Had a dream where I met Juiceboxxx in a mental hospital where they threw parties in the cafeteria at night.

Wtf is going on in my subconscious.

Fences (Dynamics Remix) by DynamicsMusic

Had to post this song for Kate, if she even bothers to read this. I doubt it, though.

My birthday gift hasn't arrived yet because UPS Korea thinks I'm scheming on them to try and receive business packages without having officially stated that I'm a business, WHICH I AM NOT in case anyone from UPS Korea is reading this. I'm jumping through hoops for these buttholes, and it's starting to wear away at my patience. On the other hand, I can completely understand why they are wary of me receiving yet another package at this point. Despite the awareness on both sides, I don't have to like it. Fuckers.

I hope this song brightens your day as it has mine.

Oh, youth

It is very cute to be stared down by a child missing some teeth in an elevator. Then, when he squinted his eyes, pushed his chin up and quietly asked me what me name was, I was a little curious and a little afraid. His name is Luca, by the way, and he agreed with me that he had a good name. He is a student at Kids Club (I know this because his companion pushed the 6th floor button), and all the teachers there are fat men with beards. I guess they like being stared and pointed at.

It's been a long time and I definitely suck at blogging. If I'm at home, I watch TV (Daily Show, Colbert Report, Lost, Treme, House, Gossip Girl, RIcky Gervais Show, or and clips of Hitchens or David Cross on Youtube). I'm becoming a serious paradox, or I'm thinking a lot more about things, because I both agree with and disagree with people I adore on a variety of issues. It's harder for me to worship/idolize/ people without picking out their faults. I suppose I'm just mentally maturing and becoming more critical of people, which is good, because I almost had a fatal slip-up this weekend in Busan.

WITHOUT GOING INTO TOO MUCH DETAIL ON THE INTERNET, and because certain parties do not want their identities to be revealed, I'll stick to the moral of the story: You can't always trust people. Some people, because of the way life has treated them, have become dirty, greedy, sheisty, thieving dirtbags.

In the end, this story, this long, involved story has a positive ending. But I couldn't help thinking about how terribly, awfully wrong it could have gone.

I'm becoming complacent in Korea, comfortable with things. I'm beginning to fear that I might become a boring old sod one of these days. Marry someone I don't really love, have a bunch of kids just because the fear of being alone later in life and about losing people makes me fall back on a life I can trust to be consistent and stable. But it would never be a fully satisfying life for me.

I'm tired of people being so sensitive. Words, opinions, phrases...so many things that send people over the fucking edge and flip out on you. In Korea, if you are getting fat, people will tell you that you are becoming, or at least appear, fat. I think that's fine. If you look ugly on a certain day, or if, unfortunately, you are ugly all the time, people will treat you like an ugly person. Maybe you are ugly. I bet that would suck.

AH I always end these on an awkward note because now I have to teach. Won't be blogging again for another month or so, I imagine. I'm buying a new motorcycle soon. And planning another trip to Busan.

my favorite song

I can't figure out how to embed this, or any, music player. Little help?

Siriusmo Radio-Mix by Exploited

Siriusmo is amazing. Making my Thursday feel like a Friday :-D

This is what I am now trying to live for. Got paid for my last gig!

It's also funny how he questions his English mid-sentence. Reminds me of my students.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

I knew I should've pursued music more actively as a child. Only now am I beginning. Dang it.

Elisabeth is adorable

One day, a cat was laying near Amy's house. Amy wanted the cat, so she asked her mom to have the cat. But Amy's mother said no. Amy was very sad, so she wanted to cry. Suddenly, a pretty fairy came to Amy. The fairy asked something. " What do you want? " Amy said," I want that cat, but my mom said no." Suddenly, the fairy circled with her magic wand, and her mom let her to have the cat. Amy couldn't belive her eyes."Thank you." said Amy. " You're welcome." said the fairy. Amy asked what is the fairy's name, and the fairy said her name is ' Annie'. Annie, and Amy played together every day. The cat wanted to play together. So the cat played together too. "Ha,Ha!" Amy,Annie, and the cat said all together. Someday, you will hear some friends geegleing. Today, I hear someone laughing.

Another gem from Sapling 2

One day, the tiger said, "I'm the powerful in the land! HaHa!" The other animals thought the king is crazy, not very smart. The king was very happy, so he laughed, and laughed. The next day, the other animals jumped in to action,because, the king find out that the other animals though the king was crazy,not very smart.So the king said," You are gonna have a contest. If who said the nice word to the king in two days, I will give a million money. The rest of them I will give a 1$ in a one year. The animals said " You got the most beautiful crown." Everyone said good words to the king, but except for the grandfather rabbit. Because, she has a cold, so she can't sing,or talk. So the grandfather was trying to give up. Sudenly,she got away from the cold! So she said good words to the king million times. "The grandfather rabbit is the winner of this contest." the tiger said. The grandfather rabbit was so happy. After all, the grandfather was the richest person in the whole intire land.

This girl is adorable AND very intelligent. You can see where my priorities lie.

I forgot how violent little boys were

The lion went to show the boy a good place to rest, but he ran into the fire. "Well, he's very silly. All the more reason to help him. I did my part," the lion said. After that, Whenever the lion was around, the other animals pretended to eat the boy. They eat the leg, arm, and head. It's so disgusting.

Goodness...and this kid is one of the less violent ones! The story is about the animals saving a little girl, not eating a little boy. I do like the last sentence, though. Also, how he thought that it would be okay to use "fire" instead of "water." It's a hysterical mental image. I laughed very, very hard when I read this.

It was a ridiculous weekend. Got extremely upset and kicked a door on Friday. Cut my pinky deeply and got blood on pants, which I then had to walk around Daejeon wearing on Saturday while Tonya, Jim and I looked for hospitals to examine my presumably broken foot. We couldn't find one, so I settled for acupuncture. It being my first acupuncture experience, I was a bit skeptical. I would've accepted anything to soothe the pain. Come Tuesday, I can bend all my knuckles, put all my weight on it with only mild pain, and there's no more fear of anything being broken. Another round of acupuncture and I'll be right as rain. Mom please don't worry about me. I'll tell you more about this incident on Skype soon.

Hung out with Tonya all weekend, and played in my second dart competition on Sunday evening. I was told that it would only be Sponge people, but I was wrong: the fuckers from Martin Bar came and destroyed us. They are A10, which is two levels shy of perfection. Jim and I faced them in the first round and lost, even with a handicap. Next game we lost, to my surprise, to friends of mine. This result was both welcome and horrifically dissatisfying, because I was tired and wanting to sleep, but I also wanted to win. In the end, nothing worked, because I didn't end up going to sleep until 4. I suppose I was brooding over my loss. We were the first team knocked out. Nobody likes dying first.

Monday was tiring, but I actually had a very good day. I connected with two of my most difficult students, and I discovered that I need to not be angered by their pestering and childish baloney ("bologna," doesn't feel right when you're using it to mean something silly). That's why I had such a hard time in high school after all, it was like being around fully-grown 10 year olds all the time. This kid John, violent and disruptive, memorized his lines and delivered them without hitting anyone! Adam behaved well enough when I wrote his name on the board, and he wasn't speaking as much Korean! Victory was mine!

My sociopath student, Peter, talked independently for a while about winning a science contest where he made water smell like strawberries or flowers. Not sure if he was lying, because he says he's quiter good at it, but his grammar and English were acceptable. He is clearly bored during the lessons, and I think he needs private tutoring. Or to be in a class with higher-level students.

I love my job! I'm finally getting my license this Saturday, and after that, it's time to look for bigger and better bikes :-D I can't wait. Which reminds me that I need to fill 'er up. In honor of the car I had for a year and only drove a few times...Esmerelda...my motorcycle is named Ethan Merlin. It's the closest thing to Esmerelda that I like. Soon there will be an Ethan Merlin II.

Someone needs to draw me a sweet decal...

My politics

I believe:

-That guns should be made completely illegal for citizens to own for any purpose. We are no longer threatened by anyone. In fact, we are considered one of the world's military super powers. Citizens don't need guns anymore. Firing ranges and using guns for a price at specified locations might be alright, but there should be no guns in homes.

- The the health care bill was a monumental step forward. I do agree with the Stupak Amendment, in that I don't believe that abortions should be paid for by tax payers. In certain cases (rape, incest, etc.) there should be an exception, but a voluntary abortion should not be free. Having unprotected sex is a choice, and if you don't have the ability to stop yourself, you're going to be ruining your own life and the life of some children. Unless you put them up for adoption and make some infertile couple very happy. Every cloud has a silver lining.

- Illegal immigrants are coming into the country at an alarming rate. I think that despite the quality of life they've had in their country, no matter how low, we should be worrying much more about our own citizens before we take on people from elsewhere. If they go through the process of becoming a citizen, however, then they are more than welcome to come in. We could use a few more tax payers these days.
** Employers also need to raise the minimum wage substantially. People can barely afford to live in some places on the wages they make.

- Gay marriage should be legal everywhere. Who gives a fuck, we heterosexuals could give a fuck about the sanctity of marriage with the way we abuse it's 'til death do we part' bit. Get off your high horse. Or stop being such a religious dickhead. You probably do meth with male prossies like Ted Haggard. Or blow dudes in airports like Larry Craig. Or molest little boys like Catholic priests. Or have gay affairs like televangelist Paul Crouch. Or try and keep homosexuals from working in schools, day-care centers, and state agencies, also proposing that teens touching each other be a criminal offense...then go bang an 18 year old boy JUST LIKE Spokane mayor Jim West. Or...you get the picture

- Laws should be put in place to prevent the textbooks that almost all of our nations' students use be dictated by Texas. They are ignorant, self-righteous morons. We need more public, government-sponsored support for independent textbooks from collegiate history professors. Shit, even Jon Stewart wrote a history book. Besides the nude Supreme Court Justices, it's quality stuff.

- There should be no more "life without parole" sentences. A life sentence is already going to last an average of 25 years. I think that's enough time to think about your actions and be released. If they are criminally insane, they should be institutionalized. And I believe that if we can discern that they are a psychopath indefinitely, we either find a good use for them, or we execute them.

- I believe that National Health Insurance, or NHS like the British have, will make people far happier, but will also make doctors less satisfied. I wonder...will we experience a shortage of doctors if that were the case? Or would doctors start coming from all over the world to replace the American ones that won't work for the pay cut? That would be a social experiment I'd like to see.

And finally, any senator, like Jim Bunning, who openly admits he was upset that he stalled a vote because he MISSED A BASEBALL GAME should either not stall a fucking vote next time that gives people money to eat, or find a new fucking job. OR BE IMPEACHED. YOU CAN DO IT KENTUCKY. The Constitution says so...or whatever old document it is that gives people the right to impeach their leaders.

Positive reassertions

I can safely say that I am a better person than some people. I think that Conservatives, at heart, are only out for themselves and genuinely doesn't care about the welfare of others. There's nothing wrong with demanding that your life be good and well, but getting that at the expense of others is unfathomable to me.

America is still in its medieval years. I think that there can be many comparisons between our self-destructive government and the various royal families that used to rule the world. Most Americans are serfs, happy with their guns and booze and no call to greater responsibility other than the military.

I'm not saying that we should murder our leaders recklessly like the French did, but I do think there was some sense in being able to forcibly impeach poor leaders.

I'm just really feeling that because I have actually heard people say that they don't want to read the news, or discuss politics, either because they don't want to complicate their lives, or because they don't care. How can you not care about something that directly affects you?

The plot thickens...

I was asked recently if I wanted to DJ again at JRock. Alright! I don't think I'll be getting paid just yet, but at least I've been asked back. I need to decide by tomorrow if I want to do it. I need to buy new headphones...and I need to buy an external audio mixer and get a DJ program that doesn't crash or stall. Virtual DJ is better if you have decks and the skills to operate it. It's not the best beginners program. I wish I had a mentor, but everyone I would like to learn from is too busy. It's lonely at the top, sure, but it's busy as hell at the bottom. I'm also very aware and nervous of failure, which has stopped me from doing so many things in the past. I won't let this destroy my passion, though. I'm riding my motorcycle, I'm DJing, I'm even writing in this blog! Baby steps...

Our new teacher, Tony, is a cool guy. He spent some time in Anchorage, AK so we both know how pretty it is.

Sorry, I just became distracted by a little prefrosh (that's what I've decided to call potential students) outside my door, singing a song to practice English. It's really like a constant overload of cute with these kids. Some of the little girls even try to flirt with me just like little girls flirt...either by giving me candy, or by physically assaulting me. A few girls slap the SHIT out of my side and arms. It hurts a lot, but I don't have the heart to tell them it hurts. Big strong American teacher can't be hurt by small Korean girls! Strong like bull! Really though, slaps hurt everyone. Even my girlfriend hits me. Or pretends to, which still causes me to flinch. She's feisty alright. You're a 수파수타 바이배

Tony just graded this gem:
Jony Techer and Mathew Techer went to the beach together.And they played soccer, basketball,and badminton.

It's funny because the original story is about a puppy that fell into a well. This girl is as cute as a fiery explosion of hearts and bananas.

I need to go now, grab some lunch and coffee, call my busy significant other, finalize dinner plans, look for used DJ equipment online, and clean my classroom. All in 30 minutes! Sometimes it's good to step back and really take stock of how productive you are in a day. I get so down on myself, when the fact is that this morning I woke up at 10:30 and cleaned my apartment a biut, took out the recycling, did a load of laundry, got new music, washed dishes and cooked, and did grading. Oh, and I DRANK SOME MO'FUCKIN' TEA.

It's snowing...?

Rock and Roll!

Posted two new pictures on Facebook. I'm dancing like a crazy man. Score!

The weather here is getting nicer. I've got two free periods on Tuesday now, although I have the feeling that they won't last very long :-( I'm getting better on my motorcycle, and I'm already considering upgrading to a 250 or 300. The only problem is that you can't take motorcycles on toll roads here, and those are the roads used to get all over Korea quickly. So I had better either learn to speak Korean much better, or get a GPS.

I'm competing in another dart competition in two weeks, this time it's Jim and I. We played last night and did quite well, nice! We played the two best players at the bar, I think. We won 1 out of 3, and ALMOST won the third, but I was kinda drunk and wasn't shooting my best. I won't make that mistake again.

Learning Korean is slow but steady work, and I'm trying to save money at the same time. Life is fun and difficult.

Time to go.

First DJing gig completed

Last night was fun! The place was pretty full of people which, is a new thing for JRock. Many of my friends came, which made me very happy, and Tonya showed up, which made me very happy. I am not surprised that they showed up for me - I was surprised because JRock is quite far away from Dunsansong, where we normally spend our Friday and Saturday nights. But many people came, some people danced, and I got a few free beers. Woohoo!

There was a real downside, though: I had not taken into account my lack of musical eclecticism. I as playing songs that I thought were the bees knees, but most people did not seem to agree. My main dancers were four middle-aged Russian ladies, two of whom were apparently on television for having married Korean men (yes, I am aware how strange this sounds). Two looked Korean, but I suppose were some pseudo-RussoMongolian blend? Eh. Anyway, this one short blond Russky asked me twice for some Lady Gaga song, which I did not have, mostly because I don't fucking like Lady Gaga. I DID, however, have FOUR rather excellent remixes of Bad Romance, two of which I played, one by Chew Fu and one by Skrillex. This did not satisfy her. She asked me three times for some other song that I can't remember, and once she even asked me for a Limp Biskit song. I was so surprised I made her repeat it three times just to be sure she was saying "Limp Biskit." I also took a small and twisted pleasure in forcing this Russian lady to spit out "Limp Biskit," three times. Ask a Russian friend to say it some time, it sounds pretty funny.

Besides her, this Japanese-Hawaiian man asked for a Hawaiian song. I said I didn't have it. He was literally taken aback. Let me clarify: he looked VERY SURPRISED and STEPPED BACKWARDS ONCE. I almost laughed. In his face. Because I did not that people actually did that. And he left about 30 seconds after I said that I couldn't play his song. Toughest fucking crowd member ever.

Overall I think the night was a success. I made one MASSIVE mistake, which was letting silence fall upon the dance floor. I had the next song ready to mix, but then a friend came to chat about the songs and I became distracted. In the span of FIVE SECONDS, two people shouted "DJ!" and I was very red in the face. Good thing it was dark and smoky in there.

I don't think people liked my music :-( At least not the JRock crowd. I need to go to clubs that habitually play electronic. I also need to be able to monitor tracks before I play them. Yes, if you are reading this, and if you saw me last night, the headphones I was wearing were entirely for show. Everything you could hear, I could hear louder and closer, but at the same time. Those few weird tweaks? That was me not being sure when to fade. Although I didn't get any weird looks, and apparently people were complacent enough to stay and buy drinks, so I suppose it worked out. I guess they liked my music, just not enough to dance to it. Also, I guess they weren't drunk enough. I stopped playing at 2:15 when Jack, the co-owner, went on to play the normal hip-hop stuff. But when people were drunk and dancing, he put on some housey-tunes, and people were getting down. IF ONLY MY CUSTOMERS HAD BEEN DRUNKER, SOONER.

That's it for me. On my way to Seoul tonight to belatedly celebrate a friends Bday. It should be fun.

It's 2 am and I should go to bed

I apologize for ending that last post so abruptly - I forgot that we had workshop on Thursdays. They always cut it so close to class time.

I just sound-tested my laptop at JRock with Traktor Scratch Pro, and the fucking thing crashed twice. I've been trolling the forums for a while now, searching for answers, but all that comes up is conspiracy-theory jargon about plots to make it crash so people keep getting upgrades. That, and people just saying how inexperienced others are. GET OFF YOUR IVORY TOWER, GUY. I'm a noob. Not-so-coincidentally, Noob is a pretty decent DJ from somewhere, but his sound is too hard and minimal for me.

I immediately acquired Virtual DJ, and am mixing with it now. While my skills are still so limited, this set tomorrow will be my foot in the door. I just hope people show up.

Wish me luck.

I am trying hard to do something I care about for the first time in a long time. Well, being true to my emotions about Tonya was pretty hard too, but that's pretty damn awesome right now. I hope DJing turns out to be just as rewarding. PLEASE DON'T LET ME JINX MYSELF WITH THIS POST.

It's been another month or two, and I am still not interested in blogging all that much. I just can't be bothered. But I feel bad about keeping people in the dark, so if you want to learn about what I've been doing, then here you are:

The weather in Daejeon is confusing. It's like Spring now, which I'm told is both usual and unusual...hence the confusion. I've been riding my motorcycle around quite a bit even though I still don't have my license, which is very illegal and could get me deported. But the police don't seem to bother anyone for anything other than sobriety checks, so I'm not too concerned. Before anyone goes apeshit, I am planning on getting my license this weekend or next, and until then, I just ride it to and from school (a very short drive).

One month later

I have absolutely no complaints in life. I have a beautiful girlfriend named Tonya (remember Tonya?), I love my job more than ever, I just sent money home (yay savings account), and I'm going snowboarding this Saturday.

Tonya and I have been together for about two months now, and she's the first girl I've dated that isn't needy and dependent. She doesn't like talking on the phone unless it's planning something, she doesn't mind at all when I go out with the boys (and she DOESN'T awkwardly ask to come with us, score), and while I compliment her on her shopping purchases, she is really warming to my spontaneity and bizarre whims. She is amazing and I hadn't planned on being in a relationship while I was here, but she was honestly just too fun and sweet and doesn't mind how weird I am that I had to snatch her up.

I believe that I was becoming a bit jaded with a few of my students. My attitude was getting really sour, and I could see that some of them were having less fun. I had been really trying to crack the whip and make them study as relentlessly as possible, and most people would just call that "paying attention for 10 minutes." But I was forgetting that these kids are 10 years old, and trying to focus on a foreign language solidly for 10 minutes is impossible. So now I try and pick out the ones that have the hardest time and work with them solo for a few minutes. It's hit or miss, but when they come through and say that whole line without faltering, it feels fantastic. And the best part is that I know they feel good, too.

Sending $425 home feels awesome. Next month, another round! After I buy my motorcycle, that is...Oh yes...it's on its way.

No real amazing stories. I refuse to see Avatar because I think it's the thinnest veil I've ever seen Cameron place over a real-life situation. He just made the people blue...it's still a pathetic metaphor for the Iraq War. Please don't say James Cameron is turning into the Action movie-version of Michael Moore.