Did I mention I had no math degree???!!!

Did nobody notice I don't have a math degree! Yet again a case of people looking at my math grades and thinking that I am good at it. Don't you understand I SUCK AT MATH! The only reason I have those grades is because I worked my butt off to memorize a formula! I can't apply it, I can't teach it, I can't write a proof to save my life!

Now not only do I feel like an idiot for doing this. I'm creating so much stress and anxiety for these poor 6th graders they are going to have complexes for the rest of their lives!

No one seems to listen when I express my limitations. I know when enough is enough and when I'm gonna be in over my head before I even start. Why won't you people listen! I'm not being modest or humble or even underestemating myself. It was the same deal with Physics and sure enough I had to take the whole dumb course twice!

Somebody fix me!

Just have to vent cuz I'm feeling all broken. Found out today that I have managed to inflame my knee with all my walking in crazy shoes to and from everywhere, requiring purchase of a knee brace and heating pad. Did I mention it's the end of the month and I have 4 day's until payday?? Then it seems that as much as I deny it I am stressed out. At least that's what my lips are telling me as I once again break out in cold sores. Did anyone see the last break out? Let's just say I looked like I'd gotten one too may collagen injections at the plastic surgeon. To add insult to injury I'm PMSing so just writing this makes me want to cry and I'm at that stage of culture shock where everything is stupid.

So that's Monday in my world how's yours?

Surreal Life

Today has been a surreal day. After spending two days sick at home I felt more than ready to work on a Saturday. I have come to the realization that a paid work day is only a a pipe dream here. If we are at school we are with kids, if not there should be a meeting, period. So I go to work and plug away until it gets dark and then head home. Stopping for a brief moment in McD's to throw some trash away. My world is then thrown into an alternate universe of sorts as I try to register why in the heck I am see white people and hearing English all around me. So confusing! I leave shaking my head, funny how something that simple could seem so strange now. Took me a while to recover.

Free Resources for Grad Students

Grad student or not I know you all love freebies..... okay well I LOVE FREEBIES and dang it since I'm not there to take advantage of this hum-dinger of an offer one of you slackers better spend a little internet time taking this one on!

Consider it your Halloween Treat :)

Free Resources for Grad Students

Conscious Again

Well it seems that I have made it through yet another step in the initiation of living overseas. I have spent the last 48 hours sick as a dog. Puking alone and deciding if food was worth crawling out of bed for. After all a person will die of dehydration before they starve..... decisions, decisions.

Honestly though why is that moments like these are what seem to define life? Do you remember the first time you puked in college without your Mom there to pat you on the back? Or the time you fixed your first flat tire? Or the day you realized that all the numbers on your credit card statement were all your doing and nobody is bailing you out this time? It always seems to be the yucky moments that make it on the list.

Ha I've found it!

Yes today it happened I have found the thing that has the Koreans looking at me as a We-guk! No longer do they try to have conversations in Korean with me. Finally I am no longer an Asian face lost at sea. I am strange! I am quirky! I am wearing a Bennie!!!

Yep that's all it took. A little cold weather and some crocheted head gear to make me what I truly am. Not Korean. Thank you Carol Smith! You have made my winter. Man wait until they see the yellow one.

Other than that life kinda sucks. Slept less last night than any person should before dealing with teenagers, found out all kinds of crazyness is happening back home with my car, paperwork on the desk is beyond high and still have overriding feelings of gulty about everything in general. Happy Monday!

A must for any romantic!

Yeah yeah I know still just wishing out loud. As I yet again catch only pieces of Before Sunrise and reminisce about Before Sunset I just gotta tell all you romantics out there that this is the making of a perfect rainy Sat with a cup of tea and a kitty to snuggle with.

eBay item 6332060123 (Ends Oct-22-04 20:02:39 PDT) - BEFORE SUNRISE & SUNSET Ethan Hawke NEW 2-DVD SET!!!

How often do you?

So upon my searching, okay, okay wasting time I have stumbled upon some of those lovely party questions and I thought

"Hay it'd be nice to know what people I know think about this."

and then I thought

"Not to mention it'd be nice to have a couple more comments/interactions with those I know and love."

so here's your chance tell me, "How often do you use a towel before you wash it??"

This could be fun, muwahahaha!

Wannabe

All right we all know it and now I feel it, I'm tech inept.

So as I told y'all I sooo want to do all this cool stuff with my blog and I've spent the last couple of days fartin around on the internet finding some fabulously geeky people that I would ssssoooo like to send props out to, but since I am tech inept that is harder than I thought. As you can see there is a groovy link to the ooze and I wanted to make, fabricate, theft some more of these little buggers but it is turning out not so well. Consequently I'm just gonna paste a lame-o link and then you can check out the coolness yourself. In the mean time I'm gonna keep trying.......of course I welcome all help that is offered. kiss, kiss :)

Sometimes you just have to rant

Or as the case may be read someone elses rants to give you a little perspective on how crappy people can really be. iWorkWithFools.com - Anonymously Share Work Related Stories

This country it has no pep!

Ah the things you learn while watching Alias. Sydney is in N. Korea tonight and yeah let me tell you 4 we-guks sitting in an open market and NOBODY stares and points?? Only in Hollywood, very laughable here in the real world.

Yeah today was Stanford 10 testing and boy was that crazy. Rooms changed, testing time was underestimated, instructions not clear and that’s just what happened to me. So think I’ll save that story for a more private time….

BUT it seems that this blog thing has created an obsession of its own. I have managed to dicker away a substantial amount of time on the internet looking for link buttons to put on the site and have recently found something called favicon. You know the fun little buttons that are next to your favorites in the internet browser, it seems that there are a TON of different ones you can have that will differentiate you from your competitors. So now I have this burning desire to learn about HTML and all the related nonsense. Maybe the techno-asian side of me was just waiting for the right influences to burst though and show itself.

And as a final note, bad things come to those who wait. Now fear not no blood was lost and no ones dead, but I have managed to lose one of my fillings in a front tooth so now I will look like I have a big piece of something rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiight there, until the tooth gets fixed. Now if you know me and my over active fear of dentist you realize how truly big of a deal this is. Do I get it fixed here were I have no language skills or wait 9 months potentially making the problem worse and get it fixed in the states? I suppose that my open mouth screams of panic, terror and pain are understandable in any language though, hmmmmm.

Grown Up Christmas List, Addendum

Hey there thought of a few other things it would be nice to have here in Korea.

• Q-tips
• 50-100 Ft phone cord
• My phone: it's hiding in a crate don't need the second handset though
• Seeds: Catnip, basil, oregano
• Dancing Barefoot or Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton (you can harass me about by Trekkie tendencies later :) )
• Yoga DVD

Sunday Night and I'm feelin'....

Well it's Sunday here and I'm at a bit of a loss for words right now. Can't say I've made it to the big building with the shiny windows for a while, but I have been listening to Tim Keel on Jacobs Well's Site (www.jacobswellchurch.org) pondering my place in the world. I also found a site called "The Ooze" check out the link at the bottom of the page. I suppose I'm just pondering an authentic way to get in touch with God and I can't seem to figure it out. It's not like KC where I understand the cultural norms and know what I could do to act out what I feel. Here things are just different people trash the city every night because someone's getting paid to clean it up. Men come first no matter what kind of load others are carrying, things that seem like servant opportunities are in fact jobs. Hmmm, I suppose I could start taking in stray cats.....

Hand in my pocket..

So sitting in my living room, listening to Old Skool Alanis and I realize that I have found my Korean addiction. Nope not Soju, beer, women or wine, its stationary. Other choices sounded better didn't they? Well it's like this, the stuff is cheap here. You can get cards, paper and envelopes, postcards and stickers for under 1,000 Won (about 0.80 cents) cheap fun. Oh and is it ever funny. All the "engrish" and funny pictures is just too much! Today I got some great paper/envelope sets one has this cute little bear with the caption "I love tea" as he tries to drown himself in the cup, HA! Yeah, so when I'm 75 and the grandkids come to clean out the attic their gonna find boxes of cheezy, Korean, engrish stationary in the closets, spare room, under the bed, in my desk, behind the T.V. and any other possible place I could put it. Just watch out, its headed to a mailbox near you.

What I wouldn't give.........

What I wouldn't give to be in Westport. No, not to go drinkin' or even dancing. You know the song and dance, I'm up to my eyeballs in papers that need to be graded and lessons that need to be finished/started. I am ready to leave but I know if I go home nothing will get done, solution? Teadrops, a mere change of scenery and a soothing cup of tea to make me feel like less of a looser for working until 10 at night. Hhmmmmm, or what about hangin' at Maria's where I'd have a cozy cup of coffee and Calvin to help me grade while I trudged my way through grammatically atrocious essays. Oh what I have given up to be here. Silly me what was I thinking!!! Did I think that traveling across the Pacific Ocean would make up for all the time lost in Westport grading papers!...!..!.? Uh, yeah I did......okay, well yeah. Anyways.

Can you guess where I am?? Yeah so this is the subway car on a Saturday afternoon leaving the Coex mall, this must be what it's like to be a sardine.

Ah, Happy Kimbop and his friends Mondu and Mushroom are here to may your day! Saw these when Rita and I went to the FreeMarket arounf Hung Ik Art College, very cool place.

You ask how I feel about Korean fashion. Does this answer your question?

Yep found one and was ever so happy to get yummy coffee!

Grown Up Christmas List

"Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

• Zuzu Bailey

Well enough of the Christmas sentiment on to far less touching holiday business. Now if you really want to know what I would like to have for Christmas check out Expedia and type in ICN to MCI and see what comes up.....Done? Yeah that's what I thought, sadly it's a little to expensive to be with friends and family eating my fill of potato casserole and drinking warm apple cider. So it seems that this year I get to give and recieve obscene amounts of material goods via USPS and KPS (Korean Postal Service). I have been told by me every informed source, Maria Robertson, that to get here by Christmas packages have to be mailed around October 26th, how crazy is that?! So to help all you early shoppers out here's a incomplete list of some things that would help make it feel a little me like home here in Korea. Check back I'm sure I'll be adding to this once in a while.

! WARNING !

When sending packages please make sure that all tags, price and otherwise, and original packaging are removed. If not there will be a customs charge on the other end for me to pay. If you have questions let me know, I'll ask around and see if I can find an answer.

• Extreme Cheddar Goldfish Crackers
• Fuzzy Mice (Not for me, for the kitties!)
• Yankee Candle Tarts (Storm Watch, Wild Pansies, Sage & Citrus, Home for the Holidays, Honeydew Melon, Hydrangea, Christmas Wreath, Cranberry Peppermint, Autumn Lodge, Calla Lily) Just a few choices!
• Burt's Bee's Blemish Stick
• Concrete Wall Hangers
• YesAsia.com Gift Certificates
• Red Vines
• Yummy Coffee
• Goo-Gone
• Old Navy Men's Small PJ Bottoms

If you still need more ideas, I'll try to add more as I think of them. You can also just browse sites to different stores I like and see what you find there.

Current Fumbling

All right so I have procrastinate about everything in my life for the last week and here I sit Sunday afternoon in a cold apartment trying to sort this whole mess out. Here's the rundown;

• Photos- Well as you can see I got a few up there before I realized the futility of posting theses photos one at a time. Oh and did I mention that the album I created only has 10MB of storage. Um yeah that's about one album for me and I currently have 8 folders of pictures I'm waitin to post. This is when I wish I had taken a few more computer classes in college. Dang. So I'm still sitin' here with a stinkload of pics you want to see and no way to show you. Got any help out there, I know someone far more tech savvy is reading this and could help me. Wink, Wink.
• Planning- Do we need to talk about this one. You all know me. There are papers to grade sitting on my coffee table. Unit plans in my flash drive that haven't been touched and the cat is sleeping on the life science book. Ugh Monday is going to be a bear.
• Housework- Due to the utter lack of doneness in every other area of my life this one should be clear to you as well. It's all done, things are spotless, all the laundry is finished, the tub has been scrubbed and the only dishes that are dirty is the coffee mug I have to my lips and the spoon I stirred it with! I do hate this tendency in me.
• Stress- Low. Been doin nothing for the last 10 days but having a good time with friends and sleeping in until I'm ready to get up. Oh, wait there is that nawing feeling that I should be doing something else right now, hmmmm what could it be......

So that's it that's whats up right now. And how I feel after having a week off work. All in all it's been a happy time and I'm glad I lived it the way I did.

Okay so its the Friday at the end of Chusok and I've been hidin out all week. I'm headin to Seoul for my first "trip" while livin here. Pray that I make it back to Teajon alive and I don't have to take out any Korean men. I'll find lots of good stuff!