Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a safe and happy holidays as we await the coming 2009 year.

I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am.

So I've been busy

I know I have a lot of photos and stories I am still behind on so I hope to get one or two of those out of the way this coming weekend when work dies down. I still haven't posted on my trip down to Muido and that happened like 3 months ago now. Jeez. I'll get on it soon, I promise.

So anyways, 2008 is almost over and I still can't believe how fast it went by. I guess my routine lately hasn't given me too much time to sit back and reflect on all that happened this year but I'm looking forward to two 4-day weekends coming up around Christmas so hopefully there will be some time then. I was planning on going home for Christmas but a combination of a horrible exchange rate and dickweed clients has made me put off my trip home yet again. This time I'm thinking I won't get home until April-ish.

Why April? Well, allow me to elucidate my fiendish plan for the first 1/3rd of 2009.

First, starting in January I will be attending Korean language courses in the evening during the weekdays. Since I haven't officially studied any Korean in over 2 years, I thought it was about time to finally get some sort of certification and actually improve my language abilities in ways besides bullshitting with co-workers and arguing with old guys. The program runs until the end of March and I'm hoping that it will at least bolster what I already know. We'll see I guess.

Second, my work schedule will remain the same for the most part with the exception of adding a couple clients and dropping a couple more. I probably won't see too much of a workload increase but I have been wrong before. 2009 is going to be all about managing time for work since I'll have to leave at 5:30 sharp every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to get to classes on time and won't be able to work any of that wonderful, unpaid overtime on those days. I guess it just means I'll be making it up on the weekends behind my trusty little laptop. Yay.

On top of work and classes, I've also realized that if I want to continue exercising like I have been I'll have to switch from evenings to morning at the gym. This means I have to drag my tired ass out of bed at 6am sharp if I want to go at all. Considering the fact I have rarely gotten up before 7:30am this past 2 years, I guess I need to start working on that now. Damn.

Add to these three activities my ability to get sidetracked by things like reading, fooling around on the internet and occasionally throwing everything up in the air with a big "fuck it" and going out with friends, I'm in for a much busier lifestyle for the first three-four months of 2009.

Did I say I've been busy? Shit, I guess I'm just getting started.

Halloween 2008 - The Monarch

I present to you my 2008 Halloween costume. I dare you to find me a better The Monarch, I dare you. If you don't know the Venture Brothers yet, you best to educate yourself.




I have made it my vow to win every Halloween costume contest in Seoul from now on. I'm sure I could have won this year if I could have made it to the judging in time. That leaves a whole year to plot...

More pics to follow.

No Chorus

I haven't been able to add many pictures lately since I've lost my camera but I plan on posting a whole montage of the last few months on Sunday. It will be composed of pics from friends' facebook postings and will show what I've been up to since late-summer.

The pic events included will be:

1) Trip to Muido from Chuseok
2) Dave's Wedding
3) This coming Halloween party
4) Random spots around Seoul where cool pictures were taken

I guess that about sums it up so be on the look out come Sunday.

*Note: From now on, whenever I can't think of a good title for a blog posting, I'm going to call it one of my favorite rap tracks from back in the day. That should open the door to literally thousands of title choices so I'm not stuck thinking about them anymore. If you can correctly guess what it is, I'll buy you a drink.

I'm regretting this already

I rarely check my gmail account. Mainly due to the fact that I have an msn, yahoo, aol and work email account, I've probably checked it 3 times in the past 4 years. So today, out of sheer morbid curiousity, I logged in to see what I had going on in there. Now since the only thing I run out of my gmail account is this blog (jappy.chan@gmail.com, clever I know) the only mails I found in it are related to it.

So lets see...

I've missed 3 job offers from random headhunters in the past 7 months who happened to stumble upon my blog and find out a)I'm a young American living in Korea and b) I work at a professional job. Some of the offers weren't that bad but honestly, based on the above credentials, is that really enough to want to offer me a job? Really? If so, I like the chances I have once I do decide to once again test the job market. Fingers big and crossed.

I received a mail from some place called VerveEarth which apparently wants to start a site where you can look up blogs by geographical location. This is a cool idea I guess but there are several, far more well maintained, useful blogs in this country and I wouldn't want to take up space. I'll keep it in mind in case this blog evolves sometime in the future. (Hint: not likely)

Finally, I found the gem and the very reason for the title of this entry. This email was so good I have to copy and paste it verbatim:

I came across ur blog w/ a goggle search for "gay Korea." Are u indeed a gay Russian in Korea? Sometime searches are weird.... and the content is even weirder ;)... I taught in Daejeon last year, looking for a good ticket Seoul this year--any tips?...

--Kevin

Okay, take your moment to laugh.

Finished?

Okay.

Now, I obviously had a few new things to ponder in my brain trove after this doozy of an email.

First, why google search "gay Korea"? Besides the obvious reasons, I'm just thinking there are special sites that already cater to that. I mean, when I'm in the mood for porn believe me when I say I've already got a bunch of sites lined up to go to when I click that browser. So why google search? Moving on.

Second, how the hell did he come up with a gay Russian living in Korea from my blog? Okay, living in Korea is easy, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned dealing with my client in Russia a couple times, but gay? Besides all the times it's popped up in this entry, how many times have I written the word "gay" on this blog? It must have been to describe some sort of gathering I attended but didn't enjoy or I was talking about Glen.

Finally, how creepy was that winking eye emoticon? I mean really, even if I were gay, you'd have to make a much better attempt at being flirtatious than that Kevin. Seriously. And this is coming from the guy who's best pick up line is "So, I've got 10 gigs of Looney Tunes on my computer at home, care to partake"?

Ouch

For those of you not in Korea who don't know, while the US economy (the global economy for that matter) is in shambles at the moment, the exchange rate here has been taking quite a hit. In the past 4 days alone the exchange rate for the dollar has increased by over 200 won.

A personal account:

Back in 2007 I sent money home to my account in the US. The exchange rate was 948 Won to the Dollar. The exchange rate today closed at 1,395 Won to the Dollar. That means sending home 1,000,000 Won last year got me about $1,055. If I sent that same amount home today I would get me $717.

Like I said, ouch.

Awesome

I love it at about 11 seconds in when he chases after the police. One would think at least one of them would have thought to deliver a swift kick to his generously exposed crotch area. Oh well.

Something tells me this will be Doug in like 15 years after he runs out of other outrageous stuff to do over in Japan.

10,000 won to the first foreign dude to this somewhere in Korea...

More fun with Babelfish

This time, instead of getting a few laughs at the expense of friends, I decided to make a little quiz of sorts. Below are 10 lines quoted directly from famous (and some not so famous) movies that have been translated from English into Korean and then back into English through Babelfish. Some of them are pretty easy, some of them aren't. Let's see who can guess the correct quote and the movie it came from.

(Bonus points if you can tell me the actor/actress who said it.)

Let the game begin.

1. "Frankly, is valuable, does not give an imprecation"
2. "He will can refuse I to him and provided"
3. "I go against and until former times i ascend, is having i will always become and the shaft and"
4. "Me convey the welfare in the small friend"
5. "You stand about the wall and to be you say! where I say and your this i listen closely with! where"
6. "Is the first time rule of the combatant club and - you do not speak about the combatant club"
7. "In order calling who you? The ghost the person whom destroys"
8. "The trick which is most serious was understanding the world where demoniac he which comes to pull until now does not exist"
9. "The boy is a quality where the penis and the young girl are furnishing"
10. "You killed prepare the fact that dies my father."

Mandatory Gift Giving

The one thing that has continually pissed me off while working my office job here in Korea (besides the fact that probably less than 30% of the males in my company wash their hands after they use the facilities) is the stupid mandatory gift giving that goes on so often.

Essentially we have a group of about 30 people who constitute my larger team. If its someone's birthday we all have to pool money to pick up the person a gift which varies in price depending on the level of the person. What happens is we get one of the interns or new people to the group to handle collection of the funds which, once again, is set based on the person's position. So in the end, I end up plunking out about 40-70,000 won per month ($40-$70) on this kind of stuff. In the end I'm spending close to a grand a year on this mandatory "show of gratitude" and it gets on my nerves.

I think the reason it pisses me off so much is because its mandatory. I also have the snot-nosed little interns chasing me around and nickel and diming me to death whenever its time to ante up. It probably wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't just a huge charade.

Damn cockgobblers.

My Official 2008-2009 NBA Predictions

Even though the NFL season just started and I joined a fantasy football league just a week ago, I still can't help but think about the upcoming NBA season (which starts in less than a month) and what's going to go down this year. I've never done a breakdown like this on paper (or in this case, on blog) but bear with me as I try to give my analysis on the coming season.

Eastern Conference

It was cool to see an Eastern Conference team win it all again last year (even if it was Boston) but this season it looks like the east will be even tougher. The 76ers are on the rise after adding Elton Brand (and Donyell Marshall) and keeping all of their crew from last year's playoff team. The Cavs ended up getting Mo Williams which is a great move for them and there was a lot of other player swapping between some of the mid-level teams during the offseason. Here is how I see the breakdown:

Atlantic Division

1st) Boston Celtics (so they lost Posey, but they did add Darius Miles which could be good)
2nd) Philadelphia 76ers (as I said, this team is going to kick some ass next year)
3rd) Toronto Raptors (nice add in Jermaine O'Neal, too bad they aren't in another division)
4th) New Jersey Nets (got rid of Jefferson, that is gonna cost them)
5th) New York Knicks (new coach and........yeah)

Central Division

1st) Cleveland Cavaliers (Lebron plus MoWill is going to be formidable, just hope they add that big man)
2nd) Detroit Pistons (I think this is the season age catches up with them, they will probably make some trades before the deadline)
3rd) Milwaukee Bucks ( added Jefferson from New Jersey so hopefully Villenueva steps the game up and Michael Redd isn't injured all the time)
4th) Chicago Bulls (even this might be pushing it but I really think Derrick Rose is going to be an all star in a few years)
5th) Indiana Pacers (I hate Reggie Miller and his stupid face)

Southeast Division

1st) Orlando Magic (Dwight Howard is a beast, there is nobody stopping this man underneath)
2nd) Washington Wizards (this is based on the fact that Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison all stay healthy, if they perform they might even take 1st)
3rd) Miami Heat (this team is potentially dangerous, Dwayne Wade is my favorite player in the NBA right now and when he is on, he is ALL day. If Beasley adds right away, and I'm sure he will, and Marion starts playing like he did in Phoenix, they will surprise people)
4th) Atlanta Hawks (I like their team and all but they got lucky most teams in this division were screwed because of injuries last year. Go Al Harford)
5th) Charlotee Bobcats (fuck an Emeka)

Western Conference

This conference is down right nuts. 50 win teams aren't even a guarantee to the playoffs and despite some of the talent moving east, its still rough to say they are anywhere close to being even yet. Some of the really good teams got even better (Houston, Portland) and some teams just switched their whole damn roster around (Clippers, Warriors). This is the conference to watch for some bad-ass, old school type games.

Southeast Division

1st) New Orleans Hornets (my favorite team last year added Posey but lost Pargo, I might be being biased here but Paul for MVP this year)
2nd) Houston Rockets (they added Artest-- if Luis Scola plays like he did in the Olympics and McGrady and Ming don't sit out 95 games, shit could hit the fan)
3rd) San Antonio Spurs (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009?....no I don't think so)
4th) Dallas Mavericks (Save Dirk and Josh Howard, burn the rest of em)
5th) Memphis Grizzlies (Marc Gasol is a beast and I think they also have the rights to Ricky Rubio in '10 (?) so maybe in like 4 years they'll be somewhere)

Northwest Division

1st) Utah Jazz (this is based purely on the skill of Deron Williams)
2nd) Portland Trail Blazers (I really, really wanted to put them first because I think Greg Oden is gonna be really good and they got a lot of other young talented bastards)
3rd) Denver Nuggets (they lost Camby in the STUPIDEST way possible but I have a new found love for Carmelo Anthony after watching him almost bitch slap Oberto in the Olympics final)
4th) Minnesota Timberwolves (the funny thing is, i wouldn't put them any higher than this even if they still had Kevin Garnett)
5th) Oklahoma City Thunder (yeah, ummm...who's on this team again? oh yeah Kevin Durant...whatever)

Pacific Division

1st) Los Angeles Lakers (Kobe is unstoppable when he's motivated and with a healthy Bynum, Gasol and Odom, this team is probably headed to the finals again)
2nd) Phoenix Suns (I would love to see them play San Antonio in the playoffs again)
3rd) Los Angeles Clippers (Call me crazy but I really think this team is going to be good this year even though like 90% of their players weren't on the team last season)
4th) Golden State Warriors (I love this team's energy but I don't see Corey Maggette making up for the loss of Baron Davis in their offense)
5th) Sacramento Kings (Sorry Kevin Martin but I do hope I land you in fantasy basketball again this season...)

So there we have it. My prediction on the NBA season. This of course will change during mid-season if there are any major roster shake-ups (there will be) but as they stand now, this is how I see things going down.

I'll post my play-off predictions after the all-star game.

Debate away.

Comic Strip

http://www.stripgenerator.com/

Head over and make your own comic strip.

Here's one I did:

http://lyferipsmics.stripgenerator.com/2008/08/31/glen-teacha-1.html

Mountain Mike

This past weekend, me and some of the boys decided to head down to Surisan Mountain (수리산) and do some some hiking/climbing. The weather was great and it made for some pretty decent exercise as we trudged our way up to the summit. It took about an hour and twenty minutes for us to traverse the entire thing and we managed to take a few good photos. The outing reminded me why I need to hurry my ass up and buy a new camera because I missed out on some quality shots.

I'll even post the ones that Micah took of Glen's freakishly huge toe once I get ahold of them but for now, you can enjoy these:

Some big pieces of mountain fungus we took pictures of. I named them (from the left) Micah, Greg and Phil.

Us at the top about to pose on the rocky precipice.

Some random old couple that apparently lugged a whole camping set up to the foot of the mountain. The other guys thought it was weird for some reason. I thought it was cute.

This is easily one of my favorite photos of all time. As one friend put it, I look like Godzilla getting ready to ravage the city.

I'll post more photos as I get them.

Sportage

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are over. I'm planning on being over in London for the 2012 Olympics to take advantage of some of my friend's hospitality and hopefully Chicago wins the 2016 bid so I can return the favor then. In any case, the Olympics are a pretty huge event apparently.

I barely paid attention.

It's not that I disliked watching the events or anything, its just there were several other things I saw as more deserving of my time besides watching TV. While I'm sure I'd feel differently if I was physically at the arenas watching the events, since I was mostly just meandering around Seoul the entire time, I didn't really take too much notice. The things I did manage to hear about were: some man-fish hybrid named Phelps won a bunch of gold medals, some little Korean girl was able to clean and jerk a small comet's worth of weight, the Korean national team took gold in baseball, and the U.S. team finally got the gold in basketball again.

Now, the only event in the entire Olympics that I paid attention to and went out of my way to watch was basketball. When put against this backdrop, it's pretty plain to see why I don't really pay attention to the Olympics as a whole -- because basketball is the best sport on the planet.

Let me do a quick sport breakdown for everyone.

Basketball: The only sport I love to play, watch, talk about, etc. No other sport even comes close to it in my mind.

American Football: I'll watch the SuperBowl, pay attention to the stats of the guys on my fantasy league team, and occasionally go out to watch a game with the guys over a couple of beers but that's about it. Honestly, most football games are just plain boring for me to watch.

Baseball: Call me if the White Sox win, if not, I'm fine checking the final scores on mlb.com once a week.

Football (Soccer for you Yanks): Cool to watch occasionally but the low scoring dulls my attention span.

Golf: I'll play it once in a while but watching it is going to be my torture if I end up going to hell, I know it.

Swimming: Okay, swim really fast and you win. Ummm...no.

Running: See above; switch "swim" with "run".

Weightlifting: Sort of cool but I usually only watch on the small percent chance that someone's intestines are going to get ejected from their anus as they stress too hard.

Fencing: Okay, this is actually cool to watch but matches are too short and there isn't any blood.

I'll have to continue updating this later on as I think of more sports.

俳句

Haikus are incredibly awesome. Anyone who doesn't think that is a useless piece of human existence.

My throat really hurts
Probably from smoking fags
British "fags", dick face

Why does Glen suck so?
Maybe his job should stop him
from raping himself

Micah has a man
He is made of wood and stuff
He fits in condoms

Marc bobs and weaves
He can dodge your attacks well
Like Don Flamenco

Doug wa inu
Update your blog some more guy
Old School: "Ooki na"

Handball is so gay
Why do they bounce once only?
Olympics my ass

Ralph has no lips
That was not too clever so
I will move on now

Ryan likes Sea Men
He rides a big man boat then
Ha I said Sea Men

Korea Dokdo
Takeshima in Japan
Its just a few rocks

Dave can't get erect
Liliputians even laugh
at his stupid face

Sandals are George's
attempts at fashion statements
give it up my man

Chris and Majin Buu
are both big, pink and cuddly
and they smell like farts

Dwarves call Joel their friend
because he is half their height
when he stands on chairs

Damn white underwear
No matter how much i wipe
They never stay white

Haiku kicks ass. I gotta do this again sometime.

Having fun on Babelfish

Babelfish is this little translation program that they have connected to Yahoo! Korea. Anyone who has used an online translation program knows that it doesn't work that well when translating anything beyond very simple sentences. So as I was sitting around today wondering what would be fun to do, I decided to screw around on Babelfish and test out it's translation and translation of translations functionability. Here are the results:

Okay, so far so good. Now let's translate it into Korean...

Okay, well that Korean isn't too bad. Now, let's see what happens when I re-translate that into English...

Well, it's not completely unintelligible. Let's see what happens if we make it a bit more complicated...

The first sentence went through pretty well but that second sentence got mangled. Now let's translate it back...

Wow, that's pretty messed up. "Me him there is his baby boy and thinks the thing". Does that accurately describe your feelings for Obama, George?

Okay, I don't know how the hell "Silicone" got in there but alright. Now let's see the translation of the translation...

Okay so "the boy and him under kissing the thing"? That sounds pretty sexual to me. Never figured Micah for a pederast though. Let's move on...

That Korean is so mangled it hurts my brain to read it. Should be fun to see the re-translation...

How the hell does a canyon rise? I will agree that "attempting the fact that comfort starts that oneself" though. That makes more sense than anything ever.

That was fun, now wasn't it? You guys can go to Babelfish on your own time and make your own if you want. Here's the Korean web address:

http://kr.babelfish.yahoo.com/

I might have to do this again. Stay tuned...

The Amazing Travel"l"ing Mixer Party

Phil, Micah and myself were sitting around having a night cap last Sunday after gorging ourselves at Hooter's thinking about stuff we could do for the remaining portion of this summer. The idea for the traveling mixer party just sort of came together after only about 20 minutes of talking and we quickly expanded upon it.

The idea was that we meet up and travel around to each other's houses and each person would have a different liquor base with which to mix drinks. And hats. Everyone had to wear a funky hat that we would switch with someone everytime we went to the next place. We also got a signbook to write things in at each person's apartment. It was a simple idea that worked really well and everyone in attendance seemed to have a blast.

Basically the plan came together as we made a facebook event and spent the week hammering out particulars. It turned out that we would start at 4pm on Saturday at Phil's house for Rum based drinks, move onto Glen's place for Gin base, then onto Dave's new place for Vodka base. After we did that, we ran over to Gangnam and grabbed some food after which we went over to George's pad for Whiskey base. George's was probably the most dangerous since he set up this cool little shot game which was similiar to "Quarters". Glen had to drink a ton shots. After George's we went all the way across the city to my place for Tequila base where I made Long Island Ice Teas with the spoils of war I had collected at each house. Finally we went out clubbing.

It was a great night and I hope we can put something big like this together again sometime before the summer ends. Maybe a camping/rafting trip.

If you would like to read some of the quotes from the signbook, head over to George's Musings over Makkoli blog where he has some of the choicest quotes up.

So without further ado, the pictures:

This was the first group photo at Phil's place. From the left we have: Glen, George, Brooks, Gowoon, Me, Dave, Micah, Claire, Shandi, Yena, Lucas, and Phil

This is at the second spot, Glen's house.

The third group photo at Dave's new pad.

The 4th spot was at George's house but we needed to first take a picture of the hats we wore at the chicken spot.

The official George's house photo. Some of us were pretty tipsy by this point.

Only some of us made it to my place for the 6th group photo but it was fun nonetheless.

Here we are making asses of ourselves at Club Cargo after my place.

I was sad because I was too hot to dance anymore. Poor me.

Micah fell down and went "boom".

I was angry at what I saw in Carl's collar.

Brooks was excited. He also later pulled his pants up to damn near his armpits and tried to woo an unwilling Korean girl into doing his rendition of the Steve Urkel dance. It was priceless.

One of the final pictures at about 4am. Our energy is amazing.

"America, Fuck Yeah!"

"Rape, hammer, whistle."

"What? You want summadis?"

Books I Be Readin

I've recently realized that since I began my current job back in late 2006 that I haven't been doing much real reading (besides comic books) at all. This is rather strange to me since I've always enjoyed reading and up until that point, I would usually be carrying around a book or three about various topics of interest. So, in an attempt to return to that favorite of habits, I went out recently and bought a few books. Here are the two I am reading now:

Kind of old, I know. I actually went through this book somewhat half-assedly about a year and a half ago but am now trying to give it a more thorough reading. I'll post my comments about it when I am finished.

Also, as I can never seem to read just one book at once, here is the other one I am currently reading:

This seems to be a rather well written book and offers up some pretty good ideas against globalization. I can't comment too much as I am only through the first chapter or so, but so far it seems like it will be a most interesting read indeed.

What are you guys reading lately?

(porno doesnt count)

Aaron's Farewell Party

Aaron is finally leaving Korea tomorrow and his going away party is tonight. Yet another of the somewhat old guard is leaving and will be replaced by more fresh-faced newbies. English teachers here are like the fabled Hydra, chop off one head and more grow in its place. Maybe more like a planaria since they are less dramatic.

In any case, I'll miss his bleak outlook on anything that has to do with Korea and the fact that he's the only person I've met here who doesn't look at me strangely when I eat french fries with mustard. Flat-footed dancing in the gay clubs won't be the same without ya, big guy. Have fun back in Chicago and make sure to keep dose muddy shoes outta da fruchroom!

Now and Laters

Long taxi rides have become somewhat routine for me since I took my current job. Mostly because I end up having to travel to my client's offices when doing meetings or presentations but also because a good chunk of my friends actually live on the other side of Seoul from me. These taxi rides can last anywhere from 25-50 minutes and that is quite a bit of time to think (or sleep, depending on my state).

So during today's ride I got to thinking: How does one live for the moment while still maintaining forward motions for the future? We all know that proverb "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift" but one can't really go about life reveling completely in the moment or tomorrow goes from being a mystery to being a VH1 Special. Though in contrast, if one completely focuses on goals for the future, life becomes pretty bland and scripted. I guess in certain respects, my life for the past 2 years or so has been trying to find some sort of balance between these two ideas. While I haven't been able to find that optimal balance point yet (or even an optimal balance range), the constant search for it is I guess what keeps my life interesting sometimes.

What about you? Have you found your balance point? Any pointers?

Venture Brothers is the cat's pajamas

Normally I don't watch a lot of TV because I think it kills time that could otherwise be spent more productively (like drinking or acting loutish). However, I do have somewhat of a fascination for cartoons and Japanese anime as most people who know me can attest. It has been, however, quite a few years since a new American cartoon has been able to capture my attention as well as the Venture Brothers has.

For those of you who don't know the show, its actually created by a former writer for The Tick animated cartoon which was also a show I really enjoyed back in the day. It's a very good blend of comedy, parody and failure and I thoroughly recommend the show to anyone who likes a good laugh.

I've been watching the 3rd season lately and it consistently cracks me up with random pop culture refrences and puns. For instance, in the latest episode, my favorite character, The Monarch breaks into his newly acquired arch-enemy's home base but is really upset with the fact that his new arch-enemy is a complete douche. The new guy is actually part dewgong and calls himself "Dr. Dewgong" and he sits in a wheelchair. As The Monarch breaks in he says "Ah man, you're all fleshy colored and...jeez how much thalidomide did your mother take?". It was perfect and I have never heard thalidomide used as a joke in a cartoon before. I almost spit milk on my computer screen.

In any case, you guys need to check it out sometime. I've got every episode for anyone interested.

For a Venture Brothers breakdown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_brothers

For those of you who didn't know what thalidomide is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

28 Days(or so) Later

It's been over a month since I've done anything on here and a combination of my own want to post something and some of my friends bitching at me has brought me back.

So what's been up this past month, Mike?

Well, lots of things actually. Some of which I cannot talk about at this moment since I've got to keep them on the low-low and other things I don't want to talk about because they are just damn right embarrassing.

I guess I'll start with the boring, and therefore neutral, aspects of my life this past month. Work has been pretty much the same as usual. As all of us who work are aware of, it becomes rather routine and dull sometimes and this last week or so just happened to be one of those times. I'm hoping things pick up soon and awaken my interest in this job again. That's not to say that I don't enjoy certain aspects of my job, because I do, but sometimes my brain stops functioning in automaton mode and I wonder what I'm doing here. Then I look in my wallet. Oh yeah, that's right.

Outside of work I've been going out a bit more (too much?) on the weekends lately and carousing with my friends. Perhaps its the summer bug but I can't keep myself in my apartment to save my life these days despite the fact that I have a veritable treasure trove of video games the average nerd would fellate donkeys for. This of course means I'm spending more money but I figure summer only lasts another 2 months so what the hell. I don't have any crystal clear plans on travelling anywhere special the next month or so but I'm hoping to hit the beach sometime soon and work on my tan. Sitting in the office all day has unfortunately reduced my skin color to Powder-like levels.

On the video game tip, I just beat MGS4 and it is possibly the most detailed game I have ever played. The visuals, set-up, action, almost everything was perfectly executed. Everything except the goddamn story line. Also, GTA4 has been making the rounds on my system whenever I feel like living vicariously through a murdering rapist who never pays the consequences.

Finally, for the embarrassing stuff. Well, I lost (had stolen) my I-Pod, Digital Camera, bookbag that I've had since high school, gym bag, new Jero CD, 5 comic books and 2 pairs of new glasses all in the span of 2 weeks. Could have been alcohol related. Just maybe.

Japan again

Alright so I've been busy lately and haven't been able to update that much. It would be easy to say that I've actually been busy accomplishing something but that would a boldfaced lie.

In any case, I'll be loading up my pictures from the last few months pretty soon and try to get in a lengthy entry to catch the blog up with everything that has happened in the last month or so. However, since I'm actually heading out to Japan this Wednesday evening and won't be back until Sunday morning, it looks like that might have to wait till next week sometime the earliest though.

Pictures will be plentiful.

Vacation is over

I’m currently sitting in the office and waiting for work. I’ve got a lot of stuff I could be doing but because I don’t have this one crucial document, I can’t do any of it. Also, due to the 5 hour time difference between Korea and Russia, my counterpart who will be sending me the document is currently on lunch. Ah, how I hate this kind of downtime.

At least I get to drop a hot, steamy blog post.

So yes, I am officially done with my 5 day weekend. It was probably the longest vacation I’ll get for quite a while but I do have a few 3 and 4 day weekends in the near future to tide me over. As for what I did over the vacation, I guess I could sum it up in a nutshell like this: lay about, hit the gym, drink, sing karaoke, go to George’s wedding, video games. The cool thing is I actually have another 3 day weekend coming up this week. So hopefully I can get out and play some basketball like I’ve been wanting to for the past 2 weeks.

I’ll have a 4 day weekend in June to go visit my Grandmother, though it does kind of suck that I won’t get the chance to see the bro-ham since he will be out on the sea more than likely sending me emails that greatly exaggerate his peril.

Other than this, I really don’t have anything major planned in the next month but you never know…

Now back to waiting for that document…

The first of May

Ah, the first full day of my vacation. For the next 5 days I'll be doing whatever the hell I want and completely loving it. I'll probably drop some random posts about my adventures to make up for the recent lack of attention I've been paying here so be forewarned.

So to start off on the right foot before I step out into the remaining sunlight to grab dinner with a friend and probably a couple of drinks, I'll drop some quick info about 2 events that I've just recently become privy of.

First, as we all know and love the "Evil Dead" movies and Bruce Campbell, I think it is really cool that they will actually be doing a musical version here in Korea on May 18th. I've seen some posters (which I promise to purloin and post pics of) and it looks like it should be pretty good. I'm going to start a rally call for all interested persons and make sure to make a night of it.

Second, as if the above wasn't enough to make a great weekend evening, on May 17th, one of my favorite artists will be performing in Seoul. I'm not exactly sure if it is completely open to the public yet because I found it on some site at 3:30am while I was drunk and not in the mood to read long paragraps in Korean, but I plan on researching the details and hopefully getting some tickets. Now, who pray tell, is this artist I am so enraptured to see? Why, Stevie Wonder of course. He went from being a closet favorite of mine (I didn't want to actually ENJOY music that my parents liked) to an artist whose songs I regularly sing in karaoke and I really hope I can get some tickets. Here's to hoping.

Anyways, that is the update for today. Now play amongst yourselves or something.

5-day weekend ideas?

So I have a 5-day weekend coming up here soon from May 1st until May 5th.

Originally I wanted to do a sneak visit out to Japan to surprise some people (surprise!) but because I realized I had to go to George’s wedding on that Sunday, I decided against it. Now that puts me in somewhat of a pickle, my dear readers, as now I have all this time off and nothing to do with it.

To compound my problems, I am one of the only people I know with this particular vacation and I have nobody to pal around with for that Wednesday night, Thursday and most of Friday. So I have really no solid plan on what to do.

What would be awesome is if people could give me some ideas on what to do. Especially during those first few weekdays I have off. My ideas are as follows, but you could always add some more:

1) Go around snapping pics of random parts of Seoul for the afternoon.
2) Take a train going anywhere (no Rush references, please)
3) Sit at home and gain valuable video game training.
4) Try to find a bar in the morning that is playing the NBA playoffs and catch up on some b-ball watching.
5) Catch some rays up on the roof while reading (the weather should be in the high 70s to early 80s)

I plan on hitting the gym in the morning everyday before I get into any of these activities mind you, but any ideas you could add would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance peeples.

{Insert clever blog title}

Okay, so I’ve been busy at work and couldn’t update for the past blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before so let’s skip the pleasantries and jump right into the meaty bits.

Work has been pretty great lately. Crazy time hours have dissipated for the most part (until mid-May anyways) and I’ve been spending more time hanging out with the peeps from work. I’m in a pretty good place career-wise and I like the current direction my company is going in. All in all, I guess I can say everything is copasetic (I love that word) as far as my career goes.

I’ve also got a 6 day vacation coming up in the beginning of May which should be relaxing. I was originally planning a visit to Japan but George had to have his wedding over that weekend so I guess I’m putting that off until the Grandmama goes out there sometime next month or June. My current plan is to go shooting around Seoul to take pictures of interesting stuff and hitting the gym with the fury in the afternoons while relaxing or screwing around with friends in the evening. In other words, it’s the recipe for the perfect vacation.

In other news, I went out to Pyongchang with everyone from work for our annual client service workshop on April 3rd and 4th. I also ended up being one of the people in charge of preparation so I got to spend a lot of time setting stuff up and making sure the entertainment was…entertaining. Essentially it was a long bus ride followed by some games followed by drinking, eating and more drinking, then a long bus ride back home. This is one of the reasons I love workshops here because when it comes down to it, it’s essentially going out someplace new to fuck around and get shitty mcgiggle-faced (shouts Chris).

Other than this stuff, nothing much has been going on. I’ve been rocking the video games only occasionally since the weather has gotten nice and it’s a waste to sit inside when I could be out enjoying spring. I haven’t been going to the gym as regularly as I would like but I’m still getting there 4 times or so a week and tearing into myself. I expect really good results by mid-June nonetheless.

This spring and summer look like they are going to kick some serious ass and I hope everyone else is looking at it with as much expectation and enthusiasm as me.

So what, dear readers, are your spring and summer plans?

The prep squad (including me) all wore the same white sweaters. We are here posing with the big bosses.

Me co-hosting the "Family Feud" game I made for part of the company entertainment. It ended up being quite different than the game I had originally envisioned, but it was really fun nonetheless.

Me doing one of my performances during the later part of the entertainment portion.

Putting some last minute preparation into the Family Feud game.

Our entire client service staff. I'm all the way on the right in like the 4th row.

Amusement - Life's sole purpose?

Amusement is a very integral part of my daily routine, as it should be for anyone. I must constantly find ways to get a laugh in here or there in order to maintain a flow from one situation to the next. I guess the cliché “It’s the little things that count” has more merit than I originally allocated to it. Then again, I guess as you get older, that becomes true for all of the cliché statements we scoffed at as teenagers.

In any case, here are a few things that have been keeping me amused. I must admit they are rather childish in content, but what the hell, give ‘em a lookie:

Ah yes, doo doo jokes never gets old.

Speaking of Garfield, here is a site I like to visit for some giggles here and there:

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

This is something else I must watch at least three times daily. I don't know why, but it's maddening.

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

And in case you were curious as to how many five-year olds you could take in a fight, this site finally gives us that most important of answers.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/black_guy_asks_nation_for_change

While The Onion is usually hit or miss, they occasionally slap one right out of the park. This is one of those.


And if you are into deep throating (no, not that kind ya sick, sick bastid), peep this video. Wait for it... Wait for it...

These are just a few things keeping me amused lately. I invite you all to let me know some of the things that are keeping you moving through the days.

The Doug cameth

Despite my work schedule, I’m still managing to get a post out (finally) after only 2 weeks or so. Aren’t I great?

Since it’s been a while since my last major blog, I have quite a few pictures to post. But before I get into those, I guess I should do a little update on the microcosm that is my life.

First, since my new promotion, there has been a large increase in my workload but I expected that from the get go. What I didn’t expect was the necessity of more effective time management skills. I know, I know, that’s essentially what an increased workload requires if one would like to maintain his/her free time but I didn’t know I’d be tossed right into the fray without any time to adapt.

But adapting I am.

For instance, this past Tuesday I had a veritable assload of work to take care of but still wanted to maintain my streak for hitting the gym everyday. Knowing this, I took care of certain things within a time frame which allowed me a 2 hour window to leave the company and come back. After working out and burning some accumulated stress, I got back to the office at around midnight ready for the evening onslaught.

So yay to adaptation; one of the key tools used in the daily struggle of the cubicle jockey.

In other news, the well-spoken beam of truth that is Doug came to visit me in Seoul. As is often the case in our meetings, we cut a drunken swath through the surrounding areas and left no brain cell unscathed on our way to the longest weekend binge I’ve been on in years. It was great seeing a Japan-familiar face against the background of my current city of residence and I’d like to think Doug had just as much (if not more) fun than I did. I look forward to our next meeting and hope he gets Japan ready for me. *wink wink*

Finally, after months of not following a workout plan, I’ve embarked on my 12-week beach body workout schedule. As an added incentive to follow it through (rather than go back to meandering around the gym and randomly doing sets of stuff), I will post a before (Circa March 23rd) and an after (June 15th) picture in one of my June blogs.

Make sure you guys hold me to it.

So onto the pictures:

Doug as he arrives in Gimpo.

Our group for my promotion party/Doug's arrival. Clockwise from left: Beehaam, Doug, Micah, Heejung, Glen, Dave, Jayce, Me.

Me and Darg.

Jayce gave me this candle for my birthday "cake". Yes, my face looked just like that as he explained it to me.

Me, Dave and Jayce celebrate.

Okay, so Micah had the perfect angle for this drunken shot, which is perfect in and of itself but knowing me, I had to take it and make it into this:

Yeah, I'm a ass.

At least, I'm a funny ass though.

Help out a fellow human in need

I'm a little late plugging this due to my work schedule the past 2 days, but here is a story you need to read.

http://www.billkapoun.com/

http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/2008/03/nows-your-chanc.html

http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/03/05/donations-for-severely-injured-english-teacher/

Basically its the story of a 26-year old English teacher here in Korea who sustained 3rd degree burns over most of his body when his apartment burned down a few days ago. Unfortunately, due to his lack of insurance here, his bills are astronomical and his parents aren't in the financial position to accomodate all of them.

The really wonderful (and honestly a bit surprising) thing is that the foreign community in Korea has pulled together quite a bit of money. However, it still pales in comparison to the cost of the many operations he will have to endure. Therefore, I ask anyone who can pull together some money to donate what they can to help his chances of making it through. I've already donated an amount close to a few nights out on the town and I don't think that's a large sacrifice to make in order to help someone who really needs it.

This issue hits home with me because this could have happened to me or any of my friends here just as easily as it happened to Bill.

There are ways to donate money whether you live in Korea or the States, just find the links on the site I posted above.

Thanks for your time and donations.

-Mike

My Bertday and other updates

Time to update and show a few pics from my birthday party which was held at my house (mostly) this year.

Turning 27 has its ups and downs I guess. So while it does bring you only 3 years away from the big 3-0 and only 13 years before you have to start regularly having a doctor stick his finger up your ass, it also starts bringing a sense of accomplishment in life. By accomplishment, I mean a good reason to get rid of a few of those brain cells that happen to be lying around collecting dust.

I decided this year's party would have tacos-- which I painstakingly created myself. It turned out to be a fairly successful idea as I only had a small fistful of ground beef at the end of the night when I started with close to 5 pounds. I also made sure to stock up on the good ingredients and have the drinks and PS3 ready to rock. I was determined to have a successful party.

Part of the fresh ingredients I lined up for folks. Avocados were close to 6 bucks apiece!

So after setting everything up, people started to arrive adding yet another display of my uber sense of timing (luck?.)

The guys parked themselves in front of the PS3 while the girls were watching "House" on my computer.

Even a few co-workers showed up to take part in the festivities.

After everyone had satisfied their taco cravings and screwed around on the PS3, the drinking games started.

My new mascot, KIWI!!!, as he enjoys a nice stiff one.

We ended the night at a luxury Karaoke room where we sang, drank and danced for 2 hours into the early morning.

Overall, it was a great night and everyone had a great time. Just ask Gyu-Hong.
Now, if making a really cool birthday party wasn't enough, I went on this week to receive some more great news. Namely, yours truly has gotten a promotion. Yep, ol' Mike is moving up the corporate ladder into the realm of middle management and Dilbert comic strips. Of course this brings more responsibility, more hours, and more stress, it also brings more money and of course, more money. So it all evens out in the end. Let's see how this turns out.


Finally a video which was filmed at my house: KIWI ATTACK!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiYh-bXX9iI

enjoy