independence day

It's a day off today, Monday 15 August is Korean Independence day, the day they celebrated getting free of the Japs back in 48. Of course, Truman and Stalin had already carved the country into bits to fight over in various levels of warfare for the next half-decade. So anyway, holiday today.
Had a great sleep last night and a good sleep-in this morning (2 weeks of 5:30 wake-ups turns 8:45 into a sleep-in). I spent the moring reading, eating and playing chess on the computer. What a geek!
Now I'm in the e-cafe across the road playing with photos and such. It was quite a nice day when I came in here but now it is pissing down. Should be quite a cool walk home, if I leave soon which i probably won't. Its only $1.20 an hour so I might just play games for a while.

How interesting.

tourist-type thing

Sorry I've not been putting photos up. Still too lazy to figure out this whole shit. I think it will never happen while I'm in korea and don't have my own computer. Hopefully next month, then I will plug more photos up here than is sensible.

Today Jenny-from-Nelson invited me out on a big tourist-y type tour in the "Daegu Vicinity".

What did we do? Well, we caught the bus with about 20 natives and a couple of english-speaking thais and visited some quite random places in the "Daegu Vicinity", the first of which was the film set for KBC's historical drama series. Its basically this whole town contructed to look like your typical Goryu dynasty-era town. It was pretty cool. And I had some ice cream.
We also cycled along a railway track in the stinking hot sun, which seemed like a pretty bizarre choice of activity, adn went to the Coal Museum to learn a little about the region's fossilised past. To be honest, that part was pretty stink due to all the exhibits being in korean. Bad enough that it was a museum about the old coal industry. Jeez, being a coal miner must absolutely suck. Fuck that.

Anyway, i just wanted to write this shit down so I could at least sort of reminisce about it later. I'm not erribly interested in fleshing out hte details and turning it into an interesting story at this point cos I'm kinda tired and scratchy and my mouth is sore from the tooth thing. Can't wait for next week.
Oh and I can't drink cos it seems like i am on 4 different kinda drug for this (Korean doctors etc loooove to push drugs). that is stink.
right. g'night

the dentist

Yesterday morning, I visited a dentist recommended to me by a student of mine; a friend of her optometrist husband. Long story short, he extracted my lower left wisdom tooth and charged me the hardly extravagant sum of $20. That is not a typo. Twenty dollars was all it cost to have my wisdom tooth out. I am going back next week to have my upper left molar removed too, on account of its having grown sideways for the last however-many years, in spite of Dr whatsisname's recommendations that I "press against it, because youcan influence its growth" which I took to be a load of shit back in the day anyway.
It took him ust under ten minutes. I was glad that I argued before he started that the anaethetic wasn't working, and forced him to give me another dose. An unpleasant experience could have been a lot more unpleasant had I not thought something was wrong when I could feel him gouging away at the back of my mouth.
Anyway, it's out now and I am happy about that I guess. Oh, shit! I should have asked to keep the tooth! Well, I'll remember next week for sure.

By the way, it hurts.

the awful truth about women and jerks

Women: what's the best method?
Some say just be honest and say what you feel. Sadly, simply because I am the wonderful sensitive guy I am, this invariably comes across as supremely wussy. I've been reading stuff lately which tells me this and it feels pretty true. There's a whole culture of dudes out there who feel similar to me: all heart and no spine. Emasculated by "niceness" and "consideration". I think Bill Hicks said it best:
"I don't pretend to understand women's little quirks;
" Just one thing I know for sure is Chicks Dig Jerks, aw!"
I have known since I was ten that this is the case, but since then I have been fighting against the awful truth that, if you wanna get laid you'd best not be tellin that girl exactly how beautiful she is and how much you want to please her. Nuh uh! It's taken me 17 years. 17! That's a lot of conditioning to undo, but I think I'm up to it.
First step is to lean back and let myself be attractive, rather than try and project it. This has seriously been fucking me up. I mean shit, I've always known that I'm fine the way I am but that never stopped a guy from still seeking approval and wanting people to like me.
(I guess I should have paid more attention to that Dale Carnegie fellah back when I was 12).
Don Juan said as much to Carlos about letting go of his attachment to other peoples' opinions.

The scary thing for me is: look how long I've been reading about and steeping myselg in this shit before I finally let it sink in. It took David D'Angelo's letters to really kick it home (look him up, he ain't all that special). And now it's all happening at once. The synchronicity is astounding.

OK. OK. Coherency Glenn. Sort it out. Get a grip.

OK, so the basic problem is still the same. I'm still the same guy and I still have the same low strike rate and high cling/wuss factor, no doubt (given, I've not put anything to the test yet.) Which way do I swing? PUA, or do I continue with an even stronger and likely more intimidating version of my truth?

whatever. more beer please

long hours

I am happy because this month i have lots of work, and this weekend there is a holiday. I am hoping Julz and James can come in for a saturday night rinse out followed by a sunday swim up in the ka-chung!
And I have just logged on to active and they are playing "She Speeds". This is a good day.

beomeo park

So I went or a walk in Beomeo park the other night. It's a lot like walking through central park in Wellington, same kind of just-bare-paths and no vsibility or 20m in front of you. t seemed to be on a major incline and I figured the best policy for walking through such a park (given that I know its dimensions from the streetmap at the bustop) would be to climb to the highest point and see what sort of views were available. Well, t is only at the top of Beomeo park that you will find any flat ground at all. They have scaped the whole place with that kind of gritty clay. All around are sit-up benches and stretching posts (that is, a 4' pole stuck in the ground with 3 rungs poking out either side). Also there are free badminton courts with nets and all, which I am all in favour of. There's even a benchpress with weights and all but it's def not the kind o thing you'd use alone.
So I wandered round watching the joggers and the badmintoners and a lady came and gave me some kumera which was nice, although I had just eaten and was not hungry. I also found a spot outside of an "indoor" badminton court (again, that scratchy clay surface) where there are these little stools and a sign with a cross-legged stick figure on it. A meditation zone for athletes! Go figure.
I enjoyed my walk through Beomeo park.

letter to the folks

Hey hey!Gt your parcel yesterday. Thanks heaps! Had a lovely meal of weetbix for brekky and now I'm munchin on a muesli bar for second breakfast. I had to laugh at the two minute noodles tho. Don't you know that those noodles are the staple dish here (just slightly after rice)? Heehee! They're probably even cheaper here than they are there. But still good to have the kiwi flavours. It's surprising the questions people ask you about food: "Do you have x over in NZ?". Now at least I can show a class what kiwi "Ra-myeon" (or ramen noodles I guess) is like.
The start of a new month and I'm cramming to get as many classes pre-planned as possible. This will make the rest of the month fly much more smoothly. Fortunately I have only 3 different classes, one of which is a "Screen English" class, which consists of watching "Friends" and any movie of my choice with them. I think I'm also supposed to find a script and delete some t and have them write in the missing parts as listening test. These guys aren't into talking, just listening, so it will make a nice change and a quiet end to the day. Also, as its an evening class and I'm working Saturdays this month, Saturdays are now worth $45/hr or so, so yay for that!
For my final class on Friday night we went out for Sam Gyop Sal, which is korean bbq, where there is a cavity your table for charcoal over which they lay your 4"x16" pork strips. The table is fair covered with condiments and vege/pickle bits. you just grab a sesame or lettuce leaf, pop a (cut) piece of meat in and add whatever else you like. Divine! Afterwards we went to a noraebang for some singing. I had a go at "we are the champions" which was harder than I expected and I pulled out a pretty decent version of "the boys are back in town". The guys I was with mostly sang love ballads and mostly in korean but it was a good time nonetheless. Finished off the night with mighty strong cocktails and a sober drive home.
that's all for today. luv and stuff, G