tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38610682011-04-21T12:33:13.821-07:00Hagwon Boy in SeoulRandom RamblingsTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comBlogger1971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-959133632003-06-22T04:56:00.000-07:002003-06-22T04:56:23.360-07:00Do I want to continue this spot? I've begun a new blog to replace Fundie Agnostic. But I still like the idea of having two seperate blogs. What do I want to do?
I dunno. But in the meantime this blog has changed its name.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-958498512003-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:002003-06-19T20:33:46.793-07:00Check it out.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-956826972003-06-15T05:04:00.000-07:002003-06-15T05:04:35.520-07:00I haven't been posting lately. Part of it is that my parents are in town, and I'm spending most of my time with them. And part of it is that I've moved my Fundie Agnostic blog to another blogging service, and I think I may do the same here.
But I'm not dead or anything. Yet.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-954476072003-06-08T20:04:00.000-07:002003-06-08T20:04:55.733-07:00Some things I have realized lately (hell, as lately as this weekend):
1. I'm really not studying Korean effectively. I'm not retaining vocabulary - even if I know a word, I have to think about it for a moment to bring it to my lips. It's laborious for me to form coherent (to say nothing of correct) sentences. As a friend advised me this weekend, the only way for me to do anything about that Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-954049672003-06-07T05:01:00.000-07:002003-06-07T05:01:37.080-07:00I've been rather lax in updating lately. I think it's a combination of not wanting to descend into posting long essays on my personal life (not that my personal life has been all that interesting lately), and just not being inspired.
But I've been up to stuff. Unfortunately, my burst of inspiration that's been fueling my not-yet-half-completed great surrealist novel has basically run out - butTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-953909192003-06-06T17:20:00.000-07:002003-06-06T17:20:29.370-07:00My canker sore is gone. Yipee! For now.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-952165252003-06-02T18:51:00.000-07:002003-06-02T18:51:53.306-07:00It seems that bcody@gwu.edu no longer exists. I must change all links to hfowas at hotmail dot com.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-951759602003-06-01T20:53:00.000-07:002003-06-01T20:53:54.710-07:00A thread on the Dave's ESL Cafe Korea discussion board pointed me to this old thread.
I saw this ad in the Seoul subway back in December or January (I forget which). The fact that it can apparently be dated at least back to April 2002 just, in my view, makes it worse. Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-951478682003-06-01T02:23:00.000-07:002003-06-01T02:24:02.000-07:00Canker sores are fun. Canker sores are great. I have a canker sore. It's on the inside of my lower lip. It's an unusually long-lived canker sore. I've been probing it with my tongue for days. I try to isolate it from the surrounding flesh with my teeth, as if I were trying to bite it off. It hurts like hell when I get up in the morning, or when I try to eat stuff. I know from experience Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-951206242003-05-31T07:40:00.000-07:002003-05-31T07:40:59.000-07:00So after students implied I was fat one too many times this week, I decided maybe a bit more exercise might be in order.
But I feel I should point out that I am not fat. 5'11 and 175 pounds does not qualify as fat. Although I admit that what fat I do have is somewhat abnormally spread on my body. As in, I have more of a belly than I logically should.
Anyway. I climbed Ujangsan both Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-948959372003-05-26T06:38:00.000-07:002003-05-26T06:38:33.983-07:00Replace my bedroom light? Screw it. I bought a lamp from Carrefour.
So I've begun reading my second consecutive intro to philosophy. And I'm kind of worried about how I'm learning. I'm learning about philosophy - as in, I'm learning a whole bunch of terminology and I'm learning the Euro Dead Guy #13 said this but Euro Dead Guy #4 said that. Which is all necessary, and even interesting, Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-948298822003-05-24T08:50:00.000-07:002003-05-24T08:50:45.830-07:00My bedroom light is on the verge of going out. It's a florescent light that just today reached the flickering death stage. Damn. I'm not sure how easy it will be to replace.
Today was my first visit to the great food market at Yeongdongpo. I wish I knew how to cook so I could make use of all the stuff there. I'm not sure I would buy meat there, though. And the assortment of odors, in theirTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-947213322003-05-21T21:37:00.000-07:002003-05-21T21:37:22.576-07:00I feel good about my writing. My great work of surrealist fiction is coming along at a fine rate, and I await the day when it is completed, I submit it anonymously to an online fiction site, and dozens of befuddled readers post comments such as "What the hell was this guy smoking?" But I will pay them no heed, unless by some travesty of good taste somebody likes what I've written. This story?Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-947211662003-05-21T21:33:00.000-07:002003-05-21T21:33:08.086-07:00So. Should I buy a coffee maker? Right now, my home coffee has come in the form of packets of instant coffee, with the milk and sugar present in dehydrated form. But I prefer my coffee without milk - and I want to cut down on my sugar intake.
But I think my body is beginning to react to caffeine differently than it used to. As in, I've felt a racing heart and lightheadedness that I think canTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-945849932003-05-19T08:39:00.000-07:002003-05-27T19:02:32.000-07:00Warning: Embarassing personal tripe ahead. I think it's my basic inability to fundamentally identify with any impersonal group of people (the reason why I've never consistently allied myself with any political party or even ideology) that is also behind my lack of identification with my own sex and gender. I just don't see myself as sharing maleness in common with the 3 billion other males on Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-945312612003-05-18T03:26:00.000-07:002003-05-18T03:26:19.000-07:00I must be an exceedingly happy, carefree person. Today at the Noksapyeong secondhand English bookstore I picked up a copy of Sherwin B. Nuland's How We Die. I was fascinated (dare I say morbidly fascinated?) as a kid by death, dying, disease, and all that could go wrong with human anatomy. I managed to convince myself on a dozen different occasions that I had cancer, and since I was too meek Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-944768552003-05-16T17:11:00.000-07:002003-05-16T17:11:07.246-07:00Hm. Now that I have Internet in my own bedroom, I feel almost as if my computer has become an outgrowth opf the general mental messiness that pervades wherever I'm sleeping. Mental messiness, not physical messiness - this place could be immaculate and I would still be projecting my brain's own fuzziness onto this machine. It's as if I need to head out to a PC room if I want to think clearly Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-943871592003-05-15T06:10:00.000-07:002003-05-16T17:08:38.000-07:00It's good to be a teacher!
My Teacher's Day (May 15) loot:
A chocolate cake, shared among us teachers.
Soap. I hope this wasn't a student's tactful way of telling me to bone up on my hygiene.
Two pairs of really nice socks.
Another two pairs of really nice socks, from a different student.
A really nice picture frame.
Three roses (total); two real and one fake.
A Korean-style "roll cake" Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-943583692003-05-14T17:15:00.000-07:002003-05-14T17:15:25.400-07:00VARIATIONS ON A THEME . . . Check this out, even if you're sure you recall reading something like it before.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-942379812003-05-12T18:34:00.000-07:002003-05-12T18:34:46.490-07:00Is it just me, or in his official portrait does Washington Post movie critic Desson Howe look like he's holding a gun to his own head?Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-942378452003-05-12T18:31:00.000-07:002003-05-12T18:31:55.636-07:00God help me, I've actually "bought" (for the bargain price of $0.00) and begun reading the great novel, The Great American Parade. Everyone wish me luck in actually finishing it.
The way the author actually drags in Bush, Cheney, et al. as main characters in his satire reminds me of the first attempt at political satire I ever began, sometime after Bush's inauguration but before September 11. Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-941996652003-05-12T05:55:00.000-07:002003-05-12T05:55:32.196-07:00And I'm embarassed by what I consider to be the poor quality of my writing . . . why, exactly?Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-941770022003-05-11T19:03:00.000-07:002003-05-11T19:03:47.000-07:00No Internet access quite yet; it looks like it will be later this week.
Ah well. When it comes, I will cease to be PC-bang dependent - and when I can access the Internet from the comfort of my own home, sipping coffee contentedly, with any luck I'll be able to write far more intelligently here.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-941295742003-05-10T19:35:00.000-07:002003-05-10T19:35:08.883-07:00If all goes well, tomorrow I shall have Internet access in my very own bedroom. Yipee!Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-941295352003-05-10T19:34:00.000-07:002003-05-10T19:34:30.000-07:00This isn't nearly as perplexing as my observations about language in my last post - just amusing. I got a washcloth at the local Grand Mart this week. The writing on the package is almost entirely in Japanese. Except for some small writing in English at the bottom: "MADE IN KOREA."
Heh. Just to remind people: I'm in Korea.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-941035262003-05-10T06:59:00.000-07:002003-05-10T06:59:01.343-07:00English really is an international language, which I never fully appreciated until I came to Korea. English is everywhere here. Sometimes it fulfills a "We're decorating our business with a foreign language 'cause we're COOL" function, which is all well and good. I still remember, back in January, when I stepped out of Coex Mall into an outdoor area surrounded by chain restaurants. I looked Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-939738422003-05-07T22:30:00.000-07:002003-05-07T22:31:19.000-07:00Last night I rented the enjoyably terrible film adaptation of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, which I read a few weeks ago.
Quite a good little baddie. I found myself reminded several times of David Lynch's Dune, in the way the book has been rather ineptly compressed, and many subplots have been quasi-eliminated (the Dolcinites, for instance, and exactly who Ubertino is - and just what Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-937928982003-05-05T03:48:00.000-07:002003-05-05T03:48:26.546-07:00Today I ventured out to Daehangno, alone (unfortunately), which is a pretty major adventure considering Daehangno is on the opposite side of downtown Seoul from me. I saw some outdoor performances in that big park-like area they've got, and just generally wandered about enjoying the sunny skies and the neighborhood. Chain city, but still quite pleasant.
Now that I've seen Daehangno, that Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-937382262003-05-03T23:28:00.000-07:002003-05-03T23:28:36.290-07:00I've been walking quite a bit lately, perhaps not the brightest idea considering that my feet are wedged into new shoes which I believe are one size too small. Yesterday I got the bright idea into my head that I was going to walk to the National Assembly building in Yeoido, because it was such a beautiful day. After failing to find my way onto the pedestrian walkway that runs along the south Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-936875842003-05-02T20:45:00.000-07:002003-05-02T20:45:49.630-07:00Sometimes I wonder exactly why I keep this site updated. I feel oddly uncomfortable talking about actual people I know here - like I'm breaking some unwritten privacy law by doing so. So I'm worried that this page is increasingly becoming an echo chamber-y look inside my own head. What's the point of that?
Not that I'm going to abandon this site. For more than a few days at a time, at least.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-933303012003-04-26T22:33:00.000-07:002003-04-26T22:33:51.206-07:00I often wonder if I would be better off if I successfully transformed myself into an anal-retentive neat freak. It would have more benefits than automatically having a neat bedroom. I think I've got a pathologically disordered mind, and although that may in some ways be a blessing in disguise, it's the sheer untidiness of my brain that is preventing me from writing anything worthwhile, or Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-933221292003-04-26T19:07:00.000-07:002003-04-26T19:07:34.306-07:00In a week, my roomate is moving out and I am moving into a new bedroom. At the same time, I will buy his computer from him and perhaps also buy some real furniture (bookcase, for instance). I am sure this will improve the mindset with which I am currently operating. My room right now is a messy mess. Not dirty - but untidy. My mind, as a result, is a messy mess. Untidy, and possibly a bit Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-932847262003-04-25T23:44:00.000-07:002003-04-25T23:44:17.850-07:00I really am bugged by an intellectual inferiority complex. I'm currently reading Sire's The Universe Next Door and I've begun John Kennedy O'Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. So today I went to Kyobo and bought Voltaire's Candide (not annotated, so I can miss the 18th Century topical references all the better) and an abridged version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Now, if I had priorities, ITwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-932206442003-04-24T21:14:00.000-07:002003-04-24T21:14:16.083-07:00I need to stop doing this. I should not sleep for more than 8 hours a night. Oversleeping does strange things to me. I don't feel truly awake all day after having overslept. This entry shall serve as a memo to myself to set my alarm for 8 hours of sleep in the future - and no more.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-931764042003-04-24T06:45:00.000-07:002003-04-24T06:45:01.713-07:00This can only be good news. I hate to say it, but as of last December the old neighborhood - Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia - really did have no soul. Rosslyn was nothing but office buildings and the lunch joints to feed their workers, save for the occasional Ruby Tuesday's open after 6pm, and the cluster of aging apartment buildings where I made my home from May of 2001 to December of 2002. TheTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-929252962003-04-20T03:25:00.000-07:002003-04-20T03:25:25.530-07:00It seems that for a few weeks I will once again know the experience of barely enough money for food. All thanks to my crazy feeling that maybe, just maybe, defaulting on my student loans would not be a tremendously good thing.
I get paid again in three weeks, and after that I should be able to stick to a fairly reasonable schedule for paying off the remainder of my loans. So with any luck thisTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-929252432003-04-20T03:22:00.000-07:002003-04-20T03:22:45.030-07:00Thanks to Dave Barry's blog, I was able to come across this work.
On the odd chance that historians know my name centuries from now, I hope they are aware that I lived during the same timeframe as the creators of the above linked-to movie, Homestar Runner, Something Awful, and ever so much more. I feel priviledged and proud to be living in this age of boundless creativity.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-928860952003-04-19T06:20:00.000-07:002003-04-19T06:20:13.296-07:00Once again, I am burying myself under the "to-read" pile. In the last week and a half, I have acquired The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (I'd heard good things about the author and a friend recommended it), C. C. Tsai's cartoon adaptation of Lie Tzu (already finished), A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole (on the years-old recommendation of a high school English teacher), and the Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-928694362003-04-18T19:57:00.000-07:002003-04-18T19:57:23.450-07:00I need to make some kind of mid-year's resolution, to update this page every day. The problem is, I never know just how much personal stuff to put in here. And I have an odd sense that it's an invasion of privacy of some sort to refer to real people by real names here. Which is nonsense. It's not like people actually read this blog, right? Heh.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-926895232003-04-15T19:35:00.000-07:002003-04-15T19:35:59.280-07:00Egads, Gyeongju is touristy. There's a freakily kitschy mass of resort hotels a few miles from the city that our bus drove through. If am ever struggling under the load of too much money, I hope I can find something better to do with it.
That said, the city and its environs is beautiful. And I would love to return to spend more time hiking around the outskirts.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-924809582003-04-12T05:12:00.000-07:002003-04-12T05:12:35.890-07:00Hello from Gyeongju - my first trip in Korea outside of the Seoul metropolitan area.
Gyeongju was the capital of the kingdom of Shilla, which ruled the southern part of the peninsula for nearly a thousand years. For about three centuries of that, Shilla ruled the entirety of what is now Korea. Now, Gyeongju is a touristy place filled with foreigners, where people inspect ancient ruins while Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-921957842003-04-07T20:30:00.000-07:002003-04-07T20:30:24.356-07:00Man, am I out of shape. I walked up Mt. Ujang for the second time today, and by the time I reached the top I was huffing and puffing. Just shameful.
Jenna's coming from China on Thursday. Yay 4-day weekend. I'm looking forward to it; it will be a wonderful change of pace and I'll have an excuse to act like a tourist. Also, with any luck I'll be able to leave the city to explore parts Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-918777612003-04-02T16:30:00.000-08:002003-04-02T16:30:18.216-08:00Figures
For the last month or so that I lived in DC, before I came to Korea, I searched unsuccessfully for Korean food. The suburbs of DC are supposedly full of Korean restaurants, but my search was hampered by the fact that I didn't have a car. As a result, the first Korean restaurant I visited in my life was in Seoul.
But now that I'm here in Korea, it looks like a reasonably authentic Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-915998712003-03-29T04:39:00.000-08:002003-03-29T04:40:28.000-08:00Interesting reports on Korean exploitation of foreign English teachers. Another reminder that my current industry really can be quite shady. I'm still quite happy with my particular school in Seoul - and I'm becoming more and more convinced that I was lucky in landing this place.
Also on his site he has some more general, highly negative impressions of the hagwon system in Korea. Also some Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-915934582003-03-28T23:52:00.000-08:002003-03-28T23:52:53.123-08:00I wonder what I'm feeling right now. I haven't felt very eager to update this page, for some reason. But I'm not unhappy, or lost in the dark mists of ennui, or anything like that. I feel like I've had enough kicks to the ol' skull to dislodge enough of my firmly embedded notions, that now I can reassemble the pieces so that I can be a better teacher. So that's good.
On Thursday, in my Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-914733382003-03-27T03:21:00.000-08:002003-03-27T03:21:49.840-08:00Geez. I leave the city, and within a few months it's already falling apart.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-914465182003-03-26T16:57:00.000-08:002003-03-26T16:57:17.560-08:00The Despot or Sexpot Quiz. Via Dave Barry.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-913139562003-03-24T17:11:00.000-08:002003-03-24T17:11:14.793-08:00I climbed Mt. Ujang today. Since it is practically next door to where I live and work, it seemed about time I checked it out. If it hadn't been for the clouds and morning dew, there would undoubtedly have been a beautiful view of Gangseo from the top. As it was, I saw many, many office buildings. This type of urban mountain rising above the concrete is something entirely new to me. Seoul hasTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-911780612003-03-22T05:43:00.000-08:002003-03-22T05:43:03.826-08:00This Fark photoshop contest is the funniest thing they've had up in a while.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-911718872003-03-22T00:37:00.000-08:002003-03-22T00:37:17.983-08:00Yuck. For over a week I've been covered (well, legs and shoulders mostly) in itchy red welts. They're keeping me awake at night scratching, then trying hard not to scratch. I can only figure that this is some kind of allergic reaction to spring in this country. I never suffered from hay fever before in my life, but this is a whole new environment. Korean bugs haven't gotten to me and Korean Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-911025002003-03-20T20:05:00.000-08:002003-03-20T20:05:30.716-08:00It seems there isn't a person in Seoul who is pro-Bush, or at least vocal about it. It took my high school class yesterday 30 minutes to get to "George Bush is psycho." I suspect that the position of most South Koreans is maybe kinda more complicated than that. Tonight's adult free-talk class should be interesting.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-909670652003-03-18T19:35:00.000-08:002003-03-18T19:35:18.343-08:00I really should be writing more. Either fiction, or letters to friends and family, or something. But I'm here in a PC bang, and then I'm going to Comma coffeeshop to read Friedman on the Middle East. It's not an intellectual waste of time by any means. But I feel like I should write more, so I can have something to show for the passage of weeks. We'll see if I can kick myself in the pants Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-908963442003-03-17T18:57:00.000-08:002003-03-17T19:02:07.000-08:00Wow. You all probably think I'm preoccupied elsewhere. But I'm really not. I've been posting to my Fundie Agnostic blog. But I guess I'm just not inspired to post here for some reason. Even though in the past week I went to Japan and to Everland, the plastic Six Flags-esque theme park south of Seoul. Also I saw much more of downtown Seoul (Yay Jongno!) and went to see My Big Fat Greek Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-908330392003-03-16T19:19:00.000-08:002003-03-16T19:19:22.996-08:00It's a Dysfunctional Life is back!Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-908274842003-03-16T17:20:00.000-08:002003-03-16T17:20:18.856-08:00I haven't updated in a while. I really should, given that I've been to Japan and went to a fascinating Western amusement park plunked down in Korea. But I don't have the mental energy to write about that right now. So let me just make the observation that, although Korean men never seem to have beards (except in historical dramas and on currency), all you have to do is go to Japan and men withTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-904956252003-03-10T18:48:00.000-08:002003-03-10T18:54:44.000-08:00Once More, I'm the Only One in Korea Who Cares
Good news all around for GW basketball fans today. The ladies have won the Atlantic 10 conference tournament for the first time in my memory as a follower of GW basketball, beating URI 56-49. Neato. Here's hoping they blast their way through a couple rounds in the NCAA tourney.
On the men's side, GW is keeping its season alive, and has beaten Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-904304832003-03-09T18:27:00.000-08:002003-03-09T18:27:22.903-08:00Day after tomorrow - Wednesday - is my Japan trip. I have to fly to Osaka, find the Korean consulate, give my paperwork to the guys there, wait for a few hours, get my visa, and then race back to the airport in time for my flight back to Incheon. Easy, right? It may be rushed, but this will be my first-ever real look at Japan.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-903979232003-03-09T04:17:00.000-08:002003-03-09T04:17:29.733-08:00Geez, my country has a damned ugly embassy in Seoul. It's the depressing 1960s architecture - plus feeling the building was designed to withstand a prolonged siege. Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-903530222003-03-08T05:05:00.000-08:002003-03-08T05:05:44.576-08:00I went to Coex Mall today for the second time. I bought a new Korean-for-beginners book (because I think studying two books simultaneously will be good for me, not because I have a belief that buying Korean language books will magically give me Korean language ability with no effort on my part). I also took two twilight pictures of the nearby Gangnam skyscrapers, which may not come out well dueTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-902754802003-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:002003-03-06T18:29:56.716-08:00I need to stop reading so many online pundits and editorials and start reading more books 'n stuff. It just screws with my brain to read a dozen online bloggers every day, when I don't quite understand all of the issues involved. I have to cut back. I have to enjoy myself a little more. I have to actually learn about this world, which means not getting my information from bloggers with Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-902169912003-03-05T20:01:00.000-08:002003-03-05T20:01:29.263-08:00I took this test about a year ago and tested positively a man. I retook it today and tested a woman, with 86% confidence.
Frankly, I was surprised it guessed me correctly the first time. I thought I was submitting such femmy (yet truthful) answers. I guess I don't think along such masculine lines. I'd never survive in a culture that required much male bonding.
Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-902049262003-03-05T16:14:00.000-08:002003-03-05T16:14:57.843-08:00New template. Just to keep my blogs looking different.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-901491852003-03-04T18:21:00.000-08:002003-03-04T18:21:28.200-08:00Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex Larry Niven writes about Superman's hypothetical sex life.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-900949982003-03-03T21:21:00.000-08:002003-03-03T21:21:07.890-08:00Thought for the Hour
In the past month I've become more consciously aware of my own mental and intellectual idiosyncracies than I ever have been in the past. This cannot be a bad thing.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-899878242003-03-01T22:39:00.000-08:002003-03-01T22:39:39.373-08:00I'm trying to teach myself to cook. (I hear snickering, from those who know me personally.) Of course, since I intend to learn by trial-and-error and without much input from others, the skills I will end up with will not resemble any actual cooking tradition any more than the speech of twins raised by apes will resemble any known language.
Today I started with raw chicken and I made it edible.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-899796142003-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:002003-03-01T18:55:05.966-08:00Yipee! It's about time D.C. began fixing the bastion of ugliness that is the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Now they just have to make the area around the Washington Monument pretty again. And, dear God, please don't let the World War II Memorial suck.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-899788242003-03-01T18:32:00.000-08:002003-03-01T18:32:55.780-08:00Times Like This, I'm Glad I'm in Asia
GW 70, Xavier 69. So Xavier Wins 71-70.
This is somewhat reminiscent of GW's highly questionable loss to Temple in the 2001 Atlantic 10 tournament. I'm more than happy I wasn't at this game in person or watching it on TV; I have a feeling that otherwise I would be in a mood to break things right now.
The Fundie-Agnostic part of my brain is reminding me Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-899530632003-03-01T06:00:00.000-08:002003-03-01T22:31:58.000-08:00So I finally finished Mencius, two days before my bibliophile roommate moves out and I have to give the book back. Today I ran down to Kyobo Bookstore and purchased a full translation of Chuang Tzu (aka Zhuang-Zi). Once I've finished him, I will have plowed through the major works of 3 of the 5 major ancient Chinese philosophers.
My only exposure to Chuang Tzu has been C. C. Tsai's excellent Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-898759812003-02-27T18:36:00.000-08:002004-01-10T07:02:48.403-08:00Am I a doormat?
I never thought of that word describing me. This may be the sort of thing where I should ask some totally honest friend who has known me for a while, but I can try a bit of self-analysis. I have two personality tendencies that I think leave me open to heavy-duty doormat usage.
First of all, because I grew up very slow to understand proper social behavior and was told pretty Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-898345762003-02-27T04:52:00.000-08:002003-02-27T04:52:29.983-08:00I love Fresh'n Tasty Banana Milk. You can taste delicious banana in a fresh milk. It uses only excellent ingredients for a new generation who seeks for the best taste enjoyment. Good quality and great satisfaction guaranteed. A new type of modified milk-based product! Don't hesitate to buy. It will bring you happiness of drinking.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-898118682003-02-26T18:39:00.000-08:002003-02-26T18:39:15.436-08:00A few weeks ago, I was teaching my Let's Go 5 (an intermediate level textbook for kids) and had the book open to a crowd scene. The text read something like, "Anna's aunt is the woman in the blue and yellow dress. Anna's uncle is the man with red hair and glasses." I asked one student, a girl who I'm growing more and more impressed with every week, to point to Anna's uncle. She pointed to a Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-898033132003-02-26T15:54:00.000-08:002003-02-26T15:59:09.000-08:00I feel sometimes that I'm much smarter than I think. But then, if the ability to recognize and utilize intelligence is part of intelligence, then is it really possible to be smarter than one thinks?
The calculus course I took my freshman year at GW is an example of what I'm talking about. All through high school, I got excellent grades in all my math classes. My grades were a bit lower in math Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-897523452003-02-25T19:19:00.000-08:002003-02-25T19:19:58.466-08:00How Evil Are You? I only qualify as "Twisted."Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-897484662003-02-25T18:11:00.000-08:002003-02-25T18:11:23.623-08:00I feel lousy and sick. It's the cold I had this weekend, having developed into its full glory. Ugh. And I feel incapable of processing information well - so no long blog entries until I feel better.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-897081202003-02-25T04:56:00.000-08:002003-02-25T04:56:51.450-08:00Check this baby out.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-896280182003-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:002003-02-23T18:10:42.103-08:00I've been thinking over the past few years, and I'm come to the conclusion that there is no logic, rhyme or reason behind the times that I remember being relatively happy or unhappy. What times do I remember being happy? There's the summer after freshman year (1999), the fall of my junior year (2000), and the summer after junior year (2001).
And this is reflected in what music I can stand Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-894698892003-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:002003-02-20T18:20:53.796-08:00Sometime soon I ought to do a write-up of my impressions of teaching Korean kids, and post it to Angelfire. (After all, it's not like my website reviews are actually going to happen anytime soon.) Included will be a lengthy dissertation on every Korean kid's favorite non-electronic game, ONE-CARD!Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-894022252003-02-19T17:43:00.000-08:002003-02-19T17:43:19.186-08:00Anyone want to swap brains?
The music from the final level of the NES game Kid Icarus has been repeating itself in my head for weeks.
I have not played this game in over ten years.
Aaarrrgh.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-891826822003-02-16T03:46:00.000-08:002003-02-16T18:07:48.000-08:00When he made a mistake, the gentleman of antiquity would make amends, while the gentleman of today persists in his mistakes. When the gentleman of antiquity made a mistake it was there to be seen by all the people, like the eclipse of the sun and the moon; and when he made amends the people looked up to him. The gentleman of today not only persists in his mistakes but tries to gloss over them.
Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-891695272003-02-15T19:22:00.000-08:002003-02-15T19:22:00.680-08:00I feel reinvigorated! After worrying that my great political satire novel will be the worst-written thing ever to hit computer screens, I've discovered that is very likely impossible. Quite a load off my mind.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-891673412003-02-15T18:20:00.000-08:002003-02-15T18:20:07.796-08:00Update: Pat Farnsworth 1909-2003. Registration unfortunately required.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-890881092003-02-14T04:44:00.000-08:002003-02-14T04:44:26.950-08:00Pat Farnsworth 1909-2003
None of you has any idea who this is? Okay. Let me explain.
Pat Farnsworth (pronounced FAHNS-wuhth) opened Pat's Pizza in the heart of downtown Orono, Maine in 1931. At last count Pat owned a dozen or so restaurants throughout Maine, but the Orono location has always been the Pat's. Pat's, the grimy old place with moderate cleanliness and cigarette smoke everywhere,Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-889692832003-02-12T04:47:00.000-08:002003-02-12T04:47:14.836-08:00The Oscar nominees have been announced, and I am yet again reminded how far I have fallen as a moviegoer. Four years ago, I believe I saw a good many Best Picture nominees before the nominations were announced. This year, I've only seen one. And not only have I seen only a few movies nominated for anything, I likely won't before the ceremony. I'm frankly surprised as hell The Two Towers got Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-889689602003-02-12T04:37:00.000-08:002003-02-12T04:37:23.640-08:00This is fascinating.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-889100482003-02-11T05:40:00.000-08:002003-02-11T05:40:55.676-08:00It has finally come to my attention that Terry Pratchett is someone I should try reading as soon as possible. To get a sense of how soon that really is, though, click on the link to my Angelfire site to see what I am in the process of reading now.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-888955852003-02-10T21:25:00.000-08:002003-02-10T21:25:04.686-08:00I don't know much about basketball, but...
I'm all for recognizing future potential in raw talent. But is it okay for me to really question whether Yao Ming deserved to start the All-Star Game in Shaq's place, in light of the boxscore that seems to indicate 2 points and 2 rebounds (in 17 minutes) for Yao, compared to 19 points and 13 rebounds (in 26 minutes) for Shaq?
P.S. Nevertheless, theTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-888944252003-02-10T20:57:00.000-08:002003-02-10T20:57:55.043-08:00Korean PC bangs are great. I felt something moving around under the table and I thought it was someone else's feet, but as it turned out it was a little beagle puppy who was sniffing the floor for edible foodstuffs. He moved on to the trash, where he found the remains of someone's ramen noodles. He happily stuck his nose in and ate until his owner found him and hustled him away.
My Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-888275932003-02-09T18:56:00.000-08:002003-02-09T18:56:05.446-08:00So, should I be, like, doing stuff?
After doing little productive for weeks, and after feeling my social life beginning to stagnate horribly, and after realizing that finding an English-language taekwondo class that fits into my schedule is easier said than done, what have I decided to do that will keep the funk at bay? Write. I have a partially written story that will need a complete Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-888259542003-02-09T18:23:00.000-08:002003-02-09T18:23:37.943-08:00Once more, nobody in Korea cares but me...
The GW ladies have lost their first conference game, 94-92, at Xavier. But what a friggin' spectacular loss.
It took the Musketeers 60 full minutes of game time - 4 overtimes - to put away the Colonials. 4 overtimes. And GW came up short just by two. GW, as it is playing right now, is easily a Sweet 16 team. I rushed to a conclusion when GW Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-887995252003-02-09T06:59:00.000-08:002003-02-09T06:59:15.620-08:00Capsule Review: Fifteen Minutes
Yet another roomate-rented movie that I went in to, blind. I had fun with the unexpectedly heavy number of recognizable actors in the supporting cast (Hey, that's Avery Brooks! Hey, that's Kelsey Grammer!) As for the movie itself, it made more than its share of satirical points, many of which it seemed to repudiate by the movie's end through its own plot Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-887946002003-02-09T03:00:00.000-08:002003-02-09T03:00:59.083-08:00Well, today I had a fruitless quest for Indian food, after Chakraa near Itaewon proved to be closed for business, and I judged all the other Indian places in Itaewon to be too expensive. I knew that there was another Chakraa near the U.N. village (the place in Yongsan-gu where the embassies of half the world are clustered), but I didn't know how to get there, and asking the guys in the subway Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-887526022003-02-08T03:59:00.000-08:002003-02-08T03:59:49.413-08:00Interesting Washington Post article about how the shuttle disaster fits in with our growing psychology of dread, even as we intellectually know that it has nothing at all to do with current events. Some people might say this article is simply about shallow thinking; I disagree. I was nodding my head throughout.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-887524172003-02-08T03:47:00.000-08:002003-02-08T03:47:55.306-08:00After a visit to a Noraebang (think: Korean Kareoke, only you get your own private rooms), I realized something. I realized that my singing voice sounds like a cross between Richard O'Brian, and the lead singer for the Pet Shop Boys. Only with a strong Northeast American accent.
This may explain my lack of a professional singing career so far.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-886259222003-02-05T19:06:00.000-08:002003-02-05T19:06:29.416-08:00The Washington Post's columnist Carolyn Hax has managed to raise my appreciation for people of her gender even higher. Check out her January 31 online chat, where she tells us at the beginning that she's "starting early 'cause I don't know how long I'll last. Long story." She got through a full-length chat.
For what was going on with Hax, check out Lloyd Grove's February 4 "Reliable Source" Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-885678672003-02-04T19:14:00.000-08:002003-02-04T19:14:18.283-08:00I have a headache I have a headache I have a headache.
Which is probably a result of sleeping for 9-10 hours last night. Didn't I agnowledge earlier on this site that this wasn't good for me?
I thought it was stress or psychosomatic when I woke up... but it won't go away. I'm seriously considering trying trepanning like the Neanderthals used to do. But probably I'll just try my luck grabbingTwistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-885304972003-02-04T05:57:00.000-08:002003-02-04T05:57:25.273-08:00The Two Towers in Engrish!
This is the perfect thing to cheer up anyone who's been spending an hour reading up on Columbia news. Possible spoilers if you haven't seen the movie.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-884167572003-02-02T01:51:00.000-08:002003-02-02T01:51:14.593-08:00And So the Tasteless Humor Begins
AP Headline: "Columbia's Problems Began on Left Wing"
Fark Headline Linking to AP Headline: "Conservative media eager to blame today's tragedy on left wing"
I may have just reserved myself a place in Hell, but I laughed.Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-883267672003-01-31T06:28:00.000-08:002003-01-31T06:31:45.000-08:00So I just saw Unfaithful. Although the major (and sudden) shift of tone halfway through changes the mood drastically, for the first half I was absorbed and thinking about the tone of any future marriage of mine. I can so easily see myself as the Richard Gere character, someone who slouches into being the reliable, boring husband. Quite frankly, I'll never be Olivier Martinez's Paul Martel Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-882666322003-01-30T05:53:00.000-08:002003-01-30T05:55:44.000-08:00I'm the Only One in Korea Who Cares
GWU 74, St. Joseph 68. GWU's 6-game losing streak is broken.
Yes, I'm happy that I have a 3 day weekend ahead of me, and I'm happy that I'm back to a lighter class load after a month of intensives. Yet for some reason, after reading the recap of a game against a team which had lost only twice this season, I have a huge grin across my face that I just can't Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3861068.post-880745622003-01-26T19:03:00.000-08:002003-01-26T19:03:32.220-08:00Well, it seems that Tampa Bay is ahead, 34-21, this snowy Monday morning. And I'm so far from America I can't say I care much right now. Granted, even in America I was always more interested in seeing the progression of the season as a whole than watching any specific games, but this year sheer distance and time difference have created in me a feeling of vast indifference.
Yet I still Twistrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00607377523585791070noreply@blogger.com