Lame weekend

Aside from being a very boring person, I've been having trouble logging in recently, so I haven't been able to say the following:

1) It's cold in the city, or at least getting colder, and it's a little bit charming that people think I'm nuts for walking around without a coat, and it's not really that cold at all.

2) I'm probably going to Vietnam for my one week off at Christmas.

3) I was right with this prediction to Daniella a few months ago: "One third of all the teachers in Korea are writing bad novels." Here's proof.

4) I'm applying to teacher's colleges in Canada, in case that's what I want to do when I get home. (And assuming I can get in.)

Is this a good idea? Please discuss.

Eight months to go...

And I'm starting to mean it. After four months, I've officially gone from "This is more of a vacation than a job" to "No, this is definitely a job."

Starting to miss more things about home, including the usual (clean air, uncrowded cities) and a few new ones (people that speak English, people that seem human).

Other than that, everything is still fine. It's nice that North Korea has sort of said they're sorry about the nuclear test and apparently wants back to the table.

A wise-but-hardened man once said that "diplomacy was only a means to delay the start of a war," and that delay only has to be eight months now.

Tim

P.S. It's starting to get cold here. I wonder if winters will be as miserable and depressing here as they are at home.

A little taste of what I've been up to recently...

Thanks to my semi-regular website viewers for still coming despite a lack of pictures. It's a combination of laziness, a lack of picture-worthy days, and the fact that I don't want my Mom to see how long my hair is.

The only reason I bothered to post any pictures is because of the gift below... Thanks to my German family members for sending it, because they don't make chocolate here like they do at home. I mean, Germany.

[[Thanks to everyone else who e-mailed and sent things for my birthday. And apologies for eating or reading your gift before taking pictures of it...]]


If you have the time, click the below pictures to read what's written on the plaque.


I swear, it's worth it.

So you're 24? ---- A TIMELINE

1982 -- Born.
1987 -- Pooped pants in Kindergarten class during reading time.
1992 -- 7th Bowmanville Cub Scouts "Cub of the Year."
1994 -- Went to Disney World.
2001 -- Watched "Office Space" every day for two consecutive weeks.
2003 -- Watched Roger Ebert go from a Taxi into the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.
2006 -- Turned 24 on the same day a Kindergartener pooped her pants in my class, thus completing the circle of, you know, life or something.

Net Worth @ 24: Approximately that of one unopened Plasma Screen TV.

My internet connection is f-worded.

Thanks to a crappy ethernet cable, I'm having an internet-free weekend. Since I'm relying on wireless, which drifts in and out, please don't be mad at me for not talking to you this weekend.

Response to "Simo" regarding North Korea and me peeing my pants every night

There will be no nuclear exchange. (1)

North Korea has very few nukes, if any, including limited resources for sending them over any borders... The real danger to South Korea would be the last-ditch desperation attack of non-nuclear missiles sent here after the first strike where America annihilated any nuclear or large-scale destructive capacity North Korea has. The worst case scenario for South Korea is a hundred thousand dead in Seoul (ie. RIGHT HERE).

That said, Kim Jong-Il is not that crazy, and...

The U.S. "tough line on N.K." heartily includes a pledge "not to attack North Korea" in each press release or news conference.

The danger of N.K. nukes isn't that they'll be using them soon. The danger is that they'll threaten to sell them. Not to mention this nuke test was an inevitability for at least a decade. It probably has a lot to do with a South Korean being elected the head of the U.N.... They always make a ruckus whenever South Korea gets international recognition. (see. 1988 Olympics).

That said, I am worried for the first time since I've been here. The intensifying of missile and bomb tests has been a little disheartening, although I'm still not that worried that the last 50 years of peace are going to suddenly break down.

But no, I'm not as worried as the people at www.worldnetdaily.com and Fox News.

Endnotes
-------------
(1) I know, I know. Famous last words.

Three things I learned today

#1

Don't encourage six-year-old boys to "kiss and make up," because they'll do it.

#2

Seven-year-olds prefer the rules of God to the rules of State.

While teaching Grade Ones what the words "laws" meant, I was almost killed with Tae-kwon-do moves when I suggested that the State and not God could make the rules that we live by.

I think I'm teaching a bunch of freedom-loving southerners.

#3

A New York Yankee crashing a plane into a building in New York is the most something story I've ever heard of. I can't put my finger on the right word or phrase or combination-of-words.

Random Thoughts

#1

My website is boring.

#2

North Korea isn't so scary. (yet)

Even a nuke test doesn't shake anyone up here. The newspaper covers were suprisingly boring, and people around the world seem to be more worried that they'll sell the bombs than use them.
China sounds like it might actually say "Be Nice" to North Korea, which should be fun.

And it turns out Mr. Jong-Il isn't as crazy as I/everyone thought... I recently read a book including interviews with South Koreans who've met him, and none were very scared. It seems he's probably the most rational person in the N.K. military, and he's very respectful of his elders when he meets people like the head of Hyundai -- which is a good sign that he's still a decent Korean gentleman. (I wonder if he screams at women on the subway for wearing short skirts?)

#3

The most recent winner of the Booker Prize proves once again that you can be a respected novelist if:

1) you're from India, ie. third-world former colonial of England.
2) the daughter of an already respected novelist
3) did I mention it's good to be from a third-world former colonial of England? Or at least to LOOK like you are... She lives in New York.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this book is at least semi-crap... Thinking back on all the Booker Prize winners I've read (at least half a dozen), they don't bring back fond memories. I've read a lot better books that were nominated though.

I'm sort of glad that Oprah's book club is 10x better at promoting a book than the Booker Prize, which is supposedly the best book written in the Commonwealth each year.

#4

Finding out I could watch Pardon the Interruption on the ESPN website is probably the highlight of the last three months.

#5

Seoul has gotten really disgusting again.

I thought it was only in the summer when I first got here, and then it stopped for most of August and September, but the fog and the smog don't cease.

North Korea did what now?

If you need me, I'll be hiding in the nearby subway station, about 200 feet undergrond.

(Just kidding, mom)

Six Months Later --- What ever happened to my J-school pals?

Here's a photo essay about various 2006 graduates of Western's M.A. in Journalism program.

Enjoy.

The Beautiful Grace in Jordan

The Handsome and Confident Quentin in Toronto

The Witty Simon in New Brunswick

Tim "SLOW RIDE!!! TAKE IT EASY!!!" Holden in Korea

-
-

This Week in (forgotten) Pictures

Well, it wasn't the best week, but at least I found a reason to live.

Try to find it in the picture inside this picture...


Did you notice that the television is hanging on the wall? Even in a treehouse!

That's right, if every semi-prosperous Korean child six-and-under thinks that all televisions hang on walls, there's definitely a reason to live in there somewhere.

This reminded me of one of my favourite moments in life so far. It was about ten years ago and Howard Stern was talking to someone suicidal on the telephone. To cool him down, he says, "Hey, don't kill yourself. We're only a few years away from a 30-hour TIVO."

Indeed. It now strikes me that I have neither a TIVO nor a television hanging on my wall.

It might be time to read Marx again.


NEXT TOPIC:

Since I hate showing pictures of myself, I'll give you a picture of co-teacher Gord's backside instead.


I think this picture would look great on the dust jacket of Gord's pretentious debut novel.

It's funny because Gord is one of the only people I know who doesn't think they have a pretentious debut novel in him.


NEXT TOPIC:

On my first day here, I stumbled across a refurbished stream running through the downtown core of the city.

I live on the ass-end of it and this is the tourist-friendly beginning of it, which I finally visited yesterday.

[[ Please make up your own metaphorical crap about beginnings and endings and self-discoveries and fill it in here ]]


Ain't it pretty? They seem to be doing a good job of keeping out the hobos.

Oh, and this...


One thing I love about East Asia is that they aren't afraid to take a boring modernist nightmare (right) and throw green neon on the top.