Wednesday, October 29, 2008
No Chorus
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.
Friday, October 10, 2008
I'm regretting this already
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"?
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Ouch
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...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More fun with Babelfish
(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."
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mandatory Gift Giving
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.
Friday, September 05, 2008
My Official 2008-2009 NBA Predictions
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.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Comic Strip
Head over and make your own comic strip.
Here's one I did:
http://lyferipsmics.stripgenerator.com/2008/08/31/glen-teacha-1.html
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Mountain Mike
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.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sportage
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.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
俳句
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.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Having fun on Babelfish

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...
Sunday, August 03, 2008
The Amazing Travel"l"ing Mixer Party

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?"
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Books I Be Readin
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)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Aaron's Farewell Party
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!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Now and Laters

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
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. Tuesday, July 08, 2008
28 Days(or so) Later
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.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Japan again
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.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Vacation is over
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…