Monday, October 27, 2008

Man, I suck

HAHAHAHA

okay so I'm sorry I'm terrible at this blogging thing. Lately, there's been a lot going on all at once. There was report cards, and then all this other crap, every weekend has been packed with randomness.

I'll try and fill you in on most things, but suffice to say a lot has happened. 

Lets see...A few weeks past, I went to this electronics district and I went in looking for a nice Canon lens, and ended up buying a big pair of headphones. Apparently they're ridiculous, but i love them. The sound quality is amazing. It feels like you're in a room with music playing all around you. It came with a CD and one track, makes you feel like you're lying in a shallow pool of water. cool stuff. For me, anyways. Britt bought a teenie tiny 320gig external HDD and I'm jealous. She got a really good deal. I plan to go back and buy one for myself. 

I met up with my buddy Nicholas Blicharski from Sheridan in HongDae, since he's leaving probably this or next week to go back home. It was nice, we saw some live indy bands on the street and did some shopping in a market. 

Oh hahaha funny fact, That Curry Chicken place we found a while back? CLOSED DOWN. The Gavin curse continues. It's now a running joke that places we like and are trying to find invariably close down.

I've decided as well, that I want a Nintendo DS. I dont think i'll get the new one that just came out in Japan, since it wont play GBA games and I like to keep my options open. Also, I know for a fact that the DS is region free, so i'll be able to play games when I get home. I'll buy a USB charger as well so that plugs coming home are not a problem. I think Noreen wants to send me a care package with DS games in it, so I'm going to be building her a nice package too full of Korean things.

I also decided to start a music project with my good friend and famous Illustrator Alexei Vella. We're going to be making weird obscure industrial/soundscape/noise music. Should be fun, although it'll be very long distance, since he lives back home and I'm here. I think we'll be sharing lots of huge files with each other. I'm going to try my hand at my first real song tonight, prior to this, I've just been making beats and creepy sounds with Adobe Audition (formerly CoolEdit Pro). My ideas have basically been to simulate musical instruments with my voice and distort them until they sound mechanical and inhuman. Brittney plans to contribute. Whether she likes it or not.

I met a few really cool Korean musicians (They're all studying at universities in the states, but not currently.) this weekend who are friends with Gavin and I think we're going to have a jam session soon. I'm not sure what I'll play, but it should be fun just to be in that kind of environment. 

There's apparently tons of sound studios in HongDae where you pay about 15 dollars for an hour with all their equipment and it's all wired and set up with drum kits and amps ready for you to go in and rock out, so I think we might give that a go.

This weekend, I also went to this really cool store, called Å market or something. But it was basically a Korean Urban Outfitters, but I spent all my time on the 3rd floor, looking at vintage stuff and stationery. I bought a couple presents for Christmas. I realised I have to do all my christmas shopping for family this next week or so, because November 8th, I'm taking a flight to Hong Kong to see my Dad and Mom for my Dad's birthday, and I can also give them presents for everyone to take home with them. 

Today is Noreen's birthday!!!! and coming up this week, It's Amanda Horan's birthday on wednesday and even though she's in Toronto, I want to get her something, and then again, there's Noreen's care package and of course Adam Calergis and Vanessa Morihovitis just celebrated their birthdays so I need to give them legitimate presents too. I haven't figured it all out yet. But i'll be spending money for sure. Lots of it possibly. My DS might have to wait, but friends and family definitely come before games. Infact, I haven't played a game in 2 weeks. 

So Gavin, Leah, Brittney and I have decided to go to Beijing for Christmas, and Gavin's mandarin instructor might come too and be our tour guide. In preparation, we found an AMAZING Chinese restaurant here in Seoul, and they had a lot of the things I've been missing. like Barbecue Pork and Roasted Duck and an awesome tofu dish and REAL TEA! and by real, I mean the stuff they serve in Chinese restaurants back home and in Hong Kong and China. I was really happy and bouncy in the restaurant. Also, all the staff spoke mandarin which was a breath of fresh air, but confusing, because our interactions with them were an amalgamation of english, cantonese, mandarin and korean. I spoke korean and english and cantonese to them, and Gavin spoke a mixture of korean, english and mandarin to them. They usually replied in either mandarin or korean. 

Brittney found her most favourite store, Forever 21 and unfortunately, was not able to buy anything, because they were closing in 10 minutes. HA. but i think we're going back soon, so I guess Britt can buy her happy clothing.

Alix came and hung out with us this weekend too! Her and this English girl that she met on some Jewish facebook thing. Regardless, it was nice to hang out with her again. She's hilarious. And hearing her friend talk, just made me miss Melissa Cracknell back home. I was kinda sad. Drinking just isn't the same without my drinking partner. Omar too. The three of us used to tear up Toronto with our antics.

Speaking of old friends, It was - as aforementioned - Vanessa's birthday recently (Nov. 22nd) and they called me on Skype and it made me the happiest person in the world to see Vanessa, Adam, Mike Woodruff, Omar and KT Time. They played music for me, and since I was eating  with Brittney when they called, she sung for them. Rather, we forced her to sing for us. It was really nice, and Mike and Adam sung Mr. Clean (Billie Jean) and It made me sad, because Mike sung that so well at the cottage, and I miss the cottage a LOT. So no I'm typing this and listening to David Cook's version of Chris Cornell's version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. But i like Mike's version better, his singing voice is much grittier and I think it fits the song better. See that Mike? that means record it so I can listen to it constantly! DO IT!!!

So what else? what else...I should actually be doing my lesson plans for the day, so with any luck tonight I'll add some more. Don't hold your breath though. My recent track record of posting when I say I will has not really been good. BUT LOOK! I POSTED! : O

Okay, have fun everyone, I miss you all.


Tuesday, October 7, 2008

I'm still alive, I swear!

Hey everyone, sorry I've been so busy, I promise a post this week!!