hong-ing it!

deery-lou.
koreans kill me! this weekend was spent witnessing first hand why i love it hear so much. meet up with bonnie conquest in hongdae after i dropped off my artwork at chen's pad. she was there with kit [not her real name but for some reason bc and i keep calling her that] who bc had just meet in person for the first time a few minutes before my arrival. shortly after that kit's friend arie, who works at nabi joined us. we had grub then went to flower[something] for drinks. according to the menu "its the groovy place for groovy people" or something like that. it was actually quite cute. the food looked quite tasty. the even post the calories on the menu for those of us who care. i don't but i'm sure some do. a couple of table had cocktail shakers filled with color liquids: green, red, pink. not really sure what they were drinking but must find out next time. we quickly downed our drinks and headed to club ff. there was a band playing that arie wanted to see. i'm not really sure i was actually in the flower place it went by soo fast. during the first band i thought i was going to pull my eyelashes out. however, i refrained and decided to pound down the drinks instead to get me through it. its was a k-band and they kind of sounded like a cross between tracy chapman and hootie and the blowfish. every song, except for the k-ballads they did, sounded like fast car and the theme song to friends. HI, shot me please! of course being a k-band night the crowd was mostly k which meant they were all sitting down. there was a big open space that noone dared stand in. once all the seats were taken along the side, in the back, and at the bar the new people coming in stood in the doorway on the stairs next to the men's room. let me just tell you that the men's room is probably in the top 5 most foul smelling bathrooms ever! HI, big open space being wasted. the best part though was when the lead singer stopped singing during his set to answer and talk on his cell phone. i looked at bc in complete disbelief. it also happened to be his birthday, so perhaps he was chatting with his granny. during one of their many k-ballads i lend over to bc and told her how everyone in the crowd looked like zombies. motionless and somewhat dead. we each picked out our favorite zombie. mine looked like he was about to drool at any second. later we discovered that mfz [my favorite zombie] was the drummer for the second band nunco cobain. which just so happened to be the band we were there to see. i would also discover on sunday when i purchased nunco cobain's cd that it was the same band i had seen at the warhol party. let me just say these guys are awesome! it was great to see mfz come to life during their set. the keyboard player for nunco cobain was so cute. she was was wearing a superman tee. hi, new best friend! during nunco's set people started getting wise and moved into the big open space. but of course they didn't stand. one couple even had little blow-up seat cushions. i thought they brought them their selves but discovered that the bar actually supplied them with it. i think i've actually seen it all now. it took kit and arie to start dancing in the center for people to realize "hey, i'm at a concert its ok to stand and dance."

the third band turned out to be another typical k-band with no unique sound to them. the lead singer was actually wearing flip-flops. kit, bc, and i decided to bolt. arie remained behind with her friends. kit went home to study while bc and i went to bricxx with chen for yet another cocktail. bc left after her cocktail. chen and i remained and were soon joined by "tool" and his k-girlfriend. "tool" completely rubbed me the wrong way. he kind of has this "i'm too cool for school" mentality. and when he talks to you he sounds very condescending. its a pretty safe bet we won't be buddy-buddy. we left bricxx and soon found ourselves at another bar. "tools" k-gf knew the owner or something. "tool" was complaining really loudly that it was taking soo long for our drinks to come. his gf looked completely bored with him. i engaged in conversation with these two k-guys that were sitting next to me. one was a performer bassist for a k-punk band. he told me he wanted to be a "rockstar". the other one had "live free or die" tattooed on his arm and above the image from motley crue's dr. feelgood. both of them were on a quest to pick of babes. obviously since they were in a bar with us at 3:30 am it was unsuccessful. before heading up to chen's apartment we stopped in at buy the way to stock up on late night/early morning snacks: hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, a burger, kimbop, danishes, and ice coffee for the morning. food was consumed then sleep took over...

sunday, july 9
met up with bc around 11:15. we spent the day shopping shopping in hongdae. i tried on a few button-down shirt but of course they didn't fit. bc got in trouble for trying on a t-shirt. its forbidden in korea. bc and i stumbled onto a movie set. our quest for food in the heat seemed endless with every place being closed or for fear of them not having a picture/english menu. finally found oink where we had kalbi, ice cold beer, and rice with fish eggs. who knew that fish eggs and rice would be so yummy. i bought a new watch. its white and has a scrolling message that reads "[heart] forever in love" check it out here! went to ordinary cafe for a blueberry frappe. sat in the window seat picking out cks. bc's not a good picker. noticed quite a few peeps wearing stocking caps and one guy actually in a turtle neck sweater. umm, last time i checked it was freakin summer. two girls waved to us while sitting at oc. they weren't twins but were dressed like it. all in all a pretty awesome day, especially seeing that i only had 5 hours of sleep.

random quotes and other things from the weekend"
1. rock on muther fuckers — bc, during the k-chapman/hootie set
2. what bands? — me in response to "tool" asking if i knew of his bands even though i did
3. what are you doing here? — motley crue tat guy from saturday night when he saw me and bc sitting on a stoop in hongdae on sunday
4. you're a dj? — the ex-bassist when i told him i was a teacher
5. girl holding up a mirror for her boyfriend in the coffee bean and tea leaf so he could put in his contacts
6. watching a young couple hit each other with giant stuffed flowers on the subway
7. seeing the leader singer of band number 3 in a phone booth on sunday in the same clothes
8. guy at ff coming up to me to ask if he can take the stool next to me then with stool in hand runs back to his friends giggling. obvioulsy he got the short end of the stick and had to talk to the foreigner
9. goth store that plays k-pop
10. charlie's "asian" angels

be well…