18 posts tagged “music”
Well I thought I would get here and write a blog post whilst waiting for my steak to finish cooking in the oven, and post some pics of stuff that I thought would be fun to share and have been meaning to post, but then I realized my camera battery is mysteriously dead, so it’s charging now. Breaking things into categories is easiest, I suppose.
Plans for next year (and by that I mean, after September): I looked up CELTA courses last night for a few hours, and Thailand and Vietnam seem to be the main places to go. Vietnam sounds cool (and is $100 cheaper), but I have no huge desire to go there, and I would love to see Thailand. Unfortunately none of the schedules for the classes look super-amazing – the earliest one that I could do without getting out of my contract early starts in late September. The others start the first week or so of October. This is good if I want to work here a few extra weeks/go travel around Thailand a bit before starting. But it does also mean I will get home later in the year.
A couple of friends have mentioned they would possibly be able to look after Gizmo for me, so that should be fine. My project for this week, I think, will be to dive into the wonderful world of recruiting again and see what jobs are available in … hmm. How long will I be home for? I don’t want to inconvenience the cat-sitter for longer than necessary, so maybe 3 weeks? Anyway, need to look into getting another contract, as well as decide for certain which CELTA course to take (almost certain it will be Thailand, probably Bangkok. The Chiang Mai one is out in the wilderness, although there is a package where you have room and board for $2400 provided. Still think I might like Bangkok better, me being a city girl.
So yeah – looking for a job again. Should be easier this time around, since I’m already here. I think. Here’s hoping.
Knitting: So here’s where my camera would have come in. Never fear, pictures will be posted, as they are necessary (and I have to put some on Rav too.) I have … 3 projects I’m working on right now. (I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s only 3.)
-- The Shawl: It’s
about 50 cm deep now. Yay. I just
started the 3rd ball of the sparkly stuff, and my plan for the moment
is to finish all the sparkle stuff, and crochet or knit on a lace border with
the rest of the non-sparkly stuff.
-- The Shirt: Well, I did a fair bit of knitting the other
night at Feast to keep my hands busy and stop me from just walking out (they
were talking till 10:15 PM OMG and I wanted to get home before midnight. Didn’t happen.-sigh-) I’m on my third set of skeins, and have
realized omg I have a ton of this stuff.
(I bought 20balls just to be sure I would have enough.) The last time I checked, the shirt was about
25cm done, but I can’t remember if I’ve done more on it since then. Oh well.
The point is, it’s getting there!! Soon I will be able to start the
ribbing for the bodice, and if there’s anything more stimulating than
stockinette, it’s 1x1 ribbing. Woohoo, good times.
I’m trying not to think how bored I got with the ribbed scarf I made. It's SOOO SOFT, tho. Silk/cotton, gotta love it.
-- My most recent project, the ‘Tank Top Enabler’: This is a lace shrug I found on Knitty.com, ‘cause
I like my tank tops and I want to be able to wear them without having people stare
at me. So I’m making this shawl, and we’ll
see how it goes. I was working on it tonight for a bit before cooking dinner –
it’s marked as a ‘piquant’ (difficult) pattern in Knitty’s archive, but I did
the Argosy scarf, and that was too, so I think I shall be okay. I’ve only gotten about 15 rows into it, ‘cause
I’ve had to pull it out, restart, figure out the decreases, etc. I think I am going to be okay for the moment,
though. This will def. need to be blocked when finished.
And there was a huge sale at yarn.com so I went shopping for stuff for projects next year. I think I have at least 4 things planned, not counting whatever I just decide to do with the stash I already have. That will be my last yarn purchase for a while, I think - I probably want a new computer before September, so I should be saving for that.
Stuff I do while knitting: I can’t work on anything too complex while I’m knitting, especially if I have to read subtitles- I still haven’t quite gotten the habit of not looking at what I’m doing, probably cause I’m working with double-stranded stuff and don’t want to accidentally split it. Anyway – I’ve finished the drama I’d been watching recently, Romantic Princess. Despite the usual annoyances with plot holes, it was pretty fun. I totally was wrong about the main guy not really being attractive – he definitely grew on me (especially after that swimming scene). One thing that surprised me about this drama – actual kissing. Srsly. After watching Hana Yori Dango and Devil Beside You, this show was way more explicit (though not to be compared the Korean HYD where there’s a ‘bedroom aftermath’ scene.) Once I got into the show, I really enjoyed both lead characters, and they’re interesting strong characters, especially Xiao Mai.
Last night I watched a movie I’d never seen but have been hearing about for a while – 10 Things I Hate About You. I’ve been on a bit of a 90s teen movie kick anyway, but this was surprisingly good. I felt like it could have been a lil more fleshed out, story-wise. But it was a great, witty movie with lots of quirks (guidance counselor who’s writing a romance novel? White rastas?), and I’m a fan of Julia Stiles (Save the Last Dance – need to watch that again…) and of course, Heath Ledger is just yummy. I hadn’t heard his accent before, but it’s adorable.
What next? Hmm... have several TV shows I need to catch up on – have yet to see the new Who special cause I haven’t watched S4 yet. Maybe I will get started on that. Or all those like 5 other shows. We’ll see.
I’ve been reading here and there lately – some vampire novels and started (finally) Oku no Hosomichi the other day. I think I’m about halfway through it, but it’s one of those books that will probably bear re-reading. I especially want to go back and write down some of my thoughts on the haiku. And Anand reminded me, I really should write that post about why I chose this name for my blog. I need to get started on that translation too, before I forget all the Japanese I ever knew. At least I have the stuff printed out and in my house – that’s a step. I’d like to get enough into it to see if I should bring one of my dictionaries back with me – my grammar ones especially.
The rest of the time: there’s work. Which is fine as usual. I made one of my 7-year old boys cry the other day, on accident (not that I was sorry about it, mind you. ) Before you think I’m a horrible person – Korean children have this annoying habit of molesting foreign teachers. It’s not just my kids – it seems to be some sort of epidemic. It’s really annoying, because it stems from rudeness/disrespect – many Korean children are not taught that it’s rude to stare or point at foreigners, and several of my kids seem to think it’s funny to be disrespectful to me, not only verbally, but also touching me. I always get onto them about it, cause they wouldn’t dare do it to a Korean teacher, but it’s still really annoying. Anyway – I was in my afternoon class on Friday, and one of the boys, Reo, grabbed my ass with both hands. He only comes up to a bit higher than my waist, and my first response when someone does something like that is to backhand them. Thankfully I didn’t, but I spun around and grabbed his wrist so fast that one of my nails caught the side of his next and scratched him a bit. I don’t think it hurt him very much, probably just mostly surprised him, and he started crying a bit. Hopefully he won’t do that again.
Friday was also Teacher’s Day, a pretty important holiday here. Well, for us it was anyway. We didn’t get the day off, but we did get lots of flowers and chocolate. A couple parents brought cake, so we had 2 cakes, and 2 large boxes of fruit as well. And we got a bonus, which was nice. Donald and I went to Costco with Debbie and her kids that night, and I have stocked my freezer with meat, so I will almost def. not need anymore till I leave, I think, unless I start eating a lot more of it. Of course, I will have to go back for cheese, but that’s understandable. Next year I really need to get my own card. That reminds me – I need to go grocery shopping for normal-ish stuff tomorrow. I didn’t find maple syrup there, sadly (add that to my list of stuff to bring back with me), but I did get chicken broth, so I can try to make risotto again. Sweetness!
Like my awesome vase for the flowers? Yes, you too can own this awesome 1.5liter coke bottle vase....
Maybe I’ve not mentioned this before, but I like making (iced) tea, and since I have like 8 different kinds, I usually mix 2 together and see how it goes. Tonight’s mix is some Ahmad Black Mango and some Celestial Seasonings Peppermint. I like it. It’s a very light mix, and the mango comes after the peppermint but doesn’t get overwhelmed by it. I think I might do that again sometime. That mango is amazing! I’m running out tho – might have to traipse back to Itaewon.
Ah! Music! Well, I’ve
been feeling a little bored with my music lately – I haven’t gotten anything
new for a while. So I found a torrent
from November, some ranking list, and picked a bunch of songs I thought looked
interesting, as well as the new Fray and Three Days Grace albums. Haven’t listened to the latter yet, but the
former is… well. The Fray takes some
sinking in. I’ve been enjoying quite a
few of the others though – Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ which sounds like it could be
the theme for some upbeat version of the Silent Hill movies or something… well,
maybe more Resident Evil? Something set in a city. More towards psychothriller
and such. I was intrigued to see a new
OAR song, ‘Shattered’, which I like.
Always enjoy Nickelback’s singles – stop cringing, okay? There’s a few more, but I think my favorite
one is by someone I’d never heard of before.
It’s called ‘Shake it’ by Metro Station.
Dance-poppy, and addictive like whoa.
And on the other end of the scale is ‘Addicted’ by a band called Saving
Abel. The latter two are below for your
listening pleasure, but be warned that ‘Addicted’ is probably NSFW.
Hmm. 12:30 am. I should… go to bed, I guess? Wanna try out the camera first. And damn, I was going to finish that email to Julie tonight. -sigh-
I would be like, really productive. I don't know that it's fair to say I'm not productive, however. I mean, sure, if you take the word at it's literal meaning, my life could be more 'productive'. But if that's the case, there are very few things I do that are productive beyond what's necessary and I think I'm fairly normal in that respect. Hobbies are probably the exception. It all depends on where you draw the line between productive and non-productive.
Today for instance - I went to work as usual. I didn't do any planning on my lunch break, though I could have had I wanted to get ahead. Instead I chilled, ate kimbap in the sunshine, and listened to my ipod while updating some stuff in my knitting notebook. I managed to do a round on my shirt before Donald came down from lunch, and then I went in and worked some more. After work I went to the store and got some odd bits- they finally have button mushrooms again. (I saw tomatoes yesterday too... yum. Love spring)
then I came home, got on Rav and read a few threads about Mohammad and the religious history of textiles, and took a nap before waking up to do some online shopping (more on that later), talk to Lloyd and Cait, and read some blogs. Now I'm munching on dinner - leftover rice and soup - and typing this post. I don't feel that today is the most exciting day I've had - nor did I even look at the interminable list of things that I have plans to do (or the things that flit across my brain that I don't write down); but I don't particularly consider it to have been a waste of a day.
I'm not sure there's anything else conclusive to say on this subject , but it occurs to me - why do I think in terms of productive/unproductive? It's not that I particularly worry about it - i generally enjoy my time no matter what I'm doing (with exceptions), but for some reason, I feel like I *should* worry about it.
So, shopping. That was fun. I started on Knitpicks.com, a knitting site I have been meaning to check out - good quality stuff for relatively cheap prices. Catch: they only ship to the US. But since I have my handy-dandy friend Lloyd to send things to, I don't have to worry about that. And then I have more of an excuse to go back to Atl when I go home. -smile- They're having a sale on sock yarn so I got some of that for the eventuality that I will start making socks. also just because sock yarn is very pretty. and versatile. did i mention it was on sale?
Then I was off to thehungersite.com to check out their yarns. They have banana fiber yarn and beautiful recycled silk yarn which I was going to get to try. But then I saw their skirts - and you know how I love skirts. Especially long swishy ones for
<--- this one I was debating getting the wine one, but I love blue, and I wear it a lot, and it matches a lot of things that I have. So blue it was.
I was so happy to see that they ship internationally. And the most awesome part - my shipping for the order was $10. to Korea. Sweetness!! Still need to go back for that yarn...
I poked around on overstock as well, and though they had some pretty stuff, nothing quite cheap enough for me. Then I remembered my friend Robin's suggestion about ebay for clothes, and off I waded into the mire. I found an awesome seller (whose site is here) that has a bunch of cute Nepali clothes. (I guess I'm on a 'support 3rd-world economy' kick tonight.) I submitted some offers on their ebay stuff and got ....
I'm bidding on another one as well, but we'll see if I win it.
then, THEN, I found this site:
Enwrapture Vintage
Now, I'm not sure I believe their claim that their reversible silk sari wrap skirts can be worn over a hundred ways, but they are pretty damn versatile. Also, drool-worthy gorgeous.
Like these:
Gizmo is staring at me from a safe distance away and alternately washing himself so as not to look at me, as I've just walloped him. He's been really weird the past few days- I think no one told him that the neutering process was supposed to calm him down. He's been running and jumping onto the balcony, and tonight he kept trying to bite me. I had my feet up on my chair and he started biting my toes, and just now he was sitting calmly in my lap and then started gnawing on my arm. Well, that's not going to fly for sure, and he knows it.
Before bed, a snippet of conversation with Lloyd from earlier.
Lloyd:It's kinda late for dinner, ain't it?
I can just imagine that song - *sings* Kiiimbap, doo be dop a do wop...
Wouldn't that be great?
I suck at Nablopomo. -shrugs- Sorry. I mean, it's not that I don't have interesting things happen to me all the time, just that I don't think about blogging about them everyday. I'm usually busy, you know, experiencing them. Also, it's been something like 2 weeks since I had a night home by myself/got home before 9pm. So, when I did have time, I just wanted to chill and not have to worry about being under pressure to do something like blog.
That being said, lots of fun/interesting things have happened. Where to start? The most recent are easiest to remember. Or perhaps to group them into categories. Here goes:
Knitting: I've been working on my dragon shawl, mostly. I'm just starting the third repeat of the pattern, so I have a ways to go. Still, I like how it's turning out. I would take pictures, but it's hard to see very well. I did a swatch the other day for the tunic I'm going to make, and will probably take that to SnB to work on this week. Yummy, silk/cotton blend in a nice light green. I finished my cowl as well, and am pleased with it, despite having to rip out the bind off and redo it. It's very awesome, and I'm supposed to take pictures at some point. I got into trading stuff on ravelry, and now have a hand-dyed skein of alpaca and a skein of blue/green sock yarn. I also bought some really nice alpaca to make a pair of fingerless gloves with - the new Sourwood Mountain pattern from Knitty. Unfortunately I need to learn cables before I can do it - it's supposed to be fairly difficult. However, the weather has taken a turn for the worse, so I'm sure I will be able to get them done and still have time to wear them a bit. If not - well, there's always next winter.
TV/Books: Did i mention I finished Hana Yori Dango, both seasons? I was happy with the ending, for the most part. Of course, now the Korean drama that's a copy of it is all over the place here - they even have F4 fajitas at On the Border. Let me tell you, Hanazawa Rui's Korean counterpart is not as attractive, especially when drawn with an oversized head on a shrimp's body. But in general, the whole Korean cast is not as attractive. Especially Korean-Makino. She's supposed to be cute, but... no.
Since then I've vague cravings to watch the last season of Doctor Who that I never got around to, but I've been watching another drama, Taiwanese, Romantic Princess. The lead guy is growing on me, and the lead girl, Xiao Mai, is beautiful as well as really sweet. But she's also naive as fuck and kinda annoying at times. She tends to do things without thinking (like getting engaged to play a prank on someone she doesnt like. I know, right?) It hasn't annoyed me enough to stop watching, so I'll keep going. I also watched the pilot for a an American drama called Damages that Jon was pestering me about. Still haven't gotten to True Blood. (shh... don't tell him).
I got a book from BookMooch a few weeks back, and picked it up last night. I liked it so much that I finished it
I've been working on another audiobook as well, when I'm knitting at home, or jsut when I don't feel like listening to music. I'm continuing with the Sword of Truth series. I always liked Stone of Tears, though there are some parts in the middle that drag a bit, and I'm about halfway through it right now. I still haven't decided if I will listen to the books I haven't read yet on audio, or read them first. I guess it depends.
Okay folks, that's pretty much not it at all, but I'm zonked. More later. In the meantime, here's a song I've been liking lately.
I just finished watching the last bit of Hana Yori Dango 2, so I'm done with that series. I really loved that show, though at times it was predictable and the back and forth kinda annoyed me. -sigh-
Poor Hanazawa Rui... he just kept getting screwed. Such is the way of Japanese dramas. Not like your amazing, sensitive first-love could be the one you're destined for - no, it always has to be the crazy guy who's your first kiss by accident and has some vendetta against you. Until of course he realizes how awesome you are, but by then you don't really want anything to do with him. Argh.
Yeah, I'll probably watch it again. -smile- Next up: Romantic Princess, the Taiwanese drama I started at the same time as HYD.
I surprised myself by getting stuff done today. I finished all of the editing for Kimura, did part of my work for stuff with Jihyun (gotta finish the rest tomorrow) and went to Jamsil. Well, I had to do that, cause otherwise how would Donald get here? He seems very nice. Hopefully Violet-teacher will be happy.
Okay, off to work on my cowl some more before bed. I get paid this week so I am going to hit up ddm and get some beads for Bethany's cowl, as well as some more jewelry stuff...
Currently singing: the theme from HyD2 - "Love so sweet" by Arashi
It's 1230 am, and yes, I did just get home from a knitting meeting. Take that, all you silly people who think knitting is boring and only grandmothers do it.
So, I've had this song on my ipod a while, but just tonight realized how awesome it is. It's kinda my new theme song... Yes, that totally IS Yamashita Tomohisa you're hearing. The other two guys are kinda adorable too - I like the one with the red vest... This video is from '06 (yes, i kno, i listen to music way after the fact) but the vid is cute and kinda retro-y. Total camp. Don't miss the angst and boy-love around 1:55...
And here's a shift. Brand-new (I think?) BoA song in Japanese. Love the dancing, and the tomboy-style. BoA is hot - I totally wish i could dance like that.
~~Dammit! I hate it when Vox decides I've just spent half an hour typing an empty post. GRR. Try again, as Aaliyah used to say.~~
As I was saying, Most of my friends already know this. But for those of you who don't, here's your warning. I listen to lyrics and find all kinds of associations and them share them with my friends. Now that I have the helpful blogosphere, you won't be subject to emails of these things!!
I mentioned earlier, I'm not really into Jack's Mannequin's new album, The Glass Passenger. I'm still trying it, but I only have found a few songs on it that I really like - "Annie use your telescope" and "The Resolution" among them. And I don't care that the video is bad, neechan. :P It's still a good song.
~~random thought: I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I have to actually eat dinner at a table again instead of on my bed in front of my computer. It will feel strange, I'm sure.~~
I have, however, been listening to Something Corporate recently, since I finally got around to dling their discography, and I'm quite enjoying it. For the uneducated out there, it's Andrew McMahon's first band - Jack's Mannequin is a side project. (His name's not actually Jack, neechan. Jeez! Read the wiki!!) I think it's cause I've been in the mood for upbeat stuff lately. ~~Excuse me while I throw my furball across the room for attempting to steal my dinner.~~ Tonight two of the songs really stuck out while I was cooking dinner, and I thought I would share. The first one is first, because, well, because it came first. And it's related to my last post. Here it is, and lyrics below:
"Good News"
by Something Corporate
She's trapped inside her room
With reruns on the screen
Old books and movies
But she can't stop thinking
I'm torn between myself
My radio my friends
I want to write this one off over and over and over again
And then she looked at me to scream
"My castles are falling"
But I can't look into the street
Without everything changing
I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be innocent again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
She waits all day
She stands a stranger in her skin
She moves the science with her hands
She lines her walls
With every paper she can see
These words consume her
But they never set her free
And then she looked at me to scream
"My castles are falling"
But I can't look into the street
Without everything changing
I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be innocent again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
nothing good is happening
nothing good is happening
I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be a little kid again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
I wanna read good news good news
I wanna go to sleep at night again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
But nothing good is happening
But nothing good is happening
~~~~~
Relevant? The content vaguely reminds me a lil bit of that Rob Thomas song I posted a while back, and attendant thoughts on music as social commentary, though this one is more personal and less universal. Makes me think high school. But still apt. More bad news: I did my nails! And then I washed the dishes. ;_; So there are three of them left looking nicely. -sigh- Maybe I should just give up doing my nails. And Google keeps bringing up pages in Korean. I hate it when I does that. And my stuff keeps failing in the middle of uploads...
Next one!! Entirely for fun, but it's a fun song. Makes me think of Nick, a lil bit. And me. And driving in the middle of the night around Atlanta, just because we could.
"21 and Invincible"
by Something Corporate
Some days go by, I wish I were famous
Or maybe religious, so I could go to heaven
Just like you
I can have a big house, complain about taxes
Payoff my ex's, ain't that living
No one makes fun of me, cause I can't stand up for myself
We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to screw this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away
I've got a girlfriend
She tells me she needs me
And she loves me
We'll probably get married
Oh no, and everyone will bite their tongues so hard they bleed
When mom hears this song
She'll tell me I'm crazy
She'll say to me:
"Son you're much too young, go have some fun don't waste your youth like I did"
We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to screw this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away
And it's been Autumn since the day that I met you
If I hit bottom must I crawl out alone?
And I dont wish to know the secrets of summer at all
We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to fuck this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away
~~~~
Okay, I'm off to go upload more of my drive to the tubes, maybe do some knitting, since that was what I was supposed to do this weekend, before I decided to reformat my computer. But I can't finish it tonight, even if I had time - no more DVD-RWs. Have to go shopping for house things tomorrow anyway.
I've been up since 530 am. I feel like i should be tired. hmm.
I didn’t exactly plan on all this stuff happening today but since it did and I needed to blog anyway, might as well write it all down.
I just finished eating my quiznos sandwich @ Jamsil and since my feet are protesting doing much else for the time being, might as well write, although eventually I should get home cause gizmo’s probably freaking out cause I’m not home yet.
I posted on the SnB list asking about knitting looms, and someone has some that they were not just getting rid of, so I went to get them after work. She lives in a traditional part of Seoul, right down the street from the largest medicine market in the country, which means it’s probably the largest in Korea. Than sounded kinda interesting so I walked that way, past lots of street vendors selling fruit, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the street. I crossed and walked down and there were lots of medicine shops, by which I mean, lots of shops with huge barrels of powders, stacks and bundles of woods and flowers and seeds and other miscellaneous plant-y goodness. I recognized some things – flowers, rose wood, ginger. It all smelled very good, though I have no idea how it’s used. It was around 630, and people were starting to close up because it was dark.
I was a little late getting off cause I was talking to Douglas and then Joseph decided to call me Siobhain-poop-teacher, so I had to set him straight. As Douglas said, nothing like bullying a 5-year-old.
At this point I’m going to interrupt myself to note that Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is playing here in Quiznos. Also that the sign in front of me is advertising a flatbread sandwich that’s “served with lanch dressing.”
Anyway – I reached the end of the medicine stores and the market kept going – lots of produce stalls and some butchers. Once again, I was on the wrong side. When I got over there I turned down a side alley and then had to take another one to get back to the main route. All the stalls in this part were closed, and there were only some ajuma peeling veggies. One of them said something that sounded rather annoyed at me, but I just glanced at her and kept on my merry way.
I got more stares than usual as I walked past – even though Songpa is a quiet place, it was built for the Olympics, and they ae mostly used to foreigners here. I get the occasional kid whispering to her mom about the weigukin (foreigner) and sometimes people say hello to me in the street (both of which happened to me today). But rarely do I get blatant double-takes. It must be what I’m wearing. I have on my brown boots, which make me about 2 inches taller – I realized while on the subway that I was taller than pretty much everyone. And with that is my brown fuzzy sweater and my long skirt with the orange flowers. Maybe it’s the skirt. As much as Koreans tend to not wear long skirts like mine, I always get comments about them. SohJin and a bunch of the kids commented on it today. But other than that I had at least 4 people call me pretty today, that I heard.
The first was a group of vendors who stopped me as I walked past. They offered me a drink, some kind of milky rice alcohol, and when I told them I couldn’t drink it the game me some dried squid and anchovies instead. They were very friendly, and I guess surprised to see me.
I kept going and when I came out, I saw what I was looking for – pomegranates! A few places had them and they seem to go far $3. Altho when I got here I saw them for 2380 won a piece, and also that I was pronouncing them wrong, which would explain why people didn’t know what I was asking for.
I kept walking past another vendor who called me pretty and a drunk salaryman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hello I love you” as he staggered by with his cohorts. Eventually, I got to the next station, which connects to my subway line.
Another Q-music update – A remix of “Get Down On It.”
In the train station was another unexpected thing – a woman selling baked goods. And she had chocolate chip cookies! I’d been craving those – I keep not buying them at the grocery store. Of course, they aren’t as good as the ones Bethany and Fareen and I make, but they’re still yummy.
I got on the train, but had to transfer at a place I’d never been before, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get on the wrong train. So I stopped to look for a sign, and an ajushi asked me where I was going. When I told him, he said he was going to the same train. He was very nice and repeatedly told me I was beautiful. I still find such things creepy, esp. when, say, my principal does it, but I just smile and say thank you.
Q-music update – Ace of Base, “The Sign”
He asked me if I was a student, and when I told him I was a teacher, he told me a joke. Apparently the English teachers are called ET. Yes, like extra-terrestrial. I guess it makes sense – we are technically aliens. We talked about Japanese literature until he got off. When I got here I decided to come to Quiznos for dinner and it took me a few minutes to decipher which exit to take, but I figured it out and ended up near the bookstore, which was having a sale on puzzles. I got one of Starry Night. Hopefully it will be good – I haven’t done a puzzle in a long time. I missed them.
Today was such an acquisitionary day, and I met lots of people. Dried fish, pomegranates, knitting looms, cookies, puzzle… I need to go home and do my nails and some emails.
Well last night I got that Doctor Who soundtrack, and while I have only listened to it the whole way through, it is very good. I especially love the vocal pieces - "Love Don't Roam", the song that Rose and Nine dance to after saving Jack/London. (Bonus points if you get the totally geeky reference there. Hint: It has nothing to do with the show, but it was so obvious I had to.) Also, "Song for Ten", the piece that plays when Ten is picking out clothes in Christmas Invasion. Even the non-vocal pieces are beautiful - the piano in "Madame de Pompadour", and "The Daleks" are great. Here, have a listen.
Today's been pretty straightforward. I need to stop dreaming so vividly - it's making me late for work. I suppose there are worse things to dream about than the Doctor, but still. I'm not sure why this is bothering me now. -shrugs- It happens, I suppose. It comes and goes. I don't know that seeing an actual doctor could fix it. What would I say? I have really strange and vivid and emotionally powerful dreams? I watched another three eps tonight, so I don't think it's going to go away for the time being.
I just got back from the bathhouse, and I feel so nice now. I need to make dinner, I think, but then afterwards I'm going to knit some more and watch some Psych, I think. I need to work some more on those progress reports, but I might save them for the weekend. Tomorrow I get to go up to Dongdaemun and pick up some knitting looms that one of the SnB girls is getting rid of. Friday is the festival, so I'm going to be at the church till at least 930. I asked Tulip-teacher if she wanted to go get ice cream waffles after but she then she told me we'd be getting out that late. Oh! I know her name now! Chung So Jin. She was kinda confused when I asked her, but I said, well, we're friends and she calls me by my name, so it makes sense.
I have Twitter now! If anyone's interested in messaging me or keeping up with my feed. My username is Cinnamingirl. Or you can search me by email/real name.
-yawn- hmm. maybe I'll skip the Tv/knitting. I've already done a bit of both tonight and I'm kinda sleepy. I'm still attempting to finish this scarf this week. I really want to have my gauntlet started by Monday. But then, I also have a bunch of other things I want/need to get done. Have to check out stuff re: Japan and email peoples and all that goodness. I'm debating between calling my okaasan or writing her a letter. Phone call might be better, if I still have the number.
Ack. My palms are itching. But I've already been paid for the month, so I don't know what it could be. On a completely random note, I need a new contact Rx. Also, I want to buy a longer ethernet cable. For a completely lazy reason - my current one's not long enough for me to use my computer in bed. And Jessica wants me to get one of those USB connector things for my DS. Not that I have played pokemon in forever... but okay. And Xtna saw my bear mittens and wants a pair. -sigh- back to Edae, I spose...
my tummy's rumbling now. So, I'm going to dislodge Gizmo from her place in my lap and go make spaghetti. Night y'all.
Really. I don't know why it's taking forever. Maybe cause I'm dling stuf from itunes and dling torrents and doing web thingys at the same time, but that's still no excuse.
I have had a good day today. Tuesdays are pretty chill cause I have a 3 hour break between my classes, and even though I meant ot come home and work on progress reports today, I took a nap. I was tired. I was up late lastn ight cause I was so excited about getting to go back to Japan for New Year's that I couldn't sleep till sometime around 4 am. Also, there were more mogi in my room.
So class as usual. No big deal there. I probably should be getting to bed soon cause I have a full day tomorrow, but I remembered that I needed to post. Ack! I have a video for you today, neechan. Not edited, but I thought it didn't really need it anyway.
Today I went to the Center for the Birth of Baha'u'llah. It's also the anniversary of Matt proposing to Amanda. I always remember that cause she called me when I was at Freshman Semi-Formal that year and I was standing outside the Fox with a hundred people around me going "He did WHAT!?!?" This was a perfectly reasonable response on my part, consdering they met in August of that year. The program tonight was fun... I met and re-met a lot of people and though I'm fairly certain that there are at least 2 names I don't remember, it's okay cause I know their faces at least. Aruna gave me a ride home, which was good because I'm almost out of money on my subway pass, and I need to put more on.
And then I came home, and was poking around the Itunes store looking for a John Mayer song that I used to have but for some reason can't find anymore. There's one torrent of it, but it has no seeds so I just gave up and decided to spend a dollar on the song. And then then THEN I found the Doctor Who TV OST!! You know me, I love OSTs, if they are good, and the DW one is, and I'd thought about trying to find it before. There aren't any torrents of it that I've been able to find. And you know I NEVER buy music, or I do so about once every blue moon. But this is such great stuff that I honestly don't mind paying $10 for the album. Especially cause I know I will listen to a lot of it. Some soundtracks are only good with their context, but this one is good enough to just listen to.
Okay, I really need to get to bed cause I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow - emails and a letter and some other things. Have to transfer that money so that i can finally pay bills. More scarf. Etc. Remind me to post those articles about china. and my laptop dilemma.
But that's not really what this post is about. That's just an annoying thing sidetracking me from posting before 12. No, today's post is (hopefully) a little more meaningful than that.
My grandfather died... I don't remember the exact date. The end of August, an early Saturday morning. Now that I look at it, I remember it was the 23rd, but at the time, I was a little busy to have time to write. I hadn't seen him in a few days; he was in the hospital and I was working during the day, tired and too lazy to go to the hospital at night to see him. I meant to go see him that Friday, actually, but missed the visiting hours and figured I would go sit with him the next day. Then the hospital called at 2 am, and by the time we got there he was gone and I never got my chance to see him again.
Of course, I did see him. We went into his room at the hospital. I didn't stay for more than a minute. I was in shock, and then hysterical for about 15 minutes and then just ... calm. I saw his body and he wasn't there, but he didn't feel really gone either. How could he have been? He'd always been there, from when I was very small - there's no way he could just suddenly disappear. It's impossible for something like that to happen. The funeral was open-casket, but I didn't go see the body, and I was too angry with the preacher, too glad my friends had come to be with me to really let it sink in.
And so I'm not really sure it ever has. I remember reading an article a while ago - a psychologist trying to figure out why people have such a hard time understanding death. And he found that, even people who claimed that dead was dead and there was nothing after, gave answers in a manner that belied their rationale. They answered as if a dead person could still think and feel. The researcher concluded that this was because humans seek to understand things in terms of what they already know. But we have nothing to compare to death, because we have never experienced anything like it. Sleep is the closest we have, but it's not the same. This always reminds me of the story of what Abdu'l-Baha said when someone asked him about the world after we die. He said, he couldn't tell us - we wouldn't understand it, because we have no frame of reference to comprehend it. It would be like trying to tell a baby who is still in the womb about sunlight - something completely alien.
The only thing I can think of seems so strange - that he's gone, and depending on what philosophy I decide to go with, I may or may not see him again. But that doesn't feel real. When I call home I sometimes catch myself stopping right before I ask my grandmother, "So how's Pops?" Even though we weren't as close as I grew older, (but then, that happens) we always had an understanding. We would laugh at my grandmother being silly together, I would read papers for him, we'd bemoan the lack of good TV shows. There were things that were understood that we didn't talk about - mostly my different views on people of other races, or his opinions on my mom. Strangely enough, he liked Olga, when he met her.
I find myself stopping and thinking of him at random times, the oddest things make me remember. Milkshakes. Pillows. Oyster stew. Having my own apartment. Seeing people put salt and pepper on their food. Tomatoes. Aftershave and toothpaste. Steak and iced tea and restaurants. Recliners. Banana pudding and Nilla wafers. Other people's Cokes. Just being here, sometimes. I know he didn't like me being away from home so much, but he understood. I asked him if he wanted me to put off coming to Korea, and he looked so surprised, and asked me, "Why would you do that?" How when I went down to Jax for the ABF interview, we all discussed me living in Jacksonville, and he actually participated in the discussion of how best to deal with my car, furniture, stuff like that.
And on those occasions, I have two contradictory feelings, one of sadness, and one incredulity. Even with the odd refusal to believe he's gone despite all evidence to the contrary, I still feel vaguely sad. Not for him, but for me. Which is horribly selfish, I imagine. On these occasions I generally shed a tear or two, glad I'm in front of my computer and not out in public where people would wonder why the foreign girl just started crying. But it happened tonight on the bus home, because of the song I was listening to, and so I decided to write about it. I posted a bit about it a while ago, but not really. I didn't want to touch it at the time, because it didn't feel real.
It still doesn't. But then, I've noticed that I go through quite a bit of my life wondering if what's happening should feel more real, or if everyone feels the same distance from things. I feel it more with important events, but even sometimes on a daily basis it happens. Lately I've been thinking of pieces of Atlanta while in class, driving down Buford with Julie and windows down and stereo up and then I remember that I'm in Korea. Or biking down the streets of Kyoto and walking though Uji. That's another post, I think. I'm too tired to do that one tonight.
Anyway, enough talking. Here's what I was listening to that made me decide to unload all this. It's a good song, so it's worth it if you've read this far.
I tried to paint you a picture,
The colours were all wrong.
Black and white didn't fit you,
And all along
You were shaded with patience,
You're strokes of everything
That I need just to make it
And I could see that
Lord knows I have failed you,
Time and again,
But you and me are alright...We won't say our goodbyes,
You know it's better that way.
We won't break,
We won't die.
It's just a moment of change.
All we are,
All we are is everything that's right....
All we need,
All we need
A lover's alibi.
