Becoming who I am

Korea after 2 years

2011-05-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

I tried to write something witty, and quasi entertaining for everyone to read... but I just couldn't... not today... there just isn't enough mojo in me anymore...

No, I'm not depressed I'm just not good... but I'm always good... I'm Drew... and as long as I'm alive I win... so come back tomorrow and maybe there will be a new fire...

but for now... I'm just done with it all... I'm just gonna win for today, you can go to youtube to get a laugh... Go read about Osama Bin Laden to get inspired, or about some wedding with retarded hats to fill yourself with hope...

I'm not gonna become who I am today, I'll just be me... at speakeasy, with friends, or acquaintances, or just a cold pint of Red Rock...

I just want a burger and a beer...

Cheers

I'm back....

2011-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

So, I'm going to go back to this blog because the name is slightly less offensive... over the next few weeks I will update the look, but this post is just to let everyone know what is going to happen here...

This blog is my blog... it is a way to express myself, and my feelings... I am not here for you... I am not alive for you... Some day, if I have a wife and kids maybe I will live for them. However, as far as I know I don't have any kids, and I don't remember getting married when I was in Vegas (no wife)...

One of the reasons why I have not Blogged much is because of all the flack my family gave me for swearing on my blog, and posting pictures of me smoking... guess what... I swear, I'm lewd and crude, I drink, I smoke, and occasionally (though not as often as I'd like) I engage in sex (with women I promise)... So, family reading this... If I don't live up to your standards... well, you didn't choose to have me, so I guess you can now choose to reject me... That's all you!

To everyone else... You chose to be my friend, or to read this thing... so if you've got a problem... get bent... You CAN post any comments you may have, and I may respond...

To everyone who wonders when I am going to come home and settle down and build a nest... Maybe NEVER!... maybe next week... ya never know where the world is gonna take you... I'm just riding my tide... Maybe another analogy will suit you better... When we were all walking through the forest, and I hiked off alone, I met some cool people... for a time they walk on a similar path, then we part ways... sometimes I feel like I'm walking alone, but it's ok because I'm walking on the path I choose. If you haven't been to college that is a reference to the poem by Bobby Ice -

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

To summarize... I know that in the past some of my posts may have seemed angry... I was... but if you know me you know that anger (as with most emotions) is a fleeting thing for me... I get it out and once it is out I move on... I had some real shit things happen to me the first couple years I was in Korea, most people know about them... but to start my third year I would like to start blogging more regularly... to let people know what is going on... There may be some bad things still to come... but there are plenty of good things still to come also....

I also would really appreciate if people would stop asking m when I am going to come home... to be honest, I DON'T KNOW!.. but the plan is probably next winter... some time... I'd like to be home for x-mas, but I don't think a lot of you understand... I have a JOB... I am not on vacation! and for some of the same reasons you wont come here to visit me, I cannot go there any old time I want.

Realistically I am never going to be rich, but I came here in part to pay off the debt I had racked up trying to live the 'American Dream'... that debt is almost paid... now I'm planning to start living the Antarctic Dream (not going to antarctica... well, not yet, just a place where the people must have the same dream to travel and see all they can while they are young)

6 months later

2010-02-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Things I have learned in the last 6 months...

Korean business men are all dishonest douche bags
walking around korea in the middle of the night can get you cool stuff for your apt...
There is no possibility that anything over 3 minutes old isn't growing mold...
The ability to think has nothing to do with how long you go to school...
drew should sleep more...

I would walk 500 miles...

2009-05-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

... and I would walk 500 more, just to be the guy who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door...

That song used to be one of my favorites, but since I am about half way to the chic's door (since moving to Korea), I have to say... SHE ISN'T WORTH IT!

I'll get to another night of walking in a moment. However, first we have to catch up on the times and randomness that is me...

So I was just waiting around to find out when i would be paid, so I could go to Seoul, on Wednesday when my head teacher came and told me he was quitting... on Friday... This was great since he was the only guy at my school who spoke English... Not a huge deal, I was just worried about who I will bitch to about getting paid... Then he told me they paid me... I thought that was pretty cool, so Thursday morning I hit the ATM and found out their version of 'paid' is far different than mine... I still have not been paid in full and I am due more cash on the 13th. So I asked around and there are more options for me out there if they don't/can't pay me on time... No worries people back home... all will work itself out in the end... The new teachers are pretty cool, and 2 of them speak good English. I did think it was odd though when I saw a brand new 60" Plasma TV installed in the entrance of my school... I guess the TV that they never use wasn't good enough...

Image by *Yueh-Hua 2009 via Flickr

On to the long walk home... So I went to Seoul with a group of people, we booked whole floor of a hotel... The hotel was very small, I could reach wall to wall in the rooms... Anyway, the purpose of this excursion was to go to a party hosted by my recruiter (who has been very helpful in my money issues, props to Dan and Julice). The party was a blast, I met some new people had some good laughs and then they kicked us out of the bar... I continued on as I usually do because... well, the party must go on... anyway I finally left the last stop on the tour some time around 5 or 6am... not sure but the sun was not out yet... I found a cab (even though the hotel was very near)... I ask the cabbie to take me to "(insert random slurred korean word)" when the cabbie repeated a word I said yes, and off we went... 13,000 won latter I got out and began to walk in a direction...

I quickly realized that I was not where I should be but I thought I knew where I was going... then I found a river... I walked along the river for quite some while and then turned... I was thirsty so I went in to a market an bought a Powerade and a DemiSoda (apple soda)... this is where I ran out of money... I continued to walk... went into some special garden place, watched some Martial Artists training... walked more and found a street that was very steep and very wet... I must explain something here... I had been slipping on streets in Seoul all day the day before because it was raining and anywhere there was marble tile or paint it made a smooth surface. this smooth surface acts perfectly against the smooth surface of my tredless shoes to turn me into an ice skater... so I went to walk down this hill nd I slipped a few times but didn't fall, I was making my way to the dry side when I lost it and slid down the hill on my knee, then back... It was a very steep hill... I was then angry and wanted to go home... so I walked a bit, tried to find an ATM that spoke English, no Koreans would help and I was beat and bleeding... So I finally found the Subway... I had no money so I jumped the gate, got yelled at, got on the wrong train, got off, got on another wrong train, went past my stop... twice, got to the hotel, passed out and decided Seoul is not the town for me... But I kind of know my way around the subway, and parts of Seoul that I will probably never go to again... but if you get down by the river you should check out the boardwalk... it is beautiful...

Bus tickets - 50,000ish
Hotel for 2 nights even though i only stayed 1: 110,000
Food at the Mexican place: 35,000
Drinks at the first bar: 50,000
Drinks at the second bar: 100,000
Drinks at the third bar: what ever was left
Cab to nowhere: 13,000
McDonalds: 10,000
Other food and drink: 15,000

Total: 383,000 ish

What did I learn... at least I didn't get driven home by the cops (like Jessie), lose my bag (like Michelle), see an Elephant (like Stewie), or lose my walet (like John)... and I am sick of walkin so if a girl ever wants me to prove my love by walking 1000 miles she is going to be waiting a long damn time...

Slow walking, carying, Norie bus...

2009-04-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

So I think I eluded to the trip to the Island previously... if not, i went to an Island.. with 45 of the people who typically spend Saturday with me at Speaks... This means we all drink... Anyway the bus ride there was pretty laid back, there was a lot of meeting of new friends (whom we have all met before... this is called the 'we've met at Speaks')...

When we are about 40 minutes from the Venue they told us that this bus ride came with strings. We had to make nice and sit through the festival opening stuff.

This wasn't a problem when the group from the Ivory Coast was playin and dancing and stuff... but after that (10 minutes) Myself and John booked out while everyone was looking the other way... so we wandered a bit, (had our pictures taken by Koreans) and went to meet up with some others who departed early... We lost their trail about the same time we found a place that sold alcohol on the beach... Destiny... So we grabbed some beers and had a seat.

Time crawled by as the droplets of beer dried on the rims of cashed cans, slowly more and more of our troupe crawled by as well... in search of alcohol of course (we nearly cleaned out all their booze).. Every 5 who showed up left 3 behind to relax in the shade and take in the view of the smaller Islands just off shore... I must say it was a near perfect day, and as the time grew near to head back to the bus we just kept saying; 'hey, if we are late it isn't like the bus will leave us'.

So we headed back in time to be about 15 minutes late... where we came upon one of our members who needed to be carried back to the bus... kicking the whole way...

Some consoling of tears and explaining that drunkeness is not a reason to remove limbs... we got moving... I must say people in the states should seriously consider installing Flat screen TV's and Kareokee in buses... it makes for quite the fun inebriated trip home... The trip home is a blur of drinking, dancing, singing, and yelling...

Uppon arrival home, they were kind enough to drop us off downtown where alcohol and Pizza with corn were consumed in mass quantities... until about 5 am... when Frenchfries were added to the mix...

All in all, it was a great trip, very relaxing, filled with good times and good people... Lets hope the forcast clears up for this weekend so we can make the camping trip at the Parting of the sea festival in Jindo...

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=293058

Last week...

2009-04-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Since I never got around to blogging about last weekend, here goes...

My weekend started with my realization that spending half a million won on a year gym membership left me quickly approaching being broke... so I did what anyone would do... figured I would visit a friend and drink at her place using the bottle I brought from the States... So a half hour cab ride later (remember this) I showed up, and witnessed my first accident in Korea... a few hours of drinking and talking about all ranges of movies with one of the few people who's movie tastes seem to be as eclectic as my own... It had become time to venture off in search of home... the easy way would have been to get a cab home, or to downtown, but when have I ever done things the easy way... So I decided to walk home... I wandered a bit and figured I would grab some water for my trek home, and ask the store clerk to point on my map where I was... This may seem like an easy task to a westerner who has seen a map of where they live... apparently this guy had never seen a map of Gwangju... so i showed him where we were (where I thought we were), and continued on my journey... Of course I thought I had gotten lost, but I wasn't... so I kept walking... and walking... and a little more walking... and then I found something on my map that gave me a clue where I was... so after an hour of walking I kinda knew I was on the right path... and I walked... and walked... then I walked a little more... now 2hrs in i started to see some stuff i had seen before... So I kept walking... and then I stopped to have a few drinks of water... then I walked some more... all the while taking pictures of random art along my trek... about 3hrs had passed and I could see buildings near where I lived, but I was not near them... I had somehow turned south... I live north... so i turned around and walked toward my house... ultimately I arrived a little over 3.5hrs after I had started... When I got home I was sober and tired... So I went to bed...

That night I decided to go to another movie... because 5000 won can keep me from spending 50000 won at the bar for 2 hrs... So I saw the new fast and furious movie... then i wandered to the bars... they were full of people I knew and people i had yet to meet... I met most of them and we decided we would continue the drinking at the Fish 'n' Grill... but not before i would be intorduced to the world famous 'Chicken Lady'... this mazing lady has a cart about 2 blocks from the foreigner bars on the path to fish 'n' grill... She makes some amazing food... like world class legendary cart food... anyone who visits me will be forced to partake in the 5am ritual of foregners dinning at 'Chicken Lady'... Lets not forget the video I took of the aftermath of the Koreans fighting on the corner next to her... of course the cops showed up about 2 minutes after the koreans all left... anyway on to Fish n Grill... where a group of us got Soju, some Soju blended stuff, and some beer... and we drank and made noise and laughed with the Koreans who showed up... slowly our party dwindeled down to 4, and we were about to pay when 2 guys said they needed to go get cash... apparently to some Americans this is code for 'we are gonna stick you with the bill'... anyway myself and Brad hung out for a little bit waiting for Andrew (the Notre Dame fan) and the other dude (sorry forgot your name) to show up... when they didn't we left... slightly angry... called some people and found out where they were... so we invited ourselves to join the party even though I'm pretty sure they didn't want us to... where I got a great video of Brad and Tony wrestling UFC style on a matress in the living room... at some point the videos will all be up on Facebook, but right now facebook is not liking them...

Anyway, it was well into the morning before we got to Tony's house... where Jimmy was trying to finish his 24hrs of drinking while watching the semifinals of the NCAA tournament... how he lived past 10pm, when I first saw him looking like a stroke victim, I'll never know...

Needless to say, last weekend I did a ton of walking, a little drinking, and had a lot of fun... Another good weekend in SK...

The next two weeks/ends are looking pretty good too... I am about to head off and check out the orphanage, then of course a movie and drinking... then next weekend looks like there may be a trip to an Island... so we'll see how that ends up...

Adventures in SK...

2009-03-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you may have already heard, this weekend was quite eventful... I figured I wasn't going to go out on friday so I could do some stuff on saturday... that didn't work... I went downtown to catch a midnight show at the MegaBox in 'Bro center'... mind you, I was still slightly sick, but I was feeling better... Anyway, I went to see Push. It turned out to be a pretty good flick. so I figured I would stop in at the bars and see who was out... one drink lead to another and I ended up at the fish grill at 4:30am... again... So, some chicken and a bottle of Soju later I figured I would do a bit of early morning wandering around downtown...

this is where the fun starts....

So I wandered past a door and saw an older Korean guy, heard him yelling in korean, but didn't pay attention... a few blocks later I looked back and he was following me... still yelling in korean... I figured he was another random drunk pissed because my bald head was prettier than his... So I kept walking... couple blocks later, as I was about to get in a cab, he grabbed my shoulder... I was a bit confused, especially when he started backing up and bowing... so I bowed and a Korean kid(20ish) grabbed the old dude and another kid told me he was very angry and I should go... so I got in my cab...

Typically a cab ride from downtown is about 2500 won... my cab ride cost 4200 won... I had no clue where he took me, but the cabbie was a nartard so I got out... I walked around the street to see if I could locate anything I recognized, but it was now 5:35am... So I grabbed a seat on a planter and waited for the sun to come up... about 20 minutes later it got lighter and I walked down the street a bit further to an apartment building... I remember seeing a road turning down out of the mountains, and a sign for the 25 expressway, this allowed me to figure out exactly where the cabbie had dropped me off... but I still had no idea where I was... I knew I lived on a pretty high point in Gwangju, at the base of the mountains... So I walked the direction I would

Image via Wikipedia

later find out was south... luckily I guessed right, and after walking for about an hour and 10 minutes I found the school I teach at, and from there a quick 15 minute wander home... It's all good though... without adversity I'd probably never walk anywhere... last week they wouldn't take the bills I had for the bus because I didn't bring any 1's... So I wandered 30 minutes downtown... which I later found out is only about 20 minutes if you don't get lost... had I not stopped every few blocks to look around my trek may have only lasted an hour... Oh well... Kinda pissed because I thought I would be well enough by sunday to hike Mount Mudong, but because of all the walking in cold I did this weekend I really wasn't up for it... you'll have to wait until next weekend for that trek... at this rate I'm going to have to buy new shoes every 2 months though...

I have started to kind of learn the language... I get really annoyed when people ask me what I know though... like they want to compare their 2 years of learning with my month... sue me, I can't carry on a conversation in korean yet... you sitting there speaking to me in korean isn't cute...

Hopefully I will be able to start using the gym that I paid 450,000 won for... having a cold is rediculous... and if these people understood personal space, or how to cover their damn mouths when they cough, I probably wouldn't be sick... for a country of mask wearing health nuts they have no clue what germs are... or that covering their mouths, and washing their hands would probably perevent half my students from being sick this week...

a random post

2009-03-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

because I know there are people who look at this and tell me they want more... Anyway, this weekend had some big plans (not really) but I went out to dinner with a large group of foreigners. We went to a Korean restaurant where they cook food on a Grill in the middle of the table. This is not like those Japanese restaurants with the flat hot plate thing, these are real grills with real hot coals. I am also sure that at some point when the people are loading the coal bowl into the table some kid will randomly appear on a skateboard and knock the guy over who is carrying the coals and they will fly at me... and then I will use my unknown super powers to stop time and wait until they cool off...

Ok, back to reality... So, the dinner was good and we drank and ate a ton of food and had fun laughing at all the stiff foreigners who can't cross their legs (everyone thought I was quite funny) and sit on the floor... then we were trying to figure out where to go to continue the korean experience... but it was raining and everyone knew the foreigner bars were only a couple blocks away... so we went there... and I hung out with one of my Canadian friends most of the night, did the rounds, said hello to people, laughed at people who were drunk by 11pm... talked about what we love and hate about our schools... then we laughed at the people who were drunk by 2am... we wandered around between bars, having a few drinks here and there, dancing and whatnot and laughed really hard at the people who were falling down at 4am... by this point I had lost most of the people I was hanging out with and had found new friends... canadians and a girl from iowa... so they were going to eat some food and I figured I would join them... and we continued to drink until I decided I needed to go home around 6:45am... 12hrs after arriving downtown...

Anyway, I know some of you think all I do is drink and whatnot, but really the fact that I was out for 12 hrs, and coherent should tell ya that I'm not some gutter drunk going out slamming beer after beer... I also know you all think I should be traveling around seeing a ton of stuff and checking out the land... but seriously, my group (of 1) doesn't speak more than 10 Korean phrases, once I learn to read it I will feel a lot more comfortable with traveling... but for now I am happy meeting people from all over the world who speak my language... some times not well... but after a long week of having to talk like I'm mentally challenged, being able to talk as fast as I want in what ever slang I want and knowing everyone understands is pretty nice... I'll get to the traveling... but meeting people to travel with is kinda nice too...

Pretty uneventful.

2009-03-15T04:38:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to have some interesting stuff to blog about, but other than getting dropped off 10 minutes from my apt at 5am by a cabbie who was clueless... and some more random wanderings, my weekend was pretty standard. Met a lot of new people, met some of the same ones... probably do some more stuff next weekend, then I'm gonna try and find someplace to go for the next weekend... Won't do too much crazyness like going to Seoul until I can speak a little bit... or have someone to travel with...

Image via Wikipedia

Thought I would show you guys a picture of the stuff I ate the other day... I think it is call Makchang... or something like that. It is known to us as pig intestine. Notice the doughnut like shape... because intestines are a tube... It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds though... when cooked to a semi chardness and wrapped in a leaf of lettuce with garlic and peppers...

It's a good day...

2009-03-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

A note to everyone back home:

I'm never coming back....

Ok, I'm just kidding, but I love this place. So far I am having a ton of fun and I am learning far more than I could reading a book. Realistically I could see myself here for 3 years. More than that and I think I would just get bored, less than that and I think I would wish I had stayed... Only time will tell... For now, I love this city, the people, the culture, and even the food (with enough Soju). They also seem to love 'Englishee' teachers....

well, I am off to bed, early day with immigration tomorrow... amazingly enough the doctors said I am normal... even though they thought I was kinda funny... and way too big to be healthy...

Good night...

2nd Saturday...

2009-03-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

So, I've been here for over a week now. Last night I was actually able to find the right bus to go downtown, and get off on the right stop. That was the easy part, the hard part was getting a cab back to my apt... Since I don't speak Korean yet I decided to just tell him the town and one of the major schools just down the street from me... cabbie had no clue what I was talking about, but he knew where the hill in my borough (or what ever you call it) was. anyway, I got home fine... met two girls from Iowa city, saw Stewie my drunken Aussie buddy, and hung out with Knee (that's the dudes name) for a bit. Oh, and I went to outback steakhouse and the food was terrible. Sure, I'm biased because I know what food is supposed to taste like, but seriously... who makes soggy onion rings and actually serves them... which reminds me, I have chicken on a stick in my fridge... maybe some chicken and corn for dinner tonight... Oh well, I'm gonna go wander around Duam-Dong for a bit... I'll take some pictures I promise...

Later folks....

PS... if the tone of this note isn't upbeat enough it is because I have a massive hangover and left my tylenol at school friday... but Cheers... or as they say here Dzang (pronounce the D/Z togeather, and the N/G togeather but only the first part of the G sound)

:(

2 days in the bag.

2009-03-03T03:40:00.000-08:00

So, I have been in country for 4 days and some change, and as most of you know I was already at the local speakeasy (that is actually it's name) 20hrs after I got off the bus. But, what some of you may not know... I am actually here to teach, rather than drink.

My first day was crazy and hectic and I didn't really care because everyone feels a little sketchy their first day at a job they have no idea how to approach. I thought for sure by the second day I would have everything figured out, but I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. My back was killing me, my feet hurt, and I was still surprised at how much I actually know about grammar. Sooo, after a long morning of doing nothing I wandered around the block a bit. Time for work came and I was stressin about how to waste time in class while actually teaching these kids something. First class came, it went pretty well we got stuff done, sang songs, and I think some of the kids actually learned something. Then the class I was warned about showed up. This is a class that would put disobedient American kids to shame. One of the kids I know is talkin shit (as much as a 6 year old can), and one of them ignored everything I did, stole my markers, and wanted to do nothing but draw cute little cartoons. The kid actually does have tallent, and she is smart, reminds me of me... the little shit... I couldn't do anything to make these kids try to learn anything though. Then the next class came and I was so discouraged I didn't even try to have fun, I just made them do extra work. Another class went by the same way, and for my final class I finally felt somewhat prepared (BY THE WAY, THEY WONT LET ME SMOKE BETWEEN CLASSES THE FIRST COUPLE WEEKS) my stress was low, and I had had this class the first day so I was able to prepare extra work because I knew where we were... unlike the other classes. These kids are a group of really good, but kinda shy kids so I made them read aloud a bit to try and break them, I also read to them so they could hear how it should sound. we breezed through everything, including the papers I was going to assign as homework, within about 35-40 minutes. I was stumped and bumed and couldn't think of anything to do to waste time other than continue on. And then, there was this little voice... it said lets play a game... *BOOM* the lightbulb factory blew the hell up in my retarded ass head. OF COURSE! every kid learns more when they are having fun! It is basic psychology, if you enjoy what you are doing you are going to remember it... So I asked her what kind of game she wanted to play... she said the hanger game... I was confused at first, but then it hit me........ Hang Man... so I took some words from the chapter and used them and I know they had to have read through the chapter at least twice looking for the word 'homework' and they solved it about 10 seconds before the bell rang with one leg left on their 'hanger'. So I told them since they were so good and so smart I wasn't going to give them any homework today. Now I have a plan... The last 10 minutes of class I am going to try and play educational games to make these kids have fun while learning...

Possible negatives, my classes are all in rooms with cameras and sound that the parents can go online and watch... so if the parents get mad I can throw out psychology of early childhood development on them because I don't speak Korean...

But screw it, there is a reason they are paying me to teach and I'm gonna teach these kids damn it!

Cheers...

My interview went???

2009-02-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

All I can say is I better have done ok.

On Friday I learned a few things.

I hate Chicago.
It is a dirty city filled with rude people. I had a fire cracker thrown in the window of my truck because I wouldn't buy a newspaper from some urchin. After getting lost because my Garmin couldn't see through the endless skyscrapers... and the only sound was the honking of cabs who thought everyone should go faster... Now some of you may think that sounds like New York or LA but yer wrong. I lived in LA and there is tons of parking and plenty of room on the roads... unless yer on the freeways... and New York... who cares about parking or driving there... seriously, if you drive in new york you are a retard.

So half way to Chicago I started feeling crappy, this lead to me vomiting, and other things that sucked... by the time I got to where I was going (after an hour of blindly driving around Chicago pissing assholes off) I went into the NBC tower for my interview. I waited around for 30 minutes to give them my paperwork, then waited 20 minutes for my interview, then interviewed for 2 minutes with a fever over 100 easy. The interviewer was a nice guy, I answered every question wrong, and the other guy they were interviewing was pretty much the creepy pedophile type. Oh, and all the other people in the lobby looked like they either went to theater camp, or a Jonas brothers concert. There was one pretty cool kid, talked to him for a bit. After my interview was over, I paid $15 for my 45 minutes of parking, and used the directions the guy in the lobby gave me to get to a freeway that lead to the toll road where I paid a total of about $15 to get in and out of Chicago. and I spent about $80 on gas and another $25 on fluids to keep my brain from cooking. So in hindsight, next time I am taking the damn bus, or taking a plane.

I also learned that having a flu sucks, a day later I still have a headache. I am sure that my fever was far above healthy ranges, at different times I had the heat in my truck cranked all the way up, and at other times I had it shut off with all the windows open. Then there was the 4hrs where I was sweating from my eyeballs and it felt like acid running down my face... No, I was not crying, I was seriously sweating out of my eyes... that cannot be healthy... On a positive note, I slept about 12 hours last night and woke up drenched in sweat, usually that means your fever has broke right?

And to finish, after I fly out of Chicago, I will be happy never to see that worthless city again. I can only hope the great conflagration of 1871 will be revisited some day soon... total loss this time though...

One million monkeys typing.

2009-02-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

(this was pulled from my facebook notes so I could test the blogger out)

Ok, so I have touched on a bit of the 2012 stuff before, and have recently seen a few shows and done a bit of reading about Nostradamus and the "bible codes". First I must ask why man wants to know the future when they fail miserably at every aspect of life during every point in history... Ok, maybe that is being a bit harsh, but seriously... Throughout history every race religion and sect of mankind has been good at one thing... killing each other... that is it... 99% of what we learn in history classes is who won what war and how they changed that civilization temporarily, until the next major war of course... One of the few civilisations who wants nothing more than to live in peace is under the "control" of a country who randomly enjoys killing peaceful monk... in case yer a retard I'm talking about Tibet and the Chinese randomly killing monks because they believed something different...

Image via Wikipedia

Now, lets talk about Nostradamus... This guy wrote VERY Vague phrases that were largely open to interpretation... Just imagine if I wrote right now that - In the years to come a dark figure would lead to the end - From this you could interpret a dark figure as a black person, or as a shadowy figure, or as an unknown person... then what am I talking about this person leading to the end of?... the end of what we know now, the end of something bad, or something good... What I am trying to say is that Nostradamus did not predict the future, he wrote things that were so open ended they could be interpreted as anything...

Image via Wikipedia

The Bible Code... This has seriously got to be the biggest joke ever... First the only things it has been found to predict are things that have already happened... People who would have you believe in the bible code of course don't tell you that the language the bible was originally written in did not have vowels... this makes a randomization of characters with random vowels inputted where ever you feel like much easier... There is also no single code, each thing you are looking for has a different random code... the only way to find something is by looking for it... but you have to know what you ate looking for before you can find it... One "prediction" it did make was that a religious leader, who had already been threatened several times, would be killed some time that year... Now one thing you have to understand is that using this same process Moby Dick predicted the assassination of JFK... sadly the prediction was found about 40 years too late...

The point is if you look hard enough you can find a way to distort and warp nothing into something... With enough random letters in a book you can find a mathematical algorithm to make the book say almost anything...

...The title references a theory that if you have a million monkeys randomly hitting keys over an infinite period of time they will most assuredly create a specific text either preexisting(like the bible) or future works... With a million Monkeys looking for some greater meaning to some random text it is not surprising that after 3000 years someone found something... even as random as it is the fact that they have been able to find randomly placed words within text can somehow cause mass hysteria...

Maybe rather than looking for what is going to happen next we should focus on what is going to happen NOW, that way we can make the future easier to control, or at least deal with...