is third in the soda market. (After Coke and Pepsi, respectively.)
Diet Coke with Splenda - You can spot it on shelves by the yellow bit in the label and the blue caps - this is a late to market response to those Diet Coke drinkers and Atkins dieters who wanted a Splenda sweetened soda. This is based on the same formula as Diet Coke, but because the sweetener has a different taste, the taste of the drink is closer to the way “new Coke” tasted, or for those too young to remember - a slightly sweeter version of Coke.
C2 - Half diet coke and Half “real” coke - for those who wanted to reduce the amount of sugar but weren’t ready to give up everything just yet. Sweetened with a combination of high fructose corn syrup, aspartame (Equal) and sucralose (Splenda) .
Coca Cola Zero - Sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium., the reason this is different than Diet Coke is Coca Cola Zero is a sugar free version of the Classic Coke formulation. In other words, this is meant to be a sugar free version of the red cans of Coke you know and may or may not love. It has a redder, deeper color close to the color of Classic Coke and tastes far less like a diet soda (by many accounts) than Diet Coke.
Coca Cola Light The European version of Diet Coke - slight variations from country to country based on food regulations, water quality and fidelity to syrup to water ratio account for taste variations, but this is largely Diet Coke with a different name to conform to local food labelling laws.
is it really necessary to have all of these variations of a soft drink. isn't it enough to keep it to the basic three: diet coke, coca-cola classic, and cherry coke. shame on you ccz. you are notihng more than a dc poser. and you taste like crap. it just confirms everything i ever knew. diet drinks suck. i guess this boy will be sticking to the classics.
be well…
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
teens & tangs
deery-lou.
stalk /stawk/ v. 1. to pursue or approach stealthily 2. to hunt slowly and quietly 3. stride, walk in a stately or haughty manner 4. to move through or follow as if stalking prey
stalker /stawker/ n. 1. someone who walks with long stiff strides 2. someone who stalks game 3. someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions [syn: prowler, sneak]
it started with a song. a song that haunted every chamber of my mind whenever i heard it played. it became a quest. a quest to find our answers: what band is this? what are they saying? etc. band names were spinning around my head. an answer never came. it never failed that while out at the eagle kicking back a few the song would come on. the process would start again. i had almost given up on the quest. then one day after a trip to amoeba i got a call from d. he had found the song. it was on one of the cds he had just bought. after hanging up with him i raced back to amoeba for my own copy. the mystery was over, but the hunting just began.
from my first listen of imperial teen's "what is not to love" i was hooked. so was pevil and d. i had a band crush on one of the members. within months i had all of their cds. when the new one came out we went to the signing at amoeba records. by the time i got up there i was speechless. at the time they lived locally which was an added bonus. whenever i saw my bc [band crush] walking down the street i'd stop and stare. it resulted in me following bc for a few blocks then realizing what i was doing. i went to every show, or at least tried to. pevil, d, and i even drove to san jose's pride to see them play. wouldn't have been so bad had we not had to pay to enter a pride event. and the fact that it was san jose. pevil and i would drive around in her "geo" singing their songs. d and i would see the boys at the eagle. everything was grand. we joked about being obsessed fan. about my bc being my boyfriend. to an extent we had become stalkers. all in fun, though. we were like high school girls. eventually, like all things the band crush seemed to fade away. some of the members moved away and the band stopped playing around town so much. i would still see my bc walking around but the spark was gone. my stalker phase had ended. well that is until now...
imperial teen
last year jenny and i stumbled upon this k-band marihuana. instantly i liked want i heard. plus the visuals weren't so bad either. wink. wink. i was excited to have finally found an indie rock/experimental sounding k-band. especially since the majority of the k-music is all that k-pop. so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. after the gig the guys were hanging about. jenny went up to the lead singer and asked if they had a cd. with a little help from his friend, he told us it would be out in july. i was excited. from that point on i made it my mission to find out as much as i could about them. my attempts to find the cd proved fruitless. july came and went. still no cd to found. eventually i stumbled upon their website. unfortunately its all in korean so i really couldn't understand much of it. i had a friend translate the site. apparently there's was no cd yet. the band had gone through a line-up change and was in the midst of writing songs. plus they changed their name from marihuana to the mustangs. at least there was still hope to see them and for a cd to appear under the new name. while tooling around on the site i realized i could figure at least when they were playing next. afterall that is the most important thing. of course every time i remembered to check i had either missed them or there weren't any upcoming events. as time passed my daily visits to the site deteoriated. the mustangs were becoming a distant memory. i had mentioned them to my friends in hopes that maybe someone, somewhere would have some info. and then it happened. a few weeks ago chen told me they were playing at club aura on may 13. how excited was i--very. after nearly a year i'd be able to see them again. that night i went to their site and found out that they were playing on april 29 at liveclub ssam. SCORE! now i had two upcoming gigs to look forward too.
flyer for liveclub ssam gig
saturday. i ventured into seoul around 5ish. met up with chen and some other peeps for food at jenny's cafe. had myself a very yummy eggplant, brie, sun-dried tomatoes sandwichy. we wanted to hit the free market but by the time we got there it was closing down. chen wanted to buy a dress for the evening. so we did a bit of shopping. shopping with chen is like shopping with misty. good times! we stopped into the piercing store. while browsing the shop i kept thinking i needed to get something pierced. but what? i've had my ear pierced before and didn't like it too much. however, whenever i see guys with their ears pierced i want to do it again. maybe i'd like it better this time around. just not sure if i can pull it off. well i'll have to think about it some more. so finally with dress in hand, well actually we made a stop so she could change into it. we headed for liveclub ssam. when we got to the club it was fairly empty and very quiet. in between songs before the singer started talking you could literally hear a pin drop. i felt like i was in a library. shhh! no talking. it reminded me of a story misty told about talking at the catpower show and getting shushed by the people around her. the space was small but pretty cool. very inviting to see a band. though there was no smoking or drinking. hmmm. perhaps because its in an artist space. i'm still confused my koreans lack of enthusiasm though. everyone was sitting. at one point chen wanted to dance but decidced against it. a smart move. betsy/betsey/becky/betty joined us for the second act which the girls out front told us would be the mustangs. i got very excited. however when the band came out it didn't look like the same band i'd seen before. there was a girl in the group. i thought that maybe one of the guys looked familiar but wasn't sure. when they started to play the music was completely different than what i had remembered. i thought it was quite odd. perhaps they did a complete 360. although it was quite different i still enjoyed the music. we decided to stick around for the third band. it was a good thing we did too. betsy had stepped out and when she came back she told me that the last band was not the mustangs. they were coming on next. YEAH!!! which made complete sense since the last band sounded nothing like them. when the mustangs came out i knew it was them. the lead singer looked a little different with his long hair but i recognized the other guy. their set was amazing. i couldn't help but sit there with a giant grin on my face. oh how i miss seeing good live music. these guys definitely filled that need. now i have my new/old band crush for 2006. this time around i'll stay on top it. time to be a music stalker again. hehe.
the mustangs
after the set we went to club aura to meet a few peeps. while we were there the mustangs and some others from liveclub ssam arrived. this must be their hang out. guess where i'm going to be spending all my time. we stayed for a drink then left for the twain. club nana was hosting an animal benefits rock show. there were a few bands that chen wanted to see so off we went. the club was pack. pack with the kind of people i try so desperately to avoid. the rocktigers were playing when we arrived. they're a korean rockabilly band. they sounded pretty cool but i must confess that once i got my drink i went outside. couldn't really deal with the crowd. i went back in when the waking party started to play. thats one of the bands chen wanted to see. inside it was like a GIANT frat party. i looked around for the tri-deltas but couldn't find them. people were making out in the corner, high-fiving at the bar, and being plan old annoying. betsy got me a drink and off we went to hang outside. from club nana we went to j club to see yet more bands. by this time i was pretty much burned out on live music. seeing that everyone was taking off for hongdae i decided to stick it out with chen. while chen was watching jet echo i decidced to take a stroll through the twain. on my travels i got an invitation from a hooker to come inside the place she worked. i should have but didn't. i also had some random people tell me i should get a pita from the pita wagaon. i didn't. instead i meandered around, had a smoke, and watched peeps. a short time later i went back inside to meet up with chen who was rocking herself out. we stayed for a little longer to watch this country jamboree band that was playing next. seeing that their mixer or something blew all you could hear was the hobit [that's what chen called him] singing and the guitars. although they had a cello and other instruments you couldn't hear them. shortly after that we left to cab ourselves back to hongdae and to bed. before we were able to leave the twain a drunk whitey tried getting into our cab. i don't think he could find sorrity row.
sunday morning. i awoke feeling quite rested. when i looked at the clock i was surprised to see that it was already 11am. the blue windows definitely keep out the light. chen and i rallied and set out for some lunch. we made our way to choi's tacos. i had read about it in the korean herald. choi had spent some time in la so i figured if anyone could make a decent taco/burrito it had to be him. sure enough i was right. it was the most delicious burrito i had in some time. it even had sour cream and guacamole. i died and went to mexican heaven. the place was very tiny. it kind of reminded me of the taquerias in sf. right down to the mexican music they were playing. after our bellies were full we headed off for hongdae to check out the free market. we spent the rest of the day doing what i like to call "senseless" buying. we took a break from "senseless" buying and had some coffee at ordinary cafe. we spent a few hours there just chillin. then decided it was time to call it a day. which was good since i had zero money in my wallet. once again i bailed on going to the foreign market for tortillas. next time.
senseless purchases
1. white studded belt [white is the new black]
2. punk kitty pin
3. wrist band with picture and button attached [gift from chen. thanks babe]
4. handpainted t-shirt
5. handmade supper bunny cell phone charm
6. an evil taekwondo bear cell phone charm
7. stickers
8. no smoking matches
be well...
stalk /stawk/ v. 1. to pursue or approach stealthily 2. to hunt slowly and quietly 3. stride, walk in a stately or haughty manner 4. to move through or follow as if stalking prey
stalker /stawker/ n. 1. someone who walks with long stiff strides 2. someone who stalks game 3. someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions [syn: prowler, sneak]
it started with a song. a song that haunted every chamber of my mind whenever i heard it played. it became a quest. a quest to find our answers: what band is this? what are they saying? etc. band names were spinning around my head. an answer never came. it never failed that while out at the eagle kicking back a few the song would come on. the process would start again. i had almost given up on the quest. then one day after a trip to amoeba i got a call from d. he had found the song. it was on one of the cds he had just bought. after hanging up with him i raced back to amoeba for my own copy. the mystery was over, but the hunting just began.
from my first listen of imperial teen's "what is not to love" i was hooked. so was pevil and d. i had a band crush on one of the members. within months i had all of their cds. when the new one came out we went to the signing at amoeba records. by the time i got up there i was speechless. at the time they lived locally which was an added bonus. whenever i saw my bc [band crush] walking down the street i'd stop and stare. it resulted in me following bc for a few blocks then realizing what i was doing. i went to every show, or at least tried to. pevil, d, and i even drove to san jose's pride to see them play. wouldn't have been so bad had we not had to pay to enter a pride event. and the fact that it was san jose. pevil and i would drive around in her "geo" singing their songs. d and i would see the boys at the eagle. everything was grand. we joked about being obsessed fan. about my bc being my boyfriend. to an extent we had become stalkers. all in fun, though. we were like high school girls. eventually, like all things the band crush seemed to fade away. some of the members moved away and the band stopped playing around town so much. i would still see my bc walking around but the spark was gone. my stalker phase had ended. well that is until now...
imperial teenlast year jenny and i stumbled upon this k-band marihuana. instantly i liked want i heard. plus the visuals weren't so bad either. wink. wink. i was excited to have finally found an indie rock/experimental sounding k-band. especially since the majority of the k-music is all that k-pop. so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. after the gig the guys were hanging about. jenny went up to the lead singer and asked if they had a cd. with a little help from his friend, he told us it would be out in july. i was excited. from that point on i made it my mission to find out as much as i could about them. my attempts to find the cd proved fruitless. july came and went. still no cd to found. eventually i stumbled upon their website. unfortunately its all in korean so i really couldn't understand much of it. i had a friend translate the site. apparently there's was no cd yet. the band had gone through a line-up change and was in the midst of writing songs. plus they changed their name from marihuana to the mustangs. at least there was still hope to see them and for a cd to appear under the new name. while tooling around on the site i realized i could figure at least when they were playing next. afterall that is the most important thing. of course every time i remembered to check i had either missed them or there weren't any upcoming events. as time passed my daily visits to the site deteoriated. the mustangs were becoming a distant memory. i had mentioned them to my friends in hopes that maybe someone, somewhere would have some info. and then it happened. a few weeks ago chen told me they were playing at club aura on may 13. how excited was i--very. after nearly a year i'd be able to see them again. that night i went to their site and found out that they were playing on april 29 at liveclub ssam. SCORE! now i had two upcoming gigs to look forward too.
flyer for liveclub ssam gigsaturday. i ventured into seoul around 5ish. met up with chen and some other peeps for food at jenny's cafe. had myself a very yummy eggplant, brie, sun-dried tomatoes sandwichy. we wanted to hit the free market but by the time we got there it was closing down. chen wanted to buy a dress for the evening. so we did a bit of shopping. shopping with chen is like shopping with misty. good times! we stopped into the piercing store. while browsing the shop i kept thinking i needed to get something pierced. but what? i've had my ear pierced before and didn't like it too much. however, whenever i see guys with their ears pierced i want to do it again. maybe i'd like it better this time around. just not sure if i can pull it off. well i'll have to think about it some more. so finally with dress in hand, well actually we made a stop so she could change into it. we headed for liveclub ssam. when we got to the club it was fairly empty and very quiet. in between songs before the singer started talking you could literally hear a pin drop. i felt like i was in a library. shhh! no talking. it reminded me of a story misty told about talking at the catpower show and getting shushed by the people around her. the space was small but pretty cool. very inviting to see a band. though there was no smoking or drinking. hmmm. perhaps because its in an artist space. i'm still confused my koreans lack of enthusiasm though. everyone was sitting. at one point chen wanted to dance but decidced against it. a smart move. betsy/betsey/becky/betty joined us for the second act which the girls out front told us would be the mustangs. i got very excited. however when the band came out it didn't look like the same band i'd seen before. there was a girl in the group. i thought that maybe one of the guys looked familiar but wasn't sure. when they started to play the music was completely different than what i had remembered. i thought it was quite odd. perhaps they did a complete 360. although it was quite different i still enjoyed the music. we decided to stick around for the third band. it was a good thing we did too. betsy had stepped out and when she came back she told me that the last band was not the mustangs. they were coming on next. YEAH!!! which made complete sense since the last band sounded nothing like them. when the mustangs came out i knew it was them. the lead singer looked a little different with his long hair but i recognized the other guy. their set was amazing. i couldn't help but sit there with a giant grin on my face. oh how i miss seeing good live music. these guys definitely filled that need. now i have my new/old band crush for 2006. this time around i'll stay on top it. time to be a music stalker again. hehe.
the mustangsafter the set we went to club aura to meet a few peeps. while we were there the mustangs and some others from liveclub ssam arrived. this must be their hang out. guess where i'm going to be spending all my time. we stayed for a drink then left for the twain. club nana was hosting an animal benefits rock show. there were a few bands that chen wanted to see so off we went. the club was pack. pack with the kind of people i try so desperately to avoid. the rocktigers were playing when we arrived. they're a korean rockabilly band. they sounded pretty cool but i must confess that once i got my drink i went outside. couldn't really deal with the crowd. i went back in when the waking party started to play. thats one of the bands chen wanted to see. inside it was like a GIANT frat party. i looked around for the tri-deltas but couldn't find them. people were making out in the corner, high-fiving at the bar, and being plan old annoying. betsy got me a drink and off we went to hang outside. from club nana we went to j club to see yet more bands. by this time i was pretty much burned out on live music. seeing that everyone was taking off for hongdae i decided to stick it out with chen. while chen was watching jet echo i decidced to take a stroll through the twain. on my travels i got an invitation from a hooker to come inside the place she worked. i should have but didn't. i also had some random people tell me i should get a pita from the pita wagaon. i didn't. instead i meandered around, had a smoke, and watched peeps. a short time later i went back inside to meet up with chen who was rocking herself out. we stayed for a little longer to watch this country jamboree band that was playing next. seeing that their mixer or something blew all you could hear was the hobit [that's what chen called him] singing and the guitars. although they had a cello and other instruments you couldn't hear them. shortly after that we left to cab ourselves back to hongdae and to bed. before we were able to leave the twain a drunk whitey tried getting into our cab. i don't think he could find sorrity row.
sunday morning. i awoke feeling quite rested. when i looked at the clock i was surprised to see that it was already 11am. the blue windows definitely keep out the light. chen and i rallied and set out for some lunch. we made our way to choi's tacos. i had read about it in the korean herald. choi had spent some time in la so i figured if anyone could make a decent taco/burrito it had to be him. sure enough i was right. it was the most delicious burrito i had in some time. it even had sour cream and guacamole. i died and went to mexican heaven. the place was very tiny. it kind of reminded me of the taquerias in sf. right down to the mexican music they were playing. after our bellies were full we headed off for hongdae to check out the free market. we spent the rest of the day doing what i like to call "senseless" buying. we took a break from "senseless" buying and had some coffee at ordinary cafe. we spent a few hours there just chillin. then decided it was time to call it a day. which was good since i had zero money in my wallet. once again i bailed on going to the foreign market for tortillas. next time.
senseless purchases
1. white studded belt [white is the new black]
2. punk kitty pin
3. wrist band with picture and button attached [gift from chen. thanks babe]
4. handpainted t-shirt
5. handmade supper bunny cell phone charm
6. an evil taekwondo bear cell phone charm
7. stickers
8. no smoking matches
be well...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)