Magic by Secret

It's their new single. The song and the video or whatever, but it never hurts to be exposed to another Korean girl group.

Photos of 2NE1 at Club Answer on March 27th.

I guess 2NE1 was out partying with fashion designer Jeremy Scott at Club Answer this past weekend. I didn't know about over the event or else I would have went. Minzy's missing probably since she's underage, but CL and Park Bom are looking good. Of course there's Sandara Park, my one and only.

All these photos are from Hospital Korea and you can check out the entire gallery here. You should check out the site since it's pretty cool. It's photos from clubs and events in Korea. There's even another set of photos of the Brown Eyed Girls at the same club from a few weeks ago too. If anything, all the photos show me that I've been going to the wrong clubs the past seven months I've been here.

The Seoul Pillow Fight

Here's the facebook event for the Seoul Pillow Fight that's going on this Saturday, April 3rd. I'm probably going to go and drop by to take pictures, but I won't be participating. I only have one pillow and it doesn't sound sanitary. Everyone's going to be laughing with their mouths open and being hitting in the face. If anyone's saliva is getting on my pillow, it's going to be my own drool. Don't let what I say stop you if you were planning on participating though.

If you could be invisible, what would you do? Where would you go?

"If I was invisible, then I could just watch you in your room."

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers that.

To be honest, this probably sounds creepy, but I'd just follow my friends around during a regular day. I sort of enjoy seeing people do regular things. I'd probably mess with them in weird ways, like moving all their shit around too. Once I got bored of that, I'd probably start following around C-list celebrities.

Ask away.

Who are your heroes and why am i not one of them?

My only real hero is my mom. So unless you're my mom, figured out how to turn on a computer, somehow managed to find my website, learned to spell the word "heroes," and somehow asked formspringed me a question, then you're not one my hero.

Ask away.

This Chinese dude has huge breasts.

This article from the Korea Times reports that this dude from Beijing has these huge breasts. I almost died of laughter when I saw they posted. Just look at that doctor feeling up his breasts.

"The man is in every way male except for his enormous breasts."

Would you consider yourself a shy person?

No, I don't think that I'm a shy person. I don't really know how other people perceive me, but I do answer anonymous questions about myself on the Internet.

Ask away.

Ten reasons why Tiger JK's twitter makes him a badass.

I'm a little new to the whole twitter thing, but I follow Tiger JK of Drunken Tiger, who is without a doubt, the greatest Korean rapper of all time. Anyway, I was on the fence if he was a badass before, but after looking at his twitter, I'm guaranteed that hes. Here's 10 reasons why I think so:

1. He tweets in English and Korean and knowing more than one language definitely makes you a little badass. Not only does he speak those two languages, but his twitter shows that he's also learning Spanish and French.
2. Tiger JK follows other rappers, like Nas, Snoop Dogg, Rev Run, and Pharoahe Monch.
3. Not only does he follow other rappers, but he follow some other badasses, like Edward Norton and Conan O'Brien.
4. His twitter makes him so mysterious. For one thing, he tweets at 3:00AM. You're left clouded in mystery. Why's he up so late? What's he doing? Is he up taking care of his kid or is he out having some crazy ass fun with other famous people?
5. He has cornrows in his profile picture and that's a badass hair-do for anyone.
6. He follows Bill Cosby and that, my friends, is self-explanatory.
7. Tiger JK is tweets a lot. He updates regularly and he tweets at people. There's nothing more badass than a guy who spends a lot of time on the Internet.
8. He's keeping it real by staying up to date with current news. He follows the Huffington Post and CNN.
9. He cares about those less fortunate than him. Following UNICEF proves that.
10. I'm not the only one who knows how awesome he is. He has over 30,000 followers.

It's really a shameless plug, but you can also follow me on twitter.

Here's the facebook event for Paul Oakenfold in Seoul.

Someone from 10 Magazine saw my post on wordpress and was nice enough to give me this link. It has details on the event and has the links for the sites you can get tickets.

What I learned in Korean this week:

Hangul/Pronunciation:

• 한국말 가르쳐 주세요?/Han-guk-mal ga-ru-chyeo joo-se-yo.

Translation:

• Can you please teach me Korean?

---

As a quick update, I'll be learning Korean from my co-teacher once a week. I asked her yesterday if she could tutor me regularly, so I'll be having weekly lessons from her on Thursdays after school.

I also heard that this works fairly well as a pick-up line.

I've made some serious life decisions.

Since I didn't get into grad school, I've been seriously thinking about what I'm going to be doing for the next few years. When I graduated high school I made this five year plan that I've stuck to. Sure, there has been a few changes to the plan since then, but I made it happen for the most part, going to a community college for two years, then finishing up at a university in two years, and then going out and doing something for a year before going back to school. Now that it's almost been five years since I've graduated from high school, I started to realize that I need a new plan. Not getting into grad school threw a wrench what I originally thought I'd be doing, but it turns out not to be a huge deal in the long run. Anyway, here's what I'm thinking for the next few years:

1. I'm going to extend my stay in Korea until the spring of 2011. I'm doing this for a few different reasons. First is that I feel like there's a lot Korea offers that I haven't fully taken advantage of, but at the same time, I don't feel like I can stay here any longer than that. Another reason is that there aren't many jobs to take back home, but I need to save money to pay off my student loans before I do anything else.
2. I'll be teaching at a hagwon (private academy). As much as I love my job at Yeonhak Elementary School, I've decided not to try and extend my contract. I feel like there's a lot more money to be made outside of the public school system and money is a big reason I'm staying. Also, I'll be applying mostly for jobs in Seoul, even though Incheon has been really nice to me. It'll be a nice change of pace.
3. While I'm here in Korea, I'll be applying for different schools. I'm still looking at teaching credential programs and masters' programs in education, but now I'm also planning on applying to programs for academic counseling and social work. At this point, I really feel like working with teenagers and young adults is something that I can love doing for the rest of my life. This means that I'll be working on applications and studying for all the required tests that I need to take while I'm here in Korea.
4. I plan on travelling a little more. This will probably occur right before leaving home. I'm hoping to see the rest of Asia and maybe some of Europe before heading back home.
5. I'm going back to California and finding work before heading into school. I'm really not sure what sort of job I'll find when I get back home, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something. How long I'll be working is also really dependent on if I'm accepted in a program for fall 2011 or not. How much I'm making is also going to determine if I'm living at home or not, but most likely I'll be living in Norwalk, for at least a little while.
   
6. I'll get into a school by the end of 2012 and finish in one or two years, depending on the program. I don't know where I'll be going to school. I'm planning on applying to mostly schools in California, but there's a few colleges I'm considering out east.
7. By 2014, I hope to be starting my career. This might be a little too hopeful since I don't know what's going to happen between now and then, but it's not too far-fetched.

The plan isn't set in stone or anything. There's still a lot left I need to think about, but this is what I have for now.

Paul Oakenfold is coming to Seoul.

10 Magazine's post on April events in Seoul mentions that Paul Oakenfold is spinning on April 10th at Club Volume in Itaewon. I know he's old as shit, but I saw him in Vegas last summer and he still puts on a party. I'll probably go to this if nothing better comes up over the weekend.

Tickets are 55,000won at the door, which I'll probably try and grab. I'm not sure if this is going to sell out or anything, but I'll take my chances. 10 Magazine mentions a pre-sale, but I haven't been able to find any details about it on the club's site or the link that they posted. I'll update if I find out more about the event.

The Korean Blog List

I got my site listed on the Korean Blog List directory. It looks like I'm well on my way to Internet stardom. Anyway, you should check out some of the other blogs on that list. I've looked at a few and some of them are really solid, though probably not as good as mine.

I'm sure the world is going to end.

I just saw one of my students erasing what he wrote on his eraser with another eraser shaped like a pencil. I'm pretty sure that by doing this, he caused a tear in the space-time continuum and changed the fate of all mankind.

Ireland wins the Mr. World Competition.

Not like anyone was really interested, but the Mr. World Competition that I mentioned a few weeks ago took place over the weekend. The contestant from Ireland won the competition. Girls' Generation also performed the songs Gee and Oh!, which would have been the only reason I would have went to the damn thing.

Run - Epik High

It's a catchy song and the video is alright. It's sort of what I imagined all Korean music videos to be like before I came here.

I'm back in Incheon.

I had a lot of fun on my trip to Gwangju. There was a huge birthday party and a lot of funny shit happened but sadly, there's no pictures. I packed my camera bag and then right after I got on the bus, I realized that I left both my memory cards sitting on top of my desk. It's sad really, since the camera was the heaviest thing that I brought and it was entirely useless for the entire trip. Anyway, I'm glad to be back in my apartment. It really is home now that I think about it. It's scary that I'll be leaving it in less than a month.

I'm headed to Gwangju.

I'm finally feeling healthy so I'm making a trip down to Jeollanamdo for the weekend, where I'll probably end up getting sick again, but whatever. My phone also won't let me make outgoing calls or send text messages so I'm up shit's creek this weekend. You can reach me though, if anything needs to be said. Anyway, have a good weekend. I'm not sure if I'll be dropping by a PC bang today or tomorrow, so this might be the only update for the weekend.

Foxy's new video

According to allkpop.com, SBS, KBS, and MBC (the three major TV broadcasters in Korea) have decided to ban the video from their stations. It's really not that bad. I don't understand the words though, so they could just be saying, "Fuck me," over and over again, but yea. If you really want to see the "racy" stuff, then skip to 1:15 and watch from there.

MC Mong - Indian Boy

The only reason I wanted to go last night was so I could see this song live.

Bummer.

Went to the event at Orange Night Club I mentioned yesterday. I was excited to see MC Mong too. Anyway, I met up with some friends for dinner and then we headed to the club around 8:30, which we thought was a good time. It turns out that Orange Night Club is a huge place. However, WE WERE THE ONLY ONES IN THERE. We were also in there the entire time we were at the club. The place was fully staffed though, with about 20 people standing around doing nothing. MC Mong apparently showed up at 11AM to make an appearance, which is before I even had lunch at school today. I guess I can say that it was worth the experience, but man, that shit sucked.

Learning Korean

Since it looks like I'll be staying here longer than expected, I'm actually going to start cracking down on this shit. I currently can speak enough to get by in most situations, but I'm nowhere near having a small conversation. It's not as if I know a lot of Korean, it's just the shit I know I can use everyday. I can read though, but I don't understand any of it. Either way, it looks like the next step is for me to move on to something more regular and structured. I had my old co-worker help me with my Korean before and that's how I learned most of what I know today. I've picked up words here and there, but mostly useful things like, "Another beer, please." So, I'm making it my goal to sign up for a tutor by the middle of April and start attending. Hopefully, this will all work out, so I'll be able to hit on Tae Yeon or Sandara Park in Korean when the opportunity for me to woo them finally arrives.

The UC system might be making some crazy changes.

This L.A. Times article reports that the University of California is to consider new ideas to make money for the next few years. It doesn't have the entire list of proposals that they are looking at, but it does mention a few of the changes they're thinking about. Here are some of them.

• Three-year bachelors' degrees
• Increasing the number of out-of-state applicants accepted
• Raising tuition for the popular campuses (UCLA and Cal)
• Online courses

THREE YEARS FOR A DEGREE!? That shit is crazy.

I'm thinking about getting back into pokemon on the DS. Particularly pokemon diamond. As a big fan of the original red/blue and gold/silver series, what can I expect in terms of gameplay, storyline, and battles? What separates it from the old versions?

If you were to only get one game from the current generation of Pokemon games, then I'd go for Platinum. If Pearl and Diamond are like the original Red and Blue, then Platinum is the equivalent of Yellow. I own Pearl, Diamond, and Platinum so you can take my word for it. Also, you could look into getting Heart Gold or Soul Silver, which are the original Gold/Silver rehashed for the DS. They just came out and I haven't played them myself, but the reviews are good.

The gameplay is a lot more interesting since there's tons more shit you need to do. Also, the storyline is decent and way better than older generations in my opinion. It's linear, but it's not like anyone was really expecting different. Battles will be a little tougher then older games too, just because the games a lot more complex with close to 500 pokemon and different types in play. It's a fun game though.

Ask away.

The Jisan Valley Rock Festival

It looks like the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, taking place from July 30 - August 1st, just revealed a part of the line-up according to this Korea Times article. Muse is the headliner on the last night. Belle & Sebastian is also going to be there. Massive Attack, who I'd be excited to see, is also coming to Korea for the festival. July 30th is actually my birthday, so I'm not sure if I'll be going to this, but if other bands worth seeing are added to the line-up, then I might just have to drag everybody to Jisan Valley for the weekend. Either way, I'll try to keep up with the site and see if they release a complete line-up anytime soon.

The article also mentions the Pentarock Music Festival, which happens right in Incheon the week before the Jisan Valley Rock Festival. The line-up for that isn't out yet, but I'll try to keep everyone updated on that as well.

MC Mong in Incheon!?

There's an event going on near Juan Station for the next few days at Orange Nightclub. I don't know all the details about it since I couldn't find the event online. All I saw were the flyers/posters on the ground the past few weeks, so I stole this one off a wall yesterday just so I could bring it home and try to translate it. Turns out the poster doesn't really have much information either. There's going to be some comedians from those Korean variety shows, b-boys, and some pop stars. I'm going to go check it out tonight and see if it's hype. Tonight there's supposed to be a mystery guest too, so hopefully it's someone crazy. However, tomorrow's the real kicker, since MC Mong is going to be there. You should come out tonight with me to check it out if you're free, but if not, I'll let you know how it is for tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/joegutierrez___

I just made it the other day. I'll pretty much be posting links to my own blog posts and some other small updates, but since I don't have a phone with Internet capabilities it's going to be really limited. It'll help me on my way to my dreams though.

In other news, Ryan gave me this link the other day. It's a directory of me2day (a Korean microblogging platform) and twitter accounts of Korean pop stars. Tiger JK's twitter account is there so is Rain's. Check it out if you're into the whole twitter thing.

Supreme Team's new album is pretty legit.

The album was released last week and according to allkpop.com, their songs have topped the Cyworld charts. I listened to some of their new shit on youtube and it's all pretty solid. Check it out if you have time. You're probably all wondering who the fuck I'm talking about, but if you're living in Korea, then you've all have at least heard this song:

I like this song a lot too and the video is really funny. Take a quick peek at 2:07 for that sweet Segal mask.

I also wonder if the dudes know that they share their name with a crack dealing gang from New York.

What do you dream about?

I don't have many dreams I can remember. The ones I do remember usually involve me dying. That might sound weird, but it's not really. They happen a little after I fall asleep and they're usually quick deaths, like me in a car crash. I wake up right when I die too, so that's probably why I remember them.

Ask away.

Idea for the greatest mashup of all time.

Lollipop - Lil Wayne X Big Bang & 2NE1

This came up in conversation I had yesterday, but imagine these two songs together. It would probably be the best mashup in history, while being the worst sounding shit of all time. Either way, I'm sure it'd get a lot of youtube hits.

I'm feeling hood.

It's the video for the song "Superfine" off of Drunken Tiger's 8th album. I'm posting this because I'm a huge fan and I actually bought the album a few weeks ago. Tiger JK was also the guest host on Project Runway: Korea this week, which is awesome.

What I learned in Korean this week:

I really have to thank the Korea Times for making these. I've been trying to learn this shit forever.

This is a commercial for the Corby with 2NE1. There are a few different versions that I've seen on TV, but I guess this is the full version. Also, Park Bom is starting to grow on me.

I'm sick.

I called in sick to work today. I've probably been sick more times in Korea than I have been in the past five years. I'm almost entirely convinced that I'm sick this time because of the yellow dust. Really though, I doubt that it's the reason I'm actually sick, but it looks like purchasing a humidifier is in my future. I have a cold but it's been pretty severe. I've been coughing so much lately that my chest is sore. The rest of my body is sore too, but that's just because I've been laying in bed for the entire weekend.

Since I did take the day off work, I'll probably spend the rest of my time cleaning my room, or blogging and watching TV while thinking about how my room should be clean.

The Street Where Originality Lives

I saw this Adidas commercial on TV a few minutes ago and I just had to post it. Adidas just makes all their shit look so fun. Snoop Dogg is in it. David Beckham is in it too, if you're into that sort of thing.

It must be something I ate.

Black tofu at Osu in Insadong

This was one of the side dishes served at the restaurant. The entire meal was really expensive though.

Robots are teaching kids in Korea.

It looks like the future we dreamed about is really coming. Either way, this probably isn't going to go mainstream, but I really want to see a video about this.

I didn't get into grad school.

I got the rejection e-mail yesterday, so it looks like I won't be a student of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences. I really was hoping to get in, but it's not really a huge deal at the same time. If I really wanted to get into grad school, I probably should have applied to more than one. Now that I'm not going though, I have some really big decisions to make in the next month or so. I originally intended just continuing to work at the school I'm already at for another semester, but the more I think about it, the more I want to leave. It's just not as fun as it was last semester. Anyway, I have a few other options that I came up with and here they all are.:

1. I'll leave Korea in September when my contract ends and just hope to find a job when I get there. This sounds really awesome. No matter how tempting this sounds though, it's probably not what I'll be doing. It sounds like it will be impossible to find a full-time job when I get back.
2. I can man up and just decide to stay another year in Korea. This would be really easy to do. I could just extend at my school for another year or even try to transfer to a different one. However, I really don't want to stay another year though.
3. I'll try to to see if EPIK will let me extend my contract for six months at a different school or at my school. This is probably the best option for me. It would make things easier and means I wouldn't have to apply anywhere else. Six months is also the amount of time that I want to stay here. I'll be saving money while applying for more schools. However, I don't know how likely this will be. I'm just not sure if they'll allow me to extend for only that long.
4. If that doesn't work out, then I can just sign a year long contract and bail out after six months. This would be really easy to do. Also, if you leave after six months in a contract, there won't be any problems. I'll just have to pay for my own flight home. This is also ideal because I'd have a lot more options in choosing where to work, especially since I already live here. I would feel a little bad about leaving halfway through though.
5. There's still the option of going private. It really wouldn't be hard for me to find a private job either. I'm sure someone I know here could probably hook me up. It's a good option too, since there's a greater possibility of me working out a six month contract with a hagwon then the public school system.

I guess I should say that if I decide to stay here, I'll try to work in Seoul, just since it'd be different and there's no reason not to. I really wouldn't mind staying in Incheon though. We'll see how it works out. Also, if you have any input/information that could help me figure out what to do, that would be greatly appreciated.

SNSD's new video.

It just came out. I think it's sort of boring. There aren't a lot of outfits and the choreography is uninteresting. Oh well, Taeyeon still looks good.

Naked News is coming to Korea.

Naked News is coming to Korea.

Korean PC games are racist.

With PC gaming tournaments being broadcasted on TV at every hour and a PC gaming room on every block, it's hard to not notice how huge e-gaming is here in Korea. The Korean government is currently trying to curb gaming addiction, since it's such a widespread problem. Luckily, I won't have to deal with being addicted SINCE THEY WON'T LET ME PLAY BECAUSE I'M NOT KOREAN. This is an issue I ran into while trying to play Dragon Ball Online last week. I just keep ending up at an error screen like this one:

Basically, to make an account, you need the Korean equivalent to a social security number, which I assume is for age verification purposes. That's not the problem though, since I have one of these since I'm a registered foreigner. The problem is that it requires you to enter your name in Hangul, which leads to a different error then the one above where it tells me that my name doesn't match my number.

I wouldn't really mind this if it was only for Dragon Ball Online, but it's impossible for a foreigner to play over half the PC games in Korea. This is because one company runs the services for a number of games. For example, to play Dragon Ball Online, I'm not having the problem making a Dragon Ball account, but with NetMarble. So since I can't make a NetMarble account, I'm unable to play all the games they offer, including the popular first-person shooter Sudden Attack. It's also really weird that in Korea, Counter-Strike (you're a straight n00b if you don't know about this shit) is run by Nexon, the company that produced Maplestory. It basically leaves only games that run off of a CD available for foreigners in Korea, like Starcraft, but most of these are readily available in America anyway.

It's not like I really want to play games that much, and I could always get someone I know to make an account for me using their information, but this shit blows. Every time I walk through the PC bang, I see some crazy ass shit going on someone's screen and it sucks to know that they don't want me playing it.

It must be something I ate.

Donkasu at Kimbab Cheonguk (trans. Kimbap Heaven) down the street from my place

It's a pork cutlet served with rice, salad, and corn (sometimes it's apples). It's also served with a bowl of some meat broth and kimchi, of course. This is probably one of my favorite dishes in Korea. I probably get it two or three times a week. It also helps that the kimbap place I usually go to is open 24 hours. Anyway, I can get donkasu at any kimbap restaurant.

What I learned in Korean this week:

North Korea has been in the news a lot lately. These language charts are just too funny. Look at that Kim Jong-il.

I had so many plans for today.

I was supposed to:

• Clean my room
• Do laundry
• Go out to eat with some friends
• Lesson plan
• Go to Home Plus [I even wrote out a shopping list]

Things I actually did:

• Nap

The Korea Times thinks Perez Hilton is a woman.

I'm not a huge fan of Perez Hilton and it's not like I dislike his site either, but this is hilarious. In this article, the Korea Times is reporting how 2NE1 and Big Bang music videos have been posted on his site and how Perez has mentioned that he likes K-pop. However, they refer to him as a woman throughout the whole article. For example, "Perez Hilton showed her favor to Korean pop songs." I guess there is one time where they correctly say he, but that's besides the point. I wonder how long it'll take them to fix it.

not a question but a comment. http://wiki.galbijim.com/Mexican_restaurants

Thanks for the link. I've been to a few of these places and I guess I'll probably try a few more. I'll still be missing a California Burrito from Albertaco's though. It's actually sad since I probably miss food more than people.

By the way, you can comment on a post by clicking the link to the right of each post.

Ask away.

Did I let you borrow attack work gloves on Maplestory? Give em back if I did. Actually gimme all yo shit. I'm playing again. Game over.

You did let me borrow attack work gloves. I'll give you my account, just let me change the passwords and shit, bitch. Level up my spearman though.

[I know this is my brother and he's talking about me giving him all my shit on Maplestory. You know, that one game all the little Korean kids play.]

Ask away.

I think I'm a little late for a Pi Day joke.

Pi: This shit is driving me in circles. I think I might kill myself.

Me: I think that's being a little irrational.

Pi: Man, fuck you.

The new 2NE1 video

YG Entertainment posted this video this new video on Youtube a few days ago. It's an alright song. The part I like the best is at 1:44. Sandara Park + Star Wars = really funny.

This is how my Saturdays go:

1. Wake up around 2PM.
2. Get a pizza for lunch.
3. Bum around for a few hours.
4. Meet up friends and head into Seoul.
5. Eat dinner.
6. Get drinks.
7. Get drunk.
8. Go to another bar.
9. Get more drunk.
10. End up in some club I don't really want to be in.
11. Take a cab home some time around 4AM.

In general, this is how it usually goes. Today's probably not going to be any different.

My new bike.

Mr. World Competition

So the Mr. World Competition just started. This is sort of big news since it's right here in Incheon. Apparently it's the biggest male beauty pageant in the world. I'm not particularly interested in this, since it's a male beauty pageant, but I'm really hoping the dude from Latvia wins.

Just look at his mullet.

Anyway, the finale is supposed to be on March 27th. Girls' Generation and 2PM are performing, so I'm a little interested in going if it's not too expensive. It should be down in Songdo, since I think that's the only place they can really have it, but I'll look into it.

Looks like Conan's coming out of his hiatus.

According to this L.A Times article, Conan will be hosting a live show across 30 cities in the spring. I guess we'll have to see where he goes from here.

Also, I'm reading too much news today. I should be working on lesson plans or some shit.

Another quick update for today.

This time it's about Taco Bell. Looks like 10 Magazine has found out that the Taco Bell in Itaewon will be opening in May and not this month. I'm sure that this news is a huge disappointment to everyone. On the other hand, May is just around the corner.

This Korean dude married his pillow.

This isn't the first story of its kind. There was that dude who married a character on his DS (badass). However, I want to be friends with a dude like this. No joke. Not because I know he'd be super interesting and shit, but so I could attend the wedding. Like how awesome would it to be that dude's best man?

I'm actually waiting for some chick to do this in the near future but with one of these.

An update on my Korean friend.

Remember in a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that I made a new Korean friend? Well, it turns out that knowing her has become super awkward when I go buy food from the mini-mart. I can never remember what she looks like when I walk into the store. I just know it's her because she actually says my name. I also feel like she's judging me by my purchases too. Yesterday i bought razor blades for my Mach 3, and I could just tell that she was thinking in her head, "Yeah, that mother fucker needs to shave." Anyway, I actually made more than small talk yesterday. I found out that she's a student at Inha University and isn't just working at her mom's place. I guess we made tentative plans to actually go hang out next week. I'll see how it goes.

Facebook at it's best.

It looks like that lady is seriously going to have to name her baby Megatron.

Darren Price of Underworld is coming to coming to Seoul.

Just found out about this event from this article. It's at Club Eden in Gangnam this Saturday. I really have to give it up for Club Eden for bringing in really good DJs. If I didn't already have plans, I'd probably go. If you have nothing planned for Saturday, you might as well go and check this out.

Here's some of his shit if you want to check it out.

Good thing I just bought a bike.

This article in the Korea Times says that Korea is going to start putting more money into helping out its bikers. The major part of their plan is opening up more bike lanes. However, one of the coolest things that they're going to try to get bikers businesses to give discounts to their customers who ride bikes. I think that's awesome, especially since I bought a new bike two days ago.

It's a sweet bike. I bought it off of someone on craigslist. It's an older Korean road bike. It has a steel lugged frame. It runs pretty smoothly. I'll probably wait on seeing if I'm staying in Korea or not before I decide to drop any money into it. Bikes are a huge hobby of mine if you didn't know. I'm sure I spent over $1,000 in 2009 on bikes and bike equipment. Either way, the only thing I pretty much want to get for this bike at the moment is

I actually bought a bike the second month in Korea but I've only been using it to go to the grocery store and back. It's a foldable and it's not really meant for heavy riding. Either way, I'm trying to sell that bike if any of you were interested. I'll post pictures the one I'm trying to get rid of and my new bike tomorrow or something.

In other bike news, my brother was hit by a car yesterday while riding his bike. He's okay, so that shit's really funny.

Gee gee gee gee ba-by ba-by ba-by?

Oh!

Ask away.

Fuck sharks with lasers, this is way cooler.

According to this L.A. Times article, scientists have been tracking great white sharks and have found that they migrate away from the coast. The scientists believe that the sharks may be migrating just to hunt giant squid. If you don't know anything about giant squid, they're estimated to be about 40 feet. A great white is about 20 feet and the largest predatory fish. One of these actually killing the other IS FUCKING BADASS. Seriously, no matter how you imagine it in your head, you can't really think it would be anything but awesome.

What I learned in Korean this week:

Hangul - Pronunciation:

• 태연 최고 - Taeyeon chwe-go.
• 태연 사랑해 - Taeyeon saranghae.

Translation:

• Taeyeon is the best.
• I love Taeyeon.

I really should start studying again.

Dear Kim Taeyeon,

Happy 21st birthday. I found out that it was your birthday from your website. I check it almost everyday. Please don't think I'm creepy, I'm just your biggest fan. I listen to your music everyday at work. It gives me the strength I need to carry on. Now that you're 21, please let me buy you a drink when you visit America.

I know that you'll probably never read this, but just in case you do, I want you to know that I love you.

This is my favorite picture of you:

Your Chocolate Love,

Joseph Gutierrez

P.S.- Please don't think I'm creepy.

There's not much else to do at work.

I saw this this video at King Kong this weekend and spent some time on Youtube looking for that shit. Anyway, it's 2NE1's live performance a few months ago at some awards show. Anyway, I don't really think it's neat as their music videos, but I like the whole pseudo-plot they have going on.

Work's in full swing now.

Now that it's the second week into the semester, it really feels like school has started again. I'm currently getting used to my new co-teachers. It looks like I'll be having three of them this semester. Two of them I haven't really had a problem with, but the other one I don't really understand what she wants from me. She wanted me to make a game for the first lesson, so I did. She checks it and then tells me that the game is too good for the first lesson, so she wants me to make another one. So I come up with another one, a variation on Hot Potato, and then she tells me that she doesn't like it because the game has losers. So I modified the game with her supervision, so basically my kids are just passing around a ball without any real objective. Looks like I'll have to see how the class goes, it probably won't be as bad as I think it's going to be.

In other news, my pants snagged onto something while I was walking to lunch so it ripped about a three inch hole under the zipper of my pants. Luckily, I wasn't wounded on whatever my pants snagged on, which could have been really bad. I sat through the whole lunch and I don't think anyone noticed. I ended up telling my old co-teacher that I was going to run home and change, who laughed at me hysterically.

It must be something I ate.

Sampler plate, a cheese crust BBQ chicken pizza, and a pepperoni pan pizza at the Pizza Hut near the Incheon Bus Terminal

I had this for dinner with three other guys before heading the PC bang last night. I know that I eat a lot more pizza than I should, but I really can't resist Pizza Hut. I like Mr. Pizza a little more probably, but the pizzas are just different. The pepperoni at Pizza Hut tastes exactly as it does back home. Anyway, the really only disappointing thing about this meal is that the sampler plate didn't come with potato skins like we thought.

Can I look forward to an epic battle with you on the Pokemon remakes for GB?

I don't know how epic watching me win is, but alright. Just kidding. I'm not sure if I'll actually be playing it anytime soon since I don't have a Nintendo DS with me in Korea. I'm not sure how badly I need it to build my team on Platinum either. All jokes aside, Mudkip is probably the only Pokemon I need from Heart Gold/Soul Silver.

Ask away.

Girls' Generation cards

For those of you that can't tell, these are trading cards of Girls' Generation, one of the most popular K-pop groups at the moment. I bought these at some point during the Incheon Marathon last night, but I don't exactly remember where or when. Anyway, I woke up this morning with these just all over my bed and one of them stuck to my face.

The Incheon Marathon...

was a complete success. Maybe not complete, but we finished it. There were about 7 of us who managed to finish the entire thing. There were a few problems along the way:

• There are a lot of stops on the with nothing by them.
• A large group of foreigners walking around in a random neighborhood gets a lot of stares.
• The six newest stops on the subway in Songdo weren't on my subway maps.
• The subway crawl got a little bit harder when the subway stopped.
• The last stop on the line, The International Business District, isn't even open yet. We had to have a cab drive us over there, take a picture at it, and then have him drive us back.
• It cost more money that I thought it would.

Anyways, it was a good way to spend a Saturday.

The Incheon Marathon

My buddy Ryan came up with the idea and I helped to coordinate the event. Basically, we're starting at the top of the Incheon Line, going to each stop on the line and having a drink until we reach the end. If you have nothing else to do today, then you might as well come join us. We're meeting up at 2PM at Gyeyang Station right where you get off the subway (don't go up the stairs).

Parents let their baby starve to death while playing computer games.

I knew that computer gaming addiction was a bigger problem in Korea than it is back in the United States, but this Korea Times article puts it in perspective. It reports that a Korean couple habitually left their baby daughter unattended while going to a PC bang. It shows that computer addiction isn't only limited to just young males, the father of the game was 41. The weirdest thing though, is that the detectives found that the couple were playing a game where they raised a virtual daughter. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIRD.

In other news, I'll probably start playing Dragon Ball Online next week. It's an MMORPG set in the Dragon Ball universe. Toriyama worked on the character designs for the game and it looks really great.

It must be something I ate.

Hoddeok from street vendor in Hagik-dong

Hoddeok is a Korean treat. It's fried dough filled with sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and awesome. The dough is sort of like a pancake, but a little flakier. Either way, they're dirt cheap so there's no reason not to buy them. For about one U.S. dollar, I can get three at the little stand down the street from my place. I've also seen mixes that you can buy at the grocery store if you wanted to try making your own.

It's like they're giants.

I'm about 5'8" and by no means a tall guy back home. However, before coming to Korea I thought that I would be a lot taller over here than in America, but that's just not the case. I have several coworkers that are taller than me by more than two inches. I'm probably average in height with the other men at my school, but I stand like I have scoliosis, so I know that I appear shorter than them. It doesn't really bother me at all, but I noticed that there are a lot sixth graders this year that are my height or taller than me. Last school year, there were only two sixth graders taller than me and about 8 that were around the same height. In the fifth grade, no one was taller than me. Now there are over a dozen kids that are my height and more than 4 kids taller than me. My students are at an age where they'll be growing at ridiculous rates, but I noticed that a lot of the kids bigger than me were students that had transferred to my school.

I ended up asking my co-teacher about it and she said it's because our school started a basketball team. This sounded really strange to me, since transferring kids to our school during their final year of elementary makes it look like we're illegally drafting kids or gerrymandering school zones just to steal all the athletes in the district. I'm sure there's some logical reason though. Anyway, the basketball team is actually something that I would like to get involved with. It sounds like it'd be really fun to help coach or something.

The only problem though, is that my kids think I'm some sort of basketball god. It's something that I'm not sure if I want to give up just yet either. It all started in my first month at Yeonhak. A few boys were in the gym playing basketball during lunch so I picked up one of the balls and just started dribbling. I put the ball down and then started walking off when one of the kids passed me the ball and told me to shoot it. At that point I was standing at half court, but I shot the ball anyway. I ended up sinking the shot and all the kids in the gym saw it. So since then, I've never played basketball again just so the legend lives on.

formspring.me

What kind of pokemon are you?

Legendary

Ask away.

formspring.me

Have you seen the cinematic masterpiece that is Strange Brew? that shit is tastier than a 말 불알

I haven't seen it. To be honest, I don't watch many movies because I don't believe that film is any sort of medium for real artistic expression.

I don't really think that, but it's the dick answer I like to give strangers.

Ask away.

Taco Bell is coming to Seoul.

I know a lot of people have heard about this already or have even seen the sign themselves, but it's worth mentioning anyway. This article says that it's supposed to be ready this month. For those of you not in Korea, you just really just won't be able to comprehend how monumental this is for a guy like me.

Jersey Shore x Inglorious Basterds

I just found out that these came out. There's one for Avatar and one for TheHurtlocker. This one for Inglorious Basterds is probably my favorite. It also confirms the rumors that season 2 is going to be in Miami.

My favorite part of the Chosun Ilbo

I usually check the Chosun Ilbo everyday to see if they report on anything different than the Korea Times, but they usually don't. However, I have found their "TIp of the Day" to be very delightful. Each day's tip comes with a funny image that was probably made in MS Paint by a really lazy dude. Here's today's tip:

"To use a pair of rusty pliers, apply a few drops of soapy water to the joint and manipulate it several times before applying oil to it."

Kim Yu-Na's ankles.

Taken from the Chosun Ilbo article.

The first picture looks really bad, but it just could be the angle of the shot. I don't know if all skaters get skin irritations like this, but at least it shows she does actually train and wasn't some sort of robot programmed to figure skate and incur the wrath of Japanese people.

T-Level

I own a lot of backpacks. I probably own more backpacks than some girls do purses. Shit, I even own my own purse (that's a whole different story). Last week I saw a Korean dude with this funky ass bag that was pretty sick but didn't manage to ask him where he got it. A few days later I was standing on the subway and saw another backpack that I wanted and was able to catch the brand. Turns out that both bags were from the Korean brand, T-Level. If you want to check out their catalog you should head over to their site. It's a well made site that's pretty interactive with videos and all that and you can check out their entire catalog.

The one that I want is the Master Waist Bag in black. It can be worn over the shoulder or as a fanny pack. It's pretty sick.

The other bag I want, the Challenger 32L, is probably more practical, but it's more expensive. The straps on the front of the bag make it able so you can carry a full bike wheel or a skateboard.

Comedians visit Seoul.

So I heard about this event at an open mic night I went to check out in Itaewon last week and totally forgot all about it until I saw this article. The guy who put together the show was pretty funny and he's pretty adamant about establishing a comic scene in Korea. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it, but it looks like it's fun. The show costs 40,000won and is with a buffet at the Co-Ex Mall on March 5th and 6th. I know that's really short notice, but I think tickets are still available and it'll be worth checking out.

formspring.me

Would you rather be a big-dicked homeless vagrant or a dick-less billionaire who can fly?

Big-dicked vagrant no questions asked. I can get into porn with a huge dick and flying is a lame super power.

Ask away.

Manny Pacquiao's last fight?

The L.A. Times article isn't just speculating out of nowhere in this article. It looks like Freddie Roach is thinking that the Pac-Man might be putting up his gloves for good after this next fight, you know, since Pacquiao is going to be a congressman and all.

What I learned in Korean this week:

Hangul - Pronunciation:

• 내아를 낳아도 - Ne-ah-lul na-ah-do

Translation:

• Actually, the phrase doesn't make much sense. If you can translate it, then by all means tell me, but I checked with different sources and they all gave me weird answers. Anyway, it really just says something about giving birth.

Margaret sent me a text message telling me to ask what the phrase meant. Not knowing better, I decide to ask the two new co-teachers that I have. They both give me a weird look and one of them asks me, "Are you having a baby?" AWKWARD. I'm pretty sure I'm having a great first impression. I'm also sure that my 2NE1 screen saver doesn't help either.

Korea's got a lot of e-thugs.

I browse the Korea Times a lot and peruse articles on Korea, just because I have that much free time at work. Since I've been here, I have come across the term "netizen" (Internet + citizen if you're stupid) fairly often. I guess they're a pretty powerful entity here in Korea. If you search the archives of the Korea Times, you'll find over 250 articles that mention Korean netizens. Anyway, today's top story on the Korea Times is about how netizens were angered by posts on the Japanese message board 2chan that were directed at Kim Yu-Na and the rest of Korea. These posts incited a massive hack by Korean netizens yesterday. The article says that over 10,000 netizens were involved. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that number was overestimated, but it's a little scary.

As a side note, read the comments of the article. THAT SHIT IS RIDICULOUS.

Omegle.com

I just discovered this site today and it is probably the greatest way to waste time and you should all try it. It's a random chat site. You click a button and you're chatting with a stranger. There are no sign ups or anything involved, just straight to business. Sure, half of the people there are dudes looking for someone to cyber with, but they're probably the most fun to mess with. I was actually chatting with a stranger that said they were 18, a girl, and from Korea. Of course I think they're full of shit and then make up some of my own dumb shit to call their bluff. Turns out she really was a student and I had to disconnect from the chat because chatting with a high school girl is sort of creepy.