Wednesday, January 31, 2007

black wave

deery-lou.

What if your heart rode a black wave
Told you it'd never come back home
What if that wave turned into thunder
Roared and crashed and left you all alone
What if that thunder turned into sunshine
Left you on a beach madly in love
What if that love turned into heartbreak
Left you on that wave where you once were.

What if your girl said she loved you
Told you she'd stay with you forever
What if forever turned into nothing
You saw her drive away in a beat up car.
What if that car turned into a fireball
Across the sky she burned while you just smiled
What if that smile turned into tears
You wiped away the broken dreams and more.

What if your life took a strange turn
Left you bewildered in the night
What if the night turned into day
I guess it always does so let's move on
What if we couldn't move on
I guess I'd rather die than stare at you
But what if death was your best friend
I guess I'd rather go right now than wait.
— the raveonettes, black wave

stay gold & be well…

Monday, January 29, 2007

jet black

deery-lou.
sunday was spent reconnecting with my old peep chen. it had been some time since we last hung out. we've both been busy doing our own thing and our paths just never seemed to crossed. that's the one thing i truly miss about living closer to friends. to be able to just call someone up during the week and meet for a drink or whatever. now my life has come down to planning. for those that really know me—well you know how good i am at that. we met up in hongdae. our day started out in a cafe, who's name escapes me. i really got to be better at remembering the names. from there we ventured to purple records. i was looking for kristin hersh's new cd. of course it was a bust. i asked the lady if she could order it. she wrote down my number but we'll see if it actually happens. [fingers crossed]. seeing that food was much needed we grabbed some sandwiches at jenny's. this seems to be the spot chen and i always end up at. their sandwiches do rock though. and i was so craving one. of course a day out with chen wouldn't be the same without hitting the anime shops so that's what we did. i scored three new toys for my collection. luck must have been on my side cuz i ended up with the ones i wanted. one never knows which character is going to be inside those boxes. we had a brief jaunt through fashion street and youth town which is in front of ewha women's university. i scored a white pully that looks like its out of blade runner. me was very excited. it's very rare that the "one size" fits. we ended the evening meeting up with mz. amber at a tea place that looked like my mommom's house.

last night i had a dream. it had something to do with my friend shortcake. although in the dream it wasn't her per se. the gist of it escapes me; however, i do remember the end. i was in a house. a big colonial style house. it was mine. i was wearing a robe and blue slippers. i was walking down the stairs, heading toward the big, white door. my hand reached out for the gold knob and opened the door. outside night was still there. i stepped out onto the opened porch which was the length of the house. as my foot touched the ground i heard a crunching sound. snow. the porch was covered in fresh snow. i hadn't even noticed it before. everything was covered in a fresh blanket of snow. on the corner of the porch were two girls. one was in lavender. they made a comment about the snow. although i don't recall exactly what was said. i replied but my words escape me. i shortly awoke to the sound of my phone. it was pevil. she had called to tell me that shortcake had passed away. i was at a loss for words. while speaking with pevil, i kept looking at the photo of shortcake and i on my wall. it was good to speak to pevil. we were able to laugh a little, which is always good. i spent my morning in some what of a daze. i guess we are never quite prepared to hear about a friend's death. it got me thinking. life is too unexpected. you just never know when things will change. i've so many friends out there that i seldom speak to and i want that to change. it's time to make an effort. an effort to reach out at least once a month to just say hi. i don't want to lose another without them knowing that i care. i will surely miss shortcake, who i often thought of as a little sister. she was full of spunk and had a great spirit about her. i hadn't spoken to her in awhile so i'm not really sure what was going on in her life. she had seemed happy the last time we chatted. i only wish that where ever she is now that she has found some peace. i will think of you often. goodbye, shortcake.

today's bit of news also made me think of yet another friend i had lost about 6 years ago. at that time i wrote something to her. it seems only fitting to share it now:

untitled
it's hard to express how i feel
never to be one who is forthcoming with emotions
i keep things bottled up waiting to explode

i wanted to call the minute i learned
of your ailing condition but i was afraid
for i did not know what to say

a small part of me imagined i'd see you at christmas
most likely not wanting to believe the truth

i heard about your condition just weeks before
the shock of the news just never sunk in
i hoped you would conquer this, like you did before

never in all my life did i imagine that i'd get that fateful call
i listened to the message twice
hoping, wishing i had heard it wrong

both times the words "bonnie pasted away"
were clear as a bell
there was no mistaken it

i wish i had the courage to call you
to hear your sweet angelic voice

a voice that made me laugh so many times
just to hear it one more time

stay gold & be well…

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

song of the nile

deery-lou.
*sniff. sniff. there is no movie review today. i was at school last night until 11:30 pm cleaning. we had an open house of sorts for our new kindergarten this morning. which meant a mad dash of cleaning last night. most of the teachers stuck around to help. it seems we have two special girls [sadly both foreigners] who feel they just don't have to help. i actually had to clean one of their classrooms. it looked more like a storage room then classroom. i'm still trying to figure out how one uses a whiteboard when their desk is pushed directly in front of it. hmmmm, they don't. can't say i was really surprised by their actions. these girls seem to afflicted with the me syndrome. but enough of them for now—i do have a great epic post about them that will be coming soon. its a work in progress since there is just so much to say on the matter.

cell block & flag

so lets back up a few days. sunday i spent my last outing in korea with bc. it seemed only fitting that she choose the prison. nothing like death and imprisonment before saying goodbye. i was a bit underwhelmed by it. after visting auschwitz nothing else quite compares. korea's prison camp reminded me of alcatraz sans the island and ferry that took you there. i couldn't really be bothered to read any of the signs. i let bc do that. with her around it's like having my own walking/talking cliff notes. without her i will be completely lost. at least when visiting historical sites. we spent the next hour in kyobi bookstore where i headed to hot trax to buy a cd—same old story. the ever so helpful princess had found it for me. from there we ventured to our favorite restaurant in insadong. the name of which escapes me. perhaps that's because i don't know it. we chowed on a korean pancake and various side dishes. we asked the waiter to cut our kimchi since none of us have mastered the fine art of breaking apart kimchi with chopsticks. with full bellies we went to a wine cafe for one final drink. bc and i bid our farewell on the train. actually we had a bit of confusion about how long we would be on the train together. we stood there looking at each other as the train door shut between us. from the platform i waved goodbye as bc headed down the tracks toward home.

prison photos here

stay gold & be well…

Monday, January 22, 2007

holy moly



deery-lou.
friday and saturday was spent at ski camp with school. we had 25 students that went. overall the students were well behaved until we got to the hotel. then the boys were all hell driven. the boys rooms smelled like rotten feet so i made them wash their feet. afterwards it was orange fights, pillow fights, and all around craziness until the movie. i had one boy try to tell me that bedtime wasn't until 11pm. i told him nice try but he was going to bed now since we had to get up early. i only had to check in on them once after that. they actually went down without any problems. the teachers spent the rest of the night eating fried chicken and drinking beer. can't beat that. i spent my time at ski camp interviewing new teachers. good times, good times.

ace

photos from ski camp are here.

stay gold & be well…

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

gansta's paradise

deery-lou.

movie: art of fighting [싸움의 기술 ] ssa-woom-eui gi-sool
starring: baek yoon-sik, jae hee, kim eung-soo, choi yeo-jin, sin hyeon-tak

director: sin han-sol
genre: action, martial arts, comedy, drama
country:
south korea
year: 2006
ckb: 6
chics with two-tone hair: 1
shirtless men: 2
fight scenes: 6
# of butt slaps: 1
# of times main character gets beat up: throughout entire film
# of people sporting silver ball chain belts: 1
# of times one of the characters spits on self: 2
fashion: buttondown shirt with sleeves cut off
arms broken: 2
scars: 4 [all on same person]
weapon of choice: coins
memorable quote: "you little smurf"
main character keeps a: fight journal
noteworthy scene: grabs knife with hand
rundown: high school boys gets tired of being beat up and looks for someone to teach him how to fight
bottom line: entertaining to say the least
comments: i'm noticing a general theme with these movies: fighting. if you're looking for a good high school fight movie i'd definitely start with once upon a time in high school. its by far the best of what i've seen. this movie had its moments but overall i was pretty unimpressed.
rating: 3 soju bottles

stay gold & be well...

Monday, January 15, 2007

cathedral heat

deery-lou.
i haven't taken any pictures of myself, so in the meantime take a look at this photo that princess took of me at the war memorial.

stay gold & be well…

Sunday, January 14, 2007

have mercy on me

deery-lou.
i went to the war memorial museum and all i got were these pictures…










it wasn't for lack of trying. after i took the first photo my battery died. it was one of those days. the museum was pretty interesting. or perhaps it was just the company. i wasn't really paying much attention. still not functioning at 100% yet. bc and princess think i have a stomach parasite. i guess i need to make a trip to the doctors. after all its been over a week. i cut my hair. no more curls. here's to a new year and a new me.

stay gold & be well…

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

sunset

deery-lou.

movie: shadowless sword [무영검 - 無影劍] moo-yeong-geom
starring: lee seo-jin, yoon soy, lee gi-yong, shin hyeon-joon, jeong ho-bin

director: kim yeong-joon
genre: fantasy, action, history
country:
korea
year: 2005
ckbs: 2
badass chics with swords: 2
shirtless men: 1
fights: alot
symbolism: incense
# of people sporting dreads: at least eight
# of people with tattoos on head: 1
# of flashbacks: 4
# of people imploding: 5
corny scene: catching fish with bare hands
animal symbolism: hawk
sexy scars: two
weapon of choice: swords
memorable quote: "sword is t0 protect important things to you"
noteworthy scene: underwater fight scene
cool mystical scene: uses sword to cut through water and then vanishes
rundown: the last remaining prince must be saved so he can become king
bottom line: worth checking out
comments: bought this movie based on the cover. thought it might be similar to crouching tiger hidden dragon and hero. it definitely was. with lots of martial arts and flying in the sky. probably not the best of them but highly entertaining. my only problem was the occasional bits of comedy thrown into the fight scenes.
rating: 3.5 soju bottles

stay gold & be well...

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

i wanna be adored

deery-lou.
on monday night i took miss young to my fave new bar [si:m] for her birthday. the same three staffers were there. the place was pretty dead. the music still rocked and the drinks tasted mighty good for a monday night. it didn't take long for miss young to agree that bartender with the low, deep, sexy voice is quite the cutey. he was wearing combat boots. sigh…i could have sat there and stared all night. i've decided to make it my mission to befriend all three of them. project bar friends is on the way. wish me luck.

stay gold & be well…

Sunday, January 07, 2007

lover's spit

deery-lou.
hung out with bc in my hood. saturday night was spent shopping. bc scored. sadly, i didn't. however, i did manage to have every person working on the men's floor look at my shoes. we were ambushed which resulted in me breaking out in a sweat and losing all interest in shopping. there's nothing like being put on the hot seat. one vender on the women's floor gave us each a free pin. why is that the sales people on the women's floor are much more relaxed? we saw three girls sitting in one of the shops eating pizza, pasta, and drinking beer. classic. we discovered a new bar in my hood called [si:m], which according to bc is pronounced seam. the atmosphere of the bar is right up my alley: semi-dark, good music, and a friendly staff. i think its suppose to be some kind of photo bar. there were a lot of cameras, pictures, and photobooks all over. finally a cool place to go and chill. before leaving the cute bartender noticed my shoes and made a comment. i think he actually liked them. a first here.

that night bc and i had a pajama party. we listened to music, read people, ate peanut butter sandwiches then stayed up to 4am watching babel. i thought the movie was good. the actress playing the japanese deaf girl did a fabulous job. by the time we got out of my apartment it was noon. our first and only mission of the day:food. we decided on dak kalbi. i think we were the first customers. the entire staff was sitting at a table watching a korean drama when we walked in. oops. our slogan for the morning: beer for breakfast. it tasted good too. i left the restaurant stuffed. he rest of my day was spent in bed watching justice league unlimited. so good. cartoons rock!

stay gold & be well…

p.s. i almost forget. i found smurf boxers! unfortunately they were for kids. grrrr.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

teller

deery-lou.
my film review will be postponed until next week. been a bit under the weather and last night i found myself at an impromptu dinner meeting. there are some changes happening at our school [all for the better] so our boss wanted to talk to us before he left for new zealand with some students for a special program. i'm still wondering why i didn't get to go. sob.sob. anyway last night was the first real meal i was able to eat in two days. i literally stuffed myself. needless to say this morning i wasn't feeling any better. perhaps grilled beef and a pound of kimchi isn't the best thing to eat when feeling ill. oh, well. it was just so good i couldn't help myself. i did manage to make it to taekwondo this morning. it was me and about 30 youngsters. i really don't like the early vacation schedule. there's not much space to practice with all the little ones running around. hopefully by next week i'll be back on track. for those that enjoy my little reviews please come back next thursday. i promise to have a new one. one more thing before i leave. yesterday [january 3] was my dear friend kate's birthday. i want to wish her all the happiness and to let her know i miss her. happy birthday kate. i love you.

stay gold & be well…
jethan signing out.

p.s. check here to see the infamous fame photos. thanks for posting them princess.

Monday, January 01, 2007

essex dogs

deery-lou.
well new years came and went…i rang in the new year on the hill with the military, hookers, mos, and good friends. the evening started out at princess's fab pad where we drank wine, drank cocktails, smokes cigs, listened to music, and had a mini dance party. princess captured some of my routine to fame. pictures to come later. i'm sure they're priceless. i persuaded bc to venture out by playing the leaving card. i'm bad. but i didn't want her to spend it at home and knowing that my time with her is limited i want to get the most out of it. by the time we met up her i was already a bit tipsy. we headed off to queen where we secured a table by the window. two for one drinks soon followed. my first one went down very slow. the evening hadn't even started and already one gal was parading around in her sports bra. the majority of the people were westerns. i was told by one that he liked my glasses. luckily i was fortunate enough to have two very cute korean boys standing near our table. i was like a deer caught in the headlights. i couldn't stop watching them. i kept referring to the blonde haired one as vanilla sundae. korean boys with blonde hair are uber sexy. they kept me entertained playing with balloons and dancing. that was until they left. i didn't get up the courage to chat him up. my loss. princess nabbed us some felafels from the restaurant across the street. never in all my life have a tasted anything so good. we rang in the new year, then bc headed off home. princess and i decided to check out soho. not much happening there besides boys dancing on the pool table. oh my. about this time i got a killer headache so we headed off home. on the way i stopped in bk and got a mushroom steakburger. why does bk taste soooo good here. today was spent in a somewhat daze. tomorrow its back to the kiddies and taekwondo. not quite ready to get back to the grind.

stay gold & be well…

p.s. happy birthday, lj. miss ya!