Shake that thang, Moolz!

Yes I'm proud of him and yes I'm gonna brag!

Moolzie was given props in Beyond Robson (the blog is linked under my Daily Reads but for some reason I missed seeing the entry till now) for his stellar Red Room set on Christmas eve, and he's just stepped out to play tonite at Richards, with Judge Jules! That's right; there's gonna be more Jules in that room than you can shake a fist at! Aaand sometime after that, he's got an interview with Rice Paper, the asian-Canadian magazine, on 'what it's like to be an asian-Canadian DJ.' I'm sure it's gonna be filled with lots of revealing insight like 'whenever I throw down a record, I just can't help but think about my asian roots, and a big bowl of rice and soy sauce.'

New Years Long Weekend!

This is day 2 of my 4 day weekend and it has turned out to be sooo relaxing and opulent. I'm so glad I stayed home! Yesterday I spent the whole day with my heated blanket, sketching and drawing with pen, crayon, and my new watercolour pencils and pastels! I'm uploading some of my sketches if you're wondering what those weird scribbles on my Flickr have been. Then I watched Episode 4 of Project Runway, which was at the same time hilarious (I can just picture the show's editors slapping their thighs as they manipulate the footage to make certain people look more ridiculous than they already are) and frustrating (I think the judges all have a skewed taste in fashion).

Today I actually parted ways with my heated blanket and withdrew $1000 US from the bank (Mom and Dad.. remember that question about whether I'm saving much $$ here? The answer is closer to NO) .. $700 which I took to Danny, the travel agent, to pay for my flight to Malaysia. Danny has a great view of Daegu on the 15th floor. He pointed out a bad fire in the distance: a building was burning down in Seoman market. As I looked out the window I realized just how dense the smog/pollution is, and how crap the buildings look from above... dull, Communist-apartment block style, and not that well cared for. I was moping a bit about the heinous price of travel when Brent texted me the message 'I LOVE THAILAND!!!!!!' I gave him a call and he couldn't stop talking about the good weather, the good food, the incredible shopping and how it was 10x more fun than Japan. "You know how you felt when you first came to Korea and saw the shopping?" said he. "Well, the girls I was with, they had that same look in their eyes." It's a crazed predator look, I know it well, and suddenly my faith is renewed that the Moolz and I won't be sorry about taking this trip. It's imperative to always have something fun to look forward to :D

After snagging some coffee candy and doughnuts from Paris Baguette downtown, and some bodywash and strawberry scrub from the Face Shop, I headed in the other direction to Walmart and got lots of tasty things...western food that can't be found nearby. Parmesan cheese (been going nuts with the roommates' Parmesan since he left: Parmesan with butter on toasted baguette..mmm), fried chicken, grated Mozza, chips, instant cappucino, two Toblerones and a big pack of Lotte chocolates, a bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot (thanks to Kat's blog, which has given me immense chocolate and wine cravings the past few days, especially the chocolate, after reading the website about how it's made and how it has drugs in it similar to THC.)

And now I'm back home patting my chicken/wine/chocolate-filled belly and contemplating what to sketch next.

Ho Ho HO

Merry Christmas!!!



Last night was the Christmas Potluck, hosted at the Smithsonian/Westward flat. It was a spectacular success, with an abundance of good food. We even managed to re-create a traditional western Christmas dinner, with chicken posing as turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, french bread, brie, curry, rice, wine, beer, soju, mandarins, chocolates (from Rob's mom in England!) and cake!

Guests included: Ryan's friend Erin and her friend David, brother Ryan, his wife Kristy; our Korean friend KG, our old Korean coworker, Jasmine, our coworker Rob and his Korean girlfriend Boo.



Brent, Ryan, Jasmine and I also did a Secret Santa gift exchange. I got Jasmine some stuff from the Face Shop (A big Korean cosmetic/soap chain that's just opened up and is doing very well in Canada) and Ryan got me some rad art supplies. Jasmine got Brent a scarf, and Brent is currently in Thailand, getting Ryan something presumably. We may leave the xmas decorations up for the rest of the year :P

Pics here.

PS. I heard from a lil birdie that mah Moolzie-poo spun an AWESOME set at the Red Room last nite, which included Portishead's Roads, mixed into something called "Alex Dolby's Psychic garden."

PPS. Best Christmas present is being at the tail end of my cough. It's almost gone! The Korean meds did help, all 17 pills a day. I swear I will do whatever it takes to NOT get sick again as long as I am in Korea.

High as a Kite

I am high as a type this! I finally caved in after a month of having this cough, and went to the doctor. Being a Communications major, I have it drilled into my head that pharmaceuticals are evil. And if anyone loves its pharmaceuticals it's Korea. Alas, on Saturday, my mom warned me such a longterm cough could turn into TB or pneumonia, and on Sunday I made a trip to the doctor's post haste.

Every time I go to the doctor, I have a weird new experience. This time, they put me in a room with a contraption that looked like a cross between a 1950's electroshock therapy machine / oxygen bar. The dials went from 1 to 1.5, to 2 to 2.5, to 3. I was instructed to hold a mask a few inches from my face and they walked away. Some steam came out. The nurse never came back. So I got my prescription from the front desk and left.

If anyone ever finds themselves sick in Korea, note that you can only find a doctor's prescription at the pharmacy immediately adjacent to his office. I went to three other pharmacies before I found my drugs.

But now I have them. 17 pills a day for 3 days. I feel like I'm on a soft fluffy woozy cloud.. there must be some Tylenol 3's in there.

:|

Why is my immune system so weak? Why am I sick 90% of the time? It's frustrating and incapacitating.

Must...survive...to...leave......Korea...

If I don't post again, it was a lung infection that did me in.. :|

Day 2 - Vancouver Blizzard 2005 - Revenge of the Commuters

Chilled Vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell
today, as an additional 1/4 centimeter of the peculiar white stuff fell,
bringing the lower mainland to its knees and causing millions of
dollars worth of damage to the marijuana crops. Scientists suspect
that the substance is some form of frozen water particles and experts
from Saskatchewan are being flown in. With temperatures dipping to the
almost but not quite near zero mark, Vancouverites were warned to
double insulate their lattes before venturing out.

Vancouver police recommended that people stay inside except for
emergencies, such as running out of espresso or biscotti to see them
through Vancouver's most terrible storm to date. The local Canadian
Tire reported that they had completely sold out of fur lined sandals.
Drivers were cautioned to put their convertible tops up, and
several have been shocked to learn that their SUV's actually have four
wheel drive, although most have no idea how to use it.

Weary commuters faced soggy sushi, and the threat of frozen breast
implants. Dr. John Blatherwick, of the Coastal Health Authority
reassured everyone that most breast implants were perfectly safe to 25
below.

"The government has to do something," snarled an angry Trevor
Warburton. "I didn't pay $540,000 for my one bedroom condo so I could
sit around and be treated like someone from Toronto."

-Sent to me this morning in an email

China

I want to see China. I'd like to see it this year while I'm in Asia, but I'm in no rush. I'd rather wait for a time when I can spend at least a month there. Most people who visit China see this:



and this:



and this




I want to see this:

























And.. in other news, Japan scares me. :|

Persimmons

In the fall, when you ride the train around through the countryside in Korea, you see flecks of orange for miles and miles. On the slow train to Andong, I was able to make out that these flecks were all pumpkins and persimmons. They seem to grow like weeds here.. SK is just blanketed with food when you think about it.. I don't see how anyone here could starve. The pumpkin vines often trail up onto abandoned rooftops in the middle of nowhere, and pumpkins sprout all over the roofs! Koreans also eat the pumpkin leaves, I've heard.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the persimmons. Koreans seem to eat them *very* raw here. They like them hard and hardly sweet. I was at one of the corner stores down the street a few weeks ago and the sweet adjummas behind the counter, who had been giggling and probably conversing about my foreign presense the whole time, handed me a persimmon slice with a grubby hand as I paid for my groceries. Isn't that the awesomest customer service ever? Oh, one of the other grocery stores near us gave us a small branch of delicate and pretty weed-like flowers too.. the kind that kids pick for their mothers from the roadside. (That's the kind of personal touch thats missing from.. ahem.. large corporations :P)

I digressed again! Back to persimmons. Yes. Persimmons. So after I ate the slice, I said "Masheesiyo!" Which means 'delicious.' The ladies grinned and stuck a whole persimmon in my bag. It was rock-hard though. I let it ripen on top of the fridge for two whole weeks! And just yesterday it was soft enough to eat (by my standards) and so much sweeter!


"Persimmon Ghosts"