beat city

deery-lou.
tomorrow i head off to singapore for a holiday. i'll be gone for 9 days. three of which will be spent at paya resort on tioman in malaysia. i'll post again when i return on oct 9. i love vacations.

the go-go's
vacation

Can't seem to get my mind off of you
Back here at home there's nothin' to do
Now that I'm away
I wish I'd stayed
Tomorrow's a day of mine that you won't be in

When you looked at me I should've run
But I thought it was just for fun
I see I was wrong
And I'm not so strong
I should've known all along that time would tell

A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet

CHORUS
Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away
Vacation
Meant to be spent alone

A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet

CHORUS

be well…

fur immer [forever]

deery-lou.
i simply couldn't resist. oh, how i love thee smurfette.




be well…

measure

deery-lou.
it's a record. i actually completed a book in less than a week. for those that know me, i'm not a big reader unless its comics or mangas. give me a book thats over 300 pages plus being a biography of sorts and it takes me forever. it's not that i don't like reading i just get sidetracked with tv and napping. i actually love browsing through bookstores. when princess was over at my apartment she kept pointing to books asking me how it was. my response was always, "i don't know. i haven't read it yet". this prompted me to start diving right in. the first on my shelf i grabbed was girl sleuth: nancy drew and the women that created her. i believe this book was given to me my mistyl for either christmas or my birthday. whichever it was its been sitting on the shelf collecting dust for months. i was a bit aprehensive about this book since it was a biography. my initial thoughts was that it was going to be a long boring read. thankfully i was proven wrong. the writing style was sharp, fresh, and quickly paced. it was quite interesting to read about a character that was created in an era where women were still coming into their own. i found it to be both a fascinating study of a character's creation as well as glimpse into historical events. i was even more excited to reach page 285. that's when the book started talking about pamela sue martin who played nancy on the hardy boys/nancy drew mystery show.

the hardy boys & nancy drew

it interesting to see how nancy changed and how the books were revised for the changing times. i never really realized just how popular she was. its great to see a character who has been around for so long. as of last year nancy has found herself in a new form. that of a graphic novel. i've only read the first one and i must say i was quite impressed. it was alot better than the hardy boys graphic novel. if you're a total nancy fan be sure to check out the following site: the nancy drew sleuth. so here's to nancy and her friends for over 75 years of publishing. my she continue to live on.

be well…

sushi bar song

deery-lou.
my favorite tv quote of the week:
"I've never known an Asian person in my life and the Cho brothers, I love them to death. Honest to goodness, we've never been around gay people, but buddy, I like them."
— mary, coalminer's wife, contestant on the amazing race

if you're not watching you should. goodstuff!

be well…

green

deery-lou.
monkey see, monkey do. since misty decided to post her results, i will too. see how much fun you are creating miss chen.

Using only songs from one artist cleverly answer these questions...

Name: jethan

Pick an Artist: throwing muses

1.) are you a male or female? him dancing
2.) describe yourself: pretty or not
3.) how do you feel about yourself? i'm alive
4.) describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: no way in hell
5.) describe your current boyfriend/girlfriend: limbo
6.) describe your current location: vicky's box
7.) describe where you want to be: white bikini sand
8.) your best friend is: golden thing
9.) your favorite color is: bright yellow gun
10.) you know that: america [she can't say no]
11.) what's the weather like? clear and great
12.) if your life was a television show, what would it be called? and a she-wolf after the war
13.) what is life to you? matter of degrees
14.) what is the best advice you have to give? shimmer
15.) if you could change your name, what would you change it to? surf cowboy

be well…

black plastic

deery-lou.
in celebration of the 30th anniversary of charlie's angels, farrah's official website has launched. click here. i know! it's about time. ummm, hi t-shirts for me to buy. farrahtastic!

fawcett online

be well…

a girl like me

deery-lou.
this past weekend was festival central here in korea. it seems like every neighborhood was having one. i went to bc's hood on saturday for new waves in gwangmyeong, a music festival. the mustangs were playing. it was strange seeing them during the day and on such a huge stage. i'm used to seeing them in tiny bars. it was a great day to be outside. the weather was amazing. while waiting for the mustangs to take the stage we caught another band same old story. they pretty much rocked! after the show we checked the merchandise area. i wanted to see if they had same old story's cd. no luck. time to hit the record stores.

we went back to bc's pad to get ready for the big evening. it was prom night. 80's prom night to be exact. this event was put together by miss chen and some others. i don't even remember how long it took us to get ready. bc was having SOME issue with her wardrobe. i had brought two separate outfits with me and bc helped me select the best one. here we are looking our somewhat finest…

she blinded with me science

being a foreigner here one comes to expect the constanst stares. throw on an 80's getup and it becomes even more magnified. it felt like i was walking down the street with a "hey, look at me!" sign around my neck. when we got to club [ta:] it was pretty dead. had i brought my magic eightball it probably would have said "outlook not so good". we grabbed some drinks, chatted we some peeps, and before i knew it people were pouring in. the place looked great. chen and company did a fab job. i was pleasantly surprised to see so many peeps showed up in 80's attire. there were some great digs. i even had a few flashback moments, especially when a girl walked by with giant hair. during my senior year at lbhs [1988] the halls were packed with giant-hair girls. i still get nightmares. everyone seemed to be having a great time. i even managed to get quite a few compliments on my outfit, all of which came directly out of my closet. there was live music, a fashion show, lots of great tunes, and even a ballot box for king and queen. i don't know who got crowned. bc and i left around midnight. i wasn't feeling up to par plus my new shoes felt like bricks on my feet. the cab ride back to bc's was something else. he was literally driving at top speed never failing to go through every red light we encountered. at one point i actually thought i was going to be sick. and i had only had two drinks. my second prom was officially over and it was the second time i didn't score. they say that the third times a charm. i'll just have to wait and see.

bc and i found ourselves to be up fairly early on sunday. we lounged around then decided to set out in quest of phone cards. yes, our list was put on hold this weekend. i scored two phone cards from two different places. combined its such a better deal then what i was paying before. during the course of our day we found ourselves at a bookstore and a foreign market. at the market i found montery/cheddar cheese, picante sauce, flour tortillas, corn chips, spaghetti sauce with olives, and beets. all of which i bought. lunch was somewhat of a bust. we were so hungry we ended up stopping at a sandwich place. i ordered an italian sandwich which turned out to be a hotdog with special sauce. gotta love it. i got back to ansan about 4pm. it felt so good to take off my new shoes. breaking in shoes is H.A.R.D. noone ever said fashion was easy.

be well…

p.s. here's bc all decked out in the skirt she bought for prom but didn't wear. so cute.

she's a valley girl…

chelsea girls

deery-lou.
this song popped up in my head the other day. oh, the randomness of life. i actually haven't heard this song in some time. i heart the go-go's…

The Go-Go's
Girl of 100 Lists

Ghetto blasters, phony jewels
Cathedrals, castles, making up rules
Trashy novels and leather gloves
This is a list of the things I love

CHORUS
I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear
To who I have kissed
Check items off
Let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

Pick up your laundry, doctor's at ten
We're out of toothpaste, rehearsal (again)
Stop by the bank and cash my pay
These are the things I must get done today

CHORUS

Ricky and Danny and Terry and Jim
Dean lasted six months-don't forget him
Perhaps some day this list will end
Till then I tally my gentlemen friends

CHORUS

be well…

not even jail

deery-lou.
i've been having a lot of dreams lately. more than usual. at least 3 a night. not sure what brought about this sudden onslaught of mini-movies in my mind. so it seemed only fitting to add this to my blog. something i found on the science of sleep site. perhaps there was a reason i stumbled onto that site.



be well…

damaged people

deery-lou.
oh the places you can go…last night while having a fit of insomnia i decided to "personalize" my free google page. while searching for things to put on it i stumbled upon a link for FOUND magazine. i love this mag. having been away for so long i had forgotten about this gem. they specialize in printing "found" materials: letters, photos, lists, etc. that give a glimpse into someone's life. i never really thought to look for them online. my mistake. but now that i've "found" them again i can go back to enjoying those treasures left behind. be sure to check it out if you're into stuff like that. i know i am…

so while on the FOUND site i came across an ad for the movie the science of sleep. it's a new film by michel gondry. the trailer looks amazing. very visual, very mystical. i can't wait to see it. i only hope it finds its way to korea. its looks like one of those films that needs to be seen on the big screen. what has me most excited is that it stars gael garcia bernal. a definite hottie if i do say so myself. ever since amores perros i've been a huge fan of his. and then there was y tu mama tambien. swoon!

movie still

in the film bernal's character is living somewhere between his "dream" world and "reality". he comes up with a disastrology calendar, illustrations of diastors likes car crashes, plane crashes, earthquakes, etc. you can see these images on the site. the drawings are actually pretty cool in a weird kind of way. here's a sample:

earthquake

anyway…i think i've lost track of what i was attempting to say. so here's to the bizarre and quirky.

be well…

superconnected

deery-lou.

Your Life Path Number is 22

Your purpose in life is to use your power for good Of all the life paths, yours has the most innate power. Your power lies in your vision, and you must recruit others to help you in this vision. You are able to be a great idealist, but you still have the practicality to get things done. In love, you tend to be a big romantic - but you also tend to keep your distance. You have a lot of potential, and it's sometimes hard to live up to. Sometimes you just feel like slipping into obscurity and doing nothing. You tend to be prone to dramatic emotions, until you step back and look at things honestly.

What Is Your Life Path Number?

so true in alot of ways.
be well…

this place is a prison

deery-lou.
frustrated. angry. that's how i felt after getting off the phone with the earthlink people. trying to cancel my sprintmail account was much more difficult than it should have been. one thing i did realize is that the people at earthlink are morons. complete morons. i spent an hour on the phone mostly on hold. they managed to suck all the minutes off my international card—bastards! sometimes i wonder why they even have the computer prompted questions. as soon as a person answered they asked me the same ones. and of course they had to switch me to someone else. then this person couldn't find my account in their database. funny that i could read all my account info but this genius couldn't. i tried to explain to him that i'm calling internationally. he kept telling me i was on the toll free line. hi, its not toll free when calling out of the country. he still couldn't find my info so i got sent to embark. i guess they own part of sprint. the empark guy couldn't help me either. he said he was getting a supervisor but instead i got sent to a sprint phone sales person. she kept asking me for my cell phone number. over and over i explained that i'm calling to cancel an email account. "you get phone email," she said. she couldn't help. she sent me back to embark. the new embark lady happened to be quite helpful. she managed to track down a earthlink employee who knew what they were doing. the el employee asked me why i was leaving. i basically told her that i don't have time for these stupid questions since i've been on the phone at international rates for an hour now. she got the message and said that as of sept 26 my account will be termintated. thanks for listening to me rant. i think i'm over it now.

be well…

p.s. i'd like to make another shout out to the embark lady who was so helpful. sorry i didn't get to thank you on the phone. your the best!

our time

deery-lou.
here's a note from a former student.

to Ethan.....
Ethan. Hi! I'm Mary
Long tine no see.
How about you?
How about your trip?
I'm miss you.
see you later!!
bye bye!
I Love you!

to: Ethan
From: Mary

sweet.

be well…

transgender bar

deery-lou.

so going to check this out.
its actually in my hood of all places.

full moon, empty heart

deery-lou.
construction, contruction, construction!! that's all i hear nowadays. the koreans love to work 7 days a week. there's nothing like waking up on a sunday morning at 8am to a saw. it's sunday, people. take a freakin' rest. the building is begining to take shape and i think its going to be a church. yes, a church right in my backyard. perhaps its a sign. from the looks of it, its going to be fairly big. they're even building what i think is a giant parking garage next to my apartment building which is connected to the church thats behind my building. more on that as it progresses…

princess and i attempted to complete operation transtot. however, it was a slight bust due to the fact i couldn't find the flyer for the transgender bar. all we could remember was that it was close to carrefour. we decide to stroll around jungang dong hitting all the stationary stores that came into our path. its fun having someone come to my hood. at one store i almost ended up buying a 5,000 won [$5] pencil that i thought was 500 won. i opted out of the purchase. we went to one of my favorite places which i simple call "the batcave". we ordered a pitcher of beer, a plate of fries, sweet and sour chicken, and a fruit plate all for 18,000 won. can't beat that. princess amazed me with her great reading ability. the menu was in korean. even our waitress commented on it. while enjoying our meal we decided that operation transtots would have to be aborted this time. we now had operation boardtot. we set out to hit up the boardgame room for a night of gaming. we found one place that was also a pc room. score. however, the gods were not on our side that night and no sooner had we stepped inside when the guy came running over to us making the the infamous "x" sign with his arms. boardtots had been aborted. there was only one thing to do. operation transtot was set back in motion. off to carrefour we went. along the way we had some girls run after us just to say hi. it never ends. we left the lively jungangdong and headed into sleepy ansan new town, my old hood. we circled carrefour with no luck. once again operation transtot was set aside. at this point we were both sort of beat so we headed back to my pad. i took princess along the scenic route so she could see the houses. the houses are a much better sight at night.

we had an early start to our sunday thanks to the workers. we made plans to meet up with bc at noryangjin station at one. the majority of the morning was spent trying to motivate ourselves. before jumping onto the train we stopped at dunkin donuts. i suckered myself into trying the iced blueberry white chocolate. why am i such a sucker for blueberry things. it basically tasted like mik with blueberry flavoring. so not good. on the train princess tried to spruce my drink up abit my adding some coffee to it. as i tried to close the lid i managed to shoot a load of whip cream onto the woman next to me. she didn't noticed and princess and i couldn't stop laughing. lunch was had at a tofu restaurant. its actually a chain but quite good. after lunch we set out to find sayuksin park which happens to be one of the things on "the klist of things to do" that i compiled for bc and i. we strolled around the grands. there's a good view of the han river. there are also some tombs. i busted out my 35mm to take pictures. i can't tell you how long its been since i used it. it felt good.

on the way back to the train station we stopped in at artbox. bc helped pick out my new pencil case. its a mini-case. i needed to downside. its "super panada, i believe i can fly". its got some great quotes on it like "alcohol is my soulmate", " let's party like rock stars!", etc. now you understand why i couldn't say no.

fun fact:
40: thats how many people we counted wearing socks and sandals in a time span of 5 mins.

be well…

the list

deery-lou.
so that i won't lose it. here's the list of things i compiled for bc and i to do. i will probably add more to it as things come up.

the klist of things to do
line 1
1. deoksugung palace [also on line 2]
2. chongdong theather - traditional performance arts series [also line 2]
3. jongmyo royal ancestral shrine [also line 3, line 5]
4. royal quard changing ceremony - 2 - 3:30pm
5. hongneung arboretum
6. sayuksin park - there are some tombs there done
7. saenamto martyr's shrine - catholics persecuted there

line 2
1. kukkiwon - taekwondo headquarters hehe
2. bongwonsa temple
3. jeoldusan martyr's shrine [also line 6]
4. sillim - area know for sundae [pork sausage]
5. nakseongdae park
6. bongeunsa temple/kimchi field museum
7. seonjeongneung royal tombs
8. the aquarim at the coex

line 3
1. gyeongbokgung palace done
2. national museum of korea done
3. unhyeongung - private house of royal family
4. changdeokgung palace and huwon
5. seocho flea market - saturdays 10 to 3 pm done
6. seodaemun prison hall done
7. yangjae flower market done

line 4
1. changgyeonggung palace
2. china town in incheon
3. donam-dong - "youth town" as the book calls it

line 5
1. yeouido park - for walking around etc. i think we can get boat cruise there
2. bangi-dong baekje tombs
3. jananpyeong antique market
4. rodeo street - i have no idea what this is but definitely needs to be looked into
5. yunjungno cherry blossom trails - best time to do is in april
6. pungnap earthen fortess

line 6
1. war memorial of korea done
2. taerung royal tomb

line 8
1. seokchon-dong early baekje stone temples
2. mongchon earthen fortess

some other things in seoul area
1. seoul city tour
2. boat cruise - i think we can do this from yeouido park
3. seoul nori madang - an outside performance during the afternoons, i think its near city hall
4. bukhansan national park - hiking, picnicing
5. tabuki storm - totally misspelled it, drumming performance
6. suwon fortress
7. cafe street [ask princess]

some things outside of seoul
1. ganghwado island
2. hwanseongul cave
3. ulleungdo island
4. asan hot springs
5. jeju-do

moral kiosk

deery-lou.
my shoes have arrived. how happy am i. oh, how i love big shoes.


happy stomping. be well…

your ghost

deery-lou.
some mindless fun from the internet. zenjen did one for me on myspace. in the picture i was wearing sunglasses. the celebrity match up was something else. check it out if you have time. there's a link to my myspace in the sidebar. here's the one i did. a much better selection. who is kian egan and jensen ackles?



be well…

shark/white bikini sand

deery-lou.
for some unknown reason i decided to check out my results on blogpatrol. this tells me a lot of useless information about my blog like: amount of visitors per day/hour, referrers, keywords, search engines, browsers, etc. there was one site under referrers that i didn't recognize so i decided to check it out: click here. my spanish is quite rusty these days but from what i can make out this blogger is listing 5 sites for blogday 2006. yeah, i have no idea what that means. most of the sites seem to be about korea. i couldn't really tell about number 5. after reading the bloggers tag, it appears that they are in korea, too. anyway…so there in the number three spot is my blog, seoul train. next to it is a description that reads: "otro maestro loco de inglés viviendo en Korea." again, it's been some time since my high school spanish class but i think it says: "another crazy english teacher living in korea." now i'm wondering—is that a crazy good or a crazy bad?

some more useless information i learned today. the following is the top keywords. once again this provided by blogpatrol for my blog.

1	"sauna outfit" gym (Google)
1	kris kross (Netscape)
1	korean young teen got rape in jungle (Yahoo)
1	seoul lotte hotel world sex (MSN)
1	fahrenhiet degree (Google)
1	emart + seoul (Yahoo)
1	hongdae park sunday market (Yahoo)

aww, the internet. what a strange and wonderful place.

be well…

neighborhood #3 [power out]

deery-lou.
first of all i want to give a great big shout out to mistyl who celebrated her birthday on sept. 9.

happy birthday,
misty!

you know i wish i could have been there to help you celebrate. at least i got to speak to her so that was good. one day soon we'll be celebrating birthdays together again.

saturday before heading into seoul i had lunch with young teacher at the tofu house. we ate so much food. we spent almost two hours there. it was nice to just sit and chat. we haven't been able to do that in some time since school is quite busy these days. from ansan i travel to hongdae to meet up with bc and her beau charlie. we met at club ff for the "pop the cherry!" show…


the main draw was to see nunco band [see link in sidebar]. as usual they put on an awesome show. this was the third time i've seen them and they keep getting better. they are definitely one of these bands that need to be seen live. i dig their cd but it doesn't do them justice. they're definitely a performance group with loads of energy. you can tell they have a good time playing together. the lead singer has that chic-geek appeal to him. they have a way about them to make you feel good and wanna dance. everytime i hear them i can't help but think of them in the same vain as the b-52's [a band that brought me much joy in my youth].

oriental lucy was the first band. the lead singer works at club aura and i had met her once before awhile go. they good. they definitely got the crowd going. she look so cute too. decked out in a short flowy blue dress, marron hose, black heels, beaded necklaces, and a leather coat. i love asian rock stars. will definitely check them out again. plus the drummer is quite nice to look at. actually the whole band is.

throughout the show their were three peeps walking around in turbans. from the minute i saw them i assumed they were part of sultan of disco. of course i was correct. which leads me this act. i'm still not sure if i actually saw what i saw or i was dream. although i know that bc and others were there so it must have happened. describing it won't even do it justice. its one of the things that one must experience to get the full pleasure from it. it was part dance performance. part lip-sync. part like watching a singing comedy sketch. but it was all good. the element of surprise is a great thing. the sultans are definitely something i wouldn't have necessarily sought out but i'm sure glad i stumbled upon them. the audience loved it. they wanted an encore. since this was their first time playing out they didn't have any more. so they played the last song again and everyone loved it even more. i almost forgot. besides the turbans they had on sunglasses and white tops. the two girl backup singers wore all black with white lace that criss-crossed along the chest. and then there was the mask guy. not sure what he was about. during their set the masked one held up a sign that said "b-boy' and then a number to call. apparently they are looking for boy dancers. perhaps i've found my new calling…

sultan of disco

the masked one

last night i got to see arie, nabi bartender, again. its been awhile since i've seen her. luckily i had the cds i made for with me. she was quite surprise when i handed them to her. also met these two adorable girls that bc had met. they were so damn cute and very excited that they got to meet the members of nunco. will probably rank this show as one of the tops in korea.

be well…

stained

deery-lou.
twice this week i've seen it. both times at night while i was on my way home from taekwondo. at different times. in different places. glowing orange as it passed by. staring at me with its evil grin. is it a sign. an omen. or simply a lucky charm. i've tried to capture it on film. although i was much to slow. it catches me off guard. when i close my eyes i can see it. it intrigues me, yet haunts me, too. like ghosts and goblins on halloween. questions run amuck in my head. answers that i need to get. perhaps one day i will. until then it will continue to thrive in my dreams. this mysterious thing that i call…the pumpkin truck.

be well…

this-that

deery-lou.
r.i.p deery-lou. you served me well, however, your time has come. your tattered skin is showing your age. how i wish our time could be longer. my money, cards, etc. must now take residence with the smurfs. you will be missed but not forgotten.

be well…

the wretched

deery-lou.
the park is definitely a great place to people watch. last sunday i watched volleyball-soccer. thats when they don't use their hands to play volleyball. only head and feet. the net is much lower than normal. it interesting to watch but not sure i'd want to play. i also saw the elderly korean folk out in full force pulling weeds. thats one job i don't think i'd ever want. now i know why they are all hunched over. the best part of the day was when an elderly woman who spoke no english approached me. she wanted to know what time it was and i figured it out. yeah, me! note to self: spend more time in the park.

be well…

mama cita

deer-lou.
here it is in all its glory—my apartment, my home!

my apartment building

magnet/postcard door

sink & stove

fridge

view from kitchen

here's where i do all my living/sleeping

main wall

my first bookshelf in korea

supergirl flies above my bed to protect me from evil

the pez guard my clothes

the bathroom

the shower, yes its between toilet and sink

looking into the kitchen

the washer

the block view from balcony

the marvelous park

be well…