The Fun is Over

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life.

Actually, it's not. It's just the first day of the second semester, but it's a pretty cool movie quote, huh?

Well, the fun is officially over. I will begin a new semester with a newly implemented class time structure, a new writing class, and new low-tech classrooms. Unfortunately, it only dawned on me last night that this is indeed the present reality. I could have worked on lesson plans, made textbook choices over the break, and planned out my courses, of course, but how could that compete with playing at the beach? Or going out with friends? Or even loafing around at home in the summer heat, munching on chips and occasionally lifting my hand to change the channel 'cause I'd already seen "Chain Reaction" 3 times? Well, tomorrow is coming whether I'm prepared or not. I have only one picture to summarize my demise (that rhymes, hehe)



Haha, that's old school. Or..

Procrastination: "Why do it today when you can put it off 'til tomorrow?"

Well, I better get to work on a plan for tomorrow. As a random addendum, my birthday on the 15th came and went without much fanfare. Appreciation to those that remembered and "boo.." to those who didn't. (Just kidding, I don't remember birthdays that well either.) Anyways, it was Independence Day the same day, so I did get to see some fireworks, though. I'll post pics later.

The pics for today though, are of my time teaching kids at CDI, an upscale language institute downtown with funding coming out of its butt. Amazingly, the tuition fees were reasonable, so although many of the children were from upper middle class families, the average joe was still able to attend. I was there for a very short period of 3 months, but I learned a lot and managed to have a little fun as well. Teaching kids was definitely draining, but a lot of fun. The management was a little too Big Brother for me. You were always videotaped, reviewed, and frequently contacted by email and by phone. Although I guess that pales in comparison to some Japanese companies that require employees to wear GPS-enabled name badges that will sound an alarm if they spend too much time on the toilet. "BEEP! You have exceeded your time limit. BEEP! You are now restricted from use of the lavatory facilities for the next 4 hours."

Click this link to view CDI pictures.

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Anniversary

It has been exactly one year since I got off the plane and stepped on the Motherland. And I've been stomping down on it ever since. >:(

Haha, just kidding. But it really has been a year already. Even walking through the subway station at Gangnam this afternoon, I smelled something that made me feel really nostalgic. Old Korean men's BO. Phew, that's some nasty stuff, but one whiff and the memories just came flooding back. Moving to a new country, everything unsure, not knowing the language, not knowing the people, not knowing how to use the old skool toilets...

Just kidding. Of course I knew how to use the toilets (Uganda), and of course an old man's BO is not what triggered my memory. But there was something in the air today that I distinctly remember being very familiar during my first few weeks here. Anyway, it doesn't look like I'm going to write anything of substance here, so I'll just get on with the Anniversary Agenda.

Akin to my "one week of blogging", this week I'm going to post all the pictures I've taken but was too lazy to ever put online. So, it'll be "A Year in Pictures" of sorts. I'll kick it off with my first apartment, which I've told many people I'd send pics of, but again, never got around to. You'll find the Imagestation link below.

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Dear Brother

I actually thought about writing a poem for my brother’s birthday just now. Just because of how I titled this entry. It sounds like a good title for a poem, doesn’t it? But it wouldn’t be a normal poem, of course. It would have been riddled with childish wit, immature and gross humor, interesting childhood gems regarding bowel movements…you know, the stuff that true brotherhood is made of. However, I decided that it would’ve taken too much effort. And, since I’m writing this birthday blog in his honor, I thought I should keep it in his spirit…and be lazy myself.

So he’s now 29, showing his age. Oh wait, he looked like he was 29 when he was in high school…nevermind. But I guess that’s not so bad. Because now we can say he still looks young. “Hey, Henry! Wow, man, you haven’t changed since high school!” For me, they say, “Dude…what the hell happened to your face?!” Well, he’s verging on 30 and still not married. Not even a girlfriend. Hellooo…any girls out there…ya want him?

Well, this birthday blog entry is quickly turning into a roast, so I better quit while I’m ahead. But hey, at least it got me off my butt to blog again. My long absence was no doubt due to my visit back home, then coming back and playing too much, then having too much work to do because I was playing too much, and then just feeling too lazy. So yeah, no good excuses. Argh, I still have to post pics and videos…

But before I end this, I’ll mention a few things that might trigger some joyful (or is that rueful?) memories of our childhood. So there was: sledding and biking at Wood Oaks, Christmas nose-barf, fragrant essence in front of face while watching TV, crushed bicycle at convenience store, uncontrollable laughter at dinner table, crushed NES but ALSO hiding in the dark from grandma, making snow planes, fart transfer WITH butt-flexing countermeasure, returning games at babbage’s, shovel spanking, taekwondo sparring in basement, king’s quest, Just for Fun, Pontiac 6000 close the garage door, duck face, head-cutting pictures…