Dear Dago,



I'm not even sorry.

Thought of the Day: 나미섬!
Song of the Day: Yozoh-귤

2007
vs.2009vs.PrairieThought of the Day: 삼계탕
Song of the Day: Mas4-AMIGO Dance (SHINee vs. Lady Gaga)

Today's solar eclipse was very trippy. Everything around me was bright except for the sky! But the craziest part was feeling no humidity or uncomfortable heat. Cool like fall, but bright like summer. It was like the world turned into the Venetian hotel! But after the eclipse passed, I felt like it was the brightest day in all of mankind. Look at how dark those shadows are.

Thought of the Day: The Parks are here!
Song of the Day: Mas4-AMIGO Dance (SHINee vs. Lady Gaga)

I can't stand it when things go wrong with my computer. After I got back from retreat, my Winamp would close whenever I opened video files. The same happened with Windows Media Player. But for some reason, GOM Player had no problem! I decided to ignore it, but it kept bugging me. After going through so many forums that didn't give any clear solutions, I finally found something on codecs. After uninstalling my K-Lite Codec Pack, things started working fine again! I still don't know the cause of the problem, but I am now upgrading to K-lite Codec Pack 5.0. Being up to date feels so good.

For the longest time, I also couldn't figure out why my ipod would only display Korean lyrics for some of my songs but come out as jibberish in the other ones. After reading up on more forums that once again didn't address my problem directly, I was able to figure out that you have to actually copy and paste the lyrics into the itunes box and not into file summary (unless it's English). Having everything work again feels so good. I am such a slave to order.

And the videos work like a charm!

In more serious news, why am I so impressed with this group/song?


Thought of the Day: K-Lite Codec Pack 5
Song of the Day: 2PM-니가 밉다

Sometimes, I really hate where I live. I hate how church is so far. I hate how the train gets stuck at 신도림 and causes me to arrive 10 minutes late. I hate how NO bus goes to 강남 or 잠실 from where I live. I hate how the garbage truck always comes at 2AM and wakes me up if my window isn't closed. I hate how I live right above the 노래방 where my ridiculous landlord and his wife have nightly drinking and Go/Stop with their ridiculous friends. I hate how nobody is ever down to come all the way to the nicer 오목교 courts to ball.

Sometimes, I really love where I live. I love how cheap my rent is for its size. I love how the bus stop is 30 seconds away from my building. I love how subway lines 2 and 5 are 3 minutes away from my building. I love how close I live to Hi Mart, Homeplus, and Costco. I love how convenient it is to commute to 90% of my students. I love how I live right across from the place where I get my 8,000won haircuts and can just look out my window to see if the guy has any customers. I love how I live only 10 bus minutes away from the best courts in all of Korea.

I wonder what my life would be like if I lived inside Hyperion.

Earlier tonight, I screamed really loud after I missed a lay up. Everyone was really shocked, and my teammate even held out his hand to indicate that it was alright. I don't know. I realized that I missed yelling in basketball. All that adrenaline and aggression being expressed through sweat and scream. Unfortunately, both are socially unacceptable in Korea. I can control the shouting, but the sweating is gonna have to be tolerated. I don't think I've ever loved basketball this much in my entire life.

Summer retreat is here. This is the first time I'm actually excited about a retreat. And this year, I have a feeling that I won't be the first one to go to bed every night. I guess I am expecting a different retreat.

Thought of the Day: Tunebite
Song of the Day: The The Band-가리워진 꿈

Last night, I really really wanted to ball even though it had rained all day, so I went to the courts hoping that there were other desperate ballers like myself. Unfortunately, there were only a few middle school kids who ended up beating my team. But after everyone left, it was just me and this other guy on the full court. Two company workers approached us and asked if we wanted to play 2 on 2. But before we started, they apologized in advance for being drunk. Then to my surprise, my teammate also confessed that he was drunk too. Just my luck, right?

So after the three drunkards airballed their freethrows, we got started. The company workers lost 10-0 twice. And just like a true drunk who shouldn't ask for another bottle of soju, they wanted to play one more game. Actually, their exact words were, "원 모아!" Tempting, but there was nothing rewarding about looking like a superstar to the inebriated...although they put on quite a show for me. But I gotta hand it to them. After having too many drinks, they didn't want to eat, sing, or dance; they wanted to ball! So who's the real desperate one? The drinkers who chose to play basketball or the basketball player who chose to play with drinkers?
My student, Jimmy, had a moment of brilliance yesterday...

Jimmy: Teacher, did you know that George Bush died yesterday?
Me: George Bush?!
Jimmy: Yeah! Didn't you see the news?
Me: George Bush didn't die yesterday!
Jimmy: No. He died three days ago.
Me: Jimmy, do you know who George Bush is?
Jimmy: Yeah! He was the guy who used to be very handsome, but he did plastic surgery many times. Then his nose changed, and he looked like an alien. Then he kept taking medicine, and he died!
Me: George Bush, Jimmy?
Jimmy: Yes! George Bush!

I gave him a moment to redeem himself. Unfortunately, redemption was lost. Poor George Bush.

Thought of the Day: Freak the Mighty
Song of the Day: 2NE1-Pretty boy

This week's persecuted church: China
The pastor of a major evangelical church and his wife have been sentenced to one year labor camp. On June 14, several officials broke into the church's Sunday worship service, forcibly photographed and videotaped the more 100 Christians present, cut off the electricity, and forced the Christians to leave. Five others were arrested along with the pastor and his wife. The church was considered unauthorized and did not gather within a state-backed denomination that was acceptable by the communist government.

Mongolia team had our first outing by eating Mongolian food. My Genghis Khan book wasn't joking when it said that their diet was meat and dairy based. One of the older 아저씨s on our team was saying that all we needed was a little 고추장 and we'd be good to go. So funny yet so true. Man, do they love that lamb!


The book was SO much better! Erin Gruwell is my hero.

Last night, my favorite landlord lady got into a fight with someone at 5:30A.M. 5:30 A.M.!!! She truly is my sanctifier.

종성 is done with his test (again)! I am so happy (again). We will start meeting again.

Paraguay team, serve and do your thing!

Thought of the Day: Mystery girl
Song of the Day: 2NE1-I Don't Care