Quote o' the month....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

TOW Fridges, Fukuoka!, the Internet, and Catsup.

First off, I've been having internet confusion lately. I'm still trying to get it all sorted out. Neither of my houses has it, but suddenly I got it on a wireless network somewhere. Shhhh.....

So now to play the great game of Catch-up:

Yay! I got a new fridge! It's smaller than my old one, which is good cause the old one was wayyy too big. And it works great! So I'm happy now fridgally speaking.

Then before I could have a chance to fill it...(I went for two months without grocery shopping because I could only use the freezer part of the old fridge. That really sucked. I don't think I ate very healthily because I really could only buy small things. Ate lots of sandwiches...)...I had to make the famed Visa Run to Fukuoka.
I was bummed cause I really dig food shopping. But I had to wait as I was leaving town for a few days.

Anyway, Fukuoka was a lot of fun. It's a fairly small city on the southern coast of Japan. One night I went out to the 'entertainment' district hoping to find a good watering hole since it was so hot and humid. And I wanted to meet some Japanese to talk with, maybe make a new friend...

Well, the 'entertainment' turned out to be either noodle carts or hostess bars. Anyway, I finally found a small bar that served draft beer. Onlyu one other customer and two guys bartending. The beer was expensive (of course) but sure was delicious. So finally the customer asked where I was from. Yay! I could finally get a chance to dust off my Japanese, so I told him I was American, but from Korea. Turns out he was a Korean from Seoul! He was there to study Japanese. His home in Seoul is actually near my old neighborhood. We had a great time chatting in Korean, English, and Japanese. The bartenders were really cool too. So now I have some friends in Fukuoka. I'm sure I will see the Korean guy when he gets back to Seoul.

Here are some pics of Fukuoka. (Put your mouse over the pics for a description, click to enlarge):










So all this does have a story leading up to it.......

TOW the fridge, internet, and aircon

So now it's summer, duh! And of course right in the part where it's ridiculously hot everything decides to poop out on me! And right before my vacation. Yippee! So I have to spend my vacation getting it all fixed again. Yay! Which I did. So now I can blog in airconditioned comfort. I got a new fridge but I have to wait until Saturday for delivery. Well, at least the freezer part works, sort of. It doesn't freeze, but it stays cold. Enough room for some food, water and beer. Yay. Isn't this the most exciting thing you've ever read on my blog? Like anyone reads this, eh?
Ugh, I hatethis weather. I really miss being able to say that ol' Arizona expression, "But it's a dry heat"! It is way too humid here. Gotta shower two or three times a day. And my shower hardly even works right! It keeps switching extreme temperatures. WTH??? There is something weird in my house......(and I don't mean me)....(did I write about the ghost yet?)


My whole house is misbehavin'!

The One With the Tests

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

And.....

You Are Gonzo the Great

"Is something burning in here? Oh, it's just me." You're a total nutball who will do anything for attention. The first to take a dare, you'll pull almost any stunt. You're one weird looking creature, but your chickens don't mind!

The Muppet Personality Test

and....

Your Monster Profile

Wild Butcher You Feast On: Jack and Coke You Lurk Around In: The Alamo You Especially Like to Torment: Pop Stars

What's Your Monster Name?

I guess I'm actually Ernie's evil twin:

You Are 74% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

Maybe it's because I'm so moody, here is my personality disorder:

You May Be a Bit Borderline...

Your mood swings make a roller coaster look tame! When you're up, you're a little bit crazy... And when you're down, your whole world is crashing Scary thing is, these moods can change by the minute!

What Personality Disorder Are You?

Okay, not really a test but kinda cool, places I have visited:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Can you tell I'm bored at work???

The One With the Concert

So on July 8, our newly reformed band made it's debut at the Haebongcheon Music Festival. Sportin' a new image and a new sound, we rocked the club. I think my Canadian exile turned out to have some benefits for the band. Since I had bought a bass over there I was able to practice a lot.
And since I didn't have anyone to jam with I just worked on the basics (bass-ics!) and improved my mad skillz!
Adventures in Optical Sounds, our videos of the concert, will be coming soon. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagine nation.

The One Without Independence Day

Of course we have the 4th of July here. It just doesn't mean anything.

Anyway, Happy Independence Day America!!!

Now go read some history of the American Revolution.


Or check out the fireworks in the post below.....

TOW the World Cup

Well, the world Cup has come and gone for the Korean team. Some of you out there might have seen or heard about the Korean fans. They really get into the cheering thing. As most of the games were on at 4 am I was surprised at the crowds who came out to the streets to watch the games and cheer. Wow.
So here's my cheers to the soccer babes! They're the best thing about the worlds longest most awfullest game.

The One With the Fridge

Yay! After The Big Search a fuse was finally located! My friend DW went back to the electronics town and checked again. All the store owners recommended a certain shop that specialized in fuses. Of course it was closed! So I had to wait a few more days. He got there and ya know what? They didn't have the correct one. But he got one that was 6.2 amps. CLose enough, eh.
So now I have a fridge! And there is even some food in it. And beer of course! As well as some absinth.....mmmmm....

The One Without the Fridge

So during my 7 month exile from Korea, the fuse in my fridge blew out! Ugghhhh. If it hadn't of blown, it would still be pretty bad in there, but the freezer would've been okay. Oh my god, there was meat in the freezer, hotdogs and veggies in the fridge. I swear I heard noises coming from it. It was definatley a little brother's science experiment gone awry. Vincent Price would have loved it!

So I finally got the courage worked up to open it. (plus I had a baseball bat ready to back me up)Holy #### Batman!!! Did it ever stink! So I didn;'t open it again for quite a while. I ate out a lot. Well, I finally would do little raids on it. I'd open it up real quick and squirt some bleach in it just before I went to work. That did the trick. I was finally able to get in there and clean it up. I just threw away all the containers and held my breath. Lots of scrubbing. A few days to air out. Now I'm ready to plug it in! Nothing! Jinkies, all that work and ####! It was a fuse. A 250 volt 6 amp fuse. should be easy enough you's think. Well, this is Korea buddy, thing ain't gonna be THAT easy!

So I scoured my 'hood all night Monday. wasting my time. I have a gig to play soon and my fingers are all rusty. Haven't played bass in too long. Tuesday nite I go to the special area of Seoul with all the electronics and electrical stuff. Another waste of a night, I can't believe no one has this #@*&&#@% fuse! Must be a stealth fuse! Went all over the neighborhood where I work, nuthin'! Wednesday night another fruitless search of my hood, looking for all the appliance repair shops, still nuthin'! and three nights I could have spent more time practicing! Grrrrr! It's not like Seoul is a small town. It's frikkiin' huge! takes an hour to get anywhere. That's why I'm so pissed apbut going everywhere trying to find this little sucker. So I'm gonna spend Saturday night going to the other secret special appliance area of Seoul.

Maybe I'll get lucky.......

The one with the saddle and the suicide

Well, after a 7 month exile, I am back in the saddle again. Still trying to get settled in over here in the Land of the Mourning Clams.
So one of the first pieces of news I get is that one of our expats has left us. Shawn was a pretty neat guy, I met him once or twice and mostly knew him from one of the ESL forums here. He had a great blog going about life in Korea: korealife.blogspot.com
which inspired a lot of people. Unfortunately he was bipolar, had some personal things going on, and some people were harassing him through the internet, so he left Korea in dissatisfaction and moved to China. He seemed to be doing well at first but the ghosts followed him. Unfortunately he couldn't get his medication there, still had to deal with those mental internet stalkers,and had some bad news from home. He stopped sleeping and started drinking and jumped off his apt building in Beijing.
Such a sad ending to such a neat guy. RIP Shawner....

So in the spirit of Shawn, I will try to be more dedicated to this blog. My apologies for not doing so in the past. And hey, don't be afraid to leave a comment to inspire me either!