August 28, 2002

my morning started off pretty bad today.

1. stupid lawn mower guy really knows how to wake you up at 9am.
2. computer order is being delayed.
3. Writing 39B is COMPLETELY full. i can't even get on the stupid waiting list.
4. i need to go to my cousin's house today after work (yes, the rich bastard one that intimidates me).
5. haven't even started traffic school yet.

ok, i really appreciate all of the "college advice" everyone gave me. but no one, not a SINGLE person, admonished me about the consequences of signing up for classes late! all i heard was, "study hard! no girls! no parties! study hard!" *ahem* how about giving me some advice that i can actually USE! man, picking out classes in college is a hard kick in the balls. everything is just so inconvenient. it's not simple like high school where the counselors do all the work for you, and you can just whine and change your classes b/c you have one mean teacher. ugh, college registration is more like an authorization code here, a telephone call there, a computer freeze here, and a FULL class there! i know i know, i SHOULD have signed up earlier. i'm just venting cause i've had it up to HERE! *sigh* i want my mommy.

however, with all this stress and confusion, i am very glad to hear that justin is doing fine. he sounds very happy and is already enjoying his time at cornell. for once, i'm happy for the guy. hehe. oh, and i'm pretty impressed with what he did with his blog page. i'm pretty sure someone did it for him but no matter, it pleases me. and by the way, you were NOT "gregarious or sociable." it was just straight up TALKATIVE. make me proud CJ. =D

Thought of the Day: You think you can do it in one week?
Song of the Day: Hweesung-Can It Not Be?

August 24, 2002

retreat:

i enjoyed this retreat just like every other one. but at the same time, i realized that it felt "different." it finally hit me that i was kinda getting old for yg. having our immature paul come into yg was one sign. PJ letting me sleep in his cabin was another sign. gosh, it's weird. i felt very aloof from all the kids, almost like i didn't belong. oh but don't get me wrong, i sure had a great time. the games were awesome this year. the sermons were definitely worth listening to. and of course, the food was gross yet edible. and oooooh myyyyyy were some of the skits just freakin' hilarious! yeah, i did not regret coming to the retreat over another week in korea. praise God!

sidenote: i never realized how much i missed lois. seeing her just made me very happy. i enjoy her company very much. yes, she annoys me. yes, she bugs me. but yes, i DID miss her. great to have your ugly face back in the west coast. i'm still waiting for our little date.

after retreat:

the same day we came back from retreat, i saw justin off at the airport with moe and olivia. it wasn't like we were bawling our eyes out but there was still that "man, that sucks!" feeling among all of us. justin jang, my homosexual friend, is now in New York. oh so far away from me. yeah, i'm gonna miss the guy. that annoying arrogant guy. good luck with your white roommate and you're only allowed to call me on weekends.

but of course, the three of us just couldn't conclude a night like that. so we crashed at chang's and watched Vanilla Sky. man, that has to be one of the trippiest movies i've ever seen. i didn't like it the first time cause i only saw the middle and didn't quite make it to the end. but this time, i saw the whole thing through and ironically ended up enjoying it. and no, it wasn't just me! olivia said she liked it too. moe of course was snoring away 15 minutes into the movie. hehe.

friday:

my mom wanted to change her cell phone cause it was 90% broken. i really just wanted to chill at home but my mom really wanted me to go with her. so we explain our little situation with our phones, and i tell the guy that i don't want to switch over to anything new cause i want to keep my 8290. i know that cingular is a piece of crap company but you have to first understand what my phone went through. this phone costed me over 200 bucks! the phone itself was about 100 and the rest was spent fixing it up. foolish indeed! i agree. but the guy tells me that i can keep the phone and just change service providers like T-Mobile. so i put all my faith in this guy and canceled my account to cingular right there on the spot. after a ridiculous 1 hour, we get my thing canceled and he calls the T-Mobile guy. he finds out that they can't do it for my phone so i either have to choose T-Mobile or freakin' call Cingular again. *sigh* sometimes, the effort just isn't worth it you know? so my mom and i both walk out of that store with our new Motorola V-66 phones. gosh, and i'm still a sucker for fixing up phones.

random:

boLbim33 (1:17:50 PM): excitinged about IRvine?
boLbim33 (1:18:06 PM): LA girls... they are different...
boLbim33 (1:18:12 PM): they are soooooo prettier
boLbim33 (1:18:15 PM): than Nor al
Pretzelboi96 (1:18:18 PM): haha


today:

2 hours of soccer. *sigh* it was hard. we got raped pretty bad. 8-2. but i honestly had some fun. gosh, matt's pretty good.

justin called today. he sounded a bit nostalgic. i don't blame the guy. there's no place like california.

oh yeah, dykas came back today too!

Pretzelboi96 (9:56:30 PM): dude, wasn't korea awesome?!
AzN1283 (9:56:38 PM): man it was AWESOME
AzN1283 (9:56:39 PM): i love it
AzN1283 (9:56:45 PM): i hella didnt' want to come bak
Pretzelboi96 (9:56:55 PM): ah yeah!
AzN1283 (9:57:16 PM): man
AzN1283 (9:57:18 PM): i miss it
AzN1283 (9:57:21 PM): i miss the food
AzN1283 (9:57:22 PM): girls
AzN1283 (9:57:24 PM): everything

reflection:

so i have less than a month before i go down to irvine. man, i have so many things to do:

1. traffic school.
2. work.
3. sign up for classes.
4. sell my cell phone.
5. buy computer.

well, i guess that isn't so bad. it sounds alot worse that it actually is. i'm really excited about my computer. Pentium 4 2.0 ghz. 512 ram. 80 gigs. 32x cd-rom with burner/dvd combo. 15" flat panel monitor. and some cheap printer. all approximately $1,995.00 after tax and shipping. just fits my budget of $2,000. praise God. hey jomo, it's Dell too!

Thought of the Day: Withering away.
Song of the Day: Basement Jaxx-Where's Your Head At (at at at...)

August 17, 2002

so i am back from my oh-so-fun vacation. and like justin said, "i know you're disappointed to be back." i AM really sad. this land that we call america is one boring place. alot of me regrets coming back to the states. i was getting alotta pressure from my dad to stay in korea an extra week. we would've gone to Gwangju and i could've played with this one noona i know. yeah, it would've been fun. *sigh* but i knew i couldn't miss my last youth group retreat. sometimes, there's just some things you can't sacrifice. and like gary said, you know you love something when you're willing to sacrifice or something like that. and i guess, i just didn't love korea enough. no, that's not true. i guess i just love retreats that freakin' much. *sigh* but still, it hurts. it's nice seeing friends and all, but it's so much nicer seeing my cousins everyday. haha. *sigh* sniffle sniffle.

reflection:

korea was definitely a good choice that i made. remember how i talked about how i needed to make money over the summer for college and stuff? well, i actually came back with more money than 3 weeks of work's pay. isn't that great? well, i think it's terrific. praise God!

i got a chance to talk to my dad about lots of things like family, friends, and church. my role as a son. his role as a father. our past and our future. it was good. i got a chance to see my dad in the working field again. frankly speaking, his business sucks. i'm sure you guys would pity him if you saw the business he gets. but at the same time, i grew a stronger appreciation for my father's efforts. after lunch, he works til about midnight, sitting behind a computer and greeting customers. he jokes around with the little kids and always talks to the adults with much respect. he's just a nice guy. a nice guy who i'm so freakin' proud of.

i got another chance to improve my korean. every time i go to korea, i come back with at least an improved vocabulary of 10 words and an improved slang vocabulary of 5 words. i mean, i learn hecka words everyday but you can only remember so many as part of your permanent speech you know? every single day, i would ask the question, "what does that mean?" at least 20 times. every single day, i would have the same response, "i don't know." at least 50 times. haha. but yeah, it was good.

i noticed that my dad's rich family is REALLY different from my mom's average or below family. i realized that the poorer family were much happier and nicer people. they were also much more generous and knew how to cook some good crap. the rich side was stingy and just bought me dinner all the time. i could sense that my dad felt more comfortable talking my mom's family than his own brothers. very ironic. well, i'm not saying that rich people suck. i'm not even saying that i hate my dad's side of the family. but i just thought it was interesting noticing these observations. i guess money only makes us "worse" people. *shrug*

things i constantly heard throughout my time in korea:

1. "simon, you got so big!"
2. "hey, simon isn't cute anymore. he's all big and ugly now."
3. "how do you say this in English?"
4. "simon, isn't it going to be hard living w/o your brother?"
5. "are you having fun?"
6. "wanna eat some watermelon?"
7. "what would you like to eat? i'll buy it for you."
8. "you look so much like your father. simon looks so much like your mother."
9. "what's your major going to be in college?"
10. "hey, you can speak korean now!"

Thought of the Day: Errands Errands Errands!
Song of the Day: Jaurim-Fallen Blossoms

August 15, 2002

monday:

what a bummer. in-gyu went to work and couldn't get out of it. i was stuck home, watching korean music videos for a good 3 hours. the first hour was entertaining. the second hour was getting to me. the third hour was just a very sad and unhappy hour. before my dad dropped me off at my cousin's place, we had like our first official serious talk. i forget how it started and my memory's still a bit sketchy. but it was cool.

as soon as i got to my cousin's place, we went to this gym to go play some basketball. man, that was a very energetic and fun time. i was actually playing pretty well that day. i was one sweaty, aggressive monster. but as soon as we finished, it started raining again. then of course, my fragile body caught another cold. another stupid cold that came and gone.

we watched another korean movie, pretty funny stuff. i didn't understand 75% of the dialogue but the i thought the other 25% was great. man, korean people are freakin' funny. their humor and american humor is different in so many perspectives.

tuesday:

i buy another pair of shoes. 63,500 won. good stuff. so tuesday was the last day i was going to see in-gyu's family. the mom gave me 100,000 won and simon 50,000. man, so generous. then we go eat gal-bee with my mom's cousin. *drool* great stuff. blah blah blah. you know the story. before we say goodbye, the lady gives me and simon 100,000 each! my wallet is starting to tear! so many bills bills bills! my cousins and i go to Coex Mall, a REALLY big underground mall. i think it's quite impressive. very futuristic and crap. as much as i wanted to spend money, i just ended up buying a comb for one of my girl cousins. shopping will have to wait. another night at the noraebang. blah blah blah.

wednesday:

my cousin, james, wanted to take me out to lunch so went to this chinese restaurant. it was weird seeing him again. it's always weird seeing him again. he got alot skinnier. we started talking about college and future and stuff. yeahyeahyeah, lots of bs conversation. but the part that i thought was most interesting was when he told me about his older brother:

james: so my brother took an IQ test recently. he scored 177.
me: woah.
james: he's an "ultra-genius." they have different levels for different iq's. there's normal, very smart, genius, super genius, ultra-genius, and unrecordable. my brother's an "ultra-genius."
me: woah.

i never knew my other cousin was that smart. i mean, i heard he was smart and everything but i just thought that meant he studied really hard just like any other korean. but no, this guy was a weirdo the whole time. i think that would explain alotta things about him. you see, this cousin of mine isn't exactly the nicest, most patient, and comfortable person to be around. he's a bastard. he's worse than james, the cousin who used to torture me for fun. but yeah, pretty interesting huh?

so afterwards, i receive more money. 50,000 won for me and my brother. ironic how out of all the people who gave me money, the richest bastard gave us the least. no matter, i was one loaded dude. *giggle*

i had to lie to my cousin that i was busy cause he wanted to spend some time with me (alone). so i had to lie (sorry, chose to). i told him i was going to a baseball game with my cousins and that i was going to the Soccer Allstar Game tomorrow (which i really was (my cousin's friend couldn't make it so we couldn't get tickets)). so it wasn't like he couldn't force me to stay even though i could see the thought in his face. so we escaped and finally got to my dad's pc bang. i got a new pair of glasses. pretty nice and cheap. 30,000 won! it only took me like 5 min. to check my eyes out. i got my glasses right on the spot. no prescription crap. no waiting for 10 days. just wham bam glasses man! haha. i'm so stupid.

then i went to the hair salon and got my hair high lighted again b/c i wasn't satisfied with the first time. it took pretty long but it was definitely worth the price, 12,000 won...with a free haircut of course. i was kinda unhappy with my designer cause he made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

guy: you're not from korea are you?
me: nope.
guy: are those your friends over their?
me: no, those are my cousins.
me: oh, you probably don't have too many friends over here huh?
me: um...no.

me: can you just cut the sides and the back?
guy: no. that'll look weird. how about i don't cut the sides, i just cut a little in the back, and you grow this part out and raise it up?
me: *sigh* ok.

however, it all turned out fine. not a bad cut. satisfied highlights. and of course, 12,000 won. man, that's like cheaper than some of the dyes in america!

for dinner, we went back to Kim Gah Neh. *drool* this time we all had ramen and "mot-nah-eeh-kim-bap," which translates to ugly sushi. haha. my cousin called it "simon sushi." after a very satisfied dinner, i went to go buy a pair of windbreakers. we came to this one store, which was the only place that had long windbreakers, and tried to bargain with the lady. the original price was 28,000 won. we wanted 23,000 won. they wanted 24,000. we argued and argued but they just wouldn't. my cousin was really stubborn too. got all red and crap. kinda funny. but we left. we came back cause everywhere else sucked. it was such a pride-killer though, going back feeling all inferior and stupid. my cousin couldn't even go back. it just wouldn't be right. haha. but i got the pants for 24,000. satisfied.

the night was concluded with pool and bowling. no more nackyu for who knows how long?

today:

we go to Tech Mart, a 7 floor mall in korea. pretty nice. not bad at all. i bought a whole buncha pens, a cd holding thingy, some magazines, blank cds, cd cases, and an air freshener for my uncle's b-day. man, so so cheap! for lunch, my 4th uncle bought us gal-bee-tang. *drool* great stuff. he gave the common advice about college. study study study. it's funny though cause EVERYONE always mentions that it's going to be hard for simon cause i'll be gone. perhaps it's a big deal. but i think simon can care less. *shrug* doesn't really seem to have any concern. *shrug*

i buy another cd and go to grandma's to burn a mix with their nice computer. we go home and give my uncle the air freshener. it was funny cause i know he was happy and he was still trying to find something to complain about. haha. that guy.

uncle: why'd you buy this? you don't even have any money!
me: it'll make your call smell good.
uncle: (mumbles something).
me: what?
uncle: GO UPSTAIRS!

yeah, he's one of those guys who always end each sentence with "jah-sheek-ah!" or "eeh-saeeki-ya!"

one of my girl cousins bought us all some neng-myun, which i am not too fond of. after dinner, we went bowling. after bowling, we went home and sang happy b-day. after that, we played with some firecrackers cause they're really cheap and legal. not as fun as we expected. basically threw away 20,000 won for 5 min. of weak lights. and now, i'm here pc banging with two of my cousins. i find it so funny how my girl cousin wants to play starcraft with my brother so much. she's like 24 and yet she's so immature. gosh, girls playing computer games. full of them in korea!

so i'm coming home tomorrow. sucks. smell you guys soon!!!

girl in red: happy b-day!

Thought of the Day: 3 weeks went by so fast.
Song of the Day: Jadu-Euak Seh

August 11, 2002

fatman goes into the unfamiliar restaurant. excited and hungry, he is ready to conquer his table. what?! "it's a buffet," he hears. the meat is being cooked. his bowls of rice are in place. everything is just right. on your mark. get set. EAT!!! after what seemed like hours of gorging on cows, fatman finally stops. father frowns. cousins frown. brother frowns. fatman is not like he used to be. he can no longer eat 3 bowls of rice with comfort. fatman struggles after a pitiful bowl #2. his heavy breathing increases. fatman is defeated. fatman sucks.

you know how i describe how good the restaurants are right? well, just imagine just how much BETTER the buffets are! i am telling you, that crap is freakin' tight! i wanna use non-existing words. i wanna cry. i wanna gesticulate. but i just can't tell you just how "awe-ful" my dinner was. *sigh* like i said, i can't eat as much as i used to. but i can tell you that i ate to the point where my initial unhappiness turned into sorrow. that's right. i ate and i became sad. too much is too much. oh, but it was also an interesting experience. across from my table was this really fine looking girl. first of all, i'm not used to seeing too many pretty girls at buffets so it kinda came to me by surprise. second, you would expect pretty girls to eat with tiny cute little bites and complain about how fat they were after 5 pieces of meat. ha! this girl was no ordinary girl. she would make her big meat sandwich thingys (sang-choo + meat + rice) and stuff ALL of that crap in her mouth! it was really unattractive and funny at the same time, seeing her trying to chew so much with her tiny little mouth. she'd be wiping her mouth over and over and continue making her enormous sandwiches. it was a very interesting site. such a pretty girl with no shame at a buffet. interesting.
so i'm back at my dad's place. i was talking with my friend, daniel, who just got back from taiwan. right now, he's like the only friend who relate to how much fun i'm having. in taiwan, they bowl, pool, eat, drink, and club. that's really similar to my vacation except i replace drinking and clubbing with shopping and pc banging. he quotes, "america is one dull country." haha. there's definitely a half-truth to that.

today, my aunt gave me 50,000 as a gift. gosh, i hate taking money from my mom's side of the family cause they're kinda poor. my aunt sells fruit everyday and i KNOW that crap doesn't sell too well. man, you know how insistent koreans are. just won't take NO for an answer. speaking of insistent, i bought a pair of fake Oakley's today:

me: how much is it?
lady: 12,000 won.
me: that's kinda expensive (*giggle* i'm such a cheap bastard!).
lady: ok, 11,000.
me: lady, i'm from america. these glasses are REALLY expensive over there. can't you just go down to 10,000?
lady: *sigh* 10,000.
me: thank YOU! (i don't even look good in glasses, but who cares!).

tomorrow, in-gyu is taking me out to the "fun" place now that i'm 19 in korean age. my cousin told me that he was either going to take me to a nightclub or a drinking place. i don't know. i hate alcohol. however my cousin also told me that there's hecka fine girls there, and they like to "play" with you (which basically means they want to drink for free). anyhoo, shoutout goes to our theological friend, jomo...

JSangLee: phil
Pretzelboi96: ayo
JSangLee: 7th day...
JSangLee: we celebrate 7th day as sunday
JSangLee: b/c of Jesus' ressurection
JSangLee: not because of rome
Pretzelboi96: oh really?
JSangLee: Jesus resurrected on a Sunday
JSangLee: b/c it was 3 daysafter good friday
JSangLee: and taht stuff doesn't change
JSangLee: b/c jesus died around passover
JSangLee: so we celebrate the Sabbath, or the reminder of heaven to come, through the day in which Christ was risen from the grave
JSangLee: but the issue is not the day of worshp
Pretzelboi96: uhhuh
JSangLee: the issue is that 7th day adventist still believe in a lot of levitcal law
JSangLee: liek they can't eat hooved animals like pork
JSangLee: and can't eat anything w/o a spine
JSangLee: like shrimp or crab
Pretzelboi96: what the?!
JSangLee: now why?
JSangLee: b/c it says in the old testament
JSangLee: but!
JSangLee: we don't live according to the law
JSangLee: and in essence
JSangLee: what they do is they believe in both the law
JSangLee: and christ
JSangLee: which is a contradiction b/c christ is the law
JSangLee: and the fulfillment of the law
JSangLee: and if they go back to the law, they are only condeming themselves and stripping Christ of his due power
JSangLee: so its a theological issue and not a "which day your worship" issue
JSangLee: its basically a very legalistic religion
Pretzelboi96: ah, i see
Pretzelboi96: do you think they're saved "christians?"
JSangLee: but
JSangLee: the ironic thing is...
Pretzelboi96: i mean, they DO believe in christ as lord right?
JSangLee: most of the non-7th day christians in korea are just as legalistic, b/c they live as if they need to be good ppl...and that that is the marker of a good christian
JSangLee: if you don't believe in SOLUS CHRISTUS, you're not
JSangLee: b/c if you're relying on works
JSangLee: then you can't be saved
JSangLee: but if they truly believe it is christ that saves them...and puts faith in that
JSangLee: I'd say they are
Pretzelboi96: right
JSangLee: they can still be saved
Pretzelboi96: of course
JSangLee: but if they really professed what they do...and still believe in Christ as their only saviour
JSangLee: they are bing higly inconsistent
Pretzelboi96: ok, that really helped alot
Pretzelboi96: thank you much jomo
JSangLee: no problem

Thought of the Day: So many fine girls in Korea=deception and destruction.
Song of the Day: Air-Hair Do

August 10, 2002

wednesday:

one of my dad's friends wanted to buy me dinner so we went to the restaurant downstairs to eat some sam-gyup-sal (fatty fat fat pork). my dad's friend is one of those funny ah-juh-shees. he talks really loud with a funny accent and likes to laugh at my stupid reactions. a nice guy who likes to talk about his childhood and how much he used to be able to eat. but omg, i have never eaten such unhealthy pork in my life! that crap was probably like 50% fat, literally. and of course, everyone took the good pieces while i was stuck with the white chewy lard. yummy. but it was yet another dinner that i appreciated, something you don't eat everyday in america.

i went to nackyu's house cause i was going to the hair salon with him the next day. he told me i could straighten my hair for 15,000 won at the place he was going. that's an amazing price compared to the regular 50,000 won and of course, approximately 70-80 dollars in America? i know it seems pretty gay, but i don't care. straight hair is almost always better than annoying wavy hair...at least for me. so we're at his house and my freakin' mom calls to tell me not to do anything to my hair. i knew this was going to come sooner or later, but today?! i know i should stop tampering with my thin hair cause it'll probably fall out someday. i went to bed deciding to just leave my hair alone.

thursday:

so after i talked with one of the hair stylists, i was convinced that there was nothing wrong with straightening my hair. after nackyu dyed his hair, we went to his church cause it was the only place that was cold. i met two of his friends, surprisingly only 15 years old! anyways, they were really interested in the american boy. the boy with the "perfect" English accent. the boy with the cool watch. the boy with a driver's license inside a wallet full of dance pictures. it was quite a funny experience:

girl: so what part of America are you from?
me: San Francisco.
girl: what? slower please?
me: san-pran-shees-co.
girl: ohhhhhhhh.

girl: wow! look at his watch! can i wear your watch? woah, it's so heavy. haha. hey, it has the days of the week, the date, and the hour of the day! hey, it glows in the dar too! look! wow, an American watch!

girl #1: wow! look at his wallet! what's a "rewards card?" hey, smell his wallet! it smells so good! hey, he has so much money!
girl #2: wow, he does have a lot of money! count how much he has! i only have 2,000 won!

i know it sounds like i'm exaggerating. but i assure you, i speak the truth and nothing but the truth. the first girl had a very interesting name. while most korean names only have 3 characters, she had 5. her name was lee ha neul gang nam (lee sky river). interesting no?

after that, i met up with simon and woong-chan and we ate at this small restaurant. dang, that place had THE BEST bibimbab! that crap was only 4,000 won! quality, quantity, and cheap. exactly what we lack in America.

friday:

so we go bowling again. samo samo. then we go to my grandmother's house again. i burn a cd with my cousin's computer and eat fried chicken for dinner.

aunt: is the chicken better in america?
me: of course!
aunt: ahaahhaahahahhaha.

we shoot some pool and we come home b/c my other aunt is sick. what's that thing called when your face is kinda crooked b/c of lack of blood flow or something? well, she had a minor attack? yesterday. it's kinda funny when you observe my uncle and aunt. my uncle is an old-fashioned korean who tries to find every reason to complain and belittle you. my aunt on the otherhand is one happy lady. she's always smiling and laughing (kinda like chris moon), quite jolly for a korean lady.

at night nackyu wanted his hair to be even redder. we got some red bleach called cherry. in the end, his hair turned into this hot pink. we didn't know what to say. shocked yet sympathetic. it was kinda funny though cause he seemed to be really happy with it, smiling like an idiot. haha. it's something you can get used to. just really awkward at first. reminds you of moon hee jun.

today:

my girl cousin wants to go to school in sweden to study Interior Design or something cause she really likes the school. she can't speak english for jack crap but she's really determined to study study study. so i helped her write her application today, translating every sentence from korean to english. ugh! after we finished, the crap didn't save and we lost the file. we started over and finished and left the pc bang 2 hours later. she was really sorry but i guess she deserved my effort. she works really hard to give me and simon a good time in korea. she takes us bowling, buys us food, cooks us food, cleans the house, watches movies with us, and even takes us shopping. the poor thing. i know she's going to be a good mother. so yeah, she deserved my stupid effort.

i found out last week that woong-chan and jung hyun are 7th Day Adventists, "christians" who go to church on saturday. it's really weird cause they're always asking me to go to church with them on saturday. it doesn't feel right and i know it's wrong. but the worst part is the fact that i don't know how to argue against it. they argue that saturday is the 7th day of the week and sunday is the first. it was supposedly always like that until Rome forced everyone to go to church on sundays. so yeah, it's kinda frustrating. the best i could do is tell them that i disagree with them. sunday is the last day, not saturday. *shrug* so it got me thinking, when IS the actual 7th day of the week? in korean, sunday is the first day-eel yo eel. help me out somebody!

i had a pretty good lunch today. i ate at this restaurant called "kim kang myun," which sells a variety of kim-bab and ramen. crap, that stuff was so good and cheap! i ate lap-pok-ki and hecka kim-bab and simon had oodong. 10,000 won!!! and of course we shot some pool afterwards.

today, i bought some cds and a bought a jersey. it's really cool bargaining with people on the streets.

me: how much is it?
guy: it's normally 32,000 won but i'll give it to you for 28,000.

nornally, i would've even bought it for 32,000 won cause it's just so freakin' cheap! i know that crap is fake, but it's all good right?

me: c'mon, can't you just give it to me for just a BIT cheaper?
guy: hmmmmm...well, since the weather is kinda bad today, i'll give it to you for 27,000 won.
me: thank you. (sucker).

it turns out that i was the real sucker. my other cousin told me that he could've gotten that crap for 5,000 won cheaper. eh, it's fine. i'm happy. that vender is happy. however, i gotta stop buying clothes now...even if it was only 2 things. i have enough clothes in america.

so you guys starting to see the trend here? my life is basically bowling, pool, pc bang, movies, food, and walking. i have less than a week left in this fantastic land. *sigh* this fantastic land.

Thought of the Day: Gotta stop spending money.
Song of the Day: That popular Koyote song.

August 7, 2002

sunday afternoon:

i went shopping in Dong-Deh-Moon again. we went to Doota Tower and Migliore (or whatever it's called), the two big cheap places to shop in the area. simon bought two Echo shirts, a pair of shorts, and windbreakers. gosh, i never knew clothes in korea could be so cheap! and finally, i started seeing all of the pretty korean girls i was hoping for. you just have to go to the right places you know? man, i just realized that i do alotta traveling in korea. i spend at LEAST 5 dollars on transportation a day and do at LEAST 3 miles of walking a day. it's really fun doing all this traveling. i love just looking around all the streets and people. i think i'm becoming a city person. i like taking buses and subways. i like walking around shopping malls and buying food in the streets. i just like the environment. it's great.

monday:

after we came back from shooting pool and bowling, we decided to give my other cousin, Na-kyu, a call. fortunately, he was free for a while so he came over. gosh dang did he look different! the guy is now 183 cm, which is about 6' 1? and grew out his hair like he promised. haha. the only thing he didn't do was dye his hair blue. we're going to the hair salon tomorrow to do that. but yeah, he's still the same ol' guy. it's weird though. everytime i see my cousins, i feel a bit shy around them cause i haven't seen them in a while. but after a few questions about america and different translations, the ice finally breaks apart. we went to noraebang AGAIN, but for some reason it's always funfunfun! we came home and Na-kyu saw the chess set i brought. for some odd reason, all of my cousins think chess is the most interesting game. perhaps it is the fact that it is a GLASS chess set. i mean, that's what got me hooked too. anyways, they really suck but they really enjoy the game. they have some pretty fun reactions.

me: checkmate.
cousin: STOP! (moves the pieces back and starts thinking again).

tuesday:

so we go bowling AGAIN. this time, i do pretty a little better than usual-153 baby! it's fun playing with my cousins. we give each other high fives no matter how bad we did and always yell ASSAH! haha. my girl cousins really wanted me to go to the korean museum of history so we stopped by there. i can't say i had the funnest time, but it was a bit interesting. i find american history to be much more exciting even though it only goes back a few hundred years. but oh well. i appreciate what korea went through. we see one of my girl cousins taking a tour but we tell her we're just going to meet her at McDonald's at 6. we go ahead and eat just a little so that we can eat dinner a little later with her. we then go watch a new korean movie called Phone. it's supposed to be really scary and stuff so my oldest cousin hooked us up with tickets somehow. it's really cool. she always hooks us up. anyways, the movie ended up being pretty dang scary. i really enjoyed it. gosh, there was this one part though that i must comment on. the main character is walking into this room cause she hears this girl crying. when she walks into the room, there's a bed with a girl sitting on it. her hair is REALLY long, all the way to the floor, and her face is buried in her hair. omg. that crap was sooooooo scary! and of course the stupid girl approaches the crying ghost. man, i think that's brilliant. that was just oh so scary! good movie. good korean movie.

after the movie, we go to Dong-Deh-Moon to do some shopping again. it was weird though cause my girl cousin was in a bad mood. she wouldn't talk to us and kept complaining about stupid things. we didn't speak to her til we got home. man, walking in the rain is soooooo much fun! my cousins and i were walking for miles, singing and yelling mindless things. "DAE-HAN-MIN-GOOK!" "OH PILSEUNG KOREA!" what a memory. that's definitely a keeper. before we got home, my other cousins and i ate cup ramen at this 7-11 type of place. gosh, eating at night is so much fun. everything is cheap and available. so unhealthy but so worth it you know? after we got home, my pissed off cousin wanted to talk to me. she said she was pissed at us cause we didn't wait to eat with her at McDonald's. she was disappointed at us to the point where she was crying when trying to explain things. it was weird seeing the sensitive side of my cousin, the same cousin who's as immature as simon. so weird. girls. weird. girls suck. but everything was ok after that. what a long day.

Thought of the Day: "Thank you very much. You're welcome to my house Minjung. Here are some flowers for you."
Song of the Day: YDG-Alley

August 4, 2002

monday afternoon:

so i finally got to see my beloved cousins. woong chan (19), jung hyun (21?), jung sook (23?), and junguk (25). that's 1 boy and 3 girls. so far, everyone who's seen me says that i got taller and skinnier, which is absolutely false. i've only grown 2 centimeters and have replaced my lost baby fat with "unnatural fat?" but when they see simon, they are in awe of his change in height and voice. he is no longer the cute, adorable, laughing maniac. he is now the not-so-fun and quiet teenager. i guess he has
changed alot in the past 2 years. but he still knows how to make me angry.

so we go see my grandmother (mom's side) and my oldest uncle. i'm never too excited to go to that house b/c it is just absolutely boring. tv. room. room. kitchen. bathroom. thank you very much but i am not interested. and of course, there is the crippled grandmother who cannot do anything but mumble complaints just to make conversation. yeah, i don't like her much and i'm sure she doesn't like me either. to her, i'm probably the "different" grandson. the retarded american boy who cannot speak korean for crap and dresses like he's going to continue growing for the next 5 years. anyways, my uncle is a pretty funny guy. he's really good at belittling his nephews, especially woong chan.

uncle: so can you drive now?
me: yeah, i got my license 2 years ago.
uncle: woong chan, what about you?
cousin: no. not yet.
uncle: what?! why not? only stupid people don't
know how to drive.

all of my cousins are pretty much the same. they just changed their hairsytles a bit, but they really seem like nothing's changed in 2 years. i think that's cool though. change is gay.

tuesday:

i found out that you can dye your hair and get a haircut for less that 30 bucks in korea! this was a bargain i just could not refuse. we went to AP-GOO-JUNG-DO, one of the more popular cities for younger people. but before that, i was seriously craving some pat-bing-soo. my cousins took me this placed called Ice Berry. they have this one pat-bing-soo called the KING BING SOO, which is absolutely enormous! you get this hecka big bowl and just add tons of crap to it. it's basically a pat-bing-soo that you eat as a group. it was so freakin' good!!!! man, i could've cried right there on the spot. i don't understand why we cannot have such things in america.

at the hair salon, i got my hair done by several people. first, this guy and this girl were putting the dye on my hair. they were so careful to make sure every little hair was going to get colored. then, i got my hair washed by this other lady. then this other lady highlighted my hair. then the same lady washed my hair again. finally, this well known hair stylist was in town or something so i got my haircut from him. man oh man, is he good! he seriously takes his time in every little snip. a freakin' perfectionist man! he made sure each side was exactly even and kept starting over. it was quite an experience. i think he was gay cause he was wearing red pants and was so good my with hair. but i don't know. not like it should matter i suppose. and of course, the best part was that i got a discount. 35,000 won to 25,000 won (approximately $20). ugh, what a deal! korea really knows how to treat your hair right!

we also saw The Score on video. it only costs 1,000 won to watch that crap. that's like what, 75 cents?!

wednesday:

and the food continues to do justice! every morning, i ate don-ggah-seu for breakfast. haha. it's weird eating such food at such a time. but it's all good right? on wednesday, i went bowling with woong chan and jung hyun. dang, we bowled like 3 games and it was still less than 10 dollars! it was great cause we were all bowling great that day. we all made new high scores except for woong chan. my new record is 172! my last 3 turns were all strikes. i was seriously the KINGPIN! ok, that was stupid. but after that, jung hyun made us egg salad sandwiches. quite impressive for a girl who's lived in korea all her life. after dinner, we went to go play basketball. now basketball in korea is one frustrating mother! first of all, the weather is unbearable! humidity is seriously no joke. after you're done playing, your shirt has got to go. freakin' gross. second, the ground is all dirt. korea's too poor to have nice concrete courts like we do in america. don't take that crap for granted guys. finally, korean people suck at basketball. well, i guess i can see why with the conditions they play in. anyways, it's still hecka fun. they think they need to learn how to play from "american" people.

finally, we concluded this fun day with 2 hours of noraebang! i hecka love the noraebangs here. 1 hour=15,000 won? crap that is so cheap compared to our $25/hr. and plus, they have all the unpopular koreans songs too! it was cool cause my cousin knew the owner and he have us so much more time. we sang til we could sing no more. what fun. too much fun. so exhausting.

thursday:

my cousins took me to this one park. they have this one area where you take your shoes off and walk along this rocky trail. it's supposed to be really good for your health or something. anyways, it was one painful experience. while little kids were just chatting and cruising on the rocks, the 4 of us were screaming bloody murder, trying our best to finish the cursed trail. at the end, there's a picture of a foot that shows you what body part is the unhealthiest, according to where your foot hurts the most.

me: my foot hurt over here the most. what does it mean?
cousin: well, i can't explain it too well. we'll look it up when we get home ok?
(later at home).
me: oh, sexual reproductive organs huh?
cousin: yeah. that's where you have the most problems.
me: hmmmmmmm...

later that night, my oldest cousin said that she could get us into a GOD concert for free. so of course, we all went. before we went to the concert, we ate at Mr. Pizza. dude, they have some funky toppings over there in korea. they have bul-go-gee pizza, potato pizza, and some other stuff i don't remember. we had the potato pizza. some interesting stuff. not bad. not good. however, i do miss American pizza. after our meal, this guy was selling masks with X's on them, saying the theme for that night's concert was "LIE," one of their hit songs. "you have to buy it or you'll be the only ones w/o masks!" it turns out, the guy was a fake and we never even put on the masks. freakin' bastard! so many people like that in korea! the GOD concert wasn't as big as i thought it would be. it was big, but not that big. it was really loud and the place was just polluted with girls. i felt so gay, being one of the few males cheering for GOD. they were pretty good live. all in all, i enjoyed the concert. my first, and probably last korean concert i'll ever go to. once again, we concluded this day with noraebang, but this time with a few more GOD songs.

friday:

i went to DONG-DEH-MOON, a popular city that sells everything for really cheap. i bought my shoes there for 40,000 won! now that is cheap!!! shopping was really exhausting though. taking hecka buses and subways is no fun ride, especially when they're packed with koreans. later that day, we also went to go buy some cds but i decided to cut down on my shopping for a bit. besides, one of my cousins promised to make us her infamous spaghetti. to be honest, it was one of the best spaghetti's i ever had in my life! i really enjoyed it even though i'm not a big fan of spaghetti. we rented John Q and watched that late at night.

saturday:

my dad took us camping to this place in the mountains. omg. there is nothing better than eating sam-gyup-sal in the outdoors. i even had my first taste of "so-joo" cause i was now a "college student." dang, i really suck at drinking. i hate the stuff. i know you're not supposed to drink it for the taste but still! soda is the way to go. anyways, it was really nice playing in the river and splashing each other with rocks. for dinner, we ate shin ramen. this crap is great outdoors too! camping in korea is just a great thing to do. it's totally different from our american style. it's nice. lots of fun.

unfortunately, i got sick that night. what i thought was a small cold slowly turned into a small fever. after taking some medicine, i slowly fell asleep as my brother was having some hilarious conversations with my friend, in-gyu.

in-gyu: shi-mons (simon). let's wrestle before we sleep!
simon: no!

in-gyu: shi-mons. lemme teach you some cuss words. do you know what "sheep-seh" is?
simon: no. but i know what "shi-bal" is.
in-gyu: oh. well, "sheep-seh" is "shi bal upgrade!"
simon: ahahaahahahahah.

in-gyu: you know, all you say is "gee-nyang" or "uh-tuh-keh." if you say use those words again, i'm going to give you a kiss.
simon: nooooooo. "gee-nyang..."
in-gyu: it's "geu-nyang." not "gee-nyang." that's it! i'm going to kiss you now!

once again, these conversations are only funny in korean. so fudging funny!

man, my dad's pc bang is so full of smoke! by now, i must've inhaled enough smoke to add up to one cigarette! today, i'm going shopping with my cousin again. don't worry i-fang. my cousins told me they have PUKA stuff here. gosh, everyday is so full of fun. i know you american suckas envy me! i know you do!!!

Thought of the Day: However, I do miss some of America.
Song of the Day: Cool-Before I Become Sad