So, blog... it's been a while since I rapped at ya.
Life here has been a bit overwhelming at times.
Our office situation is tense, but that's all I'll say about it.
Weekends have consisted of drinking and dancing to get my mind off of it, for the most part.
Last weekend was pretty kick ass, though- went to Yongsan to assist with some headphone shopping (it was fun although we didn't find any headphones), played my second game of Settlers here (I'm 2-0 so far), and did some pretty good work on a new (legitimately) electro/fidget-house track. So I've been pretty productive, and it's a good thing.
My students are warming up to me. This week, the students have exams at public school. It's exhausting. They spent all last week at my school preparing for them, so I didn't have classes. Since the students are busy with their exams, the majority of them aren't coming to my school. This makes for smaller (and more manageable) classes of exhausted students. This sounds worse than it is- I've been able to get them to participate despite their situation, and I've even had a few students do special assignments and tell me that they came to my school even though they didn't have to because they want to study English. This brings a smile to my face.
I finally got my student survey scores from Summer semester, and they were terrible... so I'm trying to adapt my strategy to the students a bit more, to do things they'll enjoy.. to do things that will make them dread coming to my school less. I remember what it was like to be in middle school, and I can only imagine how much I would've hated going to a private school afterward.
Seriously, Korean students might be the hardest working students on Earth. This weekend is Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving.. so I've asked students what they're doing for Chuseok. The majority have replied "Private school. Study. Go home. Sleep." It's kind of soul-crushing, honestly, that my students are being put through the wringer like that... it's a bloody holiday! Come on! Granted, Thanksgiving in 2006 and 2007 wasn't exactly a cakewalk for me... but these kids are 14 and 15. My situation was far more grave than they should have to deal with, and it was far different. I say give them their holiday... poor kids.
All in all, though, the students seem to be enjoying my classes a lot more. I blame Joel; he's taught me a few things about keeping students in line without making them hate me, and keeping students interested in the lesson.
Outside of school, I'm meeting quite a few new people and things are going pretty well. School takes up a lot of time, though, so 'outside of school' doesn't happen so much. I have tomorrow off for Chuseok, though, so that's a good thing.
Cashed in my coins today- had a staggering 44,000 Won in coins. They build up fast, especially when you don't use them intelligently. It's hard to use coins intelligently here because I'm still so used to American coins... furthermore, I'm used to using my debit card for everything back home. It doesn't really happen that much here. A lot of places don't accept cards and, if they do, it almost seems crass to use your card for a small purchase. I don't know why, it just does. If I'm going grocery shopping or something, sure, I'll bust my card out... but otherwise, no. I have to spend at least 20,000 Won to be okay with using my card and, honestly, that doesn't happen much.
I've been dreaming of buying an Akai APC40 (http://www.ableton.com/touch) when I get back home.
Oh! Also! There's a good chance that I'll be playing at Itaewon's Hae Bang Chon festival on Halloween. It's an all-day kind of thing that spans over a number of bar venues, which should be a lot of fun. I'm way excited. It reminds me, though, that I should put together a demo for a few of the clubs I've been to like Club FF (Hongdae) and Club Volume (Incheon)... I want to play more, damn it!
It's 2:00p- this means I should probably shower and get ready to go.
I promise, guys, that I'll keep you more updated in the future. You deserve better.
-Thom
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Everything is Meaningless Without Music.
..thank God there's plenty of it here.
The bar that I frequent with co-workers, Touchdown, has a massive list of tracks to play on their jukebox. Everything from Portishead - Wandering Star to Wu-Tang - Gravel Pit to Lupe Fiasco - Gold Watch to DJ Shadow - Six Days (Soulwax remix).
Yesterday was payday. I celebrated by spending 16,000W (approximately $12.80 USD) on an awesome, awesome night. I went to downtown Incheon last night for the grand opening of Club Volume. The second to last DJ threw down some serious tracks including Fake Blood - Blood Splashing, Justice - DVNO (remix), MSTRKRFT - Bounce (remix), Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go (remix), Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control (Soulwax remix), etc etc etc... makes me wonder if I couldn't score a DJ/live PA gig somewhere around here. Guess it's a matter of experiencing the nightlife and getting to know the right people. Speaking of, I need to get some business cards together.
My music production has stalled a bit... my speakers are shit for it, and I simply don't have the time most days. I get sick beats/basslines stuck in my head at work, for all the good it does me, but I can't get a groove going when I'm home. It's okay, I'll get my groove back.
Back to payday- I'm really excited to have pulled in my first check... not because I'm going to spend it anytime soon, but because it's the first step to accomplishing the task at hand. The task, naturally, being to save up more money than I've ever had at one given time, come back home, ???, profit.
The ??? will either be starting up a studio or getting a record together. As I've meditated on it, though, these two things are not mutually exclusive. It would take a bit more money to do both, so we'll see how I feel about this place in a year. If I'm good here, I'll more than likely stay for another year and keep moving forward with my plan. I'm starting to see the benefits of a purpose-driven lifestyle already, though there are more purposes I'd like to add to this one.
Work has been okay. There's some tension and conflict going on. I just want it to end, honestly. I can tell that it's taking its toll on everyone.. I can just feel it. So I'm trying to do what I can to keep everyone's spirits up, but it's not exactly the easiest thing to do. I've spent most of my life being the negative one, but I'm starting to understand that it doesn't do anyone any good. It's okay to be a bit cynical and jaded, but ultimately I've adopted a new policy of positivity in all things. It's a lot more constructive, I think, to keep your head held high in even the worst of situations... because, at some point, they expire. Like everything does.
Things are starting to liven up a bit here in the ol' personal life. I'm doing more things more often, and it's been a little taxing to not have much downtime... but it's a nice kind of taxing. I slept for ten hours today, waking up at 4:00p... so I think I've had all the rest I need to keep it going keep it going keep it going full steam for the rest of the weekend. Although I think Sunday will be a rest day as well, at least to an extent- have a few cleaning things to do around the house, but the rest of that time can go into music, watching movies, lounging around, studying Korean, whatever I want.
Anyway, I'm off to Hongdae in about 45 minutes to party some more. Seems I didn't learn my lesson from staying up and out until about 6:30a... but it's really okay. All I do is party, ha ha ha ha.
Until next time,
-Thom
The bar that I frequent with co-workers, Touchdown, has a massive list of tracks to play on their jukebox. Everything from Portishead - Wandering Star to Wu-Tang - Gravel Pit to Lupe Fiasco - Gold Watch to DJ Shadow - Six Days (Soulwax remix).
Yesterday was payday. I celebrated by spending 16,000W (approximately $12.80 USD) on an awesome, awesome night. I went to downtown Incheon last night for the grand opening of Club Volume. The second to last DJ threw down some serious tracks including Fake Blood - Blood Splashing, Justice - DVNO (remix), MSTRKRFT - Bounce (remix), Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go (remix), Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control (Soulwax remix), etc etc etc... makes me wonder if I couldn't score a DJ/live PA gig somewhere around here. Guess it's a matter of experiencing the nightlife and getting to know the right people. Speaking of, I need to get some business cards together.
My music production has stalled a bit... my speakers are shit for it, and I simply don't have the time most days. I get sick beats/basslines stuck in my head at work, for all the good it does me, but I can't get a groove going when I'm home. It's okay, I'll get my groove back.
Back to payday- I'm really excited to have pulled in my first check... not because I'm going to spend it anytime soon, but because it's the first step to accomplishing the task at hand. The task, naturally, being to save up more money than I've ever had at one given time, come back home, ???, profit.
The ??? will either be starting up a studio or getting a record together. As I've meditated on it, though, these two things are not mutually exclusive. It would take a bit more money to do both, so we'll see how I feel about this place in a year. If I'm good here, I'll more than likely stay for another year and keep moving forward with my plan. I'm starting to see the benefits of a purpose-driven lifestyle already, though there are more purposes I'd like to add to this one.
Work has been okay. There's some tension and conflict going on. I just want it to end, honestly. I can tell that it's taking its toll on everyone.. I can just feel it. So I'm trying to do what I can to keep everyone's spirits up, but it's not exactly the easiest thing to do. I've spent most of my life being the negative one, but I'm starting to understand that it doesn't do anyone any good. It's okay to be a bit cynical and jaded, but ultimately I've adopted a new policy of positivity in all things. It's a lot more constructive, I think, to keep your head held high in even the worst of situations... because, at some point, they expire. Like everything does.
Things are starting to liven up a bit here in the ol' personal life. I'm doing more things more often, and it's been a little taxing to not have much downtime... but it's a nice kind of taxing. I slept for ten hours today, waking up at 4:00p... so I think I've had all the rest I need to keep it going keep it going keep it going full steam for the rest of the weekend. Although I think Sunday will be a rest day as well, at least to an extent- have a few cleaning things to do around the house, but the rest of that time can go into music, watching movies, lounging around, studying Korean, whatever I want.
Anyway, I'm off to Hongdae in about 45 minutes to party some more. Seems I didn't learn my lesson from staying up and out until about 6:30a... but it's really okay. All I do is party, ha ha ha ha.
Until next time,
-Thom
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