Diary of a Psycho-logy Major

Shake the Glitter Off Your Clothes Now

2010-03-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

My body aches, my mind is numb, and I'm completely lost. Friday night was awesome though, filled with drinking and gambling - general debauchery courtesy of Atlantic City. At least I know I'm still good at having a good time with my friends. I feel heavy though, and the madness in my head is slowly building again with alarming speed. Tonight, however, I've managed to keep it at bay and that is a triumph in itself. I've managed to put my life back together a little bit at a time and feel like I'm finally ready for whatever is next. This is thanks in large part to my friends, who have dragged my ass from the deepest holes I've dug myself into. They may never know how much they've done for me, but I can never thank them enough. I love you guys, with my entire heart. I'm am concerned though that even though I have a firm grasp on my life again, that I'm never going to find my path. I know I keep bitching about that particular fear, but it's something I think about constantly. I want a damn bolt of lightning to show my my way, but I'm pretty sure that'll never happen. It's the year of the tiger though, this is my year to show the world what I can do, let's show the world that I can kick some serious ass. Strike up the band, full steam ahead.

Blue Satin Curtains

2010-03-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting thing happened to me today. I took a nap and I dreamt that I was at like a place that details your car and stuff. Or something like that. Where I was doesn't really matter. What was interesting is that as I was saying goodbye to the people I knew/met there, I became conscious that it was a dream, I figured out that "leaving" meant I would wake up, and was able to think pretty clearly and convey my thoughts to the people in my dream. I had to quickly explain to them what was about to happen, and my view on the matter. I told them that I was dreaming, that me being here meant I had broke though the multi-verse, and that I was about to wake up. One of the people there told me they didn't know what the multi-verse was so I asked the guy next to me who understood it to explain it to the other person after I had left. Also weird was that I knew I was about to wake up. My dream self understood that I had exactly 5 minutes to explain the situation to them because I knew I was going to wake up and disappear. I told them what was going on, said goodbye, and I actually woke up. I think I actually accomplished lucid dreaming today. (Lucid dreaming is knowing you're in a dream, and being able to control it to a certain degree) What confuses me though is that I wasn't able to do anything out of the ordinary in my dream, even though I knew it was a dream. I'm also a pretty vivid dreamer, and there were a ton of details I remember that confuse me even more. I remember faces, details about the cars in the lot, the exact path I used to get up to the office to talk to someone... all elements I'm pretty sure I've never seen before in reality, but all there with a specificity that blows my mind. Is this seriously only the subconscious of a single individual playing out a random series of events? Or is there a thread that I haven't been able to grasp linking us to something much greater, or each other? I'm hoping that now that I've accidently done this, my subconscious will be affected somehow and allow me to experiment further with my dreams. If I realize I'm in another dream, hopefully I'll try to do something out of the ordinary (like fly) and see how that works out. I dunno. I'm dumbfounded by my brain. I wish my subconscious would explain itself.

This Is My New Job

2010-03-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I lied. I was going to bed but then I thought of something fantastic people need to pay me for. Zombie expert. Because I am, and people should pay me exorbitant amounts of money to have me share my vast amount of zombie knowledge with them. Also, my resume extends to Starcraft expert, Popular Internet videos and websites expert, and General Knower of Things That Are Probably Cool. I make awesome pancakes too. I'm dumbstruck people aren't paying me for these obviously highly valued skill sets.

Existentialism On Prom Night

2010-03-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is what I'm listening to, I suggest you listen to it while you read this. It might explain my thoughts at the moment. :3

I feel like I'm 50. I went out drinking for St. Patrick's Day, and the resulting aftermath was not fun. Decisions to do acrobatics and kip-ups when you're out of shape was unwise. On a related note: I decided my back is so bad and my joints are so achy that I'll eventually need a cane. But further thought into how I'd look with a cane sounds badass. Plus I can shake my cane at all the youngins and their damned rock music. That sounds awesome. I fear I'm going to become one of those hipsters that are still trying to be cool when I reach my early 30's. "I'm not old! I'm still hip and fresh. I listen to this trendy band and get hammered in social situations!" God, that sounds terrible. It's like trying to find the exact mix of how you should behave because of your age, and still retaining a good chunk of what's awesome as a kid. I hope I'm able to find that balance in the future. So many of my friends are getting married, having kids, settling down. To be honest, that scares the crap out of me. Not that their decisions are bad ones, just not the ones I would make at this particular time in my life. I'm still baffled at trying to figure out my own life, I would have a seizure if people expected me to figure out theirs or be responsible for a new life. And it's interesting to see the dichotomy of different groups of friends. I tend to hang out with multiple cliques and we're all the same age, but there's a baffling amount of difference. Before I talk about it though, I want to specify that all of these groups of friends are awesome - just different. I have the party friends, some still in college and we usually drink and shoot the shit. I have the early career friends, who all seem to have serious girl/boyfriends and have a particular fondness for board games. And I have the friends who have made the early leap into marriage and parenthood. And me. I have no idea where I fit into those categories. Well, certainly not the third, I don't think I'd be ready for that stage until maybe my late 20's. But I feel like I'm falling off the wagon here. People have goals, plans, or at least a general sense of what they want to do. Is that genuine, or are they as confused as I am but slightly less lazy? I honestly have no idea what I want to do with my future. At this point I figured out I need to make money, I need to make music, and I'd like a companion for the journey ahead. Uh, that's applicable to everything I can think of. Work overseas. Teach. Psychology related job. Work on a farm. Marry the daughter of a rich rock star. Some more realistic than others obviously. I just don't want to settle for something that I know isn't me. I'm a firm believer in dreaming as big as you can and fucking going out and getting it. Let's do it. Just tell me how. Please?

Sing like you think no one's listening.

Oh, and I think I have a new obsession with Neil Patrick Harris. He's just plain awesome sauce. I'm going to listen to Dr. Horrible's Commentary the Musical! now while lying in bed. Sweet dreams.

P.S. This past weekend I solved a Rubik's Cube several times. I used to be able to do it all from memory, but I do admit I had to look up how to do the last bit. Not that this information is relevant to anything, I just think it's a noteworthy skill that I'm proud of. I have a lot of useless, random talents. Stick me in a room with a Rubik's Cube, beer pong, a guitar, a piano, Halo 2, a paintball gun, a skateboard, a computer, and Russian literature. Prepare to have your mind melted. In fact, I'm going to set up all my dates from now on to specifically encounter all those elements.

See? I was all ready to log off of my computer and this is where my thoughts go. Random gibberish about nothing, albeit maybe slightly entertaining. If my brain was a Mac there'd be a sleep button and I'd use it right now.

You Must Construct Additional Pylons

2010-03-16T01:07:00.000-07:00

I've realized I'm really bad at Starcraft. I went and played a few games just to try and get better and got pwnd several times. I'm working on it though. On a side note: I've decided to become and cigar and wine snob. I need to get a serious job though, it seems like an expensive habit. If I replace it with ingesting nicotine all the time, I think it'd be a good step down. Goals for 2010: quit nicotine, and become a rock star. Psshh... piece of cake.

Half Asleep

2010-03-15T21:51:00.001-07:00

I decided to blog again. Partly because I find it useful to put my thoughts down in writing, and partly to try and understand myself. Boredom is a true killer, it makes me apathetic and causes me to generally be lazy. I've accepted that, but mixed with an overwhelming feeling of unparalleled need to move forward with my life. I seriously wish there was a sleep button on my brain because I constantly keep thinking and it makes me over think decisions I really should just move forward with. I had an interesting talk with a friend this weekend, and I make the simile of my life as akin to a chess game. I'm so stuck on the idea that making a wrong move will have a significant impact on my life. But I need to move forward. I've been trying to figure out what to do with my life for the past 2 years, and I still haven't come up with an answer. However, in my short time of existence on this planet, I've learned that action usually leads to realization, and I'm sincerely scared I'm just stuck at this point with no plan of action. I wrote out a list of things I want to accomplish, I'll list some of the more interesting goals:

Be physically fit
Secure a position that allows me to make enough money to enjoy whatever I want to do
Find a partner in life/girlfriend
Be awesome

I talked to a career counselor a little bit ago, and the general message is that not many people know what they want to do with their life and the path is fairly random until you find a particular niche that fits your needs and goals. The problem is, I really do think I fall into small category of people who DO know what they want to do with their life. I went through some seriously dark times in the past, and the thing I've learned from it all is that music and friends are the thing I want to do for the rest of my life. After 3 years of being miserable and making terrible decisions, I finally found a general sense of happiness in constantly being with people I love, and making music. I'm currently working on several projects - the most serious of them being a full musical about the zombie apocalypse. Scoff all you want, it's going to be rad once we complete it.

What I'm mostly concerned about is that the things I love doing aren't paying my bills. I'm constantly battling having enough money to do what I want. And that leads me to several options. Get a job here in MD, I have some seriously amazing friends in Philly that I'd love to move in with if I could secure a job, or go forward with applications to move to another country (Korea) for a minimum of one year. I thought Korea was the obvious choice for months, until I broke out of my shell, conquered a serious problem with the help of a friend who may not realize it, but she really saved my life. I'm incredibly lucky that I have such an amazing family that supports my decisions, and if I fail spectacularly, I always have a home with people that love me. That alone is something I can't even describe in words how truly amazing that is, and I thank whatever higher power that exists in the world for my family.

I know I'm rambling but it's nice to be able to put my thoughts into words so I can reflect on them later. So what do I do? If it was up to me, I'd finish my zombie musical, have it be a tremendous hit, and makes lots of money. Chances of that are so very slim though, but it's something I love and if I finish it and it fails spectacularly, I hope I have the fortitude to pick myself up and keep moving forward. It's something I love doing. Music in general is so difficult to make a living on, and I need to pick myself up from this unbelievable monotony and do something.

Mostly, I need to move out my parents house. I love them to an unbelievable degree, but being with friends is something I need in my life at the moment. And a girlfriend. I've been out of the dating scene for what... 3-4 years? Nothing serious, I'd just like a partner in my life that I be happy with. All you people with single friends, hook a brother up. From a personal perspective, I think I'm generally a nice guy and moderately attractive. Easier said than done I guess.

So what do I do? Find a job, move out, exist. I wish the world was as easy as that. I have a unique opportunity to do something risky and potentially succeed, but how do I do it? So many questions, and thinking about them is like a constant circle of indecision. It's March already, and I still have no idea what to do with my life. I'm ready for the change, I'm just stuck in a mire of not knowing how to achieve my goals. I mean, I guess that's a common problem for people my age, but let's get a move on shall we? Sorry again for writing about completely nothing, I just wish there was a piece of paper outlining what I should do at this particular junction in my life. Any advice or spreadsheets telling me what to do would be appreciated. :D

Sorry for boring you, I'll stop now. Have a nice night everyone.

-tk

We Dream of Ways to Break These Iron Bars

2009-08-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience so I wanted to write about it. Today is Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 8:34pm. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook and with the recent addition of the "Like" button, it's blossomed in popularity and people have begun to click the "Like" button at all time highs. People also have realized that, like everything else that becomes popular, the struggle to retain originality is difficult and have now started posting the word "Dislike" under people's post because there is no "Dislike" button on Facebook. So before the "Like" button becomes another overused internet phenomenon, I wanted to see how many people I could get to click the "Like" button for a single status update. I used the fake scenario that I was getting married, and figured an engagement would result in a fluster of "Like" button clicking. One of my friends, Jason, acted as an accomplice in this farce with a comment post under the status update saying "awww.really???? That's so cool...CONGRATULATIONS MAN!!!! When's the bachelor party???? WOOT WOOT!!" and "You and Alice are pefect for each other^^" which made it seem that my post was real, and verified that there actually may be a girl named Alice that I was engaged to. (For the record, I don't think I even know a girl named Alice.) My experiment failed, as only 3 people have clicked the "Like" button at this time, but it resulted in a large amount of people posting their congratulations in my engagement, mostly from people that I haven't talked to in a long period of time. If you fell for this internet trickery, first I would like to apologize, but I thank you for your congratulations, and would very much like to catch up with you. It's been far too long since we last talked if you thought I was getting married. The most interesting thing about this whole little social experiment, however, was my amazement at how fast news was able to travel. Several people have called me asking to verify if I was actually getting married, and through word of mouth, I would say at least 40% of the friends that live close to me have heard the rumor that "Terry's getting married!?" Also worth mentioning, is that my friend Billy had seen this update, and requested that I be engaged to him. (Being a closer friend that I had actually seen earlier in the day, he knew it was obviously fake) I actually laughed so hard at this when I first saw it that I woke up my family's dog and she began barking hysterically. So, naturally, I accepted the "Engagement request" and thought that people seeing I was "Engaged to William" would be the end of it and realize it was fake. Amazingly, people still sent me congratulations and quizzical messages wondering if I was actually engaged. Does that mean that some people think I'm in a gay engagement? If so, that's awesome and hilarious. Also interesting, is that since that post, the number of pictures of me has dropped in what I would consider to be statistically relevant numbers. Probably around 30 pictures of me have been either lost, de-tagged, or simply erased. Is this a coincidence? Or do people feel so uncomfortable with pictures of a guy in a gay engagement that they have taken them down? I'm not sure, but it adds to the interesting number of factors of the whole situation. Again, interestingly, Facebook changes the ads on the right if you put that you're engaged in the relationship status. I have an entirely new set of ads, mostly about bachelor parties and wedding stuff.

So, just to set the record straight, I'm not engaged (I'm not even in a relationship), and I'm heterosexual. At this time I haven't revealed publicly that this was all fake, but have told everyone the truth if asked. I'm going to just let it spread slowly through word of mouth and see how many people realize it's fake, or call me up to ask me if it's real. Regardless though, my experiment has certainly added a bit of color lately in my life. I'll probably publicly reveal this blog post on Thursday when it has been a week. I think that's a good amount of time to judge just how fast information is traveling, and how many people believed it. If you we're tricked by this, I'm sorry, and I hope you don't hate me. :) I figured this would be the best soap box to announce that this was all fake, since the blog is called "Diary of a Psycho-logy Major." Extremely fitting, and I didn't even plan that out.

This wraps up my Facebook social experiment. My conclusions: The internet is quite scary, and people spend a lot of time on Facebook. Take from that what you will.

-Terry

All Alone With The Memory Of My Days In The Sun

2009-01-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

Just an FYI: I wrote most of this in January 2009, forgot about it, then found it again tonight (December 2009) so I finished what had gaps and am posting it. I dunno if I'll write part II as of yet, but here's part I anyway.

I've been getting nostalgic lately and I wanted to do an in depth summary of my experience in South Korea. NOW WITH PICTURES! LOTS OF PICTURES!! This one's going to be long, so if you need to use the bathroom, I suggest going now because we're not going to stop once we get on the road. ... ... ... Ready? Good. Grab some chips and hunker down...

Some background information before we get started: I'm Korean, I was born in Korea, I was adopted when I was around 3 months old into a white, American family. I am the only Asian member of my entire extended family. I grew up in a white neighborhood, and I don't remember ever associating myself as an "Asian" until high school. I had never been to Korea until my recent trip, and I did not know the language at all before actually stepping into Korea. In short, I'm Korean by birth, but still very American.

I decided to do a semester abroad (one of the best decisions I have ever made, DO IT. REALLY.) through my college and flew into Korea around the end of February 2008. The plane ride was very, very long. With layovers I think it took 16+ hours to get from Washington, D.C. to South Korea. You can read about some of the smaller details if you travel back to the beginning of my blog (it was originally created to be a blog of my trip), but yeah, very exhausting for doing nothing but sit. But also very exciting. Everything was new. EVERYTHING. Even a can of coke was foreign to me.

I got to Korea around evening time and my first real Korean experience was of a hotel room I needed to stay in because it was night and I couldn't yet go to my university. The hotel room was very nice (the nicest I stayed in my entire trip, I should've recognized that not all hotel rooms would be like that) and I was literally giddy going around the room and checking stuff out. Some stuff worth mentioning: Light switches are not where you'd expect them to be if you are from the U.S., they are outside things like bathrooms most of the time. Phones in the bathroom is an excellent idea. Bidets are your worst enemy if you've never used them before and all the instructions are in Korean.

I turned that thing on, water sprayed at my butt, it took me like a full minute of mashing buttons to get it to stop. But on the brighter side of things, the bidet cover is heated so it warms up your butt while your sitting on it. I got into the habit of grabbing the bidet stall in the dorms for the heated toliet seat. And the floors are heated as well. (In the whole room) Awesome when you've arrived in February and it's cold. Still excited about my hotel room, I had a blast going around scoping all the little details out, flipping every switch to see what it did, examining all the little beauty products they set out for free, watching Korean TV for the first time. But I had to get up early to travel to Yonsei (the university I was attending) so I soon called it a night and went to sleep.

After checking out of the hotel room, I had the big task of actually getting to Yonsei from where I was at. I had never been to Korea, so I had no idea what to expect. My instructions had told me to board a specific bus, get off at some point, and hail a cab for the short distance to my university. Let me tell you this: Bus rides in Korea (and cabs) are scary. Really scary. Just close your eyes, and assume you'll make it there safely. You will, Korean bus drivers are good at what they do, but the ride is a bit frightening., Anywho, I got to destination A fine and had to find a cab. While waiting I actually met some fellow students trying to get to Yonsei and were also having a difficult time to flag down a cab. I eventually got one and asked my driver if he could take me to Yonsei. Now I guessed quite erroneously that almost all Koreans would know some English, and my cab driver fell onto the opposite category. I eventually showed him my instructions (that had a bit of Korean) and he eventually was able to take me to Yonsei.
I got to the main gate, paid him, and attempted to tip my cab driver for being so nice. I had read that you usually don't tip in Korea, but I wanted to give him something for having to deal with me. After many thank you's he eventually accepted the tip, but quite hesitantly. He drove away and I had the ridiculous task of navigating Yonsei's campus (which is big) to find a remote check in station in a building I didn't know to ask if I could live there. (A little side note: my application for student housing was on hold because of some errors on my part in sending it in.) So I began my trek around campus with a full backpack, a huge suitcase, and a guitar trying desperately to find the place I should go. I eventually stopped in what I later found out to be common area of sorts and asked anyone if they knew English or if they could help me find where I was supposed to go. A girl who was a Yonsei student eventually came to my rescue and offered to take me to the International House. Now, I want to take this time to thank this girl from the bottom of my heart. Wherever you are, I wish only good things for you because what you did for me was amazing. She literally went out of her way to lead me on a half mile hike through Yonsei's campus (the International House is pretty far away from the main gate) to the area around where the I-House was situated. After she dropped me off I assume she had to walk all the way back to do whatever she was doing, and doing something like that for a complete stranger was incredible. So I walk into the I-House to see the status of my dorm room situation, and it went pretty bad. I was told there were no rooms available, I would have to pay to stay in a hostel-type place, and gave me a hand drawn map of where to find it. For those of you not familiar with Korea, Yonsei is in Sinchon, which is a province inside Seoul. My temporary home was somewhere inside Sinchon, but without any road signs or street names, I had to walk around most of Sinchon to find it. The map turned out to be pretty accurate, but hauling around everything I brought with me across Yonsei and through a city I had never seen before was pretty draining. I eventually found my needle in the haystack after much searching, and attempted to inquire about a room. I'd like to pause for a moment to say how nice everyone was to me. Looking back, it must've been very weird for all of the people I met to see an obviously Korean descended person not know a lick of Korean and spend the time to help me. The landlord people of my hasukjip (boarding house) were very kind and eventually were able to explain to me I needed to pay for the room up front in cash, so I ventured back into the heart of Sinchon to find an ATM. This didn't take very long as I stumbled upon a 7-11 nearly immediately, withdrew the couple hundred dollars I needed, bought some snacks and my very first bottle of soju (^^), and was able to rent a room. And when I say "room" I mean that in the broadest sense possible. I really wish I would've taken a picture of my room, but for some reason I didn't. But here's a mental picture: around 8x5 dimension wise, so not enough room to actually set my suitcase lying down beside my bed. I needed to put my suitcase on my bed to open it, and set it standing up beside my bed while sleeping. In the end though, I was out most of the time, so it really wasn't bad at all. I only used my room for sleeping and I wasn't there very long anyway. So I finally was able to rest for a bit in my new room after walking all day with everything I had, I turned on the tiny TV I was given in the room, and drank my very first bottle of soju.
This might need an explanation: Soju is a cheap Korean alcohol with an alcohol content of about 20% ABV. I knew what I was buying was alcohol, but really didn't know what to expect. It tastes a bit like vodka, but entirely different at the same time. Not exactly the most delicious alcohol ever, but one learns to love it if you're living in Korea. But yeah, I needed to unwind after a very exhausting day so I drank my soju and laid down for a spell. After an hour or two it was around 5 pm if I remember correctly and I was very hungry. So I went back out into Sinchon to find some food, I walked around for a bit, and finally just chose one at random. I remember the meal very clearly, I had tonkatsu (which is a fried pork cutlet), a small salad, some side dishes, and rice. After some confusing moments of being asked things in Korean and me responding in English, I paid my bill, and wandered around Sinchon a bit more. Feeling tired though, I eventually just went back to my room and fell asleep very early.

Classes didn't start for a couple of days so I had a short time to get situated and used to Korea before I had to worry about attending class. When I woke up the next day, spent some time just taking in this entirely new experience, and eventually decided to try and call Dean. Dean is an old friend I met back in High School when I was going to High School in Washington, D.C. It only happened to be coincidence that he was in Korea teaching English at the same time I was going to be studying abroad. I managed to call him and after some "Holy shit! Dude!'s" we agreed to meet up for dinner. I went back to Yonsei before meeting up with Dean to try and figure out the whole housing/class situation and stopped by The Kitchen (a small dining area that serves international food) for lunch.
I don't remember the meal very well but I do remember being invited to eat with a small group of guys that were going to Yonsei for the semester and living in the I-House. It was a very kind gesture, and I eventually got to know a lot of them quite well and are good friends now. One thing I loved about the International House is how kind everyone was. I don't know if it would've been different if I had gone another semester, but that particular semester was filled with some of the most awesome and nice people I have the pleasure to call friends. Almost everyone was willing to meet new people, and didn't hesitate to invite others over if one person seemed isolated. I'm not completely sure why, but my friends from Yonsei are amongst a very close unit of my friends even now though we're hundreds, possibly thousands of miles away from each other. While people eventually split off into more tight knit units of friends as the semester progressed, I was blown away by how much people were willing to put themselves out there to meet new people. After my meal and meeting some new people, I ventured into Sinchon to try and find the metro station. By sheer luck I stumbled upon it quite quickly, and bought a ticket to get on. Korean metro stations are a bit confusing for the first time, here was my first experience: There are two sides you can choose from leading to trains going in the opposite directions, I needed to get to a certain station to meet Dean so I was unsure of which side to pick. I studied the maps for a little while, made a choice, looked around, and decided I was on the wrong side. I went back up, had to buy a new ticket, and went to the opposite platform. This side didn't look any more promising as the first side so I decided to go back up again, buy a new ticket, and go back to my original choice. I do so, boarded the train, and waited to see what stop it was going to to figure out if I was going in the right direction. Well, it turns out it was the wrong direction, so I had to get off and hop on the train going the other way. (This sounds like something out of a comedy skit, but I assure you, this really happened, and sounds as ridiculous as it felt) So I finally reach the metro stop I'm supposed to meet Dean at, meet up with him and his girlfriend (now fiance) Jen. They both teach English in Korea, and had been doing so for some time, so they knew their way around fairly well. They awesomingly (I make up words sometimes) took me to a bookstore to buy a guide, and treated me to my first real Korean samgyupsal meal. Samgyupsal is large slices of pork belly that you cook at a small grill in front of you, and is one of the things I miss most about Korea. Absolutely delicious and bad for you. We used to go out probably 4 times a week for all you can eat samgyupsal in Sinchon, which only cost 6,500W (when I was in Korea $1US was roughly equal to 1000 won). We finished our meal, hung out for a bit, and I eventually went back to Sinchon to turn in for the night. After a bit of wandering through Sinchon's maze-like alley's, I found my hasukjip and turned in for the night.

So, I'm not going to go into detail every day I spent in Korea (I certainly couldn't remember exactly every day and what happened) so things are going to pick up from here, and I'll just have a detailed overview of the rest of the trip with certain events being emphasized. Still paying attention? No? Well, pay attention. Good. (This feels like the intros of How I Met Your Mother) That first week I spent my time going to Yonsei to register for classes and checking if I had a room yet, and I eventually started to meet larger groups of international students who went to Yonsei. There were always groups of people going out to drink or club or dinner or something, so there was an endless stream of interesting things to do. I had my first experience in a Korean club that first week and it was quite enjoyable. I don't consider myself a "club person" in the states, but Korean clubs for one reason or another were really a lot of fun. I think the first club I went to was "MB1", it was a small club that played mostly rap oriented music. I had my first kiss in Korea that night as well from a random girl who was dancing with me for a short bit, but eventually disappeared and I never saw her again. That first week of starting to know people and going out sparked a bit of a ridiculous streak for me, I think I went out to party every night for almost a solid month. I eventually had to take a break because I was too exhausted in the mornings. As I mentioned before, I didn't spend a whole lot of time in my hasukjip, but it deserves some mention. I didn't think the hasukjip was bad, just very cramped. The bathroom was also the shower and was also the laundry room. All in a small sized bathroom. Not a terrible living situation, but compared to Yonsei, it was small potatoes. And I didn't bring a pillow or blankets with me (And I was unable to determine where to buy these during my stay at the hasukjip), so I would use my towel when it wasn't wet as a pillow, and covered myself in shirts. Well, as it turns out, I eventually was granted a room in the I-House, and I have never been so happy to have a pillow and blankets in my whole life. The landlords of the hasukjip were very kind, refunding me a lot of the money when I moved out when they didn't have to. So I moved all my stuff into my dorm room in the I-House, and later met my roommate who went by the name Stone. Stone is from China and is an awesome guy. His name isn't really Stone, but the explanation was his name meant Stone in Chinese so he went by Stone in the I-House. Stone and I got along really well, and I really enjoyed my time having him as my roommate. Stone would greet me whenever I returned to our room with a jubilant "Hi, Terry!" which I miss dearly. I have a lot of really hilarious memories of Stone, and a lot of really deep conversations as we both usually stayed up past 3 am. Stone's English is quite good so it made communication really easy. Some of my favorite memories of Stone were because of the US game "Grand Theft Auto 3" which he had installed on his laptop. If you are familiar with this game at all, you know that there are a lot of words and actions that are not stuff you'd learn about in English class. So Stone would have a notebook which he wrote down all of the English words he didn't know to ask me what they meant. So I explained that a lot of the words were terms used as racist remarks, curse words, or sexual acts, and while part of the English language, he probably shouldn't use them around certain people. But still awesome to hear him say "Son of a bitch" when he died in the game. I was on my laptop one night when I heard Stone say "Suicide!!" quite joyfully so, confused, I turned around. He had realized that you can get back to certain places faster if you just jumped of a bridge to get to the original spawn point, so he was killing his character off to go back. Hilarious.

END PART I.

Talk Shows on Mute

2008-11-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

It's 2008, Obama has been elected president, and there is an overwhelming feeling in our country that we might be on the verge of a change that impacts the future forever. Just the fact that Obama is now the President Elect is evidence enough that many people want change for many various reasons. Societal, financial, conflictual, all are good reasons to hope that in the coming years a change will occur that may unite human beings in the struggle to survive in a very changing world.

Let's take a look at the world as it is now: War still consumes a vast amount of resources, money, and even human lives. The growth rate of the world is rapidly expanding. We have been dependent on fossil fuels for a very long time and we all know that these are not inexhaustible resources. Millions upon millions of people are dying because of malnutrition, disease, and neglect. What the hell is going on here?

In studies with other animal populations, there are ways that nature has dealt with such issues. Sometimes populations will level out once it reaches a certain capacity. Sometimes there are huge population crashes that dwindle the number of the population to a much lower percentage via disease, not enough resources, etc. In the exceptional case of the human population, we have shown that the possibility that perhaps the most likely population crash will be the result of humans themselves. We have enough weapons and bombs to destroy every last human being on this earth several times over. Will this happen? I personally am very doubtful that this event would ever occur. However, in the unlikely event another World War occurs, I will probably promptly move to Iceland because Iceland is pretty chill and no one really wants to bomb Iceland anyway.

So what will it be? Will AIDS and Cancer become the diseases that ultimately wipe most humans off the face of the Earth? Will a new biogenetic disease be the forefront of a terrorist attack? Will we outgrow the amount of resources on this Earth until finally we collapse under our own weight? Or will we just bomb ourselves into oblivion?

My take on all of this is that even through insurmountable problems homo sapiens have the unique ability to persevere through the most horrific events that we have ever seen. One thing I am positive about, is that within 30 years, a problem will arise that is so huge, that human beings will be absolutely put to the test. But survival, it's the quintessential cornerstone that drives human beings to produce such brilliant creations and ideas, that I have no doubt that the human population will survive for a very long time. The thing I am most worried about, however, is that we will not realize these problems until many, many people have suffered the consequence.

What bothers me the most is the lack of foresight amongst people. We live day to day, convinced that everything is peachy, and do not worry about the stuff we think we have no control over. If half of the United State population was suddenly infected by an unknown virus, certainly people would be working around the clock to find a cure and stabilize those who were affected. Situation dictates the amount of effort being set forth to solve a problem. If we don't really care or if it's not that important, why would we do anything if it doesn't impact you directly? The atrocities befalling many people in North Korea is simply overlooked by most Americans. "Whatevs, dude. Those asians are smart, they'll figure it out. Say, have you seen my new car? I totally bought 10,000 dollar rims for this shit." Imagine if you will for just a minute, that you were starving (not hungry, literally dying of malnutrition) and then go on youtube to watch celebrities starve themselves to make themselves "sexier." And they are praised for it. "I know that you spend thousands of dollars on cocaine to make yourself look skinny, and man, you are so fucking hot." Are you serious? Have we as a society become so complacent we are willing to praise drug addicts and complete idiots because they are more attractive than you are? Are you really that insecure that you need to latch onto a celebrity because they are famous? Start thinking for yourself. Make a difference in the world. When people look back 100 years from now, they should be saying, "Holy shit, I hope I can be like him one day." It's doubtful that people will look back on Paris Hilton and say that she was the inspiration for a generation. But I certainly would like to be proved wrong. If Paris decides to devote her life to something she truly believes in, and makes a lasting impact on this world, I will be the first to apologize for doubting her abilities and admit she did a damn good job.

I digress.

Here are my predictions for the coming years: (I make no claim to be a psychic or know the future, these are simply my opinions based on a changing world. I read an article on predictions for the future so I'm going to try my hand at it.)

The face of transportation will be changed forever. No, I don't think there there will be flying cars. However, alternative means of energy will be used to power vehicles so we are not dependent on gas. Hydrogen powered cars will not do well in the long run. The means of energy will result from an H20 based power system.

Look up. Stores and business will no longer be primarily located at ground level. Multiple level businesses will force patrons to look up to see if what they want to do is on the 2nd or 3rd floor of the building.

Powerful means of transportation will result in a less that 5 hour transport time from the U.S. to the other side of the world. This will become a commercial means of transportation.

Cancer will be effectively cured by 2014.

In 2012 a war will break out amongst multiple countries.

The next wave of technology will result in a computer faster than the one I am using, in the size of an average cell phone. The mouse will be integrated into a device that attaches to the fingers, and the keyboard will be virtually nonexistent.

Obesity will rise 24% in 10 years.

Skeletal evidence will be found on Mars by 2016.

Expect to pay triple what you pay now for clean, bottled water in 10 years.

A new street drug will emerge that results in a significant increase in crime, homelessness, and death related overdoses.

Scarves will become the #1 hottest fashion item.

I hope for all of our sakes that the end of the world is actually the zombie apocalypse. My justification for this is a) either you get to kill zombies, or b) you get to be a zombie. It's basically win-win.

On a side note, I'm composing a zombie based musical. Once I have tracks recorded, I'll share them with all of you. Look forward to it.

Night.

It's Just A Matter Of Opinion If The Sky Is Falling Down

2008-11-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone in Internet land. If you're seeing this, you probably recently went through the thought process of, "Hmmm... Terry's blog. I wonder if he ever posted anything new. Probably not, but I guess I'll check it out anyway. HOLY CRAP THERE'S A NEW POST. I'M GOING TO READ IT NOW WITH GREAT INTEREST AND MUCH ENTHUSIASM." Scary how accurate that was, wasn't it? But don't worry, I only use my psychic powers for the good of mankind and will never tell anyone of that time you and that panda were doing that thing with the ice cream and the nail clippers and... oh right, I probably shouldn't type that out. Sorry.

Well, it's been several months since I last posted, I neglected to say anything about my leaving Korea, and you may assume I was kidnapped by several large Korean thugs. My apologizes. I get lazy about posting new stuff, and since I've been back I forgot about the whole thing. WELL ASSUME NO LONGER. I am certainly alive, and the whole kidnapped by several large Korean thugs is just a rumor. It was actually 5 incredibly hot Korean girls and my time spent in captivity was very nice. There were lawn chairs that I could rest in, oatmeal cookies, and they lavished me with all I could eat samgyupsal every night. I eventually told them that I had to go, and they let me fly back to the good ol' U.S. of A. The oatmeal cookies were bomb though.

Really though, my last month in Korea was awesome. I'm not going to go into all the details now (maybe later), but I had a great birthday, I made some amazing friends, and I was very sad to see it all come to an end. It was a bit surreal to come back to the U.S. though, it's like you woke up from a dream and everything you thought would be different is the exact same as when you left it to fall asleep. Of course I was happy to see my friends and family again, but I felt different in a way and kinda expected things to be different when I got home. And as I write this, I feel like the whole trip was so far in the past and I've slipped back into being the Terry that is just so used to routine that I don't really think about anything anymore. I feel so bored with sitting around all day and yet it's the kind of monotony that is very safe feeling. You really don't have to risk any part of yourself to change, but it also feels like I've stopped growing.

::light dims::
::curtain rises for act II::
::people boo uncontrollably::

So I've decided to continue with the self satisfying intellectual masturbation that is the world of blogging. I'll probably IM you or update my Facebook status with this HTML address just to get people to click the damn link, pretend not to care if anyone is reading this crap, and still check to see if people commented every couple of days. It's just how these things work. I've changed the title of my blog to reflect the change as I am no longer having an epicly epic adventure in Korea. Although that might change within a year as I am considering returning to Korea to teach english.

As I've returned to the States, here is what I've noticed: People don't change, jobs suck, and I'm incredibly boring. As much as I feel that I have changed, or want to change, it's really the same. I've been playing online poker a lot lately, so I'll make this into a poker metaphor: The game never changes, you are just dealt different hands. You sometimes think you are playing a hand uniquely or tricky, but your basic patterns don't really change at all. If you're an aggressive player, you're going to raise with a pair and a flush draw. If you're a timid player, you're going to fold to a continuation bet if you don't connect with the flop. And sometimes you're just too stubborn to fold KK when that ace spikes on the flop.

...Yeah, soak that in. I just laid waste to the mythical land of metaphors by spewing my creative genius all over your intelligence receiver. MAN, I AM SO DEEP AND SMART. ...AND FUNNY. ...AND REALLY ATTRACTIVE. *self high-five*
(see what I did there? I used humor and satire to deflect any negative comments that my poker metaphor was stupid so I appear funny and render any resulting negative reaction to a minimum. And by pointing this out myself, I seem to know that you might think my deflection is actually a deflection, resulting in what I like to call "reverse psychology squared" by actively predicting your reaction to what I'm typing and taking not one, but several steps to ensure that my words have the exact desired effect on what you are thinking, and feeling. This effect is achieved by changing your reaction into a more controllable one such as humor, or just by confusing the hell out of you and myself until you forget what it is I'm really talking about. And a still appear intelligent. *self high-five*)

So now I'm a piano/guitar teacher with a B.S. in Psychology who lives with his parents and watches TV and anime all the time on the internet because all my friends are like 40 minutes away. And now blogs actively. And I'm single. Man, that's even more pathetic to read than it sounded in my head. But I've been really bored so I've made the jump back into the blog and I'm going to change it up from here on. My adventures might have been exciting in Korea, but it's pretty boring to blog that I taught 2 lessons today and I had popcorn for dinner. So I'm going to just post whatever it is that seems interesting to me or what I've been thinking of. And hopefully you read it. So check back like every week or so, and I'll probably have something new up. There's a lot I think about.

Sweet dreams.

Please Don't Float So Fast

2008-05-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone out there in Internet land.

My post is a little bit late, but I got in really early to Seoul and didn't sleep so I didn't post on Tuesday. But here we go:

I really haven't been up to all that much in the last month and a half. lol. A good brief summary would be eat, sleep, party, study(kinda). There's no way I'm going to be able to remember all the stuff I did in April, but some of the highlights include a few birthday parties, exams, cherry blossoms, and just having a good time with all my friends here in Korea.

One of the more memorable birthday parties was for two of my friends, Max and Sebastian. We went out to Apgujeong for the night, went back to Monkey Bar and drank alcohol out of buckets. Good times. We then went to a club called Circle which was EXPENSIVE. It was 30,000 just to get in (30 dollars). But it was pretty awesome, all the girls were super hot and the music was really good. I had a really good time, but I dunno if it was worth the price. I think I'd rather stick to the cheaper clubs, cause you could easily spend hundreds of dollars in one night in Apgujeong. Other birthday parties include Hana and Elin's birthday party which was in Sinchon which was fun as well, just mostly hanging out and having some soju and beers. My friend Jasper also had a birthday and we went out for dinner, bowling, and then bars. I managed to bowl a 200 and a 194 so everyone thinks I'm super awesome at bowling now. Not exactly what I want to be remembered in Korea for, but it's a good start.

I went to the cherry blossom festival in a place I can't recall the name, but it was kind of disappointing. I got a lot of good pictures from Yonsei and there, but it wasn't on the grand scale I thought it was going to be. It was still really beautiful and you can check out all of the pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068605&l=758cc&id=15201480
and here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071359&l=13199&id=15201480
I also got really curious if cherry blossoms tasted like cherries so I started munching on some cherry blossoms. Turns out the more reddish ones actually do kinda taste like cherries. Who knew?

Exams went really well. No wait... that's a lie. Haha. I did ok on my psych exams (a C) but I totally bombed my Korean midterm. It was partly it's a really hard language to learn, and partly a lack of motivation. I love my teachers though, and I always have a really good time in class, but when it comes to the tests, I just find it really hard to put in 20 hours a week when my grades don't count. I'm trying a bit harder, but mostly I want to learn for me, not for any test. That's why I'm here, isn't it? I think I will study harder though for the final just to get a C, unless Starcraft gets in my way.

Speaking of Starcraft, I've been playing a new video game. Namely, Starcraft. It's HUGE here in Korea. Not just like, a lot of people play it, but it's the biggest E-Sport because of Korea. There are 2 channels of the T.V. dedicated to televising Starcraft games like, 24/7. It's a lot of fun, most of the people on my floor in the I-House play it, and I'm getting pretty good. Anyone wanting to challenge me to a game when I get home, game on.

Some of the awesome stuff I did in April was go to the Zoo and Pusan. AWESOME times. The zoo is pretty much like any zoo in the U.S., but it's still a zoo. I went with Casey, Kay, and Marvin and it was a blast. Little things were different in the zoos here, most notably, they sell beer at the zoo. Which totally makes the zoo at least 35% better. You can check out my pictures of the awesome zoo trip here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073224&l=ffe20&id=15201480

And Pusan was really cool as well. One thing I'm not sure about Pusan is how to write it or pronounce it. Some times I see it written as Busan or as Pusan. It may be that there's both a Pusan and a Busan, but I still don't know. But it was interesting, it was kinda a "welcome home" without feeling at home like all. For those who don't know, I was born in Pusan, so I really wanted to go as it does have a significant amount of meaning to me. The day in Pusan was awesome, night life... not so awesome. It was just me and Casey going to Pusan, and spent Saturday night through Monday night there in Pusan and came home really early Tuesday morning. Saturday night me and Casey went to a place that was supposed to be a college town, but it was dead. And people just wouldn't let us do stuff. Like, we went to a club, they took one look at us and said no. I dunno, but that particular area was pretty lame. We came back to where we were staying and hit up a local casino. No Texas Hold 'Em though. BOOOOO. But I did win about 140 in roulette and blackjack. :) We stayed up that night and watched the sunrise over Pusan, which was awesome. We sat on the beach and watched as it slowly got light out. I have a video of it, and I'll upload it to YouTube so everyone can see it. Sunday, we slept in a little late, but went to the open fish market that Pusan is famous for. It was really cool, and we ate raw stuff. And by I mean raw, I mean still alive. Heh, yeah. The platter we got was octopus, some red stuff, some black stuff, and some orange stuff. Sorry, I don't know what the other stuff was called. But the awesome part is that it all moved when you poked it. We had to be careful with the octopus though, apparently if you don't chew it up good you could die because the suckers are still alive and it sticks in your throat. But the good news is that I didn't die, and it was delicious. (Well, the black stuff wasn't so delicious) I also have video of that which I'll upload to YouTube as well. That night we hit up a club but that was kinda boring, there just wasn't many people there. Monday, we were going to go home, but went to a PCbang to look up to see if there was anything else to do, and we decided to check out a Buddhist temple which was AMAZING because Monday was Buddha's birthday and they had the lantern festival. I can't really explain how awesome it was, but I have some pictures that will be much better at explaining it in my Pusan facebook picture album. (which is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074189&l=d6a70&id=15201480)
After we went to another town that was supposed to be an awesome college town, but it was such a disappointment. It was totally dead, and we ended up staying up all night looking for something to do, and ended up playing Halo 3. We took the 6:30am bus back to Seoul and got back around noon. I do want to go back to Pusan, but I need to thoroughly research Pusan's nightlife before going out at night again.

And I think that's about it for this post. Except for one more thing I guess. If you don't know, it's my birthday today (May 14th) and it was actually great here in Korea! So many people wished me a happy birthday, my Korean class drew me a huge birthday card before I got to class today, and I went out with a bunch of friends for food, and later we ate an AMAZING cake that mom and dad sent me along with some flowers. It was really cool. I love you Mom and Dad, thank you so much! I'm going to have a joint birthday party with my friend Dawn (her bday is the 22nd) on Saturday, so I'll let you know how that goes, but I think it'll be a blast.

Love you guys, and I can't wait to come home.

-tk

P.S. I was reminded by Hannah that I didn't answer the questions I said I'd answer. lol. Sorry, but here are my answers:

DID I PASS MY MIDTERMS IN KOREA?

I passed Psych but failed Korean miserably. I actually drew dinosaurs on my Korean exam because I couldn't figure out the question and I thought that would be a fun thing for my teacher to find.

IS IT TRUE THAT I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, AND THAT THIS GIRLFRIEND IS ACTUALLY THE RICK ROLL?

No. No girlfriend as of late. And I think Rick Astley would cheat on me.

IS IT TRUE THAT I HAVE BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT KOREAN POP SENSATION?

Soon. Just you wait, Korea.

WHY DOES PEPSI TASTE HORRIBLE IN THIS COUNTRY?????

I think it's the water they use, the Pepsi has like a cinnamon taste to it, and it's definitely weird. Coke is better anyway.

Have a Drink and a Pee, We'll be Back for Act Threeeeee!!!!! (Two Sir.) Twoooooooo!!!

2008-05-09T12:31:00.001-07:00

GASP. NEW BLOG ENTRY? CAN IT BE?!?!?!?!

YES IT IS.

But not right now.

I have my reasons for not putting up a new post right now, but instead you get a preview blog entry:

MYSTERY! INTRIGUE!! ROMANCE!!! ALL THINGS THAT MIGHT POSSIBLY PROBABLY NOT SHOW UP IN MY NEXT BLOG POST!!!

COMING ON MAY 13TH, 2008.

QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED!!
ANSWERS WILL BE QUESTIONED!!

DID I PASS MY MIDTERMS IN KOREA?

IS IT TRUE THAT I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, AND THAT THIS GIRLFRIEND IS ACTUALLY THE RICK ROLL?

IS IT TRUE THAT I HAVE BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT KOREAN POP SENSATION?

WHY DOES PEPSI TASTE HORRIBLE IN THIS COUNTRY?????

ALL THIS AND POSSIBLY MORE.... NEXT TIME, ON:

"TERRY'S EPICLY EPIC ADVENTURE TO KOREA"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(brought to you by Bread. Stop putting sugar in all my bread products, Korea.)

Never Gonna Give You Up

2008-04-01T04:18:00.001-07:00

I was gonna wait till I got back to the States to tell you guys, but I just can't wait. I fell in love here in Korea and I got married last weekend! Her name is Julianne and she's not from Korea, she's actually from Finland. She said she'd come back to the U.S. with me when I'm done studying abroad, so don't worry, you guys will get the chance to meet her. She is absolutely beautiful, and the most caring person I've ever met.

And don't worry as well, we have the whole wedding video on tape so you'll be able to see the entire thing. All my international friends came out, it was so awesome. AND... ONE OTHER BIG PIECE OF NEWS!!!!

...

...

...

...

...

April Fools. Didn't think you could get pranked from Korea, eh? But seriously, I did find a girlfriend here in Korea, and her name is really Julianne. Check out a video of us in Sinchon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

Love you guys!

Still Breaking Old Habits..., Don't Worry I'll Catch You

2008-03-30T03:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while since my last post, but don't worry, I haven't been abducted or anything. Just been busy and hanging out with friends. It's always hard to sort through all my memories to tell you guys about my adventures but I think I've compiled a decent list of all the stuff I've been up to the past 2 weeks. I think I'll just laundry list them because it's hard to do them chronologically. So...
I finally got a Korean phone! It's been brilliant finally having one because everyone is always texting and calling each other for what's going on in the evenings. But I got a great deal on a good phone (thanks Jason!) and I also managed to find some cool pants that I fit into in this country. I got them custom tailored for cheap too which is pretty cool. I need to find some more awesome clothes tho, I've been to Dongdaemoon (basically an open market where you can buy clothes and bargin) but the clothes here are so small. I need to lose more weight before I can fit into them properly. But I'm losing a ton of weight here, I also joined the gym so prepare yourself for an awesome looking Terry when I get back. I'll be all skinny and sexy like, people will be "Woah." all Keanu Reeves style. Yeah...

Anyway, I've had some more adventures thanks to Sinchon. I've been hanging out a lot at a local bar, Watts on Tap, and won my first international beer pong game. Mom, Dad, I'm sure you're very proud of your son now. An international beer pong champion! It's a very revered title. :) I also had a Flying Jump Kick via a booth in Sinchon. Which is pretty much how it sounds. It's a piece of chicken on a stick, but the spicest version possible. There are 7 levels of spiciness and they won't even sell the 5th level to people under 19 years old. I ate the 7th level. Apparently they have to import spices because Korean spices aren't hot enough for this piece of chicken. And trust me, it's HOT. It's probably the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. I have it on video and I'll try to upload it when Chris gives me the clip. I was virtually crying though because of this piece of chicken. I got mad props though from the locals, apparently it's a "manly" thing to do. But I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon, my stomach was not pleased with what I ate for like 3 days.
We also celebrated my friend Ruth's birthday in Sinchon. It was a blast. There are so many awesome people here and everyone is super friendly. Like, 25 people came out for Ruth's party, after only knowing someone for a short time. It's really amazing how great everyone is.

I also went out to Apgujeong, which has some of the most expensive bars and clubs you can go to in Seoul. We went out to a bar called Monkey Bunch (I think) and that was an awesome time. You pay like 8 bucks and you get literally a bucket of whatever drink you want. Like, a BUCKET of Gin and Tonic with little colorful straws sticking out of it to share. It's was great. Just people sitting around sipping their drinks out of buckets. Awesome. There was also a fire performer who spun fireballs around on stage. It was really cool. But the night kinda tapered off from there. We went to a club called Air which was pretty terrible. I just didn't dig the music or the scene there, so most of us split relatively soon after we got there. I do want to go back to Apgujeong though, to another club. From word of mouth, it's pretty awesome.

Dean's birthday was this week so we went out and celebrated in Hongdae. Just bar hopping and some clubbing. I'm still kinda getting over a cold like sick thing tho, so I've been taking it pretty easy this week which dampered my mood a bit. But it still was really fun and Dean, I hope you had an awesome birthday bro!

I wanted to save this piece of information for last, because it's probably the highlight of this entry. Mom and Dad probably won't be as excited, but... I got a new piercing. (Cue: Mom and Dad sighing in frustration) I got my eyebrow pierced in Ewha with my friend Dawn who got her tragus pierced (it's the part of the ear closest to the hole). I put up a picture in my facebook picture album so you can check out the result there. I really like it, it's the only other piercing I've ever really wanted and now I finally got it done. So you don't have to worry Mom and Dad, I don't plan on getting another piercing anytime soon. I just don't really like any other ones. But it looks awesome. I also bought new lip rings to match the color of my eyebrow piercing. I have a black lip ring with orange balls and I'm really happy with how everything looks.

But I think that's about it for now. Sorry everything's a little bit scattered, I'm a bit tired (it's really late) and there's a lot of memories to sort through. But I think I covered all the big fun stuff. If I remember anything awesome I did but forgot to post, I'll edit later.

I love all you guys so much!

Horray Korea!

In This Dream That I Had, You Can't Kill Heroes

2008-03-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Time is going really fast here, I thought it had just been a few days since I last updated but apparently it's been over a week. My English is getting really bad here too, so if there are typos, I apologize in advance. I've been getting into a pretty steady routine here, which usually consists of: Waking up, going to class, eating bibimbap or bulgogi for lunch, going to Korean class, dinner with a bunch of people from the International House, then maybe going out to Sinchon or Hongdae for the night. My highlights from this week include: clubbing at MB1 with Dean, Aerim, and one of their friends, playing basketball with Casey and some random Korean guys at like 3am, eating lots of ramyun from a machine that literally makes it for you and hands it to you, playing pool with Chris, Yukie(sp?), and a guy from Silver Spring, MD, meeting the owners and getting special treatment at the Batman Bar (it was awesome), and hanging out at a local bar Watts on Tap. Korea is awesome, you guys need to come and visit me, like ASAP.

New photo album (facebook only allows 60 pics per album): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068605&l=49a89&id=15201480

Also, I'd like to bring back something for everyone from Korea, so let me know what you want! Or at least a general idea of what you want, I'll try and find it. Leave your gift request as a comment so even if i forget, I can look it up.

Love and miss you guys, xoxo,

-tk

AH OU OH OUH UL E EH EH WEH WHEE

2008-03-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

It's pretty early in the morning here, but I fell asleep last night at like 8pm, so I'm wide awake. Man, Korea is exhausting at times. So where did I leave off? Oh yeah....

PART V.
IN A COUNTRY, FAR FAR AWAY,
LIVED A BOY WHO COULDN'T
UNDERSTAND MOST OF WHAT
PEOPLE WERE SAYING TO HIM.
THIS IS HIS TALE.

I began classes last Monday, and my very first class, I get there and the teacher starts talking in Korean. So I sit through half the class, slack-jawed, not knowing what is going on, until the teacher calls on me. So my response was, "I have no idea what you just asked me." His response was, "Uhh... Oh. See me after class." And goes right back to speaking Korean. Mortified, I sit there until class ends. Turns out though he didn't think any international students registered for that class, but assured me all the other classes would be in English. (Thank goodness) But I found out on Friday that this is his first English speaking class. Which is actually pretty cool, because I look really smart for knowing how to pronounce "Antagonist" and knowing the definition. I rarely feel really smart in college, so I'm savoring this a bit.

My other classes are going pretty well so far too. The class I described above is Personality Psychology, and I'm also taking Beginning Korean, and Philosophy of East Asian Literature. Korean is hard, but I feel good learning it. Maybe by the end of my trip I'll be able to have a decent conversation with people. Right now though I'm just learning the alphabet. The title of the blog entry this time are the first letters I was taught, which are vowels (and I think a few diphthongs). So I've been going around repeating it in my head, and now I can't get it out. I fall asleep thinking (AH OU OH...). But I think I have a good chunk of the alphabet down now. I can decipher basic Korean signs, but I still have no idea what they say. And I don't really have much to say about Philosophy yet. It's a little confusing but seems like it'll be pretty cool.

Other than going to class, I really haven't done too much else. Besides eating and going out with friends (which occurs pretty frequently), last Friday I jammed with Dean and his friend Marc. We're trying to put a band together and right now we're starting with covers. One of the songs Marc wants to do though, is a cover of a song called "Tell Me" by the Wonder Girls. It's a huge pop sensation here in Korea, and it has a corresponding dance that a lot of people know. Here's a YouTube link for the song and video: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=HQTIsi0IlZc). It gets stuck in your head so fast. And you can't go anywhere without hearing it. (Tell me! Tell me! T-T-T-T-T-Tell me!)

I think that's about it for now. A few things before I'm done though.

Here's a link to my Facebook album for pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066480&l=890fb&id=15201480

Here's my address here in Korea if you want to send me stuff (shipping will be REALLY expensive tho):
Attn: International House
Room 512
#100 Daeshin-dong Sudaemoon-ku
Seoul, KOREA 120-160

And lastly, the Q&A portion of my blog. To Casey: Beer and liquor are really expensive here, so everyone primarly drinks soju. To compare prices, you can buy a bottle of soju at a restraunt or bar for about 2,500-3,000 won. (1,500 at a 7-11) (and 3,000 won roughly equals 3 dollars) Any good beer is going to cost at least 6,000 and a bottle of liquor starts at probably 50,000. A 750ml bottle of say, Absolut Vodka is gonna run you about 120,000 at a bar. So yeah, soju it is. And as for the taste of soju... eh. It's kinda like weak, watered down vodka. The beer here is pretty "eh" as well. The main beers are Cass, OB, and Hite. All which are light beers and are mediocre at best.
To Hannah: The I-House is pretty nice. Everyone complains because there is construction going on behind the I-House but it's a lot nicer than the hostel in which I was previously staying. Plus I can hang out with everyone and more easily find out what's going on that night. The food here is good, not the best ever, but good. You can usually find cheap food in the basements of a lot of buildings like bi bim bap. Theres a small restraunt called "The Kitchen" right next to the I-House. It mainly serves stuff you'd find in the U.S. though, like hamburgers, and at pretty steep prices. But campus is like 5 mins away from Sinchon so if you're really hungry, there's no lack of good food.

Also, to everyone, feel free to ask me questions, and I'll answer them in my next post. Holla.

(T-T-T-T-T-Tell me!)

Dream to Make Believe

2008-03-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

I'm going to keep this one short and simple. Not too much has happened in the past few days, but it's all been awesome. I finally got a room in the International House at Yonsei, and after an exhausting trip of carrying my bags to the I-House, I moved in. I finally have a pillow and sheets! I've never been so happy to have a pillow in my life. Other than that, I went out to club night with a bunch of people from the International Program, and later met up with Dean, Jen, and some of their friends here in Korea. Club Night is at the end of every month on the weekend, where you buy one wristband and you can get into a dozen or so clubs around Hongdae. It was fun, but the downside is that EVERYONE is out to the clubs that night so it's packed to the point of not being able to move or dance. Either that or the club is completely empty. But hanging out with people from the I-House and Dean, Jen, and everyone else has been amazing. I've made so many friends so far and I hope that I'm able to become better friends with everyone. Korea is redonkulous, and I invite anyone who has the time and money to come out and visit me. I'll show you a great time, I promise. I'm in the process of putting my pictures up, so they'll come soon too, for sure. BTW, to get in touch with me, my email is tarnce@gmail.com or kingt1@umbc.edu. And please leave comments, it's really nice to hear from you guys! Love, Terry.

-P.S. Hannah and Casey, Yes, she was Korean. But apparently you're supposed to chase after the girl once she dances with you and leaves? I just heard about that yesterday so I think I might've actually offended that girl. Sorry!

This one time, in Hapjeong...

2008-02-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'm very tired, but my internet is kinda a crapshoot, and I don't really feel like going to a PC-bang in the morning, so I'm going post while my connection is somewhat okay. So if I could sum up my experience in Korea so far in 10 words it would be... Awesome. I didn't even need 10 words. That's how awesome it is.

Picking up from my hotel experience, I was able to get to Yonsei fine, (although Korean traffic is nuts and I thought I was going to die on the bus ride over) and after a very confusing morning, I setteled in to my living accomodations. And by living accomodations I mean a closet furnished with a bed. Which is okay for now, cause I don't really spend much time in my room except for sleeping. But still, 8x5 really is kinda rediculously small.

Anyway, after that I was able to get in touch with Dean, who is a high school friend of mine that currently teaches English here in Korea. So I braved the subway system and Dean, his girlfriend (who also teaches English here) Jennifer, and I went out to Gangnam for some dinner. (which was Korean BBQ, and was amazing.) But what was even more amazing was the lady in the pink spacesuit outfit handing out free soju. ... ... Wait, what? No lie. I really wish I had photographic evidence to prove that actually happened. Where ever you are pink spacesuit soju lady... I love you. Please come bring me more free soju. After that we went and got some dessert a la Korean pastries, and I had my first experience at a no rae bang. For those of you who are confused, (looking at everyone but Hannah) a no rae bang is kinda like a kareoke bar, but you get your own room. They are everywhere, and they are a lot of fun. Good times. After that I went home and slept on my towel, because pillows are no where to be found in this country. Yeah.

Tuesday, after orientation, I went out to Yongsan to find a power converter with Dean. Yongsan has this kinda mall-like place that's 8 floors high, and pretty much only sells electronics. It probably has more electronics in this one place than most countries have in their entirety. Exaggerated of course, but you get the picture. Whilst there I chowed down on some Korean Chinese food. Not as good as U.S. Chinese, but very good nonetheless. I would give this restraunt props no matter what though because they had edible toothpicks. Another idea America needs to pick up, and soon. After shopping, me and Dean went to his place, played some video games, met up with Jen, played with their cat, and went out again. But apparently God was happy with me this night because he bestowed on me bingsu. Which is my new favorite dessert. My best description is it's kinda like edible awesome in a bowl. I can't really explain it so here's a wikipedia link -> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingsu) After that I went back home, and slept on my shirts because my towel was wet from the shower.

Man, this is long.

Wednesday: Went to Yonsei to figure out some problems, met a couple of people who I had briefly met yesterday, and hung out with them for most of the day. (What up, Bjorn and Hector. Holla.) We got some bbq for dinner, went back to campus, and met up with probably like 15 international students for beer and soju in Sinchon. I met a ton of people tonight from all over the world. Very diverse group of people, all of which are friendly and nice. After toasting a million times, we finally headed out and a smaller group of us decided to go clubbing in Hapjeong. The club was called MB1 and it was a hip-hop club. Which I found kinda weird cause from what I can tell, the hip-hop movement isn't that big in Korea. But it turns out it was a great club for me because I apparently had the most dance skillz in the entirety of the club. Which honestly wasn't hard because most people dancing just kinda two stepped around and swayed. So I busted my goove thang and it was pretty cool because girls came up to me to dance instead of me having to make the awkward decision of deciding to dance with someone. And one girl liked my dance moves so much she decided to thank me by making out with me. Which I had absolutely no objections to. ^^ (score.) Anyway, we were dancing for a good bit, and I was able to hang out with some awesome people whom I hope to become better friends with over the semester, and made some Korean friends who were awesome as well. One of the Korean guys we met told me I was "very pretty." Man, I must be doing something right, or Koreans just really likes me. After a couple hours though most of us were tired and we headed back to Sinchon.

And now I'm here, it's very late (or early depending on how you look at it) on Thursday, and I'm going to bed. If you actually read all of this, congratulations. You really must have nothing to do. Sike. I'm sure reading this was the most enthralling thing you've ever read. Or will ever read. At least until my next post. Sweet dreams, hugs and kisses, peace out.

I still don't have a pillow.

The Not So Distant Future

2008-02-24T03:40:00.000-08:00

I just flew in to Korea, and boy are my arms tired. Sorry. I couldn't help myself. But I just got into my hotel from the exhausting flight. 16 hours on a plane. Yeah, not that fun. The flight from D.C. to San Francisco wasn't that bad, I slept most of the time. But the flight from there to Korea was rediculous. Highlights from the plane ride include 1) Watching "Dan in Real Life"... 2 and a half times. 2) Watching the same episodes of Kim Possible and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody over and over again 3) Listening to the Kids radio station, which included songs that repeated the words "banana" and "hey" maybe 50 times. Those were the only words. No joke. And my personal favorite... The Yak Song, by Rodger Day. If you haven't heard this brilliant song, let me repeat to you the chorus. It was so compelling I wrote it down. "As a matter of fact, Jack. I like Yaks. Big and black, making tracks, carrying a sherpa's pack." Lyrical genuis.

So I finally arrived, found my way to the hotel, and seriously, American hotels have got nothing on Korean hotels. Or at least this hotel. I'll put some pictures up once I settle in, but it's pretty pimp. They even give you a computer to use, which I'm making use of right now. But I've only been in Korea for like 2 hours and I already have some recommendations for when I get back. Some of which include heated toliet seats (yeah, really), and phones in the bathroom. I only have 2 complaints as of so far. 1) Light switches are really hard to find and 2) Toliets that shoot water at your butt need english translations.

And it's nice to finally be somewhere that at the time I'm ready to go to bed, it's actually the time other people go to bed too. (it's 9:20 right now) I'm exhausted, and I have a busy day of being really confused, so I'm gonna hit the sack. And for those of you who just woke up, Sunday is pretty cool. Trust me, I'm in the future.

Test... 1,2,3,4,4,4,4

2008-02-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is the first post of my attempt at a blog. I figure it would be fun to keep a blog of my oversea travels, if only for my personal enjoyment. I'd like to update this a few times a week but knowing me you'll probably get a couple half-assed posts every two weeks or so. Depending how ~~lazy~~ busy I am. But I think it probably won't matter too much, cause really, who's reading this anyway? Anyway, I'm tired and I'm leaving in little over 24 hours, so I'm going to sleep. You stay classy, Internet.